Reviews

It's downfall after EP14

To be honest, I watched this drama for Ben but I truly enjoy storyline that the team of protagonist outwit their enermies although the daughter annoy me with her hothead and lousy. However, everything is downfall in EP14 where I can't understand why they wrote it this way to make protagonist team defeated like that

Actually I love Got and Ben chemistry. They can convince me to believe they are deeply in love through one kiss scene and less sweet moment and I want them reunion in new drama with better storyline

Ps. I would suggesy this drama if you want to watch something killing your time

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When Hate Turns Into Love

The Proper Way To Write Love isn’t actually as bad as some people claim, but it does have noticeable plot holes, and a few scenes feel pretty boring.

I know it’s fiction, but part of creating a good series or movie is making the storytelling believable. That’s why it felt unrealistic that Natsuo was already into Hiro from the very first episode. Even if he said it was “love at first sight,” no normal person would ask a stranger to date them the second time they meet — that would probably freak anyone out.

Another thing: they’ve already hung out several times and even dated, yet they still haven’t exchanged phone numbers? That just doesn’t make sense. And I still don’t get why Hiro pretended his hand was injured when the show never explains how it supposedly happened — especially since he was faking it. Even though the series is short, there are fillers and scenes that don’t really serve a purpose.

I did enjoy the rivalry/love triangle in episode 5, though. It added some much-needed spice to the story. And honestly, I have to admit that I enjoy dramas like this just as much as I love wholesome, fluffy ones.

It’s pretty shameless that Hiro’s former classmates are still criticizing him even though they’re already adults. They still act like high schoolers, which feels unbelievable to me. Conclusion: I see the series as a revenge story with a twist: Hiro ends up falling in love with Natsuo. The plot may start with revenge, but the genre evolves along the way — and I really love Hiro’s character growth. Natsuo, on the other hand, is a walking green flag. Hiro probably just misunderstood him back in high school.

Overall, it’s a watchable series and good for killing time, but nothing groundbreaking.

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“Sword and Beloved” is the story of a boy who grows up resented by his father. He lives a very quiet life and sometimes helps the needy in disguise. His life changes when a girl enters his life, and many secrets are revealed. Throughout his journey, he meets wonderful people, fights against injustice, confronts evil, and eventually wins.
This is the story.

What I felt missing in the drama was the romantic chemistry between the main leads, which I waited for until the last episode. Although I enjoyed watching the chemistry between Chang Hua Sen and Zhang Kai Ying, and one more love story was there but their love story was also incomplete.
I liked Wang Hong Yi’s performance too—he was very good at expressing all kinds of emotions. I hope he gets a main role in a drama someday.

Now, my views about the drama: I was really not into it. Maybe the story was too long, had some unnecessary scenes, and yes, it was devoid of a proper lead love story.

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You’ll like it if you're into serious series not for people who are more into romance

I watched this series because i saw lot of edits on rebirth of gods who loved each other. Frankly i expected this to be more focused on the romance between the leads. I am someone who doesn't like a lot of actions or a serious plot and this drama is exactly that. It focuses more on the gods, their powers, loads of historical and mythological references. It's a smart plot but just not my cup of tea. As for the acting the comment section is definitely lieing. The actors have genuinely done justice to the role. They've done way better than a lot of debut actors (if u notice it's Ongsa's debut). I've watched a lot of famous actor's bl debuts they usually look stiff and uncomfortable but here both of them looked natural. Yes i did find Thaki's acting a little weird he had a hard time potraying sorrow and anger. But overall if you're more into serious dramas and are here for a high IQ drama this is for you cz the show is very informative.

Edit: dropping it after watching spoilers. IT WAS A BLOODY OPEN ENDING?? WHY?? They could have given a normal happy ending cz they already suffered in the 1st life. AHHHHHHHHH unless there's a special episode I'm not picking this up

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Enjoyed it! My first no-skip cdrama.

> Hanyan is such a girl’s girl. Chen Duling plays her so well. Obsessed with her character. She matches wits with Mr. Fu but is otherwise too good for him.

> Im really into this romance. They cant stop trying to kill each other and scheming against each other though they like each other. My gray area couple.

> Episode 27 (out of 30) is where we first get a love confession. Even then, they dont get together until the last episode (tbh how they got together was underwhelming but atleast I did not cringe). This is the kind of slow burn I long for.

“I kept having improper thoughts about you. Your occasional tenderness in return made me happy. Perhaps, from the first day we met, I thought I was the one hunting the fox, but I’d been captured by you.”

> Props to the redemption arc of the step mom and sister.

> The last episode was underwhelming and so is the revenge to the dad. Seeing Duke Qi get hit and taken away felt more satisfying. And why is Hanyan so obsessed with her mom?

