Reviews

It's like a warm hug.

I really wasn't expecting this series to be this good, I'm surprised that I'm enjoying it so much. It's simple yet enjoyable.

Sunwoo Hae is such an awesome character, He's been through so much hardship at such a young age and yet he's so sweet and caring I truly love this man.

Seong Jeyeon is too cute for words truly Sunwo's perfect match.

Taerin is hilarious! every single scene she's in is a joy to watch, especially the bickering with Sunwoo.

Kim Seokju is the best characters with the best personality and is bot getting enough screen time.

I'm loving this series more and more with each episode and I hope to god that it doesn't go downhill at the end.🤞🏼

I'm not even done with episode 5 yet, but I had come and update. This drama gives me the giggles times a thousand!!! I'm loving it so so much. Please I'm begging 🙏🏼 don't let this one be another "Uncontrollably fond" It's been almost ten years and I'm still not over it.

Also I'm in love with kim Seokju.

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A beautiful story meets masterful production

I don’t know where the bad reviews are coming from. I watch about 95% J‑dramas and only 5% K‑dramas, but this is what I experienced.

See You in My 19th Life is a rare blend of heartfelt storytelling and polished production that lingers long after the credits roll. At its core, it’s a romance — but one layered with themes of memory, fate, and the quiet courage it takes to move forward. The narrative unfolds with patience, allowing relationships to breathe and characters to grow naturally, avoiding the “instant love” trap so common in the genre.

The production values are top‑tier: cinematography that captures both intimacy and grandeur, and a soundtrack that’s nothing short of exceptional. The score shifts effortlessly between moods — tender, playful, aching — and elevates every emotional beat. It’s the kind of music you’ll find yourself replaying long after the final episode.

Performances are nuanced, with a female lead whose depth becomes more apparent as the story progresses. The interplay between present‑day moments and carefully placed flashbacks adds richness rather than distraction, gradually revealing the emotional architecture behind each choice the characters make.

What makes the series stand out is its ability to weave small, seemingly casual conversations into meaningful threads that resurface later, rewarding attentive viewers. It’s a show that trusts its audience to notice the details — and rewards them with a payoff that feels both earned and deeply satisfying.

I only wish the female lead were 10+ years younger, as the character’s age seems mismatched to her.

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Charming slice of life

If you are having a bad day and need something soothing with almost zero conflict and the nice being nice to the nice, The Way We Are is the perfect answer to what ails you. Ann Hui created a gentle and touching slice of life centered around a hard-working widow raising her teenage son.

Cheung Kwai works as a durian slicer and stocker at the local grocery store. Her son Ka On enjoys manga and while not ambitious has a good heart on him. The two live in a rundown apartment, yet are content in their circumstances. A new elderly neighbor asks Kwai about a job in the store. Kwai takes Granny Leung Foon under her wing helping her whenever she can. The two women develop an easy-going bond. Whether a funeral, a hospitalized relative, or celebration, Kwai’s family gathers and supports each other. Kwai had worked to put her brothers through school and they now look for opportunities to show her kindness.

Pau Hei Ching’s Kwai was the focal point of the film with the other characters acting as satellites circling around her magnetic pull. Pau gave Kwai a quiet confidence and soft-spoken demeanor. Nothing rattled her as she faced whatever came her way with strength and aplomb. Pau went largely without makeup, had mussed up hair, and wore old t-shirts, yet had a beautiful dignity. Chan Lai Wan exuded the tragic loneliness of an older woman who had lost the most important people in her life. At the HKFA, Pau won for Best Actress, Chan Lai Wan for Supporting Actress and Ann Hui for Best Director—all well deserved.

This film will not be for everyone as nothing exciting happened. Hui showcased the quiet joys of tissues being given with the daily newspaper, freshly cut fruit, and helping a person without asking for anything in return. Filled with compassionate, kind acts, The Way We Are was exactly what I needed in this time when civility and generosity have often become too rare.

13 September 2025

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Love The Female Lead

Amazing female lead. Very good male lead. Amazing writing. Overall, an amazing drama with well written characters, plot, and a smart female lead. Loved it! I love a smart female lead , who isn’t boy obsessed more than anything and this drama delivered on that.

