My Kind of Drama, No Typical C-Drama Cliché's

Let's see, no break ups or last minute break ups, no misunderstandings, no evil parents, a minor antagonist that tries to cause trouble for our lead couple but her screen time is limited so I'm actually okay with this. There is a love triangle but a tamed and not out of control one. We get rid of the love triangle around the halfway point of the drama.

So now that we got all of the usual C-drama worries out of the way, it's your choice if you want to watch this drama or not. Me personally, I adore this drama. The chemistry between our leads is so cute and romantic that I didn't even remember it was a younger male chasing older female. The ML knows what he wants from start while the FL has rough past encounters with love that even the thought of falling for her younger childhood friend had made her hesitant. But eventually she has courage and take a chance on love with her childhood friend. My favorite thing has got to be the amount of support the lead characters have for each other, as each wants to protect the other in their own way. Not only that, they also have tons of support from their boss, their friends, their families, and yes even second leads, which by the way, good amount of growth for the SFL, from being annoying to being very likable.

The osts for this drama is amazing. For me, it was enjoyable to listen to every time the song came on. Fits perfectly with the scenes that occurred.

The story went at a good pace that there were so many episodes left filled with loveable, romantic, and cute scenes. I give major points to the writer for showing that you don't need a break up scene or misunderstandings to make a great drama. Dramas can have conflicts but when you have such understanding, firm, and supportive main couple, you can handle the conflicts that's thrown at them and it's not even as bad as say other C-drama conflicts.

Definitely one of my favorites and a rarity that I give a 10 all the way, especially in a C-drama.

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One of the dramas I'm adding to my all time favorites

I feel like there are only a few Chinese dramas where I know for a fact I will rewatch again and this one is one of them. The direction this drama took, for the most part, was to my liking..

First of all, some people may not like the video game scenes because it doesn't really focus on the main story. I, for one, loved the video game scenes. I love the action and of course seeing the action stunts of the ML. For the most part, the ML shine in these action scenes. The FL was just silly & hilarious in those game scenes. I mean it's through these video game scenes how our leads eventually develop feelings for each other (despite the fact the ML was already a fan of the FL). I'm kind of disappointed that there weren't more video game scenes towards the end so they would've kept this theme throughout the drama but that's just me. Some may actually be glad the game scenes are done.

Finding out that the FL is a singer in this drama instantly drew me in because I love hearing songs in a drama and I love all of the osts being played in this drama, whether it was the FL singing it as part of the drama scene or the song being played as background music to the scenes. These songs got me hooked.

Story wise, it's average. It's nothing memorable or special. Some may get frustrated on how long it takes for the leads to finally be together or how many near misses they have with each other. For me, I like the way it was handled. So many "gasps" I had only to be ended with "aw darn". The drama eases in to their relationship. The ML & FL relationship & the dorkiness of the ML's friends are what really hold this drama together for me, despite not having an actual story plot.

A few issues I (and maybe others) have with this drama:
- The love rival of the ML (Jia Yun) looks to old and it's just creepy. This guy suppose to be the love triangle who's interested in the FL and yet he looks more like he could've been her father. This was very awkward for me as I had to skip a lot of his scenes.
- Secondary characters & couple: They were just there. Sure the SFL (Shan Shan) had a life issue due to a broken heart but it wasn't enough to take interest in her character. Her character was just bland at the start and the SML (Bin Yu/Taro) well... he was just a goofball overall. I kind of wanted more interaction of them with the leads (in a good way). I will say that I did start to take interest in these characters a little more after our leads got together but that's towards the 2nd half of the drama but man is this pair a dousy.

That's all the issues I had. Overall, I enjoyed it. The chemistry between the lead characters, the multiple comedic scenes throughout this drama, the number of times the FL embarrassed herself when with the ML, the dorkiness of the ML's friends, and of course the awesome & beautiful songs this drama features. None of the typical Chinese drama cliches in this drama which is definitely a plus for me.

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Pretty decent drama for having that many episodes

I know what you're thinking. 41 episodes, that seems a lot and bound to have a lot of troubles. Even I was concern too but in honest truth, it wasn't all that bad.

