Sweet, but I wasn't feeling the chemistry

Liked:
Kitamura Takumi as Issei. His soulful eyes and his expressions were a joy to watch. He conveyed so much without saying a word. I also liked the silence when we were seeing things from his point of view. He couldn't hear, but in no way did he feel sorry for himself. I found him to be very endearing and believable.
I enjoyed most of the friendships, and the fact that they didn't skate around Issei's deafness, but he had a stalwart friend that could translate for him, and others were willing to learn sign language in order to communicate with him.
The main couple was cute, but chemistry was lacking.

Unfortunately, there were a few characters that were completely over-the-top. I notice this in a lot of Japanese shows. I feel like they want to turn things into a farce, and then move back to being serious. It spoils the mood for me.

It's an easy watch, and I'd recommend it for Kitamura Takumi.

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I would have liked it more if I stopped watching halfway through

I enjoyed the first half, somewhat. I liked watching Aaron Yan play alter egos. That was fun. But by the time the second half came, Aaron's character became weak and allowed everyone to steam roll over him. The terrible family that is forcing him to marry - each one is worse than the other. I'm sorry, he's totally in love with one woman but he's going to let them bully him into marrying a girl that's like a sister to him? And then to act like he's fine with it, and perfectly happy to marry someone he doesn't love while the woman he loves watches. There was so much angst in the second half, I just wanted it to be over. There was a happy ending, but by that time I didn't care.

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Walking a mile in someone else's shoes

So, you're an uptight, self-serving lawyer. You die suddenly and have the chance to live a little longer, but not as yourself. You find yourself married with two children. I don't know how many times this story has been done, but there was something very endearing about this version.

I have not really cared for Uhm Jung Hwa as an actress before, I always feel like she's trying too hard. Does she want to be funny? Serious? I could never quite figure it out. She was PERFECT in this role. Her emotions were spot on. Funny when she was supposed to be, but able to wring emotion from me as I watched her in the serious scenes. I loved how she was able to use what she knew from her previous life to benefit her "new" family.

I can't remember the last time I've loved a husband/father as much in a Korean drama. The ML was great. I've not seen him in anything else, I'm going to need to check out his filmography.

W.C. Fields said never act with children or animals. The kids in this movie were great!

I loved the ending!

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I enjoyed the main leads especially Bai Lu. Her character was very vibrant, cheerful and hard-working. However, the writing for this show was very problematic for me. I mean, you know the main characters are supposed to end up together, but there is NOTHING until episode 13, and then a kiss comes out of the blue. I think we were supposed to be able to realize that the male lead was interested in her, but his face and entire demeanor were so flat, you couldn't tell. They really tried to cram too much into this show, and it was STILL too long. The storyline for his sister? Really unnecessary. The second male lead was a pill throughout the whole show and was getting on my last nerve. The random ex-girlfriend showing up and trying to get back with him could have been left out entirely. I was troubled, as well, by the multiple instances of drunk revelations. "I was so drunk and I don't remember what I said/did." Give me a break. Actually, I rated this show higher because of the ending. It was a very happy ending and gave resolution for the main and second couples.

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Low angst enjoyment

I liked this show for multiple reasons:
FL wasn't stupid, lazy or clumsy
ML was likeable
No evil parents
No evil SFL trying to break the couple up constantly
No triangle - never came to fruition
Happy, though unsatisfying ending

I pretty much loved all the characters in this show. Her work environment when she goes to work at Animal Beauty was, I think, the kind of work environment we would all wish for, collaborative, friendly co-workers, a great boss, and they discourage too much overtime (what a concept!). The friendships that were developed between the coworkers, as well as the FL's sister was so fun to watch.

I love a ML falling first. He could have been more assertive, sure, but the combination of fear, denial and the possibility of losing her friendship all factored into his decisions. When he first saw her all dressed up, I swear the look he gave her could have melted ice!

