I don't give out full-10 ratings lightly-- it's quite rare, in fact-- and going into this show I was not at all expecting it to be one of them. So you can believe me when I say that my rating of 10 for My School President was very well-earned. Let me count the ways:

* It's unbelievably charming, feel-good, and sincere; and while there are a few moments of pain, they never over-linger-- in the end, while there are some hardships, the show is ultimately kind to both the characters and the audience, and that's something we could all certainly use a little more of these days.

* It has the framework of a musical, but that framework has a light touch, and anyway the music that is featured not only has plot relevance, but is also actually good (!) (...well... aside from that one {mercifully short} rap battle in one of the episodes, LOL, but I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be hilaribad on purpose ?, so the point still stands).

* This show is legitimately laugh-out-loud funny. And while it can also occasionally be a little awkward/embarrassing (mainly just to showcase how unhinged the characters are ?), not only is the comedy genuine, it's never mean-- it makes you laugh *with* the characters much more than *at* them. (And you will be laughing with them A LOT, I can tell you... ??) (The occasional product placement is played up a bit over the top on purpose as well, to hilarious effect.)

* There is some realistic seriousness at just the right moments, which is all surprisingly moving (for example: One character's commentary on grief; the deeply sincere understanding and support the main couple gives to each other; and other various things that would be far too spoilery to list here), but it thankfully never dips into melodrama. The balance is just right.

* The show starts off with *TWO* unreliable narrator main characters (complete with imagination sequences), and you actually get to see through *both* perspectives very early on (no dragging out of the reveals!), which is a really fun dynamic. Yet they also know precisely when to taper that off-- the reliance on unreliable narration and imaginary scenarios only lasts exactly as long as it needs to to set up the characters' personalities and worldviews, and then it smoothly morphs into much more (yet still not 100%) omniscient framing, with just an occasional (though in exchange even *more* unhinged! ?) imagination sequence later on at exactly the right points. It all just works so darn well.

* Speaking of the 2 main characters: They have the dorkiest, sappiest, sweetest, and most utterly sincere and supportive and actually openly communicative (!) and healthy and wholesome romance ever-- and I LOVED IT. And Tinn, in particular, loves with such wholehearted unconditional devotion, and asking for literally nothing in return, that it's impossible (for both his love interest as well as us viewers!) to not adore him in response. ?

* The friends of the main characters are absolutely priceless (literally everyone's an idiot-- and that includes the 2 main characters as well!-- except ultimate wingman Tiw {and even he has his moments ?}, but they all really care about each other), and are actually rather nicely fleshed out, with very believable and strong friendship bonds (indeed, the friendship bonds are basically equal in importance to the romance{s}, which is a feature I really appreciate), subtle character arcs, and some hilarious/sweet romances of their own, which all feels quite relevant yet still never overpowers the main couple. (There's that perfect balance again!)

* Plus, along with the aforementioned great friendship group, the 2 main characters' parents are also fantastic.

* EVERYTHING that ALL of the characters say and do is... well, in-character-- meaning, everything that happens, from how they communicate to their actions, all make internal sense to the established narrative and their established characterization. (No dreaded random out-of-character moments for fake 'drama'? It's a miracle! ?)

* There are so many *excellent* (and satisfying!) subversions of standard romance tropes and pacing as well as audience expectations (in a very good way)! ?

* While there is obviously an overall story and plenty of continuous character progression, the episodes themselves are wonderfully self-contained/self-resolving, which to be honest is really refreshing (and helps contribute to the overall feel-good-ness of the show). And even with the to-be-expected cliffhangers in the last few episodes, the main conflict of each of those particular ep.'s are actually still dealt with inside that same ep., leaving only whatever the episode's secondary issue is as the cliffhanger hook.

* The acting is fantastic-- some of the best stuff was even completely improvised!-- and I was very impressed by it, especially considering the main actors' age and experience levels before going into this production. (This company just plain struck gold with Fourth and Gemini-- they're basically acting prodigies at this point, if what I've seen of them here and elsewhere is any indication, and their chemistry with each other + clear playful comfort acting together is outstanding.)

