Reviews

There rarely is a drama that has so many iconic scenes as secret garden, so it’s no wonder that it scene’s have countless parodies and are popular on variety shows. It’s the kind of drama that will make you smile and cry at the same time. Even though the plot might not seem like anything new or special it manages to stay unique.


What i think of the Drama:
As stated previously the story was not what captured my eyes. The typical element ” rich man, poor woman” and the “body swaping” have all been seen before. But what makes secret garden such a good drama is the characters and their developement. Each character even the small roles have a Story you get to explore. The good Thing about the Drama is that your opinion on the characters will Change with time. There is no such Thing as the evil character that will turn into a complete bitch. There are however certain Persons that apear “evil” but not in a completly unrealistic way but in a way that is understandable.
Another reason why i love Secret garden and why it is one of the only Dramas i rewatched more than once is because of the love to Details. There are so many things one gets to enjoy when watching it a second time. There are phrases that could go as Poems, paintings and references to fairytales. The set is just stunning and it has many memorable places such as Kim Joo Won’s and Oska’s house, Gil Ra Im’s place, the Action School and the place they stay at while on a trip, the Little Restaurant in the mountans and many more. The clothes and hairstyles fit the characters well and underline their characteristics.
Also a big reason to watch this Drama is the stunning acting. Ha ji won is my favourite actress of all time and in this Drama you will see why. It’s incredible how well she adapts to the character and it couldn’t have been a better cast for Gil Ra Im. Hyun Bin also fits into his role very well and the two of them interact great with each other. When swapping bodies both of them succeded in taking on each others bodylanguage which made the Drama so much better.
Lastly the OST. As you could have guessed it i love it. The Songs are easy to reconize which is really important for the Drama in my opinion. Where darker Dramas rely more on OST’s that are Fitting to the Scenes and Emotion this Drama works with repetitive Songs that will stay in your head. What i really like about it is that the same song is sung by a woman in one Scene but by a man in another one. Sometimes there might be some Scenes were you think that the song gets annoying but later you will find yourself humming the song emotionally.

Who I would recommend it to:
All in all i would recommend this Drama to almost everyone. It’s lighthearted but not to silly. It has a Storyline but also Centers around the characters. It has a soft Humor to it and beautiful romance that might be a Little cheesy sometimes but not overly exagerated. The Drama doesn’t soley rely on it’s main characters and their Story but also has strong supportive roles. There are several diffrent sort of Lifestyles clashing beside the obvious poor and rich ones. It might not be one of the deepest Dramas and some might find the bodyswapping ridiculous and not Fitting but it still is enjoyable to watch and did not bore me in the middle as it kept the Story going and progressed fast. There are moments when you find yourself crying with no Chance of Holding it back and moments when you just have to smile at the Little things you will Encounter. So i highly recommend to watch this Drama at least once.

Score:
9 out of 10
There are some Points that could be better and some Scenes and the Story is not the strongest one but it’s an enjoyable Drama with love to Details and strong Characters.

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Being I love Lan Cheng Long, and Cheryl Yang, I jumped on this one. Between learning this was a series from Sunny Happiness, after my high from watching LCL in Easy Fortune Happy Life,as well. I was very excited to watch it. I was so disappointed, :( I was always using the ff>> to get to just the LCL and CY Parts.
While in the beginning it had a Coffee Prince feel to it. It quickly lost that feel. To me there were too many story lines, and way too many characters that did not need to be there. It easily could have been done in 16-20 episodes.
In the last 6 episodes did they change writers? They were some of the best written episodes of the series. Not the worse drama I watched definitely not the best.

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I think this is the 1st drama I've watched that didn't have an obvious ending as to who the female lead would end up with.. It had me becoming more and more curious as the episodes progressed of who would end up with who. When I had first read the plot, I wasn't particularly sold on the whole "age-gap" thing, so I wasn't expecting a lot from this drama, but after I had watched the 1st episode I was hooked and found myself looking forward to every Friday when I would be able to watch this. It was fun, had an incredibly funny cast, and didn't seem to have uninteresting moments where I just couldn't watch it anymore.

