C-Drama Review: The Tomb of the Sea (沙海)

December 14, 2019December 14, 2019 by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

So, I just finished this disaster yet the answer to the whole Mystic Nine/ The Lost Tomb series, that I had to review it right now, no matter what. The two reviews of prior series are very popular on my website and I’m pretty sure my readers have been looking for a closure to the whole thing. I won’t delay anyone and just dive right into it.

For sure, this review is not for anyone who has not watched Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb. If you’re yet to watch those series, please refrain from reading this post. I am assuming here that people who want to start The Tomb of the Sea have already watched at least one of those two.

As you know from the previous series, the whole Daomu Biji series is about nine clans famously known as “The Mystic Nine”. Mystic Nine was an introduction to the nine clans and how the whole tomb raiding saga started. The Lost Tomb dealt with heir of one of the clans and how he came to know about the existence of this old thing. The Tomb of the Sea is about an outsider, who is a chosen entity to help the Nine Clans deal with a fake tenth clan that has been wrecking havoc in their lives.

*Initial expedition where both Li Cu and Wu Xie go together. But how do they get to charge all the devices they have?*

To be honest, I don’t have any good views on this drama. Visual effects and such have definitely been improved. There were not many to begin with, unlike the Mystic Nine where there were all kinds of bugs and creatures. There were some here too, but nothing ‘mysterious’ about them.

The plot is a hodge podge of 5 different things happening at the same time. I just can’t imagine how the author wrote the whole story. It follows Wu Xie from The Lost Tomb who is now somewhere in his late 30s early 40s? He has been chasing after a few people who claim to be the tenth clan. Not only the tenth clan has been creating feuds among the nine clans, they also have some beef with the Zhang clan of Mystic Nine.

Wu Xie recruits a high school student called Li Cu who is similar to younger him but otherwise, has nothing to do with the Mystic Nine or even their business. Why he was chosen, we have no idea. He sends Li Cu to the desert to uncover the secrets of an ancient city called GuTongJing.

Side by side, Li Cu’s friends back home keep getting weird ancient stuff from the caves and the delivery people claim it to be coming from Li Cu. His two best friends, Wang Hao and Su Wan also get embroiled into the whole thing.

On the other hand, we are introduced to still alive Zhang Rishan, Zhang Qishan’s (Fo Ye’s) lieutenant (played by Zhang Ming En in both Mystic Nine and this series) who is now heading the nine clans. He is helping Wu Xie take care of the tenth clan while trying to maintain order in the organization. But since he is not directly related to the Zhang clan, people don’t really like to listen to him. What’s more puzzling is that Zhang Rishan has developed some real good powers and he has got the Zhang clan’s tattoo too. Truly bewildering.

Now, to the already initiated, all this is still understandable. But, as usual, the plot is full of holes. Actually, I would go as far to say that the plot is a big hole in itself. After watching it, I’m just left with so many questions, I don’t think I am getting any sleep tonight. Also, the disconnect between The Lost Tomb and this series is so infuriating.

*Their interactions are just such sugar moments*

The only thing this series is good for is answering some questions left by the other two series and the movie. I don’t think I have reviewed the Lost Tomb movie yet. But anyway, this series brings them all together. Which is why, I say, you won’t be able to make any sense out of it unless you watch first two series and the movie too. There are enough references of past characters that you just can’t watch it as a stand alone series. And just for that, I thank the writers to take it up till the end.

What’s more annoying is that the series has majorly been shot in dark. Half the times, you don’t know what is happening. Half of the series is lost in translation because no one has officially taken it up for subbing as far as I know. The official channel had left it open for fans to translate and someone did try. I personally think they are more of a machine translation and it’s hard to be making any head or tail of it, especially on the YT channel. The place where I actually watched had decent subs in later episodes. I will post the official link in subsequent sections.

*Okay, I am being really biased here with posting the pics of Zhang Ming En and Yang Rong lol*

The best thing to happen in this series is Zhang Rishan getting a love interest. And it’s so similar to how forward Zanilia Zhao’s character was towards Fo Ye in Mystic Nine. OMG, I just love the couple. In the name of romance, it’s the only one there. And perhaps the only segment I really looked forward to.

In summary, the only pro to the series is getting to the bottom of unanswered questions from previous series. And of course, watching three cuties namely, Zhang Ming En, Li Cu and Yang Rong. And also, perhaps reliving the memories of Mystic Nine because I still find it the best among all four.

Conclusion: The only reason I would recommend it to anyone is for the closure it finally provides to the fans of Daomu Biji. We, the people who cannot read Chinese, would never really know how true it is to the novels. But at least it’s something.

Final Feelings: ಠ╭╮ಠ

Watch here: Official YouTube Channel
You can also watch it at dramacool.movie (search in the search box).

Personal Section: It’s another year end time eh. I missed a few weeks again but I genuinely have been so busy with work, that I don’t even get enough rest these days unfortunately. Even on Thanksgiving, I did not really get to sleep. Finally took two days off to make an important trip but ended up sleeping the whole time and missing the trip lol.

