The Lotus Casebook (2023)

I dont care what the ending is, this show is 10/10!!!

Best historical drama of 2023, and possibly of many , many that I've watched. The acting of Cheng Yi and Joseph Zeng is next level. They basically became Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing. There are little cases to solve, which lead them to a bigger case/conspiracy. There are NO dull moments, no long drawn misunderstandings, no annoying love triangles. There is plenty of action, bromance, funny/endearing moments, and overall the plot makes sense. The villains are not just bad for evil's sake, they each have their own agenda/motive for their actions. The dog Hulijing is a huge bonus as i love dogs, and she is super adorable and i had so many "nawwwww" moments watching her.

The cases being solved are interesting, and the antics of Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing will make you laugh. Di Feisheng joins them at some stage and the 3 of them form a begrudging bromance. Nothing is as it seems in this show.

The production is super high quality, no overuse of fake CGI. Cheng Yi does all his own stunts, Joseph Zeng and Xiao Shunyao have amazing screen presence too. The scenes blend nicely to the next without choppy editing. Its well paced, well written and no dull moments or fillers. The costumes are simple yet elegant, and depict each character well.

The 3 main ML use their own voice which enhances the show 100% for me. Finally Cheng Yi gets to use his own voice as Li Lianhua, though Li Xiangyi is dubbed by a voice actor. Joseph Zeng and Xiao Shunyao have such booming and commanding voices it really suits their characters.

Overall this is a very high quality production and im so glad to have watched it. Will definitely rewatch it when it ends! Just hope the ending is kind to Li Lianhua ? he deserves it ❤️

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After dropping at ep 16 I restarted it again cause couldnt find ny other good drama to watch and I like wuxia drama
Let me make it straight compare to otehr wuxia drama this one is just average
it starts good but loses its temp in between
suddenly everything become illogical repetitive
specially in the middle that village where they meet cannibel's was completely lifter from MDZS /untamed the Yi city arc , same kind of village, misty dangling of bell, woman walking alone on desrted street , I was expecting even Lin Hua to cook a porridge
Feels like writer didnt have ny idea how to make it 40 episodes series
Acting wise Joseph zhang has impressed me. alot in an eagerly loving young boy and his loyalty to Li Lan Hua is commendable
Chengyi was better than all his previous drama
among females only that evil princess in red impress me
worst part all seniors make up was v bad some just have put one strip white hair as wig to look old but tehir face had no wrinkle and full makeup
I dont think i will rewatch it again

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Watched till ep14 and i must say that cheng yi never fails us with his acting skills. Whether his appearance being strong or weak he look elegant in any outfit and his facial expressions are just killing it ? he is very expressive he can act even without saying any word ❤️❤️ even the other actors Joseph and shun yao didn't disappoint me especially dang duobing ? i just like their chemistry the 3 of them are really handsome and funny too pleasant to my eyes.also the plot is really interesting i like that in every case there's alot of investigation to reval the truth and they work together to solve the mysterious case my li lianhua is so smart and both of fang duobing and di feisheng protect him
Ik it might be boring for some ppl to watch and know every detail of the the case but for me it's really interesting even though there's no romance it's still good. that's what it makes it an amazing drama it doesn't necessary rely and focus on romance and love just Martial arts World which really took my attention the cinematography of the fight scenes are just fire ? and the plot is flowing nicely. I like the plot twist too i didn't really expect it ?
❤️ looking forward for the next eps ❤️❤️❤️
I completed this drama and I'll definitely watch again it's absolutely the hest drama for 2023 ?

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Thought-provoking series

I haven't seen such a good martial arts drama for a long time. The action scenes are smooth and beautiful. I like it very much. Especially I appreciate the protagonist Li Lianhua's attitude towards his life. After watching this TV series, I have many new ideas about my work and future. Li Lianhua's story healed me. I used to feel that no drama would interest me anymore, but this show gives a great surprise. I even dreamed that I could live in that fantasy world so that I could see Lianhua with my own eyes. I wish I can be part of the show so that I can know more of the details of him. The design of all the customs and weapons elucidate what traditional Chinese society looks like. It makes me feel like I could go back in time to experience everything.

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Seemingly lighthearted story of wasted lives

Great and enjoyable story where there are no heroes and mostly flawed humans even if you have your moustache twirling, maddly laughing, perpetually monologing villains. The fact that they made the celebrated Sigu sect populated with nothing but idiots and self-involved characters with LXY as their uncontested leader will forever be dear to my heart. Especially as they were all written as likeable or at least understandable.

