Just Ming
This review may contain spoilers
One word - Perfect
Love this drama very much. Fast plot, unexpected twist, satisfying political drama. Even the sad love story is so touching that I love it so much. Also worth to mention the funny side that make this drama so fresh and not too serious.The cast is perfect in any way, their acting already reach top level that I can't find any flaw. Even Leo Wu character is so adorable though he was still a kid back then.
The music is amazingly matched with all the moment in this drama. The sad songs, thrilling sound and the calming music are so beautiful to listen to, again and again.
Rewatch value is 100% yes, though it is a sad ending, but it was very satisfying. I didn't expect this drama to have happy ending since sad ending is more dramatic and touching.
Overall I only want to said that this is one perfect series I've ever watched, that probably no other series can compete with it.
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I like the cast, both lead character and also second male lead. Only a little bit unpleasant with Mo Ruo Fei character, but she was doing a good job in her acting.
I don't really like the music, since this drama is wuxia drama, I'd prefer more Chinese traditional music as soundtrack.
I don't think I will rewatch this drama, perhaps only few parts, since the ending is a disappointment.
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The Weakest Gu Man Drama
Story: In one word, half of this drama is basically skipable. It was so boring to watch when they playing online game, as the scenes about the aerospace. Unlike other Gu Man's drama, this drama is more plain in the romance side and the career side of the MCs. There were no serious conflicts in this drama except the MCs mental's struggle of showing their feelings. However, as typical Gu Man's drama, the romance is very sweet and addictive for rom-com fans.Acting: I adore the 2 main actor actress in this drama. Honestly, I haven't watched Yang Yang drama since Love O2O (I dropped Martial Universe). And this drama proved Yang Yang's acting is remarkable. Perhaps Yang Yang is more suitable for modern drama (just my subjective opinion). Dilraba's acting is natural and amusing. She was like acting herself as her role is an actress, therefore she didn't have to put much effort to act. The chemistry between MCs also top notch. I can feel their emotions as if they are real couple. No wonder this CP will be loved by huge fans, not mention their stunning faces.
Music: the OSTs are good, some of it is notable but not very impressive.
Overall: I don't know if the novel's plot is similar with the drama, but my thoughts are this drama has too many unnecessary scenes, like the online game and the aerospace. It took almost half of this drama and that basically no story to tell at all. I also found other dramas which had similar trope are boring, but they didn't insert too many of online game scenes. If this drama didn't cast these 2 top actors, I don't think anyone will hold on to watch until the end.
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Interesting drama for such budget cast
Actually xianxia costume drama based on anime is not my interest. I prefer more serious drama with heavy acting skill (comedy only in modern rom-com). At first I was pessimistic with this drama as I had experienced in other anime-based fantasy drama like Martial Universe and Fight Breaks Sphere. Too many CGIs, silly scenes and blurry story are some negative factors. However, because I really like Xiao Zhan acting, therefore I give this drama a try, just see how far Xiao Zhan can give this drama privilege points for audience.Story: Before I watched this drama, I've heard that Soul Land is a very popular animation series in China, have been aired for 4+ years and still ongoing. At the beginning I thought the story will be simply like another animation, but I found out that this one was different. The fast pace plot makes this drama addicting and you can get hooked easily after 5-6 episodes. And what I like about the story is the development of the characters and the reveal of the mysteries layer by layer. 40 episodes really not enough, now I craved for season 2.
Acting: You can say this drama depends a lot of Xiao Zhan's efforts. He is the soul of this drama, because his acting really gave this drama more emotions, not just CGI fantasy drama. For Betty Wu's acting, as this is her first drama act, is qualified enough. She nailed the cute acting, some emotional scenes but still lack of chemistry with Tang San character. Other actors are standard for me, special mention for Headmaster and Ou Si Ke. I like their characters, make this drama more hilarious. The production is very well done, specially the CGI, I think it's beyond other fantasy drama on that time.
Music: I hate to say that the music is the one and only factor that bothers me. OST is not bad, but the BGM is not match with the scenes at all. I can tell that the music producesr are either obsessed with pop and folk music or they just thought these kind of music were suitable for youth drama. But it sucks.
