Opening 2022 with a boom!

Just finished this drama a minute ago, having basically binging it in a few days. I’d say this drama is a delightful surprise for me. I just basically come across this in youtube while surfing around after finishing A Girl Like Me, directionless. The first episode started with a boom, and me, being a special force enthusiast, am efficiently hooked even from the first episode.

Plot: I like that this is almost 85% pure armed force stuffs and only 15% other plot/romance. And it doesnt hurt that the 85% was really quite well done imo. The cast/production/directing really do it beautifully. All the trainings/special mission/equipments/artillery are very impressive and engaging. Well done! I enjoyed all the episodes, just maybe a little less on the arc of FL’s PTSD, those few episodes are quite draggy.

Characters: Almost half of the characters who are in Blue Lightning Commando get their own highlights and not only the ML and FL. Applaud the scriptwriter. ?? I know that it makes sense that in such a high risk job, you just cannot run away from death. And from the start, i dunno why, but i’ve always have the gut feeling that the most understanding, selfless kindest guy will bear the brunt of being the one who died, and lo and behold, i spent the entire ep 30 bawling my eyes out and basically 2 episodes after that intermittently crying. Thanks to all the cast, my whole face and eyes are swollen with all the eyebags and panda eyes for an entire night of marathoning. I havent seen any drama of Vengo previously (yes i know!) and he did quite well in this, balancing between being a thanos whilst having a good heart deep inside, and also kind of giving me a feelings of an ex delinquent having to grow up but still a brat deep down lol. The FL is also a nice surprise. Although not quite as tall as the ML, i didnt get the height difference vibe from them because she just appears ‘taller’ with her confidence and self esteem presence. Other supporting casts as the Blue Lightning Commandos are a gem, each of them has their own strength. I truly admire the comradeship of theirs and as i said previously, everytime each of them shed tears while trying to be strong at the same time, my heart broke with them. Aishhhh Lin Yi!!!! (Still cant get over it! Lol. And did i mention, Lin Yi’s final sacrifice scene is beautiful? Lol)

Music: very appropriate to the plot/general military vibe.

Subtitle: this is basically my pet peeves of an otherwise very delightful experience. I spent almost 13episodes watching this on youtube with questionable subtitle and then changed to weTV app. However, the subs are also a disappointment there. Luckily the 20plus years of watching chinese dramas come in handy for sub self correction. Lol. Hopefully someone somewhere will amend this in near future because such a gem should be able to be enjoyed by more viewers.

All in all, i have always love a good thrilling military drama, and this one, really delivers it! ??

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When it says slow burn, you better believe it!

Am actually writing this review for the first part after i completed watching the whole part 1 and part 2, so might probably mix them up (the rating is for the whole series though. Lol)

Ok first of all. Niao Niao here is barely a 15yo girl who has grown up without any (good) parental figure and was left to her own account to survive. Nevertheless, i spend almost 2/3rd of part 1 really trying to stop myself from not completely disliking (hating is a strong word) Shaoshang’s a-mu. That woman imo is completely ridiculous. I know she loved shaoshang silently (because viewers are shown that) but the way she acts with regards to shaoshang is completely ridiculous! Everyone said she is a just woman, and in trying to treat SS and YY justly, she just appears as a mean mother. And i dont even think she knows the word ‘fair’ well, because the way she coddled YY is basically putting down her own daughter and walk all over her. Lucky YY is a good girl nevertheless, because if any girl else being treated to such a pedestal and being backed up to such a level, it was no wonder if she end up being a villain. All in all, i completely am very much frustrated with Xiao Yuanyi. Lucky SS has her a fu and brothers at her side, or else i might end up more frustrated! Lol

And as I said, when they told you it is slow burn, you better believe it. Lol. The first 10 episodes are so slow I basically just grit my teeth and keep on watching because it’s Wu Lei and Lusi’s drama. Nothing much important happened, and LBY and SS also has minimal interaction together. And i am quite surprised that they spent sooo many episodes on SS and A Yao’s relationship +- courting even though i did appreciate how kind and honest Lao Yao is. My heart hurts when he needs to break up with SS (though at the same time happy because well, this is a chance for the main couple to start shining!).

I like the 2 sidekicks of LBY the most. Lol. Those 2 are such a comedic add ons to LBY’s cold face. Haha. And I also very much appreciate that the emperor and his harem is portrayed as so, it was a fresh breath of air from other emperor and his harem which is full of conniving backstabbing villains from other dramas. I love that the emperor dotes on LBY so much, he was treated almost better than the emperor’s sons themselves. Hahahha. Comedic lighthearted characters aside, this part 1 also has a lot ( and i mean a lotttt) of very annoying screechy characters. Basically all of the ladies (aside from Third Shumu and Qiqi) are annoying little shits and their mothers usually are no better. Sometimes, you just felt like pulling your own hairs watching their petty little conversation/trial of one upping each others, they are just that fickle!

Now, on to the main couple. I love that LBY treated SS so well in silent, it shows how much he loves her to me (as a viewer). But well, if i am SS, i also would not just make my own conclusion that he loves me just like that, without any words at all from him. He never mention that he likes her or at least saying anything towards that before he threatens her that she is agreeing to being his wife if she didnt agree to meet him in the forest during her engagement day to a yao. I was like woahhh where is that coming from? Lol. And yes, he could not completely gave himself towards building a relationship at that time just yet because his revenge is still not paid, so he basically can only let SS pass him by on another man’s arms. Lucky fate has its own plan, and A Yao has to be wedded to someone else, or else LBY will be left licking his own nails with his revenge to accompany him.

The cinematography is really nice i think, especially scenes such as the lantern festival and the place where SS meet LBY at her engagement day. However, i must say that the costumes are less flattery than other dramas’, but i think it is mostly due to the era/dynasty that LLTG is based on, rather than the costumes team itself. I can only see one main design for the costumes, be it the females or the males’ costume and the pastel colour itself doesnt seem so flattering. Usually i can feast my eyes on the costumes while watching chinese dramas, and this handicapped seems quite glaring to me.

OST during part one is basically non existent. I cannot remember much of it if it exists lol.

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Awesome!

Just finished this 5 mins ago and decided to review it while it’s fresh in my mind.

