Will this drama manage to "beat" the rating of "When the Stars Gossip", there lies the question.
2025: Worse year in K dramaland since forever. I stand by what I say. Squid Game was a major success, it made K dramas known globally... and now American money is ruining the industry. By trying to appeal to a Western audience instead of focusing on their strengths, they're literally ruining the genre.
It's time travel, which is banned in China. So there's always a last minute "censorship ending", which…
Chen Jin Ke and Johnny Huang are definitely exercising. More my type as well... But as you can see... None of them have acted a lot or at all in costume dramas... and my guess is it's because of that weight issue.
In martial art shows were the cast is male centric and romance is not the main focus, their built is probably not a problem, quite the contrary, but as soon as the romance tag is there... directors tend to prefer leaner built.
Song Wei Long and Zhang Ling He typical look like the type of people who need to starve themselves to look the way they do. I'd argue they're more the same built as Chen Jin Ke for instance. It's always complicated to see if the actors' weight fit their physique with all the makeup and filters they use onscreen. Starving yourself never makes you look good, but you can conceal quite a lot with the right filters, makeup and light...
That also refers to actresses. When you're too slim, it ages one's face but again, TV magic erases creases and early wrinkles.
But back to the main topic, some people are just naturally slim, even if they build up some muscles, unless they remove their T-shirt, they'll always appear pretty skinny. Bai Jing Ting is that type. Course he's not a sporty guy, but even if he did buff up, I'd argue he'd still look skinny.
Directors choose actors also on popularity but sometimes I wish they took into consideration the built of their actors.
Like in SK, most actors and actresses are naturally taller and more muscular than in China... But you still see some actors such as Choi Woo Shik who are pretty lean. Has he ever been cast in a sageuk where he has to play a tough general or in some action role where he beats up people?
Nope, because he just doesn't have the built, and that's ok. There's plenty of other roles he can act that don't mind his skinnier built.
But in China? It's hit or miss. I don't have lots of problems with that in wuxias because it's fantasy and they have super powers so whatev'...
But whenever I'm watching a Historical, I'm struggling because there's no super powers and if you look like you're gonna fly away with the next gust of wind, how am I supposed to believe you're able to walk for days in an armor weighting at least 10kg if not more and swinging a sword just as heavy for hours on end, days after days on a battlefield?
I've learned to look the other way... Sometimes it works... Some times it just doesn't.
It's time travel, which is banned in China. So there's always a last minute "censorship ending", which…
Lol trust me he's just as skinny as the rest. It's just less visible. People are built differently, some people's natural built make them appear more "fat" than they are actually and vice versa.
Take me for instance I'm 158cm (around 5.2ft). Small but thick bones and naturally pretty muscular. Every time I have to buy some drug at the drugstore, I get comment from the clerk reminding me that this or that drug must only be taken if you're above 50kg (around 110lbs)... One time I even had a clerk who didn't believe me and insisted to check my weight at the counter 😡 Except... I actually weigh around 60kg (132 lbs).
Been like that my whole life literally. One time, I had some personal issues, went down to 47 kg (103.5 lbs), everybody was commenting about how I looked like death itself and I should go to the hospital, when in fact this is a pretty normal weight for most people my height or even taller. But for me? Indeed that was too skinny. My face looked liked some cranium out of a horror movie.
If I was slimmer, I'd probably look skinnier than most people at the same weight... But conversely you also see people who are the opposite.
In real life that's not necessarily an issue, but if your job is acting and looking good is part of "the contract"... that can really be a problem if even at a healthy slim weight, you look "fatter" than you truly are.
This being said I get your comment. I watched Blossom and the main actor was supposed to be this seasoned warrior but he looked so skinny I just couldn't buy that he was this incredible general or whatever. Didn't fit physique of the role. On the contrary with Prisoner of beauty, the ML looked buffer, so he was more believable as a general.
These weight differences is mostly visible for men... not much for women though. They all have to be skinny period... When for men, some actors have gone to build some muscles and it makes them look way better so there's that.
Personally I like athetic men so as long as there's some muscles, the built doesn't necessarily matter. I've decideced to marry virtually with Cheng Lei. You can keep Arthur Chen 😎
I just learned from another member that the FL wakes up from a coma or whatever... Classic censorshit in action... I love both leads though so I was planning to watch that one...BUT Now I'm not too sure...
