More than just a drama about friendship

This will be a relatively short review because I don’t want to write spoilers and I think reviewers have written most of what is to expect.

Like most reviewers, the friendship shared by the 3 women (main leads) was amazing. I don’t think I’ll be able to find friends like that in my entire life. Their love lives were toned down a lot, as in everything about their love lives was almost smooth-sailing, because this drama was supposed to focus more on their friendship.

For me, such dramas on friendships of a group of main leads would usually just be about their lives plus incidents here and there throughout and it will make up the entire show, so I actually did not expect the loss the main leads had to experience in this drama. Neither the title nor the synopsis gave this idea, but the preparations towards, the sheer overwhelming loss itself, the very believable acting of the main leads and the OST called That’s All sung by Choi Yuri – all of which made my tears literally flowed from episode 2 to the end of the show. I especially liked the ample amount of time given to the preparations of the loss. I think they were portrayed realistically albeit sadly and a reminder to us again that life is short and unpredictable.

The entire vibe of the drama was sad yet very heartwarming because of the heartfelt dialogues and actions between the main leads. I didn’t find this drama slow-paced except one or at most two episodes when nothing new was happening. You would still keep going, nevertheless, because you would want to see the ending despite knowing what would happen - this drama has this charm.

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one of the best CGI in a xianxia drama

I did not plan to write a review for this drama because many people have written excellent and comprehensive reviews already, but I decided to add in my thoughts just for my record in point form while trying not to write spoilers.

1. Female lead’s voice sounded really childlike, but by the third episode, I was used to it. Her voice reminded me of those dubbed female lead in Japanese anime. The cute, high-pitched ones.

2. I did not find the female lead’s acting convincing enough at first, but she improved as the episodes went by especially when Xiao Lan Hua became Xi Yun Goddess. I thought she acted well with her changed voice and expressions.

3. It took me months to finish this drama. Just one sentence: not engaging enough. The beginning episodes were draggy, the mortal realm was boring (I was stuck there for weeks) , but after the mortal realm, the story got a little better and I finished it in a matter of days.

4. To be honest, all in all, I was not touched by the love between the main leads. They were not the kind of main leads whom I really hoped they became together and nothing tore them apart. Nothing was wrong with their acting, I guess it was just the chemistry between Wang He Di and Yu Shu Xin. And the kissing scenes, especially those which were supposed to be passionate like the ending ones, were just well...lips touching. However, I do have to mention that I was moved to tears at the bridge when Dongfang Qing Cang confessed his never-changing love for Xiao Lan Hua (Xi Yun Goddess) and Xiao Lan Hua left the bridge with tears flowing secretly. I think the surrounding circumstances made his confession very heartrending.

5. Extremely gorgeous CGI. I think this has been mentioned umpteen times by many reviewers, but it is true. For example, in all the xianxia dramas I have watched, the heavenly main hall in this drama was the most beautiful and heavenly-like I have ever seen, no exaggeration here, I’m serious. What with its numerous dreamlike waterfalls and pamukkale (Turkey)-looking water steps. Watch it for yourself and you’ll know what I mean.

6. The last few episodes and ending felt like the director was rushing to tie the loose ends. Some side characters' stories were not properly shown, explained or developed, at least to me. For example, I would have liked to see more of the story development between Shang Que (Dongfang Qing Cang's subordinate) and Jie Li (Xiao Lan Hua's best friend).

Overall, I may have more negative things to rant about this drama than positive comments looking at the above, but I would still recommend this drama to anyone who wants to watch a Chinese historical drama and even more so a xianxia drama because of its CGI. Yes, because it is a xianxia drama and CGI is one of the most important things in a xianxia drama.

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Simple heartrending story with excellent acting

12 episodes, 30 minutes per episode

This was a simple story and relatively easy watch (due to its short duration per episode) with a few simple characters.

Kang Chang Wook (Han Seok Kyu), a workaholic, did not know how to cook until his ex-wife, Jung Da Jung (Kim Seo Hyung) was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer. They lived together again with his ex-wife’s diagnosis and he started to learn to cook for her (and their son) so that she could have nutritious foods.

