Fun action, but not very deep

Overall I still quite enjoyed this quite a bit, but it had the potential to be a lot more. Being a huge fan of Train to Busan, I kind of couldn't help but compare and it felt like the stakes never really rose in #Alive.

There were a lot of mini "deus ex machina" moments where things just seemed to happen and save the main characters, or they just seemed to be able to fight back: plot armor, if you will. And suspense could have been handled better, I felt like the loud music was kind of a giveaway that something was about to happen, and even silence could have had more of a feeling of anticipation.

I liked the relationship between the main characters but the FL was not really developed — I wanted to know things like why she was so good at making those gadgets.

Some things were also just kind of predictable. The social media/web aspect was a little less of the story than I expected and kind of seem unnecessary altogether.

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Humor was hit or miss

Right off the bat, I knew it wasn't my type of humor. It's a little like Melting Me Softly or After School: Lucky or Not where the humor is just kind of bizarre and illogical — the type of "omfg lolzor so randoM!!" type of humor that I liked in middle school. Even with this being said though, there were SOME moments that still made me laugh out loud.

Because of the above, I felt like the plot was just kind of boring to me because it felt like there wasn't really anything at stake.

The main couple was the one I was least interested in out of the three, and it felt like the main two characters (and the random second lead) had no personality. I loved Seo-jin and Joon-ki att first — but after she started liking him, all the banter and clashing that defined their relationship went out the window, and Seo-jin's say-it-like-it-is personality did a complete 180. In the end, Du-shik and Soo-ah (who I disliked at the start) became my favorite two characters.

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Heart-warming but bittersweet

I have too many thoughts. It's true that this drama focused less on the romance plotline and more on friendship and family, which I can get behind. BUT—for fifteen episodes, the romance barely progressed, and I honestly found myself thirsting for any sort of development. The triangle was one of those situations where for once I wouldn't mind who got the girl because I loved both love interests so much. It definitely wasn't who I expected at the beginning, where I was firmly on Team Jung-Hwan, but the way they went about making Taek the husband was so natural that I fell for him HARD along the way, and their hotel kiss scene turned out to be my favorite scene. which I've rewatched at least 50 times since finishing the drama an hour ago.

I really appreciated that Deok-Sun fell for him on her own and, unlike the other two, didn't just like the idea of being liked first (in which she was unlikable and had stilted character development); to add, the fact that she lied and didn't chase after him because she cherished him so much as a friend...that broke me into a million pieces. Their relationship was honestly all kinds of natural, and even though everyone treated him so preciously and she did too, she was also one of the few who weren't afraid of wrestling him and treating him like everyone else. Like I said, even though Deok-Sun seemed to have some stilted character development because she was such a passive part of the love triangle for so long and didn't even understand her own emotions after the time skip, I really liked how everything ended up playing out—I just wished her pacing was less bunched up towards the end.

My heart still hurts for Jung-Hwan, especially with all those episodes after the time skip, and I wish he had more development even after it was clear Taek was the husband. But one huge thing I loved about Reply 1988 in comparison to the other dramas was that, even though it was heart-breaking, it teaches that you have to ACT and fight for what your heart wants. Jung-Hwan might've loved Deok-Sun, but he never fought for her, treated her indifferently, said hurtful things, and for once the tsundere-with-lack-of-communication didn't have that hail Mary / miracle at the end and get the girl, which is a much more accurate representation of real life. Jung-Hwan's episode 18 revelation was one of my favorites: when he sees that Taek got to her first, blames the red lights, then finally realizes that he had had all the time in the world and could only blame his own hesitation and cowardice. It can all be summed up in that on scene where Deok-Sun says she has indigestion, JH only asks if she's okay, but Taek follows her out and gives her medicine.

Taek was the one who was always there for her, and even after knowing about Jung-Hwan's feelings and folding his own, Taek still dropped everything for her—not because didn't care for Jung-Hwan, but just because Deok-Sun was that much of a priority.

The time skip in this one surprisingly didn't bother me as much, even though I still felt kind of iffy about it at first, as I do with all time skips. Unlike Reply 1997 where Yoon-Jae and Shi-Won didn't talk to each other for six years, I liked that characters kept in touch throughout the years and still met up, which was why their relationship was so natural even though we could see them growing up.

