This was my first ad ever, and at first I was hesitant whether ADs are for me or not. And starting with this AD was definitely a good decision: it's relatively short at only 1 season, and am already familiar with the source novel.

The source novel had a bigger focus on the business wars rather than the romance, making their enmity and the stakes involved even more realer. But you can't really have the full blown business plot in an ad, where majority of the episode would then have to be just unrelated people talking. I liked how the production team first focused on the business in the first few episodes to build a foundation then slowly shifted the focus to romance.  Unfortunately that also meant cutting some of my favorite plotlines in the source novel out, where u really get a grasp on the stakes involved and how capable our main characters really are. Still, the scriptwriter did a fabulous job keeping the plot from being too boring yet also retaining the essence of the novel. Sure enough, an AD where the original author herself was involved in the script writing process is really different!

There's also some additional plots not included in the original novel, like the China-US trade war. It's a pretty good addition imo since we get to see how conscientious the characters are, differentiating them from the other money hungry capitalists, and also showcases the changes in Zhou Chang’s psyche after meeting Jing Hong. Though a part of me did wish they kept the business wars in the background and not just completely phase it out, focusing only on the romance in the later episodes. But well you can't have everything i guess.

I don't have any past experience with ADs to compare this with but the music and bgm were very interesting too. I particularly liked the second OST and it's lyrics.

Shunzi, the VA for Zhou Chang is soooo amazing, so natural, never once does it feel like I'm hearing someone acting. His voice is so deep and rich yet doesn't overpower our MC. The way he laughs and his incredibly tender voice when he says ‘Baobei'er’ is just 😩😩😩😩😩

And Beige’s voice is easily, EASILY my favorite. So incredibly warm, capable, self assured! I'm sure he’s going to be my fav shou VA for a long, long time now. Both of the VAs have a great understanding of the characters and fit the bill perfectly, with neither of their voices overpowering or overwhelming each other.

Overall, I'm glad this was my first AD ever. Truly a great, faithful adaptation of the novel.

Cars ★★★★★ Sappiness ★★★★ / 5 Plot ★★★★ / 5 Script ★★★★.5 / 5 Production ★★★★★ Music / BGM ★★★★★ Voice Acting ★★★★★★★ Compatibility ★★★★★