The leading couples have really good chemistry, since Zhao liying and William chan have played leading roles together multiple times. This is possibly one of the first 'serious' dramas for Yixing and he plays his serious character exceptionally well.
Overall, really recommend this drama!
Was this review helpful to you?
The story is a prequel to The Lost Tomb so there will be a lot of scenes were they are in a mine if you loved The Lost Tomb i will recommend you to watch this. Also the drama will focus a lot on the bad guys so they will appear very often like they are the main character. There is not an end yet because there will be a season 2 so it won't be sure that the original cast will stay. The drama will be a lot about action,adventure,mystery and romance. Also the love story of William and Zhao Li Ying was great you will love that couple but Zhao Li ying wasn't really a main character she appeared in a few episodes.
Acting
The role of Fo Ye was perfect for William Chan he did a great job and Zhao Li Ying did a great job as Yi Xinyue with her stubborn role. What i also liked was that she wasn't scared to tell Fo Ye that she liked him and that she knew what she wanted. Lay acting was good as well i really liked him in the scenes with Ya Tou there scenes were very emotional. The rest of the cast was great too the only character that annoyed me was the white guy when he spoke chinese it annoyed me and he talked very slow.
Music
I loved the Ost especially LJM - huan hun men and the beginning was of William Chan and the ending song was also great chinese music are usually really good.
Rewatch
I don't think i will rewatch everything but i will rewatch the scenes of Zhao Li Ying and William Chan because of their great chemistry
Overal
Good drama with great couples i would recommend you to watch this if you like The Lost Tomb or you liked the main leads.
Was this review helpful to you?
> Despite its flaws ~ this drama has been wonderful. I've never been more intrigued with a drama that doesn't have its primary focus on Romance.
> Coming to the flaws, the one thing that I could never digest was that this show gave more screen-time to the villains than the heroes. In some episodes, almost half the runtime would be just of the villains drinking tea and scheming, or gloating over their stupid achievements. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find this annoying because I really really hated the overachieving military baboon. I can't explain how much I wanted to kill that officer! I don't think I've ever felt this much hatred for someone — that too, someone completely fictional. I suppose I'd have to appreciate the writer and actor's talents despite it all. They did do a good job at making me loathe the character. But still, I always knew I'd have a reason to despise his very existence from his first scene.
>Speaking of villains, I must say, apart from the military baboon and the other three villains, Chen Pi was the world's biggest idiot. Initially, despite seeing how cruel his character could be, I still had hope that he would have a better understanding because of his shameless love for his mistress (Lay's wife). But this boy didn't even want to seek reasoning or understand the situation. He just jumped in with the evil bandwagon and began making everyone else's lives miserable. Despite how adorable the fella looked, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have thought before smashing his face into a toilet because he was a complete shitehead**.
> Although Romance is of a secondary issue in this drama, the romance between the main couple is amazing. It was very refreshing to watch the exchange between Da Fo and the female lead because Zanilia's character was so upfront about her emotions and motive and a complete sass machine! Once again, Zanilia did a wonderful job! (Complete fan after watching Boss and Me)
> While we are on the topic of acting skills — Great acting by Lay! I'm very impressed tbh. I just confess out of guilty conscience, I didn't even know who he was until I thought I'd seen him somewhere while watching his second or third scene. Googled him up and BAMN! Kpop Idol! (Sorry, I'm not that into EXO yet. Although I'm very much into Lay now.) *clears throat* Back to Lay, he didn't make me feel like I was watching a 25-year-old~ somehow he had a very old soul vibe. I loved him!
> Since I've mentioned Lay making me feel like he was an old soul. Even the first male lead looked younger than him tbh. And William (Da Fo — first male lead) is actually 31! Six years Lay's senior.
> Again, Lay, I can not even explain how much I wanted to just reach into the screen at times, grab his face and apply chapstick on those lips of his during so many scenes! The boy really dealt with a bad case of chapped lips almost throughout the drama. I suppose it was completely freezing in China during the shoots and the poor lad has really susceptible lips.
