Princess Changge (2021)

Sweet romance and heroics, great stress-reliever

This is not hard historical fiction, it is a cross between a manhua and a fairy tale, turned into a tv-series, just to help set the right expectations. If going in, expecting something remotely historical, then they you be disappointed, and that would be a disservice to an excellent story.

If you're wondering if you should watch it, as it is so long, just watch the first one or two episodes, it gives a good feel of what to expect. This is mostly a fun-series. There will be some tears, people do die, but their is no angst here, it's mostly sweet romance and heroics.

Production: The Long Ballad is based on Xia Da's manhua Chang Ge Xing, which was published from 2011 to 2016. The manhua has received numerous awards such as the Golden Dragon Award for Best Girls' comic and the Newcomer Award at the first Sino-Japanese Youth Exchange Cartoon Festival. [1] I haven't read the manhua (yet), but it as been translated and the parts I did read are fantastic. The story is good enough that I want to read the manhua, despite it (also) being terribly long. 9/10

Story: I hate spoilers, so I won't be adding any here. This is your basic fairy tale. Princess gets into trouble. Princess meets handsome prince. It takes them a while to figure things out. Plenty of people die... The story is not exceptional, but told well. The characters are believable, and make sense. Chinese series like to red-wedding endings, but this one had a (reasonably) good ending. Not too many open loops. But as said before, maybe the manhua is a bit deeper. But well... books vs movies is an eternal dispute, TLB is no exception. 8/10

Acting: Dilraba Dilmurat (the main reason I started to watch) is a beautiful woman, maybe one day she'll learn to be a great actress as well. The acting in TLB is only so-so, for most of the actors. Honestly, I found Rosy Zhao and Liu Yu Ning the best characters, they would score an 8.5/10, they showed real personal growth, many of the others a bit less. This is a long story with many characters, although nobody really shows deep character development, many acted really well and made the episodes fly by. I would say it is not disturbingly bad, but not great either. 7/10

Visual FX: As the story is based on a manhua, they decided to combine images and video together to tell the story. It was done really well. It made the story easier to watch, there are no bloody battles, those are replaced with images, and left to the imagination of the viewer. It kept the story light and fit well with the overall feel. The costumes and sets looked real enough, just a bit manhua-ish, but not distractedly so. Overall, I really liked it: 9/10

OST: The title song is very good, the tone of the song and the lyrics fit very well with the story, and even though it played a gazillion times, it did not get boring, a testament to a really well made song. There was a surprisingly large amount of songs in the series, which was a bit weird, but strangely I didn't hate it. I personally prefer an OST that stays in the background, highlighting the visuals, here the songs really were a goal in themselves. Not my thing, but it was still done with good taste and style: 8/10

Rewatch value: There are so many series to watch, that something must be truly exceptional or somehow personally resonate with you to watch it again. This series is way too long to just sit and watch again on a lazy Sunday afternoon, so I'll just skip grading this one. I probably won't watch it again (completely), but that's more because it's length then any other reason.

Conclusion: Just watch it. It is a light and happy story, with beautiful people and swords and costumes, what more do you want?!

References:

- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Ballad

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Definitely needs to be watched

I love, first and foremost, a really good storyline. If a lead couple has amazing and sizzling chemistry, sometimes they can over come the plot to make it highly watchable, but those dramas are rare. This is a very richly textured drama from episode 1 to episode 49 and I've enjoyed every minute.
Because it's not a perfect 10, there are minute flaws and the one I'd like to point out is the lack of love scenes between the main couple. They are very, very good actors in their characters but, for some odd reason, have very little passionate scenes. At one point, a pair of parrots simulates their climatic kiss moment and I found this truly bizarre.
Other than this one small detail, this is a phenomenal story, acted with finesse by all and a production that allowed me, as the viewer, to be immersed. Definitely worth every episode of time (minus the parrots).

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Very good costume drama

This was my first major costume C-drama for 2021 that I looked forward to, weekly. The subbed episodes could not come, fast enough.

The casting of Dilraba, Wu Lei, Zhao Lu Si and Liu Yu Ning in the four main roles was an excellent decision. I knew Dilraba and Wu Lei previously, but watched Zhao Lu Si and Liu Yu Ning for the first time. The LeYan and Hao Du storyline was more interesting than Changge and Ashile Sun’s.

