Sweet, Fun, Rom-Com
This is a low budget web drama that hardly has any promotion and goes under many viewers' radar. It is a non-serious romantic comedy, and initially, I thought I wouldn't like it. Somehow, though an easy-to-follow story, there are some twists and turns, mysteries and crimes, and a big overall conspiracy that really got me hooked on.The acting is more like a high school drama - playful and silly. The names of the characters are hilarious to say the least. The Chinese characters used in Zhao Cuo's name have the homophone with the meaning "wrong anyway", whereas his father's name Zhao Juan Dui literally means, "All correct". The play of words in the dialogues with the names is simply hilarious.
Despite being a very light-hearted cute drama, there are some really wonderful moments, especially between the main leads and the dynamics between Zhao Cuo and his parents. With all the bickering and playfulness, Tian San Qi and Zhao Cuo have good chemistry together. I also love the side couple Bai Yi Fei and He Ruo Yao. Though very good looking, Bai Yi Fei is like a piece of wood and is very cute and funny, and He Ruo Yao has a wonderful female personality that I love.
I love the songs sung during the moments when one thinks or longs for the other. The melodies are contemporary love ballads which are very beautiful. Of all the songs, I fall in love with a nursery rhyme that is repeatedly sung by Tian San Qi and Zhao Cuo for each other; it is one of the most adorable nursery rhymes I've ever loved.
My verdict: If you don't have any other dramas to watch, or waiting in between dramas, "I've Fallen For You" is a pleasant one to watch given its light-heartedness and a short series.
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This is an original fantasy, wuxia drama featuring many new faces in the entertainment world. The CGI is wonderfully done. In fact, I will go so far as to say that the CGI in this drama exceeds those of Ice Fantasy. It is not overly done and the scenes moved fluidly without any odd pauses when CGI was used; lending it a more believable air for a fantasy drama. The story is wonderful and it keeps you wanting more at the end of every episode. My congratulations to the author!
Acting/Cast: The hero in the acting cast is Zhang Ruo Yun who acted as the male lead, Feng Tian Yi. He's relatively new to the entertainment world but those of you who had watched Wuxin: The monster killer, Legend of Green Hill Fox and Fifteen Years to Wait for Migratory Birds would have noticed him. In Novoland, his acting is considered the best amongst the leading cast. His leading lady, Guan Xiao Tong (as Yi Fu Ling) may have acted in more dramas than him, but her acting left much to be desired. She's not very good in expressing herself and often have a rather stiff face; giving her acting an air of immaturity. The second male lead, Liu Chang as Bai Ting Jun was equally bad with expressions and together, they form what I called "The Frozen Faced Couple" in this drama. Ju Jing Yi from SNH48 surprisingly acted well in her role as the jealous rival of the female lead. Despite her first time acting in a notable role in a drama, her acting surpassed that of the female lead. Chen Ruo Xuan as the bumbling genius inventor Yu Huan Zheng is another good actor, providing the much needed supporting role and the unexpected heroism for the drama. The mature actor who acted as the Regent uncle to Feng Tian Yi is also another actor deserving kudos for his acting.
Music: Good enough but I'll go out in a limb here by saying that I am not a fan of TFBoys and their songs.
Rewatch value: I find myself absolutely sucked in by Zhang Ruo Yun's strong, obsessive, brilliant and assertive character in this drama. His love for Yi Fu LIng/goddess is so all encompassing. The way he looked at her, the way his lips briefly lifted at the sides as he considered her, the way he 'tortured' her, the way he literally inhaled her and wish to possess her.....Zhang Ruo Yun had created a very sensual and possessive chemistry based on his acting alone! Thanks to his acting, it made the sub-par acting of the female lead more tolerable. I would re-watch all the parts in this drama where he interacted with the female lead.
Overall: In summary, this drama would have scored a higher rating if the role of the female lead and second male lead were given to more experienced actress and actor who can actually act. However, the unique story keeps you wanting for more and managed to grab the audience's attention until the end. A good production that deserves more recognition than the other bigger budgeted fantasy-themed drama featuring big names such as Ice Fantasy, Legend of Chusen and Demon Girl that were airing at the same time this drama was aired. If you are hesitating which one to go for, I recommend that you give Novoland a go!
