Falling into Your Smile (2021)

I recommend it if you can see past the issues.

Honestly I quite liked it. I don’t binge watch stuff often but I binge watched this. Even though I had quite a few issues with the show I watched this looking for a weird romantic comedy and that’s what I got. But here’s my issues
1. The in your face product placement. It was the worst I’ve seen in any show. Some actual ads are less weird about it.
2. How often I wanted to smack the love interest. That’s pretty self explanatory but in some ways their relationship being rough around the edges made it more real. But often it made me uncomfortable/annoyed.
3. My favourite characters were the other teammates and they barely got any character development. I wanted to see more of them.
4. They treat eating lollipops like smoking because they couldn’t have him smoking. It was really dumb. (And other general issues with Chinese media)
5. People that actually like stuff like E-sports and the team based video games it’s about apparently don’t like the show very much. That didn’t affect me too much personally but I can see why it would be the biggest issue for some people.

So there were quite a few issues I had but most of the time the good outweighed the bad. I recommend it if you just want to watch a weird romantic comedy and can see past the issues.

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Reeled in by the e-sports theme; stayed for the cast

At first glance, I was apprehensive about the drama being e-sport themed as it seemed gimmicky. I was pleasantly surprised that the drama itself was more focused on a variety of relevant topics: coming-of-age stories, the duality of social media and how damaging it can be, and more. Definitely one of the better dramas I've watched recently.

What I Liked?

[1] *Xu Kai and Cheng Xiao*: as male/female lead pairings go, this has to be one of my favorites. Cheng Xiao plays Tong Yao, who at face value, looks like she'll tick off every box on the "ditsy, wide-eyed, and naive" female character trope checklist. I'm glad this wasn't the case and I *REALLY* came to adore and admire her character. With the subject being e-sports, the misogynistic undertones are to be expected. What stood out to me about Tong Yao was her unabashedly calling people out on their BS but also fighting for herself and her friends and not crumbling under the social media ridicule.
Xu Kai plays Lu SiCheng, your classic cold exterior male lead. His character development was well nuanced and you could clearly track how his relationship with Tong Yao had a commensurate effect on his interactions with the media and his teammates. He starts off as a very uncompromising and goal-driven team leader but over time he softens and you can see that his family and friends are the most important part of his life and everything he does is to protect them. He's that quiet, almost omnipotent, leader that seems to head off conflict and drama before it can truly get out of hand.
To me, both of the characters felt very relatable: though both strong in their own regard, they each vulnerable moments where it felt like they would crumble under the pressure.

[2] *Avoiding major c-drama pitfalls*: One commonality across a lot of c-dramas is "miscommunication" and how it feeds into the plot line. Funnily enough, in this drama where social media is so central to the theme, the characters are well armed to fend off malicious comments online and do not let it affect their relationships. This was INCREDIBLY refreshing. The characters show that they trust their teammates and friends wholly and give them the benefit of the doubt. Even going so far as to encourage each other to not read the comments and keep looking forward.

[2a] *Parental relationships*: Many of us here will not be surprised by the disparaging remarks the parent figures in this drama make towards professional gaming. That aside, what stood out to me was that the characters still pursued their dreams, despite being kicked out of their own home, disowned, or constantly berated for making irresponsible decisions. It's a very positive message that one should always go for what they believe in and don't let others hold you back. A small *caveat* about what I didn't like was Ai Jia so easily re-accepting his mother after she treated him so poorly. I expected an apology at the bare minimum from his mother.

[3] *The Music*: It's a pretty stacked line up of singers for this OST and one of the most well done I've listened to in a while. Currently 逆著人群奔向你 is stuck in my head and I'm not even mad about it. The OST is a wonderful mixture of sentimental, slow songs, more hip-hop/pop focused songs and I love that Xu Kai and Cheng Xiao even sang their own rendition of 第一默契. I highly recommend reading this lyrics if you don't understand Chinese. The lyrics tie so well into the emotions of the drama and the thematic elements of supporting one another, and tuning out the BS of the world.

