This review may contain spoilers
Since I started to watch dramas, In Time With You has been one of my favourites dramas. I remember the first time I watched the T-drama version and how I felt about this story. It's not a perfect story, there is some flaws, but at the same time it's so poetry and has so deep meaning that I still think this story is very underrated by people who watch dramas. I think this story is the best when we talk about this kind of this situation "friends to love". The fact is, some people misunderstand the meaning of what this story want to tell us. It's not about love or dating, but it's about friendship and how firendship is more important than love. We see that in our main characters. It's not about a guy who wants to be more than a friend. It's about a guy who likes a girl, but loves her friendship. I think the drama gives us a messange that may be hard, but we need to accept. I think others dramas that talks about this kind situation failed in develop this messange and that's why I like so much this drama.
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But talking about this version. I think is more developed than the others one, but unfortunatelly the end was not so good as the T-drama. I also think there is more good songs in the first one than in this one. And I also think Bo-lin did a better job in some scenes. But besides that, I don´t have anything more to complain. They clearly transmited what the story mean and I also think they showed us more interactions between our main leads. In this version we have a Yo less selfish and more independent. I really liked the fact that they didn´t change her work. I also like the fact that in this version they showed us more her love for Ren.
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Overall, this drama is also more mature than the others one and its also more closer than the korean one. It was my first time seeing the actor who plays Ren, but he is really good and now I'm hoping I can see more dramas with him.
I think we guys need to watch this drama, but thinking about the meaning of the title. There is a reason why the T-drama is named In time With You. And there is a reason why the japaneses prefer to translate as I don´t love you yet. Try to understand the name, before talk bad about the plot.
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Story- I absolutely loved it! It was so romantic and angsty. It has everything I look for in a good romance drama. I liked that you don’t have to wait for the main couple to start a relationship cause they start from like episode 3. There is a lot of conflict having to do with life choices though that separates them for a couple of episodes. Each episode gives a little cliff hanger which makes you want to see the next episode. The ending was awesome for the main couple but I like that all the supporting characters find their happy ending as well.
Acting/Cast- The 4 leads did a great job. They made their characters very believable. I loved Fujiki Naohito in this because it’s so different from his Hotaru no Hikari character. The main female actress that played his partner didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. I did appreciate that she had really good chemistry with Fujiki.
Music- There is a lot of music played but I didn’t care for it.
Rewatch- I would definitely watch this again in the future when I'm in the mood for a J romance.
Overall Love Revolution is a romance drama for a more mature audience that I definitely would recommend.
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Really cute, original story in the fairy tale genre. The initial idea is good.
A charming and fresh take on the fairy tale genre, this story is truly delightful and has an intriguing premise that instantly captures your attention.Stellar Performances Shine Bright
Chae Jong Hyeop deserves endless praise for his portrayal. His ability to convey profound emotions for the female lead (FL) makes the romance feel incredibly real and intense. His natural warmth, bright smile, and expressive acting breathe life into the character, making it impossible not to root for him. Not to mention, his cooking skills on-screen, especially with traditional Korean dishes, add an endearing layer to his character.
Having followed his work, I’ve also enjoyed his role in The Castaway Diva, a stunning musical drama, and his memorable appearance as Na-bi's chef friend in Nevertheless. His versatility continues to impress with every project.
A Unique Blend of Cultures
The fusion of Korean and Japanese cultures in this series adds a special charm. Hearing the mix of both languages was refreshing, giving the story a unique identity that sets it apart. This cross-cultural collaboration enriched the overall viewing experience.
A Mixed Approach to the Female Lead
While Mizuki Yamashita performed her role with sincerity, her character’s excessive shyness often felt at odds with her age and professional responsibilities. At times, her reserved demeanor was frustrating and made it harder to connect with her.
It’s evident that the actress herself has a vibrant and outgoing personality, as reflected in her polished appearance, stylish outfits, and well-maintained nails. A more confident, modern portrayal would have elevated her character and complemented the storyline better.
This portrayal of overly timid women seems to be a recurring trope in Japanese dramas, which may resonate culturally but feels outdated and less appealing to broader audiences. Hopefully, future seasons can address this by giving female characters stronger, more assertive roles.
