Meet You at the Blossom is a series many of us were anticipating. It was supposed to be the first non-censored period same-sex novel adaptation and it is a co-production between China, Taiwan and Thailand with the latter being the one that distributes it.

Now, China -despite the censorship- has produced some great series in the past years. The Untamed and Word of Honor are probably the most well-known. Those two series got super popular to a point that China ended up having even stricter rules when it comes to censorship, even banning, at some point, novel writers from uploading their -uncensored- work online. Those two series gained a huge fanbase -especially The Untamed- and the actors starring in them are currently some of the most popular and well-paid people in Chinese entertainment industry having tons of opportunities to expand their careers even more.

I know, we all know, that those series along with many others didn’t have a decent budget when they were made. The production quality and CGI were horrendous, BUT, those series had many elements that most dramas were missing at the time. They were entertaining from beginning to end, the chemistry between the leads was on fire and the plot and characters were interesting to watch and well-written. Especially when it comes to The Untamed, the series managed to bring a very complicated story with some flawed yet relatable characters that we rarely get to watch nowadays.

Those adaptations, those adaptations that no one wanted to watch when they were announced, got so popular domestically and internationally, that the companies started mass producing danmei adaptations. They invested tons of money to film them. Actors that may have not been that popular when those series were filmed, are currently dominating the C-entertainment industry. Actors like Chen Fei Yu, Luo Yun Xi, Zhang Ling He, Tan Jian Ci and others. Unfortunately, all those adaptations have not seen the light of day yet and maybe they never will, but China has proven despite the change of the original sources that they are the best when it comes to stories portraying same-sex relationships.

What does that have to do with Meet You at the Blossom? Nothing and everything.
This series was announced out of nowhere. I obviously had zero expectations that it was going to be like The Untamed or Word of Honor for multiple reasons, but I was sure I would watch it on a legal platform, cause let’s be real, this was an experimental project. It was more to see if it will gain any money and if it is worth it to produce more series like this one. We have Taiwan making great efforts lately when it comes to danmei adaptations with Unknown being fantastic and with projects like The Only One airing soon. BUT, they didn’t touch the “period” danmeis for a reason.
Was this series worth the wait? No. But does it give some hope that maybe in the future we will get something better? Yes.
But let's get to the actual series.


Friendly disclaimer: This is my personal opinion and it is completely fine to disagree with it, as long as you are not being rude.

PRODUCTION QUALITY
As everyone can see, this series doesn’t have a big budget, but it honestly looked much better than I anticipated. And like previously mentioned, production quality is the least important when it comes to the final result.

ACTING
Unfortunately, acting was not good. It wasn’t unbearably bad from most of the actors, with Wang Yun Kai -Xiao Bao- doing a pretty decent job along with some actors in supporting roles. On the other hand, Li Le – Huai En- was very very bad. He barely had any expressions that looked real and most of the times I couldn’t help but roll my eyes every time he appeared on screen.

DUBBING
It was horrendous. I have seen worse in the past, but it is pretty bad here especially when it comes to specific characters, where the dubbing -or sound mixing- makes the sound, sound very artificial.

CHEMISTRY/COUPLES
I personally felt zero chemistry when it came to the main couple, or maybe one-sided chemistry from Xiao Bao’s side. Them falling in love or lusting for each other was so sudden, it is not possible to make it look interesting enough. Same with the other couples that their interactions were, however, much more interesting than the main one's.

CHARACTERS
Most of the characters are flawed, but not in a way that makes them interesting and fun to watch. I am not sure how to explain this, but because of how the plot/directing was handled, the characters felt "unnatural". I knew I was watching a series when watching them on screen. They didn’t feel real and I didn’t feel for any of them at any point of the series.

PLOT
Despite the fact that the romance is not getting as much screentime as I expected, for some reason, it feels like the plot is more of a background and the romance is the main story. Like the plot and the rest of the characters were there to fill screentime and in reality all the scriptwriter wanted was to focus on the main pairing. I have seen this tons of times in bls. I have seen this in tons of bls that wanted to make the plot the main focus and couldn’t. And this is where most period -well written- danmei’s (and their adaptations) differ. The general plot and all characters are more important than the main pairing and their love story and this is one of the reasons this series could not gain my attention.

HUAI EN AS A WOMAN
Okay, just mentioning this, cause I have also seen this a million times and it is never done well. Huai En would never pass as a woman and especially a pretty one, taking into consideration the beauty standards. This is a main plot-point in many Cdramas. Woman dressing up as men (The Legend of Fu Yao, Eternal Love and many others). Men dressing up as women -in danmei- (Heaven Official's Blessing, Kaleidoscope of Death). In live action it is very difficult to work and MYATB is no exception.

TOXICITY
First things first. People who know me, know how much I love toxic relationships in dramas, how much I enjoy watching flawed/toxic main characters on screen, NO MATTER how toxic they may get. Here, we have such a toxic character -and not only one, but let’s stick to that one because he is the most important-. If you have watched it, you know who I mean. And you know what? It’s not like I hate him or like him. I just find him bland and uninteresting. Even the way they portray the toxic scenes are shown in a very romantic light to a point that is laughable and can’t be taken seriously in any aspect.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE
I won’t lie. I enjoyed and laughed by how ridiculous the first 2-4 eps were. After that, I just felt completely bored and the only reason I finished watching it was because I had promised myself to support this great effort. Taking into consideration all the negative points I mentioned above, it had almost zero entertainment value for me.


All in all, Meet You at the Blossom, adapted from the Blooming Flowers, Silent Sorrow novel -much better title btw- felt more like a Thai-parody of a danmei-adaptation than a serious try to make something good. Both serious/sentimental and funnier scenes felt equally ridiculous. However, even though this was an unsuccessful effort in my eyes, it was an -appreciated- effort nonetheless.
I feel like I will completely forget everything about this series in a few days, but the hope that this may bring better period danmei-adaptations in the future will stay with me -along with my hope that the already filmed series will air someday-.