Legend of the Female General

A Poetic Script and Top Tier Acting

First, I need to mention that the script was beautiful. He Yan’s moon line when they danced, Xiao Jue’s confession to He Yan when he found out how she feels about him, and Xiao Jue telling the royals and officials how he feels about He Yan.. beautiful and so well-written. I myself was swooned and repeated those scenes multiple times.

Unfortunately, if not for the poor execution, this drama could’ve been perfect. As a start, I don’t know why they named it Legend of the Female General. Throughout the story, the ‘female general’ was not spoken of, as everyone knew the General Feihong as He Rufei, a man. I guess, this title could’ve worked after it is known that General Feihong was He Yan, a woman, which does not get revealed to the world until later in the series.

Second, I wonder how He Yan managed to hide her identity as a woman back when she was General Feihong but have it be discovered easily and quickly when she entered Yezhou Garrison. Also, I love Zhou Ye for the role but her built was so feminine. The shoulders, waist, everything was definitely not a man’s. Not to mention, I question how there were times Xiao Jue saw He Yan in a mask yet did not seem to have any suspicion that she is He Rufei, or at least looked like him. I wish the producers and director could’ve executed this better.

Despite the poor execution, the actors did really well at portraying their roles, especially Cheng Lei. Cheng Lei stole the spotlight. His built is definitely made for general roles so in this sense, he was perfect to act as Xiao Jue. Moreover, his facial expressions are a masterpiece. His ability to act out emotions just through his gaze was amazing. We could clearly see whether he’s suspicious, concerned, jealous, in love, just through his eyes. We could also see the change in his feelings towards He Yan through his eyes. Also, his lowkey corner of the mouth smile towards He Yan.. lovely. I immediately fell in love and became his hardcore fan after watching him in this drama.

Zhou Ye also did a really great job at her role. Although the execution, could’ve been improved either through the story, makeup, etc, it’s a fact that Zhou Ye was great in acting out He Yan as an independent, tough, ambitious, patriotic, female general. Her chemistry and visuals were perfectly paired with Cheng Lei. I have to admit that I ship them so much proven by how I’ve rewatched this drama multiple times just to see their scenes and hear the lines in this drama. I hope they get to work on another project as main leads with a happy ending.

In terms of story, it was definitely entertaining to me. It mainly focuses on love, justice, and revenge, packed in a light tone so it was an ‘easy watch’. However, throughout the drama, we can obviously see scenes being cut that affected the flow of the story and taken away that extra ‘spice’. Furthermore, I was so annoyed by the last few episodes. They could've just given us more happy scenes instead of forcing that one crazy conflict, but on second thought, I guess it’s necessary to show the kind of love He Yan and Xiao Jue have for each other, as well as their responsibilities as Generals.

Despite the things that I think could be improved, this drama is definitely one of my favorites thanks to Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye, as well as the script.

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A story of rebirth of general Feihong and her moon accompanying her through the journey

I have been a fan of Zhou Ye since I watched her series Back from the Brink that came out in 2023. Have been following her since then. I still remember back in 2023, the first time I heard about this drama was because ZY was rumored to be the lead in this drama. The story line interested me and I started keeping tabs. Eventually, Zhou Ye and Ryan Cheng were confirmed to be the leads and the filming started which brought in some beautiful reuters. But then the third lead got into a scandal and the release kept on getting delayed. Fast forward to 2025 the drama finally confirmed its release date.
I have always been a fan of dramas with strong female leads. Personally for me this drama does have some flaws and some illogical scenes but overall I would say it is a good drama.
Here is my opinion and some advice for people contemplating to watch it.
1. If you are expecting a female lead who is scheming, ruthless and blood thirsty for revenge, then this will not be your cup of tea. The female lead has been wronged by her family and had her identity as a mighty general stolen. So she starts over again to gradually get back what she lost. Since she is starting from scratch, she is a carefree and bubbly soldier in the initial episodes who is no longer shouldering the responsibility of a general. But once, battle starts she is again back to her fierce fighter mode. I personally liked all the fight/battle scenes. Sometimes they felt short but other than that they were extremely well executed.
2. The chemistry between the leads was insane. This drama has some of the best romantic scenes especially the way they profess their love to each other. Our male lead is not someone who says a lot in general and appears cold, but he expresses everything through his actions. Need Ryan Cheng and Zhou Ye in a modern drama please.
3. The Overall storyline is good but then to me it felt like they failed to pay attention to details. Like in some scenes, it failed to deliver the emotion it intended to, just because the build up was not proper. To some extent, I would try to excuse that given all the scandal, delays and all the scenes they had to cut. Not to mention Chinese censorship banned a lot of things like rebirth to be shown in the drama.
4. One thing i would like to mention is how the second male lead, Chu Zhao could have been portrayed in a better way. Although I did not dislike him cause we got to see a few cute jealous moments , he was already very complex from the start but it took a darker side especially in the last 3 episodes.

