Sad that the sweet nice one is actually the villain

The drama centres around Sang Qi, the only daughter of Marshall Sang as she becomes the first female student at the imperial college to fulfil her late brother's wish. Not knowing the tradition in the capital, she enters into a pact with the spoiled Song JiaYin, daughter of Minister Song to get Yan YunZhi to accept her pouch. Failing this, she would have to perform at the Lunar Festival. According to the tradition of the capital, this is a gesture of demonstrating and accepting love between a man and woman.

As it turns out, Yan YunZhi is the Head of the Imperial College. Her childhood best friend Zhou WenYuan is a top student at the college and helps her through various crisis. It is hilarious as she tries various tactics to get YunZhi to accept her pouch. But things turn sinister when she is poisoned and becomes embroiled in the investigation of the smuggling of prohibited items into the capital involving high standing people in the court.

Although the story seems rather straightforward at hindsight, it is not quite so obvious at the beginning. The initial ten episodes is quite humorous and light-hearted but the drama becomes dark and more intense. It is quite clear early in the drama who the villains are, but it is quite unclear what the next turn would be.

Acting is excellent. Xu KaiCheng (YunZhi) is tall and handsome and Zhao LuSi (Sang Qi) is very pretty especially when she lets her hair down and don on feminine clothes, and they have excellent on-screen chemistry. Ren Hao (WenYuan) as the second lead is really good as well - you can see the different changes of expression on his face - from the loving childhood friend to a jealous monster. I am sure he will elevate into main leads in future dramas. And among them, you see a fashion parade of lovely period costumes.

The ending is well-crafted with a mix of happy and sad endings. You would be happy for the couples whose lives have ended well. Some of the villains are shown to have a human side, which makes it difficult to hate them - at least it gives you some confidence in humankind. In fact, you would even feel sorry for them. It is heart-rending as one of the villain kills themself in desperation. You witness how a young person with great promise travels down the wrong path and eventually ruin themself while some are ruined by greedy parents. Somehow you wish things could have turned out differently for them. The ending stirs up the emotions.

Although I won't rate this among the top league, but I say it is a very good production and well worth your time watching.

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Light hearted entertainment

The backdrop setting of this drama reminds me of Luoyang but the mood is entirely different. It is more light hearted with a slant towards a comedy and yet not quite one as there are not enough humour to make it so.

As a whole, the story is interesting as it features a man teleported in time to an ancient time where he pits his wit in a family he is married into as a matrilocal son-in-law. Eventually he is drawn into politics as a group of bandits raids and captures the commercial and strategic centre of the country while he is visiting with his wife and friends. He is pulled in to uncover the real schemer and help save the city and bring peace to the country.

The cast acted well, but overall the production is quite average by today's standards in Chinese dramas. In a number of spot, the video was clumsily and obviously trimmed.

I would be interested to find out what happen to the male lead in modern times as he is shown to have been hit on the head as he confronts his business partner who has sabotaged him.

Although I won't rate it among the top league, it is worth watching if you have time to spare and are looking for something not too heavy.

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A comedy and time travel fairytale

Most Chinese dramas that make it onto the international platform are generally good in the hygiene factors: good cast with good looks and acting skills, beautiful costumes, beautiful backdrop. But when it comes to the story, more creativity and originality are needed and more thoughts need to be put into the development of the story.

This drama is entertaining but the story is very average with all the regurgitated themes: blocking the sword for the lovers, time travel, falling in love with a feather headed girl because she is different, triangle love, ditto, ditto. Story lacks originality. And Zhao Lusi's image seems to be fixated as a feather headed girl in time travel dramas, which is not necessary a good thing.

As a comedy and fairytale, I guess it is still worth watching if you are short on other things to do. Also, if you are a fan of Xiao Zhan and are satisfied with just enjoying his good looks and a bit of laughter, this is still a good drama to follow. Afterall, series 1 and 2 total to 42 episodes of about 20 minutes, which makes it only the equivalent of about 18 episodes with the regular length of most dramas.

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Two lying gods and a clueless goddess

ShangGu, the supreme Goddess, sacrificed herself to save the Gods' realm from a catastrophe and her soul was shattered, much to the heartbreak of Bai Jue, her lover and a very powerful god. After the sacrifice and a war against the demons, Bai Jue was injured and disappeared.

