Reviews

Drama was really close to the manga, including the [hilarious] moments that were acted out very well. I thoroughly enjoyed this drama, though I've partly read the manga and watched the anime. Usually with manga adaptations, the director/producer/screenwriter end up ruining a [usually] already not-that-great manga. This didn't happen here and I was very impressed and pleased.

It's very silly, but it has a solid, original storyline that's worth following. I'd recommend this drama if you're looking to have a good laugh but don't want to feel your IQ draining out of your ears watching cheese crack dramas.

[Edit, I've already written a (different) review of this on my blog (linked below). If you want a little more of my thoughts than this review here, feel free to check. But the review here on MDL should be enough otherwise. :)]

http://moosea.blogspot.com/2012/01/review-ouran-high-school-host-club-live.html

Lire davantage

I was looking for a drama that is not just a rom com but a one that can stirred my emotions .. ALAS ! THIS WAS THE ONE !.. I just finished watching this drama and let me tell you .. this is one of my fav jap drama now :) ..

Its about a man who is forced to be a father and now living with his daughter .. This story revolves around this man ... few characters show up in his life and stays with him .. :) i love how this drama portrays gentleness and kindness in such a sweet manner..

Excellent acting from both main leads and their chemistry is very pure :) ... Another actor and character that i really liked was the young girl ... She did an outstanding job..

Another best thing i liked was the way writer captured my attention all throughout the drama.. I kept watching episodes one after the other in curiosity to what will happen next.. Story-line is very different and unpredictable .. It had me till the end ..

I liked jap dramas for how they show light and deep moments in such a simple way ... This drama touched my heart in so many places :D :D ... if you really wanted to watch something light yet deep and mature.. give it a go .. i am sure you will NOT regret it :)

Lire davantage

I absolutely loved this Drama. One of the things that I loved the most about it, is that there wasn't this big over-dramatic scandal between the main couple. They kept strong. Which, is probably one of the reasons I liked it the most. I am also biased with this drama, because I had watched "You're Beautiful" before watching this one and therefore I already had this love for both of the actors. Another thing I absolutely loved about this Drama was the fact that there wasn't A Rich Guy and A Poor Girl. They were both standing on the same ground with their talents and financially. One was not superior to the other. The atmosphere of the drama was also great. There was more than just two plane story lines happening and you get the chance to get to know a lot of the characters. The music was great too! Lots of great talent in this drama. Definitely one of my favorites so far.

Lire davantage

One of the better dramas of 2011.

The highlight of the drama was the array of interesting and well written characters.
Also, the acting in the drama was top notch. But then again we are talking about Jang Hyuk and Han Suk Kyu and Song Joong Ki here. All very charismatic and intense actors in their own ways.

The cinematography was an absolute delight for the eyes. The settings and the costumes used in the drama series were exquisite.

The plot was engaging and full of the appropriate twists and turns. Who knew that a sageuk about Hangul (sounds like a snooze fest at face value) could be so amazing?

My only gripe is that the story started to lose my a bit of my interest towards the last quarter. Other than that, a wonderful and engaging drama series.

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Ooh, no reviews.

Story 8/10 - Spies! Kids! Spy kids! Yeah, the story is a good break from watching melodramas or rom coms. Don't be too disappointed if the cases aren't that hard to figure out since the detective team is made up of young kids but its fun. I felt like a mini Sherlock whenever I watched this drama ^^. I know the drama is supposed to have serious moments, but this is one where you should have fun with it and not be too concerned with the main storyline. If you immerse yourself in each episode and become a detective with the kids, time flies

Acting/Cast 8/10 - Shida Mirai! ^^ The entire cast is really young in this, so their acting isn't as developed as older actors/actresses. But Shida Mirai is extremely cute in drama, adding her own style of quirkyness in each episode and shining when there are serious moments.

Music 6/10 - Jdrama OST's never really hit me, but the suspenseful music during murders help set the mood.

Rewatch 5/10 - Once was good enough. If you're able to solve all the cases without being shown the culprit, good job! You're on your way to becoming Sherlock Holmes~

Overall 8/10 - A fun and quirky drama mixed in with serious and mysterious cases. Watch an episode or two whenever you wish to take a breather from those serious melodramas and kick back while you watch 5 kids run around and solve mysteries

Lire davantage

Lets crush hearts, shall we?

Story 8/10 : Why? Because its a remake of HYD, any lower score and I would be hurting one my favorite drama's pride. There isnt much to it, rich boy falls in love with poor girl, quirky adventures along the way, yeah, things of that matter.

Acting/Cast 3/10 : UGH! From the very second the girl lead began to speak, I hated her. They portrayed her as some annoying girl and I honestly didn't like that. And F4? Fine, Korean BoF has a little bit better eye candy than HYD, but their acting is just flat out boring. The only part they did well was showing that they were spoiled rich boys.

Music 5/10 - meh.

Rewatch 3/10 - No... just no. If you want to spend over 25 hours watching this drama, I suggest that you do something productive as a replacement of this drama.

