Handsome Siblings (2020)

The Siblings Are The Only Thing That's Handsome

Going into this drama, I thought the title was cheesy and gimmicky, but the summary made it sound very interesting. If only it had lived up to its potential. This was honestly one of the hardest Chinese dramas I've ever watched, as in it took me months because I would get so fed up with it I would stop watching it for weeks at a time. For all that the title is Handsome Siblings, there's really not all that much time devoted to the siblings together and is far more focused on their individual adventures and such which is massively disappointing because when the two of them were together, they absolutely stole the show.

- The story had such potential: two brothers torn apart at birth and raised to be enemies and kill each other. It sounds so good, but the delivery just wasn't there. The brothers don't even meet until almost ten episodes in and after that their scenes together are few and far between. While the first part focuses on Wuque searching for Xaoyu and Xaoyu subsequently seeking to evade Wuque, the latter part of the drama has them making a pact to meet up in three months and then splitting up. Rather than waiting until quite literally the very end to reveal that they're brothers, I would have liked them to have found out sooner and seen them build their relationship as brothers. As it is, we get none of that, just repeated comments that they're best friends and it sucks they have to kill each other. Knowing that they were brothers would have put a lot more at stake and would have made the knowledge that they're being set up to kill each other far more conflicting and devastating. There's also just a lot of repetition, the same thing happening several times but with slightly different circumstances. I've found that most Chinese dramas struggle with this. They honestly could have cut the length down by ten or so episodes and nothing would have been lost. The pacing also left a lot to be desired. There'd be several episodes where things were really happening and then there'd be a slump of just filler episodes and then several more interesting ones and then more filler. It just never felt consistent, never found its groove, so to speak.
-The casting was, for the most part, absolutely spot on. Chen Ze Yuan and Hu Yi Tian both gave solid performances as Jiang Xaoyu and Hua Wuque. They felt a little bit rocky starting out but quickly ironed out the flaws and were fantastic for the rest of the drama. They both devoted themselves to their roles and the few instances when they were together, they played off of each other very well. They were also solid on their own and frankly their relationship and the build up to the big reveal that they're siblings was the only thing that kept me watching. The supporting characters were, for the most part, great but I especially enjoyed Liang Jie's performance as Su Ying. Frankly, I'm disappointed they didn't bring her in earlier because she was just so fantastic. She and Xauyu were made for each other. Their interactions were always fun to watch and she's just so darn cute but also an absolute badass. I adore her. Mao Lin Lin and Meng Li were also delightful to watch as Yaoyue and Lianxing. I honestly wish there had been more of them because they were just so good and so interesting to watch. More insight into their relationship would have been helpful, I think. The only actor I wasn't overly thrilled with was Vicky Liang as Tie Xinlan. She was very one note with all of her expressions and she made the character boring.
- The characters themselves were overall good, if not overly developed. Most of them were interesting and nuanced. With such a massive cast, backgrounds for the characters were obviously going to be thin, but for the most part it worked. I really enjoyed Hua Wuque's character development from the cold, naïve, perfect puppet to a genuinely good and kind man. I appreciated though that his naivety wasn't completely done away with as I felt it made him more realistic. I really wish more of the story had been devoted to him because I found him so much more interesting than Xaoyu. He was a bit more of an enigma and I would have liked more screen time focused on his character development. Xaoyu is a mix of good and bad. Like I said, I wish more time had been devoted to Wuque and less to him. It felt like he had far more screen time. Overall, I liked Xaoyu, he was funny and interesting and certainly clever, but I felt like his character development was a little more all over the place and less coherent than Wuque's. I also felt like his storyline was a lot more repetitive which got old fast. Honestly, I was rolling my eyes the fourth or fifth time he used going to the bathroom as an excuse to get away from someone, it just got to be increasingly annoying. The fact that characters who had experience with his tricks repeatedly fell for them was equally frustrating. He did grow as a character which I appreciated seeing and he did add a lightheartedness that was needed at times. I also have to admire his bravery and his kindness and sincerity. He could be a brat, but he was a good-hearted brat. As I said before, I adored Su Ying and wish she'd been brought in far earlier. She was the perfect foil for Xaoyu and I loved that she could hold her own against him. She was clever and resourceful and I liked the fact that they didn't give her any martial arts skills, it was kind of refreshing. I do have to give this show a shoutout for, with one notable exception, featuring strong, badass women. It was so nice to see that when, a lot of the time, women in these kinds of dramas are just downright useless. It was nice to see strong women who were equally capable at kicking ass and using their brains.
