A Tale of the Wanderers (2021)

Gostinho de quero mais

Entrei nesse dorama porque so ouvia falar bem dele. Sai feliz e tristonho porque queria mais. A atuação do elenco é facisnante, as lutinhas são visualmente bonitas, sem falar do visual em si, e o bromance principal é muito apaixonante, nem imaginava que eles iam se aceitar com um casal tão cedo, oque me concedeu cenas de esquentar o coração, da pra ver a paixão neles de longe! O segundo casal também é muito fofo, pena que não tiveram um final feliz... eu realmente me choquei com a cena onde o noivo... gente eles eram tão inocentes e uns amorzinhos juntos, queria muito que eles tivessem um final feliz. Enfim, minha unica queixa é que, como sempre né, final muito corrido, e tem um especialzinho, ep 37, 7min.. que eu fiquei procurando o resto dos 40 min sem achar, porque nossa aquela cena deles dois.. também queria mais explicações sobre, porque ficou muita coisa implícita. Mas talvez seja de propósito, pra gente imaginar mesmo.

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I AM NEVER COMING DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN

The Chinese BL drama race of 2021 is off to an *incredible* start with "Word of Honor"/SHL.

Story/Production - Majority of the episodes were pretty good in terms of costumes and set design, though the CG was a bit of a letdown at times. I do wish we had gotten more episodes overall, like another big battle and more exposition towards the end (it felt like the last few eps were a bit rushed and I swear I thought I skipped an episode between 30 and 31 because the plot just jumps off from nothing), but this was possibly due to budget constraints (supposedly there were originally plans for 45 episodes instead of the final lineup of 36). Fair warning, episodes 32 and 35 broke my heart. Like, A LOT. I'm really glad Youku released that special episode 37 (yes we get a Happy Ever After), or else the official ending would have left me sobbing for hours. A huge round of applause for the scriptwriter and directors/producers and staff for their hard work—it definitely paid off!

Acting - The chemistry between the main leads AND the second couple pairing were incredibly well done: Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing's flirt game was off the roof, and Gu Xiang and Cao Weining were so adorable together. Zhang Zhehan really brought his A-game and showed his industry experience in Zhou Zishu's more subtle emotional moments (that drunk confession scene in episode 34 kills me every single time), while Gong Jun's raw talent and ability to pull of multiple personalities (crazy chief? flirtatious philanthropist? loyal subordinate? bloodthirsty warrior? check, check, check, and CHECK).

Music - I absolutely love the opening theme song "Tian Wen" and the ending theme song "Tian Ya Ke" (sung by Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun!!!), they're both incredibly emotional, and so meaningful after I looked up the english lyrics translations. My other favorites would have to be "Gu Meng" sung by Zhang Zhehan, an absolute masterpiece especially when he performs it live; and "Wu Ti" by Hu Xia, the OST that prepares me for heartbreaking moments every time I hear the first notes being played in a scene.

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I think I just found my new favourite series

I don't even know where to start. Some other reviewers here were able to perfectly summarize Word of Honor: it may not really be a 9.5 rate if you want to be super rational about it BUT you just fall in love with the series and its characters: it's funny, warm, full of charm, intriguing, dramatic (without falling to much on the melodramatic), swoon-worthy (as my Netflix likes to say) and yeah, you just want to spend time with those characters and know more about them.

I have not read the novel by Priest (yet!) so I can’t really say what was on the source material and what was brought to the story by the screenwriter, but I find that the product that we got has a great balance between tender moments and action, plot and character development.

I am a huge fan fantasy/wuxia and BL and I find that these two genres separately tend to sometimes be a bit flawed on either the building of the relationships between characters (and I don’t just mean romantic relationships, specially not the romantic ones actually), character development or plot development… It always feel we need to sacrifice one of the three for some reason… Word of Honor did not suffer from this problem, it delivered a well-constructed world and tight storyline with multi-faceted characters and evolving relationships (Wen Ke Xing and Gu Xiang, Zhou Zi Shu and Cheng Ling, Gu Xiang and Cao Wei Ning and, of course, Wen Ke Xing and Zhou Zi Shu).

The plot itself was conventional in terms that it was one of those ‘we need to get and/or destroy a magical item’ but I felt that Wen Ke Xing and Zhou Zi Shu views towards the martial arts world and the quest for more power made the story seem different from the Wuxia I watched in the past.

I found the last five or so episodes felt a bit rushed and some plot points and developments could have been more thoroughly explained (they wanted to keep some information from the audience and I thought that they ended up cutting scenes that were important to the plot).

About characters (the most important factor in any story in my humble opinion):

I just loved all the dynamics (because, yes in this kind of story we do need the characters we love to hate too) and I loved our protagonists, especially Wen Ke Xing. He was my personal favourite, his tones of grey, his charm and personality. Everything about him was just the right amount, definitely one of my favourite characters of all time (and the reasons I really want to read Faraway Wanderers so badly).

I also loved Gu Xiang, Zhou Zi Shu, Cao Wei Ning and the Scorpion King.

Zhou Zi Shu was the perfect match to Wen Ke Xing, a contrast and yet a complement to his personality. I loved the way he dealt with his past and how his character developed through the series, rediscovering reasons to live.

Gu Xiang was adorable and funny and innocent and loyal… A great character especially considering what we normally get in the BL world. Hers and Cao Wei Ning relationship made me go ‘ownnnnnn’ many, many times.
As for the scorpion king… that unpredictable bast***… I kept wanting him to be happy in spite all… yet, got invested in his story.