I actually didn't know I'd like the cast as much as I did. Shinohara Ryoko did such a great job in portraying her character. I wasn't really all too thrilled with the portrayal of Sakura in the beginning, but her funny, loyal, over-the-top self managed to grow in me really fast.. Which applies for the rest of the cast as well.

As for the music, there was nothing that stuck out to me. Everything was very fitting for this drama, but nothing too extraordinary to mention. Overall, I enjoyed watching this a lot. This kind of drama goes to prove that you don't need the young, popular idols in order to make a good drama. The type of friendship and romance this drama portrayed was enough for me to stick around all 11 episodes. It'll make you laugh, possibly even cry depending on which guy you root for, and will show you the value of friendship and real every day situations. I would definitely watch this again, one of the best J-Dramas I've seen this year.

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Quick and simple; Last Cinderella is a light rom-com that
is a wonderful watch for women of all ages to satisfy the dark

fantasies we keep locked in out hearts. Not only is it extremely

romantic drama, it is realistic. Although it is quick paced, it does go

over some serious topics about betrayal and forgiveness. The

characters where all love-able in their own ways from Sakura's

constant old man gibberish to the bar owners eccentric but helpful
talks he has with his regulars. When I started this drama I had hoped

it would be longer but it is actually perfect the way it is: Short and

sweet. There really isn't anything bad I can say about this drama
because it was just wonderful. The harsh reality of aging into an older women...but only on the outside. I learned that in our hearts,

when it comes to love it will always be new and exciting. I highly

recommend this to women even though men could enjoy this too. If you have any more questions just message me!! Enjoy!!!!

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Story: Younger man meets much older woman through an arrangement by his pretty twisted step sister so the step sister could go after an older man who is the colleague and long time friend of the older woman but was unaware that he (the older man) was actually already in love with the older woman. There! I've described it in one long sentence! Throw in 2 older women who are best friends ala 'Sex in the City' style sisterhood and their own little stories with the opposite sex, and you get "The Last Cinderella". The ultimate question at the end is "Who will she choose?" - the younger man who approached her with the wrong intention or the older man who has always been with her with the right intention? Simple story line, great acting and an unpredictable ending (or perhaps it is predictable?) Be ready to take your side. Are you in team Hiroto or team Tachibana?

Acting/Cast: Great acting from a seasoned cast. Always wonderful to have seasoned actors and actresses in a drama over those young idols.

Music: So-so... mostly instrumental. The only gem I am taking away from this drama is Rihwa's Last Love.

Rewatch value: Probably will not be re-watching it anytime soon. Why? I am in the losing team... that's why! Still trying to nurse my wounded heart.... but no matter who she ends up with,, this is a nice light drama that is worth watching in a day when you have nothing to do but wish to feel the "Cinderella" feeling. Does not require much IQ or tissue papers. Generally, a nice sweet simple story. Fast paced.

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Kagi no Kakatta Heya is a mystery comedy, which basically abides by the outline most classic mystery dramas follows, each episode follows a highly similar & slightly changing fixed pattern in each episode, but involving different interesting crimes every time. The pattern is generally the discovery of the crime>>the police's investigation leads to the conclusion that the room where the crime took place was a total locked room or what's called "A Secret Room">>then the trio (Enomoto, Serizawa & Aoto) join the team to find out the secret behind the locked room and the true identity of the criminal.
Despite always following a fixed pattern, the episodes were never boring on the contrary this pattern leads one to expect always the same flow of events which makes any change however slight it might be a surprise in itself. That's what makes the whole idea behind the repeating a fixed pattern a Plus.

