If I remember correctly this was filmed after Awakening and Detective Chinatown
If that's the case, then Cheng Xiao should do decently. Her improvement from beginning of Awakening to the end of it was already massive, so unless she somehow forgot everything she learned while doing Awakening, then her acting should not be bad.
Really excited for this and hope it follows the novel. Spirit Realm was my first Chinese novel so I have a bias. Though I am slightly concerned about the leads though... since once again I think they did an "idol" pick, which I am not the biggest fan of (even though I'm a fan of the idol's music). Cheng Cheng though has family experience so I'm slightly less concerned, but Cheng Xiao... If this series was filmed AFTER awakening, then I honestly believe she would do well. But if this was filmed before... her acting at the start of Awakening was already iffy.
Why are you people blaming Cheng Xiao? She just started acting. Her work in Legend of Awakening is not that bad…
Her acting wasn't that bad but compared to other debut actors in Legend of Awakening it was really mediocre, especially when a 15 year old's act was more convincing than hers. I do believe she has the talent though, so if this was filmed after awakening then I won't have complaints.
Came back for a rewatch and my opinions haven't changed. For possible new watchers:
1. The appeal of the show is mainly towards the characters and not the plot. If you don't enjoy the characters then it's not worth watching. 2. The acting is really well done, the chemistry between everyone is pretty great. Costumes looks super nice, good cinematography and colours are great in general. CGI is absolute trash due to low budget but its still watchable. Not investing into CGI was what I find the right move anyways cause everything else about the show visually looks really good. 3. Draggy and unnecessarily long as c-dramas tend to be, but then again skipping scenes is not a problem since once again, this ended up being a character centred show and not story focused (even though I think their intent was to focus on story).
1. I stick to what I've said before. Nice costumes, sets and overall visuals. Okay music (not amazing but not bad either). Cinematography is decent. Emei leader's eyebrows are still terrible. Fight scenes are nice. 2. Acting: Leo is doing the ML stuff real nicely-- Yukee is starting to grow on me slightly (Have a "I like her but I don't" situation happening like when she was in HSDSS 2019). Rest of cast is doing decent. Nothing bad but nothing to "wow" me either. 3. Extra thoughts: It really has that old cdrama vibe to it, just with upgraded visuals. Whether you like that or not is up to you. 4. Plot is still basically irrelevant, I'm not gonna lie. Not bad, just very typical. Can't tell what pacing feels like after you stopped paying attention to plot so I won't comment on pacing.
Overall: Eh. It's okay. Not bad, just nothing extraordinary. I'm generally not a sugar-sweet love story watcher though so I'm not sure how this compares to shows of it's same genre. These are all my personal thoughts though, and once again, I recommend you watch at least 3 episodes (if you haven't already) before deciding whether you like or dislike this drama.
i want conflicted badass jbz!! i want him to know what he is and was capable of and i was fine with him being…
you may know this already but came back here to say ancient detective has been distributed to SMG and Youku youtube channels pretty recently~ give them a rewatch for a higher chance of season 2 <3
For those wanting a season 2, official licenses of the show has been distributed to Youku official Youtube channel and SMG Youtube channel. SMG has eng subs while currently Youku does not. Please give it a watch/rewatch on these channels <3
1 
Though I am slightly concerned about the leads though... since once again I think they did an "idol" pick, which I am not the biggest fan of (even though I'm a fan of the idol's music). Cheng Cheng though has family experience so I'm slightly less concerned, but Cheng Xiao... If this series was filmed AFTER awakening, then I honestly believe she would do well. But if this was filmed before... her acting at the start of Awakening was already iffy.
For possible new watchers:
1. The appeal of the show is mainly towards the characters and not the plot. If you don't enjoy the characters then it's not worth watching.
2. The acting is really well done, the chemistry between everyone is pretty great. Costumes looks super nice, good cinematography and colours are great in general. CGI is absolute trash due to low budget but its still watchable. Not investing into CGI was what I find the right move anyways cause everything else about the show visually looks really good.
3. Draggy and unnecessarily long as c-dramas tend to be, but then again skipping scenes is not a problem since once again, this ended up being a character centred show and not story focused (even though I think their intent was to focus on story).
I'm just personally a little picky on low budget cinematography after I've seen Ancient Detective.
1. I stick to what I've said before. Nice costumes, sets and overall visuals. Okay music (not amazing but not bad either). Cinematography is decent. Emei leader's eyebrows are still terrible. Fight scenes are nice.
2. Acting: Leo is doing the ML stuff real nicely-- Yukee is starting to grow on me slightly (Have a "I like her but I don't" situation happening like when she was in HSDSS 2019). Rest of cast is doing decent. Nothing bad but nothing to "wow" me either.
3. Extra thoughts: It really has that old cdrama vibe to it, just with upgraded visuals. Whether you like that or not is up to you.
4. Plot is still basically irrelevant, I'm not gonna lie. Not bad, just very typical. Can't tell what pacing feels like after you stopped paying attention to plot so I won't comment on pacing.
Overall: Eh. It's okay. Not bad, just nothing extraordinary. I'm generally not a sugar-sweet love story watcher though so I'm not sure how this compares to shows of it's same genre. These are all my personal thoughts though, and once again, I recommend you watch at least 3 episodes (if you haven't already) before deciding whether you like or dislike this drama.