Dropped before I even finished it

Acting/Cast
So yeah the only main reason why I watched this is, because of Hinako Sakurai. I loved the role she played in Marmalade Boy Live Action and coinsidentally, the male lead of that movie is called Yuu. But back to this movie...
I've seen Sho Hirano in Honey live action.

Story/Overall
So since I've only watched about 50min. of this movie, I don't know how it ends. But I'm guessing it will have a happy ending, since it's based on a shoujo manga.
Yuu (Hinako Sakurai) I find so annoiying and clueless. She lets Rin (Sho Hirano) tell her that she's trash and let him bully her cause she thinks he's helping her or something. Also she does like him and he likes her, but let me tell you...There's a HUGE difference between "teasing" & "bullying". And he is definitely bullying her.
Overall the first 50min. That I have watched were definitely very cringey. And if "cringey" were a movie genre, I would put it under that category instead of comedy.
It was really cringey when it showed memories of them as children and they just took the older actor and actress and made there heads big.
His fantasies are kinda entertaining though.

I would not recommend this movie unless you have NOTHING else to do.

Read More

It has more story than the anime

Cast/Acting:
I think they picked the right cast. Honda tsubasa really fits the role of Futaba in my opinion.
In the manga Kou was fighting for Futabas love more than they did in the live action, but I think the actor did still play a good role.


Story:
I have collected and read all thr manga and I think the live action does follow it most of the time, but some scenes they took from the manga and changed a bit, so that it would all make sense.
Considering they (only) had about 2hrs of screentime I think the story prgressed well...


Music:
For me the Anime/Movie OST is one of the most important things about a movie and I think the ost was pretty good


Overall:
I think the live action is good, cause it has more of the manga in it. The anime sadly only consists of the 1st 3 volumes of the manga. I collected all the volumes and know that the whole plot comes in kinda later on. I think it's a great story, but the anime itself is dry. I really like the live action though.

Read More

cute main couple and good visuals

I'll keep this brief.

Overall at first glance this feels like a typical highschool-college young love drama which I kept comparing to our secret or a love so beautiful at first, but I think the visuals for the main couple are great.

The premise is slightly different than they usually are in these dramas and it was pretty refreshing.. for the MOST part..

of course even this drama can't escape some of the usual side plots and side characters. the second couple were okay to watch but still complicated..

this is mostly a friendship drama till about ep 18 or 19 I think when they get into college and I gotta admit that I was getting a little tired of waiting for them to get together around ep 15,so the pacing felt a bit slow at times, but overall I think the pacing was good.

there's some conflicts between our main couple, but at least they don't last long.

I felt kinda bad the sml even though I didn't ship him with lin xi..

acting wise I think the acting was good enough and I did feel the actors had chemistry together. I look forward to seeing the ML actor again.

the music was okay. but nothing I'd listen to on repeat so just average for this drama, but it fits.

the best part of this drama is a HAPPY ENDING!!

apart from some scenes I didn't care too much about i really like this couple!! they're so cute together!!

*the parents in this drama are so nice (compared to zhu yuns mom in lighter and princess sheesh)

(also i some how managed to cry during this drama)

Read More

TAKE MY ADVICE: check out some form of the original story before you watch this!!!

In this review I'll be talking about my most anticipated movie this year. Like, I've been waiting for this thing for more than a year. Was it worth the wait? Did I expect too much? Was it adapted well?

I'll be answering all these questions in this review of My Happy Marriage 2023

(if you want to watch it, it's available on myasiantv)


So first I want to start off by saying:

READ THE LIGHT NOVEL/MANGA or WATCH THE ANIME

before you watch this movie, otherwise you'll be quite confused.


So, I get it. They had to squeeze A LOT into a 2h long movie. BUT STILL. So many things weren't explained! To the point where my knowledge of the original story came in handy more than a few times. They left out some important plot points and I think some were a bit rushed.


Spoilers Ahead:

FIRST IMPRESSION:

So I heard about this story through the manga first. Then I found out they would be making a live action and anime and seeing how I enjoyed the first 3 volumes of the manga, I was really looking forward to it. Another reason being, I love period romance movies! And was really looking forward to a Japanese one, since there aren't that many (that interest me). I'm not such a fan of (dark) fantasy, but it's okay in moderation.

Come 17th of March. The day this movie releases in Japan, I was really excited. Until I learned that I would have to wait a few more months for the international release!

