This was a sweet, quiet and calm drama, it felt almost serene. There were no big upheavals, no hidden agency, no scheming from jilted lovers or anything like that. It was your typical slice of life Jdrama.

Which made it, well, kinda boring. After several episodes, it felt to me personally that it was dragging a little, the back and forth arguments were of the lather-rinse-repeat variety and I really didn't like the secondary couple - if you could even call them that.

The whole thing was heavily carried by the two leads, Kusakawa Takuya and Nishigaki Sho, and even though Kusakawa Takuya was great, especially in moments when Akira was all flustered or almost halfway seduced already, it was Nishigaki Sho who had the biggest on me, his Shin was simply marvelous and I could really feel the depth of his love for Akira.

Still, I'm not sure I will ever re-watch this one. Except for a few truly exceptional moments, this drama was really slow. Turns out I really like some, well, drama in my drama.

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This drama hit just the right spot at the right time for me. Sweet, funny, tender, touching, sad… It had everything. And I loved all the characters, both Lu Miao’s friends and Jiang Haoyue’s friend - yes, singular - and all the family stuff that was simply heart-wrenching…

I really liked how the drama handled Jiang Haoyue’s disability. It did not make him any less and it didn’t really hinder him in his everyday life but that did not mean that it wasn’t an issue, affecting both his health and the financial situation of his family. And it wasn’t a thing that would ever go away. And I loved that Lu Miao never saw Jiang Haoyue’s disability as a problem because she’s only ever known him with it, there was no Haoyue without it in her memory and so she simply accepted that this was his reality and there was no need to debate it or pick it apart. Haoyue was Haoyue as he was for her.

I read that Zhang Linghe said that out of all the characters he has played so far, Jiang Haoyue was the one that affected him the most. No wonder. ZLH was just amazing here. He gave his all, especially in emotional scenes that were truly felt but never overdone. Fantastic. And when you realize that ZLH studied electrical engineering not acting, that he’s basically self-taught and has only been in the business for two-three years? Wow.

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I picked this drama because of Zheng Yecheng as Fu Jiuyun - and he didn't disappoint in the slightest. There's something about his acting that makes everything he does on-screen feel natural. And as much as I'm usually not into alpha males, there's just something so very... sensual about him asserting his dominance that it makes my heart go all doki-doki.

I wasn't always on board with what Qin Chuan was doing, oftentimes I didn't like it, but I understood where she was coming from and I did appreciate her tenacity, her determination to avenge her people and then her helplessness when she realized that her people didn't want any revenge, they just wanted to move on and live peacefully if at all possible, that her efforts weren't really needed/appreciated because her people needed her to help them rebuild, not run around, playing avengers.

My favorite relationship in this drama was the friendship between Fu Jiuyun and his immortal friend Mei Shanjun. He was Fu Jiuyun's best friend, his confidante, his healer, his ride-or-die. And it was glorious.

There were several moments that made me cry really hard:

- When Xiao Bai, Fu Jiuyun's mirror, sacrificed himself to save him and Qin Chuan and Fu Jiuyun kept it from Qin Chuan, telling her instead that Xiao Bai was just sleeping, sleeping peacefully, and they shouldn't wake him up.
- When Xuan Zhu sacrificed herself. I didn't like her. Actually, I pretty much hated her throughout the drama but I did understand her feeling inadequate, always not good enough, always lost in Qin Chuan's shadow. Her death was really sad.
- When the Spirit Lamp was lit and Mei Shanjun realized that it meant that Fu Jiuyun was about to die. The way he turned away from the lamp and so very slowly looked at Fu Jiuyun who was already starting to disappear, turning into ash as he was burning up. And then, when the lamp was extinguished, the way Mei Shanjun screamed Fu Jiuyun's name.
- When Fu Jiuyun died, turning into these motes of light bit by bit while ignoring the pain of burning alive to watch Qin Chuan sleep for the last time.
- When Qin Chuan realized that Mei Shanjun lied to her and Fu Jiuyun wasn't coming back, that Mei Shanjun only relegated Fu Jiuyun's "dying message" to her, asking her to wait for Fu Jiuyun's return, to force her to live because it was what Fu Jiuyun would've wanted, for her to live.

What I really loved was that Qin Chuan's and Mei Shanjun's grief for Fu Jiuyun was treated as equal. Mei Shanjun cried as much and was devastated as much by Fu Jiuyun's death as Qin Chuan. A friend's grief wasn't treated here as something less.

