Lily_B
Sweden
Not a thriller, but it has "sismance"!
Let’s start with calling things by their right name: Netflix has this marked as “Soaps - Drama - Dysfunctional family", and that is what it is, in other words: makjang. It is in many ways a melodramatic and exaggerated drama about family, friendship, motherhood, and obsession. It also has a mystery, but it is not too heavy on the suspense and I would not call this a thriller at all. In my opinion, that is not a bad thing! As I wasn’t expecting it, I wasn’t disappointed.This being said, I guess I can understand where the “nothing happens” reactions come from, because there must for sure be more thrilling dramas than this one. I however, found the plot interesting enough and I cared about most of the characters. The things that happened were often related to family matters, even though the starting point of the drama is that someone (it remains to find out who) is found dead.
When I was halfway through it, it amused me to compare it to a palace drama, because the main characters are crazy rich and live in huge houses with servants, and some of them act like royalties from another century. (I was half expecting the old woman to demand to have servants flogged at some point…) People who like those dramas might also enjoy Mine! In the beginning of the first episode, the patriarch of the family falls into a coma (how many emperors in a coma have you seen yet??), and the family is stressed out by the fact that they don’t know who’ll inherit the company (become crown prince). The oldest son is kind of a slacker (sounds familiar?), but the youngest and very ambitious one is the son of a mistress (since long dead noble consort) and the matriarch (empress) doesn’t like him.
This whole “father in a coma, who will get the company” part is just the background, though. The main character is Hee Soo, wife of the younger son. It is interesting to compare her to her mother-in-law. The old lady screams and shouts a lot, and she was never able to love the son she didn’t give birth to. We’ve seen this in many dramas. Hee Soo, however, is also a stepmother, but she loves her little boy just as much as any mother could ever love her child! This drama is about different kind of mother-child relationships. Hee Soo appears very gentle and warm, “just” a sweet, motherly woman… but this drama will show that she has claws just like any “tiger mom”. Something starts to happen when the family hire a new tutor for their little son, and Hee Soo soon feels that something is not right with her.
Hee Soo and the teacher, Miss Kang, are two of the important women in the drama. The third one is Seo Hyun, wife of the older son. She is everything he is not: elegant, smart, in control, fully capable of leading a very big company. She is born to be a queen! But of course she has a secret… She doesn’t have a very good relationship with her husband and stepson, but she is close to her sister-in-law, and in the end, female friendship and support is one of the main points of this drama. If Hee Soo and Seo Hyun had been male characters, people on the MDL feeds would be talking about the amazing, beautiful “bromance” all day! I adored the two of them. There are also many more important characters, like the nun, Mother Emma, who is close to Hee Soo, among others.
This drama has a few mysteries, like who is the teacher really, who is the one who dies and who did it, and there are secrets that are revealed throughout the drama, for example connections between characters. This drama also has pretty much every cliché in the book… but that is to be expected from a makjang, right?! Some characters are also pretty boring (like the older grandson and his rich man/poor woman romance, but maybe the idol actor is there to attract younger viewers?), but even if there is some “filler”, I didn’t find the drama draggy and there were also a few (unexpectedly) hilarious moments. Many of the characters did their best to grow and change for the better.
I almost never rewatch dramas (once in seven years), so the “rewatch value” category doesn’t mean anything to me… but if I imagine that I have to rewatch this (I could maybe convince some friend to watch, and the friend demands company..?) I don’t think I would mind, because there is a lot to look at in this drama. The houses are big and shiny with nice art, the women are beautiful and their clothes are gorgeous most of the time. Sometimes they wear pretty jewelry and the peacock in the garden (mother-in-law’s pet; expect something funny related to the friendship theme I mentioned in the later episodes!) is beautiful. Everything was really nice to look at. Rewatching Seo Hyun and Hee Soo really wouldn’t hurt me.
The music is just background to me, unless there is something annoying or something that is very good. This was okay.
So, to sum it up: don’t expect something dark and thrilling, but lots of motherly love, sibling rivalry, screaming women and sisterly affection. This drama was enjoyable to me – and I was pleasantly surprised by the actual LBGTQ-content that wasn’t just subtext!* -- and I’m very glad I watched it. But I wouldn’t recommend it to someone like my grandmother who is disgusted by crazy rich main characters (“so unrealistic!”), or to anyone who hates makjang.
* I don’t mean that this drama has everything from lesbians to queer, I just included all letters to avoid spoiling too much!
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This review may contain spoilers
I wasn't going to review this, but after completing it I find that I do want to try to say something about it. I quite liked it in the beginning because all I wanted was to watch a modern, somewhat emotional drama with some actor that I like. I adore Yang Shuo so I just wanted to try this one. I soon found that this drama was very annoying, because it is obvious already in the first episode that this is a dream (or alternate reality perhaps, but not actual time travel) so for that matter we can all assume how it will end.
In the meantime, in her dream, Shi Jian believes it is real. We know it's not, so after some time, her concerns to make time "get back on track", actually it's not important. Because she's actually in a parallell existance!! She doesn't know, so the whole drama is about two things mainly: making sure her mother gets reated for cancer, and getting back together with Jiacheng.
In the real world, the two of them met when he was an established architect and he was single. In her dream it is ten years earlier, he is fresh out of college, and he has a girlfriend (the typical kind of "Evil" second FL). Another user has already described in their review what is so problematic with Shi Jian's actions.
The thing that really stands out in this drama is Yang Shuo's character Yi Pei. He's acting very well (he smiles a lot less than in other dramas, but when he does, oh wow) and Yi Pei is a truly wonderful man. So kind, so smart, even though people call him "cold" in the first half of the drama. If you have never had "second lead syndrome" before, you will feel that way now (only the second time for me, but I hear SLS is a thing for a lot of people). His storyline is sad (though *spoiler* not quite as sad as I feared, and his last scene is just as bittersweet as it is confusing. WHAT just happened there? I'm not even sure I want to know. Bittersweet to say the least! *end spoiler*).
