Ok, but needs adjusting
While I enjoy the concept of this show, this season felt a bit lazy. Also, I think the spy part got in the way often times. I think the director needs to let go of Running Man concepts like that. I also think it was better when they voted individually. Voting by teams made it less interesting. The voting booth was always fun at the end before.One of the problems with this show in general is the struggle guests have when they come on this show. They get talked over so much and when they can finally get a word in they get dismissed right away. Most of the time guests can be altogether ignored for much of the show. Towards the final 5-6 episodes, Na Ra was just unreasonably snappy with the cast and guests. Mi Joo's thirst was making male guests visibly uncomfortable. Kim Min Gue was struggling with being a good sport. Yook Jae Suk is falling into the same pattern as he did with Lee Kwang Soo in Running Man by referring to Mi Joo's profession as being a comedian multiple times per episode. She worked hard to become an idol and during her active career as one. I don't get why Jae Suk feels the need to try and erase that. Just let them be funny people in their respective main careers.
If there is a 4th season I'll watch simply because I'm an OG for the show, but if it was announced that it wouldn't be returning for another season, I wouldn't be disappointed.
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as the name says this drama got me ADDICTED. after watching this drama I got so obsessed over it and read the entire novel. though I found few chapters of first book not morally right, I still enjoyed it and the second book is bae.
I can not find a BL couple as good as Zhouzhou and Jingyu. even though they were rookies at the time of the drama, they made their character come to life
I mean they had bloody awesome chemistry, my number one passionate couple in my entire drama history. and the chemistry was not from the passionate kisses or sex like people expect it to be. it's just the presence of GU HAI and Bai Lu Yin puts my screen on fire
I am so obsessed over this drama that I was unable to watch any other drama after watching this and reading the novel for a month. I watched it and read it repeatedly. I still hate hate the fact that this drama has got no second season.
but it's okay I am satisfied with whatever I got till now. read the books peeps. you can watch uncut episodes somewhere on youtube
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Scarlet Innocence is a racy korean movie about a Professor who is sent to a small town after being suspended from his post at a university following claims of sexual harassment. He meets Deokee, an innocent and naive 18 year old girl who lives with her mute mother, looking for love and excitement in her boring little town that seems to be made up of an aging population. While the story line has a few unexpected twists, no event was appalling enough to really evoke strong feelings of sympathy towards the characters. I did not get angry with them, I did not feel sad with them, I was not happy with them. While the storyline had several poorly explained occurrences, some that seemed down right impossible, I think if there were stronger actors in the movie with better chemistry, this would have been more enjoyable to watch and receive a higher score from me. I mainly watched because it had some racy scenes which I like, especially in Korean cinema because they are usually well choreographed, but the sex scenes in this movie were just boring to watch and barely arousing. I didn't expect much after I saw the IMDB rating of 5.9, but I was still disappointed. TL;DR I wouldn't recommend watching even if you're bored. Unless you're REALLY bored and you're in the mood for a sub-par revenge story line.
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Unique story, not the best execution but still watchable
Edit: I decided to lower the rating in retrospect because it would be unfair to better shows that I want to give the 7.5 rating to since they have overall better quality and execution.ATTENTION: This show has triggering content in episode 7. I will put the trigger warning in a spoiler comment under my review for those who have triggers they have to avoid so they can check that out.
I think I will be the black sheep among the reviewers here but I don't think this show was good. Not by any fair standards anyway. But I will admit that despite being not-so-great, it was interesting enough and engaging enough for me to watch the whole thing so I still think it is worth one watch. It's very short anyway. It'll be over in a blink and it’s entertaining enough.
You should definitely give this a watch if you:
1. love BL stories
2.Looking for more BL shows to watch
3.Like watching boys look pretty and pretty much just that
4.Don't mind low-quality productions as long as it's gay
5.Love soulmate-au fanfictions
6.Have a thing for colors? BOI DO I HAVE THE SHOW FOR YOU!!!!!
7.Kind of about characters with disabilities? But not really?
