See guys, this is NOT a hate or demeaning comment/ pov, BUT I think the original work - Go Ahead (Chinese drama) is WAYYY much better than this one, this version is loosing the essence... no matter how much I love the actors, I am not able to connect with THIS story.... every single second of this drama is reminding me of the original one...

What do you guys thing? 

Anything that you feel is missing here?

At least for me there's no comparison. I might dive deeper if I post a review but in short, the changes in the story serve only to enhance the romance and by doing this it changed the core subject which should be family.  
In this version they aren't really a family so it makes the title a bit pointless.
It's a bit hard to connect to the characters because, one, they feel foreign, they are not the same characters we know from the OG and the drama doesn't lay enough foundation to round the characters as the original. And two, the new personalities of the characters make them feel more like idol drama characters.
There is no subtlety in the storytelling, the BGM/OST isn't as iconic and since it's so unmemorable fails to thread all the emotional scenes.

 sojutales:
Anything that you feel is missing here?

The korean make it more to romance. And to avoid discomfort seeing romance between siblings, eventho they're not blood related, the showmaker purposely made family bonding felt more distant.

  1. You can sense it by how Ju-Won and Hae-Jun calling San-Ha's father, or how San-Ha address Ju-Won's father. They address cross fathers as "ahjussi".
  2. (teenage) Ju-Won rarely called San-Ha as "oppa", never to Hae-Jun.
  3. Ju-Won sees San-Ha as brother, but San-Ha didn't see her as sister.

What i dislike from Go Ahead is (1) romance between siblings, (2) San-Ha romantical acts is creepy, and (3) the story were dragged when they're adult, the story is solid when they're kid but lost it touch when they're adult.

Yes, the family bonding in Go Ahead is way better, but it only 1/3 of the show (12 of 40 episodes is when they're kid and still together as one family), the rest is kinda flopped. Let see how the Korean handle the adult part, and how they conclude it.

 danny_ang:
Ju-Won sees San-Ha as brother, but San-Ha didn't see her as sister.

Neither did Ling Xiao see Jian Jian  as his sister.  When he wanted to date her, he told her that. And they were close childhood friends who grew up together. Definitely not siblings. Zi Qiu and Jian Jian would be the siblings in my mind, since Zi Qui didn't have any parental figures, except Li Hai Chao who took him in.

 danny_ang:
You can sense it by how Ju-Won and Hae-Jun calling San-Ha's father, or how San-Ha address Ju-Won's father. They address cross fathers as "ahjussi".

That's calling them "uncle" which is perfectly reasonable. I have a Chinese stepmother who has asked me to call her "Auntie."

 danny_ang:
San-Ha romantical acts is creepy,

So far, there has been one romantic act which is when Ju Won fell on him near the lighthouse and they didn't get up right away; he had been talking about her being dense. I see him and Hae Jun being super overprotective of her, as older "brothers" tend to do. What else did you perceive as romantic?

 sojutales:

See guys, this is NOT a hate or demeaning comment/ pov, BUT I think the original work - Go Ahead (Chinese drama) is WAYYY much better than this one, this version is loosing the essence... no matter how much I love the actors, I am not able to connect with THIS story.... every single second of this drama is reminding me of the original one...

What do you guys thing? 

Anything that you feel is missing here?

When I watch a remake or a different adaptation, I don't tend to compare it to the earlier show in terms of better or worse. I watch it as its own show and how enjoyable I find it. It's probably why I'm able to watch my 5th adaptation of the manga series "Itazura na Kiss" and still enjoy it. Sure, in the back of my mind, I can say, Oh in the Thai version, they incorporated this [insert very Thai custom] or in the Japanese version, they did something else. I like comparing the differences in what changes the screenwriters made to make a show more Thai or more Korean or more Japanese. The cultural differences are interesting to me. 

I'm sorry you're not able to connect to this story. I'm enjoying this version. Being asked to compare, I feel like Hwang In Youp has done a better job with showing us how broken Kim San Ha is.  

 angeliviki2022:
That's calling them "uncle" which is perfectly reasonable. I have a Chinese stepmother who has asked me to call her "Auntie."

Yes, it reasonable. Im not talking waht make it reasonable or not here.

In Go Ahead, all the siblings called the fathers as "father" in their language. That is why the family bonding in Family by Choice felt more distant compared to Go Ahead. 

And

 angeliviki2022:
So far, there has been one romantic act which is when Ju Won fell on him near the lighthouse and they didn't get up right away

You gotta read my whole sentences. I mention about Go Ahead, i meant San-Ha in Go Ahead, i meant Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao romantical act is creep, to be precise i'm talking about when he kiss JianJian while she is asleep. There are more of his creep actions, like force kissing, and some other that i cant really remember. Their sibling romance is weird to begin with, and Ling Xiao's action made it worse.

 angeliviki2022:
Neither did Ling Xiao see Jian Jian  as his sister.  When he wanted to date her, he told her that

Thats is part why FbC better than Go Ahead, in FbC they made it more obvious. Jian-Jian always see Ling Xiao as her brother, there is little hint in the series that show how Ling Xiao see JianJian. And why is Ling Xiao sometimes ask JianJian to act cute? At first i thought is funny if an older brother asked her sister act that way, but when knowing he had romantical feeling to JianJian, it creep me out. That man have weird fetish.

 danny_ang:

Yes, it reasonable. Im not talking waht make it reasonable or not here.

In Go Ahead, all the siblings called the fathers as "father" in their language. That is why the family bonding in Family by Choice felt more distant compared to Go Ahead. 

