One of the best short dramas

What's Wrong With My Princess is first a revenge drama then a romance. There is very little traditional "romance" trappings within the short story but it still manages to demonstrate two people learning to trust eachother and growing closer as a married couple.

Because we are given a front row seat to exactly what happens in her previous life to have her reincarnated back 5 years in the past, it's very easy to be invested in the revenge that is plotted out slowly over the course of the series. Each time the 7th Princess tricks one of the the antagonists we get reminded that they have it coming and more. Meanwhile watching the 7th Prince is no hard task. Seeing him as he supports his wife in her quest for revenge without ever even being told what they "did" to deserve this treatment was refreshing. He came to know her and her values and as such completely trusted that they must have done something truly awful to be treated in such a manner.

The music used was repetitive but soothing and fit the show. The acting was rather good for a short drama with the 7th Princess keeping mostly a poker face but sometimes slipping to show her utter disgust of the people before her when they weren't watching.

As for the last second ending, anyone who knows anything about these types of stories knew the "it was a dream" was coming. After all, it was between that or "it was a story she was writing/reading". That said they slipped the line in so quickly and then moved on that it's truly skippable and doesn't even really change the story we watched since the only dream part was the original life if understanding the line correctly.

Overall the show is absolutely worth a watch. I could even see myself watching a longer version that gave more detail about the backstop and showed them with perhaps a bit more conflict before 100% trusting each other.

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Hilarious In First Half, Lost In Second Half

Final verdict 7/10.

This show compiled is 5 hours and 20 minutes long and yet it feels RUSHED, especially at the end where they kept throwing stuff at you in a blink and you miss something major happening way. A bunch of things happen off screen (I assume, maybe I blinked ? ) near the end as well as they jump from one plot change to another.

The overall story they are TRYING to tell isn't bad, it's actually pretty good, the issue comes that there is no sense of world building or what the rules of the world are so you feel lost.

The villians.... existed. They were part of that whole "this could have been better more fleshed out" feeling as we get 3 of them in the show. The 1st and "main" one I feel like they "tried" to give us a story but I have no idea what it was other than wanting to live forever and not forget anything, I "think"? His disciple... Idk what his story was or why he didn't die when he was supposed to, maybe he did and I blinked? The last and 3rd one, the masked person, made the "most" sense but also was severely glossed over on how they were able to get away with the things they got away with ?.

The 2nd couple was adorable. Again, I didn't 100% understand everything with them at the end but they were still a really good side couple that was surprising fleshed out for how few scenes they had being 2nd and all.

Our main couple though.... ? They were 100% where it was at during the 1st half of the show. Rolling on the floor laughing antics during one of the storylines. And a couple scenes to make you blush during that time too ?

Later though their story kinda goes off the rails and you start talking to the screen about things like "just write a diary!" and "where's that journal?" and "seriously???? You're just going to stand there and not at least try and run?"

For a full and complete breakdown of rating the show...

7/10 - eps 1-3
10/10 - eps 4-12
8/10 - eps 13-18(eps 14 6/10 for editing confusion)
5/10 - eps 19-25

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Excellent Start then Depressing and Left Question What and Why?

While not being EXACTLY the same in any way, it has a very similar trope and 3 act structure to Hard To Find which is makes it very difficult not to compare it itself to. No spoilers similarities have the story broken up into three acts: amnesia present, past, remembered present.

The strongest arc is "amnesia present" and could absolutely be watched as a stand-alone of people who don't remember each other falling in love. Their time together was glorious to watch, even with the knowledge that "something" more in the story happens in past and with (at that time) no knowledge of what happens after this "end scene". As a stand alone it would be unfinished but still solid enough you could fill in the blanks with what you think happened in the past /will happen in the future.

