This review may contain spoilers
I really enjoyed watching this light and fluffy romantic gaming series. It was fast paced, didn’t drag and the leads had good chemistry. I’m not a gamer but I was able to feel the stakes for the characters every time they had a challenge, won a game or suffered a loss in their tournaments.The ML/FL were adorable. I think this might have the funniest ML I’ve ever seen in awhile. He had this way of cracking a joke, insulting someone or being very sweet towards the FL with this deadpan expression which made the situation really funny. The FL was even more expressionless but it didn’t bother me; I think it’s because it made her seem calm and in control when she was gaming…and also because she had many funny scenes herself and her blank face made it more laughable. The other team members were also very likable and had good interactions with the leads. It’s great how there were episodes that focused on some of them and their back stories; it fleshed them out better.
There’s an OW here but what I like about this drama is that it doesn’t create annoying situations where the other party fakes something which causes unnecessary angst, separations and stupid decision making from the leads. ML basically tells her point blank that he isn’t into her and she respects it, which is how it should be. There’s also an OM at some point but it’s mostly played for laughs and all the characters are very respectful to each other.
One criticism I have is that the gaming is a bit confusing because the camera doesn’t zoom in enough and when it does, there’s no indication who is playing which character. They make use of characters from a real game called Onmyouji Arena, but the thing is that the characters here tend to look similar…it’s not like Street Fighter where the characters look distinctive. One remedy for this would have been showing a small picture of the real player when a character appears.
I think I might like this even more than LoveO2O but I liked that one as well, for different reasons.
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A Cute Watch
I wanted something to watch that was light and not emotionally heavy and this hit the spot.I really enjoyed watching this and had some moments of laughing out loud. (I laugh whenever I see a jealous second lead)
This show is not like the super best amazing omg kind of drama but it’s cute and had me binging. There are definitely a few tropes and there was one scene which was a bit meta and made me laugh when the male lead expressed the male lead, second lead, and female lead set up. Oh yes, there is an annoying mom as well but she eventually mellows out.
Early on, I didn’t really understand why I was subjected to the animation of the characters fighting - only later in the series did I start to see it had some value. I am not familiar with the game they played (it is real!).
If you are up for some fluff, this works!
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ITS GOOD
I am just gonna start this review about all the good things about this drama1. The plot was really unique
2. The development of the characters are very good
3. The visuals are good
4. Few annoying ass characters
5. Not cringy but still romantic and kinda cute
6. There were actually some signs of feminism in the drama
7. INDEPENDENT female lead like i mean one who does not need the ML to come and save her ass everytime cuz Cdramas are always written that way
Not so great things
1. Cheng Xiao's acting can definitely improve as her expression is always the same, which gets a bit boring if u keep having to see it, her eyes are also very cold, no emotions( not in a good way) but there are definitely rooms for improvement since acting is still quite new to her
2. Some of the plot was not conveyed clearly and it just feels like u missed some parts of the show but u actually didnt( just my opinion)
3. The FL mother looks wayy to fake, the heavy makeup is extremely obvious
BUT OVERALL , the drama is surprisingly better than i expected and actually quite appealing to watch and its really a source of happiness compared to the many recent dramas i watched that are very shitty.
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Pleasantly surprised
OVERALLThis is a true e-sport drama, but a decent one. Watch if 1) you're down with a bickering OTP, 2) you like cutesy female leads, 3) you're fine with the typical cool and aloof male lead. Reconsider if 1) you can't stand any of the above, 2) you find e-sports boring, 3) you're looking for a sizzling, swoon-worthy romance.
THE STORY
Because the last few C-dramas I watched were just average, I came into this one with low expectations and found myself hooked. By the end, the 1st half was the best, the plot started withering away in the 2nd half, but overall it makes a decent filler!
The Good
- the interactions between FL and ML. The bickering feels coherent and natural, not forced like in some other dramas.
- the 'falling in love' part is well paced, cute and fun.
- the drama addresses a few social issues realistically and successfully, like the idea of a female pro gamer or the problem of unhealthy fandoms and internet communities.
The Bad
- FL is fine (compared to others) but she's still childish cute, and we need more women acting like women. Women can be mature and cute. No need to make them childish... Part of the problem is Cdramas obsession with making FL go through slapstick and dumb, embarrassing moments. Makes them look so immature!
- ML is also fine (compared to others), but the cliché aloof male lead needs to go. It's irritating just how many Cdramas bring it up.
- their 'being in love' part is kind of lackluster.
- the 2nd half of the drama is just so dramatic and game-centered. It's not the worst, it all makes sense, but it just kills the enjoyment a bit. The last ep is legit entirely spent on games...I wish there'd been more time spent on relationship or character development.
THE ACTING
Ok, I guess. I wasn't super impressed but they all did well enough! Not much chemistry between the leads but it still works!
THE MUSIC
No comment.
REWATCH VALUE
Not high. Nothing blew my mind or made me swoon, so I probably won't ever be dying to rewatch. It was a nice watch though!