When it comes to all the supporting characters in the drama, I liked them most of the time. Wenwen was a bit annoying at times but she was nice too. Jiacheng was a rather typical male lead and I didn't always like him. As for the main character, Shi Jian, I had a hard time warming up to her (I thought her voice was childish and she smiled too much).
Overall, I found this drama to be pointless and stupid BUT oddly addictive and easy to watch. Yi Pei's struggle was real and I have to admit, if it weren't for him, I most likely would have dropped this drama early on. Now I'm still kind of glad I watched it though.
If you think this review is confusing, well, I'm really confused too as to why this story was even written. Everything that happened could be said to make some kind of sense for a drama, but I really thought only schoolkids (I did it when I was in like grade 8) wrote stories that ended "and then she woke up and to her relief, it was just a dream!"
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The drama soon proved me wrong. It is not a depressing, sad or dark drama.The characters (pretty much all of them!) go through difficult things and they suffer, but… they find joy, and friendship and strength! The drama also has many funny as well as touching moments. It tackles some serious issues, but not in a way to make you feel down. (This might be a flaw to some people, but not to me.) Some of these things, however, are not really taken as seriously as they should but are rather just glossed over. Other things are convincing enough, though, such as the male lead's pain and anger, and the gradual transformation he goes through.
They both change for the better. Liu Tao and Yang Shuo are both the main leads, but it feels like his character, Xian Quian, has more background, is more developed and thus more interesting to follow throughout the drama. The father and son scenes were great! Being a single father is not easy, though, and he is very bitter when it comes to his ex, Xun Zhao. She finds a job at a fashion magazine where she makes some friends and twice as many enemies. I guess I'm not too sure how she changes as a person because I'm not quite sure who she is as a person. Still, I liked her and cared about her story.
The second leads, then - Alisa and Hu Nan. I really liked Alisa and rooted for her, and the friendship between the two women was a good part of this drama. When it comes to Alisa and Xiang Qian, at first I disliked their interactions... Little by little, though, it started to make sense, and their scenes together started to be funny and cute! (She and little Hao Han were also cute together.) Hu Nan, I liked him at the start, but I liked him less as the story progressed. He was good for Xun Zhao in some ways, but some things about him were hard to understand. There was also the married couple aka the best friends of the leads - they were good friends, I liked them, and I liked how they struggled to remain loyal and helpful without taking sides.
To sum it up, this drama had many good characters and actually not too many unnecessary parts or annoying things. It was warm, enjoyable, not too long, and well worth my time. It was less cheerful and bubbly compared to some c-dramas I’ve watched, and more "real" and less melo than others. It's not all the way up there with my favourites Ode to Joy and To Be A Better Man, though. Close enough!
I recommend it to anyone who want adult characters in a drama about family and finding your way in life. You should not expect romance, though, because there is almost nothing! Sure, some fall in love, but the plot is not about romance. The thing is, the characters have lots of other things on their mind during this time in their life! That is pretty realistic, I guess. I'm not going to lie - I would not have minded more romance! The fact that there isn't any to speak of is not a big flaw, though. That will have to wait for another drama. (Yang Shuo can do it, I know it!)
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The plot… well, this needs to be said: The plot is based on some unbelievable things. As you can read from the synopsis, the male lead has had a facial surgery to the point of being completely unrecognisable even by his loved ones. Can you believe it? No? Well, are you at least willing to pretend to believe it for the sake of entertainment? If the answer is yes, then go on and watch this! This drama is long, but it took some time before finally all pieces of the puzzle were put together, and I was genuinely interested and curious about what was going on. They really did create a mystery that grabbed my attention. Some people say it is confusing but I disagree - the story was easy to follow and it was very easy to remember who all the characters were. I wasn't bored while watching this, except once or twice in the last few episodes! Well, there were too many flashbacks where characters were in deep thoughts about something that very recently happened... such things are a bit annoying.
I liked the main characters and their friendships and romances. For the most part of the drama, I really appreciated that there was very little of the usual annoying things like love rivalry, meddling parents and other things. I like it when characters are good friends who support each other! It's just that they did add two completely unnecessary characters that took up screentime, added drama and made this longer than necessary in the second half. They could have skipped that. Well, there are more "surprise! I'm a new character in this drama!" additions in the later half or even the last third of the drama, but most of them are essential to the major plotline. And there was one character that developed in a kind of strange way. The motivations should have been explored more to make what happens more believable, but at the same time it was nice... So I'll call it okay.
The cast of this drama wasn't familiar to me before I started it, except Yang Shou whom I've seen twice before. This drama has made me appreciate him more as an actor. I think he really nailed it with all the different emotions. The romance was believable and the tension between the two leads - especially before she knew! - was tangible. Overall the acting was good.
On a more superficial level, things were nice to look at for the most part. French scenery... Interesting fashion (mix of beautiful, weird and hideous) and yes, the people, too.
Most of the time I don't care a lot about the music in dramas, but here there was a song that I really liked! The rest of the music was also okay.
At some point, I think my enjoyment was up there at level 9, but some things in the plot were just way too hard to believe in. I was more forgiving of some things than some previous viewers on Viki, but when things get too over the top you just can't take the drama seriously enough to love it unconditionally. Some things in the last episodes were stupid, to be honest, but with all these pros and cons, I thought this drama was worth 8.5 as my overall impression. Not as good and as lovable as some, but definitely good enough for me to appreciate the time I've spent on it. I posted a version of this review on my feed right after completing it, but as I found myself thinking about the drama a week later, I thought I should post a review, so I edited my notes. I don't rewatch, but will I remember this a couple of years from now? I think so… maybe because it was a kind of crazy story, but also because it was a pretty nice watch.
