Reviews

this was refreshing, cause i liked that even…

this was refreshing, cause i liked that even though Kakeru didn't understand Yamato's initial confession, when he heard him a 2nd time, telling others - the penny dropped. liked that it didn't need for one half to keep dropping hints the size of elephant's & only when they came 'hat in hand' then the other half would get all flustered & not know what to do. so like that here straight off we got development. now Kakeru can mull it over on his own & wont be blindsided when Yamato does decided to take the bull by the horns & confess clearly. well i hope so - *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************already feel sorry for the only girl that got close to Kakeru, but as she kept saying he reminded her of her brother idk what to think lol... *****************************************************************************************************************************also what was the deal with Yamato's sister. her whole attitude gave mean girl vibes. does she suspect about her brother & his bff & doesn't approve?!?

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This series is off to a strong start

Top Form has captured my heart. Everything from the OST to cinematography to the plot to the performances is high quality. I find myself getting lost in the world of each episode. The story of Akin and Jin is fresh. I saw someone complaining about them being a stereotypical ship, but I disagree. It's so different to me at least to see the younger one so actively and unapologetically pursing the older character. So far, the episodes have also had interesting commentary on the entertainment industry as a whole. Also I love how Akin and Jin seem to be foils of each other. Typically, you mostly see foils utilized in dramas as a way to separated the antagonist and protagonist but I l o v e to see literary foils utilized between love interests. I'm interested to see where this series continues to go. My main complaint is that the episodes should be longer.

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I can't tell what this series is trying to be.

I think this series is struggling to find it's footing between campy moments of comedy and dramatic tension, but it swaps through them almost like whiplash making it jarring for me the viewer. There's some interesting stuff going on for example playing into the time old trope of utilizing vampirism as a metaphor for queer desire, but every time I feel myself getting sucked into the story, I get yanked back out again by moments that make me cringe (and a lot of these moments I can tell are not supposed to be interpreted as cringey or funny). I really wanted to like this series but it's falling flat for me, ever since the staggering amount of exposition in episode one. Gawin, who is a very talented actor, seems way too old to be playing an 18 year old first year university student, that sometimes takes me out of it too. His character is... a lot. Sometimes I find Tong genuinely endearing but most of the time, I find him childish and kinda cringe. Joss' performance is also falling flat for me this time around. It's hard to play a stoic character with little to no dialogue. Anyways, I'll give episode 4 a shot and see if I can fall in love with it. I'm still holding out hope given that Gawin is one of my favorites under GMMTV, but I am not sure it's going to win me over....

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All's well that ends well

You can tell by the headline that this drama has happy endings. Subaru and Madoka get back together. The kids department of Fukuten produces a hit product and gets new life. Subaru and Tomoya make up. Lily gets to show her legs one more time. Richard makes one last appearance and says 100x more words than he ever had before. Wataru gets his dying(?) wish for the company. And at the end, the two love birds share a hug and kiss. In the last scene, they are walking along with a young son in tow. My final thoughts for this drama are that I enjoyed the romance and comedy at the beginning, but unfortunately both tapered off in the second half of the series. Overall it was enjoyable, though.

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The long ordeal of the fox priest