The story started from the time they lived together again and him starting to cook for her. It revolved around the two of them as the main leads, their day-to-day lives and subsequently as the episodes moved on, Da Jung’s illness became more serious and we saw her battle with final-stage cancer.

As expected, there were more and more tear-jerking scenes as we saw the painful battle. I rejoiced with Chang Wook every time when the doctor said there was improvement in her condition and she could eat something. He listened intently each time to what the doctor said Da Jung could eat and then endeavored to make something for her. My heart ached and my tears flowed when I saw the amount of effort he put in but only to have Da Jung too sick to eat or throwing up everything.

I was enthralled by Chang Wook’s cooking. There was a representative dish in each episode and some sort of a story revolving around the dish. It was heartening to see him becoming more interested and better in his cooking. And how he worked tirelessly to try to make every dish as organic and as less-processed as possible for Da Jung and how he put his best effort and even more so when his wife specifically requested for that particular dish.

I liked his narration to the audience in the form of writing his blog because I could understand his unexpressed feelings from cooking each meal and seeing his family eat them. Looking at his expression each time when he watched his family eat his dishes reminded me of how people love to watch their loved ones enjoy every bite of their cooking.

There was nothing negative that I wish to mention about this drama. The acting was highly convincing and natural, especially the main leads, both of whom I understand are veterans.

I would recommend this drama definitely. It is not the cheery kind where you can laugh your head off while watching, but it is realistic, heartrending yet healing and inspiring. After watching, I wanted to try cooking the food too. Cooking steps were not in detail but ingredients and amounts to be added were mentioned. I usually do not rewatch dramas, but I may consider rewatching some cooking scenes of Chang Wook occasionally to get some ideas for healthy Korean dishes :D

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Boring story, lacklustre acting

This drama was about two close friends who lived next door to each other since young, went to school together every day, did almost everything together, even sleeping together on a single bed in each other’s houses almost every night and waking each other up every day. Basically, the best of friends. However, as time went by, they gradually realized that their feelings for each other were not mere friendship and best of friends.

In the first few episodes, Seeiw (Earth), one of the main leads, whined so much like a childish kid. He had not many friends, no hobbies, basically only had Cake (Santa), the other male lead, in his life and spent his time whining and acting cute in front of him. Fortunately, this was not the first time I saw this actor, otherwise I would have been totally put off by him. I thought Earth’s character would get better as the episodes moved. Yes, he did stop whining, but unfortunately something about his character was not pleasing to me throughout. I just didn’t like the portrayal of his character.

I thought the story would improve after Cake left for overseas and they became older. Unfortunately, it did not and then Seeiw’s mother passed away. I understood the emotional toll it took on the family, but the entire incident took too many episodes and just too much crying and all these with nothing else happening.

I did not enjoy this drama from the start, but I did not think about dropping it because I was hoping that the story would improve or there would be some sort of a twist that would make the story more interesting so I stuck with it, but no, it just continued to be boring and underwhelming, with uninspiring acting from the main leads and the entire cast, all the way to the end. The main leads' chemistry with each other, something that was so important in a BL, was nothing to talk about. And was it just me, but I felt everything in this drama was just so old-fashioned, the filming location, the acting, the dialogues, the props, etc., all honestly in a negative way, it was too simple to the point of underwhelming. At first I thought it was filmed based on the 1970s but no it was like 2002 in the drama if I remember correctly.

It took me months to finish this drama even though it was only 12 episodes and was actually glad I finally completed watching it. The ending was satisfying in a way that all loose knots were tied with nothing hanging, but even so, it could not compensate the entire story. Of course, I would not recommend it, there are far better BLs out there and BLs aside, there are far better stories and acting out there than this.

And on why the title was ‘My only 12%’ because apparently 12% is the probability that the one you love would love you back. I wonder how true this is...

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A moving final move (to heaven) – a meaningful drama

STORY
The male lead, Han Geu-ru (Tang Jun Sang) ran a cleaning company called ‘Move to Heaven’. This is unlike your usual cleaning company, but one which offered trauma cleaning services. Geu-ru ran the company with his father but the latter passed away suddenly and he was left to run the company with his uncle who became his guardian, Cho Sang-Gu (Lee Je Hoon) and his neighbor, Yoon Na-Mu (Hong Seung Hee), both of whom were newbies to trauma cleaning.

