Kate

Make it make sense, because I cannot.

Inconsistencies in writing are my pet peeve and this drama was full of them - from the characters' actions and personality traits to ever changing rules and types of games. It's a show I would enjoy far more if I did not use my brain while watching.

To be perfectly honest, I loved the first two episodes. I was ready for either clever or violent games that Arisu tries to solve. But as the drama progressed, the characters completely lost their wits and the games became painfully predictable.

Arisu ⇢ Keeping the character smart only when the plot needs it.
I'm sorry for the writers, but you cannot present your characters as this genius with an almost photographic memory in episode one, to turn him into a complete idiot in the 2nd half of the show. One episode he assesses the game based on the information he gained, taking into consideration different options and overall the type of the game that is indicated by the card's symbols, the other time he has his brain just turned off and runs. Well written and consistent character? Not this one.

Games ⇢ No one cares about the rules, not even creators.
What's the point in introducing the symbols as a game categorizations, when you just completely ignore it later on? How is the first game team battle, when it completely relies on wits? Or The Witch Hunt game, which again could be won only by using your brain and wits. Or the bus game which was a team battle, but had NOTHING to do with teamwork and again, needed a brain to solve it and understand the rules. The only game that truly fitted the category given was the wolf and the lambs game in episode three. It was pure survival based on betrayal. No double meaning, no hidden ways out.

The male lead should also be dead. When The Witch Hunt begins, his Visa is said to expire tomorrow. Since he was not part of The Witch Hunt game (he did not register before the game started by scanning his face on the phone), he did not gain additional 10 days to his Visa. They did not play any games after that. Unless they found the hiding spot of the Dealers right the next day, and he joins the new game right away, he should be dead. Or the game was just paused after the Beach event, but that makes no sense, since the events in the Beach did not affect all the players in that game world.

Predictable outcomes ⇢ The games that did not surprise me.
The games were either laughably easy to solve and I hated the characters for not understanding them, or were impossible to beat and you just knew from the start which character would come out of it alive. Because of that, there was no element of surprise or excitement. More often than not, it was just me watching idiots dying and feeling nothing about it.

Players ⇢ collective 10 points IQ
I get it, most people are not amazingly smart, but I did not expect everyone to be. I just wanted them to try to survive, but I felt like most people were working hard to die. The best example was The Witch Hunt. The rule was clear: burn the witch in the Fire of Judgement. So what do most characters start to do? Kill everyone. Which is the least logical thing to do, because it's impossible to move all the bodies to a Fire of Judgment in the limited time. They set themselves up for failure. When the two characters next to the pool said "We killed so many people and yet we still did not find the witch"... well you won't know if you found her or not, because you are just leaving the bodies here, when the rule said you need to burn the witch in the Fire of Judgment. No one cared about survival and winning the game. And while they explained that it was Aguni's plan for everyone to die and not solve the game, it did not excuse all the other people. Kill everyone, but remember, you need to burn them in the Fire of Judgement - the rules were simple.

You cannot claim this show is a commentary on how people turn into the worst version of themselves in life or death situations, and when their survival instinct kicks in, because the majority of the characters didn't even try hard to survive...

Out of place emotional elements ⇢ The lack of proper characters exposition.
I'm not gonna cry during the emotional game of hearts, where two friends are giving up their lives for the 3rd one, when the writers did nothing to make me care and connect to these characters in the first place. Each and every death in this show evokes in me this reaction: oh... ok. They gave some flashbacks about some characters' pasts, but more often than not, it was too little too late.

Still camera shots ⇢ The directing beauty
I'm honestly exhausted with all the shaky camera work and angles changing every few milliseconds style of presenting scenes that is used in many shows. I truly appreciated how calm the directing here was, especially taking into consideration the chaotic tone of the plot itself. Loved the opening shots of the empty city used in a few episodes. I took a ridiculous amount of screenshots - this show was truly an aesthetic masterpiece for me, perfectly fitting my taste.

Aguni ⇢ The one that made me care and surprised me
Taking into consideration the fact this is not a character driven drama and most of the characters don't have much depth (it's really superficial), it did not even cross my mind that there could be more to Aguni than just rivalry with his old friend. Slowly discovering his past and his role in The Beach was quite a nice side plot line, and even though him killing the Hatter was obvious, the reasoning behind it caught me off guard and I appreciate that.

