This maybe the one of most cringey show I've ever watched.
A RomCom from top to bottom. If you can get over all the cringey mushy stuff, you'll appreciate it's entertainment value. Romance + Comedy + Fight Scenes, is a very good formula of a good show.This shows how familial love/loyalty can be more than just about blood. How real love should be, or how it can overcome social status or even gender.
It was funny to see a straight guy fall for a man, how he struggled to understand his feelings.. ML and FL started as sworn brothers, from being each other's support system to falling in love. Luckily for him, it turns out that she's a girl after all.
The supporting characters were fun to watch too. The show gave a bit of a backstory for our characters really well.
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Great start but dragged end
I don't really like dramas where a woman pretends to be a man and then the man falls in love with the woman thinking she's a man. I've seen so many versions of this story but this was the first one that actually seemed to work.The best thing about this drama was definitely the cast especially for the FL. She actually made a very handsome man, and she also made a really pretty woman. She was gorgeous at the end as a woman, I didn't like the wigs. This was the fist cross dressing drama I've seen where the woman makes a handsome man and is actually hit on, a lot, by women rather then sexually confused men.
I really liked the relationship between the ML and FL, their dynamic was great and you just know they'd make a great power couple, if only their story didn't drag so much. I hated how long the secret was kept and found it unnecessary especially when the ML was very confused about his sexuality. This is the one cross dressing drama where it actually delves into the sexuality of the leads. The FL is heterosexual as she said many times and the ML was more pansexual (the ending was confusing about this point).
After around 11 episodes I stopped caring about the main lead couple and became more interested in the second lead couple: Qing yang and Nana. I loved the second lead couple, they had such a sweet slow burn romance that had a very weird start. I didn't like Nana at first, found it weird how she was chasing Qing Yang, but then you find out that she actually wasn't lying and she wasn't actually chasing him but the memories he reminded her of. The more you see their relationship grow, the more heart warming it gets and by the end, they were the only couple and characters I cared about.
I don't understand how such a short drama could drag so much. The only thing that dragged was the main plot of the FL secret that she is a woman and not a man. I thought that they would at least, at some point make the fact that she had to be a man for such a stupid reason, an actual. That something actually does happen saving her life simply because she is a "man". But nothing happens, it was pointless and stupid and I don't understand how no one read any of her documents, her passport or even her plane ticket and found out the truth.
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I like that the characters weren’t unnecessarily mean to each other just to create some tension.
There were some truly beautiful moments of trust and friendship in this drama.
Zifeng – male lead
Everyone thinks he’s some kind of gangsta. He seems to like Yanuo straight away.
I really came to love Zifeng’s expressions especially when he was unimpressed or didn’t like something. He expresses a lot with his eyes.
That motorcycle bit was so hilarious when he thought Yanuo was asking him for something completely different.
Pi Yanuo – heroine
“I don’t think I have the courage to look into your eyes and tell you, we are no longer bros.”
Megan Lai is one hell of an actress. She is so generous with her emotions. Her excitement was always so cute.
I think Yanuo’s expressions and behaviour are very masculine. There’s a roughness to her that is pretty convincing.
I like whenever anyone confesses to her, she has this appalled look on her face.
She doesn’t have that over fussy personality that is often depicted in gender benders. She doesn’t overreact to things. But her responses are also very genuine.
I like her steady gaze and her brooding nature. It’s kind of fun.
She’s very cool. I loved her.
She doesn’t have any airs of a girly girl. And it was awesome. Even her facial expressions are so perfect when she sneers or when she’s angry.
I also love that she didn’t have bravado, she really did have confidence in herself.
Unlike other cross dressers in dramas, she’s really comfortable in her own skin. She’s not pretending to be anything.
Honestly, this actress has chemistry with everyone.
It’s great that she’s so tall.
Romance
For a while it gets a bit boring with Yanuo being all girly and ditzy, but then she jumps back in charge again and it was great.
I like that Yanuo and Zifeng communicate their jokes with a glance. I like how they teased their friends that way too. The drama really shows how well they know each other. And I find that very unusual the friendship they had.
