HIStory: My Hero (2017)

How would you get someone to fall in love with you again if you died and returned in someone else's body, and as a different gender?

This is a 4-part series, roughly 75 minutes total run-time.

STORY: The first part is wacky and a tad confusing but stick with it because it settles down and reaches its stride rather quickly and carries it all the way to the through the end credit roll. There are also quite a few clichés but this has a HAPPY, even if a somewhat bittersweet, ending!

ACTING/CAST: The cast chemistry was great (well, only 3 people really get any real screen time). The main couple were fun to watch and there were a few hilarious bathroom scenes that as a guy I was cringing and laughing at the same time. Makes me wonder: do women really not know male bathroom etiquette? Well, watch the scenes and you'll see what i'm talking about.

MUSIC: The music was good though I don't speak the language. The sound quality had issues but this was most likely because I saw the English fan-subbed version.

REWATCH VALUE: Definitely will watch this again, next time with a good friend.

TL;DR: Starts out strange, quickly gets good, has some twists, and a happy ending!

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I had no idea what this story was about. I watched it to scratch an itching boredom.

In the predictability meter, one would initially rate this very high. I, myself, grinned at how I thought I knew how the story would go. It was constantly light: nothing was totally aggravating nor was there something totally upsetting. One would get pissed at some point, but it'll just be like seeing a poop on your peaceful walk at the park--you see it, not step on it, and just continue walking. Then, you go back to that predictability meter and you'll find it static at 1%. Like, seriously, stop predicting the end and just enjoy the story.

The actors were good. I'm doing this review after watching all three stories, so I have done the "compare and contrast" among the actors. This gave the lightest feel among the three, but that doesn't mean the actors showed an inferior quality of acting. They delivered subtle acting without making me cringe and I think that's a good thing.

I have already watched this thrice and it still gives off that satisfying sigh followed by a lingering smile as the last episode's credit rolls. I don't think that happy aftermath would fade off even when I watch it a few more times. Wait, am I spoiling anything for you? Haha, the question is this... are you sure about your definition of a happy ending?

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While this drama ended on a positive note with the two male leads getting to be together after all, the trope of having a woman in a man's body fall in love with another man feels cheap and overused. The audience feels at least conflicted and at most cheated of an actual homosexual romance. The scenes between the real BL couple are few and far between between that of the female love interest and her ex. Those few scenes are actually really sweet, but leave you wanting more of that and less of the female love interest expressing homophobic views throughout the drama. Overall, you're left with a weird taste in your mouth.

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I watched the HIStory series out of order and i’m absolutely glad i did, because i rate two of the stories amongst my favourite dramas of all time, but i am not terribly sure that i would have continued with the series if i had watched My Hero first :(......... The supernatural element was far too camp, that it began and continued to venture into children’s show territory and on top of that, the cringe factor remained high throughout most of the series... The moments that were supposed to be cute, awkward moments between the actors actually felt awkward to watch in real life (like the shy conversations) and where those awkward moments were supposed to turn into funny cute moments, like in the bottle scene, i still felt like cringing -_- The end of the series can be guessed from half way through the second episode, which is not the worst thing in the world, but i also struggled to find as much chemistry between the actors in this story, as i did in other HIStory series, which really let me down. I do feel that this had more to do with the script and direction of the series though, and less to do with the actors’ abilities. I really think that this concept could have worked well in a longer series format with a more loaded script and darker feel. I still continue to enjoy the History Series though, and if anything, i appreciate that the franchise is always trying to provide variety, even if i don’t particularly enjoy one plot :)

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Did not expect to like it as much as I did

I don’t usually read plot descriptions before watching something, because I feel like it takes away too much a lot of the time. So I was kind of confused when this one started since I was not anticipating this kind of plot. I honestly loved this though.
We get to see a love story from a different perspective, we don’t watch the two leads fall in love in front of our eyes, and rather explore their already existing love. This whole thing could have gone two ways, it could have been terrible since we don’t really get to know the characters that well. But for me I loved every second of it. And the end actually had me anticipating what would happen for a moment.