Overall: I guess this drama is a little bit overrated, however for youth drama and fantasy drama, this drama has a good story line, many morals and lesson value and suitable for youth generation.
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Can be an unforgettable drama
I write this review for all part of this drama because it's easier to give opinion for the whole completed series.Story: Not very special one though still has interesting part. I really love the first part when the story is telling about Ying Yuan as sovereign lord and Yan Dan as his attendant. Their relationship's progression is so sweet, how they started to fall for each other and the feelings grow to unrequited love. The second part is half-half for me, some I like yet some are just plain. I like Tang Zhou because he is like an opposite personality from Ying Yuan, but Yan Dan in the second part is so stiff and awkward with her feeling. And it continues to the third part, when Yan Dan still withhold her love and anger for Ying Yuan. The most impressive part is the last couple episodes, when at last Yan Dan and Ying Yuan admit their feelings for each other.
Acting: The reason this drama can be a hot viral drama is the lead actors. Their acting is remarkably exquisite. They can trigger audience's emotion with their eyesight and face expression. Cheng Yi as three different characters, every character has strong characteristic from playful, kind to arrogant. And he plays all characters exceedingly impressive. Yang Zi as Yan Dan just show us her first class acting, emotional and amusing. Their chemistry also very compelling, I just want more for their romantic scenes.
Music: All the original score and soundtrack are very beautiful and suitable for this drama. I have no complaint, love it
Overall: This drama can be an top notch drama if they reduced the episodes. Too long and too many unnecessary side story. I expected this drama can be heavy romance dramatic one like Love and Redemption, but I got disappointed. Perhaps this drama targeted more mature audiences with more mature mind.
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Story: Even though lots of review said that this drama's story is so good because it's stick to the novel, I didn't find it extraordinary. Just like another common romance wuxia drama, and some middle episodes I found them so boring which I fast-forward lot of time.
Acting: As I expected from TMPB, Dilraba and Vengo Gao are professional actors, their acting are very touchy and I love their chemistry despite the character's age gap. Although Vengo Gao is not a very handsome actor,but he truly can deliver Dong Hua Di Jun aura as a supreme god who is invincible. And I always like Dilraba, she is a very expressive actor so every character she played always have remarkable impressions.
Music: Same as TMPB, this drama's OST are very amazing that I will save them in my playlist
Rewatch value: Perhaps I will only watch the scene of Donghua and Fengjiu, they are so sweet together.
Oervall: I love all the production of this drama except for the story that I found a little bit boring and cheesy. Worth to watch in your spare time if you like TMPB, but not for someone who prefer deeper story and twisted plot
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Story: I was not satisfied with the story. Too slow at the beginning, and become bored in some episodes. They just dragged the main point of the plot until episode 20 something, and the main characters just going round and round with no purpose. After episode 25 the story become more interesting. The romance is sweet and cute. And some scenes are so funny that makes me giggle and LOL.
Acting: I think the lead actor and actress are good in acting. They look so sincere in funny scene and sad scene. However, the chemistry is not there. Perhaps it's just the characters in the story who has awkward personality, hence the chemistry become weird. (NB: Li Xian is so good-looking and cool!)
Music: The music is good but not very impressive. Fit to the series though
Rewatch value: Just some sweet and funny scenes are worth to rewatch.
Overall: I kinda like this type of drama about reaching our dreams even going against the mainstream, but this series is too draggy. Can add another story despite of redo the same act many times, like second lead love story or the purpose of the main female characters strong background. For the light romance drama, this series is not to be missed
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The casts are likeable, I like Leo Wu and Li Qin, and almost all of the Flame Gang. But in some point, Leo Wu's expression was not match with the situation. His smiley face ruined some of the dramatic moments.
Music is not really impressive, but good enough
Rewatch value... perhaps after they decided to air season 2
Overall, I think 45 episodes are too dragging, perhaps they can finish all this series in addition of 15 episode, no need of season 2, if the plot pace is not too slow in the middle.
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Simple and realistic drama yet emotionally engaging
Story:The plot is simply slice of life and slow burn romance, around the ups and downs of advertising worker, with addition of their family relationship. Instead, it is the main interest, the realistic side of the story. Made me feel extremely connected and can't stop binge watched it.
