Is it really like sweet teeth? Im reading comments saying this show is so deep, and shows several stories with…
It's very much like sweet teeth. But this one has lot of inner monologue and narrative commentary which adds lot depth in comparison to sweet teeth. I think it mostly due to execution difference between k drama and c drama. (Technically even sweet teeth does tackle with deep themes like parental pressure, effects of divorce on children, stigma on unmarried older women, partners having equal rights over pregnancy choices, relationship struggle like need of sense of security). But yeah, in the end this show is executed in fashion where it more obvious at tackling deep themes and touches and explain sensitive topics in better way, while sweet teeth looks like cliche in comparison
Nice drama. Quite engaging through out without dragging which is rare for Chinese drama. But few thing i didn't like - quite a few characters like ml and villan mom were annoying at places kind of over the top dramatic -one of the passenger the gym/hunk guy of whatever, his story was never touched and he had no substantial role even though they included a ending scene for him (but we know next to nothing about him). Even medicine lady story was not there, but atleast she had a role. Also police officer were not included in the end scenes even though they had main role. -they never gave any sort of explanation to reset phenomenon. Why ml was included or why it occured to fl. Also literally no real logic came out of the ml getting stuck/ blood scenes or the entire ready mode subplot. I wish they have given some proper hinting connect it with the death daughter or something. -also another point is how police didn't even introgate ml and fl. Maybe because nothing major happened they didn't bother. But it's still bothersome because police were so through in all the previous loops -also the 5 year old accident and connection and reasoning for this one happening seem to be full of holes too. For eg - the bus camera or the people talking in toilet. It seem like commentary on society but execution felt off
Anyways still ending was quite satisfying seeing everyone's lives
This is basically k drama version of c drama "sweet teeth" (technically this one came first). Positive points in comparison is sweet tooth -lots of well written inner monologue addition which adds depth to themes (especially animals and stuffed toy usage was great too) - more cohesive plot (everything for eg love rivals felt planned and forshadowed)
Negative point in comparison to sweet tooth -rushed and slightly less satisfying ending in comparison. (Not given enough time to explore after the final turmoil. They had 1 hr 22 mins last episode which is basically 22 mins longer than rest. Instead of using the entire last episode for resolving conflict and after exploration they just used that 22 mins extra for that). Especially i felt the parents and in laws plot felt glossed over at the end because of that. Pregnancy was nothing more than cameo. The ceo ex kind of felt useless reintroduction because fl didn't accept to get back to writing with her. -side couples are not as good either. ho rang's actress kind of gave a fake feeling cute voice. Overall both side couples were not as enticing or as interesting theme wise as sweet teeth's side couples. Though main couple were really good especially ML and his exploration was worth every minute
Anyways I overall love it just as much i love sweet teeth. Though personally this was so close to overtaking my favorite k drama "reply 1997" (because of as equally good inner monologue, but being better at giving screen time to side couple) but in the end couldn't because of rushed ending.
It was disappointing. Coming here after watching Hanzawa Naoki because it's from same writer, it's in many way…
First of all, Direction was very weak. First few episode were boring (no tension) and last few were anguish rather than tension. Not even a single scene left any much impression, even plot twists were underwhelmingly presented. It's just day and night compared to Hanzawa Naoki masterclass direction
Second, acting was average especially ML was always giving confusing expression. That actor seemed to act like new actors even though his profile shows he is not. There were few who had potential like ogata, Nishida and mitsuhashi's actors, but the director was not able to bring there potential out. None of the speach delivery were good enough
Third, production is also seemed low budget with restrictive scenes and costumes
Fourth, character were also not all that great either. Lot of forgettable characters like those prosecuter group (who even lacked basic fleshed out personality). There were three female character - girlfriend who is most annoying and shallow character, mother and company subordinate who has barely presence or relevance in the story. Overall, even if i have positive impression over a few character (like Nishida), none of them were break through character.
Fifth, story.....the thing I hoped more than anything else is story since writer is same as Hanzawa Naoki. But i was disappointing in that front too. Though it's still this the best aspect of this show because other aspect are worser. The plot idea is what's intriguing and unique (because of which i kept watching untill the end). Executed of the main plot is also decent. But what's makes its worse is it look like a rough draft of something which could have been awesome with lot of added cheap sub plots and inferior revisions. 1) protagonist seems like a forced additional character put into the plot with unconvincing connections ( like his connection with mitsuhashi) just to make his character relevant (ogata felt more like the supposed actual protagonist). Protagonist's action doesn't seem to have much influence over the plot (he is like a third person point of view). He as a character is meek and wimpy and pretty much influenced by other characters views. Since he is used as channel/plot device to express other characters' s view, his stances keeps on changing throughout the story and overall giving a inconsistent characterization.
