What Dramas Did I Finish This Week?

Hello and welcome back! These are the dramas I finished this week. 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

FINISHED All Of Us Are Dead (12/12): A high school becomes ground zero for a zombie virus outbreak. Trapped students must fight their way out — or turn into one of the rabid infected.

Korea is literally obsessed with zombie movies and shows recently and that is not a complaint cause tbh I'm lined up right at the door for each one that comes out! This newest one is similar to all of it's predecessors in that it follows pretty much the same formula though I'd say it's somewhere closer to Happiness and Sweet Home than something like Train To Busan just based on the fact that we have different types of zombies and that willpower plays a small part in whether someone who is bit will become a senseless killer or not. On the whole I did enjoy this show a lot cause almost all of our characters were good people and it was easy to root for them to survive and I adored the romance between Soo Hyuk and Nam Ra even if we were just given small moments unlike the main leads who were plastered to each other's sides though Soo Hyuk and Nam Ra ended up surviving so I can't say I mind. On that note I do wish that more had been done with Nam Ra but I wonder if the show was saving all that for a season 2 cause even in the few moments we got at the very end she seemed more sure of herself than before! I also really liked the way the government was portrayed and how it tried to humanize almost everyone. I had a blast with this show so I'd give it 9.5 / 10!

FINISHED Our Beloved Summer (16/16): Years after filming a viral documentary in high school, two bickering ex-lovers get pulled back in front of the camera — and into each other's lives. Choi Woong seems naive and a free-spirited man, but he wants to have something for the first time in his life. For that, he shows what he holds in his mind. Kook Yeon Soo aimed to become the top student at her school, but she is now an adult who lives fiercely, adapting to her reality.

I don't think I started this drama with any expectations negative or positive and left it stunned by how much I adored this show. The thing you have to know going in is that it's more of a melo than a rom com and that the focus is on the characters rather than the plot. Like don't get me wrong there is stuff that happens but mostly we are meant to focus on the relationship of Ung and Yeon Su as they come back together. I know a lot of people have been complaining about both of these things but I honestly think your enjoyment of the show depends on how much you emotionally connect with the leads cause I can definitely see myself tuning out if I hadn't fallen in love early on. It's also important to note that we are following Ung more than Yeon Su especially at the start so you are on his side from the start until you slowly get layers peeled off of Yeon Su later on. By the end of the show I really just wanted to wrap everyone in a warm blanket cause they all had so much trauma to unpack. I really adored the ending as well and for once a time skip didn't bother me! 10 / 10!

CDRAMA

FINISHED Nirvana In Fire (54/54): In sixth-century China, Emperor Xiaoxuan of Southern Liang orders the unjust execution of his brother-in-law General Lin Xie, alongside the Lin family, his 70,000 army soldiers, and Crown Prince Qi. Secretly surviving the massacre is Lin Xie's son, Lin Shu, who undergoes medical treatment that changes his appearance entirely and leaves him in a weakened state, unable to perform martial arts again. Lin Shu changes his name to Mei Chang Su and later becomes the chief of the pugilist world and establishes the Jiangzuo Alliance. Twelve years later, Lin Shu returns to the capital with a secret plan after being sought after by Prince Yu and Prince Xian during their fight for the throne. He decides to covertly assist Prince Jing, the unfavoured son of the Emperor, and wisely rids the court of all scheming officials.

Despite the fact that my favorite kinds of cdramas are not modern day ones, I usually tend to lean towards the wuxia side rather than the political given that I end up either overwhelmed by the politics in court dramas or pissed off at how naive our leads are. I do have to admit that maybe I just haven't been checking out the right kinds of political dramas cause between this and Joy Of Life I think I might have found a new love for them. The thing that this drama (and Joy Of Life) did right was that it gave us a lead who was just as intelligent if not more so than his opponents so rather than watching a drama where I have to fight not to bang my head on the table as I see our leads be defeated left and right, I got to watch Xiao Su be the puppetmaster. This drama was a lot darker than Joy Of Life cause it was honestly a story of revenge as well as politics and the ending felt so much grimmer just cause Joy Of Life ended on such a cliffhanger rather than us experiencing the real end to the story. In terms of the romance while I thought the one in Joy Of Life was a bit more overtly romantic, the female lead in this one played a bigger role even if she too was sidelined a lot. I definitely will be back to check out the second season which I know is not only more family focused rather than plot (which I'm not against) but also centered on a new cast of characters. 10 / 10!

xoxo Allie

What Dramas Did I Finish This Week?

