Reviews

One of my beloved xianxia dramas

This is one of the dramas which I can recommend to others. I had quite high expectations for this drama and it delivered. Sometimes the CGI was a bit funny, but more often it was done so well. Also, I have enjoyed the costumes, soundtrack, story line, everything.

Spoiler
I appreciate the acting when both FL and ML characters switch! Many times you don't see it in the acting, but both of them played it so well! I was laughing so much :)
I don't enjoy the trope of one of the character dying even though we know that this character will come back at some point, but that' my only complain.

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A calm and warm watch about the modern life in Lhasa, Tibet

These past few years, we've been seeing more dramas about minority ethnic groups in C-drama land. The first and most popular among international audiences are, without a doubt, Meet Yourself and To the Wonder, but they're not the only ones. For a story about Tibetan people, there's City of Sunlight.

Don't be misled by the fact that you haven't heard of it. The teams behind and in front of the camera are very good, and like its more famous counterparts that benefit from the hype, they also provide a nice vibe and heartwarming family/community relationships, as well as stunning landscapes.

Perhaps one reason this show has gonne unnoticed is that the English translation of its name doesn't help, as you can find it listed as The City of Sunlight, City of Sunlight, and City of Daylight.

The Story

This production from 2024 is set in contemporary Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It's a slice of life drama that, through the relationships and conflicts between two generations of a Tibetan family, portrays the clash of old and modern mindsets, the daily life in Tibet - mainly in Lhasa - and the strong cultural heritage of this region.

In Tudeng's family, the eldest son wants to give up the security of a public office position to be an entrepreneur, the younger wants to quit his medical career to pursue a life as a Tibetan opera singer, and the daughter faces difficulties in her love life while being the heart and soul of the family after their mother passed away. Around them, other characters from the community and rural villages build quite a complete picture of intertwined stories that make you laugh, feel emotional and, perhaps, sometimes cry.

Highlights

The difference from To the Wonder or Meet Yourself is that City of Sunlight's point of view is totally local. There's no "foreigner" that arrives to the place to discover a different way of life and see things. Just as the drama Tales of Wumeng does with the Miao people, this is a local story told by locals.

Buddhism is omnipresent in the drama in a silent way, as a part of the daily lives of Tibetan people rather than shown as a touristic attraction on display. More often than not, these beliefs and symbols are shown but not explained, ranging from a picture on a wall to the magnificent Potala Palace reigning over the whole city.

In this regard, you can watch the drama as a casual viewer, but if you're interested in knowing a bit more of these hidden not-so-hidden hints, I made a post identifying and explaining them – without spoiling anything, of course. You can see them in Spotting Buddhist symbols and beliefs in Cdramas: Born to Be Alive & City of Sunlight

The cast is for the most part fantastic – half Han and half Tibetan –, the cinematography for both indoor and outdoor spaces is beautiful, and the storytelling is overall good. I have some caveats about how the last episodes chose to tell the closing part of the stories but that doesn't affect the overall experience.

I especially love the optimistic and energetic opening and closing credits, singing in Mandarin and Tibetan and talking about the characters. That´s why I used it in this post, although the quality isn’t the best.

FINAL THOUGHTS

City of Sunlight is a calm and warm watch, wrapped in 21 episodes, ideal for those interested in learning about Tibet, its culture and its people in an engaging and light way. It's also a good pick to have at hand as a palate cleanser or a rest between heavy and more dense dramas.

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Interesting Premise but the need for a sequel lets it down.

Where do I begin?
I started this show due to a reel. Admittedly I was also curious because I have watched different dramas of the Female Leads.
It started off well enough, had a cheating subplot that added some character struggle and ethical dilemma(more on this, the show had another brilliant dilemma that they washed under the rug).
But as another viewer pointed out, the "girl boss" drama was only girl boss for 33% of the time. The first two and the last two episodes. The middle? Had the Female leads run around in circles only saved by the Cop husband, the hacker guy, or the antihero fiancé. I was quite disappointed with it honestly. But minor issue I thought at the time.
Up until the major ethical dilemma arises, around episode 10, the story was great. It had issues, emotional struggle, the whole shebang associated with lawyer dramas. Episode 11 and 12 was when the story went for a toss. Maybe they wanted to resolve the ethical dilemma; maybe they wanted another season; maybe they realised that the drama was centred around women actually coming out on top. Whatever be the case, the ending was rushed. The minor ethical dilemma glossed over. Characters killed offscreen. Episode 12 made me skip several times because of how I disliked how it handled complex issues.
The actors were great, the visuals really nice, and pacing was decent too.
Honestly, there's several stuff in the drama that begs further questioning. Quite a bit of issues that we as a society need to think off. Regardless this drama is a one time watch. Hopefully any further seasons fixes how the first one ended.

