I know I will get a lot of flame for this as a lot of other reviewers praised for well balanced darkness of the story I instead found it bothersome. I know that extremes of bullying in Korean school and consequences of it should be talked about but for me mixing it with such comedic element was kind of bad taste. It's my personal opinion so if you like the mix of two then this drama will be for you. I still got quite a few lols out of this and GongJoo is goals xDDD
Didn't find music memorable, tho the eerie tune they used really got to me, I was scared I'm gonna have nightmares after this (weak ass nerv system), but I guess fitting for the occasions they used it.
The actors are good. Guy who plays Ahn Dong Chil really makes you hate him with all passion of your soul.
In general as much as I find the story interesting and grabbing your attention again and again the dark eerie moments leave really bad after-taste that's why I can't rate it high. But I guess I just watched this at a bad timing as I was hoping for something else so it doesn't mean that drama is bad. Maybe I should've read some reviews before watching it.
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The major flaw is having 20 something year old actors playing kids 7 to 10 year old. That... let's try to forget about it. Also Gou was definitely overstated in the events in the first, say 13-15 episodes of the drama, which is weird since, once adult, she didn't appear to me as not submissive to everything that happened to her. That is not to say that is a weakness of the drama.
This drama is about the hardships women of that era go through, their pain and suffering, and their inability to do much. They try the best they can but once war breaks, all they can do is pray for their loved ones. I think this drama succeeded in portraying that to me. The weird thing about it though, which made feel a bit uneven, is how the beginning has quite some whitewashing of certain historical figures and events, and how in the 2nd half of the drama, they were pretty much frank about the harshness of their realities. In general, this drama started succeeding in my eyes the moment it stopped taking liberties in history and started presenting us things are they are, as much as possible.
Ueno Juri was amazing in that role, and so was Osamu Mukai. One highlight is Miyazawa Rie as Chacha, the transformation of her character was marvelous. I was afraid Mizukawa Asami would ruin the drama for me but she didn't. I think as a character I liked her most, but the actress was a bit lacking in some emotional scenes. Still overall I think I can come to term with that actress. I think my favourite though was Kitaoji Kinya as Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was perfect in portraying such a cunning man, though at times hateful but overall a great leader. He managed to make me understand such a historical figure and why he did the things he did. I also loved Suzuki Honami as their mother, and her voice as the Narrator.
I gotta say, I love the choice of music used here in the drama. It's nothing too noticeable, just perfect in the background, either emphasizing on the feelings of the characters, or bringing us from one point to another.
As flawed as the drama is, it is still a splendid and enriching ride. Do give it a try if you are curious of the state of women in the warring are. The Azai sisters and their mother are the perfect example to represent the generation, but we see the hardship and strength to live of many of the women around them as well.
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Now, let's move on to the specifics. As far as I'm concerned, the book this drama is based on groups 6 short stories, which are unrelated to one another. This drama uses, in one way or another, 3 of them (the protagonists of the drama being characters from the last story) and make a small reference to another story, which is not fully covered. The other two are, as far as I can tell, nowhere to be seen. So, if you read the book, don't worry, you don't yet know how this is gonna turn out because the plot twist in this drama has nothing to do with the book.
I find it strange that, being the actual writer of the book involved in the drama (and performing in it), he'd choose to make such big changes as to end with a resulting different story than any of the others, but maybe it was taken as an opportunity for people who had read the book to still be surprised and for people who haven't to still have a chance to read it and find out other perspectives. Still, I find the resulting story of this drama a bit lackluster in comparison to the ones in the book, in the sense that the plot twist of the drama is not the most unpredictable one you'd see, which contrasts with a story that was pretty heartfelt and trying to be very honest.
I enjoyed the performances, especially from Renn, and I think the drama is enjoyable as a whole, yet it may have benefited from either following the self-conclusive aspect of the short-story style the book has, picking one and going with it from start to finish or providing more episodes for this style they chose to really take flight. As it is, I like the idea of the "stories inside a story" style they pick for the first part, it's a good narrative device when used well, but being the amount of episodes so little, I found the change of perspective a bit forced and it didn't allow the self-discovery and emotional-fulfillment aspect the drama was trying to go for at the end to fully show.