Decided to give this a chance now after falling in love with YY after watching Who Rules the World. Cant get enough of his good looks and acting, i now can start giving this drama a chance. Previously didnt start this even though reba was one of my fav actress due to the e-sports theme that the drama actively promote it as. Im not a gamer, and the idea of watching an e-sport themed drama drags my legs (in this case, my eyes) down. Not until now that i have both my FL and ML as an excuse to start braving the theme. And i am soo very glad to watch this! YY and reba’s chemistry are top-notched in this, i was squealing like a mad fangirl, especially once they got together! Lol


Ok. Let’s talk about it one by one. First, the ML. Of course, now that YY has rapidly climbed my ladder of one of my most favourite actors in Chinese entertainment alongside XZ, i guess, i’ll be digging his previous works and anticipating his future works. His character as Yu Tu here initially was broody, melancholic man who are in a midlife crisis (lol, if you take an average life span of 60years) between dreams and financial reality/supporting family. And YY plays broody serious character sooo well (of course his face helps that too lol! You can just sit there, be all serious and mean, and people will still thank you for just existing. Haha). Now i know why he plays Feng Lanxi so well. Haha.

Reba is of course in character. Well played to boot. Her chemistry with YY is chef kiss and their lovey dovey is sooo making me feel all my glory of single-hood. Lol. So beautiful and good in acting, what more can i say about reba

The plot is quite a 180 degree in my opinion. If one were to just watch the first say, 3 episodes, and then skipped forward to watch the last 3 episodes, i’d say they might be asking themselves if it is the same drama. Lol. Basically about first 15 episodes are focused on the gaming and how JJ used the game to built on her relationship with YT and basically assimilated herself into YT’s life while he considers his future course. And the later episodes showed how much YT now able to work and strive towards his dream and goal while being supported by people who actually believe in him while he doubts himself. Alas, it’s true what they said, behind every successful man, there is a woman proudly believing in and sacrificing so many things in the journey. And i love how they showed that a woman can stand tall alongside a man they love without an issue when she is self-assured in herself. JJ showed that she can live her own life, assured to do what she wants without depending on a man to elevate her status, gives her riches or make her popular because she can do it herself. And Yu Tu, being someone who has high social status, intelligent to boot but dragged down by financial constraint that status and dreams come with, able to rise above and overcome it because JJ stands tall like a pillar while he works thru it. This drama literally shows how 2 puzzles pieces actually work together to fit in place, rather than built to fit. I love that there is no lingering third wheel characters/exes as well. Basically JJ and YT know who doesnt fit them and ditched them earlier. Lol. Even though i basically let the gaming’s instructions and elaboration goes into one ear and out another one (same with all the technical terms for aerospace thingy), i still enjoy it a lot, more the aerospace thingy than the gaming since im quite a tech enthusiast. Tbh, i even shed tears during the scene of rocket launch because aside from carrying a national pride with it, the launch also carries years and years of toil and sweats of the people who work hard to built it, and ultimately also carries with it the sacrifice and support of their families. Many relationship/families cant stand such a sacrifice and being a part of an industry that requires similar values, i relate with it sooo well.

Ost: there are a few that stand out and frequently used in scenes, but my most favourite is the opening song. It was such a lulling ballad full of soft love to me.

Things that i have love hate relationship with in this drama:
-JJ and YT’s wedding. It was definitely an original idea to have a group wedding for the ML and FL’s wedding, but arghhhhhhhhh do not rob us of a glorious wedding vow and scenes! Hahaahah. Though they did mellow down the disappointment with inserting solo’s scene in between, but sobsiessss
-tooooo much gaming elaboration! Hahahha. Not my cup of tea
-we want little yu tus and little jing jings!!! Hahaha

In short, totally fall in love with yang yang and reba again thru this drama and hopefully i dont get too long of a withdrawal so that i can enjoy third drama in a streak! Lol

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Good show, just have a few points to nitpick

Ok. Just finished this 5mins ago and i am burning with so much feels!

I’ll start with the good things about this drama. And bare in mind, i’m starting this show with 80% assurance that there will be tragic ending, so it’s not that the not happy ending is the thing that bugs me while watching.

-the chemistry between the FL and ML are thru the roof. From the first maybe 15episodes, they are still calling each other disciple-master, but somehow you get that theres more to them. No lovey dovey words, nor there are any kiss scene, but somehow, we know how in love they are. Which is basically what chinese dramas do best as compared to western ones (i hate when people kept commenting while watching chinese historical dramas for the leads to kiss already ?. Hello, this is chinese historical where basically for males to have a look at the female’s feet prior to marriage is considered taboo and disrespectful already, what more kissing or the french kiss you people from the west are clamouring for??)
-fight scenes are almost well executed and not cringey to watch. I’ll probably rate them 8/10
-costumes are aplenty and very beautiful for both the males and females. I especially like all the costumes for the palace scenes. They are all looking very majestic and flowy ?
-the patriotism and ‘serving the country till death’ theme are very well potrayed and carried out thru the series.
-it’s quite refreshing to see such a character such as cui wenjun. She’s a matriarch alright, but still retain her humanity and respect almost all of shiyi’s decisions
-shiyi’s character is so mentally strong in my opinion. She is mature. She can still discern what she ought to do/her responsibilities as a daughter of a noble family even though she is head over heels in love. If zhousheng chen did not die unjust-fully like that, i bet she will carry on being such a powerful support to the country


Issues:
-the ML and FL’s look/beauty are something that grew on me. Not a fan of first FL’s look when she was younger but then she grows beautifully after. Props to the dresser/MUA. And i have a little issue with ML’s look initially due to finding him quite similar to Young Master Mo in Legend on Hua BuQi. Lol.
-the master-disciple love story may be slight disturbing at first, what with they equating them to ‘once a master, always a father’ sort of statement at start of the story, but then, with their narrow age gap and zhousheng chen being the ‘one woman man’ that he is, i grow to accept the love between the 2 leads afterwards
-liu zixing’s affection towards shiyi is basically creeping me out from start to finish. He’s complete obsessed lunatic i tell you!
-not sure what disciple shiyi is meant to be when she’s being sent to Nanshen Wangfu. I mean, it’s not like she has the build for or the motive for learning how to fight a war. The plot of master-disciple is quite shaky and unconvincing imho ??‍♀️

Ok. That being said, what’s left is basically my biggest pet peeve regarding the plot!