Another character that stood out to me was Murong Jui. I went from hating her to actually getting quite invested in her story and where she ended up. It was not what I was expecting at all and I really enjoyed seeing her growth and development and I'm glad they didn't do away with that when she got her memory back. Her relationship with Hei Zhi Zhu was also quite adorable. Of the Ten Great Villains Xuanyuan Sanguang was my favorite. He was just so entertaining to watch and he had such a good heart, he always made me smile. Speaking of the Ten Great Villains, I found them to be interesting but not particularly villainous until the end. There's a bit of twist with them that I did not fully see coming and which, while it pissed me off on the one hand, I also really appreciated because it gave their characters more depth. They way things ended for them though felt sloppy and rushed. I was not impressed.
In terms of villains, I found the sisters to be far more interesting and threatening than Jiang Biehe. While the actor was certainly striking in appearance, his reasoning for why he did what he did just seemed thin and generic. And then a full explanation for why he did what he did wasn't given until one of the final episodes and even then, it just seemed kind of meh. Honestly, if they had delved more into his past and why he had such conviction to become a hero, I think it could have been pretty great and a more solid story. But, per the usual, all the big reveals were left to the end and it just didn't have the punch it needed. Yulang was frankly just an ass. I get his father was evil, but I didn't get a good feeling as to why he was such a horrible person other than like father like son. I felt like a lot more could have been done with him and he could have been more interesting and developed, but he wasn't. I did find his ending extremely satisfying though. I really would have liked to have seen more of the sisters as they were a more compelling and nuanced threat. Yaoyue was clearly just unhinged though incredibly smart and dangerous because of that and it made the reasoning for why she pit Xaoyu and Wuque against each other more palatable. She also had a fitting ending. Lainxing was even more interesting because she always seemed so conflicted about what they were doing, even though it was her idea. I was sad things ended the way they did for her, because I think she could have been a genuinely good person away from the influence of her sister. As a pair, I would have liked more of their history and the conflicts that shaped their relationship.
The only character that I really did not like was Tie Xinlan. I liked her in the beginning although the whole thing with her pretending to be a man was, per usual, extraordinarily lame. I'm assuming this is a cultural thing though I honestly don't know, but I always want to bang my head against the wall because it is so obvious its a woman. Anyway, I thought she was going to be a far more interesting and useful character than she turned out to be. For all that she was trained in martial arts and had supposedly mastered the berserk thousands fists or whatever and carried around a sword, she was completely useless. She was constantly having to be rescued, never seemed capable of defending herself and there just wasn't much to her other than essentially stalking Wuque and forcing him to constantly save her. She got boring real fast. And her relationship with Wuque didn't feel organic. I honestly couldn't figure out what he saw in her aside from a pretty face. The fact that basically every other woman in the show was awesome, does help make up for everything she lacks.
- The cinematography was gorgeous. Honestly if it wasn't for the scary government, I would happily move to China and live in some of those mountains. Absolutely stunning.
- The OST was overall quite good. The opening and closing songs were fitting and worked well with the overall theme. The rest of the music for the most part fit with what was going on in certain scenes and fit the mood. There were a couple times where it just didn't quite work and felt off, pulling me out of the drama instead of pulling me in, but those instances were few and far between. For the most part, I quite enjoyed it.
- The visuals were a mix. The CGI was terrible, per the usual. For some scenes, why they didn't actually use rats who are very intelligent and trainable, I don't understand. Costuming was amazing as always. I enjoyed seeing each character's style and the various ways that style was expressed. Xaoyu's costumes were the most interesting to me just because they were so much more colorful and flamboyant that everyone else's. It very much fit his personality and character.

