This review may contain spoilers
Do not watch this drama thinking it will be like Prince of Lan Ling. That drama is focused on Lan Ling King himself while this drama is like part-fantasy of both kingdoms and who will conquer the world once they unlock the secret using the mirror and sword (forgot their names), and the female lead's love life.This drama started out quite interesting but after she met Lanling King, I think the plot became really repetitive. She became really indecisive between both men and went back and forth several times, which I thought was really unnecessary. They could have cut that down a bit so the drama wouldn't be so lengthy, too. Beware, this drama starts out *very* cliche and unrealistic. Just a warning, both love-lines are pretty cruel romances and the sweet moments don't last long.
As for the characters, you have the typical cold-hearted main male lead (Yu Wenyong) who slowly warms up and is very protective, and you have the typical kind second male lead (Lanling King) who's always there to save the day. The main female lead is also the typical girl who doesn't lose to anyone easily and plays around to annoy you. Yu Wenyong has quick character development, followed by the main female lead; however, I didn't see much development for Lanling King. Going on a tangent, I think Lanling King's role was poorly written in this drama because he's known for being smart and strategic, but here he seems to be weak in planning and always listens to whatever everyone else suggests. He doesn't have a stance and can't do anything on his own will.
The acting was alright overall. I think some crying scenes were a bit forced and cringe-worthy, but otherwise it was bearable. Nothing was super unnatural or out of frame. The music is very nice and suits the scenes. There's pretty much just the opening theme and ending theme; the former used more with Yu Wenyong and the latter used primarily with Lanling King--it's like their personal songs. Overall, I personally like Yu Wenyong more so if I were to rewatch, I would just skip to his scenes because it's really heartwarming to see a cold playboy turn into a loving and protective man.
TLDR; This drama is watchable but does get long and draggy in the middle. There were lots of unnecessary parts of the plot and cliches, but I think it is still a pretty good watch. This drama is definitely not for you if you want to see the female lead end up with one guy quick (because she's wishy-washy).
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NOW the proTAGoNIST (yes, the wonderfully played protagonist) seems dainty... but she's clever, she's charming and she's a strong woman! Although she has an innately childish personality and voice, it's strangely full of maturity and soul as you watch on. Great voice acting on the main actress' part ^^
OK let's get right into it!
BACKGROUND HISTORY:
When watching this drama, I kept in mind that in Chinese history, Lanling general/king (not emperor) is a respected hero. It is commonly perceived that his courageous but tragic story cannot be told without its raging war and the political struggle for power, which is a central theme to the patriarchy society at the time. YET it's also been said that the tale of Lanling king is about his regret, for being too late to realise and appreciate his wife's affection, and thus his infamous love/longing. (Ambition & fighting wars had his undivided attention.)
STORYLINE/CHARACTERS:
The plot is well written and revealed in successive surprises as the story goes on; subtle moments reveal every character's vulnerable side at completely unexpected moments, moulding interesting personalities. The character relationships are quite in-depth, but at times low-key to pick up on and read into. (May I say that the chemistry between all the characters, not just love interests, are really well done!) Often there are correlations made when a character replied using the exact same words/meaning, said by another character earlier on, and thus there would be a twist in the meaning in the character's relationship with another. And I really dig that technique, XD.
*QS- female protagonist, LL- Lanling male lead, YY- YuwenYong male lead*
1. On Appreciation/Regret:
This strong theme of appreciating the person who loves and cares unconditionally for you, is not limited to the female protagonist, QS, but almost all the main characters. (I would call this, characters chasing after each other's hearts in a cycle, to death; "like moth to fire" (from ED lyrics.) Obviously from the outset, QS learns to accept the love YY keeps proving to her- it is a difficult journey when she already had LL in her heart. (Reminds me of Empress Ki, where Seung Nyang admits she loved both Ta Hwan and Wang Yoo, in the last scene of the drama.)
The story directly conveys to the audience, when QS even herself, advised one of the leaders of the Dragon sect, to "value and not be blind to the one in front of your line of view, who loves you" after that person died by his mistake, but her last wish was for QS to look after him. (Yup, there are as many selfless characters as there are selfish.) Although his higher cause to help build a prosperous kingdom, overode personal desires, his unspoken regret to be unable to accept her (not QS) feelings every time he rescues her, is evident as he keeps on him, her ornament.
