The Birth of The Drama King (2019)

Funny? Yes.
Cheesy? Damn right.
Shameless bromance? Hell yes! I wouldn't miss a single moment of it.

This is one of those brainless, binge worthy dramas. It doesn't take itself too seriously and makes the most of its cheesiness. The many ways the hero tried to ingratiate himself with the dark lord had me rolling my eyes while laughing like a hyena. I love all the characters: From the dark lord's venomous foster brother to the hero's slightly dense senior brothers. From the sassy servant girl to the foxy courtesan. They are a hoot to watch in action.

Their hilarious absurdity aside. The drama pleasantly surprised me with its fighting scenes. They are pretty decent and I can honestly say this is a wuxia drama (comedy) and not a wuxia wannabe.

If you have a couple hours to kill and just want a lighthearted drama that gives you good belly laughs now and then, this is the drama to watch.

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Extremely funny and sweet BL adapted drama that you will enjoy

I started this drama because it is adapted from a BL novel, seems to have a good looking cast and is enjoying some good reviews. And I was not disappointed.

Story: In order to bring peace to the country, the youngest apprentice from the righteous clan Zhao Qing Feng tries to infiltrate the evil clan by getting close to the demon lord Ji Chuan. As Zhao Qing Feng is a bit socially awkward he is learning the steps from his teacher's book "win someone's heart". However, it turns out that Zhao Qing Feng is actually the long lost brother of Ji Chuan and the two men got close.
The whole drama is just extremely cheesy, cute and funny. I almost fell from my chair from laughing after watching episode 1. There are some very sweet scenes between the two main leads - who are by the way both very good looking and have distinguished personalities that are very likable from the start. Although the drama is a comedy, characters don’t always just make fools of themselves - there is a serious plot running through this drama which makes the viewers pounder about the fate of the main leads and also for the supporting characters. Good news for all BL lovers, though there is the female lead A Fu who fell in love with Zhao Qing Feng, this does not disturb the two main leads. There are some slow moments in the middle and a bit of predictable ending, but overall I did enjoy the drama and found story convincing and sweet.

Acting: The characters are just all very loveable from the start to the end. The two main leads, despite having an idol background without professional acting school training, acted very naturally and brought the distinguished two main lead characters to life. Besides the two gorgeous leads also all other supporting roles have done great work. A Fu, played by Su Xiao Tong, is extremely strong and sweet at the same time. Then you have the cute youngster Xiao Lin who is in love with A Fu and therefore acts coquettishly all the time (there is a great scene in the drama between him and A Fu that made me cry); you also have the gorgeous Dr. Yan, played by Song Ji Yang from Untamed, but is extremely jealous of Zhao Qing Feng; you also have the beautiful Yue Qing Qing, who turns into a REAL MAN when she takes off her makeup and the masculine Wei Qi who has a Taiwanese accent. I am sure you will find one or several characters to your taste.

Production: you can see that this is a drama with a low budget: some outdoor sets can look a bit cheap, some of the props and costumes seem to be a bit off, there are not enough extras in some of the scenes; however I would say the drama did use the budget at the right areas: the most important sets (e.g. the bedroom of Ji Chuan, the kitchen, the entrance to the main hall, the main hall itself, etc.) are nicely created; the choice of colors not too bright red and green but just right, the lighting is well toned; I also very much like the fact that they are using the actual voices of the actors (though sometimes the tones are a bit difficult to hear). They add these cat and dog special sounds to the two main leads when they are fighting - this is just hilarious and brilliant.
This drama has a very funny and contagious title song and a very beautiful ending song which however only started to play by the middle of the drama - also some BGM also only started from the middle (did they suddenly have more money in the middle?).
There a few scenes which are almost good to be hung as a poster (e.g. the drunk scene at the lake, the brother scene at the entrance hall, the bamboo forest scene, the night festival scene, the fighting scenes (esp. the last one - which is very well done!). You can see the production really gave a lot of effort in making this drama and they have done this well with the budget they have - unfortunately they ended up not having enough for marketing so not many people know about this.

Summary: This is a funny, light-hearted drama full of sweet scenes and great acting that will make you smile for sure. This BL adaption has not challenged the Chinese censorship this much as Untamed as it is really only a bromance drama but has retained a lot of sugar for all the fans. I hope all future BL adaption will at least be at the level of the Birth of the Drama King.

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