Went Beyond my Expectation
During a battle between Yao Kingdom and Taijin, General Li Shuang was separated from her troops and pursued by Yao forces. Injured and bloodied by the battle, FL was encircled and left with no way to run, when suddenly a sudden force from her feet surged outward, pushing back her pursuers. A kid plopped in front of her, and went to fight off Yao troops and helped her escape. Having no memories, riddled with injuries and no clue on his background, Li Shuang took him into her camp and gave him a name, Jin An. Little did she know the kid was actually a product of a botched witchcraft placed on Prince Annan, Duan Aodeng, the commander of Yao army, which transformed him into a fighter with supernatural strength and abilities with side effect of memory loss and his adult body turned into a child. And because Li Shuang’s blood had dripped into his mouth when he laid on the ground after escaping the wizard’s cave, a blood oath had been forged between them, which tied their fates together for a lifetime.
Ryan Cheng has proven himself yet again as Duan Aodeng/Jin An. I have seen 3 of Ryan Cheng’s dramas so far, and one thing i noticed is that, he stripped and goes off bare chested in all of them 😆 But this is definitely the first drama that i saw him acting cheeky and carefree. In other dramas that I’ve seen, he had always taken the cold and aloof kind of roles, where it’s always the girl who chases after him. This is a new look on him, where he’s the one fawning over the girl, indulging her to ridiculous extent while being coy and sulky. This definitely casts a different light on him and he acted out the role immaculately perfect. That being said, his character as Prince Annan is of course much more interesting and injects more depth compared to the lovesick puppy Jin An. Although I didnt like how badly he treated FL during their first meeting, it is unavoidable as they were ultimately two generals of opposing kingdoms.
Although generally Song Yi is fine as Li Shuang, personally i felt she was too physically scrawny for the role. In reality, it is literally impossible for somebody who trains daily and fight battles for years not to develop somekind of muscle. I had served in the Navy before and even though i am small in stature even for a woman, even the skinniest of us would still develop some muscle. Muscle is literally a side effect of those heavy workout, and yet I just saw skin and bones on Song Yi, much like those noble young ladies who does nothing all day long but play music, recite poems or embroider. It’s just not convincing enough. And her shrieking voice when she commands the troops makes it worse. The way she wields weapons is also not really convincing, maybe due to fact that she was just too skinny to look formidable in the battlefield. But other than this physical shortcoming, her depiction of Li Shuang is somewhat acceptable. Song Yi’s Li Shuang might not have been among the best female generals out there, but she is borderly acceptable. She exudes the air of resolution and bravery, and that is what the novel’s Li Shuang is all about. I like that the show manage to add more personality to Li Shuang compared to the novel, being short as it is. Although, I still cringe when she acted cheesy around Jin An, like she turned to be a whole different person than that general who leads troops on the battlefield.
The SML Crown Prince turned out to be quite a surprise. They actually decided to turn him into a shady character from the upright and honest novel’s Crown Prince. I guess it is necessary for the sake of the plot. The actor basically played the very same character he took up on Kill Me Love Me, so he’s definitely done this rodeo hence it is quite hard to be bad at it.
And by the way, i am totally loving FL’s sidekick Liu Xin played by Shi Ce. This character used to be a common physician before she was called to treat FL’s battle wounds and later became the army physician. She kinda became best friends with FL ever since. I really like that she was the kind of girl who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, confess when she likes someone and take a step back when she is rejected. It’s like a modern, sensible girl in an ancient body. Her cheeky, innocent demeanor is the comic relief in this show.
The fighting sequence here is very good. Duan Aodeng’s sequences are formidable and fierce, while Jin An exudes mystery and darkness with excellent seamless CGI. Only one thing doesnt sit right by me - a general using bow and arrows as her main weapon is honestly extremely unrealistic. Bow and arrows are naturally not feasible for close combat, especially when the arrows are very limited. i literally laugh when i saw FL flipping left and right shooting out those arrows in most of her hands-on fights. Like seriously? 🙄 Dear screenwriters, please get real. There’s a reason why generals use swords or spears or any other inexhaustible short range tools as their main weapon on the battlefield, and it’s definitely not just for show.
Except for Song Yi who shouldve spent more effort developing some muscles and strength and screenwriter’s unrealistic choice of having FL use bow and arrow as main weapon, everything else is picture perfect, though i do feel that the romance had been too cheesy. In the novel, there had not been many romantic moment between the main leads cuz it was always only the ML obsessed over FL due to the blood oath, while the FL had always been suspicious of him even though she did feel indebted to him for his many rescues of her and her troops. Guess they changed this so the show wouldnt be too bland and short.
And i like the fact that they made ML’s transformation sound ‘sci-fi’ish, when the original idea had been more to sorcery. At least it’s more bearable with the futuristic sounding than sombre eerie music.