The ending broke my heart, and honestly I wish it ended at episode 19, where everyone was happy. But since we DID have episode 20, I wish the things introduced in that episode were wrapped up, like their family and friends' reactions to Taek and Deok-Sun's relationship.

I also HATED Bo-Ra at first, because she was rude and angsty and bossy and yelled ALL ThE TIME. But she grew on me, and I loved that her political activism was a storyline. Her relationship with her dad was also a dark horse that I didn't expect to cry so much for them.

One thing I wished we had more of was friendship for Deok-Sun within the group. I loved her scenes with Dong-Ryong which were JUST friendship, and I loved the bromance between the other characters. But since Deok-Sun was the only girl, I couldn't help but feel like she was left out of some of those deep talks.

It took me a little longer to understand who was who, simply because this one had the most adults and family members. At some points, there were some plots that I didn't care for and felt like they were filler, but they really grew on me as the story progressed.

Another thing that really didn't work for me was the different actors in the present day scenes. I liked that it meant we didn't have the guy's face obscured at all times, but I really felt like I disassociated the older characters from their younger selves and just could not get used to the different faces and voices.

Lastly, the 1994 cameos were woven in beautifully. They tied into the message of the episode perfectly. I loved the Reply 1997 characters and their cameos in 1994, but I wish they had the same impact as the ones in this serial.

I honestly would give 10/10 for the last 3 episodes because they had the perfect balance of romance, friendship, family, culture, etc...but overall, my rating would still be 8.5/10. As much as I liked that this one didn't focus on romance, some of the episodes felt more filler, and I felt like some of the plotlines were recycled from previous Reply dramas, like the realize-you-have-to-treat-your-parents-right-after-a-health-scare.

ALSO - give the actress for baby Jin-Joo an Oscar. She was hilarious, adorable, and stole every single scene she was in.

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This drama embodies everything I hate about old dramas.

There's the quirky female lead who starts off strong but then ends up chasing after the cold, jerk male that simply treats her like garbage.

There's the annoying second female lead who is also basically there to interfere in the main ship — and along with that is the double standard where she's blamed for everything despite the main guy also being at fault.

And then, there's that second male lead who is always there for the main girl, the one that just steals my heart and would have been such a more intriguing main character, rather than just the poor sap who the main girl cries about her heartbreak to — despite knowing the guy already likes her.

With that being said, this drama could have had a lot going for it, if only I didn't dislike the main male lead that much and how the female ran after him. The premise is intriguing, with the intersection between historical and modernity.

I also think this drama was in dire need of more bromance and sismance. The lack of bromance is understandable, considering they're rivals and all, but the girl had a beautiful group of friends around her who never got more backstory or the opportunity to be anything but "the friends." Thes same could go for the lady teachers/servants that the FL had — they could've been more, but we only got to see a little bit of that at the very last episode.

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Mixed feelings about this drama! It started off with sort of a ghost-of-the-episode style where every episode there was a new sub-plot that was introduced and solved. This was interesting and added variety, but it also reminded me too much of American kids' shows like Phineas and Ferb where the overall plot never moved forwards.

I was invested in the kidnapping mystery and I liked the reveal around it — the way it played out was kind of anticlimactic but the reveal was good. I kind of wish there was even more built up and that the plot was carried better, as I wasn’t too fond of the ghost-of-the-week style and was craving a loot more of this plotlinne.

Other aspects of the drama like the romance fell flat for me. I’m just not a fan of the cold CEO / ditzy poor female pairing and this drama kind of took it to another level. Also, maybe I’m just DUMB but the dialogue between the main leads whenever they talked about their relationship was so weird all the time and always went way over my head.

The last few episodes really felt like they were dragged out longer than they had to be, especially with the addition of a new character and a supposed obstacle to the romance.

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Give me more of the original cast

So I was sort of middle-of-the-fence about season 1, and I feel similarly about season 2.

To start with the good things — the vibe of the show is on point. The cinematography and set design give, and the effects do a nice job of tying it all together. I particularly love the look of Hyun-su's monster form.