Thousand of years later, a daughter, Houchi, was born to ShangGu's only disciple Gu Jun. She had very low spiritual powers and was often looked upon by the deities as undeserving of the high rank that was secured for her by her father. The young girl lived segregated in her father's palace at the command of her father, while trying very hard to improve her powers.

One day, HouChi appeared on the birthday of the high deity Dong Hua to save her friend. Unexpected by all, she demonstrated great powers and had an uncanny resemblance to ShangGu. Appearing on the scene was a young uprising star and a stranger to HouChi, QingMu who helped to resolved the conflict. QingMu strongly resembled Bai Jue who was ShangGu's lover. This left the older deities who had lived from the time of ShangGu very puzzled. Who were these two individuals? Meantime, secret evil forces were building up - so how were this pair of unsuspecting youngsters going to handle what was in store for them?

Overall, this drama was very entertaining. The cast was excellent; special effects was superb; costume was beautiful. There were a few dull moments but did not last long. Zhou Dong Yu did a great job as the mischievous young supreme goddess training to weld the great powers she possessed and as the helpless HouChi. But when it came to acting as the Supreme Goddess who was commanding the deities, she lacked the poise and majesty. And she was acting alongside tall and handsome actors like Xu Kai and Liu Xue Yi - she looked more like a little girl rather than a powerful goddess. I would think that Tiffany Tang would be more suitable for the job but the rest of the cast were too young for her.

As usual in most long dramas, the story was quite silly in parts. TianQi who was also in love with ShangGu had to embark on acquiring the power of chaos to sacrifice in place of ShangGu, nearly destroyed the three realms and was 'killed' by Bai Jue. Later, Bai Jue lied to keep HouChi away and was hated. These gods were certainly not honest, not team players and rather stupid. All these, of course, were ruse to make us felt sorry for them as the wrongfully accused. If I was to give this drama another title, it could have been called 'Two lying gods and a clueless goddess'.

I watched this drama twice. During the first round, I stopped at episode 15 and went on to watch Pearl Eclipse which was very good, as there was nothing exciting except for an obsessive jealous goddess. The first 10 episodes of Ancient Love Poetry felt like a comedy but the drama took on a more serious tone as it proceeded. Also, during the first round, the story felt haphazard and all over the place. But on the second round, the story got clearer.

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Amazing production

This fantasy drama is very much along the same genre as the Goblin. Resentful of a betrayal that happened 1300 years ago, Jang Man Wol was trapped in a hotel by a deity who kept her there as the CEO to stop her from going berserk and turning into a vengeful ghost. Then came the kind-hearted Goo Chan Song who ended up working for her because of a deal his father made with Jang. He tried to put a stop to her excessive spending and disastrous finances, and interfered with her attempt at revenge which could affect her chance of a good reincarnation. The story was centred around their relationship and work, and his changing attitude towards her.

I watched this drama to take a break from Chinese dramas which were getting to be more of the same - repeating the same threads of scenarios which had been successful in earlier dramas. The obvious cultural differences in the dramas were refreshing. The storyline of this drama is simpler than the intense scheming, obsessive lovers and rivalries often featured in Chinese dramas.

I rated this drama highly for many good reasons. The most important is I enjoyed it and actually watched it again. The plot was interesting and developed well. The story behind Jang's unfortunate past unfolded along the drama. Mysteries involving the lives of ghost visitors and staff also enriched the drama.

The acting skills of the cast were excellent. The handsome male lead and pretty female lead had this amazing chemistry. Good looking leads always make a big difference, but they need to act well too which is crucial.

The drama invoked a range of emotions. The verbal 'quarrels' between the leads were quite humorous in many parts and made me laughed. But it also managed to make me cry - few dramas managed to do that and this has become a measure for dramas I watched. Often, I found crying scenes boring and wished they would past quickly. The drama was well paced and I could not recall any dull moments.

Lee Ji Eun (Jang Man Wol) appeared in every scene with a new outfit - almost like a fashion parade. They must have gotten a lot of sponsorships from fashion houses or designers. Otherwise, clothes would have cost a fortune to produce this drama. Yes, I love beautiful costumes.

