Twelve Letters

One of the masterpiece, must watch , break from long cheesy c dramas ,this is perfect

Wow, its one of the best masterpiece of cdramas. usually c dramas long but this one just 12 eps but in the end i wish this was more long. every character, plot, story, twist, time travel fantasy, it was so amazing, it was so different from usual c dramas. Both male lead and female leads hats off them , their acting, chemistry without being clingy or cheese. I really love the main lead Zho yi ran , he is so fine men, love him, his character always top notch. and even their son and daughter in future , the untold chemistry between them was so loud. Wish they will reunite for future projects. All over its just best, never expected this much good, each ep hooked me. Must watch . True love 💕

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This series premise was so engaging

I watched some clips of this series when it was airing and I resolved to watch it when it was done.
it was everything I thought it would be and some more.
these are the things I liked in no particular order:
1. The plot premise (unique and engaging)
2. The cinematography
3. The colour grading/ambience
4. The acting of the cast
5. The ending

I believe that the ending is the best possible scenario because personally I believe that not every series has to have an entirely happy ending sometimes it's logically impossible to have them live happily ever after with everyone getting what they want especially when the series was an emotional roller coaster like this one and everytime you think you know something, they reveal another tibit and you're clueless again.
I really hope that if you had your reservations on watching this series please set it aside and watch it without romantic or illogical ideals because this series is real, raw and unlikely to spare your feelings.

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Before being a story about letters traveling through time, it is above all a love story between two young people whom life has not spared. They find refuge together. And... no spoilers. It's the saddest of happy endings. I didn't know it would go in that direction. It hits you like a punch in the gut.

However, my little lovebirds (allow me to call you that), you're waiting for a rotten cat to take care of your letters, so of course it's not working out the way you want it to. That filthy beast. Pfft !
It takes a hell of a lot of commitment to a relationship to send love letters from the future. His declaration, "I want to be your family, if you allow me" and her simple, obvious reaction... I'm melting. They're perfect for each other. And the two actors play their characters on the brink of disaster admirably. Wang Yinglu is completely immersed in her role, deeply moving.

When she is the first person in the world to celebrate his birthday and he cries silently... and he eats his cake while crying his eyes out. It's hard not to shed a tear. Don't make sad stories like that, you don't realise, we watch them afterwards ! Besides, the two are ageing in Veer-Zaara years, it's terrible, this disease. A little-known side effect is that it makes the audience burst into tears, and we don't do enough to prevent that.

"If I ever bring you misfortune, you must leave me."

Ps : Why include a chubby character named ‘fat dog’ who eats all the time ? We'll never know. Even if he served a purpose in the story (he doesn't), there was no need for this fatphobia. Chinese productions have a real problem with this.

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Defying Fate: The Sweet, Tear-Jerking Triumph of Twelve Letters

​I really hate having tears over a drama. First, it was When Life Gives You Tangerines, and now Twelve Letters has gone and done it to me again. In fact, I have never gone as far as to actually write a review for a drama before, but this one completely forced my hand! It was such an incredibly sweet, poignant story that is definitely worth the watch, but oh my god, those tears! 😭😭😭 I am still recovering from the sheer emotional weight of it all.

​What absolutely destroyed me while watching was seeing the tragic future they portrayed for the characters. Watching them navigate a fate that felt so painfully unfair and stacked against them was incredibly heavy to sit through. There were moments where the sadness felt so raw and real that it genuinely hurt to watch them struggle against a future that seemed entirely determined to break them apart. The show does an amazing job of making you care so deeply that their heartbreak becomes your heartbreak, and I was just a weeping mess watching it unfold.
​But what makes this drama an absolute masterpiece—and why I’m so glad I stuck through all those tears—is how it all wraps up. ✨

​After all that intense sadness, the show delivers a truly epic ending that rewards you for every single ounce of pain you felt. It doesn't just give a lazy, rushed resolution; it feels earned, powerful, and incredibly satisfying. The way the pieces finally fall into place to completely defy that tragic future and overcome every obstacle in their way gave me total chills! It’s rare for a show to balance such deep, heavy sorrow with an ending that feels this triumphant, and that beautiful payoff is exactly why Twelve Letters is going to stay with me for a very long time. ❤️

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Artistic

I find that most C-dramas are tailored to be profitable rather than artistic. Tragedy, beauty, and romance are so excessively used that they become meaningless. I am pleased to say that "Twelve Letters" does not fall into that category. There is tragedy, but there is also boundless resilience and hope. There is beauty, but it is not ungrounded. There is romance, but it is neither insecure nor saccharine. "Twelve Letters" is real, and because it is real, it is deeply moving.

