The Land of Warriors

"A Found Family" which prevails throughout all challenges!

I watched this drama without any knowledge of the donghua or Douluo Continent. Before starting to watch this I was a little concerned because of the change of the cast. To replace an actor like Xiao Zhan with Zhou Yi Ran seemed to me quite gutsy. Yet the cast here did really well and Zhou Yi Ran and Zhang Yu Xi were great in portraying Tang San and Xiao Wu. As I didn't watch such game and anime like dramas before, there were some aspects I had to get used to. But the story, cast and the realization of the fantasy and soul-ability elements is good and I got hooked within the first episodes and stayed until the end without skipping or fast forwarding. Especially the friendship between the Seven Devils, who form a "found family" throughout the whole story, even when they are not together, made this drama for me a very valuable watch. I craved such a "family" after watching "The Blood of Youth" and "Fangs of Fortune", which I can highly recommend!
Now I even started to watch the donghua as I got hooked with the very good story. The song :"Confused", became one of my favored songs. I liked the drama very much and can recommend it. So just watch The Land of Warriors and build your own opinion. It's really underrated!

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This version isn’t as good as season 1

I prefer season 1 as the background is more realistic unlike season 2 where it looks very fake which pulls me out of the story. Being someone who had seen the first season, I do not like how the female main character in season 2 acted. I was already used to the people acting in season 1 but when there are new actors taking over it makes it hard to watch. I really don’t think this female actor is suitable for this role as that role gives me a pure and cute vibe but the female character did not appear that way to me. Overall, it is very disappointing as i really like the storyline .

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An Entertaining Watch Indeed, Ending Not So Much!!

There are very few dramas that manage to grab my attention and then aggravate me, this was one of those shows!

The likelihood of this adaptation being fully developed as per the original context in the novel Soul Land written by Tang Jia San Shao was zero. One of the most popular Chinese novels, this storyline has inspired a manhua, game, anime and two live-action adaptations. Given the popularity, it’s obvious that this story will be adapted and remade umpteen number of times. First as “Doulou Continent” and with the recently concluded “The Land of Warriors”; a fair attempt was made to fully incorporate the twists & turns that make up the Soul Land universe. It was a commendable effort, the show was immersive, casting was exemplified. But the ending not so much; as with the prequel, the sequel ended on an unexpected note, and we were left hanging about the future prospects of any new adaptations. The other question that piques your attention is whether the same ensemble casting will return to reprise their characters? Or there will be another brand-new casting involved? I hope not because it can be pretty confusing to get along with a new casting everytime, an adaptation or remake is announced!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/12/22/the-land-of-warriors-series-review/

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Best Friends Forever Vibe, with a Race of Who Dies the Most Efficient between Lovers.

I don’t usually watch xuanhuan genre cuz I am usually too lazy to try understand different worlds with different power systems, but somehow I just had the urge to try on this one because I saw that the ML is going to be in the upcoming Ashes to Crown, which novel I liked, so i wanted to see his work beforehand. This is the first time that i saw him anyway.

The story takes place in the middle part of Donghua’s Soul Land - the journey of Tang San, a soul master with dual martial soul, with his group of 6 other friends that he befriended in Shrek Academy. Upon graduation in the first episode, they parted ways with a promise to reunite 5 years later. The story tells about their power growth journey, about how they overcame various challenges as Martial Soul Hall sees them as a threat after defeating the Martial Soul Hall team in the Soul Arena, Especially for Tang San, whose beloved is 10,000yo Soul Beast, who had transformed into a human Xiao Wu, coveted by the Martial Soul Hall Supreme Chief Bibi Dong to advance in her cultivation in her attempt to rule the Duoluo Continent.

Honestly the plot is quite interesting with amazing powers that we could only dream of having. Tang San is the usual zero-to-hero focal point of the show, having to get the best of luck of encountering great treasures, personas and powers that helped him to advance in his cultivation. Despite being a soul master of the control branch, he is indeed the best fighter in the team surpassing Storm Attack branch Dai Mubai whom shouldve been the best of the best in fights, or the keen attack branch Zhu Zhuqing. Of course he is, he is the hero! Anyway, I love the CGI they did not look cheap at all. I’ve always loved Tang San’s spider claws in the Donghua and they really did it well here. They closely follow the donghua, some parts even have identical dialogues. I am impressed. Totally love all the action sequences, especially when it is Tang San doing the fighting.