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I really like both Jasper Liu and Eugenie Liu and the premise of this series sounded like fun - gangster's daughter meets and falls in love with the actor she's always fangirled over! The action scenes in the show are purely comedic, cheesy and just for fun. Sometimes it's over the top, but I can accept that. Eugenie does a great job portraying Angie, a fierce, bubbly young woman who tries to forge an independent path for herself. On the other hand, Jasper's character Yi Hang felt underdeveloped. He's a cute, charming, popular actor who loves elephants. That's all I got really. Their relationship developed UNBELIEVABLY quickly. Emphasis on unbelievable as in "I absolutely did not believe it." In comparison, I found myself liking Eddie Kim much more and thought the actor who plays him, Tsao Yu Ning, was excellent.
A lot of interesting side stories are introduced - Ding Ding, Ling Yun, Sophia, etc - but none of them are developed nearly enough. If Netflix releases more episodes (I mean, they'd BETTER!), then I will definitely continue watching. There's so much potential.
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STORY
The drama is equivalent to all the dramas that center women, namely Sex and the City, Mistresses, Gossip Girl, Girls, I Need Romance ect. The show revolves around a pack of 4 girlfriends, depicting their lives, the problems, the difficulties and implications of dating and other relationships for people in their 30s. The main premise of the show is that everyone, no matter what has happened in their lives or what mistakes they have done, deserve a happy ending, and if they fight hard enough, they will get it! Secondly, the show presents a very realistic -if you ask me- image of the dating scene nowadays -not only in Korea per se-, how unrealistically high people's standards are, and how picky they are, being materialistic, searching for, money, visuals, other than character in their potential partner.
We get to see the life of each woman, and each story makes a point about relationships. Even if all the characters are in their early/mid 30s, i think it is safe to say that everyone can somehow relate to the problems they depict as they are universal.
Story 1: A divorcee who is afraid that she will end up forever alone, kind of scared to let herself be free and enter a relationship, and deep inside feels she doesn't deserve to be happy because of her divorce. This story is the main story of the drama, like 70% of it. It features a love triagle, that you will hate, believe me, but in the very end, it was the most essential love triangle i have ever watched in a kdrama. It wasn't introduced just for the ships, but it depicted serious realistic facts like love vs friendship, which love is valid and which isn't ect. At the same time this story presents several realistic questions a person in a new relationship may have, they can be stupid like 'why doesn't he/she want to kiss me - Is he/she the right person for me?', or more important like 'does he/she have money issues? Does he/she want to scam me?'.
Story 2: Forever single. A girl in her mid 30s having been single in like... forever. I believe many people could relate to her, she was introduced as the 'funny' one of the quartet. We get to see all her struggles to find true love, along with several questions (and reminders) that i could sum up in this proverb 'Whatever shines, isn't gold!'- and vice versa.
Story 3: The more serious, borderline melo, sub-story. A married woman who goes through a divorce and faces serious health issues. Her story is touching, and moving and could have been a great stand-along/spin off show. Her story poses ideas like 'Don't give up on yourself, on your marriage and generally on happiness. Problems are there, pain will always be there, but we have people around to rely on, don't give up on them or yourself, pain will pass!'
Story 4: The (Wanna-be) femme fatale of the quartet. She was also supposed to be funny along with story 2. A woman with attachement issues, but what happens when she meets her match? This story was left on the sidelines, but yet it managed to make some worthy points like 'no relationship will work without trust and letting your guard down. You should know which person is worthy for you to do that, and you should take on the responsibility of getting hurt and of hurting that person'. This story had the potential to hit issues like career problems for people in their 30s, but it didn't which was a waste.
I, generally, don't have any drawbacks to point out, other than the fact that the drama spent too much of its time overanalyzing the first story, hence the rest of the stories being somewhat underdeveloped/underapprecciated. It is arguable to say that stories 2-3-4 were more interesting than the main one.
ACTING
Exquisite acting, as expected by such a talented ensemble cast!
Jang Nara was a worthy leading actress, her character was superficial and fluffy, maybe too much at some points. I loved her more emotional scenes and i wished she had more, she has more to offer than this.
Yoo In Na, was lovely and adorable, expressing the mindset complexity of such a person perfectly. Yet she was cute and only a teeny tiny bit stupid and just too good of a person for her own good. Great acting, for a character and a side story that needed more screen time.
Yoo Da In. My personal favourite, as a melo lover, her story moved and touched me. She expressed difficult and unique feelings perfectly, she was luscious and easy to understand and relate even when she didn't have as much screen time as she deserved.
Seo In Young. Her story was pushed to the sidelines, it comes, therefore, as no surpise how her character was kind of forgettable as well. She was good and i have nothing bad to say, other than she was kind of overshadowed by Yoo In Na, as they were both the 'funny' characters.
