XiaoNaNa
Remake of Queen In Hyun's man, but better
I saw the korean drama Queen In Hyun's man when it aired in 2012. It was one of my favourite dramas then and I was soo happy when I heard a chinese version would be filmed in 2015. Since I have rewatched both dramas several times. Sometimes only a few scenes and sometimes the whole drama, so I can guarantee: the rewatch value is very high!!Why is that?
First: the story is quite simple and easy to follow, noentheless very capturing. The male lead lives in the Han Dynasty (chin. version) and because of an amulet for protection transported into the future (our present time) whenever he encounters a lifethreatening situation. The first person he meets there is the female lead, an uprising drama actor, who happens to play the role of a Han Dynasty Queen - exactly the one the male lead knows personally... The story goes on with him trying to use the knowledge of the future to change the past and the female lead helps him to find his way around in the complicated future and of course, they fall in love. So much for the story.
Second: the actors are quite well known and have a really really good chemistry! The female lead might be better known to the regular chinese drama watcher, as she acted in dramas like "LoveO20" or "Till the dead of summer", but the male lead is also quite famous, but acts more in films, best known maybe for his mane role in "The little Monster". Their acting is good and they portray their characters very well. Especially the male lead never ceases to amaze me with his on point facial expressions and body language. Good looks on top :D The female lead has been criticized for mediocre acting, but I actually think her acting fit the role - an actress, who just can't stop to being a little bit over the top and trying to act a bit sweet around the man she hopes to win over. Anyway the best about this drama defenitly are the super sweet scenes between the main couple and that there are a lot of them.
Third: although there is a lot of drama, no misunderstanding or separation lasts longer than two episodes, so no dragging here! The drama has only 24 episodes so there are no boring filler episodes and the story unfolds in a good pace. I really like the way the relationships in this drama are portrayed. The main lead's relationship develops quickly but reasonably and their problems are realistic, despite the whole time travel thing, and are solved in a mature way. Even though their scenes are very sweet it is never too much or extremely cliché, just right. The side characters are funny and weird in present time and serious but friendly in the past, but all very likeable. The only little bit annoying character was the female lead's ex-boyfriend, but it was never so much that I would have wanted to skip. Also very good were the friendships in this drama. We have a few of them and all of them are different, but all are good. I think I liked the friendship between the main lead and his childhood best friend in the past the best.
Why do I like the chinese version more than the korean one?
In the chinese version they added the best friend of the male lead in the past and also changed the past story a little bit. It seemed more in detail and it brought the main leads connection to his period a bit closer and also more relateable why he repeatedly chooses to go back. Also, the chinese drama (24 eps a 45 minutes) is a bit longer than the korean version (16 eps a 60 minutes) and that's how we get a bit more in depth development od story and characters. And last but not least the female lead in the chinese version has not so many utterly devestated crying scenes. I really didn't like the crying nearly screaming of the female lead in the korean version. That was just too much!!
So all in all, I can really recommend this drama. Even though it is a little bit older, the clothing style and phones they use are not ofsetting yet (in comparison to older dramas like "Full house" or "Boys befor Flowers"...).
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The storyline is very similar to the movie's and only a few differences were made, like adding a few characters and changing the original strict father of the mane lead to a strict mother.
The actors in this drama are quite famous and experienced, which positively influences the overall drama quality. So besides a great and refreshing storyline, the drama offers excellent acting and a good OST. With 24 episodes the drama has a very likeable length, that prevents the watcher from giving up or unnessesary filler episodes.
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one of my alltime favourites
As I have read the novel the drama is based on, I was very eager to watch it.I have to say, it is one of my favourite dramas!
Not only has it perfectly transferred the dark and mysterious scenery of the book onto the screen, but also have the actors done a beautiful job and the OST is remarkable.
As for the seemingly sad ending, I can only say one has to read the book to understand the hint given at the very end of the drama - or check the comments on Youtube or wherever the drama can be watched.
With only 36 episodes the drama can be considered relatively short for a chinese historical drama.
As the name suggests the drama is quite bloody and has a good deal of really evil characters, but what I like about the drama is the absence of a good character- bad character plot. All of the characters have reason for what they do and none of them is complety good nor completly bad.
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This review may contain spoilers
lighthearted and funny masterpiece of chinese romcom
The drama is a parody on all these serious heart-wrenching historical dramas, that include conspiracies, poisoning, betrayal and what not. So if one is used to the typical historical drama, this one will be very comical, but even without any referances the drama is funny.The female lead - a sreenwriter - somehow ends up in her own script (a reference to all the recent time travel historical dramas, yet different, because her world is fictional and only loosly based on ancient china) and tries to "wake up" again. As the story unfolds she starts to like her own characters and develops feelings for the main lead. So she tries to change the cruel fate she has written for him by manipulating her "characters", but, how could it be any different, nothing goes as planned and chaos ensues...
