Hey guys it’s Anton.
Netizens are currently trying to cancel Xu Kai & Zhou Dongyu’s currently airing fantasy
drama Ancient Love Poetry.
Okay, so I know it’s been a long time but I just had to make a video about this because,
frankly, it’s outrageous.
I have to set the record straight on this one.
I have been on hiatus if you guys couldn’t tell, but one of the things that have gotten
me back into watching Chinese dramas again was in fact Ancient Love Poetry.
It’s excellent.
I think it’s really good and extremely underrated.
I think as far as the Chinese fantasy genre is concerned, this one hits in all the right spots.
The storyline is smooth, production value is fantastic, and the acting, wow..
Frankly I think everyone has been doing an amazing job, from main leads right down to
the supporting cast.
Take a second to drop a like on this video if you also agree with this sentiment by the
way, and we’ll get right down to the topic of this video.
So what exactly is going on with netizens these days?
There has been a slew of negative comments towards Ancient Love Poetry recently trying
to bring down the series that's frankly really disheartening.
Let me break it down for you guys in this video.
So, right from the very beginning when Ancient Love Poetry was released, people, or more
likely bots I suspect, started posting negativity towards the drama.
It started to become a trending topic on Weibo to criticize the series within the first few
hours it premiered.
People were saying things like "The CGI is bad", "Zhou Dongyu looks ugly", and that "Xu
Kai is fat".
I will address these later in the video about why these people are clearly so wrong, but
let’s continue.
These netizens, not content on trying to destroy the drama without even watching the series,
took to Douban, which is a Chinese review database and started going to work downvoting
and giving the series 1 star reviews, despite the drama only premiering less than a half
hour before.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure these people didn’t give it a chance.
So my thought is that these are actually paid bots that go in to ruin a drama’s rating
so that when people see this kind of thing they will just avoid it instead of giving
the series a chance.
Which is really too bad, because I actually see it having a trickle effect on legitimate
drama news sites and channels as well.
What started as a C-netizen movement is even moving into the international community, as
I see MyDramaList’s rating for Ancient Love Poetry dipping down from 9.3 all the way to,
as of me making this video, a meager 8.5.
What I’m noticing is that many people are just following with this hype that Ancient
Love Poetry is actually a bad drama, which is far far far from the truth.
So let me debunk what has been said negatively about this series so far, okay?
Number one, they said the CGI looked bad.
Okay, so no drama visual effects are going to be perfect.
After all, it’s just a TV show and they are not going to have the budget to make a
49 episode series look as polished as a 1 and a half hour Hollywood production film.
That being said, the special effects actually look really polished for a TV series in my
opinion.
A lot of the scenes I actually thought could have been done down to reduce the budget a
little bit, but for a C-drama, this is one of the best you will ever actually see.
The visuals are actually really smooth and graphical wise, the cinematography is superb here.
Nothing more to say than that.
But the second point really is this – it doesn’t matter!
I’m not sure if I’m in the minority here, but CGI in dramas never really appeal to me
in the first place.
I’m watching for the characters and the storyline, not brilliant visual effects.
I couldn’t care less if they only had half the budget and did less of it as long as the
storyline is still good, but it was nice that they did have the budget to do so.
So second criticism, people were hating on Zhou Dongyu.
Like, really unfairly.
They said her acting was bad and that she looked unattractive for the part.
Now, you guys can go back and see my original thoughts on the casting of Zhou Dongyu for
Ancient Love Poetry.
I was originally not that excited with her being casted opposite of Xu Kai, preferring
someone like Bai Lu – who I think would still be great for this role.
But so far she has really exceeded my expectations for this drama.
Seriously.
As you guys may know she does mostly big screen film work, and while that is not always an
indicator of quality, you know she can probably act.
And I think she does a great job here.
Her character is supposed to be that really bratty annoying fairy, you know, like Yang
Zi in Ashes of Love or Dilraba in The Pillow Book.
But yet, her character here in Ancient Love Poetry doesn’t really truly annoy me that
much.
I mean yes, she can be a nuisance, but when it comes time she is very sincere and seems
to pull through for her friends and those close to her.
Zhou Dong Yu hits the annoying bit very well but also hits the sincere part, which makes
me more inclined to like her character better.
I think she’s doing a great job, and in terms of the haters saying that she looks
ugly; over time I really think her looks are winning me over for this character.
I think she looks beautiful.
Okay let’s move on to the Xu Kai criticism.
They said he looks fat.
Well, there’s not much we can do about that kind of subjective claim, but I think people
were expecting a more chiseled face like Vengo Gao from Eternal Love of Dream, and Xu Kai’s
baby face isn’t doing him many favors.
But hey, it’s Xu Kai okay?
Totally straight, but that is one handsome dude.
I’m more than fine with his casting.
There were complaints about his acting as well, and… duh, that’s his character you
guys.
Emotionally detached and aloof.
We know Xu Kai can act, just go watch “The Legends” or “The Story of Yanxi Palace”.
This is his character in Ancient Love Poetry and I’m perfectly fine with it.
The chemistry between him and Zhou Dongyu isn’t fire like Xu Kai Bai Lu in “The
Legends”, but it’s a different interaction.
It will build up and become natural on its own so don’t you worry you guys.
Everything is going to be okay.
Ancient Love Poetry has been great for me so far; it does start off a little slow but
picks up from there.
How it compares with big fantasy greats like “Love and Destiny”, “Ashes of Love”
or even “Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms”?
We’ll put up a big TBD, to be determined, sign on it while we make our way through
49 episodes.
But so far I think it stands a good fighting chance to be up there among the greats.
If you guys haven’t started watching this one yet I highly recommend you do.
It’s available on Tencent totally free, with English subtitles, which is where I’ve
been watching it.
Let me know what you guys think of Ancient Love Poetry so far down in the comments section
below and whether you agree or disagree with me.
I won’t go too much further into this, but like I said before, I’ve been really enjoying
this series so far and it’s been enough to break me out of hiatus and make these videos
for you guys again.
So thank you Xu Kai and company for a fantastic drama, remember to give a like for this video
for the YouTube algorithm if you are enjoying the series as well, and please subscribe to
the channel if you haven’t yet already and turn on your notification bell.
You guys supporting me is the only reason why I continue to make these videos in the
first place, so it really does mean a lot to me.
Anyhow, that’s it for this video today.
I want to give a warm shoutout to all you guys who have been loyal enough to stick around
with ADN and ADN Plus, which have been in sort of a stalemate recently, but hopefully this time
I will have enough motivation to continue to update regularly.
My name is Anton, thanks again, and thanks for watching you guys, I will catch you guys
in the next video.
Bye!