I was very impressed with Wu Lei’s acting in this drama. At 21, he has proved with this acting job, that he can out-act the seasoned actors who might be in their 20s and 30s. This may be Wu Lei’s best acting performance to-date. This could also be Dilraba’s best acting performance to-date. I also loved Liu Yu Ning's acting, and went searching for his other dramas while Long Ballad was airing. I also enjoyed Zhao Lu Si's acting. She was a tiny fireball. Le Yan went from timid to self-assertive over the forty-nine episodes.

The story flow was well done. There were some draggy parts with Khan, Khatun and their underlings, as well as the Tang palace personnel. The ending was a bit vague. The anime scenes overcompensated for story telling action. We know there are talented graphic artists in China, but many scenes could have been live action, or just recounted via dialog.

A lot of beautiful people in this drama! The OST was very good.

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I want to start by saying that I was looking forward to this series. The amazing cast and the hype around this series were the two things that made me add the series to my watchlist. From the OST clips I’ve seen, I thought the series was a full-on romance with a little bit of politics with the royal family. I was extremely disappointed to find out it was the exact opposite – more politics and very light on the romance.

What I like about the series:

Liu Yu Ning’s character of Hao Du, I was rooting for him the entire time. I couldn't help but notice the way he looked at the Princess the first time. I am so glad there was one thing from the series that did not disappoint me.

The storyline was very well thought out, there were a lot of side characters that were added each time FL faced a trial that developed her character growth.

The OST. Lately, I have this tendency to listen to OST before watching the series. I love fan-made clips of the series, sneak peeks always get me excited and I look forward to these scenes. I also love how Sa Dinding’s If you come back was used in a lot of “dramatic” scenes. It was probably one of the songs I had to look up right away.

Did I mention Hao Du? My favorite scene of his was when Hao Du jumped in fighting off the She Er to win the princess's hand in marriage.

The cinematography did not disappoint, the one thing I really enjoyed was how some scenes transition from live-action to manga. I found this to be very refreshing. I prefer having this transition rather than an overload of CG.
The cast, I am familiar with some of these actors and actresses so I was super excited to watch this. The last I’ve seen any of Dilraba work was in Ten Miles of Peach Blossom and the spin-off Eternal Love of Dream. Zhao Lu Si has been one of the actresses I’ve been following this past year. A lot of her series was light and romantic, thus I was looking forward to seeing her in this role. Other familiar cast played minor roles but it was enjoyable to see them.

The bad:

This is more personal, and I think most folks will either hate or like this. I skipped a lot mainly because I’m not into politics and the military strategy and the scheme. I was bored out of my mind as I kept skipping these sections, which was a good chunk of the series. I probably grasped onto enough to understand what was happening and didn’t care for the minute details.

They're probably more that I didn’t like but I am not going to list them all. I don’t have a long list to make a case and to justify that it made the series bad, it was more of my personal preference.

Personally, my rating is 6.5/10. I think the second lead made the series enjoyable, I looked forward to seeing how Hao Du slowly changed from this cold heartless man to someone dear and loving. But they only play a small role, the entire series was on Sun and Chang ge, and simply I just didn’t like the politics. As much as I love the second leads, I know I won’t re-watch this series.

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It's impossible to hate ANY character

Breaking my silence and extreme laziness to lift my fingers and write my first ever review after being a MDL user for 2 years.

First and my FAVOURITEEE part of this entire drama is the CHARACTERS. It's like every character was custom made and designed for the actors. Their style and appearance really suit who they portrayed. Particularly the secondary characters, the character development makes it IMPOSSIBLE to even hate the villains. There's so many interesting diverse characters that surface as the drama progress, all very unique and serve an importance purpose to the storyline. The small little details attributed to them make them all so LIKEABLE. For example, the Emperor is the most enjoyable and distinct king i've seen. Emperors in historical dramas would refer themselves as 朕 or 孤 (a first person pronounce used exclusively by emperors). However, he simply uses 我 (a first person pronounce used by everybody such as you and me) in front of his ministers.

