A River Runs Through It (2021)

Lu shiyi deserved better

This was my first C drama ever. First 20+ ep were amazing. In the starting I felt that lu shiyi was a bit too mean. But his character development was soo good. Honestly I cannot see why Xiao ju was so madly in love with Cheng lang. Shiyi was so much more considerate towards her. I know the heart wants what it wants and that it is hard to move on but srsly it was a bit too much. Even the time skip did not help at all. I thought that at least Xiao ju would have moved on in 2 years, but to me it seemed that she still liked CL and it was annoying.
Shiyi financially and emotionally supported her when she was at her lowest. He even kept her secret. He had all rights to be crazy mad when Xiao ju mistakenly confessed to him and later told him it was just a dare. Even after realising that she liked someone else he did not get impatient with her. Encouraged her to choose her passion which was the tourism major. He became her support system but Xiao ju remained blind to everything. She only saw Cheng lang's "kindness", even tho he barely looked at her twice. Agreed that the whole fake dating trope was cliche but he was still respectful of her boundaries and did everything to make her happy.
What felt odd to me was that even tho Xiao ju was claiming to be considerate for Shiyi because she did not want to ruin their friendship or hurt him, in the end she only crushed his heart more. She straight up called him crazy when he confessed to her. Would go on a date with him and be ok with it, then later push him away. Be nasty with him. Even after breaking his heart she did not spare a second thought abt him. Obviously because she was more concerned about CL and Lin you's break up. She was so invested in making CL feel better she even created a misunderstanding when they were eating hotpot together, but no, she was not one bit worried abt clearing the misunderstanding. She claimed how both CL and Shi yi were her best friends when she blatantly cared only abt one. More so ironic was the fact that Xiao ju was trying to cheer up CL out of the exact same misery that she had put Shi yi in. Sure, shi yi and Xiao ju were not dating unlike Lin you and CL, but Shi yi was also suffering through a heart break but the hot pot was only for CL. She was so cruel to shi yi that she would not even let him move on in peace. Like at 2 instances shi yi was sitting in his room and Xiao ju knocked at his door and came in, shi yi was obviously elated but soon disappointed to know that she was there only to enquire about Cheng lang's whereabouts and not him.

Now, for Lin you . Idk why I never liked her. She did not have anything to herself. Before CL confessed his love for her the first time he had still made it very visible that he was very interested in her, any girl with 2ounce of brain could understand that but she acted oblivious. I understand that she had stayed in a relationship with her ex for a long time. But I had hoped that the 3 years she spent with CL had meant something to her. But obviously the had not. Not only she left him for his ex and went abroad but then came back with a different guy.

Letao was my fave character in the series( aside from shi yi). She knew how to love but also knew how to move on, which sadly many characters in the series did not know. Her marriage with bao bao was rushed for sure but I was sooo glad that she did not end up with that jerk Huang Jun.

Overall the ending was rushed. The series deserved a better finale and Shiyi a better female lead. So much was rushed in the last few episodes. The things that were built so strongly were thrown away all in the end. Over 30+ ep were spent lamenting over an unnecessary unrequited crush of Xiao ju on CL. And the last 6 ep were even worse and did not compensate for any damages but created more.
All in all the series was beautiful in the starting, it could have been so much more. It is special to me. But I am sorry for the way they ruined it at the end.

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Waste of time

If you have lots of time in your life to waste then watch it otherwise don’t watch.

Total drama is totally boring. The lead female can only act as a spoil child with hot temper. At first I thought her character would be strong minded but her temper and tantrums were discouraging. Her liking and obsession with the second lead male was ridicules and un-realistic. The second lead falls for a different girl and she put up with it for years in college and determine to be their friend while she still likes him. No Way!!!!! The lead male as much as he does not understand girls especially the lead female who is a friend from his neighborhood and he is in love with her. He treats her abusive and sarcastic. It's his way of showing his love. As much he helped her and was there for her because he loved her she could only see the second male lead "Cheng Lang". Until the last episode were all of the suddenly they are in love and he proposes to her on her friends wedding. Taking away her friends special day. This was not my kind of drama. Not Romantic. Strange love couples, I hate when they leave everything to the last Episode and 10 minutes before it ends everything becomes perfect. The writers of this drama did not do research to give these characters a better story.

