Reviews

The angst, the depressing undertone...the darkness!

This was a trainwreck,wow!!China has really nailed the romantic angst when it comes to the storylines and the execution in their dramas. Blazing Elegance will definitely make you uncomfortable, set in the republic historical setting of China, just as the tensions and the war brew out between Japan and China, we have a forbidden love-story between two sweethearts (or yeah it doesn`t get that sweet later on) The only heir of the Grand Warlord Yi Qiuting and the school teacher Xingrou. Yi Qiuting is a dominating force, stubborn in everything he does and does not take no for an answer. His family was against his desicion in marrying Xingrou, so he did very immoral stuff to keep her with him. It was terrible the stuff he did and the way she desperately tried to escape his so called Cage of Love. His love suffocated her eventually. But in her heart she always understood his actions, she had that understanding for him. Even if it took her so long to forgive him, she also gave him a great deal of his own medicine by the way. Hehe! This story made me anxious, sad and giddy at the same time. I binge-watched it in one go.

First time seeing the mainleads and they did by the way AWESOME job of portraying the couple`s complex relationship. Qiuting`s words: "If you die i will eat your ashes"-straight crazy cold line by him. But such a utterly lost, sick and hopeless fool when it comes to his beloved heroine.

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Not the best creation, but I see the passion shines in this project

I was really looking forward to this film ever since I watched the trailer, but I was disappointed by the lack of a strong script. Regardless of how hard the actors worked, the intentions behind the cinematography, or the quality of the setting, all those efforts fell flat without a convincing story. This left me feeling regretful.

However, the ambition to depict a maturity journey through love and friendship over more than ten years is admirable. What’s particularly interesting is that it feels like I’m observing individuals born in the late '80s and early '90s navigate their youth, much like the two young Gen Z characters in the film. The film conveys a clear message: "Love is valuable, and everything that has happened and been chosen is worthy of appreciation in the present."

The drama evokes a rather nostalgic feeling reminiscent of the early 2010s film adaptations such as Fleet of Time (2014), The Left Ear (2015), With You (2016) (maybe because it was set in that period too, even though the storytelling differs). The main themes of the film—such as pursuing careers and dreams, settling down in a big city, and the complexities of love—remind a generation that was once young and experienced subtle inner transformations. Although I didn't experience these feelings personally, I can vividly imagine the young people of that era rushing forward to embrace their desires, along with their misconceptions and realizations.

After years of watching Chinese dramas, I've noticed a particular trend: when it comes to films about early adulthood and youth topics, many current works tend to reflect the experiences of a previous generation (like in the 2010s I saw youth films set in 2005, and now in 2020s the films set in 2010). This drama has condensed that experience of reflecting youth into a long journey of the two main characters from living wildly to being constrained by reality, becoming disillusioned and finally accepting, almost giving me the feeling of watching an autobiography.

I hope that the script pays more attention to detail and creates stronger connections. However, I appreciate this film for its enthusiasm for directing, filming, and especially acting, as it stands out in a 2020s film market that often recycles ideas.

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Entertaining but Cliche-Filled and Overstretched

I watched this drama based on a friend’s recommendation, and while I’m glad I gave it a shot, I have mixed feelings overall. It’s an enjoyable romance with beautiful visuals and solid performances, but it could have easily been 10 episodes shorter without losing anything important.

The relationship between Mi Ka and Ke Lei is the biggest highlight. Their chemistry is undeniable, and I appreciated seeing a couple that actually behaves like sharing jokes, affection, and genuine warmth. It’s rare to find such grounded romantic moments in Chinese dramas. That said, once they officially got together, the show oddly kept them apart or made their interactions awkward for far too long, which took away some of the emotional payoff.

Individually, the characters are hit or miss. Mi Ka is portrayed as nearly flawless-an idealized super-doctor who can do everything from surgery to diagnostics. While she’s admirable, this lack of flaws made her feel a bit unrealistic and flat. Ke Lei was slightly more layered, but still largely a “perfect guy” type. Secondary couples were interesting in parts, but their storylines dragged, especially with the inclusion of unnecessary love triangles and vague relationship drama.

One of the biggest drawbacks is the pacing. The show is bloated with filler-action sequences, medical emergencies, and side plots that don’t really move the story forward. The Shen sisters arc, for example, was completely skippable. Episode 6 in particular almost made me drop the drama due to how poorly thought out the hospital scenes were.

