This review may contain spoilers
Emotional Roller Coaster - nothing "light" about this drama
Lighter and Princess is a polarizing Chinese drama that splits audiences—some love it enough to give it a 10/10, while others really dislike it. In the review string I was looking at I would say it was about 75% rated it really high and 25% rated it low with an insignificant number in the middle. I landed right in the middle though. To me an 8/10 means it is good just not great. It’s very heavy on drama with a darker, serious tone and almost no comedy or light-hearted moments. The romance is an extremely slow burn (the kind where you start wondering if they’ll ever truly get together), which will appeal strongly to fans of that style but can feel frustrating if you prefer better balance. The main girl (Zhu Yun) is interesting—she’s firm and decisive with everyone else but becomes more of a pushover when it comes to him (Li Xun). Their dynamic starts with mutual dislike and bickering, but it’s easy to see the direction things are heading. The show has strong emotional weight and reminded me of the gut-wrenching parental disapproval vibes from shows like "The Heirs" and "Meteor Garden". Production and chemistry are solid, and it builds a loyal fanbase among those who enjoy intense, slower-paced stories. That said, I wouldn’t rewatch it. The slow pacing and the male lead’s type made it a struggle to get through at times, even though I appreciated many aspects. If you like heavy drama, darker romance, and don’t mind a very gradual build, this could be for you. Otherwise, it might drag you down emotionally. My daughter (30s), my drama watching buddy, quit at episode four. She said it was just too boring to her.Spoilers
The structure of the series really tested my patience. I am not a flash back fan and to have a large portion of the story told as a flashback almost made me quit. So, if you like me, want to know when it will finally stop flashing ack (like seriously it goes on for about 20 episodes - that is a long flash back). I also was losing patience with their romance. They finally get together during their college years around episode 18. The events leading to his (Li Xun) prison time happen around episode 22. Then it switches back to the present day about halfway through episode 23. If you consider that it is easy to understand how someone would get rage quit level frustrated with the structure and pace of the series. So you are glad they finally together in their college days and waiting for it to switch back to present time. But when it finally switches back to present time they are broken up and it felt like they just finally got together a couple of episodes ago. And this was another grueling pacing thing of waiting for them to get together again. They don’t properly reunite as a couple again until quite late—around episode 33 or so. I had to spoiler myself by looking at review sites on the general flow because I was seriously considering dropping it midway. So, one of my biggest gripes was the structure and pacing.
Li Xun is arrogant (as many geniuses are), but that arrogance creates real friction. Old Gao (Gao Jianhong) had a massive inferiority complex toward him, which drove a lot of the betrayal and drama. It was refreshing to see the colleagues at the video game company react differently—they felt lucky to have these two brilliant talents join instead of feeling threatened.
The parental disapproval, especially from her mom (Zhu Yun’s mom), is brutal and very Meteor Garden-esque. I really wanted her mom to have a clear realization that her controlling behavior contributed to Zhu Yun’s serious depression episode, but that never fully materialized. There’s a vague sense it might improve slowly in the future, but it’s not shown. I also wished Li Xun had been more open: he never fully explained to her parents (or even clearly to Zhu Yun) the real reasons behind everything—being kicked out of school, the hacking incident (which he did desperately for his mom’s sake, not intending the extreme grade changes), and especially correcting the cruel things he said right before prison. He should have dropped the pride and told her straight that he never found her annoying or hated her attention. That lack of full vulnerability hurt the emotional payoff for me. On the positive side, I loved that Zhu Yun finally stood up to her mom, clearly stating it wasn’t her choice who she was with.
The main levity in the story came from the characters surrounding the main couple. The boss at the new company going to bat for them with her dad was great, and the company itself becoming like a found family was one of the warmer elements. I enjoyed that aspect of the series a lot. The friendships.
The title and imagery (“Lighter and Princess”) are beautiful—especially the lighter motifs and how she carries herself like a haughty princess early on. It was not at all what I expected from the title or the few previews I had scene. It had a revenge plot running through that I entirely did not expect.
As an empath, the show was emotionally exhausting. Li Xun’s frequent sadness and loneliness were hard to watch, and his coldness toward Zhu Yun at times made it tougher. I needed those resolutions (like clearer communication and family acceptance) to feel better about the rollercoaster, but some of them never fully came. A scene showing them with a child and her parents as happy, smiling grandparents would have been perfect closure.
The lighter funny moments were mostly the computer nerds hacking into each other’s screens right next to them—that was cute.
Overall, it’s a lot. Strong in many ways, but the pacing, emotional weight, and incomplete resolutions kept it from being higher than 8/10 for me.
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Lots to Love, a few things to hate
Where to start with this, because overall I felt like this was such a much needed improvement on typical cdrama fare.Arthur Chen proves that good looks and incredible acting skills can go hand in hand (Leo Wu is another example). In fact when you consider how young these guys are, they both should have an incredible future ahead in adult roles. The intensity that is required of him in this role plays a huge part in the credibility of the script, so kudos to him. Job well done.
