My TWDrama OTPs & Ships

Last but not least are my TWDramas!

If you want a refresher, here's My Book OTPs and Ships, My TV OTPs and Ships, My Movie OTPs and Ships and My Anime/Cartoon OTPs and Ships and if you're curious here's my Favorite YouTube Tribute Videos for these ships!

OTPs (In Order Of My Love)

Yu Xuan x Zi Wei (Someday Or One Day)

Zhen Zhen x Chen Che (Back To 1989)

Sheng Sheng x Jiang Yi (The Day Of Becoming You)

Ships (In Alphabetic Order)

Beixing x Wansen (Shining For One Thing)

Jia-Le x Zhen-Yu (Meet Me @ 1006)

Kai Ting x Su Can (Iron Ladies)

Ping Fan x Le Jun (The Masked Lover)

Xiao'en x Aoran / Tianxing (Lost Romance)

*The most steamy couple I've seen in a drama*

Xiao Ru x Jie Xiu (Drunken To Love You)

Xin Yu x Yi Ting (Behind Your Smile)

Yu Xi x Zhan Cheng (Someone Like You)

Yu Xin x Da Qi (Wacko At Law)

xoxo Allie

Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2021

And now last but not least, here's the Top 10 Asian Dramas list! Again, this list is based on my personal opinions and may contain spoilers. If you'd like to see more, make sure to check out my Weekly Drama Reviews, Favorite YouTube Videos and My Asian OTPs & Ships as well as checking out my Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2018, Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2019, and Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2020 lists!

First up in alphabetic order are my honorable mentions which once again are dramas that I watched this year but aired in previous years!

Graceful Family

This show was actually a surprise to me cause as you know I didn't exactly watch it when it first aired. I struggle with shows about rich chaebols and the nonsense they go through cause I'm really not a fan of all that especially since most of the time it's nothing but cheating and divorces but I low key fell in love with Lee Jang Woo after Homemade Love Story and I did see a few clips of Im Soo Hyung being a boss and decided to check it out. Fortunately I did cause this show was a blast. Yes it had all the nonsense I usually dislike in chaebol shows but I actually ended up liking it here mostly cause Soo Hyung wasn't playing a naive moron and she gave back just as much as she got so it was fun to watch a revenge story with the trope of a couple against the world. The romance was great and I loved the ending so I'd say that if you like revenge stories or badass female leads who don't care about how others see her check this one out.

Second Love

Look okay jdramas half of the time are hot messes or have such out-of-the-box plots that you're left scratching your head over who in the hell gave the show a green light and this poster really doesn't help that image but seriously if you give this show a shot you'll be surprised. It's oddly deeper than you would expect and my god the chemistry between our leads almost made my screen explode more times that you could count. I thought it was fascinating that our main couple got together so early on and when they were both hitting rock bottom so they became a bit codependent only to fall apart when they realized they had to exit their fantasy world. Surprisingly I loved watching them drift as much as I liked watching them come together which made the ending when they came back together after they had both found themselves separately again make their relationship much less toxic and much more stable!

The Good Detective

So it's no secret that I love police dramas but this one surprised me to my core with how good it was! Not only were all the characters smart and fun to watch but the writing of the mystery was so solid. So many times we have a show with a great murder mystery or serial killer or whatever only to have it fall apart as the show goes on but here the mystery only got better as it went. I loved that both our leads were competent and neither was depicted as overconfident for no reason in order to make the other look better and that they didn't spend too much time hating one another cause they were fundamentally good people who wanted to do good. I also loved that the female lead played an actual part in this show with her reporting and though she wasn't a physical badass like the men were, she held her own in most situations. The slight romance between her and the detective was great too and I really hope that she also returns when the second season comes around.

When The Camellia Blooms

This is another show that I ended up judging before I had even watched back when it came out cause though I liked so much of the cast I wasn't all that pulled in by the synopsis or the fact that Kim Ji Suk was the second lead but then two things changed. First I just finished watching Monthly Magazine Home in which I low key despised Kim Ji Suk's character so I figured that I would no longer have SLS given that I wasn't all that obsessed with him now. Secondly I heard that this show was similar in vibe to Hometown Cha Cha Cha a show which I liked the vibe of but couldn't connect to emotionally cause I hated the male lead. In the end I'm so so so glad I checked this show out and I want to lament the fact that no one highlighted what this show actually was! It was basically a murder mystery show in which we hunted down a serial killer mixed with a romance that had the sweetest soft male lead that I've seen in a while! I adored how quickly he fell in love and how unapologetic he was about proclaiming his love to all. The setting was heartwarming and I actually ended up loving the small town people and the small town vibes.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

It's funny that I've got two jdramas on this list starring Kamenashi Kazuya but I actually watched this jdrama before Second Love and it's the reason I fell in love with him! It's also a live action adaptation of a classic anime and manga series which I saw about half of, stopping for no particular reason at the time. I was a little hesitant cause sometimes I find that anime adaptation shows don't always work cause a lot of anime characters are too over-the-top to be depicted realistically in live action but maybe because I had no stake in the original I wasn't bothered here. I actually thought the show was totally cute and had a great message about learning to love who you were and that the most important thing is your personality and not your appearance. The romance between our leads was the thing that kept me around the most but I also liked the comedy and the other characters in the show including the second couple!

Now let's get into my Top 10 list ranked from 10 to 1 with number 1 being my favorite drama of the year!

Taxi Driver

Coming in at number 10 is Taxi Driver! This show fits into so many different genres in a sense cause we're following a group of antiheroes who act as revenge seekers for any of those who need it and crazily I think I enjoyed it so much cause it reminded me of a darker version of Leverage. I loved the episodic cases we got and how extensive their revenge plots were. The only reason it's so low on this list is cause I didn't like the way this show very clearly shifted when the original writer was replaced and how the show started to focus on the prosecutor and the fact that our crew were clearly criminals cause duh of course they were but at the same time this show was a revenge fantasy one that needed no realism!