In the end, this drama is worth watching if you’re looking for a relaxing romance with strong leads and pretty visuals. Just don’t expect a tightly written story. It’s a comforting ride, but one that could’ve benefited from sharper editing. Solid 8/10 from me

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Cherish Your Youth

I held off on watching this drama for quite awhile due to the simple fact that I’m not a fan of love triangles, which this show very much has. I kept seeing snippets of it via social media, though, so I finally caved & pushed play. And while the triangle definitely lowered my rating some, I’m still glad I watched it because I ended up enjoying it more than I expected to.

It tells the story of a quirky college freshman who has no time for extracurricular activities/clubs because she’s solely focused on making money to support herself + her mother & younger brother. So she initially turns down her bestie’s request to join the university cheerleading squad, but when she’s bribed with money if she joins, she quickly signs up. The catch? She must keep it a secret that she’s being paid. She thinks it’ll be easy money… then she officially meets the captain (whom she’s already had some not-so-good encounters with). He’s more serious & mature than her, so their personalities constantly clash. Not to mention that he’s very passionate about the squad, while she’s only in it for as long as it takes to get paid. So the viewers are left with an all too familiar question of: will this duo resolve their issues & misunderstandings so they can have a happy ending or are they destined to be each other’s college-love regret?

As the story plays out it presents the viewers with lots of different things. It has some truly hilarious parts that left me giggling at the chaotic cast. It also had heartwarming moments that remind you how beautiful & precious life is. There are realistically sad moments too that caused my heart to hurt a bit for the characters’ pain. They experience both losses & wins throughout. The plot has enough secrets & mysteries to keep you invested in seeing how it all finally plays out. There are villains & there are heroes, each with a story to tell. We witness the characters’ trauma & how they grow. There’s life-long friends & the birth of new friendships. There’s the angst & excitement of many new loves.

And there’s the underlying message about choosing to chase your dreams no matter the obstacles & not wasting your youth since you only get to live it for a short time.

Now, for the main trio.
- The FL: I found her to be quite unique. I feel like generally girls with her personality & brand of crazy are relegated to side-character status, so it was refreshing to see such a quirky girl as the lead female. I quite enjoyed her as she was a strong young woman who didn’t let others push her around. How she handled her ex? Ha - you go, girl! She was determined to provide a better life for her family so she willingly sacrificed her own happiness to help them, which is both admirable & heartbreaking to watch. She did take this to the extreme & was quite controlling/bossy to both her mother & brother, but her reasoning is later explained & then you just want to give the poor girl a hug. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself, nor to work hard for what she wanted. And while she didn’t enjoy hurting people, she didn’t allow their feelings to manipulate her into doing things she was truly against. Yeah, she frustrated me at times with the triangle drama, but overall I found her to be relatable in her flaws & commendable in her strengths.. 🫶🏻

- The ML: I know some may think differently, but he’s totally green, IMHO. Yes, his hesitation in confessing is frustrating & makes him seem a bit flaky, but when you take into account why he was hesitant, it’s kinda admirable (even while still annoying). He truly wished to protect the FL so he wanted to keep his distance until the danger surrounding the squad could be resolved. I was so happy when he finally allowed himself to follow his heart despite the risks, because he was so good for her. I know he screwed up & reacted poorly towards her a couple times, but again, take into account the why behind his reactions & it all makes sense. PLUS he took responsibility & apologized for messing up, which takes a lot of maturity to do. He was also super cool in his refusal to let her “take the heat” for dating him, her captain, when that camera crew was around. And one of parts that made me absolutely love him is how he handled their “break up”. Honestly, he’s total aces in my book for that (iykyk). 🫠

- The SML: look, I’m just going to be straight up honest here & say that I don’t at all understand the obsession with this character. To me, he’s a total red flag. He’s a very selfish & self-centered guy. (FL’s brother says it best with his response when the SML tries using him to get closer to her. I was totally cheering for the brother in that scene!) For the majority of the drama he’s very obsessive & manipulative, one of the love-rival types who’s just seriously annoying to me. He doesn’t care about the FL’s lack of interest in him or how his actions affect her. After the FL again rejected him, he started dating out of spite which is super unfair to his new gf. That does not say “good guy” to me. Yes, he had his moments where you could see his potential to be better, but he almost always ruined it with his usual immaturity. Until the last episodes, everything he did was selfishly motivated so sorry, not sorry, I just didn’t like him. 🚩

As for the rest of the squad, I’m glad we got to delve into each of their stories a bit. It helped them seem more like real people, rather than just filler side-characters. It also is a great reminder that every single person has a story of their own to tell. While we’re the MC’s of our own life stories, we’re just the side-characters in someone else’s, while they get the MC role. It’s important to remember that the world does not, in fact, revolve around us & our individual lives. 😉

Also, the moms were a total bonus. It was fun to watch them reconnect & navigate through their rivalry, history, & all it brought with it. They were such opposites as parents, but they both unashamedly & completely loved their children. They had their good points & their bad points which just shows that mothers are human too.

