Prior to this drama's release, I had heard about the cast and filming of it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the drama, the cast's chemistry, the storyline, and the soundtrack. The writers did an amazing job adapting the novel to the screen, maintaining many key moments from the novel and the two main characters' relationship, while making minor changes to plot and character backgrounds for better story flow and progression. The drama covers the story of romantic, familial, and friend relationships.

I think the story portrays a very realistic relationship between the two main characters. The male lead, Li Xun, and the female lead, Zhu Yun come from very different family backgrounds and experiences, Li Xun a more tragic and Zhu Yun from a loving, well-off family. The story starts as more of a friends-to-lovers trope, but it's very clear how quickly they fall for each other. Zhu Yun, having always been an obedient daughter sees a side that she desires to be in Li Xun, and by being with him, she can rebel and be her "true self." The leads are not actually together for much of the drama, however, the team did a great job illustrating the push-pull of feelings prior to the actual relationship.Both characters have flaws--Li Xun is too closed off, a bit arrogant, and impulsive, but both love each other immensely, shown through LX pushing away ZY to protect her, and ZY still trusting him all throughout. Aside from the obstacles in their relationship, The college segment of the drama was so charming; all characters were lovable and the interactions and work they did remind me much of my own college experiences.

The distinction between the college romance and workplace romance is something I really enjoyed; there was a very obvious character development and while things seem different, they still are the same. LX and ZY still love and trust each other, continuing off from before, LX is still pushing away ZY to protect her, but ZY comes back stronger and determined to help him win his life and dreams back. I really love ZY's character in the way that she is strong and does everything in her power to protect LX because she loves him. I also think that the other coworkers at Feiyang are so funny a highlight of these emotional first few episodes of part 2.

Both lead actors portrayed the characters so well, I truly believe that they were meant to play them. Through behind the scenes clips, you can tell how hard they worked on bringing Li Xun and Zhu Yun to life. Chen Feiyu and Zhang Jingyi had amazing chemistry--there were so many moments in the episodes where they improvised and their interactions felt so natural.

I watched this drama completely in Chinese and had read the novel prior, and the Youtube English subtitles don't do the lines justice, often translated too simply or cliche/cheesy. Many of the lines hold deeper references to the novel and directly relates the personality and character progression, which is lost in these translations. Lighter & Princess is so much more than your standard idol drama; there's a long time span, imperfections in characters and relationships, and growth. While I feel like the ending few episodes of Lighter & Princess were a bit rushed, I'm still amazed by the closing scene, quoted exactly from the novel, with the carousel turning back time through their relationship, the coded heart stops beating, Li Xun's breathing, up to where they first met in college--this time from Li Xun's perspective. Though it's a happy ending, I can't help but feel a little sad every time I see that last clip. I will definitely be rewatching.