Lighter & Princess

solid story line - if it’s in ur list pls DONT MISS IT

Not your typical cold guy + FL drama
I’m not sure how to put this into words but the whole show from story line to acting is a masterpiece I’ve been waiting for this drama for maybe about 2 years and rly it did not disappoint .
Watched it half way but I know that I will get too upset so I paused it for awhile to wait for everyth to finish uploading before I continue .

Good character development
Unique story line
Easily the top cdrama I’ve ever watched not kidding..

I think after watching thiS show I’m a huge Chen fei Yu fan his portrayal of the whole cool cold bad guy is chef kisses……..
the story also kind of shows how every person has their own fate ( which I believe) so it’s rly interesting to show how everyth comes to play
Also I rly rly rly hope that they end up tgt if not I’ll be so torn …..
Im at ep 23 currently and I purposely paused it bec I don’t want to get too overly affected by the drama and cry endlessly.. but trust me ITS DAMN DAMN GOOD PLS GIVE IT A WATCH.. I’m on my knees

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There's simply a lot you have to ignore to enjoy this drama.

I cant get through to the later episodes simply because they seem to be going down the path of a melodrama and to be frank, I can't find it in myself to care.

1) Li Xun at his best seems annoying to deal with. Yes he is written in the image of the 'bad boy trope'. However the writers forget the most important thing while writing any classic enemies to lovers. It is the change in the "bad boy" which convinces the female lead to fall in love with him or realize that he was not the person whom she had initially though he was. There is no change seen here.
To be fair, that may be unfair on my part for writers may not have written with the intention of writing such a relationship. Rather one where the female lead "changes" the male lead" or simply that the "female lead lead simply bears with the male lead and his wishes". From.what I have seen, it seems like its following the path of the latter. I may be wrong about later episodes. However my point still stands as he hadn't changed before or during their relationship.

2)The trajectory of their relationship isn't believable. I can't think of any reason why Zhu yun and Li xun would feel attracted to each other. From Zhu yun's perspective she has seen his disrespectful behaviour to fellow colleagues and his arrogant attitude. Li xun's perspective is a mystery to me. I can't think of any possible reason for him to feel attraction towards Zhu yun other than possibly familiarity

For this reason I knew I wouldn't be able to bear show's later heavy conflicts when I could care less about what happens to the main couple or any of the characters


On the other hand, you can treat the first few episodes as a guilty pleasure and with a few (a lot) suspensions of disbelief, this might work out for you. It worked out for me until a certain point in the story. In the end don't look for anything substantial to take from this drama. This is fine. We all have our guilty pleasures. If this seems like what you are looking for go ahead.

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It's a good day when you forget this is a C-drama ...

It's a GOOD ASS DAY when you forget that this is a C-Drama, so you breathe a sigh of relief. What do I mean by that? I'm talking about the friendship between Li Xun and Ren Di. From the first episode, you could tell they had a connection. I was terrified that they might've had a thing, but once I remembered this was a C-Drama, I knew I could relax. This strong connection was friendship. Low key most underrated friendship in this whole drama.

What this drama does well is tell the story of growth. University is a false reality. I know since I'm in it. A lot of things happen here that don't carry on, whether that is success or relationships. Their university journey starts with finding their first love and that going to total shit. We see our FL evolve from a timid good girl to launching into a grenade to protect her man. We see our ML evolve from a self-involved brat know-it-all to a man who knows he is no longer only responsible for himself, but the people in his life.

I love Chinese dramas. Why in particular I say it about this drama? Because they know what we want. They give us that romance build up. They give us that happy ending. They give us that wedding. They give us that baby. Sure, 2/4 of the things are implied (never showed a "real" wedding or the baby) but it happened.

Why only an 8.0/10? ML was such an asshole! Like too much! There's asshole, and then there's Li Xun. He was really a bully, but like I mentioned earlier... University man... But she likes that shit, clearly. I mean, sometimes I too imagine... wait, sorry, this is Goodreads. Anyway...

Final note: HER MOM IS THE FUCKING DEVIL. OH, AND I LOVE THE DAMN SOUNDTRACK.

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Absolute Banger till first 19 episodes.