* While not high-budget, nor taking place in a setting/location that is conducive to what might normally be considered beautiful cinematography, it still looks good, and what the director and cinematographer(s) do with the resources they do have is great-- from the color theory to the use of barriers in frame (for example, see the characters' recreation of a music video in one of the episodes-- which uses crossing barriers as its premise, and which is made into an openly blatant parallel to their situations at the end of that episode-- then go back to the beginning and watch it again, looking at all the framing *before* it was made blatant, and you'll see that that same use of barriers had actually been there the whole time), etc.

* And finally (and most importantly!): ?THE ENTIRE ENDING ACTUALLY STUCK THE LANDING!! ? MEANING, THE HIGH QUALITY OF THE WRITING MIRACULOUSLY HELD STEADY ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE SHOW'S FINALE, FOR ONCE!!! ✊️✊️ There was *no* willful miscommunication, *no* random out-of-character left-turns, *no* ridiculous breakups or separations, *nothing* stupid thrown in merely for the sake of ~~dRAmA~~ without any logical foundation for it... *nothing inconsistent at all*!! I mean, please don't even get me started on the amount of times a shoddily-written ending has ruined a story (I could savage so many works of fiction for this in painful detail if someone gets me started on the topic ?), but that was thankfully *NOT* an issue here! ?? This show would deserve a trophy for even just that alone, but to have that be topping off everything else I've mentioned... give it a *crown.* ?

My School President was clearly created with a huge amount of love, from the writing to the acting to the production itself. And everything that I laid out in detail above just combined to make a basically perfect show.

This is an absolute gem-- and I'm so glad I watched it.

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Could have been a masterpiece with just a few writing tweaks; but as it is...

I really, really wish I could have given this a 10 (as some parts/elements certainly deserved it); however, there were unfortunately several character-/plot-writing problems that kept it well below that rating. (WARNING: FULL SPOILERS AHEAD)

* Problem #1: One of the side couples had a really annoying conflict reason (the show is really asking me to believe that in *SEVEN whole years (!),* neither party ever even thought to bring up to each other what they'd like to see in a long-term relationship in regards to kids/marriage/etc.? And Ho Rang's friends know all about her hopes/plans about these subjects in perfect detail, yet she never once talks about them properly at all with her actual partner over the course of those 7 years? Seriously?? ? And then to top it all off, despite the guy trying his darndest to be extremely good to her and give her whatever he believes she wants even if he has to sacrifice to do it, yet she somehow wants the poor man to be a mind-reader as well and treats him really badly when he obviously can't read her freaking mind when she is the one making the choice to literally not communicate at all??? ?‍♀️).

* Problem #2: The fake-out with the supposed 'stalker' subplot was a bit overdone. They should have either stuck with it to the end as him really being one, or made his character just a stereotypical rival instead. Trying to have it both ways and then finally revealing his 'innocence' after (rather cartoonishly) building it up so hard didn't really work that well, IMO. Worst of all, the writing seemed to just brush off his actual behavior as fine and gave him no consequences (because even though he was innocent of the criminal stalking, he *did* still just do whatever he wanted and continued to go after Ji Ho even after she tried to set boundaries *and* informed him that she was getting uncomfortable-- multiple times!-- which is definitely NOT okay, yet that ended up not being addressed at all. ? {Which is even weirder because one of the main threads of the show is about calling out sexist/harassment crap, so for his pushiness and unwillingness to accept a no as a no to just be brushed off isn't even internally consistent with the show's own narrative in the first place...})

* And Problem #3: Main female character Ji Ho's actions/reasoning in the last 2 episodes. I do get that she wanted to see who she was on her own first (because she never had), and to break the old contract so that the two of them could start fresh on completely equal footing and build up the relationship on love instead of business/etc.; and that's all perfectly valid, of course. However, the way she went about it (with no communication of most of that info to the other party, especially when she actually knew his feelings beforehand and still did it that way on purpose, totally disregarding any thought of what he might feel/go through) was rather cruel for Se Hee, IMO. ? The way she handled that was honestly pretty bad and very, very selfish, and she didn't even really feel any remorse about what it did to Se Hee (in fact, she was... happy about it?? ? Yikes! ?). This makes her surprisingly unlikable for a while right at the very end of the show (when up until then she was very likable), for literally no logical reason whatsoever.

Those are some rather large writing problems, unfortunately (that last one being particularly egregious).