I enjoyed most the slow peeling of layers of hero-worship that clouded the narrative - for the character and viewer alike. Considering the main motivation of the LXY is not being able to deal with said hero worship (and his perceived inability to fulfil it with healthy dash of burn-out wonderchild), that was very nicely done. This is also a reason why I wasnt annoyed about the fact that everybody was obssessed with our LXY. It was ridiculous but played nicely to the whole theme of hero worship, meeting expectations and child geniuses dealing with glitches.
LXY can´t deal with the whole thing and runs away to live a simple life. But no matter what, he cannot escape fame and his past, which ultimately results into his death (the irony is - the legends remains). On this note, I loved the dynamic between LXY and DFS (the guy in general) - for me it created an option of carefree future where LXY is alive and well, where he truly let go of his past (as opposite to the zen-like statements LLH is spewing all over the place whilst living in this own portable tomb). DFS is another prodigy who, contrary to LXY, has much healtier approach to his past traumas, i.e. confronting them. and dealing with them.
In this sense, him pestering LXY for another match is sort of... asking him to live and be f*cking less sucidal, to let go of the guilt and truly move on, i.e. not throwing everything away just because of one mistake. Unfortunatelly... LXY is and awfully stubborn and arrogant man, so - there goes the ending. (Side note: the little side-story about the two drinking-fighting budies was a nice mirror to this LXY-DFS motif).

You could watch it as a hero´s journey where the MC is FDB on his road to adulthood (it´s rather explicit) - which could be to some extent viewed as casting off the rose-coloured glasses. All his heroes are f*ck-ups, most of the adults are rather useless and the whole martial world is filled with selfish, scheming or just hurt and confused people. And the boy goes through a journey and grows up while magically protecting his bubbly personality, just somewhat temepered, Which is cool and plausible.
And then there is the ending. Our bubbly boy forever optimistic and... nothing had seemingly changed. We are back on the starting point where the legend lives and people who should live their lives keep pining for one scared and scarred person who is too wrapped up in past for anybody´s well-being (dont get me wrong, i like LXY and accept the validity of his issues, but he is a deeply flawed creature - which makes him so wonderful, i guess).

Side note to this - the whole show can be viewed just as a prolonged and higly aeshetized suicide, basically. LXY most of the show talks about letting go of the past but he is unable to do so when it comes to himself (no matter what he says). He gives great advice, just doesnt live according to it, as it usually happens.

The detective cases and their reasoning is sometimes awfully farfetched but given the genre, it´s not really that much of an issue. On the positive note, in the initial stories not everything was explained in various explanatory monologues, which was nice. Not that there were none, but at least initially they offered some clues to chase for the viewers first.

There are some tiresome parts in the later part of the story where they try to keep up the detective structure which doesnt add much to the supposedly rising tension of the story. The main consipracy was interesting especially for the emotional impact. The final siege got a bit ridiculous.

However, if you want to see strong or even interesting female characters, don´t botther with this story. I greatly appreciate that the past love interest had some agency, but it doesnt change the fact that all the female characters are written either as fawning over one of the three main guys or/and having no personality and agency aside from helping them. Main evil lady is obssessed with a man, another woman marries a person after couple of days to aledgedly piss of another guy, young girl plays the wikipedia role to impress the guy and so on, and so on. The only one who maintained some levelheadedness was always faithful to LXY and pops up usually just to resolve some administrative issue (especially at first).
Still, it is a good and enjoyablel show. Just watch it for the boys.

As for acting, music, visual apeal etc - all nice and withtout much issue. the cgi is sometimes slightly subpar but nothing to cause much bother.

To sum this unexpected rambling up - there are many annoying tropes in this show but despite that, it´s very enjoyable and good watch because of the story (so many fix-it musings, so many...), the slight subversion of certain tropes and mostly the characters.
It could be viewed as tragedy, hidden behind the grand schemes and light elegant tones. Same as LXY hides his own issues with jest and diversions and never speaks of them, the show never overanalyzes (or even explicitly states) many of the issues he or others face . Whether that is done because dwelling too much on such things would only cheapen them or to forcibly preserve the elegant and rosy image, that is up to interpretation.

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Masterpiece of a martial arts chinese drama

A wonderful heart warming series focused on heroism and the true spirit of the wuxia world. Let go of fame, power and the past. A great story with powerful acting, great action and flawless production. There's not much romance, but that's ok. The focus of the story is the solving of cases and bromance. The tropes are classic, but delivered so well. It's truly a one of a kind chinese drama. And as with many chinese dramas these days, the special episode is a must watch.

