Sirenas

Not my style

There is no doubt as to why this series averages such a high rating. It depicts the historical settings of the battles at Changsa with great production quality and an abundance of great supporting actors. It also does a good job in portraying the individualism with many characters. The first few episodes drew me in right away as well as the charisma of the main family.

However, while I enjoyed the FL for her acting and her character initially, her and her twin brother's spoiled ways really doesn't sit well for me. The first scene to have irked me was when the brother ran away to join the army (the first time) when he stayed over at a woman's house. She kindly let him in to have water, etc. and then happened to get killed by Japanese invaders. There was zero reaction from the siblings from what should have been their first close encounter with someone getting killed and they simply continue to act foolishly and risking their own lives but worse of all... other people's lives. The series wants the audience to chalk it up to them being raised and spoiled by a well-off family and simply immature because they are young. But I can't imagine even grade school children acting this way during a warring period. Nevertheless, I patiently waited for that turning point when they showed growth and development with every tragedy encountered.

While there was some growth, it didn't feel natural or impactful enough. The FL still continues to have others dying for her because of her thoughtless actions. Even with the concept of her being desensitized to the environment, she doesn't seem to have any self awareness.

The romance between the FL and ML are also not very natural or fitting and the series does what many others can't seem to stop doing, creating way too many forced "coincidental" situations for the couple. Additionally, while Wallace Huo is good-looking with charm, have yet to really see great acting from him. Kudos to the Xue Jun Shan character and actor however. He is by far the most developed and complex personality in the series.

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Watchable but very dry

The series visually looks great but after 15 episodes and a few story arcs, it still feels really dry. There's nothing particularly offensive about it but there's also not much to look forward to. The ML was interesting in the first two episodes but stayed pretty flat thereafter. And there is way too much screen time with him running off to his songstress love interest, and way too many cases that just so happen to involve her somehow. His two bandit companions are also equally as dry and there's just no chemistry with any of the characters.

The story arcs are just fine but nothing very intriguing either. They over-dramatize the sound effects and music but nothing really dramatic is actually happening. It's also quite boring for the culprit to ALWAYS be someone who's somehow close to the ML. And because there's very little character build up in general, you're just watching it play out with no actual attachments.

It's quite unfortunate because the overall production was actually done pretty well. It's a good super casual watch if you just need something to pass the time and if you need something you can drop quite easily.

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The only word that kept coming to mind after each episode was "bland". The acting from the mains and supports felt pretty subpar and none of the characters really stood out. In addition to not buying into the acting, the plot felt rushed in areas where it should have had more focus, lingered too long in other areas, and there weren't enough details to glue it together.

This one was tough to write about actually because it had the ingredients to be pretty decent so it's hard to describe or pinpoint what was missing from it. Despite some heart-warming scenes and bonding moments, it somehow felt shallow at the same time. It didn't help that the main character was also pretty obnoxious and unappreciative.

I would normally stick with a series if at least one or two aspects were done well enough especially because this one has a relatively short number of episodes. But the overall feel of this one just didn't intrigue much, and less so with each episode. Onward to the continuous search of good series that involves the afterlife and/or spirits.

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Typical

The plot flow and feel of the series is similar to those like Dong Yi, with similar strengths and flaws. The FL is overly idealistic and perfect without much character growth. Despite consistently being painted as a poor soul who was orphaned, she was raised with an abundance of love and support. Then continues to develop relationships with those are all always willing to risk life and death for her as she continues to get put into one predicament after another.

There are a lot of familiar faces in this series with great acting abilities. The plot started off well with a unique take on a girl being born and raised in prison, and accumulating different skills from a variety of prisoners. She grew to be intelligent, strong, and capable of fighting. However, her character starts to falter with each predicament as it starts to focus more heavily on the various men in her life trying to desperately save her as she is placed again and again in the role of victim. The FL also wasn't the greatest cast for this role as she felt very one-note most of the time. It is also pretty hypocritical of her to want to find the murderer of her mother, when she seems to have no issues with murders of others (especially in the beginning when she just easily obeyed orders to kill when she didn't know the reason).

While the story line stays somewhat interesting and the flow is steady, there's also a significant amount of heightened drama that causes it to feel repetitive. I'm dropping the series mostly because the dramatics are just a tad too much and the FL is becoming less and less interesting. It's too bad because my favorite support character, Jong Geum, is likely to have significant development. She's an underrated actress.

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A Bit of a Drag

Based on reviews as well as being recommended by other reviewers who has somewhat similar opinions of other series, I was super excited to embark on this one. And while I can still force myself to continue watching due to it potentially getting better, there's just nothing intriguing enough to keep going even after 10 episodes in.

