So hopefully the November 2024 C-dramas will fare better than it’s prior month brethren as the Douban ratings are out for the slew of October airings. The Rise of Ning with Zhang Wan Yi and Ren Min opened with 5.8 and Kill Me Love Me with Liu Xue Yi and Wu Jin Yan was a teeny bit lower with 5.7. These two got some buzz and traction during airing but not enough to make either anywhere close to being a hit, but between the two at least The Rise of Ning did not get slaughtered by complaints over a collapsed second half like Kill Me Love Me did. Snowy Night: Timeless Love with Li Qin and Zeng Shun Xi was a flop in reception and reviews and got Douban ratings of 5.7. And hilariously Fangs of Fortune directed by Guo Jing Ming and starring Hou Min Hao and Chen Du Ling just premiered in the last week of October but the first Douban ratings are already out and it’s a low 4.9. Go figure, but for Fangs it just started airing so I expect that rating to change more than the other three wrapped dramas.
Blame it on their horrible story execution. They really need to work on that and make their scripts cohesive but somehow they always rabbit trail from their initial story and spit out last minute endings that can be so frustrating. Make the journey of your stories worth it and not feel like a waste of time. Chemistry alone of your actors can’t cover up the flaws of a story. I can’t even count on my hands how many of the dramas people complain what a waste of chemistry and hoping the leads reunite in another drama. Or that to stop at a certain episode and not even watch the rest. Takes the joy out of watching dramas.
There was no chemistry to speak of in any of these dramas, so even the CPs could not save these sinking ships
It’s strange of the industry to hype and show favoritisms towards Chen Du Ling, even though Fangs of Fortune is not a hit.
It’s really weird that the director(s) are pushing JJY aside for actresses like Chen Du Ling and Mao Xiao Hui (Sword & Fairy 4). Even though many complain about JJY’s acting and looks, I still can’t see how these two surpass JJY by a mile. I would understand if they had starred as leads in successful high rating dramas…. But so far, they have not distinguished themselves.
I cringed when Sword & Fairy portray Mao Xiao Hui as the most beautiful and ethereal looking fairy like character. Maybe due to fatigue, she had in fact many times, look haggard and mature looking than her male counterparts. Her body frame also look stout next to the fragile looking Chen Ze Yuan and the petite JJY. Mao must be having a really good backing agency or strong endorsement deals to push forward and get all the juicy roles. Same goes to Chen Du Ling. Nothing against both girls but it’s really a surprise, to see them getting hyped as super beautiful and getting ahead of other more established actresses.
Yes one can argue it’s not about looks, but seriously, who watches big budget xianxia or fantasy drama for average looking people? Can you sit through 40 episodes over good but so so looking actors?
In real life we look for inner beauty but in entertainment industry, it’s also about brands and sponsorships. How many cosmetic, fashion, automobile and premium brands would engage Jackie Chan or some of the pot bellied men to showcase their products?
You are misunderstanding something. In the original SF4 game, Mao Xiaohui’s character Liu Mengli is said to be the most beautiful lady. The director is not pushing her but just sticking to the original work’s description of said character.
I don’t think Ju Jingyi will want the character of Liu Mengli over Ling Sha because 1) Ling Sha is the female lead and 2) Ling Sha is the more popular character between the two.
Can’t say I disagree with those ratings. I dropped all of four of these shows because they were all lacking – the storytelling, directing, editing and acting were very poor.
Agree with the rating, nothing spectacular or memorable.
Love Game in Eastern Fantasy is a absolutely great and funny watch so far up to episode 7. I’m up to episode 4 for The Story of Pearl Girl too and it’s pretty good too, though I would say it pales in comparison to LGIEF, would still continue watching though.
Love game in eastern fantasy is so good and captivating. Not boring for now and the main girl and father relationship was so heart tugging. That and some good laughs. I will wait on pearl girl because I prefer a laugh right now. I don’t doubt either dramas.