The Story(8): The drama is an adaptation of a series of mystery novels, but according to what I've read on Wikipedia, there are numerous differences between the drama's screenplay and the novel, like the fact that in the novel Enomoto is a thief who makes use of his vast knowledge of keys and locks to help Aoto who is a lawyer solve murder cases that take place in a seemingly locked room believed to be impossible to break through. The contradiction of being a thief but yet helping solve criminal cases, is explained by Enomoto's argument that although he steals he definitely can not tolerate murder.
Another difference, is the creation of a character that doesn't exist in the series, this character is none other than Serizawa who plays the role of Aoto's boss and the owner of the law firm.
The Drama basically focuses on the crimes and solving the mystery, so the character & their background development is found to be rather slow. this and the fact I found some of the cases and the basis on which they were solved a bit far-fetched are the main reasons why the story didn't get more than an 8.

The Cast/Acting (10): was by far the biggest merit in this drama, the choice of the leads in particular was spectacular and they all played their roles wonderfully(it's said that the producer/scripwriter had Ohno in mind while preparing for the show because he fitted the image he had of Enomoto Kei's character). Ohno's poker face and robotic moves were AWESOME, and the best part of it were the moments when you catch a glimpse of facial muscle movement that shows how excited or moved he was. I also loved the chemistry between the leads (the three of them) and although this drama has no romance, I still enjoyed the "Enomoto X Aoto" couple a lot

The Music (10) I enjoyed the OST in this show a lot, the music was utterly unique, fitted the scenes very well, and I also liked how the BGM was used to give shape to the pattern that I explained earlier, i.e. the same pieces were always played at the same parts of the pattern. I also LOVED Arashi's Face Down and the lyrics which perfectly fitted the show, it might just be coz I'm a big Arashi fan myself ^^

Though I feel I'll mostly be rewatching this show or some parts of it sometime soon, I only gave it a (9) not a (10) for rewatch value because I'm sure I'll still be fast forwarding and looking for my favorite scenes only and not watching the whole thing all over again. But I can never tell, coz I've just finished it and I rarely rewatch a whole drama through right after I finished watching it for the first time though I HAVE done that before :D

This is one drama that I definitely enjoyed.
I won't be spoiling anything, but the finale is BY FAR the BEST episode in the show so please if you haven't given this show a try or have started it and for some reason decided to drop it, at least try watching the last two episodes (since the 10th episode is a to-be-continued)

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Bokura no Yuuki is an incredibly compelling, complicated, somewhat eerie drama with an all-star cast (largely before they were stars).

Two teens (played by the Kinki Kids) sneak into a city they believe to be under lock-down after a massive earthquake. While there, they find there was no earthquake. The entire city has been quarantined by the government, due to a mysterious illness that has infected and killed every adult. Now that they've entered, they're trapped.

The children of this city, trapped in what amounts to post-apocalyptic circumstances, struggle to survive and war over limited resources and territory. The few remaining teens attempt to establish order and negotiate with the government that has abandoned them.

Bokura no Yuuki is an amazing survival tale with a level of intensity rarely seen in prime-time dramas. The story is very well constructed and paced. It is suspenseful, but also takes the time to develop each character and relationship.

The cast is mostly children, but they do a beautiful job portraying the many emotions in this drama: mourning, emotional upheaval, frustration, betrayal, childlike naivety and hope...

I can't say enough good things about this drama, although I will provide one warning. The first episode is misleading because the old-fashioned technology feels very "dated". The first episode turned me off the series initially, but when I pushed through to the second episode, I was thoroughly hooked. It is now among my very favorite dramas.

As an aside, this is MatsuJun's first acting role! At age 13/14, he's ridiculously adorable.

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When I heard about the casting of Kazoku Game before the season started, I hesitated because I never really heard about Sakurai Sho being a good actor. Although I've seen Kamiki Ryuunosuke before on Tantei Gakuen Q as a budding actor, I wasn't really curious about this recent drama of his when it started.

Then a recommendation came from a friend and the intense need to watch it, and... the rest is history.

