DON’T TAKE THE LOW RATINGS IN COUNT. IT’S INCREDIBLE !

It’s an interesting and binge-worthy Japanese series.
I don’t usually watch Japanese series because sometimes the plot doesn’t feel like my cup of tea nor is the acting of some of the casts but that’s only my opinion (here I’m only speaking of contemporary J-Dramas, I do prefer a little bit old jdramas)


But THIS ! OMG I finished watching this in a night. The plot is so well-written, intricate and the plot twists surprising (except the Harrison one at the end when he is revealed to be the person who scammed the ml’s father 💀). The characters were written really intelligently, had lore and really enter in the category of the ´villains are not all white nor black’. This show really showcased scams to another level ! I feel bad for the victims… The scammers being killed by Harrison’s minions at the end was also not surprising…I felt lowkey bad for them as well though they were villains…
The cast and their actings were just incredible and eyecatching !
They all embodied their characters really good and all that in a short series : it’s a 7-episodes-series so you might tend to think the end would be unsatisfying but don’t let this drive you away from this series. Seriously ! you could miss a masterpiece.


The only little flaw would be maybe too much sex scenes.

Leia Mais

PLOT AFTER TWIST ! Y’ALL DON’T SLEEP ON THIS !

I was already tuned even before its release because it’s been months since the last series Netflix released that wasn’t romance (except the disappointment that was hierarchy) and I’m so glad this series kept its promises.

It was a pure political dramas, as I like them, full of plotwsists, no ´black or white ´ characters. Each of them had their bad sides when it comes to politics.

The episodes went by so fast I didn’t even realize. The cast and the acting were on fire. I already knew many of the actors in the cast since they are like ´veterans ´ in the industry but they didn’t fail to impress me once again by their performance! The intro and the OSTs were on point !

Even if I hated dong ho (he was being too pretentious to me, killing the president for his own sake and utopian aspirations when he eventually quickly fell into the same thing he was reproaching to him). Also he kept repeating the same thing ´I wanna change the world ´ which gave me shonen vibes but he was being too repetitive it quickly became annoying af !

Even if I didn’t love this character for this side of him he was a political genius if I’m being fr and it made the show entertaining ! His friendship with jang seok was so wholesome, they went through thick and thin together and he was the one always putting him back on the right way !

The ´old ´ secretary and the young assistant were also good characters.

The FL is so powerful and written truthfully to women of power and I love the writers for that.

The end is so delightful because we realize even if he committed suicide, he actually left having a plan. He ended up looking like the ´good ´ one, the president that was accused for nothing.

Also rip Han min ho, he was there for short but he was nonetheless a good character. May he rest in peace ! 😔

Leia Mais

An overview of what society looks like

*Started this right after its release (two days after on march 2nd) but had to take a month and a half-long break of it because kisskh's subtitles litteraly disappeared. Fortunately it strated woring again a few days ago so I started again from where I stopped on april 22nd. Finished the series five days after *

CHARACTERS AND MY OPINION ON THEM :

* Myoung jae eun
She is such a good person like she is genuinely sympathetic and toughtful to the point she would willingly give up her well-being to help the others even when she was told and could see multiple times how hypocritical and fake they were in the class.
she deserves sm better. like the world ! ❤️
Later on, I would understand more why she was also ´okay ´ with ha rin bullying her.

* Sung soo ji
At the beginning I thought :
She is a wise character and I get her point with ignoring the situation of some egoistic people in her class after they get to go through the same as her and myoung jae. but sometimes it’s too much to ignore !
i hated that part (ep 2-mid ep3) in which she litteraly betrayed myoung jae eun and was claiming she used her for her own will asf it was nothing. like gurl no. Then after that much time ignoring the promise she made she suddenly took a turn and came back to jae eun out of nowhere. like ? what ? it’s not cool to leave behind someone to come back to them because you need them and especially bcuz you remember you could get back to the state of the bullied student after the upcoming edition of the game if you don’t destroy the game. like how selfish and self-centered can you be to do that ?

I’m complaining but logically it’s quite ´human ´. I mean it’s in the human character to stand for themselves and be egoistic in hard times.

After the few first episodes, I made up my mind as her character gained in depth.

I loved how the relationships between ja eun, ji ae, jae hung and soo ji grew and how they all lost/ forgot abt their defaults and managed to blend in this group although they were not meant to be, especially with all those diverse characters, personnalities and conflicting backgrounds they have.
I love the friends group they’ve created. They genuinely got close because they went through thick and thin together. Even those who were cold at first (jae hung, soo ji) opened their hearts!
I learned to love them all with all their defaults (jae hung the pervert, ji ae, the betrayer, soo ji the cold-hearted, eun jung, jae eun the too kind, ye rim).
Loved the duos jae hung/jae eun and jae eun/ soo ji sm btw!

I hate that ko eun byeol girl so much! She so fake and the biggest evil after ha rin in that class. She came up with litteraly the worst of game ideas everytime and even had the audacity to claim she did nothing !

The class is as fake as ha rin is. what I don’t get is when they could have done something (ex : the paintball session) they still turned their back to the situation like why tf…

Also I have to talk about the way I gasped and then starting throwing hands when da yeon litteraly busted both eun jung's knee and prolly her whole swimming career at the same time like what tf are you on ?
Then about Da yeon, at least she's not being fake as litteraly the whole class...On the contrary, she clearly shows her emotions and even her emotion swings and that shows how emotionnaly unstable she was. I was so freaking glad everyone let her down at some point eventhough they should have way earlier to prevent so much troubles and to help her as well because how tf no one is helping a girl who is getting beaten up every single day at home, and even at some point at school, IN FRONT OF A TEACHER ??? like wtf is that ?? I lost it when in a scene they did 'a joke' about her situation... like that ain't actually funny bfr.

