Cdrama Reviews

Cdrama Reviews

The following are dramas I've already watched with a score for overall drama quality (objective score) along with a subjective, personal enjoyment rating. I've only had time to write up some of the reviews so please bear with me as try to finish these up.


Ratings Explanation

Ratings will be given out of 5 stars (*****) based on the drama's overall production quality as follows:
- 5 stars: Excellent to Outstanding in almost all aspects
- 4 stars: Very good, solid production in most areas
- 3 stars: Average production with some strengths and weaknesses
- 2 stars: Somewhat lacking in major areas
- 1 stars: Poor quality drama with major issues

A short personal note follows to indicate my enjoyment level of the drama. Hopefully, this'll enhance the value of the reviews and I hope that you'll all find this useful. Happy drama watching!


A Great Way To Care (***) - Fun character interactions but lacks sizzle
Au Revoir Taipei (****) - Light and humorous! (movie)
Autumn's Concerto - Dropped
Black and White [Pi Zi Ying Xiong] (**) - Disappointing finish wrecked a potentially great drama
Cape No. 7 (*****) - All time favourite!! (movie)
Down With Love (***) - Great fun!
Fated To Love You (****) - Light and entertaining - great fun to watch!
Forensic Heroes (***) - Good crime drama
Forensic Heroes II (****) - A solid crime drama with some good character development
Friends (****) - Enjoyable
Go Single Lady (***) - Decent feel-good drama but Mike's acting is really weak
Hot Shot (**) - Disappointing, chemistry just wasn't there between the key characters
In Time With You (***) - Very enjoyable and thoughtful drama, just got dragged out way too much
Meteor Garden - Stalled
My Lucky Star (***) - Enjoyable, though Jimmy Lin really doesn't quite fit these types of roles
My Perfect Man - Dropped
Only You (***) - Fun, entertaining drama
Outbound Love (****) - Light and entertaining
Romantic Princess - Dropped
So I'm Not Handsome (**) - Such a waste of potential - storyline felt undercooked
Summer's Desire (****) - A bit too tense at times but not a bad experience overall
The Hippocratic Crush (**) - Very dull and poor acting
The Other Truth - Currently watching
Thieves (****) - Charming thriller with great acting (movie)
Triumph in the Skies (***) - Fun
Triumph in the Skies II (**) - Mindless, sappy romance - if you're into that sort of thing...
You Are The Apple of My Eye (****) - Great fun (movie)

Shindou's Perspective:

Personally, I'm a more serious person so if you're looking for rave reviews about specific idols or idol dramas, you'll have to look elsewhere as I don't go crazy over dramas just because so-and-so is in them. What I generally look for though is a sense of consistency and credibility in the character and plot development.

While the list of Chinese (HK/Taiwan) dramas I've watched is fairly short (in comparison to my kdrama or jdrama list), it doesn't mean I haven't taken a look at recent twdramas from time to time. The problem with twdramas however, is that they tend to be too light in both substance and acting, often bordering on the ludicrous (a la Romantic Princess), to the point that I really wish the industry would take things a little more seriously. I would guess that most dramas (if I were to watch them), would end up with 6/10 or below so I decided I would rather not waste my time forcing myself to chug those down. However, I do realize there are occasional outliers and I'm constantly on the lookout for those so I would definitely appreciate any suggestions you might have in that regard.  As for HK dramas, there tends to be a bit too much scheming that goes on so I'll leave those for now.