A Romance of the "FOUR" Little Forest
A Romance of The Little Forest (两个人的小森林), is another sweet basic romantic-comedy drama narrating around a bubbly girl with her cold eventually turned warm lover. But what makes this drama stand out is the chemistry and adorableness between the two leads and.... when the main couple is actually not the main couple.The drama narrative revolves around an internet beauty influencer chasing a botanic professor and eventually, both of them fell in love. The drama has any other cliche troupes you can find in other rom-com dramas, but the female lead's bubbly personality, adorable antics, and sweet funny and witty dialogues will make you want and unknowingly enjoy the drama!
Yu Meiren, the internet beauty influencer as well as a professor in ornithology (study of birds) is played by Yu Shuxin. This character is made especially for her, she is able to embody the character, and nobody can pull it off so accurately than her. All the adorable antics, carefree attitude, bubbly expressions and more. Though her character may come off as a 傻白甜 (those sweet, innocent, gullible female leads), but she is not. She is sweet and cute, but she has the brains and courage - she is willing to take risks for what she believes in and what she loves; she is not afraid to express herself. Especially during the end of the drama, where she finally comes to terms with her appearance and make-up.
Zhuang Yu, the botanic professor, is played by Zhang Binbin, and he did a great job, he manages to infuse himself into the character! Zhuang Yu is a cold and serious professor, but rather than making him a totally cold person, he uses subtle micro-expressions in the earlier episodes when Yu Meiren is around him or doing something funny. The subtle expressions definitely help the audience to understand and see the process of him falling for her.
What I loved about the drama is the chemistry of both leads and their character development after meeting each other. Zhuang Yu always reassures Yu Meiren - reassuring her that she is pretty the way she is, reassuring her well-being and more. And after meeting Yu Meiren, Zhuang Yu also became more lively! He can speak romantic words, that maybe cheesy but it is also romantic at the same time.
What I find lacking (irritating) from the drama and I believe most people find it too is... the second couple has more screen time (and probably a kiss scene) than the first couple. The second couple's narrative is also very classic, a village girl falling in love with a CEO and so on. The drama dragged the second couple's storyline so long and draggy causing the main couple's scenes to be cut by a lot. In addition, a lot of the main couple's kiss scene and sweet scenes in the drama is also cut short, the scene kiss scenes are even longer and more ? than the one that made it into the actual cut. However, if you are craving more for their chemistry, you can watch the behind-the-scenes! Their behind-the-scenes are full of fun, sweetness and comedy!
A Romance of The Little Forest is truly an enjoyable drama, maybe not the best romantic comedy drama but it sure has its charm! Overall, if you are looking for a sweet romantic-comedy drama that will make you squeal do watch this!
P.s. this drama also has really good and enjoyable OSTs
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A Sweet, Warm, and Healing Romcom!
This is my first time writing a review for drama, I want to say that i really love the drama, it has been my mood booster & happy vitamin everyday ❤️if you want to watch a lighthearted, sweet, warm, & healing romcom drama then this a good start for u!
At first, i watched the drama because of Xinxin. And i think just like Cnets say, i think Yu Shuxin really know how to pick a good drama❤️
YSX drama start from Youth, I've fallen for you, Find Yourself, Moonlight, Love Between Fairy and Devil, and A Romance of the Little Forest are all really good ❤️ .
The things i love from the drama:
- Yu Shuxin really smart picking character that suit her so much, the acting is very real & greatly believeable to the audience! Yu Meiren is perfectly written for Yu Shuxin! No one can play it perfectly Yu Meiren other than her! I love Yu Meiren character, she is such a smart, confidence, good at work, brave, can stand on herself, independent, hard working, and true to her heart! She is just so perfect so perfect example of a beauty with brain ❤️.
- Yu ShuXin used about 140 set outfit from 300 set outfit she prepared for this drama, i enjoyed looking all her beautiful & different outfit & style from YSX, She is such a fashionista, a beauty blogger indeed❤️
- Empowering woman, woman can also chase the man we like first ;).
- Yu Shuxin as Yu Meiren is still reborn as a flower this time too, she's a corn poppy flower this time and Zhang Binbin as Zhuang Yu is someone who expert in plant too, he is botanist professor, so much coincidence with LBFAD & Rattan :)))))!
- Zhang Binbin as Zhuang Yu is so great! At first he might looks cool and indifferent but he will melt to Yu Meiren along the way, really love his soft smile to Yu Meiren everytime she did cute/crazy things to him.
-It's a two-way crush/unrequired love thrope drama, which is my cup of tea, i really enjoy it!
