Musings of the Obsessive Kind

If you feel like trying out a wuxia drama and want something light and guaranteed a happy ending (though I can't guarantee every character will make it out alive - it is wuxia after all), may I recommend Da Ren Wu (Big Shot), a delightful breezy tale starring Angelica Lee and Nicholas Tse.



Meet Si Si, our heroine. The only child of an official who has indulged (not to say spoiled) her since childhood, Si Si is strong-willed, cheerful and forthright. She is also almost painfully naive and sheltered, rather spoiled and...how shall I put it? Period China's biggest fangirl ever to exist. You see, Si Si has been fixated on famous martial arts heroes since she was a child. She has books about them, she has drawings about them, she talks, eats and breathes them. She knows their fight stats, she knows what color they like, and probably what they had for lunch. Si Si is probably the first otaku fangirl ever to exist. Her favorite champion is a young man known as 'Red Scarf Hero' - renown for starting his career by taking on a whole swarm of bandits to save a defenseless young bride, he now is one of the shining stars of martial arts world and is never seen without a swanky red scarf, his trademark.

If Si Si was ever to get married, she would love to be married to him.

Unfortunately for Si Si, her father has other plans. He arranges a marriage for her with the only son of a general who is his close friend. Looked at objectively, it's a great match - not only are the two young people close in age and from the same social strata, their families get along wonderfully and the young man himself is quite a looker.

But. BUT. BUT. This is what Si Si would like the least - not only is the son of the general no martial arts hero of any sort, avoiding confrontation and any cost and having no fight ability, but Si Si grew up with him (though she hasn't seen him in years) and of any men she knows, she likes him least!

Yang Fan, the handsome, reserved son of the general in question, has his own problems. Some time ago he has been sent by his father to infiltrate a particular martial arts clan which was gathering a huge amount of influence. He has returned from this mission without much result but plagued by huge gaps in his memory. Not to mention Yang Fan is now an amazingly good martial artist, which he definitely was not before his mission. Oh, and his memory gaps even include his girlfriend - that is certainly bizarre. Something does not gel. So marriage is the least of his issues right now.

What shall happen to Si Si & Yang Fan? Will the flighty young woman grow up? Will the solemn young man lighten up? Will they fall in love with each other (over his teaching her to fight, no less)? Will there be perilous travels, angst, conspiracies, rescues, evil monks, hugs, awesome secondary characters (including Red Scarf Hero who the heroine does meet during her travels and who, to my delight, turns out to be neither a peerless hero nor a weak-willed villain but a rather awesome and somewhat tragic character - he and his OTP made me cry)?

Of course.

Oh, and my favorite scene? When Si Si has been ensorcelled by the bad guy to fight Yang Fan because bad guy knows Yang Fan won't be able to harm her, so Yang Fan lets her stab him, as a means to snap her out of it. Whoa boy. You go.

And then there is the clutching her in the rain. On his knees. YAY.

Have this light-hearted, non-spoilery MV:

Am back and totally exhausted so this will be very quick.

Watched 5 dramas on my trip (long flights and long train rides). Or more specifically, 4 and a quarter as I am still in process of watching the fifth one.

My thoughts? One very good, two not as good as they could have been, one very disappointing, and one giggly-giddy delight.

1. The very good one is All In, starring Lee Byung Hun and Song Hyo Kyo (who apparently temporarily hooked up after this drama. I can see why, they have psycho chemistry). All In will get its own write-up, caps, the works. Mmmm...

2. The giggly-giddy delight is the Chinese wuxia drama I am currently watching (am on ep 9), Big Shot (Da Ren Wu). It will also get its own write-up, but for now suffice it to say I adore the sword battles, the hero and the heroine, the secondary OTPs, the mysterious lost memories and the hint of huge angst to come.

3. One of the 'not as good as it could have been' dramas (the better one of the two) is Sister In Law is 19, which was pretty fun, actually. I am going to cap a bit, mainly because the premise of a girl in love with an idealized guy but ending up with the possibly less glamorous but always-has-her-back best friend (played by the scrumptuous Yoon Kye Sung), who will do anything for her happiness and is (to make me squeal in delight) a math geek is something tailored exclusively to me. Plus, I did not hate a single character. I wasn't that keen on the (happy, don't worry) ending, with some things not really addressed and no smoochies, but my biggest problem was that it never hit that big pay-off moment of drama for me. It didn't help that the lead actress, while charming and cute, didn't make me really love her and be in her skin the way some kdrama actresses do, and that this was YKS' first drama and while he is competent, the difference between this and e.g. Crazy for You is startling. Kim Jae Won, who played YKS' older brother is super-adorable btw.

