Sword Snow Stride (2021)

Dysfunctional crazy family you will fall in Love with.

I have just watched the first 12 episodes and I am being on conservative side in my rating until I updated at the finale.
First I would like to say that beside Game of Thrones and Vikings this has the best musical and visual intro I have seen. It is a gorgeous artistic watercolor show with an antiquated flute drum soundtrack that had me captivated.

Next it starts off with what you think is the typical narrative of someone giving you an update of histories past....but shows your lead in a vulnerable comedic position. So it had me at Hello.
I have never watched an asian period piece with such a royal/Ruling family as this. You are not quite sure if they are dysfunctional or insanely intimate; but the relationship between the characters are what I like best.....deep..complex...intimate...clever and funny...but mostly loving. Most unique king prince relationship I have ever watched....loved it. I think so far the King/father is my favorite character.
The dialog is long and may put some off ...and if it does this show is not for you because the brilliance is in the dialogue and the mystery within.....and the actors are brilliant and portraying the most amusing characters.
The show definitely has a drawback and that would be the contrived brilliance and luck of the ML.(this was also only thing I didnt like in Joy of Life)..but due to the humble vulnerability of his character I let that pass. I would also love a little more feminine intrigue or storyline... whole lots a yang...not so much yin...but I see its coming. I love strong Female characters and the set has been staged for many.

I am thoroughly enjoying
the show is Very Good.... You can tell it is related to the makers of The Joy of Life.
Costumes...cinematography....actors ...music and editing...are so far brilliant.

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I like the story getting developed .The way Xu feng nian(Zhang Ruo yun) character potrayal and i like the Jiang ni(Li Geng xi) and her cute expressions.And screen play is very similer to joy of life1 and every episode is thrilling with a plot of suspence.
There are so many familliar faces like Crystal Zhang and vengo gao and their acting is very cache and extrodinay characerisations.They keep me captivated, i dont have any urge to fast forward or anything.
especially,zhang ruo yun's brother character Xu Long Xiang(Rong Zi Shan) very natural and showing the very lovely relation between siblings . and also showing love towards the servents relation.
And must prise the Martial Arts fights and the dilongues

Money definitely went into this, the prodection is big. The beginning is quite light and comedic but I wont be surprised if this turns heavy later on. There's a balance in the plot, it has a bit of everything. Like the sword fighting and the wuxia elements in this, Im guinuely looking forward to how the story and the characters develop.

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A Bit of a Drag

Based on reviews as well as being recommended by other reviewers who has somewhat similar opinions of other series, I was super excited to embark on this one. And while I can still force myself to continue watching due to it potentially getting better, there's just nothing intriguing enough to keep going even after 10 episodes in.

There's no real major flaw to highlight and there was quite some potential of being a unique undertaking of "royalty" in the beginning. Instead of the usual elegant and noble demeanor of royals , it was quite interesting to see the more "normalized" relationship with leaders that weren't born into it that type of restriction/upbringing. Although they did take it a bit too far and some scenes were just awkward.

While there were many great actors and characters in the series, the one that I just couldn't bring myself to like was the main protagonist, Xu Feng Nian. Even if his character was supposed to "pretend" to be narcissistic and spoiled (and despite them trying to paint him as some sort of kind soul deep down who refuses to kill anyone), he still comes off strongly as a narcissist and is quite abusive to those closest to him for that matter. His level of intelligence isn't believable enough either for it to balance out. As for the plot flow, while the story does move along with setting changes and introduction of new characters, it also somehow feels circular. There's too much emphasis on Xu Feng Nian and not enough on the supports. There's a lot going on but it really isn't going anywhere. So for these two reasons, I decided to do the drop.

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Amazing and awesome…just like joy of life …for a change women have some real badass kung fu

Another amazing series and I have become a fan of the screen writer, director and Zhang ruochan….

