A Love So Beautiful (2017)

A very by the books drama that drops the ball on the few things it does differently

I've been out of the drama game for some time, and when I saw this on Netflix I decided to give it a try given how accessible it was. I did some reading and saw raving reviews to boot, so I went in with some high expectations. A Love So Beautiful has a very simple, cute premise of a young girl (Xiaoxi) being in love with her neighbour (Jiang Cheng) and trying everything she can think of to get him to like her back. They're neighbours, they go to school together, their families are friends. Everything sounds great, except Jiang Chen doesn't reciprocate Xiaoxi's feelings, and does a bad job of showing anything at all. Cute hijinks ensue and I'm all for that.

The series follows them through elementary school and there's a crew of supporting characters who really save the show. They're great friends (Jingxiao is just so good), and the chemistry is believable. The characters together are the best part of the show. The worst part of the show is when it's busy checking off its list of drama tropes and not doing anything remarkable with them. It all feels very tepid, and eventually the cute hijinks between Xiaoxi and Jiang Chen start to get frustrating, with Jiang Chen's stoicness going from amusingly cute to almost sociopathic in nature with how he almost seems to enjoy leading on the poor girl. The times where he shows to actually care (or even show personality when he's not just playing off of his more charismatic friends) are few and far between.

Eventually, the show starts doing some timeskips. Note the plural. This is where A Love so Beautiful starts to drop the ball on one of its more interesting aspects. The show spent so much time developing the characters and their friendships in their school days, but the episode count after the timeskip simply isn't enough for the transition into their adult lives to be handled properly. It's a shame, because what could have been a very gratifying payoff ended up feeling rushed at best and awkward at worst.

Still, the show was a fun watch! The friends are cute and I do admit that a little part of me loves to hate on a drama that pulls out all the usual tricks that we're used to, especially after I hadn't watched a drama in such a long time. So while the show was certainly entertaining, it's hard for me to say that it's good.

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Your Heart feels warm and cozy

It has been a long time, since I watched a beautiful, innocent and cute love unfolding on my screen, without any action sequences or fantasy. I tend to say I love a story that is more on the action side, that keeps me in my chair and my eyes glued on the screen.
And a Love so Beautiful did just that.
It had everything that made it a beautiful and enjoyable series. Loveable Characters with their very own personality and different ways of action. A Love that was portrayed so real and beautiful that it gave me the wish , that the series would never come to an end. And even a Development was seen in this series from both the main characters, which is not so commen in - only - romance series.
But A Love so beautiful does not only tackle on Love and Relationship. It also shows the amazing friendship between all five 'main' characters, that despite some struggles, never came to a tragic end. It even -despite being a minority- talks about depression.

Story: As I just mentioned it's a pure romance drama, no action or suspense. Just two different Individuals slowly falling in love with each other, where the female Lead tries everything to impress her crush, who is brushing her off in the very beginning of the series and despite his negative comments towards her, she never gives up on him.
It's nothing new or original, this concept was seen a lot of times before, but A Love so Beautiful made it seem so unique and enjoyable, that I couldn't stop watching and always craved for more. I now finished the series and I feel a little bit sad that I will never see more of this two and their friends again (only when I rewatch the series, which I definitely will).
The Story will always hold a special place in my heart, for being one of the most romantic series I've ever encountered.

Acting: The Actors were amazing, all of them. They made the Drama seem so real and alive. They portrayed their characters so believable and gave them so much personality, that made the series so much more enjoyable. The chemistry was also one of the best I have ever seen, not only between the couples, but also the group of friends.

Music: I didn't really pay attention to the soundtrack but still it was beautiful and I liked it.

Overall: It has been a while for me, that I watched a series with so many emotions involved. I cried, I laughed, I giggled and I felt with the characters. It also was the first drama that turned my mom back to her feelings of being a teenager again. She also couldn't wait to watch every new episode right after dinner. We both smiled at each other and talked a lot about this drama series. So I think if my mom would read this review, she would agree to all my words with a 100% approval.
Thank you A Love so Beautiful for giving me a happy time, while watching you with my mom. I will watch you again, I promise.
And for your dear Reader, I hope you will fall in love with this drama and it's characters, just as much as I did. Have a nice day!

