This is not just a drama
This is the best thing that happened to me in 2022 , hopefully I didn't watch it back then . Everything is good , it reminds of Reply 1988 , it's just has war and really sad scenes . The cast is phenomenal and my fav characters are the brother in law , the fl and the ml bcs i love his quietness just like me . I'm so happy to find such a gem ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️I'm so in love , it's like something therapeutic to watch every night , it relieves my stress away and I just feel good after watching it . Yangzi really did impress me on this one , and she's now one of my fav Chinese actresses . for Wallace Huo , no need to talk he's my fav taiwanese actor for a reason ?❤️ . If you're hesitating to watch ,just watch it you'll regret delaying it and it's not that sad and tragic .
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Acting: I was not a fan of Wallace Huo's acting but he was awesome in this drama. Yang Zi was really good here to. I am now paying attention to the acting of Niu Junfeng because it the dramas I watch with him (Love O2O, Princess Agents, Battle of Changsha) he is being amazing. One of my favorite actors for sure.
Music: The music was so good, it matched the story so well. One of the few dramas i paid attention to the music.
Rewatch Value: I will definitely rewatch this one day.
Overall: Amazing story, music, actors make an amazing drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is a drama that doesn't get old.
I was on a rampage for Chinese dramas. I do have a lot of experience with long and boring chinese dramas but the few that gave me a reason to keep watching has just been as wonderful as this drama.As someone who hasn't visited or lived in China or isn't acquainted with the chinese history and people, I was able to experience the ordeal of the Chinese people at this time.
It wasn't an in your face story, the story started from the female lead running from being engaged to she and her twin brother growing and becoming more mature with every encounter they came across. The bond between them did not seem exaggerated but was built overtime, which just made the ending very painful.
Officer Gu on the other hand grows into a fine young man with unwavering principles and stubborn character, how he fell in love with his wife was pure and seemed like fate wanted them to be together.
What hurt the most was watching Jun Shan lose Pyang and Xiang Jun the older sister of the twins fall apart. Watching her do she can to stand tall and then die in the end was a lot to take in. It also pained to watch the fall out of both husband and wife, but considering their characters it was well underway.
For the entire family, watching them depend on Jun Shan and then taking care of themselves when he was no more was more like a retribution for me.
What I could say was I was proud of every single character in the Gu, Hu and Xue family at the end of the drama.
A wonderful piece I must say.
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What a Masterpiece
This drama popped up in my YouTube recommendation after I finished watching Arsenal Military Academy. I'm guessing because it also involves the war.How do I start? Great pacing of story, great character development, all of the characters are well written. 32 episodes is a perfect length, it's not draggy at all.
It really takes you back to the wartime and it shows the damages it brings to people's lives. This drama makes me feel so thankful that I don't live in a war period.
My favourite character is Dr Ming Han (the twins' cousin), even though he's only a small side character. He has a calming effect (and it's important since this drama has so many heart breaking moments).
Watch this. It's going to be hard not to like it.
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This review may contain spoilers
War: Between ideals and lives.
Have watched this drama a few times over the span of few years. I gave it a 10 despite numerous flaws that would usually turn me off, mostly because of its not so naive approach on the subject of war.Blind patriotism is common in depiction of wars, propagandas are expected and seemingly unavoidable, yet this drama managed to walk the fine line between loyalism and humanism without abandoning either. There's a scene which stood out, where this one Japanese guy was persuaded to surrender by a reminder of how precious life is. That scene was a mind blowing one, one where I realized how aware and brave this drama production is, IMAGINE being a Jew and recognizing an active NAZI could also be a victim of war in their own right, that's the westernized scenario of this drama and it takes so much to do that.
It is sad that in 2022 this topic is still relevant, I didn't think that in my lifetime I would see people having to contemplate this once more to make their lives decisions.
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This review may contain spoilers
The entire cast of this series is beyond amazing!!!!! Yang Zi as Hu Xiangxiang is mature, prominent, and profound. Yang Zi's ability to become Xiangxiang, I have no words to describe how beautifully she portray this character, better than any other than I have seen, given the dynamics and weight of Xiangxiang. Yang Zi wears her character well.
Wallace Huo is no less as Officer Gu Qingming. He is also profound and prominent and wears his character well.
Every single actor in this series owned their character and each actor jived beautifully together, which is a rare thing.
[Round of Applause]
The relationships were beautifully and exquisitely portrayed and intermingle to illustrate the depth of the relationship between everyone from family to friends to lovers to Chinese Officers to Japanese Officers, to Government, and last but not least to the Chinese and Japanese. The loves and likes were equally demonstrated as was the hatred amongst the Chinese and Japanese. Indeed a rainbow of emotions were clearly captured .
This series has fun, laughter, seriousness, love, hate, sibling bonding, pain, rebellion of sorts, angst, you name the emotion, it's there.
The Battle of Changsha is one of the best I have seen to depict not just the battle, but to demonstrate how it affect everyone and everything. The Battle of Changsha brings life to history.
The writer definitely put time and effort into writing the dialogues. They were impactful, hard hitting, full of reality of then and today. The delivery of the dialogues were executed beautifully with the right hand gestures to the right look, just flawless.
The creatives of this series did not hold back anything. The used very resource to make a magnificent series to illustrate what happened years ago.
The color scheme was on point, the clothing, the hairstyle all of it were on point.
I only have appreciation for this series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My heart ached throughout the series just as it did when I studied history.
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5 stars, best war/love/family story with courage, brave, emotion, humanity, brutality of war
Love this series to understand the brutality of Japanese soldiers, the brave and sacrifice of millions of Chinese during the near 8 yrs of Sino-Japan war. The humanity, interaction, unconditional dedicated love and war-related loss of lives among the Hu's family from the granny to little kids are just the best and wonderful. Always love every Wallace Huo's series and movies. This is our 1st introduction to Ms. Yang Zi (or Andy Yang) who played the Xiang-Xiang role, and she is so adorable and lovely. Yang Zi really plays and reflects the well-known classical character of Hunan women extremely well, bold, courageous, dedication to love. A must watch series with 5 starts rating and many tears. The background music is just 1st rated. A must own series.Was this review helpful to you?
