Lynn

I actually haven't watched any of her shows, but I looked her up thinking that perhaps it was just the way the dialogue/character was written. The thing is I wanted to know if she was typecasted for such roles due to her personality so I watched an interview of hers, she is not like that in real life. I do not know why her acting in every show results in annoying portrayal of female characters. Either she is widely known in the industry to be 'good' at such roles (I cannot imagine any of such roles ever being good, but whatever), or she is just that bad at acting. Sigh.

I prefer historical/period pieces too, regardless of whether it is Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese, etc. I am just fond of historical stories, and I mean this in the sense that I also prefer such books. I noticed there has been a reduction in historical C-dramas over the years. I've never been much of a TV person, but I was raised by my grandparents and they watched so much of it, I guess I sort of semi-watched/semi-listened. As an adult, I find a lot of TV dramas appalling and a waste of time. Maybe I got more fussy as I aged, I can't stand of a lot of the acting, screenwriting and few have decent plots. Well if you have any good ones to recommend let me know. My bf loves watching drama so I just dump them all in a shortlist until I have time.

Don't bother. I had to drop it to retain my brain cells.

Lol. I explained why in my review. XD I don't think I would have enjoyed it at all if I hadn't already read the book and forced into watching the anime. I never trust any reviews with above 9/10 on MDL. I disagree with the previous commenter, the two main leads were popular well before this show; Yi Bo being the more popular of the two. I have seen the others in a handful of other productions (normally supporting cast). I like Meng Ziyi so it is one of the reasons I watched it (she isn't a good actress, I just like her demeanour). Once I started, I liked Wang Zhou Cheng so I just stayed on the show.

It gained a lot of fans because it was popularised by the anime (crazy otaku people and their obsessions), on top of that, the book was a hit (the English version is trash though) and it is one of the very few Chinese dramas on Netflix. As you can tell, I am very fussy. I rarely if ever watch TV, most of the time I keep it on in the background while I do data analysis. Otherwise, I only watch dramas to spend time with my bf.

If you are trying to get into historical C-drama, I would recommend trying Rise of the Phoenixes (has it's own problems). However, I'm warning you, it starts off strong and becomes utter crap mid-way. It was like they gave up production halfway into the show and threw the plot into the gutter. I did not review that title because I was so disappointed in the show, I felt I would bash the show if I wrote a review.

Nah. You're clearly the biased one. I said I am going to skip the show, what other people do is their own prerogative. Unless you are implying I have the power to control their minds. Lol, then you think too highly of me. I'm merely stating a fact. If you think she can act, then you have fairly low standards for what constitutes acting. It does not matter to me either way what you like or don't, but why be a hypocrite going around telling people off for critiquing her? That's not biasness, that's called having an opinion. Oh, the irony. XD

Oof... Sorry I'm totally not active here unless my bf makes me watch a new series. Haha! We are currently binging Word of Honour, it's very mediocre though, I would not recommend it, the plot is non-existent. We are really only there because of the gay scenes.

I'm not too fussy about CGI because most Asian shows have terrible CGIs to begin with, but I have a certain level of tolerance. If the explosion could use a bit of work to look realistic, I can let it go. If the animated dragon looks like a lizard, that's a problem. Lol. I used to watch a variety of dramas, mostly because my family members watch them. I'm not really a TV person, more of a book person. However, I used to watch TV adaptations of books even if they are quite disappointing. Recently, with the lack of time, I hardly ever watch anything unless my bf really wants us to spend time together.

Well, I personally think she is a terrible actress and cannot act to save her life. The only saving grace is that she is not ugly, otherwise, her shows would be unwatchable. I'm not saying it is bad to want to improve, I agree that's a good trait to have, but at the end of the day, it is still a job, a job where they are paid a lot to entertain. In any other regular job, you get fired if you're bad at your job, I don't see why it should be an issue to critique her bad acting. *shrug* To each their own, I was here because of the other actors in the cast, but seeing her on the list, I'm probably going to skip this one.

Unbiased opinion, I think she looks fine but in all fairness she is a terrible actress. There are worse out there, still, no excuses, she is quite bad at her job.

I'm also on it with my bf. I never trust any of the ratings here. They're often far too generous. Only watching this because my bf made me. I will try to pick up the book soon to see if it is better. The plot is non-existent, we are just binging because frankly, we like the gayness. If you are on episode 4, I suggest dropping, the plot only gets worse. LOL. Although this show is definitely flawed (I'm not going into detail, I'll review it when we actually finish the show), 'The Untamed' similarly, had a lot of inexplicable gaps. It was lacking compared to the book, but I was very generous with my scoring for 'The Untamed' seeing as the cast was made almost entirely from a bunch of Boy Bands. I actually read the book prior to watching 'The Untamed' which was why I understood it, while my bf found it incredibly confusing.

