This one is for the Anime girlies!!!
Listen, listen...I get that this show is rated low in China and I get WHY, however as an anime fan and because I'm still a 15-yo immature girl in a 37-yo woman body 🤭🫣, I loved every single second!!
The story itself is amazing and a breath of fresh air. I know that there are many "realm switch" fantasy stories (i.e, real world characters traveling into a different reality/realm via a book or a game) out there. However, this is the first time I have seen this genre do this level of world building and have such a different take on the genre.
People may find these stories corny, but not me lol. I love when the story itself is presented like a High Fantasy epic with lots of humor. And that show did just that.
There are so many things I loved about that show!
1. For starters, the central point of the story is less about "making a way back home or solving a case in the new timeline so the ML can fix his own timeline" but more about finding meaning in his life by living the type of life he never had the opportunity to live in the other realm. This then demanded that the main characters to be fully integrated into the story instead of being time or realm "travelers." The ML is not "solving cases", "fighting monsters, witches and wizards, or other villains" with some type of hidden agenda or any other reason then the fact that it's who he is as a person. There are no "deep secret" that he needs to uproot to make sense of his world or why he got there. He just got there and decided to just "do". What you see is exactly what you get. He is not some type of deep strategist. He is just a dork trying to survive.
2. I know a few people are going to point out the similarities with Joy of Life, I would like to argue that although on the surface they may appear to be, but contextually and thematically they are very diferent. For one, Guardians is very light-hearted and manga style slapstick humor type of narrative. Where Joy of life, for example, takes it itself very seriously (maybe except for the main character) and present the story as a true palace intrigue style of drama. I get that some people found the anime humor a little too much, and honestly it was BUT I liked it. Also, to me the fail wasn't because of the actors per se or in the story but a flaw in execution that made the anime slaptick humor badly translated to live action. For example, the anime Naruto style of running would have been so funny had it been done in another scene before. Something like the ML realizing that running that way actually gives him more speed in an earlier scene, but then try to use it on the guy who never shows his face and it didn't work just because that guys was so steadfast on being "cool" that it gave him super speed or something. Just little things like that if given another pass by the scriptwriter or the director would have worked. Im not gonna lie, I get why this drama doesn't work for some people, but again if you're into anime you can complement what's missing with the imagination.
3. Guardians presents itself is more as a fun little adventure of a "boy wonder" who fell into a weird world and is just going with it, than it is "palace intrigue". For the main character "the joy in his life" is not in being this big sought after guy who is in the middle of the palace and political intrigue but its in the mundane shit. The fact he is recognized and valued for his hard work, and have this awesome family now brings him so much joy. He gets to be an "enforcer of justice" and help the little guy in the most mundane way possible. He understands and thrive in that world not because he is some "genius" or some omnipotent traveller but because in his past life he had to grovel in a thankless corporation and please his superiors no matter how asinine their bullshit was. That's literally "his super power", it's the fact that he had to survive an elitist, capitalist world and corporations before so he learned how to navigate difficult situations. It's very clear that what makes the ML such a "genius" is his basic knowledge of random shit in his previous realm (A++ gor middle school science books lol) and because he wanted to be a detective in his past life. And indeed the Guardian Yamen is a corporation where they are all vying for the next promotion or title and cultivation. It has all of the traps of current worklives: nepotism, worplace politics, grumpy and jealous supervisors, and strict managers with weird quirks. It's all so very mundane and quite frankly meaningless in a sense because he knows this is not his real world. However, like he said, it doesn't matter because he gives it meaning so it's meaningful to him. Very Albert Camus if you ask me.
4. It wasn't dub!!! I don't care what y'all chinese viewers say, no dub is the only way (joking joking 😅, I'm just a visitor in this space. So, Im not gonna overstep my boundarie lol). But for real though, I know Chinese viewers hate the different accents and it takes them out of the shows...but can International fans have the raw voice versions, pretty please?!!! 🥺. Because , y'all the dubbing is killing my vibes, yo!! So many actors have the same voices that 99% I still think I'm watching Ye Hua and Bai Qian's love story. That voice aftor is everywhere lol.
5. I loved that cast. They had such good chemistry. And I don't care what they are saying on Chinese internet, in my living room, Wang Hedi deserves all of the applause 😁. It's not his fault that the script wasn't 10/10. If you replace him with another better actor, it would still be the same thing. The structual flaws in the script is not gonna magically be a better because of another actor. These people knew that the show was a 40 episodes they should have been ready to compact the story in a way that it still delivered as stellarly as they envisioned it. Because again, this is not a bad show...it just need more editing and more episodes to be fleshed out properly. More TLC in the drafting and scriptwriting side.
6. Also this is a minirant inside of a bigger one...but what's with the 40 episodes cap, Chinese politicians? Why are y'all deadset on taking my joy away? Like I get it...some shows don't need to be that long (I'm looking at you the General and I). But come on, y'all have been busting my balls with that 40 episodes cap, maaaaayne! It feels like all of the really good dramas are being punished because people done got greedy. How is that our fault, the audience? And that's why shows quality declined so much in 2024. Like, we will never get another Story of Ming Lan because if this bs. Ugh, I'mso disappointed!! And now this show's second season is probably never gonna see the light of day...or not with the same actors because we all know how that's gonna turn out (looking at you DuolingContinent!!). Somebody is gonna have a tax evasion scandal or some stupid secret dating scandal or two and now they gonna axe everything they were in.
Anyways, in conclusion this is a great show to watch if you like anime style humour and high fantasy series. I ain't gonna hold ya, though, it got a 10 out 10 in my book, but...it's a hit or miss on that one. You either really like it or really hate it. I just so happen to really like it because I grew up on "Robinhood man in tights" 🤣 and I'm extra tired of the formulaic sad love storied where people died at the end that CDrama has been putting out lately. I wish they would give those a rest and make more silly stuff like this one.