90% of cdramas for some odd reason (sexism) write pathetic female leads or they like to torture the female lead with never ending trauma. Or the worst, is when they write a grown adult female lead that acts like a child and speaks like a toddler. I personally think it’s fetish of sexist writers and it needs to stop.

This drama was so well written. I loved the plot and every character, even the bad ones. Just really mature writing. Pair the writing with the amazing acting and this is one of my top shows of the year. Loved it.

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Super Star Main Leads Paired With Bad Writing

This drama is such a disappointment because you have an amazing female lead actress and a good male lead actor but the writing is horrible, such a waste of acting talent.

Why do writers think we want to watch the female lead be emotionally tortured and chase after an undeserving man episode after episode. The female main character should have stopped chasing the male main character after the 5th or 6th episode, he was not worth her emotional effort or time.

Then the writer had the audacity to have the female main character’s mom be a pathetic woman pining after a married man. WRITE BETTER FEMALE CHARACTERS. Women are strong, smart, mature and independent. Writing boy obsessed female leads in this decade is crazy. What did that boy ever do to deserve her devotion? Nothing. Just bad lazy writing.

The writer had two amazing lead actors and decided to write a crap story. What an absolute waste. Any stars given is because I love love love the main female lead and I love love love the main male lead. Zero stars for the writing.

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Such pretty dumb boys

Lack of communication trope will kill me one of these days I swear.

Acting:

It was pretty solid. I could feel the loning and the hurt and the love. Nothing overly noteworthy, but nothing bad. Solid performances all around with what they were given for a stroy/characters.

Writing:

I feel like there could have been a better way to tell this story. It felt oddly rushed at times and drawn out at others. Not my favorite way to put all of the tropes in this story together. And the ending scene was SUCH a weird thing to end on… Like I have NO IDEA why they chose to add that in.

Chemistry/Romance/Kissing:

These two beautiful men had pretty decent chemistry. Nothing crazy in this story, but there’s something there. This is an okay romance, it could have been executed better, though. The kissing was alright, though I do wish we had more of them when the characters were happy rather than when they were upset.

Music/SFX:

Pretty typical corny romance music and solid SFX.

This was a cute little watch. Nothing too heavy and full of lovely actors/actresses.

Now, for some highlight from my notes:

- They are so prettyyyyy
- So cold, this one
- Damn everybody wants a piece of that Dao
- Bro needs to learn how to express himself in words properly fr
- We could just… Say what we’re feeling for once
- We could just… Explain
- We could just… not do nothing
- I’d kick Phoon’s ass for pulling this shit fr why are we going along with everything
- Everyone is so desperate in this show relax
- Phoon is actually lowkey a bit of a dick unfortunately, Kluen is a coward and a dumbass, Dao is just a mess but keeps getting blamed for everything for some reason lmao
- Hand delivering an invitation to your wedding to your ex at their place of work alongside your fiance is CRAZY work
- Very odd ending scene there

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Ten Years of Unrequited Love: When Sacrifice Becomes the Story

🔹This trope struck me as all too familiar, leaving me longing for a sense of novelty that just wasn't there.

🔹 Would I rewatch? No

✨ Ten years can change a lot, but can it truly erase that first love?

📕 Overview
🔹 24 episodes, romance/melodrama
🔹 Based on the novel Shi Nian Qing Cen by Yi Bei
🔹 Ji Shu Yi plays Lin Miao Miao, a woman who trades love for her father’s health
🔹 He Chang Xi plays Cen Si Yuan, who still carries feelings even after being pushed away
🔹 The setup is clear: a mother’s ultimatum pulls them apart, and time only deepens the ache
🔹 At the time of this review, 8 episodes have aired, enough to show the break, the promise, and the uneasy reunion

🌸 How It Felt Watching
🔹 The short episode length creates urgency, but it often feels too swift for the emotional moments to resonate.
🔹 The weight of their past sorrow lingers, but the warmth of their shared memories reminds them that love can endure even the most complex trials.
🔹 The themes of sacrifice, family pressure, and rediscovered love are at the forefront.
🔹 This trope felt all too familiar, leaving me yearning for novelty.