This summer the anime aired, so I started watching it.

After finishing the anime, I admit I was a bit disappointed with where the story went. I am looking forward to the second season! I hope there will be more romantic scenes. I think the anime delivered some nice scenes with the couple, but not enough. I was disappointed there wasn't even one kiss scene! Even though I don't think their relationship got that far in the 1st Season.

I do like the cinderella aspect of this story.


LIVE ACTION STORY:
The beginning of the movie doesn't show a lot of Miyo's life at her family's Estate. In fact they rush over it a bit and very soon she's already sent to the Kudo household. But they don't really explain much! If I hadn't known the story beforehand, I would be quite confused. Oh well, then we have the official meeting scene for our couple! I liked this scene.

I feel like a lot of screen time goes to the fantasy aspect. I liked the scenes between Kiyoka and Miyo though, but I wish there were more. They did skip some of my favourite scenes from the manga!

The story feels a bit rushed at times and like I said before, doesn't make sense without knowing the story.

They left out the Kiyoka-Sister Arc! I wish they would have kept it. And because they left it out, the Usuba Arc also seems rushed. They didn't explain the mother's backstory either.

another thing: When Miyo meets her sister in town and doesn't dare to stand up to her, she gets very depressed and stays in her room alone for a few days in the manga/anime, but in this movie it doesn't really show much of that. Then she meets hana again and again the scene in the manga made the most sense! They rushed this in the live action.

I know that screenplay works differently, but I wish they would've adapted it better.

The ending of the movie with the demonic possession outbreak and all was a bit cringey, also that wasn't explained so well.

ACTING/CAST:
Meguro Ren does look good in kimono and with white hair :) He's also nice and tall (comapred to the other actors hehe)
And I think the actress portrayed Miyo very well. I've only seen Watanabe Keisuke in a few good roles, otherwise he usually acts as bad guys lol, but I think he suits the role and there were a few moments my heart skipped a beat cause of him (though I hate to admit lol)
I always picture Yurie as a nice OLD woman, that's how she's portrayed in the manga/anime. I would've preferred another actress.


MUSIC:
some of the music felt a bit overdramatic at times, but I think it was fine. There weren't very many great OSTs, but it's still fits for the most part. I did like the violin OST.


OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Was it worth the wait? Did I expect too much? Was it adapted well?

Even though it wasn't what I initially expected it to be, I did enjoy it for what it was. Despite some bad points I mentioned, it does have it's good ones. Cinematography for instance was good and the colouring is nice as well. Like mentioned before, I like the setting.

Not only with the live action, but the anime and story as a whole, wasn't how I expected it. Like I said I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in Season 2 of the anime. Based in the end credits scene of this movie, I'm guessing there will be a sequel?? I hope so.

Some scenes where done well. The CGI was relatively good. Although the story wasn't as clear as the original work, I think some scenes were good.

overall I'll give this movie an 8/10 (which is good, but not amazing)

8/10 is quite high for me.

Read More

So I figured I should write a review for this, since no one else has. This is the first Japanese movie from the 1900's that I've seen.
First of all this movie is based on the novel by Natsume Soseki. I have read the novel and some things have changed, but they surprisingly adapted it in to a live action film quite well. In the Book basically all the characters are nameless, but they added names for the movie. The book has 3 "sections": Sensei and I, My Parents and I and Sensei's testament. The movie adapted this quite well, but in the movie it showed Sensei's past through out the movie. I remember that in the book, the main guy referred to as "I" in the novel recieves Sensei's letter saying that when he recieves the letter Sensei will already be dead. "I" reads the letter and that's what "sensei's testament" is about. "I" reading the letter and then it goes back in time to when sensei was in college and how he met his wife. Also his friend "k". Sensei feels responsible for "K" comitting suicide. And he carries that guilt all the way till he dies.

It's an interesting take on human psychology I think.

Read More

Short and sweet!

*Story*
The Story was sweet and cute. If you like really fluffy Romance Drama with no Conflict or anything. Than Shanai Marriage Honey is a perfect drama. There are only 7 episodes (25min.) So I would say it's worth it to check it out.
I liked the living together story and also that they got married, while not even knowing eachother was quite interesting.
But I would've enjoyed it more if it had more conflict. There is a second male lead, but he never really does anything. And the way that The Main male lead just suddenly revealed his reasons for getting married so soon was kinda rushed and I thought there were deeper reasons behind it. Also I thought there were more things going on with his mom.
Since it's a short drama. There romantic Relationship already began on the 2 episode.

