Light easy to watch romcom with great storyline
I like how Chinese dramas are having more strong female leads like this one. The female lead is no clumsy naive simpleton, she’s a genius college student. And she’s super confident and very outgoing. I love the relationship she has with her cousin and her bestie in college too. I also liked that even though she was a big internet star, she was genuine and down to earth. She has a very likable personality. On the downside, be prepared for some odd outfits that are a bit oversized and for her hair to always be pulled into a half ponytail. It’s been a terrible trend with Chinese dramas lately. I don’t know why they can’t leave the hair down and put close fitting figure flattering clothes on the female leads.As for the male lead, at first he comes off as your typical cold unfeeling hot guy thats full of himself and ignores all of the females vying for his attention. But once you get to know him you realize he’s not full of himself or trying to ignore anyone or be rude. His upbringing made him clueless about social situations and an event in the past has him hyper focused on winning the world championship for China in CTF (Cyber security). Plus he co owns a big cyber security company and runs the entire Chinese branch by himself. So he doesn’t have the time to put much effort into friendships or relationships.
Fortunately for the male lead, the female lead comes along and turns his world upside down. Because of a misunderstanding, they have to pretend to date for a while and she teaches him so much about relationships and how to be a good friend. She sees through his rough exterior to the warm caring person he really is and helps his character to grow tremendously. I love their romance with the real kisses, hugs, and cuddles. It’s very sweet and they have great chemistry. The romantic aspects of this drama were done perfectly.
Another big plus for this drama is the CTF (cyber security) gaming competitions. I loved how the teams worked and lived together. The camaraderie and team spirit was quite touching. They seemed more like family than friends. And the way the male lead was more of a father figure to his team than a friend was endearing. The gaming storyline made it much deeper and more interesting than your typical romance drama.
I normally don’t even notice the music in a drama. It’s just not my thing. But I have to say that I found myself humming along to a lot of the songs. I even looked up a couple of songs and downloaded them. The entire soundtrack is really good and added a lot to the drama.
There are a lot of well fleshed out side characters that you’ll love. The male leads grandfather is just adorable. I couldn’t get enough of him! And his gorgeous and talented cousin is so quiet and mysterious. The female leads parents relationship was so funny and cute too. And the whole K & K CTF team is pure eye candy.
In conclusion, I would say that this is a relatively light easy to watch romance drama with an interesting storyline. There’s not too much angst or sadness. It’s there but it’s not drawn out for too long making you want to scream at your tv. The acting is absolutely amazing with a great cast. It flows well never leaving you confused about what happened. All of the questions are answered and the loose ends are tied up in the end too. My only complaint would be that there are way too many flashbacks to the past throughout the drama. They hint at what really happened in the past between the group of friends for way too long. But I guess no drama is perfect, right? But this one is pretty close to perfect in my honest opinion. I would definitely recommend watching this drama.
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Things i don't like from this series is just that there's sooo many flashbacks and i tend to skip a lot of parts bcs sometimes it gets boring. But the thing that keeps me going is their romance they are just so cute together TT i keep saying cute a lot but really they are just so adorable. Recommended for fluff and romcom lovers!
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This review may contain spoilers
Rom com and contains game and values the relations
go go squid is a very good drama to watch as it unravels many beautiful romance scenes and also contains many competitive spirit scenes which tells us to not give up so easily even after being defeated . the romance between the ML and FL is particularly good. The ending was also good enough for 41 episodes. The ML was very strict at the starting and once the FL was introduced the story began to chance and the ML' s personality was also changed. The FL was like pure and naive at first then began to change herself for the ML .Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Chase Your Dreams. Follow Your Heart.
A genius, straight-A student falls in love with a former esport “god” - a reticent man uninterested in her pursuit. Will her determination pay off or is she bound for heartbreak?Full honesty, the FL’s obsession with the ML is super cringeworthy, imho, and almost made me drop this drama. I really couldn’t relate to her at all and was super embarrassed for her during her scenes with him. BUT the more episodes I watched, the more I came to adore the girl. She’s just so pure and innocent, and completely devoted to loving the ML with everything she is.
And he needed that. Someone to be on his side and fully supporting him because of him - not his title or his fame, but simply because he’s Han ShangYan. And that’s exactly what Tong Nian gave him.
