Reviews

For mature audience (not in a sexy way)

PSA: One thing that I really appreciate on MDL is that little thing called "tags". It helps you know what you're getting into before deciding to watch a show. Sometimes, I feel they are misused (I had a little rant about it already actually). But most often, they are used the right way. For example, for this drama, you can clearly see "extramarital affair" as a tag, this will help you know if this is catered to you or not. Take me for example, I wouldn't watch a drama with the tag "heavy torture", then give it a 1star and complain about all that torture in the show. Why? Because that would be immature, and irrational.

This show is about real people, living real situations. It's not a romcom, it's a drama, as in, heavy themes being employed here. It's really well acted, produced and written. I found the story absolutely compelling. All the characters were very 3D, and their motives made all the sense in the world. This type of story is very common place actually, even though it remains a taboo topic (illegitimate children being raised in the household). I am not a cinema buff, but even I was able to appreciate the cinematography. I also never really pay attention to the music, and this time around I was hearing it and appreciating it (the use of happy music in very bittersweet moments for example).
What I mostly care about in dramas are the acting and the story. I already gave my opinion on the story, very good.
As for the acting, all the actors did a really good job, especially the two leads. I've known Tanaka Kei from Ossan's Love, let me tell you, this guy can act. You will see a completely different character, deeper, darker and also more restrained. But Matsumoto Wakana (FL) definitely gave him a run for his money, she is great in this.

IN SUMMARY: Watch this if (1) you are a grown up who wants to see grown ups going through grown up things, (2) you know fiction is supposed to make us think of situations that may or may not have happened, so that we can walk a mile in someone else's shoes, (3) you're just a cheating cheater who cheats ;D
PS: there are worse things someone can do to their spouse than cheating. Like raping them for example. Just sayin'

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A fake competition

What did I just watch?
After the worldwide success that "KinnPorsche" was for Be On Cloud, someone inside the company... mainly CEO Pond, decided to create a "reality" competition between aspiring actors with zero or very little experience in order to find the "new" couple to be the leads in the next Be On Cloud series... and let me tell you, this competition was a complete and utter disaster and here's why:

1. What was the point of dividing the show in different chapters? If they are looking for actors, shouldn't they be training with the acting coach like they did in the final episodes or at least doing acting workshops with different scenarios to see if they can act? The answer of course is a NO because CEO Pond decided to craft this mess of a show with the first episodes dedicated to the "The Hidden Story" where one character did something wrong in their past and the others had to guess who it was. Of course, we found out very questionable behavior from some of them like being homophobic or hitting their father (albeit it was apparently in self-defense). We also got the usual sad stories to bring tears to our eyes about a sick family member, a family having economic issues, etc. These episodes were a waste of time as we couldn't see any acting skills at all. Maybe they were preparing for a future scandal like the accusations against Build and his resignation from the company by revealing all the issues from most of the cast members of this show.

2. I know Be On Cloud is riding the "KinnPorsche" success train as much as they can but the whole show centered around it. Having Mile as host was fine (more on him later) but bringing nearly the entire cast to play silly games in the second part of the show was another waste of time. Perth, Us, Bas, Nodt, Barcode, and the others, appeared to play dumb games and provide nothing useful. Bible was a mentor alongside Apo in episode 9 and Bas, Nodt and Tong came in for episode 10 but they barely had an interesting or helpful comment to give. Apo was the exception as he either was in a really bad mood or was told to play the strict judge as his comments were sometimes too harsh and picky in some of the re-enacted scenes. And, speaking of those scenes... more "KinnPorsche" as all the cast members had to re-enact scenes from the series in another mistake. Why not have them act their own scenes? That will show adaptability, creativity and flexibility... but instead, we had awkward moments like Apo stopping a scene because it was so bad (in his opinion) or New looking like a crazy man imitating Bible's character Vegas, but doing it wrong.

