WM

9/10 - Nirvana in Fire
8/10 - Empresses in the Palace, Story of Minglan, Yae no Sakura (Japanese),
7/10 - Sword Snow Stride, Yanxi Palace, Seirei no Moribito (Japanese, average rating off all 3 seasons), Blossom, Flourished Peony, A couple of mirrors
6/10 - Princess Agents, A fist within Four Walls (Taiwan), Side story of Fox Volant
(there were many more watched, but majority of them were rated below)

There are also some microdramas I really like, but not sure if you can adjust your budget expectations to be happy with them..

Actually, during the couple of final episodes, I've realised they finally stopped pushing down that message through our throats.

Feminist messaging is everywhere these days, but it was so nice to hear it in a much subtler way during my "Flourished Peony" binge.

I don't think you can call someone "cautious", if that person is so easy to get played by the others.

Xu JIngfu was the example of someone who is cautious.

Low in Romance and High in Badass Female Lead - Novel or Drama would be better choice? :)

He is more dumb than evil. Or very inconsistent.

My personal ratings are rather harsh, so please don't call me a hater, I am just... hard to please :).
No show deserved 10/10 for me yet, Nirvana in Fire was the only one with 9/10, Yanxi Palace is 7/10 and something like The Double 5/10, with many other shows in between.

I didn't read a novel, but after watching a Trailer, I've had certain expectations. Unfortunately, I've been heavily lied to, as instead of gripping "Legend of Female General" show, I've got a romcom "Romance of the Female General", with good looking leads who can act a little bit and decent fight scenes (but marred with ML saving the FL way too many times), with not much revenge and general-ing from the supposed Badass Female Lead.

For me, the "ROFG" is no more than 4/10 on my scale, as it doesn't have any redeeming quality and I see zero re-watch value. There were some scenes I've enjoyed (He Yan winning the garrison contest, especially archery after walking back, the initial banquet fight against He Rufei, I've also enjoyed the Emperor telling Dudu to shut up and allow He Yan to defend herself in the Court).

I can excuse the poor storytelling, terrible gender-bending and even constant attempts to undercut FL badassery. But only, if I would feel any emotions off the screen. However, I'felt nada, zero, nothing. During my ongoing Tour of C-Dramaland, I've had a chance to watch some Propaganda anti-Japanese war shows (some of them aren't even listed on MDL), which had some great emotional moments. Here, everything felt just flat.

After another wasted hope of watching a properly written "Badass Female Lead", my favourite remains the Female Lead from the "Queen of the Battlefield". However, it's a microdrama, so financial constraints were heavy and visible in the fight scenes. Yet, I would take her 10/10 times over the He Yan, and it proved to have a strong re-watch value. The FL from Veil of Vengeance is a fantastic example as well.

Why do you say "Amai joins the army" was butchered? In my continuing search for dramas with "badass female leads" I'm actually considering watching it soon.

Someone who either hates competent Female Leads or someone who doesn't understand nuances. Or both :)

I actually quite liked it too. But I hated ML for not telling He Yan about the initial struggle in the Palace.,
Also, I'm just realising i dislike him more and more. He is either simping too much in some of the situations, or not trusting He Yan to deal with the stuff in different ones.

I actually hate it and I loved when the Emperor told him once to shut up and allow He Yan to speak for herself.

The ML in "Flourished Peony" is just amazing in his trust of FL to be able to fix things on her own.

Chu Zhao sow a discord by saying that two powerful generals shouldn't marry as otherwise they would have too much military power. Smart play on his end.

The punch was done by the powerful General and looked very solid, with a lot of force behind it. Yet a wealink like Zhu Chao didn't even get knocked down. Another example of a lack of nuance, typical for this show.

Watching Episode 35 at the moment, and Yingiang's death was dumb enough to be fitting for this Drama.
She was relatively competent as the maid/bodyguard until now, and of course had to block a knife with her back, after allowing Pintiang to freely outburst in a dangerous way.

I'm a big Bai Lu fan, so I've tried to watch this one...but after a few episodes, I've got bored with her character being the weakest and the most useless.

I've even tried a different episode around 20 episodes later... and it was still the same, with multiple love interests helping/saving/covering her.

I have no idea how it deserved a "Badass Female Lead" tag.

Thanks.

And what an irony - I was thinking it can somehow end like this, but didn't think that show would transform itself into Palace/Harem action.

Unfortunately, nuances like that aren't a strength of the writers' team here,

And that's too bad, as the FL persona gets hit by a ricochet with poor writing like that.

I always wanted to watch this after seeing some clips and having Bai Lu there. But after finally starting it, I'm so disappointed by Episode 3 jumping 5 years ahead, missing all her rise to the Power, including defeating/sealing Luo Ming Xuan, who not only beat her easily before, but also killed her Grandfather.

Not sure if I want to continue now :(

Military Drama with a badass female lead and low on Romance? I'm in :)

Especially since I loved the FL in "Sword Snow Stride".

And it's much more equal than the sword fight at the banquet between He Yan and He Rufei :)

"Standard 10/10" sounds... funny :)

Personally, I never watched a show which I would rate 10/10 and only "Nirvana in Fire" got 9/10.