hiromi

I am SO incredibly happy they actually broke free from their toxic ass families omg!!! Both of them, even! I was so ready to see a reconciliation between taiga and his mom and I didn't realize it didn't happen untill the ending and I was like???? Omg this is so new thanks drama gods

I watched the last episode, and I have to say that I'll miss this drama and I can see myself rewatching it in the future. I've been watching dramas for over 15 years, and it's literally been years since I gave a 9 to a series. Of course, there are a certain amount of narrative choices that feel incomprehensible to westerner public (forgiving someone who unjustly hurt you, even apologizing, and then enduring verbally abusive attacks), but it must be said that for a Japanese series, it raised "uncomfortable" social and feminist issues in a very honest way. The fact that they resolved them in a slightly too sugary way, unfortunately, is a compromise that must be made. In any case, the characters are all complex and gave me some beautiful moments of satisfaction, even from the perspective of women's rights. As for the two protagonists, it'll be difficult to find better written ones. Aaah, my heart aches just thinking about them! It was a joy to follow their journey as they discovered themselves and each other.

I'm waiting for the last episode on Netflix... so far, this drama has been a truly unexpected surprise. There's something honest, genuine, and touching about it. Very old school in the best possible way, I was truly amazed and thrilled. It's been years since I've watched a jdrama, and while it's a little strange for me now to watch a story like this without the overt theatrical Korean-style dramatic moments, the simplicity, tenderness, and authenticity of this series really touched my heart. The two leads have great chemistry; I don't know how long it's been since I've rooted for a couple (and for them to break free from their toxic families. Oh my god, someone call the police on his mom and her dad.)

I came back to kdramas after a long while. I was looking for a nice, simple one that could maybe be a fun watching experience. While I could be secretly hoping for that grip that old school asian dramas had on me when I was super into them, I kinda choose this just because, giving in to a mere feeling, not really expecting too much. And the first two episodes really didn't do that much for me, I found them pretty standard and formulaic, presenting schemes I saw in many other kdramas. But then... Something happened, and this series kept getting better and better, and now I... Sincerely find sincerely pretty good? Like, really REALLY good???? I'm baffled lol the writing is getting spot on, and while I'm missing the lovey dovey cuteness of the first part I'm absolutely loving all the side characters and the roles they have into the story. It's not a perfect show and some romantic scenes make me cringe just a little bit (I suppose I'm getting old) but overall I'm enjoying the sincerity of the writing so. Much. And I find myself saying out loud "awww" more often than I'd want to admit lol

Now that the drama is almost over I can make my final judgment; this show has both innovative things and super old things, ingenious things and things of shocking mediocrity, intelligent and adorable things and things of an unbelievable stupidity that crossed the limit of my suspension of disbelief.
The only constant for me is having found JCW, from the very first episode, absolutely attractive with short hair and that boyfriend look.

Let's agree to disagree ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't want to do religious shaming/hating. I talked about Catholicism because the hospice is Christian/Catholic, it's full of effigies of that religion and there is even a chapel where the characters often pray.
I love Korean dramas and have watched them for more than 10 years, believe me I do love them because they feature complex and problematic characters, but very often, in my experience, the issues about abuse are not resolved with the same delicacy and attention with which they are presented.
Also because of the values ​​dictated by Confucianism, kdramas are full of bad parents who do horrible things and who are forgiven by their children just because it's what good children do. KDramas are full of victim blaming, it's almost always the abused person who has to take a step forward, and while forgetting is important for healing , forgiveness is not always necessary nor healthy.
As for the scenes between Jk and the thug, I didn't find it a good moment of happiness at all, indeed I think she was manipulating him so that he could do what she wanted. In fact immediately at the end of their "date" she asks him to be a killer lol

This drama does many things well, for example ji Chang wook's wonderful portrayal of a male victim of repeated violence, psychological abuse, physical abuse and manipulation. Very often these themes are touched upon in kdrama, but not as often the male protagonists are allowed to be so fragile and struggling to find mental stability.
What I fear from the start, however, is that the drama will fall into the dangerous catholic hypocrisy of forgiving and justifying abusers, a thing that I have seen happening too often in kdramas and I think that it's absolutely time to stop doing it pls .

I'm catching up with this drama, I'm on episode 6 now. First 3 were kinda ok but it slowly gets better and better, and now it's really good.
Ji Chang wook is sooo lovable here, I think it's his best character along with Healer.
2FL made a big impression too.
Editing is not that good but the story and the feelings are genuine.
They could do so much more with the characterizations, but they slowly get better too.

