Falling Into Your Smile (2021)

Meets Expectations, Enjoyable

I immensely enjoyed this drama on a fully subjective level, however there was way too much wrong with it on an objective level for me to give it a super high rating. Just know, it's a fun, cute watch.

Some of the best aspects:
- Great friendship dynamics; I love shows that don't have an excess of irrational interpersonal conflict and instead focus on relationships growing/changing/etc
- A romance focusing on a shared interest and passion for something (my favorite kind), combined with great on-screen chemistry. Good, funny bickering/ust that never strayed into meanness or rudeness
- Main lead female character with her own story/depth

Some of the biggest flaws:
- poorly dubbed: In a modern drama, dubbing generally is a con, but this is below-average dubbing, rarely allowing me to forget that it's dubbed, which leads into the next problem:
- a lack of emotion in acting. the disconnect between between actors' facial expressions and their emotions in the scene, the static way the scenes are blocked and filmed... it all ties in with the unnatural dubbing. It's like they filmed some scenes and filled the emotion in when dubbing. There are DEFINITELY cdramas that are worse at this, and it's an idol drama filled with idol actors, so it's not like I was expecting more, but it was still a flaw.
- I just don't think it's appropriate for Xu Kai to be in these teen-centered/youth-marketed dramas. The dynamic between the characters (domineering male lead/weak female lead) made me uncomfortable sometimes knowing Xu Kai's past.
-Moments of quite explicit xenophobia/anti-Korean sentiment. I expect nationalism from any narrative focusing on competitive sports or competitions, but there are definitely stereotypes being MADE by this show, and then it tries to throw in a line or two to make it "ok"

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Drama carino e leggero.

Drama molto carino in se,leggero forse a tratti un po' lento, qualche puntata in meno sarebbe andato bene lo stesso .Incentrato sui videogiochi e se non si è proprio amanti potrebbe anche annoiare, perché se ne parla continuamente e ci sono anche termini professionali tecnici che per molti sono sconosciuti ma comunque si riesce a vederlo.La storia d'amore ci mette tanto a svilupparsi e decollare ma poi è un dolcissimo amore.Loro sono proprio carini insieme.
Tratta temi anche un po' più delicati come la prima ragazza nei esports,l'infortunio dei giocatori,la rivalità,i fan fanatici ed esagerati.Nel complesso è un drama senza troppe pretese si guarda volentieri ed è anche piacevole.

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I gotta admit I didn’t think I would enjoy this drama as much as I did in the end. I think the first 5-10 episodes were kind of a drag for me, but the characters and the plot grew on me eventually and I loved every moment from then on. Super happy that this was a slow burn in terms of romance because the slow burns keep me engaged longer because of all the suspense. This little group of gamers has honestly wormed its way into my heart, and I was absolutely not ready to let them go at the end. There were definitely tears when the final credits rolled, I’m not gonna lie. It was a very cheesy drama in the best way possible, and I already miss the cast and the story as I’m writing this review. One of the best cdramas I’ve ever watched!

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Drama jest OK.

Początkowo byłam bardzo zauroczona dramą, gdyż wątek miłosny nie był pierwszym planem całej serii. Główna postać nie była sierotką Marysią, która płacze nad rozlanym mlekiem. Niestety mój entuzjazm malał w dalszych odcinkach. To co początkowo bardzo mi się podobało, czyli mecze - zaczęły z czasem być zwyczajnie nudne. Wyglądały jakby tylko drużyna przeciwna się zmieniała. Nawet dialogi podczas były niemal identyczne oraz wygląd bohaterów 1 do 1. Również poprowadzenie głównego wątku było typowe, a bohaterka traciła w oczach na swojej niezależności i sile na rzecz "boga wśród mężczyzn", czyli lead bohatera męskiego i jego "troski". Głowna bohaterka zaczęła grać jak drewno, niczym Krisen Steward w Zmierzchu. Wielkim smutkiem był dla mnie również zepchnięcie pary pobocznej Jinyang i Ai Jia - jak dla mnie najciekawszych bohaterów serii. W ogóle mam wrażenie, że wszystko było słabo rozwinięte na rzecz miliona meczy, które nie wnosiły prawie nic. Bohaterowie drugoplanowi typu Arcykapłan czy chociażby koledzy z drużyny dostali mikroskopijną ilość uwagi, biorąc pod uwagę, że miało to aż tyle odcinków - zestawiając to z takim You Are My Destiny, które miało bodajże 36 odcinków - słabo to wypadło i było zero dramaturgi.
Z pozytywnych rzeczy mogę na pewno zaliczyć bardzo dobrą oprawę muzyczną, w szczególności mogę pochwalić piosenkę Naomi Wong, która już znalazła się na mojej playliście na Spotify. Bardzo podobało mi się również estetyczne przedstawienie całej dramy m.in. zdjęcia graczy, które przypominały mi IEM Katowice 2019. Czuć klimat e-sportu, a to jest fajne. Całość oceniam na 7.5 :)

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My Favourites!!!

