The story of My Dear Boy is very simple. Our male lead, Ahn Qing Hui, encounters our female lead, Luo Xiao Fei by accident because of their messy love lives. Though these two are very different, an odd friendship blossoms between them. Though the story is simple, the best thing about this drama is watching the budding friendship between our leads and how they grow by being there for each other. This drama is more than just romance, but about growing up, dealing with the complications of love and falling in love with someone, dealing with your career choices and what you choose to do with your future. These are the great things about the drama, though it’s not all perfect and it does suffer from a few flaws and that’s mostly pacing. This drama could have benefited from having lesser episodes and 16 probably would have been better. Also, some things could have been a little more clearer in the narrative during the latter half.
The cast is really good. Both Ruby and Derek do great jobs with their roles, especially in their emotional scenes. I really did believe in the chemistry between them and when I talk about chemistry I’m not simply speaking on a romantic level, but that they work really well together, and they never felt awkward around each other. I really believed in their friendship which I think is the best thing about this drama. I thought both Qing Hui and Xiao Fei were well written, interesting characters and Ruby and Derek embodied them bringing their characters to life. Watching their story made you want to see them grow and get their happy ending. I also liked the other male leads and I thought they were great additions because they weren’t so one note and they never felt like they were there to solely cause problems between our leads. They were well written and well used. I do think some of the supporting cast could have been used better. Shampoo’s appearance at one point felt off. The same thing with the Qing Hui’s friends. And some of the characters, mostly the family members, fall prey to the common tropes of the ‘I’m against the relationship so I’ll do everything to ruin it’.
Overall, this drama was a fun watch. It’s not perfect and has some flaws here and there, but it’s enjoyable to watch and I loved tuning in every week. Ruby and Derek are great and it’s a joy watching them both.
I recommend this drama if you’re a fan of Ruby or Derek, or noona romances because this is a nice addition to the genre. Simple, sweet, fun, and heartfelt.
Was this review helpful to you?
writing is genuine, with a fast pace, full of traps as it was a dangerous era for spies and patriots. as the drama unfold new twists come and you are always kept on your toes to know who works for who and who will survive this.
And for the cast, If you are like me and after Nirvana in Fir left impatient with the desire to see more from Jin Dong, you have a heavenly time here. Ming Lou is what Mei Chang Su was for Nirvana in Fir; He is mysterious, mature, sharp (cynical even at times) with the mind which able to see the slightest details of the possibilities ahead. He is one of the most complicated character of the dramaland and a delight to watch. He's my bais in this drama. and his interaction with his sidekick Ming Chen (played by Wang Kai) is one of the best I've seen ever. the only disappointment for me was the romance story between funny Ming Tai (played by Hu Ge) and stiff communist girl, he fall in love and I didn't get it! but all the way women of the story are badass too and cool to watch. I wished Ming family adopted a girl too just imagine such a badass she would have been.
in a nutshell it's a spy drama plus great twists and some historical lessons on China in that tumultuous era. It has drama, family, friendship, comedy and an exceptionally intellectual plot.just be aware that story is kind of draggy in a few last episodes. and maybe a bit rushed ending, still a great drama ride.
for rewatch value I started to rewatch it again just as I finished it.
Was this review helpful to you?
Watching this short + sweet drama was akin to eating a piece of chocolate
ᰔ Story ᰔ❛❛Natsumi, your shoulder was just too comfortable to sleep on. I'm sorry...❜❜
❛❛If you want, I'll lend you my shoulder anytime, whenever you can't fall asleep.❜❜
—And that's how their adorable relationship began.
Natsumi met Haruto (who came along with her friends) when she had a drinking party at her home, she knew him from before but they never interacted until then. After having a few drinks, everyone got drunk and decided to sleep at Natsumi's house, but Haruto ended up resting his head on Natsumi's shoulder while asleep.
Natsumi half-jokingly said the next morning that she can lend her shoulder to him, but only during Wednesdays because she doesn't have to go to her part-time job on that day; However, Haruto takes it seriously and stays at her house every Wednesday, just to innocently sleep on her shoulder.
