Beanie level: Eunuch in drag

What the heck is that image? 🤣 Deserves to be up for “caption this” @db-staff
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What I am watching NOW (coz it’s not worth showing my face there)😂
I found that something is better than nothing 😅. Hence, this super short web drama featuring reunion of the Seasons of Blossom couple. Enjoy!
Ep 1 (6 minutes) https://youtu.be/IPUZG_TufPo?si=0SHm4cx7aNbycEUo
Ep 2 (12 minutes) https://youtu.be/ZbW_pOx275Y?si=ZSGYxJaBHJ8NyPK7
*PS: It’s called On/Off, and deals with interaction between a man and a hearing impaired woman

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    I watched the teaser on Insta some weeks ago. I got goosebumps because I loved them so much in Seasons of Blossom…

    Thanks for sharing it!

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      I have watched On-off today. It was cute 🙂
      They were lovely in Seasons of Blossom so it’s been a joy to see them together again.
      I wish it were longer.

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        Comment was deleted

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        I did not watch Seasons of Blossom because I find that subject a little difficult. Infact, I had previously only watched them only long enough to remember their faces. This wasn’t also long enough to fully show their acting ability, but both of them have very pleasant smiles 🙂. In the closing moments, the male actor had a sincerity in eyes as he says “I want you to know I’m here”. I really liked that! His line didn’t add “… here FOR YOU”, but his eyes told us that he meant that. I am amazed how little moments like that can also be made perfect ❤. But yes, I also look forward to seeing both of them in longer projects 🙂

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    This is like the long advert for a piece of sight enhancing equipment. I like the way they use big names to raise the profile of the product but also use the mini drama to highlight the impact of the condition as well. The pricing and the dilemma that causes just dropped in there.

    Just in case this doesn’t play the film was called Two lights: Relumino

    https://youtu.be/3y5zBY96Mio?si=8zP8DRzMDN_8fIEp

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      I absolutely love love love this short film and don’t give a flying fig how it’s actual one giant PPL 🥹🥹🥰🥰🥰

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        Exactly, and by putting this much effort into it anyone can watch thus increasing general awareness and hopefully understanding.

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          Yes, exactly!!
          Bringing awareness is what I was thinking when I first watched this. The PPL aspect actually didn’t dawn on me until the very end when the credits were rolling and someone also pointed it out in the comments

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      I also thought of Two Lights while watching this!

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    Thanks so much for sharing. I like the male lead and feels like we don’t get to see much of him he was second lead in My lovely liar.

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It is no secret that I am not good at criticising (even fiction or people in fiction/ entertainment) so I resort to convoluted ways to do that… 😅

Last time I did that, it turned into a guessing game I did not mean to start. Once I deliberately wanted to play a guessing game, but did not have the guts to do that…. OR, the reason might be I am not doing well these days, and I don’t feel like responding so often.. BUT, if you people are willing to excuse my absence here and play a game among yourselves… HERE’S THE GUESSING GAME
Q.If your favorite and hated dramas had a baby, what’s the plot?

My Answer: A man and a woman get married to each other to take revenge on their dads for bullying them in their youth. In the process, they realise they can just shut out their nosey dads and live happily cosying up in a rooftop room.

PS: Don’t just guess my dramas, also write your hybrid plots in the comments

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    I don’t know your dramas 😂

    I don’t have one most favorite or most hated drama, so I’m just going to choose two:

    A painfully shy woman is employed as a man’s bodyguard, and ends up falling for him.

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    Revenge and rooftops are too common T.T,  is there anything more specific about the dramas that could work? I am sleep-deprived though, so that may be why I think it’s so difficult. LOL When I wake up I’ll try mine (even if I have no idea what my favorite and least favorite shows are).

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      The favourite drama FL is a failed writer and the hated drama (I’ve dropped many, but only ever hated one) FL is an elementary school teacher who is apparently ummm…. very successful (she can afford two luxury cars, LOL.. which she uses to spy on her bullies and judge them based on their sex lives, yuck 😑. If this is anyone’s favourite, these are just my personal feelings.)

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    A baseball player goes to prison. He is not a bad man at all, but some situation went out of hand when he was trying to protect her sister.
    Somehow, one day he wakes up at home and he soon notices he has traveled a year into the past. He has a countdown written on his wrist. He has to try to change his future.

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      Prison Playbook and?

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        Perfect Marriage Revenge.

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          I read your comments on how much you disliked that drama 😂. I understood without having ever watched it. When almost all other people seem to be enjoying something and we… just don’t get the point of the drama 🤷🏻‍♀️

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            This is exactly my feelings towards Heart to Heart! It’s on many beanies favorites list. And I hate it! The ml treats the fl like a stray dog till the very end, and his most flirting comment was: oooh you’re so ugly!!! I felt nauseous every time he patted her head and went past with no other look…

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            It was a unique experience/phenomenon XD

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          Oh, that drama was so, so bad. So boring! How can you have time travel, murder attempt, cheating, abuse, surprise family relations, contract marriage, revenge plans, and secret spies … and still be boring?
          Well, look no further, Perfect Marriage Revenge it is.

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    Too many, so I choose my last hate-watch and most recent favorite.

    A detective goes back to her hometown to solve the mystery involving her father’s case (who was wrongly accused of a crime). There she reunites with her ex boyfriend, friends and all the people from her childhood. She gets in a love triangle with her ex and a friend, and is pretty much mistreated by everyone in town, especially the ex’s father.
    Then, she remembers she has to solve the case (so she does), gets back to her ex, and the show ends.

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      I have no clue as I rarely (ever) watch procedurals. But this sounds like a remake of some western drama? 🤔

      Please decode this 😂

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        HAHAHAHAHAH. Procedural?!

        One is slice of life, and the other one is romance, but promoted as some healing show or something.

        Show A: A detective goes back to her hometown to solve the mystery involving her father’s case (who was wrongly accused of a crime).

