Reviews

I was really excited to start this series, but after the first few episodes it kind of lost its charm. It’s a shame when you’ve got an interesting story, but bad direction and a messy script ruin it. The characters felt underdeveloped and lacked the emotional depth needed to really make an impact. The actors showed occasional sparks of personality, but the weak writing killed any chance of genuine performances. Maiake and Tar are adorable, but I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. As for the acting, it seems like this was the debut for some of the cast, so there’s definitely room to grow. The ending kind of suggests there might be a second season.

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So bad

I searched for the episodes with high expectations which is honestly my fault. I knew this was more of like a mini serie or something so what I expected wasn’t huge but it was still disappointing. Zero acting skills, zero chemistry, ok production, and that’s literally all to it. The leads were handsome but is that all they had to offer? They produced the serie in a way that made it unnecessarily complicated I didn’t understand a single thing besides the fact that Bo Shan used to be a swimmer then he started losing his memory and Zhi Hao was there for him and they were boyfriends.
Also, believe me I NEVER comment about kissing scenes because if the story/ acting and other stuff were good then I could turn a blind eye but oh my gosh… the first “kiss scene” caught me so off guard. their lips didn’t even touch, I thought “oh so he’s hesitating and he’ll just go back for the kiss but boy I was wrong. like that half assed lips almost touching thing was the kiss scene😭 if they were going to act it out like that then better not have added it from the very beginning.
Awfully disappointed to be honest I feel like the story is quite ok like if it was made into a movie or a longer serie where things and situations are clear I’d loved it A LOT.

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A truly authentic and well-made wuxia drama

I gave it a 10/10 rewatch value because I had to watch it a second time to fully appreciate the sophisticated connections between the different characters and the details I missed on my first watch of Blood River. I also have to rave about the fight scenes! The large scale action sequences, featuring actors literally flying through the air and running along walls, are swift and incredibly smooth. Gong Jun’s portrayal of Su Muyu is stunning, and his Umbrella Eighteen Sword Array is just too cool. The fight scenes are so slick that I kept rewinding and rewatching them to catch every detail.

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I really loved this drama. The FL’s growth from someone uncertain to someone who can finally stand up for herself that was so satisfying to watch. The ML is the ultimate green flag: steady, protective, and genuinely loving. Their communication and chemistry make the whole story feel real and heartwarming.

I also appreciated how the drama handled judgment from the ML’s family once they found out he married a younger student and she was pregnant. The FL’s pain in those moments, especially when all she wanted was a “home,” really hit hard and made her journey even more emotional and meaningful.

Overall, Beautiful character development, a supportive ML, and a relationship that feels mature and sincere. I loved every bit of it.

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"What's the real threat to us, man or Gojira?"

I had watched Shin Godzilla five ago and was underwhelmed. I’ve wanted to rewatch it in order to write a review and see if my opinion would change but the film has been unavailable for years. HBO Max recently added it to their content. I donned one of my Godzilla T-shirts in order to set the mood for a rewatch. SG still had the elements I didn’t care for on my initial viewing but I did bump my score up this time around.

When a giant googly-eyed creature arises from the harbor and inexplicably crawls out onto land, Japan’s government has to act quickly in order to deal with the destructive beast. Best SpongeBob voice~~Two days later~~ Bureaucrats argue over who needs to take responsibility and who has the proper rank to make decisions and can be listened to. The Prime Minister refuses to use military force if even one civilian will be harmed. Um, dude, did you not notice the giant mutating monster crushing buildings, cars, and mass transit systems with hundreds, possibly thousands of people in them? A rogue government official puts together a team to find alternate ways to deal with Gojira, but the wheels of government move s-l-o-w-l-y.

The first time I watched this film I was bored out of my mind. It was described as a political thriller. Suffice it to say I found the endless meetings of stuffed shirts sitting at long tables with microphones less than scintillating. Same feeling this time around. Every time the rigid hierarchy blathered on and on and on and on I completely lost interest. I get that it was supposed to be a scathing commentary on the slow-moving ineffectual decision making processes of the government but it felt like watching it in real time. Yaguchi’s team which included Takahashi Issei was much more entertaining.

