I loved the fist half of the show. The story, although somewhat ridiculous, was engrossing. The characters had enough spunk and unique features that their encounters were interesting and the sparks kept flying. The main lead might be a bit standoffish, but his demeanor and the way he treated his people and the women in general, Jin Xiu in particular, was quite charming. The fight scenes were over the top, but that also could be seen as somewhat the part of the charm. I loved the reverse harem theme that kept resurfacing and I even could kind of understand why this supposedly simple girl was so popular with men. Being related to the most beautiful woman in the entire province makes for a compelling argument as to why everyone would be so captivated by her. Even the main bad guy was interesting because you kept disliking him and then rooting for him in some capacity. This part of the story convinced me that I actually can like a good damsel in distress story with some really hot rescue scenes if it's well done. I haven't seen many shows that did that type of romance well before.
Then somewhere around ep. 24 - 25 the story got messy and somewhat predictable. The bad guys became wicked, main female lead became super annoying and the secondary female lead became wretched. The story took a turn that I didn't particularly care for. It's not that it wasn't good at all; it just wasn't as good as it was before. I skipped tons of scenes during the second part of the show and I didn't feel like I missed so much. In the end, the show fell short for me. I believe that it would have been a really good drama had it been around 30 episodes. I did re-watch a couple of the first episodes and found it enjoyable, but I wouldn't re-watch the drama it it's entirety. That why I ended up giving it a 7.
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I will say shortly: The girl acts normal and justified for her life and way of thinking, and she isn't idiot, she is just kind girl....
Just begin to watch it, if you like it, then good, if not then you can drop it. But isn't boring, doesn't have so many complots and lot boring conversations. Has really cute moments that I enjoyed watch.
I enjoyed every episode.
But each people have their own likes and dislikes.
Don't choose not to watch just because some wrote a bad review. Try it and find out on your own if it fits your taste or not.
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Watch for romance, not for plot. Be ready to skip a lot.
Going for romance? Go for it! Romance is done really well, main leads had real good chemistry and fluff moments were just so sweet to watch. I liked secondary couple too (Han Chuan and Ming Zhu not that good for nothing Ying Dong), although bittersweet their story was just so heartfelt. Still be ready to skip some unnecessary drama.Going for plot? You will be frustrated. This drama like other C-Dramas will test your patience with plot. Plot is a utter mess. Forget logic, you would find it hard to even find basic common sense here. Characters will prefer taking the most idiotic possible decision possible instead of the more natural and sensible ones. Direction is also nothing talk-worthy with real bad editing on top of that. If you can bear with all that or can skip that, go ahead, this drama will be fun to watch.
As for character development, its there but not nearly enough. FL is annoyingly dumb and fickle at times but becomes likable later. ML is okay, watchable. The good for nothing character "Ying Dong" is given too much screentime and that becomes annoying fast, I would have preferred if they skipped that character altogether. On the contrary, character of "Han Chuan" projected so much depth that all his scenes of relation dynamics with "Ming Zhu" were attention sinks, phenomenal performance by Gardner Tse.
Everyone acted good, so no issues there.
Music...can't remember at all, and that's immediately after completing it...that says a lot.
I watched this after "Lady and Liar" and honestly this is miles better but still not upto mark. I liked the FL here more but I liked the ML in Lady and Liar much more.
Overall a fun watch, though had to skip some parts. Good, decent, 7.0/10
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This review may contain spoilers
I like the main lead. He is not a typical arrogant , cold but beautiful man later turning into soft hearted one. He is same as beginning to the end. Smart , brave , egotistical , cool and can do anything for the loved ones. In and out same. But I dont like the main Female much. I think writer tried to do her character innocent , pure hearted ,wise , brave , strong and smart.but how I feel is she is stupid , foolish ,boring careless, weak and always trying to act smart and ending up got into trouble then Zuo Zhen have to come and save her again and again. She is highly talking about her Rong family honour and still easily going out with mens. (Ling li , Yingdong, the one who met at brothel house and later save her and maeda Ryuichi ). Believing all the mens around her except Zuo Zhen. She didnt even bother to asked him once is he did that or not and just one blink left him. All other characters are doing well . Specially second FM lead Yin Mingzhu doing great job and elder brother of two brothers xiang hanchuang also very good . In this drama every character having flows. No body is perfect except Rong jinxiu. They are not pure white or pure black . When it comes to their own problems they are getting selfish and it make sence. It helps story line seems more practical and I loved that. Zuo Zhen love to jinxiu is very pure and strong hearted . But I think if it has some flaws in his love to her , romance will be more realistic and beautiful. Some times I feel that boring and stupid. because the other hand Rong Jinxiu always having moving heart and love is not steady for him. So some points I feel better thing for him to let her go. This is my opinion . Over all this a good drama . I loved the action seens and they are perfect. Locations backgrounds are very nice and in to the theme (set in 1930 in Shanghai) Costumes also makes it more beautiful. I watched all episodes till 30 and after that skipped some because I feel boring and story line is not realistic.still love this one. Was this review helpful to you?
