Reviews

On the road again!

Children of the Beehive was a post WWII film about orphans, both children and adults with no home and no family. Director Shimizu didn’t shy away from the hardships the Japanese faced, especially the most vulnerable, yet he also bathed those hardships in kindness and generosity.

Several orphans hang out at the train station finding ways to make money, fleecing people for a one-legged man they call the Old Man. They run into a repatriated Soldier who opts to not get on the train. He shares some food with them and they also meet a Young Woman. When the police arrive to arrest vagrants, the boys and the Old Man scatter. The Soldier and boys meet up on the road with the boys deciding to tag along with him. He insists they find jobs that don’t involve the black market or stealing. Along the way, they pick up more boys as they stop and do jobs for food or money. The Soldier is guiding them to the orphanage/reform school he attended, “Introspection Tower,” so that they will have a safe home and schooling. He seeks to teach them kindness, generosity, respect, and hard work as they travel together. A found family slowly develops strengthening them, which helps them when death and other adversities strike.

This film was a loose sequel to Shimizu’s Introspection Tower. I didn’t care much for the original, which smacked too much of wartime propaganda for me. This time it was the US censors that had a hand in this film, which was also problematic. Much as in the first film, the boys worked at dangerous adult jobs. What I really liked about this film was the found family element, showing that in a world on the brink and slowly rebuilding, it really was safer to stick together rather than go it alone. Especially when you’re only 10-years-old. While they may have dealt with hard labor and having no parents, the boys still showed they were kids, finding ways to play and even approaching a little league team.

Beehive acknowledged the dark side of post war Japan-poverty, hunger, lack of shelter, prostitution, homeless orphans, and exploitation. Shimizu softened the edges of those harsh realities as the boys had enough food and were generous with their food. They never truly suffered from being exposed to the elements in tattered clothing. Work also appeared to be plentiful as The Soldier refused to take illegal jobs, despite the precariousness of his own situation and the boys’. The rousting of vagrants and need for “papers” was often mentioned but never enforced. No one questioned a man with 8 boys hanging around him. The Young Woman came into play off and on and was the only true feminine presence. No orphan girls were ever seen, once again showing how filmdom’s demographic skews heavily male.

Children of the Beehive was populated with inexperienced actors which lent the film a natural feel. The film itself was quite aesthetic accompanied by a pleasing score. A scene near the end was one of the strongest and heartbreaking scenes in any film. It would be difficult to find a film with a more poignant moment, reinforcing the love and loyalty these children felt for each other. Everyone was capable of redemption and being brought into the family. Kindness overrode cruelty and selfishness was transformed into generosity. The children were tremendously resilient. Given the bleak setting (there was even a side trip to Hiroshima) the film culminated in hope and acceptance. Though it might not have been terribly realistic, I quite enjoyed this positive road trip emphasizing the need children, and adults for that matter, have for safety, a home, and love.

9 February 2026

Read More

fun until it got too dragging

I initially really enjoyed this drama.

It was fun until it got too dragging.

I liked the female main lead- at first, but her life just revolves around her work. I understant the grind. The love one has for their work and passion. But in this case, it superceeds almost everything in her life. At first it was cute and admirable, but as I kept watching, it became too cringey and dragging. It felt like it was romanticizing how you’re supposed to just take every hit if if means you get the goal. It portrayed how its okay for a company to just use you as a tool, as long as you produce something again, they’ll take you back. It’s aggravating to watch. And the female main lead just allows it all to happen.

I also have an issue with how nothing about this series goes a bit deeper in terms of personal relationship between the leads… For almost all the 36 episodes all she ever talks about with everyone is work. All about the book, manuscripts, ghost writing, etc. I swear, it’s all about books and work. I know that’s the theme, but there should be something deeper in there. It felt superficial. There is nothing in this story that gave the characters some dimension. The male lead has so much character in him, but when he interacts with the female lead it turns bland, because it’s all about work. Nothing fully about them…

Episode 35 is one of my favorite episodes as it was a full circle for the father and son. Out of all the episodes, this one showed heart the most. The essence (challenges and happiness) of parent and child relationship was fully embodied here.

