A coming-of-age story about a boyish delinquent girl helplessly in love with her childhood best friend.
I quite liked how the movie portrayed a masc girl having a crush on her masc friend. It felt very much like two dudes catching feelings and I think that's pretty damn neat. The movie was messy but FL's over protectiveness over her man and his caring nature was a treat.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Just found out that the masterful direction of An Ancient Love Song is not only due to an awesome female director, Zhi Zhu. But she also wrote and directed both Dong Lan Xue and Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shang?!?!
This woman must be protected and nurtured at all costs. She just gets it.
(gonna go watch her GL show now)
YES, ZHI ZHU IS THE GOAT!!!
She loves her GL and RR, and we also have her to thank for multiple Qi Xiaxia and Jin Chao collabs!
I'm just super bummed that she did trad for her first full-length big budget drama (with Hou Minghao at that!! That man loves role reversal!!! how did this happen???) 😭 I would've expected her of all directors to do something like Love Beyond the Grave, Glory or hell, even Pursuit of Jade. That sure was disappointing, but hey, there's still hope. Maybe she'll do RR on her next project! 🙏
have you ever watched dominion and devotion? I was reading the summary on MDL and immediately thought of your account lol
I was watching it back when it was airing cuz hello? Eunuch ML and a crossdresser emperor FL?? Sign me up!! But I never finished it-- Now after having seen Li Geyang in Within the Grip (which obviously feel no particular way about, of course... *ahem* 👀), I'm going to give this one another go! I remember it not being as RR as it could've been/as I was hoping. It was more egal with some RR but also trad leaning
But thank you for thinking about me and coming to share the good news anyways! I really appreciate it! 💖
A vertical drama named My Captive Tyrant (at least, that is its name on tiktok)
I saw your post about endings and female characters powers. In this one the fl never lose power instead get more powerful by the end
Oooh, do you have a link perhaps? When I searched the name, all the results seemed unrelated 😭 I admittedly don't use nor know how to navigate tiktok all that well, so it might be a skill issue on my end, lol. I'd rlly appreciate a link, native title, or actors names 🥺
RR Rating: Fairly RR.
RR Tags: CEO FL, Househusband ML. Strong FL, Flirty FL, Calm ML, Dominant FL, Submissve ML, Tsundere ML, Determined FL, Mistreated ML | Dom FL x Sub ML, Breadwinner FL x Househusband ML, Boss FL x Employee ML (briefly) | FL chases ML first.
A contract marriage between a feisty CEO and a mistreated young heir.
A cute female CEO drama where FL is shamelessly flirty and ML tries to dodge her (but can't). I enjoyed the fact that he was her househusband for a portion of the drama and she was pretty relentless in her pursuits. I forgot the details but it was a cute watch.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
This drama is delivering so many rare RR moments that I basically never see... This is the kinda dynamic I need to see way more in historicals:
Pretty weak husband waiting for his wife at home while she goes and does cool girl shit and gets herself injured and returns bloody? PLEASE- WHY IS THIS SO RARE??!!!
And of course... the only instance I accept female whump... when she gets to be taken care by her man <3
An author gets transmigrated into her matriarchy novel as a canon-fodder minor villainess who kidnaps her sister's groom to marry on his wedding day.
The leads are not really RR past some elements from the world they exist in (very trad for a matriarchy drama... a shame). Secondary couple have some more RR going on (mostly the guy since he's an elegant softspoken courtesan 😩), but it's not much, they're more egal. The world was an okay matriarchy attempt all things considered, but a far cry from good, so... a bit underwhelming all around, but it was my first ever drama, sooooo-
Synopsis: Crown Prince Yin Zhou, seeking refuge from an investigation, disguises himself as Gu Zhao Xi and infiltrates the Gu household. Meanwhile, Gu Yu Luo seizes the opportunity to use Yin Zhou in her own quest to uncover the hidden truth of her origins. Each carrying their own secrets, the two evolve from fierce adversaries into a partnership built on quiet, growing trust! Caught in the crosscurrents of human desire and political ambition, what choices do they make when faced with a web of lies, shattering truths, and life-or-death stakes? [MDL]
Alt Titles: 掌中刃, Zhang Zhong Ren
Country: China
Length: 24 eps
Personal Rating: 7/10
RR Rating: Fairly RR.
RR Tags: Martial Artist FL, Warrior FL. Strong FL, Powerful FL, Badass FL, Aloof FL, Protective FL, Ruthless FL, Green-Tea ML, Gentlewoman FL, Maiden-coded ML, Sweet ML, Cute ML, Easily Flustered ML | Strong FL x 'Weak' ML, Flirty FL x Shy ML, Protective FL x Protected ML, Cold FL x Warm ML | FL saves ML.
After the sudden suspicious death of her fiance, a martial artists vying for the position of sect leader takes in a man who likes nearly identical to her fiance and trains him to become his replacement while she investigates the mysteries of her sect.
