Tag: Reviews

Review: First Love

Posted March 16, 2023 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

First Love

Starring: Mitsushima Hikari, Satoh Takeru, Yagi Rikako, Kido Taisei, Kaho, Minami
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 9
Genre: Drama, Melodrama, Romance
Country: Japan
Director: Kanchiku
Where to Watch: Netflix

In the late 90’s, Yae and Harumichi met and fell in love. After graduating from high school, Yae went off to college in Tokyo, while Harumichi joined the Self-Defense forces as an aviation student, and like that they separated.

One day, Yae suffered a tragic accident, and 20 years passed without their lives intersecting again. Now, Yae works as a taxi driver and Harumichi has become an employee at a security company after serving in the Self-Defense forces, both in the same city. About 20 years after their unfulfilled first love, fate brings them together once again…

I’m too lazy to look for pictures so you get just my straight up thoughts on this one today. Therese and I watched this show last month and I had heard that it was such a great show and so I was pretty stoked to start it but we struggled with getting through it. As a whole, the show was good but each individual episode was kind of hard to get through and though we liked certain things about the show, it’s not a show that I’d say that I loved. The first few episodes set up the show and I thought they set up the show pretty well. We were curious about everyone and the way that they kept missing each other but literal seconds had us on the edge of our seat but the longer they went without connecting and then the longer they took to get their shit together and get together, the more frustrated we felt.

My favorite part of the show was seeing the two main leads as teenagers. I was much more invested in them when they were falling in love with each other and when they were in the midst of young love. When we see them again as adults, they’re completely different people and the male lead came off low key creepy to me. The way that he got close to the female leads son in the beginning and then the way that he did his girlfriend and the female lead left a sour taste in my mouth, especially considering I didn’t think it did anything to further the story.

This is my second Japanese drama, so I wasn’t familiar with any actors or actresses in this show and I can’t say that anyone outside of the teenagers in the cast caught my attention. I did think that the female lead was cute and super pretty but other than her, nobody stood out to me. That’s not going to stop me from watching more shows from Japan though.

Overall, this drama was good but it’s not a drama that I would watch again. It’s not a show that I can shout my love for from the rooftops but it wasn’t the worst drama ever. The story being told, one of first love is a good one and if the entire show was them when they were teenagers, I probably would have liked this one more. I liked some things but mostly, this one just didn’t hit for me as much as I thought it would. So…yeah, that’s what I thought.

Final Rating

3 out of 5

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Review: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Posted December 8, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Starring: Park Eun Bin, Kang Tae Oh, Kang Ki Young, Jeon Bae Soo, Baek Ji Won, Jin Kyung
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: Drama, Law, Life, Romance
Country: South Korea
Director: Yoo In Shik
Screenwriter: Moon Ji Woon
Where I Watched It: Netflix
Who I Watched It For: Kang Tae Oh

Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 27-year-old Woo Young Woo graduated at the top of her class from the prestigious Seoul National University for both college and law school due to her high IQ of 164, impressive memory, and creative thought process. Working as a lawyer, she finds herself struggling when it comes to social interactions.

This drama came across my radar while browsing through Netflix right before the first episode dropped.

I’ve watched Park Eun Bin and Kang Tae Oh in other dramas so seeing that they were starring in a drama together piqued my interest and I immediately added it to My List. I’m glad that I did because this show was a delight from beginning to end. Each episode showcased an interesting case that we saw our team of lawyers tackle and seeing the cases come together from start to finish made each week a fun viewing experience.

Was everything perfect? Of course not. But there was enough good in the show as a whole that I’m super glad that I watched it.

The Story

The story follows our favorite lawyer on the autistic spectrum, Woo Young Woo, as she starts her career in law at one of the leading law firms in Korea. With each passing episode, we get to know Young Woo as a person, as a daughter, as a friend, and lastly, as a lawyer. She’s new to her job but she’s smart and she’s straightforward and she’s on a team that isn’t perfect but seeing them tackle each case together (and sometimes against each other) made this show charming as hell.

I loved that we tackled a lot of things with Young Woo as well. We see her struggle and we see her fall in love and through all of it, we see how strong she’s always been and how strong she grows.

Main Male Lead

Lee Jun Ho was one of my favorite parts of this show. He was such a great male lead for Young Woo. There were moments when he disappointed me but his earnest love for Young Woo and the way that he loved her just the way that she was made me love him all the more. I thought he was great with Young Woo and great for Young Woo. He learned things about her, about the way that she sees things so that he can understand her and I loved that.

