Pleasantly surprised gets 3/5 stars.

After rewatching the series, I decided to come back and edit my review on one of my favorite Taiwanese dramas.
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Story: There's food, there's love and there's a slice of life. I loved that this drama had more than romance. I'm used to dramas focusing on one or the other, so it's nice that we get to see a healthy blend between Kai Qi's career goals and her chance encounter at love with Zi Jie. It's also a bonus that the food was also very well shot, so my recommend is to not watch on an empty stomach!

One thing that I was critical about was the addition of the drama that was unecessary to the plot and only served the purpose of dragging the show further. Towards the end of the drama, the conflict started becoming overboard. Although, I love longer dramas and I love the opportunity to see cute moments in a drama, at some point, a drama needs to come to a appropriate close. I would've preferred the show wrapping up with less episodes than prolonging the show with over-the-top drama.

Acting/Cast: I felt that the main cast did fairly well in playing the roles they were cast with the exception of a few (i.e. ah jie's brother, du kai's mother, hao wei's sister). I love how affectionate the main characters were and how natural they became with each other. While watching this, I got to see maturity with the main couple, they don't pry into each others business and then get mad about it, which typically happens in many dramas. In addition, I love that the characters have the ability to put two and two together, instead of a long wait for the character to discover the truth about something. Lastly, the great thing about this drama is that there aren't really any despicable secondary characters or multiple love lines.

Music: The music was fantastic, it fit perfectly with the mood and it fit perfectly with the scenes. It also gave you clues to what was about to happen which I found a little cheesy but, It was perfectly fine.

Rewatch Value: Yes, I would watch this drama again through clips because of the excessive dragging.

Overall: I think you should give this drama a chance because it is a unique drama and It will make you laugh and put a smile on your face. Although there are moments where you just feel like WTF, but after those WTF moments you actually enjoy it even more to see through to the end.

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'if im not a athlete does that mean I serve no purpose?'
~Se Ra
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Story: I really enjoyed the story. It also reminded me a bit of the drama sassy go go. I enjoyed it mostly because it focused on the team being better at volleyball and working towards what they really wanted. Se Ra who at first didn't care to coach the team to help them be better eventually grew to care for them as a whole and continue her love for the sport. In addition, there was drama but none that was outrageously put to further the story line. Furthermore, this drama kept me wanting to watch from episode to episode. (Usually I take a break after some time)

Cast/Characters: When you put the characters together, there are some that shined more than others but altogether it was a well-built cast. Keep in mind, upon watching this drama for the first time, majority of the cast members were people i also was seeing for the first time.

My favorite amongst all characters is Woo Jin/Lee Tae Hwan. It was my first time seeing him in a drama or anywhere else for that matter. I think I fell in love with his character once I saw his smile.(I promise he's more than just eye candy though) I could feel the emotion through his character as he was affected by his father not believing him and as a second lead character.. well you know how that goes so I won't spoil it for you. His character did what he could as a leader to make sure the other players had the residence and even as a friend tried to protect Se Ra. The only small tidbit that I didn't like about his character that his feelings for Se Ra weren't explained that well.

Jae Woong/Song Jae Rim, also caught my attention as someone who cared deeply for the sport,for the team and for Se Ra. This was my first time seeing Song Jae Rim in a drama(i've only seen him in WGM) and I am so impressed that I need to go find his other dramas as well. I saw chemistry between him and Seung Eon (Se Ra's character) and I liked how the romance flowed throughout the drama. There wasn't any dragging as far as I was concerned.

Kang Se Ra/Hwang Seung Eon was a memorable character to me and im pretty sure ill be checking out her other dramas. I think she was perfect for the role of being sort of a spoiled celebrity or goddess of volleyball as they put it and then slowly becoming a part of a team again and letting go of that exterior.

With the secondary characters I really like the unity among them. Like a brotherhood with one sister that they have to look out for. I also really really liked the secretary. In the beginning she is perceived as a heartless human being but towards the end she gets better and a funnier addition to the group. At first you could tell she didn't care for Se Ra and it was just a job to her but towards the end she became someone who looked out for her sincerely.