And, of course, my favourite of all things was Zhou Zi Shu and Wen Ke Xing’s relationship. Just the right amount of banter, tenderness, companionship and understanding. I like the way their relationship evolved, how they learned to cherish and trust one another…

I really love when we get a couple that is equal in all senses, that one helps the other, that there is no side that seems ‘dominant’, both stand on equal footing and have a life, a backstory and interest outside the relationship… When one character does not need to change for the other, it is the other that has to learn to accept their lovers faults and flaws. So, yeah, I love this couple!

Did I want a kiss? Yeah, I did (even knowing that we would not get it… but, admit it, we were all pretty amazed to how many tender moments we were able to get!) but I was genuinely happy with the portrait of their relationship as a whole.

I do hope we get more series like this ?

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a teeny bit of spoilers?? i love this drama so much

yall i just finished this, and holy shit it's so good, THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER PROVE ME WRONG
the last couple episodes made me cry my eyes out~
this drama is like a mix of the untamed (the bl concept) and legend of fei (one of them is poisoned/injured and the other main character tries to save them)
highly recommend for people who like wuxia dramas + bl dramas!!
i will be rewatching this in the future but as of right now i need a break from c dramas, although i am looking for more~
if yall have recommendations, my favorite genre ever is wuxia (historical) bl (bromance/boy love) chinese dramas!

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One of the Romantic Shows I've Ever Seen

I absolutely love Word of Honor! It's a one-of-a-kind show with a one-of-a-kind cast. The main leads have a beautiful chemistry and work well together, you can see that evidence in the end product. I was captivated by the story, the acting, the costumes since the very first episode and every single episode maintained my interest and fascination. I love Word of Honor's underdog story, they were voted most likely to fall in late 2020 and in 2021, they quickly shot up to one of the most popular dramas currently airing. I recommend that everyone watches this show- you will be swept away by it!

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a must watch series

After a long year of crappy wuxia drama, finally a c-drama worth watching. The chemistry between the two main leads are really good. Both of the actors acting are just so natural and enjoyable to watch. Simon Gong Jun really shines in this one, never notice his acting before Word of Honor. Well actually, almost every characters played well in this drama. Very entertaining and satisfying to watch. The story is very well written. The fighting scenes are beautiful and well executed. Last but not least, no annoying stupid damsel in distressed, no unnecessary draggy filler scenes.

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Mixed Feelings

The problem was it had a lot of similarities to The Untamed and Heaven Official's Blessing.
Which isn't bad. It's just the fact that these types of series always end with so many unanswered questions. Also the last few episodes were really sad. I felt that they didn't get an ending. Other then that it was really good. As for whats similar you'll just have to watch the other series :] I can not express how much I thought the actors suited characters. Anyway you should just watch it. Where do we get in life without chances. Update : I'd Just like to say i keep re-watching this series although its similar i adore it. Its one of my most favorite series. I love the leads and the story. I love the undead. I just love it all.

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Whoa my tears were just flowing endlessly

July 18, 2021

Oh waw, what a week! I spent this whole watching Word of Honour and every night I just cried. Make sure to have some tissues because my emotions were unstable as heck. HOLY, how can someone think of such a plot. Also, damn... how did this even pass the censorship?? LIke the flirtatious moments from Wen Ke Xing was just phenomenal. Though I must say I love this series from its casts to some parts of the story. I will explain why I gave the plot a significantly lower rating than the other 3 components.

? SPOILERS DOWN BELOW and a rant ? ?

First of all, I love how they tried to lay out the story. But I must say the bits near the ending and the finale itself could have been significantly better. Like I understand that in Wuxian dramas' side characters are usually killed off. BUT THE WORD OF HONOUR just did not give me a good convincing on why Cao Wei Ning and Ah Xiang have to die. Like how is that bastard the "father" of scorpion king and scorpion king still alive. LIke that just pissed me off. Sure maybe the writers wanted us to experience pain and I just hate them for that. I feel like the author just got lazy with the writing of the end. Like I will happily accept Cao Wei Ning and Ah Xiang's death if the writers just gave us a good reason. Like WTF, when I saw that part, I just flipped out cause what is this honey??? Like the way, they killed these two was just poorly done. Maybe I am too harsh, but that's my opinion.

And WTF is the ending. Like e it's just so condescending... How can you start such a well off plot just for it to fall into that ... mess ? .... I don't even think an appropriate word can express my disappointment in the ending.

So in summary

Pilot till maybe ep 30 ish solid, 10/10

30 ish till finale solid 6/10

Would I still recommend this??

Duh of course, I really wanted to give this series a solid 10/10

But with that part, I will settle for a 9.5 instead ?

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Word Of Honor give me happiness

I don't even watch the trailer and i don't even know about priest novel even this is a BL drama, just got curious with this drama because of gong jun and zhang zhe han. I watched their past work.

First, okay maybe this one like zhang zhe han other drama cold prince character. Lol i don't even imagine his expression is the sweetest thing and i dont even imagine gong jun can be this ruthless when he is ghost valley chief (i really love his evil smile ❤❤)

I'm already fall in love with wen ke xing when at the first time he met zhou xu as beggar, flirting and their bickering is so sweet. The most lovely thing is when wen ke xing call him " A xu".

But, the story near end episode a bit rushed not smooth transition i think, many plot holes. I don't satisfy with their explanation i think. Main problem is in 31-33 episode...

Overall, really good production, good scrip writing, good casting, i even love scorpion king ( i can't hate him hahaha)
CGI sometimes terrible but this is a drama not movie so i'm really understand about that.

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