A Lenda de Anle (2023)

Should just have been 20-25 episodes - Dilireba pregnant during the show?

I am a big fan of Dilireba, and this drama disappointed me.

The story had a lot of potential and was supposedly the female version of Nirvana in Fire, but it had too many fillers and lacked a lot of depth in the side characters... It simply took too long.

I didn't need to binge it similar to other dramas of her.. and the costumes seemed a little weird which did make me think whether the rumours of her being pregnant in 2022 were true or not. I would be happy for her if she did have a baby in 2022 - she is 30 and has every right to be a mother. But, the way her costumes were made and some of the shots that avoided her belly towards EPS 34-39 did make me question that.

Other than the above, it was an unremarkable drama.

Leia Mais

Romance Drama Chemistry Is A Must

Unfortunately, they failed to build that chemistry between the main couple. It is mainly because of the male lead poor acting ability and performance. He also doesn’t have the look and charisma on an equal level with the female lead.
Chemistry is very important in romance drama.

This is another of those series that I was rooting where the second male lead gets the girl. LMX has that conflicted, dark but oh so sexy. The actor did a good job portraying his character and he is also quite charming.

Disregard the plot holes, it is a decent drama. OST is very nice especially the ending song.

Leia Mais

Addictive historical series thanks to its CL and the narration without length

Plot: the heiress of the Di family (the FL = Dilraba) saw her entire clan die (family, soldiers) following a conspiracy. She was only saved (but exiled) because she was engaged to the Crown Prince (the ML = Gong Jun). 10 years later, the prince is still pining. She has become Anle, the pirate at the head of 30,000 men, and returns to the capital to avenge her clan.

PROS:
+ great cast
+ fast pace
+ OSTs fitting with the scenes
+ Dilraba, great as always, with her natural and mischievous side + Gong Jun excellent with his micro-expressions
+ Credible and well-written storyline, with an interesting and logical development of the characters.

CONS:
- CGI of very average quality and somewhat poor scenery (exteriors, cave, cardboard decorations and green backgrounds too obvious) => low budget?
- elderly dowager empress (60 years old), with gray hair, but not a wrinkle and had baby skin. Seriously ?
- no kiss (except 1 on the forehead). I know that the time was rather modest, but for lovers who stake their lives at every moment, it lacks passion!

=> It was a pleasure to watch it and i'll probably rewatch it sometimes !
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plot : l'héritière de la famille Di (la FL = Dilraba) a vu tout son clan mourir (famille, soldats) à la suite d'une conspiration. Elle n'a été sauvée (mais exilée) que parce qu'elle était fiancée au Prince héritier (le ML = Gong Jun). 10 ans plus, le prince se languit toujours. Elle est devenue Anle, la pirate à la tête de 30000 hommes, et revient dans la capitale, venger son clan.
PROS:
+ super cast
+ rythme rapide
+ OST qui collent à l'action
+ Dilraba, géniale comme toujours avec son côté naturel et malicieux + Gong Jun excellent avec ses micro-expressions
+ Storyline crédible et bien écrite, avec une évolution intéressante et logique des personnages.

CONS:
- CGI de qualité très moyenne et décors un peu pauvres (extérieurs, grotte, décors de carton-pâte et fonds vert trop évidents) => low budget ?
- impératrice douairière âgée (60 ans), avec cheveux gris, mais pas une ride et une peau de bébé.
- aucun kiss (sauf 1 sur le front). Je sais que l'époque était plutôt pudique, mais pour des lovers qui jouent leur vie à chaque instant, ça manque de passion !

=> Série addictive grâce à son CL et la narration sans longueur.

