Unexpected
This series left mixed feelings: on the one hand some of the standard kdrama stuff is continuously present, yetmost of the story does not follow the expectd paths; this makes it interesting, because it is fully unexpected.
On the other hand, the story does not go very far, in none if its aspects.
The actors were very well chosen and all of them did a marvelous job!
Personally I appreciate that no teeny looking actors were chosen, maturity was an important factor.
Consequently I have mixed feelings to recommend it too: there are better, there are much worse.
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Good to watch in holidays
This is a perfect example of the high quality and professionalism of the actual Korean movie/drama industry.While it is a sum of all K-drama tropes and cheesy moments, it is so lovely and carefully made that it is worth watching.
Excellent music, perfect accurate acting, top make up and visual details, world class camera work.
I have not seen yet a K-drama with so many kissing scenes that are so detailed that they might be true.
All actors are excellent (excepting the two westerns that sadly appear in random K-dramas and that are embarrassing bad). Personally I liked most Woo Da Vi and Jung Ga Hee and the two mothers. Ahn Eun Jin gives a stellar representation. She had two work at least twice as the others, because, in my opinion, it was the wrong cast: she looks rather 18 yet she had to represent a person aged 30+, so she had to overcome the blatant discrepancy with acting above any human limits.
A cute and curing romcom with wonderful music, excellent choice to watch in holidays, e.g around Christmas.
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Good and bad in the same time
This drama takes advantage of cute and promising young actors as well as good experienced actors, all of them are a pleasure to watch; especially the side roles were quite difficult and they did very well! I found the music very good, which is not always obvious for music related series. I have mixed feelings about the writing. It has definitive a few good ideas and I enjoyed the parts that felt really as "spring": easy, floofy, exuberant, sometimes crazy - as youth actually is. Yet the story had also a heavy and dark theme and I felt that the mixing of them did not succeed. Sometimes the dark part of the story felt very unrealistic, sometimes really cheap. There are examples of successful mixing of themes and feeling, yet this is not one. Hence, I cannot recommend to invest your time in watching it.Was this review helpful to you?
Unusual
It is absolutely captivating! It has xcellent written story, stellar acting, perfectly matching music.It is not at all a standard Japanese drama, at least I have never seen something similar among them until now.
Be aware, it is very creepy and emotionally hard, very revolting and in every respect surprising.
Even if it was a hard one, I must say that it deserves 100% its time watching.
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Surprising and overranging most of the best school dramas
Due to the title and pictures I wasn't expecting much of this drama.Yet since the ever first minutes I understood that I hit a hidden gem.
This is not the usual school drama, it is none of the boring ever repeating silly and exaggerated stories like
several very trendy ones right now. It is full of humor, self irony, hilarious realistic personalities,
real seeming situations, out of the box solutions, great music, fast peace. The acting is fantastic
and the camera work is at the very top level, plus a non conformist realization. Audacious production,
it has the potential of getting many praises and a huge audience.
This rather long (11 episodes of about 43 minutes each) is 300% worth the time watching it!
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overrated
This drama got a lot of attention and top ranking positions from various comparing sites, so I expected a lot more form it as it actually has.The acting is very good, the chosen pieces for the soundtrack are excellent and refreshing (almost only parts of classical music).
The team had for sure classical music counseling, because many scenes concerning the actual play in orchestra are very carefully conceived and filmed. However, the leaders of the team for sure ignored these counsels several times. For the sake of some (arguably) unnecessarily tension creation they made such terrible decisions! Several situations and scenes in the first half of the drama are such ridiculously wrong! Even a person having nothing in common with a classical orchestra can easily realize that that situations/decisions are strangely far of any conceivable reality. There were so bad moments that I was several time on the point of stopping watching the next episode. However, during the second part, these moments became sparser.
Again, only due to the great acting and good human qualities this drama is an enjoyable one.
However, there is no depth and practically no difference in value to an easy going summer drama.
So, if you do not expect much, this might be about 99% worth the time watching it.
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Masterpiece
This is an excellent thriller + psychological + criminal story.I wonder if the screenplay is based on a manga. In any case it kept me interested.
I'd suggest that you prepare at least 2 hours and watch the first two episodes together.
If you do so, then you get the whole flavor of the story and a perfect
impression on the power and maturity of the two main actors.
There is no better match for the two characters than Ayase Haruka and
Takahashi Issei. Their acting is formidable! I enjoyed every second of
their fabulous work. I had to watch several times some parts (especially of the episodes 2 and 3),
because the multitude of expressions and feelings that were conveyed were overwhelming.
The other actors were also chosen very well and each of them did a great job.
After the 4th episode I wanted to watch very slowly, because I wanted to
prolong as much as possible the pleasure of seeing the actors at their best time.
10 episodes seemed not enough. However, the action is a bit rushed towards
the end, there is a clear limit of such a drama. I liked very much the end.
It might make possible a continuation, yet I do not believe that it could be as good
as this period.
The music isn't too bad, yet not enough to be noted. There are much less good dramas
of this kind with much better music.
This drama is 150% worth its time watching!
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Pleasant and Modern
I watched this movie with English subtitles at a Japanese Film Festival.I liked very much the movie, as most of the movies by this director.
While it is for sure an rt film, it is good enough to have success to the larger scale of audience.
