Funny and intrigue, perfect entertainment.
Yes, it's comedy-drama, and it packs interesting storyline. It keeps me wanting more after each episode.The female lead acts dumb and funny in the first half of the story and does not have much screen time. Her character grows after the 20th episode, and I am looking forward to more of her screen time in the second half.
Love ML. He is the center of the whole story.
If you like a good laugh and a story that keeps you coming back for more. This is the one for you.
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Incredibly Hilarious, a Fresh Breath of Air
First things first, can we talk about Yang Yan? My Xiao Thor. He is an absolute baddie, I liked his portrayal of the character and charisma so much that I hanged on.Second thing, I am a usually fast watcher, even if it is a fifty-episode drama, but this one took me a couple of weeks and a lot of fast-forwarding at times. However, it is super funny and has some genius storytelling (story of guardsmen in the sea lol). I think Didi did not just act the character but also reflected his goofiness into the character. His family is also a great foil to this plot. I laughed a lot and was not surprised much, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Got mad at FL many times, but the actress herself does a good job. From the bloopers, I could tell they had siblingly rivalry lol. I can actually imagine her acting with Chen Zhe Yuan, I think they would be a cute couple.
The third thing is the cinematography and special effects. It was obviously well done and well paid. And for the first time in my c-drama journey, I liked the whole OST. From the intro to the Atari (that is my take) remake in the sea story, songs were composed super intelligently.
It was a slow watch for me, personally. By any means, it was not bad at all.
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Great show!
Great show! Hilariously funny, interesting story, fun characters, and a spectacular cast. This show does an amazing job of balancing humor/satire with drama. The ending was rushed, so I'm hoping for a season 2 to tie up loose ends.Was this review helpful to you?
Awesome Watch! Enjoyed it…!
It was such an entertaining drama. Keeps a good hold throughout the episodes!Definetly worth a good watch….!
Loved the comedic moments, emotional moments as well as the great action moments ….!
Dylan Wang is such a perfect actor for the character of Xu Qian. Not just him, the overall casting for each role was very well done.
If you have not watched it yet, then I would definitely recommend it.
Rewatch value usually lowers because the suspense is broken already, however it was such a fun and engaging watch that I won’t mind if I bump across the drama again! 👌
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Dafeng is worth it!
Guardians of the Dafeng is one of the best dramas I have watched recently. It's complex, beautiful, humorous and provides food for thought about things like, what is the meaning of life? What makes one life complete?Yang Ling is a street-smart sales manager, who initially wanted to be policemen but life made its' correction. He is young, fast on his feet, pretty adjustable in social situations. After drinking party, he and his colleagues decide to play murder mystery game. That's how he ended up being in body of Xu Qi An, Chanty Constable who is in fact being imprisoned. That's how the story starts.
Story itself is very interesting. We start from case 1, and then we see it unfolding and connected to case 2 and bigger cases. While I was watching on-air, they constantly left us on cliffhanger, and I couldn't wait for another episode. Drama has a lot of easter eggs or details which makes interesting to me on re-watches. Complex world with magic, sects, taoist, artifacts and cultivation levels.
I like that drama has style, it explores and introduces quite complex world of Dafeng and connects us with characters through humor. Humor and a bit of hyperbolic style of acting might be not everyone's cup of tea. For me, it was highlights of Guardians of the Dafeng. I found myself to relate to a lot of situations. A lot of it touches work culture, relationships in family and society. I love visual aspects of the drama, CGI is extremely well-done, world building designs, it's amazing.
I love that drama has a lot of characters and they are all pretty well-written and have distinctive features about them and their own stage to shine. This is quite impressive considering how many characters are present in the drama.
This drama portrays absolutely beautifully the importance of family. Xu family is most chaotic and endearing family. Through humorous situations we get to know them, we see their bickering which depicts some real family dynamics so much. However, by the end of the series I found that I love them so much. There are so many moments when they stood for each other and showed genuine care and love for each other that it brought tears to my eyes. But at the same time, they provided some of the best comedic moments (like forgetting each other which ended up being connected to more serious note).
I loved romance storyline. I found that Xu Qi An and Lin An fit each other well. Romance is not the main plot but their moments were cute, endearing with spark of absolute chemistry. I think Lin An though by no means perfect is fitting for Xu Qi An. Lin An in the same way as Xu Qi An stood up to seek justice for her loved ones. Actually, the fact that both of them had their own lives and agendas made this line more realistic and healthy.
There's also significant story arc with Lord Wei and Guardians which shows the value of friendship, of people having your back and coming for each other. Some of the moments made me cry.
Overall, I think with portrayal of Xu Qi An's life they showed full spectrum of what makes one people's life full.
