A fantastic political wuxia drama.
This show had everything: family relationship, dense political maneuvering, and fantastic acting. I think probably the most amazing thing this series accomplished was the fact that I was able to empathize with every single character (well, except for the Emperor's daughter; she was not likable). I could understand their motivation and could even see myself agreeing with them to a certain extent. I even found myself rooting for the character who was the villain throughout the series. His was a sad story, for sure.Given that this series came out in 2021, I'm glad I watched it now since I didn't have to wait for the episodes to drop but could binge to my heart's content. My only quibble was that the pacing was a little slow at times. Will subsequent seasons be produced? I'm with the fan who respond with a resounding yes. Hopefully, we'll hear news soon.
(I don't generally re-watch series so ignore that value.)
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Wuxia but better!
A male lead that doesn't act overly cold and mysterious but is actually sweet and kind and also has a brain (like he's really cunning)??? A female lead that doesn't act cringey and childish but actually has responsibilities????? Oh my god this drama is a masterpiece. The cinematography is outstanding film level but the characters are even better. We all love Wuxia old masters right? Right? This drama has plenty. From Lao Huang (a friendly and loyal master) to the greatest master who is actually cute (Li ChungGang) this drama has it all. The female lead doesn't go running behind the male lead and the male lead doesn't try to hide his feelings. The best part of the drama you ask? Well it's the relationship between the male lead and his father. Outside the father is the human slaying heartless general but inside he's a caring and doting father who gets chased by his son with a shoe and fears his daughter. A cute little brother, caring sister, dangerous tsundere sister, you name it, this drama has it all. I recommend watching this drama. It's Wuxia without the cringey tropes!!Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Smart chess-like manoeuvres coupled with fantasy martial arts
From start to finish, this drama felt like a chess game where events unfolded because they were planned in order to illicit a specific outcome. It is strategies that not just take you from point A to point B (like most dramas) but to point C, D, E and beyond!With flying swords at a flick of a finger and swirling waters with a wave of a hand, this drama satisfied me with a myriad of martial arts experts and their respective skills beautifully brought to the screen with decent cgi.
The ML’s father is a master strategist and though the ML doesn’t see eye to eye with him, the ML comes to terms with the reasons behind his father’s long term plan. It is a sad revelation how his father had to hold back on revenge, in order not to waste the efforts of all the lives lost in order to bring peace to the country.
Cinematography was gorgeous and I love the sceneries and settings. The pacing was leisurely allowing you to take in and enjoy the drama like a piece of art. While this was good in the beginning, I soon found it a bit tiring waiting for certain scenes to move along.
The ML is extremely lucky - he can pick up martial arts easily as he is gifted and also manages to come across many characters who end up saving his life on numerous occasions! The ML proves to be a chip of the old block with his fair share of strategies and long term planning, desperately wanting to not do things his father’s way but at times, ends up doing just that.
Unfortunately, the romance was muted with it barely visible most of the time and only had one touching moment when he had to part with her.
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FAN XIAN OR XU FENG NIAN
If people love this drama, I am not one of them, I like it ok but I think Zhang Ruo Yun oversell Fan Xian character-like Joy of Life. The actors came from JOL casts, many of them, collaboration between actors like 'My Heroic Husband' which were from JOL casts. Xu Feng Nian is another type of Fan Xian (JOL) background; handsome, likable/lovable, promising/bright future, don't care about position/status, ladies man, the son of powerful man/family, highly intelligent, scheming and political genius. I think Zhang RuoYun makes another staple of dual figure with similarities; Fan Xian and Xu Feng Nian, We can obviously notice that Feng Nian is Fan Xian were all in one. Alright besides all that, what I love about this drama is Xu Xiao. A powerful despicable man who scares of his own kids; 2nd daughter and Feng Nian. Who would beg his kids to do his bidding rather using a punitive or authoritative orders to get them do what he wants them to do. His children has voice to say 'nay' or 'ye' although the end his children would do what he wishes them (reluctantly) to enhance the power of Xu family in North Liang. I was wondering, by the age of 19 he started to learn how to fight and dream about winning the fight against second best martial artist in the world.I love Old Huang, his character is cut short but he's unforgettable character, he's an excellent acting - very natural, relax, cute, genuine, and lovable. Another noted is the love between siblings, no rivalry no jealousy no anger. Every sibling wants to protect, care and love the other brother or sister...that's nice for a change rather many of C-drama portray hatred between sibling. Li Chun Gang/God of Sword (Qiu Xin Zhi) is likable character but he clean his dirty dusty smelly foot a lot - like 'eueww!'