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Fluffy Rom-Com Anyone Would Love

I watched this without many expectations, and I didn't think it would be this addictive and overall good. I found myself immersed, occasionally giggling at some scenes and even kicking my legs in my blanket. That's how cute it was. The only reason I gave story an 8 is because at some times I thought it was a little draggy and slow (imo), but other than that it's great. Fans of Put Your Head on My Shoulder would love this. Cheng Xiao and Xu Kai really showed us Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng's cute moments, inner feelings, and story arc in a way that it is impossible not to love this drama.

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Smiling? I'm melting at this cuteness

Okay, hear me out… I know this is a drama about gaming, but my God there was a lot of gaming. I was pretty much enjoying this show the whole way through and was like, oooh I wonder what will happen in the final episode!.’ I know obviously they had to win the final tournament, that was a given, but did they really have to spend the entire last episode just gaming? A very important aspect of the show, I know, but still. We all knew they would win so why did they have to spend the entire last episode just on the final tournament!? They could have had 15 minutes at the end of episode 30 and be done! When things were getting so good with Lu Si Cheng and Tong Yao and that’s how they end it? There better be a season two because I can’t leave these characters like that.

Okay, so it all started with Lu Si Cheng stealing her food and closing the door in her face. How rude! Little does he know she’s about to change his life. Before that though, we get to watch her being a queen, jumping on social media and roasting his ass for the world to see. Already in love with Tong Yao XD

Imma break this review down into dot-point.

The romance:
* They are such a cute and fluffy couple.
* Although Lu Si Cheng was so cold and distant in the beginning, the chemistry was ‘so there’! This man, he is husband material let alone boyfriend.
* Their initial trip to the store was so cute and from this point on, I knew it was going to be just the kind of fluffy show that I like.
* The episode where he came down to check on her throughout the night when she was practising and he brought her milk, covers her eyes with his hand so she will stop crying. My heart! Bless them.
* Then, when she was on her period and he looks after her! I melted at this episode. When he goes to get her a hot water bottle! The thought! The care! The fact that the bottle was so little just made it even more cute and he also chose the one with his picture on! She’s Smiling, but I’m melting XD
* When Tong Yao says they should go buy a fish and the scene is split so we see both of them getting ready and they’re putting in so much effort! I could. not. Handle. (The fact that Pancake actually ate one of Lu Si Cheng’s fish is priceless. Also, why did Tong Yao put a Nemo in the tank!? XD Girl, he is going to notice! And then he caught her red-handed. Her reflection in the glass when she realised he was standing behind her had me XD).
* When she falls over, he catches her, and they lock eyes and he says, ‘Are you done staring?’ Bruh! You were staring right back at her! Stop flirting! Jks, I’m kidding XD Please keep flirting!
* The ending of episode 20 had me swooning so hard, and then the continuation in episode 21. Lu Si Cheng was trying so hard and he confessed to her it was so cute! ‘Try me’ Ughhhh
* He tells her she only has a few hours to make a decision. It’s 8:58pm and she hears Lu Si Cheng come home and runs out the door to greet him. And omfg he has the cat! I repeat he has the goddamn kitty! And then they hug! Ugh this was just the cutest scene I have ever seen! The amount of smiling he is doing now really lives up to the name of the show. It couldn’t be more suited!
* There are so many hand holding moments that I cannot comprehend, let alone the kissing scenes. Don’t even get me STARTED on the head pats. Fhsjgksghfkgnd
* I love how the guys know what’s up. And her friend too! When she tells her friend she’s got big news. She’s like, ‘big news? I sense gossip.’ Girl knows what’s up

