Falling into Your Smile

So cute, but heroine is seriously lacking

The high ratings I gave this show are well deserved.

First, they tackle a lot of issues I didn't expect to see in an E-sports drama at all (like girls in sports, sexism, toxic dating habits (Not a spoiler, I promise!), etc.) and so that was really cool!

Second, the acting was really amazing! Some of the best I've seen in a C-drama! Xu Kai killed it from start to finish and I have no complaints about any of the other actors (which is so very rare for me)!

Third, the story was ridiculously engaging. I don't know what the writer's did to make it so interesting, but whatever it was, I want more of it. Because WOW did it work! Even though I had tons of other work and prior engagements, I watched this in a week! It really is that good! Seriously, give it a shot and if you're not hooked after the first episode, then I guess the magic of this show doesn't speak to you.

Now to get onto some of the bad things... okay, no singular bad thing.

The show did deal with sexism, which is great. Except that Tong Yao had absolutely no personality. She was so flat and giving Mary Sue for 95% of the show that I kept accidentally trying to attribute more character to her than she presented to compensate. She is a complete blank space for the majority of the series. You could've replaced her character with a literal plant and the effect would have been the exact same.

Now, to be clear, I do not blame Cheng Xiao. Her performance was excellent. 10/10. In the moments when Tong Yao does show a bit of personality, Cheng Xiao's performance blew me AWAY. So, like WHY was it covered up for the majority of the show?? I don't know, but it's clear to me that Cheng Xiao is not the problem.

The problem is the writers because it was the literal story and character concept that completely obliterated Tong Yao's personality. You're thrown into the shown with this badass, doesn't really care about the rules gal with a lollipop in her mouth, but within five episodes, she's been broken down by the industry and is acting like a "good" E-sports girl. And it's kind of like "so this show deals with sexism and how bad it is, but also can't have a feminist FL....?" like, literally what?!

It can get veryyyyy annoying, especially in the later episodes when the romance starts to heat up. Because Lu Sicheng is making your freaking heart melt and then Tong Yao is like *peace brah*. So, I need someone to explain to me why they did this, because it's jail. I will not accept it.

Also! literally every side character has more personality than Tong Yao. I ended the show feeling more confident about the rest of her team's personalities and freaking Xiao Rui than I did about Tong Yao, which is just simply not right.

SHE'S THE FL!!! How can I NOT be aware of her personality???? Is she goofy? Is she lovable? Does she enjoy anything other than Japanese food and cats? I DON'T KNOW!! And that's absolutely crazy to me!

So, mini rant aside and over with, this IS still a fantastic show. And I am going to re-watch it. So cute, so fluffy, so adorable! It gave me all the best feels! I just wish they'd gone full throttle with their "girls can do anything" campaign and kept Tong Yao as a badass with an incredible personality all her own, but unfortunately we can't always get everything we want *sigh*

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Say hello to a refreshing drama after ages

Lately i have been going through a slump , every other chinese drama was boring consecutively until i met this . This one drama checks all the boxes for me - an engaging story line , a female lead who actually contributes to victory and is the back bone of the group,a girl who responds to kisses as passionately as the male lead , the male lead is a sweet heart , no unnecessary breakup they showed very well how one can help one another , a beautiful ost , no unnecessary plotlines or second leads , the animation was brilliant , the engaging second lead , the brilliant mindblowing number of kisses , a strong love story , the second lead really is a good actor , the support staff were all on spot , i wish therw was a bl element but its ok.
Thankx xu kai for surpassing love 020 for me this drama is better than love 020 u wanna know y watch it .

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With managed expectations, it can be a cute rom-com without the unnecessary conflicts

Disclaimer: I have already come across a lot of Falling into Your Smile clips on Facebook and Instagram before I picked up the series, so I dived into the drama knowing what would happen in certain scenes, more or less. With this, I had anticipated that the romance aspect wouldn’t have much effect on me, taking into account the “immunity” I thought I developed from watching a lot of spoiler videos. Surprisingly, I still felt the butterflies—and loads of them.

The love story is definitely the strongest point and the highlight of this drama. Even with scenes that I have already watched a number of times before, I still found myself pausing some episodes just so I could take my time to breathe and recover, as the fluttering sensation in my stomach got a bit overwhelming.

Xu Kai’s portrayal of the tsundere, cold, taciturn male lead was decent—I can see he tried his best depicting the subtle shifts in expressions, which felt natural and nothing over-the-top.