The characters that had survived S1 were all my favorites — Ji-su, Eun-yu, Hyun-su, Yi-kyung — so I was really excited to see how they stories would continue and who they would meet along the way, but I tuned out to have a bit of mixed emotions on this.

I liked Hyun-su's story but I felt like we barely saw it. There were a few episodes where he was completely sidelined and just in general the subplot of him being experimented on ended really fast, which was disappointing because it would've been a much different plot than the "humans running from monsters in the wild" situation we'd seen before.

I was the most satisfied with Eun-yu's story and her screentime. It was amazing seeing her develop into such a badass, and she had really good chemistry with Chan-young, who is probably the only new character that really grew on me this season.

With that being said, I felt like there were one too many new characters that were introduced and I don't think I was that invested in a lot of them. There were a lot of soldiers and some new people who were also just living at the base, and overall I didn't think focusing on all of these characters were necessary. There were several antagonists, some of which I didn't care too much about, and overall with so many subplots I feel like they took screentime away from the original cast. To be honest, I also just found the soldiers difficult to tell apart.

My biggest gripe, however, is with Yi-kyung and how sidelined she felt when she was supposed to be a main character. I've never been a fan of the "special child" trope, and this really reminded me why — a new character comes in and suddenly all our original cast acts like they're the most important and their existing plotlines fizzle out. Yi-kyung was pretty much shown only in relation to her daughter this entire season, and even the other characters like Hyun-su got a bit of this treatment near the end.

It's one thing if we had gotten more time to gradually see the development, but the time jump + flashback method didn't help.

Other than this, this season still ends on a strong note, and I'll be tuning into S3, for Hyun-sun, for Eun-yu, and for Chan-young.

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So I started watching this while it was nearing its end, and yes it was because all the hype finally got to me.

To be very honest, the first few episodes were really hard to get through. I felt like the pacing was slow, and I wanted something emotionally harrowing and scary right off the bat. It felt like the drama went for something more light-hearted, and some humor.

But as I kept watching, it became hard to stop. All the characters grew on me, even the side characters, and it was amazing how three-dimensional they all were. Everyone had their own stories and no one felt like a plot device.

I'm also surprised that the drama how handled cliches not in a cliche way. They went for the "these two people were connected in the past SOMEHOW and them meeting over and over again is fate," but it didn't annoy me as much as these types of things usually do.

I'm honestly super torn about the ending. It's not your typical happy ending, and I normally hate time skips, but within historical and cultural context of North and South Korea today, I honestly couldn't imagine the drama ending any other way.

Overall, I honestly am kind of sad that I don't seem to be as into this as everyone else is — and that I didn't shed any tears over it, but I still find myself appreciating the writing and the love story a lot. It's the kind of story that really needs the setting and all its contexts to break your heart, and for me it's the kind of story you think about when it's 4 am and you can't sleep.

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A pleasant surprise

So this show being announced was actually what kick-started to me start the anime in the first place. I'd just finished the Arabasta Saga when this came out and even then there was a little spoiler that I got — they revealed something a little earlier. It's not a deal-breaker, but this is just a note for someone who wants to start this but isn't all caught up on the source material and other adaptations.

Other than that, this was actually a great watch, but I wouldn't recommend it as someone's FIRST venture into the world of One Piece.

The plot moves super fast compared to the anime. On one hand, it's great because I'd definitely felt like fight scenes were too drawn out in the anime. But the downside of condensing them in the LA and leaving out a lot of side characters resulted in the opposite: I don't think all the battles had the emotional weight and physical stakes they were supposed to.

I also think a lot of character development was lost because of it; sometimes characters would change their minds or have motivations that weren't fully explained, or character relationships to each other wouldn't be too clear. If I hadn't already known the details, I probably would've been a lot more confused.

Still, this was a really good live action adaptation. The set design, character design (especially for Buggy!), and cinematography are all fantastic. The acting was also pretty good, though I definitely needed some time to adjust myself and reconcile the LA versions with their anime counterparts.

I absolutely hope they continue making more seasons.

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Way too dragged out

This part felt twice as long as it needed to be, and it was very hard to feel any stakes compared to the first part.

The plot was really dragged out. It got even more annoying when side characters had information and just didn't share it because "it would happen anyways." It really made the plot move way more slowly than it needed.