The Crew:
* Old K - I liked his character although he was cold and stand-offish towards Tong Yao in the beginning. It was so sweet when they started to bond and he became supportive of her.
* Xiao Pang - He was like a lil puppy! I just wanted to give him a big hug! I don’t know why he was so surprised when he actually saw Lu Si Cheng and Tong Yao kissing; like the whole crew knew what was up and yet he was still surprised? I guess he was in a state of shock. Also, love the fact that he always saw them in the suspicious situations.
* Lu Yue - When he first came into the picture I didn’t think he was going to stay. The little streak of blue hair he had always bothered me and he reminded me so much of Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot and Curious George. However, over time his personality grew on me and I didn’t mind his presence so much. He was very juvenile and likes to cause some trouble. Whenever he would whip out his phone, I thought of Gossip Girl ‘cause that’s what everyone does when they spot a hot topic.
* Old Cat - Stern face. Don’t have a lot to say about him, other than why did him and Old K have a fight about literally nothing? Or am I missing something here?

Xiao Rui and Ming God were an interesting pair. Xiao Rui reminded me of Ross from ‘Friends.’ I just see a likeness.

The funniest episode BY FAR was when Lu Si Cheng was set-up with that girl on a date his Mum prepared. He was having none of it. The date hadn’t even started and he was already asking her to leave XD. It makes me LOL just thinking about it. Lu Si Cheng is a savage.

Okay, if I write anymore I’ll just be reiterating the whole show so I will stop. Definitely worth the watch! A huge plus if you like watching people play games. Lots of cuteness and fluff that will have you ‘smiling’ for days.

-E

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It was cute and perfect for videogame and romance lovers

If you liked c-dramas like Love O2O or Go Go Squid, then you're going to like this one too!
I loved this drama so much, I kept sleeping at 5am for four days straight so I could finish it <3

Now, there are spoilers here:
There are a couple of things that I didn't like, but it usually happens in a lot of dramas that I watch.
The protagonist is a Mary Sue, that meaning that every guy that she encounters falls in love with her, and she's sometimes annoying. I liked that she is the first and only girl doing eSports as a career, and they portray that misogynistic aspect of "not letting girls play games profesionally because they only do it to approach handsome boys" very well. But once she proves that she's worthy of being in the team, they keep bringing in that shes a girl and that she's only there for pretty boys, even her fans. And I'm mad about it even though I liked the drama.
The romance is a slow burn that I liked. He really respected the protagonist (there were some jealousy problems, but we're letting that slip). He really admired her for her abilities to play the game and for how strong she was in some situations. But sometimes their relationship was a bit confusing because you never really know what things they've done in their privacy, like if they had had their first kiss already or not because they never show it on-screen??? The first kiss you see is in a bus surrounded by their team mates and that barely feels like a first kiss, so even though it was a cute romance, it was confunsing at times.
I didn't like that half of the episodes were them playing that game, which may sound rare but the characters and the dynamic of the game are never introduced to you, so half of the time I got confused with the technical aspects of the game. But the 3D animation of the characters was very well done and I appreciated those parts, although sometimes it was confusing which person was using which character.
This is not a critique, but K and Cat were boyfriends and you can't change my mind.

Even though all of these things I've said, I liked the drama and I'd recommend it if you like romance and videogames <3

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I feel that I am the avatar itself. ?

*** Spoiler Alert (PERSONAL FEEDBACK)
Title : Falling Into Your Smile – 2021 (Complete 31 Episode)
Personal Rating : 8/10

Lu Si Cheng (played Xu Kai) is a Professional Esports Player and the Leader and ADC of the Esports Team ZGDX. He is also one of ZGDX's biggest shareholders. He comes from an excellent family, is good-looking, cold, and arrogant but is a softie inside. Si Cheng is a person who does things without caring about what others think about them. He cares a lot about Esports; it is his main focus in life along with his Esports team ZGDX. He graduated from a Law School at the top of his class. As well as top of the gaming industry.

Tong Yao (Played Cheng Xiao) is a member of the Esports Team ZGDX. She is cute, smart, and has a great sense of humor, and on top of that, she has a great sense of justice too. There are not that many female esports players that play well so when she first joined the Esports industry as a professional player no one really supported her that much but after working hard and winning one competition after another she proved how strong she truly was. Later on, she won the world championship and realized her dreams.

