So I finally caught up to this drama and finished the remaining episodes. I must say the cast was what initially drew me in especially Song Wei Long. He has one of the nicest faces I have seen and he is damn cute. I also like Steven Zhang and the trailer was very interesting.

STORY:
There were some absolutely golden and some absolutely boring moments. It started off strong and remained consistently good till ep 25-26. I felt like child actors were too cute and the sentiment of family was captured perfectly. In spite of the hurtful childhood all 3 of our leads had, they were quite fortunate. That was a little fairytale-like for me and at the same unbelievable i.e. the amount of abandonment happening and tying people together. The latter episodes focusing on the parents were a snoozefest. The mothers were unforgivable and at times the entire situation seemed too melodramatic for my taste. Emotions were good and some struggles were real but there were some unbelievable moments also.

ROMANCE:
I am glad my ship was right and the one I shipped her with came true. At times 'Ge' was cringey for me but maybe it is the same as 'Oppa'?? There could have been more in the romance department, but too much was focused on work and family.

CHARACTERS AND ACTORS:
For me the characters and the actors drove the story. I wouldn't give all credit to the script. Right from the Dads to the friends- Mingyue and Tang Can, everyone was perfect. The leads were also casted perfectly but the age gap was a little weird. I like Seven's portrayal but I still inclined towards the male leads. Even the unlikable mothers were good at playing their part. Felt like the drama portrayed two ends of spectrum when it comes to type of parents - good and the terrible. In the end it tells you family doesn't mean kindness. Kindness can be felt even from strangedd and make anyone feel like family. I felt worst for Ling Xiao. His life was too bad and his dependency on Jianjian was pitiful. His mother was horrible all the time. The little sister was also freaking annoying. I didn't feel anything for other brother's mom also and didn't buy her story. The biological dad was also no good.

OST:
First time ever I am appreciating OST from a Mainland drama. Highly recommend listening to all the songs.

OVERALL:
Realistic yet melodramatic. Not enough of romance yet enough of good family moments. Nice way to show sibling and friendly love, gratitude and loyalty. I liked that it touched upon Mental Health but lot of it was unresolved and poorly handled. I wasn't as hooked till the end but I am glad I watched it. Maybe it was perfect for some but missed the mark for me in few areas.

Leia Mais

This drama was better than I expected. I was quite skeptical in trying it out since it was Guanlin's first drama and I find ugly duckling stories boring. I was proved wrong. It's a lovely drama albeit a bit slow and longer than necessary.

PLOT: Very refreshing approach to a cliche plot. An ugly duckling transforms but she doesn't change overnight. It's not just about her physical appearance - but she grows and matures in many ways. The character of Xiao Miao Miao took time to grow on me. I thought her struggles would be boring but I was genuinely invested in her growth as a character. I love how the changes happened in her gradually and she goes from meek to doing what she loves in the end. Younian is the best, most perfect character in a teen drama. He's full of warmth and likes her since day one without judging or commenting about her appearance. I initially expected his character to be a mean one or a jerk, but I was wrong again! He's the nicest guy in the room, mature and full of patience and care for others. Younian is a true second lead of dramas as a male lead. All the friends in the group are also awesome. I freaking love how supportive and loving Miaomiao's friends are to her. They are her true friends through good times and bad.

ACTING: Guanlin is handsome and gets so much more cute, hot and handsome every episode. I harbour a massive noona crush on him and he is all squishy. <3 He can improve his acting but he was still good compared to so many idols. The boy was probably 17 when he filmed and WOW how can anyone look so good at that age. I don't know much about Angel Zhao but she is fantastic and can succeed in C-drama industry if she gets the right roles.

LOVE STORY / FRIENDSHIP ASPECT: A bit slow when it comes to romance but everyone's crushes on each other were too cute. There are no villains, unnecessary second leads or scheming mother in laws. The characters are all lovely and relatable. I love Yaoyao, Kaitou and Xinxin the most. Everyone was so lovable. I loved Miao Miao's mother !!!

OVERALL: It did bore me a few times but it was very good overall. This drama is like ice-cream on a summer day or a cup of cocoa in the winter. It's cute and delivers so well. Plus, the campus setting reminded me so much of my campus days. I would totally recommend you to watch this drama.

Leia Mais

I was putting off watching this drama for a while. I always saw it under 'top dramas', my recommendation feed, reviews where it was called as another ISWAK/Itazura na Kiss/Playful Kiss, etc.

