This show is probably the best modern Japanese show I’ve ever watched. It brings up a lot of issues that women face globally. Is it best to stick close to home or will your dreams be fufilled in the big city? Career or family? Can women have it all? Do women even need to focus on raising a family to have a successful and productive life? Is it better to have a relationship with someone of similar economic status? Or is it better to find someone who has similar values? Is it fulfilling enough to just have a strong network of friends at certain points of your life? I also really loved how our main character was a morally gray person who makes mistakes and is hypocritical, I can see a real person making the decisions she did. I think the only major improvement that could have been made was more of a focus on the ups and downs of the main character’s career.

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The Importance of Family

A Girl Like Me is going on my list of my favorite historical dramas. The reasons why I rated this show so highly are as follows: the female lead is both smart and physically strong, the show is genuinely funny, and I love the overarching theme of how important family is.

At first I wasn't sure if I liked Ban Hua because she was so sure of herself to the point that I thought she was being rude to others. I quickly fell in love with her when I realized she is a character that takes no bs and sticks to her guns. She is not well read but she is very quick to pick up on things and highly skilled physically from being dedicated to learning military training. On top of being intelligent, I loved how kind she turned out to be. Even though she is rich and likes looking the part, she is humble enough to deeply care about people who have less than she does.

Ban Hua's family's interactions with each other are a guaranteed good time. They are all funny together and play off each other well. There are many humorous occasions surrounding the fact that none of them are book smart, but they readily acknowledge that fact and are willing to have others help them in that regard which was nice to see. There were also entertaining comedic moments surrounding the rivalry between both Ban Huai (Ban Hua's father) and Marquis Xie, as well as Ban Hua and Jiang Luo.

My favorite thing about this show was the thing that surprised me the most, how the plot kept circling back to the fact that family is the most important. Whenever I read a story or watch a show about people who lived in the past, especially when it centers around royalty, I'm saddened by how people were willing to harm or even kill their own family members to gain power. That desire to be at the top of the food chain comes from a place of selfishness, whereas a truly good leader wants to be in that position to help others that are suffering and would not harm people, especially their family, to get to that position in the first place. Ban Hua's family truly love each other and are there for each other through thick and thin, even making tough sacrifices to protect each other.

I also think the leads in this show compliment each other well. There is a delightful push and pull in Ban Hua and Rong Xia's relationship that always keeps things interesting. Furthermore I wasn't bothered by the inclusion of two side couples in this show as they both had cute interactions with each other as well. Overall I think this show was well written and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys either historical dramas or shows with strong female leads.

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