Why Why Love

The Good:
+Extremely likeable characters
+Excellent chemistry between leads

The Bad:
-Uses one of two "Kiss of Death" cliches
-Occasionally horrendous dialogue

Details (WARNING: SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

A. Characters
1. Rainie Yang as Tong Jia Di
In my humble opinion, the most likeable character Rainie has ever played. While the poor girl background has been done to death, Rainie adds the right kind of spunk and upbeat attitude to really make the character more than just that cliche. While she runs into plenty of problems along the way, she perserveres and never loses hope. That is written in for the character, but Rainie brings that kind of spirit and projects a kind of aura to really make it more than it sounds when I write about it. All-in-all, a great character and a great performance.

2. Mike He as Huo Da
Standard tough guy that's actually soft inside. There really isn't anything special about the character or performance (more on this later). If you've seen Devil Beside You, you know very well what to expect. What really saves this character is the interaction and chemistry between Mike, Rainie, and Kingone. Whenever it's with another actor or actress, Mike seems like just another actor in a cliche character. But when put alongside Rainie or Kingone, he suddenly comes to life. Because of this I'll cautiously rate him good but not great.

3. Kingone Wang as Huo Yan
Plays the rich CEO who excels at everything he does. I really don't care much for the Rainie/Mike ship so I was really rooting for him to get Rainie this time even though I was reasonably sure it wouldn't turn out that way. Kingone's acting is great in this, as he hits all the right buttons to make for a believable CEO. I thought he was a bit of a pansy in Devil Beside You as the Basketball Captain. Here he looks more in command. The Huo Yan character also has some depth in nice twists later and it's all handled very well by Kingone's fine acting.

4. Judy Fukumoto as Yang Yan Shu
A lot of people hate her, by I suspect half of that is due to her being Rainie's love rival in the show. Her acting is poor, but not as bad as most people say. The character of Yan Shu is just written in a way to not really have anything to work with. A manager at a major company wouldn't go around making sad puppy faces like Rainie or what not, but rather be cool and composed most of the time. For those scenes, Judy does fine. It's the more serious scenes, particularly later in the story, where she can't really get across the right emotion. These are few and far between though, so don't worry about them too much.

5. Chen Yan Xi as Jiang Xiao Nan
THE most likeable character in the show. When I started watching, I was hooked on Rainie's portrayal of Jia Di, but as the show went on, I found that the Xiao Nan character was my favorite. She's the ever supportive friend, and while that sounds like a cliche, there's little things here and there that make it so much more. One of which is the ironic fact that while she's great at helping her friends, she's afriad of being helped by her friends. If you read some of her lines to yourself, they sound ridiculous and overdramatic, but Michelle Chen gives them just the right dosage of exaggeration and seriousness that makes them believable. I could hardly believe that this was her first role ever. She handles all the upbeat and later serious scenes perfectly.

6. Wang Dao as Huo Zhen Hao
Pretty standard dad demanding respect and obedience from sons. You can guess what will happen when the relationships start forming later and how he will react. The acting is very good however, so while it's formulaic it still has the intended impact.

7. Ge Wei Ru as Liao Cai Juan
She plays Rainie's mom again just like in Devil Beside You. While the DBY character was written to be more upbeat and carefree, this incarnation is more serious. She desperately wants her kids to be happy while at the same time has to curb their fun because of their family debt problems. Wei Ru's acting is great, as she brings this out perfectly.

8. Sun Qin Yue as Tong Jia Hui
Jia Di's brother who has big dreams but gets involved with the wrong crowd. You can probably see where this is going already and chances are you are probably right. The character is too formulaic though. I was hoping they could develop him more. Sun's acting is fine but nothing particularly noteworthy due to the limitations of the character.

Supporting Cast:
Ye Min Zhi as Tong Bao San
Xu Shi Hao as Bo Zi
Eric Tu as Sai Lang
Jin Yu Lan as Qin Yu Hua
-Standard supporting/sidekick characters. Of special mention should be the Yu Hua character as she harbors a deep dark secret that will be revealed later in the story. Performances here are solid across the board.

B. Plot
It's honestly a pretty formulaic plot. You know who is going to end up with who. Who will be jealous, who will be looked down on, who will do the looking down, etc. However I should mention that unfortunately the show uses one of two "kiss of death" cliches near the end. I won't tell you which one, but here are your choices: serious car accident or terminal illness. Take your pick. Very few stories can survive such a crippling cliche. The ones that do find inventive ways to weave the reactions of the characters into the "tragedy" and thus make an emotional impact. Sadly, WWL does not manage this. I knew based on the decision of a particular character that I was going to have to sit through multiple episodes of cringe-worthy dialogue. The show certainly didn't disappoint... or rather it did...

C. Music/Soundtrack
I really liked the opening theme "The World That I Want" by Kingone. Rainie's pop song "Breathless" I strongly disliked mostly because her vocals sounded "out of breath"... or maybe it's intended due to the song name?! The instrumental version of the song without her singing is actually rather nice and soothing.

D. Intangibles (X-Factors)
The chemistry between the leads is fantastic. Whenever some combination of Rainie, Mike, and Kingone are on the screen the show suddenly becomes 10x better. Any scene with Jiang Xiao Nan is also fantastic as she plays off the leads like a pro.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5