Out of everything they dealth with in this series, the issue with the celebrity is the part I loathed the most. Too much unnecessary drama for a series that’s supposed to focus on the publishing world.

I came here after watching a drama from the same leads, I had high expectations because I gave that drama such high ratings, but this, the story and execution, sadly really disappointed me.

Read More

Clean and Cutesy RomCom If You Want Something Uncomplicated

‘My Boss’ has been popping up on my Viki for the longest time, but for some reason, I just continued skipping over it. After finishing ‘Love Between Lines’ with Chen Xing Xu, I just let the algorithm feed me the next best thing with him, which was I finally clicked on ‘My Boss’ because, well, it was there and I had nothing else to watch. So here we are!

First things first: this is a cute, silly, romcom that thrives on the opposites-attract trope, packed with characters misunderstanding each other for the most of the drama and a classic cohabitation setup. The romcom vibes are STRONG here, and you’ll need to suspend your belief for almost every episode. The fun atmosphere is maintained throughout the drama—except for the last three episodes, where things took a turn.

‘My Boss’ doesn’t take itself too seriously. No time wasted on unnecessary side characters or convoluted side stories. We mostly focus on our main couple, Cheng Yao (played by Zhang Ruo Nan) and Qian Heng (played by Chen Xing Xu). There’s a side couple, but they don’t hog the screen time and the supporting female lead’s story is actually quite interesting.

The secondary couple’s role is important to the overall story, and everything ties together nicely in the end.

But honestly, the real highlight for me was the banter between Cheng Yao Qian Heng and the hilarious situations they find themselves in. Let’s just say I laughed a lot!

If you're expecting a passionate romance, though, temper your expectations. This drama doesn’t dive into physical romance much—there are a couple of moments and yes, they do kiss a few times, but overall, the story is focused on the emotional connection rather than the physical. Cheng Yao and Qian Heng are adorable together, and their romance feels believable, but I'll be upfront: Zhang Ruo Nan doesn’t have the same chemistry with Chen Xing Xu here as she does with Bai Jing Ting in ‘The First Frost.’

Now, on to some things that could use improvement. Whoever styled Cheng Yao... yikes! I get that they’re trying to showcase that she’s different from other women in the industry, but some of her hairstyles and outfits made her look downright unappealing and unattractive at times. This is an extremely outdated take on female characters in fiction. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a female lead being dressing well! It feels like the writers wanted us to focus solely on her skills rather than her looks. I can’t fault them too much for this formula, since it sells, but still—come on! I stand by my opinion. It is an outdated notion.

The last three episodes were a bit of a downer for me. The characters kind of drifted apart, which wasn’t quite a breakup—more like a break. I get Cheng Yao wanting some space, but those episodes slowed the show’s funky pace significantly. I don’t have the problem with the idea the writers were trying to convey through their separation. I do understand if you are trying to stand on your own 2 feet and you’re over wearing boyfriend is trying to make decisions for you. it’s definitely necessary to put some space between each other. But I think the way the situation was delivered to the viewer made it boring. The drama lost its spark for the duration of that separation.
It recovers toward the end and the final episode was a nice wrap-up to watch. It was just a tad anticlimactic the way everything was presented to us before the final episode and how things fizzled out—mainly due to Cheng Yao's insecurity. Honestly, if she dressed better, she might not have felt so insecure! Sorry, but I said what I said. Wearing nice clothes and having your hair done properly makes a big difference in woman’s overall wellbeing.

That said, these little quirks didn’t overly affect my score because I still had plenty of fun watching the drama. I just hoped that this drama would not be like the rest of the C-dramas where toward the end they all get all teary-eyed after two thirds of romcom. The story was interesting and well-written. Writers didn’t squander time on side stories(I was so happy parents did not get any independent scenes and only appeared when the lead characters were the picture), and the business setting was just enough for us to grasp that this was a drama set against a legal backdrop. Plus, I absolutely loved the vibe of their apartment scenes and the night cityscape scenery. Very pretty!

