Story: I have to be honest here and say reincarnation and time-traveling stories are a dime in a dozen in Chinese dramas to the point the Chinese authorities had to regulate it! Melding modern with ancient Chinese settings is also pretty common. Having deities, ghosts, vampires etc as characters has been done for the umpteenth time! The strength of the story lies in the love triangle between the three main characters. Love triangle? Yeah - common amongst commons in Asian dramas! But the selling point here is......you can't really tell who's the male lead! In fact, I believe both men in the love triangle are the male leads. They are equally outstanding and equally worth your support as they both fought for the female lead's affections. So, you'll end up as either Team Ya Long or Team Si Yin. And true to Chinese drama, the romance is of tragic nature. That, however, shouldn't deter you from watching this drama because if you're like me in appreciating a good story and good characterization, you'll agree with the ending of this story. The good news is, it's not an open ending and it is one that will give you a sigh. I actually feel that after all the three people had been through, it's a fitting and compassionate ending.
Another nice addition to the drama is how first impressions may not be the right impression. Ya Long was characterized as the evil vampire - indiscriminately killing, possessive, arrogant, looking down on humans as food etc. First impression and even throughout the drama, he played the role of the vampire to a T. Then, he fell in love and didn't know what to do with it! At first, he dealt with it poorly but slowly, you start to see his point of view and before you know it, you are rooting for him! Then, at the end as his past-life story is revealed, you start to have split feelings about whom the female lead should end up with. His character was dealt at least a couple of twists! I also love Si Yin's character. First impression and throughout, he played the character of the nice guy who sacrificed all the time for the female lead. You couldn't help but feel sorry for him when it slowly became clear that his is most likely gonna end as an unrequited love. Then came the twist and you start to question if the female lead actually did feel something for him! She has many touching and loving moments with him. Just as you think you should switch your loyalties, his past-life story revealed a different character and you'll realize that Mr. Gentleman-Good Guy ain't Mr. Gentleman-Good Guy after all! There is a reason why he out of the three of them, got punished in the worst ways throughout all his reincarnations! And lastly, our female lead's character is pretty standard in most Asian dramas - bright, bubbly, innocent, bumbling, sometimes incorrectly street smart....she provided the bulk of the comedy in this drama. However, you'll find out at the end of the drama that where female leads are concerned, you'd prefer not to be in her shoes. Without giving too much away, I can summarize her character by saying she is the comedy and the tragedy of this drama.
There are also clear indications in this drama that the author of this story is influenced by both eastern and western beliefs and culture. Ya Long is very much a western vampire - with his sensitivity to sun, silver and the wooden stake. You will also be treated to some popular western myths re. creation such as the creation of a woman from a man's rib. I will not comment re. the author of this story (Vivibear - she's Chinese-Swedish which explains the western influence) and her fame as the Queen of Plagiarism. I'll just leave my review of the story at this: it's interesting enough to capture your attention and is worthy as a drama marathon material, BUT it is not outstanding! Hence, I rate the story at 8.5/10.
Acting/Cast: It is not often that we are treated to two male characters who are equally deserving as the male lead. Both Ma Ke and Fu Xin Bo shone through the drama. They embraced their characters to perfection! The female lead, Zhou Yu Tong, though not the prettiest and most outstanding female lead, adequately portrayed Ye Yin - a modern 18-year-old at the cusp of womanhood but still very much a little girl at heart. When you watch the drama and realize that the female lead is just 18-year-old, you'll understand why Yu Tong had to switch from being sometimes a girl and sometimes speaking and behaving like a mature woman. She's very much a modern teenager in ancient times! Special mention to Nie Zi Hao as Fei Niao (Ye Yin's senior). For a newcomer, he's doing really well. I hope to see him in a main role soon. The rest of the cast did an excellent job too! Hence, I gave the acting 9.0/10.
Music: The OSTs are worth downloading. My personal favorite is the ending OST by A2A. "....the happiness I once had, has come to the end of the road...your love is too blinding... what I wanted I cannot stop...in the end, there is only loneliness......love becomes a burden...." The lyrics aptly described the story.
