Love O2O

After watching The King's Avatar live action I knew I had to watch another Yang Yang project. The easily available one back then, in Netflix, was Love O2O. I was having second thoughts watching it because, well.. the title. I'm not into romance, especially Korean dramas, and I'm still not familiar with C-Dramas with romantic genre.

Thankfully I got a friend who had already watched Love O2O. I asked for his assessment and told me that it's "safe," meaning the romantic relationship between the main characters were nothing high-school like but rather handled with proper maturity.

I'm glad I heeded his remarks. I enjoyed most, if not all, of the romantic scenes between two Computer Science majors Xiao Nai (Yang Yang) and Bei Weiwei (Zheng Shuang) from Qing University. I think it's because their individual personality were already matured despite still being in college. Xiao Nai and Bei Weiwei were amazing in their own rights, add to that the influence of their respective families and peers.

If there was anything cheesy among them, I was able to handle it. It didn't feel too much for me that I'd go umay. In a way, it was a refreshing kind of romantic drama. And I like how there were in-game interactions from A Chinese Ghost Story. I find Love O2O a good transition after watching The King's Avatar. I think whether you watched either first would be fine.

The supporting characters of this 2016 C-Drama were also interesting, especially those from the side of Xiao Nai. As for Weiwei's, I sometimes had to extend some patience for her best friend and dormmate Zao Erxi (Mao Xiaotong). One could only sit back and try to understand this cheerful character because she's pure simple and naive but sincere toward her relationship with people. She may sometimes come without reservations but she's someone you'd gladly have as friend. Hey, no one's perfect, right?

 

One of the obvious things in this drama was product placement. It was everywhere! I don't remember seeing a drama with too much product. Some may be subtle but there were those that are quite hard-selling in a way. But everything is nicely incorporated in the story.

I also think it was good, because I got to be familiar with some Chinese products. Not that I am interested in buying, but with the recent pandemic options are limited. Should I come across a Chinese product because of very limited non-Chinese product options, at least I can relax while consuming it. Also, I would like to know what probiotic drink was featured in this drama. Of course I first thought of Yakult, given the product's design and popularity. We're running out of Yakult in groceries, Dutch Mill isn't also available, but I see tons of probiotic drinks in a particular grocery store that I go to. The brand is in Chinese so there's no way for me to understand.

As I've watched Love O2O a month ago, I had to check some information and happened to find some good reviews on this drama. Special mention goes to Emdesan and KDramaKisses. I got the last two photos from the latter btw. Sorry for using without permission.

Now Playing: Susie Suh - Won't You Come Again

Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms

Finished watching Eternal Love / Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms back in early March. I wasn't just able to write about it because it made me cry a river, which I haven't done since Tonbi in 2013.

I think Eternal Love was the start of my curiosity and preference for C-Drama. I don't think it's the first but I haven't watched non-Chinese drama since then until K-Drama What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?, which is currently on hold and is at risk of getting dropped, and The Crown Princess, my first Thai Drama.

It already skipped my memory what got me started to watch Eternal Love. Perhaps it's the visuals. I was even taken aback when I found out that it has 58 episodes because each originally ran for 45 minutes. But it wasn't too obvious when Netflix, thankfully, shortened it into 26 episodes. And for someone who used to shorter episodes, hey I started with J-Dramas, Eternal Love was fast paced.

Perhaps it was the fight scenes that got me glued and awaiting for the plot to unfold. The love story among those involved were also fun to watch. It was a breakaway from typical K-Drama romance, which I must admit makes me cringe. I can't really stand the awkwardness Korean dramas give me.

Besides the main characters Bai Qian/Si Yin/Su Su  (Yang Mi) and Mo Yuan/Ye Hua (Mark Chao), the others were fun to watch too especially Bai Feng Ju (Dilraba Dilmurat) and Dong Hua Emperor (Vengo Gao). Any interaction with A Li (Hummer Zhang) was also fun making you looking forward to his next screen time.

Also known as Three Lives, Three Worlds, this 2017 Chinese Drama tells the story of Bai Qian, the future monarch of Qing Qiu Fox Tribe, who got the help of high god Zhe Yan (Ken Chang) to disguise as a disciple under the god of war Mo Yuan (Mark Chao) at the Kun Lun Mountains. This "lifetime" got me confused with it's timeline. Talk about thousand years and how it affected the other "lives" and "worlds."

As Eternal Love was a romantic story, it of course had sweet lines. But I was able to tolerate them unlike how they do it in K-Dramas. I even enjoyed such moments. I dare say that I had the same reaction with the other romantic C-Dramas I've watched. And I still have the same "hypersensitivity" to Korean Dramas. It probably had something to do with the characters' personalities. Mostly one party would be serious while the other was carefree. The lines were also delivered in a way that cross the border with comedy. Well, it's just different for Chinese dramas.