I loved that with every new thing he learns about Young Woo, his feelings for her grew. No matter what anyone said about them, what obstacle was thrown in their path, he was steadfast in his feelings. When he stands up for himself to Young Woo toward the end, my heart soared because while I understood why Young Woo did what she did, I still wanted them to trust in their love for each other to see things through together. Alls well that ends well though and Lee Jun Ho was such a delightful and loving character and I adored him to pieces. I loved Jun Ho so much that he’s at the very top of my favorite drama boyfriends of the year. Kang Tae Oh did such a great job of bringing his character to life.

Main Female Lead

Woo Young Woo was the very best part of this show. She was the heart and soul and seeing her struggle and then soar on her own made me so happy. There were many parts of the show that frustrated me, and it was mostly with the way that people treated Young Woo. They treated her like shit and a lot of it went over Young Woo’s head and that frustrated me even more. I connected with a lot of stuff that Young Woo went through and cheered her on from beginning to end. She had a unique way of seeing things and I loved that she wasted no time or energy on things that she didn’t think were worthy of her time. She stayed true to herself as often as she could and learned from her mistakes and seeing the way that her mistakes affected her made her all the more charming.

Park Eun Bin is such a great actress and I thought she did a great job with Young Woo’s character. It couldn’t have been easy and seeing in the behind the scenes, interviews, and everything else that she’s done to promote the show, it was nice to see how seriously she took her job. I’m also glad for her stance on a second season. I would have loved for this show to continue on and on forever, in all honesty, I don’t think it’s needed.

The Cast

My favorite secondary character was Young Woo’s boss. Myung Seok was the bomb. I loved that he wasn’t above doing better when he realizes that he messed up. He was the kind of leader that took care of his team and dealt with whatever problems arose as a team. He learned a lot from his team and his team learned a lot from him. I also really loved Young Woo’s best friend and her Dad. I loved the way that they loved Young Woo. Like Jun Ho, they loved her as she was and helped her navigate life when she didn’t understand anything and I just loved the relationships Woo Young had with all of them.

The character that I wanted to drop kick into Tuesday was freaking Min Woo’s punk ass and I didn’t even care for his little redemption arc in the end. He can still suck toes. The cast of characters all made this show such a delight. Lots and lots of great folks in this one.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a great show with a lot of heart, a lot of charm, and a whole lot of goodness that I fell right into this show head first. It’s hard not to root for Young Woo, her team, and just the show in general. While it wasn’t without it’s problematic stuff, like that whole thing with home dude that kidnapped those kids to show them a good time? That was weird and I don’t care what his motives were, how pure his heart was, if he had done that with my kid. There isn’t an excuse in the world that make me forgive anyone for taking my kid without my permission any fucking where. You want me to ease up on my child, then you fucking come and talk to me cause the shit that he did? Not cool. Not cool at all.

Aside from that case, I can’t remember if there were any other cases where I was mad but the ones that I do remember, they were interesting. Like the wedding case where her dress fell? Talk about embarrassing but I really liked that how that case ended and there were others that I was interested in and I really loved the way that each case came together, how Young Woo’s brain worked them all out and I really loved seeing her grow in confidence both professionally and personally. She was the very best part of this show and I enjoyed this show all the more because she was at the lead. Highly recommend this one.

Final Rating

4.5 out of 5

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Review: The Sound of Magic

Posted October 11, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Sound of Magic

Starring: Ji Chang Wook, Choi Sung Eun, Hwang In Yeop
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 16
Genre: Fantasy, Musical, Drama
Country: South Korea
Where I Watched It: Netflix
Who I Watched It For: Ji Chang Wook

High school student Yoon Ah Yi finances herself and her younger sister by working part-time jobs. She doesn’t know where her parents are. Debt collectors drove her father away from home—and then her mother fled too. But even with her poor financial circumstances, Yoon Ah Yi manages to rank near the top of her school academically. Yoon Ah Yi wants to become an adult as soon as possible, to have a stable job.

Her classmate Na Il Deung competes with Yoon Ah Yi for the top grade, but they begin to have feelings for each other.

One day, Yoon Ah Yi meets magician Lee Eul at an abandoned amusement park. He performs magic shows for people who believe in magic. He is a mysterious person; he comforts Yoon Ah Yi who tells him that she believes in magic.

I grew up watching and listening to a lot of musicals but I’ve never seen a k-drama musical before so I was mighty intrigued about this show. The drama also starred Ji Chang Wook and I love him so that was an added bonus in making me want to watch it. I was also pretty stoked to see Hwang In Yeop was in it too. I adored him in True Beauty so I was excited to see him in something else.

This drama follows a young woman, Yoon Ah Yi, as she struggles with raising her younger sister after both of her parents split, leaving both sisters penniless, and all alone. Ah Yi is still a student in high school so she’s super busy. She’s at school all day and then she rushes off to work various part-time jobs to put food on the table and through all of these hardships, she just endures. She goes through every single day with a focused determination to become an adult and a lot of that is because she wants better for herself and for her sister. At school, she battles for the top student spot with Na Il Deung and things get a little spicy when they start to develop feelings for each other.

