Daisuke

Up to Episode 5 nice, feel good drama with cute leads and sufficient plots to keep interest going. Lee Sung Yeol's haircut certainly does him no favours. Is he trying to disguise his good looks??? Right, at ep. 8: Some people mention cute, fluffy romance, but around eps. 8 and 9 this gets really heavy……around eps 11 and 12 etc my feeling is a) why the heck are people so unkind/nasty to each other? and b) why don't they explain what happened instead of minds just going into overdrive based on false assumptions due to others' silence? - well I suppose then there'd be no excuse for 20 episodes, silly me. I put it on hold around the middle as, like others, it did not seem to go anywhere. Went back as I liked the lead actors and side stories of the others. Liked Mrs Ahn too, but maybe that's my bizarre taste. At ep.17: after some going round in circles around the middle, interest picks up. I've decided I really like this series and care about what happens to the characters but it certainly is not a laugh a minute, it can get quite depressing if you are in the wrong mood. Also the supernatural theme is there but is irritatingly background and not developed. Finally having reached the end and the denouement is certainly cleverly thought up. It's really not a spoiler to say nicely done, sweet. harmony and bliss descends. Better haircuts and appearance (within its limitations) virtually all round. As others say, it's quite emotional (I'm so happy (cry, cry where's that tissue box?) )HOWEVER, since most of this series from episodes 8/9 to near the end was more like tragedy or melodrama and after the contortions of the plot and characters, the transformation in one single, final episode was really a cheat. The trouble is the series went on in the middle for far too long. If there were fewer episodes, the ending would have been more in proportion and credible. Still it was a nice ending and I enjoyed it overall and am glad I didn't drop it half way through.

Music OK but too sentimental, not so great you wanted to continually hear it to the point of depression. Re-watch - probably not for me, it's too long a slog, with too many episodes going round in circles. For the good bits (generously overlooking the bad bits) 9/10 overall.

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This is more or less a reflection of my comments on Kurosaki-kun (2015) as they are much the same anyway. Cool, done really well - a potentially far from amusing bully-masochist theme played very adeptly to finally bring out the comic slant. The clue to this happens quite soon in the movie. Nakajima's earlier delinquent role Bad Boys J obviously gave him suitable experience for this movie and Kurosaki-kun 2015 also. Some might say Kurosake was OTT and Akahane OTT passive but that's actually the nature of manga, it doesn't generally do "refined" (does it??) I would re-watch this as it's short and funny and suitable for a night when you need undemanding relaxation or cheering up.

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Ep 1 When I saw these mean-looking guys walking around with thick wooden sticks I thought at first I'd pressed the wrong button and this was a prison drama, but no, it was School 2017. So anyone still in hi-school should probably give K. a miss. Eun Ho character especially good, Kim Se Jung has vitality and looks and so far the best storyline. From ep.3 whew this is drawing me in, not just the usual hi school tropes. Tae Woon becoming much more interesting as a character beneath that boorish exterior, but the sensitive Dae Hwi driven to crisis of values is an important character in a different way. The principal with the gorgon glare who looks like a cross between a pit bull and a vampire but with brain of Daffy Duck is hilarious, while the idealistic young teacher (Han Joo Wan) is attractive. This is really cutting to the heart of some important themes as outlined in the reviews. It stretches believability that such corruption really operates in schools, but it does in business organisations, so are school administrations any different? TBH I find some of the romance verging on soppiness but I suppose that's what the audience likes. The other weak spot in the story, which a lot of the plot centres around to keep the story going, is Eun Ho's relentless self-sacrificing mindset which in the real world would appear nothing short of masochism to the point of being abnormal. For this reason I liked her at the start but my interested faded. The boys, on the other hand, grew in my estimation. Others have commented on the totally unrealistic nature of the story. But if you come to a fictional drama, you have to suspend disbelief, don't you? Whether you are willing to invest time in doing so for any given drama is a matter of your particular taste. I don't think it's in any sense a spoiler (because this is so predictable) to say that as usual with even good dramas the ending is what in my universe I term a "flop" - a neatly-wrapped sentimental package. Can't go into detail unfortunately. Music jolly, typical school drama, nothing special. Will re-watch to catch some of the strands possibly missed in the opening episodes (which seemed a struggle) but for me the interest ends at the penultimate episode.

