This isn't what you're looking for and don't dream to have a better ending than the one from the drama!
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My Strawberry Film — When Love Exists Only in the Eyes
Many viewers claim My Strawberry Film is “not really BL or GL.”But this reaction says more about what we expect from the genre than about what this drama truly is. This is not a story about labels, kisses, or confessions shouted into the rain. It is a story about people who don’t yet have the words to name what they feel. And because of that, it is one of the most emotionally honest dramas I have watched in years.
A Story Built on Echoes, Not Declarations:
At its heart, My Strawberry Film is about how love is inherited, not biologically, but emotionally. Minami discovers that her mother, Mizuki, was once in love with her best friend Kaoru, now married to a man. When an old video of Mizuki is exposed online, Minami is forced to face the truth: her mother’s first love was a woman. This revelation doesn’t feel like a plot twist. It feels like a quiet earthquake. Minami begins to recognize herself in her mother. The same sensitivity. The same emotional intensity. The same instinct to care too deeply, too quickly. Her feelings toward Chika are not random; they are a reflection, a continuation of a story that was never allowed to finish. The series does not frame this as tragedy, but as inheritance: love passing through time, reshaped by a society that has only recently begun to allow it to exist.
Ryo and Hikaru: Love Without a Vocabulary
The emotional core of the drama belongs to Ryo. Ryo is an introvert who has been in love with Hikaru for a long time. But instead of confessing, he does what many queer people learn to do early: he supports from a distance. He hides. He waits.
For six episodes, he encourages Hikaru’s attraction to Minami, even though it quietly breaks him. The camera often places Ryo on the edges of the frame, watching from doorways, corners, behind glass. His emotional isolation becomes visual language.
Hikaru, meanwhile, does not understand himself. He is drawn to Minami because he projects onto her the look he once saw in Mizuki’s eyes in that old video—the look of someone deeply in love. But Minami never looks at him that way. The person who does is Ryo. The playground scene, where Hikaru finally asks Ryo if he has feelings for him, is one of the most painful moments of the series. Ryo hesitates. Hikaru’s eyes fill with fear. So Ryo lies. Not because he doesn’t love him—but because he does.
The Past as a Mirror
Episode 7 recontextualizes everything. Hikaru realizes that Mizuki’s gaze in the video was the gaze of a woman in love with another woman. He understands, perhaps for the first time, that love like this had no safe place to exist 25 years ago. And suddenly, he understands Ryo. When Hikaru finally says that Ryo looks at him the same way Mizuki looked at Kaoru, the series completes its emotional circle. Love has traveled through time, waiting for a moment where it can finally be named.
The final scene is not a spectacle. No kiss. No music swelling. Only two hands holding each other. And that is more than enough.
Why Some Viewers “Didn’t See It”
Many online reactions describe the series as “one-sided” or “not really BL.” But My Strawberry Film is not about resolution. It is about recognition. This drama belongs to the same cinematic family as His (2019), Taiikukan Baby (2008), and Asymmetry (2008)—stories where desire is expressed through silence, through gaze, through what is never said. It trusts the audience to feel. And if you were waiting for visible confirmation, you missed the emotional language the show is written in.
Final Thought
My Strawberry Film is not about who ends up together. It is about the moment someone finally understands why their heart has always been restless. If you thought nothing happened, then maybe you weren’t watching the faces. Because in this series, every silence is a confession.
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I must say right now that my overall rating is completely biased. I am a huge fan of Hana Yori Dango because it was one of the first Asian dramas I watched in high school and the OST pulls at my heartstrings even today. So as you can imagine, Hana Nochi Hare brought back many feels, which was of course its ultimate goal and I must admit it makes up for its plot flaws, at least IMO.
The plot is nothing special or groundbreaking. Kaguragi Haruto is the new Doumyouji while Edogawa Oto is the new Makino. There are a few changes e.g. the new Makino has not always been poor, her family bankrupted while the new Doumyouji is basically the same (with the same flaws and quirks as the original one). You could even say that the plot of Hana Nochi Hare is the recycled version of Hana Yori Dango - and you would be right. This whole drama is meant to be a fan service to HYD fans because it does not offer anything special, different or new. The OST is not on par with HYD OST and neither the actors are as charismatic as the HYD ones but that is the point - there is only one HYD and nothing will ever manage to top it.
The proof that this drama is a deliberate fan service is that they re-shot the classic scenes e.g. Doumyouji waiting for Makino in the rain. And I still loved it. Hana Nochi Hare didn't even try to recreate the magic of HYD (they know it is impossible), it is just meant to pull at your heartstrings for a little while and maybe even pay a tribute to the original series, actors and fans. If you are a fan and look at it from this perspective, then you will probably find it at least a bit enjoyable.
