Best C-drama there is. Fight me.

This is not repetitive, boring, or monotonous like a more foolish version of myself previously assumed. In fact, this drama represents the maturity and growth that the NIRVANA IN FIRE TEAM have achieved since the 2015 masterpiece. Yes, this is written by the same people.

The plot boils down to one sentence:
Two young residents of the city Jialin are stuck in a time loop on a bus destined to repeatedly explode.

I find most of the good dramas I watch can be generalized into one sentence descriptions because it means they maintain focus on the larger picture/story throughout. This one does just that while incorporating countless relevant themes (such as cyberbullying, parental affection, how society reacts to absurdity), a fantastically written script, and believable, human characters.

The characters aren't fillers; they think, they feel, they're just like the rest of us. They have their own distinct motivations and desires. The MCs aren't generic. They're pretty damn scared and traumatized, but also courageous and intelligent. All the side characters have wonderfully paced and told backstories that are actually relevant to the plot (how the story introduced so many important themes- oh how I appreciate relevant, ingenious creativity). The acting should theoretically ALWAYS enhance the characters, which it does in this case. Liu Yijun's intense, questioning stares and Liu Dan's acting haunt my dreams to this day. All other actors and actresses deserve a standing ovation too; there's some seriously inspired acting here.

Finally, the pacing is pretty incredible. 15 episodes held my interest all the way through to the point I often forgot to breathe, cried, and laughed all at the same time. It's an adrenaline rush that builds in intensity all the way through.

Only critique would be the last three loops and how the MCs thought through them. It was a little convoluted for how simple it could have been, but that's not a big deal. For what it's worth, this drama is a 10 all the way through. For both me and you, here's to many more times watching Bus No. 45 explode.

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The one and only romance to fly towards... all of its watchers can testify!

I could do without Hidden Love, Love 020, and Falling Into Your Smile. The same can't be said for When I Fly Towards You.

If you like a beautifully paced and written youth drama with some scattered embarrassing (but not cringy and coincidental) moments, a genuinely smart and confident female lead (you will never find another Su Zai Zai), insightful and witty comments, character growth and life lessons, mostly a lack of nationalized propaganda, interesting and adorable side characters (I could watch a whole drama on any one of them), realistic and relatable characters, and a romance without weird break-ups, triangles, and other fire pits dramas tend to fall into...

Watch this. Otherwise, you're missing out.

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Plotless but addictive... just like eating : )

This show is basically eating, and smiling, and more eating. There's not a whole lot of communication going on, but there's also no problems apparently...

I think this drama is fine. It's a wonderful introduction to some traditional Chinese music and its ideas (often inspired by poetry, landscapes, and utilizing pentatonic notes) as well as some of the tastiest Chinese cuisine (I don't know if I watched this drama for this, at this point). Either way, it's an introduction to a lot of ancient Chinese culture from both the mainstream and ethnic groups (notably in Yangshuo). If you want some insight without having to read articles and do legitimate work, this could be it for you. Oh, I forgot to mention... it does introduce you to dubbing and voice acting, which is honestly quite interesting : )

It's also very sweet. The romance is romancing, and there's a lot of... 'chemistry' going on. I think it's cute, but also a little pointless. It's just cute and cute and cute and then cute again. It gets pretty monotonous and repetitive for me, but I still watched the whole thing. You do have laughs and giggles and whatever else from this drama, and I think it's a fun watch while you're doing it. You don't get a lot out of it though (I think that's the intention, to be honest).

There is no plot. Note that. If you like complex, intricate plots, this is not where to go. But if you want to cleanse your palate after one of those hyper-intense plots, this may help you. It is a little long for how much it talks about though... 10 episodes honestly could've done it for me.

Finally, it did raise a couple of questions for me even as it killed my brain (brain-rot sweetness warning):
Do people really just start liking each other because of the other persons voice?
How do you really understand another person if... neither of you talk to each other?
Why am I never seeing dubbing conventions, etc., in real life? It'd be interesting to see one....

While this drama is pretty plotless, I think it is INOFFENSIVE. You couldn't really go wrong with it, even if you don't go right!

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Unless you can endure melodramas for Xu Kai or Yang Zi, I would advise you leave...

I think this show had potential. Family dramas have the tendency to be a little bit one-dimensional and boring, but I think this could've gone a lot of different places. From insights on filial piety to motherly affection to individualism in today's society, there were so many things that could've been explored in this drama. None of these things were touched, which was disappointing. Even more so...

The part about this drama I can't stand (probably influenced by my implicit biases, but anyway) is the story. The mom by herself didn't bother me like the other viewers were bothered. The mom was an over-attentive, un-empathetic, but ultimately caring person... you know Mrs. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice? Kind of like that. That type of character, while definitely unlikable, doesn't bother me if either A) they end up developing in order to represent/symbolize some sort of message or B) they just don't appear all the much.

