A riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma.
Ancient Detective is a rare treat for both die hard wuxia and mystery lovers that surpasses expectations for both genres. This drama pulls you in right away and takes you on an thrilling, suspense laden journey to solve a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma.The plot is centered around gifted detective Jian Buzhi's (Yu Jiwei) quest to track down the four remaining witnesses to an epic jianghu takedown of a murderer eight years ago that killed his father. His own lost memory dances on the edge of the riddle of that day's events; he is determined to clear up all the remaining loose threads including the mysterious disappearance of the murderer's corpse. But there are shadowy vested interests that stand in his way including a deadly assassin's guild and a sinister antagonist that always seems to be just one step ahead of him.
There are many colorful archetypal jianghu characters with lethal fight skills that get showcased in this drama's exhiliratingly chareographed kick-ass action scenes that will satisfy any wuxia buff. Jian Buzhi himself has no martial arts ability so all of the fight action is centered around Zhao Wohuan (Wan Yanyang), the second male lead who has an engaging bromance with Jian Buzhi and is his main protector. Wohuan is the more interesting and entertaining character who is just a barrel of laughs. I think they should have made Jian Buzhi less of a "blank" character by giving him some interests or eccentricities instead of just being the blandly cliche super intelligent, righteous and chivalrous protagonist. Even his main love interest, the deadly Zhan Shiqi has the peccadillo of being a shopholic assassin with a flamboyant sense of style. Nonetheless, Jian Buzhi picks up a motley crew of companions with awesome skills who ride along on his mission and the comaraderie between them hit all the right notes.
During his quest, Jian Buzhi stumbles upon three murders and in each case, another piece of the bigger puzzle falls into place in a way that neatly ties everything together in the final reveal. All of the cases are meaty and structured in a classic Agatha Christie "And Then There Were None" setting where the suspects are confined in a remote location and are narrowed down by elimination. While the setting is somewhat repetitive, it is also very effective and all of the cases are unique and intriguing enough in their own right to keep things interesting. What sets this detective drama apart from its peers is that it invites the audience to participate in the cases by dropping many good clues and hints along the way. It is not at all afraid to let the viewer solve the case alongside Jian Buzhi. This hooks the viewer into becoming increasingly invested in the cases and the outcomes. I managed to identify all of the culprits before the end of the cases but not so early on that there was no challenge in it. While I had an early inkling as to the final enigma quite early on, I still groped in the dark for the final piece of the mystery long enough to feel a strong sense of accomplishment when I finally figured it out. The ending twist was still fantastic, thrilling and chilling. I love where they left things with Jian Buzhi - it was both satisfying and thought provoking.
I gobbled up this drama from start to finish. It wasn't perfect but it truly qualifies as a suspenseful and interactive mystery for amateur detectives with a dash of romance, bromance, adventure and action. This is definitely a must watch for anyone that loves a mystery.
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1.Wuxia/ Mystery Storyline
As a big fan of Wuxia, I have watched all sorts of Wuxia dramas.But this kind of Wuxia/ Mystery dramas are very rare. The plot is not unpredictable but interestingly executed. It has its twists and turns and a certain amount of cliffhanger at every episode.
2. Superb Chemistry/Acting
I would say the actors are kinda new faces to me. I have never seen the male lead before.Though I have watched Female lead in Eternal love of Dream, her role is only a few episodes.
But both of their actings are top notch, their chemistry is on point. 2nd Male lead and other support’s actings are very impressive as well.
3.Impressive Cinematography
I don’t know it is whether a high budget drama or not but the fighting scenes are beautifully done. The cinematography can give a kind of Jianhu vibe.
4.Overall
Osts are quite well done too.Overall, it is not a perfect drama but I still like it. It is not time consuming and fast paced.
I would recommend it to all wuxia fans
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Wonderful Engaging Production
This is a through and through wuxia drama like in the old days with a mixture of seriousness and playfulness. Some scenes and dialogues are hilarious with simple, childish logic but I have thoroughly enjoyed the series. Being only 24 episodes long, every scene is a clue and every sentence can be a cue. The pace is perfect without any fillers. The scenes and dialogues are funny but without crassness. It has an Agatha Christie vibe, like gatherings of people who have all become suspects of a murder, and the case is solved by the process of elimination.The names of the characters are so funny and oxymoron - Jian Buzhi literally means "don't know a thing" but he's the brain; Zhao Wohuan literally means "I'll pay for everything" but he doesn't have a dime; Sima Dang literally means "take it as a dead horse" but he's the fastest person on earth; and there are many more names as such. The introduction of the Ming Yue (Miranda Ma) character was somber but then it starts to play the Beethoven Moonlight sonata for the background music because Ming Yue literally means "bright moon", and I laughed till I cried; it's just so hilarious and I love it.
