Guardian (2018)

Watch for the two main lead’s intense chemistry and top acting

Took me a few days to process and get my head around everything that happened, needed time to let everything sink in before I could write this (especially the emotional ending). First off, I have to say the only reason to watch this drama is to watch our two leads, their dynamic, exchanges, emotions and intense relationship/soul mates/brotherhood vibe. What a pairing, such intense chemistry and solid acting that really carry this whole drama and are the only reason the rating for this drama is so high. The plot, story, production all fall flat and the acting is the only thing that can make up for it.

Story
The story itself and premise is interesting, though poorly executed. Largely attributed to the cheap visual effects, lack of production quality, comical CGI effects and the fantasy animations. I appreciate the multi facets of genres this brings including supernatural, fantasy, crime, science combined together along with light comedy and brilliantly crafted character interaction. The story started strong for the first 20 episodes, we got to know all the characters, a good look into the SID and solving small crimes and also see our two main lead’s friendship flourish and develop from their initial meeting. We went through two main antagonists that propelled the story, but by the time we got to around 29 and our major villain appeared, it really dropped off and went askew. Full of plot holes, scenes that occurred with no explanations, others poorly explained, messy random scenes, and characters running to and fro with no purpose. And the ending episodes, though filled with drama lacked finesse. In terms of the ending (that everyone keeps saying is tragic), I agree is sad. But there was a sense of finality to the whole drama and to the characters which I really liked. But in addition to that finality, of case solved the world is safe, they also added this element of a continued story. Our two main lead’s story is not over and though we won’t be able to see it, we know that it will be there and they will find a way back to each other again. They have an undeniable affinity toward each other. So though sad, I appreciated it and understood why the ending was done like that. But overall I would have liked a tighter and better executed storyline. I also think the cheap production made the story comical, almost laughable and unrealistic at times which didn’t help. Also notions of hatred and revenge appeared too frequently and were characterised by all the villains, they became so two dimensional with no real motivations or complexity to their character. And this whole thing of misunderstanding as the resolution to a lot of the problems was used way too much e.g. evil guy being evil because he thought A happened, but then it’s revealed actually B happened. Used so many times it got old. I also really like the ideal of suppressing evil and spreading virtue, which was a clear strong message, unfortunately only really delved into nearing the ending. They should have really delved into that early on and have it play throughout.

Acting/Cast
I cannot imagine a better casting of our two main leads. Their chemistry was off the charts, their banter funny and cute, their emotions intense. Though censored, I could feel how deep their relationship was. Hands down some amazing acting. Props to ZYL who did an amazing job at portraying three characters, good and bad. Loved their every moment and honestly the way they looked at each other, gosh so much emotion, love, devotion and care. So much intensity and power in their expressions, I literally teared up just by looking at them look at each other. Every expression from Shen Wei hit me straight in the stomach and left an ache in my heart. His feelings were so clear to me. I was always craving more from Yun Lan’s side, just wanted more in his response to Shen Wei. Their characterisation was done so well, they emobodied these two to perfection. Loved the lollipop motif throughout, also the glasses/black mask. I enjoyed the supporting cast as well and thought they each did a great job at being distinct yet complimenting our leads.

OST
Amazing and so emotional. Listening to it while I write this review. Loved the intro song, felt it tells the whole drama in the one tune.

Rewatch value
I felt so emotional coming off this drama and feel like I’ll need to take a breather before I can go back to it. But I’d definitely rewatch our two main leads and their interaction with each other. As for the oddly paced and muddled plot, I’ll have to take a pass on that and skip over that.

Don’t be put off by the ‘sad’ ending and loose story/plot. If you enjoy top acting, then this is for you. Watch it for the two leads and their interactions as they face the trials and tribulations together. Watch them grow from friends to something so much deeper, past your typical cutesy superficial relationship to a well crafted nuanced and highly emotional charged duo. I’m really glad I picked this one up (because I am in no way a fantasy fan) and saw it through to the end, well worth my time. Keen to hear your thoughts!! xx

My fav scenes (Commending ZYL’s performance)
- When SW says you’re worth it (god I could watch that over and over again)
- When SW gets the lollipop stuffed into his mouth (such an adorable expression)
- When SW’s kneeling in the rain

Leia Mais

OMG loved it... even wishing for a sequel .. i mean 40 ep. already n still okay with another 40.. . these Chinese actors n specially the writers 're turning me into someone else ...

