Arsenal Military Academy

One of the Best Chinese Drama -- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

It's set in WW2 during pre Japanese war in China. A group of brats enrolled in Arsenal Military Academy and there was an exception student, Xie Liangchen. She enrolled in the military academy to replace her late brother and disguised as a man and later she became one of the most prominent students and form strong friendship with her comrades.

During the process in the academy she tried so hard to hide her identity and Gu Yanzheng who found out her identify gradually fell in love with her. Xu Kai and Bai Lu had good chemistry.

The drama also featuring good supporting roles and has good songs, good directing. It went by fast, not draggy at all. For Chinese drama rookies, this drama is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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I have been on a HCD (historical chinese dramas) marathon lately, in view of the covid 19 situation and I dropped many titles midway through. I was either not contented with the romance or the episodes were filled with dreary political scenes, to simply put it, most were draggy. Perhaps I was so drawn to this drama was maybe because this is my first military chinese drama I haved ever watched. I must say that after watching a myriad of ancient dramas, watching a, more recent era, drama felt refreshing. The actors acted well in my opinion and I adored the relationship between Xie Xiang and Yan Zhen. However, warning, I did have second lead syndrome even after finishing the whole series. I also wished that the show could have showcased more of Shen Ting Bai and Qu Man Ting together. Needless to say, this was worth all those sleepless nights that I went through!

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Fast Paced, great romance and exciting

9.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2019 Chinese military, action, historical and romantic drama with 48, 45 minute episodes.

Xie Xiang (Bai Lu) always looked up to her older brother who aspired to join the miltary to defend the nation. When tragedy strikes and her brother is lost Xie Xiang decides to disguise herslef as a young man and join an elite military school in his stead. She feels she is honoring him by fulfilling his dream. Her new roomate Gu Yan Zhen (Xu Kai), is the son of a wealthy family and he immediately takes joy in teasing the slight young man who shares his room. Shen Jun Shan (Toby Lee) is a member of one of the wealthiest and most influential families and also decides to defend the small young man. As their training progresses the three form very strong bonds and both boys find themselves attracted to the Xie Xiang even as they are confused as they think she is a man. To further complicate this love triangle, Qu Manting (Wu Jiayi) takes a likeing to Gu Yanzhen and is not used to taking no for an answer. Through it all they, and their fellow army classmates, become friends and fight their way through many adventures as they seek to solve a deep root of corruption and espionage.

Spoiler Altert* I loved this one and the episodes really felt like they flew by because there was so much action around the main story it kept it interesting. It was very comical and even cringy at times as she tries to avoid being discovered and as the young men become confused and embarrassed about their sexuality. I would have rated it higher but there was one story line of some side characters that would have been very cute but it ended unnecessarily. There were also several pointless deaths. But the story was still very good, the romance very cute and well developed, and I would watch it again. I also recommend it to others who like the girl disguised as a boy storyline. It was cool to see her be such a strong soldier and not a whiny girl who needed saving. I really like my heroines to be capable of saving themselves. This did not disappoint. Great acting, great action - just great fun.

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i don't understand the fangirls of Gu

What i liked:
the historical setting
the story at large, but i would have done things differently. Sometimes there were too many subplots, that could have had more depth. Also it often felt unrealistic and the characters acted unprofessionally. So some things just looked fake and too simplistic or one sided.
the actors are great
the comedy: i am going to come back for this one
the set and costumes

i didn't like
the character development: so they made the 2nd male lead perfect and the storyline shipped him with the female lead, just to abunden the whole thing in the second half of the drama, and act like nothing happened. Also second ml has a lot of moments when he looks like he knows she is a woman but then we find out later that he still has no idea. that was unbelievable.

ml character glorification: thats partly the fault of the other viewers. The first moment he appeared on screen he wanted to abduct a woman, then he continues to be a bully until he finds out fl is a girl. Then he suddenly head over heels in love, but that doesn't stop him to be posessive, manipulative, constantly interfering in fl business, dragging, pushing her around. Yeah he is also helping her but i wish we would see her getting out of sticky situations on her own instead. I wouldn't mind all that since he is growing and otherwise a quite interesting character, it is just that everyone only comments on how cute he is. Am i the only one who thinks he is annoying?

consequently i also don't like ml and fl lead romance. Even the fl always looks annoyed and irritated with him 80% of the time. i am not here for the romance but it still bugged me

the depiction of killing: we even have a storyline where a teen girl sees someone murder a group of people and fells in love with him

the music is too repetitive

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Happy birthday Yan Zhen! You know what I mean.