8.Happy-ending
Summary: The show is set in an alternate universe where some people are colorblind and can only see color if they meet this one specific-to-them person. Then they will experience color rush and see colors. The colorblind people are called Monos and their color-filter halves are probes. The thing is, Monos are notorious for being dangerous because once they see colors, they get obsessive and might kidnap their probes or commit even bigger crimes. The main character Yeon Woo is a mono. He lives with his aunt after his mother who was also a mono, goes missing a few years before. He moves to a new school, meets his probe, drama ensues…
I get the feeling that a lot of this shows’ viewers are audiences who watch a lot of bl-web series? I'm not one. I've only seen one or two bl shows so I don't know if this show is somehow better than other available BL shows so I'm comparing it with all shows that I watch generally.
The premise for this show is so interesting and unique which is why I decided to watch it in the first place. I was a little disappointed to find out that the writing and production of this show is so weak. It's understandable, it's a low-budget show and you can really tell and they put most of the budget into creating these really beautiful and romantic color effects which pays off to an extent, because it makes the show unique and gives it a little something to set it apart.
But overall, it looks and feels like a student project. Like a typical “recently graduated film students got together and made something together” kind of short film you see on YouTube all the time. It's not the worst quality, it could definitely be worse, but the story was so interesting that with a better budget and better production it could have been much better.
The cinematography is very simple, they just...have the characters in the frame. They do some interesting things with color which I liked. The set design and the general worldbuilding is very sloppy, however. If they were being really smart about it, they could have used the costumes and set designs to reveal even more of the story and aesthetic but the look of the show is very careless so they clearly didn’t spend too long on it. Like they could have had the main character only dress in blacks and whites to show his lack of color sensitivity or have the set have really harmonious color palettes that would highlight the color rush experience. They could have even color graded the show to really capitalize on the sense of losing and gaining color but they only do that a little bit. Missed opportunity.
There’s a sense that everyone in the background besides the main characters, are just standing there like avatars in a video game from 15 years ago. They don’t act like humans and it makes the show look like a theatrical production rather than a TV show. I could nag about the production failures but a weak production can be overlooked if the writing is good. Unfortunately, this show actually suffers from weak writing:
Now that I have watched the whole thing, I know that a lot of subplots are left dangling. This is possibly for a second-season tease which they probably will get because everyone loved this show but to be honest, they made no effort to developed these subplots throughout this season. They are presented in the first episode and then remain in whatever state they were presented, all the way to the very end. It was sad. I wanted to know more about other monos. There’s a whole background situation about everyone hating monos and I think making that more visible in the show would have raised the stakes even more and made it more interesting.
The main issue was the voiceover. You can tell a writer has failed, if there is more voiceover in a show than dialogue. Each scene has the main character explain what we just watched, what everyone is feeling, and what it all means. You can tell this is a failed adaptation technique because that's one of the first things they teach writers about adapting stories: Avoid voiceovers as much as you can. It's a cheap trick. It's an obvious tell that the scene has failed to fulfill its reason to exist. The characters should not explain the emotions. The actors should act out the emotions and the script should provide them with good scene setups that help those emotions flow naturally. I honestly hated the voiceover for the most part. There were some funny, cute scenes where it made sense to hear the main character voice emotions that ever different from what he said or his actions but for the most part he just explained what we had just seen. And it was so unnecessary. To make it all worse, he poor actors actually did get the emotions through. The scenes were enough. Those voiceovers were just ruining the vibe!
Also, an issue: too many flashbacks to scenes we just saw. For such a short runtime, they could use that precious time for story-development.
Another minor complaint I have is the lack of levity in this show. I know it’s an angsty, serious show but all shows should have a little funny in them. It’s like the spice in a food. Even Greek tragedies have funny moments. There is an absurdity in tragedy and having that in your story humanizes the characters and situation. The show had a few of those scenes but I would vote for more! It could have more comedic moments.
Acting: Yoo Jun does a fine job but this is Heo Hyun Jun’s first acting gig I think and you can really tell. His annunciation, his facial expressions, his stance etc. they all expose him as a newbie and that’s okay, he can grow into a better actor but for this show it was kind of a bummer. Unfortunately, the supporting cast weren’t given much to do and they tried (well some of them did).
The music was very generic and worked with the creepy vibe of the show. Like almost every other show, they played the two romantic songs way too often and for way too long, it naturally became annoying. It’s like that “hmm watcha say” joke.
