Princesa Substituta (2020)

Light-hearted drama with fun characters

If you're looking for a romance drama that is not too heavy, I highly recommend this!

I first came across this drama on youtube after I finished another drama. I usually decide whether or not I will enjoy the drama within the first episode and I definitely got hooked from the start.

Things I loved:
- The fun characters (I absolutely adored watching the FL and ML+ seeing how well they get along with the people around just added to the joy of watching this drama
- The tracks (When it comes to the OST, some dramas tend to overplay their tracks that it gets annoying but here, I fell in love with the tracks and they are now on my drama OST playlist)
- FL + ML romance (they did not drag out their relationship with the on and off/ will they won't they trope. Even though they added a side character that wanted to "interfere" their relationship, they didn't overplay it with too much drama)
- STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS (I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the female characters are not downplayed and left to be damsel in distress, as one of the youtube comments mentioned 'Just wait for Chengle to save the day')

Things I disliked:
Heng'er and Zhu Yan's love story. That is it. At the start, I was cheering for their love story but eventually his character got written to be a silly and (for the lack of better words) idiotic prince. He tried to harm the main characters without verifying the truth. While rewatching this drama, I had to skip their story because of how silly it got.

All in all, this is definitely up there in my list for historical chinese romance!

Leia Mais

Cute rom-com with a creative and engaging twisty-turny story

To be honest, I struggled to finish this drama. I found most of the show enjoyable, but the villains became more ludicrous and the palace politics more tiresome towards the end. The reason for the main antagonist turning evil was not even convincingly justifiable. Furthermore, the ending for certain people was not what I expected from a light-hearted rom-com. It was not a satisfactory wrap-up for me, even though overall, it was a happy ending for most characters.

Still, I gave it a decent rating because the pros outweighed the cons and the drama really packed a lot of quality content into each episode. Despite being primarily fluffy and funny, there was no lazy writing in the script, and there was a lot of creativity. For example, triple comical kidnappings all in one night, the main couple's attempts to save each other from poisoning by tricking each other with the antidote back and forth, or people scheming against each other while pretending to be allies. There were so many twists and unexpected turns that I remained engaged for the most part. At the same time, though, the show also left clues from the beginning foreshadowing scenes near the end. I wish I had paid more attention so that I could have prepared myself for moments that I never expected.

The romance between the OTP was cute, provided a lot of sweetness, and made me smile a lot. Zhao Yi Qin and Eleanor Lee had good chemistry, but I found them almost too cringingly cute at times. Acting-wise, their inexperience showed, but both being young actors, I look forward to seeing them hone their skills further in future shows. I liked Eleanor's character, Chang Le, who was intelligent, skilled in inventing gadgets, and well-trained in martial arts. She was a great counterpart to the Crown Prince Li Che, who was a brilliant strategist. For a focused man with a plan who constantly had to guard against his enemies in the palace, he became pretty goofy around Chang Le. These moments provided some comic relief. I was also intrigued by the second couple's romance and the way they started falling for each other, but I did not find the romance between the third couple, Li Heng and Zhu Yan as interesting.

Another reason for my higher rating is the OST. Some songs were catchy, and others were touching but all fitting for the scenes. For posterity, I have noted the ones that I like the most in this review. Eleanor Lee has a pleasant singing voice, and I enjoyed the two songs that she sang for this drama.

有你的陪伴 (With You) (Yǒu nǐ de péi bàn) by Eleanor
相遇 (Meet) (Xiāng yù)(The Ending Song) by Li Fanyi
最后一句晚安 (The Last Sentence Good Night) (Zuì hòu yī jù wǎn ān)by Don Chu & Shuang Ding
寻常人家 (Ordinary People) (Xún cháng rén jiā)(The Theme Song) by Eleanor
一叶秋 (Autumn Leaves) (Yī yè qiū)by Rita
回 (Return) (Huí) by Don Chu
斷舍離 (Breakaway) (Duàn shě lí)by Wang Chenrui
雪花叹 (Snowflakes) (Xuě huā tàn) by Ding Funi

Overall I recommend that you watch the show and decide for yourself. I truly enjoyed it for the twisty-turny plot, cute OTP and their sweet romance.

