Decent watch, but could've been better.

The MLs did a good job with this one. I enjoyed their banters and you could notice how the characters grew throughout the series.

For the plot itself, I thought it would expand further than the two states we saw most from. Seeing as it revolved around the world getting plunged into war, but it didn't quite feel like it. None the less, what they did show from it was rather well executed.

I found the start to be the best out of it all. Up until the 20th episode mark. From 20-30 it fell quite a lot quality wise. It became a bit too dull. It caught a 2nd wind for the last 10 episodes as it was getting closer to the finish line. The ending felt a bit rushed, but I've definitely seen worse.

If you need something not too heavy to watch which doesn't require your full attention, give this one a go.

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Don't have high expectations.

I had high expectations for this, as I thought this would be a perfect drama for ZLY. It's not exactly wrong, but I'm left wanting more. Her character does improve throughout the series, but at times she contradicts herself by being immature and illogical which breaks the image of the strong heroine. I wanted to see her actually getting stronger, but the thing which has become common with these kinds of dramas, the lead suddenly grows out of nowhere. You could argue that it would be uninteresting to see the journey instead of the result, but why have it as a focal point in the first place?

I expected more martial arts and awesome choreography, but thus far it's been fairly disappointing. The plot also is rather boring. It feels like it would be much better if it wasn't dragged out so much. The romance scenes between the main leads have been annoying to watch from the start and I skip them as soon as they start. I haven't read the novel, but if it has as much romance with cringy dialog I'm rather glad I haven't touched it yet.

They could've left out the character of Zhou Jie Qiong entirely as she was immature and annoying since episode one. She contributed absolutely nothing good to the plot. I understand she's there for comic relief, but it didn't make it any better.

Most actors do an okay job with what they've been given. As I've seen several of them in other dramas, I know that it's the directing which makes me want for more. I can only hope that the actors/actresses themselves felt frustrated too.

From episode 1 to 20, it was bearable. But from that point on, it became less and less interesting. I have this habit of finishing dramas no matter how bad it is, so I did. But I have to admit I had to FF way more than I usually do. It was that uninteresting.

If you're contemplating to start this, be warned. If you still like this, despite its flaws, then kudos to you. It was definitely not worth my time.

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Worth a watch

This will focus more on the 2nd half of this drama.

It starts directly where it left off. No unnecessary recaps, thankfully. You notice as the series progresses that the seriousness slowly creeps in. The comedic reliefs become less frequent and you can feel it start to brew trouble ahead. I personally think this was well done. The characters involved acted it out well.

The growth of the FL here is more steady, but I also think that the reason she has for feeling betrayed by the general was petty. While I can understand she feels betrayed, but thinking about it from a more logical standpoint, I definitely would do the same as the general. Implicating the whole Shang family would indeed be stupid. She admits herself that she understands it, but still decides to break things off. It does use this as the final element where her character becomes more mature and let things go, it also felt more like putting another layer on top of something, to hide the flaws.

One of the most memorable episodes to me, was when she left for the palace to stay next to the deposed empress and her mother rushing to the palace gates. The emotions portrayed by the mother, when realizing the meaning behind her daughter's words was acted out well.

The warmth that the empress shows for the FL was also done well. It works to show how different things might've been, if her mother did the same.

The last episodes and the conclusion did feel somewhat out of place, but despite that I think it was executed well. It did tie up some lose ends. The battles was done well too. I somewhat wish there were more of this throughout both parts, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

I think this series was the biggest surprise in dramaland for me, in 2022. I doubt I'll find something which'll get me as invested as this, for the remainder of the year.

Recommended.

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Pleasant surprise

This drama was split into 2 seasons and while I couldn't quite understand it at the start why they would do that, it makes more sense now after I've completed it all.

As other reviewers has pointed out, the first half mainly concentrates on the love/hate relationship between FL and her mother. The vibe of this season is more playful and less serious, but it doesn't overdo it on the comedic element. Which is a relief, as it would make the execution of the 2nd part more difficult to balance. As the series progresses, the series start to shine as the characters introduced since the beginning becomes well established.

I truly enjoyed how the king was portrayed. The fact that he is portrayed as a less serious king, who values relationships between himself and his subjects works well. While I do not exactly believe this would be that great for an actual ruler, it might be the reason why I liked it so much.

In this first half of the series, you slowly notice how the FL starts to grow from being a immature, petty young lady to a more serious character. Even when she starts to behave more proper on the outside, her immature side is still there. I generally enjoyed the pacing of her growth as it didn't feel too draggy, nor did they spend too much time showing it.

