Reviews

The chemistry was fire but the ending was the water

Honestly could have been a 9(or even 10) if the last 2 eps were better(especially the ending). The story had a great start with both main leads being childhood friends and they really showed how close they were. I really like en ho character. I feel like the actor(do min) did very good I'm portraying a character who carefree and relatable. I also like how they portrayed the possessive side of do hyeon. many say the actor(in ho) didn't act well but a nonchalant and calm character I think he did pretty well. also the fact that this is his first series I'm pretty amazed. I like how the story talked about the concern about friends to lovers transition especially for a 19 year friendship. the only problem is the issue could have been better explained.

SPOILER AHEAD


Sooooo the ending was so rushed and not well written. The whole thing being a dream is a bit weird. someone said the it wasn't a dream but that last part where en ho woke up was actl him dreaming of them in high sch. so like dreaming about going back in the last and telling do hyeon that they will be together in the future and face problem. this as apparently the rre not the whole thing (link of the vid https://youtube.com/shorts/EQKbruQqh60?lc=Ugz6HyE8YMK63ABeGHp4AaABAg&si=thn4ljiG-dnJqexY the comments is below)
anyways if this is true they should have made clealer or ending w en ho waking up from the dream and telling do hyeon about or smth like that. but this ending made it a while lot confusing. also the break up and make up part in EP 9 and 10 felt very rushed. I like the make up part bring similar to how en ho said that him couldn't be just friends anymore(ep 6 I think?) but everything really felt rushed. I don't like that they had to break up at ¾ of the series but this break reason felt very realistic and relatable. I just wish they could have executed it better. but overall was a cute drama with a few spicy scenes. would rewatch again but the next time I'll prob just stop at the picnic scene lol

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Photodiary 1986 was a three-minute short film by Ito Takashi. It was reminiscent of a photo diary a person might compile of multiple shots of a familiar building from a window, later of a skyline, and then friends or family on vacation. But then thrown into a black hole and spewed out. Not unlike memory. Lol. It was an intriguing artistic view of similar images displayed with a variety of techniques.

25 September 2026

Trigger warning: If you are sensitive to rapidly changing images and strobing light or suffer from seizures due to these sorts of things, I’d avoid it. I’m not, but my eyes were dancing about trying to find something to focus on at various times.

Ratings note: There was no acting and no music, so I couldn't rate those items on our star chart.

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Boring feast

Honestly, I don't mind the drama that goes on in imperial harems, but this is unbelievably boring. Usually, this kind of drama is broken up by moments of action, but here it's just nonstop talking practically the whole time.

Throughout the whole drama, I was basically just waiting to see the two main leads in their scenes. Everything else is unnecessarily long, repetitive, and often just plain boring. It lacks pacing and any real sense of stakes. The actors are doing a good job; the problem really lies in the writing. Even the whole feast/food aspect quickly takes a back seat.

A good political drama, even if it involves a harem, still needs to have a certain pace. You can't just have 40 episodes of people talking like this, with so few scenes between the two main leads in the end.

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Good and then suddenly add in random things

First of all, everything was perfect at the start. I loved how they introduced the characters, the chemistry between the MLs, and the acting. However, after they got together and were finally happy, the story suddenly drops the f-bomb on us. Suddenly Eunho is insecure and dumps Dohyeon when he never cared about his achievements before. And maybe it was because Eunho didn’t think about the future as deeply before, but it doesn’t make sense for his character to suddenly become insecure when he was so stable before. And after all that, they also suddenly tell us it was all a dream happening in Eunho’s imagination??? Like make that make sense?? It makes no sense to build all this character development and story then suddenly drop it all with a plot twist that completely differs from what was initially developed throughout almost the entire show. It would’ve been perfect if they just ended the show after they got together and headed to college together, happily.

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A BL that didn't feel like one

I was quiet pessimistic about this considering it was forbidden romance and that is something that is quiet popular in Taiwanese BL but also disgusts me. But this drama handeled the relationship really well. Surprisingly there wasn't a second where i felt disgusted. Also them not being step brothers but just sworn brothers kinda helped too.

