Another gems rarely found
Beautifully written story, with all 3 likeable male lead cast. Each cast has their own unique background story and personality which made me watch without bored. A little bit rushed in the end. I watched the special episode and like it so much. It doesn't stretch which give it a good series to watch. Truly recommend this series!Was this review helpful to you?
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finally some good food!!
Nothing major that other reviews haven't said, so reviewing just for the vibes and putting my rambling (as usual) thoughts out there:i would give it a 9/10 but it took me a while to get into the groove of the show (i had to skip straight to ep 4 to get the pace up) the premise and building was taking too long and i kept getting bored (li lianhua/cheng yi in the beginning didn’t excite me that much as a character bc we didnt see how op he is at crime busting, and fang duobing/zeng shunxi was too young and inexperienced at case cracking for me to feel satisfied when watching).
it was only until di feisheng (xiao shunyao) appeared when i was like FINALLY SOME GOOD FOOD (it was like ep 6 or 8 iirc) bc his visuals, the characterization,,,,, ugh
ah fei is like a sports-type male lead who is wholly focused on just being the best at martial arts but he slowly learns to trust the leads and we can tell that from the beginning he’s always had righteous and good intentions (if not good, def he has his own moral code that he sticks by, no exception).
i really enjoyed it when it was the 3 of them trusting each other (mostly) and solving cases (around when fang duobing didn’t know about di feisheng and when di feisheng forgot his memories) they make an incredible team and whenever ah fei wasnt there i got sad bc whenever ah fei is there its like lu lingfeng.. like i just know that no one can get hurt bc hes just that strong + that much 安全感
li lianhua vs nirvana in fire’s mei changsu/lin shu is really interesting and the discussion of mortality, what it means to live, and philosophical life outlooks is def something i didnt expect going into this show.
the martial arts fight scenes are super fun to watch. everyone could fight and they filmed the fight moves really well (the weiya and no stunt doubles was super impressive)
really enjoyed the costume, makeup, set design. esp the costume like not a single flop outfit the entire time for all the leads…. they always look so good (this drama made me understand cheng yi’s appeal and also to look up xiao shunyao….)
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Great acting, and action
This is my first review on the site, although I have been a member awhile now.So I binged watch this within a week and just finished it around an hour ago. It had me glued to my seat and other than work and eat, I wanted to just watch and finish the drama. Kinda zombie mode.
From the start till the end it had my full attention. The humour was great whenever you see the trio. The fighting scenes was fabulous. The actors that portrait each of their role was really good, strong cast. I love the detective/mystery of the drama the most. But I hated the ending and just before, I know I seen the special, it seems like an open ending, wish it was more concrete.
To be honest 2/3 into the series , I cried in frustrated tears for LXY, he could have been on top of the wuxia world but was tricked to crashed down to the bottom and dying! Most of the ending was pretty stupid, I didn't like it and wish it was different. For this reason I only have it 9.5 out of 10, else this drama is perfect
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My Favorite Drama of The Year
Story:Mystery is always an intriguing trope in wuxia drama. In this drama, the mysterious cases continuously hooked me. The script is written very compelling, though they were some plot-holes. Yes you can call this drama a cliche wuxia, the goal of everyone who live in jiang hu is to be no.1. But the process every person go through is not the same, the choice they chose, the action they took based on their personal value make eye-opening thoughts about someone personality. Although I found the court politics an unnecessary trope, overall the story and the emotion's knot they tried to show audience is very much moved my heart.
Acting: Li Lianhua is one of the most hilarious character I've ever met. He is carefree, annoying yet kind, compassionate and smart. It's a pity we don't get many scenes with Li Xiangyi with his arrogant, selfish and stubborn character to show us. Or I will give Cheng Yi two thumbs up for his top notch acting. Joseph Cheng has a big improvement in acting as Fang Duobing. His emotions showed in every scenes with Li Lianhua. Their friendship/bromance is warm-heartedly deep. Yet the relation between Li Lianhua and Di Feisheng is the most fascinating one. I crave for their goofy interactions as enemy to bromance. Can't help but shipped them.
Overall: I recommend this drama if you are action, mystery and wuxia lover. Because this drama is S+ drama, so the production is so much better than other recent wuxia drama. Yet the impressive story and the excellent acting are the most substantial points for this drama.
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Must watch drama for the year
This has a combination of everything I love. Chengyi’s acting was great and the story line kept you guessing until the end. You may not like the ending which left us guessing if he died or not. But I love it. I do think he survived somehow as he wanted to live a different life. Not much romance in the story but enough to keep some of us happy. The fighting and solving mysteries along the way was enough to unlock all the plots which made 40 episodes very bearable.It deserved a second rewatch because there are some many mysteries yet to be discovered.
