Ninja’s Drama Roundup #59

The Love Equations (Chinese Drama, Viki)

Addicted to detective stories, our heroine, a first year literature major, writes detective novels online…even if all her readers complain that her stories sorely lack logic. Outgoing and bubbly, our heroine seems to be the last sort of person our hero, the top student of the forensic science department whose personality is quite the opposite would fall in love with…but that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, as with most college romance, our two leads’ will eventually part ways but when the drama gods reunites them will their love be given a second chance?

I was quite charmed by the first two episodes but the poor quality of episodes three and four made me wonder if the show had abruptly changed its director. The story is cute enough that I would for sure put this one on my list if it could stay at the same quality as the first two episodes but if not then I will probably just be watching it with a hand on the fast forward button. 
Update: It looks like the fifth episode’s quality improved so I should be sticking with this one.

Hunting (Chinese Drama, Viki or Youtube No Sub)

A rising star in his career as a detective, all of our hero’s skill seems to be useless when he meets his nemesis, a clever businessman who makes his fortune committing investment fraud. Joining in a special task force especially focused on international money laundering, our hero, in the process of investigating his old nemesis is horrified to realize that his respected mentor and his own fiancee are both involved. 

The stories in the drama are based on real cases so it was quite interesting to see that part of economic/crime history (from 2007-2016) in China. Judging by the two episodes I watched, the show did a great job of making all the characters realistic. So much so, that I am constantly wondering if I am placed in the different characters’ shoes, what choices I would’ve made. 

The Chang’an Youth (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

Grieving over her best friend’s unexpected death, our heroine decides to assume her best friend’s identity to marry in her stead. Setting off on a long journey to Changan (a province in China) to fulfill her friend’s long time wish of uncovering her birth secret, our heroine ends up disguising herself as a man in order to attend an academy with our three handsome male leads. (The fiancee is one of our three male leads but it doesn’t look like he will be the one our heroine end up with.)

The show reminded me a bit of 2010 K-drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal with Park Min Young with its similar setup but this one is on the lighter side. Our hero is our heroine’s roommate and so there will be plenty of hilarious internal conflict on our hero’s part as he falls in love with his “best bud.” 

Serenade of Peaceful Joy (Chinese Drama, Viki)

Someone save me from this show! This show seriously has a bunch of elements that would make me stay far far away from it but I can’t stop myself from watching it! So let’s start with why I wouldn’t normally follow this one: 1. The show’s synopsis doesn’t hide the fact that this one will not end happily. 2. The hero doesn’t love our heroine and instead, has a very annoying “true love”. 3. The hero sleeps with multiple women…understandable since he is the emperor but I still usually avoid this type of thing. 4. Did I mention this one will not end happily?

So, why in heaven’s name can I not stop watching it? If I have to come up with a reason, I would have to say the show really has created two very compelling lead characters. Both characters are flawed in their own way, but one can’t help and respect them for trying to be the best leaders for their nation. As a viewer, there are countless times I want to kick the hero for being such a terrible husband to our heroine but then I think how frustrating it must be for our hero to be trapped by his throne and his genuine desire to create a better life for his people. Our heroine is the perfect empress our hero’s court officials chose for him in unison. At first very resentful of being told exactly who to marry, our hero eventually comes to see that our heroine is indeed the perfect empress he and his nation needs. Unfortunately, our hero’s admiration and respect for our heroine as his empress doesn’t translate into love so while she is the one he shares all of his political worry with, he can’t bring himself to love her romantically.