Like, the hell with zhousheng chen??!!! I understand why he swore his earlier oaths like not setting foot in the central plain again and even not getting married and having child of his own. Truly, he’s a powerful Wangye. So, his oaths are just basically to remove himself from threatening the throne. But pray tell me what the hell is he thinking just basically surrender himself to slaughter by someone who are very clearly not fit for throne (liu zixing) and a traitor/outsider (jin rong) than claiming the throne himself and do right by the country??! If it’s only about honoring his previous oath, then he had no problem setting foot in central plain after he swore not to? And it’s not like he’s taking the throne from someone rightful, like his brother, or his nephew liu hui. Even the little emperor liu zizhen is forced to abdicate by the traitor liu zixing, so what kind of rightful emperor are you surrendering youself to?? I mean, that is just plain stupid and selfish of someone of his standing. He knows that he is unjustly accused and put to death, and knows that this will not sit right with the ministers and his uncles/elders (who btw are dropping like flies being killed due to his surrender) and also his battalions of Nanshen Royal Soldier and generals, who are obviously going to rebel in order to revenge him. What peace are you preserving by surrendering?? And did he even spare a thought to shiyi, his so called beloved disciple who are still, at his time of surrender, who is still trapped to marry liu zixing, the very one who ordered all this massacre?? He just goes on his merry way to death, like it is even honourable?? For me, at that point of events, the more honorable way to go is to put down the rebellion/traitor, pick up the throne and govern your country (you know you are better than the ones currently usurping the power. You are even from the royal liu family at birth, so it’s not like you are not qualified even though you already change the surname previously ?). You can even bring liu zizhen up and properly nurture him to become a good emperor and abdicate the throne to him later if you detest the throne so much! But he went the chicken route and surrender rather than braving the way and do the right thing. I mean, i kept on watching the coronation scenes so many times it drives me crazy! Hahaha. What ‘long live the king’?? No king lives that long in my opinion. Lol. And alas, the throne went back to liu zizhen, the child emperor who cant even govern properly by himself. ??
And obviously, his decision will lead to shiyi’s death as no woman in love will stoop so low as to allow herself to marrying the one who she’s convinced killed the love of her life wrongly and is not the rightful ruler anyway. Anyone can see that. Daaaahhh ??

And for god sake, liu zixing! The f* do you want the throne for??! You are obviously frail in health and will die sooner most probably rather than later, the hell do you want the throne for??! And basically killing all your Liu families by trying to work with Jin Rong when you know that jin rong does not even respect you and given a chance, will overthrow you for his own Jin family??

Finally, i found that the Yang Shou character is the most intelligent. Lol. Even if some of his actions are questionable, and even his loyalty is questionable, in the end, he push forward, knows whats he’s doing and his end motives are. He got his due as a general and can even appoint Liu Zizhen as the emperor in the end. That, zhousheng chen, is how an intelligent general works!

All in all, it is quite a good show and having a 24 episodes is just enough for the theme and plot (rather than having more and risk being draggy), but i dont think i will quite rewatch this in the future.

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Passing time is a kind of splendor

Actually, finished watching this a while ago , just didnt have enough motivation to come to MDL to rate this and review. It is just another series to tick off for me, not much to rave on (good or bad!).

This is my first finished story of Liu Yi Fei, started on her and YY’s Once Upon A Time drama before, but cannot continue on. Maybe because it was a fantasy (and i didnt do that well with fantasy genre), her chemistry with YY was also not that much for me to continue on. LYF has certain unique voice to her character (i assume it’s her own real voice since it is the same in ADOS and OUAT) and initially it doesnt click with me much but then i grew used to it. Chemistry is there between her Zhao Pan Er and Chen Xiao’s Gu Qianfan, but not that sizzling for me. Is it bad that i found i prefer their relationship while they are bantering more than after they get together officially?

Plot is so and so, especially a lot of plotholes towards the end. Making Ouyang Xu as the last boss for the couple to hurdle over (when he was such a weak villain imho) , the writer didnt even tie up what happen with the so called power fight between the scholar faction leader and GQF’s father’s faction. They all vanished under Ouyang Xu’s arc. Plus, initially they describe GQF’s Capital Security Office as an entity that is powerful and GQF himself as the mighty ‘Living Devil’. But by the second half of the story, all those went down the drain and GQF is suddenly weaker than ever and the Capital Security Office is hardly with power enough to do a damn thing. Lol.

And where should i start with Song Yingzhang? Lol. This is the character that annoyed me the most. Time and time again she made the same mistake and time and time again she was forgiven, given a new book to start over. Luckily she ended up relatively fine at the end. Another character that i find annoying and no much point despite his quite extensive screen time from the beginning is chi pan. I am not even sure what is his character’s value in the plot honestly, except in the end when he ended up hiring the girls as managers to the restaurant. Lol.

OST are not that memorable, i didnt even try to go to youtube to search for the ost after finishing this drama like what i usually do with other dramas which ost stood out to me during watching.

All in all, this is an okay drama for me. Good enough to finish from start to finish once, but highly likely not for a rewatch. Nothing that is triggering my bad button too much but leaves me nothing too excited as well. On to the next show!

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Third strike!!

This is my third drama of yang yang in a row after discovering him last week! Lol. Started with WRTW and YAMG, still cant get enough of him, so decided to watch this. Being a military drama enthusiast, of course this is right up my alley.

First and foremost, i am very much in love with how they do the battle scene and the fighting choreo was such a satisfying watch! It looks so sophisticated and elegant at the same time. It was 10/10 from me! Lol. Basically, the military part of this drama is chef kiss!

YY’s acting for most part is amazing, except for a few, which probably will be mentioned below. Lol. So many whump scenes for our YPY. I loike! Haha. Of course, YY’s body and built is really suitable for a commando character. Tall, not too thin and broad shouldered. The military gear looks so good on him. Though my boy at first sometimes is very annoying (i really empathise with his commanding officers tbh. Haha), i think it is a needed annoyance so as to portray how YPY grow up later on.

The supporting characters are all very good. Good to see Xiao Yun Jie and Lu Xiao Tian again after their roles in SCI. Best musketeers ever! And of course one need to mention GXX. Her acting is tip top and her portrayal as a sniper/commando is one of the best female soldier acting i’ve seen so far.

