bokminthe

Repetitive, dragged and not funny

I feel the need to write this review to offer a bit of an alternative opinion to what seems to be the general consensus that this is a great drama.

I'm not sure what this was trying to be or what message is trying to convey. I didn't find it very entertaining either.
It started with an interesting premise but it went downhill very quickly.

One of my main problems with this drama are the plotholes. There is really no explanation on how things work, the main character is the one deciding what things are to be left or changed and we have to take it at face value. Who knows, maybe her friend Fuku-chan was actually not supposed to have a child, we'll never know. But that's the main problem, who decides what has to happen and what not, who decides what is good and what is bad. Maybe she saved her annoying teacher from being wrongly accused in the train situation but maybe later he killed his wife. We don't know, we just have to accept FL is somehow omnipotent and her choices are the best course of action. Somehow she also knows what to do or not to get shiny points for her next life.

It was generally passable until the friend Mari is also introduced as being in a repetition of her life, at that point I started to question if most people going by that logic are repeating lives or what are the rules on who is allowed and who isn't. Everything was already hold by a very fine thread but when the story line with the plane is introduced it was made so much worse. For starters why did they have to save all that people? They just decided so. Again, there is never an explanation on fate, morality or anything. One could argue that by them focusing all their energy and time to be pilots they missed making so many memories with the friends and enjoying life to the fullest, or that that plane crashing was meant to happen, or, and here it comes the biggest of them all, if the friends died in the plane, shouldn't they also be in their lives repetition or maybe they would have crossed the other door and reincarnated into something else in which case their deaths in the "repetition" timeline of the FL and Mari would be set to die no matter what since they wouldn't exist as humans or as themselves anymore. It's just never explained and it makes no sense.
The writers basically decided some people where allowed to be main characters, meaning people that could repeat their lives and the rest are just the puppets that follow a specific pattern.

If you have watched Groundhog Day (1993) and you enjoyed it you might like this, if you don't like a plot that pretty much repeats over and over I would say avoid this, it gets annoying, especially since the only repeated events in the life of the FL are the same ones EVERY single life with minor differences in general and a different career. It's a chore and the story is not so worth it. There are so many details in her career progression in each of her lives and what is the point? Especially the one where she's a producer.

I found it kind of stupid to go for the capitalistic stereotype of what is considered success when the FL only changes her career in each repetition and that somehow gives her different outcomes of what animal the guy in the desk tells her she's going to be in the next life. I guess we all should be doctors apparently. Equally stupid that something as silly as that guy disrupting the coming of age ceremony was full of comments about how he was going to be a microorganism in his next life. And it's not even the disrupting, is the fact of his aesthetics as well, it was very on the face of "if you don't dress society approved and behave how japanese society dictates you'll loose points at reincarnation", same kind of sentiment was shown when Mari says in her first life she was a gyaru for a while. Excuse me? If it had been done in a very funny way I could have taken this afterlife based on capitalistic success and japanese morals entertaining enough, but it falls way short of that.

It was also convenient that the four of them lived single their whole lives, I guess because the writers knew they wouldn't be able to handle the story if there were partners and children involved, so only the background characters were allowed that kind of progression.

I'm assuming part of the comedy in this show is supposed to be the way they accentuate the roundabouts of Japanese communication, I get it really, but I just simply didn't find it funny, I found it as frustrating as it is in real life.
This also brings me to the fact the FL was not really a very likeable person and there is not much of a change in her all throughout. Sure, she says at one point she started doing the things to be nice not for the points but it doesn't change the fact she's doing exactly the same things and we're not really being shown anything new.

Overall I can't recommend this drama, watching too much repetition already felt such a waste of time, it's only a comedy in the sense it's not a melodrama and the story isn't that engaging. Some might say it's ultimately a story of friendship and while yes partially it is, it's questionable when in most of the FL's repeated lives she didn't spent that much time with the friends (she even complains to them in one of them because they visit her too much) and it's not shown like she misses them that much in the timelines she chose to not have a relationship with them. For this reason as well, I really didn't care much for that ending and it didn't make sense either how they managed all to be reincarnated into the same thing considering they were only given one option every time? Works for cute effect I guess.

Music is fine, they clearly played with the nostalgia trip in that aspect a lot. But it felt like they wanted to precisely get some easy points for doing that. I recognised many of the songs and brought me back in time, but sorry, it's not enough to make this show good, I'll rather just go and listen to the music without watching this.

Read More

Started out ok-ish and gets worse the more you watch

It started out ok although from the beginning there are a couple of clichés that already made me cringe.
Main Guy character is a classic "nice guy" with stalker behaviour, very frustrating and if pushed can be quite evil even.
Girl has self-esteem issues.
Side characters are side characters, we learnt almost nothing from anyone, it's kept very superficial. I could even say the same for the main characters, the reasons for him to like her are hold by a fine thread until they have more relationship and we're still told absolutely nothing about her, I don't know anything of what she likes or doesn't, what she wants to do or doesn't, she's just pretty.
Writing is mediocre and I feel at points the movie doesn't know what it wants to be or what direction it wants to go, at points it feels like it wants to be a different version of 500 days of Summer, but then it tries to tell me the main characters are meant for each other and there is romance there, even suggested with that ending. Talking about the ending, it's unsatisfactory to the point it leaves me a very bad aftertaste as if everything Guy did was justified and June grew nothing and thought about things 0.01 seconds. There was no growth and no change.

I found some parts a bit funny, but overall not sure I could classify this as romantic comedy, Guy makes this movie go south very early on and I just felt uncomfortable he was so pushy and inactive at the same time.

Read More

It was very nice and then it gets spoiled by meh

This movie is very beautiful.
The scenery and cinematography are great and the type of filter or film they used gives nostalgic vibes.
I think acting is very good, especially by the ML, he was great and I really liked the dynamics between the characters and the banter.
The introspective journey paired with the scenes, the train rides and the beautiful landscapes give you all the feels and I found myself grinning for a big part of the movie because of the little endearing moments here and there like the one with that young traveler in the snow.

