Come Back To It

So I first started this show the minute that it aired on Netflix and I only got to half the second episode before I quit. I was bored and wasn't really feeling up for another zombie show when at the time, it seemed like it was all that was on TV. So I dumped it and moved on.

But! Less than a year later, I browsing Lomon's page and trying to find out what else I'd seen him in, since I was watching Revenge of Others and guess what! He played the main role in All of Us Are Dead (and some other shows that I'd watched). But since I hadn't actually watched All of Us Are Dead, I decided to give it another try for him. And I am so so glad I did.

Now I'm not saying this because I'm currently stanning Lomon. ( I am stanning him but that's a whole different point.) I think this was genuinely an amazing show.

Acting -
These kids are doing amazing. I am genuinely so impressed by their portrayal of their characters and how genuinely they come across. They gave amazing performances with perfect chemistry. They felt like friends, they had their jokes and their drama and pettiness. They portrayed being teenagers perfectly.

The rest of the cast also did a phenomenal job. The detective was a massive DILF and I loved every one of his scenes. His heartbreak at the state of the world, and his hope that he can keep the kids safe. The general played cool and rational and coldhearted while subtly being able to convey that every decision he is making is taking a toll on him and he doesn't want to be making them. The soldiers who follow orders no matter what even if they don't want to and you are screaming with frustration at them for not disobeying and yet you know that no matter what they will follow orders to the letter because that is how they are conditioned. The parents who would run into danger for their kids, and the kids who are dealing with so much trauma that they don't know how to react to all of it so some of it hits them like a tidal wave and they are frozen, depressed, suicidal or they some they just compartmentalize until they can deal with it later.

Plot -
Believable. It has been three years since Covid started and I can still remember how chaotic that time was. Now take a zombie virus that is quick and deadly and put in human stupidity and drama and all the rest and you've got reality. I think the most unbelievable part is that the military actually does a pretty adequate job in containing the disease for how deadly it is. (Although I did think a lot about how birds would naturally become zombies by eating the decaying bodies and therefore it would be impossible to actually contain the zombie virus, but I guess i have to suspend my disbelief in some things because at the end of the day, this is a zombie show).

Even the love triangle/square was believable. Because in that scenario, you aren't just going to forget that you like someone, even if you are in a super chaotic environment. It's cute and it adds moments of softness to a very action packed drama.

I definitely recommend the show.
Go into it with an open mind and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Read More

Strong start, faulty end

This drama started really strong, and by episode 16 I even gave it a 10, but then it slowly started falling. I love the cast, and was strongly motivated to watch because of Xu Kai, but it was frustrating to watch him be a minor character in his own drama.

This is primarily a family drama about a young woman trying to establish boundaries with her parents, particularly her mother.

It was a good show with a good message, but I think overall it could have been better executed. I didn't like that the secondary characters had more screen time than the primary couple. I wasn't a big fan of some of the decisions people made. I didn't like that every time a boundary was made, it had the person who the boundary was against just toeing the line so completely. There were characters who were just added in towards the end that I thought were unnecessary.

Overall, I just wish there was more time for the ML and FL to be together. Their relationship was cute and they had good chemistry, but they hopped skipped and jumped without much time for us to see them together compared to all the time they spent agonizing over their family. If the show was supposed to be about a woman becoming independent, let her have an independent love! Even if the ML was supposed to be integrated into the family, they could have explored the relationship between the leads more.

