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burhaa aadmi
Hic Sunt Dracones
A better quality daily
I have to start this review with a confession: As with every daily I've ever watched, I doownloaded it and watched with MASSIVE amounts of FF. It's the only way I can get through 120 30 -minute episodes without wanting to make my quietus.That said, as dailies go, this was a good one. I ended up giving it 7/10 because I decided to judge it on its merits AS A DAILY, not scoring it down for the glacial pace and excess filler of the first 50-60 episodes.
The core storyline was predictable, but one of the reasons I scored it as high as 7 was for the several occasions when the Drama surprised me not going where I expected. It dodged some of the tropes and clichés I was expecting, and did so right to the end, when the arc of the second couple did not end as I thought it would.
The acting was better than expected too. I'd not seen either of the female leads before and both did well. I was particularly impressed by Cha Min Ji, who did very well with a character that very typically 1-dimensional for the first 100 or so episodes. I'll be looking out for her work in future. And as the brony that I am, I'm mildly pleased that both female leads still follow each other on Instagram at the time of writing, 10 months after the Drama ended. Another happy ending to wahat was really not a bad daily at all.
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Clichés done right
The Title of this Drama gives the final scene away, but then anyone who starts watching this would be expecting exactly that. The thing that marks this a really enjoyable watch is the skill of the execution. It's how they get to that ending that makes for an entertaining journey. The Drama really doesn't put a foot wrong in any major way. In my personal database I scored this as 8.25/10 so here at MDL I gave it 8 rather 8.5 because the "evil ex" was a leeetle bit overdone, but only a tiny bit, and not for long. A very sweet and satisfying romance Drama that illustrates how it IS possible to stick to a very well-used formula and produce a real treat if the writing and acting come together just right. Overall, this one was "nothing but net"Was this review helpful to you?
Sometimes, 10 is too much
One of the things I love about Japanese doramas compared to K dramas is that they are short. Generally speaking 10 episodes of 50 minutes to an hour is exactly right. Every now and again though, there is a rare J dorama which is too long even at just ten 50 minute episodes. This drama was one of those.I gave it 6.5/10 because of the strength of the way the relationship between the two leads developed, and a lot of the very thoughtful and insightful commentary on relationships. But it was stupidly overlong. Nine episodes would have been better, eight would have been ideal. This drama had two incredibly aggravating factors that served primarily to drag it out to the required 10 episodes. The first was the female lead's work colleague, the male nurse who kept talking to the camera. His contribution was as funny and appealing as stepping on a dog turd, and much less useful to the story. The meddling of he and his girlfriend was one of the factors used to drag out and complicate the relationship of the OTP.
The other major aggravation was the 2ML. His nasty sly passive-aggressive method of not taking no for an answer was again simply a device to stretch out the drama. In the end it was an effort to finish this drama because they kept dragging it out so much.
The above is even more disappointing because the core of the drama was strong. Had they cut a lot of that unnecessary baggage, it would have been a really top-notch contemporary romcom. As it was, the good outweighed the bad by just enough.
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Nailed the landing
I have tried MANY school C-Dramas, too many, tbh. I started this one wondering if it was time to admit that the genre and I just don't fit well together. That might indeed be true of the genre as a whole, but THIS school Drama blew me away!The story was intelligent, and the characters given real depth. The OTP were genuinely funny together, never cloying in what I think of as "aegyo", and the journey each character took was well-plotted and credible.
As VERY satisfying as the OTP arc was, and the two leads did a wonderful job with their well-written characters, my favourite role and performance was by Li Ying Ying as Zhu Jn Xiao. High IQ and low EQ, but portrayed with wit and wonderfully restrained expressive facial gestures. I hope to see more of this fine actor in future, and espcially hope she gets roles as good as this one, albeit with a character arc that runs more to what I wish for her :)
I headed my review "Nailed the Landing" because way, way too often East Asian Dramas just don't. But this one really did. By the time Ep 16 started I had scored it 9/10 on my personal Dramalist, but by the time it ended, I had changed that to 9.5. Dramas this good are rare - of the 280 East Asian Dramas I've finished, this only the 24th to score at least 9.5, and only the 2nd C Drama out of 31 finished. It's probably completely ruined me for any further C school dramas, but that's OK, because it was a stunner.
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Several reviewers have complained that it was too short, I could not disagree more strongly. Far too many K Dramas are far too long, even at 16 episodes, this one was a great example that "less is more" I really wish more K Dramas would be made in shorter formats. Eight episodes means no pointless filler, no draggy go-nowhere side stories. AND, being short makes it very rewatchable.
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The core storyline had potential but the execution was a muddled mess. Nothing of real import to the core plot happened until partway through episode 7 of 9, by which point resistance WAS futile :)
I stayed for some ofg the characters, especially Akitsu and his wife and daughter. His compliance office colleague seemed implausibly naive and fragile for such a role. Which was a major disappointment, as Hirose Alice was the reason I started the Drama. Overall, an unsatisfying experience, except for the delightful Akitsu family
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Aka no Shou - Keishicho Shomugakari Hitomi no Jikenbo
1 people found this review helpful
The female lead is an interesting character, bright and motivated, and also discreetly conflicted. By that I mean her inner angst remains largely inner. That inner conflict was brought into VERY sharp relief at the very end of the final episode and was responsible for me upgrading my score from 6.5 to 7.