Things get even more interesting when she meets magician, Lee Eul, at an abandoned amusement park. She starts to believe that there’s magic all around and seeing her come into her own over the course of this show made for a sweet and entertaining drama. I really enjoyed the musical aspect of this show and was delighted every time they broke into song and dance. I thought the dance numbers were done really well and the music was a lot of fun too. There were a lot of themes explored during this drama and I thought Ji Chang Wook, Choi Sung Eun, and Hwang In Yeop did a fantastic job of bringing their characters to life.

There was some confusion for me in the beginning episodes and I’m not going to lie, there were times when the stories dragged but the more that I watched, the more that I came to be invested in not just Yoon Ah Yi, but also in Ri Eul, and Na Il Deung’s character development. Each of their backstories was interesting and my heart hurt for all of them, my heart also rejoiced with them. I was happy with how everything wrapped up and though it’s not my favorite drama of the year, I was glad that I gave it a shot and saw it through to the end. I’ve become a big fan of each of the actors in this show and this show was a huge reason why. I’ll definitely be supporting their other works from here on out. If you need a bit of magic in your life, this might definitely be a go for you.

Final Rating

3.5 out of 5

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Review: A Business Proposal

Posted September 27, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

A Business Proposal

Starring: Ahn Hyo Seop, Kim Se Jeong, Kim Min Gue, Seol In Ah
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 12
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Where I Watched It: Netflix
Recommended By: N/A
Who I Watched It For: Ahn Hyo Seop

Shin Ha Ri is a single woman and works for a company. She has a male friend, who she has had a crush on for a long time, but she learns he has a girlfriend. Shin Ha Ri feels sad and decides to meet her friend Jin Young Seo, who is a daughter of a chaebol family. Jin Young Seo then asks Shin Ha Ri to take her place in a blind date and even offers some money for her time. Shin Ha Ri accepts her friend’s offer. She goes out on the blind date as Jin Young Seo, while having the intention to get rejected by her date. When she sees her blind date, Shin Ha Ri is dumbfounded. Her blind date is Kang Tae Mu. He is the CEO of the company where she works.

Kang Tae Mu is the CEO of a company that his grandfather founded. One day, his grandfather informed him of an upcoming blind date that he set up for him. Kang Tae Mu is a workaholic and he is annoyed that his grandfather sets up blind dates for him. He decides to marry the next woman whom he meets at a blind date, so he won’t be disturbed from his work anymore. That woman is Shin Ha Ri, but pretending to be Jin Young Seo.

On the following day, Shin Ha Ri receives a phone call from Kang Tae Mu. He asks her to marry him.

I’m a big fan of Ahn Hyo Seop so the minute I heard that this show was coming out, I added it to my watch list. I will always watch whatever he’s in and I’m glad that I gave this one a shot because it was a fun one.

The show is a modern-day love story between the CEO of a big food company and one of the employees at the company. They don’t know each other and they meet when the employee shows up at her best friend’s blind date with the CEO, pretending to be the best friend. That blind date sets the story rushing down the road of lies, and funny moments, and introduces a quirky cast of characters that you’ll be rooting on from beginning to end. It’s not one of those heavy dramas that are bogged down with a whole lot of heavy things. It’s a fast-paced romance that will take all of your worries away for a few hours and who doesn’t need that from time to time?

Ahn Hyo Seop plays our fine-ass CEO, Kang Tae Moo, and I thought he played the character well. I enjoyed watching him fall in love with the woman that exasperated him at every turn and I loved the way that once he made his mind up, there wasn’t any turning back. He was determined and driven and just marked all of my favorite things about a male lead. I adored him to pieces and that’s not to say that there weren’t plenty of times when I thought he was a bonehead that needed a swift kick in the ass. In the end, all is well that ends well and I didn’t have any complaints about where we left things with Kang Tae Moo.

Kim Se Jeong played our quirky and lovable female lead, Shin Ha Ri. She was a sweet, caring, and completely adorable female lead, and there were still quite a few times when I wanted to cuss her ass out too. I thought she kept the lie going far too long and the amount of times that she kept walking into stupid shit had me rolling my eyes but through all of that, I still quite adored her. Kim Se Jeong has fast become one of my go-to k-drama actresses to support and I thought she did a great job of bringing Shin Ha Ri to life. She captured that sweetness of her character extremely well and even though I kept rolling my eyes at the situations she found herself in, I powered through because Se Jeong was just too hot damn adorable not to keep supporting. Her heart was always in the right place and seeing her come to realize that her lifelong crush on someone that has never made a move on her and turning her focus to someone that is more than willing to be her man made the romance just that much sweeter to me.