2) sub plots involving protagonist are lazy writing. Both his mother and girlfriend exist to create artificial anguish. His mother keeps getting sick with some disease or another which doesn't have any relevence or need in the plot. His girlfriend is their to create the ntr anguish. Her banker superior is just a stock generic character who has no relevence in plot other that to be the girlfriend stealing narcistic successful guy. The entire plot of she falling in love with banker superior is simply written and presented in a unconvincing and unrealistic. I get they tried to make "give urself importance first" theme with the girlfriend at the end. But that was too last, seemed like a last minute theme change to remove the shallowness or unnecessary extension of character. some of the cringiest scenes of this show was Ml's mother giving red hearing about the ntr and the banker superior repeating ML's line to girlfriend as a discount affection.
3)Even the main plot is not at that great. Idea is genuinely great, but execution is average. Lot of things were too simple and straightforward. Lot others seemed rushed or offscreen. It overall felt like a rough product. They were trying to present some emotion and complex situation and grey areas. But it just didn't feel upto mark.
Overall, a interesting watch just for the sake of different unique topic experience (ie bit rigging and collision). Otherwise not real worth it.
It was disappointing. Coming here after watching Hanzawa Naoki because it's from same writer, it's in many way underwhelming. I hope rest of Jun Ikeido work are closer to Naoki than this.
Edit - I think I am too much complained about it. Looking back, it was decent watch for just 5 episodes tbh
1997 is still better than 1994 In 1997, i hated the loud annoying first episode but by the end i magically fell in love everything about it including the things i hated. On the other hand 1994, had a great first episode but by the end it turned into a frustrating watch (though last episode was still great).
Lot of 1994's weakness comes for cheap fake outs, gimmick and subvertion of parallel made with 1997. Going into detail- 1) fodder love interest Worst thing about this drama is without a doubt is Chil Bong. I don't hate him as a character, but he is given a crappy storyline with 1 dimensional characterisation by writers. He entire life too much revolves around FL. he is the guy with least rapport with other people among the main group. The two people he have some amount of rapport other than FL is fl's lover and fl's father. (Yeah, he does have a bit with the catcher and his cousin too, but it's quite minimalistic portrayal). Outside of fl, he has 2 things - baseball and his mother/dysfunctional family (out of which mother topic lasted for 1 episode...to be more exact one scene and forgotten entirely after that. While baseball serve a more of plot device for his proximity with fl). Also his interaction with people in general are one sided or indirect or circumstantial like mother was not really present in the conversation heartfelt phone conversation and with the other baseball teammates, catcher was the one who was talking.
If hypothetically we remove chil bong from the story then good parts we lose are heartfelt phone conversation with mother, friend's value interview and related interaction of last 2 episode, general baseball related scenes (which 1997 lacked) and the scene where he decided to not be clingy to fl and moved on while making parallel with oppa. That's about it. But if we go and see the advantages of removing him from storyline are non existence of most cringiest scenes of the show ( aka getting a mentor overnight for the cringe inducing dialogue delivery of "it's not over untill it's over" and the baseball handing over to oppa scene and many other clingy scenes which were translated to his greatness) and the shitty over prolonged husband mystery which is preventing couple progression and creating unnecessary anguish and baiting. Overall advantages outweigh the good parts unfortunately.
Also, in all honestly, husband was obvious since second episode due to the trick introduction and most wedding hints. Plus fl never loved him so he never stood a chance either. He was pretty much as fodder as it gets.
Few comparison - 1997's love rival were shifted between two people, so it had a much more better flow to the story. (Unlike 1994 were we had to continuously suffer chil bong baiting). Also 1997's love rival were their own characters like teacher (ml's brother) whom we see as teacher, as neighbour, as son, as brother, as love contender and going though exploration of future dream and job perspective to struggling with love life, love loss and finding soulmates etc. More well rounded character than chil bong can ever be. Another comparison would a character from this show itself, haitai. Even though he also served as love rival like chilbong for brief period, he is had much more character exploration than chilbong ever had (like about army recruitment, love life, roommate dynamics, interaction with fl, fatherly love for the baby of house etc). I saying this inspite of haitai being my least favorite character out of main group.
I genuinely wish chilbong story was more about friendship than love because his usage in last two episode were something to be desired off (Even though he was frustrating to watch in most other episode)
2) Incest bait It absurd how they were trying to make parallel with 1997's weird brother love rival situation in a much much more creepier way. Not only it left a bad taste, but also made husband mystery kind of obvious. Thankfully the bait only lasted for 2 episodes. But still after effects were not good either - whenever fl's father calls them sibling it just bring out the lingering creepiness of the situation. Also this is also what created ml's indecisiveness for half the show. It's unsatisfactory how the reason for it were not explored further instead just glossed over, solidifying it as somewhat of a gimmick.
3) queer baiting Yes, that is exactly what happened or else "red car" won't be there. But they did keep their intent ambiguous enough uptill then with oppa interactions. Also furthering this problem is die die the love interest binggeure ended up with. Die die was a one episode cameo character who never appeared again even in the wedding photo and only referred in future episodes. Her appearance itself is of lesser value in terms of both significance and screentime compared to 1997's Doctor Lee Joo-won which makes this entire situation worse. Not to mention, binggeure actor's facial expression were giving out disinterested vibe rather than confused or excited throughout the date scene untill the kiss for the sake of maintaining the bait red car appearance effective. Couldn't enjoy that scene at all. At the very least they should have explored die die in further episodes instead of making her a mere plot device for end up game.