There's no real major flaw to highlight and there was quite some potential of being a unique undertaking of "royalty" in the beginning. Instead of the usual elegant and noble demeanor of royals , it was quite interesting to see the more "normalized" relationship with leaders that weren't born into it that type of restriction/upbringing. Although they did take it a bit too far and some scenes were just awkward.

While there were many great actors and characters in the series, the one that I just couldn't bring myself to like was the main protagonist, Xu Feng Nian. Even if his character was supposed to "pretend" to be narcissistic and spoiled (and despite them trying to paint him as some sort of kind soul deep down who refuses to kill anyone), he still comes off strongly as a narcissist and is quite abusive to those closest to him for that matter. His level of intelligence isn't believable enough either for it to balance out. As for the plot flow, while the story does move along with setting changes and introduction of new characters, it also somehow feels circular. There's too much emphasis on Xu Feng Nian and not enough on the supports. There's a lot going on but it really isn't going anywhere. So for these two reasons, I decided to do the drop.

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Not for me but might be great for others

There's nothing excessively bad about the series but eight episodes in, and it's still quite bland for me personally. This sort of reminds me of CSI Miami where everything is overly exaggerated and everyone is too cool for the show. This type of show may have worked better a decade ago before an overabundance of true crime shows surfaced.

-- The crimes beneath the overarching main conspiracy crime are somewhat decent but they also spoon-feed you the clues from the overacting, music, etc.
-- The few actions scenes so far were done well on its own but it doesn't fit the characters. The two mains are supposed to be a standard seasoned cop and a wealthy kid but their fighting skills are apparently on the level of 007.
-- The main MLs also really don't have much chemistry with one another and their relationship feels forced and awkward (even when you don't take into account how they met when one was just a kid).

Overall, it's one of those shows that I wouldn't have a problem with continuing but there's really nothing intriguing enough. My taste in crime series also lean heavy toward more realism. I think if they actually made this more futuristic/sci-fi (almost nothing is " sci-fi-esque" per the description other than the existence of apaths) and significantly picked up the pacing, it would have been a much easier watch.

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I really wish more attention was paid to details with this show. The main detective is an actor I've enjoyed watching in other series. They've focused too much on the depiction of the episodic crimes but not so much on what makes sense.

If the voice profiler has supernatural hearing, you would think she would be overwhelmed by noise instead of being able to narrow down certain sounds that just happen to break the cases. When someone is on the phone and she's standing right beside them, yet unable to hear the conversation on the other end? As for the murders, I get that the whole concept of the call center requires victims to have access to their phones in order for her to hear what's going on but the realism of this area should have been written better.

The first case was already off the mark when she knew the woman was hiding. Even if her coworker did reach over and call the victim back, she made no effort to stop him. This doesn't make any common sense and less so when she was knowingly aware of what could happen. It was also extremely irritating when the woman told her the church she was nearby and yet no one seemed to make an effort to do much more other than to sit and listen in apparent shock. With the second case as an example, does it make sense for a serial killer to simply leave an unconscious body in a building without being tied up or taking away her phone? I don't even care much about them putting enormous effort into detailing the crimes but at least the flaws shouldn't be so glaring. The annoying aspect is how brutal or traumatized criminals suddenly feel remorse through her saying a few words. This severely downplays the reality of those suffering in our world.

As much as I want to continue watching, even for those few actors I appreciate, this one will have to be dropped. The higher marks despite dropping this one is due to the other actors less the lead female.

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This one is a tough one. Right from the first episode, the atmosphere was just ever so slightly overly dramatic which set the tone on what to expect from this series: a lighthearted drama with comedic tones. This would be great if done well.

So if you're expecting to see any serious crime solving, this isn't it. It is almost like an attempt to do a live-action version of the anime Detective Conan by solving each case fairly quickly. However, unlike the anime, the cases here don't stimulate much emotions or empathy toward any of the players.

The two male leads do have a pretty fun dynamic (particularly Leon Zhang). Unfortunately, the female lead is just the standard irritating type and instead of adding any value, she pulls it down. The series had the potential to really be pretty good if they managed to do a better job at switching up that underlying comedic tone during what should have been more somber moments. The three leads are pretty monotone no matter what situation they are in and because of this, it ends up emphasizing the fact that they are just a bunch of wealthy kids with zero empathy who are playing detective. The attempted hint at a sob story for the lead female to explain her bratty personality really does nothing for me either. But if you're one who likes these type of characters, you'll find her adorable.

I do appreciate the respect of the multiple languages, where it isn't spoken in one of those nonsensical ways. It's also always nice to hear the Shanghainese language in more mainstream media. The heavy incorporation of foreigners in the plots, however, just doesn't work well here.

This is a series where you don't really need to pay much attention to and the cliffhangers are easy to walk away from. Since I don't hate it, I've been going back and forth on whether to drop it. There is the curiosity on seeing more of the background of the male leads but not much else.

