Underrated 'Whirlwind of Emotions' Coming of Age Drama
First of all, I came watching this drama without any expectation, so I never expected it to be this deep. I also considered this drama to be a whole new one, rather than complete adaptation. Yes, the characters & main events are similar, but it's a loose adaptation so,I will not tell my comment abt the comparisons with its predecessors.
Here's my thoughts :
❤Story Wise : 9/10. I love how they made this drama's pace to be relaxing, full of warm vibes with still some 'intense' conflicts that can be solved in a few episodes. The only problem is that, I felt a really long drags on the middle. It'd be perfect if they just cut out unnecessary scenes and made it into a 30 episodes drama. The interval scenes (that showed city's / their campus's scenery as their indications of the settings) were boring & repetitive too.
The overall plotline of seeing our characters grew up and fought for their dreams in professional classical music world as a milenial generation , made this drama into a coming of age drama with a bit sprinkle of slice of life and romcom.
BUT, I also want to address one of the biggest turn off in the story line. It's how they brought up the leads relationship. People, it was not healthy at all! Pls don't follow their relationship as an example.Xiaowo & Zhen Yan's problems mostly lies on their lack of mutual trust, understanding & communication. How can one continue their relationship if they still hide their feelings and events that are important to be told?!
Like how Zhen Yan always hided the fact that he performed with Song Ran, resulting in Xiaowo's never ending saga of crying over him. Boy, you got numerous chances to tell her, why it has to be someone else to tell you that she's hurt? It was painful to see someone's happiness robbed out just bcs they love their loved ones unconditionally. Yes, Xiaowo's love and obsession over him was not healthy too, but his actions were also not right.
❤Actings : 9/10. I love how they made a whole new traits from our characters. I felt their chemistry and sweetness between every couples, but I must say the minus 1 point goes to every cameo actors that acted very cringe. The mainleads and supporting actors were awesome too.
However, small things that I must add too is how Lin Yun acted as Xiaowo really reminded me of her play as Xiangqin in "Fall in Love At First Kiss". She still brought up her 'Kotoko vibe' and for me it was a little bothering me. Even if they have similar traits as a girl who only set eyes with one guy, they should have different upbeings. I also felt that Lin Yun has 'no soul' when she was playing piano, a complete different than how Zhang Xincheng played piano or conducted the orchestra.
❤Cinematography : 4/10. WORST shots and angles I've ever seen in C-Dramas. I'm sorry but it was one of the biggest reason why some people said that this drama lack of emotions. It's not the music pieces choice. It's not the actors fault. For me the biggest hole in this drama is how they shot, edited & packed it.
I understand there are few movies & series esp in Comedy genre that used 'shaky & sudden zooming in' shots (I'm sorry I don't know what's the name of it), like in "Brooklyn 99" or "Bad Trip". They matched the tones and it's okay to use the techniques in that situation. But, for a romance drama like this, it was the worst decision to use that technique. I even felt dizzy on many scenes esp on dialogues when the characters are sitting still, but the cameras went shaky and the actors even missed the frame a few times. Feel free to correct me tho..
❤Music : For the classical music pieces choice 9/10. They picked the musical pieces really well. It's refreshing how they introduced each of its pieces with their own history & background, and it matched the story line and conflicts. I don't have any problems with the pieces. I even cheered, shouted and cried every time the characters had a gig/concert/recital/competition. My favourite would be the first concert of S Orchestra. The only problem I scored the overall music is 7,5/10 was bcs the actual OST. I don't remember any of them at all. Nothing worth to remember actually.
❤Another things that I love :
- Loveable & memorable characters like Master Fisher (the mysterious, very wise, tactical, high pride but warm grand master) and Father Qin (the warmest, selfless & kindest character, father of RS Orchestra), Teacher Zhang (one of the most important person behind Xiaowo's progress, teacher that was willing to change for his student).
- Characters development : Hands down, one of the best characters development I've ever seen in C-Drama. You can see the difference and how they grew up overtime. The most noticeable would be the leads, Cia Wei & Qin Fen. Even the teachers were willing to change and 'grow up' to be more wise too.
❤Valuable Lessons : Love yourself before you can love someone else, stop wandering and start working on your dreams, don't push yourself too hard. There will always be rainbow after the storm, there's no use of cheating as it'd only bring you nightmares & guilts. Most importantly, believe and be confident in yourself!
❤Overall thoughts : Watch it! It's gonna be a hit or miss drama too. But I can guarantee if you love classical music, music & youth dramas like "Dream High" or "Swing Girls" you will enjoy this as much as I do. You will also relate on some scenes and felt the rollercoaster of emotions esp on the last 5 episodes. So, yeah, just be open minded, don't compare it, and enjoy the ride!
Would rate it 8/10!