I personally thought the ending was fitting and true to the main character. A must watch!

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Spectacular plot, unexpected twists, one of the best wuxia series there is (teeny spoilers)

Starting with the acting, we have ChengYi and Joseph, two actors who are absolutely perfect and acts out their roles to absolute perfection. ChengYi acts as the young LXY, and the older more mature LLH, the two personalities creating a stark contrast; Joseph as the young and vigorous 'kid' who dreams to be the greatest hero like LXY. Even ShunYao was great at being the cold and aloof, sometimes evil yet sometimes seemingly good-hearted DFS. The complex characters really add to the fun of the whole series.

Then there's the evil characters. The multiple plot twists here was amazing! Some weren't entire shocking as there was quite a heavy foreshadowing of the twist since a few episodes before it actually happens, but it was still unexpected to say the least. And then the least expected twist happens and I just sat there with my mouth open. JianLiqiao is simply gorgeous, yet also insidious and down-right sinister, but yet I can't ignore her absolute loyalty for DFS up until a certain point.

The 'bromance' was something i had expected, but didn't really get, but I wasn't let down at all as I love the master-disciple relationship of LXY and FDB. They are just absolutely a hilarious and genius. The most bromance we can get is between LXY and DFS, really DFS's conflict of wanting to win yet keep LXY alive at all costs is just so sweet.

The fighting scenes are beautiful, and the OST is very nice and suiting to the theme of the series - heroes, brotherhood - wuxia.

The ending really made my cry buckets, it may not have ended on a happy note, but it is slightly open-ended, and I'm much more willing to interpret it in a happy way.

Spoiler incoming:
LXY is highly likely dead, and that is the most logically conclusion. But without a true ending, I can always assume that Heaven favours LXY, and send him a miracle cure. He can continue traversing the world as a different hidden identity, and he may never be found by FDB/DFS, or maybe he will. Nothing is for certain, and that is a much more hopeful ending that what is most likely the true ending of LXY.

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EDIT: BRILLIANT

EDIT AFTER FINISHING THE DRAMA:
I certainly don't regret the subscription fee in the app. My points in the first version of this review still stand (read below). Everything had it's logic, no gut punching turning tides events for the sake of dramatisation, very nicely paced, keeps you glued to the screen. I especially appreciate Wanmian's character, you go girl!!! The character and actor of Di Fei Sheng (thank you so much to casting directors, I LOVE to see Xiao Shun Yao like this). There's an extra small episode in iqiyi app, but you don't really need to watch it, it doesn't add much to the ending. Although I would've appreciated a happy happy ending, the ending they wrote was understandable. Personally, this drama is up there on my list with the best ones on my list. I hope this writers team will do more dramas like this in the future.

Original review I wrote after watching 10 EPs, unedited:
I've watched 10 episodes so far and boy, I'd binge this in one day if I could but I don't have the time for that lol.
Storyline is catchy so far, great cliff hangers which make you want to watch another episode. Some cliff hangers spread even through two episodes which I like, it's a smart move.
I've watched many series and dramas from many countries, so some mysteries are a little see-through for me but it's fine. It's good that the writers put the storyline logically.
I like that there aren't crazy fast movements from one location to another, no big storyline jumps, just a normal pace for when you want to chill while watching.
The only annoying thing so far is the immense amount of Fang Duobing's lines, like he's talking TOO much in some places, but I guess it's part of the charm of his character.
Two of my favourite things so far - Xiao Shun Yao is one of the main characters and he finally has screen time!
And most importantly THERE'S A DOG AND HE SHOWED UP REGULARLY IN THE SERIES.

I'll let you know my final rating once I'm finished :-)

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a wuxia drama that EVERYONE HAS TO WATCH

You know that feeling after completing a show and one of your first thoughts are "Wow, it'll take a long time to find a drama like this again."? This was what I felt after watching MLC.

As someone who loves whodunit shows, I liked how they incorporated about 8-10 different mysteries in these 39 episodes while linking all of them for the overall story. The chemistry between the 3 male leads were also great and their personalities were all so extremely different but ironically complemented each other well. The pacing of the story was also to my liking. I can't exactly point out how and why, but it reminded me of the drama "the Untamed" - the vibes at least. The story continuously moves, so there's no filler episodes and the drama had me SEATED. I think what made me rate this drama a 10 instead of a 9.5 was the final plot twists in the last few episodes which had me gasping.

Overall, this drama is easy to watch and very suitable for wuxia and bromance shows lovers to watch!
p.s. the women in this drama are all SOOOO GORGEOUS

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