Reviews

The writer left the show just like Ajin left the Award Show.

When I watched Episode 1, I thought: "Jesus Christ, this is crazy". Then I realized, a drama that sets the bar this high is not gonna end well, and as usual, I was right again.

The first half of the season was fun, and chilling, but the second half was just a HOT MESS!!!

I should dislike a psychopath woman like Ajin, but somehow, I managed to hate Junseo more than any other character on the show. No sane person would make excuses for Ajin, but the fact is, she never experienced love and caring, and based on what we've seen, she never really wanted to hurt anyone, other than her dad. When she did something bad against someone, it was basically a retaliation. Sure, she used people for her own sake to gain success and fame, but it's not like other people don't do the same, it doesn't make her worse than others.

The biggest problem with the show is that there's no clear goal. Someone hurts Ajin, and she fights back. That's all. What they did to her in the past when she was a kid was never solved by the police, no one protected her. All the disgusting crimes people and her own family committed against her were never solved. I can't blame her at all for wanting to kill her dad, even tho she could've done it without using another guy, but that's another story.

The police were completely useless, but this is not a surprise in Kdrama land.

The writer used her backstory and mental illness as a tool, and barely did anything with it. The whole show was carried by Kim You Jung, and Kim You Jung ALONE! Without her, I would've dropped this in midway. Her acting made this addictive.

The only actor who were almost on the level with her is Kim Do Hoon. They were the ONLY interesting characters and actors who actually put something in this.

Kim Young Dae was bang average, he was basically a one face guy, and a totally useless character. I don't mind if his character wants to betray Ajin, but he not only betrays her, he betrays Jaeo as well. What's worse, he helps out the psychopath billionaire who killed his so called "friend". How messed up is that? Not to mention, he gives up on his kidney to help his abusive mother, then lives with her a couple of weeks to make her a bit happy. Like, where's the logic in this?

Say whatever you want about Ajin, that's up for debate, but Jun Seo is not better than her in any shape or form. I would argue he's worse than Ajin.

Above, I said I don't know what was the point of this drama, and the finale proved that. They didn't solve a single storyline, and that's a rare thing to see, even in a Kdrama.


I could rant about this show all day, but I don't want to waste more time.

I'm really disappointed!

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It's lovely.

I was debating on what my rating would be for this drama. So for most of the drama by the last episode, I get a fixed number to which i can confidently say that I enjoyed, but this one, this one was really off the hooks. So I have the moments when I didn't like some parts, And when randomly one friend just disappears altogether and then reappears once again. And the reason why this went down to 9 is because of QiQi I guess. Because the writers didn't have some kind of personality for her, tbh I didn't like her at first, but then she grew on me. And then again, she made something soo big for no much reason. And then again, she comes as some sweet-kind person, but then she says she is from different world(rich), and this happens alot, I think she would've been better if she was written well, like constant to her. but then again goes to say, this is not her true self and whatsoever.

Also, one thing I would say as a charm for this drama would be how the friend group stays as different times, there are completely different people at college friend circle, then the school circle is also wholly different, which also is not constant. This is something totally different from all other dramas I watched where the circle stays same throughout their life, which is kinda unrealistic. So that part, was very realistic and quite refreshing to watch.

Also, I actually loved the characters personality, (well all except one which I'll just ignore), I think all of them had there own charms, their own personality and something that made them likable. All characters (even the ML's senior who ended up working) had their values and endings.

I totally loved how this drama could merge everything, family, friends, crush, first love, first breakup, relationship, career everything and have a beautiful output. This show incorporated every aspect of growing up and showed it beautifully.

And A very big applause to the FL and ML, both where very great characters and just perfect for each other.

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Sweetest ending ever

If you like comedy, fantasy, romance with a touch of drama, this series is for you. It has the perfect balance. Don't pay attention to what others think, give it a chance. The chemistry between the main characters is incredible, both act superbly, and the two actors have that sweet and tender personality that allows them to act in both comedy and drama, and it suits them perfectly.
The ending is one of the sweetest I've ever seen.
It's quite frustrating to see the villain get away with it, but it's very satisfying to see how they resolve the conflicts.
Don't get me wrong, it has a few slow moments, but despite that, it's totally worth watching.
The protagonist is not the typical damsel in distress who needs help; she is a strong, empowered woman who solves problems, and her character undergoes significant growth.
There is something for everyone and diverse opinions, so don't miss it just because of the comments. I'll just say that it got to the top of my 10 favorite historical series.

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less than worthless

I read the novel, which was great, but this drama was butchered to the point of unrecognizability. I know it is very difficult to move such a complex story to the small screen, but this feels like a high school project. Cheap sets, subpar acting of most actors, but considering the lines, it would be next to impossible to portray the character in question properly. After the first 10 episodes, I kept going just to see how bad it's gonna get. I was secretly hoping it would get better, and it did, but very slightly and with the focus on the leader of the beggars' clan. Special effects are less than disipointing, and fight choreography seems to be planned by ballet dancers. Wate of time. You're better of watching a movie, I believe from 2017, but the story is focused on the leader of the beggar clan only - it's still a lot better than this abomination.

