Based on a book and on a real life empress, Princess Wei Young depicts the fight of a woman for justice and her love for a man that loved her back in equal measure despite the political plots, vengeful twists and turns and machinations to keep them apart. The drama however masked under a quest for vengeance is a pursuit of happiness in the form of love, greed, revenge, ambition and desire for power which contrasts with the reality of ancient times where love didn't rule the world and women were nothing more than possessions to be disposed off by their fathers into marriage to strengthen their family's power.
The characters and performances
Wei Young is an interesting character albeit mellow and reactive; she's doesn't set the pace, she follows it. She's soft even when she can't be bordering on aloofness, a contradistinction with her strength and drive on paper and most likely with her real life persona. Wei Young ought to be fierce, driven, determined, proactive and engaging, but she's not yet somehow despite the flaws the character is likeable.
Touba Jun looked most often than not a lovesick man pining for the woman he loves. Without the period wardrobe he would be just another contemporary man running after his love. For a male lead he lacks spunk which might be attributed to how the character was written or how the director wanted it to be performed. Regardless Touba Jun is visually appealing to watch on screen therefore what is lost in character is gained in beauty, not entirely a bad thing if the drama was a period adaptation of Boys over flowers in the palace.
Chang Ru and Touba Yu are machiavellian scene steallers. Chang Ru is a weed pretending to be a naive flower that uses people to accomplish her own personal agenda without them knowing about it. Clever, manipulative and ambituous, she's an expert at deception like Touba Yu, the man she loves; the man that wants Wei Young. Both characters are complex and have such a strong presence on screen, that is fascinating to watch despite all their plotting and coniving misdeeds.
The music
The opening theme is A-Lin's A Moment ir Romance, a sweet ballad about loving someone until one has to say goodbye, wanting to be together. The closing theme, Gifted is sang by Princess Wei Young's leads Tang Yan and Luo Jin. Both reflect the story well and are sang beautifully.
Overall
An interesting story with a good cinematography, well crafted and visually stunning that is both enganging and moving, despite the flaws of the lead characters, that acted more like secondary characters in their own story. Someone's loss is another person's gain and Chang Ru and Touba Yu took the opportunity prsented to them and showcased episodes of pure magnetism on screen, therefore, for all the above I rate it 7 out of 10.
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This series should have never been created
I intended to write a typical review with the aspects of the drama that I enjoyed and the parts I disliked, but then I realised that there was not even one positive thing I could say about this series, not even one. If you enjoyed this drama, please don't read further.This is probably one of the worst series I have watched in my life and in the thriller-mystery genre it may actually be the worst.
I will get straight to the point which is the plot. Imagine a chessboard where the players can move their pawns however they like, without considering the rules. That’s how this series is like. The writer uses the characters, which are equally badly written, however she likes without taking into consideration that there is something called logic. The genre of this series does not allow plot holes. It is not a drama where a pigeon and his friends can appear to save the day and you are fine with it, because the genre allows it. They are not even the types of plot holes that you can dismiss, because you are having a good time.
We all have watched kdramas where the police officers are portrayed as idiots and they don’t use their brain to think. Well, comparing to the characters in this series where everyone acts like they have only one brain cell left, those police officers should have won some medals for their exemplary behaviour.
The actors were mediocre, but to tell the truth, I am not sure if it is because they are not good actors or it’s because their characters were so badly written that they couldn’t do anything better than that. Even the OST has nothing to offer and it was one of the few times that the music felt so out of place.
This may have sounded a bit offensive, but since I felt like this series insulted my intelligence, I couldn’t write what I felt in a more positive way.
Do yourself a favour and forget about the existence of this series, because it shouldn’t have been made to begin with.
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Heart Fluttering & Comfort show.
I loved this show so much. I mean the storyline is so simple and showcased in such a grounded manner that you instantly fall in love with.I love the cast and their chemistry is top notch. Everytime they both come on the screen my heart flutters. I also love the simplicity of their characters.
Their is no dragging, no confusions, no overdramatic scenes. They like each other, they feel it and accept it.
Side cast has also done a good job and their characters are also likeable like other persons in our life.
Talking about OST - Good ✔️
Cinematography - Good ✔️
Storytelling - Good ✔️
Cast - Excellent ✔️
Acting & Chemistry - Superb ✔️
This show has become my one of the comfort shows.