Before I continue with my review, I'm just going to pinpoint a couple of things about this drama and hopefully that will determine if you want to watch it or not.
1. If you're not a fan of the drama cliché of the leads meeting each other as kids, then you might as well skip this one. If you're not bother by it, then continue on. I considered this as a good drama cliché.
2. There are no evil parents or in-laws
3. There are a few misunderstandings, in the beginning and then right around Ep 31-32. However, these misunderstandings are cleared up pretty quickly, so if you're concern about long episode wait of solving the misunderstandings, you don't have to worry. The second misunderstanding doesn't lead to a break up but more of FL's concern and need of reassurance about ML's love for her.
4. Very minor love rival for our main couple. I said minor because the FL's rival doesn't show up until much later in the drama and even then, she's only in a few episodes but she is hecka annoying. There is a love triangle but that's within the secondary couple. There are 3 couples in total for this drama.
5. Some people may get annoyed by Yu Da, the guy that forms our 2nd couple and is part of the secondary love triangle. Either because of his actions or they seemly are rooting for the other guy in the love triangle. He doesn't really bother me but I can see the annoyance especially when it's with the SFL.
6. There is a main villain but it's more like the forming of a villain due to the greedy nature of wanting to win and to bring down the ML.

I personally like this drama overall and my rating of a 9 doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have the same opinion or taste as me. I gave this drama a rating of a 9 because for one, it's a 41 episode drama and I got to admit, it's actually pretty okay from start to finish for having that many episodes. There are some moments where it drags but that's what you expect with dramas this long. However, even with that, I still anticipate for the next episode so at least it kept me interested for the most part.

Story is nothing new here but it isn't bad either as the FL will play the key role to the ML's recovery process. This drama does a great balance on showing the GO competition and the building of relationships between our couples. Now there are some scenes where they do explain the movements of GO and how the play of this game works but not enough explanation for a newbie like me to understand. However, in replacement of that, the drama shows cool and awesome fighting scenes between our GO players to show who will win and I for one, really enjoy those cinematic scenes.

The one thing I wish that could've been better is at least having one of the character suspecting our villain throughout the drama. In terms of that aspect, the characters are too trusting which leads to the villain getting away with a lot of stuff until close to the end. Now the stuff he does just impacts the ML for the most part, as he is his main target so while his plans and actions are evil, there not as evil as other villains I've seen in other dramas. Also, I wasn't too fond of the secondary couple love triangle. That wasn't needed at all for this drama.

In summary, I'm very impressed with the quality of this drama being that it's 41 episodes. FL is a little bit annoying in the beginning but she's a strong character overall so that's a big plus for me. The drama OST for the intro and credit are amazing. I never skip it! It may not be everyone's cup of tea but I for one enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

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Let me just say, if you plan on starting this, prepare yourself, it's going to be hard to watch. Not because it's bad but because the stories being told will get you angry and break your heart. This was the hardest part for me, see the stories of the innocent lives of them being mistreated and abuse by evil people. I won't go into details on what these are. You'll just have to watch and find out yourself.

When the law fails at providing justice and safety for the victims, you as a victim just want somebody to turn to. In this case, that's the rainbow taxi, since they all have been through that feeling of not receiving that justice and how criminals goes free or get not as harsh punishment. It all seems well and all and even their actions seems reasonable. Revenge seems sweet. I mean watching this, I enjoyed seeing the revenge but it does come at cost as well. Was everything done by them was right in their eyes or did they miss some crucial pieces with their actions?

Then you have the other side, Prosecutor Ha Na, who believes in finding justice through the law. At first, she's a character who solely follows by the law and believes everything through the law. She's a hardheaded character with nothing else in mind other than solving and winning cases. For me and many others, she was a difficult character to like as she had that kind of snobbish personality for 11 episodes of this drama. However, she was the one with the most growth in my opinion once that hard wall of hers broke and she finally sees the flaw of the law, along with having consideration and feelings for others. I really enjoyed her character afterwards as she works hard to fix this broken system of a law which does involve teaming up with Do Ki and the rainbow taxi crew.

If it's one thing I wasn't too fond about this drama, it's that there are plot holes within the sub stories. Now they did a great job with concluding each sub story in the beginning but towards the halfway mark and the end, there were a lot sub stories that's just didn't have a full end conclusion as I would've liked. I say this because the clients are what makes Rainbow Taxi and the cases. Without them, you wouldn't have any of this to begin with. So that being said, I'm disappointed how this drama didn't have a full conclusion some of the clients with their sub story plot before moving on to another client or sub story.

