This review may contain spoilers
This has been one of my favorite dramas I've watched so far this year (and I have been watching a surprising number of duds lately, so it was nice to actually watch something good), so I can't really offer any complaints. I'll go ahead and get through the quick and easy bits of my review first.First and foremost, I think this drama's pacing and structure was very well-done. All of the different plotlines are compelling and heartfelt and moving, particularly the backstory with You Nian's mother and Kia Tuo struggle with accepting his new family. The romance is a slow-burn, and I don't typically go for those, but this is definitely slow-burn done right. There's a lot of focus on friendship between the leads as well as between all of the secondary and side characters, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And the secondary characters are all great, and I like all of the couples that end up together at the end. I would have loved to see Miao Miao's best friend, A Xia, have a romance (she is the funnest character and the only one of the main recurring secondary characters who Doesn't get a romance), but she does appear to be paired up with someone at the end (and he's a real cutie, to boot), so I guess that's somewhat nice. I think all of the elements of this drama come together in a very complimentary and easy to watch way.
But guys, I Adore Miao Miao. From start to finish, Miao Miao feels like the same person, the same personality and quirks and struggles, but who is consistently growing and maturing in confidence. She's a shy and awkward high school student, like many of us are or once were, with this adorable crush on an older classmate (who is very worthy of said crush). Then she's a University student, slowly working to shed that awkwardness and break out of her shell and come into her own. And then she's a young woman taking charge of her life and her future. You really have to respect her as you watch her work diligently towards her goals. For awhile, that's just being near You Nian, but over time, that goal begins to shift. She finds a purpose for herself, something to work toward that isn't just prolonging her crush but rather something that gives her deeper satisfaction. I mean, she does an entire years' worth of course-work within 6 months on top of her regular coursework in order to successfully switch her major. That's an impressive achievement that shows not only is she driven and determined, but she also has the patience and perseverance to pull something like that off. In a world where being a strong female lead now means being aggressive in a power suit or a superhero costume and pretending like you don't have emotions or ever need help from anyone and you may even be a pretty nasty person to the people around you, I honestly think I prefer Miao Miao. (This is not shade towards female superhero's or female lawyers or even women who are complicatedly mean, but I think the sooner we recognize that strength in a woman is something a lot deeper than the stereotypes we've created around it, the better.)
Some people are going to have problems with Miao Miao's makeover in this drama (because everybody hates makeovers now, apparently), but I'm in the minority on that one as I enjoy a good makeover. And the makeover here is one of the best. It's not a quick, one and done, kind of thing, but a gradual change from beginning of the drama to the end. I guess you really shouldn't even call it a makeover but a transformation. Her friends ultimately doomed attempt at fixing her hair, wearing sunscreen more often that has unintended benefits, refusing to get braces every time her mom tries to convince her only to turn around and do it after a comment by a classmate, going through an entire trial-and-error ordeal with contacts and glasses before eventually getting laser eye surgery. I was very impressed with how they handled her physical transformation as something gradual over time, and never treating it as something she Had to do to be pretty, but also not acting like personal appearance isn't important to young girls, and none of us ever do things to try and be prettier. For better or worse, these are things most of us go through, and as long as there are humans, there will be the desire to mold ourselves and change ourselves in an effort to fit in and be liked. I would much rather have a story like this then stories that pretend young girls have to just be confident no matter what. Talk about Not realistic.
(I think it's also worth noting here how accepting western culture is of plastic surgery and other procedures that permanently alter our bodies for the express purpose of achieving a specific look, often to fit in or deal with some sort of insecurity, yet we're deeply resistant to makeovers. I find this to be a strange disconnect. The same underlying issues that make us desire a magical makeover transformation are what make us desire to change our bodies in more permanent ways as well. Just some food for thought.)
A nice thing about this story is that there's never any real meanness or bullying directed at Miao Miao by the majority of characters. She has actual friends who are encouraging and loving and want the best for her. The two main guys both like her when she's 'awkward/gawky/unattractive,' and not for inexplicable reasons, but because they genuinely like her. Her parents don't talk her down or lament that she's not like their friends' kids. If anything, her younger sister is meaner to her than anyone else, and that just comes with the territory of siblings, lol. I don't think they necessarily had to go this route. They certainly could have created some bullies for Miao Miao to face, but I think the route they took ultimately aided in the messaging of the story. There's an overall focus with A Little Thing Called First Love on perception and how it can affect us. How we perceive ourselves, how we perceive others, how others perceive us. It's not necessarily explicitly discussed, but I think you can feel it as you watch.
