Reviews

I LOVE PLAYFUL KISS. If you search the net, there are a lot of people who did not like this drama because of Oh Ha Ni. I admit that she follows Baek Seung Jo around and some might find her annoying, but I find that she acts her age. She's not vindictive, and truly comes off as a kind and loyal person. I loved this drama from the first time I watched it, and when I watched it again, I only loved it more because I noticed some subtle things I didn't notice the first time.

Also, I've watched the anime, Itazura na Kiss and I've read most of the volumes of the manga - there is a lot of stuff I wish we could have seen with Playful Kiss! However, I still enjoyed the story :)

Leia Mais

Upon finishing the first episode of this drama I would not have been able to predict that I would be reviewing it with such a critical eye; once those end credits rolled I proclaimed, 'Wow, this one just might be the one'. I had that feeling, that I was at the beginning of something magical, starting 'a favourite'.
Now, my experience with dramas that I've rated really highly overall usually follows the pattern of being drawn in, context being established over a few average episodes and then by the fifth or sixth finding myself completely engrossed in the drama... usually ending on an emotional high, my face full of tears and the memory of what I've just watched poignantly lingering in my mind for days, sometimes weeks, after. That is the magic, where the emotional plight of the people of countries thousands of miles away from our own native land touch our hearts, unite us. Seeing the enthusiastic fanbase for Jin, I imagined myself feeling the same things, becoming engrossed in this drama's elaborate plot.
I decided I could suspend my disbelief, willingly accept the timeslip and travel back to Edo, and on that commitment I paid in full. The setting was never the issue; the viewer always mindful of the strong effort put into embellishing this premodern Japan with all the convincing articles, and the hospital setting within Tokyo felt authentic too.
No, my criticism of this drama lies predominantly in the emotional content, the acting, the melodrama.

Initially I felt overcome, not just by Minakata Jin's painful past, by his sudden departure to historic Edo, but more so by how the drama encouraged you to empathetically connect with the minds of the people who don't understand his methods, struggle to see the good in what appear to be wicked, vulgar and wholly unexplainable actions. For the first couple of episodes this was the most captivating aspect of the drama, but this was very quickly and negatively upstaged by excesses of emotion and enthusiasm. A once rallying "Hai!" rapidly became tedious, regardless of the circumstances. Rather than bringing me closer to the drama, the continuous tears, flashbacks and bowing, with such vehemence that I found myself wincing each time a head hit the floor, created an emotional disconnect.
Furthermore, I felt that the plot didn't actually go anywhere and found myself finishing episodes with no real idea of what the important issues of the coming episode would be. What's worse is I found myself willingly leaving my computer to do other things between the 15 minute parts when streaming the program.

So, to explain my ratings. The story I rated highly for it's cultural and historical content, the insight into premodern Japanese medicine, rituals and social behaviours; I'd also like to comment that despite the usual dodgy baldcaps, the costumes, make-up, special fx and settings were delightful and of a good standard for a television drama. The music was also pleasing, I liked the choice of song for the ending credits and the way it played over the last scenes of each episode and the OST was fitting.
The acting I rated as average since some performances were good, others excruciating, verging on embarrassing although I can't imagine trying to deliver such intensity of emotion allowed for nuance.
I wouldn't feel inclined to watch the drama again, and felt comfortable giving it a 6 overall as while I wouldn't say this drama was more than mediocre, it does at least merit watching for the historical setting if that's of interest to you.
Just my two pennies worth - many people feel differently, as reflected in other reviews and in the ratings overall =)

Leia Mais

Faith is one of my all time favorite dramas and one of the only ones that has a historical/time travel element that I enjoyed(The other being Queen InHyun's Man). This is one of those dramas that gets better and better as it goes, and that you get extremely addicted to. I watched this when it aired and couldn't wait for new episodes every week. I'm very picky with the endings of dramas that I watch, and I hardly ever approve of the endings to dramas. However, the last episode and ending of this drama satisfied me. I was happy with the ending (not giving away if it was happy or sad, just saying it gave closure). This is one of my favorite dramas and I recommend it to anyone who has seen a kdrama or not.

