As a Xiao Zhan fan I was filled with excitement and anticipation for this release, only to be underwhelmed by the end =/ Please note that I went into this without any prior knowledge to the story (have not read the novel nor watched the donghua) so this review is purely based on the drama and my opinion on the storylines execution.

The story itself is pretty straightforward, not hard to follow along but somehow I felt like it lacked substance. Even with there being mysteries and secrets, the way the story was executed never left me with anticipation. A lot of scenes felt unnecessary to the overall story; they made it seem like it was important at one time but then brushed it aside later on never touching upon it much again, let alone giving it much closure. Even found myself bored many times because of the slow paced or draggy areas, it was like watching paint dry. Instead of engaging the viewers in more fast paced action filled scenes with concise explanations, they seemed to focus more on dialogue, an excessive amount at that. Which is a shame because the only interesting parts to me were the fights and some of the training scenes.

Even though I never fully got invested in this story nor the characters, I must admit a lot of them had great character development, especially compared to the beginning when they were too immature and dramatic. The dynamics and chemistry between the Shrek Academy students were more enjoyable than the main leads! Honestly, even the "adult characters" were more interesting. My biggest complaint is the portrayal of Xiao Wu’s character, her voice & personality annoyed me throughout the show…I’m sorry, I know many loved her but I couldn’t even look at her half the time she was on screen. Her overly high pitched voice and her one expression pouty face just wasn’t doing it for me. Too naive and too clingy. Only during her fight scenes was she tolerable. Tang San unfortunately was also annoying at times but really only when he was with Xiao Wu, always holding her arm, being so overprotective and babied her so much. I understand the wanting to protect someone you care about but he was just over the top…

Thank goodness there wasn’t many scenes with music (at least not that I remember) because when there was, they NEVER played it at the right times. They should’ve played it during the action packed scenes to build up the suspense, but instead they were randomly playing it when they were casually walking or chatting…

The ending was left on a cliffhanger…i wont say much on it but regardless of what happens with the second season, I will not watch it. The only thing that kept me going while watching this was purely Xiao Zhan’s visuals and the beautiful loyalty and teamwork of the Shrek Academy as well as some their fight scenes!!