The first arc of the drama is really amazing and deserves all ten stars. I'd recommend this show just for those 19 ep. The second arc though? Bah 🥴

I'm not saying this because I dislike complications or tragedy but because the writing in the second half is genuinely awful. It seemed like the characters had no development in the span of three years and were just stuck being shadows of their past selves. The consequences of their actions do not seem to inspire any change in their outlook. The story seems to be in a state of complete limbo, it does not move forward but just keeps referencing the past. This kind of lazy writing is what makes the second part feels like a less charming reenactment of the first part with nothing new to add. The ML's character was also really inconsistent in the second half, like they weren't sure what they wanted to do with him.

Moreover, there's no satisfactory resolution of the conflicts that are set up, both in the terms of the romance and revenge arcs. As the audience we are baited into watching these episodes for the epic downfall of their enemies WHICH NEVER HAPPENS. Instead we are fed some sloppy shit about how everyone makes mistakes and all that like!!? That Gao dude is literally a wife beater what do you mean he gets a redemption arc? What was the point of setting up the stage for their battle then? In terms of romance the conflict between the two characters never gets the kind of treatment it deserves. They just sort of brush it under the table with one measly apology from ML. The show would have been much more meaningful if the whole revenge fiasco had made both ML and FL reflect on themselves and grow as people. Especially the ML, the lack of a proper grovel from his side really makes the second part feel so superficial and makes the FL seem like a doormat.

I'd suggest you to stop watching after their graduation party scene in ep 19 and give them a happy ending in your mind.

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Why was everyone pampering Li Xun?!

This drama was quite contrasting... At times, it peaked with its brilliant character arcs and storytelling, and the next moment the graph would just dip and show absolute nonsense. While I really appreciate the story and the whole journey of the characters, I must say the pacing of the series was quite slow. The series opens in the present time, where we see the leads living quite miserable lives. Then it goes full flashback, to show what really happened and how did this misery come to be, and we witness Li Xun and Zhu Yun as freshly admitted college kids. Now while I loved that they took their time to build the story and show substantial character development, taking 19 episodes to show just their college days is a little too much. The episodes were meandering in the middle, with little to no plot development, and after a point, I got impatient seeing baby Zhu Yun chasing behind baby Li Xun, and baby Li Xun throwing a tantrum to anyone who dared to cross him. I really wanted to know what the "big incident" was all about. So imagine my frustrated PAIN when the big incident was finally revealed. It was so anticlimactic. Here I was thinking of the gravest of the grave crimes that the ML could commit, and it just fizzled out like a wet cracker.
Then comes the 2nd half of the story, and I prefer the 2nd part more than the first, mostly because of Zhu Yun's character development. Her transition from a sheltered princess to a boss lady was very well done, and the actress also played her part very well. However, it doesn't mean that 2nd part is flawless. While it made up for the 1st part's often meandering storytelling by having a tighter plot, it wasnt able to capture the nuances of the characters that the 1st part was able to do. This is a sign of sloppy writing, where you forget about the characters to just race the plot ahead to the finish line. The biggest gripe that I will have from the 2nd half and this drama, is how they wrote the villains. The villain's transition arc was so pathetic. This literally ruined all the character development of that guy and made him into a caricature figure who becomes a villain just because the story needs one. One minute he's crying next to Li Xun as his comrade, the next minute he's COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED to a soulless, evil character who laughs at the ML's loss, and then he even cackles evilly to reveal all the villainy things he's done. This transition does not happen overnight y'all. I need more motivation to understand why the villain became a villain. The actual villain though, is left untouched, he becomes a slick weasel, just sneaking past all retribution/punishments through plotholes, the way a rat slips through gaps and holes. Just at the end, one line is narrated by Zhu Yun to say that he deserved what he got. They should've elaborated more on his relationship with Lao Gao. But again, sloppy writing, so they decided to ignore these nuances completely. And towards the end, the villain gets a redemption arc too... Like good for you, but show me why its necessary 😖

Now when it comes to the acting, honestly Arthur Chen has THE MOST wooden face ever. But because he's playing a complicated, unfeeling character, his wooden expressions work. But he still needs to learn how to snap on camera and how to contort his face to show SOME facial expression. The female lead was also lovely to watch. Despite the lack of facial expressions, their chemistry was spot on. And Arthur Chen with a crew cut looks much hotter than the blonde or the black hair. So the wooden looks worked out really well as intense looks. The rest of the actors were also fine, except the actor playing Fang Zhijing was overacting at every frame per second.
Finally, the OST. Both the songs and the background music was good and memorable.

