I found it difficult to suspend disbelief enough to believe that her parents would let her stay by herself to go to school, with Kugayama Shusei living right next door. THEN, there wasn't any build up to their relationship, it was suddenly just there. The main couple was cute together, but I didn't feel any chemistry between them. Poor excuses for kisses, they just looked so fake and awkward. The yelling of the male actors was irritating, it just looks like overacting. Sexism is alive and well in Japanese dramas - the male rating the female on a scale of 1-100, talking to everyone about her looks and lack of boobs - not cool.

Yamazaki Kento as Kugayama Shusei was good. He's got that quiet, deep-thinking thing going on. He was the high point of this movie for me.

Citeste mai mult

Reinventing yourself

This was a sweet movie about getting up again after you fall (or when someone trips you). The FL has had some career difficulties and changed careers from singer to radio show host. When the radio show begins to have difficulties, you think that the poor girl is living under a black cloud. I really liked her personality, even with everything she'd been through, she maintained an open and positive attitude. People around her liked her and were rooting for her.

A new producer comes on board and challenges her, and she remains her spunky self. Sparks fly, but I would not call this movie a romance. That's not the focus. This is more a movie about staying true to yourself, having support of good friends and family, rising beyond your troubles, and going after your dreams.

There are some very touching stories of people that come on the radio to share thoughts with the ones they love. I cried more than once, I'll have to admit.

Citeste mai mult

I love Jung Il Woo, but his character was not very nice. Lots of yelling going on in this show - he definitely has anger issues. Early on in the series she knew that she liked him, but was in denial? She kept pushing him away, even after he got over himself and confessed. I liked the short episodes, but that meant that the editing was kind of choppy and some scenes weren't played out to their conclusion, for example at the dance club when he was trying to make her jealous. There were times when I thought, "Of course she doesn't like you, you're a jerk!" But then other times he was vulnerable and I would forgive him anything! The scene where he was supposedly crying wasn't played right, it seemed more like a funny scene, and I don't think they meant it to be that way. And to the costume designers, what the heck was with all the outfits with him wearing shorts?!?! A pink striped suit with shorts. A dress shirt, trench coat and shorts. It was a ridiculous look every time.

Citeste mai mult

It's not too often I wish something to be LONGER!

At just over 28 minutes, this web drama is very cute and sweet. I liked all of the actors. I love the SML and that's what brought me here, but the leads were so cute together, which kind of creeped me out initially, but then once everything was explained, I was like, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense!"

SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!
Bottom line, he's not her son from the future, he's her husband. He is dying and he wants to save her the pain of going through losing him, so he tries to fix her up with someone else. But fate or destiny is not to be trifled with, you will meet the person you are supposed to be with.

They never explained how he could come from the future, but I guess that doesn't really matter. I would like to think that they were able to change something so that he doesn't die, but who knows?
END OF SPOILER.

Cute, quick movie.

Citeste mai mult

Family life

It our fate already decided, or do we have the power to change it? That is what this drama tackles.

This was billed as a romance, and there was some, but it took a backseat to the family dynamics. That's not necessarily a bad thing. A story about a blended family, with a kind of "us against the world" view. The older brother basically gives up his life to raise his siblings (this actor and his overacting were my only problem with the actors). His unhappiness is palpable, as is his frustration with trying to get the youngest sibling to agree to go to university. You can sense the love that each family member has for the other.

I wasn't, however, fully on board for the romance. Nanao seemed SO much older than Sota, so Sota often seemed like a puppy dog around her. I also felt that the fact that they were in love but had been raised as siblings was glossed over. No one seemed to have a problem with it.

Fukushi Sota as Mikoto was sweet and endearing. The weight he felt by having the "power" he had was interesting. To know someone's destiny and not know how to change it would be so scary and frustrating. Nanao as Sara was beautiful, but again, I felt she was too old for this role. Yokohama Ryusei as Ai - he's a very charismatic actor and I struggled to remember that he was not the lead in the show.

So, all in all, it wasn't a bad show. I actually liked the pacing of it, slow and strangely calming.

Citeste mai mult

Pretty good coming-of-age story

I struggled at the beginning as I usually do with Chinese dramas - I hate the dubbing, the writing can be awkward, and the acting can be mediocre. Added to that, I didn't care for the character of Su Can Can - why do they tend to make the FL appear stupid and/or inept so often? She's bad at school, she manipulates her desk mate, she has no immune system, apparently, because if she got even a hint of a chill, she got sick, oh, and HOW MANY TIMES did she sprain her ankle?!?! That's it, I'm finished with my rant.