Besides that, I still liked this drama. The buttkicking scenes from Lee Je Hoon and also his all around personality his character were my favorite. But also the realness of cases that were presented in this drama as well.
Let me just end this off with my favorite quote of this drama.
"Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good"

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There are weeks where I watched this, and I get a good sense of enjoyment and then there are other weeks where I'm like why the writer wanted to include this? Started off pretty good with the whole concept of this drama, getting to know the ones who passed away and grant them their final wishes but then they added some things to this drama (like the ex-girlfriend returning arc) that I just wasn't a fan and at times ruin the flow of what this drama was about. Though the romance was somewhat lacking towards the end, the drama does wrap up loose ends and show a connection for all of the side stories. So at least I can give points to that.

What I like:
* Some heartwarming stories of the ones who passed.
* Good osts playing just at the right moment
* Chemistry between the leads
* Good amount of funny scenes (a lot with the uncles).
* A bittersweet ending that makes you treasure your love ones even more

What I didn't like:
* There were 21 spirits with wishes to be granted but I felt like some spirits didn't get a full satisfying ending. Some stories ended properly while others didn't have full conclusion. I mean at least show each spirit walking to the afterlife, but they didn't even do that.
* The ex-girlfriend arc. I felt like there were too many wasted episodes on this. Nothing meaningful occurred with this arc and even the conclusion of this arc seemed very lacking, as in it didn't felt like anything was resolved.
* Turning a good friend to an evil one: Honestly, I hated the direction the writer decided to take for this character. It was a twist I didn't expect but also one I didn't like. I would've preferred the story where he had to choose who to save first and he chose his older brother instead of the ML's brother. Then followed with guilt and eventually a broken bro-ship once the truth was revealed.
* Just not enough romance scenes with the leads - After they officially get together, it just seemed like there wasn't many scenes of sweet moments together. Even towards the end seemed lacking.

Overall, not a bad drama. Despite some story arcs I wasn't a fan of, it does have a good overall message, treasure the ones you love. You never know when it's going to be their last.

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Your typical drama that has all of the C-Drama clichés

So what C-drama clichés does Unforgettable Love has
✔Rich CEO ML & not so rich FL: Miles Wei plays a similar character personality from Perfect & Casual, a nerd who doesn't understand love and relies on his one and only friend for love/relationship advise. The FL was actually an okay character in the beginning before being dumb down in character quality once the relationship contract begins.
✔ A relationship bound by a contract
✔Main leads bicker at each other for more than half of the drama: Normally I wouldn't mind this because I would l find some bickering scenes funny and cute but for some reason, I was more annoyed at these 2 when their bickering scenes occur. Like I just didn't like either of them.
✔Evil family member: In this drama, it's the ML's aunt
✔Annoying & rude exs along with a few non-important jealous characters
✔A break-up towards the end of the drama after getting together 2 episodes ago
✔Last minute happiness/relationship repair in the second to last/last episode

Honestly, there's nothing real special about this drama. This is about as average as you can get for a C-drama. I loved the scenes with the little boy, Xiao Bao because I'll be honest, I only stuck with this because of his scenes. Secondary ML & FL were amusing to me as I enjoy their scenes more than the leads. For one, they were the best friend of the ML & FL so while the main leads do have a love rival for each, I'm just glad the second leads were best friends and not love rivals and their scenes were funnier to me.

What bothered me about this drama:
- I was on my breaking point when they introduce the evil aunt and the annoying and snobby ex. I felt like the ML didn't have good enough lines to support the FL when these two did wrong against the FL. The FL had a spine to talk back and defend herself when it came to the ML, but when it came to others, she's doesn't defend herself much. What made me finally drop this was the break up. I despise dramas that goes with the format, "I'm breaking up with you because I love you and in order to protect you from hurt" That's got to be the stupidest reason to break up with someone. I like a drama where the lead couple stands firm in their relationship no matter what's being thrown at them and they go and talk through it together. Not this drama though. Our lead couple just didn't have a good foundation to support one another to start with, which is why the break up happened so easily. Also, I'm not a big fan of having the break up issue being resolved at the second to last or very last episode. Endings always feel rushed when they do this.

