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I have watched many cross dressing korean, chinese dramas. They have decent plot. But this is by far the dumbest plot I have seen. Excuse me you can't live like a girl nor let others know you're a girl because if you are a girl you will die earlier? And what the hell only when you are 25 you can live like a girl and preach to the world but before that a big fat no? Dear writers what were you thinking? I have heard many positive reviews about this drama. I watched with much anticipation. But the story absolutely threw me off. I finished the last few episodes with 4× speed only for the sake of finishing it. The only thing I like about is the acting of the fl
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Even though you are rooting for the romance, I truly kind of wanted them to maintain that sense of friendship that they started out with.
Also it is really hard for a drama to keep a stalwart main character, but it was great to see a character that no matter what their feelings never wavered. This drama didn't give into the major cliche of that ....well if you watch you will know exactly what I am talking about...needless to say I had to recap forward because I was worrying hardcore.
Even though I plan to rewatch this...I cannot say this drama was perfect. I fast forwarded through quite a lot, and while I did like Bii as an actor, and I get that he was supposed to be the silent and steady type his acting was really stilted...or just too silent. I would have liked to see more life in his character.
The one thing I did like is that there wasn't a real decline in the drama. It started out with fighting and that physical aspect, and kept it going through until the end. A lot of the time the things that brought characters together, or define them in someway if not convenient to the plot disappears, but not in this drama. True it did decline a little, but it stayed true to what you were first shown.
Megan Lai and the rest of the cast really did keep me around, but the person that had me riveted was Baron :) His acting, intensity, and just the way his character is had it so that you couldn't turn away.
The only thing I hated, and it has to be adressed is.....KISSING!!! Oh god this killed me! the relationship was amazing, the characters just heaven. But when they kiss I wanted to throw something. It's like all the chemistry gets dumped, and they can't kiss to save their lives. Didn't anyone tell them that you cannot passionately close mouth kiss it looks weird!!! And even weirder is when one opens their mouth to the closemouthed kiss. The crazy part is there are 2 good kisses and one good kiss scene n this entire series between the main, and they are in like the last 2 episodes.
This drama is worth the watch, but the kissing might make you cringe. However, never fear!!! Its worth enduring to watch this awesome drama.
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Rom-Com with a huge slice of Cheese
LIKES:Cinematography (no shaking camera even during action scenes, zoom in & out well done) and beautiful landscape shots of Taiwan. Soundtrack aka OST was good and fit the mood. I really enjoyed Bii singing acapella and he contributed some beautiful songs. Theme song was overplayed. I liked the storyline of Nana and Qing Yang, and they had good chemistry. There is one part where Katie Chen’s character overhears something and misunderstands what is being said, which becomes a gut wrenching moment for Nana. It was so well done, that as the viewer I could really feel her pain. The actress did really well in that scene. I also liked the friendship and family aspect of the storyline. There is a part where Baron Chen’s character questions his sexual orientation and Bii’s character is understanding and supportive. I truly liked that whole scene and how it was handled, including the bit of comedy that was inserted too. The bare upper body shots of Edison Wang as Han Zheng, showed off how much work he puts into his physical appearance and I’m sure the female viewers appreciated it.
