Ranking Dramas I Watched In 2025

Apr-July

This made it to: The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever

ONE OF THE BEST I HAVE WATCHED EVER! I will remember this for ages. I will keep coming back to this. 

• Want to cry? Watch this
• Want to feel that beautiful heartwarming feeling? This is the perfect pick for you.
• Want to watch something that is highly cinematic and makes full use of the visual storytelling medium? Go watch it and give your eyes a treat
• Want to watch your first ever medical drama, but are skeptical about the complexities? This is the one for you.
• Want to watch a medically realistic drama? Don't worry, even doctors have praised for it's highly realistic and medically accurate writing.
• Want to watch a realistic romance depicting that rare true love? Go for this one!
• Want to watch a show where every character shines, not just the mains? You cannot get it better
• Want to watch a masterpiece, but are tired of seeing this word being used so casually for a lot of bad dramas? This will make you remember the true meaning of the word 'masterpiece'.

I can keep going on and on. What I am trying to say here is simple. GO AND WATCH THIS NOW! This shines on every fronts. There is no department of this that was anything below excellent. Production quality, direction, cinematography, lighting, camera angles, editing, visual effects, visual storytelling, script, character writing, character acting, and whatever more departments there may be, all perfect. You know in an instant that ones that created this and everyone involved with it truly cared about this show. They were not here for money. They were here to tell a beautiful story. 

And this is an absolute must watch for those of you who truly care about watching beautiful stories that leave an impact on you. However, if you are here with the mindset of a typical romance kdrama watcher, then this doesn't have what you need. 

CW May-??? (1000/10)

Ah, my eyes have been blessed. A ROC/Minguo drama with excellent cinematography is what I have been craving since a long time. Ever since I watched AMA back in 2021. This drama's cinematography is next level. I can not praise it enough.

All the characters are so interesting. In the first episode itself, the show builds the audience's interest towards the characters. I am impressed by all 3 major actors and the characters they portray. 

Li Qin is excellent as always. She makes her appearance while she is on a mission and shooting her enemies from afar. Her face is revealed with expressions of betrayal, loss and anger at the same time as she is handling the situation at hand. In the first appearance itself, she ends up making a mark with her terrific acting skills, which make me curious about her character and root for her at the same point.

Wang Yi Bo was not an actor I was initially interested in. I felt like this man greatly improved his acting over the years. I really appreciate him for that as being a Liulang, it would have done him no harm even if he chose to not improve. WRL is such an adorable and humble character, played perfectly by WYB. He should definitely play more characters like this. Poor and nice MLs make me want to automatically root for them while rich, rude and cold MLs make me wish their downfall with the amount of times they anger me with their arrogance. 

Wang Yang is as good as they said he was. An amazing actor. He looks like the kind of character that will go through a lot of dilemma before he changes sides. I am so interested in knowing how he changes.  

This time, they aptly chose the English title. 3 words that describe the whole show perfectly.

CW June-??? (10/10)

Ep 1 impression:

I don't remember the last time I had this much fun watching a romantic comedy that does not follow a older woman and young man relationship dynamic or does not features a serious woman with a playful man. This show follows a relationship dynamic that is not really of my preference and yet I am already willing to give this show a 10/10. I don't think I have ever given a rom-com following this dynamic a full score! 

Whoever wrote, directed and produced this is a genius. Whoever acted in this is excellent. The entire crew needs to be appreciated over here! Last time I watched a rom-com, it was Korean. I had once been watching too many Korean rom-coms. None of those matched up to this Japanese rom-com. I am struggling to finish CLOY which is rated 9.0 over here for god's sake! Another day of me wondering why Korea is so popular for it's rom-coms when other E.Asian countries do them so much better.

The rom is rom-ing and the com is com-ing! The leads are so well written! Everyone is so well written! Never thought that office scenes of rom-coms can be so fun to watch, but this has them. I am so happy while watching this. Cannot wait to watch more episodes.

CW Apr-??? (10/10)

Excellent. Melancholic. Tragic. Alluring.