3. The final portion had the real acting part that should have been the center of the show. The re-enacted scenes were not properly executed but some were nice surprises like the chemistry between Mio and Bump and JJ and Fuaiz acting skills (with JJ being a complete rookie). However, episode 11 was a mess as it was done live and apparently very difficult to watch on IQIYI for international viewers. Plus, it was incredibly rushed as the episode was probably the shortest with around 45 minutes compared to the others that had between 65 and 70 minutes... So, we saw poor Barcode singing his new (and self-composed) song only for him to be nearly kicked out of the stage at the end without even saying thank you so Mile could read the final results. The judges gave a few comments after each of the final scenes were shown but they were also rushed as time was ticking. We knew 1 couple was going to be eliminated before the episode even began and New and Jet were left out of the episode entirely as they had the lowest votes and didn't even get the chance to appear on screen and look sad for being eliminated. In addition, the voting system was a confusing and a questionable one... the explanation on how to vote and the charges for voting were explained in a super long on-screen segment that aired once on every episode starting from episode 7. Mile looked completely lost during some of the episodes as he looked like he was forced to read a script and tried to find dramatic moments to make it more interesting and his personality was not exactly one cut to the show's MC as he was not really energetic or engaged. He didn't vote in the final episodes so he was just there to tell us the results and look handsome on TV.

4. The final decision of who was going to win was most likely made when Ta appeared as a guest in episode 2 and then was added as a cast member soon after. He already had the "KinnPorsche" fame and a steady fanbase, so this show was almost meant to find him a suitable BL partner for the next series as if he was taking the baton from Mile and Apo. Copper selected Ta in a clever strategy as Copper seemed to be such a fake character who was only interested in winning and could not stop smiling all the time. Him and Ta were definitely the WORST acting couple of the remaining three but were chosen as the winners with a ridiculous number of votes because of Ta's huge fanbase and, apparently, all of Copper's family and friends who spent millions of Baht voting for him. In a weird moment of the voting system, Mile said the votes will reset to zero after eliminating New and Jet... which was fine. However, during the 1st couple's re-enactment, the number of votes were put on-screen and Copper had already over 19,000 votes and Ta had over 2,000 votes, compared to JJ who only had around 200 in similar trend with the others... so, no idea how someone got so many votes so fast. The fact that they won 500,000 Baht, a cover in a Thai magazine and the right to star in the next BOC series seems a bit unfair when Ta was already part of "KinnPorsche" and BOC and Copper felt so fake during the whole show.

5. That was the same fake perception I got from other cast members... Jet had already been part of several BLs in another company but for some reason decided to join this project and he was shown as being on his last chance to succeed in the industry along with the fact that his mother is (or was) very sick and he needed/wanted to help.
Mio and Bump (and even Ta during episode 10) said they were more interested in singing than acting so I had no idea why they were there. I know other musicians like Jeff Satur has done the same and Mio apparently worships Jeff, but if you are going to start a career that you don't seem to want, why bother and why bother us?
CEO Pond got his dramatic TV moment when he got super angry at Mio during episode 7 for him supposedly being late and not practicing one day. I mean, he clearly overreacted for dramatic purposes but Mio's heart seemed to be in his music and not in acting from the first place... even if he was good during some of the scenes they had to act.
Other characters like New, Perth and Copper seemed fake from the get go and I was never able to decide if they were lying or telling the truth. Max was cute but super green, Fuaiz apparently was a child actor, Woody was openly gay so, of course, the show had to showcase that before he was eliminated.

In the end, this "show" was a sad attempt to find Ta a partner and to keep riding the success of "KinnPorsche"... the results seemed fixed, the show was not that entertaining and the cast members really didn't showcase their acting skills until the final episodes and, when they did, it was by being forced to re-enact scenes from BOC's only successful show so far. Hopefully, possible talents like JJ and Fuaiz and possible future singers like Mio and Bump don't go to waste and find success somewhere else because I'm sure BOC is not the answer for them.

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Revenge First, Love Later (Actually… Revenge Always)

Oki, where to start with this.