Overall, I think this will be a great drama for someone looking for something uncomplicated—just pure laughs and a typical, clean C-drama romcom.

Read More

A very toxic but beautiful story.

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this series It hit on a lot of moron ethic moments. However this series is extremely toxic at every form. From horrible fake relationship to practically selling himself for money. There was nothing clean about this series. The actors were amazing The chemistry was perfect The scenery was beautiful and the co-cast was great. I don't agree with the ending I feel like no one should have been together and that Joe should have moved on his own. There was nothing clean about any of the relationships on the show. The start of the series was touching but definitely not the ending I wanted or hope for I really wish that they stood away from each other because in the end the series kind of just repeated itself from the beginning to end between the relationship nothing really changed there was very minor league good parts at the end for the relationship overall they should have just never been together.

Read More

No... Just no... TutorYim deserve so much better

I watched this after Bed Friend, which comes before it, and which was a lot better.

Story? There wasn't really one. The main character is so insufferable that I found myself hoping the main love interest would just decide to move on. This was the weakest aspect of this series. Why did they change Jade so much from the first show? (Disclaimer: I haven't read any of the source material.)

The comedic moments are not funny. The actors were fine, but they weren't given much worthwhile to do. I watched most of this on double speed, and I never felt like I was missing anything. What was even happening? Two people like each other, and eventually get together, with no real conflict or any interesting aspect other than one of them being shy and insecure, but not in an endearing way, it's just irritating. It doesn't seem like Mai should be into Jade, and we don't see Jade fall for Mai either, we just assume it's mutual since Mai is absolutely perfect. Jade is absorbed in his hobbies and seems to develop feelings for Mai out of convenience, since the guy just shows up and wants to date him, which is not interesting. Scenes are slow and don't move the plot along (because there isn't one). The second couple is nothing special, but they're almost preferable to the main one just because of this horrible character Jade.

The main couple from Bed Friend could have been given something worthwhile to do, but instead they just acted as passive advisors on love and had some minor spats. Very boring. Everyone's families are there just to be generally supportive of everything going on. Very boring. The NC scenes were decent, but so few that they felt out of place. They could have at least given one to NetJames, so that at least some more interesting things would be going on.

Rewatch value: I will rewatch certain parts for Tutor's body, face, and especially tongue... it's doing a lot of heavy lifting for overall worth of this show. He's so fine, seriously.

I thought "Battle of the Writers" wasn't good, but it was something close to a masterpiece in comparison to this trash. If you like TutorYim, that's a much better watch.

Read More

Everyone needs an Indigo Summer

So many vertical series and I was late to this... because I would not watch a 90 second clip every day for 60 days :) But thankfully this show is also available as a "movie" with around 90 minutes runtime. So this is more manageable for me,

Compared to the trash thai and even the US produces, this was quite nice. While it also contains classical clichés it's better made, better edited and better acted. Production quality was very high for a vertical production.

I won't spoil the contents of this series, but sufice to say, it was not bad. It was a honest effort, not great - but which vertical series could ever be great - but nice to watch. There are rough egdes in the script but overall it's very decent. So if you are deillusioned by trashy 16:9 series, this is a nice counterbalance.

Read More

no fue lo que esperaba la vdd

sinceramente la estoy mirándo por el protagonista, lo conocí en weak hero class 2 y verlo en este papel es completamente diferente. por lo que he visto en estos dos capítulos su actuación me está pareciendo bien, espero ver más.

la trama está entretenida (el prota hace la cura para las enfermedades incurables pero a su paso tuvo que dar de baja como a 17 personas entonces lo llevan a juicio por ser un “asesino serial”)
me gusto más el capítulo dos que el primero, porque al principio como que sentí muy floja a la que hace de fiscal, sentía que querían darle esa personalidad fuerte, con carácter e inteligente pero la sentía un poco forzada pero ya en el capítulo dos me convenció un poco.