The relationship between the ML and FL is just a joy to watch. They are supportive of each other, yet often bicker like children. I sometimes got the feeling that I was witnessing feelings that they knew nothing about, but their comradery was the healthy way that relationships should develop. I could actually see why they liked one another.

I was disappointed in the ending, just because it was so abrupt. I would have also liked some closure as to how long he was going to be gone, but at least the ending was happy...with Japanese shows you never can tell.

I am so happy I wasted an entire day and watched this show.

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Reaching for their dreams

I'm normally not a fan of reality shows because of the fighting, scheming, etc. Honestly, I have no idea what made me turn this on, especially since it's two years old, and I don't follow Enhypen. I did find quite a bit to enjoy about this show, however.

Namkoong Min as the announcer - He fascinates me as an actor, and he has the perfect voice and visuals to be the announcer of this type of show.
Rain as a mentor in part 1 - charisma, that's all I can say.
I-Land vs. ground - great concept, stay in the top of the rankings and you stay in I-Land with all its associated perks: practice rooms, kitchen, cool bedrooms, etc.
The bonding between the young men. Sure, they wanted to debut, but they cared about the others that they were with. I can't even begin to imagine the stress that they were under, and that was released through tears, A LOT. Someone was always crying, it seemed. Personally, I cried more than once.
The dancing. The focus was definitely on their dancing ability. I loved watching them learn the choreography and their performances. I'm a little confused how they could almost completely ignore vocal ability - background music and singing was always cranked up so you could hardly hear them singing.

My complaint with this show was the voting. When all was said and done, I believe it was rigged. There was one person that was VERY strong throughout, at the top of every test, had the perfect visuals, was a natural leader, spent time helping those with less skill, got along with everyone, received consistent positive feedback from the coaches/judges, and then was eliminated. Were they trying to create a surprise at the end? I don't know, but it made me angry.

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Fluffy and cute

Yes, I watched it because of Cha Eun Woo. Call me superficial, but there you have it. I'll start by saying that his acting has improved since he made this. He was about as wooden as the cardboard cutout he was portraying. However, the brevity of the show and the writing didn't give him that much to work with. He was still all kinds of cute.

This was a short watch, and a great show if you want to rest your brain between heavier fare. I really liked the fantasy aspect of it. Was it real? Was it a dream? You get your answer at the end.

I liked watching the FL go from clueless to confident. Sometimes, all it takes is one person to believe in you.

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Watch this movie!!

I'll admit right up front, this movie confused the heck out of me. I'm math-phobic, and time travel and space-time continuum type things relate to math, and you see my dilemma. But that's just me.

The story was beautiful and sad. I need happy endings, and unless I completely missed what was going on, this did not have a happy ending. I spent the time getting to know and love the characters, and once they knew what was going on, I could almost feel their pain in the knowledge they had gleaned. Japan knows how to do beautiful filming that is kind of "slice of life". Everyday places and everyday stories take on new and deeper meanings, and I love that.

Both actors did a wonderful job with their parts. I've only seen either of them in one other work, so I'm going to need to check out their filmography and expand on that.

Music - was there music? I wasn't paying attention to that.

Rewatch value - I'd say definitely, if for no other reason than trying to figure out the timeline.

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Chinese version of The Holiday

I loved Ying Zhen in Love Me if You Dare, and I loved him here as well. He's got that nice guy next door quality about him. For me, he was the high point of this movie. Well, and the ending was very fairy tale sweet as well.

As for the rest, one of the female leads spent all her time yelling, the other one spent all of her time being self-absorbed. The "poor" FL seemed very immature and looked like she was about 12. She was loud and it was dubbed by the same woman that seems to do all the Chinese dubbing (baby voice, high pitched, irritating). The "rich" FL thought that every guy should fall all over her, and I just couldn't like her.

Plus, everyone seemed like they were overacting in this. It was cringy.

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Such fun!

If you want to take a break for heavier drama fare, this is a great watch! It was laugh out loud funny in numerous places and had a cast of lovable characters.

