Another Mary Sue Drama~
Twelve Legends narrates the story of Jasper Liu, Jin Xing Jian, a stone deity who tries to resurrect her lover, Ye Ming, a night pearl played by Guli Nazha. The story started after Jin Xing Jian sealed Ye Ming’s memory and put her to sleep. As a stone deity, Jin Xing Jian has “seals/stone stamps” – which is his original form. It all started because Ye Ming defied heaven’s will against Yu Shao Bai's death, which causes a domino effect to Jin Xing Jian, Ye Ming, and others. The drama storyline then focuses on the journey of Jin Xing Jian finding his 8 scattered seals and Ye Ming trying to figure out her past.I gave this drama a 3.5 is because of its draggy storyline. There are a lot of side couples and stories in this drama. Almost every seal collected comes with a background story. The background story includes the right amount of suspense, action, emotion, and comedy. For instance, I find the nine-tailed fox side and xiao hu’s story touching. However, some of the side stories are presented longer than necessary, causing uneven pacing. As a fantasy/ supernatural drama it lacks lavish images, CGI and choreographed action scenes. But still, the choreographed action is still decent. From what I can see, this drama might have a high budget, and I can say that they allocated the budget well. Even though some of the CGI is terrible and fake (e.g. the mermaid, nine-tailed fox, dream eater). The CGI does not fit into the overall drama. And the transition was downright terrible. There are a lot of cuts, jumps and weird transitions and effects that looked like this whole drama is being edited on iMovie by a high school student.
In addition, the climax also lacks intensity. The protagonist and antagonist were killed easily. In the beginning till the end of the drama, the protagonist, Jing Xing Jian was shown as basically an unparalleled deity with strong superpowers. However, the reason for his death lacks logic and coherence. And Ye Ming did not have any character growth at all. She remains as weak and innocent or could I say dumb. Jin Xing Jian sacrificed so much for her, but she barely did anything. The only thing she did was reciprocate his love only by the last few episodes of the drama, she realized everything too late.
Jasper Liu did a tremendous job in portraying a cold and distant yet loyal and caring man. Meanwhile, Guli Nazha did an okay job. I watched some of her dramas before such as Weaving a Tale of Love, and her acting did not have any improvement. However, I gotta say that Guli Nazha looked very charming in this drama, she is very charming and beautiful especially when she is in a qipao!! but still, her characters evoke a 呆/ dumb vibe (Guli Nazha should pick a better script, almost every character that she acts evokes a 呆 vibe). But Jia Cheng and Zhi Ying did a great job as the second couple. I love seeing how they grow as a demon and a demon fighter to lovers. And there are also a few really awesome supporting cast, such as the Ye siblings.
Secondly, the costumes and set were pleasing to see. The republican era costumes such as the qipao, suits, dresses were very well made and detailed. The set such as the Hua Xue gallery was also well-made. And lastly, the OSTs were very fitting into the overall ambience, however, it is not catchy and memorable.
Overall, Twelve Legends is an average-bad drama. Some aspects of the drama are bad, however, if you watch it without thinking much, then it will probably be an okay drama. If you have a lot of extra time or if you are a fan of the actors, go ahead and watch it!!
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This review may contain spoilers
This is the kind of drama that you might watch if you are a fan of one of the actors/actresses, but there's still some things in this drama which might make it unwatchable regardless if you are a fan of the actor or not. The storyline is sort of made up of mini stories along the way, which contribute to the overarching plot (the male/female lead's story), which I personally don't mind. In fact, the mini stories were more entertaining than the male/female lead's storyline, which...is not the best in terms of making an engaging drama. To be honest, I skimmed the leads' storyline to watch the side stories and I'll explain why in a bit. My takeaway from this drama was "love makes you do stupid things." If that's a trope you don't mind, then maybe this is watchable for you. *Major spoiler territory ahead*
Plot: Love, greed, and selfishness basically drives the actions of the lead characters. The main gripe that I have for the leads' storyline is the "secret" of the past. The female lead's memories were wiped and the male lead refuses to tell her anything. With the way they crafted this "mysterious secret that the ML couldn't tell FL" I expected a bigger shock when the "reveal" came. Instead, the reveal was very disappointing since I already guessed what had happened so that defeated the entire purpose. If ML told her the truth in the beginning, so much time could have been saved and prevented misunderstandings and FL being manipulated by antagonist (who was the only one willing to tell her anything). I personally didn't understand ML's rationale for keeping the secret from her; it was a pretty weak reason.