BUT... I did come back for Ep 23 & 24 and at least for me, I felt like the last 2 episodes were good enough for me for this drama to not be overall terrible. I think if you just skip Eps 21-22, then this drama will be okay. Overall, story plot was good. It was watchable in the beginning but with too much added nonsense and conflict later on (especially the conflict a few episodes before the last) but a great ending.

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A Cute Drama That Can Easily Be Missed From The First Several Episodes

Let me start off by saying that this is not one of those dramas that will lure you in with the beginning episodes. Other than being funny for a lot of the beginning episodes, it can be pretty confusing as well, as you don't really have a sense of where this drama is going until you reached a certain episode.

That being said, let me state a couple of things and you can decide if you want to watch it.
* If you mostly just care about the romance and the other stuff doesn't matter for you, then I think this drama could be for you.
* This is a FANTASY drama. So, throw out all of the comparison relating to real life.
* Plot mostly revolves around the novel world so nothing will make sense.
* If you can make it to Episode 8, that's when the drama gets really good and where you'll start to understand what's going on. I think the reason for the low rating is some viewers dropped this drama somewhere within the first 7 episodes.
* Most importantly, it's a happy ending

Story: While there is an overall goal for our lead characters, because it focuses mostly on the plot of the novel world, it can be pretty random. There's really no set direction when it comes to the novel world's plot so that's why for story it only gets 3 stars from me.

The cast: The characters of the main leads were good enough for me, however it felt more like the FL's character is not so smart while the ML's character is the brains in all of this. He always seems to be one step ahead. Great second leads as they are not annoying and have their own love interest with each other and good side character friendships and assistants.

Not much music here other than the ending credit ost being played a lot but I do like that song though. A potential rewatch for me but probably starting it from Episode 8 instead of the beginning.

Overall, another good drama to watch to pass time. Not too short or long episode length wise. It may not be an amazing or standout drama, but I still liked it. Ending was great and nothing felt rushed. I'm satisfied with this drama.

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Overall, Mostly Same Plot to the Original but There are Some Noticeable Differences

I loved the original and this remake. Watching this remake gave me the same feelings I had when watching, "I'm Not a Robot". I like them both to be honest, but despite the same plot, each has their own spin to it. Some of it I liked in the original while there were other things that I found I liked in the remake more than the original.

I'm making note on what's different from the original and the remake. Feel free to skip this part, but if you're interested, have a look at it. It does contain spoilers, so you've been warned.
What's different from the original
* FL's character doesn't have and live with her brother & sister in-law. Remake changes to uncle and aunt.
* Robot & FL's hairstyle are switched. Original: Robot had long hair, FL had short hair. Remake: Robot had short hair, FL had long hair
* ML's assistant was the FL's brother in the original. Here the assistant is his own person
* SFL's character didn't have a big role in the original. She was just there. She didn't really seem that important. The remake makes the SFL more involved and she's very likable.
* Secondary couple changes: Original had the female glasses researcher had a crush and fell in love with the SML (the lead researcher). This couple didn't happen until the very end. In the remake, the lead researcher & the SFL falls in love with each other and a lot earlier.
* Original had (although not as bad as I've seen) more of weak a love triangle. The remake doesn't have this at all.
* In the original, the ML was more furious at the FL, to the point where the FL received a small injury from the ML breaking a glass. It takes a whole explanation from the FL for the ML to finally understand and forgive the FL. The robot group left the ML due to the ML's lost of trust from them. The remake is completely on the lighter side. ML gets angry but the constant visits from the FL and the love ML still have for the FL made him forgive her easily without her having to explain at all. Robot group stays with the ML never leaving him.
* Company and the evil people in the remake are much harsher here than in the original. ML was threatened to lose his title as CEO in the original but still kept his house. Remake, almost everything is taken from the ML.
* In the original, the robot finds her way back home, filled with many sweet encounters the robot has made and the robot is alive. The remake makes this part doom and gloom, only a few quick nice scenes with the robot's encounter. Robot finds her way home only to die due to self-destruct mode, which was never in the original.

