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

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 Falsify/Distorted (32/32): In modern society, journalism has lost its integrity, and journalists who focus on the facts have disappeared. However, we've seen that there are still journalists who seek the truth, and if there is at least one person who is willing to look, the truth will come out from the darkness. Here we have two journalists. One is a "media jackal", a journalist who will write any story, fact or fiction, in order to get views, and the other is a "vegetative journalist" who hasn't been able to write a single article for five years. These two journalists, with the help of a prosecutor work together in order to seek the truth.

I've been in the mood for a new investigation drama so when this one popped up on my drama feed, I jumped right into checking it out. Though it follows journalists, I didn't really expect it to be like Pinocchio tbh cause the synopsis made it sound more like Hush and that's exactly what I ended up feeling after I checked it out though I can't decide if I think the show was better written or if it's cause I liked the main character leagues better than any of the characters in Hush. In the end I think it's both. I need to be in the right mood to check out a show that's almost entirely based on corruption but since I knew what this show was going in, none of the villains bothered me. I actually really liked that our heroes all came from different positions rather than all working at one newspaper so they came with different side characters and worked parallel to one another in order to find clues in the puzzle they were trying to put together. Every character was fun to follow and I really liked the hints of romance we got to. The villains were defeated perfectly and I was happy with the somewhat open ending. 9.5 / 10

FINISHED Rookie Cops (16/16): A coming-of-age story that captures the spirit, challenges and passion of youth as two students at the Korean National Police University experience life's charms and traumas whilst trying to become full-fledged cops. From bridging generation gaps with harmony to finding their own romance on campus, two very different students work to achieve their dreams and aspirations in the line of duty. 

Given the fact that this show pretty much takes place in the same location with a similar storyline to Police University it's obvious that there would be comparisons between the two but to this show's credit I honestly think it did a better job that Police University did! This show ended up feeling a lot more similar to Law School in the end with the way it focused on the kids being at college with the actual police work/investigation side taking a back seat. In fact it wasn't even until the final 1/3 of the show that we even focused on the bigger mystery! The characters were all much more interesting and I liked the fact that a lot of them played such big roles in the plot progressing. I loved that we saw more than just the main couple get together and tbh parts of me thought the second couple were cuter at different moments. The way the mystery played out was perfectly paced and the more we saw of the villain the more evil he became but I also liked the way the show pulled the rug out from beneath us time and again so we thought one thing only for it to be another. The ending was perfect minus the fact that one of heroes died but that did not take away from this show but rather made it better in my opinion. 8.5 / 10

FINISHED Through The Darkness (12/12): Back in the 1990s, the citizens of Seoul were gripped with a paralyzing fear after a series of brutal attacks and murders occurred. A mysterious figure dubbed ‘Red Cap’ was stalking women on the streets then killing his prey, seemingly without provocation. His habit of striking at random made it impossible for the detectives to predict his next move. At the top of their minds is what could be triggering him. Aware of the American F.B.I. and its successful use of criminal profilers to identify serial killers, the head of the Criminal Behavioral Analysis team, Gook Young Soo recruits Song Ha Young, a quiet, reserved, incredibly perceptive former detective for his team. Gook believes using this new psychological method will give the police an edge in capturing 'Red Cap' and ending his killing spree. Homicide expert Yoon Tae Goo and his officers question the value of this approach and are resistant to entering such uncharted territory. To quell their scorn they need to convince that this radical crime-fighting approach will increase their arrest rates. Does Song Ha Young have the ability to gain the trust of callous criminals while seeing through them? Is he clever enough to outwit them? But more importantly, does he possess the emotional fortitude to withstand the process?

Knowing me and my love for crime/investigation dramas you had to have known that I was going to check this one out right?? Having watched it, I'm a little torn about this show if I'm being honest cause I feel like it started out so strong and somewhere in the middle it started to lose me. Like on the one hand this show is so creative cause it's actually telling a real story of the very first Korean profiler which means that the show focuses on actual police work rather than the typical stories of corruption like in most crime dramas but I think that also doesn't work in the show's favor cause then that means the pacing for this show is so slow. Rather than having a bunch of different cases, we really only focused on a few and they dragged and dragged and dragged. Having said that I did enjoy Ha Young even if I didn't care for all the story about him being so emphatic that he took on serial killer emotions but I did enjoy watching all the different ways our profilers were able to outwit the killers during interrogations. I also really liked the positive message this show tried to give off and the fact that the title for this show was so perfect for describing the show. Ha Young fought against the darkness of things will never get better and once he came out the other side he was so much stronger for it. 9 / 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 My Holo Love (12/12): “Me Alone and You” is about the events that occur when a lonely woman meets the artificially intelligent “Holo.” The drama is filled with stories of heartbreaking loneliness and tear-stained love. Go Nan Do is the owner of an IT research company. As a genius inventor, he started the company, and all projects were created through his hands. However, the only people who are aware of his existence are his stepsister and the official CEO. He was a hacker in a major case 10 years ago and supposedly died while being pursued. Han So Yeon is an assistant manager at a glasses company. Whether it is working on brand marketing or the logistics of the launching party for the company’s flagship store, she shoulders on her work and stays ahead of the industry’s trends. She meticulously takes care of her clients and her work. However, when it comes to her personal life, she keeps her distance as she suffers from prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces.