Everything was great for me until towards the end when they dropped the EXTREMELY over used troupe that it's also actually very predictable from the start.
That was such a shame and it really spoiled it for me.
There are just so many things that could have been done with the plot, the most plain one being just simply that time passed, that there was a long distance between them. I really wanted a trip for the sake of introspection, self-discovery and peace but we sadly got this once again, and at least I guess he knew and it was not a bomb like they do in other movies/series. I really wish this plot device was left in the 00s where it belongs. I'm so over it at this point.

The plot in general is not new even leaving out that cliché at the end and the execution is not exactly great either. While the flashbacks are carried out in an ok manner the last part showing her side in that way for cliché/shock value was both confusing at times, repetitive and just wallowing in the drama for the sake of it.
Moreover, they knew each other for like a month I think it was, so it's too extreme that he's still hang up on that 18 years later to the level of affecting his career in that way. Also equally unrealistic in my opinion that he only had one 3 months relationship in all that time, what level of workaholic are we talking about?

It's really as described by the tag, bittersweet, although for me because of the lost potential and not what happens in the plot.

Read More

Messy writing, started good and gets worse the more you watch

What happened here????? I'm so baffled by this drama, how it managed to destroy or not develop properly anything that it started, everything is introduced and dropped. This drama was either a writing exercise using a dart board with random words and they hit some random ones and had to connect them in the story somehow or a "pass the story" game the writer had with their family one Saturday evening after a couple of drinks where each person was trying to add any absurdity to the plot they could.
If you read the premise of this show above please just completely ignore it because that's just about the beginning of it and it's dropped very quickly.

At the start I thought it was interesting as a concept, not necessarily new but I welcomed to see what they would do with it. Clearly they didn't know what to do with it. After a couple of episodes with more comedy (although some quite juvenile for my liking), they completely dropped it and moved to the couple dating show. At this point I already started wondering what was the point of it. ML's issue is put to the background so quickly and at times even forgotten. At points there were some better moments but many others I started feeling I was watching paint dry.
What was the point of the time jump after the dating show? I really don't know. I don't like when I'm invested in a story, or trying to be like in this case, and there is an unjustifiable time jump, doesn't matter how small. It felt very "ok that's done now, let's do something else". But the "something else" they do it's just going in circles achieving nothing. The romance falls short, the friendship between ML and SML falls short and it's never explored in depth other than showing some past disagreement. Everything is pretty much left half baked and you keep watching hoping something comes that makes you change your mind, but then it slowly creeps into melodrama territory with the adopted trope and the bio mother appearing (what was the point again? it doesn't add anything to the story or personality of FL) and then proceeds to do what happens at the end of episode 9, what was the cherry on top and by that point I was simply done with it. Then somehow not only they managed to introduce even more melodrama with the father getting scammed and then having an out of the blue action bit at the end with him and the three sons but also somehow they tried to evolve a bit the story of FL's mother last minute mentioning the engagement but actually nothing happens? And then to top it all off we have 15 minutes at the end with a children's play with a similar plot to the original premise of this show with flashbacks I don't need to see because I've already seen them.

Why are there so many characters? Somehow there are so many but they make me care about none. FL at times felt like background character because she was so plain I just didn't see the point. Her whole personality was just trying to write the next show and not much else. As I already said introducing the bio mother was cliché and boring, but also very annoying that once again they're trying to excuse or forgive abandonment. I have seen only a few dramas where this is tackled in a more realistic and correct way. Most times it's just forgiven because "blood" and it's a trope I highly despise. In this case while there wasn't complete forgiveness it wasn't really tackled in any engaging way, it's not even discussed why. It was very pointless.
ML had personality and there is more in-depth to his character but his issue as mentioned previously was massively underutilized and we're only told about his thought process as an afterthought, like for example when at the end he decides he doesn't want to do news anymore. We were not taken for the ride of his development, we're just told later. At this point I do have to mention Go Kyung Pyo's acting because I've seen him in other stuff and I liked him but here I just don't know what they were going for. I say "they" because I can imagine that's what the director wanted but the moments when he couldn't lie were bad, and he would just become an expressionless statue. Only when he would have an outburst he would be more human. So he spent most of the drama being a robot and it wasn't engaging, nor funny or entertaining, it was just awkward. The "issue" shouldn't even have been there anyway as mentioned previously because it was only used in the beginning.
About the SML, who cares? I just couldn't care about his character. He was introduced as the second love interest to make the cliché love triangle but after, why follow his story further? Sure, they do tackle some issues with his character but it all felt very superficial and the outcome is not fireworks worthy to spend that much screen time on him.
Secondary characters on the FL side are a big what's the point? and on ML side are plain annoying. FL's friend with the kid only there in the beginning to make you think the kid is FL's and then after she's just there so she can be the love interest of ML's brother. The kid is only there for the same reason, and I still don't understand the point of his "power", not explored, you don't even know if real and overall added nothing to the mess.
ML's parents had an interesting background and story with their struggles but even at the end I didn't feel like there was much consideration to the fact ML had been used for a long time and their parents took it for granted and they spoiled the two younger ones big time. They're trying to sell me at the end because of the pity party that was the accident that they're great parents but they're not? And it has everything to do with their attitude and nothing else.
ML's brothers were pretty awful spoiled people and again, they try make them better by the end but I felt nothing, nor did the "romance" of the middle one with FL's friend. No chemistry and I feel bad for her since he gives the vibes of man-baby.
Talking about chemistry, the one of the main leads is not quite there either. At some points I thought they were cute together but most of the time I felt nothing. I did like at points their romance was a bit more mature and straightforward but overall even though it's one of the supposed main plot points of the show it felt background many times.

Personally I can't recommend. I know already when I start skipping scenes that this is not going to be a pass for me and in this case I used it so much especially in the last two episodes. It's a complete mess writing wise and I can't think of any element that would justify wasting the time since everything else like music, characters... are either just passable or mediocre.

Read More

I haven't watched the original...

