Reviews

Nice Romance Drama that Shines

This series hit all the points of tragedy, jealousy, business dealings and broken connections. The chemistry between the leads was heartwarming and swoon worthy. The emotional depth of the ML was very well done. FL did very well in conveying the arc of lost, betrayal and hope. OST song by Shi Shi, "Loving You Is" totally captures the essence of the series. . 2 hospital scenes close to the end was a bit cliché and wasn't needed to that extent.
Episode 24 gave all the key dialogs from the mothers and ML for a solid ending to occur. However, the ending was curious and a little open-ended which left you thinking .... Okay??? Anything else? Yet, overall production was solid. This is a solid watch.

Read More

This is an excellent drama. It was action packed, but also had its slower moments so the audience has time to catch it's breath. The rush to tie up the storyline in the final episode was it's only drawback, in my opinion. Other than that, the story was thorough, well scripted, and well acted.

I love that neither mains are weak characters. (For instance, the strong ML isn't always having to rescue the weak FL.) Both are strong, physically and mentally, fighting against the bad guys WITH each other instead of one always fighting to save the other. When one goes out alone, the other pities their opponents. Yes, they do protect each other, but they also trust in each other's skills. [The takedown of the pastor is the best physical (wrestling? martial arts?) move I have ever seen....I rewatched that, like, 8ish times!]

I also love that the drama didn't depend on tropes in order to portray the mains falling for each other. There was no awkwardness, only a clear and obvious friendship that allowed itself to deepen naturally as time passed. (Granted, the ML developed feelings 10 years earlier, but his one-sided love was willing to wait for her.)

I was surprised that they never called the infection zombie-like. There was never one mention of zombies. But the infected people's actions and appearance was clearly within the zombie universe. I'm personally fine with that, as I like zombie stories, even though I am not the biggest fan of gore. Ya can't have one without the other though.

Read More

Perfect. Simply perfect.

I am speechless. I never expected a show to hit me that hard. I was laughing, crying, worrying... What a perfect piece of art.

The cinematography, the scenery, acting, and the incredible music... It just fits together. The team who worked on this series knew what they were doing. They knew when to play music, and when to let the scene and visuals speak for themselves.

The acting and connection is nothing short of amazing. I sensed the pain, the happiness in the actor's eyes. Such a beautiful story. I don't think there can ever be another "Eighth Sense". It was a one of a kind masterpiece that I will never forget.

What a wonderful story about love, loneliness, trauma and forgiveness. I have nothing but kind words to all the people who worked on this. Thank you so much.

Read More

Very funny and cute romance

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2022 Chinese romantic fantasy drama with 24, 35-47 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

Nan Xing (Shen Yue) has talents at all ends of the spectrum and as a former athlete she has gained somewhat super heroin status in her ability to aid the police in stopping criminals. Another of her interests is writing fan pieces and other online literary posts so when one of her characters is criticized as lacking depth and not being villainous enough, she rewrites his character to be super bad. Little does she know that action will come back to haunt her. Because she has such a strong and unique character she scares off potential suitors who trend to the fragile femme fatale. Frustrated with her fails in the romance department she makes a spontaneous wish for unforgettable love in front of Fairy Zhen's water fountain. At first she does not realize that the appearance of the villain from her web novel, Xiao Wudi (Chen Zhe Yuan) is connected to her wish for love. Having a character come to life is startling enough and why would she think a villain is her heart’s desire? Xiao Wudi is not pleased to be summoned from his past world and by none other than Nan Xing, a woman he does not find suitable as a romantic partner. Threatening to expose his presence to her mother, Xiao Wudi gets Nan Xing to allow him to stay in her spare apartment next door. He is able to gain some wealth and independence in this new to him world by selling jewelry he was wearing. He also learns all about this time 500 years in his future by using his photographic memory to absorb reference materials. He plans to carve out his own life in this new realm until he discovers Nan Xing can summon him, from wherever he is, when she needs boyfriend like services. Since he was pulled from his world to satisfy Nan Xing's wish for an unforgettable love, Xiao Wudi determines if he plays fairy godfather/cupid and finds an unforgettable love for Nan Xing, he can return to his world. After all nothing in the wish fulfillment dictates that unforgettable love must be him. However the mire time Xiao Wudi spends around Nan Xing transforming her into an ideal romantic partner, the less villainous he feels toward her. He was after all summoned by magic as her unforgettable love and fate might have known its business.

