Drama: Love O2O
Chinese Romantic Drama (English Subtitles)
Synopsis: Xiao Nai (Yang Yang) is a gaming expert who, courtesy of his basketball skills, academic excellence, swimming talent and game company presidency, also happens to be the most popular student on campus. When he first comes across the gorgeous computer science major Bei Wei Wei (Zheng Shuang), the infinitely talented wunderkind immediately falls in love. But it’s not Bei’s looks that he notices; it’s the ridiculous mastery with which she is commanding her guild and owning everyone in an online multiplayer game that makes her impossible to forget. Now, Xiao Nai must use his skills both in real life and online to capture the adorable but dorky Bei’s heart. But does their love have the XP to succeed, or will this relationship never level up?
5 Rambles about love O2O:
- If you like sugary sweet romances with unrealistic goals being met by beautiful and brilliant 20-somethings, Love O2O is for you. It’s actually rather refreshing, with a ridiculously adorable couple that remains completely devoted to each other, with very few misunderstandings or jealous outbursts, and plenty of honesty. Love O2O follows the story of Bei Wei Wei, a beautiful and intelligent gamer, who is in college for game design/engineering, and Xiao Nai, who is pretty much Mr. Perfection in literally everything (a senior at her school as well). These two beautiful, intelligent, incredibly nice people meet in an online fantasy game, pair up, and then multiple episodes later, finally meet in real life. Adorableness ensues. Like, how does this not sound like a good thing?
*THEY ARE SO CUTE*
2. So, this show is Chinese, and with that comes some interesting Chinese cultural things. As an American watching this show, there are definitely conversations that would make any western feminist get up on a soap box and fume (it’s nothing too serious, but Xiao Nai is always telling Bei Wei Wei what to do — in the nicest ways possible, and of course, he always wants what’s best for her. That, along with some other lines spouted by the characters on the show, are just very different culturally from the West). As someone who is not terribly interested in radical feminism, this didn’t bother me too much, but it could possibly be met with outrage by much of the population in the US. (Don’t worry, Xiao Nai is not only much cuter and much more likable than Edward Cullen; you actually believe he really wants what is best for Wei Wei 😉 ) However, these are all reasons that I love watching foreign/international shows; it’s fascinating to get a peek into other cultures, even if the script is manipulated and cultivated for TV.
*OMG STOP IT YOU TWO*
3. Part of this show takes place in a video game. Meaning there’s cool character designs, sweet weapons, epic battle scenes, etc. These parts were prevalent in the first half of the show, but in the second half, the characters are designing their own game in real life, so they hardly ever get online anymore. I started missing the game scenes. That being said, some of the most entertaining character development happened in the second half, so those story lines more than made up for the lack of the fantasy element.
*Video Game Xiao Nai and Bei Wei Wei*
4. The cast of secondary characters are DELIGHTFUL. Wei Wei’s dorm mates are funny and adorable, especially the disgustingly cute though not terribly bright Er Xi, who has her own story line in the game and with her own internship in real life. Likewise, Xiao Nai’s friends are just about the cutest group ever, both physically and personality-wise. Some of my favorite scenes were with the zany group of guys.
*The whole gang*
5. This show is very clean (I’m finding that’s not terribly uncommon with the dramas I’ve watched) There’s some kissing and adorableness, but for the most part, Wei Wei is very…embarrassed (surprised maybe is better word?) every time Xiao Nai does something new romantically, which is definitely a common trope in Asian shows (it gets better as the show goes along, but she certainly is always surprised or even shocked when he kisses her up until almost the last episode). Xiao Nai definitely instigates almost everything in their relationship, but he’s very sweet about it all. There’s also TONS of scenes where the two just sort of romantically gaze at each other while piano music plays. It’s all very romantically atmospheric.
*There they go, staring at each other again*
Anyway, Love O2O is about as cute as it gets. If you really like adorable romances with a hint of fantasy action and lots of hilarious dialogue (and you don’t mind reading subtitles), you should definitely check this out. They don’t make them like this in America.
I watch Asian Dramas on the Dramafever app, which you can get and watch for free (though they have ads). You can also find them online here.
Also, this is a side note, but can Wei Wei PLEASE eat like, 500 cheeseburgers? Her dorm mates are all thin and they look huge next to her. Girl needs to put on about 50 pounds.
Content: 14+ for kissing, fantasy action, some suggestive dialogue, light and infrequent language.
Have you watched kdramas? I would say China is about the least misogynist of all the East Asian countries. At least the female is smart, capable, is not dragged around and does not need to be saved by the guy which is the undertone of so many korean dramas out there.
Oh, I would agree! It wasn’t so much the character as it was the way that men in general talked to her (and again, I didn’t think it was that bad, it just surprised me). And actually the K-dramas I’ve watched have been pretty decent when it comes to female leads, but I do know some that you’re talking about. Very helpless heroines who are continually needing to be saved! I don’t mind a romantic interest doing a little bit of saving here and there, but when the female is completely incompetent, it gets annoying!