Kudos to the child actress

I picked this without much thought at first because usually I like to watch Japanese slice-of-life dramas with some supernatural or fantasy elements in them, but didn’t expect to like this as much as I did and am surprised that there are so few reviews written about it.

What I liked about this drama:

Firstly, yes, the Japanese are good at making slice-of-life dramas. I believe this genre is their FORTE. They are able to make ordinary, everyday happenings interesting and very ordinary conversations touching.

Secondly, this drama touches my heart. It shows a family being torn apart by death of a family member, one who is always full of life, of good cheer, keeps the entire house proper, does the housework for the family 365 days a year, cooks all meals for the family, yes, sounds all mundane stuff, but the reality is that when this person is no longer around, the whole family simply collapses. The entire world becomes gloomy and dark for the remaining family members who simply live their lives like zombies day in, day out, year after year. And then, out of a sudden, one day, when they are given a second chance, that is, when the supposedly dead family member comes back (in the body of an elementary school kid), the family gains newfound cherish and happiness….but alas…this second chance is taken away again…..

This drama executed all the above very well. The emotions of the main leads were just right, the words said were appropriate and simply able to strike a chord.

Thirdly, the female lead. The elementary school kid who acted as the wife whose spirit had gone into this school kid’s body. This drama’s title is ‘my wife became an elementary school kid’, so obviously they had to find an elementary school girl to act as the wife and wow, I think they found a really suitable child actress. I am not familiar with Japanese child actresses, but this particular actress really acted convincingly as a 40-plus year-old woman, although she was merely a 10-year-old girl in real. It is not easy for a girl as young as her to act like a mature adult woman, but her mannerisms, body language, vibe, right down to her facial expressions and speaking, were all convincing enough in this drama. Kudos to this actress! I think her exceptional acting was the key to the success of this drama because 98% of everything in the drama was about her and her family.

Overall, the pacing was good, neither too fast nor too slow, there was never a dull moment I could remember, even when what they were doing or talking about were just ordinary everyday stuff.

I have to specially mention the OST. The drama was not filmed in the 80s or 90s, but somehow, there was a nostalgic feel to the music which was soothing to the ears.

As with most Japanese dramas I have watched, loose ends were tied properly at the end, closures were properly made, goodbyes and words of gratitude were properly said, leaving no regrets and nothing hanging in mid-air or unsettled. The ending gave a sense of satisfaction and positivity towards the future.

It reminded us that even if our loved ones were to leave us one day, we should still face life positively and live it to its fullest.

Negative comments? I did think hard, if I really have to comment, it will be that the stories of side characters were not developed much, BUT they were not irritating and did not at all worsen the main storyline. This is perhaps the characteristic of most Japanese dramas, short and focused (on only the main story and the main leads), but really, other than that, I cannot find anything negative worth commenting because EVEN IF there are, the positive ones above far surpass any negative ones.

I highly recommend this drama if you like heart-warming Japanese slice-of-life, family dramas with a supernatural element, but I have to mention that the supernatural element in this drama is not the focus and does not play a huge part at all.

There are numerous such Japanese dramas out there, but this is definitely one of them I did not regret watching.

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There are better Thai BL dramas out there than this.

STORY: Theo, who spent most of his growing up years in Paris, comes back to Thailand. He has a childhood friend Akk who lives opposite of him and also attends the same university as him.

While waiting for Akk in the library one day, he found a book named Enchanté and out of boredom, he casually wrote something in French in one of the blank pages at the back of the book. Surprisingly, when he looked at the same book again after a few days, someone else has written something in response to his comment and signed off as ‘Enchanté, this got him curious and as this replying became back and fro, it made him determined to find out who ‘Enchanté’ was.

Akk helped him to paste notices around the university and eventually 4 persons came up to him claiming to be the one who wrote the messages in the book.

Personally, I found the first 4 episodes quite slow and thought the story to be a little silly and meaningless that is, finding out who Enchanté was, was that really important? However, things started to pick up from episode 6. I think some reviewers have already revealed who Enchanté was, so I shall not say anything here, but it was unexpected to me, and that made me see that the storyline did have some depth after all but only that moment.

When I watched this drama, many a time I questioned the existence of the 4 guys who claimed to be Enchanté but all actually had ulterior motives for getting close to Theo because he was the son of the owner of the university. The drama’s title Enchanté in French means enchanted, delighted, overjoyed, smitten, or bewitched, but I wonder how this is related to the story, or to the 4 guys, they did not look smitten with Theo in the show and definitely not Akk, smitten with Theo wasn’t quite the right word although yes, Theo and Akk did like each other, lots of ‘close-up staring at each other’ scenes until I found them a little too many.

The 4 guys were uninteresting, most of them had their own secrets which of course were not properly developed given only 10 episodes, but they were also unimportant because the focus was on the relationship between Theo and Akk, which to me was not properly developed either because half of the time in the drama was focused on finding Enchanté.

ACTING: I find the ML Theo expressionless, or should I say always had the same expression, as a model he has good looks, but as an actor, it shows inexperience. And his character was self-centred. When he decided to return to Paris, he did not consult Akk in his decision-making process although they were already a couple, only informing him of his decision and simply left Thailand. He was only concerned about his own sorrow because of his parents’ divorce and did not put himself in Akk’s shoes.

Actually, I thought he might hesitate and not leave after all and eventually appear in front of Akk’s house or something or Akk might tell him not to leave or rush to the airport, but nothing of this happened, and next I know, Akk was in Paris on a scholarship, met Theo on coincidence (seems like) under the Eiffel Tower and then proposed to him. P.S. not Paris, it was just a studio with a Eiffel Tower picture...

I was hoping to feel more of their chemistry, but seemed lacking… I had wanted to see more development between the two, but also seemed lacking here. The story somehow lacked substance.

OST: It was forgettable.

REWATCH: For the romance and chemistry, there are better Thai BL dramas out there than this even if the story is somewhat different from most Thai BLs, but I wouldn’t go for the story.

Overall, something positive would be it was a very light, very easy to watch drama. I had watched many dramas where I just couldn’t seem to get past the first 2 or 3 episodes, but this one, I was already in episode 6 when I realized it. I guess there was not much emotions or angst in this drama, and probably the only two things that pushed me forward was wanting to know who Enchanté was and when Akk and Theo were going to confess their feelings to each other.

