Lee Minki, just wow. So dark and messed up, I seriously ended up hating the brother after everything he did for the older brother, he couldn’t wait to stab him in the back, quite literally. There's this coldness in Minkis eyes that makes you feel both terrified and thrilled at the same time. The indifferent way he reacts to killing especially that chopsticks scene is still in my mind. Honestly, I'm a fan of Go Eun she's great in Goblin but I found her so annoying in this! I don't know if it's just that character probably, but still it was hard to relate to her. Still it's a nice helping of sociopathic serial killer and the revenge of a not so normal girl.

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Underwhelming imo. And it had nada to do with the lack of 'steamy'scenes because I love slow burns I even watch BROMANCE AND CHINESE BL that have NO KISSING AT ALL FFS XD. Untamed guardian the lost tomb franchise the japanese high and low has better couples than this show again JUST MY OPINION so take it with a grain of salt. I just found it lacking in substance and repetitive. And at least UWMA for all it's faults doesn't lure you in with angsty dark scenes and then puts a lot of cutesy lame scenes in there.

I mean I don't mind watching something more serious and not angsty but don't bait me you know that's terrible. You were making it seem like some edgy life changing experience which this was not.

The story was average, the acting sub par, especially from the main cast again not terrible but underwhelming. All that crying Mix did MADE NO SENSE.

And the whole justification of the heart and why he was doing her bidding made no sense. In UWMA, another soulmate storyline, the past memories is a metaphor for Fluke's anxiety and grief that doesn't make sense like when you have depression or any other mental illness. In this the heart is just a prop they use to get Mix to cry pointlessly. When Fluke picks up Kao's gun in the finale you UNDERSTAND HIS MOTIVATION. and again like I said it was a metaphor for mental illness because at times you feel like you are happy and you're fine and then the next minute you're triggered and holding a gun to your head.

And the end conflict again I don't understand why so many people think it's something SPECIAL FFS XD that conflict and the way it played out is so common in any romance where you don't want to make it too angsty. It was there in 2gether the characters make the other one think they don't care or don't like them cause of their own insecurities. But 2gether doesn't pretend to be anything more than light angst guilty pleasure and that's why I love it.

Which is why this one was boring for me. First half was not bad at all but the way it unfolds s just didn't work for me.

I feel like the one thing good that came out of this bl was Mix and Earth's ship lol that's pretty much it.

I mean if nothing this could have been a simple hurt comfort show but it failed to do that properly even.

What I did like was again the couple their scenes together were pretty good and I dug them as a couple at least in the beginning but then when Earth was all yes you go f yourself cause I'm too much of a coward ugh I get that it was a part of his character development but like I said before I HATE this conflict in any romance where one person just goes away. Just a personal pet peeve so didn't help that they used this BS conflict.

I also liked how Mix's character grew and I feel like it's not a bad idea to say that we should all be able to at least mature enough to do our own chores take our own burden. Instead of leaving it to maids and servants. If you're not disabled then you should do something that challenges you and makes you step out of your comfort zone.

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Wasted potential.
I feel so bad. I was really excited about this one and I liked it, to an extent, some of it was done so well. But then they dealt with a few things so ridiculously it really ruined the experience.
First off, if you introduce a character that is supposed to be the male leads best friend and you show that love and you start caring for them and then you harm the character just so the hero can get to be emotional that's fine, nothing wrong with that. But what does it say about your main lead when literally the very next episode the writers forgot he even existed!
And they show Hui Young's TRAUMATIC life but not ONE single 'friend' ever so much as sympathizes with him or shows empathy! But they're quick to see him as the villain when he does things out of desperation.

Basically everything they set up in the beginning, they ruined it and suddenly a nuanced good script was becoming boring and bland.

So by far, we have a main lead who found a girl and forgot his childhood friend and isn't the least bit affected by what happened to him! When he was practically the only friend he had since they were kids ffs!

And then the female lead again, even when she found out about hui young and what happened she's only worried about the new shiny guy she JUST met and doesn't feel ANYTHING for Hwi young who again, they've been friends since childhood!
Do either of these characters seem not selfish to you?

And no one among the writers seems to have ANY FREAKING CLUE what trauma is. Obviously, they were trying to be edgy but ended up writing extremely shallow characters. And don't even get me started on how they handled Moonbins character! Ugh. Just probably added that bit for edgy brownie points and it went nowhere and was completely pointless!

A disappointment but did give me some entertainment hence the rating. The actors definitely deserved better.

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Okay my honest opinion.

