In the beginning I wasn't sure whether I would like it. The trailer was promising, but the first few minutes somewhat put me off. I didn't like the FL's story character's hairstyle and costume and the acting of both ML and FL was missing something as well. But I stuck with the story in hopes it would get better. And it did.
As you get to know the characters more, you actually start to care for them and get invested in their stories. The acting became more enjoyable as well. I started to like a lot of the side characters! I liked the servants of both leads, I liked the secondary couple with the first sister and their weird overly melodramatic scenes, I was quite impressed with the FL's mother and her strong and leading stance (such a beauty, btw!) and had fun with the ML's parents. The ML's perfomance started weak but got better quickly. Though, sometimes I had wished for a more matured behaviour than giving me the silly boy attitude that definitely doesn't belong to the son of a city ruler. The FL's acting was constantly good, convincing and never let down.
The story of the annoying SML started off well but pissed me off during the further story because he shifted sides so often and could never let go.
I think the most interesting development had the second sister. Starting off as the good doting second sister turning into a cunning, jealous and hateful villain. The unfolding of her character throughout the story, the step by step changes were one of the highlights of the drama. Now, you could say the cause for that was the change in the FL's (third sister, btw) attitude when she entered her own character's body. But in my humble opinion the second sister had always been like that and only appeared to be the good samaritan because the original third sister was bad mannered and disliked by everyone.
The humor was great, subtle, never exaggerated and always well placed. I enjoyed the constant murder attempts and the FL's script changes to escape those. I was also very pleased that, even though you knew, that the light and funny and fluffy atmosphere would turn into conflict and sorrow at some point, it was never devastating and resolved quite fast.
I was actually very satisfied with one moment when the heroic FL decided to put an end to the act to save her man (and I'm not talking about the finale of the drama but a turning point way earlier). That part was very well written and very well acted by both sides.
Overall a decent watch, enjoyable and entertaining with a good main and supporting cast. The plot was well done, logical, and had a well balanced suspense arc. And the side treat with the city being ruled by woman? How fun was that.
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This was a 6/10, but I'm giving it a 5/10 out of pure spite.
I don't even know what happened in the last three eps. I broke my forward button trying to speed run it to the ending. This was going somewhere, until it totally lost itself, ran into a bus, and drowned in a pile of quick sand cuz of how fast everything went to location unknown, plot not found. The abundance of miscommunications and monstrous amounts of misunderstandings genuinely did my head in. And thats not even touching upon Pei Heng — cuz istg, if I have to hear that man say him and Qian Qian were engaged since childhood ONE MORE FUCKING TIME, I will ram myself into a bloody bus. And don't even get me started on the fact that Han Shou tried to sexually assaulted Qian Qian to scare her and get back at her, only to show he regretted it. Ummmm.... the fuck???They actually had a good premise, only to fuck it up. The humour was there, until it got drowned out by all the stupidity. And the setting. I don't know about everyone, but personally, it did not vibe with me. Like I get the purpose, and I genuinely thought we were going to start a conversation about how the female lead country was just as stupid as the male lead country. There was nothing empowering about it, it was legit what the male dominated country is like but with roles reversed. If one is fucking stupid and ridiculous and icky, then so it the other.
Also, Qian Qian is single handily the most annoying bitch ever. The definition of go girl give us nothing. Not a single brain cell up there. She single handily ruined her own story SHE WROTE by going inside it. You'd think for someone that writes, she'd recognise flaws in her own thinking and as well as avoid all the cliches — NOT FALL INTO THEM.
This had to be the biggest slog fest ever, and the only reason I watched it was cuz of Ding Yu Xi. But I didn't vibe with his character one bit, so that wasted my time even more. It just made no sense to me.
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Refreshing to watch between long dramas
After watching some ridiculously long and redundant dramas this was very refreshing.It’s 24 episodes and it didn’t feel like it dragged. I mean don’t expect CGI and amazing fighting skills. It mainly focuses on the actors skills and story. It was def very funny and silly. Almost stupid funny but in a good way. The male lead I didn’t like at first but he warmed up to me. The female lead zhaolusi is great at the role. But I think this type of role really fits her cute personality.