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Best Light on Series for me....
So many people comparing it with Bad Kids so here is my opinion:It is a well-executed drama with top-notch acting.
I won’t say it is better than Bad Kids because these two dramas give different vibes though written by the same author. But I’d say it deserves 9.2 on Douban and it is definitely worth your time.....
Story- 9/10
Story is like investigation+mystery, revealing clues in small doses in each episode
It didn’t use unnecessary twists like a good guy turning bad in the last moment...
Yet first few eps were a little bit confusing as multiple characters were introduced, but as the story continues, it gets better and better...
I love that every little thing,I didn’t understand in the early eps were all solved in the last few eps
The plot is heavy and you need to give full attention to the plot as it shows past and present days alternatively
Acting-10/10
Well, Actings in all Light on Series are top notch, and Long Night further proved it
Bai Yu’s acting in last few eps were brilliant and mind-blowing
Liao Fan acting is quite impressive as well
All Veteran actors did their best, I love the trio moments most, and how they helped each other
Others Aspects
In some parts, dubbing was a lil off but it is fine overall. Editing is good, far better than Crimson River.
I love how they show things like “Laws are sometimes useless, rich people doing whatever they want, and how corrupted some authorities are”
You know a drama is good when it makes you cry
I cried for at least 3 times, so it is def a good drama.
If you want a serious theme drama, this is definitely for you
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Came for the comedy, and stayed for the life lessons (and the zombie shark)
This movie was so funny in the most unexpected moments, but also surprisingly meaningful. I know it isn't that deep, and that I shouldn't take it so seriously, but I am truly fond. As someone who deeply hated my previous job (which I think a lot of people relate to), it is so relatable (and almost touching) for Akira to light up with pure joy after finding out he didn’t have to go to work, and even funnier for him to act so carefree in a zombie apocalypse as a result.Despite every other aspect of this movie only getting an 8.0, something in my soul tells me to give it an overall 9.0. And I think it's because it hits so deeply with me in some aspects.
Even though the parallel between the zombies and Akira trudging through his job was pretty obvious from the get-go, it still hits very hard when the movie directly states and confronts it. Every adult on MDL who has ever worked a full-time job has likely struggled with work-life balance and has wished they could fall sick (or worse) so they could rest for just one day, but feel guilty and eager to be productive on days when they are actually ill. And, like in the movie, it’s often the people around us to remind us that we can’t be robots all the time and need to live life for ourselves.
The entire list Akira wrote was endearing, and I’m seriously considering making one of my own (I am also one of those few people who have never made a bucket list). I love a good montage, so seeing items on the list being crossed off was satisfying. I loved the cinematography and production. The zombies were great and looked realistic (as much as zombies can be). All of the acting was great as well. The OST surprised me a lot, and I have saved some songs to my playlist. This movie WILL make you smile and laugh.
Conclusion: zombie shark — you should watch it!
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I CAN SPEAK – this name is used symbolically, is what came into my mind while watching the movie. It is actually a pseudonym for the main story. Surprisingly viewers cannot speculate what kind of seriousness the story holds at the beginning of the movie. The starting is more or less about the introduction of the characters, their characteristics and their individual lifestyles. It was filled with joviality, frustration, lawlessness, boredom and grouch.
The character of Na Ok Boon aka Goblin Granny is dreaded by everyone. Her main task is to pinpoint her neighbours about the wrongdoings, seditious behavior and illegal practices which disrupt the smooth social order. She is nonchalant and valiant. No amount of scorn or condescend towards her can back her down. She would be always ready to file a complaint against any atom amount of illegal doings to the district office. Apart from this which is her regular work, she is highly eager to earnestly learn English for a special reason. Thus the revelation of her main reason for learning English Language on the second half of the film makes it simply wonderful.
Besides, Na Ok Boon another main character called Park Min Jae, a 33 year old civil servant, is a regular office worker. He had dreamt of being into another profession but somehow ended up as a govt. official for familial reason. Fortunately or unfortunately the fates of Ok Boon and Min Jae are intertwined and with much hesitation at first, eventually Min Jae gives up and starts to teach English to Goblin Granny. He becomes his English teacher and along with his younger brother becomes family of the granny.
As the story progressed, through dramatization of few incidents, it is gradually unraveled why the granny is so enthusiastic and adamant about learning the language. It becomes intelligible that why she wants her past predicaments to be hidden from everyone and what importance this language holds in her life.
The movie is made about a sensitive issue which is heart rendering and capable of making the viewers’ hearts warm with reverence.
