All spectacle, Less Substance.

This drama had an interesting premise. Not only that, it had a good star-studded cast. It's just that I felt that this drama was overrated.

Before I lay out the issues I had with this drama, I'm going to start with what I enjoyed. I enjoyed the cinematography of this drama from start to finish.

There were also episodes that spark creativity. One episode was when it opened with the painting of the French Revolution. Then, the whole episode was built around it and it comedically culminated in the characters of the drama doing a paint-me-a-picture of the said painting.

Now, I get down to the issues.

First is perhaps the most minute of them all. For me, Soong Joong Ki doesn't really strike me as a consigliere who experienced a lot from the mafia because he looks... too clean... and soft... This is just personal preference but hey.

Second was how it wanted to be serious and not serious at the same time. This leads to a very confusing mix of genres. As other reviewers have pointed out, these two elements didn't really work together. The comedy kills the seriousness that this drama has while the gory and violent scenes kills the comedy. When balanced well, it could lead to a good drama. In Vincenzo, the tone is a confusing mess.

The third problem I had was how shallowly written the characters in this drama were. This became more obvious when I watched the screenwriter's other work, the Fiery Priest which had better-written characters. Characterization was where a lot of the missed opportunities that this drama had.

First, is with Hong Cha Yeong, her father's death could've been an interesting point for her character to grow but she gets sidelined into sometimes an obnoxious FL as the focus has been on the titular ML. Knowing her character can be something more, this is why I am not buying into the fanservice thrown by the drama as I don't see the point of it story-wise despite it being eye-candy for the audience. For me, it feels forced.

The second one is with this show's villains. Taecyeon's character was introduced to be a cunning and cruel psychopath and it was good until he revealed himself. I was expecting for him to be an active villain but he was more of a passive, spoiled brat who doesn't take part in the scheming of bringing Vincenzo down and instead leaves it all on the female prosecutor-turned-attorney of Wusang and complain that when the schemes fail.

The fourth issue, while minor, I had with this drama is when they tried to lighten up Vincenzo's character when they tried to introduce an animal companion, the scenes end up cringey. Though, I kinda like how it got concluded though it seemed ridiculous.

If you want a popcorn drama that has little struggles to offer its protragonists, has spectacle, the actors that you like seeing onscreen without having to think deep into the plot, you might like this drama.

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How I Met Your Mother in Classical Music University

Having read the Nodame Cantabile manga, watched the anime, Japanese drama, and Korean drama, I was really excited for this version since it is one of my favorite mangas. Despite having been disappointed with You're My Destiny, my expectation for this drama is really high.

This drama gets really draggy in the middle parts and because I expected it to follow the original plot, I decided to watch all 40 episodes of this drama and watched how they're going to utilize this amount of episodes to tell Chin's version of this Nodame Cantabile. Upon finishing it, despite the ending being sweet and will satisfy most viewers, it didn't satisfy me in a lot of ways.


PART I: PROS
I really liked that they toned down the ML's character because I didn't like him in the original because he was a bit harsh on the FL, especially on the final arc. Because of this, we get a lot of sweet moments.

Since this drama is 40 episodes long, I was really hoping they will include the Paris Arc since that Arc is my favorite on the manga and I am glad they did.

I really liked that they tried to include Chinese instruments despite it feeling surreal and kind of forced.

I loved the ending's final concerto because it made the story come into a full circle.

PART II: CONS
--- THE FL ---
They kind of followed the events of the source material but without the satisfaction of seeing the FL develop as a pianist. One of the reasons why I liked the manga was not because of the romance. Instead, because even if the FL is very in-love with the ML, she still had her own agency as a character who has her own struggles, dreams, feelings, and other interests that don't revolve around the ML.

What happened with this drama is that EVERY character in this drama treats the FL like a toddler, especially the ML and Mr. Fisher. The result of this? The FL remains a toddler. She's timid, immature, and insecure. Not only that, she seems like a shelled version of Nodame whose reason for existence revolves around him.

GONE was the eccentric Nodame that I cheered for, cried, and celebrated with when she becomes a professional pianist. The world FINALLY gets to hear her wonderful unorthodox playstyle when she had her world tour. Instead, she's a generic clingy C-drama FL.