Is this a drama I am ever going to watch again? Absolutely not. As I said before, I literally slogged through this drama, it was hard and painful to get through. What's so disappointing is that it could have been great. They had a good cast, they had an interesting story idea and it just flopped because they failed to utilize any of it properly. There were moments that were really interesting and gripping and then it fell back into repetition and tedium that just dragged it down. The last ten or so episodes when things actually start happening and explanations are given were the strongest, the rest was just such a hit or miss. I really wanted to like this drama but in the end, it just didn't live up to its potential.

Leggi di Più

Incredibly Fun and Entertaining Wuxia Drama with Impressive Fighting Scenes~!!

Wow! I'm truly impressed. I never thought this drama's going to be this good and entertaining to watch. It reminded me why you shouldn't judge a drama merely out of peoples opinions and feedbacks.

Well, First thing first, SCRATCH all those negative feedbacks I've red about this drama even before I decided to watch this. People do really have different tastes and expectations to almost every single thing however I felt like this production didn't deserve any of those at all. In fact, this drama served and exceeded so much of my pre-set expectations; thank god I trusted my instinct and chose this one among many others.

There are really so much good things about this drama and this review might become 20+ pharagraph long (Hahaha) so let me just enumerate most of them.

× The smooth, Fun and entertaining story that got me hooked up from the very start till the end. I swear to god there's no dull moments in this drama.

× Fighting Skills are mostly impressive and detailed. You can definitely see that they took their time to practice those stunts to make it look pleasing and cool in the camera.

× Characters are well coordinated and for some reason they found a way to make them look interesting that you got no choice but to remember them even when they only appear 1-2 times for a short period of time.

× Cinematography, Color scheme and overall representation of the drama look pleasant in the eye. Nothing extra and bizarre going on and the costume are well matched and fits each individual characters.

Oh well... A drama can never be perfect and I admit to have creased my forehead several times due to some repetitive and ridiculous story plots and twists so let me mention some of those stuff as well.

× Let's start with the 6 member of Top 10 Villain who're supposedly strong and wicked but are just a bunch of tricky, gullible and weak individuals. I expected them to have atleast intermediate Kung Fu skills but they just don't. Bunch of disappointments on that area honestly + they lack an actual sense in the story and was killed as if they don't have anything better planned for them.

× Overly gullible Female Characters... I'm just so sick of people making women look strong and tough only to make them highly deceiveable and emotionally weak. Come on! Y'all can do better than that.

× Last but definitely not the least is the somehow predictable and bland ending. Like, How do I even start with how cringy and plain their actings are at the final episode? It felt forced and awkward. Did they shoot that scene at the very beginning? cause I never had any problem with their acting eversince aside from the final episode. That realy made me go "Ehhh! what was that? Lol".

Anyways, A drama that everyone can enjoy specially to those who are looking for nice, smooth and light Wuxia drama.

Story - 9.5, I contemplated a lot and ended up with this score after considering everything. Don't get me wrong, story is real good and have good ending. It's just that most of the scenes during the last episode felt so ordinary and plain. It felt like their creative juices was squeezed and drained so much throughout the entire run of the drama that they just throw what's the most obvious and simple at the end.

Acting/Cast - 9.5, This drama got the most irritating antagonists there is but that's actually why I love this story even more. I was very amazed on the way they personified and executed their characters to the point where I hated them so much too. What a love-hate relarionship Hahaha + The only thing that made me disappointed about it is the Final Episode. That's just so underwhelming in every single way. /sighs/

Music - 10, I love the choice of BGMs and I'm really impressed on how they inserted those sounds in the most comfortable way. They were all smoothly placed and Ballad is everything. <3

Rewatch Value - 10, This drama is high-praise-worthy and is one of the drama that made me binge-watch continuously this year. It is so exciting and made me look forward to each and every coming episodes without a miss. Will definitely rewatch it 100%.

Overall - 9.5, It should've been Perfect 10 but the continuous display of women manipulation + lack of actual character sense and value made me frustrated.
Not to mention the ever-plain-ending that made it even worse which led me to this conclusion after so much contemplation.

