2
9
1
This review may contain spoilers
failure is not an option
The idea of being stuck in a time loop is not really a new concept, but how it's used is always fun to explore. In this series, two strangers gets trapped in a traumatizing loop and must work together to uncover information pertaining to their situation in order to escape. Time loop stories are usually characterized by repetitiveness, which has the potential to get annoying or boring after a while. However, I think the series does a great job with keeping me engaged. I was always kept intrigued and wanting more from start to finish. The characters are all interesting. It was also fun trying to figure things out along with the characters as information is dripped to us.
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● SHORT REVIEW
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[ --LIKES-- ]
✔ Very engaging. As new discoveries/information are revealed, we get get to slowly construct the solution to the puzzle along with the main characters to progress the plot.
✔ Lots of interesting supporting characters with depth to them.
✔ Lu "Castle Apostle" "Asthma Conquerer" "A person chosen by the light" Di was very cute. I just loved that he just accepted what our leads told him. Very open-minded. I wished he was utilized more.
✔ Plot was easy to follow along with. Sometimes with time-travel stories, there are a lot of layers that makes the story overly complex, confusing, convoluted, and hard to digest. This one, however, felt pretty straight-forward narratively.
✔ Seeing the same scenario over and over again, there is potential for things to feel quite repetitive and maybe it will for some, but it didn't for me. With each loop, behavior and interactions are changing. We see and learn new things, which keeps the story fresh and interesting.
✔ There is a lot of depth to the storytelling. Lots of emotional and heartfelt backstories and moment. There are topics and themes related to ethics, morals, family, kindness, and other aspects of human nature. There are lessons about not judging people and the consequences of our actions and inactions. Overall, I thought the series was very thought-provoking.
[ --DISLIKES-- ]
✖ I felt that we learned a lot more about many of the supporting characters than we learned about about female lead Shiqing. While the connection she had as a student was important, being a student is the only thing I really know about her life.
✖ I think even the male lead's backstory could have benefited from a bit more development as well. They did introduce this idea of him being a game developer working on a violent game, but it never really went anywhere more than just to show some of his character development later on regarding his stance on not making the game so violent. I would have liked to learn more about that game or have it play a larger role in the story.
-------------------------------------------
● IN-DEPTH REVIEW
-------------------------------------------
[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]
The way the plot unravels is very similar to playing a video game. Every time you fail the mission or objective, you have to restart from the last save point and try again. There are two main objectives for our two main protagonists, excluding some side missions. The first is investigating the passengers on the bus to figure out the cause and motive of the explosion. The second goal is to use the knowledge they've obtained about the people on board to figure out the right course of actions to prevent a tragedy from happening.
The series reinforces the idea that every stranger has a story. A lot of characters have a life and a story of their own that we explore. While they're strangers to each other on the bus, but they are not just nameless roles or extras. The plot makes us want to know about them, and as we learn their stories, we begin to care and sympathize with them. Some passengers are explored in greater depth than others, but everyone in the bus played a role, regardless of how big or small.
The passengers aren't the only significant characters, though. The cops also play an important part in the unfolding of the story. As annoying as they may be for our main characters, the cops are also pretty competent. At least, the ones in command are. I'm talking about Captain Zhang and Chief Du. Viewers will find both to be very observant, calm, and logical thinkers as oppose to the younger Detective Jiang, who is more hotheaded and often jump to conclusions. Apart from investigating the passengers, our two leads often use the cops as a source of information. They also try to help lead the cops in the right direction as they all ultimately have the same end goal.
Everything that our leads and the viewer learn about all these other supporting character is important. It gives us insight into their psychology and behavior, which is instrumental in finding the right sequence of interactions needed in order to stop the bus explosion, while also insuring everyone's safety. It's a study of each character's human nature. Not everything can be predicted, but that's why there are multiple loops. I felt invested in their success and was always wanting to see the next episode.
[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]
I think the cast did a great job with micro expressions and just the general emoting of emotions. It's not just our leads that were great, but all the supporting roles as well. I think a great example is Leon Li who plays Detective Jiang. Boy oh boy was his character annoying at first, but that's a testament to how well Leon portrayed him. I think the scenes that happen towards the end of the series after witnessing and learning of his mentor's death is where the acting of Jiang's character stood out the most to me. Other places where the acting stood out to me was Mengmeng's parents and how their grief descended them into a place of irrationality. And then there was also a lot of scenes of characters seeming sus outwardly but are really wholesome characters once we learn about them. There are lots of great emotional acting skills. Everyone was amazing.
[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]
The series has three OSTs. "If Only", "Rebound", and "Wake Up". Honestly though, they were all just okay and not really that memorable for me. They weren't bad. Did they fit the story? Yes. However, they didn't really stand out to me enough during any of the scenes as something I needed on any playlist.
[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]
I think I could easily rewatch this. The cool thing about time-travel based series is that there are often more details that can be caught when revisited. Plus all the characters and the development of those characters were very interesting to watch. While I can see the repetitive nature of the story getting less interesting on rewatch, I think it'd be cool to analyze some of the scenes more closely and/or see if I missed anything. I also binged through the series in a weekend on my first watch so I'd be nice to take more time with it later and process everything.
[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]
Every action has a reaction, and every inaction has a consequence. The series present a lot of topics and themes relating to human nature for viewers to think about. We also see how our experiences shape who we are and how we grow as a person. I think the Heyun is a great example of that. We explored the emotional and psychological weight on him after a traumatizing experience in one of the loops and how that affected him. There were many lessons that we can draw from "Reset" about working together, determination, not judging others, etc. It was very thoughtful. It was also very engaging. It was just a very fun and interesting series with great development for both the characters and the overall story.