Watching him fall for her is so fun. Her bringing out a gentler, more youthful side to him endears her to those who love him. Him recognizing her strengths and determining within himself to love her the way she needs from him is so sweet! 🫠 The Leads have really good chemistry and bonus, his team of boys are a delight to watch 😍!
Each time I rewatch this I fall a little bit more in love with them 💕
**Wedding scene is in Go Go Squid 2: Dt Appledogs Time**
_________\\__________//________
-⬇️ S P O I L E R S 🚫 B E L O W ⬇️-
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…
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The things I always want to know 😏😉…
- First(real)Kiss : ep.20💋
- Together : ep.15 👩🏻❤️👨🏻
- BreakUp: ep.23 💔
- BackTogether : ep.27 ❤️🩹
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please do watch this cause it will make you feel better of a happy love story with ups and down..what really strikes me in this drama is the friendship and patriotism side of the story..everytime han siang yan throws the flag it made me feel good andnreminds us to make our country's proud of us cause we owe them a championship title..
The friendship that was broken was fixed with love, love teaches the heart to forgive..
SEASON 3 is highly awaited please..
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The real negatives of this show were that there was an overuse of flashbacks used repetitively that became unnecessary filler to an episode here and there. I knock the writers for that. I also was very much aware throughout the show of the fact that they made him look great -- kudos to the clothing stylist and the hair stylist. But in contrast, the clothing stylist for the FL should be shot and the hair stylist right behind her. It was too much of a contrast between the two leads. She constantly looked like she was in a dressed up potato sack. I can count on on hand how many times/scenes they dressed her in something that made her look attractive. Sooo, while watching this show, it was just nagging me at the back of my brain from beginning to end.
There is a good supporting cast, most especially the team of young guys. They added a whole additional layer of comedy and relief to the show. Nicely done. I was surprised to see Hu Yi Tian after being in a successful/popular leading role in A Love So Beautiful. I thought his part, although not very verbal, was impactful and captured my attention with just his facial expressions throughout the whole show. I didn't know about the fact that he had recently gotten him self caught up in a mess of a scandal until I was almost done with the drama. I saw comments where many who are up on Chinese entertainment news didn't want to give him the time of day..slammed him in comments and so on. Me, however, I judged him solely based on his acting performance -- he brought something to the table and I can see why he has 4 other dramas already slated to come out where he is the male lead. Will I watch them, YEP.
Even with the negatives I raised, this show kept me entertained and engaged enough to rate it an 8.5/10. And I will be checking out the other dramas of the ML (Li Xian).
p.s. What took me so long to start this drama was that I thought the title was kinda lame. It makes sense, but I think the marketing people could have done a better job capturing more audience with a different name.
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heart-fluttering, nostalgic story!
Finally understood the hype for this show! It's a sweet romance between the main leads with a mix of nostalgic friendship memories!First and foremost, chemistry between both leads are simply amazing. At first it was awkward, but I assume it was part of character development lol.
Male lead is cold, emotionless, serious man with a strong passion of leading his team to be a world champion and also fulfilling his own dreams when he was young. He might seem very cold, but he's the most sentimental dude i have ever seen. And the more mean he is, the more he cares about the person. He has a sad past and friendships breakup that turned him into this person, but eventually the female lead came into his life and warmed his icy heart!!
Female lead is bubbly, loving, likable, adorable woman who is a genius in programming. She fell in love with the male lead at first sight which seems unrealistic, but oh wells that's how the story progresses. She turns into stalker-mode and starts to pursue the male lead, but actually it would have been better if it went naturally 'cos there were many factors that could have led them to meet each other and fall in love instead.
Here comes the plot, at first it feels too much disturbing as she stalks him just to find out who he is and where he lives. After that, they were entangled in a relationship by accident and misunderstanding. The male lead gradually fell in love with her and the relationship turned real so it got better from here. Would have wished that the way the female lead pursued the male lead was different from the plot here as it felt unrealistic and impossible to happen in real life. Like they had common topic such as cybersecurity or they were related by families or the fact that her professor actually knew the male lead.
Aside from the main love story, the show focuses on the male lead's past friendship with his former teammates. He might have been holding a grudge for the past ten years, but eventually they managed to bury the hatchet and became close again. The pace felt just right and I felt the memories were useful in giving us a bigger picture as to why the male lead turned this way.
