More often than not, I really like more sweet, light romances type of dramas. Some of them are among my favorites. But this time I did not find it so great. I felt like after the main two characters got together, there wasn't really anything to make me want to keep watching besides the accomplishment of finishing it. And I'll explain why I think that happened.
Story: the plot, or actually the synopsis, is very nice! I thought it was unusual to see a gamers as more than just the nerd side characters, and giving them normal personalities and actually making the whole drama about a game in a very natural way. Now, the whole exciting part was about them getting together in real life. What doesn't take too long to happen. AND I don't think that's a problem, I like when there's not too much unnecessary drama about getting together when two characters clearly like each other. But there wasn't any other goal good enough to make me keep watching.
Cast/Acting/Characters: So I don't have any problem with the cast. Both main leads are very beautiful, what I think fits the characters description. (besides the fact that there's supposed to be something awesome and maybe sexy? about WeiWei's body and I didn't find anything besides ULTRA THINNESS in Zheng Shuang's body -- but that was very easy to ignore and I wouldn't call it a problem). But then I thought the characters are too... bidimensional? Like, they are too much of only one thing. Too correct, too pretty, too perfect. There was only barely 2 moments when WeiWei actually felt legit sad. And Xiao Nai is, again, just too handsome, too smart, too confident. And basically never had mood swings in the entire drama. He only showed when he was happy or concerned. And that's it. There wasn't more to them. And even if the drama wouldn't explore their past or give them situations to show their other faces, if they were a more fun couple then maybe I'd still be happy just watching them together without facing any obstacle for 20 eps. Xiao Nai never does anything wrong, he always says the right thing and does what you expect him to do. The most "fun" thing about watching them together is the fact that Weiwei is shy and she is often relucitant about Xiao Nai straight forwardness. But it isn't fun and honestly I couldn't relate at all. I mostly thought she was being unnecessarly shy bc there wasn't really anything that embarassing? But well, for this part maybe that was just me. I was having more fun with the side characters relationship actually but it's not given enough attention and it wasn't given anything more than "okay" resolves.
Music: It was okay I guess. Yep.
Rewatch Value: With a few exceptions, I don't usually rewatch dramas, but this one is definitely a nope for me.
Overall: I don't regret watching it. It was good, they picked a good theme and very pretty actors. I'll compliment it for not having unnecessary and tiring drama, and the fact that the antagonists were never even close to affect the trust the main couple had for each other, which is nice to see. It's a sweet romance but I wouldn't say it is exciting type of sweet like a cake? More like water with sugar or maybe cotton candy. Not too much flavor besides the sugar, dissolves quickly but you eat it until it's over without much problem.
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I really wish I could give this a 9 or 10 but...
The story was perfect, probably one of the best fantasy dramas I've ever seen UNTIL, they simply regress most of their progression as characters and couple for some episodes for definitely not good enough reasons, SPECIALLY after all they went through already.I'll try to explain without spoiling anything, but it's like they spend a lot of time building their trust for each other, having it broken once, and then solving misunderstandings by proving how much they truly care for each other, rebuilding this trust, just for having it broken AGAIN for... reasons. And from there is basically 6 to 8 chapters of pure needless and frustratingly slow angst. I know this is somewhat standard for romfan chinese dramas, but this one feels specially jarring because it was PEAK AND ALMOST PERFECT until that moment. The characters were smart, there were no plot holes, no dumb misunderstanding, everything literally made perfect sense until that point. And honestly, the characters already went through what should have been the ultimate test to prove themselves for each other. They even share a very specific dialogue that should mean that there'll be no way for them to simply 'go back' to how they were before. And then shit happens, everything dumbs down a little, we go over the same problem for the third and fourth time, the pacing which was great tripped big time and never really got as good as that point, even when it does get better again.
I not saying all of this to say i didn't like this drama, on the contrary, I'm giving this a 8.5 due to my pure love to the main couple's chemistry, the characters, and the somewhat perfect story they had going until certain point. But honestly, it was so good that when the problem happened, it felt so much more disappointing.
But still i recommend it a lot! Now that I've vented, I'll talk about THE GOOD THINGS (besides its greatness until a specific point)
- Main couple chemistry TO THE ROOF!! It's in my top 3 at least.
- Definitely a how to write a female character done right. I love how the FL can be feminine, sweet and very powerful and inteligent at the same time, in a very natural way. Something a bit rare in this genre.
- The make up and clothing of the main cast was very pretty, detailed and purposeful. I specially love everything about 27's characterization and he is not even a main character.
- Creative story and background. The worldbuilding is a lot more creative than the common 'heaven realm x demon realm (or "animal realm") we see in most romfan c-dramas. Very interesting.
- Great music. You can feel already the quality from these dramas when they have specific music for specific moments and characters. It feels special.
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