Tomb of the Sea (2018)

Absolutely loved this! I love the way it's like a combination of what I love about western shows and Chinese shows - the adventure/trap-solving of Indiana Jones combined with the wu-xia style sects, focus on brotherhood/honor/etc. ...and the weird-scifi/mystery of Lost. Perhaps it's also because this is the first chinese series I've seen with this kind of subject matter/plot that I loved it so much. (I've since discovered that this seems to be a new genre in Chinese tv....). At any rate, I absolutely got sucked into this series. The main characters were compelling and I loved how they developed and changed throughout the series. Watching Li Cu get darker, trying to figure out Wu Xie, and watching all the relationships between all of the main characters - the friendships, the mentor-relationships, the romantic ones, etc. ....is just addictive. I only wish there were more.

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Finally managed to finish another adaptation from one of the novels in Daomu Biji universe! Yayy! So, here's my review:
If you're not up for story line (it doesn't have a complex story line though much confusing) but adventurous drama with an eye-candy cast (I consider 99% of cast eye-candy) then this drama is for you.

Story : 7.5/10
I should've rated it even lower because the story had tons of loop holes. It's the major drawback of the drama. Honestly speaking, I didn't understand a lot of things in the first 30 episodes till the story started opening up real fast on wards. Then I was like : Ah! So this is why the things in the first few episodes happened. Even then, there were a lot of questions but they just jumped through the story without dealing with tons of things. I would've loved to list all my questions here but I wanted to write spoiler free review.
Anyway, the first few episodes are confusing till when Li Cu begins his journey through the desert. Even then you'd find many silly incidents on which they wasted a lot of precious episodes before having the story fall back to its original story line in later episodes. The original story line itself isn't disappointing, just rushed through.

Characters :
Most of the characters in the story were amazing. Li Cu is the first of his kind character for me. He wasn't perfect yet he was. He was weird, sometimes selfish and brave or maybe he put up the front. I loved how he drove his companions mad every now and then. His ability to say whenever whatever was on his mind added humor throughout the series. My second favorite, Wu Xie is a mysterious kind of character. In the entire series, none of the characters nor could I tell what he was thinking. Other than these two, I loved Zhang Rishan though he lost all his charm when he fell in love (seriously, romantic story line for him wasn't a good idea). And Liang Wang was annoying, just so you know. Aside from these characters, Master Hei Yan x Su Wan top the charts. This duo became my favorite in the entire series. Su Nan was yet another amazing character but....I wished they'd provided proper enclosure for the character...(︶︹︺)
And, last but not least, I MISSED ZHANG QILING TERRIBLY. OH HOW I WISHED HE WERE THE MAIN CHARACTER!! (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Acting / Cast : 9/10
If there's anything that made this drama better for me is the acting / cast. Yes, they were not perfect but I'm willing to oversee little mistakes here and there. Since the cast is big, I'm taking everyone into account. Yes, younger cast wasn't that brilliant when it comes to acting but the older cast makes up for it. It's my first time watching something with Leo Wu and I think he is good but not brilliant. At least not in this, for me that is. Qin Hao nailed his role as Wu Xie and I really liked Alina Zhang's portrayal of badass female character. Zhang Mingen won me over with his dimpled smile and bunny teeth but he was impressive as cold President Zhang. Wang Haoxuan nailed his role as Xue Yang in The Untamed but his role in this drama makes me realize how much he's improved and how talented he really is. (o´▽`o) I was very much impressed by Jeffery Ji's acting as Hei Yan or maybe it was character. But he stood out in the entire drama.

Music : 8 / 10
Music was good if not brilliant. I loved the opening themes and the background music. It went well with the scenes.

Re-watch Value : 6 / 10
It's too long to re-watch but if I'm to re-watch it some day then I'd only watch from episode 30 onward. When the storyline actually becomes interesting enough.

