Reviews

A story of first love…with a twist.

Ok I admit, I regret a bit that I put off watching Love O2O for so long (there are just so many good dramas to watch), but it’s better late than never!
Things that I like:
• I’m not a gamer, but I like the idea that the ML Xiao Nai (Yang Yang) and FL Bei Wei Wei (Zheng Shuang) started as a couple in the game “A Chinese Ghost Story”, where Xiao Nai first “pursued” her, then eventually in real life (They being Computer Science students is a plus!). Their in-game interactions and experiences together laid the groundwork for their eventual meet-up and relationship in the real world.
• Casting the same actors to portray their in-game characters, which made me more invested in their scenes inside the game. I enjoyed watching their interactions and action scenes in the game, which were well executed.
• Fluid transition of the story from online to offline scenarios.
• Smart, interesting and attractive ML and FL. Especially the ML, he’s so well-rounded, almost perfect, too good to be true at times!
• Amazing chemistry between Yang Yang and Zheng Shuang. They look so good together! They have many light-hearted, sweet and romantic moments, and Yang Yang is a good kisser! He mostly carried their romantic scenes 😊.
• There is mutual love, trust and respect between our main couple, and I like that there is not so much drama and misunderstanding between them.
• Great circle of friends for both Xiao Nai and Bei Wei Wei, and healthy family relationships.
• The drama showed Xiao Nai and his friends navigating the gaming industry through their start-up tech business, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.
• Love the OST! The songs just fit the drama so well. So glad they’re available in Spotify and Youtube.

Other comments:
• Zheng Shuang is pretty, but I find her a bit too skinny. Her acting in some of the kissing scenes could be better, as most of the time, she was a passive receiver of Yang Yang’s passionate kisses. To be fair, there were some kissing scenes where she did better than in others. I read that her character is written that way in the book.
• There were a number of annoying characters, who seemed to spend most of their time gossiping and trying to pull others down. But hey, they made the story more interesting, so they’re a “necessary evil”.
• This drama has a high rewatch value for me. After I finished it, I rewatched the last 3 episodes the next day. Then in the following days, I rewatched my other favorite episodes, before starting from episode 1 and rewatching the whole drama (albeit with some skips the 2nd time). So I watched the entire series twice in a little over 2 weeks.

Overall, this is a fun, feel-good, and enjoyable drama for me. I highly recommend it!

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Chaotic. But also relatable.

I was intrigued to watch when YT algorithm suggested this to me and I saw Bai Shu in the cast, I love him so much. This drama reminded me on Fighter of the Destiny, because of the from zero to unintentionally hero story and Gulnezer Bextiyar falling for that guy lol.
Firstly, I want to mention what I really liked about this drama. And that is Xueying's character. It was written so well. We did not have a hero who was just an I'll Fight Bravely At All Times, we had a guy who had to grow up fast to become a support to himself and everyone around him. The internal torment, the doubts, wanting to run away from everything because it's too overwhelming, shouldering responsibilities, losing the will and reasons, that was just so perfectly written. That was very relatable.
And now, my long, long comments about the chaos this drama was. The scene and situation jumping.... Without an explanation of a buffer sentence, we jumped from one scene to another. You could figure it out, but I still would've appreciated some "we need to get here to obtain that" and cut scene, go. Speaking of cut scenes, I like the comic ones, that was something new. But why did they fade out throughout the drama? Maybe as the storyline progresses from a lighter story to serious and dark, the producers thought that the comic cut scenes would have ruined the mood or what. If they would have been placed well, it could've worked. Anyways.
I love this genre, but I will never come to terms with the abundance of good guys deaths (I mean too many of good guy deaths). In this drama, 98% of the good guys died. Why. Just why. Did we need to highlight the hero and put in more deaths to his burden? Ugh... Youyue should not have died. Give my guy Puyang Bo the transcendent wife, damnit. We could have has two happy endings, not just one. I generally dislike when they write a couple who will confess their love shortly before dying. Like, why now? I get it, it is like that sometimes. But Situ Hong and Zhuo Yi.... They definitely needed a longer development than 5 minutes of Episode 39. I would have appreciated if Situ Hong turned the tide a little more too.
Chi Quibai took the Soul Scouring Nail on him, he fought it, tried to remove it, Ao Lan told him that he could control him over it and then it just wasn't mentioned anymore. At one point it looked like Ao Lan removed it but there was no word of it whatsoever.
Another confusing point was, why were there only Uncles as half beasts? Were there more beasts? Why weren't they mentioned throughout? There's literally one scene in the first episodes where Zong Ling mentioned that he's a weresnake and his organs are different and thus the demonic poison affects him differently. And then we forgot about it.... also, even a hot headed guy like Tong San would have been more careful when he would discover a secret chamber with the bad guys in it. That plot was just dumb.
I did like the wedding but I disliked the drama. It was so unnecessary that Jinqiu found out the poison. This plot should have been successful and she should have been sent home in peace. We already had the emotional torment of "they can never be together", we did not need betrayal by friends and family.
The pendant which was given to Xueying also didn't really have it's potential. I thought that it would have some special energy in the end, like it could revive his mother. It should "have all you need" and as long as I understood, it kept stuff inside. Like the spices Xueying used for the fish. And then it was just a light up stone. Why was it given so much attention and plot time then?
This is all I can think of atm. Idk how to wrap this up... Maybe with a Watch if you like to, its okay. Just chaotic at times.

