Falling Into Your Smile (2021)

A great slice of e-gamer life with a Strong Female Lead character

9.25/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 Chinese drama with 31, 45 minute episodes. It is alternatively titled "You Are Beautiful When Smiling" , "You’re Beautiful When You Smile" , "Ni Wei Xiao Shi Hen Mei" , and "Nei Mei Siu Si Han Mei."

Tong Yao (Chang Xiao) is invited to be the first female player in the ultra elite world of e-sports. Team ZGDX OPL is adored by fans and each player has a large fan following. The team captain, Lu Si Cheng (Xu Kai) was not, at first, onboard with having a female on the team but as Tong Yao proves she has the talent to stand her own in the male dominated sport, the male team members can't help but admire her. Tong Yao's ex-boyfriend is also an e-sport player and is on a rival team but he would like nothing more than to win back the girl he has not forgotten. Tong Yao is all business but the adorable and talented Tong Yao beings to gain admirers both outside, and within, the sport - some in the most unlikely places.

Normally I am not a huge fan of Chinese dramas as I often find the female leads to be very needy, clingy and whiny. I don't like that they continue to pursue the male lead and others even if the male lead is mean to them. This one was recommended to me by one of drama groups as one where the female lead was not like that and I would have to agree - she is not. I really liked Xu Kai in "Arsenal Military Academy" and figured he would play the ML character well and I was not disappointed. I found the "slice of life" of e-sports very compelling as I was aware of the "sport" but not how huge it is or what the fan base was like. The high degree of not only hand eye coordination but technical knowledge of the game and strategy was interesting to me. Spoiler** The only time I found this FL to be whiny was when she lost a match against someone she had not developed the skills to be able to beat. It tore down her confidence and that was understandable but she spent a lot of time wallowing in her misery and wanted others to feel sorry for her. She acted as a "typical" female and actually played into the stereotype. Fortunately that was for a relatively brief period in the series so it did not destroy the series for me. This is a simple, straight forward, and predictable romance without a lot of surrounding conflict or plot complexity. There is character growth for all the main characters so it is enjoyable to watch the individuals and the team dynamics evolve. The romance is believable and very heart warming. I highly recommend this for those that are interested in learning more about e-sports and those that like light hearted romances.

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Disappointing - didn't live up to high ratings, in my opinion

I honestly don’t know why this drama has such a high rating other than it’s based on e-sports/gaming, but I wasn’t crazy about Go Go Squid either so maybe it’s just me. Other than a lot of time spent on showing gaming action, this plot is the same ole plot you get with a lot of other C-dramas. All the same old tropes/cliches and plot devices are used – FL tripping and being caught by ML, ridiculous social media scandals, mom forcing ML on blind date, obsessed blind date (although thankfully brief), corporation buckling under pressure by ‘fans’, etc. There’s nothing new here, and in some ways, it’s a lot worse than I’ve seen in other similar C-dramas. So, let’s get into the details.

1) Lu Yue who is the younger brother of ML. He explodes into the drama in episode 7-8, and geez, this boy is incredibly annoying. At first, two team members don’t want to accept him back, and then, ‘oh, he was protecting us’, and now, we’re all good and we’re sorry that we thought you were unprofessional (which he definitely was - I don't care if another team threatens your team, you don't break a whiskey bottle over their heads, ok?), and yeah, go ahead and compete with FL for her starter position even though she’s only lost one game and she has a signed contract. Ridiculous and not a good message re: assault. Fortunately, the director/screenwriter muzzled this character in following episodes, making him slightly less irritating.

2) The way in which FL is constantly being singled out and targeted by 1) a player who just wants to humiliate her because she’s a newbie; 2) a player who’s got a crush on her; and 3) a player who wants revenge because she didn’t help him cover up his cheating with a fan. All these players are on opposing teams, and they all just happen to be Korean. Do the Chinese have something against Koreans? At least, two are portrayed as womanizers.