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Ik it might be boring for some ppl to watch and know every detail of the the case but for me it's really interesting even though there's no romance it's still good. that's what it makes it an amazing drama it doesn't necessary rely and focus on romance and love just Martial arts World which really took my attention the cinematography of the fight scenes are just fire 🔥 and the plot is flowing nicely. I like the plot twist too i didn't really expect it 😍
❤️ looking forward for the next eps ❤️❤️❤️
I completed this drama and I'll definitely watch again it's absolutely the hest drama for 2023 🔥
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Seemingly lighthearted story of wasted lives
Great and enjoyable story where there are no heroes and mostly flawed humans even if you have your moustache twirling, maddly laughing, perpetually monologing villains. The fact that they made the celebrated Sigu sect populated with nothing but idiots and self-involved characters with LXY as their uncontested leader will forever be dear to my heart. Especially as they were all written as likeable or at least understandable.I enjoyed most the slow peeling of layers of hero-worship that clouded the narrative - for the character and viewer alike. Considering the main motivation of the LXY is not being able to deal with said hero worship (and his perceived inability to fulfil it with healthy dash of burn-out wonderchild), that was very nicely done. This is also a reason why I wasnt annoyed about the fact that everybody was obssessed with our LXY. It was ridiculous but played nicely to the whole theme of hero worship, meeting expectations and child geniuses dealing with glitches.
LXY can´t deal with the whole thing and runs away to live a simple life. But no matter what, he cannot escape fame and his past, which ultimately results into his death (the irony is - the legends remains). On this note, I loved the dynamic between LXY and DFS (the guy in general) - for me it created an option of carefree future where LXY is alive and well, where he truly let go of his past (as opposite to the zen-like statements LLH is spewing all over the place whilst living in this own portable tomb). DFS is another prodigy who, contrary to LXY, has much healtier approach to his past traumas, i.e. confronting them. and dealing with them.
In this sense, him pestering LXY for another match is sort of... asking him to live and be f*cking less sucidal, to let go of the guilt and truly move on, i.e. not throwing everything away just because of one mistake. Unfortunatelly... LXY is and awfully stubborn and arrogant man, so - there goes the ending. (Side note: the little side-story about the two drinking-fighting budies was a nice mirror to this LXY-DFS motif).
You could watch it as a hero´s journey where the MC is FDB on his road to adulthood (it´s rather explicit) - which could be to some extent viewed as casting off the rose-coloured glasses. All his heroes are f*ck-ups, most of the adults are rather useless and the whole martial world is filled with selfish, scheming or just hurt and confused people. And the boy goes through a journey and grows up while magically protecting his bubbly personality, just somewhat temepered, Which is cool and plausible.
And then there is the ending. Our bubbly boy forever optimistic and... nothing had seemingly changed. We are back on the starting point where the legend lives and people who should live their lives keep pining for one scared and scarred person who is too wrapped up in past for anybody´s well-being (dont get me wrong, i like LXY and accept the validity of his issues, but he is a deeply flawed creature - which makes him so wonderful, i guess).
Side note to this - the whole show can be viewed just as a prolonged and higly aeshetized suicide, basically. LXY most of the show talks about letting go of the past but he is unable to do so when it comes to himself (no matter what he says). He gives great advice, just doesnt live according to it, as it usually happens.
The detective cases and their reasoning is sometimes awfully farfetched but given the genre, it´s not really that much of an issue. On the positive note, in the initial stories not everything was explained in various explanatory monologues, which was nice. Not that there were none, but at least initially they offered some clues to chase for the viewers first.
There are some tiresome parts in the later part of the story where they try to keep up the detective structure which doesnt add much to the supposedly rising tension of the story. The main consipracy was interesting especially for the emotional impact. The final siege got a bit ridiculous.
However, if you want to see strong or even interesting female characters, don´t botther with this story. I greatly appreciate that the past love interest had some agency, but it doesnt change the fact that all the female characters are written either as fawning over one of the three main guys or/and having no personality and agency aside from helping them. Main evil lady is obssessed with a man, another woman marries a person after couple of days to aledgedly piss of another guy, young girl plays the wikipedia role to impress the guy and so on, and so on. The only one who maintained some levelheadedness was always faithful to LXY and pops up usually just to resolve some administrative issue (especially at first).
Still, it is a good and enjoyablel show. Just watch it for the boys.
As for acting, music, visual apeal etc - all nice and withtout much issue. the cgi is sometimes slightly subpar but nothing to cause much bother.
To sum this unexpected rambling up - there are many annoying tropes in this show but despite that, it´s very enjoyable and good watch because of the story (so many fix-it musings, so many...), the slight subversion of certain tropes and mostly the characters.
