卿卿日常 New Life Begins (2022)

A 40-episode ensemble romcom + costume cdrama set in an alternate-universe China, with a woman empowerment theme.

STREAMING ON:
Iqiyi

PLOT:
Girls from each region are sent off to be marriage candidates for the princes of Xinchuan. Li Wei, the representative of agricultural Jichuan, is a cheerful girl whose passion is food and whose goal is to be sent back to her family. She meets: Yin Zheng, the sickly, unfavored sixth prince who is secretly scheming for the throne; her childhood friend Hao Jia, the ambitious and calculating daughter of a concubine whose goal is a stable position in the palace; Shangguan Jing, princess of the matriarchal region of Danchuan who resents being forced to become the wife of a prince in the patriarchal Xinchuan; AND MORE!!! Together they CHANGE SOCIETY, SHINE LIGHT UPON WOMEN'S STRUGGLES and REFORM POLICIES WITHIN THE PALACE AND ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.

Storylines include:

arranged marriage + slow burn

arranged marriage + trying to get divorced

food heals all ailments and bridges all relationships

ML is a sweet nice boy who supports all of the FL's choices

women supporting women x100000

OT3 (which works in all its iterations)

a female character (Yuan Ying ♥) who gets the typical ML tropes ♥♥♥

character growths for everyone!!!

changing the currency

inventing: buffets, meat floss, a brand-new restaurant concept, women's rights, post-partum care, internship programs, calendar invites... Li Wei invents everything lol


This is a lighthearted, low-stakes comedy with an ensemble cast and the energy of a fix-it fic. It cycles through the typical tropes and conflicts in a harem drama, subverted or resolved with the power of female solidarity and supportive men. The plot is very thin, mostly vibes and going through the motions of every policy-related plot point. Good production quality, with beautiful shots and even more beautiful costumes an accessories, and episode after episode of food porn. (This show made me so hungry ajsdjaf;as;)

I found the first half highly enjoyable and bingeable (peak cdrama comedy), but it gets less enjoyable as they add more plot (which is usually just so the girls can resolve them). Its charm is really as an ensemble cast where the girls all get together and play off against each other + the Sixth Prince's household coming together as a family of choice even though they initially were pushed together by circumstance; Steward Su, the Sixth Prince's father figure and wing man, was definitely the standout character + performance for me, all his scenes were GREAT. When the show pushes the girls into their own individual paths so they can each get the ending they deserve, it's less fun, though their respective endings still cheer me up.

I would describe this as character-centric, but not character-driven; Li Wei starts out as an extremely fun FL, but her characterization tends to get flattened by her role as the main character. Of all the characters, I think Hao Jia and Fang Ru (the two wives of the Second Prince) are the ones who have the most cohesive characterization and storylines, though theirs are also the heaviest ones.

The last ten episodes are mostly okay—not awful, but not very interesting. Still, it ends in a scene that I found extremely sweet and satisfying. :') (I'm also very happy for that one prince and his personal chef who find their happiness offscreen ahaha ♥)

(I would give this show 3.5 out of 5 stars XD)

June movie releases

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
This was not as tight as the first movie, and the soundtrack not as memorable, but the storytelling continues to be a full audiovisual experience. It's also an excellent sequel! I love how it picks up where we left Miles, emotionally.

The “villains” weren’t that great on their own but they make great foils for the main and supporting characters in a story that isn't about good VS evil. The theme of goodness being an active choice that you make again and again is something I feel extremely strong about, so I felt so seen and fed by it being a huge part of the story. I think I’m in the minority in not being immediately compelled at the beginning, but that made the payoffs even better because they got me to come around. Characters being able to make choices and deal with consequences made them and the story much more dynamic and satisfying, especially with so many different moving pieces finding their place.

My favorite part as an inattentive viewer was when I picked up that the color of something felt vaguely off-shade in ways I couldn’t explain, and that turned out to be one of many significant visual cues for a plot twist. 😂



Elemental (2023)
The racial allegories were shaky as expected (it just doesn't really work...), but the movie's greatest weakness is really just the lack of worldbuilding and interest in building it at all. There wasn't any follow-through on city subplots that I thought should have been treated with more significance than they were—I recognize that a lot of it is symbolic of Ember's storyline, but IMO it shouldn’t be up to individuals to fix the infrastructure??? Everything just becomes less emotionally impactful when the conflict/villain is bad city planning, lol.

The script was kind of lackluster, and the spoken jokes made feel starkly feel that I am not the right age group for this movie HAHAHA. I am also not the target market for the romcom plot since I don't really like romance... but the love interest (Wade) being a soft, supportive, and dedicated himbo whose storyline is only secondary the the FL is a trope that I usually enjoy, on days that I sign up for romance. XD

In spite of all of that, some of the more personal storylines hit very close to home in ways that were emotionally sensible for the main character, and I really enjoyed watching her grow into her feelings!

Overall, neither a great movie nor a bad one. The animation style was interesting, even moving, and I really don't mind that it's not trying to say anything "new". I just wish it had been smaller and less ambitious in its themes.

SIDE NOTE: I'm trying to find the Mandarin dub for this because ZXC plays Wade and from what I've heard of the teaser, his voice is appropriately watery!!!



爱很美味 Delicious Romance (2023)
Streaming on: Netflix PH

Modern-day friendship-focused chick flick with fun dance numbers and great song choices! Direct sequel to the 2021 cdrama. Like the recent Someday or One Day sequel/movie adaptation, it kind of rehashes similar storylines to replicate the experience of the original and make the movie version more friendly to new viewers.

Like the TV series, this movie features extended conflict and questionable but in-character Xia Meng choices (I so badly wanted to introduce her to the drama adaptation of You Are My Glory), but any scene where all three girls were together were great! I just felt that there weren't enough scenes of them being together. XD Wang Shengdi not being in this movie was also a huge loss, since she was a huge reason for why I loved the show.

The storyline I was most pleased with was Liu Jing's storyline because I thought the show really dropped the ball on her, so seeing her reconnect with food made her make sense to me again.

PS. The movie also preserves its cynicism about entertainment industries, including streaming. I liked the little lesson about fantasy cdrama genre distinctions. 😂