THEN Ha rin !
She is so messed up. I mean what Jae eun did younger was not good at all, I get that she wants go take avenge but when the guilty keeps asking for pardon (and sincerely) you should not do what she did. You should not belittle yourself at that level and surely not drag a whole class into this. Plus she is using ja eun as an excuse at some point because before ja eun, the grade f was woo ri who is litteraly not related to all that. She destroyed that poor girl and shattered her whole life…

Shoutout to woo ri and his brother ! They went through so much and together. I loved their character developments ! Wish them all the good for the future !

By the way, if someone could explain me what happened with soo ji’s father it would be super good because I’m still confused by his scene in ep9.

Tbh the adults seemed to be brainless sometimes, because how tf a highschooler no matter the level of their family, can manage to litteraly blackmail everyone even her family. She even (I might not have gotten that part as I said above) destroyed soo ji’s father’s career.
A middle-aged man. That was some makjang series thing at some point ngl. I mean she is a highshooler and they are grown men and women…

About the school staff :
The teacher (the money lover one) was so freaking annoying as well as the principle. Also, I loved that the other temporary teacher wanted to help but writers didn’t make her intervene as much as she could have done for the students unfortunately…

To conclude :
* I felt bad for ha rin because at the end, it seems like her family didn’t even actually cared about her but more about the money.
Ha rin didn’t receive the good penalty for all what she did. Maybe being disowned and being hated by the public is a beginning of a penalty but she needs to face a trial for something of that gravity.

* I loved soo ji’s father’s character development as well as do ah’s.

*Ye rim and her bff/crush/gf has so much chemistry and the tension ! Till the end, we are not fixed on what they are ugh ! 😭

*All those moments when ha rin would be stepping on her prey’s shoes (obvious shoe marketing lol) were too much, OTT imo. To some extent, I was even quickly fed up by it, because it wasn’t intimidating at all, just giving second hand embarrassment 😭

The OSTs, the cast and the plot : EVERYTHING was perfect !

*I will just ignore the ending indicating there might be a season 2 cuz I feel like it will just be a ditto of season 1 (as for the night has come series’ ending ifykyk)*

Leia Mais

GOOD. A few little flaws though…

I finally got to watch it because someone gave me a site (Kissasian.lu for anyone interested) and I’m so glad I got to watch it after almost five years of it being on my watchlist!

Except a few details, the series, the plot were good and met my expectations.
The acting way too ott and edgy for the male characters esp katsumi, the gangsters and even sonoda …
The teacher (the homeroom teacher and not the kind deputy homeroom teacher) not even trying to push away katsumi keeps grossing me out and the way she acts as well ! like your students need help you know it and you ignore them volontuarily.
Katsumi is so disguting. I genuinely feel like puking when he appears on screen and even worse when he does that ´smirk ´ of his and sticks out his tongue.
Also him being attracted to his teacher is just a no. Their romance was just unnecessary and uncalled to the plot. Like this and just these two characters added absolutely nothing to the series except being rage bait smh.
Anzaii is just a pure crazy manipulator. I despise her character so much. same goes for her friends!

the class tbh was the only thing that made no sense. I hate them sm and honestly I wanted to quit the series cuz of them :
they kept switching sides like nothing. when sonoda spoke up they immediately did the same as if they weren’t trunkng a blind eye on shiiba treatment and bullying shonota smh ?. and another example was when in like 30 mins they flipped the tables and went from admiring shiba for escaping the arson to side eyeing her for allegedly pushing anzaii on the floor and brutalizing her when they all know damn well anzaii is vile. Or simply when they would be doubting whether it was anzaii or shiba the guilty when the answer is obvious…

I am so happy shiba got actual friends afterwards. (Besides I don’t think her male friend, sonoda, was that ´useful ´ as a character than how he was at the beginning). Btw I lowkey ships FL and miki. Their friendship (=their trio) is also top tier though.

Shiba’s is such a good parent (what Katsumi’s father could never be) I love her and the actress is so talented (and gorgeous 🤭).

I lowkey felt bad for midori when anzaii revealed she was using her etc… because she NEVER failed to support her. That doesn’t mean I support her bullying her ex-best friend tho! Violence should never be used !

(And once again her hypocritical of classmates doing what they were hated her for had me pissed me off so bad.)

The end was actually super satisfying having the creeps in prison (tho the scene of his arrest -especially Sonoda’s role in it-was ridiculous and gave me second hand embarrassment tho-)Anzaii realizing how she herself lost herself and precious friendships on the way. What I didn’t like on the contrary was shiba ´s ex best friend never apologized for what she did etc… and accepted her back as a friend so easily when she has always been the one in fault. It felt plain especially when they didn’t even discuss the things out.

The Cast and their acting is good except for the male characters. The fashion from these days will always hits hard!
I’m glad FL never lost her smile after all she went through 😭❤️.

The OST is so good and the intro/outro lit ! It always put me in the mood of the series and I find it even funny to have it halfway into the series !
The only piece of OST I didn’t like were the dramatic drums every single time. It actually pissed me off tbh.

Leia Mais

GOOD FILM IN ITS ENTIRETY BUT….

Okay so..
This film was pretty chill to watch eventhough it actually challenged my feelings.
First, too much timelapses and things showed partially making us confused at some point.
For example (only one in a lot btw) :
Idk, I don’t understand why Jonathan stopped when they were about to have sex with Carrie, like I can’t he couldn’t but why ? He was sort of motivated smh so…
Then the characters :
- Carrie ! I know everyone is coming at her and I’m also in this case. I mean I loved her reaction when she understood Jonathan had feeling for his best friend like she didn’t go harsh on him and respected him. BUT girlie I can’t tolerate that you went for Shane after that (I know it was completely not planned, that she couldn’t help but still…) because you knew how Jonathan felt about him. Also because of those confusing timelapses I was talking about, we had her on screen ´grieving ´about the end of her relationship with jonathan and then after few times going to the basketball game of shane and her breaking down in front of him out of sorrow and then they got together. Like out of the blue. We didn’t get the background of them getting together except them kissing. And this scene also bothers me because Shane (yes shame on in him as well) initiated the kissing move while she was confiding to him and she answered back….

