Light-hearted and fun

Seo In Guk, as always, truly special. I especially enjoyed his progression into maturity when he was dropped into the work place. Lee Ha Na's character was older than him, but she was very immature, so they worked together. the physical comedy was wonderful. I loved all the various friendships at work, at school, and at home. My favorite scene of the whole show was when he left school and found her waiting for him outside the gate. Sigh...so romantic. I downgraded the show only for the ending. Once they decided to get married the whole thing became a big old mess.

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Watch this for the food!

This show had some beautifully filmed scenes that were like a food orgy. The colors, combinations and freshness of the foods were a joy to see.

The story was okay, but it moved from cute and fluffy to melodrama unnecessarily. The main couple had talked through their past traumas together, giving each other advice to forgive themselves, but when push came to shove, the female lead forgot all that, hence causing the obligatory separation. She said some terrible things and never apologized, which really bothered me.

U-Know as Chef Yeo Gook Dae - there were certain scenes in which I felt he was overacting and I never really felt a progression for his attraction to her. His scenes after they broke up were touching, however.

Kim Ga Eun as Park Sung Ah - she was cuteness personified. She seemed so tiny and they had her dressed in these cute little skirts with clunky shoes and she was just precious. At the very beginning I thought she was going to be a total airhead, but she calmed that down pretty quickly.

Jang Seung Jo as Kevin - it hardly ever happens, but I definitely had SLS in this show. I felt that he was a much better match for the FL. I had just finished watching this actor in The Good Detective (he was excellent, as was the show) and he was a completely different character here. He was classy yet kind of goofy, and I loved his supportiveness of the FL.

I have to say that my favorite parts of the show were Jang Seung Jo and the food.

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You must pay attention, because there is a LOT going on!

My husband and I can never agree on anything to watch. I'm alone in watching K-dramas because he doesn't want to read subtitles. Well, I convinced him to give it a try and we were both hooked!

This show is full of action, drama, corruption, subterfuge, tension, comic relief, and enough tension to cut with a knife. I'm not going to go into the storyline at all, except to say that just when you think you know who the guilty party is, someone else comes along and you find out you were on the wrong track. I am not, however, saying that this show was full of red herrings that didn't make any sense. This was a tightly-written and well-executed show.

The cast was exemplary. Everyone was perfect in the part that they played. I saw a lot of familiar faces from other dramas I've watched and was surprised at the range that they were able to achieve. Someone that I've always seen as a good guy was chilling in this.

Two of my favorite things about the show were 1) discussions and demonstrations on what makes a family. It's not always genetic, but a family unit can be just as strong by people going through shared experiences. 2) The relationships. The police detectives were just so bonded as a unit, and their interactions were so funny. You know, you give someone a hard time every second of every day, but when push comes to shove, you'd take a bullet for them.

I actually have that "let down" feeling that I get when I finish watching an excellent show. I've invested time and come to know and care about the characters, so I'm kind of at a loss. Upside? There will be a second season, beginning filming in October 2021!

Oh, and I don't remember if there was a tag for romance, but this is NOT a romance. I normally stick strictly to romances, but I'm so glad I branched out this time!

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The music was the high point

I must say, watching this show, I actually felt like a spectator, rather than really being invested in/caring about the people.
There was a lot of "going through the motions" with the cast, sometimes due to the writing, sometimes due to lack of expression of the actors. Instead of a typical love triangle, this one had something like a love pentagon. Everyone was in love with someone else!

Since this show is 10 years old, the video quality and the sound quality were not up to par. During the music scenes, the sound would vacillate between being clear and then going into what sounded like a tunnel. The songs, however, were good. I liked how they were able to combine traditional music with contemporary music. Then there were the clothes and the hairstyles - I kept wanting to give Park Shin Hye a brush!

The main couple's storyline was cute, though I couldn't actually feel when or why they started to like one another. His change was especially abrupt. Their scenes together were cute. There were a couple of open-eyed/static/fish lips kisses which really irritated me. Consequently, it was difficult to buy into the chemistry between the two.