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Fun Concept Spoiled by Scenes of School Child Abuse

I saw "Sweet Revenge 2" first and I really loved that series. So much that I've seen it 3 times all the way through. So I decided to seek out the original. Released in 2017 it contains multiple scenes of child abuse in Korean high schools and should have been banned in 2010 so this must be a very old script. While the various forms of corporal punishment are played for laughs I can't find any humor in the torture of children compelled to go to school. Naturally the villians who make the students suffer get their revenge but the normalization of child abuse in school still makes this show disturbing to watch. So while I give high marks to the sequal I can't recommend this one.

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Shallow Plotline with Quick Pace

Yet another rom com plunged into a pit of downfall. Truthfully, the story of this show ain't really deep and promising from the start. But as things go on, the writer seems to do quite a good job for putting together a Genie and a psychopath. Things are looking better until the story about Khalid kicks in. This part of story is unnecessary, unimpactful and really destroys everything that have been built, especially the storyline about two previous wishes from Ka Young. Everything becomes too makjang-ish, even for a fantasy genre show. The war between Iblis and Elljael is questionable, they fought for years but somehow Iblis able to end it quite easily. The pace of the show is really quick, borderline between enjoyable and confusing. It's not easy to understand a psychopath like Ki Ka Young, but for me it's more difficult to understand how can Ka Young fall for Iblis out of nowhere though she mostly has no emotion.

The visual effect of this show gives an eyesore. It's really awful and I think for a 2025 show, they should've tried harder. On the other hand, the soundtrack is quite great.

The performance of the casts is quite alright, nothing bad but nothing too special. The chemistry between Suzy and Woo Bin is also good. In my opinion, the one who does an impressive job here is Ahn Eun Jin.

Watch this show if you're looking for a quick adventure and when you don't really need to explore some "details".

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Some Palace Dramas Are More Compelling Than Others

For some time now, I’ve become a fan of Zhang Ling He. I think it was his Second Male Lead role in Love Between a Fairy and a Devil that sealed the deal for me. In The Princess Royale, he does not disappoint and neither does Zhao Jin Mai (Angel Zhao).

Story:
While I am not a big palace drama fan, The Princess Royale starts out with a bang. Both main characters die. Any Chinese show where the main characters, who are married, die in the first episode is typically a good one. They die and are reborn to before they met.

Li Rong (Played by Angel Zhao) is the daughter of the emperor who decides her former life was so bleak that she does not want to marry her husband again…. She believes he killed her. Pei Wen Xuan (played by Zhang Ling He) is in the same boat. Through various hijinks, they both realize they were “reborn” and their deaths were more ambiguous than first imagined.

Here in lies the story. Who caused their deaths? Who is the bad guy?

That said, there’s a secondary arc weaved throughout the forty episodes that had me engaged as soon it popped up in about episode 10. This story was more important to me than the romance of the main couple or any other couple for that matter. The group of seemingly powerless females begin to band together to change their predestined futures.

One reason I hate palace dramas is females have little to no real power, so they scheme and manipulate from behind the scenes. While The Princess Royale is no different, these women do not do it from a “harem” but use their brains and brawn to control their outcomes and the outcomes of the kingdom from a place of power.

I loved it. By far, women working together productively to gain power is a storyline I can get behind.

Characters:
A shout out to the women who ruled the world: Shangguan Ya (played by Cheng Guo), Qin Zhen Zhen (played by He Qiu) and Li Rong. All kicked butt as captivating characters who did not fall victim to their circumstances.

The men also intrigued me. Pei Wen Xuan, Su Rong Qing (played by Chen He Yi), and Li Chuan (played by Liu Xu Wei) really had me confused the entire 40 episodes with who was the bad guy and who wasn’t. Truthfully, it was the bitter end before I figured it out.

No spoiler: There is no easy answer to who is the good guy and who is not for this ENTIRE show. The Princess Royale did a fantastic job showing moral ambiguity brought about by everyone’s selfish motivations.

Music:
The music was lovely but nothing I would download and replay over and over and over. It was well-done just the same.

Overall:
If you like palace dramas, The Princess Royale is perfect for you. If you like great female characters, this is the show to watch. If you want fluff, you might want to try something that requires a little less brain power.

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Behind the whimsical presentation lies the harsh reality and the promise of improvement.

It’s a good drama, but it's an even better adaptation. They did not try to make it more "realistic" and explain stuff that does not need explanation for the plot to progress. They still keep it whimsical, but they also balanced the teens and adult perspective - it felt youthful, but not really childish.

Is this a teen romance show? Yes. But first and foremost it's a coming of age story that presents U Yeon’s journey of gaining confidence in herself, but also in people around her. As the drama progresses, she becomes more open to new situations, people and opportunities. She learns how to set boundaries, how to voice her opinions, and how to enjoy life. As she changes, so does her relationships with her family, friends and Gi Jeong himself. The path was rough with many ups and downs, but that’s how life is - nothing comes easy, not all resolutions are perfect. Sometimes we take a step forward and then take two steps back.