The songs are really nice, some slow and endearing while some catchy and groovy. The set and costume are convincing and nice to look at.
I like how they expanded the plot from a 49ch novel. Some can be boring, but most are enjoyable, the pairings of side couples are real cute and heartwarming. It’s definitely one of the good adaptations put there, following the novel’s main plot closely without planting much holes on its sideplots. Very brilliantly executed with such limited source from a short novel.
Ryan Cheng has proven himself yet again as Duan Aodeng/Jin An. I have seen 3 of Ryan Cheng’s dramas so far, and one thing i noticed is that, he stripped and goes off bare chested in all of them 😆 But this is definitely the first drama that i saw him acting cheeky and carefree. In other dramas that I’ve seen, he had always taken the cold and aloof kind of roles, where it’s always the girl who chases after him. This is a new look on him, where he’s the one fawning over the girl, indulging her to ridiculous extent while being coy and sulky. This definitely casts a different light on him and he acted out the role immaculately perfect. That being said, his character as Prince Annan is of course much more interesting and injects more depth compared to the lovesick puppy Jin An. Although I didnt like how badly he treated FL during their first meeting, it is unavoidable as they were ultimately two generals of opposing kingdoms.
Although generally Song Yi is fine as Li Shuang, personally i felt she was too physically scrawny for the role. In reality, it is literally impossible for somebody who trains daily and fight battles for years not to develop somekind of muscle. I had served in the Navy before and even though i am small in stature even for a woman, even the skinniest of us would still develop some muscle. Muscle is literally a side effect of those heavy workout, and yet I just saw skin and bones on Song Yi, much like those noble young ladies who does nothing all day long but play music, recite poems or embroider. It’s just not convincing enough. And her shrieking voice when she commands the troops makes it worse. The way she wields weapons is also not really convincing, maybe due to fact that she was just too skinny to look formidable in the battlefield. But other than this physical shortcoming, her depiction of Li Shuang is somewhat acceptable. Song Yi’s Li Shuang might not have been among the best female generals out there, but she is borderly acceptable. She exudes the air of resolution and bravery, and that is what the novel’s Li Shuang is all about. I like that the show manage to add more personality to Li Shuang compared to the novel, being short as it is. Although, I still cringe when she acted cheesy around Jin An, like she turned to be a whole different person than that general who leads troops on the battlefield.
The SML Crown Prince turned out to be quite a surprise. They actually decided to turn him into a shady character from the upright and honest novel’s Crown Prince. I guess it is necessary for the sake of the plot. The actor basically played the very same character he took up on Kill Me Love Me, so he’s definitely done this rodeo hence it is quite hard to be bad at it.
And by the way, i am totally loving FL’s sidekick Liu Xin played by Shi Ce. This character used to be a common physician before she was called to treat FL’s battle wounds and later became the army physician. She kinda became best friends with FL ever since. I really like that she was the kind of girl who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, confess when she likes someone and take a step back when she is rejected. It’s like a modern, sensible girl in an ancient body. Her cheeky, innocent demeanor is the comic relief in this show.
The fighting sequence here is very good. Duan Aodeng’s sequences are formidable and fierce, while Jin An exudes mystery and darkness with excellent seamless CGI. Only one thing doesnt sit right by me - a general using bow and arrows as her main weapon is honestly extremely unrealistic. Bow and arrows are naturally not feasible for close combat, especially when the arrows are very limited. i literally laugh when i saw FL flipping left and right shooting out those arrows in most of her hands-on fights. Like seriously? 🙄 Dear screenwriters, please get real. There’s a reason why generals use swords or spears or any other inexhaustible short range tools as their main weapon on the battlefield, and it’s definitely not just for show.
Except for Song Yi who shouldve spent more effort developing some muscles and strength and screenwriter’s unrealistic choice of having FL use bow and arrow as main weapon, everything else is picture perfect, though i do feel that the romance had been too cheesy. In the novel, there had not been many romantic moment between the main leads cuz it was always only the ML obsessed over FL due to the blood oath, while the FL had always been suspicious of him even though she did feel indebted to him for his many rescues of her and her troops. Guess they changed this so the show wouldnt be too bland and short.
And i like the fact that they made ML’s transformation sound ‘sci-fi’ish, when the original idea had been more to sorcery. At least it’s more bearable with the futuristic sounding than sombre eerie music.
The songs are really nice, some slow and endearing while some catchy and groovy. The set and costume are convincing and nice to look at.
I like how they expanded the plot from a 49ch novel. Some can be boring, but most are enjoyable, the pairings of side couples are real cute and heartwarming. It’s definitely one of the good adaptations put there, following the novel’s main plot closely without planting much holes on its sideplots. Very brilliantly executed with such limited source from a short novel.
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