Joy of Life (2019)

Fantastic Periodic Drama

Love this drama. So funny, witty and the rhythm is really good. It is not draggy. The part that I find most amazing is the number of casts they included in this drama. It must be really expensive to portray so many characters of the book. The production team didn't save money on this and I was so impressed. THey did the casting really well as well, none of the actors and actresses looked cheapskate (you wld find this in some low budget drama where they would cast really badly on the badguys)

The story is so amazing as well, so much of intricacy moments all intertwined together, like a big jigsaw puzzle. I had to go to Youtube to search a few synopsis to understand the relationship between all the events. So glad that the scriptwriters managed to write the scenes well, or else, it would have been so difficult to understand.

I have only 1 complaint. They left us hanging on the last episode. It's really crappy to be watching a drama that paces so quickly and suddenly to be hit by a last episode that hang half way. I should have waited for S2 to come out before watching this.

I hope in the next season, they will feature Yuan Quan more prominently (the professor) I love her acting. She is that kind of actress that carries so much complexity on her. Definitely more than meet the eyes.

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Rewatch preparing for S2 EPIC Script!

One of my all-time favorite dramas. This is the best script ever!
Everything is absolutely perfect except the lighting. There's a lot of olive tunes to the drama making the actors look not as pretty which is incredible because there are a ton of beautiful actors in here.

For those people that may not like this drama for whatever reason, may missed all the essence of Chinese language word play. There's so much comedy but all lost in translation. Even the names are clever. Sadly, I can only understand 80% of it. I so wish I can read the actual book but since I can't, the drama itself is perfect.

Some Fun Word plays:
Fan Jian - Fan Xian's Dad's name actually sounds like "being bitchy"
Chen Ping Ping - A very girly name for the master schemer
Nei Ku - Treasury sounds exactly like underwear
There are countless of these.

Unique on every level.
1. Political scheming isn't all that interesting to me but it's part of every costume drama you can't avoid. However, it is interesting here because all the characters are all multi-dimensional.
2. Characters. You can't find any weakness here. Well written characters along with perfect casting.
Mini Fan Xian - I could've used extra episode of him. He's so cute and expressive.
Fan Xian - Everybody loves Fan Xian. I am 100% biased here because the actor has been one of all-time favorites.
Wang Qi Nian - The side kick endless funny punch line delivery guy
Teng Zi Jing - The assassin in the beginning that formed such strong bromance
Fan Si Zhe - Did not know the actor is actually a standup comedian but I can see why
I literally loved almost every character big or small. Shows how brilliant the script writer is.
3. Level of literacy
There's a scene of Fan Xian reciting all the famous poems. (no I never got to that level in my Chinese) but it's amazing the actor reciting all those poems in one breath. People with high Chinese literacy will surely appreciate this.

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This drama should have been called "Fan Xian Collecting Geges/Guniangs" because all older guys considered themselves his father and all pretty ladies fall for his charms XD

I started this drama because of Xiao Zhan, but he is in the last 8 episodes or so, and since the very first episode I didn't mind because I was immediately hooked. The little boy that played Fan Xian was so good and charming I was sad to see "older" Fan Xian... I wouldn't have minded to have at least 10 episodes with little Fan Xian.

But I didn't know this was just Season 1 and Season 2 has not even started filming yet till I was on Ep15 or so :( so I think people who starts this should keep that in mind.. the cliffhanger is O_O

While I liked the characterization of all characters, and I specially like Fan Xian, I didn't trust half of them. Or more than half of them. Is this one a bad guy or a good guy? It was like this for most of the drama, but even with that, I was enjoying it. The passive-aggressiveness is hilarious, from Fan Xian and the Princess Royal, to the Crown Prince and the 2nd Prince, to the stepmother and Fan Xian at the beginning of the drama.

I am not one that particularly enjoys too much romance, so this one has just the perfect amount of it. Not too much and besides, Wan'Er makes Fan Xian happy. And she isn't dumb nor a damsel in distress, except for the fact that she is sick. So I don't understand why people do not like her :( If this was a harem, I wouldn't have minded to see Fan Xian married to Wan'Er, Si Lili and Duo Duo... all these girls were good in a way or the other and very different from each other, and best of all, they all had chemistry with Fan Xian.

The acting was good, wigs and costumes were excellent; the plot is WOW, so there isn't a single dull moment in the entire 46 episodes. In fact, I even think it was a bit short because I wanted to see more of Uncle Wu Zhu, of Fan Xian's siblings (Ruo Ruo and Fan Si Zhe... so smart and caring one, while so funny and charming the other), of the Ninth Masters (I wanted more fight scenes tbh). The songs were so fitting, specially the OP song, while the ED song became easily one of my favorites... I listen to it regularly <3 with XZ beautiful voice.