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This review may contain spoilers
Very Cute and Sweet, but wasn't perfect
I wasn't really expecting much when started this series, all I know is that my sister really really liked this cdrama to the point where she watched it multiple times.At first, I wasn't really that hooked, so I watched it at 1.5 speed. The first thing that I noticed is that the ML acting is such a robot, that it has no soul or emotions at all. I mean, I get it he's supposed to be a cold character, but he's doing it too well... and the FL acting, like she can't act at all like there's only a set of emotes that she can do and because of that, it dragged the others acting like they're all newbies. There are some side characters that I think the acting was okay.
Once I got past around ep 4-5 the acting really didn't bother me that much because the story got interesting, so I'm finally watching it at normal speed. The dynamic between the ML and FL is getting cuter and sweeter, I think that's what finally sold me on this drama. The development and interactions are soo good.
Also, jinyang the FL's best friend, is what I was expecting out of Jingjing in 'A Love So Beautiful'. This is how you write a best friend character. Jinyang is the example of the best friend character done right, she knows the flaws of FL's ex and she points it out and she's advising the FL to not get back with her ex since they're also over now. I don't know the full story of FL and her ex maybe there's more to that, I kinda wish that we had more backstory scenes of tong yao and jian yang like they didn't really show much of their relationship, i was kinda invested in them or maybe because i felt bad for jian yang, but regardless.. I'm still glad that we got closure for their relationship, so that's good.
Jinyang and Aija's relationship is really cute too, it's like a good side dish that's there to enhance the dining experience more, I hope we get a drama of these two actors, their dynamic is really cute.
Something that's really bad BAD in this drama, that you can't really ignore, is the korean dubbing... Like WTF was that, it's sooo bad. It threw me off when I first heard it, cuz it's very different from the actor's voices and it's very deep too. It's very obvious that the VAs are reading a script and trying to match the lip flaps, cuz they're saying it so slowly, but it's very enunciated, so I'll give them that, but again it's very weird... they could've just made the actors say it themselves instead of dubbing it since it is not very prevalent in the show.
The gaming side of the show doesn't really interest me. The show is very meticulously done, like i noticed the small details that the director is trying, so I wish they could've taken the time and effort to add something that would explain the know-hows of the game, that they are playing for me to care about the gaming side. Good thing I used to play dota, I kinda understand the overall gist of the game and the terminologies that they're using. Something about the FL and ML's team that I wish that they would do that they actually did was, I hope they would at least lose once if not a couple, because them keeping a winning streak would be unbelievable. I mean, it's possible for it to happen in real life, but it's only a minuscule chance and I'm glad they actually did lose a few games, and that actually contributed something to the development of the characters and their relationship as a team, so good job.
Good thing that in the beginning they only focused on the mains and fleshed out the characters for us watchers to get invested, they didn't really add crazy plots. I was kinda amazed because it's just you're typical drama that you would watch, they're not doing anything crazy and new, they're just doing it safely and hitting all the points of the story that you would kinda expect. When they add side plots, it's mostly contained within 1 or 2 episodes, it's mostly when they need to build up the next enemy that the team is going to face in the tournament. and later on, they started expanding the business/politics side of esports and it was aight.
Around the later parts of the show maybe ep 27 above, i started kinda falling off again. I don't know, something felt flat and kinda rushed, so i started watching it in 1.5 speed again, i mean I'm already this far so I just wanna end it. The ending was okay. Overall it's a cute and sweet drama. As much as it was only okay to me, I think i will rewatch some of its parts again and i would recommend this to someone.
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This review may contain spoilers
I enjoyed the first 23-24 episodes a lot. Tong Yao's journey as a professional esport player & her romantic endeavors were fun to watch. Up until this point the show is a solid 9/10 for me. Yeah sure, the leads have room for improvement in terms of acting skill, but perhaps the criticisms are a little overblown. Even the gaming scenes were reasonably fun to watch, although I cannot be considered the biggest MOBA fan. Unfortunately the episodes that came after were just bad. This was supposed to be an esport-romance drama, not a drama about celebrity scandals, but the last episodes were very heavily stilted in that direction. Once the leads have gotten together & everyone learned of their relationship their romance pretty much died in the sense that the leads had very few fluffy scenes together & all the time was spent with entertainment industry makjang stuff & gaming and even the gaming scenes were much less exciting than before. The last 6 episodes offered barely anything I would have liked to watch, this is how the low-ish rating has come about.
Also the Korean dub, good god what's the deal with the Chinese dubbing over all foreign languages, while also making sure that the voice over has a super thick Chinese accent? Koreans do this with English too, but it's super annoying nonetheless.
Luckily there are no unnecessary breakups, misunderstandings and the triangle is quite weak. So it's still a great drama, if you start to rely heavily on the fastforward button from episode 25 onward..
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Xu Kai and the Cats
Likes1. Somehow i always end up watching esports themed drama even though i'm not a fan of esports. But i appreciated the esports players after watching this drama. Didnt realize they also do a lot of trainings. I just thought they were naturally talented.
