Reviews

Okay so Pretty Boy was really intersting at first. I can give that to the show, despite the ridiculously shalLow obsession of Bo Tong ( IU's character ) over Ma Te ( Geun Suk's character). It started of with a really interesting concept of the Pretty Man conquering 10 succesful women while learning something with them. But while the story developed itself the hole concept was completly lost and it got to a point where it seemed the writers were only throwing some random women to complete the total number of people they needed. Needles to say, this show had no logic, with really obvious dramatic plot twists. Overall Bel Ami was quite a disapointment and a waste of great actors, that, even with such a poor script, could make the hole chemestry thing between the main leads amazing.

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Takuya, masato and manachan in a drama, what could go wrong? Absolutely nothing.
With perfect acting, most beautiful scenery and one of the best piano OSTs this drama is one the best I've seen through the years. While I was messing around on drama streaming sites searching through tags, I choose (animals) tag and this had a good rating so I watching first episode, then onto the second and I finished 10 in less that 16 hours. Next thing you know I'm a crying shampoo full of tears.
The story about a man who tries to give Japan after the Second World War some hope, by going to Antarctica, the government and everyone laughed at him, but he managed to assemble the crew and go to Antarctica , kimura always dreamed of going there just like his father did, the first episode was 2 hours while the starting was slow for me because I didn't know anything about this movie but once the boys gathered and found the cute huskies to follow them I was all excited. It was inspirational what the crew went through, but due to bad weather they had to abandon the dogs in Antarctica leaving them for what can be sure death ( cried a lot ).
This drama is not only about the HUMAN crew but the loyalty first coming from dogs and then the boys returned their love back and it had a lot of comrade sense.
The drama covered beautifully how Japan was not all about war but there are good people who wanted to give people some hope, achieve the impossible back then.
Keep an eye on takuya and masato, hands down of the best performances I've seen.
10/10 for epic journey adventure and love (shampoo approve)
Favorite ost
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5koZHzvWbtk
Semi-good quality stream
http://www.gooddrama.to/japanese-drama/nankyoku-tairiku

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The Scarecrow - More than a Thriller

The Scarecrow has come to an end and I have to say , it is one of the best dramas that I have watched. Like Memories of Murder, the series is inspired by the real life Hwaseong murders. Even though both works are based on the same case, they follow different paths. The film was created while the case was still unsolved.This drama, however, takes place after the real killer has already been caught. Even though I was already familiar with the case, the makers were still able to fully immerse me in the story through good writing(even though the last two eps felt a bit rushed to me but I am ready to overlook that) and incredible acting. They also bring a refreshing perspective to a case that has been adapted multiple times before. The OSTs were good , they elevated certain scenes.

The ensemble cast of this drama has done an incredible job of bringing such complex characters to life and maintaining a tense atmosphere throughout the series. Especially the veterans Park Hae-soo and Lee Hee-jun, whose chemistry has been amazing. They made the drama so gripping and engaging by portraying such layered roles.
Coming to this drama being more than just a crime thriller and what I love the most about this drama especially compared to many other dramas inspired by the Hwaseong serial murder case, is that it doesn’t focus only on the killer himself. Instead, it focuses deeply on the people whose lives were destroyed because of those crimes : the victims, their families, the investigators, and everyone else involved in this case. How no one was able to truly escape from this case emotionally even though time had passed.

The drama shows not only the crimes, but also the devastating consequences of corruption within institutions like the police, prosecution, and courts.The irony being that institutions which are supposed to protect people end up becoming their worst enemy. It shows how greed, selfishness, and people refusing to admit their mistakes can ruin countless lives.
To end ,this drama is not an easy watch. It is frustrating, stressful, uncomfortable and heart wrenching. To sum it up it is emotionally exhausting ,more so when you realize this is based on real life. But that's exactly why it is good and why I love it.

Even after it ends, it leaves you with a hollow feeling, because there is no truly happy ending when you consider the number of lives destroyed by the actions of a vile human being and a deeply corrupt system meant to protect the innocent.This drama shows that Justice delayed indeed is justice denied.
I highly recommend The Scarecrow if you’re looking for a thriller that is more than just a crime mystery and instead focuses on the human cost of injustice and corruption. It’s a difficult but unforgettable watch.

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A decent adaptation of "The Good Doctor"

Firstly, this is an adaptation of the KRDrama, The Good Doctor, where the main character is an autistic savant and not suffering from Asperger's.