So could somebody who has watched it tell me if in spite of her waking up from some weird dreams, she still gets with the ML in the end?
It's time travel, which is banned in China. So there's always a last minute "censorship ending", which…
Started to watch K dramas in 2005 ( yes old millenial talking here, hitting 40 next year)... I honestly feel that K dramas were getting better for years: better plots, fresh stories, familiar tropes but with fresh twists... But then came Squid Game in 2021 and for me that was the game changer.
The US started to see that people were interested and they started to throw in their money and K dramas have been losing what made them so great in the first place. I'm not saying they ALL have turned bad... But honestly there's way less shows, and most of them suck. You really need to filter "the trash" so to speak...
MDL speaks for itself... There used to be a time when seeing 15000 to 20000 viewers per airing K dramas was common and the most popular shows would go up to almost 30000 sometimes even more. But now? the most popular shows struggle to reach 20000. About half the viewers have moved to C dramas. Couple of years ago, there was no C dramas that aired that would even get 10000... The average for the most popular shows were around 5000. Now look at the front page...
It's not that their numbers aren't good, sometimes you even get some surprises ( for instance Lovely Runner and When the Phone Rings last year). But it's definitely dwindling months after months while the number of C drama watchers is rising. There's a trend there.
Sorry. I'm just very sad... I started to learn Korean years ago because of my love for K dramas ( I don't care about K pop AT ALL) and now they're going to sh**.
"China takes entertainment very seriously. I remember when they said that male actors were too feminine and that it was a bad image for young men. Not sure how actors are getting around that one because they look like they could eat some sandwitches!"
That comment made me laugh ^^ I read that as well... But err... For the weight though, I read that it's more a matter of costume dramas having layers after layers of clothes and if the actors are "too fat" it doesn't look good.
Sad to say... But when I read that, I thought it was ridiculous... Then I watched a historical K drama where the FL wasnt wearing the classical hanbok but some kind of common grab with several layers of clothes on top of the others....
She looked fat. I knew, she was at a healthy weight... Still pretty slim but she still looked fat... I thought to myself they should have changed her clothes because it wasn't like this drama was going for historical accuracy in the first place...
And I know it's shallow of me but really it just didn't look good. That's when I understood why all Chinese actors and actresses that act in these historicals all look like walking skeletons once you remove all these layers of clothes. It's not like they have a choice, because we all know, viewers are gonna comment if it looks bad and fat shaming is pretty much a thing there so...
Anyway, these actors are still very handsome and manly enough for me so maybe it's more the make-up for idol singers? They know if they start to put "manly men" according to men's standard in their shows, they're gonna lose a substantial part of their audience.
Most women love men with some feminine traits, that's not something specific to Asia. I mean Silvester Stallone or Bruce Willis were popular actors for action movies but they were never cast in Rom coms.
Sorry for what happened to you when you did some red tape. Sadly an experience shared by all of us regardless of the country I'm afraid.
It's time travel, which is banned in China. So there's always a last minute "censorship ending", which…
LOL!!! Isn't it the drama "Fall in You" ? I haven't watched it, but I know I've seen that title somewhere when I was looking up the name of the actor playing the ML. Well that's the title I'm thinking about given what you wrote and it's a 2025 Web drama so.................... But the summary on MDL doesn't hint at some SF plot.
Anyway, basically you're telling me it's all a matter of connections and all these rules don't mean anything. It's EVEN MORE ANNOYING!!!
Like again. I dont' think that censorship is always bad. Personally I hate shows which are overly graphic or sexualized. I gave up on Western shows for that, and now my beloved K dramas are being Americanized with graphic violence that just didn't exist 10 years ago.
Which leads to me watching more and more C dramas and less and less K dramas...
But this is one instance where I just can't understand the point of it. I read somewhere that it was because there was a wave of suicides of young people wanting to reincarnate or whatnot. But for me that's BS. Otherwise WHY not all young people in Asia aren't committing suicide given how many Asians believe in it huh?
I think it's much more political.