An easy, cute and fun watch. Very very very cliché, but entertaining.
They certainly could have done more with both the storyline and the characters, given the number of episodes.
The chemistry between the main couple is sometimes on, sometimes off.
LMH is adorable here though (apart from when he orders his girlfriend like a caveman to not wear short skirts nor go clubbing).

I was expecting an adaptation, but instead this drama is almost entirely identical to She Was Pretty. Same sequences, shots, dialogue, even same outfits....
The direct consequence of this was to bring back to the present tropes of a drama that's already dated, so there are cringeworthy things like the FL being treated with violence just because she's not sexy enough and has frizzy hair.
The only big difference with SWP is that this time the lead actors don't have as much chemistry. SWP is slower, longer, and more extreme, but it's much more intense and has a lot more heart.

I wanted to catch up on this classic and I don't regret it because it's a fun and addictive drama. However, you have to admit that it has aged poorly. It's everything you can expect from a 10-year-old Japanese drama, full of stereotypes and sexism.
However, the two main characters act very naturally and have a rare chemistry. In all the years I've been watching dramas, I've rarely met a couple that was more believable.
Finally I would like to say that the title is absolutely misleading: it makes you immediately think of a romcom, but this drama is not entirely so, in fact many episodes are dedicated to the dynamics of the company and the difficult relationship between Toru and his friend Asahina.
And lastly the conflict between the two main characters is absolutely not between a rich man and a poor woman, but I suppose it would have been a less iconic drama if it had been titled "Socially unfit man and Unemployed woman" lol

Listen, if you are a fan of the original manga or anime it's impossible for you not to like this drama. Otherwise, to appreciate it you will either have to be used to the wackiness of Japanese dramas, or feel nostalgic for all the narrative about delinquent young students typical of the 80s. For me, all three things apply, so to say that I loved this drama is an understatement. It made me re-experience all the good times I had while reading the manga. There are some minor differences with the original work, but that light-hearted spirit is totally the same.
Also, my goodness, Kaku Kento had a blast and it shows, because his Mitsuhashi is the most cowardly, wacky, funny and awesome thug ever. Riko is also incredibly cool and ugh I really should ship them less, but, alas, that's impossible.

this drama has a lot of good things happening. One of the best MLs ever and an adorable FL make a couple with explosive chemistry. These two aren't afraid to talk about how much they like each other, or even show it on a physical level.
They also touch on unusual topics for a kdrama, such as the dynamics of working in a museum, and especially how dysfunctional families can be. Unfortunately, the drama then loses courage and backs off right after suggesting that the right thing to do when forced to live in a toxic family is to leave it.
Moreover, the series itself makes a huge mistake when tends to obscure its ML in favour of the boring machinations of a gang of cartoonish antagonists.
Still, I'll always carry with me Moo Hak's awesomeness and the fantastic outfits that made him and Da Li look like a living installation.

Right now I'm on episode 5. It's a slow drama but it's really good and emotional. Their connection in already there, there is a secret between them that will cause drama in the future but up to episode 5 they are growing closer and closer, and until now I'm not frustrated, wich is a big thing lol

I'm on episode 3 and I'm loving the story, the music, the atmosphere. Lee Jun Ho is already giving an iconic performance, while I'm really not feeling at all Won Jin Ah. I'm really hating her deer caught in the headlight wide opened eyes, ugh!

After years I'm still thinking about this drama... it could have been the pinnacle of perfection for melo lovers. The first half with KJH was spectacular. What a missed opportunity.

This drama has its ups and downs. The pacing is perfect if you like slow, cozy, slice of life dramas. The characters are interesting and well written, especially the female characters.
The final episodes, though, are absolutely frustrating, it almost seems like the message they wanted to give is "victims must be able to forgive their perpetrators".
However, I don't regret to have watched this show, in particular for a beautiful scene between Eun Sop and his little sister that made me cry rivers of tears.

(trigger warning that I think should be noted, in this drama is depicted a really graphic episode of violence against women!!!)

