Two words i have uttered after watching the last scene of the last episode!
I do not know how to start writing my review for this absolutely, incredible historical drama! As everyone is saying, this is my first Chinese historical drama that i have watched and my first Cdrama to give my review. It was only barely 10mins that i have done watching and i am still in awed! Sure it was a slow paced drama and there is that midstream drags that we call but towards the last quarter the story is getting better, scenes becomes more dramatic and each characters begins to shine. It is like reading a book, each scene is a page turner!
STORY for me is what makes this an incredible drama to watch. It is a story of love, loyalty, trust, friendship, filial love, power and fame. What i like about this is the filial love between the imperial father to his prince sons and the respect the sons is giving to their father. Although it is a travel time story back to the Qing Dynasty, it did not dwell on the travel time genre, 99% of the story is historical in nature! I like that it only uses a minimal amount of backflashes! It has a solid and amazing plot. I was amazed by the history of Qing dynasty. Their respect for authority is admirable! I have learned the kowtow culture, it is praiseworthy!
CHARACTERS of this drama is what makes this a powerful one! Each character are brilliantly acted! Each character has its own shining moments! From the imperial majesty to the Prince Brothers to the mistresses, eunuchs, servants and of course to our heroine Rouxi! The heroine is smart, knows what she wants, she loves unconditionally not just with her heart but also with her mind! The love she has given to 8th, 4th, 14th and 13th prince are all sincere and at a different level! The friendship she had with all the servants, mistresses and concubines, eunuch and her love for her sister is simply admirable! She is now on the top 5 list of those drama characters that i loved!
MUSIC for me is what i loved the most in this drama. The opening and ending OSTs for each episodes are moving, melodious and classic! The music are perfectly edited in each scenes that make each scene more pleasurable to watch! I actually DL these OSTs and its been in my playlist since then!
I gave this a perfect 10 rating simply because i was moved, stunned, entertained, awed by watching this amazing, not easy to forget drama! Surely this will easily become one of my top best drama ever!
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The cast selected, amazing! Big Nicky Wu, Kevin Cheng, and Cecilia Liu fans!!! All the princes were great and acted great. The storyline was good too and kept me glued to the screen. Some episodes left me speechless! The whole time travel thing was fine too, they didn't dwell on it too much. The only thing I did not like about the drama was how they made Liu's character so helpless as the drama continued, nothing like in the beginning.
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This review may contain spoilers
Boring
I decided to give it a shot because I couldn't find the Korean version anywhere.The story starts out pretty well. FL goes through a dramatic character development starting out as an immature young girl and becomes an empathetic, thoughtful, and spirited young lady. However, the drama has way too many characters to keep track of. I didn't care for most of the princes. They seemed more like place holders to make Ruoxi look good, rather than serving an actual purpose.
The romance was very long winded and took forever to develop. We didn't need 15 episodes of Ruoxi/8th prince because that wasn't going to work out anyways, followed by episodes upon episodes of Ruoxi and the 4th prince pining after each other without any movement on that story line. The last 15 episodes were unbelievably boring. There wasn't much political intrigue or romance either. People were just talking, reminiscing, and pining after each other. Even though the drama only has 35 episodes, it could've been wrapped up with a much better pacing a lot sooner.
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Talk, sob, kneel
This drama was produced 13 years ago. I guess based on the standard of Chinese dramas at that time, this was outstanding and was a blockbuster then. However, with the advent of newer and better dramas releases, this drama had become somewhat jaded. In comparison to some of the outstanding production like Till the End of the Moon, Kunning Palace, The Untamed, Ten Mile of Peach Blossom, Scarlett Heart had dropped from the top league in today's drama scene.Additionally, I watched the Korean version of Moon Lovers, Scarlett Heart Ryeo which was a remake of this drama but was based on the Goryeo dynasty, before watching this drama. The storyline was similar but I found the Moon Lovers a lot more action oriented with its fighting scenes, a lot more dramatic and faster paced. It was very clear why their 'Ruo Xi' shifted her affections from the 8th Prince to the 4th Prince. as the latter was hot in pursuit and was very proactive in winning her heart. In contrast, this Scarlett Heart drama featured a lot more talking, sobbing and kneeling. The 4th Prince was a lot more subdued in his approach and courting. Other than some gifts and a couple of scenes when he stood up for her and saved her, there was nothing very dramatic.