quiero ver más enfrentamientos de argumentos y pruebas en el juicio, tambien espero los próximos capítulos y cuando sea el final, ojalá sea uno muy bueno o decente. actualizaré mi reseña cuando la acabe (así que la puntuación no es la final) :p

ACTUALIZACIÓN!!!
la verdad no me gustó como fue avanzando la serie, porque al final todo se fue convirtiendo en un tema político (tuvieron más relevancia los congresistas, jueces y empresarios en la historia) y senti que el prota le dieron un segundo lugar.
no entiendo porque si me das a entender que la historia sera de un asesino serial que tiene la cura y es llevado a juicio, comienzas a enfocarte en que los políticos estuvieron detrás de todo eso y ellos fueron los “creadores” de que el protagonista terminara siendo el que posee la cura en su sangre.

y no, lo que esperaba de ver mas argumentos, pruebas en el juicio no fue como esperaba, la fiscal siempre daba los mejores contra argumentos, asi que por esa parte me decepcione del abogado, esperaba que revelera pruebas impactantes o que dejaran sin argumentos a la fiscal pero no sucedio, realmente no me daba la sensacion de que fuera un gran abogado (esperaba tipo un vincenzo o la abogada woo pero nel) asi que por la parte del juicio me parecio muy flojo


tenía la sensación que no supieron como llevar el enfoque de la serie, en momentos se me hacia muy lenta y en otras ocasiones me preguntaba que serie estába viendo. no le dieron desarrollo al protagonista, yo creía genuinamente que era una persona psicopata o tenía algunos rasgos de estos, porque al principio me lo demuestran con esta personalidad sarcástica, cínica, apática, egocéntrica y demás pero al final senti que era totalmente diferente, más al saber su pasado y darme cuenta aue era un tipo normal sin esas actitudes, entonces me quedé pensando en que influyó para comportarse así? fue como ??? el golpe? el tratamiento? no lo sé, queria saber más a fondo del prota; tambien porque hizo lo mismo que hicieron con el (experimentar, utilizar sujetos de prueba para la cura, y terminar de dar de baja a las 17 personas)

al final no se trataba de un asesino que quería demostrar que podía hacer la cura, sino que todo fue venganza (? por la muerte de su madre y por experimentar con el prota (? eso si esta interesante pero si esa versión me la manejabas desde el principio otra cosa fuera, porque yo tenía otra expectativa, no que fuera de venganza la verdad. genuinamente creía que la trama solo sería de un asesino y su proceso para crear la cura, asi que esperaba un trasfondo. las explicaciones me parecieron deficientes, muy conveniente que el prota resultara ser la cura y lo explicas muy superficial, al igual que pudiera curar CUALQUIER enfermedad INCURABLE, siendo un ex estudiante de medicina como es que el SI pudo hacerla y los médicos e investigadores no han podido, es como ???

las actuaciones fueron buenas, aunque no tuve favoritos o algo por el estilo, el prota tambien me pareció decente (lo conocí en weak hero class asi que me agradó verlo en este papel (:)
pero los personajes si me aburrieron, no los encontraba interesantes ni nada por el estilo (igual los que supuestamente eran los antagonistas, no tenían carácter ni nada)

el final no me gusto tanto, lo senti apresurado, no explicó muchas cosas y te deja pensando en que paso despues. porque al final no muere el prota, entonces como fue que sobrevivió? que plan ideo para que todos creyeran que estába muerto si le dispararon y la policía encontró su cuerpo, quien lo ayudó? que hará ahora? no me gustó, queria un final cerrado y con explicaciones. porque al final los malos y poderosos fueron llevados a la justicia de una manera rápida y facil, o sea, a la fiscal no le costó tanto más que hacer amenazas y ya.

pd: si estás interesado en ver una serie sobre un asesino, que la trama se enfoque en aquello que lo llevo a convertirse en uno y el desarrollo de la cura, este no es uno de esos.

