Zao Zuo Shi Guang (2023)

Perfect lighthearted drama worth watching

Fabulous Drama! With the perfect amount of humour and court intrigue from start to finish. It grabbed me right from episode 1. Perfect to just unwind. It definitely deserves a season 2 which can easily be picked up from “open endings” of some of the characters (I hope it will very soon ). All the acting was very good without exception. The FL was childish and naive without being annoying and was a nice surprise as this was the 1st time I’ve seen her work. The ML as usually didn’t disappoint either (he never does really). The more I watch him the more I appreciate his skills. I especially liked the “tidbits” moments at the end of each episode.
Will 95% rewatch at some point.
Credit to the whole cast.

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Boring

I had high expectations for this drama, however, the story that started off being so promising became dumber as it progressed. It was so bad I gave up by episode 22. Jeremy is old and it shows on his botoxed-to-the-max face. The supporting actors tried but with the script being what it is, they were never going to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Ultimately, I've no interest in knowing how the main couple ends up together nor do I care about all the tiresome subplots.

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Hilarious and entertaining at the onset

I find the storyline intriguing with the FL pretending to be weak and meek damsel; this is due to political overtones of being the only daughter of a very successful and much envied and feared general.
I personally like Jeremy Tsui especially in the period part of Be my princess as the Grand Tutor. However what blew me away is the chemistry and interactions as well as antics of Princess Hua Luili. She is a strong FL and with a mind of her own which I much preferred to some of the C drama FL.
She is the quintessential “tiger” pretending to be a tabby cat. She is well versed in martial arts but pretends to be an unknowledgeable novice… though this leads to much hilarity after she slaughtered all her kidnappers and try to pass all credits to the ingenious Princess Jiamin is just very funny and unbelievable at the same time.
For those who enjoy a good rom com with good acting thrown in and decent production for what is likely a low budget drama ; go ahead , enjoy and indulge. You won’t regret though no major kiss scenes but the chemistry makes up for that.

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Boring

After watching 7th episode I had decided to drop it because it felt like wasting of time . But after read the review I had decided to continue it but nothing interesting found . It was just about Hao family ,their daughter came to kingdom to maintain their reputation and nobody would took their advantage . The whole drama was revolving around it .
So I can't bear it ,so dropping it after wating 14 episodes . Even so powerful actors were looked weak in acting due to boring story .
I didn't recommend it .
Except me other reviews of the drama were positive .
So watched its few episodes and then decide .

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Watch it for Jeremy Tsui or for an easy and funny historical romance drama.

Subjective Gut Rating - 7.75

“Royal Rumours” received a lot of buzz when it first aired due to having a smart female lead who can outsmart anyone. Many are captivated by the male and female leads trying to outsmart each other. But after the initial praises, no one seemed to talk about this show anymore and I am not surprised after finishing this drama. There’s a lot of fun and interesting aspects to this drama in the first ⅓ of the drama. But then, the pace starts to slow down in the second ⅓, and the tone of the drama switches to a more political and somewhat serious tone in the last third. Here’s a quick summary of what likes and dislikes.

What I like:

1. Jeremy Tsui - This man carries the show. His big and expressive eyes never fail to amaze me. A veteran and charismatic actor who can display different emotions through his eyes. Without him, this drama would not be the same. I also miss his deep voice, though the voice actor isn’t bad.

2. Smart leads - Who doesn’t like two smart people trying to outsmart each other? I don’t think either one of them really made a dumb decision. Maybe a little uncharacteristic after falling n love, but by no means are they dumb. There’s no damsel in distress as well, since our female lead can hold her own.

3. He Yuan Ting - Aside from Jeremy’s Crown Prince, HYT is my second favorite character. He is interesting and I enjoy seeing the different sides of him. In a way, he’s pitiful but he never forgot his role as the prince of a rivaling country and not let his affection for FL really clouded his decision (much).

4. Drawings - I love all the cute drawings!

5. Good parents - A C-drama with mostly lovely and caring parents? That’s a rare gem! A king who is both a good parent AND a good king? How many of those can you find?

6. Sisterhood - Another rare gem that the ladies get along so well. Even when initially Princess Tian Jia Min might not like FL that much, she was never super annoying and mean, and I find her quite likable.

7. Sad romance - Though the acting isn’t that great, I am most touched by their romance. I would have loved to see more of their shy and subtle affection for each other. I think with more experienced actors, their story can be even more touching.


What I Have Mixed Feelings or Don’t Like:

1. Hua Liu Li (FL) - This is in the mixed feeling category. I love that she’s so smart. But there’s something about her constant fakeness (needed in the story), cutesy look and talk, whiny voice that make it hard for me to love her. It’s worse when she has fallen in love. I wonder if she has a different voice actress, maybe I’ll like this character even more.

2. Villains - Their reasons do not seem to justify the actions. I also think that I’ve waited for a very long time, but nothing really happened. For most of the drama, we’re trying to discover who the villains are, but I don’t see the villains do much at all. When they were revealed, it was anticlimactic for me. I don’t think the drama did a good job in setting up and explaining why they did what they did. A few sentences here and there in the last episode do not suffice.

3. Acting - Hit or Miss in this category. The veterans are great but the younger actors pale in comparison.

Action scenes - I know this is not a wuxia drama, but they could have made the fight scenes more exciting. There are too many slow-motion scenes. And worst, none of the actors can swing a sword like they know what to do with it. I am usually very picky with my action scenes, and the scenes in this drama are below-average.

4. Pacing - For a 24-episode drama with so much going on in theory, I find the middle of the drama a little slow. If the writing is tighter, the drama could include many more useful and interesting events. There’s a whole lot of repetitive talking and planning.

