Academia Militar Arsenal (2019)

it was just a love diamond + a million subplots

I'll start with the good points;
+ Xie Xiang was a great female lead, one of the best, she was smart, cool, caring, independent and strong

+ Gu Yan Zhen was playful and a playboy but a total sweetheart, I mean he literally fell for her in the first few eps

+ the cross dressing was done well

+ Xie Xiang and Xiao Jun's sismance was adorable

+ Man Ting and Yan Zhen also had great friendship

+ the friendship between Huang Song and both Yan Zhen and Xie Xiang was sweet, the whole gang were a great team

+ the outfits and filmography was beautiful

+ those 2eps Xie Xiang saved herself/others (plus the ending)

+ the chemistry between Xie Xiang and Yan Zhen was off the charts~



now the things I hated
- the million of subplots! every other ep had a new unrelated story, I was losing my mind

- in the early eps Xie Xiang always had to be saved (though granted they were being realistic since she was physically weak and tiny)

- they literally wasted the romance ;/ I would've gotten it if they didn't want romance to be the focus, but they literally spent 40eps developing a main lead x 2nd lead love line ;/

- they ruined Man Ting and Yan Zhen's pure sibling like relationship when they added a sad pathetic 1 sided love..

- they made me really angry when even Huang Song fell for "the sister" and she literally went out with him as a girl and never tried to turn him down (and I wished she'd told him everything from the start and stayed as pure friends)

- the 2nd lead was slightly obsessive. he changed Xie Xiang's room without asking and he'd tell her "I won't take no for an answer" as if he owned her ;/

- they spent more time on the side characters than on the main, heck the evil girl had more screentime

- the evil girl felt unrealistic, she was young and weak, there's no way the bad guys would've given her that much authority

- Huang Song's death was unnecessary. he should've died with a bullet to the head or they shouldn't have left him to get shot 5 times

- the forgetful girl. agh I hated her the most..

- there was no consistency, it felt like the writer had 1 plot move "girl cross dresses and goes to a military school" and then she just added whatever that came to her.

- the romance took 40eps and 2seconds for them to confess and then it ended with them "walking" along towards the sunset... that was it. after such a long chase and misunderstandings, that was it......

- I was ready to give this a 10, but I didn't know it'd be that messy and draggy. I'll never watch another cdrama,

- the ahahahahahah ost drove me crazy!

I wish someone just made a cut of the 2 main leads, especially when they were together, that'd have saved me 30eps ;D

Leia Mais

Good but way too long and the romance was poorly built

The storyline was very interesting, I was intirgued and followed all the way through despite not liking historical dramas normally. Despite this, I will say that I do think that I didn't learn any proper history of China. Everything in the story seemed a tad made up for me and I didn't learn any concrete facts compared to other historical dramas. Another despite this, even thoug it was interesting at first, I lost interest eventually because the series was extremely long and it seemed to be very milked out. It was weird because the first hald was good as it was a mix of romance, frienship and histroical but the latter hald was bad as it only portrayed historical aspects, completely forgetting to add romance or development between then characters. I loved the characters and their development, I think the actors did a great job and there was absolutely no fault in that aspect. The other negative thing about this series is the romance. You would think that a romance series will give proper reasons on why the main characters fell in love but this one didn't. It would have made more sense is Xiang and Shen ended up together as they had more romantic and meaningful moments with each other. Xiang's and Gu's love seemed forced and senseless. He loves her because why? And she loves him because he always protects her? It's just weird and their chemistry is very meh. I would recommend it if you’re bored or you love Xu Kai like me and are willing to watch 48 episodes for him.

Leia Mais

Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

FL is supposed to be a confident, strong woman. A woman disguised as a man in a Military Academie.
But at any time she is put down and humiliated by comrades. Every underachiever watches her, and looks down on her. But the guys gather around FL, despite her disguise as a man, and fall in love.
Although the boys are not supposed to be gay. FL is supposed to be a man, a soldier, an officer. To believe this balancing act even in a C drama is hard.

