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Completed
I Don't Want to Be Friends with You
1 people found this review helpful
by hum
Apr 6, 2021
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

Impressive story & acting but disappointed on how they unfold last ep.

My gosh... it's been all really really good and then dropped a lot in the last episode. A lot of loopholes appeared right in the last episode. A lot of previous knots couldn't solve well in the last episode. I wanted to give a lower score for this drama because of this last ep, but the process coming through till this last point has been really impressive, so I can't help but add a little more points than what it actually deserves.

The cast is great. Love the acting of all the main characters.

The story is heart-warming and tearfully touching during the last 2 ep.

P.S.1
Though how disappointing the last ep was, I still think they did it neater than what they did in Someday or One Day. Someday or One Day's last ep was a lot messier. The story's crucial rules and logic were annihilated. Lots of contradiction there.

P.S.2
I want to leave a note on a few points I really don't like in the last ep below but it's a bit of a spoiler, so beware to proceed on.

1. How the hell the FL traveled back through time right in front of the ML??

2. How the ML had a new identity to completely fit in the present world??

3. If the storyline in the past would change as much as the real ML's identity changed while his love interest was the girl in the next class who transferred during high school, the whole story in the previous 23 ep would totally be ruined. Lots of loopholes become apparent just by this irresponsible, reckless, unthoughtful story unfolding. As to how messy the end has become, it makes shown that the writer desperately wrote all the knots to make the story interesting but he went too far to finally tightly trap himself without a way out. This eventually ruined the world he tried hard to create in the first place. It's very disappointing and annoying how they couldn't think the story through to unfold it properly.

~
P.S.3 is added after I had a constructive discussion with another viewer on the comment section :)
~

P.S.3
What is important in 'every' show is the logic of its own universe. This show finally contradicts itself = it ruins its own rules = it ruins its own world.

A time-traveling story is especially hard to unfold. Most of the time they fail because of the rules and logic they set up themselves. It doesn't surprise me that this show also fails at the end when it tries to unfold as it's expectable. The only time-traveling show that impresses me is Dark, the German series of 3 seasons in total.

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Completed
Ready, Set, Love
2 people found this review helpful
by hum
May 21, 2024
6 of 6 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.5
Story 3.5
Acting/Cast 3.0
Music 3.0
Rewatch Value 2.0

Art style copied from Hunger Games + Squid Game. Weak storyline. Weak Performance.

Plot [-]

The concept of the story is alright, but the plot and storyline are weak. There's not much substance at all. There's absolutely no need for 6 episodes. They could just make it into a 2-hr movie and that would be enough.

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Acting [-]

The worst acting goes to the FL. Her performance is exaggerated and unnatural. While the genre may require some level of exaggeration, her portrayal goes beyond what is necessary. It seems like she hasn't found the right balance between delivering a performance while maintaining the level of believability.

Apart from FL, FL's friend also delivers an unnatural performance in some scenes. As for the FL's younger sister, she is cute and natural in appearance (I think her performance is the best in the series. She has a long way to go in this career), but the words she uses in her dialogue seem to come from almost 20 years ago. I strongly feel that the writer of this series might belong to Gen Y as their slangs are from the heyday of that era. (For example, who still says เพื่ออออ? (The FL uses this word a couple of times.) And you make the younger sister who is an early teen says ตายแล้วววว (-_-) Guys... no kid says that word. I don't even say it myself though I'm older than her.)

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Music [-]

This series is quite silent when it comes to music. They hardly use any soundtracks or backing tracks apart from the main opening song. I usually admire a series/movie that can captivate viewers without relying on music which often plays a significant role in evoking emotions. However, the way this series avoids using music seems somewhat out of theme. Firstly, with their shallow story and character design, they can hardly engage viewers emotionally, so incorporating backing music would be beneficial for them. Secondly, considering that the series has a futuristic and dystopian theme within the fantasy genre, using the right music would help immerse people who haven't experienced such environments before. While it would be impressive and ingenious if they could achieve this without music, since they cannot do so effectively, they should take advantage of what music can offer here.

