Potato the cutie

I'm not entirely sure but I think some elements of it are CGI (e.g. the overall looks and exterior design of some of the castles and sometimes the projections and holograms) while the sets like the throne room or the halls where we see the characters lounge in are real and built by the company.
I could be wrong so feel free to correct me but yeah, as far as I can tell a lot of the sets seem legit.
Edit: I think I might have realized why you thought it was AI generated 😂 I didn't mean the sets were AI in my original comment, I was just making a comparison to that situation, I meant that as more of a figure of speech thing not that it's actually AI yk, I apologize if my comment was a bit confusing. 😅

Totally agree, I'm honestly waiting for a few more episodes to come out to decide whether this is worth the watch or if it's just another butchering of these webtoons, hopefully it's the former 😂

Honestly the wording makes me think of the saying "wet behind the ears" and now I can't not think of the ML as this immature wide-eyed intern at one of those techy companies we see in dramas instead of the "tough" personality he's supposed to sport, but yeah, very weird wording 😅
honestly I'm just here for the twins and chaeyeon 😂

Agreed, cuz genuinely wtf? 😂

Ironically enough, this was adapted from a web novel that sets its plot in a very western world, with all that it entails of the nobility and royalty that we're used to seeing when we hear the words "duke" or "marquis", they changed A LOT about this, from costuming to names, I genuinely couldn't recognize it at first if it weren't for the title and the original web novel being cited under the synopsis, if you look it up you'll see the glaring difference in style and setting 😅

Someone once commented something similar somewhere else but I feel like it very much applies here too. This series feels like an extremely beautiful art piece you stumble upon while scrolling, but then you find out its AI generated and it loses all the sentimental value it might have had, worse yet, you start seeing the inconsistencies and the oddly fitting details and you no longer find it as appealing. One issue I have with Thai BLs is that the actors aren't just actors, they're essentially a product deal for a pairing manufactured by an entertainment company and advertised to hell and back. All these series as of late have become nothing more than fanservice and eye-candy packaged in a barely plausible plot to appeal to the masses, Thai shows are no longer about the enjoyment of the plot, the acting, the setting, it's all about the commercialisation of a pairing that really works in theory and is very liked by fans, irregardless of how well this pairing actually works in practice, a prime example of this is Zee and Nunew. I personally have always found them very very jarring, especially with the age gap considering they were put together when Nunew was around 18 and Zee was almost 30, and while the age thing is arguable, the difference in mental states and life experiences is quite gapping. Nunew has this tendency to overexaggerate his acting to a point it no longer feels realistic but rather like a child playing pretend and throwing a tantrum, don't get me wrong this guy is insanely talented, just not in the acting department, which brings me to my next point, Zee has genuinely regressed since his days in Why r u, and no, this isn't about him pairing up better with either saint or nenew, it genuinely feels like he's no longer trying to put in effort, I honestly can't tell why but it's very unfortunate, his acting as of late feels very wooden.
The main issue I have with this series so far (besides the lack of progression of this nonexistent plot) is that it's trying to take itself way too seriously, while also trying to maintain a sense of light-heartedness and teenage-romance appeal, the problem is they don't know when to have serious mode on and when to turn it off, like we're almost half way through this series, and absolutely nothing has happened in the last 3-4 episodes, yet you can see that they're really trying to give you this sense of graveness, but without anything actually being at stakes, like maybe make the king threaten Khanin with his adoptive father's safety if he doesn't do well in the competition, or make Charan at risk of being killed or eliminated if he gets too close to Khanin, there's just so much they can do but they aren't and it's very frustrating. Now after this really long rant, you might think that I'm gonna drop this series, but surprisingly enough, I'm not, and honestly I would have of it weren't for the setting. I'm an extreme sucker for fairytales and royal-esque stories, so I'll continue watching solely for this, and the fabulous soundtrack of course.
On a side note, I'm really enjoying the much darker Jimmy in here, this guy's role really fits him like a glove.

