SPOILER-free review:
First, let me tell you the things I liked about this movie:
- cast (aesthetically, not regarding their acting)
- action scenes (not all)
- most of the movie until the part ~1:20:00
- Hana Sugisaki's acting
- Miyavi's talking voice

then the bad things I abhor:
- (sorry to his fans—he IS good looking tho) Fukushi Sota's acting
- everything after 1:20:00

Summary: Despite my low rating, THE MOVIE IS STILL WORTH WATCHING
If I were to make an alternate title it would be: SOMEBODY SAVE THE QUINCY


SPOILER-ful review (read at your own risk):

Around the middle part, I was quite impressed while watching and was already thinking of giving it a 6 or 7 or 8 and if I could end the movie already, I would end it at about 1:20:00 because that's when things went down the drain.

Everything was making sense, at least to me, until after Renji went and [SPOILER STARTS HERE] stabbed Uryuu (I WAS SHOCKED, SERIOUSLY. AND WHO THE F*** SAVED HIM) but that doesn't really bother me. I will tell you what as I go along. So after that of course they went on to fight and then since Renji couldn't slash with his sword anymore (WHY, it's not even broken Renji. so WHY), he decided to use his "Bankai" no problem with that ONLY it didn't look great at all and was like an awkward whipping slashing scene and Ichigo was dodging and all that. And. It's just awkward, for me. The more awkward part of the bankai thing happens after that (hint: Renji doesn't like slashing with his sword) but okay I'm not gonna spoil it for you, but to be real I really, really hated that part. Anyway.

After that some things happen and Byakuya enters the fight. [SPOILER-ful] For 3? times he goes and slashes Ichigo *lightning-fast* but Ichigo, being the complete idiot that he is, just goes on saying "I'll protect you" to Rukia like, are you trying to convince anyone here? Because .... Then he goes down 3? times. Miyavi does the sword-sheating thing 3x (I liked that actually because it looked pretty cool). Then Rukia (ILY Hana Sugisaki), being the sensible reaper that she is, convinces everyone to let Ichigo go in the most ... obvious (lie) way possible. But hey she succeeded because, other than Hana Sugisaki being a superb actress, somehow the movie has to end while I scratch my head, wondering. WHY—WHY—WHY does Byakuya even have to order/insist to kill Ichigo in the first place if in the end he's just gonna agree to let him go? What happened to the logic department? I know it's for the sake of the happy ending BUT for the love of what's holy why does he suddenly go backwards—I was already convinced that Miyavi is a RUTHLESS ONIISAMA but... yeah I'm really sad about this. As an audience, I really, really despise being treated like an idiot.
*end rant*

Sorry for the rant. But other than that. The movie was pretty great as I already said just before the ~1:20:00 part. And it's worth the watch. It's short, so do it. It's on Netflix. My saving graces were Hana Sugisaki's acting (I couldn't stress this point enough) and Miyavi's talking voice (mhmm).

P.S.:
WHO SAVED URYUU COULD ANYONE ENLIGHTEN ME?

Leia Mais

If you want a good detective drama, skip this one

First of all, I picked up this title because 100 Days My Prince was real good. Also, I like Do Kyungsoo as an actor (and an idol). So while my motives may be biased, me judging this drama after watching 12/12 episodes is not.

I keep seeing ratings that are 10/10... seriously? If this site is going to be filled with biased reviews such as those, I may as well not look at user reviews here. Anyway, if you sincerely liked the drama, that is fine. I am not judging your tastes (maybe). But really, while the acting may be fine, the script feels forced. The "bad" trope feels forced. The cliches feel forced. Whatever is not important is emphasized. The good, "just right" story flow is not present (the pacing is really, really, really bad). The plot twists could really just, IDK, make your brain cells twist in despair. What more can I say when the villain can just kill off other people but not the main character? Really? Just so we can have a plot? This drama could've ended in 6 or so episodes if the villain really just used his brain a little bit more and killed off the main character.

For a detective drama, nothing makes sense in this one. If you want to use your brain while watching this, well, no, you can't. You might as well just close your eyes and cover your ears while your brain shuts down during the time you watch this. The writer(s) must have thought viewers just turn off their brain capacity by 180% when they watch tv shows. Well, that's what it felt like. I felt like I am being treated like an idiot for having to put up with the ridiculous plot twists and whatever they come up with. I put up with 12 episodes of this because I want to write a review with credibility. One that can express fully how insufferable the plot is.

Anyway, no hate for the actors. Snowball is super cute. Watch it if you like DO.