4. The other 'not as good as it could have been' drama is Stained Glass which had some positives: Lee Dong Gun being absolutely marvelous (but when has he not been?), and playing a character which is very irresistable, the heroine who is not a dishrag, some swoonily romantic moments (including a kissing in the snow scene), and a lot of emo plot stuff I love. But it was too corny even for me (enough corn to feed the entire state of Michigan, in fact. When LDG referred to heroine as 'Rose of the Lord' I nearly choked), the secondary guy made me feel such blistering HATE I wanted to stab him in the face with a rusty screw-driver and the ending was...WHAAAAAAAT? 18 hours of stuff for this sort of ending? How? Why? Did they just run out of ideas and stop? The ending made the ending of Powerful Opponents look like a masterpiece of coherence.

5. The sheer disappoinment drama for me was Fantasy Couple. Before I started it, I would have never thought so. It's based on the charming 1980s movie Overboard which I like and it's written by the Hong Sisters, three other dramas of whose are all in my Top 10 kdramas (My Girl, Chun Hyang, and Hong Gil Dong). But perhaps Overboard should have stayed a movie: it was good enough and full of story enough for an under 2 hours flick but for a 16 hour drama? Yikes. Both the leads were adequate enough and I didn't hate their characters or anything but it all felt 'so what' and blah to me...the script really felt off and never gathered my interest, and I don't think that the director was good enough to elicit a performance to overcome that huge huge flaw out of Oh Ji Ho or Han Ye Seul (and neither of the leads, even if competent, strikes me as good enough to do an amazing performance without guidance). The most I got of this was mild boredom and I watched all of it through sheer stubborness, boredom of a train ride and a lot of very agressive fast-forwarding. Oh well, even the best have an off say, I suppose...

Am back and totally exhausted so this will be very quick.

Watched 5 dramas on my trip (long flights and long train rides). Or more specifically, 4 and a quarter as I am still in process of watching the fifth one.

My thoughts? One very good, two not as good as they could have been, one very disappointing, and one giggly-giddy delight.

1. The very good one is All In, starring Lee Byung Hun and Song Hyo Kyo (who apparently temporarily hooked up after this drama. I can see why, they have psycho chemistry). All In will get its own write-up, caps, the works. Mmmm...

2. The giggly-giddy delight is the Chinese wuxia drama I am currently watching (am on ep 9), Big Shot (Da Ren Wu). It will also get its own write-up, but for now suffice it to say I adore the sword battles, the hero and the heroine, the secondary OTPs, the mysterious lost memories and the hint of huge angst to come.

3. One of the 'not as good as it could have been' dramas (the better one of the two) is Sister In Law is 19, which was pretty fun, actually. I am going to cap a bit, mainly because the premise of a girl in love with an idealized guy but ending up with the possibly less glamorous but always-has-her-back best friend (played by the scrumptuous Yoon Kye Sung), who will do anything for her happiness and is (to make me squeal in delight) a math geek is something tailored exclusively to me. Plus, I did not hate a single character. I wasn't that keen on the (happy, don't worry) ending, with some things not really addressed and no smoochies, but my biggest problem was that it never hit that big pay-off moment of drama for me. It didn't help that the lead actress, while charming and cute, didn't make me really love her and be in her skin the way some kdrama actresses do, and that this was YKS' first drama and while he is competent, the difference between this and e.g. Crazy for You is startling. Kim Jae Won, who played YKS' older brother is super-adorable btw.

4. The other 'not as good as it could have been' drama is Stained Glass which had some positives: Lee Dong Gun being absolutely marvelous (but when has he not been?), and playing a character which is very irresistable, the heroine who is not a dishrag, some swoonily romantic moments (including a kissing in the snow scene), and a lot of emo plot stuff I love. But it was too corny even for me (enough corn to feed the entire state of Michigan, in fact. When LDG referred to heroine as 'Rose of the Lord' I nearly choked), the secondary guy made me feel such blistering HATE I wanted to stab him in the face with a rusty screw-driver and the ending was...WHAAAAAAAT? 18 hours of stuff for this sort of ending? How? Why? Did they just run out of ideas and stop? The ending made the ending of Powerful Opponents look like a masterpiece of coherence.