While it wasn't too heavily focused on (from my point of view), the growth of ML was also executed well. You might argue that his portrayal of the unmoving, staunch general was a bit too stiff, I think it worked well. When together with the FL they balanced each other.

I'll finish the rest of the review in part 2.

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Synopsis was great, execution was poor.

TLDR: I did not like it.

I decided to start on this drama after looking for a drama with a strong female lead. After reading reviews and recommendations on different sites I decided to give this a shot. The first episodes started off okay. But simply watching the poor CGI of the wolves, already put me slightly off continuing.

As another side note, seeing how many actually rates this at 8.5+/10 leaves me a bit baffled. But I reckon that I might not be in the demographic this was produced for. (or maybe thats just how I excuse how poorly I rated it)

I watched this drama in the course of about 4 days. Admittedly, I had to fast forward a lot of here and there, because otherwise I'd never be able to finish it. It simply made me frustrated most of the time. I expected the FL to grow into becoming a strong female lead, but I was sorely disappointed. Even by the last episode, FL seemed like a different person all together, but you were given no context as to how it happened. Coindentally, the last episode was also the episode I liked the most.

If you pay attention to the music, you'll notice that the main song will probably be played a minimum of 4 times each episode, sometimes more. It becomes so repetitive that whenever I heard it I had to fast forward. Its the cue for "some dialog which will go back and forth between MCs".

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Frustrating, but fun ride!

I don't really have that much to write after binge watching it over 3 days. I watched this for Li Qin as Lige and she delivered!

The villains were villainy. To the point of being ridicilous, but hey, that's what you can expect from most chinese dramas with lots chess back and forth. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it, but I dislike it when villains get away from things, despite the amount of evidence. There were some inconsistencies here and there, but I've seen far worse so I let it slip.

The Shen family was great, the royal brothers were great too. In fact, most of the characters had a purpose and were acted well. The fighting scenes were usually fun, albeit a bit unbalanced here and there. The one thing which always dissapoints me in these dramas, is when they try to depict a large scale war. Yes, I understand that it is costly to produce something which shows a grand scale. But showing maybe 100 people marching, then saying that it is a detachment of 10.000 ... ? It breaks immersion and believability. This series is not the only sinner to do this, so I'll give it some slack.

Episode 1-25 - Great.
25-45 - Decent
46 - 52 - Poor. (I ended up fast forwarding here and there)
53 - Great. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised.

All in all: It had its fun moments, frustrating ones and the ridicilous ones. What you can expect and probably what you're also looking for.

Recommended.

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I was eagerly awaiting the 5th season of this show when I finished the 4th season. I fell in love with Daimon Michiko during the first season and I still do.

While the format of each episode is pretty much the same, it's also one of the good points about the series. It makes it easy to follow and you don't really have to think about whether you missed out on some major plot element.
During this season you see many of the faces you got to know in earlier seasons while they introduce a few new ones. It was refreshing to see a semi- teacher/student relationship, as it shows Daimon in a way acknowledge someone else for their skills.

Her catchphrase, "I never fail" might've gotten a bit old after 5 seasons, but it's also one of the lines you expect. When you hear it, you also know that things will be all right. If there's one thing I missed and I hope they do something about if they create a new season, its that she starts her own clinic/hospital. That would be interesting to see if you think back a couple of seasons.

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Good and entertaiining

This is the first series I've seen in the Novoland universe. I usually am not that interested in stories with too much fantasy elements like in the other series, mostly because CGI looks to unbelievable. But it was toned down very, when it came to the element of merfolk and it was simply used to drive the plot forward at certain points.

The acting was great for pretty much every character involved. I was surprised by the acting form the Emperor and, Ti Lin and Zhe Liu. The emperors eunuch was also great for comedic relief here and there.

The music which accompanied the series felt right throughout the series and was timed well.

They didn't go berserk with flashbacks, but they increased it a bit towards the end. Thankfully, it didn't feel too repetetive. I have in recent years become prone to fast forward in series, as soon as it makes me lose interest. But I didn't FF more than tops 15 minutes throughout the series, which says a lot.

The pacing of the story was for the most part good. They could've made a few parts less draggy, but all things considered it wasn't too much. The last 4 episodes, the plot felt a bit rushed. The last episode was great. Its one of the better made endings I've seen in a drama overall.

If you like a show which has a strong female lead in it, give this one a spin. While FL clearly has flaws, it wasn't emphasized too much, making it ridicilous. It felt grounded.

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