ᰔ Characters ᰔ
Natsumi - She likes photography and carries around a camera everywhere. She's pretty naive and innocent, but not stupid or annoying. Her internal monologues are always relatable and hilarious. She's overall such an adorable character who you'd want to befriend if she existed in real life!
Haruto - For him every day is special and supposed to be a festival about something, sometimes it's Marimo day, sometimes it's orange day, sometimes it's fish-stick day, sometimes it's dogs-and-cats day, and he makes sure to 'celebrate' each day with the fl. He's bit of an eccentric, knows how to cook, is really caring, and has a positive outlook on life. He's basically the perfect person for the fl.
There's relatively few characters that appear in this drama to begin with and the focus was only on the main characters, but that's exactly why I believe they were quite well-written and the reason this drama didn't feel draggy. There was also no third party trying to separate them or anything, and a tiny misunderstanding between the leads only lasted for a few minutes lol.
ᰔ Visuals/Music ᰔ
The visuals are extremely pleasing to the eyes, the shots are slow and smooth with a tint of warmth, the colour scheme is somewhat autumn based and I personally found it really homely and cozy; it's perfect to watch on a cold day. The bk music and osts also complimented each scene that they accompanied. Despite this drama being pretty short, I'm sure it wasn't low-budget or at least didn't appear to be so.
Was this review helpful to you?
Intriguing opener but terrible plot development
Mainly going to review the plot because the other components (acting/cast and music) were great.I really liked how the story was captivating from the start (different from typical C-drama openers) and there was always a new story or goal for at least one of the characters/pairs. However, the plot did dragged in the middle because there's a lot of couples and the drama goes into each couple's story at some point. Each character/couple's "story" refers to their romantic lives, family relationships, AND work/jobs, so you can probably see why this drama ends up at 50 episodes... They also introduced a few new minor characters in the middle, which gave a nice break from the main characters' endless stories but also meant there's someone else's story to follow now.
IMO, the drama would have been more interesting if they expanded on Mowgli's adapting to civilization and the FL helping him adjust because that was what intrigued me the most. And it's not that I didn't enjoy the other couples, but if they only focused on one or two primary couples like most dramas do, then the drama could have ended wonderfully at the typical 20 or so episodes. Also worth mentioning that the story went downhill in the end, everything became super unrealistic and the ending was just unsatisfactory and weird. There was a lot of potential with this novel story but it didn't turn out for me.
Overall, it was still a good watch to kill time, but not amazing enough to get you hooked and waiting anxiously for the next episodes to come out. If I rewatched, I'd probably watch the first half of the drama again and stop there.
Was this review helpful to you?
一婿二赘 (yī xù èr zhuì) - The Son-In-Law
A “zhui xu” (赘婿) is a man married into a woman’s family and their offspring would adopt the wife’s family name to continue her bloodline and would inherit her family’s status and fortunes. This is usually done when the woman’s family does not produce a legitimate son for an heir. Such practice is common in ancient and modern-day China, especially for wealthy families. The 一婿二赘 here means one man being married into 2 women’s families which is very unusual, and that makes this story very interesting.Li You is married into a wealthy family as a “zhui xu”. However, he is looked down on by his wife and her family and they constantly bully, belittle and beat him. One day, he is beaten so badly that he loses consciousness. In his coma, he dreams he returns to ancient times and becomes a low-level constable. He brings his modern-day knowledge and impresses many with his resourcefulness, intelligence and most of all, his poetic ability. He always seems to compose poems on the spot that describe the situations at those particular moments. He gains fame and many become his allies including his superiors.
Two men, a merchant and a military official, are looking for “zhui xu” (sons-in-law) for their daughters, one a business woman while the other a martial artist. Both fathers choose Li You for their daughters because of his amazing talents. As it turns out, Li You is forced into two marital contracts that none would agree to rescind. Li You’s boss, the magistrate, rules informally that Li You oblige both marriages by alternating his nights between two wives. Li You accepts the arrangement with one caveat: if he excels beyond his fathers-in-law in terms of wealth and status in three years, his marital status would be reversed, and he is no more a “zhui xu”, thereon, his wives would follow him into his “Li” household.
