Daisuke

over the edge

my final judgment on this ： it was a failure
yes it was a gripping drama to watch but 、went completely off the rails with episode 11 totally over romanticised shading into melodrama and episode 12 just bad melodrama with I assume the triumph of evil embodied in Kim Changjun and the principal and of social advantage ー
but then there are the unresolved questions starting with the end of episode 11 and Kim Hwan on the edge.......of what? a watery grave. ? bizarrely we do not find out specifically in episode 12 where the one actually taking the plunge is Jeon though the very end maybe can be viewed as implying he joins the other ghosts （but no not all of them actually died or at least bodily）
I am still not clear if Cein's mother was responsible for her own fate or raped and murdered by Kim Changjun though given his later easy turn to murder to attain his ends and hints from the principal' s contributions in the drama including the flashback to the young Changjun I tend to the latter view but the writer really leaves it hopelessly muddled
you can take this as an invitation for your imagination to fill in the gaps or a failure of the writer to properly resolve the drama： I am quite willing to let my imagination run but if so it will not be because the writer [webtoon or screenwriter] encouraged me to do so in a positive way but because I have to make up for their inadequacy

Read More

Quirky romantic comedy

I love the fashion values - and he has two Maseratis in different colors. As at ep. 2 more like "What's becoming of Mr Lee" ? As it develops, the reason the leads come together is highly far-fetched . Apart from that, which is contradictory to the light tone of the drama, this is a good mix of romance, comedy and mystery. It is not just the leads but all the characters in this show contribute to a great mix, really cheers me up. The romance towards the end still has original moments but for me gets boring. Could have been 2 or 3 episodes less imo, but the final episode was beautiful. Music very good. I could re-watch this in future, at least the first half.

Read More

painful love tangle

very good but painful film〜 appears to me a classic story of a man unable to love himself and therefore unable to be loved by others、protecting himself from vulnerability by pushing them away and leaving emotional havoc behind： I think especially with the women he so easily attracts trying to sustain the outer image of a conventional straight relationship which is false to his (maybe unconscious) real self which Imagase begins to pull to the surface。yet it seems Imasage ultimately fails too。 I detect irony comparing Otomo's relationship to Imagase at the start and the end of this film as it seems at the end Otomo needs Imagase as well as the other way round where before Imagase alone pursues Otomo： finally we are left with images where Imagase experiences the pain of real love but Otomo is left literally with an empty room reduced to fantasy ーusing an ashtray of Imagase to evoke Imagase but without the cigarette ends that would show Imagase is actually there himself

Read More

bad Guys＝good guys

This drama I like because it is a real action drama but with interesting idea and characters you want to see how they develop and also there is no romance diverting from the story・ the woman detective is treated equally and she plays an interesting contribution to the story〜I was puzzled by Jun Moon [Park Haee Jin] role in this drama as he is supposed to be this great genius but what was he contributing？ but suddenly I see in episode 8 what his role is in this drama〜still I am disappointed he did not contribute more to this drama but I definitely felt the most for him〜still it is a great Korean drama of this type and the plot of the story is so well put together ・ the fights were in the great tradition of totally unreal odds with the heroes winning・ the trust in each other came out in episode 10 and 11 in a very dramatic turn of the story〜I was never bored during this drama and finished it very quickly〜 what a great action drama！and would join one of few I could watch again in future

Read More

So is that it？ unfortunately another drama promising more than it delivers、the subversion of school rules is really very mild、at times I think the drama tries to be all serious and show how the school can be seen as a small version of the world outside and how rules can be broken there also as a protest against authority to help people keep sanity and self respect〜　well this is my interpretation〜otherwise I can not see how some parts fit in： see for exameple episode 5、 but the rap and the singing work men in that episode really I found just boring〜 seems this drama can not decide if this is school drama or about wider world so ends up neither。 For me other devices in the drama like the discussions between the lead characaters that comment at start of and during the episodes also become rather boring as too the computer games. sorry this is downbeat review but the whole drama I feel is average。

Read More

This started out as a very good movie with a very interesting premiss. Although everything was neatly rounded off at the end, I thought it lost its way and the development of the story became increasingly unconvincing, unrealistic and "off the wall". It also had a big "moral" lesson about the dangers of the ruthless pursuit of excellence, in this case the battle to get into Toudai University and how the system advantages the already privileged. No doubt true, but it's a bit too obvious. So mostly enjoyable, especially due to the attraction of Miura Haruma. Very different story pairing him with Shirota Yu than Samurai High School, though.
P.S. The "hugging" cover photo is very misleading!

