Reviews

spoilers

this drama start out great till episode 15. then it went down hill fast. i mean like really fast.
like: the only thing keep me from dropping this drama after ep15 is to see the 2 lead whether they will end up together.
dislike: this drama could have been so much better. if the writer didnt make mo wan sleep with the king 2x. i still dont see how mo wan can not tell jun qing so they both can plot to kill the king together.instead the writer make mo wan sleep with the king again. i mean what is the use of ploting to kill the king when all she do is sleep with the king so she can kill all the other beside the king. who kill her?

i dont recommend rewatching this. unless u into a lead who sleep with her enemy.

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Story good. Characters to be desired

I watched the entire drama because it was funny, the story itself i thought was interesting and i liked that they added modern references to what is supposedly a historical fantasy drama. But throughout the entire thing, i just found the characters to be lacking and infuriating. There was no development of the villan’s character or the king’s brother’s character. Even by episode 23 you still dont know what is motivating the hate and/or desire. You can assume that its power, but nothing in the show indicates that or why they want that.

The one thing that is the cause for this low rating is the character of the princess. The actress did a wonderful job in portraying the character, I believe, but the character was just a contradiction. She’s supposed to be lovable, charming, and a free thinker, but all I got was narcissistic, selfish, and superficial. She never even tried to give the king a chance and was always just chasing after her own agenda. This character may not affect everyone, but for me, it was just infuriating to watch. I did not like her at all.

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The gem of 2022 and a must watch for all wuxia lovers

This is the best wuxia c-drama I have watched in a while, and certainly the best of 2022. I binged watched and completed the first 12 episodes in a day, and after that it was torturous waiting for new episodes to be released. It was everything I had hope for in a wuxia drama, and some. Not a perfect drama though, but certainly top on my enjoyment list as I thoroughly love every bit of this drama and a tad sad after it concluded airing after 40 episodes. There are only a handful of c-dramas that gave me such vibes, and “Blood of Youth” (BOY) is one of them.

What makes this series so special is its storylines. This is the adventure of Xiao Se – the fallen sixth prince and his best buddy, Wu Jie in the martial arts world of jiang hu. Along the way they picked up other like-minded swordsmen and fighters, and together they tried to mould the political landscape of Beili Kingdom. The palace politics is portrayed through the battle for the throne and each prince/party is supported by various martial arts sects with their own Swords-Masters and Swords Deities. In this world of martial arts, all these swordsmen fight for the supremacy to be the best in the world. These martial artists are ranked accordingly by the mysterious Baixiao Sect ala Langya List in “Nirvana in Fire 1&2”. Meanwhile, the skills of these swordsmen are categorized to denote expertise, and they gained level as they get more experience just like Dungeon & Dragon games.

While this premise is not unique and has been adopted by various wuxia novelists since time immemorial, BOY is different because each character - be it main protagonists or supporting characters - are unique and entertaining, with their own quirks and idiosyncrasies with their own interesting storyline and character development. This is the real strength of BOY. Xiao Se is the moody and enigmatic sixth prince; Wu Jie and Ma Chunfeng are both naïve and innocent members of distinguished clans; Sikong Qianluo is the haughty and impulsive daughter of a Swords Deity ; Tang Lian is an honest and loyal disciple of Tang Clan and Xueyue City ;Ye Ruoyi is the regal and dignified daughter of a General commanding thousands of armies ; Wu Xin is the playful and charming demon sect’s leader who happens to be the half brother of Prince Chi; Prince Bai is the virtuous and honorable, yet blind second prince eyeing for the throne; Prince Chi is the evil ninth prince jostling for the throne, and practically responsible for all evil things happening in this c-drama ; and myriad other interesting characters like Li Hanyi (Xueyue City Swords Deity), Sikong ChangFeng (Xueyue City Third Lord), Luo Mingxuan, Li Fan Song (Mount Wangcheng disciple), etc.

Blood Of Youth has plenty of light-hearted moments with playful bantering among the characters. It provides relief and brief interruption from the serious undertone concerning the life and death of martial artists and the struggles for throne among the princes. Even the interaction between the Divine Healer, Hua Jin and the third Master of Ma’s Clan, Ma Chunfeng brings smile to my face. There are funny scenes everywhere: from the awkward way Wu Jie tried to strike a conversation with Ruoyi at the Flower Festival, to the way Wu Jie tried to correct Xiao Se’s pronunciation of a cursed word, etc. Wu Jie’s character is a gem because he always becomes a fodder for Xiao Se’s deadpan humor. Even Wujin’s character sometimes acts silly in the presence of these two protagonists. Basically anything involving Wu Jie and Ma Chunfeng is funny, and I think these two characters really steal the show.