Other thoughts:
* Some people said the FL's character was really bad at pretending to be a robot. That was the whole point though. They kept this same character concept from the original and I for one thought this FL did a great job at when she was pretending to be a robot and when she played the actual robot role. While I think the ML, Yoo Seung Ho, from the original outshine more in his character than the remake, the ML here, Leon Leong also did a great job portraying his character as well. I also love how the SFL had more of a role here than the original. The best part is she's likable.
* Romance, while still a slow burn romance, I think this handled the romance better in the remake than the original, though, don't get me wrong, there are still a lot of sweet moments in the original as well.

Final Thoughts:
I feel like the remake of this drama stops around Ep 27. From there on out, it appears to be different content, including a kidnapping scene which just shows how wicked they made the bad guy in this remake. I guess that's what happens when you add too many episodes. You have to fill it with dumb things that strays away from the original story plot, which is why I lower the score for story a bit. That's the downfall of this remake drama but even with that setback, I think this remake gave us more of a conclusion on the ML's story than the original did. I'm very satisfied of how this drama ended. Overall, not too bad for a remake and I may rewatch it again.

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A Building of An E-Sport Team, Plus Romance & Bro-Ship

Out of all of the E-sport dramas I've seen, this is probably my favorite by far. Story plot was pretty good, enjoyed the action scenes from the e-sport, loved the actors, loved the silly but cute romance between the leads, and the amount of bro-ship between the group of guys. Let me break it down what I experienced when watching this.

E-Sport
* The E-sport part of this drama is a little different than the other E-sport dramas. This drama showed lesser number of tournaments, I believe 2 in all, first one when they compete as a new team and the second one towards the end of the drama when they understood & learned how to work with each other. This E-sport is more focus on their team building, getting along with each other, learning each other's weaknesses and improving on it. It also shows the struggles & strengths of building a new team.
* Instead of showing multiple tournaments, there are a lot more e-sport training in this drama. There were a lot of in person game scenes from the actors and I appreciated this a lot because seeing the behind the scenes, this was a lot of work to do. Their work paid off though because I enjoyed those game scenes. They were action packed!

Romance
* It's the typical bickering of the ML & FL who eventually finds out they were each other's crush. Even a little misunderstanding in the beginning but you don't have to wait too long for the misunderstanding to get clear out.
* A funny but cute chemistry between our main leads: Lots of disruptions when it comes to kissing and the numerous times ML's character Yi Chuan fail on being romantic. Like, seriously, I just love watching their scenes. It makes me so happy and I laughed so much.
* A love triangle: SML likes the FL, who you do feel bad for. He does move on from it and becomes close bros with the ML afterwards. There's also this one girl announcer who likes the ML as well but her role, while annoying, is very minor. She doesn't play a big role so not much of an annoyance from her thank goodness.
* Secondary couple (Dong Shi & Girl Chu Tian): Not the best secondary couple I've seen but not the worst either. I just couldn't sense the chemistry as much compared to Yi Chuan & Jiu Jiu.

Other things I enjoyed:
* Best bro-ship: I love Bo Yu. He is so funny, the goofball of a friend but also a very caring bro to Yi Chuan. We also see the building relationship of the bros between Yi Chuan and boy Chu Tian.
* The reality aspects of building a new e-sports team: Some members don't get along, new players, pressures, struggles, & not much support in the beginning but then you see how things turn around with not giving up, dedication, and hard work.

What's missing for me:
* FL's character Jiu Jiu didn't really have much of a story. Focus seems to revolve more around the ML's character Yi Chuan.
* As part of the secondary couple, I expected a bit more about girl Chu Tian but the way she was presented, it seemed like she wasn't important at all.
* The ending was good but with all the focus on the Yi Chuan's injury in so many episodes, I felt like they miss details on this towards the end. Like there wasn't really a good conclusion on Yi Chuan's issue.

Overall, I enjoyed this E-sport drama. It was a different approach from the ones I've seen. The ending was not what I expected or preferred, but it was enough to leave me satisfied with it. The lead's chemistry, the bro-ships, & the in game battle scenes are why I enjoyed this drama the most. Definitely will re-watch again in the future.

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Short & Simple but Funny & Cute Drama

One has to remember; this is a web drama. It's only a 5-7 min per episode so you can't really expect much on a very short series. If you want to watch something with more involving around the plot or gives you something more then watch a drama that has at least 45 mins in each episode.