Hello and welcome back! These are the dramas I finished this week. 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

FINISHED School 2021 (16/16): School 2021 is the story of students attending a specialized high school and seeking their ambitions, rather than going off to college. It will delve into how these students learn about love, friendship, true passions, and growing up in an intense environment. Gong Ki Joon is a hardworking student who assumes work and school simultaneously. He is a person who loses his 11-year-old dream of taekwondo due to injury and is unsure of knowing what to do. Jeong Young Joo is a transfer student with a hidden story and a past connection to Gong Ki Joon. Jin Ji Won, a confident high school girl with a solid dream, confidently communicates her opinion though she is in conflict with her mother about going to college. Kang Seo Young is a gifted student who is preparing, by herself, for college entrance exams. She is aiming to enter one of the top five universities in Korea. Lee Kang Hoon is a teacher who values a work-life balance. He gradually grows along with his students. Gu Mi Hee is the chairman of the board. Lee Jae Hee is the twin sister of Lee Jae Hyuk. She is a quiet person and strives to make many new changes. Lee Jae Hyuk is Lee Jae Hee's twin. Unlike Jae Hee, Jae Hyuk is the person who receives support from the foundation.

I was pretty interested in checking this drama out when I first heard about it cause School 2017 is still one of my most favorite shows and this was made by the same team and now having watched the whole thing I have to say it was fairly cute though nowhere near how good School 2017 was. The leads we follow were absolutely adorable and I loved how they were childhood friends turned to lovers who always had a crush on one another but I have to say the fact that they were kinda just adjacent to the main plot with the school was unique in a way I've never seen before. They felt more like the second leads of a show with how they mostly just reacted to the craziness rather than really leading the charge or being the cause of it. On paper this should have been fun cause that reminds me so much of Extraordinary You but I don't think it worked that great in reality. The side characters were fun in their own ways and I definitely liked that everyone ended up pairing off including the second male lead who found love outside of the female lead which was great. Solid 8 / 10!

JDRAMA

FINISHED An Incurable Case Of Love (10/10): Sakura Nanase is a 22-year-old rookie nurse. She met Doctor Tendo Kairi several years ago and fell in love with him. To meet him again, she studied hard and became a nurse. After 5 years, she finally meets Tendo again, but he has a totally different personality than what she imagined. Tendo, who is 33-years-old, is commonly referred to as the "Devil" at work. He is a level-headed perfectionist and often makes biting remarks to doctors and nurses. Sakura works hard to receive recognition from Tendo and she also expresses her feelings honestly to him. Due to her persistence, Sakura becomes well known at the hospital and she picks up the nickname of the "Warrior. Chick" Meanwhile, Tendo becomes attracted to Sakura.

Okay so I know I'm late to the party with this one but in my defense I did try to watch this show when it first aired only to get sick of the female lead before episode 1 even ended! Honestly I think I must just not have been in the mood for a jdrama at the time given that Nanase is no better or worse than most jdrama female leads in terms of naivety which is why I decided to give this show a second chance especially after seeing images of some of the male couple's kisses! Now that I have watched this whole show I'm so glad I went back!! So look Nanase really never got better in terms of her clumsiness and Tendo never really grew past his cold male lead thing but something about them was just so cute and it definitely definitely helped that I have such a thing for Satoh Takeru who was smoking hot from every angle! I liked that each episode had episodic cases and that though Nanase never became a different person altogether, she did grow into being more confident in her job and I started to find her cheer charming! 9 / 10!

xoxo Allie

What Shows Did I Finish This Week?

 Hello everyone and welcome back! Let's dive right in shall we?

