JamieDylan24

It's more like "Fantasy Game in a Love Story"

I've been giving it a couple of days before I could actually write my honest opinion down about this one because it made me both sad and glad to finish it.

The drama is about a young girl who's sucked into a fantasy novel and has to finish a few preset quests in order to finish the story. She gets these quests by the system of the game. In this new xianxia world filled with dangerous demons, mortals and demon catchers she has to find her way inside someone else's body. She's now Lin Yu, a noblemen's daughter and a spoiled brat, and she has to make Mu Sheng, a demonic demon catcher who hates her guts, fall in love with her.

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy started out great. It was everything I expected and more. It had lots of comedy, a chemistry to die for between actors I love and all wrapped up within a xianxia drama. I usually tend to stay away from the concept of someone being sucked within a novel but because I'm a fan of Esther Yu and Ding Yuxi, I've been waiting for this drama for ages. I was into it by the end of episode one and waited excitedly for another episodes.
Until around episode 24-ish. I ended up missing days of episodes and not being motivated to catch up. From the moment the two main leads actually get together and confess to each other, the chemistry takes a nosedive into the ground and it doesn't really resurface. They're still cute together but the romance falls flat. Ling Miaou Miaou (her real name form the real world) hangs around Mu Yao and Cui Cui more than she does Mu Sheng and it seperates them most of the time. It felt like I was watching a whole different story than the one I began.

Positives:
- When it became less of a romantic comedy it became a story about 5 friends fighting together and saving each other while saving the rest of the world. I loved watching them bond and become closer each episode.
- The chemistry between Lin Yu and Mu Sheng was intense the first half of the drama. I especially liked those scenes in the capitol where they both knew they loved the other but hadn't gathered the courage to confess yet. They were so cute in those episodes.
- The costumes were beautiful!
- There was a focus on Fu Yi and Mu Yao as well. They're the mainleads within the novel so it makes sense for them to get so much screentime.

Negatives:
- That ending was a mess. I just didn't understand why Mu Sheng had to die at that point. He was fine one second and dead the next without any explanation. I was more dumbstruck than sad and couldn't believe what had happened. It ruined the whole thing. The things that followed didn't make it any better. Only made it worse. To me it made no sense for him to go back in time to find Miaou Miaou. And to have them defeat the Resentful Woman that easily... just because they did it together... It was a big no-no for me.
- Miaou Miaou her amnesia episodes. At first I struggled through that bracelet arc but the "forgetting him" thing came back once or twice more and it became ridiculous. She even forgot who she really was. I really liked her character in the beginning but started to get annoyed with her in the end.
- The "it was all a dream" thing and it not even being her dream... I just really hate the ending.

Overal, I do recommend the drama to anyone who's in for a fun drama to watch. It's light and comedic until you get to the later episodes where the story does turn a little to the darker side.

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Very toxic but really cute

I have to admit. This is one of my first Thai BL dramas so I'm new to the concept but I really loved this drama.

It was recommended to me by a friend and when she sat me down to start this series, I was a little skeptical due to the high rate of toxicity that was supposed to be in this one. Tropes like that usually throw me off UNLESS there's a healthy slide of redemption that comes with it. And boy does this drama serve that redemption HOT.

The drama works with a time travel element that's been done quite well. It starts off with Joe, one of the mains, working at a filmset where he comes to his demise. He then wakes up in a different body with the same name and meets all the people he used to know before including Ming his ex boyfriend. The series then takes us back to a time before the accident (2-3 years) where Joe and Ming meet. Joe works as a stuntman/stand-in for a well known actor named Tong. He meets Ming at a filming location where Ming accidentily hugs him, thinking he's Tong. Ming is secretly in love with Tong and wants to be with him, but Tong is in a relationship with Ming's sister. And thus.. since Joe and Tong are so similar (especially their backside) Ming starts something with Joe so he can have some kind of kinship with Tong. And that's messed up. Joe, who is completely unaware of Ming's intentions, falls in love with Ming and wants to take things as far as living and sharing everything together.

At that point I didn't think there was every going to be a redemption for Ming. He manipulated everything and everyone to make it go his way not ever considering what it might do to Joe if things ever came to light but the worst had yet to come. Ming was about the worst character I had ever come across in dramaland in levels of toxicity (eventhough it's one of my first BL series) and I seriously considered dropping the drama if this continued.

