Ninja’s Drama Roundup #66

The Sleepless Princess (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

Suspicious of his brother’s unexpected death in the palace, our hero, a young and highly respected general is determined to find out the truth of his brother’s death even if the emperor is already eagerly waiting for a reason to get rid of him. Forced by the emperor to marry the infamous 9th princess, our hero had at first assumed the emperor sent the princess to spy on him until he discovers that his new wife has no interest in a marriage with him whatsoever and is hiding quite a few of her own secrets.

The name of the drama comes from the fact that our heroine is suffering from a strange condition of insomnia where she can only feel the call of sleep during the daytime. The show also has a few fantasy elements in it but they just add to the fun.

The synopsis might sound a bit on the serious side but the show is actually more of a comedy. The two leads’ character set up are both very charming in their own way and it helps that their chemistry is quite good as well.

Dance of the Phoenix (Chinese Drama, Viki)

A homebody by nature, our heroine, a college student studying Chinese medicine suddenly wakes up one day to find herself in a strange new world filled with cultivators, demons and beasts. (Cultivators= immortals who might one day become immortals.) With no knowledge whatsoever of her new identity, our heroine slowly comes to realize that she (or at least the body she is in now) was once highly regarded as a genius in possession of the true blood of phoenix but because of the jealousy of her nemesis, her phoenix blood was taken away from her and she has now lost all cultivation ability. 

Determined to regain her ability to practice cultivation, our heroine set out to obtain two key ingredients that her master had told her she will need. In her journey, our heroine will meet our hero– the fiancé who supposedly had ditched her as soon as she lost her cultivation ability and had been tossed out by her clan. 

This one looks very promising! I was slightly annoyed by how much the heroine screamed in the first couple episodes but thankfully, other than that little thing, the heroine’s quick wit and smart mouth personality makes her very likable. The hero is your standard typical genius handsome aloof sort but that doesn’t stop our two leads from having a cute AND understated sizzling chemistry. 

The Heiress (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

To ensure that her family would not lose the vital military power that makes their survival possible, our heroine has disguised herself as her deceased twin brother since the tender young age of six. Knowing full well how suspicious the emperor is of her family, our heroine is determined to play her role as an ignorant playboy through and through. Not convinced by her act, our hero, the Fifth Prince makes our heroine his study companion and soon begins to wonder what’s wrong with himself when his new study companion appears in his dreams at night.

This one has gained a lot of positive online reviews before it even aired purely on the fact that our heroine looks shockingly believable as a handsome young man. Most of these gender bender dramas usually have heroines that make you question the eyesights of everyone around them since it is almost always painfully obvious that they are a woman badly disguised as a man. The Heiress has finally given us a heroine that makes you think “Yep, I could see myself not realizing “he” is a “she”.”

Anyhow, the great casting of our heroine aside, while the plot is fairly standard as far as a gender bender drama would go, I am nonetheless really liking the story. After all, a gender bender drama done right is always a gem.

Qing Qing Zi Jin (Chinese Drama, Viki)

Kidnapped by the well known mountain robber lord along with her sister and a bunch of female students from the Capital’s best academy, our heroine bravely stands up to go in her beautiful older sister’s place when the mountain lord wanted her older sister to keep him company for the night. Determined to save her sister even when the mountain lord insists on choosing her beautiful sister instead of her plain Jane self, our heroine begs the mountain lord until he finally relents.

Our heroine will of course discover over time that our hero is not the gruff ruthless robber she had assumed but is a man who hides a tragic past that causes him to have a soft spot for the underprivileged. A brilliant scholar AND an exceptional fighter, our hero eventually will reunite with our heroine in the Capital’s best academy where he will embark on the journey to become the nation’s top scholar.

This is one looks very promising! The premise of a robber who is really a brilliant scholar is quite refreshing. The heroine’s character is a bit on the naive side (at least on the surface, there seems to be some hints that she might not be as fragile of a young girl as she appears) but I still find her character very charming and endearing. The two leads also have good chemistry together as well so that’s always a great sign!

When I was the Most Beautiful (Korean Drama, Viki)

His heart lost the moment he meets the young and beautiful new student teacher, our hero is at a loss when his confident older brother decides to pursue our heroine despite knowing his younger brother’s feelings. Caught between two brothers who were once extremely close, our heroine’s poor little heart is about to go on a roller coaster ride.

The synopsis sounds fairly straight forward but judging by the first episode the story will have plenty of emotional depth in it. The chemistry between all three of our leads is great. Our heroine has sizzling chemistry with the older brother and an innocent sweet love feel with the younger. Even the bromance (that’s about to turn fierce competitor) between our two male leads is great. Unfortunately, I don’t usually like shows that have multiple male leads and make me guess the whole time if my ship is going to sink so I don’t see myself following this one until it ends.

My Unicorn Girl (Chinese Drama, Viki)

An aspiring figure skater, our heroine’s dream is to attend her mother’s alma mater. Despondent at first when she fails to get into the university, our heroine is overjoyed when she gets a surprising admissions letter from the school. There is only one catch– she is accepted into the male ice hockey team. Quite used to dressing up as a boy to play ice hockey, a sport she is actually very talented in, our heroine begins her first day of college in disguise and of course ends up sharing the same dorm room as our hero- the star ice hockey player she already has had a few run-ins with. 

The plot is obviously pretty predictable but the show did try to spice up the story a bit by giving our hero a condition of facial blindness…then makes it cliche again when our heroine is the only one whose face he can recognize. All in all, this shows seems to love cliches but I think it will still be enjoyable enough if one goes in expecting nothing more than fluffy fun. 

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