The PM’s decision-making process was mind boggling. "Evacuate the people!” “Where?” “Come again?” Later, evacuation was bad. “We can’t evacuate the people because it will cause them to be fearful.” You mean, a giant monster that has destroyed most of Tokyo didn’t instill any fear or panic in the people? Nearly two hours of bureaucrats fearful of making the wrong decisions and hurting their reputations dragged interminably. Even the international “intrigue” was bland.

What did work? While I was no fan of the initial googly-eyed bleeding carpet that crawled on shore, the rapid evolution of Godzilla was interesting. When he reached his “final” powerful form he was a destroyer to behold. Whenever the film shifted focus to Big G my score went up and then came crashing down as the government officials went back to their meetings. “We would have to convene a meeting to stop having meetings!”

The pointed commentary on the weaknesses of the government and international issues would have worked better for me if they’d tightened the story, reduced the length of the long ineffectual meetings (we get it, these guys are bad at making decisions!), focused on Yaguchi’s team and of course the star of the show. When the spotlight was on Gojira he was a terrifying sight even if the government was too busy deciding what to order for lunch to notice.

9 December 2025
Pet peeves: The one team wore their respirators wrong, unless they wanted the gaping spaces which defeated the purpose of wearing them. The bombers were B-2s, not B-1s. When on a limited evacuation schedule, instead of using helicopters to evacuate handfuls of people at a time, bring in the C-5s that could evacuate the city quickly. Eventually, as film producers and drama/tv show producers realize there is an international audience, perhaps they will work harder to find people who can believably speak what is supposed to be their native language.



Spoilerish comments: The final scene was a little on the nose regarding Japan always having to live in the shadow of its past and the atomic age. While the image was imposing, the climax was decidedly anti-climactic.

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Best drama of the year and one of the best ever made

Just finished watching ep 10 on TBS stream (watched it with Japanese sub, the Viki English sub should be released some time next week, usually on Tuesdays) and I can confidently say Jaa, anta tsukutte miro yo ("Then, you try making it" on Viki) is my best drama of the year.

At the core of drama, the message is, everyone can change. The degree to which one can change is dependent on a variety of factor, but I love the encouraging message that no matter how old you are, or how rigid you were previously, change is possible if you put in the effort, and with the help of friends and family.

Jaa, anta is not a rom com, it's only labeled as such. I'd call it more a true slice of life. It is so much more than a rom com (nothing against rom com, and it's rather hilarious, especially ep 1-8). Rather than focusing on the initial fluttery, exciting part of dating, it entirely focuses on the relationship building part after the initial excitement has worn off. Even if Katsuo's changes are rather quick and probably unrealistic in real life, many issues the drama mentions are real life issues, be it gender roles (Katsuo's family and Ayumi's preconceived notion of what a woman should do), workplace dynamics, or (in)compatibility in a relationship. And it brings up these issues in such a lighthearted manner, not once does it feel preachy. Katsuo's family members appear briefly but each has an episode dedicated to themselves, it doesn't feel like they just appear to "make a point".

After breaking up, Katsuo and Ayumi have to learn to be alone, and I think this is such an important concept. Sure, it's exciting to guess who they "end up with", but that entirely defeats the purpose of the drama - which is learning about yourselves and those around you, your family, building friendships, not just romantic relationships, and being ok with just yourself/not settling with a partner just because it's convenient.

Highly recommend this drama to anyone. In fact, for me it's a quintessentially Japanese drama. It is comforting yet bittersweet and realistic. It is ordinary yet daring. It does not need fanservice via physical affection to make us fall in love with the characters and their relationship (though sometimes I do crave it, haha). It does not need plot twists, dramatic moments and reconciliations, hot people showing their hot bodies (save that for Ryoma's other works lmao). Japan did it again, ever so well. For those who keep yapping about how "over-acting" Japanese actors/actresses are, I challenge you to find one instance of over-acting in this drama. Kaho and Takeuchi Ryoma are both very established actors so we know they're capable, but even amongst the supporting cast, there's no overacting here.

This has been a good year for Jdramas for myself, with Hot Spot, Tokyo Salad Bowl, A calm sea and beautiful days with you being my top contenders for the top spot. Even so, Jaa, anta ga tsukutte miro yo, a Tuesday TBS drama not in a "hot" time slot with not a ton of promotion has taken everyone by surprise, myself included. It shows that you DO NOT need a big budget and an all star-studded cast, all you need is a good story. And that is why Jdramas will always have my heart, as long as they prioritize a good story.

