Just finished it. Objectivley spoken, it was good and well executed show.

But of course, some things can be criticized and could be done way better:
1. The stomach cancer theme. It was unnecessary and way over the top for a show which doesn't focus explicitly on this topic. (like 39 for example)
2. The lavender-gang took too much screen time. Yes, they were funny but they didn't contribute to the overall plot progression and rivaled the 2nd lead couple in screen time.
3. The last episode or better, the ending was needless and not satisfying.
a.) the whole Mo-Eum / Dan-Ho / Yeon-Du part was rushed in the end and the last major scene they got, was the decision making process of Mo-Eum where she was unsure how to tell Dan-Ho they south pole thing. Comparing this to the screen tim, the lavender-gang got, it's kind of underwhelming. I mean, it feels like Mo-Eum / Dan-Ho / Yeon-Du was the support while the lavender-gang was the second lead.
b.) on the last meter, Seok-Ryu and Seung-Hyo decided to postpone their wedding and the final impression is an argument and a walk together. In general, not a bad idea, but the built up to this scene was unfitting. First, the expectation for the wedding was risen (not only in ep16, but also in ep15 AND ep14 (!) where it was the major cliffhanger), then it was dropped and then the lavender-gang had a never ending scene and then, only a couple of minutes were left to set the correct mood. The lavender-gang scene should set the mood, but that works only if the viewer likes them. Usually, the second lead should set the mood and these are also the characters and actors the viewer want to see, not the support group.

The 3rd bullet point is interesting, because they did fairly well on the individual endings and cliffhangers of each episode. I can only explain it that way, that the second leads were really unpopular or the support cast was super duper popular. Or, the audience shifted to a different group. (maybe an older group) It would be interesting, to see statistics about that.

What was good?
The rest. It lives from it's high production standard. Good cast, good music, good settings, good camera work etc. But to be honest, it wasn't exceptional in any form.

I would rate it 8/10.

Read More

I watched this drama in 2020 on the youtube channel of KBS world. (thanks for that, KBS world!)

The drama is an old one, and you will see this in every detail. Let it be the stage props, the acting, the colors or the way the story is told. From todays perspective, this is a plus IF you like the 00er years and you want to rewind time a bit. But be aware, it looks a bit trashy.
You will see a Korea which is similar to the one you know from todays dramas, but it's definitly a different one.

Besides the age, the drama also have some other strong points:
1. The friendship of Eunbyeol with a fellow (female) student.
This can't be praised more. You don't see many dramas (or even films), where 2 female characters bond with each other from scratch and are just friends, without anything else. And the 2 actresses and the storyboard did a very good job here.
2. The school, gangster-princess, friendship, coming-of-age (and a bit of romance) genres.
You will find these genres more in the J-drama section, but here you get a korean version of it. The main difference is, that the korean way of telling stories is a bit more direct than the japanese way. From a western point of view, you will have a better pacing and the characters actually do what you want them to do, and don't beat around the bushes too much ...
3. 3 stars from today at a young age.
Park Min-Young, Lee Min-Hoo, T.O.P.
This is cool. If you are older, you can check what they did in the 00er years and compare their life with yours. ;) It's refreshing to see Lee Min-Hoo in a silly supporting character roll and Park Min-Youngs - I think first - drama. Both did a good job here.
(when watching on KBS channel: read the YT commets. It's hilarious how many T.O.P. fans watched this drama only for him)
4. The Characters
There are great characters, especially the supporting characters are all very likeable, which helps to generate a lively surrounding for the main cast.
5. The romance part.
There is romance, but it's not the main focus - or at least - the visible romance is not the main focus and not explicitly shown. But you have to figure it out yourself.

Nonetheless, there are also some mediocre points, or points which are "up to you":
1. The Story
The story is honestly not very fancy and also, you have to accept the a somewhat unrealistic reasoning, for why the characters come together and the story takes off.
2. The Music
It's from 2007. You can't compare it directly to 2020, but the main theme is catchy.
3. The Acting
It's from 2007. You can't compare it either. The story pacing is different and the way things were told are different to 2020, but the actors did a good job.

