WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILER?So in Red Moon Pact, the ML told us how the FL of Love Pavillion died...Reference:…
Non of them should have a happy ending technically because all of them are actually tragic flashback stories of the main plot of donghua. Especially this one pair doesn't get a happy conclusion in ongoing plot either and is the most tragic out of all. Though I am not sure how the drama is gone adapt it
Slightly inferior to hanzawa naoki but it is definitely better than other jun ikeido work which I have seen (Tetsu no Hone, Whistleblower and Roosevelt Game). Infact Kagawa Teruyuki's role in this drama is much more complex and gripping than even that the role he had in hanzawa naoki role.
It was a pretty epic drama where every episode had me glued to the show. Especially the acting was top notch, the dialogue deliveries were carry the mood of the show to a whole different level. Ost especially the background tune while played occasionally when some twist happened just hits the spot perfectly. Also the charming catch phrase "my intuition" and show's tagline "Enemy pretends to be ally" and the meaning of the show's name Chiisana Kyojin were perfectly delivered by the show.
Only thing I wish they have improved a bit is the ending and beginning. Our protagonist's introduction wasn't exactly dynamic enough, he almost felt like a background character uptill his decision to question the culprit in episode 1. In a similar way, i honestly wanted the show to end with protagonist becoming the head of police as hyped...though I do hope one day this show gets a season 2 where that can happen.
There were some genuine funny and wholesome scene spread here and there which was worthwhile especially extra scenes at the end were quite good. I do really love the cast too. But this season is just weak. The whole story is forcefully trying to mimic season 1 for some reason. Like for eg there is no point of scenes with ml's mother in this season. Lot of excess useless scene or references to season 1 which makes it very boring to watch. The villans of this season are also poorly build up (they are set up like season 1 Villans and superficially inserted into the the story like for eg the reasoning of the male antagonist felt like it was just made last minite). There is no proper flow and characters actions are not connecting (like for eg ml knew about fl from long back, investigated and kept track of her just like season 1. But this time around he didn't start leukaemia plot and fl kind of remembers the first meeting. So ml is not wrong and fl is wrong for doubting about some randomly introduced car accident incident which was part of this season plot.....like what? How is this even connecting....it feels very weird juxtaposition). Also I do really love the ending scene with the kid. (But also felt pregnancy just randomly came out of nowhere and was underwhelmingly presented). One improvement I saw over season 1 was that the third female lead was given more screentime though her presentation was also weirdly trying to mimic season 1's third fl.
Overall, it felt like creator were trying to create bunch of alternate scenarios of season 1 while trying to keep the same story as season 1. But in the end, the overall product end up being very less coherent.
Has quite a lot of potential. But I would have loved it more if they focused a bit more on the Jung Chae Ran's pov too and maybe reduce nj's scenes (I feel like the show wasn't able to do justice to these two characters...jung char ran was never really was able to get through sml or had scenes of bonding with him in the entire show. On the other hand, ml not even acknowledging nj was a bit too harsh. Plus nj still having those stagnant scenes towards clinging direction even after getting over crush part was too much unnecessary). Though I would say overall characterisation and acting was pretty good of everyone (noone felt annoying or anything like that)
The show did kind of felt a bit confusing and directionless after main couple started dating. While watching final episode, i thought for sure ending was gone feel rushed, but surprisingly somehow it felt very organic.
Overall, That was pretty good. Osts are definitely the greatest highlight of this show (i couldn't stop listening to them).
Honesty the cast of this show and ost is fabulous. Everyone acting skills were really good. But script could have been better....first half was weak. They focused too much on love triangle and made the ml very douchey. Even the flashbacks of first half weren't all that good either. But second half just got soo much better. Non of the previous flaws were present (ml became more likable and relatable, absolutely well written flashback, even love triangle got so much more interesting to watch...the character progression of the love rivals was really good especially in case of male love rival was executed perfectly).
That being said last episode was a really weird mess. It has good ideas, but it was so rushed....to be exact it felt like lot of connecting scenes were just cut from the episode. Like major one was Jae Woo and Bo Reum confronts at the cafe... Then bam! Scene cut!....Ma Jin Joo just says they got together off screen (even the infertile part just came out of nowhere at last minute) . Also Go Dok Jae and Seo Young were literally missing. Sul also got off screen. So many scenes just felt weird continuing here and there. I kind of liked the idea of the final twist at the end about the rings (even if it was ridiculously placed and hilariously cheap costumes) and Nam Gil end scene and cheating doctors scene was good too.