This drama does not check off EITHER of those boxes. The mom is the only main lead, as other reviewers have noted, in this drama. She gets more screen time I daresay than Xu Kai, and possibly even more than Yang Zi. Even worse, the drama ends on the note of 'we should all quit our jobs to help our well-intentioned mother (which is fair) because she's ultimately the best for us (untrue as evidenced throughout this drama).' I think filial piety is a common theme among mainland dramas, and one that was expressed both as a prison for the female lead and also... the happy ending? There was no growth or insight that led up to this result either. The mom stayed the mom. The daughter adapted for the mom, no matter how much she was tortured and trapped by the mom's antics. This drama doesn't teach how to be a good son/daughter more than how to get stuck in an unhealthy parent/child relationship. It bothered me... and still does to this day. The saving grace in terms of insight for this drama could be the grandma, but then you'd have to stop watching after the first few episodes.

Beyond that, there's basically no plot or direction to this drama. Many good dramas can be summarized in one overarching statement. Nirvana in Fire describes an exiled general's revenge strategy to reclaim honor for his army. Reset describes two people stranded in a time loop on an inevitably exploding bus. This? It feels like a WebToon. The plot seemed improvised as each episode went on, and ultimately, it didn't really go anywhere. I couldn't summarize it unless I told you everything that happened. And that would be unhelpful.

Finally, although this doesn't really affect my personal rating, do note that if you're a huge celeb-chaser or your idol is in this show you'd probably not see them a lot. Xu Kai doesn't really get screen time until episode 8(?) and Yang Zi gets it but portrays the same scenes over and over again. Not a whole lot of development going on here...

Oh! If you're here for the romance, go find romance dramas. This has about as much of an inkling of romance as Nirvana in Fire does. I guess there's a kiss, but anyway.

Peace out ._.

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It definitely had potential. Key word is HAD : (

Zhou Ye was experimenting here with a new type of personality for her, and she definitely pulled it off. The outfits and set were cute. The romance could've been cute. The script was not, throwing all potential this could've had into the gutter.

Like every other comment here, the whole thing ended before anything actually started. You get some 18 episodes of bickering, weird coincidences, and basically nothing else? It's interesting to see though, because this drama seemed like it aimed for the no-love-triangles and no-weird-breakups trope which I actually appreciate. I guess it was a good effort, but it also proves that conforming to stereotypes and following the trends don't actually make for good works sometimes : (

That being said, if you love Zhou Ye and Lin Yi, you might give this a try. The first few episodes are funny and fine. In fact, I probably enjoyed them. That's my two cents : )

(Review written 4/11/24 and published 5/30/24)
In case I ever edit this which I probably won't

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It's a lot.... but yes, we got through it :)

I think this had an interesting direction. I was wondering how they were going to incorporate medical and crime and romance all together, but I'd just label this mostly a romance drama. Anyhow, my thoughts are pretty simple here:

1. Acting is pretty good and I like the lead couple and 3rd lead couple. There's a lot of communication and chemistry in these relationships, as well as cuteness. Obstacles have NOTHING on Xing Kelei and Mi Ka. I really appreciate the realism in the portrayal of first love (shy, a little bashful).

2. Pacing and story are a little muddled though. There are super long arcs, the second lead couple just made me skip all their scenes and the story doesn't really effectively navigate crime and medical arcs. They don't feel necessary, to be honest, and that bothers me a little. Just a tad?

I think if you do something in a drama, do it well. If not, don't do it at all. I do also think the romance did get in the way of realism for depicting special forces and hospital activity. I think the drama definitely serves in bringing your attention to first responders, but it's pretty damn romanticized.

3. I did watch all of it. It's pretty binge-worthy, and I am a binger. I did keep on pressing the forward five seconds button though :/

I could honestly see myself rewatching this.

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Your reunion with family and life dramas

This one is pretty popular in the mainland, but ceases in popularity here. I think that's unfortunate. Huang Lei and Hai Qing (as well as all the other actors) are a masterclass for acting, and the easygoing storyline hides intricately written character development for both the students and their parents going through the 'gaokao' (college testing) period of their life.

There's a lot of themes explored here too, including depression, stress, parental pressures, single parenthood, etc. It all comes together wonderfully to make a heart-warming yet sometimes heart wrenching drama.

My only criticism is that this drama does get into nitty gritty things. I think that it's kind of the point with a drama like this, but I find family dramas have the potential for a lot of fluff for how much substance they have. Here, the fluff is interesting, but it doesn't mean it's necessary.

For OST lovers, the OST is fine, but not great... I don't think this drama focused its budget on the OST more so than the actors (a lot of famous veterans here).

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I'd be a millionaire if I was paid a cent every time Luo Yunxi vomited blood :)

This was truly a high budget, high-effort, and reasonably well-done project. I really enjoyed a lot of things in this drama, and I think it's quite a landmark for the Xianxia genre (which everyone is exposed to at some point watching C-dramas).