But things got better and they were done really well. I absolutely love that the drama doesn't excuse the toxic behaviour but actually takes the time for its characters to learn from it and grow. At the end of it I came to really love Ming and root for him.

Likes:
- The acting was amazing! Especially the main leads! Up made me hate Ming through and through but also made me love him to death. Poom's portrayal of Joe was incredible!
- How they worked with the fact that Joe was in a new body. They reminded the audience of it a couple of times by having the new Joe appear in mirrors and some scenes every now and then. I was shook everytime it happened because it was a reminder of something the old Joe had lost but also gained.
- Ming's redemption arc. They could not have done it better. It really showed how much Ming was willing to change for the better and how much he was willing to put in for Joe. He learned from his mistakes and became a better person. I loved that.

Dislikes:
- Sol. I didn't really feel anything for his character. The actor was a bit motionless. He was supposed to be a K-pop star but the whole thing just felt a little off.
- The redemption for Ming's father and Tong. The series trying to put some good light on these two made me angry. The reasoning behind the dad's behaviour was truly insane and Tong, in my opinion, didn't deserve any forgiveness. He'd done too much evil at that point to be so easily forgiven by everyone.
- The series could have been a couple of episodes longer. They introduced another couple to the audience in episode 11 which threw me off a little. Also, I would have like to have a little more background about the Joe who's body was taken by our main lead Joe. Too bad they didn't really touch up on that side of the story.

Overal, I really loved this drama. It's a definite must-watch for everyone who likes BL's (with a little toxicity on the side).

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The legend of what should have been

This was the biggest let down in 2025 and it makes me very sad.
it was supposed to be everything I wanted in a drama but it became everything I never needed.

The first thing that drew me to this drama was Cheng Lei. I came across him as an actor in Fangs of Fortune and fell in love with his acting in My Journey To You. When I saw this was going to be a main lead role for him, I was over the moon.
I really loved the episodes too until I came to hate it. I went from waiting desperately for another episode to reminding myself I had left it on hold and needed to catch up on it. I did want to finish it but that was purely for Cheng Lei. I made it to the end by skipping (a lot of scenes) and by not caring as much anymore.

I feel like the series could have been so much more. I haven't read the book(s) so I can only say this as a viewer of the show, but I truly feel like they could have done it so much better by changing up the script and giving the main characters the actual spotlight of the show. There was so much depth to a side character (whom I didn't care for) and left important parts of the story untold. We didn't go in depth for Xiao Jue or He Yan. We didn't get to see their backstory (only by a couple of flashbacks that didn't tell us much) and the thing with Xiao Jue's father became a non-relevant thing and it felt like it should matter more.

I kind of wish they told the story chronologically. They should have started us off at their academy days and have them bond, become friends and then the fall-out combined with Xiao Jue's father's death. It would have been more impactful, we would have bonded with the main characters and watched He Yan become a legendary general but have it taken away from her. After that we could've explored their road to revenge or redemption. In my opinion, that would have been so much better. In the way it was told within the show, it felt off. He Yan didn't come across as this bad-ass general but a spoiled brat who sucked up to Xiao Jue to get to a general's position as soon as possible. And Xiao Jue felt like a push over who gave her what she wanted because he was interested in her...
Don't get me wrong, I liked their chemistry. I loved their interactions and they way He Yan had to hide the fact she was a woman within a military camp. I adored the first couple of episodes.... It's fun to watch up until episode 18 or so. The story becomes ridiculous at that point and changes into a convenient plot that forces the main characters together as a couple in order for them to develop romantic feelings. In other words: it was easy writing with a shitty plot and lots of convenient help to progress.

Positives:
- The fighthing scenes (although very short and way too few) were very well done.
- The chemistry between the main characters.
- The first half of the show was fun to watch.
- Usually I don't care much for the male best friend or the female best friend but I loved Chi Su. I was sad to see him go (he doens't die but he just vanished after 20 episodes and doesn't come back until the very last episode).
- I'm still a fan of the two main leads. They acting is amazing and I love to see them in other shows.

