I couldn't suspend my disbelief any further

When I opened this MDL page I read in the comments that there will be no second season, which is awful since it leaves this drama without a proper ending - not even for its own season. The last episode ends with a cliffhanger, so we will never know what was supposed to happen to any character, even the protagonists. I was very tempted to lower my rating when I read the news, but I guess I'm feeling generous.

The story is about Su Yu and Wu Bi, two high-schoolers who come from very different environments (Su Yu lives with his father in a poor neighborhood, Wu Bi lives a comfortable life with his rich father), but end up in the same classroom and gradually become best friends thanks to a series of coincidences. Little do they know that Su Yu's mother, who abandoned him after divorcing from his father six years prior, just got married to Wu Bi's father, who had been a widower for a few years.
The initial tangle of different relationships between the characters was very interesting to follow and actually made me more and more interested in everyone, even the secondary characters. The resolution of the first main conflict between Su Yu and Wu Bi, however, led the story to a less interesting and much more annoying part: one full with misunderstandings and lack of communication between the main characters. After that, the plot got a lot slower and fluffier, with cute and touching moments between the two main leads and also lots of "fanservice" moments. There were some events here and there to make the plot more lively, but for some reason everything felt much slower and I had trouble getting through the second part of the drama in particular. I also had to suspend my disbelief in multiple occasions, because the abilities of certain characters and the convenience of certain elements of the plot were just too much for me to take them seriously. I could have ignored it if it was just one thing or two, but there were too many times I rolled my eyes at the screen.

The main highlight of this drama are the two main characters. I felt like Su Yu and Wu Bi's feelings were truly genuine and that was great to watch. I know that this was an adaptation from a BL novel and that the love story had to be censored, but the production team managed to include lots of lines, gazes and moments that were just ambiguous enough to make it in the final version of the episodes. The main theme of the story was the idea of "family", in theory, but to be entirely honest I couldn't feel much of a bond between the characters other than between the two protagonists.
The secondary characters did an okay job, with some shining and others not so much. The parents of Su Yu and Wu Bi definitely had a better treatment as their characters got explored.

The production felt a little lacking. I am not aware of how much budget did they have, but there were multiple times when I just thought "oh, I guess they couldn't afford doing this thing properly?" and similar.
The OST seems to be made of two songs that are played at least once per episode, sometimes at moments that didn't fit the mood of the scene at all. To be entirely honest, sometimes I wished they didn't use music at all.

Overall I can't say that I'm entirely unsatisfied, because I felt like the relationship between Su Yu and Wu Bi developing and getting stronger and stronger across the episodes was definitely worth my time. However, considering that this drama is not finished, I'm not sure I want to recommend this to anyone. If you like bromance and you don't mind an open (VERY open) ending, go ahead.

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Very painful romance but I have no regrets

I was hesitant about picking up this one because I had heard that there was lots of drama and angst in the story, but I saw it being recommended too many times (and I saw Bai Lu being praised all around A LOT), so I had to watch it and make an opinion for myself.

The story is about Tantai Jin, the demon lord who is destined to bring chaos to the world, and Li Susu, the immortal who witnesses the destruction brought by Tantai Jin and travels 500 years back in time to prevent his rise to power. What Li Susu doesn't expect is to be reincarnated as Tantai Jin's wife, and Tantai Jin to be a mortal who is hated and mistreated by everyone. Just like that, Ye Xiwu's plan becomes more complicated: she has to find a way to neutralize Tantai Jin's evil core, but she also needs to make sure he doesn't die in the meantime.
The story flows very nicely. There is a lot going on, but the pace is not too fast and it allows to follow all the events well without getting confused, all without ever needing to slow down too much. There's also a very good balance between the dramatic plot elements and the more fun, romantic, and fluffy ones, which was a huge relief to me.
The cast was amazing all around, with very likeable characters and great villains as well. I was impressed by the ML the most for his performance as Tantai Jin: he was able to portray a very complex character, managing to show warmth and coldness as needed without it ever feeling unnatural. I've seen a good amount of anti-hero protagonists, but this is one of the few who were actually unsettling to me, in the best way possible!

The quality of the production was very high, with special effects that never looked out of place nor overdone. The OST also matches the core moments of the drama and enhances them very well.

