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Watch only if you are a fan of Zhang Ruo Yun
Story: ★★The drama start of pretty promising with a good set up (from the Novoland book series) and interesting characters. Though some parts seemed to be a bit fast I was looking forward to the rest. However starting around ep. 10 the drama lost me esp. with a lot of artificially created scenes to make the drama “exciting” (e.g. scenes to create a series misunderstanding between the leads) but for me they achieve the opposite. Then the show continued with its plot holes (e.g. relationships were introduced that did not existed before), its not so convincing character development (e.g. actions that don’t fit to certain characters) and illogical story progress (e.g. no logical explanation for certain incidents and why the producers created them).
I really had a hard time continuing with this drama.
Then the drama ended as bad as one would expect - both endings were bad and predictable. Though the happy ending was slightly better, but the fact they created an alternative happy ending make it less good.
Acting/cast: ★★★★
The only reason why I continued with this drama (which I did not regret) is the over the top performance of Zhang Ruo Yun. I just finished watching Joy of Life and became a big fan of his acting. With this drama he showed other acting talents of his by depicting the arrogant and fiery tempered bird sect crown prince Feng Tian Yi. He was able to show the full range of human emotions such as ruthlessness, pride, anger, grief, pain or joy so naturally and convincing that just leaves me in awe. And the viewer can clearly see how his character smoothly developed to a more kinder version (which was his natural character) after falling in love with the female lead. On top of that I need to say that Feng Tian Yi probably the most beautiful male character I have ever seen in any (and I have watched many costume dramas!) dramas before!
The one star needs to be deducted due to the not so great job of the other leads, particularly the female lead, Guan Xiao Tong. Her acting was really below average, just not very natural.
There are scenes in which I was not able to distinguish that she was actually crying if not by her voice and tears cause her facial expression did not change. It feels like there is a certain barrier or constrain she is not able to break free from. Because of that I just did not feel the chemistry between her and Zhang Ruo Yun which bothers me during the entire show.
The second male lead Liu Chang played a very interesting human crown prince that had a lot to potential for great acting. But it might have been a bit too much for him and there was quiet a bit of room for improvement. What I liked though is his courage of not restrict himself by the “idol” way as opposed to the female lead. Though I found the character change towards end of the show not very natural (but perhaps it is the story that is to blame rather than his acting).
I really liked Cheng Ruo Xuan playing the skillful Yu Huan Zhen. His acting is very natural. He started off rather comical and cute but also underwent great development to a more mature character.
Production and music: ★★★
The landscape artworks are actually quiet nice. The CGI was very smooth and a good job. The two of them are key for a good fantasy/Xianxia drama. While I liked the designs, the sets and the costumes looked unfortunately very cheap and it is very noticeable (maybe they ran out of money...). The drama songs are nice, though nothing to be particularly remembered, except for the ending songs which is from a kids boy group that did not fit the theme of the drama at all. Really don’t understand how and why they have made this decision.
Summary: ★★★
I would have given a lower rating or even dropped it if it’s not for Zhang Ruo Yun’s acting. If you are a fan of his, like me, give it a go as you would even more fall in love with him (and particularly even more because a lot of other aspects are bad). If not, please pick another better drama to spend your precious time with.
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PS. the girl is super cute and lots of chemistry
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After i read what Aryael & MysticLullaby write yeah i agreed with them. The weak link here is maybe Gabrielle Guan as Yi Fu Ling (YFL), i think her act make me have weird feeling toward this drama.
The plot itself for me also a little weird in one way. YFL feeling like so easy moved from Bai Ting Jun (BTJ) to Feng Tian Yi (FTY). The Antagonist also feel suddenly just change from one man to another, yeah i know they explained it. I forget where's again i feel weird.
But yeah Zhang Ruo Yun play as FTY also what captivated me from the beginning and to continue watch this drama until finished. He played perfectly as a person who has like double personality, one side (as MysticLullaby say) has fiery temper and attitude but another side he actually kind heart who is willing to put everything at stake to protect who he loves.
