Great mystery, decent BL
I had a lot of fun watching this weekly and theorising on who the killer might be with my friends. I was really satisfied with the conclusion to the case, I feel it was well written and well acted. I do wish that the secondary characters at the police precinct had been given more light of day, especially in the final episode it felt really lacking, but the main characters all had satisfying moments.As for the romance part, I felt it started off really well, dipped greatly in quality around episode 7, and then kinda just became ok by the end. When it came to the romance parts, the characters often didn't act like themselves in order to be cute or loveable. It honestly was just juvenile at times. This is just a symptom of GMMTV's main audience being teenage girls, I suppose, and it really showed here unfortunately. That being said, the actors have great chemistry and I enjoyed watching them work as a team.
I would watch this again, and I would also show it to others and watch them try to solve the mystery themselves. I would definitely recommend this show, even if for the mystery alone, but the romance has its merits too.
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Great acting, bad writing
I'll start by saying that the cast and chemistry are really great and directing is good too. JoongDunk especially stood out to me, and I ended up being a lot more interested in their couple than the main one. There are some genuinely enjoyable scenes interspersed throughout the series and the plot had a lot of potential. However, the writing did not live up to it. The story is constantly interrupted by loooooong sequences of cheesy filler which would be better suited to a romcom, and the emotional weight of the story was badly undermined as a result. Half the time the show wanted to be this hardcore, sexy drama and the other half of it was just bubblegum fluff. That would have been fine if handled correctly but I just felt like I was watching two different shows at the same time. I wanted so badly to care about these characters but it was difficult to do with the writing being what it was. I enjoyed the idea of them more than the execution.That being said, I will most likely still go back to rewatch the scenes I did like because the acting is worth it, but I will definitely not watch the whole thing again. Even on my first watch, I ended up fast-forwarding a lot. If you're here for plot, find a different show. If you're here for mostly fluff and/or smut, with some drama in between, you'll probably like this.
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Disappointing and uncomfortable, couldn't finish (TW)
TW: mentions of sexual assaultThe first few episodes are incredible. Unfortunately they make a promise that the rest of the show simply can't keep. It fluctuates from a really interesting crime drama to a super bad, tropey slice of life show. I kept getting whiplash from the sudden atmosphere changes. On top of that, the plot, while promising in places, is generally very messy and a lot of the episodes feel forced and only there to make the characters do specific things.
What bothered me most and made me stop watching was the amount of rape and sexual assault in this show. I get this is a mafia show and violence is to be expected but it reaches a point where it just feels fetishy and uncomfortable. I'm not interested in shipping couples who don't respect consent, which is unfortunately the case for more than one couple on this show. It made it impossible to root for some of the main characters.
Positives are great acting, great soundtrack and directing and atmosphere are often well done too. It's such a shame because the good parts are REALLY good but unfortunately the bad parts are also REALLY bad. I tried to stay for the good but the bad just became too much and I stopped after episode 10.
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Cute but a little boring
The main couple are very cute with plenty of sweet affectionate scenes and almost no conflict so it's a good show if you just want to turn your brain off for a little while.That being said, the show feels incomplete and rather boring. It hinted at the potential of being good but unfortunately it never quite achieved it. It's too short and the plot wasn't thought through enough, with characters feeling two-dimensional and the conflict feeling very forced (and resolved within ten minutes).
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I cheered, I cried, I gasped
I don't even know where to start writing a review for this show. The story is incredibly complex and detailed, and with so many different characters that in the hands of an even slightly less skilled team of writers and directors, it would have been a complete mess. Something seemingly minor could happen in episode 10 and end up being important in the final arc. No detail, character or action were there superficially, everything had a purpose. There were times when I wondered how on earth they could solve this in a satisfying way and somehow they always did. The characters actions almost always made sense (there were a small number of occasions where I felt a character's motivation could have been better set up, but this is quite minor) and they genuinely felt like real people. The acting of course plays a big role in this and it was fantastic throughout. The costumes and sets were stunning, truly there is always so much to look at.This show has it all; scheming, murder, revenge, love, tragedy, power, art, music, friendships, the list goes on. I cheered, I cried, I gasped. I haven't felt this emotionally affected by a show since watching The Untamed. I can't wait to rewatch it in a year or so and see all the details I didn't notice the first time.