Acting:
Gosh, I can't say a lot but imho, every actor give a top notch performance. Can't count how many times I laughed and sobbed when watching those 36 episodes. I have never thought that this drama can be tremendously emotional despite the non melodramatic story. The only negative side of this drama is Jian Bing's sister side story, it felt bland.
Overall:
Not recommended if you want to watch a passionate and sweet romantic drama. But if you like coming of age, light hearted story and spiritual lifting romance, you must watch this. And feel Sheng Yang hangover after that :)
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Best Xian Xia Drama of This Year So Far
Story: Although this drama is typical xianxia drama in general, the interesting point of this drama is the main character, which is the strong female god. Many of xianxia drama describe the female MC as badass and strong one, but only this drama consistently tell this attitude until the end. The story is middle-pace but gripping me fast enough to finish it only in 5 days in proximate. Almost no grey character in the story, just the good one or the bad one, despite many hilarious ones. I think the production team was playing safe for choosing this drama because the story is easy to digest and probably just as easy to become big fans drama.Acting: Maybe because this was her first time acting in costume drama, at first I found Zhou Dongyu's acting was a little bit out of line. Many of her expressions were not match the scene, like too many smiling in serious or touching scenes. But after the halfway, her acting became better and better, specially the crying scenes. I have watched some of Xu Kai's drama and my deepest impression of him is in The Legend. And I think this is another Xu Kai's best costume drama. Though I'm not really fond of his appearance in costume drama, but have to admit that he has magnificent acting skills. For addition, I fell in love with Liu Xueyi's character in this drama. Gosh, he was so cute and hilarious.
Music: This drama has many OST which probably will be my favorite OST playlist. The music score was very beautiful and touching. Special mention for the ones Mao Buyi and Zhou Shen sang.
Overall: There was no doubt that this drama spend big budget on production. The settings and CGI are very exquisite. The costumes also beautifully designed. This drama will be one of my favorite Xianxia drama following TMPB and LAR
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Story: Though the story has some similar point with GBMP, but for me the pace is too slow to grow intense. Basically I only need about 5 days to finish 50-60 episodes drama, and I finished this drama in about 9-10 days. The romance is too cheesy for me, even though I like the princess as the main character.
Acting: Although the chemistry of all characters are not bad, but the emotion they show are just average. Some scene are emotionally great, like the act of Emperor of Western Qi (Leo Luo as the Emperor). I like him a lot, specially in the last episodes. Make me hard to move on.
Music: the soundtracks are easy listening and have beautiful lyrics. I even save them before I watched this drama.
Rewatch value: I only will rewatch the last episode, the sadness emotion which this episode brought is so beautiful that makes me can't stop tearing.
Overall: Not a bad drama, actually the story is pretty good despite of the slow pace. Not really fond of Zhang Xue Ying and Aarif Rahman acts, don't know it's the character or their act, just feel awkward in some scenes. However, I think Leo Luo save this drama in the last episode. The one and only deep impression from this drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
I always have interest in political palace story. Hence why I started this series though it's like long way to finished (70 ep, OMG!) And I expected a good one since the actors are most likely veteran and experienced actors. This series no doubt has fulfilled my expectation Story: The political plot are very tense, made me unstoppable from binge-watching every episode. Yet it also made me feel exhausted, because of the cruelness and evil intentions of most of the character in this series. Negative ambiance of the relations between characters indeed deep that effected my feelings. However, some of the episode had side stories that I found irrelevant and just added to this series as dramatic side, and I do fast-forward them many times. Specially the last episodes. Although the ending isn't what everyone wished for, but I happened to feel logically satisfied. And yes, the last episodes felt too rushed, because many unjust cases didn't revealed by investigation and proofs, just given the punishment instead.
Acting: Chen Kun is interesting actor, some of his acts as Ning Yi are exaggerated, but it shows the complexity of his character. His acting is so good you can feel his love and pain with his expressions. Ni Ni as Feng Zhiwei also nailed it. Before I watched this drama, I actually had seen her acted in other drama, and all are satisfying. She is very expressive, as a free will girl who won't cover up her feelings to others, and yes she lived up the character who is easily loved by others. And the veteran actor who acted as the emperor made me melt with his soft spot as a father and leader. He made me questioning what step he would take every time he had to solve a case.