Supporting Cast and Future Prospects
Taishi Nakagawa also stood out with his solid performance, and the cast as a whole brought depth to the story. While the series is enjoyable as is, there’s definite room for improvement. A second season with more dynamic character arcs and a well-thought-out progression would elevate it to even greater heights.
Overall, this drama offers a unique mix of romance, cultural flavors, and heartfelt performances, with Chae Jong Hyeop as the undeniable highlight. It’s worth watching for the warmth and chemistry between the leads, even if the storyline could benefit from a more modern perspective.
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What is great about this drama is how even though it has a lot of cliches in it, it still somehow manages to stand out in the melodrama genre. Surprisingly- this drama has a real plot and as I started watching it, it sucked me in completely. This is one of those dramas that is better enjoyed if marathoned through. Week after week, the curiosity about how things would unfold kind of waned. I am really not good with patience and this drama required too much of it.
Although the plot is slow and not overly dramatic as some other dramas, it has an addictive vibe to it. I think this drama was perfectly paced upto episode 8-9. The middle was kind of boring and dragging for me but the last two episodes were solid. They totally redeemed the drama in my eyes because I had been worried about how things would turn out.
The main characters in this drama seem interesting at first, but ironically the lead pair fades in comparison to the second leads. My favourite character in this drama was Kang Jae. He was a bad guy with a conscience, an anti-hero, a guy in need of love and a great hyung. I loved the complexity of his character and Jo Jin Woong did an excellent job of playing him. As for Yoon Kye Sang even though I liked his acting, it went over the top at times. Han Ji Hye was pretty but had no variation in her expressions- she always had the same, sad, "damsel in distress" face. Her character was written well but too bad she could hardly do justice to her role.
There are a lot of touching moments in this drama. It teaches you a lot about life, love and family. It raises a lot of questions about morals and shows how greed can destroy people's lives. I think that was a pretty interesting take on the whole story. It also makes you think of loyalty and human psychology which was rather cool!
There is murder, romance, deceit, revenge, lies, betrayal and friendship- all in this drama. It has enough of everything to keep one entertained. If you like romance, there is enough of that too. Maybe not as overwhelming as in some other dramas but I was quite satisfied with it. :)
I have to give props to the OST of this drama. It's brilliant and I've been listening to some songs every day now and still don't get bored. Every single song is memorable. I think this drama has one of the best OSTs ever.
I think it's a good drama to watch if you're looking for something different. :)
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The story is so simple that it looks so cliche but the writing is so direct,straight forward and just sticking to the plot which is just a simple lovestory of two opposite individuals! No angst of third party / mother in law /noble idiocy / misunderstanding. The tone and mode of being light, funny, sweet and romantic is consistent through and through! There are no dull episodes, everything just fall in complete heart rendering moments, true to its premise and promise of a pure rom-com!
The character development of two leads is way perfect! You dont feel any rush or force scene in the loveline, the progression just happen so naturally! The leads are explosive, their chemistry is off chart that you cannot really distinguish if they are just acting or the feelings are real! The actors just played their characters excellently and brilliantly! They are so believable and relatable! Bravo for the 2 actors!
The music is perfect I love it! It makes me fall in love more with the characters and the story! It gives a loving vibes to a lovely and endearing drama already! Feel good music perfect for a feel good drama!
I will surely love rewatching this again and again! This will probably my most rewatched drama after Healer!
I have never crossed a very fun, amazing, light hearted drama recently! IF you are a romcom hooker, you should not miss this once in a blue-moon kind of experience in drama watching -- it will simply delight you!
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I rarely shed tears when watching dramas, but I already sink on the 1st ep. ;(
The story itself is quite tragic, yet the drama leads us to something more touching rather than sad.. The characters are very strong, including the supporting roles.
This is more of a slice of life drama, following the story of the murderer, the victim, and how the incident affects the people around them..
