Lighter & Princess (2022)

Lets be realistic here... they were flawed, but within reason

Ill start off by saying, I absolutely loved this drama. It had a great plot, great acting, an amazing OST and even better editing.

There are flaws, as does every show and character. But imo, the overall plot was amazing.

Li Xun, is so arrogant, rude, (hot) and irritating. But thats his character. After having suffered his entire childhood, he became a rebellious asshole. The problem most talk about in thier reviews is his character. While yes he is the typical rude ML, he believes he has every reason to be able to act this way. And I partly think its valid. As a kid who struggled while growing up, he fought for everything he had, while everyone around him didnt. He was different than the rest of the characters in many ways, but this was the most important. While he was smarter than them, the differences in the family status was the most important one.

Zhu Yun, was annoying, not confident, and absolutely a pushover. She let everyone determine her life but herself. Her mom absolutely pissed me off, especially at the end. While others say she blindly ended up following Li Xun, (and I do partly agree) she didnt follow him solely bc she ended up liking him, or felt bad for him or whatever else. I think she was so attached to him because he helped her in so many ways. While her mom tried to control her life, he helped her reclaim it, find her own goals, aspirations and actually LIVE it.

I wont say they arent flawed. But the whole point is that. They are both flawed, but they are making progress together to change and fight for themselves and others.

Jianhong, Miaomiao, (and even Yun) were victims of Xuns university bluntness aka bullying... but ngl I thought they needed it. They were all coddled in life and it showed. They didnt like critisicm, they didnt like feeling inferior, they didnt have an ounce of backbone... Xun is the friend that helps you be able to defend yourself, while supporting you through anything and everything. While most people are focusing solely on the things he did or said, I am focusing on the things it achieved.

Xuns entire problem with Yuns mom was the fact that he saw how entitled she was. And I get Yuns moms concerns... but she also took things too far. I mean, she CONTROLLED her daughters entire life, and Yuns dad let it happen. Xun freed Yun and I believe that wholeheartedly. He helped them all by preparing them for the real world...

But lets not forget Ren Di was the exact same as Li Xun... though she was nicer a lot earlier... they were two peas in a pod. They both were irritated with the BS of the kids that had everything and acted high and mighty because of it.

However, I will say, everything he did had a purpose. While it couldve been selfish/personal reasons, they achieved things for others too. When he was rude to Yun, when he was plotting his revenge, both times, he wasnt rude just to be rude. He was rude so that she could have a reason to hate him and not go after him. They both loved each other, and would do anything to protect each other, and support them in reaching their goals. Even though Xun was rude to Yun, she knew he acted that way for a reason... and both times, it was to protect her by not getting her involved. I mean, even he said it... "Im fine with ruining myself for revenge... but not her." In his eyes he had already lived a shitty life, so he could go back to that and be fine, but she hadnt... and he didnt want her to.

In the end, everyone got what they deserved, happy or not, every character got what they needed.

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I would like to start off by saying that just because I didn't give the drama a 10 does not mean it's not one of my favourites. I literally loved it so much but of course there are a few negatives I will mention.
The story starts very normally like any another campus-love story. I wasn't hooked into the drama until like episode 5. After that I ended up watching 12 episodes in one night! There was something about Li Xun that made me love the drama more and more. One thing I loved about the female lead was her complete devotion to the male lead. Zhu Yun does admit that Li Xun is stubborn and not the perfect human being but she says that she is willing to stay by his side no matter what. I know Li Xun left her for her own good but for the first time I felt that a female lead loved a male lead more instead of the other way round.
Even though Gao Jiang Hong was the main "bad guy", I still want to say that during their university times, the main leads actually didn't consider his feelings. I get Li Xun's personality was cold and distant but his way of dealing with things were wrong at sometimes. Also, Zhu Yun kind of used him to get even with Fang Zhi Jing. She made Li Xun join his project and basically take charge of Gao Jiang Hong's project. Of course, it goes without saying that whatever Gao Jiang Hong did wasn't justified at all since he purposely (and indirectly ) got Li Lan killed.
At first I didn't like that they made Gao Jiang Hong ill and got sympathy for him. However, after thinking about it, I realised either way, he would have repented and gave up. He wasn't completely evil so it is good they gave him a happy ending too.
The ending of the drama was so calming and normal (like real life).
I love that Zhu Yun was able to communicate with him so well regarding life together and having children. You could tell they grew up and had learnt so much from their mistakes.
Sometimes the reason we can never be satisfied of the ending is because we always want more of the drama, however with Lighter and Princess, I was fully satisfied.

