A Mish Mash of themes

The story was a mish mash of a lot of different themes: romance, drama, business. I was prepared to watch 36 episodes of cute fluffy romance but wasn’t so. Despite some parts which I felt that it could have done without, there were enjoyable moments throughout the series. I just really felt it took so long until they finally got together….and then you start getting your fluff, but because it was 36 episodes long, it became somewhat anti-climactic for me from the “after….” part. All in all good outweighs the wish-they-just-dropped-this scenes.

Yuan Shuai – he was the character I liked best in this show. Though I think he was too nice to Jiang Jun. I would have liked for him to have shown more anger especially when she was acting up. He just gave in too easily. Because I like Leo Luo I took it personal when somebody does something bad to him LOL. To be honest, he was mostly why I was able to get through the initial episodes. He was such a treat to the eyes every time he came on screen. His mannerisms, expressions, just the way her moves – LIKE! Oh and he has really nice hands too 

Jiang Jun – I know she loves Yuan Shuai but there were a lot of times when I thought she was selfish and took Yuan Shuai for granted. Also the supposed naïve side of her not knowing Du Lei liked her for all these years just was just too much. I also do not recall anywhere in the drama where she did something for Yuan Shuai that would have told me that “Yes, she loves Yuan Shuai as much as he loves her.” Everything was just about her.

Du Lei – I actually liked the Du Lei character. Yes, he was evil and nice – you have to watch the drama to know what I mean. I do think that we could have done without the Jiang Jun obsession towards the end of the series. It would have been nice if: that he liked her, he was already rejected around the middle part of the series and then he and Yuan Shuai had this frenemy kind of relationship. It was actually nice to see their relationship at that stage, their bantering were funny and cute.

Li Xiao Chuan and Xu Li – I can’t quite make anything with this couple. I wasn’t feeling anything, they were just there as the best friend and the cousin.

Qiao Na and Jia Yuan Ji – I was rooting more for this couple, cute that Jia Yuan Ji finally after two years…..

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Feel good watch

I liked the romance of the ML and FL. It was very natural, they were sweet, they bicker, they had fights but they communicate. There was none of that "lying for your own good" parts. They were very supportive of each other and nothing could come in their way.

I've only seen Daddi Tang in one other drama and I didn't really like his character in that therefore I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this drama. He looks so good here :-) totally different from his other role. I'm looking forward to his upcoming drama.

Wang You Jun also looked good here. His acting was good, his expressions switching from being dorky to serious now makes gives me a different impression of him. He is no longer that blank faced guy from his other dramas that I've watched. Looking forward to more dramas from him.

I liked Sun Qian in this drama. It was good to see her portray different emotions: cutesy in the high school scenes but a different cutesy when they matured, serious, mad, sad.

The supporting cast was great too. Aside from the evil plotters, all characters were likeable. Even Zhou Yun Bo became likeable.

All in all a feel good light watch. Very little angst towards the end, if you can even call it that cause they stuck together and overcame hurdles as a team.

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Mixed Feelings

I'm not quite sure what I feel about this drama. I found it to be quite exhausting though, everytime Meng Hui changed into a different personality, I felt that the story restarted again and again and I was watching mini stories within the drama. The supposedly cute moments within her personality changes, I didn't know how to take it - should it have been funny, romantic, serious....not sure how I should have reacted knowing as a viewer that it was all make believe.

Taking out the whole story aspect of the drama. I liked Fan Zhi Xin, his character as Sui An also was the most sensible out of everyone. I hope to see him in more dramas that I am interested in. Zhao Yi Qin was good for the most part, maybe it was the character he played. Again, I hope to see him in more dramas that I would be interested in.

The background music I liked - Turn It Around by Angela Hui.

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Great Show

Good show realistic and relatable story. The messages were touching.

All the actors were really good - from the kids to the parents and grandparents. No over the top acting - it was all natural. The Group of Five portrayed their characters really well - from being goofy to serious, you get drawn into their emotions.

I would like to see Marcus Li in more dramas. His character naughty but sweet and caring inside was very subtle in his expressions but you can clearly see it.

Tian Xi Wei was really good too. There was a difference when she acts silly and touched happy, exaggerated sad and actually sad.

All in all a good show and great cast!

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Good light watch

This drama was a good light watch that remained consistent throughout the show that made me watch the next episode to the next episode and the next...... I actually watched from beginning to end without skipping and doing fast forwards. I liked that it's only 26 episodes long too.

The love story of Tang Tianyuan and Tan Lingyin had a very subtle development, starting from a supposed pretend relationship into becoming a real one naturally and they just became confident that they were already a couple. Yes, petty jealousies are there but in a healthy way and does not drag on unnecessarily.

I liked the character of Tianyuan, she was confident and smart. It's good that the writers did not make this character to be those typical naive and supposedly innocent that becomes really annoying that is mostly seen in historical dramas. Zhang Ruo Nan played the character just right, not too over top in comedy and can act when the scene calls for being serious.

