Arsenal Military Academy (2019)

Happy birthday Yan Zhen! You know what I mean.

USAFarmgirl wrote this on a Soompi forum, and I think she sums up my feelings about this drama well:

“Can't get this song [Enter a Dream] off my mind or this story...It's not just the amazing OTP or their chemistry which I love. There is something even greater here. 

Proving it's not about rich or poor what you have or don't have. 

It's about the person you are inside. 

That each person has their own story and a gift within them. Strengths and weaknesses, courage and fears. That no matter the differences when brought together for a greater cause all those differences disappear. 

It's a love and bond not of the romantic kind but it's beauty warms the heart through laughter and tears and for those who have experienced it. 

It's no wonder those memories last for years…”

I truly loved this drama.

When I was finished with Arsenal Military Academy, I was left with a feeling of melancholy, as though I had to walk off into my own sunset, hoping to cross paths with Xiang/Liang Chen and Yan Zhen. But as expected, my journey with them had to come to an end.

I read countless reviews and comments all over the web in regard to AMA. Therefore, when starting the drama, I was a bit scared. I was anticipating my self to get frustrated and disappointed. But I wasn’t. I finished this drama in less than 5 days.

Most people complain about the love triangles and lack of screen time and skinship between the main pair…but, I was never truly dissatisfied. The main pair was who I rooted for from beginning to end. The first 20 episodes (basic training episodes) have a good amount of screen time between the pair. They aren’t kissing or proclaiming their love for each other…but they don’t and didn’t need to. How Xiang/Liang Chen and Yan Zhen looked at each other was enough for me. When Xiang/Liang Chen interacted with Yan Zhen I felt as though the outer world ceased to exist for her. From the beginning of the show Yan Zhen was drawn to Xiang/Liang Chen (the camisole scene in episode 1 is a scene I go back to a lot).


As for Jun Shan and Xiang/Liang Chen, when they were stuck in the hole together, he comforted Xiang/Liang Chen like an older brother. I feel as though this scene would’ve looked a lot different with Yan Zhen. I feel as though there would’ve been a lot more tension, plus it would have been more sweet and endearing. But ML and FL weren’t meant for this scene. The scene Xiang/Liang Chen and Yan Zhen were meant for happened previous episodes (e.g. When Yan Zhen surprises Xiang/Liang Chen by visiting her family home on break and meets the ‘Rents. Or when they end up in the jail cell with those students).

Some argue that Jun Shan was a better match because he loved “Liang Chen” before he loved Xiang, which painted a more of unconditional love. Yet, that isn’t a fair argument. Who knows if Yan Zhen would have fallen for “Liang Chen” if he had never known Liang Chen was a girl until a lot later. What matters is that Yan Zhen fell for Xiang/Liang Chen first.

Another staple scene I must note is around the first couple episodes. When Jun Shan prevents Xiang/Liang Chen from falling into the hole during their first test assignment and he carries her to safety—that scene is juxtaposed with a scene involving Xiang/Liang Chen and her late brother. What that simply shows to me is that Xiang/Liang Chen did in fact see Jun Shan as a brother from the get go. Disregard later episodes between Jun Shan and Xiang/Liang Chen because Xiang/Liang Chen was always running away from him or thinking of Yan Zhen who continued to have her back. I didn’t like it when Jun Shan realized his feelings and that Liang Chen was Xiang, and as a result started to become a lot more domineering towards Xiang/Liang Chen in later episodes (especially when he told her, seemingly out of nowhere, to button up her shirt). Sometimes Xiang/Liang Chen seemed a little annoyed by his behavior.

As someone else noted, after episode 38, when Xiang/Liang Chen realizes her feelings for Yan Zhen, she started to treat him more like a boyfriend. I wonder if Yan Zhen started to realize that…regardless, they started holding hands a lot more with subtle touches and throwing their arms around each other.

But outside of the romance, I loved all the characters. Especially those in the squad (Xiang/Liang Chen, Yan Zhen, Jun Shan, Song, Jin, and Yanlin). When it came to completing missions, the squad reminded me of episodes and dynamics you’d see in/from USA shows like Burn Notice and Leverage. I wish they’d have more “spy mission” episodes. Even when Wen Zhong was part of the squad everyone had an important role; nothing ever seemed amiss.

But my favorite episode arc is starting from episode 31 and ending around episode 38 when both Sergeants are MIA. Which meant all the students had a bit more freedom, and Jun Shan was out of the picture temporarily due to injuries obtained from a previous episode. But what this arc also consisted of was Yan Zhen unashamedly proclaiming his love for Xiang two times (“Happy birthday Xie Liang Chen! You know what I mean!”) as his classmates silently accept the bizarreness of it all. And a lot more funny and baddie episodes. The squad (minus Jun Shan) continued to dominate as well.

