Reviews

Making use of tropes and following conventions the right way.

Yes, one of the main criticisms of this drama is its overuse of tropes and conventions, which even I must agree with. I have not watched enough korean dramas to be aware of all of them, but even from the few I have watched I can see this. However, this is a rare case where these tropes and conventions are utilised in a good way for the majority of the time.

I will keep this short and spoiler free. Where other dramas will use tropes and conventions to create cringey and awkward situations, True Beauty actually creates many comedic and engaging scenes through these same methods.

The story of the drama is very solid, focusing on the FL learning to be comfortable in her own skin, and with the main trio all having great character development.

The soundtrack is what stands out the most, with both the ML's contributing and not a single song disappointing.

The casting was done very well. I have not read the webtoon, however in terms of aesthetic likeness to the characters, the drama's casting crew nailed it.

Overall this was a very enjoyable watch, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys (mainly) lighthearted rom-coms, with a few slighly darker sub-plots.

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Delightful fluff piece that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy

From start to finish i was smiling. Sure there were parts that were sad like the whole bit where he got framed and later when she had to leave for a while, but while those problems did take a while to be solved our main couple stayed together and in love. The whole typical "for the greater good" breakup didnt happen at least not in the way youd expect it to. And although both were ready to sacrifice for the other they still had such a healthy relationship. Definitely would recommend this show. And its one I will be rewatching. I generally dont have many cdramas I'm willing to rewatch but this is up on my list along with 'You Are My Glory' and 'Meeting You'. Both those had this same fresh healthy happy feeling. Tbh in real life unless its an absolutely unbearably bad situation most couples share their troubles and sort them out together. Thats why i find dramas like this way more relatable and realistic. I'm not one for angst and if you're like me then give this a watch!! You will not regret it. Our main couple has amazing chemistry and a satisfying abundance of screen time. The story is a little fast paced at times which is why i didnt score it a 10 but its not lacking. You will not be disappointed. Plus point all the side couples are adorable and not annoying in the least.

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patriarchy wont let a woman live her life peacefully, single, married or divorced

This lakron would be the mildest one I had ever watched in a lakron category and yeah there is no slap/kiss. Rather than saying it had a toxic marriage premise, I would say it had a disrespectful marriage alliance. They both had a fake marriage, and get used to each other when seeing goodness (fall in love) but until the end, hurt each other.
Also, an aspect of Patriarchal society, truly made me hate all the men in the drama. None of the male characters were likable even for a bit. they see women as some kind of object who should have a male owner. in the name of marriage. divorce or family whatever shit the writers could give. The foul four male leads made the life of Kluay difficult in every way possible. They dumped their hate, obsession, responsibility, debts, doubts, and expectations upon her at the same time. Even when she is in a fake marriage, Peemarn and Jedsada coerce her into marrying them even after clearly saying NO multiple times and not letting her breathe even for a second.
This drama doesn't show a strong woman but how men exploit women for their own selfish needs. Peemarn in his fantasy love thinks that Kluay will marry him, why would a girl marry you for no good reason? Also, he was so coward, shameless person who abandons girls if he doesn't like the situation is favorable for him.
Jedsada, a lawyer and close friend pressurizes Kluay at every chance he gets to marry him. I wanted to root for him but his love was a kind of obsession, and he was the most hated man in the drama. the drama portrays him as a selfless friend, but I saw him as the most selfish person who wants his debt of gratitude.
Kai, a brother and a boxer, was a troublemaker throughout the show with no guilt. Piing debts only to be paid by his family. His story had a lot of loops which could have been a good arc but writers just wanted to keep this character as a troubler only I guess.
Luk is big business tycoon, who knows that money could solve every problem. If you love some1 shower them with money and if you hate them control them with money. But his part was written with the least negatives and Margie's father figure gave him a good character arc. I watched it for Pong Nawat and he is so natural and believable as a bad husband.

About the Margie story, it became the main track, but when she leaves, there is an episode showing just the ceremony with some twists, but after that everyone forgets her. The writers did a terrible job at this, it was a sensitive topic and they just wiped her out of the drama.

