Reviews

Now thats how you end a modern drama ! - It was Indeed Shining on Me

The first few episodes felt as if the ML was the SML and vice versa. I was like… where is the ML? He had hardly appeared. But as I kept watching, I understood that it was relevant to the story. The FL had to move on in order to be with the ML. She was healing her broken heart. It was a slow burn, but it was also not—because the emotional connection was always there, quietly building.

I hated her college friends. I loved how she cut them off in the most diplomatic way after the interview incident—and even during the patch-up. The friends were like, “Forgive us,” and Xiguang was like, “Yeah, sure, honest mistake,” but really, inside her mind, she was like, “Bye, Felicia,” and cut them off for good after graduation.

And Zhang Xu—if this were a costume drama, he would have turned evil, and I would have happily enjoyed his death on screen.

One of the best chemistry I’ve seen between couples in modern dramas. All their scenes felt like a hug to me. It was Shining on Me. Sunshine and Wood.

I wish I had a cousin like Jiang Rui. Such a cutie pie—and he was a brother when he needed to be.

Everyone got closure in the end. They should have mentioned what the FL’s father was doing in the future scenes, though. I loved the fact that they dedicated an entire episode to showing their post-marriage life. Usually, it’s just three minutes with a cute scene involving the kid and the couple.

The OST was sooo beautiful—completely stuck in my head.

Overall, it’s a 9/10 for me.

Read More

Classic Drama from Pioneer CP

This is one of the drama i watched when i discovered the Chinese Short Drama world. I like Sun Yue antics and dynamic duo between Sun Yue and Xu Yizhen is amazing even there is no intimate scene you can feel they are like companions.

For the plot, i like FL characterization fearless, and emotionally calm. ML is another typical calm too but he always adore FL antics. Their comedic scene are ultimate great even supporting cast are like seasoning on fried chicken. Make it delicious to watch.

But Xu Yizhen has same manner as her other drama which make her one dimensional while Sun Yue are hiding Xu Yizhen weakness with their combo.

Overall, recommended if you want some laugh.

Read More

A Year-End Medley: 1/4/2026

This movie was real good but I personally think it would have been better as a show. This is mainly because you are following so many people throughout the movie that at some times it is just all over the place. I also feel that it prevents you in a way from building any connection to characters. Also which I think it it’s most fatal flow is that because all the stories also overlap it get confusing at times and it just wait backup what is going on. Besides this and just looking at what was given it was a really good show, and while I usually don’t like remarks I hope one day they remake it into a show.

Read More

Go in not expecting anything!

I didn't read any of the reviews before I watched this. Netflix recommended this based on my watch history. I went in blind and honestly I was in a drama mood lol. Japanese acting is either hit or miss with me but I liked it overall. Honestly the last episode is what sealed the deal. It felt like I was watching a concert instead of a drama and this is the first time I've ever appreciated whoever was the cinematographer. Then to discover they all played their own instruments? So awesome! You have villains, good people and people who learn their lessons and grow. It does leave the ending kinda open but it's enough closure for me that I'm ok even if the don't do another season. Just enjoy it for what it is and it's only 10 eps at like 40 mins a piece. I flew through them honestly.

Read More

Exclusive Fairytale: 6/29/2025 - 1/7/2026

This show was really cute and really did justice to the friends to lovers trope. It didn’t feel forced in any way but was something you got see naturally developing throughout the series. I would also like to say that it didn’t take forever for them to actually get together, as will it was still later in the series it wasn’t to late. My only complaint is that after they got together it did feel like the show was dragging, especially in the last 2-3 episodes which I enjoyed. Though I did honestly think they could have been like 2 epos-ides at most maybe even 1 if we being honest. Besides all of that it was a really cute show and I highly recommend. (I would also like to clarify that I watched the first few episodes then stopped because of college and then binged watched during break)

Read More

AWWWWW

This was my most anticipated drama ever since the trailer came out and its safe to say that it didn't disappoint. The leads OMG they had me smiling and giggling with their sweetness every two minutes. The chemistry was impalpable. I loved how the Lin Yusen was such a healing factor in Nie xiguang's life and how she had a backbone to standup for the love she had for him. I loved Nie xiguang's family too especially her cousin jiang rui--bro is such a good brother. Lin Yusen is the greenest most flirty and the most caring guy omg what an awesome way to start the year. I AM GONNA MISS THEM EVERYTIME I'LL OPEN THE APP. AHHH

Read More

My January 2026 recommendation

Watched this for my Recommendation Challenge from Jojo. Let's discuss drama…

The story follows two high school students, Minase Jin and Hirukawa Haruki, who are polar opposites in both personality and social standing.

Minase is an honors student—polite, quiet, and burdened by the heavy pressure of meeting his parents’ high expectations.