Secondly, the plot is very well written as a historical-romance drama, with the former having more weightage than the latter. The dialogues utilise plenty of 成语 (idiomatic expression) but isn't too fancy that ordinary folks like us cant handle. Oh did i mentioned how it isn't draggy?? I'm quite lazy to watch drama that has more than 30 episodes as I'll usually burn out by then. But the numerous suspense and exciting gameplays kept me going.

Thirdly, stock up on kleenex as you'll be bawling so much that no concealer can cover the puffy eyes and red nose. It was truly an emotional rollercoaster and the soundtrack complimented it so well. Only con is that they should have played it MOREEE.

The only downsides in this drama are (minor spoiler alert):
1. Poor stylist for the female lead. She practically only have 1 hairstyle throughout, even when she was playing a male in disguise.
2. Blurring of kiss scenes. I really don't get why though?? -RAGEEE-

Nevertheless, kudos to the entire production team and cast. I started watching this drama without any expectation and left with multiple takeaways. Thank you for the magical journey~

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Favorite 2021 Drama!!!

I gotta say that this is one hell of an AMAZING well-directed drama in 2021. After watching the trailer I was already star strucked. I first got my eyes on this drama because of Wu lei and Dilraba and I am glad I did because once I started this drama I was unable to let it go.

The plot is very interesting and it is mainly about revenge and later slowly begins to fall out of the revenge plot and into a more subtle plot that has to do with helping others and reassuring civilians lives and helping the poor. I really enjoyed watching the character developments in Chang get because at first all she cared about was revenge but along her journey, she witnessed so much bloodshed that eventually she decided to forget that and care about the lives of her people.

The cast is a phenomenon, their costumes especially Ashile Sun's outfits on the grasslands is spectacular. I think Wu Lei really rocks the outfits on the grassland it really boosts his manliness and makes him look so mature. I really love the duo of Li Chang Ge and Ashile Sun. Dilraba and Wu Lei really had some great chemistry and bond even with the age difference it was amazing to watch those two when they were in scenes together. I just want to say, Wu Lei's acting in episode 25 was amazing you got to agree with me on that, I even got goosebumps just watching it. I could feel his emotions too, very well done!

I loved the OST in this drama I felt like the music matched the drama very well and the parts with the music was blended in so well that it matched the atmosphere and emotions which made this drama so amazing I believe.

I would definitely recommend this to my friends!

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It’s ok but no exciting surprises or interesting twists.

Some of us must have known the story and character of Li Changge. So, it’s interesting to see how it would be portrayed and visually performed; and how everything would be wrapped up in this drama series. Although I am not a big fan of the choice of Wu Lei as male lead with his flat acting and to be honest Dilraba could have been better Li Changge with more expressive acting. But overall I could manage that since Zhao Lusi has been doing fantastic job to bring up her character slowly but surely. At first, things actually were so good until episode 27, story moved in good pace keeping us interestingly watching . However, starting from episode 28, story was somehow dragging and becoming boring in which many unnecessary scenes. Some casts are only good looking but they were rather annoying to watch. I almost dropped this on episode 30, but I kept carry on watching as curious about how it would end and hoping I could finish it and preserve the good rating. Overall, It’s ok but definitely not the best serious historical drama as many praised , no clever twist to make it interestingly different and more captivating apart of the popularity of Dilraba and Zhao Lusi perhaps the one that are drawn us to watch.

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One of the best dramas in Cdramaland

If you are willing to invest your time in watching a drama will remain in your memory for the next decade and beyond, one that could possibly change your life (for the better), this could be it.

Key Features of this drama:

1. Unique storyline of a young, smart, fearless, multi-talented Tang Princess falling in love with a romantic grassland General from the Eastern Turk. She will start off wanting to seek revenge for the killing of her parents, but will end up understanding it is more important to put aside self-interest and see the greater good of her people and her nation.

2. Every character was supremely well portrayed by the respective actors/actresses. The beautiful OSTs, and background music will add to arouse the emotion that the director intended, whether it is sadness, anger, regret or joy. You will not only feel those emotions through the actors/actresses' facial expressions, but also hear it through those songs and background music.

