This review may contain spoilers
If you're tired of heart wrenching dramas, this one is a great follow up!
If you're after something light hearted, this show is pretty good. I enjoyed the comedy and the easy going plot. I found myself laughing at a lot of the earlier episodes. Some may argue that the acting isn't great, and there were some moments that could have been filmed better, but I enjoyed the chemistry the actors had. I think Zhao Lusi has that charisma even off-screen that you can see which makes the relationships on-screen bearable to watch. The overall storyline was better than I expected, it dragged on a bit towards the end with the whole chase around to catch ZWY and the ending was a little anticlimactic.What I wasn't a fan of was the hair and makeup in this show, her hair isn't half brown 'from being in the sunlight' that some may suggest. It's clear it's faded from the roots. the most they could have done was just spray it or something. Who would have the ability to die their hair back in the day? that part seemed a little unbelievable. Some parts of the editing were a bit cringey to watch as well.
I enjoyed the CP moments between the leads and I most enjoyed her relationship with Yan Yan who really turned out to be more of her best friend than ZWY was. I didn't mind the soundtracks either, was very fitting to the show and scenes.
Overall, don't expect much. I watched it after watching Forever and Ever & One and Only and wanted something easy to pass the time and it did the job. But I doubt I'd rewatch it again.
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Sad that the sweet nice one is actually the villain
The drama centres around Sang Qi, the only daughter of Marshall Sang as she becomes the first female student at the imperial college to fulfil her late brother's wish. Not knowing the tradition in the capital, she enters into a pact with the spoiled Song JiaYin, daughter of Minister Song to get Yan YunZhi to accept her pouch. Failing this, she would have to perform at the Lunar Festival. According to the tradition of the capital, this is a gesture of demonstrating and accepting love between a man and woman.As it turns out, Yan YunZhi is the Head of the Imperial College. Her childhood best friend Zhou WenYuan is a top student at the college and helps her through various crisis. It is hilarious as she tries various tactics to get YunZhi to accept her pouch. But things turn sinister when she is poisoned and becomes embroiled in the investigation of the smuggling of prohibited items into the capital involving high standing people in the court.
Although the story seems rather straightforward at hindsight, it is not quite so obvious at the beginning. The initial ten episodes is quite humorous and light-hearted but the drama becomes dark and more intense. It is quite clear early in the drama who the villains are, but it is quite unclear what the next turn would be.
Acting is excellent. Xu KaiCheng (YunZhi) is tall and handsome and Zhao LuSi (Sang Qi) is very pretty especially when she lets her hair down and don on feminine clothes, and they have excellent on-screen chemistry. Ren Hao (WenYuan) as the second lead is really good as well - you can see the different changes of expression on his face - from the loving childhood friend to a jealous monster. I am sure he will elevate into main leads in future dramas. And among them, you see a fashion parade of lovely period costumes.
The ending is well-crafted with a mix of happy and sad endings. You would be happy for the couples whose lives have ended well. Some of the villains are shown to have a human side, which makes it difficult to hate them - at least it gives you some confidence in humankind. In fact, you would even feel sorry for them. It is heart-rending as one of the villain kills themself in desperation. You witness how a young person with great promise travels down the wrong path and eventually ruin themself while some are ruined by greedy parents. Somehow you wish things could have turned out differently for them. The ending stirs up the emotions.
Although I won't rate this among the top league, but I say it is a very good production and well worth your time watching.
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Sit back relax, just watch.
Don't get hung up on all the arm chair judging. This is a drama to sit back and just watch. With some giggles, ooo's and aaah's and just mind fun.Scenery, costumes, acting, and different episodes all have different levels of good and really good. I personally see this as a light drama compared to some of the more heavy weight ones.
To many heavy ones in a roll is not fun. So have lighter ones in between is good to have and allows us to see more ingenuity in production by all areas of the drama to keep it light but nice and beautiful.
I hope those who make dramas will remember to give us rom-coms regularly in the costume era regardless of those who would pick them apart from an arm chair. Especially making them not necessarily stupidity silly, but fun, funny, active, and bantering between in them dramas.
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The most annoying second leads ever ahah but this drama was pretty good to me
I found this drama funny and entertaining. I also like the love story between the leads and they had a good relationship. They fought for it and did not break up even with all the obstacles and annoying people. It also have a good happy ending.The second leads were so annoying and crazy that I almost stop watching. Both of them were told many times that they don’t love them and that they would never be together, but they weren’t taking no for an answer and they tried to force the leads to marry them. That was aggravating and so annoying, they were the worst.
