Torturously realistic to the point of pessimism
This is a very well-written show with well-developed characters. None of the characters are shown to be particularly good or particularly bad - but as human beings, which is something I greatly appreciate as a writer and avid drama-watcher. The realistic themes covered here will definitely get the viewer to think long and hard about our societal framework and how that can either help or hinder our happiness.Another thing I like is the acting of the main four. Though all of them are subtle with their emotions, they still form distinct personalities which make for great performances overall. Understated acting is perhaps one of the hardest types of acting to accomplish, so I believe the lead actors did a superb job with their characters, being neither overdramatic nor wooden.
A warning for those who want a happy ending: you will be sorely disappointed. The ending is an unconventional one which feels like a missed target. Especially with the emotionally-draining situations the characters are often stuck in, not experiencing even one moment of true happiness, the ending feels like somewhat of a waste, especially for viewers like me who watched the drama as it aired. If you decide to watch this show, be careful to not get too emotionally invested in the main characters as I did.
To close, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys rich character development and unpredictable, yet realistic outcomes. The best part of this show is how incredibly human the characters are, which is something I believe needs to be shown more in movies and TV.
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The story is absolutely brilliant. The fact that this happened in reality and that there are still thousands of people suffering from this disease is truly saddening and heartbreaking. I can the portrayal of a person's disability in it was 100% accurate. It was so realistic that I felt like it was actually happening in front of me. The main cast gave outstanding performances- especially Sawajiri Erika. She was so convincing that I felt her pain.
Apt to its title, this drama could make you cry a lot- depending on you. I am going to confess that there were a few times I absolutely teared up. In fact, I think not tearing up while watching this would be inhumane. Anybody who is capable of feeling sorry for the physically disabled or people suffering from painful diseases will be able to feel it here too. Aya (both the fictional and real one) is a very inspiring person. The things she recorded in her diary is deep and moving.
The way they showed the transformation of an ordinary girl's life after she encounters Spinocerebellar Atrophy was the main focus of the drama. More than her struggle, it was also focused on how it affects those around her- be it friends, parents, siblings, teachers or regular people you meet on the street. It makes me think of all the physically disabled people I have seen in public. I think I can understand their feelings more clearly now.
This drama is almost like a documentary made on Aya's life. Neither is it happy to begin with nor does it end happily. But the sadness and tears aren't the only things in it. Most of all- it will remind you to treasure life and be thankful for what you have. There's a deeper underlying meaning to it too. It also showcases the kindness and cruelty of humans and their attitude towards such people. In a lot of countries, people are still not aware of hardships such people have to go through and treat them badly. Just like Aya said, "Why did it choose me?" The matter of falling ill was not by choice but only cruel fate.
This drama is one of the rare gems that you should definitely not miss out on. Watching it once was enough for me, so no rewatch value where I am concerned.
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Please stop hiring unpaid interns for script writing
Genuinely think the script writers are insulting the audience's intelligence. The story never lines up, the logic falls apart time after times.This drama is what we call 脑残恋爱剧. that's exactly what it is, you need to leave your brain at home in order for this drama to make sense. You need to watch this for the purpose of "watching two attractive people fall in love" because that's the only thing it (questionably) delivers.
At ep 34 I finally realize they tried to copy the plot of nirvana in fire and my goodness, it'd be an insult to even call this a dollar store NiF.
Pros:
Good casting, if not for these phenomenal actors I absolutely could not have finished this
Cons:
I don't know why nobody mentions this, but the ML's sister is what we call "a cast with funding". Because if she did not sponsor the production there's no way she would've been in this drama.
All throughout I've never seen any character more annoying. Purpose? None. Character development? Please don't piss me off. Is involved or is critical to any part of the story line whatsoever? Absolutely not. This character genuinely could've been replaced by a passerby and the story would've moved on just fine.
With regards to the script writing, long story short, they introduce conflict for the sake of conflict, ignoring if it makes sense of not. I started noting some down after some episodes because just wanted to see how ridiculous this gets:
- EP 10, fight in the forest about to break out, let's bring the FL who cannot fight at all, we will see this later.
