Lighter & Princess (2022)

If I want you, true love will take its course

"And in the end we're all just humans, drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokenness", Fitzgerald.

This was by far the best cdrama I've ever watched. I usually don't do reviews of dramas - I just comment under an episode if I have to say something - but it felt like it was needed here.

Now, it has been some time since I've finished it, so pardon me if I forget something.

I'm a huge fan of these youth dramas, set in high school and college days and whatever, so of course I couldn't miss this one. First impression? Too cool. We finally have a female lead who isn't stupid and weak, I immediately fell in love.

The first episode was a prolepsis (flashforward) until half of the second one, where we return to the present - seven years before. At first I didn't understand anything, I remember I was so confused that I tried to read some comments but most of them were even more confusing, so I just gave up. Until the second episode, where I officially started the journey with Zhu Yun and Li Xun.

I couldn't loved it any more.

It's the first day of college - I suppose - and they're waiting for their books. It's so casual that made me resent watching it - I mean, it made me want to watch some light romance dramas again.
Zhu Yun and Li Xun don't get along well at first - one is doing her best to please her mother's wants, the other is living life like an arrogant young boy, which he is btw - but they slowly start to feel something for each other. Zhu Yun is attracted by his weird personality, his strong abilities and his intellingence, meanwhile Li Xun is confused and attracted by her stubborness, the way she treats him and the fact that she isn't afraid of getting close to him and dare him.

These college days are the best, but as usual, after the sun comes the storm. Li Xun ruins his life by committing a crime. If only it ended here, Zhu Yun would've stayed by his side no matter what. However, this mf (sorry, I had to, I hated him in these moments) lied to her and broke her heart. This led to her leaving him and changing country - literally.
(Don't tell anyone else, let's keep this a secret, but I skipped these episodes. If you don't wanna cry your heart and eyes out, skip episodes 21 and 22)

They "reconcile" several years later, both knowing what they feel for each other. Li Xun keeps trying to push her away, but Zhu Yun knows he's lying.

And this is the most beautiful thing about this drama: their relationship. There's something Zhu Yun tells Li Xun: "Choose me, I won't betray you". It seems a normal sentence, but if you've watched the drama you know how important and touching this is.

'Cause no matter what happens, they are committed to each other, they believe and understand each other so profoundly that it breaks my heart knowing I won't ever have a relationship like that.

They are powerful, not only because of their abilities and intelligence, but mostly because they're ready to risk it all for their significant other. They're for sure the best cdrama couple I've ever seen.

And I believe I should say someting about Gao Jian Hong. This mf (#2) betrayed his best friends 'cause he couldn't accept that there's always someone better than us. I hated him until the very end, but at the same time I understood him: I know it's frustrating having someone who outshines you in everything you thought you were good at, still you should prove you're mature enough to understand not only your limits, but also the other's and the moral limits. Gao Jian Hong actually represents those who can't accept their own boundaries and push themselves to the limits, until they reach the ultimate stage of their miserable lives.

Unfortunately, Gao Jian Hong didn't stay loyal to his friends and suffered for that. I believe that his end was perfect, even though that illness prevented us to see how well our protagonists would've handled the revenge plan.

Another character that I should mention is Zhu Yun's mother. Just gonna say I hate her. I in general hate parents who want their children to live a life already decided by them. I mean, once a person turns eighteen (or whatever age a person is considered adult in your country) the parents have no right on their child's life: they can only advise them, but not decide for them. So yeah, I hated her mom 'cause she first chose her major and then tried to choose even her boyfriend/future husband.

Actually her presence wasn't that prominent in the last part of the drama, so I didn't feel her efforts to couple Zhu Yun and Tian Xiu Zhu that much, but it was still nerve wracking.