I can't lie, the story made me suffer a lot. There's lots of moments that made my heart ache for the characters, and after almost 40 episodes I was starting to feel a little tired from all the heartbreaks I had to watch. Despite this, I enjoyed this story and its characters a lot, and I can easily recommend it to any fan of the Xianxia genre.

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Beautiful love story!

This xianxia revolves around a powerful "evil" lord, Dongfang Qingcang, and the little Orchid fairy who accidentally frees him from the prison he has been in for 30,000 years, and puts him under a spell in the process. The plot follows them as Dongfang Qingcang does all he can to take advantage of the situation and rise to power once more, and Orchid does her best to hide her new companion from the other immortals, and change him for the better.

What stands out immediately in the story is the characterization of the two protagonists, who couldn't be more different from each other: Dongfang Qingcang is practical, strict, always serious and straightforward, and has little to no care about what others might think or feel; Orchid, on the other hand, is very emotional and innocent and always tries her hardest to make sure that the people around her are happy and at ease, even at her own expense. The two of them grow to appreciate each other from the little things, and slowly grow and evolve emotionally as well. I really liked how the changes in their behavior and their attitude toward each other felt very natural; both protagonists are very different people in the second half of the drama, and I didn't question this change even for a moment. The story takes place in four different "arcs", so to say, each of them very relevant for the evolution of Orchid, Dongfang Qingcang, and their romance.
Overall the plot felt very solid to me. There were a couple of times when I felt like it was getting too slow, and also a moment when I actually wished the events had more time to unfold properly, but it didn't hinder the story.
All the characters were amazing. The two protagonists gave amazing performances and I was very impressed by their versatility to portray such complex characters in particular: the cast was just perfect for all the roles.

The quality of the production was pretty good, I really liked the props and the costumes and the CGI was pretty impressive in my eyes as well. The OST also has to be one of the best I've heard in a drama; I don't think I'll ever be over the opening theme in particular.

There are some elements that might stop people from watching (namely: Orchid's voice in the first half of the drama), but I feel like you should still give it a try if you like the genre. I did and I certainly didn't regret it!

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It wasn't what I was hoping for

I guess I should be blaming myself for this, but after watching the first two episodes of Twinkling Watermelon, I was VERY interested in what could happen to Eun Gyeol after traveling back to 1995. The premise of the story also made me wonder how would the plot unfold, and what would be the overall message and the ending. My problem with this drama is that, unfortunately, even now that I'm done watching all the episodes I'm still wondering what were they supposed to be.

The beginning of the story introduces us to Eun Gyeol and his life as a CODA: the way he had to grow up and be mature at a young age, the responsibilities and burdens he felt on his shoulders throughout his childhood and his teenage years, and the way he felt guilty whenever he tried to actually live his youth.
As he went back in time, I thought to myself: "okay, so I guess that this time-travel will teach him to actually live his own life and stop looking after others and sacrificing himself for them, right?"

...except that Eun Gyeol does the exact opposite for the entire drama. He looks after his parents, works as hard as possible to fix their problems and make them happy, even puts himself in danger for their sake. The theme of living his own life and letting others live theirs is barely hinted at until the very last episode, where it's exposed like some sort of lecture rather than something Eun Gyeol has actually internalized and made his own. It also goes against the entire plot, because Eun Gyeol changed the lives of both his parents for the better, which actually ended up influencing the future of many people for the better as well. It felt more like Eun Gyeol was truly supposed to take care of his parents after all.

I also wondered if this time-travel was about him learning that his parents had to struggle in life, and that he wasn't the only one who had to suffer, but I really hope not because that would be a horrible theme. His life as a CODA and the struggles he had to face in his youth are not magically erased just because he finds out that Yi Chan and Cheong Ah suffered as well. Especially with the ending, I felt like Eun Gyeol's hardships were just swept under the rug and there was no actual communication between him and his family, which was truly a shame.