Hirukawa is a so-called “delinquent”—straightforward, emotionally honest, and seemingly carefree.

Minase believes there are three kinds of relationships between people:
The Bystander — like water. Always present but trying to remain invisible. They don’t take sides; they simply “flow” around the situation.
The Perpetrator — like a stone thrown into that water. They cause ripples, create chaos.
The Victim — the one hit by the splash, left to suffer the impact.

To Minase, the safest place is as the water. He believes that by remaining a bystander and avoiding emotional involvement, he can protect himself from harm. To him, being “water” is the most logical way to survive a suffocating society.

That belief, however, is soon disrupted by Hirukawa.

They first meet in their first year—by chance, at the school sinks. Minase is washing his hands when Hirukawa walks in, right after nearly strangling a teacher. Their eyes meet. Nothing is said.

For a long time, they remain strangers who merely attend the same school. Their dynamic begins to change in April of their second year. Minase witnesses something no one else sees: Hirukawa being beaten by his father in their front yard. When Hirukawa notices him, he doesn’t cry or beg—he just glares and says: "Don’t tell anyone."

After that, Minase starts to notice Hirukawa more. Everything truly shifts when Minase encounters Hirukawa outside of school, at a local park. He finds Hirukawa beaten up, and instead of staying away, something about Hirukawa’s presence draws Minase in.

Against all logic, he does something unthinkable. Minase approaches Hirukawa—injured and emotionally guarded—and invites him to come to his house. Hirukawa is shocked and suspicious, since they aren’t even friends. But with nowhere else to go and his body in pain, he accepts. That night at Minase’s house marks the true beginning of their awkward and clumsy progression.

From then on, they begin spending time together in a secluded outdoor spot and at Minase’s house. Minase has only one rule: they cannot be seen together at school.

As days pass, they grow closer. Minase learns about Hirukawa’s broken home, his loneliness, his fight to survive; while Hirukawa begins to understand Minase’s inner emptiness. Yet no matter how close they become, Minase’s rule remains unchanged. To the outside world, they are merely strangers—but quietly, deeper feelings begin to form.

Everything changes again when Hirukawa’s father suddenly dies. With no family left, Hirukawa has to move—far away, to his mother’s district. Contact fades. Life moves on. And before they realize it, university life begins.

Now the question:
? Will they meet again…
? Will they continue their relationship…
? With Hirukawa’s bad reputation now in the past, will Minase finally dare to acknowledge their relationship openly…

That's pretty much the story without giving anymore spoilers. Now what I like and don't.

What I like:
+ Portray the almost perfect ambiguity for teenagers. Their identity crisis, their confusion in sexual prefrence…
+ Portray the perfect never judge the book by its cover. You never know what people hide behind their ‘mask’

What I don’t like:
- How Hirukawa kept yielding to Minase…
- Never really tell the story about Hirukawa’s family in detail. Like why his parents divorce in the first place…

Overall this is really one good BL drama to watch. Our Youth masterfully deconstructs the "bystander" philosophy through the quiet, complex bond between Minase and Hirukawa.

Read More

iQIYI produces a lot of crap and this is no exception...

OMG was that bad. While the script makes at least some sense, the acting is bad and especially the editing is the worst. Even all 53 episodes cut together made this not a movie with any flow. It's just a hack fest, the next scene had nothing to do with the scene before.

Of course with an unpolished script and no clear vision from the director there comes bad acting... The small "boy" is too young to be a police officer from the get go, so it's completely unbelievable to begin with. His acting is also very rough. The side characters slide off into soap opera characters, all over-dramatized and over-acted.

So this series is a bad joke and even the chemistry between the leads leaves something to be desired. The only positive note is, that this is one of the few vers couples ever in BL, but that does not help the series at all. Also the production quality was not on par with similar productions. There are some sound problems which also don't help the series and makes me derank it even more. Just don't waste your time with this crap and do something more productive. 🤣

Read More

WOULD YOU EVER BE CLOSE YOU & MEEeeEeee

The drama we didn’t expect to be this good, it’s crazyyyy!!! ✨✨✨

First, the storyline. I definitely didn’t anticipate that twist —Yusen being the victim of it all. I love how things progressed between the leads and Xieguang’s character? The most humble and kind even though she’s from a nouveau rich family.

