#baron chen

[mousieta]

is...is that Baron Chen?!!!

oh I am locked in

[natstarbuck]

[dangermousie]

I love the insanity these two have going on like a xianxia version of Deng Kai and Kong Xueer in Jade including the Stockholming thru hotness.

[dangermousie]

I mean, I get her, if I had Baron as my lover and then had to give him up, I'd be fixed for forever also.

[dangermousie]

If I had a nickel for every time Baron played an incredibly powerful badass who is believed dead but instead has become a trapped love slave of a powerful unhinged woman, I'd have two nickels which would...still be not enough to buy a spell to get a Baron of my own hahah

[alipeeps]

Not Baron Chen's best look but certainly an interesting one!!

[thenonchalantfangirl]

BROMANCE--POST WATCH REVIEW

So...I just got done watching Bromance, a Taiwanese Drama from 2015 and here is my thoughts. This review will cover the full show, so I may mention spoil worthy moments, but I don't plan to do a thorough detailed walk through of the plot.

Summary

Pi Ya Nuo is a 25 year old woman who has spent her whole life living as a man per the request of a fortune teller her parents went to. Basically, she has to spend a full 26 years as a man before she will allowed to be a woman. One fateful day, she happens to save triad boss and amusement park owner Du Zi Feng and his younger sister Du Zi Han on two separate occasions, securing herself a spot in their heart as a sworn brother and a potential love interest. As she gets closer to them--especially Zi Feng, Ya Nuo starts to feel fear for her upcoming birthday and change into the woman she has always been.

Starting Thoughts (Episode 1-5)

So, a couple years prior, I had attempted to watch Bromance and failed miserably. It just failed to capture my attention no matter how far I tried to push through and I ultimately dropped it. Recently though I kept seeing it on Viki and thought "Why not? It's only 18 episodes!" (which is a lot for a J-Drama lover like me tbh). Anyways, I started it and wow those first five episodes were really hard for me to get through. I wasn't all too interested, and this drama does have a lot of cheesy, predictable moments. By episode to Ya Nuo is having a full breakdown over Zi Feng even though they'd only been sworn brothers for like...a week. But I pushed through and started to see the magic happen.

Middle of Drama (Episode 6-14)

Making it to episode six was very nice moment. It seemed that the drama truly found its flow and the characters were settled. While it does seem to be a drama that depends on it's characters being rather simplistic--never too bad unless they are meant to be bad--it was enjoyable finally. We had Ya Nuo "cross dress" as a fairy in the amusement park play and Zi Feng starts to see his brother in a new light. This starts their true flirting where they start to cross the boundaries of normal for sworn brothers. People close to Zi Feng, like his sister Zi Han and his friend Qing Yang, start to point out that his and Ya Nuo's friendship seems to consist of something more.

End of Drama (Episode 15-18)

Our characters Ya Nuo and Zi Feng finally decide to get into a relationship and I'm going to be real...I wasn't too much of a fan. I think their relationship just became too perfect. Like they were functional in a way I'd imagine a thirteen year old would imagine a healthy relationship. Maybe I'm just a love hater. But it was nice that we didn't have to wait forever to get the main characters together.

We get a bit more into the whole triad boss storyline, with Zi Feng's dad coming back with memory loss and a cuff link that was limited edition. I honestly wasn't too annoyed with this storyline--initially I didn't like the whole triad bit just cause it felt like an unnecessary layer added to story. But once their relationship started, I found myself more interested in this part. The mystery behind Zi Feng's dad and Qing Yang's parents gets solved with a betrayal being the final answer. And then...

...Zi Feng and Ya Nuo end up married!-- We only get to see her in a wedding dress. They also end up in a hotel hallway for their wedding night I guess...and all I can say was it was probably awkward to film. One of the reasons I likely wouldn't become an actress lol.

Ending (Special Episode)

Just touching on the special episode. We basically get an overview of the love story of Ya Nuo and Zi Feng, and then see some BTS footage which was amusing to see.

Character Review

Main Story:

Pi Ya Nuo

--Pi Ya Nuo is our main character, she is a 25 year old woman who has lived as a man her whole life. Because she's dedicated to keeping her secret close, Ya Nuo doesn't have many friends except for her cousin Fan Xiao Jing (who knows her secret) and friend Liao Guang Chao. Pi Ya Nuo is a reserved person but very kind and loyal. When Zi Feng comes into her life with the intentions of being sworn brothers, her life starts to get complicated--especially when romantic feelings start getting in the way.

So I love the way they put effort into making me believe that the other characters could possibly believe that Ya Nuo is a boy. Usually when I watch these "he's actually a she" dramas, the girl playing the role of boy looks way too girly and also acts too girly for me to think that the other characters think that she's a true male. But then again, I guess a character who's pretended to be a man her whole life will act a lot differently than a character who has to spontaneously act like a man. As the story went on though, it got less and less believable to me that they would've believed her to be a man, but it seems that Ya Nuo gets girlier the closer she gets to people.

