A Chinese romcom that puts the focus on the main romance – in this case, on the relationship between a scriptwriter (Huang Ri Ying) with a massive crush and the initially oblivious CEO (Wei Zhe Ming) of the film production company she works for.
This drama scores high for the things it does not do. There’s no office politics and no evil adversary, no false friends and no backstabbing, no break-ups and no love triangles, no annoying second leads and no evil parents. And – no angst.
Everybody is nice and pretty in this rose-colored world, the conflicts are low-key and the simple plot with the She-Fell-First-He-Fell-Harder trope flows along effortlessly. However, the show does get a little draggy in the second half as the back-and-forth of the main romance goes on for too long and the reluctance of the FL is not quite comprehensible.
So altogether a sweet (for some probably overly sweet) and fluffy escape from the stress and annoyances of everyday life. If you’re looking for a super-relaxing, light-hearted watch, give it a try.
This drama falls in the much-loved chaebol subgenre of Korean romcoms — here it’s about a chaebol’s son (Junho) and a spunky employee (YoonA) working together at a luxury hotel.
Don’t be discouraged by the first bumbling episodes. It’s the script’s fault. Well-intentioned and in line with romcom tradition, the writer aims to portray the male lead’s character development – in this case starting from a traumatized, arrogant spoiled manchild who is transformed by the power of love and later becomes the ideal boyfriend. But the manchild version of the ML often acts so dumb (see e.g., the episode about the rescue mission) that the character comes across as inconsistent and completely “unrealistic,” even in context of the fictional realms of the dramaworld. Luckily, after falling in love the ML’s personality changes, the stupid features fall away and he makes a lot more sense.
Instead of offering its own original artistic vision to the audience, the drama feels like a response to a survey of romcom fans about what they would like to see. And this time, unlike a lot of older romcoms, the creative team indulges us and delivers what we want. Some of us want fluff, and fluff is what the show gives us.
King The Land is a true comfort show, the characters and the tropes are as familiar as old friends we missed seeing for a long time. Look, here’s the goofy assistant and the grumpy grandma, here is the umbrella-in-the-rain scene and, oh yes, here are the close-ups of the gorgeous leads. But we also have improvements over the tradition: more mature conversations, misunderstandings that get fixed in a jiffy instead of lingering for no good reason, and none of the overused tropes of love triangles, breakups, and childhood connections. And we get real hugs (no arms awkwardly dangling) and we get kisses – I mean real kisses, not the weird pecks of old.
So it’s all good? Mmh, not quite. What’s missing is a unique setup that gets things rolling like in Business Proposal with the mistaken identity of the female lead as the blind date or in Lie to Me with its secret marriage pretense. Without that bit of suspense, the show sometimes becomes a bit boring.
Aside from the small fumbles in the first episodes, the lack of a gripping story and PPP (plentiful product placements), the drama is fun and it’s pretty. And the leads have great chemistry. If you like stress-free, supersweet romcoms, check it out.
A sensitive portrayal of a girl’s first crush that turns into a full-blown romance during her college years. This gem of a drama focuses on Sang Zhi, brought alive by Zhao Lu Si’s amazing performance, and how she comes to terms with her feelings for her older brother’s best friend. Male lead Chen Zhe Yuan is a great foil as the straightforward perfect boyfriend to the more emotionally complicated character of Sang Zhi.
Aside from a couple minor over-the-top plot lines at the end, this is a supremely well-written drama – especially when it comes to the roles of the main couple and Sang Zhi’s interactions with her brother. They probably felt so real because they were partially improvised by the actors (see interview with Victor Ma, who played Sang Zhi’s brother). The relationship with her brother shows us a completely different side of Sang Zhi – while she cares about him, she can be mean and obnoxious to him, a real brat. This darker side makes the character much more realistic and relatable – and very easy to identify with. She is a great role model: She knows exactly what she wants and she fights for it – defying her insecurities, social expectations (age gap) and interferences by other people, even family members.
This is a sweet, feel-good comfort drama – heartfelt, with top-notch chemistry, no love triangles, no noble idiocy and low on conflict. A beautiful depiction of the innocence and insecurity of first love that will put a smile on your face.
Youku. China. Written by Shen Fei Xian. Based on a novel by Zhu Yi.
dramaroma update: In the last few years major changes have happened in the Korean dramaworld: The amount of dramas aired on the three big networks KBS, MBC and SBS has been massively reduced while the number of shows on cable channels has increased. As a result, currently more than twice as many dramas on Korean TV are available on cable channels as on the big networks. In addition, the recent expansion of Korean material on worldwide streaming sites like Netflix and Disney has made K-dramas more popular globally. And the growing importance of the global market is influencing the content produced in Korea.
The impact of these changes on the genre we like, romantic dramas, has been quite … mmh … dramatic. First, there’s a much smaller selection of new romantic Korean dramas available. And second: Some of those available favor the currently popular genre blending of romcom + murder (latest example, Crash Course in Romance), which we abhor. In short: Nowadays, it’s hard to find new Korean romantic dramas and even harder to find really good ones from the small pool that’s available.
So, we have done what a lot of other K-drama fans interested in romance have been doing – we’ve started to search more intensively for romantic dramas from other Asian countries. While we have reviewed excellent Chinese and Japanese dramas here and there for several years, we recently started to pay closer attention to the drama scene in China after coming across the great shows written by Wang Xiong Cheng (The Day of Becoming You, Hi Venus).
