Legend of the Female Lead with Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei Opens with Low 5.5 Douban Ratings Reflecting Viewer Disappointment with the Drama
The C-drama Legend of the Female General, adapted from the popular and very fun novel Rebirth of a Star General, is my biggest C-drama disappointment of 2025 so far. It’s not as bad as some other C-dramas but since it came with such high expectation due to my love for the source novel it makes the wholly mediocre drama version even sadder to watch. Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei visually look the part of the characters but their acting is not serving at all – she’s cutesy more often than not due to both the writing and her acting style and he’s transplanted directly from his My Journey to You cold character here and basically has two expressions of staring eyes and the occasional secret grin. The narrative has been both changed and also truncated to be the Cliff’s Notes version of the novel, and the directing sucks donkey balls with the abrupt scene edits and also removal of any and all tension to the novel. The other two Qian Shan Cha Ke novels to be adapted in recent years with The Double and The Glory were both popular and successful because all the tension and step-by-step calculating revenge was there and the baddies both written and acted well.
Here it’s all watered down: there is too much added scenes for second male lead Chu Zhao (who can’t act his way out of a paper bag), Zhou Ye’s He Yan spends all her time making grand speeches in between aegyo’ing Cheng Lei’s Xiao Jue (if I have to hear her say “Dudu” one more time in that cutesy voice I will punch her through the screen), the fighting scenes are nicely choreographed but means nothing when the connective narrative is so dull, and everyone is just going through the motions of plot, reveal, counterplot, resolution. This drama only tells and doesn’t show, so if I want that might as well go read the novel, since it wastes the very premise of making a live action which is to see it onscreen. This drama has way bigger budget than both The Double and The Glory but so far won’t reach the heat index either generated during their respective runs. I also think I may have to write Zhou Ye off because while she’s not offensive to watch it’s clear she doesn’t have leveling up potential the way both Wu Jin Yan was amazing in The Double and Chen Du Ling leveled up in The Glory. A better actress could have maybe given this production a bit more sizzle and I just hope Zhou Ye doesn’t ruin more female characters I like in the future.
I was excited to watch Legend of the Female General but gave up after 12 episodes. I felt disconnected with the characters and felt more and more annoyed with the female leads bubbly front. And same with “Dudu”. It was sooooo annoying, I just couldn’t bring myself to watch further.
I am currently enjoying Summit of Our Youth. It’s a light and cute. Let’s see how it ends.
Thank you Douban. It’s trashy but sometimes very fair.
I’ve tried watching this about 3-4 times but still stuck at episode 12. I don’t know it’s not that bad but I feel kinda bored.
It’s very bad. The rating is deserved.
Yes low key abit disappointed with LOTFG. As much as I like Zhou Ye, she is not v believable as a general. But another drama that I’m catching and is underrated is Summit of our Youth! If you like lighthearted drama pls check it out.
I have to agree on this one. A huge disappointment. Zhou Ye’s acting is juvenile. She always does this really formulaic sigh of relief when she gets out of a dicey situation that doesn’t look natural at all. Cheng Lei’s acting feels stagnant now. It was kind of disappointing to see him here.The screenwriters are also terrible. They unfortunately dumbed down the female lead a lot, and added some illogical things to add drama/angst? I don’t really know the point. The directorial choices and editing were also strange. They wasted a great source material to just give us tropey idol romance.
I always refuse to watch any drama with Zhou Ye involvement. I dont hate her, its just her acting really despise me, she doesnt have any emotions and she cannot delivered what needs to be delivered. Dilraba, Zhang Ruonan, Zhang Jing Yi, Zhou Ye, Wu Lei, Yang Yang and Dylan Wang, these actress and actors really need to have an intense acting workshop, otherwise, its a disrespect to those role that they played/will play especially if its an adaption of famous novels.- dont come up with ” how they get their roles if they cannot act”, agency and popularity played a big role but it doesnt equate talent.
I wanna second that.
I really have hope they have intense acting workshop of just stay with roles that are more manageable and within their acting spectum.