There was the obligatory time jump, which found her having a meteoric rise to fame, and the rest of the cast pretty much staying the same. The break up before the time jump was lame and they finally got back together in literally the last five minutes of the show. Needless to say, I felt like I had invested so much time that I wanted more.

So, overall, it had some cute moments, but I definitely don't feel that I would need to watch it again.

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It's not all about fat shaming. Give it a try!

This drama is a little deceptive, in that it starts out seeming that it’s going to just be a funny romp, but turns into an emotional ride with a lot going on. At the beginning it was a little too slapstick for me, and I pondered giving it up, but decided to stick with it, and I’m glad I did. I went from possibly quitting to “just let me watch one more episode before I go to bed”.
The writing: the writers did a good job with the comedy, but really shone with the emotional scenes. You really get a feel for what each of the characters is going through. This didn’t seem so much about fat shaming, but more about the consequences of the person that gets shamed for being fat. It also speaks a lot to living your dreams and not letting anyone stand in your way. I’ll tackle the actors/characters to address this more fully.
Actors: I felt that all of the actors were good in their parts. I’m only going to address the ones that stood out to me. Shin Sung Rok as Seo Yi Do was brilliant in this part. Here is a man that has the world at his feet, who made his dreams come true because of his first love; however, he was a complete mess. He had a list of phobias and allergies longer than your arm. He was arrogant, cocky, immature, rude and completely emotionally closed off. It doesn’t take long for the viewer to see slow but sure changes in his behavior. The first time he attempts a smile, it looks like he’s afraid his face will crack. As he begins to develop feelings for Ye Rin, Sung Rok does an excellent job of showing that wall around him starting to crack. Sung Rok is gifted with the ability to do physical comedy, and that comes in a lot in this show. But I was really impressed with the emotional scenes. My heart just about broke watching that one tear fall from the corner of his eye. Go Won Hee as Min Ye Rin was very good. She was terrific at acting like a 40-year-old, giving advice to her juniors (which always confused them!). Some of the things she did and said didn’t quite make sense sometimes, until you remember that she’s supposed to be 40 years old. In some ways, it was watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly – her self-esteem was so non-existent and she just wanted to be invisible. Her body language was good in that respect. STANDOUT PERFORMANCE for me was Ha Jae Sook as Min Jae Hee. She played this part perfectly. Even in the scenes that were supposed to be funny, she was able to convey her overwhelming heartache, just with her facial expressions. The character of Jae Hee was one that was totally beaten down by life – cheated on by her husband, emotional abuse, giving up all her dreams, mean daughter, just to name a few of her issues. My heart went out to her in any scene that she was in – her feelings of defeat and her vulnerability were almost palpable. A brief shout out to Kim Ki Doo, who played Yi Do’s secretary – he normally plays kind of goofy characters. In this he was very likeable and I really appreciated the way the writers wrote his character and how he got the inside track on what was happening before everyone else. Another shout out to Jo Han Chul, who played Jae Hee’s husband – this is another actor that normally played kind of loud, quirky characters. In this show he was chilling. He progressed from just a self-absorbed man to a psycho. It was scary to watch.
The OST was lovely and the music really lended itself to increasing the emotional impact of the scenes.
Chemistry between the leads was lovely and there were a few really nice kisses.
I have to admit I was a little confused by the ending, and disappointed that it was so abrupt, but watching Yi Do living his life in faith, believing that he’d see Jae Hee again, was lovely.

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Just no!

I'll start with the good: it was short and didn't waste too much of my time. Some nice clothes, ummm, yup, that's pretty much it!
The story was weird and kind of all over the place. Who is good, who is bad? It didn't take too long until I just didn't care. It IS possible to write a decent fantasy script, but it was definitely not done here.
The acting was wooden and unnatural. Some of the blame for this must be placed at the feet of the writer, as well. If you don't have a good script, there's only so much you can redeem yourself, acting-wise.
Now, can we talk about what I considered to be the elephant in the room? What was up with the makeup and contacts? The makeup was poorly done (or should I say, overdone), and it was difficult for me to get past it.
So, now I've got to re-watch something I've loved, to get the stench of this show out of my system.