> My favorite character in this whole drama would have to be split between Lao Ba (fortune teller) and the Luitennent ~ They were quite the characters! And their bromance was something to watch!
> At first when the drama moved to the 'Lao Ba and the lieutenant searching for Da Fo in a small village' angle, I was a bit apprehensive ~ but then I really began to get interested in how the village was structured, and the chieftain. What really pulled my heartstrings, however, was the bittersweet secret unrequited love angle there was between the Chieftain and Er Ye (Lay). It almost made me cry with how beautiful it was ~ it actually made me think "This could be such a beautiful drama on its own"
> Speaking of Lay's love angle in this; ALMOST EVERY FEMALE IN THIS DRAMA FALLS FOR HIS CHARACTER! His wife, that evil Madame Hu girl, the Chieftain, EVEN DOCTOR MO! By the end of the drama I couldn't even deal anymore ~ I once even screamed that I'd take him just because there were so many females into him!
> My personal eternal love in this drama? The lieutenant. I spent every second of his screentime wishing that he get his own main lead in a proper drama someday soon! Those acting skills and looks would really suit the role of a lead. Heck, he'd even look great as a Korean main lead because he has those looks!
> Slowly moving to the more sour points in this drama — Er Ye's eternal, unconditional love for his wife slowly made me feel suffocated every time he refused to even try to give up finding a way to be with her. I mean the lady's dead. She said she's content with her life. Okay nevermind, maybe I don't understand the mechanics of true love.
> While I adored this intriguing drama~ I got really tired by episode 39. Everything felt too confusing, and I got very bored of the folks still having to deal with the tombs. You'll need a lot of patience to pass through the episodes after 35, to be honest.
> The ending? Open-ended tbh. I don't know.. I just somehow didn't feel it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Plot (Prequel to The Lost Tomb) - I only include this (No spoilers I promise) because I feel like the one they give is not enough info and slightly misleading - this is only about 30% about actual tomb stuff and less nine families and more about 3-4 families with a few others thrown in here and there. STILL A GREAT WATCH and adventure film!!!!Set in the early 1900s when China and Japan were caught up in the war of the century, nine families have risen to power in the famous city of Chang Sha. Their leader is the mysterious, but fearless Zhang Qi Shan. His origins may be a questionable but his brilliance, bravery, and power are there for the world to see. When a mysterious train comes to town absent a driver but full of the dead, it's clear something bad is coming to Chang Sha. Desperate to stay ahead of the Japanese and the traitors who help them, while trying to defend both his nation's history and its future, Zhang Qi Shan is in for the ride of his life. Joining him are his two closest friends and fellow members of the Nine Families - Er Ye (an opera singer and and heir to perhaps the most famous of the 9 families) and Ba Ye (a fortune teller with a knack for understanding the hearts of both the living and the dead, but also a nose for getting into trouble with a capital "T"). It's a story that will lead them through underground tombs, unfriendly villages, prison camps, spooky marshes, and more. Can Zhang Qi Shan and his friends overcome the obstacles that face them above and below ground while still keeping the people they love safe at home?
My Thoughts
So I originally found this drama because I fell in love with "The Lost Tomb" and was looking for something similar. When I found out it had a prequel - "Mystic Nine" - I was quick to put it on my 'To Watch' List. Definitely one of my favorites for 2016 and probably an all time favorite all-together!
MUSIC: To be honest, the intros were like 4 minutes, so I generally skipped to the show :P It was suspenseful when it needed to be suspenseful, exciting when it needed to be exciting. Nothing spectacular, but it fit - you know?
