I really had to struggle through this one.

It is not a totally bad drama and it does have a lot of romance in it.
But it is simply not my kind of drama, it just lacked an intelligent plot.

What I personally disliked:

1) The timid character of the female main role. It changes in the end, and you know it will,
but it is so cliché and expected that I just got unnerved by it.
2) The whole misunderstanding thing. I just really hate misunderstandings in plotlines, when you as a viewer/reader know more than the characters and you just watch them struggle along and just wait and wait for it to be cleared, knowing all the way that it will happen.
3) Thus the whole plot was totally predictable. Even the side-plot with the sister was after introduction nothing new. The was a big, huge hole when it comes to suspense or thrilling aspects. It was rather boring.

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This is not really a drama in the sense we understand drama to be. This is a historical series which lacks all "drama". You have to realize this before you start!

The whole series is focused on the REAL historical and political story of more than a decade - the Meji revolution and restoration. You HAVE to be interested in history, otherwise you will not enjoy this.
There is no romance or drama or villains in the sense we drama-lovers are used to. You will get no romantic scenes or unrealistic depictions of anything. Even when the heroine marries, you will not see her kiss or ever know whether they"consumed" the marriage or whatever.

You can call this a very dry story, because it lacks the "extra fantastic spice", but because of this, it is very pure, too. The story blossoms like a flower and you get attached to its characters very slowly, but on a deep level, it's like you share their experiences with them, because you take part in so much and for such a long time. And believe me, when you enter the mid-20th episodes, it will be gutt-wrenching what you witness and what you know were real life events... (Byakkotai, Saigo Tanomo's female family, etc.). This drama is by no means something for the faint hearted - it shows what the Boshin war was like, without any gruesome scenes, but perfectly portraying the events of such.

I love history and although I knew already some background facts about the end of the Bakumatsu period, I have never seen anything where the historical and political development of the 1860s is presented in such a detailed way. I learned so much about the clan wars of those times. You can watch and at the same time google the characters (the names are displayed) - they're are real. Also, at the end of every episode there are a few minutes of documentation about historical sites that are connected to these events! What a bonus! The documentary character is emphasized by the voice of a woman, who in each episode will resume some events or political settings, thus giving us a better overview.

It is quite outstanding to see the plot from Aizu's perspective (because Yae is Aizu), because they were the ones protecting the Shogunate in the end. (For those who don't know how history went, I don't want to spoil what's going to happen, so I won't say more on the content). As many others I had the opinion that they were just conservative and against change, but this drama showed me that in fact, they were victims to overall circumstances, too.

The directing and scenery are top-nodge, it is as realistic as it can get. Like a veeery long historical movie. I am happy with the actors, with the exception of (sadly) the main actress! I find her acting too obvious and she depicts Yae in a naive, plain way that I don't like or see fitting. In the opening of each episode (which is by the way maybe the most beautiful I have ever seen, beating even that of Nirvana on Fire), Yae is clearly stated as the heroine in such an dramatic and elegant way, that it just doesn't fit her display in the episodes itself. But oh well, that's a comparatively minor letdown.

So, for you out there, who love history and are interested in the end of the Samurai-period, this is maybe the rarest drama-jewel out there. Let me know what you think.

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Ok.... this drama was at the same time aweSOME and awFUL.

Until about episode 16 or so, it was mindblowingly good!
The main character is this crazy hero, who is so intelligent that he is practically an alien.
And love story is cute, although very expectable.
Ok, there were some minor flaws when it comes to the police work (like walking all over the scene of the crime and touching stuff etc.), but you can forgive such flaws, just like the bad acting of most of the foreign actors.
The intelligent plot is great to this point, but

THEN....

everything changes:

1) Right after they fall in love he just starts behaving like a normal person, thus looses all his
charming antisocial features.
2) Then comes the all-tying plot in, and it is so DAMN PREDICTABLE that I couldn't believe that
it comes from the same writers as before!
3) Everything becomes one huge ball of clichés, you expect this to happen, then that, and this again, and it all does. Freakingly disappointing!
4) And it starts to draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag... Seriously, from ep. 17 on I felt like watching something in slow motion.... because of the predictable "turns" it was even worse, not just the directing. The pace was totally off.

