Reviews

Love that it's over

I absolutely hated this show from start to finish. The only reason I give this a 1.5 instead of a 1 is because of two reasons: the mermaid scenes were actually filmed in the water, and they trained with the tails; and secondly because of the scene in the finale where Phraphai went crazy was actually good.

This show was so terribly bad that I genuinely cannot say enough bad things about it and could go on all day. I'm just going to list the reasons it was awful.

1. All the acting was terrible (except for Phraphai's scene in the finale I previously mentioned)

2. The main leads had 0 chemistry at all. Nava and Phraphai had more chemistry than the other two ever did

3. So many unnecessary characters whose names I couldn't even tell you if I tried. Didn't really need more than the main five to be honest

4. The music,,,whoever did the music for this should never work in music again. That may sound harsh but the abrupt transitions between songs and the music not fitting scenes were just terrible. Someone with garage band could do better.

5. The main couple's relationship was so empty. They never talked about anything. they felt more like friends with benefits because their relationship had no depth at all.

6. Not enough time was spent on Ping and Phana's relationship. This couple could've been quite a likeable and strong couple if they got more than like 30 minutes out of an entire 8 hours spent on them. They should've either had more time or just not been a thing at all.

7. The plot felt pointless especially with how the show ended. I almost wish it ended with a tragedy to make it feel more worth it. I'm not just saying that because I didn't like the show either, I just think it would've made more sense for the plot if one or both of then died in the end or they just didn't end up together.

8. The whole show just felt like nothing was happening the entire time. This was only eight episodes and even that felt way too long.

I could actually keep going but these were definitely my biggest and most consistent complaints.

DO NO WATCH! NOT EVEN A GOOD CRINGE WATCH!
JUST STRAIGHT UP BAD!

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I thought you folded cranes not eggs

This was such a cute story about high school romance! I loved all the characters from the main three to the rest of the friend group! I'm not going to lie I was a little sad when Cha Woo-Min's character ended up being the second love interest instead of the main one. I thought him and Shin Eun-Soo had great chemistry together. I personally thought they had more chemistry than the main two together. I was still really happy though with the main two ending up together because they were really sweet. I also didn't like how Se Ri made it seem like Hyeon didn't like her curly hair and weirdness and we saw that he did. Other than that, I really enjoyed it! Highly recommend!

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Too much and too long conflict between FL&ML to be enjoyable plus the highly unlikeable FL

I am not impressed with this series. I felt the chemistry was way off between the FL and ML, or to be precise, there was none. The FL actress' lack of emotional depth and flat, mostly sour faced expression and bland performance has totally ruined the supposed love and chemistry between the lead characters. And to save the lack of chemistry Chen Fei Yu has been over acting, way above what a normal love relationship would look like in real life. Hence, this whole "love affair" is far from believable, i.e. a gorgeous, smart, talented, kind, from a privileged background ML falls head over heels for a very plain looking, no personality or talent, stubborn, cold, hateful and mean, materialistic, playing hard to get poor girl. Seriously? Totally unrealistic . All the supposed love scenes look like the actors are just reading off the script, no warmth, or any kind of chemistry. Maybe if they cast a more likeable actress as the FL, at least the romance would have been more believable. Perfect example of wrong casting ruinning a perfectly good story. The second FL / ML romance and chemistry was much better and more believable. And what's with all these career obsessed, hard core aggressive young female characters lacking any feminity or compassion and warmth? I hope young women in real life are not taken in by the b.s. of "career above everything else" as the highly competitive "Profit above integrity" business motto actually doesn't care much about young people or their dreams, profit is the only king.

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Sweet Home Season 2 : 07/02/2025 - 07/04/2025

So, unlike the first season I didn't really like this season as much. Like i understood why it was there but at times it felt like it was dragging, and it felt like there were a lot of scenes that were just filler scenes. I do get that it was building up for effects of season three but it's just wasn't my favorite. This is why it took me a little longer compared to season 1 & 3 to finish. I also feel like we were more so following side characters then the MC because it took forever for him to actually show up in this season. Overall, I feel like this season could have been combined with season 3 and didn't necessarily need to be its own thing.