Before I began watching this I was only familiar with the male lead in a drama where his role wasn't too big. I did know that he is quite decent so decided to go ahead. Here's what I thought finally:

STORY: On the surface it comes off as another youth drama. However what I liked most about the drama was the simplicity of the plot. It's just about a group of friends, an annoying love triangle, a jerk male lead and ditz female lead. I can see the comparisons with ISWAK but nothing tops that. It would be fair to say this was at least inspired from that story. But what sets this drama apart are the likeable characters and the trivial-yet-relatable situations they go through. Their friendship was excellent and it was best part for me over the romantic plot.

CHARACTERS AND LOVE TRIANGLE: I had a love-hate relationship with Xiao Xi. She's cute, simple but was too dense for my liking. I also don't like how she seemed not to have any self-respect. I was often uncomfortable with the message this drama keeps giving- it's fine to keep chasing someone even if they walk all over you. Not saying that Jiang Chen didn't like her, but he was mean to her majority of the drama. For me I was all in on the second lead ship. I haven't suffered such major Second Lead Syndrome since AGES. Bo Song deserved Xiao Xi's love. I hated how stone cold she was to him and even seemed ungrateful at times. He did so much for her but she always had one person in her heart. I would blame the writer for this plot because the better moments were written between Xiao Xi and Bo Song. She kept hanging with him till the last 2 episodes, not acknowledging his love. For god's sake, she spent her entire life with a one-sided love and I couldn't buy how she couldn't recognise Bo Song's love throughout regardless of what he said to her. I didn't really buy Jiang Chen as a character, his reason for being mean to her and why he liked her. He just seemed like a selfish person to me who played and manipulated her as he wished. I liked his adult side better because he had at least become more mature and expressive by then. I did enjoy his interactions with Xiao Xi towards the end. The other two friends were awesome and I was glad about having a secondary couple on the show.

FLAWS: It was slow, seemed to have borrowed ideas and lack of plot in between episodes. One thing that is rarely explained in Chinese dramas is why the leads fall for each other. In this drama also I had no clue. Especially Xiao Xi's devotion to JC was hard to understand. It was more than just fangirl feelings or puppy love. She was stupid, playful and childish but was bold when it came to pursuing him and had only him in her heart forever.

I think this drama is cute if you want to watch something relaxing without much drama. The drama was slow but it was consistent in following its own pacing in all the episodes. Just don't root for the second lead and this drama might just be more enjoyable.

Leia Mais

I would like to title this drama as 'Alcohol Abuse' than calling it Drinking Solo. While food shows can be fun because you see so many varieties of food, it's no fun watching characters get drunk every episode and act annoying. I am not sure if I'm the only one who was bothered by the amounts of excessive drinking in the drama but it was pointless most of the time. But this drama is worth checking out for Key of SHINee. His acting is marvellous here and left quite an impression on me

While the story is fun and the academy premise is different, the story never really goes anywhere. The main focus here is humour, excessive drinking and nonsense romantic entanglements. I mean the characters are a load of fun- don't get me wrong but a lot of their actions often don't sit well. The main guy was a funny jerk till he became a borderline abusive jerk. The main female lead started off as shy and funny but soon turned into annoying with no improvement in character nor acting. I liked the casting for most of the part but whoever casted her did a poor job. Her friend was a terrible actress as well but she never failed to make me laugh. There's a guy who does impressions of popular Korean figures and he was quite funny most of the times. There are four students who get a lot of screentime and they were a lot more fun to watch than the main couple of the drama.

Ha Suk Jin is funny in the currently airing 1% of Anything and he is good here too. His character being written poorly wasn't his fault and he outperformed the female lead in almost every scene they were in together. I gave Park Ha Sun's acting a lot of chances but she almost became unbearable to watch in the later episodes. This is coming from someone who doesn't get that bothered with bad acting. Of course, the breakout stars were Key and Chaeyeon. Key is hilarious and his satoori was on-point. I also liked Chaeyeon because the character suited her image. Plus she's young so she did well compared to a lot of idols who debut around her age.

One thing that bothered me more than the general absence of plot in the drama was the glorification of alcohol abuse. The characters drink to the point it's terrible and not fun to watch. Plus how they were hardly ever hungover was beyond me. I thought Oh Hae Young from 'Again Oh Hae Young' had a drinking problem, but wait till you watch this drama. It wasn't funny because the characters would all act like retards a lot of times in the drama and keep passing out. Disgusting, really.

The positives of the drama are friendship and everyday humour which is quite relatable. The premise of students studying hard to nail exams was very realistic. Plus a lot of trivial stuff like boyfriend saying no to marriage, having a mother with Alzheimer's or chasing a girl who never dates are things that normally happen. The realistic side of the drama made it a lot of fun and every episode had laugh-out-loud moments.

