babepiggie

Interesting reading your post and thank you for sharing the background on Tencent’s intention with the gaming aspect of the drama. I wish Gu Man’s intentions were honored because they mirror many items on my wish list before the drama air. I did want the drama to limit the gaming scenes and focus on the romantic development of our main leads and having more focus on Yu Tu’s career in aerospace. Although I’m not crazy with the gaming scenes but it wasn’t as bad as I imagined them to be. The novel contained a lot more game description, going into detail of each character Jing Jing played so for that I guess I should be grateful that no additional scenes were spent around gaming.

I feel the romance is slow burn compared to other Chinese dramas where couples get together much quicker. Honestly, I do like watching romance develop gradually so it does not bother me that the pace is slower in my opinion. Their relationship developed very naturally, from old classmates/acquaintances, to friends and then to lovers. Currently I love the lingering gazes, Yu Tu’s little smiles when he’s amused or smitten by her, Jing Jing’s playfulness during the games and when she interacts with him outside of their training sessions. Their conversations are also great as they discuss their past and she listens, quietly supports him and encourages him as much as she can without interfering with his career decision. She also speaks up for him when she felt he’s been wronged. It’s very refreshing to read and later watch how their relationship progresses.

YAMG is the first drama that I have seen of Yang Yang’s acting and I am pleased with his performance thus far. He exhibits many traits of Yu Tu from the novel. Yu Tu, in the novel, is very pragmatic, reserved to the point of being almost stoic and has a dry sense of humor. This is expected given he’s in the scientific field that he possesses such characteristics. He is also going through some personal drama and the melancholic air is normal for his character and YY captures this essence really well IMO. His interaction with Jing Jing is also on point - reserved at first but we can see him slowly opening up to her about his life and fears. As he becomes more familiar with Jing Jing, he will banter with her (in a deadpanned and sometimes brutal fashion) but I found this humor to be very funny and very “Yu Tu”. I actually love the nuances Yang Yang displayed in his interactions with her like the little smiles on his face when he’s amused by her. The problem I think most viewers have is that he is compared to our leading lady who is the complete opposite of him. Jing Jing is lively, cheeky and damn sassy and beautifully portrayed by Dilraba so her exuberance makes Yu Tu/Yang Yang seem even more subdued and possibly lacking emotion. Perhaps viewers expect him to match her in energy? Opposites attract and it is very evident that is the case here with our ML and FL.

We will have some emotional scenes coming up and I am excited to witness Yang Yang and Dilraba’s performances. I am hoping for some very riveting and moving scenes from both. Yu Tu’s personality will also “lighten” up later on in the story and his sparring with Jing Jing and their sexy interactions are highlights for me in the epilogues. I expect both YY and Reba to light up the screen when the happy and fluffy scenes air but for now, I’m delighted with both of their performances and found their slow burn chemistry very enjoyable and can’t wait to see more.

There’s nothing wrong if you do not enjoy the drama but I hope you can give it more than two episodes before dropping it. The meaty part of the story comes later and I want to encourage you and others to give it time for the characters to simmer and story to develop. However, if the story is still not enjoyable to you, no need to feel “bad” about moving on. I know people have been comparing this drama to Love Scenery but at its core, the relationship and characters’ outlook in YAMG are vastly different. We have a much more mature romance here with real life struggles and indecision regarding career choices, relationships and path in life. The romance between the leads are more of a slow burn and might not resonate with some viewers. If that doesn’t appeal to you, feel free to move on as there are so many drama options out there that might fancy your liking.

I have read many comments and want to stress that YAMG has a slow burning romance but I do not find it boring and love the realistic portrayal by YY and Reba. At its core, this story is about Yu Tu’s struggle to find himself (professionally and romantically) and discovering inspiration and support from those around him. The gaming in the drama is simply a means for our main leads to reconnect and fall in love. The worthwhile part as a viewer or a reader is the journey of how he and Jing Jing get there. If you can invest the time to understand both Yu Tu and Jing Jing’s motivations, you’ll reap the benefits of the time you spent on watching the drama as the story gets more emotional later on before you get the taste of sweetness at the end.

If you don’t like the story so far then perhaps it’s not for you and you should move on. The story might not appeal to everyone and that’s okay too.

