Distinguishable characterization = Greatest portrayal of twins

I don't know if mentioning the things (or scenes) I wanted the drama to show is considered as a spoiler, but I'll just put a "contain spoilers" mark in consideration for others.

It's hard to find dramas about twins with good plot, yet I became hook the moment I had read the synopsis.

Story: 8.0
I really love the premise. The first episode was able to establish a good introduction that caught my attention and draws curiosity. I also like the progression and development of subplots, and even though I am not that fan of the romance part, the writers were able showcase to the audience how vital it is.

The only downside for me is that I really want to see more of the brotherhood and family dynamics between Kang Ho and Soo Ho (and their mom). They introduced Soo Ho first so I thought he would be a main character, yet he had have not enough screentime. Yes we saw and knew his feelings, yet it wasn't deep enough compared to how Kang Ho's character was written. Same goes with their mother where I felt that her character development was a little bit rushed. Kang Ho and Soo Ho's interaction were also short. I know it's quite hard to film, but I think their brotherhood is the very core of the drama. I was hoping to see the progression of their relationship, and thought that it would've been one vital element they could use in the story. I wasn't looking for a cheesy/mainstream-type of bromance. Just something that shows the mending/development of their brotherhood. I really wanted to give a 10-star overall rating, yet I wasn't satisfied enough due to those reasons. They could've had added 2 more episodes just to show this and I wouldn't complain.


Acting: 10.0
It's my first time watching Yoon Shi Yoon, and he's fantastic!!! His portrayal of Kang Ho and Soo Ho was very distinct from one another that even if they'll wear the same clothes and have same hairstyle, I could still tell them apart based on facial expressions and body language. Kang Ho and Soo Ho has very distinct expression of the same emotion. This is the greatest portrayal of twins for me as it felt that they were acted by different actors. If Yoon Shi Yoon will do another similar project, I'll definitely watch it.

Miss Kim Hye Ok as the mom was great. Even though I have mentioned that the development of her character felt quite rushed, her acting skills compensated and was able to show all the emotions that could've been stretched out to few more scenes/episodes.

Lee Yoo Young and Kwon Na Ra as the respective love interests of the twins were able to showcase the importance of their characters. I just hoped that the writers gave more scenes on Na Ra's character. I think it was also cut short because Soo Ho's story is just minor comapred to Kang Ho's (which I'm still upset about).

Hong Jung Soo, Park Byung Eun, and Lee Ho Sung is very effective as main villains. I was surprised with Lee Ho Sung in particular as I had seen him played mostly "good" characters.


Music: 9.0
I'm not really particular with the OST and scores, so I'm lenient in rating this area. I think the scores they used was able to help in conveying the emotions and themes, and even though the OST are good, nothing really caught my attention.

Rewatch Value: 8.5
For me, this section includes the production.. I can't say anything about it so it's between 9.0 or 9.5, but as for the actual "rewatch value", it's on 7.5. I think I might rewatch this in the future but has no plan as of now.

Overall: 9.0
I was really contemplating if I should give 8.5, 9.0, or 9.5. I have no plan to write a review yet, as I was hoping to write for my favorites first. But I already finished watching and want to give my rating, so I thought of rating each section and follow the suggested overall rating. And I haven't realized that I am writing a review already lol (NOTE: This is just my second review so pardon any errors.)

Overall, Your Honor/Dear Judge is a good watch and I totally recommend it!!

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Bears the "School" in its title, but not really a "School franchise"

Let's start with the only good thing in this drama - ACTING.
Some of the main actors definitely needs improvement in the first few episodes, and they really did improved throughout the series. Hwang Bo Reum Byeol caught my attention since the beginning, and she has the most solid acting among all young actors. Next to her is Jo Yi Hyun, and I also saw Yoon Yi Reh's potential. The others did a little bit below average to average, but I think it's okay, and most of them have potential too tbh.

Now, for the STORY.
The plot is meh... they used common tropes used in the School series but ended up ruining it. Still, it's not bad but it's below average compared to it's predecessors (2013-2017; I haven't watched the OG School 1 to 4). It seems like the writers didn't know what they wanted to focus on (I'll write more about this in a bit) . At the end, the students shouted "passion" so I think that's the main theme, yet passion was barely shown in this drama. The characters and subplots were poorly written despite having a lot of potential. It 's kinda slow-paced for me, yet they inserted a lot of unnecessary drama in the end, so it feels rushed. It was like a rollercoaster which slowly goes up then suddenly went down very fast.