Once I got a few episodes in, I just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed. This was a quiet show that you can settle into. There are no evil characters, just one (in my opinion) sightly irritating character, no bullying per se, and the friendships are lovely. This show also has the advantage that it takes place over a 10-year period, so we got to see long past high school. We saw the growth in each character that was realistic. For the most part, I think I could have been friends with them.

My favorite part of this show was Zhao Yi Qin as Lian Tian Ye. Typical tsundere character with kind of a bad boy vibe, he was quiet and caring, and there was never any vacillating with him. He knew who he cared about, and nothing was going to change that. He had an intense look about him that drew me in.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS:
Opportunities missed - he always saved the wrappers from the candies that she gave him. I thought that would be addressed, but maybe it ended up on the cutting room floor.
When he came back from America after she graduated - I thought that would have been much more effective if it had all been in her imagination.
Her keys falling in the grate that her ring had fallen into - was there supposed to be a tie-in?
END POTENTIAL SPOILERS.

All-in-all, I enjoyed this drama. I can't say that it was absolutely one of my favorites, but I did enjoy it and was glad I watched it. The ending was good and got me choked up a bit.

Citeste mai mult

This one surprised me, in a good way

I love this show!! So Ji Sub could read the phone book and I would love it. Seo In Guk, pretty much the same thing. I love them both. Gong Hyo Jin was excellent - she was pretty over the top in the first few episodes and then kind of settled into her character. I've watched this multiple times and enjoyed it each time.

I really liked the paranormal aspects of the show. Normally, that might not be something that I'm drawn to, but I could really feel the FL's angst/fear/exhaustion of having a "gift" that she considered a curse. Her loneliness was another thing that was almost palpable - to be forced to keep yourself apart from everyone was so sad, and that emotion was demonstrated so well.

There was a lot of humor in this show as well. When you've got two characters that don't exactly know what to do with each other, that could go in either direction. Thankfully, the writers knew what to do with the characters and I enjoyed the ride.

Citeste mai mult

This is an enjoyable show to watch

I watched this a while back. It was a very good show, excellent chemistry between the leads. I just went back and watched it again and I had to lower my rating. She was a MESS! Stalker-like behavior, needy, doormat. He, however, was wonderful. I did enjoy the storyline, and there were a lot of parts that I enjoyed a lot. I liked the work aspect of the story a lot more than I thought I would, since I'm usually all about the romance, and there were some VERY good scenes of them together, but again, my lowered rating is basically because of the behaviors of the FL - so, as an actress, she did a great job. All of the actors were terrific.

Citeste mai mult

Unexpectedly emotional

What I liked:
-The episodes in the middle. Some of the storylines were delved into more deeply and I really began to care about the characters.
-The friendships. The show started with each character being sort of an island unto themselves. They didn't care about one another, there were a lot of people being mean to each other. I liked how the show focused on one specific character and showed how the others came alongside that person to help them.
-A special teacher that cared about the students and helped them.

What I didn't like:
-I almost dropped this show early on because the FL was such a mess.
-The irrational storyline. The ML doesn't go to college and stays another year in high school, why? His father, I'm sure, had to pay for his schooling, yet he had no idea what his son was doing?
-The unprofessional, bullying teachers and administrators.
-The kids live at school, and it keeps getting drilled into us how much time they have to spend studying. They'd have more time for schoolwork if they didn't have to clean the classrooms/hallways, sweep the sidewalks, and handwash their clothes in the sink. Oh, and eating standing up?
-Unnecessary rival shows up for a few episodes.
-There were so many characters, and some of the storylines were never fully fleshed out.
-Abrupt, 10-year time jump
-THE ENDING, my gosh the ending!!!! I know that the romance was secondary, but the ending broke my romance-loving heart.

Citeste mai mult

Watch it for Kim Gun Woo

Call me superficial, but the main selling point of this movie was Kim Gun Woo. Not only physically attractive, but the character he portrayed here was just lovely. The poor guy that gets taken for granted because he's a good guy, but who you'd really want to be your boyfriend.

Jasper Cho's acting tends to be a bit "much", but here I'm not sure if it was his acting or the writing.

