Hidden Gem

This drama is about the love story between an ordinary girl and and AI idol (actor and singer). It's filled with tons of romance, cuteness and fluff. At first I wasn't sure about watching this since the male lead is an artificial intelligence, meaning he is not human but I gave it a chance since I like the actor. And I'm glad I did because the way the drama has portrayed him, he very much acts like a human. He has human emotions, can cry, feel pain, eats, sleeps, gets tired. It is explained that he is pretty much human aside from the chip in his brain. In fact, a lot of times I truly forgot he is an AI, his non-human identity is used more as a comedy and obstacle for the main leads than anything else.

The drama mostly focuses on the main leads so there are no fillers or unnecessary side stories. There is a second female lead that is at first annoying but as the plot progresses she becomes a very lovely character. There is a second couple with her and the other idol. Aside from the cute romance, the plot is always engaging and there is always something going on so each episode feels exciting to watch and never boring.

Overall, if you are looking for a light-hearted drama with tons and tons of fluffy romance and a male lead that loves to kiss and cuddle, this drama is for you.

Leia Mais

When your favourite wuxia bad boy male lead comes to your modern world

This is my first modern cdrama that I've watched and it has exceeded my expectations. The storyline is clever and very realistic even with the fantasy elements. The comedy is top notch and the male lead is fantastic in his role of wuxia bad boy with a soft heart. All the characters are very well written and fleshed out. There is good character development too.

The main tone of the drama is lighthearted cute rom-com but surprisingly there is a mix of thriller vibes which made it quite unique. I love that everything in the drama makes sense, even the fantasy aspects of it. I'm a big lover of Wuxia so having that small bit of magic shown in the modern world was super fun to watch. There is a second couple who at first appeared to be boring but turned out to have quite an enduring storyline.

Certainly the best parts of the show are the romance, the unexpected plot twists and the chemistry between the main leads. It's absolutely worth watching if you are looking for a drama to warm your heart and crave a little bit of Wuxia magic.

Leia Mais

Historical rom-com love story with extremely boring investigation cases

This drama is about the female lead who joins the investigation bureau pretending to be a man in order to gain access to the secret documents related to her painful past. The male lead, who has a hidden identity, joins her in unravelling the crime cases.

The first 10 episodes were engaging with a meet-cute love story and mysterious cases on the side. However, with each passing episode, the drama became more and more dull and boring. There were around 5-6 investigation cases in total. The first 2 were ok to watch but afterwards the investigations became too repetitive and predictable. The female lead would touch objects, ask a bunch of questions, walk around and bam, case is solved. I somehow managed to get to episode 24 and then I pretty much skipped 95% of each episode just to see how the story ends.

I loved the male lead. I watched the drama for Zhang Linghe and he did not disappoint me. I love that his character felt unique as he had eye sight problems. At times he reminded me of the cool Daredevil superhero when he was fighting while blindfolded.

The romance was cute and at times felt like a rom-com with many funny moments. It had a strong start but quickly fizzled out. The male lead is a green flag and a feminist who fights for women’s equal rights which was nice to see. But the plot of the drama was all about the investigation cases which were boring and irritated me too much.

POSITIVE:
- Intelligent female lead.
- Green flag male lead who fights for women’s rights.
- Hot kisses between the leads (not a lot but those that were shown were good).
- Sweet romance.
- No love triangles or side characters obsessed with the main leads and trying to break them apart.
- Mix of investigation, romance and comedy.

NEGATIVE:
- Boring, repetitive and predictable investigation cases. Since the plot was all about the cases it made the drama extremely difficult to watch.
- Not enough angst. Plot was boring. Side characters were boring. Love story had a strong start but quickly fizzled out.
- Second couple was ok but nothing special. The drama would have been the same without them.

OVERALL:
This drama was not my cup of tea but it doesn’t mean it was bad. If you like investigation cases with lighthearted romance you might enjoy this more than I did. However if you want to watch an older drama of ZLH, I'd suggest you see Love Crossed instead.

Leia Mais

Cute rom-com with a slice of life about book publishing

This drama tells the story of a female lead who begins working at her dream job as an editor and a male lead who is a promising new author. Male lead decides to accept the female lead as his editor when he discovers that she is the online friend who he has been talking to for years.

