As Beautiful as You

Another Bad Adaptation

If you've read the novel that this drama is based off of, you should know that there are slight differences. While the scriptwriter has remained mostly faithful to the novel, the slight changes resulted in big changes in the nuance of the drama. Originally, the novel was about a strong female engineer/budding entrepreneur who succeeds with the guidance of a CEO. Alas, the CEO (who later becomes her boyfriend) messes up which causes them to break up. It sounds exactly like the script right?

While it may seem generally the same, there are major differences. The ML in the novel always viewed FL as someone could potentially be his equal with the right guidance. However, his big ego and hiding things from her eventually becomes the breaking point. Here, while they try to portray the same dynamic, the drama FL comes off as a naive girl. How can someone that is the supposed brain of a whole AI medical robot be foolish? While the drama FL can be inexperienced in the entrepreneur part of a start up, they completely rob her of her intelligence and contribute a lot of her success to ML. Another review said it perfectly when they wrote that the scriptwriters messed up when they portrayed FL as a poor decision maker and that they minimized the tension between the leads by making ML fall in love with FL in college.

My biggest peeve about the drama though was the big conflict. The novel's author foreshadowed that there would eventually be a problem because ML being slightly (if not too) overpowering/controlling while FL is fiercely independent. Similar to the drama, it was over the fact that ML was basically going to rob FL of the company she built. In the novel however, FL does give ML his just desserts and ML is eventually forced to apologize/grovel a bit. Here, there is basically none of that. ML realizes he messed up and does the whole woe is me act, but there is very little apologizing going on. Eventually the issue went from ML stole her company so that it would benefit his (a one sided betrayal) to the issue being it's an us issue because our personalities don't match. Drama FL leaving the company was fine, but then takes ML back the moment they reunite. They show her accepting ML's decision being the best for the greater good. This in particular rubs me the wrong way because it minimizes FL's acheivements and emotions. It implies that she is still emotionally charged and that her decision to walk away was a poor one - ie. zero change from the beginning of the drama. This doesn't sit right because if I were in her shoes and my company that I struggled to build from day one were stolen from me by the person I trusted the most, I would be upset too. I wouldn't be thinking about the 'greater good' but more about how the person who is supposed to love me the most just betrayed me. The fact that FL accepted this injustice is incongruent with how she reacted when she was sexually harrassed at the beginning.

A small note on the acting. I don't think I like Xu Kai as an actor very much. He tends to play 'cold' ML roles but it just feels like I'm staring at cardboard or stone. He keeps a blank stare most of the time but there's nothing charismatic about him. I just kind of expect something more than just a flat face. Seven did an okay job. There were some moments that were better than others and felt more natural. However, she tends to have this one wide-eyed expression that she applies to multiple different scenarios (ie. when she's dumbfounded, shocked, betrayed, etc.). One of her characteristic is her big eyes which gets her a lot of younger, more naive/pure roles, but here it's an obstacle. Like Xu Kai, she doesn't have a dynamic range of expressions when acting. Every time she pulled out this expression, I was reminded of Shin Se Kyung and the strained face she tends to use when she's run out of facial expressions. I can tell both are trying to broaden their range, but this was a flop.

TLDR: The novel was better. The drama reeks of fake feminism (a term coined by someone on NovelUpdates). While the drama seemingly talks about a strong female lead, her actions do not match up to the expectations. Furthermore, her acheivements are lowkey attributed to the ML and there was very little she actually did. Basically, a Cinderella/Knight in Shining Armor story. Definitely wouldn't watch again.

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Mind-numbingly predictable CEO romance with hideous aggressive OST and no chemistry.

First let me say that the best part of this drama BY FAR, was He Rui Xian's incredible performance as the 2FL. She's so amazing and deserves high caliber 1FL roles.

The rest of this was, to put it bluntly, total crap.

While it would take a dissertation to fully enumerate the ways in which this was crap, I will do my best to keep it brief.

