Princesa Changge (2021)

I like the male lead & female lead.

I’m a fan of the female lead as I find her quite gorgeous and her acting is pretty decent too. She’s very easy on the eyes and very watchable. The male lead has grown up to be a very fine young man who’s tall and well-built. I swooned.

What I liked / Watch because:
- great leads with chemistry
- great acting cast on the whole
- story plot is an exciting one on the whole
- there are suspenseful moments, touching moments, cute moments, lovey moments … lots of ups and downs throughout the whole show
- the music complements the show
- I actually liked the “comic book” elements

What I didn’t like:
- the last section of the show (probably the last ten to fifteen episodes weren’t as good as the front part)
- the ending was a let down to me as there wasn’t a true “happily ever after” ending element for the male lead and female lead in that they didn’t get married and settle down
- too many deaths - I know it’s war and stuff but too many deaths/ too much bloodshed
- the woman who played KeTun was insufferable - the way she spoke and acted really put me off
- good people die and I don’t like to see this

Overall, please watch!! I recommend it as it is a well-made drama. There are some ‘I cannot believe this’ moments but it is a drama, after all. It is entertaining and 49 episodes are kind of over before you know it. Watch!

Leia Mais

Outstanding acting, OST and action scenes

I was most blown away by Leo's acting of A'Sun as the last time I watched him was in Nirvana on Fire when he was still a little kid. I cannot believe how much he has matured and his emotional scenes were better than those I've seen from seasoned actors. He was excellent portraying a fierce warrior and did an incredible job with all the fight scenes. Although he is only 21-22, his acting is dynamic and he is so interesting to watch. He also worked really hard to build his physique to match that of the character.

Diliraba's portrayal of Li Chang Ge is a nice change for her and I can see she has improved a lot with her acting. Her previous roles which were often very weepy and she had the tendency to frown a lot in many of her sad scenes. I'm glad she has improved on that a lot and is able to show a lot more emotion using more subtle facial expressions which is much more tasteful to watch as a viewer.

The SML and SFL had a wonderful storyline. Zhao Lusi's character is very different here than in her previous roles and I appreciate her taking on a very different role. She did a great job with her character and the development of her character was very interesting. I found myself captivated with her storyline. I often skip or fast forward scenes that don't involve the MLs in other dramas because they often feel like fillers. Overall I found all the 4 main characters very different from one another, and they all had their role to play to make the story come together. They all went on a journey and major transformation through many trials and tribulations.

The action scenes in this series were done very well. I initially wasn't quite fond of the anime cut scenes but I soon started appreciating them because many of them were used during war scenes where animals would have been involved otherwise. I think this is far better than causing animals which I know often suffer during filming. Many of the dramas like Legend of Xiao Chuo involved so many live animals, it made me sick to think of the potential injuries and traumas they had to go through to shoot those scenes. I think this was but better although it did make some of the battle scenes less intense and life-like.

Finally, the music is one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a while. Overall this drama has been a gem. I've already rewatched many scenes several times and I have been enjoying the soundtrack also.

Leia Mais

This drama is the Best

I love this drama so much and overall everything is perfect with main character Dilraba and Leo Wu has great chemistry and other character are really amazing too every episode has great values I can’t wait to watch all the episodes. I wish this drama has more than 10000 episode so I can watch them every day with full of excitement 😍😍😍 after watching this drama I can’t get over with Dilraba and Leo Wu. Her talent and magnificent looks is the main reason I started to watch this drama but after watching this drama I can’t denied how Talented and Charismatic Leo Wu is😍

Leia Mais

The exhaustingly Long Ballad

A show that started out strong and as it progressed it became mediocre at best. Looking back, this drama had a lot of flaws from the beginning, but that I ignored since the story had so much potential that I hoped would be achieved, but oh boy... Honestly, don't let all the high scores in the reviews fool you, this show is not amazing, it's barely even good. In a lot of ways I think The Long Ballad is a very pretentious show. It promises this epic story and gripping romances, but it doesn't deliver ANY of them.

The first half of this show is pretty good despite its flaws, but in the second half the pacing of the plot just takes a nosedive, becoming super boring, which makes the problems with the show become even more apparent. They simply prolong these side plotlines that don't add anything to the main plot and keep introducing characters that no one cares about.

Talking about charactes... I didn't care much about any in this story. Changge was a very promising FL, but she quickly fell flat for me. I like empowered female characters, but in her case everything just felt very cheap. She would just go to a place and do nothing and everyone there would go: "Well I don't even know you but I guess I'm gonna trust you blindly now and help you." Besides, just by warching her I soon noticed that the writers of this show don't know how to write smart characters. If you think about Changge's plans for more than 10 seconds you'll realize they make no sense at all. They just relied on convenience and luck and the only reason they worked is because she is the main character.

A'Sun was also kinda stereotypical. It doesn't help the fact that both his actor and Changge's actress can't actually act for shit. They were so stiff and unnatural, which reflected on their relationship cause they had little to no chemistry, even though I still persisted for some episodes to see more of them, but there's really not much to see about