Disclaimer: this is a review, and as such it contains spoilers of the whole series. Please proceed to read at your own risk if you still plan on watching this show or if you haven’t finished it yet. You have been warned.

Perfect and Casual
(完美先生和差不多小姐 / Wánměi Xiānshēng Hé Chā Bù Duō Xiǎojiě / Mr. Perfect and Ms. Almost)
MyDramaList rating: 7.0/10

Hello there! Just thought I’d drop off one more review before the end of the month since I’ve been putting off finishing this drama in-between lots of other activities. I’m still waiting for my final thesis grade and I’m preparing to translate a novel, and I need to apply for a couple of grants to start, so my mind has been a bit distracted. But I didn’t want to take too long to finish this since I got really into it from the start and I realized that taking too much time in-between kind of pulled me out of that. In any case, here we are! The eleventh show my Spin the Wheel app picked out for me was this Chinese romantic comedy! I’ll say from the bat that I really liked it. I’m usually a bit sceptical about Chinese romcoms since they tend to be more conservative and stereotypical, but this one made me really excited while watching it, so that was great. Without any further ado, let’s get started!

Perfect and Casual is a Mango TV Chinese drama series with 24 episodes of about 45 minutes each. It tells the love story of Yun Shu (played by Xu Ruo Han) and Zhang Si Nian (played by Wei Zhe Ming).
Yun Shu is a college student majoring in Statistics who’s about to defend her thesis and graduate. Besides her studies, her big passion is drawing comics. She has an older sister named Yun Lan (played by Ma Yu Ting) who is a lawyer and who is currently working abroad. In her absence, Yun Shu is supposed to secure a place for the two of them to live together when Yun Lan comes back. Luckily, they have a cousin working in real estate who is able to secure an amazing deal for a house; an offer that’s almost too good to be true. Yun Shu is asked to sign the contract and transfer the entire amount of money on the morning of her thesis defense, which causes her to be late for the latter and fail her defense by default. Turns out luck really isn’t on her side at all, because not only does her new job not allow her to start working without her thesis approval, she also finds out that the house she bought already belongs to someone else – her cousin scammed her out of 2 million yuan and disappeared without a trace.
To make matters even more awkward, the house she was supposed to start living in belongs to none other than the professor who failed her thesis defense, Zhang Si Nian. Si Nian is Yun Shu’s teacher in Statistics, a highly skilled mathematician whose goal it is to win the Fields mathematician prize before he turns 35. Not only is he a genius in maths and statistics, his whole personality seems to be built on formulas and scientific explanations. He calculates every single detail of his life – you could say that if mathematics would have a human form, it would look like him. He does everything with his head and not his heart, and this also influences his inability to truly empathize with people. The only person Si Nian truly cares about with his heart is his grandfather, Zhang Mao Zhi (Cui Ke Fa), who is in treatment at the hospital for his stage 4 cancer (or a cancerous disease at any rate).
Despite the fact that Si Nian initially doesn’t even want to help Yun Shu out in her situation, he quickly realizes that without his help, she’ll keep trusting the wrong people. In contrast to him, Yun Shu is empathetic to a fault; she doesn’t even want to report her cousin to the police because he’s family. On first glance one could say that this makes her incredibly naive and clueless about the world, but it all really comes back to her genuine trust in the goodness of people. On the other hand, Si Nian always weighs the risks and dangers of putting his trust in people and therefore rarely relies on others.
After some initial turbulence, these two polar opposites somehow manage to find a common goal: Si Nian is only able to persuade his grandfather to undergo surgery if he introduces him to a girlfriend, and Yun Shu needs to prove her independence and responsibility to her sister and find a solid place to stay to get her issues in order. They strike up an agreement for sharing the house, which then evolves into a marital contract when grandfather’s deteriorating health becomes a bigger issue.

Apart from the main couple, the story also features side stories about Yun Shu’s older sister Yun Lan and her romance with popular actor Lu Yu (Dai Yun Fan) and the on-and-off relationship between Yun Shu’s two closest friends Gao Zhi Yi (Zhao Luo Ran) and Lin Nuo (Sheng Gang Shuai).

After the first few episodes, this series already got me excited because it reminded me a lot of Because This is My First Life. The premise was also reminiscent of shows like Good Morning Call and Put Your Head on My Shoulder in which the main leads get scammed into sharing a house or just end up living with someone else. In any case, this story had several of my favorite ingredients: a slowburn romance and a detached guy versus attached girl trope. I always love it when the naive bubbly girl manages to tear down the walls of the meticulous cold guy, and the main couple of this series did a great job at pacing out that slowburn. Honestly, it’s been a while since a romcom (especially a Chinese one) got me all giggling and kicking my feet during romantic scenes. The swoon really got to me and I lived for it.