On the positive side:

* The acting itself (regardless of the script quality they have to work with) is excellent.

* While there is a little bit of physical slapstick comedy a few times, I was pleasantly surprised that the show incorporated themes of the societal 'expectations'/pressure, sexual harassment/violence, and overt sexism in general the characters have to deal with on a daily basis into its very fabric and actually treated those topics seriously/with due respect (most of the time), rather than for 'comedic' value or somesuch.

* I also like how consistent the character writing for main male lead Se Hee was (for example, the mini-'reveal' that he actually wasn't dense at all about Ji Ho liking him, rather in fact he pretty much knew all along, and was just purposefully deflecting it for a while instead, was brilliant because that makes *so* much more sense for a character as intensely observant as he was always shown to be than the stereotypical 'dense' alternative would have been ?). (Too bad they didn't have had the same quality and consistency of character writing for Ji Ho... ?‍♀️)

Overall, I'm glad I watched it; however, the writing was definitely frustrating and inconsistent at a few points, and had they only fixed those issues this could have been a certified masterpiece-- which of course just makes those missed opportunities even more frustrating. ?‍♀️

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Amazing adaptation - but skip the sequels...

The first of the original 3 Rurouni Kenshin live-action movies is absolutely brilliant. It's mostly a very close adaptation of the section(s) of source material that it covers; the occasionally-silly humor and OTT feel of certain elements are well-done and form a nice balance with the serious parts; the directing, filming, acting (including an especially impressive performance from the actor playing main character Kenshin, as he actually did all of his own fight scenes and stunts! ?) are all excellent; and the action is *perfection* (not to mention that said action somehow manages to be realistically bloody when called for without being excessively graphic, which is pretty impressive in and of itself). There were of course some cuts and condensing of plot due to the restrictions of the movie's length, but they were minor and didn't affect enjoyment (or mine, at least, which is saying something coming from an adaptation-faithfulness stickler like me ?). Indeed, literally the only complaint I have is that Kaori is quite a bit more badass in the manga than she is here; however, I could live with that simply due to the sheer awesomeness of the rest of the film. It's an excellent standalone movie that is easy to enjoy whether you're a fan of the manga or not, and I definitely recommend it.

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...Now, that said, I was *EXTREMELY* disappointed with the 2 followup movies, and you can read my thoughts about that on their entries. However, thankfully, this first movie is self-contained, so you can easily just watch it on its own without losing anything (and that is exactly what I would suggest).

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Completely blown away at how fantastic this series truly is.

Production? Top-notch: The filming/directing is incredibly good, and the music is excellent as well.

Acting? Phenomenal: I'm almost at a loss for words to even describe this. The main male lead did an outstanding job with the role he was given, and both the chemistry and the tension between him and the actress who plays his wife were literally palpable.

Relationships? Refreshing: There is a little bit of romance, but aside from a minor kind-of-sort-of thing going on with a side couple, the main part you see is actually between characters who are already married and have a child (plus some flashbacks of theirs, which are serious and/or sweet, not cheesy at all), which is honestly a breath of fresh air.

Plot? Utterly gripping: It's a crime thriller at the top of its game. (And, as such, there are a few trigger warnings: Blood, wounds, drowning, psychological stuff, personality disorders, genuinely scary serial killer, etc.; however, none of it is gratuitous-- I don't really like violent media all that much, but I was able to watch this just fine.) Both of the main pillars of the story-- the crime thread as well as the character/interpersonal thread-- were so compelling that I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and marathoned the entire show as fast as I possibly could.

This is not only the best K-drama I've ever seen, it's one of the best shows I've seen of any kind. It's a masterpiece-- and if you haven't already seen it, you need to, right now.

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So as a sort-of last hurrah for 2016, I marathoned Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 1, and it was a perfect choice!

Granted, for the first few (fairly graphic-- well, if you can call it that when it's puppets, LOL) minutes I was basically saying to myself "What the heck is this??" (Even after having been somewhat prepared from all the enthusiastic reviews I read about it.) However, by the time the delicously devious (and wonderfully snarky) Guǐ Niǎo and 'voice of reason' Rèn Wú Fēng appear, I definitely became interested... and by episode 2, I was well and truly hooked!

