The drama Listening Snow Tower (2019) is a good Wuxia, Martial Arts, Fantasy show, but it really lacks on the romance department, especially from the leading couple, unless the viewer is looking for a couple that sustained a non-existent romantic relationship marred by the constant mistrust from the female lead towards her “lover” and protector. There are constant explanations from the supporting characters about the actions from the leading couple towards each other and constant afterthoughts and flashbacks. The story and action elements of this drama are solid, engaging, and very entertaining, but the writer plagued the story with unnecessary death of central characters. Wanting to portray the pugilistic theme as a breeder of cold, conning, and unwavering characters that keep backstabbing the Listening Snow Tower Master, the drama missed the opportunity to create a great love story, since he fell in love with the leading lady at first sight. The leading lady spent most of the drama being stubborn, undermining, and willfully misunderstanding the person that she was supposed to love. Not until the end, you get a short reprieve that allows the viewer to enjoy a nice ending. Overall, if the viewer is looking for a good action show and great supporting actors, this drama is quite entertaining. Enjoy it!

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This drama is a real disappointment compared to all of the other remakes of the Taiwanese original story “The Prince Who Turns into a Frog” with Chao Zhang as Shan Jun Hao/Dang Ou and Joe Chen as Ye Tian Yu. This drama should not be considered a remake but a spin-off. The writer and director turned a nice romantic comedy into a Slap-Kiss lakorn with no redeeming qualities since, after recovering his memory, the male lead becomes a tyrant toward the female lead all the way to almost the end of the drama. Overall, the drama lacks progressive character development, the resolutions came too fast and, even with a happy ending, it doesn't leave a satisfying feeling. If the viewer wants to see better versions of “The Prince Who Turns into a Frog”, skip this one and watch:
The Prince Who Turns into a Frog (Taiwanese original story)
Waking Love Up (Chinese remake)
Forget You Remember Love (Chinese remake)

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This drama is cute, but for been a sequel, it should’ve been done with the same actors as the first season. On this sequel the leading lady’s character is more over the top than before, but she manages to salvage her character with some profound moments, good romantic scenes, and super cute gestures. The supporting cast did really well, and Mike D'Angelo did very well on his characterization of mutant Xue Ling Qiao. At least Fingal Fu as detective Li Yan Zhi and Aro Yang as Feng Dong Dong, among a few other actors, were part of the original cast, which gave the sequel a familiar vibe. This drama is still entertaining. Enjoy it!

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This is a very nice manhwa adaptation with a story centered on the female lead Li Chang Ge (Diralba Dilmurat), which becomes a military strategist for the General, Ashile Sun (Wu Lei). As they spend time together, they formed a formidable partnership and a supportive steadfast love relationship. Although the drama excels on military strategies and well choreographs action scenes, the lead couple spends too much time apart and their romantic chemistry falls flat on most of their encounters. The other supporting couples had better chemistry and a better developed romantic relationship in the storyline [i.e. Li Le Yan (Rosy Zhao) with Hao Du (Liu Yu Ning) and Mimi Guli (Cao Xi Yue) with Nu Er (Liu Tian Bao)]. Overall, the drama is very engaging and entertaining.

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This is a philosophical drama that explores “the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct” of the main and supporting characters. Through the fantasy element of the creation of a voice activated AI apparatus, the leading man, Moon Ha Won, is comforted as he creates an application that will help patients that have gone through traumatic events as he himself has. This drama evolves in super slow motion due to the unresolved feelings of important characters which, in one way or another, get their lives entangled through their interaction with Kim Ji Soo, an ephemeral character that leaves a complex and almost disturbing experience on everyone related to her. Then, there is also the lead female character, Han Seo Woo, which on the drama’s synopsis, is described as a person with “an open and optimistic mindset, believing that all things happen for a reason”. Most of the time, Seo Woo was ridiculously unreasonable, intrusive, impulsive, and insecure. Also, she develops a bizarre connection with Kim Ji Soo just after a few brief and almost nonsensical exchanges. Although the lead couple has good chemistry, their beautiful connection and developing love is wasted by Seo Woo’s antsy feelings toward Ha Won and her constant running away from him. Overall, the producers, writers, and editors missed to bring out a meaningful drama out of a potentially great story.

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GONE WITH THE RAIN is a very entertaining drama that revolves around the two female leads, Moxi and Feng Yao which, regardless of their status within their family, they manage to develop a strong relationship that stands the wrath of court and family shenanigans, love entanglements, misunderstandings, secrets, and betrayal. The drama is very well casted and the actors did a great job bringing their characters to life. Moxi and Feng Yao fall in love with Wan Jiagui that, in spite of been deeply in love with Moxi, he relents due to his family’s pressure and status. Then, there is Chen Wen De, the “antihero” and a force to be reckoned with, that, through a series of unfortunate events, gets entangle with Moxi and falls in love with her. This drama is a rollercoaster of emotions due to the strong and steadfast relationships that are formed by these four individuals and their determination to protect each other and bringing down the criminals that threatened their lives and the country’s stability. There is also worth mentioning the refreshing aspect of Moxi’s imaginary scenarios. Overall, this drama is fantastic and worth watching.

