whoissilmoy

you're right. it's dual platform, not exclusive. I thought that might be the reason. So why is iQIYI not pushing it harder then?

OK Sep 17 is Thu. Thu must be the stronger launch date than Sat (Sep 12). And Sep 10-11 (Thu/Fri) is rumored for ATC. So, they had to pick the next best date Sep 17. Then they delayed the promo materials too.

But a 5‑day delay cuts 5 days of word‑of‑mouth before Golden Week. An earlier launch gives more time for word‑of‑mouth to build, and if ATC airs on Sep 10, it gains about 6 extra days before the holiday binge window.

He’s mastered Shen Run’s refined vibe — the movement, the stance, the head shifts, the posture, the way he carries himself. You can feel it every time he appears, and Xu Kai’s interpretation actually elevates the character beyond how he reads in the novel. When I read it, I could only imagine that refinement and elegance, but watching Xu Kai, it’s even better — you can see it and feel the confidence he carries.

Sending Xu Kai to Thailand is cheap for iQIYI but creates global hype from the organic fan sharing that loops back into China — extremely high ROI. It also strengthens iQIYI in Thailand, currently their highest-revenue overseas market. Thailand only works well when there’s a strong fancam culture around the actor; otherwise they switch to other cheap promo strategies that aren’t nearly as effective. China promo costs far more (easily 10–20×), and Chinese platforms clamp down harder on fancams and event clips to avoid fan-culture violations, so the organic viral spread is weaker and more controlled than overseas.

I was wondering how the directors came to be for ATC. Tong Hua, chief screenwriter and boss of production company Xinglian Film & TV for ATC, intentionally bypassed veteran directors to hand her S+ flagship, Against the Current, to an unproven in-house directing duo: Huang Yingxiang (signed house director with zero major period-drama background) and Chen Dan (a movie cinematographer stepping up to television directing). The setup is Huang Yingxiang as acting coach to manage intimate character emotions and acting nuance while Chen Dan is the other director work with her as the visual backbone tasked with handling camera blocking, lighting, and visual aesthetics.

Tong Hua chose two in‑house juniors with no big period‑drama experience — Huang Yingxiang for acting and Chen Dan for visuals — to keep full script control, grow her own directing talent, and save money for sets, costumes, and top actors. She’s essentially training her own directors while using high production value to cushion the risk.

I’m curious how these two directors will handle a production of this scale. They’ve done solid work before, but they’ve never managed a project this big, and Chen Dan this is first time he is directing.

I want Xu Kai’s own emotional texture for Shen Run, especially because even if it’s a little raw, a little human, a little imperfect, it feels real and matches how he plays the character.

maybe they're keeping it a secret until last minute to keep another platform guessing

I’m not sure how these platforms work. Not long ago, fans were saying it would air in October. I wonder if Tencent pulled it into September at the last minute to compete with SOTB. Their Hi6 event doesn’t even air until late September, and by then the drama will already be finished. But there’s also a part 2 later in the year, so I guess they’ll be promoting it for quite a while. Good for them. I’m just more curious about platform strategies.

I remember when Wonderland of Love (Tencent) aired — it took a while for them to schedule that one too. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, SOKP (iQIYi) dropped unannounced and aired the day before WOL, just like now, ATC (Tencent) might be airing around the same time as SOTB (iQIYi), and same no. of episodes (30 vs 31).

Are these coincidences or competition? Maybe that’s why, when platforms have a drama ready to go, they wait to see what the other platforms are airing so they can drop theirs too.
ATC filmed for 5 months and wrapped 10/11/25, so it's only been 11 months, while SOTB has been 13 months since wrapped, but since ATC split it into two parts, they can air part 1 faster.

ATC will also be aired in two parts — Part 1 in September with 31 episodes, and Part 2 with 16 episodes later this year. I think the drama will do really well. From the sound of it, women‑centered themes are at the core of the story, with the romance being more secondary — the kind of drama Douban and awards usually respond well to. So in that sense, it’s a completely different kind of drama than SOTB. ATC is much less of what you’d label an idol drama compared to SOTB. Tan Song Yun has strong acting skills, and this type of role is basically her signature; she always delivers. I also like the supporting actress Li Meng, so I’ll definitely check her out in this role. But yeah, I can already tell that ATC is being promoted more heavily by its platform with 3M reservations already and you don't get that without promotion, while iQIYI feels like it’s barely promoting SOTB. ATC has a strong writer and a big‑budget production style, and the cast is excellent. But why they chose an unknown director — though from the clips, the quality does look superb, however, those are just clips not the execution.