The first 20 episodes were fantastic and engaging but afterwards the drama got a little boring and draggy, mainly as they focused too much on the book publishing and not enough on the romance. The work conflicts felt very similar, the characters didn’t have much development and the romance died down. I feel like if the drama was shorter, these things wouldn't have been such an issue. Despite all that, I still enjoyed the storyline, characters and romance.

Many comments say the male lead is childish and I agree. In real life I would have been annoyed but in the drama it was the perfect comedy relief and I absolutely loved him (I might also be biassed because I love the actor and he is the reason I watched this).

The second couple was a nice watch but very typical and cliche storyline. I feel like it would have been a stronger storyline if they ended up with different people.

POSITIVE:
- Great insight into the book publishing world. As a book lover I loved seeing that and the plot felt very realistic regarding that.
- Cute romantic scenes between the leads and second leads.
- Good balance between comedy and slice of life maturity.
- Hard-working, career focused and independent female leads.
- Light-hearted for the most part.

NEGATIVE:
- Too much about the book publishing in the second half of the drama which made the romance die down.
- Not much character development.
- Female lead was a bit too focused on her career and sometimes I felt she didn’t care/love the male lead.
- Too long and draggy. Drama would have been better if it was shorter.

OVERALL:
If you are a big fan of the book publishing world and want a bit of romance thrown into the mix, you will definitely enjoy this light-hearted, slice of life drama.

Leia Mais

Like a real folklore tale filled with romance, emotional scenes and epic magic battles

I decided to watch this drama because the sequel "The Last Immortal" will be airing soon. This drama tells the love story between two Gods who go through many hardships and work together to protect the realms from the war between the immortals and demons. The story is about Gods and takes place in the God & Immortal Realms. These realms always felt very real. The characters felt real. And at the same time, the story felt like a real folklore tale or what some might call an ancient love poetry.

POSITIVE:
- Emotional scenes HIT YOU HARD. One of the best emotional-romantic scenes I’ve ever watched in a xianxia.
- Amazing acting from the whole cast. Especially the acting during the emotional scenes which brought me to tears multiple-times.
- Very well developed characters, and I especially loved the strong female lead.
- Engaging story with multiple layers.
- Romance is always the main focus. Even though there are lots of side characters, the main leads are always at the forefront.
- Many God/Immortal realm battles.
- CGI is great. Costumes are nice. Set designs are beautiful, especially the God Realm.
- Absolutely loved the second male lead (the second male lead syndrome was very strong here).

NEGATIVE:
- Lots of screen time is given to side characters (no wonder the drama is so long). At first I found it annoying but later I got to enjoy the screen time of the characters I loved. Even though all the side characters connected well with the main leads, I still found myself fast forwarding some scenes of the characters I didn't like.
- Certain episodes made the drama feel dragged out. Even though there are always things happening, the plot doesn't always move forward. Sometimes I felt that episodes were fillers and if certain things didn't happen, it wouldn't have made a difference in the plot.
- Lack of kiss scenes. I’m trying to remember if they even had kisses. Maybe one or two max but for such a long series I would have liked to see at least a few more.
- Sometimes I wanted to see more passionate intensity between the leads. I felt they loved each other deeply but that sparkling fire felt a bit like it was missing.
- Wigs of some of the characters were not visually appealing.

The drama tells the three lifetimes of the main leads:

First life, episodes 1-16:
This can be seen as the prologue of the story. It starts slow but still engages you. For me, after episode 12 it really picks up the story and it has an epic god realm battle in the end. Male lead is a typical cold and stoic character and the female lead is a spoiled princess type. At first glance this arc is nothing too exciting however I feel like I got to truly appreciate it, only after I watched the second life as you see all the parallels later. So in terms of story and character development, it's a very important arc to watch.

Second life, episodes 17-42:
This life is the longest and what the drama mostly focuses on. Instead of Gods, both main leads are only Immortals. Male lead is less confident which makes him more human and relatable. He is warm, affectionate, insecure but also protective, strong and loyal, so a very green flag leads. Female lead is more mature. Compared to her first life where she mostly cared about choosing pretty dresses, this version of her is serious about her cultivation and studies. She is strong-willed and less romantic. Side characters are well developed here so you learn to appreciate them as the story progresses. There is a second couple in the story too. For this arc, I felt episodes 33-38 were draggy as nothing much happened in terms of progressing the plot forward.