Yet, what I wished for was that Song could have had a love interest (I was low key shipping him and Xiao Jun), or that he could have found out that Liang Chen was the girl he’d in fact fallen for. I also wished that those deleted scenes could have been put back in the show along with those alleged 90 minutes of omitted footage too. But I’m okay with what I’ve got. Wait, one more wish is that Jun Shan could have found someone in the end, and that we could have gotten more of Xiang and Yan Zhen after they walked into the sunset. Yet, what would’ve made another interesting story arc would have been maybe that Jun Shan had truly fallen for Ms. Oda.

Yet, I’ll miss:

- Yanlin’s need to always act first when in the face of injustice. He really brought it home in the last episode.
- Ji Jin’s funny face expressions and subtleties.
- Song’s goofiness and innocence. Also his “bromance” with Yan Zhen and Xiang.
- Jin’s loyalty to Jun Shan.
- Sergeant Guo’s drinking and coolness. He was the cool and laidback Sergeant when compared to Lu. And I found it funny when Wen Zhong told him Liang Chen was actually a girl and Guo didn’t bat an eye.
- Song’s love for eggs.
- The fight scenes. I loved the revenge episode (ep 44), and the fight scene between Xiang and Ms. Oda. Sword vs. Bamboo stick.
- Tingbao’s love for Manting (and Manting’s subtle loyalty to Tingbai).
- Wen Zhong’s bullying ways…Only because that’s when Yan Zhen was able to showcase that he had Xiang’s back a lot more (staple episode: When Wen Zhong wants to be petty and have Xiang/Liang Chen fail the “tag test”, but Yan Zhen prevents that).
- An Wen’s beautiful face and notebook of names and pictures.
- Xiao Yu’s and Sergeant Guo’s love story.
- Xiao Yu’s “sons” who she took off the street and loved dearly.
- Yan Zhen’s hairdo, comic relief, outfits, and “smizing”.
- Manting’s rebellious but dignified ways. She was really cool when it came to snark and one-uppery
- Xiang/Liang Chen’s pretty face.
- Mrs. Xie being Team Yan Zhen, and telling Xiang (“I like to call him Yan Zhen. It sounds friendlier”).
- Tingbai’s ghost of a smile and mischievousness.

And the funny thing is, I started comparing AMA (Yan Zhen and Xiang/Liang Chen) to my favorite OTPs. Heck, I might even get around to writing some AMA FanFiction.

All in all, AMA is a great coming of age story. If only to cross paths with Yan Zhen and Xiang again…I’ll definitely rewatch in the future.

Happy birthday Arsenal Military Academy! I’ll celebrate it again.

Lire davantage

A political military hilarious drama

This was my first time watching both Xu Kai and Bai Lu drama.
The story is set in Republican era of China showcasing both political and military tensions.
But the best part is the academy and fights between Gu yanzhen and Xie Xiang.
Xu Kai as Gu yanzhen acted very perfectly.He really made me laugh in some scenes.Gu yanzhen is very funny,teasing and humourous.
Bai Lu's acting as Xie Xiang is very good.
All the other cast outshined in their roles.
Overall it is a very good drama which make you laugh and ease your tensions.
I highly recommend this drama.

Lire davantage

The ideal length of this drama series I feel should be max 30 -35 episodes, however total length is 48 episodes. The backdrop and costumes were commendable as the production actually paid attention to details and most props were fitting to almost every scene. Their military school canteen scenes actually have real food which were the type of food that reflected that era!

What I like - the story telling from the moment she decided to join the military school to happening surrounding in the military school. The ML screen presence was very strong and every scene he was in was just pleasant to watch and he acts best when pairing with Bai Lu as they both make believable romance, comedy and comradeship between them.

Supporting casts were also giving it all too but unfortunately 2nd FL and 2nd ML couldn't deliver their roles well enough to create tension and jealousy to ML and FL.

What I dislike - the timeline of the drama was during Republican period in China and therefore it is unconventional to inject "idol drama" elements or style of shooting the drama.

Overall I enjoyed the drama. The best work of Xu Kai and Bai Lu pairing so far.