Anyway in the end I would say since this drama had an insane hype, different people would have different expectation from the drama. But in the end it is hard to satisfy from every aspect. So if you like good fighting scenes, good chemistry and a strong yet bubbly female lead, I would recommend giving it a try.

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Not overrated, really good. ;) ♡

Many bad critical reviews, but I think the high rating of this drama and mostly good comments in the comment section speak for themselves.
I love both Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei, and I think they made a really great job portraying their characters. Somehow despite so many fighting scenes Cheng Lei managed to show his soft and gentle side with Zhou Ye( behind the mask of cold general. )
Beautiful leads, good acting, great chemistry, beautifully filmed combat scenes, beautiful costumes, good script, great production and rewarch value overall by my opinion.
Even though Zhou Ye is a thin and graceful girl she looked not less impressive in combat scenes than Cheng Lei.
A Story about Hetoism, Loyalty, True friendship, Love, Betrayal, Patriotism.
Family what is it? Is it a place where you are born, or people who surround you from childhood? or family are the people who understand you, care for you and support you most throughout your life?
This drama is about past, but you can see similar things in modern world too. When people in struggle for power don't see how ugly their soul becomes when they use wrong means to achieve their goals.
But the truth is that as long as Heroes and benevolent fearless souls exist there will always be justice and Light, and good will always triumph.
Heroes and true Love can be reckless sometimes risking their lives and everything they have for the right cause. But no matter if their end is happy or tragic, at least they don't live in vain. To follow your heart always, and to live according to your beautiful values no matter what, is the only beautiful, worthy and dignified way of existing.

Dont miss this coz of wrong opinions.
Everyone has their own perception of Beauty and values.
Try it, and make your own opinion. 😉

😚🩵🪽

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it had potential, but...

Well, the story had potential. If you disregard the utter sht of the 2nd "half", and if you get rid of all that useless stuff (thats almost half of it :) ) from the rest.... maybe. So basically good idea, poor execution. The first couple of episodes really looked like something ok, but then : plot devices, plot contrivances, plot holes. Yeah, yeah, its a drama, I shouldn't expect much. I didn't and it still disappointed. Even the fact that the character has inner monologues got replaced with the annoying trope of talking outloud for themselves. Actually there are lots of tropes (even the one where the dying characters get a 1min "last breath" so that they hate time to say something "meaningful". *sigh*
Moving on, the acting is meh. Yeah, sure, there's chemistry between some of the characters and thats making it feel more "real", but most of the times is just meh. Also, the continuously expo-dump didn't help in making them more "natural".
Long story short: its a meh drama. You might enjoy it for a bit, but it is overly long when it didn't needed to be. And it feels even longer because of the non-sense fluff inserted. And then it gets boring.
It gets a rating of 4 for the tiny pieces of good story, some good acting, some decent cinematography.
Have a nice evening.

