Arsenal Military Academy (2019)

Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

FL is supposed to be a confident, strong woman. A woman disguised as a man in a Military Academie.
But at any time she is put down and humiliated by comrades. Every underachiever watches her, and looks down on her. But the guys gather around FL, despite her disguise as a man, and fall in love.
Although the boys are not supposed to be gay. FL is supposed to be a man, a soldier, an officer. To believe this balancing act even in a C drama is hard.

Lovey-dovey, flirting, eroticism like in a contact yard and that in a barracks, you have to come up with that. For now he/she has four admirers, why are not eight or twenty-two? What was going on in the Chinese army? Even if soft crazy rich big shot kids are the actors here and future officers.

Despite some ridiculous developments of the story, much was exciting and hard circumstances of the time would be hinted at. You could guess what bitter evil times are on the horizon for China. As for the drama, sometimes more seriousness would have been nice.

Because, unfortunately, some things are out of place in the story, considering how Sino-Japanese relations have developed historically, up to unimaginable cruelties of the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War.
But love in times of war is normal, unfortunately we come up a bit short here.

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One of a kind in the Field of C-Dramas

Arsenal military is undeniably on a different level among other dramas. Most shows are either set in modern or in ancient times, but I rarely see ones that are set during the 1900s. Furthermore, its storyline does not mainly focus on a love story, but rather a journey about growth, friendship, bravery, and patriotism.

This drama has one of the best cast I've seen. Everyone did a great job on portraying their given role, down from the main leads to the supporting characters. Bai Lu, the actress who played as the female lead, deserve all the recognition for her spectactular acting. Unlike most dramas that poorly executes cross-dressings, she really looked and acted as a man and was convincing, omitting the fact that she was quite short and petite. Xu Kai was perfect for acting as Gu Yan Zhen. He managed to portray a childish yet badass character flawlessly. Toby Lee as Shen Jun Shan was just amazing, despite his timid and upright character, I looked forward to his scenes everytime and amired his righteousnes. He showed the definition of a true gentleman. I can't imangine if Wu Jia Yi wasn't casted as Qu Man ting. She was one of the main reasons that kept the show interesting.

This show was well-produced as it was packed with great actors and wonderful OST that matched well with the scene. It was nicely setted with the clothes, cars, and infrastractures. The story progessed nicely, for as the characters underwent growth, it slowly turned from a romantic comedy to a political drama. Each episode was filled with wonderful plot showcasing the bond between military students as they bravely face struggles concerning life and death for their country despite going against those with power and authority. This drama was a a slow burn and I would have given it a higher if it weren't for some dull moments or if the scenes without much action or significance could have been cut short. I find myself speeding up some parts of the drama from time to time as some of the exchange of dialogues were delivered slowly and some transitions were filmed long.

XIE XIANG, GU YAN ZHEN, & SHEN JUNSHAN'S LOVE TRIANGLE:
Both Gu Yan Zhen and Shen Jun Shan whole-heartedly deserved Xie Xian. The main difference was that Gu Yan Zhen made Xie Xian laugh and comfortable, whereas Shen Jun Shan made her feel safe and taken care of. Since romance wasn't the main focus of the storyline, for me, it was more like choosing your bossom friend (Gu Yan Zhen) or your affectionate brother(Shen Jun Shan). Personally, I was rooting for Shen Junshan. However, Gu Yan Zhen definitely had the upper hand since he was Xie Xiang's roomate and knew first that she was just disguising as a man, so he was more clingy, flirty, and had more opportunities to protect and care for Xie Xiang while keeping her secret. On the contrary, Shen Jun protected and treated Xie Xian nicely despite not knowing that she was a girl. He repeatedly saved her and regarded her of great importance to the point that he thought something wrong with him since he had affection for Xie Liang Chen, who is said to be a man. Hence, he tried to distance to himself for a short while and didn't know how to act towards Xie Xian.

QU MAN TING, GU YAN ZHEN, & SHEN TING BAI'S LOVE TRIANGLE:
I would have love to see Qu Man Ting an Gu Yan Zhen together for they would have make a great couple especially with their similar personalites such as having a bold character. I admire Qu Man Ting's perseverance in pursuing Gu Yan Zhen, I truly believe that if they had met first without Xie Xiang in the picture or Xie Xiang ended up choosing Shen Jun Shan, Gu Yan Zhen would eventually fall for Qu manting. Sadly, Gu Yan Zhen was already in love with Xie Xiang. Hence, I felt bad for her and as well as for Shen Ting Bai since he truly loved and and did a lot of things for her, but she chooses to chase a man who doesn't even love her back. But thankfully Qu manting was moved by Shen Ting Bai's true love.