The romance aspect is undeniably in full swing. So much so that the male lead fell too fast and hard, which also makes the relationship arc as one of the major flaws of the series.

In the first meetings and episodes, the male lead was already giving the female lead a kind of special treatment to some extent, without any (pre-)established notion. This left no room for the development of the romance structure: the male lead almost went all in, like he was already in love with female lead from the get-go, failing to provide the viewers the journey of getting to know and falling in love.

Another flaw of this series is Cheng Xiao’s portrayal of the female lead. Sadly, her unamused eye expressions do not help the audience distinguish the emotions she was trying to portray. With this, I think it was Xu Kai who carried the romance and made it work.

Other than this, the pacing and writing are quite decent: the series started with a narrator ala Gossip Girl, seemingly in charge of an online e-sports gossip platform, who helped establish in setting the story and introducing the characters. The narrator is not omnipresent in the entire series, as a switch in perspective/point of view between the leads is observed, but it was a good tool in storytelling.

As someone with zero background in e-sports, the series still got me engaged even during the actual games. While I have no absolute understanding of what was happening during the competitions, I was still able to enjoy and take part in the team camaraderie.

I appreciate how the games have their own animations as well and I didn’t feel the need to know the technicalities of the games, such as its purpose and characters, as I feel this could make the story unnecessarily convoluted.

There were also no unnecessary conflicts and filler episodes, which I really like, and the second leads and secondary characters have had the chance to resolve their own conflicts.

Overall, there is nothing extraordinary nor unique in the series, but this will make a good choice if you are looking for an easy watch, modern rom-com without the unnecessary filler dramas.

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About e-sport and romance relationship

The best drama....everything are complete but I just want to say many people want season 2 seriously....this drama really catchy and many foreign people like it.....hahahahahaha whatever we just want season 2.....director please be kind!!!!!😍💖💖❤️❤️💓💓💕💕💗💗...cheng xiao and xu Kai is the best actor and actress in my heart....I really love Lu sicheng character and tong Yao character.....first time I watch this drama until now I just can't move on with this drama....so what i'm doing now is watching this drama repeatedly until I got fed up with this story but u guys know that this drama not bored at all because of that I couldn't stop my eyes and ears to watch and listen this drama.....and because of that too I want season 2 to move on myself😎😎😎💘💘💘💘💘

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BEST DRAMA EVER!!!

I Loved The Drama!!! Although there were a few flaws, overall it was spectacular. The only main problem is that Cheng Xiao's hairstyle was the same throughout the drama. Even though she looked pretty like that, it became a bit monotonous. But she was very hilarious and portrayed her character well. She also looked really pretty. The song sung by Xu Kai and her was really great. The ending song was also wonderful. In the beginning she seemed expressionless. However, as the drama proceeded, I observed that her acting was pretty good. I think Xu Kai portrayed his character very well as well. Even though his acting was great throughout the drama, I felt that he was very realistic during some scenes. For example, when he asked for a kiss in ep 23 at the movie theater and when he said he wanted to get a kiss from Tong Yao before going on a date. I personally didn't like K at the beginning. However, after a few episodes I started liking his character. The other characters were great as well. The actress who played Tong Yao's best friend was really good too. I am very obsessed with the drama to the extent that after the drama was over, I felt down and kept watching it again and again. I think a few months later, after I forget the story a bit, I would watch it again. Also, I am really hoping for a season 2. I would continue to support these actors and actresses in the future. I am waiting for Cheng Xiao's upcoming projects like 'Lie to Love' and 'My Heart'. I am also waiting for Xu Kai's upcoming dramas like 'She and Her Perfect Husband', 'Lost in the Kunlun Mountains', 'Royal Feast', etc.... I also hope that Xu kai and Cheng Xiao do further projects together.

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A Charming Comfort View

This was not a particularly deep drama, but a gentle, charming rom-com which depended on the likability of the main cast. Not just the ML/FL, but the other actors playing ZGDX and their friends. There, they succeeded, and that, along with a lovely musical score, made this my lunch-time companion for the duration.

If you're looking for a consideration of women entering the male-dominated spaces of e-sports, you're not going to find it here. You are going to find something that won't tax your brain too much, but will let you relax and allow the world to slip away for a little while. There are times that's not such a bad thing.

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A great light hearted show!

