Did I feel I need to wash my eyes? No
Did it jade my view of future performances of the actors in shows designed for the mainstream audience? No
Do I now think less of any of the actors in it? Absolutely not. All actors start somewhere. It's their current works that I define my current rating for their talent.
If you are here to watch more than what you're used to seeing of Woo Do Hwan, you will surely do so. It's worthy of noting this August 2017 disclaimer from Woo Do Hwan's agency, Key East Entertainment, 'Woo Do Hwan filmed the movie during a time when he wasn't known and didn't know how to receive acting opportunities. He only filmed the movie because he was passionate about acting and happened to receive the casting offer.' My thoughts simply are if you want to see a really good work by Woo Do Hwan, spend your time watching works from 2017: 'Save Me' or 'Mad Dog.' He's a rising star and deservedly so.
_________Articles related to this review for MDL admin purposes_____________
http://www.insight.co.kr/news/116638
https://www.koreaboo.com/buzz/fans-discover-rising-rookie-actor-19-film/
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This review may contain spoilers
A cute story with a unrealistic female character (and i know this is a fiction)
At first glance, 'Usokon' presents itself as a heartwarming romantic comedy that reunites two childhood friends who lost touch for ten years. Takumi, the male lead, approaches her with an unconventional proposition, to be his fake wife for six months.As the story unfolds, 'Usokon' initially weaves a charming tale of cute and heartwarming moments, where you can witness how this lie gradually transforms into their truth.
However, as the plot progresses, the portrayal of the female lead character, Yae, raises some concerns. She is selfless and sweet but her naivety and unrealistic behavior can be hard to ignore. The central conflict in the story becomes ... bonkers? as it involves a girl who had a brief relationship with Takumi a decade ago suddenly resurfacing and demanding Yae to go away, so she can be with Takumi. And she does!!!! This development feels unrealistic, with the character seemingly disregarding everything Takumi did and said up until that point.
While I initially enjoyed the dorama despite some minor annoyances, the appearance of this new character marked a downturn in the plot. If a conflict was needed to drive the story, it could have been approached in an entirely different and more believable manner.
On a brighter note, I found Takumi, Shindo, and Remi's characters to be quite engaging. I look forward to seeing these actors in future doramas, hoping for a more compelling storyline that does justice to their talents. ♥
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perfect symbiosis of hot and hilarious
this little spin-off was made for me, and despite wanting to see a full-length one, i'll take it. i said it before, and i'll say it again: the story of ja-yeon and gyu-hyun deserves the best treatment in the world.spice up our love is a light enhancement to the parent drama, and to be completely honest, even if i didn't watch no gain, no love (thank god i did; such a wholesome romcom), i would've devoured this purely for han ji-hyun and lee sang-yi whose agents should get to work and get them main lead parts in a full-length drama because their joint slay needs to be studied further for obvious scientific purposes.
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I really enjoyed it! It was very well-done, I thought, & decently-paced, in a way that really drew me in, if perhaps while implementing plotlines & characters that one could perhaps say have been done before. However, personally, I have to disagree with the people who are saying there is absolutely no BL(Boys' Love) present at all; I think you just have to go into it without certain expectations & aware of the ban on any [so-called ]"abnormal" sexuality from being depicted on TV & such that is current in Mainland China at the time of this series' release. Sure, the more explicit/physical side of the relationship is almost completely sterilized...at very least from what is actually seen or even too directly-implied, but the more I learn about the novel the more I see that it lines up almost exactly with everything that I was able to pick up from the tv series. And I had NO knowledge of the novel's storyline prior to watching the tv series to give me any clues that were not actually present within the tv series itself. I think people sometimes forget that there is much more to BL & to relationships in general than just outright declarations or the explicit/physical sides of things; and I think at times people also tend to forget that SUBTEXT can also be a very real & canon thing that's used within a story deliberately, not just something which is solely dependant upon people's own personal interpretations or imaginings regardless of the actual canon intention or lack-thereof.
I loved the note that it ended everything on. I thought it tied all of its introduced story-points up pretty well, and the cameo appearance of a certain actor in an episode as the character he played from another BL movie was I thought a nice little easter-egg to include.