OTHER LOVE STORIES:
All the love stories present in this drama was really intriguing. Including Li Wen Zhong's. He was able to display his character development Through his affection for An Wen. Aside from them, I find Huang Song's one-sided crush toward Xie Xiang pure and cute. It's just a pity that he didn't get a chance to know that his best friend, Xie Liang Chen and Xie Xiang, the girl who he admire is the same person. We are well aware that Oda Xian Rong truly loved Shen Jun Shan. However, in no way was she deserving of his love and trust.

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Usually, this type of drama isn't something I would really enjoy, BUT THIS WAS THE ONE TO WATCH IF YALL DONT LIKE WAR DRAMA! The story line is excellent, it keeps you invested (even though there are some down time/extended scenes that weren't too needed) and it throws you into your feels (the acting is really good). In my opinion this drama should've gone on for another 5 episodes or so (like, at least break 50 episodes). The chemistry between Gu Yanzhan (Xu Kai) and Xie Liangchen (Bai Lu) is amazing and pulls on our heartstrings. Plenty of laughter, tears, heartbreak, love, and action.

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So this is not the most perfect plotted drama but, this is one of the most scripted Chinese drama. I have been amazed. There are a lot of good Chinese drama in 2019.
I know people can't escape the radar from Xu Kai. (I also was caught during Lanxi Palace) This is his second drama with Bai Lu. I am not complaining. I love the actress (She is my favorite actress in China now, since Untouchable Lovers). I don't usually watched the drama from that era. Because shooting is happening all the time without reason and I hate it.

But now that both Xukai and Bailu starred in the drama. I had to try for a few episodes. I was addicted since the first 5 eps. They are fun. The chemistry between the casts is amazing.
The first few episodes starts plotting, nothing major. But they show the chinese and the japanese relationship is starting to get intense and people are taking sides. Thank god, this is not forbidden romance like; each of heroine took different sides. So the main casts are students from the Academy. They trained. They get to know each other. They got on each other's nerves. Then they started to get punished together, went to missions together, suffer together and their bonds are getting stronger.
The 20-later episodes shows the evil ones. The ones from Japan. The plots are not perfect. Things happened so suddenly. I'm not sure I am convinced how a lot of people die or a lot of people escape. But it's okay. Miracles happened in drama right? But don't get me wrong. Storyline and plots are different and, I like the storyline. It's light, nothing heavy. No one is starved. No one is tortured. But some important casts die (I cannot tell who, watch to find out)

The deaths of characters made me tear-up a little, and mad a little. So, this drama would make a nice recommendation for someone who is interested in "enemies-to-lover" "girl-pretend-boy" "girl-in-boys-school" "slow-burn-romance" "romance-with-action"
So, Check the drama out!

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I love it! I love it! I love it!

I love this drama and I want to shout it out loud and proud! This drama is by far one of the best dramas that I have watched and I have watched many. There are some wonderful dramas that one will remember fondly for a long time to come and this drama is one of these beautiful and memorable gems!

I want to recommend this drama to everyone! If you love Crash Landing, you’ll love this too!

This drama is So Good + So Awesome + So Thrilling + So Exciting + So Cute + So Heartbreaking = A MUST WATCH!

All drama lovers, pls watch this!!

Watch because:
- the cast is beyond great; everyone acted so well
- plot is a exciting and has elements of fun and cute mixed with suspense and action
- plot is fast moving enough and things are well explained
- male lead Xu Kai as Gu Yan Zhen is so cute and lovable; my first time watching this actor and I’m rather in love
- other actors are well cast and all act their parts very well
- female lead does a good job as Xie Liang Chen and Xie Xiang; she’s likable throughout
- story builds up well and I really loved Shen Ting Bai and Qu Man Ting; he’s a handsome and capable man cum sincere lover boy and she’s a ‘live in her own world’ but worldly wise lass
- the music is great and I’ve been listening to the OST over and over again
- revenge executed and justice served
- a somewhat happy enough ending

What I didn’t like:
- the villains are really (for the lack of a better word) villainous
- Oda Xian Rong should have died long long time ago; she’s beyond hateful and annoying: hate her smug look and jester-like smiles
- good people die - Huang Song died, General Guo died, Li Wen Zhong died ... like OMG. Heartbreaking.