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First of all, I was very undecided about how many points you should give this series. The drama was very entertaining in the first episodes. Especially the fights between Lu shiyi and Xia xiao jun were very funny. Then it was as if the whole story revolved around xia xiao ju's love for cheng lang. We watched one-sided love for 28 episodes. I think the character of Xia xiao ju is weak because of this one-sided love. Also, Lu Shi YI, who was always by his side, noticed a lot. I would like to see more love between the two lead roles. I wish they were real lovers, not fake ones. As for the final episode, I think it was incomplete and could not convey the emotion. How he proposed to me without ever having a girlfriend, I think it was ridiculous. The last 2 episodes could have come together and then proposed to marry. After all, the number of episodes of the drama was long enough. But other than that, it was LU SHI YI who saved this drama. I watched for him.

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My favorite Cdrama of all time!

- A masterpiece fr. I really love this drama!
- Perfect casting and realistic plot.
- The acting was very natural.
- It showed us the beauty of friendship, love (one-sided love/first love/great love) and life as they grow old.
- It has a great transition of high school life to adulthood of the characters. The title gives so much sense.
- Slowest slow burn trope I've ever watched but it was really worth to watch.
- Lu Shiyi is the best male lead I've ever watched.
- Wang Ruichang portrayed shiyi very well.
- This drama deserve to have season 2.
- I am still invested on this drama. I re-watched it for like 5 times already and im still missing them. I love them so much.

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Pretty good, I recommend it

MINOR SPOILERS

Overall: I liked this show! It did frustrate me at times at how naive the characters were and some characters REALLY got on my nerves (COUGH HUANG JUN COUGH)... and let's get to certain things that I had issues with!

Story:

Typical story with enjoyable comedy. FL is one of those characters who isn't really quick witted and can't respond quickly when faced with a problem which creates even more misunderstandings that never exactly get completely cleared. I liked how there was a reason that ML liked FL but I would have preferred a more clear reason for FL liking ML (there is a reason, it just isn't as clearly shown as I would like it to be). I think Huang Jun is a fairly realistic/unrealistic person at the same time but he's a very interesting character. HE ANNOYS ME...but I do have to appreciate how nuanced he is. ML hurt me the most honestly, ML is a very funny, typical tsundere character but sadly he became very annoying when he grew up. There's a certain part of the show that isn't really addressed or clear whereas FL potentially got taken advantage of by ML? I mean she woke up and her clothes were not there anymore right after an... interesting scene. That's very upsetting to me AND ON TOP OF THAT ML is just very irritating when he comes back after being abroad (the audacity of these MLs istg). I felt so much second hand embarrassment I had to skip a lot of scenes which is more of a personal issue I suppose but if you also dislike second hand embarrassment then you should skip scenes too. I liked how I wasn't able to tell who ML and who SML was though, I was very confused until SML got a girlfriend. A part of me feels like FL and ML are better as friends because their platonic friendship was very cute but in dramas, a man can't be friends with a woman unless one of them has a significant other ?. We barely get to see anything school related after they graduate unless it has something to do with romance. I think certain plot points were half baked like when SML (forgot his name oops) witnesses someone get hit by a car and misses his entrance exam. The show never really addresses it ever again, I think it would have added more nuance and made the plot more interesting. For example, they could have maybe made SML more aware of roads whenever his friends cross because he's scared they will get hit. It's not really an important detail to add but it would add more depth to SML's character and would make the plotpoint have more significance rather than just a sloppy, lazy, sad excuse of an empty plot point (a minor inconvenience used only to affect a certain part of the main plot). There is more I could get in depth with but I'll stop there.

Acting/Cast:

Yeah, they're pretty good.

Music:

The music isn't very memorable, I like the song FL sang at the competition but they keep reusing that one song and it's not even an original song.

TLDR;
- Underplayed plots
- Typical romance
- ML might have taken advantage of FL but once again, I'm not sure
- ML gets annoying
- Some characters are well developed, some could have been better
- The ending wasn't really satisfying because at that point, I kind of disliked ML
- I'd recommend this show

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Currently my favorite C-Drama

The story when they were still school student until they became an adults is amazing. The story is very natural and the scenes are all what we experience in life.