Second, after the serious note we ended the first part on, the second part really needed to match the high stakes in the first one. Instead, the drama tried to repeat the funny and light-hearted vibe we started the first drama in, relying on parallel scenes and humor. It felt out-of-place and doesn't really move the story forwards.

Aside from this, it was very romance-focused, giving us a push-and-pull between the leads that got very repetitive when I would've much preferred for the story to move forwards faster, especially since it felt like the antagonists had stayed exactly where they were in season 1.

Honestly, I just didn't really buy into the romance. After the epic love story we got in part 1, the one in here felt watered down and I didn't really see a reason for the main lead to fall for them again.

I generally found it very difficult to connect the female lead we saw in this one with the Naksu from part 1. While I think it's fine for her, having gotten amnesia, to be brighter and more innocent, I wish we still saw more moments of sassiness and less scenes that just referenced part 1 to be clever.

Overall, it really just feels like they spent too much time on the romance and humor and ended up cramming the plot in the last 2 episodes. I'm glad about how the story ended up, but really didn't like how we got there or how it was paced.

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The Heartbreak of Nostalgia

This has all the markers of a cliche romance coming-of-age story, but they managed to pull every emotion out of me while doing it.

The chemistry between the main leads was 100% there and I absolutely loved the warm and fun relationship that they had; it truly felt like seeing two high schoolers falling in love, with all the silly things and stressful decisions that usually come with experiencing love at that age, for the first time.

The ending is a little vague and leaves some open questions, but it really doesn't bother me that much when I think about the construction and perspective of the movie; either way I didn't expect it to hit this film to hit this hard but it did and I think it'll go down as one of my favorites.

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A comfort watch

I would definitely consider this a good watch — it had a lot of depth in different themes such as ableism, family duty, guilt, friendship, vulnerability, and more — and it handled them all with a decent amount of eloquence. I do have some issues with some of the way some arcs went, such as the reasoning for a child to choose staying by an obviously abusive parent, or how two people would reconcile.

Despite the things that I did like, in some ways this felt very cliche and that was what worked against the drama the most: the romance. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the relationship between the two leads — for most of the show the communication and support between them was top-notch, and I really loved seeing the different types of families and parental roles in the show too. It was the second lead part of the romance for me. I really liked the second lead character actually, but only as an individual or as a love interest for the second female lead. I felt like any feelings he had for the FL just felt like he was going through the moments to fill the necessary cliche — there was no chemistry there and the only purpose it served was to kick the ML into action; whereas he's typically a pretty layered character with his family background and attitude, I felt like these scenes actually flattened his character development a lot into the cookie-cutter SML.

Other than that, I also felt like it was hard to relate to the main female lead; I do appreciate that she never comes off as overbearing, stupid, or annoying like the leads in dramas like Playful Kiss or even A Love So Beautiful, and she's even pretty mature sometimes, but there were definitely some lapses where I wish the drama showed her growing up more and becoming more independent without it being related to schoolwork or being related to the male lead's growth.

Overall, would say that this is a really light-hearted and fleshed-out show despite the times it delves into cliches. The romance is definitely pretty innocent and implicit (I believe due to the lead actress's age) but I have no problem with that because the support between the leads and the way miscommunications were never dragged out was just super refreshing.

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Adorable Slice-of-life

I always feel like these more realistic slice-of-life stories are so underrated, but they're my favorite. It's just so relatable to watch normal teens and college students go through everyday issues like picking a major or dealing with family pressure.

And the main leads are adorable! As someone who loves slow burns and friends-to-lovers, the main leads got together in the perfect amount of time, with so many satisfying jealous moments and awkward tension. The FL is clumsy butDespite the male lead being described as "cold", it's plain as day that he went soft for the FL early — which is just so fun to watch. There's great chemistry and the leads are also pretty straightforwards with each other, so misunderstandings are cleared up pretty quickly and the ML never gives the mildly obsessive second female lead the time of day.

There are some sub-plots they kind of dropped the ball on, but for the most part, there was a good amount of continuity for even the side characters, who each had their own personality.

Ultimately, I'd definitely recommend this as a light-hearted, chill watch and there are definitely scenes I'll come back to. This is a rom-com in its PUREST form.

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