Review

If you like heart warming romance that is not overly complicated and ends happy then I highly recommend this one. I laughed so often at Zhe Yuan’s antics. I thought the main couple were believable as I could see two people such as them fall for each other. The story was well paced and there was resoltion to all major plot points and a very happy, well developed, ending.

Spoilers

It was a little odd that Nan Xing makes a wish, this character from her story appears, and then that is not even a big part of the story. She seemed incredibly underwhelmed that this strange miracle just happened. Some people thought, in the end, when she was reading parts of her novel to her fans, that the whole thing had been a dream and never happened. She did say some things like that about time travel and all but I just took that as the “cover story” so no one would examine her relationship further. He did have her childhood love’s identity but the mother never acted like he was her actual son.

Xiao Wudi did not show any obvious magical ability in the beginning. She could summon him but that magic seemed external to him. He used what seemed like concrete physical abilities for most of the series. So I thought it was odd when he was suddenly able to fly around like when he wanted to prove the story to the mother. He was not a God or any other supernatural so they did not integrate nor explain that ability well.

I thought it was strange that he was not her made up character after all. They never explained how this character made up by two people independently would have the same name and so many similar characteristics. They were calling him a hero when he went back to the past but there was no details on what made him heroic.

The love she had for her childhood sweetheart was not at all compelling as, up until the fire, he was fairly cruel to her. It felt very much like “he pulls your pig tails because he likes you.” So I never found that unrequited love that was actually requited angle very engaging. To me it felt like he was meant to be the reincarnated son, but for some reason they never went that route, but they had everything set up for that to be the case. Instead, he just had some of his memories for some reason we never really fully got to understand.

When he was desperate to find her the unforgettable love and set her up with all the potential Mr. Rights he dressed her so over the top then set her up with the most ridiculous possibles but then acted confused when she was mad at him about it. He did not dress her well as an actual potential marriage partner but perhaps as an escort. It was unfortunate there was no friend or other outside character to point out to him that he had foiled his own attempt, perhaps deliberately, as he was already starting to like her.

The lead male character‘s animosity towards Nan Xing’s boss, never made a lot of sense, because he was never set up to be a romantic rival as he never showed any interest in her that way. It was like they were Frenemies for no real reason. I determined he acted that way towards him simply because he didn’t like anybody else having her attention but that was never made clear that that was his motivation.

I honestly was just never very interested in the second couple. They were sort of late in telling us their backstory, which helped in understanding why he was so into her. Without knowing their backstory, and the fact that they had a romantic thing going until she made the agreement with his dad, it made no sense why he was doggedly pursuing her, as there was no clear basis for his feelings. They were such opposites that understanding their tie was important to getting their romance.

It was weird that they made the female President of the company out to be a tragic character like she sacrificed so much taking on that role was a little hard to swallow. Being that high up in any company in any country in the world is a hard roll to get and a lot of people would dream to have that job even if it didn’t pay a lot. She did not seem picked on holding such a rare position, that she excelled at, if not for the wealth then just for the status and prestige that came with it. The fact that the company was successful indicated there must’ve been some cash flowing in or they wouldn’t have continued, she had to of been making some money. Ifshe really did not want to work in that job she had built her resume enough to work elsewhere. President Ye striking out on her own and working with her family in the restaurant was weird because it did not seem preferable to being some high-powered president of a company. Then she comes back but only as his assistant. I cannot see anybody being happy dropping rank and influence. I mean if you hate it that much, get an a vice president that can take on some of the responsibility when you’re gone. That also made their relationship a bit awkward because it made it like she sacrificed the whole time when it felt like she really only sacrificed in the beginning.

The wedding night to me was cringy. Their awkward physical advances was unnecessary. That is usually left to the imagination and I am fine with that. The may I this can I that made it weird. And seeing the kids and so forth felt like a little too much of their after the happily ever after.

Having the other office couple catch the boquet and confess at their wedding was not good timing for a third romance.

#MrBad .
#ChenZheYuan
#ShenYue

Read More

Life is not just for Love...

