What Dramas Am I Watching This Week?

So here's what I'm watching this week! Of course the list is split by country and the amount of episodes I've seen so far are written below! There will be spoilers from now on so if you aren't caught to the episode number on list, you might want to go watch that episode and then come back! If you're interested in previous reviews, click here and if you want to see a list of my Favorite Asian OTPs and Ships, click here!

KDRAMA

Awaken (2/16): About a series of mysterious incidents that are connected to an incident that took place in a village 28 years ago. Do Jung Woo is a capable and legendary team leader of a special task force at the National Police Agency. He has messy hair, a constant slouch, and sucks on a lollipop all day like a kid, but he has a mysterious secret behind his sly exterior. Gong Hye Won is a passionate police officer who does not let anything get in her way. Behind her pretty face is a hot temper that won’t cool down unless she says what she needs to say. She is one of the strongest and best fighters on her team, and can drink the others under the table, but she also has a surprisingly clumsy side. Jamie is a detective on loan from the FBI. She was adopted as a child with almost no memories of her life before, but she returns to Korea to solve the serial killer case that is related to those lost memories from 28 years ago.

This show might be the successor to Hello Monster/I Remember You that I've always wanted. It's got a pretty solid detective story, badass cops, a mysterious past, and romance all wrapped into one! It seems like our story starts 28 years ago at what looks like an orphanage in which I'm thinking a bunch of kids were experimented on though I'm not yet sure if there's a supernatural element to this show or not. Two of those kids are clearly Jung Woo and Jamie but I think the third is that high guy who Jamie caught in the convenience store and I'm assuming that Hye Won's dad was one of the head doctors at this research orphanage based on the way these shows go. So far the mystery is fun enough though it's no Stranger/Secret Forest level cause the characters are still doing stupid things for the plot to move like when the cops all stood still and watched that professor get run over by a train when they had plenty of time to pull him out of the way but other than that both Jung Woo and Jamie seem smart as hell and both can throw down which makes me happy cause half the time female cops aren't good at fighting and it drives me crazy to watch. I'm not sure what to think of Jung Woo though if I'm being honest cause kid version said that he caused all the villagers to go mad but I also can't imagine that a show would have a bad guy as their lead. Hopefully since the whole mistrust our main lead plot beat is happening so early on, we'll be able to quickly put it to bed and move forward. I do wonder if all the victims are being hypnotized into killing themselves by a psychiatrist but I'm also wondering if Jung Woo is psychic or something based on the final moments of the episode. Either way I was super into this premiere and I'm really looking forward to where this show takes us!

Kairos (10/16): Living a precarious life as a part-timer at a convenience store, Ae Ri strives to support her mother who is on a waiting list for a heart transplant. Unfortunately, her mother’s worsened physical condition leads her to forgo the long-awaited opportunity for the transplant, and just like that her mother disappears. Things were already chaotic enough for Ae Ri when she receives a phone call from a strange man claiming to be from the same world but 31 days in the future. Ironically, he desperately asks Ae Ri for help. Seo Jin, a father and a husband of a close-knit family, has been living a successful life as the youngest person to become a director at a construction company. One day, it all crumbles down with the kidnapping of his daughter and his wife’s suicide. On the verge of breaking down, he is given an opportunity to restore everything that was lost under one condition, help from a strange woman. To bring his daughter and wife back to life, he makes a phone call as the clock strikes 10:33.