Something else that I couldn't understand at all was On Eun Yu's presence in the story. I might be biased here since I didn't like her character at all (and as much as I like Seol In Ah, I don't believe she was a good casting choice for a teenage character), but I seriously believe her presence was useless for the sake of the main plot. Even her "plan" didn't make any logic sense and felt like a huge waste of time. The screentime spent for her story could have been used to better explore Yi Chan and Cheong Ah's characters, or even better: it could have been used to create a more complete and satisfying ending. It really felt like the writers wanted to give Eun Gyeol a love interest at all costs, which was frustrating to see.

I can't say that I hated the story. It has a very interesting premise, most of the characters are loveable and it's a drama that makes one want to binge-watch everything in a day. I laughed, giggled, kicked my feet, got angry and cried with the characters, which is always great. There were multiple plot holes, but for the most part they were easy to ignore. I just had bigger expectations from it.

The production overall seemed good to me, but I wish they showed the characters better when they spoke in sign language, and I also wish they didn't use voice-overs whenever someone signed. The acting was also great, I especially loved Shin Eun Soo's performance as Yoon Cheong Ah and Choi Hyun Wook as Ha Yi Chan (and their moments together! So adorable!). The pacing is perfect in the first 10 episodes or so, then it started to feel a little draggy, but it wasn't too bad overall. The music is pretty good, I really liked the song choices for the different performances both in the past and in the present.

Overall I can say I had fun, so maybe give it a try for yourself! I can recommend it if you're looking for something that is both fun and tear-jerking.

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Warm, touching depiction of pining

Yes, I'm aware that this drama is about two childhood friends slowly discovering new feelings they have for each other and coming to terms with the changes in their relationship, which is something that has been shown multiple times in other stories as well. With this high score I'm not trying to say that this drama is revolutionary, groud-breaking, or anything like that. All I can say is that it was touching, warm, and just so lovely to watch.

Yamato and Kakeru are two childhood friends who are also very different from each other. Yamato is smart, good in all the school subjects and in pretty much anything he attempts to do, conventionally attractive (based on the number of times girls are shown fawning about him), and also very shy and introverted, with Kakeru as his only true friend at the beginning of the story. On the other hand, Kakeru is really not good as school and doesn't seem to excell at anything at all, which causes him to have lots of problems with his self-esteem, but he's also kind and thoughtful, and very good at making friends and getting along with people. It's instantly obvious how fond Yamato is of Kakeru and their friendship, but Kakeru is also blatantly proud of Yamato and somewhat protective of him. Their dynamic was absolutely endearing, I can already see myself going back to certain episodes to rewatch their moments together.
I was afraid that the story could feel too slow, or like it wasn't developing properly, but in the end I was actually satisfied: the two of them don't resolve their problems and conflicts in a heartbeat, that's for sure, but they don't waste their (and our) time with excessive overthinking, and the blossoming of their romance is steady and well-paced. I also appreciated the fact that while there is a certain amount of angsty feelings, it never gets too heavy, and there's a quite satisfying amount of fluffiness as well.
The secondary characters weren't explored all that much and they were there basically as tools for the main characters' story to go forward, but this is a short drama (only 8 episodes of about 20 minutes each), so I wasn't expecting much to begin with and I can't say that I'm unsatisfied with this. If anything, I appreciated the fact that Hosaka seemed to have his personal BGM every time he had an important scene for himself.

I didn't feel like giving a 10 to this drama because, in my opinion, Yamato and Kakeru deserved an even better depiction of two best friends, but that's just my personal preference. Overall, I absolutely recommend it to whoever is in the mood for a simple drama about high-school romance!

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Satisfying, fun and romantic!

This is the first historical Chinese drama I've watched, and also the first Chinese drama I've watched that didn't have at least 30 episodes or more. It was a very pleasant surprise nonetheless!

Besides the obvious premise of the story, the plot is split in two different settings to show each bride's situation with the "wrong" groom.
Li Yu Hu's side revolves around the conflicts and mysteries in the Qi family. It feels very similar to a soap opera, with lots of secrets, lots of eavesdropping, lots of tricky situations and malicious family members. Despite this, the atmosphere feels light and fun most of the time, mainly thanks to Qi Tian Lei and Li Yu Hu's couple dynamic.
Du Bing Yan's side is more about her trying her best to finally see her husband and clarify the misunderstanding. Her share of screentime was always more thrilling and dynamic and brought most of the action to the story.
Overall, the plot was nice and well-balanced: it kept a lighthearted and fun tone most of the time and didn't have many dramatic elements. Li Yu Hu and Qi Tian Lei's story started to feel a little too static and redundant after a while, but thankfully it wasn't too bad - mostly because their moments together were absolutely adorable. Du Bing Yan's story was quite interesting, but she and Yuan Bu Qu didn't have nearly as much time on screen as the other main couple, so I can't say I was entirely satisfied with them. Personally, I wish we got to see them more, and could have easily done without one or two of the side couples that were introduced in the story little by little.