- The Acting -
I thought the acting, at very least of the two lead males especially, was very powerful and welldone & very compelling; I thought they also had excellent chemistry and played very very well off of each other. From their facial-expressions, to their vocal-tones, & their overall body-language & everything...it was all so excellently conveyed by these actors that, in my opinion, it crossed into that silver/golden line where really great acting actually becomes completely surreal & even almost UNreal to watch for me in how perfectly & how POWERFULLY portrayed it is..when in reality it is actually a pretty rare person who actually conveys their emotions so well or so flawlessly that it is nearly impossible to so-easily mistake except perhaps if you aren't really particularly attentive or learn'd to such specifics or detail. (But, it wasn't just the leads, many - if not even all - of the rest of the cast also acted very capably well.) I thought the whole cast embodied their characters well, although - I suppose - I can not truly compare the characters from the tv series to those in the novel...nothing I have heard of the novels so far has really deviated from what I had personally seen in the tv series. Of course, every reader of any novel will have their own ideas regarding that anyhow, I'm sure.
I need to give a special shout-out to the actor who played Da Li though as well, the friend with the headphones worn almost all the time, for really standing out to me by conveying so much in what few scenes he did have even without having much dialogue: he was a total scene-stealer. He has really expressive eyes, too.
- The Music -
I only rated the music a little lower because, even though I don't recall outright disliking it or anything at any point & in fact I actually quite liked it generally, I don't recall particularly thinking it really stood out as "Wow! this music is ESPECIALLY amazing &/or perfect" at any point either. So, for me, I guess the music was good & not bad....but, personally, not particularly outstanding or exceptionally memorable either?.
- The Rewatch Value -
Truthfully, I have already seen the entire series twice -- The first time I watched it without subtitles(& I can barely speak or understand even one word of Chinese myself), and the second time I watched it with subtitles just to doublecheck if I had really been following it properly without the subtitles(which I pretty much had - & I definitely attribute that fact to the skill and prowess of the acting & everything itself). And I would definitely rewatch it yet again, & I most likely will very soon, and probably more than once. I could definitely see myself still revisiting it again, sometimes, even in future years to come.
- Overall -
I'm not saying that it's perfect, but personally I really really liked it!...
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This review may contain spoilers
When a sociopath falls in love...
I normally don't like Kdramas, I'll just throw that out there. Most are too melodramatic and Disney level cheesy for my taste. So, there are very few that I can finish, but I couldn't stop watching this one. Maybe I was a cheese in a trap, because I found the male lead, Yoo Jung, one of the most interesting characters I've seen in a Kdrama. He wasn't there as just some good-looking hood ornament that has blinders on for no one else but the fl. No, this male lead had depth and was sinister. There was clearly something wrong with him from the beginning, an inner anger bubbling just beneath the surface, and only the fl, Hong Seol, could see it. How intriguing...If you're like me and usually root for the villian in a movie and find them far more entertaining than the vanilla hero, than "Cheese in the trap" might be for you. It had a psychological aspect that I loved, where the show could have easily been a thriller. It's dark in various places and really explores why we as humans act/react to certain situations and the people around us. I got a kick at the mind games Yoo Jung would play on various characters and the ultimate chaos that would ensue. This dude fought with his cunning mind and not his fists. (Actually, he did get in a physical fight once lol). Now I know you're probably saying, but there are several male leads in dramas that are cold, insufferable douches, so what makes Yoo Jung's character any different? Well, in short, Yoo Jung I strongly believe is a sociopath and it's more or less implied several times in the show. He isn't a misogynist jerk like we've seen time and again in other romance dramas, he's actually quite a gentleman to Hong Seol and treats her well. But lord help you if you try to get between these two love birds. I believe Jung's flawed character worked in Cheese in the trap because he never intentionally tried to hurt Seol while they were dating, and the characters he did try to harm let's be honest had it coming.
I also really liked the female lead in this drama. Hong Seol is not the typical wimpy, weak, dumb fl that is so often found in romance shows. She's smart and hard working. She doesn't need saving, hallelujah for that! How many dramas have I seen now that had cringy soapy situations happen for the sole reason to have a fl need saving by a man. I've even seen several shows where the fl can't seem to walk upright without tripping every 5 seconds. It's tiring! So seeing a capable lead like Seol is refreshing. She commutes for hours on train, she works, she studies, and she can walk in a straight line without crashing into the ml like some kind of cartoon character. Aaahhh..and best of all she's likable and real! Her character did seem to dissapear a bit though toward the middle of this show, but no biggie. I also, had little issue with 2nd ml. He was a good guy but not boring and was given enough screen time for viewers to care about him. He seemed to be a real contender to win over the fl. I also loved his off the rails gold digging sister. She provided a lot of comedic moments and was a pretty good villain in her own right. Even with all the crap she pulled, I still wanted her to have a good ending and I'm glad she did.