China's been cracking down on religions and reincarnation is one of the core concept of Buddhism. Dalai Lama, Tibet...
It's time travel, which is banned in China. So there's always a last minute "censorship ending", which…
I think the rules are just as strict with historical dramas... It's more lax when it comes to the Fantasy Genre though.
This being said in the same comment I mentionned。 I talked about the C drama RESET. This one is set in modern times and the heart of the plot is the main leads dying repeatedly and going back repeatedly in the past to try to prevent their death...
Here, the whole plot is literally about time travel and there was no "they woke up from a coma" or "it was a novel all along" or whatever BS.
Makes you wonder exactly how exactly these rules work.
It's time travel, which is banned in China. So there's always a last minute "censorship ending", which…
This is a repeat of a comment I already made, but there's other dramas that have dealt with this issue way better. Legend of the Female General and The Double have completely erased the reincarnation plot device... Story wise, it actually made both dramas more satisfying on lots of aspects and the angst much more intense. 'Course they had to adjust the plot but the core was not changed which is the most important thing.
In the case of this particular drama... I think it would have been better to do like in the drama "Blossom".
Basically, start the drama with some common incident involving the FL in high school who is in love with the SML and the ML. Let's say, truck of doom, whatever. Anyway, they both fall into a coma... They dream of the future and basically we see what has been introduced in the first episode. It would have worked easily since we only see one episode in the beginning explaining to us what happened in their lives anyway so no big deal.
Now they wake up in the present with the memory of their dream ( which can pop up occasionally in the story) and therefore change the trajectory of their lives.
Way better in my opinion and much more satisfying for viewers. 'Course we wouldn't get the useless break-up that happened at some point but I doubt anybody would complain about it.
I think some writers are just lazy, because again, it's not that complicated to get past the censorshit and do something a little more creative to bypass this problem.
Like in the Double, for me it's the best example of how to deal with Censorshit and give to viewers something that is SO MUCH MORE SATISFYING than what was originally written in the novel.
Anyway, I understand the rating backlash on that one... Though I think it's unfair to the show because apart from that, honestly, it's a cute rom'com.
I remember my early frustration with the character too but she became better tho I haven’t finished drama yet.…
I've caught up with the last episode on Viki (currently ep 19), so yeah since my last comment, she did get better. I wish she apologized for her past behavior... but maybe that's asking for too much.
I've been avoiding the comment section to avoid being spoiled but I need to ask:
In which episode does Shi Qian Lu finally die (hopefully in excruciating pain)?
I'm sick and tired of this character, I just need to know when he'll stop parading around and spreading lies everywhere. Btw, I mean his REAL death, not fakeout death.
I don't want the details of what happens to him. Just the episode (I'm behind Viki releases so needless to say, compared to others watching on Youku I'm WAY behind).
Well thank you for this comment. I watched 3 episodes then felt I wasn't in the mood to watch this one and was…
Yeah that's what I did. I love Kim Jae Yeong but most of his dramas are hit or miss for me... Hopefully Idol I will deliver... But I'm probably gonna wait until it has fully aired before giving it a try... I've repeatedly disappointed with K dramas this year so I'm not gonna risk my time. I wait for reviews and comments.
SO... Are 16 to 24 ep K dramas officially dead and buried now? I remember a time when SK knew how to make addictive 16 episodes shows in which you didn't feel like they were dragging things out.
Now every any drama that has 16 episodes usually contains 8 episodes of meandering nonsense going nowhere with repetitive and flat stories so most dramas have been shortened to 12 episodes to hide how empty, uninspired and flavorless K dramas have become but shouldn't they add some limits to that dwindling episodes count?
Keep on going on like this, and "K dramas" are gonna turn into 1 episode shows.
If you want to watch it for Kim jae yeong don't watch it ðŸ¤ðŸ˜‚
Well thank you for this comment. I watched 3 episodes then felt I wasn't in the mood to watch this one and was thinking of picking it up later... but my main draw was Kim Jae Yeong.
Well contrary to what I had planned, I'm not gonna bother then. Slice of Life is not really my cup of tea most of the time but if Kim Jae Yeong is only here for some 10 seconds cameo per episode, it's not worth my time.