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The chemistry between characters and the heart grabbing storyline is what makes me come back to this drama and will continue to do so. No matter how many times I see it, it still makes me laugh as hard as the first time, it still makes my heart flutter and makes me fall only harder and harder for this story and characters. It deserves all the recognition it got and more. Hope for new amazing acting opportunities for these actors.
This is an amazing romance show. It's extremely funny, heartwarming and relateable. I loved the storyline between main characters as well as their friends. It's rare to fall not only for the story of the main characters but also be equally fascinated by the stories of their friends. Truly one of the kind.
This was the first Chinese drama that I've watched so far and I loved it even more than some of my favourite Korean dramas. I will be exploring Chinese romance dramas more for sure, especially the ones with the piles of humour like this one. Recommend it, will watch it again soon. Simply great!
BTW I've already rewatched this drama three times.

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WAJIB NONTON

Aku suka banget sama drama ini. Mulai dari kisah yang relate dengan kehidupan SMA hingga kuliah. Kisah cinta seorang gadis SMA yang mengejar si cowok dingin. So sweet nya dapet, baper dan komedi nya juga dapet. Apalagi si cowonya ganteng buangett WKWK. Kalo mau nonton, nonton ajaa ga rugi deh.
Btw, aku sendiri ga suka kalo drama ditonton 2x, so yaa memang aku ga nyaranin untuk menonton ulang, karena aku paling gasuka hal itu. Tapi, kalo kamu mau nonton 2x atau beberapa kali, yaa itu terserah kamu lagi.
Oya, ostnya ituu woww banget, maknanya dapet, bapernya dapet dan ku nyanyiin terus-terusan. Liriknya tuh lucuu banget wkwkwk.
Langsung nonton ajaa gais cuss deh wkwkw >o<

@vianney_ft

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A love so beautiful was a great love story. I loved the storyline and how it flowed, It wasn't rushed and it wasn't too slow it was perfect. I usually don't like high school centered dramas and when I found out that this story focused a lot of time in High school I almost didn't watch. However, The cast is awesome, great chemistry. I was drawn in throughout the storyline I didn't even know who to root for the second lead was as mature, sweet and handsome as the main lead. I hated how the mother kind of disliked the second lead because of his "dark skin" but it wasn't a big deal and didn't overshadow the show at all it was just something that bugged me personally because I thought he was a cutie. I love how the show didn't waste time on trivial things other shows would be the main character failed her college entrance exam and had to retake the exam instead of focusing on that for 5 episodes the audience got a condensed episode of study scene and college life which was great because it cuts out the filler episodes and leaves room for more productive content. Overall great show, great cast, and storyline.

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Perfect First Love Story

This was one of my first Chinese Dramas I’ve ever watched. I started watching them this year and now barely watch anything else. I am now rewatching this for the 4TH time! I fell in love with Hu Yitian in Handsome Siblings (my 1st Chinese drama) and it led to this. Thanks to him and Shen Yue I’ve discovered the world of cute love stories in these dramas! The theme song is always stuck in my head and I sing it when I’m happy! The story and development makes you wish you were in school again hoping to find The One. Chen Xiaoxi is a brave girl that doesn’t give in and lives every day with hope. It definitely makes you reminisce the days when you had a crush on someone so it’s easy to connect to it. You’ll root for all the characters. It’s a fluffy drama with some sad moments. I highly recommend this and it’s so rewatchable. Does anyone know where I can buy her cute cartoon images that she drew of them when they were young? So cute!

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Can't get over to this drama!!

This drama is so pure . And we all really need such type of people in our life, who supports and stands with us thick n thin. Remember your first high school crush , this drama will just bring all the memories back to you. This drama goes from high school to adult life.
This drama has all kinds of emotions , it will be a rollercoaster of emotions for you. There will be happy, sad moments in this drama. And you just can't choose one of your favorites among all these 5 characters, each character has developed so good when they grew up in the show.
Do not miss it

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Chinese school romance dramas are kind of my thing and this one does not disappoint. It has everything, innocent love, intensinty, second lead, good friendship vibes, chemistry between the girl and the boy, nice built up, drama, high school dynamics. Sure, the story wasn't original and there are tons of dramas out there with the same theme, but at least they hundled it pretty neat and the final result was decent. Also, the girl was cute and funny, whether the boy was kind of a snob at first, got better afterwards, but kept his attitude, which was refreshing because in most dramas the male lead starts with a i-hate-you-i-am-too-cynical and makes a 360 degrees turn a few episodes later. So, 7.5 out of 10.

