Role Reversal (RR) Drama Lovers Club

 Arclei:

I know the requirements are like an ancient treasure hunt

They recently changed the application process, you no longer need 2 active social media accounts for example. The whole application took me half an hour tops.

 Arclei:

I'm just always so scared of getting a virus, yknow

Do you have an antivirus? I use BitDefender Total Security. It works like a charm.

 Arclei:

Very niceee!!

This weekend, I plan to continue working on "An Ancient Love Song." I need to set that drama aside for a day when I can take notes. There are too many details for me to recall, so I want to focus entirely on it. I will  like to attempt one of the RR Mini Series suggested to me  by our club memebers earlier this year. You and @unbeliebubble recommended "Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shang." And since each episode is two minutes long, I can definitely complete it in one sitting.

An Ancient Love Song - Ep 11 

• Beautifully heartbreaking parallel of both of them in the rain searching for each other but in their own world... h..... My heart
• Dang, poor shenbo can't catch a break- Recently resuscitated, in panic, and then he faints and immediately travels back- RIP 
• I love for shenbo that he travels back in time and immediately gets changed into historical outfit like a magical girl transformation off-screen. Makes it look like an avatar that he selects upon time-travelling lol
• Oh god, how much he mirrors her reaction when she last meets him this time around.. Heart heavy with pain and helplessness, mind brimming with the memories, and the other so oblivious to it all, just happy and innocent. OHMYGOD
• "Since you look so miserable, I'm sure she won't blame you" - even so young girlie understood the appeal of a pathetic sobbing sopping wet man. A woman of culture 🤝 
• "When I'm not around, she seems happier" - MY HEART
• awww baby general pookie. So poutyyy
• that poor grandpa... T_T
• "Although you look like a woman, you're a man" AYO??? 
• Not Shenbo playing the flute all melancholic and sadboy in the distance on a bridge, all picturesque to lure our queen over and then talk to her in vague riddles. Bro spent a couple of weeks in historical times and became a total drama queen, I swear
• Oh NOOOO, Shenbo was gotten by the deadly cdrama disease of SLIGHT COUGH!! His days are numbered!! 
• SHE EXTORTED THE JADE PENDANT FROM HIM. IM SOBBING
• This whole interaction is so funny to me because she does NOT have to put up with his shi*t but she does anyway (not like him the first time he meets her, where she's the literal empress). He comes off as a total creeper, and she's intrigued by it 😭
• Where is Shenbo staying now that she doesn't know who he is? O.o Apparently days went by... Also, finally, bro is giving off professor energy
• Lu Yuan is such a protective and caring jiejie- I wish I could see more older sister/younger brother dynamics like this- aaaaa
  • "I'm going to redeem my brother" - MY HEART!! <3
• I love how she's the young one rn between her and ML but she's still yielding to him "Don't be angry" "fine I'll give it to you" like, girlie, he's way older xD I guess the jiejieism is hard to overcome
  

An Ancient Love Song - Ep 12 

• "You are still coughing because you talk too much every day" - GIRL INCINERATED HIM, OH MY GOD- If that were true, then I'd be coughing my lungs out constantly...
  
• Ew the gross guy took a bite out of the egg he had been rubbing on his face all day 
• Notice how both ML and FL wear darker shades of the same colour as they grow 'older'. FL wears dark red in the beginning and gradually lighter shades of pink as ML goes further back in time. Meanwhile, ML starts off in pastel blue and gradually wears darker shades until wearing navy blue on his last visit. The details in this drama are just so good. 
• Quan Yi Lun needs a didi role as the lead- he would absolutely devour. Make it noona and it might just end me
• PRIME MINISTER JUMP SCARE!! AAAA. Oh so he wasn't always an irredeemable POS? Interesting... how ironic that he used to hate corrupt officials the most... oh, how ironic indeed. 
• I cannot for the life of me stress enough how refreshing it is to see a ML in a drama that would rather give his lady all the means to protect herself and be strong rather than the empty "I'll protect you" promises. Shenbo, the true feminist!
• He really captured her heart with teary eyes and nerd yapping, and she captured his by being domineering and badass- ayyyy these cuties
• HAHA she tricked him!!! Oh, the Shenbo, the lovesick himbo that you are
• Shenbo really spent the last two episodes fainting repeatedly, and I think that's very pookie babygirl of him. I love it when men faint (just wish we could've seen her carrying him back but I guess that's asking too much *sigh*)
• "This man looks ordinary. I don't know what Her Lady sees in him. Lu Shi looks much better than him." - *facepalm* Oh god, does this drama love their simping women, and I'm so here for it
• He's the professor, and yet she's the one who read him like a book 