I was right when mentioned last week that the CEO of Yujung didn't seem like he was playing any part in what was happening to Seo Jin and that there felt like there were two different storylines running parallel. Hyun Chae is on one side trying to leave Seo Jin with his money, Da Bin, and Do Gyun in that priority order but on the other side is the CEO who has his own scheme cooking. We do find out that the CEO was exactly the horrible man that his victims claim he's been all along and I bet that he scouted and "loved" Seo Jin just because he can be used as the bandaid for the past. I mean how good does it look to have a victim of the last collapse taking charge of the new construction plan? As it turned out Ae Ri's mom was actually blackmailing the CEO cause he was the reason that Seo Jin let Ae Ri go. We also know that Ae Ri's mom has some sort of recording that the CEO is after and I'm thinking that Seo Jin's dad was the one who originally found it but he gave it to Ae Ri's mom for safe keeping before he was killed for finding this evidence of Injung's mistakes and that's why the CEO has Taek Gyu going around to find and kill Ae Ri's mom as well. It seems though that Ae Ri's mom is smarter than we thought cause she seems to have passed it on to Jin Ho as a failsafe. Meanwhile Hyun Chae found out that Seo Jin is medicated for PTSD and she was planning on having Taek Gyu kill him but as we see in a month from now, all three of them end up dying and Do Gyun is heartbroken. I thought for a while that maybe he would be talking with Ae Ri for the foreseeable future but the girl was too smart for his games and we see future Seo Jin wake up anyway so it won't be a big deal in the end. I do have to say that I think Hyun Chae definitely bit off more than she can chew cause she clearly thought she's smarter than she is but her fatal mistake was trying to get into the CEO's life cause I'm almost completely sure that whatever went wrong with her plan was the CEO stepping in to get rid of a gnat.

Live On (3/8): Baek Ho Rang is the most popular girl in high school. Everybody wants to be her friend, and all of the boys dream of winning her heart. Although she is famously aloof, she is also a star on social media – with the whole school seemingly following her every post. But when a mysterious individual arrives online, she is caught off-guard.This person seems to know all of Baek Ho Rang’s deepest secrets, and is seemingly armed with all sorts of information about her that she’d rather was kept a secret forever! Desperate for answers, she seeks out the help of Go Eun Taek, the meticulous, right-minded head of the school’s broadcasting club. However, in order to gain his assistance, she discovers that she will have to become a regular club member – a fact that eventually brings her together with a group of students she never thought she’d consider friends. Can she solve the mystery of the online poster? And could joining the club eventually lead to romance?

I keep wanting to know what happened back in the day that led to Ho Rang and So Hyun no longer being friends cause I still feel like there's more to the story than we know. From So Hyun's POV Ho Rang must have decided that she wanted to be cool and to be cool she needed to drop So Hyun from her life but we know from Ho Rang's PTSD flashbacks that there was some sort of bullying going on and something real bad happened at her birthday party. I'm thinking that whatever it was caused her to feel shameful and guilty and that might be why she cut So Hyun out of her life cause she was afraid that So Hyun would be targeted next. We did find out that the person who's cyberbullying Ho Rang is in the Student Council and I'm excited that she's starting to fight back though I kind of wish she would come clean to the people she cares about in her life so that the bully doesn't have any power over her. I also think it's kinda funny how Eun Taek has fallen for Ho Rang already and I think it's super cute that their homes are near each other too cause it gives them a perfect excuse to see each other regularly. It seems like while Ho Rang's parents are famous and seem to never have time for her, Eun Taek's parents are divorced and his mom gave up custody but I can't decide if his dad is a good person and if Eun Taek is just missing his mom or if his dad is controlling or abusive and that's why his mom ran. In other news I think it was a good thing that Jae Yi and Woo Jae broke up cause they really don't seem like they work well together. I personally do think that opposites attract but sometimes people are too opposite and that doesn't work. Jae Yi is very dramatic and it feels like things always need to go her way while Woo Jae really seems to disrespect her cause what kind of an ass eats lunch before going on a picnic with his girlfriend and he really struggles with saying the important things. 

Please Don't Date Him (3/10): Seo Ji-Sung is a programmer on the A.I. Developent Team at Smart Home Appliances. While working on a refrigerator, she accidentally inserts a chip belonging to the National Intelligence Service. Instead of a program that will rate the freshness of vegetables, it will root out the undesirables from a dating pool, potentially saving people heartache. Ji-Sung herself wants to fall in love, but with the right man. Despair sets in when her program determines that her oh-so-perfect fiancé, Jung-Han, is not her Prince Charming after all! Jung Gook-Hee is a firefighter who spends little time on social media, leaving Ji-Sung with little data to analyze. She meets firefighter Gook-Hee, who has no social media presence. This leaves Ji-Sung without a shred of data for her program to analyze. She can't help but be skeptical, not knowing a thing about Gook-Hee's past. Should Ji-Sung take a leap of faith with him, even if it could mean another heartbreak for her?

