Fifteen Years to Wait for Migratory Birds (2016)

I finished this drama last week and I really really enjoyed it especially:
-The friendship part which was so pure and beautiful between: Li Li, Shang Xuan, Li Jun and Daniel.
-Li Li's love for Migratory Birds (which actually was what I liked the most about the drama and also the reason why I got interested in watching it).
When I started 15YWFMB I didn't expect anything from it but I immediately found it pretty original especially Li Li's hobby, her love for the migratory birds and how it's linked with her love for Shang Xuan, so wonderful and subtle metaphors about love <3

First and foremost, I recommend this Chinese drama to everyone especially to those who want to watch a good Chinese modern drama with well written and developed characters, I've always wanted to find one which would impress me when it comes to character development and definitely it was a success for me. On the surface it's a pretty relaxing drama but as the story progresses I could see that it was more complicated than it first seemed, Ok I did guess at some extents how it would end but definitely I think it was well done. I'm just really disappointed by the ending or should I say the way they ended the drama.

Our leading lady really grew on me all throughout the drama, I could totally see myself in her and I had similar experience as her during my high school years (so it was easier for me to connect with her character), how she was bickering all the time with Shang Xuan, they did not start their relationship on the best terms but they ended up appreciating each other, and I'm sure many of us had a similar adventures during adolescence.
I love so much how their relationship is evolving in the drama, how since the beginning she loved him and kept her feelings for herself and how everything was developing slowly but surely in such a mature way , all of that was done so well. In a few words I would say LiLi is a really responsible, sensitive, smart, selfless and kindhearted girl (became a wonderful and elegant young woman for whom I only have admiration), she always stays true to herself and is always there for her dearest ones, definitely the best friend/family member we can ever have.

Shang Xuan is such a lovely and dependable man, he had his issues and sometimes he could be odious and all of that I understood it because he had his reasons to act the way he did but just like Li Li when it comes to friends and family he would do anything<3

I love other characters too particularly Qian Ren, sincerely this guy is such a sweetheart that sometimes I didn't know if I should ship Li Li with him or Shang Xuan, really too hard to choose only one. Two handsome, reliable, lovely men for one amazing and wonderful woman, I guess that for many other viewers it must have been hard to choose their side, at least for me it was hard <3

I truly loved both leading actors and oh why is Deng Lun (Qian Ren) younger than me just why ? Also I need to say that I'm not into Love triangle and I hate that so much but here so unexpectedly it was not exaggerated nor complicated maybe because all three characters (Li Li, Shang Xuan and Qian Ren are very understanding and mature persons).

Supporting characters were so adorable too and they had their own stories so that's a very big plus, it was good to see that the writer didn't focuse only on Li Li's relationship with Shang Xuan and Qian Ren and showed more of other characters like Li Jun and Daniel, both really caring, honest and loyal friends.

I read some comments about Han Yi Chen being a bit too mean or something like that but honestly I think she was a pretty fine rival to Li Li, I never hated her and thought she was too bad though of course as a rival she was very selfish and jealous of Lili. By the way it was kinda annoying seeing that they put so much make up on the actress's face to make her look older, actually it didn't work in my opinion as it seemed too forced.

As for my rating I decided to go with a 7.5 and it might sounds weird I'm not giving a higher rating when I enjoyed the drama this much however though it's a really great drama and I don't have complaints about it (well only on certain aspects such as the ending, some turn of events which did bother me a little bit but nothing too disturbing, the OST= almost non-existent and not my taste at all) so I just can't give more. Of course I definitely recommend it especially for the reasons mentioned above plus the actors did a very decent job though some of them lack experiences. I found two actors I would definitely stalk : Sun Yi and Deng Lun as I loved their portrayals of Li Li and Qian Ren, both being my two fave characters of the drama as well <3
The drama itself didn't give me goosebumps nor made my heart palpitated hence this rating.

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“Every person has a migratory bird in their heart. Looking at this feather you can imagine that bird once appearing in your life.” – Li Li. This is just one of many beautiful quotes that you’ll come across while watching this gem of a drama. It really caught me by surprise how deep and somehow poetic the dialogues were, considering the premise of the show being a high school drama. I was also amazed how beautiful this drama was shot, especially those scenes at the reed field were stunning.