Okay so, From the Trailer it resemble a bit of Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, an American supernatural drama television series, to me.. (bty tht series of 3 seasons of shadowhunters has a very strong impression on us.. ) so can't ignore it at first..
but then those episodes of this Asian drama 're worth waiting n watching.. n eventually can't stop after 2-3 eps.
Indeed it has some similarities to the American supernatural drama, with those different superpowers n underground people n all but at the same time far much different from it.. This one is just somehow more pleasing n appealing ...
the way they deliver those humors n quotes r definitely worth watching ...( It's all about Suppress n Spread guys... )
guess i'm gonna remember those quotes for quite sometimes... no actually i want to remember those ... specially tht..
ABSOLUTE RIGHT n WRONG thing...

so first, The concept, of tht thin very thin gap between GOOD n EVIL, is really deep...
then The characters, the way they build up .. act .. took their places .. then getting into chaos ..fighting .. desperately searching for something , someone.. in-short always engaging are the quality part of the series.
i mean ... when it comes to childish, funny, or something foolish they 're in the front row
- situation turns up gravely important & their maturity is unbeatable
- comes to term ally , they 're the dudes one could die for
- if foe , definitely fighting until the last breath
n those romance... uwaahh ... don't even ask..
N of course , the actors in it, they just nailed it.. a full crew of charming n charming faces with their super acting skills
awesome leads ... (even couldn't hate that ye zun/white prince/d main villain from the beginning to the very end...i just can't)
& last but not the least, wht a peaceful conclusion... not sour n bitter also not so sugary ...(though craving for the sequel) really liked it..
i think the best part of this drama is the concept of 'Unity in Diversity' .. N the message tht 'PEACE is worth fighting for'

Leia Mais

The plot is not bad, quite unique, although there were still some cliques like the memory loss.
The acting is well... there were some hit and miss... however, generally speaking, there is still room for improvement.
The music is ok, I like the opening tho... the opening, for me, represents the whole drama, as in the vibe of the music, if that even makes sense... but yeah...
Overall, I do recommend this drama for anyone interested but a tip of advice, just don't expect too much.

Leia Mais

Highly Recommended, high Re-Watch Value. Hot.

-The series that catapulted two relatively unknown actors into the Chinese stardom stratosphere.
-Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu put their hearts, and soul, and creativity, and passion, and improvisation, and their dedication into this series despite many production setbacks.
-The result is INSANE CHEMISTRY, WeiLan, ZhuBai, many swoon-worthy, superbly acted memorable scenes (and many more future well-deserved quality acting opportunities for both Zhu Yilong and Baiyu).
-Guardian sets the stage for later "BL - bromance" type series like Untamed and Word of Honor.
-It's undeniably a romance though Chinese censorship forbids the explicit interpretation of the original novel in those terms. However, the romance or bromance (whatever) is a mature, complex, controlled relationship. The feelings between the two leads never descend into mushy, sappy, melodramatic tropes. There's no sentimental declaration of love/feelings, but the undying, unwavering love between soul mates is always palpable. I love that they are their own strong person, with their own firm convictions, and they take no bullshit from each other. There's always the push and pull in their interactions, whether in bantering, calling each other out, working together. They are in sync mentally and physically.
-You will cry. I cried, copiously.
-If you loved this, as I did, you will re-watch scenes many many times, as I did.

Leia Mais

Too drawn out

I thought the 2 leads, Zhu Yi Long and Bai Yu, were so good ~ their acting portrayed the characters' attraction to one another really well; the eyes can say it all.
Lots of very diverse characters, action, emotion and different worlds, making for entertaining viewing.
I did have trouble sticking with it though, as it just went on too long for me. The last few episodes were amongst the best of all and saved the drama, to my mind. The emotion from the leads was heart felt and definitely confirmed that Shen Wei and Yunlan loved each other, and there was nothing 'brotherly' about it.
It is a great shame that China feels any sexuality other than straight, is abhorrent. Lines don't need to be crossed, but as with straight romance dramas, they aught to portray love as love. Just what are they so scared of?

Leia Mais

Excellent bromance for an overall very disappointing drama

I started watching because this is one of the danmei drama adaptations I've seen being recommended the most. I was also encouraged by the rating here on the MDL page for the drama.