Although those mentioned above really do have their popularity and likeability that makes investors just cast them in almost all dramas. It is the sad truth in the entertainment. But like you I do hope they put it upon themselves to push their ahead of their limits…
I agree with actors and actresses that you mentioned except Dilraba, and that because I avoid her dramas. The funny thing is Zhang Jing Yi and Zhou Ye graduated from the same acting school. And I would like to add a few more, Gong Jun, Zhang Ling He, Esther Yu, Yang Chao Yue.
Gong Jun and Zhang Ling He are similar, they are watchable when they don’t make any expression, but when they do, it’s weird and doesn’t match the scene.
Esther Yu and Dylan Wang – Their acting is either not making any expression at all, frowning or widened their eyes till they bulge when they are shock. Mediocre singer/rapper too.
Zhang Ruo Nan and Zhang Jing Yi belong to the same category. Innocent beauty with empty eyes.
Yang Yang and Zhou Ye are the type that don’t have any emotion when they act.
Zhou Ye is under a big agency & she’s probably has big backers. That’s probably why she keeps getting main roles in female-centric dramas.
To conclude “The Double” remains the most successful Qian Shan Cha Ke adaptation til date. And among the three it is the one with the lowest budget. Interesting. The investors who put their money into “The legend of Female general” must be shaking now. It will be difficult for them to recover. Indeed, In term of production budget of those failed dramas of this summer 2025, one can say at least iqiyi made some profits with “The Wanted Detective”. Concerning Tencent it must be another story with that one here.
I totally agree with you Koala. I came into this drama with much higher expectations because I enjoyed the source novel. Unfortunately the team here decided to dumb down the female lead. She made so many idiotic comments during the first few episodes to Dudu and I was like girl do you just want to give yourself away. She is way too cutesy when the general is supposed to give off a heroic air. It’s like zhou ye is playing general. I wish there was a different production company and team to do the source novel justice. Both of the main leads needs to be replaced.
For as long as 8nvestors back traffic over acting skills, this is the mediocre output we will get.
Sadly, it looks like they are going to ruin the genre before they learn that lesson.
well many times when we are expecting one drama so much, it turns up to be flopped. but sometimes when you have low expectation of a drama, and miraculously it is indeed very good..
but yeah, I think the direction and the writing are the sectors that should be responsible..for the actor and actress, even though they are not very good but if the directing is great. I think they can deliver a convincing acting..and the story, why they make the great general become too cute..do they not see that the popular trend right now is a strong lady character.. i try to watch it many time, but i becoming sleepy..and I find that the new drama When Destiny Bring Demon is more entertaining (eventhough I am not big fans of both leads before)
Well deserved low ratings, this is such a juvenile drama, ep 12 is when I throw in the towel too, even checked out trailers of later episodes, it is more and less the same fluff.
And WTHeck with Dudu, did they just make up a cute title ? Because I can’t imagine any general or even guy being called like a pet dog.
I was fond of both leads, but they just went into my unwatchable list with this drama.
Dudu should actually be a real military commander title (Chinese 都督). Maybe it’s the actress’ tone and delivery that makes it sound annoying?
Duduo actually means “Commander”…
Its extremely disappointing how much they dumb down the female lead to another typical cute cheerful female lead; and the series as a tropey romance much. I was looking forward to it so much since Zhou Ye looks visually the part of a general. The only good thing that came out of the series is probably Cheng Lei – such a charismatic actor.
I am following this drama (on episode 22 now) and although I am not familiar with the source novel, I think that the rating is well merited and that the novel could give a much better drama. I blame it on the director, above all. He (or she) has Zhou Ye acting all bubbly girl around her Duduo (which means Commander, but yes, after a while it gets as annoying as the infamous “Shifu!”) while pretending to be a soldier – up to around episodes 15-16 when the plot thickens and she stops doing that, thankfully. So it really is a directing problem, I think. Plus, the script has all kind of holes in it and the editing, especially in the first episodes, is atrocious. Overall, very disappointing, though as I said I keep watching in hope it gets better now that the cat is out of the bag and “Duduo” knows the truth. I like Cheng Lei, though. I think he does justice to the character – the drama character, that is – I have no idea about the novel character.
