This review may contain spoilers
Fluff and slice of life in one series
I watched this after I read the reviews. Quick watch for a chinese drama. 16 episodes and each episode was good the story was well put together. Besides, I was looking for something to watch while waiting for new episodes of the heiress and dance of the phoenix.5 childhood friends live together in a compound share the joy and pain of growing up. I like how the story focused on family and friendship and how the show developed each character.
Tan Song & Cheng Zi
The typical frenemies, you could tell they would eventually end up together. I like how Cheng Zi is not a weak and simple minded girl. She's a typical teenage girl who fangirls, has a crush here and there but has never been in love.
Tan Song is the boy next door that annoys her yet protects her for his own good. Lol. He does not admit thaf he likes her but if still shows.
The gradual development of their relationship from friends to being in a relationship was realistically written.
Chen Zui & Jin Xiao
The overacheiving friends in their group. What I like about this two is how their personality is a contrast of one another. Chen Zui is a boy whose sensitive and mindful of the emotuons of people he care about and Jin Xiao is a clueless girl except in her academics. This is like the opposite of a typical drama
I like and hate how their relationship was left open ended but I understand why. He understood that the girl he likes has dreams she wants to pursue and love is not on the top of her priority list. She's insensitive but not mean. She cares for her friend but it looked like she was not gonna fall for him anytime soon.
There are snippets in the last two episodes which I am not sure if the girl was hinting at him about her feelings but she asks a question like in a situational sense but dropped the topic eventually. He confessed but was not taken seriously because they were role playing at that couple gameshow. I teared up a little when the voice over at the last episode made me realize he wouldn't say his feelings for her but have done much for her without her knowing.
It made me realize something at one point we may all have had the unrequited love. You give it your best shot not expecting anything in return. It's sad. Heartbreaking even but you will never show that pain to anyone else.
Jin Zhao & Ouyang
I like these two a lot. Although they don't know want in life they are happy to live the lifw they have.
Ouyang is that guy everyone has a crush on because he's a gentleman and a manly man. Girls can't help but fall for the guy who seemed to have it.
Jin Zhao knows himself well enough to stop hoping for a college life he knows he's not good academically and he bravely faced life head on starting at telling his mom to let him be. I like how he and his sister Jin Xiao showed a typical sibling relationship.
I like also how each househould is different from the others
Yet since they have been neighbors far too long they seem like one big happy family. I must say it was short, sweet, and makes me want for more but I kinda think they concluded it well. No messy third parties and no second lead syndrome. I definitely would watch this again.
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Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de
10 people found this review helpful
Life is Baseball
As the proverbial phrase goes, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade out of them. Or in baseball terminology, when life throws a curveball at you, hit it right out of the park.Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de revolves around a mysterious ex-pro baseball player, Ito Tomohiro, who hangs out at a local batting centre helping a variety of female customers deal with their life problems using what he calls Baseball Theory. He is able to discern their predicaments by observing the way they bat and has an uncanny ability of psychologically projecting their psyche into an utterly immersive fantasy world - a baseball stadium where he draws upon his experience in baseball competitions and strategies to deal with their respective problems.
Central to this premise is 17-year old Natsuha Mai, a part-timer at the batting centre and who happens to have her own troubled past. Joining Tomohiro’s efforts in helping these customers enables her to eventually exorcise her own demons.
Running at 30 minutes each, this 9-episode medium-budget production features slice-of-life themes presented in an episodic format that involve the workplace, family and relationship dynamics. Although the themes are not explored with profound depth, as expected of a short series, the storytelling of each story arc is rather engaging and still manages to tug at the heartstrings, particularly in the final episode.
The leads are decently portrayed by Sekimizu Nagisa and Nakamura Toru, as Mai and Tomohiro respectively. A Japanese baseball legend makes a cameo appearance during each episode, along with the multitude of guest stars. The catchy and upbeat J-rock intro and outro themes are performed by CreepHyp, namely Shoumona and Konnani Kanashiinoni Hara ga Naru.
All in all, Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de is a well-produced quality short format series which I would categorise as a lighthearted healing drama. The baseball terminology isn’t too challenging to comprehend, provided you have good quality subs, while the life lessons conveyed are contemplative rather than outright didactic. A wholesome viewing experience indeed.