Re-watch value: It took me 2 days to marathon this drama. I will not be re-watching it anytime soon but I think there will come a day when I become bored and unmotivated with the currently available dramas (aka Drama Slump) and this drama may serve as an adequate reprieve to that sort of boredom.
Overall: This is a drama worth watching but it is not a 9.0 and above sort of drama (if you get my meaning!). My only beef with this drama in terms of the production is the poor visual effects. I understand that it's not a big production like Eternal Love or Novoland, but the special effects can be better. However, if you can grit your teeth and turn a blind eye to the poor visual effects, the story will shine through. Overall, I rate this drama 8.5/10.
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Thrilling, haunting and beautiful
Kingdom: Ashin of the North is a much worthy Special episode and Sidequel to the original Kingdom series, and is a must watch if you enjoyed the preceding series.If you haven't yet watched the first two seasons of Kingdom I highly recommend you to do so before watching this one. The seasons only have six episodes each and are easily devoured in a day or two. Watching it will give you everything you need to enjoy this Special episode and its splendour to the fullest.
Compared to the original series this one feels even darker. Together with the beautiful cinematography and excellent storytelling the Kingdom universe truly comes alive in the most chilling way during these 90 minutes.
Jun Ji Hyun is perfect for the role as the mysterious Ashin. With a main character with very few lines she still manages to deliver Ashin to the viewers in such a convincing and raw way. Jun Ji Hyun's potrayal of her makes Ashin feel less of a character in a fictional world filled with horror and monsters, but more like a real person dealing with pain and betrayal in a world filled with darkness.
There is no doubt that Kingdom: Ashin of the North is a well-written high quality production that lives up to the anticipation.
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Deserves More Love - A Real Surprise
I'm so glad I saw Egg and Stone through to the end. The first few episodes have some over-the-top and slapstick humor so I did not expect the show to include such well written and serious scenes for the romance and main plot as the show progressed. The over-the-top bits of humor definitely subside as the episodes go on, but still come through in welcome doses. I love how this show was able to blend elements of silliness into a solid story of a woman and her new found friends journeying through the martial arts world. I laughed out loud while watching, appreciated the WTF moments, and experienced a variety of emotions as I watched the characters evolve. I didn't expect to be so touched.I'm sad to see the ratings for this drama be rather low by MDL standards because I really enjoyed this show. I heard comedy and decided to give it a chance even though the title didn't sound too appealing to me. I had no investment in any of the leads, so I watched purely out of curiosity and for entertainment.
I think Xu Lu and Caesar Wu did an amazing job together. They were committed to their roles and the relationship between their characters was beautiful.
I originally was going to give this show a 9 or 9.5, but when I filled out the stars category and gave everything a 10... well... I'm going to give it a 10 because it deserves better, MDL!!! If you are on the fence about watching, please give it a fair chance.
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This kdrama is not worth your time
This kdrama would’ve been perfect if they just explained the reason on why these people are suffering.. and there are so many unexplained scenes and I literally can’t understand. Especially the way in episode 2 they did not get a tarot card.. and why was there unnecessary inappropriate scenes like they could’ve just portrayed the “cheating” without showing any nudity. The only things I like about this drama was how good the acting was..literally the best. Also the plot twists were insane. Dex episode literally was funny and he slayed the role, the child actors were really good too. I hope they make another season to explain everything because if they did I would give this kdrama 10/10.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Madly in love
This Kluen and Dao story was such a warm, lovely one. I was smiling throughout the end. Kluen is such a flirt, and Daonuea is cute and funny. Maithee and Sean got pranked by Kluen and Nuea. Typhoon got an admirer, and I am really happy for him. Northern star found the sea waves. Kluean and Dao came a long way together and were madly in love. Joong and Dunk did justice to their respective characters. Ne and Sean were cute and funny. Maithee was awesome. Kluen finally got his morning star for himself.Was this review helpful to you?
