I think the reason why this specific title had so much impact in my life, is because of the actors. No better choice could've been done for every single one of the characters, everyone knew how to perfectly convey the emotions of their own character and that was beautiful to see. Since I was a fan of the cast even before this was released, I was looking forward to it, and man, I had the highest expectations. And what this title gave me is beyond what I could've ever imagined.

The simplicity and cliche of the story makes it so attractive and at the same time, it makes it unique. Not the first title involving crossdressing and definitely not the last, but the way Yoojung carried it out was wonderful.

Let's start with the story. A girl born daughter of a traitor who rebelled against the King, who falls in love with his son, the Crown Prince. Pretty cliche, isn't it? This story could've been either pathetic or the best of the best. You can imagine the latter happened. I think what stood out for me the most, is how our Crown Prince falls in love with a eunuch and not with a woman. He didn't know she was a woman, and in the moment he was about to confess his feelings for "him", he finds out he's actually a "her". Of course, 1800-ish, if right now which is almost 2020, we still have homophobes all around the globe, what can you expect from 1829? The love story is simply beautiful, the main actors knew what they were doing, you could feel the chemistry they had behind and in front of the camera.

That leads us to the acting category. WOW. Every single person here did an awesome job with their roles, from the main characters until that one eunuch with 2 lines. In scenes you were supposed to laugh, you laughed, if you were supposed to cry, you cried. They managed to convey every little expression and feeling through the camera and that was seriously unbelievably good.

Now, the music. Never in my life had I seen a title with such amazing OST. And I'm yet to see one right now in 2019. Every single track and the background music too is just simply marvellous. The singers for the OST were phenomenal and the bgm is something I keep warm in my heart.

I really love this one title and I think that's obvious as I've watched it for 42 times now, and I'm not planning to stop, NEVER EVER IN MY LIFE. MDBC said gay rights and amazing acting + incredible OST, a must watch !!!

Note: Remember this is my own opinion and you're very much allowed to disagree, of course. However I do not wish to discuss about my opinion with anyone else. If you disagree, keep it to yourself please, or idc reply to this but I will not answer.

Leggi di Più

Magnificent, Excellent, Perfect and all synonyms as well.

Alchemy of Souls left us back in August 2022 promising it would come back with another season half the size of the original one in December 2022. Were there any high expectations? Of course! Were they met? I realise now that certainly my expectations were low compared to what the second part provided us with.

Part 1 did its thing. Introduced the story and characters to us, made us feel a lot of feelings we did not know we could feel, and left us with a cliffhanger (literally involving a cliff...) that lasted a couple months. The hype for Part 2 was gradually increasing as people started to watch Part 1 right before Part 2 dropped. Everyone, myself included, just wanted to see what happened after that finale.

Story-wise?
Yours truly fully enjoyed it. If I ever complained about it I can't remember anymore what that was about. Of course, sometimes it was a headache trying to understand what was happening, forming theories to keep ourselves busy till the next episode dropped. I am not going to lie and say I wasn't confused sometimes, but there's nothing that was left unexplained (in my opinion).

Character-wise?
I am a huge Jung Somin fan. I was kinda sad she wasn't going to appear in Part 2 but that didn't affect my expectations for the series. Go Younjung absolutely devoured her role. I wanted to see more of her Naksu in Part 1 and I'm so glad we got to see her even for a short 10 episodes. Her Jin Buyeon and her Naksu/Cho Yeong were two entirely different people with the same face, and she managed to convince me that I wasn't looking at the same person.

As for Jaewook, what can I say and where do I even start? He was fantastic. I just couldn't believe Part 2 Jang Uk was the same guy we met during Part 1. Jaewook's acting was just incredible and it played a pivotal role in me liking this part as much as its predecessor.

...

Alchemy of Souls is brilliant. If you haven't watched it, I really am judging you.

[I will continue to write this review later because I pulled an all nighter to watch the finale, definitely not a win for those in the west. But I would gladly do it again.]

Leggi di Più

Heart warming and heart wrenching.

Without further ado, this is one hell of an emotional ride.

