Great start but turned to meh

If you ask me whether this drama is worth the watch, I'll say yes but stop at Ep 6 because the love between Xioasu and Zhenrong was the only thing that's really good in this drama. The chance encounter, the crushing on stage, the bittersweet parting was executed perfectly. You can maybe extend it up to Ep 10, to have a sense of letting go and expectation of a new love. To go on further will just be torture in boredom because there were only two or three touching scenes when they try to remember Zhenrong.

The synopsis was misleading. There was no one night stand shown in the drama, just a drunken girl who was so wasted that that Yuzheng judged her as 'not a good girl'. If there was in the novel then the ML is a real jerk for taking advantage of a drunk girl. Yuzheng did not forbid the couple's relationship but only warned Zhenrong about the possibility that Xiaosu may not be as good as she seemed. Yuzheng also did not love her from the start but only after Zhenrong's death. The premise of 'Will Xiaosu ever forget Zhenrong and accept Yuzheng's love?' which drew me in to watch this was so misleading. If only they stuck with that, this could have been a very different drama, probably a better one. Xiaosu was never that conflicted, she never closed herself off to love. During the brink of their new love, it was Yuzheng who backed off because of his business issues. The right question is 'Are Yuzheng's feelings strong enough to change his prejudice against love?'

The way the characters navigate their relationship are reactive, repetitive, and inconsistent. The reasons for breakups were weak and sometimes incomprehensible. I was particularly annoyed with the one CP, the money focused Siqi and the wishy washy Qin Fei, the FL's best friend and the ML's assistant. Then most of the episodes focused on the business problems of the ML.

It's really too bad because they've managed to setup this great love that will be hard to replace but forgot that is was supposed to be the main backbone of the drama. So my advice is save yourself the time and only watch the first 6 episodes.

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A bingeable cotton candy drama

This is perfect for those who just want to satisfy their craving for something sweet and don't want to think much. It's short too, only a total of approx 8 hrs compared to other cdramas.

It has a simple but interesting plot. The gutsy FL who was not eager to marry anyone met two interesting men on different occasions. After the encounters, she received a marriage order from the king. Not wanting the marriage, she ran away on the day of the wedding intending to divorce the husband she had never seen. You know it was one of the two men but the husband mystery remained until the middle of the drama. I liked that her husband actually pursued her instead of forcing her to honor the marriage.

The ML and SML are literally equal in everything. Both are generals, good-looking, good at kungfu, have good personalities and can sacrifice for the FL. It was a good choice to cast Fang Tong as the FL. I've seen her in 'Heart of Loyalty' and her arc saved that drama for me. In this drama, her chemistry with the ML and SML made the reverse harem setup believable. Her wide-eyed look made her appreciation of their *ahem* virtues feel like innocent curiosity. In case you misinterpret, she never played the two men against each other and treated both sincerely. When she knew who she liked, she was committed to him and yeah there were clues on who she actually liked peppered throughout the series.

I will definitely rewatch for a quick shot of sweetness.

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More than the average high school drama

It's not just the leads but there's great chemistry for the whole cast, yes even the teachers. This touched me in ways I didn't expect and maybe one of my most favorite HS drama.

There's the typical bickering, skipping classes, love triangles, secret crushes, etc. The usual teenage drama. At first l, I found the FL to be too loud, too smiley, eager to please and quite annoying. This feeling did not stay too long as the FL continued to show her sincerity to her classmates. What I didn't expect was the depth of her insecurity shown in this drama. When the description said that the FL's negative feelings exploded, I thought it was an exaggeration but it wasn't. She really did explode and I cried when she did. That was probably one of the most powerful scenes in this drama because the FL's reaction and actions after that scene was sensitively shown and handled.

As for the love triangle, I was totally onboard on whoever the FL chose because both the ML and SML were great guys who have sincere feelings for the FL. Both had chemistry with her too. Actually for most of the story, the ML was acting like the typical second lead. He was fun, usually gives advice to the FL but was never really noticed. He was eclipsed by the SML who is like the typical ML, clueless about love, sincere and good at everything. The way this triangle finally moved forward was shown with so much heart and understanding.

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A winner from the first episode

From the first episode, I knew that I was gonna love this drama and it didn't disappoint.