The Irregular At Magic High School: Reminiscence Arc

Guys you don't know how excited I was to watch this movie this week cause I'm low key obsessed with this series and I was nowhere near fulfilled last season with that terrible spinoff of season 1 of Irregular. I am a little saddened by the fact that we're getting another flashback but at least this time it's new stuff! We finally got to see more of Miyuki and Tatsuya before they became close and it was fascinating. I'm always looking for more info on the Yotsuba and I still don't have enough! It kinda did explain Tatsuya's backstory a little in that he was born without magic so Maya and Miyuki's mom worked together to transfer her power to him and though it worked he still has less magic than most people and as a side effect both he and the mom lost all sense of emotion except for Tatsuya's love towards Miyuki. I did wonder for a bit if the show was going to tell us that Tatsuya isn't actually Miyuki's blood brother given the fact that Miyuki's mom didn't consider Tatsuya her son and Miyuki kept calling her my mom and not our mom but if that is the case we're still in the dark about it. Truly can't wait to see more!

xoxo Allie

Winter 2022 TV Schedule

Hey everyone!! It's finally September which means that the Winter 2022 TV Schedule is about to start!! As per usual I'm going to be posting what shows I will be watching!! I'll be posting the air dates for all the shows I will be watching. These all air from January to the end of March!

SUNDAY

Kimetsu no Yaiba: Entertainment District Arc - Anime

Let Me Be Your Knight - Kdrama (Series Finale January 23)

MONDAY

Princess Connect! Re: Dive - Anime (January 10)

The Gilded Age - 9 PM on HBO Max (January 24)

TUESDAY

Life With An Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into A Total Fantasy Knockout - Anime (January 11)

The Genius Prince's Guide To Raising A Nation Out Of Debt - Anime (January 11)

FBI - 8 PM on CBS
FBI: International - 9 PM on CBS

Superman & Lois - 8 PM on CW (January 11)

Our Beloved Summer - Kdrama (Series Finale January 25)

The One And Only - Kdrama (Series Finale February 8)

WEDNESDAY

In The Land Of Leadale - Anime (January 5)

Love Of Kill - Anime (January 12)
Orient - Anime (January 5)

Police In A Pod - Anime (January 5)
Tokyo 24th Ward - Anime (January 5)

Legends Of Tomorrow - 8 PM on CW (January 12)

The Book Of Boba Fett - Netflix (Series Finale February 9)

The Flash - 8 PM on CW (March 9)

Rookie Cops - Kdrama (January 26) (Series Finale March 16)

THURSDAY

Peacemaker - HBO Max (January 13) (Series Finale February 17)

Star Trek Discovery Season 4 - CBS

The Orville - 9 PM on Hulu (March 10)

School 2021 - Kdrama (Series Finale January 13)

FRIDAY

The Case Study Of Vanitas Season 2 - Anime (January 14)

The Legend Of Vox Machina - Amazon Prime (January 28)

Reset - Cdrama (January 11) (Series Finale February 3)

SATURDAY

My Dress Up Darling - Anime (January 9)

The Faraway Paladin - Anime (Season Finale January 1)

F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers - THDrama (Series Finale April 2)

Through The Darkness - Kdrama (January 14) (Series Finale March 19)

User Not Found - Kdrama (Series Finale February 12)

STREAMING

All Of Us Are Dead - Netflix (January 28)

Irregular At Magic High School: Reminiscence Arc - Anime (December 31)

Vikings: Valhalla - Netflix (February 25)

xoxo Allie 

Fall 2021 Anime Awards

Hey guys! The Fall 2021 Anime Season has officially come to a close this week and I have to say that this season absolutely killed with the content we got! So much was so good that I don't even know how I'm going to break it all down!

(Original) Anime Of The Season

Blue Period is my pick for the anime of the season and really it could not be anything else. This show took the action from a shounen and mixed it with the emotion from a shojo making it the perfect mix of everything you could love in an anime. It follows a high school boy who discovers his love for art and we follow him as he applies to the only public art school in Japan. Every art piece he creates is meticulously broken down as if it's a fight in an action series and yet it's the emotional side that rings with you as you emphasize with his fear over whether he's good enough to go to art school or if the fact that he's a hard worker as important as being talented or whether he's started the game too late as he's in his final year of high school when he gets serious! The ending of this show takes place as he gets his results for his college entrance exam and it's a perfect ending to this arc leaving me hoping that we get another season so I can enjoy more!