Now I love lists, so here I will list the things I normally hate in Kdramas and how "Cheese in the Trap" measures up:
1.) Horrific sound effects used way too often. Usually barn yard animal sounds like a goat etc. Very distracting..
(Cheese in the trap): None. Happily there are no annoying sound effects.
2.)Toilet humor
(Cheese in trap): None
3.)Repeated too often songs from OST that are below average and by the end of 16 episodes make you want to pull your hair out.
(Cheese in the Trap): Great diverse OST. Each song fits scenes well and wasn't repeated too much.
4.) Too much yelling. Most Kdramas I've watched had every character barking/shouting out their lines.
(Cheese in the trap): Some yelling by side characters including elders but not too much to give you a headache.
5.) Love triangle
(Cheese In the trap): Yes, however it didn't bother me for some reason maybe this is due to good writing..
6.) Hiding/over hearing convos a character wasn't supppose to know about.
(Cheese in the Trap): This happens a lot and no one ever notices the person eavesdropping.
7.) Annoying side characters.
(Cheese in the Trap): Most of the characters are likable.
8.)Great start..draggy middle..wtf ending!
(Cheese In the trap): Great start, a bit draggy middle, pretty realistic ending. Many romantics would probably hate the kinda open ended ending this show had, but I didn't. Jung really hurt a lot of people. The man destroyed lives, he couldn't simply walk hand in hand into the sunset with Seol lol. There relationship was far more complicated than that.
Overall 9.5/10.
It cracks me up that this show's been labeled "the worst drama in history" and it's the one Kdrama I really loved. Haha go figure.
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2020 drama underdog that I surprisingly looked forward to
Eternal Love Rain is possibly one of the most uncomplicated, easy to watch, romance drama with basic conflicts and villains for 2020.Most might not like this because it’s a lot like junk food and sweets, but I am some of the few who actually liked and waited eagerly for all the episodes. I like it exactly because the episodes were short, the story was very uncomplicated and it was easy for me to relate and understand.
The actors are not as popular as those in other dramas but for small production like these, I think they did their part. I specially would like to commend the actor for Li Ji because he might be the oldest but he pulled it off being the crown prince. Overall, the main and supporting cast were ok.
On the romance part, it was very PG 13, which for other dramas I would be disappointed, but for Eternal Love Rain I think it actually works because it makes Xiu Rui/Wang Run Ze’s acting more acceptable like he’s really a pure/innocent dragon on his first romance/love. I am also some of the few that are not bothered by Yin yin/Camille Hua’s high pitched voice because I understand that some people do get high pitched when they are excited (like me) and her character is almost always happy/excited. Lol. I just found Wang Run Ze and Camille Hua’s scenes together to be so adorable/precious that I don’t mind the awkward kiss scenes. Lol.
Regarding the conflict and villain, this story has got to have the most uncomplicated villains and conflicts for any period drama. The show did try to humanize the villains (Mo Cheng Feng and the Xiu Ren) and gave them fitting ends. The conflicts are also easily resolved after 1 or 2 episodes.
Anyway give this show a shot if you’re lookingj for something light to watch. Just watch it at 1.5x speed so you won’t get as irritated.
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Seonam Girls High School Investigators
28 people found this review helpful
This review may contain spoilers
First, I'm really excited to write this review because I think this is a drama that many underestimated, including me.I swear on my life that at the end of the second episode I had no doubt that the drama was a mess, too extravagant and I didn't understand any character. However, my younger sister encouraged me to keep watching because, I don't know why, the drama had fascinated her.
Now that I've finished the last chapter I must honestly say I swallowed my words and curses. This drama was absolutely great, lovely and especially smart, while still being funny and eccentric.
There will come a time (approximately in Chapter 5) where you will not be able to stop and it will become the best remedy for a bad day, it will be the last thing you want to watch before going to sleep.
The performances of the young detectives make love the weirdness of each character. The misunderstood Ahn Chae Yool and her adorable brother (seriously, I've become a stalker of this actor) were the characters I loved most. Hye Ri was so sweet that no doubt will soon give much to talk with her next drama.
In fact, there are two characters who, although they influenced the history, I think they were superfluous: The teacher Ha and his unbearable mother, I totally hated their characters because their existence didn't make sense to me.
However, it's gratifying to see that a Korean drama begin to confront sensitive issues such as abortion or homosexuality.
One point that I found unique about this drama is that there was no representative song, just the sweet whistled melody of the intro.
In short, this is a drama that yes or yes you'd want to see again. I hope you give it a chance and do not miss it because you'll beg for a sequel ... like me XD
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It´s Girl Power time! Outrageous, luminous angelic + consistently deadly, too. Pitch-black humour.