I recommend watching this not only because it’s good but it’s different. After watching 50-70
Episodes of a drama you need a refresher.
What I liked the most is that there’s no misunderstandings the last forever because everyone is an idiot.. most things get resolved within the episode. Highly recommend
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Best Chinese drama I've watched so far
I've mainly watched isekai romance Chinese dramas and this is by far the best I've encountered, the watch lived up the hype for me.Really funny but also very clever plot and twists. The plot follows some typical pattern to an extend but also makes fun of some common drama tropes.
The whole concept of the matriarchal vs patriarchal cities was an unexpected setting and never fell into oversimplifications or feminist caricatures: simply a clever way to say that inequality is wrong, no matter who gets the shorter straw.
The first half is mainly comedy, the second half takes a more "serious" turn but still doesn't fall into tragic melodrama like most historical C-dramas do. My only qualm with this drama is the turn at episode 18-19, which if necessary could have been handled in a more progressive or more logical way.
In terms of acting, Rosy Zhao is amazing, I had only seen her in Cinderella Chef where her role couldn't be further than in TROTAR and I am so impressed by her Chen Xiao Qian. I'm a bit more reserved about Ryan Ding's performance as I found Han Shuo's character was sometimes out of tune when expressing emotions.
I was obsessed with the OST, another good point for a drama that was otherwise already marvelous.
I never rewatch dramas but I think this one would be worthy of an exception.
Now I'm sad because 1. the drama is over and 2. I'm scared I'll never find a drama that good x)
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Relaxing and humorous drama
This is the first drama I start to know Zhao Lusi and also Ding Yuxi. I thought this drama gonna be so boring because of the story about a writer who enter her story. But it turn out really amazing! There's a lot of humor and slow burning romance here. I like Ding Yuxi stare, it just so melted me haha! I can feel all the characters emotional. A jealous because your mother showing more love to your siblings, the feeling to be like others, enemy to friend, and a lot of things. Something I don't like in this drama hmmm because maybe it though so many drama (Yeah, I know this is a drama so there's must be a drama) for ML and FL to be together, and also the FL it's just so annoying sometime bcs she's not get the ML feeling for her. But overall I think this is a great drama!Was this review helpful to you?
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Selfless Hero and Passionate Heroine
A nice drama. Highlighted issue like there is no use having patriarchy or matriarchy foundation country if both hv the same problem to degrade either gender and think they always in the right while in fact they are very wrong. I'm not very fond of the Queen in the women are more superior sex country of Huanyuan City coz she had her favourite child and that became the villain origin story for the other daughter.The Male Lead, the actor Mr. Han or Han Shuo from Xuanhu City where the patriarchy was strong. He was very ruthless when he first came to Huanyan City to marry the FL. But after he fell in love with FL, he became her fierce protector and the way he rebuked other woman's confession to him lmao. I seriously admired Han Shuo. He loves the FL so much that he would do anything for her, die for her (literally) and he was willing to let her go. Kind of feel bad for him coz he thought FL really love him when she went through great length to save him in the early episodes when the truth was in her head, she cannot let the hero in her story dies. BUT there was a red flag where he became very very upset with FL's betrayal(eek she thought she did it for his own good).
The Female Lead, Xiaoqian or Chen Qianqian from Huanyan City. She was a scriptwriter who thought her love story was perfect until ML criticised that she didn't know what love is so her story didn't make any sense and asked her to go back and redo it. Something happened and she became Chen Qianqian who was a bit silly I guess but very passionate to other people. She had her moments when she was courageous and very forgiving, I admire her for that. I became a bit frustrated with her in the middle of the drama bcs she was not in the right mindset. She was focusing on matchmaking ML and her sister (she was married to ML mind you) while ML at the same time fell head over heels for her. I'm seriously kind of like, "serve her right for doing that, now bear the consequences" coz after that only she fell in love with ML. Very mad at her at that time.
I definitely enjoy each of the ML and FL assistants(?), Zi Rui and Bai Ji characters. I definitely was rooting for the First Princess's love story with Su Mu. Thankfully the 2nd ML very umm loyal to FL.
