I finished it yesterday, but was curious your PoV. The final 5th loop imho was not predictable at all. About romance... it was a few mintes, just let it be ;)
Mandarin and Cantonese. It's as different as Mandarin and Japanese. I am fluent in mandarin but i have no idea…
it's just a different language :) a lot od people gets cantonese as a mandarin dialect and it's a missunderstanding ;) a few similar words or pharases don't make languages the same :D