I was watching this cdrama called Love Crossed in which a girl falls in love with a guy who's the model for a dating sim that the world is obsessed with and though I liked the concept for that show, the execution was spotty from disliking the female lead to not being a fan of the writing. Looking for something similar but with better writing I stumbled onto this show. I had heard about it when it first aired but I never watched it cause I'm really not a fan of stories in which people fall in love with AIs or robots or anything in that genre so I tend to skip shows like these all the time unless it's something like I'm Not A Robot in which a girl was acting like a robot. This time I was able to read spoilers and find out that the love story actually isn't between the female lead and an AI but the AI's inventor and that was enough to sell me. Having said that there was still a huge chunk of this show that irritated me (as in too much time spent on the "love triangle") but I did like the ending and I liked that the love So Yeon felt was actually a misunderstanding cause every moment she thought she shared with Holo was actually with Nan Do. I also really liked the second couple cause I'm always a fan of the bad boy falling for the good girl trope. In the end this was a fairly passable show but if you're a fan of the genre it could be fun! 7 / 10

FINISHED The One And Only (16/16): When Pyo In Sook was a child, her parents abandoned her with her grandmother who raised her. Her life has never been easy or comfortable. She now works at a public bathhouse scrubbing customer's bodies. Her defense mechanism is to not express her feelings to other people. One day, a doctor tells her she has a terminal illness and will die soon. Even coming face-to-face with her own mortality, In Sook remains emotionless. She begins receiving care at a hospice and meets two women with lives very different from her own: Seong Mi Do, a social media influencer, and Kang Se Yeon, an ordinary housewife who feels lonely and taken for granted. One rainy day, In Sook meets Min Woo Cheon, a contract killer who works at a private detective office. Woo Cheon's cool exterior masks a deep sadness. Each of the three women decides to end the life of one person who has done them wrong before they die, but in becoming friends, their anger begins to subside. When In Sook and Woo Cheon develop feelings for each other, though, she begins to rethink her plans.

This show is hands down the example of a show that was fascinating in concept and started out so strongly only to fall apart about halfway through and limp slowly to the end. For so much of my viewing experience I was so hesitant to say that I was disappointed cause I so badly wanted to adore this show but now that it was ended I can see more clearly. The best thing about this show was the relationship between In Sook and Woo Cheon because my oh my the actors had chemistry! Like I know they basically fell in love at first sight but guys they were so cute! I'm such a sucker for two trauma babies who find comfort in one another like in Come And Hug Me and Just Between Lovers and seriously they were the only reason that I bothered to finish this show. It felt like so much of the show was spent watching the same scenes over and over again. Like we knew the answer to the murder mystery almost halfway through the show and yet we had to struggle to watch one cop figure out the truth! And let's not even talk about how annoying and inconsistent all the other characters were. In one world I would be fascinated by Mi Do and Ji Pyo's romance and the fact that he was clearly a sociopath who managed to find a version of love (I mean we can't exactly judge since Woo Cheon was a hired killer) but here we had Mi Do go from In Sook's biggest fan to wanting her to take the fall over and over again and the romance was mostly just there to give her something to do. By the time the finale came around I was mostly just glad that it was over! 7 / 10

FINISHED User Not Found (22/22): A romance drama about two female high school students who happen to share the same name. When they both transfer to a new school at the same time, hoping to use the opportunity to turn their lives around, they forge a secret contract to swap identities. Shin Yi Joon is the most popular student at his high school. Although he seems tough and aloof on the outside, Shin Yi Joon is actually a huge softie on the inside—and far from getting into fights with other students, he even has a hard time saying no to other people.

