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Si Tu Mo was a lovable main female lead as well. She definitely stood up for herself, was straight and to the point when it came to romance and friendships, and it was really great to not have to get frustrated at those stupid misunderstandings that too many other dramas have.
Sadly, the last few episodes of this drama really slowed down the pace, and I felt like it dragged without any real storyline—they seemed like filler episodes.
The OST is also okay, but I love love love Time For A Love Song by Luna!
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For a drama that has such a dark sub-plot, this drama was surprisingly funny. The romance was hilarious, especially the jealous scenes, and I loved the chemistry between the two leads. The side characters were really interesting as well, and I enjoyed seeing how other relationships developed.
I was SUPER intrigued by the mystery aspect of this, and it definitely delivered. The backstory was nothing that I'd expected, and the cinematography creeped me out successfully, which was a great balance.
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Bittersweet
I enjoyed this one and all the warmth and bittersweetness that came with it. It’s beautifully filmed and I really like how purposefully opaque and unreliable the story-telling is.Compared to the original Chinese movie, this adaptation does seem a little more buttoned-up and less raw, which could be a negative. But on the other hand, I also found it to be much less frustrating — so it turned out to be quite an even trade I guess.
Ultimately, I still liked this one; I’ve been in the middle of the book for quite a while and now I feel more motivation to pick it up again.
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Sad I didn’t love it
Went into this one with sky high expectations considering the glowing reviews and the Zodiac comparison (a movie I really liked), but it ended up not working for me.I like the themes surrounding the investigation and who was accused of being the culprit, but I couldn’t get myself invested in any of the characters’ psychologies, and none of the humor landed. I thought this would be right up my alley but it felt really slow throughout and didn’t have the investigative tension I hoped for.
My favorite scene is the final scene.
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Peaceful but uneventful
A very nice slice-of-life show that was mostly refreshing because of the FL's personality; I always love watching dramas where the female lead is really practical, down-to-earth, and genuinely good at what she does.I did, however, find it really hard to get into and stay invested in the overall plot. I cared about the main character and her healing journey, but I didn't care about the side characters at all and didn't connect to the location enough to be invested in the plot about improving tourism in the area.
This is ultimately just a peaceful and calming watch, and I know lots of people will enjoy it for that, but I think it was just too slow for me.
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Good social commentary
I think the best parts of this were undoubtedly the relationship between the two leads and seeing them work together; they don't have so much screentime together but when they do it always steals the scene.I'm a bit more mixed on the overall plot; I like the themes it's addressing a lot, from the prosecutor-police relationship to broader institutional corruption, but the pacing feels pretty slow and I wasn't fully interested in all the characters involved, like Yeon-Jae (the Hanjo chairwoman). It feels like it makes its point clear really early but then takes a really long time to get to it.
Ultimately though, I still think this was solidly written, but not really as engaging as it could be.
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Sweet, but...
This was a pretty sweet campus drama, though I don't think it ever managed to hit me as deeply as it wanted to despite covering some pretty heavy topics.The pacing is a little slow at the start, which made it very frustrating for me because it felt like all the non-main characters were downright horrible all the time. I ended up not really liking how the show handled their arcs and how they interacted with the main leads, but perhaps I'm just much less forgiving of a person.
I didn't really enjoy the romance very much either. I like their arcs individually but never really bought into them liking each other or being in a deeper relationship; the FL felt really disconnected from the ML's arc the entire time.
There's also one side female character I found to be pretty unnecessary.
Overall, the acting is passable but kind of awkward at times; you can basically tell it's a webtoon adaptation. A nice show but one that didn't quite hit the right beats for me.
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Weird
I'm glad they came up with this to appease us viewers who were unhappy about the ending, but the entire thing just feels really awkward and forced; the voices are different, which made it hard for me to immerse myself in the characters, and they talk to the camera like they're in a commercial. I'd rather not have this and have the drama's last 10 minutes cut.Was this review helpful to you?
A perfect slow burn
The plot here is something I'm sure we've all seen before — it's a typical revenge + political intrigue type story. But between this and The Prisoner of Beauty, I'm loving our new female leads that aren't physical fighters but are intelligent, brilliant strategists. Jiang Li is a fantastic main character to follow; I really liked how multi-layered the story here is and how she is the main driver of her own story. While I LOVED the romance here, it was wonderful to see the ML be supportive while the FL got to make the plans and carry them out.With that being said, I also really liked the romance; this is always what I wanted from a slow burn: two characters who fall in love over a long period of time based on mutual support and care as they each work towards their own goals. It was actually great that romance wasn't the main arc here, and it made for very consistent tone throughout all 40 episodes. One complaint I have with some long historical c-dramas are that the first half is very light-hearted and romance-focused. while the second half becomes really dark and angsty once the main plot is addressed. This drama did not have that issue, which was refreshing.
There are some plot points that you'll have to suspend your disbelief for. Imagine how speechless when this show suddenly used the hyper-realistic masks from PLL. For the most part, though, I didn't have an issue with anything.
With that being said, my one complaint (and probably one that many people agree with) is probably the last episode/the ending. It had the perfect ending but tacks on a few more scenes that try to add some more darkness and angst to the story, but it only feels confusing because we didn't explore any of the plot points around it. In my head, that part doesn't exist, and without it, this was a fabulous show.
