Heroic Journey of Ne Zha (Chinese Drama, Viki)
A retelling of a well known adventures of the hero Ne Zha in classic Chinese mythology. Ne Zha also appears in the Chinese classic The Journey to the West.
It is interesting that the show chose to use an actress to portray Ne Zha but it strangely works since Ne Zha is supposed to be a teenager who is bursting with energy and fervor to help those around him so a thin full grown woman could believably come off as a gangly teenager. Anyhow, since our “hero” is a teenager, this one will be an inspiring story centers around friendship, love of family, self sacrifice for the greater good, and of course how our hero and his friends eventually defeated the villains to save the world.
I like fantasy but this one is a bit TOO much fantasy for me (our hero flies around with fire wheels on his feet…that is how Na Zha is described in Chinese myth so I actually applaud the show for doing a good job portraying it but it didn’t stop me from cringing) plus I tend to check out when there is no romance so I don’t see myself following this one.
Love A Lifetime (Chinese Drama, Viki)
Falling in love with each other almost at first sight, our two leads’ path to happily ever after is destined to be filled with obstacles since their two families are sworn enemies. Unwilling to give up on their love even when our hero is supposed to turn into the next demonic leader, our heroine stubbornly stays by her man’s side on the firm belief he will win over his inner demon.
If the story of Romeo and Juliet was set in fantasy ancient China… Thankfully, Shakespeare didn’t write the ending to this one. Allen Ren’s last few roles that have propelled him into popularity are more of the aloof arrogant sort so it was a lot of fun to see him play a much more personable and comedic character here. For those who loved Allen Ren’s previous roles of the aloof type though, the show was considerate enough to give Allen Ren two identities here so he will actually still get to play the aloof stoic type here.
My Love, Enlighten Me (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)
I finished marathoning My Love, Enlighten Me over the weekend and was overall pretty happy with this one. My only single biggest annoyance with this show is that I really didn’t care how the scriptwriter had our heroine forgive one particular backstabbing friend again and again. I understand letting go old grudges but to the point of staying friends with someone who has proven they will stab you in the back not once but twice? That seems silly to me.
That one single annoyance aside, I did find plenty of other stuff to like about the show. I was particularly impressed with actress Eleanor Lee portrayal of our super cute heroine. At first glance, the other two female second leads were more eyecatching than our heroine so I was a bit worried if our heroine is going to be able to hold her own. Fortunately, I was soon convinced my worry was for nothing and our heroine’s casting was perfect because I can’t imagine anyone else pulling off such a charming yet strong character. The other thing I really liked was the cuteness overload chemistry between our two leads. Our hero is the stoic aloof sort so I was pleasantly surprised by how cute this couple is.
Backstreet Rookie (Korean Drama, iQIY English App)
Ji Chang Wook and Kim You Jung’s new romantic comedy! Kim You Jung plays our heroine- a young woman whose fist is as formidable as she is beautiful. Falling in love with our hero at first sight three years ago when she was still a trouble maker high schooler, our heroine pops into our hero’s life again when she becomes the new part-timer in his convenient store. Remembering quite well that our heroine is the same young high schooler who had asked him to buy her and her friends cigarettes three years ago, our hero vows to fire our heroine…later.
Perhaps I went into this one with too high of an expectation because while I more or less enjoyed the first two episodes I found the pacing slow and the story meandering. Since the show was based on a webtoon (an adult webtoon at that) the comedic tone was fairly over the top but I am afraid missed the mark on being funny. I did find it refreshing to see Ji Chang Wook playing such a timid and pushover character especially paired with a female lead who likes to let her fist do the talking. Unless the story improves dramatically next week, I can’t see myself following this one but Ji Chang Wook and Kim You Jung do look great together so I might check back in if I hear some positive online chatter about the show.
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (Korean Drama, Netflix)
Despite being an extremely popular writer of children’s literature, our heroine actually suffers from antisocial personality disorder. Realizing right away our heroine’s true nature the moment they met, our hero- a man who is living an exhausting life of working as a psychiatric ward staff and taking care of his older brother (who suffers from mental problems) wants nothing to do with our heroine. Intrigued by our hero and his rather spot on diagnosis of her, our heroine soon comes to the conclusion that she must have our hero.
Dang! The chemistry between our two leads is SIZZLING! Kim Soo Hyun of course has always looked handsome in his previous roles but I think he actually achieved the impossible and look even more handsome here. I was also completely amazed at how beautiful actress Seo Ye Ji is here. Kudos to the brilliant wardrobe stylist for giving our heroine the modern day princess/wicked witch vibe. I have always been a sucker for fairytales so this one is totally up my alley.
The eye candy feast aside, I am equally impressed with the story thus far. The show uses Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale quite a bit and it has done an awesome job showing a mesmerizing fairytale-like world with a dark side… true Hans Christian Andersen’s style. I totally love the show but I am starting to doubt my own sanity after watching it because I think for the first time I am actually quite okay if the story ends with the two leads dying horribly in each other’s arms. I only thought that for one second but still enough to make me wonder if I am losing it…
Symphony’s Romance (Korean Drama, Viki)
Due to a childhood trauma that resulted in his fear of flying on airplanes, our hero’s dream of becoming a world famous conductor seems destined to remain an unreachable dream. A perfectionist through and through, our hero lives his life with exactness…that is until he meets our heroine, a piano student who is his extreme opposite. Puzzled at first how a girl living her life in chaos could produce such wonderful music, our hero soon discovers our heroine’s chaos is slowly creeping into his once perfectly exact life and giving him the courage to pursue his dream.
This one is a remake of 2006 J-drama Nodame Cantabile. I LOVED the J-original so I am not going to venture an opinion on Symphony’s Romance since I would be totally biased but do check this one out if you have never seen the J-original and would rather watch the newest version. There is also an anime version and it is quite good as well.
Love Designer (Chinese Drama, Viki, Finished)
Sigh…I was so excited to follow this one but it really didn’t live up to its potential. The show was glamorous and the two leads had good chemistry but the story was just so draggy and repetitive. The show also spent a lot of time on our heroine’s BFF’s loveline but that particular couple really wasn’t very interesting. It was like the scriptwriter could only play one note for each of the characters. Our heroine would try something new for her design business, it would look promising, then something would happen to mess it up- this cycle happened about 4-5 times. Our hero would engage in a battle of wits with his business nemesis whom I honestly never understood why he was so obsessed with defeating our hero. Our heroine’s BFF would break up with her boyfriend then they would get back together- I lost count how many times this happened. It really was such a shame, the story had potential and I feel the cast did the best they could but it was all wasted on lazy writing.
Just based on the star power of our two leads alone I did finish this one but I pretty much kept my finger on the fast forward button the whole time.
Well Dominated Love (Chinese Drama, Eng Sub Youtube)
Our hero might be an extremely picky CEO who is impossible to please but all his strict and even strange requirements are easily met by our heroine. Puzzled and intrigued that his temporary secretary seems to know him rather well, our hero begins to wonder if his secretary might be the woman buried in his lost memory whom he has been searching for.
The production quality of this one is not great but I liked the first four episodes to keep watching. I am fairly forgiving when it comes to the amnesia trope so that probably plays a big part why I enjoyed this one.
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Will check out my love enlighten me based on your review. Thanks ninja!
Enlighten Me was an okay drama for me since it was a bit to repetitive for me how the heroine made her way. Success, failure, crying, start anew, success an so on. I liked it was FL ( and female) centric but it could have been a bit less…well…whiney when she grew up. I liked that at the end she didn’t let the guy deal with his shit alone despite him pushing her away. More dramas need that.