The next arc, The Past, takes you back to have more understanding. It was good but not "quite" to the degree of the first arc. It seemed as though the original romance in the past was "missing" something, mostly just time to show their feelings more slowly developing as well as lingering questions about the mythology surrounding what happens on the screen. That said, it was still GOOD overall. Part of the emotional investment comes from knowing what happens, having seen parts of it in first episode, and then watching every interaction with hidden knowledge of what's to come. It leaves you on the edge of your seat wanting to watch the screen through your fingers. The final end of this arc was rather abrupt and there was essentially NO transition between it and the final arc which was jarring. However, again, you could theoretically stop watching at this ending and fill in final blanks yourself and have a semi-satisfying ending.

Where everything falls apart is the last arc. Beginning with the no adequate transistion between arc 2 and arc 3 the entire editing process becomes a mess of trying to figure out what's happening on the screen and WHY. Conversations attempt to explain but feel like they refer to things you haven't watched, scenes are cut off and then the next scene begins causing you to rewind to make sure you didn't miss something, and characters start to have their "final thought transformations" so to speak (where they make up their mind to do one thing or another) but your left scratching your head on WHY they changed. As for the main leads, there are decisions that can only be said to be NOBLE IDIOCY on steroids. These decisions lead to an ending that makes you ask yourself AGAIN what just happened and fail when you try and see a bright side. It is very easy to say the last arc NEEDED at least 3-5 more episodes of scenes spread out to give every character the needed story wrap-up and follow-through to make the journey more satisfying and logical.

Aside from the editing issues with the story, I need to make note of the use of CGI and music.

While the actual music wasn't bad most of the time (pretty actually), it is VERY jarring to see someone playing a flute and HEAR a piano solo or piano/violin piece.

Secondly, the cgi was AWFUL. To the degree many scenes using it had the look that they could have been edited on one's phone using free editing software. For many scenes it was distracting but it didn't really get in the way and was good for an eye roll. There is one scene however where NO, it absolutely ruins the scene and I'm almost mad that such an emotional scene had such cheap effects slapped on top of it.

Act 1: 9/10
Act 2: 8/10
Act 3: 6/10
Final verdict 7.5/10

In the end I WILL recommend this but with a heavy warning of depressing themes and traumatic events playing out on the screen like watching a train wreck and that you WILL end the show with questions and probably not be satisfied with every characters individual arc ending.

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Pretty Show w/ Rushed Ending

This show was definitely pretty. Pretty sets, pretty overlay / scene change screens, pretty (and varied) costumes, and of course... pretty actors ??‍♀️. One of it's positives is that it also had above average cgi for being a mini drama (I have absolutely seen worse cgi in full length shows, let alone what's normally shown in minis).

Actors/Actresses that stand out:

Zhong LiLi as Shang You will possibly make you want to slap her or strangle her for how dumb and naive she is she is at certain points of the show. Not EVERY one who says they will help you has your best interests at heart girl...

Guan Yue as Si Yuan was amazing to watch for multiple reasons. One, he CAN act and he CAN emote. This show required him to NOT do that and I swear the director told him "no, stop, too much, more stone face...." The fact he has expressions and "acts" well later in the show after he would HAVE emotions makes me convinced this is the fact. His scenes of self-punishment were ? and his white-hair transformation was ?.
Yin Rui as Feng Shancha was a VERY complex character that had you feeling bad for her one second and wanting to kill her yourself the next. She obviously has a good ability to elicit emotions with her face. She has a trigger warning scene happen TO her.

The plot... tries. It starts out clear and focused but as it goes on it slowly begins to devolve until we get to the last couple episodes where they cram way too much plot into too little run time. This causes characters to flip suddenly, threads to drop completely, and sudden final reveals to lose their emotional impact because they come from nowhere. Warning, you will NEVER find out WHY the ML was blind and near the FL in the 1st episode ?‍♀️.

Honestly, the show needed to be 30 episodes at least to better develop that ending.

Finally, the original title is 3 Lives Without Sorrow and it's "obviously" supposed to be a 3 lives show but don't bother trying to scratch your head trying to count which "life" they're on; it won't make sense. We'll, maybe it will... another user said this show is "basically" a mini-drama version of TTEOTM but I've yet to see that yet so can't say what the parallels are.

