Best show I’ve seen in a very long time!

Not all episodes are available yet, but I’m really enjoying this one. The main couple is great together. The way they play off of each other is fun and sweet, but not too sweet. Watching Lin Gengxin play the fool for a bit is absolutely adorable. He’s one of my favorites and this is a pleasant change from the always stoic and arrogant role. It will be fun watching the layers peel back on this character. He’s had me giggling quite a bit. The female lead is awesome- intelligent, aggressive and capable, while still kind and caring when she should be.
The CGI chicken is a bit hard to swallow, but that doesn’t last very long. The demon goo (I don’t know what else to call it) is hilarious. They are still introducing the side characters, Li Zi Feng obviously has more happening than they let on yet, and I’m still not sure if he’s going to be a good guy or a bad guy. It’s not a predictable story line.
This show hooked me almost right away and I can’t wait for more episodes!

Update: I’ve finished the first 10 episodes and wish they’d release the rest sooner. The side characters are developing well, and I may have shed a couple of tears already. Love the slide to Grandpa, I laugh harder every time I see it now.
Please, please, please have a happy ending.

Episode 28 and I still love it. It’s a wild rollercoaster ride of heartwarming, heartbreaking, happy, sad, romantic, sweet and tragic. Very intense. I had to take a break for a couple of days because it was wearing me out emotionally. (Actually, I got angry at one of the plot twists and had to calm down, ha!) Now I’m back at it and still completely hooked on the story. Have I mentioned how much I love Lin Gengxin in this one? I would say it’s possibly his best role so far. It’s also rare to find a really well rounded female lead, but I like this one. Capable, competent, intelligent and not emotionally stunted- she’s rather awesome and fun to watch. The support characters have also developed well, throwing some strong twists into the story. Absolutely one of my favorite shows.

And it’s over. Wow. Loved this so much. The side character stories (Mofang and Fu Rong) are as endearing and heartbreaking as the main characters’. You Lan even had some surprises. I would definitely rate this in my top 10 favorites of all time. It was worth the wait, and I hope to see more like this. Just awesome, on every level. You will think you know the story and the ending from the get go, but there are plenty of twists and turns. What a fantastic ride.

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Great story, but the toxic mom is over the top

Xu Kai is great, and the chemistry between him and Yang Zi is better than I expected. She is sometimes a little too bubbly and naive for me, but she does well here.
The story is pretty good, but they went overboard on some of the side characters. The dad is a miserable hen-pecked man who devotes everything to his family. Yet he’s constantly degraded as worthless and useless by the mom. And he just happily goes along with it all. The mom is absolutely horrible. She claims she’s doing things for the good of her daughter, but she’s cruel, manipulative, and will happily sell her daughter off for money. She is a terrible person and no one in the show seems willing to address it. When she’s finally called on some of her behavior, she plays the victim. It’s almost enough to turn the snow off. It’s just hard to watch when they make these characters so extreme.
The female best friend is awesome. She’s intelligent, witty and sweet. The male sidekick is super funny and entertaining.
The brother is sweet, dedicated and hard working. One thing that has disappointed me is that Gala Zhang’s character is very somber. He plays it well, don’t get me wrong. But I love the way he always laughs in Love Like White Jade- it’s absolutely infectious and keeps me smiling. I’ve been hoping to see/ hear that more, but the character isn’t there yet. Hopefully it will come later. (Not all of the episodes are out yet.)
The story itself is nothing new, but it’s an easy watch and moves at a decent pace. I do hope the mom develops as a person, but I don’t see a lot of hope for it. I’ll keep watching, as the main couple and side couple are just adorable.

Edit to add: I had to go ack and lower my rating. The mom does get a bit better for a while. She starts to understand others and makes an effort. But she’s still a raging psycho who sees herself as a martyr while creating huge amounts trouble for those around her. The last few episodes were about her and I was ready to turn it off. She’s run unchecked with a bad temper and a lack of thoughtfulness yet the family continues to tolerate this and treat her as if she’s a victim. A lot of problems could have been avoided if the husband had acted like a man at any point in their marriage and stood up to her. But no, they just all continue to tread on egg shells and try to appease her. The show would be much better without that extreme awfulness.