Sometimes FTY attitude toward YFL makes me so angry and want to smack his head. Does he really have to act that way toward YFL... :D Double personality it is... :p
I watched this after i watched Legend of Yun Xi. Ju Jing Yi play as Xue Fei Shuang is quite different then her role at Yun Xi. She play good as jealous girl, especially toward the end, where she jealous but also hurted.
I really love the scene where FTY finally grow his wing. The CGI so perfect. ^_^
Re-watch: Don't think so.
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What an ending
This was a well thought and played out series.The story was very good and the follow of the acting went well, i loved the costumes and the ML that eventually should us his softer side. There were times when i thought the FL was a bit over the top and undecided on what she wanted. And also the whole misunderstanding between them and the added extra lies that she couldn't see through till was to late was a bit too much.
Overall this was a definitely worth a binge watch, the story came together and acting flowed through nicely.
Although i hated the ending because she ended up with wrong guy and disappeared while the ML was left to wonder around looking for clues and yet he knew it was fruitless.
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Mind you, I'm not a huge fan of fantasy or historical dramas, and I definitely am not a fan of Chinese CGI productions. But, nonetheless, I do recommend this one. The cast wasn't really impressive, but I did like Zhang Ruo Yun 's (Feng Tian Yi) acting in this one. I only watched one other drama he was in, Wu Xin, and I did like how he acted in that one so when I saw that he was in this one, I thought to give this drama a try. There is a particular scene that I thought, in this Novoland drama, that he did really well in and was really gripping. I think he is really growing as an actor. Music wise, I didn't love or hate it. I actually watched the TFboys MV before watching this drama and never really liked it. I am a small fan of their's. But, in any case, seeing it as the ED of the drama, I don't get how their children's song fit into the story. I get the lyrics and all, but their singing really is in the children's song category for this one and the song doesn't even have that historical drama ring to it if you get what I mean, the historical sounding tunes that usually accompany Chinese historical dramas. Not to mention, they weren't driving the flying ship like how it is supposed to be driven like in the drama which bothered me. Rewatch value...I probably will rewatch it in the future. I hate long seasons. The length of Ice fantasy (another similar genre one) was a killer for me. I literally dropped that one in the middle and picked it back up months later. I prefer stuff that are around the 30ish range. Either that or spit it into seasons with good hooks and endings. So I liked the length and I did think that they included everything that I wanted to know without leaving important things out. (another plus to me, is that there are two endings to the story so you can pick the actual ending or the alternate ending ;) )
Overall, I liked it and would recommend it. It is definitely one of the better fantasy historical dramas.
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The story is quite cliche. Boy met girl and fell in love with her but she was in love with someone else. In turn, another girl was in love with him and determine to stop any love blossoming between them. Further down the drama, he discovered that there was much more behind his infatuation with her. Basically, romance dramas always involve triangles or multiple triangles. As a backdrop to this romance, there was the ambitious monarch who was out to sabotage and invade the rival tribe and disrupt the peaceful lives of the people. And some people were not quite what they appeared to be. I guess I can draw some parallel in life with these - that is why dramas are always fabricated along these themes - although real life stories are seldom as dramatic, thankfully. It is the variation in the story that keep you wondering how things are going to turn out that keeps you following.
There some weaknesses in the story. The lead female character Yi FuLing was pretty stupid - she was always trying to help but instead made situations worse. The same went for Yu Huan Zhen who could not figure out the situation, was dogmatic with his beliefs and was made use of by evil minded people. However, bearing in mind that they were teenage characters, we can understand the impetuousness.
Attention to details is sometimes lacking in Chinese dramas. Some scenes were inconsistent - FuLing fell from the sky, injured her leg and could not walk. When Feng TianYi came along and argued with her, she ran off in a fit of anger - that was a miraculous cure to her injured leg? At least should let her limped away.
