Novoland: The Castle in the Sky (2016)

Story: Long long ago, there lived two clans of humans - those who can fly and those who can't. The winged clan was considered more superior to the earth humans due to their flying ability and possession of flight technology. For centuries, earth humans and the winged humans battled for supremacy. After centuries of animosity, a fragile peace existed between these two clans in order to end all the deaths and losses both sides suffered during the wars. What is the reason for the winged clan's ability to fly? It is the existence of a goddess who is reincarnated every 100 years. This goddess possesses the power to grant wings to the winged clan and the aura emitted from her powers all the flight technology. Envious of the winged clan's ability to fly, the queen of the earth humans started to plot for the re-incarnation of the goddess. The queen wished to have the reincarnated goddess under her control and to provide the power to fuel her grand plan for a sky kingdom in preparation for a war against the winged clan. As predicted, a baby girl was born and she was the reincarnation of the goddess. However, the queen missed her opportunity to kidnap the baby girl and the child grew up peacefully in anonymity, not knowing that she's the goddess reincarnate. To the humans and the winged clan, the goddess was born to grant the winged clan the ability to fly, but in reality the goddess is born every 100 years to reunite with her lover and even in this reincarnation, she was fated to meet and separate from him. What is the fate of this pair of star-crossed lovers? Can they consummate their relationship in this reincarnation after so many centuries of missed opportunities and what of the impending war between the two clans?

This is an original fantasy, wuxia drama featuring many new faces in the entertainment world. The CGI is wonderfully done. In fact, I will go so far as to say that the CGI in this drama exceeds those of Ice Fantasy. It is not overly done and the scenes moved fluidly without any odd pauses when CGI was used; lending it a more believable air for a fantasy drama. The story is wonderful and it keeps you wanting more at the end of every episode. My congratulations to the author!

Acting/Cast: The hero in the acting cast is Zhang Ruo Yun who acted as the male lead, Feng Tian Yi. He's relatively new to the entertainment world but those of you who had watched Wuxin: The monster killer, Legend of Green Hill Fox and Fifteen Years to Wait for Migratory Birds would have noticed him. In Novoland, his acting is considered the best amongst the leading cast. His leading lady, Guan Xiao Tong (as Yi Fu Ling) may have acted in more dramas than him, but her acting left much to be desired. She's not very good in expressing herself and often have a rather stiff face; giving her acting an air of immaturity. The second male lead, Liu Chang as Bai Ting Jun was equally bad with expressions and together, they form what I called "The Frozen Faced Couple" in this drama. Ju Jing Yi from SNH48 surprisingly acted well in her role as the jealous rival of the female lead. Despite her first time acting in a notable role in a drama, her acting surpassed that of the female lead. Chen Ruo Xuan as the bumbling genius inventor Yu Huan Zheng is another good actor, providing the much needed supporting role and the unexpected heroism for the drama. The mature actor who acted as the Regent uncle to Feng Tian Yi is also another actor deserving kudos for his acting.

Music: Good enough but I'll go out in a limb here by saying that I am not a fan of TFBoys and their songs.

Rewatch value: I find myself absolutely sucked in by Zhang Ruo Yun's strong, obsessive, brilliant and assertive character in this drama. His love for Yi Fu LIng/goddess is so all encompassing. The way he looked at her, the way his lips briefly lifted at the sides as he considered her, the way he 'tortured' her, the way he literally inhaled her and wish to possess her.....Zhang Ruo Yun had created a very sensual and possessive chemistry based on his acting alone! Thanks to his acting, it made the sub-par acting of the female lead more tolerable. I would re-watch all the parts in this drama where he interacted with the female lead.

Overall: In summary, this drama would have scored a higher rating if the role of the female lead and second male lead were given to more experienced actress and actor who can actually act. However, the unique story keeps you wanting for more and managed to grab the audience's attention until the end. A good production that deserves more recognition than the other bigger budgeted fantasy-themed drama featuring big names such as Ice Fantasy, Legend of Chusen and Demon Girl that were airing at the same time this drama was aired. If you are hesitating which one to go for, I recommend that you give Novoland a go!