Anyway, I feel a bit recharged finally but unfortunately I still can’t promise writing regularly. And, so, I won’t promote my ko-fi page because I am not producing any special content for people who are buying me coffees, not as of yet at least. But I will definitely update everything once the project the I work on weekends for ends and my routine returns to normal.

In other news, I finally got to taste the consulting overnight travel. Got to travel to upstate New York for a project. It was a great experience, a small quaint town, slow life and tons of snow. Been a while since I have loved snow so much. I will stop here and hopefully meet you guys next week.

Today’s song: I finally got to listen to Double Knot from SKZ and really liked it. Too bad, I had already posted it in one of the previous posts. Gotta find a new one then. Let’s see. I like this one, a bubbly cheerful song:

C-Drama Review: The Golden Eyes (黄金瞳)

March 9, 2019April 24, 2019 by eastasianlover ♥ 7 Comments

Edit: Updated the review to rant about it. The earlier review was till ep 12 and I really liked the concept till then, although there were flaws. 50 eps later, I am so disappointed that I can’t even bring myself to watch the finale. But I have read enough spoilers to know what happens and hence can complete this review. Also, note that I have changed it from reco to review unfortunately.

Updated Review

Okay people, results are in and the verdict is that this drama sucks. From plot being all over the place to less to no character development, I am just honestly so sad for this drama. It had great potential. At this point of time, I can’t even say if it had an excess of episodes and they stretched the story quite a bit or if there were too few episodes that they could’ve done better if they gave time to each character. I am just speechless at the bad quality of plot.

For plot, please read the original review below.

As I have said in some later post, I hate it when the scriptwriters think of the audience as fools. In this story, anything and everything happens. One moment the MC is acting so foolish that the truth is laying before him but he refuses to believe it, the other moment, he becomes so intelligent that most villainous person cannot escape his schemes.

The villains in this story are so torn between their feelings for MC (our typical kindest guy you’ll ever see) and their greed that they cannot really choose a side till the end. One can argue that it’s the actual human nature but in the end you have to choose a side. And till the end, you just cannot make out what’s gonna happen with whom.

My Google search terms tell me that there is a novel for this series and I would really like to read it to know if the drama did justice to the novel or not. If they did, then I am sorry to say, but please choose better plots to convert to drama.

Anyway, as I said, I am quite disappointed by the fact that Zhang Yixing would choose such a lacking script. If he did it just because the MC follows the same life philosophy as him, then I am sorry, gonna stay away from his other dramas from now. I personally think the producers of this drama were trying to ride the wave of popularity of media related to tomb raiding. And they probably succeeded because a lot of reviews I read on Viki really appreciate the drama.

Heck it doesn’t even look like tomb raiding because you cannot find a single cobweb in the tombs shown in this drama. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE? Those tombs are supposed to be laying there for thousands of years. If you can show blood sucking creatures there, how come the paths to the tombs are without any spiders even? Common sense?

I really appreciate adaptations of Daomu Biji series (The Mystic Nine, The Lost Tomb and The Tomb at the Sea) for this. They at least took care of such details, even if their graphics were lacking. The Tomb at the Sea is doing great in that aspect as well. Although that is another series I need to rant about.

But seriously, my rating fell from 7/10 to -100/10. Please do not watch if you cannot bear plot holes. Oh wait, this plot in itself is a hole, a black hole of frustration.

Actually, you know what, the whole premise itself is something that I don’t understand. The rich heiress sent thieves in a pawnshop to steal a worthless piece of jade. This is the first episode. The jade breaks and injures our MC giving him the golden eyes. If the girl was so rich, she could’ve just bought it. Why send thieves. OMG, what a realization!!

So, in the end, only good thing about the series remains the identity of actual villain. You just won’t ever imagine that they were the people behind whole drama in MC’s life. Anyway, I’ll directly skip to last episode maybe and watch it at 4x speed just for myself, that I actually finished the series lol. Read for the plot and everything else below. I’ve edited my conclusion and final feelings section as well. And I would really like to apologize to people who read my earlier review and started the series already.

Original Review

I was trying to refrain from posting the review before the drama was fully released. B-but I just could not stop myself. As I said in my last post, my two tomb raiding posts are popular as ever. And I have been on lookout for similar kind of dramas and novels. And I am sure my readers are dying to find similar stuff as well.

Unfortunately, there is so much dearth of entertainment media like this. So, although this drama is still being subbed, putting my trust in Zhang Yixing’s fans, I decided to review this drama. Let’s begin.

I watched the trailer for the golden eyes in another C-drama I was watching last year. Well, it’s the combination of Zhang Yixing and oriental mystery, so why not.

Except that I completely forgot about it till now and stumbled across it again 4 days back. As expected, I finished 7 eps released in 2 days and have been following the releases since then. And of course, thoroughly enjoyed the marathon. However, the drama comes with its usual annoyances.