--- THE BORING SUBPLOT ---
I really get that they're trying to put a twist on the source material by trying to include some elements of modern music and I think draw some parallels on it? The concept but the execution was BLAND.

The thing is, what it brought me was more confusion, especially with what happened with one of the subplots. I never knew that an opera singer transitioning into a pop singer is really boring because of how it was told. This really pissed me off because the writers could've used the screen time allotted for this boring subplot could've been used to deepen the FL's interesting character development.

---INTERESTING NEW CONCEPT, BLAND EXECUTION---
The blending of the classical and modern aspects of music was really a missed opportunity because the message that I got was "THE CLASSICAL MUSIC WORLD IS BORING AS HELL SO YOU HAVE TO MODERNIZE IT" instead of "EACH OF THESE WORLDS HAS THEIR OWN BEAUTY" or "HOW DO THESE WORLDS INFLUENCE ONE ANOTHER IN AN INTERESTING WAY" sort of.

While I’ve given this drama the benefit of the doubt, I’ve heard that this drama was supposed to introduce Chinese audiences to classical music. Well, they’ve certainly done an abysmal job at that, and it infuriated me more! Here, the criticisms about this drama's musicality choices actually make sense.


Such a shame really that in the end, these two worlds are still far apart.

--- THE ENDING ---
The ending of the character arc of the ML and FL? THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE DRAMAS THAT YOU CAN PULL THAT KIND OF ENDING ON THE CHARACTERS.


PART III: Conclusion
Unlike the source material which took its time to build its classical world in an interesting and nuanced way which this drama tried to do but failed therefore this drama fails as an adaptation. They had freakin' 40 EPISODES to make the protagonists interesting! Instead, they wasted it on boring subplots that do not tie into the story.


Instead, what I got was a long-winded drama of How I Met Your Mother in a Classical Music University.

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Tries its best to tug your heartstrings but fails at it hilariously.

I was really looking forward to this drama since the source material was really interesting with the FL being unique. She is blind. But in here, they had to do some creative liberties and I really didn't mind it that much since I haven't really read the novel.

This drama was a mess in terms of narrative. I lost count of how many plot holes that I've found. I feel like the pacing is really weird with a lot of the important events happening in the background in favor of cheap plot twists. The mystery angle of this drama lacks buildup.

What's weird is that I really got confused with the story's structure and tone. This drama has a lot of dark tones which the romantic comedy side has a hard time compensating for. The music has this weird abrupt shift from being romantic, comedic, then to being serious. Other c-dramas handle tonal shifts in terms of music better than this drama.

What irked me is most are the dialogues. They are so poorly timed that it makes the story really confusing and cringey with the scenes in which they were delivered doesn't have much of an impact. In some serious scenes, I was really dumbfounded.

The saving graces this drama (the reason why I gave higher points to the story) had were the dynamic of the Long brothers and their wives. It's really rare to see brothers in cdrama that are not competing against each other. The second saving grace was the ending. I was really happy to see that this drama has the last episode dedicated to the epilogue of the story.

If you're a fan of Xing Zhao Lin and want to see another side of his acting, watch this drama. If not, go watch something else.

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My feelings throughout: What???

I was in awe with the CGI, it was great along with the costumes, it made me continue watching this movie. Acting-wise, the movie leads fall short when it comes to delivering the emotions of the characters. I somehow felt lacking. Especially with the connections of the characters. Although I'll give plus points to the main leads looking good together onscreen.

Plot-wise, I can completely understand that they have to compress 58-episodes worth of plot into two hours. Though, I like some of the changes they did with the story. There were some scenes that were absent which held significant meaning. I just can't help but lament over it.

Though, I do not know if I'll be watching this again. Still, waiting for this movie to be available for watching was still worth it.

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The source material came from the the second book which is called the Pillow Book. For those who are disappointed with this not being a continuation of DongFeng's story on TOMPB, please give this drama another look by watching episode 24 onwards. The story gets better from there. In terms of story, the Pillow Book is way better than TOMPB.

So far, the leads have improved their acting from their previous drama. With their acting and story writing, they've done the book justice so far, especially with episode 30. I love how the setting is pleasing to the eyes too.