Music: Not much music in this drama besides the theme song and the ending/cliff hanger song. But I think that even without the music the drama was still really interesting. Music creates excitement but the actual drama itself had enough excitement where the lack of music was barely noticeable.

Overall: Should you watch? Yes. Although the drama was short and you'll breeze through the episodes, it was a really good way to spend my time. It's a light drama with some sports action and some romance all together. I think the fact that it is short also adds to the reason of why you should watch :D The end was a bit lacking but altogether it fit nicely.

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Initially I wasn't going to review this story, but I thought since there weren't many reviews that I would.
This should be short, so here's my review on Love Sick: The Series
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Story: Honestly, I'm not quite sure what the story was suppose to be but my guess is the journey of teenagers in school and all their romances and conflicts that come with it. The story is something that has been done before but with two males facing romance together. I felt that the story did center around mostly school and romance and there wasn't any problem with that. However, I did find myself skipping around the story mostly for Noh and Phun, everyone else's issues I wasn't too interested in.

Acting/Cast: To be honest I don't know how people rated the acting as spectacular. I felt that sometime's the feelings between Noh and Phun, no matter how cute, weren't always easily portrayed ( I got confused during some instances) . It was sometimes difficult to understand the problems between these two characters but you pretty much get the gist of it. I don't feel like the cast as whole had great acting, but I did like the story nonetheless and the chemistry between Noh and Phun kept me wanting to watch more.

Music: I did like the music it was different from the dramas I've been watching, this was actually my first thailand drama.

Rewatch value: I normally don't rewatch shows that often, BUT i would rewatch this one only for Noh and Phun. I found myself smiling and going back to see the moments between these two, it was just so adorable.

Overall: Do I recommend? YES, I do. Like everyone else has said, if you can get through the first episode(which was poorly done) you can watch the rest of the series. The only reason I can't give this drama a higher score is because of the acting. I do love the characters but I felt that if this story wasn't focused on something that was different to me (BL) then I would have dropped it. That being said, the two main characters were so cute and I enjoyed watching the drama and am looking forward to the second season.

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Note: This was my first review on MDL!
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Miss No Good will have you completely laughing hilariously as Rainie puts on the best show as the over-the-top Xiao Hua, the christmas tree. (That'll make sense once you watch the show).

From beginning to end, Miss No Good made me happy like no other, it was my guilty pleasure and I was looking forward to Xiao Hua charming the cold exterior behind the ML, Tang Men. This drama also succeeded in teaching me one of the most important lessons which is to love yourself and if someone truly loves you, they'll love you for you and not the person you change yourself to be.

Overall, this drama is very lighthearted but also heart warming. I didn't know what to expect when starting this drama but it easily stepped into one of my favorite Rainie dramas to date.

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To be honest, I wasn't intending on reviewing this drama because I know it will have a million reviews since this show was THAT amazing. This review is purely based on School 2015, not any other adaption, I've only seen School 2015.
Prewritten as the story went along.
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Story: So, this is a story that has been done before well.. in a way. The school element has been done, which isn't a bad thing when you add new elements. Eun Bi is a twin to Eun Byul and there is a bunch of mysteries surrounding their lives as they start to become one. ( Mini plot summary sorry :0) But yeah, the fact that I haven't seen something like this makes me even more excited to watch. Although I don't particularly like suspense, once I watch I get so captivated into the story that I don't even mind my interests because It is indeed interesting to the VERY end.

OST/Music: Amazing. I even added some of the music to my iphone, I love when I can find good songs out of dramas that fit the mood perfectly. Trust me, the music doesn't mess up the vibe of the story or scenes.