Now, as much as i love this drama, there are a few not-so-nice things that i feel the need to mention. Firstly, the PTSD arc. As we know, soldiers are very much prone to ptsd due to their highly volatile job-scope. So, many military dramas usually include a ptsd-related arc, as with this drama and Operation Special Warfare. And as how OSW botched the ptsd arc, GOSF also did not do the topic justice. During that arc, i was struggling to finish watching without skipping ahead. It was so sloww and draggy. And this is the only time i feel that yang yang’s acting fall flat to me. It felt like a boy throwing a tantrum rather than a soldier having to brave thru a ptsd phase. Sorry YY. Secondly, i feel the need to mention about how the scriptwriter tend to write how YPY always goes missing every time they finish a drill. Lol. Once was ok, twice is kinda pushing it tbh. Same goes with YPY opening up about his past. It should only been done once in the entire series and best achieved thru opening up to his cheetah’s teammates, rather than to Staff Officer Ai imho. And personally i feel that the final arc regarding the anti-terrorism competition is kinda anti-climax being put after the drug-dealer epic showdown. That arc should be the closing stunt for the show. And not sure if it is a case of sloppy post production editing or what, but what happened to the scene after YPY was taken to the enemy’s hideout and was then rescued by Xiao Fei? It seems that something is missing and suddenly the next scene is already YPY happily spending his day in Cheetah’s camp. I was like, ‘the hell happen here??!’ Lol. The camera work was also dizzying in some scenes. Lastly, sometimes the colour scheme really distracted me. Sometimes, they made it look like it was a 1990’s drama what with the black and white colour scheme.

Ost are not that many. So and so. Well, it is a military drama, so i dont expect much for the ost

Rewatch value: i think i’ll be rewatching many scenes from this drama in the future. The whump part of YPY and of course, the battle scenes!


P/S: i’m so sad this is going to be my last Yang Yang marathon in a while (not sure i want to watch Love O2O, it was from soo long ago and the cinematography and everything is wayyy different than say, dramas that were produced in 2018 and above.) 50/50 on watching the king’s avatar because of the e-sport gaming theme. Arghhhh Yang Yang! Please hurry up and comes out with a new project! Lol

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Binged this in 2days and i would say, it is intriguing enough for me to keep on pressing the next ep button on my off days. Lol

Considering this is a time loop series, it is very much easy for viewers to get fed up and stop halfway, and i must say, around ep 4-6ish, i almost got a feeling of wanting to give up because of how much the scenes are getting repetitive and how the police officers are behaving is starting to grate on my nerve! Lol. Luckily it picks back up around halfway mark and i cant wait to see how the leads are trying to better their tactics to achieve different outcomes everytime.

I am bit too lazy to arrange an essay right now (lol) so i would just mention things as i remembered as i go along typing then

-this is probably my first time seeing timeloop theme series and it always crosses my mind while im watching this series, but the wardrobe coordinator/stylist/mua must have the time of their life not having to think too much. Lol. But i wonder how many of those same set of cloth they used to film a 15episodes drama? Haha
-bai jinting is one of my favourite chinese ML since YAMH and he delivers a nice acting in this as well but i was pleasantly surprised with the FL. This is my first time watching her drama, and she truly nailed her character and compliments bai jinting so well. The chemistry is there, which i love
-maybe this is just me, but i truly think that the FL looks soooo much like Go Ara. Lol
-the romance is maybe a drop in the ocean, tiny as it is, but it seems quite rush. Not that i have any problem that it was there though
-the actress who played that psycho mother is reallllyyyyy gooddd. Her expression, voice and not to mention, her resistance while fighting back realllyyyyy gives me goosebumps, she definitely give me a psychotic murderer vibe *shivers*
-and did i mention, i hateeeeee how the police handles the case initially. Sergeant Jiang is unprofessional as hell, not to mention, judgemental to the T. Captain Zhang is just slightly better than Jiang. He redeemed himself slightly towards the end. In real life, thats the recipe for scaring away someone who wants to do a good deed, and letting the criminal unable to be convicted, just because innocent people just dont wanna deal with a biased, judgemental police. And Of course, coming from Operation Special Warfare prior to watching this, i am totally disappointed with how the law enforcer behaves in Reset. Lol. Maybe i took it too personally haha


In conclusion, a good single watch drama for me personally. Dont think i’ll be rewatching this again though. Haha

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Took all my strength to finish this!

Hmmm where to start? Actually, i’ve finished this a while back and has been putting off writing review to mellow back my disappointment from being too reflective on the review. Lol. I’ve even finished another 29 episodes drama in the mean time (which i scored 9, so at least that is quite healing. Lol)

I have quite an issue with this drama. Almost drop it at many point during watching, but since the idea of having to scroll thru list of dramas trying to found a new one to watch is not that appealing to me at that time, i kept watching this, one step at a time. Lol

Ok. First thing first, my biggest pet peeve of this drama is the FL. Tbh, i’ve quite a not-so-nice experience with the FL’s drama in her Flaming Heart. In that drama, i thought it was her character that annoys me so much and i decided to give the actress a second chance this time (since i like the ML, so maybe this time i can change my view?), my oh my, how wrong it turns out to be. Sorry to say, watching her for the second time, i now know that i have a problem with her acting. ZHW is pretty in a way, but she has very little expression when acting. Sometimes she appears very much wooden, i just cant get into her scenes! When she cries, it was like having someone who shed tears due to cutting onions rather than being heartbroken. I am soooo disappointed! You dont even get a vibe
of a crying scene whatsoever! Another major thing i’ve noticed, she lacks imagination in scenes that needed such, for example, during a scene of drowning, the way she acts, we know that it’s all added cgi and everything after, but for god’s sake! please act like you are in the water and trying to steal a breath, rather than appearing so comfortable and la la la. *facepalmed. Same goes to manyyy other scenes that we know will be CGI-ed or added post-production, i just cant help but cringe everytime. Also, in this drama, her voice actor has a voice which has mischievous lilt to it, i assume it was chosen because mo yan’s character was supposed to be a happy go lucky cheeky girl who is mischievous and free while being a genius at the same time. However, once again ZHW just cannot deliver. Her stiff acting and the mischievous voice just doesnt go well together imho. And im sorry. I will probably steer completely clear of her future works (unless her leading man is someone i am veryyyy much in love with. Lol)

As for the ML, tbh, i gave the FL a second chance due to Caeser Wu. Lo and behold, as how gong jun cant help during flaming heart, CW fails to counter zhw’s effect on me as well *sigh
In fact, i find that it even cause me to have quite an issue with CW’s acting this time. I mean, i love him in General’s Lady but here, his acting falls flat, there is no chemistry whatsoever, not too mention, flaws are everywhere you just cannot close one eye on it. I miss his chemistry with his FL in general’s lady and this goes to show, no matter how good an actor you are, if the other lead is not up to par, it can drag you down as well.