Not much of a quote but I can’t help smiling when Yu Tu said to Jing Jing, “You’re so naughty” when she’s being cheeky and playful (this happened at Sister Ling’s husband birthday party). The comment was meant to be exasperating and a little chastising but we can tell he likes that quality about her. He also wrote something similar in a text but recalled it. Haha! I just finished episode 9 and it’s so wonderful to see their romance progressing in the drama!

It should not if the drama continues to follow the novel faithfully to the end. So far, it has been loyal to the novel so I expect it to continue. What I love about the novel is that there is no unnecessary angst for our main couple. Their problems are very relatable to viewers and are mostly inner demons and insecurities they have to overcome. I feel they are so perfect for each other. They are respectful of each other’s life and career and support and inspire each other to be better. I can’t state how wonderful it is to witness such mature and healthy portrayal of a modern relationship.

In my opinion, his reaction to her “attitude” does matter because he is the recipient of her behavior. If he thought she was out of line, he would have reacted strongly, reprimanded and rejected her. The fact that he didn’t indicated to me that he was not bothered by her request or her actions leading up to it. Was she being calculating when she lured him to her place? Sure, but she fessed up to him immediately and he forgave her and moved on from it. In fact, he likes her mischief and spontaneity (as evident in later chapters) and he find those traits refreshing and one of the many reasons he fell for her.

I do have the benefit of having read the novel and knowing how their love story played out so I do see these scenes as minor relative to the bigger issues they faced later on. I do respect your opinion if you found her behavior off-putting at this point but I hope you can give her a chance and see her many positive traits as the drama progresses. I personally find her to be the perfect partner to Yu Tu and vice versa.

I want to also add, his agreement to coach her in the game is to move the plot along, for them to get to know each other and fall in love; otherwise, their lives will not intersect. As a reader/viewer, I know that so it did not bother me when she asked for his help and he said yes. Obviously, the character, Yu Tu does not feel like she’s infringing on his time. Besides, Yu Tu (in the novel) is not a pushover. He has a sharp mind and equally sharp tongue (Jing Jing can attest to that in the latter chapters) so if he truly wanted to refuse her, he would have.

Moreover, our female lead is far from the clingy and pestering type. Once she’s been told “no”, she will let go and move on which will be demonstrated later in the story.

Agreed, he can say no to her request and she wouldn’t have pushed further. And from reading the novel (have not been able to watch the drama yet), he can probably use the distraction since he’s still debating on his career path at this point. I even wonder if he also agreed because he felt bad that his rejection of her was publicized. It was not his fault obviously but being a gentleman, he might want to make it up to her when she requested his help with the game and he obviously has the down time.

Thank you for the links! The BTS of Yang Yang and Reba are so precious and sweet. There has been so much content released the last couple of days that I have been overdosed on Yu Tu and Jing Jing sweetness. Enough with all these teasers! Can't wait for the official airing of the drama!

During 2019 where she did not release a single drama, she was interviewed and confessed that there were not many suitable scripts for her due to her looks. She is not the first actress directors think of due to her exotic looks (she does not look Han Chinese) so her name did not come to mind for many historical and xianxia dramas. I personally think it was a hogwash excuse but she was at their mercy and Jaywalk IMO was not very good at trying to promote her either. Yang Mi is the star of Jaywalk so she'll get the priority in all the good scripts. I'm just happy that she was able to establish her own studio under Jaywalk and those in her studio have successfully searched the right scripts for her. I think this was evident after she was done with ELOD where she took on TLB and now YAMG. She has quality projects coming up, with strong female leads and good plots and storylines. They appear to be high budget too so as her fan, I'm glad she is in control of what type of characters to play and the direction of her acting career.

She has faced many obstacles in trying to advance her acting career so I always root for her to succeed. She's hardworking and professional, without diva attitude and from all the reports, people love working with her. She's doing everything right and she deserves all the recognition and praises for her efforts.

Most definitely! Dilraba deserves all the accolades and the opportunities ahead of her as she has worked very hard to improve herself and staying humble the entire time. She worked herself up from supporting roles to leading lady status. I am very proud of her for her efforts and so anticipating her future projects. She has selected interesting characters to portray and many are big budget dramas so the production value should be high. Add oil Reba!

