Reviews

This Movie Is the Sheep in the Box

This review contains spoilers.
Hirokazu Kore-eda has made some beautiful films, with profound scripts and performances that feel so genuine and flawless that they reach straight into your soul. These are the kinds of works that stay with you, in both your mind and your heart, for a lifetime. Films like Nobody Knows and Shoplifters, for which he also wrote the screenplays, or Monster, which he only directed.

For this reason, anything bearing his name, whether a film or a series, is always met with a certain degree of anticipation. Not only because his name is practically synonymous of quality, but also because of the fond memories of the works each of us holds dear. Of course, throughout his extensive filmography, there are works that have come and gone without leaving much of an impression, either because their overall premise doesn't measure up to his masterpieces, or simply because they don't align with our personal tastes or interests. And that's perfectly fine.

So, now it's time to take a look at this particular film...

Visually, it's impeccable and conveys a wonderful sense of peace. The performances are also very good. The real question, however, lies in the story it tells, how it tells it, and what lies beneath the surface.

At first glance, it's a story about loss and the difficulty of coming to terms with the death of a child. All those "what ifs": What if I had done something differently? What if I hadn't done this? What if I hadn't been there? What if I hadn't arrived late? What if that person hadn't come?

The robot child, serving as a substitute, opens up several possibilities. Is it a temporary replacement until you find the strength to accept the reality that this "thing" isn't your child, that your child is gone, and that you can finally move on? Or is it something you use to shut out reality and retreat into your own little bubble of self-deception?

For the main couple, it was a peaceful mixture of both. But that's only one facet of this story. There are others.

One of them is Kakeru, the robot child. He behaves just like the child he's supposed to be, but he also has a much more mature inner world. He absorbs everything he sees, learns, and hears in the small world inhabited by his parents and the people around them, then processes it in his own way, through a more philosophical perspective, especially when he comes into contact with the other children.

And this brings me to the point I really want to discuss → that little group of robot children.

At first glance, the reason they came together seems simple enough (we've seen this before, even in A.I. Artificial Intelligence): they're the discarded ones, the mistreated ones, the unwanted ones. Now they're free, and they have plans of their own. That much is understandable. So is their habit of removing the GPS devices from their bodies to regain freedom of movement beyond their owners' designated range, which explains how they can wander around without being detected.

But inevitably, a few questions come to mind:

• These are humanoid robots powered by AI. They're valuable!
I find it hard to believe that the company supplying them wouldn't keep track of its own products, check on their condition, or monitor whether their owners are being negligent, abandoning them, or simply discarding them without making any attempt to retrieve them. These are high-tech robots, not washing machines.

• The robot girl who was walking with her parents, only for them to keep going until they left her behind, out of range, is perhaps the most implausible thing in the entire film.
No ordinary person, no matter how fed up they might have been with her presence, would simply leave her there without coming back for her. Again, this isn't a toy. It's an expensive piece of high technology. Even if her parents had obtained her for free (presumably, like Kakeru's parents did), logic would suggest there must have been some kind of replacement policy or contractual obligation.

And even if there wasn't... considering Japan's attitude toward cleanliness and public spaces, are we really supposed to believe that nobody passing by noticed a robot lying on the steps and picked her up? Not even an ordinary passerby?
Strange.

• The children's utopian plan to live in the forest and build the house Kakeru designed.
At first glance, it's a beautiful and hopeful idea. But when you think about it, we don't really know how feasible it would be.

Would the energy they could harness from the river be enough to recharge them? Wouldn't they deteriorate more quickly in the natural environment? What about the river itself and the rain? And what about the human children who went along with them? They're far more vulnerable to the elements than the robots.

The entire ending left me feeling rather uneasy, to be honest. Because I genuinely don't know whether this story was written with a certain degree of naivety, or whether I should simply approach it as a fairy tale, a fable that isn't meant to be examined logically, and just allow myself to be carried away by the emotions and the message it conveys.

It's difficult to do that when I can't shake the feeling that there might be a much deeper story hidden underneath. Almost as if the company's original plan had been to deliberately allow this situation with the robots to unfold. Perhaps to see just how far they could go using their own resources, logic, and reasoning. To study how humans behave around them: those who purchase them, those who interact with them on a daily basis knowing they're robots, and those who do so without knowing what they really are. Or to observe the bonds they might form under the most unlikely circumstances, such as the one between the mistreated children and the robot kids.

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Then there's the reflection on the sheep in the box that Kakeru's mother shares with him.

Who does it apply to? To her? To him? To the story as a whole?

