Reviews

It's not too bad of a show and I can now understand why it was so popular. I mean Guo Jingming is a good director and he does a good job of making everyone look beautiful but honestly I feel like most of his dramas he directs are like super dark. Not like emo and gothic but it has lots of dark colors and shadows.

The costumes were pretty good, everyone looked great. The acting was good, I mean Ju Jingyi isn't much of an actor so I wasn't expecting much from her but everyone else did good.

The story was like mid. The beginning got me caught up and it felt good but it started to get out of hand and kinda went no where. I kept getting lost.

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The Road Was Worth Every Detour

Sometimes the road to success begins with a detour. Returning to her hometown, Ph.D. student Lin Wan Xing unexpectedly takes a job as a high school sports equipment custodian, only to find herself rebuilding a forgotten football team alongside her mysterious tenant, Wang Fa, a former youth football coach from the UK. What starts as an uphill battle gradually becomes a story about resilience, healing, and finding purpose again. It reminds me of the Japanese saying nana korobi ya oki, fall seven times, stand up eight. Road to Success carries that spirit from beginning to end, showing that true victory is not measured by the final score, but by the courage to keep moving forward.

One thing I appreciated from the very beginning is that this drama knows exactly what kind of story it wants to tell. It is not a heavy character study that lets every emotional conflict simmer for several episodes, nor does it aim to dissect every issue down to its deepest layers. Instead, it chooses to tell many stories, giving almost every character their own moment to shine before naturally moving on to the next. Surprisingly, I never found this disappointing because the pacing is handled remarkably well. The narrative always feels clear with a proper beginning, middle, and end for each arc. It knows when to slow down and let emotional moments breathe, and when to pick up the pace without making the story feel rushed. As a comfort drama, it never overwhelms me with exhausting conflicts, yet it still made me genuinely invested. There were even several moments that caught me off guard emotionally and left me tearing up. I found myself sincerely rooting for these characters every step of the way.

Lin Wan Xing is easily one of my favorite parts of the drama. She feels like a ray of sunlight peeking through a crack in a closed window. Burdened by painful memories and lingering regrets, she returns home intending to live quietly, following her grandfather's wishes to simply exist without carrying the weight of ambition anymore. She plans to do only what her job requires, perhaps even less. Yet kindness has a funny way of refusing to stay hidden. Despite her reluctance, she slowly builds genuine connections with the football team and begins helping them understand not only the game, but also themselves. I especially loved how the drama incorporated her psychology background into her interactions with the students. Many of the methods she introduced felt surprisingly practical, and I even found myself wanting to apply some of them in real life.

Yu Shu Xin did a wonderful job portraying Wan Xing. I know her naturally cute mannerisms tend to divide audiences, but personally, I don’t find it distracting. In fact, I think it fits Wan Xing's personality perfectly. Her warmth, optimism, and occasional adorableness are exactly the qualities that slowly pull Wang Fa out of his shell. If I had one criticism, it would probably be her wardrobe. Her outfits are undeniably beautiful, but I occasionally wondered whether they were appropriate for someone working at a school. Maybe school regulations in China are different, but from my perspective, some outfits felt more suited for a fashion shoot than faculty attire. I also think that she sometimes appear distant or too indifferent with the team but I’m not familiar with teacher student relationship enough for me to judge.

Wang Fa, also known as Winfred Wang, initially comes across as the classic emotionally distant man carrying unresolved regrets. As he spends more time with Wan Xing and the football team, he gradually smiles more, opens up, and rediscovers his passion for coaching and life itself. As a romantic lead, I absolutely adored him. The progression from suspicion to admiration and eventually love feels believable because the drama takes time showing him quietly observing Wan Xing's kindness, intelligence, positivity, and unwavering care for others.

