Brilliant Girls (Chinese Drama, Youtube)

The story follows four girls whose friendship provided the strength they needed to survive the treacherous water of love. Despite their very different approaches to love and marriage, the four friends/roommates nonetheless became each other’s support as they respectively attempt to figure out what they want out of love and life.

This one looks quite promising for this sort of story. I liked the fact that the show was able to make all four characters equally interesting. Most of the time, in these types of stories, despite the fact that there are supposed to have multiple leads, there seems to still be one main couple. Thus far, Brilliant Grils have accomplished the rare feat of making sure the spotlight is shared equally.

Celestial Authority Academy (Chinese Drama, iQIY or Youtube)

I lost interest in this one after watching the first episode since the story with our heroine dressing up as a boy to join an academy + three handsome boys seems so similar to C-drama League of Her Own or K-drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Judging by some of the online comments though, the show might improve and feel less cliche after the first 5-6 episodes so maybe this one is still worth a try especially if you are a fan of the gender bender set up.

Rattan (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

Waking up at the cliff bottom with a big bloodstain in front of his chest to tell the gruesome tale of his own death, our hero stares with disbelief as our heroine, a demon born of tree vines informs him that she has been brought back to life by him and he in turn, had been saved by her. Left with no choice but to help our heroine navigate the modern life that is so foreign to her, our hero goes on a supernatural journey with our heroine as she confronts enemies from her past.

This one is looking quite promising! I am really liking the character setup of both leads. Actress Jing Tian is looking beautiful as the goddess-like tree vine demon and her chemistry with the male lead played by Zhang Bin Bin is also great. The pacing of the story thus far moves at a very fast clip and the show has done a good job in mixing suspense, fantasy, and even some comedic moments.

You Are My Hero (Chinese Drama, Viki)

A lot of people are comparing this one to Descendant of the Sun (K-drama, 2016) and I guess it does give off the same vibe during the first 20 minutes of the first episode especially since our heroine is a doctor and our hero is a swat team captain but the similarity really ends after that. Our heroine is an eager newbie surgeon with a passion for helping people while our hero is the cool swat team captain who promptly turns into an awkward novice when faced with the girl he likes. The story interweaved itself between the medical emergencies our heroine encounters and the different crisis situations our hero has to tackle. It is probably too early to tell, but the show has done a great job thus far in avoiding an episodic feel.

I am about five episodes in and am really liking it thus far. The two leads’ chemistry is super cute so I would totally recommend checking this one as long as you don’t go in expecting it to be a remake of Descendant of the Sun.

Don’t Disturb My Study (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

An elite HR manager, our heroine has little patience for those who she sees as inept and has been accused by others of preferring employees with prestigious universities on their resumes. Dozing off while reading, our heroine wakes up to find herself in the body of her high school self. Having always regretted that she didn’t do well on her college entrance exam back in her youth thus allowing her to attend a prestigious college, our heroine is determined to focus all her attention on her studies this time around. Unfortunately, our heroine soon realizes that as much as she has no interest in the epic matters that preoccupies the “kids” that she is forced to spend her days with, in order for her to achieve her goal of studying in peace then she must spare some brain cells to help our hero and her fellow classmates.

Our heroine comes off fairly unlikeable at first due to her arrogant personality but I did slowly warm up to her character. It helps that the heroine’s personality adds to the fun chemistry between our two leads. Moreover, since the story is about how our heroine learns for herself that winning is not everything, I am sure her character will improve as the show progresses. For those who liked C-drama A Little Thing Called First Love, it should be exciting to see actor Edward Lai here as our male lead especially because his character here is quite a bit more lively than his previous role.

Sunshine of My Life (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

The CEO of a very successful fashion conglomerate, our hero’s sole focus in life is his work…that is until our heroine- a young aspiring fashion designer showed up in his life. Both sharing a dream to further the traditional Chinese art of embroidery and fashion, our two leads suppress their budding feelings to pursue their separate paths. The end.

Just kidding. Our two leads will obviously eventually have opportunities to cross paths again and will discover that it is more fun to pursue their dreams together instead of doing it alone. 