3) The social media scandal plot device is far worse than anything I’ve seen in other C-dramas because it goes on and on. Just a question – why does FL keep reading fan comments if they bother her? Just put down your phone, girl, ok? First of all, in the general population, how many people actually know who these gamers are? But the screenwriter/director makes it seem like everyone in the country is paying attention to this nonsense. Second of all, I’m tired of these corporations buckling under ‘fan’ pressure when we all know that most of this outrage is caused by a minority of loud trolls. Thirdly, these fans are lunatics, ok? They have no right to dictate a player's (or celeb or CEO) private life. I suppose it comes from the same mentality that says a parent has the right to interfere and dictate their adult child’s life. Ridiculous, and I’m frankly sick and tired of this plot device of public ‘outrage’. Social media is a scrounge on society and has caused unimaginable damage to people’s lives so we need to take away it’s power and stop paying attention to it.

4) I wasn’t impressed with FL. The more I saw her, the less I liked her. I’ll give her credit for not looking like the typical Chinese actress – long hair, high heels and bright red lipstick (that persona was saved for the blind date). She wasn’t overly ‘cutesy’, but she was still immature (she wore a mask in the workplace because she was ashamed of her drunken behavior – what is she? Ten years old?), and I got tired of that pouting expression on her face. Maybe this role would have been more likeable if played by a different actress.

5) In my opinion, Xu Cai’s acting abilities were wasted on this drama. He plays the rascal role much better than the tsundere. His best role, in my opinion, was in Arsenal Military Academy where he played the rascal and was given the opportunity to display his ability to show tender and heart-wrenching emotion. Nevertheless, I liked his character’s attitude towards fans, especially when he refused to settle with the parents of the psycho fan who sent razor blades to FL. But, why do these MLs always have to be rich? C-dramas insult capitalists whenever they get the chance, yet they sure do like wealthy, successful MLs.

6) The best part of this drama? The supporting cast, especially the trio of Fatty, Old K and Old Cat. They helped me make it through this social media scandal nightmare. It was nice to see the actor who plays Old Cat acting in a light-hearted role although his performance in By My Cat was amusing and cute. If I were FL, I would have gotten back together with the ex-boyfriend – I found this actor very cute. Sorry, Xu Cai, I loved you in Arsenal, but I found Jian Yang damn good-looking. Also, the secondary romance of FL’s bestie and Ai Jie was - thankfully - kept at the minimum.

If you like gaming, then I guess you’ll like this drama. For me, I don’t think it lived up to it's rating.

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Fun drama

Completed the series, start of the drama was fun its all about passion of esport but the passion of the team members is missing middle of the drama and most awkward is that when the lead are start dating … i dont know i think its will super awkward when lovey dovey scene infront of others team members .. this drama should focus on the growth of each characters rather than focus only on Main leads since the background of the drama its about esport …lead actress acting was okay but lead actor sometime its not suitable for the role, he want to potray masculine/arrogant character but in my opinion more like overacting .. i’m thinking Li xian could do better in this role … like i said the drama only focuse on main leads should expose more other team members, their backgrounds and so on … i think the high review mostly from the main leads fan base so its surprising .. for me they are other drama thats are more okay

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My Opinion

Well, even though this drama got some issues with the netizen... I don't really mind about it, and the actor and actress did so well in this drama, moreover the actor and actress just doing their job according the script, but without any reason the netizen bring the problem towards them... Well guys the problem is not with the actor they just doing their work... And this drama is so good... I've rrewatch it more than 3 times... Amd all of the cast is such a perfect character and it so great that they stick with the script. And I'M WAITING FOR THE SEASON 2 WITH THE SAME CASTTTTT

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It's aight, could be better, could be worse.

I picked this show on a whim because I was looking for something to keep me busy. I have watched the odd cdrama here and there, and I had never watched one with this type of premise.

Personal thoughts:
I feel like the show does a great job of talking about fan culture and internet celebrities; in the age of online personalities and this dawn of cancelling, the show reflects much of the online environments surrounding these topics. ZGDX are e-sport athletes, something that otherwise would not exist without the internet and the rise of online gaming. They are revered by men and women alike and are celebs in their own rights. But there's an ugly side to this hero worship: the second someone slips up, they're hated, reviled, sent abuse and threats for making a mistake deemed worthy of admonishing, and the show takes painstaking measures to portray this type of behaviour and how often this type of outrage is soon forgotten and that the second that these boys have another victory in the bag after a loss that gained them hate, all these people who criticised them will be their biggest fans again.

