Stunning martial arts

The YouTube trailer for Snow Tower showed a lot of martial arts promise, and after seeing it, I decided to try Snow Tower out. One episode in, and I knew that I was going to watch Snow Tower from the very first episode down to the bitter end, 55 episodes later. That being said, I will review Snow Tower along these parameters: martial arts, storyline, plotting, characterization.

Martial Arts

The martial art depicted in Snow Tower is extremely reminiscent of the martial arts scenes of the old wuxia martial arts dramas from the eighties to the mid to late nineties; hard, brutal, stunningly choreographed, and breathtakingly executed. From the female characters, to the male leads, it is easy to see what makes this series to stand out amongst its fans.

Snow Tower martial arts and fight scenes are lethal and fast, breathtaking and spin-tingling, its execution flawless, like incredibly fast ballet dancers moving their boneless, limber bodies to the beat of some unseen music.

Any lover of Wuxia dramas will surely be taken in by the martial arts scenes of Snow Tower, from the beginning of the storyline, down to its middle, before the scenes seemed to slightly peter off into a more “traditional leaning” drama style that focused on more acting and less skilful, perfectly choreographed fight scenes, before picking up dramatically towards the end, with stunning ferocity.

For its martial arts, Snow Tower is a must-see, for lovers of Wuxia.

Storyline & Plotting

Snow Tower is pretty much straightforward acting, with a very strong central core plot and with numerous sub-plots focusing on love, hate, treachery, power, betrayals and revenge. While Snow Tower maintained its fidelity to its central plotline, some of its sub-plots were weak and could have been dispensed with, without in any way affecting the central storyline of the blood feud between the two warring sects Moon Sect and Snow Tower.
Snow Tower moves slowly, almost languidly, seriously, from day to day and through year to year, to burn through the story of the central plotting that bound all these characters in the Wuxia drama to each other, each with their own agendas, both innocuous and sinister.
Snow Tower did however receive negative reviews from critics of the series, based off on the fact that the series deviated “entirely” from the central plot of the novel of the same name it was adapted from.

Characterization

Snow Tower boasts of two main characters: Xiao Yi Qing (Tower Master, Snow Tower) and Shu Jinrong (or, Lady Jing, Ming Er). To be honest Shu Jinrong was presented in a very weak light. For a character billed to be the main character, one who wields the Blood Rose sword of her father the Blood Demon and who is expected to burn blazes through the pugilistic world in the series, Shu Jinrong is weak. That is the best word for her: Weak. She is pig-headed, stubborn, does not see the big picture and how her actions can come with terrible (future) consequences, and she shows restraint when she should not.

Fans of Snow Tower have criticized the portrayal of Shu Jinrong in the tv series, which they have bemoaned to be a deviation of her strong nature and character in the novel of the same name.

Xiao Yi Qing—the Tower Master of Snow Tower—is portrayed as an ailing young man with some incurable jin disease which leaves his body weak. Fortunately, Yi Qing is armed with incredible martial arts skills. In spite of all the great martial artists that made their appearance in the pugilistic world in Snow Tower, it is an easy bet to say that Xiao Yi Qing is literally unmatched, a cold, lethal presence armed with a short dagger—a dagger matched only by the Blood Rose sword wielded by Shu Jinrong—which he uses to ruthlessly cut down any and all enemies that threaten him and the Snow Tower. . .by a thin, smooth line in the throat. Yeah, he’s that lethal and that effective. Like every man, he has his Archilles heel, three in fact: his mother, Elder Xue Wen, who has been trapped as a prisoner in the Moon Sect since he was a little boy; his health, which remains a serious throughout the entire series, and his love interest, Shu Jinrong. However, Tower Master Xiao Yi Qing is quite cold, ruthless, appears emotionless and unaffectionate, which makes other characters to questions his feelings and his humanity, above all else. Still, to give him credit, he is portrayed as fair.

