At Dolphin Bay (2003)

This is one of my favourite taiwanese dramas, perhaps because it is one my first and what made me love drama series. I have to be honest to say that it was a long time ago I saw this drama. I believe that as the world and people's taste changes, what made a drama good earlier may not be applicable any more.
So I'll give my review based on what made me love this drama:

1. Story. It's very sweet and kind of sad too. As so many other drama's storylines to come, there is a love triangle, in this case with five people involved though and each relationship between the characters is special in it's own way. The characters have their own story which tell you the reason behind their actions. Furthermore there's so much beyond romance. It's about striving to achieve your dream, meeting or countering other's expectations, follow your heart or doing what is expected of you.

2. Casting. Among one of the most professional castings in any drama series. Only the names say a lot: Angela Zhang, Wallace Huo, Penny Lin! They simply are the role they are acting.

3. Music. Basically the whole series is about music; searching for the voice that can reach people's heart, achieving the music dream. This is behind the scenes of the music industry. The music is perfectly fitted to the story, from opening, each scene to the ending.

4. Rewatch value. I've stopped counting how many times I've re-watched this drama. Even directly after watch it the first time, I was eager to watch it again, and not only some scenes, it's the whole story. It gives one hope, encourage you not to stop hopping for your dream to come true as long as you try your best, it applies to true love and career.

I didn't expect I would write so much but I simply have a lot of reasons to put down, recommending you to watch this drama! Enjoy!

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This drama came highly recommended but it is quite dated. The production quality is poor, the scenes don't fade into the next, and the music is sometimes loud and other times low. ISometimes the sound disappears and in one scene you can hear a dog barking in the next room! The story is predictable and revolves around a fairy tale about a dolphin. Even though Angela Chang sings her own music, here she clearly mouths it with a full orchestra, which is so hilarious to hear accompaniment when she is solo singing on the beach. During the concert, the singers were badly off pitch.

However, the biggest hurdle to watching this drama is the messed up subtitles. There are no complete sentences and the words are all mixed up.

Despite all these criticisms, the drama is cute with an incredibly good looking cast. I mean, who would not want to watch Wallace Huo and Abrose Hsu in a drama with 3 beautiful women! The romance is sweet, albeit corny at times. It's not often that you get to see a grown man cuddle a stuffed dolphin! This was not supposed to be a rom com but at times seems so. And the music is quite good and varied, however, some of the music is played too often and others, not enough.

If you like t drama romance as I do, try to find the drama with better subtitles than on Good Drama and you may enjoy At Dolphin Bay.

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