How many times did I watch this? Yes.
Maybe it’s the influx of complicated, dark dramas (cue: Celebrity, Glory) but this was such a refreshing watch. I fell in love with Sang Zhi and Jia Xu.One word to describe the drama: Simple.
It was so simple, it was simply about a puppy love crush turning into a deep love.
I cried when Sang Zhi cried at the airport. Both times. I smiled all the time at the TV. There was no big villain, no big road block. Even when there were small stumbles, it was so quickly resolved and so well resolved. No weak delivery AT ALL.
I would love to write more about this drama but it was so simple with nothing to complain about.
Can’t wait for Sang Yan’s own love story.
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What Is Not To Like?
I believe everything in the rave of this drama has been accurately expressed in most, if not all that’s said already. I mean it’s about nearly perfectly executed. A girls love in every step from when she felt it to its maturation, is so relatable to us, no matter what age. For older ones (me), it’s a reminder of that time when our stomachs felt butterflies in our crushes. Younger generation? Yeah, this is a great portrayal of union done right. The leads, Zhao Lusi and Chen Zhe Yuan, absolutely nailed their parts and carried this drama to a nestling masterpiece.I particularly loved the way she cared for him. She’s much younger than him ((story) but her defense of him, from giving him money, to throwing water, to comforting him like she’s his mother was so touching. I don’t want to get mushy on everyone so really. Find out for yourself why this drama scored so high among viewers. It has a great storyline and wonderfully acted by its main and supporting cast. Of course, bravo to screen writer and producer and their team.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Rare Gem
Their story is so beautiful. Their love is genuine. Their fight for love is worth it. Her encouraging him in his lowest, and him supporting her dreams is so heartwarming.Hidden Love is truly a gem. It's the drama you want to watch after going through a hard/stressful day and watching an episode of it can immediately wash away your tiredness.
The cast are casted perfectly. Victor Ma portrayed the role of an older brother that truly cares for his little sister. He might not be showy on his care but you can see it through his actions towards Sang Zhi.
Duan Jiaxu, he remained strong and steady to prove the world that his family matter wont affect his accomplishments and eager for success. The way he fought for his love for Sang Zhi and how he is willing to give up his career on Yihe, just to make Sang Zhi's parents relieved and for his build a future for Sang Zhi without staying far away from her parents is such a rare trait for a man nowadays. (I AM CRYING YESSS)
Sang Zhi, Zhao Lusi, I truly love her character. The drama displayed her progress from a little kid to a mature lady and how her persistence paid off, not only for chasing her love for Jiaxu but also for her own achievement.
All I can just say is this drama truly deserved its hype and high rating.
Also PS,
The proposal is not grand, but the emotions are rich.
Damn I cri again.
"Lifetime, One Person"
/punches the wall and cries/
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I'd recommend this!
I watched it for my favorite actress Zhao Lusi, but I love all the actors and actresses their acting in here. They really show development in their emotions when the story also develops further. The storyline seems realistic and not exaggerated to me, so it felt durable to watch it. It was visually pleasing as well. Everyone looks handsome and beautiful to the eye. It is a very soft vanilla romance series. I'd definitely recommend this series!If you like soft romance stories, with development starting from young to old, wholesomeness, school involved, lead with sibling, some personal hardships, then this is certainly for you.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Fairytale of Love
Once upon a time, you have a young princess who met her prince. She liked the prince the moment that she saw him. That is how I felt watching this drama. A beautiful woven fairytale of love.In our lifetime we are fortunate to receive the most unexpected gift, you didn't really think it would be that extraordinary but with "Hidden Love" it is. This drama resonates with so many of us that we are transported back to our youth and relive our moments of our own first love.
As soon we Shang Zhi we know that she is a girl that is full of sweetness, naivete, and childlike qualities and there is such a depth of kindness and love that you cannot help but want to protect and embrace her. That is how Duan Jia Xu felt about Shang Zhi. Being her protector but it was really Shang Zhi who was the protector. She helped Duan Jia Xu understand that even though life had thrown him the worst struggles and disappointments, he was more than worthy of being loved.
It was so exciting to see their love blossom over so many years until you felt like family watching your own daughter in this relationship and cheering her on. We felt all of her heartaches, tears, joys and misunderstandings. You feel yourself wanting to help her fix everything and keep the beautiful world that she envisions not only for herself but Duan Jia Xu as well.
Many may go in with a jaded attitude and not feel what I or others feel about this drama and that is ok. But if you just allow yourself to think about the most important love that you had in your life--you will understand. It's just magical.
You find yourself, laughing, smiling, crying and just overjoyed with this fairytale of love. But you know there has never been a fairytale without an obstacle, and you would think it would have been Shang Zhi's parents, but it was actually Duan Jia Xu himself.