D.P.

At number 9 is D.P. So if you're like me and you've got a low key thing for men in uniform whether that's detectives or firefighter os soldiers then you probably went into this show knowing as much I as I did. I'm not entirely sure what I expected this show to be but maybe I was thinking closer to OCN's Search than Descendants Of The Sun but instead we got one of the darkest things I've seen not only all year but maybe in a while. I was honestly shocked by how dark it got cause I always felt a show like this would never pass censors in South Asian countries cause what it did was rip apart the military and the culture around the military in a way that I was left shook. Everything was so bleak and twisted and there was no sign that things would get better and I was fascinated. I could not look away from the screen if I tried and I'm pumped to see more.

Dali And The Cocky Prince

Coming in at number 8 is Dali And The Cocky Prince! It's kinda ironic to follow two dark shows with something as lighthearted as this but what can I say? I'm a sucker for rom coms! The funny thing about this show is that it started out catching my attention but I slowly lost interest only to pulled back in! I was in love with Da Li as a character but the show kept trying to convince she was this boss when in fact she was just naive and a bit of a damsel that needed help from the men in her life which there's nothing wrong with other than the fact this contradicted what the show said she was. Moo Hak on the other hand was so the opposite of my type so I couldn't find him swoon worthy enough to be the male lead. Now all that sounds super negative so what changed you might ask? Well not only was the charm of the main actors enough to sway me into believing what they said as the show went on but I kinda fell in love with the mystery of Da Li's dad's death and the fact that our main leads started to stop hiding things from each other and made plans together which you know I'm all about! The romance became cavity inducing sweet due to the chemistry between our leads and I started to find that the humor worked too!

So I Married An Anti-Fan

At number 7 is So I Married An Anti-Fan! Like Dali, this show was one that I started out thinking was a complete hot mess and felt super old in it's tropes only to find out that it actually was filmed years ago and delayed until now so I was able to let all that go though I did still struggle to like Joon since he was such a complete fake and asshole. I managed to stick by it just cause I adored Choi Soo Young herself after Run On and as the show went on I found it cuter and cuter especially as the romance was dialed up. Sometimes there are couples on screen that have chemistry from their first scene and others like the main couple here take until actual romance is taking place but both work for me! I loved that once the two got together they were so solid and adorable and truly it's worth sticking around with just to see what a complete cinnamon roll Joon turns into when he's in love!

My Name

Coming in at number 6 is My Name! I was super hesitant to check this drama out originally cause I despised Han So Hee's character in Nevertheless and I was a bit worried over two things: that it was her acting that made me dislike Nevertheless so much or that she was a good actor but I would transfer my hatred of her from Nevertheless to this like I did with Kim Seon Ho after Start Up. Fortunately for me I really didn't have a problem with Han So Hee in this mostly in part due to the fact that her character is so different here than there but also cause it was clear that it was the writing of Nevertheless that rubbed me so wrong. My Name is such a dark and twisted revenge show that ends with nothing but tragedy and I lived for it. Poor Ji Woo is put through the damn wringer and just when she thinks she finds a slice of happiness it's taken away from her. I loved the way the show tells us one thing only for us to later find out it's a whole different thing and sometimes it's too late to fix things! 

Uncanny Counter

At number 5 is Uncanny Counter! This is kinda hilarious cause I almost truly forgot this show aired this year cause it came out so early in 2021 and I almost forgot how much I loved it until I thought back on it. I think my favorite genre of TV in general is fantasy but I do have a soft spot for detective/mystery so the fact that this show gave me both was everything. I loved every character in this show and the way they all became such a close found family. I loved how soft and sweet and genuinely good our male lead was. I loved the mystery of his parent's death and the fantasy element of being Grim Reapers. The villain was totally terrifying and though it was a bit unbelievable just how overpowered he was compared to our heroes it was still worth it to see how they overcame him. I also don't think I remember feeling much of a disconnect from when one writer left and another one came in which I always think is a positive as well!

Move To Heaven

Coming in at number 4 is Move To Heaven! Alright so look guys you probs already know how perfect this show is just based on the fact that you can see how high up it is on my list given that you should know by now that I usually prefer softer more romantic shows but once in a while a show hits me in the feels harder than it should and that was this one! I mean the premise itself should tell you everything alone and yet I was still shook by how hard the feels hit me. I loved watching Sang Gu go from this thug who didn't care about anyone or anything on the surface to becoming basically like another father to Geu Ru after learning that everything he knew about his past wasn't the whole story. I loved how Geu Ru was depicted as being autistic without being reduced to a caricature and that he felt so real. Even the slight hints of romance between Sang Gu and U Rim were fantastic!

Douluo Continent

At number 3 is Douluo Continent! So this show is actually a live action adaptation of a Chinese anime but I didn't know that until after I watched this whole season! It was everything I'm into with Chinese fantasy shows and as time has gone on I've realized that this show fits into the Xuanhuan category of genre qualification which after doing some research holds a lot of my favorite Chinese fantasy dramas showing me that I really should snap to attention whenever a new drama in this genre pops up. I loved our main characters and the world they lived in! I loved the romance between the two and how they felt like they made a family with one another but also their other friends who became complete badasses themselves. I loved that we followed a group of kids as they went to a magic academy and learned how to use and grow their powers and how they slowly went from somewhat powerful to some of the most powerful people in the world! I loved that there was no straight and clear villain in the show as of this moment so we got to see smaller arcs like an anime has and part of me thinks that I ought to watch the anime in order to find out the rest of the story cause I'm not all that sure they'll make a live action sequel!

