The bond that ties us
Man, it’s been a wild ride for the gang. There’s been laughter, heartbreak, betrayal, more heartbreak, reunion & then finally happiness. If you’re expecting a fast paced drama or romance, this IS NOT for you. The cases are built slowly, which delves into the characters past & what made them do what they did. As the story goes, you’ll see how connected these cases are, which sometimes surprises me. This drama has been rollercoaster of emotions. You can never guess what’s coming next. We got Li Bing aka the cat & kind hearted Chen shi who came to shendu to look for his brother, but got involved in a case, which later led him into staying in the court judicial review by LB. The bond between LB & CS is soo adorable, LB can’t seem to let go of CS cos of how attached he’s grown of CS.This drama got everything you’ll want, from comedy,investigation, fantasy to martial arts. I’ve been watching this show soo many times, I’ve even lost count.
The members in the CJR share bonds & have proven countless times why they always stick together/ help each other out. The times LB left them out( he did it to protect them), they always helped him in their own way.
This is my first time watching Ryan ding’s drama & I gotta say, he’s really caught my attention with how expressive he is.
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CatMan and the Power of Friendship
Rated= 8~ 34/50 ~ 6.8RPG Scene // Mermaids laughing in the Flower Meadow. Swords not needed.
First things, first.
That CGI cat head, and paws, were ridiculous LOL White haired wigs can be tricky in these sorts of shows but I thought the ML looked really good in his. He has striking enough facial features to carry it well. I wish they had gone with that and some sort of Buffy style vampire prosthetic make up or something because, I was not a fan of the computer cat face LOL Heck, they gave the other guy fanged teeth. That ML actor, with the white wig, teeth and some face make up know how, and he would have looked gorgeous and I wouldn't have had to burst out laughing at the reveal each time LOL
They gave that beautiful face that flowing white hair because of 'shock' and then took it away from me. How dare they. How did he get his natural hair back even though his cat hair is style white? damn them. He should have at least kept the white hair.
Now that I've said that, this is an enjoyable series. Ridiculous and childish but fun. I feel like that may have been the point though. (E.g ML's slow-mo run away from his feelings) There was a lot of slap stick style humour. It was like a live action cartoon. Most of the comedy was very over acted and silly. People falling on floors. One of the character has a bad luck cloud, the overly dramatic one etc etc
The mysteries were good, I thought. I couldn't work them out. There were a few times were information was withheld or the ML just seemed to know randomly, but not too much. And most impressively, I couldn't work out the antagonist's motives either. I honestly couldn't figure him out and that doesn't happen often so touche. I was expecting the Empress to be involved considering her condition but she's never touched on. Also, our main female character is taken out of the plot for her safety and we don't see her again, not even at the end was a little disappointing.
I would also have liked to have heard of more of the lore that is the basis for the plot. How did our Cat God end up in the stone coffin? How long has he been there? I would have liked to have seen more of his story.
I had a hard time keeping up with names in this show. It was a show with so many characters as per usual with c-dramas but we mostly see the main group, which is fine. But when someone's name is constantly brought up and I've only seen their face a few times, it can make following the plot a little hard because I don't know who's being talked about lol
The whole plot is the standard, sieving through the powerful figure heads all the way to the top, but around that, there is a sweet and fluffy theme of friendship and the strengths of those bonds. Nothing too deep. Just simple honest communication with the people you care about.
Music and sets weren't bad but nothing too dramatic. We do spend a lot of time in the same places. I enjoyed the little dramatic singing snippets in the background of fight scenes.
Overall, I did enjoy this show for what it was. I laughed, I felt pity, I was intrigued and it had a sweet and fluffy ending to conclude. I didnt feel anything too deep or sad about this one. The 'big' death, and a second death, I had been expecting from about a third of the way into the series and the rest were the usual collateral damage.
