janec

There is a book. The book is part of a trilogy that also includes the book on which the drama Mirror Tween Cities was based. To be honest, the book only became so popular when it was announced that Xiao Zhan would star in the film adaptation.
The drama is not an adaptation of the book, which is female-centric. The script was written so that he is the focus of the viewer, not she.
I perfectly understand what you mean about the trailer. There's really nothing in it, no action, no tension - nothing, just a few shots with robes flying in the wind and some aesthetic something. However, the producers released a clip of how the drama was shot and there was a lot going on there. There will be underwater scenes shot in real water, there will be dynamic fight scenes, accidents and very emotional scenes - I don't know the context, but it looks like he will be tortured, covered in blood, a hair's breadth away from death. Overall it will be happening and for romance lovers and for action lovers. I expect war, fight for throne, duels. When I find it, I will post a link to this clip.

Good drama. Well filmed. Interesting. Characters develop, go through transformations. There's still a long way to go until the last episode, but for now my rating goes up from 7 to 8 (I'm currently on episode 18).

I'm around episode 8 and this drama is not bad. The characters are likeable - maybe not a lot, but they're ok. It's not a drama I can't tear myself away from, but once I watch an episode, it's cool. Actually, it's one of the better wuxia I've seen lately. My favourite character is the young master Su.

Let me disagree with your opinion on the trailer, as it was its questionable quality that caused my concerns about the whole They think they are shooting a second Avatar or what, that they are literally filling everything with CGI?
The artificial leaves on the trees in the recently presented posters deepened my fears. Somehow plastic instead of plants and a computer program instead of plants do not encourage me to have a positive perception of the work.
It is no excuse for making rubbish and banalities because everyone is doing it, because we will never get out of that circle. But after all, a trope that has been selling for twenty years will still sell now, why strain to find something new?
Tencent has several platforms for authors, where the advice to novelists is as follows: "see what is currently selling and write it your way". How can we have originality if original works don't get promoted and don't reach readers?
Each viewer waiting for a drama takes their own approach depending on their character. Some get excited about every little thing, some complain about every little thing, some are indifferent like standing water in a lake. Everyone is entitled to an individual approach, don't you think?
Li Yifeng is a good actor, yet his Mirror was inedible, because an actor has to have something to play on too. The director has to direct him to the whole picture. The editing has to be done to show the fullness of a scene. The most brilliant actor cannot save a production when others fail.
How it will be here - we will see. I only hope that Tencent will not take its own advice: "see what sells now and do it your way", because now kitsch sells. And it sells because there is no competition.
And I really don't want to see good, ambitious actors selling kitsch.
Sorry if I'm being too harsh.

Official version: for best sound quality and to standardise the accent of the characters as many of the actors have a distinct hometown accent. Additionally, the original actor is often tied up with a new project and doesn't have the time.
Unofficial version: some of the actors hired have nice faces, but they are real idiots with no talent and can't even do decent voice acting, so they had to be replaced. Additionally, voice actors come out cheaper than hiring an original actor, often very expensive.

This drama is not a disappointment because I had no expectations, but it is some kind of nightmare mistake. The dialogues sound like they were written by a thirteen year old, the characters have the intelligence and social awareness of children, the plot is artificial and the music is annoying and doesn't help create an atmosphere. I myself don't know who is dumber, FL or ML The acting of the actors is not convincing, as if I were looking at wax dolls who repeat words without understanding their meaning.
I'm very sad, but K-dramas are getting worse by the day.
I quit in the first episode. Total failure.