As a legendary football coach, however, I have mixed feelings. The story tells us how capable and famous he is, and there are certainly moments where his expertise shines through, but they never left a lasting impression on me. More often than not, he quietly stands on the sidelines until Wan Xing encourages him to step in or acts whenever he sees her in distress. Ironically, Wen Cheng Ye sometimes came across as the better strategist and coach. Chen Jing Ke was also somewhat hit or miss for me performance wise. Sometimes his expressions felt too restrained, almost as if he was trying a little too hard to look cool, while other scenes landed perfectly. Objectivity aside though, the man is ridiculously handsome. Every time he appeared on screen, I found myself reaching for the screenshot button more often than I probably should have.

Before watching, I had heard people describe this as a "she fell first, he fell harder" romance, so that was what I expected going in. To my surprise, it is almost the complete opposite. Wan Xing is emotionally guarded because of her past and far too occupied with her football team to spend much time thinking about romance. Wang Fa, meanwhile, slowly finds hope again through her presence. Since he spends so much time quietly observing her, it makes perfect sense that his thoughts gradually become filled with her while hers remain focused almost entirely on her students. Watching him shamelessly pursue her while she stays wonderfully oblivious was incredibly entertaining. Their relationship grows naturally, and when Wan Xing finally reveals every painful part of herself, expecting rejection, Wang Fa simply tells her that she is wonderful exactly as she is. It is one of the sweetest moments in the entire drama. And of course, because this is still a romance drama, we also get the classic rich guy fantasy of renting an entire theme park just to confess without expecting anything in return. Their relationship is gentle, healthy, and undeniably adorable.

As much as I loved Wang Fa himself, I think the real treasure is actually the Wang family. They might honestly be one of my favorite families in any Chinese drama. Papa Wang is hilarious with his cheerful rich dad energy, but beneath that playful personality is someone incredibly capable who resolves Wan Xing's family issues with surprising efficiency. Mama Wang only appears briefly, yet immediately leaves a strong impression as a brilliant, charismatic professor. Wang Fa's sister is equally impressive as a confident businesswoman helping manage the family company. What makes this family so refreshing is that despite their wealth and influence, they never look down on others. They warmly accept both Wan Xing and Yu Bo without hesitation. By the end, I almost felt like Wang Fa was simply the bonus package that came with this wonderful family.

Although the romance is charming, the Hongjing football team is undeniably the true heart of the story. The students quickly became the emotional anchor that kept me invested until the very end. I love that I could remember all eleven team members by face, even though not every player received an equally developed storyline. Wen Cheng Ye and Fu Xin Shu understandably receive the deepest arcs, while Qin Ao, Lin Lu, and Chen Jiang He each get memorable moments of their own. Even those with smaller roles still felt like part of one family rather than forgettable background characters. I have such a soft spot for these kids. They simply want to play football together, yet constantly face rejection because the school has little faith in them. Watching them slowly earn trust through perseverance made every small victory feel rewarding. I also appreciate that the drama never sells unrealistic positivity. Success is earned through failures, disappointments, and repeated setbacks, making every achievement feel much more meaningful. The young actors deserve plenty of praise because they brought so much sincerity and energy to their performances.

Visually, the drama is also quite pleasing. Beyond the crisp cinematography, I like how the lighting and framing subtly enhance the emotions of each scene. It is not flawless, of course. There are a few moments where certain camera angles are clearly chosen more for convenience than realism, especially during some of Wang Fa's football demonstrations. The early episodes also contain slightly choppy editing that occasionally left me wondering how one scene suddenly transitioned into the next. Thankfully, these issues become much less noticeable as the series progresses. The soundtrack is another highlight. Every song feels perfectly chosen for the drama's atmosphere, and several tracks happily continued living rent free in my head long after I finished watching.