Overall, I would say this show is watchable. The story is so unique that it kind of pushes the viewer to want more. It’s a combination of high school drama, romance, mystery and suspense. All nice genres if you are into them. I didn’t love the show, mainly because I was so frustrated by the missed opportunities of it all but I did care enough to want to know what happens next. There is a lot of suspense and mystery and the dynamics of the characters are so inexplicable wacky and weird that you can’t help but be intrigued by it all.
It’s interesting because the show presents one dynamic for monos and probes then subverts this itself. There is a chase to the romance too. You don’t know if it’s going to end in a murder or a kiss and that’s usually a fun dynamic to watch! The main character is pretty likable despite being a very sad boi. I learned a lot about colors in this show too. I think that was a cute detail to put in. It felt like besides the destined nature of the romance, these characters were also really getting to know each other. They were also innovative with the situations that they put the characters in together as well. When watching too many romances, you start to see repeating patterns, this show avoided that for the most part. It was refreshing.
I hope if this gets a second season, they’ll be able to get a bigger budget and write it a little better. It has so much potential to be better.
I do think if you are looking for a super short, surrealistic bl romance that you should check this out. It’s not a very complex story. It’s just a simple thing to watch and pass the time
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Beautiful ost, Not so romantic, Tense drama
This drama was overall a well executed production. The storyline was unique and although it had a fairly limited setting, the dilemmas and conflicts kept the drama tense and on edge. It may be partially romance but it wasnt heavily written into this drama, having said that, the relationship does pull on heartstrings due to their illfated love. As for the actors, well... i might get hate for this but... i dont think the female lead was the best fit. Her acting is too shallow as a beginner and this drama really requires in depth, experienced acting. For me she just didnt show a variety of emotion in her face such as anger, frustration or confusion. In contrast the male lead actor was particulalry good at expressing his rollercoaster of emotions. The supporting cast were also very well casted and presented a mixture of characters who u either hate to the bone or u really sympathise with. An especially beautiful aspect of this drama was of course the soundtrack. Jamie millers ost really gave the drama an emotional atmosphere, and its definitely in my top 10 kdrama osts. Overall, it is a beautiful romeo and juliet scenario story and i would recommend it. However, whether its rewatchable, i would probaby not watch it again, because of the emotional twists and turns.Was this review helpful to you?
Another Great Fantasy
Li Yi Feng, I remember him in other Chinese Dramas and he is a great actor. I don't watch him a lot because he likes to take roles that are military and I love him in the fantasy roles like this one. This fantasy tops a lot of my other fantasy dramas. The visuals were breathtaking. Chen Yu Qi is one of my favorite top actresses so I already favored her in this drama. She was awesome. They made her role a little quiet but she had the strength I knew she has to take on this role. I would rewatch this again. The ocean was so blue and beautiful. I applaud all the other actresses and actors they also did an awesome job to make this fantasy seem real. This is another one of those dramas do not miss one episode and please don't go to the last episode to see the ending. You will miss out on some great storylines and visuals.Was this review helpful to you?
-WARNING-
This is a war movie and it involves violent scenes as well as emotional scenes, labile people (like myself) should not watch this!
The story of these two brothers is incredibly touching as well as it feels realistic to watch. I have only watched one movie with Won Bin (Jin Seok in this movie) before watching this and I was stunned by his performance on the screen and I can say that my admiration for him has grown to the skies. Along with Jang Dong Gun (plays his brother Jin Tae) he makes this movie insanely good.
The story, environments and the acting is all outstanding and every emotion is conveyed with precision and feeling behind it. As if all of this wasn't enough the music fits the movie perfectly and it's well timed with the scenes and creates the right mood.
I won't lie, I cried rivers. Especially at the end, but let me tell you, this entire movie is one single tragedy. But what can you expect from a war? This is the reason I had to deduct one point from the "Rewatch value", it takes to much off your heart and soul to watch this, my head aches from all the crying. I would watch it again, but I'll have to wait a while until I'm ready for it again.
Watch and enjoy!