- EP 10, grandma of course needs to go back and fetch things while enemies approaching.
- EP 11, FL as expected cannot help with anything, the reason why she was here the first place is just so she can be "saved" by ML.
- EP 11, village got raided, people died, what the kids do? Play football.
- EP 11, ML FL cannot go back home because being chased by the crowned Prince, after seeing some mountains, they magically could now.
- EP 11, ML remembers to check FL's background after married for ages now.
- EP 15, poisoning a foreign princess is apparently 罪不致死 (no biggie bc attempting murder on a royal is just a prank I guess) , make that makes sense.
- EP 18, 4th Prince just got saved and woke up from poison, very sought after and is in great danger, so of course he immediately leaves protection in literally undergarments with ZERO guards with him.
- EP 19, bad guy holding FL hostage, ML prepares bow and arrow to shoot, bad guy of course stands still waiting to be shot because using the FL as a body shield would make too much sense.
- EP 19, falls off a cliff, survives, wakes up in full face makeup looking pretty
- EP 20 FL's brother was like 9 or 10 years old in EP 1. It's not been that long as every pill is one month. It's not been years, but somehow this boy is a grown man now.
- EP 21, Prince of the country is in love with the Empress of the enemy country because mommy issues. I'm trying not to roll my eyes.
- EP 23, FL got captured, they knocked her out, but of course they wait for her to wake up first, before attempting her life because otherwise it'd make too much sense.
- EP 23, drowning cured her amnesia and I'm supposed to accept that.
- EP 26, at 22 min you see the most random jumps. So they also didn't pay for post production and edition I guess.
- EP 27, a massively important witness. Which means Meng is allowed to just walk into the prison and murders him because in this world, we don't have prison guards.
- EP 29, FL finally meets up with her brother, bad guys approaches, what do we do? Run in opposite direction of course. We use the table as a shield for arrows, fair enough, but don't forget to use an umbrella as well as that is somehow a stronger shield than a table.
- EP 30, the ML FL and her brother are now together, as a villain you see 3 of your worst enemies what do you do? Send assassins after them? Send your thousands of soldiers after them? Get some archers and snipe them? No, you explode the city, because the script writers said so.
- EP 30, as the evil empress is now leaving the city, wide in the open with 20 guards around her. You, as the good guys, hiding in background and somewhat of a high ground, what do you do? Shoot her down with swift arrows? No, you go melee attack into her 20 guards because the script writers said so.
- EP 32, as a crown prince, the best way to get yourself lined up to be next in throne is to of course hook your dad up to crack because then he's depended on you dealing him drugs.
- EP 33, 3rd prince is now revealed in court as the bad guy, stabbing officials one by one. You, as an official in court what do you do? Run? No. Jump the guy because there are 30 of y'all and there's only 1 of him? No. You stand still and wait for your turn to be stabbed because again, the script writers said so.
- EP 34, the most useless father in the world finally appears. I think there's supposed to be sympathy for him but help, I must've lost it somewhere.
- EP 35, using a homeless person as hostage for some morality test is dumb. Morality testing not the guy that's gonna be on the throne, but his sister instead, is another level of dumb.
- EP 35, instead of having the FL who is already poisoned to test the cure, we of course feed the poison to the ML so he can test instead, because again, the script writers said so. I guess it is to set up conflict for the sake of conflict for...
- EP 36, yep, the conflict is here, he is weak to fight because poison, he only saved enough flower to cure one person. This is making sense, because otherwise, how else are we gonna play gardening simulator to save him after? We need conflicts for... I don't know, for the sake of conflicts
Overall, I'm just upset that I wasted my life on this.
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Absolute Disappointment
The live action doesn't even match the novel. The writer put much effort writing the story only for the live action to be a joke. What is this? Out of budget show?Bihyung even look like a freaking labubu, what was that for? Is it so hard to follow the original story? Bihyung is a dokkaebi for god sake also a gun? So you telling me getting atleast a fake sword is hard now too? Wow. Rather saying "adaptation" It's more suitable to be "inspiration" the live action is a joke.
