This is the first of my cdrama reviews (god, now I have like five more cdramas to write about now that I’ve started this). I think they’ll be a little more informal than the book reviews, because I’m the type of person who loves to stick to old stuff. Since I formatted it so formally two years ago, I’m sticking with that for book reviews, but the cdrama reviews might look different.
Also, the reviews of an immature sixth grader might not be very accurate. And there will be a lot of personal opinions involved.
So.
Reset
Rating: 5 stars
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Time Travel
This was like, the first modern cdrama I’ve ever watched. Before this, it was all historical, with settings in the Qin (Da Qin Di Guo 大秦帝国), Song (Qing Ping Yue 清平乐, She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan 射雕英雄传), and Liang (Nirvana In Fire 琅琊榜, Qihun 棋魂) dynasties, and the Three Kingdoms period (uh, literally Three Kingdoms 三国).
All cdramas listed above are very good in my opinion (except maybe Qing Ping Yue (forgot what it’s called in English oops), but it passes, still).
They might also be the only cdramas I’ve watched.
Anyway.
As a first, this modern-setting cdrama was absolutely AMAZING.
Actually, wait no, Qihun was also technically modern-setting, but… it’s just different! Chuying was still a spirit from the Liang dynasty. So.
This cdrama was like, AMAZING.
Seriously.
Okay, I admit, I’ve said almost the identical words for like, twenty different things in the past (all cdramas listed above, K-pop, Jay Chou, LoTR, HP, PJO, HOO, like ten million other books).
But SERIOUSLY!
Okay, I should probably stop saying “Amazing” and “Seriously” and actually start talking about the cdrama itself.
It takes place in the city of Jia Lin (I think?). The two main characters are Xiao Heyun 消鹤云 and Li Shiqing 李诗情 (just calling them Heyun and Shiqing for short).
One day, Shiqing wakes up from a nap on a public bus when suddenly the bus explodes. But she finds herself, when she opens her eyes, back on the bus. Then it explodes again. And she wakes up again. And again.
She realizes that she’s gotten trapped into a time loop, stuck on the bus after it explodes again and again.
She tries all sorts of ways to get off the bus. Finally, in a very… particular sort of way (you’ll have to watch it yourself to find out, haha), she manages to get off, but pulls off Heyun with her (whom at this point she does not know yet). This causes Heyun to also get stuck into the time loop.
The cdrama revolves around the two of them struggling to stop the time loop and reverse everything back to normal. To do this (this kind of counts as a spoiler), they must save everyone on the bus. And not only everyone on the bus, but also no one can die in relation to this too, if you know what I mean.
They get into all sorts of trouble with police and the people on the bus… can they save the bus, however?
*dramatic music plays*
Okay, done with the summary. Now. Time to say why I loved it.
First thing, it’s quick-paced. Here we arrive at why I didn’t like Qing Ping Yue as much as I could have. It was too long–70 episodes. 70 EPISODES, FOR GOD’S SAKE. It took me months to finish, and a lot of it was kind of unnecessary.
Meanwhile, I finished Reset in two days (binge watching, I know, but hey, it’s break). 15 episodes.
Every single one of these episodes, however, is packed with action, mystery, and cliffhangers. God I loved it. Stayed up to a record late time (11:14) just to finish the first eight episodes (dang it, the end of the 8th was a huge, huge cliffhanger).
And the acting skills. THE ACTING SKILLS. Except for maybe the head of the police department, Du Ju 杜局 (acted by Liu Tao 刘涛 AHHH SHE WAS NIHUANG IN NIRVANA IN FIRE), everyone was extremely skilled and into the whole thing.
Take the two main characters, for example. They’re super young, in their twenties maybe (me: a sixth grader calling them young), but it just seems so real when they act.
So is everyone else on the bus (they each have their personal stories). As well as the real murderer, who just creeps me out in a good way.
There’s also the rest of the police department, especially Zhang Cheng 张成 and his apprentice (that sounds wrong, like the person he taught to become a policeman) Jiang Feng 江枫.
Zhang Cheng is actually my favorite character of the entire cdrama, both because of the character itself and the actor. The actor is like, 51 years old and extremely experienced. He’s so into the role. AND HE ACTED XIE YU IN NIRVANA IN FIRE AHHHHHHH. Don’t mind me. Sorry.
I honestly think Jiang Feng’s actor did pretty well, too. Acted out his… cough… how do I say this without huge, huge spoilers… let’s just say sorrow and anger very well, as well as his rash and fierce yet passionate personality very well. Though he is a tad bit too rash. That’s the character’s fault though, not the actor’s.
