I personally use anything over 7 as decent and worth checking out when a drama opens on Douban the crowd rating site in C-ent. Over 8 is amazing and around 6 is mediocre, and anything below that in the 5s and under is avoid at all costs. Xianxia C-drama The Last Immortal (Hidden God) wrapped its run last week and this week opened on Douban with a 6.1 ratings. From the reviews as the drama progressed the Douban ratings appear accurate, this drama was hard carried by top billed Zhao Lu Si (who had her own share of criticism for her cutesy voice and lack of enunciation) while male lead Wang An Yu may be a good actor but was wholly unsuited visually for a xianxia role. He just looks dopey all the time with the period headgear when he’s supposed to look handsome and charming, not to mention his character was also mopey for a good chunk of the drama. Zhao Lu Si’s pull and her strong fandom did their best to hype up and keep the buzz train going but the drama didn’t have a strong story behind it sand without a solid OTP it just kinda flails. At least the ending didn’t suck and cause even the loyal fans to bail, that didn’t happen with A Journey to Love or My Journey to You, both just didn’t stick the landing despite being a better drama through the majority of its run.
Dang, TTEOTM is only 5.6 (364K rated)? My Journey to Love is also 6.1 (114K rated)? Oh, your poor Xiao Xhan’s The Longest Promise is only 6.3 (281K rating)? Ooooph. And I thought two our of those three were at least a 7.5. Ah well, I’m sure they made good money with so many watching.
Mmm I kind of agree with the ratings if we’re looking at the dramas as a whole. TTEOTM was especially bad (sorry to the fans.) Didn’t complete MJtL or TLP, so don’t know how they fare, but for MJtL, at least, I know the ending caught a lot of folks off guard and was nonsensical, which probably pulled down its overall ratings.
As for The Last Immortal, it was fine to watch if you really got nothing else going on. I find it better than TTEOTM, but the drama def did the ML a disservice by making him pretty much incompetent for a good 2/3rd of the drama lol. I mean, I could pretty much say the same for the prequel (ALP) because the FL there was also pretty useless lol. However, there’s a certain charm to it that I attribute to the cast (the ML improves a lot towards the end) and ofc I’m a ZLS fan, so I think she did good, too. I think 6.1 is a little harsh, but I know a lot of folks were prob done with it due to ML’s incompetence in the beginning.
In any case, I can honestly say that this year’s drama sucked for all ancient historical genre for me. I know folks loved AJtL, but I also passed on that, so I didn’t watch it in its entirety.
Hoping the new year won’t suck so bad
TTEOTM rating is well deserved. I watched to the 3rd last episode and couddn’t even force myself to finish, it’s so bad. Such a waste of potential bc it had an interesting premise. Longest Promise I dropped after the first 2 eps. Love XZ but he can’t carry a whole drama by himself. This one I didn’t even bother trying, and looks like I made the right decision.
I tried watching this because I like Zhao Lusi, but couldn’t finish it for the life of me. I don’t know what “xianxia” visuals are supposed to be, but I think Wang Anyu is a decent looking guy. His character, however, is frustrating to watch. While they switch the ditzy always make dumb decisions role to the male lead instead of female lead, it still had all the typical xianxia tropes. the drama itself brings nothing new to the table.
The ratings were much higher than I expected so Zhao Lusi has her fans to thank for this. Personally, I would’ve rated it at just about 5. Let’s be honest, the drama sucked for the majority of its run and only picked up in episode 27. There were much better Xianxia dramas in terms of plot and acting that had relatively poorer scores comparatively (TTEOTM had a killer plot and much better acting, better chemistry from its leads and supporting cast; Likewise My Journey to You in all its Costumed glory didn’t fare very well in the ratings department and it checked all the boxes for a killer drama except for the end).
Wang Anyu is a handsome dude, but for his own sake I hope he steers clear of Xianxia drama for the forseeable future (until he develops more experience or gets more training), he has neither the looks, talent, style or charisma to pull it off.