ACTING
I am not familiar with the cast in this drama and I do not think they are famous celebrities, but I have no complaints about their acting. All of them did their job well, especially the 18-year-old Tang Jun Sang. His portrayal as Han Geu-ru with Asperger’s Disorder was very believable. Kudos to him.

I started watching this drama with no inkling of what it was about because I did not read the synopsis, comments or reviews. I was only attracted to its 9.2 rating in MDL and after watching this 10-episode drama, I think it does deserve the high rating, but also feel that perhaps more episodes would have been better.

‘Move to Heaven’ was called upon each time by the police, funeral homes, the family of the deceased or in one case, the deceased himself (made advance booking) to clean, disinfect the place, clear away the belongings and clean up the detritus from bodies sometimes found dead after a few days or even weeks and months after death. Basically, to help the deceased in their final move, as the drama put it.

At the threshold of the place he was about to clean, Geu-ru would always recite a prayer and play a sentimental classical piece. He would then first clean away dried blood and body fluids if there were any, that might have stained the floor, walls of the place before picking up the items in the place and organizing the more intimate belongings in a yellow box which he would then pass to the next-of-kin or the closest or most intimate person of the deceased. Lastly, he would disinfect the place if deemed necessary before leaving.

This drama gave us good glimpses of what a trauma cleaner was about and how the job was done, a job considered gruesome and even inauspicious by some, judging from the drama. It was an eye-opener for me.

It was helping families in distress as it would be a stressful and difficult time for family members who might be emotionally disturbed or busy with last-minute arrangements for the deceased. And whenever they see the blood, it might remind them of the deceased. It was a truly meaningful job.

I did however wonder about the accuracy of the job portrayal as my understanding was trauma cleaners would be cladded in personal protective gear, armed with tongs and wore rubber gloves, but in this drama, Geu-ru wore only his uniform and sometimes picked up the items with his bare hands.

There was never a boring moment, however, when Geu-ru did each case (on average there was a new case every two episodes), because every deceased and every story behind the death was different and portrayed realistically.
In fact, the only boring scenes of the drama were those when Geu-ru was not doing his job and that was mainly the scenes of his uncle who was previously a boxer. Nothing interesting about those scenes with his uncle trying to get away from his past and overcome the trauma of his friend’s accident. Those, to me, were not the focus of the drama and seemed more like fillers.

This was a drama about life, death and bidding farewell to the dead and to add on emphatically, it was not just a drama about trauma cleaning, because Geu-ru was a young man with Asperger's Disorder, a developmental disorder with difficulty relating to others socially and their behavior and his thinking patterns tended to be rigid and repetitive.
Perhaps it was because of his disorder that he did not get too emotional on each job, I guess.
God was fair. He gave him an extraordinary photographic memory, resulting in him being able to piece together the stories of the deceased and bring closure to the lives of many of them. It was satisfying in a way. Exceptional ability, I would say. It was as though the items spoke to him through his heart. That was perhaps why he was able to pass the belongings to their closest or intimate people himself. I believe this was not part of a normal trauma cleaner’s job so I saw it as a special service by ‘Move to Heaven’.

As the drama progressed, I realized that this drama was not just about trauma cleaning. It was also about Asperger’s Disorder. When his father left the world, I was actually worried for Geu-ru, I wondered how he was going to survive by himself after having lost the person who had impacted his life so much and taught him how to live. It was touching to see frequent flashbacks of his father’s words continuing to spur him on.

He was able to eventually bid farewell formally and put aside his emotions to clear his father’s room in the house - as a trauma cleaner. That scene to me was sad as he went through his father’s items, almost all of which were filled with memories of their lives together. Those personal items, in a normal typical case for him, would have just been belongings of ‘another deceased’.

I would not say that this drama was depressing or ‘heavy’ for the heart. Nevertheless, it was not a light-hearted drama either, because after all, this was about death.