- Brain power CP, both of the lead are intellectual people . The ML is Botanist Professor while the FML is Phd in Ornithology. The way sometime they make joke only they can understand it with the science reference :'). They are also not falling in love because the writer said so, they are truly are destined to be together, they are different souls that resonate together, they share the same brain cell, They both are such a cultural and literated smart couple ❤️
- Yu Shuxin and Zhang Binbin chemistry are overflowing and so top notch!❤️. I had to say that Yu Shuxin is really a Chemistry Queen, they way she always have a good chemistry with every of her costar! Mezhuangdan cp is not an exception! They gave a calm bf hyper gf vibe so strongly. Also their kiss scene is SOOOO GOOOOOOD!!! It's soooooooo PERFECT!!!*chef kiss :*
- A sweet, warm & healing enviromental protection campaign drama. Your eyes will be healed because so much green in the drama , a great cinematography of the little forest, plants, animal, small village, etc ❤️
- Original Story, which is rare in cdramaland these days
-The drama quiet gave a justice to the research background and it's also maybe due the fact that they had real experts and professional to guide them through the drama
- The adorable and sweet OSTs sang by our main lead Esther Yu and ZhangBinBin, they voice are really a honey to my ear ❤️
-Meizhuangdan cp behind the scenes are the sweetest and the funniest, they even much more in the behind the scene, go watch it y'all!
The things i don't like:
- too many unnecessary 2nd couple screentime
- the drama cut the Legendary iconic kiss scenes of the main cp
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It's not Little Forest of Two People anymore - it's Four.
There's too inappropriately much airtime for the second couple to the point that drags the whole story down. From about ep.15 onwards, I can't bear watching the second leads' scenes anymore.First off, the second couple isn't worth watching as their acting skills are not up to par. Second, there's nothing substantial in their storyline, just some cliche boy falling in love at first sight > lying to get close to girl > girl being angry after knowing the truth > boy chasing girl -- but wait... why their story anyway?? It's supposed to be the first leads' story, isn't it? To be the most honest, I feel that the second leads' airtime is equal to the first leads'. I don't know why they have to put two totally different but equally weighed stories to compress in one series to be compared eye-to-eye for the weaker storyline to be suppressed and looked down on by the audience.
After a few episodes of too many improperly show-up scenes of the second leads, I start to be annoyed so much and have bad impression on them instead. I've been skipping their scenes the whole way through since early episodes (and still get their story -- see how simple-minded their storyline is?!) This series can be a lot more interesting if they'd reduce these wasteful scenes of the second leads.
Apart from the rant, I'd like to praise a bit about the first leads' chemistry. Their chemistry is great, so sweet and so authentic (unlike the second leads that I don't feel any chemistry between them at all.) I've watched Zhang Binbin in Love O2O, Eternal Love and The King's Woman before. I never liked his acting in any of them. He was either cringey or stiffed or forceful or all of above. He always looked like being forced when he had kiss scenes (even when it's with Dilireba. Both of them looked being forced to kiss in The King's Woman). I thought Zhang Binbin doesn't suit to play love scences. But in this series, he has done too good. I like all the subtle smiles and all the eye movements in his scenes with FL, especially love his eyes that I used to think were too cheesy because of the big eye size on a face that is too sweet for a guy. In this series, all of his features have become the complements for compliment.
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A HIT Chemistry Between leads but a MISS Execution by makers
“If I had a single flower for everytime I think about you I could walk forever in my garden”- Zhang YuSo I initially started this drama because I have watched all the dramas Esther Yu stars in and one fine day I stumble upon the trailer of A romance of the little forest which immediately intrigued me as I a am a huge fan of "she fell first but he fell harder" trope, and now that I have completed the drama i want to say that god do I love YSX and BB the chemistry they gave, they literally gave life to Yu meiren and Zhang Yu. This is my first time watching Zhang BinBin in a drama and he really is so talented. This further proves that the only reason I had to put up with this drama was because of the main lead and that's it.
I had much expectation with this project since they had a pair that was giving the chemistry way above the par however the makers made the most idiotic decision of cutting such intense scenes of the Lead pair, giving all the screen time to the second pair, dragging the lead pair's story to no end. This drama could have been easily a major hit like Love O2O but the makers clearly did not know how to execute the story.
Amidst the slow pacing, the deleted scenes, the screentime given to the second pair they did not fail to keep the drama alive with their immense chemistry. This is why I gave the drama 5.5 stars or else I would have given it literally 0.
l would recommend this drama only if you can keep up with the slow pacing and putting up with bland, unnecessary scenes of the second lead (mind you they do not contribute anything to the plot and their chemistry is boring af).