All in all, I wasn't disappointed. The CGI was good if not brilliant or terrible. The creatures in the drama were enough to give me chill and those caves...I hope my review did the drama justice!! Hahahaha....XD

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these 3 boys were what pushed me to watch this drama honestly. not going to lie, i never watched or heard of the other series or books. i initially watched for wu leo only (and the fact that it's not some typically romantic comedy). this drama was good, but i didn't appreciate it as much as i probably should have. story is unique and most of the action was around the first 20-ish episodes, then until the end it was pretty boring and hard to watch, it was there where i was on and off. things got really confusing and honestly, boring which led me to be on and off with this drama. i took me officially 2 YEARS to finish this drama. it's 2020 now and this came out in 2018 (when i started watching). i started watching again because i remember i didn't finish it, and i was feeling like watching some wang haoxuan. wu leo's acting here is INCREDIBLE. i think it's his best work out of everything i've watched from him. if there was a season 2 would i watch it though? probably. i didn't get the ending though. i wish li cu and wu xie and the boys could have met again. as for characters, the males were VERY intriguing, but the girls like liang wan and xiaoyuan ANNOYED THE CRAP OUT OF ME. like h o l y. su an was annoying too but she got better. but liang wan and xiaoyuan, while xiaoyuan was strong and actually useful (though a b*tch), liang wan was completely useless, annoying and gave me a headache. girl if you wanna be with rishan, please give him a break, let him do his job and give him some space lmao. oh yeah and don't pepper spray him??!??!? eugh

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" Tomb of the Sea " was a combination of Indiana Jones and high school drama.

One thing that really bothered me was the main character. He was overconfident, kind of annoying and it felt like he wasn't ready to be acting like he did half way through the drama. He also seemed to be getting advantage of his friends. Finally, his story was confusing and messy.

On the other hand, the rest of the stories were good. The characters were overall interesting, though they presented the female characters weak and in need of the male characters' help. The SGI were good too.

So, six out of ten.

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I thought this series will be like the others, but it prove wrong. I'll gave you the reasons why

1. The background stories of the characters and characters develop sure made me mad. Seriously why bother to cast such season actors and actresses like Qin Hao, Alina Zhang and Yang Rong when the screenwriter not make worth of it. I really like character that being played by Yang Rong, she's have a good scenestealer in the novel. In the drama she just like a cameo whose the present is annoying. Dang!!!
2. The plot, was absolutely chaos as episode 20+. I knew the story based on Li Shu eyes and understanding but the way the director and the divided screen for other character just like, WHAT?????
Seriously even I rant on the disqus of certain stream web, and I'll quote myself "The certain logic that if a story about A character then it should resolve on A character for background story about another just like an intermezzo for climax of A. In this anothers take most story and it didnt resonance well"
The Li Shu point of view just a little bit than others. Good merit it just the drama explain what happend in the novel well. So if you want to watch this, you should read the novel before watch this.

Such shame my Fire Princess in Ice Fantasy and Bai Jin Xi in Memory Lost wasted in here.

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10/2024 rewatch edit:
It's absolutely insane that they adapted this as early as they did. There are so, so many direct references to other DMBJ shows that came AFTER TotS! No wonder much of it went over my head.
Seriously, this series needs to be watched chronologically, so don't watch this before Bronze Door.
Anyway - it's still super long and there's a lot of filler, but I definitely liked it more this time around. This version of Wu Xie is great, I liked hima lot.
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This continues the tradition from Mystic Nine of terrible pacing, confusing story and incomprehensible plots, but sadly without the likable characters and pretty costumes.¨
Having watched this before I got into Lost Tomb 2, and after a while since I watched the first one, I felt quite lost. But that's just how the show rolls, everything is a mystery until the very end and confusion is intentional.
It's just not fun.
I'm super not a fan of these shows starring prettyboy twinks (who can't act for shit) for the fangirls, and the main character here was not an exception. I can appreciate pretty boys myself, but not when they look like an angry hamster had a baby with Jenny Nicholson, constantly pouting and acting like a brat.
This show's version of Wu Xie was honestly the most likable from all the adaptations I've watched, because he's an older guy, acted quite well.
Lieutenant Zhang was nice to see again, but the guy can't pull that much weight as an actor, his limited range really shows here. (side note: It's irritating as hell how these shows cannot depict actual romance and relationships, how grown ass adults have to act like teenagers and make do with awkward hugs instead of..you know, sex or even a proper kiss. But hey, young kids smashing beers like nobody's business is totally fine. :D China, you dumb.)
There's the usual subplots that never lead to anything, or elements that never result in anything or are ever brought up again. Boss Ma who's a major character from the beginning? Nope, gets shot and that's that. His healing treasure buried in GutongJing is never brought up again.
Snake zombies? We shall all remember them for the shallow plot device they were in that one episode. RIP.
The story picks up in the last ten-ish episodes, after dozens of eps spent wandering through the desert (twice! Because we need to go back to school, before going to the desert again. O_o) or stumbling through tunnels. Way too late.
Fatty is, as usual, the best character played by the coolest actor, and as usual he's not used a lot.

