About Love

The Romance Drama That Breaks the Usual Cliches

I started About Love expecting the same formula that many Chinese romance dramas usually follow. Most of the time it is sweet scenes repeated again and again, unnecessary misunderstandings, and characters acting unrealistically just to keep the story going. But this drama surprised me in a very good way.
About Love is not the typical lovey lovey romance story. The relationship feels much more raw and realistic. The characters are flawed and emotional and sometimes even frustrating, but in a way that actually feels human. They make decisions based on pride, fear, and personal struggles instead of just following predictable drama logic.
One thing I appreciated a lot is that the writing respects the audience. The story does not drag the same misunderstanding forever and the conflicts move forward naturally. Conversations between the characters feel genuine and sometimes uncomfortable, which makes the emotional moments much stronger when they happen.
The acting also plays a big role in why the drama works so well. The chemistry between the leads does not feel forced or exaggerated. Instead it comes through quiet moments, tension, and small emotional reactions. It feels less like a scripted romance and more like watching two people trying to figure out their complicated feelings.
The pacing is also better than what we usually see in this genre. The drama focuses more on character development and emotional growth rather than repeating the same romantic clichés over and over again.
Brutally honest, this drama made me realize how average many romance c dramas actually are. About Love does not rely on the usual tricks and it is clearly trying to tell a more honest story about relationships.
It is not a perfect drama, but it is definitely refreshing. If someone is tired of the usual sweet and predictable romance stories, About Love is a drama that actually feels different and worth watching.

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Thorny relationships in a tangled web

Finished this convoluted drama, that will not appeal to everyone because of its themes and unusual format. It is not the usual romance to binge, and fast forwarding will lose the audience, who tread the tight rope line along Bei, Gong and Xiaoxi, where other characters weigh in to trip others up and drag them down into (senti)mental abysses.

The cast has many actors:
Liu Yuning (playing the mysterious bag appraiser Bei), in a very special love triangle with
Vengo Gao (as the mercurial comics artist Gong cruelly betrayed by a jealous woman who had hired Xiaoxi), and Wang Ziwen ("relationships appraiser" florist Li Xiaoxi/seductress Jiang Yifan) ;
Jiang Xin (Yu, older woman in a flagging marriage), Jason Gu (musician Xiu, Yu's husband) and Huang Ziqi (actress Luanluan) also in an unholy triangle;
Zhu Jiaqi (red haired photographer Sen) with Vivienne Tien/Chen Jiaying (Mingming, employee long pursued by Sen) and Zhou Dawei (Mingming's former suitor, photographer A Lun), alongside other men and women who distrust feelings, some who play characters who make a living from cheaters like Gong Beibi (the redoubtable Guan Jie madam of the women's club who used Li Xiaoxi to break up couples) or Ming Dao (the psychologist Lin Chen).
The relationship chart on https://wiki.d-addicts.com/images/a/a6/About_Love_Chart.jpg (unfortunately not translated in the MDL photo section copy) is not altogether straightforward.

The opening Douban rating of 6.3 from 19,600 ratings is honorable although we would like to see higher ratings for a Liu Yuning drama. This adult target drama, filmed in August 2023 and postponed while three previously filmed dramas were released before it (2021 "Heroes", 2022 Zichuan" and 2022 "A Journey To Love") and a number more (2024 "The Story of Pearl Girl", "2024 "Heroes", 2025 The Prisoner of Beauty", 2025 "Zichuan",and "A Dream Within A Dream") making followers wonder what was wrong and if it would ever see light on screens.

"About Love" was too generic a title : too many C-dramas have a similar one. Why not have kept the initial "Cicada Girls" title? (although the "love appraiser" is also likened to a mantis devouring her mate, the character also reminds of a moth drawn to a flame, shown in the opening credits). It did not benefit from much promotion and the choppy editing, mixing animation and theater moments sometimes in a too heavy handed explanatory fashion, sometimes confusing timeline, the themes may have bewildered LYN fans looking it up now. LYN himself was not much satisfied with this drama, the visuals of which (hairstyle...) follow closely the initial source material webtoon. It was an experience, from which he concluded that he much prefers to play costume dramas. Still, it is watchable and has its merits, for the patient audience.

Liu Yuning also (unusually) did not sing here, although the voice of Zhang Lei sounds so close to his that some thought it was him singing "Love is not true".

The OST has nice songs and was compiled on YouTube. I have added in the Discussions section the links and some lyrics to the songs, together with who are the singers and lyricist, composers of those songs. Among the singers, a Sichuan Tibet autonomous Aba-Qiang prefecture born singer called Mamcù, lends her voice to the theme song, sung in English : The Secret of Love (not to be confused with the Circles of Life from the Disney animation, lol!!)
Discover more about and listen to the OST through visiting the Discussions section , or click on the direct link : https://kisskh.at/discussions/754333-chan-nv/148568-about-love-2026-complete-ost-music

Also look at lilili's post in Discussions section to appreciate the beautiful cinematography : : https://kisskh.at/discussions/754333-chan-nv/148952-the-cinematography-of-about-love
♥️💛💛♥️

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