2.I liked getting a peek into the good and bad sides of the industry. I think it's the same as with showbiz where fans, rumors and fake news can make or break you. Fans dont own the players and we should respect them and their personal lives.
2. i like the ZGDX team and their friendship. Accepting Tong Yao as the only female player in the team. They also fight and argue a lot but they all grow and learn better.
3. I also liked that they showed the different teams and their sportsmanship with one another. The ending when Tong Yao won the championship and everyone (not just ZDGX) was cheering and praising her skills.
4. I found the romance cute from the first time they met until they got together around ep 21 or 22. One of the cutest confession scene when the kitty came out of Cheng's jacket, and Tong Yao was so happy she hugged Cheng. (I would have done the same ?)
Dislikes
1. Got bored starting ep 23 and was fast forwarding to finish. I didnt like the forced issue with Cheng as the captain.
2. Wanted Tong Yao to be more responsive during the kiss scenes. She always looked wide eyed and wasn't playful like Cheng. So it felt like Cheng liked her more than she did and the kissing didnt look natural.
Rating: 8/10
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A drama i wanted to see as why it is was being all hyped about
From where to begin...lets say this is a drama i just wanted to see because other people were talking about it...i got most notification about this drama and not to mention some kind issue also happened relation to this drama (idk)I just wanted to try...this was slap to my face as i judge the book by its cover....i was addicted...i was engrossed fulltime when they had a fight or something and the visual of the video game they showed was like damn......They did very good job of having and showing good visuls to us.....
Now the story....sweet...cute and this maybe like the not first female lead but a female lead who is sassy and is able to reply back to male leads to teasing even though being shy and all...you will know if you will see the drama and some may know if they have watched it. The story come to think of it is very simple how the accepted the new mid solo and then build their teamwork to friendship to whether if they will the championship.
The writer and director did a good job of showing the journey of it....it wasnt draggy nor its was too short...it was for right amount. Sometimes we feel that how come they fell in love fast and all...but tbh love doesnt come by having time limit something.....friendship among the memebers was adorable...friendship of all the teams in the drama was admirable and their passion for esports.
One thing i liked the most was they involved everyone till last episode be it a team loosing and disbanding how that person felt and everything. This drama was not all about ML and FL but of every single person who were casted. They showed everyone scene and made it look like wholesome drama...where you will be satisfied with each character at then end.
Now the cast, at first my rating was going to 9 as i thought FL wasnt that comfortable or just off in 1st ep something...dont attack me now...after i was binging the series and secluded from the real world and transferred to the drama realm...i saw the behind the scenes video and whole drama....i adore them so much now like they are so comfortable around each other thats why reel their character couple is so cute....and the cast are comfortable around each other and they are hilarious tbh and i feel the director would have the teacher controllling the naughty students????
The music i liked it very much.....Now comes the rewatch value...i know after praising it alot...i gave 8.5 coz im waiting or want to k ow if there will be a season 2 as the ending was open...it can happen or not...so whenever if i binge it again i will reminded of that. But i will definatly will cuteness overloaded scenes of these couple.....and the friendship in this drama.
Overall this drama is worth watching....light drama with no heavy melodrama....will keep your brain light,excited,antiscipated and just feeling good. I liked it. I hope you all like it too.
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Chanting for a Season 2!
I loved this drama so much!I am really into the Chinese dramas that have been recently released about e-sports and this one was no exception, I really enjoyed it.
I liked the storyline, the chemistry between the main characters, and the teammates that surrounded them. I know many real esports fans have complained that this is an unrealistic portrayal of the Industry, but take it with a grain of salt because that’s what this is- a drama, romanticization of the industry.
I really enjoyed Xu Kai and Chen’s Xiao as leads together, I think they did a great job and I hope to see them work together again (in other dramas or a season 2, hehe) fighting!
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my favorite drama of all time
as i said in every review i’ve ever written, cliches are my thing.this drama simply delivered everything i wanted. healthy relationship? yes. protector ML? we have it. a bad ass best friend? absolutely. fun work space? of course. so cute it’s cringe? no doubts. nice parenting? yes. and we still have a lot of really cool 3d fights.
if you are thinking “is this drama worth watching?” the answer is YES, it’s light, soft, fun, entertaining and healthy.
i didn’t want to mention how xu kai is like all the other reviews, but it’s impossible. he is just to handsome. that it.
my favorite drama of all time.
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Get Ready to watch it 800 times.
Its not matter you are young or old, If you have a moist heart & wanna fuel it pls watch it. ❤️ This one was my 1st Seen Chinese drama and its really encounter me. Onece you start you can't resist you to watch till last EP. But pls don't do that, bcz you may also cry for its early ending. You will feel the romance, sad, tension and all human feelings right there, after your screen.I must learn Chinese language to over it twice as i believe subtitles is always a subtitles, never deliver the depth of original language. Pls guyz suggest me another series like this one , though i have to wait few months as i am now feeling i just broke up someone by seeing this series ending. It's really hard to believe this series is end in ep 31. Its should be 800 ep to satisfied me and others crazy fan. ?
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