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ohmyitsfaith · 10 months

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Happiness Actually, written by ohmyitsfaith and @ttheweirdguypp

Inspired by Love Actually, Happiness Actually follows the lives of six high school couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic year of high school, in China.

Table of contents

Chapter 1: Prologue

Start of something new

Chapter 2: Reaching out to you

Beginnings are always beautiful. Well, most of the time. Golden pair are in a beautiful relationship, Jingwu learns something he never thought was possible, Song Ci gets a gift from a mysterious person, alpha pair suffer from a decision that could end very badly, perfect pair are in a secret relationship, rival pair learn something about each other and Xinglong notices something he hasn't before.

Chapter 3: I am here for you

Some things are easier than others. And sometimes all we need is someone standing beside us and telling us "it'll be okay". Golden pair face some issues, Song Ci receives more mysterious gifts, alpha pair cook together, Zhuo Zhi starts to doubt Siyang's words, rival pair are still rival pair and A-Yan gets surprised by a late night visitor.

Chapter 4: No rest for the wicked

Things are sometimes easy, sometimes harder. It really just depends on who you're watching. Golden pair are happy together, Jingwu has some new thoughts that he doesn't understand, alpha pair go to a club, perfect pair enjoy a nice date together, but things go south for rival pair and Xinglong makes a new discovery.

Chapter 5: Cruel fate

There isn't a rainbow without a storm. And by now, everyone can attest to that. Golden pair face the facts, Song Ci and Ji Jingwu get into a misunderstanding, alpha pair deal with the results of their situation, Mu Siyang screws things up even more, Zhang Baiyang lies to his boyfriend, and A-Yan figures something out that turns his world upside down.

Chapter 6: Even the darkest stars shine bright

Even when it looks grim for your future, do not lose hope. Jiale seeks out Zhuo Zhi, who shares his sadness, Dayong gets help from his grandmother, Jingwu overhears the rumors, alpha pair say goodbye, Siyang packs up his suitcase, rival pair wallow in sadness and anger, and Xinglong and A-Yan get compared to a husband and wife.

Chapter 7: Of all the things

Of all the things, this had to happen? Well, when you're in a relationship, things tend to go a way you don't expect them. Golden pair seem to try to make amends while adorable pair fall deeper into the hole they dug themselves, alpha pair experience the meaning of weights falling off their chest, perfect pair continue their shenanigans, rival pair make up in their own way and Xinglong does something he didn't think he'd do.

Chapter 8: For you

The letter Siyang wrote for Zhuo Zhi

Chapter 9: True to myself

Staying true to your feelings and to yourself can sometimes be challenging. But sometimes all you need is a little push to get there. Golden pair kiss and make up, adorable pair talk things out, Shiting is recovering with his boyfriend there to support him, Zhuo Zhi races to catch Siyang before he leaves, Qiao Chen makes Baiyang explain what the hell happened and A-Yan finally reacts to Xinglong's confession.

Chapter 10: Everything to me

Everything is looking up for the moment, but something big is coming. Golden pair are happily together, adorable pair is enjoying their new relationship, Bai Shiting is overwhelmed by his boyfriend's worry, Zhuo Zhi tries to have a call with Mu Siyang, rival pair enjoy their lunch date and narrator pair navigate their new relationship

Chapter 11: News

Newspaper article announcing the meteor shower (that A-Yan read).

Chapter 12: Now you see me

Finally seeing things the way they are. And seeing people the way they are. Jiale goes on a shopping spree dragging Zhuo Zhi with him, adorable pair go on a date and pick up Zhuo Zhi from the mall, alpha pair spend some quality time together, Siyang is back from Germany, rival pair have a sleepover and our narrators talk things out.

Chapter 13: I love you

Love is one of the best feelings in the world. But maybe happiness is actually more important. Jiale goes through with his plan, adorable pair's plans get destroyed, Shiting learns something that's life changing, perfect pair finally reunite, rival pair are... rival pair and A-Yan surprises Xinglong.

Chapter 14: See you later

Every story must come to an end. But this isn't goodbye. It's see you later.

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starberry-cupcake · 3 years

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The Chinapuri finale and its montage aka censorship who?

I decided to do all of this in one post and read more, so that the 95% of my followers who are uninterested on this particular drama/source material can easily skip it. Here are 7 relationships showcased in the montage ranked and 2 bonus (a family relationship and an extra).