It could be viewed as tragedy, hidden behind the grand schemes and light elegant tones. Same as LXY hides his own issues with jest and diversions and never speaks of them, the show never overanalyzes (or even explicitly states) many of the issues he or others face . Whether that is done because dwelling too much on such things would only cheapen them or to forcibly preserve the elegant and rosy image, that is up to interpretation.
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Really good drama for Wuxia fans
MLC team Hi6 show attracted me to watch the drama and I was drowned in it…I am literally not a fan for all 3 actors before but I found myself truly fond them after watching.
Chengyi’s swordsmanship works is so so amazing. Joseph is heartwarming cutie pie and puppy eyes at here, love him so much. The 3rd ML cast is also good and his chemistry with other really cool. Overall it’s worth watching for my time.
Less romance and energetic bromance….
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
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A review from a chinese speaker :) (watched 2 yrs ago)
I will keep this review straight to the point than reviews I normally write because this is by far my top one favorite show at the moment. I usually like to break everything down but this show is a lot harder to in this review because my english and chinese brain isn’t working lol so bear with me.I love our main character, acted by Chengyi (成毅). I speak mandarin thus I watched the show in mandarin, but I chose to give this review in English since I wanted others to see my view or whether the translation might be different in English :)
PLOT
After going back and forth through the show for about 10 times…. not exaggerating — I would always find new details to Li LianHua (李莲花) and how he had lived his life somewhat peacefully for ten years until the final goodbye. I thought this show was made to show how ten years was enough for him to understand that it’s okay to have regrets and that like a lotus, one should turn away from the past and focus on the present. He was such a beautiful character, acted by Chengyi who had a very special kind of acting different from actors you have never seen before, his acting makes a character come to life — by first, adding his own style, interpretation and also taking the time to live this character’s life to fully understand him. I think he did it because this is the 李相夷 (Li Xiangyi) or 李莲花 (Li LianHua) we see.
I really really enjoy this show not just because Chengyi’s acting but because I see Li LianHua as an actual person with a kind soul — someone who should’ve existed or had existed. I saw him as a character who has the ability to understand 众生 (common people) and thus, became just an ordinary person. This was a story where 李相夷 (Li Xiangyi) who believed his arrogance made 四顾门 (the sect that stands for righteousness) whom he was the leader/master of the sect back then, turn into shambles and people blamed him for his arrogance which added to his hatred of his past self. Then again, I believe it’s a beautiful story of someone falling from a high pedestal in society to just an ordinary being like the common people. He blamed himself when he saw how many people died because of him — but I FELT BAD for him. He didn’t do anything wrong, sure he was young, but the jealousy of other people made me see how ugly humanity can be.
Li Xiangyi, now Li Lianhua saw how he was betrayed by his very own sect, the person who he used to be his friend and now hates him for no freaking reason (OMG if you have watched the show — you know who), married his love and the other people of the sect who couldn’t even recognize him when he came back while Di Feisheng (老笛), his nemesis (“so called enemy”) and soulmate hahaha — more like confidante, recognized him first. Even the bad guys who wanted him dead too, recognize he was 李相夷 — sometimes I wonder if people from his sect don’t want him back — because he’s a burden that should be dead and if alive would make other people feel guilty. I hated how Li Lianhua is too kind to the people who betrayed him even if they’re evil to us. I guess he just doesn’t care anymore. 老笛 was portrayed in the beginning as an enemy but when you have finished watching the show, you will see how lovable and kind he is to Li Lianhua. He has a cold heart due to his past, but his actions are warm towards people he cherish. I think he loves Li Lianhua as a very dear friend and nemesis but don’t want him to die, so his way of showing his affections appear harsh to the audience. I love their dynamic so much, wish Li Lianhua didn’t have a love interest though and I hope the three of them can live their life all together (I mean they have each other right?).
This show told us a lot about friendships, people you meet along the way, and how you never know what someone is going through. Fang Duo Bing (方多病) was Li Xiangyi’s Senior brother’s son whom his Senior Brother neglected and abandoned while he was trying so hard to kill Li Lianhua for the last time in ten years. His hatred for our Hua Hua has come so far that I am laughing AT how much he will fail when he realized no matter how strong he becomes (he didn’t even become stronger lmao, killed their master who was like a father figure to them and stole his master’s sword/strength) and how much poison he tries to inject into our Lotus, he can never kill it. Someone who has kindness and compassion for others will never lose even without the Wuxia context. Li Lianhua’s swordsmanship (少师 & 刎颈), his two swords, even till this day only belongs to him. I hate how much this jealousy could make him kill someone who was trying to find him… who thought he was dead…who bared the guilt of making him die…who hurt the most when he found out the truth: that his brother whom he loved was jealous of what he had — the skills — all along. There was no brotherly love, it was all fake and a facade.
