I always believe the entertainment world in any industry is big enough for multiple hits at the same time, not everything is a zero sum game and BarbenHeimmer shows that sometimes it a net positive gain for all involved. The Wang Yibo starring republic era communist party patriotic C-drama War of Faith (formerly Golden Journey) has turned into a black horse hit despite being air dropped and not getting much attention and promos. It’s doing well in on terrestrial big network CCTV and also getting decent streaming viewa of iQiyi. It’s getting compared to xianxia C-drama Legend of Shen Li with Zhao Li Ying with its massive budget and promos and it’s actually just a shade below Shen Li in buzz. It’s also being spoken about in the same context as Wang Yibo and Zhao Li Ying previously starred together in Legend of Fei which was a big disappoint for both. Glad to see their current dramas garnering its own buzz and success and the more the merrier.
Wang Yi Bo cannot be attached with the terminology Black Horse. He is way too established in the industry and way too popular for that. If it was an absolutely nobody actor as ML then yes. But Wang Yi Bo ? Come on !
Ms Koala is referring to the drama as black horse, not Yibo.
I know but what I meant is, anything with Wang Yi Bo in it as ML cannot be a dark horse. Sure drama was not heavily promoted before but everyone following cdramaland has been aware of this and there was some noises about it before it aired. It got Wang Yibo and LiQin as main leads. A drama like “An Ancient Love Song” last year for example is considered a dark horse since it became a surprise hit with absolutely no big name attached to it and literally zero promotion.
Oh please is this site turning into a ccp propaganda mouthpiece? Wang Yi Bo has to resort to sucking up to ccp coz he’s such a flop and he’s fugly with his chinky eyes. He can’t even compare to 10% of Xiao Zhan. The only successful liuliang to juggle both dramas and movies is Wu Lei. Everyone else can only salivate wishing they had his complete package.
Once again, chinky is a racist slur. Please don’t use it.
A despicable, racist comment based on you hate for Yibo. XZ would not be proud of you. Wu Lei has a loooong way to go to compare to Yibo’s talent, looks and versatility, although he had potential. Typical haters comment, shame on you.
no wonder XZ’s fan said like this. like idol like fan. meanwhile XZ’s dramas couldn’t even get 2% viewership. Please go watch your idol’s dramas to contribute to their heat value.
I have watched a couple of episodes and intend to watch more. The production quality is high and Yibo is better than expected. Also, he doesn’t try to look pretty, which is good, I guess. Having said that, there are a couple of plot lines so far that call for a dispension of belief, so I will see how it goes.
As for Shen Li, I can’t compare it with War of Faith as xianxia is not my cup of tea and I try to avoid it unless there’s a fave of mine in it.
WYB is getting destroyed by the critics. It’s interesting because even those who used to back him and were very much friendly with Yuehua are panning him for this role.
Wang Yang is getting all the praise and buzz but overall there is actually very little talk about this drama.
Legend of SL is doing really well, both the leads are getting good talk but the drama has stabilised more or less instead of rising in discussion and hype. But still a good result definitely.
ZLY and WYB are together. They’re testing the water to see if their fans fight. First time was LOF, second was the re-collaboration rumor that ended with ZLY rebuked and muted for several weeks, third was when Luo Yang aired at the same time with WITM.
During LOF, her marital status was still married to FSF so she pretended not to be close with WYB, but they had a matching necklace behind his back. Also, FSF was accused of cheating and the evidence was some bogus text messages only. Recently, WYB was caught dressing up as a woman to assist ZLY at a public show. She had dinner with a tender meat as well, suspected to be WYB again.
lol, are you writing a wattpad story????
@Yui
This talk is everywhere on Chinese sns, it’s even more detailed than what the op wrote above. Personally I don’t believe they are together but more importantly, who cares. Single adults can do whatever they like. I don’t get the obsession.
LMAO. I just read the most delusional story ever. Especially the part saying WYB dressed up as a woman to assist ZLY.