5. The sheer disappoinment drama for me was Fantasy Couple. Before I started it, I would have never thought so. It's based on the charming 1980s movie Overboard which I like and it's written by the Hong Sisters, three other dramas of whose are all in my Top 10 kdramas (My Girl, Chun Hyang, and Hong Gil Dong). But perhaps Overboard should have stayed a movie: it was good enough and full of story enough for an under 2 hours flick but for a 16 hour drama? Yikes. Both the leads were adequate enough and I didn't hate their characters or anything but it all felt 'so what' and blah to me...the script really felt off and never gathered my interest, and I don't think that the director was good enough to elicit a performance to overcome that huge huge flaw out of Oh Ji Ho or Han Ye Seul (and neither of the leads, even if competent, strikes me as good enough to do an amazing performance without guidance). The most I got of this was mild boredom and I watched all of it through sheer stubborness, boredom of a train ride and a lot of very agressive fast-forwarding. Oh well, even the best have an off say, I suppose...

SQUEE! I finally got a copy of Da Ren Wu in my hands.

Yay, wuxia!

Just look at this OTP vid:



What's not to love? Angst! Evil assassins! Damaged hero and fun heroine! Happy ending! Political intrigue! Finding true love in an arranged marriage! Nic Tse! Did I mention angst?

I love the whole premise, of the spoiled and spunky heroine who has read too many wuxia stories and dreams of meeting up her wuxia idol but is instead betrothed/wed to a studious guy she despised since childhood. Only...surprise! Her husband might be better than the shadowy hero of her wuxia readings...

SQUEE.

Also, the first ten minutes are LOLtastic. I love the spoiled but awesome heroine.

( Opening credits of awesomeness, i.e. Nic Tse angsts shirtless )

EEEE! Got my hands on the English-subbed version of Da Ren Wu (Big Shot or Hero, I have seen it translated both ways), last year's wuxia drama starring Nicholas Tse and Angelica Lee. It's based on a novel I've never read and the plot sounds so delicious:

Naïve, young Tian Si Si (Angelica), the apple of her father’s eye and the sole heir to her family’s riches, believes that she is in love with the great romantic hero, Qin Ge of the Meteor Clan. She dreams of traveling the martial arts world, actually meeting Qin Ge and having adventures just like many of the stories that she has read and heard. From childhood, she has been betrothed to the younger son of General Yang, Yang Fan (Nic), whom she despises.

Handsome, melancholy, talented Yang Fan has been on a mission for his father to secretly investigate the Meteor Clan whose upright reputation and strength has been rising in the martial arts world to rival that of Shaolin and Wudang. He comes back injured and somewhat changed, troubled with memory loss after an investigation. He marries Tian Si Si as his father ordered, but Tian Si Si has other plans for her life and runs away at the first opportunity. She quickly becomes entangled in plots and counter plots as she discovers the real world. Both Yang Fan and Qin Ge are ordered to go after her. All is not what it seems as the Meteor Clan and its members, rivals and government agents are at work behind the scenes.


Seriously, how many ways do I love the premise?

* Couple falling in love after marriage? Check. Though seeing your arranged match is Nicholas Tse it's not really a hardship
* Cooky heroine
* Angst and funniness
* Love triangle
* Nic Tse as the lead (if Handsome Siblings was all about him, it would be such a huge fave). I mean, he doesn't even need to act, he can just stand there and I'll ogle him.

Look at the cute MV for the OTP (with hints of a triangle):



I think I fell for it about the time he let her (she is possessed) stab him through the shoulder. I am so predictable!

I have also got Men and Legends (Dylan Kuo and Peter Ho, does it really need a plot?) and Fairy from Wonderland (finally. I want to see Hu Ge write on the walls in blood).

But all this shall not sate me!

I need Legend of Condor Heroes and I can't find any subs except for Vietnamese yet. I need! Please!!!

