Reviews

A Subtle and Moving Love Story Within a Legal Drama

The romance between the two leads feels strikingly real, almost like watching a first love unfold. Both Gong Jun and Ren Min capture the fragile emotions of early love - the insecurity, the hesitation, and the constant fear of losing each other - with remarkable nuance.
Not long after they become a couple, circumstances force them apart. The heartbreak is portrayed with such authenticity that it resonates deeply, even bringing back memories of one's own first love.
While romance is not the central focus of the series, this relationship is handled with rare sophistication. It's restrained, natural, and never overdramatized. Their storyline stands out as one of the most memorable aspects of the drama, and the conclusion is both satisfying and fitting.

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FL gambled with her Intelligence and lost. A compelling start to a very tragic downfall.

Ugh. I'm so disappointed with this show like it had the perfect opportunity to have a compelling story, filled with tension (cuz the chemistry between leads was 🔥) and high stakes but unfortunately it fell prey to the cliches- be it amnesia or the so called incredibly strong antagonists losing their brain and doing incredibly stupid things so that the leads could catch them.

VISUALS
Incredible costumes, amazing setting and really nice cinematography.

CASTING
Amazing. All the actors really fit the characters well, Shen Zaiye looked like an incredibly shrewd minister who doesn't even deem the princess worthy enough to match him, and a princess who had escaped her cage, and now must try to carve out the life she deserves while trying to protect her brother.

Look, the premise was so incredibly promising - the show itself isn't all that bad, but pretty generic and full of cliches.
The initial episodes till the cliff scene or even before that are totally worth watching the rest can be skipped, fast forwarded.

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Not the best, BUT REALLY GOOOODDD!!!

I love the title in Thai (Not the best, but still good) bcs it's so... funny. And for me, it quite defines this series.

It's mundane. If you're searching for a love story that will change your perceptions of life, this is not for you. But it's incredibly well made in its casuality. I know that for some people it feels like i'm criticizing, but it's quite the opposite. I'm praising it. Duang with You focuses much more on the day by day, the texture of loving someone, falling in love. The characters are funny but they're just... they are just like real people. It could be someone from your own uni. They're not extraordinary.

And for me, that's the beauty of Duang with You, bcs along with all of that, they show true intimacy. Not with crazy NC scenes (that are very typical of Domundi — I was a little bit worried) but with their daily life, kisses, hugs. And ofc that includes sex. What I don't like in many NC scenes in BLs is that they put some crazy things and positions and are scandalous (fine for me tbh, that's not the problem, let the queer be scandalous) but the couple don't seem truly engaged. Not only in the feelings talk (when the NC happens when both of them are already in love, for me it's a requirement), but also in attraction. If they're fucking, it should have some feelings, not exclusively romantic, bcs in many shows they aren't in love yet, but the attraction, want, desire.

And DWY has both. They look incredibly in love, incredibly attracted to each other. Not only in sex scenes but also in their daily life. It's so obvious how much they love each other, how much they desire each other.

Teetee and Por are both incredible actors and, for their first series as the mains, it was incredible! Makes me sad that we will have to wait at least another 2 years to see them again in a series.

For the secondary couple, I liked NorthOtto! But for me, it was a little bit... their history is too much cropped, and it makes sense since they have their own novel and maybe DMD will pull the second series in the same universe card, but honestly, I didn't like Marvis' character... IDK. It wasn't something that impacted my liking of the series bcs I didn't have the urge to skip their scenes (as happened before to me with other couples), but it wasn't the best either.

The series is also fun in selling itself: Not the best, but still good. It's a 10/10 for me in the sense of fulfilling all of its premise perfectly.

Also the filming was really good! The scenes were so pretty, a little too much white sometimes but that's okay. It was really a good work!

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Never Forget This Story

I found the story’s premise irresistible. It had me hooked from the beginning. Usually, amnesia plots are a sign of weak plot development and thus ripe for confusion and boredom. However, this one was intriguing and held my attention. Why? Because everything about it was so unexpected, including how interesting the characters turned out to be. Additionally, the acting of the protagonists was tight and quite believable. Because they did not display the usual characteristics of individuals in the positions that were supposedly representing, that is what made it so fascinating for me. These two gave new meaning to being in a life-long commitment to one another. I loved the strength and symmetry of their love story. This is a very, very good BL.

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Pursuit of Jade with a perfect blend of romance & politics

If a series could be completely fine whether you removed the politics and kept just the romance or vice versa, then that series is Pursuit of Jade.

