Reviews

uma boa surpresa

depois de anos acompanhando sobre a série na internet e salvando vídeos aleatórios na esperança de um dia assistir, o dia finalmente chegou e eu estou meio gag. era de se imaginar que uma série tão comentada mesmo passando anos de sua estreia teria uma certa qualidade mas estou surpreso com o que eu encontrei.

apesar de achar que as coisas operam em um ritmo acelerado a série faz uma outra coisa com essa mesma característica: faz a gente se apegar aos personagens e ao enredo muito rápido também. a construção da narrativa e do personagens é tão gostosa de se acompanhar que ao final de todo episódio surge a vontade de assitir aos próximos. estou apegado aos protagonistas pois ambos tem personalidades distintas e acharam uma maneira de conviver da melhor forma possível entre si ao ponto de desenvolver um romance dessa relação. um outro ponto positivo é entender as camadas que envolvem os personagens (como traumas antigos e inseguranças) de uma maneira muito evidente, a série não se preocupa tanto em desenvolver esses dilemas mas você consegue perceber de forma clara que eles existem e a maneira como eles influenciam no jeito com o que os personagens se relacionam com outras pessoas.

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Dr. White in Wonderland...?

This story was truly a unique one. I've not seen one like it and wonder if I will see another like it in the future. The cast created such an open, curious, fun, relatable, genuine, beautiful story that I couldn't stop watching!


As the story continued through the 10 episodes, honestly I began to feel like I was watching Alice in Wonderland almost. Bits and pieces of each episode started to make my head spin and I felt more and more curious as the show continued. This review may be a little short because, in all honesty, I still cannot wrap my head around this story.


The beginning toward the middle was a wonderful build-up to the finale, however, somewhere in the middle it began to feel like the show was rushed for time a little; nothing confused me or was hard to understand, though. It seemed like pieces were missing, cut for time, or even just shortened. I do wish that there was more story and/or character-building. While each character seemed to get their moment in the spotlight, it too felt like it was cut short. The character's did not seem to be "empty" creations, though, if that makes sense. Each person seemed solid, reliable, and most assuredly knew what they were doing to attribute their talents and genuine personalitiy's to each person.


The opening and ending for this show was done by one of my favorite artists, ADO, so that was also a surprise plus for me as I started the show. I don't want to say that there's a cliffhanger, because I don't think there is, but I do think there are a few bits of the story left open. Like unanswered questions or a place for the viewers imagination to take off! This show is a great beginner for Japanese drama watchers, as well as medical mystery favorites. This story became a quick favorite for me!

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Opinons

Story: Oh, I could dive deep in the story. It was amazing! Twists, turns, Plot twists, etc. The story in a quick summary, *Yan Xicheng (Yan Yi) Had been seeking revenge on those who killed his parents and tried to kill him 17 years ago. Shen Manning, Had been a substitute as his wife to get more information on them.*
Just the story alone could have been a whole book.

Cast: I loved the Cast, Though Fan Zhixin carried most of it. I wouldn't say FL was bad. Confidence was a bit more prominent in Fan Zhixin, not as much to FL. But the cast was amazing. Now, the Second Leads Were so Funny! Fang Xiang, and Meimei. Such a funny duo, I had previously seen them in Time to fall in love as AnAn, And Situ. They act great together, a cute couple and have sibling energy that I'm here for.

Music: I didn't pay too much attention to it, But the Main Theme and the little moments with no talking and just music were cute. Having the romantic music behind them, intimate moments. Also the intense moments, Scary. It added a lot to the whole 'Lethal' mood. Though the Main theme was my favourite.

Rewatch Worthy: Definitely, I rewatched it a lot! It was such a good show to rewatch, even though I knew what happened I still liked seeing the moments I didn't remember. Most importantly, Just assessing the things I missed. There was a whole ton I could've missed that I can catch and Laugh at. The whole show is amazing to rewatch. Definitely Worthy of it to.

