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Ice Fantasy Episode 1 Reactions
I'll begin by saying that there are some big ideas for this story to go with the solid casting. The problem lies in the appearance which relies heavily of CG. CG wouldn't be an issue if the appearance for the characters fit a bit better. A good solution would have been using motion capture for the actors and do the whole thing as 3D. Due to this conflict, it is a little difficult to immerse myself as readily in the series. I will be continuing the show though as I would like to see how the story plays out.
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I don't have many wuxias under my belt, other than Journey of Flower and to a certain extent, Prince of Lan Ling. These I loved. Thus, I was looking forward to this show for a LONG TIME.
First, the music is amazing. Like really well done music for the scenes that occur...
Since the show is expected to be 62 episodes long, I can assess that the plot and its characters should be thoroughly developed. And there are a LOT of people, and names are not my forte so I will do my best. I don't speak the language so I appreciate your patience.
Before I summarize, understand that the weather CGI, set (the palace could be something out of Lord of the Rings), costumes, make up, weapons, and actors are all stunningly beautiful. This stands out to me because in most dramas there are a couple of beautiful people and the rest are sort of butter faced/forgettable. No. EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL. It is distracting at times. Because I need to read the subtitles...and yet I am captivated by everyone's beauty. First for me.
The CGI for animals...for instance, is typical cheesy CGI fare but since everything else is stunning, I can overlook that.
The unique characters for this episode hail from four groups: The Guardians (messengers/peacekeepers between mortals/gods--the rule is they must be mortal, amazing battle skills, and psychic), the Ice Tribe (all white haired beauties with blue eyes think Sesshomaru minus the evil intent, if you watched Inuyasha as a kid)*they wear silver or blue), the fire tribe (black hair/red eyes, wears red or black), and the Mermaid Tribe (neutral, they swim and so they walk poorly on land and have really cool hair that is curly with blue ends--really pretty).
Unique characters: Ka Suo (crown prince who is as pretty as a girl), the fire prince (forgot his name will never forget his epic hair), the boy ice prince born of a mistress/second wife with dark hair, implying he is a halfling (?) , the mermaid princess, and the mortal envoy (guardians).
_____________________________________________________________________________
The show opens up with an epic Lord of Rings style battle between what can be presumed fire and ice tribes, then camera zooms in to Ka Suo (he played prince of lan ling) on a faraway island. There is a rock covered in blood and some four winged bird crashes into it. Then he has a monologue, thinking back to the days before he was king.....
PRESENT DAY (technically the past if you follow his flash-back monologue)
It is Ka Suo's coming of age ceremony. He is 130. Really old, and really beautiful.
Everyone seems to be excited, and he remains polite but stoic. He is playing with his pet flying lion (here he is more free/animated), because, you know, apparently these exist in the ice realm, and is reprimanded by other members of the royal family for being late to his own ceremony.
He leaves, runs into his grandmother who is a bit eccentric and has a birds nest in her hair (looks coutoure and cool), before helping out his little brother who is something of a misfit--he has a scruffy haircut and it seems no powers. The other kids (bullies, so naturally, this being a chinese drama, they are primarily unattractive and a bit plus sized) are about to hurt him, Ka Suo steps in and they fly off on the lion to his ceremony.
Just as the Ice King congratulates his son, a hush descends--the fire prince has shown up to give a gift but everyone is skeptical and certain he is up to no good. They aren't wrong. He offers a gift and challenges Ka Suo to a fight. Ka Suo must be careful, because he could trigger a war and end the 100 yr truce between the kingdoms--which seems to be about as stable as a house of cards.
He uses his cleverness to outwit the fire prince, claiming that if he boils some frozen lake water he wins, and if Ka Suo freezes it , he wins. Cool battle ensues, and it is a draw--the water is warm. So neither win. Also, young ice prince shows up with a bunch of five year olds who thank him for warming the water up--it is extremely cheesy but funny.
The fire prince remarks that it is Ka Suo's cleverness he should be wary of before storming off, epic hair flying in the wind. Mermaid Princess, who is so pretty and has really cool hair, has a crush on him it seems. She tells the young prince to pass on a message--to meet her in the woods or she 'won't leave'.
SCENE CHANGE
Ka Suo is hanging underneath the prettiest tree in the universe, talking to an owl to communicate with our mortal guardian--she is direct, spunky, brash, and can anticipate all his questions. This fascinates Ka Suo, who is intrigued and wishes to meet her (BTW, he is immortal and doesn't eat so it seemed he earlier asked her questions about human digestion---funny stuff).
Possible love interest?
