Bittersweet 'Unrequited Love'

OVERALL:
I've never felt the need to leave reviews in the dramas I've liked because a lot of people naturally liked it but I've noticed that this is one of the dramas I've liked where I've seen a lot of mixed reviews. I hope that if ever someone decides to watch this in the near future, they would stumble upon my review and give it a try. I believe that the people who will resonate with this drama the most is someone who's been in an unrequited love for so long. If you're looking for lighthearted fun, this is not the drama for you so please don't have high expectations in that regard. I will be combining what I like and dislike about this drama as I discuss the characters.

MAIN CHARACTERS:

"Luo Zhi loves Sheng Huainan. No one knows about it."

Luo Zhi is my favorite character in this drama. She's smart, elegant, witty, has backbone, and she does not look desperate despite being in a long term unrequited love with the male lead. As someone who was also in an unrequited love, I've felt her character's moments the most. The scenes where she imagined a lot of things, her being heartbroken, and always questioning the male lead's intention was something that I've experienced as well. I understand how it can be annoying to those viewers who'd rather want her to be straightforward. My favorite line from her in this drama is "Sheng Huainan, I like you! That is the only truth in my heart!" so much raw emotion from that scene and that was the first time I've cried as I watched this drama.

However, as much as I like Luo Zhi, I've felt annoyance in some of her scenes. One of this is when Sheng Huainan was called out by Ye Zhanyan to eat and she saw her hands on his pocket. It's a shame that she overthinks too much because this, I believe, is what's blocking their relationship the most in this drama. If only she could open her heart more, if only she could try explaining herself more, most of these situations wouldn't happen.

"Sheng Huainan loves Luo Zhi. Everyone in the world knows it."

Sheng Huainan, despite being the usual "perfect" male lead, was a bit of a surprise for me. I love that we've seen his moments why he's being called a "God" because obviously, being rich is not enough to fall in love with a male character. I love that I've seen in this drama where he has opened his heart to his roommates, his internal struggle of keeping his perfect facade, and how he is having trouble communicating with people. I've thought he was too stiff because of Luo Zhi's memories of him but when he slowly let go of his image, he was extremely cute with the female lead. There's so much chemistry between that even just them looking straight at each other is enough to make me squeal.

Same as Luo Zhi, even though there are charming qualities to him, his weakness in communicating was also his block to achieving a good relationship. Yes, he was used to not showing his imperfection to others but he should've been more open to Luo Zhi in regards to family problems. You don't need to tell her everything but it wouldn't hurt to give her an idea. I understand the logic of not wanting to make it difficult for the people you love and how detrimental it is for them to be involved with you right now but lying is not the right way, bro. Because he kept these things to himself and ended up disappearing again, he gives the female lead mixed signals. Do you trust her or not?

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:

Overall, I loved all the supporting characters. Luo Zhi and Huainan's roommates are the best and I love how supportive they are of the main characters. They each have their own story and although it wasn't shown, I am glad that they all had their own mini endings. I think this is one of the dramas where I genuinely cared how each character ended up including the antagonists of the story. They all had their annoying moments, childish moments, happy moments but that's the pinnacle of youth, you don't get to be mature just by growing up. You have to experience different things in order to achieve the kind of growth that you will be proud of. I am proud of the characters of this story. At least, we've seen some character development.

THE UGLY:

If there's anything that lighthearted drama fans wouldn't like about this is that it takes a long time before the main characters end up with each other. It's a slowburn romance but there's a lot of chasing, frustrating moments, and misunderstandings. It's definitely not for everyone but if you're already halfway the drama, I still believe it's worth the watch.

"She'll wait for me."

"I'll wait for him."

I was made aware of the fact that there will be a timeskip as I've read some reviews here before continuing the drama but good heavens, I did not expect the timeskip to be 5 years. I was here typing this review at 4 AM in the morning and woke up my mom by shouting "What the duck, Sheng Huainan, 5 freaking years?!" I was cussing at him in different languages because yes, Luo Zhi will wait for you, but Huainan that's already abusing her love. You need to give her a reason why she has to wait because in reality, most people won't just stay out of love for you. Excuse my language but it is stupid that he left without saying anything to Luo Zhi. I understand how you only want to show your strong self, the Huainan that Luo Zhi looked up to, but Luo Zhi's not just someone you courted, she is your girlfriend.