There is this stubbornness in the characters - they each insisted on loving the person who did not reciprocate their love - wonder if this is cultural. We get over infatuation - hurt a little when it happened but we lick our wounds and move on, except for some psychopaths who turn fatal. I guess Bai TingJun and Xue FeiShuang are the psychopath equivalent .
A review on this website recommends skipping episode 28 and go straight to 29 if you want a happy ending and I did. I am wondering what is in 28 - I may go back and watch it but I am happy I went straight onto 29.
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This review may contain spoilers
Drama doesn't has a unique story.two different clan shows at the starting but they didn't show the healthy competition between them ,how they do daily activities in their respective zone and how they come together in one platform . Though differences in clan but motto is one peace and harmony. They started the dram with this theme but show very less about it , then a girl disturb their assembly and then love triangle begin. S econd male lead so devotedly love the first female lead only because of her father he has to kept her away from him but due to misunderstanding she separated her from him and due to some reason she started living with first male lead and then eventually falling in love without thinking once that she had spend her childhood with second lead how can he did such thing ...Thus direction I don't like it ....At the end as second lead character came to know that the linger's father using him and till then he said all the false thing to him ,he felt very bad,sad and disappointed and eventually he got mad and started thinking that know for whom I will live ,my whole life just go in vain.Second lead do not take whole attention and sympathy so the director change his character into negative .,this is not fair...Because it is look like that second lead male character role is heavy than first lead male character.
What I like about the drama is the whole getup of winged clan is so gorgeous as well as stunning ,blue eyes then everything around them is so colourful.
Secondly the ending of drama ,it ends with two ending ,episode 28 with sad ending and episode 29 with happy ending.
The director make two ending why ?According to my view might he is thinking of sequel that's why he shows sad ending and in case if he not able to make so he end with episode 29 with happy ending.
About the acting all three male character that are Feng Tian Yi,Bai Ting Jun and
Yu Huan Zhen did amazing acting. Feng tian looked so handsome , especially those blue eyes increases his beauty.
As a whole I want to say ,if you like love story so you can give a try to this drama.
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SPOILER ALERT!! I watched this solely because of the hot blue-eyed emperor LOL. I read many reviews about this being really good and I thought it only has 29 episodes so maybe I should give it a try. Honestly, I skipped a lot of episodes because I don't like the girl and others scenes that I think are really boring or ununderstandable. I forced myself to watch until episode 15 mainly because of the hot emperor (couldn't seem to take my eye off) and I really wanted to know HIS ending. I was hoping so badly that he would eventually get his wings and the girl would become his Empress and remains supposedly "goddess?!?" instead of just wandering together. I get the impression that without the goddess mark on her she is just too plain, annoying and troublesome (maybe I just don't understand her? I don't know) compared to the Emperor character.
For the cast though, I am definitely not complaining about the Emperor (not trying to be biased here, maybe a little LOL) I think he did a great job portraying the character with many insecurities beneath his ruthless exterior, but deep down he is a really caring person. I think his character is so cute with all of those nonsenses he said when what he really meant was something totally different (I guess he's just shy xD). However, the girl character I feel like she's lacking in development and I tried so bad to like her but I just couldn't. She kept on bring troubles everywhere she goes I swear! and that pained the Emperor which pained me!!
Maybe if the actress did a little bit better the character might be better too? I am not really sure. I guess I would recommend this for everyone else seems to like it just fine :D
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As for the acting, personally I like 3 person acting skill that is the lead actor - Feng Tian Yi, his uncle - Feng Ran & the genius and funny guy - Yu Huan Zhen. The 2nd lead actor and the lead actress, I find is a bit stiff in their acting especially in their face expression compared to the lead actor - Feng Tian Yi.
