Everything else but Romance

**Court problems, Sisterhood, comedy… miles away from romance**

Good thing iQiyi classified this under comedy because if it was classified under romance IT WOULD BE A COMPLETE SCAM. 70% of the story revolves about court intrigue and how the women in the story always have a solution for it, 20% comedy, and 10% romance.

Bai Jin Ting and Tian Xi Wei got me to watch this but this should not even be called romance or them the main couple when the romantic scenes of all the other supporting couples are more than theirs! Their romantic scene is so little and few that even the romance of Prince Qi and Guan Jing and annoying stepsister is better. They are pulling another My Heroic Husband where the FL and the MLs scene together is so few that you’d think they’re strangers. In the MHH, the ML had more scenes with the 2FL in the second half while here the FL had more scenes with everyone else but the ML. Out of the romance only 30% of that is between the main OTP while the 70% is from all the other couple.

NLB had so much potential to be the younger version of Story of Minglan, but why did they have to take the same route as Tang Dynasty Tour?! Why? T.T I know it’s more than realistic for that time but why you gotta scar my Li Wei that way? AggH! I’m skipping the scenes now starting that episode and will just watch in normal speed if the leads are in the screen other wise NLB you are dead to me.

I don’t have a problem with the FL being a normal female using her own strengths and “street/food/farming smarts” but I have a big problem with weak ass MLs that couldn’t even do what they promised to the FL at the start. Which is why I like characters like Mo Liancheng in The Eternal Love and Dongfang Qincang in LBFAD, because they don’t let circumstances stop them from protecting their love. I would like to give plus points too to Prince Qi because even thoughe may be not be the most capable prince but he is honest about his feelings and doesn’t care if his actions will cause him a beating or two just as long as he’s protecting Guan Jing even though she’s more than capable of protecting herself physically.

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When love is strong enough, it can even cause fate to change its course

This quote by PC Cast definitely encapsulates the story of Love Between Fairy and Devil.
Overall the drama is well pace, have great chemistry, and gave us what we always wanted — happy ending for our Little Orchid and Dongfang Qingcang. This also has the best performance for Esther Yu and Dylan Wang, both of which have been accused of Over the top (Esther), and Wooden acting (Dylan). *lol* Xiao Lanhua’s nickname for Dongfang Qingcang is so fitting. LMAO

|Great chemistry and believable romantic development|
Recent dramas usually use the shortcut of love at first sight to establish the plot which is very unrealistic. I liked how LBFAD started Little Orchid and Dongfang Qingcang as reluctant partners with their prejudices, to friends, and eventually to lovers. But from the start, you can already feel the palpable chemistry between the FL and ML because of Esther Yu’s and Dylan Wang’s chemistry. This palpable chemistry is also the reason why we are eager to follow the story of the OTP because we can’t wait for them to be together. It’s also nice that the drama also showed that both the ML and FL both don’t know Love at the beginning — the FL confused gratefulness with love, and the ML removed love from his heart. In most dramas, it’s usually the FL teaching the ML to love but in LBFAD I think Little Orchid and Dongfang Qungcang taught each other to love.

|Well paced plot and no unnecessary court dramas|
Most xianxia are bogged down by unnecessary drama between the deities and never ending reincarnation plot from heavenly realm to mortal realm and back again. What I liked about LBFAD is that they limited the drama to scenes that are actually relevant to the development of FL and ML character and story arc. Their advantage was that they also retained their bodies/memories so they’re not pushed around in the mortal realm because of the limits of mortal bodies. Also we must give the team props for limiting themselves to 36 episodes, because D*ang those other xianxia’s have 40-60 episodes and they can’t even retain our interests in all the episodes.

|Great side characters that actually make the OTP shine|
Other Xianxia’s have so many top billed actors/actresses that they have so many “main characters” that you tend to loose track of who is who and what is happening. LBFAD, even though it’s a Xianxia, knew who the star of the drama is — Little Orchid and Dongfang Qingcang — so they gave just the right amount of characterization to characters that actually affect the story of the 2. I also liked that they gave an arc for Jieli and Shangque but it’s not so complicated that it takes time away from the OTP. I’m a bit torn if I like the arc for Rong Hao and Chidi woman but I guess it is still relevant to make the story move forward.