Kwon Yool, was very good, his acting could be described as emotionless or/and cold, but i do believe it was his character being like that. I cannot say i loved him, but i had no problems with his acting.
Jung Kyung Ho. And we finally get to the king of the show. You know what is amazing? How he managed, in a show that focuses on women, and had 4(!) female leads, to rise above everyone and have the most important, interesting, touching, funny and adorable character of everyone. His acting could have been as forgettable as KY's but he managed to own the show! True king!
RECOMMEND/REWATCH
Many people argued how this was boring, i disagree, this actually had so much more to offer than other soulless rom coms, it actually had something to say other than just cheesy romance or insignificant comedy. However, this is not a show for everyone. People who know and like the shows that i mentioned above, or/and like rom coms in general, will, probably, like this one. Other people don't spend your time meaninglessly, move on. As for me, someone who generally dislikes rom coms, i loved this one, i don't know if this says something about me or the show...
I loved it, but would i rewatch it? Not really, it was great for the 16 hours i spent on this, and i will savour it for what it was.
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Karma is a Court Lady.
Billed as a love story between a reformed rake Sheng Chumu and a court lady Fu Rou, this is really an opulent tragicomedy about the succession turmoil that plagued the latter years of Li Shimin/Tang Taizong's reign. It is a surprisingly empathetic and riveting portrayal of the greatest Tang emperor's disappointing and much reviled crown prince Li Chengqian. It strikes me that his story is what the writer really set out to tell; all the other parallel sub-plots are much more indifferently written.The way the drama is promoted as Fu Rou and Sheng Chumu's love story is misleading and misinforms audience expectations. Yes, I know how adorable they look together but their story is rather pedestrian and is not the main meal so they end up spending an incredible amount of time apart. Neither character has free will and their romance does not drive the narrative; it is in fact subordinated to and frustrated by the main succession plot. That is necessary as these two main parallel, interlocking plots are related primarily from Fu Rou's perspective as a court lady or official 女官 with close access to the workings of the inner palace and the imperial family's private moments.
Although Fu Rou is the eponymous character with the most screen time, this is a cardboard character that is made worse by Li Yitong's anodyne, colourless portrayal. Fu Rou is pretty much superwoman - an incredibly talented, resourceful and daring fixer who finds herself in the middle of every palace conflict large and small. She comes to the aid of anyone that appeals to her bleeding heart, taking on matters well above her pay grade. She has the temerity to lecture and chastise anyone and everyone from lowly palace servants to the emperor himself! I would have loved this character to death if she had a bit of a dark side, an odd hobby or even some tiny flaw like picking her nose in public or something, anything. But no, Fu Rou is a suffocating paragon of virtue, moral rectitude and forgiveness; who genuinely believes that good deeds begets positive karma that pays off in the long run. But if karma is a bitch, then her title is court lady because there are heinous, irreversible and tragic unintended consequences to Fu Rou's meddling and her indiscriminate assistance to wicked people. Due to editing/censorship issues, we never get see Fu Rou reflect upon the folly and irony of her interventions or experience any sense of remorse or regret. Thus there is no character development and by the end Fu Rou to me is just a vapid, righteous prig of a character that I most resent - poor Chumu is so much better off remaining Changán's most notorious playboy.
In sharp contrast, Xu Kai's Chumu is a much more engaging, funny, relatable and outside of a lapse in the middle; a smart character that undergoes tremendous growth. It is a pity he gets so little screen time because he has a wonderful ability to just casually infuse a moment with comic relief. The comical antics of the gruffly hilarious Sheng Xianjing, Chumu, Chuling (shout out to the very funny Kris Fan), the gamine Princess Xinnan and Prince Han go a long way toward diffusing the dark undertones to the drama. Nothing made me laugh harder than Princess Xinnan balancing those dastardly bowls. Unfortunately the denizens of the inner palace and especially Fu Rou and Prince Zhou are humorlessly written and portrayed, resulting in some stifling and overly angsty inner palace arcs and a notable darkening of the overall mood in the second half.
With five or six couples, there is at surface a lot of romance in this drama but they are mostly flawed, complex and maddening relationships. This is due to the surfeit of unsavory, corrupt and chauvinistic male characters, from stalkers to lechers and murderers who simply cannot take no for an answer and lame brained female characters willing to indulge their flaws. As a result, most of the ships are leaky and not seaworthy enough to survive stormy seas. These messy, disturbing love-hate relationships are not consistently well written and there are arguably too many of them. That said, these characterizations are compatible with the times and the illogical pairings seem to curiously "work". They are certainly far more interesting than the usual lighthearted and fluffy standard fare of secondary romances.