I decided to tune in to this drama thanks to Yang Zi and Tan Jianci. But in the end, I found another gem on C-Drama land.

I love Yang Zi from Ashes of Love and The Destiny of White Snake. Her Xianxia drama never disappointed me, so I watched it. Another reason that I finally made up my mind to finish this drama even though season two has not been announced yet is because of Tan Jianci.

I know Tan Jianci because Winner is King, I watched this drama because I want to get to know him more.

This is the first time I watched his acting. I know her work as a singer, idol, and also at a variety show. Surprisingly I found another hidden gem actor.


Story,
With no expectations, I started watching it because of those two actors above. Then I realized this is my favorite kind of story. As a sad-torture-beautiful-story enjoyer, This drama made me suffer in a positive way.

My brain enjoyed any hidden meaning and details that they put in the story. For the production team, thank you for your hard work to produce such a masterpiece.

I love how the story made my heart crumble and cured and broken and happy and then broke down again. They successfully made me cry like a baby in one minute but then laughed out loud the next moment.


Acting,
Yang Zi is undoubtedly legendary. In AOL The character that she played was portrayed well in every drama. But in this drama, I feel that perfect is not enough to describe her effort to bring Xiao Yao and Wen Xiaoliu to life.

And Tan Jianci, OMG I'M IN SHOCK. How come I never knew that there was an actor who has detailed micro-expressions that can hypnotize so much audience? He is truly amazing as a nine-head demon cold general Xiang Liu and flirty-warm-sweet playboy Fangfeng Bei.
I can't really say anything about his acting skills. But I can possibly say that Tan Jianci is one of my top list favorite Chinese actors.
Besides that, I have a soft spot for a white-haired man.

The other that caught my attention is Cang Xuan's Zhang Wanyi. I feel like He is born to Cang Xuan's Character. When I looked at him I just wanted to bow and give my best greeting as a commoner. He really nailed it!

Deng Wei does a great job too. He shows us dedication as an actor. Even though I didn't really like Tushan Jing's Character, Deng Wei really knew how to portray this nine-tailed fox perfectly.
I knew him from TTEOTM and he is amazing there. And he doesn't disappoint me in this too.

Wang Hongyi and Dai Luwa did a great job too. But for the minor character for me is just okay.


Music,
Each character's theme song is really beautiful. All of them are really matched for the character and the story. I want to bow and give respect to the music department for this masterpiece. As YaoLiu team, I can't get enough of Favor Mortal Fireworks (Yang Zi & Tan Jianci), Long Lovesickness (Yisa Yu), and (The Waiting That Can't Be Waited For (Tan Jianci). They sit on my everyday playlist now. These three songs never failed to make me can't move on from Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu.

In the end, this is the most beautiful yet tragic story that sits on my top one favorite Drama. This is not just an ordinary god-demon or evil-good story.
There is something in it that made it touch our hearts when we decided to watch it. I can say watching it is just like diving into the sea. There are so many beautiful things that we can enjoy.

I definitely rewatched it till they announced season two of the drama.
And one thing, I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF XIANG LIU AND FANGFENG BEI.
Thank you.

Read More

The great mother vs. one-note villains

A story about the effort and sacrifices of Queen Im Hwa Ryeong to protect her royal family in the middle of palace intrigues

So, first of all, the good: I’m really happy to see a sageuk representing a strong female lead in the Joseon Dynasty. The acting is phenomenal. Kim Hye-soo portrays the Queen as a warm-hearted mother yet a strong woman who can stand up for herself and her loved ones well.

The story is so good up until episode 7. This drama is really compelling, and I’m already attached to the characters. Hwa Ryeong really takes action to protect her sons. She storms through the palace at a breakneck pace. The palace intrigue develops as fast-paced as her footsteps and I’m on the edge of my seat! I love how it highlights the claustrophobia of the royal court.

Afterward, I was severely disappointed with the very monotonous conflict resolution: all about survival in a cutthroat court. Although it makes an interesting premise, the plot is not satisfyingly executed. There's really not much to tell than the usual jealousy between Hwa Ryeong and the villain characters, it wasn't an equal match. They do not give threats to our heroes. Another thing, I don't understand what message they want to tell regarding the story of the prince who seems to be a transgender.