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There are better and worse minis out there

Reasons to watch this show:
You are a fan of any of the actors/actresses
You feel a need to watch ALL transported into a comic minis
You want a transmigration HEA show

Reasons to pass on this one:
The logic makes NO sense
They cast a kissing king in a show where they CAN'T kiss ??
The 2nd ML storyline will make you roll your eyes
The "main" villian is easily guessed once you realize logic has flown out the window

Overall, if you're bored and looking to watch this on 2x speed it won't take long; but if you're one of those who has to watch on regular speed, good luck.

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Red Flag FL Seeks Revenge By Pitting Brothers Against Eachother In Love.

This was quite the ride! It absolutely lived up to my expectations for YZX more than Unspeakable Longing did ?. It kept me glued to my screen each night as midnight rolled around, having me just waiting for the SINGLE episode a day to update. Anyone watching it later now that it's done airing just won't have "quite" the same nail-biting experience.

The Negatives...
This show screams for wanting MORE. Episodes are roughly 10 minutes disregarding opening/closing ost themes and plot points are quickly moved along from one to the next. Often people end up complaining about side character development full length shows so if you are one of those you'd likely appreciate the direct approach of focusing almost strictly on the singular plot line but personally I found myself wanting to know EVERYTHING about everyone... I wanted to know how she grew up, I wanted to know more about the brother's father and the conflicts with his wives, about the grandmother (and slap her), and probably most importantly MORE about the struggle with YZX character Yeting and the Crown Prince.

That said... there aren't really any major dangling plot threads regarding any of these issues, you get told a bare bones story enough to piece together all the backstory you need for the characters and their motivations to make sense. I just KNOW there's more story there that didn't have time to be told though so it was an unfulfilled want.

The biggest reason this becomes a "negative" is because it hinders the romantic triangle to a small degree. Focus is placed on her with one character then switches them back and forth again until I had a harder time believing there were actual feeling between her and Muran than I did her and Yeting. Additional scenes of her alone, conflicted in her room perhaps hashing out her TRUE feelings with her maid might have helped sway the audience one way or another but then, perhaps that's exactly WHY those scenes don't exist?

Which leads me to, The Positives...
First, while vastly different stories, similar to L&BF this show relies on only two songs to convey the depth of varied emotions playing on screen. The majority of the ending OSTs are the female led song with only a few, impactful instances of the male led song. This change-up of the songs is actually one reason to NOT watch the final FULL VERSION whenever it comes out as they will inevitably cut out the end credits and those changes will lose their punch-to-the-gut impact.

Both songs portray a sad, lingering and emotional love full of conflict. Different portions of the songs play different lyrics over various scenes to better convey the emotions on screen at the time, milking those songs for every drop of emotion. Both have been added to my Playlist but I've especially listened to the male sung one on repeat as the despair in his voice is POWERFUL.

The characters here are not "cookie-cutter" and all three display actions going against their conflicting emotional state. Each character has their own self-interests and it becomes addicting trying to unravel WHY they do something when it seemingly won't benefit them and instead will only hurt them.

Our FL is known as "Ban Meng" to the MLs. Her goal is straight and simple in theory, but when does anything simple ever actually turn out such? Her background turns her into a conniving "Green Tea B*tch" type character as she sets out to purposefully manipulate the MLs for her revenge.

Rather than ML/2ML I'm going to label the brother's ML 1 and ML 2 and strictly go off age (older brother/younger brother).

ML1 is the older brother Yeting played by Yan Zi Xian. He is initially portrayed on the screen as cold, unfeeling, and utterly ruthless. He represents overly ambitious Red Flag characters but the story does well as it moves along to paint him as more than one dimensional. He is a Lion.

ML2 is the younger brother Muran played by Zhao Huan Ran. His initial appearance has him portrayed as youthful, carefree, and innocent. The opposite of his brother, he is originally made to represent an unambitious and Laissez-faire, Green Flag character. He is "a Golden Retriever raised by Foxes" type mix.

