It flowed with an interesting "historical" element.....but don't be put off .. it's not boring at all. It got an 8.6 score here..but I'd tell you it's a 10. I'm not sure I could re-watch a long drama ~ but if I did this would be top on the list...Lu Yi the male lead gets my vote for the next James Bond 007... he sizzled. =D
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Rookie Agent Rogue is the definition of awesomeness overload. Not only is it as addictive and tempting as a large grilled cheese burger (with extra fries), it also contains the quality and substance of 100 percent organic leafy greens. In short, this is the kind of show that fulfills your appetite and your taste buds.
It's no secret that Zhao Zanilia is my favorite Chinese actress, however, I'm not at all blind to her faults. I know that she's definitely not the best actress in the world; her crying scenes are pretty bad, she can't pull off intense emotions to save her life and sometimes her acting is downright wooden. So the fact that she is surrounded by an excellent supporting cast in this show should be a huge problem for her.
But no, like always Zanilia makes use of the thing she does have an excess of; charisma and grace. And like always, with these two things she wins the masses.
She consistently brings forth characters that are genuinely likable and so it isn't at all a surprise that I love my girl Yanzhi. A lot.
Simply put, Yanzhi's a badass babe; smart to the bone and exactly what you imagine when you think of high-class agents. She carries out brilliant strategies and shootouts, all the while calmly chewing her gum and rocking her dark shades. She's too cool to be true to be honest.
Our leading man has just as much swag. He has his roguish charm, precision in murder and the stoic detatchment which makes him deadly. At the same time, he's an upright and passionate soldier with an extremely conpassionate side. In the beginning of the show, it's very unclear who the main love interest is and I remember literally praying and crossing my fingers that Zhou Hehao was the main guy and later, when I got to know that he was the male lead all along I felt pure happiness. (It's the little things...)
And then ofcourse, last but not the least, comes our second female lead: Feng Manna. Tao Xin Ran often steals the show with her brilliant acting. Feng Mana is a very complicated character; vicious by circumstance, filled with hate and not a woman you can mess with. But deep down she's vulnerable, insecure and just a lost little girl. Even though I hate a lot of things she does, Xin Ran's masterful acting skills stopped me from truly despising the character.
While a lot of shows can be enjoyed solely because of the main leads, you know a show is truly good when you feel an actual connection with the supporting cast too. Every single character in the drama left an impression on me.
From one episode cameos, to the central roles, the eccentric villains and the faithful soldiers- every act was executed almost perfectly.
This is one of the few Asian thrillers that actually thrills. Apart from a few things here and there the show holds a significant amount of unpredictibility throughout. I couldn't for the life of me guess what was going to happen next. Is the mission going to be successful? Will my beloved hero come out alive? Will the leading lady get out of danger unscathed? I had no idea and I often found myself sitting on the edge of the seat with my heart running a marathon and my nails chipped to bits.
This drama is filled with murder, mayhem, violence, political strategies, masterful schemes and espionage. It's a story of war, love, sacrifice and loyalty. Even though there are a lot of character deaths, it's the small things that actually touch and wreck your heart.
The soundtrack of Rookie Agent Rogue is simply epic. The skillful harmony of music and screenplay is beautiful and sets the perfect mood.
Another thing that's absolutely epic is the love-story. Ahh. The romance is so good but so less. I desperately wish there was more but considering this isn't a romance drama, I have to content myself with what I got.
Both Lan Yanzhi and Zhou Hehou are ingenious individuals in their own right and so together they assert their badassery over everyone. And they do it in style.
A fast-paced drama with a consistently intelligent plot-line and an extremely satisfying ending, RAR is definitely not a show to be missed.
Enjoy!