The ending stays true to the overall tone of the series. It neither aims for an explosive climax nor settles for an anticlimactic finish. Instead, it provides enough closure for most of the major characters while leaving some details to the imagination. I do wish we had learned what became of each football team member, even if it had only been through a brief narration or text epilogue. Ju Li's conclusion also felt rather random, as if becoming a band's vocalist suddenly appeared out of nowhere. To be honest, I never fully understood her purpose in the story beyond acting as a harmless romantic distraction or teasing a possible female crush on Wan Xing. I also would have loved seeing more of the supporting cast during the final episode. Still, while the ending is not particularly memorable, it remains satisfying enough and fits the drama's comforting nature.

Overall, Road to Success became exactly the kind of drama I hoped it would be. It is warm without becoming shallow, emotional without becoming exhausting, and optimistic without pretending that life is easy. It reminds us that success is rarely a straight road. Sometimes it comes after taking the long way around, stumbling countless times, and finding people willing to walk beside us until we are ready to stand again. It may not be the deepest sports drama or the most unforgettable romance, but it has a sincerity that quietly works its way into your heart. Long after the final whistle blows, I found myself missing these characters, this team, and the comfort they brought me. That alone feels like a victory worth celebrating.

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Road to success starts with YOU.

From the start of the series I found myself already captivated and curious about this show and how it would progress. I have to say that the star of the show beyond Esther Yu or Chen Jing Ke would have to be the young actors who were all part of the soccer team.

Normally I am one of those people who prefer to watch shows for the romance, however the romance in this show was subtle and mature which I found quite appropriate! The young actors who played the students/soccer players have very promising futures in the industry, I was very moved by their acting and at how they portrayed athletes who were doubted, looked down on and abandoned by everyone until Lin Wanxing and Wang Fa came along. Together Ms. Lin and Coach Wang Fa gave them hope and more reasons to continue playing! Giving this team another chance to not only prove to the community who doubt them but to each other that they are worth it!

I always give credit when credit is due, so this is for Esther.

Once again, Esther always brings out the best in her character. From the moments of vulnerability and tears, to the cheekiness and witty behavior around the characters, she brings Lin Wanxing to life. I enjoyed watching Ms. Lin's journey, she is brave, kind, compassionate, and a true motivator! She is someone who is relatable and that's what I love about this character portrayed by Esther. I felt the emotions she felt, and I cried when cried, but when it was time to celebrate, and rejoice for victories, I was cheering her on. From showing up in the first episode with so much uncertainty to the end, I was happy to have followed along her journey, well done Ms. Lin!

Now onto, Coach Wang Fa who is played by the actor Chen Jing Ke, this is my very first show with him in it. He played the serious but gentle ML perfectly. Curious but yet so cautious, even though he kept a mystery around him, you can tell Chen Jing Ke also brought his character to life as Wang Fa. His eyes truly did the heavy lifting because this man can yearn. The way he would look at Lin Wanxing said so much more than his mouth did, yet he could only support and be by her side throughout the show -- I won't say much more cause you have to watch and it's worth it in the end lol.

I'll wrap this up and just say that it is worth a watch if you want something light, charming, but also touches on some heavy subjects but wraps them up neatly.

As my title says, the road to success starts with you, through the adversity that each character went through -- they never backed down even when they were at their lowest. So don't give up, keep on going!

Thank you to the cast and production team for this, I enjoyed chasing this drama every morning as my routine and will miss this show.

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As an investigative forensic drama, *Loved One* isn't breaking new ground. We've seen plenty of stories where the dead leave behind clues for the living to piece together. What makes this one stand out is that it is less interested in solving crimes than in understanding people. Every case asks not just *how* someone died, but what traces they left behind in the lives of those who loved them.

The emotional weight of the episodes is what kept me invested. Some stories hit harder than others, but nearly every episode managed to tug at the heartstrings. A lot of that comes down to Dean Fujioka as Mizusawa. His performance is understated and sincere, and his quiet determination gives the series its emotional anchor. He doesn't need dramatic speeches or over-the-top reactions—his earnestness speaks for itself.

