The Legend of Dugu (2018)

Let me start off by saying I did not know about the historical aspects of the Dugu until watching this drama. They were a intriguing bunch!

I really enjoyed this drama due to Ady and Jeremy, and Dugu dad. I thought the other main characters, were "OK" their stories didn't really hold up the drama. If there was no Banrou I don't think this drama would have scored so high. The reason why I liked Ady and Jeremy so much was because their characters were so electrifying and so toxic at the same time. I was literally curious just to see their outcome, but it was cut short. Sadly. The rest of the drama, I skipped through all the war scenes. But they tried to keep some of the historical parts accurate by showing the kids descending to the throne and what not, to fulfill the "Dugu prophecy."

I would give this drama a try. I ended up enjoying Jialou's character grow, it was sad that she eventually did get sucked into the palace intrigue life after all.

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Recommended

I really love and appreciate this plot. I know that there may be other c dramas out there with similar concept of the whole series revolving around sisters. But this is my first and I will say that I enjoyed seeing the strong bond between the three sisters. Some may loathe the ‘antagonistic’ sister, Mantuo but somehow I found her character quite bearable. I especially liked how when almost everyone was against Mantuo, she still had the support of her ‘aunt’ Wangshi. Wangshi stood and helped her come up with all these vicious ideas, making the villain less hateful. In addition, this series painted formidable sister/familiar bonds and powerful love between certain couples. Overall gratifying.

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Full of dramas one after another.

Even though the story gets boring at one point, the first half was fine. I was content w the storyline until the father died for no reason at all, and it didn't even help the sisters get together or anything. Honestly, even though Yuwen Hu is one of the main villains in the drama, he's still one of my favorite character. The scene where he went to see his daughter broke my heart, I swear I hardly cry in dramas but this one scene made me bawl my eyes out. Dugu Mantuo was so annoying, not only did she not have any character development, she also had a glow down as a character. I thought she was turning good towards the end of the story, but she was still ambitious and evil....wow as expected of the best villain out there, but the actress who played as Dugu Mantuo did a great job acting out here personality.

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From the very start, Mantuo did an amazing job of being annoying and immature (yes I absolutely hate her). Mantuo went from being a crybaby to a scheming woman who disregards family relations and thinks everyone is the enemy. She loved crying and pouting to get out of difficult situations and thought she was smarter than the rest. Eventually everyone knew that she always played innocent, but actually she always has evil intentions (like Banruo, wants to be empress). Pls I want to stab her everytime I see her -.-

I loved the relationship between Banruo and Jialuo - the sisterly love was stronggg. Banruo and Jialuo looked out for one another, and whenever Jialuo had issues, Banruo knew straight away and was able to comfort her in such a graceful and motherly way.

Ady An was initially my favourite character. Banruo was elegant, strong willed and determined. She wanted to become Empress and would do almost anything to achieve it, except she always put Dugu family first. When she started to play around with Yuwen Hu and Yuwen Yu, I started disliking her. Sadly she couldn't overcome her own schemes and despite achieving empress, she did not have a happy life. But even in death, she looked out for Jialuo and that is something I truly admire.

My other favourite (or my overall favourite) is Jialuo. I loved watching her grow up from a playful and cheeky young girl with no worries in the world to a married woman in love to finally being empress and a mother to all. She always stuck by her morals and never swayed. Even when she was picked on, set up or disgraced, she always pulled through and always put others first. Despite constantly being set up by Mantuo, she never took revenge, but instead always showed sisterly concern. Because of this trait, she was often hurt by those she cared about. I wish I saw more Jialuo in action - we see her using a bow and arrow twice and fighting once. Also wished she actually kissed in the scenes :'( she didn't really do anything when Yang Jian kissed.. Finally I noticed that out of the three sisters, we never see Jialuo pregnant nor giving birth..

Unlike her sisters, Jialuo was carefree and did not care about the prophecy 'Dugu tian xia'. All she wanted in life was a happy marriage and to have kids and live a humble but happy life. Her love story started with Yuwen Yong and later Yang Jian. Her initial relationship with Jian was rocky due to Mantuo, but after he saw her true colours, he was a decent man. He promised Jialuo that he would only be loyal to her and would have no concubines.

Through Yang Jian's ambitions, he eventually went from being a General to Emperor. His thirst and his ability to control power had changed him. Jialuo and his relationship faltered, but in the end was still strong.

Great retelling of history, amazing cast, and beautiful costumes. Love love loveee (check out my other reviews on instagram @chinesemoviesdramas)

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The tragedic prophecy + Banrou & Yuwen Hu was robbed of the Main Lead Role.

Dugu Banrou & Yuwen Hu owned this story.

