Why do I do this to myself: the series
I should've known this series would turn out this way, it's Mame ffs, SA and toxicity are her specialty so I only have myself to blame for watching it.I had hope for this one especially after Rain and Payu's storyline, because while they had some parts that had me side-eyeing the plot, it was still watchable, possibly enjoyable even, despite it being infested with typical 2015 BLs undertones/tropes, I was still able to enjoy their plot, hell I was about to rate this, a Mame series, a 7.5/10 and that's basically unheard of especially coming from me, but then they had to hit us with the PrapaiSky storyline and now I don't wanna watch it anymore. True, I did like some of their moments but their whole relationship dynamic ticked me off and I found myself skipping a lot of their story, the latest episode just served to further solidify my dislike for their story, was it the acting was it the setting for them idk if I'm being honest, but I'm thoroughly uncomfortable watching their side of the equation so I'm dropping it, even if there's only one more episode to go, I'm not gonna bother with watching it because I know my rating for this would drop even further, so I'll keep it at that. The current rating is mostly because of the PayuRain storyline because if I'm being honest, the other couple's storyline wouldn't have gotten anything more than a 4 from me, if I had to rate solely based on each couple's part it would be:
Episode 1-7 :
Plot: 7.5/10
Cast: 8/10
Music: 5.5/10
Rewatch value: 4/10
Overall rating: 7.3/10
Episode 8-12:
Plot: 5/10
Cast: 5/10
Music: 5/10
Rewatch value: 3/10
Overall rating: 4.5/10
My final rating is somewhere in the middle if we're taking into consideration both parts. I really thought this was gonna be different, but I guess I shot myself in the foot with this one, alas, it is what it is, I hope the rest can enjoy this series, I'm sorry if I couldn't really help with anything insightful but honestly I'm super tired and I really don't know what I'm typing at this point, but have a nice day/night everyone, hope you enjoy your watch.
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K-BL, but make it a clumsy theater club project
(╭☞•́⍛•̀)╭☞ Disclaimer:This review is based on my personal opinion/experience, it's not meant to sway yours, feel free to agree/disagree with it.
If I thought Unforgotten night was hilarious, this takes the cake for the best so bad it's so good series. Hear me out, I love my OOO boys to bits and pieces, especially my boy Yoojung , but you can't tell me this series wasn't the most hilarious shit you've ever seen, I kid you not, two minutes in and I just about peed myself from laughing, this series gave me serious war flashbacks, it honestly felt like I was seeing LOONA's First love story all over. This series had soo many issues, but to name a few:
>Slapstick comedy and Plot from the early 2010's.
>Sloppy camera work, bad editing, low quality ost, and recycling of the group's MVs and performance outfits because frugality I guess.
>Hilariously one dimensional, flattest of flat cardboard acting, and while the cast did improve a bit after the third episode or so, the acting was still one of the weirdest I've ever seen (especially Junji, his acting in the first episode had me wheezing for a good three minutes, followed by Rie and KB).
>The MLs and their dying bud of romance, don't get me wrong, I really love Nine and Mill, and I have no doubt that they have amazing chemistry, but you cannot tell me that these Nine and Mill are the same ones who acted in beat and beyond, I'm sorry, it's just not happening.
>Unintentional comedy 101.
>Mill and Junji's guide to looking like a little adorable puppy.
>This series is brought to you by low-key second hand embarrassment.
If you couldn't already tell by now, I'm not really writing a "review" here, this is more of an afterthoughts typa thing, but I felt like I should write something considering this is one of if not the very first K-BL with a whole K-pop group acting in it, and the fact that OOO are one of my ult groups. From the moment I saw the short character introductions the company uploaded on YT I just knew I wouldn't be able to take this seriously, specifically that one snippet of KB practicing his evil laugh, holy mother of gay that was hysterical, not even he could take himself seriously lol, so yeah, don't watch this with sky high expectations, this was obviously done on a veeery minimal budget, with amateurish acting and no thoughts put into the script, so if you're not bothered by that and have an hour or so to spare, I say give it a watch, it might not be the greatest thing you'll ever see but it'll definitely make you laugh. I genuinely don't know what else to write cuz honestly I'm very much out of practice and my head is a bit too empty, if you're looking for a more detailed review I suggest you check out the other reviews, they probably will provide you with a more insightful review than mine.