My feeling is that SOTB has a mid‑level budget, and I’ve seen rumors about the production having budget issues — though you can’t fully trust what gets posted online. If that was the case, it would explain why they have so little money to promote the drama. SOTB’s success will ultimately come down to the leads’ acting and chemistry, because it’s a romance story at its core.

Xu Kai, the "chameleon" face. He never really looks the same across every role and never feels the same. Every role feels like a different actor.

it seems to me that even popular actors are getting shorter dramas. This one is only 8 episodes. I am seeing popular actors recently doing dramas less than 20 episodes. is this a trend?

someone told me this movie is very popular in China

I find this magnet adorable. I wonder where in China they sell it.

https://x.com/Wintersea1995/status/2095469781965328679/photo/1

Intense
https://x.com/whoisAlfiR/status/2095480465381814360/video/1

but don't you find it strange this pattern of the ones who don't like it show up after the ones who like it leave. you'd think the ones who don't like it would have left first. I find the ones who don't like it tend to stick around too after everyone has left, they come back to fill up the recent comments with how bad the drama is. If they see positive comments after some time, they somehow know to come back and counter it after so long, everyone left, just a few positive comments will bring them back so they can put negative comments at the top

It still shows 26K. Is this not updated?
https://kisskh.at/list/4PXgYMa4

MDL shows a finale date of 9/3/26 for Pull Strings, Is there a difference between that date and your 9/10?

Why do you think this would land on CCTV-8? How do they select?
Is it a strategic advantage to air this during golden week?
I'm curious how this stuff works.

OK I get what you are saying but if it releases 9/12, the drama will be over by 9/24.

ATC’s screenwriter is exceptional, the same creator behind Scarlet Heart, the drama that launched Liu Shishi in 2011. She also created Lost You Forever in 2023. There seems to be a second screenwriter who wrote Love of Nirvana (2024). However, ATC's director's bio is very interesting, but I never heard of any of her dramas she directed. ATC seems like her first major directing job which is interesting, maybe they wanted a women director for a female empowerment story. She has a co-director helping her. There are couple of very long trailers for ATC and quality looks great. The supporting cast seem strong especially Li Meng from The Double, but she's listed only as guest but elsewhere she' listed as main character.

SOTB's director has more of a history. Under the Microscope (Douban 7.9, 164k user ratings) was a bit hit but I don't know if we can give him all the credit because the acting and the story is so fun to watch, but he did direct it. However, he also directed another what seems to be a hit based on Douban rating 7.1 and user ratings 337k: Reunion: The Sound of the Providence (2020). So that gives me some confidence, in this director. Neither of these two directors (ATC nor SOTB) have done much in historical period. But Pan Anzi seems to be good at adventure, mystery, thriller action so hopefully he can bring excitement to execution of SOTB because SOTB is supposed to be a gripping revenge thriller according to iQIYi . But yeah, ATC seems to have bigger investment and higher anticipation from platform.

I still don’t fully know what the story is about in ATC but the trailer shows a lot of women, so it might be another female‑empowerment drama. Either way, I don’t think the stories are similar at all. Both are historical period settings, so at first glance they might seem similar, but the actual stories aren’t alike at all.

Here's what I found out about the differences, in simple terms:
In ATC, it is about sisterhood—women helping women break through while the guy guards the door.
In SOTB, it is about a power couple—a dangerous man and a clever woman standing side-by-side as absolute equals to destroy their enemies.

ATC and Spring of the Blade may air at the same time, but they’re not competition. Each drama stands on its own merits — you judge each one by what it does well, not by comparing it — and they’re different enough that comparison doesn’t make sense. The actors bring different things to the screen, so people should just enjoy each drama on its own.

Personally, I’m looking forward to Spring of the Blade because of Xu Kai and the character Shen Run. I went through the novel pretty fast, so I already have a sense of both characters, and the setup should make for some fun chemistry. I watched quite a few episodes of The Legend of the Female General, and Zhou Ye was really good in that role, so I’m looking forward to her acting here too.