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Eden Zhao is the star

This is a tough review as I have mixed opinions

Did I fall in love with the Main Leads - Arthur Chen & Zhang Jing Yi? No!
Did they give a solid performance? Yes

Eden Zhao to me is a star, I just loved him in this drama, I think he is what added the extra spice when it was needed. Lot of characters including the Mains did go stale through out patches in the 36 episode drama which is expected but Eden Zhao kept developing exceptionally well, why to me he is the MVP

I finished 36 episodes. Glad I watched it. I think this drama has plenty of talented supports actors & actresses good enough at the Main Lead level

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Needs patience but is absolutely worth it

My first time watching a Cdrama that didn't feel boring around the ending but only kept me hooked up more and more. The flow is just different than usual, the feelings it shows, everything is just UNIQUE!
It does have so many flaws, either in production or some of the supporting cast, but the mains were excellent, the chemistry chemistrying. No annoying SL like other campus dramas.
THE OST IS JUST 💖💖💖Not a single bad song, it's so good to the point that I replayed some scenes only bc of the ost.
I'm normally a kdrama person, and while I had a kdrama slump I was recommended to watch this and I don't regret atarting it, I'm in looooooove
It was slow around the beginning, but the more I watched the better things got. It was balanced from every side.
I don't know if I'll ever find something like this in the future, but what I know for sure is that this one already secured its place in my heart.

I don't like to write much normally, so I was going to only write a comment, to find myself writing a whole paragraph.
Thank you @iamkalai for recommending this amazing drama!

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Kind of great, kind of awful

I think this is pretty good overall. I mean I watched it all the way through so… I liked most of the story which is interesting and not all fluff and it did a good job of keeping me guessing about what would happen next. The acting was very good and I liked the OST. But like other viewers have said wow what a toxic relationship. I get that the cliched aloof arrogant ML must sell well or it wouldn’t be the trait of most ML’s in dramas but I don’t always love it and I feel like this ML was a not too many steps down from a sociopath. And the FL was practically obsessed. Like what does this guy have to do to get you to turn you off him? Become a serial killer? Maybe not even that would be enough. In short I enjoyed the ride this drama took me on but I ended up relating to the second ML more then the ML and found it really hard to root for the main couple by the end.

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Love you Forever....

Love the drama love the actors especially the two main leads, Chen Fei Yu and Zhang Jing Yi. But the story got a little convoluted at some points which took a little bit away from the overall flow of the drama for me. Some silly mistakes had me like why would they do that🤦🏾‍♀️. But I did like it for the most part and the original soundtrack is stellar!!

You can't control who you fall in love with and life choices are often times based on emotions, and always feeling the need to be on top of the world regardless of collateral damage were 2 main take aways in this drama.
But I did enjoy it for the most part and I would watch it again and did I say the soundtrack is stellar!!!

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Good story

I usually do lot of skip when watching cdrama, bcs many unnecesary scene that ( for me ) doesnt connect to the main story. But this drama really change my mind. I almost didnt skip any part, bcs most of them are immportant 🫶 the story is good and not cringe at all esp for the romance. If you want to watch not so romance drama but still give you butterflies and good story. Please do watch this

Anyway the actor are also doing good at acting, iam suprised with the fl, bcs what i heard she is nepo baby. But she really good at acting. She is not the type of weak fl, but the brave one. She support the ml the most, even ml is kinda red flag for me 😅

Thei chemistry are also in top tier

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What a show. Overall, I loved the complexity and flaws of the characters, the OST, the cinematography and whatever filter they used (it made the show look so pretty haha). The relationship of the leads is a true slow burn if I've ever seen one and at times a rollercoaster of emotions.