One last thing I’ll mention - I have no idea why they’re called a Cheerleading Squad. Maybe it’s just lost in translation? In my country, they’d be labeled a dance team. Which honestly is no big deal & doesn’t take away from the plot at all, I simply mention it because I was really confused in the first several episodes while I waited for them to do some actual cheering. Or at least some stunts in their routines like I expect cheerleaders to do. But there’s absolutely none of that so I’m just throwing that out there so you don’t go in with those same expectations as I did, haha.


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-⬇️ S P O I L E R S 🚫 B E L O W ⬇️-


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The things I always want to know 😏😉…
- First(real)Kiss : ep.11💋
- Together : ep.12 👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻
- BreakUp : ep.14 💔
- BackTogether : ep.15❤️‍🩹

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Another KBL with flawless skins, perfectly dressed people, and fake dating theme, but not half bad

It is a truth universally acknowledged in the KBL universe that a single, high net worth rich heir and young tech-entrepreneur, with stone-cold heart, flawless skin, and 'never-gonna-marry' stance must be in need of a 'gay-fake-dating' candidate to ward off them blind-date gals....and a guy who can pretend to be the parent on the phone, clear clogged toilets, has a body fit for nude modelling, over-performs at impersonification gigs, and is desperate for money, is without doubts the best candidate ever....

BL-needle score: 6. Moderate BL-ness so far

As the usual story goes, they will off course eventually fall in love for real and satisfy all the expected tropes.....may I add that when the time comes, I expect one of them to wear oversized KBL-clothes in pastel shades and the other perfectly tailored formal clothes, find a soft diffused-lights-environment to slightly peck each other on the lips (without ruining the glow-make up)...if they end up doing more than that (I hope they do), I will definitely raise the score...:D

Lol...the tropes notwithstanding, I like the good looking cast, and the high production values.....the acting is also reasonab;ly alright so far....have decided to keep watching for now .

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love their banter!

this drama was a solid 8 for me. they both had some different hobbies and passions and the fiends to enemies to friends to past history to almost in laws to lovers hahaha the show kept on going as the characters kept on experiencing random shift in emotions but it kept us engaged and laughing through out
nothing beats the “messi chhuaye” even now and the fl embarrassing herself only to find the ml being even more embarrassing was crazy
I was not the biggest fan of the side character she had a crush on, felt that he was a bit too 😁 smiley and cheeky but overall it was cute!!

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cold male lead melting slowly!

I watched this 5 years back and I remember being completely head over heals for hu yitian. the drama doesn’t have much romance points but it perfectly shows what one sided love is and the dedication and energy it takes. the female lead is bubbly, naive and completely lovestruck by the cold male lead who secretly cares (classic love story hahah) but it reminded me of the times I would chase around my crush in school and was def worth the nostalgia race :)

ps- some find their height gap cute but for me it was tooooooo much to be classified as cute 😭😭😭 she was struggling for her life to make eye contact haha
can’t even imagine the back pain bro must go through to reach his gf 😞

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Pretty Faces, Empty Plot: A Mockery of Real Sacrifice

Rating: 3/10
Genres: Military, Romance, Drama

Let me start with a question: While protecting a country, do soldiers or volunteers truly have the time to go sightseeing, take photos, and romance their partner in the middle of missions? Even if it’s a drama, it should carry a basic sense of realism. A good story connects with its audience through emotion and believability—not fantasy masquerading as reality.

In today’s tech-heavy, image-driven world, we’re heavily influenced by what we watch. That’s why directors and writers have a responsibility. You don’t always have to show a perfect or politically correct message—but don’t push the wrong one either. And actors should also be mindful of the stories they choose to represent.

If you want to create a light romantic drama, then do it honestly—with a normal storyline. Don’t hide behind military or soldier-based themes just to insert romantic fluff. It’s cheap storytelling, and it does a huge disservice to the people whose real lives involve sacrifice, danger, and duty.

Story / Plot (2/10)
This drama started off okay, but quickly derailed into chaos. I had to force myself to finish it—not for entertainment, but just to confirm how bad it got. It feels like a complete insult to the idea of service, sacrifice, and national responsibility.

The female lead is supposed to be a journalist—but she spends most of the drama chasing her boyfriend, disturbing his work, and acting like the entire world revolves around her emotional needs. She’s praised as “kind” and “talented,” but in reality, she shows little value in the actual story. Her character adds no depth, and frankly, she becomes so annoying that I found myself wishing her role would just disappear or end entirely—not fall in love and have more screentime.