Characters: Kim so hyun.. wow. She has made me a serious fan, I seriously enjoy her acting! While watching this I didn't realize how young she was, but that doesn't even matter because she has the maturity and the skills to act the part she needs to, I look forward to more of her work. I also love both her characters Eun Bi and Eun Byul, there is more to their story that meets the eye and I enjoyed trying to figure it out myself and finding the answers to my questions. I also loved the male leads. I didn't have second male syndrome or any of that, I couldn't choose any shipping to be honest.( Edit, after episode 14 had second male syndrome)( Edit 2: Then.. when i got to episode 15 i Couldnt choose anymore xD) That's how perfect both the characters were to me. I was also happy when there wasn't even any romance in certain scenes because the chemistry in this drama is on point, ( this comment says something because I normally can't watch a drama that doesn't have alot of romance). I do wish that there were parrings.. you will understand when you watch.

Overall: Should you watch? yes. Yes. omg I can't get enough of how much I loved this drama, you even have people reviewing the drama before It was even over that shows that this drama was really good and anyone should be able to enjoy It doesn't have alot of drama but it does have important life messages with a bit of romance and more drama to top it off to make it interesting. You wont regret watching the drama, it may make you pull your hair out and the ending may not be what everyone was expecting, but overall i can say its a worth watching drama.

~Ari

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Great for a laugh, but missing the storytelling

Story: That's just it.. I didn't understand the story? I thought it would be something like arrogant jerk meets good girl, jerk changes good for good girl, happily ever after. NO. this is not the case it's completely different. Which is good, different is nice most of the time.. but I had trouble identifying why the story was shown so meh. The romance is also confusing .. i knew there was an attraction but i wasn't too sure the way the male character treated the female and how uninterested the female was. BUT what i did like about the story was the whole fantasy element, it made it more funny and added more suspense to it which is why i continued watching. However what i didn't like was the random drama which meant more dragging.

Acting: The acting was well potrayed I will say but, I'm not sure on what the director of the drama's thought process was and what were the characters trying to accomplish.

Characters: Joo won, is one of the most confusing characters I ever incountered.. I wasn't sure if he even liked her at all and the way he kept bashing her and belitting her made me want to drop the drama immediatedly. I was sort of confused how Ra Im was feeling about him most of the time since although he said something mean she would still go around him. In addition to this I couldn't understand why the director was used in the first place. I could see from the beginning that he posed as another " love interest" but his character never did much to get the girl, he kinda just made dramatic faces and was just there as a motivator, i wish we could have seen more of him verbally. Anywho to summarize, the main characters left me feeling confused in the beginning of the drama and very confused on where the story was going. In addition I don't feel like the characters improved much and instead changed the same. To sum up I didn't enjoy the characters all that much..

Music: Loved the music, I will be adding some of the songs to my iphone most likely when I look them up. Great OST.

Overall: I recommend this drama for a laugh, something obviously not to be taken seriously. Yes maybe to someone who can handle all the crap the Joo won throws at Ra Im would see this as a 10 rating drama but no sensible person would fall for a guy who does nothing but say belittling things to her all the time. However i did receive many laughs in this drama, the highlight of this drama was when they actually switched to be quite honest.

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Great Drama, My first one actually that was put into Netflix. Let me break it down in four categories.

Story: The story is exactly like the original, although i've never watched the original i recommend you watching this one even though its extremely cheesy at first, after a while it gets much more better.

Acting/Cast : The cast never left my eyes a stray, they knew what they were doing and how to do it. I doubt you'll be annoyed by any of their characters except for when the drama scenes pop up, haha.

Rewatch Value : If you like to watch funny moments, mean moments that will still make you laugh, the cheesiness, i really recommend you watch it over.

Overall : Basically the story starts off slow, but you'll fall in love with the cast as you go along into the story. It just keeps getting more and more better as you watch, This drama will not disappoint. and you have my word!

~ Ariana

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Let me start by saying that I honestly didn't like gender benders.
I didn't like the idea of it so I never considered watching this drama.
But giving this drama a chance was soo well worth it. It is an AMAZING drama. I had so many laughs, so many smiles, I am so glad i gave it a chance. and so sad it ended :( this has become one of my favorite dramas.

