I Belonged to Your World (2023)

The saddest happy story.

This is a very simple, funny, and moving story. Twenty-five-year-old Qi Shuo is utterly devastated when his mother Qi Yue dies at an early age after a difficult life. He travels back in time to change her life. The teenage Qi Yue is just a somewhat lonely, happy-go-lucky young girl with no goals or ambitions. She hilariously accepts that she has an adult son and after some initial reluctance, happily goes along with his machinations without looking too deeply into his assertions. She is that kind of oddly naive, scratch-on-the-surface, go-along-get-along kind of person, which is why her life gets so messed up. Qi Shuo is determined to make her go on to university and marry Lu Xiao, a gifted physics student and more importantly, a good man.

The unconventional, comedic, and touching mother-son dynamics between a young man who cajoles, threatens, bullies, badgers and manipulates his teenage mother in line is the best thing about this drama. Qi Yandi and Liu Yitong's heartwarming chemistry and goofy humorous antics as they pursue Lu Xiao had me in stitches. This trio of young main actors really impressed me with their spontaneous and brilliant use of comedy to convey deep emotions. Arguably Lu Xiao is the less interesting role but Wu Difei hits all the right notes with his portrayal of a goofy, romantic and insanely hot nerd. The way his Lu Xiao silently sees everything and steps up to take the baton from Qi Shuo adds a resonating depth to this otherwise archetypal character. Qi Landi also compels as the effervescent Qi Yue who each time lives joyously in the moment, oblivious to any undercurrents until after the point of no return that leaves her shattered. But it is Liu Yitong's stunning portrayal of the quirky, intelligent, diabolical and selfless Qi Shuo, a young man-child that completely floors me. His Qi Shuo is a character that makes me want to laugh as hard as I want to weep. His impish, unadulterated joy as he basks in Qi Yue and Lu Xiao's happiness and affection with the barest sheen of moisture in his eyes is iconic. There is no justice in the drama world if this young actor doesn't go places.

This is a very entertaining and very funny drama that makes it easy for me to forgive its flaws from the choppy editing to some plot holes. It is not perfect and there are some digressions that including Qi Shuo's mini romance that are unnecessary. Even though unlike Qi Yue, I could see the inevitable ending speeding toward me like the white truck of doom, I was still shaken. Despite disconnected cuts that suggest the heavy hand of censorship towards the end, the final message remains intact - " The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live and that is the present moment" - Buddha.

This is far from a perfect drama but it is still a story that will stay with me for a long while. It is quite simply the saddest happy story about the absolute, unconditional love between a child and their parent. I rate this as a very heartwarming and funny 8.0/10.0.

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Only the love between parents and children is for separation.

This 20-episode drama took me by the neck and gave me a ride on the emotional rollercoaster. the synopsis confused me so much that it actually made me want to watch this and it was such a treat though I went into it with no expectations at all since there's not much drama about time travel that did it right or somewhat logical at least this one even with little knowledge about time traveling theory it would still make sense.

okay so with the vital part of the drama (for me) Qi shuo, that character was the super glue of the drama, I would not trade Liu yitong to any other actor he made Qi shuo the lovable character that made me love the whole drama. He was a son, the one that would cross the mountains, sea, and time and space for his mother and liu yitong managed to portray that for us. Like what they say in the drama 'All love in this world is for gathering, Only the love between parents and children is for separation.' he loves his mother so much that he was willing to sacrifice himself just to make sure that her mother would live differently from the current time that she was in.

Qi yue and Lu xiao, are really destined to be together, or at least now the odds of favor are on their side. knowing the little tidbits of their 2031 selves, Lu xiao took care to Qi shuo and Qi yue with probably some limitations but Qi shuo gave them the push and the reason to take care of each other in the near future (also betting my fortune that 2031 Qi shuo prolly saw Lu xiao as a father figure in his life)

this will sound and feel weird but the trio did really have the chemistry of a family (yes even with being adults), you can perfectly picture them as that harmonic family. the amount of chemistry they have are so adorable.

The sacrifices, feeling of belonging, a family they will call their own, finding and reaching a dream, and realizing a probably 'childish' wish. The drama delivered that all even with just 20 episodes.

is this the best drama? tbh it's all base on personal taste but this one is worth giving a peek.

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The son who sacrificed his life for his mother's happiness

It's been soo long since I have cried watching a drama . these days dramas are getting emotional but they're not as much as heart touching like before.


1st i thought he might not be her son but her actual husband because there is a Korean drama with this plot and the husband want to change her wife's fate by saying he was her son(i thought he somehow manipulated DNA results). but after few episodes i can truly see the connection between them.