Characters & Cast (4/10)
The cast, overall, has done a good job with what they were given. But the lead characters are written so poorly that it’s hard to sympathize with them. Especially the female lead—every time she appeared on screen, I felt frustration rather than empathy. And the male lead, instead of acting like a committed volunteer in service of his country, is constantly babysitting his girlfriend and sharing kisses in dangerous zones. If this is “romance,” it’s tone-deaf and misplaced.

Tone & Message (1/10)
To understand Eastern countries—especially their military and humanitarian struggles—just read the news. Anyone with a heart will cry. This drama completely ignores that pain. It turns what should be a serious, respectful theme into a shallow romance.

This is not just unrealistic. It’s disrespectful.

Overall Thoughts
This is a STUPID drama. It disrespects real-life volunteers, soldiers, and the people who sacrifice everything. It could have been a beautiful, respectful story—but it’s been turned into a cringe-filled romantic mess.

Would I Recommend It?
❌ Absolutely not. Avoid this drama unless you’re okay with disrespecting serious themes for the sake of shallow romance.

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Bunny and her oppas where???

Im not very apt at writing so this is gonna be a mess of a review but I just have to get this off my chest.

I was confused when I saw they were adapting a webtoon that only had one season but I decided to give it a go, as that one season was pretty fun and light hearted. They took the plot of the first two chapters, used the main character and two of the guys from the webtoon and then threw the rest of it in the trash.

Now im not saying the source material had major potential as a drama, in fact, it had too many oppas and the humour may not have translated over too well. But my gosh, why say its an adaption of a story if you arent even going to use the story? They turned this silly little webtoon in to a melodramatic miscommunication-fest of BORING!!! worst part of it, they removed my favourite character/turned him in to another person who is kind of evil???WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT TO MY HIMBO JOCK?!?!

Overral this drama was such a waste of not only the source material, but the great actors and the phenomenal soundtrack. Seriously, this ost slapped so hard.
I recommend reading bunny and her oppas!!!

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Closed The Closet Door Again!

While I have not read the manhwa this is based off, this series failed to deliver as a BL. It did not tell a story; only presented circumstances. Ironically, we got the full picture of the straight couple(s), including a superfluous musical interlude and a tennis match. This is a straight story with two gay guys thrown in to try and make it be a BL. However, there was no intrinsic development of a gay relationship or even a foundation of a strong connection between them until the absolute end. What little we did see about their evevolment, was shown to be dark leading to uncertainty with misunderstanding assumptions and presented mostly despondently. Frankly, this series was a bitter disappointment . Oh, it is well acted, and the cinematography is breathtaking and perhaps that is what hides its flaws so masterfully. But its poor content is couched and guised in pretty words at times and nice surroundings. Take that away, and what you are exposed to is anxiety, fear, guilt, and the shame of queerness that is so prevalent in Korean culture and thinking. This series merely highlights their disquietudes about someone being gay in the worst possible way, I might add. Gayness became shameful, something that you could not share even with friends or family and would in essence be deadly if anyone found out about it. Only talked about it in the dead of night and in whispers. They did everything to put gay people back into the closet except not put a lock on the closet door. This did NOTHING to enhance, enlighten, or encourage acceptance of individuals who are gay. If anything, it merely showed how sad, pathetic, weak, unaccepting, shameful, scared, frightened, intimidating, and unaccepting it all is. Know your place. How much agony it will cause you. Meanwhile, the straight couple gets to foster a warm cozy relationship with everyone accepting of that as being normal. And they get to have a happy ending or live out a dream

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Exceeds expectations

I had high hopes for this series and I am certainly not disappointed. I just watched the second episode and it was even better than the first. The overall feeling is a high quality production with excellent cinematography, sets and music. the lead actors Zee and NuNew continue to have compelling chemistry.It is more than a BL combining romance with action, political intrigue and leavened with humor. The fight scenes in Episode 2 are even better than the first episode. Zee is convincing in his role as stoic guard, Charan and also amusing as Charan grapples with his attraction to his bratty charge. NuNew also has a role different from previously. His demeanor as a somewhat spoiled London boy overwhelmed by the sudden changes to his life sets up the character Kanin to meet challenges ahead. I often fast forward on BL dramas, but for this one I didn’t want to miss a minute and am rewatching before the next episode. Aside from the lead actors, other members of the cast are also excellent in their roles, in particular the actor who plays the foster father and the friend who helps them escape. There are a few quibbles such as awkward product placement and unconvincing London setting. but not enough to seriously distract from an overall compelling drama. Beautiful sets, actors, music and costumes. Romance, action and humor make this a must see.

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