Likewise, a lot is askes of Zhang Jing Yi, who for the most part plays it well. There are times when her silence or inability to respond feels extremely frustrating but this could be the constraints of the script or the directing.
Be warned, it gets very heavy and serious with topics like revenge, obsession, tragedy, the usual cdrama tropes of 2FL delusion, rude controlling parents, jealousy that gets twisted to never be the perpetrators fault but everyone else’s.
There are moments in the show where it all becomes a little unecessary and actually damages what could have been the best cdrama I’ve ever seen. Instead the low blows and cheap shots the writers throw into this show randomly is destructive to it. That’s where my disappointment ends.
The other friendships that form, between college friends through to the awesome gang at Flying Network help support the two leads who really need it throughout. When you lack family support the friends need to come through and there are some touching scenes.
The romance is genuine, and the chemistry between the two is amazing.
Occasionally it felt draggy, but all dramas do at times. I would have loved a little more variety with scenes, it gets very top heavy with college classes, programming group - I do think they could have got the message across about who dominates who without 50 hrs of classroom/club scenes (over exaggerating but you get the drfit) and towards the end too much tedious office scenes, but thats just balance and you kind of tolerate it when the story is good.
Loved the music, the OST was top notch, however I supose it will be hard to find? I never can find full drama OST’s for chinese shows on the streaming services.
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Well-written and well executed
It is nearly a year since I watched this, but found I hadn't written a review. That means this won't be very detailed, though.This was one of the earlier C-dramas I watched, and I will say this is a quality production through-and-through.
Well-written script, interesting story, good acting; even if I don't remember everything, this is a drama I do remember, and might actually consider re-watching at one point (that is not many!).
What I believe made this memorable to me, are for example:
- Interesting characters and good character-development. How FL changes and matures, and ML's depth and complexity are some factors
- Not too plot-ridden/scheming acts (although there are some)
- The cast (ML and FL), and their chemistry
- A bit of frustration - but in this case it implies a well-written story
- Good mix of slice-of-life/growing up, business and romance
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This review may contain spoilers
Lighter & Princess — Why It Didn’t Work for Me
As a binge-watcher, the first 10–13 episodes pulled me in enough to watch them back-to-back, but after that point the drama completely lost its spark for me. I tried picking it up again several times (7–8 attempts!), but nothing made me want to continue.Why I dropped it:
The backstory dragged on too long. Instead of giving the essential emotional beats or explaining why the ML went to prison, the story spent multiple episodes on side interactions that didn’t add anything meaningful to the main plot or the romance.
No character development. Both Li Xun and Zhu Yun felt exactly the same from university to their adult lives—no growth, no depth. As a programmer myself, even the business/tech aspects didn’t feel engaging enough to keep me invested.
Toxic relationship dynamics. The ML’s behavior was written as “asshole for the sake of being an asshole,” and the FL just fell for him because the script demanded it. The romance had a good starting point, but by episode 21 it still felt stagnant.
Predictable plot. I could guess the story trajectory early on, so there wasn’t anything left to hook me despite wanting to at least finish it.
I’m glad others enjoyed it, but for me… it simply didn’t work. And I don’t think I’ll be picking it up again.
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The acting and story are very good
After a long time I got to watch such a gud drama.It is a very very gud drama Not even a single episode is boring The story is very good and the acting of all the cast is very gud. This drama is worth watching again I would recommend others to watch this drama too.The actor is very good in acting and also in looking good।।।। bestttttttttttttt dramaaaaaaaaaaaa ।।।। highly recommended drama ।।। please watch it this drama atleast one time ..... season 2 of this drama should also come
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This review may contain spoilers
Female Lead is a red flag (Sorry but it’s true)
Well, from the start until episode 16, The Female Leads has tons of red flags. She knows Second Male Lead has huge pride, but yet for her own agenda, she crosses that. She also doesnt have the ability, but using all people around her to get what she wants. A HUGE RED WALKING FLAG. Using being naive as shield for everything she does. A big no.ML is okay. Typical less talking, cold for his hard past.
SML is fine. People get jealous. No questions asked.
Storyline is okay. Can be shortened but well, i get used to long episodes of Chinese Drama.
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worse than a schoolplay
I really wonder why this drama has got such high scores, it is really bad in so many ways that i dont know where to start... The ML and FL are both unnecessarily aggressive while pretending to be smart and "genius"... The FL pretends to hate the guy but she is always stuck to him? Also, the FL seems to have no real interest in life/ career other than bickering with the ML who obviously is not seduced by her wit, but by her all package, to put it politely. The plot is sooo repetitive too, the ML insults the FL, she realizes his intentions were "right", he insults her again, the FL realizes it was just out of concern etc. It is honestly insulting for the intelligence of all men and women out there - intellectuals or not - to believe that love is about mocking the other all the time.I cannot believe it's a 2022 drama!