The main appeal of this drama for me is Li Shimin, Tang Taizong's succession story, which I feel is what this drama is really about and it is compellingly portrayed. For a fictionalized account that takes a fair amount of literary license, it captures the essence of the main historical figures and remains astonishingly true to the important events of the day. The one dark stain in Li Shimin's history was the Xuanwu Gate Incident, where he personally killed both his brothers from the same mother and forced his father to abdicate in his favor. He went on to be a benevolent and revered emperor, one of the greatest in history. This drama is set in his twilight years as history appears to be on the brink of repeating itself. It is an intimate, at times a scathing expose on the insufferable privilege of imperialism and at times a compassionate account of how impotent, conflicted and utterly terrified this emperor and his beloved empress must have felt as they watch their sons at each others throats. In all the moments that count within this main arc, the writing holds up although towards the end when everything comes together, it is quite obvious that some scenes were lost to censorship.
The most phenomenal, multi-faceted and evocative performance that stands out among an absolutely fabulous cast is Li Zefeng's portrayal of the crown prince. I find it unfathomable that I have not noticed this actor before. He starts out as the highly regarded crown prince, showing so much promise and closely allied with his brother Prince Han. But he is slowly cracking under the immense pressure of being crown prince under the exacting eye of his father and the court and constantly measured up against his other talented brothers. The acting was so good I could understand why he sought refuge in frivolous pursuits and why he needed Chenji. I was surprised by how openly and sympathetically their taboo relationship is explored. It is the relationship that moved me the most, I grieved with him when it ended and I could see how he unraveled and gave in to his worst instincts. Prince Han is the other well written and well acted role. It is tragically comical how their sibling rivalry blew them up and I love how their bond is depicted with a multitude of emotions and a good dose of irony and humor.
I enjoyed this gorgeous and expensive production quite a bit although the story is quite dark and there are too many distracting sub plots and frustrating characters. Although the writing is at times lazy, fantastic acting by the veteran cast more than makes up for it. But it is definitely not the kind of story most viewers thought they would be watching when they picked this up and it definitely will not appeal to everyone. I enjoyed it enough to give it an 8.0 and would probably rate it quite a bit higher if they had diminished Fu Rou's role.
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This review may contain spoilers
you will fall for Shin Hye Sun,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, very less spoilers
STORY IS PERFECTACTING IS PERFECT
OMG CASTING IS AMAZING
EVERY CHARACTER AND THEIR STORY IS RELEVENT TO THE THE MAIN STORY AND ITS IMPROVE THE MAIN LEADS CHARACTERS
I HAVE WATCH ALMOST 9 TIMES
COMEDY IS ALSO SO FRESH
YOU WILL NOT FEEL BL SERIES VIBES BECAUSE ITS CLEARLY EXPLAIN THAT QUEEN LOVES KING NOT MALE SOUL WHO INSIDE THE QUEEN MALE SOUL ENHANCE THE QUEEN CHARACTER YOU WILL WATCH IN QUEEN THE BAMBOO FOREST THAT KING FALL FOR QUEEN IN FIRST SIGHT BUT KNOWING THAT HE BELONGS TO HIS ENEMY'S FAMILY HE STARTS HATING HER BUT MALE SOUL WHICH INSIDE THE QUEEN HELPS TO PROVE THAT QUEEN IS NOT LIKE THAT AS KING THOUGHT AND THERE IS ALSO A OLD CONNECTION B/W KING AND QUEEN THATS A INTRESTING PART
OMG ACTINGS ARE AMAZING SHIN HYE SUN IS DAM GOOD SHE MAKES YOU BELIEVE THAT SHE IS NOT MISS QUEEN INSTEAD OF MR QUEEN
COMEDY B/W QUEEN AND COOK WAS ALSO AMAZING
AND THERE IS HAPPY ENDING
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This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful xianxia drama that may have its flaws but overall is still worth the watch
Before I get into this, I would like to say that negative reviews have had no effect on me and I think Zhou Dong Yu looks the part.This story follows Shang Gu as she lives up to her role as the leader of the four immortals and takes responsibility for the realms.
The story starts out somewhat stereotypical: Shang Gu needs to get stronger so she trains under Bai Jue. However, the character development was nicely done in this: Shang Gu grows from a mischievous, useless goddess to a powerful, self-sacrificing leader. Bai Jue also begins to open up, and the chemistry between the two is adorable. Shang Gu is like a puppy dog of happiness whenever she's around Bai Jue! The plot also begins to pick up around 4 episodes too, and the story becomes very interesting.