If you find my review helpful please let me know

Leggi di Più

Very enjoyable if you have a high tolerance for bullshit

Handsome siblings tells the story of twin brothers separated from birth. Hua Wuchue grew up to be the young master of a famous clan, who was told by his aunts that he is destined to kill Jiang Xiaoyu. Meanwhile, Jiang Xiaoyu was brought up by a bunch of villains but still managed to become an overall good person with a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Neither of them knows they have a twin brother. When they turn 18, they venture out into the world with very different goals: one to kill the other; the other to discover the truth behind his origin. And while the duel seems to be inevitable between the twins, they still become somewhat good friends along the journey.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON!
This is my first review here and not an overwhelmingly positive one, so please don't take it as an offense. I really enjoyed the show, but I also had a lot of problems with it.

Starting with the positive, I loved the leads. The performance of the siblings was great. Jiang Xiaoyu is charmingly smart and funny, tricks everyone he meets, and talks himself out of every crisis. Hua Wuchue is reserved but kind. I loved to see his character development.

However, other than those two, almost every aspect of the story has "flaws." (In parenthesis, because it depends on what you're looking for in a good drama).

First of all, the story is really silly, which itself is not a problem. But because of the silliness, it also fails to deliver genuine emotions at times. The design of the 12 zodiac signs or the 10 villains makes it hard to take them seriously. It's just so... children's movie-like. But it is not a children's movie. It's a wuxia with the mandatory massacres included.

There are 3 "final bosses" (the aunts, the rat, and Jiang Qin), but the only really scary and interesting villain is Jiang Qin. The others' motivations are petty at best and crazy at worst. I don't have a problem with crazy, but I have a problem with illogical. So the aunts' are angry that the boys' father was not in love with them. They take revenge by murdering the man and his wife. Then they steal one of the children, bring him up, teach him and pamper him, just to order him 18 years later to murder his own brother. Is it just me, or is this awfully stupid? They are also very static characters. (There are a lot of static characters in this story. I was hoping for them to change, but they remained the same all the way to the end.)

I also have a problem with the girls. Like, all of them, really. I rarely like female characters anyways, and this story has a lot of girls; almost all of them madly in love with one sibling or the other (or both). Tie-whatshername starts out as an interesting character but somehow becomes a constant damsel in distress. Also, there's a love triangle between her and the boys with a lot of angst on her part. The other girl, the rat's step-daughter, is just not a likable person. She is intelligent, but she doesn't have the moral character of Jiang Xiaoyu. She misleads people out of petty jealously, attempts to murder Wuchue by tricking him, even though she knows that Xiaoyu'er wouldn't want that... and so on. I probably could have warmed up to her if I had the time to do so, but she rarely had any screentime, and there really wasn't any space for the chemistry to develop between her and Xiaoyu. Also... I saw little to no development in her character either. The murder attempt happened in the last episode. So yeah, I couldn't get to like her.

In conclusion, this show is not bad. It has a silly plot, a lot of funny interactions, mediocre music, decent filmography, okay fight choreographies, and two very likable leads. It also has a lot of flaws. But it certainly is a fun ride if you want to watch something lighthearted and sweet with a happy ending.

Leggi di Più

Predictable story but entertaining and super cute main lead

The legendary siblings (1999) was one of my first Chinese dramas as well as favorite dramas back when I was little. I was quite excited when I heard about this remake especially after bromance dramas getting better and more popular nowadays.

I was a bit disappointed watching the first episodes as I found Chen Zhe Yuan a bit too baby faced for playing Xiao Yu Er and Hu Yi Tian’s acting too stiff. Even story-wise the first mini-arc felt really unrealistic that I almost dropped it.

