The Day Of Becoming You Review

I think I’m having an overdose of Liang Jie lately as The Day Of Becoming You (变成你的那一天) is my third drama starring this actress in less than a month! I have just completed The Eternal Love Season 3 and Time Flies And You Are Here. The good thing is both of these are historical dramas and I finally get to see her in a modern production for a change. But is her latest work a success? Read my thoughts in The Day Of Becoming You review below.

My rating: 7.5/10
Episodes: 26
Type: Romance
Aired: June 2021
Images Credit: iQIYI

The Cast Of The day Of Becoming You

• Steven Zhang Xin Cheng as Jiang Yi
• Liang Jie as Yu Sheng Sheng
• Eden Zhao Zhi Wei as Shen Po Qing
• Vian Wang Wei as Tong Hua
• An Ge as Jiang Da Chuan
• Zhou Shi Yuan as Pei Jia Shu
• Su Xun Lun as Cheng Le Yi
• Zhao Yao Ke as Xu Shu Yi
• Zhang Lei as Jiang Dong Hai
• Cong Shang as Jiang Mo
• Sunny Hao Wen Ting as Li Zhen
• Huang Hai Bing as Mr. Yu
• Xie Yu Tong as Mrs. Yu / Madam Cai

Main Characters

Jiang Yi

Jiang Yi is a famous idol and band member. He is a very reserved man who hardly smiles despite being a celebrity. He likes to meditate to seek inner peace. Jiang Yi has a bitter childhood as his parents divorced when he was a kid. He felt abandoned and does not have a good relationship with both his parents. He also has a half-sister, Jiang Mo.

Yu Sheng Sheng

Sheng Sheng is an entertainment reporter in a media company. She is a big fan of Pei Jia Shu who is part of a boy band together with Jiang Yi. Sheng Sheng is a vocal lady who is not afraid of a challenge. She has loving parents and her father dotes on her.

Supporting Characters

Shen Po Qing

Po Qing is a doctor and Sheng Sheng’s senior at school. He is a courteous and studious person who has been in love with Sheng Sheng for a long time. He knows her parents and is a regular visitor to their home. Sheng Sheng’s mother was his teacher.

Tong Hua

Tong Hua is Sheng Sheng’s best friend and flat mate. She is also a fellow reporter and Sheng Sheng’s colleague. Tong Hua is a big fan of Jiang Yi.

Jiang Da Chuan

Da Chuan is Jiang Yi’s band manager. They are also old friends. Da Chuan genuinely cares about Jiang Yi and wants the best for him.

Pei Jia Shu

Jia Shu is Jiang Yi’s fellow band member and housemate. They don’t talk much to each other and there are rumors that both of them do not get along.

Cheng Le Yi

Le Yi is also part of Jiang Yi’s band and the youngest among the 3 of them. Together with Jia Shu, the 3 of them are housemates. Le Yi is more amicable and trusting in nature.

Xu Shu Yi

Shu Yi is a host for events and shows. She is friends with Jiang Yi and his band members. They have known each other for a long time and Jiang Yi has some feelings for her.

Jiang Dong Hai

Dong Hai is Jiang Yi’s father. He is an irresponsible father when Jiang Yi was young. He has since re-married after the divorce with Jiang Yi’s mother and has a daughter named Jiang Mo. Dong Hai still relies on Jiang Yi for money while the latter prefers to keep his distance.

Jiang Mo

Jiang Mo is Jiang Yi’s half-sister. She is still a young girl who wants her brother’s love and attention but at the same time, fearful of him.

Li Zhen

Li Zhen is Jiang Yi’s mother. She is a career woman and working abroad as a scientific researcher. She feels guilty about abandoning Jiang Yi when he was a kid because of work and knows that she is at fault.

Mr. & Mrs. Yu / Madam Cai

They are Sheng Sheng’s parents. Mr. Yu is a chef who dotes on his daughter. Mrs. Yu is a teacher and the stricter parent but loves Sheng Sheng just the same.

Synopsis

Yu Sheng Sheng is an entertainment reporter while Jiang Yi is a famous celebrity and part of a boy band that consists of Pei Jia Shu and Cheng Le Yi. Sheng Sheng and Jiang Yi have an instant dislike for one another when she tries to trick him to get an exclusive interview and he stood her up. It so happens that both of them share the same birthday and on an elevator ride down during a thunderstorm, their bodies switched when the lift plunges.