An Ancient Love Song - Ep 13

• Lu Yuan really doesn't let this man create misunderstandings for them, huh? She corners him until he yields to her and stops his nonsense of "I don't want to hurt you". I love stories that can create tension and drama without always abusing the misunderstandings trope
• Loving the intentional difference in how Lu Yuan and Shen Buyan deal and cope with their inevitable fate. Lu Yuan is heartbroken but accepting. She knows she can't change it and she's made peace with it. Meanwhile, Shen Buyan fought it vigorously until he suddenly came to the desperate realisation that it's all hopeless, and now he's utterly defeated. I think this is largely because for Lu Yuan, it's been almost two decades. She had time to come to terms with it, but for Buyan, it's only been a couple of months at most. Everything for her happened too slow and for him too fast, leaving her apathetic and him overwhelmed. GOD I LOVE THE DETAILS!!!! 
• No wonder she cherished that instrument so much.... 😭
• She's so in loveeeeeee  ♥ 
• Wait, help, I was RIGHT!?!?! General pookie wears a fearsome mask because he's too cute and isn't taken seriously?!?! Oh my god?!?!? I can't believe it XD 
• Dang... maid and general had been so in love for so dang long and never tied the knot? She is waaaay too patient with him.
• Stop... he gives her the pendant that brought them together once it's fully repaired as a token of their love... the same token that he later finds in the future broken and starts this whole thing- AAAAAAAA 
• Wow, I only now realized that they leads don't actually kiss in this drama at all, and yet the chemistry and romance is undeniable. Phenomenal 
• NOOOOO that goodbye scene was too much!!!! How you can just tell that he wants nothing more than to run to her and hold her forever, but he's holding back because he already accepted that it could never be.... He literally can't even find it in himself to say goodbye to her because it hurts so much, like you can see him open his mouth but not daring... And how oblivious she is, telling him to wait for her to come back (also wife waving husband off to war-core, anyone?). ML really nails the desperate but restrained sadboy look. 
• And then ML despawns like a video game character.... All I could think of in this scene is this https://youtu.be/wYOsN6ntwFM?si=IqinMBZccsvRlRBa TELL ME I'M WRONG!!! TELL ME!!! At least it made me laugh after feeling heartbroken 
• Also, something about the music is odd yet so fitting for the drama. Incredibly fitting and melancholic OST

An Ancient Love Song - Ep 14

• I really love that they play music together... Such an intimate way to bond <3
• Oh my god... the jade pendant was passed down for generations in search of a Shen Buyan to give to... ohmygod 
• For a second I thought they were trynna pull a plot twist like noooo, the prime minister was in it with Lu Yuan all along 😭
• Oh no, the beilie guy that had been by the prime minister's side this entire time had to watch his totally not boyfriend die in front of him :((( 
• STOPPPP, he rewrote (more like corrected) history for her.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
• Unfortunately, doesn't seem like the old woman is FL after all... :( 
• Nothing cures writers block quite like a heart-wrenching, life-altering, soul-crushing trip back in time, huh? Maybe I should try this 
• Little Yuan is SO cute!!! 
• I am a bit confused about whether he traveled back in time to meet her when she was a child (which, how, since the pendant is no longer broken) or if this is all in his imagination... 
• No happy ending for them after all... I'm fine, I'm fiiiiiine 
• I still can't get over how he despawns like a video game corpse... And I still don't know if his body remains in the present or not. It's heavily implied that yes, but this can't all be a dream because history literally recorded his influence so I'm just kinda confused about it

Final thoughts:

Honestly, a unique one-of-a-kind experience. I'm so glad I didn't put this off because of the ending. Especially the last couple of episodes started to really move me. I still have some unanswered questions, and some details were unfortunate, which is the only reason I couldn't give it a 10/10, but it's a solid 9.5/10. Definitely one of the best dramas out there despite the small budget and runtime. What a great concept masterfully executed.

And that concludes my watch of An Ancient Love Song. Highly recommend!! Especially to those who didn't yet finish, I'd recommend going back and rewatching the previous episodes so you get to experience the story fully in one go. This made all the difference for me.

Can't wait to rewatch this from FL's perspective back to front next year. 

A solid 9.8/10

• Here's an incredible MV that'll make you feel things: https://youtu.be/6OmFBoQZclA?si=uHcm8wfqy6dqS9vq 
• And a short telling the story from FL's POV: https://youtu.be/CT2VV03xwi4?si=jkdrhy5A-wu0CT9G 

Apollocheese (not really) for the wall of text :')

 Simi_Tutu:

recommended "Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shang."

it's a good one, very RR. enjoy!

Binge-watched Learning to Love the past couple of days, and it's so so good! Thoroughly enjoyed it up to the last ep, where it kinda lost me with the finale. 