Overall: Just a whole survey over it, It's in my head a ten. I found this to be my favourite drama and it still is to this day. When I first watched it from the first few minutes I was captivated by it. I definitely recommend it!

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Weak show with too many episodes

I was really interested in watching this because of the mystery of what happened to the husband but I eventually realized that it was the typical "boy in love with girl but is hiding something". I was looking for action and mystery, not some story about a loser that's still in love with someone from HS. I've watched shows with 100 episodes, but I feel like this could have been wrapped up in 16. The story is dragging on and it's repetitive with the same issues for the FL. Also, I hate weak characters and the FL just seem so pathetic, that I get irritated watching her.

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Excellent storyline and acting

This is a drama that has it all; mystery, steamy romance, revenge, plot twist, and villains you love to hate. It was a drama that kept me watching from start to finish without feeling bored, which is a rarity. After over a dozen years of watching Asian dramas you get bored very easily because you’ve seen it all. But this drama had some amazing acting and a meaningful plot which made up for its weak points
(there weren’t that many but I’ll address that later. )

Acting:
The actors were amazing at putting you through all of the emotions. You really feel their pain, determination, and triumph. There are a number of villains that did a great job of making you hate them without being annoying which is hard to do. The FL’s transformation from a timid pushover to a tigress is quite convincing, you’ll be rooting for her in no time. The ML was very convincing as the lovelorn overprotective CEO that only has eyes for the FL and will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means sacrificing his happiness. None of the characters felt flat, nor did they overact their parts either. Everyone straight across the board did a fantastic job. Acting 10/10

Storyline:
The plot had depth as well as a few unexpected twists which was refreshing. The FL’s best friend’s obsession with her adds so much depth to the story, I found her story fascinating. And I like that the plot involved more than the FL just going back in time and changing her destiny. Her having to adjust her actions in order to beat destiny or fate gave me ‘Final Destination’ vibes (if you haven’t seen that movie you’re missing out). It made the plot so much more interesting and faster paced than expected. I also liked that they didn’t sugarcoat everything and have the villains suddenly see the light and change their ways at the end. I hate it when they do that, it’s not realistic at all. There are a few cliche drama tropes that we’ve all seen in dramas before but overall it’s so well acted and so well written that I didn’t mind them at all. There’s character depth, character growth and character development which made this drama shine. Storyline 9.5/10

Romance:
Most reviews don’t cover this subject very well but if it’s a romcom or romance is a big part of the drama I think it should be addressed as well. This romance is a bit of a slow burn, it takes a while for the main leads to get together. But when they do get together there’s lots of hugs, kisses, and skinship. I loved their romance, they had great chemistry. And while some complain about the introduction of Yura later in the drama and her interference with the main couple, I didn’t mind her at all. She was a much needed character that helped fill plot holes that would have occurred had she not been there. While she was a bit irritating, her character is integral to the storyline. And her ending was quite satisfying. Romance: 8/10

Underlying Meaning/Message:
I’m going to add this category to every review now because I think it’s important to critique this aspect of a drama as well. If a drama has a weak or unclear underlying message or lacks one completely then that’s a big deal. Because in order to touch your heart it needs to be teaching a lesson, inspiring you, or sending an underlying message of some sort. Without that it leaves you empty and feeling like you got nothing out of watching it. This drama has a very clear underlying message: If you’re unhappy don’t accept your fate in life, fight to change it. There are many paths in life and you can change yours if you really try. It also teaches us about trust, how to stand up for ourselves, and how to believe in ourselves even when no one else does. Meaning/Message: 8/10

Summary:
This drama is not perfect, there’s a lot of cliche drama tropes and the storyline wasn’t too hard to predict. And they took a little too long to get the main leads together. But the storyline, acting and romance were all quite good. I really enjoyed watching it and will probably rewatch it again sometime in the future. It’s a great drama and I highly recommend it. Final score: 9

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Slightly overplayed comedy, but funny.

