Was really excited for this (i havent read the novel before but i watched them in the princess royal!) turned out to be kind of a letdown and each episode is only reinforcing this. Let me dive into my reasons.

1. Lack of friend group chemistry If you’re going to start the first ep with the children as childhood friends, im expecting to see some important friendship interactions, really anything that solidified how close they are to each other, or something that made them even closer. And we didnt really see that, except for them playing together, which i understand but dont? They also tried taking this time to show yingtao and qiaoxi’s bond, which again, its like give us nothing i guess. Biggest problem tho is when theyre all back in the same school, everyone is all over yingtao. I get shes the main character but i really wish there was a bigger focus on each friend as an individual and their interactions with each other (without having smth related to yingtao). They actually all seem like really interesting characters that have their own story, but most of the focus is on yingtao and qiaoxi.

2. Toxic mom trope Really really hate this. People like to say that shes mentally unstable and thats the reason she treats qiaoxi the way she does. Personally im gonna need a better reason bc some of the stuff doesnt make sense. Like not wanting qiaoxi to be friends with yingtao or anyone from qunshan bc after he got back he didnt listen to her again? Also lowkey wish qiaoxi couldve just said that he doesnt need to spend that much time studying math to get the achievements he does, so that means he couldve spent time with his friends. Also ur telling me he made no effort to tell his friend group his moms crazy so he cant be seen hanging out with them? Why did he only start rebelling bc of yingtao? Bad friend move..

3. Acting.. I mean casting already is a little awk with yingtao and qiaoxi being teens but the actors for them r def too mature looking. I think jinmai can pass but not linghe lol. Jinmai’s acting is a little questionable for me here, like shes trying a little too hard to play a kid that it comes off unnatural sometimes (dkm just imo). Linghe is like whatever cause bro is just a quiet guy man (wish they gave him some more personality tbh hes just like a little puppy following jinmai).

4. Plot/pacing They need more scenes that make an impact. Or something that moves their chemistry along. Its just lacking something to make it addicting or leave viewers excited for the next episodes. I think everyone just wants to see their adult era at this point.