SPECIAL EFFECTS: The special effects for this show were really excellent. I think there were two or three scenes towards the end (when it went really tombsy and "supernaturally" that there were some effects issues that bothered me, but by and large I went through all 48 episodes and never felt like it was fake or manufatured. I mean we had tree coffins and giant temples and monstrous mazes that were just mind-boggling in the way they constructed them. I thought it was really well-done.
CHARACTERS / ACTING: OMG I loved all the main characters so much. Not the bad guys - I mostly found them A) annoying, B) not very well done, C) a little obvious, and D) not even close to matching up to the good guys in abilities. But the good guys - I just found them to be so much fun. All of the main leads were really well developed, they matched their characters extremely well, and they all played off of one another like it was a real relationship.
The friendship between Fo Ye, Er Ye, and Ba Ye was just extremely well done. You could feel how strongly they felt about one another. Their sadness when one was going through something difficult, the amused tolerance Fo Ye has when Ba Ye goes off about something "fortune tellery." They are strong, confidence, intelligent men - but the writers just made them very realistic. They were somehow both excellent heroes and really fun characters you would like to be friends with. Ba Ye and Lieutenant Zhang were just totally awesome - they definitely add to the re-watch value! Ba Ye brought just the right amount of humor into the film to let it be angsty and dramatic without going overboard. Even the women were excellent - and I tend to get annoyed by them more easily. I actually really enjoyed Zhang Qi Shan's relationship with Xin Yue, and really got into their plotline. Er Yue and his wife just brought out so many feels - it's seriously a love to transcend time.
LENGTH: This drama is long - and (the only really bad thing I'm going to say here) sometimes long-winded. There were a few times when the Bad Guys were plotting or the Good Guys were plotting and I just wanted to get back to the action scenes. So I'd maybe super-speed or skip through those parts. You'll pick the story up easy enough without them. But don't let that stop you from watching the drama though! The other parts more than made up for it.
PLOT: Not a lot of romance - It really was more of an action/adventure tale. I like that - it was way more focused on friendships and the adventure. As for that adventure, there were of course some plot holes. There was actually less "tomb" stuff than I expected given the title. A lot less. Tomb-things really only covered about 1/3 of the show imo. They meandered a lot (just when you thought everything was solved, something else would happen that started everything up again), but that gave it the "long adventure" feel. Spent a lot of nights drawn from episode to episode.
I know the ending of the bad guys felt a little anti-climactic, but it kind of worked. I think? Kinda? Still not sure how I feel about that.
Many people were upset with the final ending because it isn't particularly a happy ending. It leaves a lot of things unfinished. No questions were left unanswered - it just didn't leave everyone happy and safe at home in the end. But to be fair, I felt like this drama needed that. It left me feeling like their adventures and story would continue - like things weren't really over. Somewhere, Zhang Qi Shan and the nine families are still fighting against the enemy, still protecting China's heritage, and leading it into the future. Which is a perfect set-up for "The Lost Tomb" series which it prequeled. I don't actually like stories that "end" - I like my adventure series to finish with the next adventure awaiting. This did that for me!
FINAL THOUGHTS: Please check this drama out if you like adventure or fantasy kind of films. It really did give me the same ""feel" as "The Lost Tomb." It may not be the best-written show ever, but it certainly entertained me way more than most!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Plot holes and inconsistent pacing - but Interesting general plot and good Acting
Completed - 6/6/2022 - 7.75 rating, rounding up to 8.0 because of the good-looking cast (LOL)I am watching this 2016 drama in 2022, so I am aware that the CGI and technology 6 years ago were very different from today. I might criticize what I don’t like, but it won't affect my rating (that much).
“The Mystic Nine’ follows the story of the nine grave-robbing families and it spans quite a few years’ time. It was great to see these famous actors and actresses when they were quite young and fresh-faced, especially Zhao Li Ying and Yuan Bing Yan.
