michelleoc
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Give it a try
Mostly all reviews praise this show, with a lot of comparisons with Hometown Cha Cha Cha (and rightfully so). There was a lot to like about it, but there were numerous things that really bothered me, hence my lower score.What I liked:
-The acting by all was very good, but I did find Shin Hye Sun's constant pursed lip/pout talking very irritating after a while. I have loved her in other things she's done and never noticed her doing it before. I loved the friends, the families, the townspeople, and Samdal-Ri's little niece was just precious.
-Jeju. The cinematography was just stunning, and if this doesn't increase tourism, I don't know what will.
-I really like the idea of friends that have known each other for years, supportive of one another when apart, and then coming back together like no times has passed.
-2ML. I may have seen this actor in another role at some point in time, but I really liked him here. He had that almost palpable sadness surrounding him. Though it's not really realistic for someone to have one-sided love for that many years, the romantic in me just loved it. I also like how he was at odds with himself as to whether he should tell her or not. On top of that, he was just such a good friend to both the ML and FL.
-The sisters' storylines were well-developed and didn't feel wasted.
-Happy, though lackluster, ending.
-The friendship between the ML and FL. Which brings me to...
What I didn't like:
-For me, there was no chemistry between the leads. I loved them as friends but didn't buy them as a couple at all. Add to that that he thought she broke up with him, she thought he broke up with her, and all I could think was "how hard is it to just talk to each other?"
-So much drinking
-Drunk confessions
-The way the FL was written was problematic for me. She was portrayed as this strong, independent woman, but yet she slinks quietly away when the woman made up lies about her? She doesn't stand up for herself. She attended a long pity party for herself. I realize that the lie was pretty much the whole premise for the show, but it could have been written much better.
-Working with your ex? Nah.
-There needed to be a more satisfactory ending for the evil girl, she just kind of went away. I'm not a big revenge person but come on!
-After the 8-year (I think that was the amount of time it was supposed to be) time skip, we get another two-year time skip at the end. And that one made no sense. Suddenly he's going away to "realize his dream". Throughout the first part of the show, I really got the feeling that he NEVER wanted to leave Jeju.
-The ML's father's story line. It was immature and went on too long. If he was that troubled by Samdal-Ri's family, I'd think he would have moved away or something.
If you are still reading, I'd say give it a try, you might love it. I'm definitely in the minority.
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Watching this I thought I was frozen in time
For me, this was so slow. I felt like I'd been watching it forever, imagine my surprise when I was only on episode 5! I stuck it out, hoping it would improve, again, I'm only speaking for myself, it didn't.There were a couple of positives:
1) Chae Jong Hyeop. He had the great ability to go from nerdy to "spy" in a moment. He did a lot of switching back and forth. One minute he's someone that has no drive, just wants money, then the next he is standing up for the underdog.
2) I loved Im Chul Soo's scene in the last episode when the police asked him what other jobs he's had, and he referenced his characters from other dramas. That was so funny!
Otherwise, too many bad guys, a wasted and useless romance (romance is my favorite genre, but don't try to fit it in where it doesn't belong), lots of repetition, and I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending.
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Hmmmm....
Granted I watched this years ago, when I was first getting into K-dramas. At that time, I only knew who Park Seo Joon was, and I watched it for him. I struggled with this one because it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be, it slipped from slapstick comedy to melodrama in the blink of an eye. Which wouldn't be too bad, but it was back and forth between the two for most of the show.I loved the bromance aspect of it. I didn't buy the romance much.
Since I seem to be in the minority, if you haven't watched it, and are considering it, give it a go. There's certainly enough eye candy to keep a person happy!