Even though Zifeng sometimes takes his frustrations out on Yanuo, he is quick to amend his ways when he realises what he’s doing.
I like how the drama showed how openly Zifeng loved Yanuo and how Yanuo was always a little little bit closed off because of the secret she kept from him. Zifeng was so relaxed and affectionate but Yanuo always had this invisible line drawn in the sand that she had to keep from him.
Side Characters
The side characters are also quirky and interesting. The poor English made me crack up.
Xiao Jing is so cute and Zifeng’s mother is not overbearing at all. She has her opinions but she absolutely doesn’t strong arm her children. And I really loved what a beautiful character she is as the show goes on. She really has her own personality and story.
I appreciated Zifeng’s functional relationships with his family. They supported each other. They might get in each other’s way sometimes but they knew how to be united and they trusted each other.
The parental roles are surprisingly self-sacrificing. They at first looked like typical elders but the way they backed their children was very dignified.
Also, the themes of the bro-ship extend to the older generation as well and I like how they explored that.
In a way, it’s a bit hilarious how well the family get along.
Dr Chu
Just when I was getting into the swing of this drama. In comes Dr. Chu to liven things up. Sure it’s an age old trope of introducing a guy that knows the girl is a girl but come on, it’s hilarious. And the drama does it well. That hot springs moment...OMG.
Qing Ying
“The onlooker sees most of the game”
For some reason I really connected with Qing Ying’s character. He’s a bit too serious but that’s what makes him fun. Qing Ying is really cute and kind and sexy with his earrings and I know that’s what the drama is trying to shove down our throats, but I couldn’t help but fall for him anyway. He seems really real and he’s probably the first character that I had this impression that I could smell him. Isn’t that bizarre?
His role is a bit funny because he’s often observing but he generally has this look that says, “You guys are so weird/up to something”.
I also like his dress style.
He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t care about people until they are slightly in trouble or concerned and then he has the most gentlest and sweet attitude towards them.
And I really loved seeing Qing Yang’s role in the dramatic stand offs.
His secondary romance is surprisingly engaging.
Korean vs. Chinese Drama Notes
It’s funny how I also feel that in Chinese dramas it’s rude to call someone by their name with no -ssi or anything.
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Cross Dressed ...
Okay so this drama, took me awhile to get through it, mainly because there were really some frustating episodes where you like really!! I had no idea what to expect going into it. And the little things I did expect were completely shut down.There’s just something about it that kept me watching.
I started watching when there were already eleven episodes out. I kept telling myself, “This is a good place to stop. I’ll do something else, I’ll go to sleep, and I’ll finish tomorrow” and then I’d finish the episode and hit the next button and the process would continue until I was caught up with the lives. It was so freaking cheesy. Like every possible cliche happened within the first episode. The entire drama was like this, but it didn’t bother me because I thought it was hilarious. I know some people get annoyed with cliches though, so I’m letting everyone know now.
I really love gender bend stories. I know it's cheesy but when a man is questioning his sexuality, because he seems to like him/her in a special way, first of all it is hilarious and secondly it just holds the truth that love is blind, it has no boundaries.
Overall This drama was a 50 / 50 watch, for me, mainly because of the cheey cliche and them trying to make it thorugh to her birthday, which by the way literally took up the whole drama.
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Both main couples did have cute chemistry at first, but after so many episodes I felt like I was watching repeats of the same moments and they lost their charm. Relationship building was all over the place, too fast and too slow at the wrong times.
After awhile, it dawned on me that the main girls really bored me. Nana lost her spunk after a sadly short time. Really, she left her personality on the cruise ship. She had potential!! Later when basically on a dates-not-dates with Qingyang, she brings up her mother over and over and over and over again. I get it. Your mother meant everything to you, but if you want the boy you have to stop talking about her so much. No guy wants his relationship with the girl he likes to be about her mom. Honestly, I think Qingyang ends up knowing more about Nana's mother than he does about Nana herself.