This was my first drama with the introduction to Cheng Xiao and though at first she came across as sulky to me, I slowly warmed up to her and thought for Xu Kai’s first modern drama, he did pretty well.

The overall storyline was what I found interesting, the visual effects was amazing! I absolutely loved watching the scenes of the game fight scenes in full mode, that was a great touch! I did like that the tone of the production was fairly light hearted, there were some comical scenes in there and also some emotional ones which was a nice balance. I loved the chemistry of all the actors in the group together. You can definitely tell that they get along on and off screen. That was another thing that I liked, watching the BTS videos of CX and XK often made me smile. I actually thought he had a much better off-screen relationship with CX than he did with Dong Yu in Ancient Love Poetry.

But you can appreciate the CP moments in this drama, sometimes a bit cringey as I thought there were more than the necessary kissing scenes but I can appreciate that some people look for that kind of stuff. I bag on the emotional conversations they had and how protective he was over her without actually wanting to let go of his cold hard demeanour.

Though there were some minor setbacks. I felt the coldness Lu Si Cheng displayed almost came across as too narcissistic and was a real put off for me to watch at the beginning. I get that it was his character trait - but it seems to be his character trait in almost all his shows. But the moment that melted the ice for me was when he covered Tong Yao’s eyes after she stayed up all night practicing after her defeat with (whatever his name was). I liked that he withdrew his defensive walls for her then. The other setback I felt was the Korean subbing - Xu Kai’s Korean subbing was a little out of sync, and you can tell he didn’t really say the words properly. Not as well as Wang Yi Jun and Didi’s subbing.

The production was great, from the filming, lighting and editing. A job well done! I was especially happy that they had so many cat scenes in this, I thought it was bloody cute!

Overall, I did enjoy it. It’s a nice short and light hearted drama which is such a contrast to ALP which I was watching at the same time. So, I enjoyed it!

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This is my favorite E-sports drama so far even trumped my previous fave E-Sports Romance (Love O2O). Cheng Xiao is adorable as the amateur game goddess Tong Yao, who in the beginning was like a deer caught in headlights when she enters a professional gaming league as the only female player and a mainly-male dominated sport. She suffers some initial setback and distrust from more seasoned players, including the team captain of ZGDX, where Tong Yao is a member. Xu Kai as Lu Si Cheng is convincing as the cold and aloof leader, who later warms up to Tong Yao after she proved her value to the club. Supporting Tong Yao from the beginning is her bestie Jin Yang, even while she is navigating her own battles with love (the on-and-off relationship with Ai Jia).

In the course of the drama, we see the introduction of many characters, with some falling for the Mulan and God of OPL, and while some are harmless crushes, others fans were far more vindictive. The drama takes this opportunity and others to demonstrate how being a keyboard warrior can affect the lives of the people being talked about. Despite the popularity of some of these players, they are also human who are vulnerable to unwarranted criticism, especially if they are attacks on a personal level. The drama also showcases the level of cooperation between teammates while playing a game, as well, as how they operate in their private lives. For example even though Si Cheng's tenacious protectiveness of his colleagues is well-intentioned, he had to learn to trust his teammates to carry the burden.

In other notes, Though the in-game animation /CGI is pretty badass, sometimes it is difficult to follow the gaming strategies especially if you are not an active player of a MOBA game like Onmyoji Arena. Although the drama imparts many kernels of wisdom regarding teamwork, online bullying, lack of parental support and/or self-esteem, etc. sometimes it tends to get preachy. Otherwise it is a feel good drama.

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More Romance Than Gaming

Falling Into Your Smile is not a drama that you would watch for the gaming aspect. Yes, it is featured quite heavily throughout the 31 episodes but I see it as merely a conduit to the romance. So, the romance is the driver while the gaming helps to create the stage for the love to bloom. There are quite a lot of computer graphics of the game being played during the competition. It is different from Love Scenery whereby the leads also take on the game characters. In this drama, the game is all graphics with the leads controlling the characters that they play as they try to pump up the excitement of a close match.

I have to say that those graphics are quite well done and the quality is there. However, it gets repetitive to me and I ended up skipping some of these scenes. Perhaps it might be exciting if you are into gaming. But I can hardly distinguish the different game characters and who is playing what during these battle scenes. The good thing is it doesn’t mar the story in any way if you skip them. After all, those gaming competitions are merely fillers most of the time. The actual story takes place outside of those matches at the team’s base camp.

