Zíza

Unexpected fun. It wasn't as awkward as Czech comedies can sometimes be. It was nice how everyone around me in the cinema was laughing, occasionally someone shouted: "Just like at my house." And that's probably great, isn’t it, that the audience can identify with the characters so easily? Of course, their whole lives were simplistic, but so it wasn't a probe into the lives of three/four women, it was actually a romantic comedy, and within that genre it did what it was supposed to do. Mostly it did without fecal humor, so that’s a thumbs up for me. What surprised me was that it was an enjoyable mindless spectacle, really unpretentious to watch, that didn't insult the viewer's intellect since it didn't even try to pretend to be anything emancipated or deep.

I was going to check out a nice romantic comedy, because that's what Koreans are pretty good at (if you leave out the stupid parts). I figured this one has very good reviews, a lot of people are praising it, so as a relaxing romantic comedy it'll be good enough. Except that... for a few episodes I couldn't figure out why I wasn't enjoying it. Why I still couldn't get hooked, why I couldn't care less what happened next. And then it dawned on me. The script. It was actually pretty bad. It had no ability to ratchet up the intensity, to build to a climax. The whole thing flounders somewhere between a mystery-thriller and a romantic comedy, and it can't for the life of it choose what it's going to be. The stuff that happens outside the main storyline was often about nothing, it didn't lead to anything new or interesting, so it was actually completely pointless. In general, a lot of things happen that don’t make sense. It wasn't stimulating at all, on the contrary it was rather mentally exhausting. Until then I thought the main character was pretty great, she didn't make an unnecessary fuss over some things, but even that changed over time. She was just a childish heroine, cute at times, but definitely not a character I could live through or fall in love with, one I wouldn’t want to part with. On the contrary – I won't miss her. Yes, some of the scenes were fine, cute, good for a sigh. If you adore any of the main trio, you'll probably enjoy it a little more because you can watch them. But maybe it would be better to watch the music videos rather than this whole series. I like this style of humor, but here it either wasn't funny or just didn't work for me. But as you can see, despite all the clichés, stereotypes, cringeworthiness, and weird twists, a lot of people liked the series (I guess it's the ending, overall it's beautifully Cinderella-esque). I wouldn't recommend it, a wasted 16 hours of your life. I'd be more likely to recommend a couple of Korean movies where you get your comedy, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and love from beyond the grave separately.

What can you do. The most appealing thing about the series is just that there's this awesome kinda vampire. Unfortunately he doesn't show up for the first time until the end of the second season, and unfortunately not everyone has the stamina to put in two whole seasons without dying of boredom. The acting is rather poor, the story is uninteresting, you basically say “nah" without even needing to know how it's going to end. I admit I went into this thinking it was going to be a relaxing series with vampires and their hunters. Well, I was pretty wrong: there are plenty of vampires, but not many hunters, they appear pretty randomly, not to mention that it was hardly relaxing. I don't consider it relaxing for a show to put you to sleep. 35%.

The series is not for everyone, because not every comedy is for everyone. But I did laugh a lot with this one, especially at the beginning. Kaku Kento was just amazing in his role as Mitsuhashi. All the faces, the gestures, the movements, the tones of voice... my God, you can't be surprised that he was awarded a series statuette for that role. He's a badass. You could also see how different he was from Ito, who I don't think is good at comedy roles or at least hasn't grown into them professionally yet. I don't mean that he ruins it, it's just that there were a lot of differences. Aside from the two of them, both the regular cast (Imai, the teachers, parents, hotties) and the guest stars were perfect; there was one for every episode and it was perfect. Just the first episode alone, when they referenced his movie Crows Zero through Oguri Shun – here he was playing a hairdresser in the Genji salon (that was the name of his character in the movie) and they also talked about "teppen o toru" (taking the summit), i.e. conquering everyone and becoming the best. Just perfect. In addition to the comedy, it had great battles, and even the more serious moments were very well done. Fukuda is no newcomer to the genre and he really knows his stuff. And notice the cinematography – its really triumphs here too. Plus the catchy opening, which I've been singing along to for days... Great live-action take on the manga, truly. When I watch it a second time, maybe I'll go even higher with the rating. A very strong 4 stars.