If all this is true which have being circling around on Chinese SM….then I guess I should also believe the ones where Him and Xiao Zhan are together also based an all the evidence those fans pushed😅🙄
Wang Yi Bo is ugly. All he has are homo shipper fans who ship him with Xiao Zhan. So basic looking and flops hard in both dramas and movies. He wishes he was Wu Lei
Show us your face then, I’m damn sure your face is worse looking….you probably the type to always talk about others appearances yet your own face is bottom level type of looking
Who is Wu Lei? I wish I know him so I could decide what you said is true or not.
I am thoroughly enjoying Legend of Shen Li. It deserves the praise and attention its getting. The chemistry between LGX and ZLY can melt the eastern sea Ancient God Xing Zhu has frozen. Legend of Shen Li has completed healed my broken PA heart from 7 years ago.
I totally agree with you!!!
Yes Shen Li is so good. I was so sick of xianxia dramas after watching so many with their ill-fated romances lasting several lifetimes, but this gave me a pleasant surprise. Its a breath of fresh air. I didn’t watch PA, so I’m glad this made me discover Lin Gengxin.
Yes. Thanks. These are different genre too . Legend of shenli is great to watch especially who read the novel which it is faithful to and the acting and chemistry is superb.
Is the drama good and entertaining…that is all that matters. Wang Yibo is doing his job. I dont care who he dates or not…
His co-star have praised him for his professionalism. That is good. At least he is not just a pretty vase.
I started watching for Wang Yang. Wang YiBo has been a pleasant surprise. Good for him. I’ve been half-rooting for the last few months. The production is also surprisingly high-quality. No complaints, even though Republican era isn’t my cuppa. Wang Yang, Wang Yang, Wang Yang—That is all.
Republican is not my usual watch too…too much Chinese propaganda. But I might if this drama is good. Wang Yang is a good actor. It will be great Wang Yibo learn and be mentored by him.
WYB just can’t carry any drama on his own. He has to costar with very solid veteran actors to make his works delivered. I was indifferent to him in The Untamed since Xiao Zhan was obviously the major contributor to that breakout hit. But I still checked his subsequent dramas and found him simply very lacking as an actor. He did improve quite a bit in this new drama. Still, visually he lacks charisma to be a hot ML.
The plot is a total crap, like other CCP propaganda garbage. The story exaggerated the power of CCP spies just as PLA used Hollywood battle film clips to fake PLA’s power. The same problem. Li Qin just mimicked James Bond ladies’ stunts, dressed all beautiful and almighty. LMAO. I’m sure CCP will make sure this communist agitprop gets high ratings and top on hot indices on paper. LOL. They made up financial statistics that IMF had to constantly give out warnings. What lies can’t they fabricate? We all know Chinese data have credibility issue. Hot indices and ratings are no exception. This culture just doesn’t know the virtue of honesty.
Is this a koreaboo out in the wild?
See you’re incoherent again! What about Koreaboo? LOL. What’s Koreaboo? Go worship CCP and uncle-faced WYB! Just don’t bother! LOL
XZ fans in the comments aren’t tricking anyone. No matter how much you call that drama a propaganda or call WYB ‘ugly’ it’s all just dogs barking and being jealous of someone else’s success. The drama got great reviews and big passerby following. Cvb is already higher than XZ’s supposed ‘hit’ drama. Don’t cry too much because it just makes you all more pathetic. By the way, the only 0,5 star reviews I saw on Weibo were from XZ fans. It’s very apparent that they’re the ones most pressed here.
There are no tricks here. Both CCP doing huge propaganda with tons of lies in the drama that is crap and WYB being visually unattractive are FACTS. I’ve never cared about CVB or any Chinese online rating when reviewing C dramas. As I said, Chinese data aren’t credible just like their financial numbers. That culture isn’t ashamed of lying at all.
All WYB’s films were claimed to be success and his rabid fans always claimed his accomplishment exceeding XZ’s. But still, most ppl recognize XZ a way better actor than WYB. I don’t think that would change even after this CCP agitprop.