Let me remind you that she threw herself into the abyss before she knew about the new war and did so in front of ML repeating how much she hated him. ML owed her two favours and she believed he would keep them, why didn't she just say 1 - let me go, 2 - spare my homeland? After all, she could have kept him in check by threatening his life. "If you want to harm my nation, I will kill myself. Wouldn't that work? I, in ML's place after her death, would not have let her kingdom live under any circumstances - I would have burned the whole to the ground in revenge for her cruelty. Psychologically, such retaliation would be more realistic than him keeping his promise, which only makes sense in melodramas.
In my opinion, she never stopped running. She only changed the direction of her escape. knowing that she could not avoid marriage she escaped into the status of crown princess, under the protection of her shifu and the king's grandmother. Note that after the marriage she fell in love with ML again so she had no reason to run away.
I don't understand why you are asking me to put myself in FL's shoes. This is no longer a healthy discussion but playing on emotions. Discussion should be rational and based on arguments, not emotions, shouldn't it? And for your information while watching this drama I tried to put myself in FL's shoes and every time I thought she made the worst possible decisions, as if she couldn't think at all, not even mentioning predicting the consequences of her behavior.
Sorry, but at this point I find it ridiculous to discuss a character's behavior as if it were a real person. All of her decisions were made by the screenwriters, who did their best to escalate the tragedy of the situation so that the story would appeal to the audience. I've been publishing books myself for a few years now and I know that writers use certain procedures for known purposes because I do it myself. So a heroine like our FL sells perfectly - young, naive, passionate and heartbroken, sacrificing herself for God knows what in the name of love. Girls watching such a heroine are supposed to want to hug and comfort her. I just don't like this kind of tragic princesses. Simply put. The only purpose for the existence of such FL is to build emotional tragedy and sympathy. In contrast to the empty FL we have a complex ML with a real conflict between loyalty to the state, family (who is his family when the woman he thought was his mother killed his mother) and the woman he loved first, as naive a love as she had. I like him because his complexity is interesting.
I respect your sympathy for FL, but there is no force or need to convince me that I should like this character. This girl didn't have a single trait in her that would evoke my sympathy. I think the screenwriters won't be angry that some unknown person didn't like their creation . They should rather be happy that after all these years people are still discussing their creation :)
But I think I already said everything I had to say about it.

So a healthy discussion, although it is difficult to put everything into words :)
From the first scenes we are shown a spoilt princess who is allowed everything. She runs away from home, gets into trouble and everything is forgiven her, because she is "our sweet princess". She could do absolutely anything, no responsibility. The lack of parental upbringing is evident here. And yet the parents knew that sooner or later the girl would be given into a political marriage and no one prepared her for this. 15 years now is something different from 15 years in the days when even 12-year-old girls were given in marriage. Sometimes even before they were born. Whether in her country or in her husband's country, she constantly acted as if she had no responsibility. It was repeatedly pointed out to her that the general must be neglecting his responsibilities for the security of the Eastern Palace because she wanted to have fun. She was asked to behave with dignity because she represents the ruling family, and she acted as if she didn't give a damn. Someone may call it a free spirit, I call it a lack of appropriateness. She wanted the privileges of a princess, but she didn't want her responsibilities. She only behaved decently when someone seriously threatened her. Sneaking off to the brothel was probably the height of her bad behaviour.
I am probably one of the few people who cannot stand the Romeo and Juliet approach. Hormones build up in kids and they think it's great love and when something doesn't go according to their plan they commit suicide. Taking your own life is a serious matter. Cutting one's own throat because one feels cheated is extremely inappropriate. Plus her last words. Is she being sadistic by making the man who loves her madly live a good life while she slits her throat in front of him? How can a woman who loves leave a man with such memories? Why did she do it? What did she want to achieve? Did she want to break him for the rest of his life? And she broke him. He never married, never had children and even as an old man he lived an illusion. She chose the easiest path for herself, she always did. Not once did she try to understand him. And she claimed to love him?
A spoilt child who can't face reality and doesn't care about anyone else but her. She was always running away. Everyone sacrificed themselves for her happiness and when there were no more people to sacrifice themselves for her (everyone had already died) she cut her own throat. She is such a drama queen. Sorry, I just honestly don't like characters like that. I can't imagine how one can live as selfishly as she does. If every woman with a broken heart cut her own throat, humanity would have died out long ago.