I disliked the ending and wanted more out of it. I also didn't like the drama turning serious out of nowhere and a lot of decisions by the characters seemed OOC at times. Plus those hospital visits every K-drama has makes me want to tear out my hair!

This drama is worth checking out if you can stand an annoying female lead, alcohol glorification and some ridiculous romantic drama. Else it's skippable. Or just watch it for Key and become a SHINee fan if you aren't already (Ep 5 made my life lol).

Leia Mais

Zhang Yuxi and Liu Xue Yi are no strangers for anyone who's watched 'Love and Redemption'. This was an unexpected pairing but I was mostly excited for it because of their BTS poster shoots and Tiktok promos while they filming it. I would say this drama somewhat started strong only to completely fizzle out and recycle the same scenes every episode. I am a bit bitter for all the time I spent on it and only finished watching it for the leads.

PLOT:
There's no plot. At least it never materialized to what it was setting out to be. A girl gets cheated on by a longterm boyfriend cum fiance only to fall for the "wrong guy" or "bad guy". I suppose their initial connection was strong and it was fun to wait for the leads to get together. However the editing and pace of their progress as a couple was all over the place. The ML has an unexplained obsession and was at times crossing the boundaries. The girl was indecisive and at times felt like she was emotionally cheating on her boyfriend as well. Their relationship dynamics were really lacking. The worst part in the plot are the secondary and tertiary couples which were just not even worth the effort of skipping over. In the second half the story was more focused on them than the main couple.

CAST:
Now here is literally where I cannot rate the drama super low. Liu Xue Yi did a decent job but Yuxi was quite lacking in the acting department. However I appreciate her chemistry with the ML as their interactions never felt awkward.

WHAT WORKS:
-The leads and their chemistry
-Not many misunderstandings after they get together

WHAT SUCKED:
-All supporting casts
-The unsatisfactory ending

OVERALL:
I'll give this one a hard pass unless what you're looking for is just eye candy because the leads were super easy on the eyes.

Leia Mais

This drama was lying on my 'To-Watch' list for a while before I picked it up. I had no clue about the gender-bender plot because I'm a sucker for those and it's been a while since I watched one. This drama is quite good and has some cheesy but cute moments too.

STORY:
A freaking unbelievable story, but that's how it is with gender-benders. There is a random disability trope thrown in and some things about 'destiny'. There are some good messages about teamwork, friendship and never giving up. One could probably find inspiration in the story as well. Most of the drama is sports and romance. I am never too invested on the sports side in any drama and other focus- the romance was quite enjoyable. For the first time, a C-drama felt short because the leads were adorable together and had made a nice pair. All the main characters and side characters are wonderful which is rare in any drama. I was just disappointed with all the teasing we got with our main leads together but the resolution was quick and their time together was just PG-level at best.

ACTING:
I am new to Sabrina Chen but she made an adorable boy. Her transformation from boy to girl makes her look unrecognizable. I am not too familiar with Darren Chen - outside of a few episodes of Meteor Garden that I watched but he was memorable. He started off as an icy character but his consistency in loving the female lead and his childish sides were funny. He smirks like a bad boy and tries to come off as cold and teasing but we all know he is a nice guy. I also loved the sibling and best friend of the heroine. The "second lead" in the show is quite nice as well. I liked the actor in one other drama as well.

OST:
I liked the songs. Not sure which is my favourite but they were nice.

OVERALL:
Watch it if you are into sports and teamwork. Or if you love cross-dressing (like I do) but expect less time with the male lead questioning his identity (which is always done so well in K-dramas). The romance was nice and fluffy. There were some hilarous moments and the characters I thought would turn out to be hateful were all likable by the middle/end. I do recommend picking this up as it is one of the better C-dramas out there.

Leia Mais

A flawed yet intriguing watch

I was very neutral going into this drama because I had no background on this drama. I had tried Legend of Yun Xi so the only thing familiar with me were the leads and not the writer herself. I wish I knew that because my expectations would have been lower as Yun Xi wasn't a drama that worked for me at all.

STORY:
This drama started well, but I still felt the draw into its world wasn't enough. The script wasn't the best neither was the editing, but this drama had a charm that kept me keep going. There are some interesting aspects to it and some very boring and frustrating ones. I feel like I needed more closure or wanted to watch more of certain aspects which weren't fully covered. The drama's weak and strong point are the politics, mystery and the romance. It's like the drama did things very well only to make it a bore after a few episodes and only to become interesting again. It was like someone switching on and off my interest in the plot. There are still some underused plotlines and some got set up well only to waste the potential. I'll spare it some criticism due to its editing given the Censorship rules but I don't think it would have made too great of a difference.

