phoenixfrost

The kiss between Xu Qi An and Princess Lin An is one of the best onscreen kisses I’ve watched. Neither cold nor slobbery with fake passion, it is sweet, heartfelt and exceedingly heart-fluttering.

Didi is that rare talent who is not only gorgeous and talented but believes in doing the right thing too. He does not want to play dirty C-Ent games of paying netizens to attack enemies or to make him look good, e.g. pay/encourage netizens to downrate other actors’ dramas or to uprate his dramas on Douban and other drama scoring sites. He gives vent to his anger and disappointments through his songs. Have you heard Burn?

Wechat and Douyin are top apps in China. However, I don’t believe anything that comes out of China anymore. I understand Didi has been shadowbanned in Douyin too. C-Ent is getting more out of control. Well, disinformation on social media is out of control. This includes IMDB. That’s why I don’t rely on online ratings. I watch at least a few episodes of a cdrama to judge whether to finish it or not and I never diss a drama I have not finished. Rotten Tomatoes has professional critics but I think it does not review all cdramas, if at all.

Compared to other cdramas hailed as masterpieces and have higher ratings, this IS a masterpiece. It weaves comedy, mystery, action, drama, familial love, brotherhood and romance in a seamless, entertaining and compelling narrative. The production quality, including the cgi, is topnotch. The OST is quite stirring.

I pity anybody who is so consumed with envy and hate they can’t appreciate an excellent drama worthy to be called a masterpiece.

Whew, with at least 200 million rmb budget that Dylan’s most vicious haters spent to attack this drama, I had expected a Douban rating below 5. So, 5.4 is actually a victory. The supporters of this drama were able to counter the attacks somewhat. This actually shows how unreliable Douban is and just confirms the fact that Douban is an outmoded system of rating dramas. It was probably reliable back when disinformation had not taken grip on social media. Douban rating is a dinosaur. A thing of the past. The app/site does not feature among the top apps/sites in China.

Thank you. The attacks Didi is getting from envious quarters in C-Ent are so disgusting and vicious, a weaker actor would have broken down by now which is what his deplorable haters want to happen. Instead, Didi is showing his haters he is creme de la creme.

Those who know what is happening to Didi in C-Ent are actually bemused at how closely Dafeng mirrors reality. The bullying Xu Qi An suffered from Zhou Li and Zhu Chengzhu, both sons of powerful figures in Dafeng, resemble the bullying Didi is currently being subjected to in the vicious and cutt-throat world of C-Ent

It's currently being released 1 episode per day yet is still topping Yunhe viewership chart. We'll see what happens when it goes back to 2 episodes per day this week-end

The Chinese Entertainment industry is viciously dirty. China is, after all, known for fake news and troll armies for hire. Dylan's agency has already sued several haters but ENVY and MONEY are just too powerful to resist for a lot of deplorable netizens with nothing better to do.

Months before this drama started airing, a smear campaign already started slandering Dylan. A netizen who was recruited to blacken Dylan blew the whistle on the operation and said somebody is out to get him. Why, you may ask? Not really surprising. From the moment he entered showbiz in 2017, Dylan has been blackened by envious people who didn't like a young man with no family wealth, no powerful backer and no big publicity machine taking projects away from their boys.

It was revealed that "the organized attack on Dylan involved a budget of 200m rmb. While not all participants are known, the main ones are clear. Eg the influencers who smeared D&DF all belong to the same media co, which serves a top C-ent agency representing numerous celebs."
https://x.com/WangHediFolder/status/1874865302368034933#

On GOTD's first day, the drama's heat index was steadily climbing, on track to reaching at least 29k when the system crashed for several hours, losing thousands of cloud seats, not to mention airtime. Tencent Video did not attempt to recover these losses. Why might Tencent Video appear to be sabotaging its drama? Might it have something to do with its rivalry with Tencent Pictures, the grandfather company of GOTD producer?

Despite these setbacks, GOTD managed to top drama charts. It is a masterpiece and word of mouth is countering the smear campaign.

I was actually thinking of viewers who are not well-versed with Chinese culture, like my siblings who I’ve been trying to persuade to watch the drama. A new cdrama viewer would not understand the gravity of “going to the Department of Music”. For all you know, they might interpret that as going to Julliard which is not bad at all. It’s very considerate of Viki to clarify this.

This 1-episode-per-day schedule has some merit. It's providing enough time to watch the drama is another site. I've been watching it on Tencent Video but since 50 minutes of GOTD per day is not enough, I also watched it on Viki. The translation cleared up some murky aspects of the drama. For example, in Tencent Video, it wasn't explained why the Xu women going to the Department of Music was bad. In Viki, the translation clarified that "Department of Music" is euphemism for "government-controlled brothel".

Some accounts in X/Twitter have been reporting it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another ploy to mess up with the data for this drama

Does anybody know how the Tencent heat index is calculated or at least what the criteria are? Isn't it based on viewership? Based on this table that shows GOTD having higher Kuyun and Yunhe views than those of some dramas that reached 30k heat index, GOTD should already be at 30k:
https://x.com/WangHediFolder/status/1876206083464905077/

Tencent TV and Tencent Pictures (grandparent company of GOTD producer) engaged in a fierce rivalry in the past that caused Tencent Pictures to be shut down in 2022. Seems like the rivalry is ongoing.

That system crash on day 1 of GOTD that reduced its heat index is getting more and more suspicious. Add to this the relentless blackening of GOTD by unscrupulous netizens, C-Ent industry is getting more and more disgustingly out of control.

Here's hoping GOTD prevails over this madness.

I like witnessing the budding of a romantic relationship. When Xu Qi An fell in crush with Lin An at first sight in ep 6, it pulled my romantic heart strings and increased my interest in the drama. For me, the romance started at that point. The development of a romantic entanglement between the leads became another aspect I looked forward to and enjoyed watching. Just because sweet pure romance is not your type doesn't mean nobody appreciates it.

Lin An is not objectively unlikeable. Like Orchid in Love Between Fairy and Devil who some people found annoying and others found cute, it's a subjective thing. I found Lin An cute, funny and intriguing from the get-go. I have a feeling she's pretending to be silly and flighty so royal power players would not think she's competition. But some viewers have varied reasons to not like her, e.g. they want another CP for Dylan or they just want to throw dirt at the drama for ANY reason. I love the romance in this drama. It does not get in the way of the other aspects of the story, but it serves its purposes - spice up Xu Qi An's life and show that he has a well-rounded heart, i.e. not just all about family and duty.

Mainland issue

Hoping Tencent would just continue the 2 eps daily schedule. They owe this drama a lot after messing up the cloud seats in a suspicious "site crash" on day 1 that reduced the heat index. This drama could have reached a heat index of at least 29k on day 1 were it not for that crash. Been wondering if losing cloud seats is one reason at least 14 million viewers turned to a pirate site instead.

great comparison of the two

Princess Lin An turned out to NOT be unnecessary after all, as some viewers prematurely tagged her. She paved the way for him to redeem himself, saving him. This is why I try not to judge characters until the drama is done. This reminds me of how Orchid of Love Between Fairy and Devil was maligned for her babyish voice and mannerisms at the start of the drama. Look what she turned out to be! If only viewers learn to enjoy and try to understand a drama instead of criticizing it every step of the way, the world would be a much more peaceful and entertaining place.