Amastris Dratwka

YAMG is currently 2nd place on Douban just behind Crime Crackdown which is getting really good reviews. The current rating is 6.9, which isn't great, but with how harsh Cnetz can be, it's not bad either.

Let's put the Douban rating into perspective as well, because the 'devil' is in the details, and it might not be as bad as it sounds on the surface. We'll do this by comparing 4 of Gu Man's drama adaptations of her novels. Let's ALSO note that YAMG is the ONLY one where she is the SOLE screenwriter. The other 3 dramas, she was part of a scriptwriting team:

Douban ratings are like MDL, they're an average of ALL the people who rated and reviewed:

1) Boss & Me [2014] currently carries a 7.5 rating avg from ~89,693 Cnetz viewers
2) My Sunshine [2015] currently carries a 7.1 rating avg from ~ 125,858 Cnetz viewers
3) Love 020 [2016] currently carries a 7.0 rating avg from ~ 189,530 Cnetz viewers

4) YAMG [2021] currently carries a 6.9 rating avg BUT this is an avg of 270,633 Cnetz viewers
--the more people rating the harder it is to maintain a high avg unless it's being well received. This drama still has 6 episodes to go and it's being completely reviewed by 2x as many viewers than any of Gu Man's previous dramas. That speaks volumes.

We can probably also understand why this pair are making a push to do more and more promos and fanservice on their own because, I have a feeling this is going to bump up their acting cred in a huge way after this... and it's based on how their most recent stuff where they played the leading role has been received in comparison:

Yang Yang:
1) Martial Universe [2018] currently carries a 4.3 rating avg from ~48,070 Cnetz viewers
2) The King's Avatar [2019] currently carries a 7.3 rating avg from ~136,814 Cnetz viewers

Dilraba:
1) Love Designer [2020] currently carries a 5.0 rating avg from ~98,826 Cnetz viewers
2) The Long Ballad [2021] currently carries a 5.9 rating avg from ~230,955 Cnetz viewers.

So... not only have they gotten more review than any of their latest popular material, the rating is high as well. It could be said that even though King's Avatar has a good rating, it's likely due to people who are into the genre and plot went out of their way to watch it and not many people outside of those who would watch esports... as you hear many of those types complaining here about even having gaming in as part of a plot device to get the main leads to meet again is too much for them...

Being that we already know that ALL the final episodes for this drama will be sugary sweet with not really much melodrama or difficulties for our main couple, the rating is likely to go up as well as the viewer count.

I really am curious how it will stand the test of time, and the final thoughts of the Cnetz. Hopefully they'll give this pairing praise because they really did such a good job on the drama, and it's just pleasing the fanservice that they add at the final moments for the viewers to further enjoy while waiting for the next few episodes...They really did strive to keep our attention throughout the entire week, and I, for one, really appreciate that kind of effort. :)

What are you talking about being productive? He told her he'd drop her if something came up. Did you actually watch the drama. I'm okay if you don't like it BUT don't misrepresent the drama's content and writing.

While he was helping her, he told her straight up that, although he was on a MONTH vacation he could be called away and not be able to play at any moment. While he was teaching her he:

1) Was sending out resumes and having job interviews with Investment Bankers because, not just being PRODUCTIVE but getting paid was an important dilemma for him. Did you see where he went on an interview and out to lunch discussing matters?
2) He met up with college classmates in Finance.
3) He met up with his ex-g/f.
4) He met up with his aerospace unit co-workers.
5) He met up with his professor and his wife.
6) Two weeks into the month he got called to Xi'an to help fix a satellite. He and his Director not only shared a hotel room, but stayed there 5 days before it was repaired.
7) Because he was moved by the work they all did in those 5 days, he decided to go back to being an aerospace engineer, so he told the Project Director, Director Hu, that, yes he wasn't going to resign, BUT to let him have a WEEK, obviously since the 3rd week of his 4 week vacation was spent in Xi'an, to "TAKE CARE OF SOMETHING HE PROMISED A FRIEND".
8) Having gotten the authorization for the final week of his vacation, knowing that he would return to his CURRENT employment, he was left to DEVOTE ALL HIS TIME to help JingJing, knowing he wouldn't see her after because he'd be TOO BUSY with his JOB.