First of, I wanna say that this drama was far more interesting when the focus was still on Dugu Banrou and Yuwen Hu, they were like the pillar and backbone that keeps this drama alive and going— Everytime Yuwen Hu and Banrou's on the screen, I always go insane. The chemistry this two have is crazy. YWHs extremely emotional and expressive eyes always gets me while DGBRs emotionless yet sorrowful expression always left me heartbroken and in pain.

Even at this point, I'm still questioning why they didn't focus and expound on DGBR & YWHs story. All those times I was watching this drama all I think about was how interesting and excting their story is, that I kept on waiting and anticipating for their scenes. I even reach the point where I feel bland and uninterested watching Jialou's and extremely bored and pissed with Mantuo's.

Anyways, let me stray away from these two or this review will surely be full of my rant and disappointment about them not getting the main roles.

I honestly feel like Mantuo's story made this drama boring and really irritating. Her character is like that small nasty cockroach that can't be killed no matter how many times you hit it. That everytime she appears, all you want to do is to eliminate her and see her gone completely. What's more irritating is that she gets away every single time and even lasted till the very end without any proper character development— she retained her delusional, fake and gold digger attitude like it was her religion. Just imagine how tiring it is to watch that!

Next is the Main Leads who I think was very random and a little questionable. I mean, shouldn't be a story more focused on the interesting characters who can make the story more exciting and spicier? So, why did they give it to characters who felt like a supporting ones?— All this time, I tried. Like, TRIED to understand why but still can't believe that they wasted a supposed good story for such characters. Both the Writer and Director need some genuine reflection for this, Seriously.

The Main Leads weren't bad but I think they're lacking. Their character felt like some extremely favoured people who were supported and funded by a powerful personality. They certainly aren't bad but I just feel like they aren't really cut out for it. Their story is good but is lacking— Like something is lost or missing. I guess they just failed to deliver the same impact I got from Banrou and Yuwen Hu.

P.S. Aside from Banrou & Yuwen Hu's disappearance from the story. What makes this drama more frustrating is the constant timeskip during the last 10-15 episodes. It made the story weigh lesser in value and has gradually become tiring and disappointing as it reaches its Finale.

Story - 8.5, Overall drama is good. The lesson and value of the story was well delivered. It's just that I still feel regretful over Banrou, Yuwen Yu and Yuwen Hu's story and completely done and disgusted by Mantou's immortal character. Not to mention the Main leads who felt like someone powerful is backing them and the frequent timeskip that made a lot of things vague and confusing.

Acting/Cast - 9.5, I felt like not giving this section a perfect 10 is an absurd decision and betrayal towards the casts heartfelt and passionate portrayal but I just can't stomach not to mention how unconvincing and lacking Andy Zhang and Hu Bing Qing's acting during the first half of the story. They felt kind of lost and they seemed like an Idol actor while acting their teenage roles. Fortunately they pushed through and delivered better portrayal as the story progresses. P.S. Jeremy Tsui and Ady An are the true MVP of this drama. Their Portrayal is insane and I'm always engrossed whenever they're on screen.

Music - 9.5, BGMs are really good, specially the ballad ones. It's just that for some reason whenever the songs are playing it doesn't really emphasize the emotions on the scenes that much. Like something is missing. But overall Music used were really good.

Rewatch Value - 8.5, Most probably not. Although I don't hate this drama, I just feel like I had enough of Mantuo and would never want to watch it again. + I don't wanna relive my hopes for Banrou and Yuwen Hu.

Overall - 9.0, Seems just right. Something I will never do is to give a story a much lower rating than it deserve. I admit that I was dissatisfied with some aspects of this drama but I also don't want to dismiss the good qualities of this piece as a whole. Even when it failed to fully cater my expectation but it surely served when it comes to a lot of things specially with the acting department.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know

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Jumping scene, nice story and plot

I watch this drama twice and i still like the story about yang li hua, the real story and the story in this drama ,the relationship about the characters in this story has its own storyline but has an ending same with the real history

This drama story not very cruel compared to the real history

But i very hate the jumping scene,, not seeing scene ,, i just think this drama being cut or i miss that scene before , but not


when I watched the second time the confusion I felt was clearer

Li chen said in ep 6 he just bigger than jia luo 1 yearand he also bigger than man tuo too,, jia luo and mantuo in a same age?

li bing concubine feng and jin dead? ,, i think its not showing before right? ,, i think i miss it so i replay but still not found that part



my habit of watching historical drama is to compare them to real stories in history,,, I just feel sad Reading the original story when both wise and kind people had vulgar and violent children,,, If they weren't so ambitious to fight for power and status, they shouldn't be like this.