It is a slice-of-life, so I'll refrain from overelaborating on the plot. I will say—for those who are sensitive—that there are significant mentions of poverty, abuse, assault, homicide, and suicide. However, the story refrains from being maudlin given its decisively hopeful tone. "Twelve Letters" features moving found-family relationships; the purest of young love stories; and flawed but ultimately good characters whom life dealt bad cards.

While there are plenty of stories with similar concepts, "Twelve Letters" differs in its fantastical element and level of execution. The fantastical element of the story stems from a mailbox which can deliver and receive messages from the past to the present (and vice-versa). Throughout the story, a young couple from 1991 messages their future children (living in 2026) through this mailbox. This messaging—appearing to be somewhat of an authorial afterthought at first—later becomes critical in solving the story's main mystery. Additionally, it introduces questions regarding the cost of trade-offs, sacrifice, and love. This supernatural element meshed well with the slice-of-life premise to create what is one of the only "magical realism" adjacent C-dramas in recent times.

As for the level of execution, few Chinese dramas are on par with "Twelve Letters." The cinematography is breathtaking. Every single shot in the show is beautiful, especially in the 1991 Mei-Wan Zhen (梅湾镇) setting. What I particularly love is how artfully the scenes are shot. Each frame is a masterclass in proportion, and there is a bittersweet green tint applied to the footage. Despite the pursuit of beauty, nothing is overdone. The actors are not wearing jarring amounts of makeup or clothes the characters could not afford, and film is not aesthetic for aestheticism's sake. Here, grittiness is not compromised by misplaced romanticism.

This extends to the actors' portrayal of their characters. Wang Yinglu egolessly blends into every role she plays; Zhou Yiran never sacrifices sincerity for superficiality; and every supporting actor/actress performs with utmost conviction. There is not a single weak link, which is almost unheard of in recent C-dramas.

Finally, "Twelve Letters" musical choices are extremely effective at building both joy and suspense, especially in the first seven episodes. After episode 7, I found the OST to be overused or forced in certain moments (despite its excellence, it was probably unneeded). I was introduced to the band FloruitShow (福禄寿) through this drama, and they are now my absolute favorite (they are also unfortunately barred from performing as a trio now; they now perform as a duo under the name DOUDOU).

To be honest, I initially dropped this drama after the fifth episode and only recently picked it back up. The pacing can be slightly slow at times, but I found the ride to be worth every minute and every tear.

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The reason why I watched it was because of Yiran's denial, and secondly, the idea of the whole series, it sounded mega interesting, but I admit that because it only had 12 episodes, I got lost about 50 times and had to watch that episode one more time. But maybe it was mostly due to the fact that I watched it once or twice a week and then I couldn't remember exactly where we were, whether in the past or the future, or if something happened or not. Anyway, I think it was a great story idea, the cast was great too, and I cried (how else) at the end. For lovers of romance with some action, this is the real deal

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Magical realism letter time-travel drama that is worth your time

Our offspring our strangers to us in the future and our parents are strangers to us in the past.

This little gem of a chinese drama series is well worth the small investment of time (only 12 episodes). I have been trying to figure out why it is unusual. And I think I've settled on this as the main reason - that it shows very clearly the truism of the fact that our offspring our strangers to us in the future and our parents are strangers to us in the past. If you could change your parent's past, would you?

I think it is also unusual because in a sea of polarising genres of either shamelessly shallow idol dramas or full on police crime dramas, this thoughtful and deep drama explores the harshness and brutality of certain parts of rural China (in the 90s and quite possible even now) without being a police crime drama. Trigger warning- there is exploration of familial abuse, triad gang war and small town thinking. The closest TV series I can think of that does a similar thing is Nobody Knows, but that drama had significant police-crime plot line. There is no doubt where the emphasis is in this drama - on the young coming of age couple in the early 90s living in a small town.

It is also unusual also because of its beautiful cinematography and the treatment each side character gets to tell the fully-orbed story. I thoroughly enjoyed the breadth and depth of each character and only wish a longer series could have been written - perhaps exploring more of the thoughts and feelings of the offspring as they discover more of their parent's past. Another follow-up series wouldn't be out of place when the series is this good!

