liteulkwin
GuLin's Heart
A premise you've, more likely than not, seen before, with countless recognizable plot devices and character tropes, A Little Thing Called First Love isn't the freshest show out there. Xia Miao Miao is a sweet but meek young girl who develops a huge crush on the golden boy, Liang You Nian, and you follow their lives within the school setting as they come of age. If you've seen this type of story and have loved it, then you'll probably at least enjoy its reiteration here. I'm on that boat. These tropes got me hook, line and sinker lol.
The thing that sort of rubbed me the wrong way in this production was how they handled the female lead's physical transformation in order to fit in with society's standards of beauty and to make her feel more worthy of the male lead. I appreciate how she learned to go after her own goals and actually became respected for skills, but her physical transformation was just a bit much for me with everyone encouraging her to undergo certain changes and then praising her when she finally fit in. The changes ARE gradual and can realistically showcase things a girl does as she grows up, but it's the conversations around it that could have been more tactful. Not a fan, but didn't pull me entirely away from the story.
The cast was a bit young for my taste, but I think they did a fine job for this being so early on in their careers. It's rare that you get actors playing a character OLDER than their actual age. You follow these characters into their early adulthood, which is a span of about six years throughout the 36 episodes, but I still find that a lot of the thoughts and actions they have when they are around 22 years old is similar to their mindset when they were 16. There's not a whole lot of character development for anyone except the female lead, and everyone has retained that immaturity they had when they were in high school. I'm giving them a high score just because they are too stinking cute, and I love the different relationships within their group dynamic. I didn't dislike any of the supporting characters. The lighthearted feel of this drama luckily doesn't call for profound acting ability. They're actually more natural than I expected, but I overall just thought that either the actors were too young or the characters were situationally older than they should have been.
Overall, just an adorable feel-good drama, with some promising young and newer faces.
The thing that sort of rubbed me the wrong way in this production was how they handled the female lead's physical transformation in order to fit in with society's standards of beauty and to make her feel more worthy of the male lead. I appreciate how she learned to go after her own goals and actually became respected for skills, but her physical transformation was just a bit much for me with everyone encouraging her to undergo certain changes and then praising her when she finally fit in. The changes ARE gradual and can realistically showcase things a girl does as she grows up, but it's the conversations around it that could have been more tactful. Not a fan, but didn't pull me entirely away from the story.
The cast was a bit young for my taste, but I think they did a fine job for this being so early on in their careers. It's rare that you get actors playing a character OLDER than their actual age. You follow these characters into their early adulthood, which is a span of about six years throughout the 36 episodes, but I still find that a lot of the thoughts and actions they have when they are around 22 years old is similar to their mindset when they were 16. There's not a whole lot of character development for anyone except the female lead, and everyone has retained that immaturity they had when they were in high school. I'm giving them a high score just because they are too stinking cute, and I love the different relationships within their group dynamic. I didn't dislike any of the supporting characters. The lighthearted feel of this drama luckily doesn't call for profound acting ability. They're actually more natural than I expected, but I overall just thought that either the actors were too young or the characters were situationally older than they should have been.
Overall, just an adorable feel-good drama, with some promising young and newer faces.
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