That being said, I enjoyed this series. It does involve messing with time or in this case a time loop but for me personally, this writer wrote it pretty well. It's almost to the level of my favorite time loop drama Reset. It presented with a problem and then through each episode our leads try to figure out how to get out of this time loop. I think it's pretty sweet when the reasoning is revealed on why the time loop occurred.

Lots of funny moments with cute and jealousy scenes. The ML's character is so prideful and bigheaded. lol. He thinks that he's handsome (I mean he's not wrong), and everyone loves him (he's wrong here LOL), which is so funny to me. The FL's character is just funny & adorable overall. She's almost like the brains to this, as it starts with her being stuck in this loop as she tries to figure things out.

There wasn't a lot of music in this, mostly just background music to certain scenes so this drama does lose some points for that based on this rating

Besides that, if you're looking for something to watch but don't have much time to watch a full 45min-1hour episode, I definitely recommend this drama. It's short and simple and gets to the point because of that. Definitely a rewatch for me.

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ARE YOU SERIOUS! This drama had a 2 part series and yet the writers still FAIL on how to handle it with a VERY RUSHED & LAME ending? I mean it is a happy ending but it's so pathetic to see only the last 15 mins was actually happy. So dumb. What's up with Chinese writers and their introducing another conflict for the last few episodes of the drama? That's so stupid and cause havoc that wasn't needed.

There are so many things wrong with this drama. First of all, HOW DARE YOU WRITERS keeping showing daydreaming of Yan Shu & Cheng Ze's wedding but not bother with doing an actual wedding? I'm so frickin pissed at this. Second, how dare you introduce a conflict that ruin the end of this drama. Last few episodes should've been happiness not sadness and frustration. This last conflict should've been introduced like the beginning of this 2nd part drama (like ended off with this conflict on the 1st part drama). Third, how dare that evil granny witch didn't get punish for all of her evil misdeeds. She got off like she didn't do anything wrong. I hate it when the writing is like this crap. Fourth, the angry and bitterness between the stepsisters it's so stupid and shouldn't haven been carried out this long. It should've been resolved in the first part of this drama. It doesn't make sense how that once a witch of a stepsister ended up doing a 180. There weren't any signs of progression. Fifth, secondary couple should've started at the beginning of this drama and maybe had the second lead finally giving up the female lead from the 1st part drama. This 2nd couple together wasn't believable. All of the sudden they want to be together with no issues from grandma? Yeah right! Sixth, the ending, while ended happy, sucked overall because it was so rushed.

The male & female leads were the only reason I watched this but I totally regret it. It had a lot of cute and funny moments which I did enjoy but was it worth how this drama was handled overall? Nope.

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An okay crime investigation drama but had the potential to be better

I'll be honest, I only watched this based on the comments. It is good, maybe just for a one time watch. I wouldn't call it amazing though but that's just my preference. I like the idea of every choice matter. It shows the effects of the choices from one world to the other world. A lot of "What ifs" situations which to me helps the ML understand why he did what he did even though he may have lost his love in his world, to understand if everything he did was worth it and this parallel world showed him that.

It's a slow start for the first 2 episodes but it does get more interesting once this started to reveal the parallel world. If I have to say the highlight of this drama, it would be Shi Yoon's acting. He does a great job portraying a heartbroken police detective in his world and an attitude anger driven guy in the parallel world. The only issue with this is that we didn't get to see much of his parallel self which is unfortunate. It would've been nice to see both of them working together to the end but that didn't happen.

When I read the synopsis, I thought it was going to be Do Won traveling between his world and the parallel world to solve these mysterious murder cases. That's not the case. After showing him in his world for the first few episodes, the rest of the drama was in the parallel world. That was disappointing to me. I would've love to see the interactions of both world's police investigators, working together to solve this, with Do Won jumping between worlds and sharing info or having 1 or 2 of his investigators join in going to the other world, but instead we just had the ML figuring out everything while everyone else (including the FL) was clueless and not as useful as they could've been. Let me also say about the FL. I think she was good character in the original world but then she got killed off and became just a bothersome FL in the parallel world. She was tough but a very aggravating character. I just didn't feel no sympathy for her parallel character compared to her character in the other world.

