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In it's OK to Not be Ok, the depictions of autism and of antisocial personality disorder were reasonable, but their rapid improvement in functioning, especially in quickly becoming more loving and affectionate, was unrealistic and facile. The functioning of the psychiatric hospital in many ways was unrealistic, even allowing for a different cultural perspective.
Incidently, there's a reasonable depiction of trauma and its treatment, in Age of Youth (through the first and second series). In particular that healing takes time and a lot of work, and needs the support of friends and family.
BTW I'm a psychiatrist, mainly working with teenagers, for about 30 years.

You are obviously a great fan of TLB and an expert on it, and keen to link up with other enthusiasts. I looked up your profile as I'm always on the lookout for good recommendations, but it seems to be the only thing you watch! I would much prefer sitting around with a group of fans "in real life" over coffee or a meal but alas... (I'm not very good at online socializing). There are many themes etc in TLB I'd love to discuss with a few people, including men's and women's roles, what makes a good leader/king/ queen etc, how TLB might relate to the current political climate, etc.

I'm not referring to the web browser search box, but to the search box at the top of the kisskh home page.

No I'm referring to the search box at the top of the kisskh home page.

• so many slit throats and not a single spurting carotid, which is a necessity to die this way. I think if directors don't know how something works, they shouldn't show it on screen. If squirting blood isn't allowed by the censor, then don't show the wound on screen. But I've seen several Chinese videos with loads of squirting blood (which I personally find sickening).
• in fact it became impossible to predict whether a sword/arrow/dagger plunged deeply into someone's body would kill them, or they'd just get up and keep talking as if nothing happened
• we had to totally suspend disbelief that while we could see how pretty Dilraba is, the characters in the drama all thought she was a man. At least in one scene her heavy period blew her cover.
• the camera shifting focus to foreground kissing parrots? Please tell me this was a deliberate joke. Apparently in China we're allowed to see lips meet, but any full-on snogging/pashing is prohibited. As usual violence is OK on screen, but people being caring and loving isn't.
• Hao Du had plenty to smile about in the last couple of episodes, but he spent so much time grinning that he seemed like a totally different character, not a shred of meanness left.
• correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone, on hearing an arrow in flight, would have time to react, let alone leap across the room and take the arrow for their hero. Yes, I get it, those were the times of superhuman martial arts abilities. But Mimi hadn't any martial arts abilities.

I'm interested in the production. Where can I find out more? Those were pretty huge sets (and I expect some were foreground buildings, with some background digital effects for the city scenes etc.

Loved the story and the characters, rated it 9*. These are the reasons why I didn't rate it higher, mostly due to the naivety of the director doing things that kept abruptly reminding me I'm watching a TV drama when I had been totally immersed in the story:

Well that makes it unnecessarily hard for casual users who don't know that.

Not what you probably expected, but I would only read the manhua to practice my chinese, and at the moment I only know about 500 characters.

Does anyone know if the palace sets in this series are real? i.e. not digital effects. I wondered if all those ancient imperial palaces survived the mid 20th century Japanese invasion, civil war, cultural revolution etc. Some people here are mentioning "making of" videos?

For some strange reason if you search for The Long Ballad in the search bar of the MyDramaLlist home page, this page doesn't show up.

I finished it tonight after bingeing (i.e. enthralled) through the last few episodes. There are several series that are much loved by people around here, that bored me and I dropped them quickly. But like you I also loved Le Coup de Foudre (b/c it made me laugh). For something as good as LTB with a similar mood/setting I'd recommend both series of Nirvana in Fire (except they don't have central strong female characters like LTB). Also The Longest Day in Chang'An is set in the same period and is a thrilling drama in which 48 x 1hr episodes only cover 24 hours of real time, with some great character interaction and stunning scenes. Now I'm wondering if I should read the manhua of LTB.

If you liked "Be With You" you may be aware it was a based on a Japanese movie which is as good, and also in the same year a Japanese series, which was the same story but some more details (because of the longer total time) which was also good, and even shared some actors with the Japanese movie. (It's strange how in Japan there may be a manga, movie, anime, and drama series all about the same story).

In olden times, did people really use a drawing for a wanted poster? Surely it would have been useless. I've seen it in so many dramas (Korean, Chinese, maybe Japanese too). And of course our hero/heroine is always good-looking, therefore well-proportioned, therefore the drawings are always bland and generic. So it was great joke in ep26 when Luo Shiba is stalking around a marketplace with a crude childish drawing of our heroine who she is seeking! In a drama that is otherwise quite serious and earnest, this was a unexpected humorous touch. Maybe it wasn't intended as such?

You can see where the plot will go from the outset: impulsive young man decides to pioneer growing organically-farmed apples for the sake of his allergy-prone wife. Things go from bad to worse and then even more worse, and then in a miraculous moment the problem is solved, the orchestral accompaniment surges, all is forgiven and everyone lives happily ever after. Watch the Biggest Little Farm for a factual and detailed account of how organic farming actually works.

The Bad Kids; The Long Night; Kidnapping Game - all from the mainland Chinese Light On Series, The Victims' Game - Taiwan. All are much more than just crime series as they have a lot of compelling human drama.
And of course the two series of the Korean Stranger/Secret Forest.

This drama is amoral, bizarre, and one of the most unpleasant dramas I've ever seen. I thought from the blurb it might be about vigilante justice, but it's not even about revenge as other reviewers are saying. Since each episode is set in a different school, the only ongoing character is the titular Nanno. She actually lures the characters into their misdeeds and therefore is partly responsible. She's not just exacting revenge on the behalf of others, she's a predator. This drama seems to be saying that there is no difference between thoughts and deeds, and if you think something evil then you deserve to be punished (I'm thinking of ep 2 & 3 here, not the first ep when the teacher had already been up to no good). Nanno has superhuman powers, we are given no background understanding of her, and she delights in her cruelty, laughing her gloating and mocking laugh at the climax of each episode. Put that together and one could say she's demonic. And therefore we can't identify nor sympathize with any character. This drama has no interest in showing the best of human nature, but rather how to solve problems in the most selfish and destructive way. Three episodes were enough for me and I don't see from reading reviews that it's going to get any better or be worthwhile seeing through.

The Vietnamese Sunny version is called Go-Go Sisters THÁNG NĂM RỰC RỠ. There are English subtitles available. All the other versions I mentioned have the same names.

For people who liked Sunny, there are also Japanese and Vietnamese remakes which are fairly good.
The Korean Little Forest is a remake of the Japanese original. The Korean version focuses more on friendship and fun, while the Japanese one has much more of a peaceful introverted feel (in fact is one of the most calming movies I know), and more focus on the various foods the main character makes (and it consists of two movies, so it's more than twice as long).
Thanks for your article.

Mana was a powerful actor when she was very young, natural and convincing, and filled up every scene. Unfortunately as she is now older, her style seems exaggerated and unnatural. Hopefully she will find a style that suits her as she is now in her teens.