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I was hesitating whether to write a review or not these past few days because of my feelings towards the ending, I decided to.

Where do I begin with this drama? this drama had me hooked since episode one, I fell in love instantly with the aesthetic of the whole world and costumes and not to mention Feng Tian Yi, he is one beautiful hypnotizing man, I wasn't expecting much starting it but then before I knew it I was going insane waiting for the next episodes to the point I watched a lot of them raw, I even made Youtube videos and gifs of them and I do not make those things so it's pretty apparent I fell in love with this drama.

Feng Tian Yi was definitely my favourite character and a reason to watch this, he has a fiery temper and attitude but a kind heart underneath who is willing to put everything at stake to protect who he loves, Zhang Ruo Yun's acting was the best in the drama, I was impressed and so drawn by his graceful yet fiery way of portraying Tian Yi. I could feel all of Tian Yi's emotions just from the look in his eyes. As for Fu Ling, I really liked her too, she was sincere, kind and stood up for herself and what she believed in and never liked to see someone put themselves at risk for her sake, as for her acting, I think it could have been better but it's fine. There is many characters in this you will hate, my god is there lol and a lot of the story could have been avoided had this imbecile characters stayed out of the way but a drama is a drama after all.

Music was really nice too, though the end theme forever has me going wth because it's kind of random lol but oh well it's catchy.

In short the story is basically about fated lovers and what they have to overcome in all of their lives, will history repeat itself? or will something worse happen? or something better? watch to find out ;)

I give this drama 10 because I truly loved it even if I am upset about the ending (the ending is heartbreaking bad, I love a good tragic end as much as the next masochist but this was just BAD) despite this, I was hooked for the past month on this, this is my favourite drama of 2016 and I don't see a drama topping it this year. If you love romance and fantasy and action this is for you, beware there is a lot of sadness in this drama too throughout, but the love story between them will have you smiling, honestly the drama is so visually stunning you would watch for that alone! The CGI also had me surprised considering how cringe worthy many drama CGI is but I think it was all good.

I'm going to miss this drama and Tian Yi and Fu Ling, I wish for a second season, if only :)

EDIT: while originally heartbroken over the horrific unjustified illogical ending, there is an alternative ending and it makes much sense and all is well :) it is happy and now I can breathe again lol. Make sure to skip episode 28 and watch episode 29 instead, episode 29 is the same as 28 but with the better ending instead.

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I want to note that I started watching this drama because of the reviews others made, but as you can tell from my rating...I wasn’t a huge fan of this drama and I still don’t really understand what was so special about it.

Story: Two clans of humans fighting for supremacy and the technology/secret to flight? The reincarnation of a goddess who wants to reunite with her lover, but is fated to separate from him in each life? The plot had everything to be well embellished upon. However, its mainly just a poorly executed “tragic” love story masked with the theme of two clans of humans fighting each other. The conflict between the human clans was pushed aside so the love between the two main characters could develop. Which is fine since it tends to happen to most dramas that incorporate romance, but the love between the main characters was unbelievable. I can see how the main male fell in love with the main girl, but I felt like the female lead just woke up one morning and was like hey I love this guy.

Acting/Cast: Most of the cast was okay. I found that the older actors/actresses were better than the younger ones. Which is to be expected since the other actors might be new, but the female lead was just awful. She did a poor job at portraying the emotions she was supposed to give us viewers. She had 3 emotions and they all looked the same. Like all the other reviewers I felt that male leads acting was the only superb one. The actor did a great job at portraying his character and letting us see/feel the emotions he’s going through. If I could give a rating for just the male actor it'd be 8.5 versus the low 6. As much as I enjoyed his acting I cant rate a whole series based on just his acting along. To be fair...the female lead would've gotten a 3...

Music: The intro and music within the show works, but the ending theme just kind of randomly slaps you in the face with TFBoys.