The drama follows Zhuang Rui (Zhang Yixing), a simple and naive worker at a pawnshop, who has a degree in history and archaeology from Peking University. One day, some people broke into his employer’s shop and tried to steal an antique piece in shape of the eye made out of jade stone. By accident, the piece shatters and injures Zhuang Rui’s eyes, only to gift him with the golden eyes, eyes that can see through everything.

He ends up using his newly found power to do antique and jade business, archaeologically exploring tombs and learning about stuff along the way and meeting all sorts of people; people, who seem friends but might not really be and vice versa as well.

He also gets to know about his long lost family it seems. Apparently, there should exist a dragon clan where two people also possess the same pair of eyes, but they haven’t been introduced till 11th episode, so I cannot say. (Edit: no dragon clan till 50th episode, sorry.)

Now, the plus points. I really enjoy Zhang Yixing’s acting (not a new thing, I guess my readers must have become accustomed to it by now). The story has been okay so far, slow to develop but the mystery is still there and the characters are developing slowly but at a good pace.

Graphics have been great despite it being an iQiyi drama. And music is absolutely fantastic, background music goes so well with the situations and some of the trot songs used are such honey to the ears.

And I also like the subtle comedy the drama puts in between which doesn’t look too forced given how serious some situations can become when the main villain and the protagonist interact. Oh yeah, this drama also has a lot of face slapping. Since our Zhuang Rui sees it all, he doesn’t give any face to the cheaters in the business.

But, as I said, the drama is not devoid of its flaws as C-dramas usually all have. First is some of the poorly written characters, especially females. There is this policewoman who is always on Zhuang Rui’s case for some reason. I see this character becoming the main love interest of Zhuang Rui in future.

But for now, the character is absolutely trash. The lady, despite being a policewoman has absolutely no skills of a detective. It seems to be a character there just for the sake of it. I hope they give her some more substance otherwise she’ll just remain as an annoying b**** despite having such a great potential.

The other female character, Bing Bing, she’s supposed to be heir to some very rich person, but she doesn’t exude that charm or elegance of a rich heiress at all. All she does is give orders to this one underling and just overall, trying to avoid the villain guy who’s set to make her his girlfriend. Like please give her something else to do, eh?

Same with all the professor characters. They’re not annoying but might use some more development. Since I am writing the review based on 12 episodes out of 56, I do hope my wish comes true. And that they properly finish the story this time rather than hanging us audience with the hopes of a second season that would never happen. I will make sure to update this review once the drama finishes.

Conclusion: Changing from original highly recommended to don’t watch it for your sanity. It might satiate people still struggling with withdrawal symptoms from The Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb (I do hope they sub the sequel in Lao Jiu Men series, The Tomb of The Sea soon). But this drama pales in comparison to other two (and I really did not like The Lost Tomb that much either, trust me).

You would only like it if you can ignore the plot and just wanna look at Zhang Yixing’s acting in the main role, supposedly action. I personally felt like it was a waste of time to invest myself in this drama. Do comment how you would rate it.

Final feelings: (◣_◢)

Watch here: The Golden Eyes on Viki

Personal Front: I am running late with the schedule again! Actually, I went for getting my driving learner’s permit today, and it being a weekend, there was just too much crowd at the center. And I didn’t even get it because I still don’t have my new authorization card. Ugh, life is tough in another country. And I really wanted my learner’s permit today so I could practice driving and get my license by the end of the month TT_TT

Anyway, since I and my friend went too early in the morning, I came back and slept for like 4 hours. I could have prepared my post in advance, but last few days have been really hectic somehow. It’s the tax season in US and so it’s been more busy. Gathering all the documents, ensuring everything is in correct order and then sending them away is not easy after all. I hope all my US readers get huge tax refunds.

I don’t think I have anything really exciting to tell other than I almost got my learner’s driving license but just at the last stage, I could not. See you guys next week then!

Today’s song: I got one from the drama and really really love it:

C-Variety Reco: Idol Producer (偶像练习生)

February 9, 2019 by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

To the uninitiated, as the name suggests, it is a show where 101 trainees from different idol companies in China compete to grab a spot in a 9 members group. They get training from the trainers of the show and through weekly missions, they show their talents to the viewers. And the viewers then vote for their favorite trainees.

Now that we have got that out of way, I am pretty sure fans of Korean Produce 101 series would bash me for recommending a blatant copy of the concept, but hear me out. There are two types of copies according to yours truly, one which fails to even be at par with the original and another that surpasses the original.

I claim that Idol producer belongs to the latter category. There are tons of idol/ singer/ rapper producing shows in the world, why this one you ask? First, as you guys might already know that I am a big fan of Zhang Yixing’s philosophy and attitude towards life, which is also portrayed in his book Standing Firm at 24.

This show draws on that philosophy and starts with very inspiring quotes and flashbacks on idol lives. I would rather say it’s replete with those kind of moments, where you just cannot help but be so encouraged that you wanna start working hard right at that moment. If you’re looking for some inspiration, please do watch it.

Second, the editing. Mnet of South Korea has been criticized heavily for their evil editing, where they portray a few trainees as a character who either are unhelpful or rude or something. Then those trainees get bashed a lot for no reason and then either they’re eliminated or rank very low even with great talents (Yoo Yeon Jung from I.O.I. anyone?)

