Lost Romance (2020)

If you're sick of the typical tropes in Taiwanese romance novels or in Taiwanese/Korean/Japanese romance dramas, then this one is for you.
Kind of like Extraordinary You and W: Two Worlds in that main characters travel between a fictional literary world and a "real world," but more focused on the love line and hilarious references to other works in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.

The leads are all eye candy and the dialogue is friggin' hilarious. If you have been watching Korean drama in recent years you would understand some of the references a little more -- they paid homage to Crash Landing On You, Secret Garden, Goblin, Descendants of the Sun, and more. The way the main characters describe drama tropes is A+ and if you regularly consume rom coms you'd understand -- "oh, shower scene again?!" "how do people kiss in the morning? did they even brush their teeth?"

Unfortunately, while the story spends so much effort making fun of tropes, it later on becomes tropey in itself and thus slightly hypocritical, with a nasty second female lead and unexplained attraction between male and female leads. It's almost as if the leads are in love because "the writer wants them to be," so that was disappointing :( (especially since the female lead is a regular consumer of romance novels and would understand the power of warm second male leads! Why she falls in love with the first male lead is ???? to me, though I see why it's necessary for plot development LOL.

I would also appreciate it more if Qing Feng could make a greater comeback in later episodes -- as the real world writer, for example.

Still would recommend for the comedy factor, and if you like to ship leads -- the second male lead here is superb. I love his character so much and the script didn't do him enough justice :(
The rewatch value goes to the many joke scenes, like the certain kdrama remakes :0)

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Iconic romantic drama!

Best Taiwanese drama ever! Great storyline, music, visuals and graphics.
As for the storyline I really liked how the FL managed to break the stereotypes of FL despite of being shy,emotional,pity character the FL was brave, independent smart and quirky and fought for her love until the end. Marcus chang really portrayed two characters well, from changing into an overbearing, arrogant CEO to calm ,composed CEO. The switching of roles were portrayed really well. Second ML was also very good in terms of acting. I really liked how ML chased the FL until the end despite of getting rejected again and again. The chemistry between the leads was great and full of sweet moments. If you are looking for an iconic, fantasy, emotional romantic drama it's highly recommended. Don't jump into conclusions early the plot is outstanding . Overall it's 10/10 drama for me.
Kudos to screenwriters,cast,crew and dramasettv channel for bringing this drama. I really wish that lost romance drama gets recognised in international platforms and become a major hit series in other countries also. Thanks to all people who bought this amazing drama to viewers in times of pandemic where people are so sad and depressed. These type of dramas really lighten mood in free time.
Note: Watch this drama it's highly recommended for viewers who are looking for an iconic rom-com drama..

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So freaking worth the hype!

OMG I just finished this drama and I'm so in love. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a love story.

It's quite rare to find so many good things in a drama, but this one is truly a gem. They did a great job not only turnig a "complicate/confusing" plot into an interesting one, but also wrapping all the loose ends with a pretty cute bow.

The main leads have OUT OF THIS WORLD chemistry, I mean, the PDA was heavy and they were on FIRE. It was honestly one of the most risqué scenes I've seen in a asian dramas. It also had a great amount of skinship to satisfy your romantic naughty heart (it does feel like you are reading those books with "weirdly" enticing covers of half naked man).

So we have an amazing cast and I was not disappointed by them, either the main or the secondary leads.
Vivian Sung did a great job with the Female Lead. She was independent, so funny and had an awesome guilty pleasure (I mean, who has never fantasized about a domineering, handsome CEO? ;) ) and her friendship with her BFF was so relatable that I missed hanging out with mine in this quarantine. I have not seen any other work from her, but now I sure will.

I'm overly suspicious to talk about Marcus Chang (I'm a fan, the man can act, sing, dance...), but he was so good doing both characters!! He was a classic domineering sexy beast of a CEO, with a soft heart and in dire need of the right one (oh be still my heart).

Well nothing is perfect, so the drama did have some flaws. We do get annoying characters, I mean He Tianxing had the worst family in "real" life, and he doesn't have a normal reaction to them (I mean they treat him horribly and he kind of let it all go, and I'm like: - Dude, get a spine and kick the toxic people out of your life!"). And the "real life" part of the drama was the boring part, BUT I promise you, all the other parts are so worthy!

