Algum Dia ou Um Dia (2019)

A compelling time travel love story mixed with a crime mystery

Likes: The complicated love story between Huang Yu Xuan and Li Zi Wei. It tugged at my heart.

Dislikes: The time traveling/soul switching/parallel lives aspect is INCREDIBLY confusing, but then again, every timetraveling drama often doesn't make sense to me.

I'm usually not into crime mysteries, but this one had me hooked by episode 3...yes, by ep 3. The first 2 were basically setting things up so it was boring to the point where I thought I would drop this, but by ep3, the fun begins to start. Ep 3 is where you start to see the romance develop between Huang Yu Xuan and Li Zi Wei and the fun chemi begins. But the romance is not the only thing that hooks you...the mystery also captures your attention because just like the leads, you want to understand what the heck is going on. This drama interweaves the romance and the mystery very well so that I was never bored. It kept me on my toes.

The main trio did a fantastic job playing their characters both in the past and future. There's a lot of emotion that was conveyed just through the eyes which I loved. I really felt the intense yearning between the FL and ML at various points along the timeline. Just note, this is not a feel good drama though. While the youthful romance is fun, there's a lot of depressing and sad elements that surround it.

The only major flaw with this drama is the time traveling/soul switching aspect...which I admit is a huge aspect of this story. Really confusing. I get why viewers may drop this because of that. I had to read the synopsis a few times to understand the gist of what's going on and even then it was sometimes hard to know which time and which soul I was watching. I felt like they could have made this clearer to the viewers. And don't even attempt to sound out the logic because with any time travel drama, trying to make sense of which came first? The chicken or the egg would make you go crazy.

This is a tricky one for recommendation because while I really liked this, if you can't ignore the flawed time traveling logic that makes no sense, then I think you will probably dislike this. But if you can overlook that, and want to watch something with emotional gravity, a mystery, and a timeless romance, then I would say give this a try.

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Not exactly flawless, but the drama transcends the term "masterpiece" in mutiple ways.

I just finished watching this & I'm still in shock. I kinda sorta hate how the plot got wrapped up, but the last episode was not only objectively perfect & extremely touching, but I even lost the war against the onion ninja nation, I never had a chance.

If I really wanted to, it wouldn't be very hard to pick the story apart. (Chicken and Egg Paradox & other potentially not so minor plotholes come to mind) However ultimately this show is beyond cleverly written. In fact I'm yet to see an Asian drama with writing this good. There are some dramas that I consider as good as Someday or One Day, but in terms of writing none of them can compare. What I find especially shocking how the drama barely features any repetition. Whenever you expect something to happen, such as travel back in time to attempt to change something, to relive a scene, the end result is completely different than our expectations, with unique unexpected perspectives & no repetition. I cannot emphasize enough how brilliant the storytelling is. Mind blown!
Also it's worth mentioning that despite the relative complexity of the plot, it's still easy to understand what's going on & yet the "explanations" never feel forced, masterful..
(I barely remember the plot of Steins;Gate, but I think this one is easily superior)

So okay, we have established that the story is brilliant, but what about the romance? Well, it's one of the best, most touching romantic stories I have ever encountered and the OTP romance could not have resonated with me any more. (and naturally the romantic plots are also super cleverly written, paced & sequenced) There is some fluff, but this is hard romance for the sentimental soul.
As for love triangles? I'm not going to spoil that, but triangle haters can safely watch this.

The three lead actors did a phenomenal job. They had good chemistry with each other & they were pretty much perfectly cast for their roles.

The cinematography is low key perfection. It's not as exaggeratedly beautiful as modern kdramas, cdramas usually are, however it's the perfect fit for this show.

And finally we arrived at the OST. Objectively speaking the OST is just as repetitive as in Something in the Rain, but I guess Wu Bai's Last Dance is ehm a WEE BIT better than "Stand by Your Man". I think I've heard it like 40-50 times before the end credits rolled, but I still felt goosebumps even in the final episode. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AqfOhesl5U piano cover on Youtube, if someone is interested, though it's not as good when FL plays it on the Piano in the show) Devoted by X-Ray Dog is also a very impressive piece, though I think I've heard it before, still it worked great in this drama.
Of course the other songs are supremely good as well, though Goblin is certainly a bit better overall in this regard. (Goblin has like 10 top tier songs and the OST Album is a very coherent listening experience, versus the 3 in Some day or One Day)


Taiwanese dramas are typically horrible. I tried to watch quite a few actually, but I just couldn't get past the first 2-3 episodes trying to pick the ones recommended by community here on MDL. Some Day or One Day is the second one I managed to finish. (the other one is Last Romance & I'll probably try Rainless Love in a Godless Land soon) I'm strongly suspecting that this drama is by far the best one the Taiwanese entertainment industry has ever produced. Comparing it to Goblin, which I think is the best kdrama ever made, it holds up extremely well. It's incredible how the people that typically make 2005 kdrama era garbage could make something like this. It's like going from using aqueducts to colonizing Mars.