Lol. See, this is precisely how I know the TV show as a standalone, was poorly executed.

Jiang Cheng was credited for his demise, but never actually caused it. Wei Ying fell when he destroyed half of the amulet which resulted in a recoil (imagine firing a gun).

I have to admit that of all the versions of Jiang Cheng, TV show Jiang Cheng was the most endearing of the lot.

Oof... Haha. I'm going to just copy paste what I commented on another user's review.

Copied:
Ahahaha... I have been waiting for fair negative comments on this show. I think this show deserves a 9-10 for music, it definitely was the best thing to come out of the drama. I actually agree that the drama on its own is not a 'masterpiece' like everyone else keeps saying. They have low standards. Lol.

I'm not sure if you are aware, this show was adapted from a book which was turned into manhua and anime prior to the TV show adaptation. It already had a huge fanbase, thus, explains all the hype. If you have not read it, it would be extremely confusing. I know this because I have read the book and while my bf and I watched this, I had to elaborate on the different characters and their motives/personal backstory, etc. Granted that they followed the book as close as they could, and the book did jump back and forth between timelines, the result is utter chaos for those who only tried watching the drama.

Personally, I felt even the book has flaws, but I think it was refreshing because it is a xianxia book, and Chinese aren't particularly big on homosexual relationships. The whole fantasy Ancient China setting helped to sell this part. I also really liked how in this story, unlike other xianxia stories, the author truly humanised everyone, all of them have flaws, including the most 'beloved' characters. A lot of these aspects are certainly lacking in the TV series, I don't think they managed to portray a lot of it, but I would say a lot of new Asian TV series have terrible acting anyway. I gave them benefit of doubt and I was really generous with the acting score since I do not think most of them are good actors (they were really just recruited to please all the female fans).

Haha. Sorry, I do not come here very often, except to find a new show for my bf. Lol. I'm a sad, PhD student with very little time. I don't really like to watch TV, I just do it when I spend time with my bf. Not the romantic type and a lot of dramas are kind of off-putting for me nowadays.

To respond to your query, I was not referencing anything you said in particular, but since you brought up the concept of morality, I meant to say that a lot of drama-watchers have a skewed sense of morality (or bluntly put, a moral high horse) which is why a lot of shows feed on that mentality (to get the best viewer rating possible). Examples include the idea of 'true love', monogamy or good versus evil. Of course, this is very personal, I do not value monogamy or marriage, and I do not believe people are innately good or evil which is why I cannot condemn the man for going after someone else's wife. I believe in survival of the fittest. Ultimately, it is the choice of both parties that determines the outcome. As for your stand about her not being able to feel love, I can't actually say much about that since I dropped the series. I think they probably wanted to go for the 'love above all' (including a love-repressing pill) concept. Whether that was accurately portrayed, I can't say.

I'm just glad that there are those who do not just rate 10/10 for everything, I find it exceptionally hard to find a good show for my bf and I and I hate wasting time.

I put off watching this drama because I gave the first episode a shot (twice) and I really hated Yang Zi. I thought it was just me. Firstly, she was not physically appealing to me, and secondly, I found her character so annoying. I get that they tried to make her 'cute', but she was far more irritating than cute. It felt forced and unnatural, the cuteness was too fake. I cannot understand why she is considered to be one of the most bankable actresses. I think a different actress would have done a much better job.

Secondly, I saw so many reviews commenting about how good the CGI is. Can we all be honest? I'm Chinese, I've seen loads of Chinese dramas, bad CGI is our trademark. This show was no different, the CGI is terrible, though they obviously had a lot more $ for production, so I suppose it is 'good' relative to other Chinese dramas.

It is getting pretty hard to continue as I don't like both the female and male leads and I can already tell they will end up together no matter what. I managed to pull through to episode 5, mainly because I just wanted to watch Yukee as Liuying and I think that the actor who plays Run Yu is cute. I guess the other person I kind of want to see is Sa Dingding, but I may never get far enough to see her. Decided to come here for different perspectives and saw your review. Now, I might just drop it. Sad times.

P/S: I did not understand half of the spoilers, but I do not truly believe in morality. Morality tends to be either very personal or very cultural. Therefore, a person pursuing another even if they are betrothed is not necessarily something I would condemn, especially if the latter reciprocates.

Michelle Chen was an assault on my eyes, but I tried desperately to continue. I gave up after 4 episodes. Apart from the terrible miscast, I cannot stand shows whereby the actors cannot keep the accent consistent. How are they this bad at acting? One should either be drop-dead gorgeous so we can forgo your shitty acting skills or be so amazing as an actor we could care less how you look. Having neither is simply sad. Definitely one of the worse versions out there.

Uhm... Hate to be the one who breaks this to you, but the author is female. Lol.