Otherwise, good show :D

Read More

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING

Story:
The story starts when the Emperor and nearly his entire family are murdered leaving only a few members of the royal family alive. The ML (Li Ni) is the grandson of the emperor from one of the younger sons. He was exiled to protect the border by his father and grandfather because of his supposed bad attitude (but later it's revealed that he was constantly bullied by his older half-brothers and didn't like the snake pit of the court). He is the commander of the West Pacify Army which is poor but each warrior is worth more than 10 average warriors. He is asked, once his family is murdered, to become emperor but refuses since his father, brothers, and the former crown prince's son are still alive. He advocates for the crown prince's son to be named emperor, but few believe him. While there is chaos because of the rebellion by General Sun, everyone is now vying for the throne. There is also General Cui and his son (daughter) who have fought back against Sun like Li Ni and also say they are doing it for the crown prince's son. However, no one really believes them either. A Ying is the commander of the army for General Cui. Their army is powerful and wealthy and would be a threat even in a stable realm, so everyone believes they would seize power for themselves. Basically a lot of confusion and rightful paranoia about who can be trusted and what people's motivations are.
The story is political-romance-action. It does a very good job of showing everyone's motivations for their actions. Li Ni and A Ying are both exceptionally well written characters, who's playful banter, intelligence and depth is fully explored.
The plot is fast paced. It doesn't stall and there is always a purpose to scenes, even if it's a filler scene. The side characters also have great plots and character development.
Acting:
Xu Kai and Jing Tian are exceptional. I started this show for Xu Kai because I've loved most of what I've seen him in (and if I didn't like a show with him in it, it was never because of him), and he didn't disappoint. From the first moment you can see his swagger and cheek that is so perfect for this role. He's a combination of playful and serious and Xu Kai does it perfectly, transforming from puppy to wolf in seconds (quoting Jing Tian when she's talking about Xu Kai in an interview). This is my first time watching Jing Tian and now I know I will keep up with her because she was amazing, and I can't believe it is just because of her chemistry with Xu Kai. She adds great depth to her character.
Romance:
The romance was incredible. They had beautiful intimacy. There are criticism that A Ying was too competitive, but that's what's attractive about her. She is ambitious and doesn't hide it. A quality that isn't seen often in shows. I love that the show goes out of it's way to demonstrate that women have similar appetite's as men, but because of their roles in society, very few can actually show it. Li Ni, who was raised primarily by women, and had very little fatherly influence in his life, knows to appreciate this quality in her, and is what attracts him to her. They are so well matched because they think the same. While Li Ni isn't competitive, because he has seen that court is dangerous and doesn't want it for himself, he is still cunning and he likes his partner to be able to keep up with him. Their courting is a series of bets, competitions, and banter. Their relationship is protecting each other and plotting together. While towards the middle, A Ying is forced to conform more to womanly life, she keeps her ambitions, and her intelligence doesn't leave. They aren't always rational either. Both make mistakes, and can be quick to judge each other for the other's actions if it negatively impacts them, but they are always impressed and even if subconsciously, they understand each other.
Side Characters:
Everyone made me feel something. Whether it was Li Ni's family making me feel absolute frustration for how stupid they are, or the villains for making me want to punch them in the face, or the bandits and the warriors of the West Pacify Army making me love them and die for them.
Rewatch value:
Absolutely! In fact, I'm going to go rewatch it right now.

Read More

Great cartoon to live action

One of the best examples I've seen for a live action remake of an animated series.

Honestly, I watched it for Neo Hou and so I wasn't really that interested in what the MC was doing and what the whole plot was besides what Wang Ye was up to. I did get sucked into the drama and was pleasantly surprised. But I think my favorite aspect of this show was the fight scenes. An amazing adaptation. This is what I want to see when they do cartoons into live actions. It was campy and cringey and had a lot of playful comedic expressions and movement as it is intentional for a good adaptation of what happened in the cartoon. It doesn't take away from the plot or the serious moments at all.

And the fight scenes were incredible. This is what I want to see when incorporating martial arts into magic/bending! Every ATLA adaptation can take notes!

The show was good overall, and I will definitely go back for a rewatch, especially of the fight scenes.

Read More

Cute and Fluffy. Great for a day when you just want something sweet.

I'm a bit obsessed with this show as a comfort show.
First, I have to give props to the animation in this show. I think it is my favorite of all the e-sport dramas. The game characters are game characters -- it's not the actors who are playing avatars of themselves or something like that. There are really good fight scenes, and the game avatars have a lot of expressions. You aren't getting this weird idea that the players are sucked into the ai world or anything like that, it's very clear that they are just pressing the keyboard and the mouse, but it's still fun, and you can see their effort. I think this is the only e-sport drama I've scene where it's just a game - a game they are playing professionally. So that is something that I love about this.
Next, it's just a cute show. I mean, the acting could be better, and I know for a fact that all the actors are better at acting than they do in this show (not that they are terrible here), but I can definitely tell that there are a lot of pauses, and stare downs and just weird silent moments that are a director's choice, not an actor's. I think it probably has to do with them filming during covid but, idk. Or it could just be a really purposeful choice by the director to make them have almost no expression on their face. I mean, for Xu Kai's character, I guess it makes sense, but Cheng Xiao's character has more screen time and we see more times where she's supposed to have different emotions and she's just... not giving it. And it's not that she can't, because sometimes she'll pull out a really good scene with a lot of depth, but then for the rest it's just ... stiff. So I'm going to blame the director.
There is also a lot of dubbing that was obvious in this, and that is a pet peeve of mine.
Okay, but enough about the flaws.
I love the characters just in general. So cute. And the team mates are hilarious. It's just a great show, especially for a rewatch.
This is my third favorite Xu Kai show so far (after Wonderland of Love and Arsenal Military Academy) and I definitely recommend.

Read More

I really only have this to say: The actors understood the assignment.

This was so well done. It was honestly one of the most beautiful and well-acted shows I'd ever seen.

The longing, yearning, love, depression, ache . . . everything was acted to perfection.

I cried so much. I've rewatched the ending scene maybe five times now, and I rewatched the scenes with the couple together so many times as well.