I only continue when I found out that the leads were staying strong against them and they weren’t breaking up.
At first I thought it was a cute romcom, but there was in facts many problems and obstacles.
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Typical plot but good
Title is weird that it doesn’t even catch interest. It’s the typical love triangle story of a woman wanting to be given same opportunity as a man. I find the second lead man’s performance and acting superior than that of the male lead. Slapstick humor but still entertaining. You can predict the storyline but most times it’s hard to be interested when you already know what will happen. This broke that rule. I don’t personally find any chemistry between the lead male and lead female. At the end, I was rooting more for the villain second male lead. His acting and portrayal of the role is that good. It is worth the time to watch.I believed there are two other series with same concept - female in period school full of men. Only exception in this story, Zhao Lusi didn’t pretend to be a man and entered as the first female student in an all male school. She pioneered being the first female student in an all male school.
One thing about Zhao Lusi is her excellence in portraying the core essentials of the role. She can adapt her personality to whatever role she is playing.
Although I like the male lead, I was hoping she ends with Ren Hao in this story. I know he is the villain somewhat but he played his character so well, I couldn’t help rooting for his character to get the FL.
Anyways, if you like period drama like I do, this is an awesome watch and you won’t be disappointed.
Love the Martial arts choreography. I love the wardrobes used by all characters.
One of the actress who played second lead is same actress in Love in the Galaxy that played the role of Niao friend that became her sister in law.
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Watch it for Zhao Lu Si
This show suffered from being too long and shifting gears midway through the episodes. I'll address each separately.The first part of the show was so funny! Zhao Lu Si has absolutely the best comedic timing and a smile that would light up a town. I liked the character of the FL. She wasn't portrayed as stupid or clumsy or stalkerish (except when she was trying to win a bet). She didn't put up with stuff from anyone, including the multiple annoying females. Really, was every female in love with ML? I was thinking that this would be a different type of historical drama. I don't care for palace intrigues so much.
ML and FL were absolutely precious together. One of the obvious plusses of this show was the healthy relationship between the ML and FL. They were evenly matched. She didn't shy away from physical affection. That said, the kisses were pretty bad, and I didn't actually feel the chemistry between them, though they were fun to watch.
The second couple was cute to watch, though initially I found him very irritating.
HOWEVER, the second half of the drama became a palace intrigue-fest, with a would-be suitor that wouldn't take no for an answer "I'll save your father if you marry me", multiple bad guys, framing people for crimes, killing off people, dungeons, etc.
I would say, watch it for Zhao Lu Si. She never disappoints. The women's clothes and intricate hairstyles were nice too. Personally, I don't find the men with the long hair and weird sideburns attractive, but that's just me.
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Fine
Start was good ,entery of leads increase the interesting level ,the male lead show the attitude while listened her name and then came out if the carriage and the way he talked to her ,I thought there some story in between them because the way he react when listened her name . Then the male lead' parent fixed his marriage ,so very start of the drama introduced his fiancee . All these increase the interest that we were going to have some secrets ,some love rivalry and from female lead side also she had one male best friend who loved her but she saw him as just friend. So all these were little intersting . But story didn't go well ,little disappointed with it . Because after few episodes the male lead fall for her ,I expect more from the story and his character was tough and discipline one but when he fall for her and after confessed his love for her ,he attitude become soft which I don't like. I want his arrogant type of attitude . Starting half way was good ,there were some funny scenes also but second half of the story was bored .Was this review helpful to you?
It is not as shi.tty as many writes
Firstly, Zhao Lu Si series..... alot of humorous, cheeky and adorable scenes. I do have fondness of watching both Zhao Lu Si and Xu Kai Cheng's series but somehow, both of them together as a couple doesn't really sit right for me (personal opinion). They do not really match as a pair - compared to all the other series I watched of the both of them individually. Nonetheless, they did a good job together in this series. One is all seriousness, no nonsense and sometimes abit aloof while the other is constantly bubbly, cheeky and lively. Watching both of them together in this series can be quite amusing.The other casts all did a very good job. Including Ren Hao as Zhao Lu Si's childhood bestie and "sweetheart". Yes, there are many talks about how his possessiveness sort of ruined the show, however not every show / series are meant to be a rose garden. Some reflects on real life too. His character's possessiveness isn't something new in real life either. There are some crazies, both male and female, that do not know the borderline whatsoever when in love with another person. I do not think that it is a reason for people to shoot down the series. Yes, the drama of it in this series is quite tiring and annoying ... heck you would also be tired out and annoyed if it happens to you in real life. I wouldn't just shelf something over a tiny detail.
