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Well made and awesome costume
I have never written any review and here I am writing this. This drama is very entertaining and with good values. I have not fast-forwarded any episode other than the credits at the end of each episode. This is the second drama I have not done any fast-forwarding. The first was Ashes of Love.First of all, the storyline was captivating. It is a drama after all. Put me into that era, I feel so many emotions with the youth and the student movement. Knowing that most of the real people would die during the war with Japan.
Second, the costumes were gorgeous. Even simple raggy male clothing looked elegant in that era. The women's hats and dresses were so classy. Wish we could have that kind of fashion again.
Third, the acting was very good. Every character had his/her emotions that could be felt with happiness, heartaches, anger, and questions.
Last, the music was beautifully mastered. The dances were just so captivating and dreamy. The early 1900s were so elegant with patriotism, trust, love, music, dancing, costumes, and wars.
For the ones that wonder what happened to her brother, a very brief moment of a report from Shen Jun Shan (Toby Lee)'s people on the investigation in Xie Xiang/Xi Liang Chen: Her brother died from being run over by a car after chasing a thief and she was stricken by her brother's death that made her disappeared.
I strongly suggest you watch it. It is very entertaining. It can take you to a totally different world. Best wishes.
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This is overall superb drama.. i dont know why it isnt much popular
Actually i have no word to say i,m still cring 😢 one of the best drama tht has romance, comedy, happy, sad, lost everything.. actually goblin is my favorite drama there are few dramas that i gave 10 stars but not any of them could take place tht goblin have in my heart.. But this one surely did ❤️❤️ I actually lived inside the drama, when they smile i smile like idiot and when someone dd joke i feel like i am also part of it.. woow i cant get over.. i dont like watch dramas that have too much episodes, thyz the reson i dont like watch c dramas, i watchd many c dramas when i comes episode 20 all of them started getting boring but this one not like that..actually i watchd 30 episodes in 2 days. then accidentally i saw a video that huang sung's death. That really break my heart i dont want him to die, so started watchng slowly like one episode per day.. then here comes episode that huwang sung die.. actually when that seen come i cryd my eyes out.. and next day start watchng from next episode becoz now ' huang sung died and there nothing to be sad' tht is wht i really thought.. then here again li wengzen died. i feel very sad and angry in the same time becoz his stupidity japanese track thire location and not only that huang sung also died becoz of him. so here this idiot go to fight with few japanese and died. actually huang sung's sacrifice gone vain.. actually i did not think after huang sung died it will be this sad.. lot of acedmy members killed and sergent guo also killed i really cried my eyes out again and again.. tht dputy cmnder, xiorong, and the one who killed guo died so easyli i feel soo angry about that 😡
Yes after soo many sacrifices there r happy ending.. but i feel emty.. when liangchen remembering old days i feel like i am her.. and i rememberd old days it really heart breaking.. now there r 5 out of 7 😢 and no more sergent guo.. i thnk thts why i feel emty.. but i feel happy when japanese coc get blast woow
Huwang sung is the only one who didnt know about xia lingchens truth i feel sad about that but at the same time i thought itz ok it will be more painfull if he find out truth becoz he did love xia xing ❤️.. itz ok about ending but i feel like when it end they should add some more parts like xia xing met her parents (becoz they dont know about anything and when she aressted also thire no news about her parents) xia xings best friend why did not she come.back in the end itz sad. And in the end they show zhen jushan become sergent and ji jin and li yin training new soldiers isnt it feel bad without xia cing and gu yanshen they shoud show us both of them too after all they are the main characters. They only show two of them leaving i feel sad about that..
As for acting all of them r superb. All of them did thir best love them all
Overall best of best drama that have all kind of things. Start, how it going, and end all are perfect.. perfect plot perfect acting all are perfect.. highly recommended ❤️❤️ I cant really get over this drama. I feel sad and thinking about this all night and day i should start watchng other drama soon otherwise i will die while thinking soo long about this drama ha ha
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I thought the story would be typical same as any other story where a female disguises herself as a male and runs into romance with someone who she is around as a man. But there's so much more to the story than that.
While there is romance, the main story revolves around the military, politics, and history (Japan vs. China). So if you feel as if it is "Anti-Japanese" as some claim for historical dramas like this, then don't watch it. There's also some funny moments that you laugh to.
Regarding the romance in this drama, I'll warn there's a lot of love triangles in this drama. I wouldn't even call it triangles, it's more like a love tree or some sort of diagram. There is no gushy type of romance here either. You might get disappointed because you don't see kiss scenes between the main couple, but I think because the main story revolves around the military and historical issues, the romance had to be limited. However, I think the romance between the main couple is sweet. In the beginning of the drama, you see a lot of cute, fluffy moments between the main couple, but the story starts to get more intense and you start seeing less of those moments. The relationship between the main couple was built nicely too. The show does try to throw you off with the love triangles. It makes you feel bad seeing one of them in an unrequited love. There was one person who was in a love triangle whose persistence did piss me off slightly, but thankfully, even though it took the last section of the drama, the person gives up and moves on to someone that was there for them which I'm happy about.
