michelleoc

Somewhat uneven watch

I'll start by saying that historical dramas are not my favorite genre, so ratings for these, for me, tend to be lower. That being said, I think one of the problems I had with this movie was that it was uneven. At the beginning it acted like it wanted to be a comedy, then the writers gave that up midway through. It moved along rather quickly, since it was a movie rather than a serial drama, and I was thankful for that. I have to be totally enthralled with a story to put up with all the filler that the dramas include, and this was far from an enthralling story.

The acting was okay, I don't know if it was the actors or the script that didn't draw me in. There was something that kept me from being involved in the story. I found myself look at the time a lot, and that's never a good sign. I also wasn't "feeling" the romance at all. The chemistry was lacking, as well as the fact that the romance was definitely on the back burner compared to the palace intrigues.

I did, however, REALLY appreciate the way they wrote the king. Finally, a king that makes some of his own decisions, rather than being led by his untrustworthy cabinet.

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Fun watch

Rated down strictly because this show was entirely too long, with too much extraneous stuff. Aside from that, this was a wonderful drama. The two main characters in this were lovely. I loved their relationship. His dialogue with her after he finds out that she's a robot? He was absolutely wonderful and my heart broke for both of them. His friendship with the team was fun to watch, they were all misfits in their own way, yet they found friendship with each other. The ending was cute, though somewhat rushed. Definitely a good show to watch, though. Great chemistry between the two main characters, no "fish face, open eyes kisses".

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Older but cute show

Song Joong Ki travels to Japan for food and fun. It was interesting to see all the various types of food that Japan offers. I was amazed to find out the number of food places there are in Japan! I don't eat fish, so a lot of the foods I just didn't "get", but it was worth it just to watch Joong Ki eat oysters!

This show is 12 years old, but Joong Ki's cute aura shines through. You just want to squeeze his cheeks. His interactions with his staff, as well as fans and others that he encountered was fun.

Every so often (unfortunately, it's happening frequently these days!) I have a run of bad luck on the shows that I watch and I just need to turn off my brain for a while. This was perfect for that.

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Sweet

What a cute movie! I wasn't too sure at the beginning, because it seemed so outdated, the film quality was a little iffy.

I didn't care for the ML or the FL at the beginning. He was just a sad sack, and she was completely materialistic. I was wondering if I should continue, and I'm sure glad I did. The growth and development of both characters, both individually and as a couple was lovely to watch.

The concept was slightly like Il Mare, with the two mains being in 1999 and 2018, but here, they end up inhabiting the same apartment. I thought the special effects were well-done, and what they did to the apartment so they could inhabit the same space was really clever.

The ending was bittersweet, but based on the clips following the credits, I choose to believe in a happily ever after for them.

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Easy watch

This was a quick binge watch of easy sweetness. You know how you sometimes just want to watch something purely for enjoyment's sake, not having to think too much, keeping characters straight or being let down by a confusing or open-ended conclusion? That's what I found here. For the first time in a long time, I looked forward to watching the next episode in a show. Call me superficial, but there you have it.

The story surely wasn't anything that we haven't seen a million times before, but there was something so endearing about the characters here. I thought the actors all did an adequate job, these weren't roles that required a lot of acting skill, so I'll address the characters themselves. I find that, for the most part, when I watch something, I have to care about at least someone, to want to see what is going to happen to them and how they are going to develop. I found that in this show.

Seung Min - your "average Joe". This was a character that was not popular, not unpopular, but just someone that no one would give a second thought to. He was perfectly content to like Ji Na from afar. I liked how the character was not a social outcast and how he just seemed to feel comfortable in his own skin. And once the contract began, I really enjoyed watching his enjoyment of being a boyfriend. He was excellent boyfriend material, and he did some very sweet things for and with Ji Na. The couple of interactions he had with his dad were sweet as well.

Ji Na - the popular idol trainee. Beautiful, sure. At the beginning she seemed lonely to me. She had a couple of friends but the way it was filmed, we saw that everyone else just watched her from afar. I think she was popular for how she looked, not for who she was. She was nice and didn't seem to bask in her popularity.

Hyung Tak - the baseball jock, inconsiderate boyfriend. Even though he thought that Ji Na couldn't possibly like someone else, I really liked this character and the way that he matured. You never know what you have until it's gone.

