I like drama where the story is good, the conflict not annoying, not too heavy with layers of conflict, and of course ROMANCE in it.
Romance of Hua Rong,
I like the story. Its light, entertaining as it is tag as comedy, it is very funny. Refreshing.
But also very romantic with many romantic scene.
It is addictive and makes you want to hope that the leading male and female is real couple.
Yuan Hao and Zhao Zhao Yi chemistry is the highlight of the drama.
They are both very handsome and beautiful and i also like their chemistry off screen.
So looovee this couple.
I am glad i found this drama! Will definitely rewatch again!
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So this is not the drama to watch if you want to think deeply about the world or be moved by something new or profound. It IS the drama to watch if you just had surgery and you need something to keep your mind off the pain while you recover, or if you are that combo of bored and distracted that means you can't keep track of complicated plotting, or if you're feeling sad generally and want to watch an angst-light bickering couple be adorable at each other for a while.
One point I thought worth making is that the premise of forced marriage and subsequent escape/chase as the base of a romantic relationship is tricky to handle well. The show does a great job of balancing the characters and the romantic development so that it doesn't feel like the female lead is intimidated into love or suffering from Stockholm syndrome or something. His intentions towards her aren't creepy, and while she's attracted to him early on, she doesn't fall for him until much later when the power balance between them is much more equal (side note: I would hesitate to call this a "historical".... it's thoroughly modern in terms of the ideas that the characters have about love and morality).
There's a lot of reviews already so rather than describe the show again, I'll respond to two of the major flaws that have bothered other people: plot, and the female lead's character.
Plot: This feels adapted from a web novel, and so rather than a straight plot that carries us from beginning to end, there are definite arcs: The Island Arc, the Escape/Chase Arc, the The Black Gang Arc, and the White Jade Arc. We drop some characters along these arcs and move to new locations where new characters come in, so the beginning of each arc is a bit like starting a new show, with some ramp up time before the story gets going again. The transitions to the Black Gang arc and the White Jade arc are a bit choppy, so our gang of heroes ends up talking about goals for a while and the audience is like "huh? Explosion? What? Coverup? How did we get here?"
Eventually everything makes sense again and it's pretty easy to fill in the gaps, so if you're in it for the cute couple it's not a major detractor. But if you really want a compelling and tight plot, you will definitely hate the transitions and probably not enjoy the show much overall.
Lead Female: She is a bit screetchy at the beginning, and I think the type of character (her backstory) isn't well enough established early on to make sense of some of her actions. However, she's actually a pretty good character once you get her (and the screaming subsides), so here's my take on her: She's a general's daughter who is stubborn, book-smart, and has an intense sense of justice and desire to do good in the world. She's been indulged, but not *specifically* trained. So she's grown up around martial arts and picked up some things, and she knows lots of tricks that she's read about and is decent at putting together traps or thinking her way out of a situation. BUT she's not that great at anything other than slingshot. She's got a lot more courage than experience, so when she starts having experiences, she isn't always prepared for what's happening.
What I liked about her character was that for everything except cooking, what they established that she was good at remained good throughout the show (and the cooking is a really minor exception). So, she has a photographic memory, which is useful even at the end. She's good at tricks and quick thinking. She doesn't use them every possible time, but she doesn't get "dumber" over time as some smart characters tend to; in fact her skills improve. The pirate actually changes to get better at trusting her and acknowledging her strengths, and she learns new skills. It's not *amazing* but it is well done enough to keep their relationship interesting throughout the show, which is great because the romantic arc is such that the show could have suffered from early bed death.
The show was a ton of fun for me. I even loved the cheesy costumes (caterpillar eyebrows!!!!) and props, which offered their own laughs at times. The show never takes itself to seriously, which is what you want for a low-budget comedy low on realism and loose with plot. A high production value would have made the historical inaccuracies and trope-heavy plot unbearable.
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So in short a filler drama.
It is a short drama you can tell the budget had been cut so everything was very rushed and in some cases the story had major flaws. I don't know if it's the screenwriters trying to fit a 45 episode drama in 24 episodes and failing or just a careless mistake.
What we get because of the major cut in budget and screentime was a very chaotic and tangled plot. It felt rushed, 2 characters just dissapeared without an explanation and new ones were introduced without paying attention to the left out supporting cast.
So the story was already hard to follow but sometimes the subtitles made it even worse with poor and complicated translation.
As far as costume design goes.... It's fine there were a few good outfits and a few bad ones. No looks were served but no hideousness either. For a low budget they did invest some in this.
The set and props were again... Mediocre
or to some extent bad.... Like the pirate ship and the bad cgi'd water lol.( Oh and don't forget the wolves.)
In the beginning the content of the story didn't really matter because the main focus were the characters. And the first few episodes they did at least in that department well.
Still even with only 24 episodes and a rushed plot with a lot of holes and being hard to follow, it managed one thing. To drag. I mean I was just so over it that I skipped through the last episodes without caring anymore.
For the acting.... There is worse definitely. But there is also better ..... Definitely.