But then the story became better and I really enjoyed the drama until episodes 30ish.
There are two longer acts in the story: the hidden treasure mystery and the tender to transport a pile of silver. Both have their own twists and mysteries. The arcs connect themselves to an overarching plot, though I knew about the overarching plot I was not able to foresee (at least not as quick) the resolution of those acts which made them suspenseful. There are also some small emotional climaxes where Xiao Yu Er falls into a slump or the villain gets to pay for some of their evil doings.
As in many Wu Xia dramas, there are many idealistic occurrences and unrealistic coincidences; e.g. Love is always, at first sight, strong women never want to continue living when their lovers die, 100% survival after falling from cliffs, finding your friend quickly in the big vast nature without any idea where he might be, etc... Just watch them with one eye closed and you are fine.
To my opinion, the last arc, ~10 episodes before the finalee, could have been cut. The story becomes repetitive and does not add value to the overarching story: someone becomes a hostage and is saved later; someone else is deceived and gets caught again... Since I did not read the source material so I don’t know whether this is from the book itself but it felt like the screenwriter wanted to introduce more characters from to this drama but had not a good idea how to. Luckily, the ending was really well-executed (though expected) with a satisfactory happy ending.

As for the cast and the acting, I was very impressed with Chen Zhe Yuan’s acing as Xiao Yu Er. Some might find him overacting but this did not bother me. He is very cute and extremely fun to watch. I just could not get enough of his jokes and saw myself looking forward to seeing how he times and times tricks himself out of danger. I really fell in love with Chen Zhe Yuan (he is only 23!) - he will for sure become a great actor and I cannot wait to see more of his works.
I was not a fan of Hua Wu Que but slowly got a liking at him too as he slightly let his emotions peeks through here and there. XYE and HWQ are a great couple whose character traits and relationship development strongly remind me of Wei Wu Xian and Lan Zhan from Untamed. And there were 1-2 heart-racing scenes which actively target BL fans like me (e.g. XYE falls from a tree and was caught by HWQ the sweetest way while there was no need at all to put XYE on a freaking tree!!)
Also, most supporting characters are fairly interesting and three-dimensional. And the villains, esp. Jiang Yu Lang, have done a marvelous job. I heard that this adaption is one with the most complete cast set based on the main novel, that seems to be indeed the case.
The only part I was not very happy with is the female leads. Vicky Liang’s acting is pretty average; though she had great chemistry with XYE, she and HWQ were not a good fit at all. Liang Jie playing Su Ying did a good job in terms of acting but her character is not at all likable, in fact rather egoistic and deceiving. Even though this might be true to the source materials it would have been more realistic to have the womanizer but extremely kind XYE to stay single rather than for him to end up with Su Ying (Where is my cute little Xiao La Jiao (little chili pepper) from the 99 edition?!). Murong Jiu would have been even a better fit.

Luckily, the romance is not key in the drama. From the production point of view, the costumes are beautiful, sceneries are beautiful and the Wu Xia fights are visually satisfactory. It took them two years to produce this!! Small CG elements were spotted but overall the production value is great and sets well crafted.
The title and ending songs are really nice - I just wish they would use them more in the drama rather than the sad Er Hu BGMs that they kept playing towards the end...

Overall, I had a good time with the drama but you might want to fast forward the last arc to save some time. I would recommend it to those who love Untamed, bromance and any adaption of handsome siblings.

Leggi di Più

Painful Writing

I realise this is from an old novel so I can't really say this had potential knowing that but, yeah, I feel this had potential. My western thought processing clashed terribly with this. I knew I was going to drop this on the second episode.
The pacing is painful. There are a lot of more exciting/creative ways to have summarized the beginnings of the plot. Nope. We're made to walk the story, inch by inch. I sat with my head in my hands realising why it's 40 episodes.

Side note - The father/twin, what did they do to this man's face. He felt like a robot and honestly made to look like one. Was he meant to be structured and porcelain white ? and instead ended up looking a face of flour with 2016 insta eyebrows. But perhaps that's my agitation talking. The actor is good looking. The father clearly was meant to be a heart throb. I did not see it.

