Reviews

The synopsis isn't really what made me watch this drama. But I saw the posters and the trailer and it made me curious.

-People say that you can do anything if you try hard enough, but the truth is that there are some things you can't do no matter how hard you try. But they do happen. The only thing we can do in those cases is pray. We can only pray, for miracles.

For now, let me tell you about the beautiful miracle that happened to us-

The quote was from the first episode and I pretty much fell in love with the drama after reading this. From start to end, everything was just done beautifully. The acting is just so good, I was able to relate to all characters. I was surprised about how things seemed natural. Everything just felt real. Didn't hate anyone, but loved everyone so much.

I have never watched Kam Woo Sung or Choi Soo Young in any dramas before and they were a revelation here. KWS' understated acting just blew me away. He can channel his feelings thru his eyes. I felt his every emotion. When he cried, I cried, too. I became happy when he was happy.

All praises for his co-star as well. Choi Soo Young held her own against the veteran actors and actresses in the drama. I can't believe this is her first lead role. She was amazing here!

Aside from the OTP, I fell in love with the whole family. I also absolutely adored the father-daughter relationship here. It's just so real, and so good. It made me feel warm all over. The young actress who played the daughter has been wonderful.

The script is pretty solid, and cinematography is gorgeous.

No birth secrets, no jerk chaebol, or no Cinderella in need of rescuing. This is one of the most refreshing dramas I have watched, definitely different from the usual melodramas we've seen so far. What I also really like about the drama was that everyone just dressed simply. We don't see the heroine wearing fancy dresses or lots of make up. We don't see the CEO with a flashy sports car.

I got warm and fuzzy feelings all over while watching the drama. But I cried buckets, too. Overall, I feel that this is one of the most beautiful dramas I have ever watched.

I recommend it to everyone who wants to love and be loved.

Another favorite quote from the drama:

- To keep you in my eyes and in my heart...
So I can engrave you there... (Dong Ha)

Leia Mais

I didn't really have high hopes for this drama to begin with, as I literally wanted a easy-to-watch romantic comedy to relax to during the half term before I return to school (it was called Flower Boys Next Door, for goodness sake), but BOY was I wrong. As others have probably mentioned before, this drama has a huge amount of depth to it, and addresses some pretty important issues, bullying being one of the more predominant ones.
I have a warning for those of you who are considering watching this: I was completely 100% fully, disgustingly addicted to this drama, and I just could not stop watching it. I started episode 1 at 8PM, and the next thing I knew, I looked at my clock and it was 3AM. I was horrified and going borderline insane, but most of all, I was elated and FREAKING out because the confessions were starting and I declared Dok Mi and Enrique as my shiny new OTP.
I loved every character and I became emotionally invested in the panda Webtoon boss, as well as Watanabe because he was fine. #TeamWata! Also I quietly shipped Watanabe and Enrique alone in the corner.
I may rewatch this drama again in the distant future: it was funny and endearing and it had YSY (who was amazingly casted btw), and also the soundtrack was top notch.

Leia Mais

After I've finished this drama I found questioning myself what this drama has that I loved it so much?

There's nothing special in it, even opposite, it's a drama where the story is ordinary with a cardiovascular person and another person who lost his wife and since then he lived a life like it's not worth it. And that was untill he met Bom Yi, a sick person with his dead wife's heart. From the moment when they met the stong bond was formed and since then they couldn't live without each other.
Her's unselfishness, goodness, kindness made not only him, but also me love her. She's conscious about her sickness, she knows that she can die every second, but she's not trying to run from it yet she's opposing it by living her life to the fullest. She met Dong Ha and they fell in love.
All I can say is that I'm really surprised by Soo Young's acting. While I was watching it I never felt like watching an idol yet a talanted actress who deserves all the praise.
Kam Woo Sung potrayed a man with a two kids who has lost a wife, but when he met Bom Yi his life changed. His relationship with a family became better and he once again started feeling love.

A beautiful cinematography, Udo island, nice OSTs, a heartwarming feeling have followed me through the whole drama and that's why I can't easily forgot it. At most of the moments this drama reminded me of one of my favorite movies "A walk to remember" and that beautiful quote "Love is like the wind. You can't see it, but you can feel it."
How much this drama has clichés that much has a maturity in it. Their interactions with each other, conversations, words are full of meanings and it gives you a lesson about a love, life and hope. And that's why this drama will always be in my heart like a spring that came into my soul and stay there till eternity.
~"To keep you in my eyes and in my heart, so I can engrave you there."

