cnguyen1031

Speaking for the Chinese drama section, I wholeheartedly agree with almost everything.

Yanxi was hands down the best drama of the year (honestly it's up there with Nirvana in Fire for best drama ever from China for me). No other words needed.

I really enjoyed Legend of Fu Yao and it was probably my second favorite of the year (but I know a lot of people apparently didn't care for it or thought the story was slow and dragged on). I think there were story arcs that were better than others, but overall I really liked the drama and I think Yang Mi and Ethan Ruan had good chemistry. And I especially enjoyed their characters relationship which I think is very scarce in Chinese drama (or any dramas really) where you really see the full evolution of why they fell in love and you saw a playful, flirtatious, and passionate relationship between equals.

Bloody Romance was definitely an underdog favorite for me. I think the story had a good premise and even though it was predictable (to me at least), I still enjoyed it and I'm hoping for a season 2.

I only disagree with Eternal Love 2. I honestly enjoyed it probably as much as if not more than season 1. At least when it comes to the story line. I think season 2 had a more congruent story and everything flowed better and made more sense. Season 1, especially that ending story arc was all over the place for me. I think you also got a more playful 8th prince in this second season, which was refreshing. He definitely had the modern vibe going for him haha.

Great article!

I don't think it's super necessary honestly. There's flashbacks when necessary that cover the main points and the story line mentions any previous information you need. On the other hand, the first season isn't super long either, so it wouldn't be hard to rewatch it really quickly haha.

Thanks for adding the Best of China list this year guys!! <3

Best Chinese Drama of 2018:
1) Story of Yan xi Palace
2) Legend of Fu Yao
3) Bloody Romance

Best Chinese Movie of 2018: ----

Best Historical Drama:
1) Story of Yanxi Palace
2) Ru Yi's Love in the Palace
3) Untouchable Lovers

Best Wuxia/Xianxia Drama:
1) Legend of Fu Yao
2) Bloody Romance
3) King of Blaze

Best Romance/Comedy Drama:
1) The Eternal Love 2
2) Legend of Fu Yao
3) Legend of Yun Xi

Best School/Youth Drama: ----

Best Novel/Manhua/Webtoon Adaptation:
1) Legend of Yun Xi
2) Bloody Romance

Best Chinese Actor(and for which role?):
1) Wallace Huo (Ru Yi's Love in the Palace)
2) Nie Yuan (Story of Yan Xi)
3) Ethan Ruan (Legend of Fu Yao)

Best Chinese Actress(and for which role?):
1) Wu Jin Yan (Story of Yan Xi)
2) Zhou Xun (Ru Yi's Love in the Palace)
3) Yang Mi (Legend of Fu Yao)

Best Chinese Supporting Actor(and for which role?):
1) Zhang Yu Jian (Oriental Odyssey)
2) Yalkun Merxat (Legend of Yun Xi)
3) Xu Kai (Story of Yan Xi)

Best Chinese Supporting Actress(and for which role?):
1) Charmaine Sheh (Story of Yan Xi)
2) Lin Yuan (Our Glamorous Times)
3) Puff Guo (Bloody Romance)

Best Couple:
1) Ethan Ruan and Yang Mi (Legend of Fu Yao)
2) Wu Jin Yan and Xu Kai (Story of Yan Xi)
3) Ju Jing Yi and Zhang Zhe Han (Legend of Yun Xi)
Best Bromance: Chen Bo Lin and Zhang Yi Nie (King of Blaze)

Best OST(and for which drama?):
1) Blood Like Ink (Xue Ru Mo) 血如墨 by Zhang Bi Chen, Legend of Fu Yao
2) The Sound of Falling Snow (Xue Luo Xia de Sheng Yin) 雪落下的声音 by Lu Hu, Story of Yan Xi Palace
3) A Lifetime Waiting for You ( Yi Sheng Deng Ni) 一生等你 by Yuan Ya Wei, Bloody Romance

I’m always really hit or miss with Yang Mi. TMOPB and fu Yao were great in my opinion, but her other stuff is just not good to me. So I guess I agree that she’s good in these big epic dramas, but I wouldn’t call her the best overall. (My favorite always goes to zhao li ying for imperial, wuxia/xianxia, and modern dramas).

The Eternal Love took me a few tries to get into it. I just knew it was popular so I kept trying but meh. Eventually I got pass the wall when I realized not to take it super seriously (I love imperial dramas so I wasn’t a huge fan at first because it just felt like a low budget imperial -which it technically is but when I came to terms with that I could enjoy it more). Overall it’s just a cute drama. It’s nothing outstanding and I’m not obsessed but it wasn’t a terrible watch. Hopefully the second season (premiering tomorrow Oct 22) will be entertaining.

Again with cinematography i’m Hit or miss. I agree a lot of times it just appeals to me naturally but the level of special effects definitely isn’t up to par a lot of times. I think it’s definitely gotten better in recent years and especially when you think how often CGI and what not is used, it’s pretty solid by comparison. There’s few other countries that use CGI as frequently for TV shows so it’s still a good achievement in that area, but again for how often they use it, there’s still work to be done.

It was partly taxes, but also her secret salaries. With the two yin yang contracts, one would say her salary was $2million maybe, but the real contract would be $10million. That’s another big part of why it was illegal.

