Dissapointing and Overrated

So I'll be honest, I did not really enjoy watching Lovely Runner. I had really high expectations but it was just boring...

I thought the beginning was interesting as she had suffered a terrible accident and had to learn how to live her life in a wheel chair. She was unhappy and suicidal, but then suddenly, one call from some idol and some simple message like "live to enjoy tomorrow", would completely change her outlook on life. This does not seem realistic. One does not change from suicidal to suddenly a bubbly and positive girl from one moment to the next. After the concert in episode 1, he meets her at the bridge, which is a huge coincidence to be honest. Then it turns out he had been her neigbour, another big coincidence, he was actually the one who saved her at the bridge, another big coincidence... I know fiction always has coincidences and unrealistic occurances, but this was really too much! Also, I thought we would learn of his struggle with depression and suicide, and the plot twist was so dissapointing.

Additionally, I thought it was strange that the whole plot of his "suicide" would suddenly change to a murder case, which was connected to Im Sol's car accident. It is just so typical and predictable at this point. Furthermore, the serial killer does not have any personality and is just a chess piece for the plot.

The second couple in the drama were just so unnecessary. What did that add to the story?

All the problems in this drama are external, and the most important being that the murderer will kill Sun Jae. This is also boring, as there is no character development in the whole story. What did Sun Jae and Im Sol learn in the process? Nothing. Only that they loved each other.

The whole plot was based on saving Sun Jae, and there is literally nothing else the plot is about. He was in love with her from the beginning also making the whole "falling in love" process really gone. I usually love romance, but this drama did not make my heart flutter at all!

Well, throughout the drama until like episode 15 I was somewhat okay with the drama. Nothing exceptional but some light entertainment, but at episode 15, when the killer got hit by a truck, I was really shocked! This is it? That's it? The main characters were not even responsible for the catching of the murderer! I mean what did I watch this drama for? I watched it so that Im Sol manages would put the criminal in prison. So when episode 16 came, I expected something dramatic to happen cause episode 15 was so underwhelming and dissapointing. Turns out episode 16 is just one super long episode about Im Sol and Sun Jae being together. I really felt nothing when I finished the drama.

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Loved this so much

This is definitely one of my highest rated dramas, and this was probably a curse because I started watching it exactly during exam season, oh well... Nonetheless, I found every episode intriguing and enjoyable. The plot is interesting: the power struggle is understandable and not overly confusing and unnecessary like in many other dramas, instead in this one it was quite fun to watch. Ning'er is a strong character, and although she appears to be very confident after having died in her first life and entered her second one, you can still see that she also brings a lot of emotional baggage with her, and she is not indestructable as often seen in other stories that have a rebirth trope. I found the relationships in the story quite beautiful and it was nice to see that there was trust between characters, such as between Xie Wei and the emperor (I think often there is always some sort of backstabbing, which becomes tiring to watch). I loved how not everything went well even though Ning'er and Xie Wei are smart, like things should go wrong but not too wrong either (as I often see in xianxia dramas, which drives me a bit crazy sometimes ngl). Xie Wei is soooo oh my god, not a good person in many ways, but he still took my breath away. And Zhang Linghe's acting was for me by far the best in this drama, better than in My Journey to You or in Love Between Fairy and Devil. Lu Bai is also a very good actress, her dramas tend to be good as well.

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Not My Cup of Tea

I usually don't write reviews, because I find it hard to remember all the details I would like to write down, but this series was so strange that I just have to release all this confusion.
First of all, when I finished watching "My Journey to You" I felt nothing (maybe some relief to have finished). Honestly, I don't regret finishing dramas even when I didn't enjoy it that much, but with this one I felt regret! To me this cdrama does not evoke almost any emotions. I think this is because the characters lack depth and there is zero backstory for Yun Weishan and Shangguan Qian. They try to make the series sinister, dark and emotional but you don't even know the origins of the female leads? Gong Zi Ju had backstory but he was still so bland.. Gong Shang Jue was all right, definitely more interesting than the others.
Second, in my opinion there is zero chemistry between the two couples. Many people think that Shangguan Qian and Gong Shang Jue were the best, but to me, their relationship was almost stranger than Yun Weishan's and Gong Zi Ju's relationship. Like why does Shangguan Qian always have to speak in such a suspicious way? Was there ever any trust in that relationship? And another thing, there was no "falling in love" stage for Yun Weishan and Gong Zi Ju, they just liked each other the moment the series started. And yes, that works sometimes, but in this case it was just mechanical and unromantic.
Third, the story was soo confusing. I can put up with bad character and whatever, but only if the plot itself is entertaining. The original idea was really good but the execution was just eeeh. In the last three or four episodes there were so many plot twists that I just questioned every second of the last 20 episodes. And to me, that's bad script writing. I mean plot twists are good, but too many just don't work. At the end I didn't even understand the intentions of the characters throughout the entire series, because everything was kind of suddenly changed. I don't know if I am explaining this properly but if you've watched "My Journey to You" you might relate.
Okay for the positive aspects of the series: The cinematography was good, and the costumes were gorgeous.

