kitty10

Yang Yang's acting is bad and he has no chemistry with Zhao Lusi, but you can't blame him solely for the flop that this drama is. That responsibility has to be shared with just about everyone else, from the horrible script, the slipshod editing, the "martial arts" choreography, to the bad directing and the fallout between the director and producer that caused problems for the cast and crew. Not to mention the allegations of plagiarism and the animal abuse controversy. Also, let's face it, very little of the acting in this drama was up to par. Half the veteran actors also looked like they were phoning in, Zhang Fengyi looked pretty bored with his character.

The drama was marketed as wuxia, but let's face it, it was never going to be. Your protagonists here are, at their core, royalty merely prancing around jianghu. They were always going to return to court and start up the political infighting, just that all the political "schemes" were boring and immature.

What really grates on me is how badly they messed up Feng Lanxi's characterisation. The novel set-up of his character was intriguing and would have worked with a few adjustments for screen, but no, the drama had to put him on a path to sainthood, and in the process, reduced the female lead to a mere accessory. I could go on but will stop here or it'll get too long.

In the novel, the identity reveal was very simple and came about a third in:

Both of them are attending the wedding of Princess Chunran and Huang Chao when news arrives that BFX's father is gravely ill. Chunran's father boasts it would be a good time to attack BFX's state (but without knowing who BFX truly is). This prompts BFX to return home. By then, HFX already knew who she is, though when she asks how much he knows, he doesn't elaborate.

HFX follows BFX back to her home state and when he meets her father, dad immediately exposes him as Feng Lanxi, which he doesn't deny. And BFX shows no surprise.

Basically, both of them have known each other for 10 years. In that time, they have had ample time to suss out the other if they wanted to - this is especially true for Lanxi, given his nature of always calculating against others and needing to have the upper hand. They just never saw the need to expose the other person and always skirted around the issue. Their angst was not about the other person's identity, but rather their differences in values and political stance.

Yongzhou is the ML's state and where they've spent the bulk of the drama because for the life of him, he cannot seize the heir position. Honestly, Feng Lanxi is not this weak in the novel.

The marriage banquet is in Youzhou, I assume you're referring to the husband selection for Princess Chunran.

Er, they are currently in Yongzhou.

Also not sure why it's taking forever for her identity to be revealed. In the novel, they already knew about each other's royal status quite early on and the reveal was not anything earth-shattering.

He doesn't know. He just likes her because she's unconventional and she has no interest in the kind of power politics that has been such a big part of his life.

I can't see Oguri and Hotta as a couple, it just seems weird and he's almost twice her age (39 vs 23). Granted, Matsuoka is also in her 20s (27), but at least I can see her as a very dignified character able to hold her own against Oguri and the age gap, while still big, is not as bad.

Hoping for Nagano Mei as Shizuka.

It wasn't Matsuoka Mayu after all... ah well.

Sorry for the late reply, really appreciate all the historical stuff you're sharing, it's very fascinating. I agree about having a first girlfriend character for Yasutoki's mother instead, since she didn't have any lasting records in history and it might have been just easier to dispose of this small character rather than work around and patch or extend another character's importance.

Would totally love to see a romantic subplot played out between Mayu and Oguri Shun, that would be good to watch. Right now, I'm not feeling any sparks between him and Aragaki Yui, probably cuz I still can't get it out of my head that she's his aunt.

But I guess casting Aragaki means they probably prepared an extended role for her instead of the cameo-like appearance of the historical Yae, and it'll probably play out like what you said.

I just saw the casting again for this, so they made the sister (played by Miyazawa Ema) as Awa no Tsubone?? I looked at the Japanese wiki and it listed 阿波局 as one of Yoshitoki's sisters of the same mother, who later acted as the wet nurse? for Sanetomo, one of Yoritomo's children with Masako.

I can get behind Mayu as one of the wives, that would be great if she joins. I'm a bit meh on Tsuchiya Tao, but Nagano Mei could work for the dancer girlfriend.

As for Yae... I like your theory and think it could work, though I wonder if Yoshitoki will name a boy who is biologically not his son as his heir? And it does seem like they could have saved themselves a lot of this roundabout if they'd just not made Yae a possible love interest for Yoshitoki.

The drama did water down a lot of the characters and their dynamics. The relationship between Xu Fengnian and Jiang Ni is a prime example. In the novel, Xu Fengnian himself is more intelligent, more situationally aware, more perceptive and much less bleedin' heart "I want to be different from my father and not kill people". He is more morally grey and thus more interesting.

I enjoy reading the novel and tracking the changes.

Yeah, I really hope they don't do anything about a possible loveline between Yae and Yoshitoki, since historically she is his aunt. It's just flat out weird.

Oizumi Yo is so far playing Yoritomo as indecisive and somewhat weak-willed. I am not sure I like what the drama did to Masako, isn't she more... politically inclined since later on she does have some influence over how things play out?

There's apparently a rumour that Tsuchiya Tao is up for a role in this taiga, I wonder if it's to play one of his wives?

Yeah, usually you have to go to the Baidu or Chinese wiki entries to see who the voice actors are, I don't think MDL has that capacity yet. I agree the dubbing does help paper over some of the acting flaws, I feel some of the younger actors in this drama could have benefited from that.

Enjoy! It's a fun read.

Yes. It's also a test of skill. Some people can be decent actors, but flop at line delivery and that affects the performance. This is especially evident in historical dramas.

Zhang Ruoyun and Hu Jun have good delivery, I also like their voices.

Just gonna say, Zhang Ruoyun looks dashing in white. Been liking Xu Fengnian's white outfits, with his hair not tied up in a bun.

Okay sure.

They're filming Joy of Life season 2 (and 3, iirc) and it's likely they'll finish that first before getting round to the rest of Sword Snow Stride (assuming there will be subsequent seasons and no major cast changes).

I prefer novel Fengnian, less idealistic, more perceptive and situationally more aware, even if he's not at dad's level yet. He also has a ruthless streak I like.

Yes, I'm reading in Chinese, but I don't think I've reached the cultivation hierarchy yet. Which chapters are you at?

Yeah, I'm sure there will be lull moments in such a massive work. Three seasons sounds about right if the writing is tight.

Me neither, I'm still very from away from finishing it. I think it's unlikely they'll adapt the entire thing, so if they can just lock in Zhang Ruoyun for two or three seasons and then end at a good point, then that wouldn't be too bad.

Bai Yu seems decent but I'm not sure if he fits the image.