It has that magical touch, I don’t know how to describe it. Like time passes so fast while watching and before I realise it, the credits are rolling and I have to wait till tomorrow to continue watching. A clear sign that this drama is wonderfully great.
@Lilith, to be fair, the credits were legit rolling after like 10 mins in episode 1 🤣
@Soph Oh yeah that gave me a real good laugh too! 🤣
I think generally speaking LGIEF was received better than TSOPG which was a huge surprise to both Youku and ZLS’s team and promoted the bizarre happenings from today where Youku and she both contacted a whole bunch of people to endorse her drama. I don’t know what had me cringing more, them doing it or her fans pretending that people did this because they are her friends. Embarrassing.
I find LGIEF fun so I will stick with it. The SA in the first two episodes of TSOPG totally turned me off because it wasn’t organic but more like beating the audience over the head with look at us, showing dark materials. Meh. I will give it another shot later but am sticking to LGIEF now.
If Youku and ZLS’s team were really so surprised by this outcome, it goes to show that these industry insiders really have no eye for dramas. I would get it if they were still in the choosing scripts phase, but both dramas’ trailers were already out. They should be able to get a sense of both dramas’ quality.
Don’t know where you got that they’re pretending, even Lusi herself is saying that she did have to do that for the first time to help promote because she had no choice Youku did not do enough promotions for the show. For fans to say so they do because some are indeed her friends or good colleagues and literally no one forcing them to post, she can ask all she wants but if they don’t want to then what can she do. Xiao Xhan barely promotes for anyone and he did it for her.
@Liz
Xiao Zhan is friendly with her but he has an up and coming major drama for Youku. Both ZLS and Youku reached out to people. He has no choice but to play nice if he doesn’t want his own work to be disturbed.
In any case, her fans crowing how “the industry is rallying for her” is a joke and an attempt to attack Esther because look how important ZLS is while nobody but a few stood behind EY. It’s horribly distasteful and I for one am glad it is Esther’s drama that is going up while Lusi’s plateaued. Maybe one day they will learn manners.
I haven’t watched Story of Pearl Girl yet, but completely agree with LGIEF! I’m enjoying it so far. It knows what genre it is and totally knows how to make fun of itself. Some of Esther’s voice over comments are definitely what a lot of viewers think 😅 also people might not like her but I feel like she was made for this role. When she told ZXD’s role to just drink water, I literally laughed out loud. It’s a fun and easy watch!
Forreal I laughed so hard for that one and the one where she kept getting slayed, over and over, and in the end, she even thought of unaliving herself, only to ask him to do it instead lol.
I agree with you. It knows what genre it is and knows how to make fun of itself. I feel like Esther picks good, well okay, scripts compared to the other liu lang starlets.
This is really why story is really is the most important. I saw this low budget xianxia drama called Dominator of The Martial God. Yes obviously low budget in production and cast and other things but the story totally trumps all of those things. It makes the drama more interesting and enjoyable from start to end and definitely more worthwhile than those S budget ones but no substance and poor story execution and lack thereof. How I wish this story would be adapted in a bigger budget production because it’s really good.
I read the OG source for Kill Me Love Me (Weariness of Spring Flowers) and was curious how it would be translated onscreen. I was so excited for it but it got bland reception instead so I’m sure the execution did not come up to par. I might still watch it in the future but not right now.
Love in the Desert seemed interesting as well and Alen Fang Yilun is in it but it’s too tame compared to the novel so I’m sticking to the novel for now.
Yeah I was really looking forward to both KMLM and LITD but based on poor reviews I think I won’t bother watching them. So sad as I was really excited for both
@trina
Is there a link that I could read Love in the Desert? Please advise. Thanks for giving the original novel title of KMLM.. is it happy ending?
I’ve caught up to TSOPG and LEGIEF and I have to say TSOPG is my favorite of the two. The acting is superb, the cinematography is gorgeous (especially the underwater scenes), and most of the characters are pretty much grey. It’s not an easy drama to digest for some but I love the tone after having consumed a ton of fluffy dramas throughout the year this is something new.