There is a speck of LGBT representation in this drama, not as well handled as in other dramas of 2015 I've seen, but it is there and it's more than just a BL-ish fanservice note, it has to do with character development, so it's worthy of noting. In the book, though, the outcome of that character seems to be better.
All in all, it's an interesting format and it deserves a go. It has a bit of mystery, a bit of fantastic and a lot of emotion. To me, it was interesting in a narrative level, as to see the use of different devices and how that worked (or didn't). I'd like to see what other stories can Shige bring in the future.
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this is one drama I would have loved to say I liked, and while I enjoyed some parts of it and found it overall entertaining, I still dreaded a lot of other things about it.
I went into this drama because I am a bit of a Jung Kyung Ho fan myself, and also because I felt like watching a light romcom after my long hiatus from Kdrama watching.
well, I am not necessarily disappointed and definitely can't say it was a waste of time, but this drama failed to thrill me, or make me enthusiastic watching it.
# First and foremost, the story
It is a very common old-school romance comedy with a touch of angst, and by old-school I mean....well I'll get to the point; cilched.
It had the childhood friends which were separated and reunited as adults, and the one-sided love from the hero reigniting towards the pure and kind-hearted heroin.
We also have the love triangle, and as angsty as it can get with the two males being best friends.
The only new twist about the story might be in the fact that all of the sides of the love triangle (well, most of the characters in the drama!) are divorced (thereby the title of the drama), and the hero has a kid which he brought up himself. Oh, and also maybe that the heroine is an ex-idol.
So overall, there's nothing super special or unexpected going about in the story, you're kind of watching waiting for the next expected step to happen while enjoying some fun interactions between the leads. Also towards the end the drama felt so dragging with not much going on for any of the characters. It made me always eager to find out how they will fill up or the remaining episodes, and why don't they just cut the thing shorter.
# The characterization
This drama has a huge amount of characters, main characters, side characters and in-between them a bunch of filler characters. We have the main 4 ex-idols/old-time BFFs (hereinafter "the quartet"), we also have our main lead and his best friend (and also the third angle in the love triangle, hereinafter referred to as"3rd angle" ) and his ex-wife.
The main male lead was by far my favorite character, maybe thanks to Jung Kyung Ho (heheheh) or simply because he was very well-written realistic character which Jung Kyung Ho helped to bring it to live as a relatable and lovable single-father. The main female character is also nicely written and brought to life by the hands of the ever cute baby-faced beauty Jang Na Ra. She's a woman who has been through many tough challenges in her life making her a strong and independent person. The two's chemistry and the zing you felt in the way they talked and looked to each other was so lovable and irresistible, you can not help but cheer for them.
The story being the kind of simple one that it is, it was only normal that the writers felt obliged to create a story-line for each character or a couple of them. In doing that they had to stretch all these story-lines in order for each to develop parallel to the main story. The problem is not in the large variety of characters and their consequent story-lines, but rather in the fact that out of all the characters only one or two felt believable and their stories ones that you could relate to and care about, with the rest of the characters being either odd-balls that downright drove you mad, mediocre with uninteresting stories, filling the drama with scenes that were meh making you feel the urge to fast foreword.
As for the other 4 side characters; the 3 ex-idols and the 3rd angle, only one of them made me care about her and that was Da Joeng and the rest of them were just there to add either a spice of comedy or angst but were never quite convincing . Regarding the quartet, I have to add that I couldn't help feeling that not only was Dong Mi and Ae Ran's characters lacking and mediocre and there scenes sometimes boring, but I also felt that the actresses were ill-chosen, both not really fitting their respective characters...one didn't give that ajumma or lacking-on-the-looks-side feel that she was supposed to give, and the other was the other way around, never feeling that hot or sexy like she was supposed to be, but rather looking older than everyone else around her.
As for the remaining character of the quartet, Dajoeng, as I previously mentioned her story was the only one I found interesting, with an idea I believe has not been introduced many times before in Kdramas. I have to sadly admit that at a certain point when the main lead's story was relatively settled with not many developments, I was more curious to find out how her story will progress even more than their's ( I also believe I read in several other reviews people saying they were watching eager to know how her story ends), it might be a good thing,but I also believe we have to admit it should be considered as a flaw in the writing.