I’d like to go through the main characters one by one, starting by the main couple. Overall I thought the characters in this show were all very well-written and acted out. They were all connected but still living their separate lives with their own issues and troubles. It’s always nice to see side characters exist as their own persons when they aren’t hanging out with the main leads.
I really liked Yun Shu. While she appeared to be very clumzy and naive in the beginning, falling for scam after scam, she really grew and matured throughout the show and I applauded her choices more than once. When she realized her feelings for Si Nian, or “Mr. Zhang” as she consistently kept calling him (even after they get married), I found it so relatable to see her go back and forth between “he probably doesn’t feel the same” and “but could he possibly feel the same?” and the scene where he basically confronted her with the fact that he just saw her as contractual party B was very painful. However, I really loved how she responded to it. I kind of relate to how she kept her feelings to herself rather than confront him with it, because that’s usually how I deal with one-sided crushes as well. Rather than becoming all weepy and pathetic she actually pulled herself together after just one night and immediately moved out to create a physical and psychological distance from him. I really respected her decision to physically remove herself from the house in order to give herself the distance and space needed to get over him without neglecting the agreed upon activities such as visiting grandfather together. She really went, “okay, if it’s really just a contractual partnership you want, then don’t expect me to keep clinging onto you either”. And of course, this turned out to be the trigger Si Nian’s feelings for her, because as soon as she was gone he started thinking and worrying about her more. I just loved how she dealt with her feelings and immediately moved out and found herself a new job, proving to him how capable she was on her own. As soon as she let go of her attachment to him, she immediately started attracting new people like Lawyer Meng as well. I guess it just goes to show that living your own life in your own way will, in one way or another, always bring the right people on your path. In the end, it was only a matter of time before Si Nian realized that what he felt for her was actual love, and then she still met him in the middle. When they were finally together and her temp job at the law firm ended, she was even able to switch to her true passion, drawing comics. She really came a long way into finally finding what she really wanted to do, and that’s another thing I related to. The scene where her friends and family threw her a surprise party for getting into the comic art studio and she just looked around at everyone with tears in her eyes, barely believing how blessed she was with so much love and support around her, was really touching.
I also loved that, while the appearance of another woman who was pining for Si Nian’s may have caused some anxiety for Yun Shu, she never became scared that Si Nian might leave her. It happens so often that, even in fully established relationships and marriages, one of the leads remains suspicious of the other’s interactions with other (wo)men, but I’m so glad when she stood up to Chu Chu like, “I respect you and all, but Si Nian and I are married and in love and I don’t need to hear from you that we aren’t a good fit, have a nice day”. I loved how she stood up for herself there, that was one moment where I realized how much she’d grown and how much confidence she’d built up naturally throughout the story. Another scene that showed how much she’d matured was when the shady cousin suddenly reappeared and had the audacity to pull Yun Shu into his other debts as well. Like, seriously, you scam your own niece out of 2 million yuan and then you just expect her to pay another 100,000 yuan for you? What the heck was wrong with this guy? I was so glad that Yun Shu saw this BS for what it was and was ready to just walk out on him there and then. When she decided to stay, it was only because he was family – she never paid a single coin for him and this was all the more powerful because I just know she would’ve helped him out if she had still been the same person as when he scammed her in the first place. Honestly I was kind of worried that she might fold but I’m so happy she didn’t, because this again proved how much she’d grown and how much better she’d become at standing up for herself. After all, it didn’t make any sense for her to pay for what he got himself into.
One final thing that I applauded was that, even though she did end up staying with Si Nian in the end, she did tell him honestly that she wanted to go to Japan to work at her favorite cartoonist’s studio. I was afraid that she was just going to drop it because she felt bad for leaving him behind and that she’d keep saying it was all right even though she really wanted to go. I preferred this way, that she changed her mind on her own and decided not to go instead of being forced to give up her dream because of someone else’s priorities. It was really sweet how supportive Si Nian was of her going to Japan, and I felt like the fact that he had wanted her to go strengthened Yun Shu’s resolve to stay even more.
All in all I think that Yun Shu was a very well-written character and she also evolved really naturally throughout the story. I found myself rooting for her all the way, because she was so likable and good. Although she never lost her empathy and trust in people, she did become better at standing up to people and setting boundaries, and that was really satisfying to watch.