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I quite liked this drama, but I am giving some minus points for the story. I didn't like that much the FL character (I like Esther Yu, I think she acts really well), the way she was written, some of her reactions give me "pick me girl" vibe sometimes and I didn't like that.

Spoiler
I didn't mind the break up, but the way how the FL was lying about getting married, then generating the wedding invitation with AI (like excuse me it was so obvious, the image quality of that "photo" was so bad), was cringe. At this point I was speed watching and skipping a bit, the ending could have been a bit shorter.

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NOTHING almost makes sense, but worth it

THE FIRST THING to remember about this series is that this is a complete farce and fantasy.

Nearly nothing at all is remotely close to how things happen in organised crime and security service in real life.

So just watch it for the lads and passion between them. The series provides that a hundred percent (this is the opposite to what you see in eunuch bromances that pretend to be BL series like 2gether).

The only truly bad thing about the series is the endless propaganda of tobacco and alcohol, which are not only disgusting and detrimental for looks and general health, but are banned for high performance workers like bodyguard everywhere, including gangs. The speed and accuracy of reaction and endurance, tenacity degrade drastically.

Reality check is in a big comment with spoiler tag below.

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Wow. Feral Energy alert.

Childhood sweethearts, family vendettas, and the kind of kissing that makes you put your phone down just to process.

Let's skip the plot. You don't need the plot. The plot is: family drama, secret marriage, revenge feelings, love feelings, chaos. Fine. Whatever.
What you actually need to know is that the ML and FL have the kind of chemistry that makes you feel like a voyeur through your own phone screen.
He's rough with everyone. Sharp edges, cold eyes, zero patience for the world.
Then she walks in.
And he goes soft.
Not weak. Not suddenly a different person. Just, soft. Like someone turned the volume down on everything dangerous about him specifically for her.
Meanwhile she's timid with everyone else. Quiet. Careful.
Then someone threatens him.
And she becomes a completely different problem.
They don't just have chemistry. They orbit each other. Every scene together has gravitational pull. The way he gazes at her like she's the only solid thing in his world. The way her hands find him like muscle memory. The kisses aren't just kisses — they're the physical conclusion of every loaded glance that came before them.
Childhood sweethearts who finally get here? After everything their families put them through?
The sucking of face was EARNED.
Perfect for: Anyone who needs proof that chemistry is a force of nature not a script note.
Skip if: You need your leads to have normal human body temperatures around each other.
Chemistry Rating: 🧲🧲🧲🧲🧲
Soft For Her Rating: 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
Kissing Earned: ✅✅✅✅✅

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A story about female friendship disguised as a legal/ company drama.

Just finished too! Really loved the ending! Tbh I feel like this was basically a drama about the friendship of 4 young women and a little girl 🥹🥹🥹 All the company stuff also happened but basically it was all just a side story or a tool to bring these women together. Thats how I interpret it! 😂😂😂
It was definitely one of the best dramas this year so far. I give it a 9/10. The only thing that bugged me a bit was that some plot lines about the company got too specific and complicated, for example that one part when they are trying to trick Albert’s father with some old bills in Myeongdong??? What was all that about??? I seriously didn’t understand even a bit of that 😂😂😂
I was also sad that Albert and Miss Hong didn’t end up together!!! I need to stalk this actor now because he is hella fine!!!! His lips and his voice omg!!!! 😍😍😍I wanted to see more of him!
I also wanna see more of the actress that played Kang Nora! She was amazing as well as her mom!!! Loved these so much!!! Such an amazing drama about women power!!!! Love love love it!!!! Who run the world?

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It's definitely something

Honestly this drama isn't for the faint of heart if u don't like AI futuristic near horroe shows don't watch this. The story follows a woman who uses a virtual reality boyfriend simulator to go on dates with picture perfect men but feeling she's part of a commodity of women and just another number she goes a steo further and creates a perfect ideal man who a large survey but then this giu she created looks exactly like a coworker who she then dates and he finds out and within 2 episodes forgives her and continues the relationship?