A little thing that had me confused as much as the timelapses was the transgender book’s apparition. Although I’m still pretty confused now about it I’m thinking maybe he was questioning wanting to be a girl to be able to date his best friend, I mean you know when people see others and are like ´ do I wanna be her or do I wanna be with…’ maybe he was questioning himself about wanting to be one of those girls around Shane or else.
But even this explanation (far-fetched I know lol ) still doesn’t explain fully the apparition of the transgender book instead of another queer book but maybe it was also the only knowledge they had back then in Taiwan about queer people idk tbh 😭

Also what the heck was the old dude who slept with a broken hearted Jonathan doing ?? He disgusts me like why would you go in the streets, sit down next to someone for no reason, seeing they are crying and still invite them over an hotel to litteraly f*ck them ?? This scene was as uncomfy as confusing to watch…

- SHANE ! Because why most are shaming only Carrie when Shane was also the problem in this ? I mean he didn’t know abt his bsf’s feelings BUT what he knew for sure is that Carie was his girlfriend…. I also ´forgive ´ him smh as I did for carrie because you can’t ´help ´ with feelings but still…
Then I think it’s pretth clear that he is in love with his best friend by the way he looks at him (anybody becomes transparent to him smh when jonathan is in his sight), he wants to be with him everytime (even when jonathan clearly wants some space 😭). I know I’ve also described typical best friends’ actions but he went further and don’t wanna realize his feelings for jonathan (I understand smh knowing how hard the times were back then especially in taiwan). I mean who would get down to their best friend like nothing ?? Also many things I didn’t like about this sex scene was :
* Jonathan didn’t seem to be consentent. He said multiple times ´no ´. I know he stopped talking at some point but still idk. It felt wrong like I felt uneasy…
* Shane it is cheating on carrie! Even if you did tell her right after (which is a good thing to do to begin with) it still is gross !
* The fact he played the blind at what happened even when he was the one initiating sex between him and jonathan… Like why didn’t you try to give him explanations ???

And the fact he decided to still stay stucked to his ´best friends ´ card after that is actually quite disappointing. I mean you had sex with him, he confessed but instead of giving explanations before rejecting him if you don’t have the strength to commit into queer relationships, you stucked with anecdotes of your childhood and took out once again the bsf card 💀.



To end, it was a good and pretty chill film to watch but a few things were actually confusing and/or annoying. No memorable OSTs but the cast and acting were fire !
The end had me confused a little bit but I understood it. A shoutout to the people who explained things especially the end further in the comments ! I love y’all sm 😭💜

Leia Mais

I would totally recommend it !

I loved it so much ! It was an emotional and super realistic movie about the struggle of refugiees.
Kiwan’s lore is so rough and hard yet he overcame it and found happiness. His mother and his uncle were such good characters and litteraly built what he is now.
I felt so bad for him when the money he got from the sold of jis mom’s body was stolen away from him but gladly he took it back and even met fantastic people afterwards.
I love his colleague (the woman with a sick child) eventhough she betrayed him at some point, she explained why and did everything she could to help him because she felt guilty and because she cared for him. Maybe she doesn’t deserve forgiveness but at least she was sincere asking for it and regretting her actions !
Shoutout to Marie and her parents ! They have so much background : she lost her mother and was consistently having troubles with her father but eventually they reconciled ! I’m also glad that Marie succeeded (with kiwan’s help) to get out of this dark world of the shooting competitions and that one man manipulating her !

Once again, I loved how realistic the movie was depicting drug addictions, depression after losing someone important, how hard it is to be a refugee (proving your origin, earning the right to stay in the other country etc…), escaping a mental and physical abuse etc…

One thing that I did liked a little less was the romantic relationship they developed (Marie and Kiwan) because it felt so unnatural and also like most Kdramas, kinda forced. By forced I mean that Kdrama writers ALWAYS feel like we need to see some romance ugh. But at least they found happiness in each other.
I didn’t liked it especially since we had no real grounds to it, it also occurred right after him waking up from an overdose he did because she said in a way ´get lost’. We basically got a few flashbacks of them hanging out on a market, then them litteraly having sex 💀and that was all to establish the relationship for the writers ig 😭.

I LOVED the ending. This project of song joon ki was so good and at the level of his other projects not like ´reborn rich’.
The cast and the acting were ON TOP ! No actual OST though.

Leia Mais

You should watch it but watch out for some things...

So. I would recommend you to watch it and I would give it between 8/9 out of 10. Let me explain what I liked and what I did not.

Before we start, shout out to Yong-jun's mom and Jun woo. These two are litteraly the best characters so far imo. Wished they had more implication in the film, especially Jun woo ! He had a very good chemistry and a genuine friendship with Yong-Jun.(Btw Gi-woong's dad was so cute and their story moved me tho we didn't get to know all of it and his reasons...)

Then before we dive into my thoughts on the film, let me tell you : the cast and the ost were just ON POINT. Period.

I did liked the film for its very nice pacing and how truthfull it depicted bullying, and also homophobia. It was really represented very well. For the outcome of the movie, I'm confused since it was an open one yes, but too much for me. You know when you get that feeling of something unfinished ? That's what I had. We don't even know if the feelings were requited though I feel yes.

What I disliked would be the VERY borderline relationship of the two ML. I felt like it was very toxic and unsane. They had that questionnable passive-aggressive relationship. One would hit the other and then they would share a very intense eye-contact. Another time one would kiss the other and the latter would response by beating him up or litteraly spitting on his face. So I didn't got the thing when they moved from that to a sort of implied situationship especially if you have in mind Yong-jun s€xually assaulted his crush (maybe more... I didn't really understand what was going on on that scene.)

