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The Great Ruler is part of the same universe and series as Battle Through the Heavens (Fights Break Sphere), Martial Universe (Wu Dong Qian Kun). BTTH and WDQK to my understanding are set on a lower plane, while The Great Ruler is set on a larger and higher plane in this universe.
Warning: Episodes are slow and build up background and context until we hit episode 21-22 that's when the plot begins to drive!
Warning 2: The show's writing lacks character depth. It makes the characters pretty static but don't blame the actors, blame the script.
Warning 3: Scenes are jumping all over the place! The director lacks in organization, so just skip the jumping around and stick to the main plot.
Having said all that, the show's actually pretty great once you get passed the 22 episode mark. The underlying plotline is good, keeps the adventure going, and yes, the characters finally begin to develop. So far, the main characters have no problem communicating, it keeps small misunderstandings from blowing up into unfortunate circumstances, which is something to cherish in dramas these days.
Majority of the female characters are actually stronger and more powerful than our male lead. Especially Luo Li and Jiu You, who help Mu Chen on his mission (the one we finally hit after episodes 21-22). This is a flipped dynamic that's incredibly refreshing! For once, the hero learns and grows with help from his peers instead of automatically becoming all one and powerful. Our female lead is incredibly stoic, especially at the beginning, but there's a reason for that so give her a chance and don't jump all over her for being a "bad" character. Being stoic and impassive IS her character.
These actors are young, as they should be at the beginning. Who knows what the director has planned for them when they grow up, but they're doing well and I'm actually impressed despite their young age. This drama isn't going to mind blow you but it's here for when you need to turn your brain off, respectfully. Give it a chance, and enjoy the spiritual energy and action scenes, the special effects and CGI aren't bad either. Happy viewing!
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Don’t waste your time
I love drama, but this one is just horrible. Initially, the story was not bad (even with the bad acting). However, the story gets progressively worse with no logic. I don’t know why this was ranked high. I’m also think the casting of the male lead was wrong. It should have been someone more charismatic and he just lacked that completely. I was dreading the last few episodes. This drama should have ended at 40 episodes and not dragged out. Not sure what the producers were thinking.I agree with the other reviewers that the story and characters jump around too much.
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Outrageous story progression, Messy plot & Power scaling's a big Joke + Ep.34 Beyond is Intolerable!
Don't waste your time and find another worthy drama out there!!First of all I wanna inform everyone who's planning to watch this drama to think multiple times before finally deciding to watch this. Just take my advice and save yourselves from getting aggravated and wasting your time by watching this piece... of shit!
I honestly feel like I deserved a big and loud round of applause for finishing this extensively exhausting and overly ridiculous drama. God knows how my tolerance got drained to the very brim just to finish this. Not to mention the amount of skips and fastforwards I did (which I seldom do) just to avoid the unbearable scenes after enduring it for over 40+ episodes. Imagine that! So finishing it felt like an achievement more than anything else and for some reason it's comforting how I can finally move on from this messy crap!
Anyways, let me properly breakdown the Good (Let me squeeze my brain hard first) and Bad aspects of this drama.
× Opening - Gonna commend them on how creative and productive they're on having multiple openings throughout the entire show. I think they have more or less 10 and it would've been really great if they used all those time, resources and energy in making the drama more structural and substantial.
× CGI and Design - It looks enchanting in some parts... but the rest of them which is like 90% felt like it was made by an intern— It lacks the force/power to make it seem real and impactful... It looks weak, underwhelming and fake overall.
× Editing - Extremely jumpy... I often get flustered on how fast they move on from one scenario to another without properly wrapping things up with the current one and even made it end like it was no one's business. Is the editor aware of proper sequencing? or at least decent story telling? It completely ruin the story specially during the first 10 episodes. I wanna cry!
× Power Scaling - MESSED UP! I don't know how this drama even passed reviews. Like, HOW? The weak ML beating the 'supposed' powerful enemies with some random 'powerful' (that doesn't seem like) attack while getting defeated left and right by a bunch of weak side characters felt sketchy and absurd to me. How does that even make sense? Ridiculous!
× Fight Scenes - Aren't those child's play? Most of them were unacceptably underwhelming and felt like they are just randomly playing. It shocks me to see how weak it looks like. It's hilarious how they settled with that. Don't they have better people for the job?
× Phasing and Story Telling - They focused too much on making the Male Lead extremely powerful by sacrificing lots of great characters (which I find unnecessary) to build the ML up which causes the story to lose its essence and lots of potential hype.
× Characters - Exasperating Male roles!! The Male characters from this drama simply got the MVP for being the most annoying, useless and frustrating of all...
