Lovely Swords Girl (2019)

Story: The plot in this story is pretty straightforward. It's all about love. How some people love but couldn't let go even when that love ended. How others love but for the sake of that person, had to let go. It's about love and how each of us love differently. There's the sort of love that transcends death. There's the sort of love that became stories of legend, but how much of it is true? There's the sort of love that thrives in simplicity - in the everyday life together, in the smiles of your loved ones, in the silly and petty arguments. There's the sort of love that forms from adversity -having faced life and death together. There's the sort of love that comes from familiarity - being comfortable with that person and having him or her beside you for the rest of your life. And there's the sort of love that stem from compassion, friendship and trust. The female lead in this story is married to a man who became a simpleton because of a poisoning episode. At first, she disliked her husband and the predicament she was in, but slowly came to appreciate the simple and innocent kind of love her husband has for her. Into this picture entered a young man who had loved her since childhood. He had always cherished the memories of their childhood and had always wanted to marry her. For her, he would do anything, including giving his life away for her - just to see her smile. Faced with the dilemma of an innocent love and a passionate love, our female lead is truly stuck in between these two men. There are also the love stories of side couples that will keep you rooting for them too. Even the evil mastermind in this story has a love story to tell - which is the reason why he became what he is. This drama tells a story about love from so many different perspectives. I like the 'maturity' in message about love in this drama. To those of you who is wondering if it's a happy ending - well, it depends who you are rooting for. The female lead has to choose between two perfectly good examples of men. It is no wonder she's confused and frustrated. I would be too! However, I do agree with her choice. Love is not about doing all sorts of things for that person, but to trust that what you and that person had experienced together is enough to secure his or her love for a lifetime. On another note, I love the comedy in this drama. It's not the at-your-face- type comedy. It's nicely weaved into the story and its characters.

Cast/Acting: I do not know any of the actors and actresses in this drama. They are all newbies. However, they can act. At least sufficiently to bring the emotions across. What I find problematic is how the drama is edited in some parts - you can clearly see it's an edited part as it didn't flow as smoothly from the previous scene. This is no fault of the acting crew - it's the lack of experience of the editing and production crew. It's a waste but these odd parts of the drama are few - so it's tolerable. Another problem I noticed is how some of the fighting/action scenes came across as awkward and unpolished. Again - not the fault of the acting crew. This is the fault of the directing and production crew. Perhaps they lack the funding to employ a good and experienced action director - hence, had to rely on simple action scenes.

Music: Not much to comment here. Some people like the ending OST, but it's just average to me.

Re-watch value: There are many romantic and sad scenes between the female lead and the two men. I also like the scenes between her and her husband's second brother - who I believe, had a secret crush on her as well, but did not act on it. It's in his actions and the way he looked at her, but he had to stay away from her coz she's his sister-in-law. They ended up as besties, which I think is another good conclusion to love. I actually like their chemistry better and I think the second brother is actually the handsomest actor among all the actors in this drama. This drama has a strong re-watch value. With only 24 episodes and every episode has a sweet or sad love scene with no draggy story telling, it won't be long when I would re-watch this drama again.

Overall: I give this drama a 8.5 out of 10. It's a surprisingly good drama, despite the many directing and editing faults. The story and script writers are clearly the strength of this drama's crew. Witty conversations and comedy mixed well with some deep truths about relationships and love. I would recommend you to watch this drama. It may not be the excellent type drama or a big production, and has a rather weird and nonsensical title, but it is surprisingly good.

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Love is All You Need

Here's another example of Chinese tv series that are 100% light and binge-watch worthy, Lovely Swords Girl. I've completed all episodes in one day without using the fast forward mode, it's that good.

Summary:

The story is centered around the love life of Sheng You, only daughter of the leader of a medical sect that possesses a code that can conquer death. She is allowed to choose a husband from three sons of the distinguished Gong family, because her father cured their father, but also to create a strong alliance in the pugilistic world.

The moment the Gong brothers present themselves to her, Sheng You recognizes the eldest as her savior from an accident in the streets. Gong Yuanxiu is a real champion fighter, and beautiful to boot, so she eagerly vows to marry him. At the wedding night however Sheng You discovers she has been tricked into marriage with a total idiot. Gong Yuanxiu seems to have lost his wits due to a strong love potion from a lady suitor.

At first Sheng You wants to annul the marriage that hasn't been consummated by the childish Yuanxiu, but her witty mother-in-law convinces her to try him out for two years. She's confident her eldest son will win his wife over, because he's so different from his arrogant, aloof brothers, and he has only eyes for Sheng You. It's not difficult to appreciate Sheng You as well. Soon the "lovely swords girl" has a lot of fans and two other suitors that are aiming for her heart. Each one of them has his own merits, and a different kind of love. Also there's a difference in their own need of love. Main question is which man will she choose, especially with dangerous times ahead.

