It was a solid remake/drama over-all. They have followed closely the original version, unlike the Korean remake who made their own take to the story and ended up a disaster. The actors played their part really well. Though I must say that their interactions here show us that they're more than lovers than friends which I find a bit awkward to watch. In the Taiwanese, their relationship was really like those of a close friend with a clear boundary. Here, I feel like there's none. Maybe it is in the execution? And that's why I can't root for Ren the way I did for Li Da Ren.
The show for me lacked some emotional aspect compared to the original one. The highschool background story was kinda shallow and it didn't much show that Ren has a life/friends outside other than being with his family and Yo. The original version has showed family side stories which the Japanese lacked. The show is a 16-episode drama (kinda rare for a Jdrama) but the ending didn't show much sweet moments and relationship progress of the main leads. If you have ever watched the Taiwanese version, you will know why many were saying that it had one of the most satisfying endings ever. They almost dedicated 1 whole episode for the otp - from their friends to lovers to being a married couple to fighting over their principles to their daily lives as husband and wife. Maybe it has to do more of their culture? Taiwanese have a more bold approach than this Japanese remake.
BTW, I liked Adachi Rika's portrayal here. Her smile and her acting is just so sweet. Guess they were really aiming for a tamer version here since, with the Taiwanese version, Cheng You Ching was more of the aggressive and arrogant type - very typical of a LEO.
If you haven't watched the other versions of the drama, most probably, you will like this one. Though honestly, if you are a girl, you will really want to have a guy best friend if you watch the Taiwanese version than this.
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Also, I dont know if its just me but I think the drama isn't a grand scale drama, like most chinese dramas starring a well known star, you can see it has a very limited budget from the set up and the very simple back drops and castings. I dont know why Victoria hops on in this kind of drama but well, good thing is it has made her a hot search actress even made it to top 3 search in Vlinkage.
I really cant get the "LOW, SEEMINGLY MONOCHROMATIC TONE" of the drama. Victoria;s very low tone acting, even if she is angry, surprise, sad, happy, its all LOOWWW TONE and her voice is SOO SMALL like I dont know how to describe it. Johnny Huang is the same, his acting is really weird, not really in a bad way but his acting is really of LOW TONE, buahaha I dont know how to put in the rights. His facial expressions, even if he is angry, jealous, surprise, mad, theres very minimal reaction and acting you can see from him.
I dont like the way the voice acting and tone of Victoria and Johonny Huangs acting lol. The drama is low budgeted but they lucked out.
The story is good but dull at the same time. It lacks life, yes thats it. The story lacks life coming from their main stars. Sigh, next time if there is season 2, cant they have it filmed in China? or maybe they could choose a better location, better costumes, and more settings?
My rating is 7.
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I simply loved it. It made my heart felt heavy all throughout the movie. it was raw, it was great, it was refreshing and they have captured the essence of friendship pretty well. It would be great if they had a drama version following the flow of the movie, it would be greater then. The movie would make you feel how awesome to have good friends beside you, how great it would be to fully understand other people and the fact that its ok to fully open to others. So sad that its only 2 hours and you can only make much with the given time but definitely one of the best manga adaptations I have watched. Now I fully have a grasp what a parallel universe is.
I'm satisfied with the ending but I dont know if I can be fully happy with it. I have mixed emotions really.
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i have seen some posters about this drama awhile back but never paid attention to it since it was a taiwanese drama and never had a good impression in any taiwanese drama except for meteor garden and fated to love you plus the fact that i know taiwanese dramas tend to be very lengthy. then i came accross some sites wherein some users recommended this, then i read the synopsis. it didn't end there since i dont want to waste my time starting a drama and dropping it only after finding its not worth ti (i've been doing that a lot lately). i've explored more and read a couple of comments and reviews on this and then bang!, i said OK, im gonna watch this. i downloaded the 1st 3eps to see. i was smiling and having so many feels on this drama. and i downloaded everything in 1 go. i finished this drama in 1day (1 whole night and 1 day). That's how i feel moved and excited for the feelings of the main characters to evolve.
