A BEAUTIFUL HEART WARMING STORY❤️
I never thought that a crush would be potrayed in a beautiful sacred yet thrilling way like this drama did... sincerely speaking it felt like I was passing my eyes through some one's diary...all the emotions and feelings were so real and natural..this drama had that ability to grow onto you even without you realising it...There many reasons why iam rating this drama with a solid 10 but I'll break them down into five.
The plot might seem like something you have seen before but trust me you haven't, it has a unique touch to it, from the story execution to the dialogue to the consistency to the way it's heartwarming and beautiful and emotional...yet light and simple.
Zhao lusi as Sang Zhi has to be the best decision they made, she fits the role so well and is acting is so effortlessly from the time she acted as a 17 year old to the current episodes where she's grown up, her character is really attaching and lovely and worth rooting for, I loved her character development and the way her character was made sensible cute delicate but at the same time brave...this has to be my best character of Zhao lusi so far ❤️
Chen Zhe yuan as Duan jiaxu is everything, he was written as mature yet caring and understanding to sum it all up he was that green flag and I admired how he acts with his eyes..all his emotions are potrayed from his eyes and that's what made his character unique🤍
Victor Ma as Sang Yan was another unforgettable character..he won me over with the way he's character was written..he's relationship with the female lead was so precious and I absolutely loved their bickering and dynamics as siblings..❤️
The chemistry between the leads was beyond doubt amazing .I loved their natural and unforced Interactions, I love the comfort I got from their relationship I love how their relationship was far from toxic but health and admirable 🤍
The osts were beautiful and reflected the story and the Cinematography was to die for.
Overall this was a nice ride..I roller coaster of many emotions and I must say I'll miss this drama so much.
I do recommend this...if you want something light and fluffy ❤️
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A real gem - watch it!
I find many Chinese dramas either too melodramatic with overcomplicated plots and very 2-dimensional characters or the acting just plain awful. I don’t even bother to finish many of them - but this one (Hidden Love) is a real gem. Everything is just spot on - the casting, the acting, OST, the plot - it is faultless. An absolute pleasure to watch from start to finish!Characters have depth; the story flows naturally and it’s very well acted. Plus romance rush in practically every scene. It had me in fits of laughter (e.g. sibling rivalry), throes of despair (especially the first airport scene) and every feeling in between. So, so refreshing to find a C-drama that ticks all the boxes and left me feeling my time wasn’t wasted (which is how I feel about majority of c-dramas). In fact, I finished watching it and immediately watched it all over again. It’s that good.Was this review helpful to you?
HIDDEN ❤ LOVE - deep in heart
Loved and enjoyed this drama so much feeling too many butterflies!! Great story and perfect cast they nailed it. Zhao lusi stolen our hearts in every drama.I watched this series when it was still on air and amount of curious and patience to wait for next episode to air was another excitement for me!! But as we all know "worth the wait" , this drama nvr disappointed in the storyline .
Perfect balance of FL and ML chemistry and understanding level. The bond between sister and brother is another spark to this drama. Its so real and natural.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 🐱🐱
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This review may contain spoilers
Compilation of random thoughts I had while watching this drama:
1. Why don't I have an older brother with hot friends?2. Jiaxu is way too hot for his own good! Every time he appears on screen, my heart skips a beat; I forget to breathe; I go into a daze; and I keep smiling like a stupid fool who's too old for this shit!
3. Sang Zhi looked more mature when she was 14.
4. But Sang Zhi is still fine as 17 year old. Maybe a little too shy, or she could be like that because of her crush on Jiaxu, and I totally understand it.
5. I love Sang Zhi's petty fights with her brother. That's me and my brother and we still fight like that at the age of 26 (me) and 24 (my brother)...
6. For a moment I thought Sang Zhi at 17 is too much, but again I was kinda exactly like her except I never skipped cities just to see a guy I had a crush on (perhaps rich people privileges!)...
7. I love how considerate Sang Zhi's parents and brother are. If I would have even told my family about my first love and heartbreak in school, I would be dead.