Overall it had potential to be one of the best shows, but had obvious flaws which prevented it . But still it's nice to see how much the Director improved in his next work (18 again) with similar topic which not only retained all the good aspects of this show, but also didn't repeat any of the flaws. (Though I personally would keep this show's cast little better than 18 again).
Edit - Just read the source material webtoon. It was a pretty much like a orgy swinging porn melodrama story. I am glad this drama didn't end up faithful to that crap.
Never seen any remake which elevates the the original to this much level. Every plotline added was beautifully written, making the story better that before (except for stalker forshadowing....that was unnecessary switch bait).
Best part of this show is the flashbacks. Each one of them is meaningful and mind-blowing. Also I don't think I have ever seen any k drama where they give equal representation for young and old actor (or any face change actor) of same character. Usually, one of them tends to be cameo. But this show goes beyond and gives significant representation to not just both actors of male lead characters, but also for female lead character.
It kind of had too many love triangle which kind of made me a bit uncomfortable initially. But tbh, I was suprised to say that they handled it perfectly with extremely good execution and absolutely didn't make any of it bothersome
One thing they could have worked on is the son's girlfriend. She had very less presence. Also i wish there was a cameo of fl's father (they kind of brought him up, but never bothered to elaborate (The date scene where fl's first love was brought up was a good chance to show a cameo of fl reminsing about her father...missed opportunity)
Finally, ending was perfect. They even had a well written time skip, which is not dedicated to some nonsensical anguish like most k drama. The monologue (along with visuals) at the end was phenomenal way to end the show. Especially the last scene with old versions of ml and fl walking was just chef's kiss.
Now this is a drama which I can totally get behind! Kudos to writers of this drama!
I thought it was made clear that the murder was just an unfounded rumor, and that it was all an accident. Also,…
No, It definitely felt like they were going for a murder plot in second half with probably the family friend involved in someway (because that character's existence felt very pointless otherwise). One of the things which point that the show was building towards it, was that there was a talk about how ml's grandfather removing all the relatives away from them. I assume due to low episode count they changed it to "I caused the accident" part.
Overall my point is that, it's just underwhelming turn of events because ML blaming himself is obvious part with or without the murder. So making it as plot twist is just trying to close loose end underwhelmingly
It was quite enjoyable overall and felt like a actual movie like romcom vibes. But towards the end it fizzled out a bit (especially after they confessed to each other). They aborted the parents murder plot (the family friend introduced at the beginning became a pointless character too). I also didn't like making her crush to fall in love with her for cheap love triangle. Ending was okish, but it could be better. I wish they focused on making grandpa and daughter in law sync instead of taking him out of the story by giving him some heart disease. Other than that, it's actually worth the watch.
What a direction! It was almost like I am seeing a murder mystery get unfolded. Cast was absolutely talented especially actor who played hakkaku was so fun to watch.
Overall good show with very detailed and highly accurate about the topic shown. I actually very much appreciated fl's classmate's character development (though kind of wished there was more to her and casualty department guy's love story). Negative point about this show is that it can get really boring sometimes. Also i found the reason given for sml rejecting sfl very weak. Ending was okish, i kind of wish there was a time skip flashforward at the end.
Bonus point - fl's question ponytail was weirdly annoying.
It's kind of good overall if u compare it to other k drama. Only annoying thing would be the ML's former friend being toxic most of the time.
But i actually watched the original Chinese film to compare. I realised this adaptation couldn't get few core things right. 1) FL - in the movie, fl is a absolute badass troublemaker which beats the shit out of people and is the one at fault. But this the drama, fl is some sort of accidently suffering unlucky person. The problem here is this drama fl comes out as bland character both in terms of writing and actress acting, while fl is the most interesting character in the film. I feel like maker were trying to rectify the character into socially acceptable form, but that just ruins the character in many ways including loss of eccentricity, bickering chemistry with ml and character development impact. Also the fl's writer talent is much better portrayed in film rather than drama (drama does it like a afterthought)
2) comedy - the movie has lot of funny and good comical timing , but this drama kind of ruins it by turning those into some sort of melodrama. A good eg of this is the scene where fangirls beats the shit out of fl. This drama changes the entire context, it's just doesn't work....fl kind of comes out as a person who need pity
3) other adaptation changes - 2 scenes from the film are done is opposite way which is very bothersome. First is the photo taking scene. In drama this scene changed to ml having misunderstanding of event along with pathetic censorship change to shoe throwing. The whole point of the scene in movie was to show fl is a trouble maker and doing her job as paparazzi with is lost in the drama. Second scene was the article leak. This was supposed to be character development event in the movie were troublemaker fl got in trouble with ml without making the trouble herself. This is absolutely lost in drama. Another weird change is that, they made a new boyfriend character for fl's friend. In movie, her work buddy was her friend's boyfriend. This change just contributed to increase in useless character. So not a good change.
