Cindy Akazawa

I have read all the other reviews, and I am mystified at how many people love the character Dano. I found her to be cringeworthy - annoyingly perky. That would have been OK had she been that way in only the staged scenes, but she continued in that vein in the shadow scenes, where her "real self" could be portrayed. Perhaps the female lead over-acted, but perhaps she had to because it was a webtoon, and the lines she was given to say actually forced her to be that way. All the same, I couldn't take watching her. I only stayed because I am a Lee Jae Wook fan. He is a talented actor who gave the best range he could with such a limited character. Rowoon, too, had a limited character for a male lead. He actually had to portray a person who had no memories, no feelings, no identity. Yes, the complexity lay in how he rediscovered himself over time. Still, it's hard to get attached to two-dimensional male leads, even if they eventually become "real" to us. Perhaps the webtoon come to life genre isn't to my taste, but I really had to work hard to finish this series. I only lasted because the dramas I most wanted to watch weren't completed, and I prefer to binge watch rather than to get an episode every week, so I had time to kill. The best thing about this drama was that each episode was only 20 minutes, so I didn't have to commit too much time to polishing off an episode. Even so, I found my mind wandering...

All these five-star reviews! I couldn't get through the first episode, and I tried TWICE, a year apart. It was so boring. Maybe it was the English subtitles on so much fast legal discussion that left me lost and disengaged. I really wanted to like this because I have been watching re-runs of my favorite kdramas a lot lately while waiting for some new titles to put up all of their episodes so that I can binge watch them, but this one wasn't it for me. My impression is that the writers were committed to exploring the law so much that they forgot about character development. Maybe if the show started out with background on the main characters home lives so that I cared about them before being bombed with debates about legal technicalities, I might have had more patience with it.

I usually don't watch Japanese dramas because the women usually have shrilly voices with weak character, and the men often are portrayed as rude jerks to women, who seem to fall for them anyway. I have lived in Japan for 30 years, and I can't relate to the drama characters because they are far less appealing than the people I have met in real life. Why don't Jdramas make an effort to create authentic characters? But, I think Glass Heart is far better than most Jdramas. Yes, it is a romance without a lot of plot twists. But, I really love how the music and the lyrics work overtime to reflect the story. If you think you are going to just listen without trying to understand the lyrics, you are missing a large part of the storytelling. Lyrically, the writing is brilliant, like a rock musical. And a shout out to Kensaku Kakimoto, who did a brilliant job directing and filming. His cinematography communicated the genius of the male lead as well as the wild abandonment of the drummer unlocked from inhibitions. The rain-drenched drum scene was fabulous. I can't believe this was a TV drama because it felt like a movie. I really think his work will get an award for that alone. The acting was far better than I see in most Jdramas, too. It wasn't overacted. Maybe the "villians" were a bit over the top, but they had to create tension for the story. It couldn't all be about finding your inner spirit through music. But, yes, the musical journeys of the characters were an important part of the story, too. The performances were also fantastic, and so now I am wondering if the actors were actually famous as performers in real life. They were that good. Not my style of rock, tbh, but that genre is really popular in Japan, so I am sure it resonated well with domestic audience.

This review is for Season 2. I really liked the first season, so I wanted to continue watching it. It gets five stars for plot, and four for character development. The reason it lost a star for character development was almost exclusively due to the reason the series is getting an overall three star rating from me. The writers had to bring in a new character to add dimension to the story. That is understandable. But, they couldn't have conceived of a less endearing addition than the one they chose. I am not saying the actor is bad. It is a problem with the story creators and director, I think. They tried to make him funny to add comic relief, but he was too pathetic for any humor to redeem him. He is a guy you would never want to hang out with, let alone respect. It isn't that he is a bad human being, but just completely incompetent and socially unpleasant because he is so weak and whining. Honestly, you just want to smack him. And his ONE skill is that he can use his nose to smell evil demons. So, almost all of his work involves hanging his head out of car windows like a dog to catch a whiff. Couldn't they have at least let him sense the demons with some other literary device? He adds so little to the story that I would say he was totally unnecessary. And yet, we all had to endure him anyway. One more serious complaint about Season 2 is that the writers, in their desire to add comedy, resorted to so much poop humor (common enough in Kdramas but still cringeworthy). I mean, they kept bringing it into the episodes again and again. Maybe Korean viewers like this kind of low-brow humor, but it definitely doesn't export well to Western audiences. Netflix, why aren't you issuing some guidance to Korean writers about this? Humor needs to be a result of a situation rather than a character forced to overact for comedic effect. It should avoid bodily functions because...gross and not the least bit funny. Seriously, the writers get plot and characterization, but they totally can't write humor if their lives depended on it. Even a bit of slapstick here and there would have been so much better, and that is PHYSICAL comedy that doesn't require a lot of dialog.

I can't get past the toilet humor, the passing gas humor, and the bad breath humor in the first episode. How unappealing.

This is bro-fest violence porn. The characters are two-dimensional with no emotional lives. They lived and breathed for killing and dying with honor. There were almost zero women in the movie. Two had speaking parts, but both of them weren't even secondary or tertiary characters. They could have been replaced by men, so I wonder why they were even there at all. Nobody had wives, girlfriends or daughters. Nothing but power to live for. The fighting was gory, and hard to believe. The main vigilante took so many stabs and bullets, but he just kept going against formidable foes who fought fresh, and kept coming and coming. And even in an open room, with 20 against one, the "bad" guys (and who, really, was good?) went at him one at a time. I mean, really? It would have been nice to feel good rooting for the "good" guy, but he really wasn't someone you would like because he was emotionally dead. Revenge was the only thing that drove him. Well, I guess this is a genre. If you like no plot, no characterization, and no point, well, this one is for you.

I watched this series because I have been so impressed by Park Bo Gum as an actor. I had never seen IU in a drama, so I thought it would be good to see how she was handling the transition from pop star to actor. Well, if you like over-acting and hysterical crying fits, maybe this is for you. I blame the director because it wasn't just one actor but pretty much all the characters, who were frequently extreme in their reactions to situations depicted in the scenes. I am wondering if the director was trying to evoke the kind of TV acting that characterized Kdramas in the past, before they became profitable for export with translations and streaming services. I see all of the five star reviews, and it makes me wonder if fandoms similar to the ones that support Kpop idols are pushing the drama rather than genuine enthusiasm for good work. To be honest, I have only watched five episodes, but I am wondering if I can get through more. The story is so depressing, and the romance that can sustain a sad story is pretty lame because the female lead character has yet to show any redeemable character traits, and the kissing scenes don't convey any emotional intimacy or sensuality. So, don't watch it if you want romance, but it might be nice to appreciate a place in time for nostalgia...if you are Korean, I guess.