Dramas are mostly rated by fans of the actors playing them, so it's obvious that they will like everything, and people who aren't fans usually don't give a shit about giving ratings. The exceptions are the anti-fans who maliciously underrate. But if a passerby thinks a drama is bad, many fans of the star start calling him/her out as a hater, so normal people don't want to subject themselves to such violence.
For me, JoL has two flaws that I can't stand. ML and FL really annoy me and ML's background totally spoiled my perception of the whole drama. Immediately my rating dropped from 10 to 6. But someone might like this very thing and for them the rating will increase. I quit Who Rules the World on the first episode because I couldn't stand FL and ML, but I know people who genuinely liked this drama and I know for a fact that they are not fans of the actors.
You think JoL is a masterpiece, but doesn't it annoy you if someone says ML is a smug asshole and ZRY is exactly the same in every drama and his acting isn't amazing and his manner is downright annoying?
Everything is a matter of individual tastes, no one can give an absolutely objective opinion.
For me, JoL is definitely not a masterpiece. It was good, but it definitely has plenty of room for improvement. I'm one of those people who can't accept actors 30+ playing teenagers. With all due respect to LQ and ZRY, I beg them to play people their own age! They really lack the youthfulness for such youthful roles. But I know some people don't mind that.

Xianxia and wuxia are two genres very much in convention and this is their Achilles heel. If one is not a die-hard fan of the genre, one may feel irritated or bored if one has to watch the exact same scene for the hundredth time, listen to the same boring dialogues or get tired of the visuals.
For me, all xianxia are the same. A plot focusing on someone sacrificing his immortality for love, a lot of scenes where robes fly in the wind, where she, young and naive, makes winky eyes at him, how beautiful immortal, a few fight scenes consisting of waving hands and impressive pirouettes, and a lot of pointless emotion. Then of course there's the exaggerated CGI, usually incompetently done due to lack of funds, and the very poor acting because the actors have nothing to work with. On top of that, in recent years S+ productions probably only satisfy FL and ML fans, not the passer-by.
I'm a passerby, so I have big concerns about the quality of this production, especially after what the writers and producers in China (not this drama, but from the same label) admitted to.
The actors here are good. XZ is very versatile and RM was very determined as this title is a huge opportunity for her. I know the acting will not disappoint me. However, I'm afraid that the script will be trite and the visuals too candy. I'm afraid this drama will go in one of two directions - either it will be sloppy because it will sell because of XZ, or someone will want to make it a masterpiece and imbue it with unnecessary rococo.
There is no drama that will appeal to everyone because we have different tastes. I just hope I find something more than just good acting in it. I guess everyone is hoping to like this drama. Forgive me for expressing my private worries in public.

I have watched 4 episodes. So far so good, nicely done visually. Actors are trying, although the main three are not acting masters. Only from the very beginning I got the impression that if you've seen two wuxia, you've seen them all. I think it's a characteristic of the genre. It's the same with xianxia. The first two or three you watch are great, and then you get the impression that you're watching the same thing again. That's why it's so important, despite some shortcomings imposed by the genre, to show something that makes the title stand out. So far I like the aesthetics of exposing the red, but I'm afraid it may soon tire me out.

I get this feeling when I look at the XZ as an XZ :)

I have lost interest. I watched a few more episodes out of momentum and a bit waiting for those explosive scenes that are shown in the credits, but I got so tired and bored that I quit.
FL is terribly boring and bland. ML was fun, but it got boring. It's a waste of my time.

I will probably go back to this drama because it's brilliantly shot. There's a K-drama that I approached 2-3 times and quit on the first episode, now it's one of my favorites. I just had to wait for me to get in the right mood. All ahead of me :)

This looks more like a trend. Tencent can now expect some dramas to be bought by TV. Or maybe viewers really don't want water-filled, long-winded dramas anymore? Anyway, last time I checked, the 40 limitation was imposed on TV dramas.
Actually when I saw that someone reported that TLP is supposed to have 50 episodes, I was surprised. You just don't see dramas that long anymore :)

There is no information on whether XZ is lending his own voice for the series, but judging by the rules that just went into effect and Xiao Zhan's character I think it is almost certain that we will hear his original voice. We know that other voice actors don't use voice actors, so he almost certainly won't either. Almost, because there is a slight possibility that it might not be possible due to the outbreak. That eventuality is very small.