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Struggling for word count
Cute show, good acting, but his character was really kind of a bully, and how hard is it to just have a conversation to resolve your issues!?!? Sung Hoon tends to play this type of character frequently. Kissing scenes were good. Happy ending but the ending was kind of weak. I wish that K-drama writers would get a clue that if we invest multiple hours in a drama, we would love a satisfying ending. Huge buildup to have the "happy ending" happen in the last 10 minutes or so. I felt that this show was entirely too long.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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This was cute, but uneven in my ability to enjoy it
The first half of this show had me on the irritated side. 1) Everyone saying, "Eh?" all the time. I know it's a Japanese thing, but it was so prevalent here I felt like I needed to turn it into a drinking game. 2) SFL - she was a mean human being with no redeeming features. I was seriously disappointed in the lack of repercussions for the terrible things that she did. I understand that the writers wanted to wrap this drama up in a cute, happy ending bow, but this character was just too mean. 3) ML going around asking everyone, "Are you captivated?" 4) At the beginning, even the FL was working my last nerve. The bowing, the lowered eyes, the apologizing for everything. Again, I realize it's part of the Japanese culture, but there's a point where it gets to be too much. 5) the FL's extreme reaction to the scar on her face. I get it, it's teenage land, where hormones run amok, and all emotions are way over the top. The scar wasn't bad enough to warrant that much angst.I persevered, however, and I liked the last half so much more than the first.
1) The FL grew through her experiences. Strong theme of the importance of loving yourself.
2) The supportiveness of friends, and people apologizing to those they have hurt in the past. (Still not enough to forgive the SFL, however. Maybe a lot of scenes were cut that would have made her change of heart forgivable?)
3) Her parents were lovely. I loved the scenes after the ML and FL were caught in front of her house in the middle of a school day.
4) I'm still not sure, in my heart, who I think the FL should have ended up with, but I loved how both of them wanted what was going to make her happy. I also loved how they grew to respect and like each other.
5) I absolutely loved the parts of episode 7 where the ML was trying to come to terms with his feelings and had no clue how to express them! I rewatched that, multiple times.
For the most part, the show is fluffy and enjoyable to watch, I was just hoping for a little more.
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A drama I didn't know I needed
I don't watch shows until they are completely available to watch. I've been burned too many times by sad/terrible/rushed endings. I skulked around daily under the comments for this show, reading everyone wax eloquent about how wonderful it was. That's normally the kiss of death for me. If everyone thinks it's the best thing in the world, I'm usually meh about it. Then, add to that my aversion to time travel movies (they always raise more questions than answers for me) and that this sounded exactly like Back to the Future, I wasn't holding out much hope. My hand is raised here, I admit it, I was wrong.I won't reiterate the storyline, but I will say this didn't reach out to me as a romance so much as a family/friend-fest. I didn't even feel that the focus was so much on the school aspect of it, but the kids themselves, which I loved. This show had so much heart. I laughed a lot, I cried quite a bit, and I vacillated back and forth between "hurry up and show me what's going to happen next" and "slow down, because I really want to savor this." The story was great, but the characters themselves, and the actors portraying them, were what kept me coming back for more. I really liked the direction they took with two people going to the past, one to save a life and one to end a life.
Ryeoun as Ha Eun Gyeol. This was a teenager that was old for his years, by necessity, as he was the mouthpiece for the whole family. That's a lot of responsibility to have from a very young age. Ryeoun was excellent, and I felt his wonder at meeting his younger father and finding him completely different than he imagined. Most of the scenes that made me cry involved Eun Gyeol. He was trying so hard to make things right, time after time. I could feel his desperation, as well as his sense of being unsuccessful. This story arc spoke a lot to destiny - are certain things that happen in our lives fixed? If you change something in one direction, does the river of destiny re-route itself to make it happen anyway?
Choi Hyun Wook as Ha Yi Chan had the gangly puppy/bouncy behavior going for him, moving from one thing to another quickly. If you are going, you run, if you are talking, you yell, if you don't know how to react to someone, you put them in a headlock. He was very immature, which was a perfect foil for Eun Gyeol, who had to switch places and become the father in the past. I did struggle with the length of time that he liked Sy Keong, so when he switched to Cheon Ah, it was kind of sudden and didn't necessarily flow well.
