Yumi

Almost perfect

My problem with historical Chinese dramas is that they tend to drag a bit with no consistent plot.
I mean, there is a main plot and as we watch some problems arise then get solved then another problem surfaces then solved and so on... in parallel with the main story.

So personally -since it's MY review- I haven't yet find drama that I'd give over like 7 or 8. hence my rating.
That been said, this was a great one, I really enjoyed it specially the beginning, I like the dynamics between the leads.

I love the Smart FL VS Smart ML, most dramas tend to have a clever lead while the other is always less intelligent but here I really enjoyed the ping-pong power games the two leads had.

Acting was great, I loved all character even the evil ones, the plot was interesting, at least most of the time.
I loved the leads, I don't know about their chemistry but I enjoyed them together.

Overall enjoyable, a bit longer than needed, not boring if you are into long dramas.

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Oh how I regret watching this

Just go and watch any two couple living together and making out every now and then because the story that started very interesting lost it's way half way through and the whole show is about 2 couples talking and having s*x...

It's already very very predictable right from the start but to make it more boring by having a few episodes in the middle full of absolutely nothing at all except for some random scenes of the 4 leads is a bit too much.

I have to admit one thing however, the cast was great and everyone did his job impeccably, but be that as it may that didn't save the series for me.

The only character I was interested in was Fadel, who had the same facial expressions for almost the whole show and when he started to change a bit I had already lost interest in continuing.

I'm not saying this was a bad drama per se but it was boring with no story, however if you like the cast/couple and just want to see them onscreen, you will enjoy because the whole show is the 4 leads acting all lovey dovey together ~~

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Good watch

C.First of all, before anything, shout out to Natthew (Nawin) for being the most adorable batshit-crazy idiot scene-stealer!!! This character deserves to be in more than just two episodes!!! I'd gladly watch a whole series with him in it!! And TBH he'd be my favourite character if it wasn't for Film (Charn) ~~~

And oh my god!!!! Charn stole my whole heart, mind and soul!! The complexity of the character was brilliant!!! Film was amazing!! This is the first drama I ever watch for the two leads, -haven't seen To sir, with love yet, but i plan to- and he was magnificent!!! ~~~
Loved the creepy smile with hollow stare! Like you're so weird, mate! But I don't feel grossed out, instead you got my whole attention now!
He was just too fucked up, the way he switches from evil revenger to sassy flirty with Tinn was very remarkable.~~~~

On the other side, there are a few plot holes here and there, and Tinn was the weakest Taekwondo Sabomnim I've ever seen, I feel like I could beat his ass easily even with my very humble skills, and the whole 5th EP does not exist for me, just deleted it from my memory 😂
I would give it a 10 because I enjoyed it as much but I could not turn a blind eye from the things that didn't make sense, they were just too many to ignore.~~
The series definitely deserves all the hype, and I'm glad I waited to binge watch it, highly recommended ~~~~

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aggravatingly boring

I tried... I swear ... But this was the epitome of boredom.

I watched the first 6 episodes waiting for this "dangerous secret" that would ruin their whole relationship, so I would understand the whole sadness and struggle undertone the show is having.

But that took so long and it wasn't even that great.

The two actors were ok-ish, Haneul's face felt like he was about burst out laughing at any time, he looks like he was trying hard not to smile or laugh even in serious situations, and overall their acting wasn't impressive but it was acceptable.

The story took too long to unfold, we have more than the first half full of nothing but odd conversation that hides a secret, and not knowing what's going on made me unable to sympathise with any of the leads, not to mention knowing if I actually want them to be together or not, they gave us nice kisses so the fan services were fine but still I couldn't see any great chemistry between them.

Overall not terrible, but for me was extremely boring, by the time I reached the end I regretted picking it up ~~

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Expectations met

You know when you see a trailer for a new show and you have high expectations for it because of the story, characters, actors whatever, and then you watch it, and it exceed your expectations!!

I've been watching Japanese/Korean dramas for so long that I started to kinda know what exactly they are going to offer, and tbh Netflix shows have the same pattern in term of everything.

I was so excited for this drama that I kept pushing watching it till I get in a slump and have nothing to watch, and I enjoyed every minute of it, it was exactly what I expected and more.

First let's state what I liked:
I've been a huge fan of Shun since Hanakimi, I don't care about what he does in his life, I just like his acting, and HyoJoo is one of my favourite Korean actresses so this combo is a win, no matter what, like it has to be the worst story ever existed to ruin this for me, also the rest of the cast were great, Jin, Yuri and Ryu, everyone is just a magnet for me to like it.
Story: a unique one, it's not original but I still find it interesting and fun, I love that they didn't magically cure them by the end.
Acting: as I said, everyone is an indication that you will enjoy the acting here even if you don't like the story.

