Silly and cute romcom
Overall I found this very fun. Mostly your typical CEO romcom plot.It is definitely a vshort style drama.
One thing I found interesting is that this drama seems to have given more thought to the transmigrator concept. Most dramas are just like "and then she was transported" and its probably never mentioned again -- just a mysterious maybe-godly force? But in this, the link between the worlds feels like a real part of the fantasy landscape, there is a reason for it and practical ways that it works.
As far as the characters, the ML is pretty basic. He turns a bit too sharply into the romance but its a short so whatever.
The FL is a bit more interesting, as she is a cultivator from another world she is literally a warrior. Only occasionally does this seem to be forgotten, tbh I was impressed because most dramas would drop that premise quickly. But throughout this, her posture and movements and attitude are almost always informed by her actual background. She holds herself like a warrior and walks like one.
I was also glad to see that consistent characterization because the other red flag that starts sticking out is that as soon as she is dressing modern, she is almost always dressed in a child-like manner. Which is... a bit sus. But amusingly this just means that she acts like a warrior even though she has pigtails and overalls or whatever. Haha
The other piece worth mentioning is so many satisfying slaps. ngl its my favorite part of vshorts
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Very real and raw and bittersweet
Overall I found this drama to be very moving, and tackling subjects that are rarely engaged so directly. And I am not just talking about the CW parts, but the complexity of the underlying emotions and challenges and things you have to live with.If you haven't watched it yet, I do think you may want to know that...
Check the genre tags before assuming anything based on the imagery -- This is not a romance genre drama.
This is not a romance. In either theme or content. The cover may make you think this is a GL, but the story is not about love at all, or at least not about *romance*. This is really a situation where maybe they're romantically connected and maybe they are sismance / friendship connected. Trying to put it in a box is not really useful though, the story is not ABOUT romance, this is really more about HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS.
And it is good. Really good.
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Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko! 2nd Stage
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This review may contain spoilers
Silly and sweet and a bit insightful
If you are reading reviews for S2 then you probably know what you're getting into. S2 continues the pattern of this being a silly romcom that relies heavily on misunderstandings to create conflicts. Overall this show has so much fun along the way, just being silly, and following Ayaka's joyous attempts to love Hiroko is a blessing.That being said, the core plotline can be a bit frustrating at times. The central conflict of this season is about physical intimacy, and it is immediately very confusing when they are living together and sharing a bed that this is still completely not discussed. Throughout this show the themes of lack of communication as well as the difference between infatuation and love, are explored pretty heavily. It is frustrating that it takes them years to figure it out, but also that is kind of relatable.
In the end though, it is rare for a drama to take the time to draw a line between the version of love that is one sided and in your head based on an infatuation, and the kind of love that you practice every day by actually communicating with the other person. This show takes time while having lots of fun shenanigans, to sketch this more serious conversation.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fun and silly
I went into this without much preconception other than it was recommended as a jdrama GL I should check out.Overall, I had a lot of fun. This is a pretty silly show, so it is very much a romcom that emphasizes the "com". That aspect is not my usual, but I still found the emotional beats satisfying and many aspects of this show very charming.
The biggest criticism is probably an obvious one, and that is the misunderstandings are dragged out way too long and repeat way too many times. The entire first season is pretty much centered on a bizarre insistence of one lead that the other lead is straight. This is never supported in any way, and drags out to an absurd extent. It is a common situation but just exaggerated for comedy. Accept it early or you won't have much fun, because it is THE centerpiece of S1.
Well the misunderstandings can get annoying, but perhaps the worst part is that what we are left with is the majority of the runtime just watching a single character just thinking to themselves and generating thoughts that are wrong and create problems. Not only is it frustrating that the conflicts are ..just made up by her having dumb ideas, but is it actually enjoyable to watch someone go down anxious thought spirals over and over and over by themselves? Where is the plot? This is actually a similar pattern we saw in Cherry Magic.
Which is sorta relatable, but do I need to live this for someone else? This may just be the line where anxiety "comedy" is not for me.
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THE GOOD
- The leads are great, very comfortable and charming
- Strong FL despite plot keeping her powered down most of the time, she still has the agency and perspective of a strong character
- Some of the supporting characters are very charming
- Spirit beast companion friendships are everything
- Certain side characters are notable examples of strong women, portrayed in ways that not many dramas manage to pull off
THE CONFUSING
- The world presents itself has a pretty high fantasy (xianxia?) vibe at first but that premise drops away after the intro and the setting becomes a strangely low-magic wuxia. We clearly have major magic in this world but almost nobody actually uses it
- Certain angst cycle plotlines are overused seemingly to stretch the story. Frequently there will be only a very thin and vague reason for certain people to be apart or mad at each other.
