iQiyi Drama Coroner’s Diary with Li Lan Di and Ao Rui Peng Ends Popular Run But Opens with Low-ish 6.4 Douban Ratings
This week saw the conclusion of Coroner’s Diary on iQiyi and the platform indeed must be super thrilled with not only the high viewership but also the strong online discussion, both good and bad. The surprise is that the Douban ratings opened at a not high 6.4 and in two days has dropped now to 6.2. Conversely, similar heat index spring drama The Prisoner of Beauty also opened at 6.4 Douban ratings but in the two months since finishing has gone up to 6.6. So anything can move up and down with Coroner’s Diary but what’s for sure happened that leads Li Lan Di and Ao Rui Peng have leveled up thanks to this drama. Summer 2025 is now midway done and let’s see if another drama delivers a worth-talking-about hit in the second half.
I’ve watched up to episode 8, so far I agree with the others here that the drama is watchable but nothing to write home about. I guess it got lucky that the rest of the airing dramas were too boring and people picked the least boring one to watch?
What popular run? No discussions, no heat. Everything was faked because iQiyi needed it. Very low number of scores on Douban with a low rating because that is how it was. The fans shouldn’t worry though, I am sure they will pad that in time too, they always do.
In the same way that it is said that iQiyi bought data, shouldn’t we also consider the MULTIPLE occasions when Douban users have been singled out for attempting to change ratings or having succeeded in doing so? Why is Douban still considered reliable? Genuine questions.
Also, I don’t think the popularity of a drama has anything to do with its rating. There are plenty of popular ones that didn’t even reach a 7.
There’s this group who kind of gives any and every drama 1-star, people on weibo call if one star cafe. They’re either hired by an another fandom of the the competitor or by their company. I don’t know how that works but yeah they’re kind of bots who try to disrupt the momentum and the popularity of the drama.
It’s not just about the rating but the numbers of people rate this drama which is very low for a supposedly hits drama
For me, I would consider the number of raters than the rating itself specially for dramas starring traffic stars.
Regardless of the rating on Douban, it’s one of the few 2025 C-dramas that kept me entertained.
I tried to watch some the acclaimed ones, but couldn’t connect.
Second. It’s all about entertainment at the end as I said in the other thread. CD (no pun intended lol) got me entertained. At least I did not doze off as most C dramas had done to me lol.
Fraud Diary
People like to dismiss Douban but like it or not, it’s still a benchmark that the industry references. Among the more popular dramas or dramas that broke platform heat indexes this year, not even one broke an 8.0 rating on Douban this year.
Flourished Peony 7.8
Blossom 7.5
Legend of Zang Hai 7.1
The Glory 7.0
The Prisoner of Beauty 6.4
Feud 6.1
Guardians of the Dafeng 5.6
The First Frost 5.4
Drifting Away 5.3
I watched FP, Blossom and FF, and I agree with the ratings. Didn’t watch or dropped the rest, so I guess I didn’t miss much.
Flourished Peony is the closest to getting an 8. It was highly recommended to me but I put it on hold because I got better entertainment from other dramas such as Blossom, Legend of Zang Hai, or even Coroner’s Diary. They had a certain fast pace that I am used to. Regardless of whether Flourished Peony has artistic values or not, I was bored.
The rating on Douban varies depending on each viewer. All the dramas you listed were probably not watched by the same group of folks. Especially when they are determined by technique, tone, content, or even length.
I hope I have explained myself adequately; my English is still not quite up to par. Lol.
Ratings on Douban first depend on whether the production will pay them or not. If you pay, there are several options.
First, you get the exact rating people vote. Then you can pay to get 1s deleted. Then you can even pay to get an opponent’s drama to have its 5s deleted. You can pay them to protect your black water armies down voting another drama or to protect them up voting your own drama.
Douban is well known as a joke in China. And no, the industry isn’t paying attention to it. In fact, even in public, some producers are starting to openly talk about the protectin money that is being demanded.
@Lol
My bad, I didn’t just want to refer to Douban, but other Chinese or overseas review platforms that have not yet been flagged for malpractice.
But what you commented could explain why there are productions whose rating dropped drastically from one moment to another.
Actually, Douban isn’t really considered a joke in China. The Douban ratings are a widely recognized and influential system for evaluating dramas, movies, books, and music. They don’t always perfectly correlate with overall popularity but they’re generally considered a reliable indicator of quality and are often used by industry professionals to gauge a production’s reputation.
Things change, Douban is now considered a joke in China.