So - while the first arch of this drama was insanely good, the latter was so bad that I really had to
force myself to continue watching. Jeez, that was a pain in the butt.
The only good news: The last episode improved on that.
But the so charmingly outlandish main character was lost on the way.

The good part would get a 10 from me, the boring part a 6, thus it ends with an 8.

It is still worth watching, though.

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This drama offered new takes on old themes. We have many clichés here (the-more-beautiful love rival, a rich guy who is anti-social, a stupid chaebol-mom, a "mystery" etc.).

HOWEVER, all of this is depicted in quite a new way: the love rival is actually a nice person and isn't bitchy at all, the rich guy is not THAT rich - just normal - and his anti-social behaviour is totally believable and not over the top. The chaebol-mom isn't really one, but tries to be.

And there are many other aspects, that felt fresh: The main woman's parents, esp. the mom, were no minor roles and showed some hair-wrenching parts of family life. The horny attorny (yeah, you read that right) with the older sister and their wonderfull outlandishly behaviour.
The female and male leads were totally believable imo - I know the actors from interviews and I couldn't see them past their roles. I believed all of it, and even the falling-in-love happened so gradually, esp. for the man, that for once it was real.

The mystery of his visions was really interesting and they even tried to explain it.

The humour - oh, this was awesome. It was a really new kind of humour that I haven't encountered like this in any drama before. It was at the same time crazy but realistic.

The only time I was a bit unnerved was when the back-and-forth between the couple got a little bit too frequently. It was still believable, not artificially emotional as in many other dramas, but still. Thank God, that resolved rather quickly when the guy decided to do what has to be done.

I really think, that I will rewatch it, especially for the humour and this one freakishly awesome kiss-scene.... ^^

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This drama did deliver. It is indeed EPIC.

I have seen many historical dramas, but I have to admit this one tops them all.

It is very well made and high quality, the plot is very strategic but believable
and the suspense is intense since you watch one ongoing plot all the time (there
is just a straight cut at the ending of each episodes, kind of when you just turn
off your movie in the middle of it).

The martial arts are great and (for Chinese standards) not so much over the top.

The actors are insanely good.

If I had anything to critisize, then it would be that I hoped for an itsy bitsy more romance
going on (just a tiny bit, too much would have destroyed the mood of this drama), at least
at the end.
And the ending itself could have been shown more. It is a final ending, you know what
happens, but still, I would have hoped to see it actually happening (but this is just my preference).

This drama is in its own league when it comes to historical dramas and you would be insane
to miss it if you like this genre.

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It is a very good drama, but by faaaaar not one of the best.
(Truthfully speaking, lately folks on MDL just throw around the 10s, it is totally misleading.)

The best about this drama, is by a long shot, the ACTING. Superb. The male lead and the second female lead were the outstanding stars for me - you could feel their sorrow and mood and they did not overact. And the male lead had a tough part to act, because...

...the freakin' age gap! It made me cringe sometimes. I just couldn't overlook it, no matter how hard I tried. Sure, 19 and around 39 (or: 939) is not a total disaster, but it does come close to being inappropriate, especially since the female lead is written to be extremely teenagery, showing lots of little-girl-aspects.

Although the kissing scenes were really great and believable in themselves, the issue with the age just made it awkward to watch.

Anyways. The plot, not to forget, was okay, sometimes even really nice. The ending is really emotional and I liked it, because I did not expect it. (It squeezed even two tears out of me, and I am one of those viewers that never cry). The issue here is, that there were sometimes weird jumps between very, very serious topics and total slapstick. It was rather unusual and it made it sometimes difficult to follow the mood. The other thing was that in each episode there were several times that I was outright bored.
If you look at it from afar, there was not much plot going on besides the two lead couples circling around each other.

Is it a good drama? Yes. Is it a great drama? No.