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What is with the ending?!?!

I was actually looking forward to this versions because it had less episodes. I had hoped that they would cut down the storyline to a more manageable level (I felt that the other versions were very drawn out). Unfortunately, they left a LARGE portion of the story out and just abruptly ended the show! The miscommunications (which were abnormally high in every version of this show) were left unresolved. The main couple was very cute together and to not have resolution was very frustrating. The man playing the male leads secretary seemed like a caricature, his overacting was jarring to the rest of the story. In the Japanese shows that I have watched, I've found that they don't dig too deeply into things, which is refreshing at times so the story doesn't go on forever. However, I must say that they did a real disservice to this show by ending it the way they did.

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Watch this for Xing Zhao Lin!

I had put off watching this show for so long, after having been disappointed in the Korean version of it. I was happily watching along, glad that I finally broke down to watch it, enjoying the wonderful interplay between the main couple, when, at about episode 24, it went completely wrong. I forced myself to finish it, all the while wanting to throw something at the tv, until resolution FINALLY came in the last 20 minutes of episode 36! I’ll start with the good, so you don’t have to finish reading if you don’t want spoilers.
CAST: Watch this show just for Xing Zhao Lin, if for no other reason. He plays Wang Xi Yi and is absolutely wonderful. In everything else I’ve ever seen him in, I’ve found his acting to be wooden, and his lack of facial expressions bothersome. He was literally the star of this show. He really loosened up with his expressions, and got to show his comedic, as well as his dramatic skills. The scene where he was making the rocking horse was spot on – you could really feel his love and his desperate sadness. The scene was beautifully filmed. In a room full of color and furniture and busyness, his acting kept you focused on him every second. The rest of the cast was good, but he was a standout.
CHEMISTRY: The chemistry between the main leads was stellar. A few excellent kisses that turned up the heat a notch, a lot of playfulness between them and it was just fun.
STORYLINE (of the first half of the show): I always like a good Cinderella storyline, and this one was enjoyable. He watched out for her from the beginning, building her up, doing things for her, etc. I also liked their communications through WeChat, when she didn’t know it was him. They were getting to know one another again.
Now for the stuff that just irked me no end - spoilers ahead –
CHARACTERS: Liang Jie as Chen Jia Xin was very good throughout, but her character took a sharp turn to the negative a little more than halfway through. I think the writers were going for strong and assertive, but she turned into someone that was just not very nice. Granted, at the beginning she was a bit of a doormat (honey, fight for your man, for Pete’s sake!), but I had a hard time figuring out why Xi Yi would love the new her when she was so bitter. The character of Dylan – I actually really liked the way he was written, as opposed to the character of Anna. Oh, my word, where do I begin? She was self-absorbed, delusional and to a certain degree, just downright evil. They threw everything into this character, each plot point was to serve to keep the main couple apart. And there were no consequences for her – other than not getting the man she wanted.
WRITING: I WISH there were more Asian dramas that would write a realistic couple with realistic problems, and have them actually resolve them by just talking to one another. That almost never happens. There is one hidden motive after another, just an endless stream of misunderstandings that could be resolved by communication.
ENDING: Why, oh why, do most of the Asian shows stretch out the problems, episode after episode (in the case of this show, over about 15 episodes), then only spend 15 minutes in the final episode for resolution? There are literally so few shows that spend a decent amount of time showing the couple after they get together (Legend of the Blue Sea is an example of an EXCELLENT ending). I know that angst carries the storyline, but we’ve invested in these people and would like to be given a little more. In the case of You Are My Destiny, we should have gotten to see into their future a little bit to know about future children (but not silly like Strong Woman Do Bong Soon). It always feels to me like they ran out of time and/or money and were told to just throw something together for an ending.
So, in general, I’d say that if you don’t have any other show that you’re dying to see and you want to enjoy some good acting by Xing Zhao Lin, watch about the first 20 episodes and then skip to episode 36.