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This review may contain spoilers
When I had first decided to watch this drama I didn't know what I was getting myself into. At all. I'd never seen a war drama per say, and I didn't know how this would turn out since it was set during the WW2 era~ the only reason I'd decided to watch this was because Zanilia was in it and I was on a solid Zanilia Zhao marathon, having watched 'The Mystic Nine', 'The Journey of Flower', and 'Cuo Dian Yuan Yang' before this, and also rewatching 'Boss and Me' for the second time as well.I must say though, I was sucked in so fast I didn't know what hit me! I went through this like a storm, episode after episode till 4 in the mornings! It was crazy, but the thrill this drama presented was amazing. I really loved this drama, and maybe you will love it too.
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YOU WILL LIKE THIS DRAMA IF YOU:
+ Like Zanilia Zhao
+ Love badass female leads
+ Devoted, badass male leads
+ Like Spy dramas
+ Like war dramas
+ Like a crazy second female lead ~ and like to see her going crazier with constant defeat.
+ Like a very complicated but thorough second male lead. (Ah, Song Mian. I love you.)
+ Like villains you can not really come to hate. (It's crazy, but the main Villains seemed more gentle than most characters here~ especially the female second lead.)
+ Do not mind character deaths. This is a war drama, people. You'll see a lot of character deaths. Trust me.
+ Don't mind crying.
+ Like happy endings.
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I hope you fall in love with both Song Mian and the main male lead just as I did. I hope you cry and laugh with triumph. I hope you question the confused feelings in your chest about have about the main villains. I hope you learn to appreciate and forgive these characters just as I did. But mostly, I hope~ that you come to love this drama just as much as I did.
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I feel like the show's "synopsis" is pretty misleading. Yun Zhi and Yu Hao are not sweethearts/crushes and the search never "leads to a member of her own family". I'll do a re-write of the synopsis and post it below. :-)
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Lan Yan Zhi is a privileged banker’s daughter in Shanghai and a student activist who mistakenly comes into possession of a letter from the Japanese Army in 1937. Zhou Yu Hao, an upstanding officer in the Chinese Army, helps his superiors convince Yan Zhi to work with them as a spy in order to prove her own innocence and the innocence of her friend by infiltrating the home of her best friend, Feng Man Na, and help Yu Hao track down a mysterious traitor. But what will Yan Zhi do when the search turns friends into enemies and enemies into friends?
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And now that I'm finished with the show. WOW!
I loved it. It had amazing acting. Tons of action and drama and emotion. This is one of the few shows with this many episodes where EVERY episode meant something to the overall plot and nothing ever dragged or was a waste of time. The show was so very well executed. I'm just sorry I didn't watch it MUCH sooner.
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STORY
This drama has an interesting idea to begin with. The story flowed and embroidered beautifully. Honestly, after watching hundreds of dramas ( i watch more than 200 kdramas, more than 150 dorama and almost 120 c-drama), i'm dare to say the writing of this drama is one of the best so far. The sequences of events is written with a very good composition. There isn't dull moments. The story and plot keep me intrigued although at several points i can predict what's going to happen. It's well paced and its consistency is freaking good. Plot holes are presented but they're just tiny holes. Romance leads might not be shown too much but it's written in details and simpler which make the story more interesting and doesn't go astray from the main story. The composition and balance of this drama is too good.
ACTING
I give a standing applause to the casts. Their acting are on point. They don't give unnecessary expression. The leads (main leads and second leads) are all good. Their acting are just beyond my expectation. I know that they're good actors and actresses but i don't know that they would act so great. When the leads act, i can interpret and feel what the characters feel. The main leads (Zanilia Zhao and Lu Yi) act beautifully. Seeing from the way they are staring at each other, i can see that they're really falling in love although romance isn't really shown up in the story. I just can't believe how good their chemistry is. In addition, the casts who act as Feng Manna and Song Mian affect me too much
MUSIC
I love the ending and the insert music :D
I highly recommend you to watch this drama if you are a fan of this type of drama. But, if you're a fan of romance dramas that do not require you to think as they have simple plots, you can still give it a try though it might be boring to you
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Overall, I applaud the director, writer, producer, cast, and crew of this drama! Hat's off for a job well done!