The editing here is funny. Like I am laughing just thinking about the show lol. It’s full of comedy. I haven’t seen any trainee in bad light, even once. Plus their background music and the funny subtitles add icing on the cake. All these elements come together to become such a comic spectacular (Did I praise it too much?)

Sure, producers and directors are biased towards some popular trainees and they get even more screen time, but where does that not happen? ~~I even suspect that they already have some people in their minds to debut and hence show them more on purpose~~.

Anyway, third is handsome bois *drools*. I am sorry, but apart from the 101 trainees in the show, the mentor themselves are so handsome and so….. handsome (Li Ronghao (❤ω❤) ). Not to forget Zhang Yixing. First season features Got7’s Jackson and pretty Kyulkyung and Cheng Xiao as mentors. Second season has got Xu Minghao from Seventeen and prettiest ever Jolin Tsai. Anyway, let’s not get into personal reasons here, shall we? ヽ(￣～￣　)ノ

I definitely dig the combo of inspiring and comedy when it comes to variety shows, or any other drama for that matter. It has helped me go through some of the toughest times in my life. And I would gladly come back to this particular show if, God forbids, I go through such times again.

Conclusion: So, my dear readers, if you’re lacking some encouragement in your life or are depressed about small stuff, do give this show a try. I guarantee that by the end of the show, something inside you would have changed. The best part is that it is entirely available on YouTube.

Final feelings about the show: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

More info: This show has a second season going on right now called Youth Has You(?) ( 青春有你). Three episodes out currently, it is as good as season 1.

Watch here: They had the whole thing english subbed on youtube and I cannot find it. But the same people have those uploaded onto FB. Here: Watch Idol Producer Season 1.
On their Youtube channel, there is a lot of content, so I am linking it here as well, just in case anyone is interested: Idol Producer Subs Channel on YouTube.
And here is season 2: Qing Chun You Ni Subs 2.

Personal Talk: Did you guys notice the change in the format of my posts? There aren’t enough yet to notice any pattern or anything but I am hoping to set a schedule, so that people who are not interested in one particular type can easily enjoy others, albeit it will work on the condition that I write regularly. I am hoping to keep the schedule as follows:
Saturday 1: Webnovels
Saturday 2: Dramas
Saturday 3: Webtoons/ Manga
Saturday 4: Anime
Saturday 5 (If any): Personal update/ Travel posts/ QnA if I receive any (If you guys have any questions to ask me, please do comment or send me at eastasianlover@gmail.com).

Today’s song: It’s hard to be searching for a song when I am not listening to any right now! Since we’re talking about idol producer, let’s go with a song I liked from here (It is actually Jolin Tsai’s classic and I love the original better. Original after this rendition):

C-Drama review: The Lost Tomb (盗墓笔记)

August 9, 2017August 9, 2017 by eastasianlover ♥ 9 Comments

I am finally back to write about the sequel of the drama I wrote about few days ago (I was supposed to publish that two weeks back but my trip back to home took up all my time. More about that later). Also, I did ask my Chinese friend and there are novels for both The Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb. Called as Dàomù Bǐjì in Pinyin, this series is about the journey of a guy who comes from the family of tomb raiders (basically part of mystic nine, though he doesn’t know this in the beginning) called Wu Xie. In the novels, he is an antique shop owner, in the series he is an international student who has just returned to China to hand over an antique from Germany to his country. He feels strongly about foreign countries possessing Chinese artifacts.

The Lost Tomb Li Yifeng OMG — Li Yifeng as Wu Xie (so handsome *drools*)

Plot: So, in the drama, Wu Xie (played by Li Yi Feng) comes back from Germany and encounters some bad guys who are after this relic. It turns out that this relic has a part of a map to some tombs which might contain huge treasures. He is helped out by a fat guy in shaking the enemy off initially. He later finds out the other half of map from a girl who claims to be one of the mystic nine families and it turns out to be a location of a famous tomb.

Wu Xie’s uncle gathers some men and they all set off to find treasures in the tomb. The men include a mysterious person called Zhang Qi Lin (played by Yang Yang) who doesn’t speak much and has some incredulous techniques with him. He always comes to the rescue of Wu Xie later when the adventure actually starts. He is successor of Zhang Qi Shan in the mystic nine.

The Lost Tomb Yang Yang OMG — Yang Yang as Zhang Qilin (more handsome *double drools*)

Anyway, they go into the tomb, only to face countless questions and weird enemies including man eating bugs and zombies and of course, the previous group, led by a foreigner as usual. They lose some people, get to know more about the mystic nine and of course…….. no spoilers 😐

Second part of the plot deals with Wu Xie discovering the real identity of the girl who gave him the other half of the map. He also gets a typical turtle from the tomb about which he wants to find out the truth. He has to get in touch with Huo grandma who is the only one from her generation remaining from the old mystic nine. She is a wicked lady who still exerts power in the antiques and tomb raiding area and refuses to entertain his party. Wu Xie finds himself in the clenches of his foreign enemy again and the end. THE END!!

