Reviews

2 EPISODES IN AND IT GOT ME HOOKED UP

Absolutely loving everything about the first two episodes of this BL! The chemistry is chemistrying so hard — it feels effortless and electric. The pacing, visuals, and vibes are all on point. Easily ranking this in the top 10 best Korean BLs already.

It’s refreshing to see a BL of this high quality. It really feels surreal — like we’re witnessing a new standard being set for Korean BLs. The production is stunning: beautifully framed shots, gorgeous lighting, and a soundtrack that blends seamlessly with the tone of each scene.

Can’t wait to see where it goes next! 💘✨

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WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've never watched a programme this amazing in my entire life, it really has changed my perspective on the power of people. I love Kamiki Ryunosuke and he was spectacular in this drama. This is the first time I've ever watched a drama with Hirose Suzu but I now hope to watch more dramas that she featured in as she was simply riveting. Both their words sent chills down my spines, they were such fantastic characters. You must watch this drama, I promise that you will never forget it.

Never be oppressed, speak your mind, words have as much or more power than actions!!!!

I love this drama!!!!!

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One of the Best Romance Drama

This is one of my favorite drama to date. If you having some doubts wheter to watch it or not, just watch it heheh. You'll be suprised on how good this drama is.

Story 8.5/10
The premise is kinda weak, but trust me this isn't that usual cringey romance about a girl a turns pretty for his man and a man who finally falls for her cuz she is pretty now. KanoKire really did a great job telling it's story. Making a superficial premise to a really deep and meaningful one. A really well done story about love, friendship, and finding yourself. Also for me this is second to the most romantic love story (the first is Hana Yori Dango). So yes, you'll be suprised on how they turn this chessy premise to a beautiful story.

Acting/Cast 10/10
Perfect. This is the best Nakajima Kento's works to date, he is perfect in this. Kenty and Fuka chemistry also off the chart (their chemistry really reminds me of Matsujun-Mao Inoue). Fuka Koshiba so cute and loveable, I was rotting for her since first ep! She is just so precious! Akaso Eiji is superb, I even not realizing I have seen him in Cherry Mahou before cuz how different he is in this. Sakuma Yui may seem kinda pale at first, but she also did a great job (especially in ep 8 oh god). The rest of the cast also good, Katase Nana as Okajima-san also really left an impression for me.

Music 10/10
PERFECT. I haven't watch drama with such good music in a long time. The op song Cobalt on Summer Afternoon by Awesome City is fun, poppy song and the ed song Natsu no Hydrangea by Sexy Zone (which Nakajima Kento is in btw if you didn't know yet) is perfect heartfelt song for this drama. Also the background music also so good and the way they place it is genius. The music definitely elevate and gives more emotions to this drama. I honestly want to buy the ost album if they release it, that's how good it is.

Cinematography 9.5/10
Adding this category cuz KanoKire did really great job on making the atmosphere to be more. The cinematography gives more emotion to this drama.

Overall 10/10
I give Kanojo wa Kireai Datta a perfect 10, not because it isn't flawed but because it tug my heart so much. The feel and the emotions of this drama is beyond words. A really magical experience for me, I laugh, I cry. One of the best drama I watched.

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How to ruin a 10/10 show with one episode.

I must congratulate the writers for accomplishing something I considered nearly impossible. Well, I know better now. One can completely ruin a show in just one episode. Here is how I imagine it was done.

Step 1: Destroy the characters. The characters that the audience have known and loved for the past 15 episodes need to be ruined first. Take all their character-traits away from them, including their understanding, their love, their spirit of never giving up - everything that made them… them. Everything that made the audience fall in love with them. Ready? Great. Now apply this to their carefully constructed and super strong relationship and make it seem like it was nothing. Easy peasy.

Step 2: Try to trick the audience. Everything that has been shown important in the past 15 episodes needs to amount to nothing. All the little things, hints dropped, heartwarming things shown, need to be shown moot and useless. Now, switch their focus to completely different and dumb things which had no relevance before that wretched episode.

Step 3: Leave tons of things unexplained. Build up entire mysteries for 15 episodes and then simply refuse to solve them.