-18/ marzo/ 2026

Read More

Poorly written show, waste of a talented crew.

I don't know why this drama's writers dropped the ball so hard.
It was interesting enough till episode 9...
The rest is pure too much melodrama to be enjoyable, I like both actors, but you must be really dumb to make such decissions, like when the doctor was rescued in the movie theater and kidnapped again.
The female lead is the most useless circus member I have seen.
Being jealous of your other self only works in hard comedy beyond the show's name referencing the movie Me, Myself and Irene.
The cops are laughably stupid.
There's so much things that didn't work for me...
Like you can see the villain almost twirling his moustache in every scene.
I watched the last episodes in 2X speed LMAO! it was so predictable that one of the personalities was going to dissapear and obviously the one doomed was Robin!!! I don't know what is more anticlimatic, the villain or the end.

Read More

Really Good Drama from the Worst Drama Category

Disclaimer: If you've never been exposed to the over-the-top/makjang/low-budget/Generative AI slop genre...this drama is not for you. They are an acquired taste🤌🏾.

This was one of the best of the worst ones I had seen so far. So the girls must be cracking up their engines and training and fine-tuning that LLM to death 🤣. My one problem with this one is it exposes the audience to too many clichés too fast. The model said "I'm gonna give y'all every single plot point the audience usually falls for", and the writers took then and ran with it. No human cognitive process just AI/ML execution lol. Just plot point after plot point...no development. That shit gave me anxiety!! You cannot have "my concubine fed me an aphrodisiac so I have to cut myself and run to my real wife" scene just mere seconds before "my evil little sister fakes a miscarriage when I slightly shoved her out of my way" scene, and then right after "ML gets killed in a plot set up by big villain and his brother but in less than 30 seconds comes back to life!!" Slow down, Savannah! Can a girl breathe? Y'all need to give my brain some time to do the mental gymnastic require to make the nonsensical..."sensical"...ya know? I'm not saying it would have increased the drama quality...but give me enough time to fool myself. 😤...Had a human written this...y'all would havevcaught that.

That aside I wish the FL leads makeup/foundation was better. She spent the whole drama with a gray cast on her face meanwhile her neck is clearly...darker. She's actually a pretty girl...but this drama did her a disservice. Also...😑🙄I don't know why they're still trying to make these girls look 50 shades of ✨️vampire glow✨️...but let's leave that on the other side of last year, please. And whoever decided to go the with light eyebrow and red eye make-up that gives her forever "running eyes", deserves jail time lol! Electric chair!

I must say I love how she went in there ("the future past or is it the past future?") taking no shit from anybody. We don't "fully" know the hell she had to go through in that former life but she came in ready and knocking. I 👏🏾 loved👏🏾 it👏🏾!! Give us more of that ChatGPT 🤭. We love a strong woman...But let's slow down on the out of context "girl power/fake feminism" monologues though, love! Y'all took some of them toooo far.

Anyways, I wish these actors long-lasting careers and that they can soon get out of "low-budget drama hell" and get promoted to proper supporting roles, then main lead like low-budget legends like Yang Hui Xiang, Ding Yu Xi, Zhao Lu Si, and Meng Zi Yi

Really good drama to braid your hair, or clean the house, or procrastinate from your Ph.D. research witb. 9/10 "would not recommend" recommend 🤣🤣🤣. The best type of bad drama generated straight from the pit of ChatGPT hell!

Read More

Did I miss something?

The requests for people seeking revenge seemed to have been forgotten in this series. Because I had a hard time trying to find links that worked and found the subtitles in every episode off it took me a while to finish the series. I kept having to wait a few days before I could actually finish a episode without buffering and subtitle problems.

From my memory, I think only one or two people sought revenge and the rest was just them accidentally finding people who have been wronged and them just helping when they could. I don't know why they changed the cars styles. The newer cars didn't have that edge to them like the old ones in season 1 & 2. The new look didn't make the cars special at all.

