Easy watch, not a serious drama
Lately there's been a lot of this kind of stories: Free spirit strong FL. The story genre is not new but if you enjoy easy watch costume dramas with happy endings (assuming) then this is enjoyable.It's not as good as Romance of Tiger & Rose which I would say it's been the best so far but its got decent amount of humor.
Positives:
1. Supportive family for FL. The family scenes are quite enjoyable. Dad/Brother are especially funny
2. FL's character's got some sharp come backs. Quite witty
3. If there was a Chinese Ken doll the ML would be it for those who likes idol looks
4. Fun names "ran mian mian" "ying bang bang"
5. Creativity in costume design. I love the use of bright colors: orange, dark teal with some creative head pieces
Negatives:
2nd lead is not strong
The 2nd prince looks older than the king LOL
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Story telling perfection!
I waited a long time to watch this drama since I don't know the game, but I remember my father telling me how hard the game is. Never imagined that I'd be watching this drama in one GO! The cast/story/production were all so good. I love 99% of the characters which is very rare in any drama. Good job limiting single dimensional annoying characters with only few lines.Best of the Best in:
1. Casting. From leads to supporting characters, there were no weak characters. Too many outstanding actors to even list.
2. Character development. I love how the story not only focused on the lead characters development but also gave light to the supporting characters.
3. Friendships/Bromance: Story didn't have or need any romance. The multi layered friendships feels ever so heartwarming.
4. Story telling. Great pacing (except ep 33-35) I didn't skip any scenes and finished this drama in 3 days. I don't even know how they manage to bring GO to life! 36 ep went by and I wanted more! And once you finished watching, rewatching ep 1 beginning scene will be more meaningful.
.5 imperfection? Spoiler below **********************************************************************************************
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Ep 33-35 I cried... & cried but he cried for 1 ep too long.
Chu Yang on-line profile deleted. No one noticed? or asked?
Shi Guang never explained fully to Yu Liang. (but he told the truck driver about Chu Ying?)
Hong He quits but I swear his dad was telling him to continue to play.
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FL is amazing! OTP silly humor worked!
Best watching this drama when on wine.This is one of those dramas took me by surprise. I only watched this because someone posted on a feed with a specific funny scene of the FL catching an arrow then pretending to stab herself & die. The poster definitely was NOT appealing. Her expressions are so funny that I had to try out this drama.
These types of dramas are typical OTP stupid humor with paper thin plot so I can only watch these once in a while. The best part of the drama is the FL. Not that she looks like a guy at all but her gestures, her forced man voice & her manly expressions are exceptional. ML was ok but he was nowhere near the FL.
Strong supporting silly characters!
- 1st greatest assassin & the lovely princess who "never" lies
- Dad & the fake brothers
- 2nd ML
The stupid humor is not for everyone. If you want plot to totally work this is not it. If you want light humor, this is a good choice.
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Much to do about nothing plot but with a great cast
When I first watched Cha Soo Young in "Tell me what you saw" and I thought please don't play another cop character. She was stiff and expressionless and had an awkward run. So I definitely had 0 expectations going to this drama. However FL Jeon Hye Jin in WWW was amazing so I definitely wanted to at least try.This drama is for the more mature "non judgey" audience as it focuses on a topic often looked down on - HS single mom raising a daughter on her own.
What I loved:
1. FL Cha Soon Young. She was so expressive. I love her blunt comebacks. She walked a bit "guyish" & I loved this role for her. She's absolutely georgous but not in a standard pale face standard Korean K pop girl kind. She's so tall and has "real" color on her face (not ghost white). She can pull off the short hair, guyish walk, blunt comebacks & still be beautiful. I love how she deepened her voice to solute her superior. Her imperfections made her unique & perfect. She's true to her feelings.
2. FL Jeon Hye Jin She's just an all around awesome actress
3. Mom's Bestie - great character, completely 100% bestie worthy
4. Good characters all around. No excess toxic character with too many lines
5. Either you'll learn something or relate to the ups & downs of life's unplanned events.
- Single moms should not be looked down on but to be celebrated for their strength to sacrifice everything to keep the child.
