Love O2O

Episodes: 30

Synopsis:

        Bei Weiwei is the prettiest girl in the computer science department who excels in her studies. She loves playing an online game called Dreaming of Jianghu and aspires to be a game designer one day in the future. Through the game, she is approached by the number one player who goes by the name of "Yixiao Naihe" who suggests that the two marry in the game so that they could join couple competitions and complete missions together. The newly formed pair begin to go on many adventures together in the game and are the envy of many.

        However, the virtual world slowly bleeds into the real world as Wei Wei and Xiao Nai begin to develop feelings for each other through the online game. When the two finally decide to meet in person, Wei Wei is shocked to find out that her virtual husband is actually the very attractive and successful college senior, Xiao Nai. Xiao Nai is the most sought after male in their school and he is also the CEO of a starting gaming company he started with his college roommates. The two end up falling for each other more in person, building on what they already had developed through the game. Together, the couple work together, as they do in the game, through many hurdles and obstacles.

Review:

This drama was enjoyable but not the best. It was such a positive and light-hearted watch and all the characters grow to be more mature and happy with each episode. It was so satisfying to see everyone find their own equilibrium by the end of the drama and the ending also met my expectations. None of the characters are perfect and they are all flawed characters. However, that is what makes them so great because it feels human as they learn to recover from jealousy and drama. 

    This drama is good because it covers almost every aspect that I enjoy watching. There is bromance, friendship, romance, school life, and also life outside of school. There is also a lot of eye candy in this drama (especially Yang Yang who plays Xiao Nai). I loved the positive vibes this drama gave off and I truly enjoyed watching it. The OSTs also match the moods very well because the songs are gentle and upbeat. I really liked the video game aspect and how we would enter a virtual world and then exit back into the real world. From that you can see the similarities of the characters in the virtual game and in real life. The virtual game plays a big role in the drama as it was very popular among the college group and a lot of drama that happens on there often echoes into the real world. It also helps the viewers get a glimpse into the world these characters are obsessed with and also allows us to follow along with Wei Wei and Xiao Nai as they push forward in their romance and careers.

        There were times that the main couple felt a little awkward but I guess it played into the cute first-love category. Some of the kiss scenes felt forced, especially on the girl's end. There were also times that I wished the main lead would act more cutesy with one another. However, they played a very career-oriented and school-oriented innocent couple. It was nice to watch them support each other but I wanted some more interactions! (I did greatly appreciate the scene they threw in this drama where she is covering up a hickey...but like I didn't even know when or where she got it!)                While I did enjoy watching the actress who played Bei Wei Wei, I was also a bit thrown off by her character at times. She portrays a good, nice, and popular girl who is also intelligent and strong. However, I find that there are times her character feels distant from her "best friends" and there are times where she's stingy toward other characters as well. It felt like everyone was revolving around the perfect Bei Wei Wei which was kind of odd because I feel like none of the other girl characters were inferior to her in any way (especially her best friends). I felt that Wei Wei's character was also not the type to expect that kind of treatment but it did give off the vibe that the world revolves around her in a couple of episodes. I did like Wei Wei's girlfriends a lot because they were so happy and supportive all the time. The bromance Xiao Nai had with his friends was even cuter to watch because they were so sincere and loyal to each other and the company they started together. 

     I would recommend this drama to anyone who wants to watch a light-hearted, positive school/career based romance.
*****

         Another thing that I want to point out that is not important to the whole review of the drama but the main female lead is extremely skinny. Although I am not 100% sure and would not like to be quoted on this, I feel like she has an eating disorder of some form. I say this not because she's just skinny but because I had watched her on a reality show where she hangs out with her father and they do missions together and she would hardly eat on that show. Her own father had used to try to coax her to eat something and she had a belief that it was part of her job to maintain her figure. The actress who plays her has always been very pretty and slim and I've watched in Meteor Shower before. While this may be an issue (or it isn't because usually actresses do take care of their figures very well), I don't think anyone would be too triggered by this as the character often wore fairly modest and pretty clothes. 

         

Favorite episodes:

Ep 8: That smile he gave Wei Wei before getting on his car

Ep 9: Bromance be real.
Also the part where they decided they were going to meet made me just as excited as Wei Wei.

Ep 10: When he basically said they were dating omg

Their entire date

And the last scene where he went up to her in the basketball court in front of everyone omg
Ep 11: I LOVE THAT THEY'RE DATING IM SO SHOOK
Ep 18: That rain scene
Ep 30: That kiss scene when she's dressed in the ancient red bridal gown

Lion (Movie)

  This was an absolutely amazing and touching film. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch something touching and real. This film is based on a true story which makes it more incredible to me. The story starts back in 1986 in India. A five year old boy named Saroo is fairly happy with his life despite the dismal conditions at the time. He is extremely close with his older brother Guddu and often helps in taking care of his younger sister and mother. Guddu and Saroo often go to steal coal from the freight trains to trade for milk and food for the family. One night, Guddu goes off to look for a job and Saroo insists on going along. However, upon reaching the nearby train station, Saroo decides to stay behind and take a nap. Thus, Guddu tells him to stay where he is and that he'll be back for him. When Saroo wakes up, the train station is empty and his brother was still not back. Saroo looks for Guddu and eventually boards a train and falls asleep in one of the compartments. When he wakes up, the train was already heading toward its next destination with no way for Saroo to get off. 