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Unexpectedly - as I usually like to keep bands' interest separate from drama - I loved this drama. The series had enough twists and turns to keep you gripped, a real shocker of a story twist almost from the off. Some wildly attractive bohemian-type "eye candy" in every meaning of the term, especially ji hjuk (Sung Joon) for me :) It veered off the school angle half way through. I thought it might be my antidote to School 2013 withdrawal symptoms, but in that sense it turned out not to be. But it certainly took your mind off it. Certainly it's about the impact of girls and romance clashing with ambition and celebrity when emotions are still haywire as adolescents, but surely even more about the closeness of the relationships binding a boy band together. I never like reaching the end of a series, there's got to be development if it's a good drama but so often the wrap up is too neat and verging on cheesy and this did not altogether escape that. It's more about giving the fans a "feel good" ending. But overall I loved this series, I kept watching it without any breaks, which is unusual for me. It also had two great songs, of which I especially liked Wake Up. Knowing the outcome, I'm not sure it's one I'd watch again, but that's probably true of most.

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Boy, this drama was sooooo good I can't believe it…I feel it's the best one I've seen since Seven days, I really was not looking forward to the end as I'm going to feel empty and wonder where I find another one as good??? So far Master of Study, School 2017 (very different, though, and not as gripping). I thought once the issue between the main protagonists was resolved, the main story would be pretty much over and all the writers can do is think up various school issues to dramatise. But actually they have explored the boundaries also on really important social issues, covering many issues that must be faced by kids and teachers in schools in underprivileged urban areas. It's here where the main teacher actors also did an outstanding job, although one of them Jung In Jae is so almost saintly as to rather stretch credibility when you go outside the drama and think of what's more likely to happen in the real world. If only I had had any teacher like that I'd be in seventh heaven. I mean, keeping phone contact???……is that normal in Korea? Can we please, please have it in the West, as long as it's someone like her?…….But the Daniel Choi character and the other main teachers (perhaps especially the "baddie" ones) - do bring a dose of reality to what challenges teachers in similar situations face - ditto the parent characters stand for a credible portrait of what some parents are really like in the real world. The only fault I can find in this drama - where it really is drama, not a full portrait of reality - is the constant allowances for misfit kids - though that was corrected somewhat at the end where reality took a savage bite. In the real world, kids who don't fit in are written off, which is why we have crime, broken homes etc etc Maybe these kind of dramas can alert more people to the problem. The end feeling is that everyone went through some kind of evolution in this drama - kids and teachers. I feel this is the only drama other than Seven Days (which is out and out gay and therefore pushes the boundaries more) and maybe Nobuta wo Produce, which I could give a 10 to for rewatch value.

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Very well done short movie, it shows the gay-straight love triangle really well from the woman's point of view. For me Aono Miku (Kanako) steals the show from the delectable Saito Yasuka (Souta), while poor old Arai Yusuke (Doumoto) is definitely the villain of the piece! She gives a heartfelt performance. She's a lovely woman too. Now that I've seen both parts of Love Place (in the wrong order - but it doesn't make a whole lot of difference), I can see the irony between Parts 1 and 2 in how the impact of the love triangle affects one boy in the first and the other in the second part. Ravel's Bolero is a bonus. As is the catchy song at the end - although, as we say in England, you can have too much of a good thing (3 repeats?!).