Negatives:
- The fact that it's a legend of a female general but there's not a lot of fighting scenes, she does end up saving the day a couple of times by being lucky most of the time or she has to disguise herself and act like a different person in order to get things done. It was weird.
- I cannot get over the fact that she fought this mighty wutou warrior, got herself flinged off into the river with no one around to see where she landed, nearly drowned in the water and Xiao Jue coming in to rescue her. LIKE HOW DID HE KNOW WHERE SHE WAS?!?!?!?!
- That whole "you cannot get married because that would unite too much military power" thing being a shitty plot and makes me wish they had ended it at 30 episodes because it was soooooooo unnecessary. Especially considering the emperor changed his words in the last 10 minutes of the last episode and allowed them to get married anyway.... It's beyond stupid.
- The side characters got too much spotlight. For some reason Chu Zhao and He Ru Fei got a lot of screen time and the main characters become background characters for a lot of episodes. That was the reason I started to skip through most of it. Unfortunately, this remained like this for the second half of the show.

So would I recommend this drama? I'm not sure. But I can tell you this. The trailer is misleading and the way the story starts is too. There's not a lot of epic fight scenes. The female general doesn't really come across as legendary. The chemistry is there but the romance is not. So if you're in for a story that doesn't have a lot of drama or emotion in its script then this is the one for you. Are you looking for more drama and a story well written? Then you're better off skipping this one.

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A little disappointing...

I started this drama mainly because Lee Jae Wook in it but the story, while reading the synopsis was interesting too. Sadly, it didn't live up to the hype it got on TikTok (at least on my fyp).

The drama centers around the Sim family and begins to tell the story of Hong Rang. He's a little boy when he vanishes from his home under mysterieus conditions. No one knows where he is and everybody starts to look for him but no one ever finds him. His half sister, Jae I, is hopefull though. She desperately hopes he's alive somewhere and will return to their home someday. In her life he was the only one who treated her like a normal human being. She's a bastard child to the master of the house and frequently mistreated by family members. Most of them blame her for Hong Rang's disappearance and tell her she's a curse upon the family. Especially her stepmother.
And then Hong Rang returns home. Everyone thinks he's the real deal because he passes some tests and claims amnesia. But Jae I is weary of him and doesn't trust it. He cannot be her brother. She would have recognised him, wouldn't she? But nothing to him feels familiar.
But he becomes someone she can trust, someone who treats her like she matters. And soon she starts to fall for him.

If only the story could have been just about that, but it tried to be so much more by adding all kinds of storylines and plots. It became a little too much in the end. There was too much going on and most of it didn't get resolved at the end. It became a romance above all when more important stuff was going on. Like Hong Rang (the imposter) his origin and his life story. In the beginning of the story you get some info sprinkled throughout the scenes about a painter and something horrible, but you won't find out exactly what they mean by the painter and the horrible things until much later. If it did anything for the suspense in the show you wouldn't hear me nag about it, but it got backsided by so many layers of other plots... I didn't understand any of it most of the time.
There was a power struggle within the Sim family. There was a abduction/runaway storyline about young Hong Rang. There was a plotline with a prince. There was a storyine with the imposter Hong Rang and that split into two storyline when the romance began... It became a spider web of stories and none of them really took the show and brought it to another level.

In the end it fell like a bore to me. Nothing really stuck with me or kept me locked in.

So if you're looking for a show that's not that thrilling or exciting, I'd recommend this one. But for anything else I'd look elsewhere.

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I came to love this drama more and more

Because I really love Zhao Lusi dramas I was very excited for this one, until I read the synopsis. I didn't think I would like it. I thought it would be more about her as a rising jeweler and the fight for female rights in her time. I thought it would be a politically heavy drama and I wasn't in the mood for one.

But it was so much more than that.

The story of Pearl Girl starts of with Duanwu. She's a young women enslaved by the Cui family in their pearl diving farm. She's been there since she was eight and has suffered lots of abuse and other forms of cruelty. But this hasn't worn her down a bit. Duanwu remains strong and knows how to stand up for herself. She plans to get away from it all, she just needs the means to escape. Her first opportunity presents itself through a pearl auction where she meets two dashing men. Zhang Jinran (an investigator from the capitol) and Yan Zhijing (a trader from the west). Duanwu manages to escape the farm but the attempt is bloody and ends up burning the whole place down turning her into an enemy of the Cui family. She ends up working for Yan Zhijing and travels with his trading company to be able to earn her true freedom.

