Ninja’s Drama Roundup #50

Ming Dynasty (Chinese Drama, New)

Growing up with the goal to seek revenge against the emperor who had her parents killed right in front of her eyes, our heroine needs all her wits about her when her group’s assassination attempt failed and our hero- the emperor’s grandson comes knocking on her door to seek for insurgents. Through their battle of wits, our two leads will slowly fall in love but things are of course complicated whenever the politics of an empire is involved. Moreover, our heroine is still determined to figure out what caused her parents’ death even if all signs point to our hero’s family.

This one looks solid all around both in terms of acting and the story. Unfortunately, this one is based on a book that is based on real historical events that happened during the later part of Ming dynasty…which means fairy tale happy ending or even sort of happy ending is usually not in the cards. Sigh…dang reality. 

Yanxi Palace: Princess Adventure (Chinese drama)

Fans of Yanxi Palace are in for treat! Netflix has a six episodes special that tells the story of a Princess who is the daughter of Wei Yingluo (the heroine in Yanxi Palace). As per Yanxi Palace style, lots of palace intrigue in six episodes but obviously very fast-paced since it is ONLY six episodes long. I had assumed that our two leads from Yanxi Palace would make very brief cameos in the special but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of screen time they had…yet not detract from the Princess’ story. All in all, I thought the special was cleverly done with enough scenes of our original two leads and references to the past characters (including the beloved male second lead Fuheng) to satisfy fans.

The Best Partner (Chinese Darma)

Working at a coffee shop as a barista, our heroine often uses her vast knowledge of the law to help her friends. Jumping on a rare chance to become a law assistant to an elite lawyer, our heroine’s tendency to be empathetic to her clients’ plight soon cause conflict between her and our hero. 

I have not watched the US TV series “SUITS” but according to online chatter, The Best Partner sounds a lot like it. After reading the synopsis of the two shows, I have to agree that there seems to be a lot of similarities. As one who has not watched SUITS so as not to have any preconceived notions, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first couple episodes of The Best Partner. The dialog is funny and witty, the character set up sounded like tiring stereotypes on paper but they didn’t feel that way in the show. It is not obvious right now if we will actually get a love line between our two leads and the show is entertaining enough that I wouldn’t be too disappointed if it didn’t…but do you cast Jing Dong as your male lead and not give him a love line??

Love The Way You Are (Chinese Drama)

Our heroine might be a famous model right now but she has a strange illness that makes her turn into an overweight girl in a matter of minutes if she consumes over 1000 calories a day. Still harboring the trauma and anger of being shamed when she confessed to our hero back when they were young and she was still overweight, our heroine is ready to seek revenge when she meets our hero- a well-known chef again. 

Your typical fun and fluffy C-drama with a wacky premise. I will probably put this one on my “watch when I am doing something mundane” list. 

Please Love Me (Chinese Drama)

As an ordinary girl whose biggest worry is how to make more money from her job at a nail shop, our heroine suddenly draws the attention of the whole world when a top star announces that she is his girlfriend AND they are planning to get married soon. Unable to understand how a simple decision to help out our hero out of a difficult situation ended up snowballing into an impossible bind, our heroine reluctantly agrees to enter into a contract marriage with a top star. 

A pretty common premise but hey, why fix something when it is a proven formula? I do have a little issue though, I am having a really hard time separating actor Zhang Yujian (playing the male lead in this one) from his last role in Le Coup de Foudre. I really liked Le Coup de Foudre so I guess that’s why I am having such a hard time seeing Zhang Yujian in his new role as a top star instead of the stoic genius he was in his last role. Anyhow, I am assuming that’s my own problem so don’t let that stop you from checking this one out! 

Sweet Tai Chi (Chinese Drama)

Due to a misunderstanding on the first day at her new college, our heroine suddenly finds it necessary to keep up a persona of being a fragile lady. Unfortunately, keeping up the image of being a fragile lady is quite difficult especially when one happens to single handily beat up 7 men with Tai Chi to save our hero– the idol of her new school. Despite his inability to fight anymore due to an injury, our hero is actually the grandmaster of a Tai Chi clan. Upon discovering our heroine’s talent in Tai Chi, our hero decides to become our heroine’s teacher. 

This one reminded me of 2016 K-drama Moorim School at first but by the second episode I didn’t feel that way anymore. The story is pretty focused on reviving the art of Tai Chi but luckily the romance line should be really strong as well. The acting might be a tad bit weak at some places but the chemistry and the cute interactions between our two young leads more than make up for it. 

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