Sometimes you don't have the time to start a long drama. Maybe you need to have something to watch on breaks or while you wait a little bit. This is where a short web drama comes in! Most of the episodes are only 10-15 minutes so they are perfect to watch when you don't have a lot of time to kill for a 45-minute episode. The Chinese web drama that I checked out recently is The Killer is Also Romantic which you can find on YouTube where I live.
*Now as per usual with any review I write, I will not be including any spoilers in this review.*
A QUICK SYNOPSIS OF THE KILLER IS ALSO ROMANTIC - Si Xiao Nian, the graceful owner of a garment shop, and the gentleman Yan Wu Ming tied the knot. However, on the day of their wedding, the two left one after another. It turned out that both of them were hiding their true identities. Facing their deep love and secrets in their hearts, the two fall into a deep entanglement...
Overall, this drama was a lot of fun. It was cute and funny. I think it helped going into the drama not expecting much and knowing not to compare it to a full fledge 30+ episode Chinese drama. I think because I clicked play with this mindset, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I actually liked it. I think if you gave it a chance, you might like it as well.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THIS DRAMA
THE COUPLES - I thought both of the couples in this drama were great. They had chemistry together. I liked that their storylines sort of matched up and had common threads. I liked how the main couple teased each other. I liked that both couples seemed to genuinely care for each other. I think both couples fit well together.
THE STORY - Even though the story isn't original even in Chinese drama land but I can even think of some movies from where I am from that has similar plot points, it was still fun to watch the story play out. I thought the story was clever with some plot reveals or how the story played out over the episodes. I liked the mystery of it all. The story definitely kept me entertained and wanting to find out what was going to happen next.
THE CINEMATOGRAPHY - For a web drama, I thought this drama has some really nice cinematography. There were some beautiful scenes shot and you can tell the drama made smart use of the money it had. I was quite impressed. Maybe the scenes and cinematography stood out to me because I went into the drama knowing it was a web drama and not expecting a lot BUT I was still very impressed with what I saw.
THE PRODUCTION - I said it above when I was talking about cinematography but I will say it again. I am very impressed with this production and what they did with the budget and resources they had. It just goes to show that you don't need a TON of money and/or a TON of resources to make an entertaining drama. This production kept surprising me as I watched it. It surprised me with things like cinematography, set and even the costumes which I thought were pretty good quality and beautiful to look at.
THE ACTING - I thought the entire case did great in this drama. They played their roles well and made the drama fun to watch. The actress playing the female lead really stood out to me. I liked her interpretation of her character. I liked her attitude and she was such a badass when she needed to be. She suited the character. I will be curious to see where these actors and actresses show up next in drama land.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
THE PACING - I will admit sometimes the pacing seemed off to me. The pacing of the story either seemed to drag or it seemed to gloss over something sometimes. I found myself bored at parts and wishing it to move to the next plot point. Sometimes I also found myself asking wait, when did that plot point happen or where is this plot point coming from?
TOO CUTE AT TIMES - A problem I always have with these types of Chinese dramas where it is a romantic comedy or sometimes just a romance drama is that some characters or scenes are TOO CUTE for me. I cringe at some of the overly cute character reactions or scenes. In the case of The Killer is also Romantic, I found some trope scenes or some scenes that the female lead played out was just TOO CUTE for me. That is just a personal thing I have with these types of dramas.
EPISODE COUNT - On one hand, if you are looking for a quick drama to watch, the episode count of this drama will be GREAT! I have conflicting feelings about the episode count. I was impressed with what the production did with the episodes and the episode length they had to work with. I also had a complaint about the pacing. I also wanted to see some things in the plot that were never shown. Both could have been fixed possibly with more episodes. Now, at the same time, I have seen 30+ episode Chinese dramas that did have to episodes and still had bad pacing or story threads that led to nowhere. So, on one hand, I loved the episode count but on the other hand, I wish there could have been more episodes or longer episodes to fix some of the pacing issues or to add more details to the plot that I wish were there.
Rating: 7/10 (Streaming on YouTube now)
AND THAT IS MY REVIEW OF THE KILLER IS ALSO ROMANTIC!!
Did you watch The Killer is also Romantic?
What did you think of the drama?
Is it on your list to watch?
Will you watch this drama now after reading my review?
WE NOW ALSO HAVE A DISCORD SO TALK TO US ON THERE AS WELL!?