4) pregnancy Well, it kind of good they explored parent's pregnancy. But it was also a parallel to the second pregnancy plot twist of reply 1997. So compared to it, this doesn't really hold up. It not like they explored main couple's 3 children or side couple's 4 children afterwards either. Yeah, so many children but non of the transition explored.
5) cameo end game love interests, transition between the 2 time periods, cameo 1997, early side couple reveal and diminished fan girl aspect.
Just like binggeure's die die, Haitai had Ae-jung as his endgame who had even lesser screentime even though she appeared for 2 episode.( Though Multiple times mentioned in past and succeeding episodes). Seriously what is wrong with these writers, she had almost equivalent screentime as doctor Lee Joo-won had in this series lol. Like reply 1997's cameo or the baseball girl or the trash's coworker or other girl's haitai dated surprisingly had more screen time. Also same case with Chilbong with girl which whom he bumped in last episode. Though it's unconfirmed if he ended up with her which make the existence of the scene even more weird and unnatural.
Second thing is transition. 1997 did a very good job in portraying the scenes in between the time between graduation and reunion which connects them. On the other hand 1994 handles it very poorly. Between dorm leaving and housewarming party, there is only the wedding scene which is not substantial enough. Also the housewarming party scene itself (a not intentional one) was simply lackluster in comparison to 1997's reunion (even lackluster in comparison to 1994's wedding) . It felt like a filler aside for children scene in last episode and cameo of 1997's leads
1997s cameo was good. But i do have few minor complaints. Oppa went out of character when he went to hit 18 year old girl. (Would have been much better or made sense oi 1997's fl hit him first). Also hak chan cameo was seperate from the group didn't sit well with me (also fl tutoring didn't make all that sense either). Lastly they did a joke of bring the the two fathers (Sung Dong-il) crossover, but we know the two mothers are also the same!
Second couple were outed too early. They were building up to a love triangle, but then it was cut short and future revealed the side couple and within one episode they become couple in past too. They baited audience towards a love triangle and rushed towards the pairing. I like the pairing but I really want to see Samcheonpo and Yoon-jin slowly getting attracted to each other and falling in love part rather than just pairing up. Also it's not like because of early reveal we were allowed to show further couple progression either. Pseudo proposal is the last thing we got on their front. We were neither shown their children, pregnancy or even actual marriage proposal either (also we did't even get the long distance due to army part either which they made a big fuss about in one episode)
Lastly fan girl aspect was literally forgotten after first few episode. Only brought up again for one yoon-jin tantrum (so not really from fl's side either). I mean it not unnatural for people to move of from these kind of fan fanaticism as they grow up. But in this show it feels that this aspect exist only for the sake of making parallel with 1997 (it also doesn't do the transition good enough which makes moving on from that not realistic enough either)
Inspite of writting a huge ass paragraph about flaws of this show, i do love this show overall. I am mostly frustrating because it had too much potential which was wasted. Best part about this show is the cast. (ML of this show is in everyway better than 1997's ML and he is the best character of both shows combined for me. Even though i still preference 1997's FL, 1994's FL also is comparable enough. Side cast also had a lot of variety. I especially love Samcheonpo's character a lot. 1997 's cast was all about looking beyond stereotypical appearence, but 1994 starts with non stereotypical to begin with). Other awesome thing about this show was exploration of culture of different places of Korea and their accents (Which was only briefly touched upon in 1997). Also the 90s references were much more overload than reply 1997, so this show is better in that aspect too. I also prefer both main and side couple of this show compared to the ones of 1997. Rest comes for usual dynamics of reply series with themes of friends, family, love, celebraty cameos, comedy and slice of life and coming of age aspect which were enjoyable enough.
Overall it had a chance to be better than 1997, but it couldn't because of the baiting directional choices and non organic plot progression.
Awesome, bigger stakes, more complicated and varied plot, more iconic moments and more entertainment than previous season. The biggest attraction of this season was the original trio rivals - Hanzawa, owada and kurosaki teaming up. I really hope there is a season 3 sometime in future (though there is no sequal books written as of yet). No doubt one of the best japanese drama out there. Especially i love the depth in technicalities which can only be found in j stories
u expect it to live action equivalent of fox spirit matchmaker, but actually it turns out to be a just ur regular…
No, u are the one confused with my words -equivalent like expecting similar story due to similar set up (For eg Like how Novoland is Chinese equivalent of game of thrones)
Awesome special. Hanzawa Naoki was about banking frauds and this special is about cyber thefts. Great addition to the lores. Also the new protagonists and story were up to the mark. Though antagonists were kind of lacking tbh
Pretty awesome. Though I wish side couples were more explored or developed. Towards the final few episode, there was way too much focus on main couple than necessary. Around episode 13 or so main couples story was almost completely told sufficiently. Rest felt too much overloaded with fluff. It would have been better to use some of that screentime to focus on side couples more.