And Pi Yanuo...she had no personality from the get go. Her character exists entirely for Zifeng with no interests and no goals that aren't his. She's basically the blank slate female main who is there so the viewer can imagine herself/himself dating Baron Chen. Strong female protagonist she most definitely is not.
They are also unbelievably innocent. Don't let the "mob boss" description fool you. Hansheng is the only one who would last a day in a triad family. And the fight scenes...it's clear from the very first episode he's introduced that the "villain" is no match whatsoever on any level. Nothing is keeping Yanuo and Zifeng from happiness except for Yanuo who doesn't seem to be bothered by it much.
Zerhui, the vet, might as well not exist at all for all the effect he has on anything. He only serves as a disposable meat shield so the viewer has a reason to see Hansheng as anything worse than a guy with a bad attitude and inferiority complex.
Edison Wang as Hansheng (who I like to call "Abs" and sometimes "Smirk") and Amanda Chou as Xiao Jing (who I call "Best Girl") are the scene stealers of this show each with unfortunately little screen time. They are the only characters who move the story forward. Otherwise, it stagnates in the waters of overly-long, bland discussions about vague feelings, memories, and staring off with sad eyes into a pretty landscape.
Another thing that bothered me was that the cast more than once referred to Guang Chao as ugly--and Johnny Yang is far from ugly. It made me shake my head and say "are you blind or just stupid?" and unfortunately I think stupid is the answer.
However, all that aside, I did enjoy it for the awkward, if not forced, comedy until about episode 9. Afterward, I ended up skipping to Hansheng and Xiao Jing scenes because absolutely nothing happens in this drama without them instigating it.
A good note, Bii contributed some beautiful songs to the soundtrack. I wouldn't download and listen to them on their own, but they are well done, atmospheric songs.
Sounds harsh, but it wasn't terrible. It has its place, but it's not on my rewatch list for sure. There are much better mindless rom-coms I would rather watch for a third, fourth, and fifth time before pulling this up again. If you want cheese and some laugh out loud "wtf are you serious?" moments, this is your drama. If you want a compelling plot, think twice because you might get as bored as some of the characters look.
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I like watching dramas that have lots of tearjerkers and it lacked a lot of that.
All the "sad" scenes didn't even last long??? Like...it was settled within a few minutes and the drama makes it all happy again?? I can't even.
-WARNING!!! DON'T READ UNLESS YOU WATCHED ALL THE EPISODES-
Story:
The main characters were so...bland...Very undeveloping. It just felt like a bunch of fanservice between Pi Ya Nuo and Du Zi Feng.. Their relationship had NO tension NOR drama.
Like oh?? Her van is spinning outta control? Nah, she's ok.
Oh? She got shot in the arm? She's ok..
Oh? He got shot in the back and Yanuo's crying so much?! IT'S A STINKING PAINTBALL GUN?!!?!?
Like I would be just dying for something terrible to happen to them. I personally enjoy dramas more like that..It makes me feel like the characters really go through a lot together and that tells me that they really love each other.
This?? They have like...nothing.... The couple was WAY too perfect and predictable. I was hoping there would be a shocking moment he found out Yanuo's a girl? Nope! They don't show that scene until the very end making Zifeng look like an idiot not knowing Yanuo's a girl!! It made me think he was super dense...And what made me even more mad that I didn't even see a majority of the characters reactions when they found out Yanuo's a girl?? The ending felt way too dang rushed... It just felt unfair and that the characters were so underdeveloped... The other side characters were way more interesting. Nana's story had way more development..A little more drama..Wish it had more but it was way better than watching things be perfect all the time. As for Zifeng's dad... Why couldn't we see flashbacks on what happened? Wouldn't it be more dramatic that way? Nope..Everything's hunky dory! Ugh. Even dramas that's genred under comedy have more sad moments than this. I watch drama mearly for crying and feeling my heartstrings tugged. This drama isn't for people like that..
I won't ever be rewatching this drama.
Acting/cast:
At least the acting parts were good..The parts I enjoyed were the comedy. I laughed a lot about it.
