WM

No idea then what's going on

Works for me as always.

Wow, I didn't know that this kind of no-ML dramas are even possible :).

This fact alone makes it worth checking out.

Somebody just recommended me this Novel to read, as I'm always on the hunt for strong, FL-centric stories.

For people familiar with both - how similar is the story to "Kill my Sins"?

Your post made me realize that I would love to work as Chinese Drama Censor; having a chance to watch so much great source material, wow!!!

I recently finished re-watching "Are you the One?" and read somewhere that it was suppossed to be 53-56 episodes long (instead of 40). The censor(s) who had a chance to watch it all, with extended scenes of Liu Miantang/Lu Wen backstory were so lucky.

Well, let me try - the FL in "PoJ" was very convincing as a badass-butcher in the small town, but her quick rise to the prominence in the army was, more or less, butchered.

It's not my genre, but I have to admit that the opening 2 episodes made me very intrigued in delving deeper.
Plus, Ni Ni is very easy on the eyes (thank you, Captain Obvious), and the actor playing ML reminds me of Hidetoshi Nishijima a bit.

I've seen it mentioned a few times that in the past (maybe when he was still a support actress) she was doing a few action/martial arts dramas/movies.
Any examples of it?
I only seen her doing it in "Royal Rumours".

Well, I don't want to put you off from watching it.

The most important question regarding "G2G" is: do you enjoy watching red flag ML?
If you do, this could be a good show for you, or at least you can discuss other potential issues,
If you don't, then it's a tough drama to watch, as the ML would be the antagonist in 90% of the dramas.

Plot IMO isn't too complicated, but there are a lot of characters, and their intertwining backgrounds and histories are a bit difficult to follow.

Of course, in early 20s, already famous around the country due to his major battles, with great calligraphy, intelligence, looks, etc...

Totally not over the top.

It's incredibly disappointing that such a popular actress has such little control over her work-life.

If one day MDL will be put on Trial and accused of all kinds of dirty laundry, the 7.8 rating for "Yae No Sakura" should be high on the list of crimes.

If you liked Empresses, then NiF is similar in some aspects - powerful, meticulous drama, but with revenge being a main aspect (friendship between leading characters is the 2nd), instead of Harem Battles/Survival of the fittest.

For me, "Empresses" is a Tier 2 show alongside a few others, while NiF remains sitting alone at the Tier 1 throne.

I'm glad to be guy blind to the stuff like this, thankfully missing 99% of it.
I was surprised to caught it recently while watching one Micro Drama and immediately thought - WTH? :)

And yet almost noone accused ML of "Pursuit of Jade" of the same, despite him being equally almighty (with a bit different strengths).

@basicquestion1
Well, all strong characters are wonderful when they emerge naturally from the story - how about we talk about unrealistic, almost almighty MLs? :).

The FL development in the 2nd part of the "PoJ" is difficult to defend, so I won't be doing it.
But I've seen enough butchered Female Leads, suddenly getting weaker/dumber, so either they can be saved by the MLs to push romance forward or to give villain(s) a chance. Maybe their starting point was too high?
Ren Xin in "Journey to Love" was a good example, as she was supposed to be a mysterious, elusive assassin, yet some schmuck soldiers injured and poisoned her in Episode 1, taking away half of her fighting skills, so ML could help her.
How in the hell did she survive in this business before meeting him???

The supposedly highly skilled and powerful female general in the "Shadow Love" in episodes 1-2 decided to go alone and attack a camp full of soldiers, and when she got overwhelmed, of course ML saved her.
No idea what happened later, as it was too dumb for me to continue.

Yet, I keep reading about these ultra-skilled, all-knowing, highly unrealistic female leads. I would love to watch some dramas where it would actually be true.

And to finish things - I found the original poster rant very interesting, but at the end it sounded like it's mostly motivated by his dislike of Bai Lu.

I hate when people overuse word "hater/hating".
Disliking something isn't necessary hating, even if it's related to something you personally enjoy.
Cheers.

A while ago, I dropped it after 4-5 episodes, quite pissed that they showed FL's sect rise in a 5-minute summary, while they showed villains successfully plotting against her entirely.
Not a proportion that would make me enjoy the drama; one "Nothing Gold Can Stay" was enough :).

You mentioning the original, FL-related title, made me think that maybe reading a novel would be a better option.

That's quite lower than I expected, but a few days ago I took a look at some reviews and they were brutal.