My standard ratings are usually a 7 or an 8, I did have fun watching this but I'm not sure if I'd watch it again. There's a lot of cheese but I'm not sure if that was part of the humour or if it was just set up that way to keep things light hearted. And then there was the cat head, which I have mentioned. I think if I were to rewatch, it would be to just simply have something light hearted in the background.
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I miss these guys!!!
I enjoyed this story so much that I want more of these characters! I especially want more of the white cat and Chen Shi. I want to know what happened with Shangguan Qin and thePrince. I love Cui Bei and Sun Bao and Wang Qi. What happened with Qiu Qing Zhi…. 300 chars is too long without including spoilers. I loved seeing many familiar faces from other cdramas.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Good Casual Watch
After several starts and drops of various historical dramas, this one was finally able to keep my attention long enough to become invested. The first couple of episodes may be slightly off-putting but it does evolve well and the layer of corniness is part of its charm.Positives:
- There's a good blend of serious moments and light-heartedness/comedy.
- Most of the actors did a good job with their roles.
- The mystery aspect was decent as well as the action scenes but nothing to write home about.
- Almost no romance.
- A good series if you need a break from heavy politics and melodrama.
Negatives:
- The biggest negative for me was the ML (Ding Yu Xi). His acting became increasingly not believable and he only seemed to utilize 3-4 different facial expressions throughout the series. Unfortunate because this really brought the series down a few notches. (And this is already overlooking the extreme corniness to his cat-human form).
- The story takes a somewhat convoluted turn somewhere in the middle, and the flow became messier. It's as if they spend the first half working on the build-up and then just decided to throw everything that was necessary for the plot all in at once, just to be able to complete it.
- While I may able to overlook things like poor villagers suddenly being able to build a hot air balloon in almost no time at all, it was difficult to overlook the reactions to character deaths. There is almost a zero grieving period or any needed emphasis on the deaths of even relevant support characters. Providing flashbacks that doesn't trigger any emotes doesn't cut it, and the almost instantaneous leap to laughing and having a good time shortly thereafter was just not okay.
However, it is a good series that one doesn't need to take seriously and is good for a casual watch. Despite some significant negatives, it still did provide some actual laugh out loud moments.
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An intriguing mystery!
If u want a good investigative story with a heavy male lead..this is for you! I got hooked by the mysterious killings of a demon cat on the 1st episode and I've not regretted. I'm just waiting for the final episode to finish before I binge on it till the end.Great male cast as each character have their own unique personality! Looking forward in anticipation for the next few episodes.
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True menhua feel
Superb. What makes it different to other mystery dramas is the way the characters retain the comic book qualities in their acting, lending the series slightly goofy and a very uplifting vibe. It is so refreshing!! The fight scenes are pretty good and aplenty :) Loved Ding Yu Xi having fun with his cat impressions, nailed it - retained the kitty vibe instead of being too fearsome like a tiger or a lion. His friends and foes also got their characters spot on, the only one I feel a bit unsure of is Ren Min - her delivery was a bit flat, trying to come across as strict and uncompromising but with a good heart…. Alas the role didn’t work for her in this series. It is funny to see how many people got confused by this series, so used to standard wuxia / xianxia scripts, totally forgetting that this is manhua and unlike the usual series, it actually sticks to the comic book feel of things. Bravo 👏Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A story about true brotherhood, friendship and justice
How can you not like a plot like that? I'm even overwhelmed by how much I liked it. I couldn't stop watching.It touched my heart.The story is so mysterious, funny and exciting.
6 totally different man with different abilities find a way to work together and try to solve the ongoing events. Working out theories while investigating lots of murder cases, is what makes the story so exciting.You find yourself in the middle of all of it, theorizing, planing and trying to solve the cases.
Antagonists happen to come along the way a lot. The one lasting antagonist seems to be General Qiu Qing Zhi, who once was best friends with Li Bing. You ask yourself what events must have happened that a childhood friendship like Li Bings and Qiu Qing Zhis didn't last.