...and this was ok, not great but also not terrible.
I think the premise is interesting at the beginning and the story of her going back to 98 becomes more of a classic romcom what was ok for me.
I think it was around episode 8 when it started to go a bit downhill for me, it started to drag and felt slower at the pacing. Still, the thing I found the most annoying at that point was the overall introduction of him also as a time traveler, and mostly the fact that the story at that point is shown in a very scene by scene way and becomes confusing. Until that point you're wired to think all the time in her going back to the past, but then he's doing the opposite and instead of showing the story in a linear manner like it happened with her, and what would have made this a lot easier to follow, they keep showing things simultaneously and I got a bit confused a couple of times. Later this seems to improve again, but once they show who is the real culprit....well, I started yawning, it became so melodramatic and so cliché. Motive? who needs one when you can just introduce a psycho that just does things because yes.
It definitely got less interesting for me from that point onwards and I found episode 11 the most dragging of all, especially also with Kwon Min Ju. Sure, I felt bad for her and I could understand where she was coming from, but she was using victimism and suicide to hurt others at the end of the day. She "doesn't hate" Han Jun Hee but tries to basically hurt her and everyone else. The reason for her to get better later is weak as well. Overall I was not very satisfied on how that was portrayed and tackled.

Jung In Kyu was very melodramatic at the end of the original timeline, it was just bad in my opinion in taking the blame for something he didn't do. He certainly didn't think enough there and felt like an impulsive regreatable teen reaction and all I could think was "this is lame".
The ending is ok but also leaves many questions about all the other characters since it only shows the main two. Funny enough the main question I had is what happened to Oh Chan Hee, did he go on a killing spree and was never caught in the new timeline? As a child he already was showing an interest in Min Ju because of his brother's photos, did he try to kill her later on? Or maybe no because she was not depressed and so not an "easy" prey anymore? did he kill someone else instead? (obviously I assume even if he tried he didn't kill Min Ju because Nam Si Heon mentions her in the bus like she's still alive). Did his brother become a stalker of Kwon Min Ju? I mean, he kind of already was with the photos and all.

The moments of resolution in this drama generally felt a bit anticlimatic for me, when FL manages to get control of Min Ju's body again before the jump I was not impressed, the way they meet back again in the end didn't impress me either. Maybe they didn't have that much chemistry so it left me a bit flat? Maybe because other than the story we don't get to know much about each of the main characters nor they do share that many bonding moments? not sure if that's the reason, I can't fully pin point why.
Something that also bugs me is the fact that only towards the end we learnt that Jun Hee and Min Ju can communicate with each other, like what? shouldn't this have been a thing during all the drama then? it would have changed the whole thing in my opinion, so to be honest I do count this as a plothole, and if there was a reason only then it was possible they didn't explain it at all. Is it just to be more melodramatic? Otherwise they could have met, communicate, raise concerns and helped each other along the way, what would have made the whole story a complete different thing.

Overall I think this would have been interesting and a bit different if the series had been longer and they had also focused on the characters relationships in the new timeline, or had even introduced the idea of paralel timelines because of the change. I find it a bit unsatisfactory when shows end with a reset.

The reason why they could time travel is not really even suggested either so the whole idea of the time travel is kept superficial, I'm ok with it in general but if someone is expecting more in-depth in that respect this is not it.
The song chosen to be the one for the cassette very annoying after a while.

Generally it's an ok watch but forgettable.
I know people will tell me the original is so much better, it might be but I've also read here in the comments this one generally follows the plot of the original very close, meaning, I'm going to find the melodrama and the culprit as annoying as in this one so I'm probably going to give it a miss for now, I might watch it at some point when I don't remember this one at all.

Read More

Entertaining and easy watch but comedy can be a bit too juvenile at times

I recommend this show, it's an easy watch, quite fast since the episodes are not too long and the series only has 12. It's entertaining, funny at times and the characters are fairly diverse and even given its short run time you do learn a bit about most of the characters what I feel even long dramas sometimes don't achieve.

I think the character of Aziz stole the show though, he was very funny and one of the most sane persons in the show. I also liked the chaebol related comedy, and Baek Ma Tan was the second funniest to me in this show.
The show made me laugh and chuckle many times, but I do have to admit it made me cringe at others for having too much of a juvenile humour for my taste that had me looking like Sung Hyung Mi. If you do like that type of humour then you'll enjoy all of it though.

The pacing was generally ok but for some reason certain parts of some episodes were a bit more boring. The first two episodes are an example of this, especially the first one, mainly because I didn't find it funny when they tied Lee Sang Shik and left him in a room. Generally the bullying in that first episode was not very good taste and kind of problematic to pass it as comedy to me.

The main couple here is all right and overall enjoyable but I think the shortness of this show makes that relationship suffer. Things go from one side to the other quickly and it makes you question their feelings (especially his). I liked more the developement of the second couple, it was more interesting and entertaining to me.

Other than that the show was enjoyable and it had also cute and even good cheesy moments. So if you're looking for a light romance and comedy this is for you.

Read More

Strong leads, social and political issues but suffers from pacing

I generally recommend this drama, it has good leads, an interesting story and some funny bits (Seol Ji Hwan's soap on tv was so funny!! as well as Scarlett's reactions to it).

The story and the social issues mentioned in the drama might be more interesting to you if you have a bit of background info about certain things in Korea. I liked the gender swap roles and commentary, as well as the fact they tackled the thing of korean women changing their views on marriage in more recent times. Even in the western countries it's still frown upon not wanting to marry out of convictions and morals. As the FL said, she didn't believe in the institution of marriage, and I applaud this drama for tackling this. I don't know exactly how it's in Korea in terms of civil partnerships but I can imagine is not great, it's not even perfect in the western countries eventhough generally accepted. I would have liked more social commentary on the aspect of other women not wanting to marry because of the societal pressure of quitting their careers, as well as the family pressures (although I guess it can be seen a bit through Song Ga Kyung's character but I would have liked for it to be more clear). But overall I'm very happy this drama tackled the marriage thing, I've never seen any other drama do it.
Corruption and politics on the internet was also interesting. As usual, I would have liked more in-depth commentary but I'm still satisfied.
The sismance in this show is strong and I loved it, it was so cute and so much fun. Scarlett was great as a character and sometimes I wished she was the main one, but at the same time I think I got enough of her to not be annoyed she wasn't the main FL. Some of her fashionable outfits were so cute! and me saying that is a lot because I'm not usually into the trendy styles they wear in dramas. Her romantic story with Seol Ji Hwan was fun as well.
Talking about Seol Ji Hwan, I loved that he had a flip phone!!!
I'm usually not a lot into the OST of kdramas either, but I have to say this is one of the few ones where not only it was tolerable but there were certain songs I liked, especially the game one that Park Morgan makes and it's used at different points throughout the series.