Just to say some negatives too. Some of the supporting actors are a hit or miss, Xie Zhi Qi?! Also there is only one thing in the drama that could've used some CG, namely the dream prison. It felt a bit immersion breaking to see the big pixels projected onto FL's face and the whole construction reminded me of a cheap hobo shack. It would have taken very little effort to fix this & admittedly in the final episodes they've improved on this a little. (by little effort, I mean that I could have personally fixed this at the cost of $2 while being physically present on set, or alternatively I could have edited the footage myself in an afternoon, applying some selective blur here and there)

15/10. Will I just keep rewatching this until the end of my days? How do I move on from this?

Watch https://mydramalist.com/61297-someday-or-one-day-extra-scene for that little extra closure. I wanted way more than this, but it's still more than nothing.


edit:
The rewatch value is FAR lower than expected.

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First I must say I don't care for time-travel dramas at all because they tend to be overly complicated and they just tend to confuse me- this had that. BUT this is so well written that I can over look that aspect. This is really unlike any drama I've ever seen and for that I must give MAJOR kudos to the writer(s).
The cast did a great job but the highlight goes to Alice, she did a fantastic job job of portraying two vastly different characters. Greg... eh he was ok- not bad but I've seen him in Sandstorm and he was much better in that. Patrick, I wish he was the ml instead- dude was great but I feel he/ his character didn't get too much shine.
The music for the drama is A1 but my problem is that they played the CRAP out of it. I mean over and over and over- I had to mute my tv I got so sick of it.
Overall I would recommend this but be warned, you have to pay attention otherwise you will "get lost in the sauce" and have no idea what is going on.

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Xem phim này thì phải động não khá nhiều vì kịch bản khá rắc rối, nhưng chính nhờ điểm này mà phim làm nhiều người hứng thú để xem, trong đó có mình. Nói về diễn viên thì nam chính rất rất đẹp ấy, kiểu đẹp ấn tượng ấy còn chị nữ chính thì lại nhìn trẻ và xinh nên mình ưng dàn cast kinh khủng, từ visual đến diễn suất cái gì cũng ưng. Nói về diễn xuất thì bộ phim mang lại cho mình khá nhiều cản xúc, vui có, buồn cũng có :))) diễn xuất rất thật. Nói chung phim tuyệt vời cho nhiều bạn thích kịch bản kiểu vừa lãng mạn vừa hồi hộp ❤️

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A MASTERPIECE!!

I would say, a masterpiece I watched after so long. SomedayOrOneDay, was a brilliant watch. This Taiwanese drama, had a very diverse and complicated storyline, but the way writers managed to lay out all points, and weave it into the story deserves appreciation.

Time travel dramas mostly have a similar plot and storyline, but this drama presented it in quite a unique way.
Also, the characters were so beautifully written, that one cannot help but gush over.
The emotions of love and regrets were elegantly presented.

Friendships, love, insecurities, under confidence, and hope to meet again someday, all of these made this drama a plus pointer.
Also, the suspense & mystery part was well dealt with unexpected twists& turns. Many Clues were given from the start, thus deserving an another re-watch

Although, always stucked in different timelines, both the ckts still managed to intersect each other every time, and someday or one day, maybe in another timeline, maybe in another dimension, they'll definetly get their ending.

Cannot wait for the movie!!!!

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Untangled a Broken Cassette

This story is like a cassette with tangled tape. If you want to rewrite the content, first you should open the case. Then you can start to untangled the messy part, connect the loop, ah, and don't forget make sure that it facing the right direction. Only after you do all of that, you can start to record a new story.

To be honest, the first episode was hard to watch. After all praises and good review, 9.0 MDL score and the fact that it will get a Korean remake, make me come with high high expectation. But everything feels flat, from humor to acting, dialogue, attempt to build emotion. I even watch 1st ep in 2x speed. Some miss in detail keeps disturb me, yet the main plot still intrigued me.