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Too slow

The story had so much potential but what a waste. I literally dragged myself to complete the show but it was boring most of the time. Mostly a show captures users attention in the first episode but here I kept waiting till the 2nd episode to find something that would convince me to watch. I heard about the show so I thought it must be good but nah. It was too slow. Although it does deliver some important messages of self love and all but still I just couldn’t connect with the show that much.
Although I loved seon gyeom‘s character, He was the only character that made me watch the entire show. I liked the way he self reflected on himself. The 2nd lead couple’s chemistry was better than the main lead.

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Soundtrack is just absolutely perfect: eerie, romantic, ethereal, wonderful!

An angel must complete missions before he is allowed to live in heaven. His last mission is to find true love for a blind ballerina, but he ends up falling in love with her and that is not allowed.

Everything on screen is really high quality: the cinematography and set design are wonderful, complemented with great acting. The dancing is authentic and wonderful. The way the ballerinas interact is chatty, like the dancing fight over the bar, it was just so realistic.

Shin Hye Sun always embodies her roles perfectly and I’m happily surprised by Kim Myung Soo; His portrayal as a playful angel was very genuine, he really balanced out the female lead, they have such great chemistry! Another major pro and the reason to watch is OST; when the soundtrack starts, it elevates everything to the stereo-level: It’s eerie, romantic, ethereal, wonderful!

Sadly, it started off very strong, but become a chore to finish. There’s few mythology rules that were inconsistent near the end. I enjoy the slow-burn romance but it gets frustrating when the conflict drags and the villains become one-dimensional. The couple was too focused to dive headfirst in the name of love. The finale was extremely anticlimactic and unsatisfying as they use some tropes that I really dislike.

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Almost everything was great for me, problems mostly with the main premise. But fave

You’d enjoy watching if you don’t think too hard about the overarching plot.

The chemistry among the cast (both romantic and non-romantic pairings/groupings) and the OST are some of my favorite aspects of the series. Not only does Nunew have such a great singing voice, the songs used in the series were all really good, and that was important for me, given its role in Kirin’s character. I usually skip the performance scenes in BL’s because I find them quite awkward sometimes, but for this series, I loved all the performances. My favorite part of the series though is the cinematography, the blocking and the direction. I could really see the amount of care behind each scene, especially the emotional ones (both NC and non-NC but the NC scenes are really really well-directed too and a standout). I feel like most of the scenes included have a purpose too, which I can’t say the same for some other BL’s. Special shoutout to Zee’s performance too, there’s just something about the way his eyes express emotions that really sold it for me.