I really liked the story of this drama. It was nothing like I had expected it to be and gave me everything I needed. I wasn't familiar with Liu Yuning as an actor but his performance blew me away. I usually like dramas to be a bit more romance heavy but didn't mind at all that this drama focused more on Duanwu's story without having her be head-over-heels for her love interest. Love didn't hold her back. She remained a strong female character throughout the story. It's so different from anything Zhao Lusi's played before. It made me love her acting even more.

Positives:
- The costumes were amazing! I absolutely loved Yan Zhijing's style throughout the show. He made me think of a pirate most of the time.
- The story felt really realistic. It was raw and brutal but never over-the-top.
- They kept the story revolving around Duanwu as a person and her rise from enslavement. We got to see her grow from start to finish.
- The chemistry between Duanwu and Zhijing was on point! Like I said.. I wasn't familiar with Liu Yuning as an actor but he blew me away with his acting. On top of that I have to add his chemistry with Zhao Lusi. I melted at their romantic moments and wished for more each time they parted ways.
- The way they showed the differences between unpaid slavery and paid slavery. Duanwu was an unpaid slave at the Cui family where she had to withstand mental and physical abuse each day (and even the threat of SA) whereas she became a paid slave working for Zhijing. She had to work hard and was still expendable but I really loved the way they showed the differences and had Duanwu go through them.
- Villainy characters became likeable and there was a chance at redemption for them. In particular Zheng Wu.

Negatives:
- After the events in the desert the main characters, being Yan Zhijing and Duanwu, became more like back ground characters. They didn't have that much screentime anymore. The story of Pearl girl became less about the pearl girl and more about the power struggle of families in Yangzhou who were responsible for the fall of the Yan family.
- I don't understand why the script didn't allow Yan Zhijing to find himself a cure for his poisoning. I get why he kept refusing but surely there was a way for him to get cured in the end. If that witch-doctor had ideas of a remedy surely all those court physicians could come up with one. Now it just feels unresolved and I'm left unsatisfied. I can deal with open endings but this one is on a whole new level.
- The ending was so abrupt I had to go to Google and find out if it was the real deal or if my Netflix was broken. I tried to search for an answer for over 30 minutes but Google gave me nothing.
- For a chemistry that intense, it didn't have much romance. I wish the drama had more moments with the two main leads and have them connect. In the later part of the drama we don't see much Yan Zhijing (it's even worse than Duanwu) and we have to miss out on them. I wish they could have given us more time with them before the end.

Overal I really loved this drama. I recommend it to everyone who wants to watch a drama with lots of heavier moments when it comes to tension. It's an emotional rollercoaster so keep tissues close.

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A tale of revenge flowing into romance

When I first noticed this drama by watching shorts of it on TikTok, I was immediately sold. The promos showed me a villainous male lead, a badass female lead and a plot filled with revenge and action scenes.

The story follows that of Murong JingHe (a third prince from Yan whose life is under constant threat from his brother the crown prince) and Mei Lin (a survivor of the great fires of Qingzhou picked off the streets by the Shadow Works, an assassin organisation).
The first couple of episodes already had me on the edge of my seat and that tension didn't go away for quite a while. I loved the way they introduced certain characters. Jinghe, once a famous general, was responsible for the fires in Qingzhou and is now known to be a mass murderer and an outcast. His own people either hate him or fear him and he puts that to good use to put forth a certain image of himself. He gave all the red-flag vibes I wanted and more.
With lots of flashbacks we get to know the characters more and more. Usually I'm not a fan of flashbacks or timetravel things in dramas but these scenes actually had something to add to the story. It made me realise how difficult Mei Lin had it in the years after the fire in Qingzhou destroyed her home and family and added to her character.