Now, for my review:

Story: No one could contest that this was a beautifully written drama. I appreciate that they modified the themes to suit that of the modern generation, having bullying as the universal issue these days. I'm sure that at some point of the story we were able to relate to the characters' plights and mirror ourselves to them. I personally did.

Acting/Cast: This department was almost perfect, except for some side characters that felt stiff at some scenes, but the main characters, especially Shinichi and Yoshimoto-sensei, were practically having an acting talent showdown. Everyone in the family were superbly cast.

Music: I'm not a fan of somewhat cheerful music, but I like the satire in every note of the music to the scenes in this drama, thus still the high score. Endless Game's catchy tune got into me after a few episodes, and it was basically Yoshimoto-sensei's character song.

Rewatch Value: Since this is mystery, the enjoyment value goes down since you already know what happens after you've finished watching it for the first time. But watching it with friends, it was very fun observing how they react at the scenes in the drama (and being blown away with it).

Overall: This is a drama that will be etched to my memory for a very long time, and unless I encounter another drama as intense as this (or more than that), this will stay at my favorite drama list's top 1 spot for a while.

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Story: An overdone gender-bender genre where other dramas of similar ilk are superior in terms of character development and plot. The story is basically a woman dressing up as a guy to work in a nail shop (yeah...a nail shop...) to get ideas for her novel. The whole premise is that the nail shop employees "take care" of their customers by listening to and sorting out their problems. To me it was very unrealistic and kinda boring.

Acting/Cast: The cast chosen was pretty good but I had a HUUGE problem with the characters in this drama. Pretty much all the characters were one dimensional especially the main male lead where he is presented as an extremely nice guy...that's it...no other real emotion in his character. The only characters I kinda liked were the main female lead and her best friend.

Music: I tend not to really notice music in dramas unless it adds to the dramatic flair where it is certainly noticeable. The music in this drama provides a light-hearted tone and just does what it is says on the tin.

Rewatch value: Wouldn't watch this again. Forced myself to watch the series and was quite unfulfilling.

Overall: This drama is an example of a poorly scripted story in an over saturated genre (a bit like the time travel dramas going around these days). The main male lead is the most boring individual I have come across in KDramas. I dropped this drama right before the last episode simply because I didn't care about the characters enough who were all in general boring and one dimensional.

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Let me start by saying that light rom-coms are not my favoutite genre: I usually feel slightly detached and only watch them for the entertainment and the pleasure to let my brain rest for a while.

View in this light, Last Cinderella is the perfect romantic comedy. It's funny, at times utterly hilarious, it's fast-paced, it's highly entertaining, well characterized and most of all it's sexy.
Therefore, lowering my score because it didn't make my heart pound or didn't make me weep or think and re-think would be unfair towards the script, the cast and the general value of the drama.

If you're looking for a good romantic comedy, this is it. The cast is brilliant, the romance is spicy, the humour is wicked, the kisses are great, the guys are hot and the friendship between the three women deliciously naughty and heartwarming.

This kind of drama doesn't need long academic dissertations. Watch it for the fun and, yes, for Miura Haruma. He must be the hottest thing after chili paste. A shallow statement? Yes, of course, but then again, a good rom-com should stir your hormones, if it pretends to stir the neurons it invariably fails.

The music fits its purpose, it's just as light and summer-like as the drama itself.

Last Cinderella lends itself to multiple watching, hence the high re-watch value. Since I believe it's perfect for the Summer, I suggest you start watching it now. I doubt you'll regret it.

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When I first read about that drama, I wasn't sure if I should watch it because I'm totally over with the whole "Cinderella" Theme and I didn't know any of the actors (I'm new to the whole Japanese drama thing), so I wouldn't miss anything right? I don't know why I started it then but I'm glad that I did it.
Overall it's an really good drama. The story was not certainly new but the idea to tell the story of an older woman with no fashion sense who fall in love with an young BMX rider was (at least for me) refreshing and fun.