This show is killing me with how cute and funny it is. We're starting to see Gook Hee and Ji Sung spend more time together but they're still running into each other on accident rather than on purpose and I wonder at what point they'll finally be interested in each other for real. Gook Hee is so hard to read cause it's like clear that Ji Sung thinks he's cute and everything but I can't tell if Gook Hee thinks she's annoying or just amusing based on the actor let alone what kind of person he is. Of course this is partially cause we're seeing everything in this show from Ji Sung's POV so if she doesn't know what kind of person he is, then neither do we. Either way Gook Hee and Ji Sung returned their phones to each other when it got swapped last week and they both managed to find the cat he was searching for which means that they both low key won the bet over who would find it first. I did really like the theme of this week being whether or not you can always trust what you see on the internet. Ji Sung's coworkers randomly decided that she must be pregnant and they refused to believe her when she said it wasn't true and one of them decided to post this on the anonymous board that he ran. She knew it wasn't real but she was also one of the ones who at the start said that most of the info online was real and it was an interesting thought experiment. I find it to be true in general that you should always look at everything on the internet with a grain of salt. In the end I was glad that her magic fridge outed him in front of the CEO and I kind of hope that means he's fired!

FINISHED Tale Of The Nine-Tailed (16/16): The story features the mythical nine-tailed fox, or gumiho, Lee Yeon who has just settled in the city. Able to transform into human form, he goes about cleansing human spirits, all the while creating havoc. Enter the talented television producer Nam Ji Ah whose current show features urban myths. With nerves of steel, she will stop at nothing to secure unusual, if not dangerous, subject matter to showcase. She sets her sights on Lee Yeon who appears just too good to be true; irresistibly handsome, intelligent, fit; in fact the ideal guest. But his heartlessness will render doubt in her that he is indeed of this world. Step-brother to Lee Yeon is the captivating Lee Rang, reputed to be the most dangerous of all gumihos living among humans. Despite being half-human himself, he harbors a deep-seated contempt for all people. For sport, he will unleash his seductive prowess upon his human-du-jour, by promising to grant them their wishes, only to trick them into paying a hefty price for their earthly desires.

This show came to end this week and I have to say it was a pretty good end to this world. I ended up not exactly loving it as much as I thought at the start cause something broke in terms of the romance in me and to this day I cannot describe in detail why I didn't fall in love with Yeon and Ji Ah like I thought I would or like everyone else who watched this show did. I did decide to stick around for Rang who I fell for despite not wanting to be one of those viewers who were like oh poor murder baby and the secondary romance between Yoo Ri and Shin Joo who I thought was more interesting than our main couple. Though there were a bunch of bait-and-switches planned out for the week, in the end it was Yeon's original plan that ended up being the one to win out. He swallowed the Imoogi's scale and fell into the river with Terry thus saving the day but preventing not only the Imoogi but also himself from reincarnating or so we thought cause of course this is a romance so we can't have a tragic end! Rang ended up finding a loophole and he sacrificed his life for Yeon to come back so they could have a happily ever after and I have to say I was a little bitter about it but also confused cause I will never understand why if he was reincarnated as a human he came back fully grown and with all his memories other than cheating I'd say. Fortunately Yoo Ri and Shin Joo ended up happy together married and living with Rang (while he was alive) and his reincarnated puppy who they've become parents to (which is hilarious on it's own) and I have to say one of my favorite parts of this week took place when Rang and Shin Joo went to see Yoo Ri at Terry's house and fought over who could tell her that they loved her. I think after everything I'd give this show a 6.5 / 10.