I didn't start watching this series until it was halfway through. Big mistake? You can say so, as I devoured the entire thing in one sitting. I'd previously heard about Our Blues before, but at first, its omnibus format wasn't really attractive at all. I think the reason I decided to give it a try is that I had run out of things to watch, so I said, why not?

The story itself was alright, a slice of life surrounding an ensemble group of people who live in Jeju Island. So far, I was thinking Reply series kind of vibe. We start getting to know every character and their past stories, their present life, and their hopes for their future.

Life is not easy and this series depicts that with a raw feeling of "Wow, I can relate to that" or "That's like my mom and I". And I think that's the beauty of this series, being able to relate to the good and the bad things, and not necessarily feel entirely connected to the good ones or guilty for the bad ones, just being able to see yourself in the story and accompany every character through their journey.

Friends who fell apart, first loves coming back, society prejudice, good and bad family relationships, getting a second chance, you name it, this series has it.

Moving on from the story for a bit, I'd like to mention that this cast is genius. Truly, how do you put together this kind of cast and not expect great things? I can firmly say everyone was amazing and sincerely portrayed their character really well.

However, how can I not make emphasis on my two favourite performances?

Lee Byunghun did it again, and I'm not surprised, I always tend to expect the best from him and he never fails to deliver. His portrayal as Lee Dongseok from beginning to end, the character development Dongseok has and especially his portrayal during episodes 18-20 left me speechless sometimes.

As for Han Jimin, her portrayal as Lee Youngok left me with a bittersweet feeling, character-wise. It is evident Youngok is not the best person there is, but she is trying and her burdens keep pushing her down no matter how much she tries to pull herself up. But Jimin was able to convey those feelings that Youngok was clearly meant to feel, you know? Her happiness, her sadness, her anger, I think Jimin did an amazing job here.

Is this a series worth watching? Yes. Definitely. Don't think about it twice.

Is this a series worth re-watching? I don't know. Why? From my point of view, this is meant to be a one-time experience. What's going to happen next? That kind of feeling you only get when you're watching for the first time, and Our Blues leaves you with a satisfied feeling of "That was really good, but time to move on."

A series that shines because of the characters and their stories, the relationships they have among them and the struggles of life. Truly a pleasure to have watched it.

Leggi di Più

The first time I watched this was back in 2015 when it came out, also when I discovered my current favourite actor (Park Bogum, versatile king !!). I did like it a lot back then and I like it even more now, it's definitely worth it! If anyone asks me for a thriller criminal drama, this is the first thing I would recommend.

Many people had a problem with the main female lead's actress, and being honest, she's not my cup of tea either, but she was not an obstacle for me not to enjoy this drama. The cast was phenomenal, from Kyungsoo's cameo to the police team, everyone did a great job, special props (again) to Bogum for building his character amazingly.

Now, as for the story/plot, that's what I liked the most. Most criminal/law dramas are "there's a culprit that scapes and wants to kill one of the main characters, they work together to find him and finally put him in jail". This was not like that. The characters were so clever, genius, it kinda gave me Death Note vibes sometimes. The development of the story was good, and it was all because the amazing and clever mind of the three main characters (Hyeon, Min and Lee Junyeong). And I'm so so glad the romance was not a main focus here because it would've ruined the whole thing, and instead, that they focused more on Min and Hyeon's relationship. The ending was also amazing, not cliche at all and you definitely do not see it coming. So many things happen on episode 16 that is impossible to predict what will come out of the whole thing.

To sum this up, this drama was genius and not cliche at all, I enjoyed the whole thing and was not disappointed by the ending, though there's one thing that kinda bother me, it's not that "big" and I'm still okay with the way they wrapped it up.

100% recommended, please give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Leggi di Più

A simple romcom

This is a very simple romantic comedy, a very cliche drama too and what about it? The cast was amazing and the story (aside of cliches) was pretty good too. The OST is one of my favourite things ever, every single song snapped.

Either people love this, hate it, or don't care. As for me, I loved it. You may think I'm being biased as my favourite actress is the main female lead, but I kid you not, I hate being biased for my own personal reasons. I do not mind age gaps either (of course some are crazy even to me but this one's fine).

Note: Remember this is my own opinion and you're very much allowed to disagree, of course. However I do not wish to discuss about my opinion with anyone else. If you disagree, keep it to yourself please, or idc reply to this but I will not answer.