Is it thrilling? Yes. Every moment I anticipate and want to know what happens next. A lot of scenes are pretty creepy, especially with the creepy background music.

Though there's talk about love between the leads, majority of the drama is not focus on romance so don't expect any sweet or cute moments.

Did I enjoy this drama? Yes, however there are plot holes in this drama that doesn't get answer. The bad guys always gain the upper hand and it seems like the good guys are always a step behind which sucks. I liked how this drama ended (not your typical happy ending) but I feel like there should've been more and yes it did felt rushed as well. Problems to the very end but the way they concluded it was okay for me. Definitely wouldn't rewatch it though. This is a one time deal for me.

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If you're thinking about starting on this drama now that it's done, let me just share with you on what I thought about it.

First of all, reading the plot summary got me real interested in the drama. I mean it involves demon hunting so if you like action, this one is for you. If you want romance, then give this one a skip. There's no romance at all. Instead, there's more of a growing family & friends relationship.

Story: It's a slow beginning but picks up pretty quickly afterwards, especially when the counter's backstories come into play. I think only two counters backstories played a main role to the plot. The other two is more for a viewer to understand how they became a counter, which is unfortunate as the spotlight for these two seemed limited. For the first half of the drama, the plot moved at a good pace, numerous demon hunting scenes which is great because this is what the drama is about, and mysteries and unanswered questions were revealed.

But after the halfway mark is where a drama either make it or break it. I say more of break it because right around ep 9 or 10, plot holes began to occur.
* What a surprised (sarcastically)............... this involves political corruption. Figures.... since everything happened because of this. This is nothing new when it comes to figuring out the villain.
* A lot of questions came to play that seemed like the writers didn't focus on, which would've made scenes more understandable. I'm not sure what happen with the writer here because I found a lot of episodes a drag or stalling after ep 8. A lot of those episodes (especially ep 10) should've been handled differently, as you really could've just skipped some episodes and you wouldn't even know you missed out on something. I knew they changed the writer at Ep 13, which at least showed plot progressing a little bit, but even then, there were too many random things thrown in and only one or two sentences (if any) to describe what happened for the final half. You could also blame the announcement of season 2 for this mess that occurred after ep 8.
* We went from the counters hunting for demonic spirits in order to protect humans to just focusing on 1 for the rest of the drama. If this 1 demonic spirit was the head leader and the other evil spirits they hunted were under him, then this would've been okay but since this wasn't the case, this seems like the writer or director lost direction in the second half, like he was the only demonic spirit left, no one else in their area was demon possessed.
* Useless spirit partners. I mean I guess they lend them their powers (and wands) but all they do is sit at the table and discuss things. They only worry about their world partner if something happens to them physically. I just didn't see an importance to them, besides getting the counters (except for So Mun) out of a coma.
* The most evilest villain in this drama never had a demonic spirit in him until the last few episodes, even though he has committed murder and has thoughts of murder. According to the spirit partner's statement, anybody who has committed murder or desire to murder attracts a demonic spirit. So why wasn't he possessed a long time ago? That doesn't make sense.

But even after all of that, I still enjoyed this drama. I love the action, the closeness of a family the counters had for each other, the dramatic scenes of the demonic spirits being cast out, and the comedy this drama showed (more in the first half of the drama, fewer in the second half). Though they may have thrown some random stuff in and missed out some important details for us viewers to understand, at least I can say that the ending is satisfying and that there's closure.

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Character wise: At the beginning, none of the main leads are likable. They each have their own flaws which can annoy you. I mean it definitely annoyed me to see one who was reckless while the other didn't want to do anything at all and leave it in the hands of others; however you do begin to see character development in the male lead, Ji Suk. He eventually became my favorite character in this drama because of his selflessness and sacrifice. The female lead, Yoo Ryung, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. This is where the extra patience comes in. Her character can be a make it or break it for the viewers. If you can't stand her character because of her actions, you'll end up dropping this drama because she doesn't have development until after her secret is revealed which is around ep 11. So if you can tolerate the frustration she will give you, then you'll make it to the point where she's becoming a bit more likable. The frustrating second lead Ma Ri just seems like an angry person overall. She's pretty much mad at everything. She does become better towards the last few episodes but the progression for her reaching that point doesn't make sense at all. It's like one talk and she completely flipped 180. And then we have second lead Woo Hyuk which honestly he didn't really seem like he had a big role. He has the looks but that's about it. He attempts to form a love triangle between the leads but it fails just because Yoo Ryung wasn't into the romance department. I will say that the subway ghost does have actor potential to be the next lead character after seeing his acting on here. His acting was really convincing and I say he was able to outshine all of the other characters.