THE BAD
- A certain antagonist gets WAY too much screen time. I actually think he got more screentime than the leads, like what actual reason was there to focus this much on one dude. Also he is worst combination of a character that is just unpleasant to watch PLUS he just never changes at all. No complexity revealed. No growth. Buckle in to watch the same characters do and say the same things over and over. The middle section was rough to get through just for the fact that nothing fun is happening and all the focus is on this one dude who is just cringey and gross.
- The main couple's conflicts are often thin, which makes it hard to conceive of their motivations and perspectives. A lot of "this makes good angst" on paper, but when actually played out within a story it needs to hold up to scrutiny. Many situations fall apart if you ask any questions -- Just why are you sacrificing so much? Just what level of trust do you have for them? The answers will just change depending on the moment.
- Some of the background relationships also don't hold up to scrutiny, if these characters are living in this world then why don't they have any human relationships from their backstories? If these dynasty squabbles are supposed to have impact then I would need something to make me invested in the families but none of that ever lands. It's just a flat backdrop for the main romance. Which is fine for what it is, but let's be honest about it.
- Fight scenes seem to be straight up avoided or heavily simplified. There seems to be some implied budget constraint? Or just intentionally avoiding luring audience looking for fight scenes. Which is fine, but the intro definitely fails to communicate this expectation accurately -- Beginning is VERY focused on a fight, and then barely any comparable fight will happen again.
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Cute and fun hshort
I really enjoyed this drama. The main couple are very cute and wholesome and a joy to watch. The ML is exceptionally nice and not toxic or weirdly macho or anything. He doesn't have to be good at anything, he's good at being a decent human being and taking care of his loved ones and that is actually enough !!The side couple is pretty fun, also mildly "breaking the mold", nothing that controversial, just pretty unique characters that feel like they aren't quite as bound by the usual archetypes and tropes.
Twenty-some eps at 8 mins long, this is a pretty focused little mini drama that I really enjoyed. I'll watch it again too.
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90s goth modern with a side of gay
This is a pretty unique drama in that it is a modern drama but also xianxia but also 90s goth aesthetic. The story jumps into a pretty deeply lored setting -- clearly stuff has been happening and we aren't going to handhold the audience about it.In general the team has fun with it, goth godlings all beefing with each other, some wuxia fights, some interpersonal drama, some layered backstories that are slowly revealed. All in all, this is a pulpy fun time.
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Not great, unless you starving for GL
I found this watchable after it found its groove, but a lot of this is pretty rough as far as production value and continuity.There are times where it seems the editing is rushed or unpaid. There was a whole sequence where an actors "leaves the room and the time passes" but they dont use any transitions, so you can clearly just see they had the actor walk into and out of the frame multiple times without giving the actual time in between or using any transition effects to communicate that time passed.
Stuff like that is sprinkled throughout, which is disappointing / jarring. But if you just accept that this is a very low budget or student film, then you may be able to enjoy the main couple. They have good chemistry, so if you are just here for GL vibes, then you may find it worth a watch.
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Another juicy melodrama from my favorite team
So, if you are reading reviews for a "sequel" I am going to assume you already watched the first one. The main thing you probably want to know is that this is not a sequel, it is the same team telling a similar but different story.This is a modern melodrama about a rich family. The set up is probably common for melodramas, but the actual characters are so unique and richly portrayed, as always with this team, I find myself very engaged with the characters and how they are all unique.
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Fun melodrama from my favorite team
They really went into this and said, let's make a melodrama and just have fun with it. Another production from this team where you can tell that being an indie production let someone focus on writing the plot that they wanted, and not worry about forcing it to be excessively curated. It is well written and you can tell someone really put time into considering how to peel back the layers of the story.Modern melodramas aren't usually my thing, but this was engaging and interesting. I feel like all the characters were complex and unique individuals.
Also there is a "sequel" but it is unrelated, just the same team telling a similar but different story. It is also fun.
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A Practical Guide to Being a Superstar's Assistant
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Cute short GL
This is a very short drama speedrun of a GL. It is cute and has some nice moments and some interesting characterization and tension. The main plot serves more as a gesture drawing of the story, and instead the focus is on portraying the significant moments, more like vignettes.Wang Xue Xi as a skittish but determined assistant is really cute; I would love to see more work like this from her.
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Surprisingly strong hshort
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It feels more like a proper drama than an hshort. It was a pretty quick watch but they still managed to flesh out a few characters with depth and interesting characterization.The main lead is a strong person with agency and competence. She is intelligent and is proactive -- she isn't waiting to be victimized by the usual villain shenanigans.