At first i thought it was great this series is showing struggles of single mother. But this series goes out of the way should fl is incompetent at work again and again. Plus the long awaited backstory was basically fl taking advantage of ml when he was drunk. Also her make up routine are also annoying. I hate how this series try to portray ML as some Gary Stu. ML is the victim of pregnancy case, ML is imparting good values to his kid when they met, ML is always helping accident victims, ML extremely good to his ex giving her enough time and relationship stability untill breakup and even after breakup he helped he financially, ML is business genius and his every decision is narratively proven right and others are always wrong etc. I just hate it. This is not how u portray cold arrogant asshole or struggling single mom
It kind of weird show. Comical tone and ost makes it quite engaging. But Kei and mei storyline together was given way too much screentime...they should have broken up in first half instead. While their seperate end game were given too less time. Especially mei's comes out as almost illogical out of nowhere due to not giving enough time to develop and simply using it as a plot twist. Plus I didn't felt like mei had any development, she was the one with most inner issues rather than kei.
It could have been one of the best drama if it had given enough time to develop the endgame romance instead of using it as a twist
Loved it....sweetness overload and great ending. Though minor complaint is every couple don't need to have love rivals popping up. Conflict can be created in other ways too. In the end those love rivals felt like fodder character and also appeared a bit out of nowhere
Where is Infidelity or atleast harem tag? This show has both together tbh. Just because this show tries to puts…
u expect it to live action equivalent of fox spirit matchmaker, but actually it turns out to be a just ur regular harem king's concubine drama with elaborate eyecandy fantasy setup
Where is Infidelity or atleast harem tag? This show has both together tbh. Just because this show tries to puts on a facade of one true innocent pure love, doesn't mean what's actually present should not be tagged.
Season 1 was so good. But this! So far 2 episode in, this looks like a pale imitation where scenes or characters don't make sense at all trying mimic previous season. Hope it gets better
Absolutely loved it. Main Cast were very loveable, though the actresses who played the mom role was poor didn't have much expression in her face. Story was cute and fluffy with lot of character development (still serious parts were not as good as light hearted parts and villan's motivation were questionable/weird. But buildup and payoff was still satisfactory) . Best thing about this drama was pacing was extremely well balanced (no moment felt rushed or dragged). Ost were also great. Also the episode end extra scenes were absolutely well crafted One of the very few Chinese drama so far which I can't stop watching. Off to second season
This drama is pretty good especially the costume, props, buildings and backgrond scenary are superb. Character profiling is extremely good too But it still have problems, most of which can be summed up to 2 points - most girls being xiao love interest not only is wasted plotline but also undermines development and relationship of lot of other character -foreshadowing and lores are poorly placed
If i go in plot detail, i would divide the show into 5 parts/arc 1) Beginning and individual journey arc (i.e from their parents death to the point before the two brothers meet each other) Problems with this part include - their parent died from suicide, which kind of undermines the the entire revenge drama. (Because biehe cannot be blamed for it, even though the show tries to blame him for it. If anything yao yue is more at blame than anyone else, but since it was suicide it still undermines the blame) -hua wu que individual journey is extremely bland. Especially the lover arc was totally bland and partially nonsence and also were the worst episodes of the entire series.
2) Jiang Bie He arc (i.e treasure map +silver cargo arc, basically from the brothers meeting to jiang bie he being exposed) Probably the best arc of the series, but still -Problem with this arc is all the unnecessary love interest of xiao yu. Especially the fat girl is discriminated by narrative being fat, poor girl is discriminated by narrative for being poor etc. They dont really add much to the narrative anyways. -Also especially in silver cargo arc, xiao yu character was kind of dumbed down for other to outwit him. He literally knows everything, but never uses that info in clever way.
3) 3 months to duel arc (i.e the part where xiao yu and ha wu que promises a duel in 3 months and goes on a journey with each other's master) -This arc have the recipe to be a really good arc, since it has a lot of twist and turns. But is executed very poorly. Like for eg- hero lu was barely mentioned (like once or maybe twice), so it was more like his character coming for the twist out of nowhere or Mr tong's identity was too obvious and the was waste (if tong was lian xing instead of yao yue, there would have been support of emotional weightage for her action in finale and not to mention sight better attempt at surprise element)
4) wu ya clan arc (ie the entire thing that happened in and around wu ya palace) -Next best arc after the second one. It problem stems from how 12 zodiacs were underused as group and how rat or su ying were introduced too late.
