Shrimpy

And now comes the really difficult part. As much as I could not care less about GL, I find myself deeply involved in GYY story and I don't think I am ready for the tragedy.

Not married. Not officially.

No. GYY marries someone else, we just met her.
GL married JNZ.

He got equal billing because he fought for it. It's not for PR purposes. It's because if HJY had been left as the solo lead, any and all success of the show would have been attributed to him.
Now at least XZ gets what he worked for, at least partially. All the hype in China is over GYY so he will get credit for his own work instead of it being stolen. It's small consolation but at least it also had consequences, what with the new rules being introduced in China a week or so ago.

As for scenes, it is best to wait for the end but at this moment it looks like the more we move towards the second half, the more he is gone.

The shared billing is incredibly important. Per unwritten rules in China, the success of Ace would have been attributed to HJY and HJY alone if he had remained the solo lead. It would not have mattered if people talked about GYY, the achievement would have been HJY's and not XZ's. If Ace won any awards, for example, best drama or nominations for best drama? HJY's success. So now with shared billing, at least XZ gets to keep what he worked for, even if the scenes are cut.
I cannot be certain of course but if the initial leaks are completely true, then unfortunately we shall see less and less GYY as drama unfolds. I can only hope it's not true but it does seem true that there are episodes with no GYY at all.

As for Xiao Zhan, his situation is very complex for one simple reason. He has no backing. Usually in China top stars have a lot of push from influential agencies and production companies. For example, if you are wondering why Tang San lost so many highlights in Douluo that were then given to Xiao Wu, take a look at what agency represents Wu Xuan Yi. This is how
Chinese entertainment works. I hope that as his fame grows and as he gains more experience in navigating this minefield, he will have better options of preventing things like this.

GYY was the male lead. There are screenshots and even video from when this drama was sold to investors with Xiao Zhan as the lead.
Then news leaked about three weeks before the iQiyi conference that it was switched around. GYY scenes were cut and Xiao Zhan was demoted to supporting character. Nobody knew for sure if it was true but it seemed legit. The leak also said that the cuts started from around the fifth episode.

Then iQiyi conference happened and HJY was there, presented as the lead, xiao Zhan did not show up and while all the other actors reblogged the announcement, he didn't. This got the xfx to unlike it too and the drama was frozen. It was a huge scandal.

There was obviously some negotiation later because Xiao Zhan at least recovered the shared billing, which is very significant in China. Unfortunately, the scenes remained cut.

One big consequence of this whole scandal was that China introduced new laws that say that initially signed contract that lists the leads and support cannot be changed. Ace is not the only drama that had this issue but it was the biggest scandal, especially considering it happened to Xiao Zhan. I guess iqiyi counted on XZ not being able to recover after the cyber bullying attacks and they thought they could get away with it.

I don't understand it myself. Pretty much nobody does. At this point I am actually unsure what is the point of this show because we are almost a third way in and the lead is basically a villain. The only person who is actually there for the benefit of the army and the people is GYY but the plot is slowly being taken over by GL.

Even if we go with the idea that at some point, surely, they have to turn GL's character around, for me personally it's too late because he won't ever suffer consequences for his actions. It's a pity, the show was promising but I guess we all know why it is how it is.

Nobody likes GL. I spend way more of my time on the Chinese side and pretty much everyone is watching for GYY and completely confused, annoyed, angry, take your pick, by what is happening with the other two.
The older generations who are watching are upset because even though this was before the modernization of the army it wasn't this ridiculous. They lived through this age and some were in the army.

This is just the plot. Let's not even talk about the acting comments.

What you are watching is heavily edited. Xiao Zhan was supposed to be the lead character. Then they switched it around to give HJY a boost and they cut a lot of GYY scenes. At the point where I am, GYY has just had six minutes in the whole episode. His plot is watchable and he does a great job. But the other two drag the show down. The spoilers for GYY's screen time are not positive but I can't swear by that until I see it. At this point I am watching everything but Xiao Zhan scenes at 4x the speed.

At ep 12 pretty much everyone is doing their part except HJY. His character is badly written for starters, the typical grassroots story is not done in this way. He is a literal villain here and his bad acting is only making it worse. He could be elevating his character at least a little but that is beyond him.

It's a shame because Xiao Zhan is doing so well and the older actors are fantastic. Once GL completely takes over the story I will either drop it or wait to fast forward and just see the conclusion of the show. It really could have been a great drama if they just didn't ruin it in order to prop up incompetent people.

You literally said you stated a fact.

These things are super important in China and especially for him so while I know it's difficult for international fans, if you are not sure, skip it. The issue of billing is one of the biggest reasons why this drama was delayed. It's very important to say it as it is (even though yes, Xiao Zhan has fewer screen time and it gets progressively worse. But it is important he is indeed an official lead due to how drama success is counted in China).

I am not sure you understand. It's equal billing, did you not watch the opening or closing. It has two main leads. The names of actors are listed alphabetically, it is even clearly stated? You have a xz avatar but you are posting things that are both false and very harmful.

Yeah, no.

If you want to promote your favourite actor, go for it but you don't get to ask me to do it for you.

I am not sure who exactly do you think you are talking to but this is a review site and I review as I see fit. I gave Douluo Continent 4 stars because I thought it sucked. I have seen enough episodes of this to know that fast forwarding is coming if I don't drop it completely and the reason is solely HJY awful acting.

I am not asking you to stop posting your positive impressions so stop telling me what to do, thanks.

Why lie? It's a shared lead.

It's fine if you don't like Xiao Zhan's acting. Why would that bother me?

I have seen enough episodes now that I can have an opinion on his horrid "acting".

One piece of advice, don't go looking what the Chinese think of your HJY. They absolutely hate his performance. From the awful line delivery to the terrible acting.

Oh and on case you missed it, this is not a fansite. Go find HJY fan forum if you want gushing.

Huang Jingyu is an absolute disaster. He cannot act to save his life. Yes, this is a big problem. Everyone else is ranging from good to excellent. Xiao Zhan has matured as an actor and his Gu Yiye is carrying the show. Old drama people are fantastic, Li You Bin especially. If it weren't mixed with HJY it would have the potential to be an amazing drama. But this. I don't know.

They can't. They haven't broken any laws. Even if the rule is instituted now, you cannot punish them retroactively, it's a law principle. Only thing to do is to hope tencent can squeeze it out one day. Such a nightmare.

I agree. Actually, there are rumours this is already happening by including it in contacts even without any official rules requiring it. I read this quite a while ago on Douban. It would not surprise me if true and it is not that difficult to figure out which drama got this rolling if true.

The new rules about the way the lead (s) and billing need to be determined in the contract prior to filming and it cannot be changed because of all the shady dealings and actors being screwed later on in production.

And this drama had the absolute biggest publicity about this very thing.

Today's news from China are partially thanks to this drama. It's kind of karma.