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If you like revenge dramas where the leads (the two male leads in this case) are willing to do everything, including hurting people who love them, to get what they want, then you might like this drama. If you like plots where memory loss plays an important part to create conflicts and misunderstandings, then this is also for you. If you like love triangles where both male leads are determined to love the girl no matter what (including some noble idiocy), then this drama has it.
On the other hand, if you are like me and dislike those things, then you probably shouldn't watch this drama. And I just don't understand revenge. The main character, princess Xiao Feng, is carefree and happy, but love hits her hard and breaks her heart because the men in her life want something "greater" than her and she becomes a tool in their hands. Yes, they try to win her over, more or less, but the whole memory loss thing makes it more complicated. If the Crown Prince had actually trusted her a little bit... To put it simply, I really didn't like the plot - even though I enjoyed the drama in the beginning, my enjoyment and my rating dropped as I watched. After the first episodes (before she gets married) I very rarely felt that this was "romantic" at all. Also, it got draggy and repetitive in the middle (who knew it was so easy to sneak out of a palace!).
So, it's the story and the writing that I didn't like. Sometimes I do enjoy power struggles but in this drama that part wasn't interesting enough for me. If there is an Emperor - Empress - Empress uncle power triangle, there has to be something in their personalities and not just the fact that these are their roles and we know that the Empress is always cold-hearted and her uncle is always power-hungry… but that is not reason enough to care.
There were, however, a few things that I liked. For one thing, everything is pretty and the drama is a real feast for the eyes. Nothing looks fake or plastic and the costumes are gorgeous. The makers of this drama paid a lot of attention to such details! I didn't like the main characters, but I did like some of the minor characters a lot. I also liked that while there were women who were rivals and hated each other (as in every palace drama!), this drama had a lot of genuine female friendship - I appreciated that. Also, I think the acting was good, even when I didn't like the characters or didn't agree with their choices. The pain in their hearts appeared to be "real"… and yet I couldn't feel anything for most of them. (That might sound contradictory but it was how I felt it, and for me, my "feeling" is important when I rate a drama!)
The music wasn't memorable in my opinion, and the re-watch value is very low. That's because I didn't like the drama of course, but I also never re-watch dramas so I guess this part doesn't matter a lot.
Okay, so now I've shared my unpopular opinion, because as watchers we are all different and not everyone likes the same drama as everyone else. It could be helpful for those who are thinking about watching this to know that there are different opinions.
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I liked it. It was not amazing but it was a nice watch. It could have been a deeper, more emotional story but on the other hand I guess it was meant to be just what it was. It was very dream-like, and not just the parts that were actual dreams. A young person's dream. Or someone with a young soul, doesn't matter… I liked some of the things they said even though it felt like the whole movie was just a sort of frame for those words… fair enough! The writer is obviously a big fan of Mishima Yukio but I kind of like the obviousness of that, too. The scene where the main character sees a place from a novel in real life was really cute.
Some parts of it were a little bit weird and almost too much (sort of like teaching a person to swim by throwing them into deep water before letting them practice at the shallow end of the pool) but I kind of understand that, too. The professor wanted to be honest and open about the way he thought and lived and that's not wrong.
As I was watching this I couldn't help thinking of the movie Koi. (J-drama special.) Teacher-student affair/menage à trois even though they are different (they were four here, for one thing *lol*). Koi had less sex scenes and less homoerotic content (but it was implied and until someone reads the novel and tells me otherwise I'm sure it was more like "text" and not subtext in that one!) but on the other hand it had more… well, plot, story. (Also, it had Arata as a hot English literature professor - forgive my bias!) But like I said, I think the writer or Utopia had a different aim. The makers of the movie wanted people who watched it change their way of thinking in a certain direction… which is something I sympathize with.
I also liked that the only really sad part of this was the ways of the society they lived it; the overall mood of the story was happy and accepting and in the end sort of sweet. Some people may find it bizarre but I kind of liked it!
The acting was good but nothing extraordinary I guess. I found the characters believable. I've already forgotten the music. I don't rewatch, I never know what to say about it...
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This drama is not in any way a masterpiece or anything really "special". It's just that it's special in the way that it gives you warm and fuzzy feelings in a simple and pure form without anything to make it complicated, annoying or draggy. Yes, there are characters who act as "bad guys", there are complications that makes you feel sooo upset and frustrated on behalf of the characters; it's dramatic in that way and keeps you emotionally connected. If you are susceptible to the feelgood genre, this story rubs you the right way and tugs at your heartstrings in a way that is… just right. It has a touch of comedy to it, and the amount of comedy is also just right. Some themes are rather serious, even if they're not dealt with in a very deep way, and the different sides of the story balace each other well. Some episodes are actually very funny.
Some people say it's predictable and I'm not denying that. (How can a story with this kind of plot not be? What would be the point?) It has all the usual things for a school and sports drama! Even if you can figure some things out right from the start, there are enough little surprises to keep you interested but it's not even about the plot mainly. This is the kind of drama you want to watch for the characters, their inteactions, the friendship, the teamwork, the loyalty, the emotional bonds, the forming of new bonds and re-discoveries of lost ones. Watching this drama will make you root for the characters, not only on the soccer field. That's why my overall rating is higher than the individual rating for "story". One minor flaw is that I think several scenes were cut from this drama. It doesn't take away anything from the understanding of the story but some things feel a little bit rushed in the last parts of the drama.