        Show B: There she reunites with her ex boyfriend, friends and all the people from her childhood. She gets in a love triangle with her ex and a friend, and is pretty much mistreated by everyone in town, especially the ex’s father.

        The mix: Then, she remembers she has to solve the case (so she does), gets back to her ex, and the show ends.

        Both dramas are from the 2023-2024 period. I watched them at the same time.

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          I think show B is Welcome to Samdal-ri and no idea about A.

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          I was so confused because Next Door Love ML’s dad was one of the few who was kind and didn’t shout angrily at the FL for her having committed the serious crime of being ill and in mortal danger.
          But it was Samdal-ri – were her mother hit her, while she sat crying and cowering, for having committed the serious crime of being beaten up for once (a bit) by some other ajummah, someone else’s mother.

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          Wow, there’s even slice of life procedural now 😂.. I am sure I have not watched the drama.. So Samdalri is the one you hate? Now do reveal which is the one you love!

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    A promiscuous young chef, very much in love with himself, falls into water and is kissed by a woman’s soul in the water. He wakes up having been rescued from the water and finds out he is now inside her body and then HA HA HA! turns out she was fat!
    The rest of the story is mostly about how funny it is that she is fat, eats all the time, and messily, and also, her sensible mother beats the sh*t out of herm because that’s funny, too.

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      @enriquequierecagar Okay. So which one is your favorite? A Or B? 😄

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      Mr Queen and Atypical family.

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        Oh, it wasn’t really Atypical Family so much as 1) a mixture of all the fatshaming dramas out there – including the part where Dong-he eats messily because fat people apparently do. But in Atypical family it was also made clear that “being fat” was not the reason Dong-he couldn’t fly, and that the solution definitely wasn’t to stop eating. For its kind, it was relatively progressive.
        (Second gif in comment + first written comment beneath it: https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1592847/#acomment-1593660 )
        But in Secret Royal Inspector and Joy there was a beautiful character, Gu Pal, (In my mind: “Good Pal”) who was ridiculed even if he really was beautiful (his beauty wasn’t in the script, he just played it, so maybe he just decided to be beautiful) and he was even ridiculed for hoping for love one day.
        https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1546606/#acomment-1547508
        But the drama I think about above all else was one that I saw like 20 minutes of and then was just sure I didn’t need this to exist in the world. About a woman who gets dumped and then gets herself a revenge body or something. She was shown as kind of cute-dumb and I, as you say, “couldn’t even”.
        It was … (looking at my list … 🤓🧐 ) “Oh My Venus”.
        And I really love Mr. Queen , except the ending – it’s like there’s a rule that you can’t end a drama as awesome as it would obviously be possible, for some reason.

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          Mr. Queen is on my top five list … I am not sure it’s my absolute favorite. But since it includes body swap, the opportunity for this combination of best and worst kind of presented itself.

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            I haven’t watched “Oh My Venus” or “Royal Inspector,” but got the gist of it from your posts. Did the shaman like Good Pal? Do they get together in the end? I think the female lead is stupid for laughing at him. And I agree, the ending of “Mr. Queen” Is not awesome as the show is.

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            There hadn’t been any hints towards a relationship between the Shaman and Good Pal, but they were the two “leftover” singles in a small settlement of righteous people. Anyway, the giffed visit to have his future read was the last we saw of Gu Pal in this drama.
            He had (as can be seen in other gifs) earlier been asked to dress up as a young woman to keep one of the three younger villains distracted. He had done that without being ridiculous, which is more or less unseen in light-rom-com-land, and the villain had been very interested in him.
            That villain was either dead or traveled far away (I think, dead?) and it was his spirit calling through the shaman. So a dead man’s spirit was calling out for Good Pal, being in the way of amy other love interests.
            I am glad that at least the shaman didn’t laugh, but honestly disgusted with the FL’s actions at this point.

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          Sorry I misread and understood that the shaman liked him.
          Yeah the fl’s reaction is horrible. Especially if she is close to him. Sharing your worries to your closed ones and them laughing…

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    I cannot do the mashup without revealing the dramas here…
    ok… a time traveller runs around in circles in a raw chicken restaurant.

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First Episode drops: a little rant 😑
Call me VERY impatient, but instead of a 4 episodes rule I generally have a one episode rule. I don\’t know why I am so impatient, but some things matter to me to be able to relate to the character (no matter how outlandish).
Scenario 1: The very first thing is the manner in which the protagonist is introduced. And the type of introduction that takes me immediately out of the story is the monologue-ish style where they introduce themselves to a large crowd, which effectively, to me as a viewer, sounds like, \”Hi! I am ____ character, this is my story, and THESE, are my qualities\”. To me, not only does it feel superfluous to be making such a monologue in audio-VISUAL storytelling, but also utterly UNNATURAL! I know it is used in some stage plays, but on small screen when the writer had SO MUCH time (16 hours!) to write a more realistic scene where we \”happen upon\” the characters, and to make us slowly discover their quirks… they chose that 😑. That\’s when I press pause, never to return again 😑.
Scenario 2: There\’s this drama where everything and everyone is so unexpectedly good. There\’s sensitivity in the story, direction, characterisation, acting and depiction of familial bonds (the polar oppositive of the OTT makjang I was expecting).. And then comes the romance….. I admit romance is USUALLY the most eagerly awaited part for me, but in this case……… 😑 And I am apparently in the minority. I LOVE the girl, but the MAN….. 😑 Just HATE (a very strong word I rarely use) everything about him! The character (what is he even supposed to be?), the actor (what is he even trying to do?) and how his introduction affects the story (the shift of focus from the realistically portrayed struggles of the family and the heroine)…. Overall, he turned me off big time in a way that no single character has ever managed to do before, and I am sad to drop a very potent drama with a talented cast and lovely lead actress. I wish her all the best and looking forward to seeing her either in a non romance or an equally (and realistically) matched romance, coz MAN!… this one was a big mismatch for me 😑
#Don\’tAskWhichDramas🤐 #JustGuessIfYouWill😐

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    Can I ask for a hint? Are these dramas from 2024? Or the past?

