Aloe
Australia
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Explaining this without spoilers will be hard, however I will give it a shot. The acting for this drama was amazing and for once I fell in love with the female lead and support characters, as well as secondary characters. Even the support characters did their job well, even if their role was a little undefined. Some of the characters had great explanations…then you are left with a huge handful of characters, not knowing who they are or what their actual purpose is. As for the plot, I am greatly disappointed. This drama is one that had so much potential, but turned sour in just a few episodes. For the first 5 – 7 episodes, I sat wondering when something good would happen. Many elements of the drama were left unexplained and by the end, there were more holes than swiss cheese. There were some parts of the drama that had been done well and I quite enjoyed seeing the battle of the royal figures (can’t really explain…cos spoilers). But some parts just left you at a dead end.
The ending of this drama was also a little too disappointing. It could have been done a lot better and I feel as though that the drama was finished way too early. To put it simply, more episodes and a lot more planning in the plot and it would’ve been great. Explanations and character development was lacking.
I personally will not re-watch this and even if I did, it would be because of the music and acting. If you are a fan of historical dramas, supernatural and a little comedy, I would say give it a shot. Definitely a Major Miss or hit drama.
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Bromance over Romance?
Not going to lie, this was one of the few series that I actually started while it was still airing. With the community & fans sharing constant clips, images, quotes etc, it was a hard series not to pickup.The chemistry between the cast was great and can definitely be considered borderline BL. The overall story for the drama was good. You got the idea of the roles of the cursed objects throughout the series and these objects actually had a role in the outcome of the end of the drama. It wasn't just useless side stories. For example the Moths were used to determine that Dome had no memory.
Could it have been done better? Definitely! There were a lot of plot holes with both the main story line, side characters, character development and more. There was also a lot of useless scenes. I will admit I started to get bored / annoyed with dome "Sleeping" for 1/2 the series. Yes it did make sense in a way, but I would've preferred to see some more side stories leading up to the main event. Even a major time skip would've been better.
On the other hand, if you are a major fan of hurt scenes like myself (Guilty Pleasure Teehee), then definitely watch this drama. Each episodes contains one of the following: Fainting, Stabbing, Mind Control, Kidnapping, Fights etc. Needless to say you won't get bored.
One of the downsides of this drama was the wasted potential of the female characters. I fell in love with the character June since her original appearance. She was a strong minded & supportive character that had so much potential. The actress was extremely talented and it would've been great to see the character utilized more throughout the story as a key support pillar between dome & Khatha. This was also the same with Bam, except her character development & role in the drama became essentially useless in my eyes. With no real reason for her to be there, they might as well have left the character out completely. With little to no character development & backstory, what was the point.
The ending of the drama to me was lackluster. The opening for a second season was ok, but not executed in a way that excited me to finish season 1. If the drama doesn't get a season 2 then I'd definitely add it to the "Bad Endings" list. I'll have hope for now and wish for a second season.
Overall I will be adding this drama to my favorite's list. The chemistry between Gun & Tor is definitely a duo I'd like to see again. The overall story was great & the cast who played dome, khatha and june were amazing to the point that I believe they carried the series.
If you are a fan of hurt / comfort / borderline BL then it's definitely a must watch!
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Ok where to start with this one...Firstly I must say that I have NOT seen many chinese dramas!The plot of this drama is somewhat average. Although there is some amazing aspects of the plots, the plot tends to repeat it's self on several occasions. The only difference being that it is a different time and place. I have to admit that the whole idea of the Fire vs Ice Tribe is cliché, however, with the addition of several other tribes it adds a little extra excitement. This drama definitely has the RPG or Anime vibe, so if you are a fan of video games you may enjoy this a lot.
As for the actors, I believe they all acted quite well (The main characters anyway). I will admit that I didn't enjoy the male lead, Ka Suo, as much as I had hoped. However, in saying that I believe that the actor did a great job at portraying that character. My favourite character of the series is actually Yan Da. The actress was amazing and for once I actually enjoyed watching a female lead. (Not saying the female actresses are bad)
One thing I do want to point out is that the costume design in this drama is amazing and visually pleasing. Although there are some minor makeup issues like unmatched foundation or visible black hair under white wigs....The actual costumes and characters of this drama are beautiful. The sets in which they act on are also amazing and it is clear that a lot of thought went into the character and set design. The music of this drama is by far one of my favourite sound tracks of any drama, so If you are a music love then definitely listen to the OST!