Tbh I don't really have much to say about this show cause no one is more surprised I finished this hot mess of a show than myself! I have a soft spot for web series and that's why I started this but it was nowhere as good as any of the other web dramas I've watched which includes those that are also set in high school. The concept for this show isn't terrible and I've definitely watched a ton of these types of shows but I think I'm just not a fan of shows where the main couple aren't both in on a secret. I think that's honestly why I never watched School 2015 cause I know that I'd 100% get SLS given that the second lead is the one to help the female lead with her secrets. I like my main couples to be a team and when that doesn't happen I'm not that into them which is the case here. Like setting aside the fact that Yi Joon's actor couldn't act to save his life, I felt like the romance was so subdued and honestly it went from 0 to 100 in two seconds flat. Like one minute they both thought the other liked someone else and the next they're all but confessing to each other! If I did have a positive though I guess I'd say that I really liked the friendship between the two Min Jae's. 6 / 10

CDRAMA

FINISHED Love Scenery (31/31): Liang Chen is devoted to bringing good music works to the listeners, expressing the idea of being kind, real, and perfect. Lu Jing loves computer and big data research. He is highly recognized in the academic field through studying complicated human behavior and psychology, thus influencing the classmates around by his solid specialty literacy. They are strangers first but then brought together by big data and they become closer in the journey of pursuing dreams.

As you can see I've really been on a streak recently in binging dramas on my to be watched list and the next one up was this show! I'm a pretty big fan of gaming dramas even if I'm not a gamer myself cause there's just something so interesting about the esports world especially as it's depicted in cdramas. To my disappointment though this show actually wasn't about professional gaming and actually ended up reminding me a lot more of a mix between Love O2O and You Are My Glory though I don't think it was anywhere as good as You Are My Glory. If I'm honest this show was kinda a hot mess which is unfortunate cause it started out so strong! I thought our leads had intense chemistry and my favorite scene to this day is still the dance the two shared at the masquerade party but the show really squandered it with the writing. I really am not a fan of female leads who act like shrinking violets when they're in relationships but I also don't like female leads who are too scared to stand up for themselves. I hated every scene we had with the second male lead and I could not understand why Liang Chen didn't tell him to shove off ages ago! It also doesn't help that the gaming aspect was super weird cause the show treated it more like the characters were really in the game rather than just playing but I guess since that was the only interaction the leads had for the first third of the show that it had to be more cutesy than realistic. Speaking of it made so sense that the reveal was dragged out for so long and I prefer the You Are My Glory version where the leads figured out who each other were almost immediately. All in all this show isn't bad but if you wanna watch a show with a celebrity and the gamer guy who teaches her to game then I'd recommend You Are My Glory instead tbh.  7 / 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 My Holo Love (12/12): “Me Alone and You” is about the events that occur when a lonely woman meets the artificially intelligent “Holo.” The drama is filled with stories of heartbreaking loneliness and tear-stained love. Go Nan Do is the owner of an IT research company. As a genius inventor, he started the company, and all projects were created through his hands. However, the only people who are aware of his existence are his stepsister and the official CEO. He was a hacker in a major case 10 years ago and supposedly died while being pursued. Han So Yeon is an assistant manager at a glasses company. Whether it is working on brand marketing or the logistics of the launching party for the company’s flagship store, she shoulders on her work and stays ahead of the industry’s trends. She meticulously takes care of her clients and her work. However, when it comes to her personal life, she keeps her distance as she suffers from prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces.

I was watching this cdrama called Love Crossed in which a girl falls in love with a guy who's the model for a dating sim that the world is obsessed with and though I liked the concept for that show, the execution was spotty from disliking the female lead to not being a fan of the writing. Looking for something similar but with better writing I stumbled onto this show. I had heard about it when it first aired but I never watched it cause I'm really not a fan of stories in which people fall in love with AIs or robots or anything in that genre so I tend to skip shows like these all the time unless it's something like I'm Not A Robot in which a girl was acting like a robot. This time I was able to read spoilers and find out that the love story actually isn't between the female lead and an AI but the AI's inventor and that was enough to sell me. Having said that there was still a huge chunk of this show that irritated me (as in too much time spent on the "love triangle") but I did like the ending and I liked that the love So Yeon felt was actually a misunderstanding cause every moment she thought she shared with Holo was actually with Nan Do. I also really liked the second couple cause I'm always a fan of the bad boy falling for the good girl trope. In the end this was a fairly passable show but if you're a fan of the genre it could be fun! 7 / 10

FINISHED The One And Only (16/16): When Pyo In Sook was a child, her parents abandoned her with her grandmother who raised her. Her life has never been easy or comfortable. She now works at a public bathhouse scrubbing customer's bodies. Her defense mechanism is to not express her feelings to other people. One day, a doctor tells her she has a terminal illness and will die soon. Even coming face-to-face with her own mortality, In Sook remains emotionless. She begins receiving care at a hospice and meets two women with lives very different from her own: Seong Mi Do, a social media influencer, and Kang Se Yeon, an ordinary housewife who feels lonely and taken for granted. One rainy day, In Sook meets Min Woo Cheon, a contract killer who works at a private detective office. Woo Cheon's cool exterior masks a deep sadness. Each of the three women decides to end the life of one person who has done them wrong before they die, but in becoming friends, their anger begins to subside. When In Sook and Woo Cheon develop feelings for each other, though, she begins to rethink her plans.

