MyLangyaList

A NDBT (哪都不通) storyline

‒Short Review‒

Season 2 returns the main cast in Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao and perhaps even ups the ante in terms of visuals, CGI, action choreography. However, the magic of S1‒seamlessly blending humor, action, and heart into a story with intrigue and great characters‒was missing. Instead, the show often felt like a frustrating, disjointed mess that struggled to blend together multiple stories, angles, and new characters. Only in the beginning and the very last episode did the show feel like S1, where the narrative was able to pull together into a coherent story. Given how this season was somehow higher rated on Douban compared to S1, I suspect much of the narrative issues may be due to a creative team that had to balance the expectations of the manhua and donghua fans, rather than crafting a ground-up adaptation of the story that was shown.

As a TV-only enjoyer, there seems to be several different themes and story lines for this season. There's the Chen Duo storyline of who she is, what happened between her and Liao Shu, and also the the effort to capture her. There's Ma Xianhong's village, his special cauldron, and the effort to bring him under NDT jurisdiction. There's mystery to the other NDT temps. And also, there's the tension with NDT HQ. In addition, there's a small arc about ZGQ. Either the show needed to prune some of the story lines or use a different narrative structure to main the focus and cohesion that's needed. Instead, we got a story that struggled to build tension and focus, much less maintain it. In contrast, S1 worked so well partly due to the core story about ZCL, and later on FBB. I rewatched a bit of S1 again for comparison, and the humor and story difference is just night and day.

What I Liked
- Production value, decent CGI
- Action sequences
- The returning characters from S1, and the new ZGQ
- Vicky Chen's Chen Duo

What I Didn't Like
- The storytelling
- New character casting/acting (I suspect too much emphasis was placed on visual resemblance, rather than acting and behavior that's most organic to the story)
- New character story (the little backstory we got for them was shallow and awkward, difficult to care about them)
- Humor (forced and disrupting to the mood/tensions of the story, and the humor just wasn't as sharp)

‒Category Ratings‒

- Overall - 7 (generous 7)
- Plot - 6.5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7.5
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 7
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8

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The Legend of the Female Pig Butcher

‒Review‒

"He's so handsome, no wonder Big Sis saved him from the snow ... Nonsense, it's about saving lives, not looks." This exchange between the FL Fang Changyu and her kid sister dives into the heart of show. Then, as FCY wipes Zhang Linghe's face gently with a towel as the camera pans in, we then get a close-up of the two girls looking wide-eyed and mesmerized. "Wowww," they let out a sigh of amazement. So why is Pursuit of Jade the international hit costume drama of 2026. Why? Because it's woww-so-pretty in its visual cinematography, and most of all its actors.

There's really no point for me to do a deep dive into the plot as it's the visuals that will pull you in, and the visuals that will convince you how much it's about 'saving lives' or errhmm the story.

What I liked
✅Director, Director, Director - Zeng Qingjie is now the God of Idol Dramas, able to elevate good looking people to new heights. And it's also the colors, camera shots, etc., nuances I'm too clueless to articulate except that it's obvious enough to be much more aesthetically pleasing. Other dramas that come to mind: A Dream of Splendor and Road to Splendor, which even had captivating real landscape shots.
✅Visual story telling - And it's also how Director Zeng uses the camera and editing to tell the story. He's able to take the same basic script, but tell it in a way that make the characters and story seem much more profound. I watched for 18 episodes because he provided the anticipation of profound characters and an epic story.
✅Tian Xiwei - She's been known for being a cute, innocent girl in other dramas. PoJ highlights how she has been elevating her acting game. Here, she's able to deliver credible action-oriented scenes, whether butchering pigs or fighting bandits. And embody a credible attitude of a orphaned pig butcher and medieval village peasant, good enough for idol anyways. I also liked her portrayal of the princess in Guardians of Dafeng where she was able to humorously deliver the obnoxious, entitled airhead princess, but also the character growth. And held her own as the rookie cop alongside a veteran cast in the non-idol drama 'Born with Luck'.
✅Zhang 'Saving Lives' Linghe - Without gege, this show wouldn't exist or become an international sensation. With the help of Director Zeng, ZLH was able to look more natural as a wounded general. Granted, part of that was director's magic, as he skillfully hid ZLH from extended expressive scenes, and relied on angles and editing cuts to bolster the effect of his acting.
✅Deng Kai and Snow Kong - same thing, look good + directorial magic
✅Humor and action - both were well done, and helped keep me around for 18 eps.

What I didn't like
❌Zhang 'Gap-Year-General' Linghe - The enemies are plotting, a grave threat to the kingdom is looming, and the most fearsome heroic general is out in the countryside selling his looks for $3.50 a pound with a side of pig entrails
❌Military Strategy - WhyTF even bother with generals when you can just recruit an army of female pig butchers to crush the enemy. They can kick ass, look good, and even take care of the butchering and cooking. And they'll take a lot more than a 20% pay cut compared to men and not unionize. Just convert your male generals to backup duty for those few days every month. Seriously WhoTF is wasting this strategic arbitrage?? Did Hegseth transmigrate into ancient China??
❌The Story - unfortunately not nearly as impressive. Hearing about plot crashes ahead, I didn't see the point of sticking around after 18 sped-up episodes.

So can we just make Female Pig Butchers the next aspirational role for female empowerment? There's been enough female generals, I think pig butcher is a much more representative that affects more lives. The ratio of pig butchers to generals in medieval China must be 1000-1. It's time to focus on where the people are.

