Story: The story is such an interesting one. I personally have always liked school dramas at first so this kinda brought me back to my drama-newbie days. It's a pretty basic story tbh but the taekwondo is super interesting to watch. The love "Square" is pretty interesting and there's, of course, a pretty rich girl who wants to sabotage the main characters life. If you're not into this type of sorta teenage looking romance then yikes it might not be for you
Acting/Cast: This was literally the main reason I watched the show. Yang Yang and the person who acted Fang Ting Hao are literally to die for. The other dude's okay but lmao I think they gave him a bad haircut so I wasn't AS attracted. The main female, however, I had some hard time accepting. Right now around the world (including Asia) the rise of a "strong independent woman" is high on the rise, probably because I'm used to dramas like Strong Woman Do Bong Soon or like Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, I'm totally not used to this innocent cute concept that they threw in the drama. It's a drama about Taekwondo! Like, COME ON! Can't they give us a female lead that isn't spazzing out every tournament and having to depend on one of the 3 guys to make her feel confident?? UGH Her zoomed in face is literally like at least 20% of all the scenes and I really can't stand it so if you don't appreciate a weak female lead then don't watch it! (That's literally the only reason this show is not a 10/10 tho)
Music: Eh it was great, not very impactful but it went with the drama pretty well and were all pretty inspirational so yayyy
Rewatch Value: Yeah basically because of the acting I'm not giving it a very high score. I'd watch for Yang Yang and Fang Ting Hao anytime tho ; )
Humor/Cinematography Rating (My own): This drama I think had a HORRIBLE sense of humor and some pretty bad cinematography (A lot of stuff looked like a pretty cheap greenscreen). The humor was extremely sexist most of the time, like that one guy who HATED Bai Chao for beating him just because she was a girl, or how the mom of Bai Chao's best friend kept yelling at her daughter to be more docile and do more house chores like a "proper girl". I think that's why I ESPECIALLY LOVED the "Korean" actors in the show (Yes the Chinese actors pretending to be Korean spoke broken Korean sentences, but honestly that was one of my favorite parts). Kim Min Gu was NOT about to let anyone stop her just because she was a teenage girl and I honestly appreciated her character. On the flip side, Bai Chao starts panicking everytime she competes unless Ruo Bai sits her down and be all like "Omg you gotta BELIEVE GIRL". One lesson I've taken from this drama is to be more assertive because no such thing as being fragile as Bai Cao getting 3 hot guys in real life, just saying!
The drama is mostly filmed in 3 locations, the place where Ruo Bai works, the place where Bai Cao grew up and in the fake school that the producers want the audience to think these people attend. 2 of the 3 listed looked like pure green screen products so I'd give it a pretty bad rating in that category.
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This wasn't really the kind of drama that I looked for in the beginning but I started to watch it and really fell for Yang Yang who played Ruo Bai. I had already fallen for him while watching "Love O2O". I came to like the relationship between the characters and got really riled up during the competitions scenes.
STORY- It was an okay story, but sometimes the story felt messy, like they pulled in too many strings so many times you got confused but in the end, you would understand more. There also a bit too much things in the air that didn’t get sort out properly according to me.
I liked how the female lead was determined not to let go of what she though was right and wrong. I also liked the triangle love drama, well it was four, not three to be exact. What I felt that I missed was that it sometimes made to huge time-lapse, I wanted to see more of the training in martial arts before the matches but then understand that it wouldn't get exciting to see the fighting if you knew all the tricks from the beginning.
The story itself was pretty good but I thought that the female lead, Qi Bai Cao played by Hu Bing Qing, was too much of a scared cat in some situations, I felt that It went against her own character sometimes. Too anxious feelings for that character. She is that girl with that determination to prove that her teacher is innocent, she works really hard for her believes but in other situations where she really should show her strengths, she lets the male leads around her take the punches. You will understand what I mean after watching the drama.
ACTING/CAST- I haven't watched so many C-dramas so I haven't seen so many of these actors/actresses in action before, just Yang Yang. But from what I've seen it's pretty good. Even though I like actor Yang Yang I felt that he could have shown more facial expressions when needed. Of course, he couldn't to many times because his character Ruo Bai often had a poker face on and tried to hide his feelings from everyone. But at times when those he loves gets hurt or himself, I would like more expression, for a better contrast to his ordinary poker face. On the other side, we have Hu Bing Qing, the opposite, where I feel that she expressed more than enough feelings, especially when she felt hurt which was almost all the time. I also know that her character was like that but sometimes it was a little too much.