The cast:

I appreciated the choice of the cast, all new, unknown actors who did a good job. They made it easy to follow the story. I liked the female lead Jiang Zhen Yu and the actress playing her mother-in-law, Vila Fan. Both played a support role in Hello Debate Opponent (2019) so I've put that series on my Plan To Watch list. Support actor Xu Kai Xin (Mengfei Comes Across) not only played second brother, but also outplayed his first brother here, delivering sound vibes of second lead syndrome. I hope he'll get the chance to play a lead role in future series.

The good and the bad:

Beside the actors I appreciated the well mixed feelings of joy and pain in this series. I could relate to all the characters with all their mistakes and different choices to cope with life, and love. It almost made me forget the bad editing and poor choice of cliches that seem to be chronic in c drama. Really... how many times do I have to see the emphasis on bodyfat, make-overs, memory loss, and evil characters that are wearing a mask.

Overall:

Still this series has some unique qualities. The characters are fleshed out, their dialogues, interactions, and inherent contradictions, make them more real and endearing. The story shows that love has many faces, more than other series I know. Not only is there a love triangle that isn't cliche at all, but also there are love stories of side characters that pulled at my heart strings. So, if you are a sucker for romance and a fan of the harem-in-reverse theme, this is for you.

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This is definitely an unexpected gem. The English title does not do it justice and I would have missed a wonderful drama if I had taken it at face value. The leads did an excellent job. As I continued watching the drama, I found myself increasingly becoming immersed in the story and drawn to both the male leads. I've watched a decent number of dramas and this is the first drama that I've honestly liked both the leads. They are, of course, polar opposites in terms of character, but they both did such a good job that I just could not decide who should get the leading lady.

One is the cultured and upright first-born son of a rich and well-connected family, well-read, good-looking (of course), top-notch martial arts and chivalrous but mentally challenged as a result of an accident. The other is a happy and carefree leader of a sect who's looking for his childhood sweetheart. Both have wonderful personalities and are devoted to the female lead in delicious and heartwarming ways. It's all so difficult to resist! Just one note about the female lead and that is she seemed to shout and pout a lot - and I mean a lot. Ladies shouting in high pitched voices seems to be a popular thing in Chinese dramas for some reason. I can't understand it, male leads run the risk of going deaf in dramas, haha.

The supporting actors and their sub-stories weave very well into the main plot. What's most important is that the ending is well-written and satisfying. At no time did I feel as if something was missing or loose ends were not tidied up properly.

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Interesting and Unusual

This drama has it's own unique twist in it's story line. First of all, I appreciate the casts in this drama, I love that they introduced new actors and actresses. Each of the characters shined and had their own share of screen time and not only did they portray the main leads's story, the support got their own story too. And you would appreciate each episode of the drama that highlights all of the characters.
As for the plot of the story, take note that this drama is not a heavy drama and serious also. There is little to none betrayal episodes, and the production mainly focuses kindness, compassion and forgiveness even to enemies. it showcases all sorts of love, and acceptance of whoever the person is.
Although this drama may seem to appear to be a low budget drama, it actually worth the watch. I just love the morale this drama gives.

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Decent Drama with Terrible Title

Randomly stumbled upon this drama and thought it decently well done. Horrible title though...I am also confused as to why it's called "Lovely Swords Girl". It's a light hearted drama with a little bit of wuxia backdrop and a very inconsequential political involvement. First of all the Chinese title is lianlianjianghu (恋恋江湖) which means "Romance in Jianghu(martial art world)", which in itself isn't a great title either but at least describe the drama better than Lovely Swords Girl. Because ,for one, though the female lead is part of a medical martial art sect and that she knows how to use the sword, she actually uses her medical skill far more than her martial art...which is also unremarkable compared to like ten other people who has better martial art than she does. As for "lovely", I guess she has a lot of love interest but she's pretty headstrong and stubborn. Despite people finding her frank and outspoken personality attractive, "lovely" isn't how I would describe her. So the "Girl" is probably the most accurate part of the title. LOL

Summary:
Yu Shengyou is a daughter of the Holy Medicine Sect, whose father decided to marry her off to the esteemed Gong family, well-known in the martial art world. One of the reason for this is that father know people are hunting down a secret manual related to elixir of immortality or something and he wanted to sent his daughter to a safe place. Yu Shengyou was once saved by Gong Yuxiu a few years back and was surprised to find out he the eldest son of the Gong family, so she was really happy when Madame Gong allow her to chose one of the three sons as a husband after seeing the second son in wheelchair and third son with massive pimple breakout. She chose Gong Yuxiu and married him but on the wedding night found out he's actually a fool with the mental capacity of a child. Turns out he went "mad" two years ago due to being "poisoned" or something and became what he is now. She was mad and realize she had been set up to marry the Gong's family idiot son after finding out the second son is in fact not cripple and third son did something that cause himself to break out on the day she chose her husband.