The acting is good overall; actors and characters are very well matched. The principal pulls of being a powerful woman/silly girl very well. The vice principal on the other hand is a little bit too ridicilous in his appearance; too much of a "type"… but it's okay in this kind of drama. He serves his purpose. The female lead is convincing and is only annoying sometimes; the young actors are mostly really great. Especially Wang Jingke and Qin Minghao (two of the main ones) are convincing in the different kinds of situations they face and grow through.
Hu Ge though is one major reason to watch this apart from the feelgood effects of the drama itself. I have to discuss him a little bit here, because I do find him so good in this role. He plays the part so well, a very believable "Mu Shuai" (the nickname his character goes by most of the time). He was perfect as a very kind and (too) noble man in Sound of the Desert, truly amazing in Nirvana in Fire, and in Disguiser he did very well in a role that wasn't really good for him - it's even more obvious in retrospect now that I compare with his portrayal of Mu Qi. Here, we can see him every now and then bring out a bubbly, playful side of the character. Ming Tai was definitely also playful but Hu Ge tried too hard there, simply because Ming Tai was very young so Hu Ge was not acting his age. With Mu Qi on the other hand, he is in time with his character so the overall impression is more convincing. (It's not just his problem, I think many actors have this problem when they have to act younger than their real age.) He goes through the usual journey from a somewhat grumpy, sad and "I don't really care" coach to someone who grows as a person, etc, etc (as can be expected from this kind of story), making plans and smart schemes, always bickering with young teacher Pei Duo… It's fun! It all seems to come naturally for him. And our two main leads do have enough chemistry to make you care! (Also, he's really hot here... but it should be just a side note!)
The music is nice and it fits in with the drama and everything. I liked it when I watched; I won't be listening to it later on.
I always struggle with the rewatch value when I write a review, because I don't rewatch, no matter how great a drama is. I'll have to pretend I am a rewatcher and imagine in which ways this would be worth watching again. Well, I do think a feelgood stoy you enjoyed has some kind of rewatch value (in the past I have rewatched movies and reread books so I'm not a complete stranger to it), but even though you don't really watch it for the plot you'll already know which games the team wins or loses… so I'd say if you really liked it and if you really don't have anything else to watch you could go back to this at least for a while.
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This drama is highly rated, so I guess I have some explaining to do. That's one reason why I am writing this review - seeing that so many people absolutely adored this drama, I want to offer a somewhat different point of view. The other reason is that I feel like I want to sort out my thoughts about it.
So, did I like it at all? Yes, I did. Not because I thought it was very beautiful or extraordinary or anything, and not because I was swept away by the romance. No, on the contrary I found this drama to be very, very silly with too many plotholes, and even though I generally enjoy teacher/student romances I didn't feel a lot of "chemistry" in this drama. Part of it can be explained by the fact that the man lives in "The Hall of Emotionless", above everything else. But even so… At first I was disappointed with this drama and thought to myself: "What ever is this?!" but I learned to take it for what it was and enjoy iy as such. I saw this drama as light and fun, not a comedy but definitely impossible to take seriously, some things annoying and some things delightfully enjoyable.
The thing is, many things in this drama don't make a lot of sense, especially not the details. Things happen without reason or explanation all of a sudden and the characters are saying and doing irrational things sometimes. At Chang Liu they honour vitures like being "emotionless" and without desire and ambition. Yet all of the characters - except the male lead, sometimes - display all kinds of very human emotions all the time - like distrust and suspicion, jealousy, and a lot of importance is placed on the times when the disciples have to compete agains each other. They have to do their best to win, because there can only be one winner of course. I fail to understand how it is possible to fight for the spot as the sect leader's disciple without having any feelings about it. Also, it is against the rule to fall in love, but some people break the rule with no consequences.
The writing is definitely lacking, it does a terrible job at explaining the details and even the greater lines that would make the context - the setting, the basics of this fantasy world - come to life. We know that there are some "demons" and some "immortals" and some "humans". And there is some great, dark danger that is threathening the existence of the whole world. How and why I have no idea, but the "deity devices" that are spread out among the various sects (what is the purpose of these sects and what are they doing there?) can keep things in check. Of course, the bad guys are trying to steal these devices. All of this is sketchy at best. It seems like someone wanted to write a teacher/student story in a fantasy world, but didn't have enough imagination, and decided to roughly copy the manual of "Fantasy Story 1A". There they are "cultivating", which in some way or another means that they learn magic skills that mostly consist of being able to fly on the edge of a sword, push people away with a flash of light or create a shield around them, and make all those wuxia moves. The good guys live in golden halls, the bad guys live in dark, cave-like places, and their soldiers seem to be retired orchs who are sometimes very, very useless fighters. I really hated how boring and pointless the whole fantasy setting was. There is not even any real feeling of Good v/s Evil.
I liked, no, I adored many of the "bad guys" in this drama. I don't often fall for the characters that belong to or turn to "the dark side", but if it's done the right way, there is something about it that appeals to me. I liked Sha Quian Mo, aka Sha Jie Jie, from the start. I like the way he's so powerful and has almost complete control over his subordinates - he has quite a bit of that awesome great power that makes some people kind of hot - and yet he's so emotional and soft on the inside. Or at least a part of his inside... He was my favourite and with a better story, he could have been a wonderful character! Purple Fairy, too, is a character who is strong and proud and elegant, sharp and powerful. Too bad this is mostly ruined by her foolishness, her obsession with love that makes her kind of stupid, and weak. Even so, I always adored her and stayed a little bit on her side even when she did bad things. (As for the bad guys, Ni Man Tian was one I did not like at all. She was just a spoiled brat who was mean for no reason. No fun at all.) Dongfang was also an interesting character and one that I liked more and more, once I got past the first few annoying episodes. I also liked some of the supporting characters. (Yes, I'm saying that I like the supporting characters more than the main couple, but… I find that to be pretty okay. It's too bad the supposedly great romance didn't sweep me off my feet this time, but looking at the rating and the other reviews, I guess that's just me…)
It reverses good and bad, in a way. The people in the golden and pastel coloured castle are the good guys, but often they are colder and more cruel than the villains. Well, this is at least true about some of them. There are some lovable cliché good guys (minor characters who are sweet and give the leads support in the right moments) and some cliché bad guys whom you love to hate. Because of this "reversal" in the characters attitudes and actions (or should I say that some characters are actually rather multi-layered) it is sad that the setting is still so cliché. I dislike how they use colours so stereotypically, especially knowing that some c-dramas can be really beautiful. (I've heard that this is actually pretty good for its genre, but seeing as this is my first Chinese fantasy drama I can't compare it. It does have a few pretty sceneries but nothing special, in my opinion.)