I liked it, a LOT all of the men were freaking gorgeous and total eye candy!

And you know I really like Gun, and Off, White, Mike, and Earth, he's so hot. But when I kept watching I found something was off. And I couldn't put my finger on it and then during a scene it dawned on me why I'm not able to like Off and Gun's chemistry as much as I should. And ok, there's a few reasons for this.

Gun's character pissed me off for a number of reasons.

First, I got the SAME feeling I got watching Tin Can! I know Third keeps SAYING he loves Khai but the thing that used to ruin my viewing pleasure of Love by Chance was that Can seemed borderline homophobic! And Third was THE SAME.

I don't know what it is but there was no conviction in Can's eyes that he was actually enjoying being in close proximity with Tin, and Gun was the same. Like none of their kisses felt REAL. And it definitely wasn't Khai's fault just as it wasn't Tin's fault and their characters actually end up being better people than they were, there's growth and the love feels SINCERE.

This is why I love Shao Fei and Tang Yi, Knock and Korn, Jack and Zhao Li. And even not my favorite but you gotta give it to Ae Pete, Kris and Singto, because both sides CONVINCE you that they freaking are obsessed with each other, every gesture shows it.

And the reason even though I absolutely adore Addicted, I think the character of Gu Hai gives me the same uncomfortable feeling when Tommy Huang seems so sincere and heart felt.

I don't know if this is the fault of the director entirely but yes, they do have to be responsible for not choosing the right person or not making their actors comfortable or whatever it is.

Anyway, I'm still rating it high because despite this fault, this is a good story that I think you should absolutely watch because the script was really good and kind of honest.

But I also feel that Gun's character was again, supposed to be SINCERE, you keep hearing about it, but the only sincerity he does is toward some guy who is super hot and who he doesn't even like as much, but Khai was sincere with him from the beginning, and it's not cheating on Third because they're not in an actual relationship!

Another thing that MAJORLY bugged me was that they kept calling Khai a whore and the insinuation was that he's a bad person because he sleeps around and Third is a good person because he doesn't!

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

This is such bs.

So, yes. Entertaining but also problematic like Sotus with their 'bullying is actually good for you' narrative. You have to give it to Love by Chance, Tin and Pete both slept around in their pasts but were never judged for it. Honestly, even bromances have better chemistry than these characters, Hello Monster, Seo in guk makes you feel he'll die without Park Bo Gum and Bo gum is the same. The Guardian bromances, just freaking awesome to watch, The Lost Tomb is full of bromances that will make you feel and love and cry and care about them.. Seondal, Xiumin and Yoo Seung ho. In Family We Trust. The list is endless.

So, it's not impossible.


Oh, and by the way I absolutely adore Two and Aun! Freaking gorgeous and great chemistry! And actual good people. As for Bone, he's gorgeous, but his story line was fine but that ending, just made the entire relationship with the teacher pointless.

Anyway, so that was my honest opinion.

I still liked a lot of it and like I said some of the parts were really sincere and the writing is good.

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This was so good!
Some thoughtful writing and even when there was only six episodes I didn't feel like it was rushed or incomplete! It was just the best couple chemistry from the very first scene!!!

I just feel like that ending I don't like it usually when the guy goes away Where Your Eyes Linger and Your Name Engraved both had it and I read it in Call Me By Your Name ages ago and I loved the book so much but the ending left me in a depression hole lol back when there was no thought of a movie so I still haven't gotten over it.

But somehow it felt really frustrating and similar to Call Me when Your Name Engraved did it ffs that movie broke my heart . But in Linger it doesn't feel as heavy because the overall feel of the show is light angst and honestly this one is even lighter angst so I wasn't hurt by the end just a little disappointed.

I generally don't like bittersweet endings ngl so that's probably just me I prefer either Happy Endings or just plain tragedy. Because tragedy is when someone literally dies for another person. That's HEA for the couple right? But Call Me By Your Name and Engraved where one person chickens out or "goes away" leaving someone you're supposed to love STRANDED just isn't love to me.

So yeah back to WBL I think there's a next season and I won't mind if it becomes a regular thing like History

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From the first frame I was sucked in and couldn't get up till I finished watching. The cinematography is excellent and every scene invokes a distinct, raw feeling inside you as you get deeper into the rabbit hole of poverty and start rooting for this odd family - your first mistake because that's what will break your heart. I know a lot of people compare this with Parasite and sure while the whole poor and strange family unit is there but Parasite is very absurdist and bleak through and through while for the most part Shoplifters is genuinely upbeat providing you with a false sense of security until the rug gets pulled out from under your feet. Because you keep learning more about the characters right down to the last frame. So the sadness you feel in Parasite is also of an existential depressing nature where in Shoplifters its the sadness of loss and grief that feels personal.