8. Does the parents' generosity and good deeds get passed down to the kids? No! Then why should kids bear the burden of their parents' sins?
9. Again, I love the brother-sister dynamics. They are just too real!
10. Sang Zhi and Jiaxu's overthinking phase is very realistic. I am sure most people in their young age would have experienced it. Maybe that's why I am liking this drama so far, even though it's a fluffy romance (I am more into crime thrillers).
11. This is soooo cute..... I am constantly screaming and getting butterflies seeing Sang Zhi and Jiaxu interact with each other. This drama is like every girl's dream fairytale!!!
12. It should be a crime to make a guy look this adorable! How am I supposed to lower my expectations when someone could imagine such a person and put it down on paper? Where will I find someone like Jiaxu who can reach my sky-high expectation? Or does the writer wants me to be delulu forever until I die single?
13. I might die of diabetes before this drama ends!
14. I like how understanding Sang Zhi is. I would probably die of overthinking if I would have been at her place!!
15. I am going to cry myself to sleep after finishing this drama because it is making me feel single and lonely in 100 different languages.
16. Love that every action and reaction of people in the drama feels natural. Some people may not agree but when I imagine the type of situations portrayed here, I would expect people to react in the same manner, be it Sang Zhi, Jiaxu, Sang Yan, Sang Zhi's parents, or Jiang Ying. I was a little disappointed with Sang Zhi's boss coz I would expect a boss in the workplace to be more mature to keep personal and professional life separate.
17. I know I have said it before, but I truly adore the Sang siblings' relationship. Not everyone gets to experience it, but personally, I relate to it the most.
18. And slowly, I fell for Sang Zhi also!
19. I am so envious of Sang Zhi that she could ask someone to love her forever. A lot of us have lost hope in love so much that we don't expect it from anyone anymore. All we do is try to love ourselves to feel a little less lonely and somewhat content...
20. I think I can watch them for 1000 more episodes, growing old together, successfully overcoming all life problems, and living happily.
I ASAP need some advice on how to get over this series! Ahhh! It completely ruined me.
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This review may contain spoilers
Some cute moments but annoying teenager, superficial and inconsistent characters and a plain story.
Had this show started when FL was already in university it would have a bit of a higher rating on my part, I found from that point onwards it was more entertaining, not great by any means, but better. From the beginning up to that point I almost quit several times solely on the fact that the FL was EXTREMELY annoying.I'm not familiar with the actors in this show nor I generally care who is in what. There are actors I like, but I won't watch something only based on that. I say this because I don't know if the acting of Zhao Lu Si is her or it's the director and direction that pushed her to do that (and in that case not sure why they would be happy with that result). It was extremely annoying how she was acting as a 17 year old like she was 7. She was shown as more mature at age 14 in her way of speaking and mannerisms (although physically that actress was clearly younger so it was also very jarring).
I think at this point after two cdramas watched being set in high school I should avoid cdramas set in high school. It feels at times like I'm watching a video on morality and good manners directed at high schoolers, like the civil education videos I had to watch when I was around 12-14 years old. It's also so forced how they try at some point or another say some grandiose moral quote like they're talking to me directly instead of the character.
Also, for the love of all things dear, how was she so dumb and childish when technically she had good grades in school? It makes no sense at all.
They want to show later in university that she's more of a grown up but there are so many things in her way of doing and especially her voice that she still seems so childish. On the other hand ML changes completely of character once he's starting to be interested in her, he's all of a sudden super cocky and flirty, it was very out of character. From that point onwards it's like they're trying to keep reminding me that she's a girly girl and he's a boyish boy.... MEH.
I still don't understand fully how or when Jiaxu started having feelings for her, it's kind of sudden.
I didn't care they didn't show much of the drama involving his father because I had zero interest really, it seemed kind of typical and like it was not going to add much to the story other than some cliché trauma, but I didn't understand either why introducing that daughter of the family affected, she was very annoying and contributed nothing to the story either. I'm guessing she was only there so FL could show her more "mature" side but it's very weak.
