leahaven
Jing Zhong De Wan Mei Zhang Fu
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Thriller with a strong female lead
This mini-drama checks a lot of boxes:- strong, smart female lead
- good twists and pacing
- great friendships
- satisfying ending
Our lead has a dreadful cheat if a husband and an (almost more) dreadful mother-in-law. As the story starts, she is ready to divorce the creep and get free, but then the weirdness starts...
Oddly, the drama spoiled the main twist in the first minute, but that was okay because there's plenty of other surprises to come.
The FL does a good job carrying the show, even when it skips forward really fast because it's a mini. The ML, who plays two characters, is a bit less strong but mostly because he never gets much time as each guy to really define them. The FLs bestie is great, as are the other ladies in the show (even the terrible MiL gives a good performance as a dreadful person). This is one of those rare dramas with more central female characters than males, which was enjoyable.
I would not call this romantic - it's a thriller, a revenge story, and a mystery, with lots of growth for our FL. Again, she was great.
The music wasn't anything special, though there is one nice song used several times.
Overall, a fun bit of mystery and a quick watch. Good for a day when you want to see jerks get served justice and strong ladies taking care of themselves.
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Fast, Fun, and Full of Surprising Characters
From the trailer and promo images, you would think this was a bit of comedy fluff but it's actually a dystopian thriller full of character development disguised as a rom-com.The story is simple on the surface: for some reason there are hardly any men in the world, so the government gathered them all into a place called The Farm and basically raffles a few off every year through a reality competition show called Ready, Set, Love. Our leads are all involved in this show as competitors and production staff, and it becomes clear very quickly that the game is not only rigged, but also hiding some really, really dark truths.
In the middle of this game we have our leads, Day and Son, who trace the path of dislike to friendship to love quickly but with real sweetness. There's several drama tropes thrown at them, but the actors and the story make it all work in an adorable fashion.
Alongside Day we have her best friend, Va, who is working on the show with an ulterior motive. I loved her character and her family's story, sad as it was. Day also deals with two rival competitors, Chanel and Bovy. These two are great - just when I was worried they'd become the typical villainess and airhead friend, they surprised me with complexity and emotional depth. Chanel's story was, to me, especially touching and I was so glad when she got to make her own choice and thrilled by the decision she went with.
Son's friends are the other men who are the prizes in the game show, and three of them (Paper, Almond, and Max) have really interesting stories of their own. It's impossible to praise them much more without major spoilers, but each one had a personal journey that was well written and acted. They each broke my heart a little and their brotherhood was lovely.
My favourite character, though, was Jenny. She's the show runner for the reality game and her story, her relationship with her wife, and her choices throughout the series had me completely entranced. I love, love, love Jenny.
There production values of the show were insane - particularly the reality show competition elements, which were so elaborate. I don't watch that kind of show so I found some of those sequences kind of bizarre, but I appreciated them in how the showcased the characters. I am also new to Thai dramas, so the occasional exaggerated acting was jarring for me but it wasn't too frequent.
I will happily rewatch this show in the future, presumably ahead of the second season that was teased in a little mid-credit scene.
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So I Married an Anti-Fan
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This drama deserves its anti-fans (and yet I rewatch it repeatedly!)
In a quick summary, this drama is 50% great and 50% awful. Sadly, the awful parts are so bad that it's impossible to recommend watching them - which means that less than half of the drama is actually worth viewing. And yet!And yet I have re-watched those good parts multiple times because they've hit that sweet spot of "conceited jerk meets bumbling manic pixie dream girl and everyone falls implausibly in love" that I sometimes crave.
I will say that the romance of our main characters is based in nonsense and wildly chaotic, but it has heart-fluttering moments that are grounded in two people who don't really know how to be around people very well but somehow fit each other. Once they start connecting, it's really very charming. Both actors do a great job with some very wacky material, and have a natural feeling connection. I felt that they both grew into functional adults on their own and through their relationship with each other.