P.S. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not going to rewatch the entire drama, as it's too stressful, dragging on some episodes and attracted complex emotions. But yeah, maybe I'll watch some cute scenes of the leads.
Here's my thoughts :
❤Story Wise : 9/10. I love how they made this drama's pace to be relaxing, full of warm vibes with still some 'intense' conflicts that can be solved in a few episodes. The only problem is that, I felt a really long drags on the middle. It'd be perfect if they just cut out unnecessary scenes and made it into a 30 episodes drama. The interval scenes (that showed city's / their campus's scenery as their indications of the settings) were boring & repetitive too.
The overall plotline of seeing our characters grew up and fought for their dreams in professional classical music world as a milenial generation , made this drama into a coming of age drama with a bit sprinkle of slice of life and romcom.
BUT, I also want to address one of the biggest turn off in the story line. It's how they brought up the leads relationship. People, it was not healthy at all! Pls don't follow their relationship as an example.Xiaowo & Zhen Yan's problems mostly lies on their lack of mutual trust, understanding & communication. How can one continue their relationship if they still hide their feelings and events that are important to be told?!
Like how Zhen Yan always hided the fact that he performed with Song Ran, resulting in Xiaowo's never ending saga of crying over him. Boy, you got numerous chances to tell her, why it has to be someone else to tell you that she's hurt? It was painful to see someone's happiness robbed out just bcs they love their loved ones unconditionally. Yes, Xiaowo's love and obsession over him was not healthy too, but his actions were also not right.
❤Actings : 9/10. I love how they made a whole new traits from our characters. I felt their chemistry and sweetness between every couples, but I must say the minus 1 point goes to every cameo actors that acted very cringe. The mainleads and supporting actors were awesome too.
However, small things that I must add too is how Lin Yun acted as Xiaowo really reminded me of her play as Xiangqin in "Fall in Love At First Kiss". She still brought up her 'Kotoko vibe' and for me it was a little bothering me. Even if they have similar traits as a girl who only set eyes with one guy, they should have different upbeings. I also felt that Lin Yun has 'no soul' when she was playing piano, a complete different than how Zhang Xincheng played piano or conducted the orchestra.
❤Cinematography : 4/10. WORST shots and angles I've ever seen in C-Dramas. I'm sorry but it was one of the biggest reason why some people said that this drama lack of emotions. It's not the music pieces choice. It's not the actors fault. For me the biggest hole in this drama is how they shot, edited & packed it.
I understand there are few movies & series esp in Comedy genre that used 'shaky & sudden zooming in' shots (I'm sorry I don't know what's the name of it), like in "Brooklyn 99" or "Bad Trip". They matched the tones and it's okay to use the techniques in that situation. But, for a romance drama like this, it was the worst decision to use that technique. I even felt dizzy on many scenes esp on dialogues when the characters are sitting still, but the cameras went shaky and the actors even missed the frame a few times. Feel free to correct me tho..
❤Music : For the classical music pieces choice 9/10. They picked the musical pieces really well. It's refreshing how they introduced each of its pieces with their own history & background, and it matched the story line and conflicts. I don't have any problems with the pieces. I even cheered, shouted and cried every time the characters had a gig/concert/recital/competition. My favourite would be the first concert of S Orchestra. The only problem I scored the overall music is 7,5/10 was bcs the actual OST. I don't remember any of them at all. Nothing worth to remember actually.
❤Another things that I love :
- Loveable & memorable characters like Master Fisher (the mysterious, very wise, tactical, high pride but warm grand master) and Father Qin (the warmest, selfless & kindest character, father of RS Orchestra), Teacher Zhang (one of the most important person behind Xiaowo's progress, teacher that was willing to change for his student).
- Characters development : Hands down, one of the best characters development I've ever seen in C-Drama. You can see the difference and how they grew up overtime. The most noticeable would be the leads, Cia Wei & Qin Fen. Even the teachers were willing to change and 'grow up' to be more wise too.
❤Valuable Lessons : Love yourself before you can love someone else, stop wandering and start working on your dreams, don't push yourself too hard. There will always be rainbow after the storm, there's no use of cheating as it'd only bring you nightmares & guilts. Most importantly, believe and be confident in yourself!
❤Overall thoughts : Watch it! It's gonna be a hit or miss drama too. But I can guarantee if you love classical music, music & youth dramas like "Dream High" or "Swing Girls" you will enjoy this as much as I do. You will also relate on some scenes and felt the rollercoaster of emotions esp on the last 5 episodes. So, yeah, just be open minded, don't compare it, and enjoy the ride!
Would rate it 8/10!
P.S. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not going to rewatch the entire drama, as it's too stressful, dragging on some episodes and attracted complex emotions. But yeah, maybe I'll watch some cute scenes of the leads.
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