5)finale/duel arc -The was almost perfect except for two minor problems. The members of 10 great villan's death felt forced and yao yue hallocinating jaing feng was not only disservice to jaing feng's character, but also empowerment to her stupid jelousy
Character wise- -Xiao yu was quite a delight to watch since he is very expressive, but it never really felt like he was naturally getting stronger (even though he got those manual and even after the scene with being intelligent is not enough, growing strong is needed emphasis). He beating rat with his two days learned martial art was a joke tbh -Hua Wu Que was way too stiff. He never showed expression like jelousy which should have been present considering the love triangle. He expression does get better towards the end, but it's was never upto mark. But bromance was still great. -Tie Xin Lan for most part is ok for her role. She and hua wu que didnt have much chemistry is the only problem -Su Ying and Jiang Bie He's only problem was they were not introduced early. While jiang bie was indeed introduced in 1st episode, it was like a 1 sec cameo image. His relationship with jiang feng should have been explored with some actual speaking role. -Rat would have had a better role as tragic villan considering his backstory, appeareance and his daughter being heroine, but unfortunately he played out as petty generic hateable villan. He should also have been introduced early on considering 12 zodiac was major part of 1st episode. -Yu Lang actor was extremely talanted but unfortunately material given for that character is too generic. He had a chance of played Redemption arc and showing he is different from his father (like how the yi hua palace sisters are different from each other). But he born and died as a evil with 0 character development like his father. Well, being killed by tie ping gu was the next best thing. But i wish tei ping gu learned about his hand in her grandfather's death to have some additional emotional weightage -now coming to Murong Jiu and black spider. For most part black spider played as second fiddle to xiao yu rejected love interest and when murong jiu finally go her memory back, they rushed everything and skipped all the dynamics and development of their relationship -zhang jing and gu ren yu had even worse. One min they started working together when murong jiu disappeared and next min he like her suddenly. There was 0 development whatsoever -12 zodiac were very poorly used. They were never shown together or as group (which they were supposed to be instead of 10 great villans who were not a group, but still shown as group). They were placed randomly and killed one by one. Some were even killed in the episode or even seconds after introduction. Also the tiger and rabbit were forgotten at the end. (Especially tiger got forgotten is weird, considering his wife died with 10 great villans
Finally action scenes were ok, but this series need more action. Also action scene are scenary like instead of adrinaline pumping with stakes and strategies, So i was not really all that into it
The drama is pretty good (feels like anime). But ending is rushed, nao and tsubaki did not marry yet + they didnt even talk about their dead child. Suddenly at the ending there was a time skip with seperation and patch up in literally few seconds. Every timeskip were awful breaking the flow and rushing the story unnecessarily. Also jojima and shiori were also barely explored/developed beyond their respective arcs, not to mention their relationship together. They drama required atleast 3 or 4 episodes more to properly end it satisfyingly
But few thing i didn't like
- quite a few characters like ml and villan mom were annoying at places kind of over the top dramatic
-one of the passenger the gym/hunk guy of whatever, his story was never touched and he had no substantial role even though they included a ending scene for him (but we know next to nothing about him). Even medicine lady story was not there, but atleast she had a role. Also police officer were not included in the end scenes even though they had main role.
-they never gave any sort of explanation to reset phenomenon. Why ml was included or why it occured to fl. Also literally no real logic came out of the ml getting stuck/ blood scenes or the entire ready mode subplot. I wish they have given some proper hinting connect it with the death daughter or something.
-also another point is how police didn't even introgate ml and fl. Maybe because nothing major happened they didn't bother. But it's still bothersome because police were so through in all the previous loops
-also the 5 year old accident and connection and reasoning for this one happening seem to be full of holes too. For eg - the bus camera or the people talking in toilet. It seem like commentary on society but execution felt off
Anyways still ending was quite satisfying seeing everyone's lives
Positive points in comparison is sweet tooth
-lots of well written inner monologue addition which adds depth to themes (especially animals and stuffed toy usage was great too)
- more cohesive plot (everything for eg love rivals felt planned and forshadowed)
Negative point in comparison to sweet tooth
-rushed and slightly less satisfying ending in comparison. (Not given enough time to explore after the final turmoil. They had 1 hr 22 mins last episode which is basically 22 mins longer than rest. Instead of using the entire last episode for resolving conflict and after exploration they just used that 22 mins extra for that). Especially i felt the parents and in laws plot felt glossed over at the end because of that. Pregnancy was nothing more than cameo. The ceo ex kind of felt useless reintroduction because fl didn't accept to get back to writing with her.
-side couples are not as good either. ho rang's actress kind of gave a fake feeling cute voice. Overall both side couples were not as enticing or as interesting theme wise as sweet teeth's side couples. Though main couple were really good especially ML and his exploration was worth every minute
Anyways I overall love it just as much i love sweet teeth. Though personally this was so close to overtaking my favorite k drama "reply 1997" (because of as equally good inner monologue, but being better at giving screen time to side couple) but in the end couldn't because of rushed ending.
Second, acting was average especially ML was always giving confusing expression. That actor seemed to act like new actors even though his profile shows he is not. There were few who had potential like ogata, Nishida and mitsuhashi's actors, but the director was not able to bring there potential out. None of the speach delivery were good enough
Third, production is also seemed low budget with restrictive scenes and costumes
Fourth, character were also not all that great either. Lot of forgettable characters like those prosecuter group (who even lacked basic fleshed out personality). There were three female character - girlfriend who is most annoying and shallow character, mother and company subordinate who has barely presence or relevance in the story. Overall, even if i have positive impression over a few character (like Nishida), none of them were break through character.