Firstly, I love the theme, as a fellow gamer who plays many similar games, such as League of Legends, as well as the actual game, Onmyoji Arena. If you're thinking about playing the game too, let me tell you the animations are not nearly as good as this. However, there's not that many gaming battle scenes, so if you're not a fan of those or you have no knowledge about these games, I would still tell you to give it a try.

The characters and the amazing casting. Xu Kai as their esports team ZGDX's captain Lu Si Cheng was perfect and had so much chemistry with Cheng Xiao as Tong Yao, the only and newly-joined girl in their team, who doesn't fake cute or act like she's above everyone else (as displayed in many other cdramas). Together, they're the Double C (stands for Double Carry) couple of their team, and they're just the right amount of adorable. The platonic ZGDX team chemistry was also god-tier and definitely high above any others, with my favourites being Lao Mao and Lao K, who are very underrated (take a look at episode 8 for an example). Even the other love rivals were mostly well-written, like Tong Yao's ex, Jian Yang, and the cute Korean love interest, Kun, which allowed for some jealousy from Lu Si Cheng. I would highly recommend watching some of the BTS scenes, which can be found on YouTube amongst other places, because the cast are all of similar age and get along really well, just like in the show.

The plot doesn't take much to process, but you will be constantly squealing at the cute chemistry and insane team dynamics. They're all so supportive of each other, and the plot is entertaining from the very beginning, unlike some cdramas which take a lot longer to get into.

Overall, I cannot recommend a better cdrama, and your time will definitely not be wasted! You don't understand how much you're missing out by not watching this. I'm eagerly anticipating Season 2!

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This drama is the best e-sport drama I've ever watched. The story is good, funny, and very interesting. The plot is also light and not dragging. And the characters in this drama are nice and funny.

I really like ML, Xu Kai aka Lu Si Cheng. OMG, he's so handsome lol. His acting is good and his chemistry with FL (Cheng Xiao aka Tong Yao) is very good and adorable. I like the portrayal of ML characters who are cool at first but become flirtatious and jealous when dating FL. I can't help but smile while watching the scene of them together.

The supporting characters are also good. I love the story between FL's bestfriend, Jian Yang and Ai Jia. Their chemistry is very strong and their stories are also inspiring and adorable lol. I also like the characters of e-sport players, ZDGX, YQCB, CK, etc. The teammates at ZDGX are so cute and adorable. Each character in this drama is well made, complementing each other and building a relevant and interesting plot.

And I love the soundtracks! The first time I started this drama was because I heard WayV would be performing the soundtrack for this drama. The songs are very good and easy listening. It fits perfectly with the e-sport drama.

I really like this drama and this drama is on my comfort drama list.

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That reality check but totally feelgood drama you must watch

Lets just go through some basics and ratings:
Acting from ML. 10/10 FL 8/10(maybe 6/10 she wasn't consistent).
The rest of the crew were on point most of the time so Id give it 9/10.

Before the showering of compliments of the story, lets talk about the some things that made it not get a full score:
1. The BFF of the FL was really off the chart wtf? Most of the characters had some, even small, kind of background story connected well with the story, except the BFF which also had A LOT of screen time.
2. When in Rome... There are plenty of Korean-Chinese speaking actors, yet, they failed horribly with this. Nuff said.
3. Ep 27 was a really tough filler episode I wish I didn't even watched.
4. TBH, apart from the topic about female gamers (pro gamers even) the FL was really bland in general. Everyone else outshone her in both character and acting.
5. The overall pacing was decent but the last 8 or so episodes felt rushed and all over the place
6. Brand cars... I get it, it was to empathize the characters being rich and all, but cmon! Where is the common sense?
Or was it a product placement thing? Even if you are rich and all that, you would still NOT, especially under those situations drive an Aston Martin car.
7. Speaking of money; Unless you are Elon Musk, even in the esport industry, you cant just buy-out a team over a night.
I get it, fiction and all that but it was really out of place.


Now to all the goodies:

It was a lovely lovestory; it had sugar, it had sweet n sour, it had salty and to my surprise, the spice was chef's kiss.
Most of the things within the topic of the drama was realistic; the issues (money, family, the tourments, the fan-issues, the papparazzis, housing, even the injuries, sponsors etc), the pace, the background and cultures and even the game is not a nonsense gimmick but actually a real game. The same with most of the teams, they are irl teams, so I was really stoked about it (sure, the on screen team players were actors but not all).

I loved the parents here, all of them; from the good and the bad ones.

I loved the directors and everyone on the crew paid such attention to the even tiniest details; the commitment was amazing.