This coming of age drama has very little angst. The leads' OTP status continues to get validated from the first kiss until the last scene. They were very much protected by their protagonists' halos and everything worked out fine in the end of them. Side characters moved on easily and had their own romances. Conflicts were resolved in 1-2 episodes.

This is the most manly role Darren Chen ever had as ML in my opinion. I liked that he never overacted. If his character was portrayed by another actor, it would have been annoying, but with him and his dimples, WenBing came off as mischievous but still caring. Sabrina Chen as the FL Sangtian had a really good chemistry with him. The accidental kisses, playful banters and teasing confessions were nicely executed. I just sometimes felt that Sabrina seemed uncomfortable with her hockey stick, but I chose to overlook it.

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Passable enough but didn't really excite me

I really admire writers of parallel world and time travel stories because it takes a lot of imagination and logic for the story to make sense.

I like this story well enough, the idol ML had an accident on the night of the comet in 2019. He travelled back to 2017 and tried to become an idol again. After 2 years he met his other self in the parallel world who has been unlucky since 2017. He realized that his other self was not able to get opportunities to become him in 2019 because of his arrival in the new world. Also, that the original world was 2 years older than the new world. He tried to help his other self become popular also before the night of the comet and readied himself to return to the original world since the 2 him could probably not co-exist in the future. However during this time he met and fell in love with the FL and was not sure if he wanted to go back to the original world.

The acting was good enough but a bit bland. I wished there was more character similarities in the ML and his other self because they were too different. The chemistry between the two leads was also not that strong even during tropey situations. Maybe it's because I felt that the FL is too subservient to the ML even if ML was a really good person.

The ending was logical so I liked this well enough but would probably not rewatch.

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Despite everything, it is still a cool world

Arghh, this drama gave me very complex feelings. If you are just looking for romance fluff, skip this, because even though it showed the giddiness of love, it also gave a hard dose reality. The good points of this drama are that it depicted seemingly real persons and real problems. It showed the growth of Xiaoxiao as a person and not just in her love life.

I have watched past dramas of Zhou Yutong, Li Hongyi and Wang Dong and was generally satisfied with their acting and so I decided to watch this. (Side note: LHY was WD's son-in-law in the Legendary Life of Queen Lau).

With odds frequently stacked against, Xiaoxiao was not a Candy who needed a knight in shining armor to always save her during her predicaments. She finds logical solutions. Though she relied on LuMang because he was her boss, she did not expect him to support her at all times. When she realized that NieJaoFan was toxic she really tried to break it off him. When DuanChong courted her, she often refused his money. And even though she experiences sadness and failure, she kept on pushing forward.

On the love story, this had the most realistic meet cute I've seen. They were awkward, gave each other polite smiles and bashfully got each other's number. They just gave off happy vibes when they were together so that you can't help but feel happy for them. The conflict started when Xiaoxiao started her own media company and forgot appointments with her boyfriend. For me, it was not she was prioritizing work over him, she really just needed time to establish her small company. She loved him but she also needed to pursue her own dream. This showed that success in love does not only depend on being with the right person but also on the right timing in a person's life.

The faux endings reminded me of another Zhou Yutong's drama, 'Long for You', which by adding a single scene turned a sad ending into a happy one. Good thing they chose to end it on a positive note, making it a cool world after all.

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Don't watch if you've already watched 'Love is better than immortality'

Maybe I would have rated this higher if I have watched this before 'Love is better than Immortality'.

The drama itself has a lot of unique fantasy elements and lore that make it interesting. The world in this drama has an undetermined timeline but would put it around 60s of 70s based on the costumes. Then we also have a mystical forest clan who's completely unversed about new inventions but who's pretty competent in magic.

My bone of contention with this drama was the number of unexpected villains. There was basically no permanent alliances in this drama, one moment a person is a friend but in the next episode, the friend has become a villain. This really annoyed me a lot because there were certain villains that I actually wanted to die but I had really admired in previous episodes.

If you are looking for skinship, switch to another drama since there was practically none.

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Look out for the 2nd couple

The story was a standard reel to real lovers trope. Tangli and Yusheng are producers of a variety show that gives tasks to couples. In order to boost ratings they convinced Erdou and Shuwei to pretend as lovers for the show. Erdou joined to earn her tuition fee to study in Japan and become a better voice actor. Shuwei joined because he lost a bet. They slowly but steadily fell in love as they try to prevent being outed as a pretend couple.

