starswillshine

as a big fan of splash splash love, this special feels as though watching people I knew got together, grew older, and faced with realistic issues in life. a cute watch for sure and hope to see both of them again in a longer drama.

reminds me of kdrama rom coms a decade ago. cute, fluffy and stress-free watch!

surprisingly fun watch! it's cute and fluffy and a romcom that reminded me of chick flicks in the past!

Despite everything that Xiao Yu did, I had this feeling that Xiao Se didn't want him to die because Xiao Yu was still his younger brother (memory flashback to their childhood times when Xiao Se placed a coat over Xiao Yu when he was kneeling in the snow). Xiao Se wanted him to be punished for his offences but not to kill him there and there.

some wuxia might seem unrealistic but the jianghu in this wuxia makes me wanna be one of them.

I went to Liu He's museum in China (which was featured in this drama as well) three weeks ago after watching this drama (planned to visit there before I even watched this drama). I was glad that I had watched this drama before visiting as it gave much more insights to the artefacts in the museum. For those who don't know much of China's history, Liu He's life story in his drama was quite accurate (27 days of emperor, etc.) and many of the things that were featured in the drama were actually real artefacts.

I highly recommend everyon to visit his museum in China! His tomb had the largest collection of gold and coins ever discovered in China and seeing them in real life were super impressive. Imagine how rich he would be in today's world with the soaring high gold price haha.

there are many many normal length Chinese dramas out there that should be short length dramas. this is the exact opposite. this should be a normal length drama instead. this drama has multiple plot lines which would be much better if they are properly developed in a normal length drama. a lot of the characters and plot lines are underdeveloped which was a big waste of potential. it's still a pleasant watch as the characters are normal people and not the typical c dramas characters of prince, princess etc.

this drama will be much better if it's a full length 24 episodes drama instead of a short drama series. the plot was compromised as there was not enough time to fully elaborate the plot lines. I don't understand how the ML and FL fall in love with each other. it's too sudden even though both of them have incredible chemistry. the plot was also going downhill from the second half onwards because everyone became ridiculously stupid. and the underlying reason is because there wasn't enough time for everyone to appear smart and logical. it's a waste of potential as this drama was very very well filmed. it has one of the best cinematography I've seen in Chinese dramas. and the ML's acting was excellent

spoiler alert.

actually there's no need for the male lead to kill the midwife because even if she said the empress from the previous dynasty gave birth to a girl, this will actually prove that the male lead is not the offspring of the previous dynasty and no one can join the dots that the FL is the daughter because the only one who knows the swap of identity was the aunt who had died.

this is superb!!! this is even better than most of the S tiers Chinese dramas!!!

wow this drama is not for the faint hearted. I'm very surprised by the quality of production. one of my biggest pet peeves of c-dramas is the fake underwater / drenched scenes. I'm so surprised when I saw that there's no doubles used and no CG used for these scenes too. the abuse scenes are very real. the plot has its own logic, definitely not one that falls in love without any reason. the pace is good and addictive. it's a really really good production and will be a drama I will recommend to people for many years to come.

this drama is such a gem. I almost dropped it after three episodes but I'm so glad I didn't. the characters grow on me, and I feel connected to the universe. the plot thickens and suddenly I'm at episode 40. can't wait for season 2!!! a shout-out to Dylan Wang's performance, so full of life, so raw, and so convincing!

I think he's too good for the role as a second male lead in this drama...

I think he's too good for the role as a second male lead in this drama...

I love the Japanese version as the drama itself is a discussion on love, marriage, divorce and family. The Korean version felt like an interpretation or more like an answer to the questions raised in the Japanese version. The plot is similar to the Japanese version, with similar settings and even the same lines. I'm okay with it as it is a remake. As the Korean version is longer, there are things which are made to be different, such as the male lead, who has a dream to be a songwriter singer. The male lead in the Japanese version is a very extremely peculiar person. The Korean version adopts this peculiarity as one of the character's personality but it doesn't fit with the songwriter singer dream. The male lead is supposed to have an overwhelming passion about animals. However, it wasn't really portrayed as clearly in the Korean version. It's all okay until the Korean version used the same dialogue as the Japanese version about how the male lead kept a list of his top ten favourite animals. When I heard this, the Japanese version male lead appeared in my mind as only he will make such a list. The Korean version male lead didn't even appear in my mind as he doesn't really portray as a person who will write such a list annually. I feel that the Korean version will be better if they can change some of the lines to better suit the characters they designed.