--Category Ratings--
- Overall - 6
- Plot - 5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 6
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 9
- Audio / Music - 8.5
- Rewatch - 5.5
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8.5

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If you like the funny, then 98% chance you'll like it

‒Review‒

For those looking for fast-paced, light-hearted comedy-comedy, this one is a treat. Based off of novel and donghua, This show is Xianxia parody with a clever twist. The ML is overpowered as usual, but rather than going through the vomit-blood-obliterate-enemy cycles, he uses strategy, ploys, and enchantments to achieve his goals in the safest way possible, while keeping a low profile. It's an impressive combination of actuarial skills and a giant, giant bag of tricks. Remember, it's a comedic parody and donghua-derived, so don't be bewildered by the whimsical elements. The first episode can feel like a bunch of people talking a lot and talking fast; I recommend giving it 3-4 episodes for the gags to drop and to see if the humor, characters, and vibes work for you.

What I Liked
✅ Humor and parody setup - mocking the usual tropes; punchlines and gags are fast and unexpected enough to keep things interesting. ARP and the cast has good comedic timing and delivery
✅ Jedi mind tricks - Overpowered ML is boring, but one that bamboozles his opponents by combining tricks and clever ploys is
✅ Character dynamics - with Junior-sis (Aimi), high-god on vacation, Junior Dragon-lord, and several others; there is romance w/ the FL, but it's definitely not the focus
✅ Visuals - Mostly decent and not cheap plastic looking. And what is cheap plastic looking can just be excused as parody.
✅ The story, gasp - It's a comedy-comedy, so not subject to the same demands on the story. Yet, its plot, character, and worldbuilding is actually more consistent than the average Xianxia, which is consistently awful. Also plenty of twists and turns that are not obvious.
✅ Happy ending - ||Big twist in the final arc, and a happy ending that is genuinely surprising and meaningful. Some call it an open-ending, just because it's not fully played out. Sure, while it leaves open the possibility of a second season, it's still a self-contained story with closure. ||

What I didn't like
❌ Sun Zhenni's acting - She's good in evil or grayish roles, but not as goodie characters. For the whole show, she was doing Multiple-Choice-Acting‒in that she turns every scene into a random selection of the same expressions A-B-or-C. Forget about nuance, you'd think she has at least a 33% probability to produce a directionally correct facial expression. But noooo, the answer is always D-none of the above. Her rendition of the zillion year Holy Saintess is just so hollow, so jarring. Only when she got demon-possessed later, did she connect with me. And then I figured it out, Zhenni is just born with that *yao-energy, and that's what she needs to cultivate. [yao is demon/demoness, but not so abhorrently and irredeemably evil as in the Western context.] So when you stuff her into these holy-goodie roles, it's like the whole Xianxia thing of cleansing her spirit and lifeforce, leaving her an sterilized, imprisoned shell. I know it's a better career move for actresses to choose the light, or freely trans-realm between good and evil. And I'm not yao-shaming her, but just saying...

❌ ARP's acting when serious - he's good in comedic roles, I mean he's basically playing himself. But when it comes to emotionally complex or powerful scenes, you get the same problem as Sun Zhenni. Except ARP's face is not as blank and more contortionary, as he's cycling through different expressions to hopefully land on the right answer. But the mad circling often results in selecting both 'D-none of the above' AND 'E-all of the above', and you end up with a facial paradox. When it comes to ARP, only the fake crying is authentic crying.

That said, the acting issues didn't bother too much as they were fleeting and ameliorated with the action and comedy. It's not JoL1 level funny or nearly as deep. But I would put it in the same category as Guardians of Dafeng, and slightly better in some respects. While not as expansive in characters and world as GoTD, Pull Strings deliver a more consistent pacing and humor, and a more manageable number of plot lines. Come with the right expectations, and this can be an enjoyable surprise.

--Category Ratings--
- Overall - 7.5 --> 8.0 MDL
- Plot - 7.5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8
- Acting - 7.0
- Visuals - 7.5
- Audio / Music - 7.5
- Rewatch - 7.5
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8.5

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A concept home high in design, but lacking in character

--Review--

At first glance, WIHSS seemed delightfully distinct from the predictable layout of idol dramas with their cookie-cutter tropes and 50-shades-of-pink ethos. The ML Yu Yu, an arrogant interior architect, bludgeons sensibilities with his acerbic quips and genuinely prickly personality. On the other end, we have the FL Gu Yejia, a veteran doctor whose grounded confidence, discerning compassion, and independent outlook defy the conventions of girlboss cosplay and parental machinations of blind date ambushes.

The polished production and cinematography escort you through a visual excursion of Shanghai—from vintage record shops to terraces overlooking its glitzy skyline. The shots are subtle yet elegant, and the scenes are rich in detail, but never pretentious. In particular, YY's home sets the vibe of pristine, controlled solitude, a fitting space for his idiosyncrasies and neuroses. The music underscores the mood and doesn't try to crash the party. Throw in some witty dialog, humor, and a crippling hemorrhoid and this show was looking like a bespoke design that could have been crafted under the exacting standards of Yu Yu himself.

Unfortunately, after settling in for a few episodes, the distinguished first impression turned out to be more of a stylish showroom than a lived-in abode designed for actual people. YY's patchwork of idiosyncrasies feels more like a projection that conveniently flashes for scenes and gags than a cohesive personality whose quirks have left a deep imprint in the world around him. He oscillates between offending others through obliviousness and firing off socially observant zingers. He’ll display OCD-level rigidity about certain habits and work details, then turn strangely nonchalant about things you’d expect him to obsess over. It's not a demand for YY to act as a robot, but an indictment of the writers who did not craft a character based on the solid foundation of flesh and blood, with connective tissue linking personality and behavior. Perhaps the writers tried to pull a hautism (handsome-autism) gambit to keep the ML charming enough to not completely repel the audience. But for me, this only amounted to half-baked characterization and putting lipstick on a hemorrhoid. And handsome-hemorrhoid still begets ... hemorrhoid.