The couple is really cute together... BUTTTTTT the kisses are all fake. It's all camera angles and mouth moving in the emptiness even when it's supposed to be passionate. Not enough to remove most of the cuteness but given how everybody was saying there's lots of kisses, I was expecting REAL kisses and not the usual C drama fake kisses.
Can't have everything I guess. I can see Cheng Jing Ke is really trying but the actress clearly doesn't want to do the job.
I think they should add a clause for "real kisses" in actors' contracts.
When I first started to watch C dramas, I thought it was because of censorship they couldn't have passionate kisses on screen... BUT THEN, I saw Bai Lu in "Love is Sweet" and "Till the End of the Moon"... Also saw some kiss scenes from "Story of Kunning Palace" which I've yet to watch... And guys... This is what REAL KISSES look like.
Now, I'm not expecting that level of dedication from all actors to be clear... But there's a minimum that's not there. Like in Legend of the Female General, it was pretty tame, but you could see the actors weren't faking it even if they weren't "eating each other out".
It's a pet peeve of mine... Takes me out of the scene every single time when actors are obviously faking it.
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2025: Worse year in K dramaland since forever. I stand by what I say. Squid Game was a major success, it made K dramas known globally... and now American money is ruining the industry. By trying to appeal to a Western audience instead of focusing on their strengths, they're literally ruining the genre.
More my type as well... But as you can see... None of them have acted a lot or at all in costume dramas... and my guess is it's because of that weight issue.
In martial art shows were the cast is male centric and romance is not the main focus, their built is probably not a problem, quite the contrary, but as soon as the romance tag is there... directors tend to prefer leaner built.
Song Wei Long and Zhang Ling He typical look like the type of people who need to starve themselves to look the way they do. I'd argue they're more the same built as Chen Jin Ke for instance.
It's always complicated to see if the actors' weight fit their physique with all the makeup and filters they use onscreen. Starving yourself never makes you look good, but you can conceal quite a lot with the right filters, makeup and light...
That also refers to actresses. When you're too slim, it ages one's face but again, TV magic erases creases and early wrinkles.
But back to the main topic, some people are just naturally slim, even if they build up some muscles, unless they remove their T-shirt, they'll always appear pretty skinny. Bai Jing Ting is that type.
Course he's not a sporty guy, but even if he did buff up, I'd argue he'd still look skinny.
Directors choose actors also on popularity but sometimes I wish they took into consideration the built of their actors.
Like in SK, most actors and actresses are naturally taller and more muscular than in China... But you still see some actors such as Choi Woo Shik who are pretty lean. Has he ever been cast in a sageuk where he has to play a tough general or in some action role where he beats up people?
Nope, because he just doesn't have the built, and that's ok. There's plenty of other roles he can act that don't mind his skinnier built.
But in China? It's hit or miss.
I don't have lots of problems with that in wuxias because it's fantasy and they have super powers so whatev'...
But whenever I'm watching a Historical, I'm struggling because there's no super powers and if you look like you're gonna fly away with the next gust of wind, how am I supposed to believe you're able to walk for days in an armor weighting at least 10kg if not more and swinging a sword just as heavy for hours on end, days after days on a battlefield?
I've learned to look the other way... Sometimes it works... Some times it just doesn't.
Take me for instance I'm 158cm (around 5.2ft). Small but thick bones and naturally pretty muscular.
Every time I have to buy some drug at the drugstore, I get comment from the clerk reminding me that this or that drug must only be taken if you're above 50kg (around 110lbs)... One time I even had a clerk who didn't believe me and insisted to check my weight at the counter 😡
Except... I actually weigh around 60kg (132 lbs).
Been like that my whole life literally. One time, I had some personal issues, went down to 47 kg (103.5 lbs), everybody was commenting about how I looked like death itself and I should go to the hospital, when in fact this is a pretty normal weight for most people my height or even taller. But for me? Indeed that was too skinny. My face looked liked some cranium out of a horror movie.
If I was slimmer, I'd probably look skinnier than most people at the same weight... But conversely you also see people who are the opposite.
In real life that's not necessarily an issue, but if your job is acting and looking good is part of "the contract"... that can really be a problem if even at a healthy slim weight, you look "fatter" than you truly are.