Leia Mais

O roteiro é interessante, enredo bem construído e personagens bem elaborados com personalidades muito interessantes, inclusive os vilões, pois não são apenas personagens malvados, são personagens que cometem ações cruéis por ganância de poder, mas que, muitas vezes, tem algumas características nobres, como imperatriz viúva e Gu Yun Nian. A morte de alguns personagens, como a princesa An Ning, Lin Lang e Luo Ming Xi, são cenas muito emocionantes. A finalização é boa e deixa algumas mensagens interessantes.
As atuações são boas, porém, merece destaque a atuação do ator Liu Yu Ning, que já tinha mostrado um bom desempenho em Hot Blooded Youth (2019) e The Long Ballad (2021), e neste drama, supera as expectativas para um personagem de segunda liderança. Os protagonistas tiveram cenas melhores com outros personagens do que entre si, faltou alguma coisa para o casal protagonista em termos de romance, mas ambos os atores tiveram boas cenas no decorrer do drama.
A direção conduziu muito bem o drama, não foi arrastado e nem teve correria na finalização. Há alguns erros de continuidade, principalmente no sequenciamento de cenas dia/noite, mas nada que comprometa o show. A fotografia é bonita e as cenas de ação bem coreografadas.
O figurino é bem elaborado e muito bonito.
A trilha sonora é agradabilíssima.

Leia Mais

A must rewatch drama!

The acting is top-notch mostly like they were born to play the characters. Actors deliver outstanding performances. Playing complex emotions while maintaining consistency of the character's primary trait is hard. But they do a brilliant job at that.
The plot is engaging as it becomes clear why every character is the way they are after some time. One of the few things that keeps you engaged to the drama is the complicated interaction between the characters. Each character has a side that they hide until the climax appears. The characters express powerful emotions in a mature manner. The drama has one of the best female characters that we can see in Chinese historical dramas. They are simply too good. They are willing to sacrifice their life for peace and justice of the people. Though the drama celebrates the heroine Anle, it also has short but sweet romance between the leads.
I have already rewatched the drama twice. Each time it seemed sweeter than before. The drama also has the sweetest special episodes. Don’t miss them under any circumstances.
A drama that makes you smile!?

Leia Mais

Not exactly “legendary” but not bad, either.

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a “liked”/ cheerful “meh”.

The deets*:

Noble family gets framed and betrayed, tons of folks die leaving only a daughter to avenge them. The only thing that saved the daughter was her engagement to the crown prince who, despite being an preteen, apparently had already met the love of his life and couldn’t bear to see her killed. Daughter gets banished to a temple, crown prince grows up and declares he won’t marry anyone but our female lead (the daughter of the framed/destroyed family). Jump forward many years and a brash, outspoken pirate shows up on the scene and declares her undying love for the crown prince. Crown prince tries desperately to be faithful to his lost love, but finds himself falling for the pirate instead. A woman claiming to be the long-lost daughter of the framed family shows up, but she is so incredibly different from what our male lead remembers that he mourns the fact that he must marry her (due to his promise) and not the pirate who reminds him so much of his childhood sweetheart. Hijinks ensue…

*I know it says not to do this, but how else is someone who doesn’t know if they want to watch this understand the rest of the review?—those descriptions on the main page aren’t always accurate.

What I liked:
At first, I was put off by the trailers. I’ll freely admit that I have some implicit bias against pushy female leads (for example, the female lead in “The Legends”) but I force myself to put it aside because I realize that just that: implicit bias. But in reality, the story is much more complex, and the female lead is far less shallow than she seems. There is some decent depth to the plot, the leads are all nice to look at (I think our SML is actually 6’2” if my metric-to-imperial conversion is correct!?), and there were some impactful scenes (like when the FL exposes the royal family’s treachery against her own family). The leads’ chemistry was believable, and their relationship did not set of any red flags of toxicity. It has a happy ending which, if I’m wasting all those hours of my life on a drama instead of what I should be doing (my dissertation), a happy ending alleviates my guilt somewhat. Lol.