This show is hands down the example of a show that was fascinating in concept and started out so strongly only to fall apart about halfway through and limp slowly to the end. For so much of my viewing experience I was so hesitant to say that I was disappointed cause I so badly wanted to adore this show but now that it was ended I can see more clearly. The best thing about this show was the relationship between In Sook and Woo Cheon because my oh my the actors had chemistry! Like I know they basically fell in love at first sight but guys they were so cute! I'm such a sucker for two trauma babies who find comfort in one another like in Come And Hug Me and Just Between Lovers and seriously they were the only reason that I bothered to finish this show. It felt like so much of the show was spent watching the same scenes over and over again. Like we knew the answer to the murder mystery almost halfway through the show and yet we had to struggle to watch one cop figure out the truth! And let's not even talk about how annoying and inconsistent all the other characters were. In one world I would be fascinated by Mi Do and Ji Pyo's romance and the fact that he was clearly a sociopath who managed to find a version of love (I mean we can't exactly judge since Woo Cheon was a hired killer) but here we had Mi Do go from In Sook's biggest fan to wanting her to take the fall over and over again and the romance was mostly just there to give her something to do. By the time the finale came around I was mostly just glad that it was over! 7 / 10

FINISHED User Not Found (22/22): A romance drama about two female high school students who happen to share the same name. When they both transfer to a new school at the same time, hoping to use the opportunity to turn their lives around, they forge a secret contract to swap identities. Shin Yi Joon is the most popular student at his high school. Although he seems tough and aloof on the outside, Shin Yi Joon is actually a huge softie on the inside—and far from getting into fights with other students, he even has a hard time saying no to other people.

Tbh I don't really have much to say about this show cause no one is more surprised I finished this hot mess of a show than myself! I have a soft spot for web series and that's why I started this but it was nowhere as good as any of the other web dramas I've watched which includes those that are also set in high school. The concept for this show isn't terrible and I've definitely watched a ton of these types of shows but I think I'm just not a fan of shows where the main couple aren't both in on a secret. I think that's honestly why I never watched School 2015 cause I know that I'd 100% get SLS given that the second lead is the one to help the female lead with her secrets. I like my main couples to be a team and when that doesn't happen I'm not that into them which is the case here. Like setting aside the fact that Yi Joon's actor couldn't act to save his life, I felt like the romance was so subdued and honestly it went from 0 to 100 in two seconds flat. Like one minute they both thought the other liked someone else and the next they're all but confessing to each other! If I did have a positive though I guess I'd say that I really liked the friendship between the two Min Jae's. 6 / 10

CDRAMA

FINISHED Reset (15/15): When Li Shi Qing awoke that fateful morning, she had no idea her life was about to change forever. Going about her day as usual, Shi Qing boarded the bus without ever giving her actions a second thought. But when the bus she was on was involved in a horrendous accident, Shi Qing had only seconds to realize that her life was about to end. Or was it? Waking up that very same morning, going through the exact same motions, boarding the same bus, and dying in the same accident, over and over again, Shi Qing soon realizes that she has become trapped in a never-ending time loop. Desperate to find a way to escape not only the loop but her tragic fate, Shi Qing inadvertently drags fellow bus passenger, Xiao He Yun, into the loop with her. Together they try to find a way to alter their fate, by ensuring the bus arrives safely at its destination but attempting to do so proves anything but easy.