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This review may contain spoilers
Corporation lab rats
The synopsis is too simple, the drama isn't complicated or nitty gritty as I initially thought. After watching squid game and alice in borederland, the fight for money seems like a fantasy death matchBut in reality we all live in a twisted trap, work.
This drama used their metaphors and connected 5 different people in a really well thought out web of connections.
Character A has an intersection with Character B, Character C has an intersection with Character B, but he also meets A, D and E..
It seems complex but it was so smooth. Also it's so short yet so full of content, honestly one of the best scripts of 2022
The metaphor does revolve around money. People need it, people get inslaved by it, people hate it but people need it
As an interior designer actually it's literally like 1ep, we draw, delete, draw, calculate, delete, given weird tasks like break tiles, glue fabric, and 90% of the time it's the mood of the team leader
I wanted to be a designer cuz I love creating, I love art and I didn't want to be stuck in a cubicle. But in the end we're all lab rats of corporation.
The 2nd ep uses the metaphor of games, does life give you a 2nd chance?
I also adored the little fashion queens♡ ep5 didn't feel connected until you get to ep6 and it becomes the bow that wrapped the story together perfectly
The revelations of the last ep were my favorite, it was shocking, it made sense, it was sad and it was really well acted
Tbh I wished for more, most of the stories felt uncompeleted and eventhough the stories were like a spark of the real meaning I became attached to the characters
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Extraordinary You/ Tiger and Rose vibes
There are a lot of dramas out there that are jumping on the "person falls into a novel" idea that Tiger and Rose did so well, sadly a LOT of them fail to live up to their hype and the story ends up not making any sense. This one though I think really did a great job of coming up with a unique take on it. The episodes are a little less than 30 minutes, and topping out at at 20 ep total it's a pretty quick watch. I recommend putting this on your watchlist asap.It's a high school romance drama set inside a novel but it deals with a lot of real world topics in a realistic way including bullying, eating disorders, escapism, and personal growth. Will those issue really resolve themselves the way they do in the drama if we act in the same way as they did? Probably not, but how do we know if we don't try? I liked the overall message that was delivered and thought it was done well, entertaining, engaging ,and still gave us the lesson.
There's a bit of existential crisis/edge to the final third of the series but I like how it was addressed and wrapped up in the final episode.
Final Grades:
Story was pretty good, had one or two things that could have been tweaked a little so I gave it 9.0
Actors did a great job, I never fell out of any scene. 10
Music was enjoyable but forgettable, I don't remember any songs and I'm not humming it after it's over. 6.0
Rewatch, definitely. It's a short and cute series and I'll watch it again someday soon. 10.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Mixed Bag of Humor and Flawed Execution
"Reunited Worlds" attempts to blend fantasy and romance in a compelling narrative about Sung Hae Sung, who mysteriously returns twelve years after his death, seemingly unchanged. While the premise has potential, the execution leaves much to be desired.There were several flaws in this drama. For example, the fact that none of the siblings showed the emotion of surprise. Your brother just came back from the dead, and everyone just accepted it like it was an everyday occurrence. And what especially bothered me was the absolute lack of chemistry between the main leads. I still don't get how they cast Lee Yeonhee for the role of older Jungwon when she looks NOTHING like the younger version. I also felt the drama was trying way too hard to make older Jungwon quirky and cute but failed majorly. Having a 30-year-old act clumsy like she's 13 only made me cringe and skip countless scenes.
In the later episodes, the drama does improve a little. However, even then, there are flaws. For instance, how do you expect me to believe that Taehun's dad changed overnight and apologized, even though he swore not to do that? We could've called that 'character development' IF the drama had dedicated time to the dad's changing views. Tell us why he changed. How did his heart get moved? Instead, so much time was wasted with unnecessary side plots, and the dad's change happened abruptly. That was so out of character and seemed like it was written by somebody who doesn't know a thing about proper character arcs.
Despite its many flaws, I gave "Reunited Worlds" 5.5 stars because it genuinely made me laugh with its quirky moments and absurd situations. The unexpected humor, especially in the interactions between characters, brought a lightness to the narrative that kept me entertained. Even when the plot felt uneven, those funny instances provided a delightful escape and made the experience enjoyable. For anyone who appreciates a good laugh amidst the drama, this show definitely delivers!