Case in point - I absolutely hate love triangles and the big bad is jealous sisters, so either way, this Cassanova was effed from the start because even if he fell for a sister, the other sister would still be scorned. No wonder the poor guy ran away. These women are just delusional psychos and I hate seeing women pitted against each other for silly reasons. If there is a legitimate reason for this hate, I don't have the patience to find out.
I have no pity for pathetic villains. Meanwhile, the other villains were just straight up goofy and stupid.
I hated everyone on this show.
The women are just a misogynistic tragedy to watch and the male characters are just stupid and unreasonable.
I made it to episode 12 simply because of the lead. I was really enjoying his impish wits and heart of gold moments. I love intelligent characters who can think themselves out of a problem, until I caught the scent of putting him in a love triangle with his robot of a brother, who is trying to kill simply because he was told to. What?
I wanted to punch the FL (at least she is by episode 12) She came in with a lot of badass potential and as soon as she's dressed in pink, she's turned into a simpering, floundering brat who was thoroughly enjoying playing the lead's feelings because, hehe, he's jealous. No. Just no.
That's when I knew I wasn't going to make it through this series. I skipped right to the last episode for the conclusion and very thankful that I didn't waste my time.

Leggi di Più

Great production and ending, but poor structured and and too many love interests

This drama is pretty good especially the costume, props, buildings and backgrond scenary are superb. Character profiling is extremely good too
But it still have problems, most of which can be summed up to 2 points
- most girls being xiao love interest not only is wasted plotline but also undermines development and relationship of lot of other character
-the plot structure is very kind of messy and repeatative (foreshadowing and lores are not properly/effectively placed

If i go in plot detail, i would divide the show into 5 parts/arc
1) Beginning and individual journey arc (i.e from their parents death to the point before the two brothers meet each other)
Problems with this part include
- their parent died from suicide, which kind of undermines the the entire revenge drama. (Because biehe cannot be blamed for it, even though the show tries to blame him for it. If anything yao yue is more at blame than anyone else, but since it was suicide it still undermines the blame)
-hua wu que individual journey is extremely bland. Especially the lover arc was totally bland and partially nonsence and also were the worst episodes of the entire series.

2) Jiang Bie He arc (i.e treasure map +silver cargo arc, basically from the brothers meeting to jiang bie he being exposed)
Probably the best arc of the series, but still
-Problem with this arc is all the unnecessary love interest of xiao yu. Especially the fat girl is discriminated by narrative being fat, poor girl is discriminated by narrative for being poor etc. They dont really add much to the narrative anyways.
-Also especially in silver cargo arc, xiao yu character was kind of dumbed down for other to outwit him. He literally knows everything, but never uses that info in clever way.

3) 3 months to duel arc (i.e the part where xiao yu and ha wu que promises a duel in 3 months and goes on a journey with each other's master)
-This arc have the recipe to be a really good arc, since it has a lot of twist and turns. But is executed very poorly. Like for eg- hero lu was barely mentioned (like once or maybe twice), so it was more like his character coming for the twist out of nowhere or Mr tong's identity was too obvious and the was waste (if tong was lian xing instead of yao yue, there would have been support of emotional weightage for her action in finale and not to mention sight better attempt at surprise element)

4) wu ya clan arc (ie the entire thing that happened in and around wu ya palace)
-Next best arc after the second one. It problem stems from how 12 zodiacs were underused as group and how rat or su ying were introduced too late.

5)finale/duel arc
-The was almost perfect except for two minor problems. The members of 10 great villan's death felt forced and yao yue hallocinating jaing feng was not only disservice to jaing feng's character, but also empowerment to her stupid jelousy