Positives:
- The acting of this cast was A+++++. They had me immersed into the story and kept me wanting more and more. I vowed to myself never to start another ongoing show due to this one. I could barely wait for new episodes to air and was unable to watch anything else in between.
- I have never seen anything from Baron Chen before and I don't think I will ever be able to watch anything he's in after this role. Not because he did a bad job but because he did such a good job at portraying such an incredible douche-canoe that I gagged everytime he came into focus.
- The romantic development between the main leads. I thought it was really pure how it went from enemies-to-lovers. I loved watching JingHe realise his mistakes and go from a "I only want to fight battles and win them" to "I want to fight battles to protect those I love". Mei Lin pierces through his cold exterioir and finds the man within. It's a beautiful love story that gives us the raw and sweet moments of a romance within a revenge plot.
- A badass female lead who doesn't take bullshit from her surroundings. She knows how to take care of herself and her fight scenes are amazing!!
- The OST!! I've been playing its theme song on repeat for days!

Negatives:
- There was a love story between the emporer and his peace-making-concubine who wasn't even 20 years old. This one didn't sit well with me. I know it's part of historical reality. I mean.. emporers at that time did have wives of a third their own age but it just made me want to skip their scenes. Especially when she became pregnant with his child. It was a big no-no for me. He could have been her grandfather....
- The second lead romance. I really didn't understand why General Yin eventually fell for the crown prince. All he did was manipulate her into things even going as far as rape (okay.. he didn't go through with it, but still) her into a marriage. His entire character was build up to make the audience hate him. Redemption was far from being realised, in my opinion, so having general Yin fall in love with him, carrying his memorial tablet... it made me dislike her as a character.
- The eternal back and forth in the later parts of the series. Mei Lin is still poisoned by the Momai poison at that point and the amount of things they have to turn to in order to heal her... it made no sense. Everytime they came close it fell through at the last minute only to have them not succeed at all in the end. Or the fact that they kept saying she would only survive for so long and than have that period extended by a little more time. It just became ridiculous at some point.
- The ending. Although it's an okay ending to the story.. I wish they could have done a little better. With the way they've done it, it feel a little draggy and rushed at the same time and now the story feels unfinished to me.

Overal I really loved this drama. It's the best Cdrama I've seen in 2024. Maybe even drama of the year for me. It was everything I needed and everything I wanted.

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A great idea falling short

It took me a long time to pick this drama up. It's been in my TO-WATCH list for ever but since I became a fan of Luo Yunxi this drama could no longer stay unwatched.

I had heard great stories about this drama. The fact that it has one of the highest ratings in China made me excited to start it up. The first 10 episodes really pulled me into the story but, unfortunately, the story fell flat after that. To be honest... if the drama didn't Luo Yunxi in it I would have dropped it somewhere around episode 20.

Story:
I absolutely adored the beginning of the series. It's fun. It's upbeat and I was rooting for Xu Feng and Jin Mi to be together but, to be fair, that whole "Jin Mi can't feel any romantic feelings" took way too long to resolve. And when it almost did they repaired that stupid pellet and it took even longer for her to feel any kind of romantic emotion. It turned her character arc in a plain, simple and dumb one. She became an annoying character that couldn't think for herself. The entire mortal realm arc fell flat and I wasn't involved in Xu Feng and Jin Mi's romance anymore. It felt like they were side characters in a story that was supposed to be about them and it remained that way for most of the drama.
What did become interesting was Run Yu's story arc. A good guy turned villain. It's just too bad that they turned him into a heartbroken "if I can't have her, no one can" kind of guy. I was rooting for him up until the point that everything he did was because of Jin Mi and wanting to keep her at his side. I just didn't understand why the two men were fighting over someone like Jin Mi. Also, I don't understand why this drama had to be around 60 episodes. It could have been way better if it had 30 episodes less. The tension would have been higher. Most of the storylines became draggy and very slow-paced so I skipped some of it. I loved Lui Ying but some of her scenes with Mu Ci were very slow and repetitive. Their bond together is very sweet and I adored them but Mu Ci, especially in the beginning of their arc, kept pushing her away for the same reasons over and over again. He went back and forth on his decision to leave her so I stopped watching them and skipped most of their scenes.