One thing I continue to admire about Japanese dramas is their ability to tell a complete story in 10 to 12 episodes. Korean and especially Chinese dramas often take more episodes to get to the same destination, with plenty of detours along the way. *Loved One* makes good use of its runtime. The episodic stories are satisfying, and the pacing rarely feels like it's spinning its wheels.

Ironically, the weakest part of the drama is the overarching mystery. After all the careful buildup, the final resolution felt a little underwhelming. I don't think it was because the production ran out of time—the ending didn't feel rushed. It almost felt as though the writers simply reached the point where they said, "Well...I guess we should wrap this up now." It isn't a bad ending, just one that lacks the emotional payoff the rest of the series consistently delivers.

The soundtrack deserves a mention as well. Instead of trying to escalate emotions with sweeping ballads, the series relies mostly on instrumental pieces that quietly complement the reflective tone. Sometimes silence, or nearly silence, says more than lyrics ever could.

Unfortunately, the acting outside of Dean Fujioka is a mixed bag. The female lead never leaves much of an impression, and I found the policewoman to be the far more engaging character whenever they shared the screen. She brought an energy and presence that the female lead never quite matched.

I also suspect this is a drama that benefits from binge-watching. Waiting a week or more between episodes made it easier to lose momentum, especially since many of the stories are slow, contemplative, and emotionally heavy. Watching them closer together allows the themes to resonate more naturally.

Finally, I'm simply grateful that Netflix picked it up. Japanese dramas can still be surprisingly difficult to find with good English subtitles, so it's always nice when one becomes easily accessible.

Overall, I enjoyed this drama for its thoughtfulness and compassion. It focuses less on death itself and more on the lives that continue after someone is gone. It may not deliver the most memorable mystery, but I did find the time watching it worthwhile.

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So impactful!

As a former Christian, I started watching this series with a lot of trepidation and curiosity. I was keen to see how the Ticket to Heaven team would tackle the age-old issue of queer love and God, yet I really didn’t know if I wanted to be reminded of the many traumatic moments I faced as a queer teen in church.

Long story short, by the end of the show I was in tears. The scene that got to me the most was Tanrak and Father Arnon’s confessional scene in ep6 - how I wish more of us had a father figure who could and would tell us it was okay. That it wasn’t simply going to be a choice between faith and love. That God would love us regardless. It sounds simple right? But I’ve not had a single church figure tell me this before.

This single scene healed a small part of my heart that I didn’t know was hurting until this series. And for that I’m forever thankful to P’Aof and his team.

The other aspects of the series which I really loved were the cinematography (excellent, especially in the church scenes), as well as the acting from the cast, especially the main leads. I could feel every emotion from their eyes. Well done.

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The Second Half Lost Me

Firstly, the first half of this drama was much stronger than the second. I hate it when the ML and FL lose what makes them unique in favor of cliché romantic moments. If you've watched this drama, you'll probably know exactly what I'm talking about. Despite my issues with the second half, I can't really criticize the writing as a whole.
My biggest problem is the noticeable gap in acting ability between Byeon Woo Seok and IU. In such a stacked cast, he ends up being outacted by almost everyone around him.
Regardless of that, I'd recommend this drama to anyone who years for classic class-gap romance clichés in kdramas.

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I do not understand how you can rate this higher than 4

I am quite surprised to see so many high ratings, and I wonder if we all watched the same movie.
This was beyond mediocre, and the only interesting part of this movie was the last 20 minutes, but you can not save the movie with a 20-minute action sequence.

The story lacks build-up, background, and all of the things that were happening were so chaotic and failed to set that nice background pre-disaster.
Characters felt messy and were following their own script, and that feeling of "grab" most disaster movies have was completely absent. It did not grab the viewer's attention and felt chaotic trying to follow it all.
I also did not like how the movie was dragging for most of the time, and that feeling of "survival" kicked in only in the last 20 minutes.
This felt poorly written and mediocre.

Maybe someone will like it, but for me this was not good.