Now, for the things that didn't make it a 10 for me.
Main thing is the pace, it dragged at times and it was a bit boring, mostly I think they spent too much time in certain scenes. That actually brings me to the second problem it had since I think that the scenes that dragged the most were the ones with the main couple. I totally get why the story is there as I mentioned before (and very glad it's there) BUT they dragged it way too much and the ending for the couple is not satisfactory to me. Their romance should have lasted half the show max, and they shouldn't be together by the end, the excuses given to continue together are unrealistic, no one is going to commit to a serious relationship "for now" well knowing it will inevitably end because they want different things. Their back and forth became tiresome quite quickly despite the cute scenes here and there. It would have been a lot more satisfactory that in the end the FL had met someone that matched her views, I would have been happy even with a tease at a new relationship.
The product placement in this drama is very on the face, and it broke the immersion for me every single time.
The adopted trope was also annoying and way too overused at this point. I can't care anymore because usually it's copy paste from one drama to another, especially in more modern times. The adoptive parents are great but the kid still mostly favours the biological ones because being adopted in Korea is a curse. In this case it made less sense considering he had foreign adoptive parents and lived in Australia, I think naturally and more realistically he wouldn't have had those views as ingrained in his mind. Either way, the bio mother passing away was an uninteresting dramatic filler as well.

Read More

Interesting premise but too many plotholes in the world-building

This show was interesting at times and it dragged at others. It's only 6 episodes but somehow they managed to drag it at times and at others it felt rushed.
As other people have mentioned in their reviews there is a flaw in the world-building of the show. There are too many questions left unanswered in terms of how society works and what things are different, especially when it comes to reproduction and what kind of things they were doing to solve the problem of the decline in male population. It gave me the impression that nothing was being done science wise to try and understand why it was happening or how to solve it. I think at one point it's mentioned how they created artificial sperm or something of the sorts? It's just mentioned in passing but it's never explained. In a society like that you would think the few males would be exploited to no end as sperm donors, and would create issues of everyone eventually being related if the pool of men is that small. The artificial sperm would obviously solve this to a certain extent but then if they're capable of making artificial one, shouldn't they also be able to overcome the decline in born males? It brings the question if the problem then it's the mother carrying the child, in which case, and considering they can make artificial sperm, maybe make an artificial uterus? Anyway, I'm getting too much into this, the show just simply didn't care in explaining anything. Even if it had been complete fantasy and surreal, some kind of explanation would have been welcomed.
The premise in terms of the world and the plot itself is interesting but it lacks enough exploration. The lack of it would have been passable if all that had been a background element and the plot had revolved exclusively about the show and the FL's character participation in it, but it does involve the bigger issues into the plot and as such it's not satisfactory as it is.
The show part of it it's also quite a big plothole in itself. It's never really explained why it exists in the first place. It's not like it's giving anyone hopes or anything if also the women usually chosen to marry those men are from rich families. Why are they pushing the marriage thing onto those men? They should be forever donors lol it wouldn't really matter much who they marry as long as they contribute to the whole population lol It's said it's the 7th time the show happens, by this time the whole population already knows it's fixed if all women chosen are from rich families and it would have lost all spectators. Sure, the men themselves would be equally popular like celebrities, but no one would care to follow a show to see who they marry, it wouldn't be them so who cares?

Someone in the reviews said this was a trying to be somewhat of a mix between Squid Game and Hunger Games, and I totally agree. I haven't even watched Squid Game although I know more or less what is about and certainly this shares the looks. The music in the last episode when the female contestants are presented was very close to the Hunger Games one, it was blatantly similar.

Acting is generally ok, some of them are better than others. Characters wise, I feel a lot of them were quite superficial and we don't learn anything from many of them, or we learn one thing and that's just their whole vibe. Almond was an interesting character in his more grey area, but it was unsatisfactory how his motivations and decision at the end is not explored more. FL's character was ok in the very beginning, then it's too silly and cliché (girl that doesn't care much about her looks, it's a black hole eating and is clumsy and can't read the room) to then being a more mature towards the end. It was inconsistent and they could have avoided that cliché phase altogether. I'm generally not a fan of the troupe of childhood acquaintances to adult lovers, here it was worse that in other shows because it was pretty much instant as soon as they recognise each other, and their childhood experience together was very brief, or at least it's only shown in a very summarised way, what doesn't help their case either way. As it happens often I was more invested in the side love story and progression of Chanel and Max than the main characters, they were more unique and they had obstacles to overcome. Sure, it's not really explored enough, but for what it is, it was better in my opinion.

Things are kind of left there and then there is an "epilogue" 4 years later. It brings many questions, especially of those that were left behind. Then we have the classic evil laugh, almost, because the evil queen has found their location HOHOHO I mean, it's not like they were super secretive in their location, they're not even covered by woods or anything. I don't know... haha Either way, I don't know if they're doing a 2nd season of this or not, and if not, what a silly way to end it.

Despite all of this and other flaws it was surprisingly passable and entertaining in a general way????!!! How is this possible really??? Maybe it's because my expectations were quite low but I thought it would be worse. I think it being 6 episodes also helped it a lot in that respect. It didn't overstay its welcome much.
My rating goes for interesting idea and for the general entertainment it provided, surprisingly.
It's generally watchable but keep expectations quite low and don't question much of anything, otherwise your brain cells will combust, mine are certainly fried at the edges and I'll move on to something else immediately before I dwell too much into the details of this and I see the back of my head and steam out from my ears lol

Read More

A waste of time.

I can't recommend, it's a total waste of time.
I'm not sure what it was trying to be but manages to do nothing right or interesting enough, and acting is generally quite forced and over the top. Only FL was better and her character was probably the most interesting of the bunch but they don't dwell much in the characters themselves. ML wanted to be a butler because he likes to serve? what? haha I'm sorry, it was lame, it would have been more believable that he said something about wanting to travel, see other places in the world or even learn other languages.