Quirky short musical with cute guys
Overall: This is one of the few artsy/quirky short films that I actually really enjoyed.Content Warnings: very mild violence (and you may never eat candy the same way again :P )
What I Liked
- the music, round of applause to whoever wrote the songs and the singing was good
- unique plot, definitely haven't seen this before
- the outfits matched their candy counterparts well
- apparently I really like tattoos, even when it's the word "digestive" lol
- I liked that even in the darker scenes there was light on the actors' faces, too frequently I can't see anything
Room For Improvement
- I didn't at first like the first song the guy wearing black sang, but I think it was a style thing
- the animation when showing people looked a bit amateurish
- a small continuity error with the white band being ripped, but then not being ripped in a wide shot
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The drama was rather successful in blending these sweeter rom-com elements with a more serious and dramatic plot. There was a fine balance between these two storylines and neither one seemed to take too much time from each other, but rather work together quite well. Some dramas are upper sweet and cute in the beginning, but then it hits you with all the drama and it sucks the life out of the romance. But this show made the drama and the rom-com elements work.
The most memorable and the best thing about the drama was the main couple - as it is supposed to be in such rom-coms - not the revenge plot, even if I did start to really enjoy it towards the end. But I watched this mostly for the characters and the sweet moments and other cute bits. The characters, from the main couple to the side characters were really cute.
The revenge or the more serious plot was a bit too dramatic at times, but at the same time I felt as if it needed a bit more momentum at times to really work. The drama didn’t dive deep enough sometimes I felt, but it didn’t matter much to me, because that wasn’t what I was watching the drama for. But I felt like, in the end, the drama had said all that it wanted or needed to say. So it felt satisfying.
The drama had loads of great characters, but what stood out for me the most was actually the female character, Son Soo Jung, who was completely the hero of this drama and goes the most character journey of them all. It is usually the female character who has the role of making the male hero a better person but doesn’t always change that much as a character, but it seemed to be the opposite of this drama, which was something I really liked.
Soo Jung starts the drama of being kinda guarded against everything and everyone, she does not do well in life and she makes some wrong decisions at the beginning, which she has to pay for later on, but in her relationship with Kang Bok Soo she learns or wants to do better and she opens up more. She got the storyline that the male leads usually get. The drama spends a lot of time on her as a character and her developmental as a person, making her one of the stronger characters in the drama. It’s not all dramas manage that, or do it as well as My Strange Hero did, which was something I really enjoyed.
Out of all the main characters in this drama, Bok Soo, goes through the smallest character journey, but he as a characters does not change as much through the drama. He becomes less focused on revenge and opens up more, but I feel like the main goal of that character was to help some of the other character grow as human beings.
My Strange Hero was a drama I didn’t expect much from but ended up waiting eagerly for the next episode every week. It was so light and fun and overall a rather solid rom-com. At least for me. I haven’t found a drama with Yoo Seung Ho that I enjoyed this much in a long, which I really enjoyed, since I am a big fan of his.
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Why did they try to make second lead main lead? This is not Netflix Start-up.
WOW!!! what an amazing journey. I got to know a lot more about the main leads characters.Chan Young exerts main lead energy being ignorant to his friend struggle and just think for himself first. His love line with Ji Yu is cute because I got to know how much shallow dating your fav singer is so convenient as studying in the same school and same extra curriculum. Her songs are truly powerful indeed as to convert a misunderstood common interest into definitely love.
Love is such a simple thing that Ji Yu falls in love with a handsome guy who acknowledge her talent and compliment her achievement and most importantly, an act of kindness returning the book she forgot on her desk in front of her which happens to be her song title which is probably why it was allowed to be left on the desk during extra-curriculum class.
I was so annoyed because why did they give Heesu so much screen time when he is a typical support character who helps setting people up. He didn't even help the main leads get together. Why did they show him trying to sabotage the main leads when his gig is being a shy best friend? If he was supposed to be the antagonist then they made his character so weak with weak motive as falling in love with childhood best friend.