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as cliche as it can be..

if you watched any Japanese office drama , you already saw this one.

our female protagonist get cheated on by her Shitty boyfriend. she is devastated but her office superior comes around to rescue her and asks her to fake a relationship in order to put at bay his demanding mother and take revenge on the female boyfriend.

pretty classic stuff nothing groundbreaking... even thou they tried to twist the narrative. the superior is not trying to help his subordinate but... drumssssass... he is trying to takes revenge on her because in high school they were friend and she rejected his feelings for her.

this lasted like the blink of an eye. they get together immediately.
the second half of the drama is about the male lead mother trying to separate the two .

why do I watch these kind of dramas you ask? I watch them to practice some Japanese listening but being a short web drama is no excuse to be this cliche or sloppy.

"semantic error" is a short web drama as well but it made so well you cannot end up enjoying it.

this drama here is filled of cliche, no interesting characters, no intriguing dynamics.

don't watch and save you some time.

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You Will Read This Review and Wake Up Refreshed (and no longer want to kill anyone)

I was tired of silly romcoms, and this was a nice change. It did have the tropes of cold man/warm woman, noble idiocy (but, thankfully, that was brief, not drawn out, and understandable), revenge, time skip, and accidental kisses (why have I NEVER been accidentally kissed when I trip fairly often?), and a ridiculous amount of dropped, lost, or out-of-battery phones when needed most. Seriously, how many times can a person lose a phone or run out of battery at the worst time? That's LAZY writing!!!

I did enjoy the psychology angle; it gave a freshness to the dilemmas portrayed, and I appreciated how each was resolved.

The supporting cast was pleasurable, especially the psych boss. His interactions and gentle teasing of the ML were a highlight.

Kudos for a C-drama that told an entertaining story in only 16 episodes. Unfortunately, there were loose ends: how was the person in the trunk saved? Whatever happened to Luo Luo's family? Where did ML's mother go? A better use of time would have been to cut the multitudinous flashbacks and overly-long recaps in order to tie up those loose ends. The revenge arc could have been completely eliminated, as it wasn't developed well, didn't really make sense, and it wasn't needed.

I've added a half star for the cute interactions between psych boss and ML.

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Heartbreaking

I actually watched the last 40 minutes of this movie like 15 years ago and didn’t dare to pick it up again until now. I finally completed the whole movie today. It totally broke me into pieces.

Despite some flaws in the plot, which is understandable for a Korean movie released in the 2000s, I gave it 10/10 partly for my nostalgic feeling about the older days, and partly because of Kwon Sang Woo’s sad eyes and soft voice. I swear he had one of the saddest eyes and the softest voice in this movie. When I looked into those eyes and heard him speaking with that soft voice, I felt like the whole world just collapsed, and I just wanted to give him a warm hug. But I also know that only Cream could warm K’s heart. Actually, I think they were already a married couple for a long time without realizing. Their love for each other was natural like a breath in the air. It existed without them noticing, and they couldn’t live without it.

The acting from Lee Bo Young and the rest of the cast was amazing too, and Lee Seung Cheol’s ballad soundtrack and his singing voice made the movie even more emotional.

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Love and Crown was a project I was genuinely excited for. I adore Allen Ren—his character choices and the types of stories he gravitates toward are usually ones I end up loving. And it’s been a while since I’ve really followed Peng Xiao Ran’s work, so her involvement added even more to my anticipation.

But the first episode completely threw me off. I know I shouldn’t have let the early news and reviews influence me, but they definitely colored my expectations. It felt strange starting in the “present” timeline, only to be abruptly taken to the past in episode two. I had to rewind several times just to figure out what happened. What exactly were the director or screenwriter trying to accomplish? Were they trying to build hype with the Goodbye My Princess parallels, only to jump back in time immediately after? It left me with so many questions, and I really wish the editing and story flow had been handled more smoothly.

Right now, I’m debating whether to put this series on hold or make it a slow, in-between watch while I catch up on other dramas. Honestly, I’m leaning toward the latter. I just really hope this series won’t disappoint the way many others have suggested. I don’t mind the comparisons to Goodbye My Princess—short series often share similar tropes anyway. What matters to me is seeing solid chemistry between the leads and a storyline that actually pulls me in.