Then, the backdrop of the hotel was glamorous - the hotel lobby, the view from the balcony, and the wine bar - I guess some might be computer graphics but done very well.

There were of course some shortcomings - mainly inconsistencies. Early in the drama, it was said that ghost could not appear in camera. Yet in a scene later, someone saw the ghost in the library through her mobile phone. Towards the end, the staff at the hotel took photos together.

The ending was bitter-sweet. When the ghosts found resolution to their resentment, it was also time to say goodbye as they moved onto the afterlife. You would feel happy that they moved on but sad at the parting. In the early episodes, Jang said she was alive and not a ghost; yet towards the end of the drama she was referred to as a ghost.

Overall, I enjoyed this drama a lot and would recommend it highly. If you had watched the Goblin and enjoyed it, you may also like this one.

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The sorrow beneath the glorious image

This drama told the story of a young girl forced to marry into the family of a marquis and an outstanding general. Her eldest sister who was married to this marquis, died of mysterious circumstance leaving behind a son who was to be the heir to the marquis title. Her attempt to run away from the marriage failed and she was coerced to take the position as the legitimate wife in order to safeguard her nephew and his heritage. She had to handle the favouritism of her mother-in-law, backstabbing from a concubine vying for the position of the legitimate wife, betrayals and the traps lay by her husband's political opponents.

The drama was interesting and would certainly keep you glued to the TV set, wondering what was going to happen next and the 'truth' behind the different mysteries uncovered.

The themes were quite typical of Chinese dramas: rivalry of concubines and wife, political struggles that harmed the family, forced arranged marriage, obsessive lover of unreciprocated love, love triangles and the like. Likely this was the cultural settings of the Chinese society during that era and the status of women at that time, who had no career except to become the first wife of a prominent husband.

At various points, the story was quite unrealistic and did not gell - quite typical of long dramas. The wife refused to have intimate relation with the husband and he still thought that they were mutually in love - how did this happen? Things just conveniently happened - the evil guy/gal were always at the right place to overhear the important information, witness a critical situation, and smoothly carry out their evil deeds, and the good guys were always at the receiving end.

Still, it makes good entertainment. It is very much in the same genre as the Legend of Ming Lan - if you like this drama, you would likely like this one. Although I won't rate it as a top league drama, it is still a very good production and acting is great.

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Generally good but with a few dull moments and some unrealistic human emotions

I suspect this drama relies mainly on Xiao Zhan and his popularity to be rated highly. Generally, this series is entertaining and dramatic with some dark scenes. The male lead and female leads are good-looking as well. The initial few episodes, especially the first, were somewhat dull but momentum picked up when the wolf boy appeared again as Prince Bo killing an erroneous general - this episode was dramatic. But the momentum dwindled in the last few episodes and became a bit haphazard - suddenly the Princess was drugged to become super-powerful - that sudden change did not bite - my reaction was - yah, sure - it did not give me that dramatic feeling.

Some episodes are quite dramatic but there are also some dull moments. The director must have been trying to evoke some romantic feelings with some lovey-dovey scenes but did not work with me - I just wanted the dramatic to move on. (The scene I could remember that evoke this sad romantic feeling in me was the pavilion re-union in Nirvana in Fire.)

This drama lacks realism. Not because it is centred around a boy brought up by wolves but the flip-flopping of human emotions. The male and female lead characters became sworn enemies. The hero was treating the heroine like a doormat in some episodes. But once the misunderstanding was cleared, they became lovey-dovey again. Life does not happen like this - when the hurt has driven deep, there is no turning back. It would have been much better if the story teller let each got on with their lives, especially since there were others waiting for them. (In the same way as Bai Qian and Li Jing in Ten Mile Peach Blossom - when Bai Qian told Li Jing: in the whole wide world, there is no turning back.)

But Chinese dramas like to stick on the theme of a lead character hurting someone they loved and drove them away in order to help them. And when they found out the truth, they made up and became more loving then before - so cliche. No, dearie, it does not happen this way and women have the memory of an elephant - be real.

