A River Runs through It

My favorite Cdrama of all time!

- A masterpiece fr. I really love this drama!
- Perfect casting and realistic plot.
- The acting was very natural.
- It showed us the beauty of friendship, love (one-sided love/first love/great love) and life as they grow old.
- It has a great transition of high school life to adulthood of the characters. The title gives so much sense.
- Slowest slow burn trope I've ever watched but it was really worth to watch.
- Lu Shiyi is the best male lead I've ever watched.
- Wang Ruichang portrayed shiyi very well.
- This drama deserve to have season 2.
- I am still invested on this drama. I re-watched it for like 5 times already and im still missing them. I love them so much.

Read More

Pretty good, I recommend it

MINOR SPOILERS

Overall: I liked this show! It did frustrate me at times at how naive the characters were and some characters REALLY got on my nerves (COUGH HUANG JUN COUGH)... and let's get to certain things that I had issues with!

Story:

Typical story with enjoyable comedy. FL is one of those characters who isn't really quick witted and can't respond quickly when faced with a problem which creates even more misunderstandings that never exactly get completely cleared. I liked how there was a reason that ML liked FL but I would have preferred a more clear reason for FL liking ML (there is a reason, it just isn't as clearly shown as I would like it to be). I think Huang Jun is a fairly realistic/unrealistic person at the same time but he's a very interesting character. HE ANNOYS ME...but I do have to appreciate how nuanced he is. ML hurt me the most honestly, ML is a very funny, typical tsundere character but sadly he became very annoying when he grew up. There's a certain part of the show that isn't really addressed or clear whereas FL potentially got taken advantage of by ML? I mean she woke up and her clothes were not there anymore right after an... interesting scene. That's very upsetting to me AND ON TOP OF THAT ML is just very irritating when he comes back after being abroad (the audacity of these MLs istg). I felt so much second hand embarrassment I had to skip a lot of scenes which is more of a personal issue I suppose but if you also dislike second hand embarrassment then you should skip scenes too. I liked how I wasn't able to tell who ML and who SML was though, I was very confused until SML got a girlfriend. A part of me feels like FL and ML are better as friends because their platonic friendship was very cute but in dramas, a man can't be friends with a woman unless one of them has a significant other 😔. We barely get to see anything school related after they graduate unless it has something to do with romance. I think certain plot points were half baked like when SML (forgot his name oops) witnesses someone get hit by a car and misses his entrance exam. The show never really addresses it ever again, I think it would have added more nuance and made the plot more interesting. For example, they could have maybe made SML more aware of roads whenever his friends cross because he's scared they will get hit. It's not really an important detail to add but it would add more depth to SML's character and would make the plotpoint have more significance rather than just a sloppy, lazy, sad excuse of an empty plot point (a minor inconvenience used only to affect a certain part of the main plot). There is more I could get in depth with but I'll stop there.

Acting/Cast:

Yeah, they're pretty good.

Music:

The music isn't very memorable, I like the song FL sang at the competition but they keep reusing that one song and it's not even an original song.

TLDR;
- Underplayed plots
- Typical romance
- ML might have taken advantage of FL but once again, I'm not sure
- ML gets annoying
- Some characters are well developed, some could have been better
- The ending wasn't really satisfying because at that point, I kind of disliked ML
- I'd recommend this show

Read More

Currently my favorite C-Drama

The story when they were still school student until they became an adults is amazing. The story is very natural and the scenes are all what we experience in life.

Personally, I do not feel like the ending is rushed or dissapointed with how the story ends. I think this kind of story does happened in real life. It just shows how strong the love that the characters had.

In the novel, it is from FL pov and I think its nice. We don't need to know the ML's pov to enjoy the show.

The first time I feel attached to this drama is from the OSTs. At first I was only enjoying the story and feel relate to them but the OST makes me feel very attached and have strong sympathy with the characters. The OST start playing in the college part and I feel like I am their own best friend. Everytime the OTS played, I almost always cried because the of nostalgic feeling. Although I don't understand the lyrics, but I love it all.

I have read the novel and the story is quite different. This drama contains more events than the novel. In the novel, the ending is not really shown. Its an open ending but we know that finally the FL likes the ML.

Read More

A STORY THAT MAKES YOU WAIT BUT IS WORTH THE WAIT

NOTE: I can only recommend this drama to those who like genres' like romance and youth. Plus, if you can also keep up with a slow drama (What I mean about what is slow is the formation of the love between the leads)

Some chinese dramas with the same genre (Romance & Youth) that I have watched was overpassed by this drama, A River Runs Through It. Why?

FIRST THE PLOT/STORY:
As what other romance dramas deliver, it has the same aspects such as falling in love, getting hurt, and forming friendships of a lifetime. Though this drama placed a long journey until both leads gets together— it was still worth the wait and the enjoyment and emotion it brought all throughout made me continue until the end. Also it is quite realistic compared to other dramas— it somehow shows what falling in love is like and the feeling of not knowing how to let go of something and move on like liking someone.

