Since I am also an Asian, I could relate a lot to it. I read some opinions about people online who said that such problems regarding cultural things don't exist anymore. But I disagree. In fact, in a lot of Asian countries families don't exactly get thrilled if someone plans to marry a person from the West or any other country. This is exactly what is portrayed in this movie. The thoughts and reactions were absolutely perfect.
Both Saori and Tony have an excellent relationship in this film. The way they manage to work it out in spite of being different was amazing. Plus, their struggle to seek approval of their families and peer was also depicted nicely. When they had problems and insecurities, even that was very understandable. Although most of the movie revolves around these two people, it gives you a good feeling. There was hardly anything dramatic or tragic in this film. It manages to maintain its mood and pace until the end. There are a lot of cute and heartwarming moments throughout the entire film.
The events of the entire film are simple. I would say they did drag it out more than necessary (but that happens with most films). Since it was a semi-autobiographical manga originally, this movie also ended up feeling like a documentary. But I do not regret watching it. Plus, this is one of those movies to enjoy while relaxing and not thinking much. I loved the simplicity of the whole film. It is a must-watch!
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An absolute masterpiece worthy of every award
To My Shore is the pinnacle of obsession, love, angst, redemption, and worshipping the ground one's partner walks on. Both actors are amazing. This level of acting has rendered me entirely speechless; I genuinely cried with them, my heart kept getting broken, and my anxiety kept skyrocketing to the point where I had to hit pause time and time again to calm down and get myself in order. I don't even remember the last time I felt so affected. Chemistry and passion are also magnificent here, they are so palpable, wow.Fan Xiao, to me, is a character with clear psychopathic and BPD traits. Manipulation is in his blood; he's cold, indifferent, cruel, and toxic in every way you look at him. What amazed me is that he's actually someone on the aro-ace spectrum! Gray-romantic and graysexual. Until You Shu Lang, he never felt sexual or romantic attraction to anyone. I've never seen it depicted in fiction, so I found it fascinating.
You Shu Lang himself is the perfection of a character. Very often, even if obsession is depicted well in some series, I remain skeptical of the reasons for it. The objects of other characters' obsession tend to be so ordinary that I just don't get what's so special about them to warrant this crazy level of devotion and adoration. With You Shu Lang, I totally get it, and I understand why Fan Xiao grows to worship him.
He's not perfect; he's really not the divine being Fan Xiao sees him as, but he's so deep and so fascinating. He's endlessly good, but he's the opposite of a pushover. He protects himself fiercely and he maintains very strong boundaries. He's unyielding in his decisions: using Fan Xiao's words from the book, if You Shu Lang says no, then it's a no. Hard stop.
You Shu Lang always wants to help people, but if he can't, he's not going to suffer or beat himself up over it. He'll accept it calmly because he understands how life works, and that sometimes we are hopeless in our effort to change something.
He loves his brother, but while he's willing to sacrifice a lot for him, he's not going to let him walk over him even if the price of this decision is high. You Shu Lang has so much dignity and quiet power that you can't help but admire him.
If he feels something is wrong, then he trusts his intuition. If he has difficulties, if he is beaten down, he gets up and carries on. If he is in a relationship, he's entirely devoted: I was amazed at how loyal he stayed to Lu Zhen (his initial boyfriend) even despite being clearly attracted to Fan Xiao at the start of the show. And then… he loved Fan Xiao so much. He took care of him in so many ways - only to get his heart broken and spat on and burned to ashes.
E8 killed me, I was so floored by the level of heartbreak and emotion in it… And Fan Xiao didn't stop after this; he didn't understand he was in love until it was way too late, and then he just couldn't let go because You Shu Lang became the center of his world. Threatening You Shu Lang, ruining his career, forcing him to have sex with him when he's clearly unwilling, all but keeping him hostage - all because Fan Xiao can't imagine how to live without him, and he can't bear to let him go. It was excruciating to watch.
But then the redemption arc began, and I believed it. I think it was done very masterfully. And the way Fan Xiao becomes by the end of the series… he's still psychopathic, he's still an obsessed stalker, but he'd also rather die than hurt You Shu Lang now. He's content to just stare at him for days and days; he forces himself to stay sane time and time again for the price of seeing You Shu Lang happy, even if it's not with him.
And You Shu Lang… being forced into cruelty, something alien to him; understanding he loves Fan Xiao and that Fan Xiao definitely loves him, but still being unable to forgive him… There are so many emotional struggles in To My Shore, and they are all so painful.