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If I were a man, I would definitely fall for Yu Mei Ren!
The main story is slow, so obviously the romance part is slow too but it's not too annoying for me.I can watch all episodes in one sitting. So drama lovers can get what I am trying to say(If it's boring or the plot is too too draggy then we can't binge-watch it even if we liked the drama initially).
She's so damn cute, bubbly, and kind-hearted.
If you like female lead having a new outfit every scene then this drama is for you.
The story has a minor love triangle setting but it doesn't affect the original storyline and the Main lead's relationship. Till now no annoying/toxic secondary female jealous plot (but I know in the future there will be a).
Very few Male lead's jealous(cute) moments are adorable.
Warm Female/Cold Male lead plot.
I have heard that the outfits of Esther Yu in the drama are originally hers.
Since they were recycled that way, A Big Thumbs Up to her and the styling team. The stylist's work and budget must have been lessened because since it is her own clothes, No need for fitting.
WE STAN A HELPFUL QUEEN:)
And Zhang Yu is so handsome! He shows full justice to his character. It is my first Zhang Bin Bin drama btw.
Waiting for the eng sub after ep 13 on Croton Mega Hit.
Overall a slow, fluffy, pinky romance and obviously stylish/expensive af female lead outfits.
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This review may contain spoilers
A frustrating drama with nice moments.
I really thought, at the start, I would give A Romance of the Little Forest (两个人的小森林) a better rating than this, the chemistry of Vin Zhang and Esther Yu was superb, but this drama is heavily let down by bad editing and an aimless script. It is a cliche romance drama as many others have said, however, I wasn't expecting anything else and don't usually mind cliche as long as it's done well. The first few episodes are entertaining, I really warmed to Meiren and the whole cold exterior of Zhuang Yu wasn't overly done at the start (which I was a bit fearful of).However, the second lead love story is horrific, the fact that the SML uses a fake disability to get the girl he likes isn't cute, it's sick and, to be honest, very creepy. I felt nothing for them as characters and therefore found myself very bored during their scenes. If you're planning on watching, I wouldn't invest your time in them, it will only lead to disappointment. They add nothing to the overall story and make this drama unnecessarily longer with their scenes.
As well as this, the editing is not very good, you can tell they have heavily cut scenes out and tried to patch it back together. I'm not overly annoyed at the missing kiss scene from EP.20 but, rather, the anger felt by Meiren afterwards would make more sense if they had left it in. I also wasn't a fan of the undercover bird plot, it made no sense, apart from we got to see Vin Zhang is some sexy outfits. I guess you win some, you lose some. This part of the story was just super jarring from the rest of the light fluff.
In the end, I enjoyed the lightness of it overall and, as I said at the start, the chemistry between Esther Yu and Vin Zhang was the main draw for this drama. I would definitely watch them in a different drama together again, with hopefully a better storyline and less choppy editing. I couldn't give this more than a 6.5 with that story/editing no matter how well the leads did.
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I hated this drama, Vin Zhang is the only good actor in this drama that why I sticked to the end
I like Esther Yu acting better in Moonlight than in this drama. The character she played in this drama was annoying, and the nasal voice didn’t help much. The storyline is so stupid and ridiculous. The drama could have been better if it was 20-24 episodes; instead, it dragged to 30+ episodes. It was too painful to watch, and I hated Esther Yu's character in this drama.In addition, the script is bad, and the 2nd CP for more screen time than the main CP. 2nd CP's acting is horrible, especially the 2nd ML. Overall, I am disgusted at this drama. It was a waste of my time.
I am giving it a 4.0 rating.
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Too much cringe.
First of all, the second lead love story. Oh my gosh where to begin!? So cringy, so unnecessary and so so SO BORING! I forwarded all their scenes and never looked back - why so much screen time? Those actors are more suited to be extras in a film, not supporting role.The main leads had pretty good chemistry and Vin Zhang’s smile can melt anyone but that’s the only good thing I can say about it. What I didn’t like is Yu Meiren ‘s character. At first she wanted him to fall for her beauty and not because of her intelligence so she acted like a ditz. She pretty much acted the same way even after he found out she’s smart so what’s the point! Also, I know it’s Esther Yu’s own voice but she really have to tone it down. In one scene I had to lower the volume because her crying was just out of control. Honestly I don’t know why the ML would fall for someone like her. It seems like she annoyed and pushed him to the corner until he had no choice but to fall for her.
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You won't stop smiling
this drama is the most interesting ,cute bubbly drama i ever watch, seriously i just can't hide my smile every YMR and ZY interact and im always slam my hand on the bed cause how cute their interaction .but the downside is only one that is the 2nd lead couple screen time, what is this screen time more than the lead couple XD?