Honestly, this was one of the better cdramas I've watched. There's nuance, there's revenge and there's obsessive love sugarcoated by a lot of computer coding and jargon-ing!! I just wish the series was a little more edited, the watching experience would've been flawless then.

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Don't judge a book by its cover!

After finishing the series, I can honestly say that I misjudged how much I would end up liking it. The first episode was a bit like watching paint dry, mostly because it lacked sufficient context. But things picked up after they met in the cafeteria in episode 2. From there, I was giggling through almost every episode like a silly schoolgirl.

While I don't know how I feel about Zhu Yun having to chase Li Xun from beginning to end, the chemistry between the two was palpable. Li Xun is a complicated character. I found him to be charming at first, then after a few more episodes I grew tired of his arrogant, obstinate behavior, then I eventually found him to be charming again by the end of the series.

Gao Jian Hong is another complicated character, who struggled with his own insecurities and the eventual projection of those same insecurities onto others. His tug-of-war with feeling like he's always in Li Xun's shadow became the demon that he had to eventually confront and defeat, though it took literal sickness to halt him in his march towards self-destruction.

It's rare to come across a modern love-story c-drama as potent as Lighter & Princess. The approach to storytelling is very mature, and hyper-realistic. Ignore anyone who gives this show a low rating, especially if they haven't at least watched the first few episodes.

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Lighter and Princess love despite the scars

First off, the two leads Arthur Chen and Zhang Jing Yi had incredible chemistry. From the very beginning, the way they looked at each other made it impossible not to feel the longing and quiet affection between them. Their eye contact alone carried so much emotion, and it felt natural. You could really see their feelings slowly building over time, from curiosity to trust to deep love. It made every shared scene feel intimate and meaningful, even when nothing dramatic was happening.

As for the story itself, I didn’t care for it that much. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t particularly memorable. I found myself more invested in the romance than in the actual events unfolding. That said, the chemistry between the leads completely carried the drama for me. It was strong enough that it kept me watching even when the story lagged. I’ll admit I skipped scenes that didn’t involve them because I didn't care about anyone else besides them and their coworkers from the company.

Another major highlight for me, besides the leads, was their coworkers. They were absolutely hilarious and so endearing. I genuinely adored them. The dynamic within the group felt warm and natural, like a found family. They were caring, observant, and always subtly aware of what was going on between Li Xun and Zhu Yun. I loved how they would make little comments or tease Li Xun in ways that were clearly meant to push him to wake up and confront his own feelings. They understood him better than he understood himself at times. His past trauma constantly reminded him that he didn’t deserve happiness, especially not with someone like Zhu Yun, and the coworkers often served as that quiet support system nudging him toward growth.

What I didn’t like, though, was how Li Xun would often say incredibly hurtful things to Zhu Yun. My mouth would literally drop when I heard some of the words he threw at her. They were harsh and uncalled for, and it was painful to watch. Zhu Yun would walk away in tears, clearly hurt, yet she always came back to him. When Li Xun thought Zhu Yun was moving on, even after everything he had said to her, he had absolutely no right to be upset. It highlighted how selfish and emotionally unaware he could be. While he did become better once he learned to let go of his past and move forward, the damage he caused still lingered for me especially when Zhu Yun did nothing, but remained loyal to him.

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Absolutely worth it

Although some parts of the drama got on my last damn nerves and the win-win resolution pissed me the hell off, I still consider this one hell of a series.
Top notch everything, this series had it all. It was quality all around.
The chemistry between Chen Fei Yu as Li Xun and Zhang Jing Yi as Zhu Yun was so scorching hot it’s was incredible to watch. It’s been a long time I saw chemistry that was this fire in CDrama.
The only thing I didn’t like was that they didn’t make Zhu Yun have any identity, goals, dreams or aspirations that wasn’t somehow tied to Li Xun, he was literally her whole world but if you are going to go all in for someone in the way she did you might as well do it right and boy did she go all in for him and while I can’t be like her I certainly wont knock her for it either. I completely understood why he took the extreme route in propelling her to break up with him because God, him and everyone watching the show knew that she would never give up on him easily but I didn’t like how the writers took his bad treatment of her too far after his prison release, especially in that office scene before her overdose.
But Li Xun was who he was and made no apologies for it. I agree with one reviewer that said how they made some changes to Li Xun in the later episodes just so they could give us a win-win situation that literally nobody asked for and was undeserved to say the least, I also wasn’t happy about that.
If you want to watch a CDrama with real matured make out seshs with a good plot and solid acting then this is for you, I also recommend Falling into You.
Rewatch value is 10/10 (I have already rewatched and planning on rewatching again soon)
Overall is absolutely 10/10
I obviously highly highly recommend.

