blackstar_aria
313
The Queen of SOP is a Cinderella type story with a love pentagon holding everything together.
I really liked the strong lead female character, she stayed the same till the very end. The leading male characters were played really well and the characters evolved. Not only the leading men, but in this drama the characters were not your run-of-the-mill drama stereotypes. All of the characters were written well and there were no really evil antagonists that i despised. There were a whole lot of familiar faces from T and C dramas, giving a good dose of eye candy. (This was the first time i liked both of the leading men!)
The story itself is really so so , for them to have such great characters (and pretty good actors) there was a really typical story. There was a lot of "i loved you, now i love this person", and "I will fight for my love at all costs!" *slightly throws up in mouth* Good thing there werent too many sappy parts or i would not have been able to finish! There wasnt a lot of original ideas, it was as if they pulled out the Tdrama playbook and pulled ideas :( Towards the end there was a bit of a boredom, but they wrapped it up and finished it off.
Otherwise the scenery was great, the leading female had great hair but bad clothes, the attempts at english are awful (they could have gotten Ethan to help!), they end with a few loose ends (its bearable) and they set up the episodes so you will watch them back to back.
I will admit this is one of the best Tdramas I have seen to date. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a feel good drama with a strong female lead. A word of warning though, you will want to know just what do they do at the end of 1 episode and end up watching another 3 episodes.
p.s. I HATED the theme song. OMG! Ugggh
Was this review helpful to you?
This is what I like to call a romantic tragedy because throughout the whole drama your heart literally bleeds for the characters. You want them to be together, you want them to have a happy ending but you do not know this will end. I believe that speaks volumes to the actors performances. First, Park Shi Hoo, who is hot, but wayyyy hotter when he goes to the dark side than when he is all smiles. (fangirl faint) He was incredible against Moon Chae Won who could easily have replaced and been better than anything that Koo Hye Soon is in. Two were believable lovers and just by their gazes you could tell what was up. In a side note I almost always hate Hong Soo Hyun because she’s always playing a evil chick, but that ferocity was good here.
Character wise the characters were pretty stagnant, and I loved it. I absolutely hate it when the female lead is strong and speaks her mind in the beginning but in the end wimps out, but that doesn’t happen here and I loved it all the more.
I could go on forever but, the drama is lengthy but not boring- I must confess to a little fast forwarding through the fights. A great historical drama that will not leave you wishing it was a modern day one. This drama really makes you question if love could ever really be like what you just saw on your computer screen.
Was this review helpful to you?
Bad stuff first- the drama really sports every drama cliche you know and have seen. from memory loss to illegitimate children, this drama annoyingly touches every one of them. The music/soundtrack is God-awful, i cringed each time that boy band started singing. Although the premise is cool, its also really annoying how no one and i mean NO ONE ever looked where they were going, i know the director was trying to create "just missed" moments but they "just" got me agitated. Who really pulls up a car and never sees who is on the curb?? A lot of the other things i hated in the drama were really my pet peeves like: the wardrobe was just ignorant, and a lot of the characters just wore the same clothes with different jackets, and only some of the characters were properly fitted. I know the drama aired in 2005, so i didnt expect much on technology but they could have at least shaped a few eyebrows and whitened a few teeth.
Even though i found all this annoying, the drama is addictive and funny. Even though i knew there would be a great ending the characters and their foolishness made me want to stay for the ride. I watched the turn of events with a few surprises, melodramatics, and horrid fake fight scenes to see the end. To its credit there was no super evil mother or a really bad antagonist that upset me to not watch making it really easy to breeze through episode after episode. The first 2 episodes has a really slow start but it got a lot better. Yes it was a good watch, not great but still worthwhile.
Was this review helpful to you?
The good: The storyline is very good and if the execution was a bit better it would have been awesome. The basics- a 400 yr old vampire is looking to undo the vampire curse and ends up getting help from a pretty and young artifact restorer. There are no evil mothers, not a whole lot of typical clichés, and some funny parts. The romance is legit and the chemistry is off the charts (the leads were actually former lovers). The ending is a good, sweet ending that ties up all the ends.