If you're not a fan of sageuk, this drama might catch your interest. For me, the conflict resolution is a bit lackluster, but the pacing is great. The side characters have their own unique stories. The political intrigue wasn't complicated; the writer does well showing what's going on.

Read More

sweet and nice

love the plot ,direction ,story as well acting.
a beautiful short story , two person loved each other but due to an accident they separated and then they met each other . But when they met ,it had been already six years passed . He hated her because she left him . But when he saw her after a long year gap he melt and want to start over with her though she had a boy ,he never mind of it . May be because of his love towards her . Then he slowly slowly came to know about the reason of their separation and then she ready to patch up with him . I want to see something more with the ending part . i want to see their marriage also .
There is nothing new in the story but still i liked it.

Read More

A steady downward spiral

It had a strong first episode that made the drama seems promising and interesting but turns out that the first episode was its peak and the subsequent episodes were heading in a steady downward spiral to never recover after that. The story was barely functional for a full length 16-episodes drama. The writer should be embarrassed to label this as a comedy but that wasn't even the worst part that goes for the romance. The drama would have been slightly better if they were to cut out the romance without changing anything. Not only our leads were lacking in chemistry but the romantic moments were tasteless.

Read More

Simple, Healing, & Short Drama (Worth the Watch)

This drama follows a short and simple storyline. You meet 3 best friends with one of them as the female lead. These best friends drift apart as they grow older because of many circumstances with one of the reasons to be death. The female lead mourns and heals throughout the 6-episode drama as she finds work, comfort, and family in her new workplace called Finland Papa where there are rules such as eating dinner together as if the employees were one family.

This is one of those dramas which should have added 1 or 2 more episodes for its ending. The pacing is good for me since it does not need more scenes to it and if they did add in more, it would have been boring. Personally, I would have either added one more episode or allotted more scenes and time for the reconciliation part. It made the ending unsatisfactory for me, the way it happened so fast. there should have been more "drama" , crying, and interaction.

Regardless of the feedback I gave, I still think this drama is WORTH THE WATCH, especially on a rainy day, on a weekend, anytime where you feel like you may need to rest and binge. It's sad but it calmed me and the conversation between characters makes you whisper to yourself, "I agree." or "Right?" where it could also heal you as well.

Read More

Refreshing story

Story was really good and acting of actors were awesome so cute love story without any too much complications I finished this series within a day I enjoyed it from starting till end of the episode but I felt we didn’t get much intimate scenes but I’m not saying chemistry is lacking it’s good between lead actors but I expected in Japanese dramas will be having great intimate scenes unfortunately there wasn’t much not even in last episode but still I was happy by the story and chemistry between leads all the best to the team hope to see them again in new series casting together

Read More

I liked it, but...

I don't care for bullying, corruption, violence, and gore. If you like all those things, definitely give this show a watch, because it is extremely well-written. It's fast-paced (a little draggy toward the end), and pretty interesting throughout. There's a lot going on at all times, and I think you'll have a hard time deciding who is worse, humans or demons. This drama really highlighted man's capacity for evil. Personally, I think there was too much evil coming from too many places. It might have been better if there had been one Big Bad, as opposed to multiple bad guys.For the aforementioned reasons, my rating is lower than I'm sure most people think it should be.

However, can we just talk about the cast? I'm a sucker for found family, and this drama really did a good job of demonstrating that. The Counters are people that, in normal circumstances, might never even travel in the same circles, let alone be friends. Once they got together, they truly were a family, bickering and all. The bickering was so great, because that's what real family does, "I can badmouth you because we're related, but no one else better say anything bad about you!" There were numerous emotional scenes that really worked - they made you feel their pain, but they also brought something that made you root for them.

Cho Byeong Kyu as So Moon - he's the newest Counter. He did amazing things with this role. His grief, his anger, his disability, and portraying teenage hormones all worked together to make him so interesting. He's a beautiful crier. Trying to learn his powers, then trying to control them, often skirting around what Counters are allowed to do. I loved his relationship with his grandparents, as well as his school friendships. The transfer of power from them taking care of him, to him watching out for them was really good. Also, I liked that, for the most part, he and Ha Na had a sibling relationship, and the writers didn't try to force a romance.

