Heartache and bad acting

I have not read the original novel or seen any anime of the story beforehand. Therefore, I cannot offer any opinion on how this series interprets the original workpiece.

I am torn by this drama. The story is ultimately sad, and the main characters will face all kinds of hardships during the story. Watching this made me sad and caused even actual heartache. However, that is what makes this series great. Any c-dramas have not made me feel such strong emotions before. Because of the current situation with mainland China's censorship, it probably won't happen in the future either. Quite many of the dramatic plot twists are currently banned in new series.

The dramatic story saves this drama. However, everything else in this series is below the mediocre. Significantly, the acting is poor. ML actor Dylan Xiong is stiff and seems not to get inside his role. Additionally, most of the support characters are agonizing to watch as they are trying to overact to lighten the atmosphere but end up just being loud and awkward in the wrong way. However, FL actor, Sierra Li, does an excellent job in her role. I hope that in the second seasons' FL excels the role as well as Li did. Additionally, I want to praise Hsin Tiens' performance as the drama's villain. She made the character extremely repulsive.

Although I am not that impressed with Pretty man, I still think everyone should give it a chance. I definitely will remember my anxious emotions in the future if I have to think of series that have touched me. I just wish the casting was done better.

Why should you watch this drama?
- This series will make you _FEEL_

Why should you not watch this drama?
- The feelings are mostly sadness
- No lovey-dovey stuff
- Bad acting

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Predictable but good drama

This drama is for you if you are looking for an easy-to-follow drama with all of the lovey-dovey cliches. The show is predictable. However, it is more of a strength than a bad thing in this case. The series does not try to be ground-breaking or original. Hello, Mr. Gu is what it promises: a romance drama.

Is it the story I will never forget? -No.
Was it a waste of time? -No.
Did I enjoy it? -Definitely.
Will I watch it again? -No.
Should you watch it? -Yes.

The casting and acting were excellent and fresh. However, the dubbing was terrible and often not in sync. If the dubbing were better, I would have given a higher grade.

The production was good, and the framework is high quality. I also enjoyed the 30-minute episode length. It made watching easy and pleasant.

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Good, but slow drama

I have enjoyed the drama. Even, the story progresses really slowly, one still likes to keep watching. In my opinion, this is because of the great casting.

Johnny Huang is in his element of playing this badly behaving rich bachelor. His way too long monologues are one of the funniest things in the serie. However, he is one of those actors I would watch whatever he does. I would probably watch him count numbers for 2 hours and still enjoy the show.

Wang Ce does an excellent job as the father of ML. Especially, how he acts of middle-aged man falling in love without it being creepy made me really happy. Too often these "senior love" storylines are meant as extra humor content, but luckily not in this serie.

In this drama, I appreciate how they keep the FL character cool and strong. Too often these strong female characters turn into helpless giggling girls after the first 5 episodes. Now, the illusion of trained bodyguard is still strong until the end, and Wang Li Kun does really good job in this role. However, Qian Qian as a character is totally opposite. The tough bodyguard instructor character breaks early but it does not bother me as the love-triangle setup is too juicy. Additionally, the actor (Cheng Cheng) looks too tough and scary in the uniform for audience to question that authority.

In addition to casting, the production is also great. There is not too pushy background music or sound effects to describe the atmosphere for the viewers. It is mostly based on the acting. I liked how the drama kept proceeding until the end without any rush. Too often the serie finals are packed of plot twists as the creators try to explain everything in 45 minutes.

Conclusion: Are you quarantined because of Covid? This drama is just for you as you are not in hurry to go anywhere anyway.

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