Park Jin Eon & Choi Gyeong Gu just weren't the same after season 1. I thought they were going to at least bring back why I fell in love with those two from the first season but they downgraded their characters in both season 2 & 3. The slapstick style was downgraded a bit but it was still there. Why make a rocket scientist and a skilled mechanic look inadequate in every way possible?? They did those two so wrong!

I'm glad Kim Do Gi & An Go Eun didn't have a romantic relationship. It looked like the writers were confused. They didn't know if they wanted a romantic relationship to happen or not. Either way I'm glad they didn't ruin the vibe.

Some scenarios had me rolling my eyes like Kim Do Gi surviving several life threatening scenes including being shot about 4 times and having him survive. I guess you can't kill off the main character. It would ruin the whole show.

The whole series wasn't bad it just seemed like it went in a complete different direction which makes me wonder if they come out with a 4th season will they stick to the original format or go in a different route like they did this last season. I hope they will stick to the original format.

Read More

Sweet, lighthearted, and visually polished

The Synopsis:
The story follows a young woman who, after a series of personal or professional setbacks, literally encounters a handsome, well-dressed man on the roadside.

setup:
* The Encounter: The female lead "picks up" the male lead, who appears to be in a bit of a predicament (often pretending to be less wealthy than he actually is or simply being in the right place at the right time).
* The Transformation: The male lead's is depicted as the "ideal boyfriend" who is not only caring and supportive but also impeccably dressed in the brand's latest menswear collections.

* The Romance: As they spend time together, they navigate small life challenges and comedic misunderstandings. The story focuses on the "warmth" and "romance" of everyday life, emphasizing that the right person (and the right look) can change your perspective on everything.

Read More

Dark and Gritty.

I saw that the angst in this one put some people off it. Yes, sometimes this series was very depression especially since all 3 main characters: Koh, Jira and Pheem were red flags. Sure, some don't consider Pheem a red flag, but I do, esp with how he considered Jira a sex object in the beginning until he started really having real feelings for Jira. As for Koh, he was a user etc and I hated how he did it to get what he wanted. He uses Jira right until the end, then repents because he loves him although he never really repents for sending Jira's paintings into AI (sigh). Jira the last red flag in how he was also using Pheem when things went south with Koh. I'm glad that in the end he breaks it off with both of them until it's time to reunite with Koh, Plus, to my acknowledgement the love triangle lasted too long. Jira always wanted Koh so I did feel like they dragged it out a bit there.
OffGun and Nuchy are always a winning team. She knows how to get the best out of them and they do it every single time. Their series don't disappoint. Even though Burnout Syndrome is not as good as Not Me, for me it's OffGun's second best. Sometimes, I love series like this: dark, gritt and angsty. OffGun are always at their best in series like this too. Their chemistry is somehow more intense and passionate which is why i can't wait to watch Gunshot even though I feel like that will be even darker than this one.
This one I give 9.5. There were some moments I didn't like at all but overall I pretty much enjoyed it and will be watching it over again.

Read More

What an absolute delight watching this series was. Definitely PondPhuwin's best by far.

Got to say that I fell in love with Thee the moment I met him. Pond did an excellent job in creating this iconic, absolute lovable character. From beginning to end there was never a moment where i didn't stop laughing throughout the episodes. Even Phuwin's acting improved. Although many have a problem with Phuwin's acting I didn't really even if times I do feel like he can be a bit flat. As Peach though, I think he was just as good as Pond was a s Thee. Willaim and Est were perfect too. The casting did a great job giving them these roles. I love how this series was a phenomenon when it was airing and it didn't surprise me because it was such a joy watching from beginning to end. Even though I finished this series later than everyone else I have to say I miss it a lot. It was my comfort show. P'X has always been one of my favorites since he did Vice Versa and I got to say with Me and Thee he proved how good he is with romcoms and characters as big as Thee.
Hopefully PondPhuwin can get another series as good as the one where they can show how good they are and entertain us every episode. For now though, I will be watching this over and over again until the special comes out.
10/10.

Read More