Overall, this is an Excellent, Remarkable, Outstanding, Well-Made drama that deserves to be enjoyed by drama lovers! If you are considering this drama, stop deliberating and Start Watching it right now!

I’m going to indulge in the OST and the watchable moments all over again! :) :)

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When it comes to acting, I believe it was well indeed. The production was great as well. The plot was great too. However, there were some things in the plot I think could have been better. I didn't like how the female lead constantly showed hatefulness and annoyance to the main lead for basically majority of the drama. Not to mention, I think it took way to long for her to say she was a female. Other then those changes, I do think it was a really good drama. It showed many aspects like family, friendship, life and death and so on. I do think the acting was really good though.

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Not a show for me, but great castings!

I didn't gave this show high ratings not because they it's bad/acting sucks but because i am personally not a fan of such genre (military, war related). However i do think that Xu Kai and Bai Lu as well other supporting actors acted really well here. Bai Lu as a "man" in this show is very convincing, never was she weaker than most of the men in the military school & she never acted all girly infront of ML either. I also love Xu Kai's character here, very goofy and fun to watch. I fast forward a lot of the scenes related to war/fights because it's just not for me and I would say the romance part is very little here (it's not for you, if you're in for romance). FL and ML also have good chemistry together even though they actually don't have any sweet lovey dovey kiss scenes. 2nd ML was great too, just that i couldn't quite get his love for FL.

Would still recommend this to people out there that wants a little romance, comedy, friendship and war/conspiracy. However, I will probably not rewatch this.

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Well made and awesome costume

I have never written any review and here I am writing this. This drama is very entertaining and with good values. I have not fast-forwarded any episode other than the credits at the end of each episode. This is the second drama I have not done any fast-forwarding. The first was Ashes of Love.

First of all, the storyline was captivating. It is a drama after all. Put me into that era, I feel so many emotions with the youth and the student movement. Knowing that most of the real people would die during the war with Japan.

Second, the costumes were gorgeous. Even simple raggy male clothing looked elegant in that era. The women's hats and dresses were so classy. Wish we could have that kind of fashion again.

Third, the acting was very good. Every character had his/her emotions that could be felt with happiness, heartaches, anger, and questions.

Last, the music was beautifully mastered. The dances were just so captivating and dreamy. The early 1900s were so elegant with patriotism, trust, love, music, dancing, costumes, and wars.

For the ones that wonder what happened to her brother, a very brief moment of a report from Shen Jun Shan (Toby Lee)'s people on the investigation in Xie Xiang/Xi Liang Chen: Her brother died from being run over by a car after chasing a thief and she was stricken by her brother's death that made her disappeared.

I strongly suggest you watch it. It is very entertaining. It can take you to a totally different world. Best wishes.

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This is overall superb drama.. i dont know why it isnt much popular

Actually i have no word to say i,m still cring 😢 one of the best drama tht has romance, comedy, happy, sad, lost everything.. actually goblin is my favorite drama there are few dramas that i gave 10 stars but not any of them could take place tht goblin have in my heart.. But this one surely did ❤️❤️ I actually lived inside the drama, when they smile i smile like idiot and when someone dd joke i feel like i am also part of it.. woow i cant get over.. i dont like watch dramas that have too much episodes, thyz the reson i dont like watch c dramas, i watchd many c dramas when i comes episode 20 all of them started getting boring but this one not like that..
actually i watchd 30 episodes in 2 days. then accidentally i saw a video that huang sung's death. That really break my heart i dont want him to die, so started watchng slowly like one episode per day.. then here comes episode that huwang sung die.. actually when that seen come i cryd my eyes out.. and next day start watchng from next episode becoz now ' huang sung died and there nothing to be sad' tht is wht i really thought.. then here again li wengzen died. i feel very sad and angry in the same time becoz his stupidity japanese track thire location and not only that huang sung also died becoz of him. so here this idiot go to fight with few japanese and died. actually huang sung's sacrifice gone vain.. actually i did not think after huang sung died it will be this sad.. lot of acedmy members killed and sergent guo also killed i really cried my eyes out again and again.. tht dputy cmnder, xiorong, and the one who killed guo died so easyli i feel soo angry about that 😡
Yes after soo many sacrifices there r happy ending.. but i feel emty.. when liangchen remembering old days i feel like i am her.. and i rememberd old days it really heart breaking.. now there r 5 out of 7 😢 and no more sergent guo.. i thnk thts why i feel emty.. but i feel happy when japanese coc get blast woow
Huwang sung is the only one who didnt know about xia lingchens truth i feel sad about that but at the same time i thought itz ok it will be more painfull if he find out truth becoz he did love xia xing ❤️.. itz ok about ending but i feel like when it end they should add some more parts like xia xing met her parents (becoz they dont know about anything and when she aressted also thire no news about her parents) xia xings best friend why did not she come.back in the end itz sad. And in the end they show zhen jushan become sergent and ji jin and li yin training new soldiers isnt it feel bad without xia cing and gu yanshen they shoud show us both of them too after all they are the main characters. They only show two of them leaving i feel sad about that..
As for acting all of them r superb. All of them did thir best love them all
Overall best of best drama that have all kind of things. Start, how it going, and end all are perfect.. perfect plot perfect acting all are perfect.. highly recommended ❤️❤️ I cant really get over this drama. I feel sad and thinking about this all night and day i should start watchng other drama soon otherwise i will die while thinking soo long about this drama ha ha

