Reviews

A good production with a rushed and poorly developed romantic plot.

I liked the choice of lens used in the series, with that "serious drama" feel. In general, the series is well-produced and has great acting, but the main thing for me will always be the story, and the biggest mistake in the series is precisely its main point: The development of the romance:
😐 The development of the romance is too rushed! And because of this "rush," we can't connect with the story. At the beginning of episode 1, the protagonists don't even know each other, and by the end of episode 2, they've already gone through so many ups and downs that it gives the impression that the story is already over! And the bad thing is that we didn't even get the middle part, where the beginning of the relationship appears! So the impression is that we saw the beginning and the end of a romance movie... In other words: We didn't create any connection with the couple, and some romantic lines lose their meaning. It's like starting a romantic series halfway through! 😬

😭They skipped all the "First times" at the beginning of a relationship, so the romance became bland! We didn't get their first romantic dinner, their first night out together, the first time introducing themselves as "girlfriend" to their friends, the first text message exchange with that smiling face, their first weekend together, their first sexual encounter, nothing... They skipped all that. We only got their first kiss, but it was very quick, without them even knowing each other properly, and then they skipped months of their relationship, so their kiss NOW doesn't cause "butterflies in the stomach" anymore, because they've been together for months, so they've already kissed and had sex a lot... We just didn't see it. Everything now will have that air of "naturalness" and not the butterflies in the stomach of "wow, the protagonist is nervous because she's never done this before with her girlfriend, and since I'm waiting to see this in time, let's get nervous together and enjoy the scene"... Instead, they made a 2-minute music video with silent scenes of them being happy and skipped 3 months of their relationship.

Another bad thing is that romantic phrases and declarations lose their meaning. For example, Arisa says, "I can be myself with you," and in theory, the viewer should watch and think, "That's true! How romantic," but what we think is, "When were you 'yourself' with Lyla? I didn't see that... Is she being sincere or is it just lip service?"... Do you understand? If we haven't seen anything related to their relationship, we can't connect with those moments or get emotional. It becomes a loose phrase without depth, without a scene, and nothing to base it on. It's the same as her saying, "I already won a tap dancing contest."🤷‍♀️

🙄 Another thing I didn't like was Arisa's attitude. First, she decides that the 2-minute video (3 months of relationship) meant nothing and asks Lyla to disappear from her life; then, she decides it did mean something and insists on getting back together with Lyla. In other words: Arisa decides whether they are dating or not, and nothing prevents her from changing her mind again in two episodes. She's not being honest with Lyla! She could have just said she was confused and needed time to think. That it was better to break up. She didn't need to be a jerk and make Lyla feel used!

In one scene, she gets angry because of Lyla's "lie" and says, "I forgive you, but we'll never lie to each other again," and in the same episode, there's Arisa, lying to Lyla again and making a fool of her.
📢"But that's the story: Love conquers revenge. Arisa is using Lyla to get revenge, but then she will fall in love with her and give up on revenge"
👉Arisa WAS ALREADY Lyla's girlfriend, and WAS ALREADY in love with her when she decided to use her girlfriend to get revenge. So if in the end Arisa says: "I wanted revenge, so I decided to use you but ended up falling in love," she'll be lying! Because she already loved Lyla, she already knew she loved Lyla, she was already dating her, and even so she decided to use her.

Regarding the revenge, I also feel that the series is moving too fast, as if it were a fanfic where each chapter has to have several things happen to hook the viewer, but it's not as bad as the development of the romance.

Could my opinion change? Yes, definitely, but if they started development making so many mistakes, it will be difficult to reverse. My hope is that revenge will be good.

PS: The soundtrack also falters at times because it sometimes disappears completely out of nowhere. It's simply cut off, just like that...

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Not what you expect

I am a huge fan of Nana Komatsu, and I was really excited for this movie when I saw her being part of the cast. She chooses very interesting scripts, so I am always excited to know more about her projects.