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I was putting off watching this drama for a while. I always saw it under 'top dramas', my recommendation feed, reviews where it was called as another ISWAK/Itazura na Kiss/Playful Kiss, etc.

Before I began watching this I was only familiar with the male lead in a drama where his role wasn't too big. I did know that he is quite decent so decided to go ahead. Here's what I thought finally:

STORY: On the surface it comes off as another youth drama. However what I liked most about the drama was the simplicity of the plot. It's just about a group of friends, an annoying love triangle, a jerk male lead and ditz female lead. I can see the comparisons with ISWAK but nothing tops that. It would be fair to say this was at least inspired from that story. But what sets this drama apart are the likeable characters and the trivial-yet-relatable situations they go through. Their friendship was excellent and it was best part for me over the romantic plot.

CHARACTERS AND LOVE TRIANGLE: I had a love-hate relationship with Xiao Xi. She's cute, simple but was too dense for my liking. I also don't like how she seemed not to have any self-respect. I was often uncomfortable with the message this drama keeps giving- it's fine to keep chasing someone even if they walk all over you. Not saying that Jiang Chen didn't like her, but he was mean to her majority of the drama. For me I was all in on the second lead ship. I haven't suffered such major Second Lead Syndrome since AGES. Bo Song deserved Xiao Xi's love. I hated how stone cold she was to him and even seemed ungrateful at times. He did so much for her but she always had one person in her heart. I would blame the writer for this plot because the better moments were written between Xiao Xi and Bo Song. She kept hanging with him till the last 2 episodes, not acknowledging his love. For god's sake, she spent her entire life with a one-sided love and I couldn't buy how she couldn't recognise Bo Song's love throughout regardless of what he said to her. I didn't really buy Jiang Chen as a character, his reason for being mean to her and why he liked her. He just seemed like a selfish person to me who played and manipulated her as he wished. I liked his adult side better because he had at least become more mature and expressive by then. I did enjoy his interactions with Xiao Xi towards the end. The other two friends were awesome and I was glad about having a secondary couple on the show.

FLAWS: It was slow, seemed to have borrowed ideas and lack of plot in between episodes. One thing that is rarely explained in Chinese dramas is why the leads fall for each other. In this drama also I had no clue. Especially Xiao Xi's devotion to JC was hard to understand. It was more than just fangirl feelings or puppy love. She was stupid, playful and childish but was bold when it came to pursuing him and had only him in her heart forever.

I think this drama is cute if you want to watch something relaxing without much drama. The drama was slow but it was consistent in following its own pacing in all the episodes. Just don't root for the second lead and this drama might just be more enjoyable.

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As a huge sucker for high school fluff (although I haven't watched a lot to say I'm an expert), I was pretty excited to watch this drama after the hype it received from my facebook timeline. I had already planned to only watch the first episode and delay the next episodes for a week or until I get a little free but it drove me to watch more episodes and I ended up watching it in 2 days, somehow managed to squeeze it in my tight schedule.

Starting with the plot, it's not the best but it isn't that bad either. The story started fine but as soon as they graduated from High School, everything felt rushed - it felt like huge chunks of their adulthood were missing. Also, there were too many issues in main protagonists' relationship that weren't addressed well or maybe it's because they lacked communication which is one of the things I disliked in this drama.

Moving on to the characters, I honestly loved the chemistry and dynamics of the five main characters. Each of them had their own identity which made their group interesting to watch. However, I didn't like some of their behaviours individually. I don't want to spoil much but I'll take Jiangchen as an example. His anger always leads to bad decisions and at some point, it gets tiring that you start questioning how Xiaoxi was able to tolerate him and like him after all his actions specifically his "coldness." I know it's what makes him Jiangchen but the excitement dies down since you how his choices will widely affect the storyline and where it is heading. Nonetheless, I really liked Jingxiao's and Luyang's character. They made the drama more light-hearted than it was supposed to be. I also have nothing but respect for my hero, Wu Bosong.

Overall, A Love So Beautiful is a cute drama. I had problems here and there but after all, I came for the fluff. It did give nostalgic vibes and reminded me of my puppy love days. You surely do everything for the person you like whether it's dumb or not. Happy watching!

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