It was alright, I guess

Story: There were three total romance lines in this drama, and I can truly say that all three of them were very enjoyable and surprisingly realistic. I enjoyed watching the characters struggle against their better judgement and take the leap of faith to get together despite the difficulties they knew they would face. Sadly, besides the romance arcs, I found the rest of the drama rather dull, and it took me quite a few episodes to actually get into and begin to enjoy the storyline. The ending of this drama was perfectly cute and cheesy, just how I like it, and I honestly almost gave this drama an 8/10 because of all the fuzzies I got from the final scene.

Acting/ Cast: I enjoyed both of the leads and their acting. There wasn’t anything glaringly cringey or unrealistic about their acting or the acting of the supporting characters, so I’m pretty happy with the cast of this drama. I thought the chemistry between the leads was so freaking good though. Like, no joke, I was FANNING myself especially during that first kissing scene because HOLY MOLY that was some good camerawork! The only thing that kind of upset me is the female lead’s hideous wig. It took me a LONG time to get to used to that abomination.

Music: There wasn’t really much music in this drama besides the intro theme. Can’t say I mind it too much. It’s not out of the ordinary for Chinese dramas to not have an extensive OST, so eh.

Rewatch Value: I don’t think I’m going to ever rewatch this drama. Not because it wasn’t rewatchable, but mostly because I just don’t feel like it is good enough for me to have the urge to watch it again.

Final thoughts: I’d recommend this drama for a casual watching experience. If you have a lot of time to kill, you might enjoy it. Otherwise, it’s nothing special or super impressive, so I’d skip it if you were looking for a high quality drama.

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Absolutely Magical

Hoo boy, I haven’t cried this hard in a while. Angel's Last Mission: Love is the type of drama to put you in a week long slump because of how good it was. And I have no regrets, despite currently being in a major slump thanks to THIS drama. So let's talk about it. I went into this drama purely because of the ratings, Shin Hye Sun, and because it was *finally* taken off the Viki Pass Plus list, meaning I 1. Had no idea what it was about lol and 2. I basically rushed to complete the drama I was watching at the time to start this one. I went into this completely blind (excuse my terrible joke) and came out absolutely in love with everything this drama had to offer. I'll talk about the plot itself last, so just bear with me. I think the casting of this drama was perfectly done, and I honestly cannot imagine anyone but Shin Hye Sun and L playing the lead roles. I had last seen Shin Hye Sun in 30 but 17, and the roles in the two dramas were complete polar opposites, though both of them still had the similarity of a struggling artist "getting back in the saddle after an unfortunate incident" type of backstory. I had not heard of L from any other drama and was at first a bit apprehensive when I heard he was an idol actor. Thankfully, he's just as great of an actor as he is a singer. He was perfect for the role and the chemistry was sizzling! I think the majority of the tears I shed over this drama were all due to the absolutely incredible soundtrack. Every single song connected with me deeply and I especially cried TONS when Pray by KLANG came on during the emotional moments. If I could, I'd give the soundtrack 20/10. I'm not joking when I say that during the past few days I spent recovering from this drama, I listened to the 30 minute OST at least 10 times on repeat. Now, on to the story and the reason why I (really wanted to but) couldn't quite give this drama a full 10 stars. Everything was absolutely perfect, and I had, for a while, considered giving the drama a 10 star rating, but after thinking it over, I realized that the last half of the drama was just not up to par with the first half. That is not to say it was bad, it just wasn't AS good as it could have been and it frankly got a tad repetitive with the forbidden romance. All in all, however, this drama is definitely one I will remember fondly, and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

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Hard to get into, but harder to let go