What makes this drama so special, is definitely the group of four friends that we follow through their years at high school to college and their first job. All characters were well-written and as they struggle through life and face many obstacles, they slowly grow up, finding their own path in life. The female lead, Li Li, is one of the best female leads that I’ve seen so far. Pretty, smart, kind and strong, yet understanding and humble, she’s just the type of woman that guys would fall for and girls would want to be friends with. It’s really such a nice breath of fresh air to find such a lead aside from those annoying, noisy and clumsy leads that we see a lot in C-dramas. Since she’s very thoughtful and eloquent, her talks are filled with quotes and wisdom which actually makes all of her scenes a delight for the eyes and the mind.
The male lead, Pei Shang Xuan, is the kind of friend that every girl wants to have in her life: caring, reliable and loyal to the core. Though a little too confident and impulsive at the beginning, he grows up to be a wonderful person, wanting to succeed on his own and for the sake of the person that he cherished the most. Unlike most other dramas the second male lead in this drama is absolutely on par with the first lead. He cares for her, but also has his pride and wouldn’t follow her blindly if not needed. Both are very supportive of her, always wanting to bring out the best of her and wishing for her happiness. They would do anything for her, but never ask for anything in return, because they knew she would repay them ten times as it’s simply in her nature to do so.
I also liked all the side characters. They fitted perfectly in the storyline, even the changing love interests of our main leads were interesting personalities that you’ll find likable. There are no evil characters or whatever. Even if someone does something bad and regrettable, you know the reasons behind their actions and can understand them at some point. The only thing that actually bothered me was the ending. I also find it to be rather disappointing, not because of the outcome, but the way how the last episode was wrapped up.

All in all, it was still a very enjoyable watch. I would highly recommend it to all of you, who want to see a coming-of-age drama that has more depth than your usual fluffy high school rom-com with lots of eye candies, amazing dialogues and a lifetime friendship that goes under your skin.

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Great beginning

So it pains me to give this such a low rating because I was absolutely in love with the episodes that took place in high school and the hate-love relationship between the leads. Both characters had unique personalities and could clearly hold their own, but their banter was just so FUN to watch.

Past those six or seven episodes, however, the story just gets messy. They use a bunch of tropes but it's like they never buy fully into it, with characters either being underdeveloped or shifting in wayward directions. By this I mean the characters have flawed logic again and again just to make the story move forwards, and there was just too much noble idiocy in this for it to be enjoyable.

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STORY?

Going into this show, I really didn't particularly care for the premise of the show; really assuming that I was gonna get annoyed that it took 15 years for them to figure their lives out. Even by a reality standpoint that seems like way too long of a time to not be able to understand what you want in life. For the most part, I agree that the "15 years" seems like too long - especially when it's somewhat not even true. The drama shows their lives from when they are 14 years old as freshmen in high school up through the next 15 years of their lives as they graduate, go to college, find jobs, form relationships, etc. Overall it's a very nice coming of age type story, but there are still issues I had with certain storylines.

I'm not sure why they decided to choose the premise that Li Li (Sun Yi) had low self esteem because she didn't think she was pretty. Honestly I think Sun Yi is adorable, but even if it was a character's background, it seems like the ONLY PERSON who thought she wasn't pretty was Li Li herself. It was never a plot point for any other characters, so it just doesn't make sense to me that she had such low self esteem and that none of her friends ever noticed it or tried to help her with her confidence. Everyone has issues with certain parts of their lives, but for it to impact her in such a major way and yet no one else ever gave any signs that they felt the same way - it just didn't seem super plausible.

I definitely think the way their relationship progressed was a newer and somewhat realistic way of falling in love. They showed it very well how they started off disliking each other and why they became such great friends. Many times with dramas, the main pair falls in love with each other after just a few months of knowing each other and sometimes you can't really understand why (though you root for them anyways). 15 years I think showcased that very well.

My biggest issue really was towards the end of the drama - when Li Li leaves Pei Shang Xuan and just disappears for 7 years. It's understandable why the character would do so - it's a trope thats been done before, so whatever - but overall I think it just felt super rushed and all of a sudden she and Liu Qian Ren are getting married. I know that he always had feelings for her, but it didn't make sense to me that Li Li wouldn't give him any indication otherwise that she clearly did not have the same love for him. At no point either did it seem to clarify that they had begun dating in any type of way during this 7 year period - only that he was taking care of her this whole time, but all of a sudden he's telling his dad that he is going to care for her and marry her. Meh. (Side note: I really love Deng Lun and still like his character, just the progression of their relationship seemed weird to me). And then the final episode just seemed like a waste to me. I don't mind open endings, but this particular one left too many other questions for me that I wanted answered. They spent the majority of it on a quick recap of their 15 years and then it was basically just over.

Overall I did enjoy the story and while it was all relatively obvious what was going to happen, it was still a cute, well done story of kids growing up and going through all the things that can happen in life.

ACTING:

Sun Yi and Deng Lun honestly are becoming some of my favorite younger actors. I've seen them together in Because of You which I really loved (aside from some plot issues, which still didn't impact their chemistry). I've seen them in their various other dramas, and I think they always give off pretty solid results. Overall fan of the both.