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      These are all very recent (2024) dramas…

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        My guess is that I’ve actually not seen either of these dramas! I don’t remember either scenario happening this year–and that’s not to defend any given drama.

        I just don’t recall anyone/man doing a “Character-self-introduction” or seeing a drama that begins by situating the FL in a solid home environment. I checked my list and everything 😉 Certainly also not when you were expecting OTT makjang.

        Anyway…it was fun thinking about this!!

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          Slight correction.. those self-introductions were by FLs (both very outlandish protagonists, but wouldn’t have stopped me from loving them without the said introduction 🙄).

          Also, slight spoiler 😅 I think a couple of them are delayed releases in some regions… (don’t let my opinion affect how you view them, I may be a drama-less ranter at the moment 😂)

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            Oh, maybe Judge from Hell, then. I did “see” that, but you know what? I skimmed through the initial exposition and when I got to the guy with the eyeliner and the back-tentacles, I thought…oh, this isn’t getting a whole lot of my attention.

            It’s interesting to me that the second one does seem to be Iron Family which I swore I’d never even start because I am still mad about Beauty and Mr. Romantic, but also because I don’t care about laundry, so I’m also with you on that, sight-unseen.

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            @attiton I’m glad that I am not missing out on anything 😂.. But, you know what… Maybe (this is me being hypocritical) give Iron Family a chance. The family is NOT JUST their profession. Infact, this is the first time in my experience when I saw a weekender having a philosophy (and not the in your face kind, but quite sensitive). About that man, who knows, you might view him differently!

            But if this weekender too doesn’t work for you, then I’ve got another hypocritical rec 😅 for you that might settle the quest for a good weekender. Have you watched Heard It Through the Grapevine?. It is not technically a weekender, but depending on how much you like the black comedy element, the 30 episodes might seem too short or too long. I highly appreciated the black comedy, but sadly my low tolerance for that genre limited me to 5 or 6 episodes. They were brilliant episodes though, and Go Sung-ah and Lee Joon (who, I think, has amazing range as an actor… And yes, I saw your header pic 😉😂) were awesome👌

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            Thanks for the recommendation, @anne18! I am in a huge live-watch slump right now and am a little “fluffy rom-commed out,” so a black comedy play on tropes might be just what I need! Since you also didn’t make it through, I won’t feel too much pressure to love it either 🤣

            I’ll let you know how it goes in a week or two!

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    The second one isn’t NGNL, is it? Just your comment about the FL being unevenly matched with the ML made me wonder (it’s a criticism a lot of people have made)

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    I know the second one. That actor has a weird knack of putting me off too. He always feels like a conceited jerk, no matter what role he is playing, villain or not. I gritted my teeth and pushed to ep 2. I confess it feels good seeing him brought down a peg, or twenty!

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      I am tempted to believe you’ve got it right, except that I know you don’t live watch, and this is a very much ongoing drama 🤭

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        So I guessed right! This is the first time in years I’m live watching! 😂👌 I predict I won’t binge watch 36 hours, so I’m trying to live watch 🤭

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    I am going to guess the two newest dramas, which I am actually really enjoying.
    #1. What Comes After Love, except it will only be 6 hours so it is a stretch as a guess.

    #2 Iron Family.

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One bright news to keep you sailing through the day 🙂… https://www.koreaboo.com/news/81-year-old-model-makes-history-oldest-miss-universe-korea-contestant/

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I am not into clay art, but I enjoy watching it… This is a Korean artist saying goodbye to the summer with her cute Hello Kitty miniature 😺 … There’s some cute commentary as well ❤

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Have a good day… And remember… Even if nobody notices, YOU and your efforts still EXIST! And even if your existence seems useless to most, you are STILL dear to SOMEONE…

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Have a good day, everyone! 🫶 And have some music in your life, if possible 😉

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Another Korean actor in Jdrama: Shim Eun kyung in Gunjo Ryoiki (2021).
More in comments…
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    This is a healing country drama where Shim Eun kyung plays a Korean woman, now a famous musician in Japan, facing public troubles. She finds refuge in a boarding house in this village where a few kind souls warm her up with their company. TBH, it was hard for me to relate to Eun-kyung’s character (don’t hit me 😅), as I can’t with any of these idol/ actor/ chaebol characters (most days I am praying to see a regular office worker, who is not too tortured, on my screen 😅). But familiarity worked here. The setting was familiar, the healing process was familiar, the found family was familiar. And that is the kind of familiarity which I find welcoming instead of boring. And what’s more (the reason I found the drama), the ML was played by a familiar actor I have grown fond of (forgive your cheating gf again my dear bf 😅). He has such a charming smile. Give me a smile with shiny eyes like that, and I’ll cheat a thousand times more! (Yeah, you can all berate my disloyalty in your minds 😅).

    The best thing about this drama is there’s no romance! Why is it the best, you ask? Because I think when a person is broken (or two people in this case), sometimes all they need is self-mending (and maybe some empathy from another broken soul). I don’t think such a person will have a head space for romance (the serious business kind). And thankfully, the ML did have a very convincing backstory (I actually related to it more), instead of the usual, “I am just living in the dark because I like to blame myself”. Or was it the acting/ characterisation that felt right for me? Because he did blame himself, but life never stopped for him, and I could never see “the actor playing a pitiful character”. Am I insensitive? I did empathise a lot with Bok Gwi-ju in Atypical Family. But the kind of characterisation I don’t get is, “I am oh so cheerful outside, but when someone is attracted to me, I am suddenly not emotionally available” 🤔. And there’s this over-repeated phrase he utters – “I can’t be happy”. I might be insensitive but I can’t believe that sudden “switch”.

    Anyway, why did I even talk about all that here? It’s (thankfully) not that deep in this drama. If you have nothing to watch and you are shameless Jdrama fan who is ready to watch fan-subbed dramas, then give it a try. Shim Eun kyung has delivered with her act, and my new bias Ryuya Wakaba-san has delivered too!

