LGBTQ+ Supporting Cast

This chapter of the U-Prince series was a lot easier to watch than the first chapter, and I am happy that I don't have to put a declaimer at the start of this review.

If you are looking to watch a short "meet cute" drama, about a "gentle vet" trying to pursue a classmate who bonds over her psychological trama, this is the drama for you. Yes. Psychological trauma. After an event in her childhood, she now has a fear of the rain, which she has tried and failed (?) to overcome through many different trials, but Thesis, the "gentle vet" student believes that he can cure her. How? Create different more positive memories when it's raining - like a therapist couldn't have figured that one out.

One of the things I loved about this drama, and now that I am starting to get the hang of in Thai dramas, is there representation of LGBTQ+ characters. It seemed like every minor character was LGBTQ+ - Suaysai's aunt, Suaysai's best friend Pete, and girlfriend Jelly, as well as Suaysai's love rival and Thesis's best friend Punpun. It was extremely refreshing and natural how they wrote in all these "love" conflicts dealing with the main characters with friends and classmates from the same gender. America...please take notes.

But after all that good, I was still confused. Maybe it was because the drama was only 4 episodes long, even though I thought it was a good "meet cute" drama that only needed the 4. This drama wasn't a full out story like The Handsome Cowboy was. No one needed to hit absolute rock bottom to find out they needed to change, and have the time to build up trust to try and build it back up again, multiple times. This drama was about two people meeting and potentially getting together. Nothing too crazy. Well except the whole trauma thing that literally took two seconds to cure in ep 3...even though I'm pretty sure it wasn't cured whatsoever. And that's the thing that confused me.

To my understanding, Suaysai loved Thesis, but she also didn't want to open her heart to him completely because she didn't want to fall in love and be left by someone who left her for someone else. More specifically, his best friend who has been very blunt about his feelings for Thesis. Yes, Suaysai loved to jump to conclusions and put the blame on people before she had concrete proof, but she also didn't just jump to conclusions randomly. Thesis well knew that Punpun liked him, but continued to let him flirt with him. This wasn't an issue, but when you want to date someone, you need to clear it up with your best friend who the WHOLE university thinks you are dating, that the playful flirting needs to stop as well as the light harassment Punpun was dishing out. But it also goes both ways. Suaysai should have been honest with Thesis if she wanted a relationship with him, instead of "testing him to see if he is gay or not." That's just weird. There was ultimately a lack of communication between the two. But I was confused about the end and how they made up - he didn't deny that he wasn't into men to her (even though he clearly wasn't) but instead wanted her to apologize and accept him for who he was as a person, even if he one day decided to leave her for a man. Like yes...but...what? Instead of asking her what her insecurities were about opening up her heart to him, he almost came off like, "hey so I accept you for being afraid of the rain, so you should accept my relationship with Punpun like how I accept your relationship with Pete, even though they 2 different people and 2 different situations." Maybe I am overthinking this and there is a very simple explanation that my single-ass doesn't understand. I didn't dislike Thesis and thought that he was a great guy, but I would have talked to him about his relationship with Punpun, well knowing Punpun 2 seconds ago harassed me. She did bring it up once with the ankle thing, but we never really saw him confront Punpun or ask him what the deal was. It's cool to see that Thesis had complete faith in Punpun's friendship regardless of his feelings for him, but if you want to create a romantic relationship with someone, you kind of need to take their side and investigate just a tiny bit. Maybe not accuse your best friend from birth, but be straight up and ask him what's up.

Overall, cute "meet cute" drama. The lead actor reminded me of actor/singer Kevin McHale physically. He was sweet and dorky, but a little naive about how his relationship with Punpun was interpreted.

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Where we supposed to like the main guy?

My thought throughout this movie: Are we supposed to be rooting for Hanna and Han Sang Joon? Because...I kind of think he is a douchebag. Let's keep watching. No. I feel like he is getting worse.

Other than that, this drama movie came off like a quirky early 2000's girl power romance movie that I grew up watching as a kid and teenager (that usually starred Amanda Bynes). It had that nostalgic feel that I couldn't dislike. It had that girl power, "I am perfect the way I am" moment at the end that was cheesy but feel good.

I think the only thing that I wasn't a fan of was the romance because the main guy went through his little "oh...I'm shit person" moment at the very end, and because it was at the end...it didn't give me a chance to get to like him. Also, even though it did have that encouraging, "I am good enough, regardless of what I look like" moment, there were some undertones of "but it doesn't hurt to get work done; if you can, and want to, do it." Not saying plastic surgery is bad, do what you want to do, and be who you want to be, but the movie contradicted itself a bit in that credit scene.

Final thought, the OST was really good. I added Ave Maria to my playlist. And the main actress who played Hanna was really pretty and super cute and goofy. I want to watch more of her.

