A generic E-sports romance formula with more focus on the game than most

[No Spoilers]A good watch for anyone craving a predictable and cheesy romance, but with a more fleshed out game and esports world. A worthy competitor to other popular shows such as Gank your heart, Go Go Squid and Love 020. If you've watched any of these previous shows or other asian romcoms, you will know how things are going to go story wise. What this show does differently to the rest is excel in terms of exploring the e-sports scene and developing the fictional game environment it is based around. Drawing heavy inspiration from league of legends, the show depicts many of the elements of the game, team environment and the e-sports landscape much better than other shows. Often, the focus is much more on the romance between characters and relationships with random bits of family and friends, frequently coupled with non-esports related side stories and arcs which unfortunatly result in barely fleshed out games and esports environments, forcing viewers to watch what could really be any other asian romcom drama. FIYS develops its own fictional game through its fairly sleek animation of in-game combat, which emphasises the 'esports' part of the show and engages the viewer in each battle being fought. The show also maintains a consistent message when talking about basic in game mechanics such as picks/bans and character selection, going as far as to tell us about each character's usual champions/heros as well as their playstyles, whilst also providing solid references to in-game objectives such as the roshan/baron equivalents. Although FIYS has plenty of the usual romcom tropes and interactions, which is no doubt why most will pick up the show, it demonstrates a much deeper understanding of what modern games and esports events look like to their fans and does a good job of reflecting this to its audience. Maybe it's because I'm a little burnt out by shows which allude to 'esports' without being esports related at all, but the product placement infested air this time around looked better than ever, with what I have to believe is sponsored Razer gear littered in every scene. FIYS at the moment is the show that puts romance into esports, rather than injecting esports into romance, and it does this well.

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