ShortCircuit

It's now May 2nd here too, and this is my (very) sad face.

... Well, maybe not that sad. I never put much faith in the melons LOL.

For modern day rebirth - definitely Rebirth of a Movie Star. It's (way too) short, has a nice progression (MC is not stupid and while he wants to get revenge, he's not obsessed with it, and the ML is going from FWB to soulmates rather fast, LOL), the kid is pure fluff (I think the kid is just as much a main character as the lovers, LOL), and there's a HEA. It's basically my favourite modern day danmei ever. And the TL is pretty good and smooth, too.

For modern day teen/heartbreak/realistic story - then definitely Sa Ye. I'm not sure if the fan TL was finished (it's pretty close about done), since the official TL is being released soon (in a few volumes). I love the MCs of Sa Ye. It's also kind of long(er), so maybe for future consideration?

For ABO - Accidental Mark has a good flow, lovable character, a VERY competent ML (and the cutest MC, LOL, while the ML was concerned he's pushing too fast with the MC when he was trying to make himself available at all times of need, the MC was already picking the names of their children, LOL). The novel is the right size, and it's also concerned with the film industry as a background (as is Rebirth of a Movie Star, LOL. I might have a picking bias here).

For scifi... it's a bit more complicated. Most scifi danmei I did read is either long(ish) or not really what I'd recommend. Maybe First-Class Lawyer (but it's long). I like the writing style, it's very refreshing and no-nonsense, LOL. But there are others that are much more dogblood (and still way too long). And if we include modern day fantasy, then maybe Seizing Dreams (a lot of the plot is about the fantastic part, but the romance is pretty sweet and realistic - considering the setting.)

For wuxia/xianxia... they are ALL long. But if you haven't yet read hyx/2ha, it's one of the best (and longest, and bloody, and abusive, and rebirth, and transmigration among paralel worlds and everything you wanted and some extra, too) of all of them, LOL. And then there's Bring in the Wine (absolutely delicious - again, long, because wuxia takes its time getting anywhere, but OMG, what a progression!)

But for a shorter xianxia... maybe start with Copper Coins? There's an immortal dragon trapped and left to die, and a mysterious monk who NEVER tells him his intentions (which drives the dragon right out mad) and a pretty intricate plot, and revenge, and some redemption, and a HEA! (And the author, Mu Su Li, is one of my favourites, too - she sure can write!)

Or if not that, then How to Survive as a Villain (danmei transmigration, ML goes between the real world and a novel world, there's no System as in SVSSS, though). The MC is hilariously trying to push the ML into his shining role as an over-powered main character while keeping himself alive, since he incarnated as the main villain, LOL. Just as in SVSSS, the ML just falls for the MC instead :D (It's not all fun, though, there's a lot of dogblood into this one.)

So, in short... Rebirth of a Movie Star. You can't go wrong with this one :D

True that, LOL, Ming as in the novel is irredeemable. I guess they'll white wash him here, but I do remember him as total scum. I'm here for Joe :D

The child actors carried the whole drama, ML could only woodenly stare at them being awesome.

I'm not the only one who reminded you but...

A drama needs a plot and its characters to develop over time. You can't expect to have everything in it served on a platter in its first episode. There are 12 eps to this drama, the story will be told throughout those episodes.

You said - how are they going to explain it (the premise)? They (probably) will. It takes time.

I mentioned the novel because the drama IS based on the novel. It's not an original story that you could say is too tropey or has a bad premise or anything. It's not like the adapted script could just veer off and do its own thing. There is a plot and a development - you might not like the subject, or the way the plot is (will be) done, but they don't have to cater to any one's single watcher's wants. Yours, mine, anyone else's.

As for if the novel's good or not... Every one has their own opinion. It's not the best I've ever read, and not even in its niche it's not the best (and the main relationship is abusive and definitely not my cup of tea). That being said, the drama will probably make changes, and even if they don't, we're still one episode in. I'm not going to bash it just because the relationship is not wholesome (and at this point there's basically zero relationship anyway). I like the production values so far, I like they stay close to the source material (that's rare in drama adaptations), and I am interested to see how it's going to go.

Give it a shot yourself (or not, I don't really care.)

