Athena (2013)

The basis of this show was so good, and it had so much potential, but it definitely fell flat at the end. I was looking forward to the show after looking at the promo pics, which showed the characters posing awesomely. I personally only watch Sino-Japanese dramas if there is either a female lead or villain, both of which are present in Athena. However, this drama failed to live up to my expectations due to the sheer stupidity of the events.

My first gripe is the historical inaccuracies. While most 1940's drama shows the characters wearing qipao and common minguo style dresses, the characters in Athena parade around in modern style dresses with 6 inch heels. While I was willing to overlook this, there were also some very unrealistic fight scenes. I never knew that the Japanese had massive dungeons underneath their factories and buildings, or unguarded halls of mirrors leading to their offices.

Secondly, the romance was unbearable, I knew there was bound to be romance, but not like this. I was expecting strong female characters fighting for their country, not whiny teens cat-fighting over the same man. If i had a dollar for ever time Liu Lizi ugly-crying, I would be rich. This show is basically an extended love triangle involving every character in the show, men and women alike. On the battlefield they might be badass, but the poorly written romance scenes that last up to 5 minutes reduces them to whiny characters that care more about finding romance than actually aiding the resistance.

Lastly, the characters were totally inconsistent. One moment, Liu Lizi will be killing her enemies, the next shes crying as Na LanDong drags her somewhere. All within the same minute. All of the characters have no personalities, and their character depend completely on their subject of romance. This includes the colonel lady, who, apart from being Japanese, is no different from every other character who does nothing to further their patriotic efforts. Occasionally, she shots random passerbys or smashes ornaments for no reason at all than to remind the audience that she is still a villain. None of the characters are relevant outside of romantic scenes and the rare fight scene.

In conclusion, Athena is a pile of lost potential because of the way it treats its characters. It had the potential to be a semi-feminist-semi-revolution drama, but it was just another frustratingly pointless love triangle, just disguised as a war drama. The plot was interchangeable with any other genre, and it would be generous to even call it a war drama at all.

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