The drama really didn't feel like a BL to me. It just gave slice of life, where a brother is working super hard for his siblings to have a good life. Even though Yuan did kiss Qian I really didn't feel anything. Qian as a brother was soo good that until ep 11 I really only got a regular slice of life kinda vibes. Now i do get why people said they felt the love was one sided or it didn't feel more than brotherly love although we had a really good NC in it. The story focused on the emotional aspect soo well that nothing else really mattered.

Overall it was a good watch although I won't watch it again cz it's too stressful for me.

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I finished it (Trigger warning for SA)

I feel like I should get a reward for that because I wasn't the least bit interested in it after I started watching it. This wasn't the thriller they made it out to be. I was expecting something dark and twisted, but instead we got a college student making blood pacts with people, and those people making situations out to be 10X worse than they actually were. Why blood pacts? No idea.

The pacing made all but a couple of episodes a slog to get through. It didn't help that the episodes were longer than they needed to be, and watching at a higher speed only helped a little. The characters also didn't help. Our main characters had good chemistry, which is nice because I didn't care about them at all, and a lack of chemistry would have made me DNF the series so fast. The side characters were also just there half the time, and half of them served no real purpose. Jet's character, for example, was only there to cause problems and further the plot, while the parents & friends are just there to fill out the world.

Some little things also didn't make sense. Like, I'm a business major, and dancing classes weren't a part of the mandatory curriculum, last time I checked. I also don't get having sex with someone you just accused of murdering someone. Injuries also looked days old after only a couple of hours had passed.

There were a couple of things I liked about the series. I liked the scene with the confusion of American football and football everywhere else. There was a cool POV shot from the car as well. The production value was good; it's just the plot and script that wrecked the show. The OP, however, was my favorite thing; I already saved the song.

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Pointless.

I didn't understand the series at all. I couldn't figure out what its purpose was. There was a lot of explicit content; I kept thinking there might be a reason for it, but I didn't grasp that either. All I gathered was the story of a playboy who makes a wager with the woman he loves, wins it, and ultimately commits suicide. If that was the intended plot, then that is all I understood. I watched it out of curiosity.
I don't understand why this cast chose to appear in this series; it didn't seem like a good fit for them. I didn't like it. Everyone played their parts adequately—the acting was standard, without any over-the-top moments. I preferred the younger actors; Shin Youn Ha and Kim Min Ji, in particular, caught my eye. I think they have promising futures ahead of them. Aside from them, Han Sun Hwa gave a great performance. She really did justice to her role—in fact, I think she was the only one who truly delivered a solid performance in the series. I couldn't quite tell what the others were supposed to be portraying. That said, let's give credit to Nana, too; she put in a lot of effort and I liked her work, though she didn't particularly stand out or have a major impact. Ultimately, the show lacked a coherent premise. It was a series without rhyme or reason, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

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A Needed Story to Tell

in this age of seeking productivity, success, getting out of your comfort zone, and enduring stressful and hard-working environments just so you can feel good about yourself, this show was a balm to the soul.

it's insanely good at portraying characters struggling with their self-esteem and how they tie it to their careers and relationships. i appreciated the nuance of these turbulent characters, while the main character seems obnoxious at first, a quick glimpse into his inner struggles makes him endearing, especially in how he sugarcoats things and drives through his ups and downs.

it's not a romantic show per se, but the main dynamic is heartwarming in every possible way. i like my romance subtle, where it takes a back seat but the depth in it is still palpable, and this is exactly what the show does.

i was pleasantly entertained throughout it all, especially by how the writing balances different tones across different storylines. Deeply moving and inspiring. Nothing new since this is very much on brand with the writer, but it's refreshing to find stories that move you like this show does.

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A very effective soapy soap

I watched ep 149 and 150 in year 2026 bc there is no kdramas for 2 weeks due to some sports events, so someone in a current daily recommended this drama - and so I found that this is one of those "famous" classic dailies. So I was curious about it and did some research. Yeah this was a serious makjang, on stage and off stage...