So, should you watch it?
Yes if you like one of this: "Park Min-Young, (T.O.P.), (Lee Min-Ho)", "School, Friendship, Coming of Age, Gangster-Princess", "old dramas".

Otherwise, I would'nt recommend it for you.

Read More

I started to watch this show because I'm currently binging Arimura Kasumi portfolio and the synopsys mentioned the Tohoku-Earthquake in 2011. Since the latter is a unique topic and I remember the news when it happened, I was interested.

I expected nothing or at most a disater genre. I somehow ignored the preview image and didn't expect this kind of series.

The good part about it: I was hooked up from the get go and couldn't predict what's coming next.
The bad part: In the middle, it was quite teary for me. (but I like this, so it's technically not bad, just very unexpected)

Regarding the story: The Tohoku-Earthquake is not the main topic of the show, but it's always the connecting peace for everything what's happening. IMHO, since the incident is so unique and characters are typically shaped and influenced by these kind of events, it's quite believable that the story could've happend IRL.
From a story writing perspective, it translates to good explanations why the basic and generic story happens the way it does in this show.

Looking at the conversations and interactions between the characters: The flow was natural (as it would be IRL) and every character got time to show that he/she has individual motivations and life-goals as well as having unique emotional or physical needs. Especially in comparison to other characters.
I see the following:
- Unrequitted Love (all characters)
- Inferiority complex (all characters)
- Getting the girl/boy he/she dreamed about for a long time (Shinji, Han)
- The need to prove himself worthy (kind of inferority complex) (Shinji)
- The need for money (Shinji)
- The need to have a meaningfull life (Kiyotaka)
- The need to escape from social norms (Kiyotaka)
- A safe haven to heal emotionally (Kiyotaka, Toko)
- The big wish for something to go right (or not wrong again) (Toko)
- The feat to endure pain over a long time and stand up again after each blow (Toko)
- The ability to learn how to handle difficult situations in life (Toko)
- Being able to learn how to decide what's important for herself right now, at this moment and don't get distracted by the past and concentrate only on the future (Toko)
- The unconditional love and support for his/her child without doubt (Kazutaka, Toko, Mieko (Kiyotakas mother))
- The almost morbid need to be on the move over and over again (Han)
- Honesty to say difficult things directly to someone else (all of them)

Thinking about it, I really like the characters. They are very well written and consindering that all of this happend only in 6 * 45 min, that's really good if you compare this to other shows. (random K-Drama for example)
If I had to pick one or two favorite characters, it would probably be Toko and her father, Kazutaka. Because both of them learned to be egoistic in life for what's important for them, until the point where they can be altruistic again.

お母ちゃん

Read More

I liked it. :) The story dragged a bit since the main plot revolves most of the time around the prevention of the relationship.
IMHO they found a good story-balance for this specific topic. It could've been easily the prequel for an R-rated movie, but it wasn't. The topic was clearly the character development of all characters. They did well on that part.
To be more specific: They emphasized on the standpoint of the mother to prevent the relationship over the whole storyline and didn't move an inch apart here. In the end, the mother won and the characters under discussion accepted it.
Yes, in the end, they got each other, but that's okay from the story perspective, since they loved each other. It's better this way, than a suicide ending.

For the other parts:
- the filming was OK and typical for a J-Drama. The image quality and colors are bad. It looks like they used a bigger camcorder to film it. From a visual POV this is a no go, but it's IMHO the charm of J-Dramas as well. Since the focus lies on the story, this is fine.
- At first, I disiked the second female lead, but the character did a 180 ° spin and supported the female lead directly and in a friendly way. I liked that.
- The music was quite good, as expected. In contrary to the visuals, J-Dramas emphasize often on the music to get a mood across to the viewer (or listener). It worked here as well.