USAFarmgirl wrote this on a Soompi forum, and I think she sums up my feelings about this drama well:

“Can't get this song [Enter a Dream] off my mind or this story...It's not just the amazing OTP or their chemistry which I love. There is something even greater here. 

Proving it's not about rich or poor what you have or don't have. 

It's about the person you are inside. 

That each person has their own story and a gift within them. Strengths and weaknesses, courage and fears. That no matter the differences when brought together for a greater cause all those differences disappear. 

It's a love and bond not of the romantic kind but it's beauty warms the heart through laughter and tears and for those who have experienced it. 

It's no wonder those memories last for years…”

I truly loved this drama.

When I was finished with Arsenal Military Academy, I was left with a feeling of melancholy, as though I had to walk off into my own sunset, hoping to cross paths with Xiang/Liang Chen and Yan Zhen. But as expected, my journey with them had to come to an end.

I read countless reviews and comments all over the web in regard to AMA. Therefore, when starting the drama, I was a bit scared. I was anticipating my self to get frustrated and disappointed. But I wasn’t. I finished this drama in less than 5 days.

Most people complain about the love triangles and lack of screen time and skinship between the main pair…but, I was never truly dissatisfied. The main pair was who I rooted for from beginning to end. The first 20 episodes (basic training episodes) have a good amount of screen time between the pair. They aren’t kissing or proclaiming their love for each other…but they don’t and didn’t need to. How Xiang/Liang Chen and Yan Zhen looked at each other was enough for me. When Xiang/Liang Chen interacted with Yan Zhen I felt as though the outer world ceased to exist for her. From the beginning of the show Yan Zhen was drawn to Xiang/Liang Chen (the camisole scene in episode 1 is a scene I go back to a lot).


As for Jun Shan and Xiang/Liang Chen, when they were stuck in the hole together, he comforted Xiang/Liang Chen like an older brother. I feel as though this scene would’ve looked a lot different with Yan Zhen. I feel as though there would’ve been a lot more tension, plus it would have been more sweet and endearing. But ML and FL weren’t meant for this scene. The scene Xiang/Liang Chen and Yan Zhen were meant for happened previous episodes (e.g. When Yan Zhen surprises Xiang/Liang Chen by visiting her family home on break and meets the ‘Rents. Or when they end up in the jail cell with those students).

Some argue that Jun Shan was a better match because he loved “Liang Chen” before he loved Xiang, which painted a more of unconditional love. Yet, that isn’t a fair argument. Who knows if Yan Zhen would have fallen for “Liang Chen” if he had never known Liang Chen was a girl until a lot later. What matters is that Yan Zhen fell for Xiang/Liang Chen first.

Another staple scene I must note is around the first couple episodes. When Jun Shan prevents Xiang/Liang Chen from falling into the hole during their first test assignment and he carries her to safety—that scene is juxtaposed with a scene involving Xiang/Liang Chen and her late brother. What that simply shows to me is that Xiang/Liang Chen did in fact see Jun Shan as a brother from the get go. Disregard later episodes between Jun Shan and Xiang/Liang Chen because Xiang/Liang Chen was always running away from him or thinking of Yan Zhen who continued to have her back. I didn’t like it when Jun Shan realized his feelings and that Liang Chen was Xiang, and as a result started to become a lot more domineering towards Xiang/Liang Chen in later episodes (especially when he told her, seemingly out of nowhere, to button up her shirt). Sometimes Xiang/Liang Chen seemed a little annoyed by his behavior.

As someone else noted, after episode 38, when Xiang/Liang Chen realizes her feelings for Yan Zhen, she started to treat him more like a boyfriend. I wonder if Yan Zhen started to realize that…regardless, they started holding hands a lot more with subtle touches and throwing their arms around each other.

But outside of the romance, I loved all the characters. Especially those in the squad (Xiang/Liang Chen, Yan Zhen, Jun Shan, Song, Jin, and Yanlin). When it came to completing missions, the squad reminded me of episodes and dynamics you’d see in/from USA shows like Burn Notice and Leverage. I wish they’d have more “spy mission” episodes. Even when Wen Zhong was part of the squad everyone had an important role; nothing ever seemed amiss.