I’m watching both too. Pearl Girl is riveting and is keeping my interest thus far. Every episode has good action and they actually expands on the scenes so we feel for the characters. Not quick flashbacks of “pain” ala Kill Me Kill Me Again Kill Me Three Times. I think I’ll just stick with Pearl Girl for now and wait on Love Game because of the two different moods needed for the two different dramas. I keep wondering how DuanWu was going to get out of each of her challenges and it’s been fun watching her growth to be the businesswoman of the future :).
I checked both Pearl Girl and Love Game out of curiosity. I couldn’t even pass beyond the first 10 minutes of Love Game. Love Game is totally not up my street, so childish and I had seen numerous similar tropes in short dramas. It wasn’t refreshing to me. Esther Yu’s acting did not help at all. Her voice was still annoying. Pearl Girl looked interesting though from the get go. I’ll continue to watch ZLS’ drama and see if it’s worth following.
TRON was mid, mid plot, mid acting. Everything feels like “been there done that” in other drama that did it better. But it’s entertaining enough if you turn off your brain.
SNTL has pretty bg and pretty leads but how many episodes can you watch the same things happen over and over again? I’ll give points for the last few episodes when things are actually happening.
KMLM is the biggest offender for me, I was promised a crazy ML and a formidable assassin FL from the trailer, and they turned out to be the most boring couple. One lovesick puppy ML and a dull as dishwater FL.
How is Douban rating credible? The Untamed used to be rated only 5-6 when I checked it last time. Although it’s sitting higher at 7.7 now, but still does not measure up to its huge popularity and great reviews. LOL.
“Love Game in Eastern Fantasy” and “Story of Pearl Girl” = 👌 so far! The stories are playing out well and the scripts are holding steady, but it really, really, really IS the PAIRINGS that work. These four leads are actually good at acting. Lol. And when I say acting, I mean BECOMING their characters. Emoting, body language, dialogue exchange = ✨. Truly, try to imagine anyone else casted in these two dramas, and these two dramas would be flopping so hard because the stories are actually only decent. The lead actors and actresses embodying their characters is what’s making these two dramas watchable. For now, they’re neck and neck–both super watchable and have my investment so far. Man, I wish “Pearl Girl” wasn’t produced by Youku! If they had had the production quality and cinematography of “Love Game”, OOF! “Pearl Girl” would’ve taken the cake! Anyways, liking both so far!
As a The Longest Promise survivor, I dropped The Rise of Ning after a couple of episodes – I have had enough of Ren Min.
I also sampled Snowy Night, but nothing interesting there for me, and the fake snow was hurting my eyes.
I am currently at ep. 21 of Kill Me love me, and yes, I admit to watching this mostly for Liu Xue Yi at this point. The first couple of episodes were great, too bad they decided to make all the big revelations in the first 2-3 episodes and then give us the average “wronged prince” plot. Well, at least said prince looks great.
I have checked Love Game’s first episode and it looks super fun, I am glad people seem to like it! I will wait for it to arrive at Netflix though (on the 10th, in Europe).
I haven’t taken a real look at Pearl Girl yet, I think I will first say goodbye to Liu Xue Yi first.
I saw comments saying Ren Min is a great actress before but I don’t see it. She has limited facial expressions and an even worse line delivery on TRON. At most I can say she’s an okay actress but she’s nowhere near great.
I might have been one of those, Sydney, as I had watched Ren Min in a modern drama before and I had thought she did well (I dropped the drama though, for other reasons). So, when The Longest Promise came along, I thought wait, this must be the director’s fault (and the horrible voice-acting). The Longest Promise was meh anyway, and I only watched it for Xiao Zhan. Also, I felt sorry for her, she got a lot of bullying for her styling and overall looks (probably by people who are a lot less pretty than she is).