Overall, the first two episodes were too good, which ruined the rest of the series for me. They got me excited for some smart games that will make my brain cells do some workout, but the show never delivered after that. Each episode was more disappointing than the previous one. I wanted to immerse myself in the show, try to solve the games with the characters, and wonder if I would survive... but I guess "the game master" was not clever enough to create truly challenging tasks. There were many rules introduced, but when you truly try to digest and understand them, you find out, nothing made any sense.

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180 on personality tropes, but was it enough?

By all means, objectively speaking I do not think it’s as low as 6.5 drama, but with how I personally did not enjoy the majority of it in the second half, that’s the rating it gets from me.

The only fresh thing this title presents is the flip on well known personality tropes - professional and cold male lead turns into a female lead, and empathic, well organized female lead is a dude. That’s honestly it, and it’s not enough for me.

Now that I finished the show it’s hard for me to pinpoint what it was exactly.

It’s not really a business show, since a lot of the business aspects were underdeveloped, especially in the larger scene and the relations between different companies and management. Out of all the cases I think only one was truly well executed.

The life and drama aspect of it was more of highlights of events, rather than a well paced story. Drama here, trauma there, some healing happening behind the scenes, some happening last minute, right before we roll the credits.

It leaves us with romance, and romance only. And that’s probably why I could not enjoy the show to its full potential - it did not sell itself as just romance, and it did not set up the story as just romance in the first two episodes. By the end of the day, the only well produced and written aspect of it was in fact… just the romance.

It tried to make many people from many different angles, and at the end everything was just: meh. I don’t want to even talk about the antagonists, because that was a failure of its own. Shallow, with little to no background, with basic schemes that should be obvious to the smart leads, and yet they were often not. The quick wrap up to give a resemblance of a closure. Was any of that even necessary? The story could easily exist and be improved without it all.

I honestly feel like they simply targeted the general audience, which means they did not really have a target audience in mind. They added a little bit of this and that, mixed genres, made it all mild and easy to consume and hoped people would like it. It’s generic.

I definitely liked the performances. Han Ji Min was the center of it all, giving a strong portal of Kang Ji Yun - be it at her highs, or lows, confident or insecure, brave or scared. Complex yet cohesive presentation.

For the directing, filming and editing - I was in love with how they used reflections, glass and forefront objects to frame the scenes. What’s more - great use of light. Love Scout wins in terms of visuals.

Overall, while it is a drama that focuses on healing, creating your own space, finding new priorities, learning and discovering yourself as a person, it almost never truly hits hard on any of these themes. Everything is overshadowed by the romance, a good romance, but not strong enough to carry 12 episodes.

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Emotional ride with a bit of a flat progression.

Saying I am not completely invested in this slow burn romance (it’s so slow one could think it literally backtracks a few times) would be a lie. They got me on their first shared screen time and I did not even mind the fact they barely interact in the first half of part 1 of the show.

Love Like the Galaxy in its part 1 feels a lot like a family slice of life rather than a typical historical romance. The focus is on the main characters as individuals rather than them as a pair and future couple. Especially with Shao Shang, we can observe in detail how she interacts with all members of her family. On the other hand, while we don’t see Bu Yi interact with many people in his circle (except from his 2 loyal companions, who sadly had less and less screen time as drama progressed), the plot focused on the past mystery surrounding his family and tragedy that befell on it.

Here’s the deal though: while I believe they did a close to perfect job with Shao Shang and her side of the story, Bu Yi just felt underdeveloped - both as a character and his storyline. Any questions I might have had regarding the female lead were addressed one way or another, while many times I got so little information about male lead, I was not even sure what to ask - so I slowly completely lost interest in his solo quest for justice.

As for the romance - the sweet agony I felt because of Bu Yi’s pinning was amazing. I love how we didn't really get to see leads interact a lot. That said, just because they didn’t share the screen, does not mean there was no chemistry. They were able to sell the connection even when they were not together. How amazing is that! They influenced each other and slowly depended on each other, even without many interactions.

At some point though it started to feel frustrating. While we saw and understood how Bu Yi’s feelings changed, Shao Shang was an uninterested romantic mystery for way too long. So by the end of part 1, how her feelings and understanding of herself changed felt a little bit rushed. I’m sorry, but if you deliver romance at 0.25x speed, you cannot speed it up with quick 30 seconds flashbacks later on.

Another thing that bothered me pacing wise was the Lou Yao part of the plot. This story was unnecessarily long, when in fact it had little impact on characters. With how little it mattered, how long it took to resolve was surprising and… well, annoying.