This series could have been a huge TV rating bonanza had it featured A-list actors such as Yang Yang, Yang Mi, Dilraba, Zhao Liying, Wang Yi Bo, Xiao Zhan, etc. The producer casts three (3) great looking and up & coming actors as the main male leads. Li Hongyi, Liu Xueyi and Ao Rui Peng play their parts convincingly, may have their loyal coterie of fans but they are not A-grade . The chemistry among this trio, and towards the leading female leads (Flora Dai & Lin Bo Yang) are palpable for viewers to see. Not a single actor/actress hogs the lime-light and the screen time is shared across all cast. I thought the casting of Lin Bo Yang as Sikong Qianlou was the weakest link in the drama, and would have preferred to see either Yuan Binyang or Gulinazha in that role.

I love dramatic fighting scenes and there are plenty of them in any wuxia movie, and BOY is no exception. The fight choreography is at par with the best of Wuxia films/dramas I have watched to date. I am even inclined to compare the work of high-budget Chinese New Year’s blockbuster – Sakra: an adaptation of JinYong’s work – to BOY, and the result was not disappointing. Sakra involved tons of money, a gazillion of stuntmen, machines and props and the fighting choreography may not be much superior to that of BOY. If anything, BOY’s fight scenes are more realistic as the director tries to tone down on the more complicated and back-breaking stunts by not going overboard with the action flicks or wire works. However, at times the choreographed fights become too simple especially the ones involving Sikong Qianlou.

There are however a few post-production “errors” which stand out to me but it does not take away from enjoyment of BOY. For example, Tang Lian disappears from the scene by jumping to a roof and into the horizon. The scene is comical because the fast motion was overdone. Similarly, the same technique was overdone when Sikong Qianluo and Ye Ruoyi are on horsebacks trotting slowly while leading the army to Tianqi City after successfully battling Prince’s Chi surrogate army. The scene is out of sort, because the horses are moving at a snail pace, almost reluctantly, while the post-production tries to simulate the movement of an army marching on. But these “spoofs” are few and far between.

A thoroughly enjoyable wuxia flick. The gem of 2022 and a must watch. 10/10 rating. My only disappointment is that it has only 40 episodes. Off to another Li Hongyi’s drama – Wulin Heroes.

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Pls. dont read synopsis/trailers/reviews in DC..it has spoilers

PS: To avoid crying, keep repeating...its only a movie..its only a movie.. its only a a movie x10

This is probably "the best film with dogs in it" ive seen..and its probably better than the film "Hachiko" even its a true story. (oops...but Hachiko's ending is one of a kind)

note: the above is just a bit exagerated by me

The dog alone should probably win best actor award :)

This movie is cute but heavy in scenarios and emotions and sometimes unpredictable because often suspenseful and touching that even a person with a metal heart will melt.

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This show makes me angry. Great, speedy start, but lousy writing means the story ran out of steam very quickly, despite the show being only 16 episodes long.

Thankfully there’s enough cute to get me through the whole show, not just the OTP, all the other side characters too.

I’m pretty impressed by Ji Hyun Woo, it being only his second time as a leading man in a show. I was won over by the growth of his character throughout the series. He definitely have charisma and potential. Eunji, as always, is feisty yet moving at certain points. They have great chemistry too. Love the OTP.

The side characters were a mixed bag. Shin Sung Rok is magnetic as a quirky but caring boss. Lee Se Young, on the other hand, was so bland. Bleh. She just sucked all the energy on the screen whenever she appeared. It’s the fatal mix of one-dimensional lazy writing and wooden acting. I love Answer Me 1994 so I definitely liked Sohn Ho Joon. Shin Bora also played quite a funny side character.

Any re-watching of this show would just make me rage. So NO re-watching for me.

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I really liked this movie. It had a western type feel to it. I think that may have had something to do either w/ the horses or the dirt. I'm not sure which. I really liked how the story progressed & how the 3 main characters were linked. There were really awesome fight/shoot out scenes. I am not sure how accurate the history is on this, but I did look up Manchuria region & how it connected the 3 countries. Well 4 if u count Russia. It was interesting the history of the region.



The male lead in Iris is "The Bad" in this movie & he does an excellent job of playing his character. "The Weird" is comes out to be more than u expect him to be in the end. "The Good" is the most accurate moving target shooter I have seen in any movie. I have never understood how they expect ppl to believe that u can hit a moving target when ur moving as much as the target. I can kinda understand if ur standing still, but moving like they do in this movie; I'm not so sure. But it is pretty cool to watch.