1 episode lets say 5 scene ,3 out a 5 is 2nd lead couple screen and yes like everyone else i skip it cause it not what most of us come here to watch for , i just can't feel for the people who watch 1-2 episode today and must wait for tomorrow to come up more to find out 2 episode you only saw lead couple 3 time XD
overall its absolutely a recommend drama to watch to kill some time beside a little downside
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Just one bird does not bring the spring (and another Cinderella tale).
I have recently watched Song of the Moon, an equisite production in all apects, starring Zhang Binbin . Having come accross online recommendation of this romcom with the same actor, I started this one.The first thing was the opening OST which I liked a lot and two female characters carrying a sophisticated dialogue over lipstics. This is probably planned as a comedy of situation beginning but eventually at the start of the drama there was some suspense/through back scenes, causing an impression that something has been cut from the episode and did not constitute a smooth intro to the story line.
Anyway, I did give them a chance but having completed the show I can conclude that just one bird does not bring the spring. I got convinced in the acting skills of Zhang Binbin, he is obviously serious and deep, portrays layers of emotions and showed a gradual and realistic development of his character.
But just an excellent actor does not make an excellent production.
The storyline - in essence, un underlying Cinderella story. I am new to C-drama, but was impessed how many CEOs and Emperrors in C-dramas on Youtube have their main occupation chasing after women. Just to leave the unbiased viewer at a loss how did Chinese economy and history manage to go so well. In Romance of the Little Forrest, the situation is by far better - the mail protagonist is an outstanding university professor with strong dedication and discipline, very hard working with his studies, scientific and field research, as well as collaborating with other scientists (inclusive international) and lecturing students, This character was quite convincingly portrayed by Zhang Binbin.
If you ask me, the script writers did not necessarily need to make him the first born son of super rich family. It could have been left with the phsychoanalysis ML used to help the FL recover her empotional trauma, as well as the support of her family and friends, which is that really cures and helps, and truely a luxury not everyone has in his life, but it may be that the audience loves Cinderella storylines, again and again.
Not sure of the focus distribution regarding the main FL character. This is, in essence, a very complex and difficult role and should have been either handled differently, or given more screen time to develop it.
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Lighthearted, engaging and funny
With just a few episodes, I already knew I'm going to love this romantic comedy and be with it until the end. If you are against female chasing male stories, then this is not for you. But if you don't mind it and decided to watch this, watch out for the epilogues after some episodes that will make you understand certain scenes.Esther Yu as Yu Meiren has charmed me once again while Vin Zhang seems more attractive as Zhuang Yu than in any of his previous roles (maybe except as KO in Love 020). This is the type of drama that you watch to relax. The story is very simple. It is about a romance between a charming bird specialist turned beauty blogger and a reserved botany professor. What draws me in is their obvious attraction to each other despite denying it to themselves.
I like that YM seems like an empowered quick thinking woman who knows what she wants and goes for it. She knows when to use her cutesy persona but is more comfortable with her nerdy persona. For ZY, I like that he's dedicated to his work and wants to try to improve the world but he's been kind of a jerk to YM until he realized how much he really love her.
If not for the over exposure of the 2nd couple, I would probably rate this higher. It would have been better if this was maybe a 24 Eps drama and does not included a loveline between the 2nd CP.
The OSTs are very good. The opening song of 'Two People's little forest' is so soothing, making you look forward to the romance while the duet 'All seems the same' of Esther Yu and Vin Zhang is uplifting and sweet. 'Find You' by Vin Zhang feels full of determination while Esther Yu's 'Sunny day after the rain' feels optimistic. 'Welcome to my World' is such a fun song and lastly 'Want to be by your side' which was used for most sad scenes is full of longing. I would rewatch this but will still skip the 2nd couple.
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Cringeworthy second couple stealing main couple screentime
LOVE: Yu Mei Ren and her character antics and fashion, Xin xin's acting, the main couple chemistryHATE: what else if not 2ML and 2FL! They're disconnected from the main couple and steal so much space!
Agree with others, it has become a romance of FOUR little forests. Felt cheated, they uses the main couple for publicity but in secret pushes out a lot of the secondary couple. What kind of shady situation is this? YMR sweet beauty and the main couple chemistry can't save this, even the main couple storyline was a bit too slow burn and going back and forth ffs. It took more than 30 episodes for them to hold hands....really. What a shame, if the writing was better their chemistry could've been more sizzling, still good job to Xin xin and Bin Bin for doing their part to make their chemistry work although the storyline was weak.
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