Leia Mais

Ok-ish

I read many good reviews on fake princess so I decided to give it a go. I feel like it was oversold.

I'm all for light-hearted comedy rom-com. Fake Princess has so many potential. The first few episodes are quite good and funny. The kidnapping scene is quite creative. It has a good twist at the end (i.e. Chang Le's background) which makes sense. All female characters are very independent and keep support each other.

I dislike all the scenes of Zhu Yan and Li Heng. I finds them too cheesy. Their story was quite unnecessary which contributes to nothing. In the middle, the story takes an unexpected turn. I dislike the "character development" for Li Heng. He somehow turns into a completely different person which I find annoying and silly.

Ah Li Ai Ti also has a weird story line. She is portrayed as childish and supposed to love our ML very dearly. However, she somehow helps him, risks her reputation as a princess without expecting anything in return. She understands the love between ML and FL and just leave???????????????????????

Anyway, I still give it a 7,5. OK to watch, easy to digest. If you're bored and have nothing else, this is fine.

Leia Mais

BEST FUNNY DRAMA WITH VERY WITTY FEMALE PROTAGONIST

One of the best dramas I have come across. The fact that the heroine is not only smart and funny but is also able to protect her man is really something! Think about it, how many c-dramas have you seen where the girl rescues the guy? Barely any! It is pretty rare to find good heroines in c-dramas which made me feel as if I found a hidden gem! All the girls rescues guys in this drama instead of the guys doing the work. The women are smart, funny and stronger than the males, even their fighting skills are better lol. Y'all have to try it out, I was hesitant when starting because I thought it would be a cheesy low budget drama but it turns out that it was amazing, there were no scenes that had bad effects and its not cheesy at all!!! Best of all are the music, as a native Chinese the music is really amazing. The music is upbeat and have pretty funny lyrics. It basically sums up the female lead, how she comes from a regular family, willing to make soup (for male lead) and how their love will spread and become a good story. It doesnt make sense because I am taking the best lines from the song to give y'all an example.
𝒜 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑔 (𝓁𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎) 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝓊𝓃𝓃𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒'𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝒷𝒶𝒹 𝑒𝒻𝒻𝑒𝒸𝓉𝓈 𝑜𝓇 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸 𝒾𝓈 𝓊𝓅𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝓁𝒶𝓍𝒾𝓃𝑔.

Leia Mais

This is a very good dramedy with a nice and steadfast romantic story between the main leads. This story was adapted based on the novel "The Fake Princess" by Shui Sheng. This drama tells the story of the romance between a crown prince and a mountain bandit who is forced to pretend to be someone else and ends up marrying the crown prince. As the couple start to encounter a series of dangerous events, they begin to develop feelings that bring them to support and comfort each other. Although the drama is label a historical comedy and it does have some funny moments, it also has a dramatic flare. The leading couple have good chemistry but their romantic scenes are a little bit lacking. Still, the drama is quite entertaining and episode 13 highlights the main actors' great potential. Enjoy it!

Leia Mais

Romcom with leads that have chemistry and a happy ending.

Watch this drama. It is a rom com so don’t go looking for avant- guarde scripting or tightly woven entirely plausible stories. Take a Smart FL. Loyal ML. Decent couple communication and trust. All wrapped up with a happy ending.
Actress who plays the FL character fits the rambunctious take charge heroine character well.
Her character was thrusted into a fake role and jumped right in and saved everyone and helped the ML become someone who could take his place I. Society. At this point In time I am watching three new dramas with the actor who plays the ML Zhao Yi Qin. I can’t say there is range in the acting but he suits the role well. Doting lover seems to be easy for him to play and this enhances the chemistry with the FL lead. The glances to his spouse to seek approval for being good or just to give a look that “we did good” is very organic. The theme is catchy and a bit of an ear worm. Expect drag towards the end and nothing too earth shattering in the finale. Just nice happy thoughts.