Overall, Lighter&Princess is a 10/10. I feel like I shouldn't rate everything about this drama a 10, but it is what it is. The story with its tropes was amazing, original and touching. The cast was perfect and so was the acting - just a little reminder of Chen Fei Yu's eyes 'cause that man didn't portrayed Li Xun, he IS Li Xun - : most of the cast is new with few years of experience so it was really refreshing seeing these young people acting so good with so hard characters to depict. And let's not talk about the soundtracks 'cause I'm literally obsessed! They complete the drama in a way that is really hard to see nowadays (I'm a musician so I have ears for these things).

And of course, the rewatch value. Useless to say that I'm literally on my way to rewatch it. It's too good to discard after being watched just once.

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ONE OF THE BEST C-DRAMA I HAVE EVER WATCHED.

Everything about this drama is amazing from the casting , the acting , the visuals, the storyline, the background to the ost. And the best part is it just get better and better by each episode. The chemistry between the female lead and male lead and their characters development is on another level.

Everything about this drama is amazing from the casting , the acting , the visuals, the storyline, the background to the ost. And the best part is it just get better and better by each episode. The chemistry between the female lead and male lead and their characters development is on another level.

Everything about this drama is amazing from the casting , the acting , the visuals, the storyline, the background to the ost. And the best part is it just get better and better by each episode. The chemistry between the female lead and male lead and their characters development is on another level.

Everything about this drama is amazing from the casting , the acting , the visuals, the storyline, the background to the ost. And the best part is it just get better and better by each episode. The chemistry between the female lead and male lead and their characters development is on another level.

I highly recommend this drama.

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gritty, inspiring, absolutely perfect casting

First off, **major spoilers** everywhere so be warned, and this is gonna be long.

Absolutely addicted and love this drama, so why did I not give it a 10? One, because the parents annoy me, which is why I’m writing this review before finishing the last ep. Two, because Li Xun went on a path of self destruction.

Now, let’s talk about Li Xun. This man is an absolute genius through and through. He’s pretty cold and indifferent, but I ADORED this man…until he blinded a guy. I completely support the revenge path and whatnot, but that was just so out of character. I get he was grieving and people make bad decisions, but man PLANNED that shit. He’s so intelligent, so why would he throw his whole life away just for that? Even more, he not only gave up zhu yun but was a complete jerk about it. She did not deserve that AT ALL, and his idea was just so bad. Like you had so much time and that’s what you come up with? Aside from that, I feel like he didn’t deserve zhu yun’s forgiveness. He never really tried to make it up to her, and the apology wasn’t satisfactory enough for me. He deserved way more than that one slap. But oh well, that happened. Although I complained a lot, I still like his character. He went through a lot, and nobody’s perfect. In their uni days when they were together, he was such a golden retriever bf and it was so adorable. Combusted everytime he called her princess. SO CUTE!!! Also, this might be just me, but his walk is so funny. Like, someone sign him up for the runway. He’s perfected the angry boy walk. On a bright side, the actor is incredibly handsome. His eyes speak wonders, and not everyone can rock a buzzcut, but he definitely did.

Next, I wanna go over Gao. Keep in mind, I was one of those avid supporters of him up until the prison fiasco. He was relatable. It’s understandable to feel like someone else’s shadow and want to find their own light. Plus, Li Xun was also being an ass towards him at the beginning. He only cared about results and made Gao do his bidding. I get that he has a vision and all, but people were hurt in the process. Gao was doing everything right, going abroad and all. His mistake was blaming Li Xun for losing that opportunity and going on a revenge path. Fast forward, after prison, Gao is still suffering from his inferiority complex and only after money. I was like okay, understandable, cuz some people really only go after money in life, but he was playing dirty for it. His villain arc was very thorough and relatable. I actually cried for him when he was in the hospital. He was a good guy in the beginning. I hope he survives his procedure.

Well, if we talk about Gao, we have to talk about Fang Ziying or whatever his face was. Not much to say really. He was already a bad person at the beginning 💀. Breaking up with someone isn’t a crime, but pretending to be a victim is. He shouldn’t have pinned the blame on the girl. He also should have felt bad about her death. Fast forward, still a bad guy 3 yrs later. I don’t know where he gets the face to show up after being exposed before. I don’t think Li xun’s sister death is his fault because he only moved her hotels, not hire a truck driver to kill her (unless I missed something and that was intentional). Anyways, it was definitely wrong to trick the sister, but it’s not necessarily his fault she died.

