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Perfect and Casual chinese drama review
Completed
Perfect and Casual
1 people found this review helpful
by Aadia
Nov 21, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

Kind, mature main characters is what sets this apart from the typical contract relationship.

The first 2 or so episodes are full of typical tropes that set up the story, so initially I wasn't impressed. However, once you have the setup out of the way, you start to get to know the main characters and that's where the heart of the show really lies.

The title refers to our two main characters, the "perfect" Statistics Professor Zhang Sinian who always has to have a calculated answer for everything, and the "casual" easy-going Yun Shu who is lively and easily trusts people to a fault. A series of events leads Yun Shu to enter a contract marriage with Zhang Sinian.

The male-lead is not your usual cold and arrogant type. The contract relationship that they enter into is created out of Zhang Sinians desire to fulfil his Grandfathers last wishes, so from the very beginning we know he's a kind and thoughtful person. He's very clear to Yun Shu that he won't force her to do anything she doesn't want to, and goes out of his way to make sure she is comfortable with her decision and their relationship.

If you dislike naïve characters, don't be put off by the female-lead's first impressions. Yun Shu might seem like the typical clumsy, naïve character at the start, but that's just to set up the meet-cute. She's actually quite endearing, and wants to believe people are good at heart, but when it's clear that someone is not a good person she's not a fool. I also loved that she spoke her mind and was not indecisive with her feelings throughout the show.

The lovely main characters aside — I mean seriously, I want to be as sweet and kind as them — what impressed me about the show is how it didn't rely on toxic behaviour or contrived conflicts in order to set up the right situations for the show. Too often dramas concoct reasons for the main leads to be forced together (or apart), and quite often it involves some kind of lie, manipulation or misunderstanding. It felt so refreshing that characters actually communicated with each-other, which meant that any misunderstanding were resolved quickly. The pace of the drama was also well done so that the obstacles to their relationship that did come up didn't feel contrived or draggy.

I was less invested in the secondary couples (I usually always am), but still found their stories quite unique and interesting. In particular, Yun Shu's two best friends who once dated but are now just friends. They had great rapport.

All in all, this was an enjoyable, light-hearted watch with enough tension to keep you interested, plenty of sweet moments and no frustrating situations to drag the pace. A perfect recommendation for anyone looking for something sweet and casual.
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