Hidden Love

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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Ugh

I am very late to this cdrama because this didn't really appeal to me until a couple of days ago when I finished watching The First Frost and saw that this was sort of connected to it. I don't normally like cutesy female leads who can barely talk like a normal human being and this had exactly that. We start off with 8 episodes of the teen FL pining after the ML. These episodes were so boring and cringy and just kind of strange at the same time. I'm not sure why they focused so much on their interactions when she was underage. At least they changed the child that was playing the FL in the beginning cause that was super weird. Tbh even with the actress change later on, it was borderline creepy at times because the actress was doing this ridiculous voice that made her sound like a child. So I was just weirded out by their interactions. I pushed through since I can get over some dubious shit in dramas and I can ignore it somewhat if it's not too much. So I got through these 8 episodes and finally made it to the adult life bits excited to finally see some actual romance. And um, the same childish cutesy behaviour is there. Unlucky me I guess.

I still persisted and hoped that the romance would make up for the first 8 episodes. And nope. The romance is bad. I didn't really buy their chemistry. The fixation on the age thing seemed so strange. He's 5 years older, not 50. Although based on the immaturity of the FL, I guess the age difference seems larger and more significant. I don't think him falling for her was shown properly. They have some interactions and all of a sudden he likes her I guess. He wasn't really conflicted, didn't hesitate at all and just went for it. His flirting was so cringy lol. I guess when you don't buy the chemistry, it's bound to seem cringy. And the FL is still acting in the same way as before. It's so jarring, at times it honestly seems like she might have some developmental disability. Feels pretty harsh, but that's how it looked like to me.

Anyway, I still persisted and wanted to keep watching to see what this relationship will look like once they start properly dating. And ugh. I think their relationship is so weird. Her juvenile behaviour is so jarring and him being attracted to her when she is so childish is giving me the ick. I also really hate the way he keeps bending over to study her face from up close, it's so odd lol. I genuinely think that if she had an adult woman's voice and behaviour, it would make this much less weird and tolerable.

Now I'm at the end of episode 18 and I can't persist anymore. He's just bent over AGAIN to get close to her face and talk to her like he's talking to a child and that was the final straw. I can't take these two anymore, it's time to drop it and move on to something I'm actually enjoying.

I knew I wouldn't like this back when this first came out and everyone was raving about it. Nothing about this appealed to me and my instincts were right. I blame The First Frost for this lol. If I hadn't liked it, I would have never watched this.

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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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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 watch

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Squee

Hidden Love

Genre: 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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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!!

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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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Sucked.

before watching this drama I read some of the reviews on it and saw how everyone liked it and gave it high ratings so I decided to watch it because it was popular and also the fact that Chen Zheyuan was staring in this drama. I can’t even start on how much I despise the story of the drama like first of all why is a 14 year old crushing on her brothers friend that’s like half a decade older than her like bsfr and then she gets mad at him cuz she thinks that he has a gf ( even though she was mistaken) like girl my guy is a full grown man at this point leave him alone. Anyways when she goes to university they both meet and then like he says smt along the lines of “why didn’t you text me I was worried abt you” ( Ik it’s not what he said but it was on the lines of it) LIKE WHY ARE U WORRING ABT YOUR FRIENDS SISTER?? they weren’t even THAT close to have each others numbers especially considering the age gap I find it just so weird.

personally I think the story itself isn’t that well written. the casting was alright, I think that zhao lusi had abit of a childish tone in her voice which was abit annoying at time but overall the acting was not to bad.

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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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"Hidden Love: A Heartwarming Evolution of Innocent Crush to Everlasting Love"

Hidden Love, a masterfully executed drama, fearlessly explores the complex themes of unrequited love and age difference, delicately avoiding any potential for discomfort or unease. The series deftly captures the essence of a young girl's infatuation and takes audiences on a captivating journey as it evolves into a passionate, enduring love between the lead characters.

The chemistry between DJX and SZ is nothing short of electric, igniting the screen with their palpable connection. From DJX's charming yet teasing remark, "You are not my girlfriend yet," to the heartwarming kitchen scene, viewers will undoubtedly find themselves enamored with SZ's transformation from a timid teenager to a courageous woman who unconditionally stands up for her man and their love.

The aesthetic choices throughout the drama evoke a sense of refreshing tranquility akin to a gentle summer breeze, punctuated by moments of conflict and introspection that add depth to the narrative.

An additional source of enjoyment lies in the endearing love-hate dynamic between Sang Zhi and her brother, Sang Yan. Whether it's the exasperation Sang Yan experiences while tutoring her or their playful banter, the on-screen chemistry between the two siblings is a delight to behold. Not to be missed are the scenes where Sang Yan fearlessly confronts SZ's bullies, transforming from a comical brother figure into a fiercely protective guardian.

Furthermore, the confrontations between SY and DJX showcase extraordinary performances that vividly convey a range of emotions. The actors' remarkable talent enhances the storytelling, leaving a lasting impact on the audience.
Hidden Love has undoubtedly secured its place as one of the standout dramas of the year, earning a spot on many viewers' re-watch lists. It skillfully blends elements of romance and comedy, intertwined with moments of conflict resolution, resulting in a truly engaging viewing experience.

For those who have fallen under the spell of Chen Zhe Yuan's acting prowess, exploring his other works such as "Mr. Bad" and "Our Secret" is highly recommended.

Note: This review is written by me, edited by ChatGPT for readability.

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