Fluffy, fluffy romantic comedy. It's an easy watch, I spent my time trying to guess how long it was going to take the FL to figure things out. I have to be honest, I liked her portrayal of a totally nice woman.

My complaint for this movie was the language. I realize that most people are probably not bothered by it, but the use of the "F" bomb always shows a laziness of writing for me. There are many other words that could be used.

Citeste mai mult

No chemistry, toxic relationships

Let me start with the high points. The music and the use of "Some Day My Prince Will Come" were really cute. For me, that's the end of the high points.

Characters: FL is just beautiful. However, as is the case with a lot of Japanese shows, she's got absolutely no self-esteem. Falls in love for apparently no discernible reason. Willing to be treated poorly, on an ongoing basis. ML had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He couldn't even be called tsundere, because there was no warmth hidden deep within him. He treated her terrible, always berating her in front of others, then says he wants to date her with an eye toward marriage?!?! No woman with any spine would take him up on that ridiculous offer. Responses to his questionable offer were rolling around in my head as the movie went on.

Story/actor: I found the acting of the ML to be severely lacking. However, in his defense, was he just written that way? This man showed absolutely no emotions throughout the entire movie.

Chemistry: None, zilch, zero, nada. Actually, she had more chemistry with her childhood friend, so consequently that relationship made so much more sense.

Thank goodness this was a movie and not a series. If it was a series, I probably would have dropped it.

Citeste mai mult

Could have seriously used some character development

This movie played like they had taken a long drama, cut out all the important parts, and then edited in a way that didn't make much sense. The couple goes from barely looking at each other to holding hands, and all of a sudden, they are a couple. I had to back it up a couple of times, thinking that I'd fallen asleep and missed something.

We don't really know or learn anything about either of the main characters. He's a doctor, professional, non-emotional. She is studying physics? Why? Do we care? Does it have anything to do with the storyline? They really never talk to one another. She finds out he's leaving the country for six months from someone else.

Dubbing continues to be an issue for me in C-dramas. There HAS to be more than one woman in China that can do dubbing. Her voice is so high, childish, and irritating and I've heard it in so many shows. It really takes me out of the drama.

The storyline with the dad and him trying to marry her off was over the top and just irritating.

In general, I found the acting in this drama lacking. Wooden characters or over-acting, take your pick.

The high point? The fact that it was a movie and not a long drama so I can move on.

Citeste mai mult

Cute, easy watch

There was nothing earthshaking here. The story was simple, the acting was okay, I don't even remember if there was music in it, and based on the fact that I have a "to watch" list a mile long, I won't watch this again. Having said that, it was a cute movie, taken from the young man's point of view. He's loved this girl forever and they run into each other again when he transfers schools (in this day and age of technology, how and why they lost track of each other is a mystery). There's the obligatory second ML, but not really much drama there, either.

What I liked about this movie was everything he was willing to do for her to make her smile, to further her career, etc. He often found himself being swept WAY out of his comfort zone. That was fun to watch.

It was a low angst movie and enjoyable to watch.

Citeste mai mult

Forgettable

This movie, for me, was very forgettable. Seriously, I watched it two days ago and I can hardly remember it.

Positives:
Beautiful scenery
No angst

Otherwise:
Not much going on. A lot of longing looks, but too much space with no dialogue. As is the case with so many Japanese dramas, the girl likes the boy immediately, for no apparent reason other than he's breathing. There isn't much character development for us to feel like we know anyone. There was zero chemistry between the lead characters. For me, this movie kind of acted like a lobotomy, to completely empty my brain before watching something else. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it, but I didn't care about it at all.

Citeste mai mult

Could have been so much better!

I liked the concept and I appreciated that they didn't have the hidden identity between the main couple last for too long. The couple was cute together.

However, her not wanting to tell anyone else her true identity throughout the whole show got old fast. She had the "I'm not good enough for you" vibe going on (she actually verbalized it a couple of times) and that made me feel, through her inferiority complex, that she didn't love him like she should/claimed.

I'll admit up front that I don't like bullying, but this show went so far in the other direction it was ridiculous. Ai was good to everyone, and wanted to help everyone out, but unfortunately, her boyfriend seemed to be nowhere on the list of those she wanted to help. His needs always took a backseat to everyone else.

I felt that the end was unsatisfying.

Citeste mai mult