Just plain kyun!

It's the perfect mix of time-slip and historic romance that I've been searching for! The kyun-kyun moments in between each major event don't fail to get me as light-headed as Yui. I was looking for a short show to spend my free time at my workplace but ended up getting lost in the show and losing focus in my work ^^;

Now, on to why I loved the show. First, the chemistry. The chemistry between Yui (Yuina) and Wakagimi (Kentaro) was perfect from the very first time they set eyes on each other. Soft interactions replied with soft moments, and passionate interactions replied with strong moments. Perfect OTP of the year for me. Next, the story line, I personally love myself a good show with cute romance and historical comedy (really can't find many of these around). Time slip's seem to be quite the rage recently too, and that helps out a lot more in building the character gap that you see in Yui. It's just adorable to watch her change from a cute otome to a dedicated guard. Lastly, the characters. What can I say, Yuina is cute; and cuteness is justice.

Give this show a chance if you like 1) time-slip rom-coms, 2) strong girls who are cute, and 3) cute girls.

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It's been a while since I had a tearjerker show and I'm glad that this was the one. First off, wonderful storyline by Sumino Yoru, and direction by Tsukikawa Sho. His direction gave me a very fulfilling 2 hours packed with emotions and was handled very well through his skills and cast.

The story flits between flashbacks and current day scenes, not a revolutionary technique, but the director weaves the scenes perfectly through the cinematography and music alike. The OST was subtle and lead to good scene transitions, especially the major one near the end - it's still going on in my head 2 hours after I watched the show.

I personally wasn't that into the lead actress at the start but her bright smile that remained thematic throughout the show slowly won me over and I have to say, damn she is great at tugging at the audience. The lead actor (both the younger and older) showed how the character matured through the 12 years in between. Side characters weren't that heavily emphasised on the show, but their appearances were not done without a good closing at the end.

Overall, the skillful directions and great cast brought together a wonderful bittersweet romance story that screams ?? all over.

BTW I have not read the light novel before this so my opinions are just based on this being a movie on its own.

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Asahinagu is a high school sports movie focusing on the obscure elegant form of traditional spear play - Naginata. It's almost like Kendo, except less aggressive and more elegant, and has another part of the body that when attacked, will award the attacker a point. The movie failed to impress me in most of the areas aforementioned, leaving me disappointed even a whole day after finishing it.

I'll be honest, I picked this show because of the cute lead - Nishino Nanase. Which is good and all, a cute lead playing the role of a rookie getting strong, finding out more about her own strengths and weaknesses. However, this was shown very superficially, and her overall character development was weak, let alone the other characters. As for their acting skills, only the other lead, Shiraishi Mai, and coach, Eguchi Noriko, did well in playing their roles.

The motivation for most of the scenes are lacking and the cohesion between them are not as smooth as most other successful high school sports shows like Chihayafuru or March comes in like a Lion. I believe that if this were spread out over a few movies, there might be the chance that it could've been at the very least decent to watch. Attempting to cram a story about personal and team growth within 2 hours is never going to work. Period.

It is a waste, in my opinion. These girls are idols and this is a platform for them to step into the movie business, but they were given such a bad script to follow. Oh how we have lost such a good chance for cute girls to shine. Oh woe is us.

(Out of all the bad things this movie has, there was just 1 good thing I gained out of it - Ito Marika is cute. God damn cute.)

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As much as I love the 1st season and the concept behind the story, I absolutely hate the main character. His stubborn disinterest in putting in effort into his work frustrates me whenever the plot moves to something work-related, especially in the last episode.

A major theme of this season is the relationship between Hamachan and Michiko, and I cannot for the love of all things good, understand how someone can date a person who puts in zero effort into the relationship.

This is a slightly negative review of a show that I love, based on my personal opinion and expectation of living in society.

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To be honest, I decided to watch this because of how cute Jung So Min was (caught me off guard when she first appeared). Stuck on and oh wow, a theme that isn't often covered in drama, contract marriages. I watched another show with a similar theme, and that really hit my chords so yeah, I was confident that this show would too. In the end, it did not disappoint me, got me my (oh so badly needed) fluff fix for the month, and made me ponder yet again about the concept of marriage. Let me just explain my ratings in detail, you can skip to the tl;dr if you don't want to be spoilt.

Story: 8.5/10
The show I watched with a similar theme was Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu, the scenario was right about similar to this show, except the wife had to pay for rent in the relationship in this show. I love that they developed characters well enough for the story to flow decently with good humour (Bok Nam and Bo Mi), but we do see our main characters develop a little too extremely near the end. They were hinting at the development but the catalyst that raced the development (Jung Mi) barely had sufficient presence, it left me slightly disappointed but they still did well.

The motif lasted well throughout the whole 16 episodes - about security in a relationship, and was brought back and forth the various relationships, even with Soo Jong and her mom. I believe anyone watching this would unconsciously reconsider the present day value of marriage, whether they agree with what the different views put forth by the characters in the show, or not. It still does impress me that they're actively embracing different forms of the modern heterosexual marriages in Korea, where I assume it is largely conservative.

Acting/Cast: 9.5/10
I love the cast. Didn't know anyone of them before this drama, and Jung So Min slayed me! I love her looks so much, and her acting worked wonders. Time to dig up all her old dramas for binging then!

Back to the cast and acting as a whole, the chemistry was wonderful but I do find the Ho Rang - Won Seok pair a little awkward especially since they were supposed to be playing a loving couple of 7 years.

Music: 6/10
The OST is decent, but it's nothing worth discussing or remembering. Goblin's still remains in my head even though I literally only heard it once while watching an episode of it on TV. I think the production crew for this show just didn't hit right at the jackpot when it came to music.

Rewatch value: 7/10
I'll probably rewatch it for the fluff scenes with Ji Ho all cute and flustered. Not much for the rest.

tl;dr:
A great plot that does its best to develop characters who were acted out very well, and will provoke some thoughts about the concept of marriage that we are all familiar with.

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