Read More

Too long look into the lens of the past

this drama has its good points if you can see beyond the fashions and expressions of 40 years ago but　 while for koreans probably it is nostalgic、 for non koreans it is maybe just dated。
for me it went on too long and became difficult to finish。
frankly Shi Won's character was so awful and embarrassing it became tough to watch closely followed by her father Seong Dong [at least they got the genetic relation right]。 she's the type you want to arrange the divorce papers before the marriage、 as for the marriage how could it survive the permanent war zone and the child would need child rescue service。Yun Je should have grabbed Jun Hee while he had the chance (!）
I like korean humor but not when it degenerates just into constant shouting and name calling and the level of flatulence。it is too easy to stereotype koreans as all extrovert loud and jokey in a rough way but with hearts of gold but this is no doubt a function of the soap drama genre which is really what this one evolved into。
flashback has its place in drama and I understand here it was part of putting lives in context looking back but、 when it becomes so repeated and intrusive it breaks the dramatic continuity in a big way and just causes confusion〜
not one for re-watch though with some interest。 it was good they ventured a LGBT mini sub plot but the way it was treated was very dated。

Read More

avoid if you are addicted to cookies

when I watched episode 1 of this drama I wondered、 is it meant as a comedy because the eye effect on eating the cookie is hilarious。 this drama is addictive www watch no doubt but the problem for me is the constantly shifting relationships between characters like a kaleidoscope combined with reliance on flashback and flash forward to unravel the plot and　 explain these shifts in characters as collaborators one minute and enemies the next。 some may see this as original script writing but I wonder as the story risks losing credibility。it is not a spoiler I think to comment if someone stabs you in the back and takes advantage of your weakness one minute why will you embrace them the next？ even on a chessboard the pieces on the two sides remain black and white。on the plus side it develops some nice ironies。 for me the ending was weak、 especially regarding the male leads、 and rather unclear。 maybe they want to leave it open for a sequel though I am not convinced it justifies one。

Read More

Fantasy trying to be reality

what can I say about another school fight action drama
this pushes the limits in being so full of tragedy but if they want show the reality of fighting to the death
to do this believably they must answer not skip certain basic questions:
where are the parents
police would have to be more active not just a cameo showing how useless they are
school authorities could not cover up as brief scenes showing how useless they are
as it is we can only see it as pure fantasy beneath which a pretty routine delinquent youth fight action is unrealistically spiced up with shock value
old men in uniform supposedly as school students doesn't help its credibility

Read More

impressive low budget school movie on the disturbing theme of bullying

an excellent compact low budget school action movie about bullying in korean schools 、
it makes its point in 80 minutes where similar movies or dramas take much longer。
it's main strength is its realism、 the low budget and noir filming actually contribute much to the realism I think、 as also how the bullying starts from seniors down、 the slight female and parent involvement is more true to life and it helps the actors actually look as though they are school boys not twenty or thirty year olds in school uniform。
it even manages to show the impotence of teachers in schools where adult discipline is absent and a law of the jungle where students substitute their own power structure and gangster discipline of survival of the strongest [interesting it includes a corporal punishment episode with seniors beating their juniors like the teachers previously did、 ironic students see this is needed where "enlightened" adults abolish it]。
the hesitation of the main protagonist to fight against students from stronger age group is convincing、 unlike some other fight dramas where the fighting skills of the heroes require much suspension of disbelief。

Read More

Don't look for clarity in this unravelling Chinese historical tapestry

Final view yes this was very enjoyable action drama if you do not try to work out intricacies of plot、 politics and so on and just appreciate the action and characters・
maybe there was some very deep coordinated plan to bring together all the pieces of the puzzle in the finale.............if so it eluded this viewer・
the political plot supposedly behind everything had no resolution at all 〜like the emperor hidden behind the veil、it vanished into thin air・
I liked most of the characters very much even with their defects [except maybe the real Li Dongfang] and this kept me watching、 though if the resolution of their complex relationships in the final few episodes followed a carefully worked out plan again it rather eluded me how they overcame so many negative disjunctions to find themselves where they finally were
（ I do understand why Li Wu deliberately alienated Lu Zheng over the ”killing two fathers" matter and his hope or expectation Lu Zheng would despite the overwhelming provocation keep to the trust of their "one horse ridden by both" oath）・
good therefore but、 for me this started very promisingly but the script spun so many threads that it gradually unravelled and I could only enjoy it by following the flow and using imagination to fill iin the gaps、it really did not manage very well the resolution of all the themes and sub plots it started and I can see why many viewers felt confused・
this goes especially for the final resolution of the relations between the main characters and the romantic interludes in the middle of the drama were not very convincing if you consider what the characters involved were supposed to be！
Spoiler alert by incurable romantic : Li Wu and Lu Zheng a censorship free happy ending
conclusion about the final relationship between Li Wu and Lu Zheng [as Shu Tang sails conveniently into the distance] is that the jealous Lu Zheng finally got ........his man❤️🌈

Read More