The story itself is amazing and a breath of fresh air. I know that there are many "realm switch" fantasy stories (i.e, real world characters traveling into a different reality/realm via a book or a game) out there. However, this is the first time I have seen this genre do this level of world building and have such a different take on the genre.
People may find these stories corny, but not me lol. I love when the story itself is presented like a High Fantasy epic with lots of humor. And that show did just that.
There are so many things I loved about that show!
1. For starters, the central point of the story is less about "making a way back home or solving a case in the new timeline so the ML can fix his own timeline" but more about finding meaning in his life by living the type of life he never had the opportunity to live in the other realm. This then demanded that the main characters to be fully integrated into the story instead of being time or realm "travelers." The ML is not "solving cases", "fighting monsters, witches and wizards, or other villains" with some type of hidden agenda or any other reason then the fact that it's who he is as a person. There are no "deep secret" that he needs to uproot to make sense of his world or why he got there. He just got there and decided to just "do". What you see is exactly what you get. He is not some type of deep strategist. He is just a dork trying to survive.
2. I know a few people are going to point out the similarities with Joy of Life, I would like to argue that although on the surface they may appear to be, but contextually and thematically they are very diferent. For one, Guardians is very light-hearted and manga style slapstick humor type of narrative. Where Joy of life, for example, takes it itself very seriously (maybe except for the main character) and present the story as a true palace intrigue style of drama. I get that some people found the anime humor a little too much, and honestly it was BUT I liked it. Also, to me the fail wasn't because of the actors per se or in the story but a flaw in execution that made the anime slaptick humor badly translated to live action. For example, the anime Naruto style of running would have been so funny had it been done in another scene before. Something like the ML realizing that running that way actually gives him more speed in an earlier scene, but then try to use it on the guy who never shows his face and it didn't work just because that guys was so steadfast on being "cool" that it gave him super speed or something. Just little things like that if given another pass by the scriptwriter or the director would have worked. Im not gonna lie, I get why this drama doesn't work for some people, but again if you're into anime you can complement what's missing with the imagination.
3. Guardians presents itself is more as a fun little adventure of a "boy wonder" who fell into a weird world and is just going with it, than it is "palace intrigue". For the main character "the joy in his life" is not in being this big sought after guy who is in the middle of the palace and political intrigue but its in the mundane shit. The fact he is recognized and valued for his hard work, and have this awesome family now brings him so much joy. He gets to be an "enforcer of justice" and help the little guy in the most mundane way possible. He understands and thrive in that world not because he is some "genius" or some omnipotent traveller but because in his past life he had to grovel in a thankless corporation and please his superiors no matter how asinine their bullshit was. That's literally "his super power", it's the fact that he had to survive an elitist, capitalist world and corporations before so he learned how to navigate difficult situations. It's very clear that what makes the ML such a "genius" is his basic knowledge of random shit in his previous realm (A++ gor middle school science books lol) and because he wanted to be a detective in his past life. And indeed the Guardian Yamen is a corporation where they are all vying for the next promotion or title and cultivation. It has all of the traps of current worklives: nepotism, worplace politics, grumpy and jealous supervisors, and strict managers with weird quirks. It's all so very mundane and quite frankly meaningless in a sense because he knows this is not his real world. However, like he said, it doesn't matter because he gives it meaning so it's meaningful to him. Very Albert Camus if you ask me.
4. It wasn't dub!!! I don't care what y'all chinese viewers say, no dub is the only way (joking joking 😅, I'm just a visitor in this space. So, Im not gonna overstep my boundarie lol). But for real though, I know Chinese viewers hate the different accents and it takes them out of the shows...but can International fans have the raw voice versions, pretty please?!!! 🥺. Because , y'all the dubbing is killing my vibes, yo!! So many actors have the same voices that 99% I still think I'm watching Ye Hua and Bai Qian's love story. That voice aftor is everywhere lol.
5. I loved that cast. They had such good chemistry. And I don't care what they are saying on Chinese internet, in my living room, Wang Hedi deserves all of the applause 😁. It's not his fault that the script wasn't 10/10. If you replace him with another better actor, it would still be the same thing. The structual flaws in the script is not gonna magically be a better because of another actor. These people knew that the show was a 40 episodes they should have been ready to compact the story in a way that it still delivered as stellarly as they envisioned it. Because again, this is not a bad show...it just need more editing and more episodes to be fleshed out properly. More TLC in the drafting and scriptwriting side.
6. Also this is a minirant inside of a bigger one...but what's with the 40 episodes cap, Chinese politicians? Why are y'all deadset on taking my joy away? Like I get it...some shows don't need to be that long (I'm looking at you the General and I). But come on, y'all have been busting my balls with that 40 episodes cap, maaaaayne! It feels like all of the really good dramas are being punished because people done got greedy. How is that our fault, the audience? And that's why shows quality declined so much in 2024. Like, we will never get another Story of Ming Lan because if this bs. Ugh, I'mso disappointed!! And now this show's second season is probably never gonna see the light of day...or not with the same actors because we all know how that's gonna turn out (looking at you DuolingContinent!!). Somebody is gonna have a tax evasion scandal or some stupid secret dating scandal or two and now they gonna axe everything they were in.
Anyways, in conclusion this is a great show to watch if you like anime style humour and high fantasy series. I ain't gonna hold ya, though, it got a 10 out 10 in my book, but...it's a hit or miss on that one. You either really like it or really hate it. I just so happen to really like it because I grew up on "Robinhood man in tights" 🤣 and I'm extra tired of the formulaic sad love storied where people died at the end that CDrama has been putting out lately. I wish they would give those a rest and make more silly stuff like this one.
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