Xu Lina. I don’t exactly like her, but I don’t hate her either. At the uni, I definitely did not like her. She lead on Gao, using him to get closer to Li Xun. Also went for him even after knowing he was with Zhu Yun. You don’t go after taken men. She still even went for him after he got out of prison. Like girl, he barely even spoke to you, what do you even like about him?? She was tolerable when she stayed with Gao and gave him oranges. That was really sweet, and it shows that she cares even a little.

Know, onto the characters I liked. Ren di and fang shumiao. AMAZING. Great friends and couldn’t ask for better ones. XIUZHU GE THIS MAN. Actually perfect. He can cook. He can clean. He’s kind, funny, patient, AND successful. Literally glowing green flag. Like, I’ll take him, hello?! Also, shoutout to the office workers because they were such goofballs and great people.

Saved the best for last. ZHU YUN MY LOVELY. She was definitely my favorite character in this entire drama. Intelligent, funny, caring, pure, loyal, AND AN ABSOLUTE BADASS. I don’t think I’m gonna find another FL like her. She is the most loyal character IN EXISTENCE. Like bro, I woulda left Li Xun to rot in his emo attitude. Ms girl really sticks to her words. She’s so strong TT. Also, GORGEOUS. I cannot stop looking at her. She steals the scene everytime, and the actress is so beautiful. I definitely feel like she has a staring contest with Li Xun every episode, but I can practically feel them using telepathy. She’s so pretty ><. This is true unconditional love. Literally won’t find that in the real world 💀, or maybe I’m just a pessimist.

Conclusion
Every single one of the cast members did such a wonderful job. I CANT think of a better casting. Their chemistry is definitely enough to cause a reaction. Overall, this show is very addicting and well-written. It takes its time and their love endures <333

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Who doesn't love a bad boy/good girl romance? With all the thrills and problems it implies . . .

*Discussion of Red Flags at the end*

This modern romance has the life/death feel of a historical drama set in the present day. Li Xun is your black sheep general or heir, highly strategic, intelligent, competent and cold as ice. Zhu Yun is your earnest and bubbly sheltered daughter of a palace adviser who has a hidden righteous fury. Li Xun could conquer the world in one step, if not for his weaknesses which are the family and friends around him especially Zhu Yun. Their journey to happiness takes years of twists and turns, revenge plots and separations.

The beginning creates a lot of suspense by jumping back and forward in time. The end is touching and perfect acknowledging the years that have passed. In the perfect last flip of perspective, Li Xun never says it, but we get to see that Zhu Yun was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Chen Fei Yu as Li Xun excels at a smirky teenage cool. Zhang Jing Yi as Zhu Yun excels at a straight-forward eagerness and stubbornness. They have excellent chemistry together, but limited range. Even as the years pass, you do not get a sense of any time passing for their characters. There's no large moments of self-doubt, no hidden flaws or temperaments that only come out later on. What you see is what you get. Zhao Zhi Wei as Gao does a much better of job of changing into a more bitter, muddle headed adult.

Music is fine, and I wouldn't really rewatch.

I grade on other criteria:

Complex Themes: 9.0
Men who have chips on their shoulder, jealous, unscrupulous and thirsty to succeed can indeed be bad partners. But, these men can come from any economic class. It's wrong to assume that ambitious men who grow up in poorer circumstances will have bad values compared to those from other wealthier backgrounds. Upfront, straight-forward, reliable people of whatever background are worth a dozen schemers.

Complex Characters/Character Growth: 5.5
Gao changes a lot and it’s a very believable change, that he was unable to accept his own limitations, and had unhealthy level of grudges and aggression that grew with time. Li Xun and Zhu Yun stay very consistent throughout.

Complex Women/Complex Relationships Between Women: 7.5
Zhu Yun and her mother have a very complicated and contentious relationship. With her mother unable to see her potential, and so sure that her daughter is the same as her. So, some points there. Otherwise, there are women friendships and characters but they are drawn a bit thin.