What I did not like so much:
It kinda bogged down in the middle. I think the “truth” was revealed a bit too early and the show kind of lost steam afterwards. The CGI was wretched, especially during the sea battles. There were some pretty unbelievable parts like, for example, a female lead who has the unswerving loyalty of 40,000 troops yet never actually spends any time with them and the trope of falling off a cliff and surviving (seriously, if someone falls off a cliff in ANY Chinese or Korean drama its almost a guarantee of survival. Note: if you ever find yourself in a fictional universe and your life is threatened, go jump off a cliff. You’ll be fine). The whole enemy prince and princess ark turned about to be pointless because they didn’t exploit it like they could have and in the end the prince just sort of turned himself in (dude, if you’ve just been threatened with being heinously tortured to death, don’t just walk off calmly with the guards, fight to the death!—at least that would be a better end!). That could have been a great cruel romance, but they failed to take advantage of that plot line.

Should you watch this?
I started this at the same time I started season 1 of “Lost You Forever” and it kept me from gobbling down all of those episodes at once. It never pissed me off so badly that I had to stay away or drop it. I guess it depends on your level of tolerance—my standards are relatively low for period/costume dramas that are not placed in any historical reality.

Leia Mais

incredible cast and engaging storyline

A captivating Chinese drama that stands out for its incredible cast and engaging storyline. The actors' performances are truly awe-inspiring, breathing life into the characters and making them relatable. Their emotive portrayals add depth to the narrative, keeping the viewers thoroughly invested throughout.

Spanning 39 episodes, the drama maintains a fast-paced rhythm that keeps the audience hooked. However, it's worth mentioning that the final two episodes feel a bit rushed, leaving some loose ends untied. Despite this, the overall experience remains enthralling, leaving viewers eagerly awaiting the resolution of the intriguing plot twists.

One of the highlights of the series is its ability to create a deep emotional connection with the audience. It's a testament to the show's storytelling prowess that viewers find it difficult to tear themselves away until the very end. The well-crafted costumes and meticulously selected soundtrack also contribute to the immersive experience, transporting viewers to the historical setting and enhancing the overall ambiance of the drama.

This is a must-watch for anyone seeking a blend of remarkable performances, an engrossing plot, and an evocative portrayal of historical China. While the pacing falters slightly in the final episodes, the series excels in many aspects that make it a truly unforgettable watch.

Leia Mais

So much potential

If you are looking for a rom-com series you will like the story's beginning... A jolly/flirty female pirate who was trying to win the heart of a virtuous and selfless Crowned Prince. Anle has bad motives (revenge) but she truly falls in love with the prince. While solving cases/problems together... they both fall in love. But their mission and purpose in life are much more important than their feelings.... so the boring part will start... I think the whole story can fit in 20 episodes (or less).
They only think for other people/nations/fallen heroes/family, they set aside their love for each other.
The worst part... they became 'official' lovers only in the last episode... I mean their boyfriend-girlfriend relationship starts at the last 20mins of the last episode. I don't understand why the prince is trying to move away from Anle. His reasons are shallow...

Leia Mais

I’m not really sure what I expected from this drama. to begin with the drama was sort of fast moving. The plot was fast and straightforward: the Di family was framed and Di Ziyuan only wanted to seek justice for her family so she took an identity and used it to reach her goal. Honestly this drama could have been way shorter. We really didn’t need the last 10 episodes. After she exposes the fact she is Di Ziyuan, and her family gets justice then the drama could have just needed. But instead they kept going in and bringing more unnecessary plots and scenes such as linlang and anning dying along with Han ye going blind. These are important key factors to the main plot of the story. And what’s up with her hair turning white, that’s physically not possible

Leia Mais

really fun 26 episodes

okay, first of all i have to admit that i cheated a little.

i really liked this drama at about the 3rd episode in, so i looked for a few reviews and skimmed through them. one thing they had in common was the view that the drama sort of went off the rails after the conclusion of the revenge part. so when i came to the satisfying reveal in ep 26, i kind of paused the drama there and haven't returned to it since. therefore, this review applies only to the first 26 episodes.