ROMANCE & CHARACTERS:
I was intrigued by the romance and tried my best to enjoy the slow burn. The main couple are sweet and have good chemistry, but the plot made their romance seem forced. Honestly it could have not been there and it would have made no difference. The OTP's romance were never central to the plot at all. The skinship and kisses were lacking for both couples. The secondary couple had some excellent potential but it fell flat by the end too as there wasn't much story left there either. The problem was the writing and mediocre characterization. Fu Rong was cute with a potential to grow only to become flat and unimpressive. She became an unrecognizable version of herself after ep 18ish and was inconsistent as heck. Duke An was alright and loved Fu Rong but the script didn't leave much for him to do. There was practically no growth in his character. Prince An made for lovely eye candy and a decent 'evil guy'. Wu Bai Qi was more layered than other characters and I loved his dedication and loyalty for Fu Xuan. Fu Xuan gets saved thanks to her interactions with Wu Bai Qi so I'll spare her the criticism.

ACTING:
This drama is similar to The Legends in one aspect. It gets saved thanks to its cast. They all suited the roles they got and gave it their best. I am oddly impressed by Ju Jing Yi and Zhang Zhe Han because they aren't good actors but somehow their acting skills were sufficient for this drama. Kiki Xu had a decent attempt as well and I'm impressed at her. It was my first time seeing Wu Bai Qi and Prince An actors but I really loved them. They definitely have better potential and emoted better than the others.

REWATCH VALUE:
No way. It's one-time watch at best with challenges.

OVERALL:
In the end there are no memorable moments but I enjoyed its run. It never had me obsessed but intrigued enough to keep going. The writing towards the end was a cop out and the ending made little sense. I am likely to forget some side characters but the charm of the actors and their interactions is what I will remember of this drama.

Leia Mais

I don't think this drama needs a review because seems like everyone and their friends have watched it. I am late to the party, but better late than never, right? I am glad I gave this a chance because I haven't really watched any long dramas in the past few years.

This drama is interesting. The initial episodes took a lot of time for the world building but when it came around, it was captivating . I think the beginning was quite good and I was interested enough to keep watching on. Unlike some people I am not a big on Chinese historical dramas but I am glad I gave it a try. I can say this drama has opened the unexplored world of Chinese wuxia / historical shows for me.

It was hard for me to get convinced to watch this drama because I am not the biggest fan of Yang Mi. But the promise of an epic romance had me curious and I binge watched the whole thing in a few days. I think I only took breaks to eat or sleep lol. I devoted my entire time to this drama.

Story: Like I said, quite interesting. I wouldn't say this is the best drama I have watched because some of my favourite Korean sageuks are impossible to top. I would say I might have judged this with high standards but then this is supposed to be the best of best. My favourite parts in the drama were episodes 26 - 35ish. This drama was best when it was sad and filled with angst. There were some episodes I didn't care for in the beginning because the way the leads fell in love were a bit unconvincing. But I freaking loved Ye Hua's devotion and loyalty to Bai Qian. He is one of the most unparalleled loyal drama heroes ever!! I loved his chemistry and passion for the heroine which I believe to be quite rare in the C-dramaworld. Some of the kisses were memorable and I loved Mark Chao's gaze and how he looked at Qian Qian for the entire drama.

The other whole plot I was loving was Dong Hua and Dilraba's loveline. I am a bit biased because I love Dilraba because she is super cute but their love story was also awesome. I must say the only time I came close to crying was in one of their scenes. I don't cry easily while watching dramas so I should say I enjoyed their plot more.

There were some other side plots and characters that I did and didn't care for. I also skipped some scenes here and there but I did overall like some characters. Zhe Yuan(? - I am bad at remembering names) was my favourite High God. Even Mo Yuan was boring in some places but Zhe Yuan always came through.

Acting: I didn't see any phenomenal acting anywhere. Mark is a good actor but I need to see more of his works to be his fan. The actors were all good, but I've seen better. Yang Mi was good in certain scenes but I am not a fan so it is hard for me to praise her overall. Dilraba needs improvement but she wins me over with her cuteness. I don't think I have much to say about anyone else.

ENDING: OMG if not for the ending it would have been a waste to watch. It was a bit nonsensical but I'll take it because it made my time worthwhile.

Also, side note: the constant mentions of their ages was cringey. I would have enjoyed it more without the constant reminder that they were all ancient lol.

Give it a go if you are still hesitating like I was till now.

Leia Mais