Both Na Moon Hee and Lee Je Hoon portrayed exceptional performance of their character. Not even a single moment it feels like they are acting. Their performance was natural especially Na Moon Hee being a veteran actress knows the exact thing to do with her role. They were utterly impressive.
Reviews should be written with critical analyses of important scenes and about the story line by line. However, in MDL it is difficult because we need to maintain caution for not spoiling the story for other viewers. Therefore, I’m forced to keep it short otherwise I had galore of good things to write about this movie.
This is the kind of movie I’ll always cherish and would encourage others to watch. “I Can Speak” is a genuine representation of real cinema – a real art and a true masterpiece.
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Story: Ling Hu Chong (played by Wallace) is a carefree and honourable man. He was the eldest disciple of the Hua Mt Sect and a favourite amongst his juniors and teacher. However, Ling Hu Chong's teacher is an ambitous man with ulterior motives masquerading as a virtous person. As Ling Hu Chong ventures through wulin (the martial arts world), his easy and honest personality garnered him many friends from the 5 mountain sects and the Sun Moon Holy Cult. Eventually, his teacher turned Ling Hu Chong into a scapegoat for all of his evil deeds, including heaping blame of the murder of one of his student on Ling Hu Chong. Lin Hu Chong got kicked out of the Mt Hua Sect. That is when his true adventures begin. The love story in this 2013 version has a good ending, unlike the original story from the novel where all the women Ling Hu Chong loves dies and he is left alone as a wanderer. The most notable change in the storyline comes in the form of Dongfang Bu Bai (played by Joe Chen). In the original story, Dongfang Bu Bai is a man who became the powerful leader of the Sun Moon Holy Sect. He mastered the Kuai Fa Manual. However, in order to master this manual, which is very "Ying" (feminine) in nature, he must castrate himself. The more he learned from the manual, the more feminine he became. Eventually, he regarded himself as a woman and developed romantic feelings for Ling Hu Chong. It was this hint of homosexuality that did not sit well with audiences of the previous versions and readers of the novel. Therefore, in this 2013 version, Dongfang Bu Bai has a new story - one that begins with Dongfang Bu Bai being an actual woman, but in order to succeed in the wulin and not to be bullied ever again, she lives her life as a man. When she meet Ling Hu Chong, she developed feelings for him, but Ling Hu Chong is conflicted as Dongfang Bu Bai is a cold hearted killer. How could an honourable man loves a monster??? Watch and find out.Acting/Cast: The chemistry between Wallace's Ling Hu Chong and Joe's Dongfang Bu Bai is siiizzzzzling! This is the only version so far when most ppl who had watched it wanted Ling Hu Chong to end up with Dongfang Bu Bai! It is because of this that I give the acting 9/10. It is 1 mark away from perfect because the chemistry between Ling Hu Chong and Ren Ying Ying is neutral at best and yet, it is Ying Ying that Ling Hu Chong ended up marrying at the end. Imagine the frustration of fans of Wallace-Joe! LOL (btw, I do not consider this a spoiler as it is widely known knowledge amongst fans of wuxia series and readers of Louis Cha's novels. There are many versions of this story made in the past. Me thinks the 1996 version is the closest to the novel).
Music: I love the opening OST, "Carefree". Am listening to it as I am writing this review. :)
Rewatch value: It is 42 episodes if you watch from the DVD version and 56 episodes from the tv version. I might re-watch this a few years later when I have the time. I am quite impartial to Swordsman aka The Smiling,Proud Wanderer. I still think that the best novel of Loius Cha comes in the form of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils and the Condor Heroes Trilogy. I am waiting with abaited breath now for the 2013 version of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Rumour has it that it is due to be released mid this year. Fingers crossed!
Overall: It was entertaining while it lasted. I love the scenes between Wallace and Joe... they are the best features of this drama. Joe Cheng makes the most beautiful and coldly powerful Dongfang Bu Bai ever! The other parts are passable. I give this an 8/10. Not bad but not the best wuxia around.
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This is a romance/mystery drama about people who have to deal with mental ilnesses, which is pretty interesting to watch, since this serie deals with this in a pretty mature way.The acting of this drama is really great, unlike other drama the characters feel more realistic in their behaviour and acting. Music is nice and the general story and theme is pretty interesting.
Yet there are still some problems with this drama, if you are like me, having the second lead syndrome, wanting to watch this because you think you will finally get a less sexist, mature romance, then you might be a bit dissapointed. If you liked coffee prince or hana yori dango, then don't read any further, you'll definitly like this one, just go and watch it! : ), but if you are the kind of person who got red flag reactions when watching them, then you might also find this serie problematic.