However! The second leads, who are central to the MLs backstory and cause mess for the FL, are horrific. Their relationship is so abusive I couldn't handle even their first scene together, let alone the absurd situation they end up in. The character of JJ is beyond awful. The unfortunate SFL is so broken by her circumstances that I just wanted to reach into the screen and take her away from everything she was dealing with. That poor girl made me so sad and angry that people can treat people like that.
Back to the good points, I have to give love to our MLs manager - I adored him and his knowing smiles. Stick with him, our mains, and the FLs besties, and you're in for a good time.
The music is sweet, as befits a story about a pop star. I actually enjoyed several of the songs quite a lot.
Overall, half of this drama was quite good, good enough to rewatch. With aggressive use of the FFW button, it is a fun, lightly melo drama.
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Exellent thriller with fantastic cast
This drama surprised me so much in the very best way. l thought I was signing up for an isekai type story with some spooky elements and maybe a romantic edge but instead this is a tightly plotted thriller with an amazing lead character that digs into friendship, self worth, and how what we value determines where we end up. After the first ten minutes, I was glued to the screen and couldn't stop until the end!I don't want to go into the story in any detail because the complex, often funny, and well-paced plot is the best part of this drama. The second best part is the excellent cast - all the actors were giving great performances, but Jung In Sun and Seo Ye Hwa were especially stellar.
The rewatch value on this show is only 8 because thrillers don't tend to be stories I revist often, but I absolutely loved watching it this first time.
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Watch for second leads and the twists!
The second leads in the drama are so amazing, and the plot is really, really inventive. Just when you think you've figured it out there's another crazy twist, so don't trust anything you see! If you like intrigue, a bit of angst, and a mature, healthy, supportive relationship, this one's for you.I will admit up front that this review is based entirely on the second leads and the adventure plot, because I got so sick of the 'main' couple after four or five episodes that I just fast forwarded through their scenes to get to the (in my opinion) good stuff. The lead characters are actually pretty annoying, and the actors are mediocre at best, but their relationship and backstory scenes can easily be skipped without missing anything important to the really interesting plot and heart-fluttering second couple's story.
The second leads - Xu Nian (ZLH) and Quin Ya (FSQ) - in the drama are *everything.* Their relationship is beautiful and heart-warming, they are at the center of the intrigue plot, and the two actors carry the show on their capable (and gorgeous) shoulders. I think the creative team realized this as the drama was being made, because by the halfway point this pair pretty much became the main leads. Once that switch happened, I was glued to the screen!
The rest of the characters are okay - many of them are more like caricatures than people, and some of the acting is iffy. I liked the secondary members of the boy band, who were charming but not deep. The villain was completely over the top, which occasionally became annoying, but he was balanced out by his aunt, who was great.
For a drama about a boy band, the music wasn't particularly memorable. The production quality was pretty good, though, especially considering that there was a lot of virtual reality involved.
As for rewatching, I've already watched the whole second leads story and escape plot twice. Even knowing the twists, it's good enough to enjoy multiple times.
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after some nonsense, it is actually quite sweet!
The first couple episodes of this drama are rough - exaggerated acting, incomprehensible plot, and random animation. I dropped it within four minutes the first time I tried it, but now I'm glad I went back.Fortunately, the silly animations disappear after a while and the characters settle down. once they do, this is actually a nice little mini. The FL is a smart, capable woman who is "cold" which I think means introverted, cautious, and maybe a bit asexual. The ML is a puppy who matures into a decent partner. His devotion is both silly and adorable, and their connection did wind up being pretty cute.
There are some stand-out secondary characters - the assistants and the business partner. There's a scene in EP 21 with the FL and her assistant that made me more emotional than the romance. It would have be worth watching the drama just for that.
The cons of this are the usual mini-drama drawbacks: pacing, editing, not enough depth. There's also a really unpleasant scene early on with assault against the FL that implies a possible r*pe. It is part of the plot, but be warned.
OST is fine - neither distracting or exciting.
Overall, a sweet show that I could rewatch to feel good - skipping through the ridiculous first few episodes, of course!
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This is hilarious and adorable!