If I had to complain, it would be that I didn't understand a few things... or it was extremely witty and too advanced for my poor brain, or some things got lost in translation...

Looking forward to see them all in Season 2! I love that little smile from Zhang Ruo Yun at the end XD

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To be honest, I initially started watching Joy of Life because of Xiao Zhan and I was slightly disappointed to learn that he would only show up in the final 5 episodes or so. Despite this, I quickly fell in love with all the other characters, especially Fan Xian.

Joy of Life is a fast-paced show with very little boring moments. It is also very witty, filled with puns (that are difficult to wrap your head around sometimes) and scheming characters. There is a nice balance between the light-hearted comedy and the darker politics of the palace. Not all characters are who they seem to be, and the true enemy is hidden in the shadows, only revealed at the very end. While I think the plot is overall cohesive, the genre fluctuates slightly. Is it a historical fantasy drama? Mostly. Are there themes of science-fiction? Yes. It is difficult to summarise Joy of Life into one genre, because it has hints of several genres, including wuxia and science fiction.

Out of all the female characters, I think Fan Xian and Li Waner have the weakest chemistry. The show thrusts us into a sort of "love at first sight" between the main couple, and then slowly builds chemistry. I think they are cute together, but the chemistry between Fan Xian and Haitang Duoduo was much stronger and believable in my opinion. In the book, Fan Xian's relationships with the women is extremely different (from what I've heard, Fan Xian has a harem), but has been changed in the show. Quite a few things have been changed in the show (because of censorship), so the plot is slightly different from the novel.

Overall, a good show that balances palace/country politics as well as comedy.

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Joy of Life is the story of Fan Xian who is born knowing the modern world in feudal times. The story follows him as he movs to the capital and falls in love, and basically walks the tightrope on court politics and the royal family.

What I liked about the drama was the outstanding acting. Everyone was great in their roles. The male lead was outstanding. The story although it could be dragging in parts and slow was complex and interesting most of the time. Everyone has layers and they are neither really good or bad. I am a huge fan of Xiao Zhan so even though he wasn't in many episodes and he played a very unsympathetic character, he was still very nice to look at and appreciate! The music was good, not great but I've listened to the opening and closing dongs multiple times.

What I didn't like.... let me start with since there is a season 2 some of this may be resolved but there were things that I didn't really like. First I am not certain I am supposed to care about the main love story. The two were barely together so I really have no interest in the love story at all. In fact I found the mail lead much more interesting with Si Lili and especially Haitang Duoduo. Ideally Fan Xian should end up with Haitang Duoduo. Also, the story with Qi was a little confusing as the last part of the show was all new characters and you do not see any of the original set of characters. I missed Xian's sister Ruoruo, and his father and step-mother. I was invested in the characters and then they were just gone. I missed Uncle Wuzhu and what happened to him??? Again that may be fixed in season 2. Plus they did it explain the frozen people and the god temple very well. The massive secret that kept Xiao En in jailer years was that he knew where the God Temple was but Chen Pingping was the only one that seemed to care. That whole episode was confusing to me.

One of the best things was the characters are so layered and complex, but it also makes it hard to like most of them. I am still not certain if the cares about Fan Xian. I do know his adopted father certainly does care about him. So basically liked the Fan Xian, Uncle Wuzhu, Fan Jian, Ruoruo, and Fei Jie leader of the third bureau. Everyone else I am not sure what to think about them. Again that is interesting but also left me not really caring.

STOP READING IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING
The show ends on a cliffhanger in the true sense of the word with Xian being stabbed and bleeding on the ground. I'm not sold that Yan Bingyun actually stabbed him and that this wasn't already planned. Yan Bingyun seemed to be listening to him and yes the bureau was his life, but it felt like there was a crack when Shen Zhong's sister was stabbed protecting him and he seemed upset when he heard what the second prince was doing to control Xian. I mean there was a whole not between the threats fo the second prince and the morning when Bingyun stabbed. That is just what I am thinking, but I haven't heard Xiao Zhan will be back for the second season.

Overall I liked it, but not like my favorite show, Would I watch again, maybe if I had nothing else to watch. Would I watch season 2 - yes cause I have to find out what happened to Uncle Wuzhu.

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If you get through the first 10 Episodes, it’s definitely worth it.

Alright so I definitely enjoyed watching this Drama, however I did find the first few (~10) Episodes a little boring to get through, there where some kind of funny scenes, but apart from that nothing was really happening... but I feel like a lot of historical Dramas start out a little dry, so I decided to keep watching and I was not disappointed.

