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yes, one of the big issues is the director.

but my main issue is just how cheap this looks and how insanely overused the ai is. the success of dramas like this (and i'm saying this as someone who genuinely loves the actors) is just going to tell studios that they can cut every corner possible, put out something that's less than mediocre, replace as many actual creatives as they can, and STILL make a profit because people will watch it anyway.

it's not "just a few ai shots" or "it's not that deep" because mini drama actors, screenwriters, storyboard artists, concept artists, vfx artists, and so many other people are already losing work because of generative ai RIGHT NOW!!! so what do people seriously think is going to happen when the technology gets even better and even cheaper?? these companies are not going to suddenly start hiring more people out of the goodness of their hearts, they're going to keep replacing them because that's literally the whole appeal of ai to these studios, it's cheaper and it's faster.

east asia is absolutely obsessed with ai right now and i genuinely think it's becoming a massive problem because instead of using it as a tool to help creatives they're using it as a replacement for them, and once audiences keep proving that they'll happily accept ai slop as long as their favourite actors are in it then studios have absolutely no reason to stop because why would they spend more money making something better when they can spend less and get the exact same profit.

normalising gen ai in entertainment is just normalising slop entertainment, and every successful project that leans this heavily on it just tells the industry that they can keep lowering the bar, keep replacing artists, and keep making cheaper and cheaper content because apparently people will accept it anyway.

that sucks bro, that just means we're going to get more cheap slop in the future

I don't remember calling anyone on this page a dumbass. I remember calling someone a dumbass for saying that underage girls date older men all the time and using that as an excuse to justify exploiting minors in the film industry on KTTPH. I said what I needed to say to you. 🔕🔕🔇🔇

I don't think I've ever seen daigaozheng outside of mini dramas and that one acting show lmao he's finally in a big one

You really need to stop being condescending and blaming everything on "haters". You are invalidating valid criticisms and drowning out others. It's not nice. 无脑护 and 战狼粉 like you who ruin these sites

Omg I loved Douluo Dalu as a kid <3 It really did remind me of that

might just be contender for the best cdrama of 2026. this was a beautiful watch and i am going to call corruption if a piece of shit drama wins over it

holy shit you are crazy bro you can love your 哥哥 and still recognise that the production quality of this drama is SHIT.
yes, not everything is going to be a POJ.
that doesn't excuse the absolute slop that this drama is. it's such a waste of effort because the director doesn't know wtf he's doing. cnetizens don't like this drama because the success of this drama means that the industry is just going to churn out more slop for cheap. they care about profit more than audience enjoyment.
yes, there are antis. still doesn't change the fact that this drama sucks.

p.s people like you are the reason why new MDL users hate this site and leave. don't use the fact that they're new as an excuse to invalidate their opinions.

I'm very familiar with 民国 dramas. I was so excited for this drama precisely because I like 民国 dramas. This is just bad quality and it stinks of money embezzlement. For the high budget it was given, nothing excuses how poor quality this drama is in just the first five episodes. The most important episodes in the entire show. If Wang Churan and Zhang Linghe weren't the leads, you would be agreeing with me right now.

omg that's literally what I had to do lmaooo the amount of people I got in my review comments telling me that MY mind was predatory for trying to find problems with it?? like okay, not my fault you're ignoring the exploitation of a minor in the film industry bc you think Hou Minghao is hot. The director is KTTPH is a weirdo, and it makes me sad that the environment may not have been as safe as it should have been for Ai Mi...

it really does

never hyping myself up for anything ever again bro i feel like i've been catfished

so maybe u people should respect other's opinions instead of immediately invalidating it like you just did then. you guys make MDL suck

i had such a huge crush on him as a kid omg

Right?? lmaoo it sounds like the plots of Provoke and Maid's Revenge

TOMORROW OMGGGGG

i think it's worth a shot to watch the drama, but watching ML interact with FL in ways is a bit uncomfortable, so you might need to skip a bit. The plot itself is well-written, and I like the visuals quite a bit. I had to officially drop it when I reached a certain scene later on since I couldn't keep going without feeling incredibly weird TT

idk how to feel about the director tbh. this is just speculation-so take it with a grain of salt-but apparently he was considering another young actress named Huangyang Tiantian (黄杨钿甜) to be the FL. She was born in 2007 and her 19th bday was July 9th. That means she would have been around 16-17 when he was considering her as well... it's just incredibly weird that he's vying for these underage girls to play the romantic interest of an adult.
Many other dramas use actors over the age of 20 to play younger characters in romance dramas like this-like when Zhao Lusi played the 15 year old FL in Love Like the Galaxy, and when Chen Duling played a 14 year old FL in Ashes to Crown-so there's really no excuse for it.

Just weird overall, I will definitely support Ai Mi in the future, but I just can't continue this drama tbh TT idk why so many fans in this forum think that these criticisms are some anti-christ hate speech designed to curse the actors to death

yes! i saw that too! i had to block so many people because they were trying to defend it ughhh he's genuinely trying to feed into the hate that HMH is getting atp TT
i agree w you on so many things omg what a breath of fresh air

I think it would have been much more emotional and touching for Xiao Wuyi to find true family within Jiayu instead of a romantic partner. Especially on Jiayu's side, with what's going on with the plot rn. Since it's an original script, they genuinely could have just altered scenes to not be romantic/intimate, and the casting wouldn't have been problematic at all... a shame ig. ("-ࡇ-)

i'm glad you have common sense and morals TT it's an original script, so they could have altered the storyline to erase the romantic parts and make it more of a sibling dynamic :/

i'm the type to enjoy less romance and more technical storylines with a lot of political intrigue, emotional beats etc... but this is just bad. incredibly fast-paced, lack of build up leads to unsatisfying pay-off, the characters make stupid decisions, the story breastfeeds information to us and there is little to no real character development. we just go from point A to point B like we're amnesia patients, not even getting to see the journey.

such a waste because i love the cast, and this is a visually stunning drama