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Art Direction [-]

I quite like the art direction for most parts of the series. The light, the colors, the props and camera angles are align with my taste, but they totally lack originality. They are heavily inspired by Hunger Games + Squid Game. The color palettes and the uniform used in this series appear to be direct copies from Squid Game. Though copy, they still did it quite alright, but there's one aspect that stands out negatively, which is the costume of the actors in the last scene, including the ML's costume and hairstyle. The world of the commune in that scene lacks imagination and creativity. It's simply a copy of the hippie style but ends up feeling fake. Just look at the ML's hairstyle, it feels overdone. They seem to have run out of ideas on how to differentiate that community.

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Above all [~/-]

It's super cringey. I got goosebumps and second-hand embarrassment watching the FL doing her foolish things. She's the character that could have been cool, really, but they portray her as dumb.

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Completed
Mother Gamer
2 people found this review helpful
by hum
Jan 13, 2021
Completed 0
Overall 2.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 3.0
Music 3.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Not a story. Just a too-long presentation of one-point idea.

The film about e-sport that is more proper to target the audience who are parents in Gen-X or upper, esp. those who oppose kids playing games.

I watch this film because the promotional trailer looks interesting, but the real thing is just complete opposite. The subject is about e-sport—a trendy contemporary subject, so I expected for the least of exciting CG, fast-pacing story progress and enthusiastic youthful energy. What I found is ordinary CG like a presentation of a 1st-year film student, slow-pacing progress to the point of almost reaching nowhere, and laggard/sluggish energy due to an under par acting direction of supporting roles.

[Shortcut note in case you wouldn't read this 'til the end:
If anyone like this kind of gaming/e-sport theme with the youthful+comical tone, I want to recommend Cross Fire. It's a 36-ep. Chinese series presenting a lot of topics surrounding gaming and e-sport. One of them is also about prejudice from the older generation toward gaming/e-sport, but the production team can present it like a professional storyteller. Rip off all the decoration like CG or cinematography techniques and left only the organic element like the storytelling skills, it's already highly admirable.
P.S. I watched Cross Fire after Mother Gamer.]

Let's talk:

(1) Story
It's not a story. This 2-hour film has only one-point idea which is a mother who opposes her exemplary-student son to play in e-sport league, so she tries to make him lose the competition by building another team to beat his team but becomes a player in the process. Along 2 hours, it mainly presents the journey of a Gen-X mom becoming a game player. The selling point of the film is just to show the contrast of being an old Gen-X in the new world of e-sport (though the vibe is sorta outdated kind of e-sport). The film is shallow. Actually, this starting idea is interesting and has huge potential to create an elaborative story on another level, but the creator might be too lazy to be creative and just stop dead at the first sentence of the story while repeating the loop of that sentence for another 2 hours (—most of the time is mom trying to build the team). There's no story in it. That's why I call it just a too-long presentation of one-point idea.

--------------------------------

(2) Directing
The continuity between shots and scenes is obviously unskilled. At times, there wouldn't be connecting point between scenes. This messes the storytelling making the audience confused and doubts the necessity in the existence of the scene that comes later. The director is not a storyteller. He has no tactic in smoothening out the story esp. the romance part of it. He always puts a flirting scene next to another irrelevant scene out of the blue. The big fail is that all the lovey-dovey bits in the film are unimportant at all. If they cut off all these love bits, the film would look more roundly even than bumpy as it already happens to be.

Anyway, I can see why they try to add the love bits into the film. It's because they want to target the teenage group of audience, but their leading character is a Gen-X. Moreover, their main point is to change the pessimistic mindset of Gen-X about gaming, which is literally an unnecessary message to the teens. So instead, they think to pull the teenage audience in with love story, but the result is awkward. Yet to say there's no chemistry between the couple at all. The portion around love here is just too extra, out of context, or in another word—a leftover added on, which resulting in the film direction being a mess.

Let me mention a bit about the cinematography style of the film. I can see they try to use those minimal camera angles that look more contemporary like still shots, edge cut-off shots, symmetric shots, scenes with few props, but it's also seen that it isn't their real style. This style doesn't persist throughout. In the end, what they do is just kind of copying the trend.