On the other side, they stayed considerate to each other. It was actually nice and very thoughtful of Gi woong to do what he could to get back the chip on which was that video the bullies took of Yong-jun as they were assaulting him.

I made a shout out to my fav characters so I'mma do the same for those I hated.
This fake a** Gitaek first. Why betray the person who in addition of being your only friend (apparently), was also the one always helping you out to the point he gets also beaten ??? This was very low. Plus Gi taek never apologized for that...

Then second one would be Class President. Oh gosh- He is exhaustivingly fake and I feel like he has some sort of inferiority complex. But boy, having a rich and powerful mother doesn't allow you to bully and even assault s€xually people with your 'friends' !Tbh, I've always felt like he wasn't straight at all (eventho he was acting all homophobic). Especially when he was talking to Yong-jun in the washrooms at the beggining.

Wished there was a second volume of the film to have my unanswered questions solved...

Leia Mais

Could have been extremely good if the ending was not so messed up and weird

Side note before I dive in : I've started watching it since the day it was first aired so as to say : December 4th,2023

So until the very last episode EVERYTHING was extraordinary good, even if they were little things that were off-logical yet you could really overlook it, it's insignificant !
Then came that damn episode in which everything was messed up, done weirdly, it went from a ghost thing to a very weird Aib (Alice in borderland) remake with crazy parents. Then I beared everything through the whole episode hoping (not really) it woud turn out good but no, they even messed it up deeper lmao. Writers really lost it at that point T-T. Then I went to hoping the series would end up there but no ! Writers really like to torture us to the point the ending was hinting at a season 2. I hope they won't be one because apart of remaking the same thing with this time that always whimpering, annoying FL who in her (really bad)way will try to make her classmates know abt what she knows abt the game and will obviously try to fight back the crazy parents I don't see what could happen. I seriously feel like it would be a never ending circle.
I'm now done tackling the story and that last episode that plummetted my rate and even now as I'm writing this review I don't know how to rate it but I think if I end up giving it a 1, understand that it's because this ending is the worst you could ever have seen in the cinema industry. I don't get why people are rating it so high. Plus the way Viki fooled us and never mentionned it was some kind of science-fiction/ fantastic (yet not really )series...


CHARACTERS


The cast is INCREDIBLE ! Especially gyeong jun's actor. I love him sm, even more after this new series of him. He is very talented. He went from that cute and bubbly character in "Tasty Florida" to that psycho bully in "night has come". Btw I'm still waiting for an explanation on why he was crying alone after he litteraly killed a character lmfao. Then Jeong won really absolutely gained my heart at the end, I kinda shipped her with FL tbh. Then ML, I liked him at the beggining he was just incredible in all aspects. But after, he started to just be mean or would see things and promise to help and end up doing nothing or just ignore the bad things happening in front of him and move on like-. Plus he only cares abt FL.

Let's move on our dear bestie, aka FL. I really loved the idea of having a badass female but this one directly to the bin ! Like first she would be whimpering everytime, going to dark and remote places alone, keeps hints for her and when the timing would be absolutely good to set herself up (accidentaly yet in the dumbest way) she would judge it good to tell the others abt those hints she has found. Also she would be acting as a detective taking photos but sis. What's the point when you don't even use those photos you've taken or those clues you've collected ??? Da Beom is the perfect epitome of "don't trust people by looks" lmao. Then the bullying plot abt se-eun at the end is very weird since litteraly EVERYONE could tell it was fake but here it is...

Now let's move another topic : The music ! I don't really remember the OST since it was basically just theme musics but it was well put and in the good situations. Shout out to the writers for using the purge alarm tho. I really appreciated as a fan of the American Nightmare series <3.

To conclude, I would not recommend you to watch it unless you stop at the episode before the last one and leave it there eventhough you would feel like you miss something to end it.

Leia Mais

STAYING TUNED FOR THE NEXT AND FINALE SEASON OF THE SERIES IN 2025

SEASON 2 AT THE LEVEL OF MY EXPECTATIONS !

Watched the whole thing in a day and honestly I was afraid to be disappointed by everything after the long wait (due to the fame the series has gained, I thought the writers aiming for too big would mess things up) but this season satisfied my expectations and will have me waiting for the new one.
Now let’s get to the core of my review :
The casting, the decor, the OSTs, the scenography everything was epic (btw can someone tell me the name of the song used in Season 2 Episode 3 around 27 minutes from the end of the episode ?)
About the new characters, I really loved the writing and the plot twists as well as the new games. Now only problem would be the protagonist as he keeps getting dumber and acting carelessly. Because tell me why the dude isn’t thinking strategically once he gets the chance to get in the game? Why is he straight up revealing that he was in the game before ? Cuz bro that’s what changed everything and even made the master of the game (the one with the black mask, In-ho ?) infiltrate it and managing from the inside. That’s also what made the annoying old (the player with 10B debts) stand up during the first vote and influenced everyone into vote for to stay in the game as he thought gi-hun (player 456) would be helpful being a former winner of this.
Now I REALLY hope Jun-hee, the pregnant girl will NEVER get back with this pos that is MG coin because he doesn’t deserve her and still doesn’t seem trustworthy. A manipulator that scammed and ruined people’s lives including his and hers, got her pregnant and told her to abort without asking what she wanted to do, then left her doesn’t deserve to be the father of their child. Now, as I saw her starting to trust him again in the last episodes, I hope in Season 3 she won’t get back to him !
Also I gotta say objectively MANY rew roles were hella cliche and some plot twists predictable. The Master (funny how he took the number 001, the same as the other chef, the old man, the traitor) and his fishy acting, how he would switch up the upcoming games etc… Like bro be a bit more unpredictable and creative.