I think if it had more conflict it would definitely be more interesting. But it was sweet and fluffy.

*Acting*
The Main Male lead had nice eyes (^w^) and overall the acting was quite good. The Main Female lead also fit the role great and overall I enjoyed it.

*Music*
I liked the theme song and the music fit the theme very well.

*Rewatch Value*
I think watching it once was enough.


*edit*
Now that I rethink about this drama I'll give it a 6/10. It just didn't have much of a plot. Most marriage dramas at least have a love triangle or something, but this didn't have much. But then again if you like a lot of fast paced romance than it's perfect for you.

Read More

Am I the only one who hates the SML? // you need patience for this drama!!

First Impression: I came across this drama on mydramalist, while searching up princess or something related into the search bar seeing what I would find. I came across this drama and started a few weeks later when I was on holidays in France, because I had internet all night. I binged watched the first 10 or so episodes very fast. It was when I came into the second part of the drama, that things got so slow! I had to make myself finish this, but dropped it in the end. I have had mixed feelings the whole time I was watching this drama. I can't tell if I like the main couple or hate it, or like the male lead or not. I liked the interactions between the queen and queen dowager the most. (probably because I prefer historical/saeguk kdramas over modern ones).
This drama is based off of a manhwa which I was going to get, but seeing that is has more of an open ending, I didn't really want to waste my time with a bunch of drama. NOW BACK TO THIS STORY.

Story (till ep 18) :
Set in an alternative universe, where south korea is a monarchy.
The Grandfather (the king at that time) of the Crown prince (ML) and the grandfather of an ordinary girl (FL) were friends and for her grandfather helping his, He says that his granddaughter will marry the crown prince.
The FL's family has problems with debts and loan sharks , So she agrees to marry the crown prince to help her family. They get married, but the ML is in love with another girl. They don't get along at first. I'd say their relationship is on and off. When you think they finally get together, something interferes. Also the sml shows up too much. The FL starts to fall in love with the ML first and eventually by the last episodes, the ML finally starts accepting his feelings for her.

So I did watch the last scene in ep 24 when they get married for real. and i've seen other scenes on youtube, but I don't really have the patience to finish this drama. But I might eventually try and finish it.

Cast/Performance/Characters:
- I HATE the yool guy. I feel like the whole drama wants me to feel sorry for him, but he's just a whiny little btch. He's like that Jacob or Keita (from Itakiss) character in so many of these arranged marriage dramas. Why do smls always go after the married ones! (not always lol). Anyways I've seen many people feel sorry for him, but I don't get it.
- Now the Main Male Lead. So to be fair I feel like both the male leads in this drama are crappy, but atleast this guy has his looks going for him. Throughout most of this drama I've been waiting for him to finally make up his mind between Hyo-rin and Chae Kyung, cause it gets so frustrating when you think he's giving up on hyo rin and likes the FL but then some more problems between them happen. I mainly just don't like his attitude. Like nothing he did was wrong.
- Now the Second Female Lead: Hyo-rin. So in episode 1 the ML who has a crush on her, proposes to her so that he doesn't have to marry some stranger. But she REJECTS him (remember this part). Afterwards when he's married she acts like he's the one who rejected her. I don't really like her, but she's not the worst character.
- Now on to Chae Kyung (FL) I liked her. I don't know how she put up with the ML for so long, before he finally started caring.

I think their acting was good enough.

Music: was decent, but nothing all that memorable except for maybe one song.

So do you think I'm looking to much into this drama and should just watch it for what it is?
hmm maybe..but idt so..

edit: this didn't have to be 24 eps long.

Read More

I really recommend this drama to anyone who loves sageuk dramas!
there's action, revenge, romance, hidden identity and overall a great plot that doesn't drag at all.
this has become one of my all time favourites.

It's long, however the 108 episodes are only 30 minutes long, so there are 54 normal 1h long episodes. it's still long but significantly shorter than 108 episodes. (Apparently this was actually scheduled to have 120 episodes, but was shortened. Considering how much I love this drama I probably would've liked to see what they would've put into those other episodes.)
I binged the whole thing in 11 days.