First of all: Yu Xuan Chen as the ML? Never in doubt. The man showed up, delivered, and suffered beautifully.
This is my third project with this FL and I’m officially sold—she did great. Together they’re painfully good-looking, very stand in dramatic lighting while secrets loom energy.

Now the dynamic, because it’s deliciously unbalanced. I love a yearning ML, and this man is down bad. Meanwhile, the FL has exactly one brain cell and it is labeled REVENGE, so she keeps throwing him under the bus like it’s an Olympic sport. He never catches a break. And yet—he loves her unconditionally. Through lies, schemes, and emotional hit-and-runs. Tragic. Beautiful. I sighed loudly.

The chemistry is there, but the spice is low—and that fits. This was never about flirty fireworks. It’s about pain, loyalty, and emotional suffering with good lighting. Even the kisses reflect that: not awkward, just… not exactly scorching either.

Pacing-wise, ep.1–20 work well, especially since the ML figures out her real identity early. Immediate tension upgrade, no clueless era. Love that.
But around ep.21/22 the story starts dragging. Once the big reveals are out, the conflict stops escalating and just… loops. This did not need to be 30 episodes. Airing viewers suffered. Bingers might survive.

One thing that really doesn’t help the pacing is the excessive use of flashbacks. For a drama with already short episodes, it leans on them far too often, sometimes in very questionable moments—yes, even during intimate scenes. Nothing kills momentum quite like cutting away mid-emotion to replay something we’ve already seen.

Of course, the classic mini-drama tropes are present: revenge/rebirth, childhood connection, ML who’s loved her forever while hurting her to protect her, etc. The last two tropes need a decade-long nap because if I never see them again, it would still be too soon. Budget limitations are very visible, but I’m forgiving with mini dramas—they tend to be bolder, messier, and more fun than full-length dramas that play it safe.

Yes, most side characters are underdeveloped and comically decorative, but this is a short, punchy watch—not a character study dissertation. It knows what it is and commits.

Final thoughts: I was really into this for the first two-thirds. Then it becomes a dragged, messy spiral that makes you mad because the FL clearly outclasses the villains. Add the ML into the mix and the bad guys should’ve been DONE—yet we keep the charade going for no reason. As a revenge story, not very satisfying.

Still messy, still dramatic, still enjoyable in parts, and yes, a happy ending for the leads :)
Consume at your own risk 😉

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I would have loved to give this show a higher score, but there were just too many things that got on my nerves far too often! Choi Siwon is my favorite Korean celebrity, so he's the only reason I decided to watch the show. But there were many times I had to stop and take a break. It took me months to watch it all. Sometimes it was because things had just slowed down too much.

But mostly it was because of Lee Siyoung's character. I don't think I've ever seen such a pathetic, stupid and aggravating female lead - especially in an action drama. I remember stopping the media player on many occasions just completely overwhelmed with how annoying that character was. I mean, usually in action dramas I've seen (like Iris...which might be why I was so dissatisfied) the female lead has some spunk and is actually intelligent. But this character was so weak and just kept making absolutely idiotic decisions which could never have been made in a real life situation. I enjoy the fantasy of dramas and can take a sufficient amount of ludicrous scripting knowing it's not real. But this character would NEVER EVER exist in a real criminal investigation. Granted it was the script that did that, but Lee Siyoung comes off as a weak actress to me as well. I will avoid anything she does in the future because of this performance. She's the reason why I can't give a higher acting and overall score because that character just left a sour taste in my mouth after every single episode.

The plot was not too bad. The story was very different from what I've seen in the past. In fact, there were some really nice twists at the end too. There are also a lot of deep emotions in the story, which are expressed well enough by the actors. On a few occasions the acting was quite superb. I do recommend the show to anyone who wants to watch Choi Siwon's development as a actor; he was quite good in a number of scenes. Most of the actors were pretty good actually. Recognizing the comic relief characters early on helped me to be less judgmental of their odd performances and to enjoy them for what they were. A lot of the older male actors were quite good, especially the villains.