The Goddess Of Revenge (4/16): In the world of the rich and powerful, one wrong move can destroy everything; a sad lesson Kang Hae Ra soon learns. Once a reporter working hard to support the family she had been forced to care for at a very young age, Hae Ra found her way into the limelight after marrying one of the country’s most famous celebrities. Now the center of everyone’s attention, Hae Ra has become one of the nation’s hottest influencers. But when she finds herself wrapped up in an unfounded scandal, Hae Ra’s reputation plummets. Hitting rock bottom, Hae Ra wants revenge, but she’s not the only one desperately searching for a way to bring down those who have hurt her. A talented lawyer with a one hundred percent success rate and a heart of ice, Cha Min Joon is not a man to be trifled with. But when those who wish to bring him low throw his family into ruin, he turns his full attention towards exacting his revenge. While Hae Ra and Min Joon focus on revenge, the sole heir to the FB Group, Kim Tae On, is on a mission of her own, to secure her position as the company’s new head. But going up against her father isn’t easy, as one simple mistake could ruin everything. Meanwhile, the tenacious detective Ku Eun Hye takes on a case that could either make or break her. As each individual begins their respective journey towards success and revenge, their paths soon cross. Realizing there’s much more going on than any of them first believed, each delves deeper but what they find shakes them to their core. Now on a mission to fight against those who seek to destroy them, Hae Ra and Min Joon will stop at nothing to have their revenge. But can they succeed against such powerful foes?

So much was revealed this week that I'm not entirely sure where to start. It looks like Hae Ra's husband isn't actually going to pushed aside after Hae Ra unveiled the scandal he faked and it's confusing to me how the general public keeps going back and forth in terms of whether they believe Hae Ra or her husband cause it seems pretty clear that the evidence is in Hae Ra's favor but the money is clearly in Hoon Seok's corner. It does look like Hae Ra married Hoon Seok in the beginning cause he got her pregnant but we found out that he's been abusive since the start and his abuse actually caused Hae Ra to lose their baby. I'm not sure why he is so sure that Ga On isn't theirs though and I wonder if it's cause he got the files from her OB/GYN like Min Joon did or whether he's planning on faking everything like Tae On recommended and is just pissed cause he can't find a hair or a nail of his. On that note it looks like Tae On is much more evil than we first expected and I guess my first question is why she bothered setting this whole thing up when it's clear she really doesn't see Hoon Seok as more than a pet so why not find an unmarried pet? Maybe it's not fun without the danger? I'm also wondering why her fight is against her own father and whether he was the one to leak all the domestic abuse stuff in order to screw with Tae On. It also looks like Min Joon's sister Min Yeon was a reporter who was framed for being a prostitute and Hae Ra was the one who first reported what went down. The FB Group (but more specifically Tae On I'm assuming) was behind the whole thing but now the question remains does Min Joon blame Hae Ra for his sister or does he just think that she'll just be a good pawn to use cause low key part of me still ships the two. I also have a feeling that Ga On is actually Min Yeon's child cause we saw in the premiere that Hae Ra, Min Yeon, a baby and Eun Hye's father were all in a building that was on fire though I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that Ga On is actually Min Yeon and Hoon Seok's kid too and that Min Yeon was gotten rid of cause Tae On has been interested in Hoon Seok from back then.

The Uncanny Counter (2/16): Tells the story of demon hunters called Counters who come to earth under the guise of being employees at a noodle restaurant in order to capture evil spirits that have returned to earth in pursuit of eternal life. So Mun is the youngest of the Counters. After suffering from a mysterious car accident as a child, he eventually becomes a central figure among the Counters. Do Ha Na has the ability to sense the locations of evil spirits, even those that are hundreds of kilometers away. She can also read memories of others through touch and works with So Mun to do away with evil spirits. Ga Mo Tak is a Counter with incredible strength. He’s a former police officer who lost his memory seven years ago after an accident and is unable to stand idle in the face of injustice. Ga Mo Tak is also So Mun’s mentor. Chu Mae Ok is a Counter with healing abilities. Outwardly, she’s the chef of the noodle restaurant, but among the Counters, she is the emotional pillar of the group. Choi Jang Mool is the oldest Counter. He’s in charge of all of the Counters’ expenses, and he is a living legend among the Counters in Korea.

