First 3 episodes are free, then you need a VIP subscription, but it's super cheap. I paid $48 for a year, and it's even cheaper outside the U.S., or so I'm told.
imo he's good in those kind of stoic/badass roles like DFQC but this one.. his acting is really cringey and over-acted.
Yep. The whole cast seems to me to be 'over acting', but that is pretty normal in a lot of Chinese comedy I find -- it's generally a lot more slapstick and over-the-top than much western comedy, so I'm not finding it 'cringey' at all. Just 'typically Chinese'.
Lived in Thailand for many years, and Thai comedies are the same -- seem overly acted until you get used to the vibe. Then it just seems normal.
I also didn’t get the hype before however watching him in variety shows I finally understand. I think it’s…
I'm hoping I begin to like him more as there's definitely a lot of hype surrounding him. Will keep my mind open as Guardians of the Dafeng continues. He's great in this part so far, tho.
Hadn't read the premise, so just thought this was a typical historical piece with humor. First episode though threw that idea for a loop :)
This is excellent. Unusual, great writing and performances, and nice cinematography.
Can't say I understand the obsession with Dylan Wang, as he's an average looking Asian guy and averagely talented (so far, at least, and maybe my opinion of that will change), but truly enjoyed the first episode of this and looking forward to the rest.
Rarely rewatch a drama, but just watched this for the 2nd time, and it really does hold up for a second viewing. Thought it was genuinely funny and cute the first time through. Loved it even more the second time. Excellent.
Your every criticism makes sense, except the acting. Not when this entire drama was saved mostly by the performances,…
I've actually just watched Episode 16 of WoH, and the acting is NOT great by a fair number of the main actors, to put it mildly :) (It's so inconsistent throughout, incredible in some scenes, pretty iffy in others, that to some extent it feels like different directors were involved -- don't think they were, but that's how it feels).
And that kid CANNOT act to save his life (don't even care to remember his name he's so terrible) -- I want to scream every time he shows back up :)
And Guardian not staying faithful to the source is another big reason why I stopped watching it -- the ending in the novels is so good and, apparently, that isn't the deal in the adaptation, so I don't want it to taint my love for the novels.
Your every criticism makes sense, except the acting. Not when this entire drama was saved mostly by the performances,…
Yeah, I'm maybe exaggerating a bit about Doctor Who -- hahahaha.
Will say though, after all my complaining, I may come back to this at some point and give it another go. And that's because I'm currently watching Word of Honor, another Priest adaptation, and really wasn't loving it that much for the first 13 episodes. Then Ep 14 hit, and NOW I get the obsession over it :) And, like Guardian, the main leads' acting is superb in that one too.
Oh and as for the low budget aspect of Guardian, I read somewhere (sorry, don't remember where?) that the company adapting it went bankrupt midway thru, and so had to cute costs to the bone to even finish it. And that's why the production quality gets worse and worse as it progresses. Sadly, it probably would have been a lot better if that hadn't happened. Kudos to them, at least, for actually finishing it.
As for the Guardian 3rd novel, what the hell, right? :) I think I'm relatively intelligent, but I must have read some passages 7 or 8 times just trying to figure out what god did what and how that affected who and what? :)
Still ended up loving the series overall, even bought it in paperback, but.... Priest seemed to get a big bogged down in mythological minutae in the last part of Book 3. :)
Your every criticism makes sense, except the acting. Not when this entire drama was saved mostly by the performances,…
I'll give you the leads -- pretty decent acting from both. The problem is even they can't save the rest of it. Especially as most of the rest of the cast's performance even drags theirs down.
Plus, that it's set in a different world than the novel and with plot points that don't make a lot of sense due to said change, for anyone who has read the exceptionally good novel series, this is just like nails scraping down a blackboard.
I would imagine even Bai Yu and Zhu Yi Long are probably upset that they agreed to do this, as it ended up so poorly done.
A real shame as I enjoyed the Guardian books (not my favorite danmei series, as it becomes very confusing in the last book when Priest digs into the mythology a bit too much). But this I couldn't stomach past Episode 2.
It honestly reminds me of the British cult classic Doctor Who (back in the 1970s not the newer episodes), which also deals with sci-fi and sometimes mythology, as the acting was hammy and the special effects in those were awful too.