Runner Up - The Vampire Dies In No Time

Hidden Gem 

The Vampire Dies In No Time is my pick for hidden gem of the season cause I truly haven't heard anyone discuss this hilarious anime. It's first and foremost a comedy and the show definitely doesn't hide it which is interesting cause Japanese comedies don't always work for me but this show made me cackle out loud multiple times including in the pilot. The concept is that we're following a vampire hunter who ends up accidentally destroying an immortal vampire's mansion in the mountains so the vampire has to live with the hunter. The hilarity comes from the episodic vampires the two have to hunt down, the extremely colorful cast of hunters, and the fact that the vampire is the weakest vampire to exist cause even the slightest nudge can turn him to dust! There's a second season coming out soon so it's the perfect time to catch up if you haven't already!

Runner Up - Banished From The Hero's Party, I Decided To Live A Quiet Life In the Countryside

Best Sequel 

86 Eighty-Six Season 2 is definitely the best sequel of this season which wasn't honestly a surprise to me cause as you all know when it first aired back in Spring 2021 it was my favorite original anime of the season so it's only fair it gets the shout for being my favorite sequel as well. I was a bit saddened at how terrible the release schedule was this time around but I don't think it took away from the quality of the show. I loved seeing the 86 find that there was a whole world outside of the Republic and having to watch them discover their new place in it. I loved learning a bit more about the other nations and seeing that despite them condemning the Republic for the way they treated the 86, there were shades of the same behavior in these "good" nations that fascinated me. I did wish that there was a bit more Lena throughout cause I feel like we kinda skipped over much of her character development in order to follow the 86 but also there's no way she's dead so I guess not showing her is supposed to shock us when she does arrive probs to save Shin from himself.

Runner Up - Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 2

Greatest Animation/Character Design

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train Arc had the best animation this season cause duh of course it did. I am always fascinated and in awe of how constantly beautiful the show is whether it's showing us a fight or we're watching our heroes sit on a train. I think it's the way everything is outlined in a dark black line and the colors are turned up rather than lowered like most anime.

Runner Up - Blue Period

Best OP 

Dies In No Time by Jun Fukuyama from The Vampire Dies In Time is the best OP of the season. I could never skip it anytime it came on and I definitely downloaded it to listen to!

Runner Up - Dark Seeks Light by Yui Ninomiya from The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated In Another World As An Aristocrat

Protagonist(s) Of The Season

Lugh Tuatha Dé from The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated In Another World As An Aristocrat is actually my protagonist of the season cause I thought that he was a fascinating hero from the very first moment we met him. Unlike most isekai protagonists Lugh was not a loser or a pervert who was isekai-ed into becoming OP cause he was OP before this and it was actually that exact reason that he was picked. I loved that he filled up his harem with woman who he chose cause of what they could give him in terms of support with killing the hero rather than cause they were pretty or he accidentally saved them out of the kindness of his heart. Despite this I also loved that the arc he went through was still so similar to a lot of isekai leads (Rudy comes to mind) where he learns to be more human and accept and cherish his emotions so much so that he ends up finding love for the first time and throws away something important to save her.

Runner Up - Lena and Shin from 86 Eighty-Six Season 2

Antagonist(s) Of The Season

Metropoliman from Platinum End is my antagonist of the season and this was hard not cause there were so many villains to pick from this season but actually cause there were so few. I did decide that Demon Slayer shouldn't count cause the Mugen Train arc was just a repeat of the movie and while the Legion from 86 are formidable they are just mindless robots whereas I prefer my villains to be nuanced so here we are. Now don't get me wrong Metropoliman isn't exactly the most layered villain with his hatred for everyone around him but the fact that he's doing everything he's doing to save his sister gives him points. He's smart enough to outwit our heroes a few times and he's ready to sacrifice pawns at any given notice.

Runner Up - The demons from Mieruko-chan

Ship Of The Season

Lena and Shin from 86 Eighty-Six Season 2 are my ship of the season cause they are perfection. The funniest thing about them is the fact that technically they aren't together yet and honestly I don't even know if the show will go romantic with them and yet in my head canon they are perfect for each other. Lena needs Shin in order to put her naivety aside and fight for what's right no matter what others say while Shin needs Lena to pull him back from the edge of a cliff. He's been spiraling deeper and deeper into madness since he thought he lost her and cause of that he's had nothing to live for but I have a feeling the minute Lena shows up he'll find his reason to live in a way that none of his friends could show him.

Runner Up - Yuzuki and Tamahiko from Taisho Otome Fairy Tale

And with that I'll see you all in the Winter 2022 Season!!

xoxo Allie