As the days go by, Li You helps solve many administrative issues and with his martial art wife, he cracks criminal cases for the magistrate and gets his promotions one after another. At the same time, his business acumen helps his business-minded wife in expanding their business and profits. Both women fall in love with him because he is kind and gentle to them. And for Li You, he also falls in love with both women with no preference for one over the other.
This drama hasn’t caught much attention in MDL, probably because of unavailability of good English subtitles at the time of this writing. But the lack of attention is also most likely due to the choice of the male lead actor, Guan Yunpeng who may not have a wide fan base. “Zai Xia Li You” is the first drama for Guan Yunpeng playing a main role. Though not as good looking as the other more popular and prominent actors, I find the choice very appropriate. Guan Yunpeng looks like a wimpy kid who is exactly the character of Li You. His timidness and helplessness with fast-to-please demeanor, and at times his courage and determination, are all well performed and believable.
The whole cast is well selected though most of the actors have low public profiles. Each actor carries out his/her respective role very convincingly. Having said that, I find at the beginning scenes in modern times, the characters are overexaggerated and overacted (I almost dropped this drama because of the overacting). Fortunately, such cringey acting only lasts for a few minutes and has not affected the overall performance that comes later.
My Verdict
This is an interesting story of a wimpy character that turns into a hero as he grows. However, the script has multiple plot holes. One of the characters, Li Huan, a singer, seems to have a background that crosses paths with the antagonists, but her plot arch has never been explored and developed for closure. The motives of the antagonists are also not compelling and the ultimate villain behind all the heinous schemes is yet to be revealed and brought to justice. The ending of the dream is satisfactory. However, Li You is still in a dream when the story ends in present time; he remains at status quo in reality (still a lowly "zhui xu").
For romance buffs who believe in a one-to-one relationship for a man and a woman, this story may not go down well with them as Li You loves and cares for both wives equally and receives the same admiration and love from the two wives who are amiable to each other.
For a drama which does not boast popular actors with elaborate spending, I’m surprised by its beautiful soundtracks which the production did not skim on. The detailed explanation and analysis of the poems used in each episode are impressively elaborated at the end of the episode. It is very enlightening to understand the contemporaneous culture, life and feelings of the respective poets through their poems.
Overall, this is an unexpected drama that I have enjoyed. It provides a decent watch in between shows and deserves some attention. Poetic with an interesting storyline. Don’t miss it!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
First, if you are expecting a happy ending, then this movie is not for you. This movie is on a different level. We are so much used to movies or dramas where the MC suffers from memory lost or amnesia, but this one is the other way around. The people around Azusa forgets about her in a couple or hours or just the next day. But Takashi was different, he was able to remember her, until...
(Well I will just let you watch to find out what really happened)
Like I said, it was very different, I don't know if I have encountered or watched a live action drama or movie like this yet. If I may compare it for similar situations, I can say it's from Boku Dake ga Inai Machi. But in Boku Dake, people only forgot about him as a result or consequences for his attempt to change his past. But here, people just forgets her after a day of meeting her, even her family.
I think it is really hard to be in that situation. It is a different story if you're the one who forgets, but how about if you are the one being forgotten? Even your own parents? And even if you try to live on your own and be independent and find a job, how? People might just even forget hiring you.
I still have a lot of questions in my mind right now, asking myself how will I able to surpass that? The last scene gave me a lot of emotions, I can't explain which of this emotions I should really feel. I was on tears, not much, but my heart is crying, for Takashi & Azusa. Like why? They were so sweet in the videos Takashi watched in his laptop. I want to say a lot of that scene, but it would have been spoiler.
The actors did well in their portrayal of the characters, abd the plot is somewhat different, or at least the situation for the lead characters to me, but the flow of the story was just simple and light. It is watchable, at least good enough if you're not the type to always go for happy-ending.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A typical setup with an atypical plot and characters....