There is no mediocre scene in this show. Each scene is captivating. This is one of the Chinese shows that I use as an example when I claim that so many 60+ episode Chinese dramas are much more better and worthy than 98% of 16 episode Korean dramas.

Also, Zhou Xun is phenomenal. The multiple other actresses have also done a great job. Chinese actresses and actors never fail to win you over with their skills (provided you watch the right shows/films and not CEO falls in love with Cinderella) 

Edit: I am scared that I will finish this one day and there would be no new episodes. It also doesn't help that China stopped making these kinds of shows TT-TT

Edit2: Once I finish this, I'd make a flood of FMVs. I have unique and never done before ideas that I won't be revealing before I publish those FMVs somewhere.

CW Apr-??? (10/10)

Epic. Vast. Marvelous. Magical.

This is what we call epic. Just first episode in and I already know this will be another ultimate favourite. The worldbuilding of Novoland universe is extremely vast, and I believe that only this adaptation and Eagle Flag were capable of portraying on screen that vast world amongst other failed adaptations. This one is directed by the GOAT Cao Dun, an extremely talented director from China. I believe that this drama (and Eagle Flag too maybe) has the vastest of the world seen in an E.Asian drama. I don't know anything that exceeds this show's worldbuilding. 

Also, I know how it ends as it covers only around half of the book and there is no sequel in sight. But that doesn't really matter to me. To me, the journey is more important than the destination in such kinds of shows. 

CW May-??? (10/10)

'Song Dynasty Youth Chronicles' sounds better of a English title for this. 

Just began watching and I am fully invested. This show just pulls you in from the start itself. Reminds me of my first and also my top rated 'Mystery/Investigation/Case-solving' Wuxia 'Ancient Detective'. The characters are VERY interesting! Cannot wait to see them work as a team. The comedic tone is well done. The cinematography and production quality is very good for a low budget show released in 2019. I find the background scenery especially refreshing as I was tired of the same old market set being used in most of the idol period shows I have been currently watching. 

The drama follows all the genres it is listed to have very well. I am curious and I laughed. Serves exactly what I expected. My first drama of the GOAT considered screenwriter Wang Juan and he is living up to his reputation. Cannot wait to watch more shows written by him already.

The acting by every actor is very good. They all play their characters perfectly. When the makers do not care about getting famous faces to play in their show and choose the actors based on their acting and on how much the said actor fits the character they will be playing, wonderous things happen. Saw it in Ancient Detective, seeing it here as well. 

Jan

Without spoiling anything, the best kdrama of all times. This made it to my list: The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever

I took a photo of the amount of tissues I used to show it to people and tell them that this is to be considered my no word review for the drama. I barely cry, but I love it when dramas are able to make me cry (or any piece of entertainment media). 

CW June-? (10-9 predicted rating)

This is my first full length horror supernatural Chinese drama. My first ever experience with Chinese horror content was the short episodic stories by FM Abnormal, and I absolutely loved them! 

I am glad China still makes these since the ban on supernatural horror usage in modern Chinese dramas. Although this wasn't allowed to release and they 'accidentally' released it, it was made during the time when these censorship rules were imposed. I wonder if censor board in China is for name only because so many supposedly banned things still get made and released.

I have very high expectations from this drama and so far I am getting what I need. The writing is very creative and the production is VERY high quality. Like I really did not expect the cinematography, lighting, color grading, set design, and all other visual production aspects to be so well executed. The drama has just started and I am already impressed.  

Stumbled upon this series randomly while browsing MDL & Douban, accidently opened a whole new world of amazing short horror stories for myself. These 12 stories are not all, their YouTube channel uploaded a lot of other stories too. I'll watch each and every work done by this team now. I am so f**king addicted!!!! 

The potential for Chinese drama makers to delve into the horror genre is immense. If they do full length dramas like this, they will even outdo Korea! They can even set these horror stories in historical settings! Please please please China, I need more horror dramas from your side!

