Not a bad watch

When watching foreign dramas, I take in consideration quirkiness, cultural differences, and tropes English speaking countries may find strange. Dear Sa-chan does not follow the typical love stories western cultural are used too. I accidentally found this show and found it interesting and wanted to find out how all the character would turn out at the end. There is a lot of symbolism and themes surrounding things like types of love, timing of relationships (maturity) and miscommunication the effects of past relationships and passing the burden onto others. Seems like the intent of the original author of the manga was to invoke emotions and as seen here other reviewers passed on all 1.0 reviews even though the actors did a pretty great job and the camera work and shooting was above average in my opinion... so they are review bombing emotionally. and not critically.
Katagiri is monotone, slightly lifeless, broken and yet Sachi dates him - it takes two to tango.

** Spoilers
Ironically, when dramas or shows about female lead protagonist burns the good guy and she falls in love with the heart thob or they have 3 guys on ice these dramas have a stamp of approval (ex: Twilight). Dear Sa-chan is an over played trope of the average girl falling for the popular guy and getting burned. There are controversial themes on virginity which I understand female audiences will rail against with; however, waiting years on end to have sex with a boyfriend is a gamble you take especially when you are dating a Japanese guy with above average looks, square jawline and perfect skin.

To the men bashers -
-Katagiri suffers for the rest of his life - in the manga he is 40 and never gets over Sachi.
-Sachi waits 5 years to have sex with Katagiri and less with Makoto wtf.
-All the women get married or live happily ever after.
-Katagiri repays back the husband for 4 years as agreed and owns his fate and apologies to everyone.
- Regarding Alimony it wasn't about $$ but more about not being free to walk away - he had to pay face2face for 4 years
-Sa-chan truly loves Katagiri and makes him experience love for the first time because he comes from a broken family
-Even after losing Sachi he writes to her as sort of a punishment, but never sends the letters.
What exactly are the reviewers/watchers want? For him to go to jail or be executed?


Observations:
I feel like Sachi and Kaname are very similar and touch upon the idea over being overbearing. Kaname is distance from his wife because of being overbearing in past relationships, while Sachi loses Katagiri from being overbearing.

Shino and Katagiri are looking to feel love, but are not fully mature with communicating to the ones that love them.
Sakurada Dori is a great actor, but I feel his character is odd and his personality is very shifty its hard justify or forgive his actions. If they had remove all the creepy wire tapping or switched it to a PI that would have helps his character a lot.

Not sure with Misuzu role. There is romantic energy or a sense of her liking him - but the story does nothing with it.
The really annoying guy that hangs around Katagiri actually gained my respect. He is childish, immature, and a womanizer; however, he knows when to shut up when he finds out personal information and he knows when to talk to help Katagiri out using Misuzu.


Overall the show is ok. Story needs to be reworked to work for western audience. Let the fems have their temper tantrum about dear sa-chan as they gusher over Boys Over Flowers.

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Sky Castle is innovative, and I appreciate new ideas and stories (why I like foreign dramas) as it makes it fun to watch. The cast is excellent, and acting is top notch. The music is well thought out - don't expect to go searching for an OST unless you are looking for a dopamine hit as in most Dramas its usually repetitive BGM throughout. Camera work is great and utilizes many angles and lens. The show is shot on quality film and is a big budget show based on the quality of the filming. Reviewers who gave this show 10s across appeared to be more emotionally involved than critically reviewing and that's ok. The writers are talented; However, there are too many situations where people are conveniently snooping or hearing things with perfect timing and feel the writers got lazy or didn't know how to resolve those situations. I find that the writers made all the men (Men who are supposed to be high level doctors) slow, dumb, bumbling, and mostly the comic relief. Currently, a Japanese version is airing, and it is clear that they saw this too and throttle it down a lot.

Again, the acting is top notch. You can tell the actors really enjoyed the roles they played. Sky castle at times feels like a movie and then you get sucked back into going - ok this is a drama because of the Dialogue and camera work is not consistent ... it kind of hurts the flow the show - but not enough to want to stop watching. The rest of the Review will have to contain spoilers.

***** Spoilers beyond this point

Here is my biggest problem with Sky Castle. What exactly does it want to be? Does it want to teach a lesson to overbearing parents, or does it want to feed on the emotions of people who may have felt the pressure and/or abuse of parents pushing them to be in the top 1% and getting ratings. The character Cha Min Hyeok (pyramid guy) I get it he is overbearing, obsessive, narcissist even; however, his daughter blows off 60k and fakes going to college, his wife constantly goes behinds his back and undermines him. Many of the parents depicted in the show are disrespected, written as incompetent and feel that it simply pushes away the people who need to see it the most and Sky Castle missed a great opportunity to create some kind of balance were the parents can be respectively written yet be thought a lesson. So basically, revert the show as pure entertainment and nothing more.