Overall, "Reunited Worlds" has moments of charm and emotional depth, but the inconsistencies in character development, casting choices, and pacing detract significantly from its potential. It’s a decent watch for die-hard fans of the genre, especially if you enjoy the occasional laugh at awkward moments, but it fails to leave a lasting impression.
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Rewatching this drama (and especially the last episode) countless times helped me through a really tough time and kept me motivated to fight and not just give up.
At first I wasn't even sure, if I would make it to the second episode, because the first one is kind of slow. I also thought Wataru was a total jerk and I didn't like him one bit. I'm more than happy I stuck with it though, because this is a beautiful drama about friendship, how even idiots can turn out to be awesome people and how you can achieve even seemingly impossible things, if you're willing to work hard and fight for them.
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This review may contain spoilers
Good drama! Soooo romantic, so many kiss scenes so much love! But i want the second male lead and the first female lead to do a drama! I have terrible second lead syndrom with this drama! I really would like them together:) With the same kinds of kiss scenes and all! This review pertains to both seasons. Its a good drama its so cute and light ive been watching so many darker dramas like legend of fuyao, seige in fog, legend of qin, the empress of china, and etc that i needed something light to watch! Was this review helpful to you?
The true meaning of what's more than blue
If you knew life was going to end this way, would you choose to start it?As long as K & Cream could find each other, they would. A love can be so deep that you would sacrifice your happiness for theirs behind a smile. I now understand the meaning behind the title. K & Cream's story is already sad, but if it wasn't told to the world, that would be even sadder.
And this is where the series starts.
The story revolves around our main leads K & Cream, but it's accompanied by 2 subplots that seamlessly and beautifully connect together. Two heartbroken lovers, a photographer and a dentist, and a music director and his assistant. The subplots don't tell much as I describe them now, but throughout the story they expressed their share of love in their own way.
The two broken souls find each other and become each other's family, filling in the empty holes of their lives. To Cream, K became many figures to her: a friend, a brother, a father, a mother, and a lover. The story was so raw with emotions that I felt myself loving and fearing and crying with them.
I previously watched the movie before this, an all-time favorite I remember crying so hard in. I wasn't disappointed at all at how the writers filled in the many gaps to make a series. The series has true storytelling--we're watching the scenes that took place in the past. Specifically, the story is told in the words of our main lead K, but viewed in the eyes of everyone else. We get a feeling that we know how it ends, but that doesn't take away from the story. Watching this series became a journey of how K & Cream came to love so deeply and why their ending turned to be that way.
I knew how it was going to end, yet it still hit me in my heart and I cried more than I expected. I always thought "More than Blue" had a second meaning besides a story sadder than sad. Perhaps beyond this sadness, there was still a happy ending behind it--one filled with no regrets and a heart finally at ease. I want to praise the actors who did an amazing job portraying those emotions so well. And I love how the OSTs captured both their sadness and love, they're really beyond beautiful.
What makes this story so special no matter how many times it's told is that it hits close to our hearts. It reminds and teaches the listeners not to take time for granted.
Even if you knew how things would end, choose to love.
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Replay: The Moment When It Starts Again
10 people found this review helpful
To wrap up, this drama is perfect to relax and not think of anything deep, also if you can bear even the slightest of cheesiness it offers. It was an okay watch for me. (PS: I started this drama because I am a fan of (G)I-dle, cheering for Cho Miyeon's acting career!)
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Maybe I Need Romance Too...
So another review has already mentioned that the story/plot is nothing new.And to be honest there was nothing amazing about the characters or acting.
But there is something about New's dazzling smile and the cute little side stories that made me really enjoy this drama.
Rewatch value high-ish only to see all those cute New scenes again hahahahahaha
It's been a while since I watched something so quickly (I ended up finishing it in like 9 hours because I skipped a lot of P'Kan moments whoops), and it's also been a while since I had so many "awwww" reactions and moments.
I have to say, I really appreciated that even the "antagonist" characters had human elements and you could often empathise with their choices- that was a really nice touch, because it makes you critical about how you feel about the FL's choices (and other more "positive" characters!), too.
If you're a softie for cute lil romance, or in doubt whether your heart has frozen over like Najai's: then this is just what you need!