"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" or in the original "Lovely Geum-ja" is grossly funny, bitterly satirical, with a huge portion of pitch-black, bone-dry, unpredictable humor. The KMovie playfully juggles with details that seem to have sprung from a film noir and, above all, deliberately wants to irritate with the aestheticizing stylization of bloodthirsty revenge.Geum-ja is an Angel of revenge in the most literal sense. Luminous, angelic in her kindness, yet consistently deadly when it comes to her revenge mission. This makes the KMovie a paradoxical, incomparable experience: bizarre, absurd, dark and yet pointedly funny.
It´s is Girl power time! Patriarchy is in the pillory, regarding various offenses and arrogance of most of the male characters. Geum-ja (convincing to the point: Lee Young-ae) offers the entire program of associations with the feminine in its blatant contradictions: saint, whore, witch, as well as mother, lover, friend. Guilty in naive innocence. Outrageous. Diabolical. Sovereign. Powerful. Decided. Efficient. Exhilarated. Significantly, a remix of Vivaldi's "Ah ch'infelice semper" swings the baton in the background.
Storytelling is always close to Geum-ja. Not too much, just as much as is needed, is given to the audience. A serious, deeply meaningful off-screen narrator closes the gaps. As I said, the humor is pitch-black.
By the way, the KMovie (which has also received many international awards) is the third part of a revenge trilogy by director Park Chan-wook, which includes "Oldboy", that is considered one of the most influential films of contemporary South Korean cinema.
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What I enjoyed the most about it is that - FOR ONCE - even though one of the main characters starts overweight, the moral of the story is NOT that "skinny = happiness". The moral of the story is that your physical appearance alone doesn't define you.
Of course, your outward appearance matters, since it's the first feature people can see and judge, but who you are as a person is just as important. You're not any less worthy of living/being successful because your physical appearance doesn't match society's expectations. You shouldn't have to change your physical appearance for others.
It's really nice to see this kind of moral, especially in a Kdrama (even tho The Miracle is only a web drama per se).
Unfortunately, that point alone is not enough to disregard completely the flaws of this drama.
Mainly the main romance. It was too hasty, too shallow, too cliché. Even if it was cute, it fell flat. For a seemingly romance-focused drama, it's a bit unsatisfactory to say the least. Also the story had a lot of potential, but due to its short format, most of it was cut short.
The acting was also not outstanding, but I did nonetheless really much enjoy the performance of the two sisters, as well as the one Yang Hak Jin gave. Their acting had a kind of "rough authenticity" feel to it, which i personally liked.
As for the soundtrack, the songs are pleasing to the ear, but even so nothing memorable.
Overall, The Miracle is refreshing, sweet, full of positivity...and short; you can basically view those 12 episodes in about 3 hours. So if you're looking for an uplifter, and don't mind turning a blind eye on apparent flaws, look no further.
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Story: The story is set in Bakuda/Bakaleya high school. Now I love school dramas because I can relate to them because I'm in high school as well. However I really found it interesting to see how schools in Japan are run. The story is really simple but entertaining to watch. I'll admit the boys do fight a lot, but I actually found the fight scenes really interesting. The fight scenes really bought out the characteristics of each boy. The girls were annoying at first, especially Fumie who showed no expression, but they grew on me. I love how smoothly the boys and girls transition from enemies to friends. Another thing I really liked were that the boys,though rowdy, were really sweet, good boys who just wanted to protect their honor and pride. They had so much spirit that I wanted to join their school. I marathoned this drama over 2 days when I had time and it was really entertaining and fun to watch.
Cast: So its seems that this is a cast of rookie actors. The acting honestly wasn't that bad. Some more expression could have been shown, but it was believable. The cast improved with every episode which I give props for. They are extremely good looking so that's a plus as well. The only downside to having such a big cast, was that in the beginning I really got my names confused. I couldn't figure out who was Tatsuya and who was Tetsuya. I honestly thought they were the same person at first.
Music: I loved loved loved the theme song!! Its so catchy! But it reminded me of another song, and it really bugged me for a day. I figured out what song it reminded me of - F.Cuz's No. 1. The beat is the same in both songs. But the song is good, and honestly I think the theme song was the only song played in this whole drama. At least that was the only song I heard. But I really liked it, and it wasn't like BOF where you got sick of hearing Almost Paradise... every 2 minutes.
Rewatch: I definitely think I would rewatch this again if I'm in the mood for a cute, fun, light-hearted Jdrama.
