The Legend of Zu 2 (2018)

This is the sequel and prequel to the Legend of Zu Mountain (2015). Before I start my review, let me state that I am not a fan of the 2015 series. In my opinion, it was a great disappointment. Hence, I was very very reluctant to watch this sequel/prequel to the 2015 series. Can a second installment of the series beat the first? You know how the second and subsequent ones tend to perform worst than the first in most series? In the case of the Legend of Zu Mountain, it is the opposite! Imagine my joy at finding that this second installment is waaaaaay better than its predecessor! I finished it last week but needed some time to digest it before writing a review.

Story: The start sets the story. A young woman fell from the sky out of nowhere. A young man dived into the lake to save her, disregarding his own life. She woke up without any memory of her past. But she was blessed with a mother and an older brother who seemed to dote on her. This young woman is Ying Nan, the female protagonist of this story. Her older brother is Ying Qi - a man born to be sacrificed so that his clan can survive. Ever since her near death experience which caused her to lose her memories, Ying Nan was plagued with a mysterious dream. In her dream, she saw the silhouette of a man. This man felt familiar. She was convinced that her dream man is the man who saved her. Nevertheless, Ying Nan led a free and happy life until one day, Ying Nan got lost in a forest while searching for her family. In this forest, she met the man who will forever change her destiny - Bai Gu Yi. He saved her from an attack and she fell in love with him; convinced that he's her dream man. Following Ying Qi in his quest to save his clan, Ying Nan ended up joining the Zu Mountain sect. What will happen when she realized that Ying Qi is not her birth brother? What will happen when the survival of the world is once again threatened and the only people standing between world annihilation and survival are the very ones who may well destroy it? Who is Ying Nan? Where did she come from? Will Ying Qi survive after sacrificing his life for his clan? Who will Ying Nan end up with - Ying Qi or Bai Gu Yi? This is a prequel in that this story happened 60 years before the events of Legend of Zu Mountain (2015). This is also a sequel because this story started and ended after the events of the 2015 series.

I love the story in this 2018 installment! There is some time traveling involved, but the 'time loop' makes sense. The story ends where it started. The love triangle (or should I say square since there were 4 people involved in it?) was nicely done. You'll find yourself either in camp Ying Qi or camp Bai Gu Yi. I also love it that a writer is brave enough to include an imperfect personality (or should I say partially evil?) as one of the main male character. I love that there's character development throughout the story. The ending was just perfect! It wasn't rushed and all events and characters explained. This is one drama where the ending created a strong and unforgettable impact. Watch it till the end and let me know if you are not emotionally affected by it!

Acting/Cast: A mix of young and experienced cast. Despite the lack of experience, young age and lack of star power (unlike the 2015 installment with well-known superstars William Chan and Zhao Li Ying), the cast did an excellent job! Special mention to Nie Zi Hao (as Bai Gu Yi).....I've noticed this young man since The Journey and The Journey 2. I look forward to see more of his work!

Music: Let me gush about another aspect of this series that I absolutely love - the music! All of the OSTs are amazing! I've saved them and am enjoying them now.

Rewatch value: I re-watched this almost immediately after finishing it. Like less than 24 hours later! Partly because I was downloading the episodes to save them into my external drive but also for re-watching some important scenes in this series that became so much more meaningful because of the ending. This is a good example of how having an unforgettable ending increases the value of the entire drama. Boy am I glad that they didn't muck up the ending!...... and yes, Bai Gu Yi, I agree.....this is the best ending!

Overall: I give this drama a rating of 9.0/10.0. Amazing story, cast and music. Enough said. Go watch it!

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The story is good, but the acting in this drama is terrible! Especially the main female lead, Yu Ting Er. I don't think I've since worst acting than her's in any drama I've watched. I cannot stand her acting at all! The only reason I watched the whole drama is because I really like this series and this type of drama. However, the story line of this drama has nothing to do with the previous series. So, if you don't have a strong attachment to this series, I'd say just skip this drama. It's really not worth it to waste time on Yu Ting Er's acting even if it's a good story.