-------------------------------------------
● NOTE
-------------------------------------------
I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.
♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥
-------------------------------------------
● SHORT REVIEW
-------------------------------------------
[ --LIKES-- ]
✔ Very engaging. As new discoveries/information are revealed, we get get to slowly construct the solution to the puzzle along with the main characters to progress the plot.
✔ Lots of interesting supporting characters with depth to them.
✔ Lu "Castle Apostle" "Asthma Conquerer" "A person chosen by the light" Di was very cute. I just loved that he just accepted what our leads told him. Very open-minded. I wished he was utilized more.
✔ Plot was easy to follow along with. Sometimes with time-travel stories, there are a lot of layers that makes the story overly complex, confusing, convoluted, and hard to digest. This one, however, felt pretty straight-forward narratively.
✔ Seeing the same scenario over and over again, there is potential for things to feel quite repetitive and maybe it will for some, but it didn't for me. With each loop, behavior and interactions are changing. We see and learn new things, which keeps the story fresh and interesting.
✔ There is a lot of depth to the storytelling. Lots of emotional and heartfelt backstories and moment. There are topics and themes related to ethics, morals, family, kindness, and other aspects of human nature. There are lessons about not judging people and the consequences of our actions and inactions. Overall, I thought the series was very thought-provoking.
[ --DISLIKES-- ]
✖ I felt that we learned a lot more about many of the supporting characters than we learned about about female lead Shiqing. While the connection she had as a student was important, being a student is the only thing I really know about her life.
✖ I think even the male lead's backstory could have benefited from a bit more development as well. They did introduce this idea of him being a game developer working on a violent game, but it never really went anywhere more than just to show some of his character development later on regarding his stance on not making the game so violent. I would have liked to learn more about that game or have it play a larger role in the story.
-------------------------------------------
● IN-DEPTH REVIEW
-------------------------------------------
[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]
The way the plot unravels is very similar to playing a video game. Every time you fail the mission or objective, you have to restart from the last save point and try again. There are two main objectives for our two main protagonists, excluding some side missions. The first is investigating the passengers on the bus to figure out the cause and motive of the explosion. The second goal is to use the knowledge they've obtained about the people on board to figure out the right course of actions to prevent a tragedy from happening.
The series reinforces the idea that every stranger has a story. A lot of characters have a life and a story of their own that we explore. While they're strangers to each other on the bus, but they are not just nameless roles or extras. The plot makes us want to know about them, and as we learn their stories, we begin to care and sympathize with them. Some passengers are explored in greater depth than others, but everyone in the bus played a role, regardless of how big or small.
The passengers aren't the only significant characters, though. The cops also play an important part in the unfolding of the story. As annoying as they may be for our main characters, the cops are also pretty competent. At least, the ones in command are. I'm talking about Captain Zhang and Chief Du. Viewers will find both to be very observant, calm, and logical thinkers as oppose to the younger Detective Jiang, who is more hotheaded and often jump to conclusions. Apart from investigating the passengers, our two leads often use the cops as a source of information. They also try to help lead the cops in the right direction as they all ultimately have the same end goal.
Everything that our leads and the viewer learn about all these other supporting character is important. It gives us insight into their psychology and behavior, which is instrumental in finding the right sequence of interactions needed in order to stop the bus explosion, while also insuring everyone's safety. It's a study of each character's human nature. Not everything can be predicted, but that's why there are multiple loops. I felt invested in their success and was always wanting to see the next episode.
[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]
I think the cast did a great job with micro expressions and just the general emoting of emotions. It's not just our leads that were great, but all the supporting roles as well. I think a great example is Leon Li who plays Detective Jiang. Boy oh boy was his character annoying at first, but that's a testament to how well Leon portrayed him. I think the scenes that happen towards the end of the series after witnessing and learning of his mentor's death is where the acting of Jiang's character stood out the most to me. Other places where the acting stood out to me was Mengmeng's parents and how their grief descended them into a place of irrationality. And then there was also a lot of scenes of characters seeming sus outwardly but are really wholesome characters once we learn about them. There are lots of great emotional acting skills. Everyone was amazing.
[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]
The series has three OSTs. "If Only", "Rebound", and "Wake Up". Honestly though, they were all just okay and not really that memorable for me. They weren't bad. Did they fit the story? Yes. However, they didn't really stand out to me enough during any of the scenes as something I needed on any playlist.
[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]
I think I could easily rewatch this. The cool thing about time-travel based series is that there are often more details that can be caught when revisited. Plus all the characters and the development of those characters were very interesting to watch. While I can see the repetitive nature of the story getting less interesting on rewatch, I think it'd be cool to analyze some of the scenes more closely and/or see if I missed anything. I also binged through the series in a weekend on my first watch so I'd be nice to take more time with it later and process everything.
[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]
Every action has a reaction, and every inaction has a consequence. The series present a lot of topics and themes relating to human nature for viewers to think about. We also see how our experiences shape who we are and how we grow as a person. I think the Heyun is a great example of that. We explored the emotional and psychological weight on him after a traumatizing experience in one of the loops and how that affected him. There were many lessons that we can draw from "Reset" about working together, determination, not judging others, etc. It was very thoughtful. It was also very engaging. It was just a very fun and interesting series with great development for both the characters and the overall story.
-------------------------------------------
● NOTE
-------------------------------------------
I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.
♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥
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