But my favorite episode arc is starting from episode 31 and ending around episode 38 when both Sergeants are MIA. Which meant all the students had a bit more freedom, and Jun Shan was out of the picture temporarily due to injuries obtained from a previous episode. But what this arc also consisted of was Yan Zhen unashamedly proclaiming his love for Xiang two times (“Happy birthday Xie Liang Chen! You know what I mean!”) as his classmates silently accept the bizarreness of it all. And a lot more funny and baddie episodes. The squad (minus Jun Shan) continued to dominate as well.

Yet, what I wished for was that Song could have had a love interest (I was low key shipping him and Xiao Jun), or that he could have found out that Liang Chen was the girl he’d in fact fallen for. I also wished that those deleted scenes could have been put back in the show along with those alleged 90 minutes of omitted footage too. But I’m okay with what I’ve got. Wait, one more wish is that Jun Shan could have found someone in the end, and that we could have gotten more of Xiang and Yan Zhen after they walked into the sunset. Yet, what would’ve made another interesting story arc would have been maybe that Jun Shan had truly fallen for Ms. Oda.

Yet, I’ll miss:

- Yanlin’s need to always act first when in the face of injustice. He really brought it home in the last episode.
- Ji Jin’s funny face expressions and subtleties.
- Song’s goofiness and innocence. Also his “bromance” with Yan Zhen and Xiang.
- Jin’s loyalty to Jun Shan.
- Sergeant Guo’s drinking and coolness. He was the cool and laidback Sergeant when compared to Lu. And I found it funny when Wen Zhong told him Liang Chen was actually a girl and Guo didn’t bat an eye.
- Song’s love for eggs.
- The fight scenes. I loved the revenge episode (ep 44), and the fight scene between Xiang and Ms. Oda. Sword vs. Bamboo stick.
- Tingbao’s love for Manting (and Manting’s subtle loyalty to Tingbai).
- Wen Zhong’s bullying ways…Only because that’s when Yan Zhen was able to showcase that he had Xiang’s back a lot more (staple episode: When Wen Zhong wants to be petty and have Xiang/Liang Chen fail the “tag test”, but Yan Zhen prevents that).
- An Wen’s beautiful face and notebook of names and pictures.
- Xiao Yu’s and Sergeant Guo’s love story.
- Xiao Yu’s “sons” who she took off the street and loved dearly.
- Yan Zhen’s hairdo, comic relief, outfits, and “smizing”.
- Manting’s rebellious but dignified ways. She was really cool when it came to snark and one-uppery
- Xiang/Liang Chen’s pretty face.
- Mrs. Xie being Team Yan Zhen, and telling Xiang (“I like to call him Yan Zhen. It sounds friendlier”).
- Tingbai’s ghost of a smile and mischievousness.

And the funny thing is, I started comparing AMA (Yan Zhen and Xiang/Liang Chen) to my favorite OTPs. Heck, I might even get around to writing some AMA FanFiction.

All in all, AMA is a great coming of age story. If only to cross paths with Yan Zhen and Xiang again…I’ll definitely rewatch in the future.

Happy birthday Arsenal Military Academy! I’ll celebrate it again.

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A political military hilarious drama

This was my first time watching both Xu Kai and Bai Lu drama.
The story is set in Republican era of China showcasing both political and military tensions.
But the best part is the academy and fights between Gu yanzhen and Xie Xiang.
Xu Kai as Gu yanzhen acted very perfectly.He really made me laugh in some scenes.Gu yanzhen is very funny,teasing and humourous.
Bai Lu's acting as Xie Xiang is very good.
All the other cast outshined in their roles.
Overall it is a very good drama which make you laugh and ease your tensions.
I highly recommend this drama.

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The ideal length of this drama series I feel should be max 30 -35 episodes, however total length is 48 episodes. The backdrop and costumes were commendable as the production actually paid attention to details and most props were fitting to almost every scene. Their military school canteen scenes actually have real food which were the type of food that reflected that era!

What I like - the story telling from the moment she decided to join the military school to happening surrounding in the military school. The ML screen presence was very strong and every scene he was in was just pleasant to watch and he acts best when pairing with Bai Lu as they both make believable romance, comedy and comradeship between them.

Supporting casts were also giving it all too but unfortunately 2nd FL and 2nd ML couldn't deliver their roles well enough to create tension and jealousy to ML and FL.