All in all it was a beautiful romance and definitely a great watch (specially now that you don't have to wait a whole week for the next episode).

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The best Taiwanese drama of 2020

At first I started watching this drama, because some aspects of the story reminded me of W: Two Worlds and Extraordinary You.

I found the first episode a little tedious, but the following episodes stuck me in the story and since then I was looking forward to the next episodes.

I admit that I liked the story better when it happened in the book, because the plot in the real world, for me, was a little tedious

About the characters, I loved the female lead and the way she made fun of the romantic cliché stories. This role was made for Vivian Sung and I loved her in this role.
The first lead irritated me at times and until halfway through the drama I shipped the protagonist with the second lead.

Speaking of the second lead, he was one of the best characters in this drama, I loved his attitudes and I loved the ending that the story gave him.

Now for sure the character that I hated the most in this drama was Chuchu, at first she was very annoying and then when she started to become friends with the female lead I even started to like her, but I hated the way that the story turned her into a villain, I think it would be much better to leave her as a friend of the principal, without creating an unnecessary female rivalry.

In summary, this is a very cute and romantic drama that will surely bring you some good laughs and you will be addicted to the story and hope that the couple will be together soon.

The ost of this drama is also perfect and for sure many songs will stay in your head and you will probably want to put them in your playlist

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This is stay-up-all-night drama for me!

I have recently been in a slump, where I get bored after the first-kiss in dramas, but this one keeps the interest up throughout. There is no slump in the middle or end, and even the surrounding side-plot is relevant and interesting enough that I barely skipped ahead, where I skipped I did only because I needed to know what the FL and ML were going to do next. Also the chemistry is great and the acting is really good.
At it's heart, it is a story about personal growth and integration of suppressed personality traits.
Watch this for the heart fluttering and thrill:
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Entering Spoiler territory:
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The setting is interesting and for people who watch and read a lot of romance-plots there are so many hilarious moments, with a very self-aware FL. She is intelligent and witty throughout, even when all the people around her are cookie-cutter romance novel characters (which is so well done, like none of them have background stories, families or lives of their own) and I love how both the FL and ML are so different and more realistic in the "Real World" part of the story, because in the "Book World" the FL often acts outrageous, because she knows nothing can really happen to her, its a novel after all, nobody really gets fired or killed there, especially if you are the FL and ML is your overbearing, never-smiling CEO, who is only nice to the FL. Their actions are well-explained, which I always find important. FL acts crazy, because once in her life she can. ML acts rude, because we only see his "dark side".
But all of this makes sense in the end, because the ML, at death's door and having lived all his life to get recognition from his father, finally needed to face all of the things he had stuffed down in his psyche and FL also needed a playground to be fierce, crazy and brave in, living her life as timid corporate slave before, constantly needing to escape via romance novels. Afterwards both are changed and "whole", in themselves and together.

If for nothing else, watch it for Marcus Cheng playing He Tianxin as he melts away. Trust me, it's really good.

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An okey drama but nothing special

My expectations were quite high for the drama and I did enjoy some parts of it but frankly speaking it is not as good as its rating suggests.
Mainly because the real world part of the plot is quite lame and poorly thought out. The whole ML's siblings' struggle for control over the corporation is downright ridiculous and feels like a third rate soap opera. Almost all the characters of the real world are either unsympathetic or unremarkable.
The part where the FL finds herself in a novel is actually much better. It has some really funny moments and heart-warming scenes. The only weak point of the novel part of the plot is the cringe worhty episode about FL and ML abduction by an evil character that came out of the blue and totally ruined the famous sex scene that happened immediately after.
I must say the love story both in real world and the novel did not impress me much. It was mildly amusing at best. By the end of the drama I was more interested whether the ML sister and her assistant would be together or not. The issue is that in the novel the FL is in love with the ML almost instantly. It feels quite unrealistic and shallow. That's why her and Qing Feng gradually growing sympathy is more believable and makes more sense.
The drama definately has a good cast. I liked all the main and almost all the support actors and actresses. Especially gorgeous Marcus Chang who portrays two different persons here with such an ease. My favourite here though is Simon Lian. I think his acting and charisma made Qing Feng the most likable character in the drama. The Qing Feng true story would make a great plot for a drama actually.
On the whole I do not regret watching the drama but I definintely won't rewatch it.