What I Like:
1. Overarching Plot - I find the general plot of the drama quite interesting. This is my first tomb-raiding drama and instead of just raiding tombs after tombs, we have internal power struggles amongst the 9 families and within the government, while having Japanese invasion as the backdrop, as in most Republican era dramas.. We also have two romances that are quite central to the plot. This drama has a little of everything to please a pretty varied crowd.
2. Fight Choreography - Although this is not a wuxia drama, I find the fight scenes pretty good. Yes, they did have the slow-motion sequences and over-the-top spinning, but for the most part, we did not have chopped up scenes. You can see continuous fighting, especially by our main male lead, Zhang Qi Shan. William Chan played his character well and you can see he put in effort to fight (and looks damn good in doing so). It was also fun to see Hu Yun Hao as Chen Pi, uses his chain-weapon (I don’t know what it’s called).
3. Smart Characters - It’s always such a relief to see smart characters in a drama. No one makes dumb decision, no character is naïve and simple. They are all smart in their own ways and use their talents to solve different crises. I was initially worried that I won’t like Zhao Li Ying’s character. I worry she’s the annoying, cute, naïve type. Fortunately, she turns out to be smart, logical and quick-thinking. A perfect female counterpart to our male lead.
4. Songs - There are only three songs in the soundtrack and each one has its own flavor. The opening theme song, "My Clan (我门)" sung by William Chan, is upbeat and fits the action genre. The second song, "Returning Soul Door (还魂门)" sung by Anson Hu, is a ballad and gives me all the romantic feels, especially scenes between Er Ye and Ya Tou. The ending theme, "Dian Yu Si (典狱司)", sung by Li Nan feels like a homage to Lang Zhang and his character as Er Ye. It’s pop/rap with a dash of Chinese opera. This is also the only drama that I remember where they switch the scenes during the opening themes. The drama tries to keep you interested, but I avoided them because of potential spoilers. I also enjoy seeing the BTS and interview clips during the ending theme. However, the song is too loud that I can’t hear what the actors/actresses are saying as there is no subtitle except for the interview by Australian actor, Andrew Charles Stokes.
5. Costumes - Because we have a good-looking cast, they all look good in their suits, dresses, casual and formal wear. I personally enjoy how dashing William Chan is in uniform and suits, and when he’s topless (Sorry!) However, I also really like the cheongsam that Lay Zhang wears. Since his character, Er Ye, is an opera singer, he’s usually in more traditional attire. I love his bright and patterned cheongsams, especially the one that’s red and white.
What I Don’t Like or Have Mixed Feelings:
1. Pacing/Writing/Plot Holes - As much as I enjoy the general plot and characters of this drama, the pacing is quite inconsistent. I think the drama spends way too much time in the first half of the drama on the Japanese/US/Chinese politics while introducing all the characters. There wasn’t enough time spent on the actual tomb raiding and the romances. For a 48-episode drama, the ending episodes should not feel rushed. There should be enough time to tell the ending arc without editing out scenes (or not shooting the scenes) in the last three episodes. I am also not satisfied with the ending of our villains. Additionally, why introduce all 9 families in one big montage in the last episode, instead of slowly introducing them throughout the drama. Events were told after the fact, instead of showing us what actually happened. It was quite disorienting as I thought I fell asleep and missed something (no I did not fall asleep) There are so many illogical and inconsistent scenes and plot holes in this drama, that I wonder if it’s the screenwriters’ fault or censorship.
* Poking holes in blindfold with thin needles shouldn’t let you see through.
* Suddenly everyone could go down to this dangerous tomb in the last arc, when it was so challenging in the beginning.
* Where did the cursed hair go in the last tomb raiding when it was such a big deal before?
* I guess even though you have Wanted posters all around town, it could all be forgotten when a certain plotline is completed.
* After not knowing where the third copper meteorite was for hundreds of years, all of a sudden everyone knows where it is.
* Our main lead can never die or hurt badly even though he was shot and slashed many times
* It was so anticlimactic when our main lead woke up from his trance.
* Hypnosis can be done when someone is in a coma?
