La Promesa más Larga (2023)

After watching this drama in 2 platforms , i plan to re watch it again for the 3rd time , at first , i was annoyed by the FL lead attitude , a very common for a chinese drama characters , the FL are always childish and annoying that always caused disasters to ML , the reason why i always drop watching chinese drama after 3-4 epi , but this drama came out to be interesting while the FL improved and become matured, ML lead actor is very handsome with excellent acting skills , maintain his Godly appearance , the story is quite good and not repetitive , i watch it until the last epi and the ending is just common for this kind of story , yes! i'm happy for this drama , all cast and effects are well done .

The whole interpretations in the story from the book is not boring 👍👍👍

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Exaltation of constant tragedy and misfortune

I know Chinese dramas often like to show uber dramatic stories to create a sense of epic in their narration, but there is, or there should be a limit to that. If every single episodes is only about how unfortunate the hero and heroine are,, the tragedies that befall them and everyone they care about it becomes an exercise in patience to keep watching.
And i did, persevering through every failed attempt they made to move on and shed their impending doom like that was the only foregone conclusion.
By the end of the story i no longer felt any pathos i was just waiting for the next tragedy which of course kept coming.
This is a story that should make you think of great ideals and moral greatness but only succeed in being predictable most of the time, annoying and unsatisfying the rest of it.
Killing off Shi Ying (in a completely gratuitous way that could have been done in a thousand better ways) at the end after he had already died once (yeah i'm rolling my eyes here) to leave Zhu Yan alone because she is the cursed lady in Shi Ying life after everything else that happened before is such a cheap way of solving the story that i still can't believe it's what they did.
I haven't read the book but i hope it's written better than how the drama has been executed.
Aside for the plot the CGI is kind of terrible and too too much, but if you are familiar with Chinese dramas you already know what to expect. Music is good and so are costume.
But the only major positive point of the drama is the acting. All the cast has done an amazing job and i finished watching the drama only because of their efforts. I did not know Ren Min before and at the beginning i was doubtful but she is very very good and it becomes obvious during the long painful episodes where her character is tested and tried countless time. I can't imagine anyone else as Zhu Yan. Fang Yi Lun is again perfect for the role of Zhi Yuan and he portrays the struggles of his character with perfect emotions. But it is not only them, seriously all the actors from old to young have performed admirably. And Xiao Zhan on top of them all, he has given dept to a character that was wooden and rigid most of the story, he has managed to portray Shi Ying and the repressed priest that faces all his struggles alone, and than suddenly the more cheerful youth that he would have been if his life had been different. There are countless moments that comes to my mind when i was impressed by his performance.
So in the end i started watching The Longest Promise for Xiao Zhan and with high expectations, his performance surpassed any idea or hope i had, while the drama was a let down i never imagined and i remained till the end only for him.
If you are a fan of Xiao Zhan The Longest Promise is worth watching despite every fault, you will be amazed by his performance and all the fan service provided by the director, if you are not a fan of Xiao Zhan and are here just for the story skip this, there are better written drama and more satisfying stories out there.

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Okay so I wanna give a review from my perspective.
1. This drama is one of the them that has the best CGI I’ve ever seen, some part are crappy when supports roles require CGI but I can let go of that because when the ML uses magic his CGI is top notch specially the water spells. So in terms of CGI you’ll not be disappointed

2. Don’t judge a book by its cover.I was skeptical when I saw the low ratings but I still gave it a try and it did not disappoint me,better than average but not exceptionally special either the plot is cliché but it works. The whole story is light and sweet except for the last part. If you wanna watch it for XZ’s visuals you’re welcome.
3. I wanted to say that some people are saying the FL is ugly. I was a bit pissed bc I’d rather have a FL who can act well, express her emotions through the screen rather than a pretty face actress who remains the same expression through out the whole drama. And I believe appearance isn’t everything. The actress clearly has REAL talent. I don’t think I found the FL “unattractive” or “ugly”, it’s time we should start breaking the norms about every female lead/actress has to be the most beautiful.


4. Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness. Bai Xuelu in the end, she was forgiven by her lover even after doing so many bad things. It teaches us that even after many mistakes we can still turn back. A good lesson !

5.the romance between the main leads is minimal but still persistent. The kids scenes are awkward but I’ll still buy it. If bai Lu were to be paired w XZ I bet the kiss scenes would turn better😂 but hey it’s just my opinion
The 2 secondary couples are also cute and they have also a few kiss scenes.

6. OST: the drama has really good OST , I really like Hu Xia’s and Tia Ray’s songs.

Throughout the drama I realized that I share lot of personality traits with Zhu Yuan so i was kinda becoming fond of her.
You can watch the drama if you want I can say that you won’t waste your time.

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Beautiful drama with top-notch production

I immensely enjoy The Longest Promise. What I like is its fairy-tale flavor, the combination of serious scenes with some tongue-in-cheek moments. And indeed Xiao Zhan as Shi Ying is so appealing that I could spend the whole day watching him meditating. The Longest Promis is visually pleasing and the visual effects fit the style of the drama. The story is told in an interesting way and I don't feel I miss anything because I haven't read the book on which the drama is based. Viewers should remember that The Longest Promise is a kind of drama that puts emphasis on heartbreak and suffering and the story leads to the circumstances that bring distress and agony. The Longest Promise is a tale full of magic and pain and I recommend it strongly to every XiaoZhan fan.

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What's good about The Longest Promise

Well, personally, I've been so fed up with xianxia dramas with repeated concepts. I understand that most xianxia dramas involve reincarnation, multiple lives and all, but I just find this concept too used. The thing is I've already read the novel "Zhu Yan" and so far, I really love the story of Zhu Yan and Shi Ying. The novel is actually a xuanhuan, but the drama is a semi-xianxia because so far, I've seen few changes from the original piece. The added scene (the childhood part) is amazing, knowing how shallow the first meeting Zhu Yan and Shi Ying in the novel.

One thing I love about the drama version is the fact that both actors are doing really great in portraying their characters. I've always picture Shi Ying as elegant, and as handsome as hell like Xiao Zhan. I've always known how good is Ren Min when it comes to expression herself, be whatever role that is.

I love how the drama give emphasis to the entanglement of Ah Yan and Ying's life without ruining the added scenes.

The one I'm looking forward the most actually is the scenes after volume 1.

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The longest promise

I love this Drama.. I waited this for too long... year... I'm so greatful to watched this... The longest promise starring Xiao zhan and Ren Min. The story was great than I expected. When it was Aired usually I'm lucky I read the news about it. So I try to watched it's premier... When I watched the first episode I love it so I continue... Until I waited each episodes everyday. I was captivated with story. I seen the story have a beautiful sceneries, so magical
Place. The characters have pretty outfit. Each characters have great in acting. Theyact very well. Usually it's my first time to mesmerized
To the main lead Xiao Zhan as SHI YING. He fitted for the character I realized he was great in acting usually in this Chinese xianxia romance drama. He so handsome in his white outfits and he great how he used the white umbrella as a weapon it's so fit for him. He so elegant and powerful a crown prince and charming as a master. It's also my first time to watched Ren Min in chinese costume drama.
She act verywell being cute naughty princess ZHU YAN of crimson CLAN. She become more beautiful when she portray a serious character in the drama. For me SHI YING AND ZHU YAN have a great chemistry. Hoping they have another costume drama together. The fight scene and cinematography are amazing. I love it. ❤️ I love also the ost of the drama.