Let’s start off with actors and characters which was my absolutely favourite part about this: I liked all of the choices for the actors, I think they all fit their roles quite well and did a great job at portraying them. Now what I liked about those roles so much was that we (or at least I) got to build some kind of relationship or opinion with almost every character, even the less meaningful ones, so that when something concerning them happened I could actually feel with the plot.

Story: I have not read the book this is based on so I can’t say how this Drama delivered in comparison.
I for one really liked the plot and pretty much every aspect of it. You could hardly ever predict anything or trust anything or anyone. And I really liked that, that’s what kept it interesting for me.
I read some people complaining about how the romance arch developed, and I do understand that, however for the story that was happening I thought it actually fit quite well. And who knows what will happen in the following seasons.
Without spoiling anything, I do agree with the people that said that everything was evolving around the Main Lead a little too much.

Concerning the OST: I absolutely loved the Intro Song, however I do not have any memory at all of the remaining soundtrack, which usually means it was not terrible but also not very memorable.

In the End I do absolutely recommend to give this one a go. To me the plot was refreshing and interesting, with some minor problems.

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Cliffhanger ending! Brilliant political scheming and very smart characters all around.

This is season 1 of Joy Of Life, it ends on a cliffhanger. It'll 5 years (3 seasons) for the entire story to finish airing.

NOTE: If you don't mind #1 in cons, the overall rating would be 9.5

This show is about the journey of Fan Xian, a baby born in the feudal era with the complete memories of an adult man in modern times. He grows up in the countryside but is pulled into the midst of the power struggle in the capital city.

I loved following the story of Fan Xian. It was quite an exciting ride to watch the strings being pulled by different characters and how they all have their interests. Allegiances are confusing and you never really know who is planning what. The story never drags and there's always a new exciting thing getting your attention. There are hidden badass martial artists, political masterminds, ancient temple full of secrets, Fan Xian's mystery mom who seems almost magical and so much more to delight you. Its definitely worthy of its popularity and praise.


Pros:

1. Political schemes/manipulation: There are a lot of capable people trying to do different things to gain power/accomplish some other goal. Its fun to watch how them trying to trick each other.
2. Multiple smart characters (including the the really smart MC) : All capable and worthy of attention. If you are usually annoyed by dumb and incompetent characters, this is good for you.
3. Beautiful sets/ clothes: Some may find the makeup on certain characters excessive but I personally did not mind.
4. The different characters with special skills, all serving a purpose and being a cohesive part of the story
5. Amazing acting by the cast, all of them have done a great job. Especially The Emperor and Chen Ping Ping.

Cons:

1. The original novel depicts harem relationships(the ML is involved with various women and married to two). The show tries to tone this down by having only one official love interest but there is ample flirting and intense gazes with the other women. This personally bothered me so make your own judgement about that.
2. The MC is little OP, things always go as he plans.
3. There is sci fi involved as an undercurrent which seems a little strange considering majority of the plot is about the time they exist in and the political scheming going on. This may be more relevant as the story progresses.
4. The cliffhanger ending and a 5 year long wait time for the series to complete.

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Where to begin, I have to remember that this is being written by a young man who is the main lead in this venture, his own venture. Zhang Ruo Yun did amazing! Since this is my first time viewing his acting abilities, this drama series makes me want to see more of him in other projects he has done already. I always say that a movie or drama series doesn't become a hit without the rest of the cast and in this series they were all amazing. The visual with the wall was genius!

I only had one quip of the storyline and that is... listen... I know men will be men but dang mostly in every drama I have seen, only two dramas men were loyal to the woman they love. The flirting mentality of a man I ask why all the teasing and temptations of different women in front of them when the character already is committed to one? I would love to see a drama series more than ONCE that a man is loyal to Love such as 10 miles of Peach Blossom (Eternal Love) or Legend of Fu Yao! I would love to see this in "Joy of Life"! This is just my opinion.

I know Joy of Life will be a great hit and have seen that it has already started winning awards for that Thank you!

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勉强及格。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

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Wow, this drama is so underrated!
...is a worn-out comment I never wanted to write, but this leaves me with no choice.

One thing that really surprised me are the characters. For example the younger sis, who wants to share the adventure and tags along on their missions is not annoying at all! I can't get used to that at all. It is something I have never experienced in Dramaland before. These Meimeis are supposed to be in the way. And there are a lot of other loveable characters in here. The main lead is kind of a superman, which makes it less stressful to watch, because you, as the watcher, start believing and trusting in him. This may be a weakness too, but for me it fits very well into the storyline.

And, of course, you always need to remember, that this is a light watch.

Anyway, it is a fun ride and I am only at ep 8. Right now the mystery and friendship is strong, but the romance still a little weak, which I apprreciate, because I have watched too much sweet stuff lately.
Definitely recommended.

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