Epiode 3: The long ordeal of the fox priest.Yuan Zhong, deceived and manipulated by the elders who, taking advantage of their naivety and trust in them, convinced him to put the restrictive collar around his neck with their own hands (to “supposedly” overcome the 5 deadly sins, pass the ordeal of the world and achieve immortality). When he put on the restrictive gold collar, his power began to be sucked away. “Farewell, high priest.” Everyone, dressed in their blue robes, kneels before the high priest who enters the cave, the dungeon where he will be imprisoned. He is so handsome in the white robe and the gold necklace, he looks somberly at everyone and enters the cave of his ordeal. The heavy gates close. He looks up at a crack in the ceiling of the cave and the ray of light covers him. Tan Yin hears the hypnotized man (for 40 years he was sealed). She asks why they treat this high priest and hero of theirs, and the man explains: because of fear, because they killed his family and friends and told him it was the ghosts of war. (but it was them, the priests themselves, because they questioned them for locking Yuan Zhong in the cave. So, they continued to confine Yuan Zhong. Tan Yin was even more outraged. Now it was the sword-in-the-stone moment from the King Arthur books. (Yuan Zhong was the only one who managed to use the divine hand that was kept in the rock. Everyone who tried fell dead. Because of this, the relatives wanted to see their children, and so they were massacred by the fox clan. (because they wanted all the other young people back, and also their son Yuan Zhong.) Tan Yin squirts blood because she cannot maintain the power of hypnotism for long (in the mortal world). The man wakes up and she suddenly disappears, without him seeing her. (in the past, back in the cave, Yuan Zhong faces his five selves (conflicting with him, accusing him and instigating him), it is himself against himself. His five selves (five deadly sins), which he needs to overcome. And then, Yuan Zhong, waking up, was a nightmare in which he remembered what happened in that cave, for 40 years. In front of the blue tree that shines Tan Yin waits worriedly, outside the door of Yuan Zhong's palace. He opens the door and comes out with his long hair loose and his impeccable white robe. He asks why she is there and she is in his thoughts (he says: all living beings suffer and we must have compassion), and then he hugs him. But he does not understand why she is so tender. Here, when she hugs him it is not yet love, it is just the deep feeling of compassion she feels for him. She wants to comfort him. She hugs him. Remember that she is a 1000 year old goddess who has a deep feeling in her heart. And he is a person with a still naive heart, despite being a priest. Tan Yin transports herself to the celestial dimension and talks to her friend. The friend asks her if she feels something more for Yuan Zhong, she says it is just compassion (but her expression is suspicious that there is something more that is being born.). Her friend warns her that Yuan Zhong is not more important than the divine realm and not more important than the god Taihe, who needs her on this quest to find the divine left hand. Yuan Zhong asks Tan Yin to come with him to the mountain, but on the way he feels ill and sits down on a rock to rest. Tan Yin seriously insists to Yuan Zhong that he needs to get rid of this restrictive collar, he is like a god and illness should not touch him, and this collar is causing all this. She mentions that people think he is a monster imagining that he would do cruel things, but he just laughs and says that he should not care what people say. And that seeking enlightenment has always been his lesson to