This drama is like a big bowl of candy. Not premium quality, stuff, but sweet and colourful. Too much, but it kind of looks good. Even though you know it when you bite into it, that there's really not point in eating it, you just can't resist it. You just take another piece. And another, and another, until you're full and had enough. You shouldn't have started eating to begin with. But another day, you come back for more!
That's what this drama was like for me. I dislike a lot of things about it. I wouldn't recommend it for the romance - as much as I have a soft spot for teacher/student relationships, this couple did not move me. Even though I have to admit there were a few sweet moments, overall I find this romance utterly unromantic with no chemistry to speak of. Bai Zi Hua is a very stupid man whose decisions don’t make sense a lot if the time.
Well, there's one thing about it - this drama, I found it amusing! I was disappointed at first, because I had expected something grand and beautiful and exquisite (well, who can blame me, the second c-drama I ever watched was Nirvana in Fire and it kind of set the bar and made me have unreasonable expectations). I found this to be ridicilously silly. It really is. But once I accepted the silliness, embraced the comedy (although I'm not sure if all the things that made me laugh were meant to be funny) and tried to ignore the stupidness of a lot of the plot, The Journey of Flower quickly became my guilty pleasure. If I hadn’t had that feeling about it, I would have dropped it after four or five episodes… but I did watch the whole thing and didn’t skip anything except a few figthing scenes in the last half of the drama.
Tonight I also watched a few of the cut scenes on YouTube. They are... interesting, but including them (the ones I watched) would not have made the drama better in my opinion, only more frustrating.
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If you like a typical coming of age story this might work for you. A character from a small town comes to Tokyo and learns to be more humble while learning a profession. It worked well for me with the drama Bambino! but not here. An apprentise and a master with a tragic past... it's almost painful how uninteresting it is, which is a shame because with good writing such a story can be so heartwarming. The movie begins with a sort of love story that is over early on, it's just the promt that starts the whole thing. The hero who steps in and saves the day is anothe obvious cliché... it was totally fine in Dinner, but here it was just meh. I realized as I was watching that I was thinking: "So much crying and shouting just for one bakery, why?" I should not think that. I should root for the main character and feel what she is feeling and share her passion when I watch a movie! Another thing that annoyed me was that the character Mariko made absolutely no sense at all. Poor girl. I'm sure there was something about her, but I could not figure out what.
If you're thinking about watching this movie just for Eguchi Yosuke, don't bother. What a waste, anyone could have played that role and it wouldn't have made a difference.
BUT I have to admit that I LOVED the cakes and the scenes where the characters were seriously working hard in the bakery. It was absolutely beautiful. (In fact, as soon as I have finished typing this I'll google to see where there are ant bakeries in the city where I'm staying right now!) If you like this kind of eyecandy, this movie is not a complete waste of time. I had high hopes for it and it didn't disappoint as far as the cakes are concerned. It's almost worth rewatching just because of that. Or not. I really wish this had been a drama instead of a movie.
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The main character is Shinnosuke, born Japanese but brought up as a “cowboy” in Arizona, USA, who is sent to Shibuya, Tokyo, by his Native American friend Geronimo III (Furuta Arata, always a pleasure), to search for a girl named Imoko. This is the overall story arch that keeps the whole thing together. Imoko is supposed to be 17 years old, but Shinnosuke soon learns that Shibuya is full of girls that age. Some of them have dropped out of school or even left their homes and they only live for their club, Angel Hearts, where they do the “para-para” dance. (This too looks very strange to me but I’ve read that this is a thing that exists!) He befriends them, and also meets other people in the neighborhood, along with Geronimo’s daughter Momo.
In the beginning I even wondered if it was watchable at all. “What is this?!?” I thought to myself, but soon I realized that it’s not meant to be taken seriously. The drama is full of very strange things that can’t even happen in the real world, and it’s full of repetitions (stuff in one character’s shop always gets knocked over in the exact same way once or twice ever episode, and things like that). It’s completely over the top all the way. Nobody can be like that. Why the American characters all speak fluent Japanese is a mystery, for one thing. Only Shinnosuke’s speech is sometimes sprinkled with English. It’s just one of the things that you have to accept and let go to enjoy this... The way they dress and act, too. The writer of this drama has clearly been looking too much at old children’s books about “cowboys and Indians”, and no other characters ever change out of their work clothes…
Of course, there are “serious” topics thrown in, too. Each episode deals with a certain issue one of the characters has to deal with, and “the cowboy from Arizona” helps them gain new insight. Mostly it’s the girls in Angel Heart that he meets. He helps them “grow” and “learn from their mistakes”, and even if the girls get angry with each other and fight a lot, they make up before the end of the episode. This is the part of the drama that makes me roll my eyes. Shinnosuke’s speeches about respect and compassion may carry good messages, but these “life lessons” are a bit too much sometimes! At the same time this makes them kind of funny, too. Just when you think it’s getting way too cheesy, it falls back into the silliness again. At least sometimes. (And at least you can watch Fujiki Naohito’s face while he talks and forget the rest…)
That’s one reason why I didn’t give it a higher rating, and one reason why I watched this drama slowly. One episode every now and then to make me laugh, that’s fine. On the plus side is that there is very little romance and only in the last few episodes – this feels like a good thing to me, in this kind of drama.