While that being said, this drama also have some improvement in comparison to movie
1) new side characters - movie had a lot of good side characters like the director- writer pair which was a huge improvement. Another good one is fl's parents (though not faithful to the description given in the movie)
2) Expansion of existing side character's personality - In movie, former friend and former lover were 1 dimensional character. Especially in the movie, the whole scene with former lover in ml's house after misunderstanding is pretty crappy scene. I can say drama kind of improves it. But at the same time they tried to be weirdly faithful where it's not needed. The former friend was kind of asshole character in movie...but the drama takes a notch up and makes him very toxic and nosy for most part. The positive change was he didn't do the leak like in the movie and was made likable and redeemable at the end....but that is what they should have aimed at from the start...why go out of the way to make him more toxic than movie! Same way the former lover stalking ml at the beginning comes out a bit weird (it makes sense in the movie because she is shallow). Other expansion they did was of the company head manager which also can be called improvement maybe.
3)original scenes - there were some interesting segment like the fan hijacking the house storyline or home town visit.
4) Ending - drama ending is much better than movie. Movie's ending was kind of extremely rushed. But drama expand and concludes a lot of plotline, giving a very fleshed out and satisfying ending.
That was a awkward love polygon. This would be much better without the useless love interests. Plus suddenly after 1 year, it somehow became easy to enter a relationship?
It has potential, there was very good chemistry, i liked the little flashbacks, plot scenario and their interaction etc. But It didn't land all that well.
Glad you thought this was “Cute and fluffy” 🙄 interesting that you think that the male lead being a controlling…
Story is about character development and being a better person. If u wanted a gary stu, who don't have any flaw devoid of any character arc, Obviously it's not for u. But I personally don't prefer bland characters.
Ml does has flaw and was given a backstory good enough to justify such flaws, fl did left the house and him for it too, and throughout the story he did work towards being better person, only after which fl came back. Also it does indeed have cute and fluffy, unless u take it out of context and look with extremely biased sjw eyes (sorry, despite whatever happened no girl was harmed!)
While not as good as hanzawa Naoki, i am absolutely glad it's still multiple level above the tetsu no hone, which definitely tells direction makes a lot of difference. My only complaint with be some side characters like the rest of baseball team aside from main few, had very less characterisation. If they would have developed the background characters a bit more and would have provided a actual portrayed of personal lives of characters (like the baseball team's family to show lay off struggle or even the ml base bowlers love interest plotline), then it would have been absolutely perfect
hello. i would like to ask if cheating is involved in this drama
Cheating is kind of there, but not really main cast. Second fl's ex fiance cheated on her which resulted in marriage anullment in first episode and the big sister ex husband had cheated on her. Few other dubious parts too, but i dont think those can be called cheating.
Not as good as Yoo Hee Kyung's other drama welcome 2 life. A bit creepy starting with fl going to ml's hotel room, but rest of the beginning and middle portion were quite solid. Though towards the end it kind of became stale and predictable with unnecessary heart rejection stuff. I wanted to see more of business stuff and ml outsmarting them like the did during fake company portion. But unfortunately more of it didn't come. Also fl's acting was average too
Story and concept is pretty good. But it felt low budget - the whole goblin and exorcist was hardly convincing with the limited props and vfx. Lot of things like both secondary couples story felt underdeveloped due to the episodic format. Would have worked better as a 2-3 hour movie (Instead of exploring one girl smootching per episode they should have introduced the whole goblin/exorcist lore or devoted time on side characters story mashing all the plotlines together, instead of being seperate for episodic purposes)
Have some good moments. I like how they extended actual mi do's role. (Even though plastic surgery part was total nonsense, fl should have done double role instead). It got better towards later episodes.
I really had a hard time getting past the whole face change logic and explanation given to convince others. But more importantly, It also felt a bit discriminatory and fl felt like a gold digger and shallow for only falling for handsome face. They could have done proper flashbacks with original cha min and se yun face or could have reverted ml back to his original face at the end to make me feel not that way. Overall i couldn't connect to the romance as much.
I also didn't like the whole ex girlfriend arc, it doesn't amount to anything in the end. They could have just not killed her mom. The concept of her bonding with fl is on book maybe a good concept, but it just felt awkward and corny in this show.
Fantasy aspect is okish, while not super good, but it's not super bad either. Acting was okish too, could have done better fl definitely have much more potential based on wolf boy.