Leggi di Più

This is the second time I watch this drama. The first one was back when it aired. I didn't hate it. I just couldn't understand the hype of it. There were extremely good reviews and others not so good. At first I was very hesitant to watch this again as I remembered I didn't like it enough to rewatch it. Made a bet with a friend to watch this and she would watch one I liked but she didn't like, fair enough. We had one month to watch it and it only took me a week. I was hooked after episode 3? I cursed nonstop 18 year old me for not liking this back then, I just ordered a few minutes ago the director's cut.

Definitely the most remarkable thing about this drama is the male lead's acting. Kyungsoo is delightful to watch! And no, I'm not an EXO fan before you tell me I'm being biased, I used to be a whole anti when I was 14 (mind you, I'm 20 now and those days are forever gone). This was his first period drama and he really did an amazing job, he's a natural! As Yul or as Wondeuk, he owned those characters and he showed a different side of each. Can't wait until he comes back !! The rest of the cast deserves to be praised too! Our female lead was fantastic, never disappointed by Jihyun! The royals, ministers, the people from Songju Village, they were all splendid.

One could say the story is very cliche, memory loss, hidden identity, lovers since childhood, etc etc. While that is true, and I do hate cliches myself as well, they all worked for me! I liked how they were both nobles but for their own reasons were living as commoners, loved how the love triangle was not a thing here and that our "second male lead" preferred his friendship with him over the girl, loved how the minister and the Queen weren't working together this time, loved how the political conflict was developed, loved how some events were carried out and were taken from cliche to something unique.

A strong 5 stars to this drama and hope I can watch it again in the future (not a near one tho I'm still missing them)

Note: Remember this is my own opinion and you're very much allowed to disagree, of course. However I do not wish to discuss about my opinion with anyone else. If you disagree, keep it to yourself please, or idc reply to this but I will not answer.

Leggi di Più

Life Changing Experience (literally).

Words cannot convey how I felt watching Lovely Runner and the journey it took me through.

I was sceptical at first because they painted this as an idol-fan love story (and what I thought would be a weird age-gap), so I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but I love Hyeyoon to pieces and was familiar with Wooseok (hated his character in Record of Youth or cried for him in 20th Century Girl), so I decided to give it a go. Episode 1 was alright, surprisingly left me wanting more, but nothing too extraordinary. I waited another day for Episode 2 to be release and well, I watched it and here I am, still in my Lovely Runner sh*t. I think everything changed for Subeom nation after that episode 2 ending, and from that moment I knew this would become a favourite of mine.

A girl time travelling to save the boy who gave her courage to live but that boy loved her all along for like 15 years? Dude, I don't know about you but I was OBSESSED. And from that moment on, my Mondays and Tuesdays became such a source of happiness to the point I hated weekends. Crazy, right? Plot-wise, this was brilliant. Even the smallest details made sense, and even thought there were a couple plot-holes (as expected since time-travelling media can't help but have them), this was brilliantly executed. From small things such as Sunjae realising Sol is from the future because she's singing Sudden Shower to more complex things such as Sol going further back into the past to erase herself from Sunjae's past, marvellous and beautiful.

Character-wise, I've got absolutely nothing to complain about, either.

Let's start with Im Sol, played by one of the greatest actresses of our generation, Kim Hyeyoon. This role was literally (because it was, in fact) written for her and no one, absolutely no one could've pulled it off the way she did. We saw Sol go through so many things in order to save Sunjae, sometimes failing to realise she was slowly losing herself during the process. But I am so happy that even though she had to endure a lot, at the end, all that effort paid off for her. I laughed with and at her, I cried with and for her, and I felt this character so much that I simply couldn't help but love her to pieces. I never understood the hate she was receiving, I believe her to be one of the most selfless characters I've come across and one I'm sure we will cherish for a long time.