This message is especially strong towards the end when Miao Miao and You Nian break up, and it's where I think the crux of the drama's message is. The circumstances of Miao Miao and You Nian's breakup are a bit silly, on their face, but there's something going on in the subtext that's important and that a lot of people have probably missed. Miao Miao has gone through this beautiful transformation throughout the story, not just physically but psychologically as well, and she's now at what would typically be considered the final stage in the transformation. She's now conventionally pretty by her culture's standards, dating a good looking and very talented young man, and she's on her way to pursuing a serious fashion career. She's also gained a lot of real confidence over the course of the story. At the beginning of the drama, she never would have approached You Nian herself, but now she's doing it all the time. By outward standards, she has emerged from the chrysalis and is a beautiful butterlfy. But the insecurity that always made her so unhappy with her appearance and too afraid of openly pursuing a friendship with You Nian is still there. It hasn't gone away just because she now has pale skin and straight teeth and pretty hair. It's why she followed You Nian around for so long but could never openly try and be his friend, it's why she avoided telling others about her and You Nian's relationship after they started dating, and it's the real reason she breaks up with him. She's never felt good enough to be around him, and she has doubts about their relationship. Maybe he doesn't really like her after all, and one day, he'll realize his mistake and break up with her. So she beats him to it, cuts him off at the pass, probably thinking she's saving herself from future disappointment. But it's really just that big, mean monster called insecurity holding the puppet strings. In that way, I think breaking up was good for her. Through breaking up, Miao Miao had to learn how to be alone, not constantly pining for someone but being okay with just being with herself. She'd never had to do that before, because she always had You Nian to pine after. I really don't advocate for final hour breakups/separations in dramas. I never see them work. But I fully understand and appreciate it here.
This part of the review is a side note, but everyone always wants to know about second lead feels, so I'll share my experience. I don't typically experience second lead feels. I go into every drama with the desire to support the story's OTP. Sometimes that means dropping a drama if I can't get behind the main couple. Other times, it means taking any possible feelings I might have for the second male lead and placing them in a locked box and throwing it into the ocean. Usually, it means wanting to throw any second leads trying to interfere in the main couple's relationship into said ocean, because meddling with true love should be a crime.
In what is part of a select group of extremely rare cases for me, I had some strong second lead feels in this drama for a portion of its run. Not in a 'I wish the second lead were the lead' kind of way, but definitely in a 'I am having a hard time choosing between these two characters' and also somewhat 'Can we have this version with this OTP and then the writers go back in time and make another version with the other OTP?' My second lead feels don't last the entire drama, and the writers ended up doing a pretty good job of killing those feels for me later on in the story, but it was a little touch and go there for awhile, lol. For me, both You Nian and Kai Tuo are really great romantic options for Miao Miao, each in their own way. You Nian is a thoughtful, gentle, conscientious, and considerate young man whereas Kai Tuo is more impetuous and brash but with a lot of underlying vulnerability and that perfect ability to tease his crush without it going way too far over the line into mean (they could just be my opinion though). He also outwardly shows (and develops) feelings for Miao Miao a lot sooner, while You Nian takes his sweet time recognizing his feelings and doing something about them, so you really you can't blame a girl for being swayed by that, can you? Either way though, University me definitely would have been swooning over both of them, lol.
In conclusion, I would say this drama did great justice to its source material while making the story its own. I love the original movie to pieces, and I can definitely see the inspiration peeking through, but I never felt like I was watching a reduction of something else or like I was watching a beloved story be butchered. This was a strongly written and portrayed remake that I will most definitely be re-watching in the future.
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There's a lot to love about this
I'm gonna have to review this drama in two parts: before the noble idiocy and after.Before:
It's been a long time since I came across a drama that balanced romance and friendship so well, with so many fleshed out side-characters.
I loved seeing the progression of Miao Miao throughout the years — her glo-up was honestly so natural, both physically and mentally. He Xin was probably my favorite character; I've always hated female-chases-male-first because the girls are always portrayed as lacking independent thought and being so clingy, but He Xin wasn't like that at all and even when it came to matters of the heart, she kept her head and put herself first.