Han Seo Jin (lead)- is kind of like the Anti- hero, in a way you want her to win at the end. You kind of understand where she is coming from, and she wants the best for her daughter (and the daughter is on 100%). She is witty, smart, calculating and at the same time she is vinegar and can lie, manipulate and be a *itch. Other than Han Seo Jin - everyone is pretty much unlikeable and this forces you to care for Han Seo Jin because she is the most likable person, and I had no attachment to any of the characters even Noh Seung Hye or Kim Hye Na

Noh Seung Hye (The new neighbor) - I wanted to like her. I think I am supposed to like her, but again Han Seo Jin is the anti-hero so any butting in makes me disconnected from her. Towards the end her character changes dramatically and her character is a critical role for the plot . In reality she should have been the main character and Han Seo Jin "the Villian" but the story builds too much on Han Seo Jin.

Kim Hye Na (The girl that moves in)- this is another character I had no attachment too. She was smug, arrogant, she had no likable features. She even used Noh son as a tool to manipulate Han's daughter. She was constantly snooping around and challenging authority and adults and got caught up into. Its more likely the writer was looking for a Shakespear like tragedy. They could have made her more likable loving and the outcome would have made me feel more like "damn" what a twist.

Kim Joo Young - excellent actor - love the fact you really don't know her motives for 90% for the drama - you don't know if she is bad or good till the very end. I feel that Kim represents more than just a single character - but is the essences of despair among parents and that they are willing to destroy the relationship and mind of the child simply for them to achieve a power position.

Kang Joon Sang (father)- I am glad the Japanese version has cleaned this character up. They made him smart, kind and tolerable. I'm not sure why Sky castle original writers could not write him this way.

Cha Min Hyeok - The comic relief. This is probably the best actor in the show in my opinion, if not second to the Lead actor. My issue again is how the men in the show are all depicted as the emotional abusers of the kids and somehow all the mothers are just willing participant (or victims) when we know in reality they can be just as bad or worse. Again, the writers really drop the ball on making this a good teaching lesson instead of disrespecting the very Parents they are trying to give a message too.



There are 100s of positive reviews and I didn't want to rehash all those points - so even though my review sounds negative all in all it is a great show .

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Actors with great chemistry does wonders

I will say this movie is not for everyone. I was lucky to grow up very diverse with many different genres of movies. Watching a story of a "family" going thru struggle is not my go to; however, the director masterfully tows the line between what could be boring and what is engaging story telling without explosions, guns, and high budget special effects. The plot is of a low income 'family" who all have somewhat of an honest living, yet it's not enough to support one another and thus break moral values to simply survive. The addition of a new family member will inadvertently cause a chain of events where everyone will have to reelevate the relationship with one another.

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Over the top

After watching DoctorX I decided to give Code Blue a shot. (preface by no means I am saying DoctorX is the greatest thing since slice bread) I've watched Japanese Dramas for a LONG time and really didn't see the appeal after watching the first ep. of Code Blue other than fan service- Notice how none of the reviews have "beware spoilers" or "I really love the tension between X and Y on the team" because it simply does not develop (not enough to be memorable) . The show is pretty much medical rescue pRon and fan service and if you are into that well, understood.

JDramas can be over the top, but this has a different over the top energy. I feel many people love this drama because of Yamashita and Toda or maybe medical is a common field pursed now specially in SE Asia. I am familiar with a lot of the cast from other shows, but in my opinion, Code blue does not bring out the main leads best talent (there roles were not believable) and is over shadowed by the supporting actors who are vets. Maybe the drama is more for a female audience (well so is DocX), and I am simply not the target audience. The show is "action" boring and introduces too many characters in the beginning with the typical "lets expose everyone's weakness" . The music in the show has a "superman hero" like vibe to it which is kinda "cringy" Apparently, there is no romantic interest and the dialogue outside the "medical action" is a SNORE. If one was to remove the medical scenes the dialogue among the actors would be soul sucking and melodramatic, If we were to plug in 4 different leads of the same caliber into Code Blue it would probably push out the same results. Very low chemistry among the actors - . If you like Greg's Anatomy this might be a show for you.

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