The Classic of Mountains and Seas (2016)

I honestly decided to watch this only because of Zhang Han (he's just a total bae) and I'm glad that I did. This drama is definitely one of my favorite Wuxia drama and I totally fell for this.

Story- To be honest, the summary really caught my attention since it was somehow similar to the anime, Fushigi Yuugi. Wherein the female lead will journey to find her apprentices that would help her battle the bad guys and she will fall in love with one of them. But I think it was much more different and interesting than that. I think that the CGI was not overly done and it was really pretty decent. I loved the parts when they were fighting and the red and blue effects were there. It really made every action sequence very cool. The costumes were great! Especially the wardrobe of Xin Yue Hu. He carried it so well. I binged watch this for 2 days and every episode got me hooked. I usually fast forward some scenes when it comes to Wuxia dramas but in my surprise, I did not fast forward at all. This shows that this drama really succeeded in making every scene worth a watch.

Some may think that the story started to roll downhill as the end is becoming near but I actually oppose that. Every decision that the characters made was understandable and the ending was actually one of the best part of the series. It made my heartache and at the same time it made me very happy and I fell in love. The ending was the perfect ending and there's nothing that can change that. It was really really good to be honest. It will give you a lot of feels, I promise you.

Acting/Cast- Oh man, where will I start? Zhang Han was flawless. He was able to convince me that Chi Yu and Xin Yue Hu has a total different personality. Every actors portrayed their characters very well and they really gave justice to them. It really fits them perfectly. The main leads chemistry was just so great. They became one of my favorite pairs. Even though they are just doing simple gestures, they will still make me blush and feel butterflies in my stomach. Cheesy right? They are just that great. The connection between all the characters are superb. I hated the villains but at some point I fell in love with them. You will really feel the connection with the characters. It was a roller coaster ride for me, sometimes I hate them but sometimes I love them. You will really understand how their mind works and why they did that kinds of things. Every character was interesting for me. As in, every single one of them. I loved how the characters developed a lot through out the whole series. You will really see them grow and become mature, and this is why this drama is one of my absolute favorites.

Music- I only gave this a 8 since there was not really anything special about the music but it was pretty decent. This is not like Korean Dramas where the OSTs are spectacular. But, the music really did fit in the drama but there's really nothing more to it.

Rewatch Value- In my personal opinion, I would like to only re-watch the sweet moments of the main leads and some of the funny scenes of the lead characters. My absolute favorite scene was when all of them was gathered together, all complete, and they are just having genuine fun. I might have said this already but the ending was my favorite. It will hit you right in the feels.

Overall- As I've said, this drama will truly be one of my favorite wuxia dramas. There may be some ups and downs about this drama but overall watching this is really worth it. You will grow to love every single characters and understand how they think. I was not able to watch some of the drama's episode for a whole day and I actually missed them. Yes, I missed the fictional characters. This shows the strong effect of the characters to me.

I would recommend this to all the wuxia lovers since I believe that this drama will grow to you as well. This is actually just a light drama compared to all the other wuxia dramas out there. This is definitely a must watch. But if you are not a wuxia lover, then just don't watch this at all.

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Oh man, suckered into watching another one of these period/fantasy dramas with cheesy CGI and flying kung fu. Starts off strong - very RPG-esque kind of setup with the plot development, but ultimately gives way to dragging, repetitive plot devices that slowly killed my interest in the series - to the point where I genuinely contemplated skipping over solid chunks of dialogue just to get to the ending. On a positive note, the CGI wasn't used excessively - the qi reinforced sword strikes actually looked kind of cool during fights.

There really wasn't anything spectacular about the female cast, aside from them being really pretty. It might just be me and my pet peeve though, I don't find things believable if in my mind it seems too stupid for people to do - i.e the protagonists repetitively falling for similar, not-so-elaborate traps set up by the antagonists. I didn't like how the two main female roles ended up being weak (one completely manipulated, and the other completely powerless as a character, despite alleged "saint" abilities that she uses like once.) In that regard my distaste is more so directed at the character/plot design and not so much the actresses themselves, kind of like how in some movies a simple cellphone call would resolve the entire plot-line.

I did however especially like the casting of Bai Li Han (William Feng) - he has the deep, villainous voice that fits his role. Oh, and the male lead playing two different personalities was kind of cool too.