I don't want to go into details not to make this any longer, but I hated a certain character so badly I could barely hold myself from throwing something at my PC screen, and that is the 3rd angle aka. Dr. Goo Hae Jun. I couldn't quite understand what the writers were trying to tell through his strange admiration towards the main female lead, but if they were trying to sell it as love or even attraction they failed, at least for me. To me it only felt as a strange obsession and a wish to relive his sad past differently on other people's cost. He always gave that bad-loser aura, a guy which doesn't know when to stop and simply give up....AND I HATE THAT KIND OF CHARACTERS. There were many moments in which I sincerely wished he would act in a certain way and salvage his horrible character putting an end to all the meaningless angst he was causing, but no NEVER...he always disappointed me right until the end...there was no salvation to this guy.
# Directing
The editing between the scenes was sometimes odd. I know there are many side stories going on, but you don't have to show me someone receiving an urgent call telling them to rush over because something bad has happened, and the next thng a totally unncessary and boring scene of two people chatting over a cup of coffee, that could wait believe me.
# Music
Overall a fine OST, liked some vocal tracks that started playing towards the end when the angst arch was at its peak.
I'm gonna try to sum things up:
If you're looking for a fun & light rom-com + you're either a Jung Kyung Ho or a Jang Na Ra fan, you can go ahead and give this drama a try, it's a fun watch.
But if you're looking for a rom-com with a bit of a new touch, that would make you thrilled and on the edge of your seat waiting for the next episode, then I would advise you to look elsewhere.
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I would have to agree with other viewers about the number of flashbacks in this drama. At some point I found myself thinking "yes we know", LOL My favorite drama of 2016 so far.
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The performance of Han Ye Seul was the best thing, it was so wonderful that in many episodes, especially between chapters 10 and 15, I just kept watching the series because of her character.
I continued watching despite the fact that in the half some things very unreal and meaningless happened between Go Hye Rim y Choi Soo Hyun, he at various times was very annoying with his obsession for his own work and she was very naive (contradicting her personality in the beginning).
I would have preferred that it remains a little more insightful, because at various times the feeling is that he is the only wo can be smart enough to realize the games between them.
Although the final has not been bad, for me lacked logic: Hye Rim despite having suffered never questioned his own emotional distress.
A second weak point was the relationship between Soon Hyun and his mother and father, it all happened very fast, especially with regard to the father. So, it is used to try create an empathy with the feelings of abandonment of Soo Hyun (to justify his cold and obstinate conduct), but this failed and the all explanation sound very forced and inmature.
Another strong point: the relationship between Dr. Bae Mi Ran y Seung Chan - each episode in which they appeared was a joy because it formed a beautiful relationship of trust..
Again, every time Hye Rim open her fan, it was guaranteed laugh. No doubt her actor's job and charisma were unforgettable.
The soundtrack not had any detachable music.
I do not attend again because I think the story get lost during the second half and the good rhythm of the first part not remained.
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STORY
Thankfully the description of the show gives you the basics of what you need to know. Kid dies, mom goes back 14 days before its death to try and prevent it from happening. I'll keep it simple. Best thing this drama had: multiple plot twists. And that pretty much covers the positive parts of this drama. Do i sound like a hater? Partly, i am. The reason i gave this drama a 9 is because i was super intruiged to see what will happen next, i loved the plot twists and (shocker here) i was never bored. I cannot give a bad rating to a drama that had me on the edge for 16 hours while i have given the same rating to dramas that almost put me to sleep. The twists kept coming and coming and they never failed to amaze. The suspense was always kept in a high level and never failed to impress!
Sadly, God's Gift had a lot of flaws, a few too many actually. The base idea is flawless and interesting and brilliant and *insert a positive adjective here*, but while it was completely enjoyable i couldn't stop my mind from screaming, 'this is stupid'.
1. The drama had no meaning. At first it talked about the death penalty and whether it is moral to sentence a convict to death for his crimes. This notion just gets forgotten after a while and nothings comes to surface. The drama has no meaning it is just there for the *wow* of the story.
