Xiao Zhan’s Top Star Status and Visuals Carries the Cheesy Xianxia C-drama The Longest Promise with Ren Min’s Dumb as Bricks Female Lead Character

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• Man, I have never laughed so hard at someone's harsh review.

  I don't mind actors not being perfect beautiful to act (unecessary) but if the acting is not good, then I am staying away. Good acting can save almost anything. bad acting will crash everything. I think they kept this away from our screen until after Xiao Zhan could prove himself in other dramas. He had good reviews for that 80's theme propaganda drama that just ended, so he has room to breathe if this drama crashes and burn.

  • Why would it crash and burn based on koala's opinion? She is hardly some kind of authority.

    This drama is currently exploding in China, the data is crazy. Whether it will continue, we have to wait and see but Ren Min very obviously isn't a problem for Chinese viewers. Antis though have been attacking her non stop. The things being said about her looks are so disgusting that I had to stop reading. "Good" to see Koala adding on to the pile on. When in the end the actress breaks down, I am sure everyone will contact amnesia and pretend they never said a thing about her looks.

    • Ren Min is pretty enough for the heroine in the novel, who was described as not particularly pretty among all. The heroine was also a bit rash in personality in the book. So far, I see Ren Min's acting exudes aura of Zhu Yen as depicted in the book. I even wonder if all the baseless criticism is coming from real book fans or simply out of nobody as usual lurking to censure Xiao Zhan's projects. Some criticism may make sense since there's never been a perfect drama or acting. But as a regular visitor of this site, I still have to honestly say that all the allegations in Koala's blog about TLP are unfounded and subjective with personal bias.

      I have been taking a LONG hiatus from Chinese Xianxia dramas since the Untamed. I've tried to give a shot to all the popular dramas in this genre since then but ended up just wasting my precious time off very busy work schedule. I dropped them all because the plots are almost predictable with recycled stories and boring acting along with horrible makeup (taking about The End of The Moon specifically, yes!). Not to mention most main leads aren't even up to par with ethereal beauty as described in the books. That's a laughing stock for me. I can't take those dramas and actors seriously!!!! So far, I haven't seen that happen in the first few episodes of TLP yet. Well, ppl can agree to disagree.

    • @Somebody She is not pretty and the fact that you need to write a long ass pharagraph show it, lol.

  • Oh yeah The Youth Memories like many C dramas of post-Republic era certainly have set purposes of state propaganda. Aside from that, TYM is a drama of good quality with decent production and cast compared with many crappy C dramas, mostly dumb and frivolously useless school dramas and xianxia dramas. Tbh, without Xiao Zhan, I wouldn't even have given a sh*t to C dramas.

    • I watched this drama because xiao zhan, and seeing the teaser it looks really interesting

      But all my interest was crushed, seeing FL's acting and visuals which were totally not my type

      I've tried to hold on until eps 6, but i can't take it anymore

  • Naah The acting of the FL is super bad plus I got annoyed by her nose too.

    • Then don't watch! She acts exactly like what the book describe and is prettier than Esther Yu and Bai Lu imo. I can't stand Esther Yu's voice and her looks. She's one of the ugliest actresses I've ever watched. I think Bai Lu needs some orthodontics work.

    • @Somebody If Bai Lu is average, it means you lool better? 🤣

    • @Somebody The same goes for you, don't watch and stay silent. Lol.

    • @Julia, exactly what I did. I dropped all your gals' cheesy dramas. LOL
      You should also get over Xiao Zhan! Why bother visiting an outdated thread talking about him? LMAO. You're obsessed! So You can't help stalking him! Bingo!

• Oh well, dumb as bricks? Should you refer to the FLs of "Love Between Fairy and Devil" and "Till The End Of The Moon" instead? LMAO. I see Xiao Zhan and Ren Min's aura perfectly fit the OTP in the novel. Ren Min isn't your style. I get it! Ppl have different tastes. You basically are saying TLP isn't up your alley just as LBFD and ThEotM aren't my cup of tea either. LOL Your scathing remarks about the first few episodes of TLP certainly won't diminish fans' interest in following this long awaited drama of Xiao Zhan, exactly as you predicted. LOL

  I'll be back to check if my comment is removed or not because it's not in your favor. Then I'll see if I will continue to visit this site again.

  • Rabbid fan getting worked up, lol. It's her opinion, but you can take it personal and stay pressed. Lol. So you only want to read good comments about Xiao Zhan's projects? 🤣

    • LOL. You're obsessed with Xiao Zhan so that you're still making comments on this old old blog. LMAO. I can see that you're seething since Xiao Zhan is so popular, way more popular than your faves. I'm Xiao Zhan's fan. So you expect a fan to hope for negative comments about the fave and say Amen Amen Amen? Seriously? You're deranged! LOL. Whenever there is criticism related to Xiao Zhan, which is personal opinion and subjective at best, I'm entitled to object to the negativity and speak up. This is what you are supposed to expect from a fan! So you're talking about nonsense! LOL

      Keep seething! Nobody cares!

    • @Somebody Nah, it's just that I'm very entertained with your derranged, delusional and obssesive fangirl comments 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 "Expected from a fan." Since when fans need to act like sh*t-for-brains? You are acting like a cult member 🤣🤣🤣🤣 It's hella funny to see you going nuts!

  • You are not relevant, you are just another rabbid Xiao Zhan fan. Lol. If things are subjective, why are you trying to impose your personal opinion? Lol. Shit for brains.