Other stories from the same makers:

• Abnormalities 
  • Abnormalities Season 2
  • Abnormalities Season 3 
    
  • Abnormalities: The Final Season 
    
• FM Abnormal (this)
• abnormal.m4v 
  • Bu Si Yi: Guai Tan 
• Abnormal Timezone 
  • Abnormal Timezone 2.0 
• Abnormal Select: Strange Nights 
• Abnormalities: City of Human 
• Abnormal Special (MDL page unavailable, linked to YouTube playlist)
• Shan Ye Yi Si (historical setting)
  • Shan Ye Yi Si Season 2

Also, below is the link to their YouTube Channel:

• Abnormal TV 不思異劇場

June

I really enjoyed this short drama! It was really unique. I did not really expect to love this one. It was really well written. One of the best time travel to the past story I have watched. It has a great plot twist that I really did not see coming. It has been quite long since a plot twisting drama actually surprised me.

Talking about the visuals, the production quality and cinematography were too good! A short drama with a low budget again proves that if someone wishes to truly make something good, budget is not really an issue. It's your will to make something good for the audience, and also for yourself. Watching full length big budget productions like Princess Wei Young and Princess Agents failing so bad, and looking at small budget productions like this and the GOATed An Ancient Love Song, serves as a proof of my belief. As a creator myself who aims to create for myself and my love of creating, I feel really motivated with these examples.

Overall, another brilliant Chinese drama that can be finished within a day. Highly recommended. Don't read anything before going in, but if you did read the synopsis here and felt demotivated thinking that it is a huge spoiler, don't worry it's not a huge spoiler.

Jan 

This was so so so good! I ended up binging the entire drama, which is something I rarely do. More often than not, I come across dramas that are not interesting enough for a binge. It's either that, or the drama itself is slow paced or slice of life meant to be enjoyed slowly. This however was a fast paced drama that never runs out of pace. 

All of the osts are soooo good, including Jingfei Chen's Night Breeze as well. I was surprised and pleased to hear JFC's NB here. ^^

Yes, it is not a flawless drama, but everything ends up making sense at the end. Never once was I bored nor did I have to fast-forward or watch at 2x speed. So happy to be able to finally come back to c-dramaland.

From 2 or so months I have been watching only k-dramas (couldn't afford to watch something interesting back then due to work, that's why). Except for Light Shop, none other could pique my interest. Even Goblin and CLOY are not as good as expected. Most Korean dramas fall apart in the second half. Even so called 'underrated' dramas like 'Awaken' ended up falling apart completely in the second half. 

Chinese dramas however are different. They are long in episode numbers, but the length of each episode is less. This makes it easy to watch them over 16 episode k-dramas with 1hr20mins episode runtime. Apart from this, even if a Chinese drama is 100+ episode long, they still end up being interesting enough over even 6 episode k-dramas (like Black Knight). 

I am really happy to return to Chinese dramas and also Taiwanese, Japanese and HK dramas. They are the true best E.Asian dramamakers for me. Never understood the Korean hype, especially when most dramas that end up becoming special to me from Korea are themselves highly underrated and unappreciated due to the lack of silly rom-com cliche elements.

Jan-Feb

I wasn't disappointed at all! I knew that Li Mo's drama wouldn't fail me. It was one hell of a journey! I had to watch an episode daily since this dealt with the hard topic of death. The stories in this were all very impactful. I met so many characters that I loved. I cried buckets watching this show at several moments. This show made me cry the most till date alongside The Light in Your Eyes.

Our main character went through tremendous growth. She started as a rough, rebellious and non-caring character that was a little annoying and slowly became a better person that learnt the meaning of life and built meaningful and lifelong relationships with different people around the funeral parlor. Each of these characters on their own are very lovable people who have their own story. 

In terms of the slow healing and repairing of broken and strained mother daughter relationship, this show is one of the best. This is nothing like Korean dramas where the toxic mother is portrayed in a comedic manner where she treats her daughter (and sometimes husband) horribly till almost the end of the show, only for her to get redeemed all of a sudden at the end as she gives speech on how she secretly cared for the daughter (looks at SWDBS, TB, LND, AMO). This portrayed their problems in a serious manner and both the mother and daughter work to improve their relationship every episode.