Well, to each their own, but the “much better acting” comment gave me pause. TTEOTM had more angst and dramatic moments in comparison to TLI, but better acting? And plot-wise, the novel was much better and did a better job of pacing. The drama itself was all over the place and spent a huge amount of time on characters that didn’t really delve into the relationship between the leads (wasted potential.) The plot was ok for me only.
As someone who has not seen any of her drama before ( maybe i did but forgot), can you recommend 3 drama from Zhao Lusi that you like and would recommend to watch.
It might be low budget, but I really enjoyed Romance of Tiger and Rose. I also really liked Love Like the Galaxy, but admittedly know a lot of people don’t like the slow burn romance here. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first few episodes, but Hidden Love was also very popular!
Hidden Love, Love like the Galaxy
I also like Dating in the Kitchen.
I’ve watched a lot of her dramas, my faves are Hidden Love, Who Rules the World, Love Like the Galaxy, Romance of Tiger and Rose, Gen Z and now this has been added to the list, The Last Immortal.
I actually think Wang Anyu has it in him. I’m obviously in the minority, but feel he is perfect for the role. I was not a fan and hadn’t watched any of his previous dramas but now I am.
Such a crap even got 6.1, about the same as a much better made The Longest Promise. Douban rating is a joke. I don’t take it seriously. LOL
They should have casted the 2ML as ML. No hate on the actor, it’s the casting director that screwed up.
The rating seems pretty accurate to me. The show wasn’t a disaster, but there was nothing to love either (except Lusi, whom I always find adorable although she needs to grow).
Among the shoes mentioned, My Journey to you was by far the best imo, but the ending (plus the director’s obsession of tricking the audience into thinking that the ML is a whimp) understandably brought it’s rating down. The Longest Promise was like The Last Immortal, shiny but nothing there to love (minus Xiao Zhan 😍) whereas Till the end of the moon was unbelievably uneven and got the Fandom it has mostly thanks to Tantai Jin fangirls like me 😉.
Ahem, the shows mentioned! 😆
Xianxia is almost hopeless. First, it’s so hard to find actors who can act while still visually fitting ethereal beauty standard. Second, this genre seems to run out of fresh ideas and has become dull plot after plot. Last but not the least, Chinese production teams seem to lack money needed for quality CGI and other settings such as lighting, costumes, and architecture etc. The average settings have been looking cheesy and cheap. I used to like this genre cos of fantasy elements but not any more. It’s very tiring checking drama after drama but ending up dropping all of them.
Ur system for duoban rating sucks koala, since fans rate high or rate down depending on their mood. A show one enjoys can be rated low and one that is not of ur interest can be rated high. I don’t see the logic u ur grouping of duoban rating here.
The TLM felt like every other xiaxia , nothing new was brought to the table, the rating is fair enough, I feel like the actors acting made it more bearable to watch.I honestly feel it did better than it suppose to. This is where I feel the show would have been better with lesser episodes too since the second half was so much better. I tried some the shows that that got buzz like my journey to you n so far in three weeks since I started am still at episode 5, it not a gripping show like some of the comments here made it seem when it was airing, drop it for now n started a journey to love, so far it has my interest will see how this holds for long. Have realised that it sometimes better to watch a show that interests u while airing, ones it done n u want to marathon it, u don’t get the hype about it, except some few exception. Unfortunately for me , I like to watch a show after it done airing because of this , I hardly finish a drama anymore.
I didn’t even bother to watch it. I saw the first few episodes and was done. Maybe I am just too much of an ALP fan with the actors and music, costumes everything being perfect for ALP, and although I know that this is Yuanqi’s story, for it to not have any mention at all of Shanggu, Bai Jue, Tianqi, Zhihang, Fengran, Gu Jun or ANYONE was a disservice in my view. They didn’t need to do a bunch of flashbacks but damn. And knowing how Yuanqi was as a child, and knowing he went to Daze Mountain to study under Dong Hua, I just wish there was some type of continuance. I don’t know, maybe I will give it another go but damn even the music in ALP is perfect, this….. this is just mehh. But that is me, maybe others found it ok i don’t know
I wish you would give it another shot, I felt the same way the first few episodes and almost dropped it. I’m glad I finished it til the end.