We already are legen - wait for it! - DARY! :D

I wasn't worried they'd separate, were you worried?! I mean... BHW showed us how determined he was to make that happen. And it was clear HHI was determined too.

I don't mind the kind of HEA (or HE til death did them apart and THEN they reunited in death too, LOL) they decided to show us. Though it's kind of depressing having BHW go through a walk of memories alone. They could have made it even better having them BOTH old AF and walking through memory lane together.

But there are a lot of plotlines they could have spent that tiny bit of detail in tying up, just saying. I like the drama, but some things could be even better.

Also, where the heck is the OP song?! I like that one the best, I hope they finally release it.

I decided I don't like the ending because there's actually no raccoon LOL.

But seriously, a lot of the last ep was spent speeding through plot lines that were presented as important and took a lot of time to develop in a not so short drama (each ep was at least 1h20mins, some 1h30mins, and the final ep was 1h50mins, they HAD time), and then we were presented with AWESOME Sans Souci views (that they could have incorporated somewhere else just as well, not just as old BHW is going through all alone, which might completely colour those shots), and a throwback to the man-visiting-his-wife's-tomb thing that HaeIn saw in that park with the cemetery, and a quite long scene of old BHW alone at 85 (and then some) with his wife gone. And the poor guy doing that didn't even get to show us his face.

I'd have rather they left it at the reunion and cute proposal... though TBH I think they really, really wanted the Titanic final reunion, LOL (they even mention Titanic as a romantic story once), when the MCs are young again after death and going into eternity together.

Mainly, I'd rather they had kept it more into the tone of the series overall instead of doing a dramatic (or should I say, even MORE dramatic) romantic ending.

But the drama is still good - while very, very tropey, but they did them all pretty well so that counts for a lot - the acting was great (I really bought the whole love story, line, hook and sinker), some of the support characters' stories were also very good, and the music was also great (a good selling point for me).

... But there's no raccoon :D

Honest comment? Haters? Well, that escalated quickly, LOL.

Buddy, you don't like rebirth/revenge/body swap, you think it's formula and the plot is lame (altough they're just adapting a novel, LOL), nobody's keeping you from commenting on your opinion (it's here, isn't it), but you want to watch the story's climax in the first episode even?

Ever learned about progression? About character and plot development? About setting up things to be later revealed? Things like that, you know, to make up a story worth telling in 12 hours?! Why are you so angry about it and what discussion do you want to cause?!

"Oh I read the novel" - what does have to do with what you wrote? Good for you, I say. I read the novel, too (good for me?) and didn't even like it all that much, compared to others. So what? The drama is doing very well for a first episode, and there are 11 more. I myself like rebirth stories (though this is a reincarnation story more like), and I'll keep watching, which you can also do or not, for your own reasons (even if they're quite masochistic in nature, LOL). You do you.

Have a nice life.

Ming is in love with Tong (who he mistakes for somebody else).

Tong is taking advantage of Ming's interest (Ming's family is rich) and has now weaseled his way into a relationship with Ming's sister (they eventually marry, IIRC). Tong also wants to keep Ming interested, because it also helps his career to be connected to someone so rich and well-known in the industry. Ming started out as a model (he's supposed to have a cold immortal's looks, LOL, everybody falls for him), then changed to acting, and Tong still wants to have him at his beck and call.

This isn't a story about wholesome relationships, LOL. Except Joe's relationships with his BFF and the other Joe's mother.

I know, LOL. It's not even rebirth, though - very few are actually rebirths, or at least from those I've read. This is a reincarnation story, rather.

And I do like rebirth/reincarnation stories a lot, myself. This is not my favourite (mainly because of the power dynamics between the MCs) but the drama is staying very close to the source so far, and that's very rare in dramaland. I quite like that. Here's hoping they keep doing that :D

I definitely expected someone way taller for Ming. In my mind, YMX looks a bit (very much) like Lee Jong Suk, LOL, like a long, tall, drink. Age appropriated too - I imagine him as LJS in I Can Hear Your Voice times, when he was just so, so young.