Have a nice day/afternoon/evening peeps. <3
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180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us
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Life unfiltered
First and foremost, this is not a literal review per se, more of a conclusion or final thoughts type of thing. Second, this is not for everyone, if you're looking solely for entertainment then I advise you to pack up and go. If I'm being honest, close to nothing about this is entertaining, it's a raw, brutal story that could happen anywhere in this world, so if you're going in expecting something light and fun, don't watch it, if you decide to watch it regardless, I advise you to keep an open mind, this is not pretty, at times you'll have to pause to just think and process what you had witnessed and heard, this has garnered mixed reviews, so I'll leave the final verdict to each person and their perspective. For me, I loved every single minute of this, it was painful, uncomfortable, ugly but so very beautiful at the same time. It's not something I'll ever rewatch easily or frequently, but I sure as hell won't forget about it, I honestly don't know what to write because no words can express what I'm feeling right now, it's very complicated, and you'll have to experience it firsthand to know what I mean, so for those interested, I hope you give it a chance and see for yourselves how the story of three people with nowhere to hide from life and it's reality unfolds.Was this review helpful to you?
If Disney made an LGBTQIA+ series
This series isn't anything groundbreaking or unheard of, it's quite cliche tbh. I consider this to be a little gift for those who are looking for a light watch, sure, it was flawed and wasn't anything awe inspiring and the whole family situation of Ye Guang was heartbreaking to see, but it was cute. It felt like a breath of fresh air considering the amount of mature/heavy series coming out recently, so to me personally it was a nice step back from all of that. The music was cute and the settings were nice, it was very aesthetically pleasing so that's a plus.The plot is fairly simple, just three teens and a barista hanging out and falling in love with some portrayal of the issues/problems teenagers face in their lives, it isn't hard to follow and there isn't any unnecessary love triangles, there were a couple of confusing moments/pointless scenes and the scene jumping had my brain reshuffling, but overall it was entertaining.
The cast is fairly young so their portrayal of high school teenage boys was believable, the main couple's romace definitely had a bit more depth compared to the other couple, the second couple felt abrupt and underdeveloped and tbf they added close to nothing to the plot, the main couple was slightly more developed, but their romance sometimes felt off, like one moment they're two teens with a crush and the other they're bros hanging around, it didn't bother me that much tho so I just brushed it off and continued enjoying it.
I honestly don't have much to say about this other than that it's a nice piece to kill some time, like you could watch it on the way to work or while waiting for your favorite series to begin, so if you're bored and don't really want anything that could potentially have your brain working, I recommend checking it out.
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This review may contain spoilers
STOP STEREOTYPING BALLET FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! (pun unintended)
!!Disclaimer¡¡This review is based on my personal opinion/experience while watching, you're free to agree/disagree with it. This review is based on a professional's POV so it might be a bit harsh/critiquing. It will also be quite long so if you're not into that go ahead and skip reading it.
Ok look, I love Shin hye sun and L and I definitely think L improved a little when it comes to his acting, but as an ex-ballerina/dancer this was all sorts of offensive to me, it might be because I have a personal attachment to such theme but this series just did ballet really dirty you cannot fathom how annoyed I am rn. I literally had to ignore all my frustration at this to keep watching because let me tell you, if you're a ballet dancer like me, you'll be really disappointed. My annoyance at the plot didn't just stop at the ballet part, it stretches even farther than that and I'll get to why later, but for now, I'll start off with some troublesome aspects and why this is such a bad example of how ballet actually is.
So first thing first, WHY isn't Bo mi the FL? Ik Hye sun is the better one in terms of acting (objectively speaking) but Bo mi is an actual dancer with an actual feel to what being a ballerina is like, her occupying that role should've -operative word here being should've- been the most logical thing to go with, the scenes with Hye sun's "dancing" were painful to watch, her lines and movements were so stiff I was physically cringing, and the fact that the scenes with the stunt double were very obviously not her made me want to effing SCREAM! And don't get me started at the fact that they put her in pointe shoes in some scenes cuz I'll combust. Don't forget the absolutely horrifying "Giselle" parts because that just really threw me off, and if you think I'm exaggerating then go watch the drama's portrayal of the scene where Giselle goes mad and compare it to the version performed by Natalia Osipova (who's an actual super talented ballerina btw) and you'll see what I mean. We can't forget the stereotyping and the misrepresentation of the ballet community cuz boi I'm about to- (┛ಠ_ಠ)┛彡┻━┻
For example: when that weird woman Elena(?) or whatever, put glass shards in Nina's pointe shoes (don't EVER do that at home kids), when Yeon seo kept dancing with her bloodied feet (just a quick info, healthy ballet dancers don't usually bleed just from standing en pointe and dancing for soo long, the blood is usually the result of toenails falling off (yes this is an actual thing) or at least that's the case in my years of experience), Nina going to throw up right after she ate while with the director guy (ik there are people who actually do that but let me tell you, if you're doing something like this in ballet 1# people will immediately find out and 2# you'll be disqualified from participating in any sort of performances coming up, kinda like a suspension. I'm not sure if it's the case with every dance school, but the ones I trained at didn't allow such thing. Also, the fact that this specific scene heavily implies that Nina has an ED and that it was never mentioned afterwards left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth like, you're just gonna throw this in there and never talk about it again? Do y'all not realize how insensitive and upsetting it is for someone struggling with similar issues to see their personal struggle be taken so lightly and just never talked about?)....etc.