It felt like almost everyone had their own stories, and evil schemes / misunderstandings were never blown out of proportion — the characters believed each other, trusted each other, and even when love triangles happened the characters handled it very maturely, which was super refreshing to see. The same goes for the families — there were the typical parent-child/sibling-sibling fights of course, but it was still easy to see how everyone got along at the end.
The romance was definitely a slow-burn (my favorite) and there were so many jealous scenes (also my favorite, and Kuanlin's eyes are so EXPRESSIVE).
I also LOVED the fashion teacher!
I also wanna say that this drama was a lot funnier than I expected, and I laughed so hard my abs hurt. I gotta say though, that I also hella cried. A LOT.
After:
Look, I didn't hate the post-noble idiocy as much as I have in other dramas and I felt like they explained the reasoning behind it well, but ultimately noble idiocy is still one of my least favorite tropes and I felt like it was rushed.
There are some plot holes that were sort of left out — like how Miao Miao never asked Xiao Yue about the Doraemon flowers, but overall my rating for this is still quite high, and it's honestly because I loved the 'before' part THAT much.
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Pure love, I just fell in love again.
I really loved this drama, I know it might not be for everyone but I had butterflies all over again while watching it.I even had my daughter watched it with me as I know it is wholesome drama ( No kiss but who needs it when the delivery of the scenes is so good).
Kuanlin is so cute and his dimple oh my. I wish I had the same experience when I had my first boyfriend.
Anyway, with this drama, I became a big fan of both leads. I am watching other shows of JinMai as I think she is a smart and simple lady.
I wish there would be part 2 as their chemistry is superb.
Lai Guanlin I wish you good luck. hope you can surpass the trials you are in now.
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Perfectly Innocent
This truly shows the innocence of your first love and is incredibly relatable. It's very cute and there are so many moments that you could just replay over and over. This drama really captures the essence of youth like never seen before. It's incredibly light-hearted and funny.The secondary couples are just as interesting as the first and it's really great to see everyone grow together. One thing I really liked was the slow transition for the female lead when becoming "pretty" (or to the standard of pretty). There are so many moments when you can feel for the characters and it's easy to get addicted to this show.
It's definitely worth the watch.
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romantic
at first, i was a little reluctant to watch this drama, however after watching it i’m really glad i did.pros: 1. this drama had a good storyline and good character development, especially miaomiao. she changed from being a timid girl to a confident girl. 2. the acting was quite good, especially since it’s lai guan lin’s first time acting.
3. the whole drama was full of sweet and romantic scenes, and they also injected a good amount of humour into it.
cons: 1. the story is a little unrealistic in how the most popular boy can fall in love with someone like miaomiao. i mean there could be because of something else but that’s just my opinion.
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This review may contain spoilers
Actually I like the storyline cause it somehow relatable eventhough its a bit slow. The actors and actresses are also good at playing their roles. But the ending for me is not statisfying. The girl forgave him make me think that he would do the same things he done before if he given choice again. No, i think it's even worse cause i dont think he felt what he did was wrong. The truth is he was wrong. Those choices is hers to make. She decided to go because of him at first, so she had the right to know about it. Leaving her alone also without contact her for a long time, make me think that he didn't love her that much or he's so overconfident that she would not love guy other than him. Then after a long time, he came back, urge the girl to forgive him and even lying to the girl so that she would come to him. What i see is a selfish man that think he did the right things.Luckily, the story between the male lead's bestfriend is good. The way he pursuit love quite unique and adorable. I would love to watch their drama if there are out there.
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This review may contain spoilers
I know lots of people say the storyline is so cliche and usual and whatnot but for me this is one of the best drama I've ever seen. For one thing I liked the Thai version and they made a series out of the movie how cool is that?! I know there are scenes that makes you cringed or sad or hurt or something but I tell you watching this drama is worth it!!
Also, i like it when they didn't even had a proper kissing scene (as what you call it) they even had a little chance to hug each other (i think they only hug twice in the whole series) but intimate scene like that don't needed because you're gonna feel giddy and cannot help but smile and feel soft everytime they talk or smile at each other that is how big the chemistry between the main characters is. And yeah, I also love the side characters like He Xin and Kai Tuo, Da Chao and Xiao Yue
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it makes me think of pure love in university days
I love the drama its awesome for this a university love story.the characters are good and so as the actor.
they may not be the best new actor but i think the character suit them well.
this kind of drama is actually fitted for newly launch actor.
the transformation of female lead is quite.
he he he he he...even during his curly hair ugly look...she can't actually hide her pretty face...
she's really pretty...
the best thing in this drama are the ost....
the location by the way was awesome....but does it really exist in university do they have that super nice classroom...this made me envy by the way.
well done for the whole cast..
if you like to feel the sweet honest love story university type i would recommend you to watch...
but i wish they shorten the drama they can actually fit it to less than 30 episodes..