This is a light, romantic, comedy E-sport drama. The story is light and cute with a funny and likeable gamers. I even like the characters on other teams because they are funny too. There are episodes that give you butterfly in your stomach. Sometimes they are way to sweet!? It is also good that they show the rage and how toxic some fans are which is something we’ve seen in real life.

Overall, this drama is okay okay for me because it is a romantic comedy drama with a happy ending. The chemistry of the leads are okay too. CGIs are great! I feel that I am the avatar itself. ?

GENRE – Modern, Comedy, Romance, E-Sport

LEAD CAST – Xu Kai , Cheng Xiao

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This one makes ME smile every time I watch

I don’t know anything about esports so I don’t know how accurate that portrayal was, but I enjoyed this one. It’s the most laugh out loud funny drama I have watched yet. I really enjoyed the banter between the leads. I have to knock it down a bit because the actor who plays the FL has the most wooden expression no matter what they are doing. It’s a bit off putting when they are supposed to be staring longingly in each other’s eyes and she just looks zoned out. This was my first time watching Xu Kai and I enjoyed his performance here. The secondary love story was also well done IMO. I could have done without some of the in game animation but the games themselves and how they affected the story line were interesting. The main love story was great with no break ups or separations. This is comfort watch at its finest and will definitely be one I revisit.

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I'm guessing the novel was better?

Let's get the positives in first. Genuinely supportive team mates, friends, family and even rivals. Cute flirting scenes. Mild humour. Gorgeous felines. Attractive looking cast.

Some attempts to tackle big subjects such as toxic fandoms and being female gamer in male dominated industry although everything felt a bit too easily resolved.

Ok, now my biggest gripes.

1) Too much assumed knowledge. I'm into games but unfamiliar with Onmyoji Arena. A quick explanation would have sufficed.

"Hey, here's a map, its features, this is the objective and some of the main characters"

They had a beautiful model of the map in the meeting room table, I don't recall them ever drawing attention to it. I couldn't enjoy the nuances of when they ban/chose the players at the beginning of each match, why was that choice shocking? I ended up looking stuff up but I don't think I should have to do that.

2) I wondered if I fell asleep in the first few episodes and missed the explanation, but the fact that my attention was not captured in the beginning shows I wasn't that into the characters personal lives either. I almost dropped the series but fortunately Lu Yue appeared and injected a bit of much needed life into the team.

3) The animated parts were visually beautiful but on occasion, especially group battles, they were wasted because of poor clarity or pacing. I can understand why some viewers skipped them.

Overall, my personal opinion is it was entertaining enough, I didn't hate it but it has unfulfilled potential. Maybe tried to do too much.

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My first 10 star rating of this year! Amazing drama!

pros:
- plot isn’t anything groundbreaking but it was well written and well paced and well rounded. i barely skipped any parts which is rare for when i watch cdramas!
- the romance and friendship in this everythinggggg!!!! it’s what made this drama so special imo the cast all had such good chemistry with one another :D
- i play MOBAs for fun and i enjoyed the game play and competition aspects of it. the animation of the fights were so inaccurate BUT i loved the more interactive touch it provided for the audience. and it was such a bonus that the FL was also playing and not just an onlooker :)
- acting was rly great!!! really aced their roles (excluding CX lol)
- kisses were fireeeeeeee <3
- all the characters were such well written. loved every one of them! i like how this drama lacked an ‘enemy’ character (the enemy were the obsessive crazy hateful fans lol)
- great cinematography, could tell the budget was pretty high in this and it paid off for sure :)
- xu kai is so good looking in modern drama!!!!!!!