I enjoyed watching this movie, it made me laugh, it made me think, & it made me grossed out (cutting off body parts). I hope others enjoy it 2.

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Good acting, but a confusing "plot"

For those who don’t know, Baker Boys is based off the manga series “Antique Bakery.” I mention this because a) a lot of people expected a BL storyline, which if you’ve read the manga that’s NOT what this story is about at all and b) if you read it, you’ll understand why some of the artistic decisions this adaptation took worked and why others did not.

Story: If you’ve read Antique Bakery, you’ll understand that the story takes place over several vignettes rather than an overarching story. I think in order to keep the viewers’ attention, the writers felt obliged to create an overarching plot which meant stretching out some of the vignettes into larger stories. However, this sometimes creates disjointed and tiring plots. The first 5 episodes are rough to get through because they keep introducing all the plot points and worry about resolving them later. Then, when they finally resolve them, they’re drawn out longer than necessary.
Episode 6 is really where the show starts to find its footing, and it’s frankly the best episode of this series in my opinion. Going forward every episode starts to capture the vignette storytelling and all for the better. We still have the overarching mystery, but it takes a back seat to the more interesting character developments that happen in individual episodes. I wish the series would've focused more on containing plots to individual episodes rather than desperately dragging them out for filler.
Finally, the whole “Family Detective agency” plot did not work for me. The actors were fine, but the characters seemed very amateurish, and they only serve as filler for a lot of the episodes. Their whole social-media, investigative journalism operation just doesn’t make sense…but then again other Thai dramas have shown how ineffectual the Thai police are so maybe that was the angle. However, he culmination of the murder-kidnapping mystery was actually quite good and actually gave the series some suspenseful action it needed for a satisfactory ending.

Cast: If you watched the “Sweet Day Tour” special before the series, the director goes into his reasoning for choosing the actors he did for the main cast, and I think he was spot on. Weir is portrayed slightly different from the manga, but Singto’s portrayal is to die for; his humor and coyness is amazing, and out of the whole cast he captures his character the best. Pluem and Foei are tied next for character portrayal. They’re both funny and entertaining when they’re in the background for an episode, but when they have their spotlight episodes they deliver an emotional performance that really sells their character development. Finally, there’s Lee. I generally like Lee as an actor, but I think he might have struggled a bit in Baker Boys. Lee has a trouble with conveying vulnerability, and he sometimes looks stiff doing so (I’ve noticed this in other dramas of his), which makes it a little hard for his character development in the final episodes. I think he captured the character the writers created, BUT Punn is the furthest away from his portrayal in the original work. Punn is written as very shallow and not very bright. Baker Boys captures neither his business acumen nor his quiet empathy as seen in the manga. I don’t fault Lee for this, I think the writers thought he’d be more entertaining as the laughable and clumsy ladies man.
The rest of the minor characters are a mixed bag. Jamie does a very good job as Mone, it’s just her character’s significance to the plot gets lost as she (and her parents) act as filler for the plot. However, when she needs to be humorous or emotional, she delivers a good performance. Unda does an amazing job as Piglet for such a young actress. I enjoyed her screentime and she was very compatible with Foei. Wave Khoo as Jean was also very true to his character, but like Jamie/Mone he has a very specific plot point and once that’s resolved he becomes filler for a few episodes as well. For the sake of spoilers, I won’t comment on some of the other minor characters, but most do well when their spotlight comes.

Music: The background music for the series was ok. Sometimes, dramas pick background music that ends up being more distracting than entertaining, but this is not the case for Baker Boys (though I’m not sure why the Tony Bennett like music was chosen). The closing themes are also just ok, but it’s hard to tell because they don’t really have any other purposed to the show. The producers clearly felt obliged to have a unique theme song or two for this series (I wouldn’t expect anything less from GMMTV), but it would’ve been nice to have them featured more in the actual episodes themselves.

Did I need to lower my expectations of this show? Yes, I tried to look at this show as its own entity separate from the manga, but even then, you will find yourself bored with the plot at times. Do I regret watching Baker Boys? No, it has its shining moments making it worth a watch through and if you are a fan of any of the actors and actresses that appear in this series, you’ll enjoy them in this.