I've given it some thought, but I still feel it's an abstract idea that I can't quite grasp. I hope you can come to a better understanding of it than I have.

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Interesting Concept, But The Run Time Was Too Short For What It Tried To Do

The run time was too short, but it was captivating.
However, too much time was spent on the plot twists and not enough time on the romance.

•❅✧❅✦ Story •❅✧❅✦

The plot was intersting. A fan meets his favorite streamer offline and "falls in love" only to get threatened by his manager and stalked by the streamer's stalker... I put falls in love in quotes because we hardly see the romance, aside from Kei gushing over his crush as a fan.

The plot primarily focuses on Kei being harrassed and stalked by Tenya's stalker and manager. At first we are led to believe the manager is the stalker, but we later learn it is Tenya's stalker. The whole "stalker" manager bit was great until the manager backs off and starts to support Kei for no reason. As for the Tenya stalker, the storyline was great and we need more of it... But the romance...

The romance was barely there. Too much time was spent on the stalker incident that there the two MLs barely spend time together, let alone have any romance. We know Kei is in love because he gushes over Tenya the whole time, but we barely see anything from Tenya... Until the end... Which is another plot twist in itself because we learn that Tenya stalked Kei. But that whole plotline went no where because it was brought up in the last episode... a two minute episode... So yeah.... I would love to see more romance.

•❅✧❅✦ Overall •❅✧❅✦

The drama was interesting. It kept me on my toes, wanting more. However, it left a lot to be desired. I want to see the second season because I am curious to see Kei and Tenya's romance, but at the same time, I won't be rewatching this series. I already know the plot and there isn't any romance for me to rewatch and gush over.

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Great concept lost in adaptaiton

this was a very very mid drama, full of cringe, comedy that doesn't land and characters that fail to become memorable or even likable.

it has a massive pacing issue as well, at times it feels too fast and at times it comes to a crawl that even watching at 2x speed doesn't solve it, the implementation of the system into the story is also very clunky and slow.

then there is ML, I don't know if they told him to play the character like this or if it's his own personality/acting coming through but it did not make for a pretty viewing time.

I also had another issue with the formality of everything, especially the constant/never-ending yelling of their name and rank, and I get that it's a military thing, but doesn't mean I have to like it, it was very tedious to watch.

there were lot of plot issues too but I chose not to mention them cuz it's supposed to be fantasy.

the only highlight of this was how pretty and good at acting HDH was, hope to see her in more projects😍

max I can give it with a lot of generousity is a 6/10.

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Like, what the hell...

I was excited for this drama since I saw the trailer only to end up so freaking frustrated after every single episode like why....first of all both the couples cheated then they plan to give their relationship a 1month break and then u actually end up with someone else....like u can't value a 10yr relationship and then u just give in to someone in just a few months of dating like come on every person who dates each other actually feels excited and caring for the first few months so I guess after few years these couple needs new partners everytime and people actually saying its the reality no dude its not the reality even if u feel that ur love is not the same with ur old partner and u get a spark with someone else u still gotta give time to that someone new u just can't decide in one go .....I thought I would watch all the episodes once its over but just after watching clips of every episode I don't think I am watching this anymore....
Anyway the actors really did a good job
...just facing the fact that its still a acting show...

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I guess...

I was okay with this relationship at times. I really did enjoy seeing some of the moments they had and I loved the overall atmosphere of this show with all the blue undertones, the fish tank, and the beginning few guitar strings of the "You Should Know" song. That song is a masterpiece and these things made the show much more watchable. But even if I was enjoying their relationship sometimes, I would have to remember every time he messed up.

When Flora started working at Luke's company, Luke was truly a piece of work. He tried to make her feel worthless and told her that she should give up and quit. And honestly, she should have quit. She shouldn't have to tolerate verbal abuse at her work just to prove herself. I also hated the power dynamic. She was just a young rookie and this powerful boss had already taken a liking to her. There was this huge imbalance and I was just thinking that if I was Lumi and found out about their relationship while she was still my student, I would literally throw up. It just feels sort of predatory. But I liked how Flora tried to make a name for herself on her own and didn't want to rely on Luke and that Luke didn't give her special treatment (even though he was harsher than he needed to be at times).