Thank goodness, we did not get the typical mean main lead from Tianyuan's character. He was funny through facial expressions that came with his lines. Zhang Hao Wei also played this character well.

The two other actors that caught my attention were:

Chake Lau who played Zhu Da Cong. I thought he was going be the arrogant, rich spoiled brat who wanted to marry the female lead. Well, yes, he was and he did. But I actually liked his character. He was very sincere and truly loved Tan Lingyin. I was cheering for him in parts of the show but of course it was never going to be. He was great in transitioning from being a dork to being serious and being a dork while actually being serious. I look forward to watching more dramas from him.

Ma Wen Yuan who played Zheng Zao Feng I found to be a good actor too. I thought he was just going to be goofy but when the scene called for being emotional he delivered.

There was only one unlikeable character in the whole drama - I guess there's gotta be one. Good thing she does not get too much screen time but when she does grrrr she is super annoying. Oh well.....

All in all, good drama to watch, cute romantic moments and no angst - that was what I was after.

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The drama as a whole follows the key points from the original story - even the parts that I don't like :-) If you've ever watched Itazura na Kiss you will know what I mean, but I knew I had to through this angst before I get to the ending.

The characters in this story acted like how I wished they would have in the other adaptations. Tenten was not as stoic so I understood his emotions more. Taliw was not so comical and exaggerated but still showed how much she liked Tenten and she had the coolest group of friends. King was so sweet and so in love with Taliw but not in an irritating way unlike other adaptations. I thought Turbo was going to be annoying throughout the show but turned out to be quite adorable.

All in all I enjoyed this show, there were a lot of cute moments. Rewatch? Yes, probably all because of Mike Angelo and his blonde hair.

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Good drama but felt long

Typical Korean dramas are about 16 episodes, therefore this felt long to me at 20 episodes. Especially towards the last 5 I started to fast forward a lot I just really wanted to know who was going to become king and how are they going to end all the complicated characters.

That out of the way, Kim so Hyun as Pyeong Gang was great. She's always been a great actress in all the dramas that I've watched her in. This is a refreshing character - we don't see a dumb innocent female lead but someone who is great in martial arts, can lead an army, can stand her own in the king's court and at the same time be shy (only in the beginning LOL) and in love and actually shows her feelings.

I found On Dal's character has become more manly when Na In Woo took over the role. He just fits my image of the great general more. I think he did well in this drama - me becomes a new fan so hope to see him in more lead roles. It was kinda shocking at episode 7 when On Dal suddenly got a new face but got used to it really quickly.

I didn't really know how I felt about Go Geon - was he good? was he bad? I think he was at one point but became loyal towards the end - I think those were the parts that I fast forwarded a lot so I don't know how and why he transitioned back to being loyal but as I mentioned above at this point I didn't really care for all the details anymore.

Wol Yi the little girl really played well in her character speaking like an ahjumma. If her voice was not that of a little girl you'd think you were listening to one.

The costumes were nice, the acting was great from all the cast, action scenes were great too we have females fighting in the battlefield.

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Likeable Characters

This was a light watch, no angst, supposed evil characters turned out likeable. The story was actually not all fluff, although they were cutesy and rebellious during high school, everyone had a dream that they were serious and worked hard for to succeed. I especially liked the relationship of the Blue Dragon Gang - very supportive of each other.

Character Likes:

Ding Ming - loyal and honest with her feelings and did not let those feelings come in between their friendship. She is very cool on how she handles herself.

Bai Yu Ze - flirty but honest, as he said, he does not secretly flirt and fraternize, he does it openly LOL. Outside of that you can see that he is a caring person. I thought I was going to have second lead syndrome - did not happen. I was actually rooting for him and Ding Ming right from the start. I'm happy for them :-) I wish they had more scenes and interaction as a confirmed couple. I do hope I see him in a drama as the lead soon.

Xiong Yi Fan - her character was alright, it is what it is, instead I would mention that I find Wan Peng's acting good. She goes from cutesy, tomboyish to serious and emotional. She's very pretty too.

Yan Ke - his character is also what it is, I guess the story or the script calls for it. He was super slow in the beginning but he made up for it towards the last episodes.

Qi Xiao Song - 1/3 of the Blue Dragon Gang who I thought was going to be a silly character, surprisingly (which was nice) he wasn't. He was a comedic relief but was mature when the situation called for it.

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Frustrating

Dropped at 21, skipped to the last 8 mins of the last episode, even then I couldn't finish it til the end.

I wasn't sure if I was going to go for this drama cause I knew that this was not my kind of story. The original drama I think was from 2007 when this kind of story was the trend - a lot of anguish, self sacrifice, major miscommunication urghh!

Wang Zi Yi - take away all the supposed cute moments he and Chen Jiaxin had, bottom line he was a selfish jerk for about half of the drama. He may have redeemed himself in the other half but dropped the show by then - another evil character appears - I really couldn't take it anymore!

Chen Jiaxin - an idiot for about half of the drama. She may also have redeemed herself in the other half but dropped the show by then. She was actually still a frustrating character in the last 8 minutes of the episode.