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Yes, break my heart one more time Korea -.-
Guys, I am writing this as I sob. Not joking. It's been an hour since I finished it and the tears keep coming out. I might die of dehydration while writing this review and I apologise in advance for the typos.It's the first time in a long time that I watch something without looking at my phone (didn't even realise I had left it in the bathroom) or without skipping forward. I am a sucker for sweet high school stories that take place in the past, but the way this movie was filmed, the nostalgia factor (present even in the filter they chose), the lovable characters and simplicity of the plot just did it for me. This is exactly what I want from a high school drama; not being a high schooler anymore myself there is always that longing feeling towards the past and this movie definitely shoved it in my face in a very beautiful way. The actors did an amazing job at not making it sound cringy or over the top. And that ending will stay with me for a long time, I am sure of that.
I love stories like this: simple yet effective. It might not be all that to other viewers but I do have a tendency to love high school stories (especially if they take place in the 90's or early 2000's) so that probably contributes to my rating. After so many years of watching K-Dramas, it is refreshing to find something that still makes my heart beat fast and makes me feel SOMETHING. I am not a movie person as they often leave me traumatises (lol, this one kinda did too) but I am so glad I watched this movie. I feel like it took something off my chest? Like I really needed to cry and this movie allowed me to do it haha
Oh well, don't expect anything incredibly revolutionary from this story when going into it but I am sure you will at least have a good time with the characters (even in the end).
Am I still a human with feelings and capable of crying like a baby? Yes, I am. Thank you 20th century girl for the confirmation.
SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!
HE WANTED TO SEE 21ST CENTURY BORA GUYS I AM SOBBING UNCONTROLLABLY IN A FETAL POSITION YOU GUYS DONT UNDERSTAND HE WAS SO SWEET AND HAD SUCH A WARM VOICE AND HEART AND HE WAS SO CUTE WITH HIS BROTHER WHY WHY WHY THE HELL BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT MAKES THE MOVIE MEMORABLE AND EVEN MORE NOSTALGIC BUT GUYS WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW-
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This review may contain spoilers
Who is good and who is bad?
The series wonderfully shows how multifaceted a family can be and how differently everyone perceives it.The dynamic between the three older sisters and the youngest makes you curious for more. You can really immerse yourself in the story, and I thought it was wonderful that each sister had her own story. The story was exciting and had some good twists to keep you gripped while watching.
The male characters were all more in the background, but they had an important impact that added more details to the story.
The acting was really good, and overall, it was a really good plot.
Unfortunately, I have to say that the ending didn't completely grab me, but maybe there will be a second season. I have the feeling it's a series with a lot of potential for more.
Nonetheless I highly recommended it.
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A beautiful and realistic drama
This series show what a person deals with who is part of the lgbtq community. This is what you call an lgbt series and not really a bl. Since this show is not only lovely dovey sweet and all things goes well. It tackle in real life problems that many marriage faces. I loved the realism that this drama bought. The characters also are so well written. They are not flawless, they make mistakes and they learn from it and they reconcile. The actor that was recasted did an amazing job. I feared that he may not live up to it since the previous Jerry's actor already was so great but he did so well. All the actors really did a splendid job. Except maybe for Jimmy. His characters come off as really unnatural. His english is really not smooth and his acting is really mediocre but it is a kid actor so it is excused. This was a really wonderful series. A rare case that the sequel does better than the prequel.Was this review helpful to you?
Don't bother
Was disappointed with this series mainly because after so many drama series together I expected OffGun to have more chemistry, but unfortunately not. Gave this show a chance just because they were acting in it. The script was kindda lame too. The many times they asked each other how to calm their nerves, which was just used as an excuse to kiss each other, was super duper cringe. The kisses were also cringe and unbelievable (newsflash: people don't kiss irl without moving their lips). Unfortunately for me, OffGun were the weakest actors in the cast. I was surprised by Aungpao though, a new actor, who provided comedic relief without being slapstick. His pairing with Neo who is always good in his roles, was fun to watch. Dome was excellent as well but Tum was kindda over the top. This show doesn't really have much in terms of plot. Storyline is shallow, unrealistic and slapstick. A waste of time.Was this review helpful to you?
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