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Meh-diocre and predictable
I started this for only one reason, Wang Ji Won, and I finished it for her. Sadly, her role was utterly pointless - made to be kinda sorta a villain but in reality an irrelevance. Her role was so small it could have been excised, especially as it went nowhere. Which is a nice summary of the show as a whole Han Go Eun has been a favourite since Capital Scandal, but even she was stuck with a clichéd character here.The only good thing about watching this right through is that I can once again say that I have seen literally everything Wang Ji Won has done, and that her acting fee for this show would have helped finance her real passion, the ballet academy she owns and runs
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This review may contain spoilers
What a tragedy that the 50th J dorama I completed was one of the worst of the 300+ Asian Dramas I've finished. I gave this Drama 2 stars for the only two likeable characters, the two leads. Their growth was the reason I got though it, with MASSIVE amounts of fast-forwarding. That and Takahata Mitsuki's very convincing portrayal of an unusual character were there only reasons I stuck it out to the end, rushing through to check out the SP. This Drama also distinguished itself by having one of the most loathsome, vile, criminally insane characters I've ever had ot choke back a vomit reflex watching - Kahoko's indescribably appalling MOTHER. The woman was utterly and irredeemably horrid, and stark raving mad. All I can do is hope that the trauma of watching this ghastly trash will fade soon, while I look for more of the indubitably talented Ms Takahat's work.
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The storyline has zero originality, the male lead's "stern, gruff" act makes wooden acting seem like an insult to trees, and the morality tale lessons are preached with all the subtlety of a megaphone.
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This review may contain spoilers
Sometimes, Bad is Bad
I tried this Drama once, made it to 10 before rage-quitting at how unspeakably AWFUL, really VILE the ML was. After a few months, I tried it again because so many Wu Qian fans said it was a great role for her and that she shone. After reaching 30/44 with ZERO improvement in the utter dchebag ML, I gave up for the second and final time. I kept hoping for improvement, but there was NONE. And I do mean NONE, ZERO, NADA, ZILCH.The final straw for me came in episode 26/44. That's SIXTY PERCENT done, by which point most tsundere MLs are starting to show signs of being vaguely human, giving SOME reason to accept that the FL might fall for them. NOT THIS ONE. In episode 26, after she was doing her job as his agent by giving him sensible advice related to his career, he stopped the car in the middle of nowhere and ordered her out, leaving her to find her own way back to the city. When she was picked up by a creep who tried to rape her, the ML blamed HER, and refused to accept that it was all his fault.
As awful as that was, it's actually fairly standard tsundere behaviour, but what made it even worse, besides being so late in the Drama, was her reaction. After having been almost raped because of his childish petty rage and utter selfishness, she "fell in love" with him because she discovered that he's bought a stupidly expensive t-shirt for her. ACTUAL HEADDESK MOMENT!
After 26 episodes of being her own woman and putting up with all his ENDLESS cr*p, verbal and physical abuse, being treated like a slave, and his infantile possessiveness, she falls for him because he bought an expensive shirt? Sigh! Also, GOODBYE.
The moral of this story? When you drop, trust your gut and LEAVE IT DROPPED.
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RUN AWAY, SAVE YOURSELF
This show is REALLY old in its whole ethos - glorifying suffering and misery as a sign of inner purity and espousing the virtues of unquestioning filial devotion (to one's actual biological parents).At one point, I was thinking about how Confucian the show's message seemed as the FL's awful mother continued to suck her dry and she continued to bear it heorically (with PLENTY of tears, ofc) when the mother ACTUALLY SAID "Like Confucius and Mencius said, support your parents"
The focus on enduring extreme, endless misery being proof of a person's good character was also very wearing. The non-stop shouting in the first 20-25 episodes was also incredibly hard to take, and another sign of the old school feel of the Drama. That kind of high decibel screaming and shouting was clearly intended at times to be comical, as it was/is in daily dramas.
It's worth stressing that this show was not very makjang in its story elements. Only light touches of makjang, but a whole lot of misery for our super-suffering FL. There have been wekenders in the past few years that shun this archaic formula, but this one embraced it enthusiasticall. The final irony is that in a Drama called "Live Your Own Life", everyone EXCEPT the FL got to do that for most of the show, while she finally did so only in the last 20-30 minutes of the final episode.
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Kaettekitazoyo! Kotaro wa Hitori Gurashi
1 people found this review helpful
Wobbly start, stunning finish
After watching Season One yesterday, we watched Season 2 today. The first couple of episodes were a bit meandering, lacking the tightness of Season 1. The final two episodes were very powerful, and for most of the final episode I was fighting back tears. Kawahara Eito delivered stunning lead performances across both series, but the final episode took his character to new emotional depths and he rose to the challenge magnificently. The first season had the edge in cohesion, and was much lighter viewing overall, but the emotional punch of the final 2 episodes of this series redeemed its wobbly start.Was this review helpful to you?
Less really is more
"Kotaro Lives Alone is an excellent example of all the reasons why #JDramas long ago became my favourites. Emotionally moving without sentimentality, addressing a difficult subject with unflinching directness and sensitivity, a lot of laughs and doing so in ten 23-minute episodes. Imagining a KDrama version is a frightening thought. The episodes, despite being short NEVER felt rushed, just complete and dvoid of bloat. The emotioal impact was real, but unlike so many K Dramas, it was delivered with subtlety and understatement - often greatly increasing it's impact. All the actors delivered, but Kawahara Eito was AMAZING.Was this review helpful to you?