Douban has been a biggest joke ever since LOZH received a stinking 7.1. The poor fans.
Douban has already become a joke way before LOZH lol. As usual, XZ antis are too fixated on XZ.
Marry my husband japanese got 8 above rating in douban
Because it’s not a Chinese mainland drama. Foreign dramas and movies always get much higher ratings on Douban because the frog-in-the-well C-actors/actresses/agencies don’t consider them as rivals, which is stupid imo because they definitely are.
May i ask if Legend of Zang Hai is good or not of justied by that rating. Im confused because if his fans keep praising the drama but here is quite ambigiou is it quality drama or not
I think the fact that you claimed people who praised the drama are his fans already speaks volumes. To you, anyone who praise the drama must be his fans.
By the way, Douban has just released a new campaign today to “counter malicious low ratings”. Further proof that the platform knows that it has lost credibility in China, hence they need to initiate some form of campaign to save its reputation.
https://wx4.sinaimg.cn/mw690/008vETgYly1i3y96wupd0j30qo0x6102.jpg
I Am Nobody Season 2 got 8.3 in Douban tho. It started late 2024 and ended in early January. I don’t know if that’s counted for 2025. Heh.
Dropped at ep9. First case was mildly interesting, by the time second case rolls out, I have lost interest in the cases and the leads. ARP has zero charisma as usual, and LLD don’t play stoic characters well. I really liked her in Starry Love and Angel Falls Sometimes, but she was pretty stoic in Filter too.
The real hit drama this summer is Revenged Love eventho it is not being broadcast in china. Not sure if miss koala hear or watch it
Yes, such an amazing hit that both guys are already buying so much water that they could drown half of Asia with it.
Dropped end of episode 5 – the conclusion of the headless woman case.
It’s pretty to look at, am interested in watching cases being solved in the pre-CCTV, any kind of phone, etc., eras but that only takes it so far, it has to be scripted/acted/filmed better. Moving on to something else.
I never look at rating when I watch a drama…I just watch if it is entertaining or drop if not. I am not investor, rating is nothing for me.
I do find the fan fighting here due to rating issues interesting…
I don’t look at rating when I watch either but I’ll take a peek to get an idea of how it fared with domestic audience.
I loved it, it was a guilty pleasure kind of watch. I went in with no expectations and just enjoyed it for what it is. Plus the CP chemistry was adorable.
The rating seems reasonable and respectable and nothing to be ashamed of when you consider that there are lots of great dramas in the 6s. Guess viewership is most important for advertisers anyways.
I’ve been watching it. It’s like a CSI: Ancient China. It’s got its enjoyable moments as well as enough eyerolling moments. Some cases suck; some cases are good. The leads are really just anchors for the case-of-the-week so their characterizations are a bit shallow to me. It’s an easy watch – sort of like how so people end up easily watching 10+ seasons of SVU, NCIS, Bones, etc. Enjoyable but nothing that I would call prestige or creative tv. I did notice that it seems to follow the mini/micro drama pacing at times. I know viewer attention spans are getting shorter…but it’s worrisome if other dramas end up doing that too.
I like it. But honestly, the last 6 episodes were twisted here and there and it got ridiculous but still finished it with a little fast forward. The score isnt high nor low. Not bad. I’ve tried watching many dramas but i often dont finish watching them. So for me, this one is a good watch. Preference.
Ps : seeing the comment above about dramas’s scores… oh my God, The First Frost only got 5.4??? That’s one of my fave dramas. But it’s ok, i watch what i like to watch.
Koala periodically shares the Douban rating when a drama ends its run. There usually isn’t a big kerfuffle but then this unsatisfactory rating came out.
https://koalasplayground.com/2025/06/08/youku-period-c-drama-legend-of-zang-hai-wraps-highly-successful-run-and-douban-ratings-open-with-7-1/
Since then, Douban has become the biggest joke with some claiming to know how the rating system works like the back of their hand and what payments to make to receive which numbers. It fits their narrative.
If that drama was actually able to muster a 9 or better, the comments would be completely different. Would they still call Douban a joke? Would they accuse the actor/drama of paying for the rating? I think we all know the answers to those questions.
Maybe if his next drama actually manages to score a Douban rating that they’re satisfied with, they’ll reinstate Douban as being more legitimate. Whatever fits the changing narrative.
This was literally the ONLY CN drama that I watched in full in 2025 ,so yea she definitely deserves better rating .
The acting was good , nice and consistent plot , great chemistry, the side characters all getting enough time ,the villians actually got what they deserved ,nothing to complain ab .