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Story: As i said before i wasn't really too into gender benders or anything of the sort, so i never thought of giving this drama a chance. And also the synopsis wasn't giving me the interesting vibe of " you should really watch this" However. a bit of advice is before you completely decide not to watch something, try out the first episode. This is what i learned and im so glad i gave this a chance. I never experienced a story quite like this one or a story that surrounded romance and sports but it left me interested in both completely.

Acting: Amazing, they never left me astray. They knew how to play the characters well and It left me super interested in the story. And to be honest this was the first drama where i was rooting for the second main character Eun Gyeol to get with the main character jae hee. ^^ so cute.

Music: Not many songs were used that I noticed, most repeated. But the good thing about it is that it played perfectly with the scenes that took place.

Rewatch value: Yes i would watch this again just to see the brotherly vibe and how amazing the characters were. Also to relive all the laughs I enjoyed while watching this. I don't know about all the other adaptions of this drama because i haven't seen them but i don't think any could top this one in my opinion.

Overall: Should you watch this drama? YES. a thousand times yes. This is an amazing drama that will keep you interested to the very end. I am super glad I gave it a chance and to those who are still wary of if they should watch this or not, you should. I recommend times 1000. Its insanely cute and it will make you laugh alot. Guaranteed. I nearly cried when it was over. :|

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Wow. Okay this drama was very conflicting, but lets get started on Mary Stayed Out All Night

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Story: First things first, I did enjoy the story. The whole girl meets boy, boy and girl take a while to develop feelings and BAM! There's drama (Cliche but I loved it anyway). Now i'm never too crazy about love triangles, in fact.. i really do hate them, but I made an exception because this is a story I really did like. However, as the drama went along, I found myself trying to rush to the end ( I kinda went from first episode WOO second episode omg this is my favorite.. then 7th -16th was meh. ) to write a review on this because some elements of the story really made me want to quit watching.



Acting: I LOVED, the acting. Especially between Jang Geun Seuk and Moon Geun Young. The chemistry between the two was remarkable, and it made me want to continue watching the show even after some of the cast really got under my skin. Although these two were really the ones that made me not drop this drama completely, there were other characters that caught my attention, such as the second lead Kim Jae Wook. But! The parents in this story..now those are a different story. It wasn't their acting so much, but the way they portrayed themselves in the story.



Characters: Although acting/cast and characters are pretty much the same thing, I need to split the two for this review because I have to get my thoughts out about how the characters were written. To be short, since I can't reveal any spoilers, Wi Mae Ri, Kang Moo Kyul, and Jung In's parents, were pretty much the worst parents anyone could have. I disliked their roles in the story because they aren't how parents should act at all and it sort of delayed the romance in the story. They almost made me drop the drama because of the absolute foolishness they put their children through based on their own desires. But, as i've said before the two main characters are what kept me from dropping because I wanted to see how they end. However it was really frustrating to see Wi Mae Ri, not stand up to her father. I mean she is 24 years old.. she shouldn't have to be forced into things such as marriage with someone she doesn't love. But i understand the whole respect she gives her father.



Music: I LOVED the music, along with the acting. The music is super catchy and I even started favoring the songs online. They fit the mood perfectly. I noticed dramas don't really have that many songs but rather repeated songs, and I don't even care because I loved the songs in this drama.



Rewatch Value: To rewatch... or not to rewatch. I don't think I would watch this all the way through again. The most I would do is watch a few scenes I liked, and skip around scenes that made me angry. ( Which ARE ALOT, thanks to the parents of this story) But, yeah. I doubt i'd watch this all the way through, just too many angry emotions.



Overall: So! The big picture is.. You should give this drama a chance if you are a PATIENT person. You need to be patient with this drama because there were many questions I would love to ask the characters about the decisions they chose to make and didn't make. This drama will have you thinking, but I am glad I watched this because It really was something interesting. It does have great moments! Dont get me wrong, and Jang Geuk's Smile is very adorable but.. there are things that will make you feel a lot of conflicted emotions. The end also left some questions unanswered..



Plus I love romance so.. there ya go.