I'm a bit undecided on how I feel about the series as a whole. I thought the beginning was great, the plot development was good (up until a point) but the ending... a complete cop out. It's a fantasy world so it's open to interpretation, but if you follow the storyline you get to one conclusion; if you follow context clues, you get to another. (Pay attention to the appearance of the glowing flying fish - about as much as I can say without giving away my own interpretation of the ending)

Watch if you like fantasy/wuxia, skip if you don't.

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Excellent drama!!

This is my second drama of Zhang Han after watching the four infamous deputies drama.
The drama concept and storyline is very good.This was the first time I have seen such a type of concept.Befire this,I never knew about four mythical creatures (azure dragon,vermillion bird)and their star mansions.
I was really excited about the plot and gave it a try.
Trust me,it was really a good watch.
First,the characters development was good.All the main characters are the mansions of both the creatures.All the actors acted very well.
Costumes,music,CGI,interiors,settings were good.
A special mention to Zhang Han for portraying the negative role,Xin yue hu.His way of carrying the wardrobe he wore was very good.Also,the way he portrayed both the roles who are quite opposite in nature was really nice.Kudos to him.
Overall I would definitely recommend this drama.A must watch??

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I like the concept of the drama and the way slowly and slowly, one -one person joined with lead actress in order to wake up phoenix but before they wake it those one by one die that make me felt so bad because I emotionally connected with these characters , especially in the last scene when pie -pie and Bai Li conversation make me cry ,I literally cried ..that scene connect me so badly with the characters and then pie ---pie died ,oh god can't handle that scene.i think it is the first Chinese drama which make me cry .for this it's hats off to these two person that they make the character so real......
The drama is good but according to my views the director should add one more episode to show how he knew her and everybody forget her ...then only it become perfect...
About acting pie-pie and Bai Li acting is super duper hit other supporting actor also did a great job ....
It's worth watching.

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This animations in this drama is top quality. The visual effects, the ability to use magic, stunts to the fighting scenes were amazingly impressive. What I loved about this drama was the plot. It has an interesting and unique plot that I haven't seen in other Cdramas. The storyline kept me captivated. (Now I know why I don't know if this is true but I remember someone commented that it was inspired by the anime Fushigi Yuugi - I haven't seen it yet but I plan too) The chemistry between the two leads was spot on and towards the end of the episodes I wished for them to see each other again. (Well they were dating , I didn't know that) This drama does have a few unexpected plot twists but I kinda saw a few of them coming. I honestly thought Coulee Nazha was a beginner actress and that she has some potential. But her acting skills in this drama was good and I think the character in this drama suited her acting skills. But I think that was mainly because of her ex boyfriend being her co-star. Overall I would recommend people to watch this. Full version on my blog.

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No Classic for me I'm afraid

Let me start with saying that I have seen many fabulous dramas and though I do appreciate perfection I don't need it to fall in love with a drama. But not only couldn't I find anything to click with, I got really annoyed about the level of dilettantism. This is a really harsh word so let me elaborate.

The overall rather colourful appearance (due to settings, make up and costumes) and the plastic plants wouldn't have bothered me much, hadn't it been for the sheer amount of carelessness. Shouldn't you at least know to check the make up of the face matches the skin tone of the neck and - and I have never seen anything like this before - the ears, if you strive to be a make up artist? Especially the make up of the FL is so wrong, that her ears appear to be staggeringly orange/peach coloured (as does her neck in some scenes). Kenny Kwang looks like he generously uses self tan lotion. Oh my.

Sorry to say, but style, CGI, costumes, settings, editing all nothing to write home about, if you know what I mean. Is it really so difficult to place candles (yes, it's in the background, but ...), that they won't stop dripping as soon as the are lit? Yeah, I know, but there are so many details like this. Call me nitpicker, alright, but if you take two similar vases with flowers to create a setting, shouldn't they have the same amount of flowers and not one of them having noticeably more than the other? And - and this sounds really mean, sorry - some of the costumes actually looked like rather bad cosplay. And have you ever seen a drama, where the lighting in some scenes is so disadvantageous that it emphasizes the bags under the eyes of a FL (in that case the second FL)? Well, here you are.

But all this could have been marginal, if the story and the acting would have swept me away into the drama. The combination of, well, not very good acting, not very good dialogue and a draggy, predictable storyline, seconded by the above mentioned points let me quit in episode seven. I was bored from the start, but a thought I should give it a real chance to change my mind. Nope. Didn't happen.

So, no, I don't recommend. There are so many dramas to watch, better choose something else.

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