|DISTINCT key locations unique to LBFAD, beautiful cinematography, costume, and production design|
I only saw an episode of the LBFAD animation, and I can say that the drama did a great job in recreating the world of Heavenly Realm, Cangyan Sea, and Yunmeng Lake. Most xianxia’s maximize the use of Hengdian studio sets so they usually have similar looks/locations. For LBFAD, I like that they gave us the unique Artbiter Hall, they have special “court” and look for the heavenly realm, and the Moon Tribe realm also looks unique. The costumes are lovely and the accessories of the heavenly realm make them more ethereal and the moon tribe more exotic. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s on iQiyi, but I love the color palette they used which is mostly iridescent pastels in the heavenly realm and rich hues in Cangyan sea.

In the end, I think LBFAD is a one of the best xianxia of recent years in terms of chemistry, plot, visuals, and OST. Will I rewatch it as much a my other top dramas (7x for The Eternal Love 1/2/3 or 3x for Love Better Than Immortality) maybe but maybe not as much.

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Easy snack while waiting for your fave long drama to drop

Emperor or General is one of the few good surprises I got when I got “scammed” into getting the MgTV membership for Queen of Attack.

|STORY IS NOTHING NEW BUT AT LEAST NO FILLER SCENES|
One of the advantages of the mini drama setup is that writers are forced to create a decent story that works with the short run time and Emperor or General team knew what they were doing. They gave enough screen time for both the emperor, general, and Song Qingqing without bogging us with unnecessary court drama.

|DECENT CHARACTERS W/ NO OVERTLY ANNOYING VILLAIN|
We get the basic characters with the required “villain”. But the eunuch and the princess are mostly shown as being pesky side characters with no real venom. The princess actually turns into Qingqing’s friend later on.

|CHILL PROBLEMS AND OK CHEMISTRY|
Personally, Neither the emperor nor the general looks good in the idol way. But they do have chemistry with the female lead. I think the FL lead has potential playing the ray of sunshine FL since her smile looks really genuine. She also had that cute bantering chemistry with the stoic general.

Conclusion:
With 7mins per episode and 20 episodes in total, I do suggest watching this drama if you already have the MgTV membership. Specially if you are waiting for the next episodes of your favorite drama to drop. In my case, while waiting for the Eternal Love S3.

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A short drama with gripping story and great chemistry

Most short dramas have very basic plots and invests more on cute scenes rather than angsty ones. So The Only Girl You Haven’t Scene was such a surprise because it’s the opposite of the short drama formats.

|Plot/Story worthy of long format dramas|
Based on a webtoon/manwha/animation, TOGYHS has a well thought out and gripping story about the reincarnated FL and mysterious ML. Similar to the setup of My Lovely Swords Girl, it has the arranged marriage and “weak” ML at the center of the drama. There are so many layers of intrigue/twists that I’m surprised that the drama was able to hash all the twists in the end.
Main plot was the arranged marriage between FL and weak ML. Another plot about the secrets that the ML has. Another is FLs revenge on the MLs brother. Then there’s the thing about the ML surviving court life. Everything is just so interesting.

|Great acting by the newbie cast and good chemistry between the main leads|
As an avid Chinese drama watcher, I’m so surprised to see the FL (Weng Mo Yan) having normal beauty, deep voice, and still deliver the chemistry with her ML. On the other end, the ML (Wang Su Yi) is a cross between your typical flower boy and fierce model look — similar to Lee So Yuk. The ML did a great job in portraying his 2 personas (as the dumb and weak husband, and the scheming, smart prince). Both Mo Yan and Su Yi also delivered during their emptionally charged scenes and whatever time they had together on screen — you can really feel the chemistry cackling between them.

This drama had great potential to be another epic drama because of the plot and cast, but saddly it is also plagued by the low budget, dark lighting in some scenes, and the unavailability of good subs. I was only barely able to understand the drama when it initially aired but thankfully Yoyo fun station subbed the drama.