So far things I liked

1. Not like a regular army plot twist where there is forever romance or sacrifice left and right in the name of country, love etc…
2. Hero & the characters actions speak louder ….intelligence is making me smile and watch it …
not like the sissy guys trying hard to win the affection of ladies around all the time or sissy hero depending on friends to do the most work
3. Kung fu actions scenes overall is top notch…no fighting for hours when the same can be shown in quality in min…and the scenes for the ladies are top notch… ladies characters are not Barbie dolls getting freebies and affections and another striking thing is that almost all of them look great

The other top tv shows that I love are
1. Evernight season 1 and 2/ Joy of life season 1
3. Demigod & semi devil / condor trilogy / deer cauldron
8. Ancient detective / Duoluo continent / Word of honor /Untamed

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if mystery is all there is, then there's no substance

There was so much hype for this and for Joy of Life, but unfortunately, both of these shows Zhang Ruo Yun gives the impression of basically acting the same character in the same story-- i.e., an invincible protagonist who pretends to be weak, conquering a world where everyone is stupid and no one knows what's going on except for him. And that includes the audience, because the plot straight up doesn't make sense.

Why should a young powerful prince leave home and pretend to be a beggar without fighting skills for 3 years just to evade an arranged marriage, then come back... without really having evaded it, or indeed any of his bloodthirsty political enemies?
Why does a top martial artist who enjoys roast chicken, coincidentally the man who rescued the Prince's life a decade ago, live underwater in the middle of a lake?
Why should the prince's father, coincidentally the most powerful man in the military, pretend to be stupid and spend all of his effort trying to outplot his own son by e.g. installing martial artists in his harem?
Why should a princess, coincidentally the last of an almost extinguished noble line, put aside learning real life skills in order to alternate trying to assassinate the MC and working as a maid for him?

After asking questions like this every single episode, and never getting any answers, we start to suspect... that the answer to all of our questions is simply, 'because this way it the protagonist gives off an air of mystery as he shows his superiority during epic feats of deus ex machina'.

It's fine to have a show that builds mysteries within mysteries, enigmas within enigmas. But if mystery is all there is, then there's no substance, no core. It's like the author tried to think of the most badass character settings possible, and had some inspirational scenes in their mind, but got tired before they could actually write the story. For one, we never find out what exactly what Xu Fengnian and Xu Xiao really did wrong to motivate all these assassinations that are the core driving force of the plot -- except for holding too much military power.

The icing on the cake is 'strong women leads' like Jiang Ni and Nangong Pu She who are meant to look beautiful and cool respectively, but basically have no brains and follow the protagonist around. It doesn't help that the acting for these female leads is basically the weakest in the show.

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Zhang Ruo Yun choice is good

This is my first time review so bear with me, the story begins very lightheartedly with comedic dialogue delivery and not so serious issue but as the episodes role the drama gets stronger and stronger., both emotionally and the way the story is told.

There is basically no issues that obstruct or reduce viewing experience of this drama.the music sets the tone for scene well and no point did i personally fell its overbearing. The pacing of the story is major positive of the story.

As all c-dramas this drama too has large cast and gives importance in each character. of course the acting of Zhang Ruo Yun(the male lead) stands out to me ,I am a fan of his works be it joy of life or Sword Snow Stride he is really good at playing wolf in sheep kind of character.
although lacking compared to the masterpiece joy of life, This drama is similar yet different in its story and style. and yes its a good one

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Sword Snow Stride mengisahkan perjalanan putra mahkota dari Liang Utara bernama Xu Fengnian (Zhang Ruoyun) yang terkenal sebagai pembuat onar menjadi sorang ahli bela diri demi melindungi negara dan membalaskan dendamnya. Perjalanan Xu Fengnian menjadi seorang ahli beladiri tidaklah mudah, namun perjalanan tersebutlah yang akan merubah sifat dan cara berpikir Xu Fengnian.

Taktik dan strategi yang digunakan para tokoh untuk mencapai tujuan mereka sangat cerdik dan jujur saja hal tersebut membuat saya terkagum dengan cara berpikir mereka. Selain itu sinematografi yang ditampilkan dari drama ini juga sangat memanjakan mata. Namun, sayangnya menurut saya alurnya terbilang cukup lambat untuk menyelesaikan sebuah masalah. Hal tersebut dapat dimaklumi karena drama ini lebih menitik beratkan pada strategi daripada perang besar yang berdarah-darah.

Menurut saya walaupun drama ini memiliki alur yang cukup lambat dan kurang begitu terasa greget dari setiap perangnya, tapi hal tersebut sangat terbayarkan dengan ending pembalasan dendam yang memuaskan. Sehingga drama ini layak menjadi tontonan kalian untuk mengisi waktu luang sembari menikmati suguhan indahnya pemandangan disetiap episodenya.

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