It's great that you're enjoying your retirement by watching Chinese and Korean dramas! :)

Unfortunately, I agree that HK dramas are disappointing and have shown no signs of improvements for the last decade (at least). The 80s were golden because actors were required to go to acting school before starring in dramas. Nowadays, TVB recruits actresses from Miss HK pageants (with no entertainment skill sets) and is too cheap to invest in costumes and sets for historical pieces. It saddens me to witness such a state because by watching these HK dramas growing up, it helped me retained my Cantonese (to some degree). Without it, I will probably forget my native language completely.

The crowd here is of a younger set. Even I sometimes feel out of place as I don't see eye to eye on what's important in a drama. Regardless of the ages of the visitors here, I think it's good that we can all gather here and share our thoughts, have many lively discussions and learn new things from each other (even outside of Chinese dramas). It's experiences like this that make me want to stay and continue commenting and engaging with others.

Reba also lost weight due to director's recommendation for her drama, "The Blue Whisper". I find her too thin now. In fact when I looked at the pictures from the booting ceremony of "Legend of Anle" few days ago, I found her arms to be too skinny. I actually prefer that she put on some weight. Her figure and weight in YAMG is perfect.

Yes, I am curious what her ranking for 2021 will be. She has a great year so far as TLB has been well received and she was praised for her acting in the drama. Now with the release of YAMG, which I hope will also be successful, I think she might in the top 10 on the Forbes List. Thank you for the data. I don't follow Chinese entertainment news and welcome the updates.

Yes, the last one was Love O2O back in 2016 so it was few years back. I imagine the script will be faithful to the novel. I do have high hopes considering her novel adaptations to drama have been successful in the past. (cross fingers).

I know right! I'm stuffed with pretty visuals but can eat more! :)

Oh my! They are too beautiful for words! Thank you for the link! :)

I hate even trying to offer an explanation on this targeted hate you mentioned certain toxic Reba fans have for Lusi because I cannot confirm if this targeted hate is in fact true as I don't spend time reading Chinese social media or entertainment news. From my experience in this forum where disagreements with Lusi fans occurred, couple of topics came up where some fans noted that Tencent was using Dilreba's popularity through TLB to boost Lusi to become the next big thing with her being scheduled to take on many Tencent big budget dramas as leads with well known actors after TLB ended. Some fans felt Dilreba who is also a Tencent spokesperson and was not given the same type of promotion. Fans also felt that Leo was very unwilling to take on the drama, "Love Like the Galaxy" but was forced into because he refused a BL drama and still owed one more Tencent drama. Before you go on about it's not Lusi's fault, yes I agree , but unfortunately she is a convenient target because she is front and center of the news that involved her. Just like Reba is targeted for many negatives with TLB because she played the title character. I repeat these sources were not verified nor do I put much stock in such speculations to be honest. I'm sure many things happen behind the scenes during the casting selection and contract process. I think toxic fans will latch onto anything to perpetuate their hate on particular stars. Reasonable readers who come across such information should be able to use logic and take such "news" with a grain of salt.

I don't understand all the abbreviations that you had noted in regards to the dramas other than You Are My Glory and Legend of Anle. I know Yang Yang will star in an upcoming drama with Lusi (Who Rules the World). IF these toxic fans were already miffed with what happened after TLB ended, it would be logical they might carry such hate to Lusi next drama who also share the same costar (Yang Yang). I don't know what the correlation is with Gong Sun in Legend of Anle. Is Lusi scheduled to star in a new drama with him too? Regardless if this is targeted hate or not, we can all agree that these types of fans with extreme conducts are horrible and not true reflections of the actresses themselves and I truly believe that the majority of fan bases do care about supporting their artists and not engage in such nonconstructive behavior.

I personally do not want to waste more brain cells speculating what drive these extreme people because I am honestly baffled by their thinking. I am of the mindset that as fans of artists we should focus on supporting our favorites. Actors/actresses I do not care for, I will simply ignore. This is my last post on this topic because I honestly find it unpleasant. However you want to interpret it is your prerogative. I will be busy hanging out at the YAMG page and supporting Reba's upcoming drama.