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 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

Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2021

And now last but not least, here's the Top 10 Asian Dramas list! Again, this list is based on my personal opinions and may contain spoilers. If you'd like to see more, make sure to check out my Weekly Drama Reviews, Favorite YouTube Videos and My Asian OTPs & Ships as well as checking out my Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2018, Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2019, and Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2020 lists!

First up in alphabetic order are my honorable mentions which once again are dramas that I watched this year but aired in previous years!

Graceful Family

This show was actually a surprise to me cause as you know I didn't exactly watch it when it first aired. I struggle with shows about rich chaebols and the nonsense they go through cause I'm really not a fan of all that especially since most of the time it's nothing but cheating and divorces but I low key fell in love with Lee Jang Woo after Homemade Love Story and I did see a few clips of Im Soo Hyung being a boss and decided to check it out. Fortunately I did cause this show was a blast. Yes it had all the nonsense I usually dislike in chaebol shows but I actually ended up liking it here mostly cause Soo Hyung wasn't playing a naive moron and she gave back just as much as she got so it was fun to watch a revenge story with the trope of a couple against the world. The romance was great and I loved the ending so I'd say that if you like revenge stories or badass female leads who don't care about how others see her check this one out.

Second Love

Look okay jdramas half of the time are hot messes or have such out-of-the-box plots that you're left scratching your head over who in the hell gave the show a green light and this poster really doesn't help that image but seriously if you give this show a shot you'll be surprised. It's oddly deeper than you would expect and my god the chemistry between our leads almost made my screen explode more times that you could count. I thought it was fascinating that our main couple got together so early on and when they were both hitting rock bottom so they became a bit codependent only to fall apart when they realized they had to exit their fantasy world. Surprisingly I loved watching them drift as much as I liked watching them come together which made the ending when they came back together after they had both found themselves separately again make their relationship much less toxic and much more stable!

The Good Detective

So it's no secret that I love police dramas but this one surprised me to my core with how good it was! Not only were all the characters smart and fun to watch but the writing of the mystery was so solid. So many times we have a show with a great murder mystery or serial killer or whatever only to have it fall apart as the show goes on but here the mystery only got better as it went. I loved that both our leads were competent and neither was depicted as overconfident for no reason in order to make the other look better and that they didn't spend too much time hating one another cause they were fundamentally good people who wanted to do good. I also loved that the female lead played an actual part in this show with her reporting and though she wasn't a physical badass like the men were, she held her own in most situations. The slight romance between her and the detective was great too and I really hope that she also returns when the second season comes around.

When The Camellia Blooms

This is another show that I ended up judging before I had even watched back when it came out cause though I liked so much of the cast I wasn't all that pulled in by the synopsis or the fact that Kim Ji Suk was the second lead but then two things changed. First I just finished watching Monthly Magazine Home in which I low key despised Kim Ji Suk's character so I figured that I would no longer have SLS given that I wasn't all that obsessed with him now. Secondly I heard that this show was similar in vibe to Hometown Cha Cha Cha a show which I liked the vibe of but couldn't connect to emotionally cause I hated the male lead. In the end I'm so so so glad I checked this show out and I want to lament the fact that no one highlighted what this show actually was! It was basically a murder mystery show in which we hunted down a serial killer mixed with a romance that had the sweetest soft male lead that I've seen in a while! I adored how quickly he fell in love and how unapologetic he was about proclaiming his love to all. The setting was heartwarming and I actually ended up loving the small town people and the small town vibes.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

It's funny that I've got two jdramas on this list starring Kamenashi Kazuya but I actually watched this jdrama before Second Love and it's the reason I fell in love with him! It's also a live action adaptation of a classic anime and manga series which I saw about half of, stopping for no particular reason at the time. I was a little hesitant cause sometimes I find that anime adaptation shows don't always work cause a lot of anime characters are too over-the-top to be depicted realistically in live action but maybe because I had no stake in the original I wasn't bothered here. I actually thought the show was totally cute and had a great message about learning to love who you were and that the most important thing is your personality and not your appearance. The romance between our leads was the thing that kept me around the most but I also liked the comedy and the other characters in the show including the second couple!