Han Na - though she looked like she had just sucked on a lemon for most of the show, this was a character that I just wanted to slap. Toxic.

Ba Ul - This character was all kinds of over-the-top. Initially, it was off-putting, but then I got used to him and enjoyed his cuteness.

Min Ji - the friendly, supportive best friend. Sweetness and light and enjoying Ba Ul.

So, this isn't a show that's going to tax your brain or change the world in any way, but I found it to be a fun and peaceful watch. I laughed, I teared up, and I'm glad I took the time for it.

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Tsundere and girl with no self-esteem

I'm not going to reiterate the other reviewers. For me, the rating is mostly for being able to look at Dori Sakurada - oh, my goodness! That said, there really wasn't too much of a story line, other than repeating over and over and over again how low the girl's self-esteem was. I was so tired of "I'm not good enough for him". Actually, she said that so much I had to agree with her. She never even really talked to him so I don't get how they could be in love. He was aggressive, which if she was as innocent as she kept talking about, she would have run for the hills. I just kept waiting for her to get a spine, and it never really happened.

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Beautiful story

I just finished watching this movie for the second time and it was wonderful. I felt kind of like I was a voyeur into their lives. I normally don't care for films that are dark in appearance, but I really appreciated how the cinematographer used a lot of dim lighting, as well as rain and overcast days throughout most of the movie, until after her surgery. I also really liked the close-up work on the actors' faces, it almost gave the feel that we were visually impaired and had to get close to see. At the beginning, I loved how the camera work showed the ML watching for the FL. No words, just us seeing what he was looking at, looking at the doorway, watching the driveway.

Acting/characterizations:
So Ji Sub as Jang Chul Min. I'm a big fan of this actor, and I thought he played this character very well. The darkness, sadness and loneliness of his life were almost palpable. It seemed like he was in sort of a self-imposed hell. When she came along, it was as if, first he didn't know what to make of her, and I felt that brief moment of him trying to decide whether to open up to the lightness of the FL. Chul Min was a troubled soul, but so caring. Once he committed to her, he was all in.
Han Hyo Joo as Ha Jung Hwa. She was terrific! I would imagine it would be very difficult to play a blind person, but she nailed it. Her character was so refreshing. Brilliant smiles, a happy and playful personality despite her difficulties. I really liked her speech pattern when she was getting to know him - she spoke quickly, almost shooting out questions abruptly. There was no artifice to her, you knew what she felt at every moment.

Chemistry:
Their chemistry was very sweet. They moved naturally from strangers to lovers. It was like they had been waiting for one another for their whole lives, and now that they'd found each other, they weren't wasting any time. We were on their journey with them, their voyage of discovery.

Fight scenes:
Well done, very hard to watch. Him getting pulled back into that life was sad, even if it was for a good reason. That said, him exercising shirtless was worth the price of admission! That man is ripped!

Ending:
Oh, my goodness, when they cross paths again, my heart broke for him. Him not talking so she wouldn't recognize him, he was back to his cold and lonely life, and it was painful to see him resigning himself to his old life. However, there is a happy ending, though it's too brief. I don't know why the endings of Korean dramas are so rushed.

Bottom line:
If I had to sum up this film in one word, I'd have to say "comforting".

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Kim Soo Hyun is magnetic

Likes:
1) First and foremost, Kim Soo Hyun. It's like he's got a tractor beam engaged any time he is on screen. My focus was solely on him. To become enmeshed in a country and environment that are not your own, for years at a time, to completely blend in, I could feel his loneliness. And yes, he will always be associated with green track suits! His cameo in Crash Landing on You was hysterical. Hopefully it brought new people to watch this movie after seeing it.
2) I felt that the storyline was original and well-executed.

Dislikes:
1) The ending. Granted, I think it ended the way it had to, but it left me with a blanket of sadness, and I really don't like to be sad!

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Take me to France!

BEAUTIFUL scenery - it made me want to hop a plane for France! The cast was good. I especially liked the developing friendship between the older woman and the shopping girl. When the older woman smiles, so cute! I didn't care about the father/daughter storyline. The main couple were cute. I rated it lower because of the premarital sex, that's just a personal bias of mine.
This wasn't your typical Korean drama. Often, when you have multiple characters, the stories are very surface, and you don't have time to know more about them. That was not the case here. I'll say again, it made me want to go on vacation!