The movie is boring, slow (for what is the plot) and the writing is bad. It's difficult to make a movie in a single location and for it to be engaging and entertaining enough, they didn't succeed at all in this movie.
Sub-plots are brought to the front and back depending on what is convenient to the point they feel forgotten (like the murder "mystery"). The "mystery" is one of those that seems obvious but then it's revealed to not be what you thought just for shock value and where they didn't take you along the journey at all, completely pointless. It wasn't even shocking as a reveal though, because they didn't make me care at all about anything in this movie. The crime here it's calling this thing a suspense, romantic, mystery or amateur detective movie. It's just a mush of nothingness in my opinion.

There obviously are also unresolved questions at the end of the movie, like what happened to the mother of the kid, what happened with the will in the end, what happened to the son and wife of the man that died, they might not have ultimately killed him but they were accomplices of murder in a way and of trying to falsify a will. Why are the two kids dancing happy in the end? There is just no answers.
Also, I'm sorry but that's not kissing. If they're going to make the actors "kiss" like that might as well just not have any kissing scenes, it was weird and cringy to watch.
FL arrives in the cruise with absolutely nothing, yet she manages to have a different outfit daily.

If it had been fun and entertaining I could tolerate some of the other negative aspects of this but it really wasn't, it was a chore to finish.

Read More

Who was this made for?

That's what I'm wondering after watching this.
Was it made for the manga readers? NO.
Was it made for the general public? I don't think so, since it's a collection of scenes without any reason or sense whatsoever and unless you have read the manga you won't be able to link things and fill in the gaps.

I was watching some random show days ago and the plot made me remember Parfait Tic the manga because it shared a couple of similarities and I fancied rereading it. I found out in the process that there was a live action version of the manga. I decided to watch it after rereading the manga, what shouldn't have done.

I need to point out that the manga is not great despite its popularity, and I hadn't reread it since I did first back in the 00s as it came out. My expectations were already very low with this adaptation before starting it because it's a trend with adapted mangas, I think I've only seen a couple of good ones ever. Alas, what made me reread the manga was mostly remembering Daiya as a character because I liked him and because it's one of those rare occasions where the main character chooses the secondary male interest instead of the obvious more main one.

I feel I need to sum up a bit the manga to point out at the same time why this adaptation is so pointless and bad.
For starters, they have, I guess, tried to fit in 10 episodes of around 20 minutes (and they repeat scenes what it's the cherry on top of insulting if you ask me) a total of 22 volumes of the manga. Sure, the manga, especially in the second half slows down and goes melodramatic and dragging but the funny and ironic part is that they have focused here on the more drama and melodramatic moments of the whole series than anything, it's a whiplash of melodrama scene after another. This show, like it has happened with many other shōjo manga adaptations, has gone for a dramatic take on the plot instead of the romcom it should be. Most of the manga, taking those dramatic moments, are more pure romcom, with a clear comedy inclination.
I was trying to think what they have done right in here but it's pretty much nothing. I guess they deserve some praise for not including homophobic and fatphobic comments as well as keeping the gender stereotypes a bit on hold (barely). I thought they would avoid them completely being 2018 and considering everything they cut from the show but hey! there is always space for some gender stereotypes in the mix! I guess they also made Ichi surprisingly more bearable (what might come as a surprise to people but he's one of the worst romantic interests in a manga ever for me).
This show is like it all happened in about a couple of weeks, it's very cheaply made and acting is pretty bad too. I thought the timeline was already fast enough in the manga (about a year and a couple of months or so) but here they said "hold my beer".
Now, a simple sum up of the plot of the manga will already highlight the many things that this adaptation gets wrong (and sorry it's so long but it's 22 volumes!!):