I find that this series, excluding the "drama" is actually quite good. All the casts did a very good job acting in this series. And this series is good because being a first female in school during ancient times is very very hard to come by. Many can really just dream about it or learn in secrecy. Therefore, to be given a chance to enter school to study and go thru the examinations is no small feat. So I find this series a good 1st watch. Whether you find fit to rewatch, well that is entirely up to you personally.
Not all the music paired with this show is to my liking but there is some really nice tracks for this series.
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predictable But Watchable
A Female Student Arrives at Imperial College follows the journey of a young woman navigating her new life at Imperial College. While the premise sounds promising, the drama often feels very predictable, much like many other historical-style college dramas. Most plot twists are easy to guess, and the story sometimes struggles to stay engaging.The characters are decent and relatable, and there are a few heartfelt moments that add some emotional depth. However, the pacing can feel slow, and the drama lacks the spark that would make it truly memorable. Despite these shortcomings, it still offers a watchable experience for those who enjoy historical or college dramas and want a light, easy-to-follow story.
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Historical story promoting equality for women
This is the first Chinese drama where I see where equality for women is being pursued and supported. Liked (1) the way one needs to think of solutions to overcome problems by the ML and FL. (2) the many funny scenes (3) shows how one can feels growing up not being loved by a family (4) nice costumes (5) a nice story with everything .. fun, great friendship, suspense, love and a lot of forgiveness. The acting by ALL were good too (1) FL was feisty (2) ML was cool but indulgent to his loved one (3) 2ML obsession with the FL and his behavior towards life due to his upbringing. It was a happy experience watching this light comedy plus the BTS were hilarious.Was this review helpful to you?
I felt bad for the first one!
Rosy Zhao who plays Sang Qi is a very good actress, but her best performance for me is the "Long Ballad".Xu Kai Cheng who plays Yan Yun Zhi was okay, I really don't have an honest opinion on him as I haven't seen any of his acting skills except one other and I was not really that impressed with the storyline.
Ren Hao whose character is Zhuo Wen Yuan, I kind of felt sorry for him, the character that is. I don't think he was evil in the beginning but became extremely bad when Sang Qi fell in love with Yan Zhi. He honestly loved Sang Qi. I don't like how the storyline took this character.
The visuals were good, and the martial art was excellent... didn't care too much for the storyline but it did keep my focus because of Ren Hao and Rosy Zhao. Thanking all the support and quest cast. I loved the children in the beginning. I did love the red/black historic costumes. Please, don't make the horses look too fake.
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This review may contain spoilers
I gave this drama a try for Zhao Lusi. I loved the leads but story was bad! Too much focus on the second male lead aka the bad guy... The development of the story is way too slow!I also thought it was going to be a cute lighthearted drama about their academic adventure between the leads but dont let that fool you. There is more... female lead wants to fulfill her brother's last wish of going to the academy. There she meets the male lead who is like the dean/teacher there. Her brother and the male lead were good friends and he wanted to find out the reason behind his death. Basically from the start of the drama to the end of the drama they are solving this mystery as who is the evil mastermind/people group who does illegal things like sell salt etc.
Too much limelight is given to the second male lead. He is revealed as the bad guy who has an evil aunt as the emperor's concubine, Like they portray him very innocent and having a crush on the female lead... and suddenly they introduce the aunt and he becomes evil . What piss me off is that he tried to sacrifice her. Like if she doesnt like me then nobody can have her. I would hope he would change and give up his ways for her but he didn't. He got a lot of the time and i didnt like that.
The leads figured out the second lead was evil towards the end ( which in my opinion was kinda late)
The cute parts between the leads is in the beginning half. Zhao Lu si has chemistry with all her co star! She is seriously so cute! They are a cute couple, wish they had more time together...
I skipped a lot of parts, I made it to the end. It doesnt develop well. If you are a fan of Zhao Lusi I dont think you'll mind this drama!
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