The revenge ending was short but concluded and wrapped up completely. The loveline ending was longer, devoting 1 1/2 episodes to resolving who, if any one, she ends up with and why.

Final verdict: 9/10 personally

Majority should find it good enough it rate an 8+/10 as it keeps you guessing and the chemistry is FIRE! ???

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This Short OTT Angsty Trope-packed Melodrama Won't Be For Everyone

This series will absolutely stand as either a love it or hate it type series for most viewers. The synopsis is just detailed enough to entice a viewer but honestly if only going off the official synopsis you'll be blindsided by the truly toxic relationship Gu Yi (Luo Zheng) and Qiao Jing (He Rui Xian) have developed over their three year time together.

From the first episode tropes are thrown at the screen in record numbers. It would not suprise me in the slightest if the writer began this project with a sheet of paper detailing a list of tropes and put a check mark next to each one each time one was used. This makes for an over the top and highly dramatic show that has the viewer wondering if they even want any of the characters to even survive the shows ending, let alone have a Happy Ending.

Tonal shifts among episodes zigzag back and forth to the point of whiplash, especially in the first half of the series. Reality is thrown out the window as we have a front row seat to a ML who defies logic of having had a heart transplant as he eats and drinks whatever he wants and even runs miles after being hospitalized so he can see the FL. By the last four episodes though, even with the dramatic events still occurring and needing to be uncovered, the tone definitely shifts to being more easy-going and uplifting instead of leaving you with heart-pounding anxiety.

Characters:

Gu Yi - Beginning the show he starts as a stereotype of a possessive, self-entitled, mentally ill male lead and descends into stalking and emotionally blackmailing QJ to force her return to his side. He goes through several trials in his effort to redeem himself, failing in his sincerity until his ultimate fall allows him to prove he is capable of more.

Qiao Jing - This is definitely a complicated woman and if anything I wish the show could have been longer to have explored her emotional turmoil more. When she walks out on GY the first time you want to cheer after what she's gone through. When she drags her suitcase back each time something happens and she gives in it hurts. The criticism though comes from the drama being as short as it is and not allowing enough time to fully showcase her feelings of turmoil between Gu Yi/Su Juan/Bai Yun.

Bai Yun - The first third 2nd ML, BY is the foil to GY. His strength is his kindness and patience and he is willing to take a punch and go toe to toe to protect QJ from GY. Unfortunately, once he defeated as a rival he literally disappears from the drama never to be seen or mentioned again. This leads the viewer to unintentionally wonder if he will pop up again in the plot but this doesn't occur.

Bai Yan - The 2nd FL, BY is the childhood friend of GY and is a renown pianist. Returning home their families arrange the marriage of the two and she is over joyed. Her actions within the show have severe consequences and she is sent to prison just before the 2/3 mark. Both ML and FL refuse to forgive her to the very end but FL does accept her apology letter in last episode which may infuriate the viewer.

Su Juan - The catalyst for QJ seeking out GY originally is the mistaken thought he carried Su Juan's heart inside him. Overall most plot holes within the series have to due with this character. Again, more episodes could have allowed for him to develop further. He has a very minor arc with Bai Yan due to time restrictions on episode count that I wanted to see more of, especially in conflict with QJ. Because of the lack of time to develop scenes the viewer is sometimes left with doubt as to what his actual emotion is or if he is acting in a particular situation.

Fang Pei (GY mother) - Stereotyped and needed more time to truly showcase a change of heart, especially towards QJ. However, at the very least with this character the writers were able to find a way to express her true feelings during a scene with both GY and QJ mother's getting drunk together. Here we finally see that her opinions on the relationship haven't truly 100% changed, she just loves her son enough that she's given up fighting. Especially after the "other option" of BY is no longer socially or morally acceptable to her. In the penultimate scene of the series she tells her side of the events surrounding Su Juan and it will probably have you rolling your eyes in disbelief.

