anopinion

I love Zhu Ya Wen so if true this will be a dream pairing, but I have not seen Zhu being linked to this project anywhere. So...

I just thought to check back and update since I mentioned in passing that I expected her next project to be confirmed in August latest. Well, that turned out to be far from the truth.

Anyway, partially credible rumours:
1. She might really star in Female Police Captain. Multiple sources have mentioned that shooting was supposed to start this month but is delayed (till December or early 2023) due to pandemic controls.
2. She is under discussion for The Scenery Here (or whatever translation they go with). The project is still under initial preparation but likelihood of her involvement is high since she is one of few prominent actresses of Uyghur ethnicity.
3. She might also be considering an adaptation of Harvest Time (literally Beautiful Mountains, Beautiful Waters, Beautiful Flowers) by A-Nai, an upcoming Tencent production.

All rumours relating to her co-stars are from unverified sources. In particular, I don't see a collaboration with XZ or DW on the cards (and I would prefer it that way). Confirmation of her participation in any project will come after the CCP Congress; I think all artistes are trying to lie low during this period.

What I meant was that very often in C-dramas we ignore the lack of chemistry so long as the visuals are ok. It had nothing to do with the plot.

It just means that the novel is so crappy that no good actress will want to waste her time acting in it. There is buzz because they are supposedly approaching the two most popular actresses born after the 90s. If anyone else was first attached to this project, no one will give a damn about it. There is no rumour regarding her co-stars too so I don't even know where this YY and Leo Wu stuff is coming from.

No prob, I'm keeping an eye on her next project myself. I think word should be out latest in early August.

It's an award-winning book (think along the lines of Booker Prize) about life in a Xinjiang village in the 70s, which is not very palatable to the average person. I have not read it myself; it's not a book you'll pick off the shelf. There is also no translation available.

It's fun reading rumours and speculation on her next project but some are totally groundless.

1. The Scenery Here has approached her and will likely be approaching other actresses of her ethnicity because of the themes in the novel. It will be an ensemble cast. However, YY will definitely not be participating because it's a book about Xinjiang minorities so that rumour is just flat out ridiculous. This project is also in very early stages of production.
2. Female Police Captain has yet to decide on a female lead. It's rumoured that it will NOT go to a 90er.
3. The project linking both Dilraba and Yang Zi is a run-of-the-mill chick flick and there's about 1% chance that the two top TV actresses of this age range pick it up (in other words no). Their names are just mentioned for buzz. The latest candidates are Bai Lu and Tan Songyun and I think even they can do better (it's a crappy novel I wish I never read).

To summarise, there's nothing concrete except that she will be working on a modern drama.

I actually wrote a review on YamG where I briefly touched on why I thought the career aspects weren't well fleshed out. I don't think the writer intended it to be career centric in the first place. The aerospace engineering bits were mundane and the showbiz bits seem more like an afterthought. There was effort but it's essentially a romance drama. I'm not saying it's a bad drama, but a fish is a fish and a bird is a bird. Anyway, I do agree that LoA will be more plot heavy. It's just that my expectations aren't that high. If it surpasses expectations, all the better. I would love something like TLB, and I think she has mentioned in her interviews that there are similarities. So I am looking forward to it.

Also, just a disclaimer because people seem to not understand common language expressions. Not knowing "what someone is smoking" is not implying that you're smoking anything, it's just a commonly used phrase to describe not understanding what others think. I would've thought that's pretty obvious though.

Now that I can finally watch this on Netflix, I binged 20 episodes in a row. I actually heard quite a few bad reviews and I really wonder what those people were smoking, because I found this pretty interesting. From episode 1 to 16 the pace is brilliant, though it's slowing down a bit now. I'm actually not really invested in the romance(s) at all and I do prefer the parts where Chang Ge strategise and they are defending against the Ashile tribe's invasions. I guess this type of drama pushes all my buttons as opposed to the xianxia ones (argh) they churn out all the time.

I watched some of her earlier dramas and I think she has a high ceiling. Unfortunately because she is very popular and very very pretty, she needs to work doubly hard for acknowledgement. It's easy to forget that she broke out as one of the most promising actresses in her age group. I personally think she just lacks some explosiveness, but she is beyond adequate for all of her roles, which seriously does not warrant the hate she gets. I also agree that she is very eloquent, which is why I too think GSJY is a good choice.

For LoA, my expectation is the period drama equivalent of YamG, i.e. visuals carrying the plot. I'm okay with that. For TBW, the subject matter is a minus, the male lead is a minus and Dilraba is not big enough a plus for me to ignore those factors.

I am very happy for her being cast in Gong Su Jing Ying. She's very competent in cute roles but I've always thought her image and disposition will match a professional role very well. I've also changed my mind about her speech delivery after finishing YAMG and I think with a prosecution themed drama she should be able to quell talks (criticisms) about her acting.

I'm looking forward to both LoA and GSJY. I'm not a fan of mythical/xianxia dramas however, plus she's the only positive for me in the cast, so unfortunately Blue Whisper is a pass for me.

This is an unconfirmed rumour afaik.

I heard that she's rumoured for the lead role in Ball Lightning. It's quite a risky production since it's sci-fi but I think it's an interesting role for her. Fingers crossed that the casting is real.

I too like Dilraba and that's why I'm speaking out on this. I find the comments here really awkward tbh, but that's because the fans here are really funnily vocal with the defensiveness. I recently watched a K-drama (which I did not like however) where there wasn't any calling out for fans to be defensive but they were still pretty much trying to make the comment section an echo chamber. I feel that might just be the way MDL work nowadays.

I find some of the comments really weird. It's okay to regard negative criticisms without examples as groundless, but I don't think it's necessary to try to "defend" the drama. It's not true that everything is an attack on the actors and it's not true that naysayers are all haters. It's no fun trying to make the comments section an echo chamber, because it also deters people who are neutrals and people who can see both the positive and negative sides. If you disagree with a remark, you can ask for justification, but generalising all criticisms as a coordinated haters attack is nonsensical. No drama is perfect.

Fwiw, I really enjoyed the drama and got the VIP access two episodes in to catch everything, but I also see the limitations and I do agree with what some people are saying about the game scenes and the acting.

It's just 30 mins an episode if we exclude the opening and ending themes. I can understand the financial considerations behind it, but as a viewer it's like sitcom length. Tencent really knows how to milk their dramas.

It's 9 and 10

I feel that they deliberately set the initial episode count at 2 to get people to buy the VIP access. They meet up in episode 3.

For casual gamers, they just play as they please. She also didn't dedicate massive amount of time to it, unless you consider a few days of start and stop as a massive amount of time.