    PS: for someone who said I won’t be coming here often, I am posting an awful lot these days 😅. Bear with me as I am a new Jdrama convert 🙏. But I’ll stay as relevant to K-dramaland in my posts as possible, coz Korea is my first love ❤

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      Anne dear please come here as often as possible with lot of your drama watching (K, C or J-dramas), general life updates, or just because ….

      I really look forward to your posts. So insightful. 😊❤

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        Thank you for always being so encouraging, Cera! 🫰🫶

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    I saw that Kim Mu Jun was playing in the JDrama Black Pean to Iitakute…: Mannen Hira Ikyokuin no Yuutsu na Nichijo (2024)

    A lot of collaborations !

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Ichiko (2023 Japanese movie) – a tale of what it is truly means to be homeless, specifically, to be a female on the streets. a ranty review (you’ll know why I rant 🙄) with spoilers in the comments
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    What does it mean to be homeless? Where the homeless are frequently portrayed in fiction as sociopathic criminals (a recent kdrama very conveniently did so 🙄), Ichiko is an empathetic look into the emotional state of someone without a strong anchor at the place they call “home”, who has left/ has been left to fend for themselves on the streets, who was then given some hope, only to preyed on.

    I think the critical panning/ less than exciting responses received by this movie failed to take into account that it wasn’t just meant to be another Roshomon-style mystery. This story isn’t merely meant to answer “what happens to Ichiko?”, which it did not (at least not explicitly), hence the disappointment of some “critics” for leaving them high and dry. I have only one question for these “critics”, and for others who moaned why two women (the heroine and her mother) “deliberately” became homeless and emotionally unstable when they were being offered “help” at/ around their “new homes”. Have they ever approached a homeless person? Because if they did, they would have known that even the gentlest, kindest approach is often met with a fearful flinch. Have they wondered “why”? Well, this story is an attempt to answer that. Maybe it was the same fearful flinch in action when Ichiko surreptitiously leaves her boyfriend of 3 years after accepting his marriage proposal. As many pointed out, she had no reasons to doubt the sincerity of this kind man who “asked no questions” about her past. He seemed to love her so much that he probably would have “accepted” all of her dark past. Then why didn’t she lean on him? Because in her past, she had tried to lean on many shoulders that were “kindly” offered to her. But those shoulders slipped away from under her as soon as she was revealed to be a “disgraceful” person “not worthy” of their kindness. Some offered her a different form of “kindness” – a kindness that comes with its own cost, that pries on your weakness to ease a saviour complex. As for her boyfriend, Hasegawa, he probably had an inkling of the “darkness” in her past. He had probably anticipated that any attempt to push her to share her pain would lead to the same “fearful flinch”. And so, he brings her home from the road, and quite unbelievably, doesn’t ask her any questions for the 3 years he spends with her as a partner. Maybe it wasn’t entirely kindness motivating him to keep mum. He had his own fear – the fear of loneliness. An orphan without any friends in the world, he gave shelter to this cicada he found wriggling on the road on a hot summer day to keep him company (a scene from the movie). It may be an inadequate company as they won’t be able to ask each other questions, but it would relieve the discomfort of the summer heat (a major visual theme in the drama), even if just for a second.

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    Did I leave something out in my rant? Oh yes, I am not done yet! Because a “critic” called Ichiko’s mother’s situation as a woman in and out of several abusive marriages/ relationships as a “boring excuse” for her daughter’s dark past. And I have to roll my eyes at such “critics” who casually dismiss domestic violence as something trivial. Dear “critic” (I wish you had been more patient in “criticising”), it would “add a lot more weight” to Ichiko’s past if you paid attention to the part about Japanese law on family registry. This law gives the mother no say in whether she wants her child to be given the name of the last man she was married to (even if he is not the biological father). So, Ichiko’s mother runs away from her husband, hides the birth of her child, effectively making her an unregistered, stateless “mukokuseki” (Japanese term for the stateless). [If you still choose to mock a mother just because she is “promiscuous”, dear critic, I’d say it is nothing new (looking at a certain Kdrama called “The Glory” 🙄).] Her mother later forces her to steal the identity of her disabled sister so that she can get the rights of a legal resident. But at one point for Ichiko, being “normal” comes with too many things to hide – hiding her sister, hiding her true name, hiding the “disgraceful” situation of her mother with yet another abusive man. So she she gives up, she rebels, she “claims” her true name by committing her first “crime for survival” (she kills her sister by taking off her oxygen support, if you are wondering), to hide which she would subsequently need to commit more. But is being stateless so scary? There are perhaps things a mukokuseki would fear more than the law, topmost being kind people. Kind people would make them want to put their head on their shoulder, but they don’t know when that shoulder would slip away and become cruel. And that’s scary! Scarier than having to wander on the streets with no shelter from the summer heat.

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      This sounds very interesting. I really like it when cliches are given the twist of “seeing it from their perspective”. Where did you see it?

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        Hihihihi… Not legally! I had to watch it because I am a “little” partial to the lead actress 🤭
        Check on Amazon prime, though. Not available in my region, but it might be there.

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Here\’s me using this space as a loudspeaker to find a missing chingu. @attiton .. Seon-ha where are you 📢😅 … please tempt me to watch/ check-out dramas!
Also, all July-borns, how did y\’all celebrate your birthdays?
Mine wasn\’t very special. And I am at a stage of life where I deliberately wish things to be kinda normal. I am sure everyone wants that once in a while – normal, calm, even if a little dull. I am also learning to be quieter and more thoughtful (I am too emotional), but I don\’t want to stop being fun and having fun 🙆🏻‍♀️. I hope you all get to enjoy each day of your life too 🌞. Maybe I won\’t get to come here often now, and maybe I won\’t be any wiser after another birthday, but I\’ll keep trying to… Everybody love yourself, because you are worth it ❤

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    I believe she may be enjoying some travels now, but I also hope @attiton is doing well!!!