Acting is pretty decent by everyone, you can hate the negative character.
Nune was subtle, simple, and natural. Sometimes it felt like she is stiff and expressionless but thinking twice she was portraying a poor girl who never forgot her roots and always remained calm and composed. I really liked her relationship with Margie though.
I personally liked Nattha, who had the calmest and most positive role in the drama. Pitchaya was lovely and natural. her character was too good to be true but I know people like them exist personally.

Music isn't memorable but still, I find it amazing to listen to. rather than a rewatch I would go for a new drama, but since it has the mild lakron flavor its good.

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A different twist to the 2007 remake.

Well, being a 2022 remake of the drama, it contains different elements when compared to the 2007 version.
Some changes are quite obvious, being the usage of smartphones or Bluetooth headsets (Smartphone usage isn't that common in 2007)
Also, there is some setting changes in terms of romance (more focusing on the Komue-Osugi pair), the office scenes is toned down quite significantly due to much shorter length of the drama (8*21 min episodes when compared to 7*45-60 mins episodes of the 2007 version) and how they swapped their bodies.
Osugi has become a much more important character than the 2007 remake (and there is some twists being included that is not seen on the 2007 version)

It is a light hearted, easy to watch drama in general.

Overall I would recommend you to watch both 2007 and 2022 remakes as both dramas has their own charm on it.

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This is a ridiculously honest review from a Chinese drama addict.

Love like the Galaxy is preposterously one of the most hyped dramas of 2022 amidst the airing spree of a myriad of other anticipated dramas. In as much as I, saw an auspicious chemistry between the two mail leads, Cheng Shao Shang casted by Zhao Lu Si and Ling Bu YI casted by Leo Wu, particularly stemming from the former's successful movies where she made us breathe in at intermittent stages of the plot a therapeutically refreshing air by virtue of her laden rich youthful energy character, hued with very excellent gusto ( portrayed in Who Rules the World starring she and Yang Yang), the male lead quite did wrong to the movie on my part. Leo Wu is boring, very less handsome, uncharismatic, lacks every sense of exigent humor, dull and doesn't exploit to his advantage his brilliant paired cast. He has never been good in exemplifying and playing romance. He made The Long Ballard which got featured in, a brilliant Diralba Dilmurat, very boring and I had to painfully leap over many an unwatched episode just to have a peek into the end, so frustrating.

As a preacher and delibrator of good C-dramas osts, this drama lacked any captivating and heartwrenching one (compare with
with the likes of Immortal Samsara, TMOPB, The Wolf, Novoland:Pearl Eclipse, Legend of Fei, Acient Love Poetry, amongst many others)., so exceedingly bad!

The sound effects was ridiculous and a disgrace, alongside the visual effects and everything.

There are a couple of many other things I would have loved to append to this honestly brutal review but I think none of them could measure a millionth to the tune of disappointment I have in the choice of the Male lead. A very bad thespian. I do not want to see him in any movie.

The only worth final note is that i PROUDLY dropped this series just some few minutes into the 5th episode, It was like a burden was lifted off my shoulders.

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One of My Top 10 Favourite CDramas From Now On

I like everything about this show. Everything. The chemistry, the plot, the cast, the flashbacks.

What a wonderful story about hopes and dreams and love and friendship and familial bonds

I will always remember this line: "People with dreams will always be young.,"

100% worth rewatching a thousand times. This will be my go-to drama whenever I'm feeling down from now on. Super inspiring and hopeful

Review Breakdown

1. Acting
- Perfect
- Li Xian is really super charismatic here as Han Shangyan. He really carried and expressed all Han Shangyan's hopes and dreams and fears and worries
- Yang Zi. Again another wonderful performance from Yang Zi as Tong Nian. She made her cute and charming without being annoying
- The supporting cast. OMG. From the actor who played Mi Shaofei, to the guy who played Solo, to Ou Qiang to the actors who played Demo, Grunt, 97, Su Cheng, Xiao Ai, Yaya, Lan Mei.. to Niannian's parents to Han Shangyan's grandpa.. and Hu Yitian who played Wu Bai.. Everyone did their parts perfectly

2. Plot
- I loved it. I loved how the scriptwriter tied the severance of friendship to the team's disbandment
- I loved the flashbacks to 05 period
- I loved the development of Han Shangyan and Tong Nian's relationship. Although it seemed cliche for Niannian to fall in love at first sight, but it was well done.
- This show is so good. It never has a slow moment. Never.


