Beanie level: Errand boy

OMG this is one of my favourite Chinese novels. There was speculation the drama adaptation would never be released because the original novel is BL but they set it free. I’m so happy 😭.

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    I was waiting for it because of Zhang Xincheng (Steven)!! I’m so happy it’s been freed!! XD
    Though there might be a lot of changes compared to the original novel because of censorship issues and stuff ><
    (Reason why I held back from reading it, at least I have no expectations 😅)

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      Zhang Xincheng is definitely the other reason I’m excited about this! I’m hearing rumblings about a lot of changes from the novel but I’ll stay hopeful 🙏.

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        I have now watched the first episode and loved it!
        Obviously I can’t tell how faithful it was to the original (aside from the fact that they changed all the name for some reason xD) but as a viewer (and zxc fan) I was satisfied! ^^

        Hope many people will be able to enjoy it tbh, even fans of the novel..fair criticism is ok, but when it comes to cnetz they can get pretty aggressive, and I’d rather not see too much of that 😅

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          Oh yeah I stay away from cnetz’ opinions for my own sanity 😅. Glad you liked the first episode!

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    OMG!! I never thought this day would come! This is so exciting!!
    Not sure how much is edited though. I haven’t read the book. I will wait for a few episodes to open up for non VIP users on Youku and then start!
    Thanks for sharing this news!

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      I was convinced it was shelved forever! I think a lot of the danmei adaptations are now hopeful of release, which is good news for drama watchers!

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Okay but that Ep. 10 ending 🔥💦😳 #CrashCourseinRomance

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Looking forward to quite a few of these dramas. What an exciting lineup!

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There were parts of the AoS finale where I wanted to roll my eyes but I can\’t really fault the Hong Sisters for giving the people exactly what we wanted 😅.

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 31. Freestyle – Favourite K-dramas

Although this wasn’t a great year for k-dramas, I still loved quite a few shows – some of which will be on my repeat-watch list for a while.

Anyone who has read most of my round-up or my comments could probably already guess these but still 🥁🥁🥁…my top 5…
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    Through the darkness deserves to be among the best dramas ever. It’s a hard watch, but totally worth it.

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 30. Freestyle – Favourite C-dramas

Didn’t watch as many C-dramas this year as last year but there were still some standouts – one of which roared to the top 5 just this week!

For a change, all my favourites this year were modern c-dramas – Reset, Ordinary Greatness, Legally Romance, Hi Venus, and Under the Skin.















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    Comment was deleted

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    I haven’t watched OG yet. But loved the others. Watching Hi Venus now (at ep 7) and liking it so far.

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    I took the plunge and subscribed to iQIYI so I could watch Zhang Ruo Yun in ORDINARY GREATNESS (38 eps.). I loved it and love the OST. I have the ending OST tune on my fanwall.
    I had watched ZRY in SWORD SNOW STRIDE (2021) (Viki US) earlier this year.
    Of your other 4 dramas I also watched and loved the crime/mystery drama UNDER THE SKIN (2022) (Viki US).
    Since I am a iQIYI subscriber now I have started the iQIYI Mist Theater Lights On series of dramas that began in 2020. They are 12 episode thriller/mystery dramas. First up was KIDNAPPING GAME (2020). I am down to the last two episodes. It has been terrific. I am looking forward to moving on to the next one: THE BAD KIDS (2020).
    RESET (2022) got great reviews and is available at Viki US so I should probably worked it in.

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      That OST from Ordinary Greatness is so good! I have Sword Snow Stride on my list too, mainly for ZRY 😅.

      Hadn’t heard of the Lights On series. Was looking for more thrillers to watch so will check these out. Thank you for the recommendation!

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 29. Freestyle – Favourite J-dramas

These are the ones I watched and loved this year, not necessarily released this year. My top 5 would be the investigative shows Don\’t Call it Mystery and Junkyouju Takatsuki Akira no Suisatsu, the high school romances Horimiya and Black Cinderella, and of course the adorable Old Fashion Cupcake.

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    I am a cops/crime/mystery guy and the Jdrama DON’T CALL IT MYSTERY is one of my 2022 favorites. I wish more of this genre was available on Viki US (which is part of Rakuten, a Japanese conglomerate) but that is not the case.
    Is “Junkyouju Takatsuki Akira no Suisatsu” (2021) being remade into the upcoming Kdrama USELESS LIES with Kim So-hyun and Minhyun?
    Unfortunately JUNKYOUJU doesn’t seem to be available on a legal stream in the US. It would be nice if Viki US picked this drama up (hint!).

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      Is “Junkyouju Takatsuki Akira no Suisatsu” (2021) being remade into the upcoming Kdrama USELESS LIES with Kim So-hyun and Minhyun?

      The synopsis does sound similar! But Junkyouju… was actually about a professor who studies and disproves occult myths and urban legends and a student who can detect lies. The English translation of the title is something like “Guess by Professor Takatsuki…” iirc. I think Useless Lies will probably just be about one specific murder mystery and suspect in contrast.