Thanos the rapper really gave me second embarrassment during the whole season, blatantly and uncomfortably hitting up on girls, acting like everyone was one of his minions and switching up to english randomly and only to say useless lines. T.O.P’s acting was fire though cuz I felt strong emotions everytime his character would appear on screen. It’s just the character the problem, the rapper and how he acts is just too cliche. (Jo Yuri and Im Siwan also did a great job in their acting !)
Then another cliche character, Min-sun, the typical coward till the end and I’m not even saying I wouldn’t have done the same. His character is just not as interesting as I thought he could’ve been.
Then honorable mentions of good characters go to : Jung-bae, Dae-Ho (I wanna know more of his background because he seems to have some ptsd but they’ll never make me hate you 😞), Hyeon-ju (the effort of depicting a transgender person and the prejudices over them was although being a bit lacking in execution already a good step forward especially for a mainstream series like Squid game), the old mom and her son, Jun-Hee, the girl with the vertical labret percing.
Player 246 and young-mi’s deaths had me in tears just like I cried so much for Ali, Sae Byeok and 001’s deaths in season 1 (before learning 001 was a traitor)
Now the gangsters esp the boss and his associate and best friend. RIP the boss and I hope his best friend will make it out alive and that they’ll understand that the captain of their boat is fishy (pun intended) tho he always had that bad aura tbh.

011 I love you. Thanks for messing up the organ trafficking business. Hope she’ll find her child and be able to help the little girl that has blood cancer !

On a side note I wanted to add something I really “appreciated” : The way the series was filmed and directed really made me feel like during season 1 as I was induced to feel like one of those VIPs that watch the games like an actual source of enjoyment. I surely worded it wrong but I meant seeing it I had that feeling that I was actually acting like one of those VIPs, yearning for this or that character, hating on this and that person etc…

Leia Mais

UGH…

SHOUTOUT TO MDL FOR LITTERALY SUPPRESSING MY WHOLE REVIEW OF 10k words before I could even end it. I’m really annoyed again. After the series that already was driving me crazy y’all are not helping at all….

So now to make it short (In the og I was explaining in depth why I hate this series sm) it was a bunch of nonsense, unrealistic things, crazy people, and a toxic and abusive family in law.
Nah writers are y’all gonna show us that the stupid family’s guilt trip is working ?? she should not feel bad for the shameless homewrecker she unfortunately had as a husband when all his mother does is defending him whilst litteraly hating and wanting the death of her husband that cheated on her himself using the excuse that it’s her son… the fl ´s brother is such a trash always trynna act as if he would help her out but then immediately turning out to be a traitor just for money even accusing her of being too harsh on her disrespectful husband.
I’m at ep6 and I love the series but I’m really close to be losing my sh!t because of the mother and her super toxic sense of family, how she keeps defending and justifying EVERYTHING her son is doing, saying it’s because she is his mother that she is defending him, that he is being manipulated (madam he is a grown ass man so except saying he is weak minded don’t ever try to turn him into a victim since you are also litteraly manipulating him…), and using the motherhood excuse as a gaslighting way to get to yong won’s heart when you yourself litteraly hated from the bottom of her heart your husband when he was cheating on you. Young won’s brother also is still such a trash. like DAMMIT SUPPORT HER. she’s being cheated on and all you are saying is for to guilt trip her and defend her useless husband. and all that for money ?. like if you her family can’t fully help her emotionally to overcome this who else can ??

[EDIT (after I dropped at ep 9) :If it wasn’t Jae Jin revealing what his family has done to young won’s and that later on, caused young won and her brother to have an argument for their mom (who has unfortunately Alzheimer) to reason him, he would have not understood how much she sacrifier for them, how hard her life was etc…]

ugh sena also keeps getting on my nerves I hahe her sm as well as I hate jae jin from the depth of my heart.


{EDIT (after dropping the series at ep9)} :

I dropped the series after ep9 and I’m still mad but tbh at least now I have two characters I can say I love (do hyun and so yee) and they are also the only one sane mentally to me. the others have nuts. Young won who is a psychologist still can’t seem to follow the advices she gives to her patients especially regarding family links 😮‍💨like writers PLZ SOMETHING DOESN’T CLICK HERE OBVIOUSLY ! Next time you want to make a FL like this (who is written to be powerful apparently but can’t stand up for herself unfortunately 😭😭) plz don’t make her a psychologist or anything related !

btw can someone tell me if se na was actually in love with her sister or not. I don’t get if this was familial love or actual love. Also what was tae oh to jae jin eventually ?

Leia Mais

INCREDIBLE !

Took me less than a day to watch it and honestly the best japanese so far. I don’t really like japanese series (except animes) because actors tend to ´overact’.

It’s not really romance, more about making friends, enjoying youth and overcoming a one sided love.
It depicts both straight characters and queer characters (minami having a crush on chika, ryo having a crush on hikaru his bff and I lowkey feels like hikaru was starting to realize he actually had feelings for ryo).
The series might look light-hearted at the three first episodes (spent looking for hikaru’s crush and then getting to know her) but then it deals with facing one sided love, rejection and later on after minami’s first love is revealed to be a woman, the series tackles more in depth about how hard it’s to be queer (it was already there with ryo questionning whether to keep his feelings hidden or not).
The line of takashi saying ´it can’t be that kind of liking because we are both girls’ was so painful go watch considering she later explained she loved her back.

The last episode got me bawling my eyes out.

now the character :
- at the beginning I thought minami was being quite creepy when I realized quickly she was just being curious. plus she is so cute and genuinely caring, paying attention to others ans she even kept her feelings for chika for herself and helped her out as far as she could to overcome the rejection. Definetely one of my fav character and she even rejected properly and politely hikaru !