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Cleverly Written, Produced and Edited

I came in expecting a story that's similar to It's Okay, That's Love due to the summary but It's Okay to Be Not Okay turned out to be a different drama since it has this mystery thriller vibe to it.

These are the reasons why I enjoyed this smart and creative drama to bits:

1. The drama makes use of the main settings to enrich the story that it was about to tell.
2. The cinematography and the editing of this drama is one of the BEST I have seen due to its creativity that made me laugh a lot and has more purposes other than for aesthetic purposes.
3. The animations are not overdone and the editing team has somehow found a way to make them organic.
4. The character development of this drama doesn't feel rushed and you'll find rooting yourself rooting for the main characters and it's satisfying to see the way their character arcs are concluded.
5. The individual stories of the patients have actually impacted the main story with their interaction with the main characters. Not only that, but they were also nicely tied in the end.
6. The dialogues are written in such a way that it alludes to the main characters without exactly specifying the names of the main characters.
7. It was interesting to see how they make use of different literary works as their episode headers. This was one of the few dramas that I actually paid attention to the title of the episode.
8. OSTs and background music are really good.

In regards to the acting and casting, this drama really did well and I won't comment anymore about the casts' acting since I was really satisfied.

Overall, this drama brought a lot of nostalgia due to its use of literary works that I've read when I was young and was glad that I was coerced to watch this drama. This drama will have a special place in my heart since it is one of the few dramas that me and my siblings watched at the same time.

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Change takes one step at a time

This drama is about the FL struggling to get over her past which continues to haunt her in her workplace. With a positive support system in the form of her friends and ML, the female lead eventually learned to stand up on her own.

There are times that the dialogues seems out of place but they did little to do a lasting impact of the story. I was really satisfied with how the episodes progress, seeing how the plot going deeper and deeper into the past of the characters and how they overcome it.

The actors did a good job with portraying the characters, especially with the antagonist. He creeps me out as I watched him form my screen. The chemistry was also present with the FL and the ML was also there.

I agree with the commenters and the reviewers saying that the FL did not deserve the hate that she's getting. It was really hard to get to watch the FL suffer from her starting from rock bottom and her dignity barely intact. I had a hard time watching it at first due to the FL's character but once I understood her circumstance, even just a bit, I found myself hooked to the series to see if she can manage to change.

Kimi ga Kokoro ni Sumitsuita may not be everyone's cup of tea but for me, it was and I found the series compelling and interesting due to its boldness to tell a story that's not commonly told but happens a lot in real life.

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Underwhelming. Disappointing. Watch this drama if you have a high level of suspension of disbelief.

I had no plans to watch this drama since I've already watched the Taiwanese and the Korean (Both are good in their own right) but the poster of the leads kissing on the cruise ship and have seen the leads' previous work, The Eternal Love Seasons 1 and 2, I decided to give it a go.

This drama’s first 20 episodes started out strong which was enough to keep me hooked until I was spoiled with the ending. Because of this, I wanted to get ALL OF MY TIME BACK.

THE CHARACTERS.
Wang Xiyi's family is the best family out of the three versions. They're supportive of Xiyi and Jiaxin being together. I love how the show highlights Jiaxin marrying into the family cause a positive change where the aunt and their son changed for the better, bringing the family closer together. I like this granny because she looks so fab but my overall favorite is the aunt because she appreciates Jiaxin's actions and doesn't favor Anna. Wang Xiyi is also less of a jerk in this drama. He kept telling Anna A LOT of times that he doesn't have feelings for her anymore.

With those good characterizations also come bad characterizations. I love that they show Jiaxin's potential to be a talented potter early on so it doesn't become sudden but I did not like that she is still a pushover even as Elaine. Next is Dylan with them blemishing his character by making him a schemer.

The third is Anna. This version by far has the worst Anna. She's the usual green tea b***h that you see in Chinese webnovels that these authors would love to have as canon folders. Her scheming which indirectly led to Jiaxin losing her baby and not being repentant about it. I was almost content with her karma but her unrepentant attitude just pisses me off.

