Hi everyone, and welcome back! It is finally time for me to share my own year in review…or at least try to. For 2016, it is most certainly more disappointing than last year’s by far. This year…it just hasn’t been the year for me folks.
In numerous aspects: uni, work and my social life has taken a major toll, and all I needed was some time to myself, to mend myself and make sure that I can stand upright again to face another day, and basically another year. Man, am I glad for 2016 to be finally over.
Sorry to those who have thought this year to have been not bad…this has been by far the worst year I could have possibly imagined it to be…honestly, let’s just get this post started already.
But wait! Before I begin, I want to kinda make a little note here, and stretch out the playing field with this year’s review. This year, in terms of watching dramas, has been both embarrassing and just bad. However, I have in turn substituted it by watching plenty of movies which have all been fantastic. Seriously, some K-movies this year have just been brilliant, and I kinda wanna give them a heads-up, because it’s too late now to dedicate them a proper review. Perhaps I might consider it next year, but knowing me…I highly doubt it.
Hey all! *pindropping silence* I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday spent with your family and friends!! I know I know, possibly no excuses could ever save my ass for the unprecedented hiatus from blogging and from life in general. It has been one wacky second half of 2015 both in my uni life and also in my work life. All I can kinda say is that my random disconnection from the outside world kinda paid off, gifting me with my first 2 HDs EVER IN ALL OF MY UNI LIFE (it has been 3 years too long I’d say) soooooo I guess the break kinda paid off?? I don’t really want to say that leaving my blog like that was a great decision from the start, but this is kinda what happens when ‘life’ takes over. Uni just drained my desire to seek for dramas to watch as enjoyment, and so no drama-driven juices to write with was present, which in turn didn’t really give me enough ‘stuff’ (for lack of a better word) to blog about.
However, over the last 2 ½ months or so (once I finished the uni semester really) I just had the random desire to just watch anything, which led me to go on a random tangent of watching just Chinese dramas, one after the other. Sure, there was some Korean dramas in between (which were indeed much needed once you see this heavy list) but if you see literally have an overview glance of the list, it is literally just Chinese dramas. And each one is just heavy, heavy, HEAVY! *awkward silence* …You’ll understand once you see the list, trust me.
So, the main reason why I was convinced to make this long post is simply…I was just not in the mood to write a review for each and every drama that I’ve watched over the past 2 months. After starting and not finishing multiple multiple reviews over the past month and a half or so, I knew that enough was enough; I was definitely not gonna get any of these reviews out by the end of the year, full stop. And so, in order to give justice to some of these dramas that were in fact quite good and enjoyable, this post is going to be published as both a way to say “hey, I’m still alive” and also a way to say goodbye to a wacky, crazy and a clusterf*** of a year FOR ME! Ummmm, so without further ado, let’s get on with it!
An emotionally-investing rollercoaster ride that only lived up to my expectations too soon…and ended with the ride stopping 2/3 in, leaving me hanging upside down with no way out.
Hey everyone and yes, I know what you are all thinking…WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN HYUNNIE?!
Trust me, that super long and boring excuse will be expressed later on in the future but for now, let us focus on the review at hand – “Cruel Romance” (otherwise, I will literally just rant and go off-track for ages -_-”).
So, about this drama…I take back some of what I said before…towards the end of this precious drama, the drama embarked on a path in which I was dreading to follow, and as I knew from my personal experience with dramas, this sudden change in activity usually never ends well.
And what do you know? It didn’t.
Oh believe me, the drama drew out the feels and emotions that they were so determined to drain out of me, but if I placed my emotions aside and viewed the drama solely based on its plot, then I can’t help but see all of the plot holes rise to the surface. It is as a fellow commenter on the drama stated “Even a toddler can see all of the plot holes this drama is filled with”, or something roughly similar. Which is a really huge shame, since there was so much potential. But of course, one main reason why this drama became so bad by the end of it, was because it had cut out a potential 4-8 episodes from its original expected broadcast.
4 episodes! That is almost 3 hours worth of content cut out. If it followed it’s 8 episode broadcast, that could have been a possible 6 hours worth of content. 6 HOURS! No wonder so much was missing and the plot didn’t flow well at all towards its race to the finish. It is really disappointing to know that this drama could have covered and explained so much more, it really is. But, what ended up happening was just a pile of mess that just couldn’t be resolved. I am just so frustrated the way this drama concluded…so bear with me if this review ends up turning into a rant of some sort; I just need a place to express this “betrayal” that I feel. *
(Update made after watching the newer Jiang Xi Version)
…Adding 4 episodes didn’t make any difference, plot-wise.