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I got to hand it to the Chinese - they sure know how to deliver drama-kiss-scenes...
Truth be told, I am not the biggest fan of pure romance, but here it got me. I will probably rewatch this many times.
Do you know the meme-face, which pukes a rainbow? Well, imagine it with puking a stream of pink hearts - that would be me watching this drama. It's embarassing, but I will admit to it.

I give this drama a 10, because it deserves this in terms of romance. You can scratch the whole side-plots (of which aren't too many around) and still have an awesome couple.

What this drama has NOT and I didn't miss either:
1) Misunderstandings between the couple
2) Second-lead-syndrome
3) Evil mother-in-law or alike
4) over-the-top dramatic circumstances like amnesia, murder, sickness etc.

What this drama has:
1) A handsome, cool, intelligent, competent, polite male lead, who does - let's face it - all the right things which no man in reality can live up to
2) A female lead, that manages to be clever, polite, witty, modest but self-assured and lacks the typical submissive side, which I so often dislike in Asian dramas
3) Some cool and funny supporting characters, that have genuine connections between each other
4) Minor tensions that are resolved easily and in a superior way by the main couple
5) All the bullies get their mouths stuffed right away, which is just SO satisfying
6) Some ear-reddening kiss-scenes...


This truelly is a drama to romantically relax. It doesn't have the nerve-wrecking plot-twists that we all know and just want to get over with. Instead, we see a believable and perfect love-story and since it doesn't aspire to be more than this, it hits the mark.
The only thing I missed from about episode 20 onwards were the scenes from the game, but since they moved the relationship to real life, it happens fluently.
I have to admit, I fast-forwarded some of the side-story, just because I couldn't wait for main stuff happening, but I see this as a plus.

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No matter how I look at this, this drama dragged.

I am really disappointed seeing the great cast and potential, but already at episode 8 or so I was tempted to drop it.

There are some nice, funny and romantic scenes, but overall it was a feeling of lacking a stringent plot development and of course, the whole "I won't tell anyone that I am about to die" thing dragged unbelievably until almost the last episode - which concluded almost hastily. (Couldn't they show a tiny bit more of the aftermath?)

I really like the main actor, but unfortunately I felt that this was not the best role for him. I applaude him for his ability to let himself cry, because this is difficult to do, but it just didn't fit him.

Somehow, I feel like this drama managed to get all the K-drama clichés together, but in a weird, unsatisfying way.

My rating is still generous considering that I wouldn't advise watching this unless you are a fan of the actors or don't have anything else to watch. But in singular scenes it was good, putting it altogether though, failed.

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This drama is so ENDEARING.
I just finished watching it and feel like I have been part of their families' lives.

It is a drama about life, love, friendship, anger, failure and family.
There is a huge amount of comical moments to ensure that it never
gets depressing or too heavy. (THE GOAT)
I laughed many time at the top of my lungs, because every episode will
deliver something totally ridiculous (in a good sense).

You have all kinds of characters and they are quite original. Each of them
is portrayed as flawed but loveable at the same time. The constellations between
the families are the reason that it feels like a tiny universe of emotional ties that
is shown at a moment (or some years) that are most important for their future
development.

And there is the issue of THE love-mystery...
I have never watched a drama where it was not clear which guy is the leading role
and who is the second lead - thus making it really difficult to predict who the main
girl will choose in the end. IMO the writers did a great job in making it ambiguous.
It is so fifty-fifty, that they could actually pull off an alternative ending taking the last
two episodes.

But this is NOT a love-drama, if you are looking just for romance then you will be
disappointed. When you look for an entertaining, adorable, higly emotional and funny
drama, then you have found it.

What a great piece. Applause to the producers and the team of Reply 1988.

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And here it comes: Me critisizing this overly hyped drama.

Don't get me wrong: This is still a very good drama worth watching and it is totally outstanding in some aspects... but not so much in other.

I will start with what bothered me and why I cannot give it the perfect marks everyone else is throwing at it. Later, I will list the totally awesome things about this, so stay with me.