That….. tha…..AAAAAAAAAAAA

Characters: Not much here. We get to know about Wu Xie a lot. He’s the main character after all. There is no other development at all. Last part of the plot ends so abruptly that I still cannot process what happened. Li Yifeng has portrayed a naive, kind character very well but I am not sure about diversity in the roles he takes. The other drama I watched, The legend of Chusen Season 1 also has a similar character portrayed by him.

The Lost Tomb The Annoying girl — Li Yifeng, some teammates and the annoying betrayer

The best acting though is by Yang Yang. That mysterious character of Zhang Qilin he portrays, draws you so much that my most of the frustration as a viewer is that I really wanted to know his background. Although, after watching Mystic Nine, one does come to know who he might be, but I still want to know. There is this chemistry between Li Yifeng and Yang Yang. People have speculated that there is definitely something between them and some people claim that there are author’s notes in the novels which do confirm this. However, bromance or not, their chemistry is amazing. I am no fujoshi but the subtle hints in the drama, I somehow like those.

The Lost Tomb Bromance — THE BROMANCE!!!!!!!!!!

Other actors are veteran, their portrayal of characters is as usual. However, there is not much in the background of those people. 12 episodes are not enough. There is as usual that annoying fatty uncle (that’s how he’s called in the series) who is greedy for the treasures and ends up creating trouble for everyone. Then, I am not sure if this foreigner villain is descendant of the one in mystic nine but the villain in the movie of this series which I’ll review sometime later has same surname as the one in the latter series.

The Lost Tomb Third Uncle — The Resourceful Third Uncle

Wu Xie’s uncle’s character seem so very pitiful. He wants to take out the treasures and help Wu Xie at the same time but he is unable to do both to the full extent. I still won’t comment about the Huo family as the next season should be the one to reveal their secrets. I am looking forward to next season though they are not going to cast Yang Yang as Qilin (*cries in a corner*).

The Lost Tomb The Wicked Huo Family — The Wicked Huo Family and Fatty

Good stuff: Only Yang Yang and Li Yifeng

Bad Stuff: I have too much to complain about in this series. Their music is not good, especially the bg. They build up so much tension with bg music that the viewer is compelled to think that an important moment, a discovery, a monster, something is gonna happen only to find it a normal moment in the drama. I don’t remember the openings and endings at all as opposed to the mystic nine whose OSTs I still listen to, even after a month.

Then their graphics are not upto par at all. It’s like they hired all the newbies to do post production editing. The graphics seem like those in 2000s, probably 2000s had better graphics in their dramas which confuses me a lot. They do a better job for a variety show like Happy Camp, how could they do this to a large scale drama production like this.

Plot of course. Who would like that abrupt ending, there is no talks of season 2 although the producers have said that they would adapt 8 novels in 8 seasons. Plot wise, I am not even sure if I should criticize the drama or wait for next season as I am waiting for many other. What is wrong with Chinese Drama producers??? Ugh

And there are confusing movies which adapt the arcs but change the actors, and it’s so hard to let go the first set of actors to appreciate the second set in movies. I would rather go for animations than live actions, just because of this reason.

The Lost Tomb Start of adventure — This was the start of their adventure

Then there is no clear female protagonist as of now. There are two potential people who come into mind. One is the girl Ah Ning who is the villain in this season but gets softer towards Wu Xie because he saves her life. Second is the Huo’s granddaughter. The intentions of both of these girls are unknown (AND I AM STILL WAITING FOR NEXT SEASON, DAMN IT!!). But then why can’t a female person go into tombs to search for the treasures? Same was in the Mystic Nine. (However that changed in the Candle in the Tomb).

Other things: All in all, I would rate this drama as 4/10. It has great potential if only they tie the loose ends, make subsequent seasons and hopefully cast the same people. Otherwise, it remains a mystery to everyone. I WANNA LEARN MANDARIN JUST TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THESE NOVELS!!

I will not recommend this drama until and unless:

You are going through withdrawal symptoms of Mystic Nine and want to see more tomb raiding.
There is some news about the second season of The Lost Tomb.
You have already read the novels and want to compare them with the drama just for your satisfaction sake.
You want to see Yang Yang’s and Li Yifeng’s chemistry (which happens in first part of the drama only coz Qilin disappears after their quest in the tomb).

You have been warned. But if you still want, you can watch the drama here: The Lost Tomb

Just for the sake, here is a trailer:

Today’s Song: The usual

Side Story: I wanted to do so much after coming back but I am still trapped into the cycle of long hospital visits and the medications. I don’t feel like doing anything anymore ;-;

And as I said before, I am hooked to the tomb raiding series and I finished another drama called Candle in the Tomb. I have all the praises for this one. And then I started another drama called My Mr. Mermaid while in between I finished 2-3 more dramas like When a Snail Falls in Love, Secret Forest etc. etc. I hope I’ll get to review all of these soon. Let me know if you guys want any one of those done first.