Lire davantage

those day's I was really obsessed with the gender bender genre so I surfed a lot in web to find this genre series but here they concentrated more on the War between China and Japan
- The character development between Gu Yanzhe and other supporting charaters where pretty lame
- the background musics they put was pretty good but became boring soon because they keep the same track fro the entire 48 episodes
- To be honest I expected to be a lot of Shoujo but there was no trace of any romantic interaction what I saw was him bulling her for the entire show it looked more like a friendship relationship
- When I finally found a character to get attached Shen Jushen they literally gave all hero like role's only to Gu Yenzhe by putting aside Shen Jushen
- Well for Xie Xeng I think yeah the female lead at the begging they gave her a lot of screen time it was fun to watch but the way everyone discovers her identity was pretty much boring
IN THE END AFTER EPIODE 25 I KEEP WATCHING IT SEE HOW WAS GOING TO END
I'm not saying I wasted my time but If I knew it was going to be this predictable story I would gently avoid it i Thought it would be something like
- To the Beautiful you
- Coffe Prince
- Bromance
- Scholarwho walk the night
- Fabulous boys

Lire davantage

****A FEW MINOR SPOILERS*******

I have watched a lot of gender bender dramas and movies. But I will have to say this is the best one and here is why:

1. Acting
Everyone nailed their roles. Especially the female lead. The main hurdle of gender bender dramas is that the actress leads to pull off a boy role. Bai Lu did an incredible job passing as a suave boy and a sweet girl. Also I really loved Xu Kai in this drama. This the first drama I saw of him and I was not disappointed. The rest of the cast did a great job as well.

2. Story
The story was really interesting but there a few unexpected deaths that made me heartbroken. The most cool part of this drama for me was the time period. It wasn't really ancient but i think was during the 1900s. Everything fit in perfectly with the time period. I also enjoy strong female leads with funny and sarcastic male leads. Bai Lu and Xu Kai's chemistry was no doubt incredible. Though i didnt have the second lead syndrome i really like the 2nd lead too. He was such a kind character. I also like how the 2nd female lead was not antagonized. Manting was a really funny character throughout the show and im glad she got her own happy ending.

3. Music
The sound track was really beautiful and the lyrics were really touching.

Overall:
If you want to see a good gender bender drama then I would highly recommend this one. Romance, action, and a handsome cast is all part of this amazing drama. I would really rewatch this drama again.

Lire davantage

Oh my gosh guys if you are debating on watching this drama then don't because I started on the first episode and I thought I was going to hate it until I grew attached and continued watching it and now it is my number one favorite drama it had literally everything he had me crying it had me laughing all the little tiny details in this drama is perfect I sometimes even go back and rewatch some scenes because it's just so amazing please watch this drama don't hesitate also I became very attached to the main characters and now I'm going to watch their other movies together!! oh my gosh guys if you are debating on watching this drama then don't because I started on the first episode and I thought I was going to hate it until I grew attached and continued watching it and now it is my number one favorite drama it had literally everything he had me crying it had me laughing all the little tiny details in this drama is perfect I sometimes even go back and rewatch some scenes because it's just so amazing please watch this drama don't hesitate also I became very attached to the main characters and now I'm going to watch their other movies together!!

Lire davantage

First of all I would love to say this, the story is really nice we really learned something from it as we aren't Chinese ?and also I really appreciate the Cast BaiLu and Xukai ?? so much Chemistry and I was really overwhelm about how they handle or act as it is so challenging for the Characters as we saw in the scenes. The Music is good but I was really wanted to watch the Part 2 of this Drama (if possible) ??? More power to the whole team, rooting for them (BaiLu and Xukai) more modern dramas and many more, waiting for their IMPERIAL CUISINE ??

#Philippinnes

Lire davantage

Everything is perfect in this drama except the end
I wish to see the future of the two champions together like other members But this does not detract from the beauty of the series
This is the first time I watch Chinese drama and i love it ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Lire davantage

A drama tackling the seldom told history of China under Japanese influence

This is a drama tackling very serious topics that affected China in 1911-1912. Following the Xinhai Revolution and the end of the Qing Dynasty, there is political and civilian unrest. Hence, as Viki states, this is a drama. Not a comedy. Not a romance. A real drama. And a very good one.
(China lost against Japan in 1895, and since then, Japan and Russia gained some influence in China…, for Japan esp. in Manchuria, Mongolia and Shandong , which significantly reduced the Chinese people's trust in the empire, fueling Chinese nationalism. The sentiment was strengthened by the failed political reform, where the desire to form a constitutional monarchy resulted in the establishment of the Prince Qing's Cabinet with the majority being part of the imperial family in May 1911)
The « 21 demands » mentioned was signed between 1915 and 1916. It would result in a long-lasting animosity nationwide towards Japan. (Resulting in boycott etc)

That is the context of the drama.
It isn’t clearly told at the beginning, but I believe foreign viewers will gain in appreciation of the drama if they know that before starting to view it.

Because of that, the drama does show violence, and deaths.
Very smartly, the underlying dark tone is counterbalanced, as the drama follows the events and topics of importance at that time through a group of military students in their daily lives at a military academy, bringing some light and funny moments, esp. since they introduced a FL disguised as a man as part of the military students…

For me, the drama starts showing its true Colors and intentions starting ep. 15. From then on, it is very well paced.