The next two paragraphs are still connected to the story, but this is more on about the drama being PART OF THE SCHOOL FRANCHISE, YET DOESN'T FEEL LIKE ONE.

As I have said, a lot of actors, characters, and subplot have potential, yet it seems like the writers didn't know what to do with it. The story was okay for me at first but I can't really feel that it is "School" 2021. After I finished watching all the episodes, I realized that the distribution of subplots was their problem. See, in the past (2013-2017), they tackled different school issues and distributed it to different characters. There's at least 8 characters whose story was shown, and the others serves as crowd, yet they still humanized them in a way. In this drama, they only have 6 students who are main characters if I am not mistaken, but the writers chose to give most subplots to only 4 students (Ki Joon, Young Joo, Seo Young, Ji Won) and the stories of Ho Sung and Eun Bi were not even explored that much. I think they want to fit a lot of stories unto the main casts (but failed to explore it) to make them appeal more to the viewers, but I really don't think I was able to connect with them that much (this sentence may be more subjective than the rest of what I wrote here since I am now a graduating college student, and I watched the past 3 franchise when I was in high school).

Another thing is that, they barely showed the main characters in the classroom which is very unusual for a School franchise. Yes, the workshop is also a classroom, but it is more of a 'club' than 'class', which was stated in the drama (I know).. I think they were in school a lot (didn't they??) but I didn't really felt it. I don't know why, but School 2021 is just like any other teen-romance drama set in school, but it isn't a "School" series. Sorry, but I can't help to compare because it is part of the franchise, so at least it should have the same vibes (if not format) with the past series...

Though, this is still a pretty good watch if you want a filler drama. If you are not a fan of the School franchise, you might enjoy this more (though I don't generalize, just my opinion) because it still shows things that you can ponder upon. I hope everything that I wrote made sense. Thank you for reading!!!

Initial Rating: 8.5/10
FINAL RATING: 7.0/10

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Covid-19 and the network shutdown ruined a great drama

I thought I'll be doing my first review to my favorite kdrama(s) but I opted to write for A Soldier's Heart instead. I will try not to spoil the story as much as I can, so some explanation may look vague (but I hope it won't).

This is my very first review so please bear with me..

Story - 8.0
What I liked the most is that ASH have touched different social issues, and was able to show the viewers the importance of being aware and educated. Some values and vision presented in the drama may be idealistic, but the writers were able to make it work. My rating for the story could've been easily 9.5 or even a perfect 10, but they failed to resolve some minor plot lines (correct me if I am wrong; am not familiar with the right terms) that were presented at the earlier phase of the story. That's also the reason why the story felt rushed at some point. But I think it was primarily due to the pandemic (like all other shows) and the ABS-CBN shutdown. Even so, it's still commendable that the writers were able to give justice to what they have started.

Acting/Cast
The casting for this drama is insane!!!!! For me, they were able to find the perfect cast for each characters. Miss Irma Adlawan, Gerald Anderson, and Sid Lucero's performance have the most impact to me. I don't know if they received an award for this drama, but they certainly deserves to get one. The only downside is that actors for some characters changed and they have a little bit different attack on how they portrayed them.

Music - 7.5
I watch this last year so I have forgotten how the scores and songs they used made me feel about the drama but seeing how I really liked ASH, I think it deserves a 7.5. Besides, I am not really that much particular with this area. In a drama, the ending has more impact to me than the music.

Rewatch Value - 8.5
100+ episodes is too much for me, but I think I'll rewatch this in the future.

I hope that this review will be helpful. You definitely need to watch it if you like military dramas.

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One of my first thai series!!!!

Initially, I really liked Blacklist and was amazed by the actors. I even liked the story and rewatched it for more that 5 times. The only thing that bothered me was the music. Whenever there's a 'romantic' scene, the ost will play, but it begins with the instrumental which sounds like it's suggesting fear or danger.

But since I rewatched it for a couple of times, I started to see the flaws aside from the music. Some parts of the story doesn't make sense, along with how conflicts were resolved. The only thing that carried this series are the actors. They really did well in making you want to see how the story will end despite how it was written.

I also cannot help comparing it with The Gifted, and I'm lucky that I discovered this first. I think if I have watched The Gifted before Blacklist, this will be dropped after watching an episode or two. So I recommend that if you plan to watch both series, watch Blacklist first so you won't be too disappointed.

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