→Mu Chen is simply overly driven by his personal desire and tends to always become the heaviest liabilty of all. I can't even accept how he always end up getting saved by everyone because of his obliviousness and immaturity. So how the hell can I convince myself that he's capable to actually save everyone from the most powerful enemy?
→ Mu Bai on the other hand is like a lost child whose easily influenced and provoked by peoples threats to do bad things.
→ Qing Shan... God this guy. Overly conceited and annoying. I don't even know why he's even part of this drama. His contribution to the story is to provide illogical and annoying remarks that does nothing but to irritate the viewers. Grrr!
P.S. Episode 34 and Beyond! Yes! The entirety of it are the most unbearable of them all. So y'all better watch out!
Story - 5.0, Mind you! I'm still being nice here!! The story is LACKING in different areas... It was like patched up together just for the sake of making things 'make sense' even when it obviously doesn't. I can't find strong foundation to support the story flow and the structure itself is messed up.
Acting/Cast - 7.0, Underdeveloped acting from the Main Leads... Yes, this is an Idol drama but I never expect the lead actors/actresses they cast to be this bad... They were like dead fish delivering their lines during the first 10 episodes and thank god they gradually improved but things got awkward and fake when they started acting like some mature adults. Like, damn! They still seemed and looked like elementary kids playing. Unconvincing at all. P.S. Supporting Adult actors saved this story from sinking to the depths of great ordeal.
Music - 7.5, BGMs used weren't remarkable at all. Probably because even if they try to play it on the most perfect scenes it just can't outweight my frustrations and disappointments watching those sequences. Although, I'm still giving some consideration to a couple of great ballads played on this drama and that explains my rating.
Rewatch Value - 1.0, (It's supposedly 0 but Mydramalist won't allow 0 as a rating) Very 1st savage moment of my entire drama watching history. This drama doesn't deserve to be watch in the first place. I can't even understand how can people watch and give this a 10 overall rating. Just where are your taste and logic people?
Overall - 5.0, Honestly, this story disappointed me beyond explanation. The only drama I spent every remaining bits of my tolerance to complete and despite all those sacrifices, I was still presented with such ridiculous scenes episode after episode. If only possible, I wanna demand this production to refund my time cause it's all wasted from watching this show.
IF you find my review helpful please let me know
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THIS DRAMA IS BEST FANTASY DRAMA WITH LOVE STORY.GRAPHICS ARE ALSO NICE STARTING IS VERY BLISS MIDDLE PART AND CLIMAX IS SAD BUT THERE IS HAPPY ENDING MAKE SURE TO WATCH TILL END. ALTHOUGH IT IS MY PREDICTION THAT IT WILL THE AWARD. CAST ARE ALSO YOUNG PEOPLE. ALSO THE WORK OF DIRECTOR IS ALSO GREAT. THERE IS ANIMATION DRAMA OF GREAT RULER IT IS DIFFERENT THOUGH.IF YOU SEE THIS PLEASE MAKE SURE TO WATCH.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The music score is poor too. It doesn't add anything to the atmosphere.
Scene changes from one to another are sudden, jerky and makes the story progression disjointed rather than cohesive and cumulative into peaks and troughs.
All these are very sad as the storyline itself is interesting and engaging, the natural scenery and CGI is good, and there are a few actors and actresses that performed well.
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Each cast member did an amazing job in their roles. The costumes were fitting for the setting. The scenery was realistic and fit. I didn’t pay much attention to the music but I suppose that the fact that I found no complaints with it meant that it was OK. The relationship between the cast members was unique and very brotherly. That being said if an issue of betrayal did happen the characters maintained their authenticity.
Our two leads did not really have great chemistry but they’re acting was pretty good. We did have a side couple for the supporting cast who had a much better chemistry than the leads and their storyline was much more interesting and evoked many many emotions.
From beginning to end our male lead is consistent in his objective. You will get it you will enjoy loyalty, brotherhood, unity and a great deal of villains in this series. Karma is present can’t, although she often waits to the last minute to pop your head out and various aspects. Overall I would recommend a series if you’re looking for something fun and entertaining to watch. If you’re into marvels or any of the superheroes with superpower type films you will enjoy this one.
What I enjoy most about the series is the character development. Our male lead starts out with limited abilities but throughout various events and due to his temperament and his character he is able to mature, learn and grow into an amazing and confident person. It was exciting to see.
What I didn’t like about this series was the ending. I felt that it could have been so much better in one of the new cast members face wasn’t revealed in the last episode and it was really strange.
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Great storyline
Personally I like fantasy drama that is decorated with comedy in it. Unfortunately, the comedy in this film is not so strong. Even so, a very varied storyline in this drama is enough to satisfy me.Story : Various unique and interesting conflicts decorate the storyline of this drama. The solution is also not so long and very good.