Don’t stop me from hating almost all the characters of this drama (applaud to the actors, they’re so good portraying their respective characters!!!) from Xieguang’s so-called college friends (except the one who stood up for her, that’s the only true friend she got from college) to her sperm donor of a father 😩 AND THAT MOTHER-DAUGHTER TANDEM GIRL MY BLOOD IS BOILING EVERY TIME THEY’RE ON SCREEN 😭 +++ the second ml? OHHH I WANNA ZIP HIS MOUTH EVERY TIME HE SPEAKS 😩

I so love Xieguang’s mom, also!!! Being so supportive and lets her daughter pave her own path 🫡✨

Back to the storyline, if you want a light watch, this is definitely for you. It’s not without problems and all but it will not hurt your brain overthinking what comes next ✨

And the music? I shout my lungs out in “WOULD YOU EVER BE CLOSE YOU AND MEEEE” 😩

Yes, would definitely rewatch since it’s a light one. I love the ending, too (too many time skips tho 🤣).

Lastly, I love how the drama turned out slightly different from the novel. You’ll know if you read the novel I know you’ll understand what I meant.

PS. IN THIS WORLD FULL OF RONGRONG, I HOPE Y’ALL GOT AN YIN JIE IN YOUR LIVES. THAT’S ALL, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 🤍

Read More

AMAZING! so well done.... until ... ep 6... then you realize this was a collywood delusion

It is really a horror movie in disguise. It is scary and has quite some gory parts. Luckily not tooooo toooooo gory, you can easily skip the gory parts. It is hard though bc they are shown quite fast. Be ready with the fast forward button.

I really like use of makjang acting to act scenes about topics that do not matter, and "acting like in real life" to show topics that DO matter. It makes the drama go fast.

The movie plays on some Chinese / Taiwanese stereotypes that I am not familiar with. Clearly, it is a culture steeped in superstition. There must be some delulu in this drama based on some play on what is true, but I am not familiar to say exactly what.

Like in Western movies, where families are broken and everyone is separate and single and lonely, isolated, depressed; and it is a consumer society where everlasting personal satisfaction happens super fast without any effort, there is this delulu idea of getting all happy bc you found the right person who loves you - and then INSTANTLY AND FOREVER your life becomes supper happy and everything is great for you. This delulu consumerism plot manipulates the true, genuine human need to love and be loved by others.

A good movie might showcase true things that are now considered mystical, like the kung fu powers etc.

So what Chinese delulu AND / OR truth card(s) is this drama playing....?. I dont know. It seems to emphasize the magical power of caligraphy. Which... is true :) and I am not sure about delulus. Perhaps - the power of beer to unite ppl... ? the "masters" are all grumpy... ?

For the first 5 episodes, I thought it was a great drama. Then ep 6 was super cheesy copy of kdramas - going to an amusement park and playing on the claw machine (to claw out a prize out of a glass box full of prizes). I ALSO NOTICED THEY ADVERTISED THE BEER... the dad and son and mother and son drink beer together...

And the story got pretty cheesy... All "help me cases" were obsessions of live people...

Soooo at the end of ep 6, I fast forwarded to ep 12 and found the (dead) dad encouraging the son to drink beer... THAT was a sure sign this drama was totally a trap...

And then I quit. I got tired of ML actor ONLY grumpy face, of drinking beer by manipulation, etc and I quit this as Collywood.

Written after ep 1: this drama uses makjang exaggerated acting to show things that are not important, and "like real life" acting to show what is important. It saves so much time!!!!
Only one half of episode 1 was enough to totally set the background story of ML's life.

The story is well done and the acting is well done for the first 5 episodes. ML is young but that actor is excellent.

But he never smiles and stays super grumpy or the entire drama. One time he smiles, it is visible he has bad teeth. Too bad. He is a handsome guy and a phenomenal actor, he needs to fix his teeth so that he act roles with smiling too. And of course, for his own health.

I got tired of watching his grumpy face all the time. He needs to change facial expressions... imo.

Read More

“A dark, addictive thriller that keeps tightening its grip with every episode”

The Manipulated is a dark revenge thriller, fast paced, intense and very hard to stop watching. It’s the kind of drama where you keep saying “just one more episode” and suddenly hours are gone.

The biggest highlight for me is the acting. Ji Chang Wook acting in this drama really strong. His performance feels raw and emotional not just action heavy. You can genuinely feel his anger, pain and desperation. D.O as The villain also adds an unsettling psychological tension that makes the story more interesting.

The story moves quickly with very little filler. There are lots of twists and mind games and the drama does a good job of keeping you on edge. The action scenes are solid but what really works is how they’re tied to the emotional weight of the story.

However, around the middle episodes the story slows down a bit. The plot doesn’t hit as hard as it does at the beginning and the intensity dips compared to those early episodes. It’s not boring but it does feel less gripping for a while like the drama is catching its breath before moving forward again.

Overall, The Manipulated is a dark and addictive watch. It’s not perfect and has some flaw but the strong performances and psychological tension make it worth sticking with. If you enjoy revenge thrillers and intense character driven stories this one is still a good pick.

Read More