We Are the Littles (男排女將)
Synopsis:
A group of volleyball lovers was rejected by the volleyball team due to their short height. Determined to continue on their volleyball journey, the group started their own volleyball team. They enlist the help of Chiang Ka Yu (Stephy Tang), a former star player of Hong Kong's women's volleyball team, as their coach. Ka Yu names the group Little (力图) to tell the world not to look down on them only because of their short height. Together, they train in hopes of winning the national championship, but this ragtag group of volleyball players needs a lot more training than expected.
Characters:
Let's look at some of the main characters of the drama. To better introduce the characters, there will be spoilers. Skip this section if you want NO spoilers.
Chiang Ka Yu (蔣家瑜) played by Stephy Tang
Once the star player of the Hong Kong women's volleyball team, she suddenly disappeared during the height of her career. She now works at an insurance company to make a living despite absolutely HATING her job. After being recognized by a group of volleyball players, they stalk her daily to persuade her into becoming their coach. Not wanting to have anything to do with volleyball after her retirement, she tries her best to avoid them, but her passion and love for volleyball are slowly being reignited after meeting these young volleyball players. Wanting to help them succeed, she quits her job to devote her time to training these kids.
Ka Yu is the epitome of strong on the outside and soft on the inside. Though she always says that she doesn't want anything to do with volleyball and would never be their coach, she secretly helps them find a court to practice on, cleans their equipment, designs their uniforms, and carefully crafts a training plan for each member. She trains the members in unconventional ways but never explains the reasoning behind it, resulting in much unrest amongst the members. Ultimately, Ka Yu tries her best to support each and every member by discovering their potential and highlighting their specialty; she becomes well-respected as the coach of the team. It was really nice to see her growing along with her team. As the show progresses, she opens up more to her students and learns to be a better communicator. Seeing her realize that volleyball is her true passion and quitting her very stable job is very motivating. Oftentimes now, we are forced to succumb to reality and work jobs that we are not interested in to make ends meet which is perfectly fine. But those who decide to pursue their passions regardless of how difficult it may be also deserve to be respected and supported.
The actress, Stephy Tang, who plays Ka Yu, is actually a professionally trained volleyball player so she was able to perform the volleyball moves personally.
King played by 顧定軒
Unlike his powerful-sounding name, King is often mockingly called Little Man for his tiny stature. However, despite his height, he strives to become the best spiker, a position which requires the player to jump very high and spike with great power, both of which King is lacking. When he meets Ka Yu, she was his sliver of hope for achieving his goal because she too is short-statured but is also one of the best spikers in Hong Kong volleyball history. Ka Yu initially rejects him but King's passion and determination persuade Ka Yu into accepting the position of coach.
King is far from being a naturally gifted volleyball player but he proves that hard work definitely pays off. He works twice as hard as anyone else on the team and is willing to give up everything for volleyball. In a conventional sports drama, the story should go something along the lines of King works hard and makes up for his lack of height and becomes the best spiker ever... not in this drama. Though he shows immense improvement compared to the beginning of the drama, his height is a huge disadvantage for him as a spiker. Noticing that his defensive skills are the best on the team, Ka Yu recommends him to become a libero, a defense specialist on the court, instead. This aggregates King because his dream is to be a spiker. However, Ka Yu breaks it to him that with his height he cannot go any further as a spiker and should instead pick something he suits better. After careful consideration, he takes Ka Yu's advice and becomes an excellent libero. This drama is unique in the sense that it really doesn't progress like many conventional idol sports dramas such as Prince of Tennis or Hot Shot. The characters make more realistic decisions and there's no magical way for them to improve. None of the characters have superpowers, just determination and a passion for volleyball.
King is the most stubborn player there is. He refuses to give up on anything and firmly believes that through hard work and determination he can achieve anything. Throughout the drama, he slowly fixes this problem.
魚仔 played by Ian Chan (Mirror)
A volleyball genius who used to play recreationally on the streets. After being scouted by Ka Yu, he learns the fun of playing volleyball professionally. He and King are "friendly competitors." As the two star spikers on the team, they are always battling to be the best (it is mainly King being jealous that he lost to 魚仔 and wages war on him). The only person he gets competitive with is his stepbrother who is also a star volleyball player. Jealous of the love his stepbrother receives, Ian becomes lost in jealousy and loses himself. With the help of his team, he realizes that is important to him and ultimately reconciles with his stepbrother. However, I will say the reconciliation with his stepbrother and mother was a bit rushed and underdeveloped.
Before joining Mirror and starring in this drama, Ian was actually a star volleyball player and used to be on the Hong Kong's Men's Volleyball Team. Similar to the character he portrays, he was a star spiker in real life. He ultimately quit due to the measly pay and his love for music. He did all the moves in the drama himself and even acted as a body double for some of the other cast members.
Bobby played by Anson Lo
As one of the most mature members plus his ability to make decisions logically and calmly, Bobby becomes the brain of Little as the main setter. He is a very talented volleyball player and holds back on his true potential to accommodate his fellow teammates. Noticing his talents, one of the top volleyball teams scouts Bobby to join their team. Wanting to help Bobby reach his true potential, Ka Yu encourages Bobby to take the opportunity even though his departure will be detrimental to Little's future. Bobby initially refuses to leave Little because he once promised to win the championships with King. However, with the support of King and his teammates, he happily quits Little to join his new team. This scene was honestly a bit unexpected for me. In most cases, the team usually would hate Bobby for "betraying" them and there would be a huge conflict between the characters, or to sell the theme of brotherhood, the character would decide to stay with the current team, but not in We Are Littles. This outcome is even better because it shows that true friends should be happy for one another's success.
Other Characters
Other members of the Little are played by Mirror members Tiger, Jer, Edan, and Error members, Fatboy and 193. The other members of Mirror and Error all appeared as cameos in the drama. Though they are not the main characters, throughout the drama, all the members of Little have had their time to shine and growth. In any other team they would've never been picked as they lack height, skill, confidence, and perseverance. However, Ka Yu manages to find all their specialties and highlight them making each of them star players in their own right.
Review
This is one of the first major productions that the members of Mirror and Error participated in and honestly, their performance is not bad. A lot of sports-themed idol Chinese dramas are really bad because the actors' acting is either too cold or too exaggerated. The actors here in comparison have more natural acting. They said that they all had to go through casting and did not receive special treatment just because their management is ViuTV, the producers of the show. Thus, they were all casted for the character that they fit best. Though their acting is not perfect, I definitely see their passion for acting and will to improve.
I watched some behind the scene clips and it seems the producers of the show tried their best to study volleyball and portray it as accurately as possible. A lot of the other players are professional volleyball players and the cast members actually played volleyball rather than using stunt doubles. Most of the cast members have some sort of connection to volleyball, whether they used to be on the national team or played in middle school. A lot of sports dramas do not have accurate portrayals of the sport either because they do not care and just want to use sports as a background or they choose to over-exaggerate to make the drama more exciting. We Are Littles for the most part is pretty accurate and I am sure will pique your interest in playing volleyball after you watch the show.
Conclusion
Despite its lack of budget, it is an overall well-produced sports-themed idol drama. As a sports-themed idol drama, I think it did its job as it does a good job of promoting the sport of volleyball by showcasing the fun behind it.
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