taiwanese drama recommendation | Wretched and Divine

Marry Me, or Not? is a Taiwanese romance comedy drama. I am currently on episode 6.

Synopsis

I haven’t read a synopsis that actually tells you about the plot so here’s what happens:

Cai Huan Zhen and Hao Sheng Nan’s rivalry dates back to 10 years ago. At a class reunion, Hao Sheng Nan tells everyone that a man named Justin is her boyfriend. Justin is actually her older brother.

When Hao Sheng Nan’s finds out that Cai Huan Zhen is about to marry her relative, she schemes to make her look bad at her wedding. To her surprise, Cai Huan Zhen calls off the weddings and vows to take revenge.

Not only does Cai Huan Zhen start working at Hao Sheng Nan’s workplace, she also plots to steal Justin, “Hao Sheng Nan’s boyfriend,” away from her. Justin has his own motives for “dating” Cai Huang Zhen…

Thoughts

These two women are so petty! All of the main characters are power-driven and Cai Huan Zhen admits to being a b*tch in the first episode. I’ve seen far too many dramas of an “evil” character scheming against the innocent and naive character. In this drama, both women are horrible. That’s what makes this drama so much fun to watch.

Although these characters have pretty bad personalities, you can’t help but love them. Justin is charming, Cai Huan Zhen is smart and knows what she wants, and Hao Sheng Nan is hard-working. I think that deep down, they have big hearts.

The scenes between Cai Huan Zhen and Justin are hilarious. They both have their reasons for dating each other, as they are both cunning people. I haven’t laughed this hard while watching a drama in a long time. They have amazing chemistry, though.

Episode 1 screencaps:

Cai Huan Zhen and Justin’s first meeting as strangers and they are already arguing.

Cai Huan Zhen and Hao Sheng Nan show up at the class reunion with the same outfit…

Same outfit again.

Episodes with English subtitles are on YouTube. I recommend it.

In my last post, I reviewed a drama and gave it a lower rating. I thought that I would review an amazing drama this time. Someday or One Day is a Taiwanese drama.

Synopsis

Huang Yu Xuan is a 27-year-old woman who misses her boyfriend Wang Quan Sheng, who went missing two years ago. She is unable to accept that he is gone and is still searching for him. One day, she receives a walkman and cassette from a mysterious sender. As she listens to the music, she wakes up in the year 1998. She is now a 17-year-old girl named Chen Yun Ru, who looks exactly like her. In Chen Yun Ru’s body, she meets a schoolmate who looks exactly like her missing boyfriend, except… he’s not her boyfriend. His name is Li Zi Wei!

Huang Yu Xuan soon discovers that Chen Yun Ru will die in the year 1999. She needs to find a way to prevent Chen Yun Ru’s death before she dies in her body.

Thoughts

Three words: Just watch it.

For you anime fans out there, I know what you might be thinking. It’s kind of like Erased, right? Kind of! It’s different from Erased in some ways because Huang Yu Xuan goes into someone else’s body instead of her own. I think that this is really unique. There is also a heavy romance component in Someday or One Day, which is done extremely well.

You’ll most definitely like this series if you like the Taiwanese movies, Our Times and You Are the Apple of My Eye.

What I like about this drama is that it is not predictable. As someone who has watched a lot of anime and Asian dramas, I can practically guess how shows will end. This drama kept me on the edge of my seat.

When I watched the first episode, I felt like I was watching a movie. The cinematography is on-point, the music is memorable, and the acting is realistic. I felt very emotional and balled my eyes out… just by the first episode.

This drama covers mature themes so I wouldn’t recommend it to younger audiences. It covers topics that are taboo in Asian culture and you don’t see many dramas talk about these topics.

As mentioned earlier, the music is memorable. The songs are so good. A lot of the scenes are pleasing to the eyes and look really aesthetic.