There are too many martial art masters like everybody has specialty of over the top abilities that like 'really?'. Too much fake visual effects, Jiang Ni looks like the youngest actress and she's doing a great job there. Outdoor scenes has beautiful view but can see the white foundation in actors faces - the cosmetic job is obvious, total of 36 episodes does not bring out the best of Zhang RuoYun skills. I don't think there is a need to wait for season 2 or 3. This is the kind of watching one time and move on.
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sentimental, sacred, survival and swift
I love the constant battle in wanting to be ruthless but also life saving. Nobody ever says I love you so far but the humanity for each other and sacrifices reinforces that it’s not what you say but what you do that exemplifies love. All characters are excellent, they all help keep the story moving….the scheming and power plays we’re unpredictable at first …. I like the fantasy animals. So far an excellent cdrama…it does not disappoint at all.The relationship between the prince and general is like nothing else ive come across in other cdrama. It’s rather manipulative but caring at the same time.
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Best Wuxia out of China! Better story than Ever Night but less action
I would rate this one above Ever Night, which is one of my favorites. Even though action is not as good, the story and the characters are better than Ever Night.Update after 22 episodes - the constant use of slow motion for every single freaking scene is so frustrating. Why is the director using slow motion for every scene? Just a guy walking up a step becomes a 10 second slow motion. It's so juvenile. He uses it for every freaking scene. You will notice it after episode 17 or so. Every episode after that never gets resolved because half the show's length is spent on slow motion.
I would love to see more of the action but at the same time the story is so good that I do not miss it.
The pace is GREAT and the intelligence of script and dialogue is far above everything else before. I only wish it went up to 60 episodes because 38 episodes seem too quick. I love the world the writers are building and getting to meet new characters along the way.
Finally we get characters that don't start out with high skills and remain the same throughout entire story and repetitive dialogue and never-ending mysteries. And whiny girls or girls that keeps sacrificing themselves or people that constantly talk about sacrificing their lives for someone else. Worst are constant heroes who are cold and aloof and cannot love any women. Or the woman who keeps sacrificing herself for someone else. Just stupid.
We have characters that actually dress with some dirt on them. And no constant focus on close ups of dialogues all the time with their perfect makeup and they speak for 30 minutes and story remains the same. So many C-dramas that constantly yap yap yap and zero progression of the story other than more tears or people expressing emotions non-stop.
And so many c-dramas that rely slow motion on EVERY freaking scene. Someone stepping through the door, fighting scenes. None-stop slow motion every 2 seconds... Don't mind it once a while but not every freaking second of a fight. And fights that last 30 minutes and never ends because of slow motion. I hate those.
Update 12/24/2021 merry Xmas. At episode 20 and seems every fight scene is all slow motion. Sad. Episodes 17-20 just drags and drags.
And so many c-dramas with characters that are brain dead. Like fugitives running away and in middle of night, start singing or playing musical instrument. Or facing an army of soldiers and instead of running away, stays around fighting for no reason and gets others killed. Or when trying to escape a place, walks around without any disguise like an idiot and goes to center of town to wait for friends. So many c-dramas with such idiotic characters. Thank god we dont have too many of that here.
This is 10/10 and I have not seen anything last 20 years that's as good as this one. Would rate it like:
1) Sword Snow Stride
2) Ever Night
3) Joy of Life
4) Fight through Heavens
5) Luoyuan
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Uncertain......
I love costume dramas and heard good things about this so I thought I would watch it. I am only on ep15 so I am going to reserve judgement as to if I like or don't like the show until the end. However I can say there are shows that have grabbed my attention right from minute one of episode one and this isn't one of them.The acting is good and the costumes and music great, but there is something off about this drama.
Personally I think it is the way the drama tries to keep secrets from every character as well as the audience that seems to hinder the plot and story. Even on ep15 there isn't actually a clear understanding of plot. None of the characters seem to know what each other is doing and why, and as an audience even we don't really know what's going on. Although this can make a great drama when it's done with a few characters or used later in a drama I think when it's used from moment one with every character it just leads to a confusing story that's hard to follow.
I am sorry to say that if you want an easy to watch and relaxing drama this wont be it.