The osts were not that memorable to me and love the production. I also love the costumes and hair ornaments/accessories.
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Funny, mostly lighthearted
The story and actions of the characters were mostly comedic and ridiculous. I kept watching in x2 speed because it was funny and cute.Later, it was annoyingly dragged out with the same conflicts over and over. It was mostly lighthearted with a bit of drama, especially towards the end and a bit of an emotional ending.
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Zhao Lu Si's Comedic Timing & Presence Made This So Much Fun To Watch
Both Zhao Lu Si & Ding Yu Xi's character looked so young. I never thought that these two would make good couple, but it was fun watching them. The chemistry while not explosive was subtle and heartwarming.Ding Yu Xi's Han Shuo was such a green flag in the relationship (most of the relationship). In the beginning he wanted to kill the the third princess. And he was back to being his murderous self for a while because he thought the third princess betrayed him. But apart from that silly tidbit, he was kinda adorable.
They rushed the ending thought. They could have explored so much in the ending. What's more, the ending shed light on a major plot hole. When FL was transported into her story, she was quite aware that she wasn't part of it. However, ML was also transported into the story but he wasn't actually aware but went about the story as a character that FL could manipulate. When they both returned to the real word, claiming it was a dream, the ML didn't appear all that bothered but when the Fl caught on to him pretending he just gave in? That was too short of a time frame for all of this to be pulled of smoothly.
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Ridiculous and hilarious
I tried this watching once and couldn't get through the first episode as I don't like for Zhao Lusi character dresses up especially considering it was in old day. But I gave it second chance as a fan to watch her early drama. The whole acts of contradictions in the femal role changing from doing all she can to survive to risking everything, inconsistency of knowing whats goin to happen in the plot.. if it's not for knowing the story is just supposed to be stupid funny watch, its definitely unbearable to watch. Only for Zhao Lusi I brazed through it and enjoyed the stupidity after few episodes.. but once it brought in some serious plot when HanShuo rescured by Chuchu and plotted to conquer Huayan city it became boring. Good thing they are not pushing it to more than 24 episodes.If you enjoy this drama for the romcom, I recommend watching A female student arrives at,the imperial college.
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All time favorite Chinese romcom
This is probably one of the best romantic comedies I've ever watched. I've watched a lot of cdramas in the last two years, and this is the only one I would consider an outstanding romantic comedy. The plot and the characters were amazing. While the trope of the show wasn't unique, this one was executed extremely well. The pacing of the whole show was great and actors did an amazing job portraying their characters. The comedic timing and writing in this show was so well done, it's set the bar high for all other cdramas. The chemistry between the leads was so good, and something I rarely get from cdramas. I only wish there was a little more to the ending, like even a special episode or something, but I also understand less is more sometimes. This is the only cdrama I've rewatched from start to finish several times.Was this review helpful to you?
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Fun, silly, well-acted... great show!
What a fun time! Main characters were great- FL was sweet, hardworking, and silly; ML was adorably love-struck and yet quite sly, which made for an intriguing combination. Reminded me a bit of Ashes of Love in the final arc, actually. Especially so when the ML gets moody- just like the supposed heartlessness of Xu Feng. Only critique was the misogyny. For a show marketing itself as feminist, there was an awful lot of 'the poor men' in the women-controlled city and literally nothing about the poor treatment of females in our world (FL said it goes back and forth...) or the male-controlled city (except for like 10 minutes in the last few episode, but even those examples were accompanied by sympathy for the poor men in the female-led city, lol). Despite this issue, the acting and script of the leads were phenomenal. ML in particular was so great in his role- both in terms of romance and in terms of character development. Highly recommend.Was this review helpful to you?
I love it
I really like this drama.It is also why i fell in love with the actress zhao lusi. She has a lot of potential even tho she is very young. She is funny bubbly and creates good chemistry with the ML. She is also very pretty and her acting is convincing.
Also, ML and the FL look so good together, the ML is so sweet fòwards the FL always thinks about the consequences of his actions and he always take into consderation how she would feel after doing it.
I have rewatched this drama countless of times because i find the FL very funny and sweet.
The OST also is a plus.
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