C-Drama Review: The Mystic Nine (老九门)

July 12, 2017 by eastasianlover ♥ 5 Comments

And I bring another Chinese mystery drama based on another acclaimed novel. And supposedly the drama again did not live up to the expectations of novel readers (At this point of time, I am not sure if the novel for this drama exists or not. But its sequel does have one, for sure! It might be that there are references of this story in the actual novel of the sequel but still, I need to do more research).

This time it’s just a review because of too many loopholes in the plot and lack of good graphics. But the sequel, which I’ll review next week, suffers from the latter problem so much I would rather appreciate the graphics of Mystic Nine, lol. So, review is mainly because of the plot. Also, I am suffering from the drama withdrawal symptoms even after all the rant I am gonna write. Gimme novel, or next season or whatever, just give me something ;-;

Plot: If I am going to write the plot out, it will take too much of space, because it is mystic ‘nine’ after all. So, I’ll try to be as precise and understandable as possible. The mystic nine is set in early 1900s. Changsha is ruled by 9 families called old 9 gates. The head of these nine gates Zhang Qi Shan, also called Fo Ye (The Head of the First family, played by William Chan) is also the defense chief of the city.

Mystic 9 4 William Chan — The supercool mysterious guy, Fo Ye, perfectly portrayed by William Chan

One day, a mysterious train stops at the station of the city with dead bodies of Japanese people and coffins inside the train. He researches and finds out that this is related to the peculiar mines just outside the city. He wants to enlist the help of Er Ye (The head of the Second family, played by Zhang Yixing), because his family has a history of tomb raiding and the knowledge of those unknown secrets runs deep in their family. But Er Ye has given up that family business in order to receive good blessing for his ill wife Ya Tou. Hence, he works as Chinese Opera singer these days. They come across a magical medicine being auctioned at some other place which might save Ya Tou. So, Fo Ye helps Er Ye to get that medicine, staking his family fortune so that he could convince Er Ye to help him with regards to those mines. Er Ye indeed helps him uncover the truth, but the truth is far more complex than it seems.

Mystic 9 5 Zhang Yixing Er Ye Ya Tou — The sad and dragged part of the series

The mines are not only ancient tombs of some of the greatest poets of China but they contain something which Japanese people want and hence, they have been doing some experiments in and around the caves. Fo Ye, with the help of Er Ye, and other gates, tries to find out the truth behind the mines and the Japanese conspiracy.

Now, the plot is what actually drew me in. I have never seen anything related to tomb raiding. It was scary but exhilarating to watch. I actually watched the sequel to this drama called The Lost Tomb first. Although I did not like that one much owing to non-existent plot just like this one and horrible graphics, just the tomb raiding part kept me going on with these two. Not to mention the handsome guys to fangirl on ❤

However, the plot has so many problems with it, I cannot even count. I’ll explain those later in the post.

Characters: Characters are amazing but not so amazing. Fo Ye is the ultimate person and sees the most character development. From the most rigid personality who keeps the country above anything to the warmest of husband after he falls in love with Yin Xinyue (played by Zhao Liying), William has done quite a good job. My favorite character however is Lieutenant Zhang, right hand man of Fo Ye. His one smile melts the heart of girls in an instant. Oops, fangirling mode on again. His character is loyal and intelligent.

Mystic 9 9 Zhang Ming En — THE Lieutenant Zhang ❤

Er Ye is proficient in martial arts but is too blinded by his love for his wife. So much that major part of the 48 episodes goes into his reminiscing about her after her death and his hallucinations about her. And that gets boring, like really boring. Anyway, next character is Ba Ye, the head of eighth family in nine gates. He is a great fortune teller and becomes a kid in behaviour when he is near Fo Ye. Some times, you as an audience feel like sewing his mouth shut so that he could not whine. However, he is as helpful in the whole series as Er Ye. He is not shown with any family attachments in the series.

Now since, this is about nine families and is set into war period, it’s natural to have tons of important characters, nine being the heads of the nine families. I am pretty sure, given the popularity of the novels, too many cooks did not spoil the broth here after all. But drama does not do justice to all the characters. While the title is nine gates, the other gates gain importance only in last few episodes. Except that the evil disciple of Er Ye forcefully takes up the seat of Si Ye (The Fourth) and the seventh gate, the shrewd Huo girl, joins hands with Japanese earlier in the series, only to find her family reputation in jeopardy because of her actions.

Speaking of females, the two most important females of the series are Ya Tou and Xin Yue. Ya Tou is wife of Er Ye and is sick with an unknown illness for the major part of the series. Not much to her character. Xin Yue is daughter of the hotel where the auction for that magical medicine takes place and is really irritating in the beginning. As the series goes on, she becomes one of the most likable and clever character. There are more pretty female characters essential to the plot.

Mystic 9 7 Chem — Aiyo, the chemistry between them ❤

Mystic 9 11 — Though, I think she’s the prettiest in the drama

When there is so much evil in the series, there are definitely evil characters. There is this whole Japanese part to the series. And these characters have their own share of screen time, unnecessarily so. I skipped most of the part of their discussions, which saved me almost half of the time I spent on the series watching. And I advise the same to everyone who is watching or planning to do so, especially in the second half of the series. Not gonna spend time on explaining those.