Third life, episodes 43-49:
This life is a mix of the first and second. Without spoiling anything, all I can say is that I loved almost everything about it. There were some boring scenes of the side characters but the scenes with the main leads were really good. I have mixed feelings about the ending. I understand it but at the same time I almost feel it wasn't that greatly executed.

OVERALL:
If you want to watch a high fantasy (xianxia) drama that has a strong female lead, with many epic magical battles, emotional scenes that hit you hard and a love story between two immortals, this drama is for you.

Leia Mais

Emotional time travel story about selfless love

I'm a huge fan of time travel movies and when I saw it has romance with two main leads that I really like, I was instantly sold to watch it.

The story is about ML who is working really hard but struggling to pay his father's debt and FL who is striving to open a bakery shop despite her parent's disapproval.

Without spoiling much I can only say that the movie is more angsty than romantic. It has a great lesson about love and a happy ending. But 90% of the vibes are gloomy and emotional so don't expect a rom-com vibe to it.

My main issue with this movie is that it felt too short for me. There was so much about the time travel aspect that we didn't learn about. We were shown a particular thing about time travel and yet it was never explained! This lack of explanation lessened the emotional impact on me as it didn't feel particularly real. It was just too convenient and odd at the same time. It just all felt very ambiguous to me.

There is a side couple story that felt a bit unnecessary. I would have liked if the focus of the story was kept on the main leads only. ML's character, backstory and motivations were explored well but I feel FL should have had more screen time to deepen her character. She has a very important role towards the end of the movie and yet I felt the set up for her character wasn't particularly good to make the scene really impactful.

Overall, if you can look past the lack of logic and explanation about time travel, it's a nice and entertaining movie about the importance of selfless love.

Leia Mais

High production historical drama but romance is sub-plot

I started watching this drama because of the high praise even though I'm not a huge fan of war dramas. From the start you can tell it's a very high production, with amazing actors, set designs and costumes. The storyline and characters felt very realistic for the time period it's set in. But be aware that romance is a sub-plot so you might be disappointed if you are mainly watching for that. The beginning of the drama is very slow and I'd say after around episode 12 is where it started to get really interesting.

CHARACTERS:
There are lots of characters that we follow throughout the story but I'd say mainly we see the story of the two girls who grew up together as best friends. The first princess is the female lead who is a tomboy, very skilled and intelligent. She is betrayed by her uncle at the start and looks for a way to take revenge for her family's death. The second female lead is her best friend (and uncle's daughter) that reluctantly becomes the new princess. She is very sweet, gentle and sensitive. Both have huge character developments and go through many intense challenges. In fact the storyline of the second female lead is one of my favourites as it's done so well. There are also three male leads that are love interests and closely connected to the war storyline.

ROMANCE:
I'm a huge fan of romance so naturally my enjoyment will highly depend on the romance aspects of the drama. Even though I loved the romantic scenes in the drama, they were not enough for me. Main couple is mostly about saving each other from life and death situations and the second couple has kind of a love triangle (but it's done really well, without jealousy or annoyance). In fact, the second couple has a more romantic feel to them but towards the end of the drama. There are no proper kiss scenes so as mentioned above, if you are mainly wanting to watch a romance story, you might be disappointed.

OVERALL:
It's a very well done historical drama, the war scenes are not too much or intense. It's about personal growth, overcoming challenges, friendships, finding love in the most unexpected ways and fighting for justice and peace. If you are not craving a lot of romance, this drama is perfect for you.

Leia Mais

Visually beautiful + slow paced + romantic

PART 1: 10 ⭐
I was hesitant to watch this drama because some reviews say it's boring and there is too much torture. Good thing I decided to give this a chance anyway because this drama freaking exceeded my expectations. From the visuals, the storytelling, the characters, the acting and the music - everything is done so, so well. There is not even a single boring part and the torture scenes are very timid and not horror type at all. I binge-watched part 1 in two days and it was the best thing I ever did.

Main couple is super cute and I really appreciated that for a Xianxia drama the FL is strong-headed, clever and resourceful. The ML is very cute, devoted and strong-willed. I also love mermaids and in this case I love seeing a story about a merman. There are also two side couples that are adorable. In fact I love all the characters, even the villain's personalities are done really well.