I mean, look. I want this now:



OK, will distract self with another favorite wuxia OTP (Flower/Orchid from Handsome Siblings. Angsty assassins and common-sense fighter girls ftw).

EEEE! Got my hands on the English-subbed version of Da Ren Wu (Big Shot or Hero, I have seen it translated both ways), last year's wuxia drama starring Nicholas Tse and Angelica Lee. It's based on a novel I've never read and the plot sounds so delicious:

Naïve, young Tian Si Si (Angelica), the apple of her father’s eye and the sole heir to her family’s riches, believes that she is in love with the great romantic hero, Qin Ge of the Meteor Clan. She dreams of traveling the martial arts world, actually meeting Qin Ge and having adventures just like many of the stories that she has read and heard. From childhood, she has been betrothed to the younger son of General Yang, Yang Fan (Nic), whom she despises.

Handsome, melancholy, talented Yang Fan has been on a mission for his father to secretly investigate the Meteor Clan whose upright reputation and strength has been rising in the martial arts world to rival that of Shaolin and Wudang. He comes back injured and somewhat changed, troubled with memory loss after an investigation. He marries Tian Si Si as his father ordered, but Tian Si Si has other plans for her life and runs away at the first opportunity. She quickly becomes entangled in plots and counter plots as she discovers the real world. Both Yang Fan and Qin Ge are ordered to go after her. All is not what it seems as the Meteor Clan and its members, rivals and government agents are at work behind the scenes.


Seriously, how many ways do I love the premise?

* Couple falling in love after marriage? Check. Though seeing your arranged match is Nicholas Tse it's not really a hardship
* Cooky heroine
* Angst and funniness
* Love triangle
* Nic Tse as the lead (if Handsome Siblings was all about him, it would be such a huge fave). I mean, he doesn't even need to act, he can just stand there and I'll ogle him.

Look at the cute MV for the OTP (with hints of a triangle):



I think I fell for it about the time he let her (she is possessed) stab him through the shoulder. I am so predictable!

I have also got Men and Legends (Dylan Kuo and Peter Ho, does it really need a plot?) and Fairy from Wonderland (finally. I want to see Hu Ge write on the walls in blood).

But all this shall not sate me!

I need Legend of Condor Heroes and I can't find any subs except for Vietnamese yet. I need! Please!!!

I mean, look. I want this now:



OK, will distract self with another favorite wuxia OTP (Flower/Orchid from Handsome Siblings. Angsty assassins and common-sense fighter girls ftw).

OMG. I thought I couldn’t be more excited about Return of the Condor Heroes. I was wrong. I dug around for a little bit of the plot (though please don’t spoil me, it’s one of rare things I want to watch unspoiled) and OMG, the love story is forbidden because she is his martial arts teacher. And she is four years older. Oh MAN.

YES. It's like Forbidden Love with swords :P Though I hope they wait a couple years to fall in love as he is 14 at the start.

I have also discovered that netflix has the 2001 version starring Ekin Cheng. Now I am torn. I already bought the 2006 version but it isn’t here yet. I can wait a week or so for it (since that is the one whose visuals I went mad for and people say it’s the best), but OTOH the other one I can get on Thursday and I adore Ekin Cheng. What to do, what to do…OK, hold out for the 2006 version, watch the EC one later.

And also, in other wuxia drama news, I just read that there is a planned remake of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. And it's going to star Nicholas Tse and Takeshi Kaneshiro. If it's true? Nicholas and Takeshi in the same drama? I am going to die. Cecilia Cheung (whom I liked in The Promise) is the female lead. Please, please, please let it be true!

Though even if not, I can console myself with the thought of the upcoming
Da Ren Wu (Big Figure) with Nicholas Tse. It's a lighthearted wuxia story and it's coming in October and there is already a subbing group for it.

Plot: To avenge his love, a fearless young swordsman challenges a powerful gang of robbers again and again, despite suffering numerous defeats, ultimately succeeds in defeating them single-handedly. His story inspires countless youth, with young men all taking to wearing red scarves like their hero, and young women dreaming of a suitor just like him. One of these young women is the daughter of an influential nobleman, who has led a sheltered life, until she decides to go out into the world to meet the heroes of her dreams. Little did she expect that real life can be so very different from what she has learned in picturesque stories.