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So cute!

Omg! I loved watching this drama, it's a hidden gem. Sakura is such a sweet and couragous person, and her perseverance is really admirable. I am happy they did not portray her as the damsel in distress, useless female lead who just wants to run after a guy, but instead apart from having fallen in love with Tendo, she also wants to become an excellent nurse. There were no dumb misunderstandings and no scheeming by jealous side characters.. The relationships were really nice and there was no character that I did not like in particularly. The acting was also good and not cringy. This is an ideal series for people who need a light and fun watch!

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Not a fan

When I began this kdrama I was a bit skeptical. The first episode started out ok but I did notice that there were many draggy and unnecessary parts included, I guess to make the episodes long. I don't like that so much since I get bored pretty easily. Anyways, I continued watching and I just skipped the parts that I found boring. As for the plot, I didn't find it very good: It's confusing and there are some questions that remain unresolved till the end. It also is the kind of story where there are inheritance issus and stuff like that, I think that can be quite stressful to watch. However the plot overall is not a bad idea, it's just the way it was executed into this knot of storylines- it's a bit shabby and cheap. Logic, for instance, is not in this kdrama. The ending was really strage, did not like it at all. The female lead was quite cruel to say the least. I would not recommend watching, in my opinion.

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Science fiction story about time travel

There was a lot going on in this drama, and I don't even know how to start writing a review about it! This series has many very good point, but there are a few things that bothered me. I don't think this drama deserves a 7.9, I think it should be higher. The plot is really unique and kind of disturbing (in a good way). There is a lot of pain and confusion, but Jian Xiao Yuan always tried to persevere. The suspence in this series was really overwhelming for me, thus I binged watched all the episodes, otherwise I could not concetrate on other things without wondering what would happen next. However, although there is romance I found the suspence and the main plot line to overshadow the romance, therefore, even though I began the series for the romance, in the end it turned more into finding out the truth behind the female lead's time travel mystery.

What I liked:
I thought this would be more of an innocent sci-fi + romance series, but it was not like that at all. It was pretty disturbing and shocking, and one could really sympathise for the female lead's painful confusion about her existence. The actress Liu Hao Cun was impressive, like it overshadowed Lin Yi's acting! He wasn't bad though, she was just very good at showing her feelings.
Jian Xiao Yuan is a strong character, she is confident, optimistic and resilient. But she also suffers a lot, mixed with the acting, I felt so sorry for her. Qi Lian was always supportive of her, and helped her.

What I disliked:
The series was extremely engaging until about ep 20. Afterwards it started to become draggy, and kind of annoying.. I enjoyed the makeup/hairstylist plot line in the beginning, it added a bit of lightness to the intensity of the story, but in the last 10 episodes it just became more of a way to make the series longer, instead of just finishing it. The ending felt very underwhelming, like the drama started off with soo many good and interesting plot twists, but the ending was just okay. Nothing special. To be honest I skipped some scenes in the last four episodes because of that.

Overall I recommend this drama. But I think I have to warn you before watching, that if you're not in the mood for something intense then maybe don't watch it.

!!Light Spoilers!!
The friendship between the male lead and female lead started off fine, but later on, still early in the story (like ep 6 or 7 I think), there will be a very emotional and traumatising situation between the leads. He will become a bit aggressive and it was hard to watch. It was hard to get over that later, as he never really apologised to her, in my opinion. I like that the series doesn't romanticise the situation of the two main characters but that episode really felt too much.