The timing and directing at times was unbearable. Especially in the lagging middle of the show and the last 30 minutes of the finale. A number of plot points and characters were never given the attention they deserved, or introduced just to be summarily forgotten about or never resolved in the end. But it's K-Drama, so a certain amount of that is to be expected.

There were some very memorable songs in the show though. Super Junior's Kyuhyun sings a great ballad. During the sappy "love" scenes, his voice got me through it! :)

I'd never rewatch this drama. And I'd only recommend it to die-hard K-Drama Action lovers (for the plot's uniqueness and for the quality of the villains) or for anyone who wants to really trace Choi Siwon's acting. Oh My Lady! wasn't so good...But I'm happy to say that after watching Poseidon, you can see he's got some real acting talent somewhere in him. When that talent came out on occasion, it was really surprising and enjoyable to watch.

So watch it if you planned to...but don't be too surprised when it really sucks for a while at least once an episode.

Then again, if you're a more forgiving person (especially when it comes to disappointing and annoying female leads), you'd probably quite like Poseidon!

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The story

Based on a book and on a real life empress, Princess Wei Young depicts the fight of a woman for justice and her love for a man that loved her back in equal measure despite the political plots, vengeful twists and turns and machinations to keep them apart. The drama however masked under a quest for vengeance is a pursuit of happiness in the form of love, greed, revenge, ambition and desire for power which contrasts with the reality of ancient times where love didn't rule the world and women were nothing more than possessions to be disposed off by their fathers into marriage to strengthen their family's power.

The characters and performances

Wei Young is an interesting character albeit mellow and reactive; she's doesn't set the pace, she follows it. She's soft even when she can't be bordering on aloofness, a contradistinction with her strength and drive on paper and most likely with her real life persona. Wei Young ought to be fierce, driven, determined, proactive and engaging, but she's not yet somehow despite the flaws the character is likeable.

Touba Jun looked most often than not a lovesick man pining for the woman he loves. Without the period wardrobe he would be just another contemporary man running after his love. For a male lead he lacks spunk which might be attributed to how the character was written or how the director wanted it to be performed. Regardless Touba Jun is visually appealing to watch on screen therefore what is lost in character is gained in beauty, not entirely a bad thing if the drama was a period adaptation of Boys over flowers in the palace.

Chang Ru and Touba Yu are machiavellian scene steallers. Chang Ru is a weed pretending to be a naive flower that uses people to accomplish her own personal agenda without them knowing about it. Clever, manipulative and ambituous, she's an expert at deception like Touba Yu, the man she loves; the man that wants Wei Young. Both characters are complex and have such a strong presence on screen, that is fascinating to watch despite all their plotting and coniving misdeeds.

The music

The opening theme is A-Lin's A Moment ir Romance, a sweet ballad about loving someone until one has to say goodbye, wanting to be together. The closing theme, Gifted is sang by Princess Wei Young's leads Tang Yan and Luo Jin. Both reflect the story well and are sang beautifully.

Overall

An interesting story with a good cinematography, well crafted and visually stunning that is both enganging and moving, despite the flaws of the lead characters, that acted more like secondary characters in their own story. Someone's loss is another person's gain and Chang Ru and Touba Yu took the opportunity prsented to them and showcased episodes of pure magnetism on screen, therefore, for all the above I rate it 7 out of 10.

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I was actually hesitant to start this drama because the storyline didn't seem all too intriguing to me. However, I love Kim Bum so I forced myself to start it. The drama actually captured my attention more than I thought it would. The acting was really good and even though elements of it were similar to other dramas, I don’t think I’ve actually watched one that seemed that similar to it. Plus, the story line is fairly realistic in this era as more and more women are becoming more career-oriented and possibly giving up their love lives like the three main women do in this drama. The only thing that I disliked about the drama was the whole flamenco dancing story line. When you watch it, you'll understand -- I don't want to go into too much detail about it because it'll give too much away. But other than that, this drama brought a lot of laughs as well as connections with the characters.