Fuuko is in many ways the typical shōjo manga main character, she's clumsy, bad at studies and yada yada. One of her characteristics is that she's very passionate about her hairstyle, hair in general. It's the reason she has it long and wears a different hairstyle every day (shoutout the day she wore it in a poo shape) . She's also very fond of children and keeps the local kids entertained and plays with them constantly, she's almost like a part time volunteer nanny. I guess that this alone can already explain why she chooses that career path in the end, she specifically wants to work with hair and with children. The show made a terrible job at showing this. Her age at the start of the manga is 15, 16 at the end before the 2 years time jump.
Now, although the series did show the key points of the manga, the more melodramatic moments that is, it misses way too much for the timeline to make sense. Fuuko gets a crush on Daiya first (no, they don't go to the snow, they actually make their way to where they were supposed to go, the zoo, and find their classmates there). It's a crush!!! not a deep love or anything. Fuuko kinda gets pressured by people around her to confess to Daiya even though she was not feeling ready. Daiya rejects her saying, like in the show although in a different way, that he doesn't know what love is and doesn't seem interested to know, he has fun messing around with different girls. I can't even start to illustrate what a womanizer this guy is, he's constantly flirting and getting attention of girls, and it's something that in shōjo makes of him quite interesting as a romantic interest since it's not (or wasn't at the time) very common. Fuuko cries for a few days and feels down about being rejected, but since it was a crush it's not more than that. Soon enough she's able to get back her relationship with Daiya to friend level and it develops from there. This is important, their friendship, to understand the development of the plot later on. Point here that the show managed to give a few of the actions and lines of Fuuko to other characters, especially Daiya, what is kind of annoying as development of the main character. Sure, she's the kind of damsel in distress more often than not, but she's also stubborn and is able to stand her ground and show a lot of initiative. The dog situation in the show is not like in the manga, what would be fine if it wasn't because they tried so hard to make it so much more melodramatic and give points to Daiya that should go to Fuuko. In the manga the dog is abandoned, it's not anyone's. Daiya helps Fuuko the same way, but also she's aware the poster was made by Ichi (after Daiya pushed him to do it btw) and it's Fuuko who receives a call from someone interested and tells the other two that she achieved it (and no sad daddy issues story here, Fuuko's father is present in the manga). This is important because Ichi would until that point heavily underestimate Fuuko's willpower.
From that point the friendship of the three develops and slowly Fuuko starts to develop more feelings for Ichi (who was already having a crush for her when she had feelings for Daiya). With Daiya there is a development of deep friendship, they're like best friends, always hanging together and playful. They see each other pretty much every single day. Fuuko's feelings for Ichi develop deep for quite a few months, I'm theorising here because there is no a clear timeline in the manga of this, but I would say it's probably at least 4-5 months or so? Anyway, at the same time, Daiya is starting to fall in love with Fuuko too but he's overall still very clueless about what he's feeling and ultimately he's not acting on it nor feeling like he has any right to intervene on Fuuko's or Ichi's feelings, it's around this time he also stops being interested in flirting and going out with other girls. The point where the manga introduces the character of Iori is when it starts going quite messy and weird and not sure what the author was thinking to be honest and that can also be seen in the series, only that the time this happens is way reduced. Ichi and Fuuko have mutual feelings but they're not officially a couple or going out when Iori appears. Ichi completely drops Fuuko, I can't fully explain the level of ice water bucket that whole ordeal is. Obviously Fuuko is heartbroken, we're talking like love level feelings, it wasn't a crush like with Daiya and the guy just drops her like nothing and starts ignoring her for Iori as soon as she appears, he skips class to be with her, stays out until super late, etc (pointing out here once again they're 16, Iori is 21 and because Ichi's family knows what happened is also the reason Iori lost her job in the company). During this time Daiya is there for Fuuko picking the pieces and being with her every single moment and trying to make her feel better for weeks. He's obviously inexperienced and probably his main flaw as a person is that he goes way too strong, and so he confesses to Fuuko and asks her out when she's still mourning her feelings for Ichi, and Fuuko agrees later (not immediately) because ultimately is not like all the feelings she had for Daiya had disappeared anyway, she still found him appealing. So they start dating. Daiya is super attentive, always there (the bracelet was the White Day present for her from him, the "snowflake" is a heart in the manga, he says is "his heart" giving it to her, what highlights a lot more the importance and the symbology she applies to losing it later and she spends so many days looking for it too btw). He's basically like perfect boyfriend material. Fuuko starts forgetting Ichi, who by that point has realised Iori doesn't see him in the same way, like in the show. He was expecting during his peak Iori phase that Fuuko would be there waiting for him or something? Seriously Ichi character is so much worse in the manga than in here. Anyway, Daiya and Fuuko have a really good relationship, they're best friends and a couple, really good if you ask me. But author made Fuuko still have feelings for Ichi and care for him even after all the ordeal and everything and the drama in the last few volumes is so unnecessary of her basically not committing to the relationship with Daiya fully, probably just to create drama. In here not sure what they did with the ending and why Daiya breaks up with her. It's confusing because they haven't explained properly the why since they made Fuuko say things that she doesn't say in the manga, if she had in the manga said those things then the breakup wouldn't have happened, and that's the problem. Basically the whole drama at the end in the manga is based on miscommunication as usual, since Fuuko hadn't said to Daiya she actually loved him, so from Daiya perspective and considering they started the relationship with him fully aware that she still had feelings for Ichi, he still thinks the situation hasn't changed, he can't take being with Fuuko anymore thinking she's still in love with Ichi and not him and that's the reason, as well as the reason he is the one to decide to go to China (in the manga they have to decide among the two of them, there isn't a pressure from the parents other than them having to decide who of the two will go). The scene with the taxi at the end is so ridiculous and not sure why they didn't keep it like the manga, it was in the train station and Ichi getting on is actually a funny moment, especially when the other two say something in the lines of "where is he going, he doesn't have a passport or anything anyway" lol

Now, Ichi, not that we learn much of him here anyway, but I feel the need to point out why he's so problematic, as in his character. From day one he's the incarnation of the trope "boys that make your life hell is because they like you". He spends his days insulting Fuuko quite badly, from calling her ugly, dumb, fat, etc, to being there to provoke her at any given moment. Even after he's already confessed to her he continues this behaviour of berating her, how endearing! Then he pulls the Iori thing what is one the lowest moves ever to then consistently openly trying to sabotage and meddle in Daiya and Fuuko's relationship, telling them directly he's doing so btw. He's a piece of crap to me and I'll always be angry that nor the manga nor this adaptation called him out on his shenanigans and that Fuuko still cared so much about him even after all the ordeal he put her through, made no sense.

Side characters? To me, some of the best characters in the manga, apart from Daiya, are secondary, like Akio and Isobe and their cute relationship. Fuuko's friends also have a much bigger role in the manga. I get they didn't have time/money, but almost they could have skipped it all if they were just going to do it this way. If they had gone the romcom like they should there would have been many funny moments, like Daiya and Isobe singing in the festival? or Daiya singing a love confession for Fuuko in front of everyone? the couple's camping? Characters that were also interesting that don't appear here, like Fuuko's sister fully, Ichi's sister, Ichi and Daiya's mothers, the grandparents (the grandfather is like an old version of Daiya, he's a womanizer too, and they're the ones hosting the Christmas party for the whole class! what I found very funny).
I feel the main problem with shōjo manga adaptations is that they don't want to commit to the natural behaviour the characters should have, maybe that's the reason they go drama instead, but it completely loses the charm and they shouldn't bother in doing the series altogether.
I think that bit of banter at the end of the series after the two years jump was more in line of the spirit of the manga than the whole of the series.

I can understand some of the changes that worked better for filming and whatnot (they played tennis, didn't do dancing) but others I simply can't understand and for such a short series they shouldn't even have done it. It's like they wanted to refer to the manga but not fully and the result is a sped up mess.

They shouldn't have bothered, can't recommend. If you like the sum up of the story go read the manga instead.

P.S: As a knitter I have to give a shoutout to the knitting scene, what the hell. I know it's a detail but the manga also did this better. The hat she makes was amateur as it should and the point is that she put way so much effort into doing it and Daiya liked it anyway even though it was roughly made. Here the girl was shown how to knit and two seconds later did a hat with cables and all? Had my eyes rolling.

Read More

A lot worse than S1. If there is a S3 you can skip this one and not miss much at all.