SECOND THE ACTING/CAST:
Everyone suited their roles, and played them very well, very well that you'll end up feeling their emotions and hating some of them. The actors of this drama was very good.

THIRD THE MUSIC:
I didn't really care about the OST when I was watching it since I just skip pass through the intro and outro as well. But I guess it isn't something that I would add in my playlist. But everyone has different tastes, right?

FOURTH THE REWATCH VALUE:
I wouldn't probably rewatch this since I have plenty of other dramas to watch. But if I can, I would probably watch it again. It would somehow be something fresh to rewatch.

LASTLY THE OVERALL:
I rated it a 9.5 since I think it deserves it. I love the story and actors of this drama. It made me somehow cry out of nowhere, but I wouldn't probably miss it much. Thank you to this drama that gave me something fresh to spend my time with. A worthy drama— I can say.

Read More

Better watch it!

A river through it

I've seen a lot of series that deliver stories in a similar way. School, childhood, naivety, and growth. I thought I'd give this one a rating first and then not watch it because I thought I'd seen it before. But when I started watching it for the first time, I knew I'd definitely continue until it finished. This series is so good. I know it's an underrated plot, but you shouldn't miss it – watch this series, and you won't be disappointed. I love how it plays with my emotions. I laughed a lot at the main lead couple; I felt like I wanted to have my own story like theirs.

Let's go back to the details – Richard Wang played Li Shiyi, and Hu Yixuan played Xia Xiao Ju. You never know when you'll fall in love with someone's silly gestures and long companionship. Expect the unexpected; you never know how love will surprise you. I really liked the part when Li Shiyi, the main lead, took courage to step forward and express his feelings. I don't want to explain it more because I'm too attached to this series, and I might get stuck in a loop of thoughts.

Their acting was just so fine; they delivered it well because I know they did their best. I don't need to judge them; I trust the process. I really want to have other seasons for this because there were only 2 episodes of their adulthood and the final ending. But even though I thought those 2 episodes might disappoint me, they made a clean and good ending. I really enjoyed and loved this series. You never know when the day will come that you'll just start living in the moment. I give this a 10 because I love the main lead couple, and the breakup of the female lead's best friend was well-deserved. Better watch it and don't miss it out!

Read More

Nice school drama

Very nice drama to watch.. My second cdrama to watch.. I watched this after watching professional single.. This drama similar to that but slight difference between them.. I like the way of acting of hero and heroine in this drama.. they are acting in a natural way... Carrying the drama through a real one..



A good suggestion to see... Nice drama


I saw this one after already watching a school drama... This tells us about good friendship, relationship and kindness.. The school dramas I suggest you to watch are A river runs through it and Professional single... They both are good in their story cast and acting... The heroine and hero of the both dramas are so cute and lovely... The heroes are handsome... They both has a perfect one and cute couples... Qin Shen ❤️ Yuan Qian
Lu shi yi ❤️ Xia Xiao Ju

Read More

Enjoyable and frustrating

This slice of life, coming of age drama was a nice watch. The plot wasn’t a new concept for high school, college dramas but this one ranks high among dramas of this genre due to the great acting, relatable topics, and realistic ending. The English title was a great choice to sum up the happenings in this show. There were many joyful light hearted and frustrating heavy moments that kept me watching. I was highly invested into each character and their story. For the time period, 90s to early 2000s, definitely brought back some nostalgia with the clothes and technology being used. The time period was well represented and the OST was very nice.

The main negatives were the overuse of misunderstandings being dragged out. This is a staple in cdramaland though.

A definite recommended watch.

Read More

I originally watch this one for Wang Ruichang, but in the end, even Ruichang cannot save this drama.
Honestly, this drama is not bad. The story is solid, the characters are lively and the relationships between each character is pretty good, but I think I really am too old to be able to resonate with the FL.

The FL, Xia Xiaoju is your embodiment of teenage girl in CDramas. New girl, timid, not a bright student but tries hard to study well, strong determination, clumsy, low self esteem, etc. For some dramas, this is not an issue, like LCDF, there it was fine, but I don't know what's different with ARRTI, I just could not find myself to care for her character, for me she fits for a side character instead of a FL. Even more I could not stand Cheng Lang and Lu Shiyi, two of the strongest characters in this drama, only being painted as 'love interests'. Maybe it's because it's only the beginning, I don't know either, but I don't think I can watch any longer to find out.

Actually, I do find similarities between this drama and Reply 1988, but the feeling is somehow different. Maybe it will be better if Xiaoju is the one getting on that train instead of Baobao, and we get to see her struggle for a bit by herself. By then maybe we will see why this FL is the lead and not a side. Maybe someday I will find this drama again by accident and decide to re-watch it again and eventually came to like it. I don't know.

Read More