It's a fun drama, nothing mind-blowing or exceptional by any means, but it was still an enjoyable watch for me. Recommended if you're looking for something with little angst, lots of fluff, and mostly relaxing!

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Didn't expect this to be so romantic

The beginning of this drama is a little confusing, because there's a short opening scene in the present and then there's a long (!) flashback that lasts for more than half of the entire series. I recommend ignoring that and just focusing on the rest of the story, which luckily doesn't use flashbacks and flash-forwards as much as I feared.

The story itself is good, but nothing exceptional: a fated encounter between a member of a gang and a high-school student leads to them having to live together for a while and slowly develop feelings for each other. The plot also follows the story of two other members of the gang and the love triangle between them and their boss. I feel like the organized crime aspect of the plot should have been explored more, especially in terms of who is aligned with whom and what do these gangs actually do other than fighting each other whenever they meet.

The romance can be good or not, it all depends on personal taste: it feels like the love stories don't have solid foundations and they're mostly based on the ideas of "fate", "soulmates", and more in general the will to give up on anything for a lover. The main characters seem to share this extreme sentiment when it comes to love, so if that's too much for you, I can't recommend watching. I personally found it very romantic - maybe a little too idealistic to feel real, but it's also nice to dream every now and then, isn't it?
I believe that the couples featured in the drama are the best part. The acting is not stellar, but they deliver their performances very well and their chemistry was enough to glue my eyes to the screen.

I can't say that this story was great, or that I'd recommend this drama for its plot. On the other hand, I had fun and the couples are very sweet and memorable to me. I believe you should give it a chance if you like romance with a good amount of angst.

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I'm very happy with the outcome!

I like the idea of the main character accidentally (?) turning his life into a BL fanfiction. It's silly in a good way and also feels new compared to other stories. I would have liked it more if the plot showed more ambiguity about this matter, but seeing Iwon worrying so much about it and being so weirded out by Jioh was still lots of fun to watch. Seeing both of them bicker and seeing their feelings for each other grow was quite nice! At some point I couldn't decide whether I wanted Jioh to have some peace of mind, or I wanted Iwon to panick even more. It was just a very entertaining dynamic overall.
The second couple had a less animated plot, and while it was good to see their peaceful moments, it was also a little harder to follow, all because of the untold information that was only revealed to us viewers little by little. Sunwoo and Yugyeom were adorable together despite this and managed to deliver a very sentimental and romantic performance.
Overall I wish the plot was developed a little more - maybe with more episodes, or with longer episodes. I feel like it didn't have the proper space to "breathe" fully and lead to a very satisfying ending, but I can't say I disliked what I got at all.

The only thing I really disliked about this drama was the sound mixing. I watched this on Viki, so I'm not sure if this is just a problem of that platform alone, but the sound was VERY quiet, with some parts significantly more quiet than the others in the same episode. I had to work with my volume settings a lot while watching. On top of this, the audio quality wasn't very good, both in terms of lines and in terms of ambient sounds.

I guess it would be hard not to mention the original Why R U in this review, but to be honest I'd rather not compare them. The production styles are very different from each other, the plot here went through major (unavoidable) changes, and I also still remember how there were problems during the filming of the Thai version because of the start of the pandemic.
All I can say is that I have a soft spot for the original, and that I believe that this rendition was very good at giving justice to the plot. I was also very happy to see the little tributes to the original series here and there (first and foremost, Max and Nat having a cameo in the first episode).

In conclusion, I recommend this drama to whoever is looking for something cute and fun to watch, that also isn't too demanding both in terms of engagement (the story is very easy to follow) and in terms of time (each episode is about 20 minutes long if we don't count the theme songs and the recaps, so it's very easy to binge-watch).