The Bad: The worst non-evil clueless family ever they are incredibly annoying and are super over protective. I don’t know if its just me, but all of the women in this lakorn were super whiny, omg it was so annoying! While I love a strong female lead character, this one was unable to admit her mistakes, pretended to be strong, got into trouble and needed saving, and talked way too much.
Typically I have second lead syndrome, but all of the other men were depicted with some major personality defect that you could only root for the main male lead. Part of the fun is being torn between two hot guy characters for the female lead- but our only choices were a perfect rich guy with a dark secret or a nosy, overbearing, childhood friend who is fixated on one girl. Of course there was very little character development, and it was only for the two lead characters.
All in all: I am a sucker for hot guys, romance and vampires- but I won’t come near this one again. There were too many flash backs, way too much time given to long contemplative glances, and the most I have yelled at my computer in a long time. By the end I loved the end characters, loved the story, hated all supporting characters, and hated the theme music. I wish someone had told me how annoying the people were before I dove in.
p.s. I have never seen such shoddy police work in my life- literally the police made unsupported guesses all 11 eps!!
Was this review helpful to you?
I really liked the 1st season, so to me this is an epic case of the 2nd season not being as good. To me the story didn't really focus. the 1st season focused on Maeda and the story was built upon her, but for the second season seemed to focus on some weird story between Nezumi, Center and Shibuya.
I really enjoyed the hardcore yankee attitude in the 1st season. I also really like the inter school competition. This season all the characters were played to seem weak, in fighting and in acting. I did like that they brought back the original Rappapa gang, but they had Minami (yuko's character) appear way too many times. They also seemed to have wayyyyy to much girl love like "are they about to kiss?!" ran through my head a few times.
I didn't like the excessive violence in this season, I know Yankees are beating people to a pulp but they aren't killing anyone. However on a conflicting note, the gang fights are better in this season. The ending made no sense at all, I understand what the writers were trying to do with it, but the "from bad to good" concept only really works when there is some major event that evokes change. For some of the characters there was no catalyst. In short: Don't waste your time unless you are a fan of AKB48 and all of their many incarnations.
Was this review helpful to you?
I gave this a 7; and that is a reach- it is closer to a 6.7 and I will explain. The good points are seeing a grown up Kame-kun and watching his acting improve, seeing some shots from Germany, remembering why I don’t teach (those kids were bad!), and I really liked the music.
The negative qualities are a God-awful story line, Kame-kun’s bad German, Kyoko Fukada’s acting.
I appreciated this drama once I got to the end and found that the writers ended up telling a grow-up fairy tale about love. Of course none of the actions in this drama are even plausible for normal people, but that is why we love fairy tales because things magically occur.
As for the pink elephant in this review: the “sex “ scenes make no logical sense to the plot and to be honest they weren’t hot, loving or even comical. The sex scenes seem to be there for controversy… and to show that Kame-kun has lost weight but still has a fat face.
I recommend this drama for anyone who loves a good dose unrealistic fantasy in their dramas, who is a sucker for an against all odds love story and who has appreciation for the art of dance. (Kame-kun’s stunt double was putting in some work because everyone knows Kame is not the best dancer. And his dance scenes had plenty of face only and back shots lol.)
I believe that had the characters had a better story line, more episodes to develop the story and really bring out the issues of ageism and sexuality it would have been much better. A bad story line paired with a weak premise is something that apparently even Kame-kun cant sell.
Was this review helpful to you?
I felt like I had seen this movie many times before, I watched and fast forwarded through most of it because I was bored. I feel like the fun part is watching 2 characters have a reason to fall in love and get to know each other, but when one character is clearly in love less than 30 minutes in why am I watching it? Aside from that the story was not convincing, I was constantly wondering what purpose the added characters served, and attempted to figure out how the manwha they were creating was interesting.
On a more positive note, there was some chemistry there on screen but I thought the leads had more of a brother/sister vibe. The brother is hot, so watch for him, and the ending was funny and pretty sweet. Someone rated this a 10 so I watched it, now I want my hour back.
This is almost the exact same as the American movie Alex and Emma but with some cartoon porn. (when it says adult it means adult) Try that movie instead it was way better.
Was this review helpful to you?