The golden broom winner cant act the sooner you all weird cult members accept it the better. hagzhan sucks
Why are you so mad about this drama touching the topic of CCP? You can call it propaganda, but let’s call Ace Troops, Where Dreams Begin and Heroes in Harm’s way propaganda too because they were propaganda.
LOL. I never said that those WEREN’T CCP propaganda. Nonetheless, XZ is watchable while WYB isn’t mostly regardless of whether there’s agitprop in a drama or not. WYB did improve in this propaganda piece but still not up to the level to carry a drama ALONE. Look how he always needed one or more very decent veteran actors by his side to mentor him in ALL the dramas. LOL. If one day he can carry a drama ALL BY HIMSELF to good reviews and ratings, then he will deserve my compliment. Not yet. LOL
Bye! I’m off to Kdrama cos I don’t want to waste time on inferior Cdrama. LOL.
He is literally being panned as a weak actor here at various media outlets. Are they owned by xz fans?
Instead of being focused on something unrelated, better encourage your idol to take more acting classes. And reading classes wouldn’t be amiss considering a lot of criticism focus on his inability to provide layered and appropriate acting, neither of which exists if you don’t understand the character. And we all know his issues.
The only ones panning him are hagzhan yxhs. Of the two only one has acting nominations for actuals awards. and its not xiao zhan
@Eddy Sorry to burst your bubble but this drama isn’t pulling great reviews and WYB got lambasted for his bad acting as usual. The drama’s CVB ratings currently averages around 1.6-1.7, which is actually below ideal considering its genre and broadcast month. The reason XZ’s drama was lauded as a big hit because it scored very high ratings during the school exams month, the month that’s known for having the lowest viewership throughout the years because families will reduce TV usage in preparation for the exams.
And please, let’s not act like WYB fans didn’t blindly give 5 stars reviews to WYB’s dramas. By the way, I’ve seen WYB fans mass giving low score reviews to plenty of other celebrities’ works too besides XZ. Other celebrities like Zhao Liying, Wu Lei, Yi Yangqianxi, Zhu Yilong etc have all suffered at the hands of WYB fans.
Lol xiao zhan cosplay tv vloggers arent real review dumb asss
Lmao what? 1.6 is below avg? War of Faith is the top 3 drama in CCTV 8 and despite being it’s genre. Not everyone likes watching republican era dramas. Idk but I’m seeing Xiao zhan fans being so delusional and ugly mouthed but his drama is the one below avg. Wang Yibo has given many Hits after Untamed but can’t say the same about xiao zhan sorry not sorry to burst your bubble
I really like Lin Gengxin here. He stole the show for me.
AGREED! LGX is wonderful as the ML in Shen Li. They cast him perfectly.
I think Wang Yibo is a very versatile actor, people are so judgmental on education in China, he has the skills let him act and enjoy his work. Why give him lukewarm attitude just because he did not complete university education? For a young person overcoming his medical condition and became an international star, I think he deserves all attention given to him by those who appreciate his work!
I love all his work, he can be playful in the Legend of Fei and and he can stoic as in The Untamed and Luoyang. His movie Hidden Blade is very well worth watching. I think he has great chemistry with Zhao LiYing.
I can never watch these republican C-dramas. The propaganda is just too overbearing and overshadows the plot and characters.
I love War of Faith. I think the drama is very interesting to watch. I don’t care if it is propaganda drama as long as it has good story and acting. Btw, did many think Wang Yibo acting is bad? From my eyes as cdrama watcher, I think Wang Yibo have done really well portraying Wei Ruolai character. I dont see any stiff acting from him.
I love both of them! We are being fed so good lately, after long periods of starving
So many hateful and completely delusional comments here, especially about Yibo, utterly detached from reality. Fanfom at it’s ugliest. Will not visit this site ever again, bye.