Nevertheless, this relationship became even more problematic when Flora was suspecting Luke of cheating on her with his childhood friend and decided to end it? I forgot if she ended it or was only about to. Anyway, Luke solves this by taking her to the hospital when she's sick and back to his apartment and while she tells her that she is serious about breaking up with him, Luke, a grown-ass man uses puppy eyes on her and says "are you sure you want to break up with me? really? 🥺" She doesn't give in quite yet so he takes her outside in the freezing cold snow while she is too weak to defend herself and tells her that he's going to leave her out there until she agrees to get back with him, all while has pneumonia by the way. And of course she agrees. Oh..but remember, "you don't have to be perfect to deserve love 🥰". I don't care. This is some psychotic behavior that shouldn't be excused that easily. While I wouldn't say he doesn't deserve love at all, he isn't ready for it and needs therapy badly.

In addition, Flora constantly felt like Luke never respected her and it's hard to say that she's wrong and just insecure. Now I don't want it to seem like I'm saying that Flora was some perfect angel. She wasn't. She created a dating app account for her best friend's sake without telling Luke, she reunited with her ex without telling Luke, decided to introduce Luke to her ex as her boss rather than her boyfriend, got upset when Luke "reunited with his ex", and right afterwards decided to talk to him about marriage. Overall, she sucked at communicating. Both of them did. As for her distancing herself from Luke in the relationship. They both seemed somewhat okay with it and it's never good to be openly dating your co-worker, especially your boss at your work place because then, people start making all these weird rumors and start questioning your achievements. And it would be weird to introduce your arrogant, conceited CEO boyfriend to your average friends. I can't imagine what they would even talk about.

Anyway, every time they got back together, it was just a lot of manipulation. When she went to the Northwest for her huge project, she and Luke reunited and Luke exaggerated his sickness so that he could stay where she was at and get her to feel bad for him and it worked. I was so annoyed. And when they finally had the big break up and she went to Harbin for a while, he stalked her and stayed outside her apartment in the freezing cold to get her attention. He also used LuKe (the dog) as an excuse to go to her apartment and get near her. And I hated how weak she was here and how easily she let herself be manipulated by him. She just let him invade her personal space and softly told him to get out. When they got back together, I all I could think was "whatever. I guess bro."

I didn't care much for the museum. All I could think about was how he even got pictures of her at those times. Like maybe he's more of a creep than we thought. I didn't hate the ending entirely, but it would've been so much cooler if she was finally strong enough to say no to him for once. I'm also suspicious on how long this marriage is going to stay healthy for before it turns to garbage because he still displayed toxic behavior even after all that time being away from each other. I'm also concerned for the young girls that see this and think "yeah I should give this guy with a horrible personality a chance because maybe he'll change for the better and finally learn from his mistakes". No one should be okay with a relationship like this ever. But I was impressed by how this drama managed to keep me interested, despite the weird relationship. I wasn't bored at all watching this which is mainly why I scored this drama so high.

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A love as complicated as the people behind it

I had pretty high expectations for this one, especially with Cheng Lei, the Republican-era setting and such an intriguing storyline, but I didn't expect to get THIS attached to it. Changxuan, YOU WERE SUCH A RED FLAG, but by the end I realized you weren't really the bad guy. You were just someone who never learned how to love properly. That doesn't excuse all the times he hurt Ping Jun, but it made me understand him so much better. One moment I wanted to scream at him for his decisions, and the next I found myself completely drawn to him. Cheng Lei really knows how to portray a morally grey character, and he absolutely delivered. But Ping Jun deserves just as much appreciation because I adored how she stood her ground even when everything was against her. And after everything she endured during those years of captivity, believing she'd lost her child and being drugged to keep her under control, my heart genuinely broke for her. Jiang Xue Ting??? WHAT A DESPICABLE MAN. I don't think I could ever hate him enough. And honestly, considering everything this drama put its characters through, I couldn't have expected the finale to go any differently. After so much suffering, I knew happiness wasn't going to come without a little more heartbreak. Watching Changxuan meet his son for the first time absolutely shattered me, especially seeing what a wonderful father he could be. And when he and Ping Jun finally reunited, seeing their little family of three together brought me so much comfort. But the fact that Changxuan promised her so many times that he would leave, only to always find his way back to her, and the ONE time he promised he would come back... he couldn't. I'm absolutely devastated. After everything they went through, that realization hurts more than I can put into words.

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I actually enjoyed this so much more than I expected!

I actually enjoyed this so much more than I expected! This was my first SeaKeen series and they already have my heart. The whole rivals to lovers storyline was really fun to watch and I loved seeing Err and Mawin slowly get closer. Sea and Keen did such a good job and their interactions were sooo cute.

Even though it was only 4 episodes I still enjoyed it. I was surprised by how well the story was told and how nothing felt rushed or missing. The pacing was good and the relationship developed naturally.