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they tried too hard
The tight, compact story-telling of the first Enigma with its brilliant use of sound, lighting, well-contextualised props and acting was abandoned in this 'sequel.' Instead it takes on far too much and flops around from this to that to something else. Many of its half-hearted social critiques were superficial cliches and just a way to get around plot holes. Like all the events which really should have stopped the contest being ignored with a quick "the show must go on'. That's not commentary on the industry, that's lazy writing.And the amount of exposition? All of those long monologues may have been necessary to cram that much into five episodes, but it should have been an obvious signpost to the writers that they needed to drop some story lines and focus on one or two. They know how to do this, why didn't they here?
There were also several moments where it felt like they took violence and gore as an easy way out. It gets a reaction though, and that's popular.
Maybe the overload of things to react to is an attraction?
Acting was competent from the best known actors but not stellar; I've seen far better from all of them. JingJing nailed her late dramatic scene, but why her character was as she was? They didn't even try to explain that, let alone explore it (contrast Namsine in the first). Jew and MyDay were nothing more than cliches, chasing fame for I don't know, the sake of fame. They had specialisations in spell-casting rather than characterisation. I think Namtan was miscast, really rate her as an actress and this is the first I've seen her in where she didn't convince me - Anya had mood swings not nuance. That's on the writers and directors. Not sold on Toey's performance either. And they only played to Pompam's strengths briefly and late. (Also expected Anya to have a more substantial and interesting role. They obviously told a different story here than they were hinting at with the final scene of the first Enigma and that's fine, but they really dropped the ball with her character.)
Between the reality show framing and all of the jumping around from one thing to another, I found it difficult to stay immersed in the suspense and horror build-ups. That made it easy to notice the short-comings. Maybe it works better for those immersed in the broken attention and rapid focus changes of today's social media? I don't know. It didn't work for me.
Edit: The comparison to short form social media feels apt: a surfeit of small things formatted to grab attention and evoke big emotional reactions without taking time to explore and understand them. It's exciting on the surface. If that's what you're looking for, fill your boots. There's plenty of that here.
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Cute short movie featuring spicy chicken obsession
Overall: a 15 minute short movie about two friends who start living together. Bought/watched on Vimeo.Content Warnings: none
What I Liked
- the obsession with eating chicken was kind of funny
- the sweet moments including the subverted wipe mouth trope
- I appreciated the good continuity, a character said it was late and the clock was 10:10pm
Room For Improvement
- this really needed another minute or two at the end, it ended so abruptly. If the one guy had just passed out, but then they had a conversation in the morning when non-drunk, that would have been great.
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This review may contain spoilers
Surprisingly wholesome and not what I expected
I'm writing this as someone who hasn't read the manhwa and tbh I liked it a lot. I was afraid that they would make BDSM into something that's only funny and weird but I liked how there were characters who treated it normally and not just like it's a weird kink. I liked both leads a lot like how Jiwoo was a strong woman who won't take shit from anyone like her misogynistic boss also she was really sexy in the scenes where they did a play especially the one in the red room (I screamed lmao). Jihoo was really vulnerable and honest with his feelings which I really was touched by especially when he said that Jiwoo was the one and only sun to him (I may have cried a lil). It's refreshing to see how he also owned up to his preferences in front of the disciplinary board/bosses unlike others who usually would keep quiet and let the girl/their partner take all the blame because of their pride. It also showed the proper way of BDSM as well as the wrong way so people will be educated on the difference and the importance of consent. It also showed that not only men could be problematic but women (Jihoo's ex) could also be toxic and manipulative which is not shown a lot in media. The only thing that I have a complaint about is that I feel that the development of their feelings into love could have been shown more if this was a series but alas it's a movie (unless they have a part 2?). Anyways, it's worth the watch! Just don't watch this with your parents because it is really suggestive (though there was no nudity so incase they walk in you're safe on that aspect lol).Was this review helpful to you?
I have to admit, I watched it because Park Jin Young had a role in this and he was so so so good in this drama.
I even cried and whenever I cry, that's a good sign. :)
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The storyline of Roy Ruk Raeng Kaen is of two lovers separated by anger and plans of revenge - a typical lakorn plot. Unlike many other dramas, however, RRRK's storyline is really of one man trying - and failing miserably - to live with uncontrollable anger and how it destroys his life and all around him.