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The only way for me to describe this drama is a more mature, yet still silly, version of Bring It On Ghost (2016 Korean Drama). When I decided to watch this, I was in such a weird funk - a combination of being super bored and not being able to go outside because of my county's stay at home order, but also nothing seemed appealing as I was getting over a cold. I had been binge-watching another drama the previous day and had to stop because all the episodes had not been released yet and I was becoming antsy, as I only wanted to find out what was going to happen next. Then, as I was scrolling through Viki, I found this drama. A "Thriller/Romance," with, what I thought was a star cast. So I watched it. And to put it simply, it was super satisfying to watch. It was a basic drama, but it had elements of a ghost thriller (a few jump scares) and an emotional rom-com. I teared up once or twice because of Kang Yeo Ri's backstory and I couldn't help but giggle at her and Ma Jo Goo's friendship. This drama just, "hit the spot," and it didn't seem like it was a 2-hour movie. It was well-paced and a lot more entertaining than a few drama movies I have watched over the years, but not enough for me to give it a 10. I would 100% watch it again and would recommend it if you are wanting to watch something cookie-cutter, but with a horror twist.

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This was one of my highest anticipated dramas of winter 2020 as I was getting into a lot of web dramas and the premise seemed interesting - the classic marriage contract hate to love relationship.

Overall thoughts? If you want to watch something light and silly to kill some time during this hard time, this was pretty good. To be honest, I watched the drama in two parts. The english subtitles were still coming out, and the site I was watching it on released 3-4 subbed eps a week. After some time, in the middle , decided to just stop and wait until all the eps were out so I could binge watch the drama like I do all others. but after a while, it was hard to get back into, and I ended up forcing myself to watch a single ep. So I gave up. Until I realized how much I hate to leave things unfinished, so I started up again.

In the beginning, everything was light and silly, as it was a romance between Yi Han, an aspiring actor who is immature and is in love with his manager, and Pei You You, an orphan who is working as a nail artist to try and buy her childhood home in order to feel closer to her mother. In the beginning, it was cute seeing You You as a strong, independent woman interact with her contracted fiance Yi Han, and basically babysit him. Eventually, we got to see a fun side to You You, and a very cute middle school romance bloom between the characters. I was actually really surprised how quick their romance started as they got officially married on their own within the first 10 episodes and the rest of the drama was them learning new things about one another and falling more in love. That was when I started to fall off as the drama seemed to be less about their quick romance (which I also appreciated because I hate waiting til (for example) ep 16 for the mains to finally kiss) and more about the romance between the side characters. First we have, You You's half brother Lu Ming and starlet Ran Zi Shu. At first, I absolutely HATED Zi Shu. She was borderline insane and throwing her affections towards Lu Ming who traveled to China for the summer to meet and get closer to a sister he never knew he had. He honestly, looked confused and terrified. But as the drama went on, their relationship was actually the healthiest one. Which blows my mind. They normalized and it was very simple and cute. On the other hand, we had Kan Di (Yi Han's manager) and Lin Tian Nuo (You You;s childhood friend and film maker). I won't go into this one much, but I felt like their relationship was unnecessary and forced. It seemed like they wanted to make a happy ending for everyone so they were like oh...Kan Di, the divorcee, and Tian Nuo, the childhood friend who never had a chance. I actually really liked Tian Nuo as a character - he was the opposite of Yi Han in the beginning as he was mature, level headed, and always accessed every situation as well as always put You You's friendship before any other feelings. But when he started to "develop" feelings for Kan Di...I lost interest.

It was the middle that lost me, BUT I had a glimmer of hope thinking that this drama could save itself by having a big conflict that came to light toward the end....and boy was I surprised. We all knew what or who the issue would be at the end, but I didn't expect it to unfold the way it did. I honestly, couldn't put my laptop down the last 5 eps as I wanted to find out what came next.

In the beginning, this drama was silly and fun, and I didn't expect AMAZING acting from a silly and light web drama, but for SOME REASON, the actors decided to pull a 180 the last few eps. It was like the actors who played Yi Han and You You decided to show up the last few minutes and then win the game with a huge victory. I found myself tearing up as I believed that they were both actually heartbroken. It ultimately made me bring this score from a 6 to a 7. Yi Han went through crazy character development and matured so much after all hell broke lose, and seeing him cry, BROKE MY HEART. I think I fell in love when he explained everything in his little speech at the end and now really want to see him in other dramas. Was I a fan of the ending...eh...it was super emotional and pulled at my heartstrings, but I already knew the fate of the two mains, as it was spoiled in the opening credits. I get why they chose to go that route as one of the reasons why they were having issues was because You You was feeling inferior to Yi Han and his career, so it was a little slap in the face with reality for You You, but it made for an emotional ride that made Yi Han and You You realize what is most important and what their dreams were.

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I think I might have over-hyped this drama for myself. Don't get me wrong, it was still good, but I think I expected more. I think I expected this huge climax and resolution, and it kind of fell flat. It was still good, but it felt like I was watching a documentary about the almost overthrow of a king, where the traitor's plan was kind of terrible and he kind of assumed that if he could get the king, one-on-one, he would win 100%. And honestly, yeah, Prince Lee Jae Hwa was kicking major ass. He was basically his whole army, but when it came the King Lee Kyung, who we had zero idea if he could actually fight or not, the prince was a mess. It was underwhelming.