Zhou Yue - As a supporting character always by Gu Yi's side his relationships to and with everyone appear to almost be made deliberately vague. Bai Yan refers to him as her brother despite having differing last names and he refers to Bai mom as Auntie. His story development at the end of the last couple episodes makes for one of the least punished characters as his lawsuit had been dropped and Gu Yi is seen having a beer with him and calling him brother even as ZY is letting him know he's turning himself in. Honestly, he needed at least a minute or twos worth of time within the show to have focused more on his facial expressions. That or have switched the actor to someone more nuanced with microexpressions. Then maybe every thing would be slightly more believable from a viewers point of view.

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The Sopping Wet Cat vs Girlbosses

Premise: A modern girl wakes up in the body of a timid, sopping wet cat, bathhouse worker who longs for the princess from afar. Her mission, get the arrogant princess to marry him.

The Twist: Rather than a "simple" body switch or body take-over, this show brings forth The Chair! Whoever sits in the chair controls the body ?. What could POSSIBLY go wrong when two heterosexual people of opposite genders BOTH control a male body?

Overall this was a very unserious show that had a lot of funny moments. The ending was both glaringly obvious AND semi-unique.

As for the cast, Wang Ze Xuan does a crazy good job imitating Chen Fang Tong's expressions and mannerisms when "she" is in control. He has to play such drastically different personalities that it really shows his skills off. As for Chen Fang Tong... She is the audience personified in many scenes. Taking advantage when she can her delight over causing mischief for him to clean up is just fun and addictive to watch.

8.5/10
(Plot holes and rushed sub plot ending nicks some points)

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Started Out Strong, Becomes Unintentional Comedy

I knew going in there was no way this was going to be a full red flag drama and also had an "idea" about "a" possible ending so I was essentially going in to this with eyes wide open.

I liked much of the first part for what it was, including the jaunt into the village.

Where it broke down for ME was the seeming plothole 2nd cpl love story (maybe scenes were cut idk) and then the brain melting episodes 24-27. I had to literally force myself NOT to rate the entire show lower than a 5 JUST based on those few episodes alone.

But then they gave us episode 28 and it was hilarious to me. I don't think I was supposed to find it funny but I did...

The final episodes made a run for giving me the title of most inappropriate laughter during a show but whatever, at least I didn't want to actively turn the show off during them.

So what is this show? Who is this show for?

This is a baseline popcorn drams you can watch without paying attention to half of what's going on and still understand. It has a deep message it wants to convey and for those it resonates with it will hit hard... but for the most part everyone else will roll their eyes.

I'm not going to say it's not worth your time to watch it... just be aware of what you're getting before jumping in so you're not disappointed.

Full Episode Rating Breakdown:
Initial Set-up - first 5 eps 10/10
Repairing the screen, the hunt, the village - 6-18 8.5/10
Return and Downfall - 19-23 7.5/10 (mostly for plothole reasons with 2nd Cpl)
Qingzhou 1 - 24-27 2/10 Burn these episodes with fire specifically - I could have sworn this lasted more episodes based on how slow they felt, but nope.
? - 28 8.5/10
Qingzhou 2 - 29-31 7/10 People are introduced JUST to die ? FUN!
Final Episode - 32 8.5/10

Final Rating 7/10

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Ultimate Comfort Drama

This entire show was beginning to end so sugary sweet it's amazing that the viewing audience isn't given immediate diabetes. This story follows the main leads as well as their friend group from their first year of high school through university, entering the work force and ultimately marriage and having a child by the last episode. It made for an experience where each and every episode my lips were unconsciously smiling or even giggling.

As for the relationships, you could not go wrong with either RangRang OR Gu Ran as your life partner. Both showed complete devotion and I just wish we'd also been shown Gu Ran proposing but we just have to be content knowing it was literally only a simple matter of finding a "proper" time.

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How Do You PROVE You Love Someone?

First, I can absolutely understand why this show would not be a favorite, or even liked by some people. It does require it's own form of alternate universe rules that end up being a common issue with any show dealing with mental health in China. Because of this there are quite a few negatives that some people will not be able to look past and I can respectfully understand this.