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Cute but awkward
So Ao Haru Ride is one of my favorite mangas and I was really excited for this one after watching a super cute FMV on YouTube (link here if anyone wants to watch it: https://youtu.be/uqdrmW9-g_8), but I think the music video turned out to be a little better than the actual movie, just because a lot of awkward line delivery wasn't noticeable.That's the first thing that stands out about the film — it very clearly feels like a manga adaptation and like most of those, the exaggeration really doesn't work too well. The lead characters clearly have chemistry but some of the dialogue really hampers that.
I know it's hard cutting such a long story into 1.5 hours and they definitely did the best they could with it, but it still comes at the cost. The friend group doesn't feel as tight, side characters are less layered, and some of the story beats feel a bit choppy, with a few iconic scenes being cut. It's ultimately fine because I'd rather have more focus on the leads and the romance though, but it makes the stakes feel a little lower.
Romance-wise, I think this did an okay job; I'm more forgiving of Kou than a lot of people seem to be, and this was no different. I found his struggles very relatable, though I'm not sure it would come across as strongly to someone who came in without any prior knowledge of the story.
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Sweet nothingburger
A very sweet watch, but even at a humble 1 hour and 7 minutes, I'm not sure the story in here justifies the runtime. Part of the comfort in this movies comes from the fact that there's very little drama and it's just a cozy film about an introvert frolicking around in bookstores and meadows, but at the same time it ultimately feels...mild.Was this review helpful to you?
My most hated trope...twice
Welp. I was hoping I'd understand the hype after Part 2 since Part 1 disappointed me, but that's not the case.While, once again, I like the higher stakes — of which this part has more of, it also starts to feel much more aimless after the first few episodes, going so far as to use amnesia, my most hated trope, as a plot device not once, but twice.
The acting is really great from both leads but particularly the ML; I just wished it was used on more fight scenes or political maneuvering instead of reverting his character to a ditz for multiple episodes.
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This review may contain spoilers
Healing
Wow, I really loved this one. The premise of a twin swap is already very promising, and the first episode was really strong. I was immediately captivated by the younger scenes of Miji/Hosu, and their friends-to-lovers romance went on to become one of my on-screen favorites.This show really did a fantastic job balancing romance with more serious, darker topics. Each character had their own struggles and their stories, and I really loved seeing everyone grow individually and together. But the most important theme in this show actually turned out to be motherhood; I loved seeing different mother-child relationships throughout the show, whether it was about the twins vying for their mother’s attention, or about the struggles of being adopted, or about generational trauma. I was really impressed with how much nuance this drama had towards each story.
Aside from motherhood, it’s just a really touching story about growing up, healing from trauma, and dealing with adulthood, and I found every plot point to be really relatable.
There are a few things that I’m not the biggest fan of, even if this show handled it okay. One of those is the very well-known final act break-up. While I think Hosu’s reasoning of not wanting to burden his loved ones with his disability is very realistic and aligned with his character, I’m just never going to enjoy the final act break-up trope in media because it feels like introducing a new conflict near the end; in this show, I would’ve preferred if we took some more time to confront the twin’s relationship with each other or with their mother.
The other thing is the second ship, Mirae and Sejin. I don’t have any particular criticism here; I just didn’t really connect to the romance as much.
I’m ultimately satisfied with the ending but it is a tad bit open-ended; my heart wants to see more Mirae confronting the office bullies but my brain knows that it’s actually healthier for her to just remove herself from the situation and have her legal representatives deal with it. Either way, the message the show left me with is very true to life — life goes on.
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Not your typical drama
For everyone who's looking for a typical romance cdrama, this is NOT that. I think this show did a really good job at showing ALS's physical AND mental effect on the person diagnosed with it, as well as on everyone who cares about them. It's a really interesting to think about what you'd do in this situation — both if you'd want to put your loved ones through the pressure of caretaking, and also if you would be willing to become one if someone you loved was diagnosed. Lin Yi does a really good job at showing the progression of ALS, and Landy Li also does a really good job with emotional scenes.Other than that, I actually found this drama to unfortunately be not as engaging. While I understand that the romance and "getting together" part wasn't the point of this show, I felt like the leads got together too early and quickly for me to connect with their love story, and the second couple was also a skip for me — I found them more irritating than anything else and their tone really clashed with the seriousness of the ALS plot. The second male lead also did not really add much. It's weird because all of these characters were great when they were reacting to the male lead or interacting with the ALS plot, but their love lines were not fun to watch.
Ultimately, while I like how this tackles a heavy topic pretty well, I don't think I actually really connected to the characters and story as much as the disease just being sad. For a similar plot, I'd highly recommend One Liter of Tears (jdrama) instead, though that one is about SCA and not ALS.
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Solid but not mindblowing
This was pretty solid across the board — interesting characters, a fun supernatural twist, a well-rounded mystery (with actual consequences), but it was still somehow missing the spark that would give it more tension and suspense.While the mystery is well-written overall, it didn’t necessarily blow my mind and the pacing sometimes felt a bit slow. I also think the flashbacks at the start, while nice and did slowly reveal more about the story, did get a little repetitive and retread the same thing multiple times. The acting is also decent, but having many of Jin-young’s later dramas, it’s clear that he improved a lot since this one.
Still, this was nice watch, with a good mix of mystery and romance.
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