iem
Yi City 义城
This review may contain spoilers
''The world is not important. What’s important is finding a soulmate.''
If you've heard about this drama you know it has been heavily compared to The Untamed, and I can honestly see why.
Such as The Untamed, Word of Honor is an adaption from a BL novel. Though, Word of Honor is way more obvious and daring considering Chinese censorship. Word of Honor is probably the next big Chinese BL drama after The Untamed considering the enormous international support it has been recieving. Story-wise and production-wise I don't think Word of Honor can compare to The Untamed, and part of it has to do with the budget and number of episodes (The Untamed with 120 million for 50 episodes and Word of Honor with 30 million for 37 episodes). What I do think is equally fantastic about the two, is the casting for the main leads and their chemistry. Fans, including me, cannot imagine any other actors playing the roles of Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan, and Wen Ke Xing and Zhou Zi Shu. They are two inseperable and irreplacable pairs.
But that's enough about the differences and similarities between The Untamed and Word of Honor. Let's get into what I loved about Word of Honor solely and what I think could have been done better.
I'll start with what I think could have been done better, or its flaws in other words. One aspect I highly take into account when considering to give a drama a 10/10 rating, is its supporting cast; their depth, the way they are portrayed and whether or not they can keep me captivated even when the main leads aren't on screen. Unfortunately, specifically in the middle of the show, I often found myself thinking about when the two main leads would pop up on the screen again during interactions between the ''villains''. Especially the pink and green-clothed couple and bandit gang just did nothing for me. To me, the ''villains'' and their interactions, for example the scorpion king and his father, only got really interesting towards the end of the show. The pacing has its flaws as well. It started of very very well, but it felt quite rushed towards the end. I didn't like how they just briefly talked about Wen Ke Xing faking his death afterwards and showed very small clips of certain interections (for example Wen Ke Xing's short interaction with Ye Bai Yi), when it was such a big deal. And the women of the Ghost Valley weren't given much attention during the final huge battle at all. The Beauty Ghost and her master died just like that, while they were two of the most important supporting cast members. Also, the show ended with plot holes. A major one is what happened the prince and what role he played in the ending. In conclusion, I strongly believe this show would have been worth a 10/10 with at least 40 episodes, giving it more time to further deepen the supporting cast and fill up some of the plot holes.
As I have now recognised its flaws, it is time to move on to what makes this drama so special and why it will probably remain as one of my all time favourite dramas. To start off with Wen Ke Xing. He is by far my favourite character of this show. I absolutely love how he (and Zhou Zi Shu, too) is portrayed as a ''grey'' character, as I appreciate it more when characters aren't simply seen as good or bad. He had a very traumatic past, losing both his parents at a young age and being both mentally and physically abused in the Ghost Valley, which led to him gaining power by becoming the Chief of the Ghost Valley to get his revenge that he plotted for years, but at the cost of killing innocent people and losing himself in the meantime. Mentally he was very unstable and it showed in his actions. Though, his character developed a lot and for the better as his relationship with Zhou Zi Shu deepened, which was beautiful to watch. Another thing I absolutely love about Wen Ke Xing is his poetry. I am a fan of poetry myself, and so I found it amazing how Wen Ke Xing often used poems to describe either how he felt or the situation he was in (but oftentimes just to flirt and show off how refined he is, as we all know). I recommend to watch AvenueX's video on the poetry used. Besides that I am in love with his hairstyle and costumes. They were just perfect. I loved the colours, the sillouettes, the patterns, his matching hair piece and, not to forget, his deadly but beautiful white fan. I loved everything about how they styled his character. I was also really impressed by the styling of the Beauty Ghost and her master, the Scorpion King and Du Pu Sa, who all had signature looks that suited them perfectly. Another thing I loved was the interactions between Wen Ke Xing and the top 10 ghosts. It was fascinating to see that side of him and I thought the technique used for the camerawork was amazingly captivating at those times. The OSTs, too, are very memorable. I loved them and will probably continue to listen to the opening and ending songs for a long time. The fighting scenes were stunning and for me it had just the right amount of fights. But, what the best thing of the whole show is, which raised my rating a lot, is the chemistry between the two main leads and how they seem to be very different from each other but share key similarities; they are both trapped in their past, while one seeks revenge, the other seeks freedom. They are absolutely perfect for each other. I loved their interactions and the way their last fight in the bonus episode resembles one of their first fights, but in the end they face each other instead of facing opposite sides as they did in the beginning. That is very symbolic, which I love. Their outfits add to it, as they previously had very contrasting styles but end with matching outfits of which only the colour contrasts, symbolizing they have grown together as one.
In conclusion, it is a very addictive and enjoyable drama with its flaws which in a critical sense would be worth a 9/10 at highest, but the unforgettable two soulmates whose adventures are delightful to watch completely make up for it. I'm happy I was able to follow this drama as it aired.
