Taz_X

Amazing Acting

This is the first Thai drama I've completed and I have to say that it's unlike any Crdama, Kdrama or Taiwanese drama I've ever seen. If anything, the way the plot unfolds and goes throughout the drama reminds me of Mexican Telenovela's (only much shorter), the key aspects of the drama being the misunderstandings that could have easily been solved had any of the characters ever spoke the truth or bothered to listen to the truth. (Edit: I realise now that this is not new for Thai dramas, in fact it is a common plot device).

One of the best thing about this drama was the acting. Especially Yaya's portrayed of the female lead; you can really see her emotions through her eyes, when she's being cold and when she's being warm. The FL's storyline had me in tears and whenever the FL would recall anything about her family life, I could litterally feel the pain in her eyes. I have never been so emotional about a character in any drama before. I didn't even feel bad for the ML when he lost his fiance or any of the secondary characters, all of whom had their own drama to deal with, but I sympathised with the FL throughout. I could skip the scenes with any other charecter, but not the FL's scenes or storyline, she had me hooked.

The drama starts off with the FL being portrayed as a 'bad' person, when truly the only antagonist was the ML's sister throughout the drama. But I loved the FL's character so much: a women who could stand on her own, make her own success and livelihood, and could not care less what others thought of her.

I didn't really like the other charecters so much, I loved all of the FL's friends including her manager. Their relationship was so sweet.

The secondary couple had a very toxic relationship that I didn't like for a lot of the drama. But the main couple was the definition of a 'slow burn romance'. It was really slow, but it was also very genuine, the build up was the best part of the drama.

The ending was definitely not as good as I wanted it to be, especially the action aspect. I wanted less romance and more action at the end, especially for a drama that really focused itself on the action aspect for the main couple for the majority of the drama. I had to skim through the last episode of the drama because there was way too much romance and nothing else.

Overall, the acting of all the characters in this drama was really good, and not cringe (until the last episode). This is definitely a show I'd recommend to anyone who is a fan of a LOT of drama, anyone who liked telenovela's, but not really anyone whose a Cdrama, Taiwanese drama or Kdrama fan, it doesn't really fit the vibe.

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LOVED The Main Characters

I really liked the plot of this drama. It wasn't a very serious plot which is very different from what I usually watch, even for a youth drama. But the characters were what made this show so good. Even the characters that you dislike would grow on you and the plot wasn't serious enough for you to actually hate anyone. If you want to watch something light and sweet, then this is it.

My favourite character throughout this drama was the FL. This is the first time in any drama that I actually loved the female lead throughout no matter what she did. Her character was also relatable, so even if she ever did do anything absurd, it was justifiable. This isn't a spoiler but, everyone knew that the FL had a crush on the ML and that she really liked him, and I loved the fact that it wasn't a secret at any point. The FL was always upfront about her feelings and was loyal to them, but she didn't let her emotions get in her way of anything.

The ML is a whole other story. I loved his character especially at first. For the first 10 episodes I loved him and even understood him for most of it. But he was the exact opposite of the FL when it comes to expressing his feelings. After 10 episodes I got really annoyed at him for not expressing himself despite the fact that he had no fear of being rejected. There is one thing I especially LOVED about him though, his dark side, which reminded me a lot of the ML in Cheese in the trap (Kdrama). The ML in this drama was always really good to the FL don't get me wrong, but when someone hurts someone he loves, he will go PSYCHO on them.

I also loved SML all throughout this drama. He was the funniest character on this show and the situations he always ends up in is hilarious. He was exactly the charecter the ML and FL needed in their lives. He is similar to the FL in many ways and had the one thing the ML lacked, courage, to express himself and believe his own emotions. Despite there being a love triangle, it didn't stop a really good friendship from forming between the three characters as well as the SFL later in the story.

I hated the SFL at first, but her characteristics at first made sense. A careless rich girl who knew nothing about the real world. But she grew and became one of my favourite SFL's in any drama. She completed the friendship group and was also similar to the FL. Unlike the FL, the SFL didn't use her muscles to fight, she used her voice and her connections, and when she takes people down without a punch, it's so much more satisfying.

I loved the family element of this show. I mean the parent REALLY knew who to set their kids up with because their matchmaking skills were PERFECT, for both the main lead and second lead couples. The characters were all destined for each other and I love how both the main leads family shipped the ML and FL before they were even born. They weren't forced to be together or anything, the parents said that they knew that their kids were destined for each other, and they let destiny take its course.