--------------------------------

(3) Acting
The acting in love-bit scenes between the boy and the girl gamers is awful. It's unnatural and out of place. They're not shy but awkward. Their no-chemistry is a failure. Their flirting scenes are all fail and not convincing.

The acting direction of the fat boy is also wrong. I think this is the fault of the director. The direction of this character to be humorous by putting himself to be a bland joke doesn't come from the actor for sure. Having a character being a bland joke himself is a kind of comedy that Thai people like, but this direction doesn't work here. The film is already pretty much quiet despite being a (self-proclaimed) action film. This character being a bland joke just make the whole thing worse—now it's truly blandly quiet, but without being humorous. In the film, he even raps a song explaining the game they play, which oh... so awful. The rap is amateur and totally awful in the aspects of lyrics, rhythm and rapping skills. I'm secondhand embarrassed just by hearing it.

The acting of many main characters is just unbalanced in various layers.

--------------------------------

(4) Music
As I just mention that this film is pretty much quiet. Not that they don't use music. It's that they don't know how to use music. For example, at places like stimulating scenes that need music, they don't use the right music to boost the audience's emotions, and at places, the music just fades down until almost disappear altogether despite that it shouldn't. It's like they don't have a good sense of music and when they don't know what music to use or how to use music, they're not afraid of leaving it silent. Anyway, though the music isn't much helpful to the film, at least it doesn't obtrude their own work.

--------------------------------

With the unskillful work of the director, cinematographer, actors/actresses as well as editing team, the film doesn't come out at the top of the level they can reach (—not that the level could be very high, but instead of 2.5 score, they might get up to 3.5 from me).

Let me just finish myself here. I feel like I take more time writing this than watching the film itself.

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Completed
My Husband in Law
2 people found this review helpful
by hum
Dec 16, 2020
15 of 15 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 1.0
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 1.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Stiff female lead. Script isn't good.

In the story, the female lead pursues the male lead. One of her chasing trick is sending her own composition of flirting poems to him as a secret admirer. Those poems were embarrassing both for the awkward meaning and unsmooth rhyme. The writer tries hard to forcefully put the right sound into the rhyme position of the poem but fails to select the right word for the meaning. As the result, those poems carry weird meanings with forceful sounds. If you know the rhyming rules of Thai poetry, you'd know the poems in this story are lame and a shame.

I don't like this drama after finish watching it, so I'm not really interested in talking/writing about it in detail, but I kind of feel obligated to give proper reasons on some negative points since I mentioned those points as a comparison on another drama's review (also Thai drama). So in conclusion about the poems, they are cringey and badly composed - broken on both the meanings and aesthetic. In the story, the female lead is supposed to be a genius, these poems exist just to downgrade that claim.

Apart from the poems, the dialogue is super cringey. No one would talk like the female lead in real life and get the male lead as the result. In reality, this kind of dialogue would make the speaker embarrassed and make those who hear it secondhand embarrassed as well.

I can see the actress playing the female lead really tries her best in acting. She says all those lame dialogues with all her heart. She acts with courage and hopes to make the best out of it. But nonetheless, her acting is still amateur and too stiff. If you understand Thai, you would know the way she talks is very unnatural. It's reciting. She put too much effort in every word so the words she says have come out intentional, robotic and stiffen her own overall acting.

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Completed
The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity
1 people found this review helpful
by hum
Feb 5, 2021
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

Impressive but Big Error at the Climax

(1) Cinematography
First of all, the cinematography of this film is superb. The depiction of all scenes, the gestures of all actors/actresses are beautiful. The CG is both well designed and properly brought about. The teams involved in the art direction and cinematography deserve the biggest applause.

-------------------------------------------------

(2) Acting
All the actors/actresses did a very well-done job even the supporting or guest roles have left a deep impression on me. I'm especially impressed with the actor who played He Shou Ye after finding out at the end of the whole story what kind of performance this actor actually deliverer for the film. (I put the further detail in the spoiler box at the bottommost as it could be a spoiler kind of information.)