This oversight doesn’t just shortchange the audience of a unique character and story, but denies us a fresh angle on life. We don't truly get immersed in YY's unique world of looking at things, the cost of his sacrifices against convention, or his way of relating to and valuing others. Yes there will be moments where he defies his prickly exterior and does nice things for others, but they come off as momentary gestures without deeper roots or reflection. Subsequently, this issue also spills over to YY's relationships, including with his assistant Lin Sa. Like his other relationships, there are reactions, but they resemble tepid ones from a six-month intern rather than a decade-long assistant. You don't get the accumulated exasperation, reflexive countermeasures, and tormented fondness you'd expect from someone who has survived so long in this professional marriage.

Gu Yejia also doesn’t change for the better. She quickly goes from a doctor with measured compassion to a Mother Teresa figure with inexhaustible patience for both Yu Yu and his neighbor Xiao Man. How the two become instant friends, beyond plot convenience, is still a mystery. GYJ presumably doesn’t have many friends because she’s busy, not because she’s never encountered needy people before. And Xiao Man’s primary traits seem to be that she’s confused and a drinker. If the missing pieces in GYJ’s life were truly healing YY’s hemorrhoid—both physical and personality-wise—and XM’s alcoholism, then you start to wonder why she doesn’t just randomly pick a suitor from her blind date conference calls and offer them the same salvation package. Ironically, I ended up agreeing with the chemistry rooners. What exactly do YY and GYJ see in each other, where is the attraction coming from, are there even signs of mutual affection?

But not all is lost in terms of characterization. XM's BYD inventory and pet bulldog Daoge were actually the best performers in staying in character. As product placement, BYD reliably presented its design, tech, and comfort without stepping on the plot or hijacking the camera. And Daoge behaved like a dog is supposed to act: confused by the decisions of the characters and scriptwriters, but too fixated on food and doggy things to care.

Sadly, I'm not a bulldog and do care about the plot and characterization. So despite relishing the beginning, I eventually skipped 10 episodes to the end, found XM in a bizarre last-ditch love-triangle, and immediately thanked my decision to circumvent the clogged plumbing of this plotline. Like Confucius famously said, "hemorrhoids are to be spectated, not suffered." It's one thing to be filled with the giddy holiday spirits watching the ML writhing on the ground from hemorrhoidpocalypse; it's another to lug my own lump of coal across the finish line. This could have been an 8.5 drama, but I could only muster up a 6.5 for the unfulfilled potential.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 6.5 (generous)
- Plot - 6
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8
- Acting - 8
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 6
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8.5
- Subtitle quality - 8.5

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A microdrama that deserves to BLOW UP

‒Short Review‒

I was planning on boycotting microdramas forever, but curiosity got the best of me. Saw Jackie Li and figured I might be in for some laughs. I was not disappointed with the comedy. Moreover, the writing, plot twists, acting, and production was excellent. Frankly there's more plot and originality in this show than many derivative idol dramas. And the total runtime is less than a single episode of these shows.

The challenge for intl viewers is finding where to stream and the subs. If you do find it, you'll be in for a treat.

As a side note on the industry, I really hope the mini and microdramas can segment more so that indie, arthouse shows like this can be produced. It would help further diversify the industry in China and offer more opportunities for talented actors and directors, or passionate entrants to hone their craft.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 8
- Plot - 8
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8.5
- Acting - 8.5
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 8
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8.5
- Subtitle quality - ??

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An endearing adaptation of Red Band Society

‒Overview‒

'Ming Ri You Qing Tian' is the Chinese adaptation of the beloved 'Red Band Society' that has a Chinese title that roughly translates to 'Tomorrow has Sunshine'. It's a Chinese spin on the Spanish Drama 'Polseres Vermelles', which has spawned many adaptations internationally. The show is a found-family and coming-of-age drama that follows the young patients that banded together as they grapple with the vicissitudes of youth, dreams, friendship, family, loss, and overhanging specter of their own mortality. Like the best entries in this genre, the show mixes laughs, emotions, and a dash of romance (though far less than other versions). The 16 episodes go by quickly and the endearing characters will leave you with strong impressions, life lessons, and healing in midst of loss.

‒What I Liked‒

- Excellent theme and concept, courtesy of the OG drama, adapted to Chinese setting and sensibilities
- Exploration of the struggles of medical patients, the attitudes and reactions of parents, and the stigma and social issues in the Chinese context
- The likeable, three dimensional characters delivered by solid acting performances from a young and relatively unknown cast.
- Good execution on the found family concept, plenty of humor, and plenty of heart. There are a lot of 地狱笑话 (Hell Jokes, even worse than Soviet Jokes), but also plenty of inspiring moments.
- The German version is supposedly the best, but I don't speak German so I briefly checked out the American version. Higher budget production notwithstanding, it was a very Walmart store teen comedy, where the characters and jokes were predictability on 2 legs, oops my bad, on 1 leg or wheelchair. If you thought that joke was bad, the jokes in the American version were no better. In contrast, Tomorrow Has Sunshine felt more authentic and contemplative. This might be because China doesn't make many comedies whereas US produces tons of sitcoms, which also means stylistic repetitiveness and fatigue. Regardless, the American version felt like cripples hopped up on an alternating mix of adderall and crying meds. I'm sure the show has some highlight moments, but the amount of derivativeness made me hit the eject button in short order.

‒What I Didn't Like‒

- The social media aspect, courtesy of the producer, Bilibili (China's YouTube). While the show tried to add a social media twist that presumably wasn't part of the original drama, it amounted to more of a half-baked effort and annoyance. While it didn't degrade the core of the story, the social media presence felt tacked on. A better integration would have required a far more thoughtful and intensive modification of the original story and directorial presentation.
- The slight issue with polish in the visuals, music, and editing department. It's not as polished as Link Click, another interesting recent drama from Bilibili. The American show Scrubs comes to mind for the similar vibe. IMO Scrubs is an all-time classic, so there's a significant gap in storytelling and presentation.
- Minor plot logic and continuity issues
- Disclaimer: might be because I've been watching everything on 2X* The finale was solid, but meandered a bit, rather than ending on a decisive, impactful note. Also some of the tonal transitions between funny and sad moments could have been refined. And I thought they could have been braver and lingered longer on sad moments longer to let it hit home.