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What a beautiful story!

This movie was excellent and it handled the serious story line very well. I was reluctant to watch it, based on the synopsis, but decided to give it a try and I'm so glad I did!

Iitoyo Marie is wonderful as Okamara. This poor girl had some serious self-esteem issues! It was so sad at the beginning as you watch her try to fade into the background so no one notices her. Again, according to the synopsis, I imagined that she would be this strange character, only interacting with her bird, but that wasn't the case. I'm also glad that the bullying was kept to a minimum. We can use our imaginations and get the idea, so I was glad not to have too much of that.

Nakagawa Taishi as Kira - this is my first time seeing him in anything, and it certainly won't be my last show with him in it! He was terrific. You could really sense his fatalism and detachment due to his circumstances. He had a few scenes where he cried and it was very effective and not over the top. And he did a lot of smiling and he is absolutely gorgeous, so there is that!

The chemistry between the main characters was so sweet! They each brought an equal amount to the relationship and they were both better people for having gotten involved with one another. The film spent a lot of time showing them doing everyday things, which was such a good way to go, because of Kira's circumstances. I really felt the ability to bond with both of them and they were a joy to watch.

The secondary male character - I liked their friendship but I could have done without him yelling all the time. Is that a Japanese thing or was he overacting? I don't know, but that is my only (slight) complaint.

This is definitely a "rewatch" movie for me. Not too much angst, wonderful characters, the pacing was wonderful (no wasted scenes, etc.). I loved the innocence portrayed by all of the characters. The bright colors used throughout really helped with the overall feel of youth. Seriously, I can't recommend this movie highly enough!

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Only watched it since I watched Best Mistake 1

So, I didn't think Best Mistake was anything to write home about, but I feel compelled to watch sequels if there is one. I could have saved some time by not watching this.
Breakup - to me, it didn't make any sense and lasted entirely too long. And how much could they possibly like each other if they were going to break up that easily?
Main couple - again, I didn't see why guys liked her, she was boring. I really liked him, however.
Second lead couple - what a waste! This was a storyline that wasn't a storyline.
Villain - I didn't enjoy this aspect of the story at all. And, for the love of Mike, it took EVERYONE forever to figure out that the person was a villain!
Ancillary characters - the characters that referred to themselves in third person were very immature and irritating.
Acting - I thought the acting in this was worse than in the first one, maybe because the script was so bad.
For some reason, all the characters seemed so much older than high school students in this one.

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Cute continuation of the story

The romance continues...I have to be honest, I didn't care for this one as much as the first, but I do have to give them props for trying to make their relationship work at all costs. I just didn't care for the "mean girls" vibe - the people that will do anything to ruin someone else's life just so they can get ahead. However, I LOVED Woohee and Lee Ki Taek as the secondary characters. These characters were those we, unfortunately, don't see too often in K-dramas, they like someone, but the other person's happiness is what is most important to them. They liked someone, they were nice to them and looked out for their best interests. I'm one that doesn't like a lot of angst, so I really appreciated these characters. I loved their scenes with the male lead and the female lead. Shin Jun Seop is just a ball of cuteness, and boy can he sing!

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Completely Implausible

Oh my goodness, where do I begin? The concept of this sounded like it might be good, but it went wrong in so many ways. Town that she visited was beautiful, but the film quality was lacking.

So, the male lead loses his fiance and finds her doppelganger and convinces her to come and have some pictures taken as the dead fiance. He doesn't have any pictures of her? If you were so in love with her, wouldn't you have photos of things that you've done together?

The dissertation she wrote was rejected and so, being depressed, she agrees to go to another country, meet strange people and have pictures taken wearing the dead woman's clothes. Creepy much? The whole dissertation thing could have been left out completely, it added nothing to the story.

The dead fiance cheated with an employee of the fiance. This was never discovered by the fiance and handled. So, the co-worker is creepy, too and likes the doppelganger.