Visually it's beautiful, the music is lovely when the ML is singing. There are no more words for me to describe how pleasantly surprised I was with this drama and it's totally worth the watch.

PART 2: 7.5 ⭐
Second part of the story is consistent with the look and feel BUT not as good as part 1. The first half (10 episodes) pacing of the plot is very slow and not much happens. It's quite heavy and dark so not the easiest to watch but the beautiful kissing scenes in between the depressive scenes made up for it. Second half (last 10 episodes) was more enjoyable, the plot moved well and wrapped up the series nicely. The ending of the drama leaned heavily on the dilemma whether all the couples will have a happy ending or not so if you like that kind of angst, you'll enjoy that. The final battle scenes were enjoyable but not as impactful as I would have liked (compared to the first part).

OVERALL: 9 ⭐ I enjoyed the visuals, storyline and romance of the story so I'll highly recommend the drama.

Leia Mais

Fantastic cast. Horrible script. Lighthearted mindless watch.

I’m only giving it a higher rating because of the actors. I don’t recommend this drama. I usually start my reviews by writing about the general plot of the drama. But the plot is non-existent here. Not only that but the main romance is so ridiculous! Adults who are in the most superficial relationships and communicate like teenagers. It saddens me to say that the script is trash as I love the actors but their talents were seriously wasted here.

POSITIVE:
- Easy to watch before you go to sleep or if you’ve had a long day of work and just want to relax.
- Fantastic cast (literally the only reason I didn’t drop this drama).

NEGATIVE:
- Superficial relationships with childish communication.
- Conflicts that could have been solved with one sentence dragged on for many episodes.
- Stupid “romance” consisting of texting 24/7 of small talk and staring at each other for no reason.
- Zero character development. Zero deep conversations. Just extremely shallow relationships.
- Non-existent plot. Literally nothing happens in this drama. Nothing! All they do is stare at each other, have small talks at dinner, text useless things and go to boring work meetings.
- Kiss scenes were cut! One in particular snowy kiss of Bai Lu and Dylan was shot for 3 hours but on screen shown for 2 seconds.
- BTS of Bai Lu and Dylan are better and cuter than the whole drama which sounds crazy to me when I write it but it’s true.
- Business talks were ridiculous filler scenes.
- Too long and draggy (it would have been better if it was only 24 episodes). I’m sure the 36 episodes were done for more money.
- Underwhelming ending. After 36 episodes you don’t even get to see the wedding of the main leads unless you watch the special episode.
- Secondary couple with the biggest commitment issues was depressing to watch most of the time.
- Weird camera angles. Horrible white filter that makes the actors look like vampires (this might have been fixed by the network later).
- Aesthetic wasn’t appealing. The outfits and the settings were not nice to look at.

COUPLES:
Main couple: their romance was just texting stupid things 24/7 and having small talks during dinner. In 36 episodes they never had even ONE deep conversation about life. This made their relationship feel extremely superficial, shallow and meaningless. Their chemistry was kind of on and off. When he was assertive I liked it but when she was chasing him, it felt forced. At some point when the female lead continued to chase him after many rejections, she looked like she had no self-respect.

Second couple: they started off as the hottest and sexiest couple in the drama but ended up being the most depressing one. Their fun cat and mouse game turned into seeing them depressed 24/7 as they both had commitment issues. Just like the first couple, their relationship had zero communication and felt very shallow.

Third couple: the niece and professor were the best couple for me. Although too repetitive at first as the girl chased him (just like the female lead chased the male lead), their relationship developed more organically. They actually TALKED like normal adults. And resolved conflicts better than the other couples. Unfortunately they didn’t have enough screen time which is a shame as they were the most likeable characters.

OVERALL: If you want to watch a lighthearted mindless drama before you go to sleep, without any character development and adults who communicate like teenagers, this is for you.

Leia Mais

Silly, cute & lighthearted rom-com

The drama tells the love story of a famous actress and a doctor who, despite initially refusing their arranged marriage, fall in love. The story is sweet, with minimal conflict, and the conflicts that arise are quickly resolved. There are no stupid love triangles, no exes coming back, no second male or female lead trying to break up the main couple. Aside from the romance that’s the main focus of the drama, we also get a lot of scenes about the entertainment industry. I don’t know how realistic it was but I could imagine the realness behind the scenes of filmmaking and variety shows and it was super fun to watch.