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Not the first xianxia I’ve tried, but the only one I finished

To be honest, I have never been a fan of xianxia. The battling and the sorcery always feel unrealistic and repetitive to me. So when I saw that this drama had 40 episodes, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to try it. But as a big XZ fan, I was compelled to at least peek at a couple episodes.
That was my original plan, anyway. Until the storyline drew me in. This drama was more than battling over territory or power — though their DEFINITELY is that! What kept me watching was also seeing the themes of human frailty + loyalty + love play out on screen. The skill that Xiao Zhan showed in his role as Shi Ying was no surprise, as he is always a consummate professional. His depth of emotion, and the care he took in every subtle movement or look was amazing to witness.
Ren Min may have gotten a lot of criticism ifor her portrayal of Zhu Yan, but as a fairly new actress, I think she did a pretty incredible job as the young and feisty, straight shooting princess/student. ZY’s personally and strength came through. All said, this xianxia drama was time well spent!

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“In tragedy they found their life’s purpose…”

The Longest Promise is a love story between the exiled crown prince Shi Ying and princess Zhu Yan of Crimson Clan. It’s a slow-burn, master-disciple romance between two people who meet as children at the court, where Shi Ying (then crown prince) saves Zhu Yan from the undeserved punishment, and as the consequence of that ends up being forced to fake his own death and leave the capital. He goes into hiding to the Jiuyi Mountain where he later becomes a distinguished cultivator and priest. Zhu Yan never forgets what crown prince did for her that day, and feeling grateful and responsible for his death, decides to find a way to bring him back to life. Years later, that quest brings her to Jiuyi Mountain, famed for its magical prowess, where she meets a young and skilled ‘immortal official’ (basically priest in training) who she thinks can help her. Despite the initial hiccups in their relationship (because there is a prophecy that Zhu Yan will bring doom to Shi Ying & the fact that Shi Ying doesn’t want anyone to know his real identity) Zhu Yan ends up being his first disciple and from there their relationship starts developing and blossoming over time.

When people say this is a slow-burn romance, they mean it. You can see both of them developing feelings for each other over time, but the real confession doesn’t come until the last few episodes. As a priest, Shi Ying tries to push Zhu Yan away and squash his own budding feelings, while Zhu Yan, while devoted to her master, doesn’t believe anything romantic can come out of their relationship because of Shi Ying’s status and upright demeanour. That’s one of the reason why their romance, despite this imbalance of power between master and his disciple, feels healthy and natural. Shi Ying never flaunts his power over Zhu Yan but instead guides her to become her own person while at the same time trying to protect himself from the love that goes against his status.

Aside from the beautifully depicted love story and ML and FL of integrity, this drama has beautiful visuals. The CGI is one of the best (with some small exceptions) when it comes to xianxias, and flowy costumes (really fitting for the whole “holy mountain” concept) and landscapes are stunning. Another strong point of this drama is the acting, especially when it comes to main leads.

Xiao Zhan as Shi Ying was exceptional. With the way he acts with his eyes he really stands apart from others. The sad scenes in which he cried or tried to be strong and hold back his tears were heart-wrenching. The dignity with which he carried out the role of a crown prince and prominent cultivator/priest was impeccable. His microexpressions conveyed all of Shi Ying’s internal struggles, and despite Shi Ying being quite aloof and withdrawn as a character, there was no blank face acting.

Ren Min as Zhu Yan was also really good. Whether as a cheerful and optimistic student, defiant and stubborn disciple or heartbroken woman in love she carried it all gracefully. There was a lot of criticism when it comes to her character. People found her annoying, meddlesome and stubborn, but in my opinion she was exactly as she should be. She was someone who was always left in the dark by other characters. She didn’t know about the curse, she didn’t know Shi Ying loved her, she didn’t know her best friend lied to her about his identity, so she made mistakes. However, as soon as she would find out what’s actually happening around her she would become clear-headed and reasonable. All of her actions had logic and sound motivation behind them. She was wiling to sacrifice herself for her loved ones, she was wiling to admit her own mistakes and she was willing to understand others and forgive them for hurting her.

