The #Netflix drama's depiction of China is, well, problematic. How did the people of China react to it? In this issue I highlight what Chinese viewers think about the 3 Body Problem.
Was halfway watching #TheLegendofShenLi which I enjoyed, surprisingly. (I think of the first arc as Meet Yourself, #xianxia version 🤭.) I love our main couple's idyllic countryside life, the cooking scenes. It was a respite from their duties as bigwigs in the heavenly realm.
Most of all, I am liking the fact that we have a mature couple, acted by older actors in a genre dominated by mostly young actors.
my dad is looking for more historical cdramas to watch, and I told him I'd see if I could find some recs for him.
he's looking for cdramas that are available to watch free online (eg on viki), he prefers historicals, he enjoys some fighting, and previous shows he's enjoyed include The Untamed, Nirvana in Fire, Imperial Coroner, and Who Rules the World.
For those of you who watch more tv than me, what would you suggest?
The Young Warriors (Song Dynasty)
Shaolin Wendao (Ming Dynasty)
The Longest Day in Chang'an (Tang Dynasty)
Three Kingdoms/The King's War (Qin Dynasty)
Legend of Chu and Han (Three Kingdoms/Qin)
Arrows on a Bowstring (Sino-Japanese War II)
Battle of Changsha (Sino-Japanese War II)
The Disguiser (Sino-Japanese War II / this has some of the same NiF actors)
Notable: Hu Ge, Peter Ho, Chen Long, Jin Dong, Eddie Peng, Zhou Yi Wei
My dad loved old Chinese tales and used to tell me the stories. One of the ones I remember best is The Eight Immortals. Someone on Youtube described them as the "OG Chinese Avengers" and I was like, this is a perfect description of them. And each character is so iconic.
And I must've watched this 1985 version cos I remember the song so much!
Dream of Splendor is a historical romance drama that I absolutely adore. I love how it features a mature relationship between a beautiful couple, and that it also highlights the food and tea culture, music and art of the Song dynasty.
A hilariously accurate representation of my taste. Mostly 😆 However, this graph is not 100% accurate as I went on a documenting spree in May last year when I joined Mydramalist and had been watching #KDramas for some time. In 2023, I watched mostly #CDramas and they were definitely not romance dramas.
I prefer #KDrama romances over #CDrama ones, so I tend to skew there. Also while I tend to pick a show for its fantasy angle rather the romance, but these shows are often are romance focused too.
Just watched episode 35 of Sword & Brocade and I wanna squee that Wallace Huo is such a good kisser. I felt the passion in his kiss. Damnit we waiting 30+ freaking episodes and endured bouts of concubine scheming for this and it was all worth it 😂
From MyDramaList's 2023 year summary. This is actually a good reflection of my taste in dramas. (Note the lack of romance dramas lol and lots of wuxias & thrillers hehe.) And apparently 90% of my dramas are rated 7 or 8, and about 8% or so are 9.
So a Discord group I am part of asked - what 12 dramas will I recommend people?
So this is a list of my favourite #CDramas and #KDramas. Have you seen any of them?
I am watching the #ThreeBody#CDrama version and also saw the #Netflix version's teaser. I compared the same scene with the Cdrama one, and I can tell you - I do not have a good feeling about the Netflix adaptation. The Netflix version of that scene lacks the gravitas, urgency and sophistication of the Cdrama version.
I am also worried they are going to water down or completely erase the Chinese perspectives and cultural context, which is really important.
Here are my top 5 #CDrama picks for 2023. Personally, I thought 2023 was a great year for #CDramas. I feel that the quality of dramas is going up & the variety of dramas are getting better too.
Maybe no one should be surprised, but I'm currently watching Love By Hypnotic because I just enjoyed Fang Yilun's performance so much in #AJourneyToLove. I'm up to episode 5 and I love it - sweet, light, fluffy. An enemies to lovers story done well. Much needed after the dark depths we had to go to in AJTL. Fang Yilun is a great actor and I'm happy to discover him this year alongside Cheng Yi and Liu Xueyi.
Rewatching Dream of Splendor right now and remember what a beautifully made drama this was. I grieve a little because so many directors rarely bother to make #CDramas of this quality anymore. 😭
If you have not watched this yet, do try. It's a quality drama
#CDramas can go downhill towards the end fast, so I prayed that #AJourneyToLove could retain its quality till the very end. We are finally at the final week. I am happy to report that it's still good. Then again, there are 6 episodes left & things could still go wrong. 😅
So 🙏 pray that we get a satisfying ending, whether it's a happy one or not. None of that open ended nonsense pls!