Du Zi Feng

Du Zi Feng is the triad leader and amusement park owner. He took over for his dad who went missing at sea with his best friend Qing Yang's parents. He is a kind and caring guy, not leaning into what most people would expect from the leader of a gang. When Ya Nuo saves his life, he instantly wants to keep her close (ofc he thinks Ya Nuo is a boy but I'm making it easier on myself). Through their sworn brotherhood, they become closer and devoted to one another. At points Zi Feng is trying to figure out if he actually likes a man. Thankfully, with the support of his family, we don't have to worry too much about the gay panic running on too long, as Zi Feng decides he will be with Pi Ya Nuo because of love and not gender.

Zi Feng is a funny character and I found myself laughing at a lot of his scenes. Definitely didn't like his hairstyle all too much though--a common crisis in dramas. I know he's a business man, but his hair can't go down even just a little bit??

Chu Zhe Rui

--Zhe Rui is a childhood friend of Ya Nuo's who ended up moving away during that time as well. He actually knows that Ya Nuo is a girl, having overheard it when him and Ya Nuo were children. Having this knowledge plus being able to see her again makes Zhe Rui determined to be there for Ya Nuo in the final months of her being a man, and pursuing a relationship with her once she is a woman.

I wasn't too interested in him being a love interest. Not anything against the character or the actor, but it's really a storyline problem. I feel like they didn't lean too consistently into him being the third point of the triangle, so when they had their fair rivalry towards the end of the series it felt out of place. Plus, it didn't even feel like they were competing all too much so when he was like "Take care of Ya Nuo"...I was all like "did you try???" I think I would've preferred if he would've just been like a comedic cover friend for Ya Nuo's gender or something.

Support Characters:

Wei Qing Yang

--Qing Yang is a longtime close friend of Zi Feng, having grown up together. Like Zi Feng, he also lost his mom and dad seven years ago with no idea where they could've went. He is a reserved and thoughtful guy with a passion for coffee brewing. Qing Yang helps Zi Feng come to terms with what they both believe are romantic feelings for a man, offering his support for his friends.He is played by Bii and many that I've seen called the acting stiff. As a naturally stiff person in real life who acts much like this character, I actually liked the way he was portrayed, especially later on. We started to see his personality come out a bit more as we get to focus in on him. Also...his singing voice is amazing.

His relationship with Na Na didn't start off all that interesting to me, but once they were actually in the relationship it got better and easier to watch them.

Yang Na Na

--Yang Na Na is a young woman who takes an interest in Qing Yang after the coffee he brewed tastes like the coffee brewed by her late mother. And though she starts off as a nuisance to him, they eventually become close. She is a kind and outgoing girl

Fan Xiao Jing

Fan Xiao Jing was an amazing support character who we needed more of. Xiao Jing is a very girly, outgoing person who isn't afraid to stand up for her friends, or get rid of the awkward silence in the room (I'm trying to get like her!!). She is probably one of the reasons why Ya Nuo was able to stay sane. She was one of Ya Nuo's biggest confidants, and just wanted her older cousin to be happy--how sweet.

We didn't get to see much of her, and for that we had a pretty valid reason. Xiao Jing is a flight attendant who gets taken away for long periods of time. When she was there, she was amazing. Always trying to encourage and guide Ya Nuo when exploring her femininity, and trying to further the romantic development between Zi Feng and Ya Nuo.

Liao Guang Chao

A long time friend of Ya Nuo, Guang Chao is not aware of the fact that Ya Nuo is actually he girl. They run a hotdog van together, and Guang Chao constantly finds himself slightly jealous (in an unserious way) of the attention Ya Nuo gets. When the van gets stolen under Guang Chao's supervision, he is given grace my Zi Feng and offered a job as the Du Family's chauffeur, which he takes serious. In his time as a chauffeur, he bonds with Du Zi Han, always showing the utmost care to her. He was comedic character that we don't get to learn too much about, like a lot of the other supporting characters in this show.

Du Zi Han

Zi Feng's younger sister, Du Zi Han is a pretty girl thriving in her lifestyle of wealth. Initially introduced into the storyline as the woman intent on grabbing Ya Nuo's heart, Du Zi Han evolves to be more than just that. She willingly gives up on her pursuit of Ya Nuo once she realizes that that her older brother is in love with "him". When her dad comes back, we see that she was a girl harboring a lot of emotions within her. And when Guang Chao starts to show consistency in his love for her, her heart starts to soften at the possibility of the relationship.

I do feel like we started to see her less and less as the show went on, which was kind've disappointing but the show made it pretty clear that they had better things to focus on.

Overall Thoughts:

The show was not the most perfect show. I didn't like the filming style all too much. Sometimes it was so close and other times so far!! It was pretty boring to me in the initial episodes as I stated before. And I'm not going to lie, when their relationship started officially...it was meh. For a lot of people this was one of their fave T dramas. It wasn't mine.

With all that being said, it definitely was a very enjoyable one. I got a lot of moments I enjoyed from it, and I was pretty pleased with the stories play out. I was glad that it didn't get sooo dramatic like some other dramas I've watched. In fact things got nipped in a bud rather fast in this drama. Eighteen episodes were perfect, and I was able to get through it rather fast, considering that I was tv shows slower than I can read a book.

I definitely think that if you wanted to watch this, it wouldn't be the worst thing you've ever done. You'd definitely witness a lot of flaws, but you'd see a lot of good as well.

[elenwe-rpg]

Chen Chuhe / Baron Chen