This is one of the many Chinese dramas that I use as an example to prove that people have just a biased view toward Chinese dramas saying that they only make cringy romantic cliche modern dramas, which honestly is the biggest lie I've heard in my life. Compared to Korea, there are a LOT more realistic dramas from China, Japan & Taiwan. 

Jan-July

Fantastic slice of life time travel show with beautiful winterscapes. I love the slow pace of the drama so much. Cinematography is fantastic! All soundtracks in this are lovable, especially the ending song sung by Rainie Yang, my favourite singer and actress who is also very nostalgic figure for me. 

I find that I have enjoyed the show a lot despite minute flaws and logic holes. It was a beautiful journey. It wasn't the same level as SOOD, but it did good with it's own storyline. I especially loved how the 2 annoying dads were handled(of FL & SFL). I won't spoil much, but a very realistic character growth for FL's dad. SFL's dad wasn't handed over a sob story to make it seem like he did nothing wrong. Lovely

If this were a Korean drama, and the actors acting in it were some handsome but cannot act 'oppas', with plots not developing naturally but twist happening out of nowhere, and overall plot was written with a lot of logic holes like 'Goblin', it would have scored even an 9.0 over here. I mean, no need to even guess, just look at the many 9.0-8.5 rated kdramas.

Fully worth watching. Do not go by the MDL ratings. It is rated above 7 on douban. If you aren't aware of how douban works, when a Chinese drama scores 7.0 there, the team celebrates.

Ending Thoughts: This was so good! I cannot believe people did not like it internationally, yet they love Goblin so much. Actually I can believe it since I have long given up on international audiences taste in E.Asian dramas. It kept getting better and better! I was so pleased by it as it ended. I don't know how people call this having a terrible ending when they love Goblin so much, whose ending was just like the rest of the show, that is terrible. If the ending of this drama gets criticism for having 8% logic holes, then what about Goblin's 98% logic holes present throughout, especially toward the 2nd half of it? Are these people for real?

CW Mar-??? (9.5-9 predicted rating)

I started this with not so high hopes. I just wanted to watch it thinking I won't like it later after watching all the new xianxias, since I believed that this one has a not so appealing storyline and FL character being described as childish did not really appeal me. I didn't think that Yang Zi would be capable in pulling off a cutsey character unlike YSX since the vibe I got from her was mature and elegant. 

However, all my worries were unnecessary, as this drama won me over. YZ doesn't feels off as a cutsey FL thanks to her good acting, and the typical love story is done quite well. I am fully invested, so much that I watched till ep 24 in 2024 and kept it on hold due to work and now instead of resuming from where I left, I am finding myself rewatching the entire 24 episodes. 

The cinematography is not too good, but it is good enough when compared with other period idol dramas around the time of its release. Some shots look fabulous, some average-ish, and a few are quite bad. The lighting is also like that, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Costume design is quite sloppy with few exceptions. Same with the props. The heavenly realm and bird tribe sets took me out a lot of times due to their low quality. Flower realm and Night immortal scenes are quite well filmed in comparison. 

Overall this gives off the vibes that I expect c-dramas to give, and lives up to it's reputation. I can see why this is so well rated. When I am loving this even though I know about xianxias of today, how much excited would it have gotten people at the time of it's release when there were only a few xianxias?  

CW Mar-??? (9-8.5 predicted rating)

I was afraid to start Princess Agents thinking I'll start to like that better than this due to the FL being so strong. Opposite happened and now I love this so much more. This has 1000 times better plot, better cinematography, lighting, set design, costumes and makeup, 10000000 times better wuxia action scenes, characters have layers and character development is better done. Dare I say that the acting is so much better here than in PA. The ML is way better as well. Just everything is done better here.

This so called low budget period drama has better cinematography and production quality than the higher budget Princess Agents. This show proves that budget is not an excuse for low effort productions like PA. This drama has so many breathtaking scenes that I am collecting them all to make an fmv of the cinematography and visuals (if I get the time). Truly a visual feast.