Fifth, story.....the thing I hoped more than anything else is story since writer is same as Hanzawa Naoki. But i was disappointing in that front too. Though it's still this the best aspect of this show because other aspect are worser. The plot idea is what's intriguing and unique (because of which i kept watching untill the end). Executed of the main plot is also decent. But what's makes its worse is it look like a rough draft of something which could have been awesome with lot of added cheap sub plots and inferior revisions.
1) protagonist seems like a forced additional character put into the plot with unconvincing connections ( like his connection with mitsuhashi) just to make his character relevant (ogata felt more like the supposed actual protagonist). Protagonist's action doesn't seem to have much influence over the plot (he is like a third person point of view). He as a character is meek and wimpy and pretty much influenced by other characters views. Since he is used as channel/plot device to express other characters' s view, his stances keeps on changing throughout the story and overall giving a inconsistent characterization.
2) sub plots involving protagonist are lazy writing. Both his mother and girlfriend exist to create artificial anguish. His mother keeps getting sick with some disease or another which doesn't have any relevence or need in the plot. His girlfriend is their to create the ntr anguish. Her banker superior is just a stock generic character who has no relevence in plot other that to be the girlfriend stealing narcistic successful guy. The entire plot of she falling in love with banker superior is simply written and presented in a unconvincing and unrealistic. I get they tried to make "give urself importance first" theme with the girlfriend at the end. But that was too last, seemed like a last minute theme change to remove the shallowness or unnecessary extension of character. some of the cringiest scenes of this show was Ml's mother giving red hearing about the ntr and the banker superior repeating ML's line to girlfriend as a discount affection.
3)Even the main plot is not at that great. Idea is genuinely great, but execution is average. Lot of things were too simple and straightforward. Lot others seemed rushed or offscreen. It overall felt like a rough product. They were trying to present some emotion and complex situation and grey areas. But it just didn't feel upto mark.
Overall, a interesting watch just for the sake of different unique topic experience (ie bit rigging and collision). Otherwise not real worth it.
I hope rest of Jun Ikeido work are closer to Naoki than this.
Edit - I think I am too much complained about it. Looking back, it was decent watch for just 5 episodes tbh
In 1997, i hated the loud annoying first episode but by the end i magically fell in love everything about it including the things i hated. On the other hand 1994, had a great first episode but by the end it turned into a frustrating watch (though last episode was still great).
Lot of 1994's weakness comes for cheap fake outs, gimmick and subvertion of parallel made with 1997.
Going into detail-
1) fodder love interest
Worst thing about this drama is without a doubt is Chil Bong. I don't hate him as a character, but he is given a crappy storyline with 1 dimensional characterisation by writers. He entire life too much revolves around FL. he is the guy with least rapport with other people among the main group. The two people he have some amount of rapport other than FL is fl's lover and fl's father. (Yeah, he does have a bit with the catcher and his cousin too, but it's quite minimalistic portrayal). Outside of fl, he has 2 things - baseball and his mother/dysfunctional family (out of which mother topic lasted for 1 episode...to be more exact one scene and forgotten entirely after that. While baseball serve a more of plot device for his proximity with fl). Also his interaction with people in general are one sided or indirect or circumstantial like mother was not really present in the conversation heartfelt phone conversation and with the other baseball teammates, catcher was the one who was talking.
If hypothetically we remove chil bong from the story then good parts we lose are heartfelt phone conversation with mother, friend's value interview and related interaction of last 2 episode, general baseball related scenes (which 1997 lacked) and the scene where he decided to not be clingy to fl and moved on while making parallel with oppa. That's about it. But if we go and see the advantages of removing him from storyline are non existence of most cringiest scenes of the show ( aka getting a mentor overnight for the cringe inducing dialogue delivery of "it's not over untill it's over" and the baseball handing over to oppa scene and many other clingy scenes which were translated to his greatness) and the shitty over prolonged husband mystery which is preventing couple progression and creating unnecessary anguish and baiting. Overall advantages outweigh the good parts unfortunately.
Also, in all honestly, husband was obvious since second episode due to the trick introduction and most wedding hints. Plus fl never loved him so he never stood a chance either. He was pretty much as fodder as it gets.
Few comparison - 1997's love rival were shifted between two people, so it had a much more better flow to the story. (Unlike 1994 were we had to continuously suffer chil bong baiting). Also 1997's love rival were their own characters like teacher (ml's brother) whom we see as teacher, as neighbour, as son, as brother, as love contender and going though exploration of future dream and job perspective to struggling with love life, love loss and finding soulmates etc. More well rounded character than chil bong can ever be.
Another comparison would a character from this show itself, haitai. Even though he also served as love rival like chilbong for brief period, he is had much more character exploration than chilbong ever had (like about army recruitment, love life, roommate dynamics, interaction with fl, fatherly love for the baby of house etc). I saying this inspite of haitai being my least favorite character out of main group.
I genuinely wish chilbong story was more about friendship than love because his usage in last two episode were something to be desired off (Even though he was frustrating to watch in most other episode)
2) Incest bait
It absurd how they were trying to make parallel with 1997's weird brother love rival situation in a much much more creepier way. Not only it left a bad taste, but also made husband mystery kind of obvious. Thankfully the bait only lasted for 2 episodes. But still after effects were not good either - whenever fl's father calls them sibling it just bring out the lingering creepiness of the situation. Also this is also what created ml's indecisiveness for half the show. It's unsatisfactory how the reason for it were not explored further instead just glossed over, solidifying it as somewhat of a gimmick.