5. Uneven romance screen time - I think the drama spends a little too much time on Prince Yuan Hao and Princess Jia Min. They do need more time to develop their partnership→friendship→ romance but I wish the drama has devoted a little more time on the other couples. Yuan Wei and Pei Ji Huai got the shortest end of the romance stick. They would have been so cute together. As I mentioned above, I’d like to see more of the other ‘sad’ couple.

Overall, this is an easy watch and a quick binge. A funny historical romance drama but not necessarily a well-written or well-acted drama. I though I would like the bickering couple and the romance a lot more. I’ll watch it if you are a fan of Jeremy Tsui, oh, and if you like cats. ?

Completed: 4/10/2023

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NOT for serious watchers. Super light hearted and bubbly drama!

Storyline is nothing overly complicated. If anything, the storyline is really simple and even the focus on the “big bad villian” wasn’t big at all. (Which I feel is a good thing for such a lighthearted fluffy drama)

The drama focuses more on the interactions between the ML & FL. I found the acting of ML very apt to his character - smart yet shy (and innocent) when it comes to love.

A refreshing change to the usual dramas involving the royalties is that, the Royal brothers are not vying for the crown prince nor are they fighting to kill each other. The emperor also loves his sons and harem rather equally.

In all, it was a great fluffy light drama to watch in between the usual heavier ones and I don’t regret watching this at all! I did wish the ML did find out that the FL was indeed poisoned and showed more love and concern towards her though! ?

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Fun enough to keep me watching

The plot is very light and comedic, mainly revolves around the building of relationship between the Crown Prince and Hua Liuli, amidst the lingering espionage from neighbouring warring country. Hua Liuli is a daughter of prominent general of the nation and had been crowned as princess for her parents’ military contributions, and invited to live in the capital, where in reality she was actually held as political hostage because the emperor was wary of how big an influence both her parents wield as mighty generals and worry that they might steal the throne with their huge army. Upon her arrival at the capital, she acted like a weak, sickly maiden to avoid people (especially the emperor) from getting wary of her, where in reality she was quick witted and very good in martial art.

The palace drama in the harem and the political conspiracy is minimal with ridiculously comedic kind of vibe so they tend to look stupid.

I didnt like how the ML (crown prince) look. He looked like a gaunt porcelain statue whose face been dabbed with too much fair coloured foundations and he had very weird face expressions. He tried too hard to look like a calculative, evil, indifferent crown prince. I think FL did okay although the part she acted as a sickly maiden is rather exaggerated (not sure if they intend to do it this way as it is a comedy). The acting is mediocre and they include so many awkward moments of proximity between the ML and FL which I failed to find the spark. I find them pretty lame.

The costume is sooooo over the top with ridiculous-looking dangling hair accessories and ugly flowy dress. Colour combination of the female dresses are botched too. The female’s makeup looks weird too as they put the blusher around the eyes instead of cheeks, and they drew the eyebrow wayyy across the temple.

I just realized everytime they want to portray a character of being sick, it’s always with the slight fake coughing. It’s like even when the character says,”i have a headache/stomach ache,” they would always cough. It’s so annoying.

The first kiss being on the forehead is pretty sweet though. I’m getting sick of lip-kissing between two yet-to-profess-their-love persons. It’s unrealistic in the ancient society that doesn’t even let females and males to mingle freely.

Towards the end the FL became rather stupid though, the plot also became rather ridiculous. So there’s a revolt going to happen and they know when the rebels will take action, one wouldve thought they had prepared backup properly. But nooooo, they had to make it dramatic by going about on how Liuli was going to mobilize the whole Hua army from outside the capital to storm into the palace as backup. Even funnier thing is that the emperor also knows about the plot and feigned sickness, and only came out when the mastermind revealed herself. Interestingly, the emperor conveniently forgets that a band of murderous assassins are pursuing his Crown Prince outside the palace while he was having a chat with the mastermind. I wouldve thought it’d be a brilliant plan by the scheming Crown Prince or even the quickwitted Liuli. It was big disappointment instead.

The show ended with a wedding of course.

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Lovely little story, very heartwarming, and very comedic as well

One point I was make is that I really enjoyed the character settings of everyone, from the leads to the side characters. This series was perfect with no unnecessary fights within the royal family, with all 3 princes being very harmonious. The King himself is benevolent, and not one of the typical terrible monarchs seen in many tv series. FL and ML are quite unique characters, with FL being the perfect sly but 'weak damsel' actress, and ML seeing right through her act immediately. Even the side characters and couples are just adorable, and the perfect cherry on the already amazing cake!

I would've liked there to be more focus on the romance between FL and ML, but understanding the plot, it was more sidetracked for the 'war' parts of the story to progress. There were many extremely adorable moments between the leads, and there's no angst at all. At some point FL did drop the whole act, which I thought was quite funny as no one seemed to question her extreme 'quick recovery'.

Now to JinPo - honestly their country(?) just seems like a comedic joke, with their general, assassins and even their prince acting like complete fools, but I do find them quite endearing. Even with the context of war between the Jing and JinPo countries, I find myself quite pitying JinPo's prince, afterall he did get tricked by FL twice, leaving deep mental scars haha. But I do not like the prince, as he did try to initiate war, and nearly got FL and ML killed tsk tsk, he failed miserably, as did all his previous missions.

Overall, this was a short and cute story. Though I do wish it could be a bit more fleshed out as I thought the plot did not really have enough time to develop well. The plot twist happened too quickly, and the evil mastermind did not even have enough screen time for me to truly understand and empathise with his motives. But I did enjoy the beautiful character settings most, and this was what made the series for me.

PS - those little tidbit videos at the end of every episode is just the perfect little addition to the series, its fun, relaxing, and seems really like BTS scenes of the character's normal daily lives when they're 'off-screen', whoever thought of this is an absolute genius!

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