On the bright side - I love a lot of the supporting characters. Wan Qi Qi and the emperor are definitely some of the best. Especially with the emperor, he delivers some great humor and comedy bits.

Acting wise - amazing. Not one performance felt flat. Zhao Lu Si can deliver both the carefree and charming, and serious and defeated. Leo Wu was probably born to play in historical romance shows. Huge shoutout to Xu Di - her dramatic performance as Madam Cheng is to die for.

Another good aspect is obviously the scenography, set design, camera work, lighting and all the rest production related things. The show is simply beautiful. Not taking screenshots while watching is a crime.

Overall, a really solid first half, but the true quality and value it has will be known after watching the rest of the show.

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La Ri Ma’s supremacy.

What could have been an interesting take on the reality of idols, turned into a cliché rom-com with important issues as background noise. Pure escapism without much logic.

The show opens with the mysterious disappearance of Eunjo and the tragic end of Annie. One would think this is going to be an important element of the plot - it’s not. They bring it up a few times for a few seconds, and then solve it by the end, without any solving actually happening.

For the majority of the show, we follow Tea Party as they struggle trying to make their debut work for the 2nd time, but…. There is not much of a struggle going on. Every problem and conflict they face is solved right away without many lasting consequences.

They hint some problems idols might face like not getting paid for the training period, or even after debut (because of the training debt), how rookie idols can be used to bury bigger scandals, even if it ruins their careers, how idols might be viewed as products that can be easily replaced and not as individual people, obsessed and possessive fans, and many more… but all of them are just mentioned with one or two lines and not properly explored.

The main focus is the relationship between Maha and Ryok, which is so lukewarm and boring, I had to watch it at 1.5x speed. They hit too many cliches that are not well executed, it’s sad to watch at times, especially since both Jeong Ji So and Jun are rather talented actors that can do more than this.

Of course, how it always is with teen/young adult romance stories - no one can be single, hence every Tae Party member gets their own love interest.

Even the main love triangle is there… and then one day it’s not. There is no tension, no conflict between interested parties… no nothing.

The best character with the most interesting story, charming personality and depth was La Ri Ma. She could easily become the main character, coz even as a supporting role, she overshadowed everyone. Without lying, I survived this show mostly for her (and one of the side couples, that overall, throughout the 12 episodes, had not more than 6 minutes of screen time together).

Production wise… I do have my complaints. The budget could not have been high, looking at the Award Show at the beginning. If you can’t make it look realistic (whenever the reason is lack of money, or the pandemic), don’t do it. There were other ways to show who is the top idol and respected performer. Another thing was the distracting, poorly done make up. Ma Ha looked like her lips kept bleeding, and Jun at times could play a 30+ years old guy.

With all that, I somehow got attached and the last episode made me slightly emotional, especially the scenes of the few characters I liked.

Overall: Honestly speaking - waste of time. I was initially interested because of the mystery element and more realistic portrayal of the idol's life, but it was all gone by episode 3. I don’t even want to talk about acting. Some of the idols did better than others, but damn, the majority of supporting roles of the two boy groups were not great.

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Why add plot when you clearly do not want to have a plot?

Nor do you need the plot to be perfectly honest. I am genuinely confused about what happened and what this drama wanted to be. It claims to be a fantasy rom-com, but it feels like a cooking slice of life. It sets the plot as this epic love story that defies time with political schemes in the background… but delivers a cooking slice of life. So why not just… be a cooking slice of life and not cosplay as something else?

The whole drama is a sandwich. Episode 1-3 and 10-12 have a plot, episodes 4-9 have cooking and close to no plot. Anyone willing to explain to me how I am supposed to care about all the events happening at the end, when they were never developed and existed only in my memory from the first few episodes? I’m honestly annoyed, because I actually love the slice of life genre, and I love historical rom-coms with fun set up and some political schemes. But I was expecting a plot, and got disappointed when I did not get it. And since I was not expecting a slice of life cooking comedy, I kept waiting for the plot to happen, and ended up not quite enjoying it either.

This could have been just a slice of life cooking comedy - 8 episodes, remove Kang Mok Ju and Prince Je San from the story completely since they were useless. Also remove the whole backstory of the king's mother - useless. Serious political schemes? Useless. Male lead being tyrant for like 2 hours of the screentime? Useless. Basically, remove the crumbs of the plot we’ve got, and I will love it.