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Heart Fluttering & Comfort show.

I loved this show so much. I mean the storyline is so simple and showcased in such a grounded manner that you instantly fall in love with.

I love the cast and their chemistry is top notch. Everytime they both come on the screen my heart flutters. I also love the simplicity of their characters.

Their is no dragging, no confusions, no overdramatic scenes. They like each other, they feel it and accept it.

Side cast has also done a good job and their characters are also likeable like other persons in our life.

Talking about OST - Good ✔️
Cinematography - Good ✔️
Storytelling - Good ✔️
Cast - Excellent ✔️
Acting & Chemistry - Superb ✔️
This show has become my one of the comfort shows.

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Another Jealous Love Rivals Drama

Frankly speaking, I think I chose the wrong drama to watch right after completing Rebirth For You. There are similarities in both with jealousy being a big part of their plot. The only reason I gave A Camellia Romance a slightly higher score is because the drama is much shorter. As such, it is more tolerable as there is only so much jealous third parties that you can take in a story.

I guess if you see this as a filler drama with low expectations given the not so popular cast, then perhaps you might enjoy it better. But if you start hoping for originality and really fluffy romance, this would be a disappointment. It has shades of a rom-com but it is definitely not a angst-free watch like General’s Lady or even Your Sensibility My Destiny. The reason is simple – it uses jealous love rivals to drive the show.

Cliche Plot (Spoilers Alert!)
Basically, A Camellia Romance is about a rich and handsome young man who is a great catch for a husband. However, he only has eyes for one woman who is the love of his life. So, what you will get is 3 jealous women going after our hero with each subsequent one being a bigger threat than the one before. The first woman is the man’s cousin and she appears from Episode 7 to 9. The second one went to school with him and she takes the spotlight from Episode 13 to 17. The last one is a ruthless princess and she wreaks havoc for the main couple from Episode 20 to 24.

On top of that, you will also have a jealous childhood friend of the female lead who can’t stop eyeing her for himself when he appears from Episode 5 onwards. Hence, you can see clearly the focus of this drama. It is all about 4 people breaking the couple apart because they want the man or woman for themselves. These schemes are interspersed with sweet interactions between the leads and the investigation into the male lead’s father’s death.

I think the kisses and sweet moments of the couple do help to make this rom-com more watchable. At least, there are enough of these scenes to balance things out a little because the endless jealousy is annoying to watch. However, it also doesn’t detract from the fact that A Camellia Romance is another rom-com with a cliche plot of jealous love rivals with their wily schemes.

An Independent Female Lead
If there is one good thing worth mentioning about this drama, it would perhaps be the female character, Chun Chun. She is a very independent and assertive lady with an ambition of building her own business. While she is not as matured and smart as the female lead in Jun Jiu Ling, at the very least, she is not someone who is timid and waiting to be rescued. Chun Chun is a woman who knows what she wants and go for it.

As for the male character, he is smart but also tends to hide problems from his beloved in the name of love and protection. You will find this in many romance dramas and the male lead does this a few times in A Camellia Romance. I get why he does it but then, you will also start to feel that all these is yet another romance drama trope that you have watched time and time again if you are an avid Chinese drama viewer.

Chemistry
Guo Zi Fan and Li Mo Zhi have somewhat good chemistry as romantic on-screen partners. To me, it is good enough for a low budget rom-com. If they could feed off each other’s energy better to up the chemistry to a sizzling level, perhaps the drama could be more highly rated. After all, there is no shortage of kisses and hugs for this couple.

Personally, Li Mo Zhi looks slightly more matured than Guo Zi Fan at times in this drama. This is not surprising as she is 4 years older than him in real life. It doesn’t exactly mar the couple’s visuals but you don’t get the feeling that this is a perfect match either unlike the Liang Jie and Xing Zhao Lin pairing in The Eternal Love Season 3 and Dilraba Dilmurat and Leo Wu in The Long Ballad. Simply put, they are passable as a main couple but doesn’t leave a lasting impression once the story comes to an end.

