Sakura_Falling

Star in Their Own Minds

Star in My Mind is unique in that despite the fact that it has a decent sized cast, everything revolves around a single character. There are no side couples here, no side stories even, everything and everyone is solely focused on this one person. It's a unique take and with a better character and stronger actor, it could even work. The problem though is that Dao isn't the most interesting or likeable character and this was Dunk's breakout role and he simply didn't have the experience to essentially carry the entire show. It's not bad, it's simply mediocre and at times, incredibly frustrating.

Such a laser focus on a single character is really the only unique aspect of this drama. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard college BL story with a lot of the standard BL tropes. The story is simple enough in that you have two characters in love but one of them doesn't know how to express their feelings and the other, having been rejected in the past, is afraid to confess those feelings again. Miscommunication is the name of the game here and it pervades nearly every aspect of the drama. If Dao and Kluen had simply sat down and had an actual conversation, this drama would have been done in maybe two episodes. But where's the fun in that? No, it's much better to have our leads running around in circles for six or seven episodes before they finally get their heads screwed on straight and get everything sorted out.

Initially, the lack of communication isn't terrible. Dao and Kluen meet again after being separated for a year. Their last meeting involved Dao confessing his feelings for Kluen and with Kluen responding by telling him to have a safe flight, thus breaking his heart. The kicker here is that Kluen is, in fact, in love with Dao as well, he just royally sucks at expressing himself and giving voice to those feelings. So when they meet again, Dao is faced with the fact that he still has feelings for the guy who rejected him and Kluen is continuing to say nothing while getting irritated at all the guys hitting on Dao. Speaking of which, having three guys pursuing Dao was a bit much, plus Papang, can't forget her. Don't get me wrong Dunk is cute, but not quite to that degree and the character of Dao wasn't nearly interesting enough to garner that level of attention. In any case though, the miscommunication just keeps ballooning to the point that everyone else is aware that these two have feelings for each other, except for Dao who is oblivious.

I've seen a lot of people give the character crap for being so obtuse, but I can understand where he's coming from as well. As far as Dao is aware, Kluen essentially rejected him previously. Not explicitly, but he also didn't accept Dao's feelings. Why would Dao expect that a year had changed anything? Even with the signals that Kluen was sending, I can see why Dao would second guess whether he was reading those signs correctly. And then Kluen tells him that Typhoon is a good guy and essentially tells Dao to be with him. There was also the matter of Gia. As far as Dao was aware, Kluen and Gia were still together and Kluen doesn't say anything to dispel that notion. That simply adds to Dao's confusion because why should he believe Kluen would be pursuing him when he's already got a girlfriend. Again, I know people like to give Dao crap, but frankly, Kluen was sending so many mixed signals that even if everyone else knew that Kluen liked Dao, I can see why Dao was so uncertain. Essentially the majority of their miscommunication boils down to Kluen being entirely too close lipped for his own good. Also the fact that he seemed to be able to communicate with others just fine, it was just when it came to Dao that he suddenly was unable to communicate in any way meaningfully.

There is one scene that I was very much not okay with and was extremely out of touch. Dao and Kluen finally have a conversation and Kluen essentially confesses his feelings when he receives a call from Gia. It's later revealed that Gia had a fight with her partner that turned physical and she called Kluen. There are numerous issues with this scene, first and foremost though the use of domestic violence as a gimmick to separate our leads. It is both tactless and tasteless and should never have been used. Almost any other excuse would have been better. Dao's reaction is another issue. He uses that moment to try to force Kluen to choose between him and Gia and then gets butthurt when Kluen still leaves to help Gia. Again, he's purported to be this very caring guy, but apparently he was temporarily struck deaf since there was a clear urgency to Gia's call and Kluen was obviously very concerned.

When it comes to the characterization, neither Dao or Kluen is particularly unique or interesting. Dao's big thing was that he's supposed to be caring and compassionate, but in reality, he was frankly a coward. His inability to say no to people wasn't a strength or a sign of a good person, but rather that he was afraid. He tried to make it seem like he was thinking of the other person, but in reality, it was simply selfish. When it came to Papang, he didn't reject her right away because he didn't want her to get hurt the way he had when Kluen didn't accept his feelings, but did he really think that time was going to make the pain any less? Wasn't it in fact more cruel to give her hope and then dash it on the ground later? Similarly with Typhoon, he obviously didn't want to actually be his boyfriend for the day, but rather than rejecting such a ridiculous idea, he went along with it and, of course, there were consequences which he never really took responsibility for.