At the beginning, this will feel like another crazy age gap, high school student falling for an old guy kind of story, but hear me out; this is far from any romance. I would call this a journey of healing, a journey to save each other, and a journey to find back the path they walked away from.

On one side, we have Akira, a promising track athlete who was so unbeatable, but since her injury, she doesn’t know whether she’ll be able to continue again and is contemplating giving up on running entirely, putting her into a depressive spiral. On the other side, we have Masami, a 45-year-old divorcee with a son, who completely gave up his lifelong dream of becoming a writer. He is in the middle of a mid-life crisis but is a sweetheart and deeply cares about his employees, wanting to make sure they’re comfortable and happy.

Although Masami refuses Akira's love confession due to their large age gap, she somehow convinces him to go on a date, and that’s where we see their friendship birth. After learning each other’s struggles and lost dreams, the two develop a relationship of respect for each other. This is not love but more of two friends cheering each other and looking at each other fondly. The best part of their relationship is how they were able to inspire each other, and especially Masami seeing someone young and passionate like Akira rekindles his own forgotten feelings of youthful passion toward literature.
Masami and Akira’s relationship was never meant to be, but their "romance" touched both of them deeply and made them rediscover how much they loved their own passions.

Although the premise might make it look like this was going to be an awful, weird age gap romance, it’s far from that. Instead, it’s a beautiful story of two lost individuals who find each other and become friends, and help each others find back the path they walked away from. It’s a nicely made movie, but since this was from a manga, making it into a movie did cut a lot of important time frames. To adapt to the short duration of the movie, most scenes feel rushed and don’t allow enough time to develop or explore the feelings.

The only flaw I found was that the whole focus was on Akira's story and Masami felt left out. We don’t get to know much about his divorce, his struggles, and his thoughts (maybe due to the movie format), but the focus is only on Akira. However, it’s an inspiring movie, but the structure of the movie and time constraints really take a lot of its impact and make it feel incomplete.

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SO FUN

It was a bit draggy at some parts and I feel some scenes could’ve been cut (I zoned out), but overall, it was a fun show. I think the pace was fine, and how they first developed into friends first before progressing further made it all the more wholesome. I love the side characters as well. The first few episodes were stressful but I love that there was a need to grow and improve and not have the characters be perfect from the get go. The last arc was a little unnecessary in my opinion, but the final battle was outstanding and the ending was well worth it. Going full-circle was a joy. Would recommend (and already made a friend watch it lol)

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A glorious short drama

This short drama truly plays to its strengths. The rebirth aspect is used to shorten the time it takes to set up the villains and allies within the harem. Short dramas usually feel rushed to me, not so Glory Back. It truly feels like the screen writers and director condensed a harem drama to its most essential scenes. Glory Back benefits from focusing on the revenge story instead of more sprawling harem and state intrigue, though the hints are there. It is a well-played personal story of the FL finding out who harmed her and who is making a mess of the harem in the process.

The male leads are both devoted to the female lead and have their strengths. It is fun to not immediately dislike one over the other. It becomes clear, though, that only one can match the female lead's wit and personality. The progression of the relationships felt very organic.

The visuals are stunning and the production makes good decisions to use the budget they have. They make the harem look like a sprawling place.

Often I feel the last episodes of dramas (both short and standard) can be a real drop in quality, not so here. The very last episode was a bit too wholesome and progressive for the overall story, but that's just how Chinese Drama operate at this point (for good endings).

For a web series this one is simply so good and I am happy a second season has been teased. I would be so interested in this team doing a standard series harem drama.

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recommended watch

great show.
but don't watch the last 10-15 minutes.
because of the standard timetravel censorship.