Seriously, it's like the best possible combination of eastern-fantasy tropes (though with a few good twists, of course-- this series is Urobuchi's doing, after all!), the crazy-awesome-OTT-ness of wuxia films, surprisingly excellent special effects, *gorgeous* (...and occasionally spectacularly exploding...) puppets-- which actually work amazingly well as characters, to my genuine (and pleasant!) surprise-- both interesting and hilariously awesome dialogue (due to some self-awareness and general snark, sold even more by great voicework), and absolutely awesome music. Plus, smug little Guǐ Niǎo is just so much fun, and Rèn Wú Fēng is downright fantastic (his continual facepalming in either the foreground or background never gets old, LOL, and he turns out to be just plain awesome in every respect later on as well).

This was easily one of the most genuinely, unabashedly entertaining things I've seen all year, and I can't wait for Season 2!

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What a delightful surprise!

First things first: The acting is out of this world. I couldn't believe how *ALL* of both reincarnated pet characters' mannerisms-- down to even the tiniest, most subtle details!-- were absolute *perfection.* They were *exactly* what it would be like if someone really was 100% human, yet still also had a 100% cat or dog personality at the same time. I'm not joking here when I say that this is literally the best embodiment of this concept by actors that I have ever seen. They were phenomenal in these roles (and must have had tons of fun while filming, too! ?), and I cannot praise that highly enough.

Secondly: As a pet owner who has unfortunately also had to go through the experience of having a family member go across the rainbow bridge, episodes 3 (Milk's reassurances to Jungwoo) and 10 (basically the whole ep., yeah you know why) just made me absolutely weep. ??

And thirdly: Episode 11? Perfection. This show first broke me and then it healed me in the best possible way.

TL;DR: I went into this expecting a slightly silly + mostly sweet magical romance, and while I certainly got that to start with, I then got unexpectedly punched deep in my feels... and then given the best warm hug afterwards. ???

I wouldn't *quite* put this at 'masterpiece'-level overall (and that's my personal criteria for giving out a full 10 rating), which is why my rating for this is currently sitting *just* below that at a 9.5; but I must admit that this managed to touch my emotions so deeply that, even now, I am still wavering on giving it that final half-star and making it a 10 regardless.

Obviously, highly recommended. ?

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After an amazing first movie, they somehow completely butchered the sequels.

The first of the original 3 Rurouni Kenshin live-action movies was absolutely brilliant (as I elaborated on in detail in my review for that entry). Unfortunately, however, the second and third installments of the live-action trilogy are not only not anywhere near as good as the first (either overall or in terms of adaptation), they're really just not very good movies, period (nor are either of them standalone). Don't get me wrong, the production, fight choreography, and acting are (mostly) all still at the same level (indeed, the fight with the dual-blade-wielder in movie 2 is at least worth watching just on its own), but movie 2 is otherwise quite forgettable, some of the violence becomes overly OTT to the point of tastelessness by movie 3, the story is bizarrely (and fruitlessly) butchered to hell and back, and-- most egregiously-- the characterization flies right out the window, utterly ruining one of the manga's more interesting characters and caricaturizing more than several others.

TL;DR: Don't watch these 'sequels' ?-- just leave it at watching the excellent first one (and then read the manga afterwards instead).

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After an amazing first movie, they somehow completely butchered the sequels.

The first of the original 3 Rurouni Kenshin live-action movies was absolutely brilliant (as I elaborated on in detail in my review for that entry). Unfortunately, however, the second and third installments of the live-action trilogy are not only not anywhere near as good as the first (either overall or in terms of adaptation), they're really just not very good movies, period (nor are either of them standalone). Don't get me wrong, the production, fight choreography, and acting are (mostly) all still at the same level (indeed, the fight with the dual-blade-wielder in movie 2 is at least worth watching just on its own), but movie 2 is otherwise quite forgettable, some of the violence becomes overly OTT to the point of tastelessness by movie 3, the story is bizarrely (and fruitlessly) butchered to hell and back, and-- most egregiously-- the characterization flies right out the window, utterly ruining one of the manga's more interesting characters and caricaturizing more than several others.

TL;DR: Don't watch these 'sequels' ?-- just leave it at watching the excellent first one (and then read the manga afterwards instead).

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