Hero (or lead, at least) Kimhan is driven by thoughts of revenge for the death of his sister and by what he views as his betrayal by the love of his life, Mook. Although Mook (played by the lovely Fonthip Watcharatraku, aka PookLook) is on the receiving end of his physical, verbal and emotional abuse, I think she comes out of this drama in the best shape. She learns from her experiences while the lead never does. This is the storyline in a nutshell, excluding manslaughter, crazy wives, earth-mother/folk singer/girlfriends on the side and suicide. The story is interesting and there are some great bits of dialogue musing on the meaning of life and love - but no resolution for Kim's anger.
An "A-Lead" that never learns from his mistake? How can this be, you ask? Easy - Kim may experience loneliness and sadness by the end of the drama but he NEVER stops trying to get his own way. It's really the driving fault of this show. I believe the writers were trying to give this show an open ending, leaving it up to us to decide if he's changed, but his smirks in the end scene showed me that he did not.
The cast was actually quite good - especially the veteran actor Leesuwan Watcharabul (aka Note) who plays Tada, the man behind all the drama. It is his wife that dies and predicates all the revenge action. He is a character that does learn from his mistakes! The second lead girl's father is also another tragic male character - I wish I knew this actor's name. It is largely his handling of "how to make his daughter happy" that leads to her mental illness and I think her father knew it. It broke my heart.
Lead actor Pataradet Sa-nguankwamdee Michael (also known as Michael Wu) has been criticized for being stiff but I think he's just a young actor. He certainly can do the "woo woo" scenes of extreme love, hate, sadness - but he doesn't show much for everyday thought or meaning. The script seemed to camouflage this by having him drink a lot but it didn't give him much of an acting range.
The music of this show was particularly nice. Each character had some sort of theme that clued you into their thoughts and there were no annoying "funny" soundtrack noises to get in the way of the story.
I think this show has some nice rewatch value - mostly so you can see the secondary characters (the brother, his girlfriend, the general, his daughter) do the heavy emotional lifting of this show. Several times, I've reflected on some of their lines and how they expressed feelings. Don't let "bad" hero Kim put you off this show - the real story is from the characters that swirl around in the wake of his bad decisions.
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goodish for what it was
Overall: this had only 14 minutes of total run time with a fairly confusing plot. However, I gave it a rating boost as they were open to feedback and it looked like a very indie production (plus they might have to deal with censorship rules). PPeach YouTube playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8QwMuXkPNuYrJwq3_Gh6rw4HxMkGaIZy&si=OQx5ByyeKA5DG8D9 (episodes 4-9 need channel Membership for $2.99USD (yellow peach or higher))Content Warnings: kidnapping/held against will, violence, manipulation
What I Liked
- clear premise at the beginning
- tension
- production value for what I assume was a very indie production
- listened to feedback such as adding subtitles in more languages, re-dubbed some episodes
Room For Improvement
- the episodes are extremely short, would have preferred a 15 minute short movie
- continuity error at the beginning of episode 2 with wearing a different outfit
- perhaps a translation error but he isn't a bodyguard he's a housekeeper
- confused about what the reveal in episode 4 meant, were they related? why were the guys trying to hurt him or where there 2 different set of guys wearing black?
- amnesia trope
- their relationship progression seemed very sudden, particularly with that ending, needed more build up to that and showing why they liked each other
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"We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes."
This is essentially the whole movie. Now that we have that out of the way, if you are looking for magical ladies and wands and pointed hats, that is definitely NOT this movie, and i think the misnomer brings the audience in with different expectation than what is delivered.
It is a lot of talking, sitting and talking, making paper airplanes and talking, the action is only about 10 minutes of this whole film. Very little emotion is invoked from the watcher, well this watcher at least. No bonds are formed during on screen time of this movie, but implied in a few minute flashbacks. No friendships, No enemies. and Certainly no romance.
It is not a bad movie, the acting was stable and YAY Lily Frankie, but the script was not memorable. Nothing comes out of this movie other than to google Pierre-Simon Laplace: ).
To sum it up If you love Sakurai Sho or Fukushi Sota or any of the other actors its an okay movie and you are probably going to watch it anyhow. If you are not a fan and are looking for a movie that is more than just a time killer, this is not for you
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