When I first began this drama, I was really turned off by the ridiculous humor of the show. Not gonna lie, I was also incredibly confused at first and totally had to rewatch the first half hour several times just to understand what was happening. The show starts off in a really *intense* manner with lots of screaming and unnecessary fighting which could deter some viewers from the drama, but it does significantly calm down the farther into the drama you get, much to my relief. And yes, I am sadly one of those people that is going to tell you that the female lead's screaming doesn't get better and DOES get on my nerves just a bit. I learned to deal with it, but I still kinda cringed every time she said something in an unnecessarily loud voice. There wasn't all that much second male lead action going on, and I do believe it would be kinda weird if he ever made a move on her, anyway, so it's all good. The storyline, therefore, almost exclusively focuses on cultivating the relationship between Cha Dohyun and Oh Rijin, although this drama is one heck of a confusing "slow burn" (?can I even call it that, though?) Although I almost left because of the humor, it is what partially made me stay and enjoy the drama. The ridiculousness of it grows on you and the amount of laughs they managed to pull out of Cha Dohyun's mentally illness was surprisingly high. I felt like we got to get to know all the personalities quite a bit, and there was a lot of character development, especially in one personality in particular. They ended up introducing a really complicated family mystery/cover-up story toward the end of the drama, and I cannot lie, they completely lost me and I still cannot for the life of me tell you what the heck went on 21 years ago, cause I tuned out of that storyline QUICK. Overall, though, this drama was worth watching, and it definitely got quite a few laughs out of me. I loved all the characters soo much, and this was just a wonderful blend of angst, humor, and romance. PS: ls Dohyun (or the actor whose name I do not remember) not the HOTTEST freaking person ever? SWOON 🙈

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Exciting murders and hot prosecutors

This was my first Ji Chang Wook Drama, and I really understand now exactly why this guy has soooo many fans. No only is he really pleasant to look at, but his acting skills are really dang good! There wasn't as much romance as I would have liked in this drama, but the main action plot with the killer that drives the story was, even though a bit predictable, really interesting and kept me entertained through all 40 episodes. The dynamic between the two leads was just wonderful, and there was plenty of comedy relief sprinkled throughout the drama, to my great relief. They also really killed it with that soundtrack. This was, overall, a wonderful drama, despite it lacking in the romance department for me.

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Cringe but still so cute

Age gap had me all kinds of weirded out and Tong Nian's outfits were absolutely tragic, but God, this drama is so freaking cute. Yes, I cried. I think the romance between Mi and Yaya was absolutely adorable, but I was really turned off by the way Tong Nian acted like a 4 year old for most of the drama. She makes really mature decisions but acts so immaturely at the same time. The CTF aspect of the show was really well done. I would overall recommend this even though the main romance was kinda meh.

Edit because I rewatched 4 years later:
Age gap still a lil off-putting but I'm still super convinced it's less the age gap and more the fact that Tong Nian acts quite childish. We don't see the same issue with Little Mi and Yaya. Her outfits are still tragic lmao, and yes this drama is still very freaking cute. I think I have a higher opinion of Tong Nian after the second rewatch versus after the first, but I also kind of flip flopped and didn't quite like Han Shangyan as much the second time because of some of the crap that happened around the middle of the drama (you know...). I upped my rating because this drama has turned out to be my guilty pleasure lol, I've been meaning to rewatch it for so long!

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Eh..

Hi, I’m just a Kdrama addict trying out a Japanese drama for the first time in my life after seeing this one advertised everywhere. Suffice it to say, I probably won’t be coming back, and here’s why. Since the very beginning, I felt no real connection with any of the characters. The only character I even remotely found myself liking was the FL and that was only because I thought her mountain climbing hobby was pretty dope. Still, I wouldn’t have minded if she died in this drama. The directors and writers tried to remedy this by working in some flashback scenes for individual characters, but at that point in the drama I just wanted to see how the final conflict would be resolved, not watch several minutes of an irrelevant side character’s sob story. It felt really forced and honestly ruined the flow of the action for me. After going from a pretty conservative style to korean dramas, I was entirely baffled by the amount of sex and nudity in this drama. To be honest, I rarely watch American TV, especially TV that is rated M or R, so seeing this in a Japanese thriller felt really out of place and reminded me of the days where I would watch anime that was disgustingly saturated in fanservice. While I’m on this topic, I have to say that the rape scene in the latter half of the drama felt absolutely unnecessary and completely uncalled for. It gave me a foul feeling because of the way that it was portrayed and the fact the FL quickly bounced back from the experience as if being almost raped was completely normal. Hell, even the rapist himself was justifying his act as “normal human behavior.” It disgusted me beyond belief. With that said, I did enjoy the premise of the drama. While it’s not original by any means, I’m a sucker for sadism and bloodshed (I watched too much TWD in my day), so this drama was mostly meant to be a mindless thriller that I can watch after a long day. It didn’t require much thinking on my part, which I appreciated, and it was quite nice to just watch people kill each other in a deadly arena, as sick as that sounds. My final words are: don’t expect much in the way of depth or character development from this because you won’t get it. Despite that, I say watch it for the cinematics and the awfully entertaining death scenes. This might not be for everyone though ;).