The production and cast are outstanding. The storyline very well thought.
Special shout-out to Xu Kai who brings life to a welcome witty and shining character, very smart and caring under the presence of being carefree, self boasting and mischievous,…(he proves his versatility with this drama, displaying the wide range of emotions and expressions required by his character and his growth along the drama)
My second shout-out to the 2nd main FL playing the role of the singer/actress, awesome Wu Jia Yi, who stole the show in an unrequited love with Xu Kai.
I normally love Bai Lu (esp. in « one and only », « forever and ever », in which she’s just perfect. Here, she’s good but not the star of the show, wincing a bit too heavily at Xu Kai. I would have loved a bit more subtlety in her acting expressions in these moments, Also I am not fond of the indecisiveness of her character pertaining to her love interest between the 2 ML. She makes XK’s character suffer and I surprised myself thinking at some point that she doesn’t deserve his love… the good thing is that it happened in the very episode where she ultimately realised her true feelings (ep. 38)

Because the love stories are all unrequited during majority of the drama, however lovely it is often tackled, for those seeking first and foremost a fully blossomed romance drama, this is not for you.

Spoiler: Xu Kai’s love for the FL remains unrequited almost until the end (watching him falling in love and expressing his love is nonetheless a real treat. You will root for him)…. All other love stories are also unrequited during the majority of the drama. Because this is first and foremost a historical drama that chose to alleviate its darkness by balancing it with lighter moments, I get it that Fully blossomed romance would have been out of place. We however get good closures in the end, as two couples mixed in unrequited love go to their « right » partner in my opinion (they were too blind and immature to see and understand during the majority of the drama however …)
A great watch.

Lire davantage

There have been a host of dramas following the story line of a female dressing as a male to enrol in an all male institute but this drama is up there with the very best! It was so refreshing with how they took the romance line and not having it centre stage the whole time but yet having just enough to make the viewer feel warm and happy.
The female lead made one of the more convincing males in this story which added to the realism of it, instead of finding the story bizarre and outlandish I found myself loving how strong she was in and out of school! Not to mention how quickly I found myself attached to the other characters, all of whom were portrayed by great actors who all had amazing chemistry.
All in all I'd say this is one of the best dramas of 2019 and you'd be missing out to not give it a go!

Lire davantage

Republican-era Mulan

Welcome to the Republican-era Mulan. Arsenal Military Academy is a gem. Seriously. Usually c-dramas drag on forever (ie, the Legend of Fei...), but not this one.
TL;DR Brotherhood, action, realistic depiction of female trying to disguise as a guy, strong leads, good character development.

Why I like AMA:
1. Brotherhood--Xie Xiang/Liangchen and her relationships with her classmates is such a brother bond. They treat her like one of them and she treats them like her brothers. If you watched Mulan 2020 and was disappointed in Mulan's relationship with her crew, Bai Lu's performance shows what should've happened.

2. Action--the suspense and action is plentiful. Although not realistic (especially cleaning a loaded gun ??? maybe I'm just being critical) it is entertaining to watch a girl fight equally alongside men and deal the same damage.

3. Realistic depiction of females--The FL Xie Liangchen could pass for a feminine guy or a tomboy. Although Xie Liangchen was strong compared to the other girls, in the academy, she struggles to keep up with her male classmates. She deals with humility for being "weak," but it only encourages her to work hard to pass physical tests. In shooting she excels. She deals with periods, with loss, and emotions, but she's a REAL, STRONG GIRL and PICKS HERSELF UP. Girl got grit.

4. Strong Leads--Hands down, Bai Lu played Xie Liangchen so well. Liangchen is tough, emotionally and physically, and can go from polite female to tough guy within minutes (depending on how fast she can change clothes lol). She endures hardships but overcomes them. The ML, Gu Yanzhen (Xu Kai), is a playboy and likes to do what he wants. He's rich and from a powerful family, and he doesn't mind losing face. Although he seems to not care, he has his priorities to which he is loyal.

5. Development--as the drama progresses, the characters mature. Gu Yanzhen learns the reality and cost of fighting for what you believe in. Xie Liangchen realizes that secrets become sticky. Shen Junshen (Li Cheng Bin) learns that power can corrupt and people change. Even annoying characters learn what it means to put others before yourself.

Summary: Arsenal Military Academy is about a girl named Xie Xiang (Bai Lu) whose brother attends a military academy. He dies before his graduation, so she joins the academy when it reopens to honor her brother and country. She takes her brother's name (Xie Liangchen) and disguises herself as a boy. At the academy, she makes friends (or enemies) with her classmates and they go through a lot together. Life for her gets difficult as she struggles to keep her hidden identity. If she is discovered...

Verdict: Watch this Republic-era Mulan. Do it! You won't regret it!

Lire davantage