Overall this was an engaging, fast watch and most people probably wouldn't have my complaints about polish. I rate it a 7.8 ‒> 8.5MDL. The biggest issue might be finding it on international platforms with good subs. If you do, this is well worth the binge.

‒Category Ratings‒

- Overall - 7.8
- Plot - 7.5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8.5
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 7.5
- Rewatch - 7.5
- Accessibility - 8.5
- Subtitle quality - ??

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Love-addled trance in the 1st half, exorcism and return to form in the 2nd half

‒Short Review‒
S2 returns the same cast and presumably the same production team as S1. But based on the initial episodes in the first half of the show, you'd be convinced that the crew were collectively replaced with 恋爱脑 (love-addled brain). It's not that I'm against romance and S1 did half romance between the leads, albeit in a more male-centric style. The problem is our leads fell into the most derivative romantic situations complete with misunderstandings, infantile romance that destroys characterization, and noble idiocy galore. It took a lot of anger suppression and fast-forwarding before I survived to the 2nd half (around ep8) where the show mostly returned to form.

This season will start with what happened to the fate of Ji Ruxue, who was punched off a cliff ... hint hint, flailing off a cliff might as well be the most foolproof survival tactic in CDrama. The more complicated background of Li Xinyun, Ji Ruxue, and Zhang Zifan is revealed. And the 2nd half revolves around the different factions searching and fighting for the Long Quan Treasures, and the Hellhound Chief's conspiracy. Pacing was much better in the 2nd half as there was a lot more fighting and a lot less idioting. Not everyone will like the ending as someone dies, though the Hellhound Chief had given plenty of hints and warnings, so it was a mistake to cross him. The good news is that even dead people can be revived, especially in Wuxia animes. The bad news is that there will be no continuation any time soon. Fans can try the anime, it's 3D style typical of Chinese anime, and apparently its one of the most popular Donghuas, lauded for its rich world building, attention to historical and cultural elements, and plot.

Note: There is a 2022 knock-off remake on Youtube. Unless you are desperate, I wouldn't recommend it as it's worse actors, worse looking actors, and cheap short-drama style. But if you did like it, just know you'll enjoy this version a lot more.

Bu Liang Ren S1 Review
https://kisskh.at/profile/MyLangyaList/reviews/391521

--Component Ratings--

- Overall - charitable 7 (1st half 5.0, 2nd half 7.0)
- Plot - 7
- Theme / Message / Impact - 7.5
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 7
- Audio - 7.5
- Rewatch - 6
- Accessibility - 7.5 (if you find decent subs)
- Subtitle quality - ??

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华山论贱: Eastern Vegans and Western Roidheads

‒Review‒
If you are not familiar with the Legend of Condor Heroes series, you might enjoy this. After all, this has some real actors, 'real fighting', and is arguably better than the 偶侠 idolxia flicks clogging up the Hengdian toilets. But if you are, just throw yourself off the nearest cliff right now. Because you'll probably survive the fall, but not this show. This is the kind of the show where the writers claw their long Mei Chaofeng nails into your meridians until snake poison oozes out of your orifices.

I tried to like this show, I really did. I ignored Vengo Gao's Northesternish modern accent, even though he's supposed to be from Northwest China‒Western Venom and all‒1000 years ago. And while derping over basic geography might be a proud American tradition, I wasn't as keen to partake in the other American tradition of derping over crazy bitches. Right off the bat, we get some crazy chick going after Ouyang Feng. She's supposed to be some judge/magistrate, decent at fighting, rich family, yada yada. Except our smart girl struggles to count to three, turned an interrogation of OYF into some get-to-know-your-hopes-and-dreams first date, and also unveiled her domestic violence aspirations by trying to duel OYF for no reason. Luckily it's only aspirational, as she sucks at fighting.

On the other side, we have Feng Heng, Huang Yaoshi's eventual wife. At this point, she's not perpetually slow-deathing next to HYS yet. But it's undeniably her, because she's already thrown herself off a cliff for reasons I don't care about. And of course she's alive but with some perfect excuse for being paralyze and slowly, very slowly, way-too-slowly dying. This may sound cruel, but there's some cosmic level passive-aggressive energy about her.

While the writers have bastardized everything about the Jin Yong classic, they still managed to pay a small homage to the concept of 以毒攻毒 poison vs. poison. It's the concept of using one poison to neutralize another poison. So clearly the writers are trying to neutralize the poisonous love-interest of OYF with that of HYS, and neutralize the cesspit of Nine Yin Sutra with the dumpster fire of this show. And looking at OYF and HYS, it was even starting to make sense. How did these two normal, cheerful (OYF) dudes end up so cranky and psychotic in later years? You glance over at their women, and it all made sense! At least the two have their brotherhood and bromance to sustain them, a refuge from their depressing love life. Ah this was the much needed progressive feminism script of 2025.

But it only took me an episode to change my mind as I realized that the two dudes are also retards. Ouyang Feng is a lousy gambling addict that derped away his savings and horse in one night. And Huang Yaoshi is even more passive aggressive than his future wife as he qigong-glides back and forth between saving her and and letting her get killed. And rather than making the world a better place, his passivity merely lets the wicked endure, and set up compromising situations that coerces him into bigger sacrifices. So the men are just as crazy and they all deserve each other. Ouyang Feng and his girl is like the roided couple that just does impulsive things like gamble and fight. And HYS and his girl are like the most vegan couple that can't even muster the energy to do some real shit and eat some real food.