I am into these shows more for the tomb raiding than clan conspiracies/politics.
So this show had very little of interest for me.
Candle in the Tomb remains the superior tomb raiding franchise.
(go watch Wrath of Time now. Like half the episodes and much much better in every way.)

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Great cast, great story. Leo Wu did great here. I fell even more in love with him in this series. Really love his character development how from an innocent yet rebellious high school student to adrenaline driven youth. Love that bromance and loyalty between him and Wu Xie even though Wu Xie quite literally dump him into a sea full of sharks. Although it is quite a sad thing to see his character's innocence being ripped off, but hey it's drama, and got me binge watching

I'm glad the ending gave us a closure on the story. Worth rewatching again. I am gonna rewatch it again, lol.

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Purest form of entertainment.

Realism does not exist in the dictionary of the creators, that’s for sure. And it goes beyond the usual fantasy/adventure elements in shows like that. Did it bother me? No. I laughed and joked about it, and moved on. The plot moves so fast, there is no time to think about all the ridiculous aspects.

Tomb of the Sea does a fairly good job establishing characters, their motivations and overall world buildup. You can watch it without any prior knowledge of the series and the prequels, and still enjoy and understand it. It follows quite a few plotlines - Gutong Jing adventure, Wang conspiracy, politics between Nine Clans, and all the small flirty romances. Sounds like a lot, but it's truly not hard to grasp when watching.

The large cast of the characters makes it easy to find someone to relate to, love and, if that's what you fancy, hate. Personally, I adopted Li Cu. At first, my attention was more on Wu Xie, but as the drama progressed, this slightly emo and over the top child stole my heart. Surprisingly, I had a soft spot for Liang Wan - quite flawed, but also a loveable and fun character, which brought a more realistic reaction to all the events unfolding.

One aspect I truly loved about the characters was the realistic portrayal of teenagers. The hero complex, the lack of situation analysis and getting yourself into danger without even taking a second to truly think about the consequences, the over the top and sometimes childish interactions - all of that made me think about the time I was their age and was just as stupid.

For a drama with 52 episodes, it’s surprisingly binge-watchable. The plot moves fast, even if the timeline makes little sense. Word of advice - don’t try to keep up with how much time passed for each side plot, you won’t be able to puzzle it out anyway. You might think just a week has passed, and they fit you with the revelation that it’s been a month or more. They cut off some plot lines to come back to the characters a few episodes later, with me having no idea what they were doing and what happened to them between the events I witnessed. Just go with the flow and don’t question it.

The soundtrack could not be more perfect. Chen Xue Ran’s Song of the Desert became one of my favorite songs in 2021. It was so good, I did not even skip ending credits scenes after each episode, just so I could listen to it.

Overall, it’s a flawed drama - weird plot pacing progression, makeup that can survive sandstorms, cutting plot lines and then coming back to them as if no time passed, and yet, I truly enjoyed it a lot. I also appreciate the death count - nothing more frustrating than when no one dies in a story like that. It would be too Disney for me.

If I had to name one thing that truly bothered me, it was the treatment towards the kids. At times it was simply physical and mental abuse, and it did make me feel uncomfortable at times, especially since the drama never explained why the characters had to be high schoolers. In my eyes, they could have been easily made into young adults, and not much would change plot wise.

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I would personally say that the storyline was lovely and it Leo Wu’s acting was incredible however there is one character that really gets on my nerves and that’s Liang Wan. I can’t explain how useless of a character she is. I skip all of her scenes and I refuse to even watch a single scene with Liang Wan in because she is simply the most annoying living thing in this planet. The writer really should’ve just left that kind of character out. At about episode 33-35 Li Cu goes back into the desert with his friends however she also happens to go along on this trip. There is a large sandstorm or the desert suddenly gets an extremely hot storm that is similar to an avalanche or dust bowl. She just faints. Li Cu has to save her, then she goes into the water and has to stay on a rock because these biting fish are in the water and can electrocute them so he has to save her once again. Literally the episodes could be around 20 epsidodes in total if that annoying woman didn’t have any scenes.