So obviously she tried to immediately annul the marriage saying it's not done in good faith. However, Madame Gong convince her to stay for at least two years and if she still want a divorce two years later, she'll grant it to her and at the same time hoping she would change her mind. He did. Despite Gong Yuxiu being a fool, he absolutely dotes her, stick to her constantly, and showered her with affections. Then her family got into trouble so she left the Gong family to help her father and then was eventually kindnapped by the Ghost Tribe leader, Aide Yude. Ghost Tribe was a foreign tribe whose people are fat and where food and obesity are favored. However when he was young, he accidentally meant Yu Shengyou who showed him kindness whereas all other kids teased him for his obesity. They became friend and he made a promise to her that one day he'll marry her. Aide Yude also treated her as well as Gong Yuxiu did. Although she had greater affection toward Gong Yuxiu at the time, things changed when in desperation to save her Gong Yuxiu "reawakened" his former self who was a prim and proper gentleman with superior martial art skill. Now overnight he's like a completely stranger to her. Despite going back to his former self. Gong Yuxiu, still retained memory of the last few years when he was a fool. However, he feigned memory loss...I think it's partially because he was totally acting out of character and thus don't want to think about them. Still he actually still loves her but he's no longer showing his affection the same way he once did which made Yu Shengyou really sad. Now caught between a love triangle between Aide Yude, who absolutely adore, and Gong Yuxiu, who desperately want to go back to his former self asking her for a new start...she has to decide who she actually wanted to be.

There are other aspect of the story like the secret organization that's hunting various sect because they all have pieces of the secret manual including the Holy Medicine Sect which the female lead was part of. I actually barely pay attention to this part of the story. It guess it's a good distraction to keep this from being a purely romance drama. There was the second brother, who although clashes with the female lead early on but was sympathetic to her when his brother returned to normal. He also secretly harbored feeling for Yu Shengyou but he eventually got along with Lu Ren Yi, Aide's cousin who also like Aide himself, and eventually they got together. Then there's also the third brother who clashes with Yu Shengyou's very dorky ditzy maid...and they very cute chemistry together.


Cast/Acting:
Yu Shengyou - I thought she did well for most part. Somehow I thought she reminded me of the lead from Goodbye My Princess. I see some people thinks her character is annoying. I guess I can see that but she the frank and outspoken type that is sometimes careless with her words so she could be reckless. Yes she seems very outrageous and unreasonable at time but it's not without reason. In the beginning, she's thrust into a situation she didn't want so she acted out on everyone who she thinks schemed against her including her innocent husband. At the later stage, she felt her true love suddenly disappeared and now forced to be with someone who she thinks didn't love.
Gong Yuxiu - He did both character well. He's a lovable fool in the beginning and though his antic is bizarre he was very easy to like. As the gentleman act stoically but express his conflict well when he knows the person she love is not the real version of him. Even worst, he's lousy at expressing his feeling in which his inhibited and foolish self have no problem of doing.
Aide Yude - a typical second male lead where at times seems more deserving of the female lead than the actual male lead himself. He willing to go through great extent to protect and make the female lead happy...including going on a diet which affected his body greatly because the type of martial art he practiced which required him to be obese. He was always there for the female lead, always trying to cheer her up...to the point where he swayed her enough for her to consider actually being with him. However, he realized that no matter what he did she will never love him the same way she loved Gong Yuxiu...so finally he made the ultimately sacrificed....he decided to let her go...which finally ended the love triangle. Again he's like the ultimate good guy who's willing to think about the one he love instead of himself. And like he said his biggest regret is not looking for and finding the female lead before she met Gong Yuxiu because honestly she wouldn't been with him easily had that happened.


Pros
- I think there are great chemistry between the cast. I thought the ML/FL has good chemistry in the beginning and at time FL had good chemistry with the second brother (who tried to comfort her especially right after Gong Yuxiu recovered and was lost as to how he should approach her) and Aide Yude (who always try to be there with her)
- Great relationship with all the character. There were no animosity between them...even the villain wasn't detestable despite killing so many people. So there are really no unlikeable characters.
-Story tied together fair well even thought it's pretty basic.