Actor - Zhang Ruo Yun managed to bring out the role of Feng Tian Yi very well which showed us that he is arrogant, stubborn and snobbish externally but when heart or love matter, he is so weak internally. His care, concern and love towards the lead actress - Yi Fu Ling is like on and off, hot and cold, care and abandon all these he has to put up a show in order to cover his weakness and also to protect her.
As for his uncle role - Feng Ran too he managed to convincing viewers that he is a cruel and ambitious Reagent who does not want to handover his power to Feng Tian Yi but in the end I was surprised by the twist of this story. Since there is no spoiler over here. I would suggest you to watch it to find out this story.
For the genius guy who can solved Ji Shu mazes his role over here was rather funny. I like to see how his role evolved from an innocent to a full of revenge guy. He has given the whole drama some lift up moments besides the on and off romance triangle among Feng Tian Yi, Bai Tin Jun and Yi Fu Ling.
At least this cdrama does not drag and the best part is there are 2 endings to it. Supposed to end at episode 28 but episode 28 ending is very sad. This ending is like "Goodbye My Princess" concept if you have watched this cdrama too. As for episode 29 the ending is quite the same as episode 28 but with a happy ending. Even though episode 29 has happy ending but I don't really feel happy 'coz Feng Tian Yi have to give up his Emperor status and lost his Wings!
Overall the storyline is quite interesting and one thing for sure the CGI over here has improved a lot! Well done. I hope the Season 2 of this Novoland - Castle in the Sky will be better than this Season 1. Looking forward to it!
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The first half was a beautiful watch with winged creatures, not to mention our mesmerizing hero Tian Yi. But the last few episodes were really a pain in the arse watching Ting jun to become a villian with a misfit mask and TY and FL misunderstanding each other over and over again. I really awed by the gorgeous dresses of FL and the beautiful large golden wings of a certain someone ;-) and almost cried when he had to lose them. The original ending was too sad to handle tho it made more sense than the revised one. Still I personally prefer the revised one. I was dying to see TY and FL together after all they suffered. Was this review helpful to you?
What made me keep watching, honestly, was the main actors. They did a stunning job portraying the main characters, particularly the two leads. They had great chemistry, and every interaction was fun to watch.
There is enough drama and 'mystery' in the first half of the series that when the tone shifts it isn't too disorienting. In the end, however, I must admit that the second half of the series is certainly more interesting and better paced than the first half, which is a bit long-winded and drawn out.
The Good:
*Great acting
*Great chemistry between the main characters
*Beautiful costuming and a unique atmosphere - the concept of Asian steampunk isn't often explored and as such the unique visuals in this were a breath of fresh air. There is definitely a style to this drama and it is unique and in my opinion, much appreciated.
*The Plot - it is an interesting and unique concept, and I honestly was hooked for the latter half of the series. There was a lot of drama, a lot of suspense, and it was very interesting to follow.
The Bad:
*The Plot - I know, this is one of my good things, but hear me out. The plot is interesting in that it is unique. But it is also full of holes, loose ends, and story arcs and characters that go absolutely nowhere. Things that are important aren't properly explained( including the main conflict, the Shooting Star flower deity) and a lot of the characters end up with absolutely no development when it initially seemed like they would be explored more. Was it interesting? Yes. Was it good? No.
*The pacing. For the love of all that is good, the pacing was terrible. The beginning of the show just shoots off into the plot, then drags for a few episodes, another conflict is introduced, rinse wash and repeat for ten episodes or so. Around episode fifteen, things pick up and the pacing becomes more consistent, but the last episode just shoots itself in the foot. Ugh.
*The end song. Trust me guys, if you watch one episode you will know what I mean. This song... is ridiculous. It's almost funny at first before it quickly grown obnoxious when the tone of the series starts to shift. The song is so upbeat, it does not at all fit with the grand fantasy that Novoland is trying to develop into. 10/10 skip every time.
Conclusions: I would highly recommend this drama. If you are considering watching it: do. I was doubtful, and I was surprised. Maybe you will be too.
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