As much as I enjoyed the main romance, the magic of this show, at least for me, was in the secondary romance between Kim Min Gue and Seol In Na’s characters. Every single scene between these two had me grinning from ear to ear. Their romance was too cute and I was so invested in their stories, in their romance, and just everything they were about. They had their fair shares of being boneheads but I didn’t care about any of that because those two characters made sense together and I loved seeing them fumble their way to their happy ending. I have so much love for them.

Overall, this drama was light and it was fun and it was just filled to the brim with things that made me happy. Don’t get me wrong, there are loads of corniness and heaps of wtf moments but through it all, the characters, their stories, and the romances will make the ride enjoyable anyway. I’m so glad that I watched this and though the ending was a little weak, the rest of the drama makes up for that. There are loads of eye candy and laugh-out moments and I’m sure that if you gave this one a shot, you’ll be glad you watched it too.

Final Rating


via GIPHY

4 out of 5

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Review: She Was Pretty

Posted September 3, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 4 Comments

Male Lead: Park Seo Jun
Female Lead: Hwang Jung Eum
Secondary Lead: Choi Siwon
Also Starring: Go Jun Hee, Park Yoo Hwan, Lee Il Hwa, Ahn Se Ha, Shin Hye Sun, Hwang Seok Jeong, Im Ji Hyun, Seo Jeong Yeon
Year Released: 2015
Number of Episodes: 16
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Country: Korea
Where I Watched It: Amazon Prime
Recommended By: Park Seo Jun
Watched it For: Park Seo Jun

This is a punny romantic comedy about 4 unique youngsters who fall in love. Once a popular girl, Hye-jin grew into freckles and curly hair. Sung-joon, a chubby kid, turned into a walking God. Ha-ri, the girl who seems to have everything lacks some sex appeal. Shin-hyuk, is a guy with regurgitative humor who has something to hide.

My boo thang Park Seo Jun is in this one so it was one of the first k dramas that I watched. It’s a romantic comedy that I really enjoyed. The entire cast charmed me right out of my socks and the main romance was super sweet and even though there were moments, where I was bashing my head against my desk, the overall show was entertaining as hell.

So this show is about Sung Joon and Hye Jin, two childhood friends who grew apart but are about to be reunited. Sung Joon was fat growing up and in school, he was always made fun of and bullied but the school’s pretty girl, Hye Jin, befriended him and was a support to him in their childhood years. When Sung Joon moves away, they keep in touch as best as they can but the years pass and they lose touch. Years later, they’re both older and their roles are reversed. Sung Joon grew up to be good looking as hell and Hye Jin succumbed to her father’s genes and grew up to have rough, red skin and kinky curly hair. Having grown up really pretty, Hye Jin has gotten used to her new role as a not so good looking woman and she’s even grown into her skin but all of that goes up in flames when Sung Joon calls her and tells her that he’s back in Korea and would love to meet up with her. At first, she’s super excited because her childhood bestie is back and she’s even thinking that maybe they can finally hook up because she used to have a big ol’ crush on Sung Joon back in the day. But the Sung Joon that shows up to meet her, is not the Sung Joon she’s expecting. He’s way more good looking than she was prepared for and so she runs away. Not only does she run away, but she makes her good looking girl best friend meet Sung Joon in her place and pretend to be her and that starts off a whole bunch of drama because when Hye Jin starts her new job, who else but Sung Joon shows up as her new boss?

Park Seo Jun and Hwang Jung Eum have great chemistry together in this show. I read on Tumblr and on TikTok that they play siblings in another show and then filmed this show afterward and they’re a couple. Talk about a range of acting skills, haha. From some accounts, it seemed to bother them but not me. I loved these two as a couple. I enjoyed seeing Sung Joon and Hye Jin grow closer. I was disappointed that Hye Jin and her girl best friend kept their lie running for so long, stringing Sung Joon along the way that they did but seeing him put the pieces together for himself and figure out the truth was satisfying when they finally did get together.

The second lead is Kim Shin Hyuk and he becomes work besties with Hye Jin at her new job. They both work for Sung Joon and he was such a character. I freaking adored the hell out of him. I was never rooting for him and Hye Jin together even though he was rooting for himself but I did really, really love him…for someone else. Sorry dude, but I will never root against Park Seo Jun. 😉 I really liked the friendship between him and Hye Jin and even came to love the bromance he forced on Sung Joon. He was so full of himself and so cocky, but in a good way, that I laughed every time he came on the screen. Every time he called Hye Jin, Jackson, I would crack up.

Overall, this show as a good one. It’s filled with humor, with charm and a cast of characters that will warm you right up. Every single character added a warmth to this overall viewing experience and I loved it. I definitely recommend.

Listen to the OST

Final Rating

4.25 out of 5

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