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So cute!

I started watching this show because the title grabbed me. And Yamada Ryosuke as Maruya Kusake is uber-cute! The way he looked at Sanada was so lovely, it really gave me all the feels.

The story was very sweet and original in a lot of ways. I appreciate that there weren't a lot of evil people/bad guys. The sales team and the way they worked together, we should all hope to have such supportive co-workers. The character of Maruya Kusake - I think he was supposed to be a narcissist at the beginning, but even early on he was a charmer. You just have to smile when he smiles. He has such an expressive face, and the script called for lots of random facial expressions, which he pulled off effortlessly. There were a lot of times I had to laugh out loud watching him.

I have to say that I felt that that character of Sanada Izumi was the weak link of this show. There's expressionless, and then there's robotic. This character was robotic - from the way she walked, the way she talked, and she seriously had no facial expression. There was one time she broke out a full-on smile and I was glad to see it.

Ohashi Kazuya as Ichinose Kei. I really enjoyed him and his (I'm hoping) intentional overacting. He was loud, emotional and a ton of fun to watch.

The storyline was very sweet. It was a fun and easy watch. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending, but it's a little open to interpretation, so I choose to go the happy ending route.

If you want a cute romantic comedy, you can't go wrong with this one!

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I'm glad I stuck with it!

It was a rocky start for me. Four things almost made me give up early on.
1) Joseph Zeng in the lead as Lu Zhao Yi - I wasn't too sure. He seemed inordinately young, not only to tackle the part of the male lead, but he's supposedly the company president? I put aside my pre-conceived notions and settled in and he was absolutely one of the high points of the show.
2) Liang Jie as FL Ye Shi Lan - I found her character to be very unlikeable at the beginning. Cold, hard - thankfully that didn't last long.
3) She's a pediatrician but she works as his assistant?! Wow, I SERIOUSLY had to suspend disbelief here.
4) Typical Chinese slow-moving script. I felt that it struggled to find its footing in the beginning, but once the two leads started interacting, all was forgiven.

However, once I got involved with these characters (and the script, for the most part), I was in love. And there were SO many reasons why:
1) The main couple was just so darn cute. Really, I really appreciated the script writers here, in that they showed a natural relationship progression. We got the initial misunderstanding (which was taken care of quickly), which was followed by being able to watch them become friends, and then more. I really appreciated that we knew they liked each other before they did, that made it even more fun. There was a lot of heart and a lot of humor with these two. I felt that their chemistry was realistic and amazing. Good kisses and not a lot of push and pull between the two.
2) Zhou Zi Han as Kevin and Li Lin Fei as Yao Jia Jia - as friends of the main couple they were supportive and likeable. But once they got involved with one another? Oh my gosh, I loved their screen time as well. Even though his facial expression never changed much, you could feel his emotions. He had a kind of secret hobby that brought him into her sphere, thankfully. And her? She was the sweetest, most supportive friend, and she was just precious, with her cute hairstyles and that beautiful smile. I loved watching these two get to know each other, again developing a friendship first, before moving forward.
3) I smiled through most of this. It was very low angst, which I always appreciate.
There were just as many things that this show DIDN'T have which made me like it:
1) No evil ex-girlfriend trying to get back with him.
2) No evil parents trying to break them up.
3) No constant making up/breaking up/misunderstandings. Let's be honest, most romances have a certain amount of buildup, but then they spend more time apart than together. Not here. There was only one "fake" break up, and it kind of made sense and didn't go on forever.
4) No time jumps.

So, I'd say, if you want a feel-good show, with two healthy relationships and a lot of heart, you really should try this one.

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I found it difficult to suspend disbelief enough to believe that her parents would let her stay by herself to go to school, with Kugayama Shusei living right next door. THEN, there wasn't any build up to their relationship, it was suddenly just there. The main couple was cute together, but I didn't feel any chemistry between them. Poor excuses for kisses, they just looked so fake and awkward. The yelling of the male actors was irritating, it just looks like overacting. Sexism is alive and well in Japanese dramas - the male rating the female on a scale of 1-100, talking to everyone about her looks and lack of boobs - not cool.