There are charming women, just as compatible with YY and LL, but their love were only felt after they died for them; a powerless lady, who was meant to be LL's wife but never managed to, has such a kind and resilient heart, but being constantly un-reciprocated by LL, definitely evokes a bitter emotion from you. Her story may even be on par with QS's legend.
Not all unappreciated love are romantic, such as when LL's mother who was a mother figure to QS, attempted to deny she cared for QS, in order to chase a higher cause, which resulted in initially forcing apart LL and QS, "replacing love's thirst [for QS] with hate" on LL's part (from ED lyrics). This triggers into play the escalation of war by LL's and YY's part in, really, a fight against fate.
Much like how YY tells QS "if you don't believe in the heavens, you can believe in me", when YY tries to win over QS, who is actually, as the title suggests, "Lanling King's princess".
As for LL and QS, there is a constant motif of the attraction between the firefly and higanbana flower, respective of themselves. Although the firefly can never touch the petals of the flower, or else it dies from its poison, QS says to LL "the firefly and flower can be together", and makes a handkerchief for herself and LL, which when overlapped, exhibits a scenery where the firefly rests on the flower. But the ED song lyrics also states the "moth [rushes] to fire (the flower)".
There are many other underlying similar stories of regret in failure to appreciate loved ones.
2. On 'Masks' worn by characters:
Clearly LL's war mask is the icon. His mother, who became the wife of the enemy nation's regent, wore a mask and many other alias'. Dragon sect leader#2 wore three different faces by makeup (what he actually looks like will astonish you). YY wore a frivolous, debauched front. And many other characters wear 'masks'. But everyone wears masks for different reasons, which I won't disclose because I know I have SAID QUITE ENOUGH ABOUT THE STORY ALREADY XD. Yet the most subtle mask, is actually that of QS's- the bridal mask representing the alias identity that she took on without remembering who she was. But at the same time it could be said that memory loss revealed her true self.
There are no bad guys in the characters. Dragon sect leaders desire the powerful artifacts, but for different reasons. The existence of dragon sect is condemned by leader#2, for it's ability to develop a sense of entitled power to the identity, seen to lead leaders #1, and #3 to death. Parallel to the royal family problem, YY's uncle was led to his death, because of his same sense of entitlement.
MUSIC:
The music! In fact I really love every piece of soundtrack music, esp the lyrics. For one, obviously the timing of a particular soundtrack is ejected so well into the beginning of scenes, that it really creates meaning and quickly becomes nostalgic.
Another point, which is how the OP and ED is utilised in a way I haven't seen in other dramas before. Just as any other OP and ED of other dramas, the lyrics are intangible to the story line and its motifs. But, the motif representing QS and LL's legendary love as a higanbana flower and firefly, is directly made into the OP and ED respectively. Much like how the OP 'serenades' the ED, and the ED to the OP; the flower sings a love song to the firefly in the OP and vice versa.
The reuse of the ED with only scenes of QS and LL, is an attempt, for one to make up for the lack of scenes LL appears in, but more importantly to remind us this story is actually a tale of the tragic longing between LL and his LL princess aka QS, we all know. Literally the theme of longing is objectified throughout the OP&ED, being hyperbolised to the point of reaching the state of where gazing at "higanbanas warms up the longing for a lifetime" (duh, historical genres).
As they continuously "let slip past the face that I'm familiar with" (cue changing masks) and the plot moves from one stage to the next, the meaning of the ED with its scenes of the couple's relationship, evolves. Moving from initially loving in "times spent in a dream-like manner" to being "awakened" to a tragic longing, stained with "tears of the higanbana" where "like a dream, be its love or hate, only hurt remains" at how "our hair whitens as we missed our opportunity to be together once again". Eventually, their relationship becomes one of which they will "wait for [each other] at the ending point" as long as the "tears of the higanbana [continue to] pound [their] heart" and "recall the pain" because there is "happiness in waiting for [the other] silently" or "a vow to wait for forever".
So "let [their glorified] longing for each other prevent [them] from forgetting the other in [their] lifetime".
And that's basically what makes this drama feel melancholic fraught with nostalgia.
Ehh, that's about it, I'll stop talking/spoiling and you get the meaning... they sure are sadists, right? #poetic-emo-love
*The above paragraph quotes are from OP lyrics
CLOTHING/SET APPEARANCE:
The production cost was reported to be huge- you can imagine the rest. The cinematography! The quality! The breathtaking scenery of riding on horses, galloping across grass fields that stretch across all that the eye can see; capturing well the edge of dream-like moments with LL. Fawn over his dreamy beauty will ya?