I will also add there is tragedy even if it isn't labeled as one. The fact that it revolves around military and battles is a sign that people will die. And these deaths are quite upsetting to see. It didn't make me cry or anything, but it was just sad for a moment because some of those characters, you grow a liking to.
One of the strong points in the drama is the friendship. The academy shows the growth of characters who become a group of friends (along with the FL). Some of them may not get along in the beginning, but over time and with what circumstances they had to go through together, they grow closer together and develop a deep understanding of one another. You also see redemption of one student in the Academy which was nice to see that they did that for him.
As for how the women are portrayed, I think they tried for a realistic approach for them. You're not going to see weak women and then women with supernatural strength. You see most of the women trying to break barriers and being independent for the most part(since in most situations they do receive a man's help). One woman tries to change traditional society's views. Another breaks academy rules and disguises as a man. You slowly see her get stronger to the point that she can handle some situations by herself or be able to fight some men. Another woman is a boss. The nice part is that our FL isn't shown to be dumb. She is smart when it comes to crucial situations.
Overall, I would say they did a good job of showing the growth of many characters in the drama including the ML(he develops nicely and you start rooting for him throughout the drama). Some characters were just forgotten about and held almost no significance. Some things they didn't explain properly regarding some minor characters. There's also so many characters and you have to try to know their names, but some of them end up dead or not shown later on.
I will say the last 9-10 episodes, is where you just get the most hooked. You're stuck with anticipation since that's where it becomes most intense. Everything before that was just building to this last bit. I think they could have cut down on some of flashbacks though. There was a situation where the same flashback was repeated.
I forgot to add, if you want to see some of the deleted scenes of the drama, you can find some of them on YouTube. Apparently 60 minutes were deleted, and some of the scenes had kissing scenes (and comical ones too).
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The story was very good. I typically don't like this kind of historical drama, with guns. I loved all of the main leads, especially Qu Manting. She was a very funny and sassy person. I loved Huang Song, although, I don't think he deserved the ending he got, his ending was just too terrible, he was such a nice and good guy. I always shipped Shen Tingbai and Qu Manting together. The story went downhill at like the last 3 episodes. After they found out that Xie Liangchen was a girl, the story just went awful, like it got really boring. I honestly think that Xie Xiang should have been with Huang Song. Huang Song is a nice guy, he has a very nice personality. I really recommend this show, mainly because of the main leads, each and everyone of them is different, and that is what makes them fun to watch. Was this review helpful to you?
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A drama full of emotions
this drama may not be your cup of tea if you do not enjoy dramas in this era as you might find it a little slow in the middle. but the acting is superb! all the casts fit so well with their characters. i never imagined Bai Lu would pull off a guy's look but she did and it turned out amazing! Bai Lu made her character looked very realistic and thus would not make audiences cringe when she tried to take her brother's place. all the supporting characters were cute as well and overall the casts & crew did an amazing job.Was this review helpful to you?
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read the novel!
highly recommend reading the novel after watching this drama. it contains extra insight on xiexiang’s thoughts and feelings, especially how she develops feelings towards guyanzhen. here is where all the tenderness and happy feelings are.I feel that this is lacking in the drama, where I couldn’t grasp whether she actually liked guyanzhen or why she was always annoyed / refusing to accept him.
fortunately the novel answers all these questions and more! \o/ if you can’t read Chinese, the machine translated English version isn’t too bad, still quite understandable.
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This review may contain spoilers
Overall a nice drama
Likes:Cinematography
The set
Costumes
Production
Main leads were cute together
Acting
Adorable support characters like Sgt Guo and Huo Xiaoyu
Dislikes:
Loopholes in the story
Illogical situations
Annoying filler episodes
Too much screentime for side characters like Qu Manting
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Xie Xiang is the most badass female lead ever in a Mulan plot set in the early 1900s!
I highly recommend this drama! I am personally a huge fan of the gender bender genre dramas and this drama did not disappoint!Xie Xiang/Xie Liang Chen is by far one of my all time favorite female leads. I love her character development so much. Episodes 39-41 is where you see her at her best.
I love all the other lead characters and a lot of the romantic/friend chemistry. The cast, including villains, did a great job!
The cinematography is wonderful and I personally love dramas set in this time period. The music is good, my favorite being the intro song.