The cleaning was portrayed in a respectful and matter-of-fact way which I liked, but the stories behind the items were heartbreaking. I shed tears of sadness and pity because there was one who took his own life (actually his own and his wife’s lives) and the rest of the deceased did not predict their untimely death and things were left uncompleted and words left unsaid. Watching this drama made me cherish life more. We need to treasure our relationships with our loved ones, our friends and our families because anytime we can just say goodbye.

If there was anything negative to comment, it would be that there were too few episodes which I mentioned earlier above. It was not rushed in any way, but I would have liked to see more cases, more variety in the cases faced by Geu-ru, more depth into trauma cleaning like showing the challenges of the job, more of Geu-ru's character development as well as more relationship development between him and his uncle.

I would not recommend this drama if you are looking for a light-hearted one that makes you laugh, but if you want to watch one which makes you ponder a little more about your life or simply if you want to have a better understanding of what a trauma cleaner is about, consider this drama.

Do know that there are one or two gruesome scenes in the beginning, but this is all part and parcel of the job and they are handling with what was a human life after all.

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a somewhat more compelling story compared to usual Thai BLs

STORY: Intouch (Earth) and Korn (Kao) were deeply in love but their parents objected to their same-gender relationship. Unable to withstand the pressures, Korn committed suicide and Intouch seeing his boyfriend die in front of him, followed after. 30 years later, they were reborn as Pharm (Fluke) and Dean (Ohm), who still had vague memories of their past lives and the unforgettable love they had for each other.

Liked:
1. This drama had one of the best Thai BL OSTs I have heard, very melodious songs and able to bring out the right emotions throughout the show.
2. Given the complexity of their characters whereby they had to deal with their past and present lives, especially Pharm, he and Dean’s acting were believable, except that some crying scenes of Pharm weren’t convincing enough. He seemed to have used lots of eye drops and once I felt that way, it was difficult to feel the sadness or happiness whichever the scenes intended to convey.
3. Rather than the usual BL in universities in most Thai BL dramas, this was a refreshing story on parents’ objection to same-gender relationship and reincarnation.

Disliked:
1. Episode 1 - when Intouch and Korn committed suicide. Their acting, including the crying looked fake, including the acting of their fathers - unconvincing and unnatural. And there were illogical parts like seeing Korn was going to commit suicide, nobody stepped forward to stop him, everyone around just stared at him…Intouch’s father only let his son go to Korn after the latter pulled the trigger…ridiculous…
2. A good number of slow motion and ‘doing nothing in silence’ in the main leads’ scenes, such as sitting down staring at each other in silence, listening to music together doing nothing in particular in silence. Maybe it was just me, but even I as the audience felt a little awkward at times seeing them doing nothing together in silence in the bedroom LOL I think 17 episodes could have been cut down from the ‘doing nothing’ scenes.
3. Sin’s father, Pharm’s uncle looked exactly the same - 19 years ago and 19 years later - the drama’s stylist should still make some effort in appearances, even if it was just a minor role.
4. I did feel cringey sometimes in Dean’s and Pharm’s love interactions, such as in their bed scenes, kissing scenes, etc. Their acting wasn't unnatural, but somehow I just felt cringey when I saw them kissing on the bed. Maybe it was Pharm who always appeared to be more reserved towards such interactions with Dean which led me to feeling that way.

Episode 16 - Pharm easily chanced upon the box containing the gun, which Korn used to shoot himself, and the latter’s belongings on a bookshelf in a room. Logically speaking, shouldn’t such a precious piece of item be locked away somewhere? It was supposed to be a sad revelation when Pharm found the items, but I was feeling unbelievable at the absurdity of the scene.
Then again, it was a drama, if the box was locked away, Pharm wouldn’t have found it and wouldn’t have the meltdown he had later and there wouldn’t have been a closure. Therefore, I would not consider this a flaw of the drama because I totally understand the need for this scene regardless of how illogical it may have seemed.

Overall, despite some of its flaws, I would say this drama was still worth watching because the story was different and compelling compared to other usual Thai BLs. The acting was commendable (apart from some of Pharm’s crying scenes) and the chemistry between Dean and Pharm was basically good (except for some of their love interactions).