She definitely ruined it! ZY is a secondary actor at best!! *criiiiies* If this role had been given to a good and fitting actress, who knows what I’d be feeling! I think Cheng Lei is pulling off the character they gave him though. He mostly emotes right for the audience to at least catch the emotion behind whatever thought he’s thinking or action he’s taking. And GAH, he’s so handsome!! Lol. What a wasted premise…
Whenever I watch her esp as a lead actress, Im always surprised how she got the role with her ‘talent’. This drama was also no surprise.
There was also zero chemistry between both leads cant casting directors/person pick better pairings at least before wasting so much money on weak writing script.
I’m really baffled that the male lead didn’t realize he roufei is a different person, yes they wear masks, but the voice, the height,the body totally different.this drama lack logic,and the female lead not believable as a general.
Read the novel. It is so much better than this. Even the novel for the Double is better than the drama.
Really bad drama. He is not exactly good but she is awful. But we’ll, when you have one of the biggest names as your backer, I guess you can ruin as many dramas as you want and I still won’t matter. She will keep getting lead roles.
Just think of Ma Sichun as a general. It is embarrassing that women like her exist but Zhou Ye will always have priority.
I love the novel and was really looking forward to the drama, but cant even get past the first episode. The directing is choppy and i cant root for either the fl or the ml. Both are not giving.
I believe the screenwriters, makeup artists, and hairstylists are completely at fault. They didn’t manage to translate the best parts of the novel onto the screen, and the rest of the crew failed to give Zhou Ye a more masculine appearance with proper makeup and tailored clothing to make her look more like a man.
People who think they’re being smart by hating on actors are just trolls and nothing more.
Zhou Ye is a decent actress. My expectations for Chinese actors and actresses are not very high.
Cheng Lei is doing a great job, in my opinion. He’s really bringing the character to life with what the screenwriters have given him. The screenwriters made significant changes to the character from the novel. It would have been even better if he were dubbing himself, but I understand why he isn’t—his standard Mandarin and line delivery aren’t perfect. Still, it’s wild how many idol actors dub themselves with their mediocre standard Mandarin and delivery.
I’ve read the novel and it took months to finished it. But i religiously follow the drama every day. Lol.
5.5 is such a disappointment. But i dont care. I just dislike that Chu man looks smarter than our Duduo. Cuz in the novel, no one can beat Xiao Jue’s smartness.
They toned down He Yan’s character which is one if the reason i enjoy watching this one. Well, preference. The female general supposed to be strong, bla bla bla… but i dont mind her being cute in front of duduo.
I’m about 10 episodes in.
I agree with most of the criticisms. I don’t think a better actress could have made it work though. The direction and writing decisions worked against the story and expectations too much. Instead of a heart-pounding, exciting epic, it’s more of a rom-com idol costume web drama. I guess, if anything, we could have used an actress who can do rom-com cutesy better than Zhou Ye. But the cutesy personality was problematic to begin with. The drama reads like a dusty script that was written 5+ years ago and fast-tracked to production because of the successful live actions of The Double and The Glory. And then final-edited in the fashion of the current mini-drama and vertical drama trend. The drama drops us into the main story by skipping a lot of important information that help form the characters. How does He Yan feel about being betrayed and almost killed? How about her admired classmate being framed and having both his parents die because of the debacle? Not much. She just wants to be a general. The ML’s characterization is also similarly bland.
Great chemistry though. And the fight scenes were a pleasure to watch.
So 5.5. seems about right.
When I first saw the poster and the title, I already had my doubts ZY would be able to pull this role off. I still hope she can bounce back as I like her visuals and charisma in light-hearted idol dramas.