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Stayed for the main couple

First of all, here's a recommendation: make sure to find good subtitles for this series. When I tried to watch the first episode with English subtitles, they were so bad that I seriously considered dropping the show altogether. I was lucky enough to find good subtitles in my native language, but if I hadn't, I don't think I would have watched anything past the second episode. Also, the first two episodes are very slow and the pace only picks up from the third episode, so that wouldn't have helped either.

The plot of the story is not very convincing. There are good tropes that could have made the story interesting, but all of them felt very superficial and inconsistent: some elements were introduced and then forgotten, some others stayed for the entire story but never felt as crucial as they were probably meant to be (like the rivalry between Dorm 2 and Dorm 3, which kept being brought up and then suddenly forgotten at every turn). I was under the impression that the writers came up with different ideas, then were indecisive about which one they could pick, and finally chose to include all of them. I felt like I was being swept left and right by the plot and its constant changes in direction, so after a while I just stopped questioning anything that was happening in the story, and focused on the romance.
The story of each couple isn't much less confusing than the overarching plot, but the chemistry of the main pair made up for it. Ai and Songkhram have to be one of the most adorable on-screen couples I've seen and all their moments together had me glued to the screen; the development of their relationship was also pretty good despite everything. The secondary couples didn't get the same care, unfortunately: I feel like Pipe and Meen could have shown much more, but the pacing was off and their story ended up feeling unsatisfying to me. As for Pluster and Nano, they didn't really have any sort of subplot of their own to begin with - either that or it was just so insignificant that it didn't even catch my eye.

Overall, I'm sure I will remember this series just because of Ai and Songkhram and not much else. I only recommend watching as long as you don't have high expectations for the story.

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Fun and thrilling adventure with an awful pace

This story is mainly about two young men, Huzi and Qi Xiaoxuan, who team up with each other and fight to overcome a crisis that threatens to destroy the world. The structure of the story and the way it develops in each episode reminded me a lot of certain action tv shows I watched as a kid, in a good way: I really felt like I was embarking in a great adventure and the setting was very charming to me. Despite this, the plot was not easy to follow because of its pacing, which is just terrible: the story seems to slow down or even come to a halt at the worst moments, it speeds up way too much right when it's supposed to take more time to let the events develop naturally, and so on. I felt confused multiple times as I wondered why were certain events in the story taking so long to finish, all while some very important parts of the story felt rushed for no good reason. If anyone dropped this drama because they were getting bored or they couldn't understand the plot, I wouldn't be surprised.

The strongest point of this series is definitely in the characters. The main characters, the antagonists, even the secondary roles and a good chunk of the supporting cast were very captivating and well-detailed, most with a well developed story and personality that made for a very colourful cast.
Huzi and Qi Xiaoxuan are amazing as the main characters and make a very good pair: seeing their mutual dislike slowly turn into quiet acceptance, then respect, friendship, and even brotherhood was very satisfying. I'd go as far as calling it a bromance, because I feel like the chemistry they had with each other was unmatched. Seeing someone like Huzi as a main character was also a pleasant breath of fresh air to me, after seeing male protagonists who are always elegant and refined in all the Chinese fantasy dramas I've ever watched. Zhao Xintong and "Brick" Wang Yuqian completed the quartet very quickly, and their characters were explored to an extent that left me pleasantly surprised. I was afraid that their group would feel like "Huzi, Xiaoxuan, and friends" for the entire story, but that wasn't the case at all.

The production looked pretty good to me: the entire drama looks incredibly pretty to look at, and the fighting scenes are probably my favorite. I wasn't a huge fan of the CGI monsters, but that's something that I could overlook easily.

This series could have been a 10 out of 10 to me, if it wasn't for the bad pacing, which might easily discourage anyone from watching more than a handful of episodes. I still feel like Tiger and Crane deserves a chance despite this, because it's still a fun adventure and the characters are just too easy to love.