I love how we gradually got to see Si Nian lowering his walls, because what came out of that was the purest cinnamonroll ever. I am so weak for characters like him, lol. It was just so endearing to see how he became aware of the fact that his feelings and actions towards Yun Shu weren’t just related to the contract but out of genuine concern for her wellbeing. I loved the scenes in which he caught himself staring at her and becoming aware of his heightened heart rate. He tried to keep dismissing it with his mathematician’s mindset, but he really couldn’t help himself in the end. Truthfully, the scenes where he started keeping an eye on her while she was working at the supermarket and started getting suspicious of her relationship with Lawyer Meng were quite typical, but I’m glad he finally came eye to eye with his true feelings when he did. It was balanced out just long enough for it not to become tedious, in my opinion. Honestly, you can’t tell me he fell for her only after confirming his heart rate through those scientific results – I don’t even remember what that was about to be honest – because he started acting like a jealous boyfriend way before that. He was literally and physically putting himself between Yun Shu and Lawyer Meng time and time again, like who was he trying to kid? But what I loved about him the most was that he consistently respected Yun Shu in everything she did. He respected her choices and decisions and even though he always offered to help her out, he also always accepted her when she asked for the time and space to deal with things by herself. I don’t remember a single time when he forced himself or his mindset on her. She was like a beam of sunlight to him, she broke him out of his rusty walls and he loved her so much for it. The way he looked at her, so full of fondness, just warmed my heart. His love went way further than just wanting to be intimate – he literally became her number one supporter throughout everything she strived to accomplish: the cartoons, going to Japan, acing her thesis defense the second time round. It was a really nice full circle moment when the show ended with Yun Shu’s second attempt to defend her thesis and he just grabbed her hand and ran with her to the building so she wouldn’t be late this time 🥹. That was really sweet. Si Nian was really sweet. Even in their intimacy and romance, he kept reflecting on his own shortcomings when it came to feel and express feeling. I loved how he was like, “I’m very inexperienced in romance, so let me do more research first”. He really wanted to do well for Yun Shu and that in itself was the most romantic thing ever.
I really loved seeing Si Nian’s character grow from a complete robot to a very warm human being. We already know from the start that he has it in him to care for people when looking at his relationship with his grandfather, but it was nice to see him allow himself some TLC as well.

I guess it’s no surprise that the romance between Yun Shu and Si Nian was one of my favorite things about this show. As I mentioned earlier, they got me old school giggling like a teenager with their slowburn and I just loved their subtle intimacy. The random and sneaky kisses were ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 I love it when a couple just becomes so mutually confident in what they have that they don’t even look around to notice other people looking their way. They got so comfortable with each other in their daily life that I didn’t even mind that it stayed at a couple of kisses. Admittedly, I did feel like they were building up to a bit more passion because they kept getting interrupted at some point, and so I was a little disappointed when they just skipped over the bed scene like that, but even without that kind of passion their chemistry was very addictive to watch. Yun Shu had me every single time she called Si Nian by his first name too, because she usually referred to him as “Mr. Zhang”. I believe Si Nian kissed her for the first time when she casually called him by his name on the phone, and that gave me all sorts of butterflies. Every single scene of them together had me like 😊🤭. It’s been a while since I enjoyed watching a main couple this much.

Moving on to Yun Shu’s accomplished lawyer sister, Yun Lan. Yun Lan is a real business lady and puts work before everything. She’s quite rigid with Yun Shu as well, although this does stem from a certain protectiveness towards her. If we thought Yun Shu and Si Nian were opposites, it seems like the writers thought it would be funny to give Yun Lan a complete polar opposite of her own. When Yun Shu and Si Nian are planning their (at the time still purely contractual) wedding, Yun Lan is summoned as Yun Shu’s Best Lady, while Si Nian invites his childhood friend Lu Yu, who is now a famous and popular actor, as his Best Man. What the soon-to-be-wedded couple doesn’t know is that Yun Lan and Lu Yu have actually met before. More than that, they’ve had a one night stand together – after which Yun Lan disappeared without even leaving a note. Despite her attempts to avoid him they inevitably meet again at the wedding and Lu Yu immediately continues to pursue her.
As practical and business-minded as Yun Lan was, I didn’t find it hard to understand why being with Lu Yu made her feel avoidant, initially. It was clear that she was trying to suppress how much she really liked him, but the scenes in which they couldn’t even walk the street without him getting surrounded by picture-demanding fans definitely struck a chord. I know for a fact that I would never be able to date a celebrity and deal with the risk of constantly being a target of gossip and potential scandal. Since Yun Lan usually had no trouble speaking her mind, I guess the fact that she kept quiet and preferred to silently remove herself from the situation had to do with the fact that it made her insecure, and she didn’t want to give in to that? That’s what it seemed like to me, anyway. And honestly, even though I feel like Yun Lan could’ve expressed that in words more clearly to Lu Yu, I thought he could’ve been a bit more considerate in that aspect as well. I get that it was normal for him, but it wasn’t right of him to just expect her to be okay with that without even addressing it. I found it hard to believe that, even after she did tell him that she didn’t feel comfortable in his fan-filled world, he would still propose to her in public like that at the end, surrounded by people filming it without her consent, even yelling out loud that he’d heard she was pregnant. I thought that was quite insensitive of him, to be honest. I totally understood why she made something up in order to flee the scene and go somewhere more private.
In any case, I felt like, even though her character was first introduced as a kind of catalyst to Yun Shu’s – since the housing problem needed to be fixed before she came back – she really got her own storyline apart from Yun Shu and the two only met up a couple of times throughout the story. Despite her tsundere personality I like to believe that Yun Lan was a very caring older sister to Yun Shu who kept worrying about her while simultaneously letting her figure stuff out by herself.
I thought her dynamic with Lu Yu was quite interesting as well. At times she was clearly the more dominant person, putting him in his place and not giving him what he wanted. But then there were also times when she got all shy and coy to hide her embarrassment from him while he was beside himself with joy in her presence. Their relationship definitely lacked the amount of build-up and development of Yun Shu’s and Si Nian’s, and I do admit that I was less invested in their love story, but it was still cute enough.