Not much to say since I didn't really enjoy the story.
Music:
Music was so perfect. Even though I somewhat hated this drama, I would like the soundtrack for this. Each song is catchy.
I think I'm done ranting here...All in all, I don't think it deserves such a high rating, but that's just my opinion.
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This review may contain spoilers
Very Satisfying Gender Bender Romance Balances Sillyness Of Screenplay
The bromance to romance between the lead couple gave me basically everything I want and hope for in a gender-bender relationship. It was so very satisfying in that regard that I'm rating this higher than I technically would otherwise. I've listed the main points of why I found the romance so satisfying under the "general spoilers" section further down in this review. Overall there's mutual respect and trust, giving support and working together as equals, great chemistry, romantic and sexual tension, a ton of skinship, some passionate kisses, flirting, and sweet words delivered in a heart-felt way. The set-up of the friendship is super fast and unrealistic, but then the progression of their relationship flows well and Yanuo is in male form for most of it.There were things with the screenplay and direction that would usually annoy the heck out of me yet the production somehow kept things fun. The main romance is the focus throughout and the connection between the lead characters was believable and touching enough to balance out the other shenanigans in the show.
There was melodrama and many unrealistic and silly situations that the show leaned into (didn't take itself too seriously) so the cheesy, ridiculous, and low-budget-feeling moments had me laughing out loud along with it instead of feeling outright disdain. It did require a lot of suspension of disbelief, but the show's approach was consistent so I found myself mostly able to roll with it. Things in plot, settings, and characters come and go purely based on what's needed at the time. For example, except for one scene at the beginning the leads never practice their martial arts, yet when they need to fight they are always in top form. And the head of the triad doesn't seem to have much power or any access to bodyguards or underlings for protection. Those kinds of things.
The side couples were not interesting to me so I fast-forwarded all those parts. However, I did like the ML's Mother's story, she was a loveable character.
Ep 19 is a special episode. It recaps the lead's long romantic story, has an exaggerated yet still hot rough and playful heavy make-out scene, and some behind the scenes footage.
Why I found the bromance to romance so satisfying:
General Spoilers Below.
- The actress playing Yanuo actually has, not just the face, but the body and physicality to believably have been raised as a male who practices martial arts. She is tall, has broad shoulders, some stockiness to her arms, and large strong hands. She looks more like a grown man (with slightly softer features) than the 'cute boy' look that many other gender benders rely on.
- There's lots of time (many episodes) with the ML falling for Yanuo as a person who happens to be in male form, and many moments of both romantic and sexual tension.
- Zi Feng experiences and works through the confusion of his growing feelings and attraction, reaches acceptance, and makes the decision to act on his love *before he learns Yanuo's secret. There's no disgust or gay panic.
- When the Zi Feng overhears Yanuo's secret, he respects it, trusts there's a reason for it, and waits for Yanou to tell him.
- Once Zi Feng knows the secret, his approach towards wooing Yanou becomes more direct. There's a lot of time with them becoming romantic and quite a few passionate kissing scenes while Yanuo is still in male form (not knowing that Zi Feng has learned the truth).
- Zi Feng's family can tell his bond with Yanuo starts looking more like lovers than bros and ultimately show signs of acceptance through their actions *before the last episode.
While I was watching, I wanted to know the exact point that Zi Feng learned Yanuo's secret so I looked it up. If you're like me and want to know, the basic info is below; episode numbers are given but no other details.
... ... ...
SPECIFIC SPOILER BELOW.
In Ep 18 the audience and FL learn when the ML found out she was female (he overhears it in the eleventh episode).
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This review may contain spoilers
Seriously, when I found this, I didn't really know what should I expect. I like cross-dressing, and I like a little BL, but I was afraid that it may involve the LGBTQ stuff and all.After I watched the first episode, I was in. Trapped, never being able to go out. This show didn't let me escape.
Well... not like I wanted to.
This was such a perfectly done show, there wasn't too much drama, the characters were reasonable, they were realistic, yet all of them were strong in their own ways.