It was also an easy watch, but then again…..how difficult could it be when there were a good number of scenes of them ‘doing nothing much’?

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An intense, emotional and thrilling drama

https://www.soompi.com/article/1422955wpp/flower-of-evil-screenwriter-talks-about-her-inspiration-for-the-drama-and-explains-meaning-of-title

Check the above link to see what the scriptwriter said about her choice of the title, 'Flower of Evil'. I searched it out of curiosity because I was wondering what the title meant after watching the drama.

Already the first episode was filled with suspense. There was no slow start at the beginning of this drama, the first episode literally put viewers right into the plot. Every ending would make you look forward to the next episode. The background music also helped in building up the thrill and suspense.

And yes, as other reviewers have commented, both Lee Joon Gi and Moon Chae Won acted very well, though I personally think that Lee Joon Gi performed better. His role was the prime role filled with a roller coaster of emotions he had to display; love for his wife and child, utter disbelief, tortured feelings, feelings of fear, absolute hurt, sadness, brink of collapse, etc. Their chemistry with each other was also exceptional and their love for each other was convincing.

Overall, if you were to look into the minute details, there would be illogical parts in the drama, I did question some parts as I watched, I think most dramas have all these illogical and unexplained parts, otherwise, they can’t produce a drama out, but one or two illogical parts, they did try to explain in a subtle way in the drama why they happened.

Despite illogical and unexplained parts, the overall production was of good quality, the plot was thrilling and exciting, after the second or third episode, you would definitely want to watch continuously to the end, the main leads and the rest of the cast acted well, they had strong chemistry, the emotional scenes of the two lead couples were well-executed. Well, and Lee Joon Gi did have some charm, his looks grew on me, I wasn’t quite used to his small eyes and single eyelids at first, but after a while, I saw hey, that was his charm. And I have to mention, the kid was adorable, I always looked forward to the scenes with her and Lee Joon Gi playing and talking to each other, the bond between them felt so precious. I could feel the love he had for his daughter in this drama.

This drama is definitely worth a watch.


ENDING: a little spoiler
The only slight negative comment I had to make was the last episode, I rather wish that Do Hyun Su could regain his memory of his deep love for Cha Ji Won, instead of continuously being in the state of memory lost and searching for his love for her. It felt a little forced and unnatural. Or perhaps the time from his rejection of Ji Won to the time he decided to accept and continue searching for his love for her was a little short in the drama, probably the director had not enough time? so it felt like he suddenly recalled having some sort of love for her, and since so, ok, decided he would accept and love her, which I felt wasn’t as touching as I had hoped it would be. His 'previous' love for her was just so deep and touching that I really wanted that love to be 'recalled' instead.

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Lin Bei Xing, I like you, regardless of how the world may change, I like you always.

Well, to be honest, I do not usually pick Chinese modern dramas because I find the stories very average and endings anti-climax and especially avoid school settings because they are the usual stuff like exams, tests, results, puppy love, etc., but I decided to watch this after reading the good reviews and was pleasantly surprised and touched by the story...

STORY: Lin Beixing, the female lead, by accident, time travelled to her high school days by using her 2010 handphone and deleting messages in that phone, so each time she deleted a message, she was brought back to the school and each time she went back, she tried to save the life of Zhang Wansen, the male lead, and eventually learned about Zhang Wansen's heartfelt secret. When he was young, Zhang Wansen was a weak boy easily bullied, but a chance meeting in the zoo with Lin Beixing who rescued him from bullies and encouraged him to pursue his dream to become a borderless veterinarian, his heart warmed up to Lin Beixing and his liking for her became rooted in his heart. Throughout his school life from elementary school, he tried to get close to Lin Beixing and when they grew older, he was always trying to let her know that he was the 'girl' (he was dressed as a girl then) they met in the zoo, always trying to muster courage to make her notice him and tried ways to impress her, like practising hard at playing basketball when he knew that she liked boys who played basketball, etc.

