A Doce Menina (2020)

The Sweetest Couple!

Because the plot on MyDramaList was a little confusing at first, I constantly ignored this drama and put it aside. The female lead Mi Jiu Er is known as Superflash, and is a poor heroine who protects and takes care of refugees in the city. She ends up swapping places with her doppelgänger, who is the manager of the male lead's clothing workshop. Honestly, this drama is an underrated gem, and generally is very solid with one of the happiest and most well-written endings that I've seen recently in Chinese dramas. If you go into this for sparkly and passionate romance, a really cute main couple, and don't except an intense story too much, I definitely encourage you to watch this!

I'd highly recommend having a watch if you like these tropes:

♡ Enemies to Lovers: Luo Yin Ran and Mi Jiu Er are constantly bickering in the beginning. While Yin Ran is a cold, reserved male lead who hates uncleanliness and is devoted to his work, he never hurts the female lead. Over time, he grows to protect her, and even puts down his own feelings and his wellbeing for Mi Jiu Er's happiness. The relationship between these two is incredibly healthy, and Luo Yin Ran never crosses boundaries that could hurt the female lead. This trope is also repeated with the second couple in this drama, who are also very loveable and also have a very sweet relationship as well.

♡ So Many Kisses: The amount of passion and sweetness in all the kisses made my heart flutter! Both the main actor Kris Sun and actress Jin Wen Xin are adorable, and their kisses are so well shot. There are sweet and lovely kisses, but also romantic ones, and even some that show tinges of bittersweetness. The actors did a great job in showing the emotion of their characters through all of the kiss scenes, and many of the kisses were lengthy and passionate (instead of being frozen or stiff).

♡ Gorgeous Production Value: All of the clothes (especially as this is a drama which focuses on the clothing industry) are beautiful. The scenes are so wonderfully shot, and the buildings and sets are gorgeous. I believe that this is a Republican era drama (it isn't exactly clear in the series because the show doesn't really focus on the political context) and so you will see an interesting mix of Western clothing on Pei Zhuo and Chinese clothing on Luo Yin Ran.

♡ Generally Drama and Angst Lite: There are moments where the drama ventures into more sad scenes. Our main couple does experience some periods of sadness, but they also communicate and try to work out their problems. This is therefore great to pick up if you just want something to relax to and something where you don't have to think too much.

♡ Solid Storyline and Very Watchable: There are enemies and problems in this drama, but because it's only 24 episodes, there is little to no filler, and you have a great beginning, an interesting setup, and one of my all time favourite endings. If you want a whole story that's completed, instead of finding out that there's a cliffhanger or a "Season 2" after finishing, I highly recommend that you watch this. You will be completely satisfied by the progression of the story.

♡ My Boy Fan Xiao Dong: If you've watched the Chinese drama the Rules of Love, Fan Xiao Dong is the actor who plays the second male lead. If your heart was crushed by second lead syndrome in that drama, it'll (unfortunately) also be crushed here too as Fan Xiao Dong plays the lonely second love interest Pei Zhuo. I think that out of all the actors, Fan Xiao Dong did the best job, because he was simultaneously a character that you could be deeply sympathetic with at one second, and then hateful towards during the next. In any case, I think his character had one of the biggest changes to his personality and mindset, and that this drama is an opportunity to see another side of his acting.

However, there are also some things you might not like about the drama:

♥ Chemistry: It took some time for me to get used to Kris Sun and Jin Wen Xin. They do have a large age gap, and I felt very lukewarm about their chemistry during the first couple episodes. In addition, I feel that some of the earlier episodes create more sparks between Mi Jiu Er and the second male lead Pei Zhuo, and have more scenes with them clearly showing some affection towards each other. However, once you keep watching, especially when Luo Yin Ran begins to fall for Mi Jiu Er, you start to warm up to them and the kisses definitely are exploding with chemistry.

♥ Somewhat Rocky Acting: There are some scenes where I as not really convinced of the main actors and actress. Jin Wen Xin's interpretation of Mi Jiu Er definitely can come off as very childish (especially as she is so petite). This also gets me on to the dubbing, where Jin Wen Xin's absolutely lovely husky voice in real life is changed into a very childish-sounding, high pitched one, which some viewers may not like. However, over time her brash and straightforward personality becomes very endearing. Sometimes I also felt Kris Sun struggled with the more emotionally demanding scenes, especially ones that involved crying or anger. However, I think both still did a solid job, but whether it was their acting or the story itself, I do think that there are some scenes in which the acting is a little stiff and/or unnatural.

♥ Some Parts Can be Boring, Especially the First Stretch: I did skip some times during the drama, and do find that the beginning is probably the hardest to get through, because the setup is done in a way where you don't feel like it's high stakes or are drawn in to the story. I did drop it several times initially, before I started getting through the more expository episodes, and started really seeing the romance develop.

♥ Not a Huge Focus on Succeeding in the Clothing Industry: The background plot does involve the vying for power in the clothing industry amongst different businesses that are in the industry. I do think that this was a great idea to tie in the overall story and to give some urgency to the plot. However, note that this is not a story of how Mi Jiu Er overcomes obstacles and becomes a wonderful and capable manager, or that she grows to become skilled in the industry. While part of the story does involve how Luo Yin Ran acquires greater fame in the industry, the main focus is really on our main couple. So you will not really be seeing the characters improve per se, but instead a greater emphasis on the romance that develops between them (and then some scheming that occurs from other companies.)

I'd recommend you watch this if you liked dramas that have lots of fluffy romance, are beautifully filmed, and also love a lot of romantic tropes. I do think you need to have your expectations set - this is no groundbreaking Chinese drama where you may feel the need to binge watch - but is a very solid and well done show overall. If you're looking for something that's sweet and light, then this is for you!

Leia Mais

Thanks to sulkytofu's review, I was prepared for what to expect. I recommend reading their review first and then reading mine as I do make a few distinctions.

I enjoyed this drama! The beginning episodes were hard to get through at first (I'd say ep1-6) but after that, the main leads really start to latch onto me and their romance start to build a lot more. The female main lead did feel a little annoying at first, but--again--after the 6th episode, I really liked her. (The male main lead also felt a bit stiff to me at first but after the 6th episode, I liked him too.)
This isn't a show that's jam-packed with drama, plot twists, etc., thus, why I called it a "low-key" drama. It's fun to watch and nice to watch when you have time or are just looking for a drama that's not going to pull any weird/strange twists. (In fact, I think it gets quite intriguing in the middle of the series! I binge-watched a lot of those eps.)
I also enjoyed the soundtrack a lot! I've one back to listened to it several times and can hum a couple of the tunes. It was pretty catchy and the scenes it played over was memorable.

My biggest letdowns from this show were just 2 things:
1) the secondary pairing's relationship is super cute but towards the end of the series, they don't get a lot of screen time. It's a shame as I enjoyed them very much & would've loved a whole lot more of them, especially from the girl.
2) some characters' endings felt a bit...too easy (as if the plot didn't know what to do with them, so the characters were dealt with in a kind of cheap way, I'd say. But again, I liked the low-keyness of the drama and am glad the overall series wasn't too short nor too long.)

Overall, the drama was enjoyable! Not the greatest, not the worst, just a fun drama to watch. The OST is really good and I've found myself listening to it a lot.

Leia Mais