Production Value/Cinematography: 5.0
This is filmed very straight on with not too much creativity to clothes or sets let alone camera angles. There’s a camera choice for the very end where it switches to Li Xun that is powerful, but otherwise this category did not stand out to me at all.


*RED FLAGS*
Both Li Xun and Gao display numerous red flags including: smirking in the face of distress, not showing vulnerability, taking away people’s choices, defensiveness, feeling like you are ‘above the rules’ or ‘above the law,’ a lack of friend/familial relationships, uncomfortable feelings, dreams outsized to current reality, quick to sacrifice other people’s feelings to meet your goals etc.

The highly problematic myth of the bad boy/good girl romance is that the love of a good woman can ‘tame’ or soften a bad boy and these traits, and that myth is highly on display here.

What’s worse is that Zhu Yun shows all the signs of someone in the thrall of limerence/obsession running after Li Xun and getting crumbs for 95% of the show. She declares at the end that she knows he will soften/ripen like a peach, but we the viewers see little indication that that’s the case.

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Mediocre slow paced drama focused on coding and revenge

This drama is highly rated so I decided to give it a chance. It is focused on the relationships between Li Xun, Zhu Yun, Lao Gao who met in college. The beginning started off with Li Xun being released from prison, the next 23 eps goes back in time of how these three have met and build up of their relationship. There are sweet moments between Li Xun and Zhu Yun, and also the bitter relationship between Li Xun and Lao Gao. The drama itself is very slow paced, although I did enjoy some of the sweet moments, I felt it has dragged for finally when there are some action on eps 23+. This section is focused on how Li Xun build himself up from after prison to get revenge. I still end up skipping a lot of scenes as it is draggy. Overall, romance and revenge is sweet on some parts, but can't make up for the drama being draggy.

Li Xun is handsome but his acting is dull (in fact not just this one, I seen about 3 dramas from this actor already), maybe the drama would've been more enjoyable with a better actor.. Zhu Yun does portray her character pretty well. Lao Gao face is just hateable, I guess that means he did his part for the drama?

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Great Script, Great Casting and tension-filled

This show was so emotionally draining, but in a somewhat, good way? I’m not a fan of high-angst or hate-to-love troupe or the girl chasing the guy storylines and despite Lighter and Princess having all of those, I was pretty much hooked and addicted from the very first episode.

The best part of the drama was casting and script. I hadn’t seen Chen Fei Yu since Ever Night and even then he was a baby doing his best to become the best Martial Artist. I have to say, he did very well in Lighter and Princess as the tortured, cold and stoic chip-on-his-shoulder ML.

Zhang Jing Yi was excellent in Fall in Love and so it didn’t surprise me how well she did in this drama and the chemistry between her and Chen Fei was the BEST part of the drama. The tension between the two was so addicting to watch. I also love that they are close in age. Even though, both are babies in their early twenties, they played the older-parts very well.

I didn’t like that the drama started out in the future. You get the sense something bad happened and then it rewinds and you start the drama from the beginning. After watching that, it like, I was waiting for the ball to drop during the entire series. I guess you could say that amplified the angst for me.

I did enjoy the parts of the kids in college the best. The rag-tag team of kids they casted was pretty adorable and the side storylines were enjoyable. There was the singer, the nerd and the flirt. I liked that the drama was about computer programing, so it was fun for husband to watch with me and explain some of the technical parts of the drama.

There’s a lot of push and pull between the main leads. This is a ROMANCE drama, but not an easy one to watch. The FL truly chases the ML through-out the drama which at some parts could be trying at times, since he’s not the best person. The ML isn’t the hero of the show, as much as we should love him. I do love how strong they wrote his character, but he is written with lots of flaws. But you take the bad with the good and eventually he redeems himself.

Overall, it was a beautiful drama to watch, very fresh and new. I loved the casting and the chemistry between the leads. It’s a tension filled angst fest with lots choices to be made and lots of love to be tested.

