Becky

Is it? I have missed the date at the beginning, was probably googling on the original manga. Thanks!

True, but they also never mention the dates in the drama. By including the HKG handover, we know Chu Ying first came into Shi Guang's life on abt 29, 30 June 1997. 6 years later would be July 2003-- Nokia mobile, black CRT monitors (monitors were mostly white-peach color in the 90s) and the Jay Chou CD were around that time...

Oh, oh! I was hoping someone can tell me about the Japanese manga and anime. Which year was the original set in? Is there plot about starting Go online and the leads create IDs to play against each other? TIA ^^

iQiYi trying to build a relationship with the SARFT.... (¬‿¬)

This is only a suggestion... Not sure if it can work, but can give it a try??
https://donotpay.com/learn/virtual-credit-cards/

-_-" I didn't think they would further restrict with credit card.... is there PayPal option? Else I can't see any other option

Hi-5! Didn't drop it becos of Bai Yu... Una You is a good actress too, but underused in this drama

MDL rating is wrong this time -_-" douban rating is 4.4 which is correct. In spite of the talented cast, and Aarif Rahman went half naked at opening scene, this movie is really boring.... zzzz

Plenty of action scenes but because of the special effects and CGI it lowers your appreciation for the actions (lower the value of the action scenes), not enough comedy and not enough romance. Story was okay... CGI is great though. By the 2nd half, I couldn't care for the characters.

Fully understand why none of the cast came back for the sequel

O.o
Just realize the ending song that plays at every episode, is actually sang by FL Ni Ni
https://youtu.be/y1UhHiT8ePU

Darn! I missed out 1 more scene.... had initially went from ep 61 or 62 to 69, then retrace back , lol

Same feelings.... I breeze through very quickly, completely invested in the drama and binge until ep 60, when the plot holes are so bad, the last 10 eps took me 3 days to finish. But you need to pay close attention to every scene in the last arc, not fast forwarding like what I did initially.... Eg: Helian's actions made no sense, I had to rewatch an episode and realize I missed out on a scene between him and the brother. He was the one who planted the idea in Helian to take that action.... although how he knew Helian would do that, how he knew the timing of it, the drama should have flashed out that part -_-"

The last arc is frustrating.... it is presented like pieces in a puzzle (someone commented it is like being in a time machine, and being whizzed to different scenes at random). You are tempted to skip or fast fwd, but missing a few seconds scene, and you miss out on the motivations of the eventual outcomes...

Agreed!! Tbh however, I do understand what they mean... The 1st time I saw Ni Ni was on a magazine cover many years ago, around the time The Flowers of War was released. I was surprised then, becos Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi have such big expressive eyes, while Ni Ni's eyes are quite small. Is she capable of the intense emoting that is required in a Zhang Yimou's film? She also look more like a model than actress... But I didn't watch the movie back then, and missed her films that follow after. Due to the lockdowns, I finally watched L&D ^^ and she blew my mind! Crying is the most difficult, yet she managed to convey the intense emotions while still looking beautiful! Saw a BTS clip of the L&D director commenting they should add more crying scenes since she is doing so well, lol!

So I am digging up her old works -- Love will Tear Us Apart, The Flowers of War (this was quite difficult to find online, but it is worth every minute! Zhang Yimou did such a good job directing her it is unbelievable she had zero prior acting experience), etc.. Looking fwd to My Best Friend's Story ;)

Lol... will do that :D How did you guys finish the drama? I should have finish it by now but it is giving me a headache! End up watching Chen Kun, Ni Ni, etc on a gameshow and some interviews.... oh, do watch https://youtu.be/6orY4IchAjY Ni Ni look so graceful eating while being interviewed ^^ quite fun watching the interviewer asking her questions while she is more interested in the food :D

I'm at the last 5 eps. If MDL would allow attachment at comments, I feel like posting screenshot of the Dacheng 4th Prince kill scene, with caption, "my feelings towards the director at the last arc..."

You should try Secret of Three Kingdoms. Cinematography is like that of a movie

Oh, that's why he had Ning Cheng killed him (the director cameo as 4th prince of Dacheng)... lol

Thank you for the extra information! The drama started going downhill for me, around ep 47, 48. What XZY did, breaking her bro out of prison was really unnecessary and stupid. Then the plot sort of revived but slipped towards total chaos.... I'm at ep 63 and struggling to finish it. Tried to jump to 68 but so many ppl are dead.... Helian Zheng's death makes no sense. Not enough details on what happened between him and FZW that make him take such drastic action. He had a kingdom, giving that up for a woman who didn't love him? The good acting is wasted with the poor edits...

o_O wait, is the Director the long lost bro of Zhiwei (4th Prince of Dacheng) ??

Awww... The plot was getting messy and when this was revealed, my reaction was, "Yup, they look like siblings. What striking resemblance...... x_x"

Expressionless??? Her eyes spoke words even when she had no lines

oooo..... Putting this on PTW list. Chen Kun from TROP and Regina Wan from SOTK. Regina Wan is the reason I managed to finish SOTK **hearts**