Asides these two main characters Xiao Yi Qing and Shu Jinrong, there is a slew of other secondary characters that appear throughout the series, each with their own perks and perspective. Young Hero Gao Meng Fei comes off as very playful, a small ray of light in the bleak, blood-soaked drama of Snow Tower, but that playful nature is weathered by a ruthless ambition that is quite shocking. Chi Xiao Tai comes off as playful as well, though blinded by unrequited love and driven by hatred. Ming He is the most colourful secondary character of them all; beautiful, innocent-looking and quite beguiling, this angel-faced monster has so many aces up her sleeves, you can’t help but compare her to some devil.

All in all, a solid cast made Snow Tower a success.

Having worked through my thoughts on these characters, I must add that Snow Tower came in with a shocker: emotions. Watching Snow Tower will, at some point, get your emotions involved, such that you might even shed a tear or two, hope that a specific character is mercilessly knifed to death, and even drop your mouth in shock and horror at some of the betrayals and shifting alliances that play out in the course of Snow Tower.

Would I recommend It? Yes, I would, absolutely, though I must warn, Shu Jingrong is a weak, emotional presence that keeps upsetting plans through the series.

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Gripping, emotional storyline.

For over a year I battled to see where to watch this movie, until I eventually stumbled on it in Dramacool and gave it the attention I'd wanted to give it for long. And honestly, this movie is a BOMB. The love triangle is intensely captured. Imagine, chief and the king, with the former growing up under the latter and the latter loving the former from their formative years...and Chief, even as a kid, saying the best person is one who would lay his life down for the king. Reading through comments here I can see people berating the king and hating on him, but in this instance I feel he did what he had to do given the circumstances. I do not applaud it, but I understand it, and him. Furthermore, with the introduction of sex between the Chief and Queen, we see Chief opening up to a new, strange love he'd never witnessed and also being sad about it; he did go to the queen, then sleep next to the king and cuddled him, with tears leaking from his eyes. That was a sign that he loved this man, and he felt sad and confused about loving another. Then the anger, the sense of betrayal, the brutal punishment meted out, are all mind blowing. For me, chief did really love King, even though he told him otherwise in his last moments, to deeply hurt him. I know I would say the same, in the same circumstances... But the love remained there, as, even as he lay dying, he turned to King, in those very last, dying moments he had. That, dears, was love right there.

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Yang Mi outdid herself, literally.

I had known about Legend of Fuyao for some time, though its trailer, alongside its seeming popularity internationally (outside China) made me decide to dedicate time to this 66 episodes-long, Rollercoaster fantasy Chinese drama.

That being said, I will review Legend of Fuyao along these parameters: martial arts, storyline, plotting, characterization.

Martial Arts (Legend of Fuyao)

To be honest, the fight choreography in Legend of Fuyao is quite tight. I became impressed with the fight between Fuyao and her 5th Older Brother first, and the other ensuing fight choreography scenes did play to part very well, to be honest.

However, would I say the fight scenes were particularly spectacular? No. But incredible and entertaining and well choreographed, yes.

Storyline

For a TV series this long, spanning across different kingdoms, and with numerous cast choices, I had expected storyline lapses and inconsistencies. I didn't get it. The storyline flows effortlessly. However, there were a few areas that weren't tightened up towards the end, but that's about it. The ending was extremely confusing for many viewers, especially those who'd not read the source novel. Someone had to literally explain it to me on YouTube before I could understand it. Furthermore, episodes 1 to around 34 made incredible sense, but the remaining sub plots fell flat and were unnecessary, especially numerous areas that did nothing to advance Fuyao's quest.

Characterization

Yang Mi as Fuyao. Fuyao is the titular female lead. Yang Mi plays the role of Fuyao and Feng Wuming (the Real Queen Heir of Plough Nation). As Fuyao, she is a woman born from a divine lotus petal and owner of the five-colored stone, this stone which sets her on a path to meet a predestined fate. She was also a lowly servant at the Xuanyuan Sect until she learned the Po Jiu Xiao, the invincible fighting technique of the Mt. Mystic Cove and thus begins her journey to gather the five magical artifacts to break the five seals placed upon her at birth. She will meet many dangers and adventures and become a Magistrate (Yao City) and then Queen (twice)

Ethan Ruan as Crown Prince Wuji.