3. Casting
- Perfect. Everyone was perfect. Only 1 small thing bothered me.. Wang Zhener was great as Ai Qing/Appledog but she didn't have any romantic chemistry with Hu Yitian..

4. OST
This show has one of the best OSTs in Cdrama land and even Asian drama land.

无名之辈 is gonna be on my Spotify playlist forever.
I also loved the use of 海阔天空 to represent their lost hopes and dreams

Production Quality
- Amazing


If you've ever dreamt of being great, if you've ever feared mediocrity, if you ever questioned your purpose in this world, you have to watch this show. Because this show is for you and for everyone who's ever had a dream.

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Controverse Love 4 Love In The Air <3

LEGITIMATE 18+ ranking
ALSO because it´s written by MAME and there are displayed CONTROVERSIES stuck to the way both main characters approach each other etc.
(TW: non-consensual touching, homophobia, manipulation, mind games, s*a*, torture)
If you´re not okay with those, I would not recommend watching this series.

Story >> 7.5 >> 8.0 >> 7.5 >> 7.0
While this story contains a lot of elements that appeal to me, because I am a fan of controversy, it´s somehow not entirely intriguing, hence plotwise not capturing me as much as I want it. However, what I find significant is the emphasis on Phayus's kinky and controlling nature and the interesting balance of power in the main couple´s relationship. I can see that I start liking the plot because it´s getting more capturing and unpredictable the more it is broadcasted.

Production (>> 8.5)
I´m impressed by the visual quality, such as the cinematography, of this series and how well the screenwriting was done. When watching the series on YouTube tho, especially when the censored parts are cut, the cutting is a bit confusing. Overall I think the team did a great job!

Acting/Cast >> 9.0 >> 9.5 >> 9.0 >> 8.5
I don´t have much to nag here, Boss is showing off some cheeky skills while playing Phayu. The roles were distributed thoughtfully and I think that all the actors fit their characters. If they were following hardcore clichés of how Rain was perceived by some readers of the book, my view on this would have been different.

Music >> 7.5 >> 7.0
Personally, I don´t find any of the soundtracks outstanding and they give off a little bit of a Sims-Vibe. However, there are no errors in matching it to the series' overall vibes and I´m hoping that some darker scores are yet to be revealed, so that I can lift my rating a little. Gotta appreciate the singing tho.

Rewatch Value >> 8.0 >> 7.5
I´d watch it again if I will be looking for a series where one of the main protagonists is as manipulative and daring as Phayu. I like how they respectfully embodied the sensuality between the main couple.

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Bit Boring and Huge Letdown to Go Go Squid S1 fans

This was a difficult watch. I've just finished Go Go Squid and this pales in comparison to the first one.

Acting
- Li Yitong is good. Hu Yitian is ok but their chemistry is lacking compared to Yang Zi and Li Xian.

Plot
- Aside from the comparisons to S1, the story on its own is quite flat. Feels very dragged out . It's ok if you just wanna watch for the sweet scenes and watch Hu Yitian swooning over Li Yitong.
- This was a major issue for me because they retconned so many things from S1 in order to fit this version i.e.

- 1. the biggest issue being that Han Shangyan never reconciled with Solo
2. the second issue, the removal of key supporting characters such as Niannian's best friend and Mi Shaofei's love interest, Demo etc
3. the third issue, the change from CTF to robotics. CTF felt more like an unknown industry and having such a big club/house/training center for such a small team in DT Appledog's Time seriously felt weird and full of loneliness.
4. the fourth issue, having Wu Bai be the main leader of K&K ... which is weird because Han Shangyan is the boss but he's barely seen in the club.. I understand that the story's focus would be on Wu Bai but and having Li Xian and Yang Zi being in the show so much might overshadow the focus on Wu Bai and Ai Qing. There are also budget concerns and scheduling and stuff to think about but it could have been done..
5. They should have just continued with S1 and recast Li Yitong as Ai Qing.
6. Even One's personality seemed different.
7. Go Go Squid wasn't just about Tong Nian and Han Shangyan's story.. It was also because they explored the family and friendship issues so well.. Like with Solo's daughter and every supporting character had their moment to shine. I kinda felt like this was lacking in Go Go Squid 2