What there is to critisize:
The black-and-white-setting. If there was ever a story about how incompetent cops are, here it is. It is the pinnacle of unworthy police work, because this exactly is the basis for the entire plot. All police-men (but three), are depicted as either corrupt, lazy, incompetent or plain evil. None but the main characters do their work properly. Of course, there ARE bad cops out there and corruption and everything, but man, this drama just divides them plainly into good cop and the rest. Thus, from the beginning, I got unnerved by unrealistic behavior and "Oh no, who in their right mind would act this way?". It kept me rolling my eyes.
The script was written like an inverted fairy-tale about a very bad and dark world where the good people are a minority and most is awful.
Because the drama shows very openly and very early who thevillains for the main plot are, and after a couple of episodes of solving several distinct cases this becomes the main focus, any surprise about this goes down the drain. After episode 8 or so everything became predictable for me (but one point, listing below with the positives).
Then there is the thing with the walkie-talkie. It will be mentioned in the positive-section below, but it still has a flaw: As many plots which play with time, this too, makes some mistakes. People who are into logical plot development and know the problems of changing-things-in-time-stories will know, what I mean after watching it. It just could not have happened the way they showed, but this is a minor flaw.

Here comes the positive:
The directing and cinematography are INGENIOUS. Whilst everyone gets hyped on the (for me unperfect) plot, the real masterwork lies in everything else! It is marvelously shot, the colours, the cuts, the directing - they are flawless and on the level of high-grossing Hollywood productions. Absolutely superb! In this aspect alone it is better than any drama I have ever seen. It delivers the tense and dark athmosphere absolutely believable. And the acting is topnodge, too.
Whilst the plot about most cops being junk falls short and later on becomes predictable, what kept me going was the mystery of the walkie-talkie. Yes, the thing with the time isn't quite perfect, but the question Why do these transmissions happen? puts you on edge.

Altogether a very good drama, for sure, but seeing the ratings a bit overhyped IMO.

But you ought to give it a try!

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This drama was good and in every aspect solid. But it was not brilliant.

You have a nice story arch and character development. Especially the hero undergoes a believable transformation. There is a lot of tragedy in this drama, but the ending was surprising - in a good way.

Whilst it all starts off as a Romeo and Juliet scenario, it soon changes to a story of revenge. The romantic aspect stays throughout, but it never departs from its tragic circumstances.

Although I did like this drama, it did not blow me away, though. And these are the reasons:

1) The script had some flaws. If you watch carefully, you will recognize every 3 episodes or so that someone did not behave logically or the time-setting wouldn't fit, so the plot could be bent the right way.
2) More accurately you can observe this in the actions of the heroine, especially in the first 10 episodes, when she just does not do the logical thing to do (I cannot tell you what without spoilers), although it does not fit her level of intelligence.
3) This drama lacks some comic relief - it has NONE. It is very unusual, even for sobber historic dramas, to not have at least one funny character to counterbalance the heavy. It wouldn't have to be something goofy, because that wouldn't fit the general mood, but at least some joke here or there. Unusual. I, for one, missed that a lot.
4) For a historical drama, set around the powerstruggle at court, there is close to none, scratch that, there is NONE strategic plot. Seriously, the scheming of the villains and the good guys is basically killing each other off. One could argue, that it is just not the emphasize of this drama, but really, it should be part of it, it is the reason for the story and keeps happening all the way till the end.
5) So yeah - in the end, it is somehow about the suffering and death of lots of people who fall victim to a bad and cruel ruler, and the suffering of two lovers, especially because one is the daughter of the villain. But there is hardly more.

Gosh. I am quite sure, that I have never smiled LESS whilst watching a drama. HOWEVER, it did not make me sad, at the same time. I did not cry and the ending was maybe the long sought counterbalance for all the tragedies happening.

So why did I give this an 8? Because it is still a very well directed and detailed drama, and the lovers' fate keeps you watching, although it is not the usual kind of romance you are used to. In many ways it is more realistic than any other historical drama, because it is nowhere over the top and portrays the bitterness of life in a believable way.

You should watch it, if you like dramas that are realistic and portray the endurance of people as they struggle, fall and get up. It is a historical setting, but it does not employ any historical events, thus it is not necessary something for lovers of historical dramas by itself.

