Love Me, Love My Voice (2023)

It's only about romance. The story is about the first love process between a famous voice actor (who keeps his face secret) and a musician/composer ( female college student). Very cute. It gave me heart flutters several times. You won't regret watching if you love romance dramas.

Male lead Tan Jianci was swoon worthy. He can act very well, as seen in his other dramas. This laid back drama was almost a waste of his talents because there was no scandoulous heart wrenching misunderstandings. Just pure wholesome goodness here.

If you're interested, I suggest reading the novel as well. I love the drama folled the novel closely in the beginning, but then elaborated more towards the end were the novel seemed leave to the imagination. This is one of the few dramas that I would say I like better than the actual novel.

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in Mo Bao Fei Bao we trust

Initially I had zero intentions of watching 'Love Me, Love My Voice' as fluffy dramas are number one representative on my already miles long dropped list and more often than not they just bore me to death the second the leads start dating. However there is one exception : Mo Bao Fei Bao novel adaptations. Watching her modern work adapted on screen guarantees for a nice watch without much trouble and yet has enough drive and likable characters to keep watching until the end. LMLMV is just that - I would almost say it's the pinnacle of everything nice she's ever written. In that it also suffers from missing any sense of "drama" which makes it a hit or miss for each individual viewer in my opinion.

From start to finish everyone is a wholesome and nice person, there is not an ounce of trouble in sight. If anything the one and only 'villain' in this drama is hesitation, more on that later.
Funny enough it feels like it could be the poster child for the ideal idol romance drama that people tend to long for in the comment section of other romance dramas they watched but disliked certain points of. You hated how the love triangle dragged on? - good, cuz there is none here! You hated the evil SFL? - again, you won't find any such character here! You wanted the leads to get together early? - how does the first third of the drama sound for you?. - I think you get the point.

Generally there is a good mix of friendship, career (with friends) and love growing slowly.
This is why I like Mo Bao Fei Bao's work. Although I never rate her dramas over 8, they're still a safe bet and that's how I felt about both Go Go Squid 1 + 2 too. I actually see quite a lot of similarities in character set up of GGS2 and LMLMV. She definitely has a blue print for characters at this point and it works. But if you put them up against each other GGS2 has more plot and therefore I personally prefer it.

Now to the good and the boring:

Another one of MBFB tricks is to have multiple couples develop relationships at various points of the story, so even if you are bored with one pair you'll still continue watching because that one couple you really like isn't together yet. At least that is how I felt because the idea of the second lead couple really did pull me through to the end, otherwise I would have probably not continued after ep18-19.
The fact that there is no real plot aside from them slowly growing their love and working on their career in a very relaxed manner, means we got other things instead - a much needed change of scenery, trips, good food, a few emotional musical performances and so on. In terms of friendship I would actually rate this drama higher because it's just fun to watch them interact and have a good time. All of the cast members have good chemistry with each other and especially on a friendship level they play of each other's energy well. In terms of acting I have no complaints but it did take me a little to get used to seeing Tan Jian Ci as this ever-so-perfect guy. Last time I saw him was in "The Centimeter of Love", where he played the annoying brat little brother of the FL, where he also looked very different from what he looks like now. I think I read he lost 20lbs since that drama so no wonder I had troubles recognizing him...

Fluff is spelled in all caps for this drama and there is no way around it. I could only enjoy it by not thinking too much and looking for any sort of character growth or depth. At first it didn't bother me too much but by episode 24 I did find myself fast forwarding a lot for a few episodes because I started to get annoyed with the FL, who is the embodiment of every idol romance writer's hot fever dream. Grandma Core fashion for female leads is nothing new but damn, you cannot tell me a 22 year old is that PURE and INNOCENT. At some point it all really did feel like the dream of a 12 year old girl when it comes to the main's romantic story also because of how much the ML doted on the FL right from the start, when she really did nothing except being shy. Like why was she the "chosen" one, after being single all his life? - even hearing a song doesn't explain that.

Hesitation really is the one and only villain in this drama because had it not been for that all three - potentially even four - couples would have gotten together much earlier and the story would have been concluded within 12 episodes. The main couple gets together early but the FL is still super shy and hesitates a lot. Her anxiety is delaying most of the romantic progress and although the ML is very caring and understanding, it made me get frustrated with the FL at several points. As a person who experienced first love at some point too I could only understand her to a certain degree because even within the relationship she remained coy and towards the end I actually felt she was regressing in terms of maturity. It's not that she made stupid decisions or anything but her behavior was often very child-like and naive, which made her even more unrealistic of a person than the already flawless ML.