The series portrays a perfect balance of romance and politics, creating a 40-episode journey of love, trust, and purpose. I could write a lot about it, but I can’t write this review without mentioning the chemistry. The tension was so beautifully portrayed — the way each scene was filmed somehow elevated their natural chemistry even further. The actors were phenomenal.

My other favourite part of the series is how our FL had some of the most beautifully shot and executed fight scenes. And I love that we didn’t even need our ML on the war field to create the same impact. Every scene the ML appeared in radiated power. I don’t know how they managed it, but even in the way he breathed, you could feel his presence. One of my favourite scenes is when he outright declined the emperor’s decree with the confident conviction of a man who knew he was untouchable.

I also love all the side characters — each of them added great value to the story. I enjoyed all the couples, but my personal favourite is Qi Min and Yu. Their love was toxic in the most compelling way, giving off anti-hero and Stockholm syndrome vibes. He was completely ruthless, and she, even though she may have hated him to her core, still seemed to crave him in a way she couldn’t escape. It was incredibly intense.

Pursuit of Jade is going straight into my all-time favourites list.

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Sweet and incredibly cute, it really healed my soul and changed my views of modern cdrama.

I donno what crack they put in this show but I WAS Blown away!! I was giggling, swooning over soo bad.

• The story in itself was nothing special, even a bit bland plot wise... But this was more about Nie Xiguang's journey to improving herself and reaching new heights in romance and career both.

• LIN YUSEN (ML)
Lin Yusen is THE Soulmate material. He loved her but waited for her patiently, told her to not be burdened by his feelings, always supported her, trusted her.
But he's not the cold, broody generic ML though on first impression he does seem so but as we get to know more of him, him teasing her, his hobbies all shine through pointing towards the presence of his personality!!
He's her mentor, friend, confidant, support- the ever present shore where she can rest on.

• ROMANCE
Their relationship development was amazing - it had this subtle sensuality to it while also being incredibly cute, they became close confidants, friends and then lovers, this slow and gradual progression gave the show it's unique charm.

I also didn't mind the initial few episodes which were about Xiguang's life in college, her past with THE crush (also eww man, you're gross for what you did), because it actually gave us insight into her character.

• VISUALS
As if the story wasn't cute & healing enough, the visual storytelling is done so well.... it's like being in a museum surrounded by beautiful artifacts without feeling overwhelmed because each artifact stands out on its own, telling it's story...a bit convoluted (meaning: everything is really gorgeous, but it doesn't feel too much)

The color grading followed this cotton candy kind of theme (incredibly sweet) like the story itself and I loved it.

• ENDING
This one had THE best ending I've ever seen in a Cdrama!! The way everything was tied up together so nicely with a bow, and the baby daughter..? So cute!!
It's Exemplary. That's the kind of ending I deserve from every show.

• Generally not into modern C dramas as I get bored easily with them, and the power imbalance induced by boss & employee relationship is not my cup of tea (tho here, its not a boss employee, but still a workplace romance, she's a novice at her job which leads towards power imbalance, but it doesn't happen). And this one changed my opinion, I really enjoyed this soo much.
Totally recommended.

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I'm rooting for the villain! Wasted potential

They started by deceiving us with the trailer! They made us believe that Arisa would be a race car driver, but unfortunately the problems didn't stop there:
1) Their "love" isn't "believable" because they didn't show them starting to date. They jumped straight to the end. So all the declarations seem like empty words.
2) The scene cuts are often poorly executed; the editing isn't working well.
3) The script is so empty so far that we have no idea who Lyla is because they simply don't "introduce" her to us. We only know that she's the villain's daughter and that she's dating Arisa.

4) They're not managing to balance revenge with romance; it gives the impression that the series wasn't even supposed to be a romance, but at the last minute they decided to change their minds and filmed some scenes on top of it.

5) The pacing of the romance is also completely fantastical, it feels like bad fanfiction, where they want to take the characters to a certain point but don't know how to do it, so they just force a marriage proposal, a gigantic coincidence, a hidden camera, anything that isn't developing a good script.
6) The characters aren't charismatic, they don't have well-developed personalities, they simply threw the characters into the series and said: "Look, you're going to be silly and in love with her, and you're going to be gothic and complicated"... That's all they are. They didn't build the characters with mannerisms or "anything" special. They are just generic characters, the kind we find everywhere.
7) They still haven't explained what revenge Arisa wants to take, or why she wants to do it. The story is short, only 8 episodes, so this should have been shown in episode 1 or 2 so we could understand where the character is going. If they don't do that, we're left confused, and if we don't understand, we can't celebrate her achievements, because how can we celebrate something we don't even understand how it's supposed to be, and how Arisa wants it to be?