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Feel good fluff with good music

It’s a very sweet, innocent story line. There are no bad guys, no devastating life events. It shows a lot of the cute awkwardness that comes with a first crush. (Though he was almost 30 and should have been past that by then.) There’s barely even any drinking. It follows the relationships with the backdrop of a LOT of good music. They are musicians and voice actors, so they worked some amazing performances into the story. I found myself getting caught up in those.
In any good romance, the side kicks are key, and these did not disappoint. Hou Wen Yuan and Huang Jing Xian were my favorites. The actors did great, and the characters were adorable. Mumu is an unsung hero. I hope to see a lot more of them both.
And, of course, they traveled in the show so there was some really cool scenery.
The down side: The story itself moved too slow. After almost 6 months of dating, she still ran away when he tried to kiss her. And she never really grew up. It was even more evident in the last episode that she was mentally just a child. While he was cooking for her, planning trips, rescuing her when she was afraid… she just sort of stared at him and smiled stupidly. She didn’t bring much to the table and it seemed a very unbalanced relationship. She was talented, but not much for dating material. That got to be annoying.
Overall, it was cute and mostly entertaining. The last episodes got a bit long and weird but not awful. If you’re up for something light and happy, this is a solid choice.

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A toxic train wreck, yet still somehow cute

The story is just awful… yet still cute enough that I kept watching. The first half is a horrible, toxic relationship mess with everyone lying about who they really are. (That part does get better.) Instead of trying it win her over, he focuses a lot of energy on manipulating and trying to intimidate anyone else who likes her. There’s a lot of high school type behavior.
This show is a light watch, with a fair amount of cringe. But it is also kind of adorable. The plot isn’t complicated, so it doesn’t take a lot of energy to follow it. There are no real “bad guys” and no surprises in the story. It’s a good choice if you just want to relax and unwind without getting too invested in a story.
I did enjoy the in-game scenes and wish they had continued more of that through the show. The side characters were cute, though also not very well developed. Of course, Hong Yao is always delicious and I’d like to have seen more of him.
One thing that did annoy me a bit was that the male lead was attracted to the female lead because she was fierce. But as soon as they got together she turned very docile. It was an entire personality shift.
All in all.. I don’t regret watching it, it probably won’t watch it again.

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Creepy, stalker, bordering on assault relationship- a toxic train wreck

I really liked the cast, so it was hard to watch them portray such a horrible relationship.
She confesses her love him, he turns her down over a misunderstanding. She leaves and then he decides to pursue her. It SHOULD be a sweet story, but it’s awful. Both characters (at different times) force a one-sided, unwelcome, almost violent kiss on the other. He chases her down at work, interferes with her job, is jealous of EVERYONE, repeatedly grabs her by the arm and drags her around, etc. He seems much more interested in possessing her than in “wooing” her. It’s difficult to watch. I’d have stopped watching if not for the side story. Yang and Zhang present a much more enjoyable story, and they really are so sweet together.
The story between DingDing and Huo starts off intriguing, but is left a little too vague. The story seemed to skip over some key points that would have tied it together.
Then the last couple of episodes were very rushed and lacked any story at all. They seemed more of an afterthought because the obligatory “happily ever after” scenes hadn’t happened yet.
Don’t waste your time.

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This show has everything, love it!

I will admit that the first episode was so corny and cheesy that I almost turned it off. But by the second episode I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. A half dozen episodes in, they broke my heart (for the first time of many). I was completely hooked by then.
Both of the two main couples were fantastic. Male and female leads had sparks together, and were both great characters on their own. Secondary couple was adorable and just fun to watch. (I will say the fake facial hair was disturbing, though.) Support characters were great and even the bad guys had their own stories that evoked a multitude of emotions. On a side note- there was so much eye candy that I might have developed a cavity.
The show cycled through corny and funny, dramatic, sweet, heartbreaking, suspenseful and much more. It was an absolute rollercoaster ride. You just have to get through that first episode, ha. I did particularly enjoy the female lead not being cold and prudish, as is often the case in these shows. They had some flashback scenes that were useful, but not overdone, which actually brought up things I had forgotten instead of being used to burn up the clock. I also liked that didn’t make us wait forever for the leads to FINALLY admit they like each other- I prefer watching the couple takes on life’s challenges together instead of being each other’s challenge. Both dance scenes were awesome.
All in all, I enjoyed this very much. It was well rounded, fun and very entertaining.