Actually I can see that Qi yue is Qi shou's mother but I can't really find any similarities between Qi shou and xu zhaoyang. TBH Lu xiao is a bit similar to him because of his intelligence ( may be because he is his teacher)

I hope in the ending they should've made Qi shou as Qi yue and Lu xiao's son ?? i can't bare the sadness of his disappearance.

The saddest part is no one remembered him every trace of him is disappeared even the family portrait too ?.


About Qi yue's farther ?‍? i thought he finally understood his mistake but he still did the same mistake on her Wedding but I'm happy that Qi shou is the one who walked her down the aisle.


In ending credit scene they showed that he came again and both Qi yue and Qi shou smiled at each other that broke my heart ?? it's really a true love between a mother and her son ? she remembered him even if the whole world forgotten him.


Hoping for an extra episode where they meet each other and say that they're happy in there own worlds and they'll remember each other ? there should a perfect farewell not disappearence ?.


It broke me that how Qi yue behaves after Qi shou left her. Even if she didn't show much at the end she really showed meternal love enough for whole drama.


Overall drama is very good the story is perfect the cast is perfect and how they showed emotions in each scene is too perfect. I love this drama and i think it'll take much time than i thought to recover from this drama

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All love is the world is for reunion. Only the love between parents and children is for separation

Pros:
1. The cast:
- Liu Yitong as the dedicated and filial sacrificial Qi Shou who perfectly struck the balance of loveable but tragic. A desperate son fighting a war in which his mother can only win if he loses.
- Judy Qi as Qi Yue. split between two timelines. an imperfect but loving mother that raises the perfect son in one timeline and a young ditzy lonely teenager who yearns for familial affection in another timeline. she is sweet, bold, feisty, stupid, kind, and loving all in one. she was fun to watch and struck the right emotional notes in many scenes
- Wu Di Fei as Lu Xiao, a nerdy gentleman who Qi Shou has chosen as his father's replacement and his mother's future husband

2. The relationship dynamics
- Qi Shou and Qi Yue: one of the most refreshing, funny, heart-wrenching mom-son duos in c-ent. Qi Yue is estranged from her family and living alone even though she is just a teenager. She is clearly yearning for familial affection. she has nobody. that is when she bumps into a grown man who claims he is her son from the future. Pushing through initial denial and awkwardness, the two embrace their roles as mother and son. most of the scenes have a touch of refreshing whimsy as we watch a man in his mid 20s casually calling a teenage girl his mother. Through a series of flashbacks we see that even tho Qi Yue was considered an incompetent and unreasonable woman by many, she loved her son to death and poured all the love and care she could give to raise him. Even tho she was suffering through an abusive marriage she puts it aside and chooses to spend her life on loving her son. She raises a great son who in turn goes back in time and raises her into the kind of woman who can live a better life. Qi shou and Qi yue are stuck in a loop where both are simultaneously the child and the parent. its a complex and deep relationship that draws to a tragic and heart wrenching end coz Qi Yue's happiness comes at the cost of her dearest son's existence.
but regardless this mother-son relationship is the core, most significant relationship of this show and it is showed in the end where Qi yue begs her would have been abusive husband to marry her even tho she is married to someone else who she loves and is loved by because at the end of the day, her greatest love was not her husband or her potential husband, it was her son.

- Qi Shou and Xu Zhaoyang: it is not a relationship that is explored as much as the relationship between the mother and son. for most of the show we are left guessing as to whether or not if xu zhaoyang is the original father of qi shou and qi yue's original husband. in the beginning, the only interactions we see between the two is those of qi shou threatening his father to stay away from his mother and beating him up because while it hasnt happened in this world, in the world he comes from his father is abusive at worst and negligent at best. Lu xiao even notices that the bright and cheerful qi shou who is usually like his mother becomes uncharacteristically violent when it comes to xu zhaoyang. as qi shou draws closer to his father he finds out that his father was also a victim of domestic violence and like qi shou, he too was only a son trying to protect his mother from a terrible situation. we also find out that all the mischiefs xu zhaoyang does is only to protect and provide for his mother. but from the way qi shou is unfamiliar with xu zhaoyang's mother ie his paternal grandmother we can assume that she like qi yue also passed away early due to the stress and threat of constant violence
This really shakes up the foundation of Qi shou's relationship with xu zhaoyang as he now understands that perhaps his father as a victim perpetuated the same violence he faced onto him and qi yue. In one of the biggest character development moves, qi shou selflessly gives up his savings to help move xu zhaoyang and his mother out of their violent household. using this money xu zhaoyang is able to save himself and his mother and seems to have stopped all the exploitation he used to do like scam girls. perhaps being able to save himself and his mother from this violent situation has made him less likely to continue the toxic cycle of domestic abuse.

this way Qi shou not only changed his mother's life but also his father's life. he didnt only save his mother from an abusive situation he also saved his grandmother from the same. he saved two mothers with his sacrifice.

