TV shows of 2021
I don't want to separate Chinese and other shows anymore, because there's pretty much nothing left in the non-Chinese category, let alone anything I was fannish about.
So, consolidated into one list, in order of obsession, best first. Rec posts linked from the show titles:
The Lost Tomb Reboot 25-32 of 32 eps (season 1) - First season aired on Youku and iQiyi in July/August. I watched the first ten or so in real time, and then slacked off, but still got through the first 20 or so by October. And *then* I got stuck in the f*cking warehouse arc, which is so boring that not even Zhu Yilong's face could save it. I finally managed to drag myself through it by April. (It's still my fave thing and my main fandom this year. *sigh*)
The Lost Tomb Reboot 01-04 of 30 eps (season 2) - Second season aired on Youku and iQiyi in October 2020. After the warehouse arc was finally, finally over, it was much more fun again, so much fun in fact that I didn't want to waste it and dragged my heels. I'm saving it for a rainy(er) day.
Granting You a Dreamlike Life 35 - 40 of 40 eps - If it hadn't been for our discord's rewatch, I still wouldn't be done. I wanted Luo Fusheng to live! I actually regret watching it. Apparently, my tendency to not finish shows I love is a good thing. I should do it more often.
The Romance of Tiger and Rose all 24 eps - A hilarious transmigration story about a scriptwriter who gets dropped into her own classical drama, into a side character who is supposed to die in episode 3. Main themes are meta about dramas and writing, and the central romance. It had a few slow eps in the middle where it almost felt like "normal" palace drama, but in the end, the conflicts were all solved in unusual meta/transmigration ways, so that was cool. I loved it. Wonderfully fourth-wall-breaking and making fun of classical tropes - the only kind of Chinese costume drama I can watch.
Lucifer 5x05 - 5x12 Had fun watching one ep a month together with
greyathena! I loved it, and am looking forward to season 6.
Wheel of Time 3 of ? eps - I love the look of it, and I used to love the books. I like the grandiose scenery and the fact that they cast a lot of non-white actors in the main roles. I can't say much more about it at this point, but I'll stick with it for now.
Ted Lasso Season 1 - 10 eps - greyathena's new favorite show, and I admit I like it, too. :D It's about a college (American) football coach who goes to coach a British Premiere League soccer team. It's based on some funny ad by comedian Jason Sudeikis, and he made that character from the ad into a whole tv show. It's sweet and caring and funny. Ted got on my nerves something fierce the first few eps, but then he gets better. In any case, it's worth watching for the two female characters alone.
Young Royals 6 eps of a Swedish m/m romance show set in a boarding school. Very realistic (in some good and some bad ways). I did not like the ending, but loved all the rest.
The Rebel 15 of 43 eps - Very propagandistic show about spies in 1950s/1960s China. It's all about the communists being the better people and therefore winning. Meh. Zhu Yilong looks emaciated and harrowed throughout, his character suffers a lot. His haggard look is what made me stop watching in the end. *shrug* But at least the production values are high, the plots actually make sense, there is a lot of Zhu Yilong whump, the acting is good, and even the propaganda is bearable (even subtle) most of the time.
You Are My Glory all 32 eps - modern cdrama romance starring Yang Yang and Dilraba - down-to-earth and very cute romance fare with a focus on Space engineering and online gaming. Weird combination, but it worked (if you can ignore the Chinese Space Program propaganda).
My Next Life as a Villainness 9 of 12 eps - Japanese anime about a girl transmigrating into the villain character of a dating game and turning it into a harem without noticing. Funny and sweet!
Vacation of Love 1 - 9 of 32(?) eps - Bai Yu's first show in 2021. It's a romance, so he gets to kiss the girl a lot, but so many of the details about this show got on my nerves like woah. I guess a Bai Yu cut would have been a good idea.
The Ideal City all 40 eps - It stars Chen Minghao in a larger role than I had expected. Although the theme is "construction industry" (ugh), the main character is female, which is nice, and Chen Minghao is very cute. I don't regret it.