But fortunately, it start to redeem itself since end of episode one. I forgot all miss that ever happened. Even step by step the details come and fill the holes. The character reveal their depth, the actors and characters become one, all the mess untangled themself slowly but sure. Some expectations, some tragedy, happy moments. Instead of twisting the story, I believe that this one try to unravel the story for all of us, clear up the fuzzy part for you.

This drama has two characters that are the hardest to make us understand them in healthy manner. They are the types that make us said, "They are just crazy, I don't know how to help them, I 'll just let them, my effort doesn't work." They both get a very different ending, but what I love the most of words from Yu Xuan, "The reason you wanted to disappear from this world is not because you're too disappointed in the world, but because you had too many expectation of this world." I believe this one sentence is core of all of this story.

It's a beautiful story, it start with a tangled messy tape. It ends with a fixed one, ready to record a hopeful sweet story.

*Play Last Dance, plug your headphone, then close your eyes 🎧🌳🌌😌

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An intriguing and complicated story of time travel

The characters crisscrossed time into the future and back to the past so many times that I lost track. However, it is an interesting drama. I followed it through continuously and completed watching it across three days while recovering from a flu.

Two lovers from different time periods were star crossed and their shared memories were eventually erased. The drama cleverly kept its audience guessing the identity of two individuals- the missing boyfriend and the real killer, and wondering whether the killer could be stopped on time to save the lead lady.

The main actress Ko Chia Yen was excellent. She acted two completely different characters very convincingly - a timid depressed young teenager with an inferior complex and a confident university student who grew up very assertive.

The actors and actresses were good looking. The main cast acted their parts well. Some of the insignificant minor characters were not so convincing; however their less than a minute duration parts did not impact the overall drama. The backdrops were appropriate for the scenes.

The pace of the story was quite slow, so you have got to be patient. I nearly wanted to skip to the last episode.

As for the music, it's just that one piece 'Last Dance' and that's about all.

The main negative is the ending did not flow well. Suddenly, the main couple was on a bike appearing from nowhere - how they met again was not explained - if it was from the time when the female lead was a child, it would be very tacky.

If I were the writer, I would let them meet in the future with a role reversal - with Li Zi Wei returning from Canada, walking into a cafe and ordering his coffee. The waitress whose back was toward him, answered in affirmative, prepared his coffee and turned to hand him his coffee. Their eyes met, they found each other very familar, stared and asked each other simultaneously 'Have we met before?'

Overall I would highly recommend this drama.

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A really good Taiwan drama that gets you really confused, frustrated at what is going on and at the same time, keeping you wanting for more. The drama was very well paced and even towards the last episode, it did not feel like a rushed ending at all.
Kudos to the writer and director who really thought through the whole process very thoroughly. Even from the first few episode, they actually already showed us the ending. Rather than most drama where they film from start to end, this drama can be seen where they filmed the ending and slowly move towards how it all started. A really interesting way and the ending kinda reminded me of how when we were in primary school, and our Chinese teacher always reminded us of how not to end our composition with, "It was all a dream." The ending of the drama felt like that to me!

STORY - An interesting concept and portrayal of 2 completely different personality and how they co-exist and how even though they look the same, the personality can be completely different. Thus attracting, different people. The way they portray Yuxuan/Yunru "trapped" in the house is also an interesting concept. The time travelling was however a little complicated as they transition from 1998 to 2003, 2010 without indicating the year. It kind of did not make sense at first, the time travelling. But I guess they did a good job with wrapping up the show and closing all our doubts.

ACTING - Excellent job to the 2 main leads who have to act 2 different character at once. However, they portrayed it really well and the chemistry between all the cast really was amazing.

SONG - I thought I will be really irritated with the Last Dance since it has been playing the same part constantly. To my surprise, I was super hooked onto that song and Xiang Jian Ni. It just kept replaying in my head even when I am not watching the drama! Now, its on my playlist!

Overall, a really good watch and worth the time! It makes you think about every little detail and when you look back at the show after you finish, you will realise that throughout the series, they actually dropped little hints here and there. Definitely going to rewatch it again someday or one day.

P.S. Don't forget to watch the additional scene on youtube! Just type, 想见你 彩蛋 ！

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Someday or One Day: Perjalanan Waktu untuk Mencari Jati Diri dan Cinta

Someday or One Day ini menurutku dramanya keren banget. Drama ini bisa menyajikan genre comedy, romance, thriller, slice of life, fantasy, dan sci-fi dengan epic banget. Dikemas secara pas dari awal sampai ending.