As it is, I felt like a lot of Chinese series, the ending left rather a lot to be desired. It is a source of mystery to me that Chinese dramaland simply cannot deliver a Chinese series without some sort of deflation-of-souffle- ending. Seriously, why not? If only...

The acting on the other hand is stellar. I think most people will be blown away by the two young actors and I have come across many who have said this is Zhou Yiran's best work yet. I quite agree. I believed every moment. It helps when the character is written so well!

This drama was a real gift for christmas 2025.

P.s. On that note, couldn't they have released it 2026 to make it fit the timing in the drama?

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Thank god for time travelling cats

Twelve Letters is a beautifully shot, beautifully acted and beautifully written drama.

I felt strangely nostalgic my first time watching this. The cinematography is very reminiscent of 90s Hong Kong films that I grew up on. They're similarly melancholic and passionately tragic. In these stories, the happiness is always fleeting and that's why I cried so much during their little rain dancing session lmao.

The story was well paced and the twists were surprising. I was constantly engaged but I don't really have much to say on the actual plot.

Wang Yinglu and Zhou Yiran acted the shit out of their roles in Twelve Letters. The anger, the yearning, the desperation—it's like they danced all over my guts. I cried so much I got a migraine and threw up. They need to work together again, preferably in a romcom or something; I desperately want them to be together and happy. And kisses! Omg we deserve kisses so bad.

Despite my adoration of this drama, I couldn't give it a perfect score because of two reasons. One is because the non-linear storyline within the 1991 time period was not always necessary and just added to the confusion (episode 8 in particular). And two is because the ending felt abrupt as hell. Why couldn't they have added a scene of Haitang and Yixun boarding a bus out of Meiwan or them moving in to an apartment near her university? A small scene like that would have made a huge difference, ughhh we were robbed.

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Needed a Long Epilogue

SO DEEPLY SPECIAL TO ME! There are a lot of things I think were underdeveloped, but the two leads kept me hooked the entire time. They were so cute and I cherished the happy moments they had together, but I wish we had gotten more of them. I also wish that the magical elements had more time. I would have loved for more correspondence between the past and present. Liked all of the characters, but also wish characters outside the main leads had more room for change and growth. I will remember the main leads for a long time, but the side characters probably won't stick around for me. I need someone to cast the main leads again in a happier story so we can get the full romance story from them.

Basically every scene the main leads have together is my favorite, but my absolute favorite scene between them was the fl sacrificing her house, despite how hard she fought for it, despite what it meant to her -- simply telling the ml, "You matter more." So simple and so effective. In that gesture, she is finding a new home for herself and starting over, while he experiences what it feels like for someone to value him and his safety. I could rant all day about how perfect they were together.

Overall, the drama was just a little too short for a lot of the story elements and characters. I loved the themes of sacrifice, love, and regret. The main leads were outstanding, and I'm glad they got their happy ending, even if we don't get to see it.

(Also, I know they rewrote time to save their parents, but wouldn't any parent be horrified to lose their child? I guess if they never met their children they would care less, but they seemed very casual about it at the end lol)

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A deeply emotional story about two lost souls finding hope in each other

I was drawn to the screen from beginning to end. There was not one scene I skipped, and that speaks to quality of the story and it's execution.

I loved everything about it - the plot, the characters and the music.

Haitang and Xun are both characters with a traumatic childhood, that have to endure the pain of having absent parents or even an abusive father. Yet, it's exactly this similarity that they both find comfort and love within each other.

I can't recommend this drama enough for people who look for something deeply emotional, but yet doesn't shy away from showing the pain the characters have to experience.

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Didn't understand the ending?

Can someone please tell me what really happened in the end? What became of Shen Cheng? And who was the guy that received the last letter? I’m honestly losing my mind over this. Deep down, I keep wondering—was it Shen Cheng?

This drama was absolutely unforgettable. I don’t even know how many times I cried watching each episode. Their suffering felt so real, and it broke my heart every single time. All they wanted was such a simple thing—a good life, a peaceful life. But the adults around them never allowed them even that small piece of happiness. It’s just so unfair, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

"Every Ye Hai Tang out there need someone like Tang Yi Xun"

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