And

You gotta read my whole sentences. I mention about Go Ahead, i meant San-Ha in Go Ahead, i meant Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao romantical act is creep, to be precise i'm talking about when he kiss JianJian while she is asleep. There are more of his creep actions, like force kissing, and some other that i cant really remember. Their sibling romance is weird to begin with, and Ling Xiao's action made it worse.

Since San Han wasn't in Go Ahead, that did confuse me. Kissing Jian Jian in her sleep was NOT ok. NonCon is never OK. But we'll have to agree to disagree on their status since I don't consider them siblings. They close neighbors with Ling Xiao living upstairs with his Dad.

Im sure many peoples out there that have same feeling like me. Their family bonding is too strong, we believe they're a family not related by blood. So when the plot reveal romantical feeling of Ling Xiao to JianJian, many audience felt discomfort. 

(adult) Ling Xiao revealed that he begin to like JianJian when highschool, but there is so little clue about it. I don't remember, is he mention when is precisely he have romantical feeling to JianJian? 

 danny_ang:

Im sure many peoples out there that have same feeling like me. Their family bonding is too strong, we believe they're a family not related by blood. So when the plot reveal romantical feeling of Ling Xiao to JianJian, many audience felt discomfort. 

(adult) Ling Xiao revealed that he begin to like JianJian when highschool, but there is so little clue about it. I don't remember, is he mention when is precisely he have romantical feeling to JianJian? 

There were plenty of hints during their high school days, he even says he'll marry her (or be with her forever) when she grows up, though she didn't know he meant it romantically at the time.  It wasn't super on-the-nose, but a lot of viewers missed the obvious hints either because they were so absorbed by the found-family relationships or cultural/linguistic barrier.  And generally it surprises them how many hints there were on rewatch.

 sojutales:

See guys, this is NOT a hate or demeaning comment/ pov, BUT I think the original work - Go Ahead (Chinese drama) is WAYYY much better than this one, this version is loosing the essence... no matter how much I love the actors, I am not able to connect with THIS story.... every single second of this drama is reminding me of the original one...

What do you guys thing? 

Anything that you feel is missing here?

Personally after eps 3 I'm not comparing anymore because the drama emotionally was not hitting for me the way go ahead was. But I think so far Hae Jun's biological father was reasonable and different kind of annoying than Zhao Hua Guang (I can't stand Zhao Hua Guang's ass)

just watching it only for Dal and HaeJun-Dal end game, and maybe Yun Jung Jae and Kang Seo Hyun hope it will be written better than Li Hai Chao and He Mei romance (despite it was cute but it was rushed)

y'all talking about Ling Xiao and Kim Sanha, what about He Ziqiu (the most heart-wrenchingly emotional character on the show) and whatshisname- Kang Haejun? i have nothing against the actor who plays Kang Haejun BUT- He Ziqiu's character is one with A LOT of emotional depth, and his relationship with Li Haichao is MORE IMPORTANT, than his relationship with anyone else on the show, seconded only by his relationship (AS SIBLINGS!!) with Li Jianjian, as much as i love the actor who plays Juwon's dad in FBC, i'm getting the feels i got when i watched Li Haichao with his kids, it isn't hitting as hard, in my opinion.

Go Ahead is far superior, people thinking otherwise are used to cringe thriller with Dante's Inferno like judging hell or flashy cute ridiculous cringe things like Business proposal.
Go ahead is sadness, traumas, a slice of life where romance is the least important.
Family by choice? more family cringing in no choice in life. It's an insult considering this an adaptation.
actors can't act, even adult ones. The leads... the two boys are so cringe i can't, when one of them was sorry he was Out of Character.
But the worst is FL, so sorry almost transgender, so princess it's nonsense. A girl growing up in a world of men, without any female figure and friend, how can she be so sissy princess? Everyone is so strange and abnormal, like they are so happy without any tears, any trauma, any melancholy or sadness.
The original gives melancholy even in happy times, this adaptation is only happy times.
I will finish it only to see how cringe the character are evolving backward without a solid background and without  a real portrayal.




SPOILER.
Ep 9-10
How abnormal she reacts to the news of them parting? i was cringing, she was only whining without any real sorrow. Korea should chose a better way to do adaptations and not casting actors only to make girls squealing like obsessed cringe girls.

 MyLangyaList:
There were plenty of hints during their high school days, he even says he'll marry her (or be with her forever) when she grows up, though she didn't know he meant it romantically at the time.

I got that hint, but still feel creep later.

I remember the first time JianJian jokingly asked Ling Xiao if he marry her if he keep hitting her head. At first occasion Ling Xiao just silent, but the second occasion Ling Xiao answered her yes and put JianJian in silent.

 Chinese Empress:
Go ahead is sadness, traumas, a slice of life where romance is the least important.
Family by choice? more family cringing in no choice in life. It's an insult considering this an adaptation.

At this point, it benefited them who never watch Go Ahead. Watch it as clean slate really help to enjoy this show. But i curious how they feel about episode 9 and 10.

It still easy to hold feeling when seeing the siblings and the fathers aren't really bonding like family in FbC, because i thought the showmaker purposely did it. But after watching episode 9 and 10, everything in there didn't hit my emotional, i have low expectation for next chapter. I don't know how non Go-Ahead audience feel about episode 9 and 10.

I will see next episodes to decide to drop it or not. Previously i have hope FbC is better in adult timeline, but after seeing their first reunion, i don't have high hope.