Had no expectations yet enjoyed

Honestly I only watched this drama for Lusi as I’m not a fan of heavy topic dramas or political drama. So here is my reviews + thoughts on the drama. The story arc, chapter 1 consists of 14 episodes, feel free to give the drama a try and let know what you think :)

Story:
The story is based on the FL Tian Zhao who is a stubborn, strong willed girl, who at times could be impulsive but is kind at heart and is willing to do anything to help those around her. She lost her parents at a young age and survived by herself with a bit of help from her neighbours, she took care of a group of kids that were orphan like her and she is well known and loved in her village.

There are small plots like Tian Zhao’s parent revenge plot, the FL and ML’s misunderstanding plot but the main plot of the drama is the beginning of a ‘new china’. When the new government came to guild their village, stating that wanted to work for the common people, Tian Zhao started to see that they were different and wanted to join them in bettering the life’s of the villagers. There were times were she would act without thinking but that is due to her lack of education and the environment she grew up in. At times it may be annoying but Lusi expression just made it impossible for you to hate her and honestly it was quite satisfying when she would act how she feels like kicking the guy she doesn’t like right in front of everyone haha. She never lowers her head for other or give in to what others tell her is right, she keeps her head high and only trusts herself and those that she love and those that love her, she has her own judgment.

At some moments the overly one perspective political views may be too much as they overly exaggerated how great the new government was and a lot of the protagonists plots were easily solved. However its quite sweet seeing common people work hard to better their life’s, their love for there country, how the power of everyone working together can accomplish big things, as individuals everyone may just be average citizens but together they are more knowledgeable then the government’s spies.
Despite it being rough times, we see different people working to there specialties to live every day to the fullest for example the side characters like Tian Zhao’s neighbour, they each had there own skills and characteristics as well as different types of hardship that they gradually had to work through.

Theres not much romance, however the romance that is their is super wholesome and sweet. The ML Tie Dan is a super sweet guy that has a soft spot for Tian Zhao, he is very smart and strong yet he isn’t prideful and isn’t afraid to apologize to the FL and is willing to patiently communicate with her even when she refuses to listen.

Acting/ Cast:
There was moment that I found touching and I even cried a little. I felt the emotions that the characters felt and the hardship they face. So I think they did a great job with casting and costume. Despite it only being 14 episodes they were convincing at acting as neighbours who have known each other for a long time that were like a family.

As always Lusi acting was great, it really brought Tian Zhao to life and she has no problem with the rough makeup and getting dirt on her face. You can see small details that she alters to fit the personality of the characters she plays (like the tone she speaks, the way she walks, her facial expression). Also not to mention her ability to have great chemistry with almost any one she works with, I’m not familiar with the actor Hou Ming Hao but as I have mention they were super cute , they really felt like close childhood friends that grew up together.

Music:
There weren’t any particular music that I found memorable but I think the music that were used fit well with the scenes.

Rewatch Values:
I would perhaps rewatch some funny scenes of Lusi and the sweet scenes of the FL and ML but not the whole thing.

So to summarize its honestly a very casual historical political drama with a bit of romance, a bit of comedy. Theirs no explicit war stuff as its more of the point of view of the common people. This drama is more of a slice of life I would say. It does touch a bit on the topic of prostitution but its just mentioned and the important of women being educated and being able to get jobs.

If you are interested do give it a try :) hope my review helps and thanks for reading my review.

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Worth a Try for its visuals :)

I personally found this movie to not be as bad as everyone claims it to be. Most of those who dislike this adaptation is due to comparing it to the drama. That aspect in itself doesn’t even make sense. It’s like you comparing a short story version to a novel, a 58 episode drama to a movie that’s about 1h and 45 min.

The story itself is really complicated so its really hard to have every detail in the movie. I felt they did ok with the story telling as I myself was able to understand the story expect perhaps the ending (also why they all look so tan in some of the scenes lol). If you want details I would recommend to just go watch the drama or read the novel then.

The story telling wise as I have said was ok and the big idea was still understandable. Side note (Small spoiler) there’s a part where it feature yang yangs awkward noodle making/ cooking lol. There was a lot of sweet moments though. Also Crystal’s fighting are as amazing as always (in china she’s well know for her Wuxia acting). Basically the movie is a highlight of the main plots of the story. It’s told in a way that when theres a portion that needs explaining it goes to a cut scene of what happen that lead up to scene and since the story talks about there 3 life/ reincarnation they give you pieces of each portion. You can then piece them together. For example, warning there will be a spoiler, theres a part where we see FL talking to a men frozen in ice then her master was almost thrown of the cliff then there was a cut scene showing why her master was frozen in the ice (showing he was frozen in the ice because his soul was shattered when sealing with the sword).

This movie gave me a Disney production vibe and the underwater scenes reminded me of Barbie in a Mermaid Tale. This movie was so aesthetically pleasing, from the visual to the ML and FL actor (both Yang Yang and Crystal Liu are some of the top best looking actors and they have very positive image in acting in historical shows as they particularly excel in this genre in china so this casting was really well done), to the voiceover, to every characters costumes and so much more. Each character’s design where made with thorough thoughts. (But Susu’s wedding outfit was not it lol, light spoiler that bright pink head piece ;-;)

There is some lacking in the acting but there something in them that makes you believe in the character they act. The little green guy is also kinda cute and through out the show he quite humorous (most of the joke are hard to understand for non Chinese speakers though). Each character made me see there emotions, I laughed and cried.