Overal likes:
- Run Yu's storyline. Luo Yunxi portrays him so well too!
- Fox Immortal and Lord Puchi. They were the ones who pulled me through the series. I loved their characters.
- The fact that Puchi shapeshifted into Run Yu to save Jin Mi. Luo Yunxi really shined with his acting in these scenes!
- I loved the sets and environment they created for this drama. Both Heavenly realm and Demon realm are so pretty and well done. The costumes too! Truly amazing work!
- The way the demon realm seemed more good than the heavenly realm. They really showed the meaning of Yin and Yang in this drama and I loved that.
- Deng Lun's acting, especially in the last few episodes. Made me feel all the feels.

Overal dislikes:
- Jin Mi. She became the dumbest character in cdrama history. At times I just wished she'd become more powerful and would use her head for once but she always fell flat in that department.
- The mortal realm episodes. It felt like the drama didn't need those episodes. It was necessary for Jin Mi to undergo mortal trials, true, but Xu Feng's choice to go after her didn't make any sense. How can you protect someone if you don't know who she is, what is happening and why you needed to protect her in the first place? The blokkade to the mortal realms he stumbled upon before jumping in after her was the stupidest thing ever. Especially considering Run Yu could visit the mortal Jin Mi every time he wanted. It was ridiculous. Xu Feng's decision didn't help him at all. It almost got him and Jin Mi killed.
- The actual timeline was very hazy at times. Time goes by very fast in the series. Sometimes spanning over a 100 years without the audience knowing. I found out in the latter part of the drama that the first ten episodes span over a 100 years which became a funny thing to me. Sometimes the drama does drop hint about how much time had passed but it doesn't always do that. I was surprised most of the time to find out hundreds of years had gone by.

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Mr. Sunshine? It should have been Mr. Trample on my feels

This drama's been on my watchlist since forever and I never got round to actually watching it. Why? Because I didn't think it would pull me in the way it did. I didn't know much about the Japanese annexation of Korea and I was never in the mood for all the drama that was going to come with it. Or a harsh truth.

But I'm glad I finally got to watch it.

Like I said, I didn't know much about that part of Korean history and I was swept away by how the drama told its story. In the beginning we follow a young slave boy who comes home and watches his parents be punished by their owners. The family that owns them is vicious towards their slaves and treats them like assets rather than people. Young Yu Jin has to watch his father being beaten to death and his mother trying to sacrifice herself in an attempt to save Yu Jin from ending up dead as well. He has to run and get away from his home as far as possible. And so he does. Broken and exhausted, Yu Jin manages to board a ship headed to New York and starts a new life there. He becomes a soldier in the American military and changes his homeland from Joseon to America.
Almost 30 years later he get deployed to Joseon in a time where Joseon is being ripped apart by influences from outside. Americans are stationed there as well as the Japanese and the French. The country has been opened up to the world outside and more and more koreans are adapting a western lifestyle by cutting their hair, wearing foreign fashion and eating foreigner's foods. There's also industrialization. There's a tram going through the city, there's electricity and talks of a railroad being build.

It felt like Joseon changed overnight and all the traditions among the korean people had been forgotten instantly. I've been so used to historical kdramas that come with a set of cultural traditions like the hairstyles, the way they talk among social groups, the social hierarchy etc. etc. This drama shocked me to the core as I watched how much of those cultural things were taken away from Joseon as the Japanese hold on the country grew stronger and stronger. And I did what I should have done ages ago. I read up on this party if Korean history because I felt is was important to be able to fully understand the story. I'm not saying everyone who wants to watch this show should read up on it. It's a great watch on its own but the show touched something deeper and I wanted to understand what.

There were moments I welled up because of how huge the impact of it all truly was. And that's what I love most about the show. Not the romance. Not the acting. Not the characters. But the way they showed how dangerous it was back then. The variety of characters they used to show the impending doom was the cherry on top this pretty but sad story.

