AsianDramaReviews - FrontendXR: Display User Comments

1-10 of 19 | Next

BOGCHI Reviews:

Heartfelt.., Saturday, 02 August 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu, based on a very popular novel, starts out from the beginning and on very depressing. From the start, the creators of the drama let us know that this drama would have a tragic ending. If you have a weak spot for sad dramas, you should prepare a box of tissue while watching this.

Sekai no Chuushin is about a very strong love story of two teenagers. As their love for each other grows, and after a couple of hints (nosebleeds and such..), the girl was later diagnosed with Lukemia. "How will the two lovers cope with this?" and "how would her parents and the people that surrounds them react?".. were pretty much the main questions of the story.

I like how the love story was built up. Unlike some dramas, the love story progressed quite slowly and believable enough, which is very important because it was the main story of the drama. The pace was very mellow, but not to the point that it would get you fast asleep. The setting was great; it takes you back to the good old days. The shots were just beautifully done. The beautiful music help create the very sad mood it had all throughout. The actors did a good job, unless you're really picky, you won't find any flaws.. well nothing big.

Overall, this is a touching drama that everyone who's in for a nice/heartwarming/depressing love story should check out.

Absolute Boyfriend

A robot lover?, Friday, 18 July 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Story - Absolute Boyfriend is about a woman, Izawa Riko, who has an ideal robot "boyfriend" [Naito/Night].
Naito, originally called 01, is an experimental robot designed to give unconditional love to its owner. Naito's creator chooses Izawa Riko, a hopeless romantic, to be the first person to test their experimental robot and tricks her into signing a contract that would forever tie her up with Naito (or something like that).
Although the robot had the traits of her ideal boyfriend, she can never take Naito seriously because it's just a robot. How can a human fall in love with a robot anyway?!

The drama's story was quite original. Although the drama had a science fiction plot, the drama itself was not too unbelievable, probably because of close to zero loophole (none that I could actually pinpoint in my first viewing). Give it 50 years or so, I can see it happening.

All throughout the drama, Naito irritates Riko by his public display of affection, which was the comedic part. As much as I liked the Naito/Riko tandem, Riko and Soushi's (the "other" guy) romantic story was quite interesting too, at times even more so than her story with her robot. I could never see Naito and Riko ending up together because of the fact that he is a robot, so the romance part with the robot wasn't that romantic. But overtime, the robot and Riko grew on me, but not enough to see them as a couple in the end. It was nice everytime the robot (Naito) saves Riko.. it's nice.. but it's hard to imagine how anyone (knowing that the robot is a robot) can fall in love with a robot. I liked the fact that it took awhile until Riko realizes that she has feelings for the robot, but even so.. I couldn't buy it. In the end, I felt like the drama needed to add more to the conclusion.

As a love story, the drama fell short for me, but as a comedy and science fiction, the drama was really good. Someone who's more open-minded to robot-love might enjoy this drama more than me, although I did enjoy it. I'm giving the story an 8/10.

Acting - Hayami Mokomichi as the robot was spot on. The little details he did as Naito made me believe that he was a robot. Aibu Saki did a great job as well, her comedic timing were right on target. Mizushima Hiro was commendable too as the third wheel. I'd give the acting an 8/10 because the cast was good, but not amazing.

Music - The main theme was a ballad, which was a big question mark at first, but became understandable towards the end. It's overall not bad. I'd give it an 8/10.

Overall, I liked the drama. It has a nice pace that doesn't get too boring, but not too exciting. It's a fun, warm drama. Satisfaction: 8/10.

Last Friends

Tackled shocking issues, Sunday, 29 June 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Last Friends is about a woman, Michiru, who just moved-in with her boyfriend, but later suffers from domestic violence. She runs into her old friend, Ruka, a woman who has had feelings for her and kept it hidden (taboo). One day, Michiru calls Ruka after getting beat up by her over protective boyfriend, Sousuke. Ruka hurriedly comes to the rescue and brings Michiru to a share house she had been living in with another roommate, Eri. Meanwhile, Takeru, a kind yet mysterious guy who seems to have some sexual problem, decides to move in the share house with them. A guy named Ogurin also lives with them, but that's not important.