DISLIKES:
AUDIO ISSUES: background noise that even drowned out what the actors/actresses were saying. There is a camping scene where they are supposed to be in the mountains/wilderness, yet you hear a barking dog. LIGHTING ISSUES: happened here too, as it’s supposed to be night time away from the lights to see the stars (Nana & Qing Yang moment), but it’s like a spot light is shining on them as if they are camping on a ski hill with all it’s lights [but there is no ski hills in Taiwan. Mountain peaks get snow, but no ski hills.] Also a lot of cheese and CLICHES, but it was more funny than annoying to me. Others will probably hate it though. The WARDROBE DEPARTMENT should’ve been fired, especially how they dressed Pi Ya Nou and Xing Tian. I hated how they only gave two or three outfits to Nana and they weren’t good. ACTING was okay, but Mandy Tao was way over the top (probably the director’s fault) and her voice was annoying. The adults were mostly irritating, especially Pi Ya Nou’s mother. LIMITED CHARACTER GROWTH: FL started out as a strong character and as the show progressed she only existed for the ML and often was very childish. The rest of the characters really had no character growth, they only had semi-completed storylines. Zi Han’s supposed character growth seemed forced and thrown in at the last second. CHEMISTRY: it was lacking between the ML and FL, even the kiss scenes seemed the chemistry didn’t work. Their kisses held no romance and passion seemed to forceful. WRITERS FAILED: the reason for the FL to pretend being a man from childhood to an adult, was completely stupid. It was supposed to be the main story, but became a sub-plot to the “gangster” storyline. It was like the writer(s) got confused with what they wanted to make the main storyline. Most of the adults were annoying and added little to the plot. Even the “gangster” aspect was very low key (and a lot of cliches). Also if Qing Yang was supposed to be Zi Feng’s Enforcer or investigator, they didn’t execute it very well. The Villain was a boy playing at being a gangster, or that’s how it was delivered. Then we have the attempted triangle love story between Pi Ya Nou, Zi Feng and the vet. It was pathetic and the vet only served as a catalyst of truth for the ML & FL. Also the writers gave up on the story towards the end or maybe they just rushed it to get the series done. Either way it came across as empty.
OVERALL: It’s a decent rom-com, with some heartfelt moments and simple romance. I have re-watched it, but mostly for the Qing Yang and Nana story. I would recommend it.
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Best drama you will ever watch! Will make you laugh and scream and fan girl! OMG!!
What I liked-the storyline: you might expect it to be unoriginal as a lot of shows have a gender switch but the reason for the gender switch in this show is way different from the rest
-the relationship between the leads even before a romance sprung
-the vulnerability and the need the leads show for each other
-the crazy gang sub-plot
What I disliked
-the sub-plot with the cool coffee dude and the annoying cancer girl
-the annoying cancer girl
overall this show is amazing and will make you wanna rewatch it over and over again!
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Throughout watching the series I found myself literally laughing out loud, yelling at my tv, and basically all the other ridiculous reactions that happen when a story really grabs you. There's also a fantastic level of appreciation for the characters that you often don't see in gender bending dramas. By this I mean that the lead female isn't berated for being male presenting and even when she often says she is much more comfortable like that there are a variety of other characters that support her to overwhelm the few who judge her on it. I found myself extremely pleased by the love and support in the dialogue as well for same sex couples it was truly treated in a respectful and amazing way and not looked down on.
I only docked points on the acting because like I said at the beginning it can be a little too cheesy dramatic like you see in a lot of older dramas where it's a bit like soap opera acting at times but it's still so fun and so good of a story that the acting even still fits it. Overall I would recommend this drama to anyone who loves gender benders or just light romance stories in general. In fact I even got a friend to watch it right after I finished it and she was head over heels for it as well. If you're considering watching it or you've got it on a 'maybe' list then go ahead and take the dive it's a good one!
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CAST: Megan Lai and Baron Chen, this is the first drama I've watched starring the two of them. I would say that the staff did really well and making Megan look like a man because he really did look like a man. I also liked the secondary characters too, like Nana (she's very pretty!!!) and Sister Feng. I think the staff made a great choices with the cast.
MUSIC: I love the music! I downloaded some on Spotify. Now, I can listen to the song while I am driving! HAHAHA
REWATCH VALUE: I would definitely rewatch this!
OVERALL: I didn't gave this show a 10 despite liking it because of the storyline/plot but aside from that everything was well done!
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There were some moments that were a little cringey, and there are definitely a lot of cliches that are in this drama. It never got unbearable though. I also have to admit that I really didn't like the ship of Na Na and Qing Yang at first, because it felt so incredibly cliche and they had that one misunderstanding. Their acting was also a little robotic at first, and I felt like Na Na was annoying. They grew on me over time, but didn't match up to the main ship at all.
