Ci Ke Xue Yuan (2021)

Nothing Is What It Seems To Be

Assassin Academy is a short web drama directed by Wu Cheng Feng (who is also the director of the more widely known drama Queen of Attack).

The strongest points of the drama are its unusual (for a wuxia drama) plot and the main characters.

Despite the short format, the story contains many twists and turns which don't feel very rushed. There are layers upon layers of mysteries which the protagonists are trying to uncover. As written in the headline, and as one of the main characters says in the first episode - nothing and nobody is as simple as they seem to be on the surface. Despite including light and comedic scenes, it really is an action thriller which evokes different kinds of emotions, especially towards the end.

The narrative is not linear - some scenes seem out of the blue or illogical until we are shown the flashbacks explaining the actions of the characters. It makes the story a little bit more difficult to follow, but it also increases the interest of the viewers. The flashbacks follow rather closely to their subsequent (in terms of the timeline) scenes, so the whole story doesn't seem very disjointed.

I enjoyed the performances of the three main leads: Stephanie Xu (whom you may have seen in Love in Between or Love of Thousand Years) did a good job portraying a skilled and self-confident martial artist/assassin, challenged with confronting her uncertain past and troubling present. Brian Chang brought to life a charismatic and reliable male lead with hidden skills and obscure past. Duan Xing Yu was great in her (double) role of a mischievous student and loyal friend.

It is clearly a low-budget drama, but the sets and the costumes are decent. The camera work feels a bit amateurish, but it didn't hamper my enjoyment of the drama.

In general, I recommend watching it if you are tired of the usual wuxia storylines and tropes and are looking for a compelling mystery and likable characters.

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