Anyway I will keep watching and see if the plot and story clears up any. We shall have to see.
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Slow but Steady Success Stride
SSS is the most calming Wuxia/strategy/adventure drama I have watched so far. ML is a smart, lucky, and entitled young master who is the son of a powerful military lord. Much of the story is about how he is forced to succeed his father, giving closure to his companion's death and investigating his mother's death.ML is very lucky that he hardly fights and someone keeps saving him and even if he fights, it is mostly an easy win. ML is very smart to have massive chess pieces hidden in unexpected places but sometimes his reactions seem weird and he gets caught off-guard which was contradictory. Maybe it was genuine or maybe it was for the bigger plan. As I'm sick of watching dramas where ML is constantly outwitted, I didn't mind watching villains getting outwitted instead this time. Zhang Ruo Yun is one of my favorite actors and he didn't fail to charm here as well. His weight seems to fluctuate or something was wrong with his costumes. Sometimes he looked thin and sometimes with some weight.
I liked the different cultivation theories and techniques like the Open the heaven's gate(I loved this scene so much and it felt very realistic especially the dragon), Snakes in Sleeves, 12 Flying swords (the swords were so cute), etc. The CGI for these scenes was pretty decent though sometimes hazy. Also, the cute beast cubs were fun to watch.
FL is smart but I would have preferred if their relationship had started on equal status. FL's character is very strong and has a good backstory. The romance is not the main focus and it is just some bickering conversations and nothing flirty or serious.
The story is simple but has so many characters that you never know who is gonna pop out next. That is why it sometimes feels unpredictable and kept me surprised. After a point, it is easy to see this drama through. Scheming was pretty ruthless and dark. I was honestly baffled at how they did the scholar dirty. I know he was in the wrong but the punishment was overkill. In this context, even the so-called "kindness" pep talk was hypocritical. The leading characters are nearly grey so I didn't invest myself emotionally with their character inconsistencies and their hypocrisies.
My favorite characters were obviously the god of sword (I really liked his attitude towards life and other people's schemes), ML's brother (he is so cute), and Xuanyuan Jing Cheng ( I really love the entire segment of this character). And the dumbest character award goes to Zhao Kai. I loved the actor's character in JOL but here he is simply a comedy piece and I can't even take him seriously. I don't know why he speaks slowly and his actions were oddly brazen. Also, the kid from JOL plays a unique character and excels in it tremendously. At this rate, his career is set.
The vibe of the entire is drama is very slice-of-life and not fast-paced or edgy. I liked the muted color palette of the drama's cinematography. Though the production looks sometimes cheap, the costumes of the characters are rarely posh either, but it is compensated with good locations, decent camera work, veteran actors, and good music. I really loved the opening and ending theme music and the gong style bgm.
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If you think this is your Joy of Life substitute, then the answer is yes and no. (I have read JOL but not this drama's book)
Yes, because there are similar tropes like entitled young master ML who happens to be always lucky, smart FL, Pseudo Harem vibe, various cultivation techniques, the revenge plot, assassination attempts, traveling missions, a lot of people saving ML just cause they owed his parents.
No, the vibe is totally different. This drama is slower and humbly produced with less emotional impact than JOL.
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A very good drama
I very much enjoyed this, an excellent show!The ML put in a stellar performance, as we are used to when it comes to him. Most of the other characters were also excellent. Scheming, action, and the general interactions between characters were done well. The ending was good and it closed off all the plots.
As for negatives, the last few episodes seem a bit rushed and generally lower quality than the rest of the drama.
The FL was subpar in my opinion. Her acting was average, chemistry with the ML was almost nonexistent, and her presence seemed forced in most of the content. It doesn't help that the rest of the female characters in this drama are all excellent, I guess. The White Fox, Qing Nao, Qing Feng, the two sisters, Shu Xiu, and even Miss He He, they were all superb, even with less screen time than the FL.
Emotional moments were a bit hit and miss due to the lack of build-up. I imagine that they are more impactful in the books. I guess we can't blame this on the producers, who are forced to squeeze everything into 40 episodes.