Leia Mais

Such a beautiful drama! I wish I had watched it when I originally thought about watching it!! So realistic and heartwarming. The perfect story for all of them, and everything worked out for the best in a happy ending!! The acting was superb, but I wouldn't think of anything less with Lee Bo Young... She is such a believably fantastic actor. After seeing Lee Sang Youn in "Angel Eyes", I wanted to see him in another drama. His beautiful smile, dimples, and shining eyes... He's so handsome and such a good actor, too! The entire cast was amazing and perfectly matched to their characters.

All in all, I truly loved this drama; and rated it 5 Stars for everyone to watch and enjoy ;) The only thing that held me back from watching it was that it had 50 episodes... Honestly, though, once I made the commitment for the 50 episodes, I was so glad I did! Yes, it was long; but the time passed relatively quickly because the story line was so good, thanks to the writers! No fast-forwarding through any of it. It's just worth every minute of watching time. Try it! You will love it!!

Leia Mais

Enjoyed this v much, laughed and cried. A seemingly dysfunctional family that goes all out to fulfill the family values and philosophies. Part and yet whole. Love conquers all. Fell in love with it by the time i was at episode 2. Story setting in Shitamachi is real and will give audience a sense of the possibility becos it is a close community. This drama will give you an insight into the real lives and burst the bubble of misperception abt Japanese people and their families that non Japanese may have. I wish i can figure out the OST used during credit roll. The theme song of the drama is catchy and the lyrics are beautiful.

Leia Mais

Guys I'm gonna get a little -maybe, too much- nostalgic while writing this review... So here I go!

Ok, let's talk a little bit about the story:
It mainly focuses on the relationship of nine students from the fictional Nadao Bangkok high school where they course 11th grade.
The drama tells us several stories step by step, focusing the attention on every character and not giving too much importance or relevance to an specific one.

Something that I really loved about this drama is the pace it follows. It is divided into 13 episodes but each episode tells a different story focusing in one or two and sometimes 3 characters per episode and their individual stories. Of course it also follows a main-central story but what makes this drama so good is each character and what they have to face, we'll encounter several teenage problems like sexual orientation, confusion, sex, pregnancy, first love, alcohol, parties, school, stress, family, future, friendship, love and first times... For example the first time going to a concert or joining a band or the first time having sex or falling in love, the first time cheating on a test and so... And, who didn't have a “first time”? We all had a first time doing whatever, so we'll be able to relate with the characters.

The reason why I loved this story so much and the reason why you'll probably love it too, is that we can identify with the characters. When I was watching the drama I was all the time like “omg I already lived this”, “I did this too when I was at school” or -I also was in a band-....This drama manages to connect with the viewers because of that.

Hormones undoubtedly took me 4 years back in time, the time when I was still 16 years old and was at my last grade at school and everything was new to me... *sigh* My teenage days...
This show put a smile on my face all the time, and sometimes it almost led me to the tears, I remembered my first time going to a concert with friends, or my first time falling in love, and the exciting feeling of experiencing something new, the feeling of growing up and the feeling of getting mature and independent and also the pain of that process... This drama made me realize how beautiful my teenage years were and how much I enjoyed them, and I’m sure it will cause the same effect on you.

Leia Mais

I just discovered this drama and can't stop watching it and am up to ep.30. It's interesting how a lot of dramas other's love are boring to me, yet this one that I find so amazing a lot of people don't! This drama for me is such a rich tapestry. I love watching the scenes of ancient China and the culture; the qigong type of energy work, healing and fighting, etc.. I love watching the friendships and relationships between the characters. The only weak parts I thought were the opening scenes of the drama. I thought they could have done better art work for that and then the monster vine was just plain stupid. Otherwise I wish I had discovered this when it was ended because it is going to be hard to wait for 1 episode a week once I catch up.

Leia Mais

Rookies is full of speeches and if you think, well that's to be expected, it's based on a sports manga but let me re-iterate, Rookies is full of speeches. At times heart-warming and motivational, at times requiring a fast forward because it wore me down. I do wish there were more baseball games to focus but the central focus of the drama is the baseball club and their relationships with each other.

I don't even know if I have to explain the genre because if you're familiar with the whole delinquents becomes good because of a teacher trend, well, this is it. However, this is more focused on baseball. These delinquents will face a lot of trials in order to not only gain acceptance but rescind their mistakes.