Her parents always like Duan Jia Xu but felt the problems that he had in the past with his family would be an issue with moving forward in their relationship. Duan Jia Xu was not to be deterred. After speaking with Shang Zi at the airport he understood and stated to her clearly his feelings and love for her.
Here is the following monologue from episode 24:
Shang Zhi: "Why did you drink? What's wrong? I'll get you something hot to drink."
Duan Jia Xu: "Why did you wake up?"
Shang Zhi: "Are you in a bad mood?"
Duan Jia Xu: "I think I treat you badly."
Shang Zhi: "When did you treat me badly? Is it because of what I said to you at the airport today? I told you because I just wanted you to know. Since you didn't know before, that's why I wanted to tell you. But I didn't want you to feel...You treat me very well. Whether it's the past or now, you still treat me well. It's true."
Duan Jia Xu: "Shang Zhi, I love you. I'm sorry, Zhi. I've said this too late. Over the years, I know I've made you sad. It was your unwavering dedication that made me realize that I'm not good enough. My imperceptive or indecisiveness. None of it was good. But for these shortcomings, I'll try my best to make it up to you for every day we spend together. Zhi, I won't forget the choice you made. I love you, Shang Zhi."
What else can you say after that? Oh, I do.... they lived happily ever after! The End!
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All time favorite Drama
Firstly, I watched this drama, because of ZLS, however, the Male Lead CZY acting is superb. Both acting is very alive, can see their emotion in their eyes.Storey is perfect, the acting is perfect, and the music is also very much entertaining.
I can't find any defect in the drama.
I am really sad, Finally, it is over. I hope I can watch it a little longer.
This drama gives me a lot of emotion and comfort. Not only DJX and SZ characters are perfect, but San Yan's support and the chemistry between Little Sis and bro code are also lovely.
I really forward to seeing San Yan's story, (Hopefully, Victor Ma will come back as San Yan).
PS. Even San Yan is perfect.
Totally Love it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Some cute moments but annoying teenager, superficial and inconsistent characters and a plain story.
Had this show started when FL was already in university it would have a bit of a higher rating on my part, I found from that point onwards it was more entertaining, not great by any means, but better. From the beginning up to that point I almost quit several times solely on the fact that the FL was EXTREMELY annoying.I'm not familiar with the actors in this show nor I generally care who is in what. There are actors I like, but I won't watch something only based on that. I say this because I don't know if the acting of Zhao Lu Si is her or it's the director and direction that pushed her to do that (and in that case not sure why they would be happy with that result). It was extremely annoying how she was acting as a 17 year old like she was 7. She was shown as more mature at age 14 in her way of speaking and mannerisms (although physically that actress was clearly younger so it was also very jarring).
I think at this point after two cdramas watched being set in high school I should avoid cdramas set in high school. It feels at times like I'm watching a video on morality and good manners directed at high schoolers, like the civil education videos I had to watch when I was around 12-14 years old. It's also so forced how they try at some point or another say some grandiose moral quote like they're talking to me directly instead of the character.
Also, for the love of all things dear, how was she so dumb and childish when technically she had good grades in school? It makes no sense at all.
They want to show later in university that she's more of a grown up but there are so many things in her way of doing and especially her voice that she still seems so childish. On the other hand ML changes completely of character once he's starting to be interested in her, he's all of a sudden super cocky and flirty, it was very out of character. From that point onwards it's like they're trying to keep reminding me that she's a girly girl and he's a boyish boy.... MEH.
I still don't understand fully how or when Jiaxu started having feelings for her, it's kind of sudden.
I didn't care they didn't show much of the drama involving his father because I had zero interest really, it seemed kind of typical and like it was not going to add much to the story other than some cliché trauma, but I didn't understand either why introducing that daughter of the family affected, she was very annoying and contributed nothing to the story either. I'm guessing she was only there so FL could show her more "mature" side but it's very weak.
There are some cute moments, but overall I was not so sure of why they liked each other, I'm not even sure why she liked him in the beginning to be honest, just because he was handsome and nice to her? not sure, I'm not shown at any point in the first or second half that they share anything when it comes to personality or likes or hobbies, they barely share even that many special moments. It's also very weird because he goes from calling her "sister" to 5 minutes later being interested in her, I couldn't shake that feeling of uneasiness, and it brings me to the fact that the sister thing was way overdone. It would have been so much better had he just been the brother's friend and kept that relationship of friend than making it so far as to his feeling of her as a sister, I felt that put a big barrier on there that I couldn't see a way of it being broken and so I was not surprised when it was just done suddenly and didn't work for me at all. It's also quite annoying when she's already in uni and she keeps saying he's old and they keep mentioning the 5 year gap, what is not a big one by any means.