Also, I'm especially fond of the actor who played The Golden Spirit, such adorable in the cool/serious character he has portrayed. I have to rewind again and again to watch the scene of his desperate run.

All the important characters including Qing Ming, Bo Ya and the princess don't have the kind of flaw that leaves a sting in my heart to recall after the movie.

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(3) Story
But.. the film makes a big error in the plot at the climax which is the vital pillar that the story needs to resolve to the ending, therefore this mistake is unacceptable. (To explain what it actually is would be a spoiler as well, so I'll mention this further in the box at the bottom.)

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(4) Dialogue
There's one part of the dialogue that bothers me. It's the finishing line right at the final scene. I can see the director/writer try hard to give a beautiful/impressive finishing line to end the film, but the result is instead a superficial dialogue. It's just a shame because throughout the story they don't have that many words the characters have to speak. There're only sufficient and adequate, and that makes the whole way until that final point a graceful, pleasing path. At the end, though, the characters start to create a set of conversations with overly decorative words. Too much intended decoration and that makes things lose their true meaning. In the end, those words just become gibberish to me.

-------------------------------------------------

(5) Music
As for the music, the style is quite cliche and often reminds me of RPG background music style. Most of the pieces are so-so, not initiative though can go along with the story flow quite fine. Anyway, a few pieces have been mixed with the local music style which I like and think goes well with the movie's ambiance. They try to compose the music for action scenes by fitting the musical rhythm/melody with the choreography. I also appreciate that. The editing, though, isn't the highest skilled. I can still often hear the sharp seam at the transitions when two pieces are put next to each other.

That's all. Below is the spoiler part.

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╔═══════════╗
The error: Qing Ming is supposed to be able to teleport to only the places he has experienced in person like visiting or seeing with his own eyes, but at the climax he teleports into the snake's stomach without even having ever met the snake before. He's never been/seen the place in its stomach so that teleportation should have been impossible.

The actor: He played two roles in the movie that I didn't recognize as the same person at all while watching!
╚═══════════╝

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Completed
Ballerina
0 people found this review helpful
by hum
Jun 1, 2024
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

Nothing to the plot, but cool FL.

There's nothing to the plot; it's very shallow and one-dimensional. The movie focuses on showcasing action scenes with a cool FL. However, all actors and actresses are very capable; everyone fits their role and has done a good job in acting. I had watched a rom-com series featuring the same FL (Wedding Impossible) just before watching this movie. She did a terrible job in the romance/rom-com genre. Her deadpan expression is more suitable for solemn characters like her role in this movie. With only one facial expression, she can't convey complicated emotions, which doesn't suit a romantic series/movie at all.

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Completed
Wedding Impossible
0 people found this review helpful
by hum
Jun 1, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 4.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

Deadpan FL expression. Logic goes downhill from halfway of the story.

Since episode 7, when many revelations surfaced, the logic behind the actions of the three main characters in coping with the situations becomes increasingly absurd. Additionally, I think the series would have been better with 8 or 9 episodes instead of the current 12. At the current pace, there is too much dragging. The dialogues, even those between the main characters, are also dull. However, the show really pulls off some hilarious scenes, especially during the first half. They had me laughing out loud a few time, which isn't something I usually do.

Anyway, a major disappointment lies in the performance of the FL. Honestly, I can't fathom why she was cast for this role. Initially, I appreciated her portrayal of a realistic woman who doesn't conform to femininity but exudes coolness, particularly in her interactions within her friend circle. However, when it comes to scenes with the ML, she falls very short. There's supposed to be a spark, some chemistry, something romantic, but it's totally absent. Zero. None. There's no romantic vibe from the FL at all, while the ML has already done his part. Furthermore, the plot does little to support their supposed deep love for each other in such a short time, to the extent of risking and betraying the feelings of another person they both care about deeply. Their love lacks conviction. Additionally, the FL's portrayal in these romantic contexts fails to evoke any genuine emotion in me. While the marriage between the FL and the ML's brother might be a sham, watching the FL and ML together, I can't help but feel their love is just as fake.