Seol In Ah as Choi Sy Kyeong/On Eun Yu. I had difficulty with this character. First, her voice is so distinctive, I kept flashing A Business Proposal when she talked. Other than that, my difficulties were more character related. Eun Yu was a totally repressed young woman, being driven by her mother's wishes. I don't feel that she would have been able to have the personality change that she did in the past. And, to me, there was something not always very nice about her, like she thought she was better than everyone else. And we didn't get to see any difficulties with her adapting to the past.
Shin Eun Soo as Yoon Cheon Ah. She was the standout for me. Eyes wide with sadness, living in silence, being betrayed by those that were supposed to take care of her, the character of Cheon Ah had a strength about her. I was so glad they didn't make her a doormat. It is really hard to act without using your voice, and Eun Soo was wonderful.
Go Doo Shim as Lee Chan's grandmother - she was terrific. She surrounded herself with students, cared for everyone and kept everyone fed. I love how she didn't baby Lee Chan, but was raising him to be a responsible adult, supporting him in every way she could.
The band mates were fun to watch, full of pen-up energy, running here and there. It was like they were all amped on caffeine, then I remember that's what it was like as a teenager. The Master was mysterious and brought levity to a lot of the scenes. I loved when he'd throw random English words in. Cheong Ah's step-mother - don't even get me started.
The soundtrack was very good and, of course, went along with the theme of the show.
BONUS - the lengthy BTS reference was a hoot!
Small nit-picky things:
I would have liked to have seen Yi Chan and Cheon Ah together for a longer period of time in the past, and watch their relationship develop.
So much bullying by so many people. And what about Yeom Byung Ho and his mother? They made a big deal about them and then they disappeared.
All the past band members, in 2023, thought Eun Gyeol "looked familiar". Did everyone get amnesia or something?
It was very vague as to whether his father remember him from the past as well.
Bottom line? Watch it!
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Might have been better as a series
Usually, I prefer movies because they leave out all the unnecessary filler. In the case of this movie, I would have preferred more information. I have not read the manga or watched the anime, so maybe it's my own fault. The biggest thing missing for me were the emotions of the main couple. When and why did he fall in love with her? Didn't see that at all. They spent time saying that he was a terribly mean person, and multiple women had already run away from him, but he was nice to her from the beginning, and I could never feel why he liked her specifically.It was about time for some niceness to her, after the horror of the family that she had to live with.
The special effects in this movie were really good. There was a lot of action packed into it as well. I also liked the feel of the movie regarding the time frame. I tend to not like historical dramas, but here, the time frame was somewhat blurred, with the women in beautiful kimonos, and the men in suits. Shout out to the costume designer for the military uniforms and kimonos. And whoever was responsible for hair and makeup - the long silver hair was so effective on the ML, as well as the "tattoo" markings on their faces when they used their powers.
So, while I didn't absolutely love it, this movie has a lot going for it and it was time well-spent to watch it.
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Great premise
When I read the synopsis for this show, I was excited about the original concept. Add to that, I love the actors that are in it, and I was really looking forward to it. I was let down by the writing. I thought the acting was terrific, and if they had taken out all of the repetitive scenes/dialogue, this would have been excellent.The FL went from being a strong character to a person that just kept saying "Haru" in practically every scene. They couldn't think of other lines for her? It was written in such a way that intimated that she only had strength when she was the main lead, but as a secondary person she had no control.
My biggest problem was the repetitiveness of the whole thing. I'd still say watch it, but keep your fast forward button ready. The acting was very good.
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My brain hurts...
Don't hate me because I didn't love it. It's a personal taste thing. I liked the acting in this. I also like that this has convinced me not to go back and try to watch Some Day or One Day. I'm apparently a superficial watcher and don't want to have to think too much. It's a shortcoming, I know, but there you have it.I love me a good destiny show, but this is the first time that I felt like the universe was trying to tell them that they should NOT be together. Together, tragedy, together, tragedy. I guess the ending had to be the way it was, but I was disappointed in the lack of payoff. Though it did border on a happy ending, which I appreciated.