Very impressive in this movie are the beautiful views: nature with mountains and lake with strips of fog,
but also the small streets in the shopping center in Tokyo, the lovely details of the old public bath,
the authentic small Japanese (but also Ethiopian) restaurants, the lovely portraits of the old men and women.
We feel the delicacy and the love of the film creators towards their subjects.
The story is credible at every moment and I feel it gives a good slice of life. It has the right amount of tragic
and of poetics.
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Bad writing, not worth its watching time
This is a great example how a terrible writing can ruin a production.It is not cheap, it is really bad. Small dialogues and jokes are OK, but the main line
and the plot as a whole is the lowest possible quality.
All the beautiful acting of the main leads and of the secondary ones is lost.
This writing is at his best when it does not exist. Fortunately, about 40% of the 16 times 1.5 hours
nothing happens, and that is the best of this writing. The remaining of the story is either
100% foreseeable or disrespectful towards the spectators or simply of bad taste
or terribly boring.
The music is carefully chosen and nice, though probably not at all perceivable outside of the show.
The music would not stand out by itself as is the case with the music of other shows.
It is one of the rare cases, where I had to struggle with myself to keep watching; I did it only
in order to be able to write this review knowing it all. Do not repeat my mistake!
In short: this show is not worth the time of watching it because of the terrible writing and despite of beautiful and good actors.
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K standard
There is nothing special about this drama, apart that it seems to target the teens. It has very good looking and experienced actors, good cinematography, some very nice shoots, careful documentation, nice moments, a fully foreseeable but clear story line. I am glad they managed to not ruin it, even if I found it merely boring.You know in advance what you get and the promise is never deceiving.
However, I am not sure if it deserved my invested time.
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100% lumped clichees
This drama benefices of several very cute and potentially promising actors.However, this capital is ruined by several greedy production mistakes.
My initial enthusiasm vanished at about episode 5, but I watched it till the end.
The writing is dilettante: the story is based on a very rich and long manga.
Instead of making either a longer series (such that the actors can develop and
we may enjoy them for longer) or making a clever selection, the writer lumps
too much together, so much that the actors do not have the occasion to show
what they eventually could. The story rashes from one "kyun" moment to another.
There is zero opportunity for depth, very often there is no logic and
the acting is forced to be reduced to a minimum,
As a result, we get 10 episodes of 45 minutes each with 100% lumped clichees.
There is almost no camera work, sadly.
The director seemed to be focused only in product placement which is pushed
to hilarious limits (e.g. the clothes they were supposed to wear inside the sauna).
The whole gives the impression of a rushed, low cost, high profit production.
Unless you like these actors very much and you are fond of 100% clichees,
watching this drama is a loss if time.
This drama is worth about 25% of its watching time.
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Worth watching, yet do not expect too much.
It could have been very good if the writer would have dare to be less exaggerating with the R+J type story. Additionally, 20 and 8 seem to be randomly chosen numbers, a bit of thinking or of life experience would have been beneficial. I wonder if nobody reads critically the script? Yet he actors are great and the OST memorable. In short: it is worth watching, but do not expect too much of it.Was this review helpful to you?
Boring
This is another series ruined by the script. By my best try, I cannot understand the hype about it. True is: the acting of Lee Se Young is good, especially because it is almost all in Japanese, yet she had much better acting in other series. Well, even the best actor needs a script to play, yet this one is simply bad when it is not void. The camera work is good. However, the soundtrack is below average and the writing is one of the worst possible. A director accepting such a screen play has no back. Sometimes a good actor can push the others to surpass themselves, yet the employed Japanese actors were much below average, too.The best thing about this series is that had only 6 episodes. Even so, I see no reason to waste your time watching it!
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Charming
The writer found a good balance between all the planes of the story, it is not exaggerated yet captivating,it has some sugar, yet not too much, the characters are designed not too precise yet not too fuzzy. There are of course
a few forced points a few foreseeable problems and solutions. Only the last episode gave me the impression of fill in,
probably the writer was out of ideas. Acting is of course great, the music is ok, but the very best in my opinion are the
numerous and various views of beautiful spots in Seoul. If you visited Seoul, you'll love this drama for showing many
beautiful places as they really are. I wish, more creators make the effort to film outside, in real places, using the beautiful scenery they may find!
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Surprisingly good: a hidden gem
The description of the drama gives the very wrong impression on it.Without the excellent details, the story would be nothing. Yet the detailed portraits
of each character are beautiful. I am not sure if the view on the work of the journalists isn't much
idealized, yet it does not matter, because the drama is full of symbols and more or less subtle incentives
to reflect on many aspects of our life, decisions and attitudes. Each episode has its own story, never boring,
never exaggerated, always credibly and every time adding another brick for the main line of the story.
I also liked the final: again, it is not exaggerated in any way and (as very rarely in the Japanese dramas) not
boring and unexpected - just like life actually is. All this is made possible not only by the carefully written story,
but also by excellent camera work and a magnificent performance of all the actors; of course, the main leads
gave it all - this is a must see for all fans, and all the other actors did (for me) unexpected good jobs. The music isn;t bad either!
I found this drama worth 300% of its view time and it goes directly on the smallest pile of the titles that I liked most.
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