themarchioness

I have another one in the works. And LOL at the world's smallest violin for Li Gan. i don't know why I have been thinking about him so much lately but I just get really angry when I think about how he let Qi Yue abuse Tong Wu as he did. Kind of goes along with my head scratching wonderment over the drama's last minute attempt to rehabilitate Qi Yue. Like, okay, so he really only pushed to be the captain because he wanted to be worthy of his girlfriend. But... abusing Tong Wu was part of that effort? I don't know, sounds like some major whitewashing to me. And I think we did already talk about it and so I'm rehashing old matters, but like I said, it was something that popped into my head lately. Don't know why... Oh, he did! He just didn't get very far in his conversation with her. I apologize if it wasn't clear, but the line, ""What's wrong? What's wrong? You actually dare to ask what's wrong?" belongs to Yi Yi (after Yi Xuan asks, "What's wrong?"). LOL. That is a fun thought to think about! 100% agree with this and it's why I'm okay with angst (even if I do moan and groan about it along the way) so long as it ends with a happiness! Also agree with this!

Speaking of things that remind us of GYH, in Episode 17, Xia Ke and one of his managers go to speak with their TIG employees and in his speech, the manager uses the phrase, "Nie Pan Chong Sheng," which is the second half of the Phoenix team's motto. In Episode 19 (or 18, but pretty sure it's 19), Xing Yun's father describes himself as "Bao Dao Wei Lao," which was an idiom also used several times in GYH - usually in reference to Sun Ge and him staying competitive as a player. He didn't bother me so much initially because his character is so obvious (and fortunately, Xing Yun feels the same), but towards the middle when he really started laying things on thick and was like an unshakable lobster whose claws were locked on tight, I found him annoying then. The good news is it's short lived and now that he's getting a dose of his own medicine, I find his scenes entertaining to watch again. I really like Xing Yun's resourcefulness as well. It's always great to see a strong FL character. And I think the reason Xia Ke feels tolerable despite his "ba dao zong cai" character is because the drama does a good job balancing out his bossy moments with plenty of other scenes where we see him actually going out of his way to help his employees, and especially Xing Yu. I'm glad you're enjoying the drama so far! Haha, don't worry. My bracket ranting was more along the lines of, "FIGURE IT OUT ALREADY OTP!" So frustrating to see them clearly interested in each other and yet letting their cluelessness, insecurities and misunderstandings get in the way. There is one part especially that I was groaning hard through, but I'll let you figure out which part that may be by waiting for you to get there. LOLOLOL, I showed a pic of it to my friend and her response was, "You do realize that this drama will from now on be known as The Wig Drama," and that is indeed how we now refer to it. I suppose the good thing about the wig is, we know the OTP's love is true. Because only a man truly in love would love a woman with hair like that. Hahahaha!

Another photo shoot with our OTP. Love this collection of photos!

OMG. LOL, that is quite the example! Hahaha. Don't we all??? Hahaha . Complain as we may, the angst keeps things interesting.

LOL, fist bump @raziela! Totally felt the same way about that drama. That is also true, sadly (the falling apart in the second half bit). Fingers crossed that won't be the case here. Just watched through episode 14 tonight and I swear, the OTP wants me to bring out my bracket ranting.

The recaps may be done, but the fics are still going . . . this one's kind of random, but it's inspired by some of the esports-themed web novels that I've been reading recently. (Which, btw, really wish I'd read them before I started recapping. I now understand the gaming terminology so much better. Oh well.) In one of those books, the players had to attend an anime convention as part of their sponsorship promo deal and the way the convention was described, it made me think about what that experience would be like for the Phoenix team if they had participated, and how QY and YY would react. I also used this set-up as a vehicle to outline my vision for the future of the Phoenix team. Hope you all enjoy it and find it amusing, at the least! Story #5

If a drama has the material to sustain its story, I don't actually care how long it is - it can be as long as it'd like to be so long as it remains interesting, engaging, and relevant. Like you and I have previously discussed in the GYH thread, I wouldn't have minded more there and that drama was already 35 episodes long. Conversely, I recently watched My GF is an Alien and, while it's not that I didn't like it, I did feel it got incredibly repetitive midway through and could've been cut short by several episodes. That's why even though it was 28 episodes, in my memory, I keep thinking of it as a 44-episode drama because it felt that way (to me, at least. I'm sure there are others who would disagree). Fortunately, Lucky's First Love has kept things brisk so far (disclaimer: I'm only halfway through) and I'm rolling right along. Hoping the second half of the drama keeps it up!