My Verdict – Nothing Special
I have to admit that love triangles and jealousies are not my cup of tea for a romance drama. Hence, I find it annoying watching A Camellia Romance especially towards the last quarter when there have been other possessive love rivals gracing the screen for most of the episodes. So, I’m also thankful that they have kept this short rather than dragging it out for more delusional jealousy and angst for the viewers.

Of course, you might have a different view if you do not share the same bias as me. Furthermore, the ending is nicely wrapped up with no complications or confusion for the viewers. It has a predictable ending but I dare say it is also what most romance drama fans would like to see when the curtain comes down.

Before I end this A Camellia Romance review, perhaps a word of warning would be good. This is not a pure fluff romance drama in case you are looking for one. There will be annoyances and angsts. You might also plough on once you start because you want to see the villains getting just desserts for their evil schemes to break up a loving couple. So, whether you like it or not, you could end up sitting through it because you want the feel good factor of seeing the villains punished even if the story isn’t that great to begin with.

Overall, I would give A Camellia Romance a 6.5/10 score for this review. I don’t think I can rate it any higher give the cliches and a very average production. I guess it is still watchable if you don’t mind the jealousy theme. Otherwise, it is really a waste of time if there are other dramas on your ‘To Watch’ list.

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Is The Crowning Fair?

So the first season of Kingdom (Road to Kingdom) was a lot more of an even playing field. That much was certain when going into this second season. RTK had groups that had semi-established fan bases, but nothing too crazy where they could blow each other out of the water with those votes. Kingdom didn't have this same concept, since obviously certain groups were wayyyy more popular via fan voting than others. Stray Kids was always going to win in that category no matter what, just look at their numbers! If those fan voted sections hadn't counted so much it wouldn't of felt so much like a popularity contest, but it did and it paid off I guess because they won.

To be clear, I'm not saying Stray Kids didn't deserve their win. They worked very hard and had some really solid stages! However, many MANY people watching were under the same assumption that either Ateez or The Boyz were going to win (mostly Ateez) because of how well they were doing! Stray Kids honestly didn't have the best votes among the judges, so that's why it felt so uneven. Either way though, this second season had some amazing performances come out of it! Ones that stood out for me were:

-Ateez "Wonderland" with that kraken arm, like dang that was incredible
-The Boyz doing "The Stealer" with the ballet breakdown
-The trio duet doing that IU song, beauteous harmonies
-Stray Kids doing the deadpool tribute performance
-SF9 doing Taemin's "MOVE" which was so sexy

I hope for future seasons they even out the playing field more for these groups!

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TL;DR? This drama is beyond amazing. It was so much fun with the right touch of mystery, sadness and action.

I was in the midst of a pretty intense Kdrama slump when I started this drama. I am a huge Lee Seung Gi fan, and Cha Seung Won as Dokko Jin in The Greatest Love is one of my all time favorite male characters ever. And they definitely do not disappoint in this drama!

I think what surprised me the most about this drama was just how easily it was able to blend all of the different aspects of the show together. It was sad, but also funny, and then there were plenty of action scenes that ramped up the anxiety from time to time. There were several episodes that would take you from crying to laughing to gripping the edge of your seat, only to start all the way back at the beginning again.

The characters in this were all brilliant. Dae Gu was a stuck up jerk, suffering from a tragic past with a giant chip on his shoulder. Seo Pan Suk was the grouchy leader, unwilling to take a bunch of newbies under his wing. They both suffered from scars of their own, and it was just amazing to watch their chemistry together on screen. Soo Sun was a clutzy ditz, absolutely brimming with sincerity. Park Tae Il was charming and Ji Kook was a dorky, sweet guy. You couldn't help but love all of them and want for all of them to succeed.

