An excuse for time traveling
We finished To Get Her a few days ago and I just haven't felt very motivated to write about it. The drama is just...meh. I don't love or hate it enough to be very interested in it. But I'm obligated (to myself) to document the dramas I've watched, so here goes:
To everyone going "why is it To Get Her when the drama is about the girl going to get the guy?" Its because they want to use "To Get Her" = Together, alright? Besides, there are other dramas that already used the "Together" name so it doesn't want to be confused with those other dramas. And this drama English name makes about as much sense as any other random drama English name.
So, anyways, yeah, drama is about the FL going into the virtual game world in order to rescue her boyfriend, the ML, who is stuck as a character in the game (without knowing it).
Cast and Characters
FL, Lin Zhengzheng, is played by Huang Riying (Ancient Detective).
ML, Tu Siyi, is played by Daddi Tang (Race the World).
I won't bother with the side characters who aren't terrible, but not interesting enough for me to bother. But I will say that the villain, Tu Sicheng, is played very enjoyably by Kenji Chen.
Pros and Cons
Pro: Good initial story idea
I like the idea of having to go into a game and play the game as a character.
Con: Draggy middle
But the story drags in the middle, with the FL caring too much about anyone that's not the ML. I get that she spends time with these characters and may be attached to them. But at the end of the day, anyone that's not her and the ML are basically pixels and bytes of data. So it makes no logical sense for them (or the audience) to care so much about what happens to these pixels and bytes. Yet so much time is spent on them - so that a 30 episode drama of about 30 minutes each felt like an incredibly long epic.
Pro: General cuteness and fun
Despite that, I think the characters and the story are generally fun. It also helps that the actors are also generally likable. I like the FL and ML from watching their previous things and they're similarly likable here.
Pro: Tu Sicheng
Probably one of the most memorable characters to come out of this is Tu Sicheng and I'll need to watch more of Kenji Chen's things.
He's great as the foolish villain. There's that scene with him eating ramen that's just LOL.
Neutral: Not dubbed (sort of)!
It sounds like most of the main cast is not dubbed. The only one that's dubbed is FL Lin Zhengzheng. And since everyone else is not dubbed, her dubbing is all the more obvious (to me, at least).
And once again, my rant against dubbing: I know what Daddi Tang sounds like IRL since I watched Race the World. He's not dubbed in this drama and he tones down his Beijing accent when he is in character.
To someone like me (Taiwan Mandarin speaker), his character is perfectly understandable in this drama. So to people that don't speak Mandarin and want to defend China's use of dubbing by saying that "China is huge and therefore different Mandarin accents are not mutually understandable" - screw that! These people are actors and therefore they should have some basic abilities such as making themselves understood in standard Mandarin. Daddi Tang is a model and definitely not the best actor out there. Yet he's able to affect a perfectly understandable standard Mandarin in this drama. Kenji Chen is Taiwanese and he's also not dubbed, probably because his Mandarin is also perfectly understandable to producers and they saw no reason to dub him. Hell, I'm not an actor and I can speak in a more Taiwanese accented Mandarin when I'm in Taiwan versus when I'm speaking standard Mandarin.
/ end language rant.
Pro: Pretty costumes
Pro: Pop song
Opening song by Daddi Tang.
and ending song:
So I would say this is a drama to watch to pass the time. It's not the most interesting drama out there nor is it very complex. It's good for a laugh now and then.
To everyone going "why is it To Get Her when the drama is about the girl going to get the guy?" Its because they want to use "To Get Her" = Together, alright? Besides, there are other dramas that already used the "Together" name so it doesn't want to be confused with those other dramas. And this drama English name makes about as much sense as any other random drama English name.
So, anyways, yeah, drama is about the FL going into the virtual game world in order to rescue her boyfriend, the ML, who is stuck as a character in the game (without knowing it).
Cast and Characters
FL, Lin Zhengzheng, is played by Huang Riying (Ancient Detective).
ML, Tu Siyi, is played by Daddi Tang (Race the World).
I won't bother with the side characters who aren't terrible, but not interesting enough for me to bother. But I will say that the villain, Tu Sicheng, is played very enjoyably by Kenji Chen.
Pros and Cons
Pro: Good initial story idea
I like the idea of having to go into a game and play the game as a character.
Con: Draggy middle
But the story drags in the middle, with the FL caring too much about anyone that's not the ML. I get that she spends time with these characters and may be attached to them. But at the end of the day, anyone that's not her and the ML are basically pixels and bytes of data. So it makes no logical sense for them (or the audience) to care so much about what happens to these pixels and bytes. Yet so much time is spent on them - so that a 30 episode drama of about 30 minutes each felt like an incredibly long epic.
Pro: General cuteness and fun
Despite that, I think the characters and the story are generally fun. It also helps that the actors are also generally likable. I like the FL and ML from watching their previous things and they're similarly likable here.
Pro: Tu Sicheng
Probably one of the most memorable characters to come out of this is Tu Sicheng and I'll need to watch more of Kenji Chen's things.
He's great as the foolish villain. There's that scene with him eating ramen that's just LOL.
Neutral: Not dubbed (sort of)!
It sounds like most of the main cast is not dubbed. The only one that's dubbed is FL Lin Zhengzheng. And since everyone else is not dubbed, her dubbing is all the more obvious (to me, at least).
And once again, my rant against dubbing: I know what Daddi Tang sounds like IRL since I watched Race the World. He's not dubbed in this drama and he tones down his Beijing accent when he is in character.
To someone like me (Taiwan Mandarin speaker), his character is perfectly understandable in this drama. So to people that don't speak Mandarin and want to defend China's use of dubbing by saying that "China is huge and therefore different Mandarin accents are not mutually understandable" - screw that! These people are actors and therefore they should have some basic abilities such as making themselves understood in standard Mandarin. Daddi Tang is a model and definitely not the best actor out there. Yet he's able to affect a perfectly understandable standard Mandarin in this drama. Kenji Chen is Taiwanese and he's also not dubbed, probably because his Mandarin is also perfectly understandable to producers and they saw no reason to dub him. Hell, I'm not an actor and I can speak in a more Taiwanese accented Mandarin when I'm in Taiwan versus when I'm speaking standard Mandarin.
/ end language rant.
Pro: Pretty costumes
Pro: Pop song
Opening song by Daddi Tang.
Click to viewand ending song:
So I would say this is a drama to watch to pass the time. It's not the most interesting drama out there nor is it very complex. It's good for a laugh now and then.