Omg guess who just fell in love with the premiere for a show??? I didn't have many expectations as I went into this show which is probs why I was shook with what we got! We dived into a world of Grim Reapers and revenge and I'm so down! Apparently in this world evil spirits escape from the afterlife and possess human hosts and devour other human souls through murder and every soul captured takes the evil spirit up a level in power so level 1s are those that just came to the world and level 4s are those that become one with their hosts and at that point they're not only stronger than a normal human but they also get powers like psychokinesis. The Counters on the other hand are humans in comas that are basically possessed by grim reapers and they are given speed, power, and other special powers depending on the human host. In our main trio, we have healing, the ability to find evil spirits, and raw strength. So Mun is our main character though and he's new to this whole thing so we don't know what his power is yet though I think the fact that his grim reaper said that he's so full of anger and power makes him more powerful than the others and I'm sure that he'll have an extra special power. In terms of the overall story I think we're going to see that Mun's parents were killed by someone (probs that company CEO we saw in episode 1) and in the same accident so was Mo Tak (he was So Mun's dad's partner) and eventually we'll have to take the company down not only to avenge the people wronged but also cause we know that evil spirits are attracted to sinners and this city is fun of sin cause of the company. So far like I said I'm really into this show's plot and the characters are all fun and I can't wait for more found family tropes though I'm left wondering why our Counters don't have human lives outside of themselves.

CDRAMA

FINISHED Begin Again (35/35): It tells the story of a domineering female CEO and a warm doctor who turn a fake relationship into reality due to practical reasons. Having exchanged their 'I do's', they start on a new chapter of their lives as they learn to fall in love. Lu Fangning is the general manager of Luning Group, a large corporation in the business of home furniture. Lu Fangning is a woman who has it all - talented, beautiful and rich. Nearing her thirties, Lu Fangning succumbs to family pressures and decides that she urgently needs a husband with whom she will have a child. Coincidentally, surgeon Ling Rui appears in front of her. Ling Rui is not only blessed with good looks but also has an angelic heart, which makes him the perfect candidate in the eyes of Lu Fangning. She schemes her way to his life and they finally become husband and wife. Lu Fangning eventually realizes the error in her ways and strives to be better. However, keeping a marriage is not as easy as it seems.

Well the finale for this show aired this week and it really high key ruined this whole show for me. I mean I was pretty meh about it overall but now it's shifted towards dislike territory! I mean what kind of nonsense did we just watch? Fangning finds out that Ling Rui rejected an offer to go learn in Germany in order to stay with her and when she gets pressured by his mom to let him go, she decides the best way to proceed is for her to divorce him. She acted like Germany was on Mars and it was all or nothing as if phones or airplanes don't work! But okay let's say that I can understand that she was under a lot of mental stress between the company being stolen from her and Gao Fan blaming her for her sister's death however I draw the line at the fact that she never told Ling Rui about Yoyo! I hate in shows more than anything else when someone gets pregnant and then hides it from the father cause the mother thinks that she knows best. If the father refuses to step up that's one thing but not giving him a choice at all is horrible. Fangning left China anyway to raise Yoyo in America (I think) so why couldn't she just stay in Germany with Ling Rui as he went to school?? It seriously soured me on the rest of the show cause though a part of me thought the whole misunderstanding part was funny, in the end I was just as pissed as Ling Rui that Fangning kept this secret and I could not find any of their scenes cute anymore. I suppose I'm glad that Gao Fan got his just deserts and I was glad that Ling Rui and Fangning finally worked as a team but it was six years too late in my opinion. Overall I guess I'd give this show a 4.5 / 10.

Fate (9/40): Five years ago, Xia Ran Ran was an ugly duckling futilely tailing behind Lin Xiang An whereas Su Mo was the white lotus on Lin Xiang An's heart. Five years gone, Xia Ran Ran became Shao Ming Zhe's fiancée in name, but Su Mo is the ex-girlfriend he keeps in his heart. Xia Ran Ran never expect to meet Lin Xiang An again. Time has passed, yet her memory still seems to be rooted in the past. Can she wipe him away from the bottom of her heart? Her relationship with Shao Ming Zhe is due to the alliance between their families. They've always accompanied each other, but they've never loved each other. Will his gentleness and love be a drug she cannot quit? Love is like poppy, breathtakingly beautiful yet fatal. Chen Luo is her father's right-hand man; he's tried to approach her, only for her to step away again and again. However, no matter how iron-hearted she is, will she be able to escape from the web of love he cast? Who will be the leading man in her life and her partner in this unending romance play?