As it happens in the other cdrama I watched recently (When I Fly Towards You), everything is shown in perfect stages, high school is the time for little crushes but ultimately focusing solely in studies, university ok for relationships, and as soon as you finish uni then get a great job straight away and save to quickly buy a house and start a family. It's very unrealistic, and after this being the second one with the same idea I'm starting to think that they're trying to precisely sell me an idea here more than a story. It was equally unrealistic his career, how he's able to achieve all that at his age, no problems in anything, same with her really, nothing of much importance. It's also the fact they feel the need to include in the story the whole process instead of only one part of it, it gives it even more that feeling of someone showing "how it's done" to me so I take it as an example.
Characters are also generally always kept superficially and secondary ones are pretty non existant.
I found the brother quite annoying at times as well, why was he ten times more patriarchal than the father? I know maybe he just has the older brother complex but seems so weird when it doesn't seem they have that dynamic in the family. Her parents were all right but I didn't really understand why they let the son be that way with her or take more charge of her than them, it was weird some times.
The ending is... well... the cherry on top I suppose. It was quite shocking she would be proposed on the same day of her graduation, like chill man!! Another cdrama that pushes the marry young idea, but I mean, considering they got everything else at unrealistic young ages no wonder by 22-23 they're bored of their lives and they need to marry or something 😂 (I know he's older but still applies, it's not like he had to do it like he has an expiration date and as far as we know he was not being pushed to do it by anyone either).
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One of the best drama I've ever watched
Of course I don't watch every dramas that are airing(I don't have enough time and probably this is my last drama this year ), but this one is really great, I just can relate having first crush .... getting butterflies and many things with sang zhi ,I started watching it after a long exhausting week......it's really refreshing and energetic you'll smile without noticing through the entire series..... I've never finished any cdrama (except "who rules the world") specially xinxia or modern cdramas always get boring after 11-12th episodes
As a hardcore kdrama fan I don't like most of the silly cdramas, I got into it cause of lusi and for a dopamine boost and it's worth watching ..............I'm surprised how I didn't skip a single second!!!!!!
Chen zheyuan and Zhao lusis chemistry is now my favourite....... can't get enough of the series......it will make you curl like worm ........soo much cute and a mature relationship at the same time.......
For the haters who are saying that the ml is pervert then let me tell you, we're seeing this story from sang zhi's perspective so it's normal to fantasize the normal things when your crush do this.....
Don't listen to the haters just go for this masterpiece
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Cool water on a hot day
Let me just start by saying that this drama is not for everyone. This is a typical coming-of-age drama and if that's not your thing, you may find the plot not to your liking.I think the crew did a great job in delivering this drama. It's very lighthearted, very warm, and most of all, very relatable. This is the appeal of coming-of-age and this drama exploited it beautifully to deliver a very charming series that I quickly fell in love with. Walking with Sang Zhi in her simple little world was such a pleasant and heartwarming experience.
The only reason I didn't give this a ten is because the plot felt just a little bit weak, but it was barely noticeable so this does deserve a 10.
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"Cant tell you, so that you wont think im weird" Thats why its HIDDEN LOVE.
This must be the best cdrama of 2023 yet for me. I always love ZLS and she deliver it and left no crumbs on the other hand, CZY is a great actor, he's too sexy and foxy as DJX. I cant tell everything because I want you to watch the series right now!! For someone like a cdrama and a drama critic like me, this is really really good. Trust me! Some of you may not like their first meeting but its getting really interesting. Their relationship is the best of all the best. So realistic. Hope you find DJX in your life and a SZ in your lifetime. ❤️Was this review helpful to you?
Perfect cast
They put together the two strongest actors and it ended up giving sizzling chemistry.Lusi is beautiful and super talented and she is wonderfully different as per the age change of Zhi. But that was no surprise since she never disappoints.
CZY deserves so much appreciation for this role because his face is super expressive. His eyes holds so much power, they communicate thousand emotions. Also these two look like a heavenly dream together.
Special shout out to Victor for being great Sang Yan because he made everything more fun.
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A love story, told with simplicity and feelings.
What a lovely story, totally relatable and delivered with heart felt dialogues. The cast is great and so pleasing to the eye, especially the male lead, his glances speak volume. The background music, songs are just right. It is not a drama only for the fandom, but a genuine piece of work suitable for many. It took me back to my school age, there are similarities in events and feelings. The awkwardness, silent hopes and wishes, school work, study, fights and yet protection between siblings. Then comes the growing up, the process and responsibilities, I am half way through the drama and wish it would never end.Was this review helpful to you?