The cooking? Amazing. The bond between the cooks? Awesome and fun to watch. Making meals more than just food, but rather an emotional experience that connects people and makes them remember their happy memories? Beautiful. The visuals - breathtaking. I even enjoyed the romance, which was mild and cute, a nice backdrop to the cooking itself. And if the drama was that, and only that, it would be an easy 8.5 out of 10.

Then we have the issue of the casting. Acting wise everyone did a good job, but it’s obvious Lee Chae Min was to some extent miscast. I know it was a last minute decision, and he aced the role itself. But when you put him in the context of the other actors, his presence makes no sense - he is simply too young. All the main characters are supposed to be more or less of a similar age, and so are the actors. And then we have this 2000s baby. I want to be clear that I do think he did a great job acting wise though.

As for the romance - outside of the set up it was great. Loved the fluff, loved the initial banter. I loved the growing trust and actually decent communication. In the context of the set up? Flat. I don’t know, I’m just confused and want to ask the writer: why? I liked their relationship, I do think they like each other. Did I feel love? No. Ji Yeong felt mildly interested. I did not feel that deep bond that can change the trajectory of the future, that would make their souls crushed if they end up separated. It gave me more - you are my type, let’s see where it will lead us.

Production wise - beautiful. I was in awe with all the cooking scenes, still giggling when I remember the editing of the reactions when characters were testing female lead’s dishes.

Overall, I would be fine with no plot, just good vibes and cooking, if they did not set up an actual plot that also seems interesting and would have exciting conflicts. But now I’m just confused about what was the goal and what the writer and director wanted to deliver with this project.

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Not bad, but also not good enough to validate its existence.

There are two reasons to make a remake - different time period/culture (cultural changes between countries that are vital for the plot, or modernizing older titles), or significant changes to the content that explain the reason for retelling (changing genres, changing the pov of the story etc.). Sadly, Tanin wa Jigokuda is just retelling exactly the same story, without additional nuance, stripping a lot of depth from the characters and their relationship to fit the plot into a movie format. Basically, all the changes made it actually worse.

Yes, I do understand it's unfair to judge a movie by comparing it to the original drama, but when the movie is so similar and fails to stand alone, it's hard to ignore existing bias.

One of the things that made me disappointed is how this movie was just a horror, while the original story was clearly a psychological horror. Yu was not this guy who from the start we can see has some issue, and we are just waiting for him to finally snap. Yu was just a normal guy that was driven mad by the environment.

Because there was far less focus on Kirishima compared to his character in the Korean version, he never had this unnerving presence. He did not feel like a psychopathic wolf in sheep clothing, he was just full on psycho. Him and Yu also barely shared the screen, so the movie more or less completely skipped the depth of their relationship, dynamics and how they affected each other.

I also feel like the ending was less vague - here some people might like it, depends on the preference. One plot twist got me giggling though, I did not think it made that much sense.

On the bright side - if someone prefers less of a tension, and more of the actual creeps, the Japanese version for sure presents more of a horror style. Less subtle, more weird. The acting was also solid. Even if I was not completely sold on Kirishima as a character, Yanagi Shuntaro's portrayal was dreadful and dire, which was exactly the point.

Directing wise - they knew how to make you uncomfortable. Close up to chewing, quick cuts between the shots. sometimes showing more than I might have wanted to see.

Overall, it's the type of movie you kind of enjoy, but there is nothing really unique about it so you will forget it in a week.

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“We don’t discriminate”.

The thing I got the most from this movie is the complete lack of education about trans issues we have, honestly globally. The lack of education leads to insensitive comments and questions. The intent might have been just a normal curiocity, some might even think they are being playful or joking, some that it's just teasing, but the effect on the person being asked? Rather negative. “We don’t discriminate”, but we also do not care enough to take a second and reevaluate if the comment we are about to make might be insensitive or worded in the worst way possible.

Do I think it is a tricky situation for people who fall into the “norm”? Sure. Everyone has their own limits, boundaries, expectations. Things they feel comfortable about, and things they hate. There is no guideline “how to treat a transgender person”, because they are all different, just like literally every human being is different. The same question can be viewed as rude to one, and completely fine for another. Still, some comments and questions are objectively a big no-no. Sadly, most people don’t know what they are and don’t care enough to find out.