Those characters you mentioned were alluded to, it’s just they changed their names due to, according to some, production staff change(?). Something legal. Look into MyDramaList if you want to see which name changed to what.
It doesn’t do much to help, since it takes you away from the immersion of the story that this is supposed to be their son, especially if you watched ALP first. But that’s that.
I said this before, but if China wants to do any sequel, prequel, or spin-off of the same universe, then they need to follow the West’s footsteps, period. Get the same production, director, screen writer, SAME ACTORS, etc.
I would’ve gone to heaven if Xu Kai returned as Bai Jue for a cameo (and he actually did visit his son in the source material when he unlocked his Chaos power!), as well as the rest, yet that type of hype is squandered. The Chinese audience will never know or understand that feeling ever, lol.
I think it happens from time to time. Yang Mi returned in Eternal Love – Pillow Book for a cameo as Bai Qian.
I like Lusi’s dramas when she wasn’t casted as an elegant noble super human character because it doesn’t suits her. I love her in Dating in The Kitchen, he Long Ballad and Love Like The Galaxy. She is a decent actress who has a natural acting style so the down to earth/girl next door type of roles suited her better.
I would like to see them both in another drama…I kinda of feel this one didn’t do them both justice and both were working with what they got…
Douban rating is a gauge but somtyms fail to really reflect quality of a drama. There’ll be water armies to inflate ratings and then theres antis purposely leaving low ratings. Then theres actual viewer who could be captivated by a drama for 90% of the story but got diaappointed in an ending and then leaves a lower score. So its hard to say. Il say if theres no pull to watch a drama then you would have bailed early on. Xianxia is a polarising genre cause it can be such a love or hate affair. Ashes of Love was such a huge hit and propelled the actors to new heights of fame. Love and redemption depsite its endless blood spitting also lifted up Cheng Yi. Theres been so many xianxia dramas after that but not success formula is tricky. The right cast, a good logical story, good directing and the budget for good cgi. Unfortunately alot got sacrifice along the way..
The story was so good. Amaze how they created the reincarnation. But the ending was failed. The lead man was reincarnated but not be united with the one he love. Yes they saw each other but the viewers didn’t if his memory comes back? There is nothing in the ending. Yes she did everything to reincarnate his beloved but after that nothings happened. There is no excitement in the end.The romance was less, that’s writers idea.
Huh. Which drama are you talking about?
As far as I can gather 6.1 is a pretty good rating for a xianxia drama. In the beginning it was slow but it really picked up in the later episodes. I was tempted to drop it, but I’m so happy I didn’t. It really gave me all the feels! Zhao Lusi acting here is solid and even though Wang Anyu seemed a bit off, he made up for it in the end. He really grew on me and I’m now a fan.
I really enjoyed it too. I rated it a high 7 or low 8, depending on first or second half of the drama.
Couldn’t get through the first half of the drama but was curious enough to pick the drama back up in the second half and it was not bad. Satisfying.
[Spoiler]
When I compare the scene where Yuanqi accidentally kills A Yin to when Yuehua had to take Susu’s eyes, the acting from male leads is like night and day. I’ll give it to Zhao Lusi, who was acting her socks off, especially when A Yin’s home was destroyed. But Wang Anyu didn’t really do justice for that climactic scene. I don’t expect him to be wailing, but you can still convey the deep inner turmoil and emotion without being super overt about it. He’s young though. Hopefully he improves with time.
dont think that was his fault but more of direction and production. saw the bts and they cut the scene where he was really anguished and wailing after ayin was struck by his sword. smh they actually cut a lot of scenes that I felt was crucial to his character
I agree with u 💯ZL acted the hell out of this character and u really appreciate it if u r able to really watch the show completely, it like she doesn’t give u reasons to desire more of her acting, she gives u the best that she can, n I really appreciate that about her has an actress.
