Nothing But You (2023)

An Intelligent Romance Drama, Sweet but Lacks Sizzle

Excellent drama with intelligent dialogue and mature characters. Good story development. Good acting. Good chemistry. Motivational. Inspirational. More than a romance drama, this was a story of growth for individuals who had become trapped and stunted by their circumstances, both professionally and emotionally. This was true, not only for the main leads, but for numerous supporting characters as well. All of the characters were integral to development of the story. A very well-thought-out script.

Admirable, capable FL character free of the babyish voice and cutesy nonsense you typically see in cdrama female leads. Angsty, straightforward ML, seemingly brusque and hot-tempered, but warm and honorable in reality. Both lead characters were outstanding and hard-working and exemplary. A real joy to watch their stories unfold.

An idealized romance where the partners are nearly always thoughtful and considerate and problems are handled quickly. A little too-good-to-be-true, but is exactly the stuff every romantic dreams of. Pretty much perfect for stress-free viewing. The slow-burn romance was well done with a comfortable vibe and natural, easy banter between the leads. But, it lacked fire and sizzle with only a few tame kisses and one love scene that, honestly, felt a bit awkward and could’ve been left out altogether as it seems Wu Lei isn’t entirely comfortable with these sorts of scenes yet.

“Sizzle” isn’t necessarily created by sexy love scenes and gratuitous skinship any way. That’s not necessarily what I’m looking for. “Sizzle” is created when there’s a heart-pounding energy between the leads that makes you want to watch and rewatch because their chemistry is so intense, almost palpable. I didn’t get that from this drama. While there were several swoon-worthy moments here and there, the “Nothing But You” leads’ chemistry remained quite tacit and mellow over the whole series—very realistic as real life isn’t full of hot moments all the time, but, honestly I want a bit more spice from my dramas because I get enough real life from real life. Still, overall, a very, very heartwarming story and many sweet moments.

I enjoyed watching, but have no real interest in watching it again.

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Excellent drama about Love, Life and Career

At first I had my doubt since I'm the type of person who easily drop a drama. Moreover, I'm more into mystery, detective or thriller drama than slice-of life. But I love watching sport anime and I'm a fan of Wu Lei so I give this drama a chance. I watch it without any expectation and got surprised at how much I love this drama. I want to review the + and - of the drama, but then I realized that something that I think positive might be seen as negative by someone else. So I would just list things that I like and I don't like about this drama.

Things that I like:
1. This is a drama with quote-worthy lines, have realistic description about work life & struggle, and problems in family
This drama is not only about love, but personal growth and people's effort to live the life that they want. The main theme is how love can make you be a better person. How love can give you courage, whether the courage to let go or the courage to start over.

2. I can identified myself with the protagonists & they make me want to root for them
This is the first thing that attract me to this drama. I can relate very much with the struggle of the female lead Liang You'an (LYA). As a working lady in my 30's I experience the same problems with her. Horrible bosses, no work-life balance, stagnant career, you name it. I was like, "why this is hit close to home?" Same as the female lead, I also have bad experience in love and everyone around me seems to have not-so-happy marriage, making me kind of afraid to meet the wrong partner and get married. But after watching this drama I think, "hey, maybe if I meet someone who is right for me, romantic relationship might work". I can also relate with the struggle of the male lead Song Sanchuan. I'm someone who excelled in my education, but I've faced several failures at work that sometimes make me lose confident in myself. I know how our state of mind can affect our performance and I found I'm rooting so much for SSC to overcome his struggle and develop his potential to its fullest.

3. The romance between SSC & LYA progress naturally with natural sweetness
I prefer drama with a relationship that progress naturally. Romance in this drama is not industrial saccarine, it's full of natural sweetness. Which I think is excellent and match my preference. But for people who love heavy romance drama with a lot of skinship, the sweet romance here might not evenly spread in every episode and they might need to patiently watch the love story unfold. The amount of sweet scenes are more in later episodes after SSC & LYA got together (start from episode 30). Those episodes are full of sugar.

3. Directing, script & overall production
I just love the cinematography in this drama. For example the scene after LYA reject SSC and show us how they separate that day in the parking lot (with LYA shown to slowly go away by car and SSC still standing there). The way the drama show the community where SSC live. They pay attention to show us every character's living condition. Even from the clothes we can see LYA's high-class clothes and SSC's middle class clothes and have a sense of the difference in their living condition.

4. Some of the supporting characters
There's a lot of lovely supporting characters in this drama. An Cong is a very nice father figure to SSC. I love how they bonded, bickered and love each other despite not having blood connection. LYA's best friend, Luo Nian, show us the stuggle of being a single mom. I'm surprised at how I can like Liang Tao. I hate her at first. But after I finally see her background and thoughts, I think I can see where she come from. The boys at the tennis club so supportive to SSC & I love their friendship.

5. Protagonist with no-nonesense attitude
In a lot of drama, I was frustated at how some of the protagonists act illogically and annoyed me. Make the same mistakes numerous times, childish, etc. Sometimes the protagonist here doing something that I don't like, but I still understand why they do it. This has a downside tho. Some people love protagonist who act silly & unpredictable, and character who act mature and sensible all the time might not seems interesting to some people. They might seems flat. But for me, I love this kind of no-nonesense protagonist.

6. The problems are resolved quickly
Some drama drag the problem for too long. Thankfully not in this drama. Every problem are resolved quickly and there's happiness in every episode. Just like life itself which sometimes challenging and sometimes fun.

Things that I don't like:
1. Some supporting characters.
While I do think there's a lot of lovely supporting characters here, there's also a lot who are annoying. I know the screenwriter flesh out their story because she want to send a message. For example, Jiang Jie the horrible ex-boss of LYA. I understand what the screenwriter want to show with his story, but it doesn't mean I care and I still wish his screentime is reduced.

2. I feel like they can simplified some side story and make the drama more compact. Some parts feels a little bit draggy for me, particularly when it show the story of the characters that I don't really care about like what I said in poin 1 above. There's also some product placement in this drama. While it's not annoying at all and placed nicely, but I still notice that it's product placement.

Overall, I really recommend this drama to everyone. I give 10 for actings because I really like how natural they portray the characters. You need to watch this drama, particularly if you like:
- urban/slice of life/sport drama
- sweet romance
- deep talk

I'm not recommending this drama for people who are:
- too young. I don't expect teenager to relate with the struggle portrayed in this drama.
- expecting heavy romance or a relationship that has bloom/intimate from the start. The romance in this drama is sweet but that's not the only focus here. It's also a drama about life & career. This drama also aired on national TV so they remove the hot scenes and make it tame.

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