PS. If you didn't know, in reality Lanling king's infamous beauty forced him to wear a ferocious mask in war, although the mask's symbolism is much more emphasised than his beauty in this drama. Sorry for such a long review, (usually I'm really reluctant to go as far as to review but this is my first review as I HAD to go make an account because I wanted to tell people about it) but seriously please go and experience it for yourself right now! Sorry if I sound like I'm glorifying this legend.
Link to actual LanLing king dance preserved in Japan till this day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-1zec5xJjQ
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I don't want to be negative and bring anyone down, but the more I think about it, I have to admit that I really disliked this series. The woman was passed back and forth between the men like a dirty rag they both wiped themselves on. I'm so tired of love triangles, love squares and love pentagons... I was hoping the two Princes would just dump her and the guys would just get together! That would make a better story than this. I enjoyed the fight scenes and the magic elements, but they were not enough to make up for the faulty adaptation of the story's romantic entanglements. There was too much focus on 'love me, love me not' scenarios, when those scenes could have been used to better enhance the plot. Maybe it was targeting a teen audience.
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This review may contain spoilers
What can I say? The series is definitely the genre that I enjoy the most however this series in particular was just OK. I want to say that the series itself was unique and somewhat interesting however there were some characters that were extremely annoying. Sadly, it was the FL whom the series is focused on. Overall plot: The series revolves around a female lead. She is most certainly part of a big plot. Unfortunately at the beginning of the plat she loses her memory and forgets all about it. This is where the story begins. I love that it revolves around intelligence. The schemes weren’t simple. The were orchestrated in a way that you knew required planning and smart moves. That alone make it enjoyable. I think our ML was most definitely the star here and really carried the show. Although some of the scenes went deep into fantasy, it was good.
The overall concept was interesting however the FL character was frustrating. Explain further I really do enjoy a wide genre films but I absolutely dislike any film or series that has a character who comes off is snobby, immature and ungrateful. And this is exactly what the female lead was. She was cute but her character wasn’t. From episode 1 to 15, the male lead saves her over and over again and she disregards him and treats him like a villain/bad guy. Not to mention she loses her memory and can’t remember anyone but she does this. Imagine You rescue someone 4 times and each time they turn their nose up at you and folds their arms ( this was her for 15 episodes).
After episode 15, it gets much better.although we still running into some of the old habits.
There were so many loopholes and utterly unrealistic things you just cringe but you keep watching because you hope it gets better. This goes on until the end. There is also a series titled the prince of landing. I only assumed that it was the effort to link the two however there is no connection between the two and to be honest the prince of lan ling is absolutely better than this one. If you get a chance watch it.
Is it romantic? Nope
Do we get a smooth sailing couple? Nope
Is it funny? Yes, but it wasn’t on purpose.
Is it a good pace? Absolutely
Rewatch: Not completely, maybe if you’re really bored.
Do I recommend it? Not as a romantic piece.
Did I fast forward: many many times.
Is it worth it? Yes because there are good moments.
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The female character (Yuan Qing Suo / Duan Mu Lian) is a kind heart girl who will sacrifice everything for her master who adopt her when she was still a child.
Because of her, both of the male character, one will change from cold hearted person to a kind and warm hearted person while the one will have to learn to let go everything.
Believe me, this drama will be totally different than the previous drama The Prince of Lan Ling
However from what I learn from all the viewers here, finally I found there is an alternative ending for
Gao Chang Gong.
Here is the perfect ending version for Gao Chang Gong (for whoever love him to be with Duan Mu Liang) which meet the ending OST.
http://cnsp01.lovetvshow.info/2016/12/princess-of-lanling-king-special-1.html
Have fun watching this drama if you haven't. It is all total 47 chapters + some new good ending.
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A Beautiful Story Telling About A Love Triangle
I actually enjoyed and completed this drama. Their intertwined love triangle that is bittersweet and captivating.Very good soundtrack, especially the ending OST.
I am so glad that ViKi has the extended finale that is a happy ending for Gao Zhang Gong and Duan Mu Lian. It is a satisfying ending that actually fits the title and the music at the end of each episode.
