Role Reversal (RR) Drama Lovers Club

Arclei:

Okay so the trailer for Zhao Yang Gong Zhu/The Shadow Sovereign dropped and it's LOOKING FAR MORE PROMISING THAN I WAS EXPECTING!!!!

I'm especially super giddy to see Liu Xuwei in yet another RR drama!! His role seems to be like a dark version of the one from A Dream Like the True Love, so liiiikeeee~

I'm expecting this to be power couple egal with prominent RR leaning, so... fingers crossed! Started airing today!

Trailer: https://youtu.be/qvCOHp9QieQ (no embed because the uploader disallowed it)

This looks so good! I'll start watching 🤭

Junntsuki:

Hi friends! MDL keeps crashing whenever I get too lengthy with my posts :( Been busy with moving & job hunting, hopefully some good RRs dropped in the meantime and yall are having fun.

Hoping job hunting and moving are gong well! Those are super stressful 😭😭😭

Junntsuki:

@Arclei thank you for the Japanese RR recs & guidance on the spoiler tag, I did not see it at all!

You're welcome!

Junntsuki:

This one looks like a promising RR, it's got the matrilocal husband & frail ML tropes. Based on the plot/synopsis, though, it could just be a facade, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying the RR eye candies. At the very least, it'll be an egalitarian, power couple drama. Check out the reuters and Douyin page (https://v.douyin.com/RT5ZBf42ujo/) and let me know what you guys think.

Woah, thank you so much for sharing this gem!!! That sounds promising asf! Matrilocal husband and he's frail? Aigooo, even if it's an act.... we might be getting some green-tea antics like Blossoms of Power or My Lady General!

Augh, the screenshots where she has him in a dip? Beautifuuuullllll!!!

Junntsuki:

The Dasheng Dynasty was founded on military merit. The Hua family, a lineage of generals for generations, had only one daughter as their sole heir. In this family, women inherited titles and held military power, while men married into the family as sons-in-law and strictly adhered to their duties as husbands. Female General Hua Rongyan married the “useless” Crown Prince Xiao Ce to seize control of her family’s power, unaware that he was actually a knight-errant seeking vengeance for his mother’s murder.

PROMISING AS HEEELLLLL!!!!! Augh, this is so exciting!!!

Hey guys! Yall have any vertical RR recs? I haven’t been able to find any and I’m now craving some 😭😭 please send some my way. However, I’m aware I’ve watched a lot so there might not be anymore for me out there but if you have any niche or favorites, do recommend it to me :)

Lize:

Hey guys! Yall have any vertical RR recs? I haven’t been able to find any and I’m now craving some 😭😭 please send some my way. However, I’m aware I’ve watched a lot so there might not be anymore for me out there but if you have any niche or favorites, do recommend it to me :)

Of course!

This is my list, it's not only verticals, but most of them are:

https://kisskh.at/list/4vGZ72N1

And here are more lists of RR verticals:

https://kisskh.at/list/4J5oQO63

https://kisskh.at/list/1Mpvgq94

murderbee:

It's really good so far! ML is a prissy court official trying to do good for the people and FL is a flirty, seemingly morally grey (but doing good for the people behind the scenes) domineering (mainly to the ML) princess. I love the relationship dynamic and it's definitely on the brink of being egal and RR.

Meanwhile, I can barely bring myself to finish Blossoms of Power 😭 I've got 3 eps left and I'm literally just fast-forwarding through most of it and only pausing on the important parts. I haven't seen the 2nd CP in ages and ML just fucking died so I genuinely have no idea how this is going to end. I can't see how they can possibly have a plot twist of ML being alive, so I'm gonna have to assume there's a time skip to when FL is older or dies, then they reunite in the afterlife. FL is pregnant, also??? Blossoms of Power has def been a trip, and I'll prob finish it today 🫩

Nooooooo that's so disappointing!! I really like the second CP but it sounds like I will have to skim the ending eps 😭 Props to your determination for finishing it despite everything....

murderbee:

It's really good so far! ML is a prissy court official trying to do good for the people and FL is a flirty, seemingly morally grey (but doing good for the people behind the scenes) domineering (mainly to the ML) princess. I love the relationship dynamic and it's definitely on the brink of being egal and RR.

sounds ossomeee!! We love to see it!

murderbee:

Meanwhile, I can barely bring myself to finish Blossoms of Power 😭 I've got 3 eps left and I'm literally just fast-forwarding through most of it and only pausing on the important parts. I haven't seen the 2nd CP in ages and ML just fucking died so I genuinely have no idea how this is going to end. I can't see how they can possibly have a plot twist of ML being alive, so I'm gonna have to assume there's a time skip to when FL is older or dies, then they reunite in the afterlife. FL is pregnant, also??? Blossoms of Power has def been a trip, and I'll prob finish it today 🫩

😭😭😭😭😭😭 That is SO messy- but I don't buy ML being dead for even a second, tbh- And I did hear that the secondary CP kinda went downhill after their strong start... what a disappointment.

jay:

Aaah I wish Alluring Night was on MDL just so I could leave a loving review haha!

Me too, man :( It's crazy that it isn't when Gu Huo Zhi Yi Ai Wei Gu is. It's practically the same thing, but the bait and switch version.

murderbee:

Why are there so many instances of her falling on top of him and pinning him down, then both of them getting flustered but neither of them getting up?