Li Da Ren's character has become my ideal - guy and friend. really!
the actings of the main character is so real that while watching it, it feels like ts really a true reaction from them, feels like "yes, i would acted that way if it was me", no wonder they have won both the best actor and actress trophy.
the drama is so realistic. you will be touched by the whole story - family bonding, great friendship, career love, forgiveness and moving on.
on the note: this is a taiwanese drama thus its quite lengthy but sure you wont mind it. after awhile, i find a drama worth to keep.
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The story, as we all know, isn't knew, childhood friends who turned to lovers but before that they need to settle their own real feelings and to achieve that they need to break some hearts first.lol But, that's what I love about this movie. Simple, funny, comedic at times and even though you have watched any other movies with the same story, this movie doesn't feel redundant after all. I love the exaggerated expression of the heroine. She was really good in her portrayal in this movie (although I haven't read the manga but I never thought of any slapstick moment in her acting here). For the guys, Yamazaki Kento was good, (I was going to comment on how should he put more effort in his character but Im going to believe that's how Rita should be portrayed based on the manga. For Kentaro Sakaguchi, this is my first introduction to him, but just like Hatori said, "he's freaking handsome". He is perfect to be Kosuke Hiromitsu, he has really played the role well. His acting and characterization is much better that Yamazaki Kento thus it can't be helped for the audiences to fall for him and have that "second lead syndrome feel". And yes, I liked him more.The story was perfectly made and I feel satisfied with everything. I just think they could've made some great moments/additional scenes out there but since they were following the manga, then it cant be helped.
I was just quite disappointed that they didn't even once played the movie Ost. I jsut love that song and its been on repeat in my playist. I was really waiting for it to be played somewhere in those cute heart stopping moments but, it didn't. It could've made the movie more romantic. Grr, they should really have added it then my rating would be higher. You will feel more their emotions with it.
I miss watching Japanese dramas, you know with those nonsense plots, exaggerated stories and reactions. But despite all that, you will smile, laugh, cry, you will feel like an idiot and despite al of that, they will tell you lessons.ahhhw those feels from Hana Kimi and Ataschinchi no Danshi did you hear me? hahaha
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Cry Me a Sad River is a Chinese movie that talks about school violence. I was hesitant to watch it at first since I don't really like to watch anything heavy at the moment but I'm glad I did and it wasn't that heavy. If you're scared and have doubts because of the title (just like me, lol) then don't. It was more of an easy watch despite the sensitive and troubling mood of the show.
Despite the seemingly low budget for the movie, the cinematography was good and has helped the overall mood of the movie. It also came as surprising to know that all actors are newbies and this is their first project. The main actress Ren Min was incredibly outstanding. Her performance deserves to be lauded. She has conveyed properly the emotions of a girl bullied, a girl who is afraid yet took a stand, a girl who hesitates but went all out. Her actions, her facial expressions, body movements and gaze all speak and made the character more interesting yet pitiful and I feel really really bad for her. Sun Yi (Xin Yun Lai) is the man of the show. He gives light and sunshine to the dark theme of the movie. I liked how his character was caring to the female lead and doesn't get swayed by any rumors. He helps Yi Yao fight through her bullies and became her knight and shining armor. I didn't care much about the other characters so I'm only going to talk about these 2 characters.
Overall, I liked what I saw. Though I wish it was longer and didn't cut some scenes. There was a point where I thought Yi Yao was just imagining things because what the have shown are only flashbacks and tidbits of some of the more important scenes esp. the bullying part. Only if they didn't rush things, it could probably be even better. They could make it a 2+hour movie instead of 1hr & 40 min runtime.
Btw, there is a drama version of this already. It is currently airing and stars Zheng Shuang and Ma Tian Yu. I don't know if I have the guts to start it since the 50+ episode scares me, lol. The movie may be a bit short in its run time, but 50 episodes for a drama of this kind are quite long. Even though I liked the film, I'm going to have the 'wait & see' game with the drama version.