I do not think I will recommend this as a good Thai BL or BL drama to anyone, definitely not for first-timers and for seasoned watchers, I do not think so.

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A journey of miscommunication, wrong trust and…..lots of frustrations as a result

What I liked:

1. The story. I would not say I loved it but I liked the angst that came with such a xianxia, so I was filled with anticipation when it first aired since I had enjoyed the Journey of Flower. The storyline is similar to the latter but this definitely had less angst.

2. The first 20 episodes were light and easy to watch.

3. OST were melodious and very fitting for a xianxia.

4. CGI is acceptable, not the best, but nothing to fault.

What I didn’t like:

1. Scenes were abruptly cut so much that I even wondered whether there were some issues with the online platform I was watching from.

2. Lots of random scenes where a character or characters out of nowhere suddenly appeared and seemed as though they were there all along but I was there scratching my head, asking myself whether I had missed something.

3. Acting overall from the entire cast was mediocre. Jeremy Tsui, the male lead, had the same expression. When he was happy, he looked that way. When he was sad and devastated, I could predict he would look that way. And Yang Chao Yue, I am sorry, I already did not like her from episode 1 but since the initial episodes were easy to watch, I could just continue with her, but 40 episodes on, after the entire drama, I still did not like her acting and her expressions, ah, yes, someone said pouting female lead.

And the rest of the cast, some were acceptable, but most looked like they were just ‘acting’. Yes, I know everyone is acting, but I have seen my share of good dramas where I totally forgot that they were actors/actresses because everything was so natural and convincing.

4. There were many scenes that were ‘made to happen’ (do we call such scenes cliched?) and that caused lots of frustrations like I would wonder why the male lead could not save the female lead when she needed him the most at that time, while he was somewhere doing some other stuff which could have been done by other people who were actually doing absolutely nothing at that time.

All in all, I would not recommend this xianxia because the negatives for me outweighed the positives. There was not much angst to me and I did not feel touched by the undying love between the main leads. Maybe there were not enough sacrifices? After giving some thought, I believe the most likely reason is the lack of a strong chemistry between the main leads and this is so important here – or in any xianxia – where 99% of the story is about the love between these two people.

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the miracle of Tofu, was itself more meaningful and significant to me than his ending.

This was not just another BL drama on the relationship of a gay couple nor simply a story about a teddy bear who turned into a human. It also touched on first love, Alzheimer’s disease, explored the relationship between parent and child, past love and in them, trust, delusion, acceptance, jealousy, understanding, an encompassment of many complex emotions.

90 minutes each episode was, to be honest, hard to endure at first. Nevertheless, it started off interesting, apart from Nut’s mother getting delusional and Nut’s frequent outbursts of wrath. At episode 5-6, the story picked up and 90 minutes actually flew by with Tofu getting used to being human, Nut getting used to him in the house and gradually liking him. There were also sweet moments between Tofu and Nut and the talking objects and items in the house which only Tofu could communicate with were comical.

After 10 episodes or so, the drama started to feel ‘heavy’ when they explored Nut’s growing-up years with a soldier father who adamantly wanted him to be masculine and saw Nut’s homosexuality as fragile, while his mother seemed passive throughout, but was instead misunderstood as taking sides with his father in the eyes of Nut. This part also gave us flashbacks of Nut’s meeting with Tatarn (Nut’s first love) and them falling in love. It took empathy to understand the emotions of Nut and his mother, what they were going through and why they behaved the way they did. At that point in time, Tofu became a mediator between Nut’s mum and Nut.

At around episode 12 onwards, just after the mother and son saga died down, we were faced with another issue – the cause of Tatarn’s accident and the connection with Tofu’s turning into a human being.

The last 5 or 6 episodes, there were a lot of complex emotions involved and things were not said explicitly, I had to try to understand why the character behaved the way he/she did and I would say there was depth and substance in the entire story where social issues in Thailand were touched on and it was not just a mere fantasy story about a teddy bear who became alive.

However, for me, the execution in these last 5 or 6 episodes was excruciatingly slow. Every movement became slow, even the way the characters talked. There were lots of sitting down (on the bench) talking and the content of the conversations, as far as I saw, did not mean much and did not move the story forward much. I struggled to continue watching at this point in time, bearing in mind that it was 90 minutes per episode, and as I inched forward, I felt unbelievably glad that I was near the end.

One of the reasons I continued watching though was definitely because I was waiting for a revelation about why and how Tofu miraculously became human from a teddy bear and what would become of him in the end.

Not revealing any spoilers, the ending regarding Tofu might not have been the best, but I could accept it and I thought it was befitting of the drama title, ‘The miracle of teddy bear’ and miracle it was indeed.

Though I could not quite accept the ending regarding Nut and Tatarn, this was before I read the comment section of the drama in MDL, after reading comments posted by a viewer on what the scriptwriter or novel-writer said, I could appreciate a little of the ending of Nut and Tatarn better, because I saw Tatarn’s heartfelt intentions. This was also perhaps the best ending for Nut, considering Tofu’s ending. I also understood from the comment page that lots of editing were made to the last episode, so some explanations were never made clearly, but to me this was editing issue and nothing to do with the story, of course it did affect the flow and logic of the ending, but it did not take away the uniqueness of the story for me.

ACTING

Overall, teddy bear-turned-human, Tofu acted by In Sarin, was adorable and goofy. He was convincing enough to make us believe he was a teddy bear-turned-human: new to the human world, innocent and naïve. I personally liked his narration to the viewers as well. It definitely brought viewers closer to him as a result.

As for the other male lead, Nut (Tofu’s love interest and ‘owner’ when he was a teddy bear) acted by Job, I was a little disturbed by his behavior at first – constant shouting at his mother, always getting sensitive and agitated easily, but as I watched on, I began to understand the reasons behind his behavior, it was a realistic portrayal as a result of the trauma he had gone through during his youth, though to be honest, I still found his acting a little awkward at times, not sure if this was what his character required him to be or his acting was not natural enough, I needed to see more of him in other dramas before I could decide.

