antiherodiaries

A good director would know how to use thier actor, so director Zeng did pretty well with ZLH. I think it's still ZLH's best work, and he'll probably never get this kind of role again, or opportunity to work with a director that knows how to use him. Regrettably, that his character was expendable at the costs for fillers, other characters etc. Obviously in terms of acting, he is nothing compared to Tan, but I give him props for improving a bit.

Yet, the acting is not what I'm worried about, but the story and character. Tan can make a cardboard interesting, but even a cardboard has it limitations if it's not of high quality. So hopefully, Tan taking on the role was because they made changes that he approved and hoping that it's for the benefit of the character.

I've put it on hold because I was too livid about the changes. 🤣

what?! so this has been happening to ZLH. 🥹😭 omgad they are just suing his popularity to boost viewership. Poor guy.

I trust his choice too...but our boy has been screwed over to many times 🥹😭 so I'm praying to the gods to stop screwing him over.

Sorry—I wrote that in a hurry, so my point got lost. When something feels rushed, it usually means it was cut to pass censorship. But the story never even attempts to challenge that constraint. Instead, it takes the safest route, prioritizing approval speed over crafting a cohesive narrative or giving Xue Zhang’s character any real credibility.

And to be clear, what was cut likely wasn’t due to failing censorship—those scenes probably never even made it to the approval stage. That points more to an in-house, profit-driven decision than an external restriction. Blaming censorship feels like a weak excuse, especially when plenty of more violent battle scenes have passed review before.

I guess thevlevel of disrespect presented in the drama was not in the novel, and it threw me off. Xie Zheng's character was built to be authoritative, it's literally in the world building. So to me it was out of character. As for emotional support, I didn't get that in the novel. He respected her boundaries, but was moving at his own pace, and that's not what happened in the adaption, instead he became a character who ended up merely reacting to the FL decisions. And this is what I am afriad of. In Dancing, whatever decision Namyi made, Xie Queshan had his own.

If it rushed means it cut to pass censorship. It never even attempted challenge it. So yeah, I call bull.

Pursuit of Jade Xie Zheng 🤣 the director made him into an aura and the writer turned him to an emotional support, and that's it. no substance. He's supposed to be the baddest highest ranking general but he takes disrespect from the FL's homies. 😒

Maybe if we look hard enough we might catch his shadow. 🤣💀☠️

The battle scenes being cencored is bull...I finished Generation to Generation and the fight scenes were bloody as heck. Probably people making excuses to justify the crappy storyline in the second arc.

Dear drama gods,
Please please do not downgrade our Xie Daren to a meme and an aura.

We need him mean, cold, courageous and conflicted. He's a goddamn general playing a dangerous game for Chris sakes.

🥹🙏

Thank you.

I think the writer made the wrong changes in the story. She focused to much on CP and marketbility, and was hoping to get away with having things implied... because they weren't catering to people who appreciated good storytelling in the first place. We were never the target audience.

Even without the novel, I can tell you that the progression from beating up a bunch of thugs to defeating a seasoned military general will require alot more backstory than that one half minute flashback to her learning martial arts from her dad. Because there is a hugh difference from learning martial arts from your dad and being a martial arts prodigy (which it looks like the drama was trying to portray). Again, I love her character, but that doesn't mean I would just let my brain fill in the blanks for the sake of it.

No one is complaining how strong she is....but people are complaining how there's no context on how she became so strong, 😒, or how her journey requires you to implied she was born with super human strength. 🤣 Her character setup was not like Strong girl Boongson. Even I still don't understand how she became a master at martial arts? with just a few lines...my dad taught me his swordsmanship. Okay.....and?

The fortune thing is, you can fill the gaps with the novel.

Omgad if I was the director I'd be so pissed. Like NO ONE consulted me. But you know, directors for dramas don't get enough praise and creative power. The first half of this drama proves that if they get the creative power it would be amazing.

I studied film and animation, so I FEEL your pain. 😭

I guess I'll bee some of y'all at Love beyond the grave 😘 Im praying so hard the production team don't butcher General Duan like how POJ butchered Xie Daren.

wait the lasr half was edited by a different team? 🥴💀☠️ what kind of slop is that? Who authorize this shannegans!?

Not sure about the how the drama gonna do it but in the novel, he's an anti villian. He was framed to became a villian, and everything afterwards was doing evil things to avenge the death of his love but also to preserve her reputation.

You're not alone. I've been complaining too. Anyone who cares for good storytelling is up in arms.