What I liked about their development was that, outside the 4 of them, the main CP was never vague about their relationship. Friends and family members know them to be a couple. Third parties came and went but they remained protective of each other. Their transition from being pretend to actual couple was so smooth and subtle that you can't tell when exactly their feelings changed because one second their pretend care seems real then suddenly they drop the act. But between them, Shuwei seemed to do more to please Erdou in the later episodes which almost resulted to him making a noble sacrifice. I am glad that Erdou loved him enough that she did not want him to do that and he was smart enough to understand her intention in the airport scene. I don't think ghosting ever happened because I choose to believe that they knew exactly where the other was even when they were not physically together and they just chose to be not clingy with each other.

The story of the 2nd CP made me rank this higher than I would have because in contrast to the straightforwardness of the main CP, the 2nd CP relationship was all kinds of vague. Despite having chemistry both in work and play, Tangli was never sure that she and Yusheng were a couple, making me feel that this is a toxic relationship with a man who's unable to commit. I was surprised at the introduction of Mars so late in the game as a third party to their relationship in Episode 17. And I was pleasantly surprised by the mature resolution of this story arc.

I think this story could have been told in lesser episodes if not for the recurrent problems that the drama kept recycling such as pesky third parties.

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Expected a romance but got fight scenes and politics instead

From the first lines, an OTP was already established. Wherever Bai Fengxi is, Hei Fengxi will surely be there too. Just based on this you know we have a strong FL and that the ML is the one who's more invested/in love. Throughout the drama, I sometimes felt like FL can live her life just fine without the ML but he couldn't stay away from her and will most likely just die without her.

There are two social orders in the drama: martial arts world and real world. For us, this is like showbusiness and real life. In the martial arts world, people can take up aliases and just care about fighting skills while in the real world, people care about genealogy and wealth. Bai (white) Fengxi and Hei (black) Fengxi are the chosen aliases of the leads. Their martial arts skills are evenly matched with a rivalry going for 10 years. BFX seems to be carefree and seems to like the martial arts world more because she doesn't really care about positions. HFX seems to be secretive and always tries to solidify his position in the real world.

For most of the drama, you can see HFX trying to outwit people who wants him to relinquish his position and BFX trying to help her martial arts sect. There were banters, romantic scenes and even emotional scenes that showcase just how much of an OTP our leads were but this was overshadowed by action scenes and secret scheming scenes.

This is not to say that I didn't like the drama because I did. I liked that even though other characters seemed to be interested in BFX as a woman or HFX as a man, those did not progress to full blown love triangles and they only had eyes for each other. The OTP banters were funny sometimes especially the scene when BFX said 'did you just yell at me?' and HFX became speechless, lol. The battle scenes and people flying in the air were great too. This was the first drama where I saw Zhao Lusi doing such great action scenes. Maybe it was just that I was expecting a melty romance with lots of kisses but got political intrigues instead.

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I want my hours back

I blame my completist streak, I knew I should have dropped this after the first episode. Good looking actors does not equal a good story.

Plot was interesting based on the description but from the start, acting was already bad. I was hoping it would improve but it didn't. Even with 24 episodes, I was not able to connect to this drama. Even the kisses did not give me flutters.

They tried to do so much but ended up with nothing done well. There is supposed to be a mystery that was not a mystery at all. The romance part was very messy that you do not know who to actually root for because you don't know why they even like each other. Chunxi of the real world and Zhenzhen of the novel world felt disconnected and did not feel like the same person living in different bodies.

Luli was the only saving grace in this mess, the only one who gave some micro expressions. But sadly he couldn't carry the whole show.

The ending in the real world felt like fan service. I don't know if the FL and the ML's lookalike would even have a chance cause she did not even ask if he was single.

I guess the writers relied on tropes on this one but sadly did not deliver. Would not rewatch even if you pay me.

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Interesting but hard to watch

This intrigued me when I read the plot description, 5 women received an invitation to live in the house of an unsuccessful novelist. He did not issue the invitation, he could not ask them questions and he could not go to their rooms. And each would pay him a monthly rent of a million yen.

I really wanted to know the reasons why the women agreed to do it and why the MC does not kill people in his novels. The MC at first glance is not handsome, he's awkward and has low self esteem. But as each episode passes and the mysteries about the women were unravelled, I can see that each seems to have feelings for the MC.