Overall, if you have time in your hands, this is a good drama to watch if you want something gripping and romantic but don’t have the time to watch 36+ episode standard dramas.

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A naive word where the ML should be the Grand Chancellor

This series shouldn’t even be called a TV drama because this is a naive person’s utopia with no mega villain, and the villain should actually be the ML because he’s much more interesting than the ML.

|A plot without a true villain and where the “villain” overshadows the ML|
As much as I love Li Hongyi, I feel bad for him because he was relegated to the role of a spoiled prince that’s still finding his footing/power after growing under the tutelage of possibly one of the BEST ANTI-HERO/VILLAIN in the whole Cdrama verse. The problem with having the best anti-hero is that almost half of the characters know that he’s not a true villain and you get frustrated because only the ML and FL are the only ones creating an imagined villain or problem for themselves.
Since the show didn’t have a truly villainous person in it, you’d expect the internal conflict between the ML and FL to be more dramatic because the FL is not really your typical Cdrama heroine. But the sad part is they put too much emphasis on the FL being too funny and failed to give more light on her inner qualities that the ML got to see. I’d say the FL had more valuable interactions with the side characters than the ML which is such a waste.
Lastly the main conflict of the story about how the FL and ML became the “emperor and empress”, falls flat because the problem they solved were not as epic and life changing as you’d expect and the “anti-hero” was always giving them clues or helping them secretly so any breakthrough the FL and ML had wasn’t as satisfying.
In the end, the conflict was not enough to call for 36 episodes. I think if they made it 16 episodes the might have made the story more cohesive, titillating, and have a sense of urgency that we need.

|Meh Chemistry but good rapport between the cast|
I think the cast had fun with the show seeing the easy and good rapport between them. Jackie Li and Li Hongyi looked like they could be friends but I never felt the “heart wrenching love” that most Cdramas aimed to portray. If you compare Li Hongyi’s Xuan to his Qia Yue, Xuan doesn’t even come close to Qia Yue’s feet in terms of his great love, conviction, and strength of character. Jackie Li may be the perfect actress for her character but the show failed to show her inner qualities more dramatically to make us believe that Xuan had no chance of resisting loving her. I’m not sure if the actors were uncomfortable with it, or maybe the director or screenwriter couldn’t feel it, but choosing to have Xuan kiss Jinfeng mostly on the forehead sure cooled any ember we had for the ML and FL. Cute & chubby women also deserve passionate kisses! But the problem with the story is that they didn’t create scenes that called for one so everything just felt Meh. I hope the screenwriters watch Bridgerton with Penelope’s story so they can get an idea on how to properly give chubby girls the passionate love affairs they deserve.

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The badly needed recasting and rewriting needed to save this show

As an avid iQiyi viewer, I was disappointed when I watched the first season because 1) the plot was more on csi than romance, and 2) the leads barely had time to develop chemistry even though they tried. I didn’t even plan to watch this because the gap between S1 and 2 is so big and unlike the gap in other iqiyi shows like fantastic mr. Right, and lovely swords girl.

|New FL brought life back to the OTP|
The previous FL was pretty but her take on the somewhat spoiled heiress was not endearing enough for me to tolerate her. But recasting the FL with He Nan is probably the first best decision because He Nan just fit the role of a pretty, spoiled heiress perfectly! She might be a bit whiny, but she’s also endearing because she was able to clearly show her weaknesses and her awareness about her shortcomings. Add to the fact that He Nan just complemented Qiu Shi Lun so well in terms of their looks — she looks like a ray of sunshine, while he has a scowl fit for Hades king of the underworld. Their chemistry was also very believable and their kiss scene was passable. I think the FL was the only one changed, so I’m glad that her chemistry with the other original cast is also there.

|Rewriting that saved us from the boredom of crime solving|
I like CSI and Under the Power, but it’s because they had the perfect ratio of crime solving and romance — HDRA S1 DIDN’T. So having the script refocus on what really maters — the story of the FL and ML — we get to see more of how the leads fall for each other without dropping the ball on solving the FLs and MLs twisted fates. There was some moments that I got scared they will drag the angst but thankfully everything was solved in a reasonable amount of episodes.

