In what has been a great year for Japanese dramas, Hot Spot still stands out as something truly special. An innovative, well-crafted script that never once loses its human touch (with a twist). Everyone involved in this production did a fantastic job. By the end, you feel like a resident yourself, as if your long vacation at the foot of Mount Fuji has just come to an end. You grieve the loss of these characters you came to care about while also feeling a deep sense of joy and satisfaction.
This is a story of weirdness told with total normality (which I always seem to prefer). It makes you reflect about your own life and the extra/ordinary around us. It concludes with a clear message, at least for me: friendship is the most precious thing for any kind of being.
The ending credits were really cute! Jang Ki-yong and Ahn Eun-jin's chemistry made the increasingly inconsistent (and formulaic) script watchable. Ha-yeong deserved better. I was also happy for Ji-hyeok's mom. That's it, I guess.
I was thoroughly impressed with the actress who played Hotaru, Shiratori Tamaki. Very natural, with a great understanding of her character. She has a bright future.
A warm and gentle drama that never failed to make me feel a bit more hopeful about the world we live in. Fantastic work from the entire cast and crew, from the first episode to the last. Bokutachinchi/Chosen Home is an absolute must-watch.
I always find myself more attached to a simple story that’s well done than to whatever absurd plots drama writers sometimes come up with. This was a perfect little drama with a lot of heart, and it never failed to bring a smile upon my face. I'll miss it dearly.
Spending precious time watching a drama starring an actor you clearly don’t like is a sign that something might be wrong with your mental health. It shows a lack of self-esteem and a need to project your insecurities onto someone else. It's even uglier when such hate is disguised as being someone's fan or whatever, or that what you consider good is the law. We should always put ourselves and our conscience above idols. You can criticize someone’s work, of course (and I do believe there’s a bad tendency in drama circles to treat negative reviews as hate and/or personal attacks, especially when it's a show starring someone with a loud fandom), but there’s a clear difference between that and outright cyberbullying.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that people should go and touch some grass. Life is very short, and I promise you there are far better things than betting your personal satisfaction on such matters.
Really good series with a rushed ending. I don’t normally say this, but it should’ve been a 30-episode drama. I loved the journey nonetheless! The cast had outstanding chemistry, especially Jiatong × Jiang Chen and Jiatong, Xiaoyu, and Yan Fei. I'll miss them.
Michelle Chen is so so so pretty. I love her smile and her full cheeks. The almost 20-year age gap doesn’t even seem too much because she looks a decade younger than she actually is.
Wow, I’m actually very surprised at how in the past timeline he expressed his feelings so maturely to her. I…
"I kind of wonder if karma broke her leg" 😭 Well, fate definitely seems to pushing them together. If it were up to them, I guess Li Wu would just keep working and studying until he could “stand by her side,” and Cen Jin would keep pretending everything's fine and pushing him away while being obviously afflicted lol
I was thinking the same thing. No smoke inhalation but ready for a kiss. Not to mention carrying a grown man on…
If I had to carry what I guess is a 6' or taller man on my back to save him from a fire, I'd be the one needing oxygen when I finally dropped him on the floor 😭 Kissing immediately after that would make someone pass out, but at least it would make for a funny scene lol
Not Ji-hyeok surviving the fire without a single cough expelled and the episode ending with a kiss scene! Secret office dating (between a fake engaged man and a fake married woman) is next. You gotta love K-dramas. I hope everything bad happens next week so they can fly back to Jeju for the last two episodes and get engaged lol
Cen Jin needs to step up and make things clear with Dr. Lu (I think that's his name) as soon as possible. It seems like her mother is more in love with him than Cen Jin herself could ever be.
I really like how Ji-hyeok’s and Da-rim’s moms have formed a bond of their own without knowing their children’s connection. Their scenes are few, but I enjoy them so much. As a woman, having friends really is what matters most.
I felt so bad for Ji-hyeok in these past episodes. As viewers, we know how dreadful Da-rim's situation was, and I do understand and sympathize with her, but it's still sad. He watched his mom suffer so much because of his awful father, and then he thought he was on the verge of becoming a cheater himself. As for Da-rim, I hope she can continue working even after everyone finds out she was lying. When you think back to how hopeless she felt at the beginning of the show, it’s really nice to see her thriving in the workplace. These two are actually not easy characters to portray. In the hands of less competent and charming actors, the whole thing could have fallen flat. I'm really enjoying Jang Ki-yong and Ahn Eun-jin's performances. She reminds me a bit of Renée Zellweger circa Bridget Jones's Diary, her acting style and mannerisms... I wonder if anyone else sees that?
Ha-yeong is probably my favorite character, though. She’s confident, self-assured, fashionable, and knows exactly what she wants. I don’t quite see the spark yet for the second couple, but let's hope.
Novel readers, how long were they "siblings" for? If FL was unaware he was adopted until her parents divorced, did they think they were brother and sister their entire childhood?
Episode 20: Jiatong and Jiang Chen have such great chemistry. The way he looks at her and the way she smiles at him! The kissing scene had me blushing a little. This is not a romance drama per se, but what we get is enough to keep me on my toes. HXX and ZYR should get paired up again.
This is a story of weirdness told with total normality (which I always seem to prefer). It makes you reflect about your own life and the extra/ordinary around us. It concludes with a clear message, at least for me: friendship is the most precious thing for any kind of being.
Everyone has their own "love and revolution"!
I guess what I’m trying to say is that people should go and touch some grass. Life is very short, and I promise you there are far better things than betting your personal satisfaction on such matters.
I felt so bad for Ji-hyeok in these past episodes. As viewers, we know how dreadful Da-rim's situation was, and I do understand and sympathize with her, but it's still sad. He watched his mom suffer so much because of his awful father, and then he thought he was on the verge of becoming a cheater himself. As for Da-rim, I hope she can continue working even after everyone finds out she was lying. When you think back to how hopeless she felt at the beginning of the show, it’s really nice to see her thriving in the workplace. These two are actually not easy characters to portray. In the hands of less competent and charming actors, the whole thing could have fallen flat. I'm really enjoying Jang Ki-yong and Ahn Eun-jin's performances. She reminds me a bit of Renée Zellweger circa Bridget Jones's Diary, her acting style and mannerisms... I wonder if anyone else sees that?
Ha-yeong is probably my favorite character, though. She’s confident, self-assured, fashionable, and knows exactly what she wants. I don’t quite see the spark yet for the second couple, but let's hope.