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Another Revenge Story

For the first time, the ending of a Chinese drama actually surprised me. It was technically a classic finale, but Chinese dramas usually end with a happy ending or stay ambiguous. Honestly, even though the male lead died, it’s not a big deal because the leads have starred together in at least four different dramas.
I really don't like the male lead's acting; it feels like he’s about to burst out laughing in every single scene. On the other hand, the female lead is very beautiful and her acting is actually good. I don't understand why they keep starring in so many dramas together when they don't even have any chemistry?!

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Get past some really annoying characters, and it's good.

I have finally finished this in the spam of 2 months so please don't blame me if I got anything wrong.

I quite enjoyed this, I feel it's a, quite, simple cold boy meets girl then turns warm to her only kind of thing. I did really like the aspects of watching this idol, Zheng Boxu, travelling, and dealing with his, so called idol, life before ZhenZhens arrival. The thing I did not like about this drama was the characters, I feel if they would've been anymore annoying than they already are, I would've absolutely dropped this as soon as I could. Thankfully, I got through it though.

As Zheng Boxu is the main male lead I'll speak about him first. At the start you could see Boxu was just the most unmannerly to the people he worked with, as if they did not in any way matter to him. He was also, I'll say, terrible to his assistants, both ZhenZhen and the one before. However it did seem he did in a way feel bad for the one before when she quit. Throughout the drama though, you could see him slowly shifting his attitude towards other due to ZhenZhen's presence in his life and that was a major character improvement.

As ZhenZhens the main female lead, we'll go with her second. She was just the most noisiest, and refused to mind her own business at all, it honestly gave me the ick most of the time. In most situations, normal people wouldn't dare to do such things she would think about just to "help" Boxu with.

Then the second male lead, Yu Zurui. I may be very biased right now, however, I feel he was the most annoying character in the whole show, not only was he way too overly confident for his own ego, he was just honestly terrible towards ZhenZhen and one point. When he rejected her for his job and then decides he wants to pursue her again when she falls out of love with him? Mind you he had feeling for her in both situations. And to think I even liked his character at the start before a quarter in.

Second female lead, Xia Yuan. I actually really loved her at the start before half way in or about. I loved her outgoing personality and the way she made the show that wee bit funnier. However, as soon as halfway hit or about, my liking to her character just decreased, she was love obsessed with Yu Zurui, way too much. I get love obsessed characters but moving out of your own house that you share with your best friend just because you're jealous that the man you like, likes her? A bit weak of a character then, in my opinion.

And I would go into a bit more detail for the CEO in this, but I feel that would be too boring to read after all that. I also just want to say it's just the character that bothered me in SOME parts, and it is a 44 episode cdrama so most of the time I really loved watching this, I loved watched the main two grow to like each other and those sweet little parts at the end.

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short vertical series with a tutor/tutoree

Overall: I gave it an indie rating bump. 14 episodes under 3 minutes combined into 1 video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUB5_KAp7o&list=PLF0HYZ-k2RyC_1Rhvi2bgD7BB88xre1l-&index=1

Content Warnings: non-con picture taking/sharing, non-con kiss

What I Liked
- easy to understand premise
- supportive friends
- forthright character

Room For Improvement
- the non con kiss
- they didn't state their ages but one was in high school and the other was older, I pretended it was 18 & 19
- abrupt ending
- tiny subtitles were difficult to read (did not take off points)

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i think I didn't end up adding any spoilers afer all. lol

I finished this drama when it was done airing back in November and I guess the time has come that I finally write down my own thoughts on it.

For some reason this drama did a really difficult thing that in general doesn't happen to me.
It made me forget that there were things that could have been done better, eg the script and some post-production editing.

Let me start by saying overall the directing, cinematography and music production were really good.

The acting of all the cast was also exceptional.

However the most important part of this show for me was the LEADS and their characters as individuals & as a couple.

Honestly, the main couple for me was the winning recipe that got me hooked AND it was why I give this 10/10 in rewatch value, considering how I've rewatched it 2 times already.

For me the main couple captured that realistic but quite rare, intense first-love feeling of 2 people that are lucky enough to find each other in their early 20s and learn how to grow together as indiduals and as a couple.
And this happening in a xianxia drama with that whole "lying" about who they are and their intentions, etc thing.

As a I've said before there were some script choices about the overall story and some post-editing that had me raising my eyebrow for a moment, but the leading characters saved it by being that young-adult couple that learns what "love" is and how to stand together AND for each other, against a lot of difficult circumstances.

By the way the Situ Ling interpretation of the "crazy-fan" (that should learn to live for himself) is something that should be seen by a lot of "intense" fans out there but something tells me they wouldn't understand that they're looking into a mirror and learn/get something out of it. lol

Final thoughts:
Hou Minghao and Lu Yuxiao nailed it out of the park being the leads here. The characters felt sincere, complicated (which is good bc i hate one-dimensional characters), with a connection that made me feel like it was one of the most realistic chemistries I've seen in this type of drama.

Special mention: the main female lead portrayal of the "cutesy" moments and how she's probably the only character in a c-drama that hasn't made me hate this type of "forced-cute" stuff. In fact I found those moments really lovely, especially when you see the contrast of what that character had gone through growing up.

Overall this drama gets my 10 for all the above & bc I love beautiful portrayals of touching love-stories.

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