Finally, it looks like Viki has released last week’s episode with subs. Hopefully that means they’ve worked out their licensing issues. I’ll take what we can get, even if that means watching episodes one week delayed!

Ahhh, if I’d watched one more episode last night I would have had my answers. I was right to suspect him as a creep.

@raziela I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found that scene with Gu Fang cringey and overly cheesy. I mean, I know why they had such a scene. It mirrored the one at the beginning and served as a segue for the future generations of the sport, but the overall effect of that scene... ick. Maybe if the script had given Gu Fang better lines. It was just so... grandiose. I don't know, hard to describe and put into words. I'd have preferred they just swapped rings and then looked at the trophy to talk about the future. Somehow it was the whole draping of the rings that was especially too much for me. And thank you for that gif; it totally made me LOL. Haha! It was, but there were a few things I picked up while recapping that I would've missed otherwise (and I don't just mean the random stuff in the background that I would sometimes notice ) so I definitely gained from the process as well. I'm glad you all enjoyed reading them! As for Miya going to find XK in the middle of the competition, it's interesting because I can't say I had that thought while I was watching the drama for the first time. But definitely by the time I was recapping that scene, I also wondered, "Why is she choosing now of all times to hash out their relationship?!" I think she meant well as well, and maybe that's not what she originally intended when she went back stage. Perhaps she really meant to just check in on him and then decided he needed to hear something else once she saw the way he was standing there looking lost in the hallway. Or maybe she felt the wedge between him and QY, which existed because of her, was serving as a distraction and so she wanted to ease at least one part of that mess. (Although, if that really is what she was thinking, I would say that was a needless concern. I mean it's clear he does have QY on his mind (and vice versa) what with the way the two of them kept exchanging looks throughout, but on the other hand, XK was always a consummate professional that I think once the game started he was able to compartmentalize his thoughts and focus on the task at hand.) In any event, whatever her intent, I also agree that the timing could've been better! Mostly Kpop content, I would say, with a smattering of drama-related stuff. The first Asian drama fanfics I ever wrote were for "Descendants of the Sun," so that's how I ended up at AFF. I am also by no means a prolific writer - it takes the rare drama for my creative juices to get going - so I've never delved too hard into the fanfic website options.

That's hilarious. I don't think the wig would be so bad if it wasn't so poofy on top. It's a puzzler why of all the wigs in the world they had to give her that one, as surely they could've found a more natural looking one, but ah well. Fortunately I don't find it too distracting and am enjoying the drama just fine. I also like the version of, "The World Owes Me a First Love," for the title; it's a literal translation of the Chinese title and is also what Chu Nan says to her the second time they talk after breaking up. LOL, I more or less said the same to a friend yesterday when I said, "The fact that it's only 24 episodes means it's already better than some of the other dramas out there." Anyway, it may not be anything flashy or new but I am enjoying this drama. It's cute, entertaining, and funny at times. I really like that here, it's the ML who is interested in the FL first. Just wish he wouldn't quit sabotaging himself with that barbed tongue of his! It's sweet how he's always looking out for her and has her first and foremost on his mind; if only she was able to connect the dots to figure it out. The sister's first husband gives me creepy vibes though... and I don't believe Xia Ke would not like the first husband without good reason. Since the OTP's story is more or less progressing as anticipated, I actually find myself more curious as to what will happen with the sister.