I can say that I understand why I saw it being recommended it so much. For anyone who is a fan of BL or bromance dramas/series, this is gold: the two main characters are great actors and have excellent chemistry with each other. While it doesn't get as shameless as in other dramas I've watched (namely Word of Honor), this show still makes it very easy for me to read between the lines and consider it a full-fledged love story rather than a bromance. Shen Wei would make it very hard for anyone not to fall for him whenever he lets go of his calm and collected attitude to help Zhao Yunlan in any way possible, and the Guardian himself is unable to act all cool and detached for long before starting to care for Shen Wei deeply.

The problem of this drama is just... everything else. The story felt very chaotic and hard to follow from the get-go to me, to the point that I had to stop myself from dropping the drama altogether after the first two episodes. The events of the story are not very appealing, so even when I had to feel worried for the characters or excited to see what would come next, I wasn't able to feel much. Unfortunately the same goes for the cast other than the two protagonists; even the most important secondary roles didn't feel much relevant nor interesting. Even the main villains of the story felt more annoying than actually charming or threatening in any way.
All of this was made worse by a very fragile worldbuilding, with obscure rules for supernatural and sci-fi elements that often made me ask "why isn't this character using their power on this occasion?", "if that character had been able to do that all along, why didn't they do that sooner?" and similar.
The pacing of the story was also off, with elements of the plot and some characters that would have benefited from having more time to better explain their situations, and moments in the story that were made unbearably slow and detailed for no real reason.
If all of this wasn't enough, a huge flaw of this drama was the production, which felt... cheap, for the lack of a better word. I usually don't mind lower budgets at all and I hardly even point it out when I notice it, but this time around it was just too annoying. The CGI and other digital effects made me feel like I was watching an early 2000's movie, most of the props and the costumes looked too fake for me to suspend my disbelief, and often times even the audio quality was bad and distracted me from the story further.
While the acting of the main characters was very good, I can't say the same for the rest of the cast. The best I can say for them is that it was decent most of the time for some of them, but in many instances I felt like the acting was too exaggerated and dramatic, or just very stiff and unnatural, depending on the actor or the scene.

I chose to give Guardian a 7 out of 10 because, despite struggling toward the end, I was able to watch the entire thing, and I actually enjoyed myself when I was focused on Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. They're the only reason why I would recommend this drama to anyone: it's a good bromance and the fans of the genre will definitely love it. My only warning is to lower your expectations in terms of plot and setting: if you're looking for a good fantasy/sci-fi drama, you should look elsewhere.

Leia Mais

OVERALL:
Wow, just wow. I really can't believe how good this was. I'll be honest and say I didn't have high hopes for this drama when I first added it to my 'to watch' list but I was blown away. Everything from the acting, OST, storyline, and production value was 11/10! The characters were brought to life so well, it's hard not to love all of them. I do have to warn anyone who is interested in watching this drama, it is NOT for the weak of heart. Do not watch this if you are just looking for a happy-go-lucky bromance. There are so much heartbreak and pain (not just for the main characters). This show will build you up just to tear you down at the very end, but the happy, carefree moments in between are so worth all the heartbreak. I highly recommend this! Especially if you loved the untamed!

STORY:
I'll start off with the storyline. You can tell so much thought was put into this, and seeing as I haven't read the novel I don't know how well they kept to the original storyline but this plot was weaved together so well. It is hard to not binge-watch all the episodes in the span of a couple of days. At least, that's what I did.

ACTING/CAST:
Amazing, they couldn't have chosen a better cast in my opinion. The characters each person played were so complex and had many times where they had to show different sides of their character and the actors/actresses were phenomenal! I hope everyone enjoyed the casting as much as I did for this drama.

MUSIC:
The OST for this drama brought tears to my eyes. I downloaded the opening and ending songs after the first episode, I was so in love! The lyrics are perfect for the drama and the atmosphere the music sets in this series is so beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking but in a good way.

REWATCH VALUE:
The only reason I am not saying 10 is because the ending is something I don't think my heart could take again. But I will be rewatching select episodes because I just love the characters too much.

