A true Slice of Life drama at it's heart

One thing to know about me, is that slice of life is not really my genre, i usually view them as palate clensers. However I was blown away by this one, it was such a pleasant surprise. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and their story from the first episode, it was the perfect frenemies/childhood friends to lovers show. The main leads were really phenomenal, in terms of character writing and acting aswell. Jung so-min and Jung hae in killed it honestly, the chemistry between them was insane, and it was very fun to watch their interactions with each other, and it looked like they were having a lot of fun aswell. I also really loved that the show focused a lot on developing the relationship between the ML and the FL, and they had a lot of scenes together which i really appreciated. Whoever told you that it's a sunshine and grumpy trope has LIED to you. Cheossong is just as much of a goofball as seok-ryu if not more, I cannot stress this enough. I really liked the story structure aswell. How the story worked in this one is that it wasn't throwing 6 storylines at you at the same time. It was only a handful at best, and they were completing them one after the other mostly so that the viewer wouldn't get overwhelmed, which I really appreciated. They were decently written aswell and made it so that the main leads have even more screen time. The only side story i didn't really liked was Dong-jin's, it felt like a drag everytime he came on screen. I felt like his character was poorly handled, they could've included him in the story more, and explored the theme of being the sibling that is not much expected of, which was kind of explored but in only one short scene. I also love how the secondary leads were handled, they had a really cute storyline, but it really felt like they were secondary leads in this one which i really liked, because there's a reason why people prefer the secondary leads in a lot of dramas, which shouldn't be the case all the time. It is also worth to keep in mind that the show is slowburn, probably even by kdrama standards, but I think it made sense because of the story and the personalities of the main leads. Stuff I didn't liked was probably the OST, which was only decent at best, and the VERY early bed scene. I don't know what is netflix's obsession with bed scenes, but they really didn't do it well this time. Now I don't mind bed scenes, but I feel like if there is one, it should be kept to the last or the second to last episode, I feel like it's a milestone in a relationship, and when we look at the trope of a kdrama, it really emphasizes the milestones of relationships like holding hands, kissing, bed scenes. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with love next door, and I was really sad to have to say goodbye to these awesome characters. So if you like a good slice of life drama, it's a must watch!

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An Incredibly Overrated Drama

The title may sound harsh but it's the truth. I tried, I tried to like this drama so much, I did. When I initially went into this drama I went in expecting it to be a high school drama where the main leads would fall in love while filming the documentary, and to be honest, how I wish that were the case. We follow the two main leads years after the events of the documentary in an attempt to make another and reconcile in the process as exes. The main leads were the most uninteresting characters I have ever seen since extraordinary you, on top of all of that the FL was also annoying as heck. As I was watching the show, every time she would come on the screen, I could not wait till the scene was over. Now while I was watching the show, I was curious if other people felt this way about her character, and a lot of people said that her character would get better later on in the show, and she did, but not a lot. Her whole deal was how childish was the male lead, while she herself was acting more childish than he was. The male lead was not that bad. He had several issues he was struggling with, but the drama for some reason has not dealt with them more in-depth as I would've liked. The whole story made no sense whatsoever, especially the main plot point which was the documentary that was supposed to feature the two main leads spending time together after years and reconnecting, but they did none of that, they had a few scenes together but mostly kept it separate which lost it's meaning. They came back together and finished the documentary around episode 12-13, so the drama had no reason to continue but they packed side plots and 2 major plot points which did nothing but to drag out the drama and overstay it's welcome like (What's wrong with secretary Kim) did. The last thing I want to touch upon is the amount of side plots the drama had. The drama had a hefty amount of side plots, which throughout the drama, barely progressed, if progressed at all. They quickly wrapped them up in the last episode, or either had major plots resolved off-screen. The main leads together at the end were a bit charming and the OST was prety good. (Yup that's the only good thing I can say about it xD) I think the drama was alright, had a lot of issues, and it's nothing we haven't seen before. But I still recommend you to watch it, even tho I think a one-time watch is pretty much enough, Maybe you like it. :)

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A Beautiful Fantasy Historical Drama