The show's ending, despite being happy, still feels a little bittersweet, so I can't wait for the special episodes! And I'm so grateful for the book because it expands on everything and shows what happens next.
So… yeah, I'm a huge, crazed fan now :D Endless thanks to people who recommended To My Shore to me. This show will stay with me for the rest of my life.
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Not only was this a romance, but it was political, comical, emotional and was very war based. The writers of this could not have done a better job. The actors brought the entire drama right to life. I cried countless times during this, and not only because I was sad, but because I was so over happy too.
The story line, though very much like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette, in the sense that the families hate each other, but also a lot like the story of Tristan & Isolde (If anyone has heard of it). They are all based along the same lines, and I tell you they are all beautiful.
This drama was just outstanding! By far the best drama I have ever watched yet. I HIGHLY recommend it.
And my opinion is no way biased due to any of the actors in this drama. I had only known of one actress in this drama, before watching it, and it was Kim Yoo Bin (She plays Seung Yoo's niece, in which I did not know she was in it until I started watching it.
Anyways, watch it. If you love a lingering romance, action or politics, this is definitely a drama for you! You have my word!
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Story: The thing about "Aftermath" is that the premise sets up the drama like it's entirely about Dae Young's ability, when in reality that part only makes up about 50% of the actual drama. The show deals more with the aftermath *pun intended* of his ability's uses, and how it affects everyone around him. "Aftermath" also spends a fairly large chunk of its time on it's love story; which is cute and all but not exactly what I was expecting. I still adored this webdrama, though. It had an interesting blend of suspense and high-school life that felt a bit choppy, but worked overall.
Acting: Dongjun is one of the better idol actors, and I'm glad he got this opportunity to develop his acting skills. I think he has a lot of potential. Here, he was pretty good- not amazing, but better than expected. Kim Min Suk has always been adorable, Joo Ah Seon was nice and I can see her going places, and Kim Geun Hyung was brilliant. Seriously, he stole the show. I'm keeping my eyes out for him in the future.
Music: A lot of random Ze:A because, why not? Not that I'm complaining, of course. Other than that, there's a few ballads chucked in there because that's a drama staple.
Rewatch Value: Since this whole thing took a little more than two hours to watch, I'd say there's a decent chance at that.
Overall: Great story, good actors and really creative directing, "Aftermath" really took me by surprise. I really wasn't sure what I was expecting when I started, but I'm glad I did. 9/10.
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90% of this drama is pretty much the perfect romcom. Despite it being an office romance, the day to day operations at the workplace don't suck too much, which is extremely RARE in this genre. The main romance is beautiful and a bit novel too within the contract marriage category. (well it's not really a contract marriage, but the drama is structured like that) There are two side couples, one of them is amazingly funny with endless bickering shenanigans, while the other is really really boring, but the boring couple had very little screen time, so it's not a huge deal. Triangle haters can watch this too, since the secondary love interests don't amount to anything in this drama. Also the couples I cared about did not have any arbitrary -or justified- breakups, just how I like it.So why is it not a 10? Well, boring couple aside, we still go through many of the cdrama greatest hit cliches & some of them are really creepy too I suppose. I really hated the scene with the teddy bear for some reason, the art of cinematography died there a little bit. Also the final episodes have some weird content that is kind of propaganda-like about harmony between banks/clients and whatever else.
When I just started watching this I asked the comment section that since this drama kind of features an early marriage with cohabitation does it have any bed scenes? I think I've gotten a negative answer. Now that I'm done watching I can confidently say that at the very least sex is low key implied long before the final episodes. This is well done I think, I don't need sex scenes, or even the camera zooming in on a thrown away bra, but it still feels somewhat plausible & mature.
The plot is not amazing or anything, but most of it is rather well thought out for a romcom.
Obviously the rewatch value is high, I'll be back!
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Perfectly watchable short form rom-com
This was not the easiest show to follow but it was a fun little watch.Zhang Xiaohua is a rookie spy who was given her first real mission and is pretty psyched about it. She needed to assassinate a traitor to the royal spy network/association that she's a low ranking member of. There's also money forgery stuff involved.
She maybe sort of succeeds but was held up and foiled by the ML, Luo He. He's a hot shot second in command of a group of bandits. He chases her and she only gets him off her back by saying, "while you were dealing with me, my target is dead!" But was she really?