Now is it the perfect drama?? Not at all, not in the slightest, it has many flaws, but the only thing that made me love it so much is it was as I expected it to be, it didn't disappoint me because I knew exactly how this is going to be like, all the cliché and expected twists I saw them coming, and everything fits my taste and preference.

Now what I don't like the most is the editing, specially in some episodes endings and the begining of the next, also not something I don't like but I still don't know the reason behind the 2 cameos at the end, like the last 30 seconds of JoongKi? And a minute of Kentaro didn't add anything to the series? But I don't hate that, it's just odd.
The storyline and the way everything has to be solved in the last 30 mins and the cliché moments like how the FL was actually saved by the ML not his friend, the way that the ML sometimes forget his phobia and touch stuff and knock on doors without disinfectants as in the whole 7th episode and the way they didn't explore more of the ML brother death and the reason for his phobia all were questionable moments, but can easily ignored IMO~

That been said, I'd definitely rewatch it and recommend it, because it is exactly my taste I really loved every second of it ❣️

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Passionate love is without any passion, or love

I couldn't see the romance tbh, the whole story is about the revenge, and if it wasn't for a few very questionable jealousy moments, I wouldn't even see any love there.

It's not even that great and it's already too long, acting is ok-ish, nothing great about it to keep me watching, I found myself laughing at some very odd scenes.

I have watched quite a few dramas where the ML manhandling the FL in a very degrading way so I'm not surprised to see those things -my personal opinion about it aside- but here it's mostly wrist grabbing and choking, just those things.
In other shows there were some forced kisses just to show the "obsessive" personality of the ML, I believe that's the writer's twisted way of showing love, but here it only happened once, and I'm not saying I wanna see the ML forcing himself on the FL, actually the opposite, why didn't they just keep it as a revenge drama without the romance.

Because if you cut a couple of scenes this would pass as revenge story, and most of us who started it for the romance wouldn't be so disappointed after finishing it.

I generally didn't like it, because if you are here for romance, it's non existent, if you like the forced love where the ML is obsessed with the FL, you wouldn't be satisfied cause it's only humiliation and revenge, if you just want some good tension between the leads, you wouldn't find any, there is no chemistry between the leads.

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I was so invested in this show, and I have too many things to say but when I started to write the review, I felt lost, no words can describe how I felt about this!! So I'll just blabber whatever on my mind~~

It's not a simple infidelity drama, I usually don't like the Japanese opinion about cheating and how it is ok for men/husbands to cheat but not women, and that they should be beheaded if they even think about it, but men?? Nah just forgive him, he was weak for a moment and everybody makes mistakes, just forget it for the sake of saving the household from destruction!!

BULL-FREAKIN-SHIT!!!! Cheating is cheating, man or woman if you cheat, you should be ashamed, and forgiving you or not is up to the other person, not anyone!!

Aggravatingly !! This sh!t was said in this drama by one of the characters, and who was it? The cheating husband!!
şaşırdık mı? Tabi ki şaşırmadım...
And she wasn't even cheating at that point!! The husband was so obsessed with belittling his wife and breaking her spirits, even his OWN CHİLD told his mum to do whatever she wants, like just break up and leave dad don't think about me!! That's how bad the husband was ... EVEN YOUR CHİLD TURNED HİS BACK ON YOU!! he wanted to save his mother ~

So when we play an Uno reverse card, and she is the one who emotionally cheated, she didn't even act upon it! She didn't leave because of Yuta YET!! she was still in that loop of forgetting everything and act like nothing happened and keep living with this terrible husband
at this point I just wanted Shinobo to leave her husband, even if she doesn't end up with Chiaki, just leave that piece of sh!t for good, you deserve better.

She was one of the most sensible characters, at least for the first half, I felt sorry for her after she took Mihiro in, she was like a mother who lost her child, and then found it in her!! I don't know what exactly led to this point in her relationship with Yuta but I believe he went to search for his happiness and live his life the way he wanted after he asked his mother to do the same, and I still don't understand why she decided to stay even after Yuta left?? Did she just thought that her husband will magically change into a good person?? Oh god!

Even after the divorce, he was troubling her after he got scammed by this bar owner, I have never been that satisfied about someone being scammed !! But that damned guy still dare to go ask for alimony!! How rude can you be!? No dignity at all!! I feel sorry she wasted 20 years of her life on that guy!!!