Music: The music score is beautifully arouse the calm yet thrilling ambience of this drama. The emperor palace is always a calm beautiful palace yet it kept danger in every side of it. And the song of Ning Yi - Feng Zhiwei love is sad and sincerely depict the deep feelings between them.
Rewatch value: Because this is a political drama, I don't think I will rewatch it, moreover there are 70 episodes of it. However, maybe I will watch the clip of love story in the OST video as the song is too good to forget.
Overall: It is one of the most impressive political drama for me. I recommend it for everyone who like politics and smart plot, and won't feel tired for those long episodes
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This review may contain spoilers
Basically I avoid drama that has sad ending. But this one is different. I've already developed a big interest to this drama since they announced the airing date and release the posters. The lead actor and actress are very young and fresh, and they are really beautiful pairs. And when the audience were questioning about the ending, it made me more curious with this drama. And my curiosity was answered satisfyingly. Story: From the title of this drama, you already can guess that this is a sad romance drama. However, the sadness they brought was not cheesy. The story was so touching that I can't stop bursting into tears in almost episode. Not only the romance, but also the relation between family and friendship. And the palace intrigue was also another plus point to this drama. I always like palace politics which is smart but not exaggerating. Last but not least, I can't hate the main male character even he was a real jerk. Wondering why?
Acting: China really has lots of new potential young actors. And beside their good looking face, they also good in act. This drama was one of the drama which has good castings. At first I thought the lead actor acting was a little bit stiff, but in his acting continue to grow and in the end, it really bloom. The lead actress was very beautiful and she really has princess aura in her character. Not Cinderella type, but strong princess who can stand by herself.
Music: The OST are very amazing. I love it and it match every romantic and tear jerking scenes in this drama.
Rewatch value: I would not suggest to rewatch it specially if you feel like very hard to move on from this drama (as I do). But after a while, I do watch it again because I miss the main couple. (and you can watch this drama side story about the main couple in modern life era on youtube)
Overall: I recommend this drama if somehow you like to watch melodrama. Like I said before, this is sad drama, but for no reason, it is also one of satisfying drama for me.
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Engaging but not as good as expected
Story:In my opinion, the story of this drama felt little bit flat. The strong point is the characters. The main characters personality is very strong, both of them and they are very likeable. They are powerful, dominant yet vulnerable at the same time. I found the conflict in this drama is rather absurd, was not developed well enough. And the ending... though I craved more romantic scenes, the ending felt more like an extra than a part of the whole story.
Acting:
Although the chemistry between Zanillia Zhao and Lin Gengxin is cute and addictive (their look also give a huge reason why I shipped them so much), I think their acting in this drama are little awkward. Too many blank stare at each other. I haven't watched their other dramas except Princess Agents which they also collaborated as main characters, but I thought the chemistry in that drama was better than this. Maybe the blank stares are supposed to make the romantic scene more dramatic, however too much portion make this drama feel dragged. I never read the source novel, but I guess this drama supposed to be a fantasy romance drama. Yet in the romantic scenes, somehow I felt the two lead actors were holding their emotions. Zanillia's eyes expression need more improvement.
Music:
I love the music, it gave the scenes more depth either in the battle scenes or the romantic scenes.
Overall:
I enjoyed this drama so much but not loved it. I also thought this drama is a quiet satisfying answer for Princess Agents's couple shipper since it has the ending. I wish they will collaborate again in the future, either in costume drama or modern one.
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Prefer the second lead
Story:The story was started pretty promising, yet after the beginning of the second reincarnation part, the story of the main leads became boring. It's the opposite of the second leads story, which I found more interesting. Though they started their love story at the slow burning pace, however in the end I thought their story was much more suitable as main plot.
Acting:
I also prefer the acting of the second leads. Bamby Zhu has more emotional side in her acting that Dylan Wang. She actually did a good job in her three roles, proof she is not just amateur. On contrary, Dylan Wang was a disappointment. His acting was flat, can not feel his deep love for the female lead.
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