Guys, I don't get something. is it like a trainee competition or just singers advising singers? Or sth else?
It's established singers (very well known in CPop usually) who duet with each other while singing rearranged versions of very popular songs.
The other singers and judges will comment, but usually less for teaching and usually just in regards to the creative direction of how the song was performed.
There are 12 singers each episode, 6 pairs. Each of the 6 pairs goes head to head with another one and judges decides which is better. At the end, 1 final winner is selected from the 3 previous winners.
At the end, they have 1 "mystery singer", who is not well known to sing live shows. However, sometimes they can be extremely popular online/douyin artists who have just never shown their face or performed live. For example, LBI and en have performed in this slot.
There's nothing to get. It's either you like it or not. I found Youthful Glory to be very mediocre.
Youthful glory had a decent (but not a unique) plot in my opinion, stronger villains, but weaker, less consistent characters, worse character development/growth, and worse production.
If you're the type to care less about multiple deeper main/side characters and want a faster moving plot, then I can see why you would enjoy youthful glory more.
If you're the type that thinks more fleshed out characters/relationships enhances the plot, then I can see why you would enjoy TPOB more.
She may seem powerless at the beginning because she is... she is put in a position where she is in enemy territory and has to fight for 2 different factions (sometimes opposing each other) to win.
However, because of her ability, she's able to succeed despite her difficult position/problem. One of the strongest female characters in cdrama (and without martial skills).
In the past, before TPOB, I might agree with you that this is where his strength lies. Based off of AJTL (his first historical ML role), I thought his weakness was romance development. He always had good line delivery, but his acting seemed to lag behind for romantic scenes. I will throw away SOPG because the script for the romantic part of the drama was pretty bad.
However, if you compare his acting from AJTL or Long Ballad specifically for tender moments/romance development with his performance in TPOB, he has massively improved. Not the best, but he is more than serviceable now, in my opinion.
After TPOB, along with his general singing/background story, I believe even more that he is just a fast improver.
Also, out of nowhere he became the best at intimate scenes lol. From dead fish kisses -> best kisses in CDrama in TPOB.
I prefer LYN over ZLH for Wei Shao, but not because ZLH is wooden, but that his anger/childishness/pettiness is too exaggerated. He wouldn't fit as well with this natural, slow-burn romance, in my opinion.
LYN did a fantastic job and continued to show fast improvement in acting skills in TPOB. He did a very convincing job of slowly falling in love with an enemy with initial glimpses of tenderness into full-on love and trust.
is this legit? or rumored cast? cause I haven't seen anything from liu yuning apprearing on this
Looks like it was announced in 2022 as a 2023 Tencent variety show with the intent to invite these cast members. Haven't seen any recent news that this is happening soon.
One of the best cdramas I've watched. There is a sad ending, but it's a somewhat "satisfying" one despite this. Highly recommended.
Almost everything about this drama is so strong: - ML/FL start as very strong and likable characters, but still grow a lot with the help of each other and side characters. They have no equals in terms of martial arts, but the story is well written so that it's not boring. - Side characters are also very, very strong. Despite there being at least 4-5 major side characters, they and their relationships with each other/MLs are well written. I really cared about all of them despite there being so many. Alan Feng's character and the princess are standouts in an exceptional group. The princess's development was masterfully done. - Main romance is not slow, but it is a natural/mature romance. Despite this, it's still fun because FL is very playful/forward and ML is a funny straight man complement. Their relationship grows like a real one from playful/teasing to communication/working on problems. You won't find manufactured misunderstandings here. However, you will also not find steamy, dramatic romance either. - World was interesting - both states involved had internal conflicts/competing factions + the spy/assassin organizations were written well. - Fight choreography is one of the best I've seen. FL looks so elegant/natural when doing ANYTHING. - Acting was great overall. - Like many OSTs, the music is very good. However, in my opinion, the timing of when music plays is better than most other dramas. I don't usually tear up ever, but I did for a few of the scenes in this drama (not just the sad parts).
Some average or weaker points: - Plot was interesting enough, but not exceptional. Villians didn't really feel dangerous until protagonists got a handicap. Didn't really matter though because so much focus was put into the characters/their relationships that this took center stage, regardless of what was happening with the plot. - Li Tongguan was often a catalyst for some of the events of the drama, but imo, was a weak/badly developed character, unfortunately. - Sad ending as an idea is fine but the lack of enough episodes meant that the execution wasn't great. They really, really built up the world/characters well so that everything was very meaningful, but they just didn't have time to properly wrap up the ending action. This could be because they did such a phenomenal job of building the characters and ran out of space for the end of the plot.