And Chiaki, my dear boy, as messed up as he was, he was attracting all the stray broken souls like him, with no way of helping them or himself, I loved how Shinobo was like a surrogate mother in a form of a lover, he needed an adult because he was a kid!! He didn't even understand how he felt or how he was supposed to live, his mother destroyed every tiny piece of him, and oh don't get me started with this bitch!! She is even worse than the husband!! I have never wanted to kill someone as her!! Like seriously she should be killed somehow because only with her disappearance, Chiaki can breathe!!

I sadly understand how he can't just cut her off, cause I may sounds like a hypocrite, asking Shinobo to leave but not Chiaki, that's why I opted to kill his mother's character, but seriously, it's his mother, sometimes we can't hate our parents even if they treat us terribly, that's the only toxic relationship that can't be escaped easily, however I really wished something or someone would smack some sense to her, trying to sold her child like that for money!! Ugh! terrible woman!!

I loved how Shinobo and Chiaki both cure something in each other, I was mainly focusing on how I wanted each of them to leave the toxic relationship they were stuck in, more than their relationship, but by the end of the show I started to genuinely believe that they really need eachother, it's not about love, it's just their souls that fits!

A new character was introduced in the last few episodes, which was the editor,, this guy is just the better version of the husband, still as arrogant and ignorant!! Why do everyone think that their opinion about other characters life is the ultimate choice!! Like what gives you the right to tell anyone how they should life his/her life!! The audacity!!!

I could understand the terrible behaviour from Mihiro in the beginning, she is as wounded and troubled as Chiaki, I wanted them to explore more of her background story but I'm just glad she had her beautifully perfect end a d moved on with her life, now independent and brave, but I couldn't at all understand the editor's behaviour.

Overall it's not a simple infidelity drama, it has more layers and much more complicated characters, I still stand by my opinion that cheating is a terrible thing and it's better to leave the relationship if you are not happy instead or cheating and ruining everyone's life.

My line of thoughts ends here ... I don't know what I said I just wrote what I felt after watching, this was a hell of a ride, not a simple story at all!!
Highly, extremely and utterly worth it!!

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A tale of an obsessive guy and his kindhearted lover, plus dumb and dumber second couple

I waited for so long to start it, I have to say first that I didn't know anything about the ABOverse or omegaverse or whatever it's name, so I decided to read the novel first then watch the series, you know to get some insight about what to expect.

when I started the novel I was lost completely, it's probably not the best ABO novel to start with if you have no prior knowledge of this universe.

Now I have to also say a comment about the novel before the show review because that influences my opinion, the novel itself isn't great, it's a unique story, a tale of obsession, sadly it wasn't my cup of tea.
I really hated Hua Yong, what he did to SSY is really despicable and it's really difficult for me to like something while hating of the main characters, luckily I was more interested in Gao Tu and Shin wenlang because they seem to have more "normal" love story that is close to my taste so I managed to finish the whole novel.
However it didn't have a very satisfying end so I kept my expectations very low for them, beside not being excited about the main characters' story in the show.
another thing I didn't like and made me even less exciting to start the series is the whole business setting and companies matters, it's very confusing, I skipped some chapters because of that, this is also not my cup of tea.

That's why I knew I won't rate the drama over 8.5 or 9 max. Even if it is a better version than the novel, simply because the story itself isn't for me.

Now why I watched it if I don't like it? The reasons are simple, this is the first step toward the whole ABO universe world adaptations, and I later read some others ABO novels that I liked, also it's a part of the new generation of uncensored Chinese BLs, Third reason is second couple story, mainly my baby Gao Tu and his Dumbo lol I love Seeky and his character is my favourite so....🤷🤷🤷 Say no more I'm in.

Now to the real review of the show. (Sorry to taking long)
Story adaptation is nice, the drama is boring in some parts, I skipped some long scenes about the business as expected and aligned with what I did with the novel but to be fair, the whole thing is much more understandable in the show than in the novel, some scenes that were changed made the whole series dull and some others that were added made the show better, one of the scenes that were bad was the first time Hua Yong and Sheng shaoyou met, well, long story short, it's better in the book and make the whole obsession more understandable, now the scenes they added that were better were Gao Tu 's BD and Wenlang taking care of him.

The biggest thing I really hated was the end for second couple, and it wasn't even that great in the novel but they somehow managed to make it worse in the show.