Alas, it was this playing basketball and a subsequent fire accident that eventually led to a misunderstanding and caused them to miss 8 years until they were in the same class in high school but at that time Lin Beixing had eyes for only Zhan Yu, thinking that the latter was the one who saved her in the fire. Zhang Wansen, though feeling sad, never gave up liking Lin Beixing and was always behind her, helping her to solve her troubles, never seeking for repayment. He prepared notes for her exams and even gave up going abroad (and therefore gave up being a borderless veterinarian), instead using the money to help pay for her brother's debts, but also because of this help, eventually causing him his life and never being able to send the message from his handphone, the message he wanted to send to Beixing, "I like you.".

Eventually, Lin Beixing learned of his existence, his liking for her for such a long time and they did manage to have a brief 'relationship' in one of her time travels and most importantly, she also finally realised that if any one of them said the words, "I like you", to each other, the time zone she was in would end immediately, she would thus lose Zhang Wansen and be separated from him, so in the very last time travel, she decided that she would make Zhang Wansen dislike her, but by doing this, even if it made Zhang Wansen sad and at a loss, he still did not stop his concern and care for her, quietly collecting evidence of the bad guy's deeds to protect her and when he happened to read Lin Beixing's diary and understood the truth behind Lin Beixing's cold attitude towards him, he kept quiet about it, did not confront her whatsoever, instead went along with her 'intentions' and pretended to distance himself from her and dislike her.

ACTING/CAST: The male and female leads had very good chemistry, I didn't see any unnaturalness in them at all. Although I did feel that they look older than their ages in the drama, their acting overcame all. The other side characters also performed well. No one in particular, acted badly, in my opinion.

MUSIC: The music was good enough, did bring in the emotions.

ENDING: Lin Beixing continued working in the zoo, passed the interview for the international animal protection organisation and eventually was on the way to become a borderless veterinarian. This is literally carrying the dream of Zhang Wansen and living for him. I shall not say in detail here, but I really hope that the one standing behind holding the umbrella for her, was Zhang Wansen, in the very last scene.

AFTERTHOUGHTS: What really touched me in this drama, was the quiet sacrifices Zhang Wansen made for Lin Beixing. All he ever wanted was for Lin Beixing to be happy and safe. Protecting Lin Beixing was his life mission and regardless of any time zone that Lin Beixing time-travelled into, his liking for her was always there and he was always ahead of her in thinking for her, protecting her. Even when he thought she killed a man, he didn't even check or confirm the details carefully, but instead went ahead of her to surrender to the police first, just to protect her. All these done without any expectations, without ever expecting Lin Beixing to know his liking for her or what he did or to like him back or repay him. I was touched by such a person. Love, even if not known, will always be enduring and I guess the reason for Lin Beixing to be able to time-travel was that God did not want Zhang Wansen to be forgotten by her. Every time Lin Beixing turned back, Zhang Wansen was there. No wonder the old man at the beach said to Lin Beixing, "your world is not in the present, nor in the future, it's in your past, it's in that every moment you turned back."  

What also touched me, was when Lin Beixing tearfully realised later that each time she managed to time-travel back, she always landed in those moments Zhang Wansen had regrets for, like not being able to watch fireworks with her, take graduation photo with her, do the rabbit dance with her, take the university entrance exams together with her, walk out of the exam hall together with her, cycle together, watch a live band concert together, watch the first snow together with her, etc.

Such a boy like Zhang Wansen, I guess any girl would hope to meet. At least to me, he will always be worth remembering and well-deserving of the love from the girl he likes.

P.S. A movie of this drama is coming up in 2023, I will definitely watch it and I hope I can see everlasting happiness with Zhang Wansen and Lin Beixing living together, spending time together in the same time zone always. And most importantly, be able to say "I like you" to each other without any fears of losing each other or be separated from each other.

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It is good, but...

This drama did bring attention the sorrows of suicide, how much suicide affects the people around the victim, years after the victim is long gone, the pain is still there.

All the above was portrayed in this drama and the victim was given a chance to alleviate that pain, even a little, by properly communicating her thoughts to all those who were suffering because of her suicide. This chance was due to her brother who was able to see her and whom she could possess by holding his hand and thus able to communicate directly with the loved ones.

