This Show Brought Me Joy!
Such a great show!!!!!!! This was an absolute blast to watch. It was well-paced and even though every episode was plot-heavy, it never felt bogged down by it. It was also very funny!! All the characters were important to the storyline and nothing felt wasted. I wished the FL was a stronger character w/her own purpose because I thought that she was the weakest link. However, I thought towards the latter part of the show she had more agency. I look forward to her character growth in season two. Speaking of which, hurry up and give us season two!!!Was this review helpful to you?
My review for joy of life
One of the best dramas ever. It got me hooked from the very first episode.
The young fan xian was hilarious.
As the story progress and it keeps introducing new characters and every character were interesting. I keep wanting to know more and more about them. There's so many things yet to unfold. You think you know them but you will be proven wrong the next episode. I'm really really looking forward to the next season. I don't know if I can pick a favourite character because I have so many.
And at every turn at you will find something unexpected. The story got 10x more interesting after he reach Beiqi. I really didn't want it to end. I don't know if I can call this drama a comedic suspense but I absolutely love the humour, conversations, and surprise in it.
Acting was top tier. The actors were all very natural. I didn't find anything cringy or force.
It is not romance heavy and it was in the background and I'm thankful for that because the only thing I didn't like about JOL was interaction between lin waner and fan xian. I have always liked Li qin but her character was the most boring one for me. I didn't hate the character it wasn't annoying or anything but it was forgetful. Fan xian had amazing chemistry with Haitang dou dou and Si lilli.
The osts weren't memorable either. I didn't find myself running back to listen to it 24*7 the moment I finished the series. It wasn't bad but just didn't like it much.
As for rewatching it, I don't know if I will ever rewatch it because it is the suspense and surprise factor that kept me hooked and now its over I don't think I will watch it again. But I really can't wait for the next season.
I would recommend this drama to everyone. Historical, futuristic, suspense , Sci fic, comedy, romance, action, plot and planning. It has a little of everything and I absolutely love it.
Now I am back to finding everything else bland and uninteresting because this was so so good.
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Fantastic Periodic Drama
Love this drama. So funny, witty and the rhythm is really good. It is not draggy. The part that I find most amazing is the number of casts they included in this drama. It must be really expensive to portray so many characters of the book. The production team didn't save money on this and I was so impressed. THey did the casting really well as well, none of the actors and actresses looked cheapskate (you wld find this in some low budget drama where they would cast really badly on the badguys)The story is so amazing as well, so much of intricacy moments all intertwined together, like a big jigsaw puzzle. I had to go to Youtube to search a few synopsis to understand the relationship between all the events. So glad that the scriptwriters managed to write the scenes well, or else, it would have been so difficult to understand.
I have only 1 complaint. They left us hanging on the last episode. It's really crappy to be watching a drama that paces so quickly and suddenly to be hit by a last episode that hang half way. I should have waited for S2 to come out before watching this.
I hope in the next season, they will feature Yuan Quan more prominently (the professor) I love her acting. She is that kind of actress that carries so much complexity on her. Definitely more than meet the eyes.
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I started this drama because of Xiao Zhan, but he is in the last 8 episodes or so, and since the very first episode I didn't mind because I was immediately hooked. The little boy that played Fan Xian was so good and charming I was sad to see "older" Fan Xian... I wouldn't have minded to have at least 10 episodes with little Fan Xian.
But I didn't know this was just Season 1 and Season 2 has not even started filming yet till I was on Ep15 or so :( so I think people who starts this should keep that in mind.. the cliffhanger is O_O
While I liked the characterization of all characters, and I specially like Fan Xian, I didn't trust half of them. Or more than half of them. Is this one a bad guy or a good guy? It was like this for most of the drama, but even with that, I was enjoying it. The passive-aggressiveness is hilarious, from Fan Xian and the Princess Royal, to the Crown Prince and the 2nd Prince, to the stepmother and Fan Xian at the beginning of the drama.
I am not one that particularly enjoys too much romance, so this one has just the perfect amount of it. Not too much and besides, Wan'Er makes Fan Xian happy. And she isn't dumb nor a damsel in distress, except for the fact that she is sick. So I don't understand why people do not like her :( If this was a harem, I wouldn't have minded to see Fan Xian married to Wan'Er, Si Lili and Duo Duo... all these girls were good in a way or the other and very different from each other, and best of all, they all had chemistry with Fan Xian.
The acting was good, wigs and costumes were excellent; the plot is WOW, so there isn't a single dull moment in the entire 46 episodes. In fact, I even think it was a bit short because I wanted to see more of Uncle Wu Zhu, of Fan Xian's siblings (Ruo Ruo and Fan Si Zhe... so smart and caring one, while so funny and charming the other), of the Ninth Masters (I wanted more fight scenes tbh). The songs were so fitting, specially the OP song, while the ED song became easily one of my favorites... I listen to it regularly <3 with XZ beautiful voice.