3) queer baiting
Yes, that is exactly what happened or else "red car" won't be there. But they did keep their intent ambiguous enough uptill then with oppa interactions. Also furthering this problem is die die the love interest binggeure ended up with. Die die was a one episode cameo character who never appeared again even in the wedding photo and only referred in future episodes. Her appearance itself is of lesser value in terms of both significance and screentime compared to 1997's Doctor Lee Joo-won which makes this entire situation worse. Not to mention, binggeure actor's facial expression were giving out disinterested vibe rather than confused or excited throughout the date scene untill the kiss for the sake of maintaining the bait red car appearance effective. Couldn't enjoy that scene at all. At the very least they should have explored die die in further episodes instead of making her a mere plot device for end up game.
4) pregnancy
Well, it kind of good they explored parent's pregnancy. But it was also a parallel to the second pregnancy plot twist of reply 1997. So compared to it, this doesn't really hold up. It not like they explored main couple's 3 children or side couple's 4 children afterwards either. Yeah, so many children but non of the transition explored.
5) cameo end game love interests, transition between the 2 time periods, cameo 1997, early side couple reveal and diminished fan girl aspect.
Just like binggeure's die die, Haitai had Ae-jung as his endgame who had even lesser screentime even though she appeared for 2 episode.( Though Multiple times mentioned in past and succeeding episodes). Seriously what is wrong with these writers, she had almost equivalent screentime as doctor Lee Joo-won had in this series lol. Like reply 1997's cameo or the baseball girl or the trash's coworker or other girl's haitai dated surprisingly had more screen time. Also same case with Chilbong with girl which whom he bumped in last episode. Though it's unconfirmed if he ended up with her which make the existence of the scene even more weird and unnatural.
Second thing is transition. 1997 did a very good job in portraying the scenes in between the time between graduation and reunion which connects them. On the other hand 1994 handles it very poorly. Between dorm leaving and housewarming party, there is only the wedding scene which is not substantial enough. Also the housewarming party scene itself (a not intentional one) was simply lackluster in comparison to 1997's reunion (even lackluster in comparison to 1994's wedding) . It felt like a filler aside for children scene in last episode and cameo of 1997's leads
1997s cameo was good. But i do have few minor complaints. Oppa went out of character when he went to hit 18 year old girl. (Would have been much better or made sense oi 1997's fl hit him first). Also hak chan cameo was seperate from the group didn't sit well with me (also fl tutoring didn't make all that sense either). Lastly they did a joke of bring the the two fathers (Sung Dong-il) crossover, but we know the two mothers are also the same!
Second couple were outed too early. They were building up to a love triangle, but then it was cut short and future revealed the side couple and within one episode they become couple in past too. They baited audience towards a love triangle and rushed towards the pairing. I like the pairing but I really want to see Samcheonpo and Yoon-jin slowly getting attracted to each other and falling in love part rather than just pairing up. Also it's not like because of early reveal we were allowed to show further couple progression either. Pseudo proposal is the last thing we got on their front. We were neither shown their children, pregnancy or even actual marriage proposal either (also we did't even get the long distance due to army part either which they made a big fuss about in one episode)
Lastly fan girl aspect was literally forgotten after first few episode. Only brought up again for one yoon-jin tantrum (so not really from fl's side either). I mean it not unnatural for people to move of from these kind of fan fanaticism as they grow up. But in this show it feels that this aspect exist only for the sake of making parallel with 1997 (it also doesn't do the transition good enough which makes moving on from that not realistic enough either)
Inspite of writting a huge ass paragraph about flaws of this show, i do love this show overall. I am mostly frustrating because it had too much potential which was wasted. Best part about this show is the cast. (ML of this show is in everyway better than 1997's ML and he is the best character of both shows combined for me. Even though i still preference 1997's FL, 1994's FL also is comparable enough. Side cast also had a lot of variety. I especially love Samcheonpo's character a lot. 1997 's cast was all about looking beyond stereotypical appearence, but 1994 starts with non stereotypical to begin with). Other awesome thing about this show was exploration of culture of different places of Korea and their accents (Which was only briefly touched upon in 1997). Also the 90s references were much more overload than reply 1997, so this show is better in that aspect too. I also prefer both main and side couple of this show compared to the ones of 1997. Rest comes for usual dynamics of reply series with themes of friends, family, love, celebraty cameos, comedy and slice of life and coming of age aspect which were enjoyable enough.
Overall it had a chance to be better than 1997, but it couldn't because of the baiting directional choices and non organic plot progression.
I really hope there is a season 3 sometime in future (though there is no sequal books written as of yet). No doubt one of the best japanese drama out there. Especially i love the depth in technicalities which can only be found in j stories
I hate how this series try to portray ML as some Gary Stu. ML is the victim of pregnancy case, ML is imparting good values to his kid when they met, ML is always helping accident victims, ML extremely good to his ex giving her enough time and relationship stability untill breakup and even after breakup he helped he financially, ML is business genius and his every decision is narratively proven right and others are always wrong etc.