I felt like everyone in this drama was a villain in their own way. The Kim family was wild-ing out because they thought they were better than everyone else, and raised their niece Kim Song Yi into this entitled woman who thought we deserved everything because of her family name. Home girl was about to "poison" all the other consorts so they wouldn't be able to have children, therefore, cannot produce an heir. Plus, she was getting help from King Lee Kyung's mother, a member of the Kim family. The Queen Mother (King's mother) was a different kind of evil. She would manipulate her son, the King, as well as the Great Queen Mother (King's grandmother) to get what she wanted. Out of all the women in this drama, even though both the Jo and Kim families were insane, I thought the Queen Mother was the WORST. The ending was satisfying, but also unsatisfying. I know it is insane to say or think this, but the King's family was executing people left and right with beheading, poison, and hanging. Why did most of the villains at the end get exiled? We were made to believe that Jo Young Ji, the daughter of the Jo family, was supposed to be the main villainess int his drama, and was, but it was super interesting seeing how all her plans failed because the King's men always kept an eye on Eun Bo, and would intervene. Jo Young Ji was a special character, where we thought that she was a friend to the main character at first, but because of her jealousy, she thought everything was justified. If she were to get rid of Eun Bo, the King would fall in love with her. She definitely had a screw missing. She was ok using her father's men (and their feelings for her) to carry out her petty, and terribly planned out executions and had the audacity to cry for her punishment rather than the punishment inflicted on her whole family. So badly wished for a different punishment. Another leader villain would obviously be Prince Lee Jae Hwa. Unfortunately, we were not given a long backstory on him and why he was seeking revenge in order to feel sympathy for him, only that he wanted to get revenge for his father being labeled a traitor. Then he went ahead and used the whole Enlightenment cause as a cover, thinking he was fighting for the people to govern themselves. I honestly really liked him in the beginning when he came off as this fun loving guy who kept saving Eun Bo at random moments. I knew something was up though; they couldn't introduce this guy as a love interest when he is competing with the King - you knew right away that something had to be terribly wrong or bad about him.

But that is what this drama was - it was compiled of different drama troupes. It was obvious what was going to come next.

That being said, I was intrigued to see how Eun Bo was going to enter the place during the selection, pretending to be her twin sister and at the same time pretending to be someone else entirely. The relationship between The King and Eun Bo was very sweet and their chemistry was really good, but I am not sure if that makes up for the first 10/11 episodes of the 16 ep drama of her lying to him about her identity twice. Especially since they both did not know about the twin prophecy. I think it makes it worse in a way. Like...you want to find your sister's murderer. You acting like that is a terrible reason to come to the palace. I think it is more plausible than coming in and telling certain people you are Eun Ki, but you will be entering the palace as consort Hong and hope nobody notices.

There seemed to be a lot of plot holes, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I am a sucker for Selection type plots. Plus, out of all the terrible people, and Eun Bo going back and forth between begin a strong character and then a weak one, I did enjoy the comedic relief of Wal's character (not only was he funny, but he solved hella cases and got stuff done) as well as the King's right hand Han Mo who was just plain a badass as well as an older brother type figure. You could ALWAYS count on him to kick ass and help protect everyone.

Eun Bo started off as a strong character for me, but later into the season, she was still strong, but it became more of a mental thing, and less of a physical thing. Then, the very last few episodes, she stopped being strong altogether and instead of finding a solution, she just ran away and hoped for the best. The King on the other hand, came up kind of weak in the beginning (given he thought that the love of his life was murdered, and then came back to life, but didn't want to tell him), but gradually became this cheesy romantic guy who would also fight the crown, counsel, and other consorts for his woman.

Overall, I just feel like this drama wasn't strong. It was good, but fell a little flat. It was like watching a historical drama about a possible overthrow that never really happened due to lack of planning and the two leaders fawning over the same woman, which made it become sloppy and personal. Like watching a documentary about an almost overthrown that just became a quarrel between two men. But I did enjoy the actors in this drama, as they all did a great job.

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If you want to watch a cute drama about a college student who was born with infinite strength, who wants to live a normal life, and who falls in love with a motorcycle riding hockey player, then this is NOT the drama for you. I honestly went into the drama thinking this was the plot after watching a few clips on AsianCrush on youtube. I thought it was going to be about a girl who who was destined to lead and fight in a huge battle, but decides instead that she wants to chase after the man of her dreams, and somewhere along the way, she figures that he can have both, have love and glory...as cheesy as it sounds.

Instead, we got a drama about a young prodigy who losses her memories (as well as motivation for fighting) after an accident she had and doesn't remember in the 10th grade. After the accident, she decides she wants to live a normal life as her partner in crime disappears and she literally has zero memories of what motivated her previously to fight. Instead, she is in a world that looked down on her strength, so she just wants to fit in. It isn't until she is in college that So Hwi falls in love at first sight with Jun Mo, the mysterious hockey star. Around the time she decides to join the hockey team as the equipment manager, her childhood best friend Il Yung randomly shows up back in her life, trying to convince her to team up again. Around the same time, this evil entity that So Hwi's parents have been fighting before she was born, shows up with the sacred blade that he had stolen in the past, slaying the master four material artists, one by one. It is up to Il Yung and So Hwi to accept their fates and fight this evil force head on.

