The Investiture of the Gods (2014)

The Investiture Of The Gods

What does investiture even mean? It means the action of formally investing a person with honors or ranks. I only defined the definition after watching this drama, and now I’m like Oooooooooh, that makes sense.

This drama follows Jiang Zi Ya (Sammul)’s journey as becoming a student of Taoism. His teacher is the highest ranking, almost god-like. His main objective is to topple the evil Emperor and help the king of the Western Region to become the new emperor. This is already written in the book, as fate and is suppose to happen (I guess eventually?), but he is to aid this. In the meanwhile, Nu Wa Goddess assigns three deities (9 tail fox, wild chicken, and flute) to go and distract the evil emperor to bring down his reign. They’re also to find the man carrying the Nu Wa stone (Jiang Zi Ya) and assist his task to make the western king emperor. Unfortunately, the 9 tail fox falls in love with the evil emperor, and also they mistakenly follow Jiang Zi Ya’s disciple brother as the person with the Nu Wa stone. Throughout the drama, the 4 lackies that went astray of their mission, fights with Jiang Zi Ya and his crew of fighters. Throughout the drama, Jiang Zi Ya is able to to gather a number of skilled fighters onto the Western Region, as well as getting married, and solving problems for many of the characters introduced into this drama.

The story was intriguing, but also cheesy. Some of the scenes were SUPER annoying. I liked the side arch of Na Zha and how he is born after his mom carries him for 3 years and 6 months, and how his dad is always wary of him and wants to make sure he does the right thing. Jiang Zi Ya’s wife is hilarious and the relationship with Na Zha is very cute. Ma Zhao De is hilarious as Jiang Zi Ya's crazy wife, she gets into so many antics, and at times you just wanna scream at her to grow the f- up, but she doesn't lol. I do enjoy the scenes with her sometimes, as she's the comic relief. It's touching to see Jiang Zi Ya's love blossom with her.

I believe this drama also incorporates many legends/stories in Chinese mythology/history. For example the story of Na Zha (being born after his mom's pregnancy lasts 3.6 years), or the story of the hunter and wolf demon (becoming best friends after one rescues the other).

The costumes are really cheesy and flashy. I'm not sure if this was a early Mainland drama or a HK drama, but they're flashy! The cinemetography is nothing like the new dramas, but the fight scenes were on point.

Overall, I wouldn’t want to watch this more than once.

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