A Love So Beautiful (2017)

I started watching this show on a whim. I didn't know that it was a web drama...maybe that's why I haven't really heard of it.  This is one of those feel good, pick me up dramas.

Plot wise, there isn't anything new or surprising with this series. It all hits the typical tropes that exist in dramaland: aloof, cold hearted boy who, of course, happens to be the top student of his class, cheerful bubbly girl who isn't smart but the only thing she has going for her is that she LIKES this boy, Jiang Chen and the whole world knows that she does and there is no shame on her part. The whole story is basically the girl and the boy and all the adventures they go through during high school and college. Note, this is a love story so everything revolves around the love story. There may be some issues that you find in Asian societies such as the whole pressure of doing well in school and being depressed about it, or fulfilling your dreams vs your parents' dreams. Regardless of whatever the issue, the story is about Xiao Xi and whether or not Jiang Chen likes her back.

I liked Hu Yi Tian's acting but there isn't a whole lot to write about since he just has to keep quiet and act aloof for most of the show. Shen Yue's acting is a bit exaggerated but with this type of female character, that seems to be part of the package...you cry a whole lot and the audience just choose to either cringe along or cry with her.

Background music was tastefully done.  Some things I did not like was how Jiang Chen kind of bosses Xiao Xi around and she is just like a puppy waiting around for command. I wish there was more growth and character development for Xiao Xi because up until the end of the series, we are convinced that this girl can't do anything to save her life and she has to depend on her man for everything. That didn't sit well with me and she seemed even more stupid at the end of the series that I would like to believe.

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Many people said that this drama is a remake of Itazura na Kiss. I don't think this drama is a remake at all. Maybe inspired? First, both of the lead, Jian Cheng, and Xiao Xi have better characters and attribute (Xiao xi has a talent to draw, whereas Kotoko has none). This drama is very simple and heartwarming. The story can be pretty predictable, but the acting make it into a beautiful play. The cinematography is also really beautiful. I like the settings of the area as well. It has some characters. However, sometimes I feel bored with the story and skip some of the episodes (I feel 23 is just too long). Maybe it is just me or I don't know.  I can't understand the jokes sometimes or maybe C-drama is just not my cup of tea. But I would still recommend this drama to anyone who is looking for a cute heartwarming drama.

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Firstly, I have seen many Chinese dramas and this one balanced every factor beautifully. I felt that it was just the right length (24 eps, compared to the usual 40+ with terrible plot lines, and episodes that just drag), and seemed to follow the formula for a Korean drama, in that it was clever and not too predictable.

I was fully invested in both the lead and supporting characters, in most dramas I tend to skip the part of the supporting characters, but not this time; everyone really held their weight. I really thought the actors outdid themselves in every aspect, and the chemistry made me hold my breath at times.

Even though many compare this to Playful Kiss, I'd say that yes, there are some similarities, but it is very unique and not nearly as "silly" and "annoying" as that show. This felt similar to a slice of life/school anime initially which developed into a very sweet romance. There is also that trait that is often seen with the girl with really short hair being loud and spontaneous, like in Reply 1984, and even the Taiwanese version of Skip Beat (which is the closest, I just kept thinking of Ivy Chen). It was nice to see maturity evolve particularly in the female lead character, from start to finish.

One final thought that kept crossing my mind throughout the show was that I really wanted to have such supportive friends as the lead character had, I was actually jealous at times because they portrayed such a genuine friendship. I laughed with them and cried when it was tough, the emotional investment was there. I think that is why this show also reminded me of animes like Toradora and Kokoro Connect (and even Clannad, but don't take it too far)

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I remember I had passed this drama by quiet a few times. Reasons?
1. It was a school drama
2. That cover is so colourful
3. It was a school drama
Yes! I don't enjoy school dramas! But this has got to be an exception! I gave it a try and I did not regret it. Just one episode and I was hooked. Couldn't get enough.

The acting was good and the storyline was solid enough. Despite the main couples ups and downs that started to annoy me towards the end, it was all worth it. Once I was finished I was still craving more. Is there going to be a season 2? I surely do hope so!

Damn! Can I just say: Hu Yi Tian (???) is HOT! Not to mention how tall he is! Gosh, I'd probably feel like an ant standing next to him. He's a great specimen lol!
Shen Yue was way too adorable in playing her character. I can relate to her shortness

All the actors were great in this drama, and their all so young. Great potential. I'll be cheering for them all.

The music was catchy. I found myself humming along to them whenever they played - once I wasn't to submerged in the drama that is.

Overall, the drama was great and deserves the love it's getting.

With that said, I end my review here. I don't think I spoiled anything so. Go watch now, if you haven't. And if you did....then Watch it again hahaha

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To be honest, I went into this thinking I was going to hate it. The fact that the FL already had a huge crush on the ML and was super obvious and desperate about it was something I just knew I was going to cringe at—and that's the only reason why I couldn't give this one a higher rating. The main female lead was so annoying.

Obviously, I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected. It was super cute and I loved all the little things that the ML did for the FL without her knowing — but there was still a lot of lack of communication that bothered me. I know the second lead did a lot of stuff too—and that a lot of people had second lead syndrome but I actually did not, whew!

I was also hesitant about this drama because of the time jumps that I knew happened throughout the later episodes. These are so easily ruined, but the drama actually did a good job of dealing with the relationship growths during the time we didn't see. Still though, I'm not a fan of time jumps and I felt like their reasoning was very weak.