Despite the restrictions it was niceley written. helping finish the FL's character arc.

story fit well together. there were some things that were rushed.(novel has 2000k chapters) but as someone who hasn't read it, they made the right choices.
the story showed how some people continuously pushed themselves back into the same pit, while others dares to bravely move forward.

the acting really shone in this one. comparing the actors at the start against the end can really show you how much they changed.
but this show does give some characters an ageless feel. they changed behaviorly but dont seem to have gotten older over those 10 years.

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So bad that it becomes frustrating

I have to admit I’m mostly finishing the series just for the sake of it, but I really didn’t like how the development of the main characters was handled. We don’t even really understand why they love each other.

I do think there is some chemistry between them, but the characters are so poorly written and the plot makes so little sense that it becomes frustrating.

I don’t understand the point of adapting a heterosexual work if it’s just to keep the same tropes and the same types of characters in a GL version without any real thought behind it.

Wannueung is particularly hard to tolerate, and I rarely say that about female characters, but this is really too much.

As for the side characters, like Wannueung’s best friend or Win’s ex, they feel completely useless. They add nothing to the development of the story, and even their relationships are uninteresting.

Overall, the series is poorly made and not very entertaining.

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Fun Subverted Harem Trope

This series is unexpectedly hilarious and I found myself looking forward to each episode..I usually hate the harem trope but was surprised at how they subverted it. The writing has a self awareness of all the classic drama tropes and it feels a bit like they are inviting us to be amused by how they can still be upended. Very self aware and doesn't try to be anything other than lighthearted. I genuinely like the ML he is no paragon of virtue but just a nice guy but still a guy. For a short drama his character has some depth. all in all I'm looking forward to the rest of the series .

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An interesting concept that I felt wasn't portrayed properly

Disclaimer

What I am writing here are my views and thoughts about this series. Some of you may not like it. That does not give you the right to try to come at me with your opinions on why this series should get a higher or lower score and why it is better/worse than I think it is. You have your own opinions, and I have mine. Kindly respect that.

Don't get me wrong – this series was addictive and had me coming back weekly every Tuesday and Wednesday, as I wanted to know what would happen next. The concept was interesting, as we found out, along with one of the main characters, the things that he forgot, as well as how and why he ended up this way. And I will admit that the way and reason why all of this occurred was a new and interesting concept to me because I personally did not accept it. I just personally felt that it wasn't portrayed in a proper way, and that's why it lost some marks with me. I mean, I know that it is only an eight-episode series, but still I felt that it was personally rushed at the end, as everything had to be revealed in that last episode.

I feel like I am in the minority with the acting of the actors, as I personally didn't have an issue with their acting skills. I mean, I have seen worse generally, and they just weren't that bad to me (I'm not saying that they were stellar either). They were okay. I am grateful that I decided to give this series a watch.

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A Must-Watch for all Chinese BL Fans!!!

I can't get over this one!!!

See, I knew right after watching the first episode that I had to let it marinate before watching! And five episodes out, I went back to it and wish I had been patient enough to wait for all nine episodes.

It is a good watch!

Don't even hesitate, get into it! And please don't skip after the first two episodes because let me tell you something, episode three is where it starts to hook you in!

I have so much to say about this show but I'll save it! You should watch it and see for yourself.

I'll just say one thing though - THE DETECTIVE AND THE INVESTIGATOR???!!! EXCUSE MEEE!!! Side romance that we didn't know we needed.

I haven't read the story, so I'm new to the whole thing but will definitely be reading it later.

Why are you still reading? Start the show already!!!!

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A poorly executed mix of BL and fantasy. A waste of the actors' talent!

PLOT: When it rains, two soulmates suffer temporary deafness but can still communicate regardless of distance. Tai, traumatized by his parents' (soulmates') separation, refuses to respond to his soulmate for two years. However, when he realizes his soulmate is Phat, an handsome veterinarian, he regrets it because the attraction is very strong. Due to a misunderstanding, Tai initially resists, but the misunderstanding is quickly cleared up.