With Kluen, I got real tired of his whole "am I too late" schtick. Like, dude, you are literally doing this to yourself, if you would simply open your mouth and communicate, things would not be so messed up. I really needed more from him to try to wrap my head around his mindset and how he was thinking and why he did and said some things, but we're never given that opening and so he remains a bit of an enigma and not in a good way.

The acting was nothing spectacular. Frankly both Dunk and Joong were outshone by some of the supporting cast with more acting experience. That's not to say it was completely terrible either. Dunk did a decent enough job for his first main role, but clearly struggled with the more emotional scenes. He also lacked nuance in his expressions, though not to the same extent as Joong. While I understand that Kluen was supposed to be a stoic character who didn't show a whole lot of emotion, Joong's acting came across not as deliberate, but as wooden. He needed a greater balance in his facial expressions so that the audience could see that he wasn't just a robot.

This drama started out pretty well and seemed promising but then it was just a steady decline from there. There are still some cute, fluffy moments, but it could have been so much more than it wound up being. It's not unwatchable though and it's short enough that it's not a total waste of time, it simply gets frustrating as the story progresses. For this one, I would say watch at your own risk.

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Doesn't Add Much

This special episode takes place immediately after Episode 12 when Li Gong and Ze Shou get married. Ze Shou gets drunk and dreams about being back in high school with Li Gong. While both appear to be 18 years old, Ze Shou retains his memories of his current age and changes the way he handled several events in the past.

Its kind of cute, but also contains a number of flashbacks from the rest of the series that really weren't necessary. I also found it rather distasteful that Ze Shou got drunk at their wedding to the point that he has to be physically carried. I was honestly impressed that Li Gong was so unaffected by it because if that had been my wedding, I would have been pissed at my husband getting so completely drunk. But then again, he knows Ze Shou best and loves him regardless of his flaws.

Ze Shou's dream contains some cute moments, though the jealousy aspect feels a bit weird considering these are all events that occurred 10 years prior and they literally just got married, but it also doesn't really add anything to the story. I honestly lost interest partway through. But it's only a half hour long, so I can't really complain. I can't say whether or not anyone should watch it, but you're not missing out on anything if you skip it.

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The Siblings Are The Only Thing That's Handsome

Going into this drama, I thought the title was cheesy and gimmicky, but the summary made it sound very interesting. If only it had lived up to its potential. This was honestly one of the hardest Chinese dramas I've ever watched, as in it took me months because I would get so fed up with it I would stop watching it for weeks at a time. For all that the title is Handsome Siblings, there's really not all that much time devoted to the siblings together and is far more focused on their individual adventures and such which is massively disappointing because when the two of them were together, they absolutely stole the show.