The main characters knew that he/she had a secret, yet they didn't force her to tell them, they reespected each other, they were all kind and beautiful people.
Even the antagonist was a perfectly made character. He had reasons, he had ways, he had everything needed to be realistic, yet loveable. I was seriously in love with him.
All the "couples" got together, as expected, but I think that even if I could predict most of the show, I was always surprised by how smooth they dealt with all their problems.
There were some negative things for me, although these are nothing compared to how perfectly great it was.
First... when Zifeng "found out" that his other half is a girl... I wish we could have seen his face when he realised just why exactly was Yanuo so shy. I wanted to see him realise everything. I wanted a flashback, then a cute blush from him...
But I'm perfectly fine with the way it became. I really wanted that scene, but I guess I have to deal with this.
Second problem... I don't know how to say this, but this show ruined all the other normal romance dramas. After this, my expectations are just too high. This was so much better than all my previous shows, and I seriously feel like that this can never be surpassed.
It's just... too perfect.
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One of the best couples + main actors I've seen
heads up: my reviews are all over the place and usually make no sense. you've been warned.started this on a whim last week and immediately fell in love! the first few episodes were really fast paced and set up all the characters really nicely. it had such a lighthearted feel and that's exactly what i love. fan xiaojing is the ultimate shipper and i thank her so much for pushing ya nuo into zi feng at feng jie's party ahhh that was so cute!! i think i was really hooked in after ya nuo was locked up on the rooftop and zi feng basically risked his life just to be next to her. what can i say, i'm a sucker for near death experiences that bring our main leads closer together. i was so so impressed by the acting and chemistry between megan and baron and am so sad to know they're not dating irl lol. megan definitely 100% deserved best actress at the sanlih drama awards!! their development as a couple kept me on my seat anxiously waiting for them to freaking get together. i actually had audible gasps during some of their scenes because they were just so good. they're such a healthy couple that really go through thick and thin without having any problems. they're there for each other no matter what and had so many damn cute scenes (thank u writers!!).
when i first started watching, i thought ya nuo's 26th would be like the halfway point of the drama and cause some sort of misunderstanding between the main leads, yadda yadda yadda but i was so glad that wasn't the case. i do have to say that 100 days of knowing someone (and dating for even less) is kinda rushing marriage but ya nuo and zi feng are honestly meant to be together so it's okay.
like some other people touched on, there really isn't a plot going on lol, which i didn't really mind tbh. there were a lot of sideplots, but none of them really interested me besides maybe nana and her sickness + nana and her dad, i really only cared for the fluff and cuteness from our couples + jiu bi. i didn't care for the mafia thing at all, literally how could there be any other suspects asides from hansheng lol he was just a horrible antagonist and i skipped most of his scenes whoops. same goes for the missing dad + amnesia storyline. it was kinda pointless to me. tho again, the actors were so amazing for their roles, especially since baron's dad was actually a mafia gang leader????!?!?!?
du zi feng is one of the best male leads i've seen in awhile. he's not a jerk, he values friends and family, is honest with his SO, and they handled him liking a "guy" really well. he really didn't try to deny feelings for pi ya nuo even tho he thought she was a guy at the time, and just accepted his feelings. he's also so so handsome ahhhh.
even tho only four songs really played in the background, they were all bops and i have them all on spotify (except for this one upbeat bii song that i need to hunt down). speaking of bii, where was qing yang sleeping during the camping trip? he was supposed to share a tent with zi feng but he wasn't there at all? also i wasn't a big fan of the main leads knowing each other from before with the hairclip and stuff but this is SETTV so i shoulda expected it.
having more mature actors also meant amazing kissing scenes!
zhe rui's character was honestly so bland and a disappointing and he doesn't really deserve to be on the main cover photo lol someone replace him with nana. i love sean lee and jiu bi but there was no second lead syndrome at all.
overall, objectively, it really wasn't the most interesting drama and there wasn't really a plot lol, but to me, especially after watching all the behind the scenes, i'm so in love with (most of) the characters and i already miss ya nuo x zi feng.
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