Love on a Shoestring (2024)

Storyline is string thin but watch for the comedy value

I was brought to this as a We Best Love (a BL) fan so needed to watch for the ML

Ok I think you need to approach this with a certain attitude. It's a comedy with a little drama as opposed to an original story or deep plot . It centres around couples where there is an obvious societal difference or value which they each have to work through.

There are 4 couples. The main 3 couples and 1 side. No spoilers so I won't say who gets with whom. One of the couples has a sexy ML and another couple give the most comedic laughs throughout.

There's the obvious family relationships, some good, some bad and some really annoying. Obligatory evil characters are thrown in for good measure.

Still watching so will update accordingly but with 3 episodes to go I am struggling with the FL . Her facial expressions and views just grate. Let's hope she bucks up.

Ok so I'm finished and the ending felt a bit rushed as it neatly wrapped up each couple's story and the parental issues in ep 24. Felt like it could have done with one more episode

It's a sweet cupcake kinda watch and I think forgettable so rewatch is low

Enjoy

Chelsea X

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It's a fairly amusing romcom, but that's all.

The Good
⌲ Actress Guo Shu Yao is even more amusing than her MDL page, awesome!
⌲ Michael Zao - Ellie couple up until they started dating (top comedy)
⌲ I really enjoyed the hand drawn anime special effects. (well other than the shiny stars one)
⌲ Up until the final 5-ish episodes the comedy is very decent across the board.
⌲ As unrealistic as this office workplace is, I really enjoyed all the wholesomeness & the plethora of cute characters.
⌲ The liveliness of a Taiwanese production, especially compared to mainland Chinese shows (though it's not outstandingly lively compared to some other Tdrama romcoms I've seen)

The Average
⌲ The chemistry between the leads felt a bit unnatural.
⌲ The Cupcake Couple
⌲ Michael Zao - Ellie couple after they started dating (Too over the top, I had difficulties with second hand embarrassment)
⌲ I'm not completely sold on the main couple concept of the show, especially the hating money bit. That made it very difficult for me to empathize with the ML & accept his supposed `intelligence`.
⌲ Keke's parents (fun early on, but unbelievably weird in the second half, I don't know)
⌲ The plot beyond the romance and fluff is barely anything, to a fault. (I agree with MDL reviewer Chelsea Black, it's "string thin" indeed)

The Bad
⌲ In the final episodes all toxic parents had been very suddenly forgiven. (though I can see how Asian audiences following Confucianist values could maybe!? appreciate this.)
⌲ Adding to the previous point, It's really crazy how Keke pushed ML and his dad into reconciliation, especially considering earlier plots.
⌲ The mandatory & arbitrary breakup (My big problem with this is not how it happened, or that it did, but rather FL's indifference to it made me feel like she planned the whole temporary breakup thing to teach ML a lesson, being confident that she would get him back, not cool!)

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