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Another Jealous Love Rivals Drama
Frankly speaking, I think I chose the wrong drama to watch right after completing Rebirth For You. There are similarities in both with jealousy being a big part of their plot. The only reason I gave A Camellia Romance a slightly higher score is because the drama is much shorter. As such, it is more tolerable as there is only so much jealous third parties that you can take in a story.I guess if you see this as a filler drama with low expectations given the not so popular cast, then perhaps you might enjoy it better. But if you start hoping for originality and really fluffy romance, this would be a disappointment. It has shades of a rom-com but it is definitely not a angst-free watch like General’s Lady or even Your Sensibility My Destiny. The reason is simple – it uses jealous love rivals to drive the show.
Cliche Plot (Spoilers Alert!)
Basically, A Camellia Romance is about a rich and handsome young man who is a great catch for a husband. However, he only has eyes for one woman who is the love of his life. So, what you will get is 3 jealous women going after our hero with each subsequent one being a bigger threat than the one before. The first woman is the man’s cousin and she appears from Episode 7 to 9. The second one went to school with him and she takes the spotlight from Episode 13 to 17. The last one is a ruthless princess and she wreaks havoc for the main couple from Episode 20 to 24.
On top of that, you will also have a jealous childhood friend of the female lead who can’t stop eyeing her for himself when he appears from Episode 5 onwards. Hence, you can see clearly the focus of this drama. It is all about 4 people breaking the couple apart because they want the man or woman for themselves. These schemes are interspersed with sweet interactions between the leads and the investigation into the male lead’s father’s death.
I think the kisses and sweet moments of the couple do help to make this rom-com more watchable. At least, there are enough of these scenes to balance things out a little because the endless jealousy is annoying to watch. However, it also doesn’t detract from the fact that A Camellia Romance is another rom-com with a cliche plot of jealous love rivals with their wily schemes.
An Independent Female Lead
If there is one good thing worth mentioning about this drama, it would perhaps be the female character, Chun Chun. She is a very independent and assertive lady with an ambition of building her own business. While she is not as matured and smart as the female lead in Jun Jiu Ling, at the very least, she is not someone who is timid and waiting to be rescued. Chun Chun is a woman who knows what she wants and go for it.
As for the male character, he is smart but also tends to hide problems from his beloved in the name of love and protection. You will find this in many romance dramas and the male lead does this a few times in A Camellia Romance. I get why he does it but then, you will also start to feel that all these is yet another romance drama trope that you have watched time and time again if you are an avid Chinese drama viewer.
Chemistry
Guo Zi Fan and Li Mo Zhi have somewhat good chemistry as romantic on-screen partners. To me, it is good enough for a low budget rom-com. If they could feed off each other’s energy better to up the chemistry to a sizzling level, perhaps the drama could be more highly rated. After all, there is no shortage of kisses and hugs for this couple.
Personally, Li Mo Zhi looks slightly more matured than Guo Zi Fan at times in this drama. This is not surprising as she is 4 years older than him in real life. It doesn’t exactly mar the couple’s visuals but you don’t get the feeling that this is a perfect match either unlike the Liang Jie and Xing Zhao Lin pairing in The Eternal Love Season 3 and Dilraba Dilmurat and Leo Wu in The Long Ballad. Simply put, they are passable as a main couple but doesn’t leave a lasting impression once the story comes to an end.
My Verdict – Nothing Special
I have to admit that love triangles and jealousies are not my cup of tea for a romance drama. Hence, I find it annoying watching A Camellia Romance especially towards the last quarter when there have been other possessive love rivals gracing the screen for most of the episodes. So, I’m also thankful that they have kept this short rather than dragging it out for more delusional jealousy and angst for the viewers.
Of course, you might have a different view if you do not share the same bias as me. Furthermore, the ending is nicely wrapped up with no complications or confusion for the viewers. It has a predictable ending but I dare say it is also what most romance drama fans would like to see when the curtain comes down.
Before I end this A Camellia Romance review, perhaps a word of warning would be good. This is not a pure fluff romance drama in case you are looking for one. There will be annoyances and angsts. You might also plough on once you start because you want to see the villains getting just desserts for their evil schemes to break up a loving couple. So, whether you like it or not, you could end up sitting through it because you want the feel good factor of seeing the villains punished even if the story isn’t that great to begin with.