2. Convinient script writting. Crime dramas love being convenient and they can't manage to survive without that. However there were so many mistakes done here, and most of them stupid, from placing a bandage on the wrong side of the face to stupid writting just to make the story progress. It is debatable if these 'black spots' are plot holes. I am not even sure because this was so overly complicated i might have missed some parts.
3. Overly, extremely, immensly and exceedingly complicated. I love complicated stories. Hell, most kdramas are so plain and simplistic they get my goat, but this just was too much! I lost the thread of the story many times, i had to read recaps online to keep up, and during the later episodes the show just gave me a huge headache. Maybe it was me, maybe it was the bad writting, maybe both, maybe none.
4. I don't know how they managed to create such unrealistically clever characters (with amazing memory) and make them unimaginably stupid at the same time. They were very quick to pick up what is happening, remembering situations from days ago and yet they fell on every false lead that got on their way and made such stupid decisions!
5. All the problems that are mentioned above just result in this drama being overall highly unrealistic and fake to the point of being ridiculous. It has the fantasy tag on the main page, but fantasy is one thing and this overall plot is another.
6. The ending. It wasn't bad, we pretty much got the mystery resolved, but many questions were left unanswered, some important, some not. I don't have a problem with open endings, but some important things were left on the air while they shouldn't have!
Overall, i have to say i enjoyed it, and we watch dramas to enjoy ourselves so mission accomplished. Despite its flaws it was a very memorable drama and that says something. The first episodes are flawless and you will be completely sucked in. The first half of the drama is an endless manhunt that was engaging and fancinating but at the end was kind of insignificant to the bigger story. The second half might not feel as exciting, but at least we get to unfold the backstory and understand what has happened. It was interesting, but generally had all of the script faults that i mentioned above and a lot of times felt like cheap and lousy writting.
ACTING
So here's what i thought about Lee Bo Young before this: She is a pretty better-than-average actress that just doesn't want to challenge herself. She is ok with being the eye candy and looking cute. It works for her, and she is good at it, no argue there. Interestingly, my opinion about her changed here. She was luscious, she exceeded my expectations and i am thankful she decided to challenge herself in this. She got out of her comfort -'i am pretty'- zone, and while she never looked prettier before than here, she gave an exquisite performance being emotional, being smart, being strong and cocky. She was everything i wanted to see. She apparently left her best performance for last before her maternity hiatus. I am looking forward to seeing her in the future in more similar roles! A spectacular actress.
The only other memorable acting was from Jo Seung Woo. I didn't know him, but he was unquestionably impeccable. A flawless actor that i am happy i got acquainted to!
The entire cast did a great job, and i should also praise the child actor Kim Yoo Bin for her superb portrayal of a somewhat questionable character....
RECOMMEND/REWATCH
Now this is rather difficult. All you people who live off romance and comedy, don't touch this, this isn't for you, go rewatch DOTS! People who want realistic things, you'll love/hate this like me, with emphasis on the hate side. To be honest, this is a show for plot twist lovers. You want a show with plenty of twists and unpredictable events, give this a go. I am not regretting watching this, i just wished the writter kept at least one of their foot on the ground while writting this xD
All in all, i doubt i will ever rewatch this, but it is definately worth a try.
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Sure it has its predictability but c'mon, isn't that part of the appeal? The fact that you get to CHOOSE who the main lead ends up with is such a brilliant idea!
The plots of each route were short and sweet, but more than just a satisfying time filler. The acting was surprisingly pretty good, even though I'd read they were idols - or at least idols in the making! The music was cutesy and catchy in true Kpop style and the rewatch value...ok, yes, I admit I probably would rewatch my favourite (or two) routes. The characters themselves were distinguishable without trying too hard and actually interesting to learn about.
So maybe I'm just overhyping this because I just loved how refreshing this drama was in the way it was handled, yet it's definitely worth at least trying. (I decided to 'try' it out...and then ended up doing a marathon.) It's no 10/10 but I really hope it's the first in a new wave of different Kdramas!
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I love Tori so I thought :" It’s ok, even if this special turn out to be a shitty one I won’t care because Tori is too cute to be ignored.”
I was COMPLETELY wrong.
Tori might be famous for being a ikemen and let’s be honest, when you are known for being an ikemen people don’t take your acting too seriously ( Just like idol actors in Korea.)