In conclusion I think you can give the movie a try don’t be affected by the over the top negative reviews. Don’t go into it with such strict expectations or else you will always be disappoint and as I said its a unfair comparison. If you are a hardcore fan of the drama then you can ignore what I said. We watch shows for entertainment nothing is perfect no?

I think the movie is a great preview of the this beautiful love story and if you’re intrigued you can then go on to watch the 58 episode drama.

Anyways everyone have there own preferences, I still believe this movie wasn’t bad at all. I would watch it again, and if you’re interested here’s a link to watch it with English subtitles: https://www.xiaoheimi.net/index.php/vod/play/id/20266/sid/1/nid/1.html

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A Simple Yet Sweet Short Love Story

Story:
Despite the story being very short it was very sweet and there was no drag out plot or unreasonable misunderstanding. The episodes are really short, you can literally finish in one day.

One thing that I like about the story was that it was really realistic like how the female lead didn’t like the male lead right away (which made sense since her world/ knowledge were only from the comic world) and the director didn’t force the second male lead to be with the second female lead just because she liked him (which made sense because in real life theres not always a happy ending, I see in a lot of drama that force the second male lead to be with someone else or force a seemly happy ending for them, when it made no sense, since they sincerely liked the female lead, so it doesn’t make sense for them to be with someone else).

I also love all the growth in all the characters, loved all the cute little characters even the dorky friend of the male lead and second female lead (Hu Zhi Da).

Acting/ Cast:
I really liked the casting and to be honest I came for Su Xiao Tong (I watch a few of her historical dramas and she was really cute in them so I wanted to give this one a try). From the others comment it seems the male lead is a new young idol and people seem critical to his acting but personal I think he did great. His character in the story has autism and is extremely anti-social (since he was young he rarely spoke, he even rarely communicate with his own mom) so his lack of emotion made sense (only when it comes to Bai Su Ji does he really show much emotions). The main actors where all eye candys haha expect the antagonist (the girl that liked the male lead bc I’m biases).

The other actors where really cute too, like even the manger of the comic world haha and the cute female support Meng Te Jie (loved how she was so strong willed and supportI’ve and how she never hated the female lead due to the second lead liking her)

The second male lead was very loveable too, he did a great job of acting cheesy but not awkward at all I really felt like he came out of the comic world, also really glad they change his hair, really brought out his good looks

Music:
The music was sang by the male lead (Jeremy Zuo) and personally I really loved the music, i found it super sweet, cute, and catchy. For example there was lyrics like “you suddenly appear in my life” “the moment we meet our heartbeat match the same wavelength” “so this is what heartbeat is” (sorry if my translation isn’t perfect ;-;).

The lyrics “my heart boom boom because of you” “the rhythm of heart goes boom boom” were super catchy, I couldn’t even bring myself to skip the intro haha, what has this drama done to me.

Overall:
It brought a lot of smile on my face. It was really sweet with a lot of love, friendship, trust and even a bit about family.

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A nice simple show to watch - Super Dorky and Sweet

This is my first time writing a review so bear with me ;-;
Story:
The story itself was very predictable. That saved me a lot of heartache and headaches since the story is simple, straightforward so its suited for those that want to have a good laugh.

What I like a lot about the story is that every episode and character seem to be meaningful, the director didn’t drag out the plot (from what I can tell at least). This show is based on a BL novel and I never read the novel but I liked the show even though its a censored version (I don’t really like BL novel but I do like bromance and sweet friendship). All the character and relationship felt very sweet and had there own unique areas and interactions that makes you like them. For example the main duo Ji Chuan x Zhao Qing Feng, Ji Chuan x A fu etc.

What I dislike about the story the most is the ending (which I won’t say too much about or else it will be a major spoiler) as well as the random couple pairing of A Fu. My wish was that there were more scene with Ji Chuan x A fu x Wei Qi, they were one of my favourite group, only in episode 23 (second last episode) do we finally see there story and honestly that scene made me cry.

Acting/ Cast:
I think the director did a great job on casting and every actor did pretty well in my opinion (keeping in mind the production budget of the cast was very low and many of the actors are actually newbie or idols). All the actor brought there character to life and didn’t seem odd. I also like the child actor that played little Ji Chuan as well as Zhao Qing Fengs dorky clan brothers. Yes the story/ character may be cheesy but they didn’t make me cringe at all expect Xiao Lin (at time he seemed a bit cringy but still sweet)

One main reason I even watch this show was for Su Xiao Tong and Lou Ming Jie (saw him in I’ve Fallen for You and loved his dorky characteristic in that show too). A big surprise was Zhou Yan Chen was in this (I first saw him in Idol Producer and I really liked him), the actor for Xiao Lin was also in Idol producer. So I was very excited for this casting.

Despite the low budget, the costume and hair were really nice expect A Fu and Xiao Lin awkward sandal and bare legs (while the other main characters and most historical drama the costume usually covers the leg and wear covered toe shoes).

Music/ Audio/ Sound:
The music were nice and the selection of music for certain scenes were good too. One major problem with the show is that due to the low budge; the voice of the actors at time were muffle or not that soothing/smooth compared to other shows.

There were also animal sound effects added to match the 2 main character’s characteristic (Cat for Ji Chuan and Dog for Zhao Qing Feng), which I found to be really cute.

Overall:
I personal have a weak heart, I can’t stand there being tragic and unnecessary traumatic plots so this show was just right for me, there was drama/ conflict and slight misunderstanding but they were quickly and smoothing resolved, there was tragic but not so much that I would be depress for a long time. So this is a great light hearted simple story about growth, trust, family, and friends.

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