Indeed, and as I've mentioned before, I feel like TNP's strongest point is not the plot, but rather the setting itself with its royalty/fairytale-y scenery and aspects, for me personally I find it very reminiscent of older Disney movies such as the Princess Diaries and the likes, so if anything, little me would have thrived on this series 😂🤍

Oh no I'm not talking about the royalty aspect of the show, I'm talking plot wise, I apologise if my comment made it seem otherwise. 😅
This series' plot gives off very amateur-y vibes writing wise, the plot itself doesn't feel too deep or complex if you get what I mean, and it's not necessarily a bad thing btw, just that those who prefer a much more layered style of writing might find it a bit kid-ish, again, it really has nothing to do with the setting, but yeah, if you don't really care for a deeper plot, this series is going well so far.

I would argue it's the setting of the plot rather than the plot itself, because while the story so far seems a little kid-ish in a sense, the fairytale-y setting with the whole forbidden romance premise is what's most intriguing about it.
Don't get me wrong, the plot isn't bad per se (it's still too early for me to judge it), but does the world-building speak to the audience's inner child? Absolutely, especially those of us who grew up watching disney princesses and movies, so while yes, people are here for the plot and maybe the less pg-13 scenes, it certainly isn't the main driving force of the popularity behind it (or at least imo), and that's disregarding Nunew and Zee's popularity right now.

While I still don't have much to say about this series so far, I will say it's very much giving if Princess Diaries and Princess Protection Program had a baby that's less pg-13 and is instead a gay love story 🙃
But on a side note, this series isn't too bad, sure it's quite cringey in places, but it's still entertaining and very reminiscent of late 2000s/early 2010s modern fairytale movies and honestly, it's not a bad change of scenery from all that we've been getting lately.

I mean, it does have some cute moments but they're pretty much overshadowed by the problematic aspects of the plot, but yeah, as I said, I'm still continuing on this journey for the future of this genre in the chinese entertainment industry, even if the plot is driving me up the wall lol
Thank you for taking the time to comment btw, I really appreciate it 💗

Oh absolutely, tbh I've lost hope in eternal faith ever being released, it's basically another immortality situation atp, but yeah, the sentiment is widely spread in the community for sure.
Thank you for your comments, really appreciate you taking the time to engage with me in this little discussion🤍

Oh I completely agree with the more manageable to read than see part.
I can read toxic/immoral on paper because it wouldn't elicit the same intense feelings visually depicted scenes would in me, the latter somehow makes it feel all too real sometimes and that could pose an issue for me and for many other viewers I'm sure, so while waiting for more to come out, I'll enjoy what I can find right now, and who knows, maybe we'll get another mdzs remake or some more of mxtx' works adapted, or maybe we'll see some original work being aired, the possibilities are endless really, as long as someone is willing to start this journey, I'm sure many more will try to follow, hopefully we won't be 82 by then 😂

Exactly, the first thai bl was in no way a masterpiece, matter of fact, take any bl older than 2018 and broadcast it now and see the rage people will go into, yes it wasn't a perfect start but it was a start, at the very least people were seeing themselves on screen for the first time, and while the stereotypes are still heavily present in newer bls in general, any older viewer could immediately tell you how far this genre has come, and while I don't think we'll ever be able to fully get rid of these stereotypes (have we been able to get rid of them in any other genre really?) I'm sure they will get much better as time goes by so here's to a better future for the community in the industry 🤍

Thank you for your lovely replies btw, and I hope you find something more to your taste soon, have a good day/evening 💗

I totally agree, this isn't about the series anymore, this is about a group of minority's rights being taken from them, unable to fully express themselves or find representation in their own culture/country/media while constantly being told they're wrong for being who they are, and as I said, this is just the beginning (again, hopefully) so yeah, my morals are absolutely not happy but this isn't about them lol.
Thank you for the lovely reply, really appreciate it, also, I remember you from the cult days on kinnporsche lol so really glad to see you here 💗