I have to talk about main protagonist and his character growth. Xu Qi An is a bit unserious and gives a lot of opportunist vibes at the very beginning. He is charismatic, charming and has his way with people. However, it's interesting and evident right from the first case that he is actually feels strongly about weaker people being oppressed. Interesting detail I noticed that he doesn't care much and can swallow if he is the one oppressed. And then he comes back to being unserious and being childish. I think Lord Wei described him: "You seem to be flexible on the outside, but you are rigid on the inside." I find interesting that guy that started from wanting to make money in Dafeng, spent large amount of time and efforts thinking about how to progress in the career and connecting with right people to what he did in the end of the series.
Cast is superb and everyone did a great job. Dylan Wang has showed his new side and how much he improved throughout his career. Portrayal of Xu Qi An is quite complex, he goes from being this hilarious character to heartbreak and to angry and just person. His gestures, body language, face expressions, tones of voice - just a great acting job altogether for a person that carried show. They showed scene where he goes from portraying young men, middle-aged man and old man - I couldn't believe my eyes. Great, great piece of acting. He also didn't get lost acting with much more senior cast and excellent actors.
I think everyone should give it a try of watching this. Dafeng is worth it a thousands times.
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Truly enjoyable from start to finish
Dylan Wang did an excellent job in this series. Xuqian has to be one of his best roles yet. I also loved how good he is at comedy which we were able to see in this series. he and that comedic flair that kept me laughing. I love how this series had all the elements I loved: family relationships, friendships, father/mother figures. Although it didn't focus a lot on the romance as it was a side plot, in the end it didn't bother me because what we got, I loved. Tian Xiwei and Dylan Wang had amazing chemistry makes me wish that maybe one day in the future we see them in a romance drama.I loved how the series was action, adventure, mystery with a little bit of romance. It ticked all the right boxes for me. And I truly enjoyed it from start to finish.
10/10 from me.
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A Must-Watch for fans of the genre
1. For Dylan I decided to do something I never do (watch an incomplete drama) and I am glad I took the risk. While the wait for next season might just kill me, this show was so perfect I will die a happy fan. It was hilarious, it was heartbreaking, it was stressful and it was rejuvenating.2. I might have started this show for Xu Qi'an and his glorious hair (seriously why was his hair so perfect) but someone else caught my eye in the very first episode (sorry DiDi 😜). The hair, the smirk, the expressions, the sass, the gold earrings and the fan- y'all know exactly who I'm talking about.
Gold Gong Guardian Yang Yan this is my formal proposal to marry you 🙇♀️
3. Coming back to the drama, I enjoyed all that was shown, and the way it was shown. There were a few icks (I don't like seeing good people being tortured so graphically) but it was sorted out soon (I like seeing the torturers get tortured and die painful deaths). There are obviously a lot of questions unanswered and I hope the next season comes soon.
On that note, not really sure how I feel knowing the next content is based on the faceless guy but we'll see.
4. Dear GOTD drama overloads- please get the same cast for everyone for the next season but especially Dylan and Fan Shiqi (and let their looks be the same too hehe)
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Drama full of laughter and good vibes
This drama is PERFECT if you are looking for a light enough drama that won't have you bust out crying every 5 minutes. It is so funny and has a unique sense of humor to it. Of course, this doesn't mean there aren't angsty or sad moments—because there were. But to me, it was well-balanced and made the drama even more engaging. The plot was amazing; there's not a thing that I would change.As a main-character-centric drama, this drama did XQA justice. I love how they wrote his character. He's witty, unserious, and follows his own rules. But he's also loyal, compassionate, and so so kind. XQA gained the trust of so many people simply because of how good and admirable his character is. Not going to lie, he is like a rolemodel to me. XQA said and did all the things that everyone was too afraid to say or do.
I personally loved the romance. Yes, the misunderstanding was a little frustrating, but thankfully since romance is a subplot, a lot of the misunderstandings and second-hand embarrassment acted more as a humorous part of the plot rather than a conflict in XQA's life. And after the misunderstanding cleared up, they had good communication, and their relationship advanced quickly. I am interested to see more of them in season 2 (hopefully coming soon).
Now I have to give appreciation when appreciation is due. Dylan Wang was the PERFECT Xu Qi'An. I cannot imagine anyone else as this character. This is the first drama I actually finished of his, and it instantly made him one of my favorite actors. I just love it when actors can act well! He showed so many emotions and embodied XQA.