Lots of things that happened in the past of those 7 man find their way up to the current time. After exposing many things, you can see a red thread winding through the cases, each charactare exposing more of their past.
The whole series was so exciting though it started a little bit slow. The music is very good, the actors are really great.
I absolutely recommend this show, I never skipped a scene.
Absolutely worthy watching it!
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Refreshing Twist for a Historical Series
Bravo! This series conquered 2024 for Period/Comedy/Mystery/Fantasy drama series for me so far.Ding Yu Xi truly can shed tears tears with no qualms. Feng Man, WA Er, Zhang Yi Cong carried the comedic part well. Ding Jia Wen, Zhou Qi, Wei Zhe Ming, Ren Min, ang He Feng Tian eloquently played their characters. The rest of support actors did their parts well contributing to an adorable fantasy, period drama.
Most period drama seems to include romance to hike up ratings so I get more enthusiastic with series that did well without it. I am biased to mystery, period and fantasy series so having them all minus romance made ecstatic.
My only disappointment is not adding VM Shengguan (Ren Min) back towards the end.
Entire production did well with the scene sets, wardrobes, and props. Fight choreographies were done and executed well.
I watched this in iQIYI as a paid subscriber.
I highly recommend this series.
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This review may contain spoilers
Must watch!!!!!!
This is one of the best drama I ever watched. Also I can it's my first suspense, crime, thriller, investigation genre I watched. I have been never into these genre and I could never complete the series due to lack of interest. But this is different. I m so glad that I decided to watch it and I never regret it. The story, the characters, their acting, intro song, their foolishness their bravery everything is sooo awesome. General Qiu's death really made me emotional and cried. I already had instinct that qiu is good and never go against li bing. He should have lived. That's the sad part for me in this drama. Overall it's a must watch. U won't regret watching. Hope the directors bring moreee dramas like this rather than bringing romantic dramas. Friendship bromance dramas are sooooo good to watch and it touch u more than these romantic genres in my opinion.Was this review helpful to you?
?“Whiskers of Mystery: Unraveling the Enigma in ‘White Cat Legend’” ?
🥶😺White Cat Legend” follows the footsteps of YouKu’s “Judge Dee’s Mystery” and delivers an absolute joyride. The show boasts an intriguing mystery, adventure, and a dash of comic fantasy. Here’s why you should dive into this captivating drama:From the mysterious Li Bing to the sweet and naive Chen Shi, each character has their own charm. The handsome foreigner AliBaba (yes, I can’t help but think of “Alibaba & the Forty Thieves” every time I hear his name) and the overthinking Wang Qi add to the ensemble.
😴 The costumes and cinematography transport you to the past era. Keep an eye out for Li Bing’s cat form – the CGI is commendable!
😳 The mysterious killings by a demon cat in the first episode will hook you. It’s a mix of comedy, mystery, action, and case-solving, all wrapped in friendship.
🥵 The male-centric casting, with Ding Yu Xi as the selling point, makes this drama a must-watch for his fans.
🤯😋 With no dull moments, “White Cat Legend” keeps you eagerly waiting for each new episode.
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Bery good story and cast
I will be completely honest when I say I dropped this drama mid-episode 2 because of the really cheesy childish antics. But something told me to return to it and listening to my instincts and asking some people who kept watching, I did just that. And I'm very glad I did because this is one of those very few cdramas that actually got better with each episode especially after 5 or 6. So I'm very glad I trusted my instincts to finish watching. It was friendships formed through intertwined meow-stries. See what I did there? ;)Pros: At first it seemed each of the cases were separate but as you continued to watch, you understood they were all connected to the original case and story from three years back and LB losing his father to some unknown organization of mask wearing assassins and being turned into a cat. The story revolves around him and his group of subordinates (SB, WQ, CB, and Alibaba) in the CJR with an extra kid (CS) who becomes LB's little brother of sorts plus QQZ who used to be LB's childhood best friend but due to a misunderstanding those 3 years ago that is only really resolved in the second to last episode they appear on opposite sides. In reality QQZ infiltrated the organization that's trying to gain immortality through murder and to overthrow the Empress. Favorite character is hard because the main gang is great plus QQZ who I wish appeared in more episodes so they could have properly fleshed out his and LB's friendship. CS knew of LB being a cat first (not counting QQZ of course though he didn't know or ask for that to be done) and it didn't bother him and then towards the end when the others found out about it, they still stood by him calling him a "Cat Hero", which was so awesome.