Furthermore, why does a support character get a support character? Seung Won literally is non-relevant to the main storyline when he just sit by the side on everything. What was his point even? to be Ji Yu bestie? what did they do together to relate so much? To introduce a jealousy storyline with Chan Young in Ji Yu relationship? they did try and succeed but it concluded so early. He was only introduced as a way to stop Heesu rampage in a non violent way.
Through out the 10 episodes Heesu and Seung Won relationship progress is literally as obstacles for Chan Young and Ji Yu. I get that they wanna be family friendly so maybe they could conclude it with a second lead love line but with a BL twist.
Overall, I am a little disappointed by the direction of the series in progressing the main relationship but I am glad to say that it is another kdrama that I have successfully sat through.
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Left me lost and wanting more
This is one of those dramas that lives up to it´s name delivering the feeling of loss to the fullest, showing a beautiful completion of loss without overcomplicating or overthinking things. A true feel lost, feel sad, feel real... Without hope and unnecessary positiveness.The drama started of a bit weak, but wheeled me in and actually did manage to touch every part of your soul with it´s imperfections, portrayals of depression, loss and relationships.
It also had me wanting to strangle the mother in law over, and over again letting me feel the aggravation as a contrast to the rest of the characters who where mostly lovable, complex, interesting , no one was perfect, no one was pure good, all made mistakes. though I may not always agree with the characters dissuasions I could clearly understand what lead them to make the choices they made. I honestly fell in love with the way this drama portrayed all these different perspectives with stories that need to be told. Ironically enough this drama feels honest in a way though it portrays a whole web of lies and secrets that have been kept for a very long time.
I can not stress enough the slightly subtle but realistic and important portrayals of domestic abuse, depression, power abuse, power relations, poverty, and all round issues that effect women, elderly and the less wealthy in modern society.
Though the mother in law brought out my violent side the way she talked about her daughter in law was extremely spot on, full of prejudice and blaming her for her situation.
The way the father portrays hid deteriorating health, while trying to stay strong is just heart wrenching. I loved the conversations he had with his daughter as well as seeing him interact with the people around him.
The husbands first love almost double life, was also really well done, sometimes I hated her some times I loved her but most importantly I could relate to her and really appreciated the way she showed the perspective of a loved one slowly watching someone disappear, saying something like: To others it may seem like he is just lying there, but there are days when he smiles more,he gets sad when something bad happens in the ward... '
I also got a full blown crush on Ryu Joon Yeols character, the way he handled the situations around him, I loved all the bits where we got to hear his voice telling us his inner thoughts and then seeing what is shown to the outside. This guy was very subtle and good at reading the room and though he was not the typical male lead. He does have a charm it was hard not to fall for him, and that beautiful smile.
There is also something special about the way this drama portrays intimacy, with extreme attention to detail.Somehow even simple situations could get really intense and had my heart race...
So to sum it up this is may not be a feel good drama, but it is beautiful, intense and is sure to make you feel things...
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This review may contain spoilers
I went into this show after watching The Gifted, which is basically everything this show tried to be. There are a couple of the same characters and a pretty similar concept, minus the supernatural aspect. I thought "this can't possibly be that bad" since it seemed so similar. Oh, I was wrong.My first and BIGGEST gripe is the fact that they had to give EVERY character a love interest. Not only was this pointless and made the characters dull, but it confused the fuck out of me. I couldn't remember a single name because we have like twelve students being introduced back to back to back. I ended up calling them all by names me and my boyfriend made up! The romance was super forced and mostly involved the man saving the "helpless" girl. It seemed like they had to be in a relationship to be interesting, which is not true at all! I think this seriously took away from the story. I'll admit, there were a few couples that were necessary to advance the plot, such as the main Teacher and the female teacher (see, can't remember their names and I just finished it ten minutes ago). I also think the relationship with the principals niece and the nerd was also good for the plot! Otherwise, the girls were really pretty useless. I don't even remember how the guys met half of them! That's how ridiculously fast they introduced them all.