Ouch so much criticisms here. I am thoroughly enjoying this show, it’s a light watch and I love the chemistry between both leads. While the drama has its flaws I have to admit with the points mentioned, but to me, I still thoroughly enjoyed every episode and quite hooked to it. Probably since I didn’t really read the novel and I liked the previous works of both actor and actress. They are both quite charming together. I do admit that ZY saying Dudu was sort of endearing initially but also excessive.
I’m really enjoying it, but I have never read the novel and didn’t have any expectations for it so that probably helps. It’s a fun, cute romance, which is perfect for me. I regularly have different opinions to Douban ratings so this doesn’t surprise me at all, lol. I learned a long time ago to pay zero attention to the ratings because they never reflect how I feel.
Oh no, I was really looking forward to watching the show and was waiting to binge watch it once it’s finished. But all these reviews are making me second-guess and definitely lower my expectations. I really enjoyed the buildup in the novel and every time she outsmarted the bad guys and the chemistry was fantastic. To be fair, I didn’t finish the novel because I didn’t know when the drama would come out and I didn’t wanna finish and wait for this whole time but now it seems like better not to finish it and ruin my expectations
Finally, Koala admits ZY may need to be written off. LOL. Long ago since her first appearance in popular hit Words of Honor, I have not been able to take her seriously on screen. LOL. I still checked out this drama for CL’s sake. But welp, nothing was worth my energy to be invested in, just as expected.
There was a reason why ZY was rejected for a role as the FL for a drama of Xiao Zhan, even the final cast of the FL wasn’t a good fit either. LOL.
I haven’t read the novel but I had high expectations for this drama based on the trailers and having just finished watching Cheng Lei in My Journey to You. While I didn’t mind turning my brain off for certain parts of the drama like glossing over the fact that Zhou Ye didn’t look or act like a man, I believe most of the problem with this drama was the poor directing. The Director butchered all the tension and conflict in the drama and turned it into pure fluff. It’s like we hit a climax in the story and then suddenly it happens off screen and someone is telling what happens as an afterthought. It kills any emotion you feel in the story. And the Director can’t seem to let the actors act. Like in the peak moment when she tells Dudu she’s in love with the moon and the moon doesn’t know, they just rushed through the sentence instead of filming the romantic tension. It could have been a beautiful scene with her drawing it out slowly whispering “I love the moon….but….the moon doesn’t know” with a pause on the last part, teasing and flirting while giving long side glances to each other oblivious to everyone else dancing around them. But no, it was over in like 20 seconds with zero romantic tension. Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye have great chemistry off screen but they decided not to film it on screen which is absurd.
I also feel like the dubbing isn’t helping matters either. Zhou Ye sounded like she had a deeper and rougher voice in interview and a lot of subtlety was missed from not letting Cheng Lei dub himself. I know he can pull off some amazing acting based on My Journey to You. They wasted his talent on this and didn’t let him shine with his soulful eye acting.
And while I do love strong female characters, half of the scenes of He Yan standing up for women turned into some long tirade about women’s rights that is shoved down our throats. They really needed to do less telling and more showing.
Also more than halfway into the show, I have completely forgot about the whole He Yan revenge plot. It’s like she was too busy playing house with Dudu to remember what her goal was. There was a lot of criticism of her character being too girly and playful. While some of it is Zhou Ye’s portrayal, I believe most of it was poor directing choices. They should have shown the audience moments of He Yan alone where she drops the playful facade and shows her true self that has had to bear a lot of grief and pain and the how she puts on yet another “happy” mask to hide it.
I’m deeply disappointed in what could have been a really great drama. Most of it is the directors/editors/screenwriters fault. I do hope though that this puts Cheng Lei on a higher radar as he has a lot of potential but unfortunately was wasted in this drama.
I’ve actually been enjoying it, purely at the face level though, having no idea of the original story.
WOW, what a bunch of negative people you are…..just wait for the “rest” of us…we love it and think that their chemistry is incredible! The storyline is amazing; they did not disappoint as you all so strongly suggest. You all negative people, are spoilers of this drama!
I love this drama,no matter how this people hate and criticize Zhou Ye, it’s perfect from the novel itself., they have a oozing chemistry,