I noticed there is a big love towards this show in the reviews, which I totally understand. It has numerous good points, but I still can't say it's the best show I've seen or anything, but it's definitely up in the top.

Let's start with the good points.
The story is pretty good actually, there is this political frustration between the Chinese and Japanese, which they make you feel in lots of situations. We see how the government, the rich families, or poor students are affected by these circumstances. It's pretty interesting, and quite reasonable mostly.
It wasn't my main reason though to watch this series because of politics at all though, but it made me interested in it and I wanted to see how people react to these tensions.

I'm also not really into wars or soldiers but it has a very exciting element of course. There was obviously a lot of killing, which I don't particularly support as a 21st century pacifist, but I got it of course that this nationalist thinking was the case in older times.

For me a huge good point was the set and the costumes. They were amazing, they had this atmosphere that was perfect, and the clothes' designs were just beautiful and they used gorgeous fabrics. This has a huge thumbs up from me, because these details really get you the vibe that's needed.

Another very good part is the acting and casting. The faces they chose were so perfect in so many cases, a lot of quite important characters just really fit their roles with their faces! And they are also very much in their roles, they played pretty well from the cheesy lines to the life-threatening situations.

And now for the not so right things.

So I have my thoughts about the girl cross-dressing as guy thing though... I've actually seen a couple like this, because I like the idea of this whole thing. And I have seen more promising guy-girls. Though I have to say this main gurl wasn't that bad, she tried I guess, but I just don't get it... This casting was not good in my opinion. I actually liked the girl, but... To be real honest, they REALLY should cast a guyish girl at times like this. Because in these cases the main point is really NOT to be cute and pretty, but to look like a damn guy. Especially in the military. I believe the best would have been a little bit bulky, more muscular than average girl, who actually resembles a military guy, so that would have made it so much easier to believe than that a small, skinny girl taking down big guys with a few kung-fu moves... That is silly. It is. And bulky girls CAN also have a charm, you out there Game Of Thrones fans, you know what I'm talking about if I say Brienne. <3

Also there is your fair share of other silly stuff.
Like the super deep wounds which heal in a week or two (at a time when health care was not that cool). Or like how this military school is super kind, like really, it's like if you have a tummy ache then you can just lie down boo-hoo. Nah. I mean I haven't seen that many military stuff, but it seems to me that here they were super nice with them. It seemed more like just playing-military not actually preparing for a war, which is absolutely serious and dangerous. So it kinda made me mad, how they just dilly-dally.

Of course it's just a drama, what am I expecting? But that's the thing, if they just wanted a rom-com in a military setting, I guess that's ok. But I felt like they just couldn't make up it's mind what to be. It wanted to have these sweet, cute moments, but a lot of them didn't turn out that well. And then some very serious thing came, which was hard to take seriously after the lovey-dovey scenes... So I don't know. I think the writing wasn't as smart, or entertaining as it wanted to be.

But I suppose the best word for the series is: ambitious.

Because it tried hard. You can tell. So many details, so many characters who have a big part, or fun personality. It just wasn't that well written I think. The focus just wasn't clear. Is it on the story? or on the characters? on the fun stuff? or on the very serious stuff? I'm not against shifting focus, but it just felt all over the place for me.

It was still a VERY decent series, very impressive, it's good to give it a watch, it's interesting and entertaining. But I don't think it's flawless, I don't think it's the best, and I don't think it's a 10. But see for yourself! Maybe it's your cup of tea.