What I did like was Kame! Although is acting was pretty bad throughout, you cant get tired of seeing that guy shirtless with low rise pants (fan girl faint). That’s what kept me watching every episode! Maybe Kame was overthinking his character but I thought he did an awful job and felt like I was watching Kame pretending to be melancholy. Luckily enough the other cast members helped out a lot; Anne was perfect and that adorable little boy Suzuki was a total scene stealer even with his lisp. The more I watched the less I wanted to see Kame act and the more I wanted to see him shirtless.
The effects are so power rangers 1994. I mean seriously?! The cast as monsters looked liked greased up versions of those old power ranger villains. It seriously annoyed me that they always magically had the same clothes perfectly in one piece after ripping them up, and the body make up did nothing to make them look like monsters who needed to hide in the daytime. As the series progressed I thought the make up jobs started to look better, but the uber fake jumping and flying didn’t add to the dramas charm either.
Speaking of charm, I had a really tough job making myself watch this series. I had to force it down like nasty cough syrup because I like finishing things. To this point I realized that the drama is throwing too many concepts out to the watcher, causing me to become tired of watching. The drama is obviously a little sci-fi, mystery, crime solving, and human drama all in one. The drama doesn’t make you want to care about the main characters at all, it makes you want to care about the supporting characters who had no development in the series. It was so dry with little comedic breaks, no romance, and very little happiness. I don’t think Kame laughed the entire series. Not to mention the cop who seemed more like a clown.
At any rate I liked the story, I just felt the execution was bad. If you are a fan girl of Kame’s or Kat-Tun you will want to watch, he looks good in gray hair (although the jacket and the scarf have got to go). The drama triggered my upchuck reflex too many times with bad eerie music and melodramatics. I do not suggest this drama to anyone but fan girls, because it is honestly scary. (meaning bad).
Was this review helpful to you?
This is one of those dramas where the main character almost always has a smile and he's got a little bite to back up his bark. Kohei (main character) was written well with complex feelings, loyalty and intelligence, very different to what hosts are usually portrayed to be. I really liked the fact that Kohei had certain standards working in the world of hosts clubs and those standards helped him survive.
I felt the story was realistic in giving an answer to "what happens to good hosts when they get old?".
Although the story is based in and around host clubs/ life this is not a romance and its not funny either. Gira Gira is a life drama attempting to shove "you dont have to sell your integrity" on its watcher with every episode. I didnt mind the message as much as i hated(i know i contradicting myself) the seemingly forced waxy smile kuronosuke always had on his face, he must have kept botox flowing. The men were much worse than the women, the men were: catty, jealous,traitors, cowardly and overly sensitive throughout the drama.
yes there is some stero typical behavior, some really bad things happen to our main character, and yes he dishes out ridiculously miraculous advice. However, even with that waxy face Kohei is endearing, sincere, persistent and you fall in love with him. I liked Gira Gira; there is a feel good ending, it stays entertaining and suspenseful, and it helps there are one or two hot guys around. give it a chance by getting to episode 2.
Was this review helpful to you?
I watched super rookie for Eric (why else) and honestly even when the plot bored me, when there were too many long pauses accompanied by the ost music, I still fangirled over Eric’s face and beautiful body. Even though the majority of my time was spent fangirl squealing there were other good parts too. Episode 1-9 there is a good amount of fanservice of eric and oh ji ho (another lovely specimen) for us ladies. The story line is an original one that hasn’t been overused, you know Kang Ho’s secret could get out at anytime so the story increased the feeling of constant suspense. Funny supporting characters were well developed as Kang Ho’s friends and truly brought out the funny moments (to be honest, the brother is a show stealer). I loved that Kang Ho was the peoples man, and like naruto (I am watching that right now too) most people who met him, loved him and found they were fast friends.
What I didn’t like was the antagonist roles. There were so many antagonists it was really hard to keep rooting for the main character. The Lee Bong Sam character constantly completed actions that seemed to conflict with his character, I think the writers were trying to show his development but the actor didn’t bring that out very well. The executives who hated Kang Ho were just plain annoying especially with their fake laugh, but you do not know who is the most evil until the very end.