Yoo Joon Sang as Mo Tak. He's the strongest Counter. His character seemed to be the most fleshed out, since a lot of the show was about corruption, and he had been a cop. The romance aspect was a waste and completely unnecessary. He becomes the father-figure of the group of Counters, and he had some amusing scenes.

Kim Se Jeong as Ha Na. Angry Counter (that's what I called her). She had a chip on her shoulder a mile wide. She doesn't like to be touched, she doesn't attach to people and she's got that "keep away" vibe going on. First, this role was completely different than her role in Business Proposal (of course!), and if I didn't recognize her voice, I might not have known it was her. This was a character that, if not played well, you would totally hate her. She made it work, and I enjoyed watching her coming to terms with letting others into her life.

Yeom Hye Ram as Mae Ok. I hated her so much in Goblin and loved her so much here. She was the mom of the Counters, looking out for the others. She formed such a strong bond with So Moon, and when she had to heal him of his wounds, that just wrecked me. I loved her character.

There were some beautiful songs in the OST. As for re-watch - no. I'm not even sure I'll watch The Uncanny Counter 2. Just a little too much darkness for me.

Read More

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR COMEDY-ROMANCE, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU >>>

I barely write a review here in mydramalist, but I wanna put one for this drama, because it's just so good.

The main plot is for sure depressing (and I did cry a lot everytime Dali cries because of her father), but the comedy and romance were really done good. It was not over the top nor lacking, it was just the right amount and more.

I get it why some people are so heated because the ending of the villains were not thorough enough. It's not the typical ending of the villains were they end up in jail or they end up crazy, which for sure is kind of annoying, because I want to see them villains rot in hell too.

Nonetheless, I appreciate everything. I loved watching every second of it. The character development of the protagonists were soooo goood. Muhak and Dali would go down as two of my fave characters. Muhak knows what's right and he stands up for it, and while Dali might look weak and 'too nice', no one in the drama succeeded in gaslighting her. She is really bright and someone to root for as an FL.

Comedy + romance + heartwarming family drama + food!!! what could I ask for more? A solid 10 for me despite its shortcomings. <3

Read More

A bit of a let-down

I generally like to go into shows completely blind, so you can imagine my surprise when the story barely even advanced. Ping really sold the show for me, so he was the only reason I watched all of it.

what bothers me the most about this series is how uninteresting most of the cast is. Bua was also questionable for me, as she was portrayed as being someone plotting something… or I could’ve just had the wrong idea about her… who knows. I’m not that interested in knowing.

what I did truly love was how good both guitar and ping sing, they compliment each other so well musically.

other than this random praiseable moments, Low Frequency is only a casual watch. I was hoping for so much more, it’s a shame these series with high potential aren’t being written out thoroughly.

Read More

If you want a life lesson shoved down your throat in every episode..

Lets start with the good.

- The scenery is gorgeous. I’m about to book my next trip to Yunnan.

- Liu Yi Fei is stunning. The whole show is basically of her walking around with her beautiful hair and amazing outfits.

- The grandma. Girlfriend stole the scene every single time.

- The food looks delicious. I was constantly craving Chinese food when I watched it.

- Slow burn romance. It was sweet.

Now for the not so good.

- I know this is a slice of life healing drama but the show overdid it. Every time there’s a conversation, someone always have something insightful to say (as emotional music plays in the background). Life lessons were constantly being spoon fed to viewers. It’s like the show doesn’t trust viewers to understand if they do it subtly. Everything was spelled out with endless, boring, educational conversations.

- This could’ve easily been a 30 episode drama. It could’ve been one episode less just by cutting all the scenes of that guy drinking tea and meditating..

- I started fwding parts with minor characters such as the struggle of that auntie who’s son went to prison, her bickering with that other auntie, tea/meditating dude’s business ventures, writer’s block girl (even though she’s such a cute actress), all the singing by the singer.. it was too much.

- Liu Yi Fei’s acting. I don’t know if it’s only me but her expressions and movements are always muted so I don’t always catch what she’s trying to convey. For example, there was one scene where she’s supposed to seem jealous but because of her lack of expressions I thought she was not interested. It was only until the ML pointed it out that she’s jealous that I understood.

This is getting too long. Overall, not bad but feel free with forward.

Read More