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This is how a romance involving an alternate world should be!

I suppose many people when reading Lost Romance's synopsis will immediately connect it to the KDrama "W" or even last year's high school comic book romance drama "Extraordinary you" (which was very ordinary in my opinion). I admit to being quite skeptical at first when I read LR's synopsis. I went "Not again! Another W!" You see, I was very very disappointed with W. It was a total wreck in my opinion. Hence, that influenced my perception of any romance drama with an alternate world setting. Having said that, I have a soft spot for TDramas even though most of them performed terribly; there were times when you get gems of legendary status such as Autumn's Concerto, Meteor Garden, It Started With a Kiss, Prince turns into a frog, Fated to Love You etc etc that got adapted many times over into CDramas, KDramas, JDoramas, Thai lakorn, Filipino drama etc. So, I have some hope left for the TDrama industry. Hence, I went into Lost Romance with caution and I am glad I did!

Lost Romance is by far the best example of how a romance drama involving an alternate world should be! I know so far it has received mixed reviews. Those who disliked it mostly could not wrap their heads around the alternate world setting. Why did they go into the novel world? How did that happen? If you are one of those who can get caught up with the scientific explanation of the hows and whys in order to enjoy a drama, you might not like this drama. Lost Romance does not offer to fully explain why and how they traveled into the novel world. The leads did try to discuss why and how it happened but in the end they too had to dismiss it. The ML, in the final episode, reflected and said that perhaps it was due to his desperation and lost of hope that drew him into the novel world. The jury is out on that but again, the hows and whys are not important in this drama. If you had watched Someday or One Day - which coincidentally is also one of my recent favourites - you'll also notice the they did not fully explain the whys and hows - simply the ML & FL time traveled when listening to Wu Bai's song and hence the events/story started.

Another popular reason given by those who disliked LR is because they could not comprehend or stand the FL's hesitations. This I have to disagree. I think the hesitations are valid. After all, the ML in the novel and in the real world are two entirely different people in character and personality, and the FL had promised the ML in the novel world that she will love only him. So, immediately jumping on to the ML in the real world will be equivalent to cheating. In this, I agree with the FL's actions to stay firm and loyal to one man only (aka the man in the novel world whom she gave her promise to).

The pacing of this drama is just right for me. I am after all, a person used to watching CDramas with over 30+ episodes. This sort of pacing in LR is just perfect -neither too fast nor too slow. I find myself wanting to watch episode after episode without fast forwarding any parts.

The chemistry between the ML and FL is perfect. And while we are at the topic of chemistry, I would like to announce a good news to all those drama lovers out there who are seeking for romance dramas with lots of kissing, skinship and bed scenes....you will be pleased to know that Lost Romance will fulfill them for you!

Where story goes - it is a pretty simple romance story. Lost Romance does not pretend to make things complicated with multiple plots or try to explain every single thing. It is simply a love story. There are some business and family-related skirmish but it's just on the side and do not distract from the main couple's love story. There are love-able and dislike-able characters, some comedy and adequate push-pull factor in the romance to keep the viewers interested in the OTPs relationship. It also has a perfect and unhurried ending. With only 20 episodes and lots of lovey-dovey scenes in every episode, LR has a high re-watchability value. So, what's stopping you? Now that it has ended, it's the perfect drama for you to binge watch! Overall, I give Lost Romance a 9/10. Happy watching!

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Yan Qing Xiao Shuo within a Yan Qing Xiao Shuo

Lost Romance (LR) was linked to Romance of Tiger and Rose (RoTR) as both were aired about the same time and have similar concepts about main character stuck in a fictional story. However, as one watched on, one would soon realized that these are 2 different dramas.