In Legend of Fuyao, Ethan Ruan plays Zhangsun Wuji, the Crown prince of Tianquan kingdom. He is the descendant of Chang Qingzi, Grand Mentor of the Ancient Firmament; and is the owner of the Xuanling True Leaf. Wuji also owns a magical pet hamster named Yuan Bao. Yuan Zhaoxu is Wuji’s fake alias as the Crown Prince’s assistant and he used other aliases through the series, confusing Fuyao too much.

There are other secondary and minor characters, so many of them, in fact, that it would take up hours of reading time to go through them all. But I had my favorites.

Dr. Zong Hue. He is cold, mysterious and silent, with a cold, smoldering gaze that would freeze off a bucket of water and also heat up your insides, watching him. Fuyao had names for him: "Hateful Doctor". "Devilish Doctor". Zong swiftly rose to become a fan favorite, and I personally looked forward to seeing him throughout the series. Since I watched this entire series from start to finish on YouTube, with the privilege of reading the countless thousands of comments there, I was right in rooting for Zong. He's well loved.

Other Characters

Yan Jingchen (Huang Ming) – this guy is literally stuck between a rock and a hard place: his domineering father wants him to marry Pei Yuan (Li Yi Xiao) for politically motivated reasons, an insanely ultra-jealous, absolutely awful young woman who loves him to death and whose unhealthy obsession is for him to love her back. She also viciously hates the woman he truly loves (who happens to be the lowly classed Fuyao). Instead of standing up to his father or staying true to his feelings, he marries Pei Yuan…and suffers the disastrous consequences.

Because Legend of Fuyao is 66 episodes long, so many other characters appeared in this series, so many of whom deserve to be mentioned, but I can't do that, as this review will literally go on forever.

The OST

Singer/actress Karen Mok sings the opening theme song, a piece appropriately entitled “Fuyao.” The song is a solemn tribute to the series' female lead.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5_kpVlpNxw8

You Zhangjing sings “Proud Humans Of Society,” a hauntingly melodic song that blends so incredibly well with some of the deeper, tears-inducing scenes in Legend of Fuyao, it'll literally bring tears to your eyes. This song is the emotional backbone of the series and is a compelling song. This song carries the brothers' scenes perfectly well. ❤️❤️

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ffLo5x4Heas

The ending theme song, “A Love Is Hard To Wish For,” is sung by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Lala Hsu, recently named Best Mandarin Female Singer in the 29th Golden Melody Awards.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zihwDHR_W7o

Asides these ones, the stunning instrumental melodies that strummed through the series will literally give you goosebumps.

I would have been happier to add one more rating, but then I can't, because of the slight plot areas mentioned above.

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Stunning cast, great acting, some bad writing

This series was adapted from the Chai Jidan novel of the same name.

I loved the main cast, notably Jason Xu Feng. He is so handsome and carried his role perfectly well. Gong Jun also did admirably well.

Unfortunately, the story itself is a bit cringy and goes nowhere. The versions of this series on YouTube were cut to death, literally, making it even more difficult to understand some of the story arcs. Even more sad is the fact that the series was banned BEFORE it could be released, and the series, made by the same author/producer behind Addicted Heroin series. Quite sad, really, for Advance Bravely is pure escapist fun and enjoyable if you can suspend your disbelief.

Asides that, it's extremely heart warming and an enjoyable watch, I promise you that.

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The ML and FL were off, plus, the story DRAGGED

This story started out so promising, VERY promising, if I may add. And that promise continued into the first 23 episodes or thereabout, then the original plot line declined from there and the story went downhill. Fortunately, toward the later episodes, it did pick up, even made me quite emotional.

On the characters, I must confess that even though Kahn is a very handsome man, he seemed OFF to me, as the romantic ML. His acting felt bland and off and he seemed to lack genuine chemistry with the FL Rong Le which failed to make their acting towards each other very convincing. I tried to see the chemistry but couldn't.

The guy that played Fu Chou did EXCELLENTLY well in his interpretation as a cold, tortured, calculating, and also utterly devoted man to his woman. It was much easier to fall into his role emotions-wise than with the ML.

Lastly, Leo Luo is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous! But unfortunately he got too little screen time through the 58 episodes of this drama. However, he did come off as highly capable in his role interpretation. Well done, man! Well done!

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