Another aspect to the shows commentary is the presence of women in gaming; Tong Yao is young, pretty, girly and she's also the best gamer around. From the onset, the show isn't holding back on portraying exactly what women go through in this industry, with TY getting her first slew of hate in the first episode when she's told by guys that she's only there because she likes how ZGDX looks. It goes on and on; TY is only there to date boys, she's only there because she slept with one of the team members, she's only there because the team wants PC points, she's only there to look pretty, etc. And TY calls this behaviour out time and time again, she's the only girl in the competition and has to face a barrage of misogynistic comments thrown her way constantly, but she withstands it all the same.

And that's.... all I really have to say about the show. It isn't bad, it just doesn't stand out. The main actress must be relatively new to acting, because she didn't stand out in any shape or form. Her expressions were cute, but she always had this strange look of confusion on her all the time, sometimes followed by her pressing her lips together or giving a small smile. I can't even really say what her personality was, or if she even had one other than: "yes she's a girl. yes she's a gamer. yes they exist". I will say I like the fact that the show made TY as a girly girl rather than a total tomboy which would continue to perpetuate the idea that you have to be masculine in some shape and form to be a gamer. But TY was out here doing her make up and wearing cute skirts and shoes and lipstick while kicking ass.

The rest of the cast were the same, albeit they shone a bit more. I loved Xiao Rui and Xiao Pang, Jin Yang is the best friend anyone could ever ask for. The rest of the cast didn't really stand out. Lu Yue appeared as if he was going to be super important for like two episodes and then he was quite literally pushed to the side and all but forgotten about.

But we are here to talk about the one, the only, the star: Lu Sicheng. I've not seen anything Xu Kai has been in but I just might because he really carried this show. LS was cold without being cruel, aloof without being uncaring, he was honest without being brutal. He cared a lot about his team and his friends, but he was pragmatic, if something needed to be said and done, it would be so and he would do his best to minimise any hurt or damage that might occur. He embodied the stereotypical cold male lead without actually being one; you can see that he cares and some times he's just not the best at showing it. Plus, Xu Kai is so dreamy, awooga awooga, jaw drops to floor, eyes pop out of socket.

What I didn't like about the show:
There isn't much because this show really washed down easily and there's nothing to actually hate, but there are a few things that did make me roll my eyes a bit.
- The overused joke of TY being short. I mean, she's not THAT short, maybe everyone else is just freakishly tall? I'm five foot and a size 3 in shoe (we're the same size) and it just kept being overused ALL THE TIME. Like, at first it was funny because LS would be like "quiet small child" and call her shorty, but then it started getting... weird? Calling TY a child, calling her a little girl, saying she doesn't even look like an adult because of how short she is, essentially it was a lot of infantilisation. Like, a LOT. I don't even know if the show states how old LS is but I believe he's in his mid-/late-twenties as LY is 23 while TY is 21 at the start of the show. The age gap doesn't bother me at all, it's the constantly saying she looks like a child does.
- I'm holding off on making this an actual reason why I didn't like the show as I believe that it's a translator's error but my enjoyment of the show was ruined with the constant use of the r slur. I do think this was the fault of the translators because they even changed the subtitles for flashbacks in future episodes, but it just made me icky and soured my enjoyment of the show.
- "Where's the chemistry? Ion taste anything!" Xu Kai was probably hospitalised from back pains after being the sole carrier of the chemistry in this show. He gives clear cut reasons why he likes TY and there's a part where he quotes that he doesn't know where the love began, only that it's now deep. It's a wonder Xu Kai is so tall with the burden of having to carry the chemistry between him and Cheng Xiao weighing on his shoulders. There were cute moments and they were all initiated by him. Some times it doesn't even feel like TY even likes him, maybe it's a cdrama thing to forbid a woman being attracted to another man because god forbid a woman be sexually active.

Anyways to wrap it up:
Xu Kai, i'll pay for your medical bills and physiotherapy after carrying this entire show with your bare hands.

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Chemistry!!! Fluff!! Comedy!!

So just finished watching this and I was impressed.
First and foremost the fact that I didn't have to like search online for recaps because it's a drag or just trying to fast forward spoke volumes on how interesting it was.
The story wasn't something new but interesting enough to keep you wanting more.