SCENE CHANGE
Instead of going home, fire prince litterally dusts some ice soldiers and goes into an off limits area of the ice woods, for reasons I don't know. He then proceeds to try to rape mermaid princess, claiming that he intends on having her as a wife because she is so beautiful--and it is a very well-orchestrated scene worthy of any soap opera. She loses half of her clothes, exposing just enough skin to avoid censoring and looking like a Sabine Woman fleeing a Roman invader (google it if you don't know).
The show ends with Ka Suo showing up.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I like Mermaid Princess's Look--because it is unconventional for a drama ...she looks almost Mediterranean....or something. Exotic, maybe it's her hair. I don't know. If she is destined to be the female love interest, then I anticipate character growth--she is currently very shy and naive and criminally cute.
The mortal guardian girl is the exact opposite of her. Strong, confident, good in battle, and unintentionally cute. She doesn't dislike the prince but seems to find him odd/amusing for his interest in humans. She also is unconventional and seems to not respect traditions/roles.
Ka Suo...is extremely likable and clearly he becomes a very different person by the end of the show.
Little prince is...naive...so he probably does a 180.
And the fire prince...is smug, overconfident, caustic, and strong bad boy vibes. And crazy hair.
I encourage everyone to give this show a try.
First, the music is amazing. Like really well done music for the scenes that occur...
Since the show is expected to be 62 episodes long, I can assess that the plot and its characters should be thoroughly developed. And there are a LOT of people, and names are not my forte so I will do my best. I don't speak the language so I appreciate your patience.
Before I summarize, understand that the weather CGI, set (the palace could be something out of Lord of the Rings), costumes, make up, weapons, and actors are all stunningly beautiful. This stands out to me because in most dramas there are a couple of beautiful people and the rest are sort of butter faced/forgettable. No. EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL. It is distracting at times. Because I need to read the subtitles...and yet I am captivated by everyone's beauty. First for me.
The CGI for animals...for instance, is typical cheesy CGI fare but since everything else is stunning, I can overlook that.
The unique characters for this episode hail from four groups: The Guardians (messengers/peacekeepers between mortals/gods--the rule is they must be mortal, amazing battle skills, and psychic), the Ice Tribe (all white haired beauties with blue eyes think Sesshomaru minus the evil intent, if you watched Inuyasha as a kid)*they wear silver or blue), the fire tribe (black hair/red eyes, wears red or black), and the Mermaid Tribe (neutral, they swim and so they walk poorly on land and have really cool hair that is curly with blue ends--really pretty).
Unique characters: Ka Suo (crown prince who is as pretty as a girl), the fire prince (forgot his name will never forget his epic hair), the boy ice prince born of a mistress/second wife with dark hair, implying he is a halfling (?) , the mermaid princess, and the mortal envoy (guardians).
_____________________________________________________________________________
The show opens up with an epic Lord of Rings style battle between what can be presumed fire and ice tribes, then camera zooms in to Ka Suo (he played prince of lan ling) on a faraway island. There is a rock covered in blood and some four winged bird crashes into it. Then he has a monologue, thinking back to the days before he was king.....
PRESENT DAY (technically the past if you follow his flash-back monologue)
It is Ka Suo's coming of age ceremony. He is 130. Really old, and really beautiful.
Everyone seems to be excited, and he remains polite but stoic. He is playing with his pet flying lion (here he is more free/animated), because, you know, apparently these exist in the ice realm, and is reprimanded by other members of the royal family for being late to his own ceremony.
He leaves, runs into his grandmother who is a bit eccentric and has a birds nest in her hair (looks coutoure and cool), before helping out his little brother who is something of a misfit--he has a scruffy haircut and it seems no powers. The other kids (bullies, so naturally, this being a chinese drama, they are primarily unattractive and a bit plus sized) are about to hurt him, Ka Suo steps in and they fly off on the lion to his ceremony.
Just as the Ice King congratulates his son, a hush descends--the fire prince has shown up to give a gift but everyone is skeptical and certain he is up to no good. They aren't wrong. He offers a gift and challenges Ka Suo to a fight. Ka Suo must be careful, because he could trigger a war and end the 100 yr truce between the kingdoms--which seems to be about as stable as a house of cards.
He uses his cleverness to outwit the fire prince, claiming that if he boils some frozen lake water he wins, and if Ka Suo freezes it , he wins. Cool battle ensues, and it is a draw--the water is warm. So neither win. Also, young ice prince shows up with a bunch of five year olds who thank him for warming the water up--it is extremely cheesy but funny.