I really liked the acting in the matches, that was when the expressions on almost everyone was the best.
MUSIC- the music was good and it really added more and stronger feelings in the drama.
REWATCH VALUE- I would watch this over and over because there where so many details that would be easy to miss and sometimes the story got a bit messed up and was hard to follow so it would be good to watch it again to get the story right.
OVERALL- with that ending, wow how could you not want to watch season 2. But I understand if you would drop this one because it had to many scenes with too much tensions and waiting. The good and happy moments didn’t always weigh up to the bad moments. It is a bit long, I usually don't like dramas over 25 episodes but I didn't dislike it that much, but I didn't like it very much either. They could have cut down on it, especially with that kind of ending. Overall, I really have difficult to tell my feelings over this drama. It is a kind of love-hate feeling.
Actually, when the season 1 was over I felt a little betrayed, the promising things in the drama didn’t show up, I felt heartbroken but determined to know how it would go, so I gave season 2 a try. See my review on Whirlwind Girl 2 to know the rest.
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Despite not considering what is out-dated, it is still lacking
So even if I tried to overlook everything that is out-dated, this still falls short on some aspects.First of all: The ending is disappointing. Especially since season 2 doesn't pick up right where this ended. I won't say anything more, but it feels like someone cut off the bungee cord as you were in free fall and just let you plummet.
Second: Some of the characters are rather weak and shows little development throughout.
Especially Yu Chu Yuan (played by Bai Jing Ting); I found this character very weak, to the point of being annoying, and he didn't seem to pick up on many clues or understand what kind of consequences his actions or in-actions led to. It is a bit funny to see him in this role as I have just finished The First Frost. I see some similarities in his interpretation of the characters, but his acting has also improved by leaps.
Qi Bai Cao, the FL played by Hu Bing Qing, is rather whiney. How old are these people supposed to be? I understand this might be partly cultural and partly due to the fact that it is 10 years since it came out, but still ...? I found her acting to be so-so ...it might be because I didn't really ever manage to connect properly or sympathize with her character.
The character I probably liked the most was Ruo Bai (Yang Yang), and I did also like Fang Ting Hao portrayed by Chen Xiang. He nailed this arrogant rich confident type.
Brief synopsis my POV:
Orphan girl Qi Bai Cao was taken in by a Yuan Wu Dao master, who lost his championship and was ostracized after supposedly taking stimulants. As she follows her master, she has not been trained properly, but wish to become a Yuan Wu Dao competitor. Things happen, she gets taken in by another Yuan Wu Dao school, and very quickly progresses based on her strong fundamental skills and strengths. No less than three different boys ends up falling in love with her, adding for some jealousy and rivalry. We follow Qi Bao Cao's journey towards a competition to gain recognition for her master.
Be prepared for long lingering shots and abundance of flashbacks.
So: Is it worth watching? Naaahh... hard to say, really. I didn't drop it, so the story has some kind of momentum to it. And I did start on season 2, first to see if it picked up where it ended (no), and second because I noticed Ji Chang Wook is the ML in it, and I do like his acting. I am curios to how this would be interpreted and improved if made today.
Also: The English subtitles on Viki are full of (small) mistakes and spelling errors, so much so that it was a bit annoying/distracting.
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Ending was disappointing
Watched this show a few years ago and dropped it, but recently decided to just finish it. Tbh the show appeared pretty interesting to begin with, as the moves made by the characters didn't appear awkward or unnatural. TWWG has a pretty cheerful & lightweight theme to it, especially at the start, which made it fun to watch. However, as the story progressed, I was growing more and more impatient towards the romance element of the story, as Baicao(FL) couldn't settle on the guy she liked.I understand that it's normal to be confused about her feelings at first, but after Chuyuan confessed to her, she started hanging out with him, which already made it pretty clear that they were a couple. Yet, she asked Ruobai to join them for one of her dates with Chuyuan like?? Does she want to make Ruobai 3rd-wheel or what??? Btw she even hugged Ruobai even though it was already pretty evident that she and Chuyuan were a pair so idk anymore(Chuyuan saw it too)
N seriously, her bestfriend(Xiaoying) had already made it clear since the very start that she liked Ruobai, so I don't get why Baicao still kept trying to pry into Ruobai's affairs all the time. Like she literally demanded him to tell her his problems and lectured him(she's literally only his junior) for not sharing his personal stuff with her like who are u to question him for that ma'am...It's his privacy, he has every right to keep it to himself omg...