The ending was ok with a bit of open ending giving more room for S3. As it is I’m ok with the ending because we already have 36 episodes (12eps+24eps) but I saw that there’s a 12 episode S3 in the making so let’s just wait and see.

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Bullied victim's revenge that falls flat because of the weak "adult bullies"

**Bullied victim's revenge that falls flat because of the weak "adult bullies"**
Acting was was ok for all of the actors, specially Song Hye Kyo and the young cast. But I don't know if it's the writing, directing, or maybe the adult casts' decision, but adult Yeon Jin and Jae Joon were complete misses. With the level of evilness of those people you'd expect them to turn out like fake, manipulative Seong-hye of One the Woman, and psycho Tae-goo of Voice -- but they didn't. *eye roll*

**Evil Queen B turned weak ass news anchor**
Young Yeon Jin was portrayed as a strong, evil, b***h that likes to manipulate people around her but is not averse to getting blood on her hands. She isn't lose and doesn't immediately use her body to get what she wants -- that's Hye Jeong's thing. She was also usually classy and rarely showed her craziness -- that's Sa Ra's thing. But the adult Yeon Jin seemed to forgot her youth and combined Hye Jeong's and Sa Ra's thing. What happened to her sting? To her strength due to growing up getting everything she wants?

**Mysterious, silent evil dude turned short tempered G*g*lo**
Jae Joon was also another big miss because he was the silent enabler of the group with his hidden vileness. But somehow he turned into a sorry example of gangster, wannabe, lovelorn rich guy. It was like the writer rubbed off some of Myeong Oh's horniness on him. Also, I felt like Do Young looked more like adult Jae Joon than adult Jae Joon himself. Do Young knows he's rich and powerful, silent, mysterious, but hides a ruthlessness inside his calm façade.

I was so miffed by how weak and shallow adult Yeon Jin and Jae Joon were that I continuously irritated when the show made it seem like Dong Eun was doing something so difficult when Yeon Jin and Jae Joon can barely fight her. Even basic Kdrama logic, the rich villains, would have countless of henchmen and 1 competent side kick from the get go and it makes them seem bigger than life which is why whenever the protagonists best them we feel a sense of accomplishment. But with Yeon Jin and Jae Joon it was like Dong Eun was playing with her food. I also think they just want to make the show edgier by adding s*x so they delegated those scenes to the supporting actors (Im Ji Yeon and Park Sung Hoon). I think SHK would ask for way more if she was asked to do that.

So disappointed with the wasted potential. Not really looking forward for S2 because the antagonists are weak. Maybe I'll watch it for the adorable chemistry between Dong Eun and Hyun Nam, and how Dong Eun will use Yeo Jung and Do Young.

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Fresh and natural take of a cult classic - CHEMISTRY THRU THE ROOF

I just finished this drama and I must say that it is better than what you’d expect with all the negative comments I’ve been reading about.

First, CHEMISTRY between JiaXin (Liang Jie) and Xiyi (Xing Zhao Lin) is as STRONG AS EVER! Fans of the ZhaoJie ship will not be disappointed as our fave onscreen couple is still delivering all the giddy feeling we felt in The Eternal Love 1 & 2. I’d also say that I love ZhaoJie’s chemistry more than the recent pairing of Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara because ZhaoJie had a more natural and fresh chemistry while the Jang’s had a very “practiced/too perfect” chemistry.

Second, this Chinese version is the more realistic and natural “feeling” storyline with no over the top acting/scenarios (looking at you Korean version) or super jerk ML (Taiwanse version). I also liked that they gave more episodes to hash out how the ML grew to love our FL and vice versa. For FTLY fans, give this version a chance as the cinematography and OST is very refreshing.