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Not enough to keep me too interested

There's a lot of commendable aspects to the series particularly because this differs from your typical action series around the police force with high intensity crimes. It does a good job in depicting the daily struggles within the police force when it comes down to working with different personalities, frustrations around their hands being tied by regulations (and politicians), and depicting everyone's personal struggles with their own personal lives. It's also great to see the dynamics on how differently the rookies develop over time as they make mistakes and how each one learns from them.

However, other than Oh Yang Chon and his wife, the rest of the characters were pretty uninteresting. The crimes they come across for a patrol team varies between every day nuances as well as darker murder crimes. But as there is heavy focus on the rookies, they don't really leave much of an impression.

The series triggered me to re-watch Ordinary Greatness in the case I was being biased about the genre. And I was able to confirm that OG is definitely superior to Live. The relationships between the team and character developments feel much more natural. The crimes OG encounters are not as dark as Live but are still quite impactful. And while I shed a couple of tears for Live, the ones in OG are ones that really tug from the heart in a lasting way. And the most important difference is that the plot flow in OG still managed to keep me interested to completion unlike Live.

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Almost but not quite...

The series started off with a bang and jumps right into action, which may cause some confusion as to who is who and what's going on with the different factions. It does come together more with each episode and it kept me engage until around episode 10 (less the FL/ML flirtatious scenes). I've been debating on whether to sit through more episodes for the positives, but the negative are starting to outweigh.

Positives
- An interesting underlying plot and somewhat unique relationship with the three main princes. There is quite a complex relationship between the three which is intriguing.
- The overall actors are great and the action scenes are done well.
- The gradual unfolding of various character histories would be a reason why I'd want to continue watching.
- The ML has been the most interesting character so far with his multiple roles (though his skills and charm are starting to falter slightly).
- The politics (so far) are actually not as boring and long-winded as with other palace dramas, though I can see its potential in becoming repetitive with 40 episodes.

Negatives
- The FL is supposed to be on par with the ML per the synopsis. But other than having high martial arts skills, she's been quite useless. I've been waiting episode after episode for her to step up to the plate to no avail. She's yet another one of those FLs who constantly states she doesn't want anyone's help, but then requires help from the ML over and over again. You'll get scenes such as her twisting an ankle and the ML is then carrying her on his back. But we are supposed to accept that she is jianghu tough and independent.
- The romance between the FL and ML feels overwhelmingly forced. And the corny of their scenes together has been so bad that I've been skipping through most of it to get to the other parts of the plot. One scene in particular that was so off, I would have fired whoever wrote it in. In the middle of a conversation between the FL and ML, two birds just suddenly falls from out of nowhere giving her the opportunity to just randomly ask him to take care of the white bird while she takes the black bird for obvious symbolic reasons. What??

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Lighthearted

Foremost, the reviewers who complain about how unrealistic it is for the FL to get away with what she does at the palace is pretty silly. This series is meant to be unconventional. While it's not slapstick comedy, it leans heavier on the humor side and is very lighthearted. Who really knows what palace life is like after all, other than what we've seen in other palace-based dramas? Has anyone today lived in that era or personally experienced the lives of royalty? Don't mind these types of biased criticisms.

I'm personally only dropping the series because I'm in the mood for something with a more serious undertone. But I think having a Queen who doesn't fit the typical cast is brilliant as it highlights how personalities are what makes people meaningful. It's also refreshing to watch a series that isn't full of conventional beauties.

This truly is a lighthearted series with fun characters and silly events so don't expect a very intricate plot or much character growth. But if you're in the mood for a casual watch that doesn't trigger high emotions, this is worth a try.

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Not Great

*Minor spoiler

Eight episodes in and while the pacing of the plot has stayed steady since the first episode, it has also yet triggered much intrigue. While the ML did a decent job in portraying his character, the dialogue he was given wasn't great. The FL was a dull and unimpressive character, and there was zero chemistry between the two. The relationships the ML develops so far also doesn't feel natural. I had planned to give the series a few more episodes to see if it better evolved but the cringe scene with the rescued little girl solidified the decision to drop. She's supposed to be an orphaned child who was then placed into an abusive environment and witnessed multiple murders. Yet, she very oddly breaks into a happy song (with poor dubbing) the same night with over-exaggerated acting and then turns into an obnoxious spoiled brat the next day? This further highlights the misplacement of emotive focuses such as how the series attempts to lighten up the mood every so often by switching to playful music and banter in between, but it just doesn't feel natural and it doesn't help with the chemistry-building.

The biggest positive about the series are the action scenes. The fight scenes were done really well. I just wish the plot and dialogue matched.

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Unexpectedly good

I usually don't prefer to watch prequels after having seen the "sequel" so I've been holding off on this one for a while. Even the Americanized name isn't the most appealing. But I have to say that this one may be the best one of the three. It makes me almost want to re-watch the The Blood of Youth.

