This review may contain spoilers
Pros:
Yanuo is passably male for a good portion of the show.
She is a master martial artist and she doesn’t ever have a scene where she loses to someone and then someone tells her, or she thinks, it’s because she’s ‘still a girl’ or some other bullshit.
The friendship is strong in this show. And it is beautiful. Seriously my favorite scenes were of their wonderful, amazing friendships. The teasing, the playfulness, the loyalty, the mindfulness. Gorgeous.
All the characters are lovable (except that one asshat, but that’s rather the point).
There is no point where Zifeng has a gay panic, so if that's something that puts you off a gender-bender show, don't worry. He does think he's gay, but there's no panic.
It’s bazonkers, but that makes it funny. Several times I was like ‘this is so unnecessary, why is this happening?’ because something silly and easily avoided was happening.
There’s a love triangle, but not really, because the other guy was never an option.
Zifeng finds out Yanuo is a woman partway through the show (won’t say when because spoilers and all), but he doesn’t alter how he treats her in the slightest. He doesn’t start telling her to not come do Triad business with him, or not to get into a fight, that something is too dangerous, etc. He does caring, thoughtful things for her just as much before as after he knows.
Qingyang is Soft Boy. The softest boy. So many times he came on screen and I was just like ‘heeee’s sooo sooooooooooooooft.’ This has nothing to do with the plot, but I felt you should know.
Cons:
The cinematography is awful. Camera angles were terrible. Everything was so close up. I was like ‘wow, do I need to see their pores in this scene?’
“Give him this cup of water.” What cup? I don’t even see you, the person offering the cup, let alone the cup, because the camera is focused so close up on the lady you’re talking to.
“How do I look?” I have no idea, because I can only see the barest slice of you, in 4 different shots, while the camera shows us your hesitant face and his ‘wow’ face.
The kissing scenes were really awkward. Like, they seemed to be trying to make it look natural, but I was like just ‘I feel bad for any actual significant others you two have if this is how you really kiss.’
Zifeng is a mafia boss, the head of a Triad even, but nothing illegal happens under his watch. He runs an amusement park and pulled the Triad out of all illegal business. It’s a Thing in the show. (and it's literally the first thing you learn in the show via Zifeng talking to his dad, so Not Spoilers). It took 28 out of Netflix’s 30 episodes for there to be any real threat (imo) to someone's life.
The longer the show went on, the more Yanuo acted like a girl. Like, sitting like a girl and demurring in a very feminine way and speaking in a quieter, almost breathy tone all the time. She started out acting very boyish, and I don’t believe that 25 years of acting like a guy would vanish that fast (<100 days) just because you fell in love. They even started giving her more feminine makeup the longer the show went on, though the character never started wearing make up within the show.
Whomever did the music for the show is on par with whomever did the cinematography for the show. Music starts and ends randomly, sometimes switching songs mid-scene and mid-music swell, music abruptly stopping mid-scene and with nothing happening on screen to signal why the music would stop.
Yanuo is passably male for a good portion of the show.
She is a master martial artist and she doesn’t ever have a scene where she loses to someone and then someone tells her, or she thinks, it’s because she’s ‘still a girl’ or some other bullshit.
The friendship is strong in this show. And it is beautiful. Seriously my favorite scenes were of their wonderful, amazing friendships. The teasing, the playfulness, the loyalty, the mindfulness. Gorgeous.
All the characters are lovable (except that one asshat, but that’s rather the point).
There is no point where Zifeng has a gay panic, so if that's something that puts you off a gender-bender show, don't worry. He does think he's gay, but there's no panic.
It’s bazonkers, but that makes it funny. Several times I was like ‘this is so unnecessary, why is this happening?’ because something silly and easily avoided was happening.
There’s a love triangle, but not really, because the other guy was never an option.
Zifeng finds out Yanuo is a woman partway through the show (won’t say when because spoilers and all), but he doesn’t alter how he treats her in the slightest. He doesn’t start telling her to not come do Triad business with him, or not to get into a fight, that something is too dangerous, etc. He does caring, thoughtful things for her just as much before as after he knows.
Qingyang is Soft Boy. The softest boy. So many times he came on screen and I was just like ‘heeee’s sooo sooooooooooooooft.’ This has nothing to do with the plot, but I felt you should know.
Cons:
The cinematography is awful. Camera angles were terrible. Everything was so close up. I was like ‘wow, do I need to see their pores in this scene?’
“Give him this cup of water.” What cup? I don’t even see you, the person offering the cup, let alone the cup, because the camera is focused so close up on the lady you’re talking to.
“How do I look?” I have no idea, because I can only see the barest slice of you, in 4 different shots, while the camera shows us your hesitant face and his ‘wow’ face.
The kissing scenes were really awkward. Like, they seemed to be trying to make it look natural, but I was like just ‘I feel bad for any actual significant others you two have if this is how you really kiss.’
Zifeng is a mafia boss, the head of a Triad even, but nothing illegal happens under his watch. He runs an amusement park and pulled the Triad out of all illegal business. It’s a Thing in the show. (and it's literally the first thing you learn in the show via Zifeng talking to his dad, so Not Spoilers). It took 28 out of Netflix’s 30 episodes for there to be any real threat (imo) to someone's life.
The longer the show went on, the more Yanuo acted like a girl. Like, sitting like a girl and demurring in a very feminine way and speaking in a quieter, almost breathy tone all the time. She started out acting very boyish, and I don’t believe that 25 years of acting like a guy would vanish that fast (<100 days) just because you fell in love. They even started giving her more feminine makeup the longer the show went on, though the character never started wearing make up within the show.
Whomever did the music for the show is on par with whomever did the cinematography for the show. Music starts and ends randomly, sometimes switching songs mid-scene and mid-music swell, music abruptly stopping mid-scene and with nothing happening on screen to signal why the music would stop.
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