It was kind of hard to watch when we see the MC struggling because of guilt for something he did not do and for someone to actually play with that guilt.

Anyways, this drama gave me satisfying answers and he actually ended up with the girl I was rooting for. So all's well that ends well. But I would probably not rewatch this again since the mystery has been solved.

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Another mindless heroine

This is one of those series that you know will degrade your brain cells but watch for romance anyway.

The story is a store-bought story where heroine was not so smart but warm hearted and who by drama fate can't help but fall in love or have a relationship with the manly but have a lot of issues hero.

Nao was a typical Candy who, once she decided she likes the hero, can't seem to remove her blinkers to see that he was actually bad for her. Meanwhile, Uehara is a typical hero who is popular and don't seem to care for other people but actually have a heart of gold. His 'fans' bully Nao and he saves her by announcing that she is his girlfriend, yes that trope from the OG 'Boys over flowers' which can never happen in real life. This cycle of bullying goes on and on whenever there are rumors that they are breaking up, until the leaders of the fans finally woke up in the last episode to realize they had no chance with Uehara.

There are only two saving graces of this show. One is Daichi, Nao's childhood friend, the kind older brother type second lead who only wants Nao to be happy. Another is Issei, the son of the owner in a ramen restaurant where Nao works part time. A gruff-talker with a secret crush type second lead who kept helping Nao after Daichi graduated from high school.

Truthfully, I felt that Nao had the best chemistry with Daichi, then with Issei, then with Uehara. Maybe its just the gentle way that Sakurada Dori stares, at Nao particularly, but it gives you that melty, fluttery feeling that makes you want to be loved and hugged by this guy *puddles*.

My main problem in the drama is the inequality in the relationship of Nao and Uehara. That Nao was way below Uehara in the relationship scale. I feel like Nao just keeps on waiting and waiting until Uehara says that he likes her, and when he does finally, it was like forced from him by Yuri. And there wasn't even anything that special about him, other guys who likes Nao have better specs, face, and personality. When asked why she is choosing Uehara, Nao's reasons were that he treats her well by bringing her a cake when she was sick and being with her during a blackout, I wanted to shake her and say that it was Daichi who originally went and bought that cake while Uehara was being his petty self and not even checking up on her until Daichi told him that she was sick, Daichi was already there during the blackout before Uehara but kept from going inside because he knows that he was not who Nao was waiting for. I admit that I really can't get on board on this OTP ship but have SLS instead. Have noticed that there is a season 2. I hope that it will be better than this one or at least it will give me an acceptable reason for why Nao must choose Uehara.

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One can definitely feel the different vibe in this season compared with season 1. Gone were the Uehara security girls that irritated me for being so cliche. The scenes and character outfits were also brighter compared with the muted and darker tones of the previous season. It shows a more vibrant university life. I would have wanted Issei to also be here even as a cameo but he was absent T_T. One improvement in the story was Nao's involvement in an arts club, since it show that she was now interested in things other than being focused on just Uehara. One of my problems was that I did not know what exactly the careers the characters were pursuing, unlike in other university dramas. Maybe their departments or courses were mentioned but I may have missed it.

Another plus for the story is that Daichi, the second male lead in Season 1 who I really liked (yes, I had a case of 2ls for him), finally had his own loveline. However I felt that the resolution of his arc of finally letting go of Nao, felt kind of forced. I didn't feel his chemistry with his new partner while it was still palpable in his few scenes with Nao. Even when characters were saying he now likes Nanase, I felt like his expressions and actions still showed he liked Nao. They should have cast a younger looking actress, because the way she portrayed Nanase was as a vindictive rival. Even for scenes designed to reform and make her charming, the acting felt flat, unapologetic and just plain annoying. I think it's safe to say I did not like her.