I know I said I shouldn't think too much about the plot in order to enjoy it, but a part of me can't not do that. I mean even if she was some pure as snow, untouched virgin. You cannot tell me a 29 year old doctor and famous VA has also never had a girlfriend? Come on! But I guess this is another reason why it should be the poster child for modern idol romance dramas. I think I'm just either too old at his point to mindlessly enjoy such a idealistic story or I watched too many similar ones already.

Nevertheless, it was relaxing to watch for the most part and although ep24-27 were where I felt the most boredom, and started to nitpick, it did pick up again once the characters all went on another trip and did stuff outdoors.
I see a lot of people say this drama might not be made for binge watching but there is no way I would have ever gone to pick it up back up had I not watched it within 4 days.
I'd rate it a 7.8/10 and I will remember the fun character dynamics, but less so the actual romantic story.

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A Perfect man and a Perfect woman fell in love in a Perfect world.

Subjective Mood Rating: 8.25-8.5
Objective Rating: 7.75-8.0

I intentionally seek out a drama like “Love Me, Love My Voice” because I wanted something easy, simple and sweet during the end of the year holiday season. With that in mind, my rating might not have reflected my usual criticisms and expectations. Objectively speaking, this drama is too perfect. And yes, that is a flaw. But I am going to overlook that, because I am expecting a perfect world. If you are not and are usually too rational, then I do NOT recommend this drama for you.


Romance:
As my title says, a perfect man and a perfect woman fell in love in a perfect world. There’s no drama, no misunderstanding and no evil parents or ex’s. The romance is mellow, sweet and shy, with a surprising amount of kisses towards the last third of the drama. ML is successful, handsome, sweet, caring, considerate, professional, has a beautiful voice and is a doctor! When does he have time to have a side gig? Moreover, he’s flirty and actually quite passive aggressive. A perfect man! (with too much white makeup). ML confessed early, established a relationship before the couple really started to get to know each other. The romance is slow-burn in a way and viewers have to be patient and wait for our female lead to get more and more comfortable with her man. You do see that progression from super shy, not holding hands and standing far apart, to slowly holding hands and hugging, to a lot of skinship. ML dotes on FL, is a perfect gentleman and can cook! I was smiling the whole time watching this drama. I wasn’t expecting Tan Jian Ci to be so good in giving us a hopelessly-in-love-yet-horny look. ? LOL

Dubbing/Voice Acting:
I am not sure how realistic the portrayal of the industry is, but I am very interested in this part of the drama. I’ve watched enough C-dramas to know this industry is huge. Having the behind-the-scenes look into a studio’s operation is very interesting. I didn’t know there were chat rooms, big offline/real life offline concerts and performances. I really enjoy watching the 10th anniversary celebration, more so than the festival itself. The voice acting of the period pieces was phenomenal. Big props to the voices behind the actors. Now, let’s get the real actors voice acting lessons.

Tourism promotion + Product Placement
There are two trips/vacations and they make me want to travel with them. Beautiful places, scenery and delicious food! I’ve heard so much about Guilin and its beauty that I actually have always wanted to visit there. Having said that, the last few episodes of the drama are wasted on their lakeside trip. Nothing really happened aside from lovey-dovey moments, eating and playing (repeat for 3 episodes of a 3-day trip). Our old friend, Cold Medicine 999 is back. Even doctors in a hospital need to rely on them. Our FL loves snacks! She not only eats her snacks all the time but has access to a supermarket whenever she wants.

Other romances
I am not a big fan of the secondary romance. I can’t believe we have a 30-year old man being so shy and indecisive in courting a girl almost 10 years younger. One shy couple is enough, I don’t really need more. The drama spent too much time on them going back-and-forth. When they finally became a couple, the drama showed us the result but not the confession scene. The other romance has so little screen time even though it’s been implied. I much rather watch them than the other couple.

Music/OST
Love the songs and the soundtrack has a variety of songs. Tan Jian Ci really does have a nice voice and I added a few songs to my Spotify playlist. However, the romantic songs/music are so overplayed. Each time we have a romantic scene with the leads, music/songs will be played. Sometimes, I just want silence and really experience the love in the air without the music manipulating me.

Pacing/Ending
The drama is just too long. 24 episodes will suffice and 33 is just too many. Once the lead couple gets more comfortable with each other and starts kissing/skinship, the pace slows down. Nothing much happened plot wise aside from the preparation of the concerts and performances. The last 5-7 episodes are filled with fillers and events that don’t move the plot (actually, this drama doesn’t have much of a plot). Like I said earlier, we don’t need 3 episodes dedicated to a 3-day trip, nor 2 episodes dedicated to the ending. For those that don’t like rushed endings, this drama is perfect for you. It even tells you it’s taking its sweet time in closing this out.