There are many combatant sword fighting scenes with beautiful wuxia acrobatic moves, "qing gong", "nei gong" (inner energy), flying daggers and secret weapons. After each case is being solved, another different group of people re-gather and another mystery begins. All the mysteries and murders eventually tie to the bigger scheme of the overall mystery which is eventually revealed in the final episode.
The costumes of the characters are pretty basic except for Jian Buzhi who wears the most beautiful ropes with vibrant colors and patterns, and furs. His costumes make him stands out in the crowd of people whom he is constantly being surrounded by, and that's a very clever use of the costumes.
I love the bromance (if you want to call that) and romance in this drama; the bromance is good but the romance is greater. In fact, there are two main romantic couples in this story. Character development and the acting cast are fabulous. Everyone's acting is indeed very good, especially by Wang Yan Yang who portrays Zhao Wohuan. In fact, he's my favorite character. Despite physically well developed, he has a very innocent pure mind and always stands up for the weak. Wang Yan Yang's portrayal is absolutely amazing.
I also love how each episode ends. The editing is remarkable with the episodes cleverly end just before the revelation of the murderers or the next secrets, keeping the viewers suspended and hooked on to the story for the next episode. Just when you think all the mysteries are solved and the ending is nigh, an unexpected twist comes and blows my mind off. It's so wonderfully done and sets the expectation for a next season.
Yes, strongly recommended. A drama well done in every sense. TWO THUMBS UP!
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A great drama you would not have expected!
Ancient Detective has been on my watch list for some time due to its great reviews. Finally, I managed to watch it. And I really loved it!I rate this drama a 9.5 out of 10. It is the first drama I immediately rewatched from beginning to end after finishing it.
Below are the reasons based on my seven review criteria:
1. "Sleepless Nights": ★★★★★
Ancient Detective is a kind of drama from which you won't expect much. The mainline setting does not seem to be new - the ML (here the Detective) tries to solve the riddle behind his father's death and the culprit. The entire cast is not particularly famous. And the detective stories don't seem to be that mind-wrecking. But you quickly are drawn by the drama and cannot stop watching it.
First of all, the two main leads are excellent: Jian Bu Zhi and Zhao Wo Huan. Having almost opposite personalities (one is controlled, a brain but weak, the other one careless and strong but simple-minded), the two make up the Holmes and Watson that you can imagine. I love the bromance line between these two, which did not feel over the top but just enough all Fujoushis out there to fangirl a bit. Both Yu Ji Wei, starring JBZ, and Wang Yang Yang, starring ZWH, have acted well. Though I see that YJW still have rooms to improve while WYY is already a few levels better.
Secondly, the overall story design is good. Each case does not offer the great revealing satisfaction at the end, but it also does not show the ML as the almighty hero who finds all the clues and foresee the culprit right away. JBZ makes mistakes along the way, and there are a few unexpected turnarounds that offer great satisfaction never the less. Additionally, I like how all cases give enough clues and mysteries to the central riddle, which drives up our anticipation about the finale.
Finally, all supporting characters in the drama are incredibly loveable, which is the crucial reason for this drama's success. But more details later.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster" 4/5: ★★★★☆
Due to this drama's outstanding character design, you just cannot help but care about the fate of almost all characters (yes, ALL), even those who appeared in only a few episodes.
I deducted one point here is because I felt the romance lines could have been written slightly better. JBZ's love line with FL1, Zhan Shi Qi, appeared to be very unnatural, almost embarrassing, at the start. The same goes for ZWH's and Ming Yue's love line.
I suspect that since romance is not in the center of this drama, the writer did not want to spend too much time developing them.
3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling." 4/5: ★★★★☆
Every character sets clear intentions, and you understand why they act the way they act. Nowhere in the story you are puzzled about why he or she is doing that. Within each case, there are sometimes plot holes for which I deducted one point.
A big plus point of this drama is the natural humor that the writer managed to install in various places of this drama. Such as the names of the characters, the dialogues, or individual scenes.
4. "Loveable supporting Roles." 5/5: ★★★★★
The characters are what provide this drama the success it deserves. I really adore most of the supporting characters, whether that's the kind-hearted Doctor Ye Xiao Xiao, the funny reporter Si Ma Dang, the sweet doctor Xiao Yoa Nu, or the forever young Wang Lao Da. Every one of them has interesting background stories that one can relate to and love about.
5. "Proper Pacing" 5/5: ★★★★★
Pacing has been fast and tight. With only 24 episodes, it is easy to rewatch any time.
