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I know some people were commenting on the voice dubbing not matching up but I just wanted to say, for Tang Hao, the actor is probably speaking Cantonese (he's from HK) so perhaps that accounts for the mouth movement not matching the audio!

At the press conference, the actor for Tang San mentioned that what he really liked about the character was that he was a really good leader, good at controlling the situation and forming a battle plan so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed too and hope that that'll show itself in the later episodes!

There's various rumors floating around right now stating that actually, this is already Tang San's dream sequence and he's yet to truly wake up. In the beginning, what we're seeing is his GROWN UP view of things, but in reality, it was when he was a child. The drama has a child actor (a rather good one) that plays kid!Tang San. I don't think they'd waste the actor on just a few flashback scenes but who knows.

Another thing that points to this possibly being true is that the Douyin account for Douluo has the tagline "Is this a dream or reality? Once you wake from the dream, everything is just starting." Like the other said, this is probably to circumvent the whole reincarnation business because NRTA is rather strict on that if you want TV broadcast rights.

Yep, exactly. Sometimes you just got to remember that people have different tastes, and not just that but different standards when it comes to what we judge as good or really good. There are def haters around but not every comment that isn't 100000% gushing is automatically a hater either!

And we're off to a roaring start!!

To be extremely honest, despite being a XZ fan, the main reason I was looking forward to Douluo was because of Wang Juan. And got to say, I'm not disappointed at all!!!! As expected of him!!! The humor was unexpected but a welcome surprise and it's giving me major JoL vibes. I was chuckling through so much of ep2 and 3!

Also really enjoying the choreography in the close-up fight scenes! The side characters are fine as well. Honestly was worried about Xiao Wu as her type of character can be grating and Mary Sue-esque but I think Wu Xuan Yi is actually doing a great job in making her likable. The CGI is improved in the latter episodes so I think it was more down to the editing of the CGI in the first fight scene in ep1 than anything else. I think XZ has done a really solid job acting-wise. When I look at Tang San, I'm not thinking that it's XZ acting but that it's the character Tang San. The comedic bits can be a bit exaggerated for my tastes but the more serious parts, he's doing really well with.

Truly though, the star is the script, pacing, general directing and camerawork. Not to say that the acting isn't good because it is, but everything else is working for this drama. Based off the previews I saw for ep6 & 7, the plot is moving along swiftly, the action scenes are aplenty and the anticipation is high!

Again, I can't say if this drama is true to its book roots but I will say, please don't drop it based off a single episode. It's a compelling watch so far and I think it's just the beginning that was altered due to restrictions. The rest of the story seems true to what little I know of the book!

I know this happens whenever there's a project with a big star attached, but can we please try to respect that there will be a difference of opinions. If someone doesn't like something, it doesn't automatically mean that they're a hater. Let's try to keep the comment area civil? If someone is clearly picking on XZ, then ignore them, lol. They're clearly trying to get a reaction so don't give them one but if someone has a different opinion, don't go straight into attack mode. Some might be fans of XZ, some might be fans of Douluo (as this is a huge, huge IP and has a big following already, please remember!) and some might be fans of the other actors in this drama. Not everyone here is a fan of XZ and not every fan of XZ has to automatically love every aspect of his every drama.

For the others: only ONE episode has aired out of forty. If you wish to drop it now, go ahead, that's up to you. I like to give any drama at least ten episodes before judging (and for XZ, I'll give him at least 20 xD). It's near impossible to judge any drama from just one episode but no one here will force you to watch it either.

Also, there's been possible theories floating around Weibo in regards to some of the critiques about Tang San's age. Again, it's a spoiler so no one will know 100% if it's true but again, that's why (IMO), you should give a drama more than one episode before judging. Let's all just enjoy the drama, and like the XZ fanclub on Weibo has stated, take it easy and respect the original IP, the other actors and everyone involved!

Yeah, originally the Weibo post said daily but I couldn't find it in the schedule on the CCTV app for this weekend but looks like it'll be daily after all! Less of a wait, more episodes to watch! I'm all for it :D

That's the exact issue I had as well! The transitions during the fight were a bit weird, almost like a scene was missing every now and then so perhaps that impacted the CGI. Besides that though, the camerawork is really, really good and the transitions throughout the rest of the episode were lovely so I'm also ?? about the fight scene being off, lol.

I'm also hoping that it was his portrayal of a younger, less mature Tang San and that now that he's older, he's not going to be that way. I'm actually really looking forward to an intelligent MC as well! Here's to hoping as the rest of ep1 was really good!