It took me a very long time to figure out the male lead, and I am actually happy the writers made Zhu Yun describe him because he truly is one of a kind. In a way, he had all the bad things that happened coming for him. He had a tough life, but his strict and cold treatment of others lead to those people disliking him.

Although Gao Jian Hong (GJH) went too far in my opinion. He turned into a monster by the time we came back to the present time, corrupted by money, greed and his hatred for Li Xun. On the one hand, I understand him. The way he was treated wasn't very kind. He had to give up things, he was the second choice and humiliated, but at the same time... that's what life is (or can be) like. Like my mom says: it doesn't matter that you were the best at something where you come from. Once you enter a new stage in life, e.g. college, you will see that there are so many people that are just as good as you, or in Li Xun's case, even better. The thing is... Li Xun was nonchalant about his talent; arrogant and stubborn, cocky and a show-off. Of course people would feel bad, annoyed, and defeated . On the other hand, how many hits did it take until he finally would have stopped? Gao Jian Hong put Li Xun in jail, took his company, changed the company's entire direction, cheated other companies, tried to ruin Li Xun, ... the list goes on. His thirst for revenge went as far as disregarding his health and not caring about his imminent death. I do think it's a bit meh they went that route to be honest, to have him nearly die for everyone to realize that they have strayed far, far away from one another. The eternal trio was no more, instead they were enemies. But whatever, it worked out in the end I guess.

Another thing that bothered me was Xu Li Na. This was woman was shameless; she met Li Xun once over a weekend and POOF she was in love ?? and has the audacity to say she doesn't like Zhu Yun, like girl. This ... isn't it. The leads were loyal to one another by that time, and had obvious crushes and she really thinks she has a chance. And continues to think to a certain point that she still has a chance after Li Xun is out of prison... be so for real. At least she stayed with GJH after his surgery, in a way they kind of deserved each other ...

I don't have the energy to talk about the parents. Zhu Yun's mom can catch my hands.

Lastly, Zhu Yun should have let Li Xun grovel so much more. He should have been on his knees and apologize for the way he hurt her. He literally emotionally damaged her, the way she blamed herself and fell into a deep depression, relying on medication for years because of him ... I know why he did what he did but damn there could have been better ways to do it without hurting her like that. Their relationship in the last couple of episodes was really cute though. Him teasing her lightheartedly was sweet and it should have always been like that. The development of their relationship is slow and complex, which I liked but it really was an up and down.

From rivals, to tolerating each other, to slowly working and understanding each other, to kinda friends, to friends with tight loyalty, to crushes, to lovers, to exes, to strangers, to slowly approaching each other, to another bump in their relationship, to appraoching each other once again, to crushes, to lovers - like WOW. At least, in the end, Zhu Yun finally spoke against her wicked mother in her and Li Xun's defense. That woman was so narrow-minded agh.

Anyway, this show was great overall though. As I said above, the OST, for one, was STUNNING. Always stuck in my head, beautiful melodies and voices, always played at the right moment, it was simply perfect. The leads in the show are quite young (99/00 liner like wow), but so talented. Chen Fei Yu had some good comedic timing and Zhang Jing Yi particularly nailed crying scenes (especially the one in ep. 31), she is also simply sssstunning to be honest (like on top of her great acting). The chemistry between the leads was really great, felt like I could have grabbed it. Also, their hugs looked so comfortable ...
The cinematography was great as well and the overall quality of the drama felt very high! All in all, thumbs up! :)

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Bit overrated drama

This drama is really amazing I loved it but somewhere female lead rejected her parents love and married to him without convincing her mother I mean her parents were not at fault all they wanted her to be happy but except that point everything was so good omg it’s like a long story with more plots more twisting scripts I loved it didn’t feel like 36 episodes was long I love actors they had great potential and script is awesome especially the musics and happy that everybody got happy ending even for gao he was just filled with ego which was stomping by main lead if he was good to him may be all this would t have happened I think story is mainly because of main lead arrogant character atleast he should have known at the end it was his fault but even at last episode he was same to female lead mother anyway I think this kind of characters should be stopped airing If not people get admired by such arrogant characters and I recommend everyone to watch this drama and definitely worth it❤all the best to the team

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