Sheng Sheng becomes trapped in Jiang Yi’s body and vice-versa. Hence, they are forced to communicate and rely on one another to live each other’s lives. As time goes by, they begin to see each other differently and feelings start to develop. When they manage to switch back their bodies, the attraction remains despite the constant bickering.

Jiang Yi becomes jealous over Sheng Sheng’s close relationship with her senior while she is unhappy over his friendship with a female friend. At the same time, they have to keep their unique experience and relationship a secret. But Jiang Yi is being followed by a photographer who caught them together.

The Day Of Becoming You Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

The Day Of Becoming You has a happy ending but with a twist. We will find out that the whole story is based on a novel that Sheng Sheng has written. Hence, the body swaps only happened in the novel although she is in a loving relationship with Jiang Yi in real life.

In the novel, Sheng Sheng and Jiang Yi reconcile after breaking up for a year. They broke up because their relationship was exposed and Sheng Sheng was being scolded by Jiang Yi’s fans. She was accused of tricking and using him for her work as an entertainment reporter. The pressure became too much when her father was admitted to hospital because of anxiety over her situation.

At the same time, Jiang Yi feels guilty for being unable to protect her. He couldn’t even touch and hug her due to the risk of their bodies switching yet again. Hence, he suggested that they break up to which Sheng Sheng readily agreed. Jiang Yi then went abroad for a film project while Sheng Sheng continued on with her life as a reporter. They still miss each other but pretend otherwise.

One year later, Jiang Yi returns home. He has changed into a celebrity who is more open about his life as he wants to lay the groundwork for an eventual reconciliation with Sheng Sheng. Once he finds out that their body switching ability has disappeared, he woos Sheng Sheng again and they become a couple once more in the last episode.

Why Their Bodies Switched

Jiang Yi’s and Sheng Sheng’s body switched because an asteroid was getting close to Earth. This created a magnetic field that could cause them to exchange bodies when they have physical contact under specific circumstances. The ease to which this could happen got higher and higher that it became highly risky for them to even touch each other.

Jiang Yi subsequently got help from his mother after talking to Po Qing who already had his suspicions much earlier. His mother’s network enabled more research into his case. After a year, they found out that the asteroid was the cause but it has moved far away from Earth to affect him and Sheng Sheng. Hence, their body exchange problem was eliminated.

Altogether, Jiang Yi and Sheng Sheng exchanged bodies 3 times. They switched in Episode 2 during a lift malfunction and reverted back in Episode 5. Then, Jiang Yi kissed Sheng Sheng on an impulse in Episode 12 and they switched again. They got back their own bodies in Episode 16 when Jiang Yi pulled Sheng Sheng to him to save her from being hit by a passing car. They swapped bodies for the third time in Episode 21 when Jiang Yi applied emergency brakes to avoid hitting a cat and subsequently switched back in Episode 22 during an electrical short circuit at home.

When Did Jiang Yi And Sheng Sheng Got Together?

Jiang Yi and Sheng Sheng officially got together as a couple in Episode 17 when he announced their relationship to his band members and manager. They confessed their feelings at the end of Episode 16 and slept together in Episode 21. Tong Hua found out that they are dating in Episode 19.

Jiang Yi and Sheng Sheng broke up in Episode 25 before reconciling a year later for a happy ending in Episode 26.

Is There A Love Triangle?

There is no toxic third party in The Day Of Becoming You. While there are love rivals, they are not the jealous and scheming type like in Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard or You Complete Me. Po Qing loved Sheng Sheng but he is a very rational guy who always has her interest at heart. She did try dating him for a short while but it obviously didn’t feel right and she broke off with him in Episode 12 after agreeing to a trial relationship in Episode 7.

As for Jiang Yi and Shu Yi, there were undercurrents of something more to their friendship but they didn’t explore it further. Then, Jiang Yi simply fell in love with Sheng Sheng while Shu Yi remained just a good friend throughout.

Jia Shu And Tong Hua

Jia Shu and Tong Hua were classmates back in high school. They sat next to each other but Tong Hua didn’t like him then. Her dislike for him persisted but her job forced her to meet him again for an interview. Her negative impression of him faded after getting to know him better and they become friends.