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There's a reason this one is everybody's favorite

==Breakdown==
Background plot- 35%
Romance - 40%
Misc comedy - 25%

Background plot - Excellent
Romantic chemistry - Excellent
Misc comedy - Excellent
Production value and direction - Excellent

First, the script. The script and story are brilliant. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. There are a few people who point out the age difference between the main characters. This didn't bother me for a few reasons:
1) There's no romantic chemistry between them until she's older, but I loved the bickering friendship chemistry between them in the early episodes. And her young age at the beginning contributes to the absurdity and therefore comedy. You're not supposed to see adult love between the characters (at the beginning). You see a bickering, frustration, growing respect, empathy, eventual admiration and like between two humans, which is appropriate.
2) The main premise of the story is he's a hundreds-year-old Goblin; you're going to have to be willing to suspend disbelief, people! If the part of the story you're hung up on is the "age difference" between a 200+ year old Goblin and the "bride," then that's odd.
3) His character, honestly, wasn't very mature. LOL! I mean, he was old, but his maturity level wasn't commensurate with his age. He seemed petty and kinda tired of life when the show started. He continued to be petty (but less tired) as the show went on. The character was stuck (mentally and emotionally) at the age of his "death," likely 30 or so. That was made very clear. Thus, she grew up and so did he, eventually coming together when they were similar in mental and emotional age.

Second, third, fourth . . . one hundredth, the cast. Holy moly, there has never been a more perfect cast. My Drama List should allow users to apply a "11 star" option once. If they did, this show would've received it from me for its casting. Obviously, all the main leads were incredible. This was my first introduction to both Kim Go Eun and Gong Yoo, and I have become a big fan of both. Their chemistry with each other was incredible. Their chemistry with other characters was also incredible. The way they look at each other in later episodes (just look) will give you butterflies. AAAHHH!!

The music must be mentioned. This is the first (and only) drama where I still listen to the entire soundtrack. Each song is worth listening to on its own. 10+++ stars for the music. It has become the drama against which all other OSTs are judged.

I want to go back to the script for a second. I can't say enough about how great the dialogue was. Obviously, the actors' delivery was essential to bringing it all to life, but some lines / interactions were so brilliant. Funny, poignant, witty, engaging. So good.

Direction was good. Art direction, cinematography, and production values were also good.

Overall brilliant. Loved it. Have watched it 2x so far. I'll probably watch it 10 more times at least.

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I think I'm not exaggerating if I said this drama is a great one. I've watched a lot of lakorns but only this one that can make my stomach and jaw hurt every time I watch it. This is not in the genre revenge-slap-kiss like usual lakorn, this is what you call real romantic comedy and I can tell you this one is hilarious!
The story didn't started out pretty much like most of other rom-com drama where both leads started their relationship badly then slowly they fall in love, the leads have met before their 'fated' relationship before and have started liking each other but when they realize the real identity of one another that's when their pride interfering and lots of hilarious hijinks happen between them.
The casting is strong in this drama, I think most of the actors did a good job in portraying their character, especially the leads, Min and Weir.
I've seen Min playing this kind of character in Lah Ruk Sut Kob Fah before, where she think (and try) everything she can do to make her 'royal' marriage didn't happen and she did a very good job in here too as she never give in to her husband thus make their banter and hilarious little revenges to each other the treasure in this drama.
And Weir! Oh My God! I never see him in this kind of character before, I mean sure there were probably a few funny moments in some dramas but not a lot like in this one. And believe me if I said that most of the scenes are saved by his priceless facial acting. I never forget his face when he is throwing tantrum because he thinks his wife is getting married again and that bathroom screaming scene when he got frustrated because of his wife.
Weir might be great in action or romance but he is made for comedy!

Rewatch value? You have too. I've watched this drama maybe more than 10 times and all those times it never failed making me literally laughing out loud.

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"The One and Only Ning Que" Chen Feiyu Owns the Role

I gave it such a high score because this series does almost everything really well. The visuals and atmosphere are stunning—every single scene looks like a painting, from the forests and mountains to lakes and ancient towns. The lighting, colors, and composition are top-tier, making you feel like you’ve stepped straight into the novel’s world. The fight scenes are equally impressive: the movements, choreography, and editing flow so smoothly, each battle carries real weight and has its own unique style. On top of that, the male lead Ning Que (Chen Feiyu) character development is insanely good—he starts as an ordinary anti-hero kid from the countryside and gradually grows stronger, smarter, and more layered with every step. I genuinely felt proud watching him evolve. Chen Feiyu’s acting is flawless, perfectly capturing the drama, revenge, and pain. Sang Sang (Song Yiren) delivers a cute yet powerful performance, while Ye Hongyu (Meng Ziyi) and Mo Shanshan (Yuan Bingyan) are also impressive. Meng Ziyi plays her role with coolness and strength, and in the later episodes when she starts falling for the male lead, she becomes secretly adorable. Yuan Bingyan also delivers a really cute and bright performance, with a gentle side that feels incredibly heartwarming to watch.