There are two main problems that I had with this drama. Firstly, the CGI components of the drama can be a little off putting to begin with. I personally will admit to dropping this drama 2 times before finally watching it, so if you can get through the first 4 or 5 episodes, you'll be good to go. My other problem is that the plot was repetitive due to the fact that one of the main characters seemed to lack emotional development (Which I will not name cause...SPOILERS)
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Purr-fect Detective Uncovers Pawsome Plots
I have been a fan of Ding Yu Xi for a while now and was excited to see him in another cat based role. However, I would have to say I probably will not be rewatching this series as a whole. Personally I don't think there was nearly enough fight / action scenes in this series when you compare it to the how intense some of these cases were. If there was more action other than chasing the criminal down or running away from other authorities, I definitely think I would've been more intrigued.In saying that I really love series where the main character is either extremely smart or strong, both of this can define Li Bing. The cases that they solve are interesting and I do say that I am glad that he was an extremely smart character from the start and didn't just receive this blessing once he transformed into his cat like state.
The overall story was good with a lot of information being fed to us throughout the series. Nearly all the cases and investigations lead to the final plot and offered support to the main characters development and story conclusion. We also got information and back stories of all the main members, which allowed us to understand the overall side characters better.
** Characters **
I believe the actors in this series were great, but the poor character planning and development sort of let me down. Let me explain:
My biggest let down for this series was Vice Minister Shingguan (Think that was her name ;) ). I would've loved to see her become a stronger and more reliable character in the end of the series.
I also found that the side detectives were definitely the comedic relief for the first 3/4 of the series with their roles only becoming more interesting and useful in the last 6 - 7 episodes. I found some of these side characters to be annoying at the start due to the lack of progress they were making as detectives.
The main roles of Li Bing and Qing Qui were definitely the highlight of the series (as intended) which their roles being clear from the start. Maybe a little too clear if you ask me. If you pay close enough attention for the first 4 episodes, you can essentially identify the overall plot of the whole series.
** The Transformation **
Originally I was thinking that the series would use a common trope of adding a tail and ears to the person to signify that they were a cat demon. So needless to say when I saw a full blown cat head and paws on top of Li Bings body, I can't really say that I was a fan. I find these sorts of Anthropomorphic transformations to be difficult to watch and often find them cringey.
On the opposite side, the slight transformations of the eyes and cat like characteristics when in human form was definitely a fun and interesting side of the story that offered some uniquely fun comedic relief to the story.
Overall I believe this to be a decent watch. As I said, I probably wouldn't be rewatching due to the Anthropomorphic transformation and side characters. But would still recommend anyone to watch this as a side series / filler series.
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Amazing Cast for an Amazing Drama
If you are a sucker for dramas with a lot of action, injuries & crime, then this is 100% the drama for you.This is one of the few dramas for me that has an extremely high rewatch value. The cast in this drama was perfectly picked with high class acting pulling off some difficult roles.
STORY -
As for the overall story, we saw a lot of actions scenes with the concept or cat & mouse chases. With the three main parties involved, there was action, injuries & development in every episode. There were one or two episodes in the middle where the drama slowed down, but that was purely to prepare you for an impactful finish.
With such an advanced concept, explaining everything was definitely a difficult challenge. However, to my surprise I didn't feel confused. A lot of information was given to the viewers over the episodes, so getting a clear understanding of how & why things happened was great. There was some information missing or didn't add up, but compared to other dramas in similar concepts / genres, this was explained amazing.
CAST / CHARACTERS -
Overall the casting for this show was great with a lot of the main actors executing their roles perfectly. To me, there were two main characters that stood out.
Playing identical twins / clones is always a difficult role for any actor. However, it was pulled off perfectly in this drama. Everything from the facial expressions, way of speaking and facial expressions was distinct between the two characters. It was interesting to watch throughout the whole drama and at times made me wonder how the scenes were filmed to be so perfect when the two characters met.
Another character that really stood out to me was the female prosecutor. And if you found her annoying you, then congrats, she played her role perfectly.
It's impossible for two people to have the exact same fingerprint and DNA, so her conclusion that that main MC was the kidnapper was justified as both DNA and fingerprints matched that of the crime scene. Apart from that, as you see in the first episode, Jang Deuk Cheon was out of his mind, so of course she'd believe science.
If anything, she was the most logical in all the situations while investigating the truth.
REWATCH VALUE -
This has and probably always will be one drama that I consider to have a high rewatch value. Every time I watch it I discover more information that I hadn't noticed the previous time. On top of that, the action & actors make this a great drama in general.
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