Overall, I would give A Camellia Romance a 6.5/10 score for this review. I don’t think I can rate it any higher give the cliches and a very average production. I guess it is still watchable if you don’t mind the jealousy theme. Otherwise, it is really a waste of time if there are other dramas on your ‘To Watch’ list.
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This review may contain spoilers
Is The Crowning Fair?
So the first season of Kingdom (Road to Kingdom) was a lot more of an even playing field. That much was certain when going into this second season. RTK had groups that had semi-established fan bases, but nothing too crazy where they could blow each other out of the water with those votes. Kingdom didn't have this same concept, since obviously certain groups were wayyyy more popular via fan voting than others. Stray Kids was always going to win in that category no matter what, just look at their numbers! If those fan voted sections hadn't counted so much it wouldn't of felt so much like a popularity contest, but it did and it paid off I guess because they won.To be clear, I'm not saying Stray Kids didn't deserve their win. They worked very hard and had some really solid stages! However, many MANY people watching were under the same assumption that either Ateez or The Boyz were going to win (mostly Ateez) because of how well they were doing! Stray Kids honestly didn't have the best votes among the judges, so that's why it felt so uneven. Either way though, this second season had some amazing performances come out of it! Ones that stood out for me were:
-Ateez "Wonderland" with that kraken arm, like dang that was incredible
-The Boyz doing "The Stealer" with the ballet breakdown
-The trio duet doing that IU song, beauteous harmonies
-Stray Kids doing the deadpool tribute performance
-SF9 doing Taemin's "MOVE" which was so sexy
I hope for future seasons they even out the playing field more for these groups!
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I was in the midst of a pretty intense Kdrama slump when I started this drama. I am a huge Lee Seung Gi fan, and Cha Seung Won as Dokko Jin in The Greatest Love is one of my all time favorite male characters ever. And they definitely do not disappoint in this drama!
I think what surprised me the most about this drama was just how easily it was able to blend all of the different aspects of the show together. It was sad, but also funny, and then there were plenty of action scenes that ramped up the anxiety from time to time. There were several episodes that would take you from crying to laughing to gripping the edge of your seat, only to start all the way back at the beginning again.
The characters in this were all brilliant. Dae Gu was a stuck up jerk, suffering from a tragic past with a giant chip on his shoulder. Seo Pan Suk was the grouchy leader, unwilling to take a bunch of newbies under his wing. They both suffered from scars of their own, and it was just amazing to watch their chemistry together on screen. Soo Sun was a clutzy ditz, absolutely brimming with sincerity. Park Tae Il was charming and Ji Kook was a dorky, sweet guy. You couldn't help but love all of them and want for all of them to succeed.
I don't usually pay much attention to music in dramas, but I can't even begin to say how happy I was at the end of episode 1 when My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade came on. It was poignant commentary on the whole situation, and it really was the perfect ending note for the episode.
I will say that I don't watch cop dramas, so if you also don't watch cop dramas, I hope that that doesn't keep you from trying this one out. While there was quite a bit to do with illegal activity and stake outs and arrests, it was so much more than that.
Seriously, watch this drama!
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Didn't follow the original Manhua
Initially, I was extremely happy and excited that they were gonna make a live adaptation of my all time fave manhua.It started of good, like they kinda followed the storyline in the manhua. But gradually, I think the director had no intention of making it into a BL based drama. He just wanted to focus only on unrequited love, straight relationships, high school cliches, blah, blah.
God, I was so frustrated at the end of ep9.
Believe me, guys. I was extremely hooked and patient with this drama, for a whole lot of 8 episodes. I thought that maybe, they would focus entirely on Heesu and Seung Won's relationship for the next two episodes.
But, I was extremely mistaken.
Well, in the end, I really wanna say that, they have fully and utterly, disrespted the original manhua.
Guys, believe me, the manhua is so good.
If you guys have some time, checkout the manhua and if you're really a fan of highschool crushes and cliches and frustration, you may enjoy this series.
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This review may contain spoilers
JohanNorth Forever
Personally, I loved this couple when I read the books and was thrilled to see the actors bring their characters to justice!I believe it made a huge difference that the author Howlsairy was the screenwriter and made this episode based on the extra side story from the book North: How much is your love?