A year later, Tong Hua and Sheng Sheng quit their job to start their own media company. Tong Hua roped in Jia Shu to become an investor. But nothing is mentioned about their relationship.

The Day Of Becoming You Review – An Insignificant Twist

To begin with, I think I’m glad that The Day Of Becoming You is not another cold CEO trope. No more rich, emotionless CEOs as these characters seem to be making frequent appearances lately from The Trick Of Life And Love to Use For My Talent. In that sense, The Day Of Becoming You offers something more interesting in terms of the plot with a body swap theme. While there is a twist to the ending which may seem out of place after 26 episodes, I think it can be largely ignored because it is not crucial to the overall story. You can carve that little part out and the drama still makes sense and feels complete.

Well-Executed Plot

The plot may not be realistic with a body swapping story. So, this is not a drama for you to take seriously. But the way the story is told is what draws you in. I think the producers made the right choice to cap it at 26 episodes rather than dragging it out to over 30 episodes like Moonlight and Sunshine Of My Life. It is a quicker watch but even then, I think there are draggy parts in the middle that could be chopped further for better pacing.

Overall, story flows smoothly. The focus is on the main couple. There are no unnecessary side stories or a second couple to take up too much of the viewers’ time. The romance follows a predictable but convincing path. It is all about communication and a gradual admiration for one another. It is not a case of an accidental kiss or hug and sparks begin to fly like in most rom-coms. Instead, the romance in The Day Of Becoming You has a more mature feel where things are handled in a calmer and more rational manner just like in Go Go Squid 2.

Great Acting

The last Steven Zhang drama that I watched was Go Ahead. It is a tearjerker but he performed admirably there as well. I think he has matured a little in his acting compared to his performance in Skate Into Love. The same goes for Liang Jie. I didn’t particularly like her acting in The Eternal Love Season 1 but she has come a long way since then with many opportunities going her way including modern roles in Mr. Honesty and You Are My Destiny.

In The Day Of Becoming You, the leads do need good acting skills because the nature of the story requires a body exchange. That means they need to show 2 distinct personalities and one of them has to mirror their partner’s since they have swapped bodies. Both Steven Zhang and Liang Jie did this convincingly. You can see the change in mannerisms and facial expressions whenever they switch. They did it very smoothly without any over-exaggeration. Without their great acting, this drama could have been annoying to watch because their body swap takes up quite a bit of the screen time.

Overflowing Chemistry

What tends to drive a romance drama is the chemistry between the leads. Steven Zhang and Liang Jie display an abundance of it in The Day Of Becoming You. Their visuals match as a couple and their interactions give off the right vibes for a romance drama. It is refreshing to watch rather than having her repeatedly partner Xing Zhao Lin for her projects.

There are about 6 kisses in the drama. Not all are hot and passionate but when required, the 2 leads get them done to give viewers the right feel. They kiss like they are really in love which raises the temperature of the romance. I think the dialogues also help as some of the scenes are pretty touching with the things being said.

My Verdict – Worth The Time

The Day Of Becoming You is one of those rare romance dramas with no second couple and no toxic love rivals. Neither is there any disapproving parents. Frankly speaking, I cannot recall a romance drama that only has one couple being featured. It is a change and a good one in this case with its tight focus. This ensures that the story stays on the plot and more details in the couple’s romance are fleshed out. Sometimes, having side couples can be a real drag especially if we don’t care for their story as can be seen in Love Designer.

The first episode of this drama isn’t great and could even put you off. You have a stony-faced male lead and a fake fangirling female lead. It doesn’t make for an enticing start. So, you have to give it a little time for the story to pick up. Once the body swap happens, the story will give you more laughs and arouse your curiosity. There is a certain degree of anticipation of when they will switch back and how it would be done. That is when the drama will start to suck you in.

Personally, I think this is worth a watch. Of course, it has an unrealistic element to it because of the body exchange. So, if you prefer something that mirrors a real life romance, then this will not make a lot of sense. But if you don’t mind a bit of fantasy and fairy tale, then by all means give it a go.

For this The Day Of Becoming You review, I will give it a score of 7.5/10. The ending twist is unnecessary and takes away a little of the satisfaction after sitting through 26 episodes. It is also not clearly explained. But overall, the story is different from the usual rom-coms which would be great for those who want to move away from cliches.