6. "Technicalities" 5/5: ★★★★★
The fighting scenes of this drama are really beautiful. Especially those of 17! The makers mix the best slow scenes with quick ones which make the Wu Xia scenes as beautiful as art. Additionally choice of shots, lighting, and costumes are also excellent.
7. "Solid Finale" 5/5: ★★★★★
The finale was predictable as it was pretty clear around later half of the drama who is the main culprit who killed ML's father. The only question remained to be the murderer who continued to kill those who would tell the ML's about that fated day. I was surprised when the person was revealed. I hope you all will be as well. The writer already announced that there would be a second season, and I cannot wait for it.
All in all, a funny, heart-warming, and incredibly addictive drama that I would recommend to anyone. Definitely one of the costume series of 2020.
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Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:
After watching many dramas and writing several reviews, I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster, etc.). The degree on how much I care about the fate of the main leads.
3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think this looks fake.
4. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have the proper motivation behind their actions.
5. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
6. "Technicalities": professional camera works and shots, fight scenes, color grading, lighting, editing, music, sets, costumes, use of CGI, etc. I try to grade this taking into account the drama budget, so a low-budget drama can equally get a high score when used at the right place
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that start to lose their grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.
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First of all, let me start with the production of the drama because damn, the director and the crew need some praise and they have my respect. They managed to turn a low-budged webdrama into a high-quality production. Every scene of the series is shot so beautifully and it's simply aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The camera work, the effects, the zooming of certain things was so on point. It shows that the production team tried their best to make the drama appealing to the viewers. Even though the story has its flaws, the directing made up for it. I'm totally impressed.
The plot itself was okay. Not the most excellent I've seen, but it was entertaining enough and it was well-thought. The drama revolves around the male lead, who is a detective, solving mysterious cases and I personally enjoy watching detective dramas. However, the murder cases here weren't really that impressive? I mean, yeah, they made me curious who might be the killer, it was fun to watch Jian Bu Zhi finding clues and then discovering the truth. But it wasn't as exciting as I wanted it to be. And that's the reason why I lowered my rating, since for a detective drama, the cases and the excitement you get from them is the most important thing.
The drama overall has a slow pace which I didn't mind at all, since the characters were all interesting enough. However, despite the slow pace, I feel like some things happened way too fast. And by some things, I mean the two romance stories. The couples were cute, but nothing more. I couldn't get emotionally attached to them, hence I didn't care enough what will happen to their relationship in the future.
But the bromance made up for the weak romance. Jian Bu Zhi and Zhao Wo Huan's interactions were one of my most favourite things about this drama. And they were later joined by my absolute favourite character Ye Xiao Xiao and everything got 1000x better.
The acting was decent, especially if we consider the fact that the lead actors are not that experienced yet. It was not well-balanced though, for example Tim Yu (Jian Bu Zhi) and Wang Yan Yang (Zhao Wo Huan) were outstanding, their peformances were brilliant, while Rachel Wang (Zhan Shi Qi) and Miranda Ma (Ming Yue) were not that good. You know, Shi Qi was supposed to be a brave assassin and a strong female lead, but I did not get that vibe of her. And Ming Yue could have been such an interesting character, but the actress looked as if she was annoyed all the time. She basically had the same expression throughout the whole series. And she was supposed to be a mute and she had to express her emotions without talking, using the expressions of her face and she was so bad at it.
Overall, Ancient Detective is a very entertaining show which has its shortcomings, but it's worth watching despite of them. It has some nice twists at the end and it makes you want to watch more. So I'm definitely looking forward to the second season if there'll be one. I highly recommend it to people who are fan of both wuxia and mystery/detective dramas, Ancient Detective will exceed your expectations for sure.
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What about the 2 main roles ? Detective Jian Bu Zhi (Tim Yu) is not a martial artist. He is very smart just like anyone who solves mystery crimes. He is amnesic and tries to get the truth with what happened in his past when his father died. He travels around to investigate his own case and gets involved in crimes scenes. He makes a new friend Zhao Wu Huan (Wang Yan Yang) whose dream is to become a "future" martial hero. These two become sworn brothers (showing their affection in a weird funny scene with long lasting hugs). Zhao Wu Huan is very protective and helpful.
Solving crimes is in Agatha Christie's ways. The sound track is really good and gives strength to the filming, arising your attention, interest and tension. The ending theme song is brilliant and the singer's'voice quite emotional, it will remain in your head all day long !
If you like drama with suspens, odd atmosphere, funny moments and crime mysteries, you will certainly love this drama.
You may find many storyline flaws in its beginning and a lack of interest for the main characters. This feeling will slowly but completely desappear. I had to wait till episode 15 to reallly appreciate the main cast and story and to find the whole thing quite entertaining and captivating. So I can't rate this drama too high, but from episode 15 till the end I woud give a 9/10. Last episode grants a great great unexpected end. I'm looking forward to season 2.