But in this case Tori was amazing and really a cutie.
Let’s start with the plot, a really simple one but actually really interesting.
Tabito lost all his 5 senses after an incident ( or shock, if I might say it.)
He can only use his sight , really peculiar eyes that allow him to see emotions, words, smell, sound and so on.
Basically it’s like he’s suffering of Synesthesia . He’s a detective and with his ability he resolves simple cases. He than met a nursing teacher and the story begins.
There’s nothing much to say about this special but it’s really well written and the story is cute.
The ending leaves you with the feeling of wanting more, in fact I really HOPE this is going to be turned into a drama because I’ll definitely watch it.
The cast had a cute chemistry ( why am I using the word cute this much on this review???) and Tabito’s friend and “daughter” were amazing.
I recommended this special if you want to watch something cute ( here we go with cute again) and with a really handsome dad played by Tori.
I will finish this review by saying that I want now Tori’s kids.
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What makes this plot unbelievable are the two women who assist their love interests to win over women of their choice who would better suit them. This does not happen in the real world! This goes against human nature!
Equally ridiculous is the hospital drama of love wasting as a form of manipulation. It is more of a psychiatric condition! And then the final blow, who ends up with whom? You will never be able to figure it out because it makes no sense. You don't suddenly switch your love interests. I did not feel any romance at all here at all. Instead, it seems the real schizophrenic was the writer. It's too bad because the characters, acting, and music were all noteworthy.
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I loved both movies and L change the world was actually a cool movie to watch.
So if someone may ask me to describe this drama with a single word I would probably choose to use the adjective “Disappointing”.
Let me explain myself.
It’s actually a pretty good version of the anime. The story is crazily different form the original one BUT it was actually good to watch Yagami Light character portrayed as a extremely good boy who wants to clear up the world.
Let’s go on with the review:
GOOD POINTS
- L character.
I might describe myself as a “conservative” type when it comes to L character. He’s a pretty complex personality, basically a genius who’s also a weirdo.
This version of L is amazing. He’s a brat at first, a handsome young genius who just wants to play a game with an extremely “dumb” version of Light Yagami.
I loved his personality and during the drama you can see that it slightly changed to a serious one, putting aside jokes when police members start to get killed by Kira.
I always say that Kento still needs to improve as an actor but damn, here he was a shining diamond. He should accept those kind of roles more often, a villain would be a really great challenge for him.
Anyway he did an amazing job and he made me fall in love with L even more.
- Cinematography and Photography.
It was a low budget drama, Ryuk was awful BUT I love the cinematography. It’s not as perfect as “PIECE” one but damn, it was well directed.
- Police Team .
I loved the chemistry between them.
BAD POINTS
- The plot.
I would gave this drama a higher score if the plot didn’t fucked up on its last episode. Death Note screenwriters were amateurs, you can’t deny it.
L death was useless and although it was pretty dramatic I found it useless. Why recording videos of yourself in which you explain exactly how Kira will be caught but get yourself killed because of a stupid mistake?
L’s death was really unnecessary for this plot, plot full of odd points and unexplained choices.
- Light character.
Let’s be honest, I loved how they portrayed Light as a good boy who just got himself caught up with something really evil that has made his mind gone crazy.
BUT Some points were missing. He turned into a psycho really quickly and at some point I was like “What's happening? It was a good guy just a sec ago and now he’s as mad as an hatter.”
I love Kubota’s acting skills but he just got too hype during some scenes, making Light looking like an…. Overexcited idiot?
THE ENDING
Worst ending ever! On my point of view this drama started to get awful right after L death. The plot was getting boring and the main star, L, just disappeared too soon, making the audience a little bit confused and disappointed.
Honestly speaking, I would watch this drama over and over again just for Kento’s character.
I would recommend this drama if you are a big fan of Kento (just like me) but if you are a huge HUGE fan of the manga I guess this drama will piss you off.
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Drama Breakdown: First part was hard for me (way unrealistic, I mean who talks to your new boss this way). middle part got better and started to grow on me (started rooting for the couple). middle-almost end (WTH, why do you need this stuff to waste time, please make it stop). then finally the end (my comment, at least it ended happily, hugs & kisses). Moving on.
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