2. Romances - Zhao Li Ying (Xin Yue) and William Chan (Qi Shan) have pretty good chemistry. However, for most of their relationship, Qi Shan always keeps Xin Yue at arms’ length. There isn’t enough romantic interaction between the two that shows me Qi Shan likes Xin Yue as much as she does. I don’t think the drama shows the development of their romance adequately. The romance between Er Ye and Ya Tou is also lacking scenes of telling WHY they are so in love with each other. The flashbacks only show how Er Ye saved Ya Tou and it seems like they haven’t seen each other for a very long time. Once Ya Tou is saved, I wish for more flashbacks of them falling in love. The drama did show/tell us they are so very deeply in love, but I want to see how that happens, since their love is such a big part of the storyline. Similarly, what did Ya Tou do to Chen Pi to make him fall in love with her? Just a bowl of noodles when he was young? Since there are so many repeated flashbacks why not show us more of how it all happened?
3. Green Screen/Dubbing - Ok, it’s 2016 and the green screen scenes are bad. It’s very obvious that green screen technology back then wasn’t and it’s especially obvious with the motor cycling scenes. The dubbing is bad where the sound is not matching the mouth movement. I am especially annoyed with the voice of our Australian actor. His actor is actually not bad, his voice and the fake foreigner Chinese accent are very annoying.
Overall, if you don’t mind plot holes and inconsistencies, the general plot is interesting and the acting is pretty good. If you are a fan of the actors/actresses, it’s worth a watch (I watch this for William Chan). However, it’s a big 48-episode investment.
Was this review helpful to you?
Tombitis
Mystic Nine was my first longform C-drama. William Chan, Zhao Liying, Zhang Yixing, Ying Haoming and Zhang Mingen were perfectly cast in their roles. William's and Mingen's fight scenes/stunts were very impressive (their characters were highly skilled members of the mysterious Zhang family tree).There were holes in the plot that was not clearly defined. There was some awkward editing, too much tomb filler or repetitive flashbacks. Sometimes two scenes were intercut, causing fidgets or short attention span, to get to the end of the episode. Some plotlines seemed interminable; time stood still in the tombs. Some deleted scenes should have been kept intact, that would have filled in the blanks.
If the drama had been edited properly with the existing film footage, the drama could have looked stellar. Instead of 48 episodes, they could have re-engineered it down to 40 episodes.
Was this review helpful to you?
-great cast
-good physical action (fighting wise)
-great and complex concept(s)
-good chemistry among actors, you could tell the cast enjoyed filming this drama
-humor and cute bromance relationships
Cons
-story lines and scenes did not transition well, no flow
-lots of gap, unexplained things, 50% of things that made no sense or were extremely unrealistic
-excessive flashbacks
-not enough romance
-excessive scenes that did nothing to explain or make the story go anywhere
Was this review helpful to you?
Overated Drama, Not Worth It
From the very beginning till the very end, I literally had no expectation from this drama. The whole plot was mostly revolving around politics and revenge. The visual effects were by far the worst I have ever seen in asian drama and the crazy fighting scene where the male lead alone can beat 100 other people single-handedly with a background music being played in the background made me feel disgusted as those scene clearly showed that they were fake. More importantly, the characters were too formal amongst each other and there was no CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Forget excitement, I felt nothing while watching this drama and to me, it felt like I was completing a task. The plot was not exactly complicated but out of the track and extremely boring and the visual effects made things worse. The humour was also something that made me want to get done with this drama as fast as I could. In short, I did not enjoy it at all and do not recommend it for others to watch as nothing was good about it except the one OST which was catchy and caught my attention.Was this review helpful to you?
This is not tomb raiding, it’s politics.