Ah, where to start with this drama. I think it's one of, if not the best fantasy historical drama of all time. We are introduced to the world of Daeho which is full of mages and magic. The world-building is beautiful. The story is amazing, it kept me on the edge of my seat from either the beautiful romance or the intense action. The characters are written perfectly. I would like to point out, especially the villain, the number of emotions he pulled out of me is just incredible. The character development of the characters is amazing, especially the FL's. I liked the fact that it was 20 episodes because it gave the main leads time to develop their relationship deeper, it did not feel like it was dragging out at all. The OST was pretty good as well. The only complaint I may have is probably the VFX, you'll know when you see it. But other than that, if you want an amazing historical drama with an amazing story that you can lose yourself in, go for it, I highly recommend it. :)

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A Melodrama at it's finest

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely adored this drama, it really hurts my heart that I can't give it a 10/10, because the drama has a lot of pacing/directing/script issues, and I can't, in good faith give it the 10. I would also like to point out, that this drama is not for everyone, especially the ones who don't like sad dramas. This drama is for the people who enjoy melodramas, and tragic storylines. People who enjoy Game of Thrones, should feel right at home, It really feels exactly like that. But let me start with stuff I really liked. First of all, I absolutely adored the story, It was full of love, betrayal, action, tragedy, feels, even though I believe that they could've made a few changes (First one that comes to mind, is not abandoning Eun's character midway, and actually having him being an active participant until his ending, it would've made a much larger impact, even though it was already quite huge), which would've benefited the story better. I liked how we saw our female lead, go from being an innocent happy girl, to a tortured soul by the midway. I also liked how the show's tone switched and developed with the female lead, but it was pretty depressing at the same time. I was very satisfied with the story, and how it turned out, even though I would've made some personal changes, I am still happy with what we've got. I also really enjoyed the OST, I really wasn't sure about it at first, because it didn't really felt like it fit the historical time period, but I grew to like it regardless. The acting was also amazing, A big applause for all of the actors, they made their characters have very distinct personalities, with great depth, and I enjoyed watching every single prince on screen, and haesu aswell. I also liked the cinematography, the landscapes, and the locations were really iconic. Now when it comes to what I disliked, it was the pacing/production. The camera angles, felt really weird, so much so, that sometimes it took me out of the immersion. And the worst of all was the pacing. Now I thought that the story was great, however the execution, sometimes was really lacking. There were a few instances, where they seemed like they misplaced scenes, a great example of this was the emperor and Chaeryeong scene, you will know when you watch it. I also didn't like the amount of time skips the story had, the drama sometimes didn't even show that there was a time skip, so I found myself wondering quite often about, how many years it has been or if there was a time skip or not, I feel like as a viewer it should be obvious. I was satisfied, but devastated about the ending, I feel like it was a decent ending for the characters, though I really wish there was an after credit scene or something, because in a way it feels incomplete. So overall It is an amazing drama, full of twists and turns and tragedy and a good story, If you like all of these, or you would like to dip your toe into the "Ktrauma" side of kdramas, I wish you good luck, it will devastate you!

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A strongly decent and slightly overrated drama

Despite the title, I did enjoy this drama, I really did. I've had my doubts, throughout the course of my watch, mostly because of a few writing decisions, but I ended up liking it in the end. However, based on other people's perception of the drama, I don't think it's that good, as many people say it, some say that it is the drama of the year, which is a WILD statement, but then again, I feel like the dramas this year a bit lacking, so who knows. So let's go over this. I did enjoy the story, I was a bit vary at first when I learned that it is a time travel drama, It's not like I dislike them, but they tend to yolo some of the story elements quite often, and I also did see that here aswell unfortunately, but far less than what I am used to which is a good sign. I enjoyed the interactions, between the leads, and seeing their relationships develop, I especially loved the fact that this wasn't a fan and star story, but rather than a story about friends turned lovers, and I especially loved seeing both Pov's, because it made it even more wholesome. The time travel aspect of the story was a bit inconsistent, especially when it came to the rules of what our female lead could reveal to others in the past especially when the plot found it convenient, I was like, "WHERE DID THE TIME TRAVEL RULE GO?" The one thing I hated the most about the plot was the antagonist, if we can even call him that. It felt like he was a plot device, rather than a character, because we literally knew nothing about him except that he was a serial killer, we didn't even knew why he was obsessed with Im Sol and Sun Jae, so throughout my watch I looked as him as a plot device rather than a character. I also did enjoy the fact that the story jumped through different timelines, and time loops, it made things fresh, though towards the end, I felt like it was a bit overdone and got repetetive. There was also a love triangle, which thankfully wasn't the point at all, and had little significance. I also liked the fact that they made the ML engage with the time travel idea, I think they could've and should've done more with this, but I'm just glad they included this, because frankly, I wish more time travel dramas would. I also enjoyed the ending, I think it was a fitting one for the characters. I had a bit of a problem with the acting however, I found the female leads's acting especially cringe at times, and especially her brother and best friend, sometimes I hated when they were on screen. The one thing I loved the most about this drama was the OST, it was so freaking beautiful, and gave such a beautiful aesthetic to the scenes, and I found myself singing along sometimes, which was funny to see. Overall even though I enjoyed this drama, I really wouldn't say that it's the best one this year has to offer, but I still think you should watch it if you like the time travel concept (and don't mind the plot being messy sometimes), with a good romance.