Overall, such a cute and enjoyable series. Definitely worth watching and I’d happily watch it again. 9/10

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steady yet shifting

literally just like a star—two seemingly different things that can coexist, which is quite ironic when you think about it. opposites really do attract, and Seo Joon and Ji Woo's love story is proof of that. they may have completely different personalities, but their chemistry works surprisingly well. although it took some time for them to get there, it was definitely worth the wait when they finally gave in and accepted how they truly felt about each other.

that said, there's just one thing that bothered me. i don't want to get too technical about it, but the production's lack of proper direction was probably my biggest issue. there were moments when i almost didn't want to continue watching, but thankfully, the story and the characters still managed to keep me hooked!

my journey to reach my star continues in the next season!

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A complacent relationship

This is actually not a bad series.

ML and FL have been together 10 years.

The role of the FL.

The FL is open, honest and shares her ups and downs with the ML.
She is transparent. She takes the criticism of her brothers. She is emotionally intelligent. She loves the ML wholeheartedly.
She showed him every side of her (good and bad)
Her mother wants the ML and FL to get married, but FL feels that the ML has not fully contributed to their relationship emotionally, honestly, and openly. She is also seen as someone her brother's including the ML (although ML doesn't show it) as an indecisive and going nowhere very quickly and depending on the ML.

She does everything to provoke him, to learn another side of the ML. She wants him to get angry, have an argument with her, be jealous,, etc.

Her proposal to date other people had nothing to do about cheating, but to make him understand that he should not see her as a confortable armchair, but a companion who would support him during the good and bad time. Viewers get to learn her true intention in episode 8

She advise him to date the woman who has feelings for him - she doesnt want to feel as if she had wronged him.
Also, she wants him to experience a new world without her in it.

The role of the ML

He is a closed book.
He hides his troubles and emotions from the FL because he only wants to see her happy. (Donating a kidney, giving his aunt money, doung extra work, etc)
He is basically a pushover.
He still sees her as a childhood friend, family, and not really a companion.
She has been around him all these years.
He is already a son to her mother, and a brother to her brother's. They go on family outing together and so on. Why would he noy be part of her world?
She is his safe zone.
He gives in to her every whim because he is afraid of losing her completely (physically and as a friend)
They live opposite each other, and he is not deterred by her proposal to date other people because even if he is not her boyfriend, he would still see her around.
He would be the first one there if she breaks off a relationship with whoever she decides to date. Thats how sure he is.
He would still be a part of her family.
Furthermore, he knows she is trying to provoke, therefore he agrees to whatever she says and without getting upset.
He sees her, as Ive mentioned above, an indecisive person who would get bored if she is not happy with something or said person.

Complacency is what brought them together.

It is a good watch.

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Not Every Love Story Is Worth Rooting For

Honestly, this drama was a disappointment. The storyline had potential, but the execution, writing and character development failed to meet my expectations.

Namgung Ho (Seo Kang-joon) was one character I could genuinely sympathise with. He tried his best to protect his relationship with Mi-do and maintain boundaries when necessary. Even with Su-a, he knew where to draw the line. I appreciated that about him. He wasn't perfect, but I understood his perspective and felt that he genuinely wanted to protect his relationship.

Lee Mi-do (Ahn Eun-jin), on the other hand, was quite frustrating for me. However, one thing I appreciated was that she eventually recognised her own mistakes instead of constantly blaming Ho. I've seen many Instagram reels where people argue that Mi-do was right and Ho was wrong, but I personally see things differently. For me, Ho was trying to protect his relationship. It's not always about who is right or wrong; it's about respect, trust and understanding. When you're in a relationship, you should respect each other, love each other and be willing to compromise. If your feelings change or something is bothering you, communicate honestly rather than betraying your partner. Cheating can break someone's heart and make it difficult for them to trust anyone again.

Han Tae-seung (Lee Joo-ahn) was honestly one of the most annoying and frustrating characters for me. I understand that he has his own backstory, but even knowing that, I couldn't stop finding his behaviour irritating. He remained frustrating right until the very last episode.

On the other hand, Park Su-a (Jo A-ram) was easily my favourite among the four main leads. She was cute, sweet, genuine and an absolute green flag. I genuinely loved her character. Seeing her finally get her man, Namgung Ho, made me happy. I just wish they had received more screen time together in the final episode. Nevertheless, I'm happy for both of them!

Unfortunately, the overall writing and execution left a lot to be desired. Despite having a few characters and moments I appreciated, the drama simply didn't work for me.

No hate towards anyone or who enjoyed this drama. These are just my personal opinions and my interpretation of the relationships portrayed.

Rating: 3/10

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