For instance, the oversimplification of saying Meng Hui has PTSD and not really mentioning anything about DID (or even an outdated MPD) can give people the wrong idea about what her issues actually are. However, I can honestly overlook this pretty easily as the DID is a symptom of the PTSD where she dissociates to the extreme.

Next people would bring up that the characters in the show ALL bend over backwards to give in to her delusions even having her run the ML's company despite having no actual knowledge of how to do this. Yes, this makes for a bit of an eye-roll but at the same time the STORY explains in a way why THEY choose to do this. People point out that it is stupid and the ML does not care. There are indeed people like this in real life. Is it illogical by "most" standards, yes; but it's still within the realm of possibility for people to like a person so much and want them to get better so much that they will go along with these plots.

As for the story itself, there are small little mottos/morals that often relate to the show themes and make-up at the end of each episode. I loved these as they were often very good words of wisdom. For instance, one of my favorites was Ep 17's "If the foundation isn't laid down well, any attempt at repair will only be a facade to cover it up."

Shen Yi / Meng Hui - Our main characters, these two are the most "obviously" broken to the outside world. Our ML is rich, has a rich father, and yet the first time he and FL meet on a bus he quibbles over $0.20 because swiping a bus card is $1.80 but paying cash is $2.00 so he will only reimburse her the $1.80. He starts out miserly to an absurd degree but this is good in a way that it allows the viewers a chance to see his character growth over the course of the show with how Meng Hui changes him for the better. Meanwhile, our FL is honestly a Mary Sue with a "flaw". Even the show admits this though as there is a conversation the couple have at one point where she talks about there being no such thing as a 100% perfect girl, so she was given the scar as a way to remove that 1% and make her a 99% girl. Their obstacles are her scar and the past. Questions about guilt vs love, taking responsibility for ones actions, saying you forgive someone vs ACTUALLY forgiving someone, fears of future resentment, being a burden to the other party, communication break-down and secrets.

The other characters in the story are also flawed and each has a small story so even if the main couple isn't the most attractive for you, there might be interest still in finding out about Jiang Jiang/ Ah Tao, Sui An/ Wei Lei , or you "might" even count ML Dad/step-mom as a very minor side-story couple.

Shen Yi / Sui An (bromance) - If you want a show with good bromance on a deep friendship level, the bond between Shen Yi and Sui An will ABSOLUTELY do it for you. Without giving away spoilers, there is a crying scene with these two in it near the end that will tear your heart out if you have been enjoying their relationship throughout the show. If anything could be a negative, I wish the spent even five more minutes on their relationship to give it that final polish of depth regarding their past, but easily 9.5/10 as is.

Jiang Jiang / Ah Tao - ML's assistant and FL's friend/therapist this is a sM/DF storyline. He is a wet puppy who was bullied in school and has a "servant's personality", while she exudes confidence and was the "Prince" of her school. They have the least amount of psychological issues to overcome which makes their relationship by far the easiest to watch. Their major obstacles are being on "opposing" sides at times and his feeling of inferiority towards her.

Sui An / Wei Lei - ML's best friend "since college" and ML's ex/FL's Best Friend ("very" minor spoiler) start out as a doctor/patient relationship. He is a plastic surgeon and she uses this to her advantage when she determines she likes him as she likes getting treatments. These two have honestly one of the worst relationships but who need the most out of their being together. Without giving spoilers, their issues have to do with inferiority, one person using the other, being worthy of love, guilt and a feeling of responsibility vs love, and the biggest one is probably the inability to let the other person into their head (they are a show-er not a tell-er and don't explain themselves)

All in all, this show went over a LOT for "only" having 24 episodes. Things that I personally was left still unclear on at the end were mostly past issues with the ML/ML mom/ ML dad, and weird editing with the original childhood timeline which had me questioning 1. how he didn't know her name, and 2. how long they had been talking to each other before the "incident" (this is mostly due to the scenes with she sitting down to lunch, asking mom for backpack, getting the backpack). These are all VERY minor issues for me though as they take up almost no actual time within the show, but they do seem to be plot holes.

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