        After a few days, he arrives in Calcutta. Without knowing his surname, his mother's name, or the correct name of the location where his family is located, Saroo is lost. For a while he wanders about not able to communicate with anyone for help because he spoke Hindi and the people in Calcutta spoke Bengali. In the following days, Saroo encounters many different experiences and dangerous situations. Eventually Saroo goes to the police station and after being unable to trace his family, he is put in an orphanage. Saroo eventually is adopted by an Australian couple. The couple treats Saroo extremely well and eventually adopted another child named Mantosh, who struggled to adapt to his new home. 

          Twenty years pass and Saroo is now a young man who is heading to Melbourne to study hotel management. He has forgotten a lot about his past and his culture over the years and is an extremely happy and healthy male. During a meal with some Indian friends, he came across a delicacy called jalebi. This sparked a childhood memory that he shared with his brother and confides to his friends about the story of how he was lost and then adopted. His friends suggest that he use Google Earth to look for his hometown and to find his family again. With that, Saroo dives into searching for his past and disconnects himself from the people around him as he focuses on the past and how much his family must have grieved for him.

        After years of fruitlessly searching for his hometown by following the train tracks, Saroo comes across a familiar rocky landscape where his mother used to work. From there he finds the water tank and the roads from his childhood memory until he found his hometown Ganesh Talai (which Saroo had been pronouncing Ganastalay the entire time). He eventually returns to his hometown and is reunited with his family but learned that Guddu had been killed by a train the same night that Saroo got lost. The film ends in a warm reunion with his family and also segments of the actual people arriving in Ganesh Talai. It was also during that reunion did Saroo learn that he had been mispronouncing his own name growing up and that his name was actually Sheru meaning "Lion."

Vampire Flower

Episodes: 6
Synopsis:
This drama is based on a web novel that closely resembles to the Twilight Saga. This is a story about a vampire romance between the vampire Louis and a girl named Seo Young. With a golden-scented blood, Seo Young is dragged into the vampire world to help Louis look for the long-lost Vampire Flower.

Review:
      I did not enjoy this drama that much. Usually for short Korean dramas like this, it is often light-hearted and compact. I never expect much out of it but I do want to look for some light-hearted fun. I came across this drama through a FMV but it failed to meet my expectations. The acting is extremely bad and the chemistry between the actors were also off. I found the plot childish and meaningless. It had great potential to dive into the plot but instead it wasn't the main focal point of the drama and everything was very confusing. It also had an unsatisfying ending and left me with many questions. (Like what was even Reika's goal? And was there no flower or what?) I would not recommend this drama.

How I Met Your Father (Movie)

        This is a movie about two college lovers who were instantly drawn to each other the first time they met eyes. The two work together very well but like every couple, they face many ups and downs along the way. You can say that their problems are often caused by life in general but the way they dealt with it was often not the best way. Thus, it often led to misunderstandings or long breaks in their relationship. This wasn't a very entertaining movie in my opinion. I found that it dragged and lacked a sensible plot. As a matter of fact, the plot itself is quite bland. The chemistry between the two actors also wasn't quite there for me either as they often seemed awkward around one another. It didn't help that the characters they were playing also sucked at communication.  I personally think that this movie could've been a lot better and more sentimental. Instead, it seemed to miss all those points and focused a lot on the miscommunication between the two characters and how badly they dealt with problems.  

Bride Wars (Movie)

       

        This is a Chinese movie that is a remake of the movie Bride Wars that starred Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. I have never watched the original Bride Wars so I can't offer a comparison between this version and the original. Thus, I will only give my review for this movie. This movie is about two best friends who become rivals when they schedule their own weddings at the same place and on the same day due to a mistake by the wedding planner. The two begin to fight to see who would get to marry at this dream location on that day because instead of booking two weddings on that day, the wedding planner had only booked one.
       I felt that this plot was pretty annoying to watch because it was frustrating watching two grown women let something like this get in the way of how they actually feel. I found Ma Li super annoying simply because she is used to getting her way and is used to He Jing giving in to her. I think she was very immature in a lot of the scenes. I did like He Jing more but it does not excuse her immature actions either. The two obviously care about each other but let this wedding war tear them apart. The ending was expected but still cute nonetheless. Not a personal favorite as it was pretty cliche and annoying to me.
       (Nice Huang Xiao Ming cameo in the beginning, by the way, especially since he is Angelababy's husband in real life--the actress who played He Jing)

Twenty (Movie)

I really enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to watch a coming-of-age comedy. This movie is absolutely hilarious and I have heard that most of this movie was improvisation (which is very impressive by the way). The comedy is not only funny but also very relatable for young people who are growing up and turning into adults. This movie follows three friends as they go through challenges growing up and it shows how they all deal with things differently and how their relationships with other people develop as well. I liked how there was so much diversity in the relationships and backgrounds because it allows many young people to relate to this movie while getting a good laugh out of it. This movie definitely shows what it is like to be young and struggling, happy and sad, and so forth. Highly recommend!