This drama was largely captivating and touching. The only negative thing I have to say about this drama is, towards the end when the victim said her final goodbyes to each of her loved ones (which was inevitable, she had to leave), yes, I felt touched by the various goodbyes, but honestly, after a while, I did not feel as touched as I thought they should make me be. Perhaps, there were too many dialogues - which I concur were absolutely necessary because after all it was these lack of communication which contributed to her suicide - and the content of these dialogues were somewhat similar, so I felt somewhat exhausted watching at the end.

Nevertheless, this drama was worth a watch. It reminded how precious and fragile life is, how important communication is and how much regret a victim brings to his/her loved ones after ending his/her life. This drama reminds us, it is not the person who leaves, but the people left behind who feel the pain and suffer the most.

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somewhat different ending from what I expected

Before watching this drama, I have not watched dramas with crime, suspense or thrillers often. This was also the first time I watched this genre of dramas produced by China.

So I will just say my opinions based on my little experience with Chinese crime, suspense dramas.

You keep wondering who the murderer is throughout the drama. The suspense was there, heightened by the music, dim lights (actually, I wonder why the houses in China all look so dim inside with creepy rooms and corners), the characters' behaviors and body language, all the various clues discovered here and there, etc. So much so that you start suspecting almost every possible character in the drama, but the ending was a little different from what I expected after all the suspense, as one reviewer pointed out, not mind-blowing, didn't go, what? it was him/her (all this while)??!! I just went, ok, this was the murderer, hmm.

Nevertheless, the drama is good overall, it is not slow-paced, because new clues are discovered almost every episode so you will not feel bored, new clues only draw you nearer and nearer to the identity of the murderer and this makes you want to keep watching the next episode and the next, although there are some illogical acting (like how could one person still walk normally after being stabbed several times and then instantly fell flat on the ground after one shot on the leg?), but these can still be overlooked if you look at the drama as a whole. The acting of the main leads is good, especially Zhao Li Ying. You see a different her here. And each episode is about 36 mins on average, so it is good if you do not want to sit down for too long. The music is good, bring out the suspense, the ending is wrapped up well, loose knots tied.

All in all, I still enjoyed this drama, though I will not consider this a super good suspense crime drama.

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an extremely light-hearted and enjoyable drama

As my title says, this drama is really light-hearted and enjoyable.

Similar to most Japanese dramas, each episode is a story on its own, so there is no need to refer or recall what happened in the last episode or the past episodes.

Also there are only 10 episodes and each episode is a mere 23 minutes on average, extremely easy to complete. It's good if u want to watch a short drama with short running time per episode and just enjoy a good laugh.

The main thing why this drama is enjoyable to me is the mother, yes, the one in the white apron in the profile pic. Her body language, reactions, the things she does, are all of the exaggerated sort, but not to the extent of being irritating. Rather, they are exaggerated but comical. So watching her is really entertaining. and a good de-stressor. Just try one episode and decide whether you like the mother or not to continue watching because the entire drama is mainly about her. By the way, she's actually a male! I think it's common for male comedians to cross-dress as females and act like middle-aged aunties in Japanese dramas.

I guess the drama title 'samurai kaasan', means a mother who serves her family. or quite rather, her son, especially. This is because 'samurai' is basically translated as 'one who serves and attends' and 'kaasan' means mother.

I hope this drama has a second series. I will look forward to watching it if it has.

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good start, but not good from the middle onwards

A lot of people have already written their negative reviews on this drama, so I would not say much.

For me, the drama had a good beginning when Bao Ning, Li Qian and Zhao Xiao joined the weaponry competition. It seemed like there might be interesting things happening among these 3 and the weapons in future, so initially was pretty looking forward to it. But in the middle of the drama, nothing seemed to be happening, like nothing big seem to be happening, BN and LQ fell in love, got married amongst jealous side characters including ZX. These side characters were always looking for ways to break the couple up. Started to feel a little bored and in the end the drama was just getting rid of those side characters one by one, but the tactics were not interesting either. I was always looking at how much time was left when I watched each episode because I didn't feel excited at all watching and just wanted to finish the drama. As time went by, honestly, I even got tired of looking at the main couple.

