Maika
A small warning - Don't watch the opening/ending songs unless you want to be spoiled for the drama. I'm glad I skipped through them and watched it in the last episode to see what it had, otherwise I would have known too much.
I thought the story would be typical same as any other story where a female disguises herself as a male and runs into romance with someone who she is around as a man. But there's so much more to the story than that.
While there is romance, the main story revolves around the military, politics, and history (Japan vs. China). So if you feel as if it is "Anti-Japanese" as some claim for historical dramas like this, then don't watch it. There's also some funny moments that you laugh to.
Regarding the romance in this drama, I'll warn there's a lot of love triangles in this drama. I wouldn't even call it triangles, it's more like a love tree or some sort of diagram. There is no gushy type of romance here either. You might get disappointed because you don't see kiss scenes between the main couple, but I think because the main story revolves around the military and historical issues, the romance had to be limited. However, I think the romance between the main couple is sweet. In the beginning of the drama, you see a lot of cute, fluffy moments between the main couple, but the story starts to get more intense and you start seeing less of those moments. The relationship between the main couple was built nicely too. The show does try to throw you off with the love triangles. It makes you feel bad seeing one of them in an unrequited love. There was one person who was in a love triangle whose persistence did piss me off slightly, but thankfully, even though it took the last section of the drama, the person gives up and moves on to someone that was there for them which I'm happy about.
I will also add there is tragedy even if it isn't labeled as one. The fact that it revolves around military and battles is a sign that people will die. And these deaths are quite upsetting to see. It didn't make me cry or anything, but it was just sad for a moment because some of those characters, you grow a liking to.
One of the strong points in the drama is the friendship. The academy shows the growth of characters who become a group of friends (along with the FL). Some of them may not get along in the beginning, but over time and with what circumstances they had to go through together, they grow closer together and develop a deep understanding of one another. You also see redemption of one student in the Academy which was nice to see that they did that for him.
As for how the women are portrayed, I think they tried for a realistic approach for them. You're not going to see weak women and then women with supernatural strength. You see most of the women trying to break barriers and being independent for the most part(since in most situations they do receive a man's help). One woman tries to change traditional society's views. Another breaks academy rules and disguises as a man. You slowly see her get stronger to the point that she can handle some situations by herself or be able to fight some men. Another woman is a boss. The nice part is that our FL isn't shown to be dumb. She is smart when it comes to crucial situations.
Overall, I would say they did a good job of showing the growth of many characters in the drama including the ML(he develops nicely and you start rooting for him throughout the drama). Some characters were just forgotten about and held almost no significance. Some things they didn't explain properly regarding some minor characters. There's also so many characters and you have to try to know their names, but some of them end up dead or not shown later on.
I will say the last 9-10 episodes, is where you just get the most hooked. You're stuck with anticipation since that's where it becomes most intense. Everything before that was just building to this last bit. I think they could have cut down on some of flashbacks though. There was a situation where the same flashback was repeated.
I forgot to add, if you want to see some of the deleted scenes of the drama, you can find some of them on YouTube. Apparently 60 minutes were deleted, and some of the scenes had kissing scenes (and comical ones too).
I thought the story would be typical same as any other story where a female disguises herself as a male and runs into romance with someone who she is around as a man. But there's so much more to the story than that.
While there is romance, the main story revolves around the military, politics, and history (Japan vs. China). So if you feel as if it is "Anti-Japanese" as some claim for historical dramas like this, then don't watch it. There's also some funny moments that you laugh to.
Regarding the romance in this drama, I'll warn there's a lot of love triangles in this drama. I wouldn't even call it triangles, it's more like a love tree or some sort of diagram. There is no gushy type of romance here either. You might get disappointed because you don't see kiss scenes between the main couple, but I think because the main story revolves around the military and historical issues, the romance had to be limited. However, I think the romance between the main couple is sweet. In the beginning of the drama, you see a lot of cute, fluffy moments between the main couple, but the story starts to get more intense and you start seeing less of those moments. The relationship between the main couple was built nicely too. The show does try to throw you off with the love triangles. It makes you feel bad seeing one of them in an unrequited love. There was one person who was in a love triangle whose persistence did piss me off slightly, but thankfully, even though it took the last section of the drama, the person gives up and moves on to someone that was there for them which I'm happy about.
I will also add there is tragedy even if it isn't labeled as one. The fact that it revolves around military and battles is a sign that people will die. And these deaths are quite upsetting to see. It didn't make me cry or anything, but it was just sad for a moment because some of those characters, you grow a liking to.
One of the strong points in the drama is the friendship. The academy shows the growth of characters who become a group of friends (along with the FL). Some of them may not get along in the beginning, but over time and with what circumstances they had to go through together, they grow closer together and develop a deep understanding of one another. You also see redemption of one student in the Academy which was nice to see that they did that for him.
As for how the women are portrayed, I think they tried for a realistic approach for them. You're not going to see weak women and then women with supernatural strength. You see most of the women trying to break barriers and being independent for the most part(since in most situations they do receive a man's help). One woman tries to change traditional society's views. Another breaks academy rules and disguises as a man. You slowly see her get stronger to the point that she can handle some situations by herself or be able to fight some men. Another woman is a boss. The nice part is that our FL isn't shown to be dumb. She is smart when it comes to crucial situations.
Overall, I would say they did a good job of showing the growth of many characters in the drama including the ML(he develops nicely and you start rooting for him throughout the drama). Some characters were just forgotten about and held almost no significance. Some things they didn't explain properly regarding some minor characters. There's also so many characters and you have to try to know their names, but some of them end up dead or not shown later on.
I will say the last 9-10 episodes, is where you just get the most hooked. You're stuck with anticipation since that's where it becomes most intense. Everything before that was just building to this last bit. I think they could have cut down on some of flashbacks though. There was a situation where the same flashback was repeated.
I forgot to add, if you want to see some of the deleted scenes of the drama, you can find some of them on YouTube. Apparently 60 minutes were deleted, and some of the scenes had kissing scenes (and comical ones too).
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