I was looking forward to checking this one out since it has been a while since I’ve watched a Zhang Han drama plus he always looks great in these CEO roles. I will be honest that the first episode felt excruciating slow. Fortunately, the pacing increased with each subsequent episode. The secondary romance line between the hero’s cousin and the heroine’s brother is not very interesting but I am liking the two leads’ romance well enough to keep following this one. I think the development of our two leads’ love line will be on the slow side but that’s not a bad thing at all for a 45 episode drama. 

Word of Honor (Chinese Drama, Viki)

Set in the ancient Chinese martial art world where our hero- once the leader of a secret organization working for the Emperor, is now wandering the street looking like a beggar. Unwittingly barging into a web of conspiracy after he saves a young man, our hero ends up meeting our other male lead who despite his suave and carefree appearance harbors the burden of avenging his parents’ death. 

This one is based on a BL Chinese wuxia novel. It is currently getting glowing reviews from viewers who say this show is a rare C-BL novel drama adaptation that has escaped the butchering ax of censorship AND proved that C-drama can do a good job moving BL novels onto the small screen. I have only had time to check out the first two episodes and it is looking very promising thus far. Mama Ninja who is following this one and is much further along than me says that she is liking it quite a bit as well. 

ps. Not sure if Viki will air the ending in its entirety but apparently there is a special AFTER the last episode that is the real ending so don’t get too upset with the last episode.

Love Is Science (Taiwanese Drama, Viki)

Once a romantic who lived her life as if she was a pampered princess, our heroine no longer believes in love after a traumatic divorce. Believing instead in the power of science, our heroine is the owner of a flourishing matchmaking agency where she uses data and numbers to find perfect matches for all of her clients. Unexpectedly reunited with our hero whom she had thought of as a little brother, our heroine is stunned to discover that the cute puggy kid she knew 12 years before has grown into a gentle handsome man that makes her heart skip a beat. Having had a crush on our heroine since he was a puggy little kid, our hero- a hairdresser, had always assumed his goddess is happily married living overseas…until he runs into her again.

It has been ages since I put a T-drama on my watch list so I went into this one with really low expectations. It is probably too early to call since only the first episode is out but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the story thus far. I am really liking the fact that our heroine is not your typical cool super career woman by nature but instead, is someone who once was used to living as a damsel in distress and had forced herself to learn how to be strong once her happily ever after with prince charming fell apart. The hero’s character is also very charming as well– sort of a mix of cute (which is important in a noona romance), gentle awkwardness and quirky personality.

One Boat One World (Chinese Drama, YouTube)

With Sunshine of My Life still airing right now, it felt a bit odd to see Zhang Han in another drama but I am sure his fans are loving it. Zhang Han plays our hero, a chief security officer of a cruise ship. Our hero’s path will cross with our heroine when she boards the cruise ship as a newbie tour guide. As a total newbie who is often thrown under the bus by her trainer whenever problems arise, our heroine finds plenty of opportunities to see how our very capable hero handle problems in his calm but very firm manner. Disagreeing with his coworker’s assessment that the newbie tour guide is a troublemaker, our hero instead sees our heroine’s genuine care for her customers. 

I usually don’t like bumbling heroine characters but I don’t mind it so much in this case since it is obvious that the writer is going to push our heroine to grow up pretty fast. With the cruise ship setting, I think this one will have a more episodic feel as we get to know different passengers and the issues that come with their circumstances. 

Two things I would recommend being mentally prepared for before checking this one out: 1. Our leads almost always speak Chinese even when it doesn’t make sense they would. While interacting with his Caucasian coworkers, our hero almost always speaks in Chinese even when they start the conversation in English. What’s even more amazing is that all of our hero’s coworkers have such awesome Chinese that they have no problem understanding our hero and carry on the rest of the conversation in Chinese. Now, I have not taken a cruise based out of China so maybe the portrayal is not far from reality, but my personal guess is that this is done out of necessity since if the show had not decided to go this route then Zhang Han would have  ended up filming most of his lines in English… 

2. There will be some focus on racial tension. Our hero is trying to break into the circle of cruise leadership and his race brings in an added difficulty, especially when some of his co-workers don’t believe they can be lead by a Chinese man. (The show does try to show that most of our hero’s co-workers are willing and even supportive of him so the racism is not across the board.)

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