Querido Diário (2021)

SML and SFL

ep.21, 10:01-18:28, personally, the most romantic moments of Ouyang Wenshan and Jiang Huizhen, among all their scenes is the stargazing. he opened up about himself as Keane who was a prince before he was captured to be a chief guard. she also tells him about her feelings at the moment. later that we know, when Ouyang Wenshan returns to Babylon, a year later is 1791BC, he would make a weird mask dedicated to Jiang Huizhen, according to the constellation they last saw together, as their love momento. my wishful thinking, I was hoping he would stay as Ouyang Wenshan, and the same time, he bears responsibility to his own kin, he needs to ensure their safety and regain freedom. love is beautiful.

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Unique and Fascinating.

It's rare for Chinese Dramaland to steer clear off tropes and are often in favour of recycling identical storylines with little to no new twists. Which is why such Urban Fantasies are rare to come by. Strange, funny, and emotional, all rolled into one, Dear Diary is the perfect drama for binging during an extreme drama slump or if you are in the mood for something refreshing with solid substance.

☆ To get a gist of the drama, I suggest listening to the opening OST. (There are no spoilers in both the opening and closing soundtracks.) They perfectly capture the vibes of 'Dear Diary'.
Calling the plot "solid substance" might be a long shot furing the first few episodes. Considering that 3/6 of the characters and the basic plot revolves around a 12-year-old girl's impromptu fanfiction that she was inspired to write while visiting a Babylonion Exhibition. I still do not understand how she oh-so romantically scribbled down a love story after hearing a bloody legend that was far from lovely. What makes this drama a delight is that the now 24-year-old Chen Mei Ru comes face to face with the characters as an adult, leading to hilarious scenarios as she tries to figure out what to do with her sudden "Babylonion Prince, Murong Jie Lun" who as written by her 12-year-old self, is pretty obsessed with her. (The first few episodes are some of the most funniest stuff I've seen in a long time. It wasn't cringey, but genuinely made me laugh.) Worse, her Prince also brings along the two main supporting characters of her story. Her best friend, Jian Huai Zhang and former classmate Duan Shi Lui, all get wrapped in this unexpected adventure.

☆ The beauty of 'Dear Diary' lies within the almost seamless flow of the plot. As the story progresses, the writers manage to flesh out the three fantasy characters into more than just cartoonish caricatures in Chen Mei Ru's diary. What's more, the seemingly silly piece of fiction by an adolescent turns out to be much more deeper than we expect it to be. I appreciate how the writers managed to avoid unnecessary conflicts and subplots. They stick to the main characters and their adventures. The plot slowly gains momentum with each episode and I love how the all the characters have their own distinct identities that are much realistic and relatable. Moreover, there is a constant mystery underlying beneath the Diary and it kept me curious. The story attains it's peak and becomes dark and intense after the first half. But, every episode was worth it.

☆ The Cast, for such a short drama, are on point with their acting. The production crew went as far as hiring people from Iraq to teach the actors Akkadian (language spoken in Babylonia) and adjust their postures. Plus, nobody was overdubbed. When it comes to characters, I particularly enjoy Duan Shi Lui's scenes: he is the perfect mix of comedy and seriousness. I loved his twisted relationship with Jiang Hui Zhen and Mei Ru. I liked how Mei Ru was potrayed; she manages to maintain her personality even after going through changes. Jiang Hui Zhen, her best friend and co-writer/supporting character in her diary, is more complex than her care for nothing facade. Mu Rong, Ou Yang Wen Shan, and the Dragon Lady are initially portrayed as assertive beings, but they slowly grow out of it. Character growths were not abrupt. It tempts us into slowly getting attached to the characters. Chen Mei Ru, Mu Rong Jie Lun, Ou Yang Wen Shan, Jiang Hui Zhen, Duan Shi Lui and Dragon Lady, all have equal screentime. So, there are plenty of scenes for us to get familiar with them. As a bonus: we have three side couples, all of different variety.
I admit, I wasn't invested in the ships in the beginning. But, by the end, I wanted everyone to be happy.

☆ I was impresssed with the CGI, which by common low budget CDrama standards, is pretty good. I also liked how intricate the sets were, particularly the Babylonion ones. Being one of the most ancient civilizations, the Babylonion Empire was known for its advancements in several fields, including law. (The Code of Hammurabi. I had previously heard the name before as it was the title of a legal Korean Drama, Mis Hammurabi. I did not know its significance until now.)
Apparently, the production crew spent their resources to shoot at Morocco and Paris; collected actual sources and artifects from Babylonion Period to bring originality to the story and this is clearly evident as we watch the drama. Post Production took two years and I can tell that the team took extreme care of their craft.

☆ The soundtrack was perfect and befit every scene. It had the right timing and captured the essence of the story: from cool, fun and kiddish tunes to absolutely epic music and choruses that reminded me of the Elves of Middle-Earth.
My favorite Songs were:
▪ Give You All My Empathy (當傾盡所有感同身受) by Jiao Mai Qi/Mickey Jiao (焦迈奇).
▪You Deserve Love (你值得被好好爱着) by Jin Wen Qi/Vanessa Jin (金玟岐).