PLOT: 2 twins (1 married, too nice, constantly abused by husband and in-laws) and 1 flight attendant, arrogant and ambitious. No. 2 need to have emergency surgery and no. 1 is forced to replace her. Pb: to protect herself from danger, n°2 also lives in shared accommodation with 2 ML and 3 other hostesses.

The whole point of this somewhat worn-out plot lies in "how will the too kind twin play the villain?" ; “How will her fake villain personality help her deal with her own problems?” ; “Who will the ML fall in love with?” All this against the backdrop of an aggressive and ambitious girl who carries out a "coup d'état" on her father's aviation company...

+++ Good actors, especially Lee Da Hae, who plays the twins, and Shim Hyeong Tak, the ML.
+ The tone is light
+ fairly brisk pace

- A bit of a twisted story
- OST meh.

=> fun, in a light style.

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Comédie un peu surjouée, mais drôle.

PLOT: 2 jumelles (1 mariée, trop gentille, abusée sans cesse par mari et belle-famille) et 1 hôtesse de l'air, arrogante et ambitieuse). La n°2 doit se faire opérer d'urgence et la n°1 est obligée de la remplacer. Pb : pour se protéger d'1 danger, n°2 vit aussi en colocation avec 2 ML et 3 autres hôtesses.
Tout l'intérêt de ce plot un peu usé, réside dans "comment la too kind twin va jouer la villain ?" ; "comment sa fake personnalité de villain va l'aider à gérer ses propres problèmes?" ; "De qui le ML va-t-il tomber amoureux ?". Tout ça sur un arrière plan de fille agressive et ambitieuse qui fait un "coup d'état" sur la Cie d'aviation de son père ...

+++ De bons acteurs, particulièrement Lee Da Hae, qui joue les jumelles, et Shim Hyeong Tak, le ML.
+ Le ton est léger
+ rythme assez soutenu

- Story un peu pipée
- OST bof.

=> fun, dans le style léger.

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depression vs love

I actually loved it, I don’t know why so many people giving it low ratings.

The story was pointing out how trauma, depression and anxiety can affect different aspects of your daily life (socializing, dating, etc.) while also showing us these emotions are run by clinging onto something you shouldn’t and when you let go of such a thing you can finally start breathing again.

It was done perfectly I don’t know if I am looking too deep into it or if others are not looking hard enough but this was a beautiful story with many difficulties which were overrun by Love. ❤️

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Thoughts on the Takagi-San franchise (Anime, Manga, Live Action)

If I had to choose one genre in anime that is by and far my least favorite, it's the romance genre, not because I am a cynic (well, maybe), but the shows all tend to fall into two camps: harems and melodrama. Finding a show outside of that mold is like finding a needle in a ginormous haystack, which is why "Teasing Master Takagi-San" was such a surprise when I stumbled upon the first season of the anime in 2018. There were no love triangles, miscommunications, and it was just the innocent and budding relationship between two youth in the form of "teasing" as she likes to playfully tease the male character, Nishikata, who tries to find ways to get her back. As they are in middle school, she is shy about her feelings and he is not fully aware of them, creating a nice push and pull between the two characters.

Once I watched the first season of the anime, I went and picked up the source material and found myself breezing through the chapters. While they often found themselves falling into repetitive situations, there was a nice calm enjoyment that came from watching the two characters interact. The anime continued into seasons 2, 3, and a movie and decided to take what was an episodic story and create a more serial approach to the story which helped it stand apart from the source material and create two different experiences with the story. With both the anime and manga over, I thought that was the end of Takagi-San but here we are in 2024 with both a live-action television adaptation and a sequel movie coming later this year.

I at first was skeptical as live-action adaptations of anime struggle in adapting its source material but once I got into the first episodes of this adaptation, all my worry was gone. While holding onto remnants of the source material, the series was able to craft its own path, creating a third and just as engaging adaptation of the story. Our two leads have great chemistry and feel like the characters come to life but would work just as well if this was your first introduction to them. With this review, I can recommend all three; the manga, the anime, and now the live-action as each approach the story in an entertaining and thoughtful way.

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Thank You Cheng Yi.

