I believe my love for this drama is completely biased by my own life experiences. It is so good at portraying and online community that it made me go back to my teenage years when I was really into the online community. Through different forums, such as MDL, I was able to make friends that have lasted for years, and this is something that the drama shows very beautifully and respectfully. It never ridicules the characters for playing this game so much, or for taking so seriously what happens inside it. For me this is the main selling point in this drama, but it also depends on the viewer's experience.
But having said that, let's get back to bussiness to discuss the rest of the drama.
Story:
The pacing of the story was very good. It gave itself the time to explore the virtual world and develop the characters there before focusing on their real lives. This choice shows that the drama places the same importance on both worlds. Another thing that I liked was that the story did not rely on over-the-top drama to continue its story. It was confident enough in the characters and the relationships they built to just let them flow instead of placing them in stupid misunderstandings. The main focus of the story was the characters and their relationships, not the other way around.
Characters:
Since the focus of the drama is the characters and not the story, they need to be well written to be able to pull it off. This is something that drama accomplishes in some cases but fails in other cases. My main complain in this department is definitely the development of the main female lead, Bei Wei Wei. She starts out as a very strong character with her own set of beliefs and dreams. She is also established as being very intelligent and good at playing videogames. However, as the story goes own, she completely loses agency in her story and her choices, and her life starts being all about the people she loves; she is also only praised for her beauty and her other traits are completely forgotten.
As for the male lead, Xiao Nai, he's a good character but he's also you're typical male lead. He is basically handsome, rich, successful, intelligent and good at everything. This is even brought up at some time in the drama and the only defect they come up with is that he can't cook, which is not a character flaw. This also makes him predictable, since we know he will always win.
The good thing is that they form a really good couple, and you can really see how they fit together. They are always incredibly supportive of each other, and have great communication. Neither of them are jealous and they trust their partner completely. The conflicts and dramas throughout the whole story are never between them, but something external that they need to face together, which was really refreshing in a sea of drama clichés about love triangles, secret deceases and stupid sacrifices.
This drama also has a great bench of supporting characters. The characters in the game, Xiao Nai's friends and Bei Wei Wei were a great addition. The standouts for me definitely were Old Yu and Er Xi. They are such great and funny characters and they stole every scene that they were in. I also liked the development of the relationship between KO and Hao Mei, even if it is never explicit.
Acting
I really liked the acting in this, it was really well-lived and natural. The chemistry between the leads was very good and also between all different friends. None of the performances stuck out in a bad way, even if some of the mwere slightly exaggerated for comic relief.
Overall thoughts
I really enjoyed this drama a lot, and never found it boring. Even though it lacks the usual conflicts and dramas, it never stops showing this characters relating to each other, and that's fascinating in itself. I recommend it if you have ever been part of an online community, or if you are in the mood for something fluffy and cute.
But having said that, let's get back to bussiness to discuss the rest of the drama.
Story:
The pacing of the story was very good. It gave itself the time to explore the virtual world and develop the characters there before focusing on their real lives. This choice shows that the drama places the same importance on both worlds. Another thing that I liked was that the story did not rely on over-the-top drama to continue its story. It was confident enough in the characters and the relationships they built to just let them flow instead of placing them in stupid misunderstandings. The main focus of the story was the characters and their relationships, not the other way around.
Characters:
Since the focus of the drama is the characters and not the story, they need to be well written to be able to pull it off. This is something that drama accomplishes in some cases but fails in other cases. My main complain in this department is definitely the development of the main female lead, Bei Wei Wei. She starts out as a very strong character with her own set of beliefs and dreams. She is also established as being very intelligent and good at playing videogames. However, as the story goes own, she completely loses agency in her story and her choices, and her life starts being all about the people she loves; she is also only praised for her beauty and her other traits are completely forgotten.
As for the male lead, Xiao Nai, he's a good character but he's also you're typical male lead. He is basically handsome, rich, successful, intelligent and good at everything. This is even brought up at some time in the drama and the only defect they come up with is that he can't cook, which is not a character flaw. This also makes him predictable, since we know he will always win.
The good thing is that they form a really good couple, and you can really see how they fit together. They are always incredibly supportive of each other, and have great communication. Neither of them are jealous and they trust their partner completely. The conflicts and dramas throughout the whole story are never between them, but something external that they need to face together, which was really refreshing in a sea of drama clichés about love triangles, secret deceases and stupid sacrifices.
This drama also has a great bench of supporting characters. The characters in the game, Xiao Nai's friends and Bei Wei Wei were a great addition. The standouts for me definitely were Old Yu and Er Xi. They are such great and funny characters and they stole every scene that they were in. I also liked the development of the relationship between KO and Hao Mei, even if it is never explicit.
Acting
I really liked the acting in this, it was really well-lived and natural. The chemistry between the leads was very good and also between all different friends. None of the performances stuck out in a bad way, even if some of the mwere slightly exaggerated for comic relief.
Overall thoughts
I really enjoyed this drama a lot, and never found it boring. Even though it lacks the usual conflicts and dramas, it never stops showing this characters relating to each other, and that's fascinating in itself. I recommend it if you have ever been part of an online community, or if you are in the mood for something fluffy and cute.
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