Reviews

Trust me there is a better drama that you could be watching.In chatting with some other drama fans they told me to not watch Hayate, but I couldn't listen to them. I said to myself "the anime was cool so let's try the live action!". I thought the first 2 episodes were good, so I just had to see the rest for myself. What an epic waste of my time and production money!

First what I did like; they used pretty handsome people in the cast, there were also some really cool special effects incorporated in the story. However, I hated that they had Park shin Hye with a voice over, I could never get used to it! I don't know if she was lost in translation because her acting was awful here. I kept thinking Maria should have been the female lead.

I don't know if the episodes were just long or boring. I found myself skipping episodes, and just watching the very beginning and the very end.

I didn't read the manga so maybe the story line in the drama is closest to the original, but I liked the anime way better. I think the drama had trouble staying true to the story that it was based on while trying to update it so it would be realistic and a hit. Maybe some things should never go live action.

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I remember adding this drama to my list awhile ago and then I forgot about it. After stumbling across Peter Ho in Three Kingdoms [which I am watching at the moment, too], I rediscovered this drama again and decided to watch it. This drama starts off confusing, not more than 5 minutes into the drama you have a 5 year time jump. After the first few episodes things start to get a little less confusing - I found myself falling into the story and the characters and more things began to get revealed in the later episodes. The story is a little dark, and it's also unclear for most of the drama who the main male lead is - as they both have a lot of screen time and it's hard to figure out who exactly is the lead in the drama until later on. Both of them are some nice eye candy as well :p [for those that are interested]



The acting was done well for the most part. Barbie Hsu is an alright actress, I've seen her in Meteor Garden [she really doesn't look much different in the 1O years since that drama aired], and her acting is honestly just about the same as it was then. Not horrible but not the best. I mentioned above that I noticed Peter Ho in Three Kingdoms - so to see his contrast in characters makes me think that he is a good actor, as he played his part well and convincing. This is the first drama I've seen Huang Xiao Ming in and I think he's another great actor! I really felt for his character. Both of the guys - you could feel that they both loved Xia Mo [Barbie].



The music was really nice, I loved almost all of it! From Peter Ho's "Wo Ji De Wo Ai Guo" to Barbie Hsu's "Bubble Mermaid" were all nice songs. And the instrumentals were also nice and added emotion to the drama.



I'm not sure if I'll rewatch this drama anytime soon, or if I'll rewatch it again in the future. While I enjoyed it, it's not something I can see rewatching again.



Overall I think this drama is a little underrated, and it's a drama filled with romance and angst.



One thing I wanna add is Barbie's character, Xia Mo, is a character that I had a hard time liking. She's a character that's hard to related to, and she isn't open about her feelings.



And I'd also like to mention as a side note: I found out that this drama was based off a novel trilogy, which someone also translated online [all three books - dedicated!]. I plan on reading their translation and will post the link to those interested below in the comments box (:

It was also made into a manhua before being made into this drama series.

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Let me first say I'm not an avid Historicals watcher. Because of this my scores might not reflect the same love that everyone else has for The Princess' Man.



Story- The first 12 episodes were okay. They went by at a good pace not too slow but nothing significant happened to capture my attention. I felt they could have cut a couple of episodes out of this part of the story, making the drama shorter. The last 12 episodes were epic and filled with heartbreaking romance, action, and just plain excitement. The ending was bittersweet but a pleasant surprise.



Acting- I'm really really glad Park Shi Hoo took this role on. He showed in his last 2 dramas that he is HOT and a good but not excellent actor. Well in this drama he showed a variety of acting skills and definitely proved his excellent acting ability. I hope he wins an award for best actor=D Moon Chae Won performed her role well but I actually dont think this is her best character she has played. The supporting cast all performed their roles well but I wasnt obsessed with the characters. I do want to mention the little actress that plays PSH's niece. She was so believable and seems so talented for such a young age. Definitely want to see more from her.



Music- Was intense and really added to the changing mood. When it was romance scenes the music was lovely. When there was fighting the music heightened and elevated the suspense.



Rewatch- Although I liked the show I didnt have that special feeling I get when Im obsessed over a show. Because of this Im not sure whether I would rewatch this or not.



Overall my favorite part of The Princess' Man is the romance storyline between the main characters and definitely would recommend it for that reason=)

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I had a serious debate over this drama. At first I didn't want to watch it, but it popped up everywhere, so I started watching, just to what was the scandal about. I know that people here will kill for what I'm about to write, and would probably come as a mob to my house I they knew where I lived (don't look on my profile), but I will just say what I think.