Oh yeah, btw... HE TELLS QJJ THAT HE CAN NO LONGER STAY TO 9PM BUT HAS TO LEAVE AT 6PM.... Why?!? ....Because at night he was going to the hospital to stay and help take care of the Director of his unit, his boss. >>>I mean, where were you when you watched this????

So.... yeah.. none of what you say is even REMOTELY valid.
You either didn't really watch....didn't pay attention... or watch it with half your brain turned off because you were too busy watching eye-candy to pay attention to the plot.

Btw, there's a discussion post I put up for people who think the amount of time spent on gaming was way too much. I actually calculate it down to the last second -- NOT JUST GAMEPLAY BUT EVEN IF 1 CAST MEMBER TALKS ABOUT THE GAME -- and included timestamps. This is the way to keep reviewers who say the game plays too much of a part in the 1st 13 episodes can be held accountable for saying that... since it's all there in black in white how much time truly is spent even MENTIONING the game... in case that bores you...

Hopefully anyone who is reading these reviews will pay attention to that so they can appropriately evaluate it for themselves on a FACTUAL basis not a subjective opinion on the matter.

I realize now that Yang Yang is giving me all the Zhang Han vibes I got from Feng Teng the first time I watched Boss & Me... and Reba is actually more adorable than Zhao Li Ying was in her Shan Shan role. The atmosphere of both dramas is so similar, if you know what I mean.

There's a reason why all Gu Man's novel adaptations appeal to me. It really makes you feel you're seeing the ideal man pursuing his ideal woman. It's the epitome of what you want in a romance drama.

100%! It's are to find a Western drama that doesn't include promiscuity, drugs, and criminal activity being excused on some level. There's no more innocence and normalcy in anything you watch. That's the reason why so many of us are here watching Asian stuff. It gives you the nice feeling of butterflies without having to go down the road too far.

As of 8/15/21 via VLinkage, a marketing consultant company based in Shanghai -
Based on their 7-day total points, beginning 8/8/21 ~ 8/14/21:

YAMG is the #1 Top Web Drama for the 3rd week running.

The Top Chinese Drama Actors of the week, based on drama performances, social media discussions, and Baidu searches with no difference between Web or TV drama actors:

1. Yang Yang [Also for the 3rd week running]
2. Dilraba Dilmurat

I don't follow either of them as a fan so, I'm just going off of what their current fans are saying that is attached to anything promoting YAMG, because this is a FAV drama for me now, so I'm just following YAMG.

It's so interesting because YangYang fans say the exact same thing about him as Reba's fans say about her. He's supposedly extremely private about his personal life, and distances himself from his previous co-stars and avoids 'shipper' things altogether... so, when he was interviewed and said to the fans that he thought it was okay for them to use "YangDi" for their CPF, they were floored, saying, "...he gave us permission..." A lot of the fans seemed stunned by his positive reinforcement that he doesn't usually participate in whatsoever. lol.

The news I read was that it was Reba herself that was against having a kiss scene with Wu Lei. She was hyper aware of their age gap and indicated that she really didn't want to do a kiss scene because the public impression could ruin his budding career. He agreed. She legit said she wanted him to have his first on-screen kiss be with an appropriate female his age.... I don't see how you ship them as a couple after these statements. lol.

Holy moly tomorrow is gonna find a LOT of dead people because there's even ANOTHER bed scene when she pranks him and he gets mad and "PUNISHES" her. LMFAO. Part of that scene is included in the last batch of episode trailers, so I know it's there...and NOW seeing this, I'm really am so freaking curious how FAR they're going to take it... It's like each time they get risker and risker... but I'm not complaining... this will make for one of the best, most complete romantic dramas I've watched in almost all my life, Western dramas included. The process of this has been nothing short of magnificent. I love this director and, again, I'll saying it in my dying breath, Gu Man is a treasure!!

