Ode to Joy

The series is based on a novel by A Nai (Ah Nai), and its screenwriter Yuan Zidan, previously known for writing propaganda-themed works like 'National Anthem' and 'Yu Dafu', saw this adaptation as her personal transition from 'major themes' to 'realistic themes'.

Compared to the novel, where the story takes place in a fictional city called 'Haishi', the TV adaptation relocated the five women to Shanghai.

The screenwriter drew on her own experience working for several years as a white-collar employee at an advertising company in Shanghai to write the series.

The show softened the novel's harsh and cold analysis of human nature, turning much of it into voiceover narration, making the drama gentler than its source material while strengthening the friendship between the five female leads.

Producers originally planned to adapt the three-part, 1.5-million-character novel into three separate television seasons, but during production of what was meant to be season two, the writing team decided the second novel's content alone wasn't substantial enough for full character development, so they merged the second and third novel parts into a single season.

Season one held its filming kickoff ceremony in Shanghai on 27 August 2015 and wrapped on 29 November 2015, with the entire season shot on location in Shanghai.

Season two held its filming kickoff ceremony in Shanghai on 28 September 2016, also shot entirely on location in Shanghai, with overall production for the series wrapping on 20 January 2017.

Starting from season three, the show introduced an entirely new story with a completely different main cast, replacing original leads Liu Tao, Jiang Xin, Wang Ziwen, Yang Zi and Qiao Xin with Jiang Shuying, Yang Caiyu, Zhang Jianing, Zhang Huiwen and Li Haofei.

Ode to Joy has been dubbed China's answer to Sex and the City, praised for breaking away from the cliché of a pure, kind-hearted Cinderella-like protagonist common in Chinese TV dramas.

As of December 2016, season one had accumulated over 18.3 billion views, making it the most-watched contemporary drama in China at the time before being surpassed by Love O2O; its YouTube viewership also exceeded 50 million, surpassing previous records set by Nirvana in Fire and Princess Agents.

Despite its popularity, season two was criticized for a repetitive plot and materialistic messaging, receiving a rating of only 5.3 on Douban, and the series overall sparked social media debate about 'virgin obsession'.