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This review may contain spoilers
Sometimes...the remake....is worse
Woof. This was rough. Like I almost dropped it rough. This wasn’t a bad drama per se, I’ve seen far worse, but rough is the aptest word I have for it. I’ve seen quite a few reviews give it very positive feedback and while I think some of it is warranted, I think it overlooks some of the glaring issues this show has that may make someone want to not watch the show.Okay, so I need to address something first because most of the issues in the show stem from this, it’s kinda like the original sin. This drama is based on the sleeper hit Thai film CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE, and it explains so much of the weird stuff that happens in the second half of the show. Like after I finished the drama and had taken a few days to really take it in, I watched the original movie, and everything that had confused me suddenly made sense.
Story: The story...bad. I love the first half, the part set in high school, it was the best part of this story and character-wise. It was fun and cute, a perfectly fine teen drama, a good adaption of the original text. But when it gets to the college stuff, it gets real weird. Some of the story plots make zero sense cause they are in college, they don’t fit into the setting nor do they do anything for character or relationship growth. Characters and character arcs get destroyed. Product placement galore (this one is bad morally, considering who their target audience is, what they are saying through framing and story, and what exactly they are selling - but as an adult who can do critical thinking I found it funny, do a drinking game to it, take a shot every time Angel Zhao is forced to be like “wow these products are making me prettier and now hot boys like me” while she’s slowly allowed to take off what they used to “uglify” her). Bad writing period. Angel Zhao had the weirdest makeover/character story ever. It was all so goddamn weird to me that a story could fail so spectacularly after a very solid start, especially in terms of messaging. And then I watched the original movie. And then it all made sense. All of it, why Angel Zhao had face paint, fake teeth, and a bad wig the whole time (I don’t even want to touch on the colorism). Why they had Zhao twirl a baton for an overly extended period of time even though, I repeat, she’s in college and a fashion major. This explained why the fashion department was in charge of the school play, I mean theatre production. Why Zhao had to fall into a pool when her feelings get hurt, presumably multiple times cause tv. Why her character has a Cinderella transformation and most of the typical beats of a Cinderella story but falls flat in practically all aspects especially the messaging. It’s all cause it was originally in CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE. If you want to know the major sins of adaption sickness that this suffered, I’ll put it at the end since it really is spoiler heavy. Anyways, the story was bad. Moving on.
Acting/Casting: I actually really liked this cast, they just got a subpar script, especially the secondary female lead. Like her character changed completely during the second half of the show and it was an insult to her acting abilities. I think all of the cast can act, maybe not all of them have a range but none of them were miscast. But this show was not what it wanted to be. And poor Angel Zhao had to show up early to set nearly every day to put her ugly suit on and do what she had to do. Pour one out for her.
Music: It was okay, it’s fine. The thing that really got to me was some of the sound editing choices, Most of them were fine, but some of them really were baffling. If this drama had a better, more cohesive story, the sound design/editing would have been the weakest part.
Rewatch Value: I wouldn’t. It’s not particularly spectacular or life changing, it’s not even the best of its genre. It is at times cute and entertaining but that’s about it. If you watch it once honestly that’s enough. I would recommend watching the original movie instead.
1. The first issue with this show is that it tries, to its detriment, to be like the movie. Now, this wouldn’t be bad per se, but the way in which they employ this it’s quite obvious that it was a part of adaptation sickness where they weren’t able to pinpoint what made the original good so they took the most memorable scenes of the show without consideration of the new thing they have created and also they were trying to pad this out. Like honestly this show would have been better as a 16 to 24 episode show. Also, this show does not consider the setting of the original movie in contrast to what it becomes. The original movie is set in middle school. I think it’s quite obvious why this would make for a rocky transition. That said, this leads to the high school half being the strongest part in terms of story and character. High school isn’t that far off from middle school so moving the setting to there doesn’t make me pause and ask "what was that" and "why is this happening". But when placed in a college, it just comes off weird. Like, the reason why she is in the play even though she’s a fashion major is that her movie counterpart was coerced into the school play cause she’s a middle schooler in the drama club. Angel Zhao falls into a pool since it happens in the original when she gets rejected cause angst. This is why her character has a Cinderella transformation, it happened in the original movie because its main target was preteen/teenage girls who know what this means and may love the fantasy. This is the reason for that stupid extended baton twirling subplot and it makes me so unreasonably mad.