Best get going is on my list. I’ve seen about 80% of her dramas. Seriously my favorite. Princess Agents fell short for me. I like the story line and it had a ton of potential but I feel like it wasn’t executed well. And idk if this is still true but I remember reading that ZLY wasn’t a fan of how the drama went because they changed a lot and she was a huge fan of the original novel. So her chances of coming back for the sequel are slim. But hopefully they make the necessary changes and she and Lin geng xin both come back.

I'm so torn about Story of Ming Lan. FSF is super hit or miss for me. I liked Lan Ling Wang, but other than that I just don't like him very much haha. I'm excited for Our Glamorous Times to finally air though. I haven't seen her in a modern drama since Boss and Me.

I love Chinese dramas too lol. Started watching TW dramas about 13 years ago and then started with mainland dramas in 2012 and I'm obsessed now.

Ugh, idk what it was about Empress Ki but I HATED it. I was getting so angry while I was watching it and just remember thinking it was over the top and bleh. I loved Moon embracing the Sun though, it’s one of my favorite kdramas. But yeah even though Cdramas can be super long and draggy, I still love them haha. Especially historical ones

Chinese dramas honestly prefer those sad endings. Lu Zhen, Lan Ling, nirvana in Fire, Wei a young, etc. it’s rare that there’s a fully happy ending by the end of these types of dramas haha

Same haha. Lu Zhen is one of my faves and spurred my love for Zhao Li Ying. The ending for Lan Ling is kind of sad, but its similar to the ending of Lu Zhen in my opinion. One person dies, and they can't be together forever, but at the same time, there's a part of the other person that's keeping them going for the future. Honestly Lan Ling was a great drama. It was the first (i think) of this type of imperial drama (that wasn't stuck inside the inner harem), so definitely has a big nostalgia factor for me.

Not sure if you’ve seen these yet, All fairly popular and have similar elements to untouchable Lovers:
Prince of Lan Ling
Princess Wei Young
Perfect Couple
Yan Xi Gong Lue
Legend of Lu Zhen
Nirvana in Fire (1+2)
The Kings Woman
Virtuous Queen of Han

I"VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THIS T_T

Agreed. The first watch through of wei young I didn’t like it as much because the story felt repetitive with everyone just trying to kill wei young. But later I liked it more cause I focused more on the relationship between the leads and it’s weirdly one of my guilty pleasures now. With this drama I think Ying Luo is super different from other characters of her type which is good and refreshing. I do agree some stuff is a bit ridiculous that she got away with and didn’t really get in trouble for, but oh well it’s an interesting story. I overall like Yan Xi palace, but weirdly think I enjoyed the more dramatic ness of Zhen huan. All these big reveals happen in Yanxi but especially because Ying Luo is a fairly reserved person in some aspects, it’s not a huge emotional drama but very logical and calm drama which is definitely different for this genre.

i definitely agree. Something about Zhen huan just made things feel exciting even though it’s very similar to what’s happening here. I’m on ep 45 and right now the relationship Ying Luo and the emperor is the best part for me cause it’s so fun watching her mess with him. I think this story feels calmer even though agin a lot of the same scheming is happening. I don’t think it’s as good as Zhen Huan but it’s still fun watching it.

It’s definitely very similar. Most harem dramas all end up with a same feel. Back stabbing, plotting, fighting for the emperors attention. I like that this one has the added revenge plot to give it some more interest.

Same. There are very few dramas with the female being so strong/smart. Princess Wei Young she was also pretty smart, but Ying Luo definitely has her beat

Honestly I feel like this is more compelling than TMOPB. This balances romance with politics with general human growth more than TMOPB did for me. In TMOPB Bai Qian was already a badass and obviously has her period of humanity, but overall she more just opened up as a person by the end. Here I think Fu Yao has grown tremendously (currently only on ep 52, and from what i’ve Read she goes through even more changes in this next story arc).

I also like this set up of the different regions and how the characters are all interwoven into the different story lines. Normally I dislike this because some story lines far outweigh the others (example Legend of Zhen Huan, most people including me skipped through most of the nunnery scenes). Here I think there might be a few spots within each story that might not be as interesting, but overall it’s written more smoothly and has more of those ups and downs you want from a compelling tv show.

Even down to the relationship between the two leads, I think it’s been well written from the get go. You really understand why the two of them grew to love each other as much as they do now. They really persevered through so much together already. TMOPB, I understand why they fell for each other, but still think that it was more fairytale romance (at the beginning at least.) yes Su Su was kind and courageous so I see why Ye Hua fell for her, but Su su at the time was just lonely and just fell in love because he was there. By the time they are back to their original positions, it’s definitely Ye Hua holding onto his memories of Su Su that gets them to get back together by the end. I don’t think it’s a bad story line (definitely different), but overall I still prefer Fu yao’s Story where they have this playful relationship from the get go and I think start to fall for each other not because of the other person being there but because they had similar ideals and moral beliefs.

Again not hating on TMOPB. It’s one of my faves, but I think personally Fu Yao has a more lasting impression for me.

Dare I say this is better than TMOPB? I liked TMOPB but don’t ever really remember having my mind blown at Many parts during it. Legend of Fu Yao. My god. So good.

生日快乐, 小猪!! ❤️❤️

I was really disappointed at first because there was talk that Dilraba and Vengo wouldn't reprise their roles, but after reading the weibo announcement that they were officially signed and now the character posters - I'm super excited. I honestly almost liked them more than (if not the same) as Bai Qian/Ye Hua so I hope that this will be done as well as TMOPB was. <3