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Could have been so much better

This is one of the most intense dramas I have watched. I binged season one and enjoyed every episode. In season two, on the other hand, the story was going in a direction I did not like. I actually don’t like dramas with too many male leads, for me two is already plenty. Furthermore I like knowing who is the male lead so I don’t get too attached to the wrong character. If there are several male leads, writers should make sure that the viewers don’t get too attached to the wrong ones, otherwise it feels a bit like a betrayal. But this is exactly what happened here. Although I did not watch the ending, I have read what will happen and I am disappointed. Xiang Liu had always been the most interesting, complex and deep character, and showed the most love towards Xiao Yao. What is the point of building so much tension between these two characters if they will just not ever realise that they loved each other? Xiao Yao was devastated that Fangfeng Bei died because she loved that side of Xiang Liu. She always loved him but he never told her that he loved her. Instead, she ended up with the intolerable loser-attitude Tushang Jing. I found their “romantic” scenes in season one very difficult to watch, they had zero chemistry. I tried to make myself like them together, but when I saw her with Xiang Liu, I saw that he brought out a side of her that she didn’t have with Tushang Jing. It just felt extremely forced when Xiao Yao was together with Tushang Jing. In season one I was so happy when she ended their relationship after it was revealed that his fiance was pregnant. I thought that she could finally move on from him and see that Xiang Liu was really the one who was there for her when she was in trouble. He could give her the growth she desperately needed. Her character from the start was complex and it is understandable that she wanted to be together with a weak person who would never leave her like Tushang Jing, but I had expected her to be a bit stronger than that. The endless melancholy she experienced was just because of one man who had zero personality. The endless second chances she gave him were so painful watch. Xiao Yao’s character was lacking a lot of strength.
Although Xiang Liu hurt her several times in the beginning, I still could not help but like the way he looks at her. The eyes full of love for her, and she, as well, showed him that she had a soft spot for him. Even though she did say that she did not want him to be in her dreams, the tension between them just continued and it was driving me crazy. The fact that Xiang Liu dies is not what I found so frustrating but it is that they never had one moment where they knew they loved each other. I wanted to rate this drama higher but it drove me crazy with frustration and unnecessary sadness due to the indecisiveness and lacking in confidence of the characters. But the reason I gave the drama an eight and not lower is because in reality humans are complex, we are not simple and we do things that contradict each other, we can be weak yet strong, loyal yet cowardly, love one person yet another as well.. I guess that is why this drama was so painful to watch for me.

The acting of Xiang Liu, Cang Xuan and Xiao Yao were perfect. The facial expressions, the nuances and the emotions were very well done. The cinematography was beautiful in many scenes and the music were chosen perfectly. I especially liked the folk song that Xiao Yao sang when she first met Xiang Liu.

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Every episode was worth it

I am astonished by how much I liked this. I often feel more in the grey zone with many dramas, but I loved every episode in Love game in eastern fantasy. What kept me hooked was the trust and love between each character; the way Miao Miao fights to keep the group together is hearth warming, and her devotion towards a happy ending also helped keep direction for the plot. Sometimes I am watching a series, and all I can think is, where is this going? But I didn't feel that way here, everything just fell into place. I really loved how Ding Yuxi was able to make Mu Sheng look both fierce but have such a cute and soft side. His acting is great! And although many people complain about the childish personality of Miao Miao, I still found her endearing. I mean, she never actively caused misunderstandings or act stupid. I wasn't a huge fan of the system telling Miao Miao to make Mu Sheng like her, because it felt a bit forced at first. But after a while, his trust in her and her love towards him grew naturally, and there was not much scheeming anymore on her part. I thought it was good how the system became less active after the first few episodes.
I found the second lead couple also quite cute, a bit dry maybe, but they were still pleasant to watch. I loved how the love rivals in the capital weren't actually bad people. I dislike plots where the whole thing is about some scheeming second female/male lead and I didn't find that here which was very nice!
The only thing I didn't love is that the last ten episodes were a lot about Mu Sheng, and his past. I mean, I liked it, it was interesting to see his background. But I just would have liked a bit more of Miao Miao's character growth throughout the drama. In a way it's understandable, the whole world was created for Mu Sheng to find self-love and to see that he was loved, etc. I still would have liked a bit more episodes about Miao Miao. Everybody had an arc of personal growth, except Miao Miao (not saying that her character didn't grow, but it was more gradual throughout the entire story). On that note, I'd like to also say that I wished the drama were a bit longer, I really liked it and it felt a bit rushed at the end. I wish they had gone on more adventures, and please, that side plot about the bracelet was soo annoying to watch, it was almost painful honestly.
I liked the ending. When Mu Sheng found out the truth and told Miao Miao he wrote all those books for her, I was so happy. That's so cute and so loving! I think it was a good conclusion. And the fact that they never kissed, I was at first a bit surprised, but then I found it actually quite sweet and I liked it better like that. The ending where we didn't get to see the writer/ Mu Sheng at the book signing event, I was distraught. But anyways, I'm over it, and I'm gonna watch Moonlight hahaha.

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