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Okay I watched this drama because I was in a drama slump and I have to admit that this is my first Taiwanese drama. I honestly didn't have much exceptions and maybe that is part of the reason why I enjoyed this drama so much.I've previously watched the c-drama Arsenal Military Academy and in terms of gender/bender this drama is so much similar to that. The story is about a girl masquerading as a boy and nobody knows except her parents and a cousin. The plot is fuuuuuuuuuull of cliches and I mean at every turn. You definitely have to watch this drama with an open mind because **spoiler the ML falls for the FL believing the FL is a male. spoiler ends** I think what I loved most about the drama was that this was sort of like true love where the ML falls for the nature of the person than the looks/gender. I definitely found the drama cringe-y and I had to shout at the screen several times "this is not how a man behaves with another man". And the FL really looked liked a man so you might feel like you are watching a bl drama. Some scenes were just so cheesy but they were hilarious too. PS I have to add that I just found the second leads story unnecessary and just skipped through them. They had all the usual troupes!
**spoiler: So they actually revealed that the FL is a female only in the last episode but the ML actually knew about it half way through the drama! This made me re-watch those episodes and I understood why the ML behaved the way he did**
And so like I said previously you need to watch it with an open mind and just for laughs. It doesn't have a serious story but maybe a moral. I would re-watch it if I needed some mindless fluff and for Baron Chen (hehe).
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But I got hooked. Everything about it is good. (Well 98% of it is)
Pure get away drama at its best.
You keep saying to your self, Can't he see he's a she!!!!!! Especially when they kiss for the first time.
Watch it you will not regret it.
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I was actually surprised to find that this only has a 7.1 on MDL because of all the buzz about this drama when it was airing. To me it was the break-out T-Drama of the last few years. I will admit when all the buzz was going on, I tried to watch it and didn't get through the first episode. I saw it on Netflix recently and was more in the mood for a T-Drama and gave it a go and generally liked it.I actually am a fan of the gender bender genre though I know it is ridiculous. It works better in historical setting because there can actually be a legitimate reason for a woman to pretend to be a man re: safety or economic necessity. Bromance goes all in T-drama style on the silly and just says, shyster shaman/silly parents, deal with it. Basically you have to suspend reality or this drama will not work for you. Like I said, it took me two attempts. Having said that, I had trouble with how Coffee Prince handled this because at a certain point, there was no reason for someone not to tell so the writers contrived something silly. It really bugged me. I'd rather just know it is all silly from the get go.
Cons: The secondary story line didn't do much for me and the actor (who I think is a singer) was just ok.
Writers knew what buttered their bread and gave us a lot of the leads, but it would be nice to have some kind of coherent story other than constantly throwing them in compromising situations. They threw in some mafia stuff, but it was all pretty silly at the end of the day. I've watched idol dramas, and I just think the writers need to get better because they just rely on their stars to see them through.
It was too long, as are most of the modern T-Dramas (MARS this is not.). I really liked the lead characters, but after a while with both the mafia stuff and the romance, it got repetitive. This could have been done better at 15 episodes.
Pros: Megan Lai is fantastic and easily takes on Yoon Eun Hye as the most realistic woman playing a guy in a gender bender. Baron Chen is also great. They have great chemistry and are the basis for this drama being so popular imo.
I liked that the 2nd male lead character (the vet) story line was different without all the usual posturing. I also liked the hotdog guy and the sister as well as the cousin. She was a true friend.
So I notice some of the negativity is that this show didn't have the angst as, say, Coffee Prince. However, I liked that because this is lighthearted fare and it is a pet peeve of mine when I start watching a light romance (I mean, again, a shaman is involved), and it turns into a melo. This drama keeps to its roots and while it doesn't mine the anguish of a sexual identity crisis like Gong Yoo in CP, it does tell of acceptance of oneself, who one loves and what goes into that. I can't really get into it without spoilers. I do think the writers were trying to stay away from Coffee Prince territory because it's been done and time has gone on and this is Taiwan not Korea. I think they did well making sure neither lead character was knowingly causing the other angst. I really appreciated that.
So I'll admit to some fast forwarding through mafia business and secondary stories, but Megan and BC shined in this. I also appreciated some sizzling scenes as well. I took off one point for being over long and one point for the lackluster secondary love story and mafia business stuff.
Other Opinions:
I did not downgrade for the contrivances, the cheese factor or the cliches in the story. Also, the godawful background music. I just take them as part and parcel of Taiwanese dramas these days, but I notice this bothered many people.
There is a bit of a surprise at one point that irked some viewers. And as before, I think many viewers wanted the intensity of Coffee Prince....this isn't CP and it never acts like it want to be.
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