Step 4: Completely give up on all sense. Nothing needs to make any sense whatsoever. The strongest forged bonds are weak AF. People clearly madly in love with one another can be forced to break up with no regrets and can move on from each other just as quickly. Like I said, give up on all sense.

There you have it folks. A 4-step guide to ruin a 10/10 show. It was clearly easier than I had initially thought.

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Everything was great until the finale.
It appeared like different theme. The whole story was dark and then surprise! Everything fixed and they live happily ever after. I didn't like that those characters did not take their time to think about their sins... They changed because they were afraid of losing their beloved children or because they finally realized that they didn't live life with their own decisions and rules. I didn't like children's decisions at the end. What a privileged people who born with a silver spoon in their mouth. It seems like all those 19 episodes were written by different person than the finale.
It was really great and i loved it... waste to end up like this.

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Can I just say this broke all the limits I thought were possible.

Okay, I admit it, I loved it. So let’s start from each aspect of everything I love about this drama because I am sure you guys read the plot line before coming here.

1. Gotta be acting!
You know I loved Dylan Wang in the drama Love between fairy and devil but not so much after that (I don’t hate him, he is an amazing actor, his dramas just did not match my style after that) and after that I came here and stayed forever. To say his acting was terrific would be an understatement. Not just him, everyone else was amazing. The acting, expressions, delivery, my god I can’t complain. I am sure I fell in love with two characters more than twice in this show, Xu Qi’an and Yang Yan. I am pretty sure if I ever made a list of best (and hottest) actors they both would be on top.

2. Story
When you think of an engaging murder mystery plot, you almost always imagine blood, stress and tension but this drama said “F*ck that we are doing it different boys!” And you may ask different how? Different by humour. I laughed almost every episode. You think the situation is stressful? Let’s switch it up. Even till the end when the stress was at its peak it managed to ratain its GOOD HUMOUR (emphasis on the good please). The story was just the perfect blend of suspense, humour, (and no I am not counting this as a romance) action, politics everything. I am pretty sure the emperor would’ve killed me thrice by now if I was in the place of Xu Qi’an… hehe… (Oh and advice, get your popcorns ready because you won’t get up once you sit down, this thing is more engaging than a screw on a wall.)

3. Music
Soundtrack? Fire. My playlist? Dominated by one song. Opening and ending? Unskippable (of course unless you are too excited and skip to find out what happened because the director loves cliff hangers more than my patience.) Do I need to say more? The music was something I enjoyed. The bgm, OST, everything was so well done that it ruined some of the other shows broadcasting with this.

4. Can’t forget the CGI can we? This show was advanced. The CGI was one of the best I have seen in recent dramas. Comparable or I dare say better (I don’t mean others are bad, my pfp is of MM) to Moonlight Mystique, Blossoming love and any other major drama you can think of.

5. And lastly my love for Yang Yan, I swear I bit my lip everytime he came on screen. He was just too hot and cute. Sorry Xu Qi’an, maybe next season!

So, guys buckle up, pull out your popcorn, and just enjoy this ride. You’ll never be bored, exhausted, annoyed (okay the FL was a bit annoying in the beginning but she changed!), depressed, stressed (because unlike me you won’t have to wait a day or two). I promise you all that you might regret reading my overly self centered but factually correct review, but you won’t regret watching this masterpiece of a drama. See you in Seaosn 2.

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Worth the 1 year wait for me, albeit having some plot inconsistencies

• Read the top part for a review with NO spoilers
• Read the bottom part for an in-depth analysis of the plot, comparison with the original novel and interpretation of the ending WITH spoilers

< Review >
1. Storyline
In my opinion, the story was a decent adaptation of the original novel. I enjoyed the novel and the drama, not to the extent that I love it but it was likeable. The story has a lot of sad parts with sweet parts hidden inside. There were some sudden transitions here and there, but overall it was understandable. To me, it was worth my 1 year wait for it, watch it if you think you enjoy a more sad storyline throughout with sweet parts interspersed and don't mind some inconsistencies!