If I had to complain, it would be that I didn't understand a few things... or it was extremely witty and too advanced for my poor brain, or some things got lost in translation...
Looking forward to see them all in Season 2! I love that little smile from Zhang Ruo Yun at the end XD
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Humor, Intelligence, Action, and Mostly Heart
I didn't know this series wasn't finished. Ack, I have to wait until 2027 for season 3. I'd complain that life is unfair, but as that's the theme of Joy of Life, I don't dare!I fell in love with the character of Fan Xian. All he wants is a simple, happy life, but that's not what fate has in store for him. He begrudgingly takes on duties and responsibilities out of a sense of decency and wanting a better life for others. He becomes the pawn of the Imperial family, but he's the chess piece that refuses to move in the expected direction.
Zhang Ruo Yun does an amazing job as Fan Xian. He's intelligent, brave, iron strong, and emotionally vulnerable. He is unshakably loyal to his friends, family, and love. I live for those scenes where he is listening to atrocities and is internally livid, yet outwardly calm.
The Imperial Court intrigues keep the viewer unbalanced. Who to trust? I've decided no one! And yet, I keep hoping for redemption for some of them, even those who don't deserve it. The actors have done such an excellent job balancing villainous tones with sympathetic ones.
I'm off to add more of writer Wang Juan's dramas to my list. I've added an extra half star for writing intelligent characters.
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It had a good amount of martial arts, humor, and a great storyline. This is only the first season!
Fan Xian is the main male lead of the drama. He is a smart, sarcastic, and cunning man. He knows how to speak his way out of things, he also have great martial arts skills. Did I mention he's quite funny as well? :) I just love his character so much! The actor did a wonderful job in playing this character! His subtle expressions are hilarious. XD
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Joy of Life is a fast-paced show with very little boring moments. It is also very witty, filled with puns (that are difficult to wrap your head around sometimes) and scheming characters. There is a nice balance between the light-hearted comedy and the darker politics of the palace. Not all characters are who they seem to be, and the true enemy is hidden in the shadows, only revealed at the very end. While I think the plot is overall cohesive, the genre fluctuates slightly. Is it a historical fantasy drama? Mostly. Are there themes of science-fiction? Yes. It is difficult to summarise Joy of Life into one genre, because it has hints of several genres, including wuxia and science fiction.
Out of all the female characters, I think Fan Xian and Li Waner have the weakest chemistry. The show thrusts us into a sort of "love at first sight" between the main couple, and then slowly builds chemistry. I think they are cute together, but the chemistry between Fan Xian and Haitang Duoduo was much stronger and believable in my opinion. In the book, Fan Xian's relationships with the women is extremely different (from what I've heard, Fan Xian has a harem), but has been changed in the show. Quite a few things have been changed in the show (because of censorship), so the plot is slightly different from the novel.
Overall, a good show that balances palace/country politics as well as comedy.
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This review may contain spoilers
Joy of Life is the story of Fan Xian who is born knowing the modern world in feudal times. The story follows him as he movs to the capital and falls in love, and basically walks the tightrope on court politics and the royal family.What I liked about the drama was the outstanding acting. Everyone was great in their roles. The male lead was outstanding. The story although it could be dragging in parts and slow was complex and interesting most of the time. Everyone has layers and they are neither really good or bad. I am a huge fan of Xiao Zhan so even though he wasn't in many episodes and he played a very unsympathetic character, he was still very nice to look at and appreciate! The music was good, not great but I've listened to the opening and closing dongs multiple times.
What I didn't like.... let me start with since there is a season 2 some of this may be resolved but there were things that I didn't really like. First I am not certain I am supposed to care about the main love story. The two were barely together so I really have no interest in the love story at all. In fact I found the mail lead much more interesting with Si Lili and especially Haitang Duoduo. Ideally Fan Xian should end up with Haitang Duoduo. Also, the story with Qi was a little confusing as the last part of the show was all new characters and you do not see any of the original set of characters. I missed Xian's sister Ruoruo, and his father and step-mother. I was invested in the characters and then they were just gone. I missed Uncle Wuzhu and what happened to him??? Again that may be fixed in season 2. Plus they did it explain the frozen people and the god temple very well. The massive secret that kept Xiao En in jailer years was that he knew where the God Temple was but Chen Pingping was the only one that seemed to care. That whole episode was confusing to me.
One of the best things was the characters are so layered and complex, but it also makes it hard to like most of them. I am still not certain if the cares about Fan Xian. I do know his adopted father certainly does care about him. So basically liked the Fan Xian, Uncle Wuzhu, Fan Jian, Ruoruo, and Fei Jie leader of the third bureau. Everyone else I am not sure what to think about them. Again that is interesting but also left me not really caring.