What I dislike - the timeline of the drama was during Republican period in China and therefore it is unconventional to inject "idol drama" elements or style of shooting the drama.

Overall I enjoyed the drama. The best work of Xu Kai and Bai Lu pairing so far.

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those day's I was really obsessed with the gender bender genre so I surfed a lot in web to find this genre series but here they concentrated more on the War between China and Japan
- The character development between Gu Yanzhe and other supporting charaters where pretty lame
- the background musics they put was pretty good but became boring soon because they keep the same track fro the entire 48 episodes
- To be honest I expected to be a lot of Shoujo but there was no trace of any romantic interaction what I saw was him bulling her for the entire show it looked more like a friendship relationship
- When I finally found a character to get attached Shen Jushen they literally gave all hero like role's only to Gu Yenzhe by putting aside Shen Jushen
- Well for Xie Xeng I think yeah the female lead at the begging they gave her a lot of screen time it was fun to watch but the way everyone discovers her identity was pretty much boring
IN THE END AFTER EPIODE 25 I KEEP WATCHING IT SEE HOW WAS GOING TO END
I'm not saying I wasted my time but If I knew it was going to be this predictable story I would gently avoid it i Thought it would be something like
- To the Beautiful you
- Coffe Prince
- Bromance
- Scholarwho walk the night
- Fabulous boys

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"Arsenal Military Academy" is a drama about Xie Xiang, a girl who dresses as a man to enter a military academy in place of her deceased brother. There, she meets Yan Zhen, who not only becomes her partner, but also the person she falls in love with!

The romance between Xie Xiang and Yan Zhen is incredible; they're cute, fun, and passionate together. At first, it takes a while for Xie Xiang to accept Yan Zhen's feelings, especially since everything he did seemed like a joke, that he wasn't taking her seriously, but then Xie Xiang realizes how much Yan Zhen loves her. I lost count of how many times he confessed his feelings to her, even when everyone thought she was a man. HAHA'
It's a shame there isn't even a kissing scene between them... I think there should have been at least one.

In fact, the drama's biggest selling point is the love triangle between Xie Xiang, Yan Zhen, and Jun Shan. I loved seeing all of Yan Zhen's jealousy over Xie Xiang and Jun Shan's closeness, and after Jun Shan discovers the truth, he tries to seduce Xie Xiang, who becomes trapped between the two! It's so much fun to watch.

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****A FEW MINOR SPOILERS*******

I have watched a lot of gender bender dramas and movies. But I will have to say this is the best one and here is why:

1. Acting
Everyone nailed their roles. Especially the female lead. The main hurdle of gender bender dramas is that the actress leads to pull off a boy role. Bai Lu did an incredible job passing as a suave boy and a sweet girl. Also I really loved Xu Kai in this drama. This the first drama I saw of him and I was not disappointed. The rest of the cast did a great job as well.

2. Story
The story was really interesting but there a few unexpected deaths that made me heartbroken. The most cool part of this drama for me was the time period. It wasn't really ancient but i think was during the 1900s. Everything fit in perfectly with the time period. I also enjoy strong female leads with funny and sarcastic male leads. Bai Lu and Xu Kai's chemistry was no doubt incredible. Though i didnt have the second lead syndrome i really like the 2nd lead too. He was such a kind character. I also like how the 2nd female lead was not antagonized. Manting was a really funny character throughout the show and im glad she got her own happy ending.

3. Music
The sound track was really beautiful and the lyrics were really touching.

Overall:
If you want to see a good gender bender drama then I would highly recommend this one. Romance, action, and a handsome cast is all part of this amazing drama. I would really rewatch this drama again.

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First of all I would love to say this, the story is really nice we really learned something from it as we aren't Chinese ?and also I really appreciate the Cast BaiLu and Xukai ?? so much Chemistry and I was really overwhelm about how they handle or act as it is so challenging for the Characters as we saw in the scenes. The Music is good but I was really wanted to watch the Part 2 of this Drama (if possible) ??? More power to the whole team, rooting for them (BaiLu and Xukai) more modern dramas and many more, waiting for their IMPERIAL CUISINE ??

#Philippinnes

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Everything is perfect in this drama except the end
I wish to see the future of the two champions together like other members But this does not detract from the beauty of the series
This is the first time I watch Chinese drama and i love it ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

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