As for Ryu Sunjae, played by big softie Byeon Wooseok, all I gotta say he deserves this huge blow up. which I gotta say, I'm not sure why he didn't get huge after (at least) 20th Century Girl, where he played a very similar character. Nevertheless, really happy for him because he became a global sensation, so deserved! Anyway, Sunjae!! God, Sunjae!! Leader of Subeom nation, a pathetic malewife and certified loser, I love you so much. Wooseok played Sunjae in a way I believe no one else could have, and we're all the richer for it. Sunjae was just a simply little (2 meter) guy who fell in love and that's it, but that doesn't mean his story ends there. He showed us perseverance, longing, grief, love, happiness, so many raw emotions we rarely see from male characters, and I think you will all agree with me that you just simply love him.

And finally, our Kim Taesung, played by the amazing Song Geonhee. I am very pleased to say I never disliked him, jokes on y'all for never seeing his potential! Taesung, thank you for showing the audience that second leads do not need to be toxic and clingy in order to stay relevant. Geonhee played such a charming Taesung that one couldn't just help but love him (which was my case). He was always there for Sol as a friend (and I'm so glad Sol never lead him on), and that he believed and trusted her when she asked for things that did not make any sense (future related, of course). Such a refreshing character that I will miss dearly.

I would also like to point out two more things regarding this drama. The first one is the make up and costume department, I AM CLAPPING AT THIS VERY SAME MOMENT. How were you able to convince me that Hyeyoon and Wooseok were 19 at some point and 34 at the other and so on? I mean, the actors of course had a great deal to do with this, but I believe the make up and costume team did a marvellous job that needs to be recognised.

THE OST! It's been such a while since an all-rounder OST came along, I will forever remember how desperate we all were for Spring Snow to be released, we were truly losing my minds. And I'm also forever thankful we had Wooseok sing Sudden Shower because that just adds a great deal more of emotion to the whole thing. Great singer choices, great songwriting, 10/10.

Overall, this drama did everything splendidly, and I am so sad that I have to let it go after 2 months, I wish I could forget it all so I can watch it again for the first time. I'm sure I'll rewatch from time to time (tomorrow, maybe hahah). If what you're looking for is a refreshing experience, I do certainly recommend this one right here. You won't be disappointed.

Perfection does not exist, but if it did and it came in the shape of a Korean television series, it would be Lovely Runner.

Leggi di Più

Great cast, poor execution

Believe me, I really tried getting into this but I just couldn't.

Individually, I like both Seo Hyunjin and Hwang Inyeop. They're both terrific actors when given a proper script and a good character to play with. This was obviously not the case.

Seo Hyunjin'sn character is depicted as arrogant and believe's she's better than anyone else, and I fully support this when it comes to men, and given she works for a law firm, I love how she's the best of the best above all men working there. We don't really get to see many executive women, as usual for this genre. But I just feel she's too bland, like why is being arrogant her only personality trait?

As for Hwang Inyeop's character, don't even get me started. Why does he have the same hairstyle as he did in The Sound of Magic when he was playing a high schooler? As for his personality, it is nonexistent and that's all I will say.

I'm really not interested in continuing this one, my friends, but best of luck if you do! And if you like this, kuddos to you as well!

Leggi di Più

Main leads are chemistry majors!!

I’m writing this after my first *rewatch* as I did watch this when it was airing but felt like I needed more time with it. I’m a huge fan of both main leads so this was a must watch!!

I’ve always said that good chemistry can make even badly executed stories bearable, and this is the case. I did enjoy the plot/story but it was nothing remarkable (especially when Lovely Runner is currently airing and they have been crowned in my book as time travelling geniuses). THE CHEMISTRY is however, a completely different matter.

I knew Seyoung wouldn’t disappoint, she’s just a star through and through, and Inhyuk left me wanting more after Under the Queen’s Umbrella and Cheer Up (knew him since Gumiho but Jungwoo??? I believe in Cheer Up supremacy ok). And well, BOTH OF THEM DELIVERED. Inhyuk’s ability to play both Taehas was marvellous, he truly made me believe they were 2 completely people. And Seyoung is just so lovely and talented that it makes me so!!

This is a JEM and I’m kinda upset it’s only 12 episodes long, should be at least 16!! I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who doesn’t know the main leads or is looking for something more unique? However, I really enjoyed it and would watch it again (for a second time hahah) anytime!!

inhyuk bb hand in marriage!!!

Leggi di Più