Yeah, naw... I think you give the American fans WAY too much credit. Terminology aside, the first time I ever saw crazy-ass shippers were, I think, around the time of #Bennifer. Now there's #Bennifer 2.0. America has it's own crazy ships. My son read the Twilight series books when he was still in elementary school, then the movies came out and the fandom was crazy over the actor's private lives. I grew up in an era that this wasn't that much of a thing, more hyped by the film production companies than the fans. So, before I even learned about "shippers" and "fandoms" and the Asian use of the term OTP or CP etc. I was watching my boys, from the late 90s on, as cellphones and social media became more common, getting more and more invested in the PRIVATE lives of famous people and actively wishing for certain "relationships" to happen. So, let's not pretend that the USA has been immune from it, because they're just as gossipy as the rest of the world... it's just referred to in terminology a bit differently, is all. ;) lol

Actually, this is what I love so much about this drama. The focus is on the co-starring leads, all the others are appropriate supporting cast, nothing more, nothing less. Other drama scriptwriters should take notes from Gu Man's writing ability. The balance is unbelievably good, and any melo-drama is limited to the issues surrounding the couple with no added fillers.

Naw, that didn't happen. Viewers were saying all that stuff but it was just the bubble camera they were both playing with, so not what you're thinking at all.

I posted things that made my head tilt but I'm not trying to do any delulu fan shipper shit hyping and overdramatize shit they do. lol. I was just curious as to the reasons for both their studios to collab on promos not contracted by Tencent and of their on volition that were haphazardly put together. It was worth noting...not shipping. lol.

I saw the BTS of the photoshoot and the vibe was 100% different from the livestreaming. YangYang was extremely protective of Reba, and was telling the cameramen to ONLY focus on her, and to leave him out. He'd just stand aside...but the cameramen got some ultra sweet pics of him looking at her very soft despite it all. Tbh, the photoshoot looked like them out for a real date on valentine's.... I'm sorry to say this because, I'm of the same mindset as you, especially when it comes to BL couplings. The things they're forced to do on variety shows and fanmeets is just too much... Yes, they're obligated to provide a level of "fanservice" but stop forcing them into romantic couplings when they're just actors portraying a character, period.

Again, I wouldn't have even brought it up but the situation here is that YangYang & Reba's Studio team as well as them personally are fanning these flames themselves, not Tencent... =/ so, it's strange that YangYang is uncomfortable when his OWN team is the one setting this stuff up... The only OTHER reason I see for going over-the-top is to COVER for YangYang's "relationship issues" that came out last week that they denied. Personally, I don't think any of what was said was inappropriate on his part, BUT, with the current "CELEBRITY" climate in China, getting yourself on the Weibo Hot Search for things considered MORALLY problematic will have the govt QUICKLY shutting you down. Maybe his team asked Reba's team if they would help and she and YangYang have a good enough friendship created from the drama that she was willing to help him out... Past that, the reasoning for doing these ill-planned and uncomfortable PROMOS themselves is questionable.. Just saying...

BINGO! You win the internet today and here is your prize:

https://twitter.com/surants/status/1426865737772126209

His Team had him livestream yesterday, only a day after the "date" event.
During the livestream the conversation went like this:

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐅𝐅: Gosh! Everyone's so addicted to the kiss scenes in YAMG! They say they literally get everything they want [in a drama].
𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠:[𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑓] You're up to something, huh?
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐅𝐅: How do you feel every time you watch these scenes?
𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠: You mean when I watch these?
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐅𝐅: Those immensely sweet kiss scenes. "Teacher Yu is so good at this. How can he be so good at flirting?"
𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠: ....
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐅𝐅: May I ask if it's challenging for two people with high nose bridges to film such 'difficult' scenes together? hehehehe.
𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠: [𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠]...
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐅𝐅: 'I can't hear you', 'I can't hear you'...hehehe
𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐠: [𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 "𝑁𝑜"] I can't hear you, I cant hear anything!!

He just looks so bothered by this line of questioning 100%.

Also, people say that this is just stuff these two normally do to promote...but Cnetz have pointed out that this is not the case, especially for YangYang, who has never coordinated promos to this extent to any of his previous CP lovelines. =/

I don't normally go about shipping couples etc. I just enjoy the drama.
This time around, I have to admit, it's not the drama itself, but Reba & YangYang that have me tilting my head.

I hesitate to bring this up because, I agree. Fanservice is just that, and their personal lives are their own. But ngl, this couple is vibing on a different level, and they are willingly, themselves, fanning the flames. They've done so many little self promos, that they're not required to do by Tencent, on their own and with their own acting studios participating and coordinating. They've been planning it themselves, just like those childhood pic they posted.