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Here's My review for " You're Beautiful "
Let me just say, I left this drama on hold for SO long because i thought Park Shin hye would be horrible in this drama since I had a strong dislike for Flower Boy next door, But BOY was I wrong. She did a fantastic job in this drama, sad that i left it on hold for so long.
I want to make this short since I don't have much to say on it besides ^

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Story: Interesting enough, I've never really watched a story like this but I probably have read the idea a bunch of times. I love how it was carried out however, it kept me on my toes and it was interesting when they threw in the idea of a nun being thrown into a completely different world .Now that is originality.

Acting/Cast: Amazing. I changed my thought process on Park Shin Hye's acting and Lets just say she may have gained a fan in me.

Music: I enjoyed it, even Shin hye's addition to the pieces.

Rewatch Value: Meh, I don't think i'll watch again due to the frustration I had during some parts and how naive the main character was.

Overall: Should you watch? Yes. Don't miss the opportunity because you wont regret it. I had many laughs within the comfort of my room and I assure you this drama is a good one.

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Alright lets break this down, I don't write many reviews but i felt as if i had to get my mindset out to the world.

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First things first, I kept this drama on hold for a very very long time.. don't know why but i'm glad i picked it up when i did.

Story : The story stuck to the plot, about students trying to reach their own goals and the obstacles that stood in their way. I felt as if the story was a good one, the idea was carried out effectively and it stuck all the way to the end.

Acting/Cast : Im pretty sure everyone can agree that the cast was a good one. The cast were full of mostly people who were already on the radar of others, such as Jason or Suzy, it was just up to the cast to show the audience that they were more than just singers and dancers. Some of the characters though made me want to skip around their parts or made me not like them, but thats the good thing about actors, they can bring out feelings in you that you never expected.. However, they still kept me interested and wanting to watch more of the story until the very end.

Music : Amazing, i downloaded some of the songs on my i phone. Some songs are repetitive but they hold a lot of value to them. It makes you want to cry on how good the writers incorporated songs at the right moments and made sure they were good.

Rewatch Value: Although i loved the drama, It is not likely that i would re watch unless i was listening to the music. My reasoning would be the turn of events of the story, not that it wasn't good but it wasn't the way i saw it developing into. Also, the only cute moments were really between jason and kim pil sook rather than the main characters.

Overall: I recommend this drama, but if you're looking for romance more than an actual story, you shouldn't watch this drama. Yes it has cute moments, yes it has a touch of romance but this story is much more than that. It's like a slice of life or coming of age, the cast grows with each episode and learns to follow their dreams rather than their lover.

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Part 1: The Beginning of the Ride

Hi there! This review will solely be based on part 1.

The beginning of the drama already showed me what I need to know, that this drama was going to be angst heavy. As I was readying myself for the ride, I felt pleasantly delighted by Dilraba’s character Yunhe. I admired that she was strong, that she earned her position as one of the top guardians of her valley. My initial perception of the FL changes a variety of times while watching part 1. One moment I’m in awe of her strength and the next I felt like the writers were giving her so much adversity but little character development.

I was interested in Allen Ren’s portrayal of Changyi however. I loved the special effects, the beautiful tail and I enjoyed seeing Changyi grow and change in temperament because of Yunhe. The chemistry was always there for me while watching the two leads on screen. Watching their romance develop slowly was one of the more interesting sides to part 1 because of it’s forbidden nature.

The cinematography, ost and costumes were all well done for me. I enjoyed watching how it played a part in the storytelling of TBW.

While I enjoyed some aspects of part 1, I expected more in character development from the FL and I wanted to see her gradually progress more towards becoming stronger. She struggles often in this season and when she doesn't, it happens so abruptly without a healthy medium.

Lastly, I felt like many things that may seem trivial but would help with our understanding of the characters, are hidden from the viewer as you watch part 1. You’ll know what to expect after watching episode 1, so I’d make a decision based on that episode on if this is the right drama for you.

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IS: Watch First and Question it Later

“You protect the Three Realms, and I protect you.”