As for our heroine…the poor girl has the biggest crush on her own husband but she is forced to hide her own feelings and live her life as his perfect empress. The one thing that makes this show addicting is that the show has been exceptionally good at creating the most heart skipping eunuchs. Yep, you read that right…eunuchs. I know that sounds extremely weird but if you watch the show I promise you will be cheering for our heroine to just forget the emperor and elope with the emperor’s head eunuch. One of the other important female characters is the emperor’s daughter who will end up falling in love with a eunuch as well. That particular eunuch character is still pretty young right now but one can already tell this will be one epic love story between this character and the princess. As you can tell, plenty of ships but they are all destined to crash and burn…

Legend of Awakening (Chinese Drama, Viki)

If you were sorely disappointed that actor Arthur Chen did not reprise his role in the second season of Ever Night, then hopefully this one will assuage some of that regret. At first look, Legend of Awakening might feel a lot like Ever Night since 1. Our hero’s character is an underdog everyone looks down on. 2. He has a “sister” who is quite talented and who he will do anything to protect. 3. His foes are seemingly impossible to kill but that’s his goal anyway. 4. He has a condition/seal that threatens his health and ability to progress in his fighting ability. 5. He will gather a group of good friends who will help him in his fight against the evil force. 

However, all these similarities are not really similarities between the two shows but rather it was because both of these shows fit in the Chinese novel genre of Wuxia. For comparison, it wouldn’t work to have a K-daily or soap opera without birth secrete, rich handsome hero, or a Cinderella heroine.  

To set your expectation here, especially if you have read the book Legend of Awakening is based on, our hero’s love line will not be with his “sister” but instead is changed to our feisty heroine who is the daughter of a general. 

I checked out the first three episodes and I have to say that Arthur Chen really is very good at playing these swaggering heroes. The feel of Legend of Awakening isn’t quite as epic or as showy as Ever Night but I am still liking it quite a bit especially since I think we will get more of a romantic love line here than Ever Night. 

When My Love Blooms (Korean Drama, Viki)

Lee Bo Young’s new romantic drama where she plays a single divorced mother desperate to make ends meet and her fateful reunion with her first love, once an idealistic law student but now a rich and ambitious businessman. 

Oh, boy, I think this one is going to be one of those that rip your heart out and stump on it for good measure. If the first episode is a good indication of what’s to come, then When My Love Bloom is looking solid all around. Great cast (both the young and seasoned actors), great story, and awesome production especially the editing. This one doesn’t do the linear storytelling where you get the young actors playing out the backstory first but it is one where the story jumps back and forth between the two leads’ college days where everything is bright with hope…and to the now that is definitely not so bright anymore. I usually get really impatient with these types of storytelling but When My Love Blooms has done an excellent job in transitioning between the two timelines seamlessly…and making your heart break for our two leads that much more in the process. 

By the way, our hero’s character seems pretty aloof and serious in the first episode but once our two leads reunite in the second episode, then I was pleasantly surprised to see the relaxed and even playful side of our hero.

Closer to You (Chinese Drama, Youku no sub)

As a handsome and successful surgeon, our hero should have no trouble in love except he can’t forget his first crush from 10 years ago. Timid and nerdy back in his high school days, our hero was the subject of daily bullying. Losing his heart to our prickly heroine when she stopped him from committing suicide with a few terse words, our hero’s heart is eventually broken when our heroine unexpectedly dies shortly after. Stunned when he wakes up one morning to find himself back in his high school-aged nerdy body, our hero is thrilled to be given a second chance to save our heroine. 

I liked this one quite a bit! The set up is fairly standard for a time traveling story of course, but all the characters introduced so far are quite charming with the two leads especially fun. Don’t get scared off by the very serious sounding synopsis because the show doesn’t feel like that at all. In fact, I found myself laughing through the first three episodes. 

I am hoping one of the big sites will eventually pick this one up for English subs, but you might be able to find some smaller sites translating this one for now if you dig around a bit. 

Love is All (Chinese Drama, Viki)

As the new magistrate, our hero is dismayed to find his fame has somehow proceeded him thanks to our heroine who has managed to make quite a good living telling fictional stories about him. Despite getting off on the wrong foot first, our heroine will eventually become our hero’s counsel (an actual office position as one who is responsible to advise the magistrate on all matters) as the two work together to solve criminal cases. 

This one is REALLY light, in fact, it almost felt more like a spoof to me. As much as I like comedy, this one is too light for my taste plus I think I am quite done with C-criminal detective drama set in ancient China for a long while. 

Note: I have been told that K-dramas on Viki are not always licensed in all countries so I can only vouch for US as it might not be available depending on where you are located.

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