Romance between the victim's brother and the murderer's sister makes the story beautiful. Eita is a very great actor, portrayed an introvert guy drench in guilt, and how he changed from a useless guy with non-attractive appearance to a clean-cut man, haha.. This is the first time I watch the female lead's acting, and I'm quite impressed with how she can easily shed tears in every moment :)
Overall this is a must-watched drama for them who likes drama about life and about moving on from a tragic past.. Excellent story!
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Very disappointing build up
When i started this drama, i had high expectations and somehow in the middle the plot line became boring, draggy and completely flat. And then towards the end the suspense suddenly picked up from nowhere and once again had me at the edge of my seat. It could have well ended with 16 episodes to be very honest but somehow the draggy scenes just kept coming. The story line was good and what kept me going was to figure out who actually pushed the FL's dad to suicide and what was the backstory behind ML's amputated leg.The romance for me felt flat. The kissing scenes between the ML and FL was terrible in the begin and somehow it got a bit better at the end. Their chemistry was off too. By the end i just wanted to fast forward and wrap it up, and that is exactly what i did.
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A Beautiful Story About Healing and Finding One's Happiness
This is a lovely small-town drama. The relationships between all the characters are so interesting and you can't help but cheer for them. The romance is actually quite subtle compared to other dramas, but it felt very fitting. The development of the main characters' relationship is slow but realistic. With an interesting story, complex characters, and beautiful scenery, it was hard for me to wait for the next episode. This show left me with a sense of warmth and content. I would highly recommend it!Was this review helpful to you?
Total waste of time
As we all know C-dramas are notorious for nonsensical or rushed endings. This one takes it one step further, by not having an ending at all.It just simply stops, in the middle of the story without solving any of the questions, redeeming the ML or dealing with any of the antagonists. The writers seem to have confused the notion of ‘open ending’ with half-finished and just dropped the ball after 20 episodes to go on holiday.
I usually don’t expect much from these short-length series, but this one feels like a total waste of time.
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Say what? Ji Soo has a beautiful girlfriend in a show? HUZZAH!
Okay, all jokes aside, Ji Soo seems to be in a couple of kinds of boxes-tragic figure boxes and "the one who doesn't get the girl" boxes. This one is indeed a tragic figure, so whew, at least he has a drop dead gorgeous girlfriend truly deeply in love with him.If you want something that is deeply heartwarming, this show is very much it, BUT only if you can spare some tears and snot for the box of tissues you'll want near you. This is a really unusual series in a lot of ways, the most obvious being that we enter the lead's dreams, dreams impacted by his brain being altered by both disease and painkillers mind you, through beautiful animations-they are straight out of someone's half-asleep stream of consciousness in design/flow, only the person having them is terminally ill, so the fluffy and swooping and cuddly characters and rock robots etc we see and go on an adventure with are spiked with some fear, bitterness, despair, and anxiety.
When not in the lead character's dreams, we see his real world suffering along with the pain his friends and family go through. A new character in the lead's life also comes to us in the form of a convenience store clerk who is transported into the same dreamscape as the lead-it is certainly unusual, but by the end, the least seen character (physically-we see his cartoon form, of course) ends up having one of the most poignant, important roles in the whole story.
Watching this when apart from family during a pandemic is certainly an unexpected situation (the pandemic in particular). With everyone (well, who is conscientious) living a bit more constantly aware of how easily illness and indeed death are taking hold of so many around us, with our lives a bit uprooted in most of the world and our day to day lives quite different from a year ago, the time of release of this could, if it were not so thoughtfully crafted, get a bitter reaction. Instead, though, the creators seemed very aware of how delicately they needed to handle it-the balance of the moments of adventure, the smiling moments, and the tears was important to get right, and by my estimation, they could not have gotten that much better. While not a perfect production (the camera/lighting work made me wish at times it had been a Whynot TV or even Playlist Global production-still, that is a minor detail-especially for a webseries), I was immersed in the story and acting so it only briefly made it a little less perfect than the slicker productions that don't have nearly as intriguing a set up to begin with.
I'd LOVE more animation to be integrated into dramas. I really enjoyed (crime thriller-ish drama) Sketch largely because of the namesake, the sketches, and the animations really made this special; if it had JUST been the humans, it probably would have felt like a Lifetime daytime tear jerker TV movie; instead, it has its own memorable place and the tears I did shed don't feel like someone manipulated me emotionally to make me shed them.
