cnguyen1031
STORY: I'm honestly not sure if drama was originally it's own story or if it was based off something else (a book/etc. Not specifically ISWAK), but I don't think anyone can disagree that there are some major similarities between this story and ISWAK.
**Similarities to ISWAK**
- Male Lead: Super smart (Always first in school), very attractive and popular, relatively cold personality. - Even the same surname as the TW version of ISWAK (Jiang ?) and even aesthetically he was super tall (actually the same height as Joe Cheng from ISWAK).
-Female Lead: Not very smart, but very positive personality. Bright and hardworking (when she wants to be). Places very high value on friendship and family. Somewhat obsessively in love with the male lead for the brunt of the drama.
-Many plot similarities (especially when they are in high school), but I don't want to ruin anything for anyone
If it WAS meant to be ISWAK but with a twist, I'm honestly all for it. One of the things that I really enjoyed (in comparison to ISWAK) is how strong of a person the female lead becomes. Even with all of the negatives that occur, Xiao Xi still works hard and achieves what she wants (with sprinkling of help from Jiang Chen occasionally). She isn't just a weak female character who does everything for the guy she likes the entire show.
Really enjoy the change of how the drama feels throughout their life. Begins as very innocent and somewhat seemingly one-sided love and eventually feels like a real relationship as they get older with real life problems and arguments.
Downside to the story:
-I enjoyed the time they spent showing their lives in high school, but when they graduate from high school and move on, it feels a little rushed to me. Half the drama is spent when they are in high school and the other half is the rest of their college/adult years all crammed together. I understand why since high school was the foundation of their relationship, but it was like 50% foundation 50% everything else (being together, dealing with relationship issues, etc. etc)
ACTING:
I think the two leads did a great job for how young they are (Presently 24 for Hu Yi Ran and 20 for Shen Yue). They had cute chemistry and seemed to really enjoy working together. Both did a great job showing how their characters progressed and changed from high school times to adult hood (you could really feel the changes in personality as they grew up).
Never felt very annoyed with any of the characters (aside from the class leader's friend in high school) which is definitely a contribution of acting and producers. Everyone felt relatively multi-dimensional. All of the main characters had moments to show off different sides of their personalities which was really good.
REWATCH VALUE:
I'd definitely throw it in as a rewatch whenever I was in a lull and didn't have a good new show to watch. The story feels really familiar (to ISWAK especially) so it gives it a good nostalgia feel, but the second half of the drama has enough differences (mostly good ones) that gives it a fresh feeling and (imo) even better than ISWAK at certain points.
**Similarities to ISWAK**
- Male Lead: Super smart (Always first in school), very attractive and popular, relatively cold personality. - Even the same surname as the TW version of ISWAK (Jiang ?) and even aesthetically he was super tall (actually the same height as Joe Cheng from ISWAK).
-Female Lead: Not very smart, but very positive personality. Bright and hardworking (when she wants to be). Places very high value on friendship and family. Somewhat obsessively in love with the male lead for the brunt of the drama.
-Many plot similarities (especially when they are in high school), but I don't want to ruin anything for anyone
If it WAS meant to be ISWAK but with a twist, I'm honestly all for it. One of the things that I really enjoyed (in comparison to ISWAK) is how strong of a person the female lead becomes. Even with all of the negatives that occur, Xiao Xi still works hard and achieves what she wants (with sprinkling of help from Jiang Chen occasionally). She isn't just a weak female character who does everything for the guy she likes the entire show.
Really enjoy the change of how the drama feels throughout their life. Begins as very innocent and somewhat seemingly one-sided love and eventually feels like a real relationship as they get older with real life problems and arguments.
Downside to the story:
-I enjoyed the time they spent showing their lives in high school, but when they graduate from high school and move on, it feels a little rushed to me. Half the drama is spent when they are in high school and the other half is the rest of their college/adult years all crammed together. I understand why since high school was the foundation of their relationship, but it was like 50% foundation 50% everything else (being together, dealing with relationship issues, etc. etc)
ACTING:
I think the two leads did a great job for how young they are (Presently 24 for Hu Yi Ran and 20 for Shen Yue). They had cute chemistry and seemed to really enjoy working together. Both did a great job showing how their characters progressed and changed from high school times to adult hood (you could really feel the changes in personality as they grew up).
Never felt very annoyed with any of the characters (aside from the class leader's friend in high school) which is definitely a contribution of acting and producers. Everyone felt relatively multi-dimensional. All of the main characters had moments to show off different sides of their personalities which was really good.
REWATCH VALUE:
I'd definitely throw it in as a rewatch whenever I was in a lull and didn't have a good new show to watch. The story feels really familiar (to ISWAK especially) so it gives it a good nostalgia feel, but the second half of the drama has enough differences (mostly good ones) that gives it a fresh feeling and (imo) even better than ISWAK at certain points.
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