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After 6 episodes the attraction of this program imho is in inverse proportion to the volume of the romance scenes between Kim Shin and Kim Go Eun - and it seems to be increasing………ep 8 excellent, if a bit heavy - even kim go eun was good…..getting up to episode 13 I shared the consensus that this was a top-flight drama.

I put off watching the final episodes 14 - 16 because I was reluctant for it to end. Now I've watched ep. 14 which is clearly sequel in nature. I have to say I found it a hard slog, the sparkle has gone, the interaction between Goblin, Grim Reaper and Deok Hwa sadly missing. If this continues I would have to say it was a mistake. They should have finished with ep.13 and maybe a brief "follow up" finish. Don't mean to be b*****, but the idea anyone or any supernatural entity would span the universe in eternal love to chase Kim Go Eun stretches credulity.

Taking the plunge again at Ep. 14 better but I find the central romance utterly unconvincing, partly because it just goes on far too long - there's a limit to the sweet endearments and exchanges you want to hear.

Finished at last! A suitably complex and, I'm glad to say, unpredictable ending. Ah, if only life - and death - were like that. Turned whimsical again at the end, but inevitable I expect. Isn't it wonderful also how time can pass in a camera shot in TV dramas? Preferred Grim Reaper and Sunny and Deok Hwa to Goblin and Eun Tak, though the latter did improve markedly towards the end when she stopped playing all "kittenish". Which reminds me, what happened to Deok Hwa amidst all the complex comings and goings at the end?? So annoying.

The production values, background scenery and camera work were excellent throughout and the fashion sense fabulous - but when my mind keeps going off the story to the clothes and background scenery, annoyingly missing the subtitles, desperately waiting for the next scene with Grim Reaper and/or Deok Hwa, it's clear that it's not entirely absorbing my admittedly volatile brain. Music almost entirely good. Re-watch value? well not any time soon, but the fashion, design and memory of the comic parts may tempt me. Still, there's nothing else for it, but to give it 10/10 for the overall achievement.

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"Don't be afraid of the cracks that's where the light comes in ”

"Don't be afraid of the cracks, that's where the light comes in." I like Taiwanese lgbt dramas because they treat the stories seriously and sensitively, with plenty of space for character development、 though in Unknown there is maybe a little too much space I think。 of course this may reflect the story itself as it is predicated on Wei Qian only being able to accept his feelings over a long period of time however、 against this we have the "four years later" trope which I am unsympathetic to as a device。 Some of the action in the middle such as the re-surfacing of the gang theme and its violence could have been left out without detracting from the story in my opinion.。for me the OST also became intrusive as in many dramas unfortunately and producers should realize songs do not replace a script and even silence has more effect in certain romantic situations. however these are minor criticisms of a well crafted and sensitive drama. I accept we need to know of this early stage in Qian's story to understand his eye problem later、 as also the flashbacks to his mother、a marked contrast （intended dramatically I assume)to the family he managed to create and foster..I particularly❤️🌈

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Good Chinese school drama

this is a really very good chinese school drama and in my opinion deserves a better rating
it includes many good stories in the short episodes and is realistic and the spirit of camaraderie among the boys comes over very well and there is great chemistry between the two male leads of different backgrounds。 the script and production are very tightly constructed including a lot in the short episodes without any feeling of cutting the corners。note for example how the wuxia book scene with Linghua as a child ties up with final episodes。Chinese censors of course make sure we do not get a ”wrong impression”、 but you can use your imagination　🩷

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heartwarming and delightful

I am glad Japanese doramas especially can present serious emotional issues in gay romance doramas through an amusing and unusual or even bizarre storyline different from just sweet but formulaic stories、 so here [unlike the more usual story of teen struggle] we have a story of adult confusion about sexual identity in Souta set against Mahiro's obsessive love while struggling with lack of self-confidence and repressing his feelings。Yutaro's acting is especially good。for me this dorama deserves a higher rating I think。some of the comments fail to understand the deeper issues it raises I would say。heartwarming and delightful〜❤️🍉🌈

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