Is Secret Garden good? Heck yeah it is! But it isn't as good as is commonly put, at least to me.



The story is interesting, although is the typical rich-boy-meets-poor-girl-and-falls-in love-against-his-family's-approval. I love that it has a heroine that can actually stand up for herlsef and doesn't need a man. Also, the side story is genius, I simply love Oska and Seoul together! I love that they didn't drag a lot the soul-changing plot, and that they ended it quick because if they had spent the whole drama changed it would've gotten really boring. Also I loved that the ending is very realistic given the circumstances.



The whole cast is amazing, each plays well his or hert part, specially Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Woon, which have to play someone of the opposite sex inside their own bodies.



The music was also a plus. I specially liked that they gave it an emphasis through Oska.



Overall, it is a really good drama, but in my opinion it isn't something that I hadn't seen before or that is really like a bomb. If you like romantic comedies with a lot of absurd yet cute situations, you'll definitely like this one.

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So...if I start this review by saying I'm giddy in love with Park Shi Hoo would you roll your eyes, call me a fangirl and stop reading? You would? Well, then I'm not going to say it! Hey! Stop hovering your mouse over that unhelpful button and keep reading! I've have lots more to say about this Amazing show.

This drama started out with a lot of comparisons to Romeo and Juliet. It does have the element of two people who fall in love in spite of their family's bitter rivalry. But where the two part company is that in Mr. Shakespeare's original work you don't really get very much back story about why the Capulet's hate the Montague's. You simply know they hate each other and that the love between Romeo and Juliet is forbidden. In The Princess' Man you get a big sweeping story and you know exactly what odds are stacked against these two. They should have called this... "The Princess' Man and Her Father's Single Minded Drive to Be the King!"

The Princess' Man is packed full of action and revenge, sword fighting and battles to the death! What I'm saying is...This drama isn't just for women or those looking for a well told love story. If you are a person who prefers action, you need to know there is a perfect balance of badassery as well as a lovely and sweeping romance.

The acting in this show is stellar. I can't think of a single character in a single moment that had me cringing or thinking they were wrong for their part. Park Shi Hoo is wonderful and forgetting what I said up there...He is actually wonderful in everything he does so I wasn't surprised. Moon Chae Won is luminous as Sae Ryung. She pulls in a great performance. I loved her character's bravery and steadfastness. The plot kept me guessing until the very end and I love that I was never bored watching this show!

There is a lot going on, plot wise, and it is told to us by a writer with real story telling ability. I say that because I was also kept interested by the side character's stories as well. They were an intrinsic part of the tale, perfect satellites to the main characters and plot. I wanted to know their fates as well as the main couple's.

Let me sum up why you should watch this show in one sentence. The Princess' Man has an extremely well done and balanced combination of incredible acting, writing, directing and amazing cinematography.

I felt the music was a perfect fit for feel of the drama. There was only one song piece that felt a little overplayed. This show was so well crafted otherwise, I feel like I'm nitpicking but the music is my one 9 vote in a sea of 10's. I will watch this Lovely Show again. I can't recommend this highly enough!

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I really enjoyed watching Sam Soon. Originally, I started after watching Secret Garden, just to see the progression of Hyun Bin's acting, and I was quite impressed. Though the drama is obviously old, as demonstrated through their atrocious outfits (I mean neon-colored dress shirts! Hello!), it has a story that is really relate-able to most people. Sam Soon is a woman with lots of dreams, finding the right man, the right job and finally fulfilling her dream of becoming a pastry chef, but her self doubt, accentuated by her weight (which in reality isn't that much, but really offers you a good perspective on societal norms and how girls need to look like twigs in order to be labeled as good looking or whatever) prevents her from moving on and fulfilling those dreams.

This show is really amazing, it has the whole message of empowerment and owning yourself, but at the same time, gives you this really sweet, romantic and comedic story about a woman, who at times acts like a whiny child--like we all do, that really learns to love herself, which then allows her to show that love for others.

The side stories in this drama were a bit melodramatic, but in essence held the same message. As much as I love Daniel Henney and all of his deliciousness, I wasn't a fan of him in this drama, partially because I couldn't really relate to his character. Some of the choices that were made for the character were a bit off for me.

Anywhoos...those things aside, I love this show and I think if you have the opportunity to, just go for it! It will not disappoint!