Edit: those who have 8 or higher ratings must be dandanies...well, not that I am still one, but I have his Empathy album because it is good. My point only: not all fans can be biased in reviews (although there's pretty much so many of them who gave this drama a high rating).

Leia Mais

THE GOOD:
Casting is good. Tsubasa Honda is a good pick, among the others--they are great actors and actresses. Hughes looks like he came out of 2D and become 3D. I love Nina.

THE BAD: (not gonna list all, these are probably just my biggest issues with the movie)
1- Scenes were dragging, some were kind of off and wrong (like "you need to take him to a hospital yet you keep on blabbering" kinds of wrong).
2- The changes were fine (I mean the parts of the story that deviated from the original manga/anime), but not better than original. I understand time is not a luxury, but the movie lacked action overall.
3- Some scenes just weren't convincing, and awkward. You can't convince me Hawkeye is a lieutenant because it looked like she can't shoot a gun, for one. Misako Renbutsu is pretty, tho.

Leia Mais

This review is from someone who watched the anime and read the manga 5 years ago--

Cast/Acting:
There are some awkward moments, the acting isn't perfect, but I guess it's a pass since the last scenes got better and given that it's adapted from shoujo manga, the pacing is reeaal slooow that it makes it awkward

Story:
So, I did like the manga/anime a lot back then. Tho if I really think about it now, the plot is 1 big loophole. And there's just a few things that are totally out of place. Pointing them out would be spoiling the plot. Either way, the story was presented quite nicely in the movie and my rating is based on the few plot twists that are questionable. So like, is it ok to rate the movie this bad because I didn't like the questionable plot twists? Well, I think so, yeah, since the movie is loyal and didn't deviate much from the original. And tbh, I kind of wished it's not about character trauma and more on character development (it's all the questionable plot twist's fault)

Overall:
The OST is nice. Kento is handsome. The other cast did great. Tao Tsuchiya is ok. The acting can be improved. The story can be blamed on the original manga plot.

Is it worth watching?
If you like drama and slow-paced shoujo, it's not a waste of time. You might question the plot tho, if you haven't the slightest idea of the story (like I did just now after being brought a blast from the past that the younger me didn't see/realize).
Watch it if you're a fan of the genre (and Kento).

Leia Mais

I did not expect to have my brain cells in gear

At the time of writing this review, I am currently on a quest of watching all of Lee Joon Gi. This is among the most accessible ones and diving into it I had no idea what I was getting into. I might be calling this a masterpiece for how much it took me off guard, since I was on an impression of a light-hearted, 2-hour immersion. Maybe it's good to not let titles fool you, just as they say to not judge the book by its cover (hah). Out of all the things this movie might impress you by, I'd say with how well the script is written it is the crème de la crème, and only the best acting gives justice to this level of writing. Overall, it inspired me to write this review to say I now understand why Lee Joon Gi became who he is after this film. But of course, everyone in the film has levelled with him (superb acting). Watched it for him, I definitely got more than what I expected.

P.S. all the awards this film amassed was well-deserved.
P.P.S just wanted to add it's a film ahead of its time for its theme, and one that is timeless.

Leia Mais

There's just loopholes but don't let my review stop you from getting your Dong Yoon eye candy!!!

As much as I wanted to love this show, I was left scratching my head most of the time especially on the latter half because of all the questions I have while watching. Logic does not exist in this world, so if you just want to blindly follow Nok-du's story because of what it is, then I say go for it by all means!!! But if you care for the plot and story, and all the reason behind it plus your sanity, then maybe this is not the best show to watch.
Main reason I watched this show is to see Dong Yoon, eye candy is enough for me to go on and watch his cross dressing (he is so pretty lol) until the end because heck at that point I'm in too deep the plot that I just had to. BUT that doesn't remove the fact that I watched from episode 12 onwards on 1.5 speed. LMAO

Were my eye candy needs fulfilled? Yes, definitely. Would I care to re-watch for more eye candy? MEH definitely not. I can't help but compare it to Sungkyungkwan Scandal since they basically are the same type of drama and share a lot of characteristics. I would say I'll definitely rewatch Sungkyungkwan Scandal but not this one. (I might just be biased but not really since I really like Dong Yoon he looks like a baby).

