Ninja’s Drama Roundup #64

My Girl (Chinese Drama, Viki or Youtube Eng Sub) 

Due to a traumatic childhood experience that not only disfigured her face but caused her to develop an identity disorder resulting in her randomly switching between two distinct personalities, our heroine is constantly forced to clean up the mess her other personality has caused…such as suddenly finding herself with a CEO boyfriend. 

Despite being an extremely successful businessman used to making million-dollar deals, our hero is a miser who quibbles over pennies except when it comes to his obsession over developing a cosmetic liquid foundation that could cover up scars. At first playing along with our heroine’s alternate identity’s make-belief out of pity for her condition, our hero is soon motivated to keep the pretense going when he discovers that our heroine has developed the scar masking foundation he so desperately wants. 

I went into this one with pretty low expectations so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first four episodes. The writer put just enough spin into what otherwise would’ve been stereotype rich hero and hardworking candy heroine to make this one feels refreshing and fun. The show is not a comedy exactly but it had plenty of funny moments that had me laughing. 

The Romance of Tiger and Rose (Chinese Drama, Viki or Youtube Eng Sub, Finished)

I really enjoyed this one! The show was light, a lot of fun and most importantly, not draggy. The two leads also had great chemistry together.

The premise of a scriptwriter ending up in her own script was already a fun one and I was quite glad that the show was able to keep up the fun throughout the whole show. My only complaint was that I really wish the ending of the show was longer.

Basket Loveball (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

The daughter of a well known college basket coach, our heroine is determined to accomplish her father’s last wish to make Qingmeng University’s basketball team great again. Undaunted by the seemingly impossible task of assembling a dream team that could defeat Qingmeng’s old rival team, our heroine refuses to take no for an answer when she discovers our handsome hero who is a legend among the college ballplayers but has since given up on playing basketball in a team.

One other thing unique about our heroine is that she is exceptionally strong. The story doesn’t focus on her strength too much but it is used just enough to fill in some plot holes and for comedic purposes. My favorite scene is when our hero tries to use the wrist grab on our heroine and couldn’t move her at all.

The story is fairly typical for a college sports romance but if you are the type that likes sports romance then it will probably be worth checking out anyway. One side note, you can find this one English subbed on Youtube but only up to the third episode. I am assuming the rest of the episodes will be subbed but judging by all the comments begging for subs, the translation is probably on the slow side.

The Song of Glory (Chinese Drama, Viki)

Raised to be an assassin with the sole mission to kill the current emperor, our heroine firmly believes the emperor is a tyrant who must be killed in order to stop the suffering of the common people. What our heroine doesn’t know is that the emperor is actually a ruler who cares deeply for his people but he doesn’t have any real power due to corrupt powerful nobles who have a tight grip on the empire. After many misunderstandings and “I might be falling in love with you but I have to kill you”, our two leads will eventually team up to take back their nation from the wicked nobles.

This one looks epic but I liked the first five episodes and the romance between our two leads look quite promising so I might tentatively put this one on my watch list as long as the political intrigue doesn’t get too tedious.

Parallel Love (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

While unlucky in love, our heroine takes comfort in the fact that she has achieved moderate success as a professional event planner after many years of hard work. Completely stunned when she abruptly time travels back to 2010, our heroine soon discovers that her only hope of going back to her own timeline is to help our troublemaker hero become the president of his father’s company in three months. 

The production quality of Parallel Love is on the lower end so it made me a bit nervous about the story as well. However, while the story is nothing new under the sun, the acting and the general storyline are actually decent. The hero comes off a bit spoiled and immature in the first two episodes but thankfully his character gets better after that. 

To All the Guys Who Loved Me (Korean Drama, Viki)

An aspiring webtoon artist who is currently devoting all her energy working as a webtoon publisher, our heroine has no interest in marriage whatsoever. In fact, thanks to an accident that brought flashbacks of her past lives where she was apparently very unlucky in love in all of them, our heroine has vowed since she was young to stay single for life. Can our heroine’s heart be finally moved by love when two very different men: a long time friend who had been like a little brother to her and a successful CEO who seems to have a mysterious connection to her begin to pursue her in earnest?

The first episode was pretty rough with the story all over the place. If it wasn’t for Hwang Jung Eum and two good looking male leads I probably would not have given this one another chance. Fortunately, episode two improved quite a bit once the story got rolling. I am still not sold on this one enough to put it my watch list but enough to at least give it another try next week. 

Was it Love? (Korean Drama, Netflix)

Overjoyed when her boss finally promoted her to be a movie producer thus fulfilling her lifelong dream, our heroine, a single mother is horrified when gangsters (very rich ones) show up to inform her that her boss has skipped town and she is now obligated to pay back the debt. Desperate, our heroine has no choice but to attempt to produce a blockbuster movie to pay back the gangsters. As if life wasn’t already chaotic enough for our poor heroine, men from her past, a past that seemed like a lifetime away, suddenly all popped back into her life. 

It is just me or does it feel like Was it Love? and To All the Guys Who Loved Me should switch drama names? The show obviously has quite a few male leads but the show did a good job introducing them in such a way the first two episodes didn’t feel chaotic. By the way, I am personally rooting for the gangster leader…but that’s probably the wrong ship to get on.

Train (Korean Drama, Viki)

Diligently chasing after a serial killer after discovering four dead bodies at an abandoned train track, our hero, a detective is wracked with grief when someone very important to him is killed while investigating the case. Slowly coming to the realization of the existence of a parallel world, our hero is determined to find the truth and the killer no matter where the journey takes him.

This one is only 12 episodes long so the pacing is quite fast. The first two episodes were intense and the story pulls you right in. I usually stay far away from crime thriller but I am so intrigued by the story that I just might give it a chance.

Dance of the Sky Empire (Chinese Drama, Qiyi)

Ever since the demon king was sealed away, the humans have been preparing for the day when he was prophesied to wake up and destroy the human race. Half human half demon, our hero joins the best academy of the human empire and will later become a member of the dream team that is tasked with the mission to defeat the demon king. However, what was supposed to be a clear goal for our hero turns complicated when he discovers that he has been the key part of a conspiracy…and the girl he has fallen in love with is actually a spy from the demon race. (FYI, the demons are not evil in this one.) 

The story is fairly standard for the “hero and his best friends save the world” but I was pleasantly surprised that while the beginning of the first episode was a bit on the heavy side with over the top CGI there were actually plenty of comedic moments once the story gets rolling. 

Mr. Honesty (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

Is it possible to be successful in the business world if one refuses to lie? The answer: Yes, but you should hire a secretary who will do the lying for you. Our hero is someone who cannot stand the littlest lie and ALWAYS tells the honest truth even when it leads to very undesirable consequences. Forced by his HR manager to hire our heroine as his secretary, our heroine is charged with the unique responsibility of making sure our hero doesn’t blurt out his honest opinion during business settings. 

I went into this one thinking the honesty trope would get old fairly fast but it was surprisingly fun and intriguing. 

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