✨ Cast & Acting
🔹 Ji Shu Yi made Miao Miao’s pain and choices easy to resonate with
🔹 He Chang Xi gave Si Yuan a mix of longing and frustration that made his side of the story believable
🔹Their chemistry convincingly portrays both the heartache and the desire for reunion.
🔹The mother’s character felt like a familiar trope. For me, she was serving as a barrier for the couple without much depth

💫 Relationship Tension 💫
🔹 This doesn’t play like true unrequited love. Both leads still hold strong feelings, but their backgrounds and family expectations weigh heavily on them.
🔹 It’s a push and pull where love is evident, yet obstacles keep dragging them apart.


☕ Tea Notes
🔹 Ten Years of Unrequited Love drew me in because of the leads, even though the story relied on familiar tropes.
🔹 The title felt misleading since the love is mutual, not truly unrequited.
🔹 Short episodes made the pacing brisk but also rushed, and the mother’s role didn’t add much depth.
🔹 Would I rewatch? No
☕ SpillTheDramaTea’s Rating: 7/10 — a steady cup, heartfelt but familiar

✏️ As SpillTheDramaTea, I liked the leads more than the story plot. If you’re in the mood for something sweet and comforting, this drama will hit the spot.

✨ Would you wait ten years for true love, or would time set you free?

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The Journey of Legend 赴山海: A Hero’s Path, Three Faces

🔹 What would you do if the only way to survive in your world was to live as someone you're not?

🔹 Would I rewatch? No

✨ When the lines blur between reader and hero, can loyalty carry you through a world not your own?

📕 Overview
🔹 40 episodes, wuxia
🔹 Adapted from the novel Shen Zhou Qi Xia (神州奇侠) by Wen Rui An
🔹 Cheng Yi as Xiao Ming Ming: an ordinary man pulled into the pages of his beloved martial arts world
🔹 Cheng Yi as Xiao Qiu Shui: the young, impulsive swordsman he becomes
🔹 Xiao Ming Ming uses his company's immersive writing system, the Magic Compendium, and unexpectedly finds himself living in his own novel, where he must evolve from a novice into a true hero.
🔹 At the time of this review, early episodes have aired

🌸 How It Felt Watching
🔹The narrative shifts quickly from contemporary life to a martial world, focusing on clans, loyalty, and moral challenges.
🔹For me, it felt nostalgic and warm, like stepping back into a beloved old martial arts paperback.
🔹 Themes: loyalty, courage, righteousness, family bonds, and identity.
🔹 I enjoyed the energetic fight scenes and the message, but the slow pacing and heavy filters occasionally distracted me.

✨ Cast & Acting
🔹 Cheng Yi as Xiao Ming Ming / Xiao Qiu Shui / Li Chenzhou: committed in action and expressive, although his emotions sometimes felt repetitive.
🔹 Gulnazar as Xiao Xueyu: is likable, I liked how she balanced out the tension around her
🔹 The supporting cast brought in some laughs and created tension, but the female characters often felt a bit shallow, which made me wish they had more depth.

🎞️ Production Style
🔹 The atmosphere embraced classic wuxia elements with dynamic choreography and a nostalgic, retro aesthetic.
🔹 The costumes were detailed but not extravagant, prioritizing homage over spectacle.
🔹The CGI was inconsistent; at times it had a fun, nostalgic style, while at other moments it felt distracting.
🔹 The pacing began slowly, and the side characters were not as well-developed as the main characters.

☕ Tea Notes
🔹 What worked: Cheng Yi's dedication, loyalty themes, and nostalgic martial arts elements resonated well.
🔹 What didn’t: The CGI is inconsistent, the pacing is slow, and the supporting roles lack depth.
🔹 Would I rewatch? No
☕ SpillTheDramaTea’s Rating: 7/10
🌿 Tea-Scale: A plain cup, fine but needs a better pour

✏️ As SpillTheDramaTea, I loved cheering for the scrappy hero.

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The whole story made no sense.