3. Set during the time of the Tang dynasty, it moves almost at the 21st century speed. There are very few moments of dullness, redundant dialogue, silly misunderstanding, or needless charactors added to prolong a series. The cast spoke at a very even pace. Not too fast, as if we are watching in the fast forward mode; or too slow to put us to sleep.

4. Choreography. Whilst many of the live battle scenes were replaced by animation, it was well compensated by the excellent choreography of the many one-to-one fight scenes.They are an excellent feast for the eyes that will keep you captivated.

5. CGI. I find some of the CGIs used in this drama rather amazing. Especially all those flying arrows. And there were lots of flying arrows used in this drama, much more than those daggers in House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Ziyi, 2014). If you like those flying daggers there, you will love the flying arrows in The Long Ballad.

6. Iconic scenes. This drama has countless iconic scenes that will remain in your memory for years. Watch it, and you will know what I mean.

7. Excellent screen chemistry. Especially for the first two couples. Some might add, even for the 3rd and 4th couple. This was largely achieved through good acting, rather than kissing or bathtub or bedroom scenes. There was one or two well executed kisses, but by and large, magical connections between actors and actresses were achieved through tender holding of hands, sweet forehead kisses, gentle hugs, subtle eye-connections, large scribbling of name and gentle caressing of hairpin which conveyed just how much one party misses the presence of the other.

8. Life Lessons. The hidden gems of this drama series are the many life lessons one can learn through the adventures and character development of the two princesses. Li Changge sought to avenge her parents, seemingly murdered by her uncle. You read this in the synopsis. By the time the series ended, you will see her learning to forgive; even the person who killed her biological father. In the process, she found healing and closure in her relationship with her uncle. She also learned to forgive two other characters who were constantly trying to hunt her down.

Besides forgiveness, you will find many other important life lessons conveyed through this drama. Lessons of mutual trust and respect between healthy mature loving partners; making personal sacrifices for the greater good of a nation; finding ways to acheive peace instead of resorting to violence to settle conflict and differences. The character Li Changge herself shows us the importance of being brave and courageous, willing to take calculated risks, willing to be humble and learn from one's mistakes. From Leyan, the 2nd female lead, the importance for leaders to get down to the ground, see and feel the needs of the people you lead. Listen to them. Empathise with them.

There you are. I hope this review motivates you to invest your time in watching this excellent drama, and be blessed.

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The best drama of 2021!

I love a coming of age character that isn't focused on a ML's storyline as the main driving force. Reba is amazing in this. I haven't watched a lot of her dramas- I can only recall Legend of Qin (the prequel) with Zhang Bin Bin. She was pretty good in it. As CG, it's really outstanding performance. Leo Wu blew me away literally in the first episode. It shows with the right script and a dedicated actor, you can really shine. Leo has been typecast into more adolescent/youth roles (he is still quite young). I'm sure he loved a script that added 10 years to his actual age and demonstrate a level of pure maturity. I just love everything he does in portraying Ashina Sun down to the very little eye moments. The OSTs and the instrumental soundtrack is superb. Effort put in can be seen even with a limited budget. The heart and soul poured out of the director is in every scene. I haven't been this addicted to a drama since The Untamed and this one is arguably one of the best in the last couple years.

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One of the Best Dramas I've Ever Watched

A quick note; this is meant to be a political drama, not romance. If you are watching because you are a fan of the manhua, be prepared; they are completely different aside from names and some events. Please watch with caution as to not ruin any expectations you may have.

STORY

The heart of the story is Li Chang Ge, a young princess of the Tang Dynasty whose entire life is snatched out from under her when her parents are murdered by her Uncle and she's branded a traitor. She vows revenge no matter the cost. Her quest for revenge leads her to meet new people, mainly A'Sun, leader of the Eagle Division on the Ashile Tribe, Tang's enemy. While a subtle romance does pick up between the two, Chang Ge goes through continuos loss and she begins to reevaluate what she truly wants. She puts aside her quest for revenge and decided that she wants to end the bloodshed between Tang and the Ashile Tribe and bring peace to both lands.