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Convoluted and unconventional definitely gruesome and doesn't pull any punches. It's kind of stylistically gives a post-apocalyptic feel like 1984 and Battle Royale, it's going to depress you. I loved the usual eccentricity of Japanese fiction and there's a touch of dark humor as well. Basically, Zera wants to create a society where there are no adults and he has help from a demonic entity who warns him against an uprising and certain death from 'adults' and 'traitors.' And this fear drives him to be ruthless toward everyone and creating a society aka Lychee Light Club to control other young boys. These boys are not allowed to fornicate, or do anything that goes against Zera's orders. All so they are forced to become Zera's minions, including a gigantic machine named Lychee that is programmed to be human and find girls and be Zera's killing machine. But when one of the boys starts raising his voice against Zera's insane level of cruelty, he starts finding other boys who share his distaste of Zera and his rules. At the heart this film shows how evil people try to control others by instilling fears and taking away their basic human rights like being able to find pleasure, in sex and otherwise. How they're propelled by their own fears and end up becoming heartless. And the other recurring motif is of beauty and ugliness, and how no matter how beautiful someone might be, they will eventually get tarnished if nothing the people who were so taken by their beauty alone will see them as ugly when they find something better. That's the superficial nature of beauty worship.

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Some films you see and they change you.

This is one of those films. It comes in the form of something familiar, something nostalgic and becomes more sinister until you feel like you're no longer just watching but living it. And that you were in the nostalgic past and then stepped into a convoluted nightmare where nothing makes sense, and nothing is as it is.

There are rarely any far away shots, the entire movie is shot in extreme close ups, so what you see on screen is actually consistently partly concealed. So even when you're looking at someone there's a sense of secrecy always present, like you're only seeing parts of them and the rest is always off-screen, so much like the characters are trying to figure out the puzzle, so are you.

But the most beautiful effect was the way Rengo LITERALLY brings color to Daikis life in the end. Just mindblowing. This and the scene where in the black and white Daiki goes to meet Suda and when Suda is on the other side he's in bright light but Daiki is half-light half-dark. It was so beautiful because you see that despite being a bit rude the actor is more aware of the puzzle 'who is Rengo,' and also shows that the actor was also way more 'himself' and open than Daiki who seems very closed off in comparison.


And when there are far away shots, they're always usme color and tonal elements to show what a certain character is feeling, especially the use of dark and light, is just pure brilliance.

All the actors feel like a part of the canvas and not just good looking props.




And thanks to kaisrexci for recommending this one I'm so grateful, I might have taken me forever to find it otherwise ! !

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Problematic with flawed characters but beautiful. Just not for people who get triggered easily. For me their passion was just amazing on screen. Both the actors played their characters beautifully and Yashiro was the ultimate kawaii character, you watch them struggling.
But what I absolutely loved about this film was it's portrayal of dysphoria which they did with the utmost sensitivity showing how sad it is to feel like you don't belong to the label society has placed on you.
And a lot of people with dysphoria also suffer from an insecurity about the way they look, and they even touched on this.
Even the confusion of liking someone who isn't the gender you're supposed to like, this fiom in my opinion, did it realistically.

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Very rare for me to cry for a villain and his unrequited love, this movie is excellent! Good thriller with characters that will move you.
Kim Hae Soo did a remarkable job bringing the powerful woman that Na Hyeon jeong is supposed to be and at the same time bringing forth the vulnerability that comes from her character's past.
At no point do you doubt that she's absolutely capable of doing the badass things that her character does. Tbh this is more an action thriller and it's not something with too much depth but still pretty entertaining and not exactly shallow either. The characters might not be as fleshed out but they're not one dimensional either.
So, like I said, an effective action thriller.

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There's not ONE thing about this film that I felt like it wasn’t done right. Im a huge fan of Matsuzaka Tori, I always appreciate his choice of projects but ok the actor who completely stole my heart was Abe Sadao who played the role of Jinya Sano, the older man in Towako's life who she resents and constantly abuses but he never gets angry at her and keeps being a doormat when it comes to her. And of course this film would be nothing without Aoi Yu's phenomenonal acting who played the neurotic and impulsI've main lead Towako. She's so convincing in her role no matter what she does. Tbh this one can't be called a Matsuzaka Tori film because he only has a supporting character but that doesn't mean I didn't get to enjoy the view of some hot sex scenes, I mean I could watch him all day he's so beautiful but he also does all his characters very convincingly. Anyway the thing about this film is whatever you think this film is, it won't turn out to be, that's all I'm going to say without giving any spoilers. Absolutely a must watch.