Admittedly, the overall premise and longstanding miscommunication between the main couple was frustrating and the weakest aspect of the series, i found it quite a waste because I just think everything else is close to perfect. I find that Cutie pie has sort of the opposite problem with some other BL’s i like. Other BL’s have great initial premises and overarching storylines but the attention to detail, the blocking, cinematography and chemistry of the cast is just
lacking and detracts from the greatness of the premise. Cutie pie, meanwhile, does great with the other aspects but the storyline and overarching plot is just a bit confusing or could do some tweaking. I understand part of the reasoning is to continue on with the hide and seek fun between the characters. There’s also the struggle between Lian wanting Kuea to explore a world without him or the arranged marriage and Lian wanting to pay back Kuea’s family. Like it’s all interesting but just needed a bit of tweaking to not make their actions so contradicting or unnecessarily convoluted..

With all that being said haha I still loved the series and could overlook the weakness of the overarching plot because of the care placed within the details behind each scene. I still love rewatching the series from time to time.

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what a great surprise !!

Waw, I'm writing this review at the end of episode 7 (yes I decided to start this series when it wasn't over yet... ayyy the pain of waiting). I'm very disappointed in Disney+ for not promoting this series properly. I haven't seen anything on this series except for a few TikTok. At one point, it piqued my curiosity and I started, without reading or seeing the trailer so I had absolutely no idea what it was about. I was surprised to see the superpowers but what a good surprise!! First, even if we talk about superhuman powers, it remains strangely coherent (human weapons, competition between countries, shooting down pensioners, inheritance of powers, schools that bring them together, etc.). The story is well done and its structure is very interesting: we develop each character at the same time (or family), and it's not boring at all!! There are 20 episodes in all so it will surely still be very well developed. In terms of cinematography: incredible. I love the positions, movements, colors of the camera. It looks great, it's fun to watch. I find the trio very endearing. We don't know much about super-man yet, but I guess it's best for last grrrr. I really like the friendship / romance between the two characters from the beginning, too cute. Besides, I really like this actress, a beauty + talent!

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they took this junk step by fucking step

I am averaging out the episodes right now, and then I will talk about this low-key disappointing show. Okay, that took forever. The average for this was 8.375 stars out of 10 stars, and I rounded it down to 8 stars out of 10 stars because fuck this show. I feel like I invested too much time and energy into this show for the ending to be that damn ass. There are so many unanswered questions. I hate it. Okay, I am going to try to talk about the good and the bad of this dumpster fire show.

I started this on April 19th, and it is August 17th at 2:09 am. Damn. So I was talking about how the show wasn't off to a bad start. I had no idea anyone's names; it was a fresh start to a new show. I was describing what Jeng and Pat looked like and making my predictions. The dictator and the baby were both good ways to describe Jeng because of his control issues and the way he dealt with everything. I said that Pat had juicy lips, and I was saying that he fell for Jeng fast, but boy was I wrong. And the camera angles were making me sea sick.

I said that the workplace harassment really topped off the second episode because of the way it was handled. And I was trying to get behind all the weird things Pat was doing, and they were pretty warranted at the beginning. There was a drunk scene, which was one of many. And I was saying how I was really hyped for the show to be all the way out.

Mr. Jeng is a serious overthinker, and he inherited his father's control issues, as did his brother. I was still really excited and just enjoying it; there is definitely some alcholism and addiction in this, but that's fine, I guess, because it doesn't matter if the show doesn't focus on it. Yeah, not a whole lot was happening, and that's basically the whole show.

We meet Chot, and I love him so much. His character is funny and just has an overall good presence in the show. And him being in a relationship with was the best and only good loop this show had. It was just really cute. It was an easy watch, and the shit they were sending in the group chat gave me some crazy second-hand embarrassment; it was bad.

Two people got proposed to in one episode. I make a backhanded comment towards Jen about how he should break up with his current boyfriend, who gave off a very bad vibe before he started kissing CEO's sons. I was hating on the love triangle, and rightfully so. I think in the description, all three of them were still mains, so I was just hoping that Pat would fall for Jeng and not some old flame who is an idol now for some weird reason.

I was once again hating on the love triangle for playing with my feelings. Pat was such a cry baby in this, and shit was getting on everybody's nerves, including mine. You can work shit out with out crying dawg; you are a full-ass adult. I think he was 24 during these episodes, like, what? I understand if you are under the age of 18 and still in school, but he's literally making money, has a job, and is still having full-blown temper tantrums because stuff is not going right. That's not very proactive of him. This show isn't very proactive, actually.