There are some cute moments, but overall I was not so sure of why they liked each other, I'm not even sure why she liked him in the beginning to be honest, just because he was handsome and nice to her? not sure, I'm not shown at any point in the first or second half that they share anything when it comes to personality or likes or hobbies, they barely share even that many special moments. It's also very weird because he goes from calling her "sister" to 5 minutes later being interested in her, I couldn't shake that feeling of uneasiness, and it brings me to the fact that the sister thing was way overdone. It would have been so much better had he just been the brother's friend and kept that relationship of friend than making it so far as to his feeling of her as a sister, I felt that put a big barrier on there that I couldn't see a way of it being broken and so I was not surprised when it was just done suddenly and didn't work for me at all. It's also quite annoying when she's already in uni and she keeps saying he's old and they keep mentioning the 5 year gap, what is not a big one by any means.
As it happens in the other cdrama I watched recently (When I Fly Towards You), everything is shown in perfect stages, high school is the time for little crushes but ultimately focusing solely in studies, university ok for relationships, and as soon as you finish uni then get a great job straight away and save to quickly buy a house and start a family. It's very unrealistic, and after this being the second one with the same idea I'm starting to think that they're trying to precisely sell me an idea here more than a story. It was equally unrealistic his career, how he's able to achieve all that at his age, no problems in anything, same with her really, nothing of much importance. It's also the fact they feel the need to include in the story the whole process instead of only one part of it, it gives it even more that feeling of someone showing "how it's done" to me so I take it as an example.
Characters are also generally always kept superficially and secondary ones are pretty non existant.
I found the brother quite annoying at times as well, why was he ten times more patriarchal than the father? I know maybe he just has the older brother complex but seems so weird when it doesn't seem they have that dynamic in the family. Her parents were all right but I didn't really understand why they let the son be that way with her or take more charge of her than them, it was weird some times.
The ending is... well... the cherry on top I suppose. It was quite shocking she would be proposed on the same day of her graduation, like chill man!! Another cdrama that pushes the marry young idea, but I mean, considering they got everything else at unrealistic young ages no wonder by 22-23 they're bored of their lives and they need to marry or something 😂 (I know he's older but still applies, it's not like he had to do it like he has an expiration date and as far as we know he was not being pushed to do it by anyone either).
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Slow burn, simple, charming
This was a no frill romance, yet perfectly executed.So charming, simple, pure and just transports you into a world of warmth and everlasting love.
Perfect prescription for a rainy day, feel good moment.
The ML and FL are excellent with sizzling chemistry and intimacy is heart fluttering.
The brother is excellent. Never once drops his relationship with the sister.
That little girl who comes in the first few episodes is absolutely cute. There is so much mischief in her eyes and she pulls off the perfect brat scene well.
My only gripe with most c- dramas is the use of the squeaky baby voice....why why why is that so popular when it is irritating to most global viewers?
And the other irritating part are the tiny skirts and shorts that the girls have to wear.
Do the regional local girls actually wear such tiny skirts and shorts that almost reveal their groin areas?
If they do then I guess it's fair for cdramas to portray them otherwise it's sexist and actually turning-off.
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Secretly, Simple but Wholesome!
I usually don't write reviews, but this drama truly blew me away. It deserves recognition for its remarkable qualities and has left me with very few critiques.While I'm not typically a fan of modern C-dramas, I decided to give 'Hidden Love' a chance due to the recommendations and the presence of Zhao Lusi, one of my favorite actresses. To my surprise, this drama turned out to be one of the most enjoyable series I've seen in a long time. Perhaps it was the absence of expectations that made it even more satisfying.
‘Hidden Love' embraces simplicity with a short and straightforward storyline, free from unnecessary complications or dragging plotlines. Everything within the drama is relatable, grounded, and devoid of far-fetched elements. The relationships between the main characters and the supporting cast are exceptionally well-written and portrayed, resulting in numerous moments that made me giggle like a little girl, roll my eyes in tandem with the characters, and burst into laughter due to the outrageous interactions between them. The drama evoked a range of emotions, leaving me feeling warm, fuzzy, and wholly engaged. I also appreciated how the drama remained faithful to the novel, making only minor adjustments here and there.