I also love how they can make such a simple thing, just a time loop mystery on a bus, into such a deep cdrama, but at the same time keep it’s simple core. One reason why I normally don’t like mysteries is because they just get too complicated to me, or too simple and boring. But. Reset is simple yet deep.
Perfecto.
It goes into the depths of human nature very well (not like I know anything about it). Like, the societies and such. We can tell this through the backstories of the people on the bus, murderer and victims alike, most sad and harsh but one cheerful and cute.
So.
It’s a perfect cdrama.
WATCH IT NOW.
At this rate I’m pretty sure every single of my cdrama reviews will have to end in those last three lines. Especially Nirvana In Fire, Qihun, and this, my favorites so far. To summarize these three (don’t have to read this, it’s me finally not restraining myself and breaking into complete crazy ranting mode, also IF YOU ARE GOING TO WATCH ANY OF THESE DRAMAS DO NOT READ MAJOR SPOILERS):
NIF GOD!!!!!! MOVING! SO TOUCHING! SO FULL OF TENSION! JING WANG AND MEI CHANGSU GOD! THE ENDING ALMOST HAD ME CRYING AHHHHHSDFSDFSDFDSF, SO EMOTIONAL!!! THE ACTING SKILLS, LIU TAO DID SO GOOD IN THIS ONE!! AND WANG KAIIIII, HONESTLY EVEN BETTER THAN IN QING PING YUE!!! AND HU GE, I KNEW HE WAS FAMOUS BUT THIS WAS WHEN I FIRST STARTED ACTUALLY NOTICING HIM!!!! SO MANY CHARACTERS, AND ALL FULL OF SO MUCH PERSONALITY!!!! HONESTLY NOW THAT I REFLECT ON IT EVEN THE VILLAINS ARE WORTH REMEMBERING, HAHA TOTALLY NOT BECAUSE I JUST WATCHED RESET AND STARTED LIKING THE ACTOR OF ZHANG CHENG BC HE’S MY FAV CHAR, AND HE ACTED ONE OF THE TWO MAIN “VILLAINS” OF NIF!!! XIA JIANG STILL SUCKS THO, BUT CHANGSU GOT RID OF HIM IN THE END, YESSSSSSS! AND JING WANG FIGURED EVERYTHING OUT IN THE END BUT THEN CHANGSU DIED AND THEN… AND THEN OH GOD I FEEL SO BAD FOR YOU! AND NIHUANG THOUGH HER LOVE WAS COMPLETELY ADDED IN THE DRAMA AND NOT THE BOOK BUT IDRC! AS WELL AS THE MINI BACKGROUND ROMANCE BETWEEN XIA DONG AND NIE FENG, SO TRAGIC AND THEN SUDDENLY CUTE LOL!! OH YES, AND LIN CHEN, HILARIOUS BUT STILL WITH A TINT OF BITTERNESS AND GRIEF!!! LOVE HOW JINGYAN (JING WANG) AND HIM REPRESENT KIND OF LIKE MEI CHANGSU’S LIN SHU SIDE AND HIS, WELL, MEI CHANGSU SIDE!! WONDER IF MAYBE LIKE… JINGRUI REPRESENTS HIS SU ZHE SIDE! TRIPLE IDENTITY LOL, KIND OF, MORE LIKE DOUBLE IF YOU ONLY COUNT CHANGSU AND XIAO SHU. BUT THE PLOT AND THE TWISTS, SO HOOKING, SO CLIFFHANGER, I LOVE ITTTTTT
QIHUN!!!! ONLY CDRAMA I’VE TRIED TO REWATCH (THOUGH IM 100% GLAD TO REWATCH NIF AND RESET)!!!!!!! CHU YING IS SO CUTE OMG BUT SO TRAGIC AT THE SAME TIME!!!! XIAO GUANG IS JUST… GOD I KNEW HE WOULD DO IT IN THE END! AND YU LIANG, POSSIBLY MY FAV CHAR, FINALLY BECAMSE “FRIENDS” WITH XIAO GUANG, BUT I LOVE HOW THEY ARE STILL COMPETING EACH OTHER!! AND FANG XU, HOW HE FINALLY REALIZED HIMSELF, I LOVE HIM TOO! THE WHOLE IDEA OF THIS THOUGH, AMAZING! THE END ACTUALLY HAD ME CRYING FOR THIS ONE, ACTUALLY IT HAD THE WHOLE FAMILY CRYING EXCEPT