This being said I get your comment. I watched Blossom and the main actor was supposed to be this seasoned warrior but he looked so skinny I just couldn't buy that he was this incredible general or whatever. Didn't fit physique of the role. On the contrary with Prisoner of beauty, the ML looked buffer, so he was more believable as a general.
These weight differences is mostly visible for men... not much for women though. They all have to be skinny period... When for men, some actors have gone to build some muscles and it makes them look way better so there's that.
Personally I like athetic men so as long as there's some muscles, the built doesn't necessarily matter. I've decideced to marry virtually with Cheng Lei. You can keep Arthur Chen 😎
Now I'm not too sure...
So could somebody who has watched it tell me if in spite of her waking up from some weird dreams, she still gets with the ML in the end?
Thank you in advance!
came Squid Game in 2021 and for me that was the game changer.
The US started to see that people were interested and they started to throw in their money and K dramas have been losing what made them so great in the first place. I'm not saying they ALL have turned bad... But honestly there's way less shows, and most of them suck. You really need to filter "the trash" so to speak...
MDL speaks for itself... There used to be a time when seeing 15000 to 20000 viewers per airing K dramas was common and the most popular shows would go up to almost 30000 sometimes even more. But now? the most popular shows struggle to reach 20000. About half the viewers have moved to C dramas. Couple of years ago, there was no C dramas that aired that would even get 10000... The average for the most popular shows were around 5000. Now look at the front page...
It's not that their numbers aren't good, sometimes you even get some surprises ( for instance Lovely Runner and When the Phone Rings last year). But it's definitely dwindling months after months while the number of C drama watchers is rising. There's a trend there.
Some Chinese dramas features tropes that I used to see in these early K dramas. Yes it was clichés BUT addictive. For instance they no longer do melos like "Save the Last Dance for Me" or "Secret" these days... WHY OH WHY?
Sorry. I'm just very sad... I started to learn Korean years ago because of my love for K dramas ( I don't care about K pop AT ALL) and now they're going to sh**.
"China takes entertainment very seriously. I remember when they said that male actors were too feminine and that it was a bad image for young men. Not sure how actors are getting around that one because they look like they could eat some sandwitches!"
That comment made me laugh ^^ I read that as well... But err...
For the weight though, I read that it's more a matter of costume dramas having layers after layers of clothes and if the actors are "too fat" it doesn't look good.
Sad to say... But when I read that, I thought it was ridiculous... Then I watched a historical K drama where the FL wasnt wearing the classical hanbok but some kind of common grab with several layers of clothes on top of the others....
She looked fat. I knew, she was at a healthy weight... Still pretty slim but she still looked fat... I thought to myself they should have changed her clothes because it wasn't like this drama was going for historical accuracy in the first place...
And I know it's shallow of me but really it just didn't look good. That's when I understood why all Chinese actors and actresses that act in these historicals all look like walking skeletons once you remove all these layers of clothes. It's not like they have a choice, because we all know, viewers are gonna comment if it looks bad and fat shaming is pretty much a thing there so...
Anyway, these actors are still very handsome and manly enough for me so maybe it's more the make-up for idol singers? They know if they start to put "manly men" according to men's standard in their shows, they're gonna lose a substantial part of their audience.
Most women love men with some feminine traits, that's not something specific to Asia. I mean Silvester Stallone or Bruce Willis were popular actors for action movies but they were never cast in Rom coms.
Sorry for what happened to you when you did some red tape. Sadly an experience shared by all of us regardless of the country I'm afraid.
Isn't it the drama "Fall in You" ? I haven't watched it, but I know I've seen that title somewhere when I was looking up the name of the actor playing the ML.
Well that's the title I'm thinking about given what you wrote and it's a 2025 Web drama so.................... But the summary on MDL doesn't hint at some SF plot.
Anyway, basically you're telling me it's all a matter of connections and all these rules don't mean anything. It's EVEN MORE ANNOYING!!!
Like again. I dont' think that censorship is always bad. Personally I hate shows which are overly graphic or sexualized. I gave up on Western shows for that, and now my beloved K dramas are being Americanized with graphic violence that just didn't exist 10 years ago.
Which leads to me watching more and more C dramas and less and less K dramas...