Rewatch Value: None. I barely made it through the first time and I doubt I will the second time.

Overall: The beginning of this drama was brilliant and promising. It was refreshing. The CGI wasn’t laughable and the way they edit the scenes gave a whimsical aesthetic (like most fantasy/historical Chinese dramas). However, the way they implemented the romance and how unfinished the drama felt was subpar. You can tell a lot in 28 episodes (29 if you include the alternative happy ending), but because they focused on developing the romance between the two main characters you saw minimal plot on the conflict between the two clans (except for the first and last 5 episodes). The romance between the two main characters felt…nonexistent. The male lead falling for the female lead was more realistic than the female lead falling for him. All they did was bicker, then fall in love, and bicker again. It was a vicious cycle and she didn’t make her love for him feel real. Maybe this is due to her poor acting. I was excepting more because of the other reviews, but this drama just didn't live up to my expectations.

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This is a difficult review to write. Here is why:
1.The show was clearly meant to be longer, but for reasons unknown, it was cut to 30 minutes. As a result, the editing isn't good and somethings do not make a lot of sense.

2.The actors clearly did their best but I think they need more experience. It didn't have that kind of effortless flow seen in other dramas

3.The costumes...were not good, nor were the sets

4.There so many plot holes....and it was very predictable

Overview:

Li Fuling/Ling'er is a young girl who is best friends with a guy, Tianjun. He is receiving education at the star court, along with another guy, Tianyi. There personalities are night and day. Tianjun is kind, honorable and respectable. Tianyi is ruthless and stoops to low means to achieve his ends. He seems like a bad guy. But there is a reason for this: Tianyi inherited the throne of wingkingdom at a young age. Worse, he was told he would never get wings (something needed to ascend the throne). His uncle, the regent, appears to want him dead. On the other hand, Tianjun's mother, the empress of humankind, is very ruthless however this means Tianjun never had to get his hands dirty...

These are the central characters in the show. Everything goes back to Ling'er, who happens to be the incarnation of the shooting stars flower goddess. Legend says that when she is united with her mortal lover (also incarnated) she will release pollen, giving the wingkind the ability to fly but unfortunately she will turn to ash.

As the story progeses, she and Tianyi fall in love. He also happens to be her incarnated lover. But because he wants her to live, he tries to put distance between them. On the other hand, because of a series of events, Tianjun descends into madness and becomes obsessed with forcing Ling'er to be by his side.

This is the story of these people. There are a number of subplots, related to the empress and Ling'er's father, a young man named Yu, and a princess of the sky kingdom.

What I liked:
Excluding memory loss, so many dramatic plot devices are used in this series. And so many people die in this series. It was also a different story. So i gave it a shot.

What I hated:
The show did not have a lot of depth. The characters were pretty 1 dimensional, the villains weren't well developed. This is because of the script, I think. The actors did their best, but need a few years to improve. It is clearly targeting a younger demographic.

What I REALLY hated:
the ending song. It has absolutely no place in this series. I also hated the poor editing.

My overall opinion:
Watch this show for something light. If you don't compare it to other shows and don't expect much it can be a fun watch.

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I watched this because of a recommendation to watch this if you enjoyed Eternal Love (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms). I enjoyed Eternal Love but can’t say the same for this series.

Like Eternal Love, FL (Gabrielle Guan/Yi Fu Ling) did start out liking second male lead (Liu Chang/Bai Ting Jun) before falling for the male lead, (Zhang Ruo Yun/Feng Tian Yi). Plot and character development falls short though that you don’t get invested in how the relationship developed and you’ll actually be left wondering how FL lead can quickly shift affections from BTJ to FTY.

It was a struggle to like the FL. Perhaps it’s the insipid acting or the weak, often stupid character being played that it was hard to understand why many characters would give up their lives (or their crown) for her.

The romance is a central focus against the backdrop of kingdom/clan conflict. There are plenty of good looking artists, costumes ok but not a fan of the set designs/special effects (flying ship, floating city on the tacky side).