Mad For Each Other

Coming in at number 2 is Mad For Each Other! This is another drama that when it first started airing I wasn't sure if I was into cause I connected almost immediately with Min Kyung so the way that she was treated by Hwi Oh rubbed me the wrong way even if he was somewhat justified to treat her poorly based on his little knowledge of what she went through and the things she put him through. I was also a bit worried that this show would depict mental illness poorly once again like a lot of other dramas out there but to my pleasure almost around week 2 all my problems with this show almost completely dissolved. This show took such a gentle approach to mental illness and it never once depicted our heroes as jokes. It gave us the time to watch our heroes grow past their traumas only to regress like you do in real life and just when we think so they show us that they are stronger than we thought. The romance between our leads is perfect as well cause they do become so soft around each other and I lived for how ready to fight the world Hwi Oh was whenever Min Kyung was hurt even the slightest. The ending was a bit of a mess but not enough to ruin the perfection of this show!

You Are My Glory

And finally last but not least, my number 1 Asian Drama of 2021 is You Are My Glory! I absolutely fell head over heels in love with this one when I watched it you guys! Like almost ten seconds in I knew this would be the one for me. I'm not entirely sure what clicked so hard for me other than maybe the fact that I loved the chemistry between our leads and I think Dilraba's bread and butter is when she's playing the soft warm hearted excited to be here type of female lead. I loved that the love story here was so simple and realistic in that the two slowly went from friends to lovers and that they had a history but it was framed as his fault for not seeing her good sides rather than it being about her not being as book smart as he was. The obstacles in their way weren't external like evil mother in laws or CEOs or evil exes but internal. Yu Tu angsted over whether he was good enough for her and once he got past that and they got together it was smooth sailing from then on! 

And with that we come to the end of my Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2021! I hope you have a wonderful New Year and I'll see you all tomorrow for my Fall 2021 Anime Awards!

xoxo Allie

What Dramas Did I Finish This Week?

Hello and welcome back! These are the dramas I finished this week. If you're interested in previous reviews, click here and if you want to see a list of my Favorite Asian OTPs and Ships, click here!

KDRAMA

FINISHED Dali And The Cocky Prince (16/16): As a young boy, Moo Hak grew up in the market as a peddler. Although he is ignorant, he is strong-willed and knows how to make money. He is now the managing director of Dondon F and B, a global restaurant chain that his family started as a small gamjatang diner. However, he isn't dignified and only cares about money. He meets Da Li, the only daughter and child of an upper-class family who runs an art gallery. She has a profound deep knowledge of things. She gets faced with bankruptcy due to her father's sudden death and begins a hard life. Moo Hak and Da Li start a relationship as a creditor and debtor over the art gallery. Will these two polar opposites understand each other and fall in love?

So this was an interesting show to experience cause I went on a whole rollercoaster in terms of how I felt about it. I started out really interested in it given that it stars two actors that I adore but ended up finding the first few episodes too much for my taste. Moo Hak was too bumbly for my taste and Da Li was a naive damsel even though we were meant to believe that they were a business genius and super intelligent respectively. As the show went on though I started to find that the character traits we were told they had started to shine more and more and what really grabbed me was when the two started dating. I loved that not only did the two have great chemistry but they weren't afraid to take the normal steps in a relationship. They slept together without the antics and they gave each other nicknames rather than sticking with the polite addresses like so many other drama couples do. I especially loved what a complete fanboy Moo Hak was for Da Li in so much that he would melt anytime she did anything sweet. I also really loved that they really didn't keep secrets from one another so the mystery could be solved together! Speaking of, I really loved the mystery of Da Li's dad's death and what was going on with the gallery but more than Tae Jin was such a terrifying villain!! On the whole this show was a blast and a half to watch and I'd definitely say that if you didn't hate the first two or so episodes then it's worth sticking around to see it improve! 9.5 / 10

FINISHED One The Woman (16/16): Yeon Joo is an elite prosecutor who started from the bottom. Although known as the best in corruption investigations for the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, she suffers amnesia after a car crash when chasing a suspect. As she wakes, she finds herself being Kang Mi Na, the daughter-in-law of the conglomerate Hanju Group. Before her disappearance, Mi Na was a troublemaker born out of wedlock. Now sitting in her position, Yeon Joo is not able to hide her rough and outspoken nature. She then meets Seung Wook, a conglomerate who visits his first love Mi Na to reveal the truth of his father’s death. Will Yeon Joo and Mi Na be able to regain their lost memories in this mystery and succeed in true love?

This show is one of those reasons why I always try to force myself to check out every new kdrama that airs regardless of whether the synopsis makes it sound good cause once in a while I find true gems that I would regret to miss out on if I had stuck to my original gut feeling!! Like I almost always hate stories with chaebols and I almost always hate stories with double roles aka where one character pretends to be another but this show ended up leaning extremely heavily towards the humor so none of my usual problems stuck out! I loved what a complete badass Yeon Joo was whether she had amnesia or not because she was competent as hell and refused to allow anyone to walk over her. I was a bit torn over whether I had SLS or not given that the second lead was so cute but I also liked Seung Wook and his relationship with Yeon Joo so in the end I was down with the romance! The revenge plot was fun to watch as well and I liked the way we kept peeling layers to see more and more of the evil in Hangju. 9 / 10

CDRAMA

FINISHED Wisher (12/12): The start and end of everything stems from an app called Wisher. Wisher appeared on the mobile phones of a group of college students out of the blue, and as long as they made a wish to it and completed a simple randomly assigned task, the wish would be realized. These young people can't stand the temptation, and just like signing a contract with the devil, they become dominoes under the control of desire. Middle-aged reporter Naduo, as well as young people such as Lu Li and Qiu Wendong, began to confront the forces behind Wisher.