So, I'm gonna write out a Cnetz post I came across on social media attached to all the new pics coming from their "promotional date". Noting the fact that this was a "promotional date" setup by their own agencies together, and NOT Tencent, even though they gave Tencent the material. On top of that, YangYang was constantly telling the cameramen to focus on Reba and not him. So, here goes what the post was saying about this:

"Cnetz got suspicious of FM [Fan-meet] yesterday. It was a bit weird. The preparation was not mature quality they usually participate in terms of the audio, FM background design, and the host is not professional. Compared to GeSun CP's FM, YangDi's livestreaming is lacking.

"This is why cnetz suspected that YangYang & Reba actually originally did want to have a Valentine's date at Disney, but it was quickly leaked to the public. How many days before the 14th was there news the YangYang & Reba would go on the date at Disneyland? There was no official news from Tencent regarding this FM. YangYang & Reba's photos were leaked so that's when people knew it was live. There was a poster circulating with the barcode, but it turned out that it wasn't even from the official YAMG team, but leaked by someone else. Cnetz noticed while watching the 1sst 10 minute live streaming that YangYang's facial expression was not happy, but more forced and uncomfortable. It wasn't until the 2nd live streaming that he started to be more happy and comfortable. These 2 streams are what Cnetz are questioning today. For the 1st 10 mins, everything is forced, and you can see that from the games they were told to play that there was a real lack of preparation, background is so empty, the audio is really very disorganized, the internet connection wasn't good, etc. So, all this is making Cnetz question that they YangDi wanted to date at Disneyland as YangYang & Reba, and that it being "work" is simply a shield for that."

Take it with 2 grains of salt, but I have to admit, when I was reading it, ~although normally I'd just roll my eyes... I saw the two clips of the livestream, plus some of the live footage of the photoshoot and, tbh, the photoshoot looked like a real couple dating, and while I was watching those games I was cringing because they were very immature, and I was thinking to myself, "...I'd HATE having to do this as an actor...these questions, and actions, are so cringy, and embarrassing... and CHILDISH... why are they making grown ass people portraying a grown ass couple do things high schoolers would do...???" and watched YangYang & Reba try to sort out the audio and interent on the ipad...thinking, this isn't very planned out ??? that, I really tilted my head on this one... because what the Cnetz were saying actually did sorta make sense. =/

As the saying is going around Twitter, the #GloryCouple has just feed us all a huge amount of Dog Food.

Ngl, the original video of this from their respective agencies setup is so far away, it's hard to get the real closeup flavor of their interactions during the "activities" they were having them do for the promotional "date".

Leave it to the #GloryCouple's CPF [i.e. couple fandom] to ZOOM IN, LOOP, and add MUSIC to it to SPICE it up... and I shit you not... YOU'LL BE SHOCKED AT THE RESULTS. LOL! Personally, it made *my* toes curl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iTutnppqaI

Although that's want MDL says, it's not true. That's for fast track which isn't available in every region. The drama will actually be officially completed on Aug. 23.

This isn't that kind of drama.

2.37B now. Don't worry, it'll probably hit 3B on Monday. lol.

"Classmate QJJ, we knew each other for 16 years. Due to my prejudice, we missed 13 of them"

Like some of the comments I read, I think I'm going to cry during their wedding like I would watching a close friend's wedding. I'm not ready for this to end.

The new pictures that are posted are because Dilraba & YangYang actually spent QiXi Festival [Chinese Valentine's Day] together on a #GloryCouple date at Shanghai Disneyland.

I swear these 2 are milking this thing for all it's worth. The duo Weibo childhood ✌ posts had me reeling that they're BOTH so into giving shipper fanservice. I swear, I've never seen these 2 be at all this receptive to doing these kinds of promotions... and they're seriously WILLINGLY doing these things. *kowtow in praise* TYVM YangYang & Reba, for caring about the YAMG fans so much. 🤗

The beginning discussions regarding their wedding will be in Ep. 30 and by Ep. 31 they'll already be 6 years into their marriage, because I think they date for 2 yrs, if I'm not mistaken.