I'd seen Bai Lu's other work and I think she has great chemistry with her other co-stars but this was unparalleled. And these two didn't even kiss. Just the tension and deep feeling they had was perfect.

That's all I have to say about this.

Please watch it. You will not be disappointed.

Read More

THE SHINING STAR OF 2024

So far TVN dramas in 2024 have been serving, but I can definitely say, with complete certainty, that nothing has fed me as well as Lovely Runner.

Story
The story is about a young woman, Sol, who was in an accident as a teenager. She suffered through a lot of depression following her paralysis, making her suicidal. In a radio phone conversation, the male lead, SunJae, helps her remember her will to live, and she is so grateful to him that she becomes his avid fan. Fifteen years go by and Sun Jae is also suffering heavy depression. After meeting briefly, news comes out that he committed suicide. Heartbroken, she goes back in time to when they were both 19 and decides to save SunJae. At the time, they both attended the same highschool, and SunJae was an athlete. She starts interacting with him more, unlike in the original timeline, and it is discovered that all this time, Sun Jae had a crush on her. The story progresses, Sol going back in forth to the past and the future, discovering what changes she was able to make to the timeline and dealing with her past self. We watch Sol and SunJae act as teenagers, and cringe with them in their many many embarrassing moments. When they're in college, we watch them have so many cute and heartfluttering moments together. As adults, we get to watch them have steamy scenes.

The story perfectly represents love, whether it is the young puppy love of children, to the mature, selfless love of adults. It gives us yearning and adoration. It distinguishes between the love of a fan and admirer from the love of a man/woman. It takes us through so many tropes - fan and idol, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, strangers meeting, one sided love, love at first sight, idiots in love, bromance, love triangle (very brief) high school romance, college romance, adult romance...

There is a good balance of humor and heaviness. While there are a lot of sad moments, I never really found myself crying because there is levity and it is countered well with heartwarming moments or humorous moments.

Acting
Kim Hye Yoon, Im Sol, and Byeon Woo Seok, Ryu Sun Jae, have amazing chemistry. I'd kept up with KHY since Sky Castle, having been one of the few who loved her character, and watch most of everything that she'd put out since then, or else seen clips of it. I'm always impressed by her acting and the range of characters she played. BWS is new for me, as he is for many others. I'd of course seen him in other shows, but I'd never paid him any real attention, and I guess that has to do with the fact that he played next to some really big celebrities at the time, like Park Bo Gum. He gained a lot of attention for his previous works now that his lead role is out, and having gone back to watch them, I can definitely say that he does a very good job. I do believe he completely carried Strong Woman Nam Soon.

In this show, the two acted exactly how I would expect them to act. They were cringey teens, they were foolish young adults, they were mature adults. They acted goofy, cute, serious, in love... I got all the emotions from them.

Most of my enjoyment from the show was watching them act so unserious all the time. And the behind the scenes footage was everything.

The supporting cast did amazing as well. I was invested in all the plot lines and I loved the bromance, friendship and family that the show gave us.

Music

Who knew BWS could sing? well now everyone does as his song for the show is topping. And N.Flying's Lee Seung Hyub is amazing as well! all the OSTs are so good and catchy.

Filmography

Beautiful. Great cinematography. Amazing parallels.

I don't really know what else I can say about this show. It's really on the top of the list as far as great shows go, and is the star of 2024. Highly highly recommended. I will definitely be watching it again.

Read More

One of my favorites

This drama has quickly become one of my favorites. I never wrote a review before for any drama that I watched, but I felt compelled to give The Tale of Nokdu a review for how outstanding I thought it was.

First, and most importantly, the show was well cast. I had seen dramas with the leads So Hyun and Dong Yoon before and I loved them in those dramas, but this one really shows how great their acting is. The great plot really highlighted their potential and gave them room to broadcast their range. The tone shifted from comedic to tragic to romantic on a dime and it was so well done and felt so natural. And SHK and DYJ have great chemistry (and the bts footage is adorable as well) and I hope to see them together in another drama soon. The supporting characters were also superb and they didn't feel like scene fillers that were just there to drag out the time. They had purpose and engaging stories. Some people might disagree with me, but I thought little Aeng Do was a scene stealer. I was also very invested in Dan Oh and Yool Mu and I hope to see the actors thrive because they did a wonderful job.

I loved how the story didn't lag, there was always something to build up the plot and every scene had a purpose, even if it was just a little romantic moment to show the chemistry and why the main leads should end up together, or a political scene that showed what the underlying tension between characters suggested. A lot of dramas struggle to keep the momentum of the plot going but The Tale of Nokdu didn't. It was engaging from start to finish.

This show has gone to my list of shows that I could watch many times without getting bored of it. I highly recommend it.

Read More