Bad things: My biggest complaint is with the plot. The problem is, the story is all over the place. As with ‘Decoded‘ some side plot is started, and it gets lost somewhere, starting another story, just to abandon it again. Viewers are left with so many whys and hows at the end, it’s unbearable. The mystery of mines isn’t solved till the end, for obvious reasons since it sets the premises of whole story. But in the last episodes they just mention it once, and lo, finished. Similarly, there are supposed to be thousands of traps inside the mines, but in the end, anyone could enter them just like that like where did the need of Er Ye’s family go now? And this is just starting of the list.

Also, some of the graphics are like those kids shows with fairies and magic of the 90s. Heck, even their graphics were better than some of the tomb stuff shown in here. And this drama was made in 2016. I expected more, but given the intricate details of mines and caves, I wouldn’t complain much here. Those rants I’ll save for next week.

Good things: I should start writing good things first. Anyway, I was about to give up on the series halfway through after reading all those awful comments from hurt viewers. But I persisted. So, I guess it’s best if someone reaches the good things after my whining about the flaws. It would mean the series is for you. I loved the tomb raiding part. I kept watching the series because I knew more adventures were coming. They had to enter that mine again and again anyway.

Mystic 9 6 William Chan — The suffocating mines enough to make you claustrophobic

I also liked the usual politics and games. However, there wasn’t much evil in the evil characters to be honest. Not much psychological warfare either. Ugh. Another good thing for all the females is number of good looking males in the series, and I am not even talking about Zhang Yixing.

This was the first series I watched starring William Chan and he suited the character well. And the rare occasions when he smiled *melting away*. Same with Lieutenant Zhang. To think that guy is just 22 years old in real life! Zhang Yixing needs to be just Zhang Yixing, he’s perfect like that. The beauty when he transforms into the opera singer, I was mesmerized. Ba Ye is not bad looking either but well, his character is a bit maddening.

Mystic 9 14 Zhang Ming Er — That smile ❤

Music! Music is incredible as well. I am still listening to the opening and ending themes, and plan to do so until some new song grows on me. Background music is not as dramatic to make an impact but goes well with the situations. And costumes! I love this thing about period dramas, you get to see those historical elegant dresses, not only for women but men as well. Also, the mansions! The amazing stuff!!

And of course, action. Being from Wuxia genre, it has plenty of martial arts scenes, amazing stuff at that. Probably people who are familiar with wuxia genre, might find it bland, but this being my one of the first series in the genre, I loved it. It was not over the top, so felt a bit real at least.

Other things: I am still so furious that I did not get to see this through the end, like every fan who is patiently waiting for a season 2. But the demand is the same characters which is next to impossible. The ending was ok, people who have read the novels know better. Which makes me want to read them as well. Again, as a standalone drama, its ending was an open ended one.

Mystic 9 10 — I love it but I hate it! These bloody villains again >.>

You can watch the drama with English subtitles here: The Mystic Nine Eng Sub on Facebook

Today’s song(s): I am gonna post my newest obsession(s) here:

Happy tomb raiding everyone!

C-Drama Reco: Decoded (解密)

July 2, 2017July 11, 2017 by eastasianlover ♥ 9 Comments

I have been quite into mystery genre these days. Lack of good series in anime world in this genre has turned me towards dramas and I have had a mixed experience so far. From absolutely brilliant to what the fuck just happened, I have seen a whole lot of series. One of them I came across while searching about the main lead Chen Cheney (Chen Xue Dong) was ‘Decoded’. I have become a fan of his acting after watching some episodes of another drama called Rush to The Dead Summer (Dropped it coz I read some spoilers). However, do take my advice, all the synopsis about the series I read on net were wrong. Like really flawed.

Plot: The story is set in first half of 1900s I think. Rong JinZhen is supposedly an autistic person who is genius at Maths. He was adopted by the principal of the university he is studying at. They have blood relation with each other, but still JinZhen’s past is majorly unknown. He is recruited by a division working for Chinese government on breaking codes used by enemies to communicate with each other. This division has been dealing with a pretty nasty code called purple code which has not only not been broken yet, it has driven the principal person working on the code earlier, mad. Rong JinZhen is their only hope now.

He faces difficulties initially because he’s unable to bear the harsh life of military, not to mention people who doubt his abilities. However, he is able to overcome everything thanks to his friends and supportive seniors. In the end he finds that this code he is trying to break is related to his former teacher John Lee. He discovers more and more about himself and his teacher through his assignment as the decoder.

Inconsistencies: Now, about inconsistencies in the plots all over the main drama websites. Some say he joined a spy organization. No, he joined a division with Chinese military. They do some spy stuff but they are more than a spy division. Then some say he discovers more about his family, especially mother while decoding the code. No, there is definitely a mention about his family in some initial episodes but he doesn’t discover huge secrets about his past like mentioned. I don’t know about the novel, but certainly not in the drama.