As for our heroine - Hikari. What a strong character. I am not one with any type of anxiety, especially none that involves social interactions, but the way the movie was shot and structured, I was feeling anxious for her. I was also getting annoyed, angry and frustrated watching her interactions with strangers and how… inconsiderate they were. “I am curious, so I am asking, because I am an egocentric asshole who only thinks about their own needs, and not about other’s feelings” - this is how I viewed the majority of them.

On one had it was great to see her move forward even when she felt hurt. On the other hand I wanted her to just start hell and say a few “rude” words to a couple of people. Easier said than done though. Still, seeing her walk with a smile on her face in that red dress (amazing look if you ask me) was to some extend liberating.

I’m sure there are a lot of hidden meanings and symbolism going on, sadly my brain is not quite wired to catch the hidden meanings and the poetic, less straightforward messages. Someone with a more abstract mind would for sure appreciate the movie even more.

I feel like the review is more me just ranting about society, and less how the movie was. For that I'm sorry...

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Why make it so complicated?

I will never understand why Korean writers are so obsessed over adding so many external conflicts to every drama ever, while also making them so over the top and not relatable for the majority of their audience. Love in Contract is a rom-com, not a business politics drama, we do not need this much focus, or even any focus on the shenanigans of the chaebols.

I honestly think removing the whole aspect of the “rich elites” from this show and making it at best 12 episodes long would vastly improve the quality. The whole second half was just a dramatic mess. All the important bits about learning how to rely on others, trust them, move on from past traumas, heal, find your own dreams and goals - drowned in the pool of misogynist powerful men and overprotective mothers.

That said, the first half of the drama was a blast to watch. Choi Sang Eun is a great female lead with a strong personality, clear views that impact her behavior, but also a solid dose of insecurities that we get to explore as the drama progresses. Jung Ji Ho, being one of the most unique male leads in dramaland, had some of the most solid character developments - improving his communication skills, creating social connections, improving his understanding of other people’s views and perspectives, while still keeping the core of his persona true.

Out of all the supporting characters, I for sure enjoyed Jung Ji Eun the most. Appreciated her understanding nature and willingness to improve and not just be a menace to the main couple. And it would be a crime not to mention Woo Gwang Nam. I have to say, that’s honestly a solid representation - a character that is gay, but his whole existence, personality, internal and external conflict do not only resolve around his sexuality. He was neither comedic relief, nor the typical tortured soul. Easily the most complex and well established supporting character this drama had to offer.

Would be lying if I said I was impressed by any of the performances, since I feel I have seen similar characters from these actors in their previous roles. I’d even say it’s impressive how type-cast the drama was.

I have little to nothing to say about the production value. There was nothing bad, nor outstanding about the directing, editing, soundtrack, set design. Sure, the female lead’s outfits were amazing, but that’s not enough for me to praise the overall quality.

Overall, the show was simply basic. It had great moments, nice supporting characters, but when it’s surrounded by mediocrity, I question if it’s worth watching the whole show for scraps.

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Fairly entertaining, insanely ridiculous.

Did I have fun? Kind of. Did it take me 4 hours to finish it? Yes. Did I feel bad about being bored while watching all the kids dying? No. And that all kind of sums up all the problems I had with the movie.

Personally, I’m the person who needs some kind of explanation for the events happening, otherwise I cannot connect to what I see on the screen and I get bored. And we got exactly zero explanations in Battle Royale. What was the goal of the law? What was supposed to be the positive effect it has? What was the motivation make it happen? We don’t know and I honestly cannot think of a truly logical one myself that would make sense in any universe. So the movie ends up with being just… kids killing themselves and each other. And that’s kind of boring.

That said, there were two aspects I did enjoy:

My favorite part of the movie was for sure everyone taking their sweet time dying after being shot 4868374587439 times. They do need to give their final monologues after all.

Jokes aside, one thing I truly liked is how the kids are accused of basically the collapse of moral standards and crumbling society, but as the movie progresses, we see many flashbacks of all the adults who failed the same kids that are blamed now. Great way to showcase how youth is often blamed the negative consequences of adults’ actions and decisions - still relevant 23 years after the movie was made. It’s not the kids that ruined the society, it’s the society that failed the kids.

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On one hand it was so much better than the actual show - we’ve seen more natural interactions between the couples that were not highly edited. We were also able to see how the contestants themselves react to some of the scenes from the show (probably my favorite aspect of After Signal).