Nirvana in Fire 28 eps and counting - neery's second attempt at making me watch historical palace drama, and at least the sets and scenery are pretty. Also the costumes. I'm not invested, but I'm hanging in there.
Craving You 10 eps of 10 minutes each - a Taiwanese BL short. Not even worth talking about, very cringey (but at least not in a non-con way), but ultimately completely inconsequential. Not even the kisses could save it. At least it wasn't much of a time investment.
We Best Love "No. 1 For You" 4 of 6 eps - Taiwanese BL. This show did the exact opposite of what I'm looking for in BL. Gave up after 4 eps.
Cherry Magic all 12 short eps - Japanese BL about a man who can read people's minds because he's still a virgin when he turns 30. Nice idea, and sweet love story, but the drama insists on pretending to be an anime, and the long *long* shots of the main character freaking out annoyed me a lot - the pacing (in the micro sense) is awful.
The School Nurse Files all 6 eps - another manga adaptation, and the pacing has similar problems as Cherry Magic does: a lot of the time, the main character is simply standing around watching the scene. My main gripe with it is that it's very depressing. Could have been quirky, but the attention is constantly put on how much she hates her life.
Color Rush 2 eps of 10(?) - another BL that leans heavy on the dubcon/noncon, no thank you. I find the premise fascinating, but somehow *both* characters' motivation is "I know what's best for you and I'm going to force you to realize that". Wtf.
Vincenzo 5 eps of 12 - a kdrama starring Song Joong Ki (who I know from Sungkyungkwan Scandal) - watched this with (and at the suggestion of) our discord. Wouldn't have watched this of my own accord, but did not hate it. Main lead is pretty and his Italian is impressive.
Things I always meant to continue/start but never did:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 6
Gintama
The Expanse 2x04 -
The Good Place
You Me Her Season 3
several BL shorts on viki:
Life~Love on the Line
History4 (everyone said it sucked, so i steered clear)
Because of You
Netflix documentary
All in My Family
x-posted from dw (comments:
)
So, consolidated into one list, in order of obsession, best first. Rec posts linked from the show titles:
The Lost Tomb Reboot 25-32 of 32 eps (season 1) - First season aired on Youku and iQiyi in July/August. I watched the first ten or so in real time, and then slacked off, but still got through the first 20 or so by October. And *then* I got stuck in the f*cking warehouse arc, which is so boring that not even Zhu Yilong's face could save it. I finally managed to drag myself through it by April. (It's still my fave thing and my main fandom this year. *sigh*)
The Lost Tomb Reboot 01-04 of 30 eps (season 2) - Second season aired on Youku and iQiyi in October 2020. After the warehouse arc was finally, finally over, it was much more fun again, so much fun in fact that I didn't want to waste it and dragged my heels. I'm saving it for a rainy(er) day.
Granting You a Dreamlike Life 35 - 40 of 40 eps - If it hadn't been for our discord's rewatch, I still wouldn't be done. I wanted Luo Fusheng to live! I actually regret watching it. Apparently, my tendency to not finish shows I love is a good thing. I should do it more often.
The Romance of Tiger and Rose all 24 eps - A hilarious transmigration story about a scriptwriter who gets dropped into her own classical drama, into a side character who is supposed to die in episode 3. Main themes are meta about dramas and writing, and the central romance. It had a few slow eps in the middle where it almost felt like "normal" palace drama, but in the end, the conflicts were all solved in unusual meta/transmigration ways, so that was cool. I loved it. Wonderfully fourth-wall-breaking and making fun of classical tropes - the only kind of Chinese costume drama I can watch.
Lucifer 5x05 - 5x12 Had fun watching one ep a month together with
greyathena! I loved it, and am looking forward to season 6.
Wheel of Time 3 of ? eps - I love the look of it, and I used to love the books. I like the grandiose scenery and the fact that they cast a lot of non-white actors in the main roles. I can't say much more about it at this point, but I'll stick with it for now.