I was told that Cheng Yi is still alive at the end of the series so I made it to the end alive with him but feeling just as comatose.

I am starting to pick up on cues in the first few episodes that tell me whether or not I'm going to like a show. This is one of those shows. I initially dropped this at episode 3 but Mysterious Lotus Casebook is defeating every other C-drama as my favourite C-drama right now and I'm a little in love with Cheng Yi and I wanted more of him so I picked it up again just for him. I was honestly not interested in any one else. I was skipping the sister (I found her very annoying) and 6th senior scenes loads of times before I was interested in them. I skipped a lot of side stories. It was around episode 21 when Cheng Yi starts getting tortured was when I finally stopped skipping and paying attention.

The FL not having her 6th senses didn't make a lot of sense to me because she could still see and hear and smell etc so she technically still had them but a minor thing I could overlook. The one thing I had a big problem with was the cheesey battle moments. I found this very cringey at times when Xuangi would unleash her powers and you would get this Power rangers style level up. I would burst out laughing when I was supposed to be cheering her on. She starts off as the typical FL in too many asian dramas. Naive, childish and a little stupid passed off as innocent. Listen, I get that she doesn't have her senses and doesnt feel the same way as others but she falls face first into Cheng Yi's lap while he's sitting in a bath and just continues like, oh, wait, I dropped something and just smiles happily while she gropes around the tub, and my sweet boy is just sitting there, cupping his manhood, speechless. I mean, I laughed but really? That's not innocence, that's just dense.

This pretty much continues until she realises that she's the reincarnated God of War. After that, we lose the naivety, and we get a deeply manipulated and emotional FL instead. Again. This is where Cheng Yi saved me because I would give up with this kind of character and would make jokes about taking a shot every time you hear 'Si Feng'.

But Cheng Yi. I like his work. I like his face. I like his voice. He calms me and I was able to find my grounded centre every time he appeared. He did the best with the character he had been given. He does seem a little bit more stiff in this series but that may be how he's was told to play the character, who's whole purpose is to get beaten and abused through out most of the series. His whole purpose is to love and redeem and the FL which can feel a little flat after a while. But again, my bias saved me here. If it had been anyone else or if I didn't know Cheng Yi, I'd have dropped this series really quickly.

Another notable mention is Liu Xue Yi. This is the 3rd series I've seen with him and he's creeping up beside Cheng Yi in my favouritism. If I didn't know this actor, I would have been wanting to rip his eyes out but I actually enjoyed watching him play an incredibly hateable villain, which makes it easier when you are faced with a character like Hao. He's the worst kind of villain because he's obsessed with his own self righteousness and he's a little psychotic, that I honestly found it a little strange at the end that everyone felt sorry for him while he just faded into dust to be reborn as a mortal, WHILE MY BOY is lying fricking bleeding and dead for the 100th time.

The Jade Emperor is probably the most useless, all powerful character I think I've ever seen.

By episode 40, I was back to skipping again. It lost it's momentum for me and as per trend, the last stretch of episodes just went off the wall crazy that I was rolling my eyes at just how ridiculous and off the wall the plot got. It wasn't enough for Xaungi to be the God of War, she's the Devil Star as well. And was a man. So I can imagine a lot of people just being like huh? by the time they get to those episodes. The ending was also ridiculous but at least it was a happy conclusion. Cheng Yi was Momma while Xuangi ran around drinking and enjoying her mortal life, seeming to have reverted back to her old clueless self. AKA. Si Feng continues to get walked over but this time it's in the name of having fun.

I really loved the characters Teng She and Liu. If I had seen more of them earlier on in the series, I'd paid attention quicker. They were great to watch.

An unexpected big hit of this show is the soundtrack. I am absolute Si Feng in love with the song Love like Coloured Glass. It was ep 28, with a scene on the bridge when I suddenly clicked on the song. If it played before I hadn't noticed but that's what happens when you're not fully invested in a show. You miss things. I immediately stopped the video to look up that song and it's been played ever since.