-Lu Xiao and Qi Yue: for most of the show i didnt get that invested in this relationship since it is not the main point of the show. Lu Xiao is kind of like an unsuspecting pawn that Qi Shou constantly manipulates into the right place at the right time so he can change his mother's fate. so some aspects of their relationship can come across as manufactured because it is. it is a relationship that did not originally exist in either Lu Xiao's or Qi Yue's life and in the initial scenes there is a calculated nature to Qi Yue approaching Lu Xiao coz originally she treated wooing Lu Xiao as the assignment her son has given her. but by the end you realize that Lu Xiao is probably the kindest and loving person coz even when he becomes aware of being manipulated at least to a certain extent to fix Qi Yue's life, even tho he is warned by his future self to not let qi shou change the past, he understands the depth of the love that causes Qi shou to even sacrifice himself for his mother. he chooses to validate qi shou's sacrifice and love and also chooses the real love and affection that has bloomed between him and qi yue. in the end even tho his pregnant wife is broken and begging someone else to marry her coz she cant deal with the grief of losing her son, lu xiao understands her and supports her.
we also get a few tidbits in the end from qi shou who reveals that lu xiao spent a lot of time caring for him and qi yue in his original timeline. it brings up a lot of questions like whether or not lu xiao originally liked qi yue but wasnt able to do anything about it coz of qi yue's marriage to xu zhaoyang. this makes qi shou's initially random decision to pair his mom up with her high school classmate a lot more meaningful. at the very least lu xiao and qi yue were friends. perhaps qi shou wanted to give them a chance to fall in love before his father made an entry and ruined his mom's life.

lu xiao you are NOT the father, nor are you the step father but you are the father who stepped up


Cons:

1. editing: truly horrible. its like this show was originally made to be a full length 24 ep show but for wtv reason iqiyi decides to run it as a 20 ep 35 min drama. its edited like a low budget mini drama with random cuts that makes the audience have to connect the dots coz it feels like entire scenes have been cut. sometimes even entire plot details are ignored and swept under the rug. like how lu xiao of the future was able to send young lu xiao a message warning him against qi shou changing the past. we dont see him get this message. we assume lu xiao ignores this message as he is moved by qi shou's filial piety and his romantic love for qi yue but its so bizarrely inserted and then ignored
2. lack of original timeline tidbits of qi yue qi shou and lu xiao. qi shou reveals that in the original timeline lu xiao is his professor and often took care of him and his mom. such scenes would have been a great addition to the show instead of qi shou simply saying it
3. logical issues: regular time travel plotholes like the grandfather paradox. also why qi yue never asks him why she has to woo lu xiao again if she is going to end up with him anyway, or why qi shou doesnt disappear till after the wedding even tho qi yue is already pregnant with lu xiao's son before the wedding. perhaps the last one was done for dramatic value but there are many moments when u think logically speaking qi yue should ask this question or be more suspicious about certain things.
4. ending- very obviously a censorship problem like mr bad and the day of becoming you. the ending is confusing and weird. although i have my theories this is honestly just a sad and tragic ending as expected

Overall it is a tragic, moving tale of a son crossing the bounds of time and space to rescue his mother from a terrible fate; even at the cost of his existence even though it is presented as a comedy.

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Happy Yet Sad!

I just an amazing story......Happy yet sad......A story with a mixture laughter, love, fun and grief. I never thought I would get so mentally attached to this story. It started off with a lot of fun, had a lot of enjoyment watching it. As it went till the last......the plot got so sad. I have cried my eyes out watching last 2 episodes. It is an amazing drama, with a great and unique story, amazing actors and perfect picturization. The director has succeeded in showing all the emotions and letting the viewers feel the same. Though there are some small flaws in the story, they can be overseen due to the main story. I would suggest all to watch this drama. The son sacrificed his whole existence to make his mom's future stable and good. The mom raised her son to be great man!..........The chemistry between hero and heroine is amazing........and three as family is so wholesome. A must watch drama.Have fun watching this!!
DO KEEP TISSUES NEAR YOU AT THE LAST EPISODES!!

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A drama that will make you want TIME TRAVEL!