Knowing that I'm obsessed with both time travel and mysteries means that I was really very excited to jump into watching this show when I first heard of it since it contains both plots. After having checked it out I have to say I'm kinda torn over how I felt about it. In actuality the story wasn't that bad but I think it's one that lends itself to be binged rather than watched weekly cause I found myself really immersed in the world when I binged a week's worth of episodes at a time but then losing interest when the next week started. Rinse and repeat. I also have to say that I didn't particularly understand why in the final loop the police didn't view our heroes as being sketchy when they did in every other loop and the idea that this wasn't the case here because it was the end of the show is a total cop-out! Having said all that I liked that we had two people in this loop rather than just Shi Qing like in most time travel stories. I liked that we followed them through their hunt for the truth and that we saw them screw up in new ways each time cause it kept things from getting too stale given that we're technically repeating the same day over and over. I also liked the way the mystery played out and I didn't even mind the subtle romance that bloomed so I guess I would recommend it if someone likes time travel mysteries but I don't think it'll ever be on the top of any of my lists. 8 / 10

FINISHED Shining For One Thing (24/24): Lin Bei Xing, an "experienced girl" who is about to enter her 30s, missed out on achieving her dream of love as her boyfriend, Zhan Yu, breaks the contract, and her life and work have become a mess. However, not sure if this is God playing tricks on her, Lin Bei Xing returned to the age of eighteen. The third year of high school is a nightmare, but Lin Bei Xing decided to retake the college entrance examination and get rid of Zhan Yu, to live anew for herself. However, Lin Bei Xing's sweet dream was dashed by a boy called Zhang Wan Sen. The accidental encounter of Zhang Wan Sen after the college entrance examination became the switch to end Lin Bei Xing's time and space journey.

I was fairly excited to check this drama out when I saw it appear on my drama feed this week cause it sounded very similar to Someday Or One Day and after having watched it I can conclude that it's definitely similar though I think I prefer Someday Or One Day in the end cause not only did that show have a better ending but there was so many less problems with it. I mean while both shows had somewhat vague endings, in that one at least there was a hint of a happy ending while here it was just bitter bitter bitter! I mean how can you force me to fall in love with Wansen and his relationship with Beixing only to be like actually he's still dead no matter what Beixing did in the parallel universes?? And let me stop you before you come at me with oh but at the last second we saw him appear with an umbrella cause dude that can't be real since it's not logical in the sense of the world so it was clearly done as a meta thing which means I will discount it. I also was so confused about so many random plot points. Like did Zhan Yu really dump Beixing for her friend? If that was the case then why was young Zhan Yu so into her? Like I kept waiting for some secret reason to come out regardless of whether it was the right choice for Zhan Yu to make like in Another Miss Oh but instead he's just there to be annoying here and there? What about Beixing's final loop and why she didn't go to the police from the start or tell her parents to stop her brother? In the end despite this show being a mixed bag and tbh there being plenty of better time travel shows out there I had enough fun with this show that I'd give it a 7.5 / 10!

FINISHED The Day Of Becoming You (26/26): The leader of a boyband and an entertainment reporter are forced into many outrageous situations after they switched bodies. Jiang Yi is a big star in the entertainment industry. He is the cold and distant leader of a popular boy band. In reality, he's simply not good at expressing himself ever since his parents divorced when he was young. Meanwhile, Yu Sheng Sheng has become an entertainment reporter who keeps running up against a stone wall at work. Their lives were not meant to intersect, but an accident results in the two exchanging bodies on their birthday which happens to fall on the same day. The sudden change catches them off guard and with only each other to turn to for support in the days and nights that followed, Jiang Yi and Yu Sheng Sheng gradually fall in love.

Okay look so I really meant to watch this show last year when it first aired but you know cdramas and their airing schedule! You miss premiere week and then it's like you've like missed half the show and at that point you might as well wait until the whole thing finishes to binge which is finally what I got around to doing this week. Tbh I think my hesitance had to do with the whole body swapping aspect of the show cause I've never been a fan of that trope so to no one's surprise that was my least favorite part of this show and I do think it's a bit of a copout to tell us that the entire story we watched was actually the plot of Sheng Sheng's novel cause then it feels like we fell in love with some other couple but in the end this show was cute as all hell so I'm not all that pissed. Sheng Sheng and Jiang Yi had so much intense chemistry and their acting was so incredibly done. My heart fluttered every time Jiang Yi looked at Sheng Sheng as if she was his whole world! I also really liked that despite the fact that were no real stakes in this show in terms of evil family members or second leads, it didn't feel like nothing was happening like in a lot of other modern cdramas I've watched or dropped recently like My Little Happiness and I wonder if that can be chalked up to the fact that the will they/won't they went on longer than in those other shows. Yes there were lots of tropes but your irritation with them will definitely depend on how cute you find the main couple cause obviously they're the reason you'd stick around. 9.5 / 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!

