When a Snail Falls in Love (2016)

Why a 10/10 ?
That's actually quite simple. At one point, I thought « Wow ». I was already hooked from the start (or rather around episode 3 because that's when the main leads actually meet for the first time) but later I really fell in love with the characters and the story. I was impressed, which nearly never happens. I was so eager to see the next episode that I ended up reading the novel... only to be frustrated by not being able to finish it. Yes, unfortunately for now, you'll only find the first half translated in english on internet. (EDIT : now completed! Advice: watch the drama before reading the novel.)

Story :
It's a little difficult to follow at first because there are a lot of characters and informations to remember. When it started, I thought it would be roughly one case every three episodes. So I didn't really care about the criminals identities and that's where I was wrong. It's actually one big case. The first case leads to the second, which leads to a third even bigger, and so on. Episodes are short but intense on informations. You have to stay focused to follow this drama, be warned.

Drama vs novel
Personnaly, I love them both in a different way. In the novel, I love how intense the main leads relationship is. We don't have their inner thoughs in the drama, so the focus is more on the investigation, which gives off an intense feeling too. Hence, I did not mind the difference, but I'll surely see a lot of things in a different way when I'll rewatch it. For instance, Ji Bai feelings are less obvious in the drama. He smiles at her, confides in her, stays by her side... They just made Xu Xu realization of her feelings more obvious than the novel through her drawings. Still, I think you'll appreciate the drama more if you watch it before reading the novel.

Acting and characters reactions
Realistic. I have to word it that way because, when it's a romantic comedy, chinese and taïwanese dramas tend to exagerate situations. Fortunately, they choose to focus on the investigation for this drama, so the acting is also very serious. The one thing that actually doesn't feel right is Xu Xu drawing cartoons. I felt the way she was portrayed in the novel, being someone really mature and logical, was more realistic.

Music and cinematography
I loved the opening song and even more its clip. So beautiful and kind of sensual, even with animals drawings. It goes well with the cinematography. Some sequences are beautiful. I loved how they make use of some silent moments. One little thing bothered me in the first few episodes. At times, the camera trembled too much, probably to give a suspens feel. But overall, it was really well-done.

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