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I LOVED everything about this drama, all the characters and character development

Watched this whilst it was ongoing, thought I'd write the review now despite it being almost year since I started the drama. It was a very memorable drama.

I haven't read the webtoon and I never will (I've read parts of it online). But, from what I heard, the webtoon isn't very good mostly because it lacks character development, something this drama did not have an issue with. Do not come into this drama expecting it to be like the webtoon.

I loved all the characters in this drama and I was actually able to understand them all (excluding Soo Jin). This drama deals with a lot of big issues such as suicide, bullying, depression, loss of a parent (2 actually) and abusive parents. It's also about following your dream. It's not just about romance, the drama doesn't start with romance (though it does have a lot of chemistry), it grows into romance in a not slow (but not fast) pace after delving into the friendship of all the characters. Despite the serious issues this drama deals, it is still a hilarious romcom and doesn't gloss over the trauma all of the characters had to deal with.

I found Ju Gyeong relatable in many ways. She was bullied at her school for the way she looked, despite what a great person she was. She was betrayed by her friends and she hated herself because of how people judged her solely based on her looks. Her parents didn't understand her or even attempt to (until the end), and out of all her siblings, she was the least academically smart (and least good looking) and was often overlooked by her family. She made herself "beautiful" using makeup as her shield to protect herself from people bullying her at her new school. She had a lot of trust issues and didn't think that people will ever like her if they knew how she really looked. I loved that the drama delved into this a lot and had her finally accept herself and be okay with people knowing what she looked like without makeup, it stopped being her lifeline.

I loved Su Ho and Seo Jun. Despite having a little bit of a second lead syndrome, I loved that Ju Gyeong ended up with Su Ho though. Su Ho and Seo Jun both lost there best friend which caused there friendship to break up. They were the best of friends, they were so good together both when they hated each other and when they loved each other (a lot of people ship them). They both lost a parent, but whilst Seo Jun was really close to his mother, Su Ho hated his father and wasn't close to anyone. He was the most lonely character in this drama which is why it was perfect that he and Ju Gyeong ended up together, whilst also maintaining an amazing friendship with Seo Jun,

I LOVED the second lead couple. They were the perfect role reversal couple. I loved their screen time and I loved that they didn't take all the screen time (like the second lead couple in Reply 1988), despite the drama showing their relationship from the very start to their marriage at the very end.

I liked Soo Jin at the start, a lot. But there was always something dodgy about her and you could see it. She later became the character I hated most and I didn't think she would be redeemable at all. I wasn't expecting to ever like her again, but at the end I started to love her and you could really see her character development through her expressions alone. Park Soo Na did an amazing job portraying Soo Jin, you could really see the darkness behind her eyes when she was facing a lot of abuse from her family and when she was no longer "good" and became Ju Gyeong's bully. The one thing I couldn't understand about her is how she could so easily betray such a loyal and sweet friend. Which is why I prefer Soo Ah and Ju Gyeong's relationship, the only friendship where Ju Gyeong wasn't betrayed.

I loved the acting in this drama. Despite Cha Eun Woo being criticised for not showing any emotions in this drama, it was his role to play the "cold' character and he did show a lot of emotions as did all the other main leads. All the main leads had at least one really emotional breakdown and I loved how Moon Ga Young portrayed her character, the most emotionally revealing and yet reserved, main character.

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I LOVED the villain more than anyone else

Hooked since the first episode. I already knew who the villain was before starting this drama (wish I didn't), but it was such a good twist.

Starting with the lead this drama is named after, Vincenzo: I love anti-hero leads, and Vincenzo is a vigilante, who classifies as an anti-hero lead, but I didn't love him half as much as I loved the villain. Vincenzo gave me the same vibes as the ML from Lawless Lawyers, but he was much more... elegant and lawless, but also kind of boring. Though he is technically not a 'hero', I thought I'd like him more than the SML, but I was wrong. I don't speak or understand Italian, I've watched few Italian dramas, and I think Song Joong Ki did an amazing job with the Italian. He really pulled off the whole Italian Mafia background storyline.

Hong Cha Young is now one of my favourite FL's in a K/Cdrama. She was a strong FL, who also pulled off being adorable, without being in the least bit annoying. It's hard finding a FL in a Kdrama, and especially Cdramas, that can pull off even one, not to mention both, without being annoying. I loved how crazy she was, not the revenge aspect, but her "acting", bad sense of direction and random skipping, singing and dancing. One of my favourite things was her friendship with Jang Jun Woo, wish they were closer at the start.