The chemistry between Tofu and Nut was well, not particularly exceptional and off the charts to me, but natural enough as both friends and lovers.

If I were to nitpick, I would say that I did find the acting of some (definitely not all, most of the support leads are good) of the support leads a little lacking or unnatural sometimes especially in their immediate reactions to something that happened and I was quite sure it had nothing to do with the Thai culture after watching quite a few Thai dramas.

OST

I liked the opening song of the drama. It was melodious, cheerful and bright. The ending song was just so-so, in fact it sounded quite similar to many BL OSTs. My all-time favourite, however, was the song played during the sad scenes, Tee Thanapon - Waiting For You.

MY VERDICT

Basically, my only gripe of this drama was the slow execution in the last 5 or 6 episodes. I personally found the story unique because I have never watched a drama in which a teddy bear could turn miraculously into such an absolutely lovable human and I really liked In Sarin’s portrayal of Tofu. It was very natural and believable.

Yes, the ending was not the most ideal, but I looked at it from a different perspective, considering the analogy, ‘the journey is as important if not more important than the destination itself’, the miracle of Tofu, the teddy bear-turned-human – the fact that he had once existed and the impact he made on the people around him - was itself more meaningful and significant to me than his ending.

I would recommend this drama if you are looking for something not just focused on BL, but also touched on family, relationships and a little on fantasy, but do take note that the ending may not be the most ideal for you.

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a very good BL drama

Well, I started watching this because I like BLs especially Thai BLs and I saw this was the latest one and people were giving very high reviews so it piqued my interest and I started watching.

The first two episodes were not my cup of tea, what with two groups of gangsters fighting constantly and I thought the male leads also looked weird. That was the initial impression so it didn't spur me to want to continue watching, I halted for a week or so and only decided to continue after again reading the high reviews, people giving 10/10, it must be something good.

So I continued watching on, and the story did get better when they moved to the university dormitory. Things became interesting when the male leads stayed opposite rooms by coincidental, yes, really too coincidental and cliche but anyway I didn't bother about such cliches because dramas are mostly like that, otherwise how can they create a story out? More importantly, I started enjoying seeing the leads' interaction with each other, their constant teasing of each other and the realisation that what they feel for each other was more than just friendship. The pace was just right, I didn't feel bored at all. In fact, I enjoyed the scenes in the uni dormitory the most, every time when the scenes moved to the uni dormitory, I was eager to see what interesting interactions the leads would have this time.

As for intimacy of the leads, when they realised their liking for each other, I did not expect their kiss to be so soon and I want to specially mention, the kiss was really hot, I mean, that to me was a real kiss and a passionate intense one, not just lip-touching I see in numerous dramas. This drama has one of the best kiss scenes I have ever seen in any drama, if not the best, it was so good that I have to rewind and watch again and again.

I want to mention about the interaction between the main leads, unlike other BLs I have watched before, their dialogues/interactions are filled with sarcasm most of the time, they like to tease and make fun of each other, all done with an underlying love and want for each other. This, I really thought was a refreshing change and the main reason why their interactions were so interesting to watch. In fact, obviously they liked each other, but they refused to admit to each other, and instead played this game whereby whoever admitted having fallen in love with the other first was the loser and thus each of them started to do things for the other, treat the other especially lovingly to entice the other to admit having fallen for him. It was meaningless, yes, but it was interesting and refreshing to watch, all executed well.

If I were to say something negative about this drama, it would be the ending when Pran and Pat were in Pat's house drinking. When they started chasing each other around the house towards the end, I did agree with a comment made by one of the reviewers who said that their relationship in this very last scene felt more like very close brothers/friends than lovers, it felt like the main leads became their real selves, not acting anymore, they wanted to have fun themselves and wrap up filming LOL. But still, just this very last scene during the ending did not affect the rest of the drama much, just a little blemish there, would have been perfect and I would have given 10/10 if they had ended making love on the bed LOL. In addition, not sure whether it was because the director did not want to show much when they were in bed, unlike other BLs, there was no passionate kisses etc, every time when they were sleeping together in bed. I felt there was still some conservativeness there.

Overall, as my headlines goes, it is a very good BL drama, one of the best I have watched: good relationship development, interesting and refreshing interactions and passionate intense kisses. I recommend anyone who likes to watch BLs to watch this drama, it should be one of the BL dramas you should not miss if you enjoy watching BLs.

And I have to specially mention two things, I was surprised by the GL between Pa and Ink, never expected to find GL in a BL drama, well, more of pleasantly surprised because it was executed well and the other thing was the looks of the main leads grew on me, I mentioned above in the first two episodes, I thought Pran's and Pat's looks were weird to me, but no, I was wrong, their looks grew on me as the episodes moved on, I became attracted to them and yes I liked Pran's mesmerising dimples too!

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over and over again

The good:
. the acting of the cast. I think they performed well, convincing acting on everyone's part.
. exciting in the first perhaps 12 episodes. I binge-watched the first 10 episodes. It was exciting wanting to understand this entire time loop, to know what happened each time after the main leads woke up because things were always different after each loop and how they were gonna prevent the explosion.

The bad (just my honest opinion, that's all):
. as I mentioned I was hooked only until about episode 12, then I started to feel a little bored, the time loop was enough, well, perhaps because I do not watch a lot of time loop dramas in the first place, but the repetition was too much, the bus scene repeated and repeated, I was tired of it, I wanted to get off the bus.
As one person mentioned, the entire drama could have been condensed to a movie, rather than a 15-episode drama because there were some unnecessary scenes which did not help in moving the story. Well, to me, it was not necessary to condense to a movie, but shortening the drama could have helped perhaps.
. well, this is just my opinion, I did not really like the male lead, he looked fragile and sickly to me, this is merely my opinion, but his acting was good.
. this is not really a bad point, just an observation. I did not understand why the Chinese police had to deploy as many as 5 police cars just to pick the female lead, a vulnerable young girl, up for assistance in the bus explosion case, even if they think she may be armed, but 5 police cars to 'arrest' just one young girl? And in that scene, they were not going to arrest her, just inviting her to go to the police station for some assistance and questioning.

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I felt a sense of calm when I watched this drama.