CDRAMA

FINISHED Nirvana In Fire 2 (50/50): Xiao Ping Zhang and Xiao Ping Jing are the talented sons of Xiao Ting Sheng, the Prince of Changlin and general of the Liang dynasty’s most powerful army. Ping Zhang is the eldest and heir of Changlin, while Ping Jing is carefree and receives teachings from the the master of Langya Hall in the jianghu. The Changlin Manor exists, first and foremost, for the people of Da Liang. They are greatly respected and trusted by the current and past emperor and they act with high integrity and loyalty to the country. However, there are those who worry that the Changlin Manor is gaining too much power and favour, and there are those with old grudges to repay. As such, shadowy plots battle once again with righteous conduct in this sequel, as familial ties, moral values, ambition, and coming of age themes take the protagonists through a tumultuous road to finding oneself.

After having finished the first season of this show last week I jumped right into checking out the second one. I know that most people didn't like this season as much as the first but on the whole I think it was just as good as the first but in a different way. I definitely cried more in this season than I did the first and I think it's cause the show made me fall in love with the Xiao family so much only to rip them away from me one by one until only Pingjing and his sister-in-law was left! On that note Pingjing was definitely my favorite character in this show cause we got to follow him through a huge chunk of his life and watch him go from this carefree troublemaker to somehow who shouldered the world's problems on his shoulders. I would not be the first person to point this out but Pingjing is basically who Lin Shu would have been like if his family wasn't destroyed so early on. I also loved that we saw a lot of descendents from season 1 and that unlike what most sequels do we saw that they all became good people. If I did have any complaints with this show it would be that I didn't particularly care for any of the villains this show gave us unlike those in season 1 but also that the ending was so bittersweet for me. I guess in a way I could understand why Pingjing left the capital and power to live a happy life with the woman he loved but I also couldn't help but feel like the villains won in the end because they did manage to strip Changlin of everything they had. Having said all that I'd still give this show a 9.5 / 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 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 Dramas Did I Watch 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 Chimera (16/16): In 1984, a potential serial killer struck again as a ghastly explosion shook the city. Now it’s 2019, and copies of those crimes come to light. Follow the team of Detective Jae Hwan, Profiler Yoo Jin, and Surgeon Dr. Joong Yeob assigned to solve both the cold and current cases. Their prime suspect goes by ‘Chimera’, after the beast in Greek mythology. It had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a fire-breathing serpent. To capture the criminal, they must first uncover the secrets that link the two cases some thirty-five years apart. Could the clue lie in the tale of the mythical monster?

I have to start this review by saying that I live for OCN dramas cause they are pretty much the best channel in Korea to watch thrillers and detective shows on! Something about the way they tell their complex stories and give us a great cast to follow just works for me even if sometimes I'm left wishing that they would toss a sprinkle of romance into the mix as well. This show started out as a typical murder mystery in which we hunted down a serial killer but the thing that it did so fun were the reveals it showcased from how each main character connected to the past to who Chimera was both in the past and present. I literally would never have guessed that the 80s Chimera was Jae Hwan's mom or that the 2019 Chimera was the reporter or that she would end up being Joong Yeob's sister. What amazing twists. I even adored the ending in which the lawyer ended up killing Chairman Seo in order to avenge the death of his daughter cause it was totally dark and twisted. If I had any complaints it would be like I said up top in wishing there had been some romance between Eugene and Jae Hwan cause it was clear they felt something but neither the finale nor my headcanon says that they would find their way back to one another which is kinda sad. On the whole I'd give this show a 9.5 / 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 Happiness (12/12): A deadly new strain of a virus is spreading throughout the city. An apartment building that is home to people from different classes remains in quarantine. Its residents must survive in their new habitat fearing both the virus and the potential conflicts between disparate social groups. Yoon Sae Bom has good judgment allowing for quick decision-making. She is self-righteous and unable to tolerate injustice. Not having grown up in a healthy environment, she's determined to live comfortably in a complicated world. Detective Jung Yi Hyun, primarily in charge of violent crimes, now struggles to keep the apartment residents safe. A former baseball player, a knee injury forced his early retirement. Han Tae Seok was once a military information agent who became a pharmaceutical company executive. He is well-placed to deal with infectious diseases.