I liked every character that they included and to add an homosexual one was awesome. The little side stories were fun. But I had some bad problems with Sakuras over the top teenage like behaving. I can understand that she is totally in love, hadn't a boyfriend for a long time and that Hiroto is actually so young, but please she is almost 40 and not a teen. That's the only thing that really annoyed me from episode to episode.

The music was a good fit for the drama sweet and fun to listen to. I wasn't bored at all. Great!

In the end, I would watch it again. It was fun to watch and everyone was (more or less) likeable. A good thing happend here.

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I re-stumbled upon this after reading a article by an MDL member then, remembered that it was in my too watch list and decided to give it a go. Well not before doing some tracking and learning that the story was based on the true story of Yamaguchi Hayato, a young man who learns that he has a rare illness known as Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy. A disease which affects his nervous system making him begin to lose the functioning of his limbs, but he is determined to fight the illness with the support of his wife and his 2-year-old daughter, Myu-chan. After learning this I banish husband and kids, grabbed a box of tissues (just in case) and settle with my computer in a remote place in the house.

After 2 hours all I can say is that I just lo loved all the sweetness that was pact into this movie,even if I kind of feel that we were let down in the department of learning a little more about this disease( not to worry that just probably the med student in me talking...*putting my glasses on and going to hunt for a my medical books TT*)
Oh yeah I was supposed to be writing a review so let gets back to it *_* hihhi!!

Well I was reminded a lot of 1 Litre of Tears as Matsumoto Jun plays 25 year old Yamaguchi Hayato. Although I was quite annoyed still at the really clicheness of the debilitating disease aspect. But I was quite stunned by Jun acting because it was almost the the first time for me to see him deliver such a performance to the point that I asked myself if I had even ever seen him walked normally. It was a serious shock from is active role as Domyouji Tsukasa in Hana Yori Dango, seeing him bedridden and yet so sweet.

Well it can be a little hard at first to buy that him (Jun)looking so young could be a father and but the excellent chemistry between him and his 'daughter' ( sent me in a total KYA FANGIRL MOMENT!!!that I may have fried a few of my neurons :p) in the first five seconds of the movie and throughout. Well in my book the chemistry that father and daughter had totally save me from dying of boredom when confronted to the total lack of chemistry between Jun and Karina with who he teamed up as his wife(don't go pulling you hair yet and thinking that you are going to bleed, they acting actually save them, Yes they both are talented actors, your hair is safe.) Well I would still have to say that Karina was a little more better in Koizora.

With that said !!! I would say that if you are looking for an overly dramatic movie then this is not the one to be picked ( well seeing has I did not reached for my tissue box that much.) This is more suitable for a slow rainy afternoon when you are looking for a sweet movie, with a little hedge seen as it deals with a painful subject.

Well one thing for sure is that it is a movie that as that hopeful tone to it and of course a great layer of the Japanese firm 'never give up' attitude. The ending was really lovely, but it quite still left me with a burning sensation of unresolveness. Well I'd still recommend this for a rainy or sunny Friday or Saturday afternoon when you really want to escape the daily routine of your life, or when you come to a point where you are starting to forget that you should be grateful even for the little things that you have in life.

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At first I watched this drama out of curiosity, especially after watching Playful Kiss and It started with a kiss. After the 1st episode I was openly to say totally disappointed, but I gave this drama its chance and watched it till its end. I tried to sort out my impressions so I took my time to settle my thoughts.. but the disapointment still remained.

The female lead was really disturbing. Her acting wasn´t even cute... only dumb. The result: As a viewer I couldn´t believe the story, which shouldn´t be the case of each good story.Every good written fiction should beacome in the eyes of the viewer at least just a little bit possible. It is a pity, that this disadvantage covered up all good sides of this drama. The other actors played their roles quite well. Maybe sometimes overdone but not the whole time.

For those, who are looking for something cute and funny, don´t have great expectations like I had, maybe you wan´t be so disappointed like I was.

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