THE ENDING.
I would be content with the ending if this were another drama and I've seen this version first before the first two. After I was spoiled with the ending, I wanted to drop this drama. But I decided to continue on to see how bad it was and oh my. IT WAS REALLY BAD. It feels like they have taken the parts that I loved from the Taiwanese and Korean versions and mashed together with the DRAGGING Anna issue and Jiaxin going back and forth made a convoluted mess that are episodes 34-36. Due to that Anna issue, I couldn't care less about what happened to Anson and Siqi's love story. Episodes 33-35 could've been used to resolve the Anna conflict first instead of making them dragging these episodes. Episode 36 is so compressed with the revelation supposed to be the climax of the second arc falling flat.

THE SCENES.
I appreciate the effort of the production team for making this realistic as possible with the crew going to Hungary and allowed the viewers to see how beautiful Budapest is.

But I have a bone to pick with the car accident and the events transpiring after that. Jiaxin colliding with the car was so unbelievable because they weren't able to show the impact. In addition, HOW THE HELL DID SHE MISCARRY WHEN SHE DID NOT BLEED? I found the scene unbelievable that I started to think the doctor was a quack with her diagnosis since Xiyi wasn't drenched in blood. Also, there are a lot of operating gowns that they could've made Liang Jie wear but why scrubs? I thought that only doctors/surgeons wear those. I just had to get this out. I am so sorry.

OVERALL...
I like how they were able to give more depth to the characters but I didn't like that it was at the expense of the story's pacing. They could've moved a lot of scenes after the truth was revealed and it would've been better but sadly they had to take the cliche route. Maybe, if I didn't know the ending, I would've been less annoyed with the slow buildup. There were so many unnecessary scenes that exist for the reason of making that 40-minute episode mark.

I also found it funny that Anna is present in the wedding after all she did.

Although the shots were great and the actors have decent acting, I would recommend this drama to those who did not watch other versions of Fated to Love You yet and for those people looking for something to kill their time. This could've been the best version if they didn't screw up the final episodes so bad which is so disappointing.

If you like this drama, Bless you.

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Deserving of its praise.

Mr Sunshine Review:
This review is from my perspective as an international viewer.

=== Production Value: ===
The production value is SUPERB. The Joseon set designs were really good that I was able to immerse myself in their period. The set looks new for something in their time.

Though, I have some criticisms for the New York scenes. Especially those on the bridge. While I understand that they did not put extras for the sake of dramatic effects, it took me out of the drama since it feels like New York is a desolate city.

=== Plot: ===
The plot was really slow at first (This is a personal problem and preference because I really have a short attention span) though, as I though over it a few times that I kinda prefer it for the characters, especially with the looming war in the horizon. How I wish for them that time could just pass by slowly so that we don’t have to see them suffer.

There were some elements of visual storytelling that I saw and seeing those small tidbits being set up before the war part coming together in the final act. Especially the EMOTIONAL SCENES. *Chef’s kiss*

I liked the creative liberties that they took in putting some internal conflict in the form of political intrigue in the drama.

== Characters: ===
I can see that diluting Ae-sin’s character to highlight others characters in the story was done deliberately. She’s not entirely a flatly written as her headstrong personality and a sense of duty of her country was what drew these three men to her and made them care for a country that abandoned them. (I’m not so sure for Dong Mae’s motivations but I am sure with Eugene’s and Huiseong’s though).

Eugene is a character who was already stable when the story started. He has a past then, he returned to Joseon after he became a soldier. He just goes with what America dictates to him before Ae-sin came into his life. After he met Ae-sin, his character was given depth as he was torn between his identity as a Joseon man serving as an American soldier. Even if the conclusion to his character arc was a sad one but it was satisfying. The dam of emotions I felt for this drama finally broke when his Lieutenant friend was reading what happened to him.

Dong Mae belongs to the character tropes that I really hate the most. He’s your average bad boy type who has a past and decided to join the Japanese gang, Black Dragon Society. He became a mercenary. He began to soften when he and Ae-sin interacted more. His interactions with Hina Kudo were also memorable to watch because their relationship seemed more of genuine and platonic friendship rather than lovers. (Heck, this was one of those platonic friendships done really well that I’ve seen in a drama.)