The story was so well made and original in imitating all the clichés it was really pleasant and funny to watch. The plot was never boring and all the hilarious misunderstandings, that followed the main lead's quite unorthodox way to change the story, were cleared after two episodes at the latest. So a strong point of this drama is the absence of dragging misunderstandings or long seperated lovers!!
The actors were great and even side characters seemed important. There were so many of them it would be too much to mention them all, but besides the very well portaied servants my favourite were the parents of the male lead. Even though they only appeared in the last four episodes they were the cherry on the top of a great casted drama.
The fact, that most of the story happens in the city of women or 女国, as described in one the four great literary chinese works (the shuihuzhuan水浒传), just adds up. Even more because the main lead comes from the usual patriarchal neighbooring country and has to get used to the reverse circumstances in the city of women and in the last episodes the main couple pays a visit to the main leads parents and the female lead has to adapt.
Even though the drama is not very serious or long it is really worth the while and I can strongly recommend it :)
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Just if you are interested in historical accuracy
I have started to watch this drama when it began to air in december 2019 and since then I rewatched it at least 3 times completely and several times just skipping to my favourite scenes.As there are already many reviews about the acting and the story line I am just going to add a few lines about historical accuracy.
As I have seen many historical/costume dramas over the years it can get somewhat annoying how nonsensical they are dealing with history (of course sometimes it's intended or just not important).
This drama, however, is different. I am far from saying that it is 100% accurate, but we have many things, characters and even lines that are true to their historical origin.
The story is after a book with the same name, for those who haven't read the book: the story line is pretty much the same. The biggest difference might be, that the drama story is set 20 years later then the book, but that doesn't change much about the story.
The actual main plot was the fight for power between the Yan family and the Lu family, which really happend. The Jiajing emperor is described as a cunning and manipulativ man who understood it to benefit from the powerstruggle. So the characters Emperor Jiajing, Head of the Embroiderd Guards Lu Ting and the first minister Yan Song all actually existed. Lu Ting really died because of Yan Song and just like in the drama Yan Song was banned to his hometown (in remembrance of the long time he had served the emperor), just to be executed by the emperor's son shortly after his death.
The emperor was very much into taoism, so even though our dear Lan Pianzi or Lan Qingxuan is not based on a real person he might as well have been.
So much for the characters.
Now, the embroiderd guards were a very powerful instance during the Ming Dynasty end especially towards the end of the dynasty they had achieved great power and were dreaded and feared for their ruthless conduct. The Liushanmen where Jin Xia works as an unimportant officer existed as well. So the embroidered guards were for the big cases and safety in the capital and the palace and smaller cases were first given to the Liushanmen or other similare authorities. As for the japanese pirates roaming around the coasts of Hangzhou, they too, existed. The late Ming Dynasty had a hugh problem with piracy and robbers. Even the fight for the city took place, not exactly as portraied in the drama, but it really happend.
Last but not least, the costumes. As propably known costumes in costume dramas are usually just made for the eye and, except for the recently popular Qing Dynasty palace dramas, not the least bit authentic.
This drama is slightly better. The uniform of the embroidered guards looked like that, with differing colours for different ranks, the length and the embroidery. But well, a drama that is named after the embroidered guards should at least get their costumes right. The rest of the costumes are at least not so off, that it would distract from watching the drama.
All in all very well produced!!
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The ending was weird, even though happier than the one from Yunxi Zhuan
I was hesitant to watch the drama as I expected a remake of "The Legend of Yunxi". But a few rewies made it very clear that the storyline is different and just the actors are the same.I didn't expect much and I didn't get much.
The drama started good, but the female lead repeats her mistakes all the time and just doesn't learn, the characters are overly cliché and the main couples chemistry in this drama seemed a bit off. To be honest I think the side couple's story was much better and way more realistic in the way their relationship developed and how the overall relationship was portraid... However, the actors did a good job and the storyline is ok.
What propably bothered me most, was that the ending was very abrupt and several questions left open. The last episodes seemed a bit chaotic, as if the writer didn't know how to fit all the loose strings into the remaining episodes... and not enough with the sudden endin they even added an extra ending that puts the main characters into present time. Just why? In my opinion that was just unnecessary and very out of context...
But all in all it is a drama with a happy end and two sweet couples, so I guess for just passing the time it is still worth the while.
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