Moon River (2015)

I came across this drama while I was looking for a tomboyish girl-bad boy kinda drama (lol I was just in that mood) I haven't watched a lot of Taiwanese dramas and this is my first time writing a review cause I really do think more people should have given a chance to this drama.
At first it oddly felt familiar and then I realized this is an unofficial remake of Hana Yori Dango/BOF. And I think this can be the best version in characters wise. The female lead isn't *cough* annoying/overacting*cough* and has a unique and strong personality and the male lead isn't evil, even at first he was not that bad. The dialogues -most of the time- were mature, the lines were not so cheesy. Side characters that are supposed to be"bad" were a little unnecessary tho (mostly skipped that plotting evil kinda scenes tbh). Also, the story got a little dragged towards the end, due to the episode numbers but I still liked it overall. And it is not a high school but a university story and I loved this as a change too!
Their story was quite good and the female lead was one of the most unique characters ever! She was so unique yet likable, yet not over the top. Xiao Xi can even be my fave female lead ever!
I hope you can give this drama a chance!

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This drama start with a strong and good pace and story. I watch this drama because it has a unique element, martial arts which is added in the story while the story itself has the same plot with other story in common. Unfortunately, the martial arts element is not that well maximize in the drama. In some first episodes, the drama has a solid and good pace. But, after those episodes, the story seems to be inconsistent. There are too many details added which make the drama lost it's main focus. If the writer empahasize on the main focus of the story rather than working on details, the story of the drama will be good. This drama is clingy and draggy at several time, but it's acceptable. And what i regret from this drama is the ending. The ending of this drama is not well landed because it seems the writer wrap the story in a rush, resulting in a less attrective ending.
The acting of each cast is good enough even there are several time some characters lost it's characterization. Moreover, there are also exaggerated characters which turn out to be okay along with the drama's progression. The soundtrack of this drama is okay (at least in my ears).

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Cute Rom-Com with pacing issues

LIKE:
The martial arts used in the drama and the fight scenes were good too, (even when the special effects were added).
Locations, scenery, sets for indoor scenes, all good.
Music was okay and didn’t over power actor/actress voices.
Beginning 15 episodes were good and caught my interest. Nice to see focus be on FL, but then it became all about ML, as per the usual formula.
Wardrobe of ML was good and for other characters too, except the FL they tried too hard to make her quirky.
Acting: for what they were given, all actors/actresses did well. I liked the range of emotion the ML (Sam Lin as Mu Liu Bing) was able to express.

DISLIKE:
Writing:
Typical cliches and tropes, very similar concept to Heirs and Boys Over Flowers. As usual we have 3 rich girl bullies with one dominant one that is possessive of ML, scheming/greedy adults that interfere with the ML & FL, social class discrimination (aka classism) dominant theme throughout the show. Show started with a strong FL, then she was made into a crying mess, but at least ended relatively okay.
Directing:
Pacing issues; lagged in middle and rushed ending. Too much time spent on unimportant scenes or extra delayed reactions. Not much “romance” established to secure the chemistry between FL & ML, very few kisses, lots of hugging.
Production:
Some shaky camera moments and zooming in too close. Noticeable editing where scene abruptly cuts to another.
FX: bruises and fist fight scrapes were not well done in the makeup department.

OVERALL:
It was a little long and could definitely have used the extra episodes better. For someone starting out in the Young Rom-Com martial arts drama genre, it’s a good introductory show. No super memorable moments that make me want to rewatch it or search for video clips online. I won’t rewatch it.

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Ok. Just like everyone else, I watched this because I heard it was similar to Boy Over Flowers. I even heard that some people liked this drama more so believe me when I say I walked in with high hopes.

I just finished watching the sixth episode. Usually I wait until the end--or even after a rewatch--to do a review, but I just felt the urge to do it now. This drama is kinda cute, kinda funny, and kinda GOOD. The best thing about this drama, though, is that the characters are CHAOTIC asf. Literally, they are all a mess

I said I wouldn't spoil (and I WON'T) but I just wanna say that the antagonist female lead has me CRACKING UP. She is so fricken STRESSED with every decision the male lead makes. Don't get me wrong, I still hate her guts. The guy who is in love with her also makes me CRACK UP because he is STRESSED by the fact that she is STRESSED. Now moving onto out main male lead. My conclusion so far is that he is having an internal struggle while also living it UP in college. On one hand he's like 'I hate my family and life is one big responsibility' and on the other hand he's like 'I'm low-key looking for wifey'. Now onto the female lead: also stressed. More-so confused though. No I mean seriously, this girl is ALWAYS confused (which is such a mood) but I kind of feel bad for her. At first I hated her character because she is REALLY annoying and kinda stupid. She's starting to grow on me though. Stay tuned for updates.

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