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It all comes down to one issue - Writing

Classic case of things happening because of the plot, not plot happening because of the things.
It's still very addicting watch, but not in "savor every minut" but more like "being strung along" kind of way.
Even the most tolerant of viewers would have trouble to suspense their disbelief all the way through.
Feeling a bit disappointed I grabbed the book it's based on, and wow, now I'm really disappointed. It was an amazing read. I couldn't put it down.
I was thinking of picking this drama back again after I finish the book, just for the romance and battles parts, but I can't make myself watch it now.
Now everything seams wrong. Casting, scenes, lines, everything looks like the worst possible choice.
They removed part where she died and woke up in the body of a different girl. Because of that, the story in drama makes unfathomable leaps to patch itself up. I cannot understand why some of the mediocre scenes were copied 1:1 but the very powerful ones, like their meeting at the temple on the mountain, where she tries to hung herself, was change beyond recognition and personally for me didn't have any impact. And it was placed at the beginning, when I didn't even understood what it was about. Before reading the book it was confusing, now it feels like such a waste.
This sentiment applies to the entire production. Before reading the book - confusing and cringy, after reading it - well, just a waste of amazing reading material. More so with such an amazing fighting scenes in drama. I would love to see them all, if only I could bare to taint my reading experience with the rest of it.
Shame.

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The Cringe Romance of A Self Proclaimed Female General (Can't Be A Legend With Such Poor Skills)

The title of the drama itself is misleading. The title promised to be a dark military drama promoting women empowerment, but instead it delivered an underwhelming romance drama of the suppossed to be Female General. The story is lacking in many senses, and even the excuse of the scene cut by censors cannot save it. The entire cast seemed to have delivered the worst performance of their entire career. None of them was convincing at all. All of their emotion seemed superficial. The biggest negative point is the FL herself, who can't act. Sorry to say, the FL did not look like a general to me from any angle. She is supposed to be a general, but she was only doing stunts in fancy costumes while delivering empty, big speeches about women's empowerment. There is no coherence in the character of the FL. As a general who is well-versed in warfare, FL should be proficient in making strategies that show her brilliance. But all those nice scenes from the novel were NOT in the drama. Nor is there any character development of both the ML & FL. While it gets a bit better in the middle but gets completely ruined at the end due to the writer's obsession with the 2ML. The 2ML had better character growth in the drama. The overdose of the 2ML ruined the drama for me. The original novel was so nice and beautiful, which was utterly ruined by poor script, acting and direction. As a viewer, I could not connect emotionally to any of the cheracters especially the FL's. The show is seriously overhyped in my opinion.

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Strong Leads Saves a Flawed Story

This historical romance starts with great promise but doesn't quite reach its full potential. Our female lead begins as a fierce warrior with an interesting backstory, but her character development gets overshadowed by convenient plot devices and rescue scenarios that undermine her strength.

The romance between the leads is the true highlight. Their chemistry lights up the screen, and their journey from reluctant allies to devoted lovers provides the most enjoyable moments. The actors deliver their emotional scenes perfectly, making you truly care about their relationship.

However, you should know that the story can be a little messy. Some parts don't make perfect sense, and you might find yourself thinking, "Wait, how did that happen?" a few times. The ending also feels a bit rushed, and some side characters don’t get enough screen time to feel important.

Where the drama falters is in its uneven pacing and plot structure. Early episodes build an exciting foundation, but later ones rush through important developments while lingering on less significant ones. Some characters appear and disappear without proper development, while others face sudden fate changes that feel more shocking than meaningful.

The production values deserve praise - beautiful costumes, impressive battle choreography, and a lovely soundtrack enhance the viewing experience.

For fans of historical romance with court intrigue and military elements, this is still worth watching for the central love story and strong performances, even if the overall narrative could have been tighter.

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Disappointed

Legend of the Female General is a competent wuxia drama that does a great job utilizing the cross dressing trope.

The FL of this story is a resilient and tenacious juggernaut who really does an amazing job of holding this drama together.