On the other hand it felt like the panelists were not quite treating the participants as real people. It’s one thing to “ship” them when watching the show and seeing specific interactions that were edited to look romantic, it’s a completely different story to ship these people in their face and keep saying how they see “signals” between them. I feel like After Signal took one step too far into the private lives of these people.

Still, I did enjoy it a lot. I feel like this showed some new sides of the couples - it makes it so much easier to understand why these people picked each other, but it also proves how shitty editing and directing of Heart Signal 4 was…

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The lack of chemistry was evident…

Which made me enjoy it more as a slice of life drama, rather than a romantic comedy. Not gonna lie though, with the amount of “love lines” and feelings the characters had for each other, the fact that there were exactly zero sparks felt was disappointing.

I honestly think it would be better without the romance. Focusing on friendship and personal growth would make it a nice, warm and inspiring show. What we’ve got was a borderline Jekyll and Hyde male lead, that flipped between his two personalities in the matter of seconds and a questionable romance - no one will convince me Sato Ai was not too focused on the familiarity and the nostalgia, while ignoring all the flaws.

We also have the whole aspect of changing appearance, which I found ridiculous. For me Koshiba Fuka actually looked better and more attractive before the “glow up”. I think the natural look fits her far more, and the idea she was thought to be extremely ugly was laughable.

There were still quite a few aspects I truly loved. The themes of rediscovering yourself, finding your dreams, working hard to improve, taking accountability for your actions - this is what I enjoyed the most.

Sato Ai was a great character with a great journey. Higuchi Takuya was a walking sunshine with a glowing personality that was impossible to dislike. And then we have Sosuke and Risa who were both underdeveloped which made them kind of boring - I truly did not care about them at all. Their struggles and motivations were shown in such a vague and shallow manner, why should I care?

The performances were good. Akaso Eiji impressed me the most - the natural and quick switches between the happy puppy to angst were amazing. They were clearly visible to the viewers, but subtle enough that it made sense the other characters did not notice. This Japanese version overall improved in the characterization aspects - keeping the core of who these characters were supposed to be, while toning down the cartoonish overreactions to make them more realistic.

Overall, a nice watch for binging. Nothing outstanding. Perfect as a palate cleanser when someone wants to watch something mildly amusing, but not too engaging.

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This is not a high budget, high production value documentary that tackles a complex issue from different angles. This is a one man take to uncover the truth, by exposing one lie at the time and I believe this is the correct approach.

The story behind the Sewol is extremely complex. It’s not just a case of one person negligence - it’s a story that involves individual workers, coastal guards, press, police, politicians - you name it, more or less everyone was involved.

So does this documentary tell us how it happened? Why it happened? Does it provide any concrete explanations? No. But it paints a horrifying picture - when people on the site were too scared to even talk about what was going on. It focused on just a small portion of the events - the use of a diving bell, and how the government was doing its best to not make it successful. Exposing that lie in such detail, with interviews and video/recordings proof is how you break the well crafted picture the government and press created.

The movie shows how much effort was put into creating and upholding a lie and shifting the blame on others, when half of that effort would probably be enough to save the people trapped in the sunken ship.

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Disastrous codependency that limits everyone involved.

Yet somehow, it’s both just as bad, and not as bad as it sounds. Perfect case of a relationship unintentionally turning toxic, when everyone involved thinks they have good intentions.

Double is a perfect character study, with so many various meanings to all interactions, that leave the final interpretation of the events and characters’ motivations to the viewer. Depending on what you will focus on, which scenes and moments will seem more important, what actions done by the characters feel more genuine, you might see quite a different tale than other people watching. And that’s the beauty of the show.

Personally, I see it as an artistic presentation of obsession - be it over art or a person, and countless human flaws and weaknesses.

When I think of Yujin, I think about egocentrism and this may seem like a counterintuitive view at first. He is introduced as someone who was willing to sacrifice a lot for Takara to succeed, but were his intentions as pure as it might seem? There is no clear cut answer to this question, but with each episode, watching him interact with Takara made me feel more and more uncomfortable. He had quite a duality about how he carried himself and interacted with Takara that made it hard to understand his character from the get go.

On the other hand we have Takara - a guy that was completely not capable of taking care of himself, and I truly mean what I say. The phrase that quite well describes him is “lack of self” - be it in the roles he portrays, decisions he makes, relationships he forms - everything is dependent on external influences.