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Completed
The Reincarnated Lovers
0 people found this review helpful
by hum
Apr 17, 2024
26 of 26 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 1.5
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Dragging and filled with illogical details

The logic is all over the place. The characters constantly contradict themselves, and the pacing is painfully slow. This mini-series could have been condensed into a micro-series, to be honest. Despite not being excessively long compared to typical shows, even after watching 70% of the show at a faster speed and frequently skipping ahead, I still felt like I wasted my time once I finished watching.
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Completed
Confess Your Love
0 people found this review helpful
by hum
Apr 17, 2024
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

FL single-handedly carried the show

I dove into a whirlwind of Chinese mini-series last weekend, starting with "My Villain Husband", which had such a disappointing plot. I was really let down. Then there was "A Tale of Love and Loyalty", where the logic was absurd even without considering the plot. It seemed like the writers had no sense of reason. The only thing that kept me watching till the end was the good-looking main leads and their steamy kissing scenes.

Next, I tried "The West Wind Is Strong" and "The Everlasting Love" but found them so disappointing that I couldn't even finish.

Then I stumbled upon "Confess Your Love." Surprisingly, the female lead's acting was quite impressive. Her subtle nuances were smooth and natural. Despite the illogical setup around the villain and the overall acting in this series, I'd say this actress single-handedly carried the show. I managed to stick around till the end because of her charm; she really drew me in.

The plot was okay, but the storytelling was rather illogical. There were so many details that wouldn't make sense to anyone, yet they deliberately steered the story in that direction for convenience's sake. Still, this mini-series was much better than most in its genre. I've watched 8 in total over these couple of days, and 6 of them were a lot worse than this. There's only this one and "The Deliberations of Love" that are passable in my opinion.

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PS.1 - The ML's acting was super stiff. The FL truly carried the whole show.

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PS.2 - The list of my 8 binge-watched shows is as follows:

Passable:
1. The Deliberations of Love
2. Confess Your Love (2023)

So bad:
1. My Villain Husband
2. A Tale of Love and Loyalty
3. My Cat-astrophic Lover
4. My Fake Wife

Dropped:
1. The West Wind Is Strong
2. The Everlasting Love

--------------------------------------------------

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Completed
Doctor John
0 people found this review helpful
by hum
May 24, 2022
32 of 32 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
This review may contain spoilers

Surprisingly disappointing. Good story though the logic is super off. Terrible character design.

Story Plot [+]

It's a very good story - good plot on the ML's life, quite a few of thought-provoking/impressive/inspiring moments, but the character design on the villain side is the worst. It's a story full of clever people who are intentionally unprofessional and prejudiced.

-----------------------------------------

Logic of the story [-]

I don't understand why so many people in the story try to say that a person who can't feel physical pain due to an illness isn't approved to be a doctor as well as put all the blames on the person. This logic comes out so forcefully. The series tries super hard to make this claim valid, but it still feels super off.

I don't understand either why people like the prosecutor take the idea of euthanasia of consent, terminally ill patients as something to be so vengeful toward the doctor who is willing to help the patients. It's to the point that he wants to destroy the doctor's life and career as well as put him into jail even though the action of the doctor complies with the patient's desire. This topic of euthanasia is surely a socially debatable topic. But the opposing side in this series takes this issue very personally to the point of personal grudge and vengeance. It's so extreme without a proper root or cause that would help the viewers to understand and empathize with, thus their actions feel very off. It's like this series has devalued this social issue by portraying the opinions from the opposing side as illogical to the point of absurd and psychopathic. This topic that is worth being discussed has become some nonsense, personal issue of the irrational villains.

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Character Design [-]

The first one is the prosecutor who is competent but blindsided and has the habit of rushing to a conclusion. I don't understand his competence at all. These traits of his must prevent him from being clearheaded enough to be able to have an objective analysis on his cases. Not to talk about his vengefulness in destroying an ex-verdict without a proper cause. I don't understand his long-term vengeance towards the ML who has no personal issue with him. He often blames the ML that the ML euthanized his patient to make his own mind feel at ease by not having to see the patient being tortured from the terminal illness, but he also says the ML doesn't have the right to treat patients because ML has an illness that makes him not able to feel pain thus he wouldn't understand patients' pain and just does the scientific experiment on human's bodies due to curiosity via medical treatment. Is this kind of contradictory logic supposed to come from a character who is a competent prosecutor?