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    OMG! I read the Horimiya manga. Can’t believe it’s a drama now. ^^

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 28. Freestyle – More eye-candy

Because you can never have enough 🥰 and why stop when I’m on a roll!
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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 27. Freestyle – Eye-candy

I missed Day 27 so here’s some eye-candy to make up for that!
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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 26. Freestyle – Most Trucks-of-Doom award

This one’s pretty freshly minted (can you tell I’m running out of freestyle ideas?). Reborn Rich for proving “if one Truck of Doom doesn’t kill you, two will” (unless you’re the apparently-made-of-vibranium driver we need as a witness 18 years later).



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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 25. Freestyle – The yes-her-again award

Seo Hye-won. She was delightful in everything she did – from the whacky cousin in Business Proposal to the heart-on-her-sleeve friend in May I Help You. Even her tiny cameo in Extraordinary Attorney Woo was great.

Special 👏👏 for one of the most memorable lines of the year.
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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 24. Freestyle – The not-him-again award

Lee Kyung-young. For an almost 5 month-long stretch this year, he was on my screen every godforsaken week. Can\’t wait for k-dramas to find a new universal baddie, preferably one with a less shady past.

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    “Not him/her again” should be an annual feature 🙂
    And yes, he wins this year.

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    He’s definitely become typecast as the exact same character over and over again. He might as well have a sign around his neck that says “evil CEO” at this point.

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      Guess it’s easy to play a villain when you’re convicted for child prostitution.

      “Shady” is putting his past VERY lightly. Throw that criminal back in jail.

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        You’re right ‘criminal’ would be more accurate.

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 23. Freestyle – Minor disappointment

Of course there were the big bombs like Thirty Nine and Why Her but my minor ‘if only/what if’ is saved for Soundtrack #1.

How is it possible for a friends-to-lovers romance to be so…bland? Nothing even vaguely memorable happened in its 4 short episodes.



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    If this helps, I think I dropped it at a 15 minute mark because I couldn’t recognize Han So-here’s acting at all. She, to me, was phenomenal in Nevertheless. The way they made the characters and the show that boring was nothing short of crime. It was unbelievable.

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    I’m so with you on this. It could have been so good but it was so aggressively boring I couldn’t even make it through four episodes.

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      “Aggressively boring” is a very good description of it!

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 22. Freestyle – Worst k-drama fashion

The FL in Jinxed at First by far. Dressing your female lead like a 12-year old makes the incest storyline about 1000x worse. Capped with a bad dye job and hideous lace gloves for no good reason. (No pics because I want to protect beanies\’ eyes).

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 21. Most stylish drama

Has to be Alchemy of Souls. From clothes to hair to architecture and even furniture, the art direction and styling was distinctive and very much in line with the fantasy aspect of it all. That was topped with beautiful cinematography.

As the edit below shows, it was just an extremely visually pleasing show.

Honourable mention – Bloody Heart mainly for its cinematography.

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 20. Best used trope/ best subverted trope

Best used trope – Everything in Good Job – accidental falls, piggyback rides, secret chaebol and all.

Best subverted trope – Amnesia, terminal illness and romantic pillow-fights in Crazy Love.
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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 19. My guilty pleasure

There wasn\’t anything in particular this year sadly. There wasn\’t even anything that fell under the \’so-bad-it\’s-good\’ umbrella. The stuff that was bad was just bad all the way through 😑.

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 18. Non k-drama recommendation

There were a lot of good non k-drama shows this year including Reset, Under the Skin, Ordinary Greatness, etc. but I’ll recommend the J-drama Old Fashion Cupcake because it was one of my favourite rom-coms of the year. Short and sweet, very much like its namesake.



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    this is the 2nd post I’m seeing about “Old Fashion Cupcake”. Guess this means I should go watch it!

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 17. Favourite director

This is actually a tie. Through the Darkness for being extremely tightly paced and directed. Nothing felt spare or extraneous. More importantly, in a show depicting such heinous criminals, nothing felt excessive or voyeuristic.

It’s tied with Adamas which, while more self-indulgent, was perfect as a suspense thriller in that I often had my heart in my throat worrying for the twins’ safety. It really knew how to keep its audience on tenterhooks.






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    Totally agree with you on both. Neither drama would have been the same if not directed the way they were.

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#2022 Drama Round-up
Day 16. My 2022 crush

Hmm I guess I will refrain from naming Kim Nam-gil hair for everything.

Choi Woo-shik was pretty cute in Our Beloved Summer. I’m old enough to remember the days when he was the nerdy minor villain in Fated to Love You and Fight My Way. So I’m always surprised by how good he is at balancing cute with swoony.






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    I remember him in FTLY too. I agree with your sentiments exactly. Nerdy and swoony is totally my type too. Lol!

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    I mean… I totally understand you with THE HAIR.

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