Only recommended as a challenge for CAN YOU THINK OF ANYTHING WORSE?
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Do you care about programming? I don't :)
Let me give some context before you read this review. This was impromptu, this was meant to be my personal notes that I made while watching. I wasn't planning on sharing but I felt like the review section was filled with glowing 10/10 reviews, and while that is wonderful, it did not represent my experience. I am so glad for the people who thoroughly enjoyed this, I wish I was there with you. This review is intended for those who are not enjoying the show and feel as though they are the only ones who aren't.Episode 18- I feel so bored. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT PROGRAMMING! The only thing that has gotten me this far is the romance and they only started dating in episode 17!! I don't feel like I'm in this for the long haul. Maybe it's just my mood lately, because it seems like everyone loves this. Am I missing something? I think the romance has a lot of potential and I think they have great chemistry. But, I don't care about programming and I don't care about the side characters. Jianhong is SO GD ANNOYING CAN A PERSON BE MORE PATHETIC! I started skipping through a majority of the computer bits a couple episodes ago. I feel as though as I'm writing this I am convincing myself to drop it. I mean I'm not even half way through. At this point I don't think I care about the 'mystery' of how Li Xun got into prison and how they got to that point at 25. let's get things freaking moving!
I just went back to continue watching episode 18 and I can't do it. I went and read some reviews of the few people who didn't rate it a 10/10 and I feel even more irritated. It has only confirmed that It will be even more annoying. I think maybe I just hate this type of angst. The only decision now is should I put it on hold or should I drop it. I am a person who gets FOMO easily and I do really like the couple. Their potential HURTS ME. But, I think I will drop it because there is no chance that this will get a high rating from me.
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Melodramatic Love story
Watchable love story with melodrama added in the series. The series has good love story but somewhat predictable scenes and series feels somewhat long for 36 episodes. Series has elements like romance, business, betrayel, youth college setting and wonderfull characterization.As for performances male lead Chen fei yu and female lead Zhang jing yi did very good job in there respetive roles as well supporting characters Zhou zi wei, Jenny zheng etc. The male and female lead are watchable because they are young and fresh pair.
The Music of these drama is adaptable to the situation in the dramas. The music is fresh, melodies and entertaining. I personally loved the music in the drama. The lyrics are also adaptable, meaningful and poetic.
If you want melodramatic ,campus setting, good girl bad boy, love story then i recomend these drama to you.
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This review may contain spoilers
Bad character, but not really
The main character Li Xun is talented, but can be arrogant and blunt. It is hard to like character such as this. However, if you can stay with it, you will find out more as the story unfolds.Spoiler alert
He is mean to to Chu Yun (but in later part you will find out he knows her a while back and the reason behind). For a really bad character , he won't make so much effort to save his mom, he won't put himself at risk for sister; he won't plead for friend who is expelled. Provide finance support to his friend. Even the lighter has its own story.
He won't give false hope to girl who likes him (there is a way you can tell he is aware of Chu Yun's room mate interest).That is his character - he cares, but he may not say it. He has a dangerous side- a law breaker for his loved ones, I hope he will change , learn to handle things differently, that the drama will show character grows as it goes.
Perhaps the person he shouldn't hurt so much or at least respect is Gao, otherwise won't contribute to what happened at later part, the price he has to pay far more than what he owed Gao. Hopefully they will reconcile at the end.
So far so good, don't give up the show when he appears to be a "bad guy" in the beginning , as the story unfolds, you get to know the character better, it brings me tears. Not overdone, not over sentiment.
Especially don't miss episode 17
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Li Xun is horrible , arrogant , narcissist ,believes everyone is inferior to him and treats everyone around him as piece of trash .I am fine with male lead having negative traits ( I am sure all of us have watched n number of shows with same concept) but the thing which totally put me off is showing the female lead running behind him even after he bullies her at every single point and shows no signs of remorse. I can not watch any shows where girls have zero self respect and continue to act as door mat.
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Boring plot and toxic characters
I am not against backstories if a backstory is on point. In this drama, the backstory went on for multiple episodes showing every interaction between the main and secondary characters, most of which were irrelevant to Li Xun and Zhu Yun's relationship and the reason why he went to prison. All I wanted was to see how we got to where the story started in episode 1. Episode 13, and there was still no explanation why ML went to prison and why he was such an asshole. It was just a mind-numbing trauma rollercoaster. In addition to that, none of the characters were likable. ML was just a stereotypical asshole because reasons. Even if there was a reason, it's still not a justifiable excuse to be toxic and treat people badly. He was just an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. And, FL fell in love with him just because the writers decided so. Toxic people and toxic relationships, pass.Was this review helpful to you?