Overall 4/10 - Normally, I give Korean dramas multiple episodes to draw me in, but I couldn't just bear myself to listen to the main leads whiny voice and sit there staring at LMH for a full hour. The order of viewing SHOULD be J version then K version. I gave BoF a chance because of my love for HYD but I can't taint my memory of something so wonderful with BoF.

Lire davantage

This drama is BRILLIANT it adds a supernatural element to a revenge mystery/crime story and that what makes it unusual. The writing and characters are well balanced.To really appreciate the depth of this drama you have to be willing to watch something with less romance, and lots of psychology. It really powerful to see how one of the characters uses other greed, sins and fears, to exact revenge. Since he is a manipulator, he is like a "devil" working in the background... and you won't be able to pin any of the crimes on him. The Devil is perfection in terms of production,scripting & acting, the music could have been better.It was intelligently-written and incredibly well-acted.JJH was phenomenal!! Granted it is dark,intellectually perplexing and tragic.In fact,I am going as far as to say that it's not suitable for the faint-hearted. It really shows in a simple manner that people are not completely good or bad.That there is a cost of in everything that we do but that no matter what we choose be it revenge or ignorance there's always a way that allows us to contemplate the possibility of redemption and forgiveness for people who,because they have lived in darkness for so long,have committed unforgivable deeds for the sake of a purpose they deem justifiable.I still in shock that this drama is so unrated and really not see as a blockbuster. The Devil is very a deep and complex drama that actually lets the viewers immerse themselves in the story and feel for all of the characters, making you pose at each turn and ask yourself would I have done better.People who are used to watching more mainstream dramas would probably not be able to appreciate it if they do not watch it with an open mind.

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Well, lets do all the seasons and the movie in one review, I'll try to make it your One-Stop-Shop of reviews for Gokusen!

Since most of the drama revolves around the basic idea, this is how I'll rate them:

Genre (example: Story) : Season 1 Rating | Season 2 Rating | Season 3 Rating | Movie Rating

Without further ado, here are the reviews!

Story : 9/10 | 9/10 | 8/10 | 9/10
You can read the synopsis of the first season and its pretty much the same for the rest of them. My only problem with three seasons is that it does get repitative quick. You always see the students getting into trouble and Yankumi coming in to save them, with a message within each episode. The movie is the only place where you see Yankumi ever get into real trouble. The change in the third season of having two rival gangs was a fresh twist on the drama, but still ended up with similar circumstances. We also see a few familiar faces in the movie to show the growth of the students who turned from high school rascals into working class citizens of Japan. Overall, this was a great drama, especially since it makes you want to wish that you experienced this when you were in high school, I know I did.

Acting/Cast : 7/10 | 8/10 | 6/10 | 7/10
Oh well... Yeah, this wasn't much of a surprise that I didn't feel that the actors weren't great here. I believe that Yukie played her role well, while the boys... were there mostly for eye candy. The cast of the drama showed moderate synergy in the lighter parts of the drama (The vice-principal was always pretty funny though) and Yukie showed off her own acting abilities during the heavier scenes of the drama, at many points I teared up whenever she was giving her lecture. In short, Yukie was great, pick some eye candy from one season(I feel that Kame did well in the second season), and thats pretty much it.

Music/OST : 8/10 | 9/10 | 7/10 | 8/10
Kat-Tun OST :] - Kizuna, Season 2, definitely a song made me cry apart from listening to it in the drama. Yankumi's entrance to every bad guy's lair made her epic and I had gleams in my eyes, wanting her to kick their butts and save the pretty boy's faces from getting hurt any further ^^

Rewatch : 7/10 -------
Its the same for all seasons, I often go back to watching a few episodes whenever I'm feeling down about school life to see that somewhere out there, theres a teacher who cares for the students. (Even if this was a drama, hahah).

Overall : 9/10 | 9/10 | 8/10 | 8/10
I liked the first two seasons, and didn't feel that the third was great itself. But thats personal opinion, (I also didnt like the eye candy in the third, so that might be a part of it) Gokusen is a great school themed drama, showing that troublesome kids, kids who have been neglected by their schools and thrown aside, can become a useful part in society as long as theres proper guidance to teach them.

Lire davantage

-Please keep in mind that this is all based on personal opinion.-


There are two HUGE reasons why this drama stood out so much in my mind:
1. The script - I don't mean the storyline, but rather the things that they say and the meaning behind WHAT they say. Personally, I jot down quotes of lines I like while I watch my dramas and I am 100% sure that "In Time with You" will be holding the record of Most-"Memorable Quotes" for a very, VERY long time.
2. The character setup (I'm not sure what it's actually supposed to be called, or if there is even a name for it.) - Out of all the dramas I've seen (not that I can be a fair judge of them all because I have not watched all the dramas in the world), not once do I ever remember seeing the lead-male act almost like the second-lead-male. Partway through, I started to really doubt whether Chen Bo Lin/Li Da Ren really WAS the lead-male, or if he was just some sort of secondary character. In all the other dramas that I've watched/can think of, the lead-female always ends up with the lead-male, and we (I) pretty much expect it to happen. But if she ends up with the second-lead-male instead, then it's almost considered a "sad ending".
So in my opinion, kudos to the actors and actresses for making the second-lead-male stand out so much that I just didn't know HOW it was going to end until it finally ended.

