"Good wow" I guess? I was just surprised by how explicit it got for a drama. Not just the actual stories being dictated to Kuzumi but also his, um, *reactions* to the stories (to put it bluntly, he starts getting aroused and has to... relieve his tension, so to speak). In retrospect I probably shouldn't have been so shocked given the title.
Thanks for writing this. I can see that you put a lot of thoughts and effort in it :DYour analysis about the types…
"Sometimes I even sought for negative reviews because most of them tend to be more analytical and specific in their criticism, if that makes any sense?" ---Agreed! If a negative review coherently *explains* why they didn't like a show, that is 100x more useful than an entire page of gushing comments that don't elaborate on the reasoning behind the praise. When presented with the latter, at that point you're just hoping that a show is good because it is (or seems to be) popular, which I shouldn't need to tell anyone is not necessarily an accurate way to gauge the quality of a drama.
Ideally, if reviews are well-written (and I realize that's a big "if" since no one's really editing what gets submitted at MDL as a review), they can be useful to viewers even if they reach conflicting conclusions because they will have presented some arguments in support of their opinion of the show. It's then on me, as a reader possessing critical reasoning (hopefully), to keep these arguments in mind while also considering how *I* would weight the relative importance of certain elements (story, pacing, and cast, for example) compared to the reviewer. In this way, even reviews that I may ultimately disagree with can be useful if the reviewer was thoughtful and explained their reasoning.
I wonder if they're going to follow the pattern of 2 new eps a week, with English subs for the previous weeks' eps. I guess it also depends on the kind folks who are supplying the subs, since it's a user-sourced situation (as opposed to YoYo Television providing subs themselves). Either way, I'm looking forward to starting this series.
Lol I don't know about you but I don't have that much time in my hands to write so many articles while I go to…
I'm not arguing that opinion-based articles have no place here (in fact I'd say *every* article here is an opinion article, except maybe those that strictly relay information about actors or upcoming titles). I just would like to see an overall theme that holds all the elements of an article together, as opposed to a semi-random list of things. Not just this article either, but in general. It's really more an issue of formatting rather than specific content that I'm talking about.
P.S. Just to clarify, the term "criticism" isn't inherently negative; it's just a discussion of elements of a topic, both positive and negative.
This is not so much a comment on the content as the format of this article: I would've preferred to see this split up into a number of different articles and more in-depth writing about the different topics b/c so far the only thing holding it together is that they are all the opinions of a single person. It goes all over the place, from discussing specific dramas, to discussing a handful of drama tropes; criticizing an aspect of Korean culture; arguing that Korean dramas are the best; and finally lamenting the proliferation of Hana Yori Dango remakes (I would also argue that most of these opinions are not even uncommon, let alone unpopular, but that's just me).
I don't agree with every point made (and that's okay) but there are some interesting ideas here that are lost in the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to this.
How is Tomb of the Sea (a.k.a. Sand Sea) related to this series? It seems like it must be, based on the character names/general plot/etc., but it's not the official Lost Tomb 2 sequel that's in the works.
The plot doesn't really make any sense-- Tee & his gf break up b/c she thinks he's gay, so obviously the way to bring her back is to... keep pretending he's gay? Okay, sure, whatever it takes to get the leads into a (pretend) relationship pretty much right away and start crankin' out those "cute" scenes (you know the ones).
With such an assessment, it may sound like I'm complaining about this show but actually I'm not. I wasn't really sure how to feel about it for most of ep01, but I thought ep02 was pretty fun (and I'm quite relieved that they didn't spend that much time at each others' throats like the most of the first ep had me fearing). I'll be looking forward to new eps, even if it is kinda predictable fluff (hey, sometimes I *like* predictable fluff) and you never know, the show could surprise us all (mmmm... probably not though).
Wow, so many of these characters are downright unlikable. If it's not the male character in a pairing being terrible (Dr. R being a giant A**HOLE to both Sanwan and his current girlfriend), it's the female character (Sanson basically embodying every bad fujoshi stereotype-- PLEASE STOP). It's so dire that I'm just excited to see fleeting glimpses of Sandee and Thada (though these iterations of the characters pale in comparison to the earlier show), and pray for Khun Jane to make another cameo (at least Cha Cha seems to be showing up every once in a while).
I thought "L" was the best of the 4 (with "T" as my next runner-up) but...
...b/c I thought it was the best, it also had the most disappointing ending imo. I find it so curious that this mini-series, which is produced by a motorbike company at least partly for advertising purposes, chose to feature mostly sad (or at least melancholy) endings for our featured characters?! People feel more like buying stuff when you leave them with a uplifting mood!
This was the least interesting of the (so far 12) KR series I've completed so far. If I weren't kind of a completist I would've dropped this (again, as I did back when it was airing). But I figured since I was watching it with a group of friends this time, it would surely have to be more enjoyable. And I guess it was more tolerable, if only b/c we could complain to one another about it. *shrug* Suffice to say, we are all happy to be done with it.
Quite honestly I had totally given up on this sequel ever materializing, period. As such I'm quite happy to see news of it, even if recast (it's not like the new Wu Xie isn't easy on the eyes), though I'll miss Yang Yang as Qiling most of all (imo his grace as a trained dancer made him a natural for such a mysterious, almost otherworldly character). Still, I'm more than willing to give all of the new cast a chance, and frankly I'm also interested in the story itself (I read the 7 novels that were available in English translation at the time I finished the first series last year).
P.S. Just to clarify, the term "criticism" isn't inherently negative; it's just a discussion of elements of a topic, both positive and negative.
I don't agree with every point made (and that's okay) but there are some interesting ideas here that are lost in the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to this.
https://kisskh.at/29686-sand-sea
https://kisskh.at/28695-the-lost-tomb-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLYRCKxJBJs&list=PLvpAVnYN4lb15dsXeO9WpNXmVgBVM21lB
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvpAVnYN4lb2Gfz6Feq3KA1r5trkUxMU-
With such an assessment, it may sound like I'm complaining about this show but actually I'm not. I wasn't really sure how to feel about it for most of ep01, but I thought ep02 was pretty fun (and I'm quite relieved that they didn't spend that much time at each others' throats like the most of the first ep had me fearing). I'll be looking forward to new eps, even if it is kinda predictable fluff (hey, sometimes I *like* predictable fluff) and you never know, the show could surprise us all (mmmm... probably not though).