A simple story about the lives of 3 women struggling to make a living and overcoming the odds in the Eastern Capital, with focus on Zhou Pan’er (Liu Yifei).

What was good:
• Refreshing storyline with no clichés in the romance
• Good communication between the main lead couple
• All three female leads were strong and independent
• Although there were some plot holes, the art of tea, pipa-playing, dances were all portrayed beautifully. Something that I seldom see in other Chinese historical dramas.
• Beautiful cinematography because of the many canals in the drama. Lots of dating scenes and even private conversations between officials were made in the beautiful boats on the canals or by the canals. Something refreshing to see. I like their boats as well, so apt to have intimate, private conversations.

What could have been better:
• The last few episodes dragged a little

This drama did not have much ‘fighting, adventures, angst’ one might see in a historical drama, it was more of character-driven than plot-driven. The aesthetics of the entire drama impressed me, the beautiful cinematography with the canals as the main backdrop and the gentle demeanor of the female lead, Zhao Pan’er (Liu Yifei) who always spoke so gently and elegantly in the drama.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama, it was one of those dramas I felt a sense of calm watching it, maybe because of the beautiful canals, the water did have that effect, because of the way Zhao Pan’er spoke, because there was not much angst in the drama, a combination of all these, but definitely it was not boring at all.

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underwhelming story with melodious OST and one thing that stood out for me

8 episodes, each lasting an average 30 minutes.

This was an easy watch. Simple story (guy moving in with his neighbor and they gradually fell in love with each other). Acting by main leads and supporting leads was natural enough. The songs in the drama were melodious - and I think this should be part of the Filipino culture, that is, very melodious songs in dramas - and slow and soothing, so soothing that I fell asleep many times at night watching.

One thing which stood out for me was the contrast in the main leads’ attitudes towards homosexuality. Vlad played by Ian Pangilinan was totally open about it and did not mind people knowing, Karl played by Paolo Pangilinan, on the other hand, was totally hesitant and did not want to admit or even say the word ‘gay’. Such a contrast was something I seldom saw in other BL dramas. However, Karl’s hesitation was not developed much and was shown explicitly only in the second last episode.

I would not re-watch this because the story was quite underwhelming. Most of the time from episode 1-6, I was just waiting for the main leads to confess and ehem…show some form of affection when they ‘officially’ admit and confess their love to each other, it was just a matter of when and how, but for this drama, after that happened, it was almost towards the end, then people around them got to know about it, Karl became worried because he did not want to admit he was gay, then his friend and uncle gave him advice, he listened to them, gave himself more confidence and finally mustered enough courage to say the ‘gay’ word to Vlad and that was about it.

I would recommend only if you want to watch a very short and easy to watch BL drama.

This is my first Filipino drama. Pardon my ignorance, but I was surprised the dialogues were made in both Filipino or Tagalog (can't tell the difference between the two) AND English., 50% in each language I would say. Well, it was a refreshing change to hear English in an Asian drama when I have been watching Thai, Korean, Japanese, Chinese dramas.

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good acting but confusing story

Every so often, I would try to pick a good Korean drama to watch. It will not be fair to say that this drama was not good, but I definitely did not feel good after watching.

Is it just me, I wonder? Korean dramas, many a time, though try to convey thought-provoking and inspiring messages to audiences at the end of the show, tend to have stories with lots of angst and make them sensational, but sometimes ended up making the stories more complicated and confusing than they should have been.

This 12-episode drama gave a glimpse of how in order to save and have something back, one has to give up in return another thing of the same value or at least that was what I thought it was trying to convey.

Kim Hye Ja (Han Ji Min), though wasn’t sure about her direction in life, was an optimistic and bubbly 25-year-old girl. She found a watch on a beach when she was young and this mysterious watch when winded, allowed her to turn back time. When her father met with an accident, she desperately winded the watch, hoping to prevent the accident from happening. Despite trying many times, she failed again and again. Eventually, at the very last attempt, she managed to save her father’s life, but as a result turned into a 70-year-old woman herself.

The initial 10 episodes of this drama were interesting. They showed in detail Kim Hye Ja’s initial shock and her gradual acceptance from a 25-year-old girl to a 70-year-old woman who was acted by another actress also by the name of Kim Hye Ja. The problems she faced all of a sudden as a 70-year-old woman were realistic, such as not being able to run like before, knees cracking after climbing up a few steps, feeling tired and wanting to rest after walking just a short while, not being able to see as well as before, feeling sleepy early in the night and waking up very early in the morning, etc. I felt intrigued watching all of these. They were portrayed so well in the older Kim Hye Ja. Although I did wonder why they didn’t use the same actress, the older Kim Hye Ja looked convincing enough with similar face features, build and mannerisms as the younger one.

This drama also highlighted some of the issues faced by less well-off families in Korea and problems faced by the elderly in the Korean society – abandonment by their own children, loneliness and suicide.

I had wanted to give this drama a high score when I was watching the first 10 episodes, in fact I binge-watched the 10 episodes in less than 2 days because I was really curious to know what would happen to Hye Ja at the end, whether she would remain as an old lady or return to her original state and how, and what would become of her romance with Lee Joon Ha (Nam Joo Hyuk), the cute-looking male lead.

However, I changed my mind entirely after watching the last 2 episodes. I do not know how to describe my feelings towards these 2 final episodes. It felt like a different team of scriptwriters took over the script-writing or the scriptwriters couldn’t decide how to continue the story, or simply they just changed their minds and decided that they did not wish to continue with the original script, but all in all it was a total letdown for me…It was incoherent and I was watching with bewilderment the whole time. I did not quite understand why things were happening the way they were because what I saw in the first 10 episodes seemed no longer valid. The characters were the same, but the setting was no longer the same. It felt like what happened in the first 10 episodes was just a dream, imagination or illusion of Kim Hye Ja or was it not? I wasn’t sure.