First off, the storyline. I would have to describe it as an in-depth look at a (seemingly) classic situation. Friends-turned-lovers, nothing special, right? But somehow, I felt that the way their whole relationship was portrayed was just simply...perfect.
While some might say that their "just friends" relationship dragged on for far too long, I actually felt that they were "practically lovers" to begin with. They had their “break-up” and “get-together” moments too, even if they were “just friends”. Seeing so much of their "friendship" for so long, I also feel like I got a taste of what it felt like to be Cheng You Qing - I'd always expect Li Da Ren to be there for her no matter what, being the "best friend" that he is.
So for me, even though I was hoping for change while watching from a third-person point of view (the way their friends and family members felt), their friendship was so solid that even I was convinced that there really WAS the possibility that nothing would ever change (the way Cheng You Qing and Li Da Ren felt).
In addition to their own 'big issue', there was just enough everyone-else-drama so that the whole drama wasn't "just about them", but also about work, family, etc.

As for the Acting/Cast - I was actually really REALLY impressed. For starters, the cast included newbie actors/actresses to play the roles of Ding Li Wei and Maggie, which were pretty big roles. Despite it being their first drama, their characters were portrayed very solidly and never once did I think "oh, they're just acting." I never got the impression that this was just another one of those “fake, jokester dramas”. Nope, this one was serious- serious all the way. Nothing, their words nor actions, were out of character, and I probably would've believed you if you'd told me that they've actually been acting for years. I think credit also goes to the director - from watching the "behind the scenes", I feel like he played a big part in getting their characters to come out as well.
There is one actress in particular that I must praise as well, and that is Ariel Lin. I must confess that I was never a real fan of Ariel Lin. Watching her in ISWAK, Love Contract, and Tokyo Juliet, I continuously got the impression that her characters were all the same - just simply, dumb when in love. While I'm sure it's not her fault because that's just how the script was written, I had always been under the impression that she was simply just suited for "childish roles", and I told myself that I wouldn't be too surprised if she turned out to be a childish character in this drama as well. Sure, she had her cool and composed "I don't need love" moments in Love Contract, and her serious work-focused moments in Tokyo Juliet, but once she 'fell for the guy', all of that was kicked aside and tossed down the drain, and all the serious-attitude that she’d worked to build up before was just…gone. She'd just be in silly “lovey-dovey mode” for the rest of the drama. Up until I watched "In Time with You", that was my impression of Ariel Lin. (I don't mean to offend any Ariel Lin fans or anyone who is a fan of those dramas.) I was just so shocked, impressed, and GLAD all at the same time that I finally got to see her play a "mature" role. I loved being able to watch her act as an ALWAYS-work-focused, consistently hard-working, "I'll take on work and play all at the same time" kind of character. I'm glad that I got to see this "different side" of her - a mature side that was able to control her feelings all the time, regardless of whether she was with her boyfriend or not (minus the few zone-out moments she occasionally had, but come now, we all have SOME moments). Despite her previous dramas, she wasn't too-cute, too-dumb, or too-air-headed; she was mature and sophisticated the majority of the time, "broken down" when she needed to be, and just naturally relaxing during her chill-time with Li Da Ren. For anyone that may have had the same impression of Ariel Lin as I did before I watched this drama - I would recommend giving this drama a shot to see if your opinion of her might change.

The music itself was not necessarily "amazing" or "simply grand" in any way, but it was still nice. The most important part was that suitable songs were played in suitable situations. I also really liked the addition of Chen Bo Lin/Li Da Ren's own song - it really gave certain scenes a deeper "feel" at those critical moments.

While this drama seems really typical, I think...there's just something about it that can't really be described by just "words". It incorporates a lot of different aspects of just "life", namely friendship, work, love, marriage, family, justification of self, and probably others as well. But in a sense, it’s a story that just kind of shows “Life” – it might not be your life or my life exactly, but for me, it was still close enough to hit home.


-Please keep in mind that this review was all based on personal opinion.-

Lire davantage

From the summary I was worried that the plot might be romantic more than anything (which I dont like) but I was surprised at how subtle the relationship portrayed was- it was sweet without going into the romance territory- it was more friendship than anything...however, there is enough chemistry for the romantics!

The storylines were very well thought out and kept you guessing to who the culprit would be. Sakurai Sho played his role very well- a witty yet handsome butler- who doesn't shy away from bantering with his boss, who was played by the wonderful Kitagawa Keiko- a magical combination to watch!

A must see!

Lire davantage

It was a really good drama. Lot's of scenes where it makes you super worried or lots of scenes where it makes you think!! It's not one of those dramas where you can guess everything!! I really think all the actresses and actors did a wonderful job! Really recommend!

Storyline: Was awesome!
Music: Loved it! Came on at the perfect time!
Acting: Mann, best part of this drama!!! The lead actress was also very pretty and the little boy is so cute!!
Rewatch: Ehh, I wouldn't re watch it. Not because it's bad, but because it's really good and yeah. Kind of hard to explain but I really just want to keep that awesome coolness in my mind!

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