The plot is also so much better with overall better characters. Compared to the cartoonish villains in PA, the villains here are well written and heavily layered. The FL is not established as a strong FL, but a kind hearted one. The people who complain about the FL here for her kindness and lack of ruthlessness forget that Chu Qiao is also kind. It's just that they made CQ to have a very high strength. Here, the FL develops and becomes strong more realistically. The acting by LYT is insanely good.

I honestly don't get the love for the poorly made PA and hate for this one. Maybe international tastes are really terrible, since China loves BR and dislikes PA.

CW July-? (9-8.5/10)

I am actually loving this? I cannot quite believe it, yet I do. I dislike stories like this, but I had a feeling that this, ISWAK & Incurable Case of Love will be the ones that I'd love. Playful Kiss by Korea was so horrible I had to stay away from such stories till years. But I knew this and the ones I mentioned will be better. I was so tired by work that I wanted to watch something simple, fluffy and funny. I am glad I chose this. It has the right amount of funny, fluffy and simplicity that I need. It might not be a fully realistic show like I prefer, but it never promises that. It promises you to give a good dose of fluff and comedy, and it serves just that. 

Jan-June

The visual storytelling, the cinematography, lighting, color grading, framing, camera angles and composition, all were really really well done for a 2017 Chinese non-mainstream contemporary drama. I love the shots in this so much. Perfectly suited for the story they are telling. Even more perfect for the art theme of it.

The slow mo scene in the cafe with changing lighting and the usage of visuals to show the fate of the character from that moment onwards via one going up and down the stairs is brilliant. Other cinematic moments like them in the car under tunnel while it rains, him trying to find her sticky note and then showing it to her are all great too.

This was filmed by people who are not only great with the basics of filmmaking (or call it dramamaking whatever), they are also well versed in creative usage of camera, lighting, frames, colours, filming techniques and frames. From the start itself they did not stick with just the 16:9 ratio. They changed it time to time, even using framing like that in manhuas to depict certain emotions. The visual production quality gets 10/10 from me.

Also, song/music appreciation. I love the melancholic music used in the drama. Each soundtrack was beautiful. The 2000s vibe of the music makes everything better (it helps that they used or covered songs from that decade.)

Although plotwise, character design wise and tone wise the show lacks a little when compared with the more recent post 2022 Chinese romances and realism heavy shows, the overall experience still gets lifted by good use of visual storytelling, cinematography, song usage and the deep dialogues that appear at the end of the episodes.

I believe that if the characters were written more realistically (as I expect from a realism heavy show), the show could have been 9/10. Also, the incident that led up to ZZY's downfall could have been written better. If based on just the writing and plot, I'd give it a 7. 

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. 

Feb-Mar

Where it all began. Each installment from these people keeps getting better and better!

S1- 8/10

This one was a good start. The camera quality was not very good and the stories were predictable, but they were fun

S2- 8/10

This 2nd season has upgraded in terms of production quality as the first season became a hit. Stories were slightly better too, but not on the same level as FM Abnormal series.

S3- ?/10

S4- ?/10

Feb-Mar

This was good, but nothing special. Better youth and slice of life Chinese dramas exist, plenty of them. I don't feel like I would have missed out if I did not watch this. It started out well for me, but became boring in the middle. Only a few good moments towards the end. This had a lot of potential to be good, but alas it was what it was.

The good things about this were the friendship and slice of life elements, although these themes could have been written better. Another good thing for me was the cinematography. The visual style of this show really suits the themes of youth. The vivid blue sky, the beautiful nightsky, and the beautiful town. Whenever they showed the outdoor scenes, I always thought to myself how relaxing and beautiful it was and how I want to visit that place too.

The romance was not it for me. I would have much preferred for leads to be actually like brother and sister. Romance in any form shouldn't have been there. Because of love triangle, SML became an annoying b*tch. I liked him so much when he was not going after her. ML and FL did not have chemistry together. The friendship and family aspects had so much potential that I was disappointed towards the end.