Yoo Sangah as a healer? What is this? I thought this is supposed to be Omniscient Reader Viewpoint not Director Viewpoint. Ridiculous, live action. Other than that, Yoo Joonghyuk look like a hongdae guy on his way to ask Kim Dokja number. Yoo Joonghyuk design were way more better than that, he's wearing a hight level clothes from the novel unlike the live action.
Honestly, the live action were completely different from the novel. I would not recommend this live action. The live action were nothing but a disappointment, changing the story won't make it cool because the original story were already peak. This live action is a total downgrade. Ain't Omniscient Reader Viewpoint anymore, It's Director Viewpoint no Hell Viewpoint itself.
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need a lot of patience to sit through the first half
first half is both annoying AND boring but if you have patience, the second half is truly beautiful.The goods :
1. The way this drama showed grief and how different people confront it. The lack of healthy communication was frustrating at times but very realistic and relatable. Yongpil was the first one who realized they were drifting apart cuz they were all running away and decided to put an end to it.
" why you didn't run? why you didn't try to forget?"
" but what if I did forget you?"
2. Go Mija. easily the best character in the whole series. She is the most well written character along with Yongpil. Her character has layers and I cried each time a new layer was revealed. She was so kind and brave. A great mother for her daughters and Yongpil.
3. Go Mija and Bo Mija flashbacks. tear jerkers.
4. Yongpils dad redemption arc. God knows he is one of the most annoying characters I've seen in my 12 years of being into Kdramas but I'm happy with the result.
5. Samdals family ( minus Samdal herself ) are all intriguing both in characters and their relationships with each other. I wished we knew more about the sisters pasts. Their love stories were more interesting than the main couple in my opinion. The family dynamic is very fun to watch.
6. Samdalri island and its beatiful beaches and gardens.
Now the bad;
1. Our female lead Samdal. I dont know why she and her collogues were so dumbfounded that she fell into a scandal given the fact that she's both unprofessional and a BRAT. Samdal is unlikable from episode 1 to the very end. She is an immature girl with a big ego who constantly throws tantrums.
2. Alcoholism. Samdal developed a horrible drinking habit after going back to samdalri and I think its an irresponsible portrayal if none of the other characters in the drama mention it in a bad light. She wasnt just sad, she was Addicted.
3. Samdalri people and their big mouths. small villages where everyone know each other have their own problems for sure ( gossips, lack of personal space, fear of being judged etc etc) and this has been touched upon in few other dramas but it doesn't make watching them any less insufferable. Yongpils friend had nothing else to talk about other than Samdal.
4. Second male lead. What was the point of his existence?
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KBS Drama Special 2012: My Prettiest Moments
16 people found this review helpful
The guy-with-sick-girlfriend-falls-in-love-with-other-girl part is accurate, though.
That said, it was a nice and beautiful short story. It wasn't what I expected, but I liked it nonetheless.
The acting is really good, so it's easy to sympathize with the characters in spite of the short amount of time. I didn't watch this because of Lee Jong Suk, but it sure made me notice him a lot more. If you watch this because of him I'm sure you won't be disapointed.
The short time is another forte of this special - it never get's draggy.
I'm not much of a rewatcher, but I might watch this again because it's beautiful and Lee Jong Suk is so damn hot.
P.S. if you watch this, you will be rewarded with hot kisses ;P
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A complete disgrace. Dishonor to whoever decided this was a good idea
I still can’t believe or more like, it’s hard to understand how someone can ruin a masterpiece. One, Kim Dokja is NOT a prophet. He’s a READER. He knows what’s going to happen because he is a READER!! Even his name means “Reader” or “only child” but everything thinks it’s always the latter to which is true because he loves to READ.The director have at the reach of a simple click the webnovel, the manhwa, sNs-nim to do a great live action yet they decided to yeet everything and do their own thing? To which btw it’s a disgrace, garbage, it’s like dragon ball evolution!
This is far from an adaptation. They ripped off almost everything to add nonsense. They eliminated characters developed!! Kim Dokja hating the story tls123 wrote for him? Really? That didn’t happen. NEVER.