I did like Anson and Liu Si Qi.

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Good watch

I literally marathoned this show from beginning to end - yes all in one go! I'm glad that it was only 11 episodes, I think it would have started getting draggy if it was longer than that.

I was hating Motoharu so much the first two episodes. He slowly realizes his mistakes as the series went , my hate eased up as the story progressed but I could still feel hints of selfishness in his character.

I liked the present Mio lively and energetic until she started to have feelings for Motoharu - I felt for Tsuyama :-(

I honestly was rooting for Tsuyama the whole show - of course I know he wasn't meant to be with Mio. Though I also didn't want him to end up with Mio being how Mio was, so I guess I am glad that he got back the "present" that he did before the ride was "stolen" from him.

I did like Nagisa and Kida pair, they had a good "present" no matter how many times Motoharu went back to the past.

All in all the drama wrapped up well, I'm glad to see Mio's mother well, the mysterious Koike finally had a lively expression in the end, even Sayaka got a love of her life.

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Sweet Love Story

A feel good watch. It’s a sweet love story, nice flow from beginning to end. I liked that there was no push and pull in the relationship. She Yi Jie very sure of his feelings and Fei Sheng Zhe, he made it very clear that Yi Jie is his :-). Yes! Btw, Hang Zhang reminds me a little of Jasper Liu.

Yi Jie and Sheng Zhe’s interactions are very natural - there’s jealousy, anger, cute moments :-). Yo Yo did very well too.

I found the almost ending scene “Daddy I wan’t to be a flower girl” funny and cute.

As you can see on my comments lots of cute scenes.

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Mature characters - nice rom com

I wasn’t sure who was supposed to end up together and how the couples were going to end up together. I felt that Kiki and Shintani were more couple-like and as the series was progressing, I was thinking – ah maybe the second lead gets the girl here. Hoping against hope, of course, it wasn’t meant to be. Asaba’s feelings for Kiki was confusing – maybe he was confused as well, but really why did he have to realise almost right to the end of the show. All said, it was a good ending for Kiki and Asaba. I just wished we saw more of them as a couple to have a more fluffy feel.

I liked that the drama did not over complicate situations by misunderstandings. The characters all acted mature and realistic. You have supportive friends and colleagues. No scheming and revenge.

A nice light rom-com.

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You need a little bit of patience

I was somewhat detached during the first half of the show. I couldn’t really get where those intense feelings were coming from – Situ Aoran liking Chuchu, Qing Feng liking Chuchu, Zheng Ziao En liking Situ Aoran and Chuchu as the supposed female lead which by the way did not strike me as such, to me she was the minor role who had the hots for the male lead while playing the innocent and turns evil. There is such a thing as playing your character well, I just really found her annoying in the novel and reality and I mean her, not just her character. Every time she comes on screen I wanted to scratch my monitor.

So anyways, I had to reset my mind to watch if from the perspective that it’s supposed to be a typical romance novel with typical characters, usual clichés with the audience jumping in the middle of the story and just accept the fact to take it as it is because there really is no reason to it. Okay fine.

It got better from episode 9, though that felt like forever because the episodes are about an hour long with lots of slo mo, replays and replays every time I think the show goes on commercial. On to the better part of the show….

No matter how evil He Mingli was I didn’t really hate her like the above, good that she turned good. Kelly Liao looks very classy and elegant, even when she was in the hospital.

Duan Mu Qing Feng happy that he finally gets his happy ending. First time I’ve seen Simon Lian in a drama, hope to see him in one where he gets the girl :-)

Vivian Sung is great going from one emotion to another.

Marcus Chang what can I say :-) He fits the role. I like his little expressions and when he smiles :-)

This drama is creative and I liked the ending.

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Nice to pass time

Li Hong Yi played his character well in this drama. He is actually a good actor in my opinion. He isn't over the top when trying to be funny and being cool just seems to come off naturally. Looking forward to more dramas with good story line from him.

The drama itself was nice and light the first half. I did skip a lot of scenes even whole episodes from 18 and went straight into the finale. I just did not want to go through all that angst and evil scheming etc... The ending as most comments below mention had a lot of questions of how, when and why? I did want to analyze too much, this isn't sci fi, it's a rom-com in a make believe world of a drama. The ending worked for me :-)

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Light and easy watch

I was hesitating watching this drama when comments mentioned gangsters and beating up etc, that wasn’t my kind of thing, but there were also comments that it was cute and fluffy, which is my thing.

It wasn’t dramatic. It’s a light and easy watch. Just the right length that it did not dwell too much on problems etc.

I liked that it did not have any love triangle plot. The body mechanic friend is really just a friend. I liked the interaction between Sang Ha and Jin Won. Sang Ha just out there saying he likes Jin Won and not being shy about it. His energy seemed contagious. Jin Won the tsundere but not really. He was reciprocating in an exasperated but affectionate way.

The ledger gangster was so mean but when they showed him during the final credits he gave Lee Se Jin a pat such an about face to his character.

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