Casting
- Recasting Ai Qing is fine because the original actress for Ai Qing has zero romantic chemistry with Hu Yitian but the rest of the cast should have been retained
- None of the actors recast for the new version had the same level of energy and charisma as the original actors for Solo, Mi Shaofei, Ou Qiang. Disappointing because the supporting cast is always a huge factor in a drama's quality.
- Would have been better to pull in the original actors for Tong Nian's parents at the end for the double wedding. This felt really weird having all Ai Qing and Wu Bai's relatives there but none of Niannian's parents there

OST
- This was nice and fitting for the story

Scene stealers
- Wang Anyu (I like him but I preferred the way the original Grunt was written and portrayed)
- 97
- The grandpa
- Lastly, Li Xian and Yang Zi

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Do you want to believe in magic?

This was very enjoyable to watch. (I'll add some content warnings for this show at the end of my review)
What I enjoyed
The visuals were very beautiful. The entire show, all the sets and the cgi were very well done. It sure brought the magic in the show. The songs were quite beautiful, both in meaning and the sound of the voices singing. It was also great how this story had such a strong focus on poverty, the powerlessness you can feel when you're young and are very dependent on the adults around you for everything.
I also appreciate that they didn't use the overused and annoying trope of putting the main character in a romantic relationship and being 'boom, you feel all better now!'. That in fact, this drama doesn't focus on romance at all, instead it focuses more on a friendship where the magician is almost like a teacher or even guardian to the main character which was beautiful to watch develop.

What could have been better in my opinion:
For me, the songs didn't always come at the time where they were needed. There were a few points at which I expected a song and it didn't happen, and also a few where a song was that I felt was not needed for the characters/setting at that point (not that i minded that much, the songs were always nice).
One thing to keep in mind when starting this drama is that, although there are moments of magical beauty and happiness, overall the mood of the show is quite sad and depressing. If you want to watch something simple and easy, save this for a moment where you can handle heavy emotions. I wish they had a few less scenes where the main character was crying (at some points it felt like that was almost all she did for like half an episode).

Content warnings (this may be incomplete as I didn't keep track of them whilst watching)
- Attempt at suicide
- Off screen death of animal
- Assault and attempt at rape of a minor (twice)
- Violence and blood
- Murder
- Child neglect
- Parent once hitting their child

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A romance that burns your entire existence

This drama is a typical XianXia. It's got everything; from romance to gods, evils, mortals, hardships, and magic.
If you're a romance lover, be prepared for a battle of the hearts. But, in the end, your heart will be so full that you want more :)

The story
As my experience with other high-quality Cdrama xianxias, the plot has 3 stages:
1- The first encounter, happens between the immortals and gods. This is the base of the drama. There has a been war years ago, and the villain was captured, who happens to be the heartthrob Dongfeng Qingceng. We get to know two polar opposites with broken pasts come in contact. And, there is a love curse involved( romance lovers: this curse is the core here :)
2- The second stage happens in the mortal realm. But this time the leads are not there for hardships or examinations. They are there to really learn the meaning of their existence. This is where they truly fall in love( or at least we see it for ourselves).
3-The final stage is Sacrifice in my opinion. True lovers Sacrifice each other for their beliefs and their loved ones. Everything is wrapped up quite well and there are loose ends left, which is phenomenal.

Acting
All did well in my opinion. Even the villains are portrayed and depicted well. You can clearly feel their motives and the reasons behind their sadness or hardships.

Music
I'm a sucker for OSTs. just by reading the Song's meanings, I figured out how meticulously they chose the songs to match the atmosphere and the leads' love for each other. The background pieces used were marvelous. Hope they release an album soon can't wait!

