Half good, half awful

I have mixed feelings about this show. One of the couples is super cute; the other one is super disturbing.

Even if I could somehow get over the (step) sibling stuff, there's still stalking, violence, and sexual assault... I couldn't really root for them. I mainly just skipped their parts. It was really angsty and downright disturbing at times.

The other couple has a somewhat ridiculous but still very enjoyable story arc, with all the cutesy rom-com tropes you can imagine: fake-dating, accidental aphrodisiac, pining, all the good stuff. Not to mention that the boys are super handsome.

So I'd say they worth a watch.

The other couple is a skip for me.

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Very enjoyable if you have a high tolerance for bullshit

Handsome siblings tells the story of twin brothers separated from birth. Hua Wuchue grew up to be the young master of a famous clan, who was told by his aunts that he is destined to kill Jiang Xiaoyu. Meanwhile, Jiang Xiaoyu was brought up by a bunch of villains but still managed to become an overall good person with a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Neither of them knows they have a twin brother. When they turn 18, they venture out into the world with very different goals: one to kill the other; the other to discover the truth behind his origin. And while the duel seems to be inevitable between the twins, they still become somewhat good friends along the journey.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON!
This is my first review here and not an overwhelmingly positive one, so please don't take it as an offense. I really enjoyed the show, but I also had a lot of problems with it.

Starting with the positive, I loved the leads. The performance of the siblings was great. Jiang Xiaoyu is charmingly smart and funny, tricks everyone he meets, and talks himself out of every crisis. Hua Wuchue is reserved but kind. I loved to see his character development.

However, other than those two, almost every aspect of the story has "flaws." (In parenthesis, because it depends on what you're looking for in a good drama).

First of all, the story is really silly, which itself is not a problem. But because of the silliness, it also fails to deliver genuine emotions at times. The design of the 12 zodiac signs or the 10 villains makes it hard to take them seriously. It's just so... children's movie-like. But it is not a children's movie. It's a wuxia with the mandatory massacres included.

There are 3 "final bosses" (the aunts, the rat, and Jiang Qin), but the only really scary and interesting villain is Jiang Qin. The others' motivations are petty at best and crazy at worst. I don't have a problem with crazy, but I have a problem with illogical. So the aunts' are angry that the boys' father was not in love with them. They take revenge by murdering the man and his wife. Then they steal one of the children, bring him up, teach him and pamper him, just to order him 18 years later to murder his own brother. Is it just me, or is this awfully stupid? They are also very static characters. (There are a lot of static characters in this story. I was hoping for them to change, but they remained the same all the way to the end.)

I also have a problem with the girls. Like, all of them, really. I rarely like female characters anyways, and this story has a lot of girls; almost all of them madly in love with one sibling or the other (or both). Tie-whatshername starts out as an interesting character but somehow becomes a constant damsel in distress. Also, there's a love triangle between her and the boys with a lot of angst on her part. The other girl, the rat's step-daughter, is just not a likable person. She is intelligent, but she doesn't have the moral character of Jiang Xiaoyu. She misleads people out of petty jealously, attempts to murder Wuchue by tricking him, even though she knows that Xiaoyu'er wouldn't want that... and so on. I probably could have warmed up to her if I had the time to do so, but she rarely had any screentime, and there really wasn't any space for the chemistry to develop between her and Xiaoyu. Also... I saw little to no development in her character either. The murder attempt happened in the last episode. So yeah, I couldn't get to like her.

In conclusion, this show is not bad. It has a silly plot, a lot of funny interactions, mediocre music, decent filmography, okay fight choreographies, and two very likable leads. It also has a lot of flaws. But it certainly is a fun ride if you want to watch something lighthearted and sweet with a happy ending.

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