And what was with her telling everyone that she was time traveling?! Her telling the murderer guy was random. I didn't get the impression that they were that close, and just why?
I actually made a flow chart to try to keep up with this while I was watching it, and even that confused me. My biggest problem was when the two versions of the ML met. That just didn't make any sense to me. Also, the random gay storyline (though seeing Rowoon and Ahn Hyo Seop together on screen was a treat!) was confusing, because weren't the two versions of the ML the same in each timeline?
I now need to find me a simple love story to watch. Since I'm WAY in the minority here, you might want to read everyone else's reviews and give the show a try.
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A good show to watch, but irritating at times
I was looking forward to seeing the leads together. I've loved her in everything I've seen her in, and he was my favorite part of Alchemy of Souls. They were extremely cute together. They had some serious scenes, and they also had a lot of scenes that just made me smile. For instance, once they were dating and they were deciding what to call one another. Their shyness with each other was very endearing. I didn't necessarily feel "chemistry" from them. Watching them as a couple, the word that comes to mind is "comfortable". I don't know if this is because they both just so extremely young, or what.LIKED:
1)The storyline was interesting, but sometimes they used the gong sound for truth, as well as for lies, so that was confusing.
2)Kim So Hyun as Sol Hee was good for this part. Aside from being beautiful, there is something about her that men and women are both drawn to, men want to date her, and women want to be her friend. Those are my favorite type of character. Hwang Min Hyun was okay in this. He was very understated, and I did like his ability to portray distrust, fear, and loneliness. There wasn't a lot of range from him, but I think that was more because of the way the part was written.
3)I think my favorite part of this show was Seo Ji Han as Lee Gang Min. He has very expressive eyes and was able to portray a lot of emotions with just his eyes. This character was a classic example of perfect boyfriend material. He loved her so much, he wanted to be with her and protect her, but the most important thing to him was her happiness. At the end, when he was on stakeout and was watching her walk by, his face just showed every emotion.
4) I loved the gang leader. There was a sort of a gray moral code about him. Him sticking up for Sol Hee and helping her was heartwarming.
5) I liked the OST, but I especially loved the background piano playing throughout, moving from Chopsticks to classical pieces. It was very subtle and playful.
NOT SO MUCH:
1) Wow! There were so many unlikeable and irritating characters! The stalking singer, both moms, the "friend" that keeps extorting money from Do Ha, plagiarism company guy, as well as Do Ha's ex-girlfriend in flashbacks. I was especially irritated by the singer that was following him around, paying people to find him, etc. I really don't care for the trend in Asian dramas about the scheming woman willing to do whatever to get the man. They did, ultimately redeem her.
2) Again, the gong sounding at different times.
3) I also felt like they had so many characters to keep the mystery moving forward, to keep us guessing. But after the mystery was revealed, there wasn't much going on. This could have been a couple of episodes shorter.
4) I guessed early on who the perpetrator was, but the reasoning was a surprise.
So, I can definitely recommend this one, frustrations and all.
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I am exhausted!
This show was so well done and I'm glad that I finally took the time to watch it. My brain feels somewhat fried, trying to keep up with the twists and turns in the story line, and attempting to keep the past and the present sorted out. I'll admit that time travel, butterfly effect shows are hard for me to grasp. Since this show is from 2016, the whole thing is kind of grainy in its film quality, both in the present and in the past, so it was sometimes hard for me to figure out which time period I was watching. A lot of the characters looked pretty much the same in both time periods, which you wouldn't expect from a 20-year time difference.Corruption, unfortunately, was a big part of the drama, and that seemed to be the cause of so many unsolved cases. That got a little old. Plus, working under people that you know are corrupt was very hard to watch, their efforts were stymied more often than not.
The acting was excellent, most notably Jo Jin Woong as Jae Han and Lee Je Hoon as Hae Young. Especially impressive was the fact that so much of the time they were acting alone, with just the walkie talkie, and not face to face with other actors. I felt a whole gamut of emotions watching this, excitement, fear, sadness, and hope.