At only 16 episodes, this is a relatively short drama and a rather different medical drama, where it's about the main character struggles with autism and his insecurities.

While the description on MDL states that it's Asperger's syndrome, this is not true and Asperger's is not mentioned anywhere in the drama at all. There is also another review criticizing the drama solely because Asperger's syndrome is not portrayed well in the drama, which again, is based on incorrect information.

In all the adaptions of the Good Doctor and The US Drama, the main character has autism, and never Asperger, and it should be the same for this adaptation as well. As the description is translated by another MDL user, it should be a mistranslation as Asperger's is on the spectrum of Autism (probably machine translated).

That said, this drama does has it's difference from the other counterparts. Ignoring the obvious medical cases, plot and characters, one main difference this drama has, is that most, if not all of the characters in the show are very, very encouraging and supportive of the MC compared to it's other iterations where the MC has to constantly prove himself, which makes this a very heartwarming drama.

Finally, the other reviewer solely criticizing the show for it's bad portrayal of Asperger's and gave it a very harsh score which I think is unfair, as again, it's never mentioned that the MC actually has Asperger's in the show and it should be a mistranslation on MDL's description as Asperger's and Autism are both on on the Autism Spectrum and very similar.

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It's difficult determining how to go about reviewing this but from my score, it easily goes down as the best comedy I've watched in a very long time. Heck, I can't even think of a comedy that has not only been consistent but made me laugh so hard from the first episode. However, amidst the outrageous comedy is actually a very well written script. How the writers manage to play with both serious and light hearted topics, mystified me through this whole journey. I kept marvelling at how well crafted it was. For one, the law is far better done than some of the higher rated and serious dramas. *Cough* Won't VOICE out any names *cough* It creatively tackles topics with two very different characters as they both utilize their own philosophy to explore issues.

Legal High focuses on Komikado Keisuke who is a genius of a lawyer who has yet to lose a case. He picks cases driven solely boy one thing,money. He is over the top, hilarious and an absolutely captivating character. He's a blend of immaturity, charisma and at times raw and powerful emotions. His partner is the naive and innocent Mayuzumi Machiko who is surprisingly not irritating. Normally, this is the type of character that I absolutely despise. The self-righteous preachy type who wants the world to be butterflies and rainbows- however, she is very charming in her own way. She for one sticks to her philosophy but also acknowledges its flaws. This partnership makes for some of the most "laugh out loud" moments I have ever had in a drama.

Overall, this is a hilarious yet very well done script. The writers did a phenomenal job not only developing the characters but giving them distinct and memorable personalities. The humor does not get in the way of plot progression or even distract from the issue. It serves as a good compliment to the overall plot and by the end of this season, I was more than thrilled to hear there was a second which I have also finished. I rarely ever seek out second seasons in dramas. Heck, it's an incredibly difficult challenge for me to ever finish a drama much less get passed the fourth episode. I jot this down as an over the top yet highly recommended comedy. Do not pass this up.

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Smiling over a meal

Our lovely ladies returned in this second season to grace our screens with the sweet development of their relationship, their own personal challenges and moments of growth, the meeting of new supportive and heart-warming friends, and even more delicious meals.

I know last season I begged for a second season but, now, I'm begging for a third. Pleeeeeeeeease!

If you're not watching this, what are you doing?! Do you not like JOY?!

. . .

Did I mention there's rare Ace rep?

Just go watch it, you fool! I will be over here, crying over my coffee, blessing Furritsubs for allowing me to watch this with subs.

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Best Thai Drama

For me hands down this is the best version of hana yori dango(Boys over flowers) !
The casting is so on point really impressed with all the cast their acting is commendable and to know for ren and gorya it was their first project…they really did a good job
Bright as Thyme is perfection he delivered what was required as a F4 leader and also a little kid madly in love
Win as kavin is just adorable he acting completely different from his last project shows his versatility
In conclusion to miss out on this drama would be a very big loss for all drama lovers !

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Watch this only for Kang Ha-neul

This series could have easily been shortened to the usual K-drama length of 16 episodes, but I guess the producers stretched it out to 20 episodes to milk as much money as they can from the TV network. That's why the show dragged starting around Episode 11. The writers should look for another profession.