After watching the first episode, the first question that popped into my head was.. IS THIS A LESBIAN LOVE STORY? Going into the drama, it wasn't something I expected, and fortunately that's not how it turned out. The drama's main story is the domestic violence story, and the one-sided same-sex love story is just one of its many side stories, which in the end doesn't pull through (so don't get your hopes up if that's what you're looking for).
The story goes on with Michiru getting beat up for atleast half of the series, which is not too bad, because it actually kept me in suspense. For half of the series Michiru goes back and forth from her boyfriend's apartment to the sharehouse, and making the same stupid, but understandable, mistake.
Ruka on the other hand, has problems of her own. She is an aspiring motocross racer, and turns out to have problems with her gender (a big shock..). What happens if she gets exposed? Will she be able to handle the pressure and stand firm? All throughout she only had one person she can really open up to.. Takeru. He seemed to have understood Ruka all the way, and ends up falling for her. Will Ruka be able to accept Takeru's love and forget about Michiru?
Also on the side is Eri's "cool" love story with a married man, Ogurin, who lives with them for a while, and also comes and go.
The share house roommates build a strong bond as the story progress.
The drama has the typical Japanese drama feel to it (DUH it's a J-dorama). It has a nice subtle pace, light mood (most of the time), and interesting characters. The dialogues between the characters are hit and miss. Sometimes it's really good, but sometimes it gets really boring. There are really great INTENSE moments, that become very memorable, which made the drama so great. All throughout the drama was very mysterious, which got frustrating after awhile. Overall I gave the story an 8/10. It tackles a lot of shocking issues like domestic violence and gender/sexual problem, but the conclusion to the issues were somewhat unsatisfying.

The actors were great. Some of the best acting I’ve seen. The breakthrough performance goes to Ueno Juri, who after being hilariously cute in Nodame Cantabile turned into a strong, man-like woman in this drama. The writer wrote the script specifically for the actors so how could it go wrong? I liked everyone’s performance. Masami Nagasawa, Eita, Ryo, Asami, all played their part as to how I believe it’s supposed to be played so I gave it a high 9/10.

The main theme song “Prisoner of Love” by Utada Hikaru was a great choice. One of the main reasons I wanted to watch this drama was because of its theme song, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed with the way the song was over used. It’s a great song and fits the drama perfectly. I’m giving the music a 9/10

Overall, I liked this drama. It’s not for the faint of heart because of all the intense issues it tackled, which was the reason I can not truly enjoy this drama. It’s a really good, enjoyable drama for what it’s worth. I gave satisfaction 7/10.

Just okay., Tuesday, 24 June 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Story - In a nutshell, H2 was about a talented high school baseball player, Hiro, and his team's quest to qualify to Koshien, a prestige baseball tournament. Aside from that, there's also a blooming love story between him and the manager of the team, Haruka. But it turns out that he has feelings for someone else.. his childhood friend, Hikari, which is his best friend's girlfriend.

Well the baseball part was quite interesting, but it got repetitive after awhile. The love story turned out to be more interesting, but developed too slowly. The story dragged all the way through. There were funny parts, but not enough to keep me interested the whole way through.

Acting - Ishihara Satomi was cute and everyone did their part.

Music - I like the music at the end.

Overall, it's an okay drama. Nothing memorable. I liked some of the baseball scenes with the nice use of special effects, the romance part was not bad, the actors were pretty good, the ending song was catchy, but the story lacks depth to be interesting enough.

Capital Scandal

Serious political mixed with comedy and romance.., Sunday, 15 June 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

STORY - Set in the 1930's, Capital Scandal is about a group of freedom fighters trying to.. well... free Korea from the Japanese government. That is the main theme of the drama, but in contrast, there's also a fun romantic-comedy between the two main characters, a comedic situation in each episode, and characters that tries to be funny.

Watching the first few episodes, I could not understand where the drama was going. Was it going to be a love story? If so, a romantic-comedy or a melodrama? A mystery? Action? It was a lot later that I found out that it was a political drama, mixed with all the other genres.

The setting (Seoul, in the 1930's) was quite dull to be honest. It looked good and it was very interesting to watch, but the mood made it really feel like it was the 30's, which is a good thing (artistic-wise), but it felt boring. What's crazy is that this is partly a comedy drama. (So it's a romance/political/mystery and comedy drama.) A dull setting and a comedic script doesn't really mix well. The comedy felt kind of.. out of place. The drama shines the most in serious scenes, which are very intense and captivating.
The love story was quite fun to watch, but all throughout they pretty much just argued and yelled at each other. It was funny at times, but it was also annoying at times.. mostly fun though.
In the end, when the secrets and mysteries were finally revealed, it was actually shocking because it was actually unpredictable. The bad thing is.. up until the end it tried to be too unpredictable, which ruined it for me.

Acting - Kang Ji Hwan was really good. A little overacting at times, but he played the part very well. Han Ji Min was also good. The two supporting actors, Han Go Eun and Ryu Jin, were commendable. At times, they outshine the leading actors. All the actors had a great chemistry.

Music - I didn't think it was fitting at first, but I got used to it.

Overall, It's a good drama, but there was too much things going on. It got too confusing at times, which led to the drama getting too boring. The comedic part didn't really work; it was funny at times but nothing hilarious. The love story was interesting enough, but it wasn't the focus. The political/mystery kept me watching, but not anticipating.

Watch it if you want to learn a thing or two about the 1930's when Korea was still occupied by the Japanese or if you're just curious. It's not a complete waste of time, and it has something new to offer, so there's a chance that you might really enjoy it.