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It pains me to say that this drama would’ve received a far higher rating...

from me if it wasn’t for the FL...Like genuinely the FL was what stood in the way between the rating I gave vs a rating that was 1-2 stars higher. I simply couldn’t stand her weird dialogue and acting since the very start of this drama. Although the drama itself kind of grew on me toward the end (not enough tbh), I consistently rolled my eyes at her and cringed at least once every episode. There’s a night and day difference between Su Zaizai and Jiang Jia (and I LOVED Jiang Jia) and I genuinely think they could’ve allowed Zaizai to keep her bubbly personality without turning her into a 5 year-old in a 25 year-old woman’s body. The plot here should theoretically be my cup of tea, actually, but for some reason I ran into the same issue I run into with some youth cdramas where for some reason I’m just kind of bored the whole time. I don’t think the drama did anything wrong per se, I might just not be one to enjoy youth cdramas as much as I think. However, I really enjoyed the fact that there was quick and easy conflict resolution and nothing super dramatic that happened. It made the watch very enjoyable and positive and is why I say that it’s technically “my type” of drama. Funny enough, as much as I complain about unresolved misunderstandings, I would’ve been okay with some of them being resolved a little later (the not annoying ones ahah) since they added some entertainment in the sea of “no problems whatsoever the couples are together and happy as can be” eutopia in romcoms that gets boring QUICK if you overdo it. Anywho, I personally don’t really think the drama deserves a 9.0 rating since there were personally quite a few issues I encountered that I’m sure other people have as well, and I felt like there was just little to no emotional impact with the characters for me personally (I’m comparing to how I felt watching dramas like Hidden Love or Someday or One Day who did great in this department). But if you don’t mind an incredibly cringey FL (gahh) and enjoy the youth genre, I would still recommend you watch this one as you’re likely to really enjoy it.

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Just wow

I genuinely don’t know why it took me this long to finally watch Goblin, but I finally did, and hoo boy, was it one heck of a ride. Despite a very small number of supporting characters, this drama kept me engaged the whole time through its vibrant cast of main leads. Each character’s personality seemed to bring something new and interesting to the table, and I was at the edge of my seat the entire time because of the suspense that the main conflict created. I didn’t see too much of a problem between the characters’ ages, unlike some reviews, and while I did find it a tad awkward at first, I quickly adjusted and was able to support the characters’ romance despite the age gap. The complexity of the plot sadly left me a tad confused at times because of the abrupt editing that happens in some scenes, however the timed comments on viki helped me piece the plot together a bit easier, so I would definitely recommend you turn those on from time to time. I think it’s safe to say that I was crying during every episode once we got closer and closer to the finale, and I could remember having the absolute worst headache after finishing the drama because of how emotional and stressed I was getting. Some reviews warned of the less-than-happy ending, so I was terrified to find out what happened to the leads. To my surprise, the ending actually turned out to be quite happy (though some may perceive it as a tad bittersweet, which I do kind of agree with), though it wasn’t without its fair share of emotional rollercoasters. Overall, I believe the production of this drama was absolutely fantastic, and while I would love to rewatch it to experience the characters’ relationships one more time (the bromance and the sismance though!!! Ahhh, I”m in love!!!), however I don’t think my poor, poor heart can handle this for the second time. The OST was one of the best I have ever listened to (though I still believe nothing tops Mr. Sunshine’s OST) and I would for sure recommend anyone and everyone to watch this drama as soon as they can. It’s pretty much a classic at this point, and it for sure deserves to be called that! Happy watching, and please have some tissues and some Ibuprofen nearby (if you get headaches from crying your eyes out like me!).