The fire prince remarks that it is Ka Suo's cleverness he should be wary of before storming off, epic hair flying in the wind. Mermaid Princess, who is so pretty and has really cool hair, has a crush on him it seems. She tells the young prince to pass on a message--to meet her in the woods or she 'won't leave'.
SCENE CHANGE
Ka Suo is hanging underneath the prettiest tree in the universe, talking to an owl to communicate with our mortal guardian--she is direct, spunky, brash, and can anticipate all his questions. This fascinates Ka Suo, who is intrigued and wishes to meet her (BTW, he is immortal and doesn't eat so it seemed he earlier asked her questions about human digestion---funny stuff).
Possible love interest?
SCENE CHANGE
Instead of going home, fire prince litterally dusts some ice soldiers and goes into an off limits area of the ice woods, for reasons I don't know. He then proceeds to try to rape mermaid princess, claiming that he intends on having her as a wife because she is so beautiful--and it is a very well-orchestrated scene worthy of any soap opera. She loses half of her clothes, exposing just enough skin to avoid censoring and looking like a Sabine Woman fleeing a Roman invader (google it if you don't know).
The show ends with Ka Suo showing up.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I like Mermaid Princess's Look--because it is unconventional for a drama ...she looks almost Mediterranean....or something. Exotic, maybe it's her hair. I don't know. If she is destined to be the female love interest, then I anticipate character growth--she is currently very shy and naive and criminally cute.
The mortal guardian girl is the exact opposite of her. Strong, confident, good in battle, and unintentionally cute. She doesn't dislike the prince but seems to find him odd/amusing for his interest in humans. She also is unconventional and seems to not respect traditions/roles.
Ka Suo...is extremely likable and clearly he becomes a very different person by the end of the show.
Little prince is...naive...so he probably does a 180.
And the fire prince...is smug, overconfident, caustic, and strong bad boy vibes. And crazy hair.
I encourage everyone to give this show a try.
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I just finished writing and this is very long - apologies. I think a lot of this first episode was good. It's kind of like a video game trailer... but longer. Much longer.
The bad things are mainly down to the out of sink dubbing and the iffy graphics. The dubbing is a part of Chinese dramas I don't like or understand the reason for, and it's not done that great in this episode. Parts are out of time, but it's not something massively noticeable. I only noticed it more when some one on Viki pointed it out and I was like 'Ohhhh that's why it's a little odd..."
The iffy graphics... this isn't a case of bad graphics, there are some beautiful, well done areas which are absolutely stunning. However. Yes there is a however. There are a couple of areas where it's just not realistic in the slightest. Now I expected this when I saw the trailer, but.. there's one scene where a sheep gets kidnapped by some flying monsters and I saw a comment saying 'That sheep needs to layoff the botox.' It's a very accurate phrase. Firstly the monsters looked fake but the sheep. Omg the sheep. It was so stiff xD
But I did go into the drama thinking that the graphics would be kinda meh, so I'm not disappointed.
The costuming is exquisite. That was my first positive thought. It's like they've taken all the professional cosplayers and teamed them up with fashion designers and a big budget. I swear most of the dramas budget must have gone on the costumes and the props. Oh. Clothes orgasm.
The OST is also beautiful. I listened to the entire intro, which is rare for me, and then a listened to the entire credits, which NEVER happens! Super pretty.
The story... I've not really seen many Chinese fantasy dramas, I've seen a few movies but not dramas, however the story seems pretty solid. I can kind of predict what's going to happen... but I'm probably going to watch this for the costumes... and the bromance. The two Ice Prince brothers are so cute!
Other characters of interest? Everybody's hot, let me just throw that one out there.
The mermaid princess is not the greatest of actors, a lot of effort going towards this cute mentality which happens in some Asian dramas - nothing we haven't dealt with before. She is kind of funny though, in a 'I found a cat popping balloons on YouTube' sort of funny. I ship her and the younger Prince, I don't care about the age difference.
The younger Prince is an alright actor for his age. I'm not blown away by him yet, but then I'm not blown away by any of them yet.
The fire Prince is a d***. You know when he appeared that he was going to f*** things up. I'm glad that he was outsmarted by the Ice Prince, it made me feel good. But that last scene, where he tries to do you-know-what with Ms Naive Fishtails over there. Wow. He lost any respect I might have had for him.
The granny is adorable.
The human spirit... girl.. People kept saying Victoria, so I assume that's her real name. She seems to have a pretty bada** role. I hope it stays that way. We need more strong female leads! She seems cool. And she has a unicorn so.... win-win in my books.
Overall? Worth watching if you don't mind dubbing and can stand iffy graphics. I want to know what happens, so on we go!