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C-Drama Chaos Mode: Activated

This one snuck up on me like “just one episode before bed” and next thing I know I’m fully surrendered to the chaos, snacks abandoned, morals questioned. It’s basically the Chinese cousin of A Business Proposal—same DNA, same unhinged joy, zero chill—and yes, I adored every second of it.

The vibe? Immaculate.
The pacing? On fast-forward in the best way.
The acting, comedy, chemistry? All firing on all cylinders like they had a group chat titled Let’s Be Unreasonable.

The leads are ridiculously lovable with sizzling chemistry that does not ask for permission, and because it’s a short drama, nothing overstays its welcome. No filler, no staring contests that last three episodes—just plot, banter, chaos, repeat.

And the side characters?? Absolute MENACES. Scene-stealing, mess-instigating, chaos-manufacturing legends. Every time they show up, something unhinged is guaranteed to happen and I was living for it.

I’m only on episode 14 and I am begging this drama not to catch the classic C-drama second-half flu where everything randomly collapses for no reason. Let me have this. Let the chaos live. Let me stay entertained.

Final verdict so far: a hidden gem for when you want joy, speed, chemistry, and nonsense served hot and unapologetically chaotic. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys laughing loudly at their screen like a possessed gremlin.


✨Update (Ep. 15–24)✨

Oki y’all, sooooo, real talk—the second half got a tiny bit tits-up. Episodes 15–19? Absolute silly chaos on energy drinks., both leads waved goodbye to their braincells, and chaos briefly reigned supreme. But honestly, for this genre, we’ll mostly let it slide. The credit scene of ep. 19? Chef’s kiss hilarious—had me cackling like a lunatic.

The last couple of episodes smoothed out most of my frustration. The leads? Still absolute delights. The ML shines as a goofball romantic, and the chemistry never dips—it just flexes in slightly silly, chaotic ways. By ep. 23 they FINALLY get together and manage to cover pretty deep waters, bro. Enough to make you forgive all prior braincell casualties.

So yes, the second half stumbles a little, but it still delivers a cozy, mood-lifting rom-com experience. Ended up grinning, heart warmed, and fully satisfied. Sometimes you just gotta ride the chaos to the cuddly finale—and this one nails it 🫶

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Sweet Home : 07/01/2025 - 07/02/2025

This show has quite a unique concept compared to all the other shows I have watched. This is why it intrigued me so much and I was able to finish it so quickly. Usually in this type of show we see people fighting to survive and trying to not infected, however in this show our main character is infected from episode one. This is usually something that would happen at the end of show as a wow factor, but it happened at the start. This completely changes the way the story should go and shows how people will use each other in times of need. It shows how people come together but are also scared of each other in ways. Now the ending of the show was really surprising and made me immediately start the second season even though it was already late and I had to go to sleep. Overall, the show is amazing, and I love everything about this season.

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simple and worth the watch

The size difference here is just so delectable. I have to get that off my chest first and foremost lol. Kano is so smol and Ogami is so god damn big, it's literally perfect.

I really enjoyed this show. I have to say I'm a sucker for rivals or hate-to-love type stories so this was right up my alley. Although that sentiment didn't stay true throughout the entire show, I still enjoyed the dynamic changes. I really liked how the story explores Kano's internal struggle and how he overcame that. A good portion of this show is about Kano and who he wants to be, the romance is rather secondary, but that wasn't a bad thing. I think this allows the story to have more layers. This wasn't much of a Ogami story so we don't know much about him, but we do know that he's quite attentive when it comes to Kano. The way their relationship developed was also very nice, as there's a lot of subtlety rather than overt actions and reactions. I'm just a sucker for quiet yearning and this fed me very well. I love the camera shots where one of them is in the front and the other is in the background just watching intently.