For me, the growth of the relationships between everyone in this one was done much better than the sequel. The bonds felt much more natural and believable but in turn, the pacing ends up slower than The Blood of Youth. I didn't bother trying to tick and tie every event between the two series because this just isn't one of those that is meant to be that detailed. They did a good enough job letting me appreciate going "oh hey.. that's the younger version of that character". The standouts in this series for me were definitely Master Li and the ninth prince. I've come across the actor for the ninth prince a few times in other series and he really has a great look for either a protagonist or antagonist role. The scene with Master Li just breezing through his attempted assassinations is pretty epic as well. Then there's Ye Ding Zhi and his tragic life. I'm glad that despite his best friend having grown up in such a different lifestyle of privilege, was ultimately the one who stayed true to him.

My only qualm with the story is how too much is revolved around the females. I'm not against sacrificing for the love of your life but the men really did give up way more than the females did. As for Ye Ding Zhi's love, she was really undeserving for just sitting around waiting to be saved. And because both men were obsessed with this one woman, the war was eventually triggered. The blame lies with the king because he has the greater responsibility in considering the lives of his citizens.

Finally, after having watched all three related series, I don't think they did Blood River justice. While it was also enjoyable, it just doesn't tie as well into the overall universe.

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One of the best power couples

I never thought I'd come across another couple as memorable as the one in The Story of Minglan... until now. The development between the FL/ML was superbly done and both leads were cast perfectly. They did incredibly well in the hard and soft characteristics for their roles - which led to great chemistry between the two. Something they did even better with this particular series is that the relationship developments between the secondary couples were almost equally as good (the empress was amazing). This is not a vain "love at first sight" type of romance but a very real type of growth with all the ups and downs relationships bring.

The plot was smooth and the pacing was on point. I really appreciate the time put into the growth development of the couple in the beginning and how their backstories kept you on your toes for quite a few episodes. While this is a romance-heavy series, it's not a sappy one and there are more than enough badass moments to keep it intriguing. Kudos to the entire cast for doing such a good job in their respective roles.

Negatives? Can't really find any other than wanting to have had more backstories on the rest of the cast and for the ending to have shown some more follow-ups. And although it might be a little slow moving in the beginning for some viewers, this isn't one that relies on heavy dramatization of events but rather one that is progressively thoughtful. For anyone who enjoyed The Story of Minglan, I'm almost certain you'll enjoy this one equally if not more. It's one of the series that made me sad towards the end, knowing there were only so many episodes left to go.

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Ridiculously... addicting

This is one of those series where you'll take a day off work for, ignore text messages and phone calls, and just hole in at home comfortably as you allow yourself to engross fully into its lore. Being someone who isn't a huge fan of this time-travel concept or incorporating modern with historical, I'm still in disbelief as to how this series won me over and over again.

Reviewing all my mental check boxes, it is difficult to find fault here other than a few nits I'll mention later.

Plot: How does one explain the nearly perfect balance of plot flow that ebbs and flows with enough of the unexpected to keep you on your toes? It does it in such a natural way that unlike the series that throws you into a super high cliffhanger at the end of an episode, there's a calm consistency to it. It also has one of the best pivots of lightheartedness to somber and back again - I would be easily manipulated to literally laughing out loud one minute and to have tears swell up in the next.

Acting/Chemistry: Fantastic cast! Despite the relatively large cast so far, there hasn't been one who hasn't fully embraced their role. As for the chemistry between the cast? Yes, yes, and yes.

Music/Special Effects: I rarely touch on music and sound effects but in order to really be able to shift from one moment to the next smoothly, it is a necessity and successful it was. For special effects on non-humans, it's also one of the best I've seen so far.

So here are my own personal nits that are very much biased.

-- I'm not a fan of the ML's love interest. It has nothing to do with the FL's acting or even the character because she plays her role very well. I can even almost understand why he chose her. But I never like main leads (whether male or female) who end up with pretty much useless significant others. Loving someone but not being to do a thing for them other than cause problems is just not my thing.
-- The male lead was cast pretty perfectly except I think he needs a bit of work on his expressions of sorrow and grief. Initially thought maybe it was his eyebrow being too prominent or his lips being too stiff, but still can't really figure it out.
-- Our heroes can move swiftly when fighting, climb the skies, and use alchemy to teleport but yet there are times when they are rushing to a location "too late" because they rode a horse.

However, these are really minor complaints compared to the overall essence of the series. I held off on this for a while because it was based on a "time-travel" concept but I'm really happy to have finally tried it. Thankfully, this isn't one of those where the leads go back and forth between the past/current or go back and forth between alternate worlds. Really hoping season two for this one doesn't flop the way it did for me with JoL... but thank you for the journey of this season.

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