Leia Mais

Plot mistakes

I love this drama. Overall it is simple and not draggy like others C drama. However I realised something was amiss in the plot, felt like they tried to shorten the drama and became plot mistakes / plot holes
Those who have not finish watching, there will spoiler. You may stop reading here.

Here is the lists of plot holes I found :

1) they didn't exactly explain why Chang Le is able to play Zither. How Yu Yao's "mother" knows Chang Le how to play?
2) What happened to the fragrant pouch that sewed by Chang Le? The drama of emphasis on how Chang Le put a great effort in completing it and but never showed she give it to Li Che.
3) in certain scenes, it somehow shows that someone was spying over them using magical well /water but never reveal this part of the story
4) it seems like Miss Dong, the tailor, has a close relationship with the Emperor and Empress Shen but never elaborate or explain in details. The emperor seemed to have a particular feelings toward Miss Dong.
5) the drama also doesn't explain why Chang Le's master Duan Nian'er pretended to be dead and lied to Chang Le.

There is also some smaller details that I felt like incomplete which I didn't include the list above but I felt those not as crucial.

Leia Mais

Worth watching!!

this is my fav colossal drama after the legend of yun xi. The story line keeps moving forward and full of chemistry among role players. most average colossal dramas have more than 40 eps and it makes me bored atm yet this drama only has 27 eps including whole packages such as romance, humour, jealousy, quarrels, sorrow. Besides, the FL isn't weak at all! i love it tbh. she's bold, beautiful, funny, good at fighting and most importantly, she's SMART. the ML really loves her even tho he made mess with her at the beginning, he's a loyal person after all. i highly suggest you all watch it!

Leia Mais

amazing story!!!!

wow what an amazing story ,super interesting super cute, funny, romantic likeable drama, likeable characters
i really liked it.

liked: i love the FL so much shes precious, funny, cute, intelligent, strong, this girl is everything, the ML is chef kiss, the third princess is amazing, the females in this drama stand out the most, they are all inteligent and strong

disliked: a characted didnt get a happy ending,( i dont care in my mind they get a happy ending ) im mad at the director for this, it was not necessary to be honest.

acting: they all acted incredible

music: super great i really like the ost

rewatch value: defenitly yes

this drama is a 10/10

Leia Mais

Beautiful romance

I was really hesitant to watch this because it had an 8.0 rating, so I didn't think it would have been good, but this exceeded my expectations to the point where i binged watched this in 2 days lool. Definitely deserve a higher rating than what it has, I can't believe i almost didn't watch this. If you're like me and you're on the edge i hope my review helps you to reconsider and give it a chance.

I love the chemistry between the MC, they did a phenomenal job with there roles. there romance was sooooooo wonderful as well. I definitely wouldn't say that the story was totally cliche. I find in some easy its pretty different than other historical drama, regarding the reveal of the fake princess that's why I didn't think it was too cliche, it was pretty unexpected the way they handled it and i loved that. It was so wonderful.

you'll get annoyed at a certain someone, but i skipped there part, i was interested in everything else but that character lol.

I totally recommended this, after i watched something so emotional and deep like love and redemption, i watched a couple other dramas and couldn't get over it still, then i watched this and i got over it, this is sooo funny, sweet and the romance was wonderful. Truly not like the typical historical, its a breathe of fresh air. Its very lighthearted, not too deep in the political stuff, but it was very good. I love the romance so much and there is no love triangle #Bonus.

Leia Mais

Witty Robber turned Crown Princess

The beginning is sad because of Yuyao then turned funny when Changle appeared. The crown prince was robbed by Changle who happened to look like Yuyao who was engaged to the CP. Yuyao was in love with another man who was killed by her grandfather and father so she killed herself. Enter Changle who was blackmailed by the evil family of Yuyao. Changle was forced to act as Yuyao. Changle and CP fell in love with each other.

With a lot of challenges and some jealousy they stayed together and became the Empress and Emperor with a baby in the oven. Happy ending.

Leia Mais