Would I rewatch it?
No. I usually don't rewatch many shows and only the best or those I really really _really_ liked. Since the story dragged a bit and most of it revolves around the prohibition of the relationship, I can't say it's "fun" to watch. There are also not many scenes included which make me want to see them again. If it was R-rated - yes, then the rewatch value would increase, but that would be a complete different show. Let's be happy to see normal take on this topic, watch it once and let it be.

8.5/10. Slightly better than good average.

Read More

Movie with rich storyline and characters

So, I had this movie on my watch list for a long time (since it's release), not knowing anything about the story and never had the time to watch it in one go. I even considered it watching in chunks while riding the subway on my way to work.

Well, I'm glad I didn't. I finally got the time on christmas day and the invested time was worth it. After the first couple of minutes I also had to look twice, since I clearly didn't expect Kim Yoo-Jung in the main role, but I was even happier after my mind accepted it was true, since I really like her. The story then proceeded and I was on an emotional rollercoaster - I did go through all emotions the story presented. I was once again catched off guard after the major plot twist. Up till then, I believed it was an easy school romance story line but well - it was not. Once I swallowed the twist, the story then was easy going till the end.

So, in general: I liked this movie. Does it have flaws? Yes, it has. My main critique is the changed actress for Na Bo-Ra in the two timelines. Even though I do understand, that Kim Yoo-Jung is rather young and probably not suited to play a mid to end 30-year old women and maybe even can't depict the cool-headed and distanced emotions Han Hyo-Joo can, I would have just loved her to see it in that role. I see two reasons for that:
a.) Kim Yoo-Jung had more than 95% screentime of all Na Bo-Ra scenes, so it feels kinda ungrateful, that she can't do the last 5%
b.) It would be a huge chance for her, since she mostly played air-head, short-tempered characters, and I would have loved her to see and expand her acting spectrum with a different role, and these 5% would have been a great and forgiving possibility.

So, the change of the lead actress makes the end worse than it could be. For 1:45 hours or so I felt with Na Bo-Ra, because Kim Yoo-Jung did a great job. But then, from one scene to the next (and only for the last minutes) I have to connect with a different actress? That's not cool. If the switch would have been done after 1h or so, it wouldn't have been such a great issue.

Otherwise, the story was well written. All actors did a great job depicting their specific character. All of them felt alive and important for the story. None was expendable.


To sum it up, I rate it as 10/10 personally, but it should have been a 9.5 due to the changed actress.

Read More

Pathetic. The show is underwhelming.

1.) It's named after the Mountain Jirisan, so the expectation is, that the mountain plays a major role in the story. But far away: It's just the place where everything is happening. It could've been named Seoraksan or Wolchulsan and the story could've been exactly the same. No one would notice. That's potential, given away for free.
2.) The story telling is done by jumping between timelines on a regularly basis. (minimum 2 jumps per episode) This is weak, because a stringent plotline can't be built up. The show presents snippets of story parts, glued together. Many times, there is no connection between two adjacent snippets and the viewer always has to guess, if the information gained in the last snippet is relevant for the next couple of minutes or not.
Also, the timeline jumping is most often done by displaying the year the next snippet takes place in. But be aware: Not always! So it's confusing to watch.
3.) The characters do nothing. They are just there and aren't proactive. They wait for the story to unfold. And the viewer waits with them. That's boring! Where is the arc of suspense and the connection between the viewer and the characters!? It's not possible to connect with them on a personal basis. Only (!) in ep 11 the main characters show some degree of emotion.
4.) How many people died in this show? I didn't count, but on average, it feels like it's more than 1 per episode. Why? That's lazy script writing and easy gained airtime, since you can repeat the recovering scene of the dead person multiple times.
If I were the writer and I wanted to let so many people die in my story, I would present the audience a hint on the murderer per death, so they can puzzle around and guess who is the murderer.

Read More