I accidentally stumbled upon this drama and I'm very glad that I did. This is my first Filipino drama so I did not have much expectations from it. As many viewers seem to mention that this is a Filipino version of Boys over flowers (BoF). The first half of the first episode I also felt like that because of the setup. A poor girl gets into an elite school where 4 rich guys basically rule it and she offends the leader landing her in trouble and making her the target of all the bullies of the school.But as the show went on I saw the major differences between the 2 shows. He's into her (HIH) establishes a very detailed family background, atleast for the main leads. The FL is the love child of a commoner and a rich heir. She doesn't end up at the aforementioned elite school through a scholarship but is enrolled by her father who finds her after years and takes her in. She doesn't go with him because she wants to know him or wants to live a comfortable life but to pay him back for helping with the medical bills of her grandma. The FL's major struggles involves countering the bullies and trying to fit in not only in school but also with her father's family.
The ML is established as a jerk at first which is later revealed to be a defense mechanism to counter his own family issues. He hurts others to take his mind off of the problems in his life like his comatose brother or ignorant mother. Both the leads are shown to be different at first but as the series progresses they find similarities in their lives which ultimately helps in their relationship and chemistry development.
As compared to BoF, HIH is a bit more realistic. The FLs family in BoF is poor just because, despite running a small business. In HIH the FL's grandma falls sick and the hospital bills pile up while the income declines resulting in their financial crisis. The ML in BoF stopped bullying the FL because he started liking her and went back to bullying her when she rejected him. In HIH the ML realized that he was wrong to bully people without knowing them or their circumstances and was helped by the FL in stopping bullying at their school. This part is the most significant development as it shows how HIH's ML is better compared to that of BoF for realizing, accepting and rectifying his mistakes. Instead of forcing the FL to be with him and stalking and obsessing over her like the ML from BoF, the ML of HIH slowly pursued the FL and took her on dates, helped and supported her and finally won her heart.
Now I know this may seem minor differences to some and some hardcore fans of BoF might argue saying how can a short web drama even compare to kdrama romcom classic let alone be better. But trust me and just watch this and you'll know that these minor differences is what makes this drama better in story, quality and performance. To use an analogy BoF is like a dish from a 5 star restaurant, expensive, flashy and tasteless whereas HIH is a dish from your favorite restaurant, hearty, tasty and soul satisfying. You gotta try it to experience it.
Was this review helpful to you?
Jung Hae In is an incredible man. I couldn't stop smiling seeing him walking by the city and expressing himself. He just was amazed by everything, and this was very beautiful for me. A man who is pretty famous and has money, people, many experiences... Just amazed by a sunset, or a construct, or the lights of a building... He just smiled all time. Obviously, I didn't know Hae In, but this vlog can show to us that he is a simple person even having so many resources. When Im Hyun Soo and Eun Jong Geon joined the trip, my heart melted. Their friendship is incredibly beautiful and everything was very fun. Technically speaking, the images were incredibly beautiful, the edition was so funny and the Travel Playlist of Hae In was amazing too! I really felt as I was there.
I've just finished the last episode and I'm in tears. The confessions that they shared in the restaurant was just beautiful! I don't tell you about it because you need to see this with your own eyes, but I could feel sincerity with them and I was very touched too. I hope that Hyun Soo and Eun Jong Geon will get a lot of opportunities and show their talent with proud, and hope that Hae In continues on his way, being an amazing actor but still showing how amazing person he is.
This was a "chosen one" for me! (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★) If you looking for something fun and beautiful to distract, this is your call.