I might be nitpicking here but honestly it's just really that frustrating to me. If the ballet part was just a fleeting thing mentioned here and there for the sake of the plot then I might have let it pass, but because ballet plays a major role in the storyline it riled me up to no end so I couldn't just let it go. Now that I finally got that off of my chest, let's proceed with the actual review.
Plot/storyline:
The idea of this plot is not bad, it has a really good core idea but being good at executing such plot concept and having a good plot concept are two totally different things. The story started off really strong, with Dan trying to make the cold stone hearted Yeon seo open up to others again, and how he only had around a 100 days to fulfill his mission or else he'll turn to ash or whatever, but that plot just seemed to be tossed outta the window because what follows after episode 6-7 was just disastrous. The way they tried to force their nonsensical logic in our faces made me want to laugh tbh, like how in the world do you expect me to believe that she had her comeback after not 3 years, not even 2 years, but 2 MONTHS mind you she literally started dancing again immediately after she sustained an injury from a car accident, and has not actually danced in more than 2 years(?). I get that this is fantasy but at least make it logical, especially since she's the human one here, not Dan. Let's not forget the cliche cruel abusive family, the murders that were barely talked about, the attempted murders, the workplace abuse Yeon seo's staff suffered working under her and the whole plotline with our good ol' second male lead (whom I have forgotten his name) and his not so subtle obsession with Yeon seo cuz she's a carbon copy of his dead lover, and the cherry on top, the fact that almost all of this, happened in the span of a hundred days only.... yeah no, that's a big fat Nay from me.
Despite the amount of disturbing and upsetting stuff going on with this drama, there were still some stuff that I liked, like their wedding scene, the scenes with Mr Jo and when Dan saved Yeon seo in the very beginning, among others. So plot: a solid 5.
Characters/cast:
I'm honestly very conflicted about this section here. Some actors I liked and some just made me want to bang my head on a wall. They all tried their best and I really respect them for that, but the fact that the whole script was illogical made it hard for me to actually be invested in anyone. If I had to pick the best actor/actress out of the whole cast (imo ofc) I'm gonna have to go with Gil eun hye. She was probably my favourite one here. The way she portrayed Yeon seo's psychotic cousin Ru na and her obsession with her sister Nina made me admire the actress the most, as for my least favorite I would have to say L. He tends to overreact in some scenes and his emotions are sometimes not very convincing, don't get me wrong, I love L, but to me his acting was still lacking in here especially if you compare it to that if his in meow, my secret boy. If I had to rate some of the more prominent cast it would be like the following:
▪Shin Hye Sun: A-
▪Kim Myung Soo (L): B+
▪Kim Bo Mi: A
▪Gil Eun Hye: A+
▪Lee Dong Gun: A-
Music/Osts:
I'm a huge fan of the soundtrack ngl, especially Chai's oh my angel and O.When's stay. I also kinda liked how they didn't stick to the usual classical music even tho I missed its presence in here lol. But yeah, the soundtrack was definitely the most enjoyable thing about this show.
Production:
This was surprisingly actually aesthetic and the outfits looked quite lovely and I'm actually pleased with it for the most part. HOWEVER, I was somewhat disappointed with the very little attention to details at some scenes, especially when it's about ballet, like the way they had Nina's And Yeon seo's hair down while they were dancing in a couple of scene (ik it's only that time when they were competing against each other, but still, if my teacher saw me like that I'll be booted to the next galaxy), the ballerinas not having a dress code (that was weird to me tbh, especially since this is supposed to be a very well known company for ballet, and yes, before anyone asks, dress code is a thing in ballet).....etc.
To be fair, if you're not a dancer you might not care about such details, but I had to point them out because I'm very much pet peeved so, you can probably ignore them if you don't have any previous experience in ballet/dancing and don't really care about such things.
Overall, this drama could have been better, a lot better really. The soundtrack and Eun hye were the only things keeping me from throwing this whole thing outta the window, and even those weren't enough to make me want to continue watching (I did finish it tho but only because I wanted to see where they were going with this). I tried to be objective in this review, but that proved to be really hard. Honestly this drama is not THAT bad, my review might make it seem like it's the worst thing you'll ever watch but it's really not, it's just that I'm a very passionate person when it comes to stuff that I really love and ballet is no exception here. If you're interested in watching it please don't let my review discourage you, this is just subjective viewing and you might probably like it more than I did, but if you are someone like me who pays attention to certain details, I would advise you to keep your bar at its lowest here because this would really get on your nerves, especially if you're going in with the same high expectations I had.