Acting, I understand that only Ocean didn't have any previous acting credits, but the 4 leads were on the same level, Ocean was amazing as Shin Dumbo, he nailed his role and I'm excited for his next drama with Seeky, they deserve the world ❣️

Now a final unpopular and controversial opinion, also non-negotiable.
Hua Yong is a terrible person I don't like him I hate what he did to SSY, SSY deserves better. And little peanut deserves a better father who loves him and cherish his life. HY is selfish, self-centred b@stard who only cares about his obsession and doesn't care about any other person, he disregard everyone no matter what they do to him, no value for friendship nor loyalty, and he deserves the slap SSY gave him at the hotel.

Pheww!! Now I feel better after saying that out loud 😂
I genuinely don't know if I would recommend this drama, if you look behind all the hype and excitement from fans, this is a very average BL, nothing special about it, so you will probably just enjoy a good BL and that's it.

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Extraordinarily good

I can hardly stomach long and slow dramas, I tend to get bored like that *snap fingers* and I can't stand slow scenes where actors stare at each other for 15 mins unnecessarily... BUT!! I was willing to throw everything aside to continue watching this series despite being -according to my preference- a very slow and long drama.

Story is exceptional, but can be told in like 20 episodes and we all would be extremely satisfied, and everything would be shown and explained perfectly.

Acting was amazing, I loved the chemistry between the leads, I don't remember much of Hidden love so I don't know if they did the whole parallel stories without mistakes or plot holes because they both are interconnected and I'm a details freak but I'm glad I don't remember tbh because now I can enjoy it without thinking much.

Romance is spectacular, I want someone like Sang Yan, I believe every girl deserves love like Sang Yan's, and I don't mean the obsessive, clingy, over-8-years, can't-seem-to-be-moving-on, slightly-stalking type of love, just simply the devoted, unchanging and caring type.

Comedy is something I missed, because it's non existent here, in HL it was a excessive in a good way and ironically it was because of Sang Yan, I couldn't relate to the same character he was completely different here even his interaction with his sister felt like they are two different people in each series, but if you treat them as such, you won't be bothered by the lack of comedic relief.

Overall, pretty long, but at the same time entertaining and captivating, you won't feel bored watching it and the romance is spectacular.
Highly recommended ~~

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Almost perfect

I loved it, but not for the reasons I expected.

It's a very good well written drama, I think the source material have to be a magnificent piece of art to have an adaptation like this.

Acting, story, chemistry, everything was great I just needed a few things for it to be the perfect drama.

I know it's adapted from a BL novel and this is a completely censored adaptation which is the main reason why I felt it needed some romance in it to make it more enjoyable, and I seriously don't care about it being a BL or normal romance it just lacked this touch.
The second reason I needed romance was we get too deep with the characters, we dissect their personality to layers and put each one under a magnifying glass and know more and more about them, Yet, we didn't address their emotions and feelings for eachother.

Another thing that slightly confused me having too many characters, with more than one case -very old and new cases - I get confused then slightly bored and lost, but the thing that kept me going was the two leads and how they interact and try to solve crimes together.

So it lacks a bit of order and some romance to tie things up beautifully but other than that it's a very enjoyable crime drama ~

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So-so

Was anti reset that successful that they made another mediocre drama with the same concept, I mean I know the fairytale love is a thing and why not fall for a robot if you can fall for a vampire and all is good, but I'm talking quality-wise it's not the best.

If you have to redo an idea you kinda have to make it better or different maybe, more interesting but nope.

This was slightly boring, literally nothing is happening just the two leads spending time together and that's it.

Nothing to write home about, but if you are into this new type of robot-love BL then Go ahead, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it but it was an okay watch.

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Too forced

I'm sorry I've to be this harsh on the drama despite loving Taiwanese BL but this .... This is way below average.

Story was fine, I mean I don't mind the whole age thing, i mean it isn't a big deal, one is in high school and the other college that's what? a few years age gab. Well, kids In high school have sex so what? If it was between two high school kids I don't think people would mind so what is a few years older.
However, my biggest complaint is that everything is very forced, I see no reason for the two leads to fall in love? Moreover the second lead, one is mourning and boom! Suddenly in love all over again.

Acting was terrible, it's not abhorrent or unwatchable per se, but it's very inconvenient, chemistry between all characters is nonexistent, even the two brothers doesn't seem like brothers, and the second lead story is extremely forced beside being unrealistic.
So there is literally nothing to look forward to while watching, not even a side story, not even two brothers funny frienemosity. Nothing!

Also, I didn't like any character, I couldn't feel any connection for them, and I didn't care about them at all, making finishing the drama a chore.

Overall skip it, even if you are - like me- a fan of Taiwanese BL, this one is just bad ~

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