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Calming/healing
First, if you are looking for full-on romance, look elsewhere. We don't get many scenes with the ML and FL, the romance is more in what he does for her.This is a drama about loss, healing and found family. The beginning credits, camera work and music are reminiscent of a Japanese drama - slow, peaceful. I think you probably need to be in the right frame of mind to really enjoy this one because there is more happening emotionally than physically, and that's what moves the story forward. The use of flashbacks was very effective, allowing us to see what brought Yoo Ri to where she is.
All of the actors did a very good job, but I was especially impressed with Kim Bo Ra as Yoo Ri and Sung Byung Sook as her grandmother. To be honest, I didn't even recognize Bo Ra. She usually plays secondary, somewhat irritating characters. This was a very mature role for her, and she did an excellent job conveying her emotions. Byung Sook as the grandmother was warm, wise, and she has a sweet, soothing voice.
I love a good story about found family, and the melding of these scarred people into a family was lovely to watch.
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A better romance than a lot of romances!
Someone on MDL recommended this as a good romance. Wait! It doesn't have a romance tag, and it's a drama about zombies! I'm so glad this was recommended to me and that I watched t.The two main characters are friends from high school and get married so they can get an apartment in a new apartment community. We saw the progression of their relationship in each episode and I loved watching it. You could see how and why they started liking each other and they always had each other's backs.
Park Hyun Sik as Yi Hyun - this actor is very gifted in the way that he shows his affection for FL's that he plays opposite of (Soundtrack #1 is another great example). He bulked up for this role and was excellent as the detective that always wanted to do things the right/legal way.
Han Hyo Joo as Sae Bom - Strong FL, she had a strong sense of justice and didn't take anyone's BS. Her relationship with the little girl was so sweet.
All of the actors did a great job, and there were so many actors that I have seen in other works. I have to say, this drama had a plethora of unlikeable characters. Just when you think they can't be any more self-serving or terrible, they surprise you and do something worse. This drama talked a lot about the class system, determining your value by what you had. Disasters bring out the best and the worst in people and boy, did it bring out their worst!
The music was very good, suspenseful when needed, and otherwise blending into the background. I also appreciated the graphics at the beginning of the episodes.
This drama wasn't about zombies as much as it was about "What would you do?" Though it made me a nervous wreck to watch it, I really enjoyed it.
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Not worth my time
Where do I start? The acting is pretty bad in this show. Add in the obnoxious dubbing and it was painful for me to get through. The female lead's character was absolutely horrible through the first 8 episodes or so - she was either stalking him, trying to seduce him, or pretending to get mad at him and stomping off. How she could think she could magically fix his psychological problems is beyond me - I thought her behavior would make it worse. The concept for the show was interesting, but again, I felt that the actors were wooden. The female lead did redeem herself in the last couple of episodes, which brought my rating up a star. But what was with the ending?!? After forcing myself to get through all the long episodes, the ending was rushed and abrupt.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Relatively quick YouTube watch
I happened upon this drama accidentally, and before I knew it, I was completely sucked into it.Liked:
-Short drama
-Cute main couple
-for the most part, good, supportive communication between the leads
-side couple that didn't take up much time
-a couple of slow, sweet kisses
-ML's smile
-no evil ex
-no evil parents
-actually, I really liked the storyline of his mother and what she was doing for him.
-cute ending
-watching this just made me smile
Didn't like:
-I don't know if it's because it's on YouTube or what, but the sound was funky, with the music being out of place and overpowering
-the translation left a lot to be desired. Mixed up personal pronouns, sentences that made no sense.
-the FL was a little hard to stomach at times. She seemed to be scheming a lot. And toward the end she told a lie that was just mean and uncalled for.
This is a show to watch if you want to just turn off your brain, not be troubled by unlikeable people and/or angst, and just go along for the ride.
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