Then Xiaohua is told that she needs to go integrate herself with the bandit group because they have a super secret list of spies and it'll be a huge problem if that list gets exposed. So now she's pulling out all the tricks trying to get Luo He to take her in. She's a pretty shoddy actress and he's not getting fooled so she settles on pretending he kidnapped her to fool his assistant instead.
She tries lots of unsuccessful things to try and find the list once she's there, including a very unsuccessful seduction of the bandit boss who has a jealous wife. Luo He takes lots of chances to flirtatiously try to get her to come clean about who she is and what she's trying to do.
It honestly kind of lost me and wasn't super interesting at this point. I found the actress grating in how she overacted the comedy and I was just not getting what anyone else's motivation was.
The first big twist/turning point (SPOILER):
Oh but wait! Luo He is actually a seasoned, higher ranking royal spy! They're actually on the same side, he's actually just been undercover this whole time and he wants the list too. But how can two spies trust each other?
(END SPOILER)
There's actually a few more twists after that, but the first one was when I started being more interested in the plot. The romance was cute. The comedy was pretty bad and felt pretty forced. But the twisty plot actually got more interesting, which was nice.
Unlike many shorts, it does have a Happy Ending and is totally wrapped up at the end. I didn't think any of the actors did a stellar job, but I think it was perfectly acceptable to tell what ended up being a somewhat interesting story with a cute romance. I also enjoyed the music.
Random favorite part: her messenger bird is a chicken.
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Your blues, my blues, Our Blues!
As honest and unpretentious as the title, this show is heartbreaking and heartwarming and can take viewers on a roller coaster ride of emotions. A brilliant anthology of slice-of-life stories told in the style of a novel divided into chapters, each one taking its time to dissect the relationships between the characters. It unpacks and explores the relationships between 14 main characters and yet it doesn't feel as crowded as it sounds giving respect and time for each story to spread its wings. The brilliance of the story was made possible by everyone's stellar acting, creative writing and the finesse of the director in assembling the whole show. The great cinematography almost goes unnoticed due to the amount of talent on display. There is something for everyone in the overall storyline. Highly recommended!Was this review helpful to you?
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When our high school session officially disbanded in the year of 20xx, there were two students less than the ones who had joined. One of them was a girl who isn't here anymore and the other is typing this review.The Comments obviously tried to cover a lot of ground in 5 episodes of 45 minutes; each episode is jam-packed, and flitting between the past and present, “The Comments” manages to tell a pretty coherent and well done story about Papang, and why she killed herself, that the reason might be closer to home than we had thought.
*warning for spoilers*
Papang is a character straight out of every series out there–straight A+ student, sporty, student body President , super nice, super pouplar, yadda yadda. But what sets her apart is that unlike other such 'super' characters, she killed herself.
“With social media if anyone wants to say something bad or mean, they can just type it.”
The story opens on Papang’s funeral where we see her mother and brother Khan (New) conducting the rites and people paying their respects. On the very next day, we are brought to the investigation of Papang’s death. The police find it a curious case because Papang had not left any note.
While Khan investigates his sister’s death in his own way, we are slowly allowed to see who Papang was and what Papang did through the eyes of Pok (Sing Harit) whom she viciously ridiculed and turned down on the day he proposed to her in high school; Nan (Ciize) who dislikes her own self and feels over shadowed by Papang and in her efforts to share Papang’s glory for just a little bit finds herself facing hatred; Toon, who was Papang’s best friend but ran a hate account about her.
I think the genius of this show lies in the fact that instead of evangelism, it tries to speak about consequences. Every time you leave a comment, it can have either a good consequence or a bad consequence. It can lead to it directly or it can indirectly cause it. All of these characters are morally gray–nobody is angelically right or completely in the wrong–Papang more so than anybody else. She is expected to be a perfect angel, to force a smile when she isn't feeling like it. But she can be pretty rotten too because at the end of the day, she is also an eighteen year old youth. The show doesn’t seek to justify or disparage her, she is just another person with her own problems, problems that are added on by people who are supposed to be her friends. Problems she can’t take to her two living family members.
Another side of the show is that a wrong can’t be corrected with another wrong. Yes, Papang was wrong in how she treated her friends, but does that justify how Nan used her profile or that Toon was spreading hate about her?
Another message that I strongly felt was the relationship between Paang and her mother. In the beginning, we are lead to believe that Papang’s mother is disinterested in her daughter but that isn’t the case. To provide more context, after Papang’s father died/left, Papang’s mother has a relationship with another man who has a family. He is neither abusive nor invasive, in fact he is quite the opposite, but his presence shuts off another safe place for Papang. And with her brother Khan away in Bangkok, and having alienated her two friends, Papang doesn’t have a safe space anymore.