RoTR is a more predominantly a romantic comedic series, and LR is a 言情小說 "yan qing xiao shuo" (romantic fiction). After the initial fish out of water, comedic moments of Zheng Xiao En getting pulled in and adapting to the fictional world, the drama took a turn to be more melodramatic as it slowly unraveled the past of Si Tu Ao Ran / He Tian Xing, mystery of getting stuck in a fictional story, and the power struggles that comes with being an Overbearing CEO.

Bear no mistakes, I still enjoyed this drama, especially the hilarious moments, funny dialogues (mostly from Xiao En), and *glups* the steamy scenes. However, I suppose it also a realization for myself that I have a higher preference to rom coms compared to melodramas. I also realized I have slightly grown out of the "Rude Male Leads with a past, so please forgive and love him" troupe when I kept rooting for Xiao En to fall for the warmer Second Male Lead, Duanmu Qing Feng in the fictional world. He Tian Xing is great, just that he is not Si Tu Ao Ran. Perhaps this how 言情小說 "yan qing xiao shuo" is.

Watch for the comedic element in the drama. And maybe if you love 言情 Yan Qing, you would personally enjoy it even more.

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the most romantic drama of 2020!

Always a big fan of Korean and Chinese Drama.

But this Taiwan drama definitely come and make itself the most memorable,
romantic drama of the year!

I've been spoiled with so many good ones this year.
Crash Landing on you (then something in the rain and one spring night)
Romance of Tiger and Rose
Love by Hypnotic
Maiden Holmes
and now,
Lost romance.

the story is unique.
the script is awesome
love all the quotes, the banters, the conversations.

Both of the lead is amazing! How they portray the characters.
The romance is out of this world.
The kiss, lets not talk about how hot it is!
all is very passionate.

if you live for chick-lit, the romance novel that satisfy the audience,
than you will breath for this one, as if it is made to our pleasure! all-in-one!

wishing for season 2!!

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Time will never stop so love your life happily and cherish the moments with no regrets

After having this show on my watch list for ages, it was the show's OST, specifically Marcus Chang's 輸給你 (Lose To You) that compelled me to watch it finally, and I am glad that I did.

This series touched my heart on multiple levels, and the interesting thing is that I felt the emotions even more when it was over. It is by no means perfect, and some parts left me questioning, but it is at heart an incredibly watchable and endearing show. It has memorable characters, music and songs that I am still enjoying, and scenes that I keep replaying. Plus, the comedy is on-point. I love how meta the show is and how it makes fun of itself by leveraging all the romance novel tropes and story personalities imaginable.

It is not all about romance, though. From the get-go, Lost Romance sets up expectations of a dramatic corporate power struggle between family in the real world juxtaposed against Xiao En's romantic adventures in the modern romance novel world.

In a way, trying to fit the corporate family drama and the romantic novel world into a 20-episode long series may be the show's main flaw. The real-world link to the novel world is never really explained. Some sub-plots feel poorly developed, like encounters that seem to lead somewhere but end up nowhere. Certain character development appears half-baked like Tian Jian's and Ming Li's sudden personality changes.

Still, what the show lacks in logic, it makes up for with enjoyable cheesiness, warmth, and charm. The show's strengths are the unique premise, attractive leads, and a funny, witty script. Plots about characters cross-traveling from reality into a fantasy world are nothing new. However, Lost Romance is the first one I watched that has the female character starting off as a malicious supporting character in the story and changing her destiny to become the female lead. So it felt fresh to me.

The two drool-worthy male leads, Marcus Chang and Simon Lian were major draws for me, but it was really Vivian Sung who kept me binge-watching. Her Zheng Xiao En was funny, happy-go-lucky, spunky, and adorable, and I found her very relatable. Being an editor of chick-lit romance novels, Xiao En had many funny reactions to the twists and turns of her storyland situation. I enjoyed watching how she determinedly and unapologetically attempted to change her fate by disrupting the cliché romance plot and its characters. Ever so handsome, Marcus Chang probably had the easier role as the good-looking CEO. Still, he was good in his dual roles as the domineering and arrogant Situ Aoran and He Tian Xing, who was more composed, sophisticated, and intelligent. He emoted well, showing character differences subtly but clearly enough for one to see his transition from the flatness of Aoran, the story character, to real-world Tian Xing, someone with more emotional depth.

