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 A Business Proposal (12/12): Shin Ha Ri is a single woman and works for a company. She has a male friend, who she has had a crush on for a long time, but she learns he has a girlfriend. Shin Ha Ri feels sad and decides to meet her friend Jin Young Seo, who is a daughter of a chaebol family. Jin Young Seo then asks Shin Ha Ri to take her place in a blind date and even offers some money for her time. Shin Ha Ri accepts her friend's offer. She goes out on the blind date as Jin Young Seo, while having the intention to get rejected by her date. When she sees her blind date, Shin Ha Ri is dumbfounded. Her blind date is Kang Tae Mu. He is the CEO of the company where she works. Kang Tae Mu is the CEO of a company that his grandfather founded. One day, his grandfather informed him of an upcoming blind date that he set up for him. Kang Tae Mu is a workaholic and he is annoyed that his grandfather sets up blind dates for him. He decides to marry the next woman whom he meets at a blind date, so he won't be disturbed from his work anymore. That woman is Shin Ha Ri, but pretending to be Jin Young Seo. On the following day, Shin Ha Ri receives a phone call from Kang Tae Mu. He asks her to marry him.

Sometimes whether a show hits or not actually ends up depending on what else has been airing at the time. This show is nothing but cliches and tropes and at the end of the day it brings nothing new to the rom com table and yet it's probs going to end up being one of my favorite dramas of the year! It's been so so long since we got a proper cute rom com in which romance was the focus and this show seriously reminded me the kdramas I watched when I first started out. And I think it really helps that despite all the cliches the writing was still solid and our leads had chemistry! I liked that Tae Moo despite starting out as the typical cold male lead ended up not being that exactly while Ha Ri was a bundle of joy to watch and it was clear why they fell for each other. I loved the mistaken identity as much as the faking dating portion but when they finally got together I was thrilled with how comfortable they felt with each other! Tbh I could have done without the grandfather disapproving part cause tbh that felt like a cliche the show seemed to make fun of beforehand only to dive right in at the end but I think it worked out okay cause it kinda felt more like the grandpa actually adored Ha Ri and was just trying not to. 9.5 / 10

FINISHED Forecasting Love And Weather (16/16): A romance drama about the work and love in the office of National Weather Service, hotter than tropical nights and more unpredictable than localized heavy rains. Jin Ha Kyung is an intelligent and highly organized individual who does everything by the book and is fastidious about keeping her personal and professional lives separate. Due to her cold demeanor, she has few friends at work and has become an “outsider by choice.” Lee Shi Woo is a free spirit who is always thinking outside the box. Although he can appear clumsy, he boasts an impressive IQ of 150 and is able to achieve anything once he sets his mind to it. However, in spite of his intelligence and abilities, all he cares about is the weather. Han Ki Joon is a handsome and quick-witted character with a silver tongue. Using his formidable powers of persuasion, Han Ki Joon eventually gets scouted by the spokesperson's office after struggling in the early days of his career at the service. However, because he has lived his entire life as a model student, he has a hard time dealing with failure. Chae Yoo Jin is a daily weather reporter. Although she went into her job with lofty dreams of breaking news, exciting scoops, and on-site reports, Chae Yoo Jin was ultimately assigned to the “weather and lifestyle team.” While she was initially disappointed by the assignment, she eventually comes to grow fond of her job.

The thing with this show was that I really actually wanted to enjoy it. Not only was I excited about the leads of this show but every time there's a drama with a new setting that I've never seen before I get more interested. Unfortunately while this show started out kinda strong in the end it sort of fell apart. I kinda hate when couples get together so early on cause then dramas can't think of anything interesting other than forcing us to watch them fall apart which is so annoying. This show tried to do this creative thing where it compared the weather to our main couple but in the end all it did was give every interaction Ha Kyung and Shi Woo a sort of melancholy feel making it hard to not only root for them  but also to enjoy their interactions. I also didn't love the way this show took Ki Joon and Yoo Jin. Like their relationship literally started through them cheating and then by the end it wanted us to believe that they're innocent angels who found the truest of love? Ugh. Despite all this I do think the weather side of this show was fun even if a bit over-exaggerated cause seriously who in the public gets that pissed when the forecast is wrong given that weather forecasts are almost never right! I also thought Park Min Young and Song Kang had pretty great chemistry so it's a bit unfortunate they had this writing backing them. 7.5 / 10

FINISHED Twenty Five Twenty One (12/12): The story is set in 1998 and tells the stories of youth who find new direction and growth after having their dreams taken away. Two people first meet when they are 22 and 18 years old and fall in love years later when they turn 25 and 21. Na Hee Do is a member of her high school fencing team. Due to the South Korean financial crisis, the high school fencing team gets disbanded. Getting through all the difficulties, she becomes a member of the national fencing team. The South Korean financial crisis also causes Baek Yi Jin’s father's business to go bankrupt. This leads to a life change for Baek Yi Jin, from living the life of a wealthy person to a poor person. While studying, he works part-time jobs like delivering newspapers. Later, he becomes a sports reporter for a broadcasting network.