The story doesn’t have much suspense nor is it written to be tragic. But the lucidity with which this simple story is portrayed left a harrowing impression on me, and maybe because I too was once a bit similar to Papang. The changes in her behaviour, how she was vivacious and bright, then became unpleasant and bad tempered, and the sadness which got replaced by that expression that the fight had gone out of her, it reminded me of that period not yet so far away, when everything about me said that I had already decided. Papang too had already decided. All this was beautifully portrayed here.
I couldn’t really relate to Papang’s experience but I think we reached (or woupd have reacjed) the same end in different ways. The transition in her character was something I understood completely and therein lies the sign of a good show, how it manages to make you feel the character despite the gulf separating our experiences.
One last thing I learned from here is that we should stop 'living off comments.' Papang had started living off the validation she got from "the comments," and is kinder to pseudo people across the screen than she is to her own friends and family. Same goes for Nan. When we try to please anonymous people across the screen, we inevitably change, more often for the worse.
The story ends showing how everyone is affected by comments in one way or the other–the elderly teacher at their school, Toon, Pok, Nan, the 'fat' boy, Papang’s mother, Papang and Gina–nobody is free from it. In such times it is essential to remember that comments can kill and there may be unimaginable consequences.
Apart from this, stellar acting! I was blown away by Jennie, Sarunchana and Nan. Main roles for Jennie please GMM, you have an unused gem right here. Sarunchana is wonderful, now she needs a series where she doesn’t die five minutes into episode 1 :') I am always happy to see Ciize, it's an additional perk that she acts really well. Glad to see Sing Harit again. And New wasn't really the main role–the stage was taken by Jennie and Sarunchana XD but he did his thing. Huge shoutout to Fon who played Paapng’s mother. One of the most important scenes was hers and if she hadn’t done so well the ending wouldn’t have hit that hard.
To anybody who is about to watch this, do so with an open mind and I hope you learn to distinguish between hatred and criticism if you don't already. Do check out Jennie and Sarunchana’s interviews available in the GMM channel where they talk about hatred they have personally faced. And leave a good comment
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Romance Drama Perfection!
Disclaimer first: I'm a huge Dylan Wang fan since MG2018, so some bias may occur.If you're a fan of the 'OMG when will they finally end up together and get over themselves??' - genre, this is the drama for you. The sweet taste of frustration when any of the characters does not speak their mind and/or heart, letting misunderstandings rise and being unnecessarily shy or insecure. It's horrible, but I love it. Especially when these shenanigans are being portrayed so perfectly as here. ALL 3 (or 4, if you count the boss lady and the uncle) have this trick down hard.
It's a drama like a one of those paperback romance novels. Including the hothothot kisses. I will for sure put this one high up on my re-watch list!!
This is the 3rd drama I've seen with Bai Lu and Dylan Wang as leads and I must say they are indeed a match made in heaven. Their chemistry is electric and they are so natural together. Bai Lu has great chemistry with more actors, but this pairing is exceptional.
Dylan Wang is getting better and better, but his best performance is still the 'Tsundere', the on the surface cold and distant man, but when thawed is a big bowl of charm.
This couple is playing the attract and reject game like pro's. I have been yelling at the screen at them en almost cried in frustration. They could have been married with kids in the first 10 eps, but instead choose to listen to horrible advise and their own huge inferiority complexes. Even a monk telling them they're meant to be doesn't help.
The 2nd couple is possibly even worse! 2 people very much in love but both thinking the other likes their freedom more than them and purposely misunderstanding or running away. Aarrrgghhh. I love it. It keeps me continuously entertained and invested.
Even though there's continuous drama, it never gets boring or bland. This is mostly due to the actors, who are so good at emoting and subtext. The best scene? For me the suduction sequence, where FL tries to get ML to sleep with her, but he has no clue, until he literally gets the message.
Does this drama have Red Flags? Ohhh yess. Many. Women as well as men. All of them have their own shade of red.
Does this drama have cliche's ? Almost nothing but. But that's also why it's so comforting and appealing to me. I really miss these kind of cliche's done well. Here they're done perfectly.
Is this drama for everyone? Probably not, but who cares? Give it a try!
