Xiao Qi is a man is confident in his masculinity and has a healthy relationship with himself. He doesn’t need…
The way he carries himself here is reminiscent of his character in Tribes & Empires. Understated and without the fanfare, if that makes sense. The only difference is he has nicer/ more hair and better-fitting outfits here.
Wow thanks! Hope you would be interested to check out this drama, it is available on HBO Max and Apple TV. I haven't…
Not at all, I had no idea what this drama is about but reading your first para, I thought this was a slice of life about relationships. I totally did not expect to see mass murderer! I checked out the trailer after that and saw that it's a joint production with HBO so that gave me hope. I'm a big fan of Alyssa Chia too and read that she won an acting accolade for this show.
You know what, this is quite possibly my favourite among all the reviews you've written. Meaningfully written and beautifully expressed. It did catch me by surprise though. I was fully engrossed by the first paragraph. Then suddenly in the second para, you mentioned cinema mass-shooting murderer lol Anyway, great review!
Bravo to another great review. You're so thorough and have really done your home work. A+++++
Thank you for your kind words as always :) This show has been a roller coaster, no doubt about it. Now I'm going to focus fully on Princess Rebel, hopefully it won't be as painful as TPoC lol
First of all: you really have a talent for writing reviews, they are informative, balanced, well-written, and…
Thank you for your kind words and taking the time to read. I really appreciate your sharing of thoughts and to discuss opinions, which we haven't really done much before (and even with other users) so it's nice to interact about our passion :)
I enjoyed the show as well and probably rated it as generously as I could, being a fan of ZLY and the genre, and generally being quite forgiving of the flaws that were present because it brought joy to me at the end of the day. I only wished it could've been so much more, since I had been anticipating it for some time, as I'm sure you did too.
Regarding the OST, you are right - it doesn't stand out in comparison with other wuxia dramas, and certainly isn't even up to par with the iconic productions (The Untamed, L&R, there are so many awesome OSTs out there). Within the context of this drama, however, it was the one aspect that I felt was not undermined by all the other setbacks. Therefore based on this drama's own merits I thought it was flawless (but not a perfect 10 anyway since I gave it a 9 lol)
As far as TMBFY is concerned, I actually felt that the opening theme there is even more upbeat and which incorporated traditional instruments in its score. The tempo was also faster almost to the point of inspiring awe and excitement. The opening for LoF, on the other hand for me, felt more subdued and probably had a more romantic tone than an energetic one. So I thought that perhaps it was a better fit with A'Fei and Xie Yun's story. Music is subjective anyway and evokes different emotions in people but for LoF, it's not epic, I have to agree.
I hope we get more epic music this year and actually so far, The Rebel Princess' opening theme is not bad, Tan Wei Wei's Ode to Shangyang. My personal favourites, besides The Untamed, is Ashes of Love's Upwards to the Moon by Sa Ding Ding, Bloody Romance's A Lifetime Waiting for You by Tia Ray, and Song of Glory's Hidden Heart by Bibi Zhou. L&R has a couple of great tracks as well like Lovers' Curse and Coloured Glass.
I totally feel you, it was rough at the beginning. I'm quite surprised given the production team that worked on…
Good idea. I've retired from reading novels and focus solely on watching the adaptations instead lol But because of that, I'm unable to tell whether it's the source material or the adaptation that's problematic. So hopefully you can shed some light on that, knowing that you're an avid reader! Thanks in advance :D
This is a much more balanced and fair view on the acting, production values , story telling and camerawork. I…
I totally feel you, it was rough at the beginning. I'm quite surprised given the production team that worked on this project. I also sympathise with the novelist, Priest. Hopefully her future adaptations would be consistently better.
ZYW is also appearing in the currently airing Republican drama, The Message. Yang You Ning is also in the drama.
Tell me about it, it's frustrating isn't it? Dream Detective is the one I've been looking forward to since it started airing. I've tried going raw but the technical details require proper translations to really get the full understanding.
What a coincidence - we both wrote a review today and gave the same rating, albeit for different dramas :D This show sounds exciting. I actually watched a bit of the first episode last month on iQiyi out of curiosity but didn't continue as I was in the middle of some other dramas. I recognised the ML from The Eight. Time to pick this up I think!
The thought of a 68-episode series usually makes me tired just thinking about it but I can't help myself. REBEL…
Absolutely spot on and this is what we live for in dramas! We shouldn't be bound by the laws of physics and nature for that matter. Great acting should be the benchmark and not physical attributes.
21 
35 
8 
I checked out the trailer after that and saw that it's a joint production with HBO so that gave me hope. I'm a big fan of Alyssa Chia too and read that she won an acting accolade for this show.
It did catch me by surprise though. I was fully engrossed by the first paragraph. Then suddenly in the second para, you mentioned cinema mass-shooting murderer lol
Anyway, great review!
I thought you had dropped it halfway through.
Now let's congregate at the other drama page together with PBG :D
This show has been a roller coaster, no doubt about it. Now I'm going to focus fully on Princess Rebel, hopefully it won't be as painful as TPoC lol
I enjoyed the show as well and probably rated it as generously as I could, being a fan of ZLY and the genre, and generally being quite forgiving of the flaws that were present because it brought joy to me at the end of the day. I only wished it could've been so much more, since I had been anticipating it for some time, as I'm sure you did too.
Regarding the OST, you are right - it doesn't stand out in comparison with other wuxia dramas, and certainly isn't even up to par with the iconic productions (The Untamed, L&R, there are so many awesome OSTs out there). Within the context of this drama, however, it was the one aspect that I felt was not undermined by all the other setbacks. Therefore based on this drama's own merits I thought it was flawless (but not a perfect 10 anyway since I gave it a 9 lol)
As far as TMBFY is concerned, I actually felt that the opening theme there is even more upbeat and which incorporated traditional instruments in its score. The tempo was also faster almost to the point of inspiring awe and excitement. The opening for LoF, on the other hand for me, felt more subdued and probably had a more romantic tone than an energetic one. So I thought that perhaps it was a better fit with A'Fei and Xie Yun's story. Music is subjective anyway and evokes different emotions in people but for LoF, it's not epic, I have to agree.
I hope we get more epic music this year and actually so far, The Rebel Princess' opening theme is not bad, Tan Wei Wei's Ode to Shangyang. My personal favourites, besides The Untamed, is Ashes of Love's Upwards to the Moon by Sa Ding Ding, Bloody Romance's A Lifetime Waiting for You by Tia Ray, and Song of Glory's Hidden Heart by Bibi Zhou. L&R has a couple of great tracks as well like Lovers' Curse and Coloured Glass.
What are some of your favourites? :)
Slice of life still terrifies me, so I only watch this genre on rare occasions.
Thank you for your review, it helps to clarify what it is about.
But because of that, I'm unable to tell whether it's the source material or the adaptation that's problematic. So hopefully you can shed some light on that, knowing that you're an avid reader!
Thanks in advance :D
This show sounds exciting. I actually watched a bit of the first episode last month on iQiyi out of curiosity but didn't continue as I was in the middle of some other dramas. I recognised the ML from The Eight. Time to pick this up I think!