*No ML/FL chemistry. I dont know where the problem lies. Maybe Kai keeps getting handed FLs that dont mesh well with him. Maybe he has a really hard time letting go in front of the camera. Maybe hes RL gay. But whatever it is, this is another flat Kai Soso performance, lacking sexual chemistry, passion, and depth.

*Flat ML performance. Kai is good in some situations and dramas, but this isnt one of those dramas. Its impossible to distinguish the difference between his "straight man" character, or just his limited acting ability.

*FL is not sexy and has a bad haircut and boring clothes. Shes cute. And she is a good actress. But shes not sexy. She should be playing roles other than romance FLs

*Kiss scenes are tame

*Moderately high cringe-factor

*Slow slowwwww pacing. This should have 10 episodes shaved off

*Tired, cliche storyline. The actual business story is good. But every other aspect of it is insultingly cliche.

*Mediocre dialogue all the way from beginning to end.

*Background music is stupid and out of touch

*OST is so aggressive it should be arrested and tried for assault.

*Characters are simplistic and too perfect, like a teens dream of what life is like and what people are like, and a teen's dream fantasy.

*They take an indoor cat, in a cat carrier, to the park for its birthday. They lay out a blanket, and put a TINY HAT ON THE CAT. The kind with an elastic chin strap. Then they let the cat out of the carrier. And the cat stays on the blanket. It stays on the blanket, and just... sits there. Mkay. This is the kind of show we are dealing with here. If any one scene could sum up how I feel about the show, its that one.

I would recc this to mushy romantic sentimental people whose favorite color is fuscia/magenta/hot pink, and who still have at least one stuffed animal on their bed.

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Copy/ paste office drama and misery

First review ever!!!
This is not the most terrible drama on earth ever but it felt like a copy paste of so many other office dramas that I just stopped feeling the need to go on with it, because at some point it just felt like I could predict the whole story.

Even though dear and beloved Xu Kai was part of the cast, there was not one character that stood out for me.
Love triangle, obsession , sabotage , first love, enemy to lovers were all present but they didn't make much difference in the acting and storyilne.

I would say for the 27 episodes that I watched that the plot felt repetitive with the same pattern of problem and resolution coming and going almost at the same rythm.

I wanted to love the drama and root for at least one character or anything else, but ,that is a NO for me.
Don't bother , unless you are here for Xu Kai.

P.S :Also english is not my first language, so sorry for the poor grammar.

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If you like Seven Tan then this drama is watchable, but nothing special and predictable.

As Beautiful as You is a business rom-com about Ji Xing and her college mate, Han Ting, who lost touch for 10 years. Han Ting had a crush on Ji Xing and confessed his love for her while he invested in her startup company.

Synopsis: Ji Xing has worked diligently for a top IT firm for three years but needs help to stand out in a fiercely competitive corporate world. Frustrated, she decides to quit and launch her own company. She soon attracts the support of a powerful mentor and investor, CEO Han Ting. With his backing, her entrepreneurial journey begins to gain momentum. As they collaborate closely, their professional relationship deepens, and unexpected romantic sparks fly.

My Reviews:
1. Nothing special about this drama; it is predictable but watchable.
Seven Tan acted well, and Xu Kai did his best acting in this drama, where he showed a little emotion when they broke up.
2. As I mentioned, Xu Kai is a handsome actor who is pleasing to the eye. Still, I cannot complete any of his historical costume dramas, only the modern ones, where his acting skills are more bearable.
3. The ending is predictable, and their brief breakup is understandable but also expected.
4. The supporting cast added too many unnecessary fillers (2nd CP, 3rd CP, 4th CP, etc.). The drama would have been better if it had been cut to 30 episodes instead of 40 because of fillers.

I am giving this drama a 6.5 rating because the script was nothing special and predictable but watchable because of Seven Tan.