Lol. If you are asking me, I do not believe there is true morality or right/wrong. They are always circumstantial. However, this is a xianxia novel/show, by the moral standards of the wuxia/xianxia world, demonic cultivation is evil; it does not matter what the reason behind it is. However, it is the line between good/evil that is often what authors/storytellers use to sell to the general audience. Generally speaking, viewers like seeing the underdog/the victim breaking all barriers and making it to the top. It makes the story more compelling and it makes them human. Think outside of this show, superheroes such as Superman or Batman. All of them are accompanied by some tragic backstory.

The question with regards to morality is what is being valued. If we strictly adhered to the standards of wuxia/xianxia and throw in the fact that it is Chinese, then, just by causing the death of his adopted family, he would be considered unfilial. In the Chinese culture (no longer true *cough*, you should see some kids nowadays), you should put family before all else. It is supposed to be the root of all good virtue (hence, Mulan). We also have a Chinese idiom, "the more you help, the more trouble you cause", which is supposed to mean do not help unless you are actually helping (said every woman ever to her boyfriend, this is from my experience). Even if the intentions are good, the outcome is what matters. That's why Asians do not lie to their children by saying something like, "It's the thought that counts" (just joking, not really).

It is precisely the lack of right and wrong which is why I found this specific novel to stand out amongst most of the novels of the same genre. To reiterate, I found the novel/story interesting because instead of portraying good versus evil, the characters are all human. (and I mean all characters not just Wei Ying). Although there are moments whereby Wei Ying was selfless and kind, there were also countless moments whereby he was selfish and arrogant. There is a fine line between ambition and greed, it is impossible to tell one from the other. I am not Wei Ying, I cannot tell you either, however, since he is human, based on the actions and repercussions elicited from what was done, there are probably elements of all that in there.

Oh another classic example, the white snake/madame white/white maiden is a good 'demon' who is extremely selfless and kind. She did accidentally cause the death of her husband though (kind of stupid, he dies from shock), but she revives him with the Pill of Immortality. Does that count as good or evil? If she did not scare him, he would not die, she would not have the opportunity or need to save him. Chain reaction much?

Wei Ying couldn't change the past (Jiang sect massacre), but during the course of the entire story, he could have changed himself and learn from his mistakes, maybe to meddle less (he never learnt anyway, learning is clearly not his forte) which wouldn't have caused so much pain for everyone. Choosing a path that he knew would hurt people who cared about him, that is still selfish. Choosing to hurt (whether directly or indirectly) those would gave him the most in life, that is ungrateful and unfilial. No one is perfect, there is no real right or wrong, it just is.

I'm a fan of classics, I do not like what they are doing with the original stories. Apart from that, I'm also Chinese and I have a strong appreciation for what a lot of these folklore entails. Some of them are not merely stories, they are attached to traditions or celebrations. Would rather see a brand new take or version with the same characters than making edits on the original storyline.

Edit: Xiao Long Nu simply means Little Dragon Maiden (Woman), although the name is identical to XLN from Jin Yong's novel, I do not particularly mind. I had a lot of other issues with this show that did not permit me to even get that far, so it was hardly a concern.

I am not a fan per se so I cannot share the same sentiments. I am merely commenting from a literary perspective. Also, I believe people are innately selfish, it's just Biology.

I agree he had a good reason to keep the powers up until the death. However, after the resurrection, one could argue a truly righteous person would rather wield a sword. It is the whole idea that he took the shortcut even at his (and other people's) expense. This idea of having more for less is in itself a form of greed (or Chinese, LOL, depends on how you want to look at it). The lack of remorse is also true whereby he feels guilty for losing control and killing people, but not sorry enough to quit. I would equate this to an addiction. For example, sometimes you want to stop doing drugs, but the high is worth more than feeding your child. The story is written from the standpoint of the character, therefore all moral judgments will be biased.

If you are a fan of original legends (original books and the stories from your grandparents), I would skip watching TV series, especially the new ones because they are too painful to watch. There is an animated version by Coco Cartoons and it is so much better than all of the live action versions. I am waiting for the Legend of Deification that's going to be released this year (delayed due to Covid-19).

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ne_Zha_(2019_film)

Lol. I was already extremely generous with the score. If it was solely rated based on acting skills (without considering them having a more 'idol' status, I would have given them closer to 7/10). Truth be told, unlike most of the people here, I do not think this is a masterpiece or a 'must' watch. For instance, 'The Wizard of Oz' or 'Casablanca' are masterpieces, 'The Untamed' is a good show. I think they did great as a team (for the most part), but there were definitely moments that could be drastically improved. Even though Wang Yibo fitted this role, he actually did not do much 'acting', the role was practically made for him. His usual persona carries an air of arrogance with an idgaf-kind-of-resting-bitch-face (it's not bad, it just is). Just saying if they wanted to test true acting skills, Xiao Zhan would have played Lan Zhan and Wang Yibo would have played Wei Ying. :)