What I didn’t like is they spent little time in the reconciliation part which felt like ripping a band aid so fast, you couldn’t even feel the sting before you blow on the wound. I cried buckets at the ending but the resolution didn’t have as big impact as in the Taiwanese version. The ending also didn’t have as much as fan service as the Korean version which had like 4 episodes of fan service.

Lastly, to those who’d never watched the original Taiwanese version and the Korean version, yes the whole premise of this show is about LOVE THAT STARTED with a one night stand. Yes there is cheating in different degrees based on which version you’re watching. If you don’t like any show with cheating involved and you’re close minded about that, then you will never like this show. Move on and not waste your time leaving a negative comment. IMHO you should rate a show based on its merit storywise, chemistry, cinematography, ost, etc and not because of some preconceived bias against certain topics.

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A Good Script Makes a Whole lot of Difference

I watched Sassy Beauty (Snow Kong) together with The Flowers are Blooming (Kiki Xu) expecting that I will like TFAB more since I’ve seen Kiki Xu’s work before and I like her. Both dramas didn’t have the A lister cast that you’d expect so I was totally banking on Kiki Xu’s charm. But 2 episodes in both dramas and I hate to admit that SB is a whole lot better than TFAB!

I had no problem with Kiki Xu’s acting but it’s just that SB’s plot is more riveting, interesting, and provides more room for Snow Kong and the rest of the cast to provide as much emotion as they can. I found the characters here to be more 3D and the supporting characters actually had their own character growth and story. While in TFAB the premise was just so lacking that the main leads don’t even have as much romantic scenes as you’d get from a rom com and the supporting characters remain as disposable characters that even if you remove them from the scene they wouldn’t matter and I wouldn’t care. I guess SB had the upper hand in terms of having an IP that actually works. Also Yan Zi Dong is not the most handsome and best ML actor but somehow getting paired with Snow Kong with her refreshing charm actually works and they do give off a believable chemistry even with their cardboard like kisses.

In the end I already finished SB as a marathon cried tears, laughed, and felt happy when the characters had their own fitting endings. Congrats to Snow Kong for getting a great script for her breakout drama. As for TFAB, I am mustering all my will power to finish the 24 eps but urg, their chemistry is just soso.

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Kiss — the warmth of love, to know the sweetness of love you need the bitterness and sourness

Kiss — the warmth of love, to know the sweetness of love you need the bitterness and sourness

This quote roughly describes The Girl Who Sees Smells. Like the “cheap”, simple rose wine created by the FL, the show is one of your C/D type romcom with forced skin ship. But what makes is different from the other C/D dramas that is also airing (Like Miss Chun is a Litigator), is that there’s already a spark in the first episode which continued to the next. This is why I decided to skip MCiaL and watched this instead.

The show is predominantly a romcom with “tropey, cliche” conflicts but the way the show unraveled them nicely spaced out was both entertaining and also infuriating. If the show had less “sweetness” like the kisses and romantic scenes, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it. But thankfully the sweetness was enough to dull the sour and bitter undertones that show at the end.

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A Disappointment for a Kiki fan — when star power is not enough to mask the boring script

A Good Script Makes a Whole lot of Difference

I watched Sassy Beauty (Snow Kong) together with The Flowers are Blooming (Kiki Xu) expecting that I will like TFAB more since I’ve seen Kiki Xu’s work before and I like her. Both dramas didn’t have the A lister cast that you’d expect so I was totally banking on Kiki Xu’s charm. But 2 episodes in both dramas and I hate to admit that TFAB was a disappointment for a Kiki fan like me.

|Boring, all over the place plot|
I had no problem with Kiki Xu’s acting but it’s just that the plot was just so lacking that the main leads don’t even have as much romantic scenes as you’d get from a rom com and the supporting characters remain as disposable characters that even if you remove them from the scene they wouldn’t matter and I wouldn’t care.

|Barely there chemistry|
I know Kiki can have chemistry with her co-star because she did have it with Wang Yuo Shuo in The Blooms at Ruyi Pavillion. But in this drama, I can see That they tried but there’s just some disconnect with Huang Sheng Chi. Also I never liked the MLs face/acting because I always found it so wooden in his past drama.
I think the secret sauce is that both Kiki and Sheng Ci needs the perky, impish co-stars because they both suit the elegant, poised characters. Which is why Kiki also worked well with Yuo Shuo who has the impish vibe.