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I absolutely loved this drama! I finished it about a week ago and still think about it. It's a simple story - a story about an innocent first love. It's one of the things I really loved about it - it was just simple, cliched even, but told in such a sweet way that it had my heart fluttering throughout the whole drama. It didn't have any over the top dramatic moments, it was just...nice (:



The acting was great! I loved the cast! I've seen Kame in 4 dramas now - and this is by far my favorite role he was in, his character just feels so real, just like an ordinary guy. He had great chemistry with Ayase Haruka, too, which just made the drama even better. And the friends were great! I loved Kou [Tanaka Koki]! His character was so sweet and nervous - just one of those guys you can't hate. And Toda Erika did a good job as Nao's friend (:



The music is great! Beautiful! I loved the soundtrack - I downloaded it (: Some of the music is reminiscent to Titanic's theme as other reviewers have mentioned. Of course it doesn't sound exactly the same, but similar definitely (: And the song "Cool Whispers" is a really pretty song. It definitely added emotion to the drama. Also I loved the ending song by KAT-TUN ["Bokura No Machi De"].



Will I rewatch this? Most definitely, I can honestly say I can see myself watching this drama again over and over (:



Overall - It's an underrated drama but one that's most definitely worth watching! If you're looking for a sweet love story this is a perfect drama to watch! For those sweet heartwarming moments. It even had me crying at one point.



There are a few really cheesy moments to note, one especially in episode one, but don't let it keep you from watching it, really (:

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Like most others, I have watched ALL the versions of Hana Kimi, read the manga, and I have seen all the different variations on the story that are out there. I really think it was too early to remake Hana Kimi in Japanese, the first one wasn't old, and because the first one was so awesome, naturally I thought it would be hard to beat. I was right. The re-made version is really nice if you don't compare it to the original, but anytime you remake the exact same story if the acting isn't better there has to be something to wow the audience and say "I am glad they remade this!". I didn't like that the guys in this version were just not as hot as the guys in the 1st version. I did like that they used more special effects to jazz it up. I think the supporting characters had more of a role in this version, it wasn't all about the main 3 characters, so that was really cool to see. I didn't like that they used the same 20 boys as extras, and some of the story line just didn't make sense.

All in all I didn't care for it because it was poor in comparison to the first and just mediocre on its own.

It seems that they really got a lead actress that looked like Maki Horikita, making it almost impossible to not compare the two. Unfortunately Horikita would win this one. Nakamura Aoi didn't do so bad as Sano but I really loved Shun Oguri in that role and to top it all off I HATED Boys Este. Some of the other characters were pretty good, but none really captivating.

The story line was almost ridiculous, in all other versions they made some reference to Ashiya's parents or siblings or even how she was allowed to pretend to be a boy half way across the world with no contact from anyone at home. This version also make the school closing so dramatic that you wondered if it was a health hazard, and why no one was doing anything. P.s. kids falling through the floor is a hazard.



p.s.s- the ending is a joke, its quick and doesnt explain much.

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Dream High is an entertaining watch for sure...

Story- The writing was very solid with twists thrown that took what could have been just another romantic comedy and made it an addicting and unpredictable watch. It's only downfall would be the ending. The ending kind of seemed random and I didnt understand why certain people couldn't be together.

Acting/Cast- Everyone played thier parts well and were believable. However, I did not like 3 of the main 6 characters. To me the characters Hye Mi, Jin Gook, and Sam Dong were highly unlikable to the point I wished the writers didnt focus on them too much. My favorite characters were actually the adults and of course Pil Sook & Jason couple.

Music- Awesome and went on my ipod straight away. The music really added to the excitement of the show.

Rewatch- I'd watch this every year cause it was funny and i worship pilsook/jason couple.

Overall Dream High's plus's would be its solid writing and its OST which make it a drama that is highly recommendable.

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Pasta would be an overall delightful watch if it weren't for a couple of absolutely annoying, infuriating traits.

I think it's necessary for me to premise that I have first hand experience of how a high level restaurant/kitchen works. This is why I was attracted to it in the first place.

For the most part, what happens in the kitchen of this drama is exactly the same you will find in Michelin-stars kitchen all over the world: the strict hierarchy, the arguments between kitchen chef and restaurant direction, the treatment of women (things are rapidly changing, but high level cuisine has been for a long time a male domain, where women were treated almost like slaves). Even details in this drama are absolutely realistic, from the utensils they use to the allocation of each cooking-partie.
I had a great time watching the whole kimchi debacle, as I know for a fact that this is exactly the kind of problem a chef in such a kitchen would face.