I would only recommend this drama if you are a super fan of romance, OK with a drama without much of a plot and no conflict, perfect human beings living in a perfect world. If you are in the mood for such a drama like me right now, go for it!



Completed: 12/28/2023 - Review #388

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Looks so beautiful it looks fake

Yes For Me -
- Scenic - Beautiful Cast, Beautiful scenery, Good Food

No For Me -
- Monotonous Storyline. - There is no need for the show to add a third party to the show to make the relationship progression more flavourful, but the relationship progression is way too straight, way too fast.

The show is an attempt to master the romance drama, without any other genre factor into it. Everything else is just set up to compliment this fact. Good Food, Good Scenery to take screenshot of. Too much perfection makes the whole show feels too fantasy-like, which i dont think it is the intention.

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Honest Review of - Love Me, Love My Voice

Here’s my honest review, with no sugar coating!

Firstly, I went into this drama with zero expectations. It popped up as a recommendation when I was searching for something new to watch, mainly to kill some boredom… haha

Initial Impressions: The first 5 episodes were quite enjoyable. I loved the sweet interactions between (ML) and (FL). However, I was a bit confused by the (ML) being a voice actor and suddenly starting to talk about food recipes with the FL within the spam of the first episode. Some of you might find it charming, especially his voice, but for me, I felt indifferent.

The Romance: I can't remember exactly when the (ML) and (FL) officially got together ( probably somewhere around episodes 8 to 10), but those moments were super cute! HOWEVER, from that point on, the show focused wayyyy too much on the main couple. Normally, I’d enjoy that, but considering it's a 33 episode series, it just felt like the romance dragged on for longer than it should. They took things reallyyy slow…and I mean painfully slow. They didn’t share their first kiss until almost 10 episodes later…

I get that it was their first relationship and all, and that they wanted to take it slow, but it was slow to the point that I couldn’t handle it anymore. Each 45-minute episode felt repetitive, with the FL acting shy and innocent every time she was around her boyfriend. After a while, it wasn’t even cute or cringey anymore; it was just plain boring. I ended up skipping a lot of the scenes and even full episodes to find interactions with the other couples because I needed a break from the main pair.

Missed Opportunities with Other Couples: **Spoiler Alert!** There were several episodes where the main couple and their friends went on a semi-long vacation together. I thought this would finally be the moment where we’d see the other couples develop, but I was wrong. Instead, we got 42 minutes of the main couple doing the same repetitive things, and only about 3 minutes of the other couples…. Like…seriously???? At times, it felt like scenes with other couples could have been expanded, but the show would cut them short and jump back to the main couple, dragging their scenes longer than necessary.

For example, there’s a scene where Juemei and XiaoXing are at a bookstore/date. We got at most 3 minutes of them there, then the scene cuts to them waiting for the bus to arrive to go back to the dormitory, and then it immediately switches back to the main couple. It felt so rushed, and frustratingly so. To make matters worse, all the other couples only officially got together in the very last episode of the show….

Character Issues: The characters themselves felt a bit unrealistic. The ML was literally good at everything: he’s a doctor, yet somehow finds the time to do dubbing, cook, and take care of the FL. Meanwhile, the FL was overly naive, like a teenager giddy with first love. I felt like she didn’t put as much effort into the relationship compared to the ML, and as a result, there was a lack of chemistry between them (IN my personal opinion…).

Overall Verdict: My biggest issue with the show is that it was unnecessarily stretched out to 33 episodes… (I’ve seen so many good shows do this, and it’s so disappointing…) If it had been condensed to around 15-20 episodes, I think I would’ve had far fewer complaints. That said, this is just my personal take. I’ve seen plenty of comments and reviews from others who enjoyed the simplicity, the no drama vibe (in addition to the cultural aspect of the drama, sharing knowledge of ancient Chinese music, costume, etc), and the kindhearted, sweet and loving male lead. If that’s your thing, you might find it more appealing than I did.

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From strangers to...acquaintances

I appreciate a fluffy, drama-free romance show as much as the next person, but I just didn't really feel any spark between the main leads, despite the way they actually meet being quite promising.