To be honest, I'm accustomed to more dramatic storylines, but 'Hidden Love' beautifully demonstrated the beauty of simplicity. Despite its straightforward plot, the drama remains highly enjoyable and memorable, mainly because the acting is on point.
There are no over-the-top performances like you often see in C-dramas. Instead, everything feels genuine and natural. The actors' micro expressions are spot-on and bring an extra layer of enjoyment. I even had to rewatch some scenes just to catch all the little details. The whole cast nailed it, but I have to give a special shoutout to Zhao Lusi as well as Chen Zhe Yuan. ZLS perfectly portrayed Sang Zhi's growth throughout the story, devoid of any fake cuteness.
As for CZY, he impressed me immensely. He's definitely maturing as an actor, and I can't wait to see more of his work in the future. While the chaotic brother-sister relationship brings the perfect amount of chaos, the overall storytelling heavily relies on the actors' actions and expressions, allowing them to convey the story with minimal reliance on dialogue. Perhaps, this is where the complexity lies. A simple storyline, but the actors' acting skills add layers of depth to their characters without explicitly stating their emotions. I can clearly perceive the changes in the male lead's evolving feelings. It's subtle but definitely there. I can feel their insecurities, burdens, as well as their determination and strength. The leads truly show how well the characters complement each other. It's a testament to the actors' remarkable talent, and even the crying scene tugged at my heartstrings.
The acting undoubtedly propels this drama to new heights, but the music is also a delight. The lyrics of the main theme beautifully encapsulate the love story, while the song by SY (Victor Ma) exudes a cute and feel-good vibe that had me smiling and bobbing my head along with the ML.
My main gripe about the show? They released it so slowly! One episode per day was pure torture! But hey, lucky you get to binge the whole thing now and won't have to suffer like I did.
In a nutshell, ‘Hidden Love' is a gem among modern romance dramas. Its simplicity, well-crafted characters, exceptional acting, and enjoyable music make it a must-watch with high rewatch value. Whether you're a fan of the genre or not, this drama is well worth your time.
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This review may contain spoilers
The Most Beautiful Realistic Love Story!
Hidden Love is a beautiful drama that you don't want to miss!Hidden love is a romance/ youth drama full of love and hope.
The story has no angst, there is no jealous ex gfs, love triangles (Duan Jiaxu has a stalker that is a girl, but she is taken care of maturely and is not a hindrance for their relationship.) There is no breakup after getting together and a super happy ending.
STORY:
Sang Zhi falls in love with her big brother's friend, Duan Jiaxu. Duan Jiaxu is kindhearted and hardworking guy who gladly helps Sang Zhi. Duan Jiaxu moves back to his hometown Yihe after he graduates from Nanwu's university. Sangzhi and Jiaxu lose touch for 2 years before meeting again in Yihe, as Sang Zhi had gone to University in Yihe. Sang Zhi realizes that she still has a crush on Jiaxu, meanwhile Jiaxu falls for her. "She fell first, but he fell harder"
SPOILER PART OF THE STROY, MY OPINION:
Duan Jiaxu unfortunately has to carry a heavy weight on his shoulders as his father had done a hit-and-run and now Duan Jiaxu alone is trying to make up to the victim's family. The victim's daughter, Jiang Ying, is stalking Duan Jiaxu obsessively, but when face to face with Sang Zhi, Sang Zhi isn't afraid of her and stands up for Duan Jiaxu. The matter with Jiang Ying is taken care of very maturely by Duan Jiaxu giving her a restraining order. It was refreshing to see the main lead not getting too sad, anxious or scared for herself, but actually more worried about her boyfriend and his safety. It was also refreshing that Duan Jiaxu gave her a restraining order instead of letting her act the way she wants or getting guilt-tripped to think that he doesn't deserve Sang Zhi.
There were no breakups or misunderstandings, and I loved it. It was a beautiful drama of a childhood crush becoming a real, passionate love. Furthermore, it was a beautifully made drama and one of the best modern dramas I have seen.