Unexpectedly enjoyable. It feels like a cup of hot chocolate in a cold and frigid winter. I can understand why the ratings are low as people won't be drawn to it within seconds. It's meant to be enjoyed in its entirety, from the start to the end. Character development is amazing. That's why I feel that this drama will be much better if its a movie. At least the audience will be much more appreciative of the plot.

Omg this was me back in 2017. I've
completed over 200 korean dramas at that point of time and I remembered it was January 2017. I was looking at the new dramas and nothing intrigued me. Absolutely nothing. And somehow, I chanced upon a mydramalist article and it recommended "Pride". Since I have nothing to watch, I watched it and I realised a world out of Korean dramas. Between 2017 and 2019, I watched over 200 Japanese dramas. You can call it a korean drama slump. But I think it's just too much of something sometimes and we just want something fresh. I'm gradually returning to korean dramas just 5 months ago. However, I don't think I'm out of the korean drama slump yet but I think I don't pressurise myself in watching korean dramas. It's okay for me not to know the latest dramas or the watched the most popular drama anymore. And I think it helps.

This drama is so damn good. Like. SO DAMN GOOD. Until the last 30min of the drama which is good but there isn't a smooth transition to that part which is a slight disappointment. However, it doesn't affect the joy that I had binge watching the drama. I was honestly impressed by Jang Dong Yoon's acting in the second half of the drama. His emotions were so raw and conflicted. I could see his anger and sadness in his tears. I could see his anguish in his eyes. I could feel his love for Kim So Hyun in the drama.

I don't think anyone can pull of Nokdu as well as him. Although the first half of the drama is funny and fresh, I prefer the much darker second half of the drama. It shows how much Nokdu is capable of and how much he could have achieved. I appreciate the scriptwriter's efforts in building up Nokdu character in such a manner because when everything is revealed, the pain that the characters had was so palpable.

I doubt I will be able to rewatch this drama in its entirety because the pain towards the last few episodes was just too much. However, that being said, this drama is worth every single minute of your time. Highly highly recommended.

It's from Ashita mo Kitto Kimi ni Koi wo Suru (2016). He looks extremely dreamy in the drama special and it makes me breathless HAHAHA.

I do agree that there is a shift in how 'ikemen' actors look like over the years.

Let's just name a few famous 90s Japanese 'ikemen' actors: Kimura Takuya, Karasawa Toshiaki, Sorimachi Takashi
Current 20s actors who resemble them (subjective) (which are not in the list): Chison Jun and Kaku Kento, Kentaro, Sato Kakeru (respectively)
In the list, Mackenyu and Higashide Masahiro bear some similarities to Matsumoto Jun (in my opinion).

There is a rise of 'salt face' in Japan and one of the famous representatives for this group is Sakaguchi Kentaro. I feel that 'salt face' reminds me more of Korean actors such as Nam Joo Hyuk and Seo Kang Joon. Perhaps this shows the shift in perspective in beauty.

There is nothing wrong with the change in beauty standards. Since there is no exact clone of a person right now, it is difficult for beauty standards to remain stagnant. For example, let's say that Kimura Takuya is the epitome of an ikemen in the 90s. At that time, people who resemble Kimura Takuaya were likely to be called ikemen. How many people in the 90s could look exactly like Kimura Takuya? None. However, there were people who looked like him but they had their own features which differ as well. As this progresses, the beauty standards would slowly evolve.

To me, Kimura Takuya is still the epitome of a good looking guy. Big and sharp eyes, sharp nose, chiseled jaws, full forehead and a great smile. Such features are still prized upon till today. From the list, although Mackenyu does not look like Kimura Takuya, he bears all these traits as well. Is he a classic beauty? Or is he a modern beauty? To me, all of these do not matter, he is simply a precious eye candy.