I believe that I was excited to watch this drama because (1) I really enjoy Shin Min Ah's roles and (2) I love hockey and was excited to see that the love interest in this drama was a collegiate hockey player. I was basically head over heels for Jun Mo, even before I had met him. I was excited to see how So Hwi was going to win him over, as he was in love with an older woman (a cop that had saved him from an accident when he was younger.) But after watching this drama, I don't understand why Jun Mo was a main character and why he was sought after. In my eyes, he represented every mysterious bad boy type (even though he came off nice once we got to know him) that once you get to know him, you realize...he isn't as special as you once thought. Honestly, he was a kid who had mommy issues who had attached onto a strong older woman figure, thinking it was love, but realizing it was just him almost replacing his mom's role. Might be an unpopular opinion. Also, once So Hwi started spending time with him...that whole "romantic" montage that we got...if you took it completely out of context, homie was just teaching her the basics of hockey so she could be a better player and their team could win. I had already fallen out of likes with him when I saw that weak-ass romance montage (as well as that POWERFUL flashback of So Hwi's accident), but what completely pushed me off the Jun Mo bandwagon, was the whole hockey game scene. I think the one thing I LOVED about this drama was So Hwi and Il Yung's relationship/friendship. You could tell from the get go that even though So Hwi doesn't remember her past after the accident, she remembers her bond with Il Yung, even if she pretends to be annoyed with him. In the first half of the drama, it was light and silly, but as the drama went on, it got a little darker, yet Il Yung became a sort of comic relief. When he was sad, you felt sad, even if So Hwi was happy. When Il Yung got hurt, you felt hurt, even when So Hwi was kicking ass and taking names. I think his mood became the mood of the whole drama. He had almost become the main character after he was introduced.

Which leads me to the ending as well as the revelations and the truths that all came out in the final battle. I had honestly thought the drama was going one way, and it went the completely opposite. I had almost cried because of the backstory we got of So Hwi's accident as well as why Il Yung had disappeared after it. I had almost cried because honestly, the way everything was going, it looked like there wasn't going to be a happy ending, but somehow the writer came through with, I think, a very creative twist. I loved how the main characters refused to take the easy way out. They had fought for one another, not wanting to live, if the other wasn't there. And I do appreciate that even though it was obvious that Il Yung was in love with So Hwi, they fought not for romantic love, but for the love they had for one another. They had fought for their friendship. Yes that sounds cheesy, but I was happy that I didn't sit through yet another drama that left me sad or empty at the end. There have been so many of those lately, that this was a breath of fresh air. And for a film from 2008, watching in 2019....I thoroughly enjoyed it and I will probably watch it again. I think the only thing that I did not understand was So Hwi's fascination with Jun Mo and when those feelings ended for her. One moment, she was down to make out with him, but then the next, as he left her standing there...she didn't look phased as though she really didn't give a damn. It was hard to read So Hwi's expressions and know what she was feeling, except for when she was wilding out, trying to get Jun Mo's attention and affection. Don't get me wrong, I really loved her in this - she was strong af mentally and physically, but I wanted more raw emotion from her character. The ending scene and fight was great, but I wish the whole drama showed a little more emotion. It almost seemed like a silly distant dream to So Hwi after she decided to fight against the evil spirit. A distant dream where she had joined the hockey team thinking it would win the affection of a boy, thinking that she could like a normal life by hiding who she was.

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Not sure where to start with this review - I was going back and forth between an 8 and a 9 for this, so a 8.5 will do. I liked the message overall and enjoyed how it wasn't solely a romance. This drama was more about Han Shang Yan or Gun learning how to forgive himself and his old teams about what happened in the past as well as learning to love and let people back into his life. In disguise, this drama was less about Tong Nian or Nian Nian, and more about Team SOLO and their journey over the course of 10 years and learning how to forgive each other as well as themselves before they could reunite. Yes Nian Nian did some maturing in this drama and it was around 50% about her and her life, but I don't think she went through any major change. If anything, she was there to show unconditional support for Shangyan regardless how many times he tried to push her away.

At the beginning, I wasn't feeling this drama at all. I am not a huge fan of love at first sight. Especially when you have Nian Nian who is an intelligent graduate student, acting like a 13 year old fan girl who follows Shangyan around like a lost puppy, trying to get him to fall in love with her. Then you have the fake relationship that started it all so he could please his grandfather, when he knew that she actually had feelings for him. It was painful to watch her go along with all of this. But of course, we find out that he had fallen in love with her at first sight (kind of) which I call fake news on. It seemed like he wasn't at all into the relationship until after the first breakup, and then randomly after the 2nd, it was like he knew exactly how to treat her. While she stayed consistent, every time they got into a relationship, he acted like a completely different person. All good steps in the right direction, but every time it happened, I was like...who is this guy?