Tbh Baicao appeared as a really nice and caring person at the start, but towards the end of the show she just became very whiny and was always overeacting(screaming over everythg, etc) which is why i srly couldn't stand her. N it just felt like she was v self-centred n attention-seeking, with how she was always looking for the guys. The storyline was just not satisfying to follow at some point, and (SPOILER AHEAD) the ending was so not it, bc it literally ended at Baicao and Tingyi starting their sparring session. N Ruobai...I'm not even gna say anymore.
I heard that there's a season 2-which isn't very nice(?) so I'm not gna watch it but in any case, I would rewatch the earlier half of this show-as for the other half, it's considerably abit of a flop so no.
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Every character was acting so well so that's a plus points for me. I am actually still hoping for part 3. Even though they've changed them on whirlwind 2, it is still worth to watch. This is the most beautiful drama of Yang Yang I've ever seen aside from Love O2O like what I've said since he portrays really different on this drama and makes me feel more interested on him and going to watch more of his drama.
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my first love
I cannot say much about the storyline because I am writing this review yearsss after I watched it so this review is based entirely on how I felt about it and still feel about it now. The drama that started it all. It will forever have a special place in my heart. The first place I fell in love with Yang Yang. The first place I feel in love with Tan Song Yun. The first drama that left me hanging and heartbroken. It doesn't deserve 5/5 ⭐️s but it was my first love.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Liked it more than I expected to. It is exciting watching her skills build
9/10 is my rating. Worth watching? I think so. Especially if you are looking for something a little different. It has a strong focus on this fictitious form of martial arts. A slice of martial arts life. There are some romantic moments, but it really isn't a romance per se. So, if you are looking for romance you might be disappointed because there is not a happily ever after. It's more like the typical romantic moments that occur in a coming of age. There is a love square (not a triangle as there are three that like main girl) but the girl is more focused on becoming a force to reckon with than spending her time chasing boys. She does a little of it, but not a lot. For me I appreciated those little sprinkles of romance, it kept it interesting.If you don't do sad but are okay if you are prepared you might want to look at my spoiler section. Just to be prepared. For me I am okay sometimes with sad if I know what to expect. This season is not on balance sad but there is some sad in it.
I found her a little annoying at times in the beginning. She was completely stuck on an idea to the exclusion of all else. Loyal to an actual fault. But, she grew beyond that so if you can stick with it she does mature and undergo character growth.
The martial arts is loosely based on taekwondo but it states, up front, it is fictitious. I saw where there was some criticism of the martial arts that it was over the top and they did some things that weren't entirely possible. If you have watched "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" or any of the other numerous Chinese martial arts media, you won't be super surprised by the moments when an aerial is exaggerated, or the action is comedically paused or drawn out. I actually enjoyed that. But, martial arts purest may not like that. Again, knowing what to expect is the key.
I have seen quite a few sites that recommend The Whirlwind Girl 2 as if 1 does not even exist. And I didn't get that focus. I thought maybe they stood completely independently and 2 was recommended in Korean Drama circles because Ji Chang Wook is in the second season but not the first. And I do think that is the case because there is a story that starts in the first and runs through the second and I think you will get a deeper dive and more insight on the story if you watch both in order. A little more than that even though, you would likely be confused in the beginning of the 2nd season if you hadn't watched the first.
Overall, I enjoyed this. But I think that was mainly knowing what to expect with the romance, martial arts, and knowing what the sad consisted of. I like seeing men or women go from not being very strong to a force to be reconned with. I would recommend it to anyone that likes martial arts elements with the caveat that they do exaggerate elements. I may watch it again at some time in the distant future and wouldn't turn it off or change channels if someone else was watching it.
Spoilers
This is like a martial arts campus/world. They live together as a team in these whole houses and you battle for your team. It reminded me of Harry Potter houses in a weird way. But it is a rather unique set up the way the teams are organized and how, if you are in that particular "house" you live and breathe with that team.
Don't get too attached to Ru Bai as it ends with a lot of uncertainty if he is alive or dead. So, you might grow to really like him because he becomes such great support for main girl. He tells her all the right things at the right moments and does so much behind the scenes to help her succeed. But, in the end, he collapses when she is competing, and she never effectively sees him again. Even in the 2nd season. So, if you are impacted by sad but are okay with preparation, don't get attached to him. That is one of the things I didn't like. They were so nebulous as to what happened to him. And it seemed totally unnecessary to have him possibly die. I think they wanted the whole "he would die for her" to the extreme.