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Fun and light-hearted romance

The plot starts with the two main characters as enemies who are forced to cooperate to reach their personal goals. Their relationship warms up to a sincere friendship as they begin to trust each other and get to know each other better. I really liked how their romantic feelings developed, I felt like I could see them grow and bloom as the episodes went by.
The premise of the two main characters becoming equal business partners is also something new for me - I'm used to see romance between office workers, or romance between a boss and their employee, so this was a refreshing change of pace!
While the plot is cute and it's shown well in the first five episodes or so, things didn't look as good toward the end. Some elements of the plot would have benefited from being introduced earlier on rather than being shown at the last moment; there was no proper build-up for them and it felt more like an attempt from the writers to stir-up things. These plotlines were also not cared for properly, as their resolution felt kind of underwhelming to me.

The cast was very good. It's the first series I watched with Daou and Offroad, but I could immediately tell that they're very at ease with each other - it's hard to find this level of chemistry in most on-screen couples. I was also really happy to see Ngern here! His performance as Phumjai's older brother was actually my favorite out of the entire cast.
The secondary couple was interesting, but I believe they needed more screentime for a proper development of their plotline.
The secondary characters were all chosen well and I really liked the atmosphere they created in the series, making the store feel like an actual home to everyone.

In conclusion, while this series definitely has its flaws, I still believe it's a fun show to watch and its romance deserves the attention. Recommended if you're looking for something mostly light-hearted!

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Cute enough!

I am not a fan of most of the stories coming from MAME novels, so I started watching with very low expectations, but in the end I can say that I had fun.

The story is very simple and very predictable, so the main charming point of the series is all about Nuea, Lom, and their constant pull toward each other. Seeing Lom getting more and more bold with his flirting and Nuea trying not to fall harder and harder for him was fun. The story also keeps a steady and rather fast pace, which helped me a lot with not getting frustrated or bored while watching.
The actors all did a good job with what they had. My biggest annoyance were the character monologues, which is something that I can't stand: I'd rather have the characters show me their true feelings naturally through actions and expressions rather than have them recite it out loud like a school assignment.
The couples are cute. They're not hyper romantic and memorable couples, but they have good chemistry and their moments together are really cute.

I don't have anything especially bad to say about this series, I just didn't find it to be anything other than reasonably entertaining. I can recommend it to you if you have some spare time for a shorter series!

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I thought I would like it a lot, I ended up liking it even more than that

I saw snippets of this drama here and there on the Internet before I was finally able to watch it, but the little I saw was already pretty intriguing and I was ready to enjoy myself. What I wasn't expecting was me falling in love with it.

There is something very charming about this story, and I believe it revolves around genuine feelings of love mixed with a hint of secrecy. The plot develops quietly and while it doesn't have much in terms of suspensful and thrilling moments, it captured my heart with the character dynamics and the perfect pacing of the events.
The main character, Baram, is open and honest when singing as much as he is secretive about his true feelings in any other moment, and seeing his emotional journey as it develops quietly inside of him was just wonderful. His friendship with Hantae has an unconventional beginning and Hantae himself seems to be his polar opposite: he always seems straightforward with his feelings and his ideas, always ready to take action and go forward. These two protagonists suit each other so well that their chemistry exploded like fireworks from the very beginning to the very end.
I loved the production quality of this drama a lot more than I thought I would as well. Every set and every outfit loos so pretty, not to mention the camera angles.
Special mention to the OST, which was just amazing. It might sound like a given since this drama revolves around music a lot, but the songs really stand out a lot.

This one for me goes hand in hand with Semantic Error in terms of Korean BL dramas that are just perfect in my eyes. I really recommend this drama to whoever would like to see a sweet romance develop slowly but steadily!

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Excellent bromance for an overall very disappointing drama

I started watching because this is one of the danmei drama adaptations I've seen being recommended the most. I was also encouraged by the rating here on the MDL page for the drama.

I can say that I understand why I saw it being recommended it so much. For anyone who is a fan of BL or bromance dramas/series, this is gold: the two main characters are great actors and have excellent chemistry with each other. While it doesn't get as shameless as in other dramas I've watched (namely Word of Honor), this show still makes it very easy for me to read between the lines and consider it a full-fledged love story rather than a bromance. Shen Wei would make it very hard for anyone not to fall for him whenever he lets go of his calm and collected attitude to help Zhao Yunlan in any way possible, and the Guardian himself is unable to act all cool and detached for long before starting to care for Shen Wei deeply.