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First, i understand the writer's point of view as to why the very long drama, when they can just finish it to 20 to 25 episodes. The writer covered a lot of areas in the story, and i think she/he wants to send a message of unselfish and unconditional love between liangsheng and tianyou, and liangsheng and jiangsheng. Liangsheng and tianyou have their own love story to tell and also, liangsheng and jiangsheng too, have their own love story to tell. And i love how the writer gave,not only the main characters, their stories, but also, the supporting roles have their own story to tell, separately. That is why it became that long of a drama. This is my longest drama by far, following the very beautiful long 58 episodes of "ten miles of peach blossom".
Although my heart aches for some reason because of this drama ( i got torn between two lovers), i also had the most satisfying endings for the characters. I love how the main characters had a very happy ending, though my heart aches for one, thinking about it.
Overall, its a must watch melodrama love story. But rewatch?... i dont think so. Well done to the actors, the writers and the director!
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Fun, casual show... until the last episode
I enjoyed this light show. The FL has no timeline, and the four MLs are "Mr. Time" who have no memory, and some kind of connection to her. The show goes through the steps of figuring out how she's connected to each of them.The FL actress was OK but not amazing... her role was quite tough and she didn't quite master it, but it was enjoyable. The four MLs were all quite good. As a cast, I was impressed about how they managed the various types of chemistry between FL and each of the four MLs -- each relationship is definitely different, and you can palpably feel it.
The level of mystery to untangle the connections was light (i.e. fairly predictable), but worked well enough.
I would have given this a higher mark for story except that the last episode totally destroyed it. The solved the Big Problem through a literary hack that is annoying pretty much anywhere you see it (not quite deus ex machina), and then didn't even take the 30 seconds that would have been needed to wrap it around and undo the annoyingness. This last episode isn't BAD in the sense of "don't watch this show coz you'll get angry," more SIGH... not that again...
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I've never really watched anything anyone in this drama has been in prior to this drama, so I was somewhat worried about the unfamiliar cast and how well they would portray their characters for this drama, but surprisingly they were all very enjoyable to watch. Furukawa Yuki did really good in portraying a character like Irie Naoki, and pulled off the cold and closed off personality well. Miki Honoka was adorable in this, I'm not sure how she is in other versions, but I loved how cheery and spirited she was portrayed in this. Miki Honoka really brought her character to life with her performance.
The music was pretty mediocre.. Very fitting for this drama, especially it's instrumental versions played within scenes.. They were played at perfect times to bring out the emotion of the scene, but they weren't anything too spectacular to mention.
Overall I enjoyed this drama. I thought it was cute, heartwarming, and always kept me laughing throughout all 16 episodes. I personally liked the ending. It did a good job in bringing this drama to end.. There were no open endings, and really left me satisfied with the drama as a whole. I might rewatch this drama some day, I think it's worth a second watch, but not anytime soon. I recommend this to those who, first of all, are fans of the anime or any other version, and those who're just looking for a cute and bubbly drama to watch. Hopefully you guys like this one ^^
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Cute Soul Swap drama with really good acting
(This review doesn't contain specific spoilers on this drama, rather from chinese dramas in general)Two things to be aware before watching this:
1. This is mainly focused on high school, so don't expect a lot of romance or kissing scenes (China doesn't allow pre-college dating).
2. Time traveling and body exchange also aren't "allowed" so they always do it in a way so it didn't REALLY happened, sometimes being it a dream or s fiction.
If you're looking for a nice and cute high school drama, then I really recommend this. The acting is on point, the best one I've seen from any gender-bender drama. The ML acts like an actual shy girl, not just a "guy acting like a girl", and the FL is very charismatic as a boy - nothing is over the top. More importantly, they actually act like each other, it's very satisfying. Congrats to all the actors!
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A very satisfying reminiscence of Squad 38 and Hello Monster
First of all…Drilling has never looked so good in Prada.
I can’t get enough of this movie… I want more…
After only 3 episodes of Doom at Your Service, it was already more than enough that I could take.
After 1 hour and 45 minutes of Pipeline, I am not nearly satisfied. I just want more. More of the storyline, more of the great cast and more of a 16 episodes-type drama.
They should have made Pipeline into the drama and Doom at Your Service into the movie.
This is the Seo In Guk with whom we are used to… Reminiscence of Squad 38 and Hello Monster… Charming, endearing and devious with a bit of a dark and wild side.
Full disclosure:
I love the work that he obviously put on this new muscular physique of him. Also that loose hairstyle/haircut is so attractive on him.
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