The story was interesting in the beginning, then got way too convoluted. There were about five different villains in a thirteen episode show. The plot twists were super predictable, my boyfriend said "Oh, the female teacher is evil??" In an early episode and guess what, that was the big plot twist! The aspect that drew me in was their "special abilities" but you better believe you hardly get to see them ever. What's the point??
The ending was rushed and unsatisfying. We get the image of all the couples living happily ever after and then the teacher making the same mistake he'd already made and sending the students out AGAIN to do secret missions. LIKE WHERE ARE THE POLICE? WHERE IS THE FBI? HELLO? I also want to let you know that the woman who pushed a student off of the roof of the building, had sex with a student, held another hostage in her house and then tried to poison her when she escaped then sent someone to kill her in the hospital. Yeah! THEY COMFORT HER. SHE ONLY MADE ONE MISTAKE THEY SAID. JESUS.
What a disappointment. So god awful in every way. It had potential to be a great show, but they tried far too hard and ended up ruining it.
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A Tale Which Tries To Warm Your Soul…
‘ Coffee Ikaga Deshou’ ( alternatively translated as ‘ How About A Coffee?’) is one of those dramas which will likely remain under the radar for most drama watchers. Based upon the manga of the same name and Adapted to the small screen by screenwriter and director Ogigami Naoko alongside co-director Mori Yoshitaka, ‘ Coffee Ikaga Deshou’ ‘s plot isn’t complex.
Admittedly ‘ Coffee Ikaga Denshou’ isn’t an overly original concept. Main lead and arcane barista and coffee van owner Hajime Aoyama ( played brilliantly by Tomoya Nakamura) comes across in a similar suave and mysterious manner as the “ mysterious flaneur figure” Izakaya owner from ‘ Midnight Diner’.
However on a virtuous note Coffee Ikaga Denshou’ ‘s plot was fairly driven by its prominent messages during most of the series. From dealing with issues such as struggling to fit in the status quo, disillusionment, popularity and grief, most episodes had something fairly
poignant to address about Japanese society and everyday life.
Yet unlike the reoccurring characters of ‘ Midnight Diner’ who were left only to piece together parts of the owner’s past, Aoyama’s link to his backstory as well as his reasons for becoming a coffee connoisseur, played a more “ pivotal role” within the events of the series. The main driving force behind the " tension" of the plot evidently occurred within the interwoven backdrop of each episode focusing upon surrounding the reoccurring onscreen appearance of the mysterious gangster ( Isomura Hayato) who was hunting down Aoyama for unknown reasons .
There’s a lot to discuss about how the series dealt with Aoyama’s character arc. On a positive note playing upon the storyline of Aoyama’s " secrecy being hidden in plain sight" made him an enticing character to learn more about and when his past was revealed it did present a lot of surprising revelations about our main lead. However Aoyama’s transition between his past persona and his current-self rarely felt more subtle or blurred, whilst his journey and struggles to kick past habits ( unless it was necessary for " dramatic tension") often felt disengaged from the storyline.
Due to the change and swap-up of characters during episodes it’s hard to pick out a multitude of characters to analyse in more depth. However due to their reoccurring appearances it is important to discuss ( without spoilers) about how the series dealt with the mysterious gangster Pei and his character arc alongside Shima Kakine ( Kaho)-the first customer to be shown to be served by Aoyama onscreen- and our " final major antagonist”.
Speaking about the latter character Pei’s initial raison d’être is acting as an antagonistic force within the drama by hunting down Aoyama for unspecified goals. However whilst it was undeniably sweet to see Pei have his moment of redemption through his later actions and decisions, the build-up of Pei’s actual character redemption arc often felt sporadic. Of course whilst the drama did drop hints towards Pei’s own personal connections, this rarely felt more built up or more widely interwoven with with Aoyama’s own character arc also.