I was impressed with the cast of Princes - many of the sires subsequently became big names in the Chinese drama scenes - this drama had brought them to fame.
Overall, the acting was very good, story was interesting and Liu Shi Shi had excellent chemistry with her four suitors. It is worth the time to watch this especially for someone new to the Chinese drama scenes and had not been spoilt by the newer productions.
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You might like the Korean version better-I did
I only recently was able to see this drama on Viki, and since it was considered so pivotal to Cdrama's global emergence, , I figured I'd watch it to anchor my fan repertoire...plus I figured it would be cool to see Li Shishi's early work since she was terrific in Journey to Love---but I found myself constantly comparing this original to the Korean remake Moonlovers Scarlet Heart Ryeo--which changes up how she get's there and get's back, and the characterizations of the princes, but otherwise follows the storyline to the end. I found the K version to be more melodramatic and more heartbreaking and engaging--I found myself fast forwarding through this C version. So you may want to consider finding the K version (I found it on Bilibili) to experience this story.Was this review helpful to you?
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Magnifico. Non ha, letteralmente, difetti.
Sto ancora asciugandomi le lacrime, quindi non so se potrò essere molto coerente. Credo di non aver mai pianto tanto guardando un drama, ma per fortuna le lacrime sono concentrate perlopiù nelle ultime puntate. Eppure, tutta la serie è sotto il presagio di un disastro annunciato. E’ storia, non è che potesse essere diversa da come è stata, anche se in mezzo è stata sicuramente romanzata molto.Una ragazza moderna, investita da un’auto, si risveglia nel 18esimo secolo nel corpo della figlia di un generale, Rouxi. Ben presto viene costretta ad andare a corte, dove andrà a servire l’imperatore e incontrerà un po’ tutti i principi, di lui figli. E’ abbastanza ferrata in storia, quindi conosce più o meno il destino di tutti, compreso chi sarà imperatore alla morte dell’attuale. La storia come la conosce non la soddisfa, quindi cerca ingenuamente di fare in modo di salvare più gente possibile, ovviamente invano. La storia proseguirà per la sua strada, incurante di amori, lotte e desideri. Con l’identità di Rouxi passerà l’intera sua vita lottando contro la storia, contro l’ingiustizia, anche contro l’amore. Spesso confusa dal peso delle sue informazioni e dall’amore o affetto che prova per molti dei principi, avrà una vita difficile, con poche gioie e molti dolori.
Detta così non dice molto, ma non ho provato un solo attimo di noia in tutta la visione. C’è poca azione in questa serie, ma molto intrigo intelligente. Sono poco presenti, anche se comunque ci sono, le meschinerie da harem. E’ tutto molto più focalizzato sulle lotte fra i fratelli per ottenere il trono, sulle loro alleanze, astuzie, tradimenti. La sceneggiatura è veramente fantastica, al pari con gli splendidi costumi e le ambientazioni. Magnifiche. Anche il commento musicale è molto bello e sicuramente aggiunge al pathos di molte scene.
La protagonista è veramente molto brava, così come praticamente tutti gli attori che interpretano i vari comprimari e secondari. Una menzione particolare, però, devo farla per Nicky Wu, che interpreta il 4° fratello, colui che poi diverrà imperatore (lo sappiamo praticamente da subito, non è spoiler). Nicky Wu non è giovane e bello come gli altri, ma è veramente bravissimo e davvero azzeccato per la parte. Ha saputo dare vita non a un personaggio, ma a una persona. E’ stato praticamente l’unico a farmi piangere a calde lacrime e a riscaldarmi il cuore coi rari sorrisi concessi alla sua parte, e per questo ancora più preziosi. Un grande. Una grande interpretazione per un grande drama.
Non saprei veramente dire cosa cambiare per migliorarlo, per cui posso assegnare solo il massimo dei voti.
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