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“The rain last night was such a blessing”

Holy crap, this movie was one heck of a journey!! This movie has quite a slow start, however it picks up after the first twenty or so minutes and completely sucks you into the storyline. In an effort to keep this spoiler free, I will avoid making this too long or too detailed. The second half of this movie is a wild ride, however, and the many plot twists this movie threw at me left me at a loss for words. The amazing acting, comedy, storyline, twists, and a haunting yet thought provoking ending make this movie a must-watch for anyone, not just a regular kdrama viewer! As a bonus, the messages that this movie makes about the division of economic classes in South Korea makes this movie not only a great comedy thriller, but also a wonderful philosophical conversation topic.

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It had potential

This is the first drama that I watched while it was airing. This was definitely an interesting experience, and I’m almost certain that this skewed my overall opinion of this drama in a positive way. Because I never had to watch the drama for more than two episodes a week, there was no way I’d get tired of the mundane storyline that some people in the reviews are claiming for this drama to have. While I definitely agree that watching only two episodes a week helped me break up the drama into watchable chunks, I do still believe, looking back at the drama now, that the story in the second half never really progressed anywhere. The beginning of this drama was beautifully executed. The conflicts that both of the characters were facing were not exactly creative or new, but they felt fresh nonetheless. Watching a wannabe actor struggle to get hired for even the smallest role was extremely interesting, and I waited to tune in to every new episode to see Hye Jun finally achieve all of his dreams. I will only briefly address the fact that his rise to fame was extremely unrealistic. I don’t believe that a small role in a drama and a cute face are enough to turn a desperate actor into a national superstar, but I’ll just attribute that to the magic of kdramas and move on. Jeong ha’s character was quite different from your regular kdrama female lead because she was independent and wasn’t willing to give up her ambitions and beliefs even in the very last episode of the drama. Nevertheless, I got slightly frustrated with her when she said something along the lines of, “I like honest people,” or “I never lie to people” for the THIRTIETH time in a row. While my engagement with the drama went up with every single episode even in the second half, I will admit that the first half of the drama is really where it shined. While the tensions in the second half went up dramatically, they never led anywhere, and I was left with a feeling of unfulfillment when the final episode ended. I realize that the writer was probably trying to leave the ending open, but she wasn’t quite able to pull it off the way she tried to, so the viewers were left confused and unsatisfied. None of the side stories really amounted to anything, either, and I wish there was a proper conclusion to the second romance story arc and Hae Hyo’s internal struggles with his self esteem and his relationship with his mother. As a last random concluding point to this review, I would just like to bring up the awkward crying scenes in the drama. I want to say there were at least 4 different characters that had a “crying” scene in this drama, and I swear to god, every single one of them made me cringe SO HARD. Anyway, I’d still recommend this drama for Park Bo Gum (how fitting that his last drama before his military service is a drama about a character who left to do his military service at the end of the drama) and Park So Dam (She’s so cute what the heckkkk). Just don’t get your hopes up and have a good time with it. The drama had some very nice moments if you look past the disappointing ending.

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This was an interesting watch for someone who has also watched the movie Train to Busan. Contrary to what many are saying, I found this movie very enjoyable and quite funny, even. I absolutely adored the male and female leads, and the quirkiness of Jun Wu. He’s very different from the typical zombie apocalypse protagonist, and the way he related his situation to video games was amusing. I thought the two characters had awesome chemistry, and their interactions were greatly executed, even with how short this movie ended up being. This is a great lazy weekend watch because it perfectly blends humor and angst to deliver a very interesting take on a popular horror genre.