COUPLES:
- The main couple is sweet, kind of a slow burn romance. The female lead is doing lots of seduction and the male lead pretends he is not affected but he totally is. They are opposites in many ways but somehow work well together as they compliment each other's personalities. Her overly silliness at times balances out his overly reserved nature.
- The second couple is fun to watch, especially if you love the bickering type, love-you-but-you-annoy-me vibes.
- The third couple is a very unexpected and sweet story about a fan girl who's favourite artist falls for her.

CHARACTERS:
- Female lead at first glance can seem silly and childish when trying to seduce the male lead which could annoy some people but I personally found it really funny. Her actions are done more as a comedy relief than for plot purposes and should not be taken too seriously. In fact when dealing with her career and other characters, she is very mature and down to earth. Her best quality is definitely always uplifting women around her and her kindness to those that did bad things to her. Even though she is an actress in the drama, they really portray her as a girl simply living her life and that felt very real to me.

- Male lead at first glance seems cold and reserved but is in fact soft and caring. I started the drama mainly for the actor and I felt like he did great with what he was given (which wasn’t much). His character doesn’t stand out much and I blame the script. The actor’s micro expressions are always on point. In general his character is a sweet, smart, caring, protective, patient, gentlemen-like husband that all women would love. His only big flaw really is that he is reserved and has a hard time communicating his feelings or knowing what to do in a relationship but it's all redeemable.

- Third female lead is the male lead’s younger sister. I’m specifically writing this because she is one of those rare characters that annoyed me like hell at first but I ended up really liking her by the end. She is a graduate student but at first acted like a 12 year old spoiled brat. She was clearly placed to create unnecessary conflict between the main leads. Her character got super fun to watch when she got a love interest and her focus shifted on her love story.

OVERALL:
I absolutely loved this silly, fun rom-com drama and I highly recommend it for those that want something light-hearted and silly to watch to relax and smile after a long day of work.

Leia Mais

Heartwarming & meaningful story about youth, love & friendship

This drama tells the story of five students and their journey from school to adulthood. The plot mostly focuses on the main leads however we do get separate episodes for the rest of the friendship group (the second couple and a guy friend). I did appreciate those episodes with the rest of the cast as it made me really connect with their friendship.

Main couple is a slow burn romance, friends to lovers vibes. They are caring and supportive of each other, so a wonderful relationship that anyone would want in real life. Male lead is quiet, introverted, calm, and a green flag. He is a bit stand-offish at first but turns into a very caring guy. Female lead is sweet, kind-hearted, cheerful and less shy than the male lead but still timid.

Second couple is such a scene stealer, perhaps because I love enemies to lovers trope. They had all the angst, teasing, bickering and sweetness. I enjoyed them as much as the main couple.

POSITIVE:
- Lots of fluff and cutest school vibes
- Feel good vibes all the time
- The best portrayal of friendship
- No cliche plot lines
- Small misunderstandings that are solved in the same episode
- No love triangles
- No red flag males
- No annoying characters
- The most beautiful and sweetest happy ending

NEGATIVE:
- Dating starts at episode 19 for the main couple so it was quite slow for me. It made sense with the story but I just wanted a little more.
- There is no unnecessary drama and boring cliche storylines which was great BUT some episodes I needed a little more excitement.

OVERALL:
I highly recommend this drama to everyone that wants to watch something that makes you feel really good. The vibes are like eating sweet candy and receiving warm hugs. Even though most of the drama takes place in school it doesn't feel childish so anyone can watch it.

Leia Mais

Great chemistry between the leads with engaging plot and enemies to lovers vibes

This short length drama tells the story of a CEO (male lead) and a new worker (female lead) who after a drunken one night stand have to pretend to be engaged for three months.

POSITIVE:
- great chemistry between the leads
- sexy and real kiss scenes (and more)
- cute romance and nice comedy
- cool small plot twists
- bad characters are punished well
- enemies to lovers trope (my favourite)
- engaging plot
- happy ending

NEGATIVE:
- rushed but happy ending. However the last few minutes opens the potential for a second season. Even though the story is finished there is a small bit of it that is not answered. It's not really a big deal but it can make the drama feel unfinished for some viewers.