Leia Mais

This drama is amazing until now ! Kang Ji Hwan and Hwan Jung Geum are doing a great job ! Park Ji Bin was also reaally good on his charachter , and our little cutie grewup so well , becaming such a handsome teenager *.*
Sp fpr the story , although it's a melodrama , it's very funny but still with some very sad and intense scenes ! The writers are doing well until what i've seen ! I'm really looking forward to the rest of this show !
And i honestly recommand it to everyone ^^

For This episode , i quite know the feeling when u don't really like urself that's why i understand the main female character and i hope I REALLY DO that she will lose weight and make all those bastards regret it ! This is one of the rare times when i'm taking the girl's side not the boy's =P

Leia Mais

? 1 liter of tears!!!!
Well i must say that i really like this drama, this was my second drama that i saw.
Its a very nice adaptation of the "Book", it's well written, the acting it's very very good, it has an amazing soundtrack like no other, Remioromen with konayuki , 9 Of march and K with Only human!!


You are going to cry a lot , If you are like me more than a litre hehhe
i you don't cry , I guess you're made of stone. ¬_¬ !!
Its a sad story like many other but why should i watch it?(you may ask) This drama have what i call a "drama impact" she inspires you to not give up and be stronger!!! i makes you think!!!
You are going to love it.

Leia Mais

This is an extremely flawed, but still enjoyable, drama. There were a lot of things that I would have done completely differently, but when everything is said and done it wasn't the worst drama I have seen.

The actors were fair to middlin' as my nana would say. There wasn't really anything spectacular here, nothing extraordinary. In fact, as I am writing this, I can't think of a single scene that really blew me away or left me dying for more. I did finish all but the last part of episode 32 in two days, so that's not say that this drama isn't somewhat compelling.

I think my main point of contention with this drama was just how many dropped story points there were. There were so many people and situations introduced that we just never heard from again. And even with the main characters, it was like they were only used when it was convenient for the storyline. During the whole basement period where no one knew where Kang Hwi was, it was like he had never existed with any of the characters other than Man Ok. And why do we never find out what happened to Tae Ik's parents? Or more of what happened with Kang Hwi's? Though, we did get more of Kang Hwi's than Tae Ik's at least. And the whole consequences of the gambling thing are never brought up again either after that one episode.

The whole thing ended up feeling a little schizophrenic and all over the place. I was extremely disappointed in the lack of friendship between Kang Hwi and Tae Ik. We are supposed to believe that these people were best friends, to the point that Se Ryung was jealous she tried to destroy it. But that's what I don't get. If it was that strong a relationship, how was it that all she had to do was kiss him and it was irrevocably destroyed? I just refuse to believe that a friendship that is supposedly so strong could be destroyed so easily and so permanently and that Tae Ik would never stop and think that maybe he was misunderstanding his very best friend.

As for villains, LJ was just a ridiculous one. I have a really hard time believing someone in his position woul continuously make as many poor choices as he did. If there was a wrong or dumb move to make, he was going to make it. It didn't come across as evil, just as if the writers expected their viewers to not care that all of it was just dumb.

All in all, it was just poorly executed. The first Full House was my very first Asian drama, but even so I came into this with low expectations. I just feel really sad that with as low as they were, they still couldn't be met. I would say if you have free time and nothing else to watch, then give this a shot. Otherwise there are much better love triangle dramas, and way way better kpop dramas out there. I mean, seriously, you are going to make a drama about a kpop duo and only give them ONEFREAKINGSONG to sing and dance on stage? I can understand it may be difficult to write your own songs for a show, I don't really know what goes into something like that. But if you know you only have ONE SONG, why oh why do you make them perform at least once every little half episode for the first 10 parts? You can touch, be my girl, you can fly, let me love love you tonight. It will never get out of my head!

As an aside, seriously, I think these boys were absolutely insane for hiring anyone with hair that awful and who dressed that poorly as their stylist. She wore a shirt with a collar made of stuffed cats for Christ's sake. My brain just kepy repeating "Did that really just happen?" over and over again.

