Nancheng Banquet

Waste of a Good Female Lead

This drama had a great start, featuring a highly skilled female assassin as the FL, paired against a highly intelligent, also incredibly skilled Commander of the Qianyuwei (elite guards). Even if it had all the usual tropes, it could have been an enjoyable watch.

Unfortunately, the screenwriter took the amnesia trope and stretched it out for far too long. Literally from part of ep 1 to over 4/5 of the show, our amazing, smart FL was dumbed down to a silly, whiny, clingy brat. To add salt to our injury, the show even had to use an irritating child-like voice for her voice. Occasionally, we can see her subconscious act out and we see her true skills but for the most part, she was just plain annoying. They tried to show that even in the dumbed-down state, she was still smart but it was all mostly petty tricks or some glib excuses to get out of trouble. Honestly I still don't get how the ML would even fall for someone like that.

Speaking of the ML, he was the typical cold, stoned-face Commander who often chose noble idiocy, pushing the FL away for her own good. On a few occasions, he would return her affections (especially when she showed signs of wanting to let go of him) and he would pull her back, only to push her away again. Then all of a sudden, he decided that he cannot lose her after a certain discovery. That left a bad taste in my mouth since he did not think she was worth fighting for before his discovery.

The great visuals kept me hanging on. Wang You Shuo and Zhao Zhao Yi are gorgeous to look at and they had good chemistry with each other. Since this was a filler show for me anyway, I was able to ignore the ridiculous dialogue and silly behavior. Their acting was fine, nothing stellar but that was due to the limitations of their characters. The other characters did not leave a strong impression,

I did like the costumes, setting and the OST. The last few episodes were better as the FL regained her memories which is why I did not rate this lower. It is too bad though since these episodes also showed how much better the drama could have been,

Overall, I would not recommend it though unless like me, you just want to look at eye candy and not think about anything else.

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OK watch if you are fan of ML or FL

Mediocre fluffy drama enjoyable to watch on the side. It's low budget but If you like actress Zhao Zhao Yi from Romance of Hua Rong, you might enjoy this drama. The FL is not standard pretty but she's a much better suited for these cross-dressing characters. 1. She's taller & 2. She's not as ideal Chinese beauty & 3. She's not skeleton skinny. Of course, it is still not believable, but she is playing an Eunuch so kind of ok. She's also better at delivering the silly comedy lines so a great choice for this type of drama.

Expect the usual cliches:
Memory loss
Early years encounter
Piggyback ride
Disappearing Kung Fu

Enjoyable Fluff until mid-way when you realized that smart female assassin with lost memory NEVER had any character development. She's been basically reduced to a lovesick bimbo. WASTED potential.

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Great actors, Terrible script!

I had such high hopes for this drama, I love the ML ever since I saw him in his other drama (The Inextricable Destiny) and I love the FL from The Romance of Hua Rong.

They literally took a badass, assassin FL and turned her into the most useless FL? And that whole plot with the Emperor was odd... I swear I have never seen a Cdrama Historical with such a useless Emperor? LOL it was funny but weird.

The ending was happy and okay but I literally fast forwarded through the last 10 episodes because it felt so boring.

Would I watch this again? Hell no! Do I blame the script? HELL YES! They took two phenomenal actors and gave them a horrible script to follow!

It wasn't so bad to the point where I dropped it, I honestly only finished it to see if it was worth it and it is really not worth time at all!

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Poorly Written

This story was very poorly written. I completely fault the writers on this one. This story had potential to be better but fell flat.

The Good

The one saving grace was it had a little comedy that made me stick through it. The OST was also decent.

The Bad

Predictable plot, basic character setup with cold ML hiding his identity, lovesick ditzy FL, Emperor who is a dunce, jealous 2nd FL, corrupt ministers who get away with everything and Empress Dowager who only cares about power and image at the risk of selling her soul. This show had all the makings of every other basic, predictable setup along with many unlikeable characters, unnecessary misunderstandings and situations that defy logic. There was nothing different and was easy to guess what would happen. There was absolutely no character development in this story. Everyone was just going around in the circle making the same mistakes over and over.

I almost think the rating I’m giving it may be too generous but the actors did their best for what they had to work with. I’ve seen ML and FL in better projects. Hope they will all get something better for their next go round.

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Nancheng Banquet (2024) is a very good romantic comedy with Wang You Shuo (as Yan Chang Yun / Qin Yan) and Zhao Zhao Yi (as Fu Xiao / Xiao Qiang Zi) in the leading couple’s role. The cast did a great job bringing their characters to life, the lead couple has very good chemistry and their facial expression are great. There is a good amount of well choreograph action and the comedy part of the drama is refreshing and funny. SPOILER: Some viewers have criticized the character changed of the female lead post amnesia but it was a well used cliché in order to have the nice development to the main lead’s romance story and the well played comedic moments.(End of Spoiler) A lot of praise must be given to Xia Ning Jun who played Zhao Yuan who could play both the buffoon and the insightful Emperor with great finesse. The antagonists were wonderful on their roles and Ying Hao Ming, aka Hanson Ying, did a superb job as the main antagonist Xiao Quan [Empress' brother]. I could go on with the great performances but I will ended by saying that did drama was very well casted. Overall, this drama is very entertaining, enjoy it!
This drama can be found on viki.com

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could've been great

I really don't have much to say about this show. I was interested from the opening scenes to see real badass action from the FL & was prepared for what should've been a great story. Unfortunately, after an injury which leaves her with amnesia, she turns into just another silly & helpless FL in a conventional costume romance for 90% of the show. Not until she regains her memory in the final 2 episodes does she do anything of consequence & showcase those action skills once more. It could've been a great show, all the elements were there, but too bad so much of it was dumbed down.

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Except for the whining of the main female character (which was almost unbearable by episode 18--way too long), the rest of the story and the actors worked. Wang You Shuo, as always plays his role perfectly (which he's done numerous times, but I never tire of). He gradually and smoothly goes from villain to good guy, doing so in a manner that is credible. As many have said, it's a shame that the lead actress, who is new to me, but I felt could probably have played the role differently if written to do so, would have been so much better keeping some of her confident, warrior attitude earlier and throughout the show. I'm glad I finished it, because after watching the first episode and stopping for a couple of months before picking it back up, I didn't think I'd come back to watch it.

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Smart female assasin that acted stupidly

My first chinese drama and I am quite satisfied. It is not bad, but not great. I will tell you one by one.
1. The idea is interesting, but the story is not very convincing.
2. The female lead is used to be a smart girl, but after lose her memory she acted stupidly several times. This is really annoying.
3. Why the male lead is alive even after getting stabbed several times?
4. To be honest, I dont mint with the stupid king. Just put your brain on rest while watching.
5. Some of scenes are super hilarious.

Overall, I like this drama. It is entertaining.

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