This mini-drama is a must watch! I was originally put off by the title but the concept seemed too silly to pass up. I'm very glad I gave it a try because it's so funny, so sweet, and so well made.The plot is exactly what the synopsis suggests - a CEO turns into a pig every night, and an office worker ends up finding out his secret. They try to solve his curse with fake dating and kisses, and shenanigans happen.
The FL is smart, confident, and capable, while the tsundere CEO turns out to be funny, thoughtful, and sweet. There's also a brilliant best friend (of the FL) who made me so happy every time she was on screen.
The other characters are the FLs childhood friend (for a couple eps), the MLs former sweetheart (for more eps), and the MLs mother (who is great). You also get to see the MLs dad (confusingly played by the ML actor) in two of the three hysterically funny "flashbacks" about the possible reason(s) for the MLs piggy side.
The whole story moves along smoothly and without the choppy or rushed feeling that often comes with a mini-drama. The acting is top notch, and the music and production is really quite good. If I had to complain, it would be that the business stuff is a bit confusing, but it also doesn't matter or interfere with the core romance too much.
And that romance is *chef's kiss* pure fluffy goodness. It progresses nicely and is sealed with a couple real kisses. My heart fluttered for sure.
Also, the pig is adorable - business pig for the win!
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Fun and light
It's a cute and funny story, with great characters and a bunch of plots (mostly not too confusing, but the subs don't help). I love the 'pretending to be a playboy' trope and this one is done really well. The brother who is pretending to be sickly is also very funny. And the FL is great - capable and smart, and not letting anyone get in her way.The subs on YouTube are not good, which makes it hard to rate this fairly because it made some of the plots and some of the romance hard to follow. The version I watched also had the dropping out audio track, which made a few key scenes pretty underwhelming. I'm sure I'd rate this higher if I'd fully understood and felt the whole story.
However, it was very funny with good work by the actors. I'd happily rewatch if non-mango subs ever become available.
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Charming leads make for a fun drama
Exploration Method of Love is a (mostly) light and fun drama that wins my love because of the excellent leads. The FL, Su Jishi, ends up pretending to be her twin sister for completely ridiculous reasons - just leave your logic at the door - and discovers that she's expected to be in a contract relationship with the ML, Mu Xiulun.Su Jishi is the complete opposite of her sister, which leads to many hilarious situations, the best of which are when dealing with Mu Xiulun. As time passes, though, our uptight ML starts to fall for this new version of his contract girlfriend. It helps that she's a geology PhD candidate and he's a mining company executive, so they both geek out over rocks and such. Many misunderstandings and miscommunications later, the truth is shared and they admit their feelings, leading to a wonderful, warm relationship (until a messy noble idiocy breakup for half of the final damn episode, pardon my cursing).
Song Yang Fei (Su Jishi) and Gao Han Yu (Mu Xiulun) gave amazing performances as our leads. They were both so funny - after seeing GHY in Love is Sweet it was a revelation to see him be adorkable. They also carried the more dramatic and emotional parts very well, and their chemistry in the kisses and skinship was excellent.
Drawbacks to this drama for me included the misunderstandings/miscommunications in the middle episodes, which were right up to the limit of what I can handle (admittedly, I can't handle much), the final episode separation that took half a star from my rating, and the infuriating second lead couple.
Now I must rant: the SFL, our MLs little sister, started out fun and then turned into the cringiest, whiny, obsessive, immature psycho who fully stalked and harassed the SML into a relationship. It was SO grating that I had to fast forward through all those scenes, which deprived me of precious Ryan Cheng in modern dress screentime. I hate that type of female character and I hate that I had to ffwd through Cheng Lei scenes, so this subplot took a star and a half off my rating.
Back to the good stuff now. Our mains, once they were openly in love, have a great relationship. So cute, so mature. Even when they fought, they would talk and sort it out and apologize like adults. Loved that. The transformation of the ML from uptight and cold to loving, respectful, and goofy was adorable. The way he understands, respects, and celebrates the FL is such green flag behaviour - dreamy!