The BTS scene was so much better–there was wailing and gasping, with his getting hit by his own sword as he tried to stop it.
I don’t really need wailing though. Zhao Lusi was able to demonstrate her disappointment and completely giving up on life very well without a lot of theatrics. When he called the sword to drop down on her, I didn’t see the pain and anguish as much as I had hope that he would convey in his eyes or face. Even if he didn’t think she was going to die, he’s still causing her a lot of pain. Feel a little more bad about it! He wasn’t a total fail in that scene. I give him a D or if I’m being generous, a C. Mark Chao’s acting was like an A+ even though when he was first casted I did not think he had the visuals to do xianxia. Like I said, Wang Anyu is young. Mark Chao was much older and a more seasoned actor at the time as well. Zhao Lusi, however, is around his age and I find her to be a much more talented actor. I hope he keeps improving since I do like him in variety shows and their interviews.
I love Zhao LuSi real interaction with Wang An Yu. I think they’ll have better chemistry in modern setting than costume drama. Iam a big fan of LuSi but so disappointed in Last Immortal. She acted so dang annoying and she then has stiff neck. I don’t like her acting, I gave her overall rating 5.
I love the this drama. The last Immortal was the best drama ever. I will watch this again and again.
It was very good..I gave it an 8, though, for repeated contexts of their life with suffering…too much…I want to see an awesome conclusion..takes ur breath away and remember the ending, making you want to be breathless and ur heart pound for real!!
The Last Immortal for me was Fantastic. I have rewatched THE LAST IMMORTAL 4 times and every time I just can’t get enough. Understanding the storyline it’s refreshing and new. Here, our Male Lead, Actor WANG AN YU who did an amazing job with his role just never wanted to be a True God or take on the responsibilities of his True God role because of his Mom and Dad being both Tue Gods and the sad memories of being left by his Mom and Dad when he was a toddlers. ZHAO LUSI our Female Lead is just extremely talented and an amazing actress/actor. ZHAO LUSI is so very good in The Last Immortal whenever she is on scene she bring out all the emotions and extremely expressive in her acting skills you are just drawn into her character and she brings life to her role. The Last Immortal have the right balance of comedy and then serious scenes. MY favorite Chinese Fantasy Drama right now. TOP # 1 for 2023. The Last Immortal getting a 6.1 which should be higher id so much better than most other higher budget Chinese Fantasy Drams.The entire cast also of the The Last Immortal were also good. I love everything about The Last Immortal the acting,storyline, production, ost, custumes. I have watched ZHAO LUSI in all her role and she is definitely a star that shines brilliantly and will continue to do so this is why she has the international viewership and appeal. It just radiates whenever she is acting in her roles. WANG AN YU,is also a good serious Actor. I have watched him in his past roles and The Last Immortal and he is extremely good. As I stated before Understanding the storyline from beginning to end and The Last Immortal is FANTASTIC. I love Chinese Fantasy Drama periods and I was totally impressed and I never left The Last Immortal to go watch any other Chinese Fantasy Period Drama when I started to watch The Last Immortal. The Last Immortal had my interest from start to finish. Take my review and see it for yourself if you love Chinese Fantasy Drama like I do with just a straight love journey between make and female leads their growth you will definitely love THE LAST IMMORTAL IT’S A 10 FOR ME TOP#1.I JUST LOVED IT SO MUCH.
I loved The Longest Promise (TLP) and never regretted watching it, although I admit that I didn’t like the first few episodes. The show gets better as it progresses.
Ikr. TLP is underrated. It’s better than some other costume dramas that were advertised to be hits last year.