I highly recommend this drama for hopeless romantics who love enemies to lovers with fake dating tropes.

Leia Mais

A ray of sunshine vibes, with fluffy romance & important life lessons.

I started watching this for Chen Zhe Yuan and it has become one of my top favourite modern cdrama. Every episode I watched I kept thinking "wow I'm really loving this", and this feeling never went away until the end. This drama really touched my heart.

The drama is about the FL who moves to a new high school and becomes a desk mate with the ML. Their parents are long term friends and funnily enough have even betrothed them since childhood. At first FL and ML don't like each other but with time become friends and then lovers. It's their life story from high school (first 15 episodes) to university years (rest of the episodes).

STORY:
The plot was interesting from the start until the end, even though it is more of a slow pace, it never feels draggy or boring. The characters are well-developed, with realistic real life struggles that anyone can relate with. I loved how it was about "our secret" of loving each other secretly but at the same time about their individual life journeys. The focus of the drama was about romance but at the same time about career paths. Especially I loved how the drama showed the importance of not forgetting your identity when you are in love and to not give up on your career dreams because of love. And the most important lesson of never giving up no matter how hard the journey is. There is also drama with the strict parents of FL and parents issues of ML.

CHARACTERS:
ML is top of the class student, kind and protective and FL is shy at first, sweet and hard-working. I absolutely love all of their interactions together as they are seriously adorable. During their university years, there is SFL who tries to get with ML and SML who is in love with FL for years but they are not too annoying and don't create too much drama. There is one big, intentional miscommunication but other than that the main leads sort out their issues quickly and communicate in a healthy way. The side characters are also fun to see.

OVERALL:
Without spoiling it, I absolutely loved the ending, it wrapped up the story so well and it kind of has a full circle moment where we are shown additional scenes that totally warm your heart. I'd highly, highly recommend this drama especially if you love Chen Zhe Yuan. It has fluffy romance, realistic and logical plot, lovely soundtrack and portrays great lessons for the younger generation. 10/10.

Leia Mais

Hilarious, romantic and thought-provoking story on genre roles.

I started watching this drama as a fun way to pass the time BUT without realising I found myself binge-watching it. It seriously blew my mind how clever, funny, eye-opening and thought provoking this drama is. At first glance it appeared that this is a typical historical rom-com which it is but it's way, way more than that. I've never seen a drama where the gender roles are executed so well - it actually portrayed important real world views and problems in our everyday society. It was very insightful watching this drama as a woman and seeing how this fictional world shows a city/society where women are in power and men below them. I found myself thinking "wow, so this is how it feels to be on the other side, to be a man with power in the real world".

I absolutely LOVED all the characters, and I mean all which is rare for a drama. ML and FL had an awesome enemies to lovers relationship development and many, many cute romantic scenes. The side characters were done so well. I loved the SML and he became my favourite character. There is also a second couple that is totally adorable and I wish we could have seen more of them but I was still very happy with their screen time. The ending of the drama is just the cherry on top. SO WELL DONE.

In short, WATCH THIS DRAMA NOW. IT'S WORTH IT.

Leia Mais

The ultimate love story between a fairy and devil who's tribes are enemies.

My second c-drama after 'The Starry Love'. If you enjoyed the second lead couple from that drama, I feel that you will really like this one. We have an innocent girl and a bad boy with a good heart type of vibes. The main focus of the drama is the relationship between the main couple so if you are craving lots of cute romance - this drama is perfect for you. I absolutely loved the chemistry between the lead couple and all their romantic scenes + over all development of their relationship. There is so much humour in this drama which I very much appreciated but it also delivers well the key sad/emotional moments.

The beginning of the story is a bit strange so you really have to give it at least 3-4 episodes to really shine. I read that some people find the female lead's voices annoying and I must say it's a little odd at first but you get used to it. Besides, it really fits her character and the vibes.

In terms of plot, I find it a bit confusing after episode 31 - it seems like everything was suddenly rushed and that's why it's not a full 10 stars for me. But overall it's a beautiful story visually and emotionally and totally worth the watch.

Leia Mais