Zhou Ye was a phenomenal casting choice who brought an arresting androgynous vibe to her role as a man and subtle but unyielding femininity as a woman. I can't think of anyone taking her place. She along with Bai Shu were definitely my favorite to watch on screen. I don't care how rotten his role may be, Bai Shu can do no wrong.

I really liked all of the cast, most of the characters were distinct and memorable. I really cared for everyone, even the side characters.

All of the technical aspects were mostly on point. The music was great, both the sung tracks and the bg ost did a lot to add to the ambiance.

I LOVED the costumes, I don't know much about historical accuracy, but everything fit so well and looked good! There were multiple times that I paused to look at the way a sleeve fell, or the crisp layers of a collar… I can tell that the costumes were made to fit each main actor pretty well.

Though I wasn't always a fan of the cinematography, I did quite enjoy the martial arts choreography. The way that moves would be executed and filmed were absolutely amazing! There were so many cool moments that I found myself replaying over and over. I don't think I've liked fight choreography this much since I watched Blood of Youth.

Okay so the plot…

This show is good (just good) for the first 20ish episodes. Things start going downhill fast after that. Once we reach that point the pacing gets thrown off even more and moves at a breakneck speed just so it can tie things up.

The beginning tested the limits of my suspension of disbelief, but it was still fun and engaging. There were multiple points of tension that had the potential to pay off in a satisfactory way. Once we get to the parts that should relieve our tension and resolve our expectations, they're dealt with in the most nonchalant way.

This show hinges basically on one villain who looms over every evil happening like a curse. If something bad happened then it's his fault, and even if it wasn't his fault he still has something to do with it and benefited from it. I felt that this conflict was boring and predictable at times. Characters blame him so often that he might as well be the devil… Yet the show resolves his tension point before the final episodes and instead decided to add another villain to raise the stakes.

Because of this switch we have multiple stupid things happen because multiple characters lose their brains.

I think that the 40 episode limit is one of the worst things to happen to costume dramas, the length limits have some people speed running the story. I imagine that if this show had 50-60 episodes then we could have dedicated more time to seeing how our FL became who she was and invested more time into her struggle to survive and excel. We don't know about her connections to anyone other than a quick catch up at the START of the show.

At the start of the show they had flashbacks to her younger years that tried to give you more backstory but they are abruptly dropped after only a handful of episodes. It was frustrating to basically watch the show blind with no investment in her past struggles and connections.

It's not a deal breaker but I never felt that this show was a real political drama, the one note villains and the ease with which everything is resolved is baffling. Everything felt a little shallow, the conflict, the social commentary, and even the comedy at times.

I genuinely started laughing when they started speed running the entire point of My Dearest's drama during the Rundu arc. That drama had 21 1+ hour episodes and STILL couldn't fully get its message across but this show attempts the same in 3 30 min episodes. 😭

The romance was a good slow burn that did a lot of lifting to keep me engaged. Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei are true talents who build up their love in a steady and satisfying way… Until the end.

I would recommend this, and I do see myself watching this show again. Still not LLTG, I need someone to save me.

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Dramatic Battle Scenes, Nice Romance, Epic Failure to End Satisfactorily

The cast, leads' chemistry, costumes, and OST were good. The story kept me invested most of the time. I loved the FL. She had an admirable character, and Zhou Ye played her well. Kudos to Ryan Cheng who had the best adoring looks as the ML.