At least I think that Shinnosuke was a cute character. A strange mix of seriousness, silliness and naiveté, but it sort of works once you accept that that’s just how he is. (To be honest, at some point I suspected that his true identity was not that he was Japanese, but from another planet…) Some of the girls were pretty interesting, but the main character among them, Erika Toda’s character Saki (the one who gets most attached to the cowboy), can be a bit annoying. (Or maybe it’s just me that for some reason never really like the actress that much, even though I accepted her in LG…) The Patrolman (Sato Ryuta) was a character that developed a little bit. And I liked how they Skyped with Geronimo and how some of the characters sort of bonded with him online!
The music – I got very tired of the song that Angel Hearts danced to. It was a boring piece of music, and they always practiced the same dance to the same song. The ending theme was kind of cute and fitting for the drama (and sung by FN, “Hey! Friends”) but not something I would actually listen to.
So, what do I say, finally? I think it was a pretty good comedy drama after all; it made me laugh, so there’s that. Not every episode was hilarious but sometimes it actually was. The ending was incredibly stupid, but again in a good way to really follow through with the overall silliness of the drama. But it’s not one of the really awesome comedies that you’ll remember forever. It’s the kind of drama that put a lot of emphasis on friendship, being honest and trying hard, and find something to do with your life.
I don’t rewatch dramas, so I don’t know about that, but I don’t really think there’s a lot to rewatch this for. Fujiki Naohito is cute here though so if you’re a fangirl like me you might find this worth your time (but he always wears his cowboy outfit and even though the character kind of suits him, I’d only give this drama 8 for eye-candy). That is, if you can stand the speeches about what is right and good and how to treat other people, etc…
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Yes, there is romance as stated on the drama information page, but it is also about family and friendship. There is the Nagakura family – four siblings and the oldest brother’s daughter – who often argue and banter but love and care about each other deeply, and then Chiaki comes to live next door. Romance leads to friendship and friendship to romance, and there’s romantic friendship that leads nowhere; all this is sort of obvious from the first episode. What surprised me was not the romance theme, but rather the friendship and family themes, and the warmth and humor throughout it all. In the end, this drama is about family: The kind of family that you chose and create for yourself.
This is a drama about adults. The main characters are all between 35 and 50, so if you’re used to watching dramas about young love and high school kids, you might think that this is not for you. Well, personally I appreciate variation and I like watching dramas about people older than myself sometimes. I think this drama can be enjoyed by anybody no matter the age. Also, this is a drama without evil and scheming second leads. Well, there are second leads and some weirdo characters, but nothing that will make you want to scream with frustration.
The characters are all very likeable, even though they’re pretty odd. The older Nagakura brother cares a lot about appearances and always tries to think about what’s proper and responsible, but at the same time he also does things he doesn’t always quite understand, out of love. Also, he has a hard time saying “no” to things, he’s a nitpicker, and somehow he can’t seem to be near Chiaki without picking a fight with her. The twins are also nice people: Shinpei who is an “Angel”, because although he’s scared of commitment, he is very “helpful and generous” and aims to make as many women happy as possible (yes, if it’s sex they need, that’s what he helps them with, although it could just as well be some company). All this is done with a sort of innocence and naïveté – he doesn’t quite seem like the typical womanizer even if that’s sort of what he is – that probably only works so well because of the general atmosphere of this drama. Even though you like the characters and feel for them, you can’t take this too seriously.
This is especially true about the twin sister, Mariko. You’d barely recognize Uchida Yuki under all that hair and the crazy clothes… Mariko is… special. At first I thought she was mentally disabled, perhaps she is but she’s also smart and observant. She’s not a complete recluse but she’s scared of people sometimes, and she's very fidgety, with her smartphone glued to her fingers… I just don’t know what’s “wrong” with her, but I guess not even the drama writer knows that… ;) Sometimes I found her a little bit too much but I loved her. The fourth sister is also an important character, but her plotline is a bit more typical that Mariko’s: She’s the rebellious housewife who is tired of being taken for granted by her husband and son. What I like about this drama though is that all of these characters are important and all storylines are completed; you don’t lose interest for anyone just because someone else gets too much screentime.
(As for the other supporting characters, not all of them are fully developed, but that’s not to be expected I guess. Chiaki’s friends are just there as a background, because there needs to be scenes where she can talk about things that are happening…)
Chiaki is a drama producer and there are also scenes from her office. It is mildly amusing when characters in a drama talk about a drama and about things that should or should not happen in one…
Also, I have to give this drama a special gold star in my book for stating openly that yes, sometimes a woman can fall in love with another woman. This is not a huge thing, but it is there, and this is the first time I have seen anything even remotely like lesbian love in a j-drama. Well, it might be there just because of the “comedy” that comes out of it, but it’s still undeniably there.
As always, there’s not much I can say about the music, but at least I did notice it this time around. There were mostly just the same two or three songs that played, but they added to the atmosphere and I liked them, for what it’s worth.
To be honest, I started watching this drama as a first step of stalking Koyzumi Kyoko, but I really did enjoy it and not just because of her! Now I’m looking forward to the special, and then let’s just hope we’ll get subs for season two this spring! The ending made me want to know what’s going to happen next, or rather, I just don’t want to let go of the Nagakura family yet!
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The real story is a love affair, a ménage-à-trois that at one point seems beautiful and perfect until the cracks in the façade eventually begins to be seen (can such things really be that way for long anyway?) but even though you know (from scene one) that it’ll end badly somehow, there’s something wonderfully alluring here that sucks you in and you’ll watch in fascinated sympathy how things fall apart.