The side stories were pretty entertaining; I liked some more than others. Some of them were short (2 eps) while others could span for 5 or so eps. I didn't mind them since they had a part in advancing forward in the plot. The beginning few episodes were pretty engaging, before it became draggy in the middle and then the pace started picking up slightly towards the end. I skimmed through the boring parts and you won't miss much if you do.
Climax: I thought ML was too OP, especially in the final battle. After all the trouble that antagonist goes through to gain new powers and all that, the final fight was so short. Like they traded a few blows and then ML just defeated him. Felt very anti-climatic, especially considering all the effort the antagonist went through for those powers. I was half-expecting him to be revived since the fight was so unconvincing as the "big finale" but it was.
Acting/Characters: I have never seen Gulnezer in another drama so I can't compare her acting. It was okay, if you don't expect too much from her "emotional" scenes. Crying scenes fell extremely flat to the point where I felt more sympathy for antagonist when he was trying to get pity from FL than for FL herself during her sad scenes. FL's character is kind of naive and fits the bill of "love makes you do stupid things" but I didn't feel that her character was overly dumb. At least she was still wary and made her own decisions at times and not totally helpless since she can fight.
ML is example 2 of "love makes you do stupid things." His character is usually pretty rationale and smart, until it comes to the FL. While he doesn't do anything outrageous, it's his hesitance that draws out the storyline/probably leads to avoidable deaths. I liked Jasper as an actor and he did a pretty good job at portraying ML. His voice is dubbed in this drama, if that makes a difference.
The second leads (Li Xian, Xiao Qing) bought some comedic relief with their antics and they were pretty good side kicks to ML. I have never seen these actors in another drama, but in this one, they played their roles well. Their love story was better written than ML/FLs. At times, you might get frustrated at Li Xian for his hotheadedness which leads to unfortunate consequences but that's part of his character. Shame that they made him so weak for the sake of plot - he didn't have any victories against the bad guys.
The Ye siblings: The sister was really annoying at the beginning but she becomes less annoying later on. I skipped most of her parts in the beginning because it was very cringey...and how much she harped on about being a "modern woman" all the time. Her character redeems herself later on. The brother was great all the way through, the definition of a true friend.
Antagonist: I have seen Liu Chang in other dramas and I have to say I was pretty impressed with his role as a villain. The dubbing was quite off at times (especially when he did his evil laugh) which made it quite awkward. His acting has improved lots from his older works and he played his part pretty convincingly, especially the parts where he tries to gain sympathy from FL.
Overall, not the best drama. Time will probably be better spent on other shows, unless you want to watch for a fav actor/actress and a mediocre plotline. CGI was alright for the most part; my bar isn't set that high. The only CGI that looked really weird to me was the mermaid tail.
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Really annoying
I love Chinese dramas... Despite all the cliches and some unsatisfactory and tragic endings, i still love them... However, this is the first Chinese drama i have watched where i heartily wished for the female lead to just DROP DEAD!!!... She is so dumb and plain selfish, supposedly acting noble and simply coming out as so full of herself... Her indifference to the male lead's sacrifices was unforgivable... Ditto with the male lead's mysogynistic overprotectiveness.... I watched the whole thing with overwhelming feelings of annoyance.... Thank goodness it was only 32 episodes.... *** sigh ***Was this review helpful to you?
Mythical Creatures in Republican Era
The premise of this drama had so much potential, but somehow fell flat as soon as we were introduced to the consistantly emotionless FL, who the emotionless actress, Gulnazar provided for us. If you watch dramas solely look at beautiful, yet stone cold FLs, then this will be your cup of (cold) tea.I loved the idea of Ancient Chinese Mythical creatures inside a Republican Era China setting. A great idea for a drama! And I didn't mind the many interwoven stories within one story either, if the drama had flowed better than it did. As it was, it felt like there were a bunch of unnecessary starts and stops to the main story, instead of all the stories intersecting in a logical way.
Anyway, this drama was not well executed, and was a very forgettable viewing experience as it was. I did like the stark contrast between morally corrupt military leaders and loving, ethical Chinese creatures. This contrast was also shown through the clothing the characters wore. Ultimately though, an unfortunate wasted opportunity.
4 magical koi fish out of 10.