Jang Jun Woo was my FAVOURITE character in this drama, who STOLE the ENTIRE show. I also loved Ok Taec Yeon's American accent whenever he spoke English and sometimes even in his Korean. Knowing he was the bad guy prior to the reveal, and actually seeing it, was so much better then I expected. I loved him as an Cha Young's intern/only friend. Their friendship was adorable and hilarious. Ok Taec Yeon did such an amazing job portraying such different personalities, his eyes really showed the psychopath in Jun Woo. I know he's a psychopath, but it seemed like he was also bipolar. His relationship with Cha Young was so different to that with his own brother. He also seemed to enjoy being shouted at and essentially being harassed by his 'boss' and especially Cha Young. But, he will also kill you or bite off your ear if you shout at him or mock him. His reveal to his 'bosses' was really well executed, we actually got to see him flip the switch from a 'stuttering' intern who doesn't mind being ordered about, and the psychotic BOSS who will kill you, preferrably with a hockey stick, if you try to order him about:
"Nothing's a problem for me as long as I don't feel like shit".
I LOVED everything about him. He was such a GOOD, bad guy. He is why I rated this drama so high, because he was a 10/10.

This was my first drama with any of these three actors, and I LOVED them all, but mostly Ok Taec Yeon .

This drama got boring after around 15 episodes. I wanted Jun Woo's identity to be revealed to the other leads much later in the drama than when it was. It was also really anticlimactic. I was only able to finish this drama off for him, and I was rooting for him. His scenes were the most interesting, especially after the reveal.

Sadly, as expected, even a psychotic genius can't outsmart a mafia anti-hero ML.

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Almost PERFECT adaption of the novel with the BEST changes

Put off writing this review for a long time and had to cut it short otherwise I could go on for ages. I watched this drama ongoing and I was obsessed with this drama alone for months.
This drama was honestly better than I anticipated, and I had EXTREMELY high expectations for this drama

I waited over a year for this drama to release and in that time I read the novel at least 3 times. I loved everything about the novel, but there were several things I would have preferred to be different and the drama acknowledges and changed almost everything I wanted different in the novel to exactly how I wanted it. This was honestly such a good adaption, one of the main reasons I think this is because of all the changes they made from the novel, changes that not everyone liked which I respect, but I do genuinely think some of these changes were (or would be for non novel readers) more preferred by the majority of the audience than what the novel provided.

Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye played their roles really well. I knew from all the promotional pictures that they were perfect for their roles because their aura's matched their characters from the novel perfectly. I know there are several female general dramas out there, several that came out this year alone, but after watching most of them I feel like He Yan's story is very different because of the focus of her story. He Yan's story focuses on her becoming a general, that is her only goal, she succeeded once but her title was stolen so she spends majority of this story trying to regain not just any title, but her former title as General Feihong. The drama is very heavily focused on He Yan's goal, especially in the first half. Though it is a lot more focused on romance than the novel was, I liked this but I understand why a lot of people didn't like this change.

Here are some things I loved that they changed from the novel:

1. He Yan stays in her original body and is able to bring justice for herself, allowing her to reclaim her title as General Feihong the first female general, and allowing the world to know who she is.
(I understand this change could be due to censorship, but I also think they would have kept it as it was in this drama even without the censorship (like they did with The Untamed)).
I've seen a lot of people complain about how Zhou Ye didn't fit the role of He Yan because she doesn't have the body for a general. Zhou Ye fits the exact character description of He Yan from the novel, she does not however fit the character description of General Feihong. In the novel they are two different bodies, same soul, two bodies. I like how the drama justifies her lack of muscles due to the fact that she was seriously injured, in a coma and recovering for several months minimum. She was also always in armour as General Feihong, on horseback often, and probably wore shoes that made her seem taller so her body being different to General Feihong can easily be justified as well.

2. Xiao Jue and He Yan are closer before He Yan's 'death'. They share twin blades given to them by Xiao Jue's father, meaning He Yan knew and was close to Xiao Jue's father before his father's death.

3. Because they didn't do the reborn story if also meant we didn't have to see He Yan's husband from the novel. I think He Rufei and He Yan's father are bad enough as they are, and there are other villains to the story so his presence was not needed. This makes He Yan's story contain a lot less suffering, but it's not the kind of heartbreaking storyline I would have enjoyed watching. I genuinely despised her husband so much in the novel, a cheating and abusive pos who murders her. I'd rather it focus on He Yan and He Yan and Xiao Jue.