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Not good.

the story follows the entrepreneurial journey of fl ji xing. also follows her friends and colleagues.
romance is the central theme of the show.
A lot of filler content. the pacing is slow.

my huge problem is the ml. lot of red flags. as an investor in fl's company, his intentions are muddled. he himself isn't clear if he invested because it's fl's company, or he wants to buy and destroy competition. doesn't follow simple ethics. lies to the love of his life to leverage her work for his benefit in sibling power play. doesn't disclose conflict of interest while doing business. talks down to fl. is very cold and arrogant, very "I know better". there isn't much of a character arch there. with so much screentime given to their relationship, which is a sham in name of romance, I had to drop the show. the writers continue to frame as ml's self serving actions as 'he was just looking out for her'. when the fl confronts him about his exploitation and betrayal, and turns away, the ml says "in my life, love isnt everything."

disappointing.

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As beautiful as Ji Xing to Han Ting as business partner and romantic lover

Honestly, I watch this ongoing series because it is a modern drama and I have previously watched TSY's works.
When I read the synopsis, the premise seemed similar to RWTW, focusing on business and romance, with the male lead also being an investor. Since I loved RWTW so much last year, I decided to give this a try.
And bam! It exceeded my expectations. The plot is so good and solid!

Synopsis in short:
Ji Xing previously worked at a top IT firm and decided to quit to launch her own company, Xingchen Technology. Han Ting is an investor and CEO of Dongyang Medical. With Han Ting's support as a mentor and backing, her entrepreneurial journey begins. As they collaborate closely, their professional relationship starts to deepen, and unexpected romantic sparks fly.

Execution:
The character introduction is clear from the beginning. HT has been interested in JX since their college days, but it wasn't reciprocated because HT moved to Germany and JX had a 4-year relationship with her boyfriend. Their daily interaction was purely business-related. Soon, her boyfriend asked for a breakup, and HT's pursuit journey began.

The chemistry between XK and TSY is sweet and natural, both as business partners and romantic lovers. The stories of the supporting characters are also good without overshadowing the main characters' screen time.

For some people, despite the ML having had a long-time crush on the FL and the FL having been in a 4-year relationship with her ex, their relationship is not considered true love. But time is not a measure of their love for each other. They find it easier to interact and communicate because they work in the AI Tech - Medical field. So far, their romance doesn't feel forced at all.

All in all, I like the plot and everything about the show. Even though the progression of their relationship is fast-paced, the business aspect of the story remains strong, not just presenting us with lovey-dovey scenes. The last quarter of the story, which includes the breakup and reconciliation part, was executed well. I love how they started again as Hanting and Jixing without bringing their job into it. And the extra episode was also cute and complete with two boys and their old days.

Conclusion:
It was a good story with solid execution from beginning to end, wrapping up with a heartwarming extra episode. Of course, there are small imperfections, but they didn't really disturb the overall story. They are a beautiful college friendship, business partnership, and romantic couple. Thank you Jixing and Hanting for 40 episodes plus 1 extra; my summer vacation was great!

NOTE:
I make a full OST of As Beautiful As You, kindly check this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyr2UTFzVMg

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A complete circle of life

We met , fought for our dreams , misunderstood , parted ways , forgot to laugh , realized our mistakes then met again this time to stay with eo forever until we grow old & took last breath

Ppl says its typical story
Yes its typical but atypical
Its same but different
What make it diff ? Acting ,chemistry ,Aesthetics ,execution ...these things are enough to be label a good show

A beautiful roller coster with ups and downs
Both are flawed because no body is perfect but both learn their lessons .
First 8 episodes are basically business related but necessary to watch to understand ckts especially hanting because he is complex
Story picks up at ep 8 and then every episode was intresting than another. It was actually treat to watch . may be few glitches like jixing 1st breakup
But entire story cover up very well till end .misunderstanding didnt drag for a long instead Xukai marvellous acting wil hooked you .
.i actually got obsessed with this show highly recomended