Overall, cute and slow paced relationship. It was about two people who have never been in love, figuring out how to be in a relationship and learning that there is no wrong or right way. It was cringy (especially all the kissing scenes - I feel like I was watching Love 020 again, with dead fish Wei Wei), but as expected with first love. But I thought it was super interesting about the relationships in this drama. A lot of the elders and some of her classmates gave her and Shangyan so much crap for their age difference. But literally no one brought up the age gap when any of team SOLO got with someone younger. Given, I shipped Mi Shao Fei and his love interest from the beginning, and would have loved to see more of them and their feelings blossom. Then we also have Appledog's possible romance. I thought she was going to play a bigger role in this drama, but she was very behind the scenes. We don't really see her and her possible romance until literally the last ep or two, which I thought was kind of cute, but at the same time, why the heck are all the 30 year olds trying to get at the 20 year olds. Maybe she was younger than Solo or Gun, but she couldn't be by much. It was hard to get behind anything she did because she only really interacted with the love interest twice in the whole drama. Plus the relationship he had with Solo and Gun is just super weird to me. Kind of like...a younger brother dating an ex. I am glad that they didn't put Solo with anyone because out of all the people in this drama, Gun a close second, he had to learn to love and forgive himself before trying to ask for love and forgiveness from others. He did the right thing in the past, BUT I believe he went the wrong way about it.

At the end of the day, even though this drama had a good message and I enjoyed it, I feel like it dragged on. I feel like the director was going overboard with trying to make this drama very sentimental and emotional while going overboard with all the flashbacks. Yes, it was necessary for the story, but def could have cut out like 50% of them. Especially at the end when literally a good portion of the end episodes were all flashbacks. Normally, this would get me on any day. I suck at flashbacks. I don't care if it in a tv show, drama, movie, or even commercial. I am a complete baby, but this drama decided to take this idea and ring it dry, that scenes I know should have been emotional, such as the tub make up scene, just made me say ...meh ok. I think I might have a limit of how much you can mess with my emotions, but it was wild that I didn't shed a single tear. Like I told myself if Shangyan opened up and started crying, it would break me. Any grown man crying would break me, but instead I was sitting on my couch, cringing at him ugly crying, which I felt bad for after the fact cause it was such a turning point scene. After watching it, I think the only times where I almost cried were for Mi Shao Fei and Demo. I feel like they both got the short end of the stick for the majority of the drama, but once Little Mi joined K&K and once Demo got the encouragement from Gun that he didn't know he needed, both of them excelled. I also felt bad for ONE towards the end as well as GRUNT, but the writer did an amazing job with them getting a chance to prove themselves.

Overall, this drama was a lot better than I initially thought it was going to be. A story about a team from 10 years ago having a team of winning the championship together that year, but ending up getting their dream in a different way almost 10 years later. A story about a guy who felt like everyone abandoned him even after trying to be the glue that kept everyone together. About grown ass adults that just needed to sit down and apologize to one another. I think that is what I didn't understand about this drama. Why in episode 30-something that it took them 10+ year for GUN to tell SOLO something he already knew in order for him to apologize. Also Appledog randomly coming in the situation, and apologizing. Like everyone had 10 years to do this, and instead acting hella prideful and waiting until a drunk moment to do this. If I was GUN, yeah...I would be mad too. Only difference is that I cannot hold a grudge to save my life, so 10 years is very childish. Like the 20 somethings were acting way more grown up in this drama than the 30 somethings. Except for Zheng Hui. F*** that guy. Acting like he about to hurt someone in his final scene in the drama.

Not sure if I would rewatch this again. So much back and forth with the couple; when it was bad, it was bad, and when it was good...it was so good. The competition scenes were so well done and the emotions from the coaches and players were so emotional. Seriously, Little Mi needs to be in more dramas. Loved his character. Loved the moments when he broke down. He should win an award for those scenes.

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Short and Simple. Basically the premise of this drama. I ended up staying up one night watching little clips of this drama on youtube and decided, you know what, I'll just give it a go since it is only 11, 30 minute, episodes. It was a simple story about a new high school learning how to stand up for herself and be her own person with the help of the Revenge Note app. Yes there was some romance, but not enough to say that this was a romance drama. Plus I love how they made it seem like there was going to be this love triangle with Eun Woo's character, but dude was barely in this drama except for to let us know that he was Ho Goo Hee's almost first love growing up, but how Ho Goo Hee was Eun Woo's first love and still was. It made me a little sad when we got a flashback of the moment Eun Woo fell in love with her, but how he never confessed. But hey, I don't know anything about kpop idol rules (even though they had a small ep about what would happen with a scandal) so maybe it was impossible from the get go and why they didn't drag it on or have him fight for her.

I think one of the reason why I was meh about this drama besides it having nothing really special about it was that at the end of one of the episodes it seemed like one of the victims was going to be an antagonist in this drama and maybe fight back and find out who sent out the revenge note hit on him, but literally it was never brought up again. It almost seemed like everything just eventually worked out at the end.
Another thing I wasn't happy about was the main love interest. I mean he was a solid love interest and would always somehow be there when she needed someone, but homeboy had zero personality or backstory so it was hard for me to get on board with him as a character. Him as a boyfriend was cute, but I honestly liked Eun Woo a lot more as a character because at least we had some kind of backstory with him. Realistically, yes, I wouldn't pick Eun Woo because of the whole kpop thing and probs have to wait until after his contract ends, but as a person, he has so much more personality and would talk with her about things (if she wanted to talk about it). The main male lead would literally ask her is she was ok and she would say yep and then they continued on with their day.