Character wise-
-Xiao yu was quite a delight to watch since he is very expressive, but it never really felt like he was naturally getting stronger (even though he got those manual and even after the scene with being intelligent is not enough, growing strong is needed emphasis). He beating rat with his two days learned martial art was a joke tbh
-Hua Wu Que was way too stiff. He never showed expression like jelousy which should have been present considering the love triangle. He expression does get better towards the end, but it's was never upto mark.
-Tie Xin Lan for most part is ok for her role. She and hua wu que didnt have much chemistry is the only problem
-Su Ying and Jiang Bie He's only problem was they were not introduced early. While jiang bie was indeed introduced in 1st episode, it was like a 1 sec cameo image. His relationship with jiang feng should have been explored with some actual speaking role.
-Rat would have had a better role as tragic villan considering his backstory, appeareance and his daughter being heroine, but unfortunately he played out as petty generic hateable villan. He should also have been introduced early on considering 12 zodiac was major part of 1st episode.
-Yu Lang actor was extremely talanted but unfortunately material given for that character is too generic. He had a chance of played Redemption arc and showing he is different from his father (like how the yi hua palace sisters are different from each other). But he born and died as a evil with 0 character development like his father. Well, being killed by tie ping gu was the next best thing. But i wish tei ping gu learned about his hand in her grandfather's death to have some additional emotional weightage
-now coming to Murong Jiu and black spider. For most part black spider played as second fiddle to xiao yu rejected love interest and when murong jiu finally go her memory back, they rushed everything and skipped all the dynamics and development of their relationship
-zhang jing and gu ren yu had even worse. One min they started working together when murong jiu disappeared and next min he like her suddenly. There was 0 development whatsoever
-12 zodiac were very poorly used. They were never shown together or as group (which they were supposed to be instead of 10 great villans who were not a group, but still shown as group). They were placed randomly and killed one by one. Some were even killed in the episode or even seconds after introduction. Also the tiger and rabbit were forgotten at the end. (Especially tiger got forgotten is weird, considering his wife died with 10 great villans

Finally action scenes were ok, but this series need more action. Also action scene are scenary like instead of adrinaline pumping with stakes and strategies, So i was not really all that into it.

Leggi di Più

??? Siblings ;)

It's a good show. I am fan of Hu Yi Tan from Life is beautiful! in this his role was not equal to Chen Zhe Yuan. Chen Zhe Yuan has a more screen time. Over all the story is satisfactory, with good martial arts scenes, humor and story line. This series is one of those which makes you think if ancient chinese people did this all the time that would be ridiculous and that is poison someone and cure them next minute with an antidote or take antidote first and play with poison. In every other scene someone is given some kind of poison and they are looking for antidote i found that funny and very un realistic, yes wuxia is fantasy but this was quiet ridiculous. If you can get over that story is good with martial arts which i really like. FLs are no strong leads and yes i felt character of Su Ying was unnecessary and had no chemistry with ML. I thought it is not always needed to pair up with someone, this is one of that case.

Leggi di Più

wuxia elements

I enjoyed the ride as I was not expecting much from this
but i got hooked once Xiaoar enter the scene
production quality was good love the dresses and colour of sets and Xiaoar'sd dresses
Story is not anything special if u have seen many wuxia its same I felt so much resemblance with The legend of condor heroes except main protagonist there was v innocent while here he is trickster . but its all different masters different character journey a map
acting by Chen Zheyuan is v good I have never seen his otehr drama so loved him here his eyes are v expressive
Hutiyan didn't have much expression as hs character is shown to be a silent quiet one but he look elegant
Love all zodiac signs depiction character ,and ten great villain the most Jiang Be he and his son Jiang Yulang acted well I hated him so much and was surprised why he never got killed but than how would story would unfold
What was disappointing was all females charcter main female protagonist Tie xin lin I liked her but her carcter was monotonous , Su character was forced one
I didn't understand why all females were shown to fall in love with Xiao'r but yes his character was lovable even i fell for him but why later Miss Tie says she loves other brother , why director thought that they should show some girl with him that triangle was totally badly dipicted and left me forward scenes of them , I didnt like Miss su at all i think her charcter was forced in the story . I felt Xiaor chemistry more with Miss Mu than ny other females
Last arc of Rat cave was most boring and un necessary , if they could have made that well this drama would have been iconic
i enjoyed it till last four episode than started skipping
I felt directors had some problem with adaptation as all adopted parents were shown bad
re watch: NO I wont but now going to look for Chen Zheyuan other dramas

Leggi di Più

Besties for the Resties

I enjoyed the overall plot. Not many surprises or shock factors, but that's fine. The ending was satisfactory, and it didn't leave me with many questions.