Honestly, I started this drama only for a single reason - Jerron Wu! As I had watched him in ' A romance of little forest' he was so cute in that drama, it made me feel to watch him as ML. Then I read the synopsis which was similar to the story of an Indian Bollywood romcom movie titled 'Action Replay' , so my interest grew and I jumped in the universe of this drama.

A hidden gem in this drama for me was Lui Yitong, though I didn't find his face very handsome or cute but I fell in love with his acting and character. only he could do the role of Qi Shuo which required the all the characteristics in one person, be it loving, caring, cute, innocent, humorous or be it impulsive, hurt, sad, vulnerable, bold, brave, decisive he aced every emotion so brilliantly!

Judi Qi also impressed me by her naive, a bit foolish but 'I own it my own way' , cute, innocent and strong character. Have watched her in 'A River runs through it' and I could see the development in her craft. She made us laugh through out the 18 episodes and made us cry even harder in last two episodes. Did a great job ?

Jerron Wu proved he has such charm that can literally draw anyone to watch the piece in which he has afted, for me before it was 'Time and him are just right' and now this, as I said earlier, I start getting interested in the works where he shows up and I feel he has great potential to make his presence feel in the near future, he will be a great name in the Chinese drama industry. He did wonderful job as Lu Xiao! He not only has the cute smile and squeeze worthy cheeks but also very powerful art of making the character his own! Good luck to him for the future!

Now, talking about the scripting, the story was just so superbly woven (keeping aside the science aspect a bit at side) from the emotional perspective. Anyone who is coming from a broken family, who knows what it is like living in the regret because of the decisions made by their parent in their vulnerability, foolishness or impulsiveness and their cost too, would easily be able to resonate with this story. The weak point for me was scripting and execuation, they skipped so many parts,only if they could make it 24 episodes series and could show some more details and not let it left for the audience to jot the points, it would have been so better that way!

Thanks to the ones who read my review uptil now, you can follow me on instagram for cdramas related letters, videos and posts. my account's name is @dearepitomes

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A beautiful Gem

This is a solid 10 from me this was so beautiful. The love between the mother & the son was just so heartwarming ?(the kind of relationship I want). The way she cried her heart out when she realized her son had disappeared gosh I cried a bucket I felt her pain ?. This story was everything I needed, the pace of it was just perfect ?. I’m greedy so I kinda wish the ending was a bit happier but still loved it though I enjoyed everything from beginning till end. Their acting were on point ?? **I’m glad I decided to watch it** I will certainly re watch it again some time in the future. Absolutely recommend it ??.

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need substance

It started off really well but eventually it felt repetitive (!!) and i never got the deep emotional moments that were needed for this to really hit.

There was scenes that I could see where supposed to be the emotional backdrop and depth for the show but it wasn't done well enough. There should've been more.

The relationships in the show were also not that great. Mother/son needed more depth and the romantic relationship wasn't good either. Both of them could've been explored more.

Perhaps its good for a mindless watch but I went in expecting a lot more.

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Beautiful Hidden Gem

This was way good than I expected. I loved all the three characters but the alleged "son" stole my heart away. The last episode was just beautiful. This a good romantic story but it is an even better son-mother love story. The love that the the son-mother duo share can't be expressed in words, its so pure. The couple was also really cute. A great hidden gem.

This may seem ridiculous in terms of logic but it is a heartwarming story in terms of sentiments. Thus, I suggest people to just think of it as a fictional romance story then you won't be able to find a singly fault in it. 10000/10 :)

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A low budget comedy but the entertainment value is way above my expectation! Awesome.

A light hearted and low budget drama but the acting is above my expectation.

This drama is about a young man who turns back the clock to save his mother from marrying his father who is good for nothing and making sure that his mother marries his mentor who is more like a father to him.

It's a bittersweet drama with hilarious plots that are well executed.

The actor who plays the son acts his role perfectly. The actress who plays the mother - she's brilliant. These two actors really keep the drama alive.

I love this drama.

Watch it and judge it yourself.

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A mediocre RomCom with not so good acting, and the last 5 episodes were good

"I Belonged to Your World" initially was slowed and draggy, and the Judy Qi is being typed cast. She played a similar role in many of the RomCom dramas and is not a good actress. She is a C-rated actress, and the same for the two ML and supported cast.

However, I am glad I stuck with it because the last 5 episodes were decent. I was happy that the drama only had 20 episodes, with 30 minutes for each episode.

I am not into time travel, but the plot in this one is not bad, and the acting of Liu Yi Tong in this drama was much better than the one he played in "My Eternal Star."

The last 5 episodes were touching, and I think Judy Qi did a good job as her character went through the grief of losing her son. Overall, it is an okay drama, giving it a 6.0 rating.

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