The second is the hospital-management-team doctor who openly attacks the ML on all sorts of unreasonable issues no matter how nonsense the issue is to start with. It's like he is clouded by a kind of hatred that doesn't have a cause, either. The ML isn't even a threat to his position. I don't understand his stupidity at all. In reality, all the blames he openly puts on the ML would normally harm himself back as a high-level doctor. It would easily cause people to be skeptical about his qualification in his position that needs objectivity and analytical skills. I don't understand at all how he's in the hospital management team with this kind of intelligence.

The third person is the female villain of the story. She's designed to be an extreme emo. She is a stalker who is vengeful towards a murderer who killed her daughter, but later shifts all the hatred and vengefulness to the ML who put the murderer to death. I understand her upset, but this vengefulness is so offset. I don't understand how it is shifted to the ML and even after the ML was imprisoned for 3 years, she still stalks him and is willing to destroy his career and his life after he was released - all of this because he killed the murderer who had killed her daughter?! I don't understand even more when the prosecutor agrees with this person's perspective (though his son was also killed together with the daughter, his character is positioned to be highly rational.) The prosecutor always believes that he is righteous in what he does, but all his actions contradict what he thinks he is. This female villain and the prosecutor make this series super absurd and drag the overall score of the series down immensely.

With this kind of character design, this story becomes too unreasonable, excessively absurd and overly melodramatic.

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Acting [~]

I would say the acting of the ML carries the whole series. I watch this series till the end only because of him and the struggle in his life with his illness and his profession's experience. The FL's acting is off from time to time. I watched her in Red Sleeve before this one and let me say her acting doesn't improve as the years passed. The second ML's character design contradicts itself at the beginning of the story and that contradiction makes me feel off about him for the whole series. The second FL's acting and expression are not good enough to be a second FL. All other supporting roles' actings are just so-so.

By the way, I don't feel any connection in the FL's family at all. They all work at the same hospital, see one another very often, and always have interactions, but these people who are FL's mother, uncle, aunt and sister don't look like they're related at all -- not related to the FL and not to one another. There's zero family relationship among them even when they're in the same scene talking face-to-face to each other.

-----------------------------------------

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Dec 13, 2021
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

I really want to like this series but there're some unacceptable loopholes.

I really want to give this series a good score for their strong will and good intention to pass on some important messages that have a social impact, but if I'd be honest to myself, this series still doesn't reach my satisfaction standard.

Story [~]
In spite of having strong main plot and subplots, the elements in their main and subplots have loopholes occurring from time to time. And they aren't just some small loopholes that we can pretend to close one eye and let them pass.

The most unacceptable loophole in the plot is right at the end which is the climax. The teacher doesn't want to commit suicide by jumping from the rooftop. He only jumps to repeat a student's traumatic experience when she couldn't help her best friend doing the same thing so that she can modify the outcome by saving him this time. But the hell to that idea! He really jumps and it's just by chance that the student runs to grasp his hand at the last minute when his whole body already dropped from the building. The student is a girl and comes alone, though... There's no way she can help him up by herself if she couldn't do it for her friend. And not to say about running to him in the first place, she might not be able to run or be in time to even catch his hand. The teacher risks beyond the acceptable limit in the process that he claims to help the girl. If he really jumped to death before the girl's eyes as she couldn't reach him in time or especially if he dropped to death after she already got hold of him, the result could turn out to be totally opposite and worsen the state of mind of that student. (In the end, other friends appear in time to help pull the teacher back up, but the teacher never knew other students were to show up esp. it's the last minute.)

Acting [~]
Suda Masaki acts wholeheartedly. Moka and Mei are not so good at acting. Their BFF's happy laughters are so fake. Ryota's acting isn't convincing, either. I doubt that Ryota might not be able to act in challenging roles and be stuck in rom-com high school films/series forever.

