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Two Moons
Well, this was something light to watch when you need it. Phana's acting isn't the best, but the ending did make me squeal. It seemed too slow or nonexistent plotwise, but it was decently fun. I couldn't stand the novel translation when I tried to read it. I'm not sure if I'll watch the sequel, since it seems sad that they recast everyone.  

Sotus S
Look, I am STILL TRYING to get through this. There's nothing wrong with the characters or acting, but the plot is so boring. Sotus had actual life-threatening plots and character growth. The plots here are like "Thrill as Arthit temporarily can't find a missing box for a shipment at his job, then eventually finds it at the production desk." I loved Sotus and I love Arthit so much that I will keep going, but I wonder what happened to the writers between Sotus and Sotus S to make these plots completely non-existent.
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I don't know exactly whom to blame for this, but I feel certain [personal profile] rageprufrock was involved. Guardian is, on the surface of it, so terrible. But it's so compelling and so gayyyyyyyyyyy. It's adapted from a BL novel that is much better and I'm impatiently waiting for the translation to update on Wattpad (I know). The 2 main actors just KILL their part, so you don't even mind the terrible effects and weirdly grafted on censorship alien backstory. (Give me my gay ghosts, China!!) Yes, it's not BL but the actors are clearly making it as BL as they can within the censors.

Just look at this shit:


Uhhh that is wuxia for ETERNALLY MARRIED.


They're whispering and I'm SCREAMING into a pillow.
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I watched 2 Netflix dramas recently that I really liked:

Take My Brother Away (CDrama)
I loooooooooooove this drama. It is about a brother and sister that live alone with their dad. The brother cooks and takes care of his sister with what little money they have, but also is a semi-delinquent.  The sister always beats him up, although he is mostly pretending hurt for effect. He is so devoted to her it's amazing. There are decent side characters, and lots of humor. The ending is a little uneven emotionally, but it is happy.

Something in the Rain (KDrama)
This is also called "Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food" and that is a pretty good summary, haha. It is an older woman/younger man relationship (the man is the younger brother of the woman's best friend), and it is so sweet. Their love for each other is palpable, as is their desperation when silly family circumstances intervene in their relationship. The ending pacing was uneven. They never resolved the work harassment plot at all. If they put the timeskip earlier, they would have had more time to develop it, but as it is it felt like whiplash and rushed. Happy ending, though!

Black (KDrama)
I only watched the first ep of this, but I can tell that it is good. When That Thing happened at the end of the first ep, it seemed a little depressing to keep watching. Has anyone finished this? 
fenlings: (Kinki)
I just cannot get over how good this special was. Miman Toshi is one of my favorite dramas, and I never expected a sequel, much less 20 years later! And with the original cast and production team! What a dream come true. The director apparently directed many Kinki dramas, so that's why he was so good with them.

I would say more but then I would never stop squeeing about every single scene. You have to watch it immediately. It's subbed over here.

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Speaking of Yukawa Kazuhiko, I can't believe I didn't post about Gisou no Fuufu??

I had SO MANY emotions about this drama omg.

I really enjoyed the premise, again: a gay man and a strong woman who were involved in college have a sham marriage now they're in their 40s.

One thing I love about Yukawa is that he doesn't turn gay people into caricatures. And this drama is full of queer people portrayed as real people! The male lead especially did a good job with his sensitive portrayal.

And the drama has many HILARIOUS moments.

But the ending - MyDramaList reviews agree with my MIXED EMOTIONS )

Jun to Ai

Sep. 1st, 2017 07:52 pm
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 I FINALLY finished Jun to Ai. I've been working on this one for like 2 years lol. Episodes are here! It's not subbed, but the dialog is fairly simple and slowly spoken.

I definitely recommend it, and I like the premise a lot. The pairing was a shy guy who can see people's inner natures and an outgoing girl who is determined to create the best hotel. Both the leads did a great job, and I was happy to see Kazama with a leading role.  

It was written by Yukawa Kazuhiko, who is pretty much my favorite writer, and it lived up to his reputation.

As the drama went on, the situations changed pretty drastically and it got further away from its premise.

But the hopeful tone always stayed the same. Even though the drama dealt with a LOT of PAINFUL topics, it never felt really depressing, because Jun was always determined to overcome the odds. 

It's an asadora, so the episodes are only 15 min, but because I usually had so many emotions during one, I was satisfied by that amount. With some dramas, you get kind of addicted or they're like candy - you just want to watch the next one and next one. This drama isn't like that - you can savor it slowly. But it always delivers the emotional goods.
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 I was looking to watch something mediocre and mindless while I had a migraine, and this sure fit the bill!

