sarafilleSD

Couldn't get through Maiden Holmes or General's Lady. In the former, I liked the ML but the romance was developing too slow for me & in the latter, the chemistry was great & the ML was so pretty but the FL annoyed the %$#@ out of me. Loved all the other ones on this list, so here are a couple extra in this vein:

Love & the Emperor
Princess at Large
Qing Luo
The Wolf Princess
Unique Lady S1&2
Love Is All (cute but gets boring imo)

So far this is an enjoyable fantasy romance costume drama. Let me just say...China is smart for producing more of these somewhat lower quality but fluffy & sweet 24 episode dramas.
1.) Leads have some decent chemistry & are cute together. No fish kisses, yay!
2.) FL is not super annoying.
3.) Nice mix of comedy & romance. I love these types of dramas but have been disappointed far too many times to have high expectations going forward (rn I'm on #8).
4.) Fantasy element of sensory stimulation is my favorite; holding hands all the time in the name of the contract was so cute! The "switching" was also unexpected & a treat.

This was cute! Light & fluffy w/some sneaky shenanigans worked in along the way. Solid production, decent story, cute chemistry among the characters. LOVED the child actor; lots of laughs there. I'm glad it was only 24 episodes, though, since it started to drag a little toward the end. Main gripe: not a proper explanation of "that night" in the past where the child was conceived. Definitely point lefts on the table but hey--I finished it. That is my new floor for c-dramas rn.

Great article! Nice design elements, well written & good choices for the gifs/pics. I started humming for this & then hit the "political" section right toward the end. Buzzkill. ouch. :p

I may wait to see how it fairs more episodes in, I suppose. LOVE the magical element (one of the reasons I love Kdramas especially) & I like Kim Yoo Jung in anything so I'll watch it eventually. I usually drop heavily politically-themed dramas, though. (yeah...well... I haven't committed to dropping them yet & still have them "on hold") I also can't imagine waiting a whole 'nother month to finish it! Maybe it'll be a holiday project...

*Just as an aside: I swear MDL needs to have a feature where you can see the date of when you put a drama on hold. I checked mine out after I made the above comment & realized I've had some on there for a couple of YEARS now, lol!!!

I am a sucker for this type of story & I thought it was well-executed. Most of the dramatic effect felt manipulated by music, lighting, timing & drawn-out pauses more so than normal to me, unfortunately. Maybe because I didn't think the leads had too much chemistry? I wasn't attached to the characters so much as how they were going to handle the dilemma they faced, but that didn't mean I wasn't rushing to finish the drama. ;) I admit to fast forwarding through some bits of theirs that felt repetitive but I just LOVED the 2nd leads & couldn't wait for their scenes. Lee Soo Hyuk is usually a tough sell in a romantic role for me because of his role in Scholar Who Walks the Night (a character here even mentions he looks like a vampire, lol) but I enjoyed the offbeat nature of their interactions & romantic development. It's well done but not one I will revisit.

I'm on Eps 8 rn & LOVING the wind-up to the big reveal, hehe. It's a bit far-fetched the number times they've "missed" each other, lol, but because I love the concept, I can be forgiving. ;) NOT as much of a fan of the gaming scenes but I do remember not liking the Love O2O game scenes the 1st time I watched that one & now, it's one of my favorite rewatches BECAUSE of being able to go back & see how they really got to know each other & became friends in the game first. I love the actors portraying the leads here; I've seen them both separately before & enjoyed their performances in those dramas (Put Your Head on My Shoulder & You are the Sunshine of My Life.) High cringe factor on certain completely fantastical scenes-- I legit paused it b/c I couldn't fight the cringe. God, I hope they don't ruin it...

I often drop c-dramas but finished this one. (That's a recommendation, lol.) The leads were great together, but I wish the melodrama hadn't taken over the storyline so completely that the romance was somewhat sidelined. The previous post mentions makjang & I would have to agree; this storyline is in that realm. I did like that it was 36 eps but I felt they rushed it a little at the end. I want to stay in that hostel's treehouse!!!

She gets on the plane in Episode 12.