It's a story about love, a love that is based on the person inside, not the outward appearance. Hae Joo (Shin Min Ah is wonderful, as usual. She is just gorgeous as well) and Dong Geum (Ryu Seung Beom - lovely to watch. He's great at physical comedy and his expressions are priceless!) are in love. He is her eyes, basically, as she is blind. I loved the scenes of him describing things to her. She is having eye surgery to regain her eyesight, and Dong Geum feels that he isn't attractive enough for her, so he decides to bow out of the relationship. He makes excuse after excuse to stay away from her and policeman Jun Ha enters the picture (Kim Kang Woo was terrific and one of the most well-written SMLs that I've seen), trying to win her love. Dong Geum takes up with Do Shik (Ahn Kil Kang - he was hysterical in this !), and Do Shik keeps trying to help Dong Geum kill Jun Ha off.

This was a movie that absolutely didn't take itself too seriously and I enjoyed the whole thing. I found myself smiling and laughing through the whole thing.

The music in the jazz club was excellent, as well.

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I shouldn't have watched it alone!

This movie was, for me, surprisingly good. The film quality isn't fabulous, it's an older movie, and you need to make sure that the room that you are watching it in is dark, because this film has a lot of dark scenes that are hard to see.

Story/script: SPOILERS! Overall, it was good, but a couple of glaring things stuck out to me. First, her guide dog had to be the worst guide dog ever. She walked her out into the middle of an intersection with cars coming! THEN, the dog left her when she got off the train. Granted, the dog did come back to try to protect Soo Ah, and then died?!?!?! I know it was necessary to the story about "I lose everyone I love" but come on! Thankfully I knew about this ahead of time, so I was somewhat prepared, but then to kill off the inspector?!?! Couldn't the writer just have him be wounded? I was hoping he'd show up at her graduation and was so disappointed. Another thing that irritated me, her burning herself while cooking, and spilling things all over the place. She'd been blind for three years; it seems she would have adapted better than this. I felt that the writers were trying to show us how "weak" she was because of her disability. It didn't ring true to me. That being said, the tension in this movie was real, lots of sudden camera shots that had me jumping in surprise.

Acting: I love all of the actors that were in this and felt they did a good job.

The ending scenes were sweet, showing that she had someone else in her life to care about her.

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It needed some emotion!

SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
This movie felt to me like they edited out the scenes that would have made the movie make sense, any scene that included any time of emotional development between the characters.

Yamashita Tomohisa as teacher Sakurai Haruka - he kept all the crazy girls at bay, and falls in love with a girl that has no emotions whatsoever? They've never had a conversation with one another, but he loves her? He's gorgeous, that's all I got from him.

Komatsu Nana as Kururugi Yuni - she was the most immature, mature young lady ever. She hates him but she loves him? She's never shown any emotion at all, yet she's going to confess in front of the whole class? Did she love him because he talked to her about English? What's the attraction!?!? This character was the epitome of robotic. They might have been portraying her to be on the spectrum, but if so, this movie would have been so much better if they had addressed it. I think it might have been to show that only he saw her "inner emotions" because she clenched her fists. She's beautiful, that's all I got from her.

Don't even get me started about how, even though they have never been on a date, he wants to marry her.

I did like how the evil troublemaker was one of the teachers and not one of the kids, though why there always has to be an evil troublemaker, I have no idea.

I would have enjoyed it, I think, if we were given any insight into why they loved each other.

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Unnecessarily draggy

I felt that this show dragged on needlessly. I don't think it's a rule that a certain number of episodes are required, so why not get a good editor and cut all the unnecessary stuff out? Just sayin'. I also found myself rooting for the second male lead, rather than the lead. He was a lovely person, and always wanted what was best for her. The male lead was a little too one-dimensional for me. So many side stories I was having difficulties keeping up with the names, that all sound alike. It was a pretty good show to watch, but I don't feel the need to watch it again, which, to me, is a sign of a show worthy of a 9-10.

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