The parts set in the land of the gods had SUCH PRETTY hair and makeup and costumes. Honestly, I just wanted to stay there all the time.

There were so many interesting concepts introduced and never explored, and so many plotholes - it was just frustrating. Like they had the manhwa right there if they needed an interesting plot. And if I hadn't read the manhwa summary, I wouldn't have understood a lot of things that they just NEVER EXPLAINED. So they simultaneously relied too much and not enough on the manhwa.

With just a few tweaks this could have been a great drama, but as it is it's just a way to pass the time.
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Honestly, I watched this like last week, and until I remembered that an actress from Hotel King was in it, I completely forgot about it.

It was fake dating, which is my jam, but it was pretty forgettable, apart from the fact that it was laugh out loud hilarious in parts!

So it's good for some light entertainment and humor, but it has pretty cliched characters.

Hotel King

Aug. 12th, 2017 09:19 pm
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I can't believe I forgot to post about this drama?? It is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. I just rewatched parts of it.

The writing is amazing, it's like SUPER DRAMA TO THE MAX. Every time you think you know what's going on, there's another plot twist! I wish the writer had more dramas available.

The acting is a little overdone, but I love it anyway. I love the male lead. And the older female actress.
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This drama was so intense! It was good, but I cried so much, ugh. And there were so many tense scenes when I had like full-body stress reactions.

I liked the characters and the main couple, but the villain was kind of over the top and had no motivation.

The North Korean accents might have been fake, but they were interesting to listen to and so sing-songy. The translated English that they made foreigners speak was hilariously awful. The US NSA in response to a terrorist attack was saying the US was considering a "severe physical reaction." Is that like an allergy?? The US soldiers were so racist omg.

Now I really want North and South Korea to unify again to show that stupid US. I liked the subtle "despotic occupier" vibe that was given to the US troops. Very odd to be watching this drama in the current political climate...
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1% of Something
I really really enjoyed this drama! It has my bulletproof kink of FAKE RELATIONSHIP, and the characters were interesting. The dude had some selfishness problems, but the couple was refreshing in how they maturely discussed their problems and emotions most of the time. The family tree had me hopelessly confused though. Did they expect us to have seen the original and already know all the relationships?? I still have no idea what happened to the dude's two fathers.

Master's Sun
The main problem with this drama is that it felt so slow and long, especially toward the end. Amnesia is always a delaying tactic. I was sticking it out because the premise could be interpreted as FAKE RELATIONSHIP, but it really dragged. The secondary couple was so annoying that I fast forwarded all of their scenes. And the main dude's trauma manifested as dyslexia, which is not... how dyslexia works... However, there were a few hysterically funny moments randomly sprinkled in an episode, so those were worth it. I just never felt like I understood the characters' growth or arc, and spending so much time with random ghosts wasn't worth it.

Goblin
This drama is still airing and I ran out of episodes and am dying for more. I love it soooo much. In the first 5 minutes I cried so much lol. And even though ghosts are not its main focus, its few ghost moments are WAY more touching than any of Master's Sun's ghost moments. I teared up a little at Master's Sun, but I was full-on bawling at that ER ghost in Goblin. I also love the bromance between the Grim Reaper and the Goblin, and I'm 100% here for their gay sitcom. The main romance is really great so far, and I have high hopes. Also Kim Eun Sook is the bomb. And of course Gong Yoo. <3 While I go through withdrawal, I at least have One Fine Day, another Gong Yoo brother/sister drama.
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In this drama, Tsuyoshi goes back in time from age 22 to 18 (high school) by accident. He seemed happy about the do-over chance the first time, though. (My friend and I disagreed on whether we would go back in time to high school given the choice. He thinks it would be dead easy, knowing what he knows now. But I think it would be dead boring! And also restrictive, ugh.)

And he keeps being sent back over and over! )
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I can't believe I never posted about My Daughter Seo Young and You Who Came from the Stars, but it looks like not. Suffice it to say, I mainlined both dramas last year and was extremely happy with both - except the end of You Who Came from the Stars was a little weird. I also watched most of Famous Princesses (can you sense a Park Hae Jin theme?) and that was interesting too.
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I was so excited to watch a drama with Park Hae Jin in it! The latter half did get a little boring/annoying with the Min Soo copycat plot, the ~stealing class notes~ plot, etc. But despite the behind-the-scenes controversy about the latter half, I was happy with this drama... until the last episode. )

Yes, the soundtrack was A++ like Coffee Prince. And the characters reminded me of Hana Yori Dango - there were elements of Domyouji and Rui in Yoo Jung and Baek In Ho.