And for these sweet moments and interactions, I actually wanted to watch Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms again, right after having completed it. But I just started with Chinese Dramas and this has 58 episodes. That was already too much for me.

I'm glad I got to watch Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms first, among the Chinese Dramas, because it opened doors to other productions and even got me curious about some actors in this drama. A lot of them played part for my selection of next Chinese Drama to watch. Turned out those that got me curious are from Jay Walk Studio, especially Dilraba Dilmurat, Vengo Gao, and Lai Yi who played as Kun Lun Mountain first disciple Die Feng. There's even one actor here whose character I didn't like but after seeing him in another project got me impressed. I'm talking about Vin Zhang, who played Li Jing.

Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms was a hit xianxia that this even had a movie, Once Upon A Time, starring Liu Yifei and Yang Yang. The drama and movie were both released in the first quarter and in August of 2017, respectively. Thankfully I got to watch the drama first because I don't think I would understand the movie had I watched it first.

Now Playing: Cueshe - Pangako

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? initiated

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? is the series that broke my no-K-Drama since Crash Landing on You back in February. I only decided to watch this rom-com because of its trailer on Netflix. The trip to the flower shop and back was just hilarious I thought I should watch it to satisfy my curiosity.

The flower shop scene was on the pilot episode, which was enough to keep me and continue to second episode. However, I couldn't continue watching it after a few episodes. I can't actually remember which episode I last watched.

I've been enjoying plenty of Chinese dramas recently and I somehow felt a sudden halt of interest in Korean dramas. Add to that that I am not a fan of K-Drama's typical format of dramas, especially if there's romance involved. Truth be told, I could hardly stand them.

Besides, my preferred genre nowadays are adventure, or those with such and battle scenes. I had to mention the latter because I remember watching romantic C-Dramas but I had the tolerance so long as there's adventure or battle scenes in the story.

As for What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?, it's still on hold until I no longer mind the cheesy scenes. I don't know though when that would be.

Now Playing: Madilyn Bailey - Perfect

Accidentally in Love

Finally finished watching Accidentally in Love, a 2018 C-Drama about Chen Qingqing (Amy Sun) who initially ran away from her family-arranged wedding but went on to stay away from her rich family. She's lost both her parents though and was raised by her maternal grandfather, whom she found to be controlling her life.

Running away from home Qingqing met idol Situ Feng (Fiction Guo) and his best friend Gu Nanxi (Ma Li), who eventually became her classmates. According to her grandpa, she already finished a degree. But she still enrolled to the same school her parents attended to find out more about them especially her father. There she displayed here versatility in arts and even Math.

Chen Qingqing was an interesting character. There's naivety in her but it wasn't annoying, which I attribute to Amy Sun's acting. I don't know if Accidentally in Love was based from a donghua or manhua, but the story and characters were pretty comical or originated from a manga. The three members of "goddess" were particularly looking like straight out of a comic book.

There were few characters whose actors I appreciate but a lot were meh. For one, I think Guo has downgraded his portrayal in the latter episodes. As he's an idol in this drama, I find it quite disturbing how his lip sync was out of synch. Another character was bland. It's a waste of potential.

Accidentally in Love reminded me of Love O2O, another Chinese drama that was heavy on endorsements, at least this one was not as overloaded as the latter. The product incorporation was not as hard-selling as those I've seen in Love O2O.

I started this one good but I "dragged" watching the middle episodes as I've began to lose interest, because it wasn't my cup of tea. I only decided to watch Accidentally in Love because I was looking for a light rom-com series. It met my criteria but I realized I prefer those with actions and adventures nowadays. I'm also watching The Lost Tomb but it doesn't count for my preferred adventure-filled drama so I haven't even watched past 5 episodes.

Now Playing: L'Arc~en~Ciel - Finale

The King's Avatar

Recently finished watching The King's Avatar. Finally, after having seen its trailer on Netflix too many times. I wasn't interested back then because it's about gaming. Turned out it's actually eSports. I'm interested in neither but I think there's extra room for tolerance now that I've watched this 2019 C-Drama.

What initially got me decided to watch The King's Avatar was Lai Yi, whom I've seen in Eternal Love and Legend of Fuyao. I love him in the latter drama. He's also in Negotiator but I haven't finished that yet; not sure if I will. Turned out there were many actors in  this drama from Legend of Fuyao. However, what got me sticking to it was the scene when the protagonist Ye Xiu (Yang Yang) was applying for a job at Happy Internet Cafe as a network manager.