- Family is defined not by bloodline. There are numerous relationship dynamics that demonstrate this
What needed improvement:
1. Choppy development between FL cop & Eun Jae Won. If they really wanted to make the chemistry work, they shouldn't have long breaks of no interaction between them. It's only 12 ep so short on time but this didn't work well. The chemistry needed to develop more.
2. No where to be seen bestie's grandma that helped the FL mom out. Again I think this impacts the flow of the story telling.
Still great watch on the side!
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Focusing on the few positives
I think there are plenty outstanding reviews of this drama & I agree with all the flaws. However there are few great minor characters that I thought were the only positives of this hard to watch drama.1. ML's Manager. He's an outstanding character. I loved all his scenes.
2. Female producer who just blurb out brutal honest comments for the comedy relief.
3. Female makeup artists for the show. Few funny moments but highlight of the drama.
4. Male ex co worker -- "Dimples" Seriously he doesn't need to say anything, those dimples are just worth seeing
5. ML's CEO - few humorous lines.
6. FL's Dad - Hilarious!
In the end you can't really out act a terrible script. I pretty much skipped all 2nd couple's toxic scenes and somehow manage to finish.
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Nice Detective storyline but ignore the acting
This is one of those underrated dramas that less people will get to watch. If you enjoy Ancient detective story lines you will enjoy the story but don't expect a big budget production or strong acting.FL - Acting started out ok but later episodes got worse & worse as she can't portray the array of emotions needed. "love, anger, sad" all end up with this blank stare reciting lines.
ML 1 - I think he carried the show in terms of acting
ML 2 as Su Fu - I've enjoyed some of his other works and obviously he's manly hot but his lack of expression didn't do the role justice
What I enjoyed:
Mysteries that connected to the bigger mystery of the missing mom
The love triangle was well written, better than most actually. Instead of the standard 2nd lead syndrome she had real feelings for both although with Su Fu it's more because he saved her. A mysterious badass assassin that random shows up and rescues you is obviously appealing.
Xiao Song started off as a like/hate relationship. As the story continued they grew to love each other while she's trying to forget Su Fu for his betrayal (but which she didn't try to understand why? and she's "Miss Truth" WHAT WHAT??)
Nicknames for each other: Fish & Fox very cute.
Pace of the drama didn't feel slow. Not so many "filler" moments
Sidekick Sang Chen was a fun character
What's lacking
Obviously needed better acting
Story was a bit too fast, they founded clues super speed
Lack of character development, No depth to the characters. How they started out is how they ended
I really wished there was more story to the ML
Su Fu : Initially not too much background on him. Too many questions of why later episodes. Total downfall of a great character potential
What you will need to ignore:
Standard jumping out of water scenes and "insta dry" moments
The cheesy freeze flying fight scenes (low budget) not very well choreographed
The countless moments of she being knocked out, pass out and randomly wake up on a bed
The cheesy props
Last 2 ep. very rushed. Didn't make a lot of sense to me
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Becoming quite a fan of the director and screen writer
I never cared for short dramas until I watched "A Familiar Stranger" I was hooked on the story/casting/production.Then I looked up the screen writer & director and saw this drama. It's definitely got a similar feel in that it's got an interesting story line (if you like some dark magic, non human stuff) with that dreamland feel with beautiful visuals. The quality & design of the costumes & accessories are on par with many big budget dramas. Make up was a bit too heavy for the Males but I loved the creativity for the females especially the "Die Nu" FL make up.
The cast was very good:
ML Zhao Yi Qin is a familiar actor to me every since I watched him in Accidentally in Love then bunch of other dramas. I can't say he captivated me like the ML in A Familiar Stranger but he did a pretty good job overall.
FL Rain Lu is so cute. She's cute, innocent looking and beautiful all at the same time so those innocent scenes don't feel forced. I don't think her death painful scenes were convincing but overall she did a great job. I would rather watch her playing a innocent girl falling in love for the 1st time than many of the seasoned big name (who shall remain nameless) actresses playing down 10 years.