Not the Xiao Zhan stans acting like tv critics on koala playground xD
The funniest thing about these reviews is you know the same people will move to post the same bad reviews to Best Choice Ever starting tomorrow
I hope that drama is a hit too and that you wierdos and your fave pay for all you did to poor Renmin
War of Faith has been a nice surprise indeed. It’s a high-quality drama and you can tell that everyone gave their all to bring us such a high-quality product. This drama has very good pacing, has little to no filler episodes, and the acting is very good. Props to the actors who took on smaller characters, they elevated each of our main protagonists storylines and the drama as a whole. Hao, Ms. Zhou, A’wen, Cishu, were all wonderful and memorable characters. Now, on to our leads. I can not see anyone else taking the role of Shen Tunan, Wang Yang has done an exceptional job and brought to life this very complicated character. I felt every bit of emotion he felt, his eagerness to do good and help people, his disappointment in the system he believed in, his internal war about which path is the best, and, at the ending, you meet a Tunan that is full of hope in his eyes. Li Qin did her absolute best, I’ve seen several works of her and I must say this is my favorite character. She (Jinzhen) is eloquent, passionate, intelligent, and outspoken. She has various action scenes that are very well done, you can feel the tension and you end up rooting for her and her mission(s), you want her to go back home safely each time. You can feel through the screen how passionate and devoted she is to the party (CCP) and she explains well her reasons, motivations, and faith. Because let’s remember, this drama is all about what each of these characters believes in.
There’s been a lot of debate on these comments about Wang Yibo and his acting, but let me tell you there is no problem with his acting. He delivered an exceptional take on Wei Ruolai. There was no overacting or underacting, his acting just felt right. How he delivered his lines, those microexpressions were all fantastic and it’s nice to see improvement. I saw Hidden Blade and One and Only, over the two I would take Hidden Blade as his best acting project to date, but after watching War of Faith I can say with all confidence that this drama is his best acting project surpassing by a mile what he did as Mr. Ye in Hidden Blade. The way he portrayed Ruolai’s internal fight with his beliefs, his struggles, his decisions, was top notch. His best character arc is when Ruolai is broken after something he has planned with Tunan turns out to be a disaster. That arc, where life-changing decisions were made, was absolute perfection.
The director and the rest of the production team of this drama made all the right creative decisions. This drama doesn’t feel boring because they balanced the pacing in such a way that you don’t feel the need to skip scenes. The plot is marvelous, the cinematography and sets are wonderful too. I enjoyed the costumes and the texture of those.
There’s individuals here comparing him to Xiao Zhan and whatnot, but why would he be bothered to compare himself to Xiao Zhan? Looking at what he has done after The Untamed we can all see he likes to take certain type of roles which are not the same as what Xiao Zhan usually sign for. Do you think we will ever see Xiao Zhan in a movie like One & Only? No and we all know that. Or are we going to see him in a project where he isn’t the main lead, like in Legend of Fei? No, because we know that Xiao Zhan only signs up to be THE main lead and only that.
And for the people saying this drama is propaganda and that the CCP is this or that, let me remind you that Xiao Zhan filmed Ace of Troops, Heroes in Harm’s and Where Dreams Begins which rely heavily on the CCP presence and are, in fact, propaganda.
If he ever takes a republican drama or movie, will you blast him for taking a project that will include heavy propaganda or not? Because he has expressed through the years that he wants to act in a republican drama/movie. Let’s not be hypocrites.
All the antis are being so racist towards the Chinese people…..how do you say you support a Chinese celebrity yet in the same breath go on to use racial slurs for another Chinese celebrity….you think your fav Chinese will be happy seeing how you degrade people of his own ethnicity you vile sick mentally ill women. If you don’t like Wang yibo just ignore him and his work…no need of being racist. Or better yet stick to watching your fellow country people’s entertainment if you dislike the Chinese this much
I am currently watching WYB’s drama. it’s a good surprise for me. i don’t think much when i started watching this drama but the plots and acting are so good that it become my most favourite drama of 2024 so far. I know it has propaganda but so what? a good drama is a good drama. enjoy the drama as drama. use the brain when needed.