dorama: Chinese Paladin

Just finished(well, before work yesterday) the chinese fantasy/romance/kung fu series Chinese Paladin.  It's kinda of hard for me to talk about it without giving a play-by-play, which would result in my spending a lot of time yelling at the heroine.  When I was looking into it, every review I found would talk about how they disliked the 2 lead characters, but it was one of the best tvb series, and that's pretty accurate(though I don't think it was as good as Seven Swordsmen).  The main female character started out of, but was increasingly more and more self-centered and whiny, and the guy, while the "punk with a heart of gold" type of supporting character who usually ends up my favorite in anime and manga(Sano from Rurouni Kenshin, Renji from Bleach-though there's a 3-way tie, Magatsu from Blade of the Immortal, Tasuki from Fushigi Yugi, etc.) was rather annoying-though usually likable enough-as a main character.  The two actors also seemed to be chosen mostly for their looks, though for my money, the other 4 main characters were better looking(and somehow, Eddie Peng-who looks quite a bit like both Jiro Wang and the guy playing Nanba in Hana Kimi-and Bryan Wang both went from darling woobies whose unrequitted loves needed to realize what incredible sweethearts they were to very hot angstridden guys in the last 10 or so episodes...I think it's cuz Eddie changed his hair and Bryan started wearing all black)  I think maybe Crystal Liu and Hu Ge were both portrayed a bit too much "look, pretty" for me(though I do think both are attractive, and I believe this was the first major role either had.  (Hu Ge, incidentally, is the lead in the upcoming Legend of the Condor Heroes series with Ariel Lin)

However, the story is excellent and very engaging, the supporting characters are all excellent, the back stories are complex and intrigueing, and the series is crammed full of fables and mythology.  It's also amazingly beautiful and has great special effects.  My favorite of the side stories was Jin Juan and the Butterfly(so incredibly pretty) and Jiang Ming's tale(his daughter, incidentally, was far too cool and promising a character to just disappear after a few episodes) though my favorite part was the back story of the two brothers from Mount Shu, Empress, and Saintess--I would have happily watched an entire series of them(and of Jiang Ming's tale, and then his daughter's)

The series really is excellent, and might be a good thing for those planning to check out Legend of the Condor Heroes to watch as they're the same type.  Though, again, I like Sevean Swordsmen better.  As an interesting parallel between the two series, in both, my favorite characters are the secondary male lead and the whip weilding lady in red who's in a love triangle where she's better suited for the guy, but won't get him in the end(though, in this case, she's far worthier)

I posted a fairly massive picspam and several MVs at dorama_chat here

dorama: Chinese Paladin

Just finished(well, before work yesterday) the chinese fantasy/romance/kung fu series Chinese Paladin.  It's kinda of hard for me to talk about it without giving a play-by-play, which would result in my spending a lot of time yelling at the heroine.  When I was looking into it, every review I found would talk about how they disliked the 2 lead characters, but it was one of the best tvb series, and that's pretty accurate(though I don't think it was as good as Seven Swordsmen).  The main female character started out of, but was increasingly more and more self-centered and whiny, and the guy, while the "punk with a heart of gold" type of supporting character who usually ends up my favorite in anime and manga(Sano from Rurouni Kenshin, Renji from Bleach-though there's a 3-way tie, Magatsu from Blade of the Immortal, Tasuki from Fushigi Yugi, etc.) was rather annoying-though usually likable enough-as a main character.  The two actors also seemed to be chosen mostly for their looks, though for my money, the other 4 main characters were better looking(and somehow, Eddie Peng-who looks quite a bit like both Jiro Wang and the guy playing Nanba in Hana Kimi-and Bryan Wang both went from darling woobies whose unrequitted loves needed to realize what incredible sweethearts they were to very hot angstridden guys in the last 10 or so episodes...I think it's cuz Eddie changed his hair and Bryan started wearing all black)  I think maybe Crystal Liu and Hu Ge were both portrayed a bit too much "look, pretty" for me(though I do think both are attractive, and I believe this was the first major role either had.  (Hu Ge, incidentally, is the lead in the upcoming Legend of the Condor Heroes series with Ariel Lin)

However, the story is excellent and very engaging, the supporting characters are all excellent, the back stories are complex and intrigueing, and the series is crammed full of fables and mythology.  It's also amazingly beautiful and has great special effects.  My favorite of the side stories was Jin Juan and the Butterfly(so incredibly pretty) and Jiang Ming's tale(his daughter, incidentally, was far too cool and promising a character to just disappear after a few episodes) though my favorite part was the back story of the two brothers from Mount Shu, Empress, and Saintess--I would have happily watched an entire series of them(and of Jiang Ming's tale, and then his daughter's)

The series really is excellent, and might be a good thing for those planning to check out Legend of the Condor Heroes to watch as they're the same type.  Though, again, I like Sevean Swordsmen better.  As an interesting parallel between the two series, in both, my favorite characters are the secondary male lead and the whip weilding lady in red who's in a love triangle where she's better suited for the guy, but won't get him in the end(though, in this case, she's far worthier)

I posted a fairly massive picspam and several MVs at dorama_chat here