The romance novel Once Promised is a fantastic read for those who hate love triangles and love OTP consistency, but terribly traumatic for those who need happy endings. The C-drama adaption A Life Time Love (Ancient Love Song) uses the story but changes all the names to avoid upsetting Chinese censors as the original tale was about historical fantasy deities in Chinese folklore based on The Classic of Mountain and Seas, including battle god Qi Yo and the Yellow Emperor.
I don’t know if the adaptation will change the narrative but judging from the new drama stills I dig all the main leads looks and vibe, it’s actually quite on point to how I pictured the characters when I read the novel. Victoria Song is a great choice for the strong and confident female lead while Huang Xiaoming nails it as the brash and loyal male lead. For those who need more youngsters Luo Yun Xi and Wu Qian, who played the younger versions OTP in My Sunshine, they show up here and hopefully get to enjoy a romance of their own.
Ending MV for A Life Time Love:
Does anyone know more of Leo Luo Yun Xi’s and Wu Qian’s character descriptions?
they play a couple. he plays victoria’s brother and she his wife:)
thanks! Hopefully descriptions of their personalities and fates will be released soon!
Here are the descriptions (my translations) from the drama’s Baidu page:
Xuanyang Zhiruo (Luo Yunxi): Xuanyang Ruo’s (Victoria Song) fourth older brother, a refined gentleman with good looks, but also bold and hot-blooded. Always protecting his family and has a close-knit relationship with his sister Xuanyang Ruo. Later, falls in love with the leader of the She River Tribe and the two get married, deeply in love.
Yi Li (Wu Qian): Leader of the She River Tribe of Xuanyang, a strong martial artist and skilled assassin. A generous and kind personality, a straightforward and honest person, knows to separate love and hate. Gets married to Zhiruo, are deeply in love and promise to be together in life and death.
She looks different. Would of mistook Victoria for someone else
She is incredibly pretty in these stills, I don’t know why I can’t just warm up to her as a leading actress though.
Victoria and “great choice” don’t go together. She doesn’t look good in motion and is a horrible actress as well. The book fans were tearing their hairs out because of this casting.
Wu Qian looks so pretty here~ def looking better than in fighter of destiny lol
The trailer looks very cringey tho.. Victoria seems misplaced (the girl really just sucks at acting) and HXM’s styling is horrible.
I’m super excited for Princess Agents (which is airing just a few days ahead of A Life Time of Love). The trailer looks absolutely kickass and all four leads are likable. It’s gonna be a tough competition amongst these dramas. There is literally a bunch of “high-key productions” coming out in a few days. Wonder which one will ultimately become the talk of the town.
I really dislike how fake the hairlines of the male characters look in many fantasy and historical c-dramas, you can even see the border of the wig in the video thumbnail
I don’t get the comments ripping Victoria when everyone’s acting in this trailer looks equally stiff. And don’t even get me started with HXM’s hairstyle; it’s beyond tragic. At least everyone is easy on the eyes so that’s a bonus I guess.
I don’t really like the hair styling and costume. It feels too modern for me.
I think I will pass on this drama. For some reason I just can’t watch Victoria Song.
Both HXM and Victoria tend to exaggerate their acting – bad choice to cast them in one production. The male lead, Peter Sheng is rather stiff as well. It’s really up to the supporting cast to save this drama.
I personally think this is going to tank since it’s premiering the same time as Princess Agents and Rush to the dead summer.
Couldn´t agree more!! 🙂
Victoria is quite new and while I like her I admitted her acting were awkward but I thought she has improved a lot in the new teaser
HXM on the other hand, is such a senior and but I don’t really consider him as an actor either…
Peter Sheng is worst out of all 3.
I don’t think they expect much from it either with the very little promotion it has but I hope it will be half good as Peach
The first time i saw this, i did not recognize Victoria. All this time i thought it was Kim Hee Sun. With those hairstyles, she looks a lot like Kim Hee Sun. Anyways, i can’t wait for Wu Qian. She looks much better in here than in Fighter of the Destiny. Go Wu Qian!
I didn’t have much expectation because Victoria was pretty meh in her previous works- since she barely just started acting and you can see she was still awkward.
However the new teaser- not this MV- changed my mind. It actually looks good and I can see all her emotions without being awkward for the 1st time… so I probably check this out.
Tong Hua’s drama adaptations are either went flat midway like Ballad of the Desert or a disaster from the very beginning like Song in the Clouds (the screenplay is 90% crap). I don’t have high hopes for this one either, all because of the casting. Victoria has never convinced me of her caliber as a leading lady and Huang Xiaoming is either a hit or miss for me. I’ll be surprised if they turn out to prove me wrong.