Music:
the OST is really good, however you can't find the whole soundtrack T_T

as for the romance:
- Myongnong and Solnan are the cutest couple! it's sweet seeing two people fall in love for the first time. There love is really innocent and sweet. there is some angst towards the end, but in it you can see how much they're in love.
- Jinmu and Solhee as bad as they were good for eachother, and I did like some of their scenes.
- The first 10 episodes are about the parents arc and how they fell in love and everything. I was invested in their story as well.
- then there's also a 4th couple with the guy from the princess' man and a friend of Solnan's and they were nice as well.

Characters:
- solhee is the absolute worst! sometimes I felt sorry for her, but she brought everything upon yourself and is pretty narcissistic! she was always a rotten apple, however I did like how things ended for her.
- Jinmu was pretty sleezy and was one of the villains, however I kind of liked his character in the end=his character development
- The Queen was super sweet. finally not one of those scheming queens!
- chancellor yon who was a villain, had some kinda cute moments with his folding origami or his weird/funny sounds he makes.
- I like that the characters are well written and have motives etc.

Acting was really great! I was impressed by all the crying in this drama because it felt so natural but also sad during the dramatic/death scenes.

The ending was happy for me (both couples) it's maybe a bit open, however at least you know they ended up together.

the last scene of the drama where the subaekhyang tree flowers and the blossoms are floating around was nicely made.

This was such a wild ride! so much happened in these episodes despite them being shorter than usual.

History:
some of the characters did actually exist. It's debatable whether princess subaekhyang actually existed or not.

Overall I'll give it a 10/10 and I really recommend it!

Read More

Amazing Chemistry Bewtween Lead Couple!!! [9/10]

Overall:
to be honest, in the beginning I wasn't expecting much. I don't usually watch these types of dramas, but I decided to give it a shot. There were some dumb plots in the beginning and some cliché moments. But I kept watching and at about ep 15 I was pretty interested in seeing this couple get together. I do think that the drama didn't have to be 36 episodes, and they could've shortened it, but I'm not really complaining. Zhu Yun's parents though (ucchh) especially her mom…
I was comparing this to other similiar dramas (I haven't seen, but seen clips of) and in a way it's similiar, but there's just something different this drama has.

Cast:
I haven't seen Chen Fei Yu before, but I think he was the right choice for Li Xun. I've seen Zhang Jing Yi in Fall in Love, and it's definitely nice to hear her actual voice here. These actors have such natural chemistry, that most of their romantic scenes don't feel acted. The supporting characters were well cast.

Music/OST:
I think the ending song sets the whole mood/vibe/feeling for this drama. I like the other OST too.

Rewatch Value:
I might rewatch the whole drama, but probably more likely that I'll just rewatch their scenes and FMVs.

Now on to the Story:
Where do I begin?...
Li Xun comes off as arrogant to some of the characters, but I didn't really think so. In the beginning of the drama he has blonde hair. He meets Zhu Yun who's also studying programming and at first they don't get along so well, but after going through things together, they start to fall in love. (also after he meets Zhu Yun, he dyes his hair brown, which I think was the best look for him tbh.)
They both join the same ''study group''? at college and he starts calling her princess. You find out why further on...
The get together in ep 18 or 19, and they're so cute together!!

Now the drama mostly hits, when her parents meet li xun and her mom doesn't like him (you find out why).
Li Xun starts pushing Zhu Yun away and Li Xun goes to take revenge on Fang Zi Jing for what he did to Zhu Yun's best friend and Li Xun gets put in Jail.

(after like a 3 year gap)

They meet eachother again and after a lot of drama and stuff..they get TOGETHER!!!

- sorry for this bad review, I just don't know what to write without spoiling too much, but I recommend this drama. -

Read More

My favourite version of Itazura na Kiss!!

So I decided to watch this to see how much they've changed and stuff compared to other versions. I have seen and love the love in tokyo versions and the anime. I've also seen the newer Japanese movies, but the acting just wasn't natural in them. (Also part of the 1996 version). But in this version the acting is very natural and our main couple have great chemistry! They feel like a real couple, i just love them!
Since this is an older drama, the quality isn't the best on dramacool, but you can watch on youtube, because some of the eps aren't complete.
I've only seen 17 eps and am almost finished.
I wasn't expecting too much getting into this drama, but after 1 episode i changed my mind haha.