Huiseong also belongs to the type of men that I hate the most, PLAYBOYS. He’s one of those characters who bears the guilt of the sins of his clan and seems aimless with no motivations until he met Ae-sin and the other two men. With his character development, HE BECAME ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS. While the other characters preferred to fight using bloodshed (guns and swords), he prefers to fight using intellect, his camera and pen. I also like that when he was taking photos of the atrocities committed by Imperial Japan, they used gunshots as if the camera shots dealt some kind of impact. The sad part of his character arc was despite him finding a purpose, no one would remember his name as he fought for Joseon. He died in prison alone with no one to mourn for him. Despite being tortured, the smiling mask that he wears never seems to come off of him.

Kudo Hina/ Lee Yang Hwa is my favorite characters in this drama as someone who exemplifies true feminism. I admire how strong her character is. Her father just sees her as a pawn to expand his influence but still, she managed to make herself independent. With her cunning wit and charisma, she’s able to use her position as someone who allows different forms of life to enter her hotel to help Joseon. She also knows when to be feminine while being a badass who holds the sword elegantly at the same time.

This was also one of the few dramas where the side characters had more impact to the stakes of the situation they were in. They do not feel like props but as characters who also had to struggle during that time. There are too many to mention so rather not.

=== Dialogue ===
The dialogue had more purpose aside from serving as padding for this very long drama. They serve as extra setups for the grand event that was going to come and the callbacks to those little scenes and dialogues made me cry a lot.

=== More than just romance ===
I went into this drama expecting a romance. Though, I wasn’t disappointed that it was purely romance since I like the other elements in this story.

=== OST/Music ===
As for the instrumentals in the background, they didn’t bother me that much but for once, I am glad that they used classical pieces in the Glory Hotel scenes to accentuate the time period it was in.
The OSTs in this drama is not so overpowering compared to other dramas. When they’re played in the credits, I don’t feel tired hearing them again and again and had some impact on how I perceive the events that transpired in each episode.
One of those OSTs that I kept replaying is The Day by Park Hyo Shin.

Extra thoughts:

Playing The Day at the end of the drama with the flag of Joseon waving made me more emotional and a bit patriotic (not for Korea but for my country whose citizens seems to idolize politicians more to the point of them not being able to take criticisms directed towards them).

The deaths really shocked me and I finally cried upon seeing the objects that represents the characters being sold in the pawnshop.

If I have the time, I am surely going to re-watch this drama 100% despite it being tragic.

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This is the first review that I posted in the internet.

Watch this drama if you are a fan of slap-kiss dramas and if you like to waste your time. Honestly, I was entertained watching this lakorn.

Story-
There's nothing much besides the revenge plot with the ML mistaking the FL for her cousin. Because of that misconception, poor FL has to suffer a lot from him. Not only from the ML but also from her cousin as well who is interested on the ML. I won't say much because the rest would be spoilers.

Actors/ Cast-
ML did well as the vengeful brother who at the same time is out for revenge and get the girl whom he likes.
FL is a screaming banshee on the first few episodes and might want you to skip some of the parts.

Music-
I have a weird taste for OSTs. I had an LSS with the opening and ending songs.

Rewatch Value-
I might rewatch some episodes but not the drama as a whole. I can't bear feeling frustrated again with the Soraya's cousin and aunt (who are bishes btw).

Overall-
I completely understand that this is an old drama so I'll just ignore the cinematography. The island setting was beautiful though.

Final Words-
Having watched a few slap-kiss dramas, I can say this one was really intense in the first half. Especially on the FL. She had to suffer a lot. It wasn't her fault that she suffered under the hands under the ML but as for suffering under her cousin was due to her own stupidity.

There is a limit to the extent that Soraya could owe Sansanee a favor. Even though if her cousin did a huge favor to her, it doesn't mean that she has To circle her life around her cousin ALL THE TIME.

Harit was abusive and he never redeemed himself until the last episode. At least in the last episode, he started to to improve.

Sansanee was the usual bitch queen rival that you can usually find in slap-kiss dramas. I get it that she is pretty but I don't why why would men in this drama would fall in love with her. She changes men like she changes dresses!

As for Soraya's childhood friend, he deserves a lot despite being in the background.

Watch this drama if you are a fan of slap-kiss dramas and if you like to waste your time. Honestly, I was entertained watching this lakorn.

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