Kim Dokja a bully? Really?! He was the one being bullied!! The character KDJ had admired for YEARS is Yoo Jonghyuk! That’s who he wanted to be, the name he had repeated for years like a mantra to get strength and to get through all the bad things that happened in his life.
And why everything looks so cheap?! The wigs? Their clothes? I can’t believe how a company couldn’t do better. Did they spent all their budget casting super famous people INSTEAD of using it for a better wig? They couldn’t even get YJH’s hair right.
And what’s with the guns?! In ORV NO ONE USES THEM. It was hard to read the first chapters for them? If you’re doing an adaptation I believe idk that you should take some time to READ the material, to talk with the authors and do a better job. But the kimchi head of the director probably doesn’t know how to read…
Instead of watching this is better to read the webnovel, manhwa and hope that the anime would do the Justice orv deserve.
Orv la doesn’t exist. This was just a bad dream… to bad I can’t give 0 to this crap
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Definitely a great watch!
Usually I avoid historical dramas because it mostly filled with wars and political schemes. But this one is different. I loved how the balance of comedy and politics is maintained. From the first episode, is like a hilarious rollercoaster ride. There is not a single moment i felt bored.I really loved Ban Hua's character, she's strong, independent, and straightforward. Both her and Rong Xia are likeable characters. Which made them a perfect couple. Supporting actors were great too, especially The Ban Family, Du Jiu, A Ke Qi, Princess Dening, even Jiang Luo, they're so fun to watch. The OST are great too.
At first i thought 40 eps are too much and make me lazy to watch it. But now that i finished watching, 40 eps felt like nothing. Its a great show for those who like light&fluff drama.
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Keeping this the main theme, which I suppose the writer got inspired from the book Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, the dramatization took place with some usual dramatic formula. Although it ended with a little unexpected twist but still it maintained to retain its main essence till the end. As the very name of this drama, the makers also ended it in a positive note rather than making it into a heart wrenching one, signaled from the first episode. The story dynamics and the pace of progress per episode was interesting all through.
Also liked the little optimistic message it delivered in the end – to always keep our hopes up and only move forward in order to make everything beautiful around us.
Bullying is a sensitive topic and is a wide social problem in South Korea. No wonder they always try to highlight this issue through visual media to indirectly create awareness. The mood of this drama and story writing is commendable by Kim Ji Woo. She has a certain style of writing which I really love. It exudes somewhat similar feel like the drama Memory and later found out she is the screenwriter of both of them. I just did not like the camera work - the peeping style camera angle or the extreme close shot of every face - which actually gave me a headache. Directions, OSTs, acting by the ensembles all were praiseworthy. All the child actors were excellent, mainly Nam Da Reum and Seo Dong Hyun. Seo Dong Hyun was remarkable in playing the negative role. Unimaginable, how he could manage to pull the skill so maturely at such a young age. He was phenomenal in portraying the evil expressions. Nam Da Reum is always exceptional. They both have the brightest future ahead. The actors in their parents’ role all gave their best performance.
All in all it’s a well - written, directed and acted- drama no one should miss.
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A hidden, under-appreciated gem!
I’ve already watched all 24 episodes on IQIYI. Some might say this drama is cheesy or has a lot of silly humor, but I personally loved it. There’s nothing wrong with cheesy humor if it makes you laugh, and this drama made me laugh. To me, this is what ROM-COM should be – romance AND comedy.I loved FL. She was a strong ruler without being a b****. She simply exuded strength and power by the expression on her face. She wielded power like a man – by her expression, by the way she carried herself, by her confidence. She didn’t have to be underhanded, scheming, vindictive or seductive. She was strong yet playful – I loved the winks she gave. She and ML were, indeed, a power couple, although ML tended to give way to FL, making her the dominant partner. My favorite scene: she regains her memory and seats herself on ML’s throne. When he finds her, she boldly declared who she is, but he takes it as an invitation and says provocatively, ‘Yes, my lord’, leading to a steamy kiss scene. I also loved the scene where FL is taking out the evil/crazy Qi Meng with arrows. I like a woman who can solve her own problems, and the men in her life recognized her ability to do so and stood back and let her do it.