Sue me, but I skipped 1/5th of the show. I truly could not stand Hendry’s dubbing. I was not interested in the whole political ploy for power. Not gonna lie, I struggled with the rating a lot. It's not like I think the series is bad, I was just painfully uninterested in the plot and came into it with different expectations.Mystic Nine is nothing like your typical The Lost Tomb Series. It focuses far more on the politics and power struggle between the Nine Clans (more like 4 families, the others just being mentioned by name every now and then) with additions to awfully generic white man Hendry and awfully generic power hungry Lu Jian Xun. Also, claiming Yin Xin Yue and Ya Tou are main characters is a fat lie. One shows up every few episodes to look pretty and worried about Zhang Qi Shan and the other mostly exists in the same five flashbacks that are played every time Er Ye needs his emo time.
The best part of the whole show was literally the ending scene. That type of badassery is what I want from the Tomb Series. So why did it feel like Lu Jian Xun was the main character and the center of this boring political story?
Acting was objectively good, but I was not once moved by any performance since I simply did not care about any of the characters. Production value was more or less the same as any of the first Tomb Raiders shows. The few CGI scenes were awful and I loved them.
Overall, if you go into it knowing it will be mostly politics and a lot of talking, and that’s what you want - you will enjoy it a lot. If you want a more typical Tomb Raiding adventure (like I did), I’d recommend picking something else.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The longest and the most elaborated tomb raiding show I've seen so far
I didn't particularly like the Lost Tomb, but was intrigued by the background story which eventually brought me to this beautiful prequel. Those of you who are interested in an intense tomb raiding action - this is not the case. The show's got a slow pace and gives a lot of time to all sorts of flashbacks and reflections. I've never required a densely packed action from any of Chinese dramas whatsoever, so the slowness was totally fine for me. It's got nothing spectacular in the plot either. However, I enjoyed all the hotel scenes (same interiors as those of the Lost Tomb, which provides this historical connection between the two shows) and I absolutely loved the work of costume designers. Properly lit, beautiful textures of clothes, all of them, leather and felt in particular! I loved the world of the drama: you don't often see such an elaborated universe in tomb raiding shows. If you don't rush for robbing ancient graves and getting your way through tons of undeground screamers - the 48 episodes are worth a watch. I still didn't get all the explanations of what eventuallyhappened to the nine families. Will have to watch the Reunion: The Sound of the Providence some day :-)It was fun to be watching this show in the middle of the pandemic (which started you know where) and see the local health care administrator's attitude to the outbreak of a misterious desease :-) Nothing seems to be changing through times.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A happenstance, or My instant crush with the very second drama I 've watched
Unlike American films, this series has kind of fragile happy ending for some of the characters, showing the complex reality they have to face. That’s great (I love open endings where nothing is decided by a static ‘they lived happily ever after’ without any spark of adventure and a chance to develop), although when I was watching this for the first time, I decided that everybody was doomed to a certain death and only then I realized it was on the contrary their chance to save each other (still, I haven’t watched ‘The Lost Tomb’, the continuation of the ‘The Mystic Nine’, so I don’t know). So be warned those who seek fluff in the end, there isn’t much of it in this drama at all.My favourite character from this series (and probably from anything I’ve seen so far) is Fo Ye (or Zhang Qi Shan). I think William Chan is awesome in this role. We first meet the character as a full-hearted energetic man who does not believe in any mystic curses and performs his duty while defending his city. He will risk his life but also handle anything. Being a human he at the same time seems almost invincible (which isn’t quite accurate and sometimes only luck and his friends can save him). He can be humorous, serious, friendly and menacing and all mentioned is natural for him. I really love him teasing people and showing the bright and dark sides of his nature. He’s pretty much exploring himself as well as the tomb he has to search through.
I really enjoyed Zhang Qi Shan and Xin Yue's relationship. A wonderful mischievous music shows how they would probably like to see their relationship, but how much tragedy and seriousness they actually had to face! I was inspired by the way she was ready to sacrifice everything for him and did not want to leave him no matter what. This is an image of a multifaceted heroine: a capricious, gentle, but very strong and proud woman. Xin Yue's probably one of the most memorable characters there although she only sometimes influences the plot.