He got hyperfixated on things and saw acting as his only goal in life. At the same time, for the longest time I could not truly pinpoint what exactly he wanted to achieve. Technically he verbalizes his wishes, but often they do not quite fit the reality and the action he would have to take to achieve them. He might seem like the victim of the situation, but what this drama is not, is simple - so there is more to his character and how he maneuvers his daily life.

Sounds like a lot? Looks like these are some complex characters? This ain’t even a fraction of what the drama presents. Honestly speaking, it’s best to go into it knowing as little as possible - not getting influenced by other people’s analysis and thoughts. Making it your own unique experience.

Complex characters and relationships are not the only aspect this drama delivers on an impossible high standard - the directing and editing were top notch as well. I am amazed how beautiful Double is. It truly feels like every scene was a deliberate choice and not one frame was left in by an accident or to simply fill the screen time.

Prolonged close ups to the actors’ faces, giving this eerie feeling, accompanied by simple yet dramatic in tone soundtrack? True perfection. The variety of different angles? Beautiful. The use of light and shadows? Could not ask for more. It’s just a perfectly crafted picture.

Onto the performances, both main actors did a phenomenal job, but I did prefer Nagayama Kento’s casting here. He embodied the gentle, caring yet strangely intimidating and unsettling character. On the other hand, while I do not have even a fraction of complaints about Chiba Yudai’s acting, it was simply hard for me to believe he was able to grab people’s attention… doing nothing, standing, walking. When he was not performing, he gave more of a lost puppy vibe, not this charismatic actor who might change the cinema. And yet, this is what they tried to tell me - that people just saw it in him.

Overall, what an uncanny watch it was. Each and every episode left me with so many thoughts to be organized, so many moments I had to analyze. One could easily write a whole book trying to decipher all the characters. More of my thoughts about them in the comment below.

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The plot lost between the simping, stalking and the sea of angst.

This drama makes me confused. Logically, I don’t even think it’s that good. Sure, some characters are interesting, some have great arcs, but the overall plot was barely developed and it’s mostly the female lead bouncing between the three and half male leads (I’m sorry Feng Long, but I forgot you were even a legit option and actually part of the main cast).

That said, it’s ridiculously addicting and entertaining. I saw all the flaws, but I could not stop watching. I feel like it’s one of the dramas with well written characters and basic, underdeveloped plot. Xiao Yao had barely anything going on for her in terms of the story, but just her personality and her interactions with other characters were enough for me to adore her. Xiyan Cang Xuan's fight for the throne seemed more like a first draft than a proper strategy, and yet I love him and the internal struggle, suppressed emotions and the conflicts he had to face were amazing. Xiang Liu had some of the best character developments in the whole show, slow, well paced, realistic. He did not become an angel, the core of the character never changed, but with each and every scene we’ve got to see all the layers of personalities he had.

While I disliked Tushan Jing a lot, even his character was written in a proper way, I just don’t vibe with him. That said, the struggle between his own desires and the newly found responsibilities was well presented.

Another aspect deserving some appreciation was the variety of female characters. More straightforward and tomboyish Xiao Yao, who is truly daring and loyal. Nian who went from annoying brat, to sweet sister (whom I also adored by the end of the show - biggest surprise for me), Fangfeng Yi Ying with her cunning nature and desperate actions, calculative, but also honest Chenrong Xin Yue. Truth to be told, I appreciated all the female characters, and at times I wished the drama would focus on them more.

What’s more to love? The visuals. Not me taking over 1000 screenshots. The costumes were beautiful, the scenery breathtaking, set designs amazing. Visually speaking, there was nothing to hate and a lot to love.

The acting was great. The only performance I struggle to judge is Deng Wei as Tushan Jing - I disliked the character so much, I am not going to act like a clown and pretend like I can be objective here. That said, the whole cast MASTERED the suppressed angst - everyone delivered in that area and these scenes were truly the highlight of the whole drama for me.

Overall, extremely enjoyable watch, even if by the end I felt like there was barely any plot. I wanted to see more detail in Xiyan Cang Xuan journey. I also wished to see more of Nian, since she became one of my favorite characters. I disliked how unbalanced all the relationships were, as someone who prefers partnership, the simping and pinning, and sacrificing at times was too much - rolling eyes was inevitable.

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So charming it bents the laws of optics and common sense.

Sometimes you don’t need logic, you need fluff and tension. You need the greatest dynamic of a cute unpopular boy and a possessive popular boy. The purest form of rom-com that is all about the characters and their relationship, but has none of the brain cells and care for reality. And the lead characters with good dynamics they delivered.

