I have to be honest here. I dropped the series after the first episode 1 year ago because I couldn't fathom Xu Feng's acting! I felt like he was forced into the series, but after that, I never could get him off my mind. After finished reading Heaven Official's Blessing on Novelupdates, browsing on what else to read, I picked up Advance Bravely and started reading the novel. I fell hard for the Yuan Zong in the novel and I figured, okay why not- let's give the drama another chance.
After episode 1, I still cringed at the acting, but I couldn't stop watching all the way till the end!!!! Xu Feng was super stiff but it made me realize, that's exactly how Yuan Zong is as a character! He is a boring, stiff ex-army veteran who lives his life based on routines and never would lift a vein for something trivial. Unlike Xia Yao, who is more energetic and bubbly- a kid who was coddled growing up being the only form of colour who entered Yuan Zong's life.
What bromance? Dude, they are so clearly in love with each other in the drama! Even though China goes through great lengths to censor gay romance, I felt the affection and longing throughout all the episodes! If they ever do touch each other, I think I would burst a vein! They should change the title of this show to Blue Balls. So much tension, so much staring at each other and so much teasing!
In the novel, I couldn't stand Da Yu and Peng Ze. But they are portrayed in the drama so well! Da Yu is seriously not likeable at all in the novel, but through the drama, I actually felt his pain of one-sided love with Xia Yao and I am definitely going back to the novel to re-read his story. The Wang Zhi Shui here is exactly how I imagined him in the novel! Zhen Zhen is seriously as flawless as I would imagine. Yuan Ru? Seriously, the casting was perfect. They found a super annoying girl to play Yuan Ru and with that, *chef's kiss*- the series became perfect.
I was so amazed by the fighting scenes to be honest. You will find that the show is really extra on the fan service ( slow mos, a lot scenes with half naked men, and multiple scenes with Xu Feng wearing very less clothes.) The action scenes were believable, Simon Gong is a nice actor to look at and the other actors were good as well.
I even watched the behind the scenes footage and the chemistry between Simon and Jason was so lovely. You can tell that they fully understood the novel together because they were talking about the intimate chapters in the novel and tried their best to portray this in their facial expressions in the drama. The crew is always recording these two guys together behind the scenes as they have such great chemistry and brotherhood on set.
Overall, I won't forget this show. Although the novel is not the best I have read, the drama is worth checking out.