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I find this sequel a lot more interesting then its prequel as the story moved faster from one event to another and more interesting actions were happening. I actually rated this sequel a tad better for this reason. And finally for a change, we started to see the evil guys getting the justice they deserve. If you had already watched series 1, then go to complete it.

However, if the script was properly written, this sequel could have been folded into the first series, with much less draggy moments and flashbacks in the first series.

Of course, by this stage, there were not much surprises except for what the demon beast was about and whether it and Bi Yao could be resurrected.

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You go through love-hate phases when watching this drama. It looked promising at the beginning and then it got a little irritating and finally the climax started to build with the most beautiful episodes being the last two. At the lull moments, I thought I was going to be disappointed with this drama as it looked like another run-off-the-mill wuxia drama. The style of this drama is very verbose as well, which makes it a little less appealing to audience seeking more action. Although I would not rate this drama among the top league, but I would still recommend it to any of Yukee's or Leo's fans and anyone loving a wuxia story.

I had watched so many Chinese drama that I believe I am very desensitised and could hardly cry at emotional scenes. But no, I was wrong, I actually did cry when watching one of the characters died in the arms of his love - the emotion was very well built up and the actor acted it well.

There were a lot of flirting scenes between the male and female leads. Luo Yun Xi (Leo) acted the flirting male lead well. I am sure guys could learn a lesson or two on flirting from this. :) I must say Luo Yun Xi did not quite get the chance to display those emotions he did in Ashes of Love. If you are expecting this, you are likely to be disappointed with this drama.

But I cannot say the same of Yukee Chen - she was good but did not manage to stir up much emotions - we had to bear in mind that the female lead character was very young, so all she could do was to act shy but pleased.

The badass in the story was a psychopath. While he was probably right in expecting the pugilistic world to submit to the law and order of the country, but the way he went about it was absolutely psychopathic.

There were also illogical parts. How could the intelligent Shuangguan Tuo think that he could get away as someone else in front of people who knew him well when all that he did was changed the colour of his clothes? At least spot a moustache and bun up his hair for goodness sake. For this, I blame the make-up artists - they need a bit more creativity.

Also, I have seen this happens in Chinese dramas very often. The girl dressed up and then the guy/s started orgling. But when I looked at her, there was not much difference - should have been a bit more lavish with the hairpins, earrings, make-up and clothes to really transform her - again, make-up artists work harder.

About music, the starting theme song was a wrong choice and I dare say contribute to the lower rating of the drama. The theme songs are very important in helping to build the emotions before the start of the episodes but I felt it failed to do that. The starting theme song was a little of neither here nor there - not quite dramatic enough and not sentimental either. If the ending theme song was used at the beginning instead, it could help set the scene, especially with a title like 'The Winner is Love'.

Also the bland of the music was bad. At some points, the background theme music was clashing with the instrumental music that the character was supposedly playing, with two independent pieces running at the same time. It sounded real bad - I wonder whether the music editor had fallen asleep.

The overall drama was good but lacking in a lot of finer touches, some of which I had highlighted above. Nevertheless, it was entertaining.

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I enjoyed this drama - recommend watching it. Each murder plot kept me glued to the TV set - yeah, I use Chrome-cast on YouTube. Zhang Ruo-Yun has this air about him, yet remains likeable. He acted well someone very confident with himself - the same as in Novoland Castle in the Sky. But he was a lot more arrogant in the latter.

The murder plots had each their own twists, so it was difficult to guess who the real murderer was. It is not quite as dramatic as Bones or one of those major Hollywood crime stories. I attribute it to the less dramatic music. But I like the ending theme song and it seem Zhang Ruo-Yun wrote the lyrics and sang it - very talented.

Each episodes is only about 30 minutes and there are only 20 episodes - it easy to complete it.

However, the images are blurred off whenever gory parts of the bodies of the victims were removed - perhaps to overcome the broadcast ratings.

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Amazingly good. If you are reading this review to decide whether to watch it and are into fantasy dramas, I say I highly recommend it. Story was intense and held you in suspense, and was overall well-paced. 56 episodes is a good length to cover sufficient development and yet not get draggy. The plot was unpredictable as there were a lot of twists and turns in the story.