Also villan's motivation is another thing i cannot understand. Oh Young Cheol is told as a abusive person, but we are never told or hinted why. We are supposed to believe he just is born like that? Ji Wook is also same, their seem to be underlying complex emotions due to abuse. But his characterisation is not consistent. We know his father abused him, but he is still trying to help him untill the end. I mean fear or twisted love could be a reason, but oh Young cheol is not really a manipulative person. He is rather a man having outburst hard live with (Since he did run away). Plus he didn't try to revive him at all. Again there are lot of other inconsistent emotions he showed like caring for the mother enough to prevent oh Young cheol from beating her. But then he kills her cold blood like nothing. Also at the end, We also see him distressed and calling his fake father as father. But i dont think narratively he ever loved the fake father tbh.
It was a pretty epic drama where every episode had me glued to the show. Especially the acting was top notch, the dialogue deliveries were carry the mood of the show to a whole different level. Ost especially the background tune while played occasionally when some twist happened just hits the spot perfectly. Also the charming catch phrase "my intuition" and show's tagline "Enemy pretends to be ally" and the meaning of the show's name Chiisana Kyojin were perfectly delivered by the show.
Only thing I wish they have improved a bit is the ending and beginning. Our protagonist's introduction wasn't exactly dynamic enough, he almost felt like a background character uptill his decision to question the culprit in episode 1. In a similar way, i honestly wanted the show to end with protagonist becoming the head of police as hyped...though I do hope one day this show gets a season 2 where that can happen.
Overall, it felt like creator were trying to create bunch of alternate scenarios of season 1 while trying to keep the same story as season 1. But in the end, the overall product end up being very less coherent.
The show did kind of felt a bit confusing and directionless after main couple started dating. While watching final episode, i thought for sure ending was gone feel rushed, but surprisingly somehow it felt very organic.
Overall, That was pretty good. Osts are definitely the greatest highlight of this show (i couldn't stop listening to them).
That being said last episode was a really weird mess. It has good ideas, but it was so rushed....to be exact it felt like lot of connecting scenes were just cut from the episode. Like major one was Jae Woo and Bo Reum confronts at the cafe... Then bam! Scene cut!....Ma Jin Joo just says they got together off screen (even the infertile part just came out of nowhere at last minute) . Also Go Dok Jae and Seo Young were literally missing. Sul also got off screen. So many scenes just felt weird continuing here and there. I kind of liked the idea of the final twist at the end about the rings (even if it was ridiculously placed and hilariously cheap costumes) and Nam Gil end scene and cheating doctors scene was good too.
Overall it had potential to be one of the best shows, but had obvious flaws which prevented it . But still it's nice to see how much the Director improved in his next work (18 again) with similar topic which not only retained all the good aspects of this show, but also didn't repeat any of the flaws. (Though I personally would keep this show's cast little better than 18 again).
Edit - Just read the source material webtoon. It was a pretty much like a orgy swinging porn melodrama story. I am glad this drama didn't end up faithful to that crap.
Best part of this show is the flashbacks. Each one of them is meaningful and mind-blowing. Also I don't think I have ever seen any k drama where they give equal representation for young and old actor (or any face change actor) of same character. Usually, one of them tends to be cameo. But this show goes beyond and gives significant representation to not just both actors of male lead characters, but also for female lead character.
It kind of had too many love triangle which kind of made me a bit uncomfortable initially. But tbh, I was suprised to say that they handled it perfectly with extremely good execution and absolutely didn't make any of it bothersome
One thing they could have worked on is the son's girlfriend. She had very less presence. Also i wish there was a cameo of fl's father (they kind of brought him up, but never bothered to elaborate (The date scene where fl's first love was brought up was a good chance to show a cameo of fl reminsing about her father...missed opportunity)
Finally, ending was perfect. They even had a well written time skip, which is not dedicated to some nonsensical anguish like most k drama. The monologue (along with visuals) at the end was phenomenal way to end the show. Especially the last scene with old versions of ml and fl walking was just chef's kiss.
Now this is a drama which I can totally get behind! Kudos to writers of this drama!
Overall my point is that, it's just underwhelming turn of events because ML blaming himself is obvious part with or without the murder. So making it as plot twist is just trying to close loose end underwhelmingly
Bonus point - fl's question ponytail was weirdly annoying.
But i actually watched the original Chinese film to compare. I realised this adaptation couldn't get few core things right.