Positive:
- Alan Fang was the only one worth watching. the other's acting skills are just so so.
- the second couple are more fun than the first couple.

Negative:
- The story made no sense. Whatever books the FL was looking for would be important after there is peace in the desert. Once the peace was achieved as ML worked so hard for, they will have plenty of time to look for the book that would benefit the people. The FL was so self-centered, felt that she knew it all and she was always right. She endangered everybody's life for her own purpose and got everybody else killed.
- the ML had no backbones when the FL was concerned. He always said that he had more important things to do and he did. He should defeat the tyrant and unit and bring peace to the desert. But whatever the FL wanted to do, he would drop everything just to protect her.
-The ML and the SML practically live in the two concubine's palace openly, without the tyrant finding out until the very end.
-At the end, the FL killed the tyrant almost all by herself with her flute ??? The ML magically appeared and they lived happily ever after. How about their friends and a lot of inocent people? They die for nothing because of the FL.

I don't even know why I even finished the whole thing. Maybe because it was not as long as most C-dramas. I was hoping it would get better. But the end was the worst.

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Not just your typical strong FL,this is screaming a Nutjob

Indeed A fantasy Drama which has a Satisfying Ending. The screenwritter actually knows how to write a story and satisfy the audience. Literally everything i wanted to see at the end i got to see,and it was ended very pleasantly. Hardly found any loopholes though its a drama obviously there'll be some but u could easily ignore them.

Direction, Plot,Screenplay is 10/10 from me.Episode ending doesn't look like a cliffhanger but it will make u wanted to watch more,That's the beauty of Fantasy-Mystery drama and the director nailed it.

Acting?? For me This is PSH 's best performances she really look like a Demon in her demeanor. Other supportive character or guest character all are so good at acting that i literally cried many times specially in the last few episodes. Talking about ML? actually he did well what he was directed too,i think his character doesn't have much to do just a help to plot and FL character development. He did quite well.Off Topic: He is adorably Handsome too.like Kang bitna said. The Final villain succeeded to make me hate him,obviously a brilliant actor.

OST- Don't remember any specifically but Background music is perfect and scary sometime.

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I had a hard time rating this show and I have mixed feelings.

I really liked the first half of the show where we see Eun Jung and Sang yeon deal with the aftermath of Moonee's death. I think it was a great representation of grief. You feel the emptiness and the denial through the screen. I felt the hollowness and even though I knew she passed away I still couldn't accept it. Eun Jung being reminded of Moonee when she met Kim Sang Hak. Her completely loosing it when Kim Sang Hak wasn't answering his phone when they went on the trip, thinking something really bad happened. Sang Yeon finding out more about the brother she thought she knew. Her watching the Chinese Odyssey, looking at his old film photos. Looking back at how quiet and kind she was after realizing what she was struggling with the whole time. Finding out that she was trans and that she had a life and a world that Sang Yeon never got to enter. The ever growing distance she felt with her mother, herself and the world around her. I think that was one of the strongest parts of the show. As someone who lost a sibling when I was younger it just felt reminiscent in a way.

I didn't quite like the messy love triangle, though I understand why they wanted to include it. It showed Sang yeon's ever growing bitterness but really it just felt out of place and a bit too much.

I'm not gonna talk much about Eun Jung and Sang yeon's relationship because thinking about it makes my head hurt sorry, I feel like other's have articulated their relationship much better than I can even try,

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Splendid and exceptional!!!!