I watched this drama because I wanted to catch up on all of KSH's work. I understand why it's not very popular, but I don't regret watching it at all. It has its flaws, but it kept me very entertained.
You have to make several efforts of suspension of disbelief, but it's worth it because it's an enjoyable, interesting series, different from all the other kdramas out there. The underground setting is unique, the main characters are adorable, and the drama also touches on some issues I wasn't expecting such as violence against women, mental illness, and the life of a caregiver. They are not always well developed (at times I felt like I was watching a 10 year old drama lol) but there is a lot of heart in this drama anyway.
There is also a lot of action, mystery, feelings, and I don't even want to leave out the colours and the music which are surprisingly beautiful.
Here, unlike in HomeCha and Start-up, KSH doesn't outshine everyone else, but his acting is perfectly balanced by MGY's, who was really great in her double role. They don't have that kind of sexy fiery chemistry, but their duo is well written and they have a really adorable odd couple complicity.

A cute drama that could have been a beautiful drama. The writing was sometimes solid, and sometimes incredibly ineffective. The first half of the drama is fresh, innovative, compelling, the second half absolutely disappointing.

It's as if the scriptwriter completely forgot the initial premise and what had captured the hearts of the viewers, forgetting to resolve the questions that started the story and thus generating dissatisfaction in the viewer.
In the first episodes many questions were raised that were not answered, or not answered in a satisfying way, and were treated as secondary issues, leaving too much space to a boring and repetitive love story: will DM succeed in carrying on her father's legacy? Will she succeed in reuniting her family? Will she be able to grow up?
And above all, how will the story of the letters be resolved? What consequences will it have for DM in relation to her story arc, and her relationship with her grandmother and JP?
"The letters are put aside because at that point they were no longer important to her, the only thing that mattered was the relationship built with DS" I'm sorry but that's an incredibly unsatisfying answer. The script treats me like a fool by superficially resolving a point that was presented as pivotal.
The issue of the letters is NEVER really discussed. No one dutifully suffers the consequences, and the matter is completely forgotten. I was expecting a confrontation between DM and the grandmother! It was so important. In this drama everyone lies to DM for fear of hurting her, but this way they treat her like a child and prevent her growth.
The elephant in the room then is obviously that DM never has a real confrontation about the letters with JP until the very end, and the whole thing is resolved with one sentence... we're not idiots if that's what we wanted, as the drama has been pushing us in that direction for 10 episodes.

These things incredibly annoyed me because I like the writer a lot. I love PHR and I know she can do so much better than that, and in fact some of the themes and characters in this drama are wonderfully written.
Many have said that the writer probably didn't expect the second lead to be so charismatic and loved. I disagree, PHR knew very well what she was doing. She created two male leads, both of whom were deep, multi-layered and equally important, as she had done in Dream High and Page Turner.
The difference is that here most viewers got bored with the ML because at a certain point DS had nothing more to say, whereas JP's arc went all the way to the end, and he still had so much to tell and give - and he was only suffering more and more episode after episode, ugh! It's obvious that one then wonders "why does everything go wrong for this poor guy?" and cheers for JP. If at the beginning I liked both of them equally, at the end the rage of characters and script against JP makes him necessarily more sympathetic than all the others.

In terms of direction, music and colours, the drama is very well put together and is enjoyable to watch.
Suzy has been ok but her character is the weakest of all. DM's development is flat, she is not charismatic, she never really grows. And most importantly, she's not qualified to be a CEO at all! When at episode 10 she still needs to look up definitions of technical terms on her smartphone I had a fat laugh.

NJH was solid and good, in some scenes great. I loved the work he did on DS's voice and all his little nervous gestures. DS, however, is a character I have an ambivalent opinion about. I loved his impostor syndrome and inferiority complex, but I was unnerved by his randomly sprung idealism (wtf, we're talking about economics and finance...) and his petty, childish, and even sometimes violent behavior. Ok, I understood what they wanted to do with this character, they wanted to write him in a human way with good and bad qualities. They wanted to make him the "logical but in reality he is passionate inside" character. But I think they could have found other solutions than making him express his "passion" apart from irrational jealousy and violent outbursts.

Finally, KSH and his HJP. At first I was reading a lot of comments from people saying they watched this drama till the end just for him, and I wondered how that was possible. But my god, yes, it is possible indeed. HJP was the only character I really empathized with, his relationship with the grandma is the most intense relationship, and KSH gave us a fantastic performance, especially in the second half. He managed to outshine everything else! This is the third KSH drama I've watched and I'm starting to think he's really wonderful in everything he does. I'm not complaining.