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It's been a while, General He.
“I don't need anyone to pave a way for me, what I need is someone who’ll walk by my side” — He Yan.For a drama with a title that gives off war vibes, Legend Of The Female General is -simply put- about a woman finding peace in life after a journey full of push-and-pulls between the person she wants to be, and the ‘object’ her family wanted her to become.
He Yan was born a female, a healthy younger sister to the sick older brother, He Rufei. But in a world where men are in every way superior to women, the innocent young girl was forced to swap identities with him in hopes of protecting the family pride.. shouldering both the misfortunes of a ‘useless’ daughter, and the glory of a ‘capable’ son and heir.
as she grew up, she had better chances in education than girls her age, she knew more, so she decided to flee and join the army, she thought it was a firm step to freedom, out of the suffocating lines drawn for her.. until it became a shackle creeping around her neck.
But something built on lies, will eventually collapse.. well thank God she survived and had a comeback~
Watching this in real-time granted me the chance to witness and involve in a lot of good discussions, and the most valuable point I came to realize is: — He Yan is not all about revenge, yes, she wants justice and is firmly standing on business.. but she also wants to live, to be appreciated as she is with all her ugly wounds and borrowed lies, she wants to be surrounded with good people to call family, she wants to be herself and tell the world that women has wings to fly and soar in the clear and clouded skies, they're not meant to sing in cages called marriage, where men see them as objects to discard when bored..
So if you want the always-cold and never-smiling type of female lead, this is not the one..
Here, we have a strong female lead who saves the day, strictly obeys harsh military discipline, and with her brain and sword she turns the tide in losing wars.
Here, too, we have a strong female lead who needs to be saved sometimes, cries when she loses a dear one, and behave like a carefree little girl.
Here –so, we have a strong woman with red lines drawn clearly, willfully living with a strong and warm heart..
I can write an essay describing her character only, but I’ll save us time and just say: the cool male lead and the bubbly female lead in one person + a poker face and oscar worthy acting~
Then we have a cool male lead as well :) jokes aside, Xiao Jue is the perfect man for a woman like He Yan, he never doubted her abilities, never held her back despite his worries. His love was never a barrier, but something to remind her that despite being someone who protects the borders fearlessly, there's a man who’ll give his life to her, and she's his dear woman to spoil as well as his mighty General..
Surely, a misunderstanding happened in their lowest, but it somehow only made him understand her even better, and their love became stronger than ever..
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“I love the moon, but the moon doesn't know it..”
“Now, the moon belongs to you.”
There's something so beautiful about their relationship, from pity and empathy, admiring from afar, mutual respect and unspoken trust, to watching in silence and suspect, keeping the other's secret, friendship, until it fully bloomed to partners walking side by side for the rest of their lives, sharing hardships and fortune, with infinite trust and love..
If you ask me what makes ‘Legend of The Female General’ so special to me, undoubtedly one of the best released in 2025, I’ll note first that the drama is indeed lacking in terms of directing and post-production.
Yet, it was told from an inspiring and unique perspective, a woman who never had a chance to be herself, finding her way back to embrace the young girl she was forced to bury inside her, and punishing everyone involved in her suffering..
He Yan, actually, never wanted to be a man.. she only had a loyal heart and eagerly wanted to protect her nation and people, if the choice was hers, she would've took every step as the woman she is..
All for sure with great chemistry, emotional scenes to make you both cry and giggle, admirable friendships and comradeship, fair amount of comedy, betrayers & schemes, and of course fights with amazing choreographies and well-strategized epic wars.. successfully showing how a General is made, how a female General was born.
My final say is, go ahead and give it a chance, don’t be skeptic or highly expectant, have your favorite drink and snacks accompany you through the rough first episodes, focus on the facts to avoid confusion.. it’s completely worth it !
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the fairy and her most handsome man, the love that kept the ghosts away.
Love was never something to give expecting something in return.. that’s what their love was like, sublime, pure, selfless, unrealistically real.. their love was greater than anything, so they’re to me..Perfectly opening, perfectly reaching the climax, then perfectly writing the last line..
While it sounds ridiculous to some, this is the greatest modern romance drama that came out from China, not meaning that anything else is mid, but for me, everything else is below The First Frost.
The slow burn burned me, in a good way..
The heartbreaks also broke me, in a perfect way..
I never felt so connected and related to a character story like I felt with Wen Yifan, we didn’t have the same struggles, but it was so relatable and natural that I cried for her like I was watching myself going through all of that.. and while accepting her ‘only’ bad decision would be hard for somebody, not understanding her is possible, let alone blaming her.. it doesn’t take you an experience to empathise with a survivor..
At the same time, loving Sang Yan was only natural, such a lively man, confident and kind, gives without expecting, and waits for you like a fool—
How can a lady's heart not swoon for him? not even fairy Wen Yifan resisted his charms.. even in her sleep she walked to his embrace..
while watching them yearn for each other, and suffer alone, how bad I wanted to give her a hug, how bad I wanted to heal their scars, to unalive whoever made them unhappy.. how bad I wanted to rewrite their story so it would be less painful for them..
What I loved the most about this story is the angst and complexity of the characters, especialy Wen Yifan, you don’t see this often in modern romance dramas, that’s what makes The First Frost undeniably special.
“It seems like Beiyu rain soaked my bones, no matter where I go, I can’t run away from that rainy night” Wen Yifan - Is the line that broke me the most .. no matter how hard you try, how far you run.. you can’t escape from that prison, that memory will keep haunting you until you collapse, and you’re no longer you..
But don't let anyone deceive you and tell you that Sang Yan is one-dimensional just because he sees Wen Yifan as his life, being madly in love won’t make him a poor-written character.. he’s not you typical cold/bad childhood/vendetta/bad behaved male lead.. rather, he was raised with love, wealthy, energetic, determined, picky, talented, intelligent, lazy, emotionally sensible, responsible, understanding, cocky.. and much more! He’s the perfect blend of a bad guy and a bubbly girl..
And please, Wen Yifan is the only one who deserves Sang Yan, no one will make him happier than she did, she's the only one who sees the real him, the bright, humble and confident him behind the arrogance appearence and sarcastic tone.. despite being broken and stuck in her pitch-dark nightmares, she stayed gentle and kind, elegant and proud.. not even the worst turns of life kept her from living on.. she's literally the strongest and the most brave one in this drama..
The acting? Never seen characters alive as I've seen here..
Cinematography? Can't get enough!
Chemistry? Watching them from my screen isn't enough I want to be a chair in their room.
Music? Yeah baby, already memorised it
Storyline? I don't think I can describe how hooking it is..
My only issue with this one (besides the grandpa filler story) is that it ended too soon !! I wanted to see a lot.. much more than this !! Not even my daydreaming will help fulfill my needs !
Other than this, it’s subjectively 10/10, objectively 9.2/10… it feeds the passion of a writer (me) now all I want is to write fanfictions about them.
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