I don't usually pay much attention to music in dramas, but I can't even begin to say how happy I was at the end of episode 1 when My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade came on. It was poignant commentary on the whole situation, and it really was the perfect ending note for the episode.

I will say that I don't watch cop dramas, so if you also don't watch cop dramas, I hope that that doesn't keep you from trying this one out. While there was quite a bit to do with illegal activity and stake outs and arrests, it was so much more than that.

Seriously, watch this drama!

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Didn't follow the original Manhua

Initially, I was extremely happy and excited that they were gonna make a live adaptation of my all time fave manhua.
It started of good, like they kinda followed the storyline in the manhua. But gradually, I think the director had no intention of making it into a BL based drama. He just wanted to focus only on unrequited love, straight relationships, high school cliches, blah, blah.
God, I was so frustrated at the end of ep9.
Believe me, guys. I was extremely hooked and patient with this drama, for a whole lot of 8 episodes. I thought that maybe, they would focus entirely on Heesu and Seung Won's relationship for the next two episodes.
But, I was extremely mistaken.
Well, in the end, I really wanna say that, they have fully and utterly, disrespted the original manhua.
Guys, believe me, the manhua is so good.
If you guys have some time, checkout the manhua and if you're really a fan of highschool crushes and cliches and frustration, you may enjoy this series.

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I dropped this drama after 20 episodes, and several weeks later decided to give it another chance and finish it. Some people did love this drama so I just want to offer my differing opinion. I've also added a comment using the spoiler tag that specifies many of the moments that drove me crazy in this drama.

I can't stand how the male lead, Wei Qing, continuously manipulates the female lead. His actions are indefensible and go too far, again and again, but I continued on because the female lead, Zhou Shi, has a backbone. She calls him out on it and those scenes were very satisfying. She is gullible and not the brightest, but she stands up for herself and sticks to her principles. But then he toys with her again. I find him to be very condescending, and as their relationship changes throughout the drama, including an employer-employee relationship, there is always a power imbalance with him having the upper hand. She even says this at one point - but waaay too late in the drama for it to be developed upon. Even near the end, he has his assistant lie to her! Also, she is an art student but for most of the drama I felt like I didn't know what her own goals were.

The conflict with the male lead's mother felt too contrived. Her words were so harsh and every time they show the flashbacks I cringed. It's not that I don't believe a mother can hate her own son, but I just never felt like I understood it. There are also scenes that are completely nonsensical - for example, when the Wei Qing's uncle invites all his ex-girlfriends to the fancy business event. And it seemed like they didn't know how to fill the episodes at the end and decided to totally change Zhang Shuai's character to add an obstacle?? There were also certain storylines that were underdeveloped or just abruptly ended.

On a positive note, I liked the friendship between Zhou Shi, Fei Fei, and Qiu Jing. They are very different individuals but genuinely supportive of each other. Fei Fei and Qiu Jing gave Zhou Shi good advice and were honest with their concerns. Ming Cheng was also rather condescending to Zhou Shi (or maybe just treated her like a little sister), but I do like Qiu Jing and Ming Cheng's pairing. I didn't really care for the Fei Fei and Ning Fei pairing because, either because of his casting or wardrobe, he came across as a helpless, sheltered child too much.

Regarding the OST, upon further consideration, I do like the songs, it's just that I didn't like the drama so I don't think of the songs particularly fondly.

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For me this is the best Japanese teen romance story I have ever seen. With a great underlying detective story that we follow episode by episode with bated breath:) I couldn't wait for the episodes to be subbed and actually joined a subbing site just to down load the torrents!

Narumi Hikaru totally seduced me with his bad boy image, as he seduced Suga Mizuho. This is full of eye candy with up and coming Japanese actors I plan to see more of.

And it's short, episodes are only,(well MDL says 30) but I think they are only 25 minutes long.

Anyway Love Love It! it's a masterpiece..watch it :)

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