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      Yes I am sure she sent out a PSA saying she was travelling for a while so we would not panic while she was absent but I can’t find it now to see what the time frame was.

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        Oh then I wish Seon-ha happy holidays 🤗. Hope you return as jolly as we all know you @attiton 🫰

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    I miss Seon-ha too. Maybe she is having a rest, or on a holiday trip.

    My birthday was in the middle of July too and I celebrated it at my parent’s home with my immediate family.
    We had ice creams and slushies 🥤🍦🎂

    Belated happy birthday, Anne! I hope you never stop being fun and having fun ❤️

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    Joining you in shout-out to @attiton !

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    Glad that you have been able to find the balance that works for you with normal and fun being a great combination.
    I hope that you have a good time however you choose to spend your time in the future it will be great to see you as and when you next visit DB land.

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    Hey, @anne18, thanks for the APB shout-out. It’s true I have been traveling.

    I don’t have any images to offer you, but perhaps I can verbally tempt you to watch three of the shows that I binged on said vacation:

    1. School Nurse Files. If you like zany, weird fantasy dramas with a side of quirky romance and dramatic teen hormones, this show is for you. It’s like no other K-drama I’ve ever seen. Chicken Nugget is maybe closest in terms of the amount that the production team asks you to “just go with the flow, folks,” but the plot is nothing like CN and neither is the humor. I loved it. It’s also very short and on Netflix.

    2. Please Don’t Date Him. @midnight drummed up my interest in it. I watched it on a 10-hour plane flight which included two lengthy tarmac delays for the whole time…like straight through. The last episode or two could have been stronger, but it was nowhere near the type of crash-and-burn finales we’re used to in 2024. Also, that dinner party scene everyone talks about was indeed amazing, and made me wonder if the writer was actually “raised” on writing for the stage. It was an amazing theatrical climax to the story. The themes about “having proof enough to act” and the importance of human responsibility in communication were very well-laced throughout–again, somewhat like a play would do it. (Lastly: wait until you see who actually utters the line “Please don’t date him.”) (OK last-last: Yes, the rumors are true, there’s a sexy firefighters’ photoshoot).

    3. Avengers Social Club. Full disclosure, I’m only halfway through, but am loving it. And, yes, this is the second Lee Jun-young drama on this list. This one is part-makjang, part-drama-drama, with a side of a wicked sense of humor. Like Sex in the City, you’ll probably feel more connected to one of these women (or LJY) more than the others…but the show is nothing like Sex in the City otherwise. If that helps. Probably doesn’t. Definitely recommended.

    As for live-watches, I’m enjoying The Auditors more than most other commentators/the recapper here–especially the Han-soo haters (looking at you @hopefulromantic)–and am thoroughly enjoying this simple drama with themes of the Accounting Batman and Hacker Robin (with the Long-Haired Joker!!) show on my own.

    Hope some or all of that tempts you to give something new a try!!!

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      Hurraaaay!! So so happy to see your comment!! And so so happy that you liked PDDH!!

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      Lol I’m not a total hater; I just now have realized why most people don’t like Candies 🙃 😂 I guess I just haven’t seen the right Lee Jung-ha drama yet. Also, I think VP is going to be Nightwing in the end, not Joker 😘

      School Nurse Files is truly one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen… quite interesting and cool.

      Hope your travels have been fun and good!!!!!!!! Enjoy your time!!!!!

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      Sorry to disturb you on your vacation! Please keep enjoying your “me-time” 🙂
      Thanks for these fun sounding dramas for my watchlist 👍. Avengers Social Club sounds most interesting to me at the moment 👀

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    “I am also learning to be quieter and more thoughtful (I am too emotional), but I don\’t want to stop being fun and having fun”

    I feel like that has been my goal since I was born, but here I am loud and thoughtless. 😭 I hope you have way better luck with this than me. 💚
    And thank you for the lovely wishes. I hope you too get to enjoy life and have lots of love for yourself.

    PS. Always remember that tomorrow is October. 😆
    https://mydramalist.com/756733-greetings

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      Thanks Tabong!
      I am afraid that I am also quite cemented as loud and thoughtless. Sometimes, my loudness brings joy and laughter for those around me. I am more than happy to embrace my loudness in those moments. But I hope it’s not too late for me to be a little less impulsive 🤭
      Yay, Tomorrow is October 🥳 … time for my boyfriend’s release! 😂

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The Atypical Family: Reaction Vs Long lasting impression (spoilers aplenty, please avoid if it\’s in your \”to-watch list\”)

I avoided giving an immediate reaction to this drama after its finale, because my feelings were a little raw. But now I am finally ready to talk about what I felt then, and how I will remember this drama.

Reaction: I believe it is unfair to judge a drama just from how it chose to bring down a curtain on its universe. Because I believe you gotta reap what you\’ve sown, especially with fantasy dramas like this, where the characters were doomed from the beginning. I understand that the creators are under too much pressure to strike a balance between being loyal to the setup of their story, and giving the viewers a \”happy ending\”. And that\’s where most fantasy drama finales err IMO! This one was no different with me rolling my eyes at the titanic-like self-sacrificing saviour moment (only with inferno, not ice 😅). And the situation was conspicuously pretentious in my eyes (and not even romantic like Titanic, just the last-minute chaotic kind pretentious). Not even once but TWICE, my mind couldn\’t help but say things like, \”Oh, but you could\’ve just put that burning prop thing down and left with them\”, and, \”Oh, that air mattress was meant to cushion BOTH of you, jump together instead of just pushing her\”. But, fantasy writernims guys 💁🏻‍♀️, what can I say! And I got to roll my eyes a third time when \”the prodigal son returned\” 🤣. Okay, that\’s it! That\’s when the drama proved that it was fantasy afterall, and that\’s fine enough for that genre. I guess I felt disappointed coz it was SO HUMAN through most of its run that I had forgotten that fact, but I am fine now.