Overall, this drama was so so good. I will definitely be rewatching this in the future. This is actually my final drama until May since my classes start soon, and I am so glad it is. A very satisfied watcher; I am looking forward to season 2!! :)
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This review may contain spoilers
Uneven but good enough
I am writing this review as both a prior reader of the novel, and a native Chinese speaker. I listened to the novel (on Ximalaya, a Chinese audiobook site) about 2-3 years ago and it's one of my favorite webnovels of all time. It has the perfect blend of action, comedy, and drama. Given how much the novel meant to me, it's possible for me to review the drama on its own merits. This is all to say if you haven't read the novel, your mileage may vary.Writing/Plotting: 7/10. The transition from page to screen comes with necessary adjustments but results are uneven. The pacing of the drama is odd. Long stretches of screen time were spent on minor/irrelevant sideplots, while interesting sections of the book were breezed over.
The most significant problem translating from page to screen is the loss of any sense of power scaling in the drama. Power levels fluctuate wildly scene to scene, and there is no established sense of how powerful anybody is, relative to anybody else. All this being said, when they slow down and just adapt scenes/sequences from the book, the results can be spectacular. Episodes 37-40 is the perfect microcosm of this. Most of this arc (the aftermath of the Bloodshed) is mesmerizing and reminded me at times of Langya Bang (very high praise). However, the final 30 minutes of ep 40 however bizarre, brusque, and unnecessary. From the highest high to the lowest low, a perfect example of the uneven plotting.
Acting: 8/10. I think the lead actor is the weakest part of the cast, as he seems to only have one facial expression. I do suspect this was an acting choice , but he was still fairly wooden. Fortunately the supporting cast is generally superb. From the Emperor and Princess Linan to Wei Yuan the Xu family, all the major characters were well-cast and fit their roles. The comedic hits generally land and the dramatic moments are heart-felt.
Audio/Music: 8/10. Overall pretty good. Don't have much to say here. I will say that as a native mandarin speaker I wish the lead actor hadn't used his own voice. His enunciation is generally poor and in a lot of scenes it sounds like he's just reading his lines off of a page. This isn't really a problem for anybody else.
CGI/Costumes/Sets: 8/10. Everything looked pretty good to me. Decent number of extras, CGI looks nice. You can tell this isn't a huge budget drama, but they made an effort to make sets look lived-in. Not much to praise, not much to complain about.
Action: 6/10. This is another major shortcoming of the drama. While there are a couple of intact fun fight scenes, many of the fight scenes are crazy truncated. This is especially true of the "climactic" fight between XQA and Duke Zhengbe, which in the novel occupied multiple pages but basically didn't exist in the drama. In general the drama prefers the "pose for CGI" model of action over choreographed martial arts scenes, which unfortunately seems to be a trend for c-dramas in general in recent years.
Overall: 7.5/10. I think this drama is an enjoyable watch but I suspect it will often be confusing for non-book readers, and often mildly infuriating for book readers. The scripting/writing is mostly to blame here, with the story moving glacially slow for several episodes before condensing entire arcs into 15 minutes. Character motivation is often unclear/inconsistent and power levels are very vague. The drama is redeemed by a solid cast and production as well as comedy that generally hits.
Comparisons: I think the most worthwhile comparison is with Joy of Life, which has a similar premise. Overall I think Joy of Life is the superior show, with a better lead actor and a better script. I've actually read (listened) to the audiobook of Joy of Life as well. For JOL the drama in many ways improves on the novel, adding drama, character development/motivation, and stakes. While Guardians improves on the comedy in some scenes, in general the best parts of the drama are wholly lifted out of the novel and the stuff the drama adds just serves to add confusion.
TL;DR: Overall I would describe the drama as "pretty good." The weakest points are the plotting/writing and the fight scenes. The best parts are the comedy and the supporting cast.
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Lighthearted drama
Cute and funny. It’s not a deep-thinking kind of show and I’m fine with that.I’m a fan of Wang Hedi; he does a good job here. It feels like they tailored the character for him. There are little tongue-in-cheek jokes and even a reference to his song which I find hilarious.
Aside from the ML, there are many other characters that are great. Love the family dynamics. So far so good.
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This is such a great dorama...
This is such a great dorama. By and large, it is a masterpiece. Intriguing plot, interesting characters all without exception, music, humor and, of course, inimitable Dylan, whose game is the highest class. If the first episodes are diluted with humor, but there are powerful episodes about resilience, faith, justice, perseverance and courage. There's a lot of informative stuff about poetry and chemistry, love, combat skills and weapons. Lots of right words about life and its meaning, about family and relationships. There are violent scenes with the punishment of criminals and here Dylan is limited and beautiful. I enjoyed it all from start to finish and will watch it again, and look forward to the second season with the same cast.Was this review helpful to you?