The best part of this show was undoubtfully XiaoYu, love that the dude who was raised by a handful of the most baddest baddies turned out to make friends and gain the trust and affection of everyone left and right. His brother on the other hand.... was a little boring, lol (I still adore him tho).

I loved the scenes between XiaoYu and HuaQue, they had great chemistry, I just wish the show had spent more time building their brotherhood/brotherly bond. We basically just got them spending one birthday together, and then boooom they're besties for the resties.

Other Pros:
- I really, really loved the supporting characters. They were all so lovable!!! Especially little fairy, Hei ZhiZhu, Mu RongJiu, and Ms. Gu!!!!
- The YiHua Palace aunts hold such a strong presence whenever they're on screen, they were never boring! Love them!!!
- Many of the scenes with the ten great villains were so hilarious, I just wish we got more out of them towards the end...
- Su Ying and Xiao Yu are a great pair!
- The romance between Hei ZhiZhu and Mu RongJiu!! They were my favorite pairing on this show, so cuuuuuute!

Cons:
- Tie Xinlan was both the most annoying and most boring character on this show, I felt like skipping every scene with her. I honestly can't even think of one thing I enjoyed about this character. x.x Her romance with WuQue was boring, they're the only pairing on this show that I straight-up disliked.
- The show overall would have benefitted from focusing more on the brotherhood.

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This is a difficult drama to review, because I have so many opposing opinions on many aspects. Firstly, I want it to be known that this drama is 100% carried by Chen Zhe Yuan. Xiao Yu'er as a character is just so entertaining and amusing, and although he has flaws, he learns these flaws himself and acknowledges them. He's full of charisma. I could watch a thousand episodes of Xiao Yu'er just wandering around talking to random people. This is a role that Chen Zhe Yuan really wanted to play, and he did everything to put himself into the character; as someone who has read the novel, I think he is perfectly cast. He understands Xiao Yu'er very very well. From watching his interviews, you know he could go on for hours analyzing his character. His acting for me is perfect and natural. If at times he seems to be "overacting," that is because the scene calls for it, ie. it is supposed to be a comical scene with XYE acting ridiculous. His eyes alone are capable of conveying all different emotions in a believable way.

Moving on to Hu Yi Tian. I'm sorry, but I feel his acting is not up to par. He cannot emote with his eyes. But I won't blame him entirely for making the character of Huq Wu Que so boring. In the novel, HWQ is actually more interesting. He is capable of smiling, of understanding the concept of humor, and of actually being funny himself in a weird way that may or may not be intentional. The drama decided to cut out all of his interesting dialogue, though, probably because it was usually in response to XYE saying some things a little too "rude" to be broadcast. But in the novel I feel HWQ is more self-aware and far more interesting. In the drama he seems a bit more oblivious, like he has no clue what he's doing most of the time. Only occasions he lights up at all are scene in which he's interacting with XYE. XYE can bring anyone to life, I guess.

It must be said that there is zero chemistry between Xin Lan and Hua Wu Que, but thankfully any romance there was very limited. Speaking of Xin Lan...she is not a favorite character of mine. Too wishy-washy and incapable, too dramatic, not entirely intelligent, but not unlikable overall.

This is a story with lots and lots villains, like an endless revolving door of villains. So this may take some getting used to if you're not familiar with stories like this. I was really angry the first time I watched this drama. The villains always outwitted people, and "people" seemed to believe every word any evil person said. Hua Wu Que's "aunts" are my favorite villains. But there are lots to choose from. Jiang Yu Lang is kind of amusing, I won't lie. I couldn't take him seriously at all, but he is great in the role. His scenes with XYE are hilarious.

Overall, I ended up enjoying it much more on my second watch, I guess because my expectations were different. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the climax, partly because it felt a bit rushed, but mostly because Hu Yi Tian's acting during that scene was horrendously unimpressive. He seemed almost unaffected but the insanity unfolding around him--no expression in his eyes at all unless he was directly interacting with XYE. Maybe Chen Zhe Yuan's charisma rubbed off on him during those times. Just...wish they could redo that whole scene and have HYT try to look like he gives a poop, instead of letting CZY carry everything.

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