Boy, I have been waiting a long time for this one to air especially since I loved the novel this one is based on. Of course it also doesn’t hurt that As Beautiful as You is starring Xu Kai and Seven Tan, either of whom would be reason enough for me to check out a show let alone together in one drama.
First Impression and novel comparison:
I have to admit I was actually a bit disappointed after the first couple episodes. I really liked the novel As Beautiful as You is based on so I was pretty disappointed to see the drama changed a few of the basic premise of the story. For example, our two leads didn’t know each other from their collage days so they were no secret crushes from our hero to speak of. This one change made a huge difference in the story since one of the best part about this story is seeing how our hero’s role changed from a stranger to investor to mentor and finally to lover for our heroine. The drama also made a big change to our hero’s character. At the beginning of the story, not only was our heroine already in a serious relationship, our hero was actually already in a sort of causal relationship (with the understanding marriage is NOT on the table) with our heroine’s boss. Instead of being a man who had harbored feelings for his college crush for years, Hang Ting’s character in the novel was a man who really didn’t see much need for love.
I did eventually get over my disappointment and decided I am going to have to treat As Beautiful as You as a stand alone story, separated from the novel. Thus far (six episodes in), I am happy enough with how the story is going and our two leads’ chemistry looks to be quite promising. It seemed like each of our heroine’s best friends will get their own love line…and that’s making me little nervous since boring secondary love lines could really drag down a show. I know I said I am going to treat this show as a stand alone story, BUT I really hope they won’t make our heroine’s current boyfriend into a jerk because the author really did a great job in the novel making this character memorable as someone who you wished the heroine could’ve kept by her side or meet at a different time in her life.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com