Quality of the production is understandable as this was done in 2013. The fight scenes are outstanding and on a par with the now big budget drama series.
I highly recommend this drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mixture of both Beauty and Disappointment!
STORY & PLOT: started off nicely. felt the urge to continue. I was damn confused for who the main Male lead (aka whos gonna win the girl) is as i never read comments cause they are full of spoilers and I did not check any reviews intentionally,it kept me guessing for a long time (I was utterly enjoying the dilemma anyway) . it was going really good and i often got excited for the later and later episodes.something that really disappointed me is, they tried to romanticize the dominance of Yuwen Yong over Yuan Quingsuo at first few eps. ABUSE AND DOMINANCE IS NEVER ROMANTIC. Yuwen Yong is smart, Yuan Qingsuo was dumb after amnesia but kept getting better.
till ep 27 the dilemma lasted for me and i could finally guess Guo Changgomg is gonna get YQS. (good lord i was so wrong) and the episodes became a little draggy and full of unnecessary plots. the same story of everyone chasing behind soul pearl was repeated in a cycle. the show somehow lost the track and quality in the middle. unexpectedly they maintained the balance between the leads till the end which i admire so much!
the opponents were extremely powerful and it was always hard for the main leads to cope up with them. as for the drama mainly focuses on YY-YQS-GC love triangle, i can pardon that. Yuwen Hu committed heinous crimes. and schemed perfectly. and naturally i had expected YY and YQS to come up with something brilliant so viewers could be satisfied. but i think the net was fabricated too neatly that the directors became confused as to how to take Yuwen Hu down so at ep 36 they introduced Empress Dowager out of nowhere and somehow managed to kill YH so fast (a Martial Arts god was literally killed by a YY with no Martial Arts. i mean what???) and kept YY harmless. and it was unsatisfactory that YH didnt get the proper punishment and sufferings he deserved.
another disgusting fact is YQS doesn't know wtf she wants. this time she's crying and vowing to stay beside YY the next second the maid,dancers,even YY himself needs to beg/explain her HOW THE HECK YY LOVES HER. HOW THE HECK SHE MEANS THE WORLD TO HIM. but our YQS still remains uncertain??? at this point i haggard myself to continue.
there was no character development for gao changgong .he remained stubborn and almost like a puppet of his personal feelings till the end. i seriously dislike that.
ENDING: there's no way to denay the ending is extremely nice and touched my heart. compared to the whole drama the ending was 100 times better and probably the only reason for me to rate it higher.
CAST: i have no say in this cause each and every actor is hella sexy (specially Yuwen Yong just look at his height!)
ACTING & COSTUME: its easy to convince me with acting. i can appreciate a extraordinary acting but cant point out a weak one. so i can only tell no one did extraordinarily good.
personally saying Gao Changgong was my fav even tho i shipped YY and YQS
the costume was real bad. like what on earth did the royal officials wear?? thats a total turn off !! the maids too wore bad dresses i wasnt convinced. and i wish the poor ZuGe WuXue and WuChen could get a couple more dresses so i hadn't see him wear the same green/white gown everytime.
OST/MUSIC: it totally depends. this was average for me. and could vary person to person.
REWATCH: you better not unless youre so in love with the drama.
THANKS FOR READING!
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The best way to watch this show is to focus on the romance and tune out everything else. The love story is easily the strongest element here.
The show wants to you think that it’s a love triangle plot, but it really is not. Andy Chen is credited as one of the two male leads, but he is more like a second lead in terms of screen time and character growth. He's just eye candy here. The real male lead is Peng Guanying. The romance is a hate-slowly-turned-into-love progression. This never gets old because there are so many variants the writers can do with it. And this variant is a good one, playing on the strengths of both Peng Guanying and Zhang Hanyun: he is super alpha, and she super cute. It’s very rewarding to watch Yuwen Yong soften towards Qingsuo, and her slowly giving in and allowing herself to fall in love again. With so much time devoted to building this relationship, the ending is just plain ridiculous. There was no foreshadowing, just “bam, we have to throw this in to be historically accurate.” Again, this is what you get for trying to blend too many genres.
The costumes are beautiful and intricate, albeit a little over-the-top. So much so that they get in the way of the actors and make things awkward. There are some scenes where Qingsuo can’t properly embrace her man because her headdress could take out his throat.
I recommend this series, but with discriminate use of your fast forward button.
