444. Falling Into You 因為我喜歡你 (2020) Taiwanese

Puff Guo, Jiro Wang, Zhang Ben Yu, Chen Jiong Jiang

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I realized that it had been a while since I've watched a Taiwanese Drama (I've been focusing on Mainland China lately) and so I browsed what was there, and I realized that I had missed watching this drama with Puff Guo, which is terrible because I absolutely love her. I will watch anything and everything for her. Added bonus was that Jiro Wang was her male lead, and I don't mind that one bit. He's hot. So I immediately pressed play and it immediately filled the hole that my last fluffy drama ending had created. It was so cute and fun. I loved that it was shorter (13 episodes) so they didn't drag things out or waste time on unnecessary stuff. I loved that it was once again about a fighter girl, this time a taekwondo athlete, and a dude who falls in love with her because she's an awesome and a fighter, and I love the mutual respect. Were there still some problems? Yeah, it's awkward at times, but ultimately it was cute, fluffy, and funny. It was even on the meta side, especially with our self-centered, bubbly start up CEO male lead who thinks of himself as the male lead of a drama anyway, and so is constantly referencing it.

438. Love Unexpected 不可思议的爱情 (2021) Chinese

Fan Shi Qi, Qi Yan Di, Wang Xu Dong, Shen Yao, Zha Jie, Wang Xu Dong

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started this one because I wanted something fluffy, and then stopped it because it looked too cheesy and Ke Si Yi seemed annoyingly cheerful and air headed. But for some reason I went back to it the next day because I had nothing better to watch. After getting further into it, it totally surprised me with the premise, which wasn't what I expected it to be at all. I knew it was about an emotionless man and an overly emotional girl, but it's totally sci-fi because they get it switched so that he ends up feeling her physical pain and she can feel his emotions. Suddenly, it became super interesting. I also grew to love the overly emotional mess that Ke Si Yi was, and was super impressed with the dead pan, emotionless acting of the male lead Xu Nuo (props to Fan Shi Qi, he did a great job). It was a very interesting concept to have a couple fall in love when he literally can't feel emotions, but she can feel his. Interesting in how she distinguishes the two emotions and how they can also get confused. It definitely surprised me as it became the show I was looking forward to every week, which was hard because it wasn't getting subbed fast enough for me. It would thankfully be done by the end of the week (right before the new episodes came out), it's just that when you know they are there, taunting you, not getting subbed, it was hard to be patient. But I guess my impatience speaks to how well I loved this show.

440. Forever Love 百岁之好，一言为定 (2020) Chinese

Wang An Yu, Xiang Han Zhi, Pan Mei Ye, Chen Ze

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started this drama because the male lead looked normal guy hot instead of pretty boy, with his buzzed head and all. I hadn't paid any attention to be before seeing in while browsing. It definitely lived up to that expectation. He was way normal guy hot, with lots of charisma too. The main couple in general was way cute and I loved them. However, there was also too much to hate in the drama because of that. Because the main couple were such cute and nice people, it made the offending people all the more despicable and I spent the entire drama filled with anger for the people manipulating and trying to manipulate them. To the point that while the main couple deserve a 10/10, the "antagonists" of the drama deserve a 1/10. I thought I would be fair and keep it at a 7, but I am still feeling anger and the desire to punch senior brother's face because I just imagined his face, so maybe it really deserves a 6. I don't know, it just makes me so angry.

431. Jiu Liu Overlord 九流霸主 (2020) Chinese

Bai Lu, Lai Yi, Fang Yi Lun, Xu Mu Chan

Drama Rating: 4.5/10     Neck Score: A

I started this one 100% for Lai Yi, having love him since he was Senior Disciple in 10 Miles of Peach Blossoms, and Heavenly Doctor in Legend of Fuyao, but I stayed (at first) because the couple had good chemistry. I loved that they were both super business nerds, and that she could press his buttons and break him out of his stuffy shell to try new things and improve his business even more. Sadly, that wonderful chemistry wasn't enough to carry the whole drama, because there was serious dragging issues. There was a mystery plot about corruption and the evil magistrate (father to the second female lead) obviously trying to kill our leads. But what is worse is that plot was super secondary to the unnecessary drama of the romance. Obviously the main couple liked each other and had enough reason to know that the other did, but still they were both too awkward and quick tempered to say it or stay on good terms enough to be vulnerable with the other, and so it dragged on needlessly long, giving fuel to the two second leads to be increasingly more annoying. Then it got even worse when the entire drama suddenly changed plots and became absolutely ridiculously bad. They literally made him allergic to women at the beginning and then just forgot about it later on. Honestly, I'm still not sure why I finished it, but I did, so here is a full review.