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Honestly this movie has everything I find engaging in a movie or drama, a brothers story, handsome leads, great actors, and well written angst. Sometimes a movie gets hyped up so you make this image inside your head of what it might be like right? And sometimes you watch the movie and maybe they took a different direction but it's still good, and other times you watch the movie and you knew what you're going to get but the delivery is so predictable it becomes boring. Ok, so what category does this one fit? The category where all your predictions come true and you still haven't moved an inch for about two hours because even though you know how it's going to end, you've become hopelessly involved in the characters. I don't always look for happy endings but for this one I wanted it so bad. Anyway just wow, super intense movie but the brothers relationship it brought me to tears. DO did an excellent job portraying someone with a disability and who's living a life of complete darkness after an injury and his trashy older brother just got out of prison on parole giving the excuse that he's going to take care of his recently disabled younger brother. And even though they start out having some trouble accepting each other when the truth comes out with time and both of them realize what the other must have been through they start getting closer.

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Reviewing because I personally don't agree with the really bad reviews, but hey everyone is different so it's fine but I just wanted to give my own thoughts.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

First off, yes the direction is not perfect, nor the writing but I feel like I was still into it, and watched without getting bored.

A mermaid named Yixia gets saved by this guy who's a minister Yuanshan and married into the royal family and then things happen and Yuanshan falls for the mermaid pretty hard and cheats on his wife.

But there's a Dragon, a monster chasing the mermaid and trying to kill him but Yuanshan saves him again, but his wife ends up dying.

And so Yuanshan ends up abandoning Yixia, because there are other things happening in the background.

He's basically the person who becomes the guy who will be next on the throne because the current Prince is just so bad, doing all kinds of dumb things like hiring the same monster Dragon as his confidant.

But when Yuanshan abandons Yixia who is immortal by the way, he's hurt but comes back to face Yuanshan after three years.

By then things have severely escalated.

And when Yixia learns that despite abandoning him, Yuanshan actually does love him, he becomes emotional again and says he's going to protect Yuanshan with his life and we literally see Yixia go inside Yuanshan (no pun intended lol) and then we find out that Yuanshan now basically has the mermaids power and he has the mermaids jade silk in his hand as he lays on the bloody ground.

MAJOR ENDING SPOILER

Okay now for the controversial ending.

When I first saw someone say 'cut' and 'Yuanshan' takes off his wig and we see the historical movie set and the others actors etc are all interacting but Yuanshan just takes his food and goes to sit to one side like a loner.

Ngl I did feel cheated at first because I was like wth is this meta shit lol

Buuut hear me out.

I thought this for maybe two seconds till 'Yuanshan' or the actor playing Yuanshan still carrying the Jade silk in his hand, goes towards the ancient building which is where the movie was being shot, and he's going there as if in a daze and then we see all the love making scenes again, the one in the bathroom and in bed with the red sheets as though Yuanshan is remembering it and then finally we see him getting a little emotional, and then he just stands at this one point and gets tears in his eyes, until we see someone put their hand on Yuanshans shoulder - and then it's revealed that that person who was carrying a camera, was none other than Yixia.

Well, here's my interpretation.

Because of the Mermaid's powers, Yuanshan is now immortal like Yixia, and it wasn't an actor but the same Yuanshan and those scenes were his own memories from all those years ago.

Clearly Yixia also survived somehow, or maybe it was just his desire, to see Yixia, I don't know, but personally I feel like they're showing that their love basically transcends the boundaries of time and life.

So you tell me how it's not at least a little poetic?

Like I said the execution may not be great but for one things there's skin ship in this one that is just so good! Like full on proper Thai BLs level skin ship! You should at least give it a way h for this alone xD

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The same brilliantly executed desperation and melodrama that's the beauty of Asian films while being intense and jarringly violent.

I know a lot of people don't like screamers but I can hear Suda Masaki scream at me all day.

I kept thinking about Double Mints when I was watching this. The relationship Shinji (Suda Masaki) has with Barikan (Yang Ik Jun) or with his ex gangster boss had the same undertones of Fuchikami Yasushi and Tanaka Shunsuke's relationships in Double Mints.

The way Suda and Ik Jun bond is so organic and just so much feels ㅜ^ㅜ

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