The plot: Simple and basic, nothing much. But you do see the growth in their relationship, which made the entire plot an eye candy for people who adored this pair!
The Music: I prefer the original soundtrack more but that is just a personal preference.
The Acting: Maxky and Bas deserve all the love and applause. Not only did they bring the book characters to life, but they also added their own charm to it. It was refreshing to see the softer side of Johan which we only got glimpses of in Fourever You. North's dedication to making the relationship a smooth sailing was so adorable! You see their effort and how much they both were trying to keep eachother healthy and happy. It was amazing to see how balanced their relationship looked. Also a small detail I noticed was mentioning North being close to Arthit which we will be able to relate in the upcoming season since North plays an important Friend role for all the couples to come. Till then, JohanNorth, you will be missed, you are the best! P.S: I would definitely love to watch Maxky and Bas act again on some other project as well!
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Narumi Hikaru totally seduced me with his bad boy image, as he seduced Suga Mizuho. This is full of eye candy with up and coming Japanese actors I plan to see more of.
And it's short, episodes are only,(well MDL says 30) but I think they are only 25 minutes long.
Anyway Love Love It! it's a masterpiece..watch it :)
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Much better than shitshows I've seen before
As somebody who watched the love syndrome III first, compared to that this is so much better.i started watching w 0 expections and to get second hand embarrassment from the hardcore nc scenes (I expected nc scenes like forgotten night) but they were pretty good including the acting in those scenes. In my personal opinion the acting of the main leads are better, the budgeting is better because the sets and everything looks put together. But the only downside I thought was the the time limit and how they decided to utilise it this should be so much better as a series. Ig there would be a second part to this movie but I would definitely prefer this as a series w the same cast.Honorable mention: the actor playing itt did an amazing job
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A Rollercoaster You Never Want To End
I thoroughly enjoyed the second generation of Only Friends, it was messy and borderline chaotic with all the emotional tension and depth that often is accompanied with such tangled relationships. The problems were organic and less trope driven than usual stories and the ending was so well orchestrated that I wouldn't change a thing about it. I fell hard for these characters and never wanted to part with them.I especially appreciated the cameos and wrap ups from the first one with our leads returning for the second generation.
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For me this drama started off amazing! It even turned me into a Lee Seung Gi fan, which I NEVER thought I would say. And I really enjoyed the exaggerated performance of Cha Seung Won which after barely making it through Greatest Love, because of his exaggerated performance, came as an extreme surprise. Here his performance and over the top reminded me of Choi Siwon in She Was Pretty. Ridiculous but utterly amazing and hilarious!!
However, around episode 12 this drama started to change. For some, they enjoyed this change of plot/storytelling. For me, I HATED it!!! The storyline for me, lost focus. Added in plot lines, that instead of contributing to the stories development left it scattered and felt as if the drama was taken over by an entirely different writer.
Overall, it had a lot of potential, a great cast, and original story. I loved the supernatural elements, chemistry between the leads, and the love story. However, because of too many hindrances in the final episodes it lost a lot of its potential for a re-watch value and from becoming one of my favorite supernatural dramas. I would recommend for someone to watch (especially if they want a new supernatural drama following Goblin and Master’s Sun), as long as they are prepared for a shift halfway through the series.
Happy drama watching!
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I truly loved this show. It's a mixture of Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Ellery Queen and Philip Marlow, all made into a hilarious parody.
The great "Meitantei", brilliantly portrayed by Matsuda Shota, is a cocktail of silly arrogance, childish mistakes and misgivings, yet he's got brain and you can't help but like him a lot through all his naive traits.
The older policeman is a sort of "deus ex machina", who understands the needs of the dramatic process and explains it to his collegues and, in so doing, to the viewers.
Kashii Yu does a great job in picturing the only clear headed character in the story, who eventually learns to follow the rules, not those of the real investigation but the ones that create a detective story.
This show has to be viewed on different levels: the plot itself and the sub-plot, which is "how is a classic detective story created?".
I enjoyed the music too. Just like the situations portrayed, it mimics the pathos always found in thriller stories and makes it all the funnier.
Not to spoil but to encourage, let me add that the finale is brilliant; it will either leave you completely perplexed or you will laugh out loud and be left with a grin on your face, as I was.
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