I enjoyed how at first all the characters seemed like extremely one dimensional perfect examples of empty cliche tropes, but as you watch more episodes you see that U Yeon is not as timid as it may seem; Gi Jeong is not really dumb and carefree; Seon Ho is not perfect and Geu Rin is not as strong as she would wish to be. The adult spirit fingers are not as eccentric and weird - while they enjoy the happy and silly moments in the club, we countlessly see how mature they also are.

The contrast between the teen and adult perspective was probably one of my favorite parts of the drama. I appreciated how Pink, Black, Brown and Khaki Fingers were not moralizing or lecturing the younger members - they let them make their own mistakes, learn from them. They knew when to silently support, when to step forward - what time required serious conversation, and when the youngsters needed joyful distraction.

What’s more to love? All the flaws. So many flaws… Not one character avoided having some annoying trait that made them so perfectly human. The egocentrism, making assumptions, too much hesitation, too much boldness. Not knowing how to set boundaries and setting too many boundaries that lead you to loneliness. I truly enjoyed how at times characters made me so annoyed.

If I had to name any flaws of the plot itself - probably how they handled U Yeon’s family conclusion. A little bit more realism would be preferred - not much, just a little bit more.

Production wise I am happy they did not waste time on explaining things we did not need the explanation for. Who cares who pays for the freaking tennis court in the cafe so the group can have fun themed meetings? How many rooms are there even in that cafe? Who cares? That’s the whimsical aspect that was the main charm of the setting in webtoon, and I am so happy they did not try to rationalize it or make it more realistic for the sake of the drama.

Then we also have a nice attention to the details - little things you need to think about and include on all stages of production to make the characters feel more real and the story more cohesive. For example - how the characters go to the club: U Yeon who had a more shy personality always changing into her outfits in the cafe, and then Gi Jeong being dressed up, no matter how flashy, already on his way not caring for the attention he is getting.

Acting wise - perfect casting. As someone who read the webtoon years ago, I was quite scared if they would manage to find proper actors for all these vibrant and unique characters, but they managed. Not only that, they aced it. The one casting choice I was unsure of was Cho Jun Young as Red Finger/Gi Jeong. The drawing style of that character was far more sharp in facial features, so the cute baby face Cho Jun Young has seemed like an ill fit for me - Gi Jeong was supposed to feel more intimidating than that. Boy, was I wrong. Cho Jun Young ate the role - the way the crazy ass seemed so real and relatable was amazing. Gi Jeong is honestly quite unique of a person, so to make him feel like a teen you could actually see on the street was a challenge.

The soundtrack was nice, but not exactly memorable. Maybe that’s good. The whole drama is rather flashy in all aspects, so an OST that accompanies the scenes well without overshadowing them or distracting the viewers seems like a good choice.

Overall, what a pleasant watch. Could the story be better developed? For sure. Would it be nice to see more of all the side characters’ stories? Obviously. But with the limited time they had and rather challenging source material in terms of tone and setting, I think they did an amazing job bringing this plot and characters to life on screen.

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So Many Questions!

What happened to Wei Qing's mother? She doted on Ning Fei, but she didn't make an appearance in the entire show. Why did the sweet, kind, effervescent FL become an angry, sullen difficult woman? I admit she had due cause to be angry at the circumstances, and I wouldn't have blamed her for breaking off a relationship that was toxic, but there are better ways than ghosting a person and still wanting to be a part of his life afterwards. I began to detest a character I'd cheered on in the first season. How could she let her best friend live in limbo when she knew her loved one was alive? Worse yet, when directly asked by the friend, she lied and said she didn't know anything.

The manufactured drama and ridiculous nature of this season made me cringe. Did amnesia really need to make an appearance? Worse yet, all the villains were left unscathed and even had their hideous actions glossed over. I guess attempted murder, corporate espionage, blackmail, slander, libel, and theft aren't that big a deal; invite the black-hearted psychopaths to our wedding!

The first season had a light-hearted aspect that the angst-ridden second season lacked. I suggest stopping at the first season unless you are addicted to the ML's torso (it makes a frequent appearance, so there's that).

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From Trauma to Love?

I quite liked the ensemble cast. Each person brought something to the drama. I especially appreciated the brainiac friends; they kept things interesting. The noona romance of the model and stray cat boyfriend was my least favorite coupling (she was verbally and physically abusive to him), but I still liked the characters. The FL and ML were, naturally, the most compelling. She was immature, gauche, and had an explosive temper, but she was also brave, emotionally strong, kind, and had a strong set of personal values that made her likable. ML was a psychological mess, but I personally enjoy the overcoming trauma trope.

This should have been wrapped up in one season instead of stringing the viewers along for an angst-filled nonsensical second season. Just one more episode, and the drama could have concluded happily and well.

An extra half star was awarded for the nice friendship scenes.

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