Ted Lasso Season 1 - 10 eps - greyathena's new favorite show, and I admit I like it, too. :D It's about a college (American) football coach who goes to coach a British Premiere League soccer team. It's based on some funny ad by comedian Jason Sudeikis, and he made that character from the ad into a whole tv show. It's sweet and caring and funny. Ted got on my nerves something fierce the first few eps, but then he gets better. In any case, it's worth watching for the two female characters alone.
Young Royals 6 eps of a Swedish m/m romance show set in a boarding school. Very realistic (in some good and some bad ways). I did not like the ending, but loved all the rest.
The Rebel 15 of 43 eps - Very propagandistic show about spies in 1950s/1960s China. It's all about the communists being the better people and therefore winning. Meh. Zhu Yilong looks emaciated and harrowed throughout, his character suffers a lot. His haggard look is what made me stop watching in the end. *shrug* But at least the production values are high, the plots actually make sense, there is a lot of Zhu Yilong whump, the acting is good, and even the propaganda is bearable (even subtle) most of the time.
You Are My Glory all 32 eps - modern cdrama romance starring Yang Yang and Dilraba - down-to-earth and very cute romance fare with a focus on Space engineering and online gaming. Weird combination, but it worked (if you can ignore the Chinese Space Program propaganda).
My Next Life as a Villainness 9 of 12 eps - Japanese anime about a girl transmigrating into the villain character of a dating game and turning it into a harem without noticing. Funny and sweet!
Vacation of Love 1 - 9 of 32(?) eps - Bai Yu's first show in 2021. It's a romance, so he gets to kiss the girl a lot, but so many of the details about this show got on my nerves like woah. I guess a Bai Yu cut would have been a good idea.
The Ideal City all 40 eps - It stars Chen Minghao in a larger role than I had expected. Although the theme is "construction industry" (ugh), the main character is female, which is nice, and Chen Minghao is very cute. I don't regret it.
Nirvana in Fire 28 eps and counting - neery's second attempt at making me watch historical palace drama, and at least the sets and scenery are pretty. Also the costumes. I'm not invested, but I'm hanging in there.
Craving You 10 eps of 10 minutes each - a Taiwanese BL short. Not even worth talking about, very cringey (but at least not in a non-con way), but ultimately completely inconsequential. Not even the kisses could save it. At least it wasn't much of a time investment.
We Best Love "No. 1 For You" 4 of 6 eps - Taiwanese BL. This show did the exact opposite of what I'm looking for in BL. Gave up after 4 eps.
Cherry Magic all 12 short eps - Japanese BL about a man who can read people's minds because he's still a virgin when he turns 30. Nice idea, and sweet love story, but the drama insists on pretending to be an anime, and the long *long* shots of the main character freaking out annoyed me a lot - the pacing (in the micro sense) is awful.
The School Nurse Files all 6 eps - another manga adaptation, and the pacing has similar problems as Cherry Magic does: a lot of the time, the main character is simply standing around watching the scene. My main gripe with it is that it's very depressing. Could have been quirky, but the attention is constantly put on how much she hates her life.
Color Rush 2 eps of 10(?) - another BL that leans heavy on the dubcon/noncon, no thank you. I find the premise fascinating, but somehow *both* characters' motivation is "I know what's best for you and I'm going to force you to realize that". Wtf.
Vincenzo 5 eps of 12 - a kdrama starring Song Joong Ki (who I know from Sungkyungkwan Scandal) - watched this with (and at the suggestion of) our discord. Wouldn't have watched this of my own accord, but did not hate it. Main lead is pretty and his Italian is impressive.
Things I always meant to continue/start but never did:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 6
Gintama
The Expanse 2x04 -
The Good Place
You Me Her Season 3
several BL shorts on viki:
Life~Love on the Line
History4 (everyone said it sucked, so i steered clear)
Because of You
Netflix documentary
All in My Family
x-posted from dw (comments:
)