The other actors in the drama overall were fairly average for me. I didn't particularly like or dislike anyone. (Though I really wasn't a huge fan of Li Jun, but meh). I did like Zhang Xue Ying - she did a decent job in Summer's Desire - but her character was never going to be one that I think people really cared for, but overall I think she did well.

REWATCH:

Most likely wouldn't rewatch this drama again. It's not a bad one to watch the first time around. The story was fairly basic, it had most of your standard modern drama tropes involved. But that's normally my feeling about most modern dramas. There's much less you can do with the story before it becomes obnoxious or over the top. I actually had a fairly good ending feeling about it compared to other modern dramas I've seen, but it's not one you really need to see over and over again (mostly because again it's not much different than other dramas of its type).

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This is an extremely underrated drama! The plot and premise may seem typical and overused, with the usual high school scenario and a friendship that slowly turns into love, but the characters were very well-written and well-acted by the seemingly rookie actors in the drama. It may just be a personal opinion, but I understood the emotions of the characters and I could relate strongly to them. The female protagonist (Li Li) has a lovely personality - not too headstrong, but not submissive either, and the male protagonist (Pei Shang Xuan) is very charming, and as the show progressed I felt that they were truly made for each other!

If you like high school dramas, but with a lot more emotional depth than other happier ones (such as Sassy Go Go, this is definitely the drama for you! However, despite the seemingly flawless writing and character development, this drama did not end the way I wanted it to - I would not write spoilers but I would just say that the ending was so poorly written that I did not even realise that the show had ended.

There's this particular song from this drama that I loved - Let You Go by ????, other than this song I wouldn't say that the rest of the songs were particularly outstanding.

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Honestly I watch this because of Deng Lun
Sadly he’s not main actor here
I like how the writer brought present story to past the storyline written very well.
I like the qian ren’s character despite of the actor is Deng Lun. I am a big fan of Deng Lun.
I really wish LiLi would end up with qian ren because he really care and willing to spent his life together with LiLi. I also wish the mother didn’t die so fast
Sadly the wedding arrangement not happen.
The ending also not romantic nor clear about what happened there just ended hanging as pei shang xuan saw Li Li on the porch then I feel like wasted 30 min to watch the last unnecessary episode :(
Anyway it has happy ending. I’m not complain. But I won’t rewatch it.

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Overall, it was a good drama despite the inconsistent transition of the timeline. In the first few episodes they keep jumping from 2000s to 2016 but in the later episodes they settled to show the story linearly.
What I love most in this drama was how it portrayed the friendship of Pei Shangxuan and Lili throughout the years. A good romance doesn't need to start in thrilling first encounters. It can be formed by years of friendship. Some scenes gave me a good cry, for example, when Lili persists to be by PSX's side during his lowest point in life. It was so heart-warming that I could watch that scene all over again.

As for the actors performances, the main leads did a great job in playing high school students and adults. I've watched Sun Yi in Siege in Fog and I was really surprised how she could act two different characters. Zhang Rhouyun was very effective at playing a character who's done his best to make himself worthy for the female lead. DengLun's Lou Qianren was okay for me but not to the point that I would catch a second lead syndrome for him. Ironically, I watched this drama after I saw his performance in Ashes of Love. As for the actress who played Han Yichen, her adult makeup was over the top. They're trying to make her look older but failed miserably.

It was a good ride and glad it ended in 24 episodes unlike those cdramas which try to lengthen the show by adding unecessary scenes *coughs meteor garden*. I recommend you to watch it.

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This drama is so cliche, a "ugly" girl falls in love with a handsome boy. However, what captivated me was the process in which they fall in love. The drama is relatable because people do crush on others and some people just have a crush on others for longer. Li Li's companion due to their friendship and her feelings for her really captivated me. Next to Shang Xuan is always Li Li, accompanying him through all of his ups and downs. Li Li doesn't ask for anything in return, but just being around him, she is happy. These are all things we can relate to, unlike being liked by multiple guys and then end up marrying a rich dude. I love that it spans from high school to them working. There is a sense of reality. You can also see the characters maturing. All of these character grow on me because I get to see them grow. The actors and actresses aren't famous and are fairly new, but I think that their acting is actually fairly good. I like how they are able to tie the birds into the plot but some of the lines said by Shang Xuan about the migratory birds is too cheesy.
I like the music very much. One of the actors, Zhu Yuan Bing, who plays Sun Yu, sings the theme song, which I love so much. His voice sounds so good and I like the lyrics, so perfect for this drama. I also like ????? by Qui Zi An. Her voice sounds so good and I think it is also perfect for the drama.
As for rewatch value, I rewatched it like 2 or 3 times already. This drama isn't the best drama, it's really about what you think about the characters. It really makes you think about your crush right now or change how you think about relationships and crushes. I think the rewatch value is high because it makes you think and relate.

