SkyLivesForDrama

Watching episode 1 and the FL is extremely annoying. She suspects the ML for no reason (anyone who comes across him in that situation would be somewhat open minded to find out what actually happened).
When does her character improve? Not sure how much of this cattiness i can take although i am a fan of hate to love stories.

I liked the Korean version more so I hope you enjoy it too!

I was wandering the same after watching the trailer. The plot is the same and the vibe feels more like the Thai version of 'I need romance' raher than the k version, still the same. Surprised there are no comments about it.

Fairly certain that hiring someone of Joy's caliber/idol popularity level isn't cheap. In fact ML in Cha Cha Cha wasn't even on top of ad revenue charts before the drama. Completely get where you are going with the cashing in on popularity thing..but just my two cents on the budget comment.

The straight bangs that showed up occasionally were hilarious! You could clearly see it was a clip on.

Yup!
And I'll be honest, I've set aside the ick factor and tell my brain to not pay attention to it when the rest of the drama is just too good. Like Goblin! Her being 19-20 when she begins a romance with an immortal being who even looks much older in real life really turned me off. But! Gosh, the bromance, the acting, and OST, and the story kept me going so I tried to ignore the age. Somehow couldn't do that with this drama. Kept thinking 'step siblings..step siblings ' when they were on screen.

Yup I agree. The ick factor in sibling romance isn't always about the genetics or the risk of genetic issues in future kids. It is just a moral or ethical issue for me. How can someone not control their attraction to a sibling? How is someone attracted to a sibling in the first place? Ok fine you fall for them before you become step siblings...are feelings truly so uncontrollable that you can't say "she is my sibling now, I will not lust after her"?
People in dramas either have zero self control or zero moral code.

Exactly what I tried saying when I first watched this.
Even if the kid abroad doesn't attend the wedding, the kid living with parents in China would definitely know about their step sibling. Parents always have photos around the house or more importantly - on profile pics , memories, 'moments', etc on social media. As you said...HUGE suspension of disbelief that FL lives at home and has seen zero pics of step sibling.

Thank you for putting into words all my frustrations with the drama! From the beginning it seems like a fluff drama that just cares for the romance. It puts the leads together in cute scenes and manipulates everything around to just suit it whether it makes sense or not. Very surprised by how popular it is

Exactly how I felt! It is a wonderful starter drama for young folks new to the drama world but nothing spectacular like the reviews imply.

All valid points 🤗

I'll have to stick to my personal opinion that this drama is a little more cliched and unrealistic than most youth dramas which are similarly highly rated. Sure, they are supposed to be immature as kids but this is pushing reality too far.

I completely get that you love this show and feel passionately that my critique or personal thoughts aren't right. But this isn't about right or wrong - just opinions. I happen to love dramas which others will passionately hate and even say terrible. That's the good thing about dramas! There is something out there for everyone.

The scores/reality of how much it matters may have become too much of a tangent. I was just sharing an example of one of the many many things that jarred me out of the happy world dramas usually take us into. Again..it is all very personal.

Thanks for the lovely discourse today!

We will have to agree to disagree on that since I got into the coaching center I did based on 9th scores and wouldn't have had that special coaching if I didn't do well in 9th or 11th.
In any case..again..what I was trying to show is that to me it seemed unbelievable he would do something like that. It made me want to shake th leads and say "love isn't everything in life. Be practical".
But then with dramas it never is practical stuff over the heart. So I guess I'll just have to ignore these, turn my brain off, and enjoy.

It could also be because of where we are in life. You are 20ish(just finishing college) whereas I am much older and have been watching east asian dramas since well over a decade. Age and amount of dramas watched changes your perspective a lot.
🤗

Class 9 onwards makes a huge difference in Asia!! You won't get into the best coaching for entrance exams unless you score well. We all had to put a stop to extra curriculars no matter how good we were at it. All you focus on is studies and every exam matters. But, I digress. Just something that pulled me out of the show and had reality intrude. But it's a cute rom fluff and we shall enjoy it for what it is!
🤗

Oh, I am not denying any of the ultimate feelings. I am not saying the characters were unlikeable and why would they fall in love? My issue personally is with the suddenness of it all. I am Asian. I grew up in an environment that they show..scores and rank is everything. I or people I know in real life would never crush so hard that you'd sacrifice semester final exam scores!!
Again, just a personal opinion on how fast they seemed to be so dedicated to each other. No judgement on quality of rest of the show. Maybe for me with my background I was just screaming internally at ML "your scores! Your rank! Your life!" 🤣

By ep 3 itself you see the ML clearly likes the FL. My ep4-5 he likes her so much he sacrifices his scores for her. FL is also clearly crushing hard in that same time. But why?
They are just getting to know each other. Yes, they are good looking but I didn't see a clear transition from friends to like to love. Was it something the ML said or did that made FL notice him as more than a friend? What special trait does FL have other than being cutesy that the ML fell for her?
In other words, I feel personally there isn't as much of a character development to explain the romantic feelings.
This is different in dramas like 'a love so beautiful ' where they grow up together and the show starts with the plot saying - ok, she already loves him. So the show doesn't need to show the process of falling in love.
But here, leads knew each other very very little as kids. Meet each other as teenagers. Spend a couple of days together and already are majorly crushing on each other enough to sacrifice stuff in life?
At least they are teenagers so I guess you could explain it away as just an innocent crush and stupid decision making when riddled with hormones?

TLDR: to me personally the show doesn't make it clear *why* the leads like each other.

I've been noticing this trend recently with dramas being hyped up like crazy because of one of two good elements. C dramas are being churned out at a crazy pace with the same old plot recycled with minor changes. And if the leads click, and if there is enough fluff, the drama is hyped.
I agree with you - this isn't the best youth drama out there at all. It is super cute. It is well done. The leads are great together. They both are visually appealing. The backdrop of where they grow up is beautiful. But, it is filled with cliches with not a single original plot point. So it is just a really really good filler drama.

This is a super cute fluffy drama and definitely worth a watch for younger drama viewers, especially teens.
What bothers me most is that this is one of those "leads love each other because they are leads" kind of show. I wish the leads stated true friends (none of the secret glances and obvious crush like behavior very very early on). If they had gotten to know each other before the special treatment began, it is more believable that they fell for each other because of who they are. This just seems like "bang! You guys like each other, now let the fluff begin".

To me in certain angles she looks older than ML. Also wish they had given her regular bangs instead of those side things which stay in the same position forever.

This is a decent drama to watch when there is nothing else. Lower your expectations, be ready for typical c drama cliches (filled with it!) but you get to enjoy good leads acting.

Couple of things that annoyed me about the drama (despite trying to turn my brain off)-
(1) I couldn't believe that a fresh finance graduate with no experience would be out in charge of signing a key author on and then actually successfully edits his book!! People work for years to grow through the ranks and learn editing before being able to edit a major book.
(2) FL asks ML questions point blank at several points which would have moved the plot ahead. He point blank lies when answering. Even the tsundere excuse seems thin at that point.

I came here to add a comment about my thoughts but you covered everything!!

Extremely cliched c drama with the cohabitation and hate-love plot points. The FL is way over the top cute with a nasal dubbed voice. ML is typical tsundere. But! Enjoyable despite all that if you turn your brain off 😁