They are cute at certain moments, but the biggest issue for me is just that they're always so POLITE, and it never got better. Even in the penultimate episode, their conversations felt very robotic ("Would you like some [food]?" "Yes, thank you. Wow, that is spicy!" "Here, have some water.") I know this type of relationship probably does exist and works for some people, but as someone who likes a bit of casualness and banter in their everyday dialogue, their conversations just felt like ones I'd have with a coworker who I'd just met at a networking event. Ultimately it made their relationship feel pretty flat and repetitive; they do something cute, everyone teases them about it, repeat.

The second couple were also cute at times, but ultimately very similar to the first. It seems like there's some light-hearted banter when each character is with their friends, but they completely shut down when they're with each other. It would've been interesting to see this dynamic open up over time, but sadly we barely got any of it and we jumped to them just being together in the ending. I think some of the writing just feels very generic and not quite tailored to the actual character arcs. Zhou Zheng and Geng Xiao Xing are given the iconic line: "If we break up, then we can't even be friends" — but their storyline was never friends-to-lovers anyways and I didn't feel like the "friendship" had become that vital because the progress was very minimal.

Instead, that line should've been reserved for the third couple, which turned out to be my favorite despite having the least screentime of them all; that's Dou Dou and Feng Ya Song, a couple that you could tell really felt comfortable around each other, with a really good "we like each other but can't say anything" dynamic. I wish they'd gotten more scenes paced throughout the show instead of having all of it in one episode near the end.

I'm also just not sure about the mix of themes: dubbing industry and cooking. Part of it is personal preference (I don't care much for cooking or for the dubbing industry), but I think individually it's also just...fine. The cooking doesn't really add any character depth and it feels kind of random the way it flits in and out. The dubbing industry part had some interesting moments; the songs are great and the voice acting is actually really satisfying with all the historical drama scenes, but there's actually no clear through-plot for it. There are events and projects here and there but you don't really get to follow the characters towards a specific goal, and it's definitely not one of those "follow your dreams" dramas because the tone stays pretty monotonous throughout. I think the part I liked least about the dubbing industry plot were all the fangirls fawning over the main boys — I know this is a common drama trope, but it was way too reminiscent of the idolization we saw in old dramas like Meteor Garden that it made me cringe a little. Plus, one can only take so much of the side characters comparing themselves to the male leads and calling themselves "little nobodies."

Overall, I can understand why so many people enjoyed this drama, and I do love how unproblematic it is. It's heart-warming for me too, but was really missing the spark for me, especially as the show went on.

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It’s All About The Voice

Giving another sub heading: God-like Perfect Man found love.

Let’s begin by saying I only watched this because of Tan JianCi and Zhou Ye. I like both their previous works and since this is TJC’s first time in a sweet Rom-Com, I am more forgiving of the plot and endure till the end.

TJC’s ML character is just God-like perfect, smart, intelligent, workaholic, cardiac surgeon who is a brilliant voice actor (and started his voice acting company with a group of friends and got famous), and he is a great chef! You literally see him sleeps everywhere or don’t sleep at all, have energy to voice act and now date.
I strongly believe such character design only exists in novel or drama world. FL (Zhuo Ye) is a sheltered, protected and love by everybody girl who behave like she is 10 yrs younger than her actual age. Her talents include her love for food, eats a lot and not be fat; plus she composes GuFeng song with an aspiring band and sing. ZY has a unique cute pretty outlook and is suitable for this role, but I feel she needs to put on more flesh, a little too skinny for a lady who eats so much and love food.

Storyline
Simple and sweet: ML falls for FL’s singing voice many years ago and he accidentally found her chat room and set out to pursue her. They connect via ML reading food recipe to her as she loves to eat. FL happens to be also a fan of ML’s voice acting too. So they met, fall in love and all is well. If you are looking for drama in this story, there is none. The couple literally do the most cliche troupe of all couple in love, first trip (tourism ad on Guilin/YunShuo), see the first sunrise, first kiss, sweet talk, It feels like two teenagers’ journey of falling in love but just that the CP are mature adults. It’s because it’s TJC acting as ML, so it make it all okay and less cringy for me to watch.

Pros
All sweetness of TJC and ZY. The showcase of voice acting profession that now I have full admiration for them. TJC holds the cord for the whole drama. He is such a versatile actor that sings most of the OST, dome a great job in showcasing the complexity of voice acting and he cooks! He has a one-take fried rice scene, he really can cook. The Gu Feng songs were quite nicely composed for this drama and of course the showcase of beautiful Guilin that urge me to want to go there. I personally feel this is a tan service drama for TJC’s fans. lol.