The flirting was solid. Im weak for such type of stories but even weaker for good acting on top of that.
Xu Kai aint ugly, but among many other Chinese actors, he aint the prettiest and most handsome; what he however lacks in looks (as per hunk-standards) he makes up with everything else. I kept telling myself how I was practically falling in love with him as the episodes went on. It was a slowburn til I couldnt even get enough and wanted more.
Then the intimate scenes came and it even made my **cough** maiden heart flutter and my face to blush.
I even felt some jealousy towards the FL, that bad.

But it wasn't just ML and FL's hot scenes that was aced, the second couple, to my surprise was as spicy and juicy.

In the end, what I loved most with the drama was that it was mature.
Young adults but not the kind of gullible nonsense post-teen newly popped from Uni kinda inmature grown-ups often seen in Asian dramas and movies, no, it was like..real?
The friendship and their teasing of each other, contract talking and a lot of things just felt adulty and relatable even for a non-gamer.

I think the story was good enough that it could perhaps even have a sequel and if done the same way, it would still be as good.
This is also one of the few dramas I even recommend for a re-watch.
It has enough elements that it doesnt make it naggy or too tiresome.

If not for the few aspects I mentioned first, Id give this a hard rock10.

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Sympathique mais avec ses limites

Depuis le Drama Chinois "Go Go Squid" qui se passe également dans le monde de l'E-sport, je ne mettais pas replonger dans cet univers. Je me suis donc lancée avec "Falling into your smile"

Drama sympa, où contrairement à Go Go Squid, pas seulement le lead masculin, mais aussi le lead féminin partage la passion et devient une professionnelle de l'E-sport également.
Déjà un bon point : On défend la place de la femme dans ce monde très masculin. Car elle doit, en tant que première joueuse professionnelle, toujours s'imposer et faire ses preuves.

Après, je ne suis pas une pro de cet univers, mais j'ai aimé suivre les scènes de combat d'E-sport, tout autant que leur vie quotidienne tous ensemble en tant qu'équipe. Beaucoup de scènes sont en fait les combats mis en animé, c'est vraiment particulier mais une excellente idée qui amène du rythme au drama. Des sujets divers sont abordés, dont le harcèlement, où les critiques sur les joueurs à la moindre chose, et comment ils arrivent à vivre leur vie malgré tout. J'ai trouvé ça très intéressant.

La romance tarde à démarrer, mais finalement est vraiment pas mal une fois en place.

Par contre, à mon gout la LF est vraiment à faire du boudin tout le long : Jamais contente, la mine toujours fermé, elle ne se déride que sur la fin. Vraiment dommage pour moi...

Sans être le drama de l'année, j'ai adhéré à nouveau à cet univers particulier et j'ai passé un bon moment. Mais j'avoue, Go Go Quid restera supérieur pour moi en terme d'histoire, de vie, de quotidien et de romance. Malgré tout, à découvrir.

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La romance l'emporte sur l'e-sport, dommage !

J'étais assez confiante une fois les dix premiers épisodes passés. Cela dit, je ne m'attendais pas à ce que l'univers e-sport soit effacé pour laisser place à la romance. Bien qu'on ne s'éloigne jamais de la scène e-sport, la romance va prendre de plus en plus de place donnant ainsi l'impression de parfois avoir affaire à un tranche de vie.

Cheng Xiao n'a que deux expressions à son actif : neutre et narquois. Son manque d'émotions ne permet pas de s'attacher à elle, au contraire, c'est l'effet inverse qui se produit. Elle apparaît comme une fille avec un sacré ego, ce qui ne joue pas en sa faveur. C'est une belle fille, oui, mais elle ne transmet rien. Sa meilleure amie est plus expressive qu'elle. C'est un bon personnage, mais qui se retrouve gâché à cause d'une mauvaise interprétation.

En revanche, Xu Kai s'impose sans problème. Si dans ses précédents projets il avait tenu ses rôles sans pour autant marquer les esprits, il inverse la tendance en tant que capitaine. Il porte son rôle comme une seconde peau, bien que de taquin il passe à nounours mielleux avec sa partenaire. Encore une fois, la romance impacte quasiment tous les aspects de l'histoire.

Concernant la scène e-sport, c'est une compétition féroce. Le problème de Falling Into Your Smile c'est qu'ils ont centré l'intrigue sur un seul élément perturbateur : l'arrivée de Tong Ya dans une équipe. Soit une fille dans un milieu essentiellement masculin. C'est dommage parce qu'il existe tant de possibilités, notamment en Chine où de nombreux joueurs pro ont de sacrés casseroles et de quoi inspirer.

La BO était très bonne. Mention spéciale pour Everytime des WayV et le titre des Seventeen.
L'animation vidéoludique était formidable et de toute beauté.

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