See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Not too good but also not bad
This drama is not such extraordinary kind but you won’t get disappointed for watching this because except how they executed the story everything is good enough to spend our valuable time like cinematography, background music and songs, chemistry and romance. Still why I am feeling unsatisfied is everything is easily predictable and also the ML who is 900+ years old acts like 10 years old child (may be to match the FL who is sooo bubbly), or may be because the ML is social outcast kind, if so it is still unacceptable because he was the general of his army and he was matured on that time.I must appreciate the cameraman, cinematography, choreography, music and songs, so many times I was stunned thinking that which special effect camera they are used in this drama and once again the music and songs with that situation is really heart-felting one. And one more thing what I felt disappointed is when ML disappears she went for some blind dates and she develops feelings to someone(even though he his her loved one but she didn’t knew on that time) even though she was unclear about her previous love and also she knew that she was the bride of some one whom she love very much or may be I interpreted it in a different or a wrong way may be the director intend to show that the love is that kind of magic even though you don’t have memory (about him) but you will have the same feeling with that right person.
In an over all I can only say this is good drama in all aspects but poorly executed.
Was this review helpful to you?
Stressful
This movie requires a huge leap of faith to be taken seriously. There’s just so much of illogical reasoning which made the movie seem draggy and unrealistic. To me, that is a huge flaw for a thriller/psychopath kind of movie. It could’ve been way better had the writer put more thought-out ideas in the script.If we look past the questionable writing, the only saving point is the acting. The actors did a wonderful job, portraying their characters. I loved watching the scenes, just because of their stunning acting. The leads were perfect and I would love to see them act together again.
The direction is good too. The scenes are well-shot, creating suspense and dread within the watchers. The concept on paper seems good too but the execution was poor.
Was this review helpful to you?
Only the second time seeing Kim Ju Hyuk (Heo Joon) in a drama but definitely a fan of both Nam Goong Min (Do Ji) and Park Jin Hee (Ye Ji). Go Doo Shim (as Heo Joon's mother) as always is a consummate actress. I was impressed with Park Eun Bin (Da Hee, Heo Joon's wife) because there is a 20 year difference in their age (yeah, I was shocked too) but she held her own from start to finish. The rest of the cast was great. There are a couple of the younger actors (who remain nameless) that I will be looking forward to in the future.
Overall, this is a drama only medical and sageuk watchers would possibly appreciate. I don't recommend it otherwise.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
For those who like male lead
I watched the drama Renascence only because of the male lead. I have watched his other dramas and I really enjoy his acting.Regarding the drama, I liked it until the 19th episode; the story was somewhat captivating. After that, it became flat. I didn’t like the direction of the plot where she spent the whole day with him to complete her date list and even expressed her feelings by kissing him, but left him the same day. Since she planned to marry the king, why did she give him false hope, especially knowing he was already heartbroken?
Another part of the plot I didn’t like was when she surrendered herself to the king and spent a night with him, although Ye Jun Qing still resided in her heart.
After watching the entire drama, I felt it was a little boring.
Was this review helpful to you?
Don't lose patience and keep watching. It may kinda seem boring in first few episode
When I first started watching it was pretty boring. But I challenged myself and got through first few episodes. OMG it was so beautiful after that. When you can understand all the things it seems so awesome to you. Please if you're thinking about watching it then please watch it. It's so good. You won't regret it. And about the age difference i think it's cute. I laughed and cried with this show. There was no unwanted scene. Every episode always ends at cliffhanger. There is some awesome twists in the drama. That's all there is to say. Everyone praises the OST of this show. But I didn't found it that amazing. I mean it was okay.Was this review helpful to you?
Forgiveness Love and Redemption
Weĺl this is my very first review, been watching cdrama for awhile, my last day of my 4 days off and i am happy that eventually i followed my instinct and watched this drama, i read some reviews as well, it is indeed a very long 41 ep it needs patience and time to watch, what i love about this show are the playfullness of both fmale leads and male leads, sure tears will flow, get upset with few characters but i love most the character transformation between the 2 leads, their journey to heal each others pain and eventually falling in love, sure there are no extravagant proposal at the end but they are together, it is an open ended ending, a happy one, what he said to her that whenver wherever she goes he will go, he will follow, he wants to watch the sunset with her till they are old, beautiful love story, the music is so sweet and yet sad to listen, definitely highly recommended ....Was this review helpful to you?
