Love of Summer Night (2020)

So sweet~ QWQ Underrated, must-watch C-drama!

This drama's really good!! Oh my goddd!! Wish more people can know about it.

Synopsis: A year after the prestigious QingMeng University basketball team was dissolved after the passing of its head coach, the coach's daughter takes on the challenge of reviving the team to carry on her dad's legacy and fulfill her ultimate dream as basketball is one of her biggest passions. In the process of re-assembling this team, she encounters many struggles with the recruited players and ends up meeting one mysterious, godly guy named Jun Ye. At first reluctant to join, she ends up successfully convincing Jun ye to join and as a team, she coaches the players, training them to defeat their biggest rival, ShenHua, through team-building activities. Eventually, she starts to spend more time with Jun Ye and he develops feelings for her and together they tackle the challenges that come their way.

The best thing in my viewing experience was seeing the characters' friendship and teamwork blossom into something powerful. I really loved each and every single relationship in this show, both romantic and platonic. The care and love they have for each other were genuine and heart-warming. The actors and actresses must have had such a fun time filming this drama because the cast's chemistry was amazing! I just can't get enough of them. Furthermore, I especially loved how every member of the basketball team had their own personalities and quirks, which allows you to connect to every character as a unique individual rather than forgettable, supporting characters of the main characters. The female lead, Su Nuanxia, has a great personality and is the person I want to be. Being a female head of a team of guys, it's easy for people to look down on her yet she remains independent, self-aware , and stands her ground. Among the players, we also have the handsome star player, his rambunctious roommate, the hard-working part timer, the intelligent doctor, and the shy brawny romantic. It's easy to envision how this was based on a manga/manhwa. The most exciting scenes of this drama were the basketball games, where we see the team work together and compete against their rival, their friendly competition. The actions shots during the games were so cool, intense and kept me on the edge of my seat as I root for Qingmeng's victory.

The story had a solid number of side characters with interesting enough back stories to not make me bored too. Oftentimes, the story in dramas would revolve too much around the romance of the male and female lead that I get bored of their romance. In this drama, I have never once gotten tired of watching the main couple interact. The teasing in conversations flow so fluidly and the way Jun Ye looks at Nuan Xia makes my heart melt every time. Their relationship dynamic is so wholesome and sweet. I think Aaron Deng's eyes are so attractive that I am starting to fall head over heels for him too. ;~;

At the end of every episode, there would always be a bonus scene that presents a hypothetical scenario targeted for the viewers' enjoyment. The corner on dating advice for straight men has got to be my favorite since it makes me laugh myself stupid. The main show was also hilarious bc at some points I laughed so hard my stomach started to hurt. This drama is comedic gold, I'm telling you. It's a lot funnier than most other Chinese dramas I've watched of the same archetype.

This drama is a really light, fluffy watch and the only bad part I can think is it might be too "sweet" for some viewer's taste, perhaps. I can say this show is intended for a younger audience for sure. but I'm in my early 20s and can still relate to it a lot perhaps bc I've had experience leading a club and love sports shows that promote healthy teamwork, motivation and spirit (like Haikyuu!!). The only other rather annoying thing is it's difficult to find English subtitles. I started watching it on YouTube, but it's barely translated on there so I transitioned to streaming it on the MangoTV app because it had more episodes subbed. The subtitles on the app, however, are atrociously broken and inaccurate, but my proficiency in Chinese came through an helped me tons in getting through untranslated parts. Episodes 21-24 aren't available for regular members, so I have yet to watch them, but will likely add an edit once I complete the entire drama!

Edit: Just finished watching the whole thing. Although the resolution was more focused on basketball than the couple's love life, I was pretty satisfied!

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The story starts with FL, Su Nuanxia, and her journey to regather the basketball team after the passing of her father. The show mostly focused on how the team work together to beat the opposite university team and their love life.

The male lead was the typical cool-rich-prodigy that has a lot fans. His character is okay...
However, I really like the female lead, since she is a girl coach of boys team she need to overcome a lot of her setbacks and she stands her ground everytime. She was a great coach.

The side characters had their own uniqueness which add more charm to this show. They doesn't have much going on in their lives and we follow their romantic journey as well. There's also some funny bonus scenes at the end of the episodes.

As someone who didn't know much about sports, the whole basketball part isn't complicated and easy to follow. The storyline is troupey and predictable but each episodes will keep you to binge watched. Plus the duration per episode is quite short so there's less filler plot. Watch this if you're on the mood to watch some light-hearted sport rom-com.

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