oreades206

The script made the relationship between Ah Xiu and Ning look so complicated when it's actually not. In the anime, they do have feelings for each other but not to a crazy level like in the drama. Can't understand what they were trying to achieve by making their relationship looks chaotic.

well I certainly didn't want the drama to receive hate. I really liked the story cause I had watched the anime so I really wanted this drama to be good. I was really looking forward to it when I heard there would be the drama adaptation.

Thanks! Have a great weekend to you too!

Yes I was talking about the flashback appearances in the anime.

As for the drama, I don't recall any flashback of the three brothers from episode 1 to 14. I'm not sure if there's some in episode 15 - 18 because I skipped most of them.

I think as far as events are concerned, up to episode 18 the drama is basically following the anime pretty closely from the beginning such as the ninja ambushing the enemy general (Heng Chuan battle in episode 1); ZX returns to the capital; ZX meets his brothers and Ning after 7 years; SYL meets Kadan; coup d'etat by YMH; execution of the palace guards; ZX first big rift with his brother and his demotion; quelling insurgency by small tribes; recruiting soldiers.
Other additional scenes such as flashbacks of their childhood, Ning visiting Xiu in camp, etc are expanded and inserted between these events depending on the context. e.g. the three brothers met at the military academy; when ZX was adopted etc. But these are not long. Though the anime has 42 episodes, 1 episode is between 19 - 20 minutes long so in total about 13 hours running time. The drama has 24 episodes, 1 episode is 45 which makes a total 18 hours. It means the drama has longer running time.

I hope that's what I understood your question was?

That's exactly what the fans said on weibo.

I didn't have a problem with Ning, really. I do understand that's her character as a teenager. I was okay with her up to episode 14. My issue is not with her but with the way they wrote the plot. Ning scenes aren't supposed to be that many. I mean the anime doesn't have that many scenes of Ning. But the drama has 4 episodes of full on Ning's romance and adventure, which have affected the characters that they have built in the previous 14 episodes. For example, her escape to see Ah Xiu, this alone already makes DiLin look like a stupid commander and Ah Xiu unable to control her, which makes the story not making sense. Both DiLin and Ah Xiu are excellent military officers, how could they not control a stupid teenager?

And I'm not criticizing the actress or the actors either (including the actress who plays Ning). I think they all did a good job building characters and building the chemistry among themselves. No one tried to dominate others. I think they all delivered. I just feel sorry for the actors and actresses having a script which is so badly written.

I saw a few seconds and I really didn't like it. Fans of the IP really hate that scene. Ah Xiu never touches Ning like that. The drama's official account on weibo is getting so much hate.
https://weibo.com/7605914788/O3WdJ9Kfr

They have that part in the drama? I didn't watch episode 17 - 18 so I don't know if they added that part. I've stopped watching after episode 14. As soon as I saw Ning scenes, I skipped these 2 episodes. I will just wait until the next episode comes out.

The anime has that part too. About 1 or 2 episodes, but I usually skipped it as I'm not interested in romance. The adventures of ZX and his subordinates are more interesting so I never skip these parts.

Yeah, it looks like they had no budget. But despite the constraint, in my opinion the additional scenes don't have to be wars. They could have been about the three brothers doing their job e.g, in the anime ZX is often seen doing patrolling with his three subordinates. That's not really big scale fillers, only involving a few actors and some small scale fight scenes. They could have also gradually introduced us to other families such as the North Clan (Kadan's family) and the Liufeng family. Just like in the drama, in the anime, the early 10 - 15 episodes are about Zichuan family, but they also give us a few glimpses of the North clan family and the Liufeng family.
So to me, adding so many Ning's scenes is really not about budget constraint, it looks more like adding love scenes for the sake of making this drama sweet like an idol drama. They should stop adding unnecessary love scenes. Don't they know that too much sugar leads to diabetes? lol

They're getting so much criticism from fans of the IP, I think.
https://weibo.com/7605914788/O3WdJ9Kfr

A very unrealistic. The novel itself never mentions it. The anime added this but they made it more logical for instance, in the anime, when she visits Ah Xiu in the camp, she's chaperoned by a female officer. The anime has fillers too but they tried to make it logical.

It really is a BAD script. This is literally a military focused drama and the scriptwriter must have some knowledge of military if they ever get to write. A stupid princess like Ning escaped under a superior intelligence commander's nose like DiLin is an embarrassment. How could DiLin plant spies around everybody except Ning? 10 episodes we get to see the characters of the three brothers. Suddenly that world-building collapsed within 4 episodes.

For me, since I have watched the anime, it's not her character which is problematic. I do understand that they wanted to show that Ning is a spoiled princess. We get that from episode 1 - 10. The problem is that they added too many scenes of her particularly from episode 15 to 18, which creates a plot hole. These last 4 episodes have made her look like an FL whereas the original IP she's not even a main character.

That's one of my biggest frustration about this adaptation (episode 15 - 18). It just doesn't make sense how Ning could leave the capital under DiLin's nose easily. DiLin is an excellent intelligence officer. Though the drama doesn't explicitly mention, but in one scene when DiLin was in the prison, he told Ah Xiu that he had planted spies everywhere around everybody including his mentor YMH because that's his job. He surely would have planted a spy or spies around Ning. Ning wouldn't be able to leave the capital easily unless she's much cleverer than DiLin. The fact that she left the capital practically without any problem makes DiLin a very incompetent intelligence commander. And it's an embarrassment. He was able to thwart a coup by an experienced commander like YMH but failed to notice stupid Ning leaving the capital. It just doesn't make sense and so stupid! The script is really BAD.

In the anime, Ning does leave the capital to meet Ah Xiu in his camp but she is chaperoned by a female officer (Li Qin, who's Si Yilin's fiancee in the novel and in the anime). It makes sense. She's the princess, she would have guards and officers around her.

I read a comparison between the novel and the anime. It says that in the novel Ning never goes to the frontlines. Why would non-combatants go to the frontlines? It's just asking to be killed really. So basically the drama and the anime added this scene that doesn't make sense to add sweetener to the drama but the drama cranked up the ridiculousness to the highest level.

I know. Now I wish there were more non-sensical fight scenes as fillers instead of these 2 episodes of full on Ning. They had too many directors, maybe that's why.

Agreed. I seldom complained about Ning though I don't like her, but there's too much Ning in episode 15 -16, I skipped a lot. Even the anime doesn't have that many.

After good - very good 14 episodes. Suddenly it went down the hill with episode 15 -16. Can't understand why they had to add so many scenes of Ning in these 2 episodes where there are a lot already in previous episodes. Why? Argh.. too many cooks? I'm starting to worry if this will crumble.

I'm also quite happy with it. Having more fight scenes would be nice as long as they make sense.

If they do, I don't think it would happen in just a few more episodes left cos it would mean chopping off the story by 70% or 80% which would make this adaptation really bad in comparison to the anime. There's still some characters that are crucial to the plot that haven't appeared yet. At this point, up to episode 14 (the drama) is the same episode 10 - 11 in the anime which has a total of 42 episodes. By episode 42, there's no new fight between Dilin and Ah Xiu. I can't imagine how the story would be if a huge portion of it were cut off. I still hope there will be s2 😊