Aishang Ta de Liyou

Update: Uh, it turns out that the original ending might be adapted after all. But it's not in this first season so you could just watch it by itself.

Good news for readers of the source material! I think the ending of this adaptation is different so you might enjoy this.

Anyways, this is a decent romance story. It’s about how the main character and his love interests try to make sense of their crisscrossed emotions and desires, with fluttering hearts and fluctuating passions all the while. Throughout the plot, these vicissitudes of love are shown with a playful yet thoughtful tone. We see the characters bantering ... with one another, enjoying their youthful camaraderie in college and at home. We see the pasts of the characters - some distressing, all sentimental - that delve deep into their fears and uncertainties and contextualize their actions. We come to see how personalities shift, but more clearly, how the characters slowly change the way they act and think, often spurred by each other.

What I like is how the story shows that development is not always linear or straightforward, but more often full of cuts, crevices, and U-turns. In addition, some of the more meaningful scenes are subtle instead of melodramatic, a creative decision that I respect. Not to say that there aren’t overflowing tears or emotional outbursts, but they feel well-placed and not too frequent. In this sense, the treatment of romance can be mature at times, so while I haven’t seen much romance stuff, I think this is a good addition to the genre.

Despite these highlights, the show has some issues. There are some parts that feel tacked on and don’t contribute to the rest of the story much. Perhaps more concerning, one person starts off promising in terms of characterization, but her importance to the story isn’t really established and she ends up becoming a bumbling comedy relief, a side observer to the core conflict. Also there are many parts that I personally cringed at but you know what, the story ends fine so I’m just gonna ignore them in my adjusted score.

Adjusted score: 7 / 10. Personal score: 6 / 10.

Not too sweet romance. Somehow it's both a "mature/grown-up" & "coming-of-age" story. The characters are interesting and three-dimensional with things to like, dislike & not fully understand about them. I didn't read the source material & despite my fear of love triangles I really enjoyed the story.

The animation is absolutely beautiful, especially the hair, facial expressions, and body language. The lighting, shading, movement, well really overall everything in my humble opinion it's quite visually striking and smooth.

The soundtrack is limited, but that might count in its favor as one continues to watch the music ques create an ... expected atmosphere. I enjoyed the music in the show. I found the Chinese voice-acting to be really enjoyable. The voices were beautiful & carried the right amount of emotion & nuance.

Even though the story is mainly told from the Male Lead's perspective I'd classify this as a josei. Quite a non-cliché romance story with some light psychological twists and turns. I'd recommend it to watchers who like romance or even slice-of-life. Even if you don't like romance it's a good story about the challenges of starting a new beginning in life.

Warning: No ecchi, no harem, no oppais. It's quite a wholesome show with no erotic references. If you dislike love triangles you might still enjoy this, but be warned many girls like one kind of indecisive unremarkable guy.

I just created this MAL account just for this review. So here are my takeaways:

- OP was hella addicting and all OST's were top notch.
- Story itself was good and the romance was 10/10. Leads too much chemistry. I'm really invested with the story that i have to finish it in one seating since the story is not the "TYPICAL" romance we are seeing in most animes. I felt like it was a sort of k-drama in the anime setting.
- The animation was really captivating tho still need some improvement. I've watch many anime's mostly produced in Japan, but this one is kind of ... different and i like it very much. IDK how to describe it but the characters were well portrayed so kudos to Red Dog Culture House. I became a simp for the FL.
- Hoping for season 2 but for god's sake please don't follow the original ending xD
- It's been a long time since i've watch an anime and this anime is like a breath of fresh air for me. So i'll give it a 10/10.