Hioki Asahi was adorable and I don’t get where the idea of not fitting in with hot guys comes from. The most popular group of friends in school usually also had that cute one to add sweet to the spice. Luckily it was not really the focus of the drama, but it did add to some internal conflicts. On the bright side I loved how they did not make Hioki feminine. That's the typical pattern we see in dramas - the hot one is masculine, and they make the cute one act like a little girl. Here Hioki was your typical teenage boy. Was he shy and adorable? Yes. But he was not “anime teenage girl who actually is styled like a middle school girl” shy and adorable. A good example were his interests - he wan't into baking, or floral arrangements, he was into sports. That I appreciate a lot.

Watarai Tsukasa was for sure far more cliche, but I ate it all with no care. This is how you write a jealous male lead - you actually make them jealous and create scenarios where they can get jealous. It’s that simple, and yet most dramas miss the mark. This man had a vision and a long term plan. Yes, the plan was not only fueled by his endless edging the confession and being a tease, but also a tiny bit of awkwardness and fear. His whole existence could be summed up as: how far can I go without spelling out my feelings?

For the romance - thank you. They knew exactly what they were doing. They utilized the unsure unpopular and the possessive popular dynamics to the max. Looks, subtle touches, less subtle touches, amazing hugs, not a dead fish kiss. We had a reasonable amount of hesitation and miscommunication/lack of communication that just matches the age of the characters, but is not exaggerated to the point of pure frustration. I think that’s the charm of the drama - it was well balanced. Just when the lack of communication could start being annoying, they talked. Just when I’m starting to get bothered how we only get one point of view, they drop the other. Just when the tension is about to plateau, they break it and kick it to a higher level.

The rest of the "F4" gang? Let’s just say I died a little bit with them complaining about their pretty privilege and how people just love them for no reason. What a 1st word problem they had. Literally zero depth, zero nuance. And that’s actually good. Just a bunch of pretty boys having fun and being pretty while not distracting me from the main romance. It worked.

What didn’t work was the early 2000s portrayal of girls. Not literally every girl in the drama existing either to be annoying so it validates the unjustifiable distaste the guys had for girls, or to be a source of jealousy. I don’t need any depth from them, keep them as shallow as Watarai’s sidekicks, but make them fun, nice, and act normal.

The production was actually surprisingly great. Some scenes were straight up beautiful. I always enjoy the shows that convey emotions, meanings, desires, hopes, hesitations by other means than just close ups to the leads' faces, and we've got some nice variety here. I also really liked the use of light and how it gave certain scenes a really soft and dream-like feeling that was enhanced by the perfect amount of slow motion highlighting the beauty, the tension, without slowing down the momentum.

Acting was good with a small * in terms of Fujimoto Kodai - loved it all, but that one crying scene when he truly used all his facial muscles to squeeze these tears. Unless the actor is actually able to have the waterfall come out of their eyes, you do not need the complete break down moment - you can have the same emotional impact with more subtle portrayal. That said, that was just one scene I was not convinced by the acting, all the rest I enjoyed a lot. Be it from the main cast or the supporting one - the intense stare that Kan Hideyoshi delivered, the playfulness of Fujimoto Kodai, dynamics that felt like real friendships.

Time for some complaining:
There are dramas that are unintentionally illogical in some aspects, and there are dramas that intentionally drop the logic out of the window, because they had an idea for a cute scene. School Trip wins first place for bending the logic to curate fluff and I’m not even mad about it.

Okay I am a bit mad, but I got easily distracted by how cute the leads were. But even the power of adorable Hioki and jealous Watarai could not stop me from ranting about the idiocy that was the presentation of being short-sighted. Excuse me, but you do not become borderline disabled when you take your glasses off. Hell, someone who would have their eyes covered would probably function better than Hioki. Or how he literally put glasses on when he still had in one eye lens on. Or how he basically acted as if he had glass in his eye, because one of the lenses fell off.

More illogical things that became hilarious: getting drunk on 1/10th of a sip of alcohol. Or how Hioki literally could not eat any meal without getting it all over his face. Or how we had 8 teenage boys and they thought one small pizza for them makes sense.

Overall, this drama proves that as long as you are charming and do what you set out to do well, you can get away with truly a solid amount of silly and borderline stupid ideas.

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