None whatsoever.
I mean sure, there were roughly 3-4 scenes added that really drove my fangirl feels for our main couple but in terms of a progressive plot, nope. Nothing changed it dramatically.
Nothing at all.
And it’s just made me even more disappointed about this drama; before watching the newer version, I could of just convinced myself that they cut out all of the important bits therefore the drama didn’t progress well. However, after seeing that only a couple of scenes (which I guess were worth showing btw) were added that did nothing to change or push the plot forward, I just felt betrayed and hopeful for nothing.
Writers, I hate you guys so much right now. So much….
Alright, so here’s the thing; this drama wasn’t ever meant to touch my radar. I knew that it would just be a terrible idea to even think that I should start watching this drama. And yet, here I am, writing my current trek for it. One reason why I shouldn’t be following this is because uni has started here in Australia, and they have certainly not been forgiving. I’ve got assessments due already in a week’s time (and it’s only week 3!), tests and quizzes to revise for and on top of that, I’m looking into getting another part-time job to support the family a little more. So in advance, I do apologise for any future lack of activity on the blog because, I can’t possibly continue following numerous dramas at once without sacrificing work, which at the moment I can’t afford to do (despite how tempting it is to just dump all this work and just marathon a drama for my personal enjoyment kekeke) However, the main reason why this drama is much more dangerous to take on is because it releases two episodes every day (kind of; I’ll explain it below later). And the drama is 48 episodes long…Yep, screw uni work!
*Clears throat* So, which drama is it that has gotten me so twisted and torn to the point where I am spending hours trying to search for answers without spoiling it for myself? It is in fact the Chinese drama Cruel Romance.
A drama that started out with a bang, filled with awesomeness that unanimously drew everyone in to see what would happen. However, by the second half of it all it just dragged and fell downhill…
Back again with another review for you all! I had just finished this drama just a couple of days ago, and I have to admit that I was purposely dreading to finish it. I guess I just can’t accept that our Doctor/Ahjumma couple will have to come to an end, after experiencing some of the highest and lowest times of their relationships. They have been through thick and thin (and no, that was not an intentional pun) together, and it just really pains me to finally place this drama to rest because no matter how slow and disappointing the second half of this drama became, I cannot deny the fact that I absolutely adored this couple to bits, as I do with most rom-coms.
And so enough rambling from me, let’s finish this once and for all!
Hey guys! Today’s post is going to be a little different from usual. As I was going over my blog site this morning, I scrolled through the posts that I made over the past year of 2014 and realised that… I hardly posted anything. In comparison to 2013, 2014 was just atrocious. And honestly, it was a true reflection on how I was in terms of watching dramas or listening to music; I rarely did any of that last year.
Off the top of my head, I can barely rarely remember the number of dramas that I had watched last year (it wasn’t that many, trust me), or my most favourite MVs of 2014. As a result of that, I am planning on not writing any Year-In-Review posts for 2014, as it would just be so embarrassing to show you guys what I have failed to accomplish.
2014 was certainly not a great year for me personally. University work was quite demanding in comparison to the previous year, my practical work for education was a new experience that forced me to be fully immersed in it, and numerous personal issues started popping up left and right that really hindered my time and ability to really enjoy doing the things I love. I had written so many reviews (for K-pop in particular) but due to the immense amount of stress I was under, none of them ever finished since I felt that the quality was just not the same standard as I had previously done.
And so, I would like to make a pledge right here, right now. For 2015, I would like things to change a little bit. I want to contribute more to the community than I did last year. I’m determined to turn this major slump of mine into motivation to do better than I have ever done before. I promise to have more time for myself to watch the things I love, and to listen to the things I want to listen to for enjoyment. I won’t give a number of what I will achieve (since I feel that in terms of watching dramas or animes, that isn’t a very realistic thing to do) but a guarantee would be that I will definitely do more than I did last year. I vow to never repeat what I have done for 2014 ever again. And I solemnly swear that to the hundreds and thousands of viewers who visit this blog every year. This is my promise to you all.
Thank you all so much for all the support, and I hope to see you guys quite soon with another post 😉
Asia Reviewer Maniac 