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Let's just say that this was one of m favorite dramas I have watched...

The whole story plot was amazing and I loved the main characters, especially yun yi nan and yun yi qi. The chemistry between these two characters was amazing.

The acting was fantastic because once I started this show I couldn't stop watching it. I really fell for these characters and were able to feel their emotions.

The music, first of all, was AMAZING, it really matched the way of the drama and it sympathized the emotion that was occurring throughout the drama.

Lastly, I TOTALLY RECOMMEND REWATCHING THIS DRAMA, B/C I MEAN it's JUST FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I'm still on the fence about what I think about this one...

I found this drama to be interesting enough to finish for a variety of reasons. Even though it was the typical 'magical school' premise, it had its unique points, such as the mysterious character that kept trying to interfere with the story, the idea that the whole thing was a book, the 'saloon' and its masked proprietor.

I nearly dropped it a couple of times during the first episode--it didn't seem serious at all. The female lead was initially a bit annoying, but I liked her character development over time. She went from silly to serious in a reasonable and believable amount of time.

I had some serious SMLS with this one for two main reasons. The first and key reason was that I could not ship the ML and FL together. While he never thought of her as his biological sister, she believed they were related for most of the entire time she knew him. So all of a sudden when she finds out they're not really related within a couple of minutes she's already starting to think of him differently? Nope, sorry, do not buy that. The cultural taboo against incest is incredibly strong and would take a good long while for her to get over it. (Honestly, here's how I would have done that if I was the writer: give SML and FL more time together but let FL become aware of ML not being her brother relatively early. All of the stuff SML hides from her comes out at a dramatic moment like their engagement ceremony or even their wedding day and ML is the one that picks up the pieces for her. Let's make sure some actual time passes by...like at least a year from the time she finds out ML is not her brother. In the actual show, they've been brother and sister for three years and less than a year passes by between the time that they go to the magic school and get married. Ick.) That ick factor in the whole thing just kept me from liking those two as a couple (until the end when he basically changes the timeline so she never thought of him as her brother)--and I almost dropped it again for that reason.

Second reason: SML almost never put the FL second in anything (except when he tried to convince the 'evil' sect he was on their side by stabbing the FL--and even then he did not kill her). Especially towards the end, the person who supports her the most and takes care of her without question is the SML. At the very end, when he's the proprietor, he is still so in love with her he decides to see if he, too, can change the story. So, I just couldn't get over it, I guess. Though, a lot of his (SML's) problems would have been solved if he had stopped the SFL from following him around all the time...oh and stood up to his master every once and awhile. In many ways, the SML was the main character of the show since the script spent a great deal of time on his character development.

I'm not a big fan of time travel dramas and if I had known in the beginning that it was part of the plot, I do not think I would have started it. So be warned.

In my personal drama rating system of "loved", "liked", "meh", "nah", this one gets a "liked", but I don't see myself rewatching any parts of it.

PS. I've thought about watching the first Legend of Zu, but do not think I will since, despite my love of William Chan, his hair looks ridiculous (but despite that I still got through "Age of Legends") but mostly because I hate plots where men fall in love with women who look the same as their dead wives (one of the reasons I could not get very far into Novoland Pearl Eclipse). Speaking if an "ick" factor...

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I didn’t expect much when I first started watching this drama, since the main casts are all new faces and I didn’t finish the first season. There are some reviews where people didn’t like the female lead’s acting but I personally thought she did great, although her character at the beginning was very naive and I can see why that could be annoying but as the story builds up and things become more serious I couldn’t stop watching. Not only the female lead but I think the main lead and second male lead did a good job too.

The ending left the biggest impression on me, you can say it’s a good ending but there is also something very sad about it as well. I’m conclusion I highly recommend this drama :)

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Cartoonish ways of Drama Making!!! PLease don't waste your time.