Great drama! For the most part, I enjoyed the plot and characters. The acting was great!
However...I didn't love the XW + JXN relationship. It didn't feel like it developed naturally. He was so aggressive/forceful, even when JXN was trying to reject his physical advances. It basically felt like she was held at gunpoint and forced to like him. He was also so controlling, and in my opinion, treated her like a possession to own.
How XW acted as a partner was also too different from his normally cool, calm, calculating personality. I get showing a different side of yourself (or your true self) to someone you love, but I had to suspend my disbelief when he pouted whenever any of the other guys were even near her.
The other singers and judges will comment, but usually less for teaching and usually just in regards to the creative direction of how the song was performed.
There are 12 singers each episode, 6 pairs. Each of the 6 pairs goes head to head with another one and judges decides which is better. At the end, 1 final winner is selected from the 3 previous winners.
At the end, they have 1 "mystery singer", who is not well known to sing live shows. However, sometimes they can be extremely popular online/douyin artists who have just never shown their face or performed live. For example, LBI and en have performed in this slot.
If you're the type to care less about multiple deeper main/side characters and want a faster moving plot, then I can see why you would enjoy youthful glory more.
If you're the type that thinks more fleshed out characters/relationships enhances the plot, then I can see why you would enjoy TPOB more.
However, because of her ability, she's able to succeed despite her difficult position/problem. One of the strongest female characters in cdrama (and without martial skills).
However, if you compare his acting from AJTL or Long Ballad specifically for tender moments/romance development with his performance in TPOB, he has massively improved. Not the best, but he is more than serviceable now, in my opinion.
After TPOB, along with his general singing/background story, I believe even more that he is just a fast improver.
Also, out of nowhere he became the best at intimate scenes lol. From dead fish kisses -> best kisses in CDrama in TPOB.
LYN did a fantastic job and continued to show fast improvement in acting skills in TPOB. He did a very convincing job of slowly falling in love with an enemy with initial glimpses of tenderness into full-on love and trust.
Translations come out a few days after the episode airs.
Source: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1748705549714797529
Be sure to watch Xiao Jun's dance after his performance with Lars (also amazing!). LYN/JZ song arrangement is not what you'd expect.
Almost everything about this drama is so strong:
- ML/FL start as very strong and likable characters, but still grow a lot with the help of each other and side characters. They have no equals in terms of martial arts, but the story is well written so that it's not boring.
- Side characters are also very, very strong. Despite there being at least 4-5 major side characters, they and their relationships with each other/MLs are well written. I really cared about all of them despite there being so many. Alan Feng's character and the princess are standouts in an exceptional group. The princess's development was masterfully done.
- Main romance is not slow, but it is a natural/mature romance. Despite this, it's still fun because FL is very playful/forward and ML is a funny straight man complement. Their relationship grows like a real one from playful/teasing to communication/working on problems. You won't find manufactured misunderstandings here. However, you will also not find steamy, dramatic romance either.
- World was interesting - both states involved had internal conflicts/competing factions + the spy/assassin organizations were written well.
- Fight choreography is one of the best I've seen. FL looks so elegant/natural when doing ANYTHING.
- Acting was great overall.
- Like many OSTs, the music is very good. However, in my opinion, the timing of when music plays is better than most other dramas. I don't usually tear up ever, but I did for a few of the scenes in this drama (not just the sad parts).
Some average or weaker points:
- Plot was interesting enough, but not exceptional. Villians didn't really feel dangerous until protagonists got a handicap. Didn't really matter though because so much focus was put into the characters/their relationships that this took center stage, regardless of what was happening with the plot.
- Li Tongguan was often a catalyst for some of the events of the drama, but imo, was a weak/badly developed character, unfortunately.
- Sad ending as an idea is fine but the lack of enough episodes meant that the execution wasn't great. They really, really built up the world/characters well so that everything was very meaningful, but they just didn't have time to properly wrap up the ending action. This could be because they did such a phenomenal job of building the characters and ran out of space for the end of the plot.
However...I didn't love the XW + JXN relationship. It didn't feel like it developed naturally. He was so aggressive/forceful, even when JXN was trying to reject his physical advances. It basically felt like she was held at gunpoint and forced to like him. He was also so controlling, and in my opinion, treated her like a possession to own.
How XW acted as a partner was also too different from his normally cool, calm, calculating personality. I get showing a different side of yourself (or your true self) to someone you love, but I had to suspend my disbelief when he pouted whenever any of the other guys were even near her.