I will not be able to describe my thoughts of the last 2 episodes without some spoilers, but as I do not want to write spoilers in this review, I will just touch a little. Simply put, there was a twist in the last 2 episodes, totally unexpected, everything just changed all of a sudden and we were thrown to the year 1970 when Hye Ja and Joon Ha (whose wig was hilarious – the typical long straight and thick hair of the 1970s) met before their parents’ times. There were neither explanations nor hints, maybe there were, but I didn’t see nor understand them. And then we were brought back to the so-called present where we saw Hye Ja, an old lady in a nursing hospital with slight dementia and her father and mother in the past 10 episodes were now her son and daughter-in-law. We were then shown frequent flashbacks on her life with Joon Ha in the 1970s from their dating, marriage, birth of their son, death of Joon Ha to just Hye Ja and her son eventually.

All the while, until the very end, I was hoping for an explanation or at least clearer hints as to which was actually the present time, which was the past, what exactly happened, how were the last 2 episodes related to the past 10 episodes, was the watch responsible for all these, but I never got the answers from what I saw, at least not from watching it once. Maybe I have to re-watch twice or even thrice to better understand.

As for the cast and their acting, I have no negative comments – from the first episode to the end. I think their acting was believable, everyone of them from the main leads to the supporting leads did a good job. When they were jubilant, sad, helpless, desperate, or even silently devastated, whatever emotions, I could feel and empathize with them and I cried or laughed with them. The BGM also helped. Such were the emotions I had when I watched the first 10 episodes, but the last 2 episodes had me in disbelief that this was the show I had binge-watched the day before. The acting was still just as convincing, but the turn of the story gave me so much confusion that I couldn’t wait for the show to end. The incoherence made everything, whether it was the movements or the conversations, suddenly just became meaningless, exasperatingly slow and draggy.

Overall, I would still recommend this drama to anyone, because I did enjoy the first 10 episodes, but enjoy the first 10 episodes and be prepared for some confusion in the 10th and a half episode mark onwards till the end.

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A ‘waiting’ show

It was a simple drama focusing on the female lead, Sang Zhi’s life or more accurately, her love for the male lead, Duan Jia Xu. The drama title hidden love was depicted by her love at first sight for him when she was 14 years old and thereafter secretly liking this guy till her time in university when her deep concern and love for the guy finally touched his heart and they got together, somewhat like a dream came true.

Zhao Lu Si as Sang Zhi, was convincing in her role. She was pretty and sweet as a young girl. I have no negative comments about her. They clearly tried to make her look like a senior high schooler with non-existent makeup and a student-like hairstyle.

This was the first time I watched Chen Zhe Yuan. He was good-looking and a perfect male lead as the character of such lovey-dovey idol dramas, though to be honest, I had enough of seeing his face after about 20 episodes.

I saw the high ratings for this drama and hesitated to post my review because watching this drama, to be honest, I was bored.

There was nothing exciting happening or nothing to look forward to episode after episode, unless you consider waiting for the next passionate kiss to be something to look forward to. Everything was predictable and execution was slow. The only setback or obstacle to their relationship was that of the objections of Sang Zhi’s parents, but this was solved uneventfully. And then there was this third party, a harassing girl, but nothing really happened after repeated warnings.

Furthermore, this drama revolved around only the main leads. There were no stories for the secondary leads who existed simply for the main leads so the screen time of the main leads was 99.9% and that was perhaps the reason for my fatigue watching Chen Zhe Yuan.

I struggled through the first 10 episodes, waiting for the female lead to grow up and go to university as I knew that was the time things between her and the male lead would have some development. And then when she was finally in the university, I waited for her to meet the male lead, for the male lead to fall for her, for them to get together and for them to hmm....have some passionate intimate scenes and for them to get married.

I knew once they got together it would just be all fluff after reading others’ comments and people said you had to be in the right mood to watch such shows, I believe I was, there was no better time when I watched this, but somehow, I was not as touched or cringy as I thought I would be. Sweet? Yes, but just a little when they dated. That mild sweetness was the kind when you watched a young couple so madly in love with each other, but that was it. I guess because there were no surprises, so no unexpected moments that touched my heart.

However, I have to give special mention to the ending. The proposal was rather unexpected and I did shed a few tears. Finally, the girl got the guy and it was a happily ever after ending, though do not expect any explanations for the other characters.





An afterthought:
Not sure whether this was part of Asian or Chinese culture, Sang Zhi’s brother hit/punched Duan Jia Xu after realising they were together. I tried to understand this. Was he unhappy that Duan Jia Xu ‘stole’ his baby sister away from him? Maybe. Was he unhappy that they did not tell him earlier? Perhaps. Was he unhappy that the person who ‘stole’ his baby sister’s heart was actually his own buddy and he actually had the nerve to ‘steal’ his sister who was younger than him by 5 years? It seemed so.

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great chemistry between the main leads

I started this drama not having any expectations mostly because I was not particularly interested in Zhou Ye and did not even know who Hou Ming Hao was.

The first 8 episodes were slow, story was average and relationship between the two main leads was very typical of c-drama couples who first met: bickering like enemies.

I watched on, however and was gradually drawn into the story and drawn into the developing camaraderie of the two main leads, from getting used to each other to falling in love and even dying for each other.

Basically, the entire story was simple, about the male lead finding the decapitated parts of his body after being harmed by Su Ying and the female lead helping him albeit initially unwilling. Lots of adventures along the way as they tried to find the parts together and lots of things happened which also tested the strength of their love for each other.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this drama more than I expected and was glad that I started and continued with it because it became one of those dramas I waited for episodes to drop and couldn’t bear for it to end. I was touched by the love they had for each other, something which was not sudden or out of the blue but developed as they went through each adventure. This was largely because of the strong chemistry between the main leads - Zhou Ye and Hou Ming Hao - a winning factor in any xianxia and they look good together in the drama, like a real couple.

There were some comedic parts in the show, you know it when the music changed, I was perfectly fine with them. It gave the show a lighter feel and I did find some humour in some of those parts.

There were no illogical moments or irritating characters in the drama, at least nothing that I want to make a hoo-ha of. The only negative thing would be the amateur acting of some of the cast. Though they were not important figures in the story, when you could see the flaws, your emotions would somehow be affected.

So, yes, all in all, this was a good watch, I would recommend this to anyone who likes to watch xianxias with adventure and a strong chemistry between the main leads.

And yes, Hou Ming Hao did look rather charming in the drama.

