WandereR

That sounds like fun! Sure, I would love to :)
Both dramas are quite unique and interesting, would be great to feature either of them.

Yikes! Guess my wait for sequels shall have to take longer than expected, darn!

Thanks for finally posting your review, I really enjoyed reading it and learning from it too :)

THANK YOU!!!!

I echo @PeachBlossomGoddess. This review section would be incomplete without your input because let's face it, from Day 1 of watching this drama with you guys, I already fell in love with your insight, knowledge, little bits of inside info, everything!

Now that you've dissected the entire drama into the key observation points, I finally understand the story and main characters behind it even more. Spot on about Ying Zheng's posture, I was actually rooting for the comedic trio at Zhao as well because they were fun and engaging, and like you, I wished we could have seen more of the achievements instead of just purely focusing on makjang.

Anyway, I'm glad you took the time to write this review and post detailed timeline on this story. Most of all, I'm glad to have met you after being on MDL for half a year. Always enjoyed your insights and hope we cross paths again in drama land :)

Yes! Let's do that lol

Totally agree with you on this. Watching this show wouldn't have been as insightful and as much fun without @Skibbies. I was really looking forward to her thoughts on the show. I've never met anyone as knowledgeable on Chinese history either on MDL or even in real life lol
I'm just amazed! I've become a big fan of hers too over the past few weeks.

That's true, cnetizens are some of the harshest critics on the internet. I enjoyed Advisors Alliance and Growling Tiger, Roaring Dragon, and you're right, they were somehow much more engaging and I liked the cast especially Wu Xiu Bo. Three Kingdoms, are you referring to the 2010 drama? Omg, that show, I remember buying the DVD box set and breezing through all 90+ episodes of it within a couple of weeks. It was superb!!! The cast was amazing and I thought that version of Guan Yu there is the best ever! Why can't they make productions like that again :/

I've watched Young Blood, one of my favs. The ending, although unresolved, wasn't too bad and the second season is coming soon next year, I think. For JoL I'll follow your advise and watch part of the final episode. I'm actually also quite intrigued with Secret of the Three Kingdoms, might watch that one at some point.

I had no idea HOB is facing so many plagiarism issues. I'm not really knowledgeable about the donghua world, only what folks recommend. But I'm craving for more high quality live action xianxia shows, in general.

I do agree with your thoughts, the show could've been much much better. I read also the criticisms leveled at this drama by Chinese critics and that among all the series in the Qin Empire franchise, this one had the lowest rating apparently. Now it makes me even more curious to watch the earlier editions (except the English dubbed one that @PeachBlossomGoddess shared - that was really scary, I need original audio and not American accents!

I loved Ancient Detective but haven't watched Joy of Life - kept waiting for season 2 to show up so I won't be left hanging by the open ending people were complaining about. Fearless Whispers, Horizon Tower and Hikaru No Go are on my PTW list. As much as I adore Nini and Liu Shishi, My Best Friend's Story doesn't intrigue me. So many people thought it was going to be a GL before they saw the trailer, which actually looked pretty good but still...

When you mentioned Bilibili, I immediately thought of Heaven Official's Blessing lol
Saw some of the available subbed donghua and heard a lot of rave reviews about it, now I can't wait for the live action.

This is great! Thanks so much, I never would've been able to find these on my own. Really enjoy his scenes and now I'm really looking forward to S2. Appreciate your efforts in searching for the clips :)

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood your comment. I saw the clip you embedded in the article, I thought you meant other BTS clips eg interviews.
His stunts look amazing, very flexible body control that he has!
Thank you for sharing :)

Yes! How he twisted his body and danced his way through all the laser beams, it's amazing! Alright, I'll search for the clip :)

I didn't watch any BTS clips but now that you mentioned it, perhaps I should. Enjoji is not only a fantastic dancer and singer but his stunts, especially the one with the laser beams.... just wow :O
Please keep writing about unique dramas, I really enjoy discovering new things in dramaland too!

Cho Na, you've done it again, another brilliant article.
I love Lupin no Musume. Finished S1 a couple of months ago and saving S2 for next year's binge. Lovable characters, especially the leads, and the humour between the 2 families as well as the hilarious action with the bad guys. I'm a big fan of Enjoji and his musical segments as well.
I'm surprised anyone would actually write about this show but I'm glad you did. Keep up the great work, love your articles :)

!!!!!
Hell....no.....
Everything sounds so wrong!! The American / mid-west accent, the girl's squeaky voice, even the visuals and background music... everything totally does not match!!
This is an abomination, how could they do this to NIF and MCS!!??

Omg....it's almost like watching Disney's Mulan... I don't think I can either. It's not badly done and the voices used are ok but.... the nuances of classical mandarin in the dialogue is lost. I need the Chinese version too :O

Nice, I'll go add that on my PTW list, since it's available on Netflix. Wish the other installments are easier to find. I'm curious about the dubbed one that you watched, been ages since I last watched dubbed dramas lol

Yes!! I'm so glad we end the year with a very well made drama. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long for another one like this :)

You should post this as a review, so your comment won't get lost in the sea of comments. The spoiler tag is not even necessary!
I really enjoyed how you conveyed your feelings from watching this drama, very creative indeed :)

Yes, correct, that's the one :)

I usually wait until 80% of the episodes have been aired then binge, but somehow I decided to start with this lol
Our mistake!

Watching airing dramas is challenging. I should've waited until the final week.