Lu Yu was basically just a puppy, lol. Apart from being a good actor he didn’t hesitate to chase after what he wanted and he never gave up on Yun Lan. He may have been a bit too spontaneous and impulsive at times, but it always came from a good place. One thing that I would’ve liked to see more of was a bit of backstory regarding his friendship with Si Nian, though. I just couldn’t really imagine the two of them befriending each other. Maybe I forgot about it, but I only remember the grandfather talking about their compatibility in the final episode, and that wasn’t enough for me to fathom their friendship, lol. Like, it was just very random that Si Nian, who always kept to himself, happened to be friends with one of the most well-known people in the country 😂. The two of them made a very odd pair, haha.
Apart from what I previously talked about, how I thought Lu Yu could be a bit oblivious to how his status would influence his dating life, I can’t deny that he was a good person. He really loved Yun Lan and he never wanted to hurt her. I found it a bit out of character for him to just break up with her over that lawsuit without hearing her side of the story first, but it was very typical of him to run back to her immediately after hearing how she basically saved him through that agreement. Although I tend to appreciate uncomplicated characters like him, I guess I still would’ve liked a bit more depth when it came to him, or at least a little bit more reflection when it came to how his fame impacted Yun Lan in their relationship.

Moving on to the next relationship depicted in the series: Zhi Yi and Lin Nuo. Zhi Yi, nicknamed “Yi Yi”, and Lin Nuo are Yun Shu’s closest friends. They always met on campus but they were all in different departments so I guess they must have known each other from earlier on. It’s revealed from the get-go that Yi Yi and Lin Nuo are exes; they used to date and broke up, but Lin Nuo still seems to have some lingering feelings towards Yi Yi. The two of them bicker a lot and there is undeniably some tension between the two of them, but Yi Yi is actively dating one guy after the next. Yun Shu often ends up in the middle of their bickering, but she’s always encouraging them to get along.
The thing that I found most interesting about the relationship between Yi Yi and Lin Nuo was that it was the most realistic (and problematic) in the show. Apart from the two previously discussed surprising but fateful matches, it was nice to also see a relationship that didn’t work out so great.
I’d like to start with Yi Yi, since I think she was the biggest factor in where things went wrong. So Yi Yi is a very bubbly “girly” girl, she cares about her appearance and knows how to wrap guys around her finger. When everything is going well and she’s in a good mood, she’s the nicest and most supportive friend ever. I liked her friendship with Yun Shu, they clicked very naturally despite being so different. Still, Yi Yi also has a different side to her: she’s stubborn and gets suspicious quite easy. Once she suspects something, she tends to jump to conclusions and end things before even hearing the other person out. Throughout the story, there are two instances of this happening, which both lead to the break-up of a relationship that could’ve been perfectly normal. First of all, Gu Xiao. There was nothing wrong with him. He may have seemed like a bit of a player – mostly through Lin Nuo’s perspective – but there was actually nothing wrong with him. He was serious about Yi Yi and never meant to hurt her.