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This review may contain spoilers
Okay, yes you're true, i'm late to watch this drama hahahhahahaa But it's okay OMG OMG!!! SONG MIAN MY FIRST LOVE HAHAHHAA, I REALLY ADORE SONG MIAN, HE IS REALLY SO FREAKING HOT AND HANDSOME HERE....... HE IS THE FIRST LOVE OF YAN ZHI (THE FIRST TIME YANZHI MET HIM , I ALREADY THINK YAN ZHI LIKES HIM.
AT THE END, SONG MIAN REALLY SECRETLY LOVING YAN ZHI, I COULDN'T IMAGINE HOW IS FEELING WHEN HE SHOOTED YANZHI WHEN HE THINKS SHE IS A TRAITOR. I STILL THINK HOW IF SONG MIAN HAVEN'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND HUHUUHUUU
SONG MIAN ALWAYS CARED ABOUT YAN ZHI, SONG MIAN SAVED HIS MARRIED PHOTO IN HIS POCKET JUST TO WATCH YAN ZHI'S FACE WHEN HE MISS HER??? OMO OMO, HOW BROKE HIM WHEN HE SHOOTED YANZHI... WHEN SONG MIAN LOOK YAN ZHI SO PRETTY ON EPISODE 13..
OK LET ME BE CRAZY OVER SONG MIAN AND YAN ZHI HAHHAHAAA
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This review may contain spoilers
Throughout this drama, I had really enjoyed the dynamic between Yan Zhi and Man Na as they experienced an inverse development in their character arcs. I always see it as a clash between the natural genius and the determined hard-worker, eagerly awaiting at each episode at who would over-triumph the other. Also, as a protagonist's strengths can only be best exemplified with a strong adversary, the Japanese spy forces had definitely measured up to it.Lastly, it was amazing as to how character decisions are shown to have impactful consequences that would result in a domino effect. The many twist-and-turns in this story are very unexpected and provides the suspense of a spy's life that really keeps you guessing. Definitely recommend giving this drama a watch!
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If I watched this series not long after its released, I would be so thrilled by the story and mesmerized by beautiful Zhao Li Ying. She is truly the Goddess of C-Drama.Taking the set during Second Sino Japanese war where Japanese was occupying China, the story took place in bustling city of Shanghai. The intense spy war between the Nationalist and the Japanese intelligent services and to add to the complication, the involvement of the spy from the Communist China.
The story was interesting on how one can turn upside down due to a tragedy and change one's course of life during the war period. The story is about a female genius who has good observation ability from smell, hearing, photographic memory, ability to analyze thing, etc. She accidentally encounter the intelligence world and dragged down in this spy battle. With her ability she can navigate throughout the process and become heroine but it come with a great prize of loosing people around her.
The production was really trying to depict the Shanghai era during that period of time. Beautiful costume design, good action, suspense and thrill, deception, betrayal, you name it and they have it.
So, I raised my hat to this drama and production team, their cast, etc. Overall it is a good drama in that year.
However, I watched this drama just recently after I finished watching kind of similar theme drama which released this year (The Rebel - 2021) and I feel Rookie Agent Rouge (RAR) becomes obsolete. The spying technique were kind of doubtful. I am not sure whether the listening device were already invented in that timeframe. The wardrobe worn by the FL were too delicate and the design was too modern looking with lots of minis and sleeveless. I am not sure this kind of wardrobe really exist during that time in Shanghai. I believe majority of outfit worn by female during that period was Cheongsam dress. Having said that, I feel that there were several loophole in the drama. In the end, I started to skipping scenes starting ep 20 and finally dropped this on ep 38 and jump straight to ep 45 with lots of skipping.
Compared to the newer series: The Rebel (2021), in my opinion this is kind of heaven and earth in many aspects. RAR is more like a tale while The Rebel is more realistic.
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