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May the agarwood in this drama continues to burn…

What I liked:

1. Main leads recalled their past and thus their love for each other within the first 10 episodes of part 2 because part 1 ended with them in the mortal realm searching for the magical artefacts and it was draggy there. There was a ‘FINALLY’ kind of feeling.
2. Cheng Yi as Xuan Ye, his father. His acting and him using his real voice was impressive. Him being able to act three different characters in the drama and all seemingly acted by different people, said a lot about his acting skills.
3. Misunderstandings cleared and feelings conveyed and confessed between the two main leads.
4. I did not shed a tear in this drama, but I was moved by Ying Yuan (Cheng Yi)’s confessions of his feelings to Yan Dan (Yang Zi) the night before the showdown with the villain in the final episode.

What could have been better:

1. Average storyline
2. Draggy mortal world seemingly going nowhere
3. Ending was not ideal, but it was logical and befitting of the progress of the story, so in a way I could still accept, but just short of feeling happy.

Overall, I preferred part 2 to part 1, but liked the angst typical of xianxia dramas in part 1 in the first 18 or so episodes before the mortal realm.

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Not very good, but still watchable

This review is about part 1 only.

This drama was a typical xianxia drama, with the quiet sacrifices of the main leads, love-you-but-cannot-be-with-you angsts, heartbreaking scenes and lifetimes of love.

I had always liked watching this genre and had watched numerous of them, so tropes and clichés were not surprising to me.

Yang Zi’s and Cheng Yi’s acting definitely brought the drama to a higher level. Yang Zi was as always playing the bubbly role and Cheng Yi was as always spitting lots of blood, but they played their roles well and that to me was enough.

I think this drama had beautiful natural sceneries. I was always in awe of the natural surroundings, so much so that I would sometimes even focused more on their surroundings than the characters themselves and I think the director really knew how to capture the correct angles to portray the most beautiful scenes. As for cinematography, many people commented that it was bad, but I had no negative comments about it, it was ok to me.

What I did not quite like about the drama, a little nitpicking included:

1. I did not shed tears nor feel particularly touched by the love of the leading couple when they were in the immortal realm in the first 20 episodes. I was just too used to the tropes and clichés in this genre that there was nothing surprising, but more importantly than being too used, I felt that their passion for each other was shown too early in the drama, without a strong built-up. Not that I like slow-burn romance, but I would feel more for a couple if they had gone through some life-and-death situations together or done at least something worthy for each other and then circumstances caused them to separate, etc., but in this, they realized they liked each other and then in a short span of time, they were willing to make huge sacrifices for each other to the extent of giving half a heart to the other. It was hundreds of years in the drama, but in reality, it was a mere few episodes that viewers saw the transition which was just too short and nothing of significance that had happened for me to feel for the couple.

2. Many a time, I felt that the immortals in the heavenly realm did not behave like immortals in this drama. They were supposed to be immortals who had lived thousands of years with magical powers, so they should not have to sleep or cook or eat egg fried rice, or use a broom to sweep the ground, at least that was what I imagined. I would think that even a junior immortal like Yan Dan (Yang Zi) would be able to execute a little magic to sweep away the dried leaves or whatever in the yard without actually needing to use a broom. And, the heavenly realm had day and night when immortals had to sleep. It felt a little weird and unconvincing. I recalled in the drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, there was no day or night in the heavenly realm and this sounded more 'logical'. I know such things sound rather trivial, but heavenly realm is a place unique in a historical fantasy drama, so I would appreciate some meticulous details to have been thought of when creating such a realm by the scriptwriters.

3. I did not quite enjoy the mortal realm, starting from around episode 22 onwards. The two leads lost their memories and just when they met each other and me hoping that soon they would recall each other slowly, they went around together with Yu Mo (Ray Chang) looking for and collecting the magical artefacts to cure Tang Zhou (Cheng Yi)’s heart issue, but this looking around took such a long time that it started to get boring, new faces kept appearing, new information, new things totally unrelated to the original xianxia angst kept appearing in new episodes and leading to nowhere. All these from about episode 25 to episode 38.

4. This is trivial, but I just have to mention because it was so obvious. She was supposed to be a princess, but the hair decorations worn by her, a princess of the Eastern Sea, Zhao Lan, looked glaringly cheap. They looked like some hair decorations one would find in a marketplace or a thrift store...

I have to mention OST because they are so crucial in a xianxia drama to build up the emotions. Fortunately, 偏星 (Partial Star) sung by 张靓颖 (Jane Zhang) is sweet and romantic for me to keep listening to this song. The rest were simply forgettable.

All in all, I would not say that this part 1 of immortal samsara was very good, I do not see it as 'THE xianxia drama of 2022', but it was still watchable partly because I like watching this genre, enjoy all the angst and heartbreaks of this genre, though I do not think I would re-watch this, like what I have done for some xianxia dramas.

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Watch this for the chemistry between the main leads

I had never seen Yang Yang’s dramas before, and Zhao Lu Si, though I had seen her in two or three dramas before, I always felt her dramas were either a hit or a miss for me because I tended to have that ‘trying to be funny, but actually not funny at all’ feeling when I watched her acting.

However, this drama made me take a different look at her. She had great acting here, in fact I was most impressed with her among all the leads. I think she really did her best. She acted as Bai Feng Xi, a legendary martial artist wandering in the martial arts world in disguise, but was actually the only daughter of the King of the Qing state. She was good in martial arts, intelligent, resilient, spontaneous, fuss-free and would heartily enjoy a meal any time. Zhao Lu Si was a natural in such a role. I liked her character here. In fact, Bai Feng Xi had become one of the female characters in historical dramas I admired after watching this drama.

Her chemistry with Yang Yang was amazing, one of the best couples I enjoyed seeing in Chinese historical dramas and because of this chemistry, both carried the show to top notch. They were totally comfortable with each other and I love watching such dramas. As Bai Feng Xi and Hei Feng Xi, they were on par in terms of intelligence and martial arts skills and complemented each other perfectly. There was no damsel in distress in need of saving, rather, they saved each other from dangers all the time. This was almost rare in any historical dramas. I enjoyed their interactions so much that I put other dramas on hold and looked forward to every episode during its airing period.
If I were to name a reason to recommend this drama, it would be the sizzling chemistry between the main leads.