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They make you hate the main characters from episode 1
I honestly don't know what the writers/show-runners were thinking. From literally the very first episode I was actively rooting against the main lead. It didn't take long to start disliking the others. How can they start off making you care about characters only to have the main characters come in from out of nowhere and ruin their lives / kill them, and then expect you to care what happens to those main characters later on? And no, this wasn't the sort-of redemption arc you see in Western shows like Game of Thrones - at least in GoT when a character turned from generally bad to sort of a sympathetic character, they had multiple episodes of character development in between. Not here, no. They just expect you to immediately be on the "good guys" side because they're the "good guys". I finished the show after several months - but only because I hate to leave shows unfinished. I honestly never cared about any of the mains or their romances or whether they lived or died. the sacrifices they made for each other throughout the show, the losses, etc. none of that hit home whatsoever because I just didn't care.Not to mention the sets, the costumes, the actors, the lighting/makeup, none of it was top quality. I've seen that set used on multiple ROC-era shows and it never fails to look fake. I suggest don't waste your time.
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Gülnezer Bextiyar who played Ye Ming was awesome, this is 2nd CDrama that I have seen with her in the lead. I love all the outfits she wore. Jasper Liu who played Jin Xing Jian I love, his acting was calm and to the point! I hope to see more of him but his list is not that long. Jason Koo who played Lian Xuan in a support role should have been one of the main leads. This actor was awesome and I loved how he played his character.
As I said, the outfits and those suits were beautiful. Thanking all of the team of this drama, you all did great.
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The ending was really not what I had expected, the perfect ending in my opinion would have been all the couples had a happy ending and the Ye family choose to stay because now they are very lonely.
Another thing to point out is that I didn't really like Ye Ming's character through some parts of the story, some parts made it really hard to watch was because the minute she let Yu Shaobai out of the painting she had a feeling she didn't love him, yet she still stayed with him, I hate the fact that she is a bit too stubborn and can't see how other people treats her sometimes.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fantasy in 1920s Shanghai
I must admit I only watched Twelve Legends because Jasper Liu was inside. I didn't know much about the show. I like the cinematography, the soundtrack, the costumes, the props. I think they set the scene in Republican era China very well. You had the whole romantic Shanghai in the 1920s feeling (which I'm obsessed with).I liked how there were so many genres all in one drama. You have the fantasy, the romance, the fighting all set in a beautiful backdrop. Yes there were a lot of plot holes, and the ML and FL characters were quite one-dimensional (I think due to bad script writing), but I think there were a lot of redeeming qualities about it as well. I liked the different stories and back stories of the various demons showing them as beings looking for love too. Each demon love story made the story even more special and interesting. Some of the demon costumes are pretty tacky, but I can overlook them.
What I really hated was the age-old technique of amnesia and Jin Xing Jian's annoying need to constantly protect and look after Ye Ming. I also hated how both Ye Ming and Jin Xing Jian have problems communicating. Like hello? After 500 years you cannot communicate better?? But after I watched the ending, I kind of got it why he was so obsessed and after all he's not exactly human.
Gülnezer Bextiyar is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. I think she's one of the most beautiful actresses I've ever seen and she shines well as Ye Ming. She played her character Ye Ming very well. Ye Ming's character is selfish, self-centred and immature but that's just how they wrote it. I guess her only redeeming quality was when she realised too late what Jin Xing Jian did for her (I blame him for removing her memory and not telling her the whole story).
Honestly, I hope this doesn't put anyone off. It's not that bad a drama and it is very different from other dramas out there. It does have its positives. I think the big let down was the script writing honestly.
Would I recommend this? Hmmm... If you like fantasy, 1920s Shanghai and beautiful costumes like me, then yes!
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Nice OST
This drama has nice osts, especially the "haunted house" soundtrack for the first 16 episodes that complement the mysteriousness of the demons in the film. The last 16 episodes' soundtrack is really the best. It's also used when the tragedy of demon x human cannot live together, so we can guess from the soundtrack what will happen for those demon x human couples.I love their republican era customes so much, especially for the main leads, Ye Ming and Jin Xing Jian. Ye Ming and Jin Xing Jian looks myesterious and detached with their customes. As they live an eternal life which make them not overly expressive.
Jasper Liu really does a great job in showing a little expression, as Jin Xing Jian is described as someone who is cold and selfish, which becoming more obsessive and jealousy type to Ye Ming.
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