GOOD THINGS:

1. LUO YUNXI is fantastic. Genuinely one of the most expressive and talented actors of his generation. I have never seen a devil portrayed so mercilessly yet fantastically (yes, I have seen Zhang Ling He and Wang He Di). He's probably aided by his background as a dancer, and you can see it in the way he moves across the screen or expresses himself facially. This is also an INCREDIBLY dramatic role which I think many other C-drama actors would have done in a fake/unrealistic way, and I could truly not see another person in this role. I would watch this just for the acting. Other actors are very good as well E.g. Bai Lu, Chen Du Ling, Sun Zhen Ni.

2. The storyline is actually pretty interesting; there is a lot of world-hopping and parallel-universe stuff that's really beautifully portrayed. The costume designer and set designers for this drama were definitely working overtime, and the gorgeous scenes contributed to a sense of world-building here. The parallel storylines were actually influential towards the story's development besides being creative/entertaining in and of themselves, which I really appreciated. That being said, there is character development in this show, though I find it a little bit cliche and even overdone.

3. The OST is beautiful. I think that's the general consensus : ) I do think some of the songs are a little monotonous but overall this OST trumps a lot of other ones I heard. A similar drama I'd say that's not as complex but with a more beautiful OST is Love Between Fairy and Devil.

CRITICISMS:

1. Blood-vomiting and make-up was a little overdone. Doesn't detract from the overall drama to me, but I noticed a lot of people complaining about it.

2. An expansive number of plot inconsistencies*. I think this had the potential to be quite a good drama actually, but I felt it was TOO MUCH that was executed in a way that was NOT ENOUGH. I appreciated the amount of creative effort and inventiveness that went into this work, but the recent 40-episode rule in China really implicated this drama. It's based on a very long and very expansive novel, and by cutting certain scenes, things aren't quite contradictory but not well-explained either. I appreciate a culmination of beautiful ideas- I'm just not sure they were tied together well enough here.

3. I think a lot of the things are pretty cliche. The idea of a tortured soul falling in love and achieving a sort of spiritual salvation is pretty unoriginal, and Tantai Jin's troubled upbringing leading to his devilish downfall is another cliche I notice. It's a giant web of woven cliches with a twist, I'd say. I don't mind cliches, but I found them a little excessive to the point that they hurt some of the plot's suspense.

OVERALL, definitely worth a watch. Very aesthetically pleasing and honestly a pretty good watch the first time around. Only after reflecting does it feel a little weird : (
The hype is understandable whether you buy into it or not.

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Cute dumpster fire that I couldn't summarize even if you asked me to

One-dimensional characters, unresolved love triangles, miscommunication break-ups, foolish FL, typical CEO ML, cliche plot done badly, know-it-all BFF who knows nothing, dragging, dragging, dragging plot...

If you like this, I don't know what to tell you. If you don't, you probably shouldn't watch this drama unless you're trying to support some of the actors (who honestly did fine, the script was just... unbearable).

I did like Qin Shiyue though, and I liked how Shen Yujie portrayed her. Will keep looking out for this rising actress because she's adorable : )

These dramas make me wish that good actors and actresses could genuinely get good, thought-provoking plots sometimes. You know?

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Huh... well I actually really liked this

I know I typically enjoy non-problematic tropes. Seeing a bad boy x good girl sort of trope with a multitude of side characters who hurt and create obstacles in their relationship would usually never appeal to me.

I guess it's just because I never saw it done well... until now.

Lighter and Princess is a must watch, with a compelling storyline (it's very thorough) and well thought-out character arcs. Characters truly have their own distinct personalities, and there's a lot of realism in their development. They all have their strengths and their flaws, and the drama does make you question what's really good or bad or in the gray zone. It doesn't hurt that the cast is absolutely eye candy, including Jenny Zeng, Arthur Chen, and Zhang Jingyi.

I was one of the people putting off watching it because I thought it'd be one of those stories where a female lead revolves and orbits around a toxic male lead. I found instead that the female lead, Zhu Yun, really found her independence, identity, and goals in life after working with Li Xun, something she didn't have before. Li Xun received care and learned love from Zhu Yun. It was a complementary relationship that I enjoyed watching. Of course, no sane girl should go after a Li Xun like character in real life; however, I really thought this relationship was one of my favorites watching the show. I don't see the anti-feminist or misogynist implications that a lot of people try to place here.

The storyline is a great revenge/strategy plot like you'd see in a Wuxia drama seamlessly woven into a sweet romance. I really enjoyed it and binged watched this whole thing in three days (yeah, definitely not good). It is melancholy, it can be dark, and it does explore themes such as depression, monopolization, jealousy, etc.

Overall, a masterpiece. I think 2022 was a really good year, yielding both Reset and this.

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