I'm curious to see what the second drama is about. I've heard that this drama is "better" than its sequel, but I'm sensing that, that might not be the case personally. We will see eventually.

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Simple story about two people who fell in love, but due to long distance as well as one person believing they are holding that other person back from performing at their fullest potential, they decide to break it off. Then, after years of being apart, they run into one another, and even though they both have feelings for one another still, they give one another a hard time. But after spending time with one another, they realize that they want to be with one another.

The chemistry was amazing and didn't realize that they had been in a drama the year prior and even referenced it at the end credits. A+

Because it was an average story with a very predictable ending, I thought this should get an average rating. Nothing new was presented. Definitely worth the watch, don't get me wrong. It is a perfect cure if you don't know what to watch and want to watch a quick drama with a basic story-line.

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One morning, I was looking through my recommended videos on youtube and I saw a clip for Hanaoni 3. I watched it and was instantly intrigued. I am used to watching korean or chinese dramas and have been looking for something different, so when I saw the trailer for this japanese thriller movie, I had to watch it. Plus, I really wanted to watch the third movie so I had to start off this the first.

And I wasn't mad. The whole idea was very cool and I was sucked in instantly. I was a little confused too, but I just went with it and I wasn't disappointed. The only thing I wasn't super happy about is after watching all these dramas with strong female leads, we get Kanna. I guess you could debate that she was strong in her own way given her circumstances, but I felt like she had zero personality. But I guess you could also debate that Kaki was also the quiet type that kept to himself. I guess they are perfect for one another.

It was definitely one of those Twilight moments where you are like...why is everyone in love with Bella. Yes, Kanna had Kaki's mark which amplified everything, but it was hard for me to care about her. If she wasn't the main character, nothing about her would stand out

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When I first added this drama to my "to watch" list, I thought this was going to be about a rich girl, Lin Xing Chen, being obsessed with this boy, Zheng Chu Ya, where she follows him and enrolls in university to be closer to him, but during their first meeting, she mistakes someone else, Jiang Nian Yu, for the guy she has been following. Once she finds out that she has made a mistake, she befriends this man who agrees to help her win over main guy’s heart, but in the process they fall in love. Instead, we got a drama that reminded me so much of Meteor Garden/Boys Over Flowers, which is funny because they reference this drama multiple times throughout when they would step out a situation and be like...yo...this is straight out of MG. And I completely agree. It almost seemed like everyone was a mix of characters. Such as I thought that Yu Yang Yang, who had a very similar story of how Dong Shan Cai (MG) got into university (and I love how Lin Xing Chen called her out on that too), reminded me of Dong Shan Cai from MG how people loved her for no really good reason and how she didn't stick up for herself/had no sense of self-worth. It almost seemed like this drama was a fan fiction version of MG except Dong Shan Cai isn't the lead and actually turns out to be kind of a bully who once again has no concept of the real world even though I feel like she would be the person out of everyone else who would. Not a huge fan of her character especially when the two mains, Jiang Nian Yu and Zheng Chu Ya, treated her like a brand new puppy whereas the same with Dong Shan Cai, I was confused why everyone loved her as a person. Home girl said and did some shady stuff to Lin Xing Chen and everyone kind of just ignored it like this was a normal thing. As for Jiang and Zheng, I saw a lot of Dao Ming Si and Hua Ze Lei in them. As like Dao Ming Si, Zheng comes from a wealthy family and had a loud personality who is used to getting what he wants, which in the beginning is our Shan Cai, Yang Yang. But also like MG, Yang Yang isn’t in love with Zheng, but is in love with Jiang who I thought seemed like Hua Ze Lei. Like Lei, Jiang is very soft and loving and is a musical genius. Except for in this drama, the whole atmosphere and setting really brought out the best of Jiang where he was this humble music genius who wanted to use his powers to help others rather than himself. Don’t get me wrong, I was surprised that I actually enjoyed both Zheng and Jiang’s characters. I knew who was going to end up with Lin Xing Chen at the end, but I felt sad for the other guy because he genuinely cared about Lin Xing Chen, but had a very Dao Ming Si way of showing it. A beginning of MG, I want her so she is mine and no one else can have her. Except, I felt like these two characters were a lot more likable than any MG or BoF love interests even though they both got me mad a few times because they keep misunderstanding situations. I have also thought about this while writing this. Originally, I thought Lin Xing Chen was a new character in this universe, but now thinking about it, here are my thoughts. Zheng (Dao Ming Si) likes Yang Yang (Shan Cai), but Yang Yang likes Jiang (Lei). But Jiang doesn’t like Yang Yang, he likes Lin Xing Chen (Teng Tang Jing). Lin Xing Chen reminds me of Teng Tang Jing because he is smart capable woman who knows she is capable and not afraid to prove her worth, but because of this, she doesn’t think much of how other people will be affected by her actions. Maybe MG follows a very generic drama outline and I am just overthinking this, but I literally thought that this show was fan fiction of MG, BUT following Lei and Teng Tang Jing’s complicated love as well as if Dao Ming Si realized Shan Cai had nothing to offer and went after Teng Tang Jing as well as had an arranged marriage.