Overall: Really good, fun Jdrama. I would recommend to anyone who wants something entertaining to watch which won't get them too emotional.
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WITHOUT THE BL, IT IS A LOSER
I really wanted to like this series. I tried it because of the BL element but what we get is only about 25% of BL goodness and 70% of annoying trio of negligible main characters. What about the 5%, you asked? It is for Lee and Sing who are like the not-so-good fairy godmothers.Lets talk about the LOSER so we can get him out of the way. Yes, I understand that the main character IS a loser but Oh is a whiny and perverted character and even if he is bullied he is just hard to feel sorry for. What's worse is when he goes home his mother bullies him too (telling him he is good for nothing) and everything is setup to be a light comedy scene as if nothing bad is happening at school. No bullying should be comedy. And even fter the makeover transformation he still feels like a Loser.
I wrote about the female lead initially but in this edit can we just pretend she never existed.
The saving grace is the BL element. Yes, plus points for Sun for being definitely gay and eventhough In's character is confused and confusing, Pluem's cuteness kind of overcomes the negative parts. And comeon, his singing voice is just golden. No kissing scenes and the ending for these 2 was not as satisfying as i hoped for but i forgive them for continuing their story in another series. InSun deserves a series of their own.
Rewatchability 6.0 - if you are a BL fan just watch the InSun supercut. Total score 6.5 just because of InSun without them its a 4.5.
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It wasn't extraordinary but the actors/actresses are enjoyable to watch and of course Cha Eun Woo is mesmerizing (he's not the best actor, but he has that charisma that I really like so).
I must say that the first 14 episodes were really good but after the story lacked a little and the end was a little unsatisfying.
There isn't so much songs in it but I like a lot the rap music that is in it.
So it wasn't a memorable webdrama but it was fresh and I liked to watch it, so don't have high hopes about this just take it the way it is!
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This review may contain spoilers
*Spoilers MAY BE ahead* I need to take a break from Korean/Taiwanese drama. So I haven't watched a Thai Lakorn for so long, the last one I watched was Kaew Lorn Phat (Something like that) After watching this, I LOVED IT (Coming from a guy's point of view)
Story:
Pretty unique, I have never watch a drama like this ever? To be honest, I found episode 1-4 kinda boring, but after a while it picked up. There are some misunderstanding and so-so. There's no evil second lead so that's a new thing to me (plus for me). The bad"guy" doesn't come out until the end but as you watch on, they give you hints, so look out for those.
The plot itself is already self-explanatory: Selfish and conceited girl turns good
Acting/Character:
All the cast did EXCELLENT, mostly the two main characters!
+Chemistry between the two leads is cute :)
+No evil second lead girl/boy
+Angels :P
-Kinda annoying second lead (Not Pat) though (Sticks to main actor like glue sometimes)
-Pat's and Beauty's relationship will sometimes be annoying (To me sometimes it was)
Music:
The music wasn't that bad but rather dull, there was like only 3 songs that I could remember
2 instrumenal music?
1 vocal song
REWATCH VALUE: Probably ( If Im bored and need a drama to watch)
Watch this drama if you're a big lakorn fan or asian drama fan. This is one of my favorite thai lakorn :)
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A must watch drama for 17+
Why? Read till the end…I didnt expect a court drama will be so interesting like this, the cases are from real events and very well choosen. Lots of famous real cases from this drama encourage us to think and understand the dilemma of both sides (defendant and plaintiff), how judges have to balance between law and morality.
The cases often spark debates, force us to rethink and open our mind in unexpected ways.
Acted by Jin Dong, Cheng Yi and lots of other veteran and excellent actors, undoubtedly they make this drama enjoyable to watch.
There are countless life lessons we cant ever get from ordinary dramas and we will regret if we miss them out.
So, for new watchers, just try to watch 2-3 series to see if you get hooked with the stories or not.
*The english subs is not the best, but still understandable. Its available on mangotv youtube channel too, where the translation seems better there.
**updated after finishing 40 episodes without skipping any scenes (which is rare nowadays)
Till the end, the plot flows smoothly, no dragging, fillers, etc.
Draw the Line is a rare gem and a must watch drama for 17+ people, not because of xxx of course, hahaha, because it needs deep comprehension and matured thinking to be able appreciating this kind of drama :D
It also teaches us to be aware on how to “draw the line” in our own life, since we are facing bad/good/grey area and have to make decisions everyday.
So if you are 17+, you must enjoy DTL, if you dont enjoy it, then you should call your parents to watch it, hahaha
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