The friendship part should have been the focus. I would have loved to see ML & Qu Wei's friendship, ML & Shi Che could have been good friends too. If only there was 0 romance. 

I was not okay with how this show blamed everything on ML's mom when his father was so worse. I liked to see his father improve and be better, but they did not need to sacrifice his mother for that. She had evidentially suffered at the father's hands. Painting her in an evil manner towards the end left a bad taste in my mouth. The conflicts between FL's parents could have been better written too.

The overall writing could have been more realistic in tone.  

Jan-Feb

It was not terrible, but I have seen wayy more interesting Chinese thrillers. The idea was really interesting, but I feel like this could have been shorter. The focus on the police characters can be removed entirely. The lead police guy had a very common and done to death story attached to him. The police woman was not any interesting either. 

Yu Hai & Lu Jie did not really have the chemistry to hold it together. I feel like watching the Japanese film would have been a better option, since the plot would be so much better and more thrilling as a film. 

The most lovable part of this was the ending song. I loved it and have saved it to my playlist. The opening credits is well made too. The cinematography was really good. Loved the idea of using warm and cool color grading to separate the past and the present rather than displaying the date every time they switch. Acting of everyone was good enough, no complains in that department. 

Finally, the twist did get me but after that it again became average-ish. I have seen many other great Chinese thriller to be enamored by this. However, this is still better of a thriller than the 2 recent Korean crime dramas I watched 'Awaken' & 'When The Phone Rings', with WTPR being one of the worst I have watched as of yet.

Apr

A forgettable thriller. It turned out to be nothing special. It was just so-so. It kept me interested till episode 4, at the end of which I realized that the so-called plot twists everyone was talking about, half of them already occurred without me knowing they were twists. It turns out that these basic things were being called twists, which were predictable from miles away. The final episodes went exactly as I predicted. I was so hoping to be surprised and realize that everything is actually connected and the characters are intentionally behaving stupid. But oh god no. The connection was both badly written and boring. The characters were actually that stupid. The writing failed to live up to the promise that synopsis made.

How it got an 8.4 on douban is beyond me. I guess that I really can't trust kdrama ratings anywhere. Even the most reliable source repeatedly failed me. First CAHM, then FFMW, then CLOY, then Goblin, now this. I am just tired trying to find a single kdrama that I can rate above 8. Let's see if Circle impresses me or if it is yet another boring and badly written kdrama being promoted as an 'underrated gem'. I hope to be proven wrong at least this time please.

Jan-Mar

So, I ended up writing a huge personal review for this. I will break it down into small points and write it here. Basically, this show is lackluster whose bad points outweighs the good. The good points become average after episode 9 or so. The cinematography no longer feels good as you realize that it is just a good quality camera in hands of an average director and cinematographer and the repetitive songs bore the f*ck out of you. For songs to be that repetitive, they have to be as good as Wu Bai's 'Last Dance'. Stay With Me which is so popular as this show's ost played just once. 

The main romance goes in negatives, ML looks and behaves like the father of FL, FL hops, runs around, pouts and talks with a cringe face and voice like a 5 year old throughout the show. I usually have no issue with male older age gap plots nor with cutsey FLs, but here they combined things in the worst possible way. The ML looks like he could be her father, and FL looks younger than an 18yo, and behaves like a toddler. Which idiot thought that this will make even a remotely good pairing? 

Second lead pairing start interesting, but becomes boring as episodes pass by. Certain plot decisions make 0 sense. Editing and pacing is a mess. Things are inserted just for the shock value like a makjang, as they make no sense. What I thought could have been a good show fell badly.

Towards the end, more and more illogical and laughable stuff happened that had me like WTF is even going on over here? As one of the popular Indian meme goes: Kuch bhi, KUCH BHI?!?! (it is used to call out illogical nonsense). The whole historical plotline has to be a parody. Because it was such a below average and generic story that I cried out of frustration whenever those scenes played.

Cannot believe this is what they call a masterpiece epic romance and an epic tale of tragedy. If I hear someone say this again, I'd laugh in their face without any shame.