Pat continues to collect these men like Pokemon cards. I kept talking about Pat's lips because they are beautiful, and fuck that love triangle version like 8 at this point. This was getting on my nerves so much. The whole show was at this point.

Then we had the slow dancing scene, which saved this series (by the episode rating) from being an actual 6. It was a sensational and, overall, really great scene. I was pretty surprised that Jeng was gay, actually. I thought that it was going to be aI am only gay for you type of thing. That made me start to feel better, but then I remembered that literally nothing had happened up until this point, and it had been eight episodes.

Giving birth was so unnecessary, but I got so into it that my heart was racing like I was helping deliver that damn baby. They hadn't even kissed yet, and Jaab and Jeng have some generational control problems and generational non rizz.

The world messed these two up, bro. My prediction was right on June 30th about Toh being behind it. "Bro wants to watch the world burn with his meet the Robinson-looking ass." I ate that one up. But nah, I would have finished this so much earlier, but I knew episode 11 was going to be bad, so I decided against it.

Until today. Them in the infamous episode 11 were so gilded lilies by the cult or the other way around. the haven't given enough song. Jeng ruined them. I was having a hard time trying to remember what had happened and who everyone was, but we got through it. Pat's haircuts midway through some scenes were funny. And his lips are beautiful.

I was pissed about that ending. They were barely together for like an hour on screen for the whole long ass show. Everyone was getting on my nerves at the end. Oh god. I was confused because of the time skips, and Pat put in his two weeks like four times, longer than he had probably been working there. Nah, I am so glad I am done with this. I was very disappointed. This show had so much wasted potential. I wouldn't recommend this because it's a waste of time and energy for a couple to barely be together for an hour on screen. That's it. It's now 2:33 a.m. Okay bye!

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The characters were super relatable

Let’s be honest, the plot was not anything new or exciting, but I think the execution was done well! The plot was given time to develop, the friendships had time to form, and love had time to blossom. It’s definitely a slow-burn with a sprinkle of love triangle, maybe even a love square. The cinematography was beautiful, the locations were very picturesque. The music, the lightning, the camera angles… Korean series have definitely mastered that.

Noh Shin Woo & Woo Tae Kyung – the two are a hot mess. I think they are both so relatable. Tae Kyung is an introvert, does not have any friends, and doesn’t do well in social situations. He does often come across as cold and closed off, but I think it was often just his nerves and not knowing how to act in given situations. Shin Woo has a crush, and he does not know how to handle it. He has been hurt in the past, so he built walls to protect himself. He is awkward and comes across as rude, but in reality, he simply doesn’t know how to act around his crush. I really like how they take things slow, going from enemies to friends and only then to lovers. It is not rushed. This is a first love, first relationship for both after all.

Shin Da On – he is an over achiever and a people pleaser. He is friendly, approachable, always smiling and hiding his true feelings. I think his struggle to maintain his status, the idea of him that others have, has been done nicely, especially in the latter episodes. It really showed the painful reality of trying to achieve the expectations of others. Da On trying to be good and helpful to everyone did contribute to certain people feeling like he was leading them on, like they meant more to him. And I really appreciate how that was pointed out.

I do think that Shin Woo and Tae Kyung were not given enough time as a couple. I really wished everything would have been resolved sooner and we would get to see them being all cute and lovely for a bit longer. I also think certain people were forgiven too easily. What that person did is horrible, especially considering the society and the school environment. Another thing that bothered me is how it was implied that we can decide who we will like. That’s not how it works. Just because someone is being nice to you or has feelings for you, you can’t just say “I am going to like that person too” and be done with it. I found that very strange and not really making any sense.

I think it was good that they addressed and showed negative aspects of being gay in all boys’ school. It is definitely not all sunshine and rainbows and people are not nearly as accepting as we would all like them to. So I think it’s important that such things get addressed from both the positive and negative side.

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I couldn't get past the student/teacher relationship

This show was totally played for laughs, thankfully, but still... why couldn't they have made her just a few years older than him, but still in school? The low rating by me is pretty much due to this, it was uncomfortable for me to watch. That said, you should try it if...