I haven't checked out any of the author's work, but I've noticed the concerns raised regarding her uh ... preferences let's say plot wise, so I'm side eyeing everything I'm seeing while actively looking for things to enjoy in this series, and if it's making you uncomfortable then by all means don't continue watching/reading, no one should compromise their comfort for the sake of a piece of supposed entertainment and I stand by this sentiment, hopefully we'll get more series in the future with actual good plots tho, keeping my fingers crossed lol 🤍

Oh no please by all means if it makes you uncomfortable drop it immediately, my comment was mostly for myself really lol, cuz if I'm being honest it has reached that point for me and I'm genuinely trying to keep watching despite the plot, I definitely wouldn't ask someone to keep watching if they're unable to, and tbh if it wasn't for the fact that I am determined to see this series to the bitter end, I would've dropped it instantly cuz quite frankly, the plot is on thin ice, but hey, it's a costume drama! So I have one thing to shift my focus onto 😂

Before I throw my two cents into the pile, let me preface this by saying that if you've come upon any of my comments or reviews before, you'd know that I absolutely do not condone this sort of relationships. Usually when a drama contains any form of SA/abuse/toxicity, I would start contemplating dropping it, with that being said, I will continue watching this series despite the triggering content. This series is the only exception because of one reason and one reason only, and that is because it's the first uncensored chinese bl we've had in years. This might seem like the shallowest excuse you'll ever encounter but hear me out, we all need to start somewhere, and a starving man will down anything you throw his way, and I'm sure I'm not the only person here in desperate need of that element the chinese dramas/movies have added to the genre, because while korean and thai media have their moments, you can't deny that the magic of xianxia/wuxia dramas is sorely missed in the mix of content we've been consuming in the past couple of years, so the total rating this drama will receive from me is going to be a 8.5 and it will not change no matter what atrocities the plot will throw at me later on.
Now you might be wondering, does the plot deserve this rating? Absolutely not. Does the acting deserve this rating? Honestly debatable. Does the music deserve it then? Probably not, the only reason why I'm rating it so highly is because of what I had stated above, so until we get more uncensored chinese lgbtq+ content (holding onto the hope that we will get more after this) my rating of this drama will remain high, should more content come out later on, my rating of it will change to fit my actual opinion on it.
And with that I rest my case, I apologize in advance for the lengthy comment but I needed to vent a little for the sake of my self proclaimed objectiveness (heavy emphasis on the self proclaimed because obviously it's still going to be subjective 🙃)
thank you to whoever stuck around to read my pointless comment, you're a lovely person and I hope you have a good day/evening 💗

I can see your point of view, and the thing with hospital dramas is spot on, I'm a med student too and the stuff I've seen in these dramas is enough to send a professional into cardiac arrest, but while I agree with you on that front, there's quite a difference between these two genres, because while you'd rarely find actors who are also health professionals or associated with that field, good actors who can also dance aren't a rarity especially in the korean entertainment industry, if this was the west then I'd definitely agree because most celebrities over there have somewhat clearly defined roles like singer, dancer or actor, but in Korea, you can at worst find 5 out of 10 people who possess at least two of these talents given their training process, so it wouldn't be too hard finding a good actor who's also a good dancer. For medically themed dramas, certain information can't be found or understood from a bit of research, however, the same couldn't be said about ballet/dancing since it's a part of the entertainment industry. I'd also like to point out that ballet dancers (not sure about other forms of dancing) are also required to have some talent in acting to sell the performance since most classical ballets are based on a story, so to not be able to embody the character is to not be good enough to perform that role, take for example the role of Odette in the Swan Lake ballet, many professional ballerinas have danced as Odette at some point, but only a selective few were remembered for it and the reason for that is what I had stated before, those who were remembered for it embodied Odette while they were studying her role, like Natalia Osipova in the 2015 performance of Swan Lake for example (she's one of my personal favourite ballerinas). I'm not sure if I'm making much sense here but I hope you were able to see it form my perspective, aside from that, I 100% agree with you on what you said, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic btw, and I apologize if my reply seems quite long lol 🤍