The Ml managed to make atleast let his character stay afloat throughout the series wich I think is a pretty solid achievement given the bad writing. I do see potential and hope he gets a better main role in the future.
For the fml.... I don't really see anything worth mentioning here. Typical sreaming obnoxious without any reason sometimes.
They tried to make her smart, but the way they wrote the character and how it was acted it just backfired. You quickly forget she has a high IQ and wants to be a heroine and the typical tropes of an annoying fml move in the picture. I hope with more experience and practice her acting improves
The supports..... Did their job?
I mean there was not much attention on them and from the lines they didn't manage to ruin them.
They were not bad but also not good, and all in all forgettable.
One thing that had a pretty big impact on my rating was also the 360 they made on the genre. From comedy and romance to action thriller and then back?
I've seen that before and Im not a fan. At all.
Im going to close this review saying this:
The idea behind the drama was good. A pirate king and a smart female heroine instead of an emperor and a poor concubine.
Still the idea could not outweigh the poor execution wich is a shame.
I hope the idea gets picked up in a future drama with better writing and overall better result.
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If you are into the boy chasing the girl, this could've been the show for you, if the pacing didn't slow down to a screeching halt after episode eleven.
Cast: Qin Shang Cheng (a pirate) becomes completely infatuated with Hua Rong, even when there is no real reason to like her...which was mentioned during the series. He adores her completely and is utterly devoted to her. He is a character with so many layers...one moment he is dead serious and about his business and the next he is jokingly silly. As a viewer you may be confused about his personality if it wasn't for Yuan Hao slaying this role and making you fall for this odd character. I feel bad that this was his first leading role, because even he couldn't carry this sinking boat (pun intended). As a side note, I want to say that the way he looks at Hua Rong is swoon worthy.
The rest of the cast wasn't as bad as one of the reviewers mentioned...it was the script and maybe the budget cut that made this show a disaster...however,after watching eleven good episodes it would be tragic not finish this drama.
Set/ Props: Although low budget, I have seen worst and I feel like the crew did the best they could with the clothing and props.
Audio/Music: I am not sure if there is just a bad version of this circling around, I attempted to watch this on numerous sites and every single one of them has audio that is damaged to the point of aggravation. Sometimes the audio cuts completely, other times loud music drowns out the dialog and other times it sounds as if the actors are speaking into a paper bag.
As for the music, it feels as if there are two OST's, one which corresponds to the scenes and the other from a 1920's bootleg circus...I don't know where they've gotten that music from.
There is no re-watch value here, but if you want to see an amazing actor in a crappy drama this would be the show for you.
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Omg. This is definitely one of the best historical chinese dramas ever made. I loved it so much. The story was light and cute. More fluffy and easy to watch than other historical dramas. I was surprised. There was no annoying side character and also no disturbing forbidding parents etc. It was just about them and their story. It was so good! And also very funny at times xD. I laughed so hard!
I was so surprised of the main lead. His acting skills are actually very good. And he is so handsome...those dimples! But I also liked the female lead. Actually I loved all characters xD. The acting was really good of all of them. They made the right decision with this cast!
I'm glad I watched it. It was so cute, funny and amazing. Just WOW!
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The female lead had a lot of flaws in the beginning and I had to try really hard to like her. She’s screaming every second scene and can be quite obnoxious and rude. She just needs to calm down honestly, like honey take a breather and stop going a hundred miles an hour all the time. How does Shang Chen have the patience??
But I like this show for my fave Shang Cheng. Can we talk about how EXTRA he is??? This dude takes dramatic to a whole new level
The first four or so eps were so good (but full of all the cliches lol). The rest of the show had its ups and downs, but fairly enjoyable overall.
[I’m still mad they cut the lantern festival fireworks kiss scene that’s in the intro, how dare they cut it out!!]
I’ll tell you what I did like though which was the premise of the show. I’m always down for pirates, and to have the King of the Pirates fall in love was right up my alley. I loved his pirate sidekicks too, I love their trio.
On the whole, if you want to give this drama a shot, your reason should be for the pirate who stole my heart: Shang Cheng ♡♡ My man
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I really love the smile and acting of the ML and for the FL, she lacked acting authenticity.
I don't want this drama to have a season 2. If there's a season 2, I want another FL with an acting power.
This drama has 24 episodes yet, they could have this drama end at episode 14.
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LOOK NO LESS as this is a lighthearted story about pirate and cheeky smart girl on their rom-com adventure drama with a LOT OF cute and fun romance between the leads. Those who want a more serious toned story with good character backgrounds probably won't enjoy it as much. The villains in this story were very one dimensional or gliche so you could care less what happens to them. This is a drama which you just want to watch something more cheerful since a lot of chinese dramas can be depressing. Its strong points are the casts and romance filled with comedy, at the beginning I though it goes more darker route but was surprised by how the story went along in a cheerful way.