Lovey-dovey, flirting, eroticism like in a contact yard and that in a barracks, you have to come up with that. For now he/she has four admirers, why are not eight or twenty-two? What was going on in the Chinese army? Even if soft crazy rich big shot kids are the actors here and future officers.

Despite some ridiculous developments of the story, much was exciting and hard circumstances of the time would be hinted at. You could guess what bitter evil times are on the horizon for China. As for the drama, sometimes more seriousness would have been nice.

Because, unfortunately, some things are out of place in the story, considering how Sino-Japanese relations have developed historically, up to unimaginable cruelties of the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War.
But love in times of war is normal, unfortunately we come up a bit short here.

Leia Mais

One of a kind in the Field of C-Dramas

Arsenal military is undeniably on a different level among other dramas. Most shows are either set in modern or in ancient times, but I rarely see ones that are set during the 1900s. Furthermore, its storyline does not mainly focus on a love story, but rather a journey about growth, friendship, bravery, and patriotism.

This drama has one of the best cast I've seen. Everyone did a great job on portraying their given role, down from the main leads to the supporting characters. Bai Lu, the actress who played as the female lead, deserve all the recognition for her spectactular acting. Unlike most dramas that poorly executes cross-dressings, she really looked and acted as a man and was convincing, omitting the fact that she was quite short and petite. Xu Kai was perfect for acting as Gu Yan Zhen. He managed to portray a childish yet badass character flawlessly. Toby Lee as Shen Jun Shan was just amazing, despite his timid and upright character, I looked forward to his scenes everytime and amired his righteousnes. He showed the definition of a true gentleman. I can't imangine if Wu Jia Yi wasn't casted as Qu Man ting. She was one of the main reasons that kept the show interesting.

This show was well-produced as it was packed with great actors and wonderful OST that matched well with the scene. It was nicely setted with the clothes, cars, and infrastractures. The story progessed nicely, for as the characters underwent growth, it slowly turned from a romantic comedy to a political drama. Each episode was filled with wonderful plot showcasing the bond between military students as they bravely face struggles concerning life and death for their country despite going against those with power and authority. This drama was a a slow burn and I would have given it a higher if it weren't for some dull moments or if the scenes without much action or significance could have been cut short. I find myself speeding up some parts of the drama from time to time as some of the exchange of dialogues were delivered slowly and some transitions were filmed long.

XIE XIANG, GU YAN ZHEN, & SHEN JUNSHAN'S LOVE TRIANGLE:
Both Gu Yan Zhen and Shen Jun Shan whole-heartedly deserved Xie Xian. The main difference was that Gu Yan Zhen made Xie Xian laugh and comfortable, whereas Shen Jun Shan made her feel safe and taken care of. Since romance wasn't the main focus of the storyline, for me, it was more like choosing your bossom friend (Gu Yan Zhen) or your affectionate brother(Shen Jun Shan). Personally, I was rooting for Shen Junshan. However, Gu Yan Zhen definitely had the upper hand since he was Xie Xiang's roomate and knew first that she was just disguising as a man, so he was more clingy, flirty, and had more opportunities to protect and care for Xie Xiang while keeping her secret. On the contrary, Shen Jun protected and treated Xie Xian nicely despite not knowing that she was a girl. He repeatedly saved her and regarded her of great importance to the point that he thought something wrong with him since he had affection for Xie Liang Chen, who is said to be a man. Hence, he tried to distance to himself for a short while and didn't know how to act towards Xie Xian.

QU MAN TING, GU YAN ZHEN, & SHEN TING BAI'S LOVE TRIANGLE:
I would have love to see Qu Man Ting an Gu Yan Zhen together for they would have make a great couple especially with their similar personalites such as having a bold character. I admire Qu Man Ting's perseverance in pursuing Gu Yan Zhen, I truly believe that if they had met first without Xie Xiang in the picture or Xie Xiang ended up choosing Shen Jun Shan, Gu Yan Zhen would eventually fall for Qu manting. Sadly, Gu Yan Zhen was already in love with Xie Xiang. Hence, I felt bad for her and as well as for Shen Ting Bai since he truly loved and and did a lot of things for her, but she chooses to chase a man who doesn't even love her back. But thankfully Qu manting was moved by Shen Ting Bai's true love.