Is my interpretation completely accurate? No. Did I probably miss some part of the script and whatever finer points in the rest of the episodes? Probably. But the script writers clearly missed a lot more of the plot, and a lot of grey matter in the brain. I had coughed up too much blood after 3 episodes to continue.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 5.5 (if you pretend it's not LoCH)
- Plot - 5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 6
- Acting - 8
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 4
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7
- Subtitle quality - 8?

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Riveting and atmospheric crime drama

--Review Dump--

I watched this a year ago and didn't get to writing the review, so just dumping my previous thoughts here.

- Pleasantly surprised by this show, particularly the cinematography and acting. The long lost brother story and how that was resolved was surprisingly emotional. The twists and ending in the was also well crafted. There were some cheesy moments where the suave action stretched believability, but overall the show was quite grounded and polished. Impressed with some of the younger actors that I'm seeing for the first time. There are also some great performances by the veterans.
- Johnny Huang - I was expecting a hotshot bro with limited expressions and range, since Johnny seems to be a mainstay in idol action dramas. But I've been pleasantly surprised. I can see him being cast in mostly the same brolly role and playing the same type of characters, but he's a pretty good fit and holds down the ML role next to some very solid veteran actors. It's easy to be too brolly in his role, so I'm glad he's also bringing enough subtlety and emotional depth.
- Wang Ziqi - Never seen his show, don't know his reputation. Same as Johnny, doing well to reflect the layers in his character that could easily be made too one-dimensional and stiff.
- Chloe Xie Keyin - Very impressed with her performance. Not necessarily because she's out-acting the others above, but because her primary career seems to be rapper/musician and she's had very limited acting experience. Her role has a lot of kick-ass action scenes and she's delivering the kinetic force to make it look real. Had previously seen her in a young actor competition show where she excelled, hoping to see more of her as she seems to be a natural and quick study.
- Zhang Yu - Dude is 42 so he's been around for a while. But he's playing Johnny Huang's younger bro here so I'm including him here. This is a challenging role and he's kicking ass with it. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised as he seems to mostly do movies instead of pleb TV shows.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 8.2
- Plot - 8
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8.5
- Acting - 8.3
- Visuals - 8.5
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 7.5
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8.5

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A More Realistic Professional Simulation

‒Review‒

While the show premise may intrigue the viewers with the promise of VR adventures, the show itself is far above the typical idol fare because it's grounded enough that the characters and the story feels a more like flesh and blood, rather than just pixels on the screen. Anchoring the drama are the terrific performances by Cheng Xingxu as the CEO figure and Lu Yuxiao as the employee/romantic interest. Yes, the CHEmiSTry is a captivating element for many. But more than just charm and dazzle, it's the fact that the two characters also bleed and have resonating backstories that breath life into the show.

As for the VR-aspect, it was more integral in the beginning but quickly became a forgotten prop. A better title for this show would be Romance in the Alley, the title of another (very good) realistic period drama starring Lu Yuxiao. So to keep things simple, just understand that LYX likes to bait-and-switch her viewers. So if you want to see VR spectacle, please wait for her next drama, "Peasants in the 1960s", where she'll unleash a sizzling VR romance with her Cultural Revolution comrades.

What I liked

✅ 50% less cringe compared to the average idol drama. The leads have more relatable ambitions and backstories, and the characterization stays mostly consistent within the show’s setup. The dialogue also has fewer lines that liquifies your brain.
✅ Chen Xingxu, savior of idol dramas in early 2026. He actually looks like a CEO and speaks like one, and not a boyband fuckboy zipped into a suit. A rare achievement in CDramaland.
✅ Lu Yuxiao looks like a professional. She brings seriousness, ambition, and a few battle scars to the role. She looks like she has actual work experience—not just extensive Sims experience.
✅ Cinematography, visuals, and music was also decent

What I didn’t like

❌ This simulation needs more realism. The meet-cute radius is suspiciously small for the couple. In the beginning of the show, they keep bumping into each other in a city of 20 million. Maybe it's the ultimate test of fate. Just drop two people randomly into Shanghai's Line 2 during rush hour. And if they somehow end up together in a torrent of people for a week straight, just hand them a marriage certificate on the spot, or a restraining order. Also some scene of them shooting ghosts with fireworks in a rendition of Disney-princess meets redneck fever dream.

❌ Zhao Xiaorou doing Wang Guangming dirty. He was NOT cheating. He was putting up with an admirer while trying to land his big break and didn't want to bring unnecessary anxiety to his wife. There was a communication problem, sure, but did it need to become a divorce? I kept waiting for them to reconcile, but no she divorced him at literally the first conflict. WGM was put in an awkward position and getting propositioned by a boss/client. The smarter thing for him to do was just to dump his wife, and just cheat with the admirer, who seems more attached to him after admiring for so many years. And she can be a good contributor and bring clients, steal some server racks from Tencent, and bring free merch. Alternatively, WGM should have just trans'sed into a woman, at which point he will get all the sympathy in the world, and relentless shaming of the spouse for not being more understanding, supportive, and fighting the unjust system.

--Category Ratings--
- Overall - 7 --> MDL 7.5
- Plot - 7
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7.5
- Acting - 8
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 7
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8.5

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Grand ambitions, disjointed execution.

‒Overview‒

Advisors Alliance is Three Kingdoms historical drama that does many things well and may be a terrific viewing experience for many. However, its storytelling and treatment of characters may result in significant disconnect for viewers who are already familiar with the story.