CAHARCTERS

Li Chang Ge: She's stubborn, headstrong, and headfirst. While she has no shortage of bravery, she makes many mistakes along the way as well. It isn't until she retreats into the temple to atone for her mistakes, we see her growth. While Chang Ge may be a brilliant military strategist, she didn't value the lives of the soldiers. They were just a part of her plan to create alliances to one day get her revenge. Her actions had led (direct and non direct) to the deaths of people she had begun to love as a new family. At the temple as she sat in front of the "Non-Interference" sign, you could see her struggling and remorseful at what she had done. Her character development is really refreshing to see because she realizes that she was wrong, she did make mistakes, and that she needed to change-even if it meant to put away her revenge. It's rare to see main characters change in such a way.

A'Sun: He may have been as close to a perfect character as you could get. There wasn't much development on his part since as a leader he knows what its like to shoulder responsibilities and be in charge of the lives of others. He's a wonderful support to Chang Ge, he regretted blaming the death of his foster mother on her and stepped down as leader of the Eagle Division just to go looking for her when they all thought she went missing.

LeYan: Chang Ge's cousin; this soft princess goes through one of the biggest character developments in the drama. She's naive in the beginning, knows nothing about the people. She gets lost, travels with beggars, and had to fight for food. Without no one knowing she was a princess, she had to work hard to make her own money. She dotes on a younger boy and is devastated when he dies, especially when she realizes his biggest wish was to eat rice. These hardships help her to understand what her subjects are going through and make her a better princess for them.

Hao Du: Like Leyan, this cold assassin goes the through probably *the* biggest change in the drama. He only knows how to follow orders and does whatever it takes to get it done. He was tasked to catch and kill Chang Ge and for over 20 episodes thats what he does. The unlikely romance that develops between him and Leyan is shattered when he uses Leyan as a hostage to yet again devise a way to catch Chang Ge. The tongue lashing that she gives him was truly spectacular to see. With tears in his eyes, you can see him being to question, if what he's doing is right. He becomes Leyan's biggest supporter, putting her happiness above his own, even if it meant giving her away to someone else even though he loves her. He risks his life to fight for her freedom. It's the best example of the "Sunshine x Cold" and "cold character only soft for one person" trope at its best.

There are other character that have development, whether for better or worse such as She'er, Du Ruihui, Yi Cheng, Mimi, and Shuyu, but it would take too long to discuss all of it. The main thing is that, all of the characters go through a transformation and it's visible on screen.

COSTUME

One thing only: A'SUN'S FUR ARMOR OUTFIT.

VISUALS/CINEMATOGRAPHY

The battle scenes in the drama are some of the best I’ve seen. I was so excited to see it and was constantly blown away by how well it was done. I would love for the choreographer to win an award, it was absolutely stunning.

Now this might be an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t hate the animation sequences. I understand that this was filmed during covid, so I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. The large scale battles requires tons of extras to act it out and many crew members to film it all. It would have been very easy to spread the virus.

MUSIC

You're lying if you say you skip the intro and the outro songs. This is one of the few dramas that I have NEVER skipped the intro song or the ending song. The beginning song "Direction of Light" is so powerful and the ending "Cocoon" is soft, almost melancholy. I will definitely be buying them. The soundtrack within the drama is always on point.

REWATCH VALUE

I'm already thinking of when I'll be watching it again. This really is Dilraba's best drama. Wu Lei shows that despite his age, he can act with the best. Will look forward to his other projects 10/10

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Overly satisfying

Overly satisfying but there are still some issues that should be addressed. It's ok if there are no kiss scenes, I don't mind, the look in their eyes and caring for each other said everything to me. Leo did an amazing job in portraying Sun. I almost got fooled by his age, still can't believe that this guy is still in his early 20s'. This is the real and satisfying purpose of the actor. Great job!

Dilraba, ok, not bad, still has room for improvement, but I don't know her too much (her dramas) so I won't comment anything further. OSTs are absolutely stunning! NO other comment on that.

Now, like someone already commented, some important scenes are cut off with manga cartoons. Bad bad bad. But on other hand, it saved many potentially destroying scenes, like releasing the weather from the river in some of the first eps. But for the sake of the story and Ashile Sun & Chang Ge ofc, I was willing to keep it going and close one eye on that.

Anyhow, definitely worth watching.

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