ACTING:
Zhao Lusi as Sang Zhi,
She was THE MUST-HAVE in this drama. Her acting was just so cute, natural and realistic. She did well, acting as a small teenager in love that grew up to be a kindhearted adult. Beautiful acting.
Chen Zheyuan as Duan Jiaxu,
Cute, Mischievous and mature, he can act it all. It was really a great pick to have him act as Duan Jiaxu.
Victor Ma as Sang Yan (San Zhi's older brother).
He acted well as Sang Zhi's brother. Made me sometimes think that Zhao Lusi and Victor Ma might as well be real siblings after this, since their acting was so believable.
I'm giving this a 10. Truly worth my time. I will rewatch this definitely sometime.
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Sweet Warm Drama
I'm not a fan of Zhao Lusi and Chen Ze Yuan. I'm watching out of curiosity as to why it's so popular.a warm and sweet teenage story, perfect for watching when relaxing. but for me this was a bit boring, I skipped some scenes that were too long, like the scene when Sang Zhi was thinking. this is great to watch, especially for those of you who like relaxing dramas that warm your heart. i recommend it.
ML and FL are very good looking, they also have strong chemistry. very suitable. I last saw ZLS on Feel at ease Mr Ling, and CZY on Mr. bad did not expect they would play together and break a record like this. their acting skills are very natural and pleasing to the eye.
Anyway, this is a warm story, watch it if you're bored and relax. I think it will also be good if you watch it when you're lonely. one more thing, this drama is very light, especially since the characters are still teenagers, don't think the conflict will be complicated!
Happy watching all!
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The best drama to watch and should have a season 2.
Hidden Love was the first C drama I watched. And it was the best!!!! i mean it's 101/100. Still now I cannot get over and move on with this drama. I rewatch it 2nd time and now I'm on my third.♥️ This drama gives me comfort and everything. Each episode makes me giggle and the chemistry was so🔥 the visual was 💯 this drama was so out of this world♥️ So yeah I need season 2, I mean the world needs HIDDEN LOVE SEASON 2♥️ or let this two have another drama... Chen Zhe Yuan you are the best♥️Was this review helpful to you?
The feeling of being loved and loving those regardless of their flaws
I felt like I was apart of this drama. The cast and writers pulled me in with such raw emotions. This drama has an overall happy/pure feeling to it. This drama not only had a good sounding synopsis but actually exceeded every expectation I had for it while watching it. This drama primarily focuses on the main leads relationship and their family/school plots. Not much of side character plots, but there are some. Occasionally with first loves, you’ll be let down or have doubts in yourself… Sang Zhi expressed those feelings in such a pure manner. At one point I just had to stop the drama and let myself have a good cry, and at other points I found myself laughing out loud and smiling ear to ear. I haven’t had such a fun drama come across my list in quiet some time. The speed in which I finished this drama says it all, and at no point did I skip through any scenes that I felt weren’t relevant. I absolutely loved this drama!!!Was this review helpful to you?
Perfect love and healing story
Even in my most favorite dramas I always had something I didn't like, there always were some flaws... but this story just PERFECTThis drama amazing in everything, its fully focused on main leads, but same time all other characters have their own charm (SZ parents, roommates, DZX friends, his boss and co worker), even if they had only a bit screen time, they wasnt just decoration or waste of time! And of course Sang Yan, I loved him as much as main leads ❤️❤️❤️ this drama has right amount of angst, to make this story more real and touching, but still be the most light, heartwarming, hilarious, comfort story ❤️
Chen Zhe Yuan and Lusi did so amazing job to bring this characters to life, their personality and relationship were so real, they always remind me my youth experience, how it feels be in love first time, first heartbreak, anxiety, excitement, comfort you can find in other person, acting was very realistic with many details and nuances, their chemistry made me feel butterflies and also made me cry.
Its also not just love story, one of the main theme is healing, forgetting and accepting❤️
I really not ready ay goodbye for this story((( there no drama like this, will miss them very much 😭
I recommend it everyone, just give it a try !
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