‒The Good‒

- Expensive production with gorgeous indoor and outdoor sets and costumes to match.
- Expansive and gripping battle scenes
- Solid lineup of actors with great performances in various scenes
- Political ploys, intrigues, and dialogues that much cleverer than the average show
- Could be confusing, but also really novel and interesting to those who are not familiar with the story of Three Kingdoms

‒The Questionable/Bad‒

- Not true historical - the drama tries to straddle the line between a prestige historical and a lighter costume drama. But the injection of a lighthearted moments detracted from the gravity of show and interfered with character building of these serious historical figures
- The storytelling often felt inconsistent and fragmented. While the show did a decent job in depicting key moments in history, it was less adept at tying them into a powerful cohesive narrative. The setup and transitions between different events felt unpolished‒even if the scenes are well-crafted, you can't just duct-tape them together if you want to make a top-tier historical.
- The same goes for the characters and acting. When broken down by scenes, the characters and acting are decent, even spectacular. But since the overall character building feels inconsistent, the end result is actually disconnect and disbelief, especially for ones like Cao Cao, Sima Yi, and others where there already exists a prevailing conception. Sima Yi was flattened to be someone who's too loyal and innocent, which doesn't fit his historical or presumptive reputation in the show. Moreover, the time jumps are narrated rather than depicted and fails to depict the important changes to characters, further exacerbating the perception of incongruency. Yu Hewei's Cao Cao was meticulously acted. Yet the show fails to first establish the commendable aspects of this complicated figure, making the power and respect he commanded seem unconvincing. I loved Liu Tao in Nirvana in Fire. But she was unfortunately stuck with a female character that mostly just served as a comedic prop and someone to henpeck Sima Yi.

I dropped at ep 19 even though it's a decent show because I already have a good idea of the story and my appreciation will only go down from that point. Unlike the second volume, 'Growling Tiger, Roaring Dragon', this covers a lesser known and less iconic portion of the Three Kingdom story.

The end result was something that was at times brilliant in tactics, but messy in strategy to use a Three Kingdoms analogy. Overall it was a 7.0 at ep 19. In comparison, Secret of Three Kingdoms, despite some similar problems and some plot issues in later episodes, actually did a better job in crafting more compelling characters and story for the earlier episodes. Of course, the most iconic Three Kingdoms dramas are the 1994 and 2010 versions, which I highly recommend checking out. 2010 version is best for international and younger viewers even though the 94 version is considered the undisputed king in China.

For review of Part 2, Growing Tiger Roaring Dragon: https://kisskh.at/profile/MyLangyaList/reviews/407886

‒Category Ratings‒

- Overall - 7.0
- Plot - 7.5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7.0
- Acting - 8
- Visuals - 8.5
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 6
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7
- Subtitle quality - 8

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Focus on the prize ... Sima Yi understands, the director clearly doesn't.

‒Overview‒

For review of part 1 of the series, see review for Advisors Alliance (https://kisskh.at/profile/MyLangyaList/review/406400). Growling Tiger, Roaring Dragon picks up where Advisors Alliance left off with a dying Cao Pi who passes the throne to a tormented, vengeful, but also calculated Cao Rui. RTGD focuses on the battle of wits and will between Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang, then Sima Yi's and his family's rise to power. The show inherits both the positives and negatives of AA. The iconic plotline, pivotal events, and more action-oriented battles between Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang makes for a more exciting watch. At the same time, the incongruency in characterization and tone are at times more pronounced in RTGD. For those not troubled by its issues, this could be an epic watch. But for those who are (like yours truly), it's a viewing experience best cut short lest one wants to submit to an increasingly lackluster experience.

‒The Good‒

- Expensive production with gorgeous indoor and outdoor sets and costumes to match.
- Expansive and gripping battle scenes, and a lot more of them
- Solid depiction of Zhuge Liang, and his similarity and rivalry with Sima Yi
- Solid lineup of actors with great performances in various scenes
- Political ploys, intrigues, and dialogues that much cleverer than the average show

‒The Questionable/Bad‒

- The drama tries to straddle the line between a prestige historical and a lighter costume drama. But the injection of a lighthearted moments detracted from the gravity of show and interfered with character building of these serious historical figures. At times this was a mere nuisance. But in other moments, the ridiculous levity in tone completely annihilated the character, worldbuilding, and gravity of the show. You get a bunch of weird cutaway transitions with a slick sound effect in episode 26, to wrangle a few drops of comedy out of the episode. Then in Episode 27, the ridiculousness culminated in a dying Cao Rui summons Sima Yi to either be anointed as a guardian for the new Emperor or be killed. It should be such a tense and precarious moment, yet the director completely bastardized the moment by sending soldiers stumbling into the hall to kill Sima Yi, because they misread the Emperor's signals. And they did this 3 times!!! Even before Cao Rui was dead, all the tension, intrigue, and calculations of a pivotal moment was completely buried.

At times, you can feel the director channeling his inner Ah Dou, trying his best to squander away the massive budget, talented cast, and marvelous source material for some cheap laughs. If this was made today, he'd be randomly dropping Tiktok effects in the episodes. If he was escorting at a brothel, he'd be whoring away for Twizzlers. If he was a chef, he'd first shit on his hands show you all sorts of weird and vomit-inducing acts, before showering and sanitizing himself and make a meal for you with his bare hands. Sure, in theory his hands are just as clean, but who would want to eat out of that? That's what he does to the story and characters constantly, dunking them into off-putting cesspools before trying to sell the audience on stirring and momentous scenes.

Anyways, despite my rant, there were still enough highlight moments in the show to make it a worthwhile, though forgettable watch. But as Three Kingdoms have taught me, know when to quit, 走为上计, I dropped at Ep 27 to avoid the increasingly disappointing episodes that awaited.

‒Category Ratings‒

- Overall - 7.5
- Plot - 7.5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7
- Acting - 8
- Visuals - 8.5
- Audio / Music - 7.5
- Rewatch - 7
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8

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Time Travel: where cliche business ideas make a fortune, and cliche drama plot makes a hit show.