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Overall, I didn't hate this drama, but I could have lived my life happy if I didn't see it. It was very over the top as Korean Dramas are, but it seemed to be a little more over the top with a story line that fell flat, especially at the end when you give Sol all the power in her relationship with the CEO (when he has done nothing wrong), while Sol gives all decisions about her happiness to her father. So basically, I watched a romance drama about two people who loved one another, but couldn't be together because homegirl needed verbal confirmation from her father that it was ok to love him. It's not until then that she can run to the CEO and know that he'll take her back, no questions asked. Surprise! Spoiler alert. It irked me. Even though he was never to blame, she somehow continuously made him feel like he was completely to blame like he was the one who caused her mother's death and her brother to be kicked out of his sports league. Total power move and I hated it. All homeboy wanted was someone to love who accepted him for who he was and possibly give him the courage to want to seek out help to cure his germaphobia. But I guess the ending was good because what he found was self love which is the love he needed to cure himself and then seek out love for others. I have no idea what homegirl wanted - her father to have some peace with his wife's death and familial approval for whomever she dates? I mean I am not going to go around choosing to date guys my parents hate, but you know if I love someone and know he is a good guy, I would stand up for him and our love a lot more than Sol did. The one thing I enjoyed about this drama was the supporting cast - the group of guys that Sol worked with in the company. There was a nice story about 3 guys who didn't like each other in some way , but when "forced" to work with one another, Sol acts like glue to their new relationship where they end up being closer than brothers. I enjoyed their side stories and learning to kind love between one another. They almost come close to tying with my love for the major minor friend groups of Love 020 and Oh My Venus.

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Romeo & Juliet

I think it is hard for me, out of all the different kinds of dramas out there, to find a good jdrama that I really like.
Not saying I didn't like this drama, but I wasn't in love with it.

The things I loved about this drama:

How they plugged in Romeo and Juliet vibes throughout the drama including when they added Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet - Fantasy Overture. I am a sucker for classical music when it is done well. I also really enjoyed the light silly comedy, especially with Hana's over the top family. Her grandma made me jump every time she snuck into a scene, and her mother and father as a pair were super cute. But I would say, my favorite character, and the second lead was Enjoji Akira. I loved how his special skill was breaking out in song and dance and kicking ass. His random impromptu lyrics to the same melody. I believe he was a good fit for Hana, if Hana were to date someone that was a more positive version of herself who understood the meaning of why her family does what they do.

Which leads to the things I didn't like about this drama. Even though everyone was trying to be their most authentic self, and always evolving, Hana seemed to always be at this crossroad of who she wanted to be, and not being able to be that person because she didn't know how to balance who she was born as and who she wanted to be. Instead of finding that balance and trying to understand her family, she always seemed to be stuck on the negatives. I understand that it is such a drama troupe, but at the same time, I feel like she really didn't learn anything at the end of the drama. And Kazuma didn't really do a fantastic job of helping her. Given I know her family didn't interfere, wanting her to learn and understand on her own why the family does what they do. Maybe they will address this in season 2? I just think it is weird for a character who HATES what her family does and thinks it's the worst possible thing you can do and be, she always seems to give in and become the thing she despises when it is convenient. She never seemed to look for alternatives. And then once she finished her mission, she is like, "oh,I'll never do that again. Kazuma, I promise, I will never be that person again," and then what does she do. She does it again. But I do give props to Kazuma, who kind of seems like he doesn't care. He always wants to be on her side because he knows she isn't a bad person, but agrees with her every time she says she doesn't want to be that kind of person.

Even though I did say I really liked the whole Romeo and Juliet concept, I did feel like they were being way too obvious at some points. The whole drama was an obvious Romeo and Juliet retelling, so when they started layering references on top of references, I thought it was a little overkill.

Other than that, I thought it was smart and funny and had a simple and easy plot to follow. Also, I really liked the grandma and grandpa's love story they randomly threw in at the end. It was a little twist of another Romeo and Juliet story; how she found love with someone who loved her regardless and wanted to understand her and the life she was born into and loved.

Excited for season 2, not sure what to expect. Maybe Hana will get over her identity crisis that I believe wasn't solved.

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How could you not like this drama? It had the charm of a simple cliche cdrama that sometimes fall a bit flat, but you love them anyway, BUT but this one didn't fall flat. It was done very well, where you have loveable mains from start to finish, a silly cliche plot, and chemistry that you couldn't help but love. And this drama knew exactly what it was, and I loved the little disclaimers in episode one basically stating that this drama is supposed to be silly and cliche and not to try cross-dressing to play on a collegiate team. That this was a comic and none of the events are real or would happen in real life, so don't take the drama too seriously. The writer knew the direction they wanted to go with the story and didn't want the viewer to worry about "fact-checking" and just sit back and relax and laugh at a romance between a cross-dressing girl and a hockey star who has face blindness.