☆ I have to warn that characters listed as 'supporting' play a major role in several arcs. But, they were reasonable and effectively avoided unnecessary scenes. With 24 episodes, they've done exceptionally well in the 'no filler department'. The ending was predictable, but felt too jumbled and predisposed, particularly the final episode. It should've made me emotional, but the choice of arrangement of scenes looked odd. And there were a rather large number of characters that we focussed on (6) so, some episodes may appear to be lagging behind. The duration of episodes were really something: roughly 20 - 30 minutes, minus the opening, recap and the ending credits that is a solid four minutes long. The

All in all, it reminded me a lot of the American Movie 'Enchanted', but with more intensity and mystery. It's a standout for me among the many dramas I've seen and is definitely worthy of a watch. Something unique and distinct with it's very own magic is what Chinese Dramas lack and for that, I will gladly give this an 8.5/10 for now.

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I am surprised as I actually enjoyed it

Let me start off by saying, me and C dramas- do not mix well. I usually take very long to complete a drama from three weeks to a year (I kid you not), because I usually get a lull in the series that just doesn't persuade me in continuing with it. For this series, which I started due a seeing a gif on the global space feed, was not the case. I finished this series within less than a week and I must say, I actually enjoyed it!

Story-8.5/10
For me, any series above sixteen episodes is too much ( maybe that's another reason why I don't like to watch C dramas as well). But, I saw a gif and saw the comments and decided 'why not?' And I am glad that I did. I loved the first thirteen episodes so much.

And yes, there was a bit of a lull that I always get when watching C dramas feom episodes fourteen to nineteen, it didn't deter me from wanting to continue watcing this series. It got better at twenty and totally changed the direction that I thought it would at twenty-two to twenty-four.

And I am actually not that mad at the ending (eventhough apparently there is a special episode that I have not watched). I am super glad that Duan Shui Liu and Dragon Lady got thier happy wnding as I was more invested in thier storyline.

Acting/ Cast-9.5/10
They were all just phenomenal, as they were able to make me feel the emotions that they were going through.

Music-8/10
The music was beautiful. And for that I will give it an 8.

Rewatch Valu-9.5/10
I'm going to shock myself and say this, as it is a C drama- yes, I would actually rewatch this series again. Because after finishing this series, I have already started missing these three couples, especially Duan Shui Liu and Dragon Lady.

Overall-9/10
Overall, this series was a nice, entertaining quick watch that I am gong to miss and I am glad that I saw that gif that spurred me into watching this. I would most definitely recommend this series.

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A Colourful Child's Diary In a Grey World

This was a very good drama. I originally dropped it at about ep 12, simply because I was getting bored, but that's not to say that it wasn't an excellent script idea. Possibly one of the best script story ideas I've come across in recent years. I've finally finished it now, and can say without a doubt that if the writers hadn't been forced to stretch 12 episodes into 24, and if the female leads hadn't been so annoyingly cliche, this could have easily been one of the best C Drama series I have seen.

A girl who has the imagination and confidence knocked out of her by the adult world, rediscovers her younger self as an adult. That's the main theme, and it's a very beautiful one.

As a girl who was wildly romantic, imaginative, and different, the themes of this drama heavily resonated with me.

However, there were a few things that I feel could have easily been changed for the better: The FL is annoying as heck, because she has turned into a mouse of a human being. I get that this is what happens to creative children in a harsh environment, but she was just too much like the usual Chinese drama doormat FL to not annoy the hell out of me. The stylist for this show gave her the most unflattering bowl-bob haircut, just to make sure she looked as plain and mousy as her character, and this really didn't help at all. Her adult character was made to look plain in contrast to her friend who she made up the story with. In childhood, the FL was the pretty child in contrast to her friend who had the unflattering bowl-bob haircut. This was indeed, an interesting juxtaposition, and it has deep meaning to the story, as the FL grows into her adult mouse persona out of the shame of childhood. The poor writers had to go back and forth in time to her childhood and then back to adulthood, just to fill in the 12 extra episodes they were forced to write, and I really sympathize with that.

Everything about her adult self suggested this human being never had an original or creative thought in her entire life. Certainly even as a child, she must have been too drab and boring to feel out of place and create such interesting characters.

The SFL was, for contrast, a trashy human being that we are supposed to care about. She is supposed to be a cultured human being, but her words and actions imply the opposite of this. Every single female character in this drama was incredibly annoying and unlikeable in their own way. They either were incapable of thinking for themselves, incapable of listening to someone else, or incapable of having their own convictions.

The fictional male characters were the only characters of any interest, and they were written by a little girl!

Of course, the episodes were stretched out because the poor writers had to create 24 episodes from the original 12. Next time, make the female characters less like cliche doormats or trashy divas, and more like rounded characters we can relate to, because that would have improved everything. The original idea of this drama is genius, which makes it even more sad that the execution wasn't what it could have been.

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