The side couple's story was sweet too, Yaya and Mi. The other one which the show didn't focus much on was Ai Qing and Wu Bai. Wu Bai is a very interesting character due to his mysterious vibes. Even though he had lesser scenes and little lines, but it was what made him mysterious. So, I was actually very fond of his character aside from the main leads.
There comes the typical parents not liking the male lead and trying to separate them which the male lead eventually convinced them in the end and they managed to accept him. And also, his grandfather, his stepmother, his K&K kids who were on his side that got him and the female lead together was simply fun to watch. They were the ones who made this relationship happened so kudos to them!
The love rivals were not powerful enough to separate the main leads, but thanks to them, they made the main leads grew to love and understand each other even more lol.
Now comes my favorite part, the soundtracks! I love their main OST, its super addictive and they have many great soundtracks!
Production seem high-cost, seeing that they had to film in hotels, different houses and a club. There were quite a lot of product placements so this show must have been highly raved.
Female lead's wardrobe collection was cute which fits her personality. I love the male lead's choice of clothes, just full black which made him so handsome and stylish.
Other than that, I would actually recommend this show to anyone who wants to watch. It got me quite hooked after I was trying to move on from a previous show. Now, I'm actually hyped to watch the spin-off of this show so that I could get a glimpse of Wu Bai and Ai Qing's love story as well as snippets of the main leads getting married. I would definitely re-watch again if I could!
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Life is too short for stressful drama.
Life is too short for stressful drama. Why spend all that time watching and be stressed? Don’t our lives already provide enough of that?Summary of the series:
- Light hearted rom/com; series had great flow
- there was some miscommunication, but it was negligible for the story to move forward
- amazing sound track
- FL acting carries the whole series; amazing surrounding casts and very likable
- great story on friendship
- simpatico characters
- villains are kept at bay easily, no long struggles, calamity or miscommunications to cause more drama and stress
- love how the series dont stop when the ML/FL get together. The series continues. We seldom find this where you get to enjoy the happiness for a few more episodes after they become a couple.
- ending was not done succinctly, so glad no rush endings like lots over series
By far one of my fav of all time since I like joyful, stressless series: recommended to watch for sure
If you are looking for gratuitous stress/drama, frequent miscommunications, abrupt ending, insipid side stories, then this is not for you.
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A (slightly exaggerated) c-drama about romance, ambition and friendship
Don't get me wrong, Go Go Squid wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't as good as I wished it was.I jumped in when many reviews said that the female lead was a cosplay singer and the male lead was a pro e-sports gamer. As someone interested in both I was disappointed to find out that Tong Nian wasn't actually cosplaying but is really more of "popular singer that covers anime songs"
The casts looked good and were quite suited to their role in the drama - e.g. looking like their intended age in the show. The main leads were cute and their interaction on screen made my heart flutter a lot, HOWEVER story-wise it was slightly hard to believe due to their big age gap and how the female lead mostly felt very clingy to the male lead and generally passive throughout the series.
One big thing that drives the drama is the ambition that the e-sport casts have. I like that the story also includes many scenes of the gamers training and struggling to prove themselves to be the best. It also includes light-hearted interactions like bantering with Han Shang Yan DESPITE him being the "scary boss", I found that refreshing to watch.
Unfortunately some things just don't sit right with me when watching this drama, for example the styling for the female lead - Tong Nian is constantly wearing really baggy outfits that are weirdly put together (e.g. bright yellow knee length shirts, white shoes complemented with a denim jacket). It was most likely put together because they wanted to give Tong Nian that youthful demeanor in contrast to Han Shang Yan but it looked horrible. I don't think I wanna sit through 41 episodes of that ever again.