I was really really excited for this drama to come out since it was going to be the first drama that the love of my life Park Hyungsik did after he got out of the military and it also helped that it seemed to be the first drama Han Hyo Joo did after W: Two Worlds as well! I was worried though that I would be let down after having such high expectations given that the last two actors I was excited to see make their returns after the military didn't pan out so well but luckily for me that wasn't the case here. I actually had a blast with this show and how much it reminded me of Sweet Home given that it was basically a zombie movie set in one apartment complex. I loved the story and the action but more than that I loved our two lead characters. Both were super badass but also caring and gentle when they needed to be. I loved that the two were fake married but basically were more married than any of the real couples we met in this show and that they alternated between who played good and bad cop! The ending was a little too quickly resolved but I didn't end up caring that much cause I had so much fun with it. I loved how despicable almost every other human was cause as we all know not only does fear bring out the worst in people but we also know after everything that happened in the real world over these past two years that people don't really band together in crisis either so I can never say what happened in this apartment building wasn't realistic. 9.5 / 10

FINISHED Idol: The Coup (12/12): A story about a failed idol group's last journey and their desperate attempts to prevent disbandment. Cotton Candy only needs a one time hit to save their group, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Everything is going wrong for Cotton Candy, but the members can't let go of their friendship and dreams.

I am truly such a sucker for idol dramas cause I think we're all fascinated by the glitz and glamour of that kind of world and it's especially fun when a drama looks at the dark and ugly side too. I originally thought this drama reminded me a lot of Imitation with the set up being that a failed idol group tries to become famous again but this show was leagues and leagues better than that one minus the fact that this drama never actually pulled the trigger on any romances. It sucks but it's also so realistic that with the absurd number of idol groups out there that if one doesn't hit it big the first time it's hard to imagine that a company would feel pity for them and try again but at the same time all idols are so talented and a lot of times the things that makes them fail isn't themselves! When our Cotton Candy group got the media attention and a song that fit them they succeeded. I actually really adored their song Finale and I'll definitely be downloading it. In terms of the characters Jenna was obviously my favorite and I really shipped her with Ji Han but I was really just thankful that she didn't end up with CEO Cha cause that's what I was more worried about! All in all this was such a good idol drama and if you like the concept for this show then you'll love the execution! 9.5 / 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 Dali And The Cocky Prince (16/16): As a young boy, Moo Hak grew up in the market as a peddler. Although he is ignorant, he is strong-willed and knows how to make money. He is now the managing director of Dondon F and B, a global restaurant chain that his family started as a small gamjatang diner. However, he isn't dignified and only cares about money. He meets Da Li, the only daughter and child of an upper-class family who runs an art gallery. She has a profound deep knowledge of things. She gets faced with bankruptcy due to her father's sudden death and begins a hard life. Moo Hak and Da Li start a relationship as a creditor and debtor over the art gallery. Will these two polar opposites understand each other and fall in love?

So this was an interesting show to experience cause I went on a whole rollercoaster in terms of how I felt about it. I started out really interested in it given that it stars two actors that I adore but ended up finding the first few episodes too much for my taste. Moo Hak was too bumbly for my taste and Da Li was a naive damsel even though we were meant to believe that they were a business genius and super intelligent respectively. As the show went on though I started to find that the character traits we were told they had started to shine more and more and what really grabbed me was when the two started dating. I loved that not only did the two have great chemistry but they weren't afraid to take the normal steps in a relationship. They slept together without the antics and they gave each other nicknames rather than sticking with the polite addresses like so many other drama couples do. I especially loved what a complete fanboy Moo Hak was for Da Li in so much that he would melt anytime she did anything sweet. I also really loved that they really didn't keep secrets from one another so the mystery could be solved together! Speaking of, I really loved the mystery of Da Li's dad's death and what was going on with the gallery but more than Tae Jin was such a terrifying villain!! On the whole this show was a blast and a half to watch and I'd definitely say that if you didn't hate the first two or so episodes then it's worth sticking around to see it improve! 9.5 / 10

FINISHED One The Woman (16/16): Yeon Joo is an elite prosecutor who started from the bottom. Although known as the best in corruption investigations for the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, she suffers amnesia after a car crash when chasing a suspect. As she wakes, she finds herself being Kang Mi Na, the daughter-in-law of the conglomerate Hanju Group. Before her disappearance, Mi Na was a troublemaker born out of wedlock. Now sitting in her position, Yeon Joo is not able to hide her rough and outspoken nature. She then meets Seung Wook, a conglomerate who visits his first love Mi Na to reveal the truth of his father’s death. Will Yeon Joo and Mi Na be able to regain their lost memories in this mystery and succeed in true love?