Usually,I would like to write a review in detail regarding a drama, but, Twelve letters, in my honest opinion, is a very brilliant, excellent MASTERPIECE💯👌👍
Everything about this drama makes it a MUST WATCH drama. The plot is intriguing adding a slice of suspense, through a cat and a mailbox.
As the story unfolds, it take us on an emotional rollercoaster ride. This drama made me cry, feel sad, disturbed and frustrated over the character of Ye Yibo, feel anxious, angst , mad and finally brought me a bit of relief and smile for the last episode.
Seriously, I cried bitterly in few situations of the drama.
I liked each and every character in this drama,Tang Yi Xun, Ye Hai Tang, Yu Nian, Shen Cheng, Zhang Quan, Cha, Rat, Zhen Zhu, Miao Miao, Tan Xin,Shen Xiao Jun,and the bookstore owner, except Bao and his gang and the sinisterous father, Ye Yibo.
All the actors did an outstanding and excellent job in portraying their roles.
The whole drama is fabulous and mind blowing😊👌
Any one, who are thinking over watching this drama, I would suggest, please WATCH THIS DRAMA, you will nit regret watching it, else you will definitely miss an EMOTIONAL MASTERPIECE OF LOVE!!
A TRUE LOVE STORY ,between two timelines connected by a cat and a red mailbox at midnight, only to face many hurdles and challenges , and finally unite as one, with help from the people from future and avoid disasters and alter their future, hatsoff to Tang Yi Xun, Ye Hai Tang,for staying strong and supporting each other and Yu Nian, Shen Cheng, Zhang Quan and Miao Miao, in helping Xun and Tang alter their fate.
Highly highly recommended drama!! 🤗

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SPELLS AND EVERYTHING

it's been a long time since i've watched a series with such a well-executed plot. the acting was superb. while it didn't seem great at first, the development and conclusion were very good. i love themes involving temples and spiritual elements related to chinese culture. this series was one of them. the eight-character theme apparently comes from the four pillars of destiny a.k.a. bazi, which in turn is related to the chinese astrological signs. still, it brought them together beautifully. jiang chi's decision was great and admirable. it was beautiful how they talked about everything. their love was adorable. the ending made me say "oh shit." but it was satisfying. i'm glad they aired a special episode so we could get a wonderful happy ending.

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Pretty Good

I’ll start off saying that if it wasn’t for the leads, this drama wouldn’t have received as high a score as I gave it. Initially I wanted to say the only thing that saved it was the music, but changed my mind after watching it all the way through.

The casting and acting for every role other than the leads felt like I was watching a middle school production. Editing was bad in several places and the supporting cast was super weak.

I could tell from the first appearance of the ML’s brother that he was the villain. His smile was too fake, his praise and friendliness was artificial. He had no concept of how to look genuine but be a slime ball. His wife was a little better, but not much. She was too obvious.

The FL’s ex, who happened to be the ML’s cousin was just a terrible actor. You could tell he was nervous by his aggressively over-acted “passion”. His kisses were forced and awkward. Every kiss scene with him looked like he probably gave the women a swollen lip because he crashed into them repeatedly.

Even the ML and FL’s grandfathers were extremely awkward.

I preface this by saying that I apologize if something had happened to this actor to cause speech issues. I am saying this S someone who has no knowledge of his oersonal life experiences but you could hardly understand him as his words were so slurred and blended together (kudos to those who managed to extract anything intelligible from his speaking).

The ML’s grandfather was supposed to be a domineering retired CEO but he was more like a bullied student who relied on a practiced false bravado enforced by his clicking cane shoe tapping.

There was bad editing as well as sound effects. For example, the scene where the ML steps out from behind a tree that the FL is looking at straight on and his shoes are making noise on dirt and grass. And just before he steps out from behind the tree, the camera had shown noone behind the tree as they showed her looking at it. Tgen the scene where the FL was in the “forbidden” bedroom and had picked up a framed photo to look at. initially it was facing the wall opposite the headboard. But when she put it down it was facing the bed. When they showed the FL leaving the room the photo was back to its original position even though she hadn’t touched it again.

Like I said, the leads carried this drama. The script seemed to be pretty well done for a short episode drama, but there was a lot of time spent on reminiscing the past in the last few episodes. So the production fell a little short also.

The leads were very cute together and seemed to have good chemistry. Their acting didn’t feel forced or awkward. Their physical contact wasn’t uncomfortable to watch, but seemed like they truly had affection for each other. Their facial and eye expressions were also on point.

If half of the cast had been left out, they still would have carried the rest on their performances.

Even though this review seems negative, I actually enjoyed it even though I am not a fan of short dramas. If you take anything away from this review, take this:

Watch the drama. Toss aside logical thought for a while and enjoy the leads. It’s really not that bad.

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