The succeeding episodes were getting interesting. First encounters and interactions among characters laid out proper introductions and established how their respective relationships grew. I like how each character had a background story. And it's nice that each character found redemption, even the rivals. Can't really say antagonists because their story revolved around eSports. Of course there were clashes between groups and individuals.

Among the interactions between characters, my favourite would be between Ye Xiu/One Autumn Leaf/Lord Grim and Su Mucheng/Dancing Rain (Lai Yumeng) as well as Ye Xiu and Hoang Shaotian/Troubling Rain (Jiang Long). I should also add that I very much enjoy seeing Ye Xiu when he's being a mentor. I must say his character was very well written and Yang Yang really showed his attributes even in subtle ways.

 

Speaking of being a mentor, there have been a lot of scenes where I was very much reminded of the qualities and attributes mentioned by John C. Maxwell, particularly the following:
✅Fail early. Fail often. Fail forward.
✅Keep growing.
Hoping that the youth you have watched this drama learned these two important things.

I haven't and couldn't speak of the other characters in The King's Avatar. It will only make this entry unnecessarily longer than it already is. But they are equally interesting people bringing out the character of Ye Xiu. I guess I'll just list them down here.

Team Happy
Chen Guo/Chasing Haze (Jiang Shuying)
Tang Rou/Soft Mist (Li Yujie)
Bao Rongxing/Steamed Bun Invasion (Lai Yi)
Qiao Yifan/One Inch Ash (Fan Jinwei)
Luo Ji/Concealed Light (Sun Ning)
Mo Fan/Deception (Yang Tingdong)
Wei Chen/Windward Formation (Bai Xiang)
Wu Chen/Dawn Rifle (Song Hanyu)
An Wenyi/Little Cold Hands (Li Junchen)

Team Excellent Era
Sun Xiang/(new/successor) One Autumn Leaf (Liang Yimu)
Tao Xuan (Zhao Chulun)
Xiao Shiqin/Life Extinguisher (Ling Jiyuan)
Qiu Fei/Combat Form (Zhai Zilu)

Team Blue Rain
Yu Wenzhou/Swoksaar (Gao Hanyu)

Team Tiny Herb
Wang Jiexi/Vaccaria (Gu Yufeng)
Gao Yingjie/Kind Tree (Chen Hongzheng)

Team Tyranny
Han Wenqing/Desert Dust (Gu Youming)

Others
Su Muqiu/Autumn Tree (Yin Yi) - I also love his last appearance/interaction with Ye Xiu.
Chang Xian/Sleeping Moon (Li Xiaopang)

The other thing I like about this drama is the lack of obvious romantic story. It might make the drama more interesting but even without it, The King's Avatar is worth watching. The platonic relationships, which could lead to more, are lovely enough. One can choose which to root for, if one so wishes.

Now Playing: Duan Ao Juan - The Most Amazing of You

The Last Empress

Can't remember what exactly got me watching The Last Empress, a 2018-2019 K-Drama by SBS but of course I watched it on Netflix, though I believe it's because of, first, curiosity and, second, familiarity with the main actors - Jang Na-Ra, Choi Jin-Hyuk, and Shin Sung-Rok.

I have known Jang Na-Ra back in my high school days, when there wasn't an explosion yet of the Korean Wave. I didn't know I've seen Shin Sung-Rok before through My Love From the Star until I dug up his other projects after watching Vagabond. I remember Choi Jin-Hyuk from Gu Family Book, which I haven't finished watching. Ok, before I carry on, I just found out that Choi was in Pasta. Woah.

So The Last Empress was about a musical actress Oh Sunny (Jang Na-Ra) who married the modern Emperor of  Korea, Lee Hyuk (Shin Sung-Rok) only to find out how she was used, with a lot of attempted murders along the way. To sum it up, this Korean drama is historical fiction (as the Korean Empire is set in modern times), drama (of betrayals and murder plots), suspense, and also comedy. Yes, I never thought both genre can come into play in one drama. Their lives got intertwined long before they knew. Both got connected with Na Wang-Sik (Tae Hang-Ho/Choi Jin-Hyuk).

I just remembered, I'm familiar with Tae Hang-Ho though I can't remember from which drama it was. He was the primary reason I got curious with The Last Empress more than Choi Jin-Hyuk did.

There were plenty of absurd situations in this drama but I guess it would be "that's how people would probably react back in the old times" but set in modern times. Like you could say, those wicked people should've been subject to investigation and trial but they still carried on.

Despite the violence, there were plenty of comic scenes as if it was a live-action drama of an Anime. My favourite was the laundry scene involving the three primary characters. But my favourite characters were Oh Hello (Stephanie Lee) and Crown Prince Lee Yoon / authorVincent Lee (Oh Seung-Yoon).

Now Playing: Gaho - Not Over