Sooooo how in the hell did I finish this show? I mean seriously guys this show was a hot mess from it's characters to it's plot!! I went into it thinking that maybe I'd get a drama like Futmalls which I absolutely adored with its balance of sci-fi and mystery with hints of romance. Unfortunately while this show had all of the previously mentioned points, it could not balance them for the life of this show. The sci-fi aspect of an app that grants wishes was so cool and I liked the idea that it was more like Nerve than Futmalls with how it gave people things by forcing them to do something in turn and that seemingly meaningless tasks ended up snowballing into big things like murder but then we turned away from that to watch Wendong slowly lose his mind over something I didn't even understand. I also really liked the romance between Lu Li and Wendong even if I thought they went from enemies to friends to lovers a bit too quickly but then that was thrown out the window with Wendong becoming the villain! On that same note the mystery was so poorly drawn out and I really didn't care for Naduo and how wishy washy he was over everything. Honestly I'd say skip this show unless you're really desperate. 5 / 10

JDRAMA

FINISHED Douse Mou Nigerarenai (9/9): Nodakura Naho has been longing for an ordinary life as an office lady, but she couldn’t seem to get a job offer. In order to make ends meet, for the time being, she decides to interview for a part-time job at a design company called Solo Design Office. On her way there, Naho encounters a man and a woman having a lover’s quarrel. In order to shake off the woman, the man grabs Naho, who just happens to be there, and says she’s his new girlfriend. Naho gets angry and instinctively pushes him away. When she later arrives at Solo Design Office for her interview, she realizes that the man she had met earlier is in fact the company’s president Sakisaka Takumi. Despite all that happened, Naho somehow gets hired and starts working as a part-timer at the company

I don't have too many words for this show other than the fact that it was cute as all hell. The premise is very typical of a drama where we have a male lead who hides the pain of lost love and a tragic past behind his playboy veneer and a sweet female lead who lights up his world with her sincerity. Most of the time I roll my eyes at stuff like this but once in a while a show with this premise hits at the perfect time and I find myself finding it cute rather than irritating. Can you guess which category this show fits into? It's pure fluff and nonsense and yet I looked forward to each episode that aired. I did think that Naho fell for Takumi a bit quicker than I would have liked cause then we had so many awkward episodes after she basically confessed to him but at the same time because the show didn't pull the trigger on them until the end we didn't have any breakup nonsense. The side characters were all pretty pointless but I didn't mind cause it was the chemistry between our leads that I enjoyed most. 8.5 / 10

TWDRAMA

FINISHED Drunken To Love You (30/30): Two strangers, both proposed marriage to their respective girl/boyfriend, were rejected on the same day. They decided that the best way to deal with the rejection was to get drunk, real drunk. During the 24 hours of their crazy drunkenness, these two stranger became fast friends and got married... to each other. When they finally sobered up, they embarked on a mission to undo every crazy thing they did while they were drunk and prayed that their girl/boyfriend don't find out.

So I started this show not knowing that it was actually one of the many Fated To Love You adaptations which honestly was a good thing cause I don't know if I would have watched it knowing which would have been terrible on my part based on how much I adored this show! See the thing is that I tried both the Korean and Chinese versions but I could never get into how soap opera-y they were. Like one of my absolute least favorite tropes are the evil in-laws so I was so relieved to find out there wasn't any of that here! I loved that our main couple became friends almost right away so their bickering was more playful than hurtful and I loved that there was no real bad guy in this show. The exes weren't monsters and it was totally believable why they acted like they did. I loved the chemistry between our leads and I loved that there was no real breakups to be had cause surprise they actually talked to each other. I do admit the ending was a little much with Jie Xiu's mom's fall and then finding Xiao Ru's mom but I could ignore it cause it went by so quickly. On the whole I'd give this season a 9 / 10!

xoxo Allie

What Dramas Did I Finish This Week?

Hello and welcome back! These are the dramas I finished this week. If you're interested in previous reviews, click here and if you want to see a list of my Favorite Asian OTPs and Ships, click here!

KDRAMA

 

FINISHED The Devil Judge (16/16): Set in a dystopian version of present-day Korea where daily life is chaos and society has collapsed to the point that people openly voice their distrust and hatred for their leaders. In this world bereft of law and order, Head Trial Judge Kang signals the need for change. His courtroom is the subject of a reality show where he mercilessly punishes the guilty, earning him the "Devil Judge" nickname. As a divisive figure with an aura of mystery that belies his true identity and ambitions, the public is unsure whether he is a true hero or someone, knowingly sowing the seeds of discontent in his courtroom. A bitter rivalry has taken shape between the "Devil Judge" and the highly ambitious Jung Sun Ah, who has risen from poverty to become a corporate social responsibility foundation director. Into this turbulent world enter two childhood friends on a quest for true justice: rookie Judge Kim Ga On and Police Officer Yoon Soo Hyun. Do they have what it takes to challenge both the scheming Jung Sun Ah and the notorious "Devil Judge"?