Mungkin selama nonton drama ini, kadang kita dibingungkan sama alur waktu dan perpindahan roh dari satu badan ke badan lainnya. Karena kasus perjalanan waktu FL dan ML-nya ini berbeda, jadi mungkin bakal mengundang kebingungan. Itu terjadi sekitar episode 8 atau 9. Tapi selanjutnya bakal diberi paham kok penonton

Tenang aja, drama ini bukan tipikal berat kaku. Tapi dikemas secara apik jadi kita bakalan dibikin penasaran terus sama kelanjutan ceritanya. Chemistry aktor dan aktrisnya juga dapet banget. Aktingnya juga mantep semua pemainnya. Recommended banget kalau butuh drama pendek tapi seru abis.

Banyak pesan moral yang diperoleh dari drama ini. Kita diajarkan buat percaya dengan diri sendiri dan jangan jadi orang lain biar orang lain suka dengan kita. Juga sering kali kita merasa sendiri di dunia ini dan tidak diharapkan, tapi bisa jadi kita yang terlalu berekspektasi dengan dunia. Ada pula tentang pengorbanan cinta dan kuatnya persahabatan.

OST-nya juga bagus banget terutama Opening Theme dan Ending Theme-nya. Lagunya Shi Shi - Someday or One Day dan 831 - Miss You 3000. Terngiang-ngiang terus rasanya nadanya.

DAHLAH TUNGGU APALAGI. DRAMA INI WORTH IT BANGET BUAT DITONTON 🥺

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MASTERPIECE

it took me awhile before i finally on this drama and it's currently 2021. the first time i heard about this show was it's exceptional OST. truth to be told, i had stopped watching tw dramas for many reasons since many years ago. BUT THIS SHOW IS MAKING ME LOOK AT A NEW LIGHT.

first the story proves to be different from conventional rich guy poor girl trope in tw dramas which sadly i dont enjoy as much now. so it was a very intriguing story for me. time travel, crime elements, no messy love triangles. COUNT ME IN

Story aside i think i do not have much more to say. The acting from the leads were awesome. Aside from Ko Chia Yen, i had not seen anyof Greg or Patrick's past works? but i would say they are doing awesome portraying their characters. needless to say for Chiayen's acting when she's so versatile in the duality she has to portray - depressed suicidal high school student and a successful modern lady mourning over her lost boyfriend.

i think more could have been explained:
- what happened to original wang quansheng then?
- so what happened to the murderer ? i was confused why YR was still hospitalized or in an accident after the timeslip stopped?

nevertheless, i felt the ending couldn't have been better. YR back up on her feet, no more suicide thoughts and with JJ by her side. it's an open ending for this couple. ZW and YX will be fated to meet, regardless of the time and age and the ending + special ending proved to be true. I just felt more sad for JJ having to dearly miss someone whom he doenst remember. But because he doesn't rmb, maybe it's not so painful after all?

Nevertheless, i am impressed with everything about this film. There are news for remakes in Korea or China and I am actually excited to see how the remakes will turn out. Til then :)

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Jan 2024 Recommendation Challenge

Watch this for Recommendation Challenge month of Jan 2024. Long time heard this one but finally watch this. Must say have mix feeling about this in the end.

What I like first:
+ Ko Chia Yen played 2 character beautifully. We can feel the diff between 2 of her character. The depress Chen Yun Ru (YR) & the cheerful Huang Yu Xuan (YX). Even as simple as the way she walk is diff with 2 character.
+ The beautiful song. But yeah.. Like Kate wrote I think I also heard enough of this song. At least for a while for me. Haha...
+ The beautiful representation of our beautiful mind... Haha... This kinda like Miss Gu Who Is Silent concept but more complicated
+ I kinda like how the make the concept of room in our brain

What I don't like:
- They start to lose me when they introduce the part of Li Zi Wei (ZW) | Wang Quan Sheng (QS). Especially when he returned back to ZW. Gonna be better if we have time stamp. Really confused how & why must be like that & sometimes confuse what time we currently watching that time.
- How can ZW easily understand the time jump concept. Especially when he met himself at the airport. He never really go deep with the time jump concept, but he easily accepted when he see himself & not shock or confused a little bit
- At the end I kinda confuse which one is the real characteristic of YR. The sad & depress one or the cheerful one...
- And after read Kate's review I also just realize how the writer never really bothered to make the story of other characters outside YR. Like the relationship between ZW & their parents. It's like the character only exist to support YR.
- And yeah like Kate's wrote too. I also think in the end this kinda take the depression & mental issue too lightly. Depression it's not something easy to change/heal with the change of mind

Overall this a good drama with interesting concept how beautiful our mind is.... If u looking for romance, just stay away from this drama.

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