PeachBlossomGoddess

I did check out 1 or 2 episodes of the Heir it just didn’t hook me. I may go back and pick it up later but at the moment I am pretty busy and not in the mood for another YZ ancient business drama.

Charmaine Sheh is an excellent actor - she is very good in Winter Begonia as well. She picks her scripts quite well I think she is in some kind of modern drama recently that was well regarded.

Well I think they expected the daughter to go on to live. And they had no real proof that she set the fire. I think he was the Water Ghost but she set the fire so they were both guilty. But yes, I hear you, justice was not done. These Justice Dee/Justice Bao stories tend to be tragic like this - anyone that takes the law in their own hands is severely punished no matter what the provocation. Its like a big fat warning to be law abiding.

Exactly! He popped up in 4 of my 2025 dramas and 3 of my 2026 dramas so far! It’s too much! What wrong did I do in my last life to be haunted like this???

I just finished the first case it was pretty good. And iqiyi just dropped Tang Dynasty Occult Mysteries - I haven’t checked it out though. ZZA is bringing all the detective stories out of the woodworks! Enjoy!!!👍🏻
https://kisskh.at/782960-shen-du

He is always the same one note quirky character.

My only issue with this series is the casting of Li Yu as Duan Shi Si. This dude must be the most annoying, worst supporting actor there is. He must live at Hengdian where he haunts the set of every good drama with his super obnoxious and over exaggerated, loud and thoroughly off-putting acting - he is the same in every role. Ugh I grit my teeth every time the guy pops up and he is literally EVERY WHERE! Sorry - I just had to get that off my chest.

MLC was a good wuxia in so many ways... if you can ignore the spinning sword dance... And the pretty, bendy swords... omg... those are so... scary!?!?

Of course he got down by simply rolling off that cliff and not dying. Bc that is how they roll in c-dramas!

Its a difficult question - there haven't been many good remakes of classic wuxias in recent years - you would have to go back to the 1980s/90s for those. Side Story of Fox Volant is not too shabby but it strayed from the classic in some less good ways. I think Heroes 2020 is also pretty good for the action scenes and Huo Yuanjia was a real life martial arts hero. Generation to Generation is also decent. Both Heroes 2022 and Journey of Legend are classic wuxias that got weird adaptations. There are too many uninspired remakes of the old Jin Yong/Gu Long era classics. My problem with them is the whitewashing of characters and the tone change - the Chinese govt doesn't like this genre that glorifies outlaws so most China remakes kind of lose this spirit of street justice. Their versions always rewrite bits to force them to go legitimate (i.e, work for the govt), kind of like Zhan Zhao. That also happened in the original stories but it wasn't mainstream nor was it the focus of the plot - Zhan Zhao is one of the exceptions. Wuxia was widely popularised outside of China, the classic writers were all overseas Chinese. They were very rebellious and anti-establishment. That is core to the spirit of the genre. Even the original or one of the first wuxias ever written The Water Margin was about outlaws of the marshes. China has erased all of that nonsense - Water Margin is a true classic that hasn't been remade for decades. You have to go back to the old HK TVB versions to see a true blue classic wuxia shine through.

In terms of "new" wuxia, there are a few really good ones but if you like the true blue classic wuxias they are all somehow not that true to the genre. Some of the best ones include both Sword Snow Stride and The Blood of Youth but they were both very high fantasy. And Word of Honor was excellent but the two protagonist were almost bad guys and they didn't care that much about the martial world. The Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty series is also outstanding but its more strange/spooky detective stories and not strictly wuxia though just as enjoyable in many ways. Both Fearless Blood and The Eight are modern wuxias - i.e., Republican period setting. In the TVB heydey, modern wuxias were super popular - they were all those The Shell Game, God of Gamblers etc series - yeah over centuries jianghu sects evovled into a bunch of rival gangsters. Those were awesome dramas that I am very sure will never be remade.

Yes indeed slo mo is a recent bad and over used addition to martial arts genre in general. Indeed the older 1981 version would be better, as are a lot of the fight scenes from those older wuxias bc the old HK actors are properly trained in martial arts. With a few exceptions, it just doesn't happen anymore nowadays, esp not among the younger idol actor generation. They just use wirework to spin around and call it fighting. 🤦🏻‍♀️ At least the Heroes 2020 actors were all cast bc they could actually fight.

Nope but you can block the poster.

Lol - Legend of Zhuohua is one of those that makes you want to hit the erase button to remove it from your brain.

It hits the spot with 25 minute episodes. Doubt we will get that many wuxia fight scenes though.

Very insightful comments. Zhan Zhao is a bit of a controversial wuxia figure among fans of the genre. The original classic novel is about his evolution from a knight errant wandering in jianghu (Southern Hero) to a servant of the court (Imperial Cat). The first part is all about how he was a jianghu hero practicing vigilante justice. I read it too long ago to remember whether he killed bad guys but I THINK he did. He met Justice Bao and aided/rescued him against some villains and that is how he was kind of "tamed" into the Imperial Cat. It also coincided with when he met Ding Yuehua and married her- settling down meant his wandering jianghu days were over. He decided to channel his abilities and desire for truth seeking into a more formal, concrete kind of justice over street justice. So he went to work for Justice Bao and the second half of the novel then focus on his adventures with Justice Bao.

Of course classic wuxia is all about outlaws or people who exist outside the official system so fans of the genre never liked to see Zhan Zhao become a "running dog" of the state. This fan fic version skips all of that bc they wrote out Justice Bao and how he inspired Zhan Zhao. Instead you kind of see Zhan Zhao merging into Justice Bao and BYT kind of being turned into a jianghu ZZ-like figure. I think for that reason it doesn't do justice to the original spirit of the novel and is vaguely dissatisfying to some fans of the genre. I personally wouldn't call it a true blue wuxia even though it has very strong strong wuxia themes, it is more of a hybrid.

Fox Volant fight scenes were very good but in some places had too much wire work. I think it was very solid but not consistent enough to be called great overall. They were smart about making the FL wield a whip - not much real fighting or core strength needed there or Liang Jie would have fallen flat on her face. I kind of wish they gave Linglong a different weapon here - the sword is hard to do well if you are not trained at it. I am much more impressed by old school wuxia fast paced hard hitting, violent and bloody Brotherhood of Blades kind of fight scenes. For me, ZZA is in that vein but since its a TV drama its never going to be that bloody or violent. The best TV drama wuxia fight scenes I have seen is actually in Heroes 2020 starring Zhao Wenzhou. All the actors were properly trained in martial arts, they hit with power and there were some jaw dropping fights in that one. Esp one Manchurian official with a claw OMG he made me break out in sweat.

Very cool to watch Feng Shaofeng play Di Renjie. I remember years ago he was Di's sidekick in the Four Heavenly Kings starring Mark Chao as Di Renjie.

👍Enjoy!

They are all currently airing dramas. Tang Mist is in the same detective genre as ZZ.

I'm sorry but who made you the moderator and where does it say only ZZ comments are allowed? Its a comment site - people comment frequently about other things they are watching. If that for some unfathomable reason triggered you, you can just keep scrolling.