His situation where he was pretending to still be with his ex only to reassure his ex’s mom who was in the hospital reminded me of a movie I watched recently, called Sliding Doors. Of course he should’ve just told Yi Yi about it in advance or at least take her opinion about it into consideration (knowing Yi Yi, she would’ve probably objected to him getting involved in it in the first place). Of course he should’ve immediately cleared things up when his ex blatantly introduced herself to Yi Yi as his girlfriend. But Yi Yi also didn’t give him the chance to talk. If she’d heard him out and understood that he was just putting up an act for his ex’s mom, things might have been different. Or not, because she did say at some point that she wanted to believe him. In any case, I really didn’t like how she just jumped on Lin Nuo as a rebound after that, even when Gu Xiao was still trying to apologize and explain it to her. What’s worse, I honestly felt like she was just trying to distract herself from Gu Xiao. When they played that “answer without thinking” game she literally said Gu Xiao’s name and not Lin Nuo’s. Lin Nuo had all the reason in the world to be upset about that because he really liked her and she couldn’t even pretend to reciprocate it. When they got back together she was the one who got the ick and became uncomfortable, but instead of figuring out her own feelings and trying to put into words what she felt for Lin Nuo, she just sabotaged their relationship by putting it all on Lin Nuo. She really did him dirty, breaking up with him because she walked on him getting his freaking finger bandaged by a female colleague. It felt like she was just looking for a way out of the relationship and created a reason to break up with him and blame him for it. That was really nasty of her.
The scene where she crashed at Yun Shu’s and Si Nian’s place reminded me of a very similar situation in Put Your Head on My Shoulder, where the FL’s best friend also crashed at the main couple’s place after a break-up and kept asking the FL to stay with her even though the ML and FL kind of wanted to get it on, lol. I found that scene a bit slapsticky to be honest, with Yun Shu trying to sneak out without Yi Yi noticing. She could’ve just told her she had to go to the bathroom – I don’t think Yi Yi would’ve come after her and dragged her away from Si Nian. Anyways, Yi Yi became all gloomy and dramatic after that.
I was actually really proud of Lin Nuo for standing up to her when she came crawling back to him at the end. She came back all weepy like, “I know I made a mistake, I’m so sorry” and he was like, “Girl, you took me for granted and I’m not just getting back together with you like this.” That was really strong of him, especially since he’d been the one who was all over her in the beginning.
Although I did like Yi Yi as Yun Shu’s supportive friend, I really didn’t like how she treated Lin Nuo and dealt with her relationships. Lin Nuo, on the other hand, kind of grew on me throughout the story. He was right to move away from her, because this instead made Yi Yi more determined to right her wrongs with him. It’s kind of suggested that they make up at the end, when Yi Yi told him she’d chase him all the way to Africa.
By the way, I found it kind of typical that the brochure Yi Yi looked at just said “Africa” and not any specific country in Africa. Like, they are aware that Africa is a continent, not a country, right? I can understand that Lin Nuo, who also lied about going with his female colleague, wouldn’t even give her the specifics of where exactly in Africa he was going, but that she just went “I’ll find you in Africa” without even thinking about where to go was kind of typical to me.
In any case, I liked the dynamic of Yun Shu, Yi Yi and Lin Nuo as friends, and it would’ve been cute if Yi Yi and Lin Nuo had gotten back together, but not like that. Not as a rebound or a result of taking someone for granted. Yi Yi literally gave Lin Nuo new (false) hope only to crush it again. She really should’ve figured out her own feelings better before jumping into a new relationship with him, because it was very clearly a way to distract her mind from Gu Xiao. Lin Nuo deserved better and I’m glad he cut himself free from Yi Yi at the end. Their text messages at the end seemed to suggest that Yi Yi was going to win him back and they’d probably end up together again, but I’m kind of happy it cut off at a point where Lin Nuo was still distancing himself from her. While it was about time for her to show some effort and initiative, I honestly wouldn’t really care either way if they got back together or not.