In-all I’m not degrading the series or anything of the sort, but I would say that you should skip her scenes and watch only Li Cu and the other characters scenes however as a forewarning if one wants to watch this show I recommend for the first 23 episode skipping out on the boring parts about Li Cu’s friends trying to find him because not only do they fail incredibly but it’s extremely boring and time-wasting aswell.

I would watch this show if I were you as it is completely different from any other series !!!!!!

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AMAZING!!!!

I watched this before the Reunion seasons and Ultimate Note and tell you the truth it became my number one favourite out of them. (after Sand Sea I watched those, too so I can compare) I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this .
First I was judgemental about it, was bored on the first few episodes and was hard to keep up with all the characters but it all changed as soon as they entered the desert.
Out of all the characters my absolute favourites are Hei Ye (Mr. Glasses - damn he is so fine) and little Su Wan. He is so cute, I could cuddle him forever. I loved it when he prepared a lot of unnecessary stuff, like English book, saxphone and pink flamingo floaties ... and surprisingly they came in handy ?) He is a true friend trying his best to save his best friend. I absolutely loved those scenes when he was learning with Hei Ye, he became his disciple.
The other favourite character was the fishing rod guy, he is cool.
The most annoying character was dr. Wang. I couldn't stand her. When she was with the boys she was all helpful, she was strong and knew what to do, but when she was with Zhang Rishan she became a giggling, childish little girl. Her character was unnecessary.
Also the clans and their constant bickering over treasure was non-sense, couldn't wait for those scences with them to be over. I didn't skip any part just not to miss any important details, but it was hard to watch those parts with the clans, and the dr in them.
There were so many silly things in the series, some totally impossible situations that would never work in real life, and also many inconsistensies in the stroy line but regardless I love this series the most.
Out of all the Mr Black/Glasses characters, for me Ji Chen's one is the best, in second comes Baron Chen's one and the last place is in the Ultimate Note.
When it comes to Wu Xie's character, the Reunion series one (Zhuo Yilong) is the first and then comes the Ultimate Note one.
As for Xiao ge, he is the coolest is the Reunion series but also in Ultimate Note he is good. I felt sorry ofr him the most in the latter one, he didn't belong to anyone, he was all alone, ha was dragged along with Wu Xie and Pangzi, didn't say a word and was staring blankly ahead. He was in his own little world. His words hit me so heard when he said: "I have no past, no future. If I disappeared from this world, nooone would notice me." I wanted to hug so much all the time.
All in all this series (Tomb of the Sea) is a must-watch! Highly recommend.
Oh, almost forgot: the ending song is amazing by Xuaren Chen. I love it!

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Naive Wu Xie became a gangster, kidnaper and Torturer of ateenage kid

Yes ,, I'm shocked at how good this drama is and How scary my lovely innocent Wu Xie became to be
I've just finished watching Ultimate Note drama that was recently released and wasn't yet aware of this drama Tomb of the sea so I thought If i watched this after Ultimate Note it will be ok
first of all I was hesitant because of the teenage male lead didn't watch any thing of him before and didn't know why isn't he Wu Xie but learned that there were 10 years passed Ultimate note and Wu Xie is a grown man now but separated from his friends acting on his own with little help of pangzi
He kidnapped a teenage kid right after the kid was brutally attacked by a lunatic that used to work for him then he dragged the injured kid to the desert with murderers without any of consequence to his actions and hit him repeatedly so his bloody nose leads him to the hidden city then He forced the kid to learn How to survive the hardest way possible
then he kidnapped the kid's father to force the kid to go undercover for him into his enemy's camp
He did Horrible things to make the kid his own live bait for his enemy and to my shock that the kid carried out his plans perfectly and transformed into another version of Wu Xie enabling him by enduring snakes pheromones and military training just to help his kidnapper and it worked but barely the kid escaped death
What the Hell was that story with Wu Xie ???
Did he really endangered a kid's life and scarified him just to destroy his enemy and keep Xiao ge secret hidden ??
I liked the story and the Thrill also the Kid's acting was amazing for his age ,, I'm obsessed now with his acting and will watch every drama he makes

I summarized the whole drama's Main focus ,, the other related stories were just filling up the episodes with so much nonsense
It's definitely worth your time to watch it but prepare yourself for evil Wu Xie

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