On Eps 30 & seriously enjoying this! I'm FFing through the brother's parts & many of the parts w/2ML after he kept repeating his bad behavior. FL & ML are a great match; she's not childish & he's not the typical obsessive, controlling domineering boss with her. Love the fashion element because it's uncommon! The pace of this is very different from normal modern cdramas, too. The synopsis makes it sound like a typical break-up-because-the-girl-has-to-find-herself-so-she-can-come-back-two-years-later-and-then-they-get-together trope but THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. Super impressed they tried a long-distance relationship story arc AND we got to see so many shots of Paris. What a treat!

Really enjoying the OTP dynamic, though I have skipped quite a bit through the SWAT training parts (and even some of the medical parts) mostly because those are my least 2 favorite genres. Hanging in there for our main couple, though. They aren't hot n' heavy passionate but you can definitely tell they are into each other. Nice change of pace over the domineering grab-you-and-force-you-to-like-it kind of relationship.

SUCH a silly show & somehow very modern, wow. She's supposedly from the Cloud World but then mentions the internet? Hmmm... I like that it's her goal to be carefree & experience life (aka MEN) as much as possible, lol.. He looks like such a baby, it's hard to take him seriously. Well--and the CGI cat is also hard to get used to. I can't see myself bingeing this one, so we'll see how often I come back to it or maybe it drifts off into the realm of perpetual on-hold-dom. .

Liking this so far but I'm not even 1/4 of the way in. Disliked the actress in General's Lady (even though they had great chemistry & the ML was such a smol bean) bc she was the biggest ditz & kept pissing me off. I hope it stays like this. LOVE cdramas but I have trouble finishing them...

yes, the bowser level music when he would feel her pain was just too much!!!

he confesses in ep 16 & there is some ensuing sweetness which is quickly overshadowed by what I originally griped about before but they don't have their first "official" date until episode 19.

I'm on episode #10 & I'm really disliking the FL. She's a liar, she's two-faced, and she's an emotional idiot all while she portrays herself as this incredibly sweet, kind, empathetic individual. Maybe that's the point of the story and her development?? (Ohhh....I hope so but I kinda doubt it.) Her facial expressions are also so overly cutesy/innocent/seemingly sweet it's becoming difficult to watch. I've watched some YouTube clips & the OTP relationship (once it starts) looks like they have good chemistry. That is kind of my #1 requirement in a romantic drama followed closely by story. Yes, I will sacrifice story for romantic chemistry. This means that my finger just hovers over the 10x ff button a little longer sometimes, lol The fantasy element of emotion-swapping/pain-swapping was also such a cool idea to me & EXACTLY the reason why I watch c-dramas in the first place. I think maybe I will start using the skip button more, though...

haha, yeah I'm feeling the same thing right now at episode #20. Maybe I'm not in the mood for it right now? I'll come back to it later & see...

I am LOVING this rn. the characters are 100% believable & sell the story w/their performances well. I'm on episode 20 & got curious why I hadn't given it a go yet. Maybe cuz the actors aren't as super famous-- though I recognized the ML from other works, this was a first for me. I'm curious if it affects the rest of my watch now that I'm aware of the scandal.

I LOVED TRoTaR, though the ending could've used some work continuity-wise. You might like Unique Lady 1 (haven't seen S2 yet) & Oh My Sweet Liar! Those have a similar feel. Some elements of Love Is All match as well but I got bored w/that one so I don't recommend it as much.

Very light & fluffy piece where the 2 leads break the fourth wall regularly & let us into their heads. It's quite fun! I was hoping the concept would be more fleshed out in the 3rd story arc & we'd get more of a pursuit from the ML but that's okay. 20 eps = 1/2ep story arc #1 + 14 1/2ep story arc #2 +5ep story arc #3. I kinda see how the pursuit would have to become a little truncated in that case. Leads have chemistry (and you LIKE them, yay, no super jerky guy & whiny, annoying girl), production value is decent, the scenery is gorgeous, & sound effects make it comedic. If you like lightweight modern c-dramas with a sci-fi/fantasy twist, this one is for you. Don't expect more than that, though, haha.

You mean like plastic barbie doll-ish, lol. It's cuz her features are normally set to "a wide-eyed, apple-cheeked, smiley pretty" and anything else deviating from that is HER acting. It quite obvious to watch, which is why I think you might consider her inauthentic. I don't think she inhabits her roles as deeply as others but she's got great chemistry with most of her co-stars. That's a huge plus in my book!