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Rollercoaster of fantastic and terrible.

Where do I even start with this? The male leads were awesome- very distinct personalities and complex issues. Si alternated between annoying and adorable. Ximen and Meizou were awesome through the entire show. (Caesar Wu never disappoints.) I never did fully figure out Lei, but he was like a puppy I wanted to take home. Female lead was lackluster. Best friend female was pathetic and I didn’t enjoy the way she worked to turn herself into someone else. It annoyed me that this sad tactic worked. The other sidekicks were all entertaining and fun.
The plot was a rollercoaster ride of intriguing and ridiculous- so much so that I had to take some breaks from watching it. It just got too ridiculous sometimes. I would have liked to see Ximen resolve his issues without the use of a pathetic doormat. He deserved better. They probably could have eliminated 10 episodes worth of sad people staring at each other. I fast forwarded through a good chunk of it. And then we arrived at the last few episodes. I’ve never seen anything so crack addled. Longest and most painful dream sequence ever… and I’m still not sure if or when it ended. It hurt to watch, though.
I might rewatch a few select episodes, or just the first half. The flying face kick was a riot. The continuous head slaps kept me giggling. A lot of it was cute. But it just kept jumping way out into left field.

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Fell short of what it could have been

I expected more. I loved most of the cast and the characters. I laughed and I cried with them. (The goodbye speech left me distraught for the rest of the evening.) And I respect the attempt to honor heroes. However- the story of the male and female lead didn’t make any sense. First of all- she’s the queen of bad luck. But she’s also very bland. There’s not much to like or dislike about her. She’s just sort of there. Male lead was fun and charming… would have liked to see some romance but it was all very cold. I still have no idea why they separated in the middle. Apparently the writers didn’t think this was an important part of the story.
The side stories were also largely skipped over. The supporting actors were great and it would have been good to see more of them, instead of just a recap here and there. And the ending left me rather confused- not just about the storyline but about what the directors were even thinking. It was weird.
So- mostly great cheaters that I would like to have seen more of. Relationship issues that left me more confused than anything. Plenty of eye candy. Should have done a few more episodes and told some complete stories.

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Loved everything about this!

I just finished this and it’s going to take a couple of days to recover. This was SOOOOO GOOD!!!
It ranged from suspenseful to cheesy to funny to heartbreaking. Every character in the show was great. The bromance between the male leads was hilarious and I laughed so hard I cried. They played off of each other beautifully.
The Reaper’s romance was adorable and heartbreaking. It seemed hopeless and yet I couldn’t stop cheering them on.
Deok Hwa was cute and entertaining. The sidekick ghosts were a riot. And the evil ghost was creepy as hell. They all did a fantastic job.
The main romance was thrilling to watch as they worked to overcome endless challenges. I know a lot of people have issues with the age gap, but let’s be real. Dude is 930 years old. No mortal woman is going to be close to that, ha. But they did handle it well, I think. There was a New Years kiss and a goodbye kiss when she was 20 (NOT a child). Without getting into spoilers, this show spans a LOT of time and there was no real physical interaction until she grew up more. He knew he was supposed to die, so he tried to avoid getting attached. It’s not like he was creeping on a high school kid.
There were a lot of extra things that tugged at the heart, like the old war couple being reunited in the reaper’s office. All those little side bits added a lot of depth to the show. Also, the music was incredible.
This is definitely in my favorites and I’ll be watching it again at some point- but not for a while because.. wow. It was a lot and I’m kind of exhausted now.