Jan

People went into crazy defense mode for this sh*t? LMAO XD. TBH it deserves 6.0 or something (that's being VERY generous). Those people actually for once did a great job at preventing this sh*t from staying 8.8 or something. Proves how the MDL audience for kdramas has changed recently. Horny teen fangirls and fanboys everywhere.

This kept going down each episode. I could have dropped it, but I just want to see how terrible it got towards the ending episodes when the rest of it was already this bad. So many comments are calling this piece of absolute garbage a masterpiece, making me wonder if the English language changed the meaning of that word. Here is what I feel it means now:

• Masterpiece: a work that is so horrible, even the trash in the dustbin and the sewage in the gutter refuses to accept it. 

Edit: Just went through the comments for this one and AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This shit deserves an oscar? The best drama ever made in the history of E.Asian dramas? I am all for respecting everyone's subjective tastes but-

I had also read someone saying that the scene where the camera spins around the protagonist to show his world spinning being a unique cinematic masterpiece!!! That trick has been in use since ages. AGES!!! Even trash tv serials in India overuse this technique!!! 

And I thought fans of Chinese idol dramas were crazy. In front of these kdrama fans, those c-idol fans are still sensible. Comments on this and 'Love Next Door' proves that people have lost it. Labelling these 2 the best of all times, even going as far as to attack everyone with a differing opinion repeatedly. Wonder if we have had more influx of 9-10 year old kids on this website.

This drama is also living proof of the fact that Korean dramas will mostly suck no matter the number of episodes. I felt like I was watching a f**king Indian TV serial with all the OTT unrealistic stuff HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I have such a high urge to make a video roasting this sh*t.

Dropped 6/16

I am sorry, but I cannot do this anymore. Not now at least. I had made the mistake of yet again hoping from a well rated kdrama to finally serve, despite multiple bad experiences. I have admitted that Korea is nothing but a vastly overrated drama making country. Barely 2-3 great dramas are released each year, and you will have to yourself find out about them because some of them are not so highly rated. Lesson learnt to only go for high rated slice of life or thriller kdramas. Rom-com from Korea is a strict no-no except for background watching I guess. 

Dropped 12/35

This was obviously better than Goblin, but not as good as the other Chinese shows I am watching along with this. Since I have a huge Chinese drama list for contemporary dramas alone, and other Chinese shows with similar themes as this have done it better, I cannot watch this anymore. I wished I could get into it, but ultimately I couldn't. 

Also, JC's acting was subpar. I may not watch any of her dramas in the future. 

Dropped 7/28 Jan-Feb

I finally ended up dropping it. This is not a bad show per say, but it's tone is not meant for me as it seems a bit childish. I love healthy relationship with nothing happens style of rom coms, with or without slice of life realism. However, I found it hard to overcome the childish tone here. If a teenager watches this, they might like it. The characters and the script is very two dimensional and writing feels superficial. As I mentioned before, I love slow, healthy and quiet shows but I still need some depth. 

Good things for those interested in the show: 

It's nice to see that they are not portraying the ML as a rude cold asshole in the name of an introvert. And also nice to see that the FL doesn't behave like a 5 year old annoying kid in the name of an extrovert.

Wan Peng's acting as a teen here outshines what Korean actresses like Shin Hye Sun and Jeon Yeo Bin did while acting as teenagers in both Still 17 and ATCY. Both of them ended up looking like 5 year old annoying brats instead of high school teens. I love Wan Peng even more now!

Dropped 25/58

Okay, I have had enough of this horrendously produced and poorly written show. Add to that the poorly acted and ott villains, horrible dubbing, terrible costumes, wigs and makeup, Indian soap level bgm and emotionally constipated ML. There is only so much I can watch for actresses I adore (LQ & ZLY).

Are people who talk about it and Wei Young being high quality trolling? Because both are the lowest quality Chinese dramas I have watched. This one is slightly better than Wei Young, but it is not a praise. At all. I fail to comprehend how people managed to finish them both and love them. If anyone argues that their low quality is a product of time, then I'd list tons of older Chinese period dramas that were brilliant.