I loved ML too. He was handsome and confident yet he fully supported FL and complimented her power with his own. He wasn’t intimidated by her – they were equals. I loved how she gave him strength and confidence when he needed it – like when marriage envoys from the third city (can’t remember it’s name right now) turned around and began to leave because SML felt insulted. ML starts getting antsy, but FL steadied him by placing her hand on his, and they ended up winning the game of chicken. He even looked cute dressed as a woman (loved that facial gesture he gave FL). I was little disappointed with how he reacted to learning FL’s true identity, but he quickly changed his mind once he thought she was in danger. After that, this couple remained solid – each loving and supporting each other – a wonderful power couple. One last thing I’ve got to say about ML – this man liked his rose-scented baths! I’ve never seen a ML bathe so much! And he has the Cadillac of bathtubs too! I hope it had a hot spring feeding it because I’d hate to be the servants that had to boil water and fill that thing!
The villainess was sufficiently hateful. Even though we had to watch her (and FL) marry ML, we knew it was a fake ceremony since ML/FL were on to her schemes. I usually don’t like these arranged marriage tropes, but it was clear that ML was in love with FL and would have dumped Qi Meng if FL had asked him to. Qi Meng wasn’t as annoying as some of these psycho chicks because FL always managed to get the best of her and foil her plots. As for the male villain, all I can say is he has a great bod which the director was happy to show us over and over again. I was disappointed that he escaped punishment at the end along with those old geezers who couldn’t accept a female ruler…even though she’d been leading them for years.
The supporting cast was loveable and added plenty of humor.
That being said, I’m not sure if I’m completely happy with the ending. Yes, ML/FL finally complete their marriage ceremony, but in the extra scenes, we see indications that there may be a sequel. If so, I’m not going to watch it because the Chinese have a way of ruining a good drama. I’m happy with finishing the story at episode 24.
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Disappointed
A fan of the novel but now not a fan of the live action. I have read the novel from the start and followed it until it ended but whwn i heard they will make a live action i already know something bad will happen and boom, so disappointing. Not the actors failt though. I juat wish they stick with the original.Was this review helpful to you?
This drama is a lot more powerful than people think the messages that it is passing through are too deep to describe. The political propaganda the interdependence of media, politics, the law, and businesses. It is in some sense reality.
The story could have developed faster I think at some point it dragged on while the finish was a bit too fast- they should have used 2 episodes to develop what happened in the last episode.
As for characters I really liked prosecutor Koo and chief Moon. Yeol Moo was annoying sometimes it felt as if she had no emotions, she cried very well I have to admit but her interest towards Koo was invisible/ non existent. She looked more interested in the kid Kang Soo. I also really liked Kang Soo, he played his character very well, in order to judge him as an actor I will have to see him in different roles, because I don't know if he played this role very well because his personality is as such or because he is such a good actor.
Romance
I preferred the second lead couple it was funnier as I said before yeol moo was so just not into it that it seemed like she was faking that she liked him. They were funnier and I could see chemistry between them ( strange chemistry but existent).
If you like crime DEFINITELY watch it if you re into sappy romance SKIP ! this aint for you :)
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I am in tears
I can’t elaborate enough on how Good and brilliant this drama is. The story is original and keeps the viewers hooked. The characters!!! There was none I found annoying or intolerable. I loved the characters and the bond and relationships they’ve had with each other. There were moments I’d be laughing out loud and then there were moments where I had tears coming out of my eyes.The soundtrack is too darn good. Brilliant drama. Brilliant cast and acting.
This one is definitely becoming one of my favourites.
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This review may contain spoilers
I won't condone this type of behavior.
How did a drama that started so strong ended up being a total mess?Let me begin by saying that I'm a gay man and as part of the LGBTQ+ community, I can't support the way this story showcases gay relationships. There were a few things about this show that pulled out the red flags from me, and all of them relate to how toxic, forced, and abusive the relationship between the lead characters and their supports were managed. I'll list my problems with it below:
This review contains SPOILERS, so please be warned if you haven't watch it yet. Actually, you should not watch it for the sake of not giving it more attention.