4. He Yan's sister does not exist in the drama. So no family drama, the family drama we do have between He Yan and her family is more political.

5. (SPOILER) Almost all of the side characters have a HEA (unlike the novel). No unnecessary deaths.

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This drama definitely grew on me, but I almost dropped it because of the FL at the start.

At first the FL really annoyed me, especially in the first episode. She was so bloody unprepared and ignorant, she seemed like she didn't even care for gaming at all but still wanted to be a commentator. I wanted to drop the drama altogether but I actually liked the ML throughout. Her character does grow. She becomes less ignorant and actually starts to do really well in her field because she starts gaming herself in order to understand it. What I loved most about her was that she didn't want to be part of any drama and ran away from it whenever she had the chance and I couldn't blame her.

I sort of started this drama for Wang Yibo, but mostly because I wanted to watch another drama like "Falling For Your Smile". This drama definitely has a LOT more complicated drama than the other show, but it still had the sweet slow burn romance and friendship between team mates. I didn't really like the storyline of the ML's ex girlfriend coming back, I never like those types of storylines and the ML have way to much credit to his ex.

I really liked the ML, he was a great friends, good teammate and a good gamer, but when it came to romance he wasn't really good at it. Whilst he was close friends with the FL and even when they started dating, he had a way to close of a relationship with his ex girlfriend, despite the fact that he genuinely didn't want to get back together with her. It made sense for the FL to make a run for it when she saw her boyfriend (the ML) tell his ex that he'll take care of her forever (due to an injury).

I like that the villain is of this drama were very real. They weren't necessarily bad people, all their actions that made them the "villain" was out of jealousy. But what I hated was that at the very end, they all somehow become good, after making the main leads go through hell, they are suddenly supportive of the leads and happy for them with no explanations.

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Loved the ML

This drama started of really good and I especially loved the relationship between the FL and ML (QY). The sci-fi aspect seemed almost irrelevant if it weren't for the fact that the FL was obsessed with finding her 'one' through the message the machine gave before her time travel. But then again the entire plot of the drama was about love litterally being better than immortality. Whilst the FL gave up her immortal life that litterally lacked human emotion to be with her perfect (most suitable/compatible) man, almost every other character in this drama were willing to sacrifice anything in order to gain immortality.

The entire plot of this drama was ironic.
All the "good" guys turned out to be the bad guys and the people that were labelled as "bad" were actually much better than those that thought themselves as good. And the "bad" guys never once labelled themselves as good people, and I loved that about them. They didn't care for labels whilst the "good" guys entire livelihoods seemed to be dependent on these labels.

QY is the ML but he may come of as the second lead for a lot of this drama. I loved that he was the ML, he was the best character in this drama and the most moral despite being described as "devil". His relationship with the FL was the only reason I was able to finish this drama off. The actors had so much chemistry I wish we had more scenes with them.

The FL and ML had a really strange relationship at first. Before the FL knew who she was (after being transported to the past in essentially a doppelganger's body) the ML made her believe they were sibling. But their relationship as "siblings" was the best relationship in this drama, and it was hilarious. The FL thought she had a perverted brother (because he always kissed her) but didn't once think that he might not be her brother. What was even better was watching them pretend to be siblings after the truth is revealed, the chemistry was off the charts. I loved it. Halfway through the drama I'd just skip to their scenes, I just loved the way he looked at the FL and how he treated her.

The SML and the FL had no chemistry. I hated the fact that the story went back and forth between the two guys. The plot started to drag halfway through because of all the useless back and forth. At some point even started to hate the FL for the way she treated the ML who was always by her side.

I was really satisfied with the ending. Would have been better if it was extended. I waited the entire show for that ending and I got it. I read that the book ending is better and longer.

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Short, Sweet and Simple

This is a straight up romance drama. It's short and goes straight to the point with no unnecessary drama. This also makes it quite boring, but I rated it so high because that is the genre of this drama, there is nothing more you can expect other than the sweet romance of three different couples. All the actors had amazing chemistry and all the couples were perfect for each other. Especially the main couple and the second lead couple (the best friends of the main leads).

I started this drama because I LOVED the FL in My Little Princess and the ML in Romance of the Tiger and Rose. I also really liked that the FL would be playing another rich female lead unlike the typical poor girl/rich guy concept. Both the main characters were rich and of the same status meaning that money or status is NEVER an issue to rise up in this drama. Same with the other couples in this drama.

Considering the fact that there are technically three main couples in this drama as well as side characters, it makes sense that this is a 24 episode drama, or else I'd say it's too long.