There's several secondary characters who are quite fun, with my favourite being Su Jishi's sister's manager Feng Jie. I think he's a doll - caring, hard working, and just so funny.
The OST was nice, but not memorable. I will probably rewatch at some point for the humour, the pining before all secrets are revealed, and the sweet and supportive couple time.
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Ru He Zai Wu Nao Ba Zong Man Li Jian Nan Qiu Sheng Ding Dang
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Pretty charming for a mini-drama
At just under three hours, this mini-drama is funny and has some really sweet moments. The plot is paper-thin (I'm really not sure why her job interview is a VR game or what their relationship in the real world actually is) but the four leads make the story fun.I particularly like that our FL is not here for any of the drama tropes that the VR world tries to throw at her, many of which are hilarious. She's tough and single-minded, and tries really hard to not let the ML distract her. He's a bit of a jerk off the top before settling down into a devoted puppy, though he did grab-kiss her a few too many times for my liking. The mutual kisses were good, though, and there's a couple heart-warming moments in the second half.
The secondary leads (FLs ex and his new lady) are very funny as they try to be evil SML and SFL, but keep getting shut down by the FL.
The production is not bad for a mini. A few choppy transitions for sure, and a bit of scene to scene writing inconsistencies.
I can see myself rewatching this to relax and have a bit of a laugh.
watching note: I watched the two episodes videos on YT up to ep 28 and then switched to the edited together long video on the same channel because of missing English subs on the final episode. also, the playlist is missing ep 25-26, so I had to find it in the channel's video uploads.
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Love in many forms
The synopsis above does no justice to this sweet little series! In three hours it tidily shows a beautiful relationship blooming between Kosaka Maiko and Kagiya Senri with four other stories around Kosaka's life informing how we see their story.I was really charmed by each of the 'side' stories and how they tied into Kosaka finding her way into a positive and lovely relationship with Kagiya. Kosaka learned a little bit from each of her co-workers' relationships through off-hand remarks, which is such a charming way to show how we all affect each other.
To me, each person's experience shared the lesson that we should find love and happiness in a way that suits our lives, rather than what we have been told to expect or want by others.
Even more interesting to me was the repeated theme that we need reminders now and then about why we love our partners, and that it is important to reflect that back to them. This feels very real as I enter the twelfth year of a relationship and is something I have rarely seen addressed so beautifully.
I absolutely adored this little snippet of sweetness and will definitely rewatch when I'm in the mood for something emotional with an adorable happy ending.
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Escapist nonsense at its best!
I originally wasn't sure about watching this drama because the whole 'unrequited crush' scenario made me afraid it would be a cringe-fest. Instead, I had so much fun watching this and loved it from start to finish!Now, I will say that this drama worked for me because I left my logical thinking in the other room while watching. The premise is very silly, the characters' actions would be wildly inappropriate outside of dramaland, and for a workplace centred story the lack of professionalism is epic. I did appreciate that the FL worked through the rejection of her confession and didn't immediately fall into the MLs arms when he started wooing her, even though she was pretty nuts with her love-at-first-sight and obsessive crush behaviour. He was equally nuts in his choices, it must be said.
However! The back and forth relationship between our mains was so, so darling. The feels that it gave me overwhelmed any rational complaints I might have had. Miles Wei and Huang Ri Ying acted the heck out of these two socially helpless characters. Their relationship, once it properly started, was so sweet, and their chemistry was excellent.
My one real complaint, which cost this drama half a star, was the crumbling of the character of Ding Ding (SFL) who started fun and then became pretty annoying. She chose to try acting but then whined and wept through most of the film shoot - so frustrating! If the SML weren't so gorgeous and tormented-artist-y I would have used the ffw button on that plot.
Loved the main leads' besties, You Huan and Huo Chen Dong, as well as the long-suffering assistant Gao. I want their drama next! The OST also worked for me - especially Wrong, which I've adored since Why Women Love.
I will definitely rewatch this one when I want to shut off my brain and feel my heart flutter.
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