This show is one of those reasons why I always try to force myself to check out every new kdrama that airs regardless of whether the synopsis makes it sound good cause once in a while I find true gems that I would regret to miss out on if I had stuck to my original gut feeling!! Like I almost always hate stories with chaebols and I almost always hate stories with double roles aka where one character pretends to be another but this show ended up leaning extremely heavily towards the humor so none of my usual problems stuck out! I loved what a complete badass Yeon Joo was whether she had amnesia or not because she was competent as hell and refused to allow anyone to walk over her. I was a bit torn over whether I had SLS or not given that the second lead was so cute but I also liked Seung Wook and his relationship with Yeon Joo so in the end I was down with the romance! The revenge plot was fun to watch as well and I liked the way we kept peeling layers to see more and more of the evil in Hangju. 9 / 10

CDRAMA

FINISHED Wisher (12/12): The start and end of everything stems from an app called Wisher. Wisher appeared on the mobile phones of a group of college students out of the blue, and as long as they made a wish to it and completed a simple randomly assigned task, the wish would be realized. These young people can't stand the temptation, and just like signing a contract with the devil, they become dominoes under the control of desire. Middle-aged reporter Naduo, as well as young people such as Lu Li and Qiu Wendong, began to confront the forces behind Wisher.

Sooooo how in the hell did I finish this show? I mean seriously guys this show was a hot mess from it's characters to it's plot!! I went into it thinking that maybe I'd get a drama like Futmalls which I absolutely adored with its balance of sci-fi and mystery with hints of romance. Unfortunately while this show had all of the previously mentioned points, it could not balance them for the life of this show. The sci-fi aspect of an app that grants wishes was so cool and I liked the idea that it was more like Nerve than Futmalls with how it gave people things by forcing them to do something in turn and that seemingly meaningless tasks ended up snowballing into big things like murder but then we turned away from that to watch Wendong slowly lose his mind over something I didn't even understand. I also really liked the romance between Lu Li and Wendong even if I thought they went from enemies to friends to lovers a bit too quickly but then that was thrown out the window with Wendong becoming the villain! On that same note the mystery was so poorly drawn out and I really didn't care for Naduo and how wishy washy he was over everything. Honestly I'd say skip this show unless you're really desperate. 5 / 10

JDRAMA

FINISHED Douse Mou Nigerarenai (9/9): Nodakura Naho has been longing for an ordinary life as an office lady, but she couldn’t seem to get a job offer. In order to make ends meet, for the time being, she decides to interview for a part-time job at a design company called Solo Design Office. On her way there, Naho encounters a man and a woman having a lover’s quarrel. In order to shake off the woman, the man grabs Naho, who just happens to be there, and says she’s his new girlfriend. Naho gets angry and instinctively pushes him away. When she later arrives at Solo Design Office for her interview, she realizes that the man she had met earlier is in fact the company’s president Sakisaka Takumi. Despite all that happened, Naho somehow gets hired and starts working as a part-timer at the company

I don't have too many words for this show other than the fact that it was cute as all hell. The premise is very typical of a drama where we have a male lead who hides the pain of lost love and a tragic past behind his playboy veneer and a sweet female lead who lights up his world with her sincerity. Most of the time I roll my eyes at stuff like this but once in a while a show with this premise hits at the perfect time and I find myself finding it cute rather than irritating. Can you guess which category this show fits into? It's pure fluff and nonsense and yet I looked forward to each episode that aired. I did think that Naho fell for Takumi a bit quicker than I would have liked cause then we had so many awkward episodes after she basically confessed to him but at the same time because the show didn't pull the trigger on them until the end we didn't have any breakup nonsense. The side characters were all pretty pointless but I didn't mind cause it was the chemistry between our leads that I enjoyed most. 8.5 / 10

TWDRAMA

FINISHED Drunken To Love You (30/30): Two strangers, both proposed marriage to their respective girl/boyfriend, were rejected on the same day. They decided that the best way to deal with the rejection was to get drunk, real drunk. During the 24 hours of their crazy drunkenness, these two stranger became fast friends and got married... to each other. When they finally sobered up, they embarked on a mission to undo every crazy thing they did while they were drunk and prayed that their girl/boyfriend don't find out.

So I started this show not knowing that it was actually one of the many Fated To Love You adaptations which honestly was a good thing cause I don't know if I would have watched it knowing which would have been terrible on my part based on how much I adored this show! See the thing is that I tried both the Korean and Chinese versions but I could never get into how soap opera-y they were. Like one of my absolute least favorite tropes are the evil in-laws so I was so relieved to find out there wasn't any of that here! I loved that our main couple became friends almost right away so their bickering was more playful than hurtful and I loved that there was no real bad guy in this show. The exes weren't monsters and it was totally believable why they acted like they did. I loved the chemistry between our leads and I loved that there was no real breakups to be had cause surprise they actually talked to each other. I do admit the ending was a little much with Jie Xiu's mom's fall and then finding Xiao Ru's mom but I could ignore it cause it went by so quickly. On the whole I'd give this season a 9 / 10!

xoxo Allie