TLDR: don't watch for the plot because it's bad, watch for Dong Yoon the baby

Leia Mais

It was nice to watch Haruma Miura, he did great in this movie

That said, while watching I can't help but feel emotional despite the comedy. OK anyway before this review turns into a memorial on Haruma Miura, let me just rate some stuff:

cast 10/10
plot 5/10
fight scenes 10/10

THE GOOD:
I really liked the train fight scenes. It was well made. I'm biased to Oryo so thanks for the eye candy.
As usual like the first movie, the cast is top tier and it's an A-list cosplay movie (lol). The comedy is funny too. I really like Katsura and it was fun to have him show up with the usual shenanigans. And before I forget, Haruma Miura's acting deserves all the awards.

THE BAD:
Let me put a disclaimer that I'm not comparing this movie to the anime. But I guess I'm not really a fan of the serious parts of Gintama. So this movie isn't an exception. I felt the plot was kinda dragging, too. There was disconnect in some scenes (I'm not surprised as this isn't the first movie I've seen by the director). This movie was made with the intention of a next one, so IDK how to feel about that. I surely would like to see more of Oryo and Katsura 3D.

TLDR:
I recommend this movie to die-hard Gintama fans. If you like some slapstick comedy maybe you will find the humor in the movie to your liking too (the comedy wasn't bad).

Leia Mais

For a movie that's solely based on someone's sister complex, this one rates high above my list-

Joke aside, can I just say

Action: 10/10
Cast, Story, Effects, Script, etc whatever else in this movie do not matter. Just kidding again, let me rate the cast 10/10 too.

Also even though I don't really remember much about what happened in the anime/manga, I can say that I'm 99% certain [spoiler] Sojiro doesn't have any role in this arc (??? or not, IDK at all. I'll check later). Even then, for me it's not an unwelcome addition. Also, thank you for giving us the pleasure of watching more Aoshi fight scenes (I think more of it wouldn't be bad either). And I'm rating this a 0.5 less than perfect only because I felt the movie is a bit dragging (IF I didn't feel it I'd give this one a 10, no matter how ridiculous some scene may be).

OK well another thing. I want to thank whoever cast Mackenyu as Enishi, he's such an eye candy. And as usual, Takeru Satoh's acting is just. Yeah. So damn good. If there's anything this movie is lacking it's that I need more fight scenes!!!!!!

Leia Mais

I have no idea if the manga is a musical, but I did watch the anime--

I want to give an honest review without comparing to the anime (I'll try) as every movie deserves to be rated on its own.
Let me give a summary first.
The good:
- Yamaken
- Takahata Mitsuki's singing
- some comedy scenes
- plot not dependent on knowing the story of the manga/anime

The bad:
- don't know if I'm watching hard core comedy or a musical, too bad it's a mix of both and I can't jive with it
- some awkward scenes
- female lead is a shallow character (no development)
- I'm not a musical fan and it's a musical movie so there

Cast/Acting:
I've enjoyed some jokes, Kaku Kento is a very good actor (he's funny so it makes sense the director always has him in his movies). Takahata Mitsuki is a great singer. I'm certainly going through a list of Yamaken's movies one by one, although I can see somehow that his acting is not that great (this is the 3rd show I've seen that he is the main chara).

Story/Plot:
A good thing about the movie is that the plot can standalone and doesn't depend on the viewers having read the manga/watched the anime. It's ok to watch on it's own, which IMO should at least be a standard to all live action adaptations. However, I'm not the most eager musical-fan out there, so it might be a crime but I skipped all songs (and only kind of listened to Mitsuki's solo near the end).
So if it's only the story, I think I only have one complaint. As a "nerd" I can very much relate to the characters. It's true to the title, as how being an otaku affects our daily lives. But somehow I wished the female lead is not just a hollow human being regardless of being an otaku or not. Her character could've been better. Tho I think they did well with the male lead's character development. But it's still quite disappointing, really.

Overall:
I can't like the movie. It bothers me that I don't get the movie's tone at all. Is it a comedy? Ok, fine. Is it a musical? Ok, fine. Is it a musical comedy? I definitely can't vibe with the mood since the comedic scenes really clash with the musical pieces, I didn't really watch the songs ok, but what I want to say is, the kind of comedy the movie delivers does not suit the musical quality that it also happens to have. It's like watching 3 different movies at the same time. I get it, it's not a crime to have the mood shifting, but it's just the change/flow confused me. Nothing jives. It might be the comedy scenes should've been toned down a bit to make way for it being a musical. I wouldn't mind that I guess.

Re-watch value:
It's hard to re-watch anything especially if you know there are awkward scenes/acting. And comedies usually don't do so well the second time around. Though definitely re-watch it if you wanna see more Yamaken (who wouldn't wanna see him as an otaku?).

Leia Mais

Everyone is too good. I feel this drama is underrated and needs more attention(!!!)