Hi! This is a review that comprises of my honest thoughts of both parts, so it may be lengthy. This review does include minor spoilers, but I never spoil the end of the story.

The Story,

Heavenly Realm (1-20)

With Xianxia dramas, I have a tendency of just diving in headfirst without reading the synopsis and Immortal Samsara was no different. Later finding out that immortals cannot fall in love, I knew that I was in a for a ride of romance drama angst.

I did however, find some aspects that kept me wanting to watch more. For example, I wanted to see the main character’s sisterly bond, how they grow into the whole “one strong, one weak” trope and I wanted to learn more about Ying Yuan’s background and how that’ll shape the story. These aspects really take off during the beginning of the story and sort of dwindle in the abyss until Part 2.

Mortal Realm, (20-47)

I ended up liking the Mortal Realm arc a lot more than the premise in the Immortal Realm (Which isn’t surprising for me because I also loved it in Ancient Love Poetry). I loved being introduced to new characters and having our leads on the path to “saving the world.”

While I enjoyed the mortal realm arc of part 1, I wondered how so many characters were so comfortable with disrupting Emperor Ying Yuan’s mortal trial with news of his past life. In other Wuxia/Xianxia dramas this seems to be more of a taboo, but in this drama it feels so natural?

The story does feel draggy in this area as certain problems could’ve been solved much quicker with better communication but it still remains as my personal favorite portion of IS. It’s lighthearted, it’s adventure filled and overall interesting imo.

Return of Ying Yuan (47+)

The later end of this drama after Ying Yuan returns is where I start to feel my enjoyment for the show dissipating. To name a few things there were unnecessary misunderstandings, redundant scenes, predictable villains and the disappearance of main characters at pivotal moments. One of my biggest problems with this arc is that the final villain is so obvious but the show continued to drag out his reveal.

What I did enjoy from this arc however is Ying Yuan’s character progression. He went from never having the opportunity to experience life and live for himself therefore leaving him a rigid and cold character to finding that opportunity and never wanting to let it go irregardless of the responsibilities that he was put into.

I also enjoyed meeting Ying Yuan’s father and mother. His father’s power was the coolest and OP thing I’ve seen and I wish the drama explored more of that.

The Acting,

I feel like Yang Zi has a tendency to overact, and I’m not talking about where she’s playing in a scene apart of one of the character’s play’s but her overall acting performance as Yan Dan particularly in part 1. In Part 2, I felt like Yang Zi does a good job of playing the “cold” archetype of a character that has been burned by love and wants to stay away from it as a result.

I’ve loved every role that Cheng Yi has played so far and this drama is no exception. He is such a multifaceted actor. Cheng Yi as Ying Yuan was the typical cold/high immortal that I’m sure many are familiar with and are probably tired of. I’m happy I got to see a more playful version of him in the mortal realm, as I was already used to see him as someone powerful and strong in other dramas. Also mega props to him for performing three roles with ease in one drama.

That being said, there is some acting that just isn’t quite up to par with the rest of the cast that has to do with the side characters (i.e the demons on Yelan Mountain). They aren’t in every episode, but in some scenes it could be considered distracting to the show.

The Characters,

I’ve seen comments about the chemistry not being there between the two and I concur. I liked the chemistry between the leads and what the drama showcased between Yan Dan and Ying Yuan. They are a forbidden love that I couldn’t foresee working but somehow can’t imagine without.

I did like Yan Dan’s character in the beginning because I believed she made the show a bit more lighthearted. The only problem I had with her character is that she’s very impulsive. She’s considered as witty, fun and smart but this impulsiveness counteracts with the smartness she’s supposed to show. Also, I don't feel like we fully get to see Yan Dan be the stronger sister in terms of power. (Which is a bummer for me because that's what I was interested in). I won't spoil too much but after the Heavenly Realm arc, her power just seems to be more of a prophecy than an action.

Ying Yuan’s character progression which I touched on earlier is probably the best from all the characters of IS. Compared to the cold and rigid Emperor Ying Yuan of Part 1, Mortal Ying Yuan (Tan Zhou) was a breath of fresh air. From his mortal experience he can see the world greater than the black and white and I for one was grateful for the change.