I found out that the drama was super popular back then in 2013 AND ALSO had major scandals with actors being fired abruptly - the script writer Im Sung Han just killed them in the drama - but she kept her niece and expanded her niece's role lmao The drama is also "negatively famous" for plots and scenes that are immoral and contraversial. Writer Im Sung Han is a shady character.
https://dramabeans.com/2013/12/when-dramas-go-crazy-aurora-princess-a-case-study/

So just to recap: A very handsome bad boy is under the slipper of his crazy - literally crazy!!!! - 3 sisters.
Ignoring this fact, princess Aurora goes for the bad boy, gets burned, and then goes to the good boy - then back to the bad boy - then forward to the good boy .. LMAO how many times? - but then... she brings in the bad boy and all 3 live together in a polyandry (one woman and 2 men) ? Some ppl say the baby is good boy's, some say it is bad boy's - what is correct?

I tried to determine for myself, and watched ep 149, 150, and apparently, the baby is good boy's.
It is very clear that the bad boy and his sisters are totally delulu and his 2 oldest sisters are literally mentally ill, and he too :) He doesn't even know it.. The talk he had with his older sister as a ghost in ep 149 was soooo .... delulu, clearly, both are mentally off. What he was telling her that he never gave her enough and she deserved more was .... wow! batsh.t crazy. And his older sister is clearly in need of medical treatment for mental illness, obsession, psychopathy, etc etc etc Wow character. The ponytail sister too.... and the last sister has some trace of functionality, she is not straight batsh.t crazy. Just ... a little bit toxic :)

The drama is successful bc the music is very ... tense and dramatic and obvious .... and also acting is very good, ppl look good, and the script has many "real life juicy gossip" and lines...

Overall, the drama looks totally like real life, plus more drama and dramatic music, and with good looking ppl for most part lmao Both MLs are handsome . FL is .. not... but her look totally fits the role. She is perfect. The sisters are also good looking for their age., and all younger characters are good looking.

I found the drama online in go play dot su

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genuinely what the fuck was this

i genuinely dont know how this drama managed to have THIS much going on and still be this boring. it couldnt decide if it wanted to be a messy love square makjang, a business drama or some fake prestige “international” drama where they threw random white people into hotel lobbies and boardrooms, made everyone speak the most painful english imaginable.

and somehow except for choi yeo jin, nobody in this drama could act??? which was crazy because these werent even complete nobody actors. hyun min and se ra especially had ZERO chemistry. they felt like two coworkers who got told five minutes before filming that they were supposed to be dating.

se ra was also such a disappointment. i expected an ambitious femme fatale social climber and instead got “oppa youre not gonna leave me for the rich girl right” every five minutes. meanwhile hyun min wasnt even as innocent as the synopsis made him sound because tae hee was VERY obviously into him and he still kept entertaining her while acting like se ra was crazy for being jealous. sir be serious.

ironically tae hee/hyun min were the only reason i kept watching. choi yeo jin actually had presence and somehow those two had more chemistry in a few scenes than the supposed main couple had in the entire drama.

also i guess there really WAS a reason this flopped hard in korea. everyone involved financially deserved compensation for having their time and budget wasted.. easily one of the top 10 most boring kdramas ive ever watched.

i ended up skipping through a lot of this shit and mostly watching tae hee/hyun min scenes because somehow THEY became the only plot i cared about.

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True Beauty

I actually did like *True Beauty*. I think this is one of those dramas that you can really relate to, especially if you’re a high school student.

You’re not always going to feel like you belong to the “elite” group. You’re not always going to feel pretty or confident. And sometimes you can find something you’re genuinely passionate about, only to have everyone around you tell you that it’s not a real career or that you should be doing something “more successful.” You need to go to college, become a doctor, a lawyer, or something that society considers impressive.

I liked that the drama showed that success and happiness don’t always have to look the way other people expect them to. Sometimes the thing you’re passionate about really can be something you create with your own hands and something that makes you happy.

Now, controversial opinion… 😂

I don't think the male lead had the best acting skills. **The face card? 100%. Absolutely. 😭** But being beautiful doesn't automatically mean you're a great actor. I just didn't feel as much from him as I wanted to.