them. (But Yuan Zhong was very surprised that a woman would care so much about them, since they had always only looked at the young general Tang Hua. “You admire me,” Yuan Zhong said to Tan Yin. He said, you always knew who I was, since that day at the maid selection, you already knew about me. Yuan Zhong entered the palace to tire himself reading books, as part of his penance (he says it is to overcome ignorance, which is also a capital sin).General Tang Hua in the next scene seems suspicious and talks to his aide. Tang Hua laughs mockingly that the council of elders might have the strength to overcome the ghosts of war. Tan Yin witnesses Yuan Zhong leaving the palace, in his white robe, the aide carrying a wheelchair. She is worried, but they do not explain why he has a wheelchair. Tan Yin unmasks her colleague Lui Yiao, who wanted to kill Yuan Zhong. Tan Yin pours corrosive poison on the floor in front of her. Lui Yiao says that the fox clan deserves this, as they are all cruel. They have power and deserve this evil. Tan Yin questions, is someone evil just because they have power? Zidhai finds LuiYiao, questions her, and soon realizes that something is wrong. Yuan Zhong arrives weak, sitting in a wheelchair. He is unconscious. Yuan Zhong has been placed in a hot tub to recover. Tan Yin arrives, touches his cold forehead and is frightened. He begins to lean over and she supports him. The assistant and the elderly woman arrive, who are very worried, take care of Yuan Zhong and use her medicinal power to treat Yuan Zhong. Tan Yin asks the assistant what this spiritual refinement is that Yuan Zhong is always taken to undergo at the hands of the elders. But the assistant does not explain, he says it is a secret technique of the fox clan. The elderly woman asks with a worried face, looks at him lying on the bed, if Yuan Zhong really thinks it is useful to go through all this. He reaffirms that he does, and reminds him about the 5 deadly sins, which he needs to overcome. And that spiritual cultivation is necessary. Tan Yin enters the room and asks Yuan Zhong if he wants to eat. He gives her a recipe for a meal, but she does not know how to make it. He says another, she doesn't know how to make it. She says she's going to make some porridge. (I think the foods Yuan Zhong mentioned have something to do with his family members). Suddenly, Tan Yin turns around and asks if he's never imagined that maybe everyone is deceiving him about this cultivation of immortality. He looks at her in surprise and says that doubt is a form of obsession, which is also a sin. Zidhai went to talk to Tan Yin and asks for help about the bracelet she has on her wrist, which restricts her. Zidhai says that it's not the first time the mortal clan has sent assassins to the foot of the mountain. Zidhai tells Tan Yin that Tan Yin's name is not registered in the artisans' document. Which is suspicious. But Tan Yin is always one step ahead and gives him a fitting answer. Tan Yin again follows Yuan Zhong, in his white clothes, with the helper carrying the wheelchair, to the cave of spiritual refining. She asks him not to go, as he is too weak. Back in the cave, we find out what really happens. Yuan Zhong sits on a chair, where he is twice drained (his spiritual strength is removed from his neck and collected in a vessel. On the other side, another bucket collects his blood. Zidhai, hidden behind the rocks, finds that the nutritious seed she is holding in her hands, a seed that shines, is actually... Yuan Zhong looks at the heavy wooden door, the place where he entered and was confined for 40 years, the trauma shines in his eyes. Someone tells Elder DingXi to stop the draining, or he can't take it anymore. Elder answers.