The second life is also neat, but one of my only criticisms of the show comes here: Shang Gu(or Houchi in this life) becomes a bit wooden. Zhou Dong Yu still acts out Houchi like she was the strong female ruler she was, but after 30 episodes it starts to get a little stale and unbelievable. In Xianxia dramas (or any drama, really) I wish to see a lot of character development and growth. Shang Gu experienced emotional and physical growth, but I'm not sensing a lot of emotional growth from Houchi where it feels like there should be some. She still faces problems and reacts to things in exactly the same way for 20 episodes straight. I find it hard to believe that her personality will change drastically when she becomes Shang Gu again too. Despite this, I still enjoyed the second arc.
The third phase (starting from the return of Bai Jue) was both the best and the worst phase. It was the worst because in some places, there were some cheesy and unbelievable scenes, such as (no major spoilers) when everyone stood in a circle around Bai Jue and Jing Zhao and watched everything unfold without reacting. There were some pretty shocking things happening, so the vast majority just standing there like statues kind of took the emotional impact out of that moment for me. Another thing is Shang Gu interacting with Bai Jue during the period when they weren't on the best terms. They basically said the same things for three encounters. Xu Kai's acting saved the day because he has the best despairing gaze, but I feel like they needed to switch up their interactions a bit.
Now for the best parts (and these override the bad parts by miles ). I said above that I may not like Zhou Dong Yu's acting in the third arc, but I was pleasantly surprised. Her acting, like in the first arc, feels lively, spirited, and quick-witted. The second great thing is actually the villain's development. I want to give props to Jenny Zhang for portraying Wu Huan's character with such depth. Her desperation and resignation of fate led her to her actions, and I can even relate with her a bit. Her story was well written and her ending was justified. And that leads me to the third thing. Ancient Love Poetry has one of the best endings that I've seen. All the characters were written off nicely, everyone got what they deserved, and the ending was beautiful. Nothing felt rushed or unsatisfactory. The ending sealed the deal for this drama being a great drama overall.
About the main characters: I sometimes felt Zhou Dong Yu could've acted some parts with more emotion. She's awesome at the cheerful/intellectual/imposing scenes, but her sad scenes aren't totally there yet. Xu Kai is great; he goes from an emotionless True God to a hot-blooded immortal, and he's great at subtly showing his emotions in his third form. Like Zhou Dong Yu, his acting is also a bit wooden at times, but his emotional scenes hit me where it hurts. He's got some great acting abilities. Despite their individual acting, their chemistry was adorable. I also liked the fact that their relationship was not a stereotypical guy-is-the-best-at-everything relationship.
The side characters are a joy to watch in this show. I love them all, from the friends to the villains. They are multifaceted and compelling, and I'm as invested in their stories as I am in the main couples'. Wu Huan is a dislikeable but understandable villain, Yue Mi and Feng Ran are friends with interesting backstories, the other immortals are all people with flaws struggling to do their best, and the Demon Tribe is just another group with its own troubles and stories. Tian Qi is actually one of my favorite characters. They are part of what makes this show charming.
For the animation: the trailer was beyond beautiful, but making every little part look amazing is going to cost a lot of money, and this drama is already CGI heavy. However, this show is the best-edited among long-length xianxia dramas up to and during its air. It really is dazzling and gorgeous.
Overall, Ancient Love Poetry is definitely a drama worth watching, and despite my criticisms, the number of great scenes vastly outnumber them. Also, once you get deep into the story, you want to know what happens next!
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Only enjoyable if you feel a connect with any of the characters
Definitely not a romantic comedy as marketed, this show is more like a Romantic Office melodrama with interesting side storylines that capture different types of relationships. The first 3 episodes will not convince you to watch it, so give it time till episode 5. After that you’ll be more invested in what goes on.The main couple‘s romance takes time to develop, but once they do it is endearing to see them develop together. The ML’s 2 sisters however have much more interesting storylines- I would look forward to seeing their scenes more than the main couple’s after a point. I also thought the SML and SFL did not get enough screen time and I wished we saw more of them to understand and empathise with them better.
It had its flaws, but the show managed to capture maturity in most relationships (particularly the side ones) and also managed to give all the side plots satisfactory endings. As for the main couple, I would have preferred a different or an open ending rather than the one given, but I’m definitely not unhappy with how the show wrapped.
If you don’t feel connected to any character until 5 episodes you might not enjoy the show as a whole. However if you wish to continue, give it time as it’s a slow ride which might take you by surprise.