One of the problems I had with this serie is that it still has the dominating male, while he is not as abusive as other male leads, there will be some scenes in it that gave me wtf reactions. There is also a side romance story,in which the male finally seems to get a spine, but then turns also in the typical dominating male, which the girl suddenly falls for. I've written down below some of the scenes which decreased the enjoyment I had wathing this show, I've removed the names to make it as less spoilerish as possible,
THIS MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH, SO DON'T SCROLL BELOW, IF YOU REALLY DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS!!!
The acting of this drama is really good, and the story and the characters feels more mature than other standard cliche drama's, but for me it went downhill after episode 9. Below are some of the things that destroyed the enjoyment of this show.
- female says she wants no sex on the trip. During the trip man gets suprised that she really meant this, saying that sex the ultimate act of love is, he acts angry and then leaves her. Later she goes to him, they make up and have sex. (ofcourse sex equals love cough cough*, what really would have been an atc of love is if he would've respected her boundaries, their relation is only a few months, and she has serious anxiety issues on intimacy, heck she even had problems with kissing)
- Male suddenly says that he goes out the house and live alone again and thinks that there is no problem with that, for it is because of work. I mean they have a serious relationship, they were living together, and the man suddenly says, "well, I'm going to live alone again for my work"... it is so bs, during the day he could just write at that place, and then just go home.
- female is seriously upset that her ex, who cheated on her, just comes into her house, because he works together with a roommate of hers. Nobody is understanding to her. The man the ex works with even screams at her saying that they otherwise would need to pay money somewhere... again bs they could have gone to the ex's house to talk about their work.
- There are two side characters, a male and a female, they divorced some years ago. The female tells her female friend that she finally realizes that her relationship with the male was 100% her fault (weird that she says this, but okay, it could be...). She says that her man wanted a child, but she secretly took contraceptives, she wanted to continue her career which would be impeded if she would get a child, at some point he found out and they divorced. Ofcourse what she did was wrong, but the fact that she thought that she could not be honest in her relationship already tells me that there was something already wrong in the relationship to begin with.
- Other side characters are a young man and female. In the beginning the girl practically uses him to get new stuff. I understand the female character, her mother left her at an early age, and she has a kind of absent father who fills the home with junk stuff. At some point the young man stops the relationship. I was like yay : D, he finally got some spine, he stops letting him being used. But then the story changes into the toxic idea "that if you save some person you'll get the girl". He helps her father, saying to him that he should not bring the junk home, but sell it to get some money... and suddenly the father actually does that, I am sure that the female character must have said it once in her life to her father, but that must not have impressed him, the young man magically fixed her father.
Then he gets angry at the girl for the fact that she talks bad about her father, he is still your parent afterall, she still should have respect for him... a father who has for a long time neglected her, he tells her how his own father kicked him out of the house, because of his mental ilness, but he still calls him every week to know how he is doing, if she still wants to have a relationship with him, she should say so before the count of three... (I would have rolled my eyes and walked away, but...), she looks at him in awe and says that she wants to be in a relationship with him. I understand that the young man's way of thinking, even though I disagree, what irked me the most was his counting down, like a parent to a child would do. The girl, while using other people, is pretty smart, if the man talked in a rational, equal way, it could've been the start of a mature relationship, yet instead we see how he acts to her like a parent to a child...
- In the end we see that the female protagonist gets pregnant, she's angry. The male protagonist pushed some weeks ago to have sex with her without a condom, which she actually didn't want to. When she tells him that she is pregnant, he silently walks out the room to the other male roommates. He tells them enthusiastingly that he becomes a father. They laugh happily. Female protagonist comes in, still angry. The male protagonist defends himself "But at that night she was so pretty"...(yeah right). The female starts to smile, and they laugh together. Later we hear that her study needs to be suspended two years. At the end the male protagonist jokely tells her to get another baby after this one. She tells him smilingly that she is angry at him, but at the end they still smile and kiss as if nothing has happened.
So this is still a better drama, than most cliche drama's, but everyone who says that this is such a 'mature' romance, they are lying, the cake does not exist, but it still has its sweet moments.