Yu Jin, the slave boy, returns to Joseon as an American soldier by the name of Eugene Choi. He's the acting American consul at the American embassy and captain to a squad of soldiers. He's a man belonging to no country if it comes down to it. America will say he's a Joseon man if things turn sour but Joseon will not accept a Joseon man from America and only see him as a foreigner. And thus he's the perfect candidate for the role of consul in a torn up country where things could go awry easily.
During his stay he meets Ae Sin, an assassin with the same target as Yu Jin. Both are weary of each other first but soon became fond of each other.
Ae Sin is a noble born into a wealthy family and enjoys life in luxury. Or so most think. In secret she's learned how to wield a gun and has become a vital part of the Joseon rebellion. She wants nothing more than protect her home country from those invading it. When she meets Yu Jin, a seemingly Joseon man, she thinks he wants the same but he doesn't care about Joseon. Until he starts to care for her, that is.

I could go one about all the characters that appear and made a deep impact on me as watcher. Even those I didn't much care for in the beginning made me feel all the feels at the end. This show was an emotional rollercoaster especially when it came to its close. It's not a show I will forget. It's become one of those shows that one must have seen when they watch kdramas. A classic if you will.

Positives:
- The story is told so well. There were a lot of moments I got goosebumps by how the scene was done or how the characters reacted. It all felt so real because I knew it was based upon a true story when it comes to the Japanese-Korea timeline. It made an even bigger impact when I thought about current happenings in the world. I felt very small all of a sudden.
- The main couple. I wasn't really familiar with Lee Byung Hun (other than watching Squid Game and not really paying much attention to his character there) and I must say his acting blew me away. Yu Jin too was a very real character to me. He didn't drop everything in order to save his girl but actually went into situations by thinking things through. The same goes for Ae Sin. She falls for Yu Jin, deeply, but she doesn't become this lovesick girl who only functions when her man is near her to protect her. Instead she becomes this badass gunner with a passion for Joseon and wanting to protect her home above all else.
- For once the American actors (or English speaking ones) were good at their jobs. I've seen too many kdramas with Englishmen in it to portray Americans and they always act like robots trying to mimic human behaviour. It always throws me off but in this drama I could finally enjoy some great American acting too.
- I loved how they added different languages in this and the ability of some of the characters to speak more than one language. It's accurate to the timeline but I'm really glad they actually included it into the show.

Negatives:
- The amount of times I thought a certain character to be dead only to have him show up in the next episode was maddening.
- For the amount of hours I spent rooting for Yu Jin and Ae Sin to have a life together, I'm really disappointed of the fact that there's no kiss between them. It's the only thing I wanted for them. The lovestory is great, don't get me wrong, but I longed for something more. The barely hold hands, they hug less than 5 times and they never go any deeper. I don't want to nag about it but I just feel like they could've done at least one kiss.

Overal I really recommend this drama if you're in for a slower paced, hit-you-in-the-feels, kind of drama.

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A wonderful experience

I've long hesitated to write a review about this one because how does one write a review about something so beautiful as ITSAY?

I've seen many dramas, watched many shows and found many of them amazing and mind-blowing but I Told Sunset About You is something special amongst everything I have ever finished. Everything about it blew me away. It has an amazing cast that can act so good I find it hard to find anything worth my while after finishing ITSAY. The music too.. it just fits so well to the storyline which is only strengthened by the cinematography.. Each episode felt like a piece of art.

Likes:
- Teh's discovery of his feelings towards Oh Aew. It felt so realistic to have him doubt himself and those around him. I'm really happy they chose to show his struggle and hesitance to accept he might feel something romantic for a boy, and his fear for what everyone else might think about him.
- The cinematography. The way they filmed the show made me fall in love with Thailand (especially Phuket) and makes me want to visit it sometime. But there's so much hidden in between the lines and scenes. Like I said.. it felt like a piece of art while watching it.
- The music. Most of the songs are sung by the main leads but the instrumental versions blew me away too. Made me feel the feels that much stronger.
- The acting. This cast deserves all the awards and more. 5 episodes is not nearly enough and I need more. THANK GOD there's a season 2.
- The chemistry between the main leads. It was BOMB.
- Teh's immediate acceptance that Oh Aew was in love with a boy and his willingness to help.
- A supportive female friend.

Dislikes:
- Teh felt immature most of the time. It made me wonder if he had difficulty recognizing emotions in others or knowing how his actions could hurt others.. I did hate him for a long while because he treated his best friend like shit.

I feel like I can watch this how over and over again and never get bored. It's a true gem hiding in plain sight and I feel like every BL fan should watch this one.

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