2. Acting & casting
I liked the casting (mostly). I felt that the two main leads, Ju Jingyi and Guo Juncheng did well. Their characters are individuals who speak through their eyes more than their words/actions and I thought they did pretty well in that. I also enjoyed the casting of Song Xinran as Lan Su and Zhang Zhihao as Ou Ya. The duo was very funny and added flavour to the story. On the other hand, I felt Lu Tingyu as Yi er was a bit out of place (?) I think her style suits modern dramas more.

I personally feel that Ju Jingyi improved in her acting from when I saw her in Yun Xi Zhuan. I think Song Xinran is also more natural now. Not sure about the actors as I have never really seen their dramas.

3. Music
I love two of the OSTs - 仍寻 sung by Ju Jingyi and Guo Juncheng, as well as 剪不断 by Jin Wenqi, have been playing them repeatedly since I heard them in the drama. The other three OSTs are average to me.

4. Special effects
Special mention to the special effects team. The special effects are pretty good for a drama!

5. Rewatch value
Frankly, I feel like rewatching it already to further analyse the story and because I was confused at some points of time, so I may rewatch the parts I like to think deeper about it.

---------------------------------------------------
< Analysis >
1. Characters
The characters in the novel and drama are rather different. In the novel, Wei Zhi is someone who is very 痴傻 (silly and persistent; apologise for the lack of a better word, but I'm not very sure how to translate it to the same meaning), in the drama, she is not silly but still persistent, and also quirky and kind. In the novel, Yan Yue is a very cold person, with little emotions who is only gentle (at times) to Wei Zhi, because he is the reincarnation of a land or something. Conversely, in the drama, Yan Yue is more cool than cold and very gentle. All in all, I feel that the drama Wei Zhi and Yan Yue are more realistic to me.

As for the other characters, I think the ones who are the most different from the novel are Ou Ya and Lan su. In the novel, Ou Ya was the one who gave the Qian Ji Luo to Yan Yue and Wei Zhi saw him as a very annoying character who was trying to get close to her. Novel Lan Su also had her marriage with novel Yan Yue cancelled and hated Wei Zhi (this story was not seen in the drama). However, in the drama, Ou Ya and Lan Su were really supportive and nice to Wei Zhi and Yan Yue till the very end, which I found as a sweet adaptation.

Do note that many of the characters are quite different from the novel though, but I won't go into detail.

2. Storyline
I've seen reviews saying that the drama storyline was dragged out, overly tragic and confusing. Frankly, the novel one was even more tragic and sometimes more confusing, requiring a lot of interpretation on my part. Below is a summary of the novel storyline, do note that it is not 100% accurate as I cannot remember the entire storyline.

Novel: Yan Yue sent to the academy to undergo his Qing Jie -> almost killed by Wei Ling Yue -> went to Yao Cheng -> Wei Zhi activated her bloodline for the first time when saving Yan Yue -> at one point, they had to escape because the Mo Zu Da Zun (Mu Nan) was trying to find the phoenix -> spent some happy days as a normal couple, this was also where Wei Zhi transferred the Qian Ji Luo to her body -> thrown into a dangerous desert world by Mu Nan, Yan Yue was severely injured and saved by Qing Huan, and brought into another world where time flows faster to help his injuries heal (around 1000 years passed in this special world for Yan Yue) -> Wei Zhi on the other hand, was taken by Mu Nan (or someone else) and lived 8 years on a boat -> Wei Zhi managed to escape and went to the city Yan Yue was controlling -> Yan Yue told Wei Zhi to leave when he saw her (Imo, he was trying to keep her safe because there is a high risk she may be revealed as the phoenix) -> Wei Zhi refused and stayed on, taking on some position due to her powers -> Things happened here and there and then Yan Yue and Wei Zhi drank a magical wine that made them follow their wishes and they had some alone time together -> Long story short, afterwards, Wei Zhi transformed and Yan Yue became the Mo Zu Da Zun -> She spent a total of around 20 to 30 years in the Mo Jie as a hostage -> Eventually, Yan Yue tried to die together with his father to save the world from his father who wanted to become a God but Wei Zhi came and saved both of them by using his Phoenix magic -> Afterwards, they were reincarnated every lifetime to be together, but with no knowledge that they used to be a Shen Xian or Phoenix

Overall, I enjoyed the drama storyline in a different way I enjoyed the novel storyline. The drama storyline was tragically sweet but the novel storyline was tragically heartrending except for very little sweet parts. I found the romance more realistic in the drama though!