My rating - 9/10
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This review may contain spoilers
Come into this Wuxia drama knowing that there would (should) be a second and/or even a third season and you will not be disappointed. This drama is about Xu Feng Nian (Zhang Ruo Yun) and his journey to find out who murdered his mother and to establish the grounds to inherit the Kingdom of Northern Liang. Throughout the journey, and with his father’s strategies in place, he meets and befriends people with different martial arts abilities that help him developed his martial arts abilities which he has who refused to learn until his closest friend Li Chun Gang [God of Sword] dies. There is a love interest, Jiang Ni (Teresa Li) that doesn’t developed into any romantic plot line but it is hinted for, most likely, second season, that they will be together. Overall, the story and action well played and developed. The drama is interesting and entertaining. Enjoy it! Was this review helpful to you?
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Absorbing tale of political intrigue with interesting characters and elements of wuxia
Political intrigue is not everyone's cup of tea, but this series does it in a way that will be appealing to a lot of people. There are plenty of conniving characters in the story, but it's not the kind of story that will leave one with a dreadful sense of cynicism or the idea that people are all merely making use of one another to achieve their own aims. Instead, there are characters we can appreciate, even those who are not on the side of the protagonist.For a story that involves so much scheming, it surprisingly has a subtle central message about kindness. Xu Feng Nian is a reluctant potential heir to his father's important position, one which the ruler is both dependent on and heavily guarded against. His father is a master of covert plots and can be merciless with his enemies, but is essentially not a bad person. Xu Feng Nian is actually very similar, but he is reluctant to sacrifice the people he cares about for "greater" ends like peace in the country: basically he wants to have his cake and eat it. Nevertheless, it seems that his attempts to do something different from his father end up being whatever his father has planned for him to do in the first place.
If the story is not handled properly, we might just end up with a bland story with a lot of scheming characters we don't care about. But in Sword Snow Stride, the protagonist is bent on tempering his actions with kindness. So while the political intrigue is an unfortunate aspect of his life (and the lives of all the other characters), the solution, it seems, is not to run away from it but to be great at it without losing one's kindness and sense of justice. Quite importantly, though it is not overly emphasized, Xu Feng Nian is saved by his/his late mother's kindness at a critical juncture towards the end.
One thing that strikes me as being particularly well done is the sentimental aspects of the story, particularly the protagonist's relationships with the other characters. Surprisingly romance is not given a whole lot of attention although it is there. Instead, Xu Feng Nian's relationships with his father, his siblings and even his deep friendship with a servant who dies early on in the story are finely blended into the story of what he has to/wants to do before he succeeds his father. Almost every character who plays a relatively significant role has a distinctive personality (and mind you, there are many, many characters). This is a sign of a really well written script.
There are more treats for the audience. The wuxia elements of the story practically ventures into xianxia territory, and the fight/swordplay sequences are beautifully choreographed (even if perhaps not altogether innovative). Some might find the sequences of the greatest martial arts masters a little over-the-top, especially when they can affect nature or open some celestial gate, but I don't think it mars the story in any way. Perhaps it is related to the theme: the most powerful masters of martial arts are mostly not the ones who wield power or connive whereas the masters of political schemes do not always have physical prowess; eventually a balance of both may be necessary even for noble political aims.
There is likely a second season given the viewership ratings that the series has garnered. On its own, however, this season ends satisfactorily. It is certainly possible for further developments: who is the woman who helps Xu Feng Nian several times while purportedly wanting to kill him, what is happening with the Wudang Sect guy at the end of the story, will the two baby tiger "monsters" that Xu Feng Nian has adopted have an important role to play, etc? Despite all the loose threads that can lead to a Season 2, Season 1 ends in a surprisingly satisfactory way. It does not give the sense that it ends in the middle of nowhere or resort to some sort of bizarre cliffhanger that makes us doubt our understanding of the entire season. It is not an easy feat to strike the perfect balance between having proper closure for Season 1 while keeping things just open enough for a Season 2 (so that Season 2 will seem like a natural extension), but this series has managed it.
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Most excitedly waiting for season 2
I love this series so much that it redefined the wuxia genre for me.The cast does an impeccable job of portraying the characters and direction is also amazing in capturing the emotions of scenes.
I heard the FL had to face lot of flakes by 'true fans' of the work but I absolutely loved her acting. She did exactly what that character would do and she did an excellent job. To be frank I even liked her character more than ML. I really really hope she returns for next sequels.
The ML also did an amazing job but was missing that masculinity. I am not saying beefing up but in some scenes you could see his clothing sloppy over his small shoulders. It could be a clothing/designer issue but they did an amazing job with other people so maybe ML need wider shoulder?
Anyhow this is a series worth your time. I promise you this is worth it.
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