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Unexpectedly Good
My only complain is that wish there was more romance just because those subtle moments and confessions weren't just enough! The story isn't complex yet they managed to have a believable conflict. It is unexpectedly good and rare in kdrama nowadays but female and male lead despite the age gap, had good chemistry.Was this review helpful to you?
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I'm quite picky when it comes to detective, serial dramas. I only liked a few and dropped a couple. I was even hesitant to start this but knowing that No Min Woo is among the cast, it made me curious. It's been such a long time since I have watched any of his works. And since this is season 2, I supposed that this is a good drama. So, I tried watching 2 episodes. And I liked it. Then a couple more, then No Min Woo aka Dr. K appeared then, bam, I loved it already. The series was really thrilling and nail-bitting. The only downside when I was watching this was the waiting for the new episodes. Hence, I decided to watch for season 1 just to keep me busy while waiting for the upcoming episodes. Now after I watched everything, I understand why they made it this far and why many though silently, liked the series.
I won't say much about season 1 since I am reviewing for season 2 but let me just say this, Season 2 definitely is better than season 1. Its much thrilling and the way the cases relate to one another is fascinating. The wrapped everything nicely, almost no major loopholes. However, I noticed that near the end, the main actress got lesser screen time and her character got pushed to the side with the story focusing too much on the men.
The was a big surprise to me. A pleasant surprise to be exact. So I am truly hoping for a season 3 with the whole cast and please let No Min Woo be in it.
Lastly, I let me say that this drama is one of the few wherein I really liked all the casts. From the NFS, to the prosecutor side, even to the bad people, even Oh Man Sung, haha. Their comradeship, the acting, everyone just clicks and you can see that they are enjoying their work.
I know that Baek Bum and Prosecutor Eun are the main leads here, but Dr. K rose in this drama. No Min Woo truly made an impact on his portrayal of a great doctor with a dual personality.
Overall, I truly enjoyed it. It was a very informative, thrilling, cheer rooting drama. I learned so much from the forensics I was always waiting for their opinions and result of the examination. It is my first time watching anything as close as this - you know the forensic side so its quite an eye-opener to me.
Cheers!
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to be very honest, this drama hits all the right button. I have never seen such drama that has a slow-homey tone yet they delivered it beautifully. First love, family, sibings relationship, friendship - they have it. I was much more drowned to the family relationship of the female lead. The delivery and story made them so relatable that sometimes, I feel like I'm watching my own life with them. I'm a sucker of "past to present" dramas especially dramas that is set up 90's to 2000s, nothing is ever sweeter than going back to the young you right? Being in school again, having classmates, crushes, the environment, the feels. And these drama made me feel it AGAIN. It was like showing me reflections and making me realize a lot of things - things that sadly, I ignored before. Just one thing, I wish they didn't drag the drama though. The drama dragged 10episodes towards the end. That no matter how much you loved a drama at the start, you will end up getting tired watching it if what they're showing is redundancy and predictable problems and sweet moments . Thats a problem if the producer tries so hard to stretch a drama, it loses its over-all quality. I believe they could have cut the number of episodes and focused more on the reunion of the two leads. I feel like watching a new drama in the last 10 episodes.
But hey! over-all I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the first 20 episodes so much and since they made me cry a bucket (exaggerated) in some episodes (which rarely happens), then this drama made among my top list. 9/10 for me
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P.S. Yoon Kye Sang is hot especially in those shirtless scenes, lol
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It wasn't bad and boring just most have said about this movie. It was raw may be that's why they felt that way. It was a movie full of metaphors though I don't get everything at all. The movie left me with few questions about that damn cat - from the beginning till the end I was hoping for an answer but the movie ended and left me puzzled. May be he did not do it to Ben. May be its part of the story he was writing as was shown in the scene (YAI starts writing in Hae mi's room). A big imagination. Whatever it is, the movie felt short despite the 2hours+ movietime they have intended. Maybe its the reason why it was snubbed in the Oscars? lol just my thought. Was this review helpful to you?