Honestly, I'm rooting for the villain to win, defeat Arisa, and for Lyla to find someone decent, because Arisa only lies and uses her.

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He's problematic (Unhinged~). She knows it. I know it. Still ATE IT UP!

• This show was a really good time for me, it messed up multiple times however the good scenes had me obsessed!

• MU QINGYAN (ML)
I love my characters a lil' crazy and Mu Qingyan was an embodiment of that and also I was really into his Green tea behaviour and the way he was acting all pitiful, he was so good at it, that at moments I couldn't tell where his (Mu Qingyan's) acting began and where his actual feelings lay.
He was extreme, making decisions for her, manipulating her and everyone around him for his benefit, single mindedly focused on his revenge but all that was understandable due to him being a demonic art practitioner and backstory (I..might be excusing him 😅)
He does seem too emotionless, lil' wooden dare I say only exhibiting extreme emotions like jealousy, hate & anger strongly.. I'd like to believe that it was a character setting rather than a performance flaw.

• CAI ZHAO (FL)
Now.. another thing that I loved about this was CAI ZHAO, Our FL. It might be because I came from Youthful Glory, I found the FL to be more assertive, strong and intelligent.
I loved how her longing and feelings for him were really palpable instead of being subtle and understated.
Her subsequent actions of supporting him despite her principles was really charming.
She was really clear about her feelings towards Qingyan and everybody else...I loved how she clearly rejected the SML, and loved his confession too - it was soo respectful towards her, and him being her friend later on...I dare say, this is the few times where I'm not tormented by the SML, I genuinely liked his arc of falling in love with her despite it being unrequited.

• MQY pretending to be a dodder flower clinging to her for support was so peak 😂 and loved how she believed in him a lot, saved him many times and also look at this quote🫴 -!!
✨"I'll use every possible way to save you. If I cannot save you, I will help you fulfill your wishes, If you want Revenge, I'll help you take revenge."✨

• Supporting Cast were really cool too, I love a reformed villain tho in this case she was mostly a cannon fodder, also love women supporting each other!! I really liked how many female characters not just the FL were strong, or overcame their initial challenges to become a better version, saved the world and all, Su was 'always courting death' which was veryyy naive(I'm being polite here) and acted impulsively however she reformed without losing her initial naivety- became more stable and I really liked it.

• Pacing - really awful. Tho I was hooked by the initial chapters but then the journey till chapter 10 was perilous at best, the pacing was off, where the story is going wasn't making any sense, evrything felt quite all over the place.
I was considering dropping the show had it not been for the fact that I was too curious about Cai Zhao's aunt and also MLs dad was played by Li Yunrui (Blossom).
It didn't help that the editing was also not fun.

• The Generation to Generation thing- I love a plot that involves multiple stories, timelines so it didn't feel messy or too much for me at all. The past of the previous generation aka the parents, aunts/ uncles and their friends was deeply entertaining!

• PLOT
Uh..now the entirety of it was . The antagonist's identity left no mystery, and the motives were quite shallow too...and the ending on how MQY got well is also really glossed over.
This show definitely had the potential to be far more compelling with a stronger antagonist, reasonable motivations, and more mystery.

VISUALS
Action sequences were absolutely gorgeous, the CGIs, special effects were so breathtaking.

🫴✨ Overall ✨
This drama messes up with skewed pacing, bad editing and weak antagonists, with questionable plot choices.
But despite it all, it just hits the right spot for me.
I love My Qingyan's manipulation, acting as a dodder flower, the extremity of his character and Cai Zhao's clarity in feelings towards Qingyan, towards SML and her giving up everything for him- supporting him with his revenge ( aka his sole goal in life, his reason for trying to survive so hard)

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Violent Game of Death

LAST SAMURAI STANDING (2025 - ) was a brutal and riveting Japanese series, a fictional story set in the historical era of 1870's. The series was excellent in all ways. Casting, acting, costumes, design, visual and last but certainly not least the martial arts choreography and brutal fight scenes.

"In 1878, 292 samurai gather for a battle royale lured by a 100 thousand yen prize. Wooden tags are given; the last survivor reaching Tokyo wins. Shujiro Saga participates to save his sick family. A dangerous game of survival unfolds."