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This review may contain spoilers
S T O R Y: Didn't really think the action part of the story was that interesting. HOWEVER, I was enthralled by the love story progression between Yu Wenyong and Yuan Qingsuo. Qingsuo is fun, innocent, lively, and quirky. Yu Wenyong is somber and rigid on the outside but very loving on the inside. I do disagree with the reviews that said Yu Wenyong was cold hearted and a playboy before meeting Qingsuo..these claims are refuted by the storyline but I'll leave it at that. Anyone who is wondering should just watch to find out for themselves! I think I was especially drawn to the love story because Yu Wenyong's love for Qingsuo was so unconditional. It was heartbreaking to see Qingsuo hurt Yu Wenyong time after time. Yu Wenyong had to be such a tough character; being part of the royal family so many things are out of your control and you have to fake your whole life in order to protect yourself, the people you love, and for the well-being of your country. Yu wenyong was constantly getting hit with defamation of character from the person he loves the most yet he was unable to explain himself. In most drama series, the love is more straightforward and often reciprocated. Even though we all wish to see reciprocated love, a change to a love story full of many heartbreak moments really pulls at your emotions as a viewer. Things don't always stay this way though, but again, I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers.M U S I C: Beautiful! I feel like it captured the emotions in the drama very well. And the timing of the music with the scenes were perfect. Can anyone link me to instrumental music used in this drama? Not the opening and ending music/songs
C O S T U M E: Very beautiful as well. You can look at stills and see for yourself.
A C T I N G: I think Zhang Hanyun is a good pick for Yuan Qingsuo. She plays the innocent and quirky character well. I think her looks matches the character, if you know what I mean. She plays the role well without being annoying, although some may disagree. I think YQS's character can become annoying really easily, but I think Zhang Hanyun did a good job to not make YQS annoying (maybe just a little sometimes). This is her first major role. I don't know if I would say that she is good at acting per say, but I think her performance as YQS was appropriate. I saw a live broadcast she did for fans as promo for this series and her personality in real life is similar to YQS.
Peng Guanying did very good job as well. I think he has the perfect "mad face". He carries the pissed off look that YWY always has well. I think his expressions were pretty spot on...like narrowing eyes at the appropriate moments, opening eyes wide at appropriate moments, gloating in appropriate moments, etc. He does the sly face and playboy face very well; completely believable. He also portrays YWY's confidence and dry humor very well. I think he is the best actor of this series, or at least the person who plays their character the best. Also saw a live broadcast from him and he seems nothing like YWY, so it must have been a greater challenge for him to portray YWY!
My least favorite major role actor is Andy Chen. This may be an unpopular opinion; lots of people seem to love him (but mostly for his looks...). I don't think his facial expressions varied enough for all the emotions of his role....
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also the actor and actresses are gorgeous, the acting is pretty good, just feel like the main actress doesn't have enough experience so her acting is't as amazing as others but its still a pretty emotional drama
also the dude potraying yuwen yong is like 6'3 while the main actress is only 5'5 the height difference looked kinda weird throughout the whole drama :P
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This review may contain spoilers
Not worth watching
This drama is a merry go round that made me want to get off very quickly. I powered through this drama, because I thought it could redeem itself with the FL and ML making it to the end.I only say this because the FL is chasing the SML throughout the majority of the show, and so by the time she finally opens herself up to the ML, BOOM!
The mother of the SML needs the FL’s help and she has to go. I felt betrayed, and as heartbroken as the male lead. It dragged to the very end.
If the ending had been more satisfactory, I may have increased the ending, because it would have made the chaos worth it, but instead I got slapped.
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This review may contain spoilers
If you watch the previous lanling, its completely diff with the exception of character names. This is more a love story of the females past self with lanling and her new romance as her present amnesiac self with Yu wen yong. This adaptation only inserts more of fantasy elements and looking for 2 magical items linked to Qing Shuo.
I first started watching due to many who praise the chemistry between Qing Shuo and Yu Wen Yong with the later wonderfully potrayed by Peng Guan Ying. His character seems to fill the screen more than Lanlingwang.
I find the title of this drama misleading. Thats the greatest hint/spoiler i can give you.
I would have dropped the rating to 7/10 because i did not like the ending. But for all the sweet moments of the show i maintained a 7.5. Also i fastforwarded many scene of other characters that i do not like. I always do that with long C dramas- this too doesnt escape from the need to be self edited.
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