The old fart society, though they were the main villains, you also had YZH who though started out just as helpless as anyone was fed to some demon cat but got the upper hand and became a demon cat himself, morphed into a sociopathic loony that killed people, turned LB into a cat, caused the domino effect that got LB's father murdered, and ultimately killed QQZ just for a stupid game in his own mind. Same went for CS's brother CJ aka Black Rakhasa who was the actual murderer of LB's father as he was hired by the old fart society because though he cared for his brother, after being bullied in Shendu, instead of helping others, he chose to be a predator. LZS got karma not once but twice; got killed once, brought back by the old fart society, used until he no longer was needed and killed by them for his blood. Whoopsie; now thats seriously cold karma.
This show had many layers that you had to peel back like an onion to understand. People did come back to life but none were immortal save for YZH and LB; though LB gave the only antidote to YZH as a deal for his testimony at the old fart society's trial which was before his own. QQZ wanted the antidote for LB and he essentially died for it. I did tear up because the way LB keened over QQZ as they finally made amends officially--though LB had long suspected that QQZ didn't really turn bad--just before he passed was only seen when he lost his father. When finding out just how much evidence QQZ had found out on his own even before LB's father was killed and his father knew QQZ had successfully infiltrated but didn't tell LB. Maybe if he did, then their misunderstanding wouldn't have happened upon his murder; LB was very smart even back then and he would have left him alone.
But in the end it was CS who saved LB and the gang; the kid that started out illiterate and very naive, brought the city folk together to save his best friends through the haunting final words of the now gone QQZ copied hundreds of times and distributed to the people of the city.
Wow, I feel like I've fallen back into the story. Let's move on. The costumes (save maybe the Walmart wigs and beards of the foreigners from Alibaba's country), OSTs, scenery, fight scenes were really great, plus appropriate comedy was all very nice and fit everything.
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What I like-
1. Ryan Ding is the only actor who could portray Li Bing for me. He brought an adorable charm to the part. His subtle cat gestures showed great attention to detail. I could see all the efforts he had put into this drama.
2. Their friendships were the highlight of the drama. Their trust and support for each other were so beautifully portrayed. I never knew this type of drama could make me cry!
3. Loved that they didn't force any romance because that would have been weird.
4. The comedic timing was always great especially Alibaba’s.
5. The twist with all the cases connecting to the major one and with Li Bing’s secret was amazing. The pacing of the drama started slow but picked up when all the cases connected.
6. All the them calling Li Bing “Cat Hero” after learning his identity was so funny. A lot better than Chen Shi’s reaction.
What I didn't like-
1. Chen Shi’s character was so poorly written. He was naive and trusted people too easily even after going through so many deadly situations. His character was only written for the brother part. They only showed his character development in the very last few episodes.
2. Shangguan Qin was a strong female lead in this drama but her screen time became less and less and by episode twenty or something she was completely moved out of the story. I wanted a better ending for her.
3. Qui Qing Zhi was shown as a negative character from the start then we came to know that he was doing all that to protect Li Bing. Does it make sense? He had so many choices but he chose the worst one and ruined his friendship with Li Bing. If he could've told him sooner about his plans, Li Bing would've understood. And if that wasn't enough they had to kill him in front of Li Bing.
I would definitely recommend this drama even after all the flaws because it has a bit of everything. Comedy, Mystery, Strong Characters, Friendships and Action.
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