But yes, going into The rise of Ning, I couldn’t stand her anymore (and although I like Zhang Wanyi very much, I wouldn’t watch a drama I don’t enjoy just for him).
@Nena, I used to think fans were too harsh on Ren Min. But to this point, I have to agree with those who suggested she didn’t fit costume. I think she should stay away from costume as a FL. Her visuals and aura can’t live up to fans’ expectation for a heroine in costume.
She won’t give up. Girl is gonna think Rise of Ning did well thanks to her (and not the script/genre) and start buying hot searches on how beautiful and suitable she is for costumes LOL. Her next drama is a costume drama pairing alongside Cheng Yi.
I actually noticed this during TRON, especially in the beginning. There are always articles in weibo, “Ren Min is actually suitable for costume drama.” or “Ren Min looks pretty in ancient costume.”
I find it amusing. Isn’t it detrimental to her if she’s occupied with “Do I look pretty?” when she act.
I guess the criticism and hate she got in The Longest Promise really got to her.
@dee
That criticism has existed from before TLP. Her drama with Wang Kai is what started that when the ratings tanked when the drama shifted its focus on her. She got loudly dragged for being unfit for costumes, her looks etc at that point and it has been going on since.
TLP just made it worse because people openly stated they are dropping it because of her everywhere. Those who watched TLP till the end celebrated the ending because it meant Shi Ying is away from her. She didn’t help herself with her behavior and the rest is history.
I’ve watched those 4 dramas. Dropped 2, KMLM and Fangs. Ning was enjoyable, not that great tho. Snowy.. sigh.. i finished it but skipped many scenes. But it did remind me of the old wuxia dramas. But in this modern era, that kinda stories bore you.
While i kinda agree with the rating, i think, Ning should be a little higher. Just a little bit. Because i really liked the main characters. They were smart and trust each others.
I love kill me love me and quite like wu jinyan. liu xueyi looks pretty good inhis role but so far not sure if i’d check the whole thing out. Rise of ning started off promising but I stopped bothering after awhile. The novel was way superior. In the drama, only Ci sha/lu jiaxue interests me (and he’s hot) but he’s written in a such a one-dimensional manner. and actually all the other characters are quite superficially written as well, minus the leads.
As for acting, I’m quite tired of ren min’s voice, her flat tonal delivery of her lines and just no expressions no matter what the scene calls for. Her character is also not compelling in the drama version. Zhang wan yi is a good actor, great line delivery but again limited facial expressions – the both of them barely smile in the entire drama, just straight serious faces throughout. Not sure if they are written to be that way. However, i thought their chemistry as siblings worked really well and i liked it. When it started to head into romance territory was when i noped out of there. Felt super weird and rushed and she was still calling him “san-ge” even after marriage. Weird
Neither of the oct offerings interest me as not a fan of ZLS or esther, but the esther drama looks slightly interesting and may check it out once i’m free.
Have completely fell off korean dramas this year and k-ent stuff, not sure if I’ll ever go back, after years of tolerating declining quality in scripts and acting and rabid fans. C-ent / c-drama looks promising – ifans of cdrama are more reasonable as well – but I’m still not feeling the 40+ ep dramas plus the incredibly poor script quality as well. Always starts off well and nothing makes sense towards the middle.
I find rise of ning to be enjoyable. Not the best. But it’s the kind of drama where you don’t have to think too hard? It’s like a mindless watch and then you realised you’ve completed the episode haha. Renmin’s voice irks me in the beginning but then I kinda got used to it and I guess in some ways, it fits her character. Funny enough, one of the reason I don’t particularly feel like starting love game in eastern fantasy is because I can’t stand esther yu’s voice 😭 she’s a good actress though but gosh her voice. I think it doesnt help that her characters are mostly child-like. But I do enjoy her in my journey to you though. Her voice was less annoying there and her character is more serious and mature. Maybe I can get used to her voice? Like how i did with renmin? Lol idk