Cruel Romance has a decent main story line, but the story gets bogged down with some of the secondary story line to the point of annoyance. At one point I thought "not again" and realized that they pretty much recycled the same plot point with a few minor changes. I gave it a higher score because of the main romantic story. One of the problems is that the women characters aren't that smart. One lets herself be manipulated into doing things that end up hurting herself and the other seems smart, but makes really bad decisions. Anyway, at least the antiheros were smart. If you like action, romance and suspense, then this is a good drama for that. Joe Chen is really cute and a good actress, but Rong Jin Xiu wasn't the best role. For her character to be smart at one point and then to make foolish decisions. Well, her character paid for those decisions in a huge way. I think she had decent chemistry with Huang Xiao Ming who played Zuo Zhen. He is an excellent actor. I like how he showed control of his emotions without being a cold person. Plus he is HOT! Kelsey Lu is also a good actress, but the character Yin Ming Zhu is one of the most annoying I have ever seen. I get her past and why she did some of the things and I felt sorry for her when certain things happened to her that were totally not her fault. The problem is that I couldn't have cared less what happened to her by the end of the show. The other male characters weren't likable to me. The actors did fine jobs at playing the characters though. At least Qiao Kimi as Xiang Ying Dong admitted his selfishness. Let’s talk about some hotness overload in Qi Ji as Maeda Ryuichi. He plays crazy really well and there absolutely no redeeming qualities for his character, but he did it so well. I really enjoyed his acting. The other actors are good too. The music is ok. I won't rewatch this. I recommend this drama. It isn't perfect, but it is entertaining.