The scene you're thinking about takes place after QY learns that Shu Wen is SG's ex-girlfriend. From Episode 17 recaps: After she also wishes [XK] a good night, she picks up her stuffed bunny and say, “Little bunny, do you know? JXK doesn’t have a girlfriend. Shu Wen and he do not have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.” The little bunny responds by telling her to have some restraint and asks her if she knows what that means. QY says she doesn’t know what that means and the bunny says, “Even if Shu Wen’s not his girlfriend, that doesn’t necessarily means he likes you either.” But QY disagrees. She says, “I think he does like me or else why would he explain things to me? If that wasn’t because he likes me, then what was it?” The flirting phase of this drama was definitely one of the best and I agree with everyone that it was nice having a FL who for once wasn't just saccharine and clueless. I think it was Summer who summed QY up the best when he said she could clearly rely on her face; yet, she wanted to rely on her hard work and merits instead. No wonder she won him over so quickly, and everyone else too. LOL, ngl, the eyeshadow action gets me every time. But I do love the song - all the songs on the soundtrack, in fact. Speaking of music, this is kind of random but amuses me so I have to share. I was watching an old episode of "Day Day Up" when this musical duo was introduced as one of the guests and guess what the group's name was! Phoenix Legend (Feng Huang Chuan Qi)! I love it when anything reminds me of GYH, haha. No, but you'll find me on Asianfanfics. Ahhhhh, Lynne! You're back with some gifs. I have missed them so. I like that cheek kiss scene a lot too. XK was so cute the way he teased the others with his and QY's PDA. As for the other gif you shared of QY/XK moments . . . . . . I'm going to miss them too. Thanks for completing the mission and reporting back, @angelangie! I can't say I ever expected the instant hotpot to be healthy, LOL, I mean, most instant things aren't? But in terms of the chemical used to heat the water, I thought the heat pack was kept outside of the bowl that contains the food. In other words, I didn't think that would ever touch the food. A little concerning if it does . . . Anyway, I think I'd still try it given an opportunity for the novelty factor. But beyond that, um, it's nice to know it exists out there I suppose. Heh.

Yup... and here it is... I promised the other day to finish it this weekend and I finally did late last night, right before I went to bed. This last one took me a while to recap. Part of it was all the gaming stuff. Part of it was... I'm not ready to let go. I post this last recap with a lot of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I can't lie, I'm glad to be done. It's a lot of work when Mandarin is not your first language and you're not as fluent as you'd like to be, but try. Heh. When I began this recapping journey back in June, I never imagined it would take me an entire summer and more. (Seriously, remind me of this @lynne22 if I ever say I'm going to recap a drama again! ) But on the other hand, now that I'm done, it feels like the drama really is over and I'm still not ready for that. Overall, recapping has been a good learning experience and I've definitely had a lot of fun along the way. It was great rewatching, being able to share thoughts, and have conversations with you all here so I don't regret the decision to start or to keep going once the drama became subbed. Speaking of which, I disagreed with some of the subs in Episode 35, but I made sure to explain why so you would all understand why I chose a different translation. Enjoy! Episode 35 And.... the final count... Head Pat Count (episode): 2 Head Pat Count (total): 13 Fist Bump Count (episode): 0 Fist Bump Count (total): 7 Arm around Shoulder Count: 8

I'm pretty sure the first team XK joined out of college wasn't Legends, as it's implied he wasn't recruited by Gu Fang until later. Moreover, if that had been the team he joined back then, there's no reason why he wouldn't have just said so when he shared his background story with QY. Instead, he told her he joined a club and started his professional career without ever naming that team. The impression we're left with is that it wasn't any sort of big team/thing, and this was just his first foray into the professional circuit. As for how he got to be close with SZY, the drama never gives us that backstory. Instead, I think we're left to form our own picture given what we're shown of their relationship through the drama. For me, I imagine that XK was a frequent customer at The King and over time that's how they got to be close with SZY taking XK under his wing. It only seems natural to me then that XK would've at some point shared his story concerning with someone whom he's regards like an older, blood brother.

You're right. I'd forgotten about the whole ID badge scene. In addition to that element, I'd say she was also attuned to the look from others and not eager to give off the wrong impression, such as when she quickly escaped back to the hotel after other coworkers ended up at the same restaurant as her and Luo Tian. I don't know if Luo Tian would've pressed on anyway if he had found her clueless and oblivious though... my inclination is to say "no" because at the end of the day, for all his feelings, he's still respectful of hers. I think if anything he'd just sigh to himself, but we'd still end up at the rooftop scene with XK. Haha, be careful what you wish for! I'm the worst when it comes to multi-chaptered stories. I tend to flame out after a while, which is why I try and keep my fics short and sweet. I have started another fic in the meantime that's kind of random, but hopefully still fun, so you can keep an eye out for that! LOL, I know how you feel... the first one's my favorite too and the second one, I just like the vibe of it a lot. You know how some songs will catch a person's ears immediately? That's "Monster" for me. I once heard Yibo say in an interview that the one thing he didn't like was his voice, and I was like awwww, because I actually really like his voice! He may not have debuted because of his singing talents, but I think he's shown a lot of growth through the years in that area. Speaking of examples of his calm/soothing singing voice, he often names "If I Were Young" as one of his favorite songs on shows and then he's asked to sing a few lines. Since I also love that song a lot too I can't help but squee. This is his most recent performance of it, and it's perfect! Wish I could hear him sing the song in full.