- The story had such potential: two brothers torn apart at birth and raised to be enemies and kill each other. It sounds so good, but the delivery just wasn't there. The brothers don't even meet until almost ten episodes in and after that their scenes together are few and far between. While the first part focuses on Wuque searching for Xaoyu and Xaoyu subsequently seeking to evade Wuque, the latter part of the drama has them making a pact to meet up in three months and then splitting up. Rather than waiting until quite literally the very end to reveal that they're brothers, I would have liked them to have found out sooner and seen them build their relationship as brothers. As it is, we get none of that, just repeated comments that they're best friends and it sucks they have to kill each other. Knowing that they were brothers would have put a lot more at stake and would have made the knowledge that they're being set up to kill each other far more conflicting and devastating. There's also just a lot of repetition, the same thing happening several times but with slightly different circumstances. I've found that most Chinese dramas struggle with this. They honestly could have cut the length down by ten or so episodes and nothing would have been lost. The pacing also left a lot to be desired. There'd be several episodes where things were really happening and then there'd be a slump of just filler episodes and then several more interesting ones and then more filler. It just never felt consistent, never found its groove, so to speak.
-The casting was, for the most part, absolutely spot on. Chen Ze Yuan and Hu Yi Tian both gave solid performances as Jiang Xaoyu and Hua Wuque. They felt a little bit rocky starting out but quickly ironed out the flaws and were fantastic for the rest of the drama. They both devoted themselves to their roles and the few instances when they were together, they played off of each other very well. They were also solid on their own and frankly their relationship and the build up to the big reveal that they're siblings was the only thing that kept me watching. The supporting characters were, for the most part, great but I especially enjoyed Liang Jie's performance as Su Ying. Frankly, I'm disappointed they didn't bring her in earlier because she was just so fantastic. She and Xauyu were made for each other. Their interactions were always fun to watch and she's just so darn cute but also an absolute badass. I adore her. Mao Lin Lin and Meng Li were also delightful to watch as Yaoyue and Lianxing. I honestly wish there had been more of them because they were just so good and so interesting to watch. More insight into their relationship would have been helpful, I think. The only actor I wasn't overly thrilled with was Vicky Liang as Tie Xinlan. She was very one note with all of her expressions and she made the character boring.
- The characters themselves were overall good, if not overly developed. Most of them were interesting and nuanced. With such a massive cast, backgrounds for the characters were obviously going to be thin, but for the most part it worked. I really enjoyed Hua Wuque's character development from the cold, naïve, perfect puppet to a genuinely good and kind man. I appreciated though that his naivety wasn't completely done away with as I felt it made him more realistic. I really wish more of the story had been devoted to him because I found him so much more interesting than Xaoyu. He was a bit more of an enigma and I would have liked more screen time focused on his character development. Xaoyu is a mix of good and bad. Like I said, I wish more time had been devoted to Wuque and less to him. It felt like he had far more screen time. Overall, I liked Xaoyu, he was funny and interesting and certainly clever, but I felt like his character development was a little more all over the place and less coherent than Wuque's. I also felt like his storyline was a lot more repetitive which got old fast. Honestly, I was rolling my eyes the fourth or fifth time he used going to the bathroom as an excuse to get away from someone, it just got to be increasingly annoying. The fact that characters who had experience with his tricks repeatedly fell for them was equally frustrating. He did grow as a character which I appreciated seeing and he did add a lightheartedness that was needed at times. I also have to admire his bravery and his kindness and sincerity. He could be a brat, but he was a good-hearted brat. As I said before, I adored Su Ying and wish she'd been brought in far earlier. She was the perfect foil for Xaoyu and I loved that she could hold her own against him. She was clever and resourceful and I liked the fact that they didn't give her any martial arts skills, it was kind of refreshing. I do have to give this show a shoutout for, with one notable exception, featuring strong, badass women. It was so nice to see that when, a lot of the time, women in these kinds of dramas are just downright useless. It was nice to see strong women who were equally capable at kicking ass and using their brains.
Another character that stood out to me was Murong Jui. I went from hating her to actually getting quite invested in her story and where she ended up. It was not what I was expecting at all and I really enjoyed seeing her growth and development and I'm glad they didn't do away with that when she got her memory back. Her relationship with Hei Zhi Zhu was also quite adorable. Of the Ten Great Villains Xuanyuan Sanguang was my favorite. He was just so entertaining to watch and he had such a good heart, he always made me smile. Speaking of the Ten Great Villains, I found them to be interesting but not particularly villainous until the end. There's a bit of twist with them that I did not fully see coming and which, while it pissed me off on the one hand, I also really appreciated because it gave their characters more depth. They way things ended for them though felt sloppy and rushed. I was not impressed.
In terms of villains, I found the sisters to be far more interesting and threatening than Jiang Biehe. While the actor was certainly striking in appearance, his reasoning for why he did what he did just seemed thin and generic. And then a full explanation for why he did what he did wasn't given until one of the final episodes and even then, it just seemed kind of meh. Honestly, if they had delved more into his past and why he had such conviction to become a hero, I think it could have been pretty great and a more solid story. But, per the usual, all the big reveals were left to the end and it just didn't have the punch it needed. Yulang was frankly just an ass. I get his father was evil, but I didn't get a good feeling as to why he was such a horrible person other than like father like son. I felt like a lot more could have been done with him and he could have been more interesting and developed, but he wasn't. I did find his ending extremely satisfying though. I really would have liked to have seen more of the sisters as they were a more compelling and nuanced threat. Yaoyue was clearly just unhinged though incredibly smart and dangerous because of that and it made the reasoning for why she pit Xaoyu and Wuque against each other more palatable. She also had a fitting ending. Lainxing was even more interesting because she always seemed so conflicted about what they were doing, even though it was her idea. I was sad things ended the way they did for her, because I think she could have been a genuinely good person away from the influence of her sister. As a pair, I would have liked more of their history and the conflicts that shaped their relationship.
The only character that I really did not like was Tie Xinlan. I liked her in the beginning although the whole thing with her pretending to be a man was, per usual, extraordinarily lame. I'm assuming this is a cultural thing though I honestly don't know, but I always want to bang my head against the wall because it is so obvious its a woman. Anyway, I thought she was going to be a far more interesting and useful character than she turned out to be. For all that she was trained in martial arts and had supposedly mastered the berserk thousands fists or whatever and carried around a sword, she was completely useless. She was constantly having to be rescued, never seemed capable of defending herself and there just wasn't much to her other than essentially stalking Wuque and forcing him to constantly save her. She got boring real fast. And her relationship with Wuque didn't feel organic. I honestly couldn't figure out what he saw in her aside from a pretty face. The fact that basically every other woman in the show was awesome, does help make up for everything she lacks.
- The cinematography was gorgeous. Honestly if it wasn't for the scary government, I would happily move to China and live in some of those mountains. Absolutely stunning.
- The OST was overall quite good. The opening and closing songs were fitting and worked well with the overall theme. The rest of the music for the most part fit with what was going on in certain scenes and fit the mood. There were a couple times where it just didn't quite work and felt off, pulling me out of the drama instead of pulling me in, but those instances were few and far between. For the most part, I quite enjoyed it.
- The visuals were a mix. The CGI was terrible, per the usual. For some scenes, why they didn't actually use rats who are very intelligent and trainable, I don't understand. Costuming was amazing as always. I enjoyed seeing each character's style and the various ways that style was expressed. Xaoyu's costumes were the most interesting to me just because they were so much more colorful and flamboyant that everyone else's. It very much fit his personality and character.