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Amazing chemistry and acting but weak script at times
This drama has some major star power; joe chen and huang xiao ming absolutely killed it along with the rest of the cast. The chemistry between all the actors is evident and they show all the emotions and romance blossoming through the camera amazingly. The pure sadness and rebelliousness we see in yingdong makes you want to empathize with him, but also mingzhu is just as pitiful.despite the star power and amazing chemistry at parts the slimy script writing degraded the quality of the show. At times the script will contradict itself, for example the zhouzhen(ML) will tell jinxiu (FL) you cant live in shanghai bund by yourself, its not for a country girl like you. he in fact goes out of his way to keep guards posted and provides her with a job and home. But later zhouzhen tells the 2nd FL(mingzhu) that jinxiu can survive anywhere using her own abilities. SPOILER (zhouzhen saves jinxiu from being raped when she was working at a hostess bar) she would not have been able to fend for herself at all.
A damsel in distress is a damsel in distress, it would have been better to recognize that and go with it, rather than give the FL a very brazen personality being brave with little sense of humility pretending she can make it anywhere. this is another thing, we see personal growth in all the characters, but the FL. She remains that naive country girl who is merely saved by the mafia lord and does what he wants or what she wants. At some point you want to cheer on for mingzhu more than anyone else.
again, the script also made zhouzhen into such a possessive and jealous man in love. zhouzhen loves and cares for jinxiu and sacrifices constantly for her, but the character is again contradicting himself. He is so gentle with her when he falls in love with her but gets weirdly aggressive after. it was an odd switch.
The music is absolutely forgettable, it cuts in and out at the weirdest timing.
i honestly was more invested in mingzhus story near in the last 14 episodes and. Not worth a rewatch
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Story - Except the ending, everything was perfect.
Music - The title song, omg so goooddd! I didn't know it was actually sung by the actor himself!
Acting/ Cast - Absolutely perfect. I saw a similar drama which it had almost the same characters but different actors, but I love this one the most.
Rewatch value - I would love to watch the romantic, damsel in distress scenes again and again. Their expressions and everything is perfect, it actually gives me the feels.
Thanks xx
(Sorry for the mistakes.)
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The beginning was all very thrilling and I was very much intrigued, only to be disappointed later. The story was okay but it was very much dragged and repetitive. Cruel Romance is set in the Shanghai of 1930's and it is the first time I am watching a drama in that background and that was a good thing for me. The setting was beautiful and so are the dresses and I really liked the retro feel. I think the actors were good but their caricature like roles didn't helped me to enjoy them.I was cringing at times for the heroine's character. Lead guy was hot with all those abs and the girl was also beautiful.
The music was fine.
Re watch???? No i wont re-watch this ever.
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This review may contain spoilers
OMGi COULDN'T BEAR MORE
24 eps. was really my limit in watching this shit
Both sis were real pain in the***
The elder one naive till the limit of pulling your hair
She is creative in humiliating herself
Stupid and stubborn more than a mule
Her character soooo weak
And the younger were extremely totally literally Huge B*****
Full of grudge,envy and illogical
I can't feel any sympathy towards both
WOOOOOW really provoking
I only continue because of Xiao ming and inspite of that, i couldn't continue
i can just say it finished when she discovered that she had the same feelings for him
i wasn't curious at all for other characters
may be one day i can continue watching it, but no way soon one
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