Yu Mo was my favorite character of IS. His protectiveness over Yan Dan wasn’t overbearing (I’m looking at you SML of Ashes of Love & Forever Love) and he’s also smart enough to work with his love rival when it matters. I loved the scenes where Yu Mo and Mortal Ying Yuan were working together. It brought back that lighthearted vibe that I felt when watching this drama. I loved the “One Good Deed A Day” team. (You’ll understand the reference when you watch). What I love about Yu Mo is that even if Tang Zhou/Ying Yuan is his love rival, he still considers him his brother and we love a good bromance.

As far as the villains go, I think that there was too much emphasis on using love or the lack of it being the push to becoming a villain. As ironic as this was in regards to the plot, I wish that the story had better motives for the villains that were more interesting and less predictable than that. For example, I think that Ying Deng as a villain was severely flawed. I don’t think she ever loved Ying Yuan, she was more so obsessed with power but somehow the show kept pushing the misplaced love narrative.

As I mentioned before, the final villain is very predictable. By the time we actually get the reveal, I’m already exhausted and I’m ready for the team to beat him.

The Music,

The OST in this show were absolutely bangers. I’ve even added a few including the opening song, “World Records” to my favorite soundtrack playlist.

Recommendation?

I’d recommend this drama to anyone that are fans of or interested in the actors. While I feel like you may need to overlook a few flaws to enjoy the story, I was still pleasantly surprised that we get a lot of lighthearted scenes, blends of adventure comedic scenes and some romantic scenes. If you’re afraid of others reviews, don’t be! Try it out, you might like it.

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Should you watch The Long Ballad?

*My review contains a minor spoiler within the third paragraph, indicated with "**[]"

I really enjoyed what "The Long Ballad" had to give. I originally started watching this drama out of my interest in seeing Dilraba on the screen again, and it didn't disappoint.

The story is what I felt, well-thought out. We see Li Changge as a strong female lead but she believes that she has the right idea about everything until she later finds out she has much to learn and much to see. I really liked seeing the female lead progress from the beginning until the end. You can clearly see Changge's mindset change from being bent on revenge to wanting to defend her country with a strong sense of justice despite the wrongs she felt. I enjoyed watching her build bonds and allies with so many different people around her. We are used to seeing men at the roundtable where war is concerned, but this time there are so many people who put their trust and faith in Changge. It was refreshing to experience.

One of the characters that I have to speak about out of admiration is Li Le Yan (Zhao Lu Si). I loved seeing her character progress from a weak and timid princess into a brave and caring princess that's willing to go out on a limb for her people. She also managed to impress me because I loved that despite her father's admiration of Changge and despite her **[crushes' feelings for Changge], she never let it get in the way of the sisterhood she had with Changge. Usually we see characters with these bent up emotions of envy for their family but we never see that with Li Le Yan, which I was very thankful for.

The chemistry between Li Changge and Ashile Sun, I felt within my soul lol. I really enjoyed seeing them on screen together. The only thing I wish is that the show would've had more romantic/affectionate scenes between the two. When I watch historicals with tags of romance, I'm always looking forward to the romance, so I was disappointed that there wasn't much of that in this drama as far as the main leads were concerned. However, if you are like me and you love romance but also like historicals, there is enough action and plot to keep you interested in other things. There's so much so that sometimes I didn't even mind if our main leads weren't on the screen. So trust me when I say that this drama is well worth the watch and it has become one of my personal favorite historicals.

Another thing that I must mention is that I wasn't too impressed or interested in the random scenes of the manhua that would frequently pop up within the drama. Thankfully there wasn't so much scenes with manhua backdrops behind our actors, but I could've done without it altogether. It made me laugh in moments that I'm sure were meant to be serious because of how there'd be an actor yelling out commands during a pivotal screen but then a cartoonish manhua panel behind him.