- Ryo and hikaru were so cute as well as their friendship. they really take the time to share if they think an issue between them needs tk be fixed. The only problem of the series would be that ryo’s confession tbh wasn’t explicit. It took me a while at the end to realize he actually expressed his feelings cuz they went from talking abt hikaru’s rejection to talking abt being friends better than having a romantic relationship 💀

The cast/acting/ OSTs were just LIT af omg

Btw I’m confused hikaru rejected ryo right ?

Leia Mais

The end was good BUT felt plain at the same time…

Before I start, huge shoutout to the writers for not making feminine characters cringey or ´useless ´ !

****

I enjoyed it so much ! I would totally recommend though they are little flaws but first let me give my thoughts on the characters !

The body swapping thing was done in a good way and benefited the character that needed the most in this show : Yi Heon. BUT people not noticing how it could have no longer been yi heon in that body at some point, making too much mistakes (on the honorifics, on his culture and on the way he has of speaking) even deuk pal’s best friends was quite concerning. Especially when he even stopped talking to them like he was yi heon and kept relating things only him could know and that even if you tell to someone else you wouldn’t give those extremely precise details (like the price of the suyuk). In episode 6, after more revelations, they still stuck with the idea he was their boss’ son, he tried at the beggining (a few minutes lol) to not drop honorifics but he quickly did and nobody seemed to notice…I mean it could have been credible at some point because he was an outcast and no one really heard him talking ´properly’ but this became unrealistic at some point. At least Se kyung noticed from the beggining something was off.

Talking about him (Se kyung), I loved his character so much because he had depth,and a lore/ background. If the series wasn’t censored, I feel like with his family situation, he is quite closeted and that’s understandable honestly seeing how abusive his father is.
Then his father is such a garbage ! Even when confronted to what he did, what scars he left on his son, he decided to stay blind… Using a track app, spying on him through camera, through his ´friends’, or even telling a little child he should be strong and to watch the dead corpse of his beloved dog is just beyond EVIL!!!

And se kyung’s mom was at the beggining a hope for me, I thought she would save him from his father (after the call she gave the father, saying she’s gonna come back after the end of the business trip she was on) but judging by how long and violent the abuse (verbal and physical) has been and by the fact that she was never near him even in the flashbacks, I quickly lost every hope…

Jae min had the best character developpement to me. He took the time to start even realizing how bad he was being bullying others but what I liked was that he was receptive to the punishment at some point. I appreciated seeing the process from realization to regret and remorses. He, contrary to his ´friends’ actually learnt from their excuses.

He even had trust in his friends when they started lowkey bullying him and wanting to hand him to gangsters because he considered them as his friends. But as it’s often said, in a group of bullies, each of them is susceptible of turning their backs and ending up bullying on of their ´friends’ and that’s what jae min’s ´friends’ showed.

I loved how he became a better version lf himself and even got closer to his young sister !

Deuk Pal’s pals (pun intended !) will always have a special place in my heart because of how close they’ve always been and even after his death never stopped trying to avenge the person who represented their family at this point. For this they will always have my respect !

Yi Heon and his family (his mother) deserves happiness they suffered so much as well. The chairman was never showed but I hate him with all my guts as I hate se-kyung’s father. He never actually cared about him. He shouldn’t have has an affair with yi heon’s mother if he wasn’t able to take responsabilities and act like the father he is ugh ! Giving cars, money etc.. doesn’t replace love !
The secretary, Lee Mi Kyung will always have my hatred because she was a big part of the abuse yi heon underwent…

The staff of yi heon (the driver and the housekeeper) also are such good supportive characters!

The class of yi heon turned their vests as soon as he ´changed’ a bit. I didn’t expect he would accept/ forgive them that quick smh but they turned out to be quite nice especially the group of girls and the guy he started hanging out with afterwards (expect when they started doubting him after the bullying allegations tho… Fortunately, the doubting part didn’t really last).

- LOVED THE AESPA AND NCT (IU as well) REFERENCES BTW!! -

Before I finish by something that REALLY bothered me, Jae hoon was a character that was annoying. I will always remember the moment se kyung told him politely to f*ck off !

Once again as many pointed out censoring the gay romance in here was a mistake since you could sense they had a background together, especially by the way se-kyung was always looking at yi-heon, taking care of him (don’t get me wrong many close friends do that) BUT they had the chemistry and I can’t help but feel it was still implied. Also at the beginning when deuk pal was reading yi heon’s diary, the way yi-heon was talking about wanting ´to be se-kyung’s friend’ was giving crush (also friend crush smh- yk when you wanna be friends with someone so bad-). I know I proved it could be just a close friendship representation but knowing they were supposed to be dating in the webtoon but that it was changed (because of the korean society I assume) just makes it feels quite off…

Something doesn’t really click, wasn’t the tablet supposed to be broken since the beginning ??? I mean he was frustrated reading yi heon’s diary and he broke the tablet with his hands so how come he could access the same diary on the tablet (end of episode 7) ? ?


The cast is incredible as well as their acting. The OSTs are completely accurate and fit in the mood of the series !

I honestly don’t get why people are mad at the end because it was a greag closire to both yi heon and deuk pal.
Deuk pal got to bid real goodbyes to his relatives (dongsoo, jeoncheol and the boss) but also se kyung. On his side Yi heon got to have an explanation session with se kyung. Everything was so emotional in that last episode ! I mean yes I hated the fact yi heon actually left tho because this felt plain to me, he deserved some happiness as well… 😭😭😭. I’m bawling my eyes out rn.
I MEAN I FELT LIKE I WAS GETTING PREPARED (BY THE WRITERS) THE WHOLE TIME FOR THE RETURN OF YI HEON FOR HIM TO ACTUALLY LIVE BUT ENDED UP HAVING DEUK PAL (I LOVE HIM THO) LIVING IN HIS PLACE. IT WAS KINDA OFF CONSIDERING HE ´LIVED ´ (EXPERIENCED) MORE THAN YI HEON.