Other things I remember that is worth mentioning: (good and bad)

-fight scenes are cringey and lame. The slow mo effect definitely dont work!!!!
-cgi is bad. Arghhhhh
-the prince’s character is the only plus thing imo
-the second love story between liu ge and the princess is more catchy and worthwhile though at first i just cannot get the princess vibe from the actress, her acting as Jiuling’s maidservant in Jun Jiuling still fresh in my mind ??
-i think there is more, but i just dont have energy to recall more bad scenes from this drama

All in all, this really took all my strength and will power to finish till the end. It scores just above 6 nonetheless because i’ve never scored anything less if i can finish a series. It helps that it is only 24episodes, if it is anymore than that, i think i may have drop it tbh.

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Reviving chinese drama for me

Finished this 2 days ago after marathoning for 5 days in between work. Overall, i was quite impressed because honestly I was in a slump with regards to watching chinese dramas recently. Started The Longest Promise, but cant seem to continue after 15episodes even though XZ is one of my favs. Finished Fireworks of my heart but it took me a month and so much willpower. Finished Legend of Anle, but also took me quite some time. So the fact that I finished this in 5 days even with working shifts in between, tells me that this is interesting and able to capture my attention. Lol.

Storyline was quite fast paced, which I like. Even Legend of Anle has some part which is quite draggy. Not sure what is being done, but YZ’s portrayal as a man in early episodes is quite convincing, she appeared quite thick built and not that skinny (as compared to say, Lusi’s or Dilireba’s portrayal of man in disguise.) Though some things done with her by the male leads may appeared to be gay-ish if we are looking from man to man’s perspective lol (but honestly, which guy is that happy to suck a man’s neck time and time again with such a questionable position? Lol)

Overall, the screentime allocated to CX, TSJ and XL was so evenly spread to me that I cant even figure out who was the main male leads at first. Lol. The actors for CX and TSJ plays crying scene so well, they can basically cry in split second. Lol. I was amazed tbh. CX was a power hungry guy, but i like that he stays loyal to Xiao Yao despite everything. He and XY was completely dependent and supportive of each other even XY doesn't mind that CX is using her to establish power. I guess many people support XL and find that he’s the perfect guy for XY, but as someone who’s already at that kind of age, I guess I am not kinda into bad boy guy anymore, no matter what sacrifice he had done for her behind the scene. I mean, i get that he saves XY and sacrifice his own life for that (but if I have 9 lives, i wouldnt mind losing one so much. Lol) but he was an a$$hole to XY as well, especially when she was Wen Xiaoliu even knowing she’s a girl, so yes,thanks but no thanks.

Meanwhile, I was rooting for Tushan Jing so much all the while because despite the flaw that he is engaged to be married to someone else (through not his own arrangement at that), he stays true and loyal to XY from start to finish. The soft and tender love TSJ has for XY is such a balm to me. I like that he was so kind to everyone despite being hurt so much (but at the same time his character is not dumbed down to showcase the kindness, he was completely in the know, but still choose to show compassion). I was actually hoping for Tushan Hou to repent and appreciate such a good and kindhearted brother that he has, but well, it doesnt seem like so *sigh
I like that TSJ is so sweet in his flirting and is so supportive of XY despite XY’s bullying him in between. Lol.

CGI was quite good and the scenery was beautiful. There’s something weird here and there but well, it was a fantasy drama, so I guess some landscape/animal scene must be exaggerated. Lol. OST was quite good as well, and accompanies the scenes so well.

Overall, i cant wait for season 2 to be published. Hopefully it wont be too long. I cant understand why they cant copy Love to the Galaxy and shows part1 and part 2 back to back, instead of taking their own sweet time like this

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One of the best revenge dramas so far

This is without a doubt one of the best revenge dramas I've ever watched so far. The story and plot made sense and I felt that it was all tied up together nicely until the end and was not being led sideways to make way for romance towards the end, like some dramas wont to do. I love that they stick to both the revenge of Xue Fangfei and Jiang Li and resolve for them both by the end. It was so satisfying. The only nitpick I have with the plot is the many sexual violence theme they incorporate in the storyline (guess that's why Netflix has those and substance as warning lol). I was quite wary of watching this in public seeing as those sexual violence scenes can sometimes jump at you out of nowhere. lol. The plot was so captivating for the first 2 quarters of it, I literally watched 16episodes in one sitting! and that's because I need to stop for work. It does get quite slow and draggy in the third quarter during the arc of saving Magistrate Xue but picks up again during the last quarter until the end. All in all, it was a gripping plot that can definitely kept you watching. The story was definitely a not feel good drama, as it carries some very hard and serious themes, but I like that they tried to sprinkle some humor as well here and there to lighten up the plot, like Xiao Heng's two sidekicks and Xiao Heng being bossed around by his grandfather after he saved Fangfei towards the end. Not much, but I guess it will do. lol. The ending seems quite rushed and I felt robbed, but after watching the 5mins fan service added scenes of XFF and XH living happily together with a daughter, I felt like maybe if they include those scenes in the main drama, it doesn't quite match the whole feelings of the drama. But, do they have to kill both Lu Ji and Wen Ji at the end though???! Hmpppphhhh so mean! Those two were just sidekicks, leave them alone! haha