Supporting Cast:
I enjoyed the princess character & Yuan po po's character
OST: Quite good. similar style again w/ A Familiar stranger as well. 小时姑娘 sang both 灼风 in this drama and 听闻风月事 in A Familiar Stranger
Drama also worked in the couple from "The Killer is Also Romantic (2022)" in multiple scenes. Either you'll like that cross drama visit or you'll be like uhhhh so not related. Regardless it's a clever way to promote their other work.
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Worth watching but not amazing
Positives:1. It's an expensive production. Quality sets, costumes, accessories.
2. ML - Liu Yu Ning, he's improving little by little with every role. I continue to be a fan of his efforts and his OSTs
3. FL - Cute capable actress but I have never seen her look so beautiful in costume dramas. She is so stunning in this drama.
4. Supporting cast - Many veteran actors and all solid choices for their roles.
It was an enjoyable watch where the plot is simple without many twists. Focus was more on the love story with a side of politics.
Where the story could've been better:
1. The push pull between leads needed to create that constant tension was not as good as let's say "Blossom" I mean.... it took 31 ep for ML to figure out how great FL is. It was good enough but not amazing.
2. Supporting cast storylines: Not as good as "A Journey to Love" (1st half). Other than the comedic relief from the chubby guard the other supporting guards hardly had any screen time to develop.
3. Broken flow: some parts of the drama felt choppy.
4. One dimensional bad characters pushing the story along feels like lazy writing.
Ending: some characters ending felt unnecessary for an otherwise less serious drama.
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Not as good as S1 but still worth watching!
Epic continues 4.5 years later.... Everyone's been waiting and I am so happy most of the main and supportive cast returned. Must be a tremendous effort to coordinate all the schedules. However, having rewatched S1 to prepare for S2, the absence of Xiao Zhan was felt immediately. I get it, he's a big star now but sometimes a small part in an epic drama beats ML in a mediocre drama. Actor Wu Xing Jian did not deliver the intense stare Xiao Zhan had for Yan Bing Yun's character. Not that I expected him to, but I was hoping for more? The entire character felt flat.Story started a bit slow with some OTP crying but by ep 4, the humor really kicked in when the faceoff between the Crown Prince, 2nd prince & Fan Xian happened. You know how great the acting is when they can deliver that micro expression.
Sure, there are lots of things I am not liking:
-Dubbing for Liu Ru Yu (Madam Fan) is different and not in a good way.
-The yodeler music for silly funny scenes is a bit overdone.
-Yan Bing Yun's character changing from sexy mysterious feel to blahhhhh
-YeLingER's character went from spunky hot head to serious bitter? No issues replacing the actress but common don't replace the personality.....
-Over heavy on political scheming. Ep 15 was hard to watch as it was way over done on the interrogation scene
-Zhang Ruo Yun (ML)'s weight loss? Questionable healthy
-Lack of Fan Si Zhe, Uncle Wu. These are awesome characters from S1 that worked, and they should've continued with more scenes not less
But there are also improvements:
-Lighting (S1 was olive... browns... yeah not flattering)
S2 lighting is better but still not great. No over skin smoothing, no heavy makeup, you can see people's skin textures
-Continued character development like the crown prince, 2nd prince
- Introduction of new interesting characters like the 1st prince & princess pairing (very cute), the little Eunuch that seems to know what to say at all times
A must watch for anyone who loves beyond idol dramas.
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For the budget this was a success
I really like Xiao Zhan's as his eyes are so intense but this isn't his best work. I am anti voice dubbing (unless the actors have heavy accents) so happy he did his own voice dubbing. It just took awhile to get used to as it's a lot deeper. However the sound quality in general was a distraction. This is where budget shows, over drowning background music with some questionable music choices. CGI was not too bad since I didn't expect a lot.What's good
1. Xiao Zhan & FL had great chemistry right from the start
2. FL pulled off the ideal cute without being cringey
3. Storyline , from a person not familiar with the novel I really enjoyed the story. Feels like an adventure with some mysteries along the way.