The bad things are mainly down to the out of sink dubbing and the iffy graphics. The dubbing is a part of Chinese dramas I don't like or understand the reason for, and it's not done that great in this episode. Parts are out of time, but it's not something massively noticeable. I only noticed it more when some one on Viki pointed it out and I was like 'Ohhhh that's why it's a little odd..."
The iffy graphics... this isn't a case of bad graphics, there are some beautiful, well done areas which are absolutely stunning. However. Yes there is a however. There are a couple of areas where it's just not realistic in the slightest. Now I expected this when I saw the trailer, but.. there's one scene where a sheep gets kidnapped by some flying monsters and I saw a comment saying 'That sheep needs to layoff the botox.' It's a very accurate phrase. Firstly the monsters looked fake but the sheep. Omg the sheep. It was so stiff xD
But I did go into the drama thinking that the graphics would be kinda meh, so I'm not disappointed.
The costuming is exquisite. That was my first positive thought. It's like they've taken all the professional cosplayers and teamed them up with fashion designers and a big budget. I swear most of the dramas budget must have gone on the costumes and the props. Oh. Clothes orgasm.
The OST is also beautiful. I listened to the entire intro, which is rare for me, and then a listened to the entire credits, which NEVER happens! Super pretty.
The story... I've not really seen many Chinese fantasy dramas, I've seen a few movies but not dramas, however the story seems pretty solid. I can kind of predict what's going to happen... but I'm probably going to watch this for the costumes... and the bromance. The two Ice Prince brothers are so cute!
Other characters of interest? Everybody's hot, let me just throw that one out there.
The mermaid princess is not the greatest of actors, a lot of effort going towards this cute mentality which happens in some Asian dramas - nothing we haven't dealt with before. She is kind of funny though, in a 'I found a cat popping balloons on YouTube' sort of funny. I ship her and the younger Prince, I don't care about the age difference.
The younger Prince is an alright actor for his age. I'm not blown away by him yet, but then I'm not blown away by any of them yet.
The fire Prince is a d***. You know when he appeared that he was going to f*** things up. I'm glad that he was outsmarted by the Ice Prince, it made me feel good. But that last scene, where he tries to do you-know-what with Ms Naive Fishtails over there. Wow. He lost any respect I might have had for him.
The granny is adorable.
The human spirit... girl.. People kept saying Victoria, so I assume that's her real name. She seems to have a pretty bada** role. I hope it stays that way. We need more strong female leads! She seems cool. And she has a unicorn so.... win-win in my books.
Overall? Worth watching if you don't mind dubbing and can stand iffy graphics. I want to know what happens, so on we go!
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First off, what was with the odd out of sync voices to lips? It wasn't DF, Viki did it too! That bothered me. Not to mention the gracefulness and sexy strip tease of what was clearly a rape about to happen. There's nothing pretty or sexy about rape. Plus, don't get me started how this is supposed to setup the Fire Prince's bad boy image, but still keep him looking hot. (Yeah, watch out for my puns.)
There's a lot of characters and story to introduce here. As expected it's a little cold. We see "the future" and of course then jump back to the past. Then we're thrust right into the middle of Ka Suo's coming of age party.
Not to mention introducing all the characters again. It's probably going to take Ice Fantasy a while to find it's legs for it's characters and their development. I'll be patient.
Some of the visuals are absolutely stunning, but you can tell when they skimp out to save for the graphics of another scene. Still overall the show is very pretty to look at.
I've never actually watched a Chinese fantasy drama before. My first impressions are actually like some of the games I've played from China. (Which I understand is actually inspired quite a few drama shows about them.)
Overall I'm not wowed, but willing to see where the show goes. After all I did eagerly wait for this bad boy for months. I figured the start would be clunky story wise.
There's a lot of characters and story to introduce here. As expected it's a little cold. We see "the future" and of course then jump back to the past. Then we're thrust right into the middle of Ka Suo's coming of age party.
Not to mention introducing all the characters again. It's probably going to take Ice Fantasy a while to find it's legs for it's characters and their development. I'll be patient.
Some of the visuals are absolutely stunning, but you can tell when they skimp out to save for the graphics of another scene. Still overall the show is very pretty to look at.
I've never actually watched a Chinese fantasy drama before. My first impressions are actually like some of the games I've played from China. (Which I understand is actually inspired quite a few drama shows about them.)
Overall I'm not wowed, but willing to see where the show goes. After all I did eagerly wait for this bad boy for months. I figured the start would be clunky story wise.
Was this review helpful to you?