#

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Completed
More than Blue: The Series
1 people found this review helpful
by hum
Nov 30, 2021
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

Mundane old-fashioned melodrama, but compensated by the acting of the ML.

Note: I watched ep. 1, 2 and 8-10 with forward speed, so it's not really the whole series. I'm glad, though, that I didn't spend my time with every episode. I don't feel it's worth the full span of time it requested from the viewers.

1. Story [-]
The plot is super melodrama, which is too much. It's also cliche and out-of-date kind of a plot, which made it unmemorable.

2. Acting [~]
The younger actors, which are the main ML and FL, did a great job in acting, esp. the ML. I still cried in spite of being able to foresee what was coming in the storyline (that's how much the story was cliche, I can guess the whole story all right) because of their acting. The performance of the adult actors, though, are not on par with the younger ones. This is disappointing. I didn't feel along with the adults at all. And the job of the adults here drags the acting/cast score down.

3. Music [~]
Plain. It's a story particularly about a song, but that song as well as other OST and music in the story are just so-so. There are some live singing scenes on the stage and recording booth, and it should be moving if it's this kind of scene in a series that has the theme involving music but those scenes are so plain. The singing skills of those who sing in the scenes are not good enough, either. Anyway thanks to the production team. The director, cinematographer and editor here know how to do their job to obscure and compensate their weak points. Those scenes still come out passable.

4. Production [+]
Most part is artistic, but the technique they used to reveal the past story like college kids gathering around a bonfire to tell a ghost story is too unoriginal and lazy. Still, they have great skills in directing, cinematography and editing. This is another point combined that made the watching journey wasn't unbearable for me (other points are the ML's acting and I watched only half of the whole thing with forward button under my finger at all time.)

P.S. I don't really like the color filter in this series. Too much blue shade in the blue-filtered scenes and too much orange shade in the orange-filtered scenes. It is too intentional.

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Dropped 16/24
Once We Get Married
2 people found this review helpful
by hum
Oct 12, 2021
16 of 24 episodes seen
Dropped 6
Overall 1.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Things are wrong from the start. A lot of details are beyond messed up.

(1) Bad taste in costume design despite the story being about fashion designer

The FL is a clothing designer, but every point about FL's costume in this series is absolutely tasteless. They shouldn't create an FL to be a designer if they don't have knowledge about this aspect at all.

In the first scene of the story, the FL observes the quality of a dress that forges a brand name by scrutinizing how cheap the quality and price the dress actually is. By the end of the same ep, she wears a dress to a luxurious party hosted by a renowned designer. Her dress is supposed to be the epitome of her own work, but what she wears is cheap from head to toe. Her hair ribbon is cheap. Her wavy hairstyle doesn't go along with the wavy necklace (which also looks fake and cheap). Her own dress is low quality without any trace of the design that can be praised. Her drop-dangle eaพrings pairing with her (limping) lacy dress and her wavy style make her look tangled and raveled. The costume team of this series just doesn't know what is good taste. It's very contradictory when the renowned designer genuinely admires the FL's style.

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(2) Improper (- some even get to the point of stupid) cause and effect of events scattering all over the place

Causes that affect events in this series irresponsibly come out of the blue - no root. no clue. at all. Like the writer is beyond lazy to place any solid background for the story and just finds the easiest way out to send the FL into the writer's designated events by throwing her into the situations like magic. Example:-

(2.1) The FL's close friend confidently tells the FL without any hesitation she will get the invitation to the high-class party hosted by the renowned designer for FL. This friend works as a 2nd-rated model but doesn't have proper knowledge about fashion design or the fashion circle. She doesn't have rich-family background. She doesn't have knowledge about the host apart from he is simply a renowned designer. She doesn't even know why he is famous (despite being a model - which totally deserves to be just a 2nd-rated). Where the hell is this confidence of hers to find the invitation to the party for her friend within the shortest time by the next day? As the connection of a no-name model can be that strong!?