3. Interpretation of the ending
Okay, so yesterday I watched the ending and in my mind I was like "???", so I spent the night and this morning pondering about it and this is my interpretation...

In the ending, Wei Zhi gives her Hua Rong to Yan Yue, which means that she'll die (somewhat like how Mu Nan died after he destroyed his Yuan Shen). 6 months later, we see Yi er becoming Tian Di, Ou Ya lamenting the loss of Lan Su and Wei Zhi's child being born. The story then cuts back to after Yan Yue returned to his own body 6 months ago, it showed Yan Yue sending Hua Rong to the sky and into the Time Palace, and time moves back.

From my interpretation, Hua Rong is the symbolism of peace, innocence and renewal, so by sending it to the sky, it purified the destruction caused and that is why the soldiers' weapons were removed. Afterwards, it was sent into the Time Palace. Remember that before this, Yan Yue said "Life is meaningless without you even if I can live forever, Wei Zhi, wait for me". By sending Hua Rong to the sky to purify the land, I believe that this is building good karma for Wei Zhi, often emphasised in Buddhism/Chinese culture.

By sending it into the Time Palace, I have two interpretations, (1) one is that both of them travel back in time and live in a separate timeline from the existing one the rest are in where Yan Yue never killed Wei Zhi and they live happily, (2) the second is that by turning back time, present Wei Zhi returned to the past Wei Zhi and took over her body as Tian Hou showed us that it is possible. This is because past Wei Zhi has the Hua Rong while present Wei Zhi does not have the Hua Rong. This would mean that past Wei Zhi would be replaced by present Wei Zhi who would go back into the present. And then Wei Zhi would still die in the past as she was meant to in order for everything to happen as it has already happened.

Regardless, it is clear that they are still alive as their child, also a Phoenix was born. We know that Wei Zhi's life is closely linked to her child, so if her child is born then Wei Zhi must still be alive. Additionally, Phoenix is the symbolism of rebirth, so we can take this as a symbolism that Yan Yue and Wei Zhi have found a new life. However, where they are is a big mystery, but if I were them, I would probably just live my own life in peace, to avoid any more tragic events from happening.

Thanks for reading my super long review and hoped you gained something from it!

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Let's just remember the good moments!

Ok, so... at the moment it is really hard for me to review this drama. I've just finished it a minute ago and ... what happened?

Alright, let's start from the beginning. Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol was just breathtaking in its early episodes, and even though the following episodes may have had some weird plots, I couldn't care less as the show was just so beautiful and as many people have said, it was "a breath of fresh air" (which clearly is more than welcomed during this special year that is 2020).
From the characters to the importance of music, every episodes felt so short and I was really attached to our two main leads, Jun's character (our male lead) being so touching and beautifully naive, Ra Ra's character (our female lead) being this lovable and strong-minded woman.

However, something changed during episode 14. I don't want to write any spoilers so I'll just say that Jun did something so out of character that it felt wrong. From then on, I kept feeling that this character was not the one I knew and I still can't understand why the writer did this (I have watched Shopping King Louie and loved it, but I do remember her fancying "pranks" - she clearly should have changed that).

So I decided to only think of episodes 1 to 13 as Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol and I would definitely recommend these episodes to anyone looking for something warm and touching to watch. Btw I'll probably rewatch these episodes very soon just to forget the last episode...

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for such a short drama, it didn't feel flat at all. the story is well paced and had the right amount of angst, balanced by the chemistry of two individuals with different backgrounds.

sure, the tsundere and upbeat dynamic is not new. ji woo has a stoic personality but deep down, he's a caring dude. seo joon has a fun type of personality but he also won't back down when someone's being a dick. one thing i loved is how straightforward seo joon is with his feelings. he doesn't hesitate to express himself and it was refreshing to watch.

