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J-Dorama doing what it does best
This drama was a reminder of why I love J dramas. The premise was straightforward: A grumpy, blunt, tactless paediatrician gets reassigned from the hospital to fill in at an elementary school infirmary after a patient's parent complains about his handling of a case. The basic arc was predictable, but the nature of the journey was still remarkable. Especially in the first six episodes of the drama, the uncompromising, unsentimental and clear-eyed approach to serious health issues faced by the children was outstanding. From a first grader dealing with a congenital heart defect to a sixth grader having self-harm issues, this drama did not flinch. It did not talk down to the children, or about them, and the doctor's blunt honesty didn't change, even as he learned to broaden his perspective on what it took to look after children.The final third of the drama was heart-warming, in the final episode of the drama pulled on so many heartstrings my lacrimal glands were dry by the end. The drama basically did everything right. A male and female lead who both grew from their interactions with each other without a single trace or hint of any kind of romantic interest. And not for the first time, this was a J drama in which the really heavy emotional lifting in terms of acting performances was done by children. I knew after about episode three that this drama was going to be at least a nine, but in the end its balance of clear-eyed honesty and teary-eyed heartfelt sentiment made it a 10.
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RUN AWAY, SAVE YOURSELF
This show is REALLY old in its whole ethos - glorifying suffering and misery as a sign of inner purity and espousing the virtues of unquestioning filial devotion (to one's actual biological parents).At one point, I was thinking about how Confucian the show's message seemed as the FL's awful mother continued to suck her dry and she continued to bear it heorically (with PLENTY of tears, ofc) when the mother ACTUALLY SAID "Like Confucius and Mencius said, support your parents"
The focus on enduring extreme, endless misery being proof of a person's good character was also very wearing. The non-stop shouting in the first 20-25 episodes was also incredibly hard to take, and another sign of the old school feel of the Drama. That kind of high decibel screaming and shouting was clearly intended at times to be comical, as it was/is in daily dramas.
It's worth stressing that this show was not very makjang in its story elements. Only light touches of makjang, but a whole lot of misery for our super-suffering FL. There have been wekenders in the past few years that shun this archaic formula, but this one embraced it enthusiasticall. The final irony is that in a Drama called "Live Your Own Life", everyone EXCEPT the FL got to do that for most of the show, while she finally did so only in the last 20-30 minutes of the final episode.
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Kaettekitazoyo! Kotaro wa Hitori Gurashi
1 people found this review helpful
Wobbly start, stunning finish
After watching Season One yesterday, we watched Season 2 today. The first couple of episodes were a bit meandering, lacking the tightness of Season 1. The final two episodes were very powerful, and for most of the final episode I was fighting back tears. Kawahara Eito delivered stunning lead performances across both series, but the final episode took his character to new emotional depths and he rose to the challenge magnificently. The first season had the edge in cohesion, and was much lighter viewing overall, but the emotional punch of the final 2 episodes of this series redeemed its wobbly start.Was this review helpful to you?
Less really is more
"Kotaro Lives Alone is an excellent example of all the reasons why #JDramas long ago became my favourites. Emotionally moving without sentimentality, addressing a difficult subject with unflinching directness and sensitivity, a lot of laughs and doing so in ten 23-minute episodes. Imagining a KDrama version is a frightening thought. The episodes, despite being short NEVER felt rushed, just complete and dvoid of bloat. The emotioal impact was real, but unlike so many K Dramas, it was delivered with subtlety and understatement - often greatly increasing it's impact. All the actors delivered, but Kawahara Eito was AMAZING.Was this review helpful to you?
Hīkari hits another homer
This was my first Asian Drama after a break of a year or so, and what a winner! I watched it for the beautiful and talented Mitsushima Hikari, and she did not disappoint. Her performance was superb, especially the complex, nuances of the relationship between her character and her character's son. The growth and healing of THAT relationship was almost the "second couple" of the story, a love story in its own right.Of course, it was the reconnection with the eponymous First Love that made the Drama the sweet and beautiful experience that it was, and rather than try to dissect or analyse it, I will just say, "watch it - right to the VERY end', as other reviewers have noted.
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"USE YOUR WORDS" - or else
This short drama was a stunner. I have completed 412 dramas, this was the 16th that I scored at least 10/10. That means fewer than 1 drama out of every 25 I finish scores as highly as this one did. There was effectively nothing wrong with it.I started it for Bang Minah, and expected a lightweight romcom-ish kind of short. Ms Bang did not disappoint, she's come a long way since the goofy cute of Beautiful Gong Shim. But this was not a romcom. It was a really thoughtful, really intelligently written short drama about relationships and the importance of communication. Part way through episode three reference was made to "Before Sunrise", the Delpy/Hawke classic which is part of a talking trilogy. All three of those movies focus on the leads talking, with very little else happening. Where this drama excelled was in showing what happens when the characters don't "use their words".