Unfortunately the characters aren't very interesting; it's constantly goes around in circles with someone cheering someone else up, they have a laugh, they want to be like Kai because he's a genius who hasn't seen the piano world, and then it starts all over again from the beginning. The main character is flat, with no development, and I can actually say the same about the show – the only thing that changes is the setting. Another minus is the animation: it really sucked so much, especially the moment the piano started playing, and suddenly it had worse animation than The Sims 2. I lost interest in the whole series while watching it and it took a fair amount of work to finish the last episode. A very weak 2 stars. And that's only because I like the classics.

It's actually stupid. But the good thing about it is that absolutely no one and nothing ever expected it to be anything more than stupid. It basically rode every possible cliché of the genre and arrived at some sort of an ending. What I liked about the heroine was that she wasn't yet another absolute twit and was actually pretty likable despite everything. A fairy tale. Don't expect anything normal from this, it's a high school romance driven by cliché. And it's not ashamed of that, nor does it pretend to be anything more. 50%.

It's such a shame that it's so boring. The characters were uninteresting and kind of running around saying stuff, I guess. The kids were annoying. A waste of time. And it didn’t look like the actors were enjoying it, either. I suppose it might entertain you and give you a few nightmares... if you're five. If you're over ten, I don't think you'll get too excited.

Such a pity. Such an absolute pity. I love it so much when two people get together under some sort of arrangement and pretend to be a couple. It's a bit of a fetish of mine, so I'll take any show or movie that has it, and I will usually like it just for that alone. Unfortunately in this case, not a chance. It feels incredibly cheesy; Yun Eun-hye seems to have forgotten how to act, and Cheon Jeong-myeong, aside from a few moments where he comes across as sweet and mischievous thanks to his smile, fails to save the show (most likely the lack of chemistry among the cast is to blame). To me the whole thing was bad. The script, the acting, the twists, the weird lies and pretenses... Yes, there are some moments that are ok, but they still don't make it a watchable series. Nor does making all the bad guys repentant and then changing their characters so you can end the show to satisfy your romantic fantasies. I spent a lot of time forcing myself to watch, and in the end I discovered that I was forcing myself for nothing. The series recycles other Korean works, but in a very bad way. Don’t waste your time. There are plenty of shows with scandals, arranged relationships, the rich and the poor, the good and the bad. Watch those.

Sakurai Hinako has perhaps only two expressions: one where she looks slightly out of it and depressed, and the other where she looks like she's in a manic state and is smiling from cheek to cheek. Thankfully, Yoshizawa had at least more than one expression. Still, I didn't feel like this was a film that gave anyone room to show what they were made of. It was strangely sparse, stripped down, and yet at first it had seemed a bit muddled. I would even say that you can tell from the film that the subject matter is from the 90s. The essential drama is built on nothing but misunderstandings that could have been very easily corrected: if the main character had opened his mouth (another of these features could be that the hero was great at tennis, the hero and heroine lived together, etc.). More interesting, then, might be the story of the heroine's classmate who *light spoiler* had an affair with a teacher. *end of light spoiler*. Unfortunately, this isn't given much space in the film, so this drama just flies by and basically the viewer gets nothing out of it. What’s more, there's the exchange of the parents' partners, and while it may look interesting at first glance that there are basically two families living together in the same house, it was instead rather "ki mazui" as they say in Japanese, and it perfectly describes my feeling about the whole situation – it was just weird. The first half of the film didn't flow at all, the second half went by so strangely fast that I felt like the film was directed by two people. *SPOILER* And then the whole thing about them being brother and sister... my God, surely there are better ways to prove that the hero and heroine (even though they had almost no chemistry with each other on screen) love each other beyond anything else, and this undying love would have been better proven in some other way than by simply agreeing that it doesn't matter that they might have the same dad, they'll still sleep together... *END SPOILER ALERT* I think back on the movie and sadly find that I feel nothing but disappointment after watching it. Even for a high school romance, it was a little too goofy. A weak 2 stars.

The worst thing about this movie is definitely the script. It's one big mess. It jumps all over the place. No explanation, no depth, without giving the viewer a proper understanding of what exactly is going on, what's going on in the characters' heads, even what the sequence of events is. Whether the actors acted badly or well is hard to say; they were basically given the opportunity to nicely recite some words they found in the script, and they accomplished that well. Nothing more. Below average, but it does have some nice videos on YT.