Acting : One of the weakness in my opinion is in terms of acting. But it is still understandable because some of the main players are still junior and have not much experience.
Music : I personally only like some of the music and soundtracks. One of the best in my opinion is 一心一念 (Yi Xin Yi Nian) by Ouyang Nana (Luo Li).
Rewatch Value : This drama is still worth to be watched again. I personally might watch it again in a few months or maybe next year.
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A superb start, but the producer wanted to do too much
Good wuxia, mix of Harry Potter and GOT, in a Chinese version (ര̀ᴗര́)و ̑̑PLOT: The ML, (Harry) whose power was sealed in childhood, enters a spiritual school (then in one of the 5 higher schools) and finds there the FL, threatened goddess, and his friends: a gifted boy in martial arts (Ron), a childhood friend (Hermione) and her lover. They face a whole bunch of Villains: the dragon clan, the Celestial God of Evil who wants to return with the help of his adopted daughter, and all their subordinates, including a twisted professor (Rogue).
The ML is accompanied by a spiritual bird (not an owl :).
+++ Mysterious atmosphere, quite dark, with lots of magic, spells, mantras, etc. in the 1st part.
+++ Well-executed suspense.
+++ Nice friendship within the group.
+++ ML very endearing. But the FL is quite poker-faced and will have to improve her acting skills.
+++ Lots of talented young actors.
+++ Quality special effects and CGI.
+++ Excellent OSTs.
+++ Nice credits (4-5 different during the series).
### Downfall in the middle of the series. The author introduces multiple twists (including a "Romeo & Juliet" to "spice up" the romance), illogical, incoherent twists (ML with the powers of the celestial emperor, but whose spiritual veins are broken, ML & FL who are contaminated by the Evil powers, etc.), it's clumsy and it just gives the impression that the author wanted to extend the story ...ლ(ಠ益ಠლ.
### Scenes often too talkative (in the fight scenes, everyone stops in the middle of a confrontation, for a grandiloquent speech. Seriously?? Moreover, the characters have not matured and behave childishly! It is very frustrating ლ(ಠ益ಠლ
### The ML's spiritual powers are sealed to protect him. What are they waiting for to remove the seal? that he dies?
=> I started with an excellent impression, but the 2nd part bored me. Permanent twists become repetitive.
*****************************************************************
Bon wuxia, mix d'Harry Potter et de GOT, version chinoise (ര̀ᴗര́)و ̑̑
PLOT: Le ML, (Harry) dont le pouvoir a été scellé dans l'enfance, entre dans une école spirituelle (puis dans une des 5 écoles sup.) et y retrouve la FL, déesse menacée, et ses amis : un doué en arts martiaux (Ron), une amie d'enfance (Hermione) et son lover. Ils affrontent tout un tas de Villains : le clan des dragons, le Dieu Céleste du Mal qui veut revenir aidé de sa fille adoptive, et tous leurs subordonnés, dont un professeur tordu (Rogue).
Le ML est accompagné par un oiseau spirituel (pas un hibou :).
+++ Atmosphère mystérieuse, assez sombre, avec beaucoup de magies, de sorts, de mantras, etc. dans la 1ere partie.
+++ Suspense bien mené.
+++ Joli friendship au sein du groupe.
+++ ML très attachant. Mais la FL est assez poker-face et devra améliorer ses acting skills.
+++ Beaucoup de jeunes acteurs de talent.
+++ Effets spéciaux et CGI de qualité.
+++ Excellents OST.
+++ Jolis génériques (4-5 différents durant la série).
### Downfall dans le milieu de la série. L'auteur introduit de multiples twists (dont un "Roméo & Juliette" pour "pimenter" la romance), des twists illogiques, incohérents (ML avec les pouvoirs de l'empereur céleste, mais dont les veines spirituelles sont rompues, ML & FL qui sont contaminés, etc.), c'est maladroit et ça donne juste l'impression que l'auteur a voulu "rallonger la sauce" ...ლ(ಠ益ಠლ.
### Scènes souvent trop bavardes (dans les scènes de fight, tout le monde s'arrête en plein affrontement, pour un discours grandiloquent. Sérieux ?? De plus, les personnages n'ont pas mûri et ont des comportements puérils ! C'est très frustrant ლ(ಠ益ಠლ
### Les pouvoirs spirituels du ML sont scellés pour le protéger. Ils attendent quoi pour enlever le sceau ? qu'il meurt ?
=> J'étais partie sur une excellente impression, mais la 2e partie m'a lassée. Les twists permanents deviennent répétitifs.