At one point, I was angry with this drama because it looked like a central character who was NOT "using their words" would get away with it. They did not. No one did, and that's why this drama gets a 10. The emotional weight and impact in the final part of episode three and much of episode four particularly comes from the middle-aged couple, who turned out to have very significant communication issues of their own. Their story arc left my eyes damp and left me convinced that the Drama I had been about score 9 deserved 10.
Whenever I am blown away by the intelligence and thoughtfulness of the dialogue that I read as subtitles, I am left wondering just how good the actual dialogue is. From my experience of watching films in languages that I know enough of not to need subtitles, I know how very much is lost in translation. That's one of the reasons why I scored this drama a 10, because the dialogue I did see was THAT good, which leads me to think the dialogue I couldn't follow must've been so much better.
This drama also shows how really really good K dramas can be when they are short. The core elements of this four-episode drama have been used as the core elements of dramas 4 to 5 times as long. Those dramas are bloated and suffer from huge excesses of padding which serve no purpose except to fill up the specified time. Check out the event is like the distilled essence of those K dramas served without any excess baggage. It really is very worthwhile to check out the event.
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PARFAIT
The word "parfait" means "perfect" in French, and refers to a sweet dessert in English. This means it fits this very short, VERY sweet Drama "perfectly"There was really NOTHING wrong with this Drama. Even the length was right. Seven super short episodes was just right for such a frothy, sweet, cute Drama, one with no "drama" in it. No angst, no bitterness, no clouds of darkness, just a sweet cute couple being sweet and cute together. I was originally going to rate it around 8/10 but upgraded it to 9.5 because it is a basically perfect example of a "dessert Drama". If you need a sugar hit, and want one free of toxic chauvinist tropes like tsundere ML gods, this one is just what the doctor ordered
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Alibi Kuzushi Uketamawarimasu Tokubetsuhen
1 people found this review helpful
Again, with feeling
This was a truly fascinating SP. It added emotional depth to the Drama it followed, and was truly sweet watch. It made me wish we could have seen grandfather and granddaughter working together. It also ended in an intriguing way. The FL was uncertain about something, but I for one was very uncertain exactly what it was that she was uncertain of. I'm sure this was by design, and sine the Drama and the SP were both released this year, perhaps we can hope to see more of the world's cutest alibi breaker. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.Was this review helpful to you?
There were some inconsistencies with the way the lead's character was presented in terms of her metereological education and experience, but overall the show was very enjoyable. In terms of the human relationships, kept hoping for one outcome at the end, yet the way the Drama went was the way I expected it to, precisely because it was the less conventional, less neat and tidy option. That raggedy unfinished feel persisted right to the very last frame it seems.
I did love that the female lead was shown to be superior to the male lead, but that he was also shown to have his own strengths, including a goodness and decency of character which it could be argued went not only unrewarded but was actively punished. Another episode would have been nice, I think.
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There's nothing to dislike about this piece of Xmas fluff, even the Xmas setting was low-key, a plus for a devout hater of Xmas like me. Overall, an inoffensive timepass, and another step forward in the development of a young actor whose work I plan to keep an eye on
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Coulda been a ten
This Drama was on track for a ten from me all the way up to about episode 29. The story was engaging, the acting FANTASTIC, the characters all very real. THe final 6-7 dealt with the Japanese invasion so obviously there was gongi to be a lot of tragedy and suffering, but in my opinion, the wrong people suffered pointlessly, and in the most egregious instance, the wrong people suffered at the hands of the wrong person. Someone who was really a victim was made into a villain, while someone who was really a villain right from the beginingi of episode 1 got away with EVERYTHING.For the outstanding performances by the core cast, especially Yang Mi and Xing Fei, I'm still giving it 8.5
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It saved the best for last
A fascinating short ( 7 28-minute episodes) biopic in which Mitsushima Hikari played the title character, who also appeared in every episode. At first a slightly noisy historical look at the early days of TV in Japan, the final 3 packed a real emotional punch. The last two minutes of the final episode were remarkable and unlike anything I've ever seen before, and am unlikely to ever see againWas this review helpful to you?
FUNNY at first
I enjoyed both the romances, ESPECIALLY the STP. That's a combination I've not seen before in KDrama - ex-wife and best friend, and it was a lot of un to watch that one grow. But what made this one a joy for me was how much it made laugh. The first six episodes were the most laugh-filled of any KDrama I can remember. That's why the "real" OTP in this Drama for me was Lee Dong Wook and Lee Kwang Soo as life long buddies. The humour in this show was VERY MUCH my kind of humour, and it's the humour that I will remember most.Was this review helpful to you?
Ten good episodes, then...
I loved the chemistry between the leads, and even the side pairings. But the Drama dragged on far too long. From episode 11-15 we had to sit through the usual "keep the OTP apart at all costs" bakvaas, which got really tedious, really fast..That was a shame because up to about episode 9-10 it was looking like a solid 8. Only 16 episodes was appealing, but the very long episode length meant that the actual runtime was close to a standard C Drama of 24 45 minute episodes. The Drama had a lot going for it, they should have remembered two old truths: Less is More and Quit While You're Ahead
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