Overall, this was a really great story about romance and friendship, and I am so happy both the ships in this sailed :')

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Great start that just went downhill

So this one started off really slow then suddenly propelled the story forward with a bunch of time jumps, which made me pretty upset. There's nothing I hate more than time jumps in dramas, and this one had a crap ton of them. The characters were really lovable and I seriously enjoyed that love triangle despite my usual hatred of them, so kudos to this drama for that. I think the overall mood of this story was really cute and I freaking loved the romance between the two side characters a bunch, but the main romance went kind of 0 to 100 halfway through the drama and kind of killed the suspense for me too early. I still enjoyed it and would recommend it for a very cute and heartwarming experience.

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Why / who should you watch it?:
If you are looking for a light hearted romance drama then you got to watch A Love So Beautiful!
If you love those childhood friends to lover, cold male lead who warms up to the bright female lead, 2 guy chase 1 girl then you should try this drama out.
I would recommend if you are new to C-Drama or trying new genre.

What I think (In my opinion):
It's not a short drama as it's a total of 23 episodes but it will worth every bit of your time.  I didn't give the story a 10 because I feel that the story can be better and the ending can have so much more after watching the entire drama. To me is like I went thru a roller coaster ride and after being so excited for the entire ride the ending of it just didn't satisfy me as much as I expected it to be. The cast and their acting was great, their chemistry was on point and the laughter that they give will last me a while before I forget them.  The music consists of 3 songs but I only love the theme song as it's sweet and like a confession song.  Overall, the drama was a good one and there isn't a lot of dramas that made me chase like crazy.

I watched this drama cheering, crying, screaming and smiling together with them.  It's very relatable because is like I am going thru the journey all over again. So prepare your tissue, voice and heart for this amazing journey that you are going to take while watching this drama and off you go!

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Dropped but picked up again

I initially dropped this drama after the 10th episode.

Pros: Watching this drama is like watching life through rose colored glasses. Everything is beautiful and sweet. This drama is appropriately named. There were only sparks of love though which I will get into later. The writing for this drama is realistic albeit somewhat childish. Yet, even with the childish lens, there were occasional moments of great acting from our fresh faced actors.

Cons: One major con for me is the length of time the producers chose to focus on the high school portion of their lives. I had no qualms with the time period. I was more annoyed that our protagonists had to remain in that simple and childish mindset for nearly 17 episodes. I got way too bored. I hoped that with the group moving on to college that things will start to pick up in drama land. It does a bit but not in the way that I expected. I was not expecting that college and career life meant spending a LOT of time with Xiao Xi and Jiang Chen while everyone else just falls into background noise.

Moving on to our love duo of Xiao Xi and Jiang Chen. I am sorry. I just didn't buy it. Jiang Chen spent a lot of time in the first few episodes closing doors in Xiao Xi's face, looking annoyed that she's around and overall just looking like he was just not into her. Even when he ends up falling in love with her, I just did not see it in Yi Tian's face. His face is like an emotional void. It might be his character but Yi Tian was a man of few expressions so who knew what emotion he was really trying to portray in that scene. Maybe it was supposed to be love but it came across as bleh...?

Also for heaven sake can this drama be any harsher to Wu Bo Song? He spends the entire time playing 5th wheel while also selflessly being the sweetest human being alive to Xiao Xi. I don't have second lead syndrome. I have "can my boy catch a break" syndrome. That poor pitiful fool.

Anyway, I did find the height difference between Shen Yue and Hu Yi Tian to be quite adorable. Definitely a plus for all of the cute koala hugging moments.

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As I had seen playful kiss ,this drama seem to be familiar with it ,same story line till episode 16 but then their is a change in the story.A girl whose life or I can say whose whole world revolve around one person 'Jiang Chen'.she can't imagine anything beyond him .to make him fallen for her she do everything but he always push her away but slowly he started fallen for her .they get graduate together and starting hardwork towards pursuing their dreams but as usual misunderstanding seprate them .last episode is the best one .the way he define his love towards her that how much he loves her is amazing .Friendship,love, jeolousy all you will see in the drama.

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Adorable and cute

Spotted this on my Netflix feed and decided to give it a try. Other than Shen Yue - whom I recognized from Meteor Garden - I was not familiar with the rest of the cast. But I did not regret my choice of watching it. The storyline is absolutely cute and adorable, with it´s humour and seriousness. The cast did a remarkable job in this series, not only the main male and female lead. All of them definitely did well. Watching a series portraying teens growing up and finding their place in the world reminds me I am getting old too, lol. The songs / OST paired in this series is also quite nice to listen to. I love them alot.

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Story :
Fresh! That's my first thought when I start to watch this series. This series is quite mild, but the development of everyone's personality and feelings are clearly visible here. One thing I like the most here is the friendship. This series does not recognize the phrase "love will destroy the friendship". They still support each other even though the person they like likes someone else. And I really love how that friendship continues to develop until they are grow up.
Sometimes I feel exasperated by Chen Xiao Xi's childish attitude, but well, maybe when I was in school I did the same thing. LOL. And I really love to see when Jiang Chen feels jealous seeing Chen Xiao Xi and Wu Bo Song's closeness ^_^

Acting/Cast :
They all did great and so natural, but I especially love Shen Yue acting. She's so cute I can't help it but to adore her ^_^

Music :
The opening and ending song are so easy listening, and I put them both on my Spotify playlist now ^_^

Rewatch Value :
I definitely will watch this series again if I need some cuteness in my life.

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