This will be an ongoing review, current score is at 6/10

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Disaster

Honestly, the only reason I stuck with the show was to see her finally face consequences in the end. The ending wasn’t that terrible, but definitely not what I wanted or expected. The start was strong, but I was least interested in her journey. Sure, her character was unique and acted well, but I kept hoping she’d finally fall into someone’s trap or get manipulated for once. I still don’t get why everyone keeps helping her and feeling sorry for her.
Jun-seo’s character felt a bit underdeveloped. And the actor — whether it’s Penthouse, Shooting Stars, or this show — he just gives similar vibes every time. Even if the characters are written differently, his acting always feels the same.
Looks like there might be another season coming, but I’m not looking forward to it.

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A story of how an antisocial doctor becomes more tuned in to a patient's emotional needs

A story of how an antisocial doctor becomes more tuned in to a patient's emotional needs through a stint as a elementary school health room nurse after he gets transferred out of his hospital temporarily for not caring enough for his patient's emotional needs/ scaring the patient kid.

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I especially liked the cases at the start, the first few were really interesting injuries and hoped more will be like that, but the next few cases seemed more mental. Nice that they covered those as well though.

Miyano-sensei's and the female teacher's banter is quite fun to watch as well.

A lot of the child actors here are so cute!

I like how they went through how Miyano develops through his interactions with the children and how that helps him face his past patients, and we see how much he has developed from the experience to become more capable at handling his patient's emotional needs. Especially the last episode, where he very tactfully uses a story-telling method. Don't get me wrong, he has always been very dedicated, rushing to patient's house etc, but it's amazing that he goes through a roundabout method in this last episode instead of directly telling to their face, which might be how the old him might do.

Of course, maybe that's just loyal to the source material, the manga, the manga is probably written really well. The acting by the actors is good too, an aloof doctor, an enthusiastic sociable teacher, even the classsmate politics of the girl clique queen or the boys playing around. All very fun to watch.

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Triple Y was a triple delight.

This will be a short review because I mainly want to remember that I watched this series—and the points that stood out to me.

The show hooked me right from the start. I love time-travel-to-the-past tropes, and seeing the entire family travel together was such a fun twist. That alone was enough to keep me excited. MDL already summarizes the plot well, so I won’t repeat too much, but the basic setup is: the FL and her family end up in the past and, in order to survive, they trick the newly arrived vice magistrate into letting them stay with him by claiming he has a childhood arranged marriage with the FL. Chaos ensues.

As I’ve told others, this drama does exactly what it’s supposed to do—it entertains. If you’re looking for something funny, romantic, and supported by a great ensemble cast, you’ll enjoy Yummy Yummy Yummy.

The only part I didn’t care for was the ML’s ongoing investigation into his family’s downfall. We know from the beginning what he’s trying to uncover, and I honestly skipped most of those scenes. Instead, I focused on the main couple’s romance and the relationships built between the side characters and the FL’s family. That dynamic was the biggest highlight for me, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Surprisingly, I also loved the ending. Using the “dream” she had, the FL decides to revive her family’s struggling restaurant business—a cute and fitting conclusion.

Overall, I’m giving this a 7.5/10 for the fun story direction, the slow-burn romance, and a cast I genuinely adored.

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I really need to start reading the summary before jumping into a series. All I saw was Simon Gong in a historical drama and immediately said, “Yes!” It took me a while to get through the first 10 episodes—not because it was boring, but because there were so many details and new characters introduced that I struggled to keep up. I eventually went back to read the summary, and sure enough, it’s classic wuxia. It actually reminded me a bit of the darker tone in Bloody Romance, with its lethal elegance, shadowy atmosphere, and constant threat of assassination.

Instead of making this my priority watch, I found myself putting it on in between other shows while deciding what to watch next—and because of that, I kept losing track of the story. Maybe it’s just the mood I’m in, because I usually enjoy wuxia, especially when it centers around a loyal group of friends fighting for a common cause. At one point I considered dropping it, but with so many other dramas on my list, I didn’t want to put this one on hold and risk forgetting about it completely.
One thing I genuinely appreciate, though, is the visual style. Since the story involves assassins, the overall tone is quite dark, and the bold color palette really stands out. I really love the animation and CGI!!!

This review will be ongoing, since I’m not prioritizing this series and won’t be finishing it as quickly as the other dramas I’m currently watching.

Currently scoring at 7/10 for it beautiful color, a good plot and solid cast.

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