Well this is very weird,i know it's a tv show we can't take it and apply it to the logics of the real world but it's very creepy. Imagine if that concept was gender bent or happened in the real world ?
the backlash? the horror? the disgust? i would even pursue criminal charges.

But it's a show that's supposed to be romantic and carefree so we can't take it to heart. I think the story wasn’t that bad no need for 10 episodes tho could have been 8 because it got draggy in the end. Furthermore it's an okay show would never rewatch it under normal circumstances tho. Also i think i am one of the few people ho thought Jisoo did a good job? she wasn't bad at all pretty good and I'm an ARMY . In the end i think inrated it high because i enjoyed the fact it was a different concept then what we were used to.

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INSANE CASTING!!!!

I've watched the anime, read the manga, and I have been a fan for over a decade now - THEY DID SUCH A GREAT JOB WITH THE SEASON 2. Though, there were some changes of the plot, like laboon's island, and in this live action, they just changed it instead into luffy recommending the idea. What they did was kinda' understadable though, it would be so hard to do with the whole island inside Laboon's mouth. ALSO!!! I love how they added more conversation between the crewmembers which the anime now is lacking, since the anime now is mostly action packed, we all missed the canons when they are just having fun as a crew and i'm so glad to see it being fulfilled here in the live action.

There might be comments saying this season is underwhelming, but I would say that it's just a perfect fit since skypeia and water 7 will be CRAZY to be both in 3rd season.

OVERALL, I LOVE THIS SEASON SO MUCH, and I binged watch it right after it dropped earlier. Luffy kind of cringe still, but that's part of his personality. THOUGH, I wish they could've made my Sanji a little bit simp and there's way too much aura farming with zoro for these first 2 seasons, give him some funny scenes man - they already killed it in the anime, don't do the same for the live action.

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Cutesy romcom

I loved the idea of the whole storyline; it’s quite original and fun. Honestly I feel like they should’ve tried harder with kyeongnam and mirae’s story cause some of the ‘virtual boyfriend’ had more spark compared to them *cough* eunho *cough*. This is the first kdrama of jisoo that i’ve watched, her acting is okay (not great on crying scenes, and some are a bit much, but overall pretty expressive). Inguk is wonderful at micro expressions, despite only getting a full story at the 2 last episodes he still managed to steal my attention.

Also wanted to point out that some people probably have problems with the virtual world cgi, but I think it’s perfectly hyper-realistic, matches well with the theme.

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A very cute (but very slow-burning) romance with Mek and Mark.

Sequel to Star & Sky: Sky in My Mind

PLOT: After his accident, Fah and his friends are sent to do community service in a remote mountain village. There, they meet a volunteer teacher, Prince. A rocky start for the city kids. Fah gradually falls for Prince, but traumatized by his ex, he hesitates to move forward. Later, Prince contracts malaria and is sent to the hospital under his ex's protection... Bridges are burned. But there's a surprising final twist and HE.

+++ Mek and Mark make a lovely, very convincing couple. Mark doesn't seem very comfortable in intimate scenes, but this is his first series :)
+++ Realistic story (except in the last few episodes)
+++ Weird OSTs

### Fah is annoying with his constant dithering, and there are too many twists in the last two episodes.

=> A nice continuation of the series, but not memorable either.
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Romance très cute (mais très slow-burn) avec Mek et Mark
Suite de Star & Sky : Sky in My mind

PLOT: Après son accident, Fah et ses amis sont envoyés faire des TIG dans 1 village reculé de montagne. Ils y rencontrent 1 prof volontaire, Prince. Débuts compliqués pr les citadins. Fah tombe peu à peu sous le charme de Prince, mais trauma avec son ex, il hésite à aller de l'avant. Prince attrape la malaria, est envoyé sous la protect° de son ex à l’hôpital ... Les ponts sont coupés. Mais twist final surprenant et HE.

+++ Mek et Mark forment un joli couple, très convaincant. Mark ne semble pas très à l'aise dans les scènes intimes, mais ce sont ses 1e séries :)
+++ Story réaliste (sauf ds les derniers épisodes)
+++ OSTs chelou

### Fah agaçant à tjs tergiverser et trop de twists dans les 2 derniers épisodes.

=> Continuation sympa de la série, mais pas mémorable non plus.

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