The introduction of Saeko and Natsume into the story was also good since it showed that Uehara and Nao had better options than each other. Natsume was a sweet, hero-type character that could sweep you of your feet, given a chance. He was a loving older brother, silent protector, a hard worker and a charming helper to the people that he meets which makes him a very viable choice for Nao. Saeko was smart and a fighter that Uehara can really admire as a colleague. And because of them, my support for the OTP lessened and had gone to the camp that if they hadn't lived together then they wouldn't have fallen in love. The scenes of the OTP together usually led to self-doubts and misunderstandings. I still felt that Nao was the one who was trying to keep the relationship and Uehara kept being a jerk by not sharing his true feelings, he was really just lucky that she did not have a serious thump in the head to wake her up. I also sensed that Nao was genuinely happy when with other characters than with Uehara. In scenes with him, all I can sense was that she felt she was lucky this guy was interested in her. This really is one of those series where I just can't support the OTP because there is unequal balance in the relationship which can be toxic in the long run. Nao is too submissive while Uehara was too dismissive. Yes, there are scenes that show that Uehara really appreciates Nao but the problem is that this is with other people instead of his partner which could have made Nao feel more secure and made the relationship stronger. Would probably rewatch cute scenes only, maybe the heart fluttering ones with Natsume.

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Heartwarming, the romance was a bonus.

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. Seven Tan, Steven Zhang and Song Wei Long performed their roles wonderfully. I also really loved Daddy Ling and Daddy Li. Daddy Li was like the mother of their family. The storytelling was perfect. It portrayed how the three kids became so close when they were children and HS students, that there was awkwardness when they met again in their mid20s but still was able to overcome that and became close again. The actions of all characters were pretty understandable, even that of Xiao's mother and Ziqui's father, characters I did not like. I also understand the resolution of the love triangle since Ziqui's anchor was Daddy Li while Xiao's was Jianjian.

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It has everything. My favorite romcom of all time, not just 2024

This has fluffy romance, comedy aplenty and a lot of heart. I can't believe that within 10 minutes into the drama, I was already crying with Im Sol. Kim HyeYoon delivered such a great performance in the first episode that before it ended I was hooked.

The story is about Im Sol (HyeYoon) who was about to give up on life after an accident. Because of the encouragement she got from an idol Ryu SunJae (WooSeok), she decided to live. For more than 10 years, she supported SunJae as a fan and was very shocked when news came out that SunJae died from apparent suicide. A mystic occurrence brought her back in time when both she and SunJae were still in high school. Can she stop SunJae's death? Was it really a suicide?

As of writing this only 2 episodes are out but I am already enjoying this drama. In fact, the last few minutes of Episode 2 gave me overexcited butterflies. Scenes that may seem cringey on paper turned out lovely and sweet because of the music used and the chemistry between HyeYoon and WooSeok. And then there's also GeonHee who's playing the second lead. He also looks good with HyeYoon. But I'm still team SunJae. The scriptwriters so far made somewhat believable scenarios (yeah, I will also run/get scared when a person seems crazy). I am looking forward for the next episodes.

Edit:
I am now at episode 8, my favorite thus far, and this just keeps getting better so I'm changing my review score from 9.5 to 10. This deserves it for making me look forward to Mondays even though it's the start of my work week. Now I'm not just on the Sunjae-Sol ship but also on the WooSeok-HyeYoon ship too. These two are really lovely together.

Edit 2:
After completion, this has become my standard for a romcom and has become my favorite drama of all time. I would rate it more than 10 if I could. This has everything like a mashup of all possible drama tropes (running after a leaving car, time capsules, etc) and settings (jungle scenes, island scenes, school scenes, the ever present airport scene, etc) but still done right. I kept thinking that the writer has a checklist to see which ones she haven't used yet. I love all the OSTs, they are used at the right timing throughout the drama even the BGMs. My favorites are "Gift", "Sudden Shower" and "Run, run". This also has the best pacing among all the dramas I've seen with the focus mostly on the leads. Its romance is satisfying and was not stingy at all with the kiss scenes unlike usual kdramas. Its comedy despite a few misses are ones that remain funny even in a rewatch. Its logic as a time travel drama made sense. There are detail consistencies in the interconnected scenes like scars, head bump, etc which shows that this had been meticulously made (yeah, I had a minor issue with 34 yrs old Sunjae's haircuts but it's negligible cause he looked almost the same anyway). There was a time in Ep13 that this drama broke my heart but immediately fixed it again in the next episode. It is a self-aware romcom and often references itself with parallelism and easter eggs that are spread throughout the entire drama. As such, it makes you want to rewatch previous scenes and episodes. It shows again and again that the leads have an interconnection that time and distance cannot truly sever and how selfless is their love for each other. I'm so glad that I chased this because I was able to discuss theories and ship the lead couple with fellow capellas (eclipse fandom) and subeoms (solseon fandom). I know I'll rewatch this again just for the comfort it brings.

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