LPA

I am from th U.S. and I have been a serious fan of Asian dramas for more than 5 years now. My first Kdrama was “The Great Doctor” aka “Faith” with Lee Min Ho that I discovered while browsing through Netflicks of all things (it seems that they are getting many more Asian dramas now, which could possibly encourage me to go back to them someday—Ha!). I was so hooked after that drama, that I will truly never be the same—I am so thankful! It opened my world and I began searching the Internet for everything I could find. My first Chinese drama was Bu Bu Jing Xin —the original “Scarlet Heart” and my favorite. It was mesmerizing and the male characters were so interesting—funny, dignified and charismatic—that I couldn’t stop watching! It was quite dramatic. (I loved the half-bald hair style of the princes of that time period.) It is an amazing story and one of my favorites. The Chinese drama style is a bit different, but that’s what makes it so enticing.
I am not so much into heavy Wuxia dramas, but I like some of the fantasy if it is well done. I really liked Nirvana II and I am eagerly waiting for the sequel to “Princess Agents!”
I love reading because there is so much more detail revealed, but I have to admit that I never thought of being able to read a Chinese novel. Now I am encouraged by your article and will start looking for novels—is there one you suggest starting with? Thank you!

It’s interesting to me that there are so many comments regarding this drama about the story development, plot holes and terrible ending. So how did it get such a high rating? I also believe comments and ratings are a “guideline,” so I won’t be spending 16 hours of my life on this one. It seems that it could possibly be interesting, but I need intelligent development, an eye-opening message and a satisfying ending that brings it all together.

Well I broke my own rule about not watching a drama until it has completed. (Not that I can binge-watch everything, but that I can watch it on my own timeline as I have the time and interest.)

I am on episode 12 on DramaFever and now I’ll have to wait for two more weeks to finish watching—one hour at a time (or wait till the end of the month). Bummer!

This is one of the best dramas I have seen in a long time. The writer is a genius and very insightful . The actors and directing are excellent. Lee Sun Kyun and UI did one of their best performances ever. In fact, I think UI should have more dramatic roles like this. (It was far better than “Scarlet Heart.” Her character was much more believable in “My Mister.”)

I highly recommend this drama as a “must-watch” and so far I rate it 9 .5 out of 10 .

Excellent movie and actors were perfect. As the genre says though--it is a tragedy. I rated it a 9 even though i don't usually like to watch this type of movie.

I watched "Playful Kiss" because I like the lead character who was in "Boys Over Flowers." But I was sooo disappointed because as you mentioned, the female lead had no self respect. The male lead was terrible and his little brother treated her even worse! So obviously, I will not be watching this drama--I don't need another experience like "Playful Kiss" (even though there were a few likable parts, there weren't enough of them to overcome the degradation I felt for the female lead--and women overall.)

"Bu Bu Jing Xin" (Scarlet Heart 1--the original Chinese version) is amazing! It has been on my favorites list for 2 or 3 years. Also "Princess Agents" was excellent. I didn't think I was going to like it at first, but then I couldn't stop watching it. Enjoy!

Please be considerate of others and mark this as a spoiler. Thanks.

I'm still waiting for the English subs for Princess of LanLing. Still only 27 have been subbed. Is there anyone who would translate the rest? Please? Thank you!!

I think everyone has stopped trying to watch this drama because, for some reason, in the whole wide world there is no one who is willing to finish the translation after episode 27. It's really too bad because I found it pretty good up to that point, I check back once in awhile (for the past year) just in case, but sadly it's always bad news. ):

PS When a story has a strong female character please don't have them just pretty much disappear toward the end. Leave them in throughout as a strong character. It's always so disappointing when that happens!

The best drama I've seen where this doesn't happen is "Princess Agents." We need more dramas with strong female leads--all the way through!

I just finished this drama and it was very good! It slowed down around the last 10 episodes but then picked up a bit and the ending was realistic and appropriate The actors were very good (although I am sad to hear about Kim Joo Hyuk--he was such a good actor). Even though this is 56 episodes and some people tend to shy away from long dramas, but I love historical Asian dramas and recommend that you watch this. I rated it 9 out of 10.

I haven’t watched it yet ( I am going to try it when it finishes), but your last sentence About the security guard made me laugh! Take care.

This was the worst drama I ever tried to watch--in any language. I'm an American and I am so embarassed! It wasn't even close to the quality of the Korean version and I haven't watched the Jdrama version. The crazy thing is that the U.S. definitely has the talent and capability of making a good drama. So what could have possibly happened to this?! Obviously someone with absolutely no clue! Sorry to have to write this, but there you go. Take care.
PS I wish the Koreans would have made a sequel to "Boys Over Flowers" back then. Everyone would have watched it!

Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn’t thinking “poor”— as in “no money,” I was thing poor as in “bad/unskilled. “

I could kind of understand that (infidelity) as a category (although I'm not sure I would want to watch it then). The big question to me is, why is there a tag "poor female lead?"--never heard of such a thing! It seems subjective and insulting.

I agree. If you can’t make it better, why even try? Or at least at the end of a disaster, get rid of it when you know it’s that bad. When America remakes such an amazing drama loved by so many fans around the world into such a terrible drama, it really gives us a bad name and then people in the US that watch it might get a bad impression of Asian dramas because they think they are all like this! So I agree, do it better or stop.!
The American version of “Boys Over Flowers” wasn’t even slightly good! I watched a few episodes and was shocked and horrified that someone could produce such a thing and think it would advance their career. It’s so out of touch with what Americans really want. That’s why so many people are watching Kdramas!

I started watching this on youtube. I’ve seen three episodes so far, which I know is not many, but I’m having a really hard time getting into the story. It may get better as it goes but one of the problems also, is that the subtitles are so bad because it only translates one or two sentences every 10 or more scenes. So I’m probably going to drop it for now and maybe I’ll try it again sometime somewhere else.

(By the way, I recently finished all the episodes of “Tribes and Empires” and it was really good—“realistic” scenes and great acting. Sometimes reminded me of “Game of Thrones.” You should watch it if you can’t watch this one. )

I had the same problem with Six Flying Dragons. Although I liked most of the characters, I couldn’t connect with the main lead and the story started to drag because of that.
I haven’t seen “Three Kingdoms” yet, but I have been thinking about it since I saw the movie (and it’s sequel/ continuation) “RED CLIFF” which has Everything you could possibly want in any drama. It is one of the most amazing and epic movies I have ever seen. If you haven’t watched it yet, I HIGHLY recommend it!

The two dramas actually are not related to each other. I saw the first 27 episodes of “Princess of Lan Ling” (which I liked), but the problem was they stopped translating at that point and I have never been able to watch it since. You would think that somebody would pick up the English translation by now, but they haven’t—It’s very odd! So many people want to finish watching it. Thanks for your comments. (:

I think “Nirvana In Fire 2” is even better than the first one—if that’s possible! A definite must-watch and I would love even more episodes! Maybe there could be a #3 ??? I will watch it!