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its my first review writing!! so please ignore my mistakes
okay ! HUA JAI SILA OR HEART OF STONE is my second Thai drama as I prefer action , suspense over a typical romance and torture that can be often seen in THAI DRAMA , but you know this made 'an exception' for me [even with presence of slap and kiss] because of following reasons-1. ACTING- wow bang !!! everyone did a great job especially Thanapob Leeluttanakajorn (P'TOR) and his step mother , Ann Siriam Pakdeedumrongri . At least i feel so.
2. SUSPENSE- you won't believe me every episode feel like a new world with new suspense. Each episode makes you carve for another episode.
3. ROMANCE- its sad to know that at least till 16th episode you will find less scenes of MIN and SILA/P'TOR . Its surprising to know that in between [from 1st to 16th] i found minimum 20 scenes of them together . I CAN't tell for further episode as while i'm writing the review , drama is still airing
*EDIT-IN FURTHER EPISODES YOU GUYS WILL EXPERIENCE MORE SCENES OF THEM TOGETHER*
ROMANCE BETWEEN THEM IS SO SWEET!! good chemistry between actors !
4.REVENGE- way of revenge will be the main attraction of this drama. I literally jumped many times on my sofa when p'tor took revenge from his step relatives [mom n brother]
5. MALE LEAD- yes you read correctly! actually i became so much attracted by Thanapob's [ P,'TOR] sarcastic smile. Well i know it won't be a reason to watch for almost everyone but if you are looking a drama with an actor having great personality and acting skills , you should prefer this.
6. THRILL-omg I just can't explain this point .This one you will find in later episodes but it would compensate for earlier ones.
7. RE-WATCH VALUE- its 10 on 10 from my side (*_*)
8. Music- OPENING SONG (ost) is very nice..
9. ENDING-its most important thing for some people (for me too)...its of course a happy ending we all expect for [marriage n all] but the main thing is it will taught u A GREAT LESSON ABOUT LIFE. I'M REALLY INSPIRED WITH 3-4 LINES SAID BY ML ....[U SHOULD CHECK OUT IT ON UR OWN]
At first i had also prefered a TYPICAL ROMANCE BUT NOW I PREFER ACTION MORE AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A TYPICAL ROMANCE OR FANTASIES THEN DON'T GO FOR THIS , I REPEAT DON'T WATCH THIS .
By typical romance i mean- a genius boy or rich boy with clingy or naive or poor girl
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Miss Truth of the Art of Death.
I was excited by this drama because the backstory sounds like a Chinese version of a favorite mystery series "Mistress of the Art of Death" which is also about a medieval female crime solving coroner who teams up with a sexy man to solve cases. Like Miss Truth, the novel is about a strong and smart woman, ahead of her time in both forensic knowledge and life attitude. I was both disappointed and relieved that this drama does not dive into the forensic aspects of the cases with the chillingly thrilling gruesome detail of my beloved novels. Indeed all of the gory props are almost cartoonishly fake and any macarbe detail is rather cursorily handled. While set in Tang dynasty, the story-line barely acknowledges the main historical characters and events of the day. Nonetheless it is a short and very enjoyable watch that really stands out in its repudiation of common tropes.The drama is about a talented and adventurous young lady coroner's journey of self discovery. As she helps solve cases, unearths Marquis Sui's legendary pearl and unveils a grand conspiracy; she also finds herself and discovers the truth of her heart's desires. The drama starts with a bang by establishing Ran Yan's credentials as a brilliant forensic analyst as she is extorted to solve a murder by the criminal underworld in exchange for her shifu's gambling debts. This tosses her right into the crosshairs of both Xiao Song, a nobleman and the emperor's trusted investigator and fixer and Su Fu, a mysterious assassin who saves her life. They are both tasked by different masters to recover Marquis Sui's pearl, which is part of a larger conspiracy that is the drama's overarching plot. The drama maintains an exciting pace, with danger and intrigue lurking around every corner and builds to a strong finish on a high note with a surprise reveal. I was only able to identify the ultimate mastermind by elimination; there were not enough clues or hints along the way to figure out their identity or motives.