I highly recommend this short series, especially if you enjoy gritty asian series with a dark premise, intense action and fight scenes, and set in a realistic historical period. This was a top notch series that I really enjoyed along, with other Asian historical / action martial arts series, such as Japan's Shogun (2024), Korea's Kingdom (2019) and US's Warrior (2019-2023).

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Mystery, Action & Romance

JUDGE DEE'S MYSTERY (2024) is an excellent Chinese mystery drama based on the original Judge Dee book series of historical detective novels by Dutch author Robert van Gulik, featuring a magistrate and detective from China's 7th-century Tang Dynasty, based on a real historical figure, Di Renjie (played by Yiwei Zhao), who was excellent in his role.

For a while, I've been searching for historical fiction dramas that are set in a fantasy / fictional world and yet firmly grounded in reality and historical atmosphere. This series fit the bill, and was just perfect, in my opinion. This series was super enjoyable with a great cast and settings as well. The locations are fantastic as well as the sets and costumes were all visually stunning. I absolutely loved this series.

"A brilliant investigator incurs the wrath of a shadowy foe when he travels to a border town to tackle crimes and misdeeds on behalf of Empress Wu Zetian."

Overall, this series was fantastic. I enjoyed almost everything about it, from the mysteries to the incredible cast to the exciting fight scenes. A great series! Hoping for a sequel season soon!

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Exactly what I expected

So I think anyone watching a Guo Jing Ming drama needs to be prepared for what they're getting themselves into. I appreciate his dramas because the cinematic visuals, costumes, make-up, and ost are always incredible. The actual story on the other hand? .. not so much. And that is exactly what Veil of Shadows gave.

Let's start with the bad things first: cause what even was this story really? It was incredibly convoluted, I think it could have easily filled all 29 eps by focusing on 2 or 3 of the storylines, instead of what felt like 20. There is so much going on, so many characters are introduced with the impression that they are really important, but then forgotten about. Character connections, relationships, and backgrounds are super confusing, made more confusing by the fact that everyone plays so many characters (I think Yan An and Tian Jia Rui played 10 characters between the two of them, and then some of them ended up being the same character? I'm still confused...). So if you care about character development, give up, you will not be able to keep track of it here.
Second, GJM plays really fast and loose with the rules in his magical worlds, because huh? Don't even bother to remember power, rules, and hierarchies established in the first couple of eps, because they are completely disregarded later on (one example of this I really dislike is that GJM's female leads are always introduced as incredibly powerful, magical beings, yet halfway through the story he seems to forget about this fact... anyways). This makes the stakes of the story feel super low. Although usually GJM's dramas have a tragic ending, which I don't love cause it feels too extreme (i.e. half the characters dying), Veil of Shadows has the complete opposite extreme, where every character died at least once, came back to life (multiple times), got their happy ending, but it still did not feel satisfying. I think GJM's endings are usually quite weak, the solution to defeat the villain is somehow figured out at the last minute, in the most confusing way, and you're just there like ... sure I guess. Like, what do you mean Ji Ling has to go back in time to make sure Wuyi was never created and thus none of the bad things could have happened, yet he brings her out of the past, to the present, with him? Does that not defeat the purpose? And why is Wu Shi Guang the only one who remembers the past? So many questions.

But, I still finished the drama, and enjoyed it lol. What saved it for me is exactly what I mentioned before: everything and everyone looks beautiful, ost is great, and I am just a sucker for an ensemble drama. All the actors did a really good job with the crazy story; their chemistry (not just chemistry between FLs and MLs, but between ensemble as a whole) and acting skills still managed to suck me in and made me care about the characters. Loved the relationship between the sisters, loved Chen Du Ling and Ju Jing Yi together (wish we got a nice conclusion between them though..). GJM does funny, light-hearted, and tender moments really well, and you just end up falling for that. So, if you want to watch this unseriously and are okay with being confused most of the time, you'll have a good time!

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Tender & Romantic

DEEP AFFECTION EYES (2025) was pretty good romantic Cdrama. While a bit predictable at times, the romance that blooms between the two characters is definitely sweet, genuine and overall a pleasure to watch. I did feel that the ML was a bit dry in personality and it took a while to develop his character and the relationship between the leads.

"After career troubles, Ye Meng moves back home seeking peace. She meets the enigmatic Li Jinyu, drawn to his quiet demeanor and expressive eyes. Together, they find healing and romance."

Overall, "Deep Affectionate Eyes" was an enjoyable watch. The small town setting, memorable acting and enduring side characters made this romance drama a joy.

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