Jae hoon being sincere and regretting his actions was not on my wishes yet I appreciated it. He’s gaining more of my sympathy smh

Leia Mais

Waited for so long and… IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT !

I BINGE WATCHED IT (IN 3 DAYS) AND WOULD TOTALLY RECOMMEND IT !
I already knew the series before even knowing it because I’ve read the webtoons from which it was adapted (money game and pie game by bae jin soo and both available on the WEBTOON app if y’all want !). I’ve waited for so long for that series to be released and two days ago, on the first day I started watching and immediately recognized the essence of these WEBTOONs : I clicked when I saw the money counters in the rooms.
But in this review I won’t deal with whether it’s a loyal adaptation or not !

I love the concept of showing us rough yet realistic things using this series because eventhough everyone knows a group of people can’t stay still for a long period of time especially when money is involved, writers found a way to make it entertaining AND realistic. They showcased how people would grow greedy and the toughests will ended ruling and that’s what the show demonstrated ! We saw gradually, as each episode went by, the downfall of the serenity, the downfall of each character !

(Btw I loved how each episode -the intro and the first minutes- was always dedicated to one character, to getting to know them better, their lore).

The fact that the levels of the flats and the space of which each person disposed of was a reflect of society is even more deep in my opinion.

The characters winning time from being progressively violent to each other (they quickly went from the ´cute ´ version of the king game to tasering each other then hitting each other with bats…) was also accurate considering humans under pressure and with the illusion of gaining money would do anything.

Also, don’t get fooled by the synopsis that might make you think of squid game ! I’ve watched both and they have nothing in common except them showing humans being greedy, being guided by their will of money, to escape their debts !

Besides, I might sound weird or psycho but a few parts in the show really made me smile or giggle out of nowhere 😭

Before I break down why I did like or not each character, I would like to say the intro and especially the song used is such a good idea. And that part where it speeds up is genuinely addicting, I don’t know why !

The acting/ the cast : I loved them all. Every one did such a good job, for example floor 1´s actor playing the pitiful character, floor’s 7 playing the intelligent one and helper to turn his back afterwards or even floor’s 8, who really embodies the apparently naive yet very controlling and manipulative character ! I also saw people boycotting ryu Jun yeol because of what’s going on with Han so hee and tbh I still don’t get the goal of this (I don’t support him dating shortly after breaking up especially if it’s to date Han so hee tho) but I respect your choices .

The characters :
- Floor 1 : I don’t know why but I adore him so much and from the beginning ! He is so sweet and caring but he also knows why and how to step up for himself ! I was gladly surprised by his performance during the talent show lol ! 😭
He is so talented as a clown and mime ! May he rest in peace because even when he lost it, he stayed human in a way !
I loved him so much 😭❤️.

- Floor 2 : That woman is so badass and doesn’t let someone else decide for her (ex : before the vote for to decide about who will get to keep in their room everyone’s feces). Maybe once or twice she would lightly lowers under the pressure but she always knows how to bounce back.

- Floor 3 : He seems rather realistic and by that I mean he always let what others will think of him and how he might looks like to them rule how he acts (ex : when he helped floor 1 during the days they had to go up and down the stairs to gain time or even when they had to write down the amount of pieces they want and the only condition was them receiving the amount they were willing for if the addition of what everyone wrote made the number they would have to partake from the beginning. Another example would be him choosing to get tasered to not look like a depraved or even him refusing floor 8´s favors for the same reason).

- Floor 4 : I hate that woman so much I swear ! Her trying to sound ´cute ´ with this voice really pisses me off to be fair… As well as floor 8. It feels too unnatural to me.
Then her character in itself is so much self-centered ! She acts like a clueless and naive character but when the leaders stand out she would willingly follow them and harass the others ugh.
- Floor 5 : I don’t know what to think of this woman to be honest lol. She felt like if we had to choose a not-so-well-written character, it would have been her but she was cute among all those people. It was funny seeing her always hitting at not being bothering doing spicy things etc..
She might looks stupid, naive etc… but she’s actually the most human among them ! And her avenge against floor 6 was so good !

- Floor 6 : This man is so exhausting. He is one of the reasons of why everything went downhill… He thinks with his d!ck and his knuckles to put it down mildly… I really hate him. BUT at least he paid tribute to floor 1 by sending flowers and not coming to his funeral after all he did to him !

- Floor 7 : I had faith in him is all I can say… BUT he still is my favorite character because even when we thought he would continue betraying he would end up helping. Overall he was a really good character, loyal even when he was threatened with a gun by floor 6 for example. The only time he deceived me was a moment of weakness compared to other characters (esp 6,4,8 that will always be the real villains to me !).
- Floor 8 : Even if I hate this woman I have to admit SHE is the QUEEN here. She controls everything eventhough she might seems naive and stupid at first sight (what the actress really embodied !) !
For example, when she got them changing the politics after they voted her off to be the one keeping everyone’s trash and then she punished them and got them waiting for food and water for days. Or even escaping the taser’s sentence and then with the help of inferior floors (7,6 and 4), taking the lead other the others.

I loved her duality despite her being a really despicable person in herself. Maybe the system of winning money being different (the sound of money won per minute being different from a floor to another) etc… but once again the series reflects society and it’s difficulty !

The 8 that is a number really present in the series even in the title is really symbolic to me. It is showed as the number of the power (floor 8 is in a way the powerful one here) but also symbolizes how this game is made for no one to get out. They are stuck in for infinity (if you turn the 8 to the side it looks like the infinity sign ♾️) since there will always be someone who will want to stay in due to their greed (like floor 1 did and really disappointed me on this eventhough I always had the feeling he was the one who did these horrible things to elongate the time they will have to stay in). There will always be also the powerful one deciding and stopping everyone to get out just for their interests as floor 8 did. I was genuinely scared and horrified by how far she went for her own pleasure (depriving many from sleep and forcing floor 5 and 4 to heal everyone and keeping them ´enough ´ alive to keep the game going on)….