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The end is near, despair haunts.

The enemy says, I have come to destroy you, Yuan Zhong. I will return. This is just the beginning. Indeed, Yuan Zhong has many enemies. Tan Yin uses her spy artifact, puts Yuan Zhong under hypnosis and explains to him who she is and what she has to do with him. But when She notices the power-restricting collar around Yuan Zhong's neck, she gives up at that moment.The elders of the fox tribe are very frivolous. They are gathered in their silly conversations, plotting their next steps. Tan Yin ascends in spirit form to Hannu in the spiritual dimension and questions her about whether Yuan Zhong really is what they say (cruel and inhuman), since she has begun to doubt it. Hannu says that a weak person cannot necessarily be bad. Tan Yin acquiesces but says that she will investigate.Yuan Zhong is walking on the mountain, he meets Tan Yin and saves her from a green snake. He suddenly feels dizzy. Tan Yin helps him sit on the rock. He explains that he was poisoned, but that he is an immortal, and it cannot kill him.Tang Hua, the young general of the fox tribe, talks to the council of elders about the strange phenomenon that is happening (people being poisoned and turning into cruel zombies). The council of elders explains that this technique only exists in the clan of war ghosts (but they no longer exist in this world). The elders say that no one could scare Yuan Zhong and no one in the world knows war ghosts better than Yuan Zhong. They ask Yuan Zhong to come forward.Tan Yin gives Yuan Zhong a lame excuse about a dog on the mountain, which made her come to that place (Yuan Zhong finds this strange since she is a maid).Tan Yin opens her magic bag (full of trinkets) and finds an ointment to treat Yuan Zhong's poisoning.Yuan Zhong asks his assistant to investigate Tan Yin. (Is she a spy for the human race or for the ghosts of war?). Instructor Zidha, with her cold expression, explains to the maids about a selection to serve the priest Yuan Zhong (it requires great artistic skills). Zhidhai sees the young general Tang Hua pass by and she remembers the past when she saved him from death, but he seemed not to notice her.Yuan Zhong arrives at the council of elders' room, and in his soft and arrogant speech, he tells the elders that the beautiful maid has come to look for him (the beauty). And that the elder is getting old, he does not know about these problems of Yuan Zhong. Tan Yin uses magical powers and helps her in another dimension to pass the artistic tests in the selection of Yuan Zhong's maid. Yuan Zhong observes Tan Yin's performance in all the tests. In the end, Tan Yin shows her best skill, that of a craftswoman. She manages to break the lock of the restraining bracelet on her arm. And then, she says that she is able to free Yuan Zhong from the golden collar around his neck. Yuan Zhong accepts (everyone says it's impossible). Tan Yin tries, but fails and even causes a wound around Yuan Zhong's neck. But she is still chosen by him to be his personal maid. And he doesn't let them punish Tan Yin.And Yuan Zhong says that this collar for him is a ladder to greatness and success. One of the soldiers of the fox clan tries in front of everyone to assassinate Yuan Zhong. Tan Yin throws herself in front of him, but Yuan Zhong's aide arrives first and plunges his sword into the back of Yuan Zhong's enemy. Tan Hua is saddened because he was a friend. But Yuan Zhong's aide says that he could not allow them to hurt the priest Yuan Zhong. Tan Yin, already at home, asks Yuan Zhong if he is sad about the possession he witnessed on General Chizi today. Yuan Zhong asks if she knows the possession technique? She says she knows that it is something from the ghosts of war. Instructor Zidhai talks to an acquaintance about the need to find a way to unlock the restraining bracelet on her own arm. This acquaintance tells her that there is someone who can help her. “The end is approaching, despair haunts,” mentions Elder Ding Yuxi (this was the phrase repeated by the mind-possessed man who tried to kill Yuan Zhong that day). The elders argue among themselves, saying that it is impossible for the ghosts of war to have returned. They know that this is one of the mottos of the ghosts of war. “The end is approaching, despair haunts.” One of the elders is frightened and insists that the ghosts of war may have returned. Although the others say that the ghosts of war were eliminated in the battle of PingXu years ago. One of the elders mentions eliminating the priest. Elder DingXu angrily rebukes him, not accepting the proposal. No one is allowed to disturb Yuan Zhong’s cultivation until they find out the truth. They will investigate. Tan Yin meets another priest who lives on one of the mountains. He is drunk. She uses a spell and asks him about a war in the past, what does he know about it. Why Yuan Zhong, a hero of their people who saved them from a tragedy, is treated in such a humiliating way. Then, Tan Yin sees in his mind, the moment when Yuan Zhong received the collar for the first time, he was convinced by Elder DingXi and other elders that this collar would make Yuan Zhong a god, crossing the path of immortality through earthly sacrifice (but in the elders' thoughts, they said: Yuan Zhong does not really know that the bridge between dimensions was destroyed and it is not possible to ascend to immortality. ). Tan Yin questions about this, irritated, because she knows that this is impossible, the bridge was destroyed. The hypnotized man says: but Yuan Zhong does not know that. The elders in the past, praised Yuan Zhong for his deeds in the war freeing the fox clan and said that he would have a chance to ascend to immortality. He accepts and they put the collar of another power restrictor on him. Elder DingXi in the past tells Yuan Zhong that he has to resolve the 5 deadly sins in his heart to ascend to immortality (1-hypocrisy, 2-obsession, 3-ignorance, 4-jealousy, 5-cruelty). In this way, Yuan Zhong would be free from worldly desires. All evil in the world stems from these sins and Yuan Zhong is no exception. He has to go through the trials of the mortal world, sealed with the collar that suppresses the power of the divine hand to ascend to immortality. Tan Yin questions the hypnotized man, that this is a cruelty that they are doing to Yuan Zhong, deceiving him. She angrily and indignantly asks why they are treating their great and heroic high priest Yuan Zhong like this.

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