Yamazaki Kento as Kugayama Shusei was good. He's got that quiet, deep-thinking thing going on. He was the high point of this movie for me.

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Relaxing movie

This is a movie to watch if you don't want to have to think about anything. There's no plot to keep track of, angst is low, there isn't a large cast with multiple plots going on. I have to say, I liked it okay for what it was. Being a movie, it moves on pretty quickly with no dragging; however, I didn't feel too emotionally invested in any of the characters.

It was the typical school story of bullying the weak, the hero comes to save the day, they fall in love. I was irritated by the FL apologizing all the time, because it appeared to me that she was apologizing for existing. I did like that they didn't have the ML calling the FL names, as so often happens in J-dramas.

It was basically a short, easy watch while I look for a different show to invest my time and energy in.

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Frustration abounded for me

Let me start with what I liked and go from there. I REALLY liked the relationship between Dong Man and Ae Ra. They've been close friends for over 20 years. Theirs was the kind of relationship that they could hit each other, call each other names, and make fun of each other, but if someone else tries it? Then their fighting spirit comes out. They lived next door to one another, ate together, drank together, and hung out together. I loved their bickering. They brought out the worst, and yet the best, in each other. They were a joy to watch and there was a lot of comedy. Park Seo Joon impressed me, he had the body of a grown man, but emotionally he had some growing to do - his immaturity was endearing. I also enjoyed watching them interact once they developed feelings (or recognized) their feelings for one another. Suddenly they were uncomfortable with one another and very aware of what they were wearing and what they said to each other. Just a cute, cute couple. If they had stuck with them, I think I would have enjoyed the show a lot more. Instead:

Second couple. Joo Man and Seol Hee were good friends of the main couple, and as their friends they were fine. But I REALLY had a difficult time with them as a couple. He's a salary man trying just to survive. Her whole goal in life, for most of the show is to just be with Joo Man. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but she appeared to not have any thought outside of Joo Man. They had been together for six years, his family was terrible to her, and he kept getting upset at how nice she was to him. I also didn't like that the costume designers put her in the most frumpy, unattractive clothes. I felt like Seol Hee thought that since she had this boyfriend, she didn't have to try to look good anymore. I really felt like she was just living through him, and whatever he wanted to do, she just went along with it.

Then we had not one, but TWO ladies that were willing to do whatever they needed to in order to get their man. These people bother me in dramas, so to have two was doubly irritating. "I broke up with him years ago, but now I'm back so step aside, because OF COURSE he's going to prefer me over you." Ugh! These characters not only make themselves look bag, but they also make the male characters appear weak, because they don't say or do enough to discourage the women. In the case of this drama, I think both women needed a restraining order against them. And then to call a meeting with the offended party to apologize, yet say that they just couldn't help themselves, they just like the guy so much. There was too much screen time spent with these irritating women.

Adding unnecessary storylines. There's the mystery woman upstairs. I felt that it was just something unnecessarily added to the mix, as well as the doctor that liked Ae Ra (what a douchebag!) Granted, it was terrific casting - with Choi Woo Shik's sweet and innocent face, his ultimate behavior was a surprise! The creepy producer friend - ultimately did a good thing but spent every time he was on screen being creepy.

I had one problem with the main couple, which was unfortunately toward the end of the show, so it left a bad taste in my mouth. Her giving him an ultimatum, "Give up fighting or I won't see you anymore." The man had no other dream! There was nothing else he was able to or wanted to do. And giving an ultimatum like that just seemed so immature and non-supportive. I get that she was afraid of him getting hurt, but it was his passion. Think of a way to make it work - maybe don't be an announcer at his fights or something.

Bottom line, I loved watching the main couple and could have done without everyone else. Oh, there was one other plus for me - hearing BTS Fire every time Dong Man was getting ready to fight!

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FUN!

SJS - love him in anything! That serious demeanor with the mushy center - gets me every time! I LOVED this series! Lots of comedy, lots of drama. I loved the guy speaking in Korean and switching to English, that cracked me up. These two characters had to go through so much to be together and I was loving being on the journey with them.

There were some very romantic scenes in this show, which I always appreciate. I loved the main characters, but I also loved the rest of the cast, the friendships they built. I have watched this show numerous times, especially after I've suffered through a few "not so good" shows, and it's like seeing old friends again.

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