Love 020 微微一笑很倾城 (2016) Chinese

Jing Boran, Angelababy 

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

I figured having loved the show, I would have to give the movie a try sometime. I'm glad I did. It was very good. In some aspects I would say better than the drama, but both are definitely well worth watching. The movie obviously had a better budget, because the CGI and sets were way better, and way more realistic. I also think all the acting was better too. I think that both Jing Boran and Angelababy were able to show more realistic and fleshed out characters in less than 2 hours than in the whole length of the series. I love the micro-expressions that give us insight into the "gaming god" character of Xiao Nai. I also loved seeing a more nerdy, gamer girl version of Bei Weiwei. She was way more engaged and I actually believed she played games instead of just looking perfect and pretty. But there really was only 2 hours to put in the whole plot, so everything does feel like it's moving at a lightening pace and is way over simplified. I really missed them spending more time on the side characters, and especially the plotline of the awkward relationship between Hao Mei and KO. They only had time for like two scenes that mentioned that whole mess, which is a real shame. So on the whole, both are great for different reasons. It's only when you are comparing the two that you'll notice the production quality is way better for the movie, and the leads in the drama are so pretty that you don't really mind that they aren't the best at acting. It's fine. I still love both and recommend both as great. But if you only want to spend a few hours, the movie is the way to go, if you want to invest for a long haul, watch the drama.

439. My Little Happiness 我的小确幸 (2021) Chinese

Xing Fei, Tang Xiao Tian, Huang Yi Lin, Li Chuan

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I started this one because I needed a modern Chinese romcom to help me be more patient while waiting for Love Unexpected to be subtitled. I had been hearing good things about it, and I was curious to see Tan Xiao Tian be the male lead after watching him be the second lead in Put Your Head on My Shoulder (also seeing him have a serious glow up since then too, rawr). It's the same girl too, which is always funny. Something for all those SLS shippers, I guess. Totally different characters though, which gives props to Xiao Tian. I really loved the dynamic between the leads. They had great chemistry and also it was a much less misunderstanding filled plot than most. Which means that yes, there were a lot of misunderstandings (the biggest one was annoying but manageable) but that they were solved really quickly. Mostly, I loved how mature the main couple was for the most part. They were both working professionals (she was interning to become a lawyer and he was a surgeon) and respected the other's profession a lot.   In fact, their proficiency in their professions was even an attraction for them. The fact that she fell for him at first sight because she saw him save a man at the airport and he had that competent doctor glow is just cute. I really love how much they supported each other in their jobs too, and supported each other with their jobs too.

433. Mr. Queen 철인왕후 (2020-2021) Korean

Shin Hye Sun, Kim Jung Hyun, Bae Jong Ok, Kim Tae Woo

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+

I had my eye on this one when it was announced, and it did not disappoint. Although I'll admit that it was not exactly what I expected. I was thinking it would be more like a body swap, but instead it was a gender swap/soul swap. So not Secret Garden, but Scarlet Heart Ryeo except the person going back in time in the soul swap was a free spirited, playboy chef named Jang Bong Hwan, ending up in the body of Kim So Yong, the soon to be queen of Joseon. I was immediately caught when that free spirited chef was played by Choi Jin Hyuk. A lovely unexpected special appearance that made everything even better, especially since he still did the voice of the chef's thoughts inside the queen's body. So imagine deep manly voice as the petite Shin Hye Sun acted it out. I thought their team work was amazing. I have an even deeper respect for Shin Hye Sun in this role. It really felt like she was channeling Choi Jin Hyuk even down to the expressions. Then add in amazing chemistry between her and Kim Jung Hyun and yes, this drama was awesome. I haven't raved while telling people about dramas in a while, but I was totally talking  my sisters' ears off about this one.