Yang Yang acted as Hei Feng Xi, another legendary martial artist, who set up House of Jade and Fountain of Abode, an information network with branches all over Dadong Empire behind his family’s back. This was supposed to be his disguise. He was in fact Feng Lan Xi, the second prince of the Yong state. I really enjoyed seeing Yang Yang as Hei Feng Xi more than Feng Lan Xi. He looked better when his face was thinner and longer with fringe and a ponytail. I have to give kudos to the stylists for doing an amazing job when styling him in both characters. They looked so different that I thought they were two people from the trailers at first.

As for the acting of the rest of the cast, I would say there were good and bad, but at least those who did not act particularly well had little scenes. Special mention to the two who acted exceptionally well were Feng Qi Wu played by Xuan Lu and Huang Chao played by Lai Yi.

This drama had a bit of everything. Romance, martial arts fighting, palace schemes, war battles. The martial arts fighting scenes in the first 15 or so episodes were impressive, the kind that you want to hold your breath watching. Quite a bit of ‘flying around’ scenes, but I personally enjoyed watching them because they were gracefully done.

After 15 episodes or so, we had the palace scheming and then the war battles in the last few episodes. There were some martial arts fighting in the last few episodes or so, but were not as impressive as the first 15 ones.

Romance between the main leads was slow burn, but it was not so slow that you would feel nothing was happening. I enjoyed the development from their good rapport with each other, to gradual liking, love, marriage and above all, unconditional sacrifices for the other half.

What was refreshing to me was that the romance during the development stage did not have the usual tropes that I have seen in so many Chinese historical dramas such as rolling down the hill together, one landing on top of the other, locking eyes for a moment, female lead falling in the arms of the male lead, etc. This drama did not have all of these. The only cliché scene was the mouth-to-mouth medicine-feeding. I thought this drama would not have any of such romance cliché scenes, but well, when the scene came on, it was a small blemish. Was that really the only way to feed medicine to an unconscious person?

And commenting about the ending, without giving any spoilers, I would say that it was not the most ideal, but an almost ideal ending to any romance in a historical drama to me.

Finally, about what I did not like about the drama.
The special visual effects created using computer software such as animals in the hunting game, the ship on water, etc. all looked fake, this was usual in most Chinese historical dramas, I have seen before even more fake-looking ‘ship on water’ scenes in other dramas and that particular scene in this drama was not a major one so not much of a big deal.

The palace schemes were rather predictable and repetitive and the last 10 episodes were rushed, everything seemed to be happening fast and randomly with scenes cut. And when you have scenes cut, illogicality often sets in.

The battle scenes in the last few episodes were not the best, an experienced general of an army troop could be so easily killed with a mere few strokes of the sword and so-called ‘divine army’, purposely trained and had specialized war equipment looked like few packs of tofu in the battlefield, so easily swashed off with one stroke of the sword at one go. These are just two examples.

You could definitely feel that they wanted to do away with unnecessary scenes and end within 40 episodes.

Furthermore, there were comments that the palace plots seemed to be plagiarized from the drama, Royal Nirvana which I have not watched so I have no comments on that, but the palace schemes were nowhere creative, I was only impressed by Feng Lan Xi’s brilliance in always managing to plan a step ahead of his haters and then there were comments that the last episode had scenes reminiscent of dramas, Ten Miles of Peach Blossom and Princess Wei Young. I have watched these two dramas before and yes, when I saw the scenes, I could not help but be reminded of what I saw before. Not that the scenes affected the story in any way, but points deducted for originality.
Was this the result of having two amateur directors who could not think of new ideas? (The original director left with the scriptwriter halfway through the filming, according to rumors.)

All in all, despite the flaws of this drama, it was, without a doubt, a very pleasant watch for me. I looked forward to seeing Bai Feng Xi and Hei Feng Xi every episode, simply because the dynamics between them made this drama worth-watching. I do not usually mention about re-watch value in drama reviews unless there is really value in doing so and for this drama, yes, I will re-watch the scenes of the main leads and only those scenes. (In fact, I was already doing so when the drama was airing.)

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‘A simple romance is what I love.’

Before I write my thoughts on this drama, I have to say first that I am not a fan of Xiao Zhan or Yang Zi. I will just write my thoughts based on what I have watched, in all honesty.

MAIN STORY

Gu Wei (Xiao Zhan), a gastroenterologist in a hospital, met Lin Zhi Xiao (Yang Zi), a university student majoring in music (cello) when the latter’s father was hospitalized. He was her father’s surgical doctor. Due to some misunderstandings, they didn’t quite like each other at first.
Nevertheless, as they slowly grew to know each other better, they gradually fell in love, despite the huge age gap (he 31 and she 20), personality differences (he was a serious and rational person, while she was happy-go-lucky) and lifestyle habits (he had mysophobia and was health-conscious, while she enjoyed eating steamboat and drinking coke).
Gu Wei eventually confessed his feelings to Lin Zhi Xiao, but not after attempting three times and when they finally got together, hurdles were thrown along the way, but eventually all these were overcome.

ACTING/MAIN CAST

Yang Zi was good, but not anywhere different from her usual character she tends to play as far as I have seen in her other dramas - bubbly, easygoing, straightforward – type of character. And she is a natural in such a role.

Xiao Zhan was the one who made me sit up and give a second look (and couldn’t stop looking, indeed). Other than the historical dramas The Untamed and The Wolf, this was the first time I saw him in a modern romance drama and he oozed charisma here. His tender eyes, superbly sweet dimpled smiles, gentle gestures and devotion as Gu Wei towards Lin Zhi Xiao won my heart over.
I seriously couldn’t stop looking at him in every episode throughout the drama. Many people prefer Xiao Zhan in his Wei Wu Xian character in The Untamed, for sure I like him there too, but it was slow burn for me. Here, he WON ME OVER within the first two episodes. His acting was also natural and believable, whether in his role as a doctor or when he had to show a more emotional side of Gu Wei.