The ML looks ordinary here, i sometimes confuse him with another character in the first few episodes. 🤣 i can’t bring myself to like Xiao Wu although I love the actress’ face. She’s so dang beautiful! I just couldnt like Xiao Wu cuz 1, she’s too whiny acting cutesy in donghua and in liveaction, 2, the character always try to look tough but usually gets injured the most in the Shrek 7’s soul fights in the donghua. Although in the liveaction the character actually execute some powerful fights after she became Tang San’s soul ring, the weakly and whiny act of the resurrected Xiao Wu just put me off each time she comes on. And 3, I can’t feel the chemistry between Tang San and Xiao Wu, in donghua and in the adaptation cuz i keep seeing them as brother and sister instead of a couple (that is how they started off in the donghua anyway) so I utilized the fastforward button each time their lovey dovey scenes came on. Too bad cuz I really liked the actress. You can say the only thing that keeps my interest on Soul Land is Tang San’s personal growth journey.

The wardrobe department needed some improvement in creativity though, some of the girls’ clothing are so tacky. The only one that had nice wardrobe was Qian Renxue. Although, as tacky as they looked, theyre definitely way better than the skimpy scraps the girl characters don in the donghua. And i can’t help but notice that some of the characters didnt do the donghua characters enough justice. Like Dean Flander, how did he become a scholar when he looks like a rouge soldier in the donghua? Honestly I think General Ge Long actually looks the closest to Donghua’s Flander with his big frame and face and I was imagining Vengo Gao as Yu Xiaogang. Anyway moving on, it is also very tiring to see how they had to display each of our seven leads’ reactions during each moment of shock or surprise. I mean, cant they share a frame instead of showing 7 reactions one frame for each character in each occasion? I roll my eyes each time they do this, cuz it took so long to finish all 7 reactions! Gosh! That little race between lovers trying to do their best to thoroughly die for their other half is touching in the first few times but becomes comical when they keep repeating the same thing over and over again. It’s like “so you think you can die for me? Hey look at this, I can die better than you, you’d go through hell on earth trying to resurrect me” kind of competition. Hilarious when you see it enough time on screen. But hey, that’s xuanhuan/xianxia for you, dying isnt the end of the story. 😆 though seeing this kind of trope every few episodes eventually tend to feel too over the top.

And I totally did not expect to see Liu Yuning making a guest appearance here!

The soundtrack is great though. It’s packed with catchy songs and bgm, some even stuck in my head i cant help but hum along.

I have seen better work, but this show isnt a waste of my time either. It’s an all right kind of show, not quite impressive but not too forgettable too.

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tang san is talent

this story line is interesting and Oscar very handsome and cool and I really need season 3 please I need to know who win and what will happen and I also got many motivation from the story thank you for all of them because making this amazing story for some reason I cry alone side with them for the all of story it's very best ever story and I need asap season 3
thank you and I hope to see more the chinese traditional fantasy power story
sometimes I really understand but can't believe but that how world are🥰✊️👊🤛🤝
P.S. I need season 3 and (everyone let's go to fighting to the better future)

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Once I Finally Found You

I watched Douluo Continent when it came out and fell in love with the storyline, the actors, and the special effects. I was waiting and waiting for season 2 to come out. I searched Douluo Continent season 2 multiple times. I even went to actors pages to see when a follow up would be announced, and nothing. It's more my fault for not knowing the background of this story because with a different title and different cast it took me far too long to find it. But here I am, and even though there is a new cast and the special effects are more AI generated this time, I'm still loving the series. I love Rayli in just about any role she plays and Zhou Yi Ran was so cute in Falling into your Smile that I couldn't be upset with the cast change. The music really gets me pumped during each dueling scene. My only real complaint is that the new graphics and special effects make it feel less fantasy world and more video game. It hard to truly get emersed in the story like I did the first season. Still, it's definitely worth the watch.

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Easy to watch adaptation true to original story, with good visual atmosphere

Having read the manga, watched the donghua, and loved the first live action adaptation of Soul Land, this drama was a satisfying watch that was definitely closer to the original story than Douluo Continent (DC). First time watchers with no prior understanding of the story might be a little thrown off by the first episode, which kicks off in the middle of a fight, but stay invested and the plot plays out coherently after. But if you are like me, who really loved the original story and the donghua music, the opening of this drama was perfect, where the combination of the epic donghua OST, good CGI, decent visuals made me hooked from the get go.

Pros:
- I hate to admit this but I actually thought the chemistry between the leads here were better... (even though my personal bias is Xiao Zhan). The supporting cast also felt better/more appropriately casted here, be it in terms of cast chemistry, characterisation of their roles and even the way they were styled. Ma Hong Jun in DC was totally different from the original which was somewhat strange but Ma Hong Jun here was perfect (albeit thinner lol).
- Good plot pacing and plot that followed the original story closely.
- Way better set costumes and good CGI (but game-like, which might not be the preferred vibe for some people) that blended in decently and made the drama setting look much more immersive and enjoyable to watch.
- The drama-specific OSTs were not super memorable but were complementary to the show at least.
- *Liu Yuning appearing towards the end in his guest role cracked me up so much but he nailed it regardless!!