Also, it’s never explicitly mentioned if Rong ever had autism. He does appear to be lacking in daily functions and social interactions, but I am not sure if that could be called autism at all. Not blaming the acting, it was pretty good. It might be that less was understood about autism in that period and hence he is just taken for a stupid person. Again, not sure about novel.

Decoded 2 — One of the best characters of the series

Decoded 5 — Another one of my favorite characters

Bad stuff: Now inconsistencies about the drama plot itself. The ending, I felt, was too rushed. The story builds up so much and ends in the last episode just like that. I was disappointed by the rushed ending but not by the ending itself. Hence, it’s a recommendation and just not a review.

Also, as I said above, they never mention autism explicitly. As far as I know about autism, the people get triggered by any ‘change’ around them and hence act harshly towards people around them (please do correct me if I am wrong anywhere. My knowledge about autism comes from articles read online and the manga called Hikari no Tomo ni). But Rong accepts it all, without much fuss.

Also *spoiler starts* it seems like that behavior corrects itself quite a bit in the second phase of the series. Again, not sure how representative that is of autism in real life. I tried reading some more articles but stats are really not in favor of autism correcting itself with age it seems *spoiler ends*.

Decoded 6 — That annoying person who’s still one of the most important in the female cast 😐

Another thing I dislike about the series is, they don’t really show the logical thinking of Rong while solving the code. (Any numb3rs fan here?) Give something to the nerd in me!! I wanted to see some Maths ;-; And, some characters were chucked out just like that after building up a fancy plot around them to make them seem like an important character. I don’t really know what to do with that. They could have omitted some of the additional details to have less episodes than 41 probably. I really wanted to skip the part just before Rong’s second phase of life started. Now I think about it, the second part of the drama really sucked and dragged too long. I just wanted to skip to the end, but I still did not give up, must have watched the series at 4x speed, I think.

Good stuff: Despite all these loopholes, the drama has made quite an impression on my mind. Apart from the plot, the character delivery by each and every person is powerful. I especially loved the seniors in the division, their conflicts and confidence with regards to Rong are portrayed beautifully. Character development is good as well. Sound track goes amazingly well with the series. It is full of laughter and tears as usual.

My favorite part is when Rong gets to meet the previous principal investigator of purple code who is now unable to solve anything and spends his days playing chess. The bonds formed at the division are so relatable that it reminds you of school or may be college days, not as harsh of course. But peers, doubts on the friendship, fights over one girl, that one especially helpful senior/teacher etc. etc, I totally reminisced about my school/ college days somehow.

If the plot is true to the novel, the author is no less than George R R Martin, many of your favorite characters will die. But well, it’s a war drama, cannot do without the deaths of good people. Every encounter cannot be all happy. Each side loses some things and some ones before good triumphs the evil. Sacrifices are essential, otherwise the work would lose reality and depth. Cannot do anything about it. The deaths in the series also remind me of Maes Hughes in FMAB (I still cry on the gifs of that episode). I am pretty sure, if you’ve started watching this series already and know about FMAB, you would definitely know whom I am hinting at.

So anyway, recommended, not highly, but still if you’re into mystery and thriller, you should give it a try. It is officially available on YouTube with English subs. Watch here (thank God they’re official, will not have to think about copyright issues ^^;):

Short Story 1: As some of you might know from my twitter whining, I have fractured my ankle (it’s been almost a month). I was going to start writing regularly as I have accumulated quite a few series to write about (and some English novels as well, I am reading a few books these days, thanks for the influence my library *blows kisses*). All my plans went down the drain. It’s so tiring to use crutches. I sincerely salute all the people who have to use crutches/ wheelchairs and similar aids, for any reason, from the bottom of my heart.

Harder is putting up a brave front in front of my family. They are sitting halfway across the world worrying about me which makes me sad. And my OCD is setting in because I am practically helpless and cannot clean my room. All the books are lying around like anything and only I know how I fight between the urge to clean it all and having to rest my foot ;-; Despite everything, I ended up cleaning my bathroom which was in utterly devastating state.

Short Story 2: Working on my internet addiction, I decided to just not switch on my laptop at all when I come back home from campus. It’s been quite a successful strategy so far. I have left all the dramas and anime I was watching, for now, might start with Habaek on Monday. I have been able to finish 3 novels in a week, reading during just that time. I am also giving some time to Duolingo as well, given that they have added Japanese, gotta brush up my prior knowledge, I have forgotten everything. So, this is how I am spending my summers. How about you?

The Joys and Worries of an East Asia Lover

The name says it all!

Tag: C-Drama

C-Drama Review: The Tomb of the Sea (沙海)

C-Drama Review: The Golden Eyes (黄金瞳)

C-Variety Reco: Idol Producer (偶像练习生)

C-Drama review: The Lost Tomb (盗墓笔记)

C-Drama Review: The Mystic Nine (老九门)

C-Drama Reco: Decoded (解密)

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Recommend to your friends

Recommend to your friends

Recommend to your friends

Recommend to your friends

Recommend to your friends