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SADISTIC ASSHOLE & DELULU MASOSCHIST.

Basic plot:🗯️🗯️
a guy comes out of jail and is about to restart his live. He's on a mission to take revenge against those who wronged hum. We immediately go back to the past and start to see how the events that brought him to jail unfold..

Let's talk about this drama shall we?
I fricking devoured the first 18 episodes.

Initial observations 🗯️🗯️
The start is really strong and intriguing but at episode 19 I had to stop because i was so mad. It took me an entire month to come back and finally finish this thing.

Reason? The 2 main leads were really pissing me off. At the start of the story we obviously meet our ml and fl and they are fine , but in the middle point they become such toxic people I had to pause and take a break.

Main characters 🗯️🗯️
Unfortunately this will be their role during the entire drama. These two are ,frankly speaking ,toxic to each other and other people.

Where they are together the world ceases to exist and they treat everyone like shit. Lao gan, their so called "best friend" is a perfect example.

I know that lu xun is Designed to be a cocky asshole with a "supposed" high moral compass but I couldn't stand him and the "princess" wasn't any better.

She only cares about how the ml feels or if he can help her out. She disregards everyone who ever says anything bad about him.
She is unable of criticisms when it comes to liu xu.

Lu xun knows he is better than anyone around him but keeps humiliating his peers for frankly no good reason.

Lao gao ark gets out of hand at the end but he was kind of justified in his hatred towards Lu xun.

When the main couple is split it doesn't get any better. They are assholes to everyone around them and when they are together they are absolutely toxic to each other.

In the later episodes Lu xun and Zhu Yun are obviously flirting with each other but lu xun, after making a fool of Zhu Yun, gives her the most humiliating speech ever. He says such heinous things about their past love story I personally would have slapped him and left forever.

I know that he supposedly pushing her again to "protect her" ( in a very twisted way) but nothing justifies the amount of mean stuff he says to her in this drama.

Zhun yu is saving his ass left and right and he mistreats her just to avoid giving her any "hope" Romance wise.

At the end of the drama I think he is a narcissist asshole and she is a delusional masochist.

In the 27th episode specifically he lashes on her because of his jeoulosy I was frankly disgusted by what he said.

Is it frustrating to witness all these interactions especially when it comes to Zhu Yu. This guy treats her like shit all the time and she is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone for him.

Later in the drama she is even sorry for "abandoning" Lu xun. What?? You didn't abandon him he literally cut you off of his life. Stop justifying this psycho.

She also has a guy running after her for years and she strings him along never actually putting a stop to his feelings towards her. He is the one to give up.

I think she was just addicted to being the "elected" person of a so called "genius".

Some ridiculous moments🗯️🗯️
Talking about genius, in the drama we see that Lu xun is trying to build his life again and fight against his ex corporation. It was hilarious to see a big tech company fricking out for a 4 member team of a small company. Are u serious? The script really want us to believe the Lu xun is an invincible force. C'mon guys at a certain point it becomes laughable.
A huge corporation with dozen of employees against a single programmer...

Positive:🗯️🗯️
I know I sound crazy but I liked the drama overall. How ? I don't know. It was engaging and the boring parts were mainly b roles which I skipped like crazy. You might hate the characters but still find the drama enjoyable.
The whole battling against one another was decent.

the chemistry between the actors is undeniable. they have a magnetic aura around them.


Music:🗯️🗯️
Pretty good. I even saved same songs.

Would I recommend it? Yes.
Would I re-watch it? Hell no.

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Childish behavior, red flag ml, puppy clingy princess

I could barely finish the drama, started it 3 times and could finish it only on 3rd try with skips at the last 10 episodes. The female lead is just a clingy like puppy to a guy who is always hurting her, lack of proper communication and emotional intelligence:) She is always sacrificing something for him and supporting, while he at the beginning especially was so selfish, the way how he acted with his “friends “/teammates, like yeah, you are smart, but you also think about others’ feelings.
Overhyped c-drama for sure. The only good thing - the main leads’ facecards

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