I remember the quotes Li Lianhua mentioned:
“有人弃剑如遗 有的人终身不复
人和人的信念 总是有所不同的”
“Some will abandon their swords as if discarding a burden, while others never break their promise for a lifetime. People's beliefs are always different from one another.”
This means everyone is different, if one day you are tired holding the sword, then maybe this is a burden you are not able to carry. Li Lianhua wanted to start a brand new life and thus want to acknowledge Li Xiangyi is dead, his past life is over and now, only the lotus in his heart exists that is the real him.
I remember wanting to hug Hua Hua, and now this poison he had within him for 10 years will truly kill him in the end — the only medicine he gave to the emperor and now he is truly making the audience cry for him. But I am happy, even with the skills, his skills are unmatched and no one would be able to beat him. I guess in the beginning, he wanted to hide that it was poison and he trusted Di Fei Sheng (笛飞声) so he didn’t care if he was related to the one who gave him poison or what — he doesn’t care. If 笛飞声 wanted first place then he can have it — but I don’t think Fang Duo Bing (方多病) would be happy hahaha. Li Xiangyi is the number one in the audiences’ and his heart.
I guess the answer is, maybe Li Lianhua (莲花花) never wanted to live and after that incident 10 years ago, he has always blamed himself and now he’s free from that burden so perhaps dying is the best ending.
BUT….
That was originally what I think, yet the alternate ending made me think otherwise! I think Li Lianhua’s two buddies found him since I remember he said he didn't have anything to regret or miss — but now he does! He has two people who genuinely cares about him :) and would risk getting hurt to save him.
So maybe…. just maybe — he chose a secret ending — an ending we don't know because now his life is starting as the actual Li Lianhua. However, in the book's ending, he lost the normal mentality of a human being — and his two buddies are taking care of him while Di Fei Sheng help him get crabs to play hahaha. i love this show since it made me so happy when I was sad.
It’s a nice gift after I legally became an adult :)
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Masterpiece of a martial arts chinese drama
A wonderful heart warming series focused on heroism and the true spirit of the wuxia world. Let go of fame, power and the past. A great story with powerful acting, great action and flawless production. There's not much romance, but that's ok. The focus of the story is the solving of cases and bromance. The tropes are classic, but delivered so well. It's truly a one of a kind chinese drama. And as with many chinese dramas these days, the special episode is a must watch.I personally thought the ending was fitting and true to the main character. A must watch!
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Spectacular plot, unexpected twists, one of the best wuxia series there is (teeny spoilers)
Starting with the acting, we have ChengYi and Joseph, two actors who are absolutely perfect and acts out their roles to absolute perfection. ChengYi acts as the young LXY, and the older more mature LLH, the two personalities creating a stark contrast; Joseph as the young and vigorous 'kid' who dreams to be the greatest hero like LXY. Even ShunYao was great at being the cold and aloof, sometimes evil yet sometimes seemingly good-hearted DFS. The complex characters really add to the fun of the whole series.Then there's the evil characters. The multiple plot twists here was amazing! Some weren't entire shocking as there was quite a heavy foreshadowing of the twist since a few episodes before it actually happens, but it was still unexpected to say the least. And then the least expected twist happens and I just sat there with my mouth open. JianLiqiao is simply gorgeous, yet also insidious and down-right sinister, but yet I can't ignore her absolute loyalty for DFS up until a certain point.
The 'bromance' was something i had expected, but didn't really get, but I wasn't let down at all as I love the master-disciple relationship of LXY and FDB. They are just absolutely a hilarious and genius. The most bromance we can get is between LXY and DFS, really DFS's conflict of wanting to win yet keep LXY alive at all costs is just so sweet.
The fighting scenes are beautiful, and the OST is very nice and suiting to the theme of the series - heroes, brotherhood - wuxia.
The ending really made my cry buckets, it may not have ended on a happy note, but it is slightly open-ended, and I'm much more willing to interpret it in a happy way.
Spoiler incoming:
LXY is highly likely dead, and that is the most logically conclusion. But without a true ending, I can always assume that Heaven favours LXY, and send him a miracle cure. He can continue traversing the world as a different hidden identity, and he may never be found by FDB/DFS, or maybe he will. Nothing is for certain, and that is a much more hopeful ending that what is most likely the true ending of LXY.
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Most captivating c-drama ever!
This has easily become one of my most favourite c-drama ever! the story is very interesting and engaging,.the characters are well-written. the acting is superb, dialogues are attractive. costumes were very nice. the cases were cpmplicated and intriguing, with relevant significance and the pacing was juxt right. the female lead weren't your typical annoying and childish cdrama heroines, so that's another plus.
overall, will definitely watch it again and recommend it to everyone
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