I stayed on to watch Zhang Ruo Yun who is an eye candy but unlikely to be re-watching this show.

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I loved this series. The lead with Blue contacts was/is super hot.
The story is good and interesting. I am a romantic and loved every single interaction the leads had with each other. The bickering, bullying and romance was spot on for me. Those are the scenes that i love to rewatch and they still bring a smile to my face.
One great thing i liked was the fact that they offered an alternate ending. I know most of the people are complaining about this but I for one and glad they did that. I can name a few series that i would have loved if this option had been given for those too.
I am a sucker for happy endings and so I simply love the fact that the writer took time enough to come up with an alternative ending to make everyone happy.
Go for it !! you wont be sorry.

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Low budget production with an interesting plot + steam punk, but poor execution

10/3/2021

In order to write this review, I need to remind myself that I just watched a low budget 2016 drama in late 2021. C-dramas have evolved and changed a lot in 5 years, and certain things I didn't like were popular and acceptable back then. If this is a 2021 drama, I might be a harsher critic. Aside from Zhang Ruo Yun (ML) and Gabriela Guan (FL) who are child/teen actors and have more experienced, the rest of the cast is pretty young and new. I've seen ZRY in "Joy of Life" and Gabriela in "A Girl Like Me", so it's interesting to see how far they have come.

What I Like:

1. General Plot - I like the overarching plot of this drama. It's very interested to watch a fantasy drama with steam punk elements. At first I thought it would be a more traditional wuxia drama, but is pleasantly surprised.

2. Zhang Ruo Yun/Feng Tian Yi (ML) - ZRY carries the drama on his back and runs with it. His acting is the best out of everyone, even the more veteran actors. His character is more multi-dimensional than others, thus, giving him the chance to show off his acting chops. I miss him when he's not on my screen.

What I Don't Like:

1. Tropes - This drama has the usual C-drama tropes: jealous 2FL and 2ML who won't take no for an answer, love turns to hate, good 2ML turns evil, noble idiocy, misunderstanding and miscommunication over and over again. I think I dislike the most is the misunderstanding trope. Our FL appears to be smart enough in the beginning of the show, but towards the end, she believes what the villainous 2FL said instead of ML (again and again).

2. Low budget shows - I think money is spent on the costumes for just our leads. ML and FL and have the nicest clothes, though you can see that the quality isn't that great either. The costumes for others and the set designs all look very cheap. The palaces don't look grand and the decorations/sets look somewhat cheap. Even though I wasn't expecting fancy fight scenes, the ones that are in the drama (not that many) are not done well. I personally dislike slow-motion fighting. The CGI is obviously very 2016 as well.

3. Inconsistent and illogical incidents - One scene FL hurt her ankle, another scene she ran off. People can go in and out of palaces at will and unannounced. ML hiding something so important under a table (?!?!) that could be stolen very easily. There are many more examples of inconsistent and illogical writing.

4. Ending theme song - What is up with the ending theme song? The upbeat song from those 3 teen boys feel so out of place and totally not giving out the same vibe as the drama or the beautiful opening theme song.

Other:
*spoiler* Endings - I am usually someone who seeks out dramas with happy endings. Once in a while, I would watch a tragic drama. Coming into this drama, I knew there are two versions of the ending and I've watched both of them. Personally, I am fine with the first, sadder ending. I think sometimes it makes sense and it is a tragic beauty. It reminds me of the other drama "Rattan" where it also has two endings. I think most fans preferred the second, happier ending, esp. when the leads have gone through so much and never really had any happy times.

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The acting skills in this drama are way above the top. The guy who played Feng Tianyi is a GREAT actor, his attitude is just awesome. I love the story, although I think there are a bit too many misunderstandings in this story. The story is very fast, a lot happens in just 28 episodes. I've seen this show countless times and it even makes me cry when I just think about it.

For season 2, I cannot say the same. Season 2 was just absolute garage, but season 1 was pretty decent. The story is very hard to understand for some people, but I love it. The way how Feng Tianyi falls in love with her is really charming. I really loved it.