In the end, I already finished SB while I had trouble finishing this drama because of what a let down it is.

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Cotton Candy sweet drama that tried to deliver angst but fell flat

This drama had the ingredients for an addicting drama: 1) perfect cast specially Kevin Xiao as Xiu Ran with his cat-like face and Tian Xi Wei as Mint with her refreshing character, 2) good chemistry between the ML and FL with their banters and cute interaction, 3) beautiful cinematography and decent budget for the production, 4) unexpected plot twist, and 5) short 16 eps and good ending.

But somehow it still failed to hook me like how Eternal Love Rain and My Fantastic Mr. Right both of which are in the same animal transformation genre. ELR and MFMR have smaller budget but more episode count were able to deliver the right amount of sweetness and angst to make us want to binge watch on them. Be My Cat on the other hand might be too sweet and lacks that emotional depth and angst to actually make us feel that loss specially on the climax of the drama.

I’d also like to point out that the producers of this drama are also the producers for Well Intended Love so I think their work is meant for more episode counts or for modern times. Also the Director is the one who directed The Eternal Love 2 so we do have the gorgeous scenes. The screenwriter also wrote the script for Romance of Hua Rong, so we have great main lead characters. I think the main problem is that the whole production is limited by the 16 episode counts so the story felt way too rushed and they just don’t have the proper skills to make condensed 16 episode dramas like the ir South Korean counterparts.

I’d suggest this if you want to watch something new and refreshing but I don’t see myself rewatching this as much as I rewatched The Eternal Love and My Fantastic Mr. Right.

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Overrated adaptation that failed to delivery the zing

I’ve watched ISWAK, TKA, Playful Kiss, and Mischievous Kiss and I must say that this movie version is the worst among the 4. Here’s my breakdown for the movie:

Story - As an adaptation, the plot of the 1st half is similar to the source material but the 2nd half doesn’t have the same impact as the other adaptations. There were also new scenes in the movie that tried to make the watching experience unique but failed to deliver the romantic tension. I also felt that the TKA med school arch was cramped in 15-20mins of the movie losing the effect it has on strengthening the relationship between Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin.

Acting/ Cast - I loved Darren Wang in Our Times but as Zhi Shu, he’s the sore thumb among all the Zhi Shu actors. It’s not that he can’t act, but the anime Zhi Shu is supposed to be the stoic, snobbish, cold genius, but Darren’s Zhi Shu came off as a cold, fierce, demon prince which I didn’t like. But in his defense his acting was better than Jelly Lin’s who I found was too tall, pretty, and trying hard to act cute, and die hard fan of Zhi Shu. It would have been believable if Jelly Lin played the Tiffany Wang’s character that also liked Zhi Shu. As I was watching the movie, I could never get on with the idea that Jelly would never have a chance with Zhi Shu because she’s too pretty and doesn’t give off the loser vibe. There were also some scenes where Jelly was trying to be quirky but her overzealous smile came off as very fake, even her scenes Where she cried while running was so over the top. Shi Zhu’s mom’s acting also came off OA like she was making a poor imitation of the ISWAK mom.

Music - is so so.

Rewatch Value - I’d rather rewatch ISWAK, TKA, and Playful Kiss than this. These 3 adaptations have more chemistry for their leads and their kisses are more realistic and passionate.

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Romcom as sweet and light as cotton candy

I’m leaving this review here in the hopes of convincing more people to watch this light and fluffy romcom, My Neighbor Can’t sleep (available full ENG sub in dramacool). I first noticed this drama when I saw a clip in YT and when I saw how cute MiDo and Xi Song’s interaction were, I couldn’t help but get hooked and binged watch this series in 10hrs at 1.5x play speed.