I went into this drama with expectations of maybe some RR moments and an okay time, but instead I found a goldmine of RR moments with only a couple of trad hiccups here and there!
Notes... (spoilers can be found)
FL is a high-ranking martial artist in a sect who is vying for the position of sect leader despite having no blood claim for it (the position is inherited by family). So to bypass this she is engaged to the son of the late sect founder (fiance's mom), the weak, sickly son of the current sect leader (fiance's dad). FL is truly one of the coolest FLs I've seen in a long while. She's very physically powerful, able to hold her own against most opponents while still not seeming too overpowered. She's cold and aloof, keeping literally everyone at a distance and using anyone and everyone for her gain. She's ruthless, but still gentle... at least to ML.
Then there's ML. The crown prince who ends up faking his death and posing as a poor, weak village boy who just so happens to be found by FL and thus is taken in as the replacement for her missing fiance (yes, he planned this, lol). He's cunning, calculating, and a skilled fighter, but pretends to be weak and innocent in front of FL (SUCH a green-tea, he was so cute). However despite the acting, a lot of his cuter/more innocent moments do seem genuine... It feels more like he's exaggerating a bit, but is embracing a side of himself he otherwise denies himself, which... I fuck with. Especially him being easily-flustered and going wide-eyed when FL flirts with him was 👌
They meet when ML orchestrates a moment for FL to save him and take him in and she trains him to become the temporary replacement for her missing fiance while she searches for her actual husband-to-be. There's a lot of tender intimacy moments early on and FL loves to have her hands on ML. The amount of chin-tilts and caresses I witnessed was a feast for the eyes. Especially when it resulted in so many pretty looking-up shots for this super pretty ML with such pretty eyes 😩
FL is pretty aloof throughout most of the drama and though ML isn't really 'warm' either, he is by comparison. FL also spends a great deal of the drama teasing and flirting with him and his reactions are always super adorably flustered. FL doesn't really seem like the flirty type, but she has this quietly smug flirtation that I've not often seen, but is super sexy~
Unlike other dramas where the ML is hiding his identity and then becomes the super peak awesome guy that saves everything and becomes the dom, this drama didn't do that. Though yes, he has way more 'typical ML' moments than I'd like or think were fitting (more on this later), but for the most part, it's fairly 50/50 when it comes to saving each other.
For the greater part of the drama, ML is her pretty 'weak' puppy hubby whom she constantly needs to protect and save and gets to tease endlessly because he's easily flustered and jealous of her many suitors (lol).
So what to expect when it comes to trad. I'd say the leads are egalitarian with heavy RR leaning. So for the most part they're equals (both kick ass, both protect each other, both save each other, etc) but they lean mostly role reversal, but have some traditional moments (like ML carrying FL (UGH) and stuff of that sort and sadly she doesn't do it back). ML also had some shoehorned in 'saving the day' moments that I didn't like, but most were... pretty chill? ig? So the trad is present in sprinkles, but fairly mild. For the most part it's role reversal pretty thick.
I was also not big on FL having a reverse-harem situation and that added to trad moments...
What struck me as an interesting RR detail was FL's fiance. We see him a bit in flashbacks and come to learn that his mother was the one who established the sect and thus he was the heir, but since he was sick and weak, he had to stay at home all the time in fluffy cloaks and his wife (FL) could marry him to inherit his power and become the sect leader he couldn't be. For the amount of historical dramas set in a patriarchy with role reversal that I've seen, this is one of the few times I've seen this trope of FL marrying ML to inherit his power/whatever! I've actually seen more MLs marrying into FL's powerful families, lol. Which ig makes sense, but this was very nice to see.
And this previous fiance of hers is a soft, gentle, delicate, sickly prettyboy who spends his days in fluffy cloaks drinking tea away from the wind lest he catch a cold and die like a frail victorian maiden. Like, holy fuck I wish he were the ML so bad. Him getting to be like this, genuinely sickly and weak, helping her claim his family's power by being a bit of the brains to her brawns would've been *chefs kiss* perfection. Sadly... that wasn't the case 😭
One thing I wasn't big on was the ending... a long asf rant on why I dislike it here, but basically I feel it was more of a misogynistic cop-out ending to the trope of "woman vying for genuine power", even though it kinda almost seems like it's an interesting character development.
Overall, the story is pretty interesting for the first half but loses itself in the end. The politics were too boring to follow for so long and I thought most supporting characters were boring. Character dynamics were a highlight for me, but the drama doesn't focus too much on them (short runtime doesn't help), so there's ultimately not too much there either (I really liked FL and her bodyguard, tho- very refreshing thing going on). The drama is rather pretty visually-speaking and overall has decent minidrama quality. So if you want some role reversal with half-decent plot, check it out!
