This review may contain spoilers
A Light-Hearted and Fluffy Show to Help You Reminisce Your Youthful Memories
Truth to be told, I wasn’t expecting much when I suddenly dropped “Generation to Generation” due to its awfully choppy editing with lack of chemistry and emotional impact added to the top of the list. I was getting bored at that time and decided to have a sneak peek at “Too Young to Love”, although I was 100% fully aware that it might only offer an ordinary cliché story about high school romance and other predictable tropes whatsoever. Still, due to my itchy fingers, I finally skimmed through the first 22 episodes as I didn’t watch the ending (needless to ask, it must be a happy one).
So, the story is centered around two individuals who are pursuing their dreams in their youth, Yi Lan and Tong Xiaole. Well, they have this kind of neighborhood relationship and it’s pretty understandable for them to develop a platonic friendship. Yi Lan has always wanted to become a professional cellist like her mother but is constantly deterred by her father’s refusal due to her mother’s death in the past, which makes him traumatized and becomes hostile against Yi Lan’s dream. Meanwhile, Tong Xiaole always lives alone as his parents frequently goes to business trips, and because of lack of communication, they always clash whenever it comes to his university’s major. His father urges him to take financial major for it is widely known as a highly prospective major for employment these days. On the other hand, Xiaole has no interests in financial thingy and prefers the art of photography to create meaningful stories behind the lenses and frames of a camera. Joining them are Chen Fan – a wealthy chaebol heir who has a knack in composing songs, Qiao Mengmeng – the socialite of their group, and Luo Ningzi – a fellow cellist, at first she doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Yi Lan but they reconcile soon after, and also Chen Fan’s girlfriend whom he has a rocky relationship with.
As I emphasize on the upper paragraph, I’m deadly serious when I say I have zero expectation on this show, but it turns out be surprisingly… decent, yet not decent enough to take a nosedive on the second half (college life, adulthood, and etc.). Some issues are tackled realistically as my current high school life’s (for instance, fighting with parents over majors, pursuing your dreams instead of taking a lucrative major, homeroom teachers constantly got scolded by principals over scores, straight-A students’ choices in majors, and many more). However, some parts are also portrayed as illusions for us young watchers (organizing a little concert amidst the imminent Gaokao, running to the rooftop of school to set off fireworks (wow, we would be given a good beating for it if it really happened in my school), and other forgettable things).
For the acting, I guess it’s still laudable despite the cheesy dialogues. This is my second time watching Zhang Xinyi (I once sneaked in to “Be Passionately in Love”) and from my perspective, she still has rooms for improvements in the future (please don’t let her cry much, she’s beginning to remind me of my dearest friend who always cries whenever someone has an upper hand against her). For Xie Binbin, I don’t know what to say, but his role as Tong Xiaole seems to have a hybrid personality (half warm and half cold), which makes it harder to decipher his true feelings. Others are meh, but Luo Ningzi definitely deserves a praise for humbling the high-and-mighty chaebol boy.
OSTs are limited and I wish there would never be any singing concerts in the coming times. It’s totally frustrating to see the leads lip syncing while the original song plays in the background. Somehow, the sound and the lip just don’t match seamlessly. I’d better watch K-Pop MV instead of this.
Overall, a pretty mundane show to pass your time or maybe to ignite your past memories of adolescent years or even become a background noise while you’re multitasking. I’m sorry if my words are somewhat offensive (I’m not proficient in using euphemisms) to you guys and I hope you have a good watching experience. Good bye in “Pursuit of Jade”, good luck, and happy watching!!!
So, the story is centered around two individuals who are pursuing their dreams in their youth, Yi Lan and Tong Xiaole. Well, they have this kind of neighborhood relationship and it’s pretty understandable for them to develop a platonic friendship. Yi Lan has always wanted to become a professional cellist like her mother but is constantly deterred by her father’s refusal due to her mother’s death in the past, which makes him traumatized and becomes hostile against Yi Lan’s dream. Meanwhile, Tong Xiaole always lives alone as his parents frequently goes to business trips, and because of lack of communication, they always clash whenever it comes to his university’s major. His father urges him to take financial major for it is widely known as a highly prospective major for employment these days. On the other hand, Xiaole has no interests in financial thingy and prefers the art of photography to create meaningful stories behind the lenses and frames of a camera. Joining them are Chen Fan – a wealthy chaebol heir who has a knack in composing songs, Qiao Mengmeng – the socialite of their group, and Luo Ningzi – a fellow cellist, at first she doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Yi Lan but they reconcile soon after, and also Chen Fan’s girlfriend whom he has a rocky relationship with.
As I emphasize on the upper paragraph, I’m deadly serious when I say I have zero expectation on this show, but it turns out be surprisingly… decent, yet not decent enough to take a nosedive on the second half (college life, adulthood, and etc.). Some issues are tackled realistically as my current high school life’s (for instance, fighting with parents over majors, pursuing your dreams instead of taking a lucrative major, homeroom teachers constantly got scolded by principals over scores, straight-A students’ choices in majors, and many more). However, some parts are also portrayed as illusions for us young watchers (organizing a little concert amidst the imminent Gaokao, running to the rooftop of school to set off fireworks (wow, we would be given a good beating for it if it really happened in my school), and other forgettable things).
For the acting, I guess it’s still laudable despite the cheesy dialogues. This is my second time watching Zhang Xinyi (I once sneaked in to “Be Passionately in Love”) and from my perspective, she still has rooms for improvements in the future (please don’t let her cry much, she’s beginning to remind me of my dearest friend who always cries whenever someone has an upper hand against her). For Xie Binbin, I don’t know what to say, but his role as Tong Xiaole seems to have a hybrid personality (half warm and half cold), which makes it harder to decipher his true feelings. Others are meh, but Luo Ningzi definitely deserves a praise for humbling the high-and-mighty chaebol boy.
OSTs are limited and I wish there would never be any singing concerts in the coming times. It’s totally frustrating to see the leads lip syncing while the original song plays in the background. Somehow, the sound and the lip just don’t match seamlessly. I’d better watch K-Pop MV instead of this.
Overall, a pretty mundane show to pass your time or maybe to ignite your past memories of adolescent years or even become a background noise while you’re multitasking. I’m sorry if my words are somewhat offensive (I’m not proficient in using euphemisms) to you guys and I hope you have a good watching experience. Good bye in “Pursuit of Jade”, good luck, and happy watching!!!
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