Many of the plotlines have an impressive amount of complexity, characters are not flat and sometimes a villain isn't just evil, and has room for growth. Even with some "redemption" it never feels too easy -- there is still accountability for people who do bad things. But they aren't just written off either.
All around, glad I watched it.
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Cute office romance
Nothing special nothing too bad. Pretty straight forward office romance. It's cute but nothing is particularly striking. In general it feels like a web drama, and it is fine for that.As is pretty common with these, the romance is rushed "at first sight" and not well supported other than longing gazes.
For the most part the leads have a cozy vibe and deliver interesting performances, despite things often feeling a bit "off" in that web drama way, that it can feel like they are acting or expect a scene to have more emotional weight despite the actual show just not spending/having enough time to provide context why we should interpret something as tension and not just a lingering shot.
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Strong leads in a writing mess
Overall I would call this a mediocre drama -- nothing terrible, nothing great.THE GOOD
- The leads
- The setting is magical
...
- The soundtrck is pretty strong
- Some plot / side characters are cute and fun
THE BAD
- Way too much angst
- Many plotlines will repeat over and over
- Villains are flat, uninteresting, and cartoonish
- Heavy handed filial piety propaganda
- Side characters (all characters other than the leads tbh) are often overacted and have their characterization so over emphasized that they become insufferable. Especially the 2nd and 3rd male leads
- Brain off writing. Don't expect plots or character motivations to be believable or even consistent.
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Uncanny valley ruins the potential
The biggest issue for me, is the uncanny valley being so jarring and prevalent that I couldn't get invested in the actual good parts. Maybe some people are less sensitive to that, and if you are, you may be able to enjoy this drama more than me.BAD CGI & DUBBING
I guess one of the second leads is using an CGI filter on her face? It does not look good, especially when speaking or emoting. Her partner also frequently has an eerie effect on her, it seems like her face is real but her eye movements have some weird smoothing or something, idk.
It actually feels like the "filter" use may even be broader than that, but sometimes it isn't clear whether the uncanny feeling is from a filter making faces look weird, or just the dubbing being bad / the actors lipsyncing poorly because they know it will be dubbed? (I don't know if that is a thing, but it would explain a lot, because it often doesn't even look like they are actually speaking)
GOOD EMOTIONAL BEATS
The primary story for the main couple is actually pretty strong. If you can ignore the other problems, this actually could have made it a pretty good watch.
Even the secondary couple has good ...writing. But saying that their arc is good would be difficult when they look like 1.5 animatronics.
BAD CONFLICT WRITING
Okay, I normally don't like to criticize actors. What do I know, I am sure I would be worse than the worst actor. But in this case, the combination of acting/directing/writing for the 2 main antagonists was actually painful enough to make me dislike the whole show (a second time, even if the uncanny valley hadn't been ruining it enough).
The villains just act incredibly cartoonish. Like way beyond even shows where the genre expects a villain to be cartoonish. These 2 characters act like they are in a vshort and honestly many vshort villains are more believable than this.
Many of these conflicts also have writing that is barely coherent. If you have your brain on even the slightest bit, many of the scenes will not even have internally consistent logic. They really do just throw some tropes at the wall to fill out the plot. :(
DISAPPOINTING TONE
Okay this one may just be my preconceived notions, but I felt like this show was trying to be a combination of Thai GL and Chinese vShort and did both poorly. If you actually combined them well I would probably have enjoyed it. But what I had REALLY hoped this would be, was for it to be a new style distinct to better quality Chinese dramas.
China already has some stuff like this with its own tone that are really great! Very disappointing that this one failed to focus.
Examples of Chinese GL tone already being distinct (and good to me!):
Indie films (Actual GLs)
- https://mydramalist.com/749131-fireworks-of-yesteryear
- https://mydramalist.com/700737-fragrance-of-the-first-flower
Historicals (Sismance)
- https://mydramalist.com/62355-couple-of-mirrors
- https://mydramalist.com/788444-be-her-resilience
- https://mydramalist.com/777852-shuang-shu-mei-tan
Fantasy vShorts (Sismance+, these have vibes but are often chopped up)
- https://mydramalist.com/764425-shuang-tu
- https://mydramalist.com/716845-the-fox-spirit-and-the-little-priest
- https://mydramalist.com/764425-shuang-tu
- https://mydramalist.com/726937-the-vampires
- Pretty much anything with https://mydramalist.com/people/35259-yang-fu-yu
- Pretty much anything with https://mydramalist.com/people/79893-sheng-wei
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