 
I've been on a bit of a streak lately where I start a drama really fascinated and excited only to end it feeling meh. Devil Judge was for sure one of these. I think my main problem with this show was the fact that it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Like it was one-part a revenge story and one-part a commentary on the highs and lows of law and one-part post-apocalytptic. Like dude show pick a side. If it wanted to be a fantasy revenge story like Taxi Driver or Mad Dog it should have stuck with that but instead we got this wishy washy mess where Ga On jumped from one side to the other not sure whether he wanted to join Yo Han or prosecute him for constantly working outside the law. It made Ga On feel like an idiot and super flaky and it took away from Jin Young's incredible acting and I mean seriously between that and Ji Sung's beauty we could only shelf our disbelief for so long. I think the other thing about this show was the fact that so many characters existed for no reason. Like Soo Hyun who I loved with Ga On was only there to be Ga On's love interest and a stick in the mud who refused to see things other than black and white. All in all this show was a mess and really I think I blame the writer more than anyone else which is unfortunate cause he wrote Miss Hammurabi which was leagues more clear than this show. I guess I'd give this show a 6.5 / 10

FINISHED You Are My Spring (16/16): When Kang Da Jung finds a job at a five-star hotel, she rises to the manager position faster than any of her fellow employees who were hired at the same time as her. Her problem is that she takes after her mother’s poor choice of men and dates men who are terrible like her father. Meanwhile. Joo Young Do is a psychiatrist who helps others heal their emotional wounds and find the will to live. However, he himself bears his own scars from not having been able to save his older brother and one of his patients. The two, suffering from traumatic childhoods, form a heartfelt bond when they become entangled in a perplexing local murder case.

If you're reading this review you might be one of the few people like me who managed to somehow stumble through this drama and get to the end. Now don't get me wrong this drama for sure is one of the best I've watched this year but it fell to the same problem a drama like Strong Woman Do Bong Soon had where we the collective audience are here for the soft romance but the show keeps wanting to interrupt the soft for some murder shenanigans and I swear to you that even as I finished up the final episode I still fast-forwarded through most of the stuff that was murder/cop related and because of that I really still don't know or care for that side of the story. The funny thing about that though is that if a murder mystery show with romance was literally made for anyone it would have been me but this drama really didn't seem to care about the murder side of this show and tacked it on here and there without really connecting the ensemble to it so you could literally watch this show and not pay a single attention to the other half! Having said that the romance made this show worth watching. I'm so into male leads who are not only competent but gentle and smooth and man oh man is it so sexy to have a male lead that isn't traumatized and acts like the fully grown adult he is. There's no part of me that wonders why Da Jung fell for him! I also have to say that the ensemble was all fun to watch and the final ships were interesting to follow as well though I do wish that most of Eun Ha and Tae Jung's relationship didn't happen offscreen. On the whole I'd give this show a 9 / 10.

CDRAMA

FINISHED You Are My Glory (24/24): A story that follows an aerospace engineer Yu Tu and the shining star Qiao Jing Jing. A decision is made to start gaming in order to save her endorsement deal brings her face to face with an old crush. As they grow closer, the two forge ahead to become each other's glory. Being a well-known celebrity, Qiao Jing Jing has to keep up with appearances in order to maintain her multi-faceted image. Alas, one starts to crack when someone leaks a video of her playing an online game and being terrible at it which is completely inconsistent with the image she has created for herself as the game's ambassador. Thus, she joins a gaming competition to prove her skills and to prevent herself from losing her endorsements. Qiao Jing Jing decides to use all of her free time towards improving her game and her decision leads her to reconnect with her old high school classmate, Yu Tu, whom she once had a crush on. He was a legend at their school, outstanding in everything that he does, while Qiao Jing Jing was just your average girl. Yu Tu went on to become an aerospace engineer who is also an expert gamer. It seems that the online game brought them together once more so she asks him to become her gaming coach.

I'm a little heartbroken that this show has come to an end cause for a few weeks now this has been my favorite airing show! I mean it was literally full of everything I adore with a terribly cute main couple and low drama. Reba was the most adorable cute puppy as Jing Jing and Yang Yang was smolderingly handsome as Yu Tu. Honestly I think he might have been my favorite character that Yang Yang has played cause he had the angst from Martial Universe (season 2 more than 1 but I digress), the playfulness from King's Avatar, and the devotion from Love O2O. I loved the way the two began this show as friends and the way that it was so clear what parts of Jing Jing Yu Tu fell in love with. I love that he struggled with his own insecurities before they dated rather than having an external force play a factor. I loved how soft the two became once they started dating and that they actually felt like a real couple who weren't afraid to touch each other rather than the typical overly shy reaction that most cdrama and kdrama women have even after they start dating the male lead. Watching this show was like wrapping yourself in a blanket and I swear if you like soft fluffy modern day cdramas then this is the watch for you! Without a single doubt in my mind I would rate this show a 10 / 10 and say that it's definitely in the ranking for my favorite drama of 2021!

TWDRAMA

FINISHED Back To 1989 (21/21): A successful young man has always felt something missing in his life because he never knew his father. At 26, Che Chen is already a successful assistant manager for an investment trust. But he was raised by his single mother Chen Mu and never knew the identity of his father, and that void has been nagging at him. But a freak accident sends Che back 27 years into the past, to the year before he was born. When he meets 22-year-old Zhen Zhen Ye, Che realizes that this naïve and trusting young woman is his mother's best friend! When Che realizes that anything he does in the year 1989 could alter his mother’s future, will he do anything to alter the course of his own life?

Wow don't you just straight up love when you fall in love with a new show?? I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this show at first cause I'm not usually the biggest fan of time travel shows but at the same time Marcus Chang was starring and I'm high key in love with him so I bit the bullet cause I wanted to watch a romance and I'm so glad I did. It reminds me a lot of Hit The Top mixed with Nine: Nine Times Time Travel with the way it focused on a child getting to know a younger version of their parent and the angst of realizing that time travel is a damper on romances. I absolutely adored the relationship between Chen Che and Zhen Zhen cause not only did the actors have tons of chemistry but one of my favorite types of main couples are the ones that bicker and argue and flirt like crazy to show their love and that's exactly what we got here. I mean look okay the ending was a little too tie this with a red bow to make all that sense but if I get my happy ending then I'm happy! I also really loved the relationship between Chen Che and his mom too though I can't help but feel like the entire assault storyline for her wasn't focused on enough and brushed aside for other things which kinda sucks but I did love that though Chen Che didn't end up changing everything for the better, his presence alone changed things enough to keep his mom from being completely miserable like in his first life. I would definitely give this show a 10 / 10!

xoxo Allie

What Dramas Am I Watching This Week?