But this is one instance where I just can't understand the point of it. I read somewhere that it was because there was a wave of suicides of young people wanting to reincarnate or whatnot. But for me that's BS.
Otherwise WHY not all young people in Asia aren't committing suicide given how many Asians believe in it huh?
I think it's much more political.
China's been cracking down on religions and reincarnation is one of the core concept of Buddhism. Dalai Lama, Tibet...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antireligious_campaigns_in_China
You get what I mean...
BUT THESE ARE DRAMAS! D.R.A.M.A.S
Fudging ship!
This being said in the same comment I mentionned。 I talked about the C drama RESET. This one is set in modern times and the heart of the plot is the main leads dying repeatedly and going back repeatedly in the past to try to prevent their death...
Here, the whole plot is literally about time travel and there was no "they woke up from a coma" or "it was a novel all along" or whatever BS.
Makes you wonder exactly how exactly these rules work.
Legend of the Female General and The Double have completely erased the reincarnation plot device... Story wise, it actually made both dramas more satisfying on lots of aspects and the angst much more intense. 'Course they had to adjust the plot but the core was not changed which is the most important thing.
In the case of this particular drama... I think it would have been better to do like in the drama "Blossom".
Basically, start the drama with some common incident involving the FL in high school who is in love with the SML and the ML. Let's say, truck of doom, whatever. Anyway, they both fall into a coma... They dream of the future and basically we see what has been introduced in the first episode.
It would have worked easily since we only see one episode in the beginning explaining to us what happened in their lives anyway so no big deal.
Now they wake up in the present with the memory of their dream ( which can pop up occasionally in the story) and therefore change the trajectory of their lives.
Way better in my opinion and much more satisfying for viewers.
'Course we wouldn't get the useless break-up that happened at some point but I doubt anybody would complain about it.
I think some writers are just lazy, because again, it's not that complicated to get past the censorshit and do something a little more creative to bypass this problem.
Like in the Double, for me it's the best example of how to deal with Censorshit and give to viewers something that is SO MUCH MORE SATISFYING than what was originally written in the novel.
Anyway, I understand the rating backlash on that one... Though I think it's unfair to the show because apart from that, honestly, it's a cute rom'com.
I've been avoiding the comment section to avoid being spoiled but I need to ask:
In which episode does Shi Qian Lu finally die (hopefully in excruciating pain)?
I'm sick and tired of this character, I just need to know when he'll stop parading around and spreading lies everywhere. Btw, I mean his REAL death, not fakeout death.
I don't want the details of what happens to him. Just the episode (I'm behind Viki releases so needless to say, compared to others watching on Youku I'm WAY behind).
Thank you in advance!
Now every any drama that has 16 episodes usually contains 8 episodes of meandering nonsense going nowhere with repetitive and flat stories so most dramas have been shortened to 12 episodes to hide how empty, uninspired and flavorless K dramas have become but shouldn't they add some limits to that dwindling episodes count?
Keep on going on like this, and "K dramas" are gonna turn into 1 episode shows.
Well contrary to what I had planned, I'm not gonna bother then. Slice of Life is not really my cup of tea most of the time but if Kim Jae Yeong is only here for some 10 seconds cameo per episode, it's not worth my time.
Not enough to remove most of the cuteness but given how everybody was saying there's lots of kisses, I was expecting REAL kisses and not the usual C drama fake kisses.
Can't have everything I guess. I can see Cheng Jing Ke is really trying but the actress clearly doesn't want to do the job.
I think they should add a clause for "real kisses" in actors' contracts.
When I first started to watch C dramas, I thought it was because of censorship they couldn't have passionate kisses on screen... BUT THEN, I saw Bai Lu in "Love is Sweet" and "Till the End of the Moon"... Also saw some kiss scenes from "Story of Kunning Palace" which I've yet to watch... And guys... This is what REAL KISSES look like.
Now, I'm not expecting that level of dedication from all actors to be clear... But there's a minimum that's not there. Like in Legend of the Female General, it was pretty tame, but you could see the actors weren't faking it even if they weren't "eating each other out".
It's a pet peeve of mine... Takes me out of the scene every single time when actors are obviously faking it.