Bad Family

Fun Family Drama, Sunday, 01 June 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Bad Family is about 7 strangers brought together to make a fake family for a little girl to bring back her memory.

The plot was a little odd, but it all worked out well. The 7 people all had different personalities, but slowly they learn to put up with each other and becomes a family.

The drama itself is nothing special, but it is entertaining enough to keep you watching the whole way through. It's heartwarming, and funny. Each episode has the same pattern, which sometimes gets predictable.

With it's main family themed focus, there is also an unnecessary love story between the fake "sister" and "uncle" that could/should have been take out. It didn't add anything to the drama. In my opinion they should have ended up with the other guy/girl, who actually had more chemistry with them.

Overall, it's something new. With all the romance dramas out there, Bad Family brings forth a fresh family themed drama. It gets slow at times, and it's nothing completely special, but it's entertaining enough to be considered a good drama.

Last Christmas

The Last Christmas?, Saturday, 31 May 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Japanese romantic-comedies has usually disappointed me in the past, so everytime I decide to see one, I try to talk myself out of it. But when I see one, usually they're just not funny, nor romantic, but this one hit all the right notes for me.

The story revolves around a romantic-comedy of two very different people. It's typical. At first I wasn't sure on how it'll work because of the age gap between the actors, but they actually pulled it off. Like a typical romantic-comedy, they met awkwardly and comedic. What pulled me to this drama was when the drama finally revealed that Yuki Aoi was a cancer survivor and has a chance of a relapse. That scene in that first episode was just perfectly executed that made me want to watch the whole drama.

The sides story of the drama was interesting as well. It got slow at times, but it never got too boring because of the nice script it had. The nice chemistry between all the characters was a plus too.

In the end, it turned out to be a memorably good heartwarming drama that will make you feel like it's the Holiday season everyday (or everytime you watch it).

Densha Otoko

Unbelievable, Saturday, 31 May 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Densha Otoko was unbelievably unrealistic even though it was supposedly based on a true story.
It's not that the "Densha Otoko" was too geeky, too clumsy or too short for the main lead Hermes, (even though he was) it's just that the drama didn't flow right enough to be believable. There was no connection between the two. Instead of lovers, it seemed like a love story between friends, which would have been okay, but sadly that's not what they were going for so it seemed awkward.

Okay, so there's no romantic connection between the two main characters, so what? It's a comedy! Well that's what I thought, so i kept watching, and all I can say is.. it's not that funny. It tried to be funny, but it just didn't work for me.

After watching all through Densha Otoko's (Yamada's) mess up, I felt sorry for him sometimes, but in the end this drama is too slow, too corny, and too unbelievable.

Goong

Great visuals.. but SSSLOW, Sunday, 11 May 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Goong probably has the best or one of the best visuals in Korean drama history. Its glossiness and overall presentation reflected how expensive the drama is and how hard the whole production worked on it. From the great fictional palace to the great scenery that surrounds it.. it was just phenomenal. The music also helped establish the mood of the drama, at times serious and at times fun.

Now on to the story..
Goong started out quite well because of all the visual image that got me hyped to watch episodes after episodes. It's very interesting to imagine.. what IF Korea still had a royal family? It started out comedic, but slow. The story went on and on, and as the story went by it got slower and slower. I won't go into details about the story, but in a nutshell, it's about a girl who finds out that she'll become a princess because of her grandfather's "pact" with the former king, she then marries the prince even though they don't love each other. Will they learn to love each other? A typical drama story, with the palace setting. The drama also goes into the trials and tribulation of life in the palace.
I don't mind slow movies/dramas, but this one just got too dull for me. Nonetheless, I finished the drama. The story is not completely bad, but it unfolded slow.

Overall, it's beautiful visually, but very slow-paced. But although it was dull, its visual and overall presentation (the whole palace theme) puts this drama on my recommended list.

Full House

A Laugh Out Loud Drama, Saturday, 10 May 2008

Story
Acting
Music
Satisfaction

Full House's story is nothing amazing, but its humor really carried it all the way through. If you're looking for life altering, or something amazing and original.. this drama may not be for you. But if you just want laugh,sit back and relax, this is a DEFINITE MUST WATCH.

As I said before, this drama is just plain funny. There are a lot of "comedy" dramas out there, but only a few actually hit the right spots, and this one does. It has a nice balance of romance and comedy. The two leads (Song Hye Gyo and Bi) did a great job bickering, calling each other names, and being stubborn. From the moment they met all they did was pretty much fight and then make up. At times it got dull because of all the crying scenes everytime they make up (I'm not a big fan of cheesy scenes), but heck, it IS a drama so that's inevitable.

Overall, this a very entertaining drama to watch. It got a little slow towards the end with all the sad songs and crying scenes, but I guess it was necessary. It's a big plus that Song Hye Gyo is AMAZING.. just watch it.

[ Back ]

1-10 of 19 | Next