+++ Good actors, especially Pee (whom I'll be following from now on), but the main character's behavior (Tai) is unbearable (stupid, selfish, inconsistent) ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
+++ Pleasant OSTs

### Poorly executed direction: some scenes are unnecessary (or unnecessarily long); many flashbacks and repetitive scenes + many filler scenes (the series should have been 8 episodes maximum)
### Some really stupid (and too obvious) twists
### Inconsistent character behavior (Nara, for example) (calm one moment, devastated the next, ... for no reason)

=> Interesting plot, but very poorly executed. A shame for the actors who did their best to make us care about such a poorly written story!
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Mix (mal foutu) de BL et de Fantasy. un gâchis pr le talent des acteurs !

PLOT: Lorsqu'il pleut, 2 âmes sœurs souffrent d'1 surdité temporaire mais peuvent se parler qqsoit la distance. Tai, traumatisé par la séparat° de ses parents (âmes sœurs), refuse de répondre à son âme sœur pdt 2 ans. Cpdt, lorsqu'il se rend compte que son âme sœur est Phat, vétérinaire, il le regrette car l'attract° est très forte. A cause d'1 malentendu, Tai résiste ds un 1er tps, mais le malentendu est vite dissipé.

+++ Bons acteurs, particulièrement Pee (que je vais suivre désormais) mais le MC a un comportement insupportable (stupide, égoïste, inconstant) ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
+++ OSTs agréables

### Réalis° mal travaillée : certaines scènes sont inutiles (ou inutilement longues) ; bcp de flash-backs et de scènes répétitives + bcp de scènes de remplissage (la série aurait du faire 8 ép. maximum)
### Some really stupid (and too obvious) twists
### Comportement des personnages (Nara par ex.) inconstant (apaisée un moment, effondrée le suivant, ... sans raison)

=> Plot intéressant, mais très mal exploité. Dommage pour les acteurs qui ont fait l'impossible pr nous faire adhérer à une histoire aussi mal écrite !

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I loved it

If you are looking for a historical C-drama that masterfully balances high-stakes political intrigue with a deeply grounded romance, "Pursuit of Jade" (逐玉) is a must-watch. Starring Zhang Linghe and Tian Xiwei, this 2026 series breathes fresh life into the "fake marriage" and "fallen noble" tropes, delivering a cinematic experience that feels both grand and intimate.
​A Refreshing Power Dynamic
​The show’s greatest strength lies in its unconventional leads. Tian Xiwei delivers a powerhouse performance as Fan Changyu, a butcher’s daughter who is as practical as she is fierce. Unlike typical "damsels," she isn't just a love interest; she eventually wields her butcher’s knife on the battlefield, becoming a formidable force in her own right. Opposite her, Zhang Linghe shines as Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an. He portrays the transition from a broken, hidden noble to a ruthless general with incredible nuance, utilizing micro-expressions that capture his internal struggle between his quest for vengeance and his growing love for Changyu.
​Cinematic Excellence
​Visually, the drama is a "visual odyssey." From the serene, snowy landscapes of Lin’an to the sprawling, gritty battlefields, the cinematography is breathtaking. The production quality is evident in every frame, particularly during the action sequences which are choreographed with a visceral energy rarely seen in idol dramas. The use of traditional instruments like the Suona in the soundtrack adds a haunting, epic layer to the Marquis’s marching scenes.
​Why It Works
​The Chemistry: The slow-burn romance feels earned. Their "marriage of convenience" evolves naturally through shared hardships, creating a "power couple" dynamic where both characters are equally indispensable.
​Narrative Pacing: While the political subplots are complex, the story remains cohesive, focusing on the pursuit of truth regarding a 17-year-old conspiracy.
​Supporting Cast: The villains and side characters (especially the two Princes) are well-developed, ensuring that the stakes feel real.
​"Pursuit of Jade" isn't just another costume drama; it is a beautifully written, expertly acted tale of justice and devotion. It’s a rare gem that honors its genre while boldly carving out its own identity.

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