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Disappointed

I really like some of the main actors, so I was expecting better. It started off well for the first few episodes. Most of the characters (in the main three couples) were good, though fairly shallow and predictable. Then it just got weird. The relationships were all over the place, the plot line hopped around like a rabbit on cocaine. It was very hard to follow, with holes everywhere. By the last few episodes the bad guys were so overdone it was painful to watch. I don’t really expect a lot of realism from my dramas- I can suspend some logic for a good story. But this was ridiculous. Cliche, predictable and boring. Grandpa was a jerk to everyone, but all of a sudden they all loved him at the end. He got sick and people who hated him were crying. Why? There was never any relationship fixing. It was like a switch just flipped with no explanation. And don’t even get me started on the boxing scenes. And the boxing shorts! That whole part was awful… and they did it more than once.
I would have quit watching earlier if not for the 3 main guys- they did well with the scripts they were given. But it wasn’t even remotely interesting by the last few episodes. I’ll look for them in other shows.

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Sweet and entertaining.

It was a light story, but the plot was deep enough to keep it entertaining. The side characters were well done, and I felt for them during their own struggles. Yes, a few scenes are quite heartbreaking. She could have wound up with any of the princes and it still would have been a cute story- each of them had their own charms. I like the nicknames she had for them.
There was a little too much “Well, you tried to kill me and I won’t tolerate that again but, of course, I forgive you this time”. I’m always annoyed by that.
Overall, it’s a fun story that would be good for a rewatch on a rainy day.

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Fun and sweet

I loved this! It’s mostly just fun, but the story line is engaging. Male lead is delicious on every level. The love rival is fun and lovable. Female lead is intelligent and entertaining. The comic bad guys are awesome, while the real bad guys were really evil. The show was very enjoyable. It was more about the characters getting to know each other and the guys competing for her love rather than misunderstandings and break ups, which was refreshing. I wasn’t sure which of them I really wanted to win. It had a good mix of lighthearted fun and drama. The ending did have me on the edge of my seat.
The only downside is that it was only 16 episodes. I’d like to see more. I’ll definitely rewatch this one at some point.

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Amazing show- until the last few episodes

This was a great story- great characters, great actors. It was beautiful. no real bad guys or villains, just two young people trying to figure things out. Then the last few episodes got really weird. The story took a hard turn, the plot totally changed and none of it made sense. I was completely confused as to how the story could even unfold that way- unrealistic and poorly done.
So do yourself a favor. When they get on the plane to go back to Africa, just turn it off. Tell yourself that they lived happily ever after and save yourself the headache. That’s what I’m gonna do when I rewatch it.

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Rich, spoiled princess saved by powerful boyfriend

It’s a horrible story about horrible people.
One female lead is a cruel, manipulative, spoiled princess. The other is a doormat who continually takes abuse from the princess and never stands up for herself. At first, it’s fun to watch the princess suffer a little after the way she manipulates the other, causing her to lose her job in the process. You think she might start learning some lessons, but she doesn’t. And it’s hard to keep cheering on the other because she continues to go back and let the princess manipulate her without any consequences. I started to believe they both deserve to fail.
The only two likable characters are Yang Jian and Hong Die. The rest are overtly stereotyped and without depth. They hint at some secondary story lines, but by episode 23 they are still only hinted at with no development.
I know some of the actors are very capable of being adorable and charismatic and fun to watch, but it’s not evident in this show. Not sure if it’s the writing or the directing. Everything is bland and monotone.
The princess schemes and doesn’t care who gets hurt. The doormat quietly takes abuse and comes back for more. The mysterious guy both girls like is just sort of there in the background. The guy who loves the doormat teams up with the princess and almost costs her a second job (though he meant well, the princess didn’t.) Doormat sits around letting everyone else decide her fate. Powerful investor guy works behind the scenes to clean up the princess’s messes. No one has shown any progress towards becoming a better human being. I’m really not sure why this show has so many good reviews.
I watched it because of actors I like, but they’ve been muted by the story.

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