with that disclaimer out of the way, let me say that i thoroughly enjoyed this one. of all of the cdramas i have watched this year, this is by far the best (btw, this isn't as much praise for this drama as it is a criticism of the poor quality of dramas this year).

having read the other reviews, i can say that one of the reasons i liked this more than a lot of other people is that i haven't watched any of gong jun's other dramas and i didn't have any impression of what his character should be like. his portrayal of prince han ye is interesting. he's obviously a goody two-shoes sort of character, but there is an underlying manipulativeness and stubborness to him, as well as his belief that the status quo is good when it comes to his family's rule (but not when it comes to certain other nobles). that small hypocrisy gives his character some depth and makes for an interesting conflict between him and anle.

and anle herself is everything i want in a female lead. up to episode 26, i haven't really seen her do anything stupid as the other reviews have commented. she does fall for han ye, but through it all she still uses him to accomplish her 'revenge', which isn't a revenge as much as it is clearing her family's name. she's able to play the part of the quirk, uncaring about etiquette pirate lord, and the thing that's good about her eccentric character is that the important characters can't call her out without revealing their own manipulations. i loved dilreba in the long ballad and anle is a character in the same vein; a female main character who is just allowed to be a character the way a male main character would be.

together, they have great chemistry. in fact, the three-way chemistry between han ye, anle and mingyi worked so well. the way the plot built up to the reveal of anle's identity, especially how the cases revealed han ye and anle's traits, was enjoyable and episodes 24 - 26 had every ounce of my attention. brilliant stuff, especially after the drama had slowed after episode 10.

i also don't quite understand the complaints about the drama being cheap. the fight scenes are awful, which is the case more often than not, but the sets are lovely. they have a lived-in feel which a lot of other dramas lack. i also like the costumes, which are intricate and flatter all of the characters' body types.

now comes the criticism.

the di cheng'en thing was drawn out far longer than is necessary. i also don't need so many scenes of anning moping around to get that she's guilty about something. nor was there a need for the northern princess character at all, since the connection between leng bei and the chancellor already establishes that he is a spy.

Leia Mais

Queue Card Says, "this scene is sad! Be very sad now."

I dropped this like a sack of potatoes.

I'll only continue watching this god-awful drama by utilizing their overwrought, lazy reminder about the Di family's misfortune for a drinking game. My lord. The repetition of which writers felt it necessary to remind us about their tragedy as if we're drooling cows incapable of comprehension. I'm honestly surprised they didn't break into a slow-cadenced song for toddlers, explaining the plot and "why we should be sad" to us.

I loved Gong Jun in Word of Honor. His facial expressions were animated and emoted hysteria, rage, flirtatiousness, and love with a sometimes exaggerated flair that added to his character's flamboyance in the most exhilarating way. He was a color of beige in this drama, and it's a real shame. Plus, how many times is he gonna be thrown off a cliff? This drama makes it, what, 5?

Dilraba's acting will never convince me. I don't know if she's ever experienced real-life trauma (or proper coaching) in a way that gives her gravitas for her heavier scenes; she just looks like she's Dilraba acting sad. Her grief never convinces me. The earlier episodes with her sassy flirtatiousness were more believable, and they were funny enough.

The dubbing didn't do Gong Jun or Dilraba any favors. In the BTS, Gong Jun's acting was more believable when hearing his real voice. I'd like to know if soon, he'll dub his roles. His real voice is not terrible at all. He's got a nice voice that needs work with his accent and enunciation. Undoubtedly that can be coached. Dilraba's dubber did a pretty okay job. I had a huge issue with how often the dubbing was mismatched from their lips. Mouths moving when no words were coming, or seeing the very obvious line changes. It was really distracting and I kept trying to watch the drama through different platforms to see if it was the drama itself, or the quality of my stream. Overall, I had many expectations that fell so very flat. The book will remain one of my all-time favorites, this drama was many shades of nope.

Leia Mais