I just hate it. This is not how u portray cold arrogant asshole or struggling single mom
It could have been one of the best drama if it had given enough time to develop the endgame romance instead of using it as a twist
One of the very few Chinese drama so far which I can't stop watching. Off to second season
But it still have problems, most of which can be summed up to 2 points
- most girls being xiao love interest not only is wasted plotline but also undermines development and relationship of lot of other character
-foreshadowing and lores are poorly placed
If i go in plot detail, i would divide the show into 5 parts/arc
1) Beginning and individual journey arc (i.e from their parents death to the point before the two brothers meet each other)
Problems with this part include
- their parent died from suicide, which kind of undermines the the entire revenge drama. (Because biehe cannot be blamed for it, even though the show tries to blame him for it. If anything yao yue is more at blame than anyone else, but since it was suicide it still undermines the blame)
-hua wu que individual journey is extremely bland. Especially the lover arc was totally bland and partially nonsence and also were the worst episodes of the entire series.
2) Jiang Bie He arc (i.e treasure map +silver cargo arc, basically from the brothers meeting to jiang bie he being exposed)
Probably the best arc of the series, but still
-Problem with this arc is all the unnecessary love interest of xiao yu. Especially the fat girl is discriminated by narrative being fat, poor girl is discriminated by narrative for being poor etc. They dont really add much to the narrative anyways.
-Also especially in silver cargo arc, xiao yu character was kind of dumbed down for other to outwit him. He literally knows everything, but never uses that info in clever way.
3) 3 months to duel arc (i.e the part where xiao yu and ha wu que promises a duel in 3 months and goes on a journey with each other's master)
-This arc have the recipe to be a really good arc, since it has a lot of twist and turns. But is executed very poorly. Like for eg- hero lu was barely mentioned (like once or maybe twice), so it was more like his character coming for the twist out of nowhere or Mr tong's identity was too obvious and the was waste (if tong was lian xing instead of yao yue, there would have been support of emotional weightage for her action in finale and not to mention sight better attempt at surprise element)
4) wu ya clan arc (ie the entire thing that happened in and around wu ya palace)
-Next best arc after the second one. It problem stems from how 12 zodiacs were underused as group and how rat or su ying were introduced too late.
5)finale/duel arc
-The was almost perfect except for two minor problems. The members of 10 great villan's death felt forced and yao yue hallocinating jaing feng was not only disservice to jaing feng's character, but also empowerment to her stupid jelousy
Character wise-
-Xiao yu was quite a delight to watch since he is very expressive, but it never really felt like he was naturally getting stronger (even though he got those manual and even after the scene with being intelligent is not enough, growing strong is needed emphasis). He beating rat with his two days learned martial art was a joke tbh
-Hua Wu Que was way too stiff. He never showed expression like jelousy which should have been present considering the love triangle. He expression does get better towards the end, but it's was never upto mark. But bromance was still great.
-Tie Xin Lan for most part is ok for her role. She and hua wu que didnt have much chemistry is the only problem
-Su Ying and Jiang Bie He's only problem was they were not introduced early. While jiang bie was indeed introduced in 1st episode, it was like a 1 sec cameo image. His relationship with jiang feng should have been explored with some actual speaking role.
-Rat would have had a better role as tragic villan considering his backstory, appeareance and his daughter being heroine, but unfortunately he played out as petty generic hateable villan. He should also have been introduced early on considering 12 zodiac was major part of 1st episode.
-Yu Lang actor was extremely talanted but unfortunately material given for that character is too generic. He had a chance of played Redemption arc and showing he is different from his father (like how the yi hua palace sisters are different from each other). But he born and died as a evil with 0 character development like his father. Well, being killed by tie ping gu was the next best thing. But i wish tei ping gu learned about his hand in her grandfather's death to have some additional emotional weightage
-now coming to Murong Jiu and black spider. For most part black spider played as second fiddle to xiao yu rejected love interest and when murong jiu finally go her memory back, they rushed everything and skipped all the dynamics and development of their relationship
-zhang jing and gu ren yu had even worse. One min they started working together when murong jiu disappeared and next min he like her suddenly. There was 0 development whatsoever
-12 zodiac were very poorly used. They were never shown together or as group (which they were supposed to be instead of 10 great villans who were not a group, but still shown as group). They were placed randomly and killed one by one. Some were even killed in the episode or even seconds after introduction. Also the tiger and rabbit were forgotten at the end. (Especially tiger got forgotten is weird, considering his wife died with 10 great villans
Finally action scenes were ok, but this series need more action. Also action scene are scenary like instead of adrinaline pumping with stakes and strategies, So i was not really all that into it
Every timeskip were awful breaking the flow and rushing the story unnecessarily. Also jojima and shiori were also barely explored/developed beyond their respective arcs, not to mention their relationship together.
They drama required atleast 3 or 4 episodes more to properly end it satisfyingly