Yan Shi Fan (2020)

Buckle in, this is LONG; if you don't want to read, at the end, there's a TL;DR.

I rarely get emotional over dramas (the only one that's ever made me cry was the Untamed, and I credit that to excellent story writing and Xiao Zhan's acting). And although this drama didn't make me cry, it definitely made me more than a bit emotional.

There's spectacular character development throughout the entire thing. Although flat characters remain rather flat-- for example, Chong Li Ming's father, or his brother, or Xiao Hong--, it's a good thing. It brings more liveliness into our center characters, making them rounder and more full. Chong Li Ming's character isn't a male "Mary Sue"-- he struggles with a lot of issues, such as breaking away from the past as well as letting people go. Ah Yi's character is probably the closest we get to a "Mary Sue"-- he's a better fighter than Chong Li Ming, he's morally upright, he's incredibly kind, and he's committed to his friend. (And Jackson's acting is amazing in this!)

The cast is well chosen and honestly they're amazing together. They have fantastic chemistry together, especially Yu Chu (Hu Bing Qing) with Ah Yi (Jackson Yi). Admittedly, Yu Chu (Hu Bing Qing) is a bit more awkward with Chong Li Ming (Huang Zi Tao), but it works with her character design (to be honest, I'm not 100% sure if the awkwardness is engineered into her acting intentionally or not, but either way, it works really well with the story as well as her character design).

I especially enjoyed the following characters' acting: Yang Zhen (June Wu) (his character is listed as a side character, but honestly, he's more of a main character than Marie), Ke Yan Xin (Liu Yuan), and Xiao Ke (Li Jun Mo). Yang Zhen's character actually made me hate him so much, which is credited more to the actor, June Wu, then the writing (because you can have a well written story, but if the acting is poor, the character will fall flat). Ke Yan Xin's character starts off as very lovable, but then becomes a less lovable character, which the actor carries well with grace and it's very well integrated. Xiao Ke's actor, Li Jun Mo, also does a spectacular job. Although his facial expressions are a bit recycled, he does fantastic nonetheless.

Honorable mentions: Wa Ge Na (Richards Wang), Hua Jiu Qing (Ning Xin), Marie (Ma Li, actor: Miranda Ma)

I'm going to loop back a bit to the story, as I've gone on a LOT about characters. The story is spectacularly written. I see a lot of people get upset because this was a BL story originally, but what did you expect? It's China, so they're going to have to write that out in order to air it. However, unlike the Untamed, it's far more subtle; it's written more like a bromance rather than having romantic undertones. Nonetheless, it's a very well written story, with overarching themes of loyalty and growth and bromance (there's a LOT of bromance).

The music is pretty good as well, especially paired with the more emotional scenes.

TL;DR: It's good. Watch it. Please. Acting, music, story- all superb. If you don't want to because it took away the BL aspect, know that this is still well written enough to be its own story. If you don't want to because of its length and fear of it being dragged out: it's not and honestly, quite binge-able.

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Drop any expectation you might have, at the door

Somehow I made it through...
Did I almost drop it? Many times along the way.
Until the end, I really did not feel a strong, deep connection, friendship or bromance between Prince Chong Li Ming and Ayi.
Chong Li Ming was always the one, showing all of his emotions (Ayant le sensibilité à fleur de peau); however, I could never really read Ayi’s attachment toward Chong Li Ming.
I am not sure if was the actor’s lack of skill or it was the way the character was written...
I was prepared for everyone to die, except Wagner. Wagner was an unnecessary casualty.

*All in all, not the worst turn-of-era, Qing to Early Chinese Republic drama.
However, the complete change of concept from the original storyline and the strange adaptation were rather hard to swallow. Although, the choreographed fighting sequences were excellent.
*Also however atrocious the writing of his dramas might be, no viewer or fan of Z. Tao can stay upset at him... With that glorious honey-colored skin of his;)

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