cons:
- said it before but CX can’t act lol i get that her character is meant to be stoic and whatnot but like... i don’t even think she pulled it off that well. one thing she did pull of well was being shocked bc she looked like that for every scene
. not a deal breaker but was a bit jarring. she’s gorgeous though!
- FL character was also a bit irking at times. very much negative ‘i’m not like other girls’ vibes at times. and also came off as quite cold and unsympathetic to the rest of the characters. idk if it’s just the script writing, but there would b parts where it’s meant to be a heart to heart and she would just dismiss it or stand there looking shocked and provide no empathetic qualities. i think her character was the most flawed when it came to character writing.
- minor but could they not have changed up her hair as well? lol
- don’t take the esports part seriously. i wouldn’t personally consider it as hot flaw though.
- on the contrary to others, i found the second couple boring. skipped most of their scenes. it wasn’t bad though, just not interesting to me lol
- ending was rushed. it did tie things up but would have loved to see a bit more post competition team banter.
- the cats deserved more screen time!!!!! they were so cute i love cats lol

overall, i am teetering between a 9.5 or a 10. considering my enjoyment, i’ll give it a 10. a well rounded drama, gave me butterflies and literally had me on the edge of my seat during the competitions. do i recommend? yes, for sure! well-exceeded my expectations.
i don’t think the drama deserves the hate at all! a 3/10 on douban is completely inaccurate.

I really don’t understand why chinese fans are so petty. I understand there are plagiarism allegations towards the AUTHOR so it’s not fair to bring down the cast and drama THIS much. the comments on the official weibo page are so sad and the rating on douban is truly a result of people wanting to be malicious/hopping onto the hate train kind of thing. it’s ironic because this drama criticises those kind of fans and the damage they do. this drama has one of the best written characters of this year. some esports details are distorted however, this is a drama, not a documentary. people need to treat it as a piece of fiction work. and the fact that this has most likely dashed any possibility of a second season (due to high chances itll be boycotted) is so heartbreaking. I hope the cast and crew know how popular this is internationally and how many fans the cast have gained across the world as well.

best of luck to all the cast and crew for future projects and i hope theyre proud of this one :)
hopefully 明年见? ;))

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Simple and enjoyable.

Keeps you engaged, with sweet moments and an interesting mix of gameplay/tactics and personal relationship aspects.

A gaming plot is nothing new but I think they executed it very well and managed to add in some fresh aspects. Refreshing to see a gaming drama where they can work towards the same dream together. It was nice that they attempted to bring to light the issues with sexism and cyberbullying/problematic fan behaviour in the industry. The gaming terms may be a little confusing at first if you’re not familiar with them but over time you get used to them. The gameplay sections are well-balanced so you can fully enjoy the drama even if you don’t enjoy the tactics. The intermittent CGI gameplay was a nice touch so you can even enjoy the scenes even if you don’t understand the game.

What was fresh and enjoyable was that the FL was offered some opportunities for her to grow/solve problems on her own merits. Yes, she received emotional support and advice or even team support, but that makes it real. The FL is a little bit physically fragile and has a few white-knight protection moments but it’s a C-drama so it’s unsurprising. It strikes a good balance.

The romance is pure and believable and the witty personalities are a bonus. There wasn't really any unnecessary angst or dragged out/prolonged issues, so you can enjoy the show with a light and easy feeling.

A few side characters were lacking a little depth but for the most part, they seemed well-rounded and added another dimension to the story.

To sum up, it was a well-balanced drama that I think has a nice flow/pacing with lots of simple, enjoyable scenes. There wasn't anything earth-shattering about it but it was good and very easy to breeze through with well-acted, believable characters.

As to what I didn't like: The subtle anti-Korean sentiments and the obvious and awkward Korean dubbing dulled my enjoyment somewhat and it didn’t seem necessary. I thought the same rivalry effect could have been achieved while keeping it domestic. However, as someone who is English and not part of the gaming scene, there may be more subtle intricacies, or political strife, that I’m unaware of that make this necessary or valid? I would also have liked for them to explore the sexism angle a little deeper. While the issue was touched upon and started out strong at the beginning, it wasn't really a central plot issue and some of the meaning seemed to get lost along the way.

A potential for S2 if they really wanted to. Perfect as a stand-alone series as well though - a well-rounded, pleasing ending.

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