I decided to sample this show since it drew one of highest Chinese viewership in recent years, is a comedy, and has actors I'm generally positive about. While I didn't have high hopes given the 6.3 Douban rating, I figured there would be enough comedy to make it a spare-attention multitasking watch. And the show generally met that expectation mostly by avoiding the fatal pitfalls of CDramas. It didn't torture me with a sadistic reportoire of romantic tropes, the pace moved along, even if most of the plot was flat and predictable, and the actors didn't make me think I was watching a cheap commercial. My rating and review concerns the first 14 episodes that I did watch, after which the quality supposedly suffers.

The goal of the show seems to be 下饭爽剧 (easy, gratuitous watch where the Chinese viewer is often doing something else) and this was a mass-market focused premium fast food serving that did just enough to draw in a large audience. It's a thoroughly unambitious drama about an ambitious business couple in a historical setting. And peeling away that surface premise, it's basically just grafting the conventional bumper sticker version of business strategy, success, gender equality, and other issues into a historical cosplay. To complement, the show is shot in the telltale style where the emotions/expressions are obvious, the personalities are blatant, and the intrigue is repeatedly hinted and later exhaustively explained by some side character. Doing so ensures an easy watch for the widest possible audience, with the tradeoff of diluting the tension and refinement that are found in top tier shows. In a modern setting, such derivative effort would be widely panned. But when transported back in time, it has a different enough veneer to get by.

And lucky for the international viewer, this show will probably be even more interesting as the different cultural items, strategy, and issues may be more novel. Most of you will probably enjoy it quite a bit, especially the first half. But personally I have difficulty rating it higher as it's far from greatness. Moreover, I typically rate similar and better shows in the 7-8 range.
'To Get Her' is a low budget show with a similar time travel concept but delivers a lot more zany comedy. 'Legend of Undercover Chef' is an absolute riot while serving up plenty of incisive social commentary beneath the jokes. And even 'Egg and Stone' delivers the laughs and perhaps accidentally constructs a more nuanced commentary on gender equality. If this show replicated the 'Joy of LIfe' level of crisp humor, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. But sadly, even Joy of Life lost its comedic mojo in the second season. As for the actors, Guo Qiling and Song Yi did a solid job in their roles. But these typical idol drama roles are not exactly challenging. And after a few dramas, you start to see their characters in different shows overlapping with each other. Hopefully they can continue to improve on their range, subtlety, and realism of performance.

‒Category Ratings‒
- Overall - 7 (to ep14)
- Plot - 7
- Theme / Message / Impact - 6
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 7.5
- Audio - 7
- Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8

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华山论贱: Nine Yuan Token Manuscript

--Review--

As disappointing as the first volume of the Legend of Condor Heroes reboot was, it's LoCH, so I had to check out the rest on the slim chance they would surprise me. Lol nope. Meng Ziyi fans, look away, you've been warned.

ASMR Huang Yaoshi is back, paired off with ASMR Chen Duling. The good news is that she doesn't feel out of place next to Zhou Yiwei. The bad news is that the 'Wicked East' Huang Yaoshi talks with the same energy as his terminally enfeebled wife. So if you pretend that all prior adaptations of the menacing, arrogant HYS doesn't exist, you can probably justify Zhou Yiwei's modern art character interpretation as merely a 'Questionable' element of the show.

Then there's the straight up bad. So apparently some of the rare plaudits for the show's first volume went to Meng Ziyi', as 'the prettiest' Mei Chaofeng. Perhaps a more apt framing is that any role she plays now looks like the 'Mei Chaofengist' XXX. Because at this point her visuals and expressions doesn't match any normal person in Classical China, unless they are wicked or a Yao demon. Cosmetic surgeons should be kinder to actresses in the future and offer renders of them post-op in classical attire, to dissuade them from maxing out the tech-tree on their face. As for acting, MZY goes from stare hard to stare harder. If you combined Chen Duling's perpetually tranquilized look and MZY's perpetually stare-eyed look, you could get 2 full expressions and make something of a believable side character.

The other actors do a pretty decent job, which makes MZY stand out even more. It's like they AI edited MZY from a staring contest into a normal film‒it's that jarring. So quite a few acting reality TV shows have become stalwarts of Chinese television in recent years. They feature a judging panel of renowned actors and mostly inexperienced or idol actors trying to elevate their acting game. You can find episodes of many idol actors who have participated, including some of your popular geges and jiejies. If you can find a subbed version, they are actually quite illuminating into what veterans and directors look for in actors. Watching MZY is exactly like watching one of the clueless mentees doing a botched rendition. I keep expecting Francis Ng or Zhang Ziyi to yell out CUTTT!!, jump out from backstage, and shit on her performance for the next 5 minutes. In fact MZY had been a contestant in several seasons. Her performances were mediocre then, and they haven't improved since.

But don't brand me a MZY hater, I actually think she's quite funny. In fact, she's become a queen of variety shows, known for being outspoken and good-natured, all the while trolling everyone for shits and giggles. While it may sound like an insult to say that MZY's peak acting level is variety show star, it's actually a misuse of her talents to not have her on. So producers, please keep MZY's variety show schedule fully booked, you'll be doing heroic service for two TV genres.

While the acting is bad only for the Fl, the script is atrocious everywhere. Nothing makes sense‒character motivations, backstories, the Wuxia lore, character relationships are all a jumbled mess. The pacing is also ridiculous. They will summarize important plot points in 2 sentences while panning around some jack shit minutiae scene for 5 minutes straight. I can't fathom how in the era of Chatgpt, one can prompt out such a bad script. I know China is testing out AI scriptwriting, but for god's sake, at least use the SOTA reasoning models. I feel like this show originally had a $8000 budget for 2 scriptwriters, then decided to cut out $7000 to use on Zhou Yiwei and Chen Duling's ASMR cough syrup. So they replace the scriptwriters with $1000 of Deepseek tokens, then halfway through MZY comes knocking to take out $850 because she ran out of eyedrops. And now they only have a 4 page outline with no more tokens, and just moved the prompting to the shittiest free trial tier LLM that Temu has to offer. Wait what, Temu has an LLM? I didn't know either, but you heard it here first.