Cons:
- It's been a while since I've watched it and nothing particularly bad stuck out, other than taking some time to get used to the characters who are all played by completely different characters. And the ending only stops midway of the original story, in the midst of one the more interesting arcs so I do hope there is a sequel because the set visuals of that arc were beautifully portrayed in this drama.

Tldr if you loved the original novel/donghua, this would be a perfect watch! Also a great watch for anyone who enjoys fantasy themed shows and...likes games I guess lol (the fighting dynamics in the show is somewhat like that of games like Dota, LoL, Honor of Kings, MLBB etc.

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Not trying to offend anyone but...

To start off, my review is purely based on The Land of Warriors alone. I have NOT seen Soul Land or Douluo Continent. Now that we have that squared away, let me explain my rating.

I watched all 38 episodes and I even paid for the express package, which I only do if I enjoy the show, which I did, however, I do feel that there are some arcs that needed to be shortened and that ending was not what I was expecting at all. There were some twists that I did not see coming and then there are just some parts that were pure boring so I have to fast forward it.

Let's get started. The overall story line is okay. I feel that they should dive into more details and stuff, but then again, they only have 38 episodes to fill in everything that they wanted so I'm giving them a little bit of grace on that. However, I am wishing for more and I was actually hoping that they spent a little more time explaining some of the character's background too. They kind of just did a quick flashback on certain characters and left others out. The one background that confuses me what of Yu Xiaogiang and Bi Bi Dong -- I mean, were they a couple before everything that happened to her? I'm just a little confused on that part which I wish they would have explored it a little bit more or at least explain it into more details. Little things like this is the reason why I rated the storyline low. As for the actors and actresses I think that everyone did an awesome job with what they had.

Zhou Yi Ran as Tang San - I don't know the Tang San from Soul Land or Douluo Continent, but I do like this Tang San. He is loyal to his beloved, family, and friends. The only thing about him that annoyed me at the beginning was his obsession with Xiao Wu. I mean, I get it, she's his lover and he wanted to protect her, but his father have been telling him that he needed to get stronger to protect her but he just kept complaining about how he wanted to save her and look for her. I feel that if he listened a little more, then maybe just maybe, she wouldn't have to sacrifice herself for him. But that's just my opinion. I know that she needed to die to get the story moving, but like I said, that's just how I feel. However, he did redeem himself and learned how to be more humble. He did learned a lot along the way and as the years went by, he did get stronger.

Zhang Yu Xi as Xiao Wu - Again, I don't know her from the other two versions, but I feel that Zhang Yu Xi playing Xiao Wu is a little too pretty. I don't know. I like her as an actress, but I feel that they should have casted someone else. Don't come for me at all. I just feel like a different actress would be a better choice. I don't know who would have been a better choice, but I just feel like Zhang Yu Xi as Xiao Wu is not right. But, she did do a wonderful job though. She was able to convey her emotions without talking when she came back alive, so that's a plus, however, I still feel a little off about her playing Xiao Wu.

Luke Chen as Dai Mu Bai - I like Luke Chen. I think he is an excellent up and coming actor. So I was not surprised at how he portrayed Dai Mu Bai. As I have stated, I haven't seen any other versions of Boss Dai, so this is purely based on how he portrayed him. This character reminded me of Chao Feng in The Starry Love. Someone who loves his beloved and is willing to do anything to protect them and he did just that. I feel that Boss Dai would be a great king along side his queen, Zhu Zhu Qing. I wanted to see more of his childhood and how strong he can get, but I won't be able to see any of that unless they decide to do a second season of this drama.

Ding Jia Yi as Ma Hong Jun - I don't know this actor since I have never seen his dramas before, but I feel that he was the perfect person for Ma Hong Jun. He brought comedic relief to the show and I actually really enjoyed his scenes a lot. I don't know if Ma Hong Jun is supposed to be a comedic character in Soul Land, but the comedy was really great. And I do agree with the Ocean God, he was very boastful and jealous of his friends' talent and love. But he did humbled himself and he also started to grow as a person. So I really liked that for him.

Zhou Jing Bo as Ning Rong Rong - This was my least favorite character. Don't come for me! In the beginning, she was very useless. I feel that she didn't pull her weight at all and that everyone needed to protect her. She was giving me princess vibes. However, when Oscar left her, she started to work on herself to get stronger and started to pull her weight on the team. So, I'll give her that.

Snow Kong as Zhu Zhu Qing - I did like that she was independent and wanted freedom. She worked very well with Boss Dai and I did enjoy watching her try to push the limit of the emperor of Xingluo. However, I feel that just like the Ocean God says, her pursuit of being stronger doesn't mean that she'll be free.

Cao Zi Shou as Oscar - I thought that he was weak at first too. I feel that Oscar and Rong Rong were just weighing down the team, but he did eventually get stronger and I really like that for him. He listened to the criticisms and went on to better himself instead of just moping around.