2. The next issue may be baffling considering what I previously wrote but these mad lads tried to do it: the show tries to separate itself from and critique the movie. And it is not done well. [play clown music] Like, the movie is flawed - it exits in a weird logic realm and perpetuates harmful messaging at a group primed to take it in uncritically and internalize it in the worst possible ways in the way only 2000s teen girl media could - but at least it’s coherent. I’m not going to go into detail cause the headache is so not worth it, but a good example is the messaging that you should not change yourself for another person. This is laughable for the next reason that this show bites, and yes this did exist in the movie but more in an “I became pretty cause I wanted to attract a guy but I ended up becoming a fashion designer because of it and maybe love allows us to change in good ways”. The point is that the show tries to pointedly go against this, which is comical considering the framing around Angel Zhao’s transformation as being a good thing and “don’t you want to stop being an uggo and be pretty like Angel Zhao? Buy these products and you too can have hot boys want to be with you.” Maybe they should have just let that one go.
3. Product placement! That’s one of the reasons the transformation takes place and they are by no means subtle about this (it wasn’t as bad as ANGEL BESIDE ME but if you’re like me you too will find it comical), they really want their audience of teenagers to buy these products, some which can potentially be dangerous. It’s crazy that they kind of spit on the source material but then go against everything they are saying. And, like, I wouldn’t have an issue with this if one of the products was not basically skin bleach so you can stop “being ugly” cause you have melanin. Which is an insanely dangerous thing to promote to teenagers, a group that is already insecure about their looks and doesn’t think about the long-lasting effects something like that could have on them.
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This review may contain spoilers
" 9.30 in de evening. De time I realized I am in love wid Xiao Miao Miao.”
Basically watched dis drama 4 Lai Gualin as this was de startup vehicle 4 de 17-yr-old in de drama world. De main character develops a full-blown crush on a popular boy in school, but because she has such a shy personality & an appearance that’s—let’s just say she’s not to her fullest potential, de romance stays 1-sided until the boy wakes up and realizes she’s perfect.If I had a high school senior like our ML, Liang-You-Nian (I’m pretty sure half my school would b just like Miao-Miao falling head over heels 4 him. He’s the whole package. Good-looking, smart, athletic, mature, & most importantly, he’s so nice! Sure, he can be a little awkward @ times& isn't super aware of his feelings (we all know he’s in deep wid Miao Miao long before he realizes). But he’s a kid, he will learn! FL's overnight 360-degree transformation was soo cool , Miao Miao slowly changes over a period of time which makes it feel organic and real. It’s also nice to see that her outward physical transformation reflects her internal transformation
@ first glance, it might seem like a run of the mill first love youth romance. However, de drama is so endearing and sincere that you cannot help but keep watching.
DRAWBACK--The romance between Miao-miao and You-nian was slow. And I do mean slow. I kept getting frustrated at the loads of missed opportunities to advance their romantic relationship and get things more physical.
THING I LOVED_ I will say that their break-up scene at the pool was one of the better break-ups I’ve seen. There’s nothing like a male lead refusing to clear the air and communicate that gets things to bubble up. Miao-miao’s impassioned speech about her feeling insecure about his feelings for her and her just waiting for the other shoe to drop during the entire relationship was stirring. It made total sense, too.
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This review may contain spoilers
I started watching this just as a way to practice my Mandarin listening skills, but I ended up really getting into it. I'm usually not a huge fan of Chinese dramas, but I thought this one managed to avoid a lot of the things I usually don't like. For example, even though Miao Miao definitely idolized You Nian while she was in high school, she learned to be more comfortable with him and focused on herself. The only thing I had an issue with was Miao Miao's physical transformation, but I think it could have been worse, so I'll let it slide. If You Nian had only started to like her when she became more attractive, I would definitely take more issue with it. Was this review helpful to you?
