1
afterrnoont
This review may contain spoilers
Another Mary Sue Drama~
Twelve Legends narrates the story of Jasper Liu, Jin Xing Jian, a stone deity who tries to resurrect her lover, Ye Ming, a night pearl played by Guli Nazha. The story started after Jin Xing Jian sealed Ye Ming’s memory and put her to sleep. As a stone deity, Jin Xing Jian has “seals/stone stamps” – which is his original form. It all started because Ye Ming defied heaven’s will against Yu Shao Bai's death, which causes a domino effect to Jin Xing Jian, Ye Ming, and others. The drama storyline then focuses on the journey of Jin Xing Jian finding his 8 scattered seals and Ye Ming trying to figure out her past.
I gave this drama a 3.5 is because of its draggy storyline. There are a lot of side couples and stories in this drama. Almost every seal collected comes with a background story. The background story includes the right amount of suspense, action, emotion, and comedy. For instance, I find the nine-tailed fox side and xiao hu’s story touching. However, some of the side stories are presented longer than necessary, causing uneven pacing. As a fantasy/ supernatural drama it lacks lavish images, CGI and choreographed action scenes. But still, the choreographed action is still decent. From what I can see, this drama might have a high budget, and I can say that they allocated the budget well. Even though some of the CGI is terrible and fake (e.g. the mermaid, nine-tailed fox, dream eater). The CGI does not fit into the overall drama. And the transition was downright terrible. There are a lot of cuts, jumps and weird transitions and effects that looked like this whole drama is being edited on iMovie by a high school student.
In addition, the climax also lacks intensity. The protagonist and antagonist were killed easily. In the beginning till the end of the drama, the protagonist, Jing Xing Jian was shown as basically an unparalleled deity with strong superpowers. However, the reason for his death lacks logic and coherence. And Ye Ming did not have any character growth at all. She remains as weak and innocent or could I say dumb. Jin Xing Jian sacrificed so much for her, but she barely did anything. The only thing she did was reciprocate his love only by the last few episodes of the drama, she realized everything too late.
Jasper Liu did a tremendous job in portraying a cold and distant yet loyal and caring man. Meanwhile, Guli Nazha did an okay job. I watched some of her dramas before such as Weaving a Tale of Love, and her acting did not have any improvement. However, I gotta say that Guli Nazha looked very charming in this drama, she is very charming and beautiful especially when she is in a qipao!! but still, her characters evoke a 呆/ dumb vibe (Guli Nazha should pick a better script, almost every character that she acts evokes a 呆 vibe). But Jia Cheng and Zhi Ying did a great job as the second couple. I love seeing how they grow as a demon and a demon fighter to lovers. And there are also a few really awesome supporting cast, such as the Ye siblings.
Secondly, the costumes and set were pleasing to see. The republican era costumes such as the qipao, suits, dresses were very well made and detailed. The set such as the Hua Xue gallery was also well-made. And lastly, the OSTs were very fitting into the overall ambience, however, it is not catchy and memorable.
Overall, Twelve Legends is an average-bad drama. Some aspects of the drama are bad, however, if you watch it without thinking much, then it will probably be an okay drama. If you have a lot of extra time or if you are a fan of the actors, go ahead and watch it!!
I gave this drama a 3.5 is because of its draggy storyline. There are a lot of side couples and stories in this drama. Almost every seal collected comes with a background story. The background story includes the right amount of suspense, action, emotion, and comedy. For instance, I find the nine-tailed fox side and xiao hu’s story touching. However, some of the side stories are presented longer than necessary, causing uneven pacing. As a fantasy/ supernatural drama it lacks lavish images, CGI and choreographed action scenes. But still, the choreographed action is still decent. From what I can see, this drama might have a high budget, and I can say that they allocated the budget well. Even though some of the CGI is terrible and fake (e.g. the mermaid, nine-tailed fox, dream eater). The CGI does not fit into the overall drama. And the transition was downright terrible. There are a lot of cuts, jumps and weird transitions and effects that looked like this whole drama is being edited on iMovie by a high school student.
In addition, the climax also lacks intensity. The protagonist and antagonist were killed easily. In the beginning till the end of the drama, the protagonist, Jing Xing Jian was shown as basically an unparalleled deity with strong superpowers. However, the reason for his death lacks logic and coherence. And Ye Ming did not have any character growth at all. She remains as weak and innocent or could I say dumb. Jin Xing Jian sacrificed so much for her, but she barely did anything. The only thing she did was reciprocate his love only by the last few episodes of the drama, she realized everything too late.
Jasper Liu did a tremendous job in portraying a cold and distant yet loyal and caring man. Meanwhile, Guli Nazha did an okay job. I watched some of her dramas before such as Weaving a Tale of Love, and her acting did not have any improvement. However, I gotta say that Guli Nazha looked very charming in this drama, she is very charming and beautiful especially when she is in a qipao!! but still, her characters evoke a 呆/ dumb vibe (Guli Nazha should pick a better script, almost every character that she acts evokes a 呆 vibe). But Jia Cheng and Zhi Ying did a great job as the second couple. I love seeing how they grow as a demon and a demon fighter to lovers. And there are also a few really awesome supporting cast, such as the Ye siblings.
Secondly, the costumes and set were pleasing to see. The republican era costumes such as the qipao, suits, dresses were very well made and detailed. The set such as the Hua Xue gallery was also well-made. And lastly, the OSTs were very fitting into the overall ambience, however, it is not catchy and memorable.
Overall, Twelve Legends is an average-bad drama. Some aspects of the drama are bad, however, if you watch it without thinking much, then it will probably be an okay drama. If you have a lot of extra time or if you are a fan of the actors, go ahead and watch it!!
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