STOP READING IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING
The show ends on a cliffhanger in the true sense of the word with Xian being stabbed and bleeding on the ground. I'm not sold that Yan Bingyun actually stabbed him and that this wasn't already planned. Yan Bingyun seemed to be listening to him and yes the bureau was his life, but it felt like there was a crack when Shen Zhong's sister was stabbed protecting him and he seemed upset when he heard what the second prince was doing to control Xian. I mean there was a whole not between the threats fo the second prince and the morning when Bingyun stabbed. That is just what I am thinking, but I haven't heard Xiao Zhan will be back for the second season.
Overall I liked it, but not like my favorite show, Would I watch again, maybe if I had nothing else to watch. Would I watch season 2 - yes cause I have to find out what happened to Uncle Wuzhu.
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One of the best series
This is a series that I count as one of the best series ever made. The humour, the political intrigue, the cast. It is for sure one of the best entertaining Chinese series. Because of the great content it is always a pleasure to re-watch this series.It is part 1 of two as of 2026, and soon to be a part 3.
I am awaiting part 3 with enthusiasm. and will probably watch part 2 again just before watching part 3.
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If you get through the first 10 Episodes, it’s definitely worth it.
Alright so I definitely enjoyed watching this Drama, however I did find the first few (~10) Episodes a little boring to get through, there where some kind of funny scenes, but apart from that nothing was really happening... but I feel like a lot of historical Dramas start out a little dry, so I decided to keep watching and I was not disappointed.Let’s start off with actors and characters which was my absolutely favourite part about this: I liked all of the choices for the actors, I think they all fit their roles quite well and did a great job at portraying them. Now what I liked about those roles so much was that we (or at least I) got to build some kind of relationship or opinion with almost every character, even the less meaningful ones, so that when something concerning them happened I could actually feel with the plot.
Story: I have not read the book this is based on so I can’t say how this Drama delivered in comparison.
I for one really liked the plot and pretty much every aspect of it. You could hardly ever predict anything or trust anything or anyone. And I really liked that, that’s what kept it interesting for me.
I read some people complaining about how the romance arch developed, and I do understand that, however for the story that was happening I thought it actually fit quite well. And who knows what will happen in the following seasons.
Without spoiling anything, I do agree with the people that said that everything was evolving around the Main Lead a little too much.
Concerning the OST: I absolutely loved the Intro Song, however I do not have any memory at all of the remaining soundtrack, which usually means it was not terrible but also not very memorable.
In the End I do absolutely recommend to give this one a go. To me the plot was refreshing and interesting, with some minor problems.
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Great drama
Wang Juan delivers another great screenplay. My 2 favorite chinese dramas are his adaptions. Both Joy of Life and Sword Snow Stride have great main and secondary characters. All are well written and have interesting aspects that are integral to the story. By far the best written male characters that i've seen in all the chinese dramas that I've watched, with by far the most variations of personalities as well. I look forward to the second season.Was this review helpful to you?
A Masterpiece of World-Building and Storytelling
Joy of Life is, without question, the only drama I’ve given a perfect 10/10. One of its greatest strengths is its incredibly rich world-building. Every faction, political force, martial arts system, and character feels like part of a living world with its own history and rules. The story is layered with clever schemes, sharp dialogue, and long-term payoffs that make every episode rewarding.The cast is phenomenal. With so many veteran actors in major roles, the performances are consistently outstanding. Special credit also goes to the child actor who plays the young male lead—both his appearance and mannerisms match the adult version so well that the transition feels completely natural. That’s genuinely some of the best child casting I’ve seen.
Another highlight is the emotional core of the drama. Rather than focusing only on romance, Joy of Life shines in its portrayal of family and found-family relationships. Some of the strongest emotional moments come from bonds between people who aren’t related by blood, making those connections feel even more meaningful.
The martial arts system is another aspect I loved. Instead of making the protagonist overpowered from the beginning, the drama carefully develops his growth step by step. Watching him become stronger through experience, strategy, and perseverance is far more satisfying than simply giving him overwhelming power. Combined with beautifully choreographed fight scenes, it creates an exciting and believable progression.
The soundtrack deserves praise as well, especially the unforgettable opening theme performed by a legendary singer, which perfectly sets the tone for the series.
If I had to point out one weakness, it would be the romance. Compared to the political intrigue, family relationships, and world-building, the love story feels less developed. However, considering the sheer scale and ambition of everything else the drama is trying to accomplish, it’s a flaw I can easily overlook.
For me, Joy of Life sets the standard for historical fantasy dramas. Brilliant writing, unforgettable characters, exceptional acting, immersive world-building, and satisfying character growth make it a rare series that excels in almost every aspect. This is an easy 10/10 and one of the best Chinese dramas I’ve ever watched.
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