Ba Ye and Lieutenant Zhang are great, and it’s really fun to watch how they compete for Fo Ye’s attention and approval, while all being friends. Ba Ye is quite cute because he’s the most human of all; he fears the dangers and expresses his emotions freely. Still, his predictions are not entirely tricks and this intrigues the watchers of the series. Lieutenant Zhang is just amazing. When even Zhang Qi Shan can’t handle everything, his lieutenant can. So devoted to Fo Ye, so loyal and talented; Zhang Qi Shan is very lucky to have him on his side. I’d never get enough of watching these characters interacting.
Er Ye is a great character, too. He’s passionate as well but seems either calm or self-contained. Still, his warmth towards his wife is almost palpable. Why did Zhang Yixing say in one of the interviews he could have shown more love for Ya Tou? He did it just perfectly! Er Ye as a character is very restrained but suffers deep inside as his family business contradicts his unfailing love to Ya Tou. From the first episodes, we can see a foreshadowing of their separation. Despite fate and common sense, I still was hoping they would save her and the episodes with Er Ye and Ya Tou were the most emotional ones. The impression does not wear out even when you rewatch the series. It is interesting that Er Ye seems to exist in his own world, as if he could not quite return from an underworld. I think, that’s shown in a right way psychologically. And definitely looks right aesthetically. Ya Tou seems really fragile and yet protective as she wants her husband to live a happy life. She never complains and always takes care of Er Ye, be it some new clothes, dinner or flowers only she can attend. She feels as if very young and quite adult at the same time, so noble, even-minded, resigned and eager to share the blink of happiness with her close ones.
The antagonist, Chen Pi, can be despised, pitied, despised and pitied once again throughout the entire series. He is a perfectly conveyed restless archetypal disciple. He might seem very impulsive and crazy. But in general, he has some motivations, and his torment, illness and unknown fate still make you feel kind of sympathetic for him.
There are some flaws or questionable parts in the story as well. The American dug up a gold trinket from the place where it was buried half a meter in the ground. How come? What happened to the meteorite in the end? This series does not answer to that. Despite the title, there was almost nothing mystical in the story. And you know what, it's still good, because a good story is the one that seems realistic. This rises it up to a new level. The heroes of this series are almost common people, I mean, they can be injured, deceived, and they cannot solve all the problems by magic. Nevertheless, the story would be more logical if there were some mysterious events explaining what was happening to Zhang Qi Shan (you can get an idea if you watch the cut-out scenes). And finally, my biggest question is where the members of the Nine have been throughout half of the series. (Ok, not half, about 80%, right?) The story is about Fo Ye (plus his friends and a bunch of ever-plotting enemies) but what about the Nine? Never mind, I do love Fo Ye, I don’t ask for the detailed storylines of all nine families.
Some plot twists also seem strange when you watch it for the first time. I believe, the pace of the narration’s a bit unbalanced (the first half of the story is really catchy and the events keep happening one after another but later the pace slows down until we almost have a typical ‘ending’ episode; after that, though, some more of them follow giving us some plot-related answers in a rather hurried and yet believable way). However, it’s one of the best dramas I’ve seen so far. And I rewatch it like once in a year, so it’s definitely stolen my heart.
The music is also great in this series. I loved many tracks but the most memorable ones were those of Ya Tou’s fate foreshadowing and the opening songs. So awesome and setting the mood!
Actually, even I’m surprised at how much I’ve written and I believe one can read as much only if they are totally into this series, just as I am. Still, I feel I haven’t said everything I wanted to. This series created not only great alternative universe, a personal new world for any of the characters. It has done so for me as well. And sometimes you don’t want to give up an illusion for the real world, right? This is the question the characters should answer but we as watchers can just… enjoy it with our whole heart.
Was this review helpful to you?
