I. Introduction
Adapted from the web novel You're Beautiful When You Smile, Falling Into Your Smile is a Chinese romantic e-sports drama that began airing on June 23, 2021 on Tencent Video and Youku . The drama stars Xu Kai , Cheng Xiao , Zhai Xiaowen , Yao Chi , Zhou Yiran , Wang Ruoshan , Yalkun Merxat , and Ling Chao Oner. It has a total of 31 episodes with a duration of 45 minutes in each episode and tells the story of Tong Yao, a university student who becomes the first female e-sports player in the Chinese professional league.
II. Synopsis
In the ultra-competitive world of e-sports, the all-male ZGDX OPL team is second to none. Armies of adoring female fans follow the team wherever it goes. But when one of the team’s star players suffers a hand injury, the tall, handsome, and notoriously hard-to-please ZGDX captain Lu Si Cheng will not be rushed into choosing a replacement.
The petite, lollipop-loving Tong Yao, meanwhile, is a budding amateur gamer – obsessed with OPL. Her skills are exceptional, but she is of the firm belief that in the male-dominated world of pro gaming, love is a big no-no – even though her own ex-boyfriend was a gamer. When the ZGDX team manager learns of her skills, he contacts her, thinking that recruiting her as the scene’s first female player will help score a major PR coup. Lu Si Cheng is dismissive of her initially, but eventually agrees to accept her as a substitute – a move that polarizes the team’s fanbase. But as they start to get to know one another better, could a closer bond begin to form between them?
III. Trailer
IV. Episodes
V. OSTs
VI. Reception
Falling Into Your Smile, the E-Sports drama starring Cheng Xiao & Xu Kai premiered with lots of fanfare & expectations from the viewers. According to WeTV, the Chinese streaming platform, it is the most streamed Chinese drama right now, beating out other on-air Chinese and Korean dramas on its platforms across the regions. Yet the overall reception had been critical and was less than ideal, as the drama received dismal 3/10 score on its Douban page. As the drama's storyline incorporates the identity of real players from China's League of Legends teams, the fans felt that the drama was a false portrayal of the real life E-Sports stars as the drama portrayed characters as faking matches so as to fall in love. After the 1st episode was premiered, the topics related to the show were bombarded with negative reviews. The Douban reviews are scores given purely by the chinese audience &, doesn't reflect the international audience. Although following a disappointing debut, it has become a worldwide hit and certainly has the backing from fans; scoring an 8.7/10 on MyDramaList and 9.4/10 on both Viki Rakuten and IMDB.
