WM

Ugh, your post makes me super skeptical about it from my perspective - it sounds like the ML will be saving the FL over and over and over again...

Enjoy the Ride. And you can let me know if you liked it ;)

Yes, they were in his Household before the FL became his wife. And the concubines mostly will really like the FL :).

Well, there is a lot to choose from, but you have to be ready that as much as badass the FL will be, she also always will be weaker than ML (unless he is supposed to be weak).

Personally, I liked "Who rules the world" the most, as the writers protected the FL character there much better than in "Journey to Love for example".

From short dramas, the FL in "Qingchuan's Veil of Vengeance" is just incredible.

From microdramas, The FL in "Queen of Battlefield" is equally fantastic.

All 3 Dramas have Happy Endings as well.

No idea, my account was created a few days ago though.

Whoa, it looks very interesting, apparently the same director from the "Veil of Vengeance" as well. Will definitely check this one soon...very soon :). Thanks.

I remember there were more cross-dressers there, and I was struggling to follow who is who, plus not much kungfu action with Cynthia Khan as expected. I even have "Gigantic disappointment" in my notes :)

"Lingnan Medicine Hero" aka 岭南药侠 (2003) was decent with her though, and if you like silly comedy with kickass female lead, you can try "A Scholar meets Soldier" aka 秀才遇着兵 (there are two versions, from 2005 and 2007)

Also, for a long time I have "Incisive Great Teacher" aka 犀利仁师 (2014) on my Watchlist, but never started it, seems like KungFu comedy with Liu Shishi.

No cross-dressing in the last two paragraphs though, but "Scholar meets Soldier" has some struggles for a woman trying to work as a Magistrate Security.

Also, there is a 2-season-long Mulan Drama on YT that I wanted to take a look at one day, I think it's "The Story of Mulan" (2013)

I still have a few to watch, but after watching one old version with Cynthia Khan I kind of lost interest, as it was horribly bad ;)

You can watch Mulan Dramas on YT with English subtitles, although they are not recent.

There was also a relatively new Drama (adventure type I think) with a very nicely done woman crossdressing as man (and the ML was a doctor/healer I think), but not sure about the title now.

I will definitely check this one when the time comes. Ma Qiu Yuan's well-deserved rise from microdramas to full productions seems very interesting to follow.

I will definitely check this one when the time comes. Ma Qiu Yuan's well-deserved rise from the microdramas to the full productions seems very interesting to follow.

Well deserved, even if I will miss her in microdramas, which recently has became my favourite ones.

The FL here is possibly the most badass FL lead in C-Drama ever, partially because ML is too weak to save her over and over again, which typically happens to push Romance forward.

Thankfully, the ML here is much weaker, so the writers couldn't go this route.

If you don't mind watching Microdramas, you can check "Queen of the Battlefield" with another badass (plus, composed and intelligent) Female General.

Good entertainment for a Short Drama, with one of the most badass Female Leads you can find around, with an intriguing backstory, great composure and intelligence, and amazing fighting skills.
She was much better written than, for example, Liu Shishi's Ren Xin in the "Journey to Love", at least they didn't make her plan to get pregnant during the important mission, lol :)

However, the series suffers a lot due to tropey Master-Pupil Romance, especially when the actor playing the ML offers nothing except a pretty face and being a good poppy. It has some positives - he was weaker than the FL, so the writers couldn't do a typical trope of a strong ML saving a strong (but weaker than him) FL over and over again.
But his terrible acting stole too many precious minutes, which could have been distributed among some older actors playing here, who all gave a very solid performance. I also didn't like the inconsistencies in the FL's Maid fighting level skills.

Overall - a solid Drama for the fans of "Badass Female Leads", but also a little bit disappointing, as it could easily be even better.

From 5.5 to 5.4 rating at Douban after over 32k votes - much closer to how I would rate it.

I've tried to watch it, but quickly found the ML to be way too obnoxious personally. I'm guessing, "Sword snow stride" will be the only show with him for me playing a character like that.

It actually lowered my opinion of him, from such a brilliant person I would expect a safer way to get out of trouble ;)

I actually tried "Advisor Alliance" once, but got discouraged after the ML broke his own leg in a brutal fashion, which I felt was too much.

9/10 - Nirvana in Fire
8/10 - Empresses in the Palace, Story of Minglan, Yae no Sakura (Japanese),
7/10 - Sword Snow Stride, Yanxi Palace, Seirei no Moribito (Japanese, average rating off all 3 seasons), Blossom, Flourished Peony, A couple of mirrors
6/10 - Princess Agents, A fist within Four Walls (Taiwan), Side story of Fox Volant
(there were many more watched, but majority of them were rated below)

There are also some microdramas I really like, but not sure if you can adjust your budget expectations to be happy with them..

Actually, during the couple of final episodes, I've realised they finally stopped pushing down that message through our throats.

Feminist messaging is everywhere these days, but it was so nice to hear it in a much subtler way during my "Flourished Peony" binge.