Long-lasting impression:
The change of name from I am Not a Hero to The Atypical Family was a smart move. It\’s a story about a family which has lost one big power, also known as \”the power of communication\”. Without communication, they were no better than the family of thugs who expected loyalty and honesty without ever voicing their emotions or listening to what others want. But all they had to do to \”regain their power\”, was to share their happiness or concerns with each other. They learnt to forget the past, to stop bothering about the future, and to simply seize those moments with their loved ones in the present. It was one big happy, healed (found) family in the end ❤😂

The \”I\’ll save you from your past with the happiness you gave me in my future\” concept of romance was really heart-touching 😍. They healed each other because they gave each other hope! They passed it like a torch – back and forth – between themselves. And hope is what keeps one going in life! They really proved that the greatest way to \”save someone\”, is to give them hope for the future.

Besides, every character was entertaining (props to \”con uncle\” 😘, who gave me so many laughs 😂). Everyone\’s arc had a good message, epecially Dong-hee\’s. I always looked forward to her interactions with the gym trainer and followed their search for individuality (which another major theme in the drama) with interest. The only thing that irked me was the \”typical\” projection of a matriarch as a scary and stifling woman (and ironically, as a proponent of patriarchy 😑). I have seen enough of the \”women become obsessed with power and start controlling men\” narrative, and was not pleased to see it repeated here. I didn\’t hate the character herself, coz this type of writing only makes me aware of the biases of the writer or the society they belong to. They are dangerous biases nonetheless!

Overall, this drama was a lovely bouquet of some atypical elements bundled with some easy on the eyes tropes. It went from being a black comedy to superhero drama, to romance, then mystery, and finally a family drama. And apart from the attempted mystery part, I enjoyed every bit of it.

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    Thank you for a very well-written review Anne.

    That is such a good point about the loss of the power of “communication”. The con family almost felt more of a family because of the way they were together in work (sauna and off-sauna work 😉), conversations and meals.

    They really proved that the greatest way to ”save someone”, is to give them hope for the future.

    What a great life lesson. 👌❤👏👏👏👏

    The mixed bouquet of genres did end up confusing. The initial black comedy was the strongest IMO but I liked the other parts very enough.

    The less said about the Non-ending the better. Overall I am in the “love” drama team and was happy with the it.

    Once again great job on your review. ❤

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      Yeah Cera, I was also in the love team from the beginning 🙌🏻. The thug family really had its charms from get go! 😊 I am right with you on the point that the beginning of the drama was the strongest but the rest was also “enough”. Its flaws are its flaws, but thankfully, unlike other attempted black comedies in our Kdramaland, it never really degraded to makjang level and managed to mantain some form of lightness, warmth and positivity till the end (not counting the non-ending 😉).

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    Thank you for the very insightful review.

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My verdict on a BEAUTIFUL 🌸 Jdrama I just finished 😅

Dramas that keep bettering themselves towards the end are very rare. Unmet: A Neurosurgeon’s Diary is one of them. It just keeps getting warmer and warmer with how it portrays people realising the value of life and love. Just little things like being able to speak, smell, smile, express, and remember are precious gifts of life that one must cherish until the end. Also, not everyone gets to enjoy these sensory pleasures (which are sometimes also important necessities of life) uninterruptedly. The way doctors and patients are seen leaning on each other to cope with the pain and fear of loss is so heartwarming, and so human! I am not a crier, but the writing, acting and direction in this drama managed to create some magic that warmed me all the way up from the heart to the stupid liquid in the eyes 🥺. Plus, it is so easy on the eyes (definitely a rewatch for me)! It has been masterfully filmed with high quality ALEXA35 camera only used in high-budget cinema, so the visual quality is 👌.

PS: This drama may not have a lot of depth in its characters or story (it mostly lives on its very episodic yet VERY heart-warming appeal). It may even feel a little pretentious at times. But the emotional/sentimental pay-off of watching this drama is definitely 💯! Because you are bound to to end up caring about these characters as if they were real people. That’s how beautifully they have been brought to life by the whole team – the writer with their very naturalistic dialogues, the actors with the depth of emotions in their eyes (who have also put in genius inputs and ad-libs to make the scenes and their “act” even more natural), the directors with their visual storytelling, and the music with how it has complemented the emotions ❤

This drama wasn’t available in my country, but may be on Netflix in other regions. I want to see if it is. Can you access this?. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.netflix.com/jp-en/title/81768246&ved=2ahUKEwjq6Yr0j_mGAxV1n2MGHVQ6CR8QFnoECBgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1MWruVanf0RAv8SGvLW3Qe
It certainly is streamable in its home country (where it is among Netflix’s top dramas), but it would be very comical if Japan has only made it available to its native audience 🙄. I want EVERYONE to WATCH this DRAMA!! 🙆🏻‍♀️😂
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    not available in Australia (But then, hardly anything is). I did look for it when you first started watching it. If it did well in Japan maybe Netflix will do a global release sometime in the future? We can hope.

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    Thank for talking about this show, I am so glad I watched it. The actors were top notch , above all my favourite thing was the ‘quiet romance”, just so beautiful!

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      I am in love with the couple too! That’s a good description of their romance 🙌🏻

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As if I haven’t already raved enough about these two AMAZINGLY talented Japanese actors (Hana Sugisaki and Ryuya Wakaba) **giving myself an eye roll 🙄** …. And as if I haven’t already raved enough about their latest collab (Unmet: A Neurosugeon’s Diary is their 3rd project together) **another eye roll 🙄** …. And as if I haven’t raved enough already about how understated acting, an ability to speak just with the eyes, and skillful direction which can bring this beauty of an actor to the screen get me despite of a script filled with flaws **this time I’m gonna give myself heart eyes 😍** … Yeah, so check that drama out, if you can 😉

Also, I was really intrigued by the film Ichiko (2023) which stars the same pair. (There are dating rumours **eye roll to the rumour mills, coz whether true or not, dating rumours undermine the ability of the actors to match each other in bringing out complex human emotions beautifully, and dumb it down to “chemistry” 🙄**.) They have done more than that (romance) in the projects they have done together. They have reacted to humans around them in the most human way possible (even with the constraints of their “character”). Especially Sugisaki, who I think is a supreme talent!