Is this a drama I am ever going to watch again? Absolutely not. As I said before, I literally slogged through this drama, it was hard and painful to get through. What's so disappointing is that it could have been great. They had a good cast, they had an interesting story idea and it just flopped because they failed to utilize any of it properly. There were moments that were really interesting and gripping and then it fell back into repetition and tedium that just dragged it down. The last ten or so episodes when things actually start happening and explanations are given were the strongest, the rest was just such a hit or miss. I really wanted to like this drama but in the end, it just didn't live up to its potential.

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It Doesn't Quite Take the Cake

I was interested in this drama because of its unusual nature. The vast majority of BL dramas are about young adult men. This one about a romance between almost 40-year-old and an almost 30-year-old, peaked my interest. That being said, it didn't quite take the cake for me for a variety of reasons.

First, it felt very dry to me. Nozue's life borders on depressing and its obvious he's not happy in it, but I didn't feel like his emotions or mental state were well represented and there overall seemed to be a lack of emotion. So I really struggled to get into the story and really care about any of the characters. It also doesn't help that the drama is so short, five episodes all under a half hour. I don't think it had a chance to really spread its wings and give us a chance to get to know Nozue and Togawa as individuals before getting to know them as a pair.

Second, while I appreciate what the drama was going for with a more unique couple, I think that was part of its downfall for me. I felt like the characters needed to have more background and more depth to really allow people to be invested in their lives. While I'm at an age where I can understand the grind of work life, something about the way it was portrayed, I couldn't fully relate. Mentally I appreciated what they were going for, but emotionally, I never really felt drawn in and I think that's so important in a drama like this. With younger BL dramas, you can get away with a lot more fluff, I think. This one was going for more substance and it just fell flat, for me at least.

Third, I found the whole anti-aging process to be awkward at best and downright uncomfortable at worst. The whole premise of anti-aging felt off to me. I understood what Togawa was going for, but I felt like anti-aging was just the wrong wording for it. There is nothing wrong with getting older and I felt like that aspect of the drama was pushing society's view of younger is better which I hate. That is such a toxic message and I really wish the focus had just been on experiencing new things together and getting Nozue out of his shell. On that same thread, the whole pretending to be girls was very weird to me. Again, I understood what they were going for, but I don't think it was executed well and it times it was just uncomfortable to watch.

Fourth, and here lies my biggest issue, is at the end when Togawa says, "Having an age gap or being a minority is the same as having different hometowns or cheering for a different baseball team. It's nothing." I get that he is trying to tell Nozue that their age gap and being gay won't be issues or will be minor issues at most and something they can work through together. On the one hand, I can appreciate that and appreciate his confidence in their ability to essentially take on the world, on the other hand, though it also comes across as horribly out of touch and insensitive. Same-sex marriage is not legal in Japan, homosexual couples do not enjoy the same legal protections that heterosexual couples do. To say that being a minority is nothing, to me, minimizes the struggles and persecution those people have to deal with every day. That quote really disappointed me and left a bad taste in my mouth.

Now that's not to say it was all bad. The acting was overall quite good. The cinematography and visuals were well done as was the OST. That being said, they were good, but I didn't really find any of it memorable. What I did appreciate is the theme that you are never too old for love.

I wouldn't discourage anyone from watching this drama. As short as it, its worth watching whether you're interested or not. It's not one that I have any real urge to re-watch, it just really didn't hit the mark for me. Its not bad, but its also not good. I really do appreciate what they were going for, I just don't feel that it was well executed which is disappointing because I think it could have been a really unique story.