• You sound exactly like a butthurt anti who is pressed that her faves LBFAD and LLTG are getting blown out of the water. Too bad you can't do shit about it and are just going to have to deal with it.

  You could be a decent human being though and not attack Ren Min's looks. That is just low.

  • Ren Min looks pretty, prettier than average women, Bai Lu and Yu Shuxin. In particular, I can't take Yu Shuxin's looks and voice seriously. I cringed at YSX's voice and Bai Lu's makeup particularly that drove me away from their dramas.

    • I’m here for Xiao Zhan. Only 3 episodes are available on Netflix and so far, omg…I am blown away.

      The FL’s looks is not really to my liking, but she still looks better than me LMAO 🤣

      I’ve watched Love between fairy/devil and tried to watch till the end of moon. Omg…I really tried till the end of moon because everybody was raving it, but I just couldn’t get past episode 7.

      Visually, the costumes just look so popping with white against red. Love that the clans are different. Crimson, White, Ice, etc.

      While watching it, I thought of Journey Of The Flower. One of my favorite dramas.

• Your favourite actor's nose looks like a child tried making it out of play doh then got bored and left the job unfinished. As you can see, we can go after your Wu Lei just as much as you go after Ren Min.

• Seriously, I'm starting to wonder whether you are paid for some of your drama reviews. This isn't the first time where I felt that your reviews are jarringly out of place, I felt it with She and Her Perfect Husband too. That drama was actually pretty good but was attacked vehemently by Yang Mi's antis who made a mountain out of a molehill for every tiny flaw, and yet you echoed their words.

  The quality of The Longest Promise is notably higher than the other S+ Tencent dramas. The special effects are pretty on par with Ancient Love Poetry and all the actors/actresses' acting are on point so far from the first 4 episodes which I've watched. The only flaw is Ren Min's visuals, but she isn't ugly by any means and the drama didn't claim Zhu Yan to be some incredible beauty either. I'm surprised you find so much fault with her visuals yet have no issues with Yang Zi and Zhao Lusi when they all have the same level of visuals.

  • Of course, I do understand that people have different preferences and standards, but claiming that the special effects look "laughably low budget" is just laughable. And I don't know why you have to specifically emphasise on "non-Xiao Zhan fans" instead of just C-netz, are you trying to say that any positive reviews about Xiao Zhan's acting must be from Xiao Zhan's fans?

    • Of course she is. I guess Koala thinks that she is going to get more hits by inviting haters here. Which, fair play. I thought it was a pretty decent place here but I guess not. So I will take my own hits with me somewhere else. You take care, it was nice chatting with you these months.

  • Agreed! With the way Koala described The Longest Promise, I would have thought it's as terrible as Miss the Dragon or Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities if I hadn't watch it already. Her review sounds so biased.

• That's a shame, I was planning to watch this and I'll probably still do but this review will always be on my mind. I don't normally agree with koala and I think she's wrong to criticize Ren Min's looks but it's her blog and she's entitled to her personal opinion. It's up to you to accept or disagree which am pretty sure doesn't really bother her.

  Personally I liked the The Youth Memories and I am planning to check this out because of Xiao Chan but without a good storyline I probably won't stick around for long.

• 1. Visually, RM not really compatible with XZ but it’s not really far from the novel’s heroine.
  2. I don’t quite like her character in the novel (only read up to a certain portion) so i don’t expect to do so here.
  3. I thought the special effects are pretty good in Ep 2.
  4. About to watch Episode 2, so let’s see whether it’s that bad
  5. I will still watch it for the sake of XZ & actors and the popularity of the novel…
  6. I won’t say anything to harsh about RM but I guess that’s a sad reality when the pairing is not equal in terms of looks, experience and status.
  7. I think netizens can be too critical in terms of acting… as for myself, I am fine with XZ as I find him very watchable and relatable in his various roles in films or dramas so far.

  • Get to episode 8, it get s soooo good.

• Imo she is definitely not ugly, but perhaps MC vibe isn't there when compared to XZ. Netizens think she pissed off her makeup stylist 😂 as for drama itself I am not sure how much XZ can carry...? I think his face sells way beyond his acting skills. Last I watched of his was Oath of Love and he was pretty stiff.

  • I'm not sure if we had watched the same drama, Oath of Love. Xiao Zhan is the only thing good I can rave about that bland drama with Yang Zi. Yang Zi was overacting A LOT in that drama and had the same issue with many Chinese actresses with heavy, unrealistic makeup all the time, even at sleep. She was extremely unprofessional in the sense she was a laughing stock as a celloist. I play classical piano myself and have been an avid classical music fan since childhood. Even you can't play cello in real life, there's a basic posture you can mimic and match up the music rhythm while playing music. NOPE! She's amazingly out of place and looked as dumb as a baby playing a toy instrument. Compared with the 2nd FL of The Youth Memories who definitely had done her homework playing a violist, YZ obviously was short of due diligence. YZ failed OoL. Fortunately XZ saved that dull drama with convincing acting as doc! I got to finish OoL although skipped many boring and unnecessary scenes only because of Xiao Zhan. Ironically, I watched OoL because of YZ not because of XZ since I did not know actor XZ back then. LOL

• Damn, her visual complaint was so uncall for. What are they to do, get plastic surgery & get more hate? Sometimes it's best to let that angry dead down before acting on your emotion.

• I completely agree with your review