I have asked my boyfriend how could he do this to her but he also has the same thoughts as Huainan, he can't bear for her to be with someone who she doesn't deserve and at the moment, he wants himself to be better. I still can't understand the logic but I've shared this to others to understand how Huainan has arrived at that conclusion. I still do not agree but I guess, to each his own.

Still, I admire that he has built a start-up company, something that he can be proud to show-off at the end.

THE ENDING:
It's unsatisfactory in a sense that we don't see what happens next but after all that happened, you can already imagine what endings the main characters deserve. I would like to think that we have reached a positive conclusion even though there's no verbal confirmation from the leads. And as Sheng Huainan said, isn't it romantic if it does not have an end?

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To Take Troubles At Heart

OVERALL:

I don't know what's with Ba Yue Chang An novels that make me ugly cry so much. I've watched tons of dramas since 2002 but I guess this one was as relatable as Unrequited Love that it hurts me to see these characters struggle. If you're looking for a good youth drama that can make your heart flutter, this is it. I love the friendship the characters have in this drama. However, I would like to leave a warning that towards the end, it gets a bit darker and you might be surprised by the sudden 180. Nevertheless, I believe this is still one of the dramas I would recommend to new watchers.

THE CHARACTERS:

GENG GENG is one of the usual female leads we get in school dramas. She's "dumb" (although I believe science classes is just not for her, she's average/good with literature or art related subjects), bubbly, and has that iconic bob cut we always see in our tracksuit-wearing leads. What makes Geng Geng different from other leads was shown exactly in that part where she was asked by Yu Huai's mom to leave her son alone. She did not just quietly accept that, she told his mom exactly what she needs to hear. I totally admired her during that moment. She's very empathetic and she's the balance between our lovely female friendship trio. Geng Geng's strength is her straightforwardness and bravery.

YU HUAI is smart but he's not a genius. He's only good with science/math subjects but lacks in anything art-related. He's the total opposite of Geng Geng and that's what makes them a cute pair. He likes to play tricks. He plays computer games. He even cuts classes because he's too lazy to teach. He gets dejected when he gets bad results. He gets jealous. He's not the perfect male lead you expect him to and you know what? It's great that we get such realistic people in dramas. He was the most relatable character for me.

GENG GENG YU HUAI complement each other. What the other lacks, the other has it. You know they like each other. You see that in the first episode. You wonder, why don't they just confess? It's because they don't need to. Both of them know what the other feels. It's so painfully obvious yet I can't get frustrated because I know these two are just students who's trying to pass their exams. You watch them get jealous, do mistakes, and misunderstand each other. They reminded me of Luo Zhi and Sheng Huainan who lacked communication but I'm glad they pulled through in the end. My headcanon is that Yu Huai finally achieves what he's supposed to after all those years together with Geng Geng by his side.

The 10 year gap was a bit of a shock to me. I think it would be good if it was extended for a few episodes but I guess the point was to have an open ending. Some people think that the logical pick would be Xing He which I totally agree with. Who wouldn't? He was there for 10 years, waiting for the time that Geng Geng will finally be able to let go. But I can tell you that when it comes to love, you do the dumbest thing. Xing He wasn't the person in her heart, it was Yu Huai all along. I think it's totally unfair for him to be married to her without her being 100% into it. It's sucky that she did that to hurt Yu Huai and I wished we could see her apologize sincerely but time was running out in the last episode.

I guess that's my only problem in the drama, the last episodes were too short to highlight things that could've been highlighted. We only heard Yu Huai's struggles and did not experience/watch any of it which makes his backstory kinda cheap. It sounded like an excuse. I don't have any questions with what he experienced. It was unfortunate and he was unlucky. However, an episode totally focusing on his struggles could've been a good episode before or after they met again. Overall, I'm still satisfied with this drama and Zhenhua students will have a special place in my heart.

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