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This is a nice sequel but the plot splits into two storylines with one having Ning Que protecting Sang Sang after her identity is discovered until she ascends into Heaven where her character becomes almost non- existent and out of main characterization, to the other storyline with Ning Que becoming the Tang Empire’s protector while he and the Academy characters take center stage battling enemies of Tang. The last episodes are wasted by Sang Sang trying to humanize the cold and vicious Goddess of Light with whom she shares spiritual energy until, at the very end, the story gives the impression that Sang Sang is going to win the spiritual battle and comes back to Ning Que. Although Dylan Wang does a good job as an older and “more mature” Ning Que, the chemistry between Ning Que and Sang Sang from the first season is amiss. The first part of this season was going well until the main characters get separated. Now, to wait for the third season and hope that Sang Sang and Ning Que will recover the strength and chemistry that their characters had on the first season. Let’s hope!

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Even though Moonlight (2023) is a very good miniseries, the subtitles and OST copyrights take away from the flow of a nice story. The leading man, Fei Ming Xuan (played by Chen Xin Hai) is about to marry Fang Min (played by Kay Song) believing that she was the girl that saved his life and kept him company through his darkest time, a case of mistaken identity which he realizes when he meets Su Xiao Xiao (played by Ke Ying). The two friends, actress Fang Min and her stuntwoman Su Xiao Xiao join hands to bring down Fei Ming Xuan to stop his arranged marriage to Fang Min who is in love with someone else. As Su Xiao Xiao gets involved with Min Xuan, she starts to realize who he really is and, after her boyfriend Tang Song, who was using her to also bring Min Xuan down, betrays her, she starts to get closer to Min Xuan and, eventually, they fall in love. This drama was good but, with a bit more time, it would have been better. The cast did a nice job bringing their characters to life and the leading couple has very good chemistry that got better once they got together. This drama is nice and entertaining.

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Great adaptation of the Japanese shōjo manga series Hana Yori Dango and, to concur with other reviews, the best so far! Not having read the manga or watched the anime, I am not sure if it is close to the original work but, having seen all five drama adaptations (Japanese-Hana Yori Dango 1 & 2, Meteor Garden- Chinese and Taiwanese, Boys Over Flowers- Korean and, F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers), this is by far the most enjoyable with characters that are not over the top and that are more relatable. The drama is fast pace and the amnesia plot, although it was present, got washed out quickly and made the ending seem rushed. The cast did a good job bringing their characters to life and the chemistry among all characters was great. The leading couple also had good chemistry. Enjoy it!

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This is a nice drama to watch while waiting for a great one to come only if you don’t mind:
A series full of misunderstandings.
A drama that, although is focused on romance, the lead male is full of justifiable distrust since the lead female is constantly doing things that will cause the lack of trust and then complaining that he doesn’t trust her.
A main couple that has a lot of tender moments but there’s no thrilling chemistry between them.
A leading lady that cannot put her thoughts together to give a reasonable explanation to each one of her actions that were causing the male lead to mistrust her.
And last, but not least, even if the drama has a happy ending, it is wasted on the male lead trying to woo her as if it wasn’t not good enough that he left everything behind to follow her.

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“Some Day or One Day” is a thrilling fantasy drama with a really nice steadfast romance that transcended time and space. The actors did a great job bringing their characters to life and the leading couple excels in making the viewer believe that there were really two different characters, especially Alice Ke as Huang Yu Xuan /Chen Yun Ru where her roles were as different as night and day. Greg Han was also fantastic on his portrayal of Wang Quan Sheng/Li Zi Wei. There is also Patrick Shi who gives a great performance as the enigmatic Mo Jun Jie; and last but not least, Yan Yu Li as the antagonist and disturbing Xie Zhi Qi | Xie Zhong Ru. The time travel plot is carried very well, although a little bit confusing at times. The only thing that could’ve been better were the romantic scenes between the leading couple while kissing, most of the time the kissing seemed forced, but they make up with their great chemistry and understanding of each other throughout the drama. This drama is really entertaining, enjoy it!

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Review for both seasons together

This is a fairly good drama. The plot had a lot of potential but the storyline between the lead couple had the same elements even though there were centuries in between each existence. The acting is good for the most part but the feelings are not well developed. Zhang Yi Jie (as Hao Yue and Lei Hao-Season 2) and Lai Yu Meng (as Princess Li Ying and Wei Yong Qian- Season 2) had a great storyline and very good chemistry. The first season was more entertaining and the characters were better developed; the CGI’s and the music were great and the action was nice. On the second season, the characters lost depth and luster due to the overused plot. Even though this is not a drama with strong re-watch value, it’s still entertaining.

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This is a very good drama with heart wrenching, funny, lovely, and heartwarming moments that does a decent job on bringing up attention about the difficulties of people dealing with OCD affliction and those around them. The actors did a great job bringing their characters to life and the lead couple has great chemistry. The drama could’ve used about two more episodes to avoid the rushed ending and to give the female lead’s character a better transition into the resolution. There is the issue with Jang Sun Gyeol’s biological father that could’ve played nicely if the audience would’ve had, at least, some flashback information. Since melodramatic moments are built upon misunderstandings, this drama chose to use the “let’s hurt the person I love so he/she will leave me” instead of telling the truth and still leave that person if there is no way to fix the situation. Also, Gil Oh Sol could have been given more strength and determination to love Jang Sun Gyeol, but regardless of these, the drama is really nice and the main cast did very well, enjoy it!

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