50 years later, and this is the quality they managed to come up with :(
Anyone can tell me if The Untamed is as good as this drama? I am almost finishing Word of Honor and I must say…
IMO, The Untamed is far far better - the plot is more interesting, the acting is even better, the cinematography is gorgeous. This one I'm struggling to get passed Episode 5 as it's just not interesting. Yet at least.
The production on this is HORRIBLY cheap, the special effects are laughably bad (the high school kids I used to teach could do better) and the acting is terrible.
Zero idea if this gets better as I'm only on Ep 2 but, so far, it's not great. Xin Peng's acting is the worst of the lot but, Ye Gods, most of them are awful -- which makes it really really hard to watch.
EDIT: Nope, dropping it. Worst acting I've seen in a looooong time, and it's all just so cheap and badly done. What a shame. A brilliant novel series devolved into hot garbage. Priest, the author, must have been so upset.
The soundtrack, btw, is exceptionally good -- been playing it on repeat on Spotify for several days, but man it deserved a better drama.
1 
First 3 episodes are free, then you need a VIP subscription, but it's super cheap. I paid $48 for a year, and it's even cheaper outside the U.S., or so I'm told.
Lived in Thailand for many years, and Thai comedies are the same -- seem overly acted until you get used to the vibe. Then it just seems normal.
Any recommendations on variety shows?
You can also watch via laptop/computer if you want a bigger screen.
This is excellent. Unusual, great writing and performances, and nice cinematography.
Can't say I understand the obsession with Dylan Wang, as he's an average looking Asian guy and averagely talented (so far, at least, and maybe my opinion of that will change), but truly enjoyed the first episode of this and looking forward to the rest.
The two male leads are well cast too, but it took me to Episode 14 to really care about either of them.
Shows how different people's tastes are doesn't it? :)
And that kid CANNOT act to save his life (don't even care to remember his name he's so terrible) -- I want to scream every time he shows back up :)
And Guardian not staying faithful to the source is another big reason why I stopped watching it -- the ending in the novels is so good and, apparently, that isn't the deal in the adaptation, so I don't want it to taint my love for the novels.
Will say though, after all my complaining, I may come back to this at some point and give it another go. And that's because I'm currently watching Word of Honor, another Priest adaptation, and really wasn't loving it that much for the first 13 episodes. Then Ep 14 hit, and NOW I get the obsession over it :) And, like Guardian, the main leads' acting is superb in that one too.
Oh and as for the low budget aspect of Guardian, I read somewhere (sorry, don't remember where?) that the company adapting it went bankrupt midway thru, and so had to cute costs to the bone to even finish it. And that's why the production quality gets worse and worse as it progresses. Sadly, it probably would have been a lot better if that hadn't happened. Kudos to them, at least, for actually finishing it.
As for the Guardian 3rd novel, what the hell, right? :) I think I'm relatively intelligent, but I must have read some passages 7 or 8 times just trying to figure out what god did what and how that affected who and what? :)
Still ended up loving the series overall, even bought it in paperback, but.... Priest seemed to get a big bogged down in mythological minutae in the last part of Book 3. :)
Plus, that it's set in a different world than the novel and with plot points that don't make a lot of sense due to said change, for anyone who has read the exceptionally good novel series, this is just like nails scraping down a blackboard.
I would imagine even Bai Yu and Zhu Yi Long are probably upset that they agreed to do this, as it ended up so poorly done.
A real shame as I enjoyed the Guardian books (not my favorite danmei series, as it becomes very confusing in the last book when Priest digs into the mythology a bit too much). But this I couldn't stomach past Episode 2.
It honestly reminds me of the British cult classic Doctor Who (back in the 1970s not the newer episodes), which also deals with sci-fi and sometimes mythology, as the acting was hammy and the special effects in those were awful too.
50 years later, and this is the quality they managed to come up with :(
Zero idea if this gets better as I'm only on Ep 2 but, so far, it's not great. Xin Peng's acting is the worst of the lot but, Ye Gods, most of them are awful -- which makes it really really hard to watch.
EDIT: Nope, dropping it. Worst acting I've seen in a looooong time, and it's all just so cheap and badly done. What a shame. A brilliant novel series devolved into hot garbage. Priest, the author, must have been so upset.
The soundtrack, btw, is exceptionally good -- been playing it on repeat on Spotify for several days, but man it deserved a better drama.