Not A Plot-Driven Drama
Falling Into Your Smile is not a drama that is plot-heavy. The story isn’t anything new. In essence, it is about a girl joining a male-dominated field. She slowly gains acceptance and also falls in love while having to deal with rumors and fans. A big chunk of the drama is taken up by the female lead’s interactions with the male lead and relationship among the team members.

There is no one big villain which needed to be gotten rid of. Instead, the drama is taken up by little events that mainly affect the female lead ranging from a provocative anchor to a crazy fan. Of course, the male lead will get dragged into them as well due to his feelings for her and position as captain of the team. All these help to make up the overall story.

It is not boring but neither does it have a captivating and more refreshing plot unlike dramas such as The Day Of Becoming You. Basically, you will end up just enjoying the main couple’s bantering and sweet moments plus some team camaraderie. That’s about it for me. So, if you don’t mind the lack of an interesting plot and just want to watch the romance, this might be your cup of tea. Otherwise, it is just like any other light romance dramas out there rather than a serious gaming drama.

Acting And Chemistry
Cheng Xiao’s inexperience shows when playing her role as Tong Yao. She doesn’t have a broad range of expressions especially the micro ones to give the character more life. I think it could be better so that Tong Yao will come across as more spunky rather than bland and stiff. But her performance is still passable for a new actress to me. At least, she didn’t annoy me to the point that I need to quit watching.

Furthermore, Cheng Xiao did well to generate the right chemistry with the more experienced Xu Kai. I think without this chemistry, many would have dropped it halfway. It is hard to watch a romance drama when there is little chemistry between the leads like what happened in Please Feel At Ease Mr. Ling. In Falling Into Your Smile, the leads got the sparks going and that carried the drama all the way through for me.

Well-Written Supporting Characters
If there is one other reason to watch Falling Into Your Smile, it has to be the supporting characters. All the ZGDX team members have different personalities. Although they don’t dominate the screen time individually, they are interesting to watch as a group. Their unique personalities create a different kind of chemistry and provide the comedic scenes as well as the team spirit required for a gaming drama.

There is really no hateful character that stands out in Falling Into Your Smile. All the main and supporting characters are likable which is why this drama is kind of light and stress-free to watch. They are also realistically portrayed as people with flaws unlike the idealistic Love 020.

My Verdict – Interesting But Nothing Compelling
I think Falling Into Your Smile will not resonate with viewers looking for a really good gaming or e-sports drama. Personally, I find it to be more suitable for romance drama fans. It has little time spent on the team compared to Go Go Squid! which at least tries to give viewers a more in-depth look at past friendships and their team spirit. The focus on the romance in Falling Into Your Smile is akin to Go Go Squid 2: DT Appledog’s Time although the latter has a more mature feel to the main couple’s relationship compared to the former.

This drama is saved by the leads’ chemistry and supporting cast because the plot is nothing great. It is the interactions among the different characters that give life to this story rather than a strong plot to drive it. All the various issues that crop up from parental conflicts to ex-boyfriend matters are never explored in-depth. They are glossed over to give screen time to the main couple’s bickering and relationship development instead.

I would give this Falling Into Your Smile review a score of 7.5/10. It is alright for a simple storyline but don’t expect anything compelling. Watch it for the romance which is cute and sweet in its unique way. There are quite a few kisses but they are not as intense as those found in Love Is Sweet or Love Designer. You will like it if you are into a confident and domineering man turning into a softie when he falls in love. Of course, you also can’t miss this if you are a Xu Kai fan. But if you are looking for something more serious and mature whether in terms of the plot or even the romance, I think this will fall short.

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Not Impress

I am not a gamer so this drama did not excited me as "GO GO SQUID' or "LOVE 020". It did not have the story as does drama and in some instant it seem as the writer was copying some of the scenes. The ML is a wonderful actor but the FL left me with a sour in my mouth. I could not get the chemistry between them. I could tell she was not playing the game and her acting gives it away that she does not know how to play, and she seem out of it or not wanting to be in the scene. Many scenes she seem stupid. At the beginning you get the idea that she is tough and knows all about the games and is suppose to be a great gamer. Her character fissile out once she join the team. The love affair that she had with the ex-boyfriend did not seem real. I do not know if it was the story or the direction the FL was getting but I was not impress with this drama. .

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