Gong Hyo-jin, who played the FL, is a terrible actress. She had a blank expression on her face throughout the series or cried that looked so phony. She cried in almost every episode (sometimes several times in the same episode) and whined that she was abandoned as a child. I didn't mind her whining about her sad life for 3-4 episodes, but EVERY episode? It gets old really fast. I blame the writers for this. By Episode 18, I was really hating her - so pathetic and irrational. During Episode 19, the tale of FL's mother's early years, it was supposed to be sentimental and tugged at your heart, but it bored me and I fell asleep. At Episode 20, with every character's storyline wrapped up nicely with a bow, I felt like puking. At the end, the kid had grown to an adult but the ML and FL had not aged - not one single gray hair after being together for 15 years (they met when he was 34 and she was about 1-2 years older)!

All the Korean mothers were overbearing: ML's mother who initially can't accept her son falling in love with a single mother, the model wife's mother who schemed to have her daughter take as much alimony from the baseball player, female lawyer's mother-in-law who is a nag and a bitch. Is this a cultural thing or do the writers hate mothers?

The only acting that stood out as exceptional were from the ML, the baseball player, the dead friend/coworker and the little son. They all showed a great range and depth of emotions. It was good to see Kang Ha-neul, the ML, in a comedic role after seeing him in a serious role in Moon Lovers:Scarlet Heart. I watched this show specifically to see him after seeing his outstanding performance in Moon Lovers but felt his talent was wasted in this show.

I would not rewatch this show or recommend it to anyone unless they absolutely needed to see Kang Ha-neul.

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The thing about Nodame Cantabile is the very different and creative way the story is told. It is a refreshing mix of comic book slap stick and lovely maturity with really solid and well written relationships underneath. I’ve never seen anything like it. Add to that the constant and beautiful music that is the focus of Nodame and Chiaki’s world.

This show and particularly the movie, are so much more than just your average drama. I have already reviewed the Jdrama Nodame Cantabile and I would only add one really important thing you should know. Nodame and Chiaki live in Paris and their journey is set in a much more adult world past college into apprenticeship and learning to become Pro. They have a new group of friends, harder challenges and also a deeper, more mature place in their relationship.

But trust me, it hasn’t lost all of its comic book slapstick and silliness. I think the way the writers made both Chiaki and Nodame grow up is very smart of them and cool for us viewers. This movie is a fun. Because Nodame is still sloppy and she still has all of her core craziness intact. Chiaki is still a stuffy, cranky commitment phobic but he is also still tender and kind of a sucker for Nodame. They have become in my mind eccentric because they are genius and geeky, not because they are comic manga characters with no depth. Again, the writers of this show/manga are smart.

Of course the cinematography is great. They are in Paris! Everything looks great, all the time. (Accept Nodame’s apartment.)

The music is a 10. It’s Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Revel and on and on.

If you haven’t watched the Nodame Series, you should give it a try but
I suggest definitely watching before you watch this movie. And when you do, you’ll think this movie is the best part of the series.

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I hated this drama so much I had to leave a review to warn innocent people who start to watch this drama in hopes it will be good. It started off great until Young Shin fell for Kyung Soo there is no justification or explanation it is sick even if they are not related he raised her since she was like 8 and all of a sudden she's like 24 and he is in love with her. Also what was the point of the whole Jung Hoon complication why did they spend like a quarter of the show building the relationship and showing us their struggles if she was going to ultimately end up with someone else. I would like to just advice other people going to watch this show don't get attached you would be greatly disappointed . This has to be one of my least favourite daily dramas and I have watched a lot of insane ones.

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Let's face it, we know what we expected, another melodrama with unrealistic scenes, bad dialogues and horrible end. However, this drama was slightly different.

To be honest, I was planning to drop this drama after the first episode because I really wasn't in the mood for a tragical drama. Then, I gave it another chance and I am glad that I did it. With each episode, the drama got better and better and I was almost biting my fingers when I had to wait for the next episode. This drama is addictive for sure. I usually can predict almost every situation in drama and I really appreciate when the drama is unpredictable and it is still surprising and shocking for me to watch and this drama obeyed my needs.

So why didn't I rate this drama as "outstanding"? That is easy. I didn't like the last 3 or 4 episodes. Those episodes were, well, not really good, in my opinion. But I sort of like the ending, even though it wasn't really a dreamed ending.

Another requirement for a good drama is the music and here, the music was outstanding! If you love OSTs as much as I do, you will love the music, both - the instrumental and vocal.

The cast was great as well. Frankly, I started to watch this drama just because of Ji Sung and he didn't disappoint me and I found few actors, who were new faces for me and I am planning to watch something with them afterwards.

So to sum up, if you are looking for a real DRAMA, this series is just the right one for you! Great music, great acting and addictive plot.