Talk about falling in love with the premiere of a show! I was honestly not expecting to like this show that much cause it sounded very much like one of those modern cdramas that I usually don't love but I was attracted by the idea of a contract engagement so I decided to jump in. While I'm a little disappointed in the fact that Ranran and Mingzhe are more like those usual drama enemies than real friends, it really does seem to be surface level. They clearly love each other though I don't think either of them know it yet and any hostility is just them trying to protect themselves. Ranran fell for him back in London but he was still mourning his relationship with Su Mo so he wasn't ready and now that he has given up Su Mo, Ranran is no longer opening her heart. It's the most beautifully angsty ships in the night scenario. I also have to say that I actually really adore the revenge plot in this show too much more than I would have thought cause you know I'm all about the ride-or-die couples so the fact that Ranran and Mingzhe are working together to take down her father's mistress (and then later his uncle I'm assuming) is everything. I am a little worried that Mingzhe and Kai will end up on opposite sides cause I did love their friendship but in the end I care more about our main couple triumphing. In terms of the love square I am seriously surprised that the main romance is between two rich leads and that the poor second lead was shafted to the side and while I would be more confused about this, I have a feeling that Su Mo is not what she seems. I get the vibe that she covets everything Ranran has and that's why she seduced Xiang'an back then knowing that Ranran liked him though I don't know where that fits in with her dating Mingzhe. Like Ranran and Su Mo were in their second year of college when this show started so at what point did Mingzhe and Su Mo date? Was it after she met Ranran? I'm also curious about why Xiang'an low key seemed like he liked Ranran in the flashbacks only to be head over heels when we met him at the start of this show.

FINISHED Oh My Drama Lover (24/24): Li Chunxi, a third-rate romance writer, experiences a car accident and wakes up to find that she has entered a completely unfamiliar world. Additionally, she is no longer herself but someone by the name of Qian Zhenzhen, losing the memory of her former self. Qian Zhenzhen of the unfamiliar world is a woman who does anything to seduce her boss, Ouyang Chen. Li Chunxi, now Qian Zhenzhen, attempts to gradually rid of her bad reputation and in doing so attracts the attention of her boss, Ouyang Chen, who falls in love with her and tries to court her. But her heart becomes increasingly occupied by her loyal assistant, Lu Li, and the two slowly fall in love. Qian Zhenzhen, who has become a winner in love and turned around her image, would have never thought that the innocent Lu Li has a double identity...

This show came to an end this week and it was just as amazing as the rest of this show thankfully. I'm always so worried about endings cause I've been burned hard so many many times and though of course this finale was a little more dramatic than I expected, in the end everything worked out well enough and I'm content! Zhenzhen remembered everything last week so she decided that she had to fix everything in order to protect Lu Li. In her original draft Lu Li died protecting Zhenzhen who ended up dying later and being the evidence Ouyang needed in order to figure out that Professor Yuan was the bad guy. Because of this she decided to use him in order to catch Yuan and protect Lu Li from getting hurt and it led to a whole lot of dramatics like Zhenzhen pretending that she got her memory back or Zhenzhen pretending she loved Ouyang which I lapped right up! In the end though it took everyone working together to save the day and Zhenzhen returned to being Chunxi the real world. I'd like to imagine that she rewrote the story to fit what she lived through with Zhenzhen not being the evil second lead and ending up with Lu Li but the way our Chunxi described it sounded like book Chunxi got with Lu Li cause book Chunxi is supposed to be our Chunxi's avatar. I still wish that Chunxi and Zhenzhen had been friends rather than enemies throughout this show cause they were supposed to be one and the same and part of me did feel bad for Ouyang and how much our Chunxi loved him but the rest of me just adored Lu Li and Zhenzhen that everything else was not important. Fortunately for all of us, our Chunxi found her Lu Li in the real world too though it's clear that he's not the same person and only has the same face but I imagine that if the two are even the slightest bit alike that he will be seduced by Chunxi quicker than you can say happy ending. If you can't tell by now I really adored this show and so I'd give it a 9 / 10!

