to watch in school/for TTDT

literally chinese rom coms are the worst you think they’re going to be simple but then they throw you some crazy plot and stuff that is totally unnecessary and sort of ruins the whole thing. also this show had so much queer potential and i think it was totally within adherence to censorship laws but they still made an obviously gay character het like i’ll never forgive them. because ihave to show a netflix show apparently this is the best one bc wo de xiao jiepi is a weird one to start on. also re shang leng dianxia is really short and i finished it over revels week so it hopefully won’t bore people. 

it’s so cheesy and terrible but hilarious and good for learning because it’s a lot of colloquial taiwanese mandarin and we can surmise from what they say. also i have an affection for the mc and love watching her come into herself. li-ang is in this one as what seems like a type cast, but he’s like the cutest ever at the same time. he has cactus friends?? also i really like the mc even though i know a lot of people don’t. from what i’ve seen so far, there’s one attempted kidnapping/assault type scene that doesn’t end badly but xiaoqing ends up having some trauma obviously. 

cute, has shen yue, relatively easy to understand w/o subtitles, good messages, shen yue, good side couples, shen yue and liu yihao. netflix

there’s swearing and an implied sex scene but like nothing is shown except them lying in bed under the covers where angie’s shoulders are bare but like whatever. netflix original

a school drama, so i’m not the biggest fan, but hu yitian actually smiles in this drama and shen yue is in it so it’s fine. pretty basic, but that makes it easy to understand w/o subs. netflix 

bai lu and luo yunxi make such a weird duo but it works and they’re really cute. i hope bai lu’s character dominates in the corporate world. i think she will. anyway, another relatively short, fun,emotional-at-times, rom-com. not to mention, great cast (xiao yan, gao hanyu!)

more difficult to understand because of the wuxia/xianxia terms but also they explain like everything and as whacky as the plot is it’s not that complicated because individual arcs are isolated and then ultimately connected (though often in a weird way). i might be tripping tbh don’t know any of this for sure. it’s a lot easier to understand than any other wuxia i’ve seen though. it’s partially a gag show because of the amount of modern pop culture references and the literal idol scenes oml it’s hilarious but also it can be actually good at some points. there are baddie women, pretty good fight scenes, and some lovely friendships in the show. netflix

again, shen yue. also it’s about women and isn’t  just a rom-com so i think it would be great if we watched it in an “all-girls” school. i haven’t watched it though so if it sucks oops 

haven’t seen… but like it’s well-known. i think it’s like ouran but less ouran. it also has shen yue in it so like all is well. if you can’t tell, i’m obsessed w/her. the newer one is way longer than the original tho so there’s no way we could finish it during TTDT let alone in class. netflix i think 

old meteor garden check! way shorter than the newer

i really don’t know but it seems appropriate 

we could watch this in class bc there’s a lot of lore but also it’s like a japanese story…? idk i just like this movie because of how weird it is (also…SO MANY ANIMATE ANIMALS) and think it’s pretty self-explanatory even without understanding what they’re saying. netflix 

enemies to lovers and cold man/warm woman dynamics. li hongyi

i didn’t like it but it’s short and sweet and simple 

yihao is in this too that’s all i know

and this…

yueyue?!?! wei zhiming?!!!?!? that yan guy who sings the yi er san song with yueyue that was probably written for this drama?!???! yes!!? fashion!!!!!

idk what it’s about really but the title and poster are so enticing

a flower shop and a pair of beautiful people 

pretty easy to understand historical drama i think. might be good for variation. also, it’s pretty short. havent seen it though. 

absolutely do not regret putting this on here. we watched this freshman year but all of the people who saw it and cared enough to remember have graduated (except kayla but she can totally watch it again) so who cares. ai shang ge men has literally been a formative show for me. it has such an important place in my heart and has gotten me through so many tough times. i also watch it about once a month and have nearly memorized the whole show in chinese. i think it’s important that the rest of the emma community sees this show. it's so bad, but that's what makes it good. in all seriousness though, the two of them have hands down the healthiest relationship i’ve ever seen in any piece of asian media ever including south asia. them taking it off of netflix in six days is an absolute crime and the fact that no one is watching it is rude. this has been a speech. i'm off to binge now before they take my love away from me. thanks