And then there are two characters that I wanted to discuss that are basically the “love rivals” in the story, even though neither of them ever really stood a chance. Although they both turned out to be okay people, I still had a problem with the way both of them started meddling with the relationship between Yun Shu and Si Nian.
First of all, Lawyer Meng Ren (played by Qi Han). He basically appears out of nowhere when Yun Shu is working at a supermarket after moving away from Si Nian and offers her a job at his law firm. Although he was initially asked to do this by Si Nian, Meng Ren starts developing feelings for Yun Shu himself in the process. His advances are strengthened by his knowledge of their contractual marriage, and he just assumes that means they don’t actually have feelings for each other and that he can just sweep Yun Shu off her feet. Honestly, he came on a bit too strong in my opinion. It was kind of awkward seeing him put out all these romantic gestures knowing that Yun Shu didn’t have feelings for him at all. Still, when she clearly told him she loved Si Nian, he didn’t bother her again – he accepted his defeat graciously and I appreciated that about him.
On the other hand, there was Lin Chu Chu (played by Sheng Lang Xi), Si Nian’s former studymate. They both studied mathematics abroad and bonded there, so they became quite close and got to know each other’s personalities (and peculiarities) well. Si Nian had always told her that his only goal in life was to win the Fields prize and that he would never even consider a relationship before he’d achieved that because it would only distract him. I guess that must have put her at ease since that meant she didn’t have to worry about him starting anything with anyone. When she returned to China several months later and became Si Nian’s colleague at the university, she probably expected to pick up from where they left. Imagine her surprise when she found out he didn’t just fall in love in that short time but even got married!
Honestly, I should’ve known from the start that Chu Chu was a meddler – she’s literally introduced butting into a couple’s business, telling them to just hold hands already. Yun Shu and Yi Yi witness this and are immediately filled with admiration for her grace and bravery (I would’ve told her to mind her own business, but hey, who am I). Chu Chu and Yun Shu have another friendly encounter later and start forming a nice friendship before they find out who they both are to Si Nian. Again, I thought Yun Shu was so empathic and relatable in her way of dealing with it, how she just came out and told Chu Chu that she really couldn’t have known that the guy she’d been telling her about was Si Nian. Like, her response was the most logical in that situation. From Chu Chu’s side, things got even more awkward, as she was on the losing end of course and she somehow just can’t understand how Si Nian fell for Yun Shu, who was so different from him. What bothered me the most about Chu Chu was that she just claimed ownership of Si Nian by going all “I’ve known him much longer and liked him first” and started butting into their relationship. Honestly, by the time she showed up, Yun Shu and Si Nian had already dismissed their initial contract because they’d fallen for each other for real, so who was she to suddenly burst in and go all “but you’re on a contract, you’re not actually suitable for each other” on them? Who was she to tell both of them that they weren’t right for each other? You’d think that was something they’d be able to figure out for themselves! 🤷🏻‍♀️ I already mentioned it but I really loved how Yun Shu stood up against her when she did that. Their contract and relationship had nothing to do with her and the contract was already a thing of the past by then, so why did she feel like she had the right to wave that in their faces? Admittedly, when Si Nian just started making out with Yun Shu in front of her I was like, “ouch 🥲” but I guess that was really the only way to make her back off? In any case, it was good that it didn’t sour her relationships with either of them entirely and she moved on with her life, but I really didn’t appreciate her meddling that much.

Finally, I want to talk a little bit about grandpa Zhang, because he was the sweetest man ever. I feel like he knew way more than he was given credit for, and it may not have even mattered to him how Si Nian and Yun Shu got together. He just knew they were perfect for each other from the moment he met Yun Shu. He was the first (and initially only) person who saw through their differences before he even saw them together. I think it was really nice that he immediately identified Yun Shu as a suitable partner because he must have known exactly what kind of person Si Nian needed, more than Si Nian himself would ever care to admit. I’m glad he made it through the series and didn’t pass away somewhere along the line – it was as if Si Nian and Yun Shu’s relationship literally kept him alive. He was such a nice character. I also loved how he immediately urged for Yun Shu to go fulfill her dreams in Japan even though that would mean he and Si Nian wouldn’t get to see her for a while. For someone who kept wanting the two of them to be together, it was extra heartwarming to see how much he also supported Yun Shu’s personal goals and dreams. He was the best grandpa.❤️

While the story in its entirety was well-structured and balanced out, I did feel like the ending was cut off a bit abruptly and we don’t get closure for all the characters. What happened with grandpa’s treatment? Why did Lawyer Meng suddenly just disappear from the story towards the end? What was the deal with Yi Yi and Lin Nuo’s ending? Although I appreciated a recap of the main couple’s journey at the end, there was still too much that I wanted wrapped up, so the ending felt a bit rushed to me, also with the very hasty “bed scene” and all that. It was as if the writers suddenly felt the pressure of having to add one last passionate gesture but realized they didn’t have enough time to add a full scene so they just created a silly transition to skip over it and get it over with. In any case, apart from the ending I really enjoyed the story and the romance between Yun Shu and Si Nian.

As it was quite a simple story with a simple cast of characters, I think I’ve mentioned most of my thoughts and criticisms on the characters and the story by now, so let’s look at the title next. I wanted to point this out because I sometimes like clarifying titles, especially when the original and English titles are different. I liked how they stuck with a similar title in English this time. In my experience, Chinese dramas usually have very long original titles which then get translated into English as a super short and generic title, sometimes even a single word (looking at you, Crush 👀). The English title “Perfect and Casual” has a summarizing ring to it, as if to describe a person or relationship that is both perfect and casual. However, when looking at the Chinese title, it may have been more fitting for the English to put the terms opposite one another more, like “Perfect versus Casual”, because it’s meant to indicate Si Nian (Mr. Perfect) and Yun Shu (Ms. Casual). It’s even clarified in the final episode through Si Nian’s narration of how Yun Shu’s “casual” ended up making his life “perfect”. I think it’s a very sweet and suitable title, although I would’ve liked to get a better definition of “casual”. I believe Yun Shu mentions somewhere in the beginning that “Ms. Casual” is her actual nickname, but it’s not that she’s casual as in that she doesn’t put effort into anything – maybe only in the beginning when her ambitions aren’t that high yet. I think that it relates more to how she’s less rigid than Si Nian, so I’m not actually sure if “casual” would be the correct term. It’s not as if “perfect” and “casual” are antonyms, something casual can also be perfect. I’m probably reading into it way more than necessary again, but I just like thinking about this kind of stuff, lol. I just need everything to make sense. 😂