At ep 6, I remember how I was so glad floor 2 said louder what I always thought of, leaving since everything was for once going on good but then floor 1 destroyed everything for what ??? Changing room. My jaw dropped at him explaining why he always wanted those 1 billion just to change room 😬.

I loved their revolution otherwise because the whole time (approx. 160 hrs) by themselves without those toxic leaders, they were genuinely enjoying each other’s company and living life ! I was so relieved at first when they were 10 hrs from the liberation but guess what 😭💀.

Btw something doesn’t click : weren’t they not supposed to not be out of their rooms from midnight to 8 in the morning ?? because at the end (from ep5/6 to the end) they kept doing that 😭.

Watching the show made me feel like those psychos that were watching from behind the cameras. Idk the way it’s filmed, the POV we had in each single of those episodes made me feel that way.

The end got me so emotional and everything ended ´well ´ in a way. May Floor 1 rest in peace !
Would have liked to see floor 7 at the funeral but he did something really important on his side as well !

To sum up, my faves were floor 1,2,3,5 and 7 !
The question is why didn’t they buy something after the two first months they decided to stay ? They could have used the amount of time the creators kept adding so that at one point the time would have came to 0 yk…

I know I wrote so much. If someone has read that much then congrats lol !

Leia Mais

slow-paced but !

If you are afraid or just don’t like slow-paced series/movies just don’t start this because I, didn’t really got that hooked and invested to the series until the mid-second when murders started to become abundant in a sort of way.
But when I got hooked by the plot, I couldn’t stop and that’s why I binge-watched this in like two days.
The cast, acting and story are just memorable. All the legendary actors played in it. The music was not that special but the intro is just so well done ! It’s giving true crime ytb channels!

The fact that it was a ´short’ series due to its duration is only in the numbers because the episode are not ´plain’. Everything is there, every clue is highlighted at the right moment to help you click only when the screenwriter wanted us to click.

Let’s get back to the story and what I liked in it !
First of all, I loved the bond between Capitain Park and Choi because beyond all the mean things they could have said to each other, you could always sense and see the love and tenderness that lie in their eyes. I also loved how they sold their complicated relationship and above all, how every character actually had some sort of background explained and sold at the end.

Lastly but not least, (won’t spoil the names dw, I will be vague), the series actually managed to make me kinda like the mentally unstable son’s character (not in a love/romantic way). To be honest, he grew on me as well as his mother. I felt compassion to them eventhough what she did was not good at all. They suffered a lot and I couldn’t help but feeling compassionate to them to the point I was very moved by the mother’s sacrifice and even started imagining the FL and her brother start creating bonds as he received help from medical professionals to socialize more as to say.

Leia Mais

Incredible. Watch it ASAP !

I absolutely loved it. I was into it from the beggining to the end. The length was perfect.
One of the rare kdramas with not a predominant romantic relationship and I absolutely loved it.
I enjoyed it from the very beggining.

If I had to point out little things I disliked,it would be (btw I'm being tacky because you can really overlook that):

- It was interesting to have gay characters but I felt like the couple that was revealed was as waited as irrelevant. To be clearer I already felt
at a certain point that it was Sejin that was dating him (not gonna spoil the character's name) from the little flashbacks yet when it was revealed it was already too obvious to make me be like 'Oh. Such a plot twist!' Also in when the latests scenes of their couple was showed as a flashback, I felt like there was no chemistry between them, as if they were putting on some act 😭 (you know, as in some BLs...). Yet they were cute together (tbh I would have preferred if it was been revealed jae bum was actually really dating Wonseok because in their photos they really had some chemistry).

- We never got an explanation on how the four boys knew each others and how things got ruined since lately they were almost all having beefs with each others.
--> a bully to the two others, who turns out to be also a gaslighter and really manipulative afterwards to the third and last one..

- The way writers erased Jae Bum and ML's friendship as soon as they introduced it, was disappointing because I liked their genuine and cute interactions and after it just maked no sense how they went from super friendly to just acquaintances who talk only when chan mi and the investigation are getting involved smh...

- Then the end. I felt last ep was too rushed. Evil character (forgot his name) absolutely didn't receive what he deserved when he litteraly destroyed every single character's life. On the other side as soon as Jae Bum (defo my fav and even always loved this actor sm) stepped in that damn car, we never knew what happened to him like writers please💀- we wanted to know how judicial stuffs went for him eventho it was clear he was in some serious sh*t with evil character dead now. Btw Oh Sung (I now recall "Evil character"'s name lmao) is defo not straight. I feel like writers pulled out this plotwist with this "I love my biggest enemy who is also my relative" trope to avoid having another queer character in the series. Why ? Because of his reactions (mainly jealousy) when Jae Bum was with other ppl (yet the same Oh Sung would deliberately abandons him for his friends as soon as he could) especially ML, Soo Heon. A precise example would be when he said "it was Wonseok (who at that moment of the series was allegedly Jae Bum's bf if we rely on what Oh Sung was saying) and now it's Soo Heon" as he was looking at the two of them from a classroom above with something in his voice that hinted he could be attracted to Jae Bum. Also when a moment in the series came that ML and FL went to Oh Sung's house to check out what he was hiding and saw several pictures of him and other 3 boys (Wonseok , Sejin and Jae Bum), I REALLY felt like it was some hints that he really liked Jae Bum (in a not sane way tho but you see..)

I loved all the characters and appreciated how they all had a background. A quick shoutout to Sooheon boi who caught a cancer only for plot's sake cuz wth 💀. He successfully lived after all that eventho his head was getting banged throughout the whole show, he was fainting often and he was more likely to die but I assume it was for the show's sake-

Leia Mais