Just leave the disgusting CGI , bad production and pathetic BGM the utter disappointment is the direction. The casting is a flop and acting likewise. It felt like sitting through a documentary with kids' background score.

I have seen the 2015 series and hoped well they will make it better this time. No! they made is worse. The ML was okayish first few episodes and then like others his character was not watchable. The production seems expensive sometimes but if it doesn't compliment the story why are making it? The FL is fine sometime she is the reason why I kept going.

Please don't waste resources like this. If drama was supposed to look like satirical then you failed the mission.

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Mengapa saya suka? Well, Secara cerita bagus, karena sekalipun banyak plot twist tapi semuanya itu masih berhubungan dalam satu jalur utama cerita dan tidak meleber kemana-mana. Ceritanya keren dan tidak membosankan ditonton. Inti ceritanya adalah seseorang bisa melakukan apa saja untuk org yg dicintainya...walau kamu belum nonton legend of zhu 1, tetap bisa menikmati season 2 ini dengan baik. Opening themenya jg keren. Ada bagian comedy-nya sedikit disana sini itu jg membuat menonton jadi tidak membosankan. Nicky wu di awal episode jg sangat konyol dan lucu. Tapi kemudian kita bisa lihat alasan dibaliknya. Sayang sekali kisah cinta yang bertebaran disana sini antara bbrp karakter tidak digali maksimal. Contohnya kesukaan ying qi terhadap ying nan rasanya kurang digali dan rasanya terlalu tiba-tiba yingnan jg berbalik menyukai ying qi setelah pai gu yi berkhianat. Cerita ini prequel tapi jg sequel dari legend of zu . Karena yu ying nan berasal dr 'masa depan' yg kembali ke masa lalu krn pintu hidup dan mati terbuka ketika roh batu muncul. Ying nan diselamatkan oleh ying qi dari suku api. Dan diakui sebagai adiknya. Selama 3th ying nan tdk tahu siapa jati dirinya yg sebenarnya karena dia lupa ingatan setelah datang ke 60th sebelumnya. Ying qi diam2 menyukai ying nan. Sedangkan ying nan jatuh hati pada pai gu yi yang kharismatik. Tetapi ternyata pai gu yi tidak seperti yang dibayangkannya. Ying qi sendiri adalah pelindung suku api yg harus menghancurkan roh batu yg ternyata ada dalam ying nan.

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Surprisingly Good

I noticed Chen Zhe Yuan, Nie Zi Hao and Liu Yi Tong in another drama, so I came to watch this one. The character development in the story was very good, my opinions of the characters changed drastically. While I found Yu Yingnan's naivete very annoying at first, she grows out of it. As for everyone complaining about her acting, I looked it up, and the actress was 18. 18! What's everyone else doing at age 18? Probably either trying to get into college or working at a bad job, so she's done well for herself. The two male leads also undergo drastic changes. I hated some characters at some point, so the acting was effective. The plot twisted and turned, it was very exciting, especially towards the end.

Around halfway through, I thought, oh no, a time travel trope, but it actually wrapped events up pretty well. Near the beginning, when they were going up the mountain to learn from the sects as students, after passing through a test, I thought, oh no, a school environment trope, but that was also not what I expected, in a good way. With a certain villain and a certain antihero, I thought, ugh - the being horrible people due to being orphans trope, and that ended up being exactly what I expected, but one got redemption and the other didn't.

The computer graphics were better than I expected. The sets were relatively simple, but effective, and pointed to a medium sized production. Good action choreography team. The uniforms for the sects were plain, probably because there are so many members, but the main protagonists' outfits were pretty good. Silver threading and shoulder pads to look like armor. I was also super impressed by the "bar" setting that was by itself, and almost outside the rest of the plot. Great decor. The bartender's costume was great. The mask really brought out his jawline. The ending song also got stuck in my head, because it's rare to hear emo-ish, rocky songs in Mandarin.

Overall, this was a great, youth oriented story. I would read the book if I found it somewhere and it was translated.

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