So here's what I'm watching this week! Of course the list is split by country and the amount of episodes I've seen so far are written below! There will be spoilers from now on so if you aren't caught to the episode number on list, you might want to go watch that episode and then come back! If you're interested in previous reviews, click here and if you want to see a list of my Favorite Asian OTPs and Ships, click here!

KDRAMA

How To Be Thirty/Not Yet Thirty (7/15): Follows the lives of three friends in their thirties. Seo Ji Won is a budding web-based cartoon author who decides to devote her undivided attention to her craft – forsaking love in favor of her career. And her decision pays off. By the time she is 25, she is a published author. Now, aged 30, she has become a well-recognized writer with scores of devoted readers. But turning her back on romance turns out to be harder than she first thought when Lee Seung Yoo, her first love from her middle school days, returns to the scene to turn her world upside down. And things get more complicated when the film director Cha Do Hoon – who has been charged with adapting Seo Ji Won’s web-based series for the screen – confides in her and appears keen to strike up a close friendship. At the same time, her friends Lee Ran Joo, who works as a radio announcer, and Hong Ah Young, who runs a cafe, are also facing hard times. One day, Hong Ah Young's ex-boyfriend who hurt her in the past appears in front of her once again. Meanwhile, Hyeong Joon Young, who had a one-night stand with Lee Ran Joo and now has feelings for her, works part-time at Hong Ah Young's cafe.

So I really doubt that Hye Ryeong is a girlfriend or even an ex based on how Seung Yoo greeted her this week but it really sucks that he's not telling Ji Won about it or even drawing a better line in the sand with Hye Ryeong. I will never not think back to Temperature Of Love where the male lead clearly told the second female lead that no one would be as important to him as the female lead and want other male leads to follow that trend. Ji Won meanwhile is struggling on her own over how to act in a relationship cause her ex treated her so poorly that she's trying to do the opposite here without even thinking about the fact that Seung Yoo is a different person. I'm still really curious about the second male lead though cause it's already kinda clear that he's interested in her but she is still uncomfortable so what's the point of him existing in a show with such a short episode length and count? Ran Joo on the other hand we're finding out is being pushed out of her job cause she's no longer young anymore and that sucks super hardcore but I wonder if this is the point where the whole office job part of the synopsis kicks in for her. I do think that she's accepted her feelings for the younger guy now and I like that her friends are totally for it.

DROPPED Mouse (6/20): A suspenseful story that asks the key question, “What if we could identify psychopaths in advance?” A crazed serial killer’s ruthless murders have left the entire nation gripped with fear, and chaos reigns. Justice-seeking rookie police officer, Jung Ba Reum, comes face to face with the killer. While he survives his dangerous encounter with the psychopath, Jung Ba Reum finds his life completely changing before his eyes.

The irony of all ironies is the fact that we really all went off last week on our theories due to what looked like Ba Reum having kidnapped Han Kook but this week we find out that the whole thing was an act that Ba Reum put on with Moo Chi in order to trick the killer and we all look like clowns. The thing is that I can't help but feel like though Ba Reum is technically supposed to be the male lead, it's actually Moo Chi that gets all the screen time and meaty storylines. It isn't even like The Good Detective where both the the older and younger detectives work together to solve cases cause Ba Reum mostly just does what Moo Chi tells him to do and yet I keep waiting to either see the two actually work together or for Ba Reum to go evil and for Moo Chi to have to hunt him down. Every week we're left on a cliffhanger that's like teasing us that maybe Ba Reum is the bad guy after all but this week I'm left wondering if we're supposed to believe that the beating Ba Reum got was what "turned on" his psychopath genes (which isn't a thing seriously!!) or if we're finally seeing that the fake persona Ba Reum created has cracks in it. I also really don't get the deal with Yo Han cause it's like way too early in the season for things to line up so easily. I'm starting to wonder if Ba Reum really is Han Seo Joon's kid and that the mom switched him with Yo Han which is why Yo Han is stalking Ba Reum and why she seemed horrified to meet Ba Reum this week. I kinda regret watching this show week to week cause I really don't know if I want to watch this show if Ba Reum is the killer which is why in the end I'm going to drop this show and maybe I'll come back and finish it once I know how it ends.

DROPPED River Where The Moon Rises (10/20): Born a princess and raised a soldier, Pyeong Gang is a woman with big dreams and limitless ambition. Determined to become the first Empress of Goguryeo, Pyeong Gang will stop at nothing to make her dream come true. Clever and level-headed, Pyeong Gang is well aware of the obstacles that stand in her way, but she’s more than capable of taking them on. However, things take an unexpected turn, the day she meets On Dal, a peace-loving man, whose sole goal in life is to live in harmony with those around him. On Dal is the exact opposite of the ambitious princess. He is a oasis of calm amid the turbulent storms in Pyeong Gang’s life. The warrior princess soon finds herself falling for gentle On Dal. He's equally in love with the princess, whose heart he now possesses. He finds himself forsaking his principles in order to keep her safe, an endeavor proving to be increasingly difficult, as warring factions lethally vie for the throne. Forced to match both wits and strength against some of the most powerful people in Goguryeo, Pyeong Gang’s quest for power could very well cost her everything. Does she have what it takes to realize her goals, or will the price prove to be too much to pay?