Where Rookies excels for me is the relationships they have with each other. They are all friends chasing a dream that seems impossible. Their teacher is a beacon of light who believes in them no matter what. Man, this guy is more open-armed than the christ the redeemer statue. He believes in his students no matter what. Unfortunately, it is this belief that gives birth to a repetitive slew of motivational speeches that just make me wish he'd shut up. Almost every episode has at least five feel good speeches.

As such, these rambles take the place of action. I would have liked to see more baseball games and more introduction of other characters who rival the club. However, there are some good emotionally moving parts that make you feel all warm and fuzzy and really make you root for this team. I also like how rough around the edges the characters are as it creates some hilarious yet warm moments.

Leia Mais

I grew up in an era when political discord and misuse of power was the way of life. Some of the atrocities that happened in the drama, I'm sure happened as well in our country during that time. I can totally appreciate the plot of the story but was disappointed at some of the story lines presented because they seem non-sensical. A lot of IE's decisions were such and though I often times try to excuse it by saying it's the idealism of youth, other times I say her decisions and actions are outright stupid for someone who is supposed to be intelligent. I loved the difference in the personalies of the two leads though Often times I don't understand the motivation in their actions, especially the elder one. All in all, the story was interesting enough to have kept me wanting to watch it every week. The fact that it was shortened was quite obvious at how the pacing changed all of a sudden.
The actors were definitely seasoned and I have just added JKH to my list of best actors. I liked him in Heartless City but now I am in awe of his acting ability.
I liked the music because it had a patriotic feel to it which I felt went well with the story plot.
As for re-watch value....quite a difficult one for me to rewatch because it is such a depressing drama.

Leia Mais

I give this drama a 5.5 out of the kindness of my heart. I really had to struggle not to give it a 5 or lower. If you're thinking that you want to embark on this journey, I'll merely ask that you use your imagination right now. Imagine a choir of about fifty people all gloriously arranged to be able to shout the most melodic and anointing message possible. Which is SUSPEND BELIEF~~ Say it again, SUSPEND BELIEF. Seriously, that is the first rule you must absolutely follow to watch this.

If you find yourself a person who is logical and analytical about dramas then you must really follow that rule in order to enjoy this. This is one of those types of shows you enjoy solely for entertainment purposes. You aren't looking for things to make sense but simply to be entertained.

With that said, welcome to this story. Four men escape prison motivated by different things. They initially work together because they are motivated by the same goal, then later, simply because they are all saintly beings who would shame even the Mother Theresa. I assume they're far more good at being saints because these are the worst fugitives on the planet. I ask you to think of really bad fugitives, then think of something worse, then think of these guys.

However, what's worse than really crappy fugitives? Well, welcome to the most incompetent police force on the planet. They give the guys in I hear Your Voice a run for their money. This police force that cannot catch a bunch of fugitives who are tweeting their locations and running away with a seven year old girl. Yes, a seven year old girl can outrun this bunch. These fugitives constantly call their significant others, utilize cell phones and payphones to call people, visit their significant others and the cops can't track them nor catch them. In fact, most of the chase scenes involve the cops accidentally bumping into this bunch. This gives birth to a repetitive sequence of Tom and Jerry.

However, this drama has its strengths. For one, I think the main focus is what is motivating these fugitives. They all have different and touching stories that motivate them to break out of jail. It's these stories that manage to somewhat solidify this mess. The main focus is especially on Ataru. He initiates the jail break because his daughter is dying; he wants to save her at all costs. In between this is a sub plot that is steeped in mystery.

Strangely enough, this drama surprisingly captures something I don't quite think it was even trying to focus on, which is politics in the police force. It really gives a glimpse on how the people in power can disregard corruption in the police force in order to not tarnish the reputation of the police. I doubt the script writers intended the person watching to note this but this was the one thing, they oddly manage to do well.

Unfortunately, every fugitive show cliche is featured here. From making quick escapes to doors being opened only to find our fugitives are not there. Unlike many, this for me was not a nail biting experience, there were great twists when it mattered but it quickly became obvious that this crew was practically invincible, it really becomes Tom and Jerry or Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner if you prefer. Furthermore, your typical cliche prevented this from being the jittery experience some reviews promised. Especially, not if you've watched just about any fugitive show that's aired. At one point, apathy began to set in and I just could not be emotionally moved.