At first, I think this is my first drama of the ML, but scrolling through his works, he's also in One and Only which I'd already watched previously, but I don't recognize him in that drama. Seeing as he is only 22yo, I'd say, he did superb being paired with someone as seasoned as WJY. He doesn't appear to be that much younger than her in his acting, despite the 10+ years gap. So, kudos. his chemistry with the FL was also quite good, despite having to act as someone who is ruthless and aloof at first. The thing I applaud this drama is, they have very good villains. Be it the small villains like Magistrate Feng or Governor Tong (whose acting were so convincing I really felt like slapping them both silly!)or big villains such as Shen Yurong and Wanning, and to a lesser extend, Chancellor Li and Prince Cheng. All of the big villains had a story behind them, and there's layers to them being that way that somehow even though you want to kill them yourselves, but you also felt some pity. Shen Yurong is such a pitiful character, having to turn into such a despicable man because he was weak to stand against the higher power. Being humiliated here and there and then being cajoled back with the ideas of being loved by the same person is torturing in a way, I guess no wonder he turned into a madman in the end. Wanning character is also another great villain, so psychotic and a madwoman, but end up also a pitiful woman hardened by what she went through. But what sets them apart from XFF I guess, despite having to go through such a traumatic fate in life, XFF choose the high path and never step on other innocent people's heads in order to exact revenge while these villains lost their heart after the torture they went through. Some of the villains, like Ji Shuran, was a different kind of villain, like a wolf in a sheepskin, acting all demure and loving but backstabbing (though the actress was beautiful despite the age. haha)

Costumes were sooo beautiful especially for XFF and Duke Su and the makeup for formal palace event was a stand out (not sure which era this was, but I don't think I'd seen it in dramas before. OST was nice enough, but doesn't make me went out to find them in YouTube. A rewatch is low though owing to the fact that this is such a heavy story and I felt like watching once is gripping but more than enough. lol. A recommended watch though for first timer like me!

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Awesomesauce!

What can i say, this drama is a pot full of good stuffs! Lol

As usual, such a brilliant drama, had to binge it in 2 days! I just cant help myself from letting the wetv play the next episode time and time again. I applaud the scriptwriter for such a good writing and plot (and the novel writer too!) This is my first time watching a drama able to mix both the jianghu and the imperial court so well as the main story line. Usually, we only see one of them being a major theme, and the other as a side theme only, but not this one. The fact that both the FL and ML are well known and important figures from both worlds and the writers able to flawlessly intertwined this in the plot really makes this drama one of the best for me.

Beware, this review is going to be one of the longest i will probably ever write personally. Lets start with the ML. This is my first drama of yang yang (yes i know!) and i would gladly say he is now currently probably one of my favourites. His acting here is engaging. Witty. He can change persona so fluidly. Witty and playful sneaky hei fengxi, the regal and authoritative er tianxia and of course the head over heels feng langxi. He nails all of them. His facial expression was good, his crying scenes broke my heart to pieces and of course his smile and honest to god flirt melt me to a puddle of goo. I love how Feng Langxi is a regal prince, but also a powerful martial artist as well. I mean, it was so satisfying to see him blast his court enemy/army with his martial arts, rather than just using ol’ single sword like in other imperial dramas. Lol. How cool is that! When he lost his inner force, he is still powerful, but like he said, it was nice being protected instead, rather than being the one always gruesomely protecting others. Honestly, i was snickering over that unexpected comment of his when it comes up.But enough of gushing over him now. Lol

And tbh, lusi did a spectacular job here. I feel that her acting is very mature and natural here. I’ve seen her before in a female student arrives in imperial college and the romance of tiger and hero, it was ok, but nothing to talk about, her Li Le Yan in long ballad is better despite not being the main lead, but her as bai fengxi is endearingly witty instead of annoying witty, and her as feng xiyun is calm collected and strong, instead of just someone playing pretend. Lol. She has improved a lot here and of course im very much impressed with her action scenes in this drama. The chemistry between the ML and FL is thru the roof, which i likee lol. Another thing that impressed me that how bai fengxi character said, “if you want to help a lot of people, it must be done through politics. Fighting in jianghu might solve small feud, but you can do more in the court” -something along that line. I feel how mature her character is at that time, because, despite her free-spirited wanderer martial artist self, she still can see how a well meant and upright power figure can change the world to a better place if done properly. She roams freely, but she never forget her roots and responsibility as a royal, which i am very much respected.

May i gush next about the costumes and set? Lol. Having to portray 7 different palaces with multiple other noble mansions must be a daunting experiences for the crew, but they did well and they are all suitably rich looking and well set up. And of course, the costumes for all characters are really well made, not only just the leads’. But i must say, the costumes for the ML and FL are plentiful and very beautiful, making them look regal and fairy like. The makeup and hair is nice too. All in all, it was a feast for the eyes.

Ost: at first, i do not notice the ost that much since wetv app usually skipped the opening and ending credit and goes straight to the story, but towards second half of it, it is incorporated more in the story and i must say, the ost was beautiful. I especially like the ‘half-half song’ (lol, havent found out whats the name of the song yet, need to lurk in youtube pronto! But its the song that always played during the emotional family scene). The ending song is nice too! Especially during the wedding parade. Oh did i mention how satisfying the wedding scenes are? Especially coupled with the prewedding goodness. Lol

And lastly, i think i need to gush about the well done job on the fighting and war scenes. *clap
Not too many dramas can portray the big scale war scene to a satisfactory level, and i am very much impressed that this drama can deliver this. Not only it does not feel that fake (nobody fought a war with an obvious 15people which usually happened in other dramas *roll eyes), but the war formation etc is nicely elaborated and portrayed. And if they can do that well on the big scale war scene, of course they satisfactorily able to deliver a onetoone and small scale fighting scenes better! The fighting choreography are applaudable and looking suave. The long ballad may be the only one which come close enough to this drama’s level (from my recent list of watched drama) but of course in long ballad, they can cheat around their big scale battle scene with the donghua insert scenes.

And second lastly (lol), what makes this drama endearing to me is how both ML and FL was given their own time to shine equally. There is no need to make the heroine becomes meek so that the hero can shine as knight in shining armour and no need to bring down the hero so that the heroine can be hoisted up as ‘strong female lead’. When feng langxi was going thru hell fighting for his place in his court, i like how the writer made bai fengxi such a sturdy support beside him, equally smoothing his way ahead. And of course, when feng xiyun needs to step up suddenly and take her old place, i like that feng langxi once again was shown to be such an admirable support to her without taking her limelight away. They fit together like a puzzle and i really equally admired and envied them both. Lol. It’s a perfect show of a relationship, a rare gem in period drama. There is also no sorry excuse of jealousy scene/useless third party/unnecessary sacrifice trope as well, which is refreshing. And i like how they just made it that female officials/generals are easily accepted as norm in the storyline, i was getting quite bored with the ‘female fight for equality’ trope in period dramas tbh. Lol.