I love Han Ga In, but I didn’t love her role. In super Rookie she pulled an ugly duckling to swan move, which I found unrealistic mainly because of the seemingly 200% expansion of her wardrobe. Speaking of wardrobe I HATED that Kang Ho through the whole drama wore the same suits, oh that ground my gears so bad!! Poor Eric had the absolutely worst wardrobe I have ever seen for a lead male character in any kdrama and it really made me long for the days of Spy Mung Wol. Eric wasn’t the only culprit, most of the “corporate” suiting looked like poorly fitted 30’s gangster suits with none of the swag. Idk why but aside from the clothes everyones hair styling (except Han Ga In) was really bad too.
This is a good watch if you are just finishing a really serious drama or a super funny drama. Although his acting talent was still budding; Eric will keep you engaged as Kang Ho who is naive, yet street smart, good at everything except staying awake on the job, and you really do begin to hope he succeeds. This has got family drama elements, preached against all odds you too can succeed, and has light enough romance that tweens could watch no problem. Yes I got bored in the middle but that’s what fast forward is for, plus the pay off at the end was good.
Was this review helpful to you?
I really liked that Erika is practically a chameleon in every situation, shes smart, strong, but still longs for a simple life. She is easily likable because of her backstory , which they seemed to place perfectly in the drama. I like how she seems somewhat awkward as a housewife because it makes the character a little more believable.
I didn’t like how all the criminals seemed to give up the info so easily, it was quite funny though. The family part of the story was gray to me. I felt that the kid was just unlikeable and not cute, and that the husband was weak (although they may have meant for it to be that way). The way the husband never asked questions annoyed me a bit, but towards the end you understand a bit more.
There was some bad acting, and of course you could see the end of each episode coming at the opening scene, but it was still fun to watch it play out. I didn’t think I would like this because it sounded cliché and I saw the female lead in something else where the acting was poor- but I really enjoyed this drama. I thought I was going to do a lot of fast forwarding but I didn’t at all. Because each episode is less than 45 min its quick and easy to watch. There is an awesome twist at the end so if you are looking to get away from the emotional pull of all the romcoms watch secret spy Erika and put your brain on low.
- it didnt get a 10 because I couldnt connect to it, but thats also why i liked it (i know its a contradiction)
Was this review helpful to you?
The whole story centers around Hana Adachi and how she is trying her hardest to become a part of her class, and no longer be a outcast like she was when she was a yankee. Because hana has a big heart whenever she sees someone who is a loner or an outcast she invites them to join her group which is the student council. Its fun to see Hana being so naieve and sweet and pulling the kindness out of everyone around her especially shinagawa. oh and the girl can fight!
Was this review helpful to you?
Enough with Matsujun- the rest of the cast was brilliant including the kid (who occasionally stole the scene). The actress who played Shiori constantly revived the drama- and brought depth to her character, just like taiga's mother.
If you watching it now it gets better after about episode 5 or 6. Initially the snail pace developments seem excruciating, but it starts to pick up and seems to come to a point. I cant say I recommend this, if you love matsujun watch him in kimi wa petto, saigo no yaksoku, or any of his other dramas. If you have time like lots of it, watch this drama .This drama has really pretty scenery but is really hard to relate to.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
Pros: there are a host of characters with unique personalities and methods. The acting is superb and totally believable. You completely believe these characters are who they are. This drama allows a cool inside look into crime, loan sharking, corrupted officials and the underworld.
Cons: The lead female is clueless and is constantly tricked. Each episode is the same, a problem is presented the lead tries to solve it, she requires someone’s help to resolve the problem, they solve it together, and she is tricked again. Although the lead character attempts to be a robin hood; it seems like she is constantly thwarted and is unable to accomplish any real goals. What annoyed me the most is there are no characters who have positive relationships and everyone seems to be very selfish.
The verdict: This drama was bleh. I fast forwarded my way through it unable to take how bored I was with watching the same person being tricked over and over again. Additionally I have begun to appreciate the side stories that other dramas usually develop. I think this drama is best for people who like problem solving and trickery; as for someone like me who likes dark comedies or rom-coms this wasn’t a good fit.
Was this review helpful to you?