I'd really like to come up with a list of positive things about this show to explain why I actually liked it. But honestly, I think I liked it because I just have really awful taste! And I'm OK with that :p

Leia Mais

This really started out fun to watch! The cinematography of it was stunning! And who is the costumer!? Whoever it was, they were willing to use some seriously bold colors! When I say Kang Ji Hwan in a neon yellow shirt, I almost had to put my sunglasses on. One of the things I liked about this better than Bridal Mask was the women characters were phenomenal. Cha Song Joo was what we wish Mok Dan had been; a badass, pistol-shooting, motorcycle riding independence fighter! I have to give props to Ryu Jin as Soo Hyun, he was outstanding! Han Go Eun as Song Joo, I'm so glad to FINALLY see you in a role where I liked your character!! Kang Ji Hwan and Han Ji Min were definitely good as the lovers you'd never expect to see together. And can I say I just love this OST?!!

Leia Mais

Story: Okay, let's get this over with, it's no secret that Ma Boy takes the usual gender-bending storyline on a different level. This time it's the boy pretending to be a girl! Finally, right? That's the thing that first caught our eye but we all know by now that the gender-bending storyline cannot carry the drama alone (for instance, TTBY and K-Pop - The Ultimate Survival). I thought Ma Boy held up well, managing to achieve its very simple goal: keeping a silly grin painted across my face the whole ride.

This drama was toooo cute! Considering the fact that this drama was aimed at younger audiences, hence airing at the cable network Tooniverse, and with a very limited number of episodes with only 3, I advice you to adjust your expectations accordingly when planning to watch this drama. Its story is as simplistic as can get. The conflicts are far from crossing dramatic territory and that's just very refreshing to watch. I'm so used to watching dramas and immediately expect the worse for the characters when something big happens. I even caught myself during the drama thinking, "Oh crap! Irene will get outed!" But not with this drama, the conflicts are very simple and then tied neatly in a simplistic way just like the way it was first introduced.

I loved the fact that no one is all bad in this drama. The only one closest to being the villain (can I really even call him that?) was pretty harmless. I do have to add that, even with all the cute and light-heartedness, this drama never forgot to have a plot.

I do have to say that I never got emotionally connected to the characters in any way, but really, that's just one of the disadvantages of having limited episodes. I do remember craving for more after watching finishing it but I'm pretty sure I would've been bored if it had more than, 5? I'm just estimating how much more episode I could've watched and still enjoyed it wholeheartedly. So in my opinion, the number of episodes is just perfect for this type of series.

Acting: Kim So Hyun was soo cute in this drama. She had good comedic timing and she's one of the up-and-coming actresses that I'll be looking forward to in the future. She also had a cute chemistry with Sun Joong despite the age gap which never really bothered me. And I just have to get this out, she looks exactly like a young Son Ye Jin. Right?! O.O As for the rest of the young cast, Sun Joong and Min Hoo, I admit they made me cringe sometimes. I guess part of it is cause I had to adjust a lotsince my last 3 dramas had such amazing acting (NG, KoD, CA). But they're not really bad per say, just serviceable and enough for the role.

Music: Nothing stand-out really, it was just okay. Nothing I'm gonna download or that's gonna stick, it just fitted the scenes of the drama. I kinda perked up when I heard the song Suzy and Eunjung sang in Dream High though.

Rewatch Value: This drama have a high rewatch value in my opinion, I rated it 10. With only three episodes, there is no major time commitment required. It's a miniseries that just simply makes you feel good. Whenever you're feeling down, you can just go through this drama easily and come out with a huge grin.

Overall: This is a feel-good and heart-warming drama that knows what its strength is and never straying away from it, nowhere near going too dramatic with its plot and conflicts. The acting could have room for improvements though but it's not really noticeable when you're too busy squealing over the cute. I remember watching this in youtube and coming across a comment saying "they confessed already?! Too fast!". I remember thinking, "just wait 'til you find out it's actually the last episode", and nearly busting a gut laughing when I got to the last part of the episode and came across her other comment when she corrected herself. SO really you'll enjoy it more if you're aware that: it IS targeted to younger audiences and it only has THREE episodes so try not to get too attached. Just adjust your expectations and you're in for an entertaining 3 hours.

Leia Mais