And of course, those of you who had watched Xu Kai in Yanxi Palace and liked him would enjoy watching him again in this drama. I must say there are a lot of excellent acting talents in China and good-looking as well. Every Chinese drama I watched, which was rated above 8 on mydramalist did well on this point. This is no exception.

Music was not highly impressive. A theme song was consistently muted in the drama whenever it was played - I could only suspect that it was awful or had copyright issues.

The ending was a little sad as of all the couples in love in the story, only 1 couple eventually live happy ever after. But it could hardly be rated as a tragedy and I should not say the reason so as not to be a spoiler alert.

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To enjoy this drama, do not read any spoiler.

This is a fantasy romance and power-fight story. If you are to enjoy this, do not read any spoiler. There are some interesting twists in the story. You might be able to guess that some people were not what they seemed to be but you would have to wait until later in the story to find out.

It has all the nice elements of Chinese dramas of recent years - good looking cast, excellent acting skills, nice costumes, good cinematography, interesting story line. The story line is interesting and it would keep you wondering what is going to happen at the end. Unfortunately for me, I read the Wikipedia write-up which was a spoiler and it spoiled some of the suspense and surprises.

But it has also the same weaknesses with parts of it illogical (or sometime I think it's cultural). There is always these male or female characters who refuse to see that their love is not reciprocated but continue to harass and stalk to the detriment of either themselves or their love. As usual, the ending may not be entirely all you wish for, although it is not a tragedy.

Also, may I say that the title should be 'Fighter of Destiny'. Destiny is not countable nor is it definite. There the extra 'the' is not appropriate. There are often all these small errors in English in titles and subtitles which do not look professional.

Gülnezer is very pretty but there does not seem much on-screen chemistry with Lu Han. The 'intimate' scene between them does not invoke any romantic feeling watching them (quite unlike Ten Mile Peach Blossom, Pillow Story, Journey of Flower, Nirvana in Fire, Sound of Desert, Ashes of Love, Princess Agent or any of those in their league). Instead, you might find that the hero and second lead were more loving. Or perhaps, I am desensitized after watching so many romance story.

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The story could have been interesting - an immortal seeking his reborn former love. Acting was generally good but there was no chemistry between the lead actor and actress.

All the romantic save the damsel-in-distress scenes by the lead actor did not work as it should. Strangely the crippled prince in the story seemed to have more chemistry with the actress instead. The chemistry between the lead actor and actress often play a major part in the success of the drama and this had fallen through miserably. Some parts where the lead actor tried to flirt with the lead actress were quite cheesy.

The ending is rather poorly developed and explained. Mysteriously the hero of the story returned with the heroine waiting for him in this place of a different time dimension.

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A very interesting story

This is an drama is excellent on most measures: story, acting, computer graphics, costumes, fighting scenes etc. The story is very interesting as the drama keeps you wondering who is the Prince of Hell and is darkness going to overcome the world.

But as with a lot of long dramas, there are a lot of time fillers to lengthen the story, which spoiled the excitement and suspense as parts of it becomes boring and dull. Trim 5 episodes of these off and the momentum of the story would have been very exciting.

Synopsis of the sequel however spoiled the ending for me as I know whether the hero and heroine would die. However, I look forward to the sequel as there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

It is one of those generally good pieces - you enjoy it but it leaves very little recollection of any impressive scenes where you may wish to re-watch and re-capture, or music pieces you want to listen again. The actors and actresses did well but there were no intense expressive moments like those you see in Nirvana in Fire, Journey of Flower or The Untamed.

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Great chemistry between lead actor and actress

I watched this drama a long while ago. All I could remember is that it is a great production. Chen Kun and Ni Ni acted well in the drama. Acting was excellent, period costume was beautiful, scene setting was great. It was interesting to watch how the pair fell in love in the story although they continued to 'fight' throughout the plot. Scheming in the palace for the position of the crown prince is the theme. Story was convoluted and baffling. I could not wait to get to the final episode to find out who eventually seize the throne.

I thought some parts were a little juvenile and the sudden switch in people's personalities were not quite realistic - for example the hero upon finding his mother and the decision of the heroine in the last episode. I could not remember much of the music - likely because it was not great.

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