I watched this before the Reunion seasons and Ultimate Note and tell you the truth it became my number one favourite out of them. (after Sand Sea I watched those, too so I can compare) I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this .
First I was judgemental about it, was bored on the first few episodes and was hard to keep up with all the characters but it all changed as soon as they entered the desert.
Out of all the characters my absolute favourites are Hei Ye (Mr. Glasses - damn he is so fine) and little Su Wan. He is so cute, I could cuddle him forever. I loved it when he prepared a lot of unnecessary stuff, like English book, saxphone and pink flamingo floaties ... and surprisingly they came in handy ?) He is a true friend trying his best to save his best friend. I absolutely loved those scenes when he was learning with Hei Ye, he became his disciple.
The other favourite character was the fishing rod guy, he is cool.
The most annoying character was dr. Wang. I couldn't stand her. When she was with the boys she was all helpful, she was strong and knew what to do, but when she was with Zhang Rishan she became a giggling, childish little girl. Her character was unnecessary.
Also the clans and their constant bickering over treasure was non-sense, couldn't wait for those scences with them to be over. I didn't skip any part just not to miss any important details, but it was hard to watch those parts with the clans, and the dr in them.
There were so many silly things in the series, some totally impossible situations that would never work in real life, and also many inconsistensies in the stroy line but regardless I love this series the most.
Out of all the Mr Black/Glasses characters, for me Ji Chen's one is the best, in second comes Baron Chen's one and the last place is in the Ultimate Note.
When it comes to Wu Xie's character, the Reunion series one (Zhuo Yilong) is the first and then comes the Ultimate Note one.
As for Xiao ge, he is the coolest is the Reunion series but also in Ultimate Note he is good. I felt sorry ofr him the most in the latter one, he didn't belong to anyone, he was all alone, ha was dragged along with Wu Xie and Pangzi, didn't say a word and was staring blankly ahead. He was in his own little world. His words hit me so heard when he said: "I have no past, no future. If I disappeared from this world, nooone would notice me." I wanted to hug so much all the time.
All in all this series (Tomb of the Sea) is a must-watch! Highly recommend.
Oh, almost forgot: the ending song is amazing by Xuaren Chen. I love it!