The main leads chemistry was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, even the support casts are fun to watch. At the beginning it took some time to understand main female hot and cold actions but she will start to grow on you. There are some plot holes or stuffs which made me confused and wondered where did that character went as some vanish at one point but it is confirmed that we will get season 2 of this which I will watch :) I will definitely rewatch this in the near future and will be in my top 10 since I enjoyed it a lot despite having some flaws.
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* wouldn’t take you 60 episodes to finish
* romance but with comedy and a love hate relationship to level out the cheesiness
* easy to follow in the sense that you don’t have to keep track of new characters or miss a few scenes and you’re lost with the storyline
This would be the perfect drama.
The storyline was a bit rushed but it was enough for me to understand what happened and what events took place. Given it’s 24 episodes, it was good enough for me. The only crucial part that I think was left out is how he survived after being stabbed and where did Yuan Ming get his blood drenched clothes from if he survived.
It would be a lie to say I didn’t get annoyed at the female lead. Her non-stop talking character is pretty annoying, especially when she screams irrelevantly, but it made her her. The male lead was dangerous, he can make girls fall head over heels for him. I just think, he’s character change of personality was a little bit too drastic. He went from being really cold to EXTREMELY affectionate too easy. I think if he maintained his coldness a bit longer then gradually become affectionate, then boy he can take my heart. The actors though, did a great job. I think they portrayed their characters really well and exactly how they were supposed to be.
Although the subbing on Youtube was pretty bad and didn’t make sense here and there, as well as the bad sound quality from time to time, for me that doesn’t take away from the drama itself and I will only judge on the drama. The cut scenes though do ruin the flow of the story, so an improvement would definitely be good.
And last but not least, my favourite part of this whole drama… THE OST. Let’s talk about the OST! Out of the seven tracks, I have been enchanted by four. From the rhythm, lyrics, vocals down to the mood, each and every song has captivated me, I feel like each song tells a story related to the storyline. Not only do I like the lyrics but whenever I listen to it, I empathise with the love, hate, pain and passion of the protagonists. To sum it up, I love the songs.
For what it’s worth; not having the hottest actors of the time, 24 episodes, mediocre costumes compared to beautiful extravagant costumes in other wuxia drama, videography wasn’t that great obviously a clear sign of low budget, I think the drama was very good, not great but very good. Judge a plant according to the circumstances and environment it grew upon. I definitely would re-watch it again.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's worth it to see Hao Yuan & Yu Kai Ning
Spoilers... maybe a little. Production... there were abrupt changes in scenes and parts left out without explanation but they were mostly filled in by the actors' next performance... some parts just left me wondering you know, but like always I focused on the actors who caught my eye & shine. I have to say that Hao Yuan, Yu Kai Ning, and Ma Chao were the ones that just made me want to see it through. Hao Yuan as the lead was every bit of the word dashing, handsome with a bit of danger mixed in at the beginning to see him change when he realized he was in love and the wealth of emotion he showed in this role, as well as silliness aided by Yu Kai Ning's character... just priceless! He did well as the lead and I wasn't disappointed. Yu Kai Ning & Ma Chao are both in loyal support roles and they're just adorable. I look forward to see all three of these guys performances in the future! As always, wishing them the best in all their endeavors! <3Was this review helpful to you?
Disappointed
So this drama is really disapointing because i thought the characters were going to chage from the norm but no.The girl is naive and kind of dumb. I thought she was witty but no, she does things for literally no reason and make no sense. She constantly uses feminist issues to explain the way she behave. Which is kinda despicable
The male lead is pretty but he is way too indulgent with her 'wife' who didnt acknowledge to be so for half of the drama.
Not worth watching or rewatching, nothing is worth it in this
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It reminds me a lot he sayiof the saying "Choose the one that loves you, not the one you love". It kept repeating in my head as I was watching it and once you've seen it, you may know what I mean.
To but it in a nutshell I think a lot of people who have watched they drama would agree, the whole drama was carried by a few things. The music and the cute main couple.
The music was great and it has been a long time since I really fell in love with a drama OST. I think the last time was Ashes of Love. There was only a couple of songs but they played them at just the right moments.
Honestly the writing of this romance was not in any sense "new" or "refreshing" but the main cast somehow made you not hate those cliche moments. Instead of being like "Oh not again" your like "AWWWWW that's soo cute". Your sitting there fan girling over things that you would usually find boring. The couple had great (understatement) onscreen chemistry and when you watch their BTS it gets even sweeter. The kisses were actual mouth to mouth, movement kisses which were not overly done or usual akward static asian kisses. I enjoyed their skinship but also enjoyed their conversations as the ML has this loving gaze that he does and it shows how much he just adores our FL. The casting agents did a wonderful job and i sincerely hope both leads get casted in more main roles as they deserve it.
The story was very mehhh. It was interesting that ML was written as a pirate but you don't really get to see much "pirating" if that's even a word hahaa it's the main couples interactions and cute flirty moments that will really have your attention. Everything else in the drama kinda becomes background noise. There were a few tears and a lot of laughs. Great little drama to get lost in. Would recommend if you enjoy romances with a little comedy and lots of sweetness.
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