Furthermore, themes intermingle so strangely making me question my feelings. It's at times humorous, cute, ridiculous, heart warming, ghastly and even comedic. It's a blend of strange themes that work yet don't. Almost like a bizarre concoction of food.

Bottom line: Do I recommend this? Bizarrely, yes. It's entertaining for what it's worth. It could be that I'm on a phase of perving over the lead, I still don't know his name but this does mark the third drama in a space of two days that I have decided to watch in order to enjoy his presence (Also, I am a sucker for a buzz cut). Perhaps, that made this more entertaining for me, but yeah, if you're looking for something action filled. To me this isn't really a thriller, go for it. It's entertaining for what it's worth.

Finally, I remind you to SUSPEND BELIEF!

Leia Mais

This drama was great up until it was noticeably rushed. The ending was odd and very confusing, I didn't quite understand it so I had to look up the reason why it seemed like that. Anyways it was cut due to not being popular in South Korea.

The drama is about a mermaid princess who has been stalking this chief that has a nice butt. Things take a turn when he falls into the water. With this drama there's hot guys, butt groping, and some nice surprises like references to shows and music (it's a really nice little bonus). I recommend people who are familiar with Korean stars and music to watch it because it really is fun even though the ending was rushed.

With saying that, I liked it for the laughs and giggles. It's a nice drama if you are feeling depressed and just want something fun even though at times it tries to get dramatic it goes right back to being funny.

Leia Mais

I originally came into this drama for Si Won. I wanted to see how he acted in this drama, since he was still a rookie actor at the time. But I came to love the story & the actors in it. LOVED SI WON IN THIS DRAMA!

Story 8.5/10: Most of the drama was great. But near the end, was kind of unnecessary, but it was still good for the acting & conflict.

Acting 9/10: The acting was great. They all have comedic timing in this & laughed-out-loud so hard on some moments, especially Si Won's moments. I started to like the main leads, because I haven't seen the male lead in anything & I have seen the female lead in My name is Kim Sam Soon & I think she's a great actress. Si Won was amazing in this drama! That's all I have to say without spoiling it.

music 8/10: The music fitted the scenes well. The BGMs were memorable, some songs were not.

I would re-watch this drama if I want a really want to laugh out loud. 8/10

Overall, I recommend this drama if you like comedies & the actors & actresses.

Leia Mais

Story: About a man who's family has been torn out from under him and his quest to set the record straight - people ask him why he doesn't give up and his answer is "because I am soojung's father." - that quote always touched me and made me cry. I cried so much in the earlier episodes, then it got to the point of action where I was cheering him on & cursing the bad guys. and by the end I was crying again but this time it was mixed tears of sadness, happiness and the fact that the law made things ridiculous - my favorite thing by the end though was the quote the daughter said to her father <3 it made me cry with a smile - just like the dad did ;') The only problem I really had with this drama was the background stories of Kang Dong Yoon & his father in law - when I person is as evil as they are I really could care less about where they came from (I'd roll my eyes whenever they would talk about this stuff).
Cast: Baek Hong Seok (Son Hyun Joo) - he was perfect in the role of Soojung's dad - he really drew the emotions out of me, I cried with him, cheered him on, and hurt with him. Choi Jung-woo (Ryu Seung Soo) my favorite prosecutor/lawyer ever ;) Detective Cho *jo* (Park Hyo Joo) she is great as a female detective all grimy like and tough but tender and her loyalty to Hong-seok was the best ;) Park Yongsik (Jo Jae Yun) always made me laugh - I found him quite adorable several times with what he would say, how he would say things and his facial expressions = priceless ;) I hated to the core of my being Kang Dong Yoon (Kim Sang Joon) he was so evil, I found myself cursing him more than once. basically I didn't like anyone in that household except the Reporter daughter Seo Ji Won (Go Joon Hee) she was sweet and placed justice over family. Her older brother was "ok" he wasn't the best person but he wasn't as evil as everyone else in that household (+ I do like the actor that played him). Shin Hyera (Jang Shin Young) I hated her just as much as I hated Kang Dong Yoon - they were so evil and always claimed to want to make justice for all - liars to their core.
Music: Beautiful - I loved the ost - it wasn't necessarily memorable but it was perfect for this drama.
Re-watch Value: 7.0 I will probably end up re-watching this drama at some point when I have time.

Leia Mais