Yikes guys so this week marks the halfway point of this show and was also the official debut of Na In Woo as On Dal cause last week he had like three scenes so I didn't count it towards my feelings but this week we got a prolonged look at him and it wasn't good. I can't help but compare him to Ji Soo who I thought this role was made for (even though ironically it was actually made for the actor who played his dad) and I stand by my criticism from last week that Na In Woo cannot do comedy. You can imagine that if I one of the few people who enjoyed Na In Woo in Mr Queen and went into this recast with an open mind feel this way then imagine what those who hated this change feel like! He and Kim Soo Hyun have like no chemistry and it really feels like he's overacting and I don't know if there's a way to fix it. I wanna keep watching this show just cause I like the world and the politics and I'm curious to see how it all ends but I don't know if I can which is why in the end I'm going to drop this drama.

Sisyphus: The Myth (10/16): Han Tae Sul, a co-founder of Quantum and Time, is a genius engineer with the highest level of coding skills and outstanding looks that outweighs his engineer fashion sense. Due to his innovative achievements, Quantum and Time is a world-class company, dubbed as "The Miracle of South Korea's Engineering Industry". In reality, Tae Sul has caused his company's stocks to constantly fluctuate after the death of his brother ten years ago. One day, after witnessing the unbelievable truth of his brother's death, he sets off on a dangerous journey. Kang Seo Hae is a soldier who could zipline from building to building, fight big built men with her bare hands, shoot guns, and install explosives. With the survival skills that she's learned from living amongst gangsters and warlords, she sets off a dangerous path of finding Han Tae Sul.

The one thing that I'll be most curious about when this show ends is whether or not the timeline works for me. Last week we had a bombshell dropped on us with the reveal that a Seo Hae from another timeline sent our Seo Hae to the current timeline we're watching and it feels as though we are in a time loop. Seo Hae's dad knew about the nuclear war and the shelter and Seo Hae and Tae Sul cause our Tae Sul told him. I do have to say that he's quietly such a badass though cause while we were following our leads in this time travel mess, he was figuring out what's going in the background and hunted down the Control Bureau all on his own. Meanwhile Seo Hae was captured by the Control Bureau and once again I'm confused over why they're even in this show. Like our big bad is clearly Sigma and there's also something happening with missiles and nuclear war but instead we're spending all this time with the Bureau who's both completely in the dark and also really knowledgeable. I'm also still waiting to find out who the brokers are working for but the bigger question is Sigma's motives and I really hope we get answers next week when Tae Sul and him finally meet face to face. In terms of the romance I'm more and more on board this ship cause there's just something so fun about how ride or die Seo Hae and Tae Sul are. I love that he chose her over the world and his brother and that she was so utterly calm when the power went out knowing without a doubt that he came for her. 

Times (8/12): A passionate reporter with exceptional talent, Lee Jin Woo has dedicated his entire career to pursuing nothing but the truth. Committed to telling the whole story, Jin Woo will do whatever it takes to find and report the hard facts. A hard-working man with a nose for news, Jin Woo’s life takes an unexpected turn when a mysterious phone call connects him with Seo Jung In, a woman who claims to be living five years in the future. A hard-nosed reporter with a burning passion for her work, Seo Jung In has a knack for finding the best stories. But sometimes digging deep uncovers some nasty truths. Following a string of leads, Jung In uncovers a dark plot that could shake the very foundations of the country. With the life of her father, South Korea’s President, Seo Ki Tae on the line, Jung In finds herself in a deadly race against time. But she’s not in this race alone. Mysteriously connected by phone to Lee Jin Woo, the two agree to join forces to save the president. Living and working in two completely different times, Jin Woo and Jung In set out on a dangerous quest for the truth. But will they be able to stop the villainous masterminds plotting this heinous crime before it’s too late?

I spent most of this week continuously being surprised at how this show went from a Kairos/Signal style to Chief Of Staff with it's abrupt shift into the political sphere. Look I know politics was the backbone of this show from the start but it was always taking a backseat to the detective work that Jin Woo and Jung In did. It was honestly sad seeing what kind of monster Jin Woo had become in these five years, the kind of monster that he and more importantly Geon Woo would have despised. We still have no evidence that Ki Tae killed Geon Woo but it does look like everyone and their mother took bribes from CEO Park and like maybe it's cause I've watched so many of these shows that I'm like oh bribes that's nothing. Watching Jung In be torn between her father and Jin Woo the man that she's trusted and respected was fun to watch too cause it really does feel like both sides don't trust her and want to lie to her before telling her the truth out of either a belief that she can't handle it or arrogance. I also really liked the idea that it was Jin Woo himself that stole Jung In's phone cause duh who else would have known that she could ruin things than Jin Woo? I'm wondering where the rest of this season will go tbh but I assume that at some point somehow Jung In has to steal her phone back and contact Jin Woo of the past and fix all this or maybe she'll need to find evidence of who really killed Geon Woo. Either way President Jin Woo cannot be the ending of this story!

Vincenzo (8/20): At the age of 8, Park Joo Hyeong went to Italy after he was adopted. He is now an adult and has the name of Vincenzo Cassano. He is a lawyer, who works for the Mafia as a consigliere. Because of a war between mafia groups, he flees to South Korea. In South Korea, he gets involved with Lawyer Hong Cha Young. She is the type of attorney who will do anything to win a case.

Good god this show is giving me everything I could ever want from a show with Song Joong Ki in it. It's like the writers of this show were like well shit of course every person in Korea will fall for his charm so let's not even pretend otherwise. I'm living for how much fun every person in this show is having as they act and though part of me agrees with the criticism that Jun Woo isn't the best villain cause he's not really scary, the rest of me feels like this show has more of a comic book or anime feel so his over-the-top insanity just works. I do wonder at what point Vincenzo and Cha Young will pick up on the fact that Jun Woo is more than he seems and part of me still thinks that the nail in Babel's coffin will end up being Han Seo. In other news I'm still not into all of the Plaza residents as more than Vincenzo's lackeys and I wish that Cha Young got to do a bit more besides being Vincenzo's underling but I had a ton of fun watching the two beat Babel twice in a row which is why I was kinda thrilled when they lost the third round cause it keeps us from constantly losing but also not constantly winning either. I also want to shout the fact that the show had the most natural gay character appear this week and the show neither ridiculed him or made him the butt of the joke beyond the fact that he was a villain. Watching Vincenzo seduce him (and Cha Young on the side) was everything and I can't wait to see where this show goes next.