The role reversal stems mostly from the fact that ML is a host and the age gap between the leads. FL is an elevated version of the goodgirl trope. She's more mature, complex, and hot-tempered than other FLs in the same genre. ML is also more playful and innocent than expected despite his flirtatious nature. They were very much giving bird couple with ML being flashy and FL being pretty dull by comparison (both good characters though)

It does the reversal of the disapproving society/family/etc due to ML's job being seen as inferior and him as dirty, which was a nice touch of RR. FL is also the more mellow, mature, grounded one, while ML is more bubbly and energetic (autistic GF x adhd BF-core)

Overall, definitely not the most RR out there, which I expected. It has some elements here and there. 

I also started Queen Mantis, but found the first episode to be boring. The mother-son dynamic is the most interesting aspect, but they don't meet up a lot so far. I'll continue watching in the hopes that there'll be more attention given to that. And also, A Talented Girl Grows Up with a similar effect. Not sure if I'm just not in the comedy mood, but it wasn't hitting for me past "it's okay". I do hear it's quite RR, so I'll go at it slowly and see how I feel 

I also started getting more into books/comics lately. Mostly because I have a never-ending list of RR titles I've been gathering, and thought I might as well get started on them at some point

I read the book (original) version of A Dream like the True Love, and it was fine (and short). I'm still sitting on my comparison notes, which I might post later, but I didn't love it as much as the drama, nor as much as I was hoping I would. The story is pretty similar to the live-action adaptation, but simpler; the drama was definitely dramatized a lot, which, imo did make things more interesting but also made other things worse. 

Still, though, it had some nice RR moments. Especially the simping FL does for ML is adorable. She's so smitten with him, and the never-ending remarks about his beauty were hilarious (and relatable). 

I finished Love is An Illusion - The Queen (manhwa) last month and realized I had once again dropped it just before it 'got good' again (I read over half a few years back and just didn't finish it, what a crime). Putting that in quotations 'cause it never quite delivers what I was hoping for. Plainly speaking, the writing is bad. The worst part is probably the fact that people in their late 30s acted like literal tweens, and it became increasingly more difficult to suspend my disbelief. Most of the story is centered around misunderstandings, so the leads don't actually get together until the special side story. Yeah, disappointing. IDK, I was hoping for more skinship and romance for the leads, and instead I got like 80% BL & GL with a sprinkle of RR for the endgame, which, okay, beggars can't be choosers, but COME ON. I'm most pissed off that... we didn't get to see ML preggers... Like the time skip baby scene was diabolical- so much will-they-won't-they for them to have a kid off-screen, and we don't even see them as a family together?

Still, though, it delivers RR omegaverse, which is basically impossible to find, and it also delivers CEO FL x secretary ML + a playgirl FL with a very goody ML. Would've probably delivered more if the leads actually interacted more, lol.
It IS NSFW, though, be warned. It's also omegaverse, so be extra warned. And ML spends 90% of the story crying buckets of tears, so be extra EXTRA warned

I'm currently reading Yuri's Palace (manhwa), which is finally delivering the matriarchy goodness I keep hoping for in dramas. I'm taking my time because I'm actually liking it even though ML is starting to become a bit unbearable (seriously, what's up with manhwas and MLs that can't stop crying? I love sensitive MLs but he's written like those insufferable crybaby FLs, it's unbearable). FL is such a boss, a ruthless young empress trying to gain a foothold in her kingdom, yes please! And her consort is so delightfully devious, that's the kinda ML I was hoping for! A homme fatale through and through. Overall, not great quality-wise but interesting enough. Curious to see where it goes ^^ 

And then I also started Man Slave (manhwa), which... is interesting. Definitely very reliant on SA (violence against women.... again.....yay......) and it's yet to get into the RR (not sure it will actually deliver on what I expect when it does either tho but it promised to be fallen nobleman turned boytoy for a spoiled noblewoman with femdom vibes, so my expectations are definitely high, lol).
This one is also NSFW with a lot of SA. 

Now I'm waiting for Gemini to fully upload so I can watch it :D 

What about y'all? Watching anything interesting? 

Haven't seen a ton of RR dramas lately other than Gemini. I was hoping Tower of Whispers might have RR vibes but that didn't really work out. 

I have some hopes for Love in the Clouds to have rivals-to-lovers or better yet, switch vibes :D watching the first eps that are out today. 

 RSB:

I was hoping Tower of Whispers might have RR vibes but that didn't really work out. 

Omg, really??? That one was on my radar too :((( ML is literally bought as a slave by FL, how did they manage to somehow not make this RR? TOT

 RSB:

I have some hopes for Love in the Clouds

Fingers crossed it delivers everything you're hoping for! Let us know of any interesting developments! 

 RSB:

Haven't seen a ton of RR dramas lately other than Gemini. I was hoping Tower of Whispers might have RR vibes but that didn't really work out. 

I have some hopes for Love in the Clouds to have rivals-to-lovers or better yet, switch vibes :D watching the first eps that are out today. 

I agree. In "tower of whispers" it way more about FL being clever thaan any RR. 

"love in the cloud" is on my list, let's see. 

Happy week.