While I didn't think season 1 was a masterpiece at the time since it did suffer of some plot problems in terms of explanations and execution, it is a masterpiece if compared with season 2.

Season 1 had a very good setting and a motive, even if somewhat very generic and never explored enough in my opinion.
I still don't really understand the reason of creating the monsters, evolution or some powers is not worth the hassle, especially from a capitalistic standpoint, they lose more than they gain, immortality might be the only real perk here but potentially killing everyone around you when you cut your finger with the kitchen knife is not worth the immortality in my opinion.
The motives of the bad guys are never fully explained and fall into the very generic category, either just because or because wanting to save X person.

Season 2 main problem is the plot and its execution. First of all like many others have said there are way too many plotholes and I don't think they'll tackle them in a potential season 3. They had the time to show things but they didn't. Of the 7 episodes about 4-5 are just a mess of getting back to the point where we were at the end of season 1, sprinkled with some flashbacks that didn't add much in terms of explanation of the most important things. We're not even told fully well what happened a year prior, nor how the relationship of ML developed with Seung Jo, we're told a bit but not shown. This is a repetitive occurrence in this season, we're told things but not shown.
The setting in season 1 was interesting both historically and cinematographically, here it completely lost the charm it had between the warm tones and the grittiness of the hospital and changed to just dark. Someone please turn the light on!!! This is a problem in many Hollywood productions nowadays, they're recorded very dark to the point at moments you can't tell what is happening in the scene, here they used the same idea and butchered the balance it previously had.
The monsters are very underutilised. There was a reason for it to be there in season 1 because of FL's mother and the general plot, here it feels like they were put there at the end for the sake of not receiving complains there were none, but nothing more. I still don't know more about these creatures than I did in season 1, they seem to be conscious to a certain extent so why would they do what their captors want anyway. I'm a monster and instead of attacking whoever is being put there for me I would just continuously try to break free and kill who did it. Season 1 certainly had more nuance in this aspect but season 2 seems to have gone backwards.

One of the things that annoyed me the most about season 2 is how background character they made the FL. Sure, she's there in body and does some cool fighting scenes but her essence feels pretty off most of the season and she was mostly relegated to damsel in distress. I still don't understand this, she's supposed to be better fighter than ML (sure, he has caught up in the years) and you would think that having her mother's najin (what seems to be kind of special in some way) would put her at an advantage over others, yet they made ML way more powerful than her and he's the one fighting all the bad guys. We're at no point told or shown what kind of najin he was given either for this to be this way. It was disappointing, even more considering that with her memories erased at the end they made her a girly girl??????? Where is this coming from!!!? ML didn't have his memories for a big part of season 2 but he was still mostly himself in his ways and personality (although generally not so much the same personality he had in S1), but with her she lost completely everything that made her herself.
I liked ML in season 1 because it felt like it was this somewhat cocky guy that found himself in a mess and was doing the best he could in the situation but here they decided to make him a superhero basically, and the main problem is not even that he's that way but the fact that we missed and are not shown how he got to that, he simply is now.

I don't have much opinion about their romance since for me it's just base ok, but repeating the plot and dragging their love misery gets old quickly, as in, it was already exhausted in the first season so I didn't want nor needed to see more or less the same love plot in season 2.
Seung Jo was very underutilised and the background stories of the other villains were also very nonexistent here. Can't even begin with those ninja najin mutants that had their heads covered. Imagine having extra good sight and covering your eyes just because of the fashion purposes of your master. Sir, you want the job done or aesthetics? I guess it's the second.
The action parts were good, but they were also dragged for the sake of it trying to show off. It almost reminded me of when I watched Aquaman, it's an action with some sprinkles of plot in-between and here it felt a lot like that too.
Season 1 certainly had more of a plot and there was more exploration of characters, they also felt all more unique. Here they become more the generic dichotomy of superhero series/movies bad guys vs good guys. Sure, they tried to make Seung Jo more of a grey character but with his background character very erased from the plot except for a few flashbacks that don't explore enough and don't let you connect with him, he's just a villain to all effects here.
I found the character of Lady Maeda interesting in the first season, if ultimately disappointing in her, again, dichotomy of character, but in season 2 is just plain boring and very background. I couldn't wait for her to die (if indeed she has that is) but once she did I even thought it was unsatisfactory considering the amount of stuff she had done.

Funny enough, despite all its flaws it's still entertaining at times and the reason for my rating. It's watchable as an action series with nearly zero brains in the plot, don't ask questions. I think if there is a season 3 it might be worse than this one, clearly they're going for an apocalypse type setting with mass killings, what means even more action and less brains.

I think if there is indeed a season 3 you can skip the 2nd altogether, you only need to know that FL and ML found each other and that she had her najin from the end of season 1 removed. Watch the 2 minutes prologue of the last episode of season 2 and you're set.

Read More

Entertaining and good pace generally but frustrating FL and I wish for more growth

Overall it's an entertaining drama and acting is good.
Watching it now (2024) was certainly a nostalgia trip for me, I was shocked how similar their university campus was to mine. The cafeteria, the corridors, the classes, the material of the walls, pillars, railings... wow! It was bringing back so many memories.
The story was interesting in the beginning and I enjoyed the slice of life presented here, the relationships between the characters and the development of their friendship. It's not a very different or unique plot, it's very average but it doesn't make it less enjoyable.
One thing of the plot that was a bit more unrealistic was the coincidences when it comes to the ML knowing sign language and how many people around Sae seems to know it, learn it or pick it quite quickly, but could be worse.

When it comes to the characters I liked all of them in the beginning but I wish we got equal development of Keita as the others in the group, he was left more as a secondary character than anything and not much it's done with him sadly.
On the other hand, while I enjoyed the premise and start of Sae as a character, as the show progressed I grew more and more frustrated with her as well as her dynamic with Kai. Sae was very selfish and although she's called out on it multiple times by Kai (I applauded this) she really doesn't change. There is very little progression of her character in terms of personality and maturity. Kai is the naive nice guy that keeps chasing a girl that has too many issues that in my opinion should tackle before dragging him in and out of her life every time she has an outburst. Towards the later episodes it became annoying to watch and I was really hoping they wouldn't end up together, I thought it was the healthiest for both of them.
In my opinion they didn't work well as a couple nor they had that much chemistry to begin with, at points Kai seemed more her therapist than her love interest. Kai kept showing interest continuously for her, but she kept changing her thoughts for him constantly and many times she was just very stiff standing there doing nothing.
I liked more the secondary couple even though their story is not as deeply explored, but it was cute.