The main couple only had a couple of encounters - he saved her from a lizard (that was WAY over the top!), they spent the afternoon sightseeing. They speak different languages and can't understand one another. So, how in the world could they determine that they were in love with one another?!?! For his part, he liked her because she looked like the fiance. For her part, who knows?

If a story is told well, all can be explained in a two-hour movie. This movie MIGHT have been better had it been episodic and there would have been more time to actually develop a relationship.

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Long, drawn out

This show replayed a lot of the same things multiple times. I suppose the concept was okay, but it kind of felt to me like it didn't know where it wanted to be going. I normally have problems with historical dramas because all the men tend to look alike, and this was no different. The ending was sweet, but too abrupt. I'd love a drama to spend more than three minutes showing the main couple back together after all the time they spent apart. The acting was good/believable, but I just wasn't overly impressed with this show. There are too many other really good shows to focus on.

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Slow, slice-of-life show

This is a short, sweet show, about a writer that goes to Kyoto and meets up with a girl working in a tobacco shop. The story is told in a quiet and leisurely pace. There isn't a lot of emotion, either in the script or the actors, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. He's out of his element, and she has some issues from her past, and this is basically about them getting to know one another. A lot of the time we are just privy to their conversations as they walk along the streets of Kyoto. She gives him the history of the town, and you can tell that he is fascinated by what he is learning about this charming place. Since there wasn't much going on, four episodes was the perfect amount without drawing it out unnecessarily. There was a hopeful ending, not great, but in line with the rest of the show.

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Time travel melodrama

This is a slow, well-paced show. Don't expect lots of action when you read it's a time travel fantasy. The writers took their time developing the characters and the story and it was pretty enjoyable being along for the ride. Though I didn't love it, I think it was worth watching, for various reasons.

Writing: GOOD: A very good story. There was tension throughout, never knowing what was going to happen next, and just when I thought I'd figured it out, the writers threw in a curve ball. I especially loved the characters of So Joon and his friend Kang Gi Doong. So Joon was a man that, by necessity, lived a pretty solitary life, and I thought it was wonderful that he let his friend in on the secret and his friend always had his back. I liked the concept of the butterfly effect - one change that you make in the present affects the future. I also love the fate aspect, meeting in the past and again in the future. NOT SO GOOD: I did have trouble, however, keeping track of past, present and future events, which often took me out of the story. Often there was not clear delineation to give you a good idea which timeline you were in. I had a difficult time with the reason for the breakup, I felt it was weak. And not to give anything away, but if you know something is going to happen at a specific intersection at a specific time, why not just avoid the intersection? The secrets went on too long: "I have things to tell you but I can't tell you and you just have to trust me for awhile."

Acting: GOOD: Lee Je Hoon did a wonderful job. He had to display a wide range of emotions and I always felt he was believable. He started out just being self-absorbed, not wanting to get involved in anyone else's life. As the story progressed, you could see how much he cared for others. NOT SO GOOD: Shin Min Ah is a good actress, but when she gets upset, she overacts. I found it hard not to laugh during her over-the-top crying scenes. And when her voice went up an octave when she was trying to be cute/sexy I just had to cringe.

CHARACTERS: GOOD: So Joon. Good progression of his character throughout the show. NOT SO GOOD: I did not like the character of Ma Rin at all. First, the woman seriously needed to start going to AA meetings! She had a real drinking problem. That was not enjoyable to watch. I felt her character was pitiful - she was trying to start a business, but she was just so sad to me. She seemed to always be listening to other people's conversations and going where she was not supposed to go. I felt that she was pushy and clingy with him. I didn't find anything endearing about her character.

CHEMISTRY: So good!! There was more hugging, hand holding, etc. than we normally see in K-dramas, and they seemed like they were really comfortable with one another. Some of the touching scenes gave me the feels.

OST: The music blended well with what was going on in the show, but there weren't any songs that I absolutely loved.

So, in conclusion, I'm glad I watched it, but I can't highly recommend it. It's one of those "filler" shows when you've watched everything else and are waiting for new shows.

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