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MORE THAN JUST A BL DRAMA

I absolutely love this drama. The acting is so fucking incredible, and I was completely amazed by how much care and effort went into making this drama, especially with all the small details that stay true to the novel. You can really see how much thought was put into every part of the story, and I truly appreciate that.
The thing that touched me the most is the emotional connection I have with the main character. I really feel such a strong bond with him, and I already know it will be really hard to say goodbye when the drama ends. I laughed, I felt sad, and I truly cared about what happened to him.
I just know that this drama will stay in my heart for a very long time.

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I reallyhave to say that the acting is so so good. Non of them made me weird or cringe. And the story is good , actually its a novel based but without a proper direction this can't be this good. I actually felt emotional with sun during his emotional moments. In the 8th episode when he act for the suicide scene its actually felt real like the smile at end before jump its soo good. And the tension and chemistry between jay and sun is perfect. Its a perfect mix of revenge and romance non exceed another. Most of bl concentrate on romance but this has the right amount of everything. Good work guys.... this may be my second favorite after kinnporch if i have to say.
Anyway i hope for a perfect ending of this series....

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Worth Watching!!!

I had downloaded the OST Sole Love by Liu Yu Ning a while ago but never started on the drama because of some of the negative comments. But let me tell you when I finally watched it, it was amazing!

First of all, some say the powers were too comic like but honestly I love thinking of this show like a superhero in Wuxia world. That's honestly an amazing cross over and helps differentiate it from the rest of the shows. A lot of the Wuxia shows are now literally all about revenge so it's very refreshing to see a kind of different plot.

Best things I love about this show:

- Hidden Identity (HI)- I don't normally count amnesia as HI since other shows have it that everyone knows who the lead is but the lead themselves don't know which is weird. But this one was a kin to HI. There was HI when he was kind of hiding the man in black identity so reveals for that was good. Then there's HI for when his prince identity actually comes to light (to basically all at the same time). So love the many reveals and I live off of that.
- Superhero powers- only ML has this so it's actually quite different than other Wuxia shows where everyone and everywhere pops out a grand master.
- OST amazing, not only the Sole Love song which was played sparingly but epically so you know an epic take over fight was going to go down. But the other songs were great too.
- The leads acted well, both of them. Looks wise not the highest on my books but they have their charms. (I like Cheng Lei better as a Villian or Anti Hero). The side characters Su Mu Yang (prince) and Mo Ying (Wuling) were so hot/cute. I've seen Bi Wen Jun act in A Class of Her Own but he was just meh looking there. Literally trying to compare and see why he's so much hotter here- great job on the hair and styling.
- Side character plots were nice for the most part, ups and downs.
- I'll just sound like a girly girl here but I loved the superhero cross over with vampires as well with all the blood sucking. Also never seen this before in a full length historical C drama.
- Speaking of, drama was pretty hot on the hot scale. Kiss in the first scene and many dispersed. Sweet kisses, rough kisses, very long kisses, in bed kisses. All the variations.
- I also like when one lead stays consistent in suffering more. Which was clearly the FL here. So I can sympathize the whole way with her.

Some things that make me downgrade to 9 from 9.5 (I don't normally ever do 10)

- This is not a scheming show. But even then, it felt like the choices that the characters did were a bit not thought out and sudden.
Some examples- Qing Er taking her own life when being held hostage- with her fighting skills so can probably get out of that hold- don't think they broke her tendons yet.
And then the whole FL and ML in You state parting when she didn't need to go. Why didn't the ML make it clearer that he remembered all the times that they were together?
Then when FL went back to the country, and the ministers were calling for her death??? That was so weird, one esteemed General did one mistake and instead of just punishing them or banishing them etc, you need them to die? They have no other lead generals. And also generally the ministers can be influenced to say certain things when they're your ally. I guess that means that the new Emperor really has no one in his camp and that they're all impartial ministers now or even trying to be against him? But at least the twist ending helped make up.

But overall, amazing show!!! Worth the watch if you like vampiric superhero Wuxia with hidden identity!

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