Usually, I am not a fan of republican era dramas because of their propaganda message and the evil portrait of the Japanese. Still, I started this drama because of my love for Xu Kai and Bai Lu (I adored both of them in Legends.). And I am delighted that I watched it. Both actors have impressed me so much that both became my favorite Chinese actors. But besides the leads' excellent performance, this drama brought me countless positive surprises.

First what I adore about the drama:

♡ The main leads' romance (not a surprise): The love between Gu Yan Zheng and Xie Xiang/Xie Liang Chen is very precious. It started hilariously, sometimes eye-rollingly embarrassing but advanced to bitter-sweet and heart racing at the end.
In the middle, I became slightly impatient about XX's ignorance towards GYZ's pursuance but later on understood that she deliberately tried to suppress her feeling to him to stay in school. And the wait intensifies the longing they have towards each other later in the show (I was really touched by the arc of the two in Beijing around episode 40 - beautifully written!).

♡ The lead actors: Xu Kai absolutely blew my mind with his performance as Gu Yan Zheng: He is funny, arrogant, silly, goofy, childish, flirty, and an absolute show-off. It is his straightforward and pure personality that goes after what he wants that makes him extremely likable. These positive traits developed into determination, righteousness, and bravery when GYZ grew up to a soldier and man protecting the people and the country he loves. Despite portraying countless dramatic and ridiculous scenes, none of the actings felt over the top or unnatural. Through this character, Xu Kai indeed proved himself to be an actor of far-reaching talents. He really made GYZ his own.
Bai Lu: Bai Lu impressed me already in Legends as the overbearing demon queen, but in AMA, she outperforms herself even further by switching convincingly between the tomboyish girl Xie Xiang and the pretty boy soldier. Two thumbs up for the stylist who created her cute and handsome styles. Bai Lu also did a fantastic job in all her fighting and action scenes. Compared to Legends, where a lot was done using CG, these are real combat and acrobatic scenes, which certainly required a lot of practices and reshoots to make them as good-looking as they are.

♡ The second leads, supporting characters and their emotional storyline:
For AMA, if the chemistry of the main leads would not have been this good, I would have shipped the leads with the secondary ones instead. I am most impressed with Wu Jia Yi's performance as Xu Man Ting. Her personality is similar to that of GYZ and extremely fun to watch. Plus, I love her voice (is her own voice) that puts the right emphasis on the low tones. It positively adds to her excellent acting.
This drama is probably the second-best drama (after Joy of Life) I have watched, which has a fabulous team of supporting characters. Each of them has his/her unique personality, who is loveable. They remind me of the characters from Shonen Jump animes, which focus on friendship, effort, and victory. Liu Si Bo, who played Huang Song, was outstanding. His friendship with both XX and GYZ was precious and beautiful to watch. A shout out to the excellent cinematography and performance for his underground fight club arc. The character development of Li Wen Zhong, played by Liu Run Nan, also caught me by positive surprise. I did not expect that the makers will give a douchebag character like him such a great turn towards the end - that's what I would call good storytelling.

♡ The cinematography: Hui Kai Dong is the same director as Yanxing Palace, and he is known for his beautiful and high-quality shots. The team built the school campus entirely from scratch to shoot the drama. Also, the bar from Hu Xiao Yu is charmingly designed - who can copy this bar in the real world would for sure money. Most sets and action scenes are real, and even if they use CGs, they are not very obvious. Another lookout point is the action scenes. Most scenes are firmed directly with the cast themselves. You can see the makers have spent a lot of time crafting and correcting the movements for all the action scenes, whether that is a shooting, a fistfight, a sword fight or a car chase. And then there are the beautiful costumes. Oh my god, is GYZ good looking in his various types of trench coats... The dresses from Xu Man Ting also look gorgeous on her.
Last but not least, there is a great OST. I have been listening to the songs of AMA up and down. My favorite is the duet sung by the main leads themselves. Though slightly cheesy pitch, I find it just right for this drama. I wished they would have played it more often as BGM.

Now what I think the drama could have done better:

⭐︎ Unrealistic story and plot holes, esp. for the military plots: While the writer is talented with emotional storylining, she is not as skillful with military and battle storylines. I was trying to ignore those plot holes, but there are some that I could not ignore. The first real battle, there is not even one student who died or injured. If it comes to the enemy, there is no hesitance in shooting them. But when it comes to our own people, the enemy would always first catch them and then only attempt to kill them, leaving the heroes time to escape. The writing of the auction scene was also a mess; it was anti-climax, not knowing which party is involved and what they were up to. There are also a lot of random shootings on the streets, as there are no rules of laws, at which the villain would get punished and our protagonists saved at the end. And then there are typical unrealistic happenings such as all characters ended up in the same city at the same time.

⭐︎ Too many love lines: Despite my love for the emotional storylines, there are too many. Not only do we have many love triangles between the main leads, but we also have a few love lines between supporting characters and the main leads and vice versa. This got me confused sometimes. The makers also spent too much time describing the love triangle between the leads. Instead they could have used the time to grow team spirit of the student group, or spend time telling the stories of Ji Jin and Zhu Yan Lin. I would have loved to see more arcs, such as the mission to take out the drug dealers in episode 34.

⭐︎ Character development of Shen Jun Shan and Jin Xian Rong: Both actors playing SJS and JXR have performed well. Unfortunately, I wish the makers could have spent a bit more rationalizing the characters' emotional response based on proper human motivation. SJS is a strong 2nd male lead, perfect for opposing GYZ's funky personality. However, his prince-like behavior to XLC in the whole first half of the drama is totally questionable. There is no whatsoever explanation why he would behave this way at first and then later fall in love with XLC. The same goes for JXR, a villain with complicated past, feelings for SJS, and thus possessing a lot of potential for character depth. Why would she try to hide her famous identity naively believing that SJS, the son of such a renowned business family, would not find out? After the reveal, what did she do to save the relationship? Her past of being a Japanese but born and raised in China only came out from her somewhat commemoration towards her adopting family but was not used anywhere else. Just because she is Japanese by origin, does this make her a slave to the Japanese and a killer machine? Don't forget that she killed her own father, trying to protect SJS. A big lost opportunity here!

Despite the shortcomings I mentioned above, I truly love this drama. I think the more I was disappointed about specific areas, the more it shows that I really wanted this drama to do well. (I have never spent this long to write such a comprehensive review...). I am even surprised myself how much I am thinking about the characters, the scenes of the drama, days after I finished it. I would definitely go back and rewatch some episodes. All in all, I would recommend anyone watching it - the characters and the emotional plots are what make it really enjoyable.