CDRAMA

The Sword And The Brocade (30/45): Set during the Ming Dynasty, the story revolves around the romance between General Xu Lingyi and the concubine's daughter Shiyiniang that starts from an arranged marriage. Despite being born with a low status, Luo Shiyiniang is extremely assertive and believes that a woman's vision should not be limited to the household. She hopes to rely on her embroidery skills as a ticket to freedom. However, the once esteemed Luo family is in a state of decline. Hoping to save the clan through a marriage alliance, Shiyiniang is selected to become the wife of Yongping Duke and great general Xu Lingyi. Things were not easy for Shiyiniang due to the Xu family's biases towards her. Nonetheless, she manages to win over their trust through her optimism and sincerity. Xu Lingyi also becomes attracted to Shiyiniang's various beautiful qualities such that husband and wife manage to find love after marriage.Through Xu Lingyi's support, Shiyiniang opens Xian Ling Pavilion to have her own embroidery workshop. Meanwhile, Xu Lingyi experiences many setbacks as he tries to protect his homeland and improve the livelihood of the people by supporting the lifting of a maritime ban. As they face a crisis that could spell the end for the Xu family, Xu Lingyi and Shiyiniang continue to support each other through thick and thin.

I kinda really hate how in shows like this how different the response to anything the female lead and the second female leads do wrong is so vastly skewed. Shiyi was thought to be ruining the Xu family reputation and was about to be divorced and sent back home while when it came out that Concubine Xiao was a monster she was sent to the country and told to become a nun. No divorce? No shaving of the hair? No prison? No death? How utterly lame. It was satisfying to watch her finally be taken down a peg though and I have to admit that I never once doubted that Lingyi believed Shiyi cause as much as I don't think of him as a ride-or-die like someone like Tingye from Story Of Ming Lan, I knew that there was no way that he would think Shiyi full of so much evil so I kinda felt like the deep fake the show tried to pull actually took away from my enjoyment. I'd rather see the two plot together! It was also nice to see the whole mother's death bomb explode this week with Shiyi suspecting Lingyi and him finding out the truth in like 2 episodes cause besides the delicious angst now we don't have to worry about that knife falling on our heads every time something cute happens like their first kiss! I really can't imagine what will bring the two together again cause unlike in fantasy cdramas Shiyi can't go out and save Lingyi from danger cause she's not supposed to be in public but in my mind really only a sweeping romantic gesture would be enough for Lingyi to trust her again! 

JDRAMA

FINISHED 3B no Koibito (10/10): Kobayashi Haruka fell in love before finding out that her boyfriend was actually a married man. At that time, a regular customer predicts that she will wind up meeting 3 different men. She begins encountering them just as predicted. There's the hairdresser Shintaro, the band vocalist Yu, and the bartender Yoshi. What will come of these fateful encounters?

I'm honestly disappointed in this ending cause it did the thing that every other reverse harem anime likes to do and that's not have our heroine pick a guy at the end in order to keep anyone from being upset though all it ends up doing is making every person watching the show pissed rather than just the part of the audience that was cheering for her to pick someone else in the reverse harem! I'd like to imagine that in the future it still will be Yu that Haruka chooses cause she was still the one to run to him at the end and his song clearly moved her but at the same time she never really pulled away from Yoshi either. Poor Shintaro was the only one that she full and clear turned down. As I suspected Yu did end up getting another shot at debuting and as it turned out the President of the music company was the same woman that comes to Haruka's pet grooming shop all the time which I'd imagine is a part of the reason why they got another shot. Yoshi's bar seemed popular enough after it changed to his hands, Shintaro started to gain loyal customers and Haruka's grandmother ended up extending her trip so the foursome doesn't have to separate for now. 6.5 / 10

TWDRAMA

FINISHED Wacko At Law (15/15): Mai Daqi is a genius in the legal profession, but because of his dissatisfaction with the profitism of the law firm, he shelved his lawyer's license. It wasn't until an air crash that suddenly took the lives of his parents and his fiancee four years ago. In order to get justice for his family, Daqi regained his legal profession and overthrew American Airlines' first-class lawyers.

The finale for this show aired this week and it was a solid wrap up for the season on the whole. Da Qi ended up figuring out that Dr Liao was the one who created L365 in the first place and warned the doctor against trusting him so the two alongside Prosecutor Xu laid a trap to catch Dr Liao and subsequently Ji Ping. We learned that back then Mr Mo was actually hit by Ji Ping in a rage but when Ji Ping went to help him, Mrs Mo stopped him realizing that they would benefit more without Mr Mo. She then got rid of all the evidence and framed Wan Ting's dad as well as killing him and Yu Xin's dad later to cover it up. Luckily the truth can't be hidden forever and we were able to catch Ji Ping, Mrs Mo turned herself in and we even grabbed Chairman Luo with the help of Yun Yun. Ji Ping pissed that Chairman Luo cut him off gave Da Qi the evidence he needed to nail the rich men and the show ended on a bit of an open ending though there's no doubt in my mind that they will win. I'd also like to imagine that Jing Tao ends up joining our law firm cause I can't imagine that many other firms would accept him after seeing how he screwed his own client no matter the morality of it. All in all this show was fun with a cute romance and solid law practices so I'd give it a 7 / 10.

xoxo Allie