I'm currently writing down my thoughts through tears cause I literally just finished watching the last episode of this show and sobbing cause even though I knew there was no way this show would end happily, it was still a shot to the heart watching it play out! Part of me thinks it's so ballsy of the show to show us a story about first love in which that love ends as just a happy memory rather than even giving us a hint of reconciliation at the end but the rest of me is heartbroken cause we literally spent 16 episodes falling in love with this couple only to be told that they didn't belong together. It makes it even sadder given that no one dies and their breakup wasn't due to anything more than distance. I'm also low key bitter over the fact Yu Rim and Ji Woong made it when Hee Do and Yi Jin didn't given that they pretty much went through the same long distance thing! Having said all that the show was still worth watching cause Hee Do and Yi Jin melted my heart with their cuteness no matter what stage of a relationship they were in. I loved the way they supported each other with their whole body and souls and in the end it was a lovely story about youth. 10 / 10

CDRAMA

Legally Romance (33/33): At twenty-eight years old, Qian Wei should have been well on her way to establishing herself in her career. However, working as a paralegal for Lu Xun has so far proven to be anything but awesome. Harboring a grudge that dates back to their days as students, Lu Xun has made sure Qian Wei’s life is nothing short of a living hell. But when Qian Wei becomes the victim of a tragic accident, everything changes. Now in a coma, Qian Wei finds herself in a dream world in which she has reverted back to her teenage self. It’s here, in the world within a world, that she finds a very different Lu Xun. Meeting him in this dream world, Qian Wei discovers an entirely different side of her persnickety boss. Spending her days drifting between dreams and reality, Qian Wei begins to understand there’s more to Lu Xun than meets the eye. At the same time, he begins to realize that the same holds true for her.In the space between dreams and reality, Qian Wei and Lu Xun begin to realize their feelings for each other have taken a drastic turn. Struggling to make sense of these newfound feelings, can Qian Wei and Lu Xun find a way to accept what has grown between them without sacrificing their professional aspirations?

Truly I am as shocked as all of you in discovering just how much I fell in love with this show given that neither the synopsis nor the first few episodes I watched were anything special but as the show went on I found myself looking forward to this show over so many of the others I was watching which means that it clearly snuck into my heart when I wasn't looking! I think that naturally it was the cute romance between our leads that was the star of this show cause duh what else would be the reason that a romance show was good! Z. Tao has clearly gotten better as his acting career has grown cause despite him playing the same mischievous male lead who's head over heels devoted to his female lead role that I've seen him do in several shows it worked for me the most here. I loved the time travel college part of this show and I loved the present day office side too which surprised me cause I really expected to hate one or another. If I did have one complaint though I wish we had paced the show a bit more so that we spent more time in the modern day cause it feels like Qian Wei and Lu Xun got together too quickly though I suppose that having been in love with her for 10 years, it wouldn't take much for him to bow down to her. 9.5 / 10

xoxo Allie

Winter 2022 Anime Awards

Hey guys! The Winter 2022 Anime Season has officially come to a close this week and I have to say that this season was a bit rough cause I don't know if I really enjoyed any show more than a bit other than maybe one.

(Original) Anime Of The Season

My Dress-Up Darling is my pick for the anime of the season and like I mentioned up top this was a pretty rough season to pick from so since this show came the closest to being something I could love, I ended up picking it for this category. Like don't get me wrong that doesn't mean I hated this show or anything close and in all honestly it was a pretty fun romp but I just couldn't fall in love with it like it seems everyone else who watched or read the manga for this seemed to. Having said that I liked the idea of this show and the fact that it reminded me a lot of Smile Down The Runway. I also really liked that it focused on cosplay which isn't something you see a lot of anime focus on and that the characters were both fun to watch. I think it was the pacing for this show which crawled like a snail and perhaps the fact that there was a bit too much fanservice for my taste that didn't help.