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slice of life highschool BL (need a Tanaka/Katori spin off)

Overall: this is a slice of life series that floats on vibes rather than plot. Aired on Gagaoolala/Viki (depends on your country)

Content Warnings: manhandling

What I Liked
- Amagi being honest during the gardening
- the perspective shift in episode 1
- their conversation in episode 3 was wonderful*
- supportive friend, specifically Katori (I need him to be a lead in a BL, nerdy guy with player guy - sign me up)
- that they held hands a few times, cute moments
- the OST
- production value

Room For Improvement
- the multiple time skips back and forth in the first episode made it feel choppy, also in episode 4 and 5
- each episode feels more like a contained story rather than there being an overarching plot
- finally explained in episode 4 why Takara liked Amagi, wish this had been shown sooner
- there were times they were somewhere and suddenly the next scene is elsewhere
- not a fan of the dynamic of a low affect/unusual affect guy and the happy go lucky guy with low self esteem
- *unhappy with the very ending as Amagi gave a clear signal of not wanting to do that
- their haircuts and blurry face/lips (but I didn't take off points for this)

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Say "no" to slowburn romances - there is only an obsessive love from the very beginning!

Some of you, who watched at least 5 minutes of this drama, might be surprised for such a high rating - 8.5/10. Well, the story isn't good. It's very cringy and from the beginning it was a hard ride to watch. I was having a hard resisting to drop it after only a couple of minutes. I was constantly telling myself "This is so bad! Why did they even make this drama? Why?" BUT! There is a way to enjoy watching this drama and even want to rewatch it!

First of all, the story is awful, really. A college student girl falls in love at first sigh with a yakuza boss and he falls for her very fast without any reason - there is only a lust. They don't know their story, their personalities, their likes and dislikes - just two unknown people meeting each other by accident and felt in love in 5 minutes. Awful, right? It was hard to believe that there was some deeper feeling... BUT! Given that the drama is only 9 episodes with duration of around 23 minutes per episode, okay, I understand. Still, they could start the story with already sort of established relationship between the leads and give us some flashbacks to let us know that the feeling didn't come this fast. There is only lust, smut and skinship holding this relationship. I can feel an obsession vibe very strongly. There is also another reason the director gives us - the two leads are very afraid of having no tomorrow - there is always a possibility that Toshiomo won't be coming back. Each day might be his last. So both leads act like there is no tomorrow and just rush the things. And that's one of the reasons that the drama is different from others - no slowburn romance. Only obsessive love from the very beginning.

The actors playing the main leads, in my opinion, did a good job. I especially liked the subtle little gestures that Furukawa Yuuta made acting as Oa Toshiomo - where he was angry, happy, annoyed, obsessed - each time there was a lot small gestures on his face. It was fascinating to watch. I also felt that all the actors believed in their characters - they did them justice. The acting was one of the thing that made me want to stay watching the drama.

The production quality - guys, I've seen some j-dramas and the poor quality, is the reason I stopped. The production quality is very important to me and it's one of the most important reason I usually skip lot of scenes, fastforward etc. And here the quality was on a very high level, in comparison to other j-dramas. Especially the light effect - omg, it gave me so much laughs, whenever the light was too strong to even let us see the character's face, but all in all, there was a storytelling behind the light choices. A bit of an artistic touch, some fun with good music choices - all these made me feel attracted and fascinated. Whenever there was something on the character's mind they made an interesting choice to picture it - the mind and the inner talk of each chacter - picturing their minds like some other, exotic places. Especially during the smut moments - I didn't understand it at first - how did the main couple ended up in sakura garden? Like WHAT's going on?! Why?! Later I realized - it portraits the blessful feeling they experience, right? And each time after the smutty they ends up in kimono and full make up - is this how they see each other? There are many (not so little) things I can interpret in an artistic way and it's interesting.

This drama was so different from many others. It gave me feels, laughs, confusion. It made me want to watch it thinking: "What the heck is going on? Wait, why? Oh, of course, this is sooo cliche." - all over and all over again. But still a great watch! Truly! I was so sceptical after the first episode, but actually a bit sad after the 9th - is there going to be a 2nd season? Because after some time, that we all need to adjust to the thing that we are watching, I ended up feel addicted to this obsession of the main leads. The chemistry was WOW!

I feel like rewatching it some time in the future, because the drama isn't very long, it's very fast-paced and intense. It gives the vibe... Interesting, sort of.

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