JDRAMA

Neechan no Koibito (5/9): When Momoko Adachi was in high school, her parents died in an accident. She was left with her 3 younger siblings. To support her family, Momoko Adachi gave up on going to a university and picked up a job at a hardware store. 9 years later, she is now 27-years-old. Her 3 younger siblings are 20, 17, and 14-years-old. Momoko Adachi places her sibling's happiness before anything else. One day, she meets Yoshioka-san at work. She is attracted to Yoshioka-san, who smiles all the time, but he has a secret.

We finally learned what Manato was in jail for and I just want to thank the heavens that he wasn't related to the death of her parents!!!! Jdramas have really been giving it to me recently where how they're not forcing their main leads to be connected by horrible pasts cause I was saved in Talio and I was saved here! As it turns out though the circumstances for what happened were truly horrible and I'm horrified at what horrible luck Manato had. Apparently he went to jail for 2 years for assaulting two men who tried to rape his girlfriend but his girlfriend lied and said that nothing happened in order to protect her own reputation. I was stunned honestly cause it's not like Manato murdered the two men so 2 years for assault felt like waaay too much! It broke my heart even more cause he was doing the right thing by protecting his girlfriend and now he's got this stigma attached to himself from his parol officer who now doesn't want Momoko and Manato to date to society itself. I hated that when he told the story to Momoko he gave her the official story and I have a feeling that the two will break up but then Manato's mom will go to her and tell her what really happened and she'll change her mind. It was also super cute that her brothers looked for him just to see the guy their sister liked and fell for him too cause they are adorable even if they really are just here to be the token siblings. 

Shanai Marriage Honey (3/7): A young couple got married almost immediately after meeting each other through a dating app and did not realized that they were working for the same company. They decided to keep their marriage a secret from their company and friends. At first, both parties thought it's okay to get married without love but they gradually got attracted to each other.

This show is high key sexier than it should be and seriously I want to shout out Itagaki Mizuki for being able to have chemistry with every one of his female leads! He was one of the only reasons I watched Sixteen Syndrome and he's one of the reasons I jumped to watch this one. I still don't know why Miura is being so sketchy about his marriage cause like who would care if the office found out that the two were married but also why is he hiding it from his mom and does he have a terrible relationship with her? Like Ami I'm super curious about everything about him! What I can say for certain is that he clearly loves Ami and he was super precious when he tried to play Ami's game by hiding his jealously and acting cool only to let her pretend to make him jealous later on when he found out the truth. I do wonder if Miura told Matsushita about them or if he guessed it and now is confirming it through Ami cause we've never actually seen the two men together other than that one scene in the first episode and it didn't look like Miura was happy to see him. I'm curious as to why Ami didn't mention him to Miura but it's possible that she forgot in the midst of everything else. I'm also going to assume that since his mom's text was such a cliffhanger that maybe the plan is that she'll come to visit him randomly and see Ami and it'll be all sorts of awkward!

Shichinin no Hisho (6/8): Toto Bank President Ichihara is in a hotel suite romancing his secretary Nana when he suddenly loses consciousness. Four women arrive to perform CPR, but their efforts to save him are in vain. They calmly rid the room of evidence, then ensure the deletion of all records pertaining to the president’s stay. Previously, the president had stipulated that should he die suddenly, his death must be be made to appear as if he had died at home. Keitaro is a former litigation clerk who worked as a political secretary and is now running a ramen restaurant. He ordered the four women to deal with the situation happening in the hotel room. Together restauranteur Keitaro, housekeeper Satsuki and secretaries Chiyo, Nana, Fujiko, Sa Ran and Miwa, form a shadow corps, whose mission it is to help the weak and punish evil-doers. With their combined skills and experience, they are a force to be reckoned with. 