Zhou Xiang / Joe should've been older - his home shows he has (some) money, so his career is established, as in the book, and he should be very confident in his sexuality. They did have Joe being the instigator (he comes and picks up Ming, then there's zero shyness about what they both wanted, until the both-are-gongs situation, LOL). I don't think he meant a virgin completely, but more as in a virgin as a shou/bottom, which respects the novel. I don't mind him being more handsome than ZX - I mean, this IS a Thai adaptation of the novel, not a Chinese version. If Taiwan made it, they'd have someone less handsome for both leads, LOL, I imagine. It's just the usual esthetics. And Joe is supposed to be trying to break into actual roles, not just being a double, but an actor himself. So he should be handsome (even in the novel, he's not comely, just not as handsome as Ming, who definitely is a walking, talking, god, in ZX's eyes.

They already made some subtle changes in the situation (like how Joe disappears in the first life, for example), they're probably going to make a few more.

I am pretty curious if they're going to keep some of the story details - like how the BFF finds out that new Joe is still old Joe (the twin children situation), or how Joe/ZX keeps trying to break into his own (ex-) home, LOL. And if they're going to keep showing us just Joe's POV or try to embed Ming's POV too (even the author wrote Ming's side as an afterthought).

What I would like to see changed (maybe not completely, but in some way) is Ming's total coldness toward XZ/Joe. If they keep things as in the book, Ming's character will be totally unlikable, IMHO. I still don't like him after all this time, despite the author giving us his POV. I mean - what if ZX WASN'T who he was? Then Ming would have abused a poor guy as a substitute for his "actual" loved one, not once, but in both lifetimes! Bah, humbug!

Errr...

~~ Adapted from the novel "Professional Body Double" (职业替身) by Shui Qiang Cheng (水千丞).

This story (or at least the novel it's based on) is isekai. That means, there could be 1. body swaps, 2. reincarnation (after death, a different body), 3. a return to the past (to fix wrongs), 4. travelling to a different world, or to the past, or to the future even (sometimes aided by a System that controls things in that 'verse), 5. going into the world of a book, drama, animation etc and having to do something there - and so on, and so forth.

Sometimes, they return to their original body (like in The Romance of Tiger and Rose, Moon Lovers, etc), sometimes they definitely do not (like in The Untamed, or SVSSS, or this story right here). Sometimes, the original body is gone already - like in TU, or Love for Love's Sake, so there's nowhere to return to.

Joe hasn't body swapped - his own body is dead, the other Joe's body is alive but its original soul is now gone. So "our" present Joe has the body of the other and the soul and memories of his own original life. It's a reincarnation tale.

Body swap can be a lot simpler than transmigration in general, particularly if both bodies are still alive after the change - as in The Dude in Me, for example.

But isekai stories can make their own rules, and things might change from one story to another, even if there are some similarities.

It's based on a novel. So far they've been following the plot of the novel very closely. The novel DOES make sense, but the drama is one episode in... should they reveal everything in the first episode?~

Why force yourself to watch something if you're not enjoying it? (But maybe that's just me).

Money. And because they could.

Until - obviously - one of the villains fell in love and undermined everything.

Not really plotholes, but suddenly it switched from cutthroat corporate with a (main) side of rom-com to total rom-com and rosey HEA and too fast a solution to the corporate anything. Because seriously, while unexpected, there's ZERO chance the older son inherits, LOL.

I am SERIOUSLY mad that there's no epilogue where there really IS a raccoon living in the hothouse at Queens. I kept hoping against hope for that to happen.

The soul was willing, but the ability came a bit short.

Director: So, how many tropes should we use?
Writer-nim: Yes.

The last ep felt a little slack, after everything basically went well all throughout the series. Then they decided they don't want a future-is-in-front-of-us kind of HEA, but a completely fullfilled one. Oh well. It wasn't a total bust for me, but it sure detracted something from the rom-com part of it.

IS there a song that comes with that beautiful intro theme, or not? I don't recognise that passage in any of the released OST songs...

121 official (CN) chapters+ some extras, but in TL there's 125+1 epilogue chapters (they split some of the chapters, I think, or maybe numbered the extras as chapters).

ETA here's the complete fan TL, with thanks to the translator: https://rosyspell.wordpress.com/rebirth-the-unique-substitute/

So what I can see is that the only different thing is that the scene (you know which one) is not interrupted by flashbacks. Is there any other change?