Okay, enough with the raving already 🙄…. I’m talking about the film now. Ichiko is a movie about “a girl who doesn’t exist” (at least in the family register system mandated by the Japanese law). Why? Because her mother didn’t want her to be named after her abusive ex-husband. As a result “Ichiko” grows up a nameless, stateless, jobless and loveless child fighting for survival. What does it do to the psyche of the young child? How does the world look upon her? In what mysterious way did she acquire that name? This story may be a (delicately) dramatised version of the reality that some thousand odd (but possibly more) Japanese (who are non-citizens in their own country) face because they were not registered at birth
Here’s an article about the film: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2023/12/24/film/ichiko/
And here’s the trailer: https://youtu.be/DZDcY5soTKM?feature=shared

Is anyone interested in reviewing this film? Does anyone watch indie Japanese films here 👀. I hope someone does! Coz these two actors and these two projects I have mentioned REALLY deserve all the attention in the world (which they are currently, sadly, not getting 😐)
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    I started Unmet:A neurosurgeon dairy because of your posts and am loving it. Will definitely watch this movie, the FL is a lovely actress.

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      Glad you’re loving it! 🙌🏻
      Ah, she’s lovely! 😍

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I may have been introduced to J-pop a year or two too late, but I’ve arrived at the right place! 🎧
#vibing 🤟

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Bonus Post: Ryuya Wakaba as Sanpei Tomoharu in Unmet: A Neurosurgeon’s Diary

Cold but not cruel, seemingly emotionless but there is something hidden beneath the mask he wears. It sounds eerily familiar, right? Well, don’t worry, Sanpei Tomoharu is one character that won’t go down the wrong side of the precarious hilltop called “the cold ML”. He is a painfully awkward character who can’t read social cues. But he is an equally passionate doctor too! Infact, he and Miyabi together prove that there is no profession nobler than the medical profession. Even if a typical male character who supresses his emotions, he is capable of overcoming his own boundaries for the two things he is passionate about (which will be revealed slowly in the drama). And obviously, he is different around our Mibyabi coz she “treats him as normal”, listens to his “dorky declarations” (yeah, that’s a phrase I just made up) without mocking him, takes his awkwardly expressed aspirations seriously, and gives him honest feedback.

The chemistry is just insane! It’s not just two people with romantic air between them. It’s two humans really listening to and caring about one another. Even though his character is not as challenging as that of Sugisaki, Ryuya Wakaba as an actor has responded equally well to the demands of his role. He has brought out the emotional layers beneath the poker-faced Sanpei through a nuanced performance. (Can’t spoil, but there is ONE SCENE later in the drama where both have delivered emotions that are RAW, REAL and BEAUTIFUL!!)

PS: This medical drama does a lot of the “usual things”, but it does found family and empathy (especially, empathy for the disabled) like no other. If you’d like to take my word for it, and are willing to go to the “dark side” (the d-addicts forum links are relatively safe 🤐), here is the fan-subber who lets me watch this drama….
https://mydramalist.com/list/71gqgJK3
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    An OTP who actually communicates with each other. What a wonderful idea. 👏 💖

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      You got it Cera! That is exactly the idea! 🙌🏻

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        🤣🤣🤣 Guess if all OTPs follow in their footsteps we will have no dramas!

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          Oh why, this one has a lot of drama, I assure you! 😂 It is just not BETWEEN the two yet.
          Drama and communication can co-exist 🤝 Infact, I prefer it that way, coz communication makes the relationship idealistic, while drama maintains intrigue 💁🏻‍♀️

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            I agree it is ideal to have uri OTP communicate while drama happens around them and they can face it together.
            Sadly uri K-drama writers haven’t got the memo yet. 😂

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Gushing about my new girl crush

I have had my share of girl crushes from dramas. And on my first visit to J-dramaland, I have found another in Hana Sugisaki.

Sugisaki is a delight as Dr. Miyabi Kawauchi in Unmet: A Neurosugeon’s Diary. As one of her colleagues, Ayano says, “It’s comforting just being in your presence”. Her secret? She is such a good listener, people can’t help but open up to her! She may look like a flat character at first (a girl who is kind to a fault and “doesn’t want to change”), but she is not merely “the typical hard-working, naive and kind girl”. She has her own emotional journey as a person who is constantly questioning her past, and is braving towards a future without the aid of precious memories. She overcomes external hurdles, self-doubts and her failing memory, to make progress as a doctor with mental disability (memory impairment), and forges emotional bonds with herself and those around her. She inspires her patients and colleagues, and is inspired by them in return. She learns to rely on others, as well as to relay her faith/ distrust in them. [** Some of these changes happen in beautifully subtle moments shared between the characters (mostly over FOOD). This drama is audio-visually captivating! Also, the attention to detail is INSANE! I have never seen operating room scenes in medical dramas look so realistic (without being repulsive at all). No wonder, the manga it is based on is written by a real-life neurosugeon! **]

Her biggest aide in doing all that? Her empathy! Having a compromised brain function enables her to better connect with her patients as she heals them not only with the scalpel, but also with her words. She understands what it’s like to prepare oneself to live without having full control over one’s mind (or body) anymore, because she does the same everyday when she reads the eponymous “diary”. She may not be in control of her memories, but this diary is her attempt to take control of her reality. It is a record of all her experiences, which she uses to “construct” her own version of what she lacks, and that is, the memory of the emotions in a moment. These memories, as she says, help connect our yesterday with our tomorrow with trust, love, confidence. So how exactly does she go on without this connection?

Sugisaki makes this impossible task possible. She makes this almost miraculous and sometimes unbelievable story work by making her character look all human. All her masterfully suble emotions of despair, joy, wonder, confusion, indignation and gratefulness are as human as they can be. And she has made that one characteristic (empathy) of Miyabi Kawauchi stand out so beautifully, that even when she had just that one quality remaining in her amnesiac self, I did not miss anything. She pushes people around her to do/ be their best just by listening to them with empathy. She makes people want to be honest with themselves (and as we know, all good changes begin from there). And all this while she is slowly regaining her own lost trust, love and confidence!