The music I also enjoyed listening to. I knew once I heard the song playing in the opening of the drama in episode one that I was going to thoroughly enjoy watching this, and I did. <3

The long ballad is what it's titled, long. However, I didn't feel like there were filler episodes or unnecessary scenes that were dragging the story along. I didn't skip around when watching this drama because I was interested in what the characters were going to do. This drama strategically adds new characters, it doesn't do so for no reason, so I would keep that in mind when watching through this drama.

I'm a person that doesn't really like sad dramas if I can help it and although there are many heartbreaking scenes in the Long Ballad, I will never regret watching this drama. It made me laugh, it made me cry but more importantly it made me smile. I highly recommend.

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Astounding

Lost love in times is a breath of fresh air.

I’ll take you on a ride of my initial thoughts that I felt from beginning to the end of the drama and then from this, you can decide if this is something you may want to watch. My review will have minimal spoilers.

Story: Let’s start with the beginning scenes of Lost Love in Times that I felt were very lackluster. In fact, I was very confused about the story up until episodes 5-8. When I say “confused” I mean it in a way that I couldn’t understand the motives behind the characters or why the story was moving so quickly in it’s progression. It was only until I got to the time travel portion of the drama (episode 5-8) where I began to enjoy the story.

Given that I felt the beginning scenes were rather rushed in showing us the “why” QC and YL were so in love with each other, I wondered how their relationship would progress in the new timeline. It didn’t disappoint me because I got to see the true romance between QC and YL and there are so many cute scenes between them that I couldn’t even pick a favorite one. Touching on the romance aspect of the show, I really enjoyed the fact that there were an abundance of romantic scenes scattered around the 56 episodes. I feel like when I watch historical dramas, they typically start off happy, then move directly into anguish, misunderstandings and heartbreak until we reach the last episode where we finally get our happily ever after (in my case because i don’t watch dramas with sad endings).

I can definitely appreciate the fact that Lost Love in Times is different from any historical drama that I’ve seen plot wise. I haven’t seen any that touch time travel as this drama had, and if you are confused about this aspect of the drama, I’d recommend looking at other reviews that explain it because that’s what I did prior to watching the show.

If I had one critique about this drama, it would have to do with the pacing/dragging that happened towards the middle. I feel like this could’ve been filled with more episodes explaining the love between YL and QC in the first timeline (beginning episodes of the show). As i mentioned, I felt like the beginning episodes failed to show us how they fell in love with each other. The progression into the new timeline should’ve taken longer than 5 episodes to show. I also could’ve done without the last minute unnecessary lying “to protect others” in the second to last episode because I feel as though it wasted some screen time.

There are very few gripes I have about the actual ending. I wish that they’d show us the ending of all major characters. Because while some characters were wrapped up very nicely, other’s were mentioned but not shown.

Characters: I really liked QC. I love seeing strong female characters because it’s very empowering. She definitely gave me the vibe of a less abrasive Fu Yao (from legend of Fu Yao). I also enjoyed the chemistry between QC and YL and I found myself smiling a-lot throughout the duration of this drama. I also found myself loving the 7th prince (which could serve as the second male lead for QC). The 7th prince was pretty quiet and reserved but around QC they really got each other. This gave me off and on second male syndrome.

The actors that played QC and YL were amazing at showing their emotions. I cried with them when they cried and laughed when they laughed. There were some amazing fight scenes towards the end as well so look forward to that.

Music: Astounding. I loved the first opening/ending theme songs. The music throughout the drama seemed to really add to the romantic & sad scenes.

Lastly, it’s a good drama. It has it’s faults with all the lying, scheming and plotting but the main leads definitely make up for that with their love all throughout the story.

Would I rewatch/Could I recommend this story?

I’m not sure about rewatching the entire story. There were too many dragged on scenes for me to sit all the way through this drama. I found myself skipping many scenes that I felt were unnecessary for us to see. But I definitely recommend this drama to anyone looking for a fantasy romance historical drama with a touch of time travel!

**I couldn’t rate this higher than an 8 because of the dragged out scenes, some plot holes and missed opportunities to fully satisfy the viewer.

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