WK1

Another very popular one is Joy of Life. I finished both Yanxi Palace and Joy of Life. But, nothing still charms me like a Dilraba drama. Not that other actresses are not good, but just a personal preference for her acting style.

We don't really the truth behind all the decision making, but here are some truths, and some speculations.

1 Truth: Broadcasting rights was split into 2, Youku to broadcast this in China and Croton Media to do it for overseas market.

2. Speculation: Croton Media did not have the Eng sub ready, but the Chinese subs were ready. So, Youku went ahead to show it in China first. This could be due to them having a long pipeline of other dramas to show. And once they finish airing the entire drama (Part 1 and Part 2), Croton will then release the international version.

3. Truth: Part 2 will finish airing on 25 April (for VIP customers in China).

4. Speculation; Hence we will get the Eng subs round about 25 April.

Thanks so much! This was posted earlier, but with no Eng sub. This will definitely be appreciated by many who need those subs, particularly fans of Allen.

I see. No, everything is done professionally in a studio (for some of the scenes) and some scenes were filmed on location at Hengdian. This can be easily seen in the BTS.

Ok, if you are referring to the production set, there has been some comment that they looked 'cheap'. There is no denying that they need to save some money on that and use their money wisely on more important stuff, like the CGI, which is really top class, if you compare with any of the recent Xianxia dramas. And good CGI is a very important component for any Xianxia drama. And good CGI does not come cheap.

And for the costumes they wear, the more expensive ones will come in Part 2 of this drama. You will see significant change in the quality of the costumes and will know that those are not cheap.

Dilraba is one the highest traffic stars in China, with 77.5m followers, so getting her to act in this drama did not come cheap. So is Allen, with 23.7m followers.

So, no, this is not a low budget drama.

All that they have done (good CGI, good acting, good scriptwriting) have made this drama the most popular drama in China right now, topping every kind of statistics that is used to track popularity and impact.

If you wish to know some of those statistics, you can go to the page of Part 2 of this drama. Some people have posted those statistics.

For historical, if you do not mind to venture a bit further back, there is a very famous one called Story of Yanxi Palace. That one was hugely popular, when it came out in 2018.

Yes, that is way back, and he was not very famous then. But he picked up a number of good dramas recently.

I don't venture very far from Dilraba's dramas. If necessary, I just switch to Western dramas.

One recent one that I did finish recently is a modern drama called To Fly with you. It is romance, build around ice skating, and dedicated to the Winter Olympic Games. The two leads there did very well, and I managed to finish the drama. Others that I tried, I dropped half way.

Watching it raw is great if you understand Mandarin, because you get to 'hear' all the emotions directly from the actors/actresses. The dubbers are so good, sometimes, just listening to their voices is so sweet and satisfying.

That could do as well, as his did have a number of hits over the past few years.

What do you mean by colour and settings? Could you elaborate?

I see. Watch some old ones then. This week, I started re-watching The Long Ballad with my son, on Netflix.

Haha! I see. I watch it raw, so didn't know about this limitation.

Killing time in between takes. It is well know that Dilraba loves to arm wrestle. Now, she is trying to get all the ladies into the act

What do you mean by exceeding the quota??

Your comments do seem to get longer. I see that as a good sign. Making 'deeper' analyses, and not just passing comments.

That is good. We did have have lots of running battles with Haoyan shippers. I think you left early, and so were not aware of those battles.

Same with many of us who are Dilraba fans. There is nothing wrong about those two actresses. They are great. But their acting styles are not quite the same as Dilraba. They are like polar opposites of Dilraba, so once we got hooked to her, it is so difficult to watch Yang Zi and Seven, despite both of them being good actresses.

Looking back,I feel a bit bad because GeSun supporters far outnumber the HaoYan supporters. Hopefully I did not say anything to hurt you.

Yes, at one stage, that forum was really active, with hundreds of people commenting. If you joined later, many of us would have left. Especially once YAMG started. I still go back to that page even after that, but not anymore. Leave it for newcomers to watch and comment on TLB.

Since you started on this page much earlier, I think you can also stay longer. First to help those watching it raw, and later join in discussing with those who watched with Eng subs.

I have no idea when the Legend of Anle will be shown, as I am hardly on that page. But, it should not be too far away. They finished filming in Dec 2021. It is a historical Wuxia and not Xianxia, so post production is usually shorter. For 40 episodes, I think they only need about 6 months, meaning, they could well be ready as early as June/July.

It seems that the big debate going on at Youku is whether to show Immortal Samsara first or LOA. It could be a race between the two, see who gets airing license first.

I see. Yes, there were quite a few who did not feel the chemistry and those who did. I remember it was quite an interesting debate, and maybe we even got into some kind of argument. But, it was those kind of argument that helped to set the forum on page on fire.

I think it was also comparing the chemistry between the lead pair and the chemistry between Leyan and Haodu; and many of us were divided into two camps.

I am not worried. They had a lot of time to work on this. Filming was completed in June last year. As long as they have shot enough film during the filming process, it should be ok.

Also, they need not follow the novel completely the rest of the way. If they feel that certain scenes could be left out, they will. So, we are likely to see more adaptations.