I've definitely watched my fair share of crappy CGI in cdramas and this isn't on the crappy side but again, I'm not impressed but it's only been one episode so I can't judge (although I'll admit I wasn't impressed with the trailer either.) The budget for CQL was smaller than the budget for this (I assume, considering this is a bigger IP) and then I don't even judge the CGI for it anymore, hahahah it's sort of cute in a terrible way xD I'll agree though and say that most cdramas have terrible CGI, Longest Day in Chang'an was a brilliant exception.

The CGI for the spider itself was fine, as was the CGI for both his spirit powers but the CGI during the actual fighting scene look choppy to me and not as impressive, perhaps it gets better with more fights though! Hard to get a real handle from just one episode and one fight scene thus far, but that's my first impression!

CCTV weibo said daily @ noon (I assume this means M-F)

lol, tbh I was confused too. I haven't read the book but the character description I read said that Tang San's got a calm and very collected personality. His screaming @ the spider and losing his cool almost immediately at the end made me go ???

Yes! XZ's voicing his own character! I'm not 100% certain for the rest of the cast but from what I can tell from the trailer, his father and Xiao Wu are definitely dubbed, along with the teacher that Calvin Chen plays!

(Lol, the CGI during the actual fight made me ksnfhkshns)

I watched it via CCTV8 and got to say, I'm quite endeared by Tang San. There's only been one episode so far so I can't really judge much in terms of writing (but I trust greatly in Wang Juan) or the pacing but so far, so good. The cinematography is lovely but I'm not too sure about the CGI, lol. Having said that, I'm excited for the drama! I think so far, XZ's acting has been good and I'm definitely curious to see more of the story. I'm most impressed with him voicing his own character and am enjoying his voice acting to go along with the actual physical acting!

I previously left a comment saying I dropped this drama (circa ep20~) and that I would come back later on to speed-watch/see the ending through. I've done just that and while the drama hasn't finished airing in its entirety yet, I've watched enough to say that this has got to be one of my most disappointing dramas ever watched. Perhaps my expectations were too high, after all it's a Priest novel (and I love Priest), had ZYL as a female lead and WYB as a male lead, and I expected good CGI considering it's a Tencent work. Unfortunately, it's a let down on all the above mentioned. I think WYB improved from CQL, or rather the role of Xie Yun has shown that he's a growing actor but both his and ZYL's acting was just okay for me. Obviously, this is my opinion and I'm sure some will disagree but it was perfunctory acting for me.

The biggest let down has to be the script. Since my last viewing, I went and read about half the novel itself and, as I expected, the actual source material was beyond this. ZYL's weibo post analogy of expectation a burger filled to the brim with ingredients vs the reality of a basic hamburger was 100% accurate. I enjoyed a scene or two every few episodes and sometimes the drama made me chuckle but it never captured my attention. It could've and should've been better but wasn't.

Anyone that comes across this comment trying to decide whether to watch this drama, I'll say this, don't simply judge based off of what everyone's saying and give it a shot yourself. However, if you're expecting strong writing or a proper wuxia, this is a hard pass.

Yes, the MC retains memory of the modern world and it's shown throughout the series. I won't spoil anything further and while it's not a BIG part of the plot, it's a fairly major plot point and plays into the entire storyline quite a bit.

Got to ep20 and I'll be dropping this. I'll most likely come back to it when it's done airing and speed-watch just to figure out the ending etc but this isn't the type of wuxia story I was expecting it to be. No fault to the actors who have generally done a good job, but the production/editing, directing and actual camera work is disappointing. Also, not as fond of some of the characters that are now getting introduced into the story. I'm very much not fond of whiny loud characters.

Hope everyone else enjoys the drama! As always, give it a shot and see if you like it. Don't base your opinion solely on what others say.

Lol, I was just re-watching a baseball anime the other day and there is truly nothing more repetitive in terms of general plot than a sports anime and yet, I still go back for a re-watch. I think that's the issue here as well, along with the pacing, it's following such a basic formula that even though the acting is alright, everything else about the drama is ruining it. Also, something else that's annoying me is the camera angles chosen. They make zero sense sometimes. They'll randomly focus on a secondary or even tertiary lead when the ML or FL is in the same room, just not in the shot!!

Just goes to show how important production, directing and writing is to a drama.

I originally gave myself the limit of 20 episodes and just watched ep20 today....I think I'll be dropping it. There's some cute moments and the action does pick up slightly but as always, there's about 40 mins of talk and 10 mins of actual plot-moving action.

Haha, yeah, I know, Condor Heroes is probably the one Jin Yong adaptation I've watched the most if only because there's like 246437 in existence. I like it even in non-wuxia settings, lol. I've gotten used to it being used almost "fondly".