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The lack of communication in this drama will drive you crazy lol

Oh my God does nobody communicate in this drama? so many things could be worked out if the characters just started asking questions but nobody seems to care lol.

Overall I think the acting is just average. I started watching this drama because of Zhang Rou Yan, for having watched him Enjoy of Life and Sword Snow Stride. Originally he started out playing a character or the type of character I really like and that's where he's smart and his actions always keep others guessing. All that went right out the window when he met the female lead and I feel like he started acting quite out of character after that. He starts acting recklessly and overly emotional and was willing to throw all his plans right out the window for her. He also never communicated with her about anything so it's no wonder that she constantly misunderstood him. Also another problem I have with her.

So the Female lead is Yi Fu Ling played by Guan Xaoi Tong. Very naive and kind of stupid, I mean even the uncle of the main male lead at one point when he's thinking of his late wife inwardly comments that her temper is stupid and compared to his wife she isn't very smart ?, this part made me laugh. She doesn't think for herself and hust blindly believes whatever anyone else tells her without thinking oh that might sound suspicious like believing what the person who poisoned her or cursed her says over what the main male says when he tries to explain.

The Crown Prince Ting Jun I kept asking myself why can't he just have an unselfish love for her? Lol. I understand that it was the nail inside of him that forced her to keep her at a distance but I always felt like what he felt for her wasn't love. You love someone you want them to be happy even if that happiness isn't necessarily with you. But instead he just turned angry and resentful and bitter and started doing evil things because he blamed the sky Kingdom but it's like all these were your own actions you decided to do these things.

Even Yu Gain Zhen I initially really liked his character he kind of made me laugh but even he was stupid and didn't question things and just believed what people told him. Like later on when he Discovers Princess Xu Fei Shaung that she was dying he never thought to ask anyone why she was like that. Just automatically blamed the king of the sky Kingdom for her decline, and the closest he came to the truth was when he confronted him later on and the King said he never hurt her no because she did it to herself when she tried to curse the main female lead to die. Even later on when he found out that the king that the humans were building a sky Kingdom and was told that his master had started it he just automatically believed what they were saying since his master wasn't around. Like it's like you're smart you're supposed to be good at inventing things I don't get it the lack of curiosity to find out the motives behind why people do things....

Music is forgettable tbh. The ending song didn't match the theme of the show lol
The CGI was not that great lol.

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Interesting and Addictive

I loved this show. I stumbled upon this show by watching a clip of a spin off of this show so I decided to start with the begging and I'm so happy I did. I absolutely loved it. I fell inlove with the characters immediately! The love hate relationship between our FML and our LM was Everything! I was rooting for them from the start! I loved everything about this show the storyline was fresh and new. The characters were also all new faces to me, I realize this is an older show but I very much enjoyed it. It keeps you interested and craving more, it was thrilling. As soon as I finished I'm already pulling up the continuation of this series which is a spin off.

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Novoland adventure with the Winged Tribe

I watched Novoland Castle in the Sky #1 for Zhang Ruo Yun and Guan Xiao Tong.

Story:
Emperor Feng Tian Yi started out as megalomaniacal and arrogant, but he revealed his motives for acting like a young despot.  Fuling was the nucleus of the story.  Fuling was stiff, but her temperament seemed to be the perfect yang(bright) to Tian Yi's yin(dark). SLS Prince Bai Ting Jun was lackluster, but his temperament was most compatible with Fuling's personality.

Acting/Cast
Zhang Ruo Yun carried the show with his superb acting and his regal stature. He is one of the outstanding young actors in China. Guan Xiao Tong's acting was adequate, but still charming on screen.

Music:
Music moved the drama along adequately.

Overall:
The maniacal Queen and Fuling's father's side story was tedious, and a detriment to the plot.  The wingkind tribe seemed to function in a small space. CGI and props were cheesy,and reminiscent of the early Doctor Who days. The M-POP artist in the end credits seems disjointed with the drama setting.

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