STORYLINE
It was well paced, no rush well maybe the ending felt a little rushed to me but was still satisfactory enough to say "that was a good one".
They were able to depict real life scenarios which was good making the drama relatable.
1.How, negative comments on social media can affect one's life.
2. How parents can either support your dreams or not.
3. How far can you go to get attention from people and are you willing to bet your livelihood on that.
4. Not keen on the whole e-sports thing but the fact that they were able to show us that with it comes injuries just like any other sport out there so gave it a different perspective on how it's viewed.

CHARACTERS
I just reviewed how disappointed I was that xu Kai didn't get to expound on his character in court lady and he didn't disappoint in this. His expressions, humor, timing and everything else he nailed it!
Well, I didn't know smiling before this but she really did a good job on not acting like a damsel in distress and portraying her character, being able to adapt in an environment that's male dominated and to not be tough or too whiny was a balance she did well.
-The chemistry between the two of them was really fun to watch!
- fatty!!! Aaah my funny comedic guy loved him and his expressions.
K- ( this guy is just too pretty) anyway loved him and his deadpan reactions when needed and when he has to be the voice of reason for his friend.
The second lead couples were so cute loved em
The other supporting characters were also enjoyable to watch hate em when needed loved em when necessary . A good balance.

OST
Not so bad , still loved the long ballad ost more but this had it's moments necessary for the drama.

GRAPHICS
Well damn!!! Now it was among the top ten I've watched so far and it was really good.

DOWNSIDE
-Not everyone knows the characters in the game so it was really difficult to know who was who when the characters came to life in the game. So was kinda disappointed in that.
-The ending was kinda rushed felt as if it could have wrapped up smoothly.
-I wish the other supporting characters had their stories developed more giving them more in-depth character development so that they don't just explode out of the blues.

Conclusion
Loved loved loved it!!! Well paced, good chemistry with all characters, graphics on point. Even though there's some controversy on it. I'm a customer who wants to be satisfied with what I get and this cdrama made me feel satisfied with what I watched about the rest I shall not comment all that matters is that I was happy at the end of the finale!!!

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Watch for the laughs but skip the fans

Cliché executed pretty well overall

Things that didn't work:
1. FL - her big blank eyes with zero expressions. She's lucky ML and supporting cast offset her inability to act.
2. Fans - Excessive nastiness. It got exhausting after ep 20 and felt super repetitive. Pretty sure you can fast through 10 ep of fan hate.
3. eSports - I see many complaints since this is more about Romance and less about accurate portray of eSports it really doesn't bother me
4. Relationship growth - if this was more focused on the romance they should've played on how they developed. It was ok just could've been better
5. Character growth - it's a fun fluffy drama so don't expect this

What worked:
1. Humor -- Lots of comical dialogue and short jokes which short girls will appreciate the struggles. Of course the subtle ones may be lost in translation
2. Supporting Cast -- Good supporting cast over all especially little fatty, he offers endless comical relief. I see some of the same cast in supporting roles in Love like Galaxy too.
3. Xu Kai -- Strong ML that executed his never exist in real world unattainable drama bf character flawlessly.
4. eSports graphics - Pretty cool graphics
5. Fun Fluffy Cringy all at the same time. There are plenty of people that enjoys this kind of stuff.

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Need season 2

This is be one of my favorite drama I ever watch. Not just great drama, but more than awesome.
Every scene, every actors, story line, are to amazing. I really falling in love with this drama.

I highly recommended for those people who love romance, comedy, and especially about games or e-sport. For romance, I like to see cheng ge and tong yao relationship, skinship or just teasing each other. And the romance also funny and cute.
This drama made my laugh so hard. Full of funny. The friendship made me envy too. When they tease or laugh so funny.
So many pretty face, handsome boy, like flower boy.
So I need season 2.

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Awesome story

I just love this story because is diferent , I think the female caracter is strong on her own way.

Another point to share is you can see the imperfections of the idols, so we can remenber.. At the end they are humans.

If we talk about cast, in my opinion they did it excellent, you can realized all the work behind scenes.

