Btw, is 'Love between Lines' really a Time Travel/Transmigration story ?
I recently completed it and, if I remember correctly, a small part of the story is a Virtual Reality game/simulation setup, not actual time travel. The characters enter a virtual reality game at a VR center in the real world. They wear VR goggles (you can briefly see them in the beginning of the show), and the “ancient world” they interact with is a programmed scenario which looks like a historical setting, not a different timeline or a reincarnation/transmigration universe. The characters never actually travel to another era. Everything they experience inside the game happens in real time, and they return to the real world immediately after exiting the VR studio and removing their costumes (and VR equipment).
There is no time slip, no reincarnation, no soul transfer, no time loop or historical timeline jump. It's just a VR simulation storyline in present times.
Oh I can already tell this list is going to fill up fast! 😅 I admit I’ve only seen When the Phone Rings and Our Secret from your selection so far — and the ML from WTPR totally deserves to be ‘forever imprisoned’ in this cabinet 🙄 But I honestly can’t remember what the ML in Our Secret did… Help!
I love this list ! 😍 The High School/University dramas are one of my favourite contemporary Chinese genres. They do them so well 💝 PS: I added "Wait, My Youth" as it's quite a good heartwarming one too.
OMG… I was in shock when I first saw your (all "below‑average") ratings! 😶 My first thought was: ‘Does this MDLer actually enjoy watching BLs?’ Then I read your profile and realized you rate everything on a 5‑point scale (instead of 10) 😅
Of course you’re totally free to use your own system — everyone has their own way of rating — but just a tiny friendly note: because MDL calculates its global score on a 10‑point scale, your ratings automatically look much lower than they actually are. So they end up pulling the overall MDL score of each show downward, even if that’s not your intention. No judgment at all, I just wanted to mention it in case you weren’t aware 😉
I recently started watching this 2nd season. Thank YOU for captioning/subtitling this little gem of a show !🙏🏻💎💖 I'm truly enjoying every episode thanks to your work 👏🏻👏🏻
Just to clarify something about the stroke‑count discussion:
In Chinese, there’s no alphabet like A–Z, so names can’t be sorted alphabetically the way we do in Western languages.
Sorting by the number of strokes in a surname is actually one of the traditional and neutral ways to organize Chinese names — it plays a similar role to alphabetical order, even though it’s not an alphabet.
So when people say it’s ‘basically alphabetical’, they mean it’s the Chinese equivalent of a fair, standardized sorting system. It’s not random or unusual in that cultural context.
12 
34 
3 
1 
1 
5 
2 
I recently completed it and, if I remember correctly, a small part of the story is a Virtual Reality game/simulation setup, not actual time travel.
The characters enter a virtual reality game at a VR center in the real world. They wear VR goggles (you can briefly see them in the beginning of the show), and the “ancient world” they interact with is a programmed scenario which looks like a historical setting, not a different timeline or a reincarnation/transmigration universe. The characters never actually travel to another era.
Everything they experience inside the game happens in real time, and they return to the real world immediately after exiting the VR studio and removing their costumes (and VR equipment).
There is no time slip, no reincarnation, no soul transfer, no time loop or historical timeline jump. It's just a VR simulation storyline in present times.
Luckily one of us (definitely you) still has a trace of a memory left 😅
I admit I’ve only seen When the Phone Rings and Our Secret from your selection so far — and the ML from WTPR totally deserves to be ‘forever imprisoned’ in this cabinet 🙄
But I honestly can’t remember what the ML in Our Secret did… Help!
Already seated🍿
Btw, they should definitely publish a book with all those delicious recipes in real life 🙏🏻
The High School/University dramas are one of my favourite contemporary Chinese genres. They do them so well 💝
PS: I added "Wait, My Youth" as it's quite a good heartwarming one too.
My first thought was: ‘Does this MDLer actually enjoy watching BLs?’ Then I read your profile and realized you rate everything on a 5‑point scale (instead of 10) 😅
Of course you’re totally free to use your own system — everyone has their own way of rating — but just a tiny friendly note: because MDL calculates its global score on a 10‑point scale, your ratings automatically look much lower than they actually are. So they end up pulling the overall MDL score of each show downward, even if that’s not your intention.
No judgment at all, I just wanted to mention it in case you weren’t aware 😉
PS: I really love your BL lists, by the way! 💝
In Chinese, there’s no alphabet like A–Z, so names can’t be sorted alphabetically the way we do in Western languages.
Sorting by the number of strokes in a surname is actually one of the traditional and neutral ways to organize Chinese names — it plays a similar role to alphabetical order, even though it’s not an alphabet.
So when people say it’s ‘basically alphabetical’, they mean it’s the Chinese equivalent of a fair, standardized sorting system. It’s not random or unusual in that cultural context.