KingC

Uh... I think you missed my point. I mentioned them because those mangas have live action adaptations. They were released before AIB and dealt with the "games" concept. (I understand that AIB manga was released before As The Gods Will, thanks for the input. Kaji was waay back in 1996. But, their live actions were more recent and before AIB; people might have already seen them.) My point was that death/survival/ game genre already had a variety of stories like those. (We can include AIB too, since it was a different concept of the same genre.) Not just Squid Game which I've personally read getting titled as "Groundbreaking" by popular news sources.

I think as someone mentioned, Japanese Dramas are a lot less popular than Korean Dramas. Hence, its rare for them to get the spotlight.
Also, SG was a lot more character driven than plot. It plays with emotions rather than brains. Thus, it is easy to see why people would prefer it over AIB, whose main plot never revolved around the characters' choices, but rather the games.
Setting that aside, what we see in both AIB and Squid Game have already been done before since Japan has quite a few like Kaji, As the Gods Will and the Liar Game.
If I would compare anything with Squid Game, it would be Liar Game since it's evident that LG is a direct influence in SG. (I watched the drama and the final movie.)
Both dealt with the concept of "debt ridden" people getting a chance to win huge amount of money by any means through a game of wit and deceit that pits the players against each other.
Personally to me, Squid Game failed spectacularly in that aspect. There was nothing that made me look forward to the future episodes since half the characters were plain selfish or just had dumb luck by their sides. They knew what they were signing up for; they voluntarily chose it and yet no one attempted to do anything different and resigned to their fate. I was much more interested in the Police man's story arc, and we all know how they ended that. (In the 1st season atleast.) Overall, people who love character oriented plots would love Squid Game. But, I personally prefer AIB.

I think this is because he wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. He got punished during the 1st time. Now he was back again even after being warned. It might also have to do with the Grandfather wanting to protect his grandchild and make him stay away from dangerous stuff. No other ghosts cared about who were among them.

LZW did live in WQS's body after the original WQS committed suicide (2010) and LZW fell into coma after the accident (2003). LZW time travels to 2010 during this period. But, that doesn't mean that the original LZW was still in coma all the time while he was WQS.
In 2017, at the airport, the one whom WQS (whose body is occupied by LZW) meets is the adult LZW (in his original body).
But, when the young WQS (with LZW's soul) boarded the plane and crashed, WQS officially disappeared off the earth. And LZW's soul goes back to 2003 after his accident and wakes up from coma with all the memories from the future. Eg: When he visited Uncle Wei in 2010 as WQS, he learns that Mo Jun Jie had killed himself. So, after he wakes up from coma, he accompanies him and attempts to stop the suicide. He knows that the plane will crash, so he goes to the airport to meet WQS (with LZW's soul) and warn him against boarding the plane. WQS's conversation with LZW might make it clearer. If WQS survived, that meant that HYX was never distraught and depressed, never needed any tape, would never time travel... in short it would undo their whole love story. They never meet. And there will be no adult LZW standing before WQS at the airport. I hope it made sense. It's just like how HYX experienced and came to know everything. It's their connection across the timeline that causes this time loop.

It isn't a Chinese Drama until something is ruined by poor writing. And the large gap might've been written to stress that 'feelings are never forgotten'. The characters got lucky with the time leap. The actors did their part well, but they deserved a better script.

It sort of makes sense if we take the original novel into account. But, in the original novel, there is not much "drama". XJ realizes she likes Shi Yi -- she still visits CL under a different scenario-- goes back and tries to contact Shi Yi-- he doesn't pick up her calls--- the final scene we read is him getting on the plane, deciding to give up on Xiao Ju-- the book ends with the same monologue that we hear at the end of EP34.
The source novel was written with the purpose of getting a bitter end. It looks like the screenwriters wanted to give justice to the author with the 'leaving/missing out on important people due to ignorance', but enhanced it with unnecessary drama.

I think this might help. It's there in the FAQs: https://kisskh.at/faq

It starts at EP35.

He sort of cheated on Tao Tao with the girl in his band.

I read a note by the director and I think he mentioned that the original script was short. And it was slated for 30 episodes, but they might've ended up shooting more scenes and had more episodes worth of content. And the 'waiting forever to confess' is a tactic used by most writers. That way, they have something to expand upon in the future episodes. Personally, I would've loved if they closed off all the love line arcs around EP22 or something and focussed on individual character growth and friendship/family. The drama has the right amount of family and friendship that we love a lot, but the "romance" part really halted the proper growth of characters.

Yes. But, the supporting characters stories are more well rounded and received believable closures. (Also, I have to warn you, the original novel ended exactly at EP34. The final two episodes are written for the drama.) Also, in the original novel, FL doesn't end up with the ML. So, there are really strong hints of this sprinkled throughout the drama. It drags a lot as a result. And there are several typical youth drama cliches. I hated the way the romance between the leads was written; which was the typical formula for every CDrama writers to drag the story unnecessarily. But, considering that this is your first youth drama, you may be more understanding and forgiving.

That's because the original novel which this was based on had romance as an integral part. The drama attempted to change it, but I guess it somehow still shows. Be prepared. (Her one sided crush storyline lasts till the first half of EP27. Friendship with Shi Yi keeps going parallel. It's beautiful to watch. WRC steals the show.)

It's best to forget about the romance part and enjoy the friendship and daily life of the characters . Romance doesn't become the main focus of the leads and the story until the latter half of the drama.

Hello, Enigma. Yep, he did get a happy ending. (WRC is really, really impressive in this one, which was shot at the end of 2019.) I had issues with how the HE was given to me like how I explained in my review. But, I will 100% recommend this drama if you want to watch WRC and strong friendships.

It did. But, if you wait, the video loads even though they warn below about how the file is too big for a mobile browser. It might take some time though, depending on how good the internet speed is, so I downloaded the videos instead of watching them directly through the website.

The others do not need one. I was able to access them without a key.

https://sametakunai.livejournal.com/749.html

https://sametakunai.livejournal.com/749.html
I hope it helps. The files are Mega, but you can watch them without downloading by desktop too.

I really loved the nostalgia and well rounded friendships even though the last few episodes left a lot to be desired. And wow, you are really lucky to have directly experienced some of the things in this drama first hand! And it's a Ping Pong ball? (I've never seen a live game of that and always thought that the balls were rubbery for some reason. :D)
Thanks a lot for reading and the extra info, CKDramaddicts! :)

I can feel you. I was mad that they went and ruined the story that way when it could've been a really good slice-of-life drama.
I even changed my rating to a more critical one.