Dramas kill me with this lol. Either fish or cut the bait.

murderbee:

The FL def loves pinning him down and he loves being pinned down XD

This is great news though.

murderbee:

Wu Tianho was so pretty and Yue Yuting was so hot, her overall aura in this was insane!

For real!!!! I didn't know who to look at between them. It was almost aesthetic overload. To this day, I don't think I've ever seen a modern vertical (or even mini) with a better wardrobe.

murderbee:

The 2ML of Blossoms of Power is such a perfect house-husband/malewife

That is SO stinkin' cute!

Have you finished the drama yet? Was there a bait and switch? Did the overall quality of the drama hold up?

Arclei:

Cdramas that don't lose steam at some point can be counted in one hand 😂

Why can't they just be good all the way through? I don't understaaaaannnndddd 😩

Arclei:

Okay so the trailer for Zhao Yang Gong Zhu/The Shadow Sovereign dropped and it's LOOKING FAR MORE PROMISING THAN I WAS EXPECTING!!!!

GIRL. I just finished episode one, and I'm kind of gagged??????? I saw it on a streaming site's homepage a few days ago, and fast-forwarded through the first episode, and was kind of underwhelmed by what flashed by. Then Terri actually sent me this scene:

And I went crawling right back LOLLLLLL. I'd missed it during my initial FF, and didn't see anything else noteworthy. But when I actually watched episode one, it sucked me in! I'm sitting here giddy, happy to be mistaken. I think half of the reason the first episode gobsmacked me is because my expectations were in the Mariana Trench, and the other half is it's legitimately good.

Pros:

• Everyone is f**king gorgeous! Hello???? What's going on? SO much eye candy I'm gonna get diabetes. The ML is attractive, but he isn't even the most attractive one! Pookie from "A Dream Like the True Love" and this stunning white-haired male supporting character are kind of mogging everyone.

• The acting's way better than I expected! Even the one child actress was acting her butt off. (I was impressed by the child actress playing the FL).

• Great costumes and cinematography! Looks like they have a nice budget.

• Pretty good directing and writing.

• Court intrigue that's interesting, but (so far) isn't mistaking being convoluted with intelligent. Hope it stays that way.

• The first episode handled tension really well. Not only was it able to create some, but it was able to draw it out and turn it into suspense. I think the music helps a lot. It's FANTASTIC! Especially in the last court scene. The music really heightened everything (with the exception of the weird dubstep-fusion mess that played in the drama during the harem scene). You know how I feel about the importance of music in dramas. And coming from a drama where I just had to deal with crappy music, this was a big treat.

• Last, but certainly not least, there were a few juicy RR morsels during the FL and ML's first meeting. Nothing intense, but the show of power dynamics was nice.

But yeah, episode one just felt really cinematic! I really enjoyed it.

Cons (aka the things I will be on guard against):

• Though the harem imagery is what got me to give the drama another chance, in the back of my mind I knew it was too good to be true lol. The men were just for show. FL isn't a debauched playgirl. As usual, she's relatively (👀) chaste and would never actually engage with a harem.

• FL doesn't have the level of power I'd hoped for (but she seems to be really smart, and will get it by the end of the drama).

• FL's actress doesn't have that dog in her. You can see it in her eyes. Well, the lack of it anyway. But her acting is still pretty good.

• FL's under a man's thumb. It's not the ML (and hopefully it'll stay that way), but it's still annoying to watch. I foresee some female-focused whump in this drama, but hopefully it won't be too much.

• Pookie from "A Dream Like the True Love" plays the SML (the Prince Consort), but I like his face more than the ML's T . T It may be negligible for most watchers, but I don't like when this happens. Especially when he also has chemistry with the FL. At least he's an annoying hypocrite. That helps.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying the show so far. Hopefully it stays good.

Edit:

JUST FINISHED EPISODE 5 AND IT'S STILL GOOD!! IT'S CUTE, AND I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN!

• The FL's even smarter than I anticipated, thus is powerful because she's maneuvering everyone like puppets. So far she even seems a bit smarter and more calculated than the ML (even though he's smart and calculated himself), so I reallllyyyyy like that.

• I would still call the drama egal, but it's feeling REAL RR because the FL keeps needing to vouch for/rescue the ML. There was even a cute scene where the 2FL, who is also a princess, was trying to have her way with him in a brothel and he ran into FL's room, like "Um...I thought you liked me D: Aren't you gonna save me??" And the FL says no and pushes him right back outside (but of course ends up saving him in the end with her quick thinking).

• I've forgotten all about pookie from A Dream Like the True Love because I'm obsessed with the FL and ML together. Their chemistry's solid and their banter's even better.

• Okay, FL's a little more of a playgirl than I thought. Not to the extent that I'd like :P but she has her fun.

• Hasn't been much female whump yet

• I'm invested in the politics???? (Who am I? But the FL being a double agent of sorts is really fun. It's just being done in an engaging way)

• ML faints cutely (sad FL didn't catch him though)

• Also, each episode actually ends on a legitimate cliffhanger instead of just stopping abruptly. In a C-drama???? Someone in editing really thought about this lol.

• AND THE FL LOWKEY HAS A KINK FOR THE WAY ML SMELLS. THAT'S RIGHT SMELLS. SHE KEEPS SNIFFING HIM, AND IT COMFORTS HER AND HELPS HER SLEEP (A FELLOW INSOMNIAC). Whoever created this drama just wanted to play games with us cause they should've made it an omegaverse. LET MY GIRL SNIFF HER OMEGA IN PEACE!

*inhales*