The chemistry between Vivian Sung and Marcus Chang was easily the best element of this drama. Both of them had some crackling dialogue, and their love scenes were the most convincing of any couple that I have seen recently. I loved their banter, and the skinship and kissing felt so natural and real that I felt like I was intruding into their intimate moments. While I did not get how Xiao En can fall for Aoran so deeply and completely when he was more of a strategic target at first, but I can appreciate how much he lifted her up and vice versa. They showed each other how much they deserved love, even the parts that they wanted to hide. As that mutual understanding developed, the progression of their relationship felt organic

As the charming, sweet, and companionable Qing Feng, Simon Lian gave me second lead syndrome. Unlike other shows, though, I did not end up pining and wishing for more for his character. Qing Feng got his own lovely happy ending that felt just right. I was glad that the show did not spin up a female character just for him at the end, or even worse, pairing him up with Chu-chu, the initial female lead turned second lead. Speaking of Chu-chu, Snowbaby portrayed the annoyingly delicate, soft, and innocent "white lotus" so consistently that I have to give her kudos for it.

The OST is fantastic, and the show has done very well in combining background music with poignant moments. The music certainly elevated the scenes and moods for me.

Ultimately, all I can say is that if you have not watched Lost Romance, you should definitely consider giving it a try. I cannot recommend it enough.

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A purposely cliche-ridden show! Such a fun watch.

The only reason this show isn't a 10 is because the "real world" was so drawn out, everyone in the real world was toxic, and the heroine became kind of spineless at the end. That said, I still highly recommend this drama, because it is just so much fun!

STORY - I'm not going to repeat the synopsis, but let me just say, if you have been a fan of Asian dramas for awhile, you will love this show. I think it has pretty much every cliche we've learned to love/hate. There are multiple Hyun Bin references, homages to Goblin, DOTS, Kill Me Heal Me, and a couple of others that I didn't recognize. You've got the scrappy heroine/female lead that, once she goes into the novel, realizes that she's not the lead, which makes for very entertaining dilemmas. Overbearing CEO (yes, he's actually called that), second male lead which caused me serious second lead syndrome, the arm grabs, the shower scenes (they really played these up!) the comas, the evil family, the childhood traumas, etc. I loved all the lines relating to the FL in the novel "why does she trip every time she gets near the CEO? Doesn't this company make you pass a physical?" The writer did an excellent job of making fun of all these things, saying exactly what I'm sure all of us have said at one time or another. I did feel that the writing was more stilted at the end in the real world, it was bordering on cliche, unfortunately. I absolutely hated the FL in the novel - so vapid, with a whispery voice, wide eyes, and I was surprised she was able to breathe on her own without assistance. I didn't get why Xiao En was in love with the CEO/Ao Ran, other than that's what the FL is supposed to do. It made sense once they got to know each other, but it felt backward to me - just being in love with a pretty face, I guess. I loved the FL and her best friend - the kind of friendship that we all want to have in our lives.

CAST - Vivian Sung was good as Xiao En, though her hair hanging in her face was about to drive me crazy - give that girl a barrette, for heaven's sake! Marcus Chang as He Tian Hang/Ao Ran - let's be honest, this guy is serious eye candy. I think his acting tends to be a little flat and one note, which was perfect for this show. He did an admirable job of playing two different sides to the same person. Simon Lian as Qing Feng - he was my favorite person in the show. The strong, silent type, he really took the time to get to know Xiao En - I was shipping them for the longest time, even though I knew it could never be. I loved his relationship with Ao Ran as well. I was actually very sad that He Tian Hang didn't have his counterpart in the real world.

COSTUMING - Why they put the FL in huge, hanging, oversized, blousy, not attractive outfits through the whole thing, I have no idea. The clothes that the men wore were nice.

OST - beautiful. Marcus Chang did a few of the songs.

So, even though I felt like there was a lot of boring stuff, it was so fun to watch a show give voice to questions that I always have while watching these shows. Kissing first thing in the morning? Don't they need to brush their teeth?

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