You should not watch it, if you want a well-rounded drama, with either humor, sweetness or a strategic plot. You won't find them here.

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This is the only drama so far that got 10 points from me in every aspect.

Oh boy, it was SO.FREAKING.GOOD.

The story was good. It had deeper aspects and good development.
The background story was emotional and dramatic and had thriller aspects going.
The characters were all very individual and somewhat outside of the box, which was great.
Even the supporting roles were diamonds by themselves.
The cast was outstanding. It was like they really, really, really WERE these characters, it fitted them
perfectly.
The love story was exactly the right amount of, well, love story.
The music was amazing, too.

I do not have a single critical aspect on this show, and that has never happened before or after.

It is entertaining, thrilling, romantic, funny, has action and is believable.

You are simply insane if you miss on this.

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I just finished watching this and I am still under the impression of the most unfitting and ridiculous ending I have ever seen in dramaland.... but I will come back to that later.

1) This drama will give you more characters to passionately hate than any other. It is like school-bullying with adults in an office. PREPARE FOR IT. You will want to punch someone whilst watching this. I had to laugh at some point, because it reminded me of animes like One Piece or DragonBall, where just after you finish one villain, the next, more powerful one, comes along and you fight again...
One part, that kept me watching, was the hope that all the bad guys, who persistently made life for some of the office newbies difficult, would get what they deserve in the end (who wouldn't want that to see?). However, I was utterly dissappointed, that just one had a bit of pay-up time, the rest just went into the wind, as if months and months of harrassment never happened.

2) I have to admit, that besides the awesome Mr. Oh at some point every character just got onto my nerves. But I suspect this is because of this ridiculous hierarchy that is played out here and that I, as a European, cannot comprehend. THEY ARE ALL PUSH-OVERS AND I HATE IT. Especially the sexual discrimination was hard to watch, and how Young Yi just suffered it, like a good little girl.
One might argue that this is what work-life is, but nope - this is what work-life SHOULDN'T be.

3) This might be the worst OST I have ever heard. Not that it is bad by itself, but it is just so melancholic and depressing... every time the title got played in "Misaeng" (sound in the background) I felt a little bit more depressed. Seriously, this drama is listed under "comedy", but it was only about 15% comedy at the most, it's definitely 80% slife-of-life, at least, and nothing else.

4) This didn't bother me too much, but you should know, that the whole thing plays out 99,9% in the office (a tiny part of it is during after-work drinking, too). You get amost zero private life etc. This revolves around the work, and as Mr. Oh said "Work is our life", this drama is about work. (And it showed me once again, why I would never want to work in such a company...)

5) The ending, as I mentioned, is like: WHAT? Then you remember somewhere in the past that at the beginning of the first episode was this one scene.... and then it was all about the office. And now, 20 episodes later, they continue with this beginning. And you realize, that it's the weirdest ending ever. It does not give you any answers - I would have loved to see where ALL the newbies were heading to or ended up. But nope, instead they gave us a crazy mixture of James Bond and Indiana Jones scene. I really asked myself whether GurRae didn't just die and this was his dream of heaven or whatever...

Ok. I gotta admit, this was some kind of rant.
I still liked the drama and watched it, because

1) it was well made. The athmosphere, the direction, the cuts were great.

2) I kept waiting for the newbies to pull through.

3) I really liked Mr. Oh and his father attitude towards his subordinates.

I guess, this is a drama, that is better to watch one or two episodes at a time, not all at once.

Well, this is off my chest. You gotta see, whether you like it. Maybe bully-haven is just the thing for you ;)

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I am very critical on plot aspects. They have to be logical and clever and in best case, unpredictable.

And so it was. There were two twists I had not see coming, which was really great.

The fact, that the main character can read minds plays a minor aspect in the whole story arch, which is actually nice. But you feel for him and his pains and cheer him on.

All the main characters are not as cliché as one would expect, therefore quite refreshing. And the actors are really great.

It is a great show, quite outstanding with an original idea. It really is one of the best I have seen so far.

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