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.

435. Legend of Fei 有翡 (2020) Chinese

Zhao Liying, Wang Yibo, Zhang Hui Wen, Chen Ruo Xuan

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Oh my heck, I loved this show, and not just because I'm a bit obsessed with Wang Yibo, but because this was a show with really bad-ass women. Like super strong, awesome women, and their men who respect and love them in all their awesomeness. Zhou Fei (Zhao Liying) is just an awesome female lead, who is strong but also chill. Who stands up for justice, is stubborn, but also soft and loving. Her relationship with Xie Yun (Wang Yibo) is just beautiful. The fact that they have different strengths, and she is usually the one protecting him, but he's just like: ok, be careful! And then helping her from the sidelines. The fact that they would both do anything to protect the other, but also respect each other's skills and know when they don't actually need to be protected. Chef's kiss. It's wonderful. Also, all the characters. I just loved everyone, even the ones who were bad, overly evil, or started off as annoying or stupid. This is a show about some serious growth, and for pretty much everyone. Even the elders learn a thing or two and become more open to the strengths of the younger generation, or get wrecked because they don't.

437. Run On 런 온 (2021) Korean

Im Siwan, Shin Se Kyung, Sooyoung, Kang Tae Oh

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Dang it, I started this and then it didn't save, and somehow got published before it was finished, lol. I'm not sure why this review was so hard to write besides all that. I loved this drama, but it's also hard for me to describe in words that will accurately show how great it is. It's like a melodrama that was instead turned into a slice of life, if that makes sense. It has all the tropes of a typical melodrama set up, with the orphans, the chaebols, the overly ambitious politicians, celebrities, and quirky artists. But instead of it being a dramatic mess, instead it humanized at these typically stereotyped characters and made them real people. Incredibly flawed and lovable people. I very much appreciated that there weren't those lame tropes like love triangles, but instead we got multiple sets of people developing their relationships in very organic ways, where the biggest tests of their relationships are getting to know each other and working out differences. Not that other things don't also influence and that there weren't any misunderstandings, there of course were, but they were the real kind and the couples were really good at talking through them instead of being dumb. That was probably the best part, it was full of communication, but also the dialog felt very organic and real. It let the characters be awkward, imperfect, and lovable.

Our Times 我的少女时代 (2015) Taiwanese

Vivian Sung, Darren Wang, Dino Lee, Dewi Chien

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A

I randomly saw a review of Our Times in my YouTube suggestions, and I was like: is that Darren Wang? And then I looked it up and got super interested and found a subtitled version to watch. It's a really fun coming of age/high school/first love type movie, about a girl who gets a chain letter and sends it to the school's bad boy because she saw him picking on her crush, the school perfect prince. The great part is that he figures out who sent it to him (and made him get hit by a car) and she is forced to be his errand girl. But then of course they are going to actually become friends, especially when they figure out that their respective crushes are in a relationship and they team up to break them up and help each other get with their crush. It's definitely on the light hearted side, even though Darren Wang is playing a bad boy who is the leader of a gang and constantly getting in fights. He is more like a hurt puppy whose bark is worse than bite, which is honestly a role that Darren Wang excels at. 

436. Shanai Marriage Honey 社内マリッジハニー (2020) Japanese

Itagaki Mizuki, Matsui Airi

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

Short and sweet perfectly describes this show. I hadn't watched a Japanese drama in a while, so when I saw all the praise I thought I would try it. It was exactly as they said. Super cute, with a couple who communicates well, and a heck of a lot of kissing. It's about a couple who get married after one meeting, for various reasons, and then we get to see them work it out into a really lovely marriage. They are super awkward at first, which is perfect, and then they slowly learn to open up, slowly get to know each other, and rather quickly get to the physical stuff because when you're already married and that attracted to each other, why not? But with every episode there is a newly discovered potential problem to figure out, but the great thing is that while they may not immediately just talk about it and try to solve it, they are constantly trying and they do talk if they can't figure it out right away. Basically this show is a cup of sunshine and a good short watch, especially if you need a huge dose of cute + skinship.

434. A Little Thing Called First Love 初恋那件小事 (2019) Chinese

Lai Kuanlin, Zhao Jinmai, Wang Runze, Chai Wei

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

While I really like the high school to college dramas, they are all pretty formulaic. The male lead is always smart and popular, the female lead is awkward and has bad grades. Maybe she is openly chasing him, maybe it's a secret crush. Sometimes the male lead is a nice smart guy, sometimes he's a jerk. There will usually be a goofy friend or two who will make up the secondary couple. I swear there is usually a chubby best friend too. A third of the drama will be in high school and then it will reset in college, where suddenly the evil second leads will appear. I said reset because there was enough angst in high school to assume that they would just immediately get together in college, but because of second leads, misunderstandings, etc., it will instead drag out for forever and I usually get impatient. The male lead will always be the troop leader in the military training episodes, and will secretly help the female lead. A Little Thing Called First Love is no exception to this formula. But that doesn't mean it's not good in it's own right. It was very charming, and had just enough differences from this formula to make it more than worth it. And besides, I really do like this genre, so bring on those high school crushes.

429. Princess Weiyoung 锦绣未央 (2016) Chinese

Tiffany Tang, Luo Jin, Vanness Wu, Mao Xiaotong, Li Xinai 

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Princess Weiyoung is just a hot mess of drama. It was a delightful hot mess, but also happened when I had my drama anxiety explosion that made me literally pause everything I was watching in favor of binge watching We Bare Bears. Sometimes the ridiculous drama where everyone is evil except the leads is fun and sometimes people's mothers are dying and I can't deal with that in the middle of a pandemic. However, after taking some time, I still came back and finished it, because it was ridiculous and I had to see the train wreck at the ending. It actually had a better ending that I expected. More... realistic, if you can believe that when everything was so over dramatic that it wasn't ridiculous. I just like that they didn't force a completely happy ending and were able to give us some tragedy that also wasn't forced. I had a whole thread on Twitter about this, because it was so 😲😲😅😅😂😂 that I had to shout out my feelings to the Twitterverse. You can probably get more details and spoilers from that thread then here. But at least you can know that it was crazy, dramatic, and I generally loved it, even then rolling my eyes and laughing every two seconds.

430. Flower of Evil 악의 꽃 (2020) Korean

Lee Joon Ki, Moon Chae Won, Jang Hee Jin, Seo Hyun Woo, Kim Ji Hoon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

The premise was too good to pass, the cast was too good to pass, I was super excited to start this show. But still I waited to start it. Then I binged it until I caught up with it. It was so good and intense, I had a hard time not being able to just start the next episode. But sadly, it was my one drama I loved while I was being stressed out from everything, but having to stop and wait in the middle of a  hugely dramatic climax made the stress of anticipation overwhelm me, and with everything else I suddenly was too stressed to watch it. Which is so interesting because if I had the ability at the time, I would have just binged watched it to the end. However, though it took several weeks of getting to a place where I could watch anything besides We Bare Bears, I finished it and it remained good until the end. Even though the last episode was an extreme change of pace. It was still good. And then I still too even longer to write this review because that is what last year did to me. Apologies.