Review of You Are My Glory / 你是我的荣耀

I have a confession to make before we get deeper into this blog post: there was a time where I could not watch Chinese dramas. It was a strange sort of mental block, which I think stems from the fact that I felt like I was allergic to anything that had more than sixteen episodes.

This is why I watched a lot of Korean dramas throughout the course of my time as a drama lover, which ended up becoming my core. But as I was in my second year of graduate school and realizing I was falling deep into Korean studies, and was preparing to temporarily move to Busan, I decided to revive my Mandarin.

I took Mandarin classes for ten years, and almost minored in it in college. I was once really good at putonghua, and could understand a good chunk of the YouTube videos and television snippets I was seeing. But as they say: if you don’t use it, you lose it.

So I began watching more Chinese dramas. I learned to get over my little mental block and fear of what they held, and now I’m just as addicted with Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese dramas overall. I’m slowly starting to get into Turkish dramas too!

Here’s my review of You Are My Glory; it’s one of the first shows I started falling into.

Two old classmates, estranged with time, reunite when one wants to learn a popular game.

In this drama, the main female lead is Qiao Jing-Jing, who, in high school, had a massive crush on Yu Tu—our male lead. However, that didn’t turn out into anything, and they moved on with their lives upon graduating. Now she’s a famous model and actress, and the people want to see her in so many different things on-screen.

Yu Tu became an engineer, specifically for aeronautics, but she never forgot about him no matter how famous and successful she became. However, things are about to take a turn when Jing-Jing brands herself as being a solid player on the popular game Honor of Kings.

People are really doubting if she can play, and now she needs to prove herself to all of China. Despite the anxiety and tension rising, she comes into contact with Yu Tu who apparently is really good at this game and might even be ranked for his abilities. She convinces him to meet with her, then pitches the possibilities of them working together, with him especially teaching her how to play.

The more time the two spend together, the more they realize they might be romantically compatible. After all, some people might not have a Cinderella story in high school, but later in life they might grow in a way where two individuals are actually really compatible as adults.

That’s kind of what happens here, and when Jing-Jing manages to prove herself to her fans, they’re in too deep when the fans catch wind of their potential relationship. They deny it, but the chemistry is too undeniable, leading Jing-Jing to confess.

From there, it ends up becoming a rollercoaster ride. Both of these leads don’t have normal jobs, and the public eye might jeopardize everything Yu Tu is working for as an engineer. At the same time, Jing-Jing has a need to prove herself to her fans, especially as they go deeper into their “friendship.”

The rest of the drama tracks this conflict, and while it can be messy, there are a lot of really sweet moments scattered throughout.

Overall Thoughts

This reminded me of a less professional (in the sense where the main characters aren’t the ones doing e-sports as a career) Falling Into Your Smile, but I liked this a lot more than that drama. There wasn’t a lot of chemistry between Xu Kai and Cheng Xiao, but Yang Yang and Dilraba do their roles really well in this one.

I don’t know if I would rewatch this drama though. I think it was pretty entertaining and kept me largely hooked throughout its running time, but revisiting it doesn’t seem to be something I’m interested in. It was compelling for a first time watch, but not a second.

Perhaps I’m just a little worn out when it comes to these similar storylines. I need to try a historical drama to spice things up, or I might end up more tired of the same tropes.

Go watch this though if you’re interested! I enjoyed it; I might just not watch it again.

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