Note: I’ll speak about the relationships as they were portrayed, whichever the form of relationship chosen to display in this version. Also, I’m glad that everyone was aged up in this version, kinda wild but very much appreciated that some of these actors are my age or somewhere around there lol

#7 Lu Xia (Echizen Ryoma) and Qi Ying (Ryuuzaki Sakuno)

This drama was a bit more romantically-inclined in terms of these two than the anime/manga was, but some of that may be also influenced by them giving their version of Sakuno more room (which yay!) and having them be older.

For this to stand alone as a drama, it was a needed step, I believe. I found Lu Xia to be more vulnerable than Ryoma, he doesn’t feel quite as ~cool~ and it doesn’t take away from the character that he has moments showing internal struggle (in tennis as well as at home). These two were sweet and adorable, which gave the drama probably more of an expected appeal for a wider audience, to make it stand on its own as a drama and not only an anime adaptation.

#6 Yan ZhiMing (Inui Sadaharu) & Liu Lian (Yanagi Renji)

Kinda mad they didn’t do this for Fuji (Zhuo Zhi) and Saeki (Zuo Xiaohu) but they did good with these two. I didn’t know at first why they started to build up their relationship so early, but it ended up being a good emotional plot point during their match, which is, as we all know, a determining factor in Seigaku’s (Yu Qing) win against Rikkai (Hai Guang).

I don’t remember being as invested in their match in the anime as I was here, maybe I was just too focused on the Fuji match at that time, but what they did to build that game as a decisive point in the season finale was so well developed, I was impressed.

#5 He XingLong (Kawamura Takeshi) & Ya JiuXin (Akutsu Jin)

This is a relationship that can get complicated and even problematic if handled incorrectly. Akutsu’s journey through the anime is pretty long and takes a while for him to be on a healthier place, but the added element of aging the characters could have gone really wrong here if they had done him exactly as in the anime or manga. I think they did pretty well with the time they were given, showing his turmoil and learning curve.

XingLong was allowed to have a more in-depth journey being older and about to graduate, it made more sense for him here to think about his career at this stage and added the gravity of this being THE moment to decide whether to keep pursuing the sport or take over his dad’s restaurant (they even adapted the type of food they cook to match the cultural impact of the family-owned business, which was great).

I think the two complemented each other really well and worked interestingly together, in a way I didn’t think the drama was gonna give them time to do, so I’m really pleased.

#4 Qiao Chen (Momoshiro Takeshi) & Zhang BaiYang (Kaidoh Kaoru)

My younger self is thriving with this one being included tbh. These two were so much fun in the anime, two rivals and opposites that represented the future of the team upon their elders leaving.

I was surprised to see them so focused here, because it’s not a relationship most adaptations put emphasis on (their loss), but it paid off immensely by the time their game against Bunta and Jackal (Jin WenTai & Ke Jie) came around.

Kaidoh is a tough one to adapt most times, and they did him so well in this one, I think this is my favorite live action Kaidoh in any adaptation, and I’ve watched a whole bunch of tenimyu in my day. They really captured the ambiguity of his character, how he balances a tough exterior with a sensitive core. Qiao Chen maintained his feelings for Xu Xingzi (Tachibana Ann) but that didn’t stop them from showing these two every time they could.

#3 Mu Siyang (Tezuka Kunimitsu) & Ji Jingwu (Atobe Keigo)

Oh, these two. Hyotei (Xing Yao) wasn’t featured as much as one would probably expect (I’m a Fudomine fan and with Yu Feng I got more than I even was expecting, but I admit Hyotei is a riot and I always live my best life when they show up). Still, they did the Tezuka/Atobe match justice and then some.

Mu Siyang was incredibly compelling as Tezuka, and had a vulnerability to him that made me worry for his health more than I probably did for his anime counterpart. Maybe also the fact that he was older than his anime version yet looked younger than him made it sink more that his injury was something to worry about. I wish we had time to include anime!Tezuka’s issues with yips with Siyang, because I know the drama would have pulled it off, but that was further down the line in the story. Maybe for a season 2.

Anyway, the Atobe/Tezuka game is one of the best games in tenipuri history and the drama knew it. The game felt like it earned its gravity with the development of both Siyang’s injury and Ji Jingwu’s determination to play against him. Then they sprinkled the camp on top, as the anime does, with Ji Jingwu paying for his every expense and calling him to get updates, which is 100% canon compliant imo.

I feel like Ji Jingwu didn’t have enough room to be as much of Atobe as he could be, but then again, that’s not easy for anyone to pull off. Not even Kato Kazuki can do Junichi Suwabe as well as Junichi Suwabe.

#2 Bai ShiYan (Yukimura Seiichi) & Tian ZiLong (Sanada Genichirou)

So, it’s tough to feel for Rikkai (Hai Guang) at this point of the story. You learn about Yukimura’s health and it’s difficult, but you just met them and the first impressions haven’t been great.

