Nice to live vicariously
It was the dream version of the childhood crush on an older sibling's friend. It was surreal and satisfying to live vicariously through the female lead as she actually gets acknowledged by her crush and eventually has her love reciprocated. Even when I didn't like the story and execution, CZY was so consistently dreamy that it was all forgiven!Was this review helpful to you?
Watching this is like having a crush again
This show is pure dopamine; it's like falling in love or going through your first crush again. Has you squealing every time there's ANY development or even interaction between the two leads, and reminds me of the feeling of watching Business Proposal (another show that's like a pure dopamine shot). And all this is thanks to the amazing acting by the two leads, Zhao Lusi and Chen Zheyuan. The two of them were just SO good together. Chen Zheyuan's character is so dreamy, help 🥺With that being said, I still skipped a lot of scenes. I'm not a fluff person and just find fluff, coming-of-age, student life, first love etc., to be a bit too low stakes to keep me 100% invested. The pacing is (imo) pretty slow and really drags. I also struggled with how cutesy ZLS's character acted in the first 4-6 episodes, I ended up skipping those.
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casual watch
I’ve read the manhua and I personally prefer the show, I think the age gap is weirder in the manhua because their friendship progressed further when she was still a kid. Sang zhi was a bit bratty especially at the beginning, but she was in the manhua as well. However j think the actors did a great job of portraying the characters, I especially liked the actor for Duan Jiaxu, he really fit role well. Overall it’s not the type of show that I’d stay up late to watch but I still really enjoyed watching it.Was this review helpful to you?
Pure fluff, cuteness and love.
As someone who stopped watching 'Girl x Boy loveteam' type of series (became a BL and GL fan for a long time), Hidden Love is a great comeback. Just pure fluff. A lot of very relatable scenes and also scenes that can make the viewers believe (somehow) in love again.Both Duan Jiaxu and Sang Zhi was written perfectly, "green flag couple" indeed. Now I understand why people are really hooked up by Zheyuan and Lusi's chemistry, they worked. Their chemistry is just top-tier. Love these two so much, really. But in this drama? I fell in love truly to Victor Ma, SANG YAN!! He is just an overall relatable character, I love him so much.
Story wise, tbh, nothing new. I guess what really made this drama stand out was everything inside this drama worked out so well. From casts to story, up to the execution, its really good. But yeah, when it comes to the story, I am not too stunned or what.
Overall, this is such a good watch. It will bring back lots of butterflies on your stomach. Watch this, its worth it, really! 💞
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Boring and underwhelming
I was 22 episodes in when I decided I just can't take it anymore. I dropped this drama. The only thing that really kept me watching was waiting for Sang Yan to show up on screen. He made everything more interesting and was the perfect big brother character. Loved him!!To be honest, I felt like CZY character was lacking. He seemed too perfect but with an unfortunate family situation. And the chemistry between ZLS and CZY was nonexistent. I didn't feel ANY spark between them. ZLS character had like 0 personality as well. She was just cute and whiny? The side characters were also lacking and to be quite honest - just straight up bad.
I kept watching thinking oh nah this will get good - how can it not? It has such high reviews! But episode after episode, I was just sitting there like okay? That's it? I don't have much to say right now other than I'm just really disappointed in this drama. If you like light and fluffy dramas though a better one to watch would be "When I Fly Towards You" - all the characters in there were so fun and enjoyable.
This show was just not doing it for me.
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The leads completely fit their roles
As expected from our queen of chemistry, Zhao Lusi, speaking not only as a fan from her but she is totally great and portrays every drama so perfectly. She excels in every act she plays. Even pairing her from any male lead, every pair she had with, they perfectly fit together.As for the storyline, it is a bit of cliche but you never get bored watching it, binge watching it to be exact, as the characters portraying each of their role did their best to make this modern drama exceptionally good for us viewers.
It is no doubt if this drama will garner awards at the end of the year . 🤍🤍🤍
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This review may contain spoilers
Overhyped C drama
As an avid c-drama fan of many years, I was so happy to see both hidden love and WIFTY trending on tiktok. While i absolutely loved WIFTY, Hidden love was honestly a hard watch for me. It's not new to see these types of "crush on sibling's friends" plot, the age gap in this drama was shocking and a tad too much for me to enjoy any sort of romance in this show. Whenever the FL shows aegyo towards the ML, the image of her as a child comes to mind and I just can't look past it TT However, I will say that the storyplot was great (with the exception of certain misunderstandings which dragged on for years and could've been easily resolved if they just communicated), so that's its only redeeming factor. I will give Zhao Lu Si props for her involvement in this drama's production from wardrobe, casting and even singing some of the songs in this show to save money when the original director ran off and delayed the filming. She has many other great drama such as The Long Ballad (2021) and Who Rules The World (2022) which I'll recommend everyone to watchWas this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Squee
Hidden LoveGenre: Romance
Episodes: 25
Streamed on: Netflix
Plot Summary:
From middle-school admiration, to high school first love, to college romance and true love, Hidden Love tells the story of a girl that falls in love with someone 5 years older than her and waiting until the time is right, and he falls for her, to realise that love.