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A small warning - Don't watch the opening/ending songs unless you want to be spoiled for the drama. I'm glad I skipped through them and watched it in the last episode to see what it had, otherwise I would have known too much.

I thought the story would be typical same as any other story where a female disguises herself as a male and runs into romance with someone who she is around as a man. But there's so much more to the story than that.
While there is romance, the main story revolves around the military, politics, and history (Japan vs. China). So if you feel as if it is "Anti-Japanese" as some claim for historical dramas like this, then don't watch it. There's also some funny moments that you laugh to.

Regarding the romance in this drama, I'll warn there's a lot of love triangles in this drama. I wouldn't even call it triangles, it's more like a love tree or some sort of diagram. There is no gushy type of romance here either. You might get disappointed because you don't see kiss scenes between the main couple, but I think because the main story revolves around the military and historical issues, the romance had to be limited. However, I think the romance between the main couple is sweet. In the beginning of the drama, you see a lot of cute, fluffy moments between the main couple, but the story starts to get more intense and you start seeing less of those moments. The relationship between the main couple was built nicely too. The show does try to throw you off with the love triangles. It makes you feel bad seeing one of them in an unrequited love. There was one person who was in a love triangle whose persistence did piss me off slightly, but thankfully, even though it took the last section of the drama, the person gives up and moves on to someone that was there for them which I'm happy about.
I will also add there is tragedy even if it isn't labeled as one. The fact that it revolves around military and battles is a sign that people will die. And these deaths are quite upsetting to see. It didn't make me cry or anything, but it was just sad for a moment because some of those characters, you grow a liking to.

One of the strong points in the drama is the friendship. The academy shows the growth of characters who become a group of friends (along with the FL). Some of them may not get along in the beginning, but over time and with what circumstances they had to go through together, they grow closer together and develop a deep understanding of one another. You also see redemption of one student in the Academy which was nice to see that they did that for him.

As for how the women are portrayed, I think they tried for a realistic approach for them. You're not going to see weak women and then women with supernatural strength. You see most of the women trying to break barriers and being independent for the most part(since in most situations they do receive a man's help). One woman tries to change traditional society's views. Another breaks academy rules and disguises as a man. You slowly see her get stronger to the point that she can handle some situations by herself or be able to fight some men. Another woman is a boss. The nice part is that our FL isn't shown to be dumb. She is smart when it comes to crucial situations.

Overall, I would say they did a good job of showing the growth of many characters in the drama including the ML(he develops nicely and you start rooting for him throughout the drama). Some characters were just forgotten about and held almost no significance. Some things they didn't explain properly regarding some minor characters. There's also so many characters and you have to try to know their names, but some of them end up dead or not shown later on.

I will say the last 9-10 episodes, is where you just get the most hooked. You're stuck with anticipation since that's where it becomes most intense. Everything before that was just building to this last bit. I think they could have cut down on some of flashbacks though. There was a situation where the same flashback was repeated.

I forgot to add, if you want to see some of the deleted scenes of the drama, you can find some of them on YouTube. Apparently 60 minutes were deleted, and some of the scenes had kissing scenes (and comical ones too).

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