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I have two criteria for a 10 star drama: 1) It has to make me cry and 2) It can never make me angry. Sadly, SWDBS didn’t meet either of these criteria, although it came really really close to meeting criterion 1. Nevertheless, I loved this show to pieces, and it would’ve been at least a 9.5 had episode 13 never happened (I still can’t get behind the weird “first, do no harm” logic that only seems to apply when it’s convenient to the writer). I absolutely adore Park Bo Young, and I absolutely regret not watching a Park Hyung Sik drama up until now. SWDBS didn’t feel as filler-y as other people claimed, but maybe I just really enjoy a good slice of life. For once, I really really liked the crime/thriller aspect of the show (maybe I’m growing to like it or maybe it was just dumbed down and simple enough for me to appreciate lmao). Anywho, I personally thought the giant mix of genres worked quite well for this drama, and I enjoyed all parts of the show quite a bit. I’d definitely recommend SWDBS to all levels of kdrama addicts, and I’m impressed it took me this long to pick it up.

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Beautiful tearjerker

Oh jeez. I really liked this. I don’t even have anything to say, it was just really good. I loved the cast, and I thought the story was very well done. I knew what was coming and I still couldn’t stop myself from wanting the leads to be together so freaking bad. I loved his pure and unending love for her, and the drama was portrayed with so much joy and so much sadness at the same time. Overall, a very beautiful movie. I truly have nothing negative to say about this movie besides the fact that they could’ve made the time jumps slightly less confusing, but that’s just about it. The ending was beautiful and somewhat happy even, because Seung Hee is getting married to a man she (hopefully) loves and both of them can look back at their times together and appreciate just how much they both grew as people because they had one another. It’s a beautiful ending and a more realistic one. Don’t get me wrong, my poor little hopeless romantic heart is weeping. Definitely a tearjerker type movie.

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For such a popular and highly-rated drama, I was expecting so much more and was instead left rather disappointed. In the beginning, I absolutely adored the main leads, especially Qiao Jingjing because of her personality, and loved the amazing chemistry and dynamic of a serious and lost man and a confident, bubbly actress. The first 15 episodes were incredibly entertaining and I was so certain that this drama would end up with a high rating from me. Where it went downhill was right after those 15 episodes. Prior, I had a minor complaint about the clumsily-included scenes of Yu Tu’s sick coworker because of how incredibly boring and useless they felt to the story. However, it wasn’t due to the dull hospital scenes that I entirely lost interest in the drama, but during Jingjing’s second failed confession and the absolute mess that happened after that. For the love of God, these characters are both thirty years old, and yet they have the communication of literal preteens. They ghost each other after a stupid argument instead of talking about their damn problems and end up spending so much unnecessary energy and time being mad at each other for no damn reason. Besides that, the drama has a serious inconsistency when it comes to pacing. When the leads are together, the pacing feels quick and lively, and whenever they’re in another stupid fight or Yu Tu’s busy with his mind-numbingly boring aerospace job, the pacing slows to a snail’s pace and makes me more inclined to take a nap than to keep watching the drama. Once the leads got together, the happy tone of the drama seemed to pick back up, but I was still too angry about the fight to enjoy their goofiness. This is purely personal preference, but I hate watching a romance drama where the main leads go through a lengthy separation because those always feel avoidable and unnecessary. To me, it just feels like unneeded angst, something that I really don’t need when I’m trying to mindlessly enjoy a rom com. The rest of the drama lacked any plot development and went in circles from them being busy to them being together for a short amount of time only to be busy again. I suppose one of the genres is life, so I can’t fault the drama TOO much for that, but the lack of any plot did not do the drama much good in the latter half. I have a similar problem with this drama as I do with “The Day of Becoming You” since I enjoyed a large portion of it but was severely burned by a small element in the drama, which is why I’m not even sure what rating it would deserve. I don’t think I would recommend this drama to anyone unless they wanted to only watch the first half, because the big separation and what followed after that was just not my cup of tea and didn’t really interest me in the slightest. Ah well, to each their own. This is one of those dramas that you either love or hate, depending on your approach to the romance genre.

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