Now let's get into my Top 10 list ranked from 10 to 1 with number 1 being my favorite drama of the year!

Taxi Driver

Coming in at number 10 is Taxi Driver! This show fits into so many different genres in a sense cause we're following a group of antiheroes who act as revenge seekers for any of those who need it and crazily I think I enjoyed it so much cause it reminded me of a darker version of Leverage. I loved the episodic cases we got and how extensive their revenge plots were. The only reason it's so low on this list is cause I didn't like the way this show very clearly shifted when the original writer was replaced and how the show started to focus on the prosecutor and the fact that our crew were clearly criminals cause duh of course they were but at the same time this show was a revenge fantasy one that needed no realism!

D.P.

At number 9 is D.P. So if you're like me and you've got a low key thing for men in uniform whether that's detectives or firefighter os soldiers then you probably went into this show knowing as much I as I did. I'm not entirely sure what I expected this show to be but maybe I was thinking closer to OCN's Search than Descendants Of The Sun but instead we got one of the darkest things I've seen not only all year but maybe in a while. I was honestly shocked by how dark it got cause I always felt a show like this would never pass censors in South Asian countries cause what it did was rip apart the military and the culture around the military in a way that I was left shook. Everything was so bleak and twisted and there was no sign that things would get better and I was fascinated. I could not look away from the screen if I tried and I'm pumped to see more.

Dali And The Cocky Prince

Coming in at number 8 is Dali And The Cocky Prince! It's kinda ironic to follow two dark shows with something as lighthearted as this but what can I say? I'm a sucker for rom coms! The funny thing about this show is that it started out catching my attention but I slowly lost interest only to pulled back in! I was in love with Da Li as a character but the show kept trying to convince she was this boss when in fact she was just naive and a bit of a damsel that needed help from the men in her life which there's nothing wrong with other than the fact this contradicted what the show said she was. Moo Hak on the other hand was so the opposite of my type so I couldn't find him swoon worthy enough to be the male lead. Now all that sounds super negative so what changed you might ask? Well not only was the charm of the main actors enough to sway me into believing what they said as the show went on but I kinda fell in love with the mystery of Da Li's dad's death and the fact that our main leads started to stop hiding things from each other and made plans together which you know I'm all about! The romance became cavity inducing sweet due to the chemistry between our leads and I started to find that the humor worked too!

So I Married An Anti-Fan

At number 7 is So I Married An Anti-Fan! Like Dali, this show was one that I started out thinking was a complete hot mess and felt super old in it's tropes only to find out that it actually was filmed years ago and delayed until now so I was able to let all that go though I did still struggle to like Joon since he was such a complete fake and asshole. I managed to stick by it just cause I adored Choi Soo Young herself after Run On and as the show went on I found it cuter and cuter especially as the romance was dialed up. Sometimes there are couples on screen that have chemistry from their first scene and others like the main couple here take until actual romance is taking place but both work for me! I loved that once the two got together they were so solid and adorable and truly it's worth sticking around with just to see what a complete cinnamon roll Joon turns into when he's in love!

My Name

Coming in at number 6 is My Name! I was super hesitant to check this drama out originally cause I despised Han So Hee's character in Nevertheless and I was a bit worried over two things: that it was her acting that made me dislike Nevertheless so much or that she was a good actor but I would transfer my hatred of her from Nevertheless to this like I did with Kim Seon Ho after Start Up. Fortunately for me I really didn't have a problem with Han So Hee in this mostly in part due to the fact that her character is so different here than there but also cause it was clear that it was the writing of Nevertheless that rubbed me so wrong. My Name is such a dark and twisted revenge show that ends with nothing but tragedy and I lived for it. Poor Ji Woo is put through the damn wringer and just when she thinks she finds a slice of happiness it's taken away from her. I loved the way the show tells us one thing only for us to later find out it's a whole different thing and sometimes it's too late to fix things! 