The only parts I didn’t like were the last 5–10 episodes, which felt overly rushed, like the director was in a hurry to finish. Some plot threads weren’t resolved properly and things wrapped up too quickly, which was a bit disappointing. Another issue is the chemistry between Chen Feiyu and Song Yiren—it doesn’t quite click. When they’re together it feels more like a cute sibling relationship than romantic lovers: warm and sweet, but without that exciting spark. On the other hand, the chemistry between Chen Feiyu and Meng Ziyi is way better, especially the intense enemies-to-lovers tension with Meng Ziyi that’s seriously on fire. Even the dynamic with Yuan Bingyan feels much cuter and more adorable.

Overall, Ever Night is still one of my absolute favorite Chinese series. Beautiful visuals, thrilling fight scenes, outstanding character development, and solid acting all around. If you love xianxia/wuxia blended with intense fantasy, I highly recommend it—don’t even think twice. Sure, there are a few small flaws toward the end, but overall it’s way too good to miss.

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Started strong. But didn't finish that way.

The first few episodes I really enjoyed, there was a lot of whimsy with the four cupids and how they went about their job. And I liked the storyline of a Cupid who falls in love with a mortal.

But the serial killer murder mystery attached to it felt a little too serious and dark for how it started. I hadn't seen the FL in any main roles before, I found if she was doing something that required emotion, her eyes go dead, especially when she smiles. I don't know if she has Botox or filler or something but there is no expression happening on that part of her face

And her character made so many bad decisions that it was hard to watch, at one point when she gets beaten up and I didn't feel sorry for her. Every time someone tells her to stay safe and not go outside she continues to go outside. Until the point they want her to evacuate a car, and then she won't and almost dies again. I found that part of the storyline so frustrating.

Maybe because I disliked her character and the way that she portrayed it so much I didn't feel that there was much chemistry between the two of them. At one point he asked to spend the night and I went into it thinking it was platonic until the moment that it obviously wasn't. And even then it seemed odd to see them together.

The ML is easy to like, I think he was cast well. I would have enjoyed it more if they didn't have such a sinister murder storyline tied to it and would have kept it whimsical the way it started. Either that or start it a lot less whimsically and make it have more thriller vibes.

Also the little girls bedroom at the end, that sheep in the teepee is super creepy. And that might have been the strangest thing that has rhymed that I've ever written.

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It's not very good tbh

The story had a lot of potential to be romantic and fun. When I read the synonpsis I was imagining the FL to start out a spoiled rich brat and have beautiful character development with the support of ML beside her as they gradually fall in love. Although that's the story they followed, those points felt like they weren't hit at all?? The company politics, the girl boss energy, the cute romance and the character development were all missing. To be more frank, these plot points were so badly executed that there was no impact at all.

I mainly wanted to watch for the romance and girl boss moments of the FL taking charge of her life. I feel like I got a watered down version of both. And my expectations for this drama and its quality was really low before I even started. I seriously was just expecting it to be a bit funny and cute. It didn't do anything for me unfortunately.

Their romance had no proper buil up/ progression in my opinion. It was just the ML being hesitant for 18 epsiodes. The FL sat on her ass for 18 episodes as well, just waiting for him to do something. I feel like I watched air for 18 episodes in terms of romance. I'm all for the man in dramas making the first move but FL seemed so detached from the romance plot at times it was baffling. After they got together, it was just ok. Nothing they did felt particularly romantic to me. I didn't even wait for last 2 episodes to get subbed. I just skipped through it raw. It's not unwatchable, but like I said the impact is so low after the first 4 epsiodes or so that it feels like watching air.

I'm very disappointed because this may be the worst chinese drama I've seen thus far ( for my tastes) and I've even watched those weird web chinese romcom dramas that don't even get registered on this website as dramas lmao.

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Best couple pairing award

A little late to the party for this review, but since I have rewatched this before Cha Eun woo's next Kdrama series True beauty starts, I figured adding a review/notefor one of my favorite drama pairings is the least that I could do

This pairing is up there for me along side the likes of deng lun and yang zi in ashes of love, xu kai and bai lu in the legends, yang yang and zheng shuang in love o2o.

Been taking note of Cha Eun woo since ID gangnam beauty, but in this series for this pairing it really caught my attention. Thou Shin Se-kyung does look older than Cha Eun woo, but its also what makes it work as she is assertive, bold, matured and direct in her approach.

Storyline and plot moves along fine and I have watched it more than once, the visuals are really captivating to me, and the OST are great too.

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