DAD, MY SISTER LITERALLY JUST BROKE DOWN GODDD AND SOBBED ABOUT NOT WANTING CHU YING TO GO! XIAO GUANG I FEEL YOU!! AND THE ACTING SKILLS! THIS IS ALREADY SOUNDING REPETITIVE LOL BUT PLOT! ITS HONESTLY NOT THAT COMPLICATED OF A PLOT UNLIKE NIF BUT STILL THERE ARE SO, SO MANY SUBPLOTS!!! AND IM SO GLAD HOW CHU YING COULD FINALLY LIKE HALF BE HIMSELF ONLINE!! AND HOW XIAO GUANG GREW, HOW MUCH HE CHANGED AND MATURED WITHIN A SHORT TIME! HE’S SO TALENTED OMG, BUT IT’S ALL WITH THE HELP OF CHU YING! AND SHEN YILANG + HONG HE, SUCH SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS, EACH WITH THEIR OWN BACKSTORIES!!! HONG HE ESPECIALLY, HE’S HILARIOUS BUT HIS WHOLE DAD SITUATION THING! THIS ONE I THINK IS LIKE A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE SETTINGS OF HISTORICAL (NIF) AND MODERN (RESEST), IT HAS CHU YING FROM LIKE 2000 YEARS AGO BUT THE REST IS FROM MODERN PLACES, AND THE GAME IT IS REVOLVED AROUND IS ANCIENT THO
AAND RESET!! THIS IS DEFINITELY A CANDIDATE FOR REWATCH ONLY 15 EPISODES YESSS!! FIRST THOUGHT IS ZHANG CHENG! HONESTLY I HAVE NO IDEA WHY I LIKE HIM SO MUCH, PROBABLY BECAUSE HE DIED??? WELL THE MAIN CHARS DIED LIKE 24 TIMES (YEAH 24 TIMES EXACT I THINK, WAIT NO SHIQING DIED 24 AND HEYUN DIED ONLY 18 OR SMTH) BUT ZHANG CHENG IS JUST SO CHILL AND STABLE THROUGH THE WHOLE THING, SO EXPERIENCED!! AND AT THE SAME TIME HE’S SO PASSIONATE AND BRAVE DYING IN THE END ASLDKFJAKLSDJFLDAK I WAS SO GLAD HE REVIVED GODDDD! AND THE MAIN CHARS, THIS TIME IT’S DIFF FROM THE OTHER TWO, NIF MEI CHANGSU WAS LIKE LITERALLY A GOD, THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND QIHUN, SHI GUANG WAS A SUPER TALENTED WEIQI PLAYER AND CHU YING WAS THE BEST PLAYER OF WEIQI IN HIS TIME!! BUT SHIQING AND HEYUN ARE JUST NORMAL PEOPLE, I BELIEVE IT IS ONLY BY COINCIDENCE THAT THEY GOT INTO THE TIME LOOP, AND THEY HAVE A DARK SIDE TOO, HEYUN WANTED TO GIVE UP, THEY AREN’T JUST PLAIN BRAVE BRAVE BRAVE. BUT THEY PERSISTED!! GODD!! AND THE TOUCHING STORIES OF THE PASSENGERS!!!!! LIKE THE GUY THAT WAS IN PRISON, AND WU DI, SO CUTE BUT LIKE SO… HELPLESS IDK, AND THE JIAO GUY GUY, SO POOR BUT SO KIND AND TOUCHING!! IM SO GLAD THEY HAD A HAPPY ENDING, I’M A HAPPY EVER AFTER TYPE OF PERSON ASLDFJALSKJK SO I DONT LIKE TRADEGIES!!! AND EVERYTHING ELSE I’VE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT BUT STILLL LKSJADFLKJDASLK DYING OVER IT, OH YES AND THE DRIVER, THE DRIVER GOD… I FEEL SO SORRY FOR HIM, THE WOMAN IDK, SHE’S HONESTLY KINDA TOO CRAZY AND CREEPY FOR ME, BUT. THE DRIVER… ANYWAY MY THOUGHTS JUST LEAPT BACK TO ZHANG CHENG AND JIANG FENG HHHHHHH I LOVE HOW IT WAS LIKE JIANG FENG DIED WITH THE EXPLOSION, ZHANG CHENG WAS SO GRIVEIOUS AND SHOCKED AAAAAAAAAA AND THEN IN THE SECOND TO LAST LOOP, 13TH EP I THINK ZHANG CHENG DIED AND JIANG FENG WAS SO ANGY AT HIMSELF AND SO… IDK, CHANGED!!! SO GLAD HE “REVIVED” AND THREW THE BOMB AWAY IN THE END AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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