~ The sexual assault is a big issue in this drama. Originally, I thought that having a traumatized lead character (Type) who suffered of sexual assault when he was younger was a good thing for the plot and his character development; however, things took a weird turn when the writers decided to romanticize Tharn sexually assaulting him as well. What kinda audacity is this? It was not once, it was not twice, but SEVERAL times. Type clearly despised Tharn, but that didn't stop the later from kissing his cheek, kissing his lips and naked torso when he's PASSED OUT DRUNK, forcing himself on top of his body several times (which was not good for Type's mental state at the moment), and blowing him in the bathroom. By the way, NONE OF THIS WAS CONSENTED BY TYPE AT ANY MOMENT.
The character Tar is also one who needs to be called out due to his attempt of sexually assaulting Tharn in the hotel room. It doesn't matter what your situation was, it is UNFORGIVABLE.
~ Type is the most toxic, petty, and unreasonable character. When I began watching the drama I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was clearly not a mentally stable guy, but I don't think that's the only problem here. Type would constantly bring up the excuse of hating gays to physically and verbally abuse others (Tharn in specific). I do agree Tharn deserved a couple of punches because of what I wrote above, but there were plenty of occasions in which he was unfairly assaulted due to Type's anger problems. Was this unhealthy level of violence categorized as "love" by the writers? It sure was! And it was NOT okay. Even people with mental problems get punished by law because of the consequences of their actions, so I am disappointed that Type was able to do as he pleased with his violence. This felt like Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie" music video.
~ What the hell is going on with Tharn? First of all, he's definitely NOT one of my favorite characters, but seeing him being such a passive man was aggravating. This is a character that also had his own traumas due to love and break ups, but I could not stand him seeing him taking such weak role. Where is that confidence that you showed on the first episodes when you would stand up and defend yourself from Type's aggression? All this violence was not worth it.
~ Possible incest relationship? It is not confirmed in the drama story, but Tum looked like he was having more than just brotherly feels towards Tar. I'm not going to comment too much on this because nothing happened, but it's still kinda sus.
Some of you may not know this, but sexual assault is a very big problem for LGBTQ+ in media. I don't know where the author got inspiration from, but it kinda seems like he or she read a couple yaoi manga before writing this novel. Yaoi and Shounen Ai manga in Japan are know for portraying gay relationships and quite a bit of sexual assault as "romance," so I would not be surprised if this was their inspiration. You guys, it is NOT okay to support these kind of stories in media, because many of you are just straight girls who happen to be obsessed with gays, but for LGBTQ+ and specially gay people, portraying us in sexual assault scenes actually bring us a lot of backlash. You may think is just media, but A LOT of people get influenced by media and use it as an excuse to hate on us. So please do not support these shows.
Lastly, I would like to point out that I have nothing against these actors because, after all, they were just doing their job. I think some of them were actually very good at acting and I enjoyed their performances, but this is just not the right story to work with.
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Rain is just too cute playing the funny and smart Ji Woo. The way he speaks in this drama is charming. I enjoyed his character development from materialistic to a caring depth. Lee Jung Jin is also very charming and has a beautiful smile. I appreciated his down to earth portrayal of Detective Do Soo. Yoon Jin Seo is too cute as Soran when she is chasing her “oppa”. Jin Yi was an obviously deep character that is just wasted by Lee Na Young's horrible acting. She had no chemistry with Ji Woo or with Kai. I'm a Daniel Henney fan, but his portrayal of Kai leaves a lot to be desired. I really didn't connect with his character at all. The rest of the characters were just a waste of time except the "bad guys" who are necessary.
Even if you don't watch the drama, then you should check out MBLAQ's "Running & Running" and Jae's "Poison".
I might rewatch parts of this to see Rain's smile and goofiness.
If you are looking for something that isn't very deep and you need a Rain fix, then I would recommend this drama.
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