I think i can safely said that i’ll be rewatching this again and again in the future. Just like the untamed. There are sooo many scenes worth rewinding and rewatching imho

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The Untamed Accompaniment

A bit too late in the bandwagon, but glad nevertheless to have seen this at least once (die hard fan of the untamed here. Lol)

First of all, let me put this out here, the first scene freaking scared me out of my body! Lol. I literally need to put my hand in front of my eyes, and peek thru half of the screen from behind the fingers. Lol. Like the cinematography for the first few scenes.

And sizhuiiiiii my baby boy! How grown up you are already! Solo night hunt huh?

Wen ning is cool as usual. Very the ghost general. Lol.


I love how they incorporate the jokes on Ning shushu vs Wen qianbei in the movie. Goes to show how wei wuxian has been rubbing off on wen ning all this time. Haha

A bit sad that they cannot have WWX and LWJ cameo-ing in this, might be more natural and sweet. The fact that their little a yuan is now grown up and able to battle well already. *wipe tears

The battle scene music is quite funny though. Lol

All in all, i think, for one to truly enjoy these 2 movies (living dead and fatal journey), one needs to at least watch the untamed first. These movies are too short to build characters from zero

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Nice enough dramas, just a tad too common a theme

Just finished this a few hours ago, and as per the title of my review, the drama is quite good, but the storyline is too common for me, and coming from The Double, the theme is too much the same thing, sometimes it felt like I was watching the same story, just with different actors. The trope is used too much until it was becoming too expected and boring, I even watch the last few episodes in 1.25 speed. And even though the title is The Rise of Ning (I assume it was in relation to the FL), I cant help but felt that in the end, the story is more focused on the rise of Shenyuan, rather than Yining. Lol.

Luckily, despite the storyline being too common, the story is saved by the actors who did a good job with what they have. The chemistry between the ML and FL is there. The ML did a nice enough job even though his role is not that different from that of Cang Xuan in LYF. This is my first time watching Ren Min's drama till the end (I just cannot finish The Longest Promise, there seems to be no chemistry at all between her and XZ, maybe too much of an age gap there) and she did ok. Her acting is consistent, even though sometimes her voice stressed me out a little. Oopsie. The storyline between Yixiu/Lin Mao and Han Xiao seems more interesting sometimes.

The villain is quite weak, and Lu Jiaxue irks me so much with his thick face (which part of she doesn't like you anymore don't you understand you pathetic man??!) I felt like pushing him down the cliff myself. Lol. And the writer seems to be quite fond of introducing the main beef out of nowhere rather than easing into it. The way they introduce Luo Shenyuan's vendetta against clearing up his shifu's case, the earlier love/relationship between LJX and LYN, they were all thrown into your face pretty much without a warning imho.

The mansion is beautiful, especially the Lou Mansion (sometimes it was questionable how a relatively less prominent family like the Luos can afford to stay in such a mansion, even the Duke Ying's mansion can't compare to the Luo Mansion in terms of the grandiosity). The custom is also relatively too strict for such a 'non-prominent' family, like how they seem to carry out the daily greeting and even how Lin Da Niang and Lin Mao's having to bow before a maid of their mother who apparently carries the 'oral message' from the Lin Matriarch. Usually I only see that when the eunuch carries a decree from an Emperor only. Lol.

OST is used extensively throughout the scenes, though it doesn't seem to stuck in my head after the completion of the drama. All in all, it was a fine drama to watch for the first time, it might even be quite good if you are not watching too many of Chinese dramas with the same trope.

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Continuing the saga

Finishing this after second tries. For someone who is new to the series, I was one of the watcher who watched Dashing Youth first and decided to watch TBoY after knowing it was some sort of sequel for DY. I quite love the DY (who wont? what with all the eye candies we were spooned fed with there? lol), but my first attempt to watch TBoY was quite disheartening at first. The first maybe 10 episodes were quite slow and the eye candy were quite lacking compared to the DY. lol. I left the series for a while before taking it up again and I am very glad I did it. Though the first few episodes were quite slow and just like DY, where there were so many characters being introduced time and time again, making it quite a task to continue. At least, coming from DY, some of the characters I actually already know, just needed to refamiliarise myself with the new version from what I know. The plot was fine enough and quite a flow from someone coming from DY.

Now, on to the leads. This is my first drama of LHY. Took me some time to get attached to LHY's visual and acting, his handsomeness for me is of the type that, the more you saw him, the more he appears more handsome. His character is also quite prudish and cold at first, so it is getting me a while to warm up to him. But by the end of the series, I was getting quite attached to his Xiao Se character and even though his power seems to getting more powerful without that much effort from him (lol), his final fight with Luo Qingyang was quite awesome. I was laughing when he ended up using Wujie's idea of insulting the melancholy sword after literally calling it a dumbass idea. lol. Wuxin, on the other hand was such a funny shameless brat, and I was quite entertained by his character, though he was quite kinda fade into the background towards the end. It seems like Lei Wujie was a more important character in the series rather than Wuxin. Coming from Lei Mengsha in DY, no wonder everyone was talking about how it made sense Lei Wujie was as he was. lol. He really took after his father (or rather, LMS did a good job acting as he is in DY, making it a fine prequel for TBoY.)

Romance was aplenty with so many characters' relationship but it was only on the surface, it seems that they only like to focus on the martial arts and brotherhood theme for the series, and the romance trope was only sprinkled there as an afterthought. I cant really seem to get along with the romance between Xiao Se and Sikong Qianluo that well, the vibe was just wasn't vibing I guess. lol. The whump was also quite nice, though it seems like every one healed so fast after almost losing their lives. lol

Costumes for ML was nice and shuai, I have no problem with that. Though all the other characters got so and so costumes only. CGI was good enough not to appear too cheap, and the fight and battle seems quite believable. Tang Lian's death mourning was quite well done, I would like to be remembered like that as well if it was me. OST was so and so, nothing that stands out too much to me.

All in all, it was a nice (old) sequel in the saga and worth to watch. Hopefully I can see LHY again in something like this.