Talking about this, they said I'd get one of the strongest FL in a drama. They cannot be more wrong. Yes she can fight, but she is far from being the strongest FL. To make things worse, ML has that protagonist halo which should have been FL's. He is way stronger, way smarter and way colder. I was disappointed to thee core. They bait you with certain scenes in the beginning, but that is what she used to be. If you have any expectations of her becoming like that again, drop them fully. She never becomes the menace she used to be. Wait for the sequel I'd say. It looks opposite of this from trailer itself: beautiful visual quality, the dark cinematography, better styling and better acting.

I could have ignored this terrible quality if the plot was great. But it is equally bad. Also, the entire storyline in this has been done a lot till now. Many things I saw here, I see them in other cdramas too, way better executed. It doesn't help that the novel it was based on was plagiarized and the novels it plagiarized have gotten their adaptations too.

If you really want to see these 2 leads together, do yourself a favor and watch Shen Li instead. It did everything 100000000 times better.

Dropped 7/16 Jan

Sooooooooooooooooooo I ended up dropping this. It got less and less entertaining as episodes passed by. I am quite disappointed by PMY's acting in this. God it is so HARD to find a good actor from Korea. They are either way too stiff or act too OTT. 

Korean Romcoms suck. They suck hard. IDK why people say they prefer Korean dramas for modern day setting shows. Most of them (especially rom-com) are terrible. They keep repeating the same things over and over. The FL who is presented as a strong minded woman in the beginning turns out to be a childish idiot. The ML's are toxic most of the times. The side characters are sometimes the saving grace, other times I just skip the heck out of their scenes. Don't even ask about the SFL or the female character that likes the ML. Korea will never let go of this trope and keep writing such terrible representation of rich, fashionable, successful and talented women. 

The fangirl part of it is horribly bad and wrong on so many levels. A grown a** woman obsesses over an idol and promotes the 'he should never date, it breaks our hearts' message. This woman even forgives and justifies fans that attacked her with guns and eggs saying 'their hearts were broken, so it is only natural for them to do this'. I am speechless. 

The whole obsessive fan culture just infuriates me. I mean, FOR WHAT REASON?!?! If I go on ranting about that, I would cross the word limit. 

Also, this had art as one of the themes, but the focus on art is VERY LESS. When focused on, it is not well written at all. I mean, I am an artist myself and I felt the art parts were laughable. The rom-com lighting and filters does not suit the art theme at all. The director has terrible way of shooting the artworks. Even if the artworks looked good enough irl, the way they are shot + all the boring and generic k-romcom lighting garner interest in negative from my side.  

Dropped 1/11 Jan

Had started this with hopes of watching a feminist drama. What I was being served here instead was way over the top plot that makes 0 sense. This turned out to be a heavy makjang, even though people reviewed it to be not a makjang. All the screaming affected my hearing. I can't believe this was what people were praising. Absolute trash.

The FL is a total a**hole trashbag after what the she does in the 1st episode with her employee. Being a woman, she shamed her employee for working in bars and accused her of a lowly being that sold her body. She knew this woman was raped by her boss's husband, but she chose to victim blame and shame her AND kicked her out of her job even though she literally begged on her knees that she will never reveal this crime to the world. She also made sure that everyone in the corporate treats her as an invisible person. She left her with no choice other than to end her own life. Having to endure this scumbag of an FL for 11 long episodes and watch the woman get redeemed of her crimes will bring out the worst in me (yes I know how it ends if someone feels like explaining how it is not how it seems. Still unforgivable, she should be burned alive in the end imo when she is the most happiest in her life.)

I mean, do they want me to believe that this sh*tbag has never before killed people in a similar manner to clean the mess her owners created? Suddenly she grows sympathy? Talk about logic. I can't even leave my brain before I consume this. It's that horrible. This one cements my hatred for makjangs. 

Also, what an irony that a feminist drama talking about the things women go through features an actor that has raped a minor girls. HAHAHAHA feminist drama my a**

After War of Faith. 

After Ruyi