So where do we go from here? I will still pray to the ghost of Jin Yong that despite effing up 2 volumes, the other volumes can squeeze out something adequate. It's just bizarre to assemble that many decent actors and directors to reboot the biggest IP only to churn out such a cesspit. Or at the very least, I hope this time enough people in China will watch this to shit on it. If we are going to be robbed of a good show, at least don't rob us of hilarious mock review videos.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 4 (5 - 1 it's LoCH)
- Plot - 4
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7
- Acting - 7 (8 - 1 MZY)
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 2
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7
- Subtitle quality - 8?

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As boring as ...

--Positive Disclaimer--

If you are usually not impressed by idol and romance dramas, this one certainly isn't the canary in the coalmine that's going to surprise you‒you are better off checking out Fake It Till You Make It. But if you are the preferred audience, you may find this show to be above average in casting a FL that has a checklist of things such as career, independence, nonbitchiness, professional competence, smarts, a supportive boyfriend, non-toxic breakup, rich dude that's not annoying, blah blah blah. It's similar various other Tan Songyun professional dramas such as A Flight to You, Master of My Own, etc. So if you liked her in those, you'll probably like her here. The MDL viewership numbers and even its decent China viewership numbers clearly indicate that this was interesting for some people. Oh one more thing, the screenwriter managed to continue her creative ascent by topping her previous masterpiece 'Only For Love' ... who would have thought. That's all the good things I can possibly say, if want more positivity, stop reading and head elsewhere.

‒Short Review that ran long‒

As Beautiful As You was a drive-through lobotomy session that materialized when I got the crazy idea to watch airing dramas, even though the only thing airing were the putrid cadaver decompositions in the CDrama wasteland. I also held out the slim hope that Tang Sonyun isn't just going to waste her career making yet another cookie-cutter professional drama, and that this would at least be 'idol-drama good' (aka substandard in all sorts of ways, but with some creativity and redeeming features). Instead I came away as frustrated about her make-believe professional depiction on-screen as her actual career off-screen.

Immediately in the first episode, we are slammed with all sorts of predictable cliches that had my shit-show Geiger Counter going Chernobyl. With every scene, we are given all the telltale elements to predict the next scene, the next plot twist, and pretty much what the ending's going to look like. The plotline is so scandalously see-through that all the viewers should get the 'Angela Baby at a burlesque show' treatment and be permanently deplatformed.

But if you prefer to be selective with your defenestration location, you can take the elevator up to the C-suite penthouse where where a whole boardroom of lazy tropes are stuffed into a Xu Kai you-are-too-skinny-for-that power suit. We have the 8-pack I-can't-believe-he's-virginal uber-rich genius charismatic CEO cum gourmet chef who's socially adept with high EQ, but is completely helpless in expressing his love for his pixie dream girl supersmart competent classmate innocent firstlove interest that slowly realizes they are meant for each other. It's the Chinese-American restaurant menu approach of character writing with the chicken-pork-beef-shrimp-veggie Lo Mein permutations of originality by addition. The only interesting thought that the plot inspired was wondering what glory would follow if the screenwriter instead opened up a school to teach career development and sex ed.

And unlike the value offering from hardworking immigrant restauranteurs, the show delivers little value for its budget or your time investment. The cinematography has all the richness of an Alibaba wholesaler product video. The derivative soundtrack creates the aural experience of being subjected to a discount elevator music playlist while you are trapped and the doors won't open. Even the titles, both English and Chinese, reads like the diary heading of some 12-year-old.

The main leads, being Tan Songyun and Xu Kai are at least serviceable in portraying the ridiculous characters they are given. But this is their comfort zone, where they've done so many similar characters and dramas that they can do it with their eyes closed, or in Xu Kai's case, wearing the same suit from his other CEO drama. We are spared the Wang Hedi CEO stylistic assault, but watching them has all the novelty of watching McDonald's open up another franchise.

And that's the only part that engenders some emotion in me that's not boredom or frustration. I haven't seen Xu Kai enough to care or be disappointed. But I sincerely hope that Tan Songyun showed enough acting chops, unique personality, and potential early on that she can be a stalwart in more interesting CDramas. She garnered pretty positive review from astute observers for her various school and other dramas. In an era where actresses have more surgeries than full-sized meals, she has kept her distinctive look, and not be swayed by the CDrama peanut gallery, whose unmatched ability to call someone ugly has never looked itself in the mirror. And off-screen, from as much one can really guess about a performer's true character, she seems to belong to that precious minority that are still able to prioritize integrity, professionalism, and decency over the trappings of acting fame.

Granted, that hope is born of a selfish desire to see less of Yu Shuxins of the world. But for as much as I mock the parasocial nature of drama fandoms, I can't help but hope for some real kernels of decency, inspiration, and feel-good story for the human beings off-screen. Perhaps she's a one-character wonder. And perhaps she's happy to stay that way. And perhaps success in the entertainment business is even more precarious than in startups where you only strike gold when all the stars align. Whatever the case, I will continue to wish Seven Tan and other similar actors success. If for nothing else than to chirp from the peanut gallery: "see, I always believed she had much greater potential."

--Category Ratings--

- Overall [5] - I give it a 5 for this being a very average show. I typically give popular or slightly different idol dramas that nevertheless inspire seppuku a 5.5. So the 5 rating is more of an indication of how much worse other shows are in dramaland than anything else. Based on subjective reaction or brain cells lost, I'd rate idol dramas even lower.

- Plot - 5
- Theme / Message / Impact - 6
- Acting - 7
- Visuals - 6.5
- Audio - 5
- Rewatch - 5
- Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8

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