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Falling into Your Smile chinese drama review
Completed
Falling into Your Smile
1 people found this review helpful
by ltspada
Feb 8, 2022
31 of 31 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers

A great slice of e-gamer life with a Strong Female Lead character

9.25/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 Chinese drama with 31, 45 minute episodes. It is alternatively titled "You Are Beautiful When Smiling" , "You’re Beautiful When You Smile" , "Ni Wei Xiao Shi Hen Mei" , and "Nei Mei Siu Si Han Mei."

Tong Yao (Chang Xiao) is invited to be the first female player in the ultra elite world of e-sports. Team ZGDX OPL is adored by fans and each player has a large fan following. The team captain, Lu Si Cheng (Xu Kai) was not, at first, onboard with having a female on the team but as Tong Yao proves she has the talent to stand her own in the male dominated sport, the male team members can't help but admire her. Tong Yao's ex-boyfriend is also an e-sport player and is on a rival team but he would like nothing more than to win back the girl he has not forgotten. Tong Yao is all business but the adorable and talented Tong Yao beings to gain admirers both outside, and within, the sport - some in the most unlikely places.

Normally I am not a huge fan of Chinese dramas as I often find the female leads to be very needy, clingy and whiny. I don't like that they continue to pursue the male lead and others even if the male lead is mean to them. This one was recommended to me by one of drama groups as one where the female lead was not like that and I would have to agree - she is not. I really liked Xu Kai in "Arsenal Military Academy" and figured he would play the ML character well and I was not disappointed. I found the "slice of life" of e-sports very compelling as I was aware of the "sport" but not how huge it is or what the fan base was like. The high degree of not only hand eye coordination but technical knowledge of the game and strategy was interesting to me. Spoiler** The only time I found this FL to be whiny was when she lost a match against someone she had not developed the skills to be able to beat. It tore down her confidence and that was understandable but she spent a lot of time wallowing in her misery and wanted others to feel sorry for her. She acted as a "typical" female and actually played into the stereotype. Fortunately that was for a relatively brief period in the series so it did not destroy the series for me. This is a simple, straight forward, and predictable romance without a lot of surrounding conflict or plot complexity. There is character growth for all the main characters so it is enjoyable to watch the individuals and the team dynamics evolve. The romance is believable and very heart warming. I highly recommend this for those that are interested in learning more about e-sports and those that like light hearted romances.
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