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Definitely will watch this again again. I hope more modern cdramas are this great and fun. ♥
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"split personality" review
in reality, i hate to rain on somebody's parade, and since a lot of people truly love this drama, i apologize, but what must be said must be said.i can not relate to this drama but from a truly split personality perspective, since it has the "good, the bad, the ugly" and more. all that the other viewers write about it is mostly true - mind-bogglingly beautiful scenery (the scene where ae-shin is walking with eugine on the icy lake takes your breath away and will stay with you forever etched in your visual and emotional library, whether it's in your brain or in your heart, and the entire story is kind of symbolic of walking on thin ice at all times), in general the choice of sites in the drama can be used for tourism in korea - guaranteed to work even today, the cinematography is up there with the most outstanding dramas and/or movies from all times, the characters especially the main 3 males and the female hotel owner hina are extremely multidimensional, like it is in real life and their continuous development is very satisfying, the acting of all actors is as good as it gets, especially lee byung-hun as eugene choi (i first saw this actor in "all in" while i was chasing after ji sung, and discovered lee byung-hun, and the rest was history... his charisma, his manly charm, his superb acting, his ability to go from extreme toughness to extreme softness - he was raised to my top best korean actors from that moment on) and he does not disappoint in "mr. sunshine", he stays true to himself as an artist, as always gives it his all, and shines with unmistakable inner beauty. one more thing that i noticed, when he gazes at ae-shin or even other people, he slowly blinks just one time, and the blink is like a cat that blinks to his/hers owner expressing love, it's really special, if you know cats. the other actress that i enjoyed very much is of course the adorable, mysterious, badass kim min-jung as kudo hina, she truly kept me on my toes, with her non-ending french designers dresses, hats, jewelry, her quirky intelligence and female intuition, her courage, her undeniable charm. these two characters or i should say actors kept me wanting to see more and more of them, even when i wanted to just leave this show many times throughout, the slow paste of it drove me crazy, the lengthy looking in each others eyes for minutes at a time without any movement or action - i wanted to scream enough already, we get the idea, we are not dumb... the heart breaking good byes between ae-shin and eugen, too many, not justified and always coming back together just to say good bye again - really? some other things that annoyed me to no end i will mention later here... the other two characters that is worth mentioning is yoo yeon-seok as goo dong-mae, perfectly cast in this role, so strong, gorgeous looking, evil, always with endless pain bubbling to the surface, always staying a step ahead of death, and byun yo-han as kim hee- sung, the typical spoiled rich brat, always gambling, loosing and drinking on the account of others. both of these characters, one was born in the lowest class of that society, the other was a son of the richest aristocrats in this area. dong-mae like a ticking bomb on the verge of exploding and taking down all around him no matter how, who or what. kim hee-sung, the aristocrat, who loves all things beautiful, easy going, trying to charm everybody no matter who, making a joke out of any situation. frankly, i did not like these two all the way till the last third of the drama, and then they kind of woke up, tapped into their own morals, grew on me and developed into characters that slowly charmed my heart and i got deeply invested in them all, only to be devastated at the brutal end. the question for me, was it worth spending so many annoying hours of this drama, to finally get to the last third part and especially the last 5 episodes, to finally get so emotionally attached to this characters only to be completely heart broken at the end? i truly did not answer that question yet. and now the most baffling part of this drama - the main female character, ae-shin. i think her character was completely screwed up by the writers, she was the only one one- dimensional as it can be. yes, they wanted to show her burning patriotism for her country and cause, but they deprived her of humanity. wasn't she a physical body like all of us? didn't she have emotions that a woman would express through some kind of affection to the love or her life? the one who gave up ALL that he had in this world for her, his adopted country that he was so proud of, his military career that he loved, his best friend, and finally his own life in exchange of hers. (by the way, eugene choi succeeded somehow to express his love without touching her ever, but it felt like he was stopped by her inner desire to avoid any physicalness) and at all times, there was not a single hug, kiss or any other form of expressing love. how on earth can that be? even when they got married, no hug, no kiss - nothing. and i understand the writers or directors idea of showing extreme patriotism above all, but show at least something... something that would move us and make us believe that she really loves. that was my greatest disappointment and the biggest flaw of this drama. and last but not least i wanted to mention the politics in this drama, that was supposed to be kind of the background to anything else, but took over and became the major part of it. although interesting in terms of korean history (and made me truly hate the japanese cruelty), it was too much of it and became simply boring many times. now that you know "the good, the bad and the ugly" you decide if this drama is for you, if you can tough out to the third part of the drama.
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A Breath of Fresh Air
Excellent drama.Amazing acting and story line. Very different from other dramas.A mixture of real life, fantasy, romance, mystery and comedy all bundled up in one. There was NEVER a dull moment.
This drama teaches you a lot about life. A lot of morals could be learnt by watching this drama.
This is a feel good drama. Always left me happy after every episode.
I would give it more than 10 stars if I could.
I am really going to miss this drama.
I am hoping for a season 2.
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Overall if your like me and haven't experienced both the novel or drama, you should give it a shot because you might just end up liking it like I did.
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