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Lacks novelty

I somehow dragged myself through 25 episodes of this show. It has a bit different storyline but for the most part it is clichéd. I was excited in the beginning of the show as it starts off well, but after 9-10 episodes it takes downhill. The leads are my favorites but together they don't have much chemistry. In one of the reviews, the person has commented how the female lead doesn't look so much appealing in Romantic dramas, and I guess I would agree with the person. I admire her acting skills a lot but not in much in Romantic shows. I found it boring after initial episodes but had to fast speed through many many episodes in order to skip. It could have been a 20-30 episode job but tge makers stretched it for 41 episodes.
P.S. After watching this one 'Love is Sweet' doesn’t look so boring to me now. That show has many fun moments to offer.

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Too many episodes, too much business talk

I’ve had this on my list to watch for a long time. I kept putting it off, thinking one of two things would happen: 1) either I’d love it and not be able to move on; or 2) I’d be disappointed. Unfortunately, it was the latter, for so many reasons. I know that almost everyone waxed poetic over this show, but for me it had many issues. Just my personal opinion, people. This is long and if you don't want to waste your time reading, I'd still say give the show a try. I'm one of the few that didn't like it. Actually, I probably would have rated this even lower, but I loved the leads, and we actually got a wedding and life after the wedding. I'm one of the few that didn't like it. Spoilers below.
Let’s start with what I liked:
1) The lead actors. I’ve really liked them in other projects. I’ve also seen a bunch of scenes with them and it looked like their chemistry would be off the hook.
2) I really liked how he’d liked her for a long time.
3) Good ending.
4) The FL’s parents.
5) The friendships.
6) The young uncle and his mom. They were so cute!
7) I love me a man that can cook!
Not so much:
1) 41 episodes, really? Unnecessarily long show due to…
2) Multiple couples. Why couldn’t they focus on one?
3) I really disliked that she was involved with someone else at the beginning. For me, that takes away from the love story. I know, it’s not realistic, but I watch romances for the once-in-a-lifetime love.
4) They did not even become a couple until after episode 20! And once they did, I couldn’t buy that they were a couple, because all they ever talked about was work.
5) Speaking of which, 90% of all the talk was about work. Enough about business.
6) The story was implausible. She had no clue how to run a business. She leaves her job and starts a business with a friend, and they didn’t seem to have a plan at all. Then suddenly, they have a huge, beautiful office with quite a few employees.
7) All the companies were inter-related and all I could think about was the conflict of interest.
8) There’s the cliché of the cold businessman. Not only was he cold, but even though he liked her, he talked to her terribly.
9) Her ex-fiance married one of her best friends. That didn’t sit right with me.
10) Each of the couples seemed to have a hard time deciding who they wanted to be with.
11) Her carrying her phone in her hand at all times. She had a purse, and multiple pockets in every outfit she wore, but yet carried it. It was big and clunky, especially after she added the beaded thing. Then, when someone needed to get in touch with her, the phone was dead! But then quickly charged.
12) She had no time for her boyfriend/fiancé, yet when they broke up, she was a complete mess.
13) When FL ask ML if he loved her, he asked what that meant and talked about suitability. Was it a translation problem? I hated that!
14) Didn’t get enough of her business partner and her friend (because for most of the show she was involved with someone else). She was so wishy washy and we got one hug and a phone call once he went to Germany.
15) Minor thing. Once they got married, she never wore that gorgeous ring he gave her. I had a problem with this in Crash Landing on You, but there it was a continuity issue because the end scenes were filmed first, but here, he wore a wedding ring, but she didn’t.
16) The scene of her shaving him in the bathtub. They were cute together, but there is no way he could have climbed into that tub with his back injury!
17) At the end of the show, in the epilogue episode, they were STILL mostly talking about work!

With a good editor, this show would have benefitted from being half the length that it was.

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