The ending though was rather confusing and I had to look up what it actually meant in the explanation of someone who read the book. It was rather... head-tilting. I guess they counted on everyone knowing the book?

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Gosh, I loved Cho Yeon Joo. The way she ranted to herself when she got upset - and she got upset a lot. The way she could turn so angry so fast and explode like nobody's business, after which fisticuffs usually followed. The way she didn't let anyone walk all over her...

And, gosh, how much I loved Han Seung Wook. He was the softest. So kind and sweet and loving, despite everything that happened to him. For 14 years he'd been in love with a girl he's met exactly once and on the night his father died, too. And when he found her again, he was heart-eyes all the way. Patient, loyal, supporting, loving...

And Mr. Noh! He loved and supported Han Seung Wook as if Seung Wook was his own child. And Cho Yeon Joo then too. He looked after her and gave her his loyalty and... it was wonderful!

And I also loved Kang Mi Na, who was so very brave and smart and cunning!

This was a fantastic drama. Though I must admit that it suffered from the usual second-half slump. I think it would've benefited from having just ten or twelve episodes and not sixteen. When everybody started figuring out what was going on, it started to get a bit... well, convoluted.

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Another teeny tiny web Cdrama starring Yang Ze (he also starred as a spy in The Killer Is Also Romantic) and another great mix of humor & suspense. And featuring my favorite tropes: older woman/younger man and contract marriage pursued by the (business) woman (a la Begin Again with Gong Jun & Zhou Yutong).

I loved so many things about this one. Like, for example, that she pursued him so hard to marry her - but when he finally agreed, she realized she had to wait till his next birthday because he was only 21 and couldn't marry yet! Or that he wasn't a wilting snowflake either, that he had a hidden agenda of his own. Or that he was, basically, the Cinderella here, with two stepbrothers who abused him and stole his mother's wealth.

Also, the whump! Oh, the whump! For such a tiny drama, it had a really nice amount of whump on both sides, she after her kidnapping and him after receiving a severe head wound at 17.

Also #2! Thumbs up for the bad guy not being forgiven but facing his dues for what he had done to the both of them. That was... I cheered!

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This was a great drama. The twists just kept coming. And since I went in unspoiled, I was really shocked by some of them!

I watched it mainly and mostly for Fukushi Sota. I love it when he plays Good Boys(TM). And here he played a Truly Good Boy(TM)! So righteous and, well, innocent, I would say - or maybe naive? - about how the world of big time politics worked. What I loved, though, was that a) he didn't let himself get corrupted or swayed from his path to make justice prevail and b) he didn't turn bitter, not even at the end when pretty much everyone disappointed him in one way or another, his closest people included.

Also, I wonder what that last scene with his character meant, when he heard Habu's voice. Was it just his imagination? Who knows...

This is a thriller series where the bad guy is obvious from the get-go but he's also very, very powerful and when he actually starts going after the team, he pretty much demolishes them. The second half of the drama has the team losing on all fronts and it's not until the finale that they manage to wring out some sort of a victory. But it's not a clean-cut one, in my opinion. Though they stop the evil plan of evil, they pay for it and the mastermind still doesn't pay his dues, not really.

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A sweet tale about mature men finding happiness. It's a quiet and calm story with no big upheavals and little drama. Sure, there are a few hiccups there, on their way to happiness, but it's more of a "let me think about it first" rather than "oh no, whatever we'll do, the world is against us!" thing.

It was actually quite interesting that Nozue was more worried about what would people think of him eating sweets and taking photos and being openly happy rather than stoic and whatnot than he was about what everyone might think of him dating a man. I wonder if that was intentional?

Seeing Takeda Kouhei play Nozue was kinda a whiplash thing for me because the only big part I've seen him in so far was in Kamen Rider Build where he played Grease who went back and forth between a stoic soldier and a fanboy, there was no in-between. And Nozue was neither so it was intriguing to see this side of him as an actor.

Also, I really loved that Takeda Kouhei decided to try out this genre after seeing that his Kamen Rider Build friends - Akaso Eiji & Inukai Atsuhiro - both played in BL dramas already. Nice.

Overall, an understated slice-of-life story. Recommended to those who are fed up with big roller coaster dramas.

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This drama was awesome! Short - only 5 episodes 45 or so minutes each - but so good! It told the story of a special unauthorized police unit nicknamed Diver and the cases they solved.