Time for the cast comments! I didn’t know a single actor in this show, which isn’t uncommon as I don’t watch that many Chinese dramas. I thought that overall, the acting was very good and sincere. There wasn’t any kind of overacting that really stuck out to me or annoyed me as far as I can remember. Of course, the dubbing will always remain a thing (I saw that MDL even credited Lu Yu’s voice-over, I hadn’t seen that before!), but the voices suited the actors very well so I barely noticed it.

Xu Ruo Han reminded me of a whole bunch of people, from Jung So Min to Da Hyun from TWICE. I really liked her performance as Yun Shu. It doesn’t happen that often that the female lead is actually my favorite character, but this was definitely the case here. She played the role so naturally and sympathetically that, even when Yun Shu continuously kept getting into trouble, I never once got frustrated with her. I think it was really impressive how she managed to convey the character’s sentiment without making her pitiful.
I saw on MDL that this was actually her first drama! She made her debut in 2020 and has now appeared in four of five shows in the past few years. I really want to see more of her acting now. She was really natural and showed great chemistry with the male lead. She’s going on my new favorite actresses list!

Something about Wei Zhe Ming (or Miles Wei)’s facial structure reminds me of Hwan Woong from ONEUS? 😂 I have the strangest face associations, I know. Anyways, I really liked seeing him portray multiple sides of his acting in this show. He did a great job and gradually melting for his female co-star, haha. Seriously, the way he would look at her gave me butterflies! And it was super endearing to see him build Si Nian’s character and allowing him to get a bit more straightforward in showing his affection to Yun Shu. I repeat: I lived for their chemistry, haha. None of it felt uncharacteristic or awkward. Even in the scenes that were supposed to be awkward, he was just really endearing. I think I actually have some other shows with him on my list, so I’m excited to see more of his acting. I really liked his performance and the way he portrayed his character in this show.

I think Ma Yu Ting (whose stage name is apparently “Marguax”?), was typecasted very well for the role of Yun Lan. I think she did a good job at balancing Yun Lan’s confidence at the workplace with her insecurity in the romance field. Although I did think her chemistry with Lu Yu’s actor was cute and they even had a passionate kissing scene before the main couple did, the build-up in their relationship still felt a bit off to me for some reason. I felt like their relationship was pasted-on a little bit more than the main couple’s. I guess that had to do with the fact that we don’t see them develop as much as the main couple and we only get occasional glimpses of different scenes in their relationship, so it felt a bit more fragmented. In any case, I think she was a good choice for the role and she really nailed the layers behind Yun Lan’s tsundere personality.

I’m not really surprised to see that there’s a bit of an age gap between Yun Lan and Lu Yu’s actors – it’s only four years but Lu Yu definitely felt much younger to me than Yun Lan, although their ages are never really revealed throughout the show. In any case, Dai Yun Fan was very well casted as the cheeky Lu Yu. The dynamic between this secondary couple was very interesting, in a different way than the main couple, and I know that that can work very well, but for some reason it didn’t really grab my attention that much. I’ve already mentioned it before, but I would’ve liked to see a bit more depth in Lu Yu’s character, and also in the actor’s performance. Like, it was nice that he was so uncomplicated, but it took away that extra layer that the main couple did have. In fact I found him more befitting of the description “casual” than Yun Shu because of this lack of depth. Also in terms of his naivety when it came to considering how Yun Lan would feel about entering his world of stardom – that would’ve been a great aspect to his character that they could’ve explored and worked out more in order to give him some self-reflection, for example. Of course, that’s part of the writing so I can’t really blame the actor for that. His scenes with Yun Lan were cute and he did a good job portraying Lu Yu’s puppy-like excitement. Although their relationship could’ve been established a little bit better in my opinion, I still liked their dynamic.

I’ve said all I needed to say about Yi Yi, but I do want to compliment the actress Zhao Luo Ran for making her so insufferable, lol. You can say whatever you want, but she went all in with the dramatics and the waterworks without going over the top – in fact, she really shaped Yi Yi as someone that we’ve probably all met before. What I liked about her at least was that there were so many different sides to her. The actress definitely got to show off her acting skills and emotional range. She was a very diverse and refreshing character in a way, even though she definitely didn’t know how to deal with her feelings, lol. As aggravating as they can be, we need characters like her in dramas, especially because despite everything, she was still a very good friend to Yun Shu. I respect that she put so much into her performance, it really paid of. A character can only be genuinely annoying when the actor does a good job, and she definitely did that.