Then of course there’s Kakine. Kakine is an odd character to discuss as
after her initial appearance in the first episode, her character doesn’t appear again until the last few episodes when the final storyline kicks in. Whilst Kakine is undeniably kindhearted by acting as the stereotypical " moral cheerleader" figure during the later storyline, she’s a character who felt the most paradoxical due to how the series approached her character. To explain this further it is important to point out that Pei initially commented during one of his first interactions with Kakine that she was annoying as she was " boring and dull". However during the first episode one of her major problems throughout the storyline of this episode was her inability to truly fit in at work. It seems an evidently nuanced point and whilst it is correct to assume perhaps from Pei’s perspective, Kakine is boring as she isn’t cut from the same cloth, it seemed an odd point not to expand upon Kakine’s own feelings and thoughts after this initial interaction. Whilst it is evident that perhaps the series didn’t have enough time to focus upon Kakine’s expanded feelings during this episode, it felt a wasted opportunity not to have used more the to have explored Kakine’s feelings, her previous struggled as well as her desire to make a good cup of coffee after her initial meeting with Aoyama.
Last but not least is evidently our " major antagonist" of the series. Now without giving too much away about the plot, our antagonist has their own personal reasons for standing in Aoyama’s way as well as their own screen time to explore their moments of humanity also. On the other hand their character introduction and build-up felt rushed and lacklustre . Whilst it is understandable that the series wanted to keep us in the dark for as long as possible about their identity, it felt slightly odd that the series didn’t try to foreshadow their character introduction or at least their presence in the series as opposed to a quick " climatic turn of events". As a consequence whilst the first half of the series thrived with strong plot messages and mystery, the second- half( whilst presenting more revelations) did seem to struggle with conveying the same ambience of charisma and strong screenwriting .
So is ‘ Coffee Ikaga Denshou’ actually worth watching? Whilst the acting front is fairly decent ( sans from a few awkward line deliverances) and the drama offers an interesting array of characters, main lead Aoyama undeniably has his own peculiar charm over audiences to keep them watching. Each episode offers the formulaic tale of a new issue or message during the first-half of the series and a melodramatic plot climax and revelation during the final part. The end result of eight episodes stringing out a lacklustre climatic buildup will undeniably leave viewers with mixed feelings.
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I-Yul is an angel!
After watching all the episodes with patience and seeing each character for themselves, I can positively say that I-Yul- ssi is my favorite and I am so in love with him. It's as if I can feel his warm heart and care for others through the screen, I am so glad I decided to watch this show just for the sake of knowing that there is such a person in this world. I hope that if I ever fall in love in the future, it will be with such a kind and warm-hearted person.Was this review helpful to you?
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A Good, Trashy Romance
If you're looking for a good, trashy romance, this is for you. Things don't make sense, there are plot holes everywhere, and overacting is a thing, but the chemistry between the leads is sizzling and that pretty much carries the entire drama.I've watched Fan Zhi Xin in some of his support roles before, but he never really stood out to me. I was pleasantly surprised by him in this drama and will be looking forward to some of his future projects, hopefully, he will be able to land more lead roles after this drama. The ML is everything you want in a 'domineering boss' romance. He's introduced as cold, ruthless, and 'lethal'. They obviously took some inspiration from Vincenzo, he speaks Italian and improvises with his weapon of choice (instead of dangling villains off a building with a measuring tape, he uses his own tie).
The FL is slightly more vague. I can't say I connected with her the first few episodes, but as she grew in her confidence, she became more likable. I would have liked her character to be better defined, I felt like she was a side character to the ML.
But there is no denying the chemistry between the ML and FL. It sizzles. Those kiss scenes are fire. I could care less about all the plot holes and how many times I had to overlook things (like the fact that she's the doppelganger of his stepsister? Very weird) I really just wanted to see them be hot and sizzling on the screen together.
The drama is super tropey, and has some uncomfortable plot points but the main couple made this a thoroughly entertaining watch. If you're looking for a story where the plot makes sense, I recommend you to stay away from this web series, But if you're looking for an entertaining romance with all the typical tropes, I found this drama to be the perfect antidote for my current drama slump.
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