Go Go Squid! (2019)

Go Go Squid is a cute gaming and romance Chinese drama about the trending E Sport Industry. The main characters of this story are a popular online cover singer, and a legendary professional gamer who is also the boss of a professional gaming club. This story is about the challenges in the E Sport Industry, and the budding romance between a cool introverted professional gamer and a cute extroverted online cover singer. The cast did a great job pulling off their characters and the soundtrack was good. I would recommend this drama regardless of whether you are a gamer or not. I'm not much of gamer myself but I still enjoyed watching it. The only thing that I wish to see is to see the main male lead compete again in the arena at the end but that didn't happen which is unfortunate.

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a pop culture romance story that is not too believable

i think this series as a whole can be described as a cutey-lovey-dovey kind of series. it is generally light-hearted, the kind of series that may be for a certain type/s of audience, but not for another type/s of audience. this series is more on romance story that is supported by the esports plot/sub-story. it is one of the very few C-drama that I've watched without fast forwarding any episode, or skipping an episode. the acting of several characters notwithstanding the main characters are enjoyable. there is no character that evokes strong disgust or annoyance, which is a pleasant welcome. if you watch it without being too analytical or critical, then the series becomes more enjoyable.

the main female character can be paralleled to the common trend of fan-idol worshipper who has a deep crush with the idol. sometimes i feel the main male character mistreats the main female character. sometimes, i also feel as if the main female character is objectified, maybe from the way the character is supposed to act/dress/behave.

one of the things that didn't make much sense for me is how realistic is it for a doctoral student who knows programming language, and who is interested in artificial intelligence to be so clingy, meek/docile, and be an obsessive idol worshipper. the female lead is even willing to bring down her own sense of self-worth or dignity for a man who sometimes mistreat her. of course in love, and in real life, there is always that possibility that such a character exists.

to a certain extent, this series reveals much more of real life than it realizes. for examples,
+ percentage of female esports players groom by esports competitive clubs;
+ percentage of professional female esports players in the industry;
+ obsessiveness and fan-idol worshipping;
+ typecast 'acceptable' female characteristics/behaviors (meek; docile; subservient; etc.)
+ the under-represented frequency and seriousness of emotional/psychological abuse on women in the society
+ etc.

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As for me in England, I prefer GGS 2 than GGS 1!

As I have watched first the Go Go Squid 2 then the Go Go Squid 1 after, I would say that I like watching GGS 2 more than GGS 1. Both have different storyline we could enjoy. However, Li Yitong and Hu Yitian are more good looking couple and adorably cute together; plus they are naturally better in acting! Hence, I personally prefer the GGS 2 than GGS 1 (sorry...:-( )

GGS 2 makes me feel warm and smile but yet not to think of it as too childish like love portrayed in GGS 1. I am also rather puzzled to read comments mentioning that popularity and beauty of Yang Zi (once golden eagle goddess?) has surpassed many including Li Yitong.

I have watched some of Li Yitong and Yang Zi dramas before the GGS. In fact, both are equally great in acting, but I truly think that Yang Zi is not that beautiful as people say. Li Yitong are more sophisticatedly sweet and lovely than Yang Zi despite her less popularity. Li Yitong’s less popularity is not like because she is less talented actress, but it is simply because she is workaholic; and mainly keeps her self low profile keeping a good distance from the show-off bizz. But many of her works are remarkably good. So yes, not big fan of Yang Zi and Li Xiang for some reasons.

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Great Romance and E-sports

I finally got around to watching this and I find this totally captivating. The storyline has enough depth, adorable side characters and of course incredible main leads. Li Xian portrayed the arrogant Han Shangyang so well with his scowls and his cantankerous personality who managed to mellow into a happier person after he confronts his past. I squeamed at Tong Nian's behaviour in the earlier episodes when she seemed to accept the dreadful behaviour from Han Shangyang but I guessed the writer wanted to showed how different they were in personalities and eventually how her generosity and warmth won him over. The e-sports component did not come through as well as it did in shows like The King's Avatar but I think it is not easy to depict the CTF competition visually. Nevertheless the tensions of the competition were well played and the pain and tribulations of the competitions came through clearly. Loved the OST! I am definitely rewatching.
Side note - I had a quick viewing of Go Go Squid: DT, Appledogs' Time and I am afraid I am biased - it cannot compare with the first drama. The token appearances by Han Shangyang and Tong Nian were also not satisfactory even with the wedding ☹️

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My dear, my betrothed, appear!

This sweet and romantic story began on a snowy night in a shelter for social phobias, idlers, and other untrustworthy personalities, namely, an Internet cafe, when a dark, scary magician inadvertently fell under the killer sight of a kawaii white silly kitten. Our magician, let´s call him a pentester, loved to conduct his experiments in a purely professional field and, in general, on everyone who caught his eye. Every once in a while, very rarely, as such is the nature of all the grand masters of the dark arts. The kitty, on the contrary, seemed so inexperienced and not burdened with any intelligence, like many teenagers her age, that the magician lost his vigilance and allowed himself the luxury of looking like a kind and not-at-all-scary wizard. In fairy tales, as everyone knows, all black magicians are bewitched princes. Who could have known that in such a lost corner, under the guise of a cute and stupid cat, there was an insidious and annoying Face-Id programmer (and not only!) with a progressive mania of sticking up for an object of interest?
Similar to their professions, their mating game is also a complex and multi-stage process: detection, authentication, script testing, system monitoring... and, finally, optimization itself:)
Who is the hunter, and who is the prey? Who won, who lost?!
You decide.

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I had to re-watch again.

I really love YangZi with her perky and dimpled self. I have nothing but good things to say about her. Her acting is always on point. Although I viewed this last year, I am now reviewing this drama. I also love Li Xian, I was impressed with him when he played the main lead in Sword Dynasty. His acting is always on point. I have no complaints. I love Game Dramas so this is no exception. I wished they showed them playing the game. That would be my only complaint. I love the design costumes of the game uniforms. The storyline of the romance between the two main leads is awesomely done. The kisses kind of looked fake but that's ok I enjoyed the rest of the drama.

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This is a good sports/competition drama that focuses on the lives and struggles of a former E-sport team that disbanded after getting the championship and how, 10 years later, they find themselves with the opportunity to fulfill their broken dreams through a nice story progression that leads to a satisfying result at the end of the journey. Although the main focus of the drama is the story of the main characters from the disbanded team, the leading male, Han Shangyan, finds himself falling in love with Tong Nian, a gentle and sweet girl that manages to help him break down his emotional protective barriers creating a nice and cute romance. There are some parts of this drama that are wonderful and some others that are frustrating at the same time. The writer(s) didn’t give justice to Tong Nian’s apparent high IQ making the character as someone lacking emotional intelligence toward her own self. Although the drama is full of great characters and solid side stories, they were not brought up to its true and full potential. This drama is not perfect but it is entertaining, enjoy it!

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More propaganda than romance

it reminds me of the old 80s kids show with a lesson everyday,
It starts pretty small (buying scalped tickets is bad) then it progresses until by ep 10 I felt like it was paid for by the Chinese government.
and so far it’s mostly about the competition not about the romance/OTP.
I watch dramas because I want to see the couple.
And English lines like “beautiful downtown Norway” didn’t help
All that being said.
If you like stories with a heavy emphasis on friendship, you’ll probably like this.
Of if you like stuff about computers/ gaming/cyber security.
The actors are good

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