Sa Ran finally met her father this week but I'm really not sure how I felt about the whole thing. Like on the one hand it was good that he's not a complete monster like the Minister but on the other hand I can't get past the part where he turned away Sa Ran when she came to Japan 5 years ago after her mom died. It's one thing for him to have left years ago to become a better doctor but why did he not want to see her when he's settled? It also sucked that though he recognized her as his daughter by the end of the episode, he wasn't like I'm sorry for what I did or I love you or I'll be a better dad. It was all platitudes and nonsense and I think she deserved better than what she got. In other news it does look like we'll finally start our mission to take down the Minister soon enough cause he's starting to connect the dots and our secretaries are starting to see that he's more corrupt than they thought before. He called in Sa Ran to become his secretary cause I'm sure that he's hoping to keep an eye on her and therefore the others but I wonder if she should take it to get some sort of upper hand later. It's also interesting that the Governor that we took down last week ended up turning over a new leaf and became a good person to the degree that the bad guys wanted to kill her.

FINISHED Talio Fukushu Daiko no Futari (7/7): Mami Shirasawa became a lawyer at the young age of 20, as she chose to take the preliminary judicial examinations. Now with a large law firm, she has yet to be assigned a case, despite her competence. When a colleague drops a case, Mami is eager to take it on. Her first client is Yoriko Watanuki, a woman who was sexually assaulted by the son of the owner of a large construction company. Predictably, the accused has denied wrongdoing and had tried to cover his tracks by using his money and influence and by twisting the victim’s words around to suit his purposes. Mami comes to learn that her client has likely been defrauded by an on-line revenge agency, whom she paid up front, but has yet to see any results. In order to take legal action, Mami instructs Yoriko to determine who at the agency is responsible for the theft. The guilty party is one Kensuke Kuroiwa, a petty con artist. In an unlikely turn of events, lawyer and con artist team up to exact revenge upon Yoriko’s assailant.

I'm totally a little sad that the finale for this show aired this week cause it was so fun and kooky while being the con artist show I wanted and had hints of romance in them which you guys should all know by now is the perfect recipe for me to have fun! I was honestly relieved when we found out that Kuroiwa actually had no connection to Mami's past whatsoever cause most shows like to have their main characters connected but I really liked that Kuroiwa was the same con man with a heart of gold like he always was and it was just as simple as that. His relationship with Mami was based on the present and the fact that he probably was amused by her and he cared for her enough to want better things for her than working with him forever. I loved that he noticed right away when she was acting out of normal and that he worried for her even when she tried to shut him out. I would still like to head-canon that the two are romantically interested in each other but whether their affection is platonic or romantic, I liked that she refused to leave him at the end and dragged him along on their next adventure though of course it didn't take much effort on her part. The only thing I can complain about is the fact that I'm still not sure if I liked how quickly the storyline with Mami's father went or the fact that he had amnesia but I'm wondering if the show is setting up for a second season with how vague the end was. Overall I think this was a fun lighthearted watch and I'd give it a 7 / 10!

TWDRAMA

Wacko At Law (1/15): Mai Daqi is a genius in the legal profession, but because of his dissatisfaction with the profitism of the law firm, he shelved his lawyer's license. It wasn't until an air crash that suddenly took the lives of his parents and his fiancee four years ago. In order to get justice for his family, Daqi regained his legal profession and overthrew American Airlines' first-class lawyers.

I do adore twdramas but I always hate that they only release one episode a week though fortunately they're a bit longer than the normal hour length! I wasn't really sure what kind of show I would be getting here but it ended up feeling very similar to something that's a mix of I Hear Your Voice, Mad Dog, and Meet Me @ 1006 but I'm not entirely sure if that'll end up being what this show is. It does start out with a plane crash like Mad Dog and something about the show gives me similar vibes to Meet Me @ 1006 but in the end I think more than anything it'll be something like I Hear Your Voice with how it focuses on a lawyer who joins a mostly rundown law firm in order to help others. I originally thought that Daqi might be one of the most put-together male lead who lost the love of his life but then we see that he's only this way cause he's hallucinating his dead girlfriend by his side. It's super strange that this show wants to start this way while also setting up a future romance with Yuxin but I think I'm here more for the office work part more than the romance (at least so far) so I'm not all that annoyed by it. I also liked the reveal that Daqi came to live at Yuxin's home cause he respected her father rather than fate cause it feels more real. I do wonder if there will be more of an overall plot but I can't imagine so with how the airplane crash revenge storyline was wrapped up in the first half of the premiere!

xoxo Allie