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Nino totally carried this drama. The no-eyebrow girl (who was very strange) called Ryo a "droopy eyed soggy rice cracker," and she was right on the money. Ryo was really blah and had no presence, which is odd when I've seen him give such good performances in Chonmage Purin, Papadoru, and Zenkai Girl. Toda Erika was fine, but I could take or leave her. Kaname Jun was an unexpected joy with his enthusiasm for life. Terajima Susumu and Morishita Aiko (who may be actually contractually obligated to appear in every KudoKan drama lol) played the same characters they always do, but they do it so well!

The other good point about this drama was of course the dialogue. KudoKan came through once again with many hilarious one-liners that made me laugh out loud. The mini-"dramas" that were portrayed by characters' imaginations and voiceovers were also very amusing. But unlike other KudoKan mysteries, the story as a whole did not hang together (especially the ending).

Also this is not a problem I've had with KudoKan dramas before, and it may be a function of the direction, but I had a VERY hard time following what was actually happening when a past event would appear on screen. Was it 1. a character's imagination (and therefore probably false) 2. a character's memory (and therefore maybe true) or 3. an actual flashback from 3rd person omniscient POV (and therefore true)? I still have no clue how much of the past scenes were true.

I wish the incest vibe had not been there because when it's just the 2 older boys perving on the younger sister who actually believes they are related and thinks of them as brothers, then it's weird and gross. And the thread was never followed through - the plot point of both of the brothers (maybe?) being in love with their sister was just dropped so then why even go there?? Kaname Jun also "compliments" Nino by saying that it's admirable that the brothers cared so much for a sister that they were not related to, and I thought that was so insulting to adoptees and found families.

The ending was so WTF. )

Ouroboros

Aug. 5th, 2015 10:09 pm
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Wow, this drama did not disappoint. Toma and Ogushun were so amazing (especially Toma). And of course I love Hirosue Ryoko. Yoshida Yo plays the same kickass woman she does in Jun to Ai (which reminds me I have to finish Jun to Ai), and special shoutout to Takeda Kumiko for playing the best yakuza boss ever, with a wonderful Kyoto accent. Ueno Juri I could take or leave. I certainly didn't love her like I did in Nodame. But she didn't annoy me like Seino Nana's character did. I didn't recognize Shinohara Tomoe AT ALL as the forensics person, but she was totally believable, so good for her.

My favorite part of this drama was that everyone had their own interweaving motives and investigations - there were no "good guys". The mystery and PLOT TWISTS were really engaging, and only a little convoluted. The hand-to-hand fight scenes were very well choreographed and entertaining - they reminded me of Cowboy Bebop in look and feel (and in Toma's hairstyle). When they brought out the guns, however, there seemed to be a lot of standing around and AIMING the gun while not saying anything of substance, instead of SHOOTING the gun, and it stalled the action in quite a few places. It also strained credulity just how many times a character was about to tell Ogushun and Toma "everything," and there would be some flimsy excuse to delay or separate long enough for that character to get killed. But the pacing was well done enough that I was constantly eager to keep watching the next episode, and the action was spread out well throughout the entire 10 episode run.

The ending involved some ugly crying. )

I swear to God at least once an episode I was 100% positive that Toma and Ogushun were about to kiss. And their hilariously "covert" meetings were such ~forbidden love~. Them communicating on their normal cell phones?! Ogushun buying out an entire sento for them to meet at, lol yeah that's not conspicuous... Their restaurant meetings reminded me of Peggy and Jarvis meeting back to back at the diner, and Angie rolling her eyes at their obviousness. Except with ten times the sexual tension.

Now where are all the slashy interviews?? Did Ogushun call Toma his Tokyo bride again?

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1.SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO! )

2. NINO'S MOVIES )

3. TOOOMAAAA )

4. KENSHIN )

5. AMERICAN MOVIES WHUT )

Overall, with Avengers, Snow White, and Kenshin, this summer is going to be epiccc.
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Drama:

Can You Hear My Heart - I laughed, I sobbed, I stroked the screen repeatedly whenever Ma Ru's emoface appeared... )  Ma Ruuuuu. (Ugh, he is like Rui all over again. OT3 IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER. Except for F/K/V that I still can't read because I am a MRKS at heart.)

...I knew reading [livejournal.com profile] darkeyedwolf again was a bad life decision.

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