40 episodes is the rumor for now, which additionally claims that the number of episodes will decrease further.
Mitu is somewhat correct, but not entirely. The episode limitation is for dramas shown on television, not for dramas shown on the internet. If this drama is aimed at television, it won't have more than 40 episodes but I saw an interesting workaround in the case of Douluo Dalu. The material was exactly the same but the TV episodes were 50 minutes long and there were less of them, whereas the ones on WeTv were 40 minutes long and of course there were more of them. Even The Oath of Love had a different number of episodes on TV and on the platform, although the content was the same. So fewer episodes doesn't necessarily mean that there will be less material, they may just be longer, adapted to the needs of certain TV stations :)

I'm on episode 7 and so far there have been some comical scenes and some idiotically boring ones. I guess every drama has to have certain tropes to fill time or to "capture the hearts of the viewer". My heart is not captured by such tropes, rather discouraged. But ML and 2ML and their aides are cool. 2FL is pretty good, too. What I don't understand is why in most of the dramas I watch, FL is hopeless? It's like it's unfashionable to show a really fragile woman and dangerous to show a really strong one, so something bland comes out.
But hey, I'm only on episode 7 and the heroine can still show some character.

You are the son of a king, raised from childhood in an atmosphere of deceit and dirty fighting for the throne. You are sent on a mission to wage war and destroy the enemy who murdered your brother. You use every means possible because you don't know that there could be another way. After all, you are only 18 years old and you know what the scheming adults have taught you. You meet a girl - a tool - and you learn something you've never known which is love. Things get out of your control (the attack happened not when you planned it and not the way he planned it). So you hurt the girl for the sake of a greater cause. Your heart breaks because you hurt the one person you loved. When she throws herself into the abyss, you throw yourself after her. You lose your memory.
You meet a girl and fall in love with her but you know that if you show your love for her, she will become the target of attacks by jealous and powerful people. You hurt her, but you believe you are saving her from death. Meanwhile, she treats you like a dog. Deservedly so, at first. But she suddenly becomes hysterical at the sight of you and screams that she hates you, that she loves only XiaoWu. She loves another. You try to talk, but she still only hates and you don't understand why. You want to explain all the misunderstandings and she stabs you with a knife. You get mad because you don't understand. You love and you don't understand why she hates so much. Finally, you start to hate XiaoWu and you kill him. Then, on the battlefield, you are able to withdraw your army just because she asks you to, and she...
Sorry, to me ML's character is more tragic. Maybe I just sympathize more with the heart of a man and understand the mind of a man more than the hysterical heart of a teenage girl. For me, his every behavior, every action was logical and understandable and his tragedy, where family is not family, where you don't know who to trust, where you have to lie to survive moves me more than a girl who doesn't understand that there really are bigger issues than her right to love. After all, before she married him she knew that he had massacred her grandfather's tribe and she could live with that. She couldn't live with the idea that she had been lied to and taken advantage of by the man she loved. That was her tragedy.

I understand the viewers' positive evaluations, but I do not share them. Yes, the drama has some good elements, but it's far from a masterpiece.
The plot may appeal to some, but not to everyone. Not everyone likes to watch a spoiled teenage princess who is boring, typical and thinks she can do everything. Not everyone likes naive kids who destroy the lives of themselves and others just because they can't understand reality. Some just yawn at the overly tragic scenes.
I watched the drama solely for the ML, which was interesting. But FL is kind of a nightmare. If I knew a girl like that in real life, I'd either send her to a psychiatrist or put her over my knee and beat the hell out of her romantic flings.