For me, the main draw was Fukushi Sota as Kurosawa. His Kurosawa was a ruthless genius who had no care for his life or his safety, who focused solely on "eradicating evil" at any cost, including dead bodies if need be. Because once, in the past, he made a mistake and it cost someone dear to him his life. And since then, he had no tolerance for mistakes or bad guys - or corrupt cops.

One thing I didn't like much was the very abrupt ending, that there was no "bridge" between the pier scene and the last scene. It felt like there was so much that the drama skipped. I really wanted to see Kurosawa and Sho bond, Kurosawa telling him the truth about what happened back in the past... And also - how was Kurosawa saved, considering he got shot twice?! Argh!

Overall, a great drama with no fillers. Loved it!

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It took me a while to realize that the "4 Minutes" part of the title meant the EMT rule that if you don't start CPR within the first four minutes after someone stops breathing, there's little to no chance that the person can be saved. Duh!

I loved this drama so much. It tells the story of Mikoto who has the ability to foresee people's death. And he has seen that Sara, his step-sister and also the woman he's been in love with ever since his father married her mother, would die. He's known that ever since he was a kid but now that the date's coming closer, he can't keep the burden to himself anymore and so he tells his family. The drama is actually about how the family - the eldest brother Ren, Sara herself, the youngest brother Ai and Mikoto - deal with it, how it influences and changes their lives.

I loved the Hanamaki family so much! Each of their stories was so interesting and touching and sweet, the way they loved each other and were there for each other, the way they had each other's back, gosh, what a family!

Also, funny thing? This drama features Fukushi Sota (Kamen Rider Fourze), Yokohama Ryusei (ToQger) and Asahi Ito (Lupinranger)!

Overall, a wonderful, touching, emotional journey!

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This drama was one of the best Jdramas I've seen so far. At first, I thought it would be your usual easy and uncomplicated "a student falls in love with his female teacher" story but, boy, was I wrong. It was really, truly amazing!

Why?

Because Junko was very much aware of the fact that a) Kyohei was her student, b) he was underage which meant no, never, not in your dream, it's illegal, I'm not doing it! and c) she was much, much older than him - 16 years! - which she never let him forget and even after he turned 18 and after he got accepted into the Todai university and after he openly confessed his feelings for her, she made sure, double sure, triple sure that he knew what he was doing, getting involved with her, what it would mean, their age gap among other things, she made sure he actually thought it through, that it wasn't just some boyish crush or temporary fancy. That was fantastic!

And because the friendships were just ah-amazing. Like between Junko and her nightclub owner friend Miwa - Miwa was always first and foremost on Junko's side! Or Kyohei's "delinquent" friends - the way they wholeheartedly supported his drive to get into Todai, the way they defended him against their schoolmates when his politician father got into trouble! And then Kyohei, Masashi and Yamashita!

The relationship among these three was simply fantastic. They were all rivals for Junko's attention but both Masashi and Yamashita really supported Kyohei's dream to get into Todai, they helped him and they took care of him - and when Junko rejected them, both Masashi and Yamashita stood by Kyohei, they wanted Junko to get together with him, they went as far as actually telling Junko to choose Kyohei and warning her that she would regret it if she didn't...

And the ending!!! That was *chef's kiss*

It was so good! It was inspiring and satisfying and there were no truly bad characters in this, just flawed people who learned and grew and it was fantastic to watch!

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Oh, this was wonderful. The story was so interesting, the idea of realizing that the woman you fell in love with twice in your past lives already was a man this time. In my opinion, Yeon Seok's "gay panic" was fantastically played and written - and also understandable. After all, in this life, his last life, he worked towards one goal: finding Ha Yeon and making sure he spent his life with her. So, to find out that SHE was actually a HE this time... Understandable panic.

Though I do admit that I wished that both Yeon Seok's & Ha Yeon's background was a little more fleshed out. Especially Ha Yeon's because his issues - especially the thing with his apparently rather controlling father - were only hinted at. I wished the last part was a bit longer, that the drama was 8 episodes instead of 6 and that we were given more about Ha Yeon.

And since we weren't, I couldn't help but side with Yeon Seok after the Big Reveal(TM). Because I didn't understand what was so terrible about his actions. And the fact that Ha Yeon ran and refused to listen to Yeon Seok and yet, he expected Yeon Seok to KEEP running after him and to KEEP trying to explain... That irked me. Because Ha Yeon accepted that no meant no, that Ha Yeon didn't want to be with him and didn't want to ever see him again. He accepted and respected it because he blamed himself for Ha Yeon's pain, so...