As a big fan of strong, smart female characters, I was baffled by how difficult I found it initially to like newbie Zhou Jieqiong's Ran Yan. She is almost immediately and recklessly infatuated with the thrillingly inscrutable Su Fu and is unquestioning of his motives. Yet this sharp tongued vixen is distrustful of and lashes out inexplicably and ungratefully at Xiao Song, who appreciates her talents immediately and employs her as his coroner. This gives her the means to escape an unwanted marriage arranged by her indifferent father and cliche evil stepmother and half-sister. She snidely calls him a merman in a tone that implies fish face or worse, dead fish and bristles when he affectionately refers to her as his foxy lady. Nonetheless they companionably squable their way through a number of well constructed cases and become a likable and effective crime solving team. While Ran Yan is the titular character, veteran actor Toby Lee's Xiao Song is the sleuth that puts all of the clues together and truly anchors all of the cases and the drama. His character was well written and masterfully portrayed - between his teasing banter, merciless goading, stern rebukes and unyielding support he managed the prickly Ran Yan perfectly. While he arguably cut her too much slack, he knows exactly how to get under her skin. He is no doormat either and knows when enough is enough. The surrounding characters are cleverly and realistically written in a way that reacts to the other characters' flaws; for example I could totally relate to the shrewd and loyal Bai Yin's dislike and ranchor toward Ran Yan for treating his master Xiao Song so poorly.
For once, I actually enjoyed the dreaded love triangle in this drama, something I normally have zero patience for. Initially I didn't like Ran Yan so I didn't really care if she made a bad decision. Ultimately she is a resilient, strong willed character who knows her own mind, is not just defined by love and can roll with the punches so there is no tragically wrong choice for her. It is completely in character for her to break all the rules, throw caution to the wind and indulge in a dangerous, exciting and most unsuitable man - something hopefully every woman gets to do at least once in a lifetime! So does she stay with the one who loves her or go back to the one she loves? All I will say is that the triangle was fittingly, somewhat poignantly and DECISIVELY resolved. She totally manned up and picked the one with the nicest chest (a purely subjective but well researched opinion)!
While I never got to like Ran Yan (she is deliberately written to be really not that nice) and didn't emphatize with her, I reluctantly admired and respected her. This drama really showed me, someone who pounds on the table for strong female leads, that I may have been more socialized to like and accept the conventional c-drama female lead than I would like to admit.
I think all things considered (production value was not that high) this drama should be a 7.5-8.0 but I gave it a 8.0 for being so different in the best of ways in terms of avoiding most (not all) cliches, very smartly written and unconventional characters, hot male leads, exciting pace and cases and ending at the climax.
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1Horribly xenophobic and manipulative...
Oh god, where do I even begin???Girls Planet started off very strong. My friend convinced me to watch this show and I immediately fell in love with all the girls and their talents (Hikaru in particular ♡). The performances began like any normal show, but this time with the unique premise of cells. One Korean girl, one Japanese girl, and one Chinese girl in each. Seeing them work together with their cultural differences in how they were raised and trained was a joy to watch...at first.
See, the thing about Korean shows is well...they're Korean. That's mainly where the problem stems from. As the episodes progress, you begin to get the feeling that something feels a bit off. That's because the show is wildly xenophobic. Once you reach a certain point in the show you'll begin noticing some key patterns within each group: the Japanese member is obsolete. Who even is that??? The Chinese girl is terrible. She has an absolutely AWFUL attitude or she's so overwhelmingly unskilled and selfish. And the Korean girl is AMAZING!!! She's so talented, she's final-group-ready. She is even skilled enough to help the Chinese and Japanese members, how kind of her!!! This is an ongoing "storyline" in each group. It's not even something that happens once or twice, it's ALL THE TIME. Not even exaggerating. I think it was the same exact thing for two entire episodes.
In that xenophobia lies another problem: voting manipulation. You may be wondering "how could they possibly have voting manipulation when they were caught from the Produce series???" and you're right. They probably didn't have direct manipulation, but oh man did they have MANIPULATION. Take the above scenario as an example. You now have a Japanese girl you don't know, a Chinese girl you hate, and a Korean girl who performed perfectly. Who are you going to vote for? Not only do you have that form of indirect manipulation, you also have screen time. Whenever I voted, I swear to you I recognized ALL the Korean girls and maybe 3-5 from Japanese and Chinese. It was no coincidence. Every scene, every praise, every moment was Korean! Korean! Korean! Don't even get me started on how the final votes were 50% KOREA, 50% THE REST OF THE FREAKING WORLD. YEAH, IT REALLY WAS. It's almost unbelievable how much they were able to get away with. It's actually offensive tbh.