The acting and casts were amazing even though I did feel a little off about Xiao Wu, I did enjoy Zhang Yu Xi being Xiao Wu.

Now, let's talk about the twist. I was not expecting the Crown Prince to actually be the daughter of Bi Bi Dong. When they showed a person talking to Bi Bi Dong and her telling that person she sent her to the Tiandou royal family, I thought she meant that that person was like the Crown Princess or something but for her to be the Crown Prince was a shock to me! And it was even more shocking because wasn't the Crown Prince hitting on the aunt at Moon Pavilion? I mean, that's how I saw it. Of course the revealing of Qian Ren Xue as the Crown Prince was one of the best twist I have ever seen in a xian xia drama. BUT -- and this is a big but -- it did confused me. If Qian Ren Xue is Crown Prince Xue Qing He, then what happened to the real one and how did no one ever know that he was dead or missing or disappeared? Not even the grand masters and Yu Xiao Gang know that the Crown Prince was not the real Crown Prince. And this twist right here is the reason who I did not take out more points because it was done so perfectly well that my jaw literally dropped.

Let's get to the rating. I took 1 point off because of the ending. After everything they have gone through, we didn't see them get stronger and we didn't get to see them fight Martial Hall. I wanted that fight so bad that I am hoping for a second season. I mean, that was the whole point of everyone working so hard, right? To finally defeat Marital Soul Hall and create a better "world" for them, so to deprive us from that was a horrible thing to do. I took 1.5 points off because I feel that they spent too much time on some of the arc instead of developing the plot better or giving us the satisfaction of Tang Clan finally destroying Martial Soul Hall. I feel like the Netherworld Arc and the Tang Clan Arc took too much screen time.

So, based on just this drama alone without ever seeing Soul Land or Duolou Continent, I am rating this a 7.5 out of 10. It could have been easily an 8 if they cut those two arcs that I mentioned shorter and at least showed us the trials that the Shrek Devils have to go through, but because they didn't, my final rating is at 7.5.

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The drama is awesome

Simply awesome drama I found the first season production amateur somehow but the story was good but this one the story is following Tang San's and Xiao Wu's separated training and cultivating relationship after the battle where Xiao Wu was exposed to be a soul beast she was coerced to leave Tang San and first become stronger and content of herself and him and that's why they were so long separated also Tang San had to go through a special training on his own way where Xiao Wu wasn't even available to accompany him and the battle execution of the entire 20th episode where Tang San fought martial soul hall underlings to save Xiao Wu was simply what made me so in love with it...the scene how Tang San got bone torn for Xiao Wu and then she sacrificed herself to remodel his bones back to normal to him and turned into just a mere rabbit...that scene was so beautifully heart piercing filmed and presented that I finally felt after so long time of trying to find something like that again I finally felt like I'm really enjoying watching chinese dramas again and I mean again because many of the new dramas are not properly either written at all and acting feels bad and not interesting at all and when there's a story finally and "filming" and "releasing" that's as cool as this I can really feel like chinese dramas have a soul and talent of a writers and while I have already watched it when it released but not fully...now that I finally have watched it fully I figured out it's actually really awesome story and production quality is really high and I came to love it a lot as much as it deserve to be loved and I hope that some production team makes 3rd season

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Excellent and better than S1

I was not excited for this because I loathe a new cast. I liked Duoluo Continent but didn’t like the abrupt ending. I have never seen SoulLand.

That said, this was so good! It reminded me of EverNight because it didn’t feel rushed at ALL. You got full context without it being slow or boring. Dramas need to get back to that— especially if there are multiple seasons. Take time to tell the story. Develop the plots. IMHO this was done the way Dashing Youth SHOULDVE been done. When you have a million characters, you have to ensure you’re not flying through their stories, confusing people. Or boring us with the side show. I was equally invested in all the character storylines and that’s very hard to do. They also took the time to show the BUILDING OF POWERS. I hate watching a show and all of a sudden boom, someone is powerful. Or boom they’re powerful and then they keep losing battles. We see the build in all the characters which I appreciated so much.

I appreciated seeing new characters of an already large cast. When Liu Yuning appeared I was like oookkkkkk lol. So A+ for pulling it off with a large cast and a mix of seasoned actors and new faces. HOWEVER, some of the acting is sus. There are a few moments where it’s like ehhhhh (but I assume newer actors). It isn’t too bad though and the scenes recover fast. I really really enjoyed this. What I don’t enjoy is wondering when I can see the rest. It ends abruptly just like Duoluo 1. But better because it wraps up neatly but clearly lets you know the story is unfinished.

Censorship rules need changing so they don’t ruin the momentum like they did with Lost You Forever. Looking forward to S2 of TLOW. Hopefully w the same cast and not many years later. If you were reluctant to watch bc of the new cast, get over that. TLOW is better than Duoluo Continent. By far. Bravo.

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