Overall
A very pleasurable Cdrama. If you're into romance, action, wars, hatred, magic, and misunderstandings, this will keep you hooked till the end. You will be craving more each episode, as the story goes on.

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Wonderful acting by ML

I started this with no expectation.

I had not heard of the story beforehand, did not read comments, just hopped on it.

The ML was phenomenal .. he has really grown.

There were many scenes where his eyes had a whole conversation .. amazing.

His facial features, they way he physically seemed to demand attention at times was wonderful.

That being said .. the FL was not that great .. overall she grated my nerves.

Her voice .. argh ... I came close to dropping it so many times because of her voice alone.

I understand completely her character, but it was 99 percent utter foolishness.

Seemed a bit ridiculous that so many were in love with the FL.

There was no chemistry between the two leads.

As many times as they kissed (even if most were to swap bodies) nothing sparked between them.

All other actors did very well in their roles, even the small parts meshed well.

The best thing to me was the costumes and scenery / visuals.

Some were completely breath taking.

That first dragon ride - wooo!

It flowed pretty well from start to finish.

Was a good watch, but not something I would re-watch.

I hope Dylan continues to grow and have great success as an actor.

He certainly did his thing with this role!

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Lighthearted, engaging and funny

With just a few episodes, I already knew I'm going to love this romantic comedy and be with it until the end. If you are against female chasing male stories, then this is not for you. But if you don't mind it and decided to watch this, watch out for the epilogues after some episodes that will make you understand certain scenes.

Esther Yu as Yu Meiren has charmed me once again while Vin Zhang seems more attractive as Zhuang Yu than in any of his previous roles (maybe except as KO in Love 020). This is the type of drama that you watch to relax. The story is very simple. It is about a romance between a charming bird specialist turned beauty blogger and a reserved botany professor. What draws me in is their obvious attraction to each other despite denying it to themselves.

I like that YM seems like an empowered quick thinking woman who knows what she wants and goes for it. She knows when to use her cutesy persona but is more comfortable with her nerdy persona. For ZY, I like that he's dedicated to his work and wants to try to improve the world but he's been kind of a jerk to YM until he realized how much he really love her.

If not for the over exposure of the 2nd couple, I would probably rate this higher. It would have been better if this was maybe a 24 Eps drama and does not included a loveline between the 2nd CP.

The OSTs are very good. The opening song of 'Two People's little forest' is so soothing, making you look forward to the romance while the duet 'All seems the same' of Esther Yu and Vin Zhang is uplifting and sweet. 'Find You' by Vin Zhang feels full of determination while Esther Yu's 'Sunny day after the rain' feels optimistic. 'Welcome to my World' is such a fun song and lastly 'Want to be by your side' which was used for most sad scenes is full of longing. I would rewatch this but will still skip the 2nd couple.

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Decent but draggy second part. to a decent but draggy drama

The second part started off very promising, the female lead felt all grown up end empowered the male lead had also gone through a whole lot of character growth and the slightly annoying characters had little to no screen time...

While most of the characters seemed to have more lives than Bruce Willis in Die Hard there seemed to come a point where peoples who died actually stayed dead, and unless there is a 3ed season the meaning of life and death may actually seem... well meaningful... odd for this type of drama but it could actually happen here (I am not gonna tell you who though because that may actually spoil it). There are some really good scenes here and there, great lines about catered and power..

Such as " The more you hate Spirits the more you can do for me"

All very good indeed...

However some of the twists were a bit too predictable (even for the inexperienced viewer), there is a lot of unnecessary draggy dialog, boring fight scenes... poor graphics, the type that look like an old computer game from the early 00s and while the syrup kept flowing, there was some point where it felt like someone had a thing for vampires, as most of the looked like newly fed vampires just a little bit to many times...

Still I did love the leads.. could be a bias towards the actors, could be that they had lovely chemistry and nice dialog between them, So I guess they are the reason I kept watching and rated it an 8 instead of lower. I wish the plot would have focused more on them and given them more playful and romance time for these two, I also wish the plot made more sense to me...

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