This review may contain spoilers
Why I recommend watching "Love Designer"
Let me start off with a quick disclaimer, none of the spoilers are really 'spoilers. ' This review is very long, but there is a TL;DR at the bottom :)
I have watched many dramas, and I have dropped numerous dramas. I get bored quite easily because many plots repeat themselves, and I don't normally find myself watching (and finishing) longer dramas like Love Designer. I will admit that I was originally drawn to this drama because of Dilireba. I have seen three of her previous works, and I have always enjoyed her acting.
I found that her character (Zhou Fang) was quite refreshing. I didn't find her to be annoying at all (I tend to get annoyed with most female leads at one point or another). I found her to be quite smart, and independent (which you don't normally see). She was driven, and a capable person. Although her 'breakthrough' opportunity was provided by the male lead, she saw that it was an opportunity to pursue her dream. I personally didn't think that it took away from er independent character. Song Li. played by (Johnny) Huang Jingyu, was also a fun character to watch. His character was also consistent, and very well developed. Surprisingly all of the characters, including the side characters were well developed, which is obviously thanks to the length of the drama. I really liked that there were 'bad people' yet they were still human, so I finished this drama without hating them. I will admit that the drama is somewhat slow, but I found that to be a good thing, and I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing of this drama. I loved Qin Qing as a friend, she is such a caring friend, however I did not really like her relationship with her boyfriend. It was just so dramatic. I found that the relationship between the main leads was my favorite, and I thought that it progressed naturally (albeit very fast paced). They fought, broke up (it can be argued that they broke up over petty things, however, their relationship was quite new, so there wasn't much of a foundation, and it makes sense that they could break up over the things they broke up over).
I originally went into this drama expecting myself to drop it after episode 15, and fully intended too because I figured the drama would go downhill, but I found that I really enjoyed episodes 16-45. Everyone's taste is different, but I really enjoyed these episodes because the 'second leads' were out of the way. Problems occurred, but I found that that was only natural, no relationship is perfect.
I gave the story a 8/10, not because it was bad, but because it wasn't particularly outstanding. I did enjoy that we got to watch their relationship progress, rather than watching a drama where they only enter a relationship in the last couple of episodes, but this type of relationship isn't that popular in current C-dramas nowadays (I find that it's more popular in K-dramas). The story was good, all the characters were developed, but there was nothing that made me feel like it was different or special. The story is pretty realistic (keeping in mind that it's a drama), and enjoyable. I think what a lot of people didn't like was that the rest of the drama was about their relationship (obviously other stuff happened), but that was my favorite part.
I gave the acting a 10/10 because I never found myself feeling awkward whilst watching this drama, and I felt like the main leads did an excellent job portraying their characters.
The soundtrack got an 7.5/10 because I didn't dislike it, but I don't think I'd listen to it again. I was pleasantly surprised that the La La Land soundtrack made a couple of appearances.
Re-watch value is low, simply because I don't re-watch dramas very often, only maybe 1 or 2. I would definitely re-watch clips of it, but I don't think I would re-watch the whole series.
Overall, it's a solid drama, with great characters. But what really drew me into this drama was the CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE MAIN LEADS. Oh my gosh, if I could only provide one reason to watch this drama, it's the chemistry between Dilireba and Huang Jingyu. It was amazing, and made the drama 100x better. There is a lot of product placement, but it's pretty obvious that the budget was very big, so I didn't mind that much. A lot of people said that they got annoyed by the ringtone, but again, it didn't bother me much personally.
TL;DR: The chemistry in this drama is amazing, definitely watch for the chemistry. Story is good, not particularly outstanding though. Musics okay, nothing bad, but nothing I would listen to at my own leisure. I thought the acting was great. A little slow paced, but I watched for hours on end. I definitely recommend this drama, don't be intimidated by the length, I found that the length was perfect. I don't think it should have anymore episodes, because it ended well.
I have watched many dramas, and I have dropped numerous dramas. I get bored quite easily because many plots repeat themselves, and I don't normally find myself watching (and finishing) longer dramas like Love Designer. I will admit that I was originally drawn to this drama because of Dilireba. I have seen three of her previous works, and I have always enjoyed her acting.
I found that her character (Zhou Fang) was quite refreshing. I didn't find her to be annoying at all (I tend to get annoyed with most female leads at one point or another). I found her to be quite smart, and independent (which you don't normally see). She was driven, and a capable person. Although her 'breakthrough' opportunity was provided by the male lead, she saw that it was an opportunity to pursue her dream. I personally didn't think that it took away from er independent character. Song Li. played by (Johnny) Huang Jingyu, was also a fun character to watch. His character was also consistent, and very well developed. Surprisingly all of the characters, including the side characters were well developed, which is obviously thanks to the length of the drama. I really liked that there were 'bad people' yet they were still human, so I finished this drama without hating them. I will admit that the drama is somewhat slow, but I found that to be a good thing, and I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing of this drama. I loved Qin Qing as a friend, she is such a caring friend, however I did not really like her relationship with her boyfriend. It was just so dramatic. I found that the relationship between the main leads was my favorite, and I thought that it progressed naturally (albeit very fast paced). They fought, broke up (it can be argued that they broke up over petty things, however, their relationship was quite new, so there wasn't much of a foundation, and it makes sense that they could break up over the things they broke up over).
I originally went into this drama expecting myself to drop it after episode 15, and fully intended too because I figured the drama would go downhill, but I found that I really enjoyed episodes 16-45. Everyone's taste is different, but I really enjoyed these episodes because the 'second leads' were out of the way. Problems occurred, but I found that that was only natural, no relationship is perfect.
I gave the story a 8/10, not because it was bad, but because it wasn't particularly outstanding. I did enjoy that we got to watch their relationship progress, rather than watching a drama where they only enter a relationship in the last couple of episodes, but this type of relationship isn't that popular in current C-dramas nowadays (I find that it's more popular in K-dramas). The story was good, all the characters were developed, but there was nothing that made me feel like it was different or special. The story is pretty realistic (keeping in mind that it's a drama), and enjoyable. I think what a lot of people didn't like was that the rest of the drama was about their relationship (obviously other stuff happened), but that was my favorite part.
I gave the acting a 10/10 because I never found myself feeling awkward whilst watching this drama, and I felt like the main leads did an excellent job portraying their characters.
The soundtrack got an 7.5/10 because I didn't dislike it, but I don't think I'd listen to it again. I was pleasantly surprised that the La La Land soundtrack made a couple of appearances.
Re-watch value is low, simply because I don't re-watch dramas very often, only maybe 1 or 2. I would definitely re-watch clips of it, but I don't think I would re-watch the whole series.
Overall, it's a solid drama, with great characters. But what really drew me into this drama was the CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE MAIN LEADS. Oh my gosh, if I could only provide one reason to watch this drama, it's the chemistry between Dilireba and Huang Jingyu. It was amazing, and made the drama 100x better. There is a lot of product placement, but it's pretty obvious that the budget was very big, so I didn't mind that much. A lot of people said that they got annoyed by the ringtone, but again, it didn't bother me much personally.
TL;DR: The chemistry in this drama is amazing, definitely watch for the chemistry. Story is good, not particularly outstanding though. Musics okay, nothing bad, but nothing I would listen to at my own leisure. I thought the acting was great. A little slow paced, but I watched for hours on end. I definitely recommend this drama, don't be intimidated by the length, I found that the length was perfect. I don't think it should have anymore episodes, because it ended well.
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