Final rating: 9.5
Such as The Untamed, Word of Honor is an adaption from a BL novel. Though, Word of Honor is way more obvious and daring considering Chinese censorship. Word of Honor is probably the next big Chinese BL drama after The Untamed considering the enormous international support it has been recieving. Story-wise and production-wise I don't think Word of Honor can compare to The Untamed, and part of it has to do with the budget and number of episodes (The Untamed with 120 million for 50 episodes and Word of Honor with 30 million for 37 episodes). What I do think is equally fantastic about the two, is the casting for the main leads and their chemistry. Fans, including me, cannot imagine any other actors playing the roles of Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan, and Wen Ke Xing and Zhou Zi Shu. They are two inseperable and irreplacable pairs.
But that's enough about the differences and similarities between The Untamed and Word of Honor. Let's get into what I loved about Word of Honor solely and what I think could have been done better.
I'll start with what I think could have been done better, or its flaws in other words. One aspect I highly take into account when considering to give a drama a 10/10 rating, is its supporting cast; their depth, the way they are portrayed and whether or not they can keep me captivated even when the main leads aren't on screen. Unfortunately, specifically in the middle of the show, I often found myself thinking about when the two main leads would pop up on the screen again during interactions between the ''villains''. Especially the pink and green-clothed couple and bandit gang just did nothing for me. To me, the ''villains'' and their interactions, for example the scorpion king and his father, only got really interesting towards the end of the show. The pacing has its flaws as well. It started of very very well, but it felt quite rushed towards the end. I didn't like how they just briefly talked about Wen Ke Xing faking his death afterwards and showed very small clips of certain interections (for example Wen Ke Xing's short interaction with Ye Bai Yi), when it was such a big deal. And the women of the Ghost Valley weren't given much attention during the final huge battle at all. The Beauty Ghost and her master died just like that, while they were two of the most important supporting cast members. Also, the show ended with plot holes. A major one is what happened the prince and what role he played in the ending. In conclusion, I strongly believe this show would have been worth a 10/10 with at least 40 episodes, giving it more time to further deepen the supporting cast and fill up some of the plot holes.
As I have now recognised its flaws, it is time to move on to what makes this drama so special and why it will probably remain as one of my all time favourite dramas. To start off with Wen Ke Xing. He is by far my favourite character of this show. I absolutely love how he (and Zhou Zi Shu, too) is portrayed as a ''grey'' character, as I appreciate it more when characters aren't simply seen as good or bad. He had a very traumatic past, losing both his parents at a young age and being both mentally and physically abused in the Ghost Valley, which led to him gaining power by becoming the Chief of the Ghost Valley to get his revenge that he plotted for years, but at the cost of killing innocent people and losing himself in the meantime. Mentally he was very unstable and it showed in his actions. Though, his character developed a lot and for the better as his relationship with Zhou Zi Shu deepened, which was beautiful to watch. Another thing I absolutely love about Wen Ke Xing is his poetry. I am a fan of poetry myself, and so I found it amazing how Wen Ke Xing often used poems to describe either how he felt or the situation he was in (but oftentimes just to flirt and show off how refined he is, as we all know). I recommend to watch AvenueX's video on the poetry used. Besides that I am in love with his hairstyle and costumes. They were just perfect. I loved the colours, the sillouettes, the patterns, his matching hair piece and, not to forget, his deadly but beautiful white fan. I loved everything about how they styled his character. I was also really impressed by the styling of the Beauty Ghost and her master, the Scorpion King and Du Pu Sa, who all had signature looks that suited them perfectly. Another thing I loved was the interactions between Wen Ke Xing and the top 10 ghosts. It was fascinating to see that side of him and I thought the technique used for the camerawork was amazingly captivating at those times. The OSTs, too, are very memorable. I loved them and will probably continue to listen to the opening and ending songs for a long time. The fighting scenes were stunning and for me it had just the right amount of fights. But, what the best thing of the whole show is, which raised my rating a lot, is the chemistry between the two main leads and how they seem to be very different from each other but share key similarities; they are both trapped in their past, while one seeks revenge, the other seeks freedom. They are absolutely perfect for each other. I loved their interactions and the way their last fight in the bonus episode resembles one of their first fights, but in the end they face each other instead of facing opposite sides as they did in the beginning. That is very symbolic, which I love. Their outfits add to it, as they previously had very contrasting styles but end with matching outfits of which only the colour contrasts, symbolizing they have grown together as one.
In conclusion, it is a very addictive and enjoyable drama with its flaws which in a critical sense would be worth a 9/10 at highest, but the unforgettable two soulmates whose adventures are delightful to watch completely make up for it. I'm happy I was able to follow this drama as it aired.
Final rating: 9.5
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