I hope all the people enjoy this story, also thé feelings of the caracters make thé people smule or cry with them. There's no words to describe exatly how make feel every single person, but in general the word is awesome.

What are you waiting for watch it?

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Nice e sports drama but could've been better!

This drama was pretty good as I expected. I took an interest in this drama because of how similar it was to the 2019's esports Chinese drama Gank Your Heart (which I find still better). The storyline was similar to Gank Your Heart but had few differences.

I liked how they added something new of having a girl (Tong Yao) actually being added as a player, which caught many fan's attention since it is VERY rare to see a girl be in an esports team. This is not usual to see because esports as the stereotype would call it are mainly for boys and not girls. Throughout the drama, Tong Yao received criticisms left and right about her being a flirt, rude, and etc. from netizens bc of situations she got into. However, despite being a girl, she showed tremendous gaming skills and proved to everyone that she, as a girl, is as best at gaming as other guys are. It was a great message shown in this drama to break those gender stereotypes. Also, this drama showed the sad reality of how parents are towards computer gaming as a career since they do not see it as anything but a hobby or fun pleasure. Parents cannot accept their child doing gaming as a career because of the fear of not becoming successful in life. Therefore, they in most cases disown them which was shown clearly in this drama when Ai Jia's mother disowned him. However, this drama showed a great message of how computer gaming CAN be a career and people can become successful.

I also love how they added the visual effects of the anime characters they play in the drama. It's quite more realistic to see and understand more than just keep watching through just a computer screen. It's better just visually showing the characters fight themselves and the cool effects.

The romance between Tong Yao and Si Cheng was very cute. There wasn't anything different or special about their romance storyline since it seemed quite cliche, BUT they do have good chemistry. The romance was a very slow development, but it is understandable considering how they are leader/teammate kind of relationship and it wouldn't be that easy to just get into a romantic relationship. You don't see a lot of teammate/leader type of relationships in dramas so it was quite new for me. Despite Tong Yao's hesitance, I love how Si Cheng was very affectionate towards her and did not care what others thought about their relationship and would most likely sacrifice a lot for it. At some points, Si Cheng freaked me out on how pervy he acted towards her during their relationship but it's funny seeing this side of him at the same time.

One flaw I found in this drama is how there's very little conflict between the couple. The whole entire drama was basically all cute, romance, cliche and very little conflict is shown in the drama which made at one point their romance storyline boring. Also, I sorta wished they dragged on the "love triangle" between Tong Yao, Si Cheng, and Jian Yang longer than ending it halfway. It probably would've made the romance storyline a bit interesting, less repetitive, and even affect how they perform on their matches.

I felt quite bad for Si Cheng's brother because he literally only played like once or twice out of all the championship matches in the drama. Like I guess it's understandable since he is only like a backup in case Tong Yao can't. But I felt as if his character wasn't as significant as the drama was trying to show he was. If they had given him some spotlight at times then maybe his character would have something. I found the back story behind Si Cheng's brother's scandal quite sad and interesting to hear about which cleared up a lot of misunderstandings about him.

As for other flaws, this may be my opinion bc of how I'm comparing this drama to Gank You Heart. Usually, dramas like this show how people or teams go through this journey and face obstacles in reaching the top of winning the championship. Like you'd be able to see character developments and maybe even sympathize with some characters because of how hard they r working to get there and the obstacles they have to overcome. For this drama... I didn't feel that. Although it is an esports drama, I felt as if the drama focused too much on the romance storylines of Tong Yao/Si Cheng and Jin Yang/Ai Jia. Like yeah they did show some parts of obstacles such as controversies the teams got themselves into but I didn't see any character development nor anything interest about their esports storyline bc of how it seems quite predictable how they're winning like almost every single match. Like there's no sort of twist of conflict that could make viewers find the esports aspect of the drama interesting or emotional towards characters. I would rather watch an esports drama that had the romance and a slice of life type of feeling where it takes you down the road on the team's struggles in reaching the top and their character development as the story progresses than just keep watching predictable scenes over and over again and a load of cliche romance.

Despite some of the flaws, I still enjoyed this drama. It is personally not as best as Gank Your Heart but it's still worth and an enjoyable drama to watch about esports and romance

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