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This review may contain spoilers
After many years of misunderstandings and betrayals, Hwi and Sun finally get a chance to repair all of the hurt between them, giving each other the strength to do what must be done. When I started watching My Country I wasn't sure what type of journey the writer would take us on, I just knew I wanted to watch it since Jang Hyuk was one of the main lead and, of course, Woo Do Hwan. By episode three I knew there was no way this drama would end with both Hwi and Sun alive and understood it would be a very hard drama to watch not because it was poorly made but because it was that good, it evoked serious emotions - everything from joy, pain, deep sorrow, laughter to heartache, I was right but it was worth the ride. Throughout the journey, it becomes clear that the true love story in My Country: The New Age was always the one between Hwi and Sun, they were always each other’s Number One, no matter what happened between them, be it hurting each other physically and emotionally, but whenever a choice had to be made, they choose each other every time. Even though Sun betrayed Hwi over and over again, Hwi never hesitated to go to his rescue if he needed it. As sad as it was, it was just right that in the end, they chose each other to protect and love until the very end.Hwi, Sun, and Bang-won, every actor brought their best performance and I won’t be surprised if several acting awards are handed out for My Country, particularly in the cases of Jang Hyuk (Bong-won) and Woo Do-hwan (Sun). They both portrayed characters that could easily have become intensely unlikeable, but were able to show moments of vulnerability, sorrow, love, and regret even when committing the most heinous acts. Yang Se-jong was fantastic as well, embodying Hwi with a soft vulnerability that he never lost, despite everything he goes through. What I took from My Country is that we all have a country we are willing to risk everything for and that that “country” is the people we love. A story beautifully told, produced, directed and acted!
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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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This review may contain spoilers
What a gem - great chemistry with an established m/m couple
Overall: I gave this a 9.5/10 because it's from 2009 and it still holds up well twelve years later. Watched on gagaoolala.Content Warnings: none
What I Liked (very minor spoilers)
- features an established couple
- the kissing/intimate scene was on fire, everyone else needs to take notes - none of this dead fish lip stuff
- that Min Soo doesn't apologize for who he is or who he loves, but is apologizing for the way it was communicated
- there is no ghosting or forced separation due to what a parent wants
- shows a bit about military service which I rarely see in Korean rom coms
- (neutral) the intro song and song towards the end were fine
Room For Improvement
- the discussion with the mom and her chest was weird
- I didn't really understand a scene with Seok Yi waiting outside towards the end, I didn't think Min Soo's mom and him lived in the same city..
- dry crying during the the drinking scene
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Takeaway - You will be left with your heart warmed. If you want to see some cute boys, your desire will also be fulfilled. But nothing deep.
Story - It involves multiple issues. Having no money, prostitution, love vs sex, and even a little bit of family problems towards the end. However none of these issues are truly addressed. The movie is somewhat of a comedy and should be watched with a light-heart. The ending is also sort of ambiguious.
Actors/ Cast - Both do their part (there are 2 main characters). There are a couple side characters that serve as cute jokes. The story focuses on Khao the most and his experience with prostitution. Pete is his next door neighbor and in my eyes super cute. You can feel the love between them towards the end of the movie.
Music - Basic music but enjoyable nonetheless.
Rewatch Value: Some day in the future, yes, I would watch it again.
Overall: I RECOMMEND! It was truly an enjoyable movie, and unless you just don't want to see guys having sex, I don't understand why you wouldn't like it?
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Unfortunately, what I liked most about the first half is almost what made me bored by the second half. Just about every second lead or side character is actually well-written, and serves a purpose. After a while though, I just wished they'd already serve their purpose, and back off for the sake of my romantic wish-fulfillment. One of the draggiest ends of a drama ever! Though the main storyline is a good one.
Loved the soundtrack! Maybe because this doesn't seem like a prime-time drama, and perhaps becauseit's relatively old, but the music was expertly done, with lots of great little clips of famous pieces (both pop and classical) that helped tell the story almost as much as script.
Sorry though, you'll never catch me wanting to rewatch this one.
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