1) You want somewhat over the top humor.
2) Don't mind overacting (purposeful in this case, I think)
3) Like the "fated to be" trope
4) You are in the mood for something light to watch, without angst
5) You don't like 2FL storyline. There is one, but it is resolved really well
6) You like to watch shows about friendships and the importance of friendships
7)You like some fantasy in your shows. I mean, she thinks she's in love with a manga character!
8) You like a cute ending.

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The Story line!

I didn't expect this drama will be this fun!
i laughed every episode and i swear its have the best ending that make you can't wait for next Monday and Tuesday!
highly recommended you this drama if you need something fresh and funny!!
ohhh andd it has mystery story too, so it complite story from funny, romance, mystery. The chemistry between female and male lead is amazing!! I love them onscreen and offscreen ^^
Hwang minhyun and kim so hyun chemistry is not joke guys! you will have a butterfly in your stomach xixixiix i will rooting for them! hwaiting my lovely liar team!!!

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Low Beginning Expectations, But No Regrets.

(Spoiler free review)
I watched this after watching a clip on Youtube, but didn't expect to enjoy it. Was it the best Korean BL I have seen? No, but its definitely a must watch. 2023 has been a great year for Korean BL's, from acting to the amount of screentime, this is another addition to its improvement.

Here are my personal Pros and Cons:

Pros-
1. Acting. SMC had some of the best acting I've seen. It felt so natural and comfortable, making it feel like I was watching a reality show.
2. The couple. Goes along with the first one, but they did really well at showing the friendship and relationship aspects. Usually in drama's, its like they act normal with each other at first, but as soon as they start dating and it gets super cringe. But I didn't feel that at all!
3. The friends-to-lovers trope. About 95% of BL's seem to be enemies-to-lovers, so SMC was refreshing.
4. The music. They played one song multiple times, but I didn't get tired of it.

Cons-
1. It started to lose my attention at episode 7. I have a hard time concentrating on dramas, so its probably just me.
2. The lack of conflicts. Personal taste, but I like dark and heavy elements of shows, so chill ones aren't really chill for me. If you like that kind of stuff, definitely watch it.
3. The first real "kiss." What the hell was that? I swear Korean BL actors cannot kiss for the life of them. Like I get why, but at least try to put effort it it! Wasn't as bad as cough*Color Rush*cough though, which should be considered a flex.

Thanks for reading!

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Another sweet story from Dilireba & Gong Jun... Very interesting for Gong Jun to get like reverse role from his character in Word of Honor, where WoH he's so flirty & here he more the shy one & Dilileba is the flirty one..

OK. Just like every drama this drama also have good & bad point. Let's talk about them. Oh BTW the bad point gonna write some big spoiler, so if you don't want to read just skip it then. But as usual I gonna write the safe review first.

The good part:
+ The chemistry between Gong Jun & Dilireba, I really like it. The flirty Dilireba match with shy Gong Jun is so good....
+ Good story that don't really bored you. Haha... There's always something happen when you think it's peaceful time already.
+ An Le & Han Ye really meant to be together. Hihi...

The not so good part:
- Everything just too pretty in the end. I don't know how to describe it, not that I don't like it too actually. Just too pretty...
- The stupid Luo Ming Xi (MX). Oh how poor of him. But that's the tragedy he bring himself.

Overall this quite good story to watch







The Spoiler part:
- I think the ending kinda rush in a way. There're 2 point in this actually:
* How easy to capture Leng Bei (LB). Oh how in the end he kinda just give up & surrender to An Le & MX. Not even try to resist & fight till the end kinda thing. That in my opinion more fit with the character of LB himself.
* How unimportant the death of MX. I know he died cause of his long time illness & something predictable. But after the weeping death of MX by An Le earlier, I kinda want to see something special about his actual dead Like at least give him proper burial or mourning scene...
- I don't know to put this into bad or good. They're just too clever. Haha... Like how to help An Le escape & how to rescue Wen Shuo. When both MX & Han Ye just still teenage boy himself is something extraordinary I think

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