Episode sixteens of most k-dramas kind of ruin the story for me. Now while the story here is not perfect, I felt that the last episode was justified, especially so because everyone was just too good at acting. And since I'm biased, I wanna say that LJG killed another one with this one. SO. SO. GOOD.

As a LJG fan, I am so grateful he's always giving us dramas that keep us on our toes. <3 <3 <3

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Not only because of the actors, but also the story. If this is on your backlog, don't keep it there and watch the first episode now, you won't regret!!!

Leia Mais

From mother complex to wtf is happening? Sorta

Probably writing this review is not very fair since I had mixed feelings while completing the series. Overall I am very biased towards Lee Joongi and I really, really, liked the first half(?) of the show.

The cast and production and all their clothing make this a great one (I love their dresses and robes). While also, that one episode deserves to be purged for eternity and made me hate this show so much. Together with the fact that the female lead did some very questionable stuff (she is not likeable for a female lead).

Anyway, it made me curious about Goryeo and its history. It is entertaining albeit I did lose some of my braincells. Lastly, Lee Joongi eye candy is spectacular.

Leia Mais

I may be biased again but this sequel actually isn’t bad!

Maybe I was over expecting on the first movie that I rated it that bad (and now I put the bar so low LOL). This movie however, nailed all the emotion-evoking scenes!! I loved how they did it. Frankly, I’m not comparing to the anime/manga because it’d be very tough to capture everything, but the way the screenplay flowed through was flawless!!! Not the best opening scenes but still, the part halfway (not expounding on it to make this review spoiler-free) until the end had my whole attention captured. It is worth watching, to everyone who liked FMA or in general like the actors and actresses that are part of this trilogy.

I, myself, am watching for Mackenyu more than I am a fan of FMA. Kidding aside, I still think Tsubasa Honda’s acting is great. Cinematography on the war was excellent. Tiny bits and pieces of exposition on the overly complex plot of FMA was nicely done. I know the whole plot already, but it’s like watching without a clue because it’s been so long since I’ve finished the anime. I still got surprised at what happened in the last few scenes. WHAT. A. CLIFF. HANGER. Imagine releasing this without the next movie. I would go crazy mad. Chad production move there, don’t make your audience angry!

Anyway, as per tradition, a summary and TLDR:
Cast: still a superb cosplay display, 9/10
Acting: I’m not gonna complain a lot, since the latter half is good, 7/10
CG: I’ve seen better CG, but ok 6/10
Story: 8.5/10
Overall:
Good screenplay and cinematography, lackluster CG, some actors carried the others, great costumes!, good important bits of the plot picked up and shown-so good plot! 8/10

Recommend for: fantasy fans maybe, and FMA fans of course.
-from an FMA fan who already forgot the story

P.s in all honesty I enjoyed the latter half, the first half bored me to death. So I’m still probably rating based only on the good 2nd half of the movie. Skipping and watching on 2x speed helps, though!

Leia Mais

Thank you for such a wonderful movie.

Acting 10/10
Cast 10/10
Plot 9/10

I'm amazed at how the cinematography has matured since the first movie. Totally in love that they didn't focus much on the political side, because as I recall it wasn't really where the plot was in the original manga. But really I don't recall much from the 1999 movie (anime) I've watched before. But I can say for sure what they did here with Tomoe's character is superb.

So with that said, it's the same usual things since the first movie: Takeru Satoh's acting is just great. The action scenes always leave me wanting more. The camera work is splendid. The effects, script, and pacing are just what I'd want in this movie. I came here hungry and expecting for a good 2 hours and it did not disappoint.

If anything, the worst thing about this movie (and the series in general) is that I want MORE of Kenshin's story...(and fight scenes)

So to the director and writer: thank you for giving us a movie to remember. And this is just how I'd want a movie series to end. Somewhere at the peak.

Leia Mais

Cast: The cast is great -- biased fan here.

Story: I watched because I'm attached to the anime and the characters. Oryo being in it is just a bonus (and somehow I see myself watching more Yamazaki Kento movies). But since it's a gag LA adaptation of a gag anime, we shouldn't expect much and things aren't supposed to make sense. Also apparently it's the same director as the Gintama movies, and somehow you can notice the likeness in scenes and pacing. For me though it would be better if there were less moments about Hairo--just my biasedness talking here--and the pacing were kind of dull at times. I did find Oryo moments funny though.

Overall: It's OK, I don't find myself re-watching it at all. Once you've seen the joke one time, that's it. Though I don't think I've wasted my time watching it, it's a great eye-candy movie, so thank you for the great casting.

Leia Mais