Runner Up - Life With An Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into A Total Fantasy Knockout

Hidden Gem 

Life With An Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into A Total Fantasy Knockout is my pick for hidden gem of the season. Comedy anime tend to be a mixed bag for me cause a lot of the time I don't exactly find the humor in them funny but this show actually ended up reminding me a lot of Konosuba in the way that it parodied isekai. I loved the idea of these two men who were clearly in love with each other in the real world trying to fight falling in love in this isekai world. Every week they're put into more and more ridiculous situations and I lived for seeing all the jokes that the show tossed out from the wannabe Sword Art Online hero to the way villains were one punch KO'd.

Runner Up - The Genius Prince’s Guide To Raising A Nation Out Of Debt

Best Sequel 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment Arc is definitely the best sequel of this season and far and away it was leagues better than anything else we got this season. It's only cause I don't love to bombard these awards with sequels that it didn't sweep. Honestly I don't know what to say about this show that hasn't already been said. Demon Slayer literally brings anime up to new levels with how consistently good it is week to week. I wasn't a fan of re-airing a movie as a season but this season definitely made up for it. I loved meeting a new Hashira and I really loved seeing how much our heroes have grown and changed after the Mugen Train from where they were at the end of season 1.

Runner Up - Princess Connect! Re:Dive Season 2

Greatest Animation/Character Design

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment Arc had the best animation this season and really once again there's no competition. Every single frame of this show was killer from the simple dialogue scenes all the way to the fights. I loved how uniquely the fights were depicted and a special shoutout needs to go to the director who was able to depict a team fight in a way I hadn't seen before.

Runner Up - My Dress-Up Darling

Best OP 

Kaze no Oto sae Kikoenai by JUNNA from Sabikui Bisco is the best OP of the season. I loved the way the music paired with the animation for this op and the fact that it was one of the only OPs from this season that wasn't slow and soft which has it's time and place but I guess not for me this season.

Runner Up - Midnight Dancer by Toshiki Masuda from Love Of Kill

Protagonist(s) Of The Season

Wein Salema Arbalest from The Genius Prince's Guide To Raising A Nation Out Of Debt is actually my protagonist of the season cause he was such a fun contradiction of a character! On paper this show reminded me a lot of How A Realist Hero Rebuilt A Kingdom but whereas that show bored me halfway through this one kept me hooked week to week despite having similar plots because this show had something that one didn't: a compelling lead. On paper he feels like the typical overpowered lead given that he's smarter and stronger than most everyone in this show but the fact that he's got a deeper side sets him apart. He clearly cares about his nation and the people in it though he claims the opposite and as time goes on you see that he's not all that serious about not wanting to be in charge. He loves one woman with all his heart despite believing that nothing will come out of it and I believe part of his reason to wanting to leave has to do with her.

Runner Up - Marin and Gojou from My Dress Up Darling

Antagonist(s) Of The Season

Daki and Gyutaro from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment Arc are my antagonists of the season cause not only are they sharing a body but I think the show did a great job of making them feel just as strong as each other. Truth be told most of the show this season weren't exactly action oriented so there wasn't exactly a huge crop to pick from but I have a feeling that even if there were, these two would still come out on top. I love that they were basically the mirror version of Tanjiro and Nezuko in a world where Tanjiro was turned into a demon too cause like Tanjiro Gyutaro also would do anything for his little sister. He spent his entire life trying to make her happy and when push came to shove she gave up her body for him cause she loved him just as much. Of course on the action side they were great foes for all four of our demon slayers given that they killed 7 previous Hashira and in terms of power scaling since they were stronger than the Lower Rank Demon that was fought during the Mugen Train, it took 5 people to kill them whereas 1 was almost enough in the Mugen Train.

Runner Up - Kaiser Insight from Princess Connect! Re:Dive Season 2

Ship Of The Season

Marin and Gojou from My Dress Up Darling are my ship of the season cause I think they were the couple that was given the most screen-time to fall in love with each other. Honestly it was really cute seeing how much they adored one another and the fact that they loved watching each other fanboy/fangirl over the things they loved in such a realistic way. I loved the fact that Marin wasn't afraid to be around him or of any rumors that would come about and that Gojou never once thought she was too much or downplayed her interests. I did wish that Marin was given time to support Gojou in his Hina dolls as much as he supported her in cosplay but given this is probs only season 1, I can let that slide.

 

Runner Up - Ninym and Wein from The Genius Prince’s Guide To Raising A Nation Out Of Debt

And with that I'll see you all in the Spring 2022 Season!! Here's hoping that we get a better crop to choose from!

xoxo Allie