Overall, a really good and for its genre original story that deserved more time and space.

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This was amazing! I was drawn in from the very first episode and I just couldn’t. stop. watching! I burned through this drama in just a few days, that rarely happens to me. But it was so compelling, the stories, the acting, the cinematography, the music… It was the full package!

My favorite part was definitely the deep friendship and trust that developed between Shen Yi & Du Cheng. Du Cheng started as Shen Yi’s, well, enemy is a strong word but definitely as someone who did not like Shen Yi all that much. And by the end, he laid down his life and his future in Shen Yi’s hands with absolute, unhesitant trust. It was truly a thing of beauty.

Also, what I loved was that both Shen Yi & Du Cheng were very, but very smart people, each in his own right. That Du Cheng wasn’t just Shen Yi’s plus one, his caretaker, the way these dramas about gifted individuals sometimes go.

Interesting, at least for me, was that one of the tensest moments of the whole drama was the speed chess game between Shen Yi and the main bad guy, that cat and mouse game where you didn’t know who was the cat and who the mouse. It reminded me so much of the amazing poker game scene between Bond and Le Chiffre in Casino Royale!

And then the ending! The set-up for something more! I really truly hope that there actually will be S2, that it won’t fall under the table like the sequels to SCI or When a Snail Falls in Love. That would irk me!

Overall, a fantastic, amazing, captivating drama!

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This drama reminded me of Fishbowl Wives, just without all the cheating and with focus on the husbands - the househusbands, that is. Each of the six episodes introduced us to a different couple and the whole series was framed by the story of the main couple, of the main househusband, Riku, played by Kousei Yuki.

Out of the 5 couples that we got to know - besides the main one - I liked the YouTube one best. The househusband, Haru, was played by Okuno So and it featured my favorite trope, older woman & younger man. In this case quite a lot younger. But the love he had for his wife was just... mwah! It made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Overall, it was a really interesting series because each of the couple was different, each man's reason for becoming a househusband was different. And it also dealt with how househusbands in general were viewed in the society, as bums and leaches, and how it was for the men themselves, how some were embarrassed, some were proud... Quite an intriguing concept.

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This movie was quite funny and lighthearted. It was set during the drama so it carried the unbothered, relaxed tone of the first half of the series. Also, I haven't seen Kyuranger so... no idea what was happening with that part of the movie ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some of the most hilarious moments?

When Kairi, Touma and Umika were kidnapped by those funny aliens and Kairi's reaction was, "Oh, look, they're kidnapping us."
During one of the fights, when Keiichiro went all head first again and Kairi saved his life, complaining, "Well, that was even more reckless than usually, officer!"
When Kairi, Touma and Umika had to use the Patrenger VSs and transformed into cops! The way the Patrenger suits just didn't sit right with them, being build for fighting instead of agility.
When the Kyuranger green girl told Umika that there were 12 of them altogether! And Umika was all, "Seriously?!" while Kairi's reaction was, "A whole crayon set!" I seriously guffawed.

I had really fun watching this. It made me smile.

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Seeing this 10 years after Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger ended must've been really something! Our lovely space pirates all spiced up with great CGI that wasn't available back then! What a treat!

And the creation team sure knew what they were doing. Especially with Yamada Yuki's limited time window. The very first scene, the ruined galeon revealed by Joe holding that mighty gun! Then not a peep of him for the next 30+ minutes - and then his big comeback when he jumped down from the bridge and saved Gai all very, very superhero like. And then his scene with Marvelous! It was just wow. The reveal that he managed to save the galeon's heart! And then!!! The final fight with the other pirate crew and Marvelous and Joe fighting side by side, just the two of them, for the first time since... since ep 12! And Joe had Marvelous' back again. What a wonderful callback! And only Joe and Marvelous got to unlock the heart! And then the last scene in the restaurant, them all napping and Joe and Marvelous leaning against each other! Oh boy, oh wow, oh my!

This was honestly aimed at all my buttons and they were pushed hard. No wonder that people loved it so much. It made me so very happy. And it felt like their story will never end, like it will go on and on and on and they will evolve and go on more adventures and be a family... Mwah! Honestly, chef's kiss!

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