( Trailer here )

( Pics behind cut )

Generally, the more I get into the stuff, the more I wish I understood Chinese. I have such a list of dramas I want to watch but can't as they are unsubbed. First on that list is Sword Stained with Royal Blood (see pic below) I agree with meganbmoore. I would LOVE subs for this. Because her father killed his but they travel and fall in love and aaangst:



meganbmoore, do not watch the MV because it's only going to make you crave it:

( MV for the drama in question )

And also behind another cut (because I am nice) is the rest of my 'wanna' list. To sum it up it's a 'I wish I spoke Chinese and/had a time machine/or had power to pull dramas from limbo' list. Aka dramas I'd love to see but can't because they are not subbed or because they seem to be in limbo, release-wise. And some are just upcoming but I don't know if a subs group picked them up yet.

( List here, with illustrations )

Amd last but not least, browsing I came across the following comment in a review of the Chinese wuxia epic movie Seven Swords: “inspired by Dostojevsky's Brothers Karamazov's ideology about the human self-realization and finding of the peace and comprehension.” OK, I like Seven Swords. Make it I really like Seven Swords (OMG, the final climactic duel with Donnie Yen and the Baddie General is awesome) but whaaaaa? Bwah? *boggle boggle boggle* It has people with some issues slashing other people who are eviler and uglier. It’s a totally fun flick about honor and love and lotsa killing and Donnie Yen being uber hot with long hair, but Dostoyevsky? You gotta be kidding me.

I am so gleeful! I found out that a subbing group picked up KO One Oh Jiro! Soon I shall see you be a lead in all your wacky glory. With subtitles!

This group is picking up a lot of twdramas and cdramas! My favorites and least subbed are tw/cdramas so I am so happy!

They also picked up 'Zhong Ji Yi Jia' (with Jiro!!!) and 'Exchange Love' (Mike He! Rainie! Body swap! *dies*)

And there is mention that another sub team is doing 'Corner with Love' (the same group that is doing Hana Kimi!!!), the Barbie Hsu, Alan Luo drama and 'Da Ren Wu' with Nicholas Tse *dies* and Angelica Lee.

Now, if someone picks up 'Delicious Relationship' and the two Joe Cheng dramas, I am set for liiiiiife.

And 'Marry Me.'

Still from Da Ren Wu (OK, the thought of many many hours of Nick Tse makes me giddy):



DRW summary:

To avenge his love, a fearless young swordsman challenges a powerful gang of robbers again and again, despite suffering numerous defeats, ultimately succeeds in defeating them single-handedly. His story inspires countless youth, with young men all taking to wearing red scarves like their hero, and young women dreaming of a suiter just like him. One of these young women is the daughter of an influential nobleman, who has led a sheltered life, until she decides to go out into the world to meet the heroes of her dreams. Little did she expect that real life can be so very different from what she has learned in picturesque stories.

meganbmoore, I think this one is calling your name.

I am so gleeful! I found out that a subbing group picked up KO One Oh Jiro! Soon I shall see you be a lead in all your wacky glory. With subtitles!

This group is picking up a lot of twdramas and cdramas! My favorites and least subbed are tw/cdramas so I am so happy!

They also picked up 'Zhong Ji Yi Jia' (with Jiro!!!) and 'Exchange Love' (Mike He! Rainie! Body swap! *dies*)

And there is mention that another sub team is doing 'Corner with Love' (the same group that is doing Hana Kimi!!!), the Barbie Hsu, Alan Luo drama and 'Da Ren Wu' with Nicholas Tse *dies* and Angelica Lee.

Now, if someone picks up 'Delicious Relationship' and the two Joe Cheng dramas, I am set for liiiiiife.

And 'Marry Me.'

Still from Da Ren Wu (OK, the thought of many many hours of Nick Tse makes me giddy):



DRW summary:

To avenge his love, a fearless young swordsman challenges a powerful gang of robbers again and again, despite suffering numerous defeats, ultimately succeeds in defeating them single-handedly. His story inspires countless youth, with young men all taking to wearing red scarves like their hero, and young women dreaming of a suiter just like him. One of these young women is the daughter of an influential nobleman, who has led a sheltered life, until she decides to go out into the world to meet the heroes of her dreams. Little did she expect that real life can be so very different from what she has learned in picturesque stories.

meganbmoore, I think this one is calling your name.