Nitpicks:
1. I'm all about female empowerment, but some of the speeches got too preachy. People accept points of view more readily when they are attractively and subtly presented, not when they are bludgeoned repeatedly with them.
2. The death of Yan He was telegraphed so hard in advance that it became a cheap and needless death.
3. Chu Zhao's character was a large part of the story, but his ending felt rushed and squandered. What a waste. He could have been an amazing villain or a compassionate leader after a redemption arc, but his character fizzled out.
4. If He Yan grew up as a boy and became a fierce general, she wouldn't have acted so timidly or cutesy, like hiding behind Xiao Jue while grasping him for protection. It would have been engrained in her to act masculine at all times, for fear of blowing her cover and losing her life.
5. During battle scenes, it's probably dangerous to seek out your loved one for a moony-eyed heart-to-heart talk or to sit and cry because you think your partner is dead when war is raging all around. Thankfully, the enemy respected that lovers need a break from battle and didn't skewer them with a spear. What is that? A love time out? A battle break?
6. No one noticed General Fei Hong shrunk overnight when He Ru Fei took He Yan's place? No one noticed the voice change? Or her delicate hands became manly? She was tiny, and he was average male sized. Major plot hole! I could suspend belief that beautiful He Yan was accepted as a male (not really, but I tried very hard!), but this was impossible to fathom.

Neither here nor there, but I don't believe I've ever watched a drama that smashed so much pottery to convey surprise, anger, and an utter disdain for the props budget. The director obviously loved the splash and crash of a smashed dish filled with liquid.

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biggest Ragebait of 2026

My Review of The Legendary Female General

I genuinely tried to write this review as objectively as possible and not let my emotions take over. However, after finishing this drama, I have to admit that this became extremely difficult because of some writing decisions that I struggled to understand.

Before getting into my criticism, I want to say that this drama had many things I genuinely enjoyed, especially during the first part of the story.

- Characters (Until Episode 34)

Until around Episode 34, I actually enjoyed many aspects of this drama.

He Feihong was one of the strongest parts. The actress did a great job portraying a woman who had to disguise herself as a man and survive in a military environment. Some viewers criticized that she occasionally behaved too much like a woman despite her disguise, but personally, I never saw that as a major issue. She is still a woman, and those softer moments made her feel more human.

Her fighting style was impressive, and her chemistry with the male lead was one of the highlights. Their relationship felt natural, and the male lead himself was a believable and well-portrayed character.

The young recruits were also enjoyable because their friendship, loyalty, and teamwork created a good military atmosphere.

I also liked Chu, He Rufei, and Grand Chancellor Xu during most of the story. Until Episode 34, the characters generally had understandable motivations and felt well-written.

- Story (Until Episode 34)

The story was also very interesting in the first part of the drama.

Grand Chancellor Xu was a fascinating antagonist because his ideology was not completely unreasonable. His belief that some generals pursue war for glory, wealth, and personal achievements instead of only protecting their country was actually understandable.

Military success could change someone’s entire social position, allowing people without noble backgrounds to gain status and influence. His idea that generals should exist mainly to protect the country during times of crisis instead of constantly seeking war was a strong concept.

Ordinary citizens are usually the ones who suffer the most from endless conflicts. Families lose their children, taxes increase, and injured soldiers often return without enough support.

His vision of replacing endless conflict with diplomacy, cooperation, and trade was one of the strongest political ideas in the drama.

The tragedy of his character was that his methods destroyed his own ideals. He wanted to save people, but he was willing to sacrifice those same people to achieve his goals. That contradiction made him an interesting antagonist.

He Rufei was also a good rival because his jealousy and desire to take Feihong’s achievements slowly consumed him.

- The Battles:

The battles were another enjoyable part of the drama.

Compared to many other C-dramas, the military conflicts included actual strategy. Using tactics like collecting enemy arrows with straw figures and destroying supplies created memorable moments.

However, some strategies still had logical problems. The enemy should have noticed much earlier what was happening, especially with the arrow collection plan. It was difficult to believe that thousands of arrows could disappear repeatedly without anyone questioning it.

I also appreciated that the drama addressed historical issues involving women who suffered violence and were unfairly treated by society afterward. Showing these women regaining their dignity was an important part of the story.

- The Love Triangle:

This is where my biggest frustration begins.

Why do C-dramas always feel the need to force unnecessary love triangles into stories that already work perfectly without them?

The main couple was already great. Feihong and the male lead had excellent chemistry, their relationship felt natural, and I genuinely enjoyed watching them together.