"I didn't want to get hurt again. And I didn't want you to get hurt either. But staying away doesn't prevent getting hurt either." -Ji Woo

the conflict between the main leads was understandable with how unpredictable things can go due to seo joon's fame and the homophobia they'd face. seo joon doesn't care what society thinks while ji woo is scared from his past experience.

i'm just happy that the plot didn't go for a complex route so things were resolved easily and the pace of the story didn't become overwhelming or mellow. acting wise, it was pretty good. ji woo's crying scene and the slight angst definitely made my heart yeet into two pieces. seo joon was undeniably quite a charmer and his smile is hella contagious. i must say the acting is decent and i'm impressed.

overall, this drama revolves around two individuals helping each other grow with each other's support. bonus points for the ost.

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Oh boy, here we go...well clearly an unpopular opinion, but I don't love this drama. :/

It was so thrilling and suspenseful at first and then all of a sudden it just felt like a romantic melodrama. It was honestly so thrilling to watch till episode 5 and even after that till episode 9 it was mostly good but then it started going downhill from that point onwards.

So yeah the reason why I don't love this drama is cause of the story. It started out well and then was getting progressively ridiculous and cheesy...and gosh there was just way too much going on. Too many coincidences and overly dramatic. And lol don't get me started on the last episode...gosh why did they have to add in that overly used trope?! It was too cliched and frankly painful to watch.

Buuuut I must say I really liked the cast in this drama. Every single actor was pretty good, especially Lee Joon Gi.❤
In fact, the best thing about this drama was LJG. Like holy cow can we talk about how brilliant his acting was?...honestly, despite all the problems I had with the story, the reason why I was able to watch it till the very end and actually even enjoy it somewhat overall was cause of his outstanding performance.❤❤ Moon Chae Won too was pretty good though at times her acting wasn't very convincing. However, the chemistry between her character and LJG's character was so good!♡
And I love love love the ending theme!!♡♡

I don't regret watching this cause I got to see an awesome performance by LJG but this drama is certainly overrated imo..

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An awfully ridiculous plot

There was so much of hype for this movie, but in the end it failed to impress me.
It's the classic case of "Great Cast doesn't guarantee you a good movie".

The cast of this movie was quite impressive and to be fair, all managed to do a very good job as far as acting is concerned. But when you stuff all these magnificent actors in one single movie, there's high chance that the script is not gonna do justice with all of them.
Can't blame the efforts of actors, though. Han Hyo-joo was very beautiful as a pirate, and so was Kang Na-heul with his witty lines and erratic behaviour. But the one who impressed me was Lee Kwang Soo. It seems like he simply can't leave behind his image of being a betrayer behind (*pun intended).
There wasn't much to do for Kwon Sang-woo and neither for Kim Sung-oh, which was kind of a bummer as I was really looking forward to their roles, only to be disappointed at last.

Now coming to the story.
It was just awful. Characters popped out of nowhere. There was no backstory for Han Hyo-joo and was very weak in the case of Kang Na-heul. It was just the plot of the previous movie, albeit with a bit of new ingredients. Let's compare it with its prequel:-
A Pirate - check
A disgraced soldier turned bandit - check
One evil general - check
One betrayer - check
And animals rescuing the pirates - check
The story might have been good if not for so much of stuffed characters. Chae Soo-bin's character literally had no importance at all.

At last, I will say some words for the VFX. It was childish graphics. Yes, the VFX certainly improved in the last act, but overall they were very poor and one can clearly see that there are just a lot of green screens.

Overall, I was disappointed with the movie, but the cast made it a bit enjoyable. Watch it for Lee Kwang Soo, Han Hyo-joo and Kang Na-heul. If you are seeking a good story, then don't go in that direction. Better to leave your brains aside while watching this movie, as this is certainly very logicless.

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One of the BEST dramas so far!
If you love watching emotional Heart touching dramas then you'll love this.
A medical drama with a strong female character and a cool i-know-im-hot iwantyouyouwantmetoo male character who has this emotional side to him that will make you cry.
One of the reasons why this couple fit. Other than these two.The drama itself has adorable, funny and sad moments. It has EVERYTHING. Great music. Romance. Cute korean moments XD Hilarious parts and Sad moments. Its so good to see a drama with everything. The story line is great. Keeps you entertained and im not a rewatcher kinda person but ill definitely watch this one again.
And its def worth it...Jo in sung <3