Or maybe that’s just me. Except, no, it can’t be just me; the story is based on an award winning novel, and what is more; some of the basic elements of the plot have been used many times before. Evidently, people fall for it, the story of an innocent young girl getting lured in by an older, glamorous and decadent couple that laughs affectionately at her because they can barely remember what it once felt like to be naïve like her… I have read it before, and I’d read it again. In this version of the relationship of three, there were the things I had anticipated, and things I couldn’t see coming. (I imagine some people would criticise the ending, but I – being the sentimental fool that I am – like it.) I would really love to read the original novel, though, to find out about a few things I’m wondering about…
I have to admit, though, to being somewhat biased, not only for liking the theme but also for liking the male lead, Iura Arata. My expectations were high, because lately I’ve just been going through his minor supporting roles and I’ve been waiting eagerly to see him in a main role again. With this character, I got more or less what I wished for – an intellectual seducer with a dark secret and a gentle heart. (From a fangirl point of view: so hot!!) Katase Shintaro and his wife Hinako are elegant, seductive people and experienced in the ways of the world while also seeming to live in their own little universe that only a select few are invited to. The young student Fumiko – they call her Fuu-chan – is lucky or unlucky enough to be invited. She is thoroughly seduced by their overwhelming presence in her life and watching how this happens, inevitably as it has to happen, is very enjoyable.
Fuu-chan is a simple character, the kind of character who just is who she is and becomes dear to the others because of her kind and gentle spirit. There are no surprises in this character, but that’s not to say that she’s shallow. She is just as fascinated as she is intimidated by the couple's passionate, free-spirited lifestyle but she learns to like and accept them. Ishihara Satomi pulls off this natural cuteness almost surprisingly well and I didn’t doubt her for a moment. Tanaka Rena as Hinako is equally convincing: this pleasure-seeking, somewhat whimsical femme fatale kind of character could easily become over-the-top but somehow the actress manage to balance on a thin line, gradually revealing Hinako’s vulnerability. As for Iura Arata, well, this kind of role just suits him – he may have done it before but if you need an actor who can dive deeply into the darker realms of passion and do it with true conviction, he’s your man. This character is the one who goes through most of the changes, or rather, the way we look at him – through Fumiko – changes when we get to understand him better.
I have to give this a ten overall. This story may not always be subtle but it’s elegant and vibrant, erotic without being graphic, and with some surprises in the second half. The enjoyment lies in the character's interaction and all the emotions, and all in all, this is very well done! Even though the characters are driven to the edge of reason, this is not done for dramatic effect or because of drama clichés (e.g. jealous ex lover, annoying parents, etc), this is motivated by the story’s and the characters’ inner logic. Even the old “moth-to-the-flame” metaphor is taken to the next level. (Not gonna lie; I was thinking “no, please…” the moment the moth flew in, but thankfully the writer knew what she was doing!) It’s like a Greek tragedy; you know that something bad will happen, but once it does, you know that it couldn’t have been any other way. And through it all, they do truly love each other.
Is this a movie I would rewatch? Maybe! I found some beautiful and swoon-worthy scenes in it. As for the music, I suppose it did add to the atmosphere every now and then but overall I didn’t really notice it.
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The story was perfectly solid, although there was nothing remarkable, and it had some weak points overall.
The main plot is simple enough: Are they going to save the restaurant in the end, or not? Then there's also the question of how they're going to learn to get along with the new head chef Ezaki (Eguchi Yosuke). I’ve recently read a book about group dynamics and leadership and some things in this drama sort of illustrate really well the things I’ve read about. It could be argued that the story is predictable in both respects, but that wasn't a problem for me as I felt that it was always interesting, and there was character growth and development in the way the characters related to each other.
The characters in this drama are easy to like. They all have flaws and personal issues, but there are no annoying characters in Dinner! Most of the supporting characters got to be the main focus of an episode, and I liked that as it made me get to know everybody and care about them all. I felt that the story was very good for a drama in this genre - it's about people and the food they love to eat and cook.
There wasn't any romance in the main story arch of this drama but Tatsumi Saori (Kurashina Kana), the manager of the restaurant is sort of the cute princess to Ezaki's knight in shining armor. He’s grumpy, and a no-nonsense kind of person. He's very strict and extremely serious about food, a perfectionist, and doesn’t care if people think he’s scary as long as they do their work well. But he’s not mean, prejudiced or vain, he’s a really good guy under a rough surface. Ezaki's passion for food boils down to the fact that he loves to make people happy with his cooking. That makes him happy, and it motivates him to keep growing as a professional. This makes a lot of sense to me and personally I find this kind of character appealing.
What I liked less was that it felt like the story was dragging a bit with some of the episodes. It wasn't always interesting, so this drama was a bit uneven and not quite as amazing as the first few episodes led me to believe. Still, it was far from disappointing; I consider this my favourite of the dramas I watched during the late autumn of this year! (I didn't watch it while it aired.)
Also, while it's super cute, the enthusiastic "Let's all do our best and smile because we're like one happy family!" attitude can be a little bit tiring sometimes.
The acting was convincing overall, but I found it to be a little bit over the top at times. I really liked Eguchi Yosuke most of the time, but when he became too wild-eyed with excitement, I felt that the drama was bordering on cartoon-ish, which felt out of place.
Most of the time, this drama was well-balanced between humour and serious themes, but although definitely enjoyable, this drama was not as perfectly composed as one of Ezaki's dishes. Oh, and speaking of Ezaki's dishes - the cooking scenes in this drama were good. I wouldn't have minded even more closeups on the food, but I'm not disappointed with what I got. This is not a drama about people who just happen to work at a restaurant, the drama is about the restaurant, so food is definitely an important part of it.