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The casting is a bit problem here i think! The lead was a bit weak. Even side role is far more better. They are not really bad though just i felt they should done more better because the STORY WAS REALLY GREAT! A bit disappointed but overall still watchable and enjoyable. I like Liu Mubai character a lot and the actor who did it is excellent. He succeeds in potray the changes in him and how he still have clear conscious at the end. N somehow i secretly felt, he should be the lead. Mu Chen did it well too but he should done better as his role is SERIOUSLY IMPORTANT! Other actors done well too especially all the teachers and Mr. Mu of course.
The CGI and environment was nice and beautiful too but i still think there are few parts can be improved especially when Mu Chen gain great power at the end. The Ost is great btw. I like because it kind of different from other ancient/fantasy drama.
Overall the drama is really great and worth to watch. Even though there are some disappointment at few part (as i should felt they should do better), but the show is enjoyable.
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Pros: 1. Here's the thing. I loved the story line. It was exciting throughout (more than usual Chinese drama level). It made me want to watch the next episodes so much I got iQIYI VIP. And for once, I don't think it was too watered down (given I watched it in 1.25X)
2. The camera work is beautiful. One of the most visually aesthetic screen ratios and arrangement I have seen since Novoland starring Liu Haoran.
3. I liked most of the OSTs. Made me get the right emotion at the right time. was the most regal song I have heard in 2020 till date. It makes me wanna fight all evils to achieve my goals.
Cons: This is going to be a long and comical list.
1. The actors age and stature didn't match those of the characters they were playing. The leads are very young. But that isn't the issue here. The issue is that, THEY LOOK YOUNGER. Both of them looked 15 even when they were meant to portray 35 year olds. Even if they were goddess and demigod but some sign of aging with the help of makeup would be appreciated.
2. Talking about make-up, let's go to the costume design. There was this particular navy blue up and down dress thing that Mu Chen wore that made me want to scream at the costume team, every time that outfit was reused.
The male lead is extremely lean. The costume team could have easily bulked him up with layered clothes to fit the image of the character. Someone as "well-bred" as Mu Chen with as much power as him, can not be so lean. I am saying this because in Nirvana in Fire 2, they had to bulk up Liu Haoran using layers of clothes because his character was meant to be "well-bred". He later gained a few pounds to look the character. (If you didn't realize till now, I love Liu Haoran). DISCLAIMER: I am not body shamming. I don't mind how Roy Wang really is. I am meaning in relation to the character that was Mu Chen.
3. The character development: well I am still not sure if any development happened to the character's character. But they did get stronger (power wise). Hence, I do not blame Ouyang Nana for her acting. She did pretty well. Better than the person acting as Qingshen. Her character, Luo Li doesn't develop much except in the first few episodes. That is really fun to watch but after that development, her character reaches a plateau. This is the reason Nana's acting comes off as bland and unimpressive. Mu Chen's character goes down hill. His calm, cool and intelligence decreases as the episodes progress.
4. They freaking forgot to edit the CGI into the green screens towards the last 10 episodes or so.
AND THE BIGGEST ISSUE: THE LOOPHOLES AND ANTI-CLIMAX
The build-up was so good but then it was so anti-climatic. I started guessing out the anti-climaxes and by the end, I was laughing at every anti-climax; there were quite a few so beware. It was hilarious. I enjoyed laughing at these serious moments thoroughly. Even the main event that the story had lead up to, finished in 1 minute. I was expecting some 2-3 fighting before the death. But it was too quick and too easy.
[MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]
Mu Chen is such a powerful person. He saves his whole city single-handedly but he lost because of one strike from Xue Lingzi and he went into depression.
He had God vein from his mom + he was the hand picked successor to the God of heaven when his god vein was broken by one strike from the dragon den keeper. WoW!
Why do Sun'er and Qingshen just stand there when the school principal gets hit repeatedly and nearly dies?
What happened to Luo Li's eye of void?
Why does the Evil Deity die without Mu Chen having to stab his neck like he was told to. Why does he just scream "die", and he dies? in under 1 minute.
Why was Tang Qian being so stupid. Her character became so much worse than what she began with. And her dad was like -" Let her be happy!" Two days later, Liu Mubai left her. wth!!!
{MAJOR SPOILERS END]
I would let you find the other in-numerous loopholes. If you find less than 10, you have not watched it properly.
However, something about this story makes me like it. It makes me want to write a fanfic, fixing the loopholes. Re-watch it, to edit the loopholes out.
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Great CGI, Good Story, Bad MC and Childish Scenario
I can't believe I watched 45 episodes full and then skipped some screenplay on the last 3 episodes.The good part of this drama series was the CGI and stories,
But when talking about the casting, I really think Roy Wang is not decent enough as the lead actor.
His facial expression and voice tone in most of the dialogues is extremely funny.
The scenario really bugs me a lot, some parts of the screenplay are laughably irrational, the characters are jumping too many times, and for wuxia stories, their power differences are not clearly defined.
Well said.
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