PS: If you want to watch more of Sugisaki, I suggest her movie Ichiko (it’s a bit dark though).
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Unmet A Neurosurgeon\’s Diary (ongoing Jdrama)

I recommend this drama for all those who were craving for stories depicting an FL with disability, or for a good medical drama (slight dramatic mystery/ villainy involved, but also, a promisingly cute romance). DO give this one a try if it\’s available to you on Netflix! You know, it\’s one of those rare dramas where the knife is REALLY kind! Sorry 😅, I am not good at selling dramas, but you\’ll know if it\’s your speed after the first episode. From my POV, what I like is the empathy, team-building, and great messages here. Meanwhile, here are someone else\’s words on MDL describing MY emotions for this drama right now:
\”It is so inspiring, beautiful and intriguing. The acting, the layered characters, the meticulous writing, the OST, the direction – it\’s all perfect! I am in LOVE!
I know I am gonna spend the rest of my Sunday binging this to E8.\” (Which is exactly what I did!)

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    Oooh! J-dramas are really immersive. They speak to the soul. 😊❤

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      Right? Though this my first Jdrama, I am in love already in love ❤

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        Really!? Well then you’re in for a treat. Everything feels shallow after that. 🤣
        Congratulations on your introduction to J-dramas. 🎊👏❤

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          I know 😂, it has happened with the other dramalands. I am just aiming to finish this one for now, so the “shallowness” won’t kick in any time soon 😅.

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Jdrama Alert – Unmet A Neurosurgeon’s Diary (Unmet: Aru Nogekai no Nikki)

There’s a lot of episodic goodness in this medical drama. I’m not so keen on the mystery, but it’s good to see the meds pushing each other towards personal growth while building a close-knit team together. You can see it is based on a manga (too many miracles to be true), but the medical procedures look very realistic. A lot must have went into research and production (which is quite impressive).

Here are the details if you are interested in watching (IF it’s available in your region on Netflix 😁): https://mydramalist.com/765129-unmet-aru-nogekai-no-nikki

Currently listening to this OST from the drama.

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The Atypical Family episode 6 (I doubt I\’ll ever catch up at this rate, but I am enjoying every moment of this drama 😊. And I have some more thoughts about it. Can\’t promise they are very coherent though 😅)

The connection between our OTP (her past is his future) is not as fate-driven as it seems to be. Every time he went to her past, he made that decision consciously. It may have been out of curiousity \”to check\” if she was telling the truth, but he went to her willingly. At first, saving her was not his first intention in each of his sojourns to the past, but slowly he grew that desire (or better say \”obsession\” 😅) to save her. It was almost comical at first, but now his renewed energy and concerted efforts to prepare himself for the \”big rescue\” is purely out of free will and LOVE ❤. So our story doesn\’t cash on \”fate\” as much as other fantasy romances. Its focus is on \”choice\” – whether it is a choice to be with someone, to make amends for someone, or to forgive someone/ forgive yourself. It says the \”present\” is all potent, and what you do here is capable of changing both your past and future. Still a bit romantic, yes, but a lot more believable than \”meant to be\”.

Seeing things more practically for our leading characters, what this upcoming \”big rescue mission\” is doing, is giving HIM a purpose to live again, and giving HER a reason to believe she can make a new life for herself. So our obsessive saviour and our no-damsel-in-distress scammer 😅 weren\’t interested in holding onto each other (he with his \”bothersome chivalry\”, and she with her half lies) because they desired one another, but because they desired to get over themselves (or their pasts). They were just taking a gamble with each other to find relevance for their own existence. Which is just as fine! If two people stalled by their pasts can move into the future by \”grabbing\” each other\’s hands in the present, I won\’t blame them for seeming a bit \”opportunistic\”. He needs to save someone. Then why not save HER? She resents her past and wants to move on. Then why not let HIM undo some of your painful memories? That would be true healing! But what\’s heartening is they have already started to care about each other\’s feelings, and the desire to find love together has now started replacing their selfish needs to save/ be saved 😅

I love the new SISmance (or STEP-MOMance? 🤔😂) between Ina and Da-hae. Keep threatening her with your glasses pulled down. She is after all, the first person who is intimidated by you 👀💪. Also, I like whatever the heck happens between Gwi-ju and the con uncle whenever they meet 😂. I think con uncle is a \”big softie\” 😂. This drama is not dark anymore. Everybody (even our seemingly \”hardened thugs\” 😅) is playing cupid now. But am I complaining? No! I couldn\’t have wished for better!

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    You have described the OTP relationship so perfectly.
    The ideal indeed is when two people help each other by just being together, like in Just Between Lovers and The Midnight Studio. This active choice is so much more powerful than the more popular fated connection.

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      Thanks for mentioning JBL, Cera. I’ve been wanting to finish that drama! I started it some time ago. I thought it was beautiful but a little tragic for my feeble soul. Maybe my love for Won Jin-ah will make me finish it 😉

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        JBL is a very tough watch but truly a healing drama in the best sense of the word. I would also watch for Junho. 😉
        By the way we would be having a Fanwall Community Watch for JBL from June 27th onwards. We would be watching two episodes each every week and would discuss it on the Fanwall every Thursday. The first Post will be hosted on @claire2009‘s wall. Let us know if you would be interested to join in that or any other upcoming CWs.

        https://www.dramabeans.com/members/claire2009/activity/1586324/#acomment-1586627

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          Thanks for letting me know Cera 🙂. Maybe a group watch will take off the sting of the sadness. I hope I’m in the right mood by then 🤞

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    Love your analysis, and I agree 1000x. This is why the main romance feels fresh. Yes, it may not be swoony yet but that is because they are in the process of discovering their feelings while contending with the choices they are making.

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