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You will never regret watching this

probably the best drama I have seen and in 2022
saw this trailer from my YouTube recommendations and spark my attention. waited for 2 months for it to come out as expected it didn't disappoint me. This story plot is so interesting and gives off the fresh youth vibe. The acting was so on point that I fell for both the male and female leads not to mention the villians also did very great. The set up to gao jian hong arc is very understandable and realistic. The music choice for this song is SO SO NICE and the fact that the side cast sang it makes it even better. I love the casting for this drama , Chen feiyu did a amazing job potraying li xun and so is Zhang jingyi I can literally see zhuyun in her. I have finish watching this drama almost about 2 weeks ago 😭 still not over it. I am planning to rewatch it again soon. BUT THIS IS SUPER RECOMMENDED

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A Love All Women Want

Lighter and Princess is hands down the best c-drama I have ever seen. The story was exceptionally good. It portrays how we all make mistakes in life but you have to have the grit & determination to jump back up and go after what you want. The love between the main couple is so heartwarming. The FL was steadfast and loyal to her man from the beginning to end. The acting and the chemistry between the leads phenomenal. You can feel the love between them just by the way they look at each other. The music was also very good. I usually don't enjoy Chinese music but the songs in this show are very catchy and it's hard to get them out of your head. I can rewatch this over and over, it is just that good. I would recommend this show to all out there.

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Honest Review

The only reason I was able to watch this till 19 episodes was the male lead. He is damn handsome!!

The story is slow paced and after few episodes is annoying. Everyone is literally on their computers 24×7. At night, at day, at home, at workplace, at school, at restaurant, literally everywhere. This is such an unrealistic drama.

The main lead is a genius who can crack any code within minutes and never fails at anything. He is a super genius who treats his fellow mates poorly and looks down upon them. The female lead has nothing to do except working for the main lead. A drama totally obsessed with computers.

If you are watching this for romance, it's slow paced. Their chemistry is good but the writers failed to present it. Only watch this drama if either you're obsessed with computers and coding or you're obsessed with any of the leads else it's a time waste

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One of those dramas that is so good it makes me want to rewatch over and over again...

10+ overall for:
- the characters: relating to and development/arc! - all the characters were done well, and I especially appreciated how both the FL and ML are given the room to grow and space to show their respective qualities in a balanced way
- acting (gahh the chemistry and authenticity of the leads and all the supporting cast are INSANE (they're SO ride or die for each other): the FL actress was not one of those that I immediately fell in love with but I grew to enjoyed watching her performance and I really think she did wonderfully as the FL. I enjoy growing to relate to her and seeing her as a quiet introvert in love and pursuing her passions in life and work, etc. Which I think makes it just that much more stronger as a drama.
- pacing (not a dull moment - well edited and presented - I love the visuals of various seasons as well as the comfy sweaters as well as the coats)
- plot (these parallels! always laser focused and never relents! - this drama covers a good span of time, as well), feat. some of my favorite twists of tropes thanks to how perfectly the lead characters compliment each other and also instigate each other's growth, great for those who also love seeing redemption arcs and healing and second chances ;)
- the ost - the MUSIC - yup. def. solidified my love for Chen Xue Ran's music compositions. Also the songs that he didn't compose but from the artists are simply fantastic and varied for a modern cdrama - impressed! The title song The King and The Knight will certainly end up being one of my most replayed ost songs xD but I've been listening to the entire ost on repeat~
- overall a beautiful story with beautiful humans for characters. I don't think I've ever so thoroughly enjoyed a modern "romcom" drama to the very end (but I feel that tag doesn't do this drama justice at all since it's more like a coming of age in some aspects than romcom, oh well, just suffice to say that this feat. a lot of solid storytelling and characters, and it has its share of pain and angst along with all the fluffy yet utterly realistic moments).

The ending is perfect as well. I feel COMPLETED. #themostbeautifulmomentsinlife :)

One of those dramas that is so good it makes me want to rewatch over and over again... all around a beautiful journey.

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