Please give this drama a good chance, you won't regret it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Worst Cliff Hanger Ever
Initially, I had very high expectation from this drama but boy, I was disappointed so badly. There was literally no character development and all I enjoyed was the process of finding the murderer. The bromance was like not upto the level and the same goes for the romance part. The romance between the leads made me feel disgusted as it started due to a typical scene of saving the damsel in distress as the male lead supported the female lead while no one else was willing to. The plot was like the worst and after solving every case, the male lead literally says the same dialogue. They clearly expects us to connect with the characters but that does not happen and more importantly, the story ends with a cliff hanger and not just any cliffhanger, they actually leave story to the same position as where it started and hence, to me the drama was like a waste of time.To me, the cast seemed ok and not exceptionally well as the whole plot was messed up the cast did not stand out as extraordinary
The OST were not too bad but the music did not match well with the scenes and sorry to say, out of all the OST, only one caught my attention
I am never planning to watch it again as only the mystery seemed interesting to me but after getting all the fact about the murder in the first time, second time would seem rather boring.
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Every good drama needs great music and the ending theme song was just perfect. I actually played the song on loop for an hour when I first heard it! I enjoy rewatching my fav scenes but for this drama, I ended up rewatching all 18 eps 2-3 times before today's final episodes. Thank you to the Ancient Detective team for bringing us this wonderfully executed plot, now please give us SEASON TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This show does not use that type of cheap gimmick for the mysteries. The mysteries are very much grounded in logic. You don't need fantastic knowledge or a great memory to figure out the killer. I found myself making guesses based on the hints revealed throughout each case and figured out the killer before the main character explicitly pointed it out. It's an incredibly fulfilling feeling to know that you can pick up on these hints and figure out the logic. I highly encourage anyone watching the show to try to follow along the mysteries and make your best guess as well.
Even the huge reveal by the end is actually something quite logical if you've been following along. Throughout the show from the very beginning I had my suspicions about the reveal. It doesn't make the show any less exciting even if you guess right though.
It's very short, only 25 episodes. Jump right in!
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Underrated. Should have more viewership.
The cases could be better.Acting and costume are really great. Fight scenes superb. Each character development meticulously fleshed out. I want prequel to know the backstories of the supporting cast--villains and non-villains alike. I also want a sequel if only to know what happens next.
The shots, editing and cinematography is really well done.
The women in the drama are well fleshed out, not annoying and not distracting. They add spice, mystery and intrigue rather than put off a BL fan like me.
Both MLs have great chemistry and I do feel the bromance. Very cute.
Rewatch is highly recommended.
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Great characters, so-so plot
I really loved the characters of Ancient Detective. Imo all the actors did a really good job. My favorites were probably Zhan Shiqi and Ye Xiaoxiao. For Zhan Shiqi, I loved her desire to become a person rather than just an assassin, an organization's tool, a number. And her romance with Jian Buzhi was very cute ;). For Ye Xiaoxiao... he was just so bizarre! and also very competent, but just so bizarre!Jian Buzhi, our male lead, is mostly interesting in how he plays off others. While his investment in solving the case of Wang Hua makes sense, the answer to the mystery is fairly obvious and so it did not hold much tension for me. But it was always fun seeing Jian Buzhi sleuthing around or being a damsel in distress for the other characters to rescue. Speaking of which, Zhao Wohuan, the second male lead, is also excellent. I love his friendship with Jian Buzhi. 10/10, would ship.
So given all that, why don't I love love the drama? Well, the cases kind of dragged for me. I always get frustrated when a detective is unable to solve a case until two or three (or more!) more people have already been murdered, and these cases were no exception. I also prefer with mysteries when you can solve the mystery along with the characters, but apart from last minute clues, the answers to the mysteries would have been very hard to predict (most of the motives were buried deep in the past, for example, and could not possibly have been predicted). I also thought Zhao Wohuan's romance with Mingyue was kind of boring. So not a perfect drama, but still pretty good.
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Story/production: To me the main plot was really obviously and I already guessed right. But in general imo great production doesn't always need those super plot twists or surprising innovations. if it's just doing a good job. All cases are not groundbreaking but it's doing a decent job holding the suspense and being entertaining.
The cinematography is really good imo (especially the first case) for a not biggest production. The fights are aesthetically pleasing and I liked how they didn't OVerused the flying/strings like most historical or Wuxia dramas.
Acting/Cast: The cast is actually doing a decent job imo.
Music: Fitting OST.
Actually a pity and underrated piece just because not having big names (actors) in it. And I wish the trend is going to change.
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