I watched Arc of Life as it aired and honestly looked forward to it every week. This is one of those Taiwanese dramas that feature strong female leads in their later 20's/30's at a crossroads with their career and purpose in life, but it is well-written with unique aspects that set it apart from other dramas (and even from its book source material). It often focuses on making tough decisions in life - whether at work, at home with family, or in platonic and romantic relationships.

It was so refreshing watching the women all work together instead of tear each other apart, the music was perfect (I am a fan of Accusefive), and the directing and cinematography was well shot and well paced. The writing did weaken near the end; however, I found watching to the last minute to be very rewarding in terms of character development.

My favorite aspect of this drama was certainly the characters. The three women - Xiao Niao, Xia Zhi, and Mei Ji - are all very different but compliment one another. They do begin as tropes - the ice princess, the naive one, and the dumb eye candy - but the writing shifts to show that they have more underneath, and the three grow a friendship of respect for one another. But their respect extends also to other "antagonistic" characters - with our leads often taking the high road, instead of bitter bickering like in other dramas. Because of that, I found myself connecting with the characters and rooting for their development.

I also appreciated how the drama touches upon so many different aspects of life - rich parents, broke parents, divorced parents, dead parents, children, children with disabilities, estranged children, corporate life, ethics at work, environmentalism, etc. It introduced the different topics naturally without feeling forced.

I will say, I came into this drama as a fan of the main leads, Roy Chiu, Ruby Lin, and Ivy Chen, and found myself loving the acting and chemistry with the rest of the cast, with Jian Man Shu and Li Yuan Yuan standing out to me as great actors on their part. The entire cast is full of seasoned actors and new faces that blend together well, never over-acting or seeming out of place.

I wouldn't necessarily go back to rewatch this drama, but I do recommend it as a high-quality Taiwanese drama and I very much appreciated seeing each character's growth - especially Xia Zhi :)