Sae's mother was also quite annoying to watch at times. In earlier episodes she was almost treating Sae as she was a guest in her house, saying things like that she could stay X amount of time longer in the house before becoming independent and so on. She came across as the detached mother that wants her kid out of the house as soon as they turn 18 (or university in this case). But then later on she's super clingy, wanting her to go to Germany with her, meddling between her and Kai and trying to marry her off to the guy she likes... It was weird and inconsistent and considering how selfish Sae was, the mother barely receives any of her rude answers or tantrums.

I enjoyed it for the most part because of the nostalgia, the friendships and most of the characters. It's an easy watch and I would recommend if you like slice of life.
The romance here it's not the fireworks/sparkles type if you're looking for that, it's a slower progression generally speaking.

Read More

Basic entertainment

For those that have watched the anime, you'll be disappointed. For those that haven't, it's entertaining enough if you go with low expectations.
I'm somewhere in-between. I watched the anime growing up but I was never a massive fan of it, I generally found this type of anime where fights take episodes to be a basic ok but not much more for me. I liked the world building the most. But alas, I felt the nostalgia and I didn't have anything else to watch at the moment so I decided to check it out.

I don't understand though why they decided to even make this series if they were only going to bother making 5 episodes. It's a case of if you don't have really the budget maybe don't butcher a series with thousands of fans?

I had low expectations since from the trailer it felt cheap and because usually live actions are always pretty bad compared with the original material. It happens here too as expected.
Some of the costuming, and especially the wigs, are cheap and made it look worse than it could have been. CGI was about passable. If CGI has to be immaculate for you then I would say give this a miss.
Acting was ok at some points, at others it was not great, with actors being just standing there expressionless.
Characters are very underdeveloped, I guess can't be asked more for a 5 episode series but it still was disappointing nonetheless. I also think overall it would have been better in my opinion if they had a retro feeling to the whole thing and had more accurate hair to the anime.

Points go because is generally cohesive and the story flows despite the gaps in it and in the characters development, because the action/fighting is entertaining enough and because it's generally passable as a whole.

Read More

Entertaining and easy-watch

I came to this drama with zero expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. It's entertaining, it's an easy watch and it's more mature than other shows I've seen recently and I very much welcome it.
It's not one of those overly cheesy, love-explosion dramas, so if you're looking for something like that this is not it. The relationship here grows step by step, flowing from dislike to tolerating one another to friends to love.
FL is a strong character, so if you prefer delicate/weak female characters then this drama will not be for you.

There are a few things I found to be a bit lacking but I understand because of its run time. I think overall the length was good and if it had been longer it would have dragged way too much story wise. The start felt a bit not so interesting to me but then it picked up. Last two episodes are a bit dragged and unnecessary in a way, and it's clear they're there to create the final drama.
Characters are good and more typical of romcom, so not a lot of nuances are presented in them, it's kept light.

I don't think this drama was presented as a "all men are bad, all women are good" at all, there were plenty of good men in the show apart from the main two leads, even the FL's ex was not presented as a complete jerk despite of cheating and they remain friends throughout the drama. Except for maybe a couple of comments all coworkers at the firm were also nice and welcoming.
FL has flaws and they're presented in the drama, FL's friend had also flaws and in fact she was a bit tiring with her back and forth when it came to the second ML. The first girlfriend of ML also had many flaws as did the actress FL represented legally. People be seeing a strong FL and already give a tag and run with it...

I liked the relationship of the two ML in the beginning, very healthy bromance, and I kind of wanted more of that, it was cute, but it was soon put to the side.
I did think second ML had more charisma and more depth in his character than the ML, I find this tends to happen in this type of romcoms, they want ML to be perfect so they give more realism and nuance to the friend, what is a shame.
A couple of things that irked me a bit were that the turning point of the show is a gay scandal (I get it, it's Korea afterall, but...) and the trope of "you're not like other men/women".
That being said, I have to applaud this drama for tackling a bit certain aspects of patriarchy and abuse in a country where sexism, gender inequality and domestic violence are high. Sure, it could be better, and it could be sooooo much more in-depth, but considering they're walking a fine line and that it's not the main plot of the drama, it's still commendable.

I think the ML and FL were a good fit together. Not so much the second couple, but mostly because of the way they decided to portray that relationship than the characters themselves. Do Won Joon didn't seem that much into Shin Na Eun, and she was into him but the way of showing it was anticlimactic and a bit of a mess.

Overall I would recommend, it's easy watchable, not long and it's entertaining.

Read More

The cliché of amnesia as plot device

The good thing for me in this drama was the music, as someone that has listened to Hikaru Utada for decades. That's where it ends.

The cinematography (landscapes, mood, light, colours) was good and I enjoyed some of the scenes purely because of it but it's not enough to recommend this drama to anyone.
The story is based on the very cliché amnesia trope, I was hoping I wouldn't have to see that plot device used again ever but here I am. Everything else is pretty much destroyed for me because of that, everything becomes absurd and ridiculous and very easily solvable but they keep hammering their heads against a wall in veeeery slow motion, because the show is quite slow (and I say this as someone that enjoys slow shows/movies when they're done with grace and purpose). This show could have been a film, would have been better.
I get they're trying to appeal to the nostalgia of that type of shows, amnesia trope was so overused in late 90s and early 00s in everything so I had my fair dose of it and got very tired.
Something that also irked me was the zero resemblance of the main character with her younger self, I could kind of see it or imagine it with him, but her younger self was just complete opposites and made no sense.
I liked more the little story they showed of the son with the dancer.

Overall I regret wasting the time watching it, but it also brought me down memory lane with the music. That being said, I still would have preferred to spend my time listening to the music alone than watching it (because it's not like they used all her music for the show either so it did get a bit repetitive in that aspect as well). So, unless you like amnesia as a plot device I can't recommend.

Read More