This review may contain spoilers
The Guardian of Dafeng
An unsuspecting young man + a mysterious game = a transmigration story full of comedy, plot twists, and epic adventure. The story starts with Yang Ling, a personable and promising young man who aspires to enter the police force as an investigator. But as luck would have it, he fails to do so and is forced to work as a struggling salesman. One night, he decides to play a seemingly harmless mystery game with his colleagues and suddenly finds himself transported into the magical world of Dafeng. In this world, he is known as Xu Qi An, the nephew of a low-born government official. In order to leave this world, he has to solve the mystery, and so he assumes the identity of this character and decides to make good use of his deduction skills. As he rapidly climbs the social ladder in this intricate world of Dafeng and becomes more and more attached to the people in it, he unknowingly uncovers a sinister plot that could put him and his loved ones in critical danger.
I immediately found myself enamored with Dafeng and the more I immersed myself in its rich world and colorful characters, I became more fond of it. Wang Hedi positively shines as Xu Qi An. If I may so boldly claim, I believe this role was practically written for him and his best one yet. Yes, I know, this is was based on a novel, which I haven't read by the way. But the role fits him like a glove that it feels like it was written with him in mind. Many have compared the drama to Joy of Life, including myself, and I must agree, they are quite similar. But they're also very different. Joy of Life is more politically driven with far more complex characters that are neither black nor white. Guardians of the Dafeng has more idealistic characters that can be likened to superheroes in terms of principles and traits. In short, it's a more straightforward story with a role model type of main character who's driven by his sense of justice and has friends who share his ideals.
The Guardians are probably the coolest part of this drama, especially Xu Qi An's close-knit circle of friends. They're basically the Justice League or the Avengers of C-drama and I loved watching them on screen. I also became very attached to his wacky family. They reminded me of Fan Xian's equally adorable family from Joy of Life. One of my favorite characters in this is Wei Yuan, who is the counterpart of Joy of Life's Cheng Ping Ping. Both are powerful eunuchs and highly intelligent strategists and are probably the most interesting characters in their respective dramas. I like all the characters except one. I wish they hadn't added a love interest. I know that Xu Qi An marries her in the book but he was supposedly more in love with the Royal Princess and she was his primary romantic interest. To avoid the harem angle, they could've just made them fall for him but he didn't need to return their affections. That way, the drama would just be a straight up male-centric story revolving around Xu Qi An with no romantic entanglements and complications.
Strangely enough, I actually enjoyed the first few episodes even though many viewers complained about the slapstick comedy and slowburn plot progression in the beginning. I started to lose interest the moment the princess showed up and began causing all kinds of havoc. The character doesn't contribute anything of value to the story, frankly speaking. She is no more than just an unnecessary accessory, the tasteless edible gold leaf embellishment to the proverbial cherry on top of an already well-decorated cake. She annoyed me to no end. I skipped all of her scenes save for the ones that involved a subplot regarding another princess. I didn't feel the need to watch the rest and I didn't lose anything from not watching them. They could've completely written her out of the story and it wouldn't have mattered. I wish they had focused more on the Royal Princess, she's a far more intriguing character in my opinion. It wouldn't have mattered if she was the love interest or not because she could've played a more significant role in the court politics and her interesting relationship with Lord Wei needs to be explored more. I get the feeling that she's actually his daughter and not the emperor's. I hope they'd delve more into her character in future seasons.
All in all, this was a highly entertaining drama that could've been great if not for the hiccups in the writing of the love interest, the silly mistaken identity subplot that slowed down the story for several episodes, and the abrupt ending that made me cuss and complain that they could've fit everything in just 40 episodes if they didn't add so much unnecessary stuff that only dragged the story. I would've given this a much higher rating if they had actually done that. Anyways, I'm still going to watch the second season if they ever make one.
I immediately found myself enamored with Dafeng and the more I immersed myself in its rich world and colorful characters, I became more fond of it. Wang Hedi positively shines as Xu Qi An. If I may so boldly claim, I believe this role was practically written for him and his best one yet. Yes, I know, this is was based on a novel, which I haven't read by the way. But the role fits him like a glove that it feels like it was written with him in mind. Many have compared the drama to Joy of Life, including myself, and I must agree, they are quite similar. But they're also very different. Joy of Life is more politically driven with far more complex characters that are neither black nor white. Guardians of the Dafeng has more idealistic characters that can be likened to superheroes in terms of principles and traits. In short, it's a more straightforward story with a role model type of main character who's driven by his sense of justice and has friends who share his ideals.
The Guardians are probably the coolest part of this drama, especially Xu Qi An's close-knit circle of friends. They're basically the Justice League or the Avengers of C-drama and I loved watching them on screen. I also became very attached to his wacky family. They reminded me of Fan Xian's equally adorable family from Joy of Life. One of my favorite characters in this is Wei Yuan, who is the counterpart of Joy of Life's Cheng Ping Ping. Both are powerful eunuchs and highly intelligent strategists and are probably the most interesting characters in their respective dramas. I like all the characters except one. I wish they hadn't added a love interest. I know that Xu Qi An marries her in the book but he was supposedly more in love with the Royal Princess and she was his primary romantic interest. To avoid the harem angle, they could've just made them fall for him but he didn't need to return their affections. That way, the drama would just be a straight up male-centric story revolving around Xu Qi An with no romantic entanglements and complications.
Strangely enough, I actually enjoyed the first few episodes even though many viewers complained about the slapstick comedy and slowburn plot progression in the beginning. I started to lose interest the moment the princess showed up and began causing all kinds of havoc. The character doesn't contribute anything of value to the story, frankly speaking. She is no more than just an unnecessary accessory, the tasteless edible gold leaf embellishment to the proverbial cherry on top of an already well-decorated cake. She annoyed me to no end. I skipped all of her scenes save for the ones that involved a subplot regarding another princess. I didn't feel the need to watch the rest and I didn't lose anything from not watching them. They could've completely written her out of the story and it wouldn't have mattered. I wish they had focused more on the Royal Princess, she's a far more intriguing character in my opinion. It wouldn't have mattered if she was the love interest or not because she could've played a more significant role in the court politics and her interesting relationship with Lord Wei needs to be explored more. I get the feeling that she's actually his daughter and not the emperor's. I hope they'd delve more into her character in future seasons.
All in all, this was a highly entertaining drama that could've been great if not for the hiccups in the writing of the love interest, the silly mistaken identity subplot that slowed down the story for several episodes, and the abrupt ending that made me cuss and complain that they could've fit everything in just 40 episodes if they didn't add so much unnecessary stuff that only dragged the story. I would've given this a much higher rating if they had actually done that. Anyways, I'm still going to watch the second season if they ever make one.
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