I don’t know why, but Sheng Gang Shuai had something of Nam Joo Hyuk about him that I couldn’t quite shake off. From the start I was worried that he would only be the friend/sad ex who kept trying to win Yi Yi back to no avail, so I’m glad at least he got a bit more character development. The way he rejected Yi Yi when she came crawling back to him made me respect his character a lot. It takes a lot to say no to someone that used to have you wrapped around their finger (been there), so it was very satisfying to see him stand his ground at the end. He was a very sympathetic character and his heart was in the right place. I liked that they didn’t make him a pushover when it came to Yi Yi. Lin Nuo really deserved to treated better. In any case, I thought the actor portrayed Lin Nuo in a very bright and sincere way.

With regards to the “love rivals”, I definitely liked Lawyer Meng better than Chu Chu. I think Qi Han (or Hank Qi) did a good job portraying Meng Ren’s efforts while already knowing he didn’t stand a chance. Finally a guy whose pride didn’t obstruct him from moving on! I love seeing a male character that accepts his defeat with honor rather than spite. His sincere care for Yun Shu was also reflected in how he still helped her out with her cousin’s case after she’d rejected him. The man rented out a restaurant and sang and played the piano for a woman who was in a hurry to go home to her husband, and still he managed not to lose face. When Yun Shu (again, very satisfyingly) told him she was still in love with Si Nian, he very graciously stepped away. Again, I’m not entirely sure how Lawyer Meng and Si Nian were acquainted because it also seemed like they were old friends or at least knew each other from before (maybe this was mentioned and I forgot about it, in that case never mind). As with Lu Yu, I would’ve liked a bit more backstory on him and I also found it strange that he just disappeared towards the end. But the actor did a good job and managed to portray Lawyer Meng very sympathetically, despite being a love rival.

Sheng Lang Xi (or Joy Sheng) also looked really familiar to me, but I haven’t seen anything with her. She was introduced as a very gracious and kind character – although I would probably not have appreciated her telling me and my crush to just “hold hands already” – but she really lost some credit points when she started acting all “but but but Si Nian was supposed to be mine”. The fact that she went to nag about it to Lawyer Meng and even he was like “let it go, girl” was pretty funny. Anyways, as occasionally annoying as she was, the actress still portrayed her quite gracefully and I couldn’t find it in me to dislike her completely. I think it’s very difficult to portray a character with problematic tendencies and still make them come across as sympathetic, so she definitely did a good job at that.

I just discovered that Cui Ke Fa also played the ML’s grandfather in Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me! The guy who kept forcing him and the FL to get married. 🥲 As persistent as he was in that, I really loved his portrayal of grandpa Zhang. I really loved his and Si Nian’s relationship. I have to admit I don’t really remember the whole backstory of what happened to Si Nian’s parents, but his grandpa took such good care of him and always made sure to protect him from hurt and harm. I remember him hugging young Si Nian in that flashback, and how he read him that story and made him believe his mom had become a mermaid to ease the pain of losing her – that was all so heartwrenching and it really clicked with how much he meant to Si Nian. I love how Si Nian called him “Academic Zhang” and how they talked about scientific explanations together. I believe grandpa Zhang knew his grandson better than he knew himself, and that was topped off by his judgement of Yun Shu as the ideal partner for him. He was such a precious character, and the actor portrayed him with such sincerity – I couldn’t help but love him.

All in all, I really enjoyed this. I loved the romantic development between the main couple the most, but I also thought the side stories and supporting characters were all very well-written. They all played a part in the main couple’s story as much as in their own, and I really liked that. There were some typical things here and there, some characters had more depth than other, some relationships were better established than others and I still feel like the ending was cut short a bit, but in general I had a good time watching this. I always find it hard to find Chinese romcoms that are just right in balancing the romantic development and don’t get too stereotypical, so this was a very nice surprise and I agree with the relatively high rating on MDL as well.

Despite the simplicity of this story, I took two days to write this review. I just couldn’t get into the right mindset for some reason, and it was nice to allow myself the extra time. I might do that more often in the future as I get busy with my translating project and other activities I have planned in the running towards my new career goals. In any case, thanks for reading the whole thing again. I hope to come across nice unexpected shows like this more often. I’m very curious what my next watch will be, so stay tuned with me!

Bye-bee! x

Disclaimer: this is a review, and as such it contains spoilers of the whole series. Please proceed to read at your own risk if you still plan on watching this show or if you haven’t finished it yet. You have been warned.