Cons
Lack of realism in the characters’ design. The storyline is flat.
ML is God-like perfect, such charisma and handsome, yet he said he never dated at age 29, but his moves are so smooth to FL. He has to be living in the mountain somewhere for such a character to exist or he has an extreme detached or narcissistic personality to be real! FL in the novel is even more shy and introvert, ZY’s portrayal here is more vocal, she acts well, but my only complaint is that wish she doesn’t need to behave so baby like in her response to ML. For a modern girl, at her age and exposed to social media, it’s just hard to imagine she is still so ‘baby’?

Many fillers plots but just anti-climatic with no element of growth or doesn’t serve any pivotal turn for the plot. It just feels like a lot of little happening around the CP and a group of people, but not much purposes to drive any growth in characters.
There are other side couples, but feels insignificant to mention them, as not much of a storyline for them too.

The final ending has yet to reveal but I will update it again after I finish the drama, also read the novel. The novel ending has the main CP engaged and ML retiring from his voice acting. Not sure how this drama will end, but will update again.

Final note after completing this drama: So the last 10 ep as mentioned is his retirement, their more sweet scenes flood the screen. There are plots on FL’s graduation, FL found out ML was her tan, ML’s proposal, their wedding shots. And the other two CPs also progresses in their relationship. The end.

I won’t re-watched, but maybe someone just compiled the main CP sweet scenes with the fantastic OST, and watching those may be good enough if you want some simple sugars in your life.

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What a lovely love story

After 'Lost you forever S2', I needed to watch something to make me feel good and happy. I found it here!

I don't usually watch modern drama much, but I recommend this one if you like TJC and simple love story. His voice is so attractive and I truly enjoyed full of great singing songs by TJC, duet by main leads and group of their friends.

It also has zero mean girls and no bullying. It's little slow burn love the first half, but once his confession of love, oh boy, there are full of love in the air. I just kept smirking while watching the last half ? There are lots of lovely TJC who express his love so straight and I am almost embarrassed watching but enjoyed a lot. This drama also give you lots of butterflies in your stomach!

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Just meh...

I am a fanatic for cheesy romances so I truly thought I would like this but ended up wasting my time. I tried watching this drama two times before I actually finished it the third time. I was bored the first couple of times but because of the high praises I decided to stick to it cause maybe it will pick up, unfortunately it never did for me. I don't care too much for drama and conflict so personally I didn't need it to be entertained but it was just plain boring. There are many dramas where the cp is together throughout the series without any conflict, however, they still managed to make the drama entertaining. I'm all for easy to watch dramas but this was just boring, nothing ever picked up, the couple were sweet but it was just that. I didn't necessary enjoy watching them tbh, I became more interested in the side couples but we barely got anything from them. I just personally feel that it didn't deserve over 30 episodes, should've been 24 maximum. The fl's family were more interesting, wish we got more of them, it was just way too much screentime of the main couple which sounds like a ridiculous complaint but that's how much I was bored of them despite the fluff (which I absolutely adore). Overall, the drama just wasn't it, it didn't move me at any point and main couple didn't do anything for me (lowkey didn't feel the chem between them), it was a cute setup but ended up being nothing.

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drama with no drama

this was a very feel-good drama. there was literally no conflicts or like any hardship throughout it all LOL. i started watching it for zhou ye cuz i loooovwed her in back from the brink. but her character in this really didn’t have much dimension. same with the main relationship and just all of the characters… there was no personality lol. mo qingcheng was lowkey cute tho… i liked how slow their pace was and it seemed like he REALLY loved sheng sheng like REALLy loved her. cute. but like no plot at all LOL same things happening: they cook together, they have their faces rly close togehter and he says something swoon worthy, friends see them and ruin their moment. there was nothing bad happening in the drama so it was lowkey calming esp during college app season ????gonna fina another zhou ye drama with more character to her cuz she’s just so pretty . this drama didn’t do her justice tho

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Delicious Food, Scenic Romance, & Amazing People

My first impression - Perfect Voice Studio: Qiang, Juemai, Doubing, Yasong, WangKe, Mao & Feishao, and Cosplayers: Mumu, & Mo Bai. What a perfect Team. I liked their first meeting (QQC meeting JM, DB & FYS for the first time) and their story before setting up Perfect Voice Studio. Writers should have highlighted their story a little more (At least 1 Episode).

This drama has no cliches, no fights, no annoying characters, no lags, no scheming, and no jealousy...
Just a set of pure souls performing voice dubbing and singing traditional music.
This drama gave equal importance to support characters too. Though TJC & ZY are the Main Leads, This drama also contains delicious food making as one of the main leads... ???

Overall, I loved IT! AND A MUST WATCH!!!

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