I can understand why Chu developed feelings for Feihong. She is a strong and admirable person, so his feelings were understandable.

But the problem is what happened afterward.

Why do writers always make characters lose all common sense in the final episodes and become completely obsessed with the female lead?

A character can be loyal, reasonable, and well-written for most of the story, but once romance becomes involved, they suddenly abandon their personality and become someone completely different.

I would have preferred if Chu simply accepted that Feihong already loved someone else, wished them happiness, and moved on.

Instead, the story treats the female lead as if she is the only woman who exists and every man must fall in love with her.

And once again, another female character suffers because of this unnecessary love triangle.

This time, it was Ying Xiang.

I genuinely liked her. She was intelligent, brave, loyal, and always supported Chu. She was not just a side character waiting to be replaced.

She was a strong character herself and honestly not inferior to Feihong.

But the story ignored her because it wanted more emotional drama.

And then they killed her.

I honestly do not understand how we are supposed to believe that a loyal spy and trained assassin dies because she gets stabbed directly by someone with almost no experience.

Ying Xiang deserved a meaningful ending, not a forced death just to create drama.

This is exactly why these love triangles are so frustrating. They do not improve the story; they destroy characters who deserved much better.

- The Mingshui Situation:

The moment where I completely lost track of the story was around Episode 35 with the Mingshui conflict.

I genuinely do not know if I misunderstood something, if the subtitles were inaccurate, or if the story simply became confusing.

From the beginning, I understood that the male lead wanted to reclaim Mingshui because his father lost the city and died there. Restoring his father’s honor was one of his main motivations.

But until the end of the drama, I never saw him actually reclaim the city.

Then suddenly, the story announces that Mingshui and another border city are under attack.

I was completely confused.

Wasn’t Mingshui the city he was supposed to take back?

When did that happen?

For such an important storyline, the explanation felt extremely unclear. Instead of feeling like an exciting military conflict, it felt like something was missing.

- Character Development:

The final episodes damaged several characters, especially Chu and the Emperor.

Chu’s downfall speaks for itself. A character who was once loyal and reasonable became someone completely different because the story needed more conflict.

The Emperor was another major disappointment.

The male and female leads protected him from political conspiracies, saved his position, exposed enemies, and prevented Grand Chancellor Xu from successfully taking control.

Without them, he would have lost everything.

Yet after everything they did for him, he suddenly stopped trusting them, interfered with their marriage, and treated his most loyal generals differently.

His decisions felt extremely frustrating and difficult to understand.

- Final Thoughts:

Overall, The Legendary Female General was a drama with a lot of potential. The characters, battles, and political ideas gave it many strong moments, especially during the first 34 episodes.

Unfortunately, the forced love triangle, inconsistent character development, and confusing final parts prevented it from reaching its full potential. My disappointment comes from the fact that the drama had many great elements, but the writing choices in the later episodes damaged much of what was built before.

I still appreciate the work of the actors and the enjoyable moments this drama provided.

Thank you for reading my review. I would love to hear your thoughts and whether your experience with this drama was similar or completely different from mine.

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Is this what a strong female lead is supposed to be?

I really don't understand the good reviews ??

The marketing for this was a total bait-and-switch. The FL was the most annoying thing on the planet! every time she said the word "DUDU," it made my skin crawl. Why was she acting like a lovestruck teenager when she was supposed to be a tough man? It’s impossible to believe anyone would fall for her disguise when she makes zero effort to be suspicious-free.

The way the ML found out her secret was ridiculous. There is no way in hell he could have felt her breasts while they were riding a horse like that. On top of the bad logic, the ML was bland, boring, and had zero personality. I didn't care about him at all. The actor also genuinely didn't impress me here.

The story was supposedly about vengeance ( or was it ??) , but the FL was so grating that I lost the plot entirely. I had to skip most of the drama just to finish it. It’s a shame because the poster makes her look badass, but the character is just a joke. To the creators: please, never make a "strong" female character like this ever again. Definitely a shitty drama.

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