The Fangirl Verdict

Completely biased reviews and fangirling


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Flash Review: Lingerie Girls’ Generation [Girls’ Generation 1979]

YOU GUYS. Remember how much I loved Answer Me 1988? (Hint: a lot, with cherries & rainbows on top)

Well, it’s like Answer Me 1988’s slightly older, rougher-around-the-edges cousin came to visit, and proved to be almost as engaging and endearing – just in a much more compact package. At just 8 episodes, I found myself rationing out this show’s episodes like they were the last few morsels in a box of very, very special truffles that someone had brought from an exotic, faraway place; the kind that I can’t simply go out to the store to get more of, once it’s all gone. And now, this is all gone.

Sniffle. I wish this one was 16 full episodes, y’all. At least.

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Review: The King Loves

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A show that doesn’t always manage to maintain the fine balance between the story of its characters and the political backdrop against which said story takes place, but which – in spite of its flaws – manages to kinda get under your skin anyway.

Im Si Wan is excellent as our titular king, while Hong Jong Hyun and Yoona are literally the best I’ve ever seen them. Importantly, the three of them share a solid three-way chemistry, and are enjoyable to watch.

The watch itself proves to be rather uneven, and the ending left me sort of wanting, but, I’d say this one was worthwhile, all the same.

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Review: Fight My Way

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A show that manages to showcase friendship, romance, family, and reaching for your dreams, all in one cozy, ragtag package.

Despite bits of heightened drama, Show manages to feel organic and relatable pretty much all the way through. A thoroughly believable & sparky OTP, a solid supporting cast, and a breezy OST all come together to make this a warm, cracky, comfort-food sort of watch.

Homey and heady, at the same time, in the best way.

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Review: Suspicious Partner

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Suspicious Partner is what I would call a reasonably successful blend of crime and romance – a rarity in dramaland, from my personal findings.

Great lead actors, excellent OTP chemistry, a quirky supporting cast, and a compellingly delivered Big Bad all come together to make this a solid drama, despite Show sagging somewhat in its later episodes. Perhaps most importantly of all, Show ends on a satisfying note – another rarity in recent dramaland history (again, from my personal findings), and therefore a plus point not to be taken lightly in my books.

Overall, a pretty engaging and rewarding watch.

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Flash Review: The Eternal Love [China]

I really wasn’t planning to write a review for this show, you guys.

I’d randomly picked this one up in the thick of my drama rut, and really got into it for a while. But then, this show stopped working for me in a whole lotta ways, and I then suffered quite a bit of viewer’s regret for dragging myself to the finish line, in (futile, futile) hopes that this one would pick back up.

Remorseful, I was going to file this one away in a corner of my brain, in the “bad decisions I’d rather not think about” pile, but then today, I realized that I really ought to at least warn you guys about this one, since we’re friends and all. Right?

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Dropped: My Mr. Mermaid [China]

This is one of those times when a show isn’t bad per se, but just isn’t working for me personally.

In fact, with the glowing reactions and high scores that most viewers were giving this show on both Viki and MyDramaList, I had gone into this one with cheerful expectations of enjoying it as much as everyone else.

Alas, ’twas not to be. Just 7 episodes in, I find myself ready to drop this one.

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Flash Review: My Little Lover [Japan]

Thanks to my recent kdrama rut, I’ve been poking around more actively to explore new and different drama pastures, and I’m happy to report that my adventures have turned out some very positive viewing experiences.

I promise that I’ll be back soon with more kdrama reviews (I’m still watching ’em, just in fewer numbers), but in the meantime, here’s a quick little review on a quiet little charmer of a Jdrama that I probably would’ve never stumbled upon, if not for my kdrama rut.

(Silver linings to the rescue once again, heh.)

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Flash Review: We Married As A Job [Japan]

I was told that this drama is cute, but honestly, I really didn’t get why my Jdrama-watching friends were eagerly recommending this show to me. I mean, yeah, I could tell from the title that this show was going to be about some kind of contract marriage, and I figured there’d be associated hijinks.. blah blah blah. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be anything too different from all the other contract relationship shows I’d seen before. (Heh. Can you tell that this happened in the thick of my drama rut?)

But y’know, it wasn’t until I finally got around to watching episode 1 that I finally saw the light. Somehow, this show manages to be cute & quirky, and down-to-earth yet whimsical – and even thoughtful, all at the same time. Just, how remarkable is that? I was instantly smitten. So THIS was why my friends were so enthusiastic about recommending this show!

The very minute I was done watching episode 1, I was all, “Ahh! Cute~! And, sobs. Why are there only 11 episodes of this cuteness?? WHYYY??”

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Dropped: Love Me If You Dare [China]

Let me apologize in advance to this show’s fans: I did not like Love Me If You Dare enough to finish it.

I’d heard good things about this show going in, so this turn of events does surprise me. I’m also surprised because for a nice stretch in the beginning, I’d actually found myself enjoying this show quite well. But, 20 episodes later (well, 19.3 episodes, if we’re being exact), I find myself without the inclination nor interest to press on to the finish line.

I guess you could say that ultimately, Wallace Huo just wasn’t enough to pull me through, despite The Handsome.

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Flash Review: Father Is Strange

You know a show’s gotta be Quite Something, if it’s luring me out of the writing-hiatus-cum-drama-rut I’ve found myself ensconced in for the last couple of months.

I literally just finished watching the last episode of Father Is Strange today, and liked it enough to start poking around to craft a review right away. Considering that 1, Father Is Strange is a 52-episode family drama, and 2, I’ve been feeling pretty uninspired on both the writing and drama fronts, this is a Big Testament to how likable I’ve found this show and its characters.

Even if you’re not usually into family dramas, I really do think you might like this one.

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