In my opinion, the parallel world aspect of this show was just a catalyst to push Kano forward so I didn't really have any lingering feelings for the Parallel Ogami. It felt more like a little sneak peak at what could be of Kano and Ogami, which was later fulfilled toward the end.

The show is very short at just 6episodes and you end up wanting more. This is the first time I went and read on the original source, in this case the novel, because I wanted to know more about these characters and their story. It was very much worth it because we got a nice nsfw chapter that couldn't be shown in the show.

One slight improvement would have to be the kisses. One word to describe those kisses would be: inadequate. They were very simple and delicate, which didn't fit the passionate mood. There should have been just a little bit more oomph.

Overall, this was still one of the better Jbl's I've watched. If you enjoy shows that explore characters, I think you'll enjoy this show.

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Squid Game Season 3 : 6/27/2025

I know this season had a lot of backlashes, but I think it was the perfect ending to the series. It was real and devasting showing that even though we want the good guys to win they don't always win. It was also realistic in the way people betrayed each other and shows how greedy humans can really be. It also showed how people will do anything to survive. Despite this it also showed that there are still good people in this world and people will sometimes surprise us. Lastly it shows that the world is also always going to corrupt and even though people try it will still remain.

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Let me make an exception this time and put my usual three questions at the beginning of the review:

Was the film good?
Yes, it was a coming-of-age film done with precision, and tied together local history of the place with a positive message.

Did I like it?
I don't get on with the performative SNS of the modern age, and that impacted my enjoyment massively. But I understand that this is my own problem. Now, some days after watching, I find that this *was* an outstanding fim.

Who would I recommend it to?
To people who like coming-of-age stories.



The thing is that I really struggled to get through the first half of this film. Modern socmed and their empty performativity, that is nothing I know or care about. So, to see Masao and his friends fake being handball players and fake caring about their hometown just for likes from people they don't even know, that felt strange to me. How can they love this kind of empty praise? How can they not feel ridiculous when they do this? On an intellectual level, I know that this must be addictive. but I don't (want to) understand.
I also did not understand Masao's gloom and doom attitude, when everybody else around him had already picked up the pieces after the devastation of the 2016 Yumamoto earthquake. On an intellectual level, I know that this film was done very well.
I could see the quality of the story telling and of the actors. I liked that the film was so grounded in the history of the 2016 earthquake and its aftermath (I'm reasonable sure that the places we saw are original locations, especially the temporary shelters). I liked the background characters, the grandpa with the wolly hat, Masao's brother and his girlfriend, Masao's parents -- all of whom were sweet people, who had no idea of what happened with Masao's "dutch ball" and the "SNS". I liked that the boys were realistically boys, not sanitized at all -- rough and hormonal but never mean.

I just wasn't able to bring up a shred of interest, but I know that this is solely my own problem, not a problem with the film itself.

Luckily, this changed in the second half. Or rather, about 35 minutes before the film ended. It was only then that the film showed us its core theme. And the theme surprised me in the best of ways. Earlier, a girl had asked Masao "What are you "striving" for?", and he didn't have an answer. And if the film had followed the usual path for a film like that, the boys would have banded together to win the nationals as underdogs, and would have worked hard and harder, with a lot of "ganbarimasu" -- and they would have beat the odds, or at least they would *almost* beat them etc. etc.
Thing is, this does not happen here. Not quite. Yes, the boys band together -- but they immediately quarrel about trivialities. Yes, they take part in the nationals -- but the focus is on the audience, who came to cheer them on, because, as two elderly people said in the beginning: "It feels good to cheer someone on." -- "Yes, instead of being the ones cheered on." And when Masao leaves for the game in the morning, he tells his mother: "I will have so much fun!"

And I think this is the core of the film.
"To "strive" to enjoy life." Don't live in gloom and doom, after something bad has happended. Live your life to the fullest, find joy in the trivialities. Do what you like, whether it's being a funeral dicrector (like Masao's brother), a hostess (like Masao's brother's girlfriend), or a handball player. Show the world that peace sign and smile into the camera, not for others to cheer you on, but for yourself.

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