Story wise: It was a good introduction. I think this drama started off strong with the plot, only to fall short midway and towards the end. I liked how these cases, or I called it side stories, ended up telling a story that the leads can relate too, though most of the cases related to Yoo Ryung. The plot began to drag for me as it seemed like every week it was the same old thing and very little discoveries on what the title of this drama was about, "catch the ghost" or in this case subway ghost. I like how you couldn't guess who the subway ghost actually is. The writers make you believe it's person or that person. You always have suspicions. That being said, I'm disappointed the way the last episode was handled. The subway ghost had a big revealing, had a back story, only to be scrapped off in the first 15 mins of the episode. We don't know if he was caught or he died. That remains unknown which is lame because I say he played a vital role to this drama. It's just an okay ending overall, not bad or even sad but just nothing really big to talk about.

SUMMARY: If you can withstand, have the patience, tolerate, the frustrations of the female lead, and secondary female lead, then you'll be able to watch this drama from start to finish. Is it worth it? Well, the progression of the plot is slow, the last episode is missing a lot of important details so it did felt rush, romance is there but maybe towards the last few episodes. You'll probably not missing much if you past on this but if you like the actor or actress, hey give it a shot.

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The Progress of a Newly Gaming Company Plus Cute Romance Between Our Leads

The title of this drama is Sweet Games but I would define it as "Sweet" because of our lead couple being so adorable during their times together. Great amount of chemistry between our leads and the connection between An Ran and Yan Yue. "Games" because the plot revolves around the gaming company; the struggles, to success, to another problem, before finally reaching their goal. My personal favorite is the monologues each episode feature that either Yan Yue or An Ran was monologuing because it was something each have learned about their life, as they were narrating, since it revolved around their life. While it does have a few things I wish would've been better, I still considered this as one of my C-drama favorites for 2023.

Story:
What was great for me:
* Now while some people may find the gaming company part uninteresting, I personally like seeing the growing of a gaming company, who's creating their first gaming app. The success and struggles they faced and finding solutions to their struggles. I mean there's even an episode where it shows how An Ran met with each of her team members and formed her gaming company. It just gives you a feel of how important they were to her as she was to them and I appreciated that.
* The history between An Ran & Yan Yue: I love the flashbacks of their small meetings. It was cute even though it was just a one-sided crush at the time. Then we go to the present time, where he still likes her all of these times and for An Ran to gradually fall in love with Yan Yue, seeing that he's not just some young person with a crush on her, but a person who genuinely loves and cares for her.
* Great supportive teammates & friends for both An Ran & Yan Yue. An Ran's childhood friend actually remains as a friend and not a love interest. Big plus to this drama!
* Their parents while realistic at first questioning their relationship, also are supportive of their relationship.

What lost points for me:
* Yan Yue had a story of his past trauma but this seemed like it was brushed off, so he didn't have much of story focus despite seeming like his character suffered a lot in this drama.
* Hated the breakup part. This drama couldn't avoid the typical C-drama break up cliche. For how this drama was, the breakup part wasn't necessary at all.
* The problem revolving about the copyright issue causing a big mishap for Yan Yue just didn't make sense for me. It seemed a bit random in a way where it was thrown in there as a random problem. It would've made more sense to me if that finding the voice show, Yan Yue was a judge in, caused the problem for Yan Yue than the copyright issue, just because they were getting frustrated with Yan Yue
* No reason why that hacker decided to ruin Gaishi Unparalleled mobile game and other smaller gaming company. Like what was his motive for doing this? Just being a bully to new gaming companies? Make at least some connection otherwise this just felt like a random last minute bad guy.

Although there was this 1 particular English song I wasn't a fan of, music wise, it was great overall. Love the intro and outro songs.

Overall, it's our leading couple that stole the spotlight for this drama. I just love every moment they were together. WinWin's adorable smile really made each scene even more lovable, the important side characters were always supportive, and most importantly, a great happy ending.

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