But I couldn't help but compare this drama to its cdrama brother, Skate Into Love, that came out this year, only because of hockey. Don't get me wrong, both of these dramas are two of my favorites from 2020, but for different reasons. I felt that Skate Into Love was more of an ode to colligate athletes wanting to be better in order to represent and bring China glory, with a little romance between two winter athletes who became one another's support system and motivation. My Unicorn girl, even though it had more hockey games and scenes, wasn't about hockey. It was about a quicky romance between a freshman hockey player who has face blindness and secretly seeks out his mother's approval and to acknowledge his passion for hockey, and a girl who cross-dresses to make money playing hockey to support her brother, and accidentally makes the men's hockey team at the same university that rejected her from the figure skating program she tried out for. This drama was also about the relationship between the freshman hockey team including the two mains and a "brotherhood" that was built and motivated everyone. I loved how the drama was 90% about the two mains and their relationship, but it was about their relationship being built alongside their team members. We got to know some of the backstories of their teammates and how those backstories became motivators in their playing today.

It added to the love I had for this drama - there have been many dramas in the recent past where I didn't enjoy the side characters whatsoever and it lowered my score in my review. Even the minor, minor characters, I loved, including Miao Miao who was one of the first cdrama actresses I was introduced to and loved. She was a random surprise and a random confidant in this drama and was needed even if she was in 2 or 3 eps. It was hard not to like certain characters. I will say though, I wasn't a huge fan of Sang Zhan and Meng Na's relationship, BUT I was a huge fan of them separately, and did appreciate that it didn't come off forced.

I think I couldn't give this drama a perfect 10 was because I felt like the drama revolved around Wen Bing and Sang Tian's relationship, but the writer tried to make it about hockey. Yes, Wen Bing was passionate about his playing, but I felt that the drama focused more on him figuring out his face blindness. Yes, it would help him play better, but I feel like if he was passionate about the sport, he would have figured out how to be a better player with it. Then there was that HUGE game in ep 24 with their rival school, but I felt that the game wasn't played up like the competitions in Skate Into Love, and ultimately, it was a lame showcase. The final game showed me that the characters didn't grow as better players, but they grew as better team players? Which should go hand in hand, but apparently Wen Bing forgot that his biggest issue was not being a team player unless he was playing with Sang Tian...which...told me he didn't improve whatsoever. But I know that this drama wasn't supposed to be taken seriously, but I just didn't enjoy their final showcase.

But with only that one thing, this drama was surprisingly really good! I loved the relationship between Wen Bing and Sang Tian throughout their journey. Typically, I am not a fan of the male leads who pick on female leads, but at the most, I thought Wen Bing was teasing Sang Tian and seeing how far she would go with her cross-dressing. WHICH was one of the other things I really appreciated about this drama. Right from the beginning, Wen Bing figured out that she was cross-dressing and decided to watch over her and keep her secret, but also tease her in the process because she was lightweight fun to tease. But it got to a point where I felt that the main actress wasn't even trying to keep her secret and everyone was chill every time Bing and Tian would accidentally kiss. I'm thinking everyone just thought that Tian was a feminine guy and loved him anyway because Tian was a great friend and teammate. I would say though that my favorite character in this drama was William. I honestly would love nothing more than to have a Wen Bing or William like me romantically.

Also, can we talk about that WILD breakup scene that was super intense and didn't fit in with the rest of the drama? I think it was one of the most intense break-up scenes from any cdrama I've ever seen and I cried a bit. But it also showed how strong both characters were regardless that they are in a silly cliche storybook drama.

Overall, I am happy that Darren Chen is finally the lead in a drama. He did very well and I feel in love with him. His little mannerisms and facial expressions made me laugh and smile the whole time.

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Cheesy, Obsessed, Insta Love.

There is always a special type of cringe with manga-made dramas. I am not sure if it is the insta love that happens in the first 5 minutes because there at always 8-10 eps, 20 minutes each, so we have to fast-forward everything, or if it is how the characters seem to freeze in place sometimes, mimicking the panels in a comic. Or maybe it is how the director is trying to convince the watcher that the two main characters love one another.

I wasn't really sure what this drama was supposed to accomplish. It might have been showing how the characters met and fell in love and how Yuri came to understand what it meant to be a gang boss's lover. Or maybe it was about something completely different.

My thoughts? It felt more like two people who were obsessed with the idea of what they thought love was, and became obsessed with one another. Honestly... I wasn't even sure if Yuri herself, in the show, was actually in love with Oya. She seemed scared half the time, and the other half worrying she would never see him again... but it was all trumped by how horny she was for him.

I was definitely entertained by how over-the-top everything was, which included the three VERY quick "bosses" - the "love rival" best friend, the jealous gentleman caller, and a literal mafia boss. All quick over top people who served their purpose for 20 minutes and then disappeared.

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