However, the relationship between Sanada and Yukimura has always been something pivotal for the way the team is constructed (they were named that way for a reason, two parts of a same hero and all that) and they sustain the team in a way other teams don’t have to. They are the mom and dad of the team, the coaches, the leaders and the pillars. They have a balance of severity and permissiveness, of strictness and instinct. They are like a couple who has been married for 25 years.

How on Earth, I asked myself, will they achieve that with censorship on the way? I don’t know, but they did it, the mad bastards.

It really does come through 100% the importance of their relationship and the way in which the captain’s health affects the team and, more than anything, their vice captain. It reaches a crescendo during the final match, before ShiYan’s operation, and they manage to pull it off with the time they have.

Also, their scenes are like shot for a contemporary romance drama and I appreciate that vibe.

#1 Tang JiaLe (Kikumaru Eiji) & Chi DaYong (Oishi Shuichiro)

Oh boy. Look. I still own Golden Pair merchandise from my Days, ok? These two hold a special place in my heart. I saw actors who portrayed them grow up, succeed and pass away, sadly. I still sing Depend On Me sometimes. There is a cheerful vibe with these two, a sense of overcoming obstacles and finding balance, I don’t know. Fuji is my favorite character but these two are special in their way.

This freakin’ drama just went full on Golden Pair. The level of content was off the charts. The moment they came on the screen, the second they talked about their doubles, it was already setting the tone of how deep their relationship was going to go. I am a bit amazed that they avoided to get closed down for this ngl. And I appreciate the risk because it paid off.

They have a body language communication that is captured in every shot. Even when they’re not the focus of the scene, they’re close, touching or holding each other, arms around each other, hands on each other’s shoulders, grabbing each other’s clothes. When they fight, that language changes drastically, and the distance they take feels intense and cold. You go through it with them and the team shows it as well. There’s an entire episode I had screencaps of and never posted when the team falls apart because they do.

My favorite part, though, ironically, isn’t what they did with them together but what they did with them apart. They took time to develop them as individual characters with their own issues, their fears, their worries and weaknesses. They were allowed to be flawed and wrong and have to mend their ways.

What really got me and impacted me deeply was the fact that they chose DaYong to talk about mental health. They gave room to speaking about the physical implications of anxiety disorders and about how self esteem issues can give more magnitude to ongoing issues with your mental health. Again, the age of the characters being changed helped add a depth to some issues that get developed with more intensity in a drama of this kind, and the way in which it takes TIME to get resolved, it isn’t a one episode thing, it’s an underlying issue that spans the season...*chef’s kiss*

Even though there’s a specific tenimyu incarnation of these two that I hold dear and will always remember fondly, I think that Xu Ke and Zhu ZhiLing are the most successful and best portrayed live action Golden Pair I’ve ever seen.

Bonus that was in the montage but it’s specifically about a family relationship: The Zhuo Bros

I have said Fuji has always been my favorite and his relationship with Yuta as an older brother (albeit he’s not the eldest sibling like me) is one I always felt close to.

In the anime, the two have a rocky relationship that gets developed throughout, but the drama is very good at establishing not only Zhuo Yu’s (Fuji Yuta) self esteem issues, the subsequent use of that Guan Yue (Mizuki Hajime) does and Zhuo Zhi’s (Fuji Syusuke) attempts to breach the gap between the siblings, they also use it to develop Zhuo Zhi’s character and his reticence to show weakness.

It’s tough to get Fuji towards a place of vulnerability without breaking character, but they used family and the care he provides to his brother as a point to further his story, and I appreciate that a lot. They managed to build Zhuo Zhi up with this sibling bond as one of his core elements, and that gave a lot of dimension to his games and his character.

Bonus that wasn’t in the montage but I’m including in some capacity: Mu Siyang (Tezuka Kunimitsu) & Zhuo Zhi (Fuji Syusuke)

I thought these two deserved a place in the list, even if they weren’t grouped much in the montage, because the drama did make them share moments together that I feel gave more depth to their characters.

There was a very interesting moment in which they showed Mu Siyang and Zhuo Zhi establishing their differences when approaching tennis, and how serious Mu Siyang is about taking the team to victory. I think that strengthened the character as a captain to me, in a way that shows it rather than tells it, and allowed for his guidance to still be present when he wasn’t physically there. His determination ultimately influenced Zhuo Zhi to take things more seriously, and that was a pretty interesting development to see.

All in all, I should, at some point, go and do a serious review for MyDramaList but I wanted to leave in my blog how much I appreciated this adaptation. I wasn’t expecting much and I was delivered everything.

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