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Honestly, I started watching this drama because of Hu YiTian who I've been a huge fan of since the drama "A Love So Beautiful" which is why I was rather disappointed when I realized that he didn't have a big role in the story. In spite of that, I really enjoyed watching this drama. First, I really enjoyed the romance:
- Han ShangYan and Tong Nian: These 2 were a very pleasant couple, the perfect example of the expression "opposites attract". Han ShangYan was a workaholic who didn't care about anything else aside from getting the championship, he's seen as someone rude, spoiled brat who has suffered a lot growing up but in reality, he's just misunderstood by most. That is until he crosses paths with Tong Nian who's the "perfect child", she's smart, has talent, she's extremely nice and sweet. Even though Han ShangYan seems cold, Tong Nian falls in love with him at first sight, she's able to see through him, through all his lies. And through all her support, Han ShangYan slowly starts falling for Tong Nian as well which is nuts since he's always been uninterested in girls and because to the outsiders they can't be a match due to their differences although in the end, they overcome this.
- Xiao Mi and Sun YaYa: I found this "couple" very cute. I really admired that Sun YaYa was able to show Xiao Mi that he has a lot of fans supporting him when he was at his lowest. I loved to see their relationship developing into a romantic relationship (which only happens in the end). She was always supporting him and he fell for her pretty quickly.
Second, the friendships and bonds:
- Solo team: The Solo team was a great example of the friendship and bond most of us would dream of having in our lives. Solo acted as more of a father who took care of the rest of the members of the team with the help of Han ShangYan. Unfortunately, this team had to disband, and each went its way where every single person got hurt and didn't really stay in touch with the rest. After 10 years of not seeing each other, Han ShangYan with the help of Tong Nian finally forgives Solo for what happened in the past and this friendship and bond get back on track.
- KK team: The KK team was so adorable. I loved them so much, how they behaved with Han ShangYan, and how they "made fun" of his relationship with Tong Nian. Also, they looked so cool in the CTF competitions!
The fourth and most likely the most important thing about this drama is that these characters went all-in after a dream that most people don't even consider a "serious job" but just a hobby. It showed us that you should only give up on your dreams when there's no way to achieve them. If you work to achieve your dreams, you'll achieve them!
Although this drama was really good, I felt like there could be more development on the DT and Appledog relationship but that might have happened this way because there's another drama that is around their relationship.
In conclusion, this is a very sweet and funny drama that I would definitely recommend to anyone.
Please, don't forget to leave your opinion about this drama after you watch it!
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This review may contain spoilers
I must preface this review with the fact that I don't watch too many modern Chinese dramas. I tend to watch the ancient Chinese dramas with good fighting, beautiful costumes and some political intrigue. But there's really something appealing about this show and it gives you a break from the more melodramatic shows out there.Story: The storyline is pretty coherent and consistent. Chinese dramas tend to cut scenes to the point where it can cause major confusion, but I gladly found that I didn't have that issue here. Though the central theme of this drama is the romance between the main leads, it doesn't consume every minute of the 41 episodes, which I can appreciate. It has a nice "follow your dreams" message but the overt patriotism would ruin it for me sometimes. I must say that I like the relationship between the two main leads, though the beginnings of it was sketchy it eventually evolved into something more mature and healthy. Was the storyline spectacular? I wouldn't say so, but it kept me entertained for the most part and definitely had some good laughs while watching it.
Acting/Cast: Overall the cast was pretty solid, no one's acting made me cringe or ruined any scenes. Yang Zi (though doesn't look like the character's age) and Li Xian did really well as the young innocent Tong Nian and the overly serious Han Shang Yan. Though I felt for some scenes Li Xian looked stiff and his posture looked strange and forced. Their chemistry as the main couple was so cute sometimes it made you squeal. I don't think you'll be let down in this department. I only wish they gave more screen time for Mi Shao Fei and YaYa's relationship to develop. They were also very cute and fun.
Music: The main theme, "A Nameless Person" pretty much brainwashed me. I've been playing it non-stop since finishing this drama. The ending theme "Milk Bread" and the rest of the music in between is also nice to listen to, but "A Nameless Person" really takes the cake for me.
If you're looking for a nice, lighthearted, comedic, and romantic drama to watch then this is the one for you. The acting is on point (for the most part) and the storyline makes sense and doesn't try to be more than what it is (sometimes you have dramas out there that try to cram every genre possible into the 40 some odd episodes which makes you forget the what the central plotline is supposed to be - this doesn't do that, yah!). This is the first modern Chinese Drama I was able to finish from beginning to end in a long time (for some odd reason I couldn't for the life of me finish Love O2O) and glad I picked it up, though much later than most folks.
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We can learn many things from the drama.
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