Incompetent Competence

Came back for a rewatch and my opinions haven't changed.
For possible new watchers:

1. The appeal of the show is mainly towards the characters and not the plot. If you don't enjoy the characters then it's not worth watching.
2. The acting is really well done, the chemistry between everyone is pretty great. Costumes looks super nice, good cinematography and colours are great in general. CGI is absolute trash due to low budget but its still watchable. Not investing into CGI was what I find the right move anyways cause everything else about the show visually looks really good.
3. Draggy and unnecessarily long as c-dramas tend to be, but then again skipping scenes is not a problem since once again, this ended up being a character centred show and not story focused (even though I think their intent was to focus on story).

It's been a year and he still has that illusion thing going where he just constantly looks like a different person somehow. Honestly it's great.

Thanks for your input! Glad to hear.

I'm just personally a little picky on low budget cinematography after I've seen Ancient Detective.

The idea that I'll legally be an adult for a couple years by the time season 2 comes out makes me feel... old.

16 episodes "quick" review for recent newcomers:

1. I stick to what I've said before. Nice costumes, sets and overall visuals. Okay music (not amazing but not bad either). Cinematography is decent. Emei leader's eyebrows are still terrible. Fight scenes are nice.
2. Acting: Leo is doing the ML stuff real nicely-- Yukee is starting to grow on me slightly (Have a "I like her but I don't" situation happening like when she was in HSDSS 2019). Rest of cast is doing decent. Nothing bad but nothing to "wow" me either.
3. Extra thoughts: It really has that old cdrama vibe to it, just with upgraded visuals. Whether you like that or not is up to you.
4. Plot is still basically irrelevant, I'm not gonna lie. Not bad, just very typical. Can't tell what pacing feels like after you stopped paying attention to plot so I won't comment on pacing.

Overall: Eh. It's okay. Not bad, just nothing extraordinary. I'm generally not a sugar-sweet love story watcher though so I'm not sure how this compares to shows of it's same genre. These are all my personal thoughts though, and once again, I recommend you watch at least 3 episodes (if you haven't already) before deciding whether you like or dislike this drama.

Yeeessss let’s goooo! Can’t wait for season 2 <3

Pretty sure that they mean they never noticed the actor was not Thai lol

Excited for this! Even though it's considered "Idol" drama... hope they're good~

you may know this already but came back here to say ancient detective has been distributed to SMG and Youku youtube channels pretty recently~ give them a rewatch for a higher chance of season 2 <3

For those wanting a season 2, official licenses of the show has been distributed to Youku official Youtube channel and SMG Youtube channel. SMG has eng subs while currently Youku does not. Please give it a watch/rewatch on these channels <3

Haha don't worry. No subs lol. (And I'm guessing we both have at least 1 backup). Though maplestage's page dying is honestly really sad.

Needs more roles. Ancient Detective was amazing.

Yep, pretty sure it is. It has the Joy of Life feel anyways.

First impressions review (based off of 6 episodes):

1. Acting and cast: Casting was done pretty well imo. I was never a major fan of Yukee (except for Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Sabre. She has good chemistry with the male lead there), and even in this drama I feel like she's a bit lacking of something (I'm just not sure what. It's like an itch), but overall the performance is decent from most of the cast.
2. Visuals: Costumes look great. Sets look good. Colours are chosen really well (no over saturation). Makeup doesn't look chalky or too shiny. Everything visually is done extremely well EXCEPT Emei Sect Leader's eyebrows. Whose idea was is for her eyebrows to look like one that belongs on an anime character.
3. Music: Intro is okay, outro is also okay. Both aren't really memorable though. The music played during scenes are fitting. They occasionally play these tracks that are kind of a mix of indie rock with classical Chinese opera which works well together.
4. Story: yea... it's alright. It's in no way bad, just kind of really average so far. Pacing has been okay so far too. Not much to comment.
5. Fights and Choreo: There's been surprisingly a lot more fights than what I would expect in a romance-centered fantasy. It's done decently well too (I'll just say that the "I grab opponents leg and spin them in the air for a few seconds" move is a bit overused). The weapons also look really nice.
6. Cinematography: Filmed really nicely. There's already a decent amount of pretty shots.

Overall: 8/10 so far. There's just something about it that's lacking and slightly unsatisfying, but I can't put my finger on it. But please remember these are my personal opinions. I do suggest that you take a look at at least 3 episodes before forming your own ideas about the show <3

(12 episodes are currently out. I'm not sure where to find eng subs as of now. For those who don't need subs, I watch them raw on dramasq)

She didn't seem like lead potential to me either, but she's starting to grow on me. I do understand why people would not like her though. I recommend giving it a try in the future if you're ever on a drama dry~

Before posting a 12 episode mini review, I just have to say one thing:
Emei sect leader's eyebrows are one of the worst things I've ever seen.

Heaven's official blessing is finally being adapted ~ The Untamed led the path to so many good opportunities for good novels like these to be adapted--

And I'll be honest here, I don't have many demands for the cast except PLEASE cast actual actors (like Liu HaoRan, Ma Tian Yu etc) for the job and not idol ones (Lu Han, TFBoys etc)...

Other than that, really hope the fanbase thrives but doesn't pull a "BTS" like the Untamed and become toxic/invasive.

There's a lot that goes into producing a drama, including choosing the cast properly.

There's so much content to the NiF world that can be build upon for years (prequels to NiF 2 that is). Mei ChangSu/Lin Shu's "childhood" story or the 12 years he was roaming in JiangHu, LangYa Hall origins, if Fei Liu is still alive then where did he go and so much more.

Nothing to my taste has been airing recently, so I decided to rewatch NIF for a fifth time. It's as amazing as it was every other time.
One question I still have though... did Fei Liu die with Lin Shu on the battlefield? Or am I just blind....