4. Good friendships are formed along the way
5. Funny side characters
What's not so great:
1. Audio in general
2. Bad hair days and lots of them
3. Over acting in quite a few scenes
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Weird Skin smoothing is super distracting
Just going to start by saying I love the leads in other roles before the hate comes at me. I'll start with the positives:1. FL: compared to all the other female generals in the past few years, Li Qin is a stronger performer up to those physical demands. Her acting is quite good also.
2. Overall casting choices were pretty good.
3. Some cool fight scenes.
On to the ... not for me ... after 18 ep:
1. Story is nothing new.... unless you are competing with other female general dramas on the level of hate and torture between the ML/FL before making them fall in love with each other. Then this wins the prize.
2. FL/ML no chemistry. Amazingly 2 actors both acting their parts and yeah... not a spark (IMO)
3. Isolated overdone skin smoothing with lots of pink tones while other people in the same frame with no skin smoothing is super weird. Smooth like AI face next to bumpy galore.
4. I get it she's injured (arm only) with memory loss, but I lost count of how many times she fainted and/or requires ML to rescue her.
5. Played out drama tropes to stretch out to 38 ep. Repetitive fall, catch, shine white light on frozen stares, memory loss, vision loss ... *sigh*
Potential lost....
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Love TJC, Love TJC's voice
Total fluff out of a lovesick teenage girl's play book. ML's a full time doctor, a voice actor at least part time, sings like an idol, cooks like a chef, speaks like a therapist AND never dated. He'll love this girl for years only based on her voice and music without knowing what she looks like but thankfully she's equally hot and pure. That characterization right there already puts this drama in the unplausible fluff category.It's a very slow & mellow drama with uninteresting interactions between the leads but both are good looking.
The supporting couple is cute too.
Both couples are with significant age gap and maturity gap making the relationships even more unbelievable. Age gap is not noticeable when both people are working, but one is in college & one's been working. Even when the age gap is not a big deal the maturity gap feels huge.
TJC fans will probably watch just to hear his voice. Most of the time this drama feels like a one giant cooking music video.
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Better than the Korean Adaptation
Completely different style than the Korean version. I did like the FL's OTP glamourous version in the Korean version, but I didn't feel the pairing of the ML was strong. In that sense I felt that the Japanese version did a better job at pairing. I am biased though because I love the ML Satoh Takeru ever since Rurouni Kenshin series. In any rate the FL also felt more real, not OTP. Even though it's the same story, it felt different. If you didn't like the Korean adaptation, you might still like this adaptation because it's a different vibe.Was this review helpful to you?
Emotionally charged well balanced pacing and interesting characters
I was literally fine until the very end where I ended up tearing up over the emotional scenes.This was a well written crime drama (It's been a while) with good pacing and excellent cast.
Although I guessed the killer early on, I couldn't guess the motive. The twists and turns weren't so crazy out there and made sense.
I end up binging through the drama in 3 days because I just wanted to see the end.
The seasoned, yet socially awkward, introverted detective delivers incredibly moving scenes. I absolutely loved this character!
Recommended for the crime drama lovers.
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We go fast .. pass on side characters
There's a lot of enjoyable aspects of this drama but # 1 reason is always:1. Zhai Zi Lu - ML. He is phenomenal. In the drama wasteland amongst pretty faces famous w/o much acting skills, Zhai Zi Lu is not one of them. I first enjoyed him as the sleezy boy in the Pavillion as a small supporting role then found him as the ML in Hello Debate Opponent S2 followed by Calorie Boy. He will be the reason you'll want to watch any drama. I love his expressions (go full force on ugly cry scene and not worry about how great he looks like some idols....). His voice is never dubbed which I think it should be a part of any actor's skillset (unless they really have a heavy accent that warrants it).
2. ML FL polar opposite personalities. They are not my favorite pairing in terms of chemistry but it's nice seeing a race car driver falling for a brainy girl. They complement each other and somehow it works.
3. Race car stories not so common. I mean how many office dramas have you seen vs race cars?
What I didn't like:
Zero to little character developments on supporting roles and there were a lot of potential too.
Draggy after abrupt break up trope ~ ep 16. Felt forced to prolong the series into a different direction making you pretty much want to 2x watch it through.
Patriotism -- hmmm is that due to censorship? suspicious....
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