cnguyen1031
STORY?
Going into this show, I really didn't particularly care for the premise of the show; really assuming that I was gonna get annoyed that it took 15 years for them to figure their lives out. Even by a reality standpoint that seems like way too long of a time to not be able to understand what you want in life. For the most part, I agree that the "15 years" seems like too long - especially when it's somewhat not even true. The drama shows their lives from when they are 14 years old as freshmen in high school up through the next 15 years of their lives as they graduate, go to college, find jobs, form relationships, etc. Overall it's a very nice coming of age type story, but there are still issues I had with certain storylines.
I'm not sure why they decided to choose the premise that Li Li (Sun Yi) had low self esteem because she didn't think she was pretty. Honestly I think Sun Yi is adorable, but even if it was a character's background, it seems like the ONLY PERSON who thought she wasn't pretty was Li Li herself. It was never a plot point for any other characters, so it just doesn't make sense to me that she had such low self esteem and that none of her friends ever noticed it or tried to help her with her confidence. Everyone has issues with certain parts of their lives, but for it to impact her in such a major way and yet no one else ever gave any signs that they felt the same way - it just didn't seem super plausible.
I definitely think the way their relationship progressed was a newer and somewhat realistic way of falling in love. They showed it very well how they started off disliking each other and why they became such great friends. Many times with dramas, the main pair falls in love with each other after just a few months of knowing each other and sometimes you can't really understand why (though you root for them anyways). 15 years I think showcased that very well.
My biggest issue really was towards the end of the drama - when Li Li leaves Pei Shang Xuan and just disappears for 7 years. It's understandable why the character would do so - it's a trope thats been done before, so whatever - but overall I think it just felt super rushed and all of a sudden she and Liu Qian Ren are getting married. I know that he always had feelings for her, but it didn't make sense to me that Li Li wouldn't give him any indication otherwise that she clearly did not have the same love for him. At no point either did it seem to clarify that they had begun dating in any type of way during this 7 year period - only that he was taking care of her this whole time, but all of a sudden he's telling his dad that he is going to care for her and marry her. Meh. (Side note: I really love Deng Lun and still like his character, just the progression of their relationship seemed weird to me). And then the final episode just seemed like a waste to me. I don't mind open endings, but this particular one left too many other questions for me that I wanted answered. They spent the majority of it on a quick recap of their 15 years and then it was basically just over.
Overall I did enjoy the story and while it was all relatively obvious what was going to happen, it was still a cute, well done story of kids growing up and going through all the things that can happen in life.
ACTING:
Sun Yi and Deng Lun honestly are becoming some of my favorite younger actors. I've seen them together in Because of You which I really loved (aside from some plot issues, which still didn't impact their chemistry). I've seen them in their various other dramas, and I think they always give off pretty solid results. Overall fan of the both.
The other actors in the drama overall were fairly average for me. I didn't particularly like or dislike anyone. (Though I really wasn't a huge fan of Li Jun, but meh). I did like Zhang Xue Ying - she did a decent job in Summer's Desire - but her character was never going to be one that I think people really cared for, but overall I think she did well.
REWATCH:
Most likely wouldn't rewatch this drama again. It's not a bad one to watch the first time around. The story was fairly basic, it had most of your standard modern drama tropes involved. But that's normally my feeling about most modern dramas. There's much less you can do with the story before it becomes obnoxious or over the top. I actually had a fairly good ending feeling about it compared to other modern dramas I've seen, but it's not one you really need to see over and over again (mostly because again it's not much different than other dramas of its type).
Going into this show, I really didn't particularly care for the premise of the show; really assuming that I was gonna get annoyed that it took 15 years for them to figure their lives out. Even by a reality standpoint that seems like way too long of a time to not be able to understand what you want in life. For the most part, I agree that the "15 years" seems like too long - especially when it's somewhat not even true. The drama shows their lives from when they are 14 years old as freshmen in high school up through the next 15 years of their lives as they graduate, go to college, find jobs, form relationships, etc. Overall it's a very nice coming of age type story, but there are still issues I had with certain storylines.
I'm not sure why they decided to choose the premise that Li Li (Sun Yi) had low self esteem because she didn't think she was pretty. Honestly I think Sun Yi is adorable, but even if it was a character's background, it seems like the ONLY PERSON who thought she wasn't pretty was Li Li herself. It was never a plot point for any other characters, so it just doesn't make sense to me that she had such low self esteem and that none of her friends ever noticed it or tried to help her with her confidence. Everyone has issues with certain parts of their lives, but for it to impact her in such a major way and yet no one else ever gave any signs that they felt the same way - it just didn't seem super plausible.
I definitely think the way their relationship progressed was a newer and somewhat realistic way of falling in love. They showed it very well how they started off disliking each other and why they became such great friends. Many times with dramas, the main pair falls in love with each other after just a few months of knowing each other and sometimes you can't really understand why (though you root for them anyways). 15 years I think showcased that very well.
My biggest issue really was towards the end of the drama - when Li Li leaves Pei Shang Xuan and just disappears for 7 years. It's understandable why the character would do so - it's a trope thats been done before, so whatever - but overall I think it just felt super rushed and all of a sudden she and Liu Qian Ren are getting married. I know that he always had feelings for her, but it didn't make sense to me that Li Li wouldn't give him any indication otherwise that she clearly did not have the same love for him. At no point either did it seem to clarify that they had begun dating in any type of way during this 7 year period - only that he was taking care of her this whole time, but all of a sudden he's telling his dad that he is going to care for her and marry her. Meh. (Side note: I really love Deng Lun and still like his character, just the progression of their relationship seemed weird to me). And then the final episode just seemed like a waste to me. I don't mind open endings, but this particular one left too many other questions for me that I wanted answered. They spent the majority of it on a quick recap of their 15 years and then it was basically just over.
Overall I did enjoy the story and while it was all relatively obvious what was going to happen, it was still a cute, well done story of kids growing up and going through all the things that can happen in life.
ACTING:
Sun Yi and Deng Lun honestly are becoming some of my favorite younger actors. I've seen them together in Because of You which I really loved (aside from some plot issues, which still didn't impact their chemistry). I've seen them in their various other dramas, and I think they always give off pretty solid results. Overall fan of the both.
The other actors in the drama overall were fairly average for me. I didn't particularly like or dislike anyone. (Though I really wasn't a huge fan of Li Jun, but meh). I did like Zhang Xue Ying - she did a decent job in Summer's Desire - but her character was never going to be one that I think people really cared for, but overall I think she did well.
REWATCH:
Most likely wouldn't rewatch this drama again. It's not a bad one to watch the first time around. The story was fairly basic, it had most of your standard modern drama tropes involved. But that's normally my feeling about most modern dramas. There's much less you can do with the story before it becomes obnoxious or over the top. I actually had a fairly good ending feeling about it compared to other modern dramas I've seen, but it's not one you really need to see over and over again (mostly because again it's not much different than other dramas of its type).
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