So again, thank you Cheng Yi. I enjoyed watching you and I got introduced me to a new favourite song.

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Not Enough

Weirdly, the ending was the best part of this drama. I am surprised to say this, especially since I thought and still think this is one of my worst experiences in K-drama. None of the actors, or actresses did justice to their roles except perhaps Han Chae Ah as Yoo Yoon Young. She made me hate her, so kudos to her. The other was Mi So, Seo Jung Won, and Seol Jae Woo's little girl. She was adorable; she stole the show. Everybody else was a mess, even Kim Ha Neul; she was at her worst as Seo Jung Won. It's sad, as she is a gifted actor. I can't put all the blame on the actors. They didn't have much to work with in the story-telling, the directing, or the editing. An actor is only as good as the storyteller and director, and both could have done better. The drama had potential; it might have been a big hit with another writer, director, or even actors.

I was glad to see the end of this drama. As bad as it was, I couldn't bring myself to drop it. I felt committed somehow, and I am not sure why. If there is anything I appreciate, it is the message the drama tries to leave us with—that power lies and corruption leads. As the saying goes, the problem with absolute power is that it corrupts even when exercised by kindly souls. But no matter how far wrong one goes, one can always turn around. I want to think the drama tries to bring awareness to the idea of not normalizing criminal behaviors and accepting twisted ideologies for fear of public criticism. Humans are better than that. At least, this is what I would like to take from this drama.

This is the lowest rating I have ever given a drama and 5 is being generous.

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It's bland..

Maybe my expectations were too high but it was kind of disappointing. Also based on the title I thought it was going to have at least one cat in the story but it had literary nothing to do with cats, quite the opposite, it's just about one dog (which I wasn't interested in at all). The story was rushed and it didn't make me feel anything. It feels like everything that happened was kind of pointless because nothing really had any consequences in the end. Honestly I just watched it because I started it and it was short. It had some good scenes and overall it's not that bad. In my opinion the concept is good but it didn't reach it's full potential.

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It took me forever to finally watch this drama and the reason is that I can still vividly remember the webtoon I read a couple of years ago. And I can still remember disliking the main couple. And also wanting to see so much more of the second couple.

And lo and behold, this adaptation is very much faithful to the webtoon and therefore, I disliked the main couple and wanted to see more of the second couple (fortunately there are some nice webtoon side stories about them).

WJ has problems at work so he has been suspended. he goes to a tiny seaside town and meets by accident a well known pottery artist who has been hiding for the past two years. The artist is WJ's boss's favourite one so WJ sees this encounter like a possibility to earn some points and get reinstated. WJ, with his cheerful nature breaks slowly the walls around the artist. Until they actually fall in love and WJ's scheming comes to light. Now ensue a string of misunderstandings and lies which are mercifully quickly resolved! The second couple has a more interesting story: I cannot really remember whether they were real cousins or just friends but the drama lightly touches upon (mentions once!) the family homophobia: blink and you miss it!

The story is messy with a lot of inconsistencies and illogicalities. There is this particular feeling about K-BLs, and this one is no exception: they are cold and empty in spite of warm cinematography, the acting is stilted and unnatural, the kind of music featured has been heard already so many times and is extremely boring, the writing is rather superficial. The actors were mostly cute but the main couple had zero chemistry: more often than not even when they were together, they looked like they were on different planets. The webtoon characters had more sparks flying between them than these two real people. And don't start me on those fish & passionless kisses: not even kisses, more like tiny pecks on lips! Fortunately, there is character development, a slight one but a growth nevertheless: one matures and grows a backbone while the other rediscovers joys of life. While I was watching the office worker played by Gongchan, I kept thinking of Suits, the US show: he reminded me so much of young Patrick J. Adams. And once I thought of that, I could not unthink it, unfortunately! The other couple's thuggish guy reminded me of the farmer boy, loud and direct, from Love Tractor.

This is a most unremarkable drama, correctly produced but lacking soul, a spark or something which would bring it to the top.

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