#ggs2

I'm not normally a stickler for staying true to the book as a matter of fact Go Go Squid is a heavily censored version of Honey Stewed Squid or Stewed Squid with Honey where Han Shangyan fondled Tong Nian's boobs among other sexual innuendos and situations. The sequel was supposed to be based on the prequel to Honey Stewed Squid, God's Left Hand. You can read the translations by clicking the links above.

The back history to Go Go Squid was that the entire series was shot and had licensing issues for a PC game like League of Legends which is why a lot of scenes had been cut and there was voice dubs by the actors and the series re-centered around CTF which is essentially competitive hacking.

However, despite these little snafus Li Xian really brings Han Shangyan to life, Demo is endearing, Grandpa Han steers the ships, a lot of K&K background characters bring so much charm and the secondary story lines just make season 1 so rich. Like Honey Stewed Squid.

One of the major pins of the series was that all of the veterans from Team SOLO were in their late 20s early 30s they helped pave the way for Competitve Gaming in China. So, they were hammered on by family, by the community, and internationally. They really paid their dues and this was emphasized in Season 1. Han Shangyan is supposed to have an intimidating presence on K&K (established in Norway) being one of it's founders and kinda like the President of K&K and the China branch.

Things GGS1 and GGS2 have in common:

Companies: K&K, SP

Wang Hao - (Solo/Team captain of Team SOLO, Su Cheng's baby daddy and first husband, President of SPs China branch, Xiao Ai's dad, Appledog's ex-boyfriend, Han Shangyan's frienemy, competitive gaming god, Wu Bai's measuring stick, literally makes all of the HARDEST decisions)

Han Shangyan - (Gun/Gun god/Lao Han, Former Team SOLO member President/Founder of K&K, K&K China team tormentor, all-time Competitive Gaming god, Tong Nian's love interest, candy addict, Wu Bai's cousin/gēge, reformed bad boy, long time customer of The Chinese National Bank of Xiao Bai)

Ou Qiang - (All/lady's man, former Team SOLO member, torch bearer for Team SOLO on Team SP, Team SOLO peacemaker, literally an uncle in the competitive arena, competitive gaming god)

Ai Qing - (Appledog/AD, the only female pioneer for competitive gaming in China, Solo's ex-girlfriend, Wu Bai's goddess/crush/reason for becoming a gamer/secretly dating Wu Bai, SP manager, competition commentator, Ai Jing's younger sister, the least/most to blame for the drama in Season 1, competitive gaming goddess, long suffering tbh)

Mi Shaofei - (Xiao Mi/former Team SOLO member, former SP member, K&K manager, Han Shangyan's best friend, Sun Ya Ya's crush turned boyfriend, soft/sad boyfriend, heart of Team SOLO, bag of emotions, stunned he has fans, has the lowest opinion of himself)

Tong Nian - (Little squid/ AI genius, computer genius, online singer, famous on her own, Han Shangyan's girlfriend/fiancee/wife, only child/only daughter, light weight, the fabric softener to Han Shangyan's wool sweater)

Wu Bai - (DT/Co-founder of K&K/Captain of K&K, The Chinese National Bank of Xiao Bai, The good grandson, often "training by himself", the leader of the new generation, computer genius, Ai Qing's pursuer/secret boyfriend, escape artist)

Grandpa Han - (Old Han/Captain of SS HanNian and Co-captain of SS WuAi/ patriarch of the family, meddling yeye, flashy yeye, a frequenter of The Chinese International Bank of Xiao Bai, K&K fanboy)

Su Cheng - (retired gamer, former Manager of K&K China, Wang Hao's ex-wife, Nan Wei's wife, Xiao Ai's mom, the least/most to blame for the drama in Season 1)

Zho Hua - (Huati/Slide, Captain of SP, not much to say about him but in Season 2 his character is more important than in Season 1, wears a glove purely for vanity's sake because nothing is wrong with his hand)

Ling Shan (97/K&K club member/K&K robot programmer/Wu Bai's "Wingman"/ The common comedic relief for both seasons, fame hound)

Zhou Yi (One/K&K club member/K&K robot mechanic/K&K club chef, clueless most of the time)

Yin Lin - (InIn, a character that has a bigger role in Season 2, looks up to Xiao Bai/calls him his idol)

Little Squid plushies galore (das it)

Problems with "Season" 2

Now.....with the recast all of that rich charm and charisma wasn't in full effect but the new actors really really tried, especially the one who played Ou Qiang.

1. I would say the timeline is similar however that isn't entirely true. To me it seems more like there were some crossover moments in the timelines. GGS2 was truncated in terms of the "beginning of K&K and Ai Qing's retirement to the happily ever after moments for the HanNian couple and WuAi couple. 10 years is supposed to have passed but it seemed more like 3.

It didn't make any sense. The only way to prevent a headache was pretend that Season 2 was essentially another parallel universe.

I failed at this, too.

2. Han Shangyan and Tong Nian literally had like up to 6-7 cameos, probably less, for the entirety of Season 2. Which makes no sense since Han Shangyan is constantly at K&K as the club PRESIDENT and Tong Nian is constantly where Han Shangyan is. There were a lot of phone calls to Han Shangyan and references but his presence was barely there.

3. Xiao Mi had a side romance until he didn't in Season 2. This was one of my biggest bones to pick aside from the entire recast. Xiao Mi became a paper background character without Sun YaYa. She was the person to convince him to stay in Shanghai in the first place and helped him re-imagine what his life could be outside of the competitive spotlight.

4. Li Yi Tong was incredibly young looking and diminutive next to Hu Yitian, even though she is 30. Compared to Wang Zhener who looked more mature and closer to Hu Yitian's height. LYT brought more emotion to Ai Qing and with Wang Zhener making Ai Qing a little more "backboned" it was just difficult to identify with LYT's interpretation.

5. By the end of Season 2 I was resentful. I was more pissed that even at the end THE COUPLE THAT HELPED SPAWN THE SECOND SEASON COULDN'T EVEN HAVE THE 50% of the SPOT LIGHT BECAUSE OF HOW THE SECOND "SEASON" WAS WRITTEN TO FOCUS ON WU BAI AND AI QING. That dog just don't hunt imo.

Special mention: The robotics, the robots, and the robot competitions they could've just left it CTF because watching robots fight is boring. They would show the competitions and the robots and then they'd go to the characters and they'd be drenched in sweat for some reason.

The Good of "Season" 2

1. The thoughtfulness of Wu Bai to have the confidence and forethought to program everything of his for Ai Qing to have access to down to the house robot, his "son" was endearing.

2. The actors for 97 and One were the comedic relief and they were the same people. (Honestly I missed Demo a great deal he was the maknae of K&K if you will.)

3. The cameos of HSY and TN broke up the boring single focus on Wu Bai and Ai Qing.

4. The carry over of NAMELESS SOLDIER as a name for a robot as a reference to the first season's theme song.

In all if you've considered watching the show I wouldn't discourage you because what you watch is your business. However, for me they'd have to scrub the series and redo it in order for me to revisit it again in the near future. Maybe several years down the line I'll revisit it, again.

Fixes:

1. Go and rewrite it with the original writer of the book as the writer for the show and the original director because apparently women are better story tellers and invested in the details.

2. Bring back all of the original actors and side characters from the first season.