Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #475

Anne: Hope everyone in the US had a good Thanksgiving break! Goodness... where did all the time go? At least on my end, it all ended up in my work. And...my little hobby of building these miniature "houses".

Here's my latest large project. I actually completed another one that I didn't take a picture yet. This latter one is a bday/Christmas present for my mother-in-law. So...yes, I've been spending a lot of time at work and on this silly and sometimes very frustrating hobby of mine. 

Between the last time I posted and now, a ton of stuff came out. Seems like everyone is trying to get to air before the end of the year. The problem is there hasn't been another show that has caught my interest... so...while I've been building my little miniature fantasy empire, the thing running in the background are the YouTube short dramas. 

Let run through some of the shows that aired... and my first impression of them.

The Land of Warriors

Of all the season 2 that I was anticipating, I don't think this was anywhere near the top of my list. In case anyone is interested, this is the sequel to Doulou Continent, which had Xiao Zhan as the lead in 2021. Just from a quick look, they've kept none of the original cast for the main 7 leads, but truthfully, I doubt it would matter. I barely remember the story line from the prequel. And if it weren't for Xiao Zhan in the first one, I probably won't have started.

I did take a brief look at this one... I hate to say it... it looks like live-action anime. Not really my style. So... this might be a hard pass for me. (Fangs of Fortune had better visuals. Yes, I know the plots are not the same, but it is still fantasy...)

Let me know if anyone else took a peek at this, and whether you think it is worth a watch or not.

Pretty Boy

The title has no "s"...if you put a "s" in boys...you will get to a completely different drama. This is billed as a comedy starring Darren Chen, who has just enough of a slender frame and face shape to look like a passable female. 

The story is about Qing Cai, who is a "manly" man who deals with any hooligans that dare to try to mess with his town. One day, his adoptive father disappears, and in order to figure out where and what happened, he decided to follow the "women" who invaded his house. And the trail led him to a "sect" that only recruits women as disciples. So...in order to infiltrate, he decided to disguise himself as a girl to enter this sect.

From the first peek, it's passable. I might be FFing this one since it's nearly completed.

Brocade Odyssey

This has the same flavor some of the female centric growth story. Ji Ying Ying's father was framed and then killed. However, I'm a huge fan of the ML and the 2nd ML, Zheng Ye Cheng and Jing Chao. The drama plot is fairly bland. First impression is only so so. I do like the tone and pace of this drama, especially the siblings. Let's see how this develops. 

And this is about as much as I could get through of the new dramas that have aired. I'm looking through the shows that I liked during 2024, and I'm coming up with a very limited list. I'm reading some of my previous posts and trying to remember what I liked about the dramas that I've watched. My memory is bad, and also the dramas didn't have too much that stood out for me to remember. 

I really, really like the plot of The Double, and obviously the styling of Duke Su. I like the attempt of the crime solving and mystery of In Blossom. I liked the slight role reversal of Fighting for Love (except the ML turned out to be an idiot of the highest order), but Oh My General still remains one of the best story telling with role reversal to this day. Blossoms in Adversity had some of the best side character plots. And I realized that the one of the only Korean dramas that I've managed to finish this year was Love Next Door, which I liked, but for the over-the-top family feuds. 

Wow...and this is about it for me. 

I'll try to get a longer post in the next week or so. Barring any surprises...2024 drama cycle is a bit of a let down (which is saying a lot compared to last year...)

Hope everyone have a great rest of the week!