The 24 ep count can be a bit dounting but once you start the show, it just breezes by really fast without giving you too much of a heartache and no noble idiot moments. Here’s my breakdown of the elements of the drama:

Plot - The plot summary definitely caught my attention with the pseudo cohabitation and mysterious “only the FL” can cure the ML’s problem premise. It gave me vague Nodame Cantabile/It started with a kiss vibes which I really liked. You get the typical drama cliches but the problems/obstacles that the OTP encounter are introduced and solved pretty quickly. The “villains” of the story are not even proper villains but are more like pesky unaccepting relations at the beginning but don’t really pose any serious threat. The story basically concentrates on the OTP’s love journey and never really delves into their respective passions (ex. Piano, writting, etc). The story is so uncomplicated that you finish the series feeling like you you went on a nice train trip.

Characters - The characters are as simple and as uncomplicated as the plot with MiDo being your typical 19yo girl who’s still searching for her dreams and Xi Song as the Mysterious Piano Prodigy. Both characters are similar to the Chiaki/Nodame or Zhishu/Xiangqin but Mi Do is not as die hard, stupid, or eccentric as these 2 other female leads. Xi Song is on the same prodigy level as Chiaki and Zhishu but not as hot. Lol. I also love that the OTP are smart enough and trust each other that they don’t let misunderstandings or other people affect their opinion and love for each other.

The Supporting characters are also as adorable and cute as the OTP starting from Mido’s cool and quirky parents, handsome childhood bestfriend Li You, cool big sis friend Mimi, and even the sometimes pesky Aunt Gu, Liang Ge, and Su Lin. The characters are not written with extreme traits (ex. Super stoic, with obsessed unrequited love, etc) so they don’t irritate you as much as in other dramas. I’m also very surprised that the 2nd leads are pretty reasonable to the point that they can accept defeat without being psychotic and suicidal.

Acting - Chen Yixin is definitely the show stealer with her quirky and adorable portayal of MiDo. I don’t find her outfits and hair distracting and on the contrary I found that her styling actually added to her unique charm. She also gave a very refreshing take on a sweet, a bit naive, and imaginative teenager/college student. Wang XiZin as Xi Song also complemented Chen YiXin’s Mido by giving us his own take on the prodigy with a human heart. Chen Yixin and Wang Xizin also have chemistry that you can see in the short romantic scenes to the kissing scenes too. The supporting actors also did a great job in their roles and I want to give a shout out to Mido’s mom who played the part of a fan club pres to a T and to the handsome/cute Damon Xue as Li You.

Cinematography/Directing/Editing - I appreciate the format of having “mini flashbacks” at the start of each episode that shows us the what happens “behind” certain scenes in the previous episodes and gives us several Awwww moments. I like the transition between scenes like you’re just reading a manga without the need to know the exact dates of each scene. OST is ok but the use of Music in the scenes is not as believable as in Nodame Cantabile where the actors actually play the piano. The locations are also ok with special mention to the Mido’s “goals” room that Li You “furnished” for her.

Lastly, I recommend watching MNCS after watching several depressing, very long Chinese dramas to let off some steam and get good vibes. Don’t expect too much and have an open mind. Remember this is like cotton candy, sweet, easy to digest but not that nutritious.

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Super light rom com for background viewing

My Assassin Girlfriend is a very light, uncomplicated time traveling romcom drama that you can watch in the background. Almost all of your usual romcom tropes are in it: 1) enemies to lovers, 2) time travel to future, 3) amnesia, 4) love triangle, 5) evil brother, and 6) cute second leads. Being 24 eps long, I felt that the conflict in the story was not enough to fuel interest on the drama and that there were definitely some episodes that can be considered as filler, fan service episodes.

Acting wise, the actors did ok for their characters. But I’m not sure if it’s because of the script or because of their acting, but I found that the chemistry between the two leads (Ryota and Anna Hollen) was not as sincere as you would expect. Sure they looked cute together, but they didn’t have the same intense chemistry as in other romcom dramas like in My Perfect Mrs. Right or Legend of Huarong.

Watch this drama if you just want to past the time and want time traveling series. But don’t expect too much of anything (ex. chemistry, action scenes, conflict, plotwise, etc.).

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