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Dashing Youth Indeed

just finished this a few minutes ago. as per Youku's production prior to this, it was quite a challenge for me to find a site to watch this comfortably (not in Netflix/wetv app or iqiyi which are usually the 3 sites I frequented for CDramas. Finally settled for watching in Dramacool site, despite the annoyance of having to filter all the popups *sigh

now, on with the drama's review. The plot is nice enough, intriguing and appropriately interesting. The idea of a carefree handsome youth (which is somehow an influenced wealthy heir to an important family) finding his footing in the big jianghu world really grab me in, and Neo Hao did a good job playing the role of BLDJ. I used to have a crush on him in his A Girl Like Me and yes, he was as enchanting and handsome as ever. His portrayal of BLDJ is also appropriate and endearingly captivating. in fact, all of the characters did a good job and that made the stories flow perfectly well in my opinion. Though it looks like BLDJ seems like the ML here, and it was clear during the first half (or maybe the until the third quarter) of the show, I can't help but feel that they put so much emphasis on YDZ towards the end, and BLDJ just kinda fades in importance towards the end. Love the idea of the so called brotherhood that BLDJ and YY/YDZ shared as the main point of this story, but I cant help but think, the brotherhood was only based on the same scene when they were about 9/10-ish year old and there's not enough brotherhood thingy going on between adult BLDJ and YDZ shared to convince me of such high paid effort that BLDJ seems to extend towards YDZ and vice versa ( albeit lesser for the YDZ's part towards BLDJ). I feel like BLDJ shared more moments of ups and downs with SKCF as brothers compared to YDZ.

Acting was quite top notch if I may say so, and this extends to almost all characters in the drama, so it was quite heartening. I definitely was amazed that the younger actor who carried the role of NGCS can keep up with the vibes set up by the older and more experienced actor for the older Mr Li , causing the flow of Li Changsheng character to flow smoothly even though there is a transition from one actor to another, as if the NGCS character was acted out by one actor only, just donning a face mask. lol. This gives me quite a contrast to Li Hanyi's character, I love little Hanyi, but the adult version was just annoying, I dunno what the Writer was planning for that character. How can someone being raised alongside NGCS and was then later sent to someone like BLDJ can possibly grow up to be that kind of irritating, hollier-than-thou swordsman I wonder. In fact, in my mind, the ranking for the most annoying female character for this series are YueQing > Yi Wenjun > older Li Hanyi. (and wenjun only slightly above in the list due to the fact that she appears more than the adult Li Hanyi. lol). YueQing was such a useless character with no redeemable value at all in my eyes. very close minded, all she did was whine and throw tantrum while making her sister's underlings did all the works. And don't let me start with Yi Wenjun. I can symphatized with her life as someone who basically had no choice at all from the beginning and had to be a sacrificial pawn in the political board of Beili, and I can even understand why she needs to leave her first born in the palace when she first left, I can even understand how she felt the need to go back for her supposedly dying first born later, but the way she did it, and her decisions ultimately caused all the downfalls of important and strong characters. The romance between her and YDZ was also not so well developed and I just cant get into the ultimate love story to pity their failed love. Totally agrees with Ji Ruofeng's comment "beauty that is causing the downfall of a country" (or something to that effect) and I'm glad that BLDJ blames her for his brother's death, even though he thinks YDZ don't. With adult Li Hanyi acting all mighty and self-righteous with no power/life experience to back-up her annoying self, this concludes my list of 3 most annoying females in Dashing Youth. lol

Back to ML and FL, I think this is my first drama of FL and I quite like her. Yue Yao was also someone who is righteous, but is not clouded with power and was able to see the bigger picture. She was a steadfast supporter of BLDJ and I think, for BLDJ to become such an accomplished swordsman, YueYao was at least half a reason for it. in fact, I think, if BLDJ were to lose YY and his entire Marquis of Zhenqi's mansion like YDZ does, I am sure the turnout would not be quite so different with YDZ tbh. BLDJ was just lucky he was able to happily end up with someone like YY and get to keep his families and as such, was backed up by such a powerful family. The romance between ML and Fl was plentiful in the first half and I was sad that viewers were robbed of the chance to see them back in Qiandong City and get married (I mean, BLDJ has been taking YY left right and center with him all this while, and he still hasn't married the girl yet? the heck were you doing Dongjun?? I'm pissed). and though it was mention times and times again that BLDJ inspires to be a Liquor Deity, while his brother wants to be a Sword Deity, it seems that that inspiration fades into the background by the end of the stories, nothing whatsoever about Dongjun finally being renowned for that feat, after the episodes where he won with his Seven Starry Nights. In fact, much of the plot tails end up like this, with no satisfying closure. Mr Li disappears with no trace, what with the Marquis's mansion fate, seeing that Dongjun is the sole son/grandson of the hereditary title of Marquis of Zhenqi, what's the point of Li Hanyi being the second city lord of XueYue, what's the point of Ye Xiaofan's character coming back (is it only to say hi to YDZ and lets him off? lol), what happened to the 8 gentleman's (BLDJ's shishiongs-poor Gu fella only appears in the first few episodes lol), I was even irked why the need to go to such lengths to introduce certain characters like Zhao Yuzhen then didn't do anything with him. lol. There's lots of other knickknacks left untied but I guess there's that. I was also left unsatisfied with how the emperor seems to be let off with no repercussions whatsoever and nothing in the palace of Beili seems to change for the good while YDZ had to atone for his strains of bad luck. I was in a hate love relationship with Xiao Ruofeng's character. while he seems to be quite upright and just, he also enabled such an undeserving man to own the highest power, when he himself can fit much better in the shoes. So it's fine for him to be selfish by allowing himself not to be tied to the throne but it was wrong for others not to let them be sacrificed for the greater good? yes, I'm talking about YWJ's case here.

OSTs were quite nice. And not to mention, hats off to the costumes team. they did a splendid job! I was always looking forward to see the next costumes the characters donned every time, and I'm glad that the dashing costumes were not only limited to the main leads only and all the characters' costumes appear to be so well thought of and beautiful, be it for the men or the women. BLDJ and YDZ's costumes were amongst the most beautiful I've ever seen in wuxia series. YueYao's also all flowy and enchanting *love love love. And truly, as per the series name, all the characters are dashing in their own right, it was literally a feast for the eyes. lol.


All in all, I probably will be looking around for this so called sequel of Dashing Youth -the blood of youth. Hopefully it can kept me watching till the end lol

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