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Sequel that got turned into the prequel for some reason
If I thought TharnType was triggering then this is down right traumatic, this also somehow managed to make Unforgotten Night's bed scenes seem a lot more interesting than they actually are y'all and I'm not even exaggerating. And to clear any confusion about my headline, I'm sure many of the older viewers know this but for those of you who are unaware, this series was actually the sequel to Middleman's Love but was made into the prequel and was aired before for some reason. I should mention that I'm not really gonna review this and neither am I gonna continue it, I just want to write this little warning/rant for any future viewers.This series is very trauma heavy, has enough abuse and SA to fill 5 shows, and is very much blind to the existence of trigger warnings. I've been through the entirety that is the first 4 episodes and noped out (I've actually seen a bit of episodes 5-6 but I literally fast forwarded/skipped so much I couldn't say I remember anything significant about them other then that monstrosity of a sex scene in episode 6, got a good laugh out of it tho).
This series is very triggering, and as someone who has been subjected to pedophilia, mental abuse and SA, I was not prepared for the very graphically depicted SA and abuse this series has portrayed, I have watched my share of dark and graphic dramas/movies in the past, however, I was always well aware of what they were displaying and dealing with, this one I wasn't prepared for the amount of triggering content that had been dumped down on me so early on and I admit I was in the wrong here for not doing enough research on the original plot, the company is also partially at fault for not including a trigger warning and this is honestly an issue I've seen arise multiple times with these shows, with that being said, if you've read my warnings and still decided to watch it, I hope you enjoy your watch and if you ever feel like it's become too much to handle, either skip these scenes if you're determined to finish it or drop it immediately, don't compromise your mental health for a piece of supposed entertainment that you could easily live without watching.
I'm gonna take this time to also remind everyone that mental well-being is very important so if you're not feeling mentally well please consider going to therapy or seeking professional help, having someone to talk to is also important so for your sake and for your loved one's sake, please take care of yourselves, you're much more important than you think and I hope you know that there's always someone who cares.
Enjoy your watch and have a good day/evening everyone.
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"Better love story than Twilight" doesn't apply here
I hate MDL for not allowing me to write a one word review, because any more words put into it would be a waste of precious space and letters. I'm not even gonna force myself to continue this anymore, I'm just gonna ramble a little to make this review reach the required minimum of characters.The comments are being too kind with their criticism, and I really mean it when I say Twilight's plot looks award worthy compared to this, heck even 50 shades of gray had more plot than this, it was at least able to elicit something out of the viewers, this however, is a whole different story, or un-story if we're being honest here.
I usually watch at least 5 episodes before coming to a conclusion because surely there are some redeeming qualities tucked away somewhere, this just managed to be the exception people. If other series were able to destroy the very few brain cells that I had, this one completely abolished the original source of their creation. Honestly I don't even know what to say anymore, my disappointment scale is burnt and if I had to pick one word to describe it, which is very generous for this complete and utter BS of a plot, it would be pathetic.
Have a nice day.
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HIStory5: the last delivery
I seriously wanted to like this, I really did, but I'm sorry y'all, I really couldn't take another minute of it. I can't believe I'm giving a HIStory installment a 3.5, I almost wanna gaslight myself into liking it simply because of how fond I am of this franchise.What started out as a unique fun plot ended up being a bunch of unexplained unrelated nonsense held together by my undying boredom and Linus Wang's good looks. I genuinely don't know what to say about it but to sum up the issues with this one, the plot said sike and left the building, the music is nothing short of uninteresting and uninspired, the camera work and editing is probably one of the worst out of all the previous parts, none of the characters were likeable and don't get me started on the non existent chemistry between our first main couple because boy I am vexed. I know most of the people behind the franchise have left so the production value and the writing took a blow, but I really can't help comparing this absolute mess to the other series that preceded it.
If anyone is interested in watching this, I advise you to lower the bar so as to not be disappointed because if it isn't for the sake of nostalgia or watching the final series of one of the most popular Taiwanese BLs then I really don't recommend it. Were the older parts perfect? No, but they sure as hell were more enjoyable than this one, even HIStory4, which is my lowest rated HIStory installment, got a 6/10 from me, I really hope whoever's watching likes it better than I did, but yeah, this one will be living in my "on hold forever" folder indefinitely.
Have a nice day/night everyone.
P.s: I've just come to the conclusion that I actually don't like any of the characters so I changed the bit in my review where I exempted two of them. I thought I liked magic man and Huai En but now that I think about it, one is extremely boring and the other makes no sense so yeah, not a fan of anyone in here.
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