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MAJOR SECOND MALE LEAD SYNDROME ! Amazing BGM. Somehow gives off Vintage Feels.

Amazing BGM. Somehow gives off Vintage Feels.
This shows Spans between Timelines which looks a turning Book page. I LOVE that effect.
It will give you MAJOR SECOND MALE LEAD SYNDROME.For a very basic reason ZhangRuoyun Overacts a bit here and although his chemistry with SunYi is Nice but DengLun's character being more intresting and Well his Chemistry is way better with SunYi so bonus points.
Also the metaphors.QR and LL are Black Swans as the world views them but they are Pure.LL and PSX are the Migtatory Birds always end up returning to same place.They are destined.

Ep 1-5-->> Both the Guys Are Immature PSX and QR but QR has a more intresting arc than PSX whose only job is to look good be a star player and have girls fawn over him.PSX is nice but not Intresting.QR is mean but is a Softy, even when he hates LiLi he is intense.PSX is nice to LiLi treats her like a just friend so LiLi falls for him understandable.I just need them to convince me how she still keeps on Holding on to School Crush considering they laid foundation of QR being the loyal one and PSX being the one who wanders.LiLi has an ubderlying disease not diagonzed yet so that is harmful.Laugh Riot ensures in first 2 episodes between LL and PSX rhen comes QR who makes LL mad but she understands his dilemma because both were forced to accept a Parent they did not want.PSX is dreamy typival brat but righteous but dumb YET QR wins over how?? You need to just see. .Cut to 2016 PSX is heartbroken that LL left him, QR is hopeful but knows LL may Leave him , you dont know whom to root for.

LL lost chance was that she was not stereotypical beautiful for a Jock.
QR lost chance was his rudeness starting from a broken mirror paid back by fixed photograph of his cherished mother.
PSX lost chance was his immaturity for his age .

The Only Lines that strucks..
LiLi: "This Year I cannot like Pei Shangxuan".

QR: "Perhaps it was LiLis kindness that really wanted me to Make up with her this Morning, it turns out asking for compassion is as easy as giving a drop of water in a desert.(Paraphrased)

Ep 6-10 -I will Try to Let You GO...
PSX trusted his GF , LiLis Cousin and ended up in jail his life turned 360 degrees within hours. He became rude then woke up but in essence He still cant see LiLi likes him , he calls her boring and I am not sure now he thinks he is not worth her or she is boring for him.He is A matured ManChild , still irritating. Ruoyun Acts Fab when he is agressive but the moment he changes back to PSX manchild persona he overacts. QR gets red ears while he thinks of LiLi he fell hard for her BUT LiLi and QR only talk about each other inside their heads which frustates me.QR helps LiLi while she is drunk, LiLi insinutes they slept together but no one is there to clarify as QR leaves without an answer the very next morning.Daniel is the sole Voice of Reason in this show. The Oneliners of Everylight moment makes you laugh.BUT LiLi can never fess up her liking to PSX much like QR doesn't. There are more deserving men falling left right center for LiLi YET she pines for manchild PSX.I wish they did let each other GO.

BGM--Its not that I don't cry inside don't leave my hand but I have to Let you Go.
LiLi-This year I cannot continue liking PSX as purely as before(because she is guilty of a night of insinuated passion with QR)

Ep11-15-Episode 10-13 were Not Needed, they dont put much into Overall storyline except dragging, LiLi Will NEVER SEE any other guy other than PSX no matter how Good they are and PSX Loves girls who Fawn over Him. The Story Finally kickstarts when QR enters back as LL boss and HY as her colleague in episode 14.QR talks less but is a Softy and never asks for anyone's Love Back. LL somehow digressed as being in Love and not much of gravitas , she has a Habit of running away from confrontation as QR stated which is true. PSX grew Up finally and sees LL.QR and LL night of passion is still a mystery. But QR is still deep in Love.

EP 16-22 : Li Li-"This year I cannot keep on liking PSX."
Liu QianRen-"You are like a patch of grass slowly growing in my heart, Unimpressible yet Undeniable. Had I not left back then had I not been rude to you , would our relationship been different than what it is now?"
Pei ShangXuan - "I just want my migratory Bird Back!"

LQR 15 min confession scene outdid PSX/LL's moments but in the end LL wasn't fair to either of the Men, because she couldn't let go of one and couldn't be in love with other.
Final 3 episodes were beautiful and Hard for all 3 People, I did not know who should have been with Li Li more. Love your present or Love your past? The Migratory bird can never sit still breaking both Men's heart. PSX loved LL passionately but LQR did not Love or understand her any less but never got the chance he himself let go , PSX was robbed of taking care of LL but maybe he finally got a chance at it when he saw her in the grassland, just Maybe. I wish them all the luck in parallel world. All 3 of them.

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