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I have a love/hate relationship with this drama. The story is all over the place. I can't even begin to tell you how messed up it is. The GREAT scenes are with Hyun Tae and Mong Hyun's story line. I enjoyed it the most. Mong Hee's story line turns into a nightmare. ALL of the moms except Hyun Soo's mom are CRAZY and EVIL. How they ended it with them ticked me off. Hyun Joon's story line is just sad. I ended feeling like he struggled the most because some of his earlier actions were against his true character and because of his mom and wife. OOOOHHHH...Sung Eun gives me the creeps. Hyun Soo's story line is also strange. I won't go into how much I disliked how they handled some of it. I guess they thought a time jump was enough. I liked Yoona's character the most and she isn't even in it much. The grandmothers are boring as all get out and to tell the truth I ended up skipping most of their story line. I didn't miss anything by doing so. Mong Kui's story line is barely there, but it doesn't suck. I really like Yoona and Hyun Soo's mom interaction toward the end of the drama. I can't post spoilers or I could write all day about this drama. I can't say it was horrible, because there are some great and precious moments. I ended up with mixed emotions.

This cast is great. It is really too bad they ended up in this drama. I wasn't disappointed in the acting. Han Ji Hye is the main reason I watched this, because I loved her in May Queen. I think she did well playing two different characters as Mong Hee and Yoona. Then of course there is Yeon Jung Hoon as Hyun Soo, Lee Tae Sung (I loved him in Rooftop Prince) as Hyun Joon and Park Seo Joon and Hyun Tae. All very good looking men and excellent actors. Very yummy!!! Baek Jin Hee as Mong Hyun is too cute. All the veteran women actress also did well playing the crazy moms. I really disliked them and I think that is a huge credit to their acting abilities.

There is some good music in this.

I don't know if you could pay me to rewatch this.

I would not recommend this. It is only my second 50 episode family drama. It isn't so bad that I wish I had my time back, because I'm glad I got to see some of the actors and some of the cute story line. If I were you, I would read the recaps that people have written to find where the cute parts are and just watch those. :-)

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Romance, Comedy and Acting

This drama was better than I thought, I had it in my list and waited until it fully aired and subbed to watch it, I did see some comments and review and was a bit nervous, but i decided that I rather not read anything else and watch this for myself, if it was trash so be it and if it's great then I'll be happy.

Well, compared to all the nonsense drama they have, this drama was great, it was way better than i expected, that's why recently it doesn't matter the reviews, comments and ratings, i determine what I wanna watch and if it's no good then fine, if not then that's great, because not everyone gives honest reviews, or not every drama is for everyone, but this was for me.

I'm a sucker for romcom, heavy on the rom and the com, i also like romantic drama, and i love historical drama's, I'm picky but I try my best to give the benefit of the doubt, and I also go into shows with no expectations, I've learnt that the hard way, I rather have no expectation and be happy with a drama, rather than have high expectation and become very disappointed.

With that being said, This drama was very funny, very romantic, yet sweet and sour. The acting was pretty good, the villain well he stood out a lot, i hated his character lool the actor was way too good. The ML and FL tbh i loved there chemistry and i love the romance between them, they ha a very healthy relationship and i enjoyed watching them, i also loved this drama because of the comedic relieves, i get kinda down when i watch something with too much drama and angst, but i loved how this was very balanced.

The other thing i really liked with this drama, i loved the progress of the FL, the different stages of educational and career growth, I'm trying not to spoil lol, but i liked that it didn't stay in one stage the entire time, but we get to see her growth, and the ending was very nice, truly represent the message from the title. There was also a lot of character development for a lot of the characters, I loved that as well

So with that being said, i personally enjoyed this drama, everyone did great, the acting, chemistry, romance, comedy, drama i thought it was well balanced, i did not leave the drama feeling burdened or heavyhearted hahaha, i enjoyed this show and i am happy i watched it, good show to just chillout and watch. Every show has it's little flaws, but personally I was too busy enjoying rather than critiquing, I've seen more than 250 shows, trust me this compare to others is one of those simple nice ones, ratings should definitely be higher.

Ps. If you're going to watch, try not reading too much comments, reviews and so on, judge for yourself and give it a chance, not just this show but every show, go in with a neutral expectation and then let it flow naturally.

Take care and happy drama watching ❤😊

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