SIDE CHARACTERS/OTHER CAST MEMBERS

I especially like Lin Zhi Xiao’s mother. She looked beautiful with her bright smiles and was always supportive of her daughter in whatever she did. Lin Zhi Xiao's father also did an exceptional job in his role.

As for Lin Zhi Xiao’s friends, they had their own story developments, but all in all, they looked like they were simply there to allow the audience a breather from the main leads once in a while and I did not quite like that Lin Zhi Xiao always consulted her friends for advice when she encountered issues with Gu Wei because her friends always tended to make a mountain out of a molehill of the issues.

PACING

Overall, it was not too fast nor slow, though I did find it a little frustrating around the time before Gu Wei’s confession of his feelings for Lin Zhi Xiao, mainly because he was inexperienced with falling in love, and with the appearance of the love rival, him wanting to give up, misunderstandings, etc., the entire process towards his confession was a little slow (as I mentioned, he tried to confess three times).
So, when he finally managed to confess, it was a sense of relief and the entire confession was so sweet that I found myself smiling and feeling as over the moon as Lin Zhi Xiao.

OST

For most parts of the drama, there was a duet sung by Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi and two others each sung by them. I enjoyed all three songs thoroughly. All have a romantic ‘love is in the air’ vibe in them. They were the kind of OSTs which I would still continue to listen to, even after the drama has ended because they were extremely melodious and the lyrics were so meaningful that they could easily be used as wedding songs in future.

ENDING

What to say about this other than I was touched to tears? I have watched lots of wedding ceremonies in dramas, but this couple just made the wedding vows totally unforgettable, saying words to each other unique in their own way.

Some of the unforgettable words said,

"I hope that when we grow old, you will tell me that marrying me was the best decision you have ever made in your life. If really we cannot remember anything, I also hope that loving you will be the last thing I will forget." Gu Wei

"I swear, I will be patient like a brother, humorous like a friend, thoughtful like a lover." Gu Wei

"I swear, I will be tolerant like a sister, understanding like a friend, romantic like a lover." Lin Zhi Xiao

And when Gu Wei proposed to Lin Zhi Xiao, I could not forget this sentence spoken by him.

"Work, children, health, problems from all sides, I cannot guarantee that our lives will be smooth-sailing in the future, but I can guarantee, be it good or bad, I will always be here. I will always be by your side..." Gu Wei

REWATCH

Absolutely, but perhaps only the scenes of the main leads. I was already re-watching those kissing scenes and sweet love interactions of Gu Wei and Lin Zhi Xiao as I continued to watch further episodes.

NEGATIVE

There were comments about absurdities in the drama, mainly in the hospital setting and well, I do agree with them. Things like giving Lin Zhi Xiao to rest in one of the resting rooms meant for hospital staff or putting an adult patient and a paediatric patient in the same ward or nurses gossiping in the nurses’ station or not telling the father about his cancer condition even right before his surgery or such a huge hospital had no seemingly other patients’ families in the hospital except Lin Zhi Xiao’s family, etc.….

I would say, this is a drama, and watch this drama with your heart, not your brain. You will enjoy the show much more because their romance will far surpass those illogical parts.


VERDICT

People said the romance was clichéd and corny, but what I saw was a very classic, sweet, simple and romantic love story which warmed my heart very much. I enjoyed and found myself smiling at all their love interactions with each other.

Just watching them doing very ordinary things like Gu Wei stroking Lin Zhi Xiao’s eyelashes while she was sleeping, or him gently waking and kissing her in the morning the moment she woke up brought a smile to my lips naturally. They were all just so tenderly done. In fact, when they became a couple, the things they did were very common like taking selfies with polaroid and watching sunrise together, such scenes in other dramas might have been rather boring, but in this drama, I found myself watching with intense concentration. The entire execution was just so natural and sweet that they looked so convincing as a couple and made me want to fall in love too. Kudos to their acting skills!

All in all, I enjoyed this drama immensely and relished every episode. It was really one of the few times when I couldn’t wait for a drama’s next episode and eventually decided to pause watching first because I couldn’t bear it to end so quickly, preferring to ‘savor’ it slowly later :D

It was the entire packaging – very melodious and romantic OSTs, very natural acting from the main leads and above all, amazing chemistry between Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi who were totally comfortable with each other.

It was their natural execution of the roles, making them totally believable, which made this drama worth-watching and unforgettable. The story was nothing extraordinary, it was just a common, simple slice-of-life romance, but the commendable acting of Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi brought this drama to a different level. Perhaps if it had been other less experienced actors and actresses, with a simple story as this, I believe they would not have produced the same effect as Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi.

On top of the romance, I have to specially mention about the relationship between Lin Zhi Xiao’s father and her. Calling her father ‘Old Lin’ or ‘Teacher Lin’, they were always bickering and at odds with each other. Her father used to be a school disciplinary master, while she was a total opposite of what a disciplinarian would want to see. However, their relationship improved amidst heartbreaking moments when her father’s cancer relapsed and hearing her finally call him ‘dad’ at the end was heart-wrenching. It reminded us yet again that humans only learn to cherish the people around them or closest to them when they realize that they are going to be apart soon or apart forever,,,


I would HIGHLY recommend this drama if you like Xiao Zhan, Yang Zi or if you are looking for a sweet and romantic love story with heartwarming scenes or simply if you want to see a handsome doctor for a male lead.

As the lyrics in the duet goes, ‘A simple romance is what I love.’…totally apt in summarizing my thoughts of this drama.




OTHER COMMENTS

1. I think Yang Zi’s character in this drama is about 70% of her true personality, minus the naivety and a little of the bubbly side, based on what I have seen in her past interviews, behind-the-scenes, etc.

2. This doesn’t affect my rating of the drama, but I was a little disturbed and have to say something about it. I saw it frequently in Chinese modern dramas. It would be perfect if actresses could do with less make-up when shooting scenes in the bathroom or on the bed to add that touch of realism. Most of the time, Yang Zi had FULL make-up on, that is, eyeshadow, mascara, bright red lipstick in those scenes when she was supposed to be showering, sleeping, waking up, etc.
I know actresses cannot afford to look ugly even shooting such scenes, but I would have preferred them to tone down on the make-up, like use a lipstick with lighter color and do without the mascara to make things more realistic.

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