And honestly, I think the second male lead was carrying this drama. He was SO entertaining. 😂 He made me laugh so much, and I felt like he brought a lot of personality and energy to the show. I genuinely looked forward to his scenes.

Overall, I think *True Beauty* was an **okay, fine, good drama**. 😂 I enjoyed it, I could relate to parts of it, and it definitely had some memorable characters and funny moments.

Would I call it one of my favourite K-dramas? No.

But did I enjoy watching it? **Absolutely.** 💗

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??

Honestly, this was one of the best historical K-dramas I’ve seen in a while. I NEED them to make more K-dramas like this because this drama absolutely ripped my heart apart.

I loved Deok-im so much because she wanted to remain independent. She did love Yi San, but she also loved her freedom and the life she had built for herself. And honestly, I respected that so much. She didn’t just throw away who she was because she fell in love with him.

And the chemistry between these two??? SO GOOD. The tension, the little looks, the arguments, the longing… everything just worked. You could feel how much they loved each other, which somehow made everything even more heartbreaking.

This drama had me emotionally invested from beginning to end, and that ending genuinely destroyed me.

We seriously need more historical dramas like *The Red Sleeve* — beautiful storytelling, complicated characters, incredible chemistry, and a romance that actually makes you FEEL something.

I need another one like this immediately. 😭❤️‍🩹

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???

I absolutely LOVED The Glory.

This is exactly the kind of K-drama that pulls me in. Give me **bullying, revenge, secrets, manipulation, sneaky twists and turns**, and I'm seated. 😂

From the beginning, *The Glory* had me hooked because of how dark and calculated the story was. Moon Dong-eun isn't looking for a simple apology or some moment of closure. She spends years carefully planning her revenge against the people who destroyed her childhood, and watching that plan slowly unfold was SO satisfying.

What I loved most was that Dong-eun wasn't rushing anything. She was patient. She watched. She learned people's weaknesses and waited for the right moments.

And honestly, I was there for every single bit of it. 😂

The bullying scenes were extremely difficult to watch, though. They weren't portrayed as harmless school drama—they showed just how cruel and devastating bullying can be and how deeply it can affect someone's life long after the actual abuse has ended.

And then we have the revenge.

**Oh, I LOVED the revenge.** 😭🔥

Watching Dong-eun slowly dismantle the lives of the people who had bullied her was incredibly satisfying. Every little secret that came out, every relationship that started falling apart, every moment when someone finally realized that Dong-eun wasn't the helpless girl they remembered...

I was eating it up.

What also kept me hooked were the **twists**. There were so many moments where I thought I understood what was happening, only for another piece of information to come out and change everything.

And the characters? Whew.

Some of them made me absolutely furious. 😂 The villains were so easy to hate because of how selfish, cruel and entitled they were. At times I genuinely wanted to reach through the screen.

I also really appreciated that Dong-eun wasn't portrayed as someone who simply forgot about everything and moved on. Her trauma shaped her. Her revenge consumed a huge part of her life, and the drama allowed us to see the emotional cost of what she had experienced.

That made the story more than just *"victim gets revenge."* There was a lot of pain underneath it.

And I have to mention the romance as well. I liked that it didn't completely take over the story. The main focus remained Dong-eun's journey, while her relationship with Yeo-jeong gradually became an important source of support and warmth in an otherwise incredibly dark story.

For me, *The Glory* is the kind of drama that makes you say:

**"Just one more episode."**

And then suddenly you're several episodes deep because you NEED to know what happens next. 😂

The combination of revenge, bullying, secrets, psychological games and unexpected twists was exactly my kind of storytelling.

Was it dark? Absolutely.

Was it sometimes uncomfortable? Definitely.

Did I enjoy watching Dong-eun's revenge unfold?

**YES. A THOUSAND TIMES YES.** 😂🔥

*The Glory* is easily one of those dramas that reminded me why I love K-dramas in the first place. It had me angry, shocked, emotional, satisfied and constantly trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

**This one was absolutely my cup of tea.**

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