1) FL - in the movie, fl is a absolute badass troublemaker which beats the shit out of people and is the one at fault. But this the drama, fl is some sort of accidently suffering unlucky person. The problem here is this drama fl comes out as bland character both in terms of writing and actress acting, while fl is the most interesting character in the film. I feel like maker were trying to rectify the character into socially acceptable form, but that just ruins the character in many ways including loss of eccentricity, bickering chemistry with ml and character development impact. Also the fl's writer talent is much better portrayed in film rather than drama (drama does it like a afterthought)
2) comedy - the movie has lot of funny and good comical timing , but this drama kind of ruins it by turning those into some sort of melodrama. A good eg of this is the scene where fangirls beats the shit out of fl. This drama changes the entire context, it's just doesn't work....fl kind of comes out as a person who need pity
3) other adaptation changes - 2 scenes from the film are done is opposite way which is very bothersome. First is the photo taking scene. In drama this scene changed to ml having misunderstanding of event along with pathetic censorship change to shoe throwing. The whole point of the scene in movie was to show fl is a trouble maker and doing her job as paparazzi with is lost in the drama. Second scene was the article leak. This was supposed to be character development event in the movie were troublemaker fl got in trouble with ml without making the trouble herself. This is absolutely lost in drama. Another weird change is that, they made a new boyfriend character for fl's friend. In movie, her work buddy was her friend's boyfriend. This change just contributed to increase in useless character. So not a good change.
While that being said, this drama also have some improvement in comparison to movie
1) new side characters - movie had a lot of good side characters like the director- writer pair which was a huge improvement. Another good one is fl's parents (though not faithful to the description given in the movie)
2) Expansion of existing side character's personality - In movie, former friend and former lover were 1 dimensional character. Especially in the movie, the whole scene with former lover in ml's house after misunderstanding is pretty crappy scene. I can say drama kind of improves it. But at the same time they tried to be weirdly faithful where it's not needed. The former friend was kind of asshole character in movie...but the drama takes a notch up and makes him very toxic and nosy for most part. The positive change was he didn't do the leak like in the movie and was made likable and redeemable at the end....but that is what they should have aimed at from the start...why go out of the way to make him more toxic than movie! Same way the former lover stalking ml at the beginning comes out a bit weird (it makes sense in the movie because she is shallow). Other expansion they did was of the company head manager which also can be called improvement maybe.
3)original scenes - there were some interesting segment like the fan hijacking the house storyline or home town visit.
4) Ending - drama ending is much better than movie. Movie's ending was kind of extremely rushed. But drama expand and concludes a lot of plotline, giving a very fleshed out and satisfying ending.
It has potential, there was very good chemistry, i liked the little flashbacks, plot scenario and their interaction etc. But It didn't land all that well.
Ml does has flaw and was given a backstory good enough to justify such flaws, fl did left the house and him for it too, and throughout the story he did work towards being better person, only after which fl came back. Also it does indeed have cute and fluffy, unless u take it out of context and look with extremely biased sjw eyes (sorry, despite whatever happened no girl was harmed!)
My only complaint with be some side characters like the rest of baseball team aside from main few, had very less characterisation. If they would have developed the background characters a bit more and would have provided a actual portrayed of personal lives of characters (like the baseball team's family to show lay off struggle or even the ml base bowlers love interest plotline), then it would have been absolutely perfect
Overall still good and enjoyable drama
I really had a hard time getting past the whole face change logic and explanation given to convince others. But more importantly, It also felt a bit discriminatory and fl felt like a gold digger and shallow for only falling for handsome face. They could have done proper flashbacks with original cha min and se yun face or could have reverted ml back to his original face at the end to make me feel not that way. Overall i couldn't connect to the romance as much.
I also didn't like the whole ex girlfriend arc, it doesn't amount to anything in the end. They could have just not killed her mom. The concept of her bonding with fl is on book maybe a good concept, but it just felt awkward and corny in this show.
Fantasy aspect is okish, while not super good, but it's not super bad either. Acting was okish too, could have done better fl definitely have much more potential based on wolf boy.
Also villan's motivation is another thing i cannot understand. Oh Young Cheol is told as a abusive person, but we are never told or hinted why. We are supposed to believe he just is born like that?
Ji Wook is also same, their seem to be underlying complex emotions due to abuse. But his characterisation is not consistent. We know his father abused him, but he is still trying to help him untill the end. I mean fear or twisted love could be a reason, but oh Young cheol is not really a manipulative person. He is rather a man having outburst hard live with (Since he did run away). Plus he didn't try to revive him at all. Again there are lot of other inconsistent emotions he showed like caring for the mother enough to prevent oh Young cheol from beating her. But then he kills her cold blood like nothing. Also at the end, We also see him distressed and calling his fake father as father. But i dont think narratively he ever loved the fake father tbh.