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An awesome premise, with a heavily mediocre execution

I think this drama, is probably the definition of mid (not necessarily in a bad way) of kdramas. Let's start by saying that the premise was incredible, and I really loved the idea of the whole revenge of the fated lovers. One of the strongest aspect of this drama was definitely the past storyline, and I WISH that the drama dared to explore the past relationship in a much larger scale. I felt the modern storyline was too imbalanced when it came to quality. In the early stages of the drama, I found myself constantly waiting for the drama to show me more of the past storyline, than focus on the main one instead. I think mostly it was due to the combination of the lack of chemistry of the main leads, which is funny because I did not feel this way when I watched the past storyline, and the overall lack of meaningful interactions that they had. Now when it came to the acting, I felt like, the main leads were a bit lackluster, but most of the time it felt like because they were not comfortable with each other, however out of the two I do feel like Kim Young-dae was probably the weaker one. Whenever he was on screen, I felt like he was just not expressing any or the right emotions that were needed for the specific scenes. I have seen people share this opinion aswell, and I've also seen people defending it as "Do Ha was just that sort of a character, It's not the actors fault," but I strongly disagree, I wanted to see his burning rage that he has been keeping in for 1500 years, but I feel like we had none of that. I swear I'm not coming for the actor because I know that he can do better, because I loved him in the Forbidden Marriage, however even in this one, he was great at displaying raw emotions, so I give him credit for that. The female leads acting was pretty decent, nothing extraordinary, but I just liked it nonetheless. What I have a problem with is her character. I feel like the writers intended her to become a strong, independent character, but they just lost the plot halfway with that one aswell, and during the second half of the drama, whenever a conflict arrived, her actions always seemed out of character, just because of how she was portrayed at the early stages of the drama. Now when it came to the story, I think this one was the weakest element of the drama. I have noticed that there were even a few sort of plotholes in this one, like Do Ha using Han Jun Oh's memories to his advantage at the beginning, but during the middle, he kind of completely forgot about that, and that's why he was exposed to Han Jun Oh's brother, towards the end we kind of got a sloppy explanation, that Do Ha didn't want to look inside Han Jun Oh's memories, because it felt like he was disturbing his privacy, which was so out of character of him. Also the fact that Han Jun Oh's brother first thought that the spirit who possessed Han Jun Oh was Koo Tae Ju, but the events literally don't add up. I also didn't like how there was nothing systematic, about the spirits and their powers. Do Ha could flicker lights, and have a bit of superhuman strenghts, but that's it, while his father could do the same, AND corrupt people. I would've appreciated an explanation, or how or why the spirits were different. However despite this, I started to enjoy my time around the second half of the drama. The pace started to pick up, it felt like the actors were more comfortable with each other and not just for plot reasons, it felt like the characters started to go through developments, and I did quite enjoy it, I was also really curious about how the story was gonna fold out, even though, I knew that the ending was bittersweet, (and suprisingly I didn't really cry, but it was quite devastating), but I think that the ending was perfectly bittersweet for this one, I kind of secretly were hoping that Han Jun Oh and Kang Yeong Hwa would end up together, even though it wouldn't have made a lot of sense but oh well. Overall, despite a few problems with the writing, and a lot more with the story, I still did enjoy my time with the drama, and I don't regret watching it at all. At the end I felt like, if this drama recieved the Alchemy of Souls treatment, of having two parts (the first part being the past storyline extended, and the second would be the modern storyline) it would've been a lot more better, and meaningful. I still recommend this drama for people who find the premise interesting, and want to watch a melodramatic (but mediocre), drama, with a tragic storyline, If you like all of these, then despite the drama's faults, I don't think your time would be wasted.

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