BUT. Like Beca, the female lead annoyed me. Royally. Not so much because she would say Yes Chef every second word - that's actually quite accurate - but because she was ambitious but never showed any sign of having learnt anything. If you want to succeed in the gourmet world and you have the chance to work with a great chef you don't discuss his menu decisions: you learn! She is at the same time too humble and too conceited. She bows her head when she should show pride (grrrrrrr) and fights against the chef when HE is right (double grrrrrrr)!
And please don't get me started on the way she eats spaghetti. I'm Italian and, believe me, I cringed, to say the least. She would grab a handful of oily spaghetti and thrust them in her mouth with her hands, chewing them as if it were pigswill. In front of other people. I was disgusted. I respect different customs from mine, but you don't work in a 3-star (or even a 1 star) Italian restaurant without knowing how to eat spaghetti, for Pete's sake!

Lee Sun Gyun on the other hand is amazing. He is an arrogant jerk, but he is absolutely believable. I would never fall for such a man, but nothing he does or say comes out as unrealistic. Let me be just a little spoilerish here and say that his declaration is a great one! I finished the drama because of him and the rest of the hilarious, spot-on kitchen staff.

I can't remember the music, I'm afraid. Hence the 7.

I'm not sure I'll rewatch this drama. I laughed a lot, it entertained me a lot, but there are parts I'd need to skip entirely if I wanted to go through a second watch.

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I started watching this drama because I read the fantastic reviews people wrote here about it, so I started really exciting, expecting something like Coffee Prince meets the kitchen, but I got something really different.



This is a great drama, the characters are great and I loved that it actually did have a lot about food because a lot of dramas, like You're Beautiful, Only You and Heartstrings are about a certain subject but you never get to actually see the writers exploding that.



The thing that really bothered me about this one that made me not like this drama so much was the female lead. She had no personality whatsoever, always letting everyone push her around, even her love interest. I hate that she was alway "Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef. Chef, chef chef chef..." I mean she never even called him by his real name, no Hyuk Woon ah, or Hyuk Woon ssi, or even Choi Hyun Wook ssi.



Also, for the sake of not spoiling I'll really just say that I hated the REAL reason (not the generic, but the one he says) of why the chef broke up with his previous partner. I don't know of it is just because I'm a hardcore feminist, or simply because I thought he was dumb but I simply hated him.



On the other hand I loved all the kitchen drama, with the main line and the pasta line, Italian vs Korean! It was so funny to see them fight for the most minimum thing, I think all that made the drama funnier to watch and lighter.



In general I really enjoyed this drama, though it isn't one of my favorites

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49 days completely hooked me up from episode 1, It is one of the best dramas that I've ever seen because it combines a very dramatic situation with a lot of funny scenes and also a lot of romance, like pure love. Also, it doesn't get draggy at any point and you're always expecting what will come next.



This is a drama that combines reality with magic and transports the viewer to that magical world where anything is possible and true pure loves exists.



This drama tries to make us think about our lives, if we are truly loved by someone, if we are good people, it makes us wander if a person can be recognized for more than physical appearance.



The acting is superb, especially on the male lead, but truly all the characters and actors combine to form this thing where you forget that they are acting and start to believe their story. One thing that made me laugh a lot and maybe most people didn't notice was the waiter and waitress. I've seen them together in other 2 dramas, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and Only You, in which they also play a waiter and waitres and is even with the same male lead also.



The music completely merges with the drama and becomes one of the characters, it makes you feel what the director wanted you to think, completely brilliant.



I will rewatch this drama very soon, it is a drama that really made me think and laugh and cry.

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Meitantei!

This show is funny. It is a complete parody or 'send up' of every whodunit caper; whether the origin be book, television or specific character. Everyone needs to "know their place" in the framework of a detective story and act accordingly. It's so weird! But funny!

Matsuda Shota plays "The Great Detective". Only he's a hilarious, spoiled, eccentric mess. He pouts and sulks when things don't go his way or when the Captain doesn't playcate him. Matsuda Shota is great. His knack for physical comedy and his rubberlike facial expressions cracked me up.

The blatent and kitchy way they spoke about the viewers, ratings and audience expectation was original to say the least. This show was entertaining but I'm not quite sure how to catagorize it. I came away laughing for the most part. It isn't a perfect show but if you are a fan of Shota, you'll like this because he's a natural scene stealer.

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