OTHER LOVE STORIES:
All the love stories present in this drama was really intriguing. Including Li Wen Zhong's. He was able to display his character development Through his affection for An Wen. Aside from them, I find Huang Song's one-sided crush toward Xie Xiang pure and cute. It's just a pity that he didn't get a chance to know that his best friend, Xie Liang Chen and Xie Xiang, the girl who he admire is the same person. We are well aware that Oda Xian Rong truly loved Shen Jun Shan. However, in no way was she deserving of his love and trust.

Leia Mais

Usually, this type of drama isn't something I would really enjoy, BUT THIS WAS THE ONE TO WATCH IF YALL DONT LIKE WAR DRAMA! The story line is excellent, it keeps you invested (even though there are some down time/extended scenes that weren't too needed) and it throws you into your feels (the acting is really good). In my opinion this drama should've gone on for another 5 episodes or so (like, at least break 50 episodes). The chemistry between Gu Yanzhan (Xu Kai) and Xie Liangchen (Bai Lu) is amazing and pulls on our heartstrings. Plenty of laughter, tears, heartbreak, love, and action.

Leia Mais

So this is not the most perfect plotted drama but, this is one of the most scripted Chinese drama. I have been amazed. There are a lot of good Chinese drama in 2019.
I know people can't escape the radar from Xu Kai. (I also was caught during Lanxi Palace) This is his second drama with Bai Lu. I am not complaining. I love the actress (She is my favorite actress in China now, since Untouchable Lovers). I don't usually watched the drama from that era. Because shooting is happening all the time without reason and I hate it.

But now that both Xukai and Bailu starred in the drama. I had to try for a few episodes. I was addicted since the first 5 eps. They are fun. The chemistry between the casts is amazing.
The first few episodes starts plotting, nothing major. But they show the chinese and the japanese relationship is starting to get intense and people are taking sides. Thank god, this is not forbidden romance like; each of heroine took different sides. So the main casts are students from the Academy. They trained. They get to know each other. They got on each other's nerves. Then they started to get punished together, went to missions together, suffer together and their bonds are getting stronger.
The 20-later episodes shows the evil ones. The ones from Japan. The plots are not perfect. Things happened so suddenly. I'm not sure I am convinced how a lot of people die or a lot of people escape. But it's okay. Miracles happened in drama right? But don't get me wrong. Storyline and plots are different and, I like the storyline. It's light, nothing heavy. No one is starved. No one is tortured. But some important casts die (I cannot tell who, watch to find out)

The deaths of characters made me tear-up a little, and mad a little. So, this drama would make a nice recommendation for someone who is interested in "enemies-to-lover" "girl-pretend-boy" "girl-in-boys-school" "slow-burn-romance" "romance-with-action"
So, Check the drama out!

Leia Mais

When it comes to acting, I believe it was well indeed. The production was great as well. The plot was great too. However, there were some things in the plot I think could have been better. I didn't like how the female lead constantly showed hatefulness and annoyance to the main lead for basically majority of the drama. Not to mention, I think it took way to long for her to say she was a female. Other then those changes, I do think it was a really good drama. It showed many aspects like family, friendship, life and death and so on. I do think the acting was really good though.

Leia Mais

Not a show for me, but great castings!

I didn't gave this show high ratings not because they it's bad/acting sucks but because i am personally not a fan of such genre (military, war related). However i do think that Xu Kai and Bai Lu as well other supporting actors acted really well here. Bai Lu as a "man" in this show is very convincing, never was she weaker than most of the men in the military school & she never acted all girly infront of ML either. I also love Xu Kai's character here, very goofy and fun to watch. I fast forward a lot of the scenes related to war/fights because it's just not for me and I would say the romance part is very little here (it's not for you, if you're in for romance). FL and ML also have good chemistry together even though they actually don't have any sweet lovey dovey kiss scenes. 2nd ML was great too, just that i couldn't quite get his love for FL.

Would still recommend this to people out there that wants a little romance, comedy, friendship and war/conspiracy. However, I will probably not rewatch this.

Leia Mais