If you don't want to get frustrated with the main girl realize she is absolutely loyal to a fault and that will become a strength later. You will have to put up with her whining about "her master" in the early episodes. And be like okay enough already just get over it and move on. He even wants you to. But, loyalty is an important trait in martial arts team type sports.
Three of the men/boys like her. I have to say, of the three I liked the rich/bad boy the most, Fang Ting Hao. When he gave her the phone and then called a car for her when she was lost...that was the sweetest thing. I mean it is hard to compare to some of the things Rui Bai did but one of the most frustrating things with Rui Bai to me is how he acted indifferent and never told her anything. Ting Hao was all in. The only drawback with him to me was he coddled his little sister, and she was a spoiled, wicked brat.
If the 2nd season would not have already been out, I would have really been frustrated with the ending. It just ends. She is about to go into a match with her biggest rival and Rui Bai collapses then it just ends. Abruptly. I even had to go back and make sure there weren't more episodes I didn't know about. And when the 2nd season first picks up there isn't a smooth transition from 1 to 2. They don't talk about the ending of 1 and what happened until some 10s of minutes have passed in the first episode. It was a bit odd.
Scroll down for a unique synopsis
Synopsis
This is a 2015 Chinese martial arts romance with 32, 45-minute episodes. Alternatively known under the title Tornado Girl. Series is based on a novel.
Qi Baicao (Hu Bingqing) became an orphan after losing both of her parents in a fire. She was adopted by Qu Xiangnan (Vincent Jiao) who was a former world champion who quit the sport after being accused of doping. Baico, who always had a love of Yuanwudao, starts as a white belt but with passion and discipline becomes a competitive athlete with the nickname "whirlwind girl." In order to take back the pride for her town (the origin place of the fictitious martial art Yuanwudao which most closely resembles the real art taekwondo), and clear her mentor's name, she is determined to excel at the sport. Her main trainer, Ruo Bai (Yang Yang) is secretly in love with her and she has Yu Chuyuan (Bai Jingting) a medic, and Fan Tinghao (Chen Xiang) who are also admirers. And the three boys/men interested in her are very different in character. But she has rich interactions with each that are a part of her journey in martial arts. There is a heavier focus on martial arts than romance in this one, but it has a lot of exciting matches like a face-off with rival Fang Tingyi (Zhao Yuannuan), Tinghao’s sister. As Baicao rises in the ranks she begins to learn more about her mentor's fall from grace. This is a coming of age feel good drama with an emphasis on the athletic aspect of the main character.
#WhirlwindGirl #TornadoGirl #ZhaoYuannuan #ChenXiang #VincentJia #Hu Bingqing
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This review may contain spoilers
First of all I used to be Taekwondo player but I quit due to some consequences.This drama reminds me of the sports and now I’m playing a different sports and it really motivates me to do better.At first I watch this drama because of Bai Jingting (chuyuan).But now I’m really in love with Chen Xiang (Fang Ting Hao) and Yang Yang(Ruo Bai).I’m extreme romance drama lover and I do watch some sports drama but this is the first sports drama that had me hooked.I watch this full series more than once and it’s really worth it to spend your time on this drama.But I’m quite upset with the ending but overall it’s an extremely great drama Was this review helpful to you?
no regrets
when i say no regrets i mean that i loved the story.it was worth watching.though after watching the romance genre dramas im a bit bore and now is not easily hooked by any of them....i was hooked by this one and i finished the drama in 3 days .i loved rou bai(yang yang) from the very begining to the end.
even there were no such scenes to make someone very emotional but i dont know somehow i always had tears in my eyes while watching 20-32 episodes.
the drama showed what the actual love is.i loved all three male leads.
other than yang yang i also liked chen (ting hao). but the oly fact i didnt understand was that when he was so rich why he always had the same shoes and same pants on.even the glasses were same.
but chem of all three ml and qi bai chao was superb.
even thought there wasnt much romance between ruo bai and bai chao ,one could still feel the love and chemistry in their actions.
this drama really said what true love is.i loved it
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yang yang can't help
OMG i can't count how many times do i build up the interest to watch this drama since this yang yang drama. But even yang yang can't help me getting interest with this drama. Especially when i know in the end yang yang will gonna died.Why i don't like...? Hm.... i don't know. But i try to watch & the story really can't pick up my interest. The main actress is not so beautiful & her expression kinda dull for me. Sorry don't judge me, i still like to see beautiful face in my drama.
Since now so many more interesting drama that i want to watch i don't think i ever look back to this drama.
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