I actually just finished rewatching and found it just as good as the 1st time. I had to binge even though I already had seen it all! I did fast forward past most parts that did not involve the main students because I already knew the intrigue that was happening around them. There is only one random side plot towards the end that I thought was stupid and just seemed like a time filler that I completely fast forwarded. It just randomly adds a new non main character as a minor non important plot device that the show could do without.
The only downside of this drama for me is the limited romance but the drama is so good that I still rate this drama a 10! Action packed, funny, and I found I like dramas more when there are animated/"real" side characters/friends.
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In My Top 5 - C Dramas!
15/01/2023
This is all about an 18 year old female posing as her deceased brother in an all male military academy during the Japanese occupation to fulfil what he couldn't do, also, to understand him better.
This will likely be in my top 5 Chinese dramas for life!
All the main and supporting actors were well chosen and played their parts so faultlessly that as a viewer I found myself invested in each and everyone of them.
There is a decent amount of humour in the first 13-16 episodes and also others, but as it progresses it does get heavier once their training is almost complete as well as when they are sent on missions.
In addition, there is this "gay" undertone throughout it because even though we know she is a female no one else really does except her best female friend and Gu, her annoying room mate, by episode 5.
I really liked the main male lead, Xu Kai, as well as the second male lead , Toby Lee, as their characters were cool guys in every sense of the word.
Some favourite moments for me would be the unexpected contraband inspection being carried out in episode two, Gu's wake up call and get back tactic, Gu's refusal to have another person sleeping in the room, Xie when she performs in Romeo and Juliette, Xie kicking Li's butt in martial arts, Qu when she saves Xu on a motor bike, Xu when he declares his love and also when he plays the piano which was unexpected, heartfelt yet so hilarious when it came to a response.
There are a number of other moments I enjoyed as well!
Before I forget there are different love situations involving Qu, Gu, Xie, Shen and one or two others in a criss cross kind of fashion. Like Xu likes Xie and so does Shen and Xie likes Shen as does Shen's female friend from his school days whereas Qu likes Xu and Shen's brother likes Qu.
Do you see what I mean?!
I will leave it at that except to say that there are no heavy angst moments nor is anyone harmed due to anyone being jealous so it made me enjoy it just that bit more.
What else?
The one character I really really liked more than anyone else was Huang Song as out of all of them he was the most uncomplicated with a good heart and balanced temperament. A very humble, kind and beautiful soul even if not clever like the others. If I could choose anyone to watch my back it would be him! And it is because of him that I will never watch one particular episode again - not ever! One of my favourite scenes with him in it was when Xie, Shen, Xu and Ji came through for him to help him get out of this "black market illegal boxing circus" in which he had to "fight to the death." All of the goings on in that made the series even more interesting.
It is a well told story and a series that isn't boring at all even though there are 48 episodes. I'm not usually into war or romance yet this won me over no sweat because of the humour, drama, characters, costumes and even the cinematography. Maybe not some of the hair styles, but most definitely everything else!
It is re-watchable as I have seen it again within a short time of initially watching it plus I still keep returning to it just to revisit all my favourite scenes.
It is most definitely in a class of its own - there is nothing else like it so is highly recommended!
Main characters:
Bai Lu as Xie Xiang
Xu Kai as Gu Yanzhen
Li Chengbin as Shen Junshan
Wu Jiayi as Qu Manting
Support:
Liu Runnan as Li Wenzhong
Wang Yizhe as Ji Jin
Liu Sibo as Huang Song
Meng En as Zhu Yanlin
Shao Bing as Guo Shuting
Lin Yo-wei as Lu Zhongyu
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The Xu Kai Rabbit Hole Started Here
Although it's been years since I watched Arsenal Military Academy, it's still one of my favorite Xu Kai dramas and one of the first titles I recommend to anyone exploring his work. Arsenal Military Academy revolves around the classic "woman disguised as a man" trope, yet it executes it surprisingly well. Bai Lu's portrayal of Xie Xiang is genuinely convincing, making it easy to believe why those around her never suspect her true identity.Xu Kai absolutely shines as Gu Yanzhen. He perfectly captures the character's arrogant, playful, and reckless personality while gradually revealing an unexpectedly sweet side once he falls in love, making him incredibly endearing. Watching him slowly realize his feelings for Xie Xiang and awkwardly navigate falling in love is easily one of the drama's biggest highlights. Looking back, I can't blame fans for becoming obsessed with Xu Kai and Bai Lu. They complemented each other so well on screen that it was almost impossible not to ship them. Their chemistry wasn't forced, it simply clicked. And let's be honest, Xu Kai's visuals were absolutely unreal in this drama (!!!).
The story is entertaining, the military academy setting feels refreshing, the cross-dressing trope is executed well, and the chemistry between the leads is simply the icing on the cake.
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