Personally, I do not feel like the ending is rushed or dissapointed with how the story ends. I think this kind of story does happened in real life. It just shows how strong the love that the characters had.

In the novel, it is from FL pov and I think its nice. We don't need to know the ML's pov to enjoy the show.

The first time I feel attached to this drama is from the OSTs. At first I was only enjoying the story and feel relate to them but the OST makes me feel very attached and have strong sympathy with the characters. The OST start playing in the college part and I feel like I am their own best friend. Everytime the OTS played, I almost always cried because the of nostalgic feeling. Although I don't understand the lyrics, but I love it all.

I have read the novel and the story is quite different. This drama contains more events than the novel. In the novel, the ending is not really shown. Its an open ending but we know that finally the FL likes the ML.

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A STORY THAT MAKES YOU WAIT BUT IS WORTH THE WAIT

NOTE: I can only recommend this drama to those who like genres' like romance and youth. Plus, if you can also keep up with a slow drama (What I mean about what is slow is the formation of the love between the leads)

Some chinese dramas with the same genre (Romance & Youth) that I have watched was overpassed by this drama, A River Runs Through It. Why?

FIRST THE PLOT/STORY:
As what other romance dramas deliver, it has the same aspects such as falling in love, getting hurt, and forming friendships of a lifetime. Though this drama placed a long journey until both leads gets together— it was still worth the wait and the enjoyment and emotion it brought all throughout made me continue until the end. Also it is quite realistic compared to other dramas— it somehow shows what falling in love is like and the feeling of not knowing how to let go of something and move on like liking someone.

SECOND THE ACTING/CAST:
Everyone suited their roles, and played them very well, very well that you'll end up feeling their emotions and hating some of them. The actors of this drama was very good.

THIRD THE MUSIC:
I didn't really care about the OST when I was watching it since I just skip pass through the intro and outro as well. But I guess it isn't something that I would add in my playlist. But everyone has different tastes, right?

FOURTH THE REWATCH VALUE:
I wouldn't probably rewatch this since I have plenty of other dramas to watch. But if I can, I would probably watch it again. It would somehow be something fresh to rewatch.

LASTLY THE OVERALL:
I rated it a 9.5 since I think it deserves it. I love the story and actors of this drama. It made me somehow cry out of nowhere, but I wouldn't probably miss it much. Thank you to this drama that gave me something fresh to spend my time with. A worthy drama— I can say.

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Nice school drama

Very nice drama to watch.. My second cdrama to watch.. I watched this after watching professional single.. This drama similar to that but slight difference between them.. I like the way of acting of hero and heroine in this drama.. they are acting in a natural way... Carrying the drama through a real one..



A good suggestion to see... Nice drama


I saw this one after already watching a school drama... This tells us about good friendship, relationship and kindness.. The school dramas I suggest you to watch are A river runs through it and Professional single... They both are good in their story cast and acting... The heroine and hero of the both dramas are so cute and lovely... The heroes are handsome... They both has a perfect one and cute couples... Qin Shen ❤️ Yuan Qian
Lu shi yi ❤️ Xia Xiao Ju

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I originally watch this one for Wang Ruichang, but in the end, even Ruichang cannot save this drama.
Honestly, this drama is not bad. The story is solid, the characters are lively and the relationships between each character is pretty good, but I think I really am too old to be able to resonate with the FL.

The FL, Xia Xiaoju is your embodiment of teenage girl in CDramas. New girl, timid, not a bright student but tries hard to study well, strong determination, clumsy, low self esteem, etc. For some dramas, this is not an issue, like LCDF, there it was fine, but I don't know what's different with ARRTI, I just could not find myself to care for her character, for me she fits for a side character instead of a FL. Even more I could not stand Cheng Lang and Lu Shiyi, two of the strongest characters in this drama, only being painted as 'love interests'. Maybe it's because it's only the beginning, I don't know either, but I don't think I can watch any longer to find out.

Actually, I do find similarities between this drama and Reply 1988, but the feeling is somehow different. Maybe it will be better if Xiaoju is the one getting on that train instead of Baobao, and we get to see her struggle for a bit by herself. By then maybe we will see why this FL is the lead and not a side. Maybe someday I will find this drama again by accident and decide to re-watch it again and eventually came to like it. I don't know.

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