And as others have pointed out, really didn't understand what the title of the drama meant. 'Rebirth for you' hmm....nothing of that sort linking to the title happened in the drama...the Chinese title makes more sense, they should have just followed the Chinese title, 'Legend of Jianan Princess' or simply 'Jianan Princess' because legend seems too exaggerated. The FL, Bao Ning, definitely didn't create a legend in the drama.

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Sweet and light

What I liked: sweet and romantic love, acting by entire cast was good, the songs played brought out the emotions suitable for the scenes

What I disliked: maybe it was just me, but I thought the main leads and second leads fell in love too quickly and probably because of this, I felt bored and kind of in disbelief in the first perhaps 10 episodes, but subsequently I began to feel their love for each other probably because after watching more than 10 episodes, so I wasn't that bored anymore and more vested in their love for each other.

I believe because it was by the same director as 'Love by Hypnotic', so there was some resemblance in the filming style pertaining to the main leads' love interactions, such as peach blossom trees, swings, them lying side by side on the wooden platform, lots of sweet kisses, etc.

All in all, I would recommend if you want something sweet and light, though other reviewers have also pointed out that the last few episodes were a little tensed, but I would still consider it 'light' compared to other historical dramas.

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A little slow-moving overall

I am one of those who did not read the novel, so this is entirely based on my feelings after watching all the episodes of the drama.

Before I started writing this review, I was thinking what I liked about this drama, but unfortunately, except for the fact that it is in my favourite genre of Chinese historical dramas and I have watched many of them, there is really nothing that I can say I like about or find exceptional or worth-mentioning its good in this drama. If given a choice, I wouldn't have picked this drama up again.

As a whole, it was not bad, still watchable and I didn't think about dropping the drama at all at any point in time throughout watching because I wanted to know the ending, how they were going to overcome the odds to return their people to their proper homelands and the outcomes of Su Mo and Bai Ying.

However, I just found the entire drama slow-moving, be it the story, the dubbing voices of Su Mo and Bai Ying or their body language always so soft and gentle, not saying that soft body language and voices are issues, but they made the drama a little boring on top of the already slow-moving story and when it was late at night, I also tended to fall asleep watching them.

And I am sorry to their fans, but no, I do not think that their acting were good in this drama, just okay and more towards the negative. A lot of emotional scenes were not portrayed well, especially the last episode, but if I were to think again, perhaps, their characters in the drama were like that, not tending to show too much emotions, just quietly accepting everything that happened. Okay, I can accept if we put it this way.

And then the last episode. Seriously, the last episode, I guess it is probably the editing, everything to be finished by that episode so instead of showing the audience one by one what happened, they used lots of flashbacks, like Bai Ying would be standing there, staring into space, and then what she encountered earlier on would be shown to the audience for the first time and there were just too many flashbacks. I had to pay attention and watch carefully, otherwise I would have been very lost and confused, even after watching carefully, I was still a little confused.
And Su Mo dying and supposedly to become rainwater soon, suddenly appearing beside Bai Ying at the Flower Blossom tree and then when he finally dissipated into thin air, he appeared again when Bai Ying was crying by the Bi Luo sea, too much of these, really, disappearing and then re-appearing, to be honest, more than being touched, I went "huh?" each time Su Mo appeared again. And their acting weren't exceptional in the first place, so those supposedly touching scenes were not touching to me at all.

Well, I believe everyone will have his/her own subjective opinions and I'm not a professional reviewer either, but these are just my honest feelings after watching the entire drama.

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What I liked:
- the love between the main leads, despite everything that happened between them
- the male lead's silent sacrifices for the female lead.
- the acting of the cast
- OST - I liked the 對立面 by Jolin Tsai. Each time this song was played in the drama, I could feel the emotions of the main leads and felt very sad.

What I disliked:
- the ending - I was hoping that after all they have been through, they would move to the mountains and live there together forever, away from all the disturbances and unhappiness.
- the occasional rough treatment of the male lead towards the female lead in the early episodes

Watching this drama, many times I felt very sad but also extremely touched by the love of the main leads for each other. Really wanted them to be together and live happily ever after in the mountains.

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