Usually when I pick up a drama, I carefully read the synopsis to sniff out any hint of tragedy or bad ending. As I absolutely want to avoid em. "4-punkan no marigold" was giving off that kind of vibe. But the Older Woman/Younger Man tag made me continue it(I admit, I love this kind of pairing), and I'm glad that I did.
The story centers around 4 siblings and each of their personal struggle in life. An older brother who sacrificed his prime time of life for the happiness of his younger siblings. Youngest sibling trying to figure out, whether to pursue his dream or to lay it off for the father like older brother. Main protagonists Mikoto is a paramedic with a special ability to see the last moment of someone's life, struggling to find a way to impede the fate waiting for her stepsister and love interest Sara. The drama might feel slow paced if someone isn't used to "slice of life" genre. Almost each episodes disclose more story of the siblings, their daily life and how people around them helps to seek different possibilities in life. Death, struggle is part of life but familial bond just might be the cure to go past these obstacle and live on, a common message of this type of drama and no difference here.
The drama title has a hidden meaning and one have to watch till the end to get it.
To me, ending is the most important thing to judge a drama. 4-punkan no marigold delivered not only a happy ending but a very satisfying one. Ken Hirai's『#302』in this drama is like cherry on top.
*btw this is my first time doing a drama review. So there might be tons of mistake(apology for that), but I loved this drama so much that it felt like i need to write it.

Read More

If you're here for noona romance then it's the right place

~This review is totally subjective and might seem biased since it's a genre I really like ~
If the older woman/younger man tag attracted you then you're for a good show.
The plot isn't very deep or complicated and the total run time of 90~ish minutes wouldn't allowed it much too. Instead of spending too much time on side characters and backstories the movie focused on building the relationship between the leads. Nitpicky people might find flaw in it.
The character transition of the male lead from a playful young adult to a more responsible one was necessary and which they did as the age gap was there to trouble a good ending and halfway through, the third wheel entered(or I say returned) to make things complicated. Fortunately our leads were resolute from their points.

All's well that ends well, this one definitely falls into that category.

Read More

Time-slip, Time-jump, Time-travel, etc are the elements that unbound the creator's imagination and open up various possibilities. The movie "Junihitoe wo Kita Akuma" took one of these elements and made us dive into the classic "Tale of Genji". with our main character Ito Rai. Knowing the original Genji Monogatari isn't mandatory to watch this movie but it'll certainly make you appreciate it because the movie unfolds the classic tales from a different point of view.

Rai in his timeline lived like a side character under the shadow of his talented younger sibling. The frustration from his incompetence was eating away Rai until he teleported into the Heian Era or more specifically in the story of Genji. A not so uncommon build-up, true. But the filmmaker took the opportunity here to throw us into the Genji tale from a different side. Rai starts living in this time period as Raimei, a seer for Kokiden Nyogo, the first wife of emperor Kiritsubo. In Genji Monogatari, Kokiden is portrayed as a villainous woman, who plots against Genji to ensure his own son Suzaku gets the throne. With our main character Raimei by her side, the movie shows a different side of Kokiden. A mother and a woman with strong conviction and love for her son. Her characteristics rub off on Rai and we see some character development. It's alright to be not the chosen one but possible to This is what impressed me most about the movie.

I don't have much to say about the acting of the casts because I can't tell the difference between bad or good acting unless they are too obvious.

For whatever reason, the comedy tag is in this movie. there wasn't much comedy and one shouldn't expect one since the original Genji Monogatari is rather dark, full of complex love, hate, taboo relationship, and tragedy. There are a couple of Genji Monogatari movies, and my suggestion will be to watch one first.

*btw, the song Raimei was singing to Rinko at 65 minutes, is "Cherry(チェリー)" by Spitz's(スピッツ). Just saying, because they're my favorite band.

Read More

If you're a man of culture who likes noona romance then the synopsis will definitely seems intriguing. And the first few episodes will make you go uWu true but after finishing it you'll feel you've been deceived. The utter shithousery ending will want you to pull out your own hairs because you wasted some valuable hours of your life watching this crap.

The plot was great, the age of male protagonist was also doable(in noona romance). All it needed was a good ending. The first 5-6 episodes gives you the impresssion of a great noona romace drama in teh making, but after that it all goes downhill.
Felt like there was no direction. I was wondering whether teh script was completed before they start filming. One or two episodes of cringy romance is acceptable but no, the drama will force you to endure that almost through the whole duration.
So advice will be if you want to watch it, watch the first half of the drama then drop it. Make up your own ending and never touch it, it'll leave a bad taste in your mouth.
All these are applicable unless you're one of those "Goblin" come "Gong Yoo" fan. And it's admirable how "Bae Suzy" pull out her career in k-drama industry after this one. "Lee Min Jung" was beautiful in the drama like she how is does in her past and future works, that's it.
Don't let the overall rating of 7 fool you, that's just work of fanboy/girl of certain actor certainly. Since MyDramalist won't let me give negative rating I'll leave it at 1.

Read More

A low grade poop I stepped on

~~ This review is totally subjective ~~

Episode 8 is the limit of my endurance. I tried to manage this cringefest for the sake of Noona romance, but forced to stop here. I haven't watched a lot of CDramas/Movies. But I was quite satisfied with the handful few that I watched up to this point. But I had to come across some bad apple at some point, unfortunately this is the one.

The story is a mess. I understand it's a drama and things like infidelity, cheating, affairs are common in here, to spice things up. But how come all (except one up to ep 8) of the couples are somehow in this type of crap? Couldn't make myself to like a single characters. Specially the character of Xu Guang dude. Wanted to samsh the face everytime he appeared on a scene.
Unpleasing experience. I started to lose it at episode 6 but still dragged it up to 8, and it only added up to the growing frustration. So decided to draw the line.

I don't pay attention to how the casts act, but couldn't help but notice the glaring low grade acting in this one. Acting in CDramas/Movies always felt off to me, like they're devoid of natural feelings but that could be how the language and people works there, so wasn't much bothered of it before. This one is forcing me to write about it.

I always try to rate dramas/movies based on their ending, but unfortunately I am not gonna torture myself to see the end of this one(even though I can already guess it has a happy ending).
Since I haven't completed it and I can't give negative rating point., I'll be generous and give it 1.

Read More