All in all this was cute, touching an funny. And I would definitely watch it again.

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I Am Confusion

I was pretty confused with everything going on, especially at the beginning. Everything was so fast-paced and busy that it was hard to keep up with what was happening. When I did finally grasp the concept, I was kind of in-between.

Let's Dive In.

I thought the concept of the episode was unique, (a girl stuck inside of a male body) but I also think that it was a little weird and tried to throw off the idea of him being gay, and more of just him being in love with a guy cause his past love was stuck in him. (Does that make sense?) Or maybe it was teaching us that love is not a gender and except is just a person. However anyone decided to interpret it, that’s how I did.

But in my honest opinion, I believe that the guy that the girl was using as her host (sorry, I'm having a hard time remembering names with faces) was originally gay and liked her boyfriend in the first place, so after the kiss, the girl left his body, and he was just actually in love with the guy in the end. (Once again, is this making sense???). I gave this a four cause I was confused the entire time cause of the pacing. I also feel like I missed most of the plot because I was too busy trying to figure out who everybody was. I didn't like the acting much either, but Aaron Lai is set to be in another series that I'm actually so stoked about, so hopefully, we'll see him in a better light there.

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RIDICULOUS AND YET SO ADORABLE

The premise is just laughable, but once you buy into it and go with the story it becomes much deeper and more complex than at first. Unlike many body-swap stories, this one has a slightly different approach. Typically, the "new" soul wouldn't understand what was happening ("Why am I attracted to him?"), or there would be some tug back and forth between the two personalities, but here the soul of the dead female lover is the only one conscious of the switch throughout. Gu Si Ren is there in body only. He actually doesn't have any memories of what is happening to him until he "wakes up" in the last scene. It creates a strange dynamic. You want her ex boyfriend to fall in love with HER, but you also want him to fall in love with HIM, but if he falls in love with HIM then does he actually love HER. Even at the end, I'm happy but sad. Giddy and heartbroken all at once. That's tough to pull off, but they do it well here.

And they don't overplay it. While the girl's soul is in Gu Si Ren's body they don't do too much to oversell the comedy. Yes, there is the bathroom scene, and the erection scene and the face mask scene - but Yun Lin Jiang plays them all without too much affectation. So the comedy is a bit more natural, which I really liked.

There is great chemistry between all 3 leads. Very strong acting. Subtle looks that don't require much dialogue to convey the emotions. Excellent job from everyone. "Death" (as I will call him) is probably the weakest and the most overplayed, but it is intentional and a very minor role, so no points off there.

While I did not see the twist coming (I suppose I should have), it worked very well and they had laid all the groundwork for this reversal without tipping their hands too much. Strong writing!

Great production values, as always in this series. This is how BL should be done everywhere. Strong concept, strong characters, strong acting, solid productions. Well done.

I'll watch this one again and again. Even though I may cry a little each time.

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I wouldn't consider this BL

Are there two amab characters? Yes. However one is the spirit of a cis woman trapped in a man's body for the vast majority of it. Honestly, Lan Xi is annoying af. I started to get genuinely irritated, frustrated and annoyed that I was having to watch HER story of trying to get her bf to fall in love with her in another body.

I think the actual story of Hero & Gu Si Ren, which you get in small bits and pieces of flashbacks via journals, would have been much more interesting and satisfying to watch. Gu Si Ren seemed like a sweet guy and I would have liked to see more of him when he was alive.

I felt really bad for Hero being pushed and pulled between his actual feelings and his dead girlfriend's reactions to them which left him confused since he never knew it was her in the body.

Also Lan Xi was sort of ultra girlie in Gu Si Ren's body. To the point where he didn't come off as gay so much as he came off as touched in the head a bit, you know?

The ending was a bit of a redeeming factor, but too much of this was about an annoying, entitled, overbearing, pouty, sulky woman who didn't see the man she supposedly loved for who he actually was or how she caused him to stuff himself into a box.

This would have been a far better story if they just killed Lan Xi off and told the story of the men.

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