While we expect that the great romantic Korean dramas will still be center stage on dramaroma in the future, from now on we will review excellent romantic dramas made in other Asian countries more frequently – without any claim of comprehensive coverage, of course.
In the end, it’s all about showcasing great romances – no matter where they are made.
A spectacular action-packed supernatural fantasy (xianxia) about the romance of a seemingly insignificant member of the Fairy tribe and the leader of its mortal enemy, the Lord of the Moon tribe. Esther Yu plays the sweet and bubbly fairy to perfection while Dylan Wang shines as the terrifying, emotionally dead anti-hero Moon supreme who can’t help himself from falling for the fairy. A captivating romance without a dull moment, easily switching between comedy, action, romance and melo.
Be warned, though, the mainly lighthearted tone of the first 20+ episodes changes later on. The last third has a good deal of angst, so sensitive viewers might want to skip from episode 26 to the end in their first watch to assure themselves of a happy ending. The ending, while happy, feels a little rushed — that’s probably why two short special episodes, mostly consisting of flashbacks, were added later.
A suspenseful story of forbidden love that is as exciting and addictive as it is visually stunning. Is this the most romantic drama of 2022?
iQiyi. China. Written by Cao Xiao Tian and Bai Jin Jin.
A romcom fantasy about an entertainment reporter and the leader of an idol group whose bodies get switched. Well written, often funny, sometimes self-ironic (“Doesn’t it feel like a scene in a Korean Drama?” asks one of the protagonist). The focus is on the leads Zhang Xin Cheng and Liang Jie (Hi Venus) who do a great acting job making the body swap visible by impersonating the other character.
Two negative aspects: First, the drama is framed by a meta plot that undermines the emotional impact of the story. So, for the first watch, I recommend eliminating the framing by starting episode 1 at 6:48 minutes and stopping at episode 26, 32:43 minutes. Second, the show has one of the most obnoxious product placements I’ve ever seen. If laughing it off doesn’t work for you, be prepared to skip, rather than be annoyed.
But these are minor points that only slightly detract from the overall excellence of the show. Another winner by screenwriter Wang Xiong Cheng who also penned Hi Venus. Highly recommended.
Heart-fluttering moments in every episode and the extra-cuteness of the leads (Darren Chen, Chen Yao) make this romcom about a crossdressing girl playing on a male hockey team worthwhile to watch. A rare drama in which haircuts (esp FL boyish cut) double the cuteness factor.
The plot involving our leads employs many typical drama cliches (face blindness, accidental kisses, fated love, etc.) in an entertaining and generally well thought out way. Their romance often plays out on kindergarten level (boy annoys/teases girl, girl has no clue (or does she?), boy acts like that because he likes her) but all is forgotten when they gaze into each other’s eyes. Sigh!
Sadly, other aspects of the drama are a lot less fun: While the sports part is generally okay, the second and third leads vacillate between barely tolerable to completely irritating. If you skip most of their scenes, you’ll enjoy this piece of sweet, silly and simply adorable super-fluff a lot more.
Chinese. iQiyi. Written by Fan Kan and Fang Qiang Qiang.
A feel-good Chinese romcom about a female doctor from a poor background who is forced to become the hospital director’s assistant.
This is not another one of your usual medical dramas – in fact, doctoring plays only a small role, as the focus is on the administrative aspect of health care. Not only are we spared medical case after medical case (can you tell I’m not a fan of most medical shows?) but this romcom also involves no major love triangles, no jerky boss, no evil parents, no childhood connection between our leads, and shockingly enough for K-drama fans … no serial killer! And still, I couldn’t wait to watch the next episode of this drama about two adults who kept bickering and verbally sparring while slowly becoming more and more emotionally attached.
After a bit of stumbling in the beginning, this series does everything right — plot-wise (no boring episodes) and character-wise (except dressing the FL in horrible frumpy clothes for most of the show). One other imperfection is the incredibly stupid plot twist in episode 22 and the FL’s nonsensical response. Despite this unnecessary annoyance, it’s great fun to spend time with our leads all the way to the perfect happy end. Light-hearted, humorous, blessedly stress-free.
This popular legal drama is owned by actress Park Eun Bin who plays talented Attorney Woo, a rookie lawyer on the autism spectrum working at a top law firm. It is an amazing, touching performance, based on a superbly written character. We witness her inner struggles about work, friends and family (and, later on, romance) and see the often socially awkward interactions from her perspective.
With a sweet love interest, a wide variety of colleagues, and hilarious friends, the show offers some of the most finely drawn characters in the dramaworld — plus a simply delightful romance. However, almost every episode deals with another new case and has an extended court room scene with Attorney Woo saving the day. If, like me, you find this type of repetitive plot structure tiresome, the drama’s unique charm just might win you over despite this issue.
Focusing on events taking place at an artist management agency, this is probably the best behind-the-scenes show about the Korean dramaworld – well, certainly one of the funniest. This is mostly due to the many finely drawn supporting characters (from clueless interns to bizarrely behaving actors) that you can’t help but wonder if they are inspired by real-life models. Numerous cameos from real K-drama stars and the screwball romance of the head of the PR department (the amazing Lee Sung Kyung, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo) with the company’s biggest star (Kim Young Dae) are other highlights of the show.
This well-written mix of workplace comedy and rom-com is somewhat bogged down in the last third by some “more serious” plot developments, but in the last couple of episodes we’re back in comedy mode. Entertaining, amusing and simply just a lot of fun to watch. Don’t miss it. Excellent minus.
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