Characters & Cast:
Chen Zhe Yuan ⇒ Duan Jia Xu
Zhao Lu Si ⇒ Sang Zhi
Best of OST:
I mean, what a bop! Not mention FL singing. Grade A playlist bait.
https://youtu.be/ZOavfADzOto?si=QA4XEba5k7qUJ0k5
And the FL strikes again!
https://youtu.be/w9u9JjXZLCc?si=-abbFgRHBzSbOQUf
Ugh, this track is so good!
https://youtu.be/Ays2i9p6vL8?si=CwFNPQpCyX9q2Z_k
I though about leaving this song off of the list, then I was dancing to it and thought again!
https://youtu.be/5kgqFqvGBYY?si=2z1sEy8VzSwFUK_a
I already feel my blood pressure dropping and peace returning to the force when I play this… and I don’t even like star wars…
https://youtu.be/-bmzHdkcTJ4?si=g_pA7E8Q6XKpQYkt
Overall this OST was a masterpiece that didn’t miss. It set the tone so well.
https://youtu.be/4eUlNiuyQUE?si=ZjXDnzvbjXKQsLMo
Gripes:
I don’t have any gripes with this drama. Everything kind of made sense, even the conflicts were reasonable. I wish it were longer and we could spend more time with them as a couple.
Re-watch:
Would I watch it again?
Yes. It’s so good. I'm re-watching it now... with the First Frost
Would I watch it with my brother?
No, I don’t think he’d let me make him watch it.
Would I watch it with my kid?
Yes. I’d have to wait some years. Or do it soon. It might be pushing it. I don’t want to encourage the age gap romance with my kid… but also I think it deals with some interesting topics to discuss with her… Also it’d be nice to watch this again 😂
Final Thoughts:
What a lovely story. I love love. I love this drama. From the cast to the OST this drama was near perfection.
Rating:
9.7/10
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This drama is perfect to feed your heart and make you smile ?
The secret in hidden love popularity is the warmth and the positive vibes that you can feel between the FL and ML , the lovely family and the chaotic brother 😅Duan jia xu found his home and comfort in Sang Zhi is so heartwarming 🥺
Sang Zhi drunk scene is the cutest and the funniest thing ever 😹
Despite being a low budget drama the cast is brilliant and everyone gave great performances . The plotline , The writing are well done which led to get a huge amount of views and recognition .
Zhao Lusi as always never disappoint and she's the queen of chemistry 🔥 and Chen Zheyuan smile is so healing 🥺🥰
This drama is perfect to feed your heart and make you smile 💝
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This review may contain spoilers
From 22 to 22
Sangzhi meets Jiaxu when she was 14, and fell in love with him when she was 17 and he was 22. Jiaxu was her brother's best friend and honestly, this is the healthiest drama ever. The plot, the acting, the storyline was amazing in so many levels. Sangzhi was very personality driven, never accepted unlawful behavior from anybody. She's by far the smartest character I've seen. And damn!! her brother Sangyan was the most beautiful character to exist. He really raised the bar for brothers and best friends. And Jiaxu! damn that man is one charming man!! his efforts to win Sangzhi was just worth dying for. Conclusively, this is the best drama I've watched. Highly recommended!!Was this review helpful to you?
Chocolate covered strawberries berries
Food analogy: Rich Dark Chocolate covered fresh strawberries with drizzle of burnt caramel on top.Just the right amount.
I am actually writing this review after my Third Rewatch.
Chinese Romance dramas tends to turn cheesy as the show progresses, but this one dragged me out of this stereotype and delivered a near perfect story.
Story: Ah, the calm. The emotional turmoil and the dedication took the cake in my POV. It is a story that you won't be able to get it out of your head and after around 10th episodes will make you feel that you know them personally.
Acting: Found my new chinese bias in this drama. ZLS was already good as I have seen her in other dramas but it was my first time seeing the ML and boy, have i watched all of his work after that. Answer is Yes.
Music: Generic but fits well. Not in my playlist.
Rewatch value: I already started the review stating that I already completed my 3rd rewatch.
Overall: deducting a 0.5 from total score, solely for tbe reason that it has set such a unrealistic standard that I am searching for all the set characters everywhere to no avial. Which proves that the men, in our imagination is very much different from real men. Sad.
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Boring and Overhyped
I came into this drama with pretty high expectations , seeing the way people were glazing it like it was a masterpiece, it seemed like the perfect occasion to break out of my full avoidance of romantic tropes ,since i've been loving very different genres of dramas.The first few episodes seemed interesting and it made me want to continue the drama until the story became extremely flat.
It felt like i was watching the same episode on repeat and in full honesty, nothing interesting happened , like ever. The chemistry between the two main leads also died down as the ''story'' (if i can call it that ) went on. The Age Gap isn't big but the way it is presented at the start made it uncomfortable to look at, feels like the only reason people like this drama is because of the popular actors in it. The discussion on the age gap isn't about the age gap itself , 5 years aren't many, but the way it is positioned in the story, they meet when she's 14 and he is 19, basically two worlds apart, and yes he doesn't really like her until she's 19 but he still spent a lot of time with her when she was a kid, and he basically switches up from ''she's my little sister'' to ''she's the girl i like'' like it was nothing, which again, odd, even though the authors like to underline how it isn't weird at all. There were some cute moments between the two but nothing extraordinary.
I physically could not bring myself to care about any of the characters.
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