no matter how the stories of the Emperor wen of sui and Empress qie luo are told, their stories will always end tragically,,,, so there is no reason for the ending to be a Happy Ending because this is an adaptation of history

my habit of watching historical drama is to compare them to real stories in history,,, I just feel sad Reading the original story when both wise and kind people had vulgar and violent children,,, If they weren't so ambitious to fight for power and status, they shouldn't be like this.


the story in this film is not too detailed about the life story of sui emperor,, because the story of this drama starts from their meeting ,, yes In accordance with the title ,,


And about the meaning of "du gu tian xia"
At the last not very clear
,, my guess is ”独顾天下” Take care of the world alone


If anyone has other guesses you can write in the comments


Overall i like this drama

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The Legend of Dugu is Chinese historical drama based on the history of the famous three Dugu sisters. The story starts off with a prophecy for the Dugu family bearing the words, "He who has Dugu has the world", implying that the family was destined for great things. The main characters of this drama are the three Dugu sisters. The eldest of the three, Dugu Ban Ruo, is an ambitious woman who would do anything to get empress' title and throne. One of the main villians in this drama, the second sister, Dugu Man Tuo, who was born from a low-ranking concubine, and willing to kill for the greed of wealth and status. The youngest sister, Dugu Jia Luo, was unlike her two elder sisters. She was kind, naive and a bit of tomboy from following her father who was a great general to battle. This drama was filled with strong and intelligent female characters who were definitely not damsels in distress. The cast was pretty good at playing their characters. The soundtrack was ok and fit the drama. Overall, I would say this is a pretty good historical drama and I would recommend it but it definitely was not the best.

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The most C**kolded Drama I have ever watched!

I hate to break it you but this is a drama you ' SHOULDN'T ' watch if you are in a bad shape in ur life or have depression.

The production and casting is superb. The story is amazing at the same time hurting like hell. The acting was top notch which will leave you in despire. You will feel rooting for the person you shouldn't and end up devastated. How love is used as a tool to manipulate is perfectly narrated in this story.

Some scenes are too exotic in the sense that they could do psychological damage to children under 18. I would definitely suggest this drama to more mature audience as it indeed a great work not to be missed. Keep an open mind, you might enjoy this more than me.

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Why are the ratings so low?

I stopped trusting the recommendations/ratings after I watched the first 3 episodes of Untamed. I am not sure why this period drama has low reviews, meaning why the overall rating isn't over an 8.5. I am glad that I ignored the reviews, and watched this drama anyways. Granted, I am only on episode 6. I plan to update this review after I finish watching this drama. However, within the first 6 episodes, this drama is worthy of at least a rating of a 9, and here's why:

1. Strong female lead - the oldest DuGu sister is honest, outspoken, and fair. As is the youngest DuGu sister!
2. This period drama storyline is focused on romance, more than it's focused on politics. Although, I like historical/period dramas with a storyline that focuses on politics, it's good to have some that focus on romance. The female lead (the oldest DuGu sister) has a lot of romantic scenes. I was shocked when I watched episode 6, as she was "doing the do," with her new husband while her ex lover dreadfully watched. There are only a handful of Chinese dramas that show married characters having any form of intimacy more than hugging or kissing on the cheek/forehead. This romantic scene wasn't oversexualized like western shows (btw, I am a westerner), and it wasn't childlike like eastern dramas. Thus, it's a perfect blend of both.
3. The storyline is actually pretty good. Thus far, there isn't any loopholes in the writing/script.

I will write an additional review below this sentence after I've finished watching all of the episodes.

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Sitting on the Throne is a terrible thing. When the family is young, it's #familyisallwegot Then when they get of age they all fight for the throne. I really do not like that concept but that is the way it was back decades ago. My favorite two actresses in this piece were believable so kudos to them. "Hu Bingqing" and "Ady AN" thank you, I applaud you for your great acting skills. There is one actress, I don't really care for because I watched her in "Legend of Fuyao", there is just something about her I'm not impressed with. Her character in Legend of Fuyao was the same as in this drama playing Dugu Montuo (Li Yixiao), I felt she jumped out of Legend Fuyao and landed in Legend of Dugu! The storyline was okay... not something that I would get goosebumps over but it was workable. The switching of hubby's got to me. None of them ended with a person they truly loved. They all got played by the females. I loved the bad guy in this Drama series, Jeremy Tsui, I saw him in another Drama where he played a good guy and he does bring his personality charm to make this character different so thank him. The other character I loved was Yang Gian. I love the costumes, the music was okay, and the visual effects. The one-piece I really loved was the Sword dance displayed by HuBingqing and Zhang Danfeng (my favorite). Thanking all of the remaining and supporting cast for their work and participation in this drama.

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