The problem of this drama is just... everything else. The story felt very chaotic and hard to follow from the get-go to me, to the point that I had to stop myself from dropping the drama altogether after the first two episodes. The events of the story are not very appealing, so even when I had to feel worried for the characters or excited to see what would come next, I wasn't able to feel much. Unfortunately the same goes for the cast other than the two protagonists; even the most important secondary roles didn't feel much relevant nor interesting. Even the main villains of the story felt more annoying than actually charming or threatening in any way.
All of this was made worse by a very fragile worldbuilding, with obscure rules for supernatural and sci-fi elements that often made me ask "why isn't this character using their power on this occasion?", "if that character had been able to do that all along, why didn't they do that sooner?" and similar.
The pacing of the story was also off, with elements of the plot and some characters that would have benefited from having more time to better explain their situations, and moments in the story that were made unbearably slow and detailed for no real reason.
If all of this wasn't enough, a huge flaw of this drama was the production, which felt... cheap, for the lack of a better word. I usually don't mind lower budgets at all and I hardly even point it out when I notice it, but this time around it was just too annoying. The CGI and other digital effects made me feel like I was watching an early 2000's movie, most of the props and the costumes looked too fake for me to suspend my disbelief, and often times even the audio quality was bad and distracted me from the story further.
While the acting of the main characters was very good, I can't say the same for the rest of the cast. The best I can say for them is that it was decent most of the time for some of them, but in many instances I felt like the acting was too exaggerated and dramatic, or just very stiff and unnatural, depending on the actor or the scene.

I chose to give Guardian a 7 out of 10 because, despite struggling toward the end, I was able to watch the entire thing, and I actually enjoyed myself when I was focused on Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. They're the only reason why I would recommend this drama to anyone: it's a good bromance and the fans of the genre will definitely love it. My only warning is to lower your expectations in terms of plot and setting: if you're looking for a good fantasy/sci-fi drama, you should look elsewhere.

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They completely won me over!

I heard nothing but good things about Unintentional Love Story, so I was really looking forward to watch it and make my own opinion about it. I'm not going to lie: I was also a little bit skeptical about it for some reason, and ready to look for flaws that would make me dislike this drama at least in part.
As you might have guessed by the overall rate I chose, Unintentional Love Story ended up winning me over, and became one of the best Korean BLs I've ever watched.

The story starts off with multiple circumstances involving the main characters, Ji Wonyoung and Yoon Taejoon, that need to be kept in mind in order to make the watch more enjoyable. This is not the kind of drama that one can watch while half-asleep or unable to keep track of the plot details being revealed little by little in the story, you've been warned!
If I had to pick one recurring theme for this story, I'd say it's about freedom, in particular the need to break free from what hold people back in life. At the beginning Ji Wonyoung finds himself being swept away by situations and people much bigger and powerful than him, so he ends up acting against his own morals. At the same time, Yoon Taejoon is trapped by an intense feeling of loss and betrayal that made him unable to truly trust anyone around him. Not much is revealed in detail about these two protagonists, yet their interactions on screen and the way they slowly start taking space in each other's life and adapting to one another is a wonder for the eyes. I also really liked how they indirectly made the other people in their life change as well.
The pacing of the story was just perfect: I felt like the characters took the perfect amount of time to get to know each other and build up their chemistry, and the obstacles they found along the way were all reasonable. Even when things looked bad for their romance, I didn't feel frustrated nor annoyed at anyone's decision or train of thoughts a single time, precisely because the characterization AND the writing of the drama were so perfect - something that even dramas with the highest budget get wrong sometimes.
The two couples were very good and I really liked how different their respective dynamics were. Neither of them were a "passionate making out moments" kind of couple (if you're looking for steamy kisses and love scenes, this is not for you!), but they were both very cute. Wonyoung and Taejoon especially made a very warm and romantic couple; the secondary couple wasn't shown enough for me to make a clear opinion about it, but I've heard that a spin-off about them will be coming soon and I'm curious to see how they will do there.

In conclusion, I consider this a must-watch for any BL fan, and I also strongly recommend it to whoever wants to watch a nice romantic drama in general. Each episode lasts about 35 minutes, so it's about 6 hours overall - not too demanding at all, so dive in if you have the chance!

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