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Worth every second.
Though Japanese BLs (and J-Dramas in general) tend to be on the shorter end watch-time wise, this drama is a great example as to why that is. You don't need that much time or endless drama and build-up to tell a good story.Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai managed to deliver something that felt real. It managed to deliver a story that you could easily see in your daily life, yet still keep your attention. It has lovable characters all around (especially the teacher side couple), and delivers a sense of nostalgia and optimism that hits at all the right spots in the brain.
Give it a try. Unless you desire in-your-face romance, this drama should not disappoint.
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Could have been better.
This movie is being carried by its cast. Absolute standout in terms of acting and chemistry, which is to be expected because just look at who they cast. It is very obvious these two actors put in the work to embody their characters. I really, really wanted to love the movie, but I cannot overlook some aspects despite how much I did enjoy it.Flaws: So many. I think it can be summarized as this movie felt like it did not know whether it wanted to be a Japanese movie or a Hollywood one, so what you get in terms of editing is a very strange mix that ends up appealing to neither audience sometimes.
- There were many times where weird editing choices brought me out of the story completely. One such example is the announcer at the 10Dance section in the end, where he both names the dance, and adds a very unnecessary quip afterwards. Another odd editing choice is to layer conflicting music on top of each other.
- The pacing at the end, absolutely rushed. This story would have benefitted from being a series. An extra 40-80 minutes of content would have fixed a lot.
- The English subtitles are also plain wrong occasionally.
- The music was either a full hit or a miss. Since this is a movie about dance, I would have hoped that they had a better selection for music choice and background tracks.
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The Plough Department of Song Dynasty
16 people found this review helpful
TPDoSD is a wuxia drama, with a spin to it. It honestly has a really nice and refreshing modern vibe which I absolutely love.
It's one those dramas that just makes you feel all happy and giddy inside.
The main story is your classic wuxia drama story, with a bad guy wanting to take control of the martial world, and having the main character prevent this disaster, but it works. To be honest, when you're watching this, the side stories are actually what you should focus on instead of the main.
The acting is nicely done, so is the cast. Easy to watch and like the characters.
Visuals and CGI are nothing stunning, but once again, pretty good--
I like the music.
It's not a show that will make you go "holy damn that's amazing", but it's undeniably enjoyably.
Conclusion: Yea, worth the watch. Should be a priority series to start if you have nothing on your list currently--
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I had high hopes before this aired. And when it did, I was ecstatic and manage to binge the first 8 initial release episodes as I usually do. The beginning is like any other beginning of this show type. Nothing extravagant, but it was good. But starting from the 20th episode or so, things started to roll downhill. Characters seem to come and go, plot points seem to vanish into the void and appear out of some other dimension, and our leads just cannot decide where their values lie. I ended up dropping it and only recently picked it back up and finished it.
Story: ^^^ I think that was a decent explanation of what I thought
Acting and cast: The leads didn't have much material to work with, so nothing impressive, but the acting definitely wasn't bad. One thing though, the leads have basically no chemistry, or the script didn't manage to let the actors convey their emotions properly. Other than the leads, everyone is basically forgettable, except for the old master of the ML.
Music: Forgettable.
Rewatch Value: Probably not unless I'm desperate.
Overall it's just... weird and weak. Weird and weak pacing. Weird and weak motivations. Weird and weak chemistry. Weird and weak characters. Weird and weak plot. It had potential, but the show simply couldn't use it.
If you haven't seen much if this genre though, try it. You might have a better opinion of the show. If you are frequent viewer of this genre though, move on and watch something better.
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Incredible characters, The story of Chang An
"The Vendetta of An" is a story of Chang An, with the main themes of revenge and grief.You pretty much see the rise and fall of both the people and the city through the eyes of Xie Huai An. In a way, XHA is not the main character, but instead the narrator to the stories of a multitude of other characters. Each of these other characters are desperately trying to write their own story and escape the narrative, which is what the show is ultimately about. Will you escape the cycle of revenge, or will you ultimately fall to those who are stuck in it?
This is not a "friendly" show. Every episode could be a death flag, every episode could provide an opportunity where the tides are turned. Even though ultimately you do not know the outcome of anyone's fate, the show gets you to care for every single character you meet along the way.
The absolute standout of the show, and what makes it worth watching in my opinion is the casting and characters. I'd argue that many people are type-casted in this show, from the veterans actors to your leads of Cheng Yi, Zhou Qi, and Tong Meng Shi. However, everyone plays their respective achetype so well that you simply cannot be mad that you've seen these people in these roles before.
Personally, this show is a 10 but there points in the story that are... dubious, at best. As mentioned before , plot twists appear left and right, and some things are just barely explained which can be frustrating. Especially when one character dies, while another lives almost unexplainably, suffering the same conditions as those who could not meet a more fortunate fate. There's also a lot of history to some characters, which are implied but logistically still make very little sense if you think about too hard. There are also some relationships that can seem a bit unrealistic, until you realize that the world they live in is much more unforgiving than our own. Although it seems more grounded than you typical Xianxia/Wuxia, you should treat it as a wuxia/xianxia. Suspend your disbelief for a bit, and this is a very entertaining, very enjoyable story.
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School Trip: Joined a Group I’m Not Close To
0 people found this review helpful
So simple yet so good
This drama delivers pure slice of life fluff, and practically nothing else because it does not need to.It knows what it is, and it knows what it wants to be, which is genuinely rare with dramas/tv shows in general in recent years.
Honestly, I think what would have made this better is to simply see more perspectives, since I would have loved to see a proper reaction for when the rest of the boys “find out” that the leads like each other.
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This review may contain spoilers
Cute, but butchered by sponsorships
The casting and characters were the standout part of the series. Watch for the chemistry of the leads, and the general feel-good story. The main theme of the opening credits is also really good.Two things really ruined the chance for the series to be better: The fear of story, and the never-ending sponsorships.
The constant sponsorship completely broke the flow of the story, or the moments the characters were having. I know it's a common thing with Thai advertising but so many feel-good moments instantly turned to fast-forwarding moments because the atmosphere was ruined by a product placement that was shoe-horned into the script.
Vice Versa was playing around with new concepts that I'm glad that they explored, but instead of committing they seemed to have only dipped their toes in as an experiment. They briefly touched upon the existential dread of the situation they actually find themselves in, and they rushed through the whole acclimatizing yourself to this new life part which imo is the fun part of stories like these. Additionally, some story beats just didn't hit whatsoever. A side character dies all of a sudden out of nowhere and it doesn't disrupt anything. There are seemingly no consequences sometimes.
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