Tags
chinese drama, drama review, gu man, just one smile is very alluring, love 020, yang yang, zheng shuang
I was thinking if I had known this day would come, I would surely have fallen in love with you at first sight. – Xiao Nai
Number of episodes: 30
Year of Broadcast: 2016
Broadcast Network: JSTV
Plot source: Wikipedia
Bei Wei Wei is the campus goddess, who also excels in her studies. She aspires to be an online game designer/engineer, and goes by the alias of Luwei Weiwei in the online role-playing game Dreaming of Jianghu. After she gets dumped by her online husband Zhenshui Wuxiang, she gets approached by the number one player Yixiao Naihe, who suggested that they get married so they both can participate in a couple competition within the game. The newly formed couple instantly hit it off, and undergo many adventures together in the game.However, Wei Wei never expected the real identity of her virtual husband to be her college senior, Xiao Nai who is described as the cream of the crop in both sports and academics. When Wei Wei discovers his true identity, they have already fallen in love with each other. Together, they face many obstacles as due to their good looks, many are jealous of them. What happens to their relationship then?
T H O U G H T S
Lucky is a drama fan who, after watching countless of dramas, encounters a series that will make her feel like discovering the world of dramas for the very first time. I know you all wish you could experience that way all over again. Fortunately for me, I did.
I haven’t watched much dramas last year, my interest just started again with Moonlight Drawn By Clouds and was further fueled by Weightlifting Fairy (these two are my favorites from last year). As I was feeling sad that WF ended (and no other kdrama piqued my interest), I decided to switch to chinese dramas.
I accidentally came across someone recommending Love 020 but after doing a bit of research I decided to not watch it because it isn’t my cup of tea. Fast forward to last Sunday, and all I could say was that I was utterly stupid to not have started it earlier!
The story captivated me right from the start, I just can’t explain at that time why it had that effect but it was as if I was bewitched. Instead of writing lengthy paragraphs, I decided to just make a list of why I love this drama.
1. Story
The story is just really simple, two computer science students who have met on an online game and hit it off from there. There really isn’t much in the way of conflicts, it’s more of us witnessing Wei Wei and Xiao Nai’s journey – and I tell you there were lots of cheesy and swoon worthy moments. I read comments saying that they don’t like how slow paced the story was (the couple’s first legit face to face communication happened at episode 5? I think) but for me it was more than enough. I’m not a fan of instalove, and I like how the show teases us with the limited Weiwei-Xiao Nai interactions (mostly online) because when they finally got together, it was such a great payoff.
2. W – Two Worlds (kidding)
Reading how online gaming is incorporated in this story is probably the biggest reason why I was skeptical to watch this before. I just can’t imagine how I can take the story seriously if half of what is happening is connected to an online game (it seems childish and weird), I’m in for the romance but I didn’t know how can they make it work with such a premise.
But, lo and behold! It is the online game story that drew me in. Funny how it all turned out right? Blame the hopeless romantic in me. Imagine being dumped by your online hubby and learning of your ex marrying the “prettiest” girl in the game? And afterwards being approached by the number one ranking player in the game and asking you to be his wife (plus Yang Yang definitely rocked the look!)? Let me die a happy fangirl.
Also, it’s brilliant how their online story mirrors what is happening in real life.
3. Friendship
As much as I enjoyed watching our main couple, I did find myself admiring the friendship between the boys and the girls. I love Beauty best among Xiao Nai’s friends (and not a fan of bromance but him and KO are too cute for words).
4. Main Couple’s Chemistry
With Master, you hadn’t met him yet and you were already his girlfriend. You haven’t been proposed to yet and you are already his fiancee. He is as devious as ever.
I can’t count the times that I rolled on my bed, hug my pillow tight or kicked the wall because of Wei Wei and Xiao Nai. These two will be the death of me. Everytime they are on screen I just can’t help squealing. Even though at times (or most) it can be cheesy but I still can’t look away.
5. Xiao Nai
I can go on and on about how much I love and adore Xiao Nai. Out of all the male drama characters that I’ve known, Zhi Shu from ISWAK remained unbeatable, now Xiao Nai managed to share the spot with him. I find Yang Yang handsome but I love Xiao Nai (the character) more.
Intelligent and aloof guys (tsundere) are my weaknesses and Xiao Nai proved to be those and more. I found myself smiling all throughout the time/days that I was watching Love 020. It even came to a point where people were asking me if I suddenly acquired a boyfriend because I can’t contain my giddiness.
Still, despite these reasons, Love 020 is far from perfect.
1. Story
Don’t expect much. Don’t expect depth because this is a story about university students wading in through life. My advice? Just enjoy the ride and imagine yourself back in college. This is the story’s curse and blessing. Dang, have watched two chinese dramas after this, and I can’t help but think that I wish they had Love 020’s no drama story.
2. Zheng Shuang’s physique and acting (at times)
Yes, I did go there. Zheng Shuang is pretty but seeing how thin she is can be distracting. I know this is not really drama related but then when thoughts like “her leg is the same size as my arm” pops up during a romantic scene, it kinda spoils the mood.
And there were some major scenes that I kinda wish she has portrayed differently (i.e. that basketball game and her first kissing scene with XN – she should’ve responded!)
3. OSTs
The OSTs were okay but I wish they could have used a more memorable song. I often noticed that dramas become more ingrained in one’s memory if the OSTs were great (ISWAK had that, Autumn’s Concerto too).
4. Xiao Nai being too damn perfect.
It can be annoying! haha. I was hoping to see him being clueless even just once (this is where he and Zhi Shu differs). Or seeing him become jealous a few times (he is very protective though – definitely a plus). Our boy is pretty damn confident, but I love him all the same.
WW: Will we always have a good relationship?
XN: Yes
WW: But I used to think that Er Xi and I would always have a good relationship.
XN: Wei Wei, she’s just a very small part of your life. I’m your everything
I’ll end this review by encouraging everyone to watch Love 020. I’m sure you will not be disappointed and I’m hoping that you’ll get as much feels that I have while watching. I did wait for two days to finish the remaining four episodes just because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Xiao Nai (everyone). I will try to watch the movie version but I doubt that I will like it as much as the drama version (because no one can beat Yang Yang’s Xiao Nai).
p.s. there may be many grammatical error as I’m writing this whilst battling sleepiness.
02/11/17
Just watched Love 020’s movie version and it was ok! I was expecting to not be satisfied but it was a good watch. CGs were definitely better than the drama but the story suffered due to the limited time allotted for movies (this is where the drama’s build up played a big role). I know it will never happen but I wish in an alternate universe, we could watch a drama version where Angelababy and Boran were acting out as leads (still, I prefer our drama OTP more)
And dang! I did realize that it was never purely because Yang Yang is such a hottie, I just love Xiao Nai – even with a different actor portraying him. Jing Boran, my gosh. He reminded me a lot of GOT7’s Jinyoung (and at times Lee Je Hoon) that I can’t help but smile seeing him.
Next stop? Reading the novel 🙂
Subjective rating: 
Objective rating: 
Give me some dramas 