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I'm obsessed with this game
I've replayed it so many times and still get something new out of it each time. The acting, the music, the story, the costumes, everything is so beautifully done. There are so many possible endings you can get and characters to explore in addition to just following the 'canon' empress path. The romance element is done really nicely, and I love the way it took inspiration from history, it's like a romance visual novel retelling of Wu Zetian's life.If I HAD to criticise it for something, I would say there are scenes where I wished they had made the actors' makeup look less beautiful to suit the story better but this is issue is common in most C-Dramas. I also took issue with the funeral wear being black instead of the white it would have been in that time period. There was also ONE ending that I got that I felt was implausible and out of character. But truly, that is all and I am nitpicking.
It's cheap to buy and sooooo much fun to play. I promise you, if you love historical C-Dramas you will be as obsessed with this game as I am.
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Very lovable
The cast is very sweet and the main couple go well together. I enjoyed the plot, there was a good mix of drama and fluff. The secondary couple wasn't particularly interesting to me but they were sweet enough. I really enjoyed the friendships between all the hospital staff and seeing Sakura grow as a nurse. The medical drama aspect was well done too, and the patient stories were interesting and fuelled the main characters' stories well. If you like cute workplace dramas, you'll probably enjoy this.Was this review helpful to you?
Very heartwarming
I loved the Japanese drama and immediately wanted to watch the Thai version too. I love how it stays true to the original story in many ways while also putting it's own spin on it, and framing it from a Thai cultural point of view. It even pays homage to its Japanese routes in many cute ways.There are some useless additional plots that are skippable in my opinion, it feels like they were just added as filler. I also didn't love Pai anywhere near as much as Fujisaki because she was just a creepy BL fan stand-in half the time instead of a real person within the universe. When she was just herself she was fine though.
The main and secondary couple are both adorable and the final episode was especially sweet. I also loved the friendships between all the office workers, there were so many cute friendship moments which I really appreciated. Highly recommend if you like wholesome, fluffy romances with happy endings.
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Ridiculous in the best way
It's fun, it's silly but it also makes you care about its characters and the plot had very few holes or loose ends. It was well-paced and very enjoyable! I wish Tendo's relationship with his boss had been slightly better set up but even so the pay-off was satisfying. Akaso's performance was great as always. Definitely worth watching.Was this review helpful to you?
Just kinda meh
I really liked the premise and the cast but the writing was unfortunately not very good. The timeline was confusing and boring to follow, the main couple were really annoying and didn't respect boundaries, the secondary couple were so detached from the main show that I felt like I was watching two separate shows at once and just flicking between them. It does get better towards the end, the last two episodes were my favourites. The love scenes were also well filmed. I guess my main issues is that by the end I still felt no connection to the characters and really didn't care, except that I hated Achi for most of it...It has some good moments, if you can handle badly done tropes, maybe you'll get on ok with this show. Overall, I personally wouldn't recommend it to someone.
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I liked it but didn't love it
They did a great job with the creepiness of it all, the directing, acting and music were all very well done. I suppose my main issue was the story, it often didn't make sense and the ending was kinda disappointing, especially the final game. I ended up fast forwarding a lot of scenes, particularly in the latter half of the show, because they were too dragged out or just felt irrelevant. I can see why it's popular though, it just wasn't for me.Was this review helpful to you?
I loved it but it was too short!
I loved the story and the acting but it could really have done being double the length that it was to allow for everything to be more fleshed out. Especially the secondary characters felt a bit rushed and undeveloped, which is a shame because it had so much potential. Nevertheless, the acting was great and the story was good so I still enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to watching the second season now :DWas this review helpful to you?
Very fun and also moving
This film has some very funny moments but it deals well with the heavy subject matter and has some very moving scenes as well. The plot is interesting and moves at a good pace. I especially loved how they handle the ending, I thought it was perfectly done. The movie gets better and better as it goes on and the characters have some really nice development. Will definitely rewatch!Was this review helpful to you?
Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!: The Movie
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Even better than the show
This gave me everything that I've been missing in the show. I loved seeing them navigate real life circumstances and generally just seeing more of them as an established couple. Also the film doesn't feature too much of the secondary couple which I was glad about because I didn't enjoy them too much in the show. Definitely worth watching, I will be rewatching it a lot :DWas this review helpful to you?
Absolute comfort show
To start, I love this show, it's become such a comfort watch for me, so what I say in this review, I say with love.Don't go into this expecting a "good" show. The acting, other than the main couple, is pretty bad. The story makes no sense and it's really just a bunch of tropes with light-hearted music playing in the background. HOWEVER, the main couple are very cute together (sickeningly so) and the show is just sweet and funny nothing particularly bad ever happens which just make this show so easy to watch. I can just turn my brain off for 20 mins and enjoy the rose-tinted world that is Be Loved in House.
Make sure to go in with the right expectations, this is not a show to be taken seriously, just enjoyed.
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