Overall the romance is nice. The thing that they lack in every version is bad communication especially in the beginning of their marriage, but that's just how the story goes. I liked the cast for the characters, although I prefer the Japanese version of Christine and some of the other side characters. I like the actor for a'Bu (hes hawt).
The music is average, but it wasn't bad and was kinda memerable.

I just loved this drama!

(Also I have burning hate for the kamogari keita dude in EVERY version! In this version he's qi tai)

Edit: I finished watching and loved it! The ending was left kinda open because the manga isn't complete but I believe like in other versions that they had a daughter.
(Also ariel lin in this kinda reminds me of mao inoue in hana yori dango)

Read More

enjoyable but don't expect too much

It's been a while since I've written a review, but I'll try my best to keep it short.

I finished this whole drama in a week. It was nice to binge as a fluffy romance drama.
Overall I did enjoy this drama even though the plot was a bit rushed towards the end and you felt like they could've elaborated certain plot points to make the story more interesting. As for the MLs objective of wanting to find his mother's murderer was rushed towards the end. (he found out who it was, went to kill him and that was the end of that.)
I liked that it was about two couples and overall the basic concept was fun. I like both couples, but the second couple had more chemistry and kiss scenes. The main couple didn't have many kiss scenes, so I wished they had more.
I liked the cast and the acting. The FL was kinda dumb and naive and times which was a bit frustrating to watch, but Overall I liked this drama and would re watch their scenes again.
The best part is HAPPY ENDING!

Read More

Watch it and rate it for yourself

So I want to make this a shorter review to avoid spoiling too much.

Honestly I think I've gotten this recommended to me many times, way before I started watching it. There are a lot of mixed reviews on this drama. A lot of them bad and some also good. I finally decided to check this drama out for myself and then decide if I enjoyed it or not. To be honest I wasn't expecting much, because of the reviews. This is based on the Josei manga by Maki Enjoji (same author as koi wa tsuzuku doko made mo) I haven't read the manga yet so I have nothing to compare it to.

4 episodes in I thought it was pretty good. Even on the first episode. I may just be a helpless romantic and just enjoyed the romantic scenes without paying attention to the actual story, but I wouldn't have finished this if the plot sucked. It's a contract-marriage drama, there are a lot of them. Overall I really enjoyed this drama. Reason for only giving it a 9/10 is because this drama isn't perfect. Originally I was going to give this a 8/10 (while watching it) but I seemed to have enjoyed it more than I thought when I actually finished it. I really like the cast. The ML is handsome. I like the ending song. That's all!

Read More

I gave this a 7/10.

First of all this is a live action drama based on the anime/manga of the same name. I've seen a few episodes of the anime and definitely do think that they adapted it well. The cast fit well. The acting wasn't that bad. And the music was also sweet. The reason I rated this a 7/10 is because it wasn't the best movie out there, but it was sweet. The basic story is that Takeo thinks that Rinko/Yamato likes his best friend, but she actually likes him. So the whole movie he's trying to help her get with his friend, but she thinks that he doesn't like her and he finally realizes it in the end.

Read More

*Story*
I love the story. It's an interesting concept which I haven't really seen before. Of a girl getting smaller (in live action movies) and I always wonder how they filmed it. But well computers I guess. Anyways The story was sweet. And I overall love it. It's a Rom-Com. But it's not really cringy like some other Jdramas like this that I have seen. I did almost die fron laughing when they kissed in the hospital and then the moms and grandmother walked in on them. There is also some conflict, which I think is quite important in stories like this.
I haven't read the manga which is from the 80's, but I might read it soon.

*Acting/Cast*
The reason I gave this an 8.0 is because at first Taishi Nakagawa was a bit tense. Atleast I thought so. But towards the end of the series I feel like he definitely loosend up a lot and really fit the role. As for the actress who acted as Chiyomi. I thought she really fit the role. I've seen her in "Daytime Shooting Star" and "I'm underage but I'm not a child". But I enjoyed her role as Chiyomi the best. Overall the acting was quite good.

*Music*
I really like the Piano OST/Music in this drama. As well as the opening theme, which I think is quite a cute and creating opening. So I enjoyed the music.

*Rewatch Value*
I'd definitely rewatch this over and over.

*Overall*
I love this series so much. If you're in to Romantic Comedy than this is perfect for you.

Read More