Cons
-Amnesia plot used not once but three times. Like literally everything pretend to suffer amnesia after getting injured :/. The only one that was reasonably was Aide Yude who did it to finally separate himself from the ML/FL. The most annoying one was Gong Yuxiu who not only did a lousy job of pretending to lose his memory as a fool but that one act probably cause most of the conflict in the latter half. All the FL wanted was the reassurance that despite how he changed he is still same Gong Yuxiu she fell in love with and that part is still within him. Instead, he constantly refused to admit he still has his old memory because...I guess he wants her to love who he is instead of who he was (i dunno). However he took the drastic effort to pretend to be the idiot version of himself when he felt she's slipping away from her. Only for her to get angry at him for trying to lie to her. Then he started crying and she started crying because all she want was for him to be honest with her about his feeling and that he'll love her no matter how much he had changed. So...yea...
But to be fair, I guess conflicts makes the story because if they didn't do that...the drama could've probably ended in 15 episodes.

Overall
I thought it's a decent drama. Not saying it's the best. I've seen better and I've seen worst. It did wrapped up nicely overall though.

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Story about a girl who fallen in love at first side but his love turn out be insane but with passing time she fallen in love with him but during this time a new man enters in her life who to be her childhood friend but she forgot about him but he knew her and love her ,she is the only love of his life .
So tangled love story .
What I like about drama
1 .unconditional love among partners ,among brothers and among family .
2.completed each couple love story. Give a good happy ending.
What I don't like
1. Less chemistry between the lead as well as other couples ,if all they get more screen so drama can become more romantic .
2. I thought Mu Yu'er played an important role in the story of 13th prince ,the way she saw the jade necklace but no strong story ,if they add something like that 13th prince involved with her and third young master misunderstood that there is something happened between Mu Ye'r and 13th prince and he got jeolous something like this i want .secoundly when My Yu'er shown in the 13th prince flashback story she seemed to be strong person why she acted all the time silly .

What I expecting /what I want
1. A happy ending to fatty also. (A small love story)
2.. All three brother marriages
3. As she (lead actress) wish to visit her parents tomb with his husband ,to make more romantic they can show kids too.
4.last part whole member of the family are sitting together having dinner and each brother becomes father , and fatty too visit them with his love ....I think drama get more better ending.

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Lovely Swords Girl is a light period wuxia drama that, although the actors shine on their dramatic moments, the leading lady, Yu Shengyou, is insufferable for most of the drama’s duration. She is headstrong and stubborn, loud and unruly, and, with the excuse that she’s young and doesn’t know what love is, she drags two male leads that, for 24 episodes, do nothing more than show her love, protection, and understanding. Although the drama depicts a love triangle, there’s no consistent chemistry among the leading males and Yu Shengyou. This drama is good to watch without high expectations while the viewers wait for a better one to come! There are some aspects of the drama that are worth watching: the great dynamics and unwavering love and support among the Gong family, Yu Shengyou and her faithful maid strong friendship and reciprocal support, the younger Gong brother and their love interest, Yu Shengyou’s father and the Gong’s parents. Must mention that Yang Shi Ze, as Gong Yuan Xiu, delivered a great performance as both the reserved and steadfast male lead and the fool Yuan Xiu.

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I signed up on MDL just so I can leave a review for this underated gem that I found in the iQiyi app.

Lovely Swords Girl is a drama made of new actors/actresses that delivered fresh, and ok acting. It also helped that the OTP is highly unusual and that a lot of the male casts are good looking. Through the 28eps I can say that the writer and director had the right pacing and made interesting storylines to flesh out our main and side characters.

Pros:
- character backstories for main and side characters is solid A. You can really understand the characters well from the main leads, to the parental characters, villain, etc. Even the 1/2 character of the male lead is so well developed that when he was “lost” I cried buckets for him.
- good chemistry between the young casts as friends and lovers. Even the bromance is well developed
- lighthearted/wacky mood at the start that might turn you off at first but as the story goes you’ll see that the Series becomes more dramatic

Cons
- very basic conflict - since the drama invested more on the characters, the conflict with the villain is very simple and straight forward. But then again you also have that other overarching conflict about what love is so I guess it balanced it out.
- Setting - maybe Also due to the limited budget, the characters and story just move from almost just 5 general locations throughout the drama

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Nauseating and alot of fast forwarding

The first 10 episodes are good, but after that you can skip to the last episode.

Reason was what started to look like a promising comedy early on just switched on itself and tries too hard to be a romance drama.

By episode 10, you would have guessed who is the main villain and the story plot is just predictable.

The amnesia theme is just overused in this drama, the male lead, 2nd male and even the female lead all use amnesia as an excuse to self inflict and create pain.

Fight scenes are weak and only seem to exists because of its wuxia theme.

The ending was also weak, after 24 episodes, you would think that the male lead would have some sort of confession that wins the female lead over instead of just standing in the middle of some heart shaped candles formation and deliver some weak lines, then suddenly the female lead just falls head over heels in love again and they kissed.

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