(2.2) The FL drives a car in the rain and almost hits the 2nd ML who stands beside the pavement. He doesn't stand on her lanes, but he feels guilty as he thinks it's his fault standing there that causes the accident. What ridiculous is, despite being very good-natured the FL is, she accepts that it's kind of his fault. Excuse me?? It's you who are not skilled in driving!? Not to say that she bumps her car into a sidewalk tree. That tree is on the 2nd ML's side of the pavement. It's like when she sees him, she panics and dashes the car in his direction. My gosh, that can kill him considering her driving skills and the 2nd ML is still the one who says sorry while the FL accepting the apology.

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(3) Destructive details due to lack of knowledge and intelligence of the writer and production team

Example:-
- In an afternoon party of the high-class circle, when the FL says she majored in design, the others mention the top colleges in design as Columbia, Standford and UCLA. Hell to the writer and production team, you are unknowledgeable at all.

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(4) With the FL's dialogue, reaction and decision in each crucial event, it shows that she is pretty much stupid

Due to the intelligence level of the writer and production team, it can't help that finally it affects the FL character the most. This is a story told from FL's perspective, so the writer/production team's intelligence reflects her intelligence.

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Dropped 17/36
Lighter & Princess
1 people found this review helpful
by hum
Jun 17, 2024
17 of 36 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 2.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 3.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Dragging. Boring. Amateur production. FL seems to get the role through nepotism.

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*I gave it a score of 3.5 after watching 7 episodes. After finishing 10 episodes, I had to lower the score to 2. It's not getting better. Instead, I'm becoming more irritated as time goes on.

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FL's acting [-]

I've seen quite a few Chinese series where the lead characters got their main roles through nepotism. Most of them, though can't act, at least have beauty. But for this girl... it's not just that she can't act, she also doesn't meet the beauty standard of a typical Chinese female lead. So, it's simply too obvious when the lead role lacks both capability and beauty that this incompetent person most likely got the position because of her influential backing.

I'm very disappointed with the FL. She can't express human's complicated feelings and only acts shallowly. Her acting score from me is 1 - the worst of the cast in this series. She's a sore sight and has a lot of screen time (since she's the 1st lead character -_-)

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Story [-]

The story drags on and the script is sloppily written. It's so boring I had to fast forward from time to time until I finally gave up after finishing ep.10. Then I still watched 7 more episodes in a fast pace, but it's a total waste of my time. Their love scenes couldn't draw me in at all even though the ML did his job alright (- at least, it doesn't show that he is irritated by the FL like I am.)

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Earrings [-]

I specially want to know whose idea the FL's earrings is. Most of her earrings have no taste and they always distract me in her face shots. In the first couple episodes, she wears big golden earrings that look fake. In her college years, she wears all kinds of earrings. All of them are random without taste of fashion.

Note: In the later episodes, the earrings are gone from her ears. Seems like the director finally noticed what an eyesore those earrings were for anyone watching, but he still noticed it too late, I would say.

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Dropped 12/38
Go Go Squid 2: Dt. Appledog's Time
5 people found this review helpful
by hum
Feb 27, 2021
12 of 38 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 3.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 2.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

No chemistry between the leads at all. FL acting is especially disappointing.

There's no chemistry between the ML and FL at all. I absolutely feel nothing in their love scenes Even when they kiss. The FL seems to not be able to act in this kind of relaxing, comedy drama. I've watched her in Royal Nirvana and admired her a lot, but her job in this one is very disappointing. All of her kisses are blocking. All of her smiles as well. You can see she kiss and smile in the same way in every scene. There's no specific feeling in her smile or kiss. Even the eyes, the ways she glances or looks are obviously not spontaneous but meticulously designed. It's not wrong to design or choreograph in acting but the actors/actresses must act as if it's spontaneous so that it'd be called natural. To sum up, all her acting is highly blocking. Nothing feels natural.

On the opposite, the second male lead does a really great job. His acting is all that keeps me watching until I can't anymore. The worst thing that happened is that I started to skip the ML+FL scenes to just watch the second leads' scenes. That's how failed this drama is.

*Watched the whole episode for 12 ep. After that, I hopped between scenes. About halfway through, I decided to watch only the important scenes.

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