Uncanny Counter

At number 5 is Uncanny Counter! This is kinda hilarious cause I almost truly forgot this show aired this year cause it came out so early in 2021 and I almost forgot how much I loved it until I thought back on it. I think my favorite genre of TV in general is fantasy but I do have a soft spot for detective/mystery so the fact that this show gave me both was everything. I loved every character in this show and the way they all became such a close found family. I loved how soft and sweet and genuinely good our male lead was. I loved the mystery of his parent's death and the fantasy element of being Grim Reapers. The villain was totally terrifying and though it was a bit unbelievable just how overpowered he was compared to our heroes it was still worth it to see how they overcame him. I also don't think I remember feeling much of a disconnect from when one writer left and another one came in which I always think is a positive as well!

Move To Heaven

Coming in at number 4 is Move To Heaven! Alright so look guys you probs already know how perfect this show is just based on the fact that you can see how high up it is on my list given that you should know by now that I usually prefer softer more romantic shows but once in a while a show hits me in the feels harder than it should and that was this one! I mean the premise itself should tell you everything alone and yet I was still shook by how hard the feels hit me. I loved watching Sang Gu go from this thug who didn't care about anyone or anything on the surface to becoming basically like another father to Geu Ru after learning that everything he knew about his past wasn't the whole story. I loved how Geu Ru was depicted as being autistic without being reduced to a caricature and that he felt so real. Even the slight hints of romance between Sang Gu and U Rim were fantastic!

Douluo Continent

At number 3 is Douluo Continent! So this show is actually a live action adaptation of a Chinese anime but I didn't know that until after I watched this whole season! It was everything I'm into with Chinese fantasy shows and as time has gone on I've realized that this show fits into the Xuanhuan category of genre qualification which after doing some research holds a lot of my favorite Chinese fantasy dramas showing me that I really should snap to attention whenever a new drama in this genre pops up. I loved our main characters and the world they lived in! I loved the romance between the two and how they felt like they made a family with one another but also their other friends who became complete badasses themselves. I loved that we followed a group of kids as they went to a magic academy and learned how to use and grow their powers and how they slowly went from somewhat powerful to some of the most powerful people in the world! I loved that there was no straight and clear villain in the show as of this moment so we got to see smaller arcs like an anime has and part of me thinks that I ought to watch the anime in order to find out the rest of the story cause I'm not all that sure they'll make a live action sequel!

Mad For Each Other

Coming in at number 2 is Mad For Each Other! This is another drama that when it first started airing I wasn't sure if I was into cause I connected almost immediately with Min Kyung so the way that she was treated by Hwi Oh rubbed me the wrong way even if he was somewhat justified to treat her poorly based on his little knowledge of what she went through and the things she put him through. I was also a bit worried that this show would depict mental illness poorly once again like a lot of other dramas out there but to my pleasure almost around week 2 all my problems with this show almost completely dissolved. This show took such a gentle approach to mental illness and it never once depicted our heroes as jokes. It gave us the time to watch our heroes grow past their traumas only to regress like you do in real life and just when we think so they show us that they are stronger than we thought. The romance between our leads is perfect as well cause they do become so soft around each other and I lived for how ready to fight the world Hwi Oh was whenever Min Kyung was hurt even the slightest. The ending was a bit of a mess but not enough to ruin the perfection of this show!

You Are My Glory

And finally last but not least, my number 1 Asian Drama of 2021 is You Are My Glory! I absolutely fell head over heels in love with this one when I watched it you guys! Like almost ten seconds in I knew this would be the one for me. I'm not entirely sure what clicked so hard for me other than maybe the fact that I loved the chemistry between our leads and I think Dilraba's bread and butter is when she's playing the soft warm hearted excited to be here type of female lead. I loved that the love story here was so simple and realistic in that the two slowly went from friends to lovers and that they had a history but it was framed as his fault for not seeing her good sides rather than it being about her not being as book smart as he was. The obstacles in their way weren't external like evil mother in laws or CEOs or evil exes but internal. Yu Tu angsted over whether he was good enough for her and once he got past that and they got together it was smooth sailing from then on! 

And with that we come to the end of my Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2021! I hope you have a wonderful New Year and I'll see you all tomorrow for my Fall 2021 Anime Awards!

xoxo Allie