In the comments, some people have mentioned the ending. Well, in my opinion, nothing else would have made sense to wrap up this story in a good way, and that's that. I liked it.
I never have a lot to say about music in my reviews, and this time is no different. I really liked the ending song, and the music overall was nice... but I don't feel that this has any significance for my overall rating of the drama.
While I enjoyed this drama a lot, I don't think I would rewatch it. I've never rewatched any drama so far, and there are very few that I could see myself rewatching in the future.
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I liked it more in the beginning, I guess the first half or so, and then I began to wonder what was taking them so long… There were definitely many things I liked about this drama, though. Such as the main character (but it did take me one or two episodes to get used to her and learn to understand her), most of the time I felt that I could understand and relate to her. As for the main plot, well, while it wasn't very special, there was also nothing wrong with it. There were many cute and funny moments, and the characters did grow in some respects. There were scenes that I liked a lot. I did like everything about Mi Joo.
BUT there were too many things that annoyed me. Jin Hun was really hard to stand sometimes. While I can sort of "understand" him (poor little rich guy with a unpleasant mother who was deeply hurt in the past…) I really don't approve of the way he acts a lot of the time, seriously! He has a gentle and caring side, too, which is a good thing. (Again, I’m glad Mi Joo was there.) But after all, he was the male lead in this drama so it’s not an overstatement to call him an important part of the overall impression…
Even more than that, I really disliked Sam Soon's ex. A good thing about Sam Soon is that she's capable of telling people what she really thinks of them. If somebody treats her badly (even Jin Hun), she doesn’t just take it – she talks back, or she hits them where it hurts… but even so, that guy just didn’t get it, and that annoyed me a lot. (Speaking of hitting; these characters do hit each other a lot! I found that very strange.)
One reason why I was impatient a lot of the time when I was watching this was that there was just a little bit too much of everything. In other words: I found this drama too long. Even when I did like how the love story was progressing, there was a lot of repetition, too much bickering back and forth where the characters were going through same things over and over again. (I did like the side story with the sister and the chef, but even this bored me during the last few episodes because it was getting old – and this storyline never even got a proper ending.) There were too many little twists and turns that I felt weren’t needed at all (such as a large part of the main conflict of the last episode, among other things).
I had a problem with Hee Jin. I liked her in her first scene. During the rest of the drama I liked her sometimes, but I mostly disliked her because that thing she did… or rather, didn’t do… No matter how you look at it, her reasoning doesn’t make sense to me. BUT she wasn’t an evil person, and not half as annoying as other characters I’ve seen in dramas. Also, she was cute. And Henry was cute. I really liked their scenes together. Except when I felt that the two of them were so adorable that they weren’t cute anymore… I think that Henry was probably too good to be true, but at the same time I liked that he was so patient and smart enough to see things clearly when Hee Jin didn’t. At the same time I’m not sure if this isn’t a bit too unrealistic?
The acting was good; I complain about the characters, but that’s not the actors’ fault, they make me believe in their roles. Especially Kim Sun Ah.
I gave a higher rating to the music than the story! Most of the time I don’t even pay attention to the music in dramas but in this one I actually enjoyed it.
Overall I felt that there were too much screentime for the supporting characters and too many unnecessary scenes. (I wouldn’t have minded more kitchen scenes, though. Sam Soon is a pastry chef, after all…) I believe this drama could have been five episodes shorter. To me it felt like this drama’s great potential was lost because it went on and on forever. And even so, I did enjoy it, a lot of the time… but definitely not enough to want to re-watch it.
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Here are some things that I didn't like:
1) Somewhere around episode 7, I felt that this drama was too long (and this is coming from someone who often enjoys slow-paced dramas!), and I kept feeling that way until the end - there's no "I wish it wasn't over yet!" feeling here...
2) I strongly dislike characters like Risa's brother... I can take crazy obsesson in lighter dramas, but this guy was such a creep... he was just too much. The way Risa reacted to his actions and had very mixed feelings about him was realistic in a way (after all, they grew up together, and of course there is a bond) but also sort of confusing. Sometimes I felt that the way she acted didn't make a lot of sense. I wish this part of the story would have ended a bit differently...
3) I liked the ending of the last episode, but everything that happened between the start of ep 9 and that moment was stupid. This drama should have been shorter and a bit more simple.
This being said, 7 is still a good rating and I enjoyed this drama; I'm glad I watched it.
The story was interesting (even if it got too long, but I was never truly bored while watching it) and I liked most of the characters most of the time. Some things were a bit predicable, though.
I liked the acting/cast. Takenouchi Yutaka as Okada Kengo was excellent, convincing as the older brother filled with worries; most of the time I felt like I could understand what he was thinking and feeling. (I wouldn't mind watching him in more dramas.) He also has good chemistry with Ueto Aya (Risa), but just like one person says in the comments, I wish their relationship had been explored more (and some of the supporting characters less). The other actors were also good.
I found that Matsuda Shota's character was an unexpected gem. It's a supporting role, he's the doctor, and at first I didn't expect to see a lot of him, but he was more involved in the plot than I expected. I liked that, because, well, it was just such a likeable person. Calm, cool, supporting, wanting to do the right thing. At the same time, I doubt that this part of the drama was very realistic - do doctors really have the time to be this involved with patients on a personal level? So while I sometimes raised a sceptical eyebrow, I also enjoyed the scenes with Matsuda Shota simply because I liked the character... (If you'e a fan, you'll probably find it worth your time to give this drama a chance.)
Also, this drama was beautiful; many lovely scenes, and water and jellyfish... and I loved the music.
So, to sum it up: I liked it, it was good, but it didn't give me enough "wow" feelings, and there were some things I didn't like. I wouldn't rewatch it.
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