Dafeng is worth it!
Guardians of the Dafeng is one of the best dramas I have watched recently. It's complex, beautiful, humorous and provides food for thought about things like, what is the meaning of life? What makes one life complete?
Yang Ling is a street-smart sales manager, who initially wanted to be policemen but life made its' correction. He is young, fast on his feet, pretty adjustable in social situations. After drinking party, he and his colleagues decide to play murder mystery game. That's how he ended up being in body of Xu Qi An, Chanty Constable who is in fact being imprisoned. That's how the story starts.
Story itself is very interesting. We start from case 1, and then we see it unfolding and connected to case 2 and bigger cases. While I was watching on-air, they constantly left us on cliffhanger, and I couldn't wait for another episode. Drama has a lot of easter eggs or details which makes interesting to me on re-watches. Complex world with magic, sects, taoist, artifacts and cultivation levels.
I like that drama has style, it explores and introduces quite complex world of Dafeng and connects us with characters through humor. Humor and a bit of hyperbolic style of acting might be not everyone's cup of tea. For me, it was highlights of Guardians of the Dafeng. I found myself to relate to a lot of situations. A lot of it touches work culture, relationships in family and society. I love visual aspects of the drama, CGI is extremely well-done, world building designs, it's amazing.
I love that drama has a lot of characters and they are all pretty well-written and have distinctive features about them and their own stage to shine. This is quite impressive considering how many characters are present in the drama.
This drama portrays absolutely beautifully the importance of family. Xu family is most chaotic and endearing family. Through humorous situations we get to know them, we see their bickering which depicts some real family dynamics so much. However, by the end of the series I found that I love them so much. There are so many moments when they stood for each other and showed genuine care and love for each other that it brought tears to my eyes. But at the same time, they provided some of the best comedic moments (like forgetting each other which ended up being connected to more serious note).
I loved romance storyline. I found that Xu Qi An and Lin An fit each other well. Romance is not the main plot but their moments were cute, endearing with spark of absolute chemistry. I think Lin An though by no means perfect is fitting for Xu Qi An. Lin An in the same way as Xu Qi An stood up to seek justice for her loved ones. Actually, the fact that both of them had their own lives and agendas made this line more realistic and healthy.
There's also significant story arc with Lord Wei and Guardians which shows the value of friendship, of people having your back and coming for each other. Some of the moments made me cry.
Overall, I think with portrayal of Xu Qi An's life they showed full spectrum of what makes one people's life full.
I have to talk about main protagonist and his character growth. Xu Qi An is a bit unserious and gives a lot of opportunist vibes at the very beginning. He is charismatic, charming and has his way with people. However, it's interesting and evident right from the first case that he is actually feels strongly about weaker people being oppressed. Interesting detail I noticed that he doesn't care much and can swallow if he is the one oppressed. And then he comes back to being unserious and being childish. I think Lord Wei described him: "You seem to be flexible on the outside, but you are rigid on the inside." I find interesting that guy that started from wanting to make money in Dafeng, spent large amount of time and efforts thinking about how to progress in the career and connecting with right people to what he did in the end of the series.
Cast is superb and everyone did a great job. Dylan Wang has showed his new side and how much he improved throughout his career. Portrayal of Xu Qi An is quite complex, he goes from being this hilarious character to heartbreak and to angry and just person. His gestures, body language, face expressions, tones of voice - just a great acting job altogether for a person that carried show. They showed scene where he goes from portraying young men, middle-aged man and old man - I couldn't believe my eyes. Great, great piece of acting. He also didn't get lost acting with much more senior cast and excellent actors.
I think everyone should give it a try of watching this. Dafeng is worth it a thousands times.
Yang Ling is a street-smart sales manager, who initially wanted to be policemen but life made its' correction. He is young, fast on his feet, pretty adjustable in social situations. After drinking party, he and his colleagues decide to play murder mystery game. That's how he ended up being in body of Xu Qi An, Chanty Constable who is in fact being imprisoned. That's how the story starts.
Story itself is very interesting. We start from case 1, and then we see it unfolding and connected to case 2 and bigger cases. While I was watching on-air, they constantly left us on cliffhanger, and I couldn't wait for another episode. Drama has a lot of easter eggs or details which makes interesting to me on re-watches. Complex world with magic, sects, taoist, artifacts and cultivation levels.
I like that drama has style, it explores and introduces quite complex world of Dafeng and connects us with characters through humor. Humor and a bit of hyperbolic style of acting might be not everyone's cup of tea. For me, it was highlights of Guardians of the Dafeng. I found myself to relate to a lot of situations. A lot of it touches work culture, relationships in family and society. I love visual aspects of the drama, CGI is extremely well-done, world building designs, it's amazing.
I love that drama has a lot of characters and they are all pretty well-written and have distinctive features about them and their own stage to shine. This is quite impressive considering how many characters are present in the drama.
This drama portrays absolutely beautifully the importance of family. Xu family is most chaotic and endearing family. Through humorous situations we get to know them, we see their bickering which depicts some real family dynamics so much. However, by the end of the series I found that I love them so much. There are so many moments when they stood for each other and showed genuine care and love for each other that it brought tears to my eyes. But at the same time, they provided some of the best comedic moments (like forgetting each other which ended up being connected to more serious note).
I loved romance storyline. I found that Xu Qi An and Lin An fit each other well. Romance is not the main plot but their moments were cute, endearing with spark of absolute chemistry. I think Lin An though by no means perfect is fitting for Xu Qi An. Lin An in the same way as Xu Qi An stood up to seek justice for her loved ones. Actually, the fact that both of them had their own lives and agendas made this line more realistic and healthy.
There's also significant story arc with Lord Wei and Guardians which shows the value of friendship, of people having your back and coming for each other. Some of the moments made me cry.
Overall, I think with portrayal of Xu Qi An's life they showed full spectrum of what makes one people's life full.
I have to talk about main protagonist and his character growth. Xu Qi An is a bit unserious and gives a lot of opportunist vibes at the very beginning. He is charismatic, charming and has his way with people. However, it's interesting and evident right from the first case that he is actually feels strongly about weaker people being oppressed. Interesting detail I noticed that he doesn't care much and can swallow if he is the one oppressed. And then he comes back to being unserious and being childish. I think Lord Wei described him: "You seem to be flexible on the outside, but you are rigid on the inside." I find interesting that guy that started from wanting to make money in Dafeng, spent large amount of time and efforts thinking about how to progress in the career and connecting with right people to what he did in the end of the series.
Cast is superb and everyone did a great job. Dylan Wang has showed his new side and how much he improved throughout his career. Portrayal of Xu Qi An is quite complex, he goes from being this hilarious character to heartbreak and to angry and just person. His gestures, body language, face expressions, tones of voice - just a great acting job altogether for a person that carried show. They showed scene where he goes from portraying young men, middle-aged man and old man - I couldn't believe my eyes. Great, great piece of acting. He also didn't get lost acting with much more senior cast and excellent actors.
I think everyone should give it a try of watching this. Dafeng is worth it a thousands times.
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