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No Training Needed

The Trainee was marketed as an OffGun drama and, in general, as a BL. It became clear quite early on that this was false advertising and it was actually more of an ensemble rom-com in an office setting. Personally, I loved it, but I also don't solely watch BLs and I didn't really have any expectations of this drama. I think if you go in with that mindset, you'll find there's a lot to enjoy.

While The Trainee is a rom-com and romance does play a role in it's story, what I loved most was the secondary focus on the interns and Jane looking for their paths in life. We're expected to know what we want to do with our lives as soon as we graduate high school and I appreciated the realism that they didn't have everything figured out, particularly with Jane who was even older and was still figuring things out. I think that's something that really needs to be normalized far more than it is. And even those who did know what they wanted to do like Pie quickly found that there was still a lot to learn. There were also elements like the importance of learning from your mistakes and not being too proud to apologize, all little things that just added to the atmosphere and camaraderie of the office setting and that theme of growing up and finding your way in life.

I hate time jumps, I really do. They're lazy and annoying. We suddenly have a much more mature Ryan which is so unsatisfying because we didn't get the journey of how he got to that point. And he and Jane are reunited with the impression that they haven't really had any communication in the last 5 years which makes absolutely no sense because they have phones, they can call, text, Facetime, whatever. Are they both just completely dramatic masochists? On the one hand, I do understand the need for time to have passed. Neither of them was at a good point to pursue a relationship previously and when they meet again, they are both more mature as people and in their careers. There is the hope that they can truly build something solid now. I just hate the way they did it.

I really loved seeing the friendship that developed between the interns from basically ignoring each other at the beginning to besties at the end, they were just adorable and it felt real. I liked that they were friends as a whole, but they also paired off and had their individual friends like Ryan and Pie, Pie and Ba-Mhee, and Pah and Tae. Their support for each other was really beautiful to see and the way they learned from each other.

I do think Jane and Ryan's relationship needed more attention than it got. I liked them as a couple, but Ryan, especially initially was made far too helpless and it made it hard to see what Jane saw in him. There needed to be more time and focus on what exactly drew them together and how and why they clicked. They did get to a point where you could see it, but it was that initial that just seemed glossed over. Their relationship there at the end also felt unsatisfying in the last couple episodes. Jane disappeared with no explanation, popped back up announcing that he was going to get his Masters and that was it? It felt too abrupt. We needed more of the two of them actually sitting down and having adult conversations. In general, I do think there needed to be a little more of a focus on their relationship so we could see all that and they could be more cohesive as a couple.

On the other hand, I would have liked less focus on the mess that was the love triangle of Ba-Mhee, Tae, and Judy. That was a lot. Ba-Mhee was my least favorite of the interns for a myriad of reasons, but the biggest one was how she handled everything with Tae and Judy. Beyond the fact that she cheated on Tae, she lead on Judy when she had to know she was still in love with Tae and in no condition to pursue another relationship and when Judy did things she didn't like, rather than communicate, she just went along with it and then whined to her friends. That's not to say that Judy wasn't at fault. Jane at least was aware of appearances in getting involved with an intern while Judy didn't seem to care and was very blasé about the whole thing so to an extent it felt like she brought it on herself. Tae too really failed in the whole communication department which didn't help matters in the slightest. To be honest, I did like Ba-Mhee and Judy together. They had a lot of chemistry and they just worked. Not a fan of the cheating at all and I'm not justifying it. I think they could have eliminated that, had Ba-Mhee realize that she and Tae weren't compatible and had her get together with Judy and her and Tae just be friends. Honestly, Tae always seemed just kind of mildly irritated by her or unsure of what to do with her; I wasn't feeling romance between them.

This was a very talented cast and it shows. Off and Gun dominated every scene they were in as one would expect of them. I love View and I thought she did a great job with her character's development and gradual softening. Sea is such a talented actor and while I really didn't notice any chemistry between him and Piploy, he was fantastic as Tae otherwise. Kudos to Pompam for an entertaining turn as Baimon and Bobby as the wise and insightful Jo.

The production was great. There was so much attention to detail on the sets and the cinematography was just really beautiful. The after credit scenes were a fun way to explain film terminology and I applaud their creativity with that.

Though not at all what it was marketed as, that does not mean this drama is not worth the watch. It proved to be unexpectedly wholesome and sweet and while romance is certainly in the air and plays its part, it's the friendships that bring it all together. I would highly recommend that you put all preconceived notions aside and just enjoy this drama as it is. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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