So what about other aspects of the show besides the xenophobia? The mentors (or "masters" as they like to call it). Useless tbh, besides the dance instructors. However, other than choreographing for some songs (that they could've done without mentoring), none of them ever did anything except sit there and critique them. How come they never got up and gave them pointers??? How come the dance instructors never showed them how to perfect a move??? How come the vocal coaches never showed them how to sing properly??? Instead, you get a girl who practices to the point of straining her voice and the vocal coaches complain about her not being able to hit a high note :/// Sunmi and Tiffany were also just as useless. I enjoyed Tiffany's critiques, yet she barely got any screen time for some reason. Yeo Jingoo was the saving grace of this adult side of the cast. He did well as the MC and oftentimes made jokes with the girls, trying his best to genuinely bond with them. Even if the masters and the trainees bonded off-screen, how come they never give us a tiny glimpse of that?
Okay so xenophobia, useless mentors, what else? One of the most important parts of a survival show: personality. Yeah...little to none. They barely have any games, bonding exercises, or activities. There are a few more later on with less girls, but still the bare minimum. I could not tell you what most of the personalities on this show are like. Unless they're very expressive, like Wen Zhe or Hikaru, it's next to impossible to really know. You barely even know which members are close friends unless you stalk social media feeds. You should NOT need an outside source to be able to recognize friends in a survival show. One of the absolute worst offenses they committed on this show was not showing any of the eliminated girls. They never asked about their thoughts, showed the girls crying or hugging, or showed their wishes for the future. As sad as it is to see girls go, I usually enjoy getting to see their emotional final moments with their friends. It's touching to see them loving and supporting one another until they later show up in the finale. In this, I legit had to look online to see which girls got eliminated because they didn't give any of them screen time whatsoever. That's insane.
The last thing I wanted to talk about were the songs. This is one of the best parts of the show. They had quite good song selections (besides the sexual ones they made minors sing) and their original songs were pretty good. Snake was a real banger. The uniforms were super pretty as well, along with the sets and stages. Overall, the performances were really really good. Some are super memorable like Yes or Yes 1, Snake, Ice Cream, etc. Basically, anything with the girls themselves was fantastic. Everything else was big yikes.
And I am not blaming any of the girls at all for how poor this show is. All of them are extremely talented, hard-working, skilled, loving, sweet, gorgeous individuals that deserve to debut somewhere or some time. MNET just needs to stop. Someone please stop them for the sake of all Chinese girls who have a dream ://
In conclusion: save your precious freaking time.
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WORTH THE WAIT ?
The series hit differently when you cast a seasoned actors.Hats off to Nonkul for the perfect representation of Jom.
The softness, gestures, mannerisms and such, just pefect!
The arrow went straight to everyone when he started asking “What did I do wrong?”.
The sobs and the tears are so natural. Not overly dramatic that it gets irritating.
So far, the expectations were met. Hope it maintains momentum.
Congratulations YYDS and Dee Hup for this wonderful series!
Another masterpiece!
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It's about a friendship between seven really different teenage girls that survives throughout time. It's a story about love and loyalty and how sweet memories can taste so that you smile every time you think about them. Everyone of us has those memories.
So this movie is about the real life. About the best times of our lifes. After watching it your heart will feel full, I promise.
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Perfect writing; no holes or no loose ends. Everything is connected brilliantly. The amount of pain and laughter are balanced wonderfully. The characters are well-written and the actors have done a perfect job performing them. Chapeau to the writer, the director and the cast.
To actually fall in love with Choi Kang Hee was something I never imagined but after this drama there was no way I wouldn't. I hope she's OK after playing the role.
A realistic approach of traumas and pain. No forgiveness simply granted. People do commit crimes and make mistakes. Not everyone is redeemed just because the drama is ending. How one person's not confessed crime would haunt so many people. Family and its complications. All are tackled in the drama.
Now comes the most bewitching theme; love. Hey! Hey! I'm someone who vowed to stay single forever! This drama had made me want to date again! Insane! How true people are to their feelings. No noble idiocy, no unnecessary self-blame, no giving up, no escaping. I'm feeling this way I'll be true to my feelings and simply confess and take responsibility. If you can't recognise your own feelings I'll help you but I won't give up on you. The past grudges won't stand in the way of our love because you simply mean the world to me. '' I either see you or die. And since I can't die I'll just see you.'' No shame or pretense when it comes to physical love. I want you, I express it. '' Love for me is touching''. Honest and realistic but so moving. Memorable in every aspect!
Though at the beginning I was worried about the second female lead but she thankfully found the right track. Every character has its own tale and every one can relate to each tale.
The OSTs and the music are so distinctive and soooooooooo suitable.
I will definitely re-watch it if ever have the time.
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