Unlike many dramas I've watched, there was nothing toxic about any of the couples in this drama. I hate it when a drama makes a couple who are toxic seem 'romantic' or 'sweet'. In this drama, when I say 'sweet', I mean SWEET. The main couple had such a non-toxic, sweet and trusting relationship, despite the fact when there were many occasions where easy misunderstandings or jealousy could occur due to the whole show biz aspect of the FL. The ML always trusted the FL and I love how the FL would always reassure the ML about any of the rumours about her that occured or would occur and is always considerate of his feelings. Same with the ML even before the two charecters grew to love each other.

All the relationships in this drama were so wholesome, which is the best aspect of this drama. Not to mention the family aspect and how both the FL and ML's family ship the two characters and set them up since they were kids.

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Hillariously Sweet Romance

This is by far the best Cdrama I've watched and the only one I've rated 10/10 so far. I'm not saying it was perfect, the ending should have definitely been longer. Other then that, the drama was essentially PERFECT and had a satisfying ending.

The drama was very consistent throughout. I was afraid that the comedy aspect would go down or completely go away as many Chinese, especially Chinese historical dramas tend to do. But it didn't. And the comedy was the BEST part of this drama, especially with the main leads and their servants/guards. No matter what the situation is, and no matter how serious the character may be (especially the ML), there is always some comedy. Not some cringeworthy jokes, but some genuinely stupid (or even serious) actions or over the top reactions that just really get to you. The misunderstandings were usually hilarious, it didn't usually lead to drama, it just led to some strange situations. And even when there is drama or some argument between the main leads, I wouldn't say it was serious because the retaliation always lead to hilariously embarrassing situations.

This is the one Cdrama (even Kdrama) were I didn't feel ANY second hand embarrassment at all. I hate the feeling of second hand embarrassment, but there wasn't any. The comedy was so well executed that you would not feel embarrassed for the characters, you'd just laugh along with everything.

One thing I loved about the FL is that she didn't straight up fall in love with the ML and forget that she's in a screenplay she wrote and is dreaming about. She, no matter what, never forget where she was and who she is (or is playing). I love that misunderstandings lead to the ML actually falling for the FL. Her actions of trying to save herself from the early death she wrote for her character lead to the ML slowly falling for her after he believes she has a crush on him.

I liked the pace of the story (just not the quick ending), and I loved how the FL slowly realises she actually likes ML. The story would have had to been a lot shorter if this took less time, either that, or their would have needed to be drama to separate the FL and ML.

This was a really good historical Chinese drama where I loved almost all the characters. The parents are surprisingly some of my favourite charecters, which is surprising for a historical Cdrama, but if just made it so much better, and I really LOVED the eldest sister, the two servants and the FL's mother was EVERYTHING.

Also (spoiler): Loved the Mulan reference. Love that Mulan is the ML's mother, making the whole concept of his Patriarchal city really ironic because his mother is the biggest badass of both city's.

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Loved the FL and ML

I LOVED this drama, my first Taiwanese drama and I don't think I'd ever find another Taiwanese (Kdrama or Cdrama) drama as good as this one. It's a mixture of: W - Two Worlds and Extraordinary You.
What I loved about this drama is that the "dream" world was in fact real, at least to the ML and FL. Unlike many other shows where the other reality is only real to just the ML or FL, here it was real to them both, which is the most important aspect of the story.

There are essentially two romance stories in this drama between the main characters:
1) Book (dream) World: The story of how the Xiao'en and Aoran (book name of He Tian Xing) fall in love.
2) Reality (awake) World: The (much shorter) story of Xiao'en and He Tian Xing falling in love

I loved both love stories, but they were both very different. You'll understand just how different the book world and real world stories are when they collide and litterally break apart at episode 15. I preferred the real world Tian Xing over his book world counterpart. He was better in litterally every aspect and I wish we got to see more of him. Tian Xing himself said that he didn't like the person he was in the book world. I wish we had more episodes in the real world rather than the book world. There was also a lot more action and subplots in the real world story that I wanted the FL and ML to experience more of. Other than that, the story was PERFECT. I did have to skip some parts of the drama because the FL really made me cringe sometimes.

Another thing I have to mention is the CHEMISTRY between the FL and ML. It was SOOO good. I really want to see another drama with Vivian and Marcus as the main leads. I mean even before the two charecters met, you could see the chemistry. And when they were together, even when the characters hated each other, the chemistry was EVERYTHING.

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