Now, the thing that I found lacking when it comes to this drama is the plotty part that connects with the romantic storyline. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty mid. The palace intrigue and power struggle over who’s going to emerge as the crown prince was pretty simple. The emperor, Shi Ying’s father, is said to be a bad ruler who can’t save the decaying empire, but we’re never really shown how bad the situation in the empire is. There was a conflict (and later war) between Merfolk and the rest of the population (in which Merfolks were treated as subhumans) which was a major plot-line that defined relationship between Shi Ying and Zhu Yan, but it was kinda whatever. Aside from the personal tragedy that it brought to SY and ZY I didn’t feel anything towards either side. And then the whole time there was a villainous shadowy figure (with distorted voice, which made it kinda childish) behind the scene that pulled the strings and turned out to be THE villain, but until the last 2-3 episodes it didn’t really make me feel anything. It was just whatever.

All of these things had the great impact on the love story, but viewed separately they were just mediocre. The main issue I have with all of that is that (MAJOR SPOILER) Shi Ying and Zhu Yan in the end decided to sacrifice their ‘happy ever after’ (for which they suffered and fought SO HARD!) to save the kingdom, but the drama didn’t make me care about the kingdom and the people in it at all. Intellectually, I can understand their decisions and actions, but emotionally it feels like everything they did in the previous 40 episodes was pointless. The ending is open tho, so I just consider it HE.

When it comes to the music, the opening song and one of the songs/melodies used in the drama were beautiful, the rest was alright. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t memorable either.

All in all, it’s a good love story, visually stunning and well acted. The MDL rating doesn’t do it justice.

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Enjoyable but more of the same

I am attracted to this drama because Xiao Zhan is the male lead. And certainly the second male lead Fang YiLun does very well too. Their performance is stellar. A number of other cast are very good too but their parts are of lesser weight. I would sum up to say an excellent cast, beautiful CGI, lovely costume and melodious music especially the ending theme song.

The 5 male leads are handsome and the second female lead is very good looking. As for the main female lead, she acts well but is frequently caught in the wrong angle - I could not help but think a nose job could perfect her look. Acting alongside the handsome Xiao Zhan, her look is lacklustre - and they not seem quite compatible. In the entertainment industry, good looks certainly help.

China has a lot of acting talents and musicians. But creativity in story writing seems a bit lacking. All these dramas seem to use the similar themes. When watching this drama, many of the sub plots feel very familiar - I can almost identify in which drama I had seen a similar sub plot. And the ending sucks. I think the drama should end with Yuan destroying the God of Destruction together with Shi Ying and Zhu Yan, and not have dragged on. As commonly happen in Chinese dramas, this drama tries to come up with a clever and impressive ending but ends up with a lousy one.

Dying and resurrection, walking a path of torture to exit a chosen path, misunderstanding because the lovers are not communicating properly, keeping too many secrets and lying for the good of each other, couples fighting each other to the end (as in Fu Yao), a petulant female lead character - do these sound familiar to you? Fantasy dramas should have the most leeway for creativity; it is a shame not to capitalise on it.

So I would conclude: a great production but a rather cliche story.

But nevertheless worth watching if you have the spare time or have not watched much Chinese fantasy dramas in the past to spot more of the same.

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Live upon the name!!

arranged so well slow progressed, characters strt affection to each other is very defined and not that abrupt. ending is predictable with so many twist and turns but if you watched more of these drama you can guess what will happen next

and the promise made in childhood fulfilled in adulthood this is the main theme of the drama that's why i give it live upon the name THE LONGEST PROMISE!!

the actors put lots of emotions and affection in this you can tell with their work, but the story is like solving the puzzle coz it was about love between master and his pupil like they are attracted with each other without knowing their feelings

its like forbidden love coz they were master and disciple and when he decided to end the curse by killing himself from zhu yan's sword it was very emotional then zhu yan decide to give uo her half live for him by turning the yin yang curse that moment was worth of watching and when shi ying decide to give up on priest hood for her that was amazing

although the ending is not that much fascinating but they when shi ying appeared by the flower leaf when zhu yan decide to leave that was predictable and satisfying that shi ying appeared in front of her not a very happy ending also not sad ending it was good enough for make us smile...

very grateful for actors and directors for the work amazing !!

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