Leia Mais

I've loved this drama deeply, I watched it in 4 days because it is addicting! It's based on an online BL novel, understanding where it has been produced (China) the choices orientated on the bromance are understandable, I'm intentioned to read the online novel which is currently being translated on wattpad as it has a different ending and also different dynamics in the relationships between the characters and I understand from what I've been told, it has also discrepancies within the plot. That said, I had expected to be more disappointed about the ending, but it is more of a bittersweet ending, depending on how everyone chooses to read it. I've loved Zhu Yilong's acting, also his and Bai Yu chemistry and interactions were lovely, funny and well thought. I have to admit I've lost focus during some episodes, but mostly because I was tired and in a hurry to finish it due to personal matters, but I believe it could have shortened a bit maybe, that said it is very entertaining and interesting! Also the soundtrack is terrific! I really love the opening and ending songs! I would definetly reccomend it!

Leia Mais

I think I enjoyed the story but for sure loved the actors

Ok, let me be honest my love for how the characters are portrayed is making up for more than 60% of this rating. The acting was solid. I have seen Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu in other project since then and adore their acting. I fell in love with the way they portrayed their characters and grew attached to the characters. The actor who played the villain in the beginning...I laughed at him way too much. I could not take him seriously for real I enjoyed the cases and the basic storyline. Unfortunately some story lines were dragged out too long and some were way too short for me. People have complained about the CGI and I see what your talking about haha. But they did run out of budget so I do not think it is terrible enough that it had an effect on the way I viewed this drama. This drama will always be a gem for me but it is not perfect.

Leia Mais

Should watch!!!

1) Actually I was not so interested in this genre .....but as the story continues from ep 1 onwards this series creates and exictement and eagerness to know what future holds for these characters .
2) The story itself converse with audience.
3) Once u started u can't hold it in the middle.......! 4) The viewer itself holds upon a curiosity.....which is utmost important for a web series to be popular.
5) the bonding between two main leads is the best part......for which i was looking for.
.
.
.
.at last I just wanna say......this was one of the best among my choices....and the acting of actors was just amazing and excellent.....so I thought I must give a small compliment , even if I know my compliment is not going to reach them but ......but still I wanted coz I saw and appreciate their efforts ....... thankyou

Leia Mais

One of My Favorite Adaptations of a Priest Novel

Where to start to unpack this series? First of all, the main leads Bai Yu and Zhu Yi Long are magical together! Even though this is a censored adaptation (thanks china) you can see and feel the characters love for each other. Somehow this series got away with a lot more physical contact then others I have seen 💖lots of touching of hands and shoulders and even my favorite scene in the car with Zhao Yunlan sleeping on Shen Wei's shoulder! Yep, magic. Oh my, the necklace! 🥲 That one got me.

The rest of the cast is pretty much a hit or miss. The purple-haired villain was so bad I was waiting for him to say "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" I would have loved to have had more Cat (Da Qing) story, who wouldn't like to know more about the Cats? Would love to know more about Chu Shuzhi too! What a cool ability with the puppets! The delusional snake lady's story really didn't add much to the series and they could have taken it out completely. And I really wish that the Guo character would have died a horrible death, sorry. 😂He just irritated the hell out of me and by all rights should have died early in the series. The rest of the team pretty much sank into the background for me so not much to say.

The actual story itself was kind of all over the place, probably because of all the changes that had to be made to satisfy the censors. Read the novels! I'll admit I got lost a few times and had to rewatch some episodes to try and figure out what the hell the story line was. The FX was either really good or really bad, like they ran out of money and had to half-ass most of the special affects! And the sets were either really good or really bad too, money again?

So even though this series had some issues with cast and story and FX and production, it's still one of my favorites and I will still give it a 10 because of the leads and will rewatch it over and over.

And the ending, oh boy, be prepared to cry. However, I believe they ended up finding each other again, someday.

Leia Mais

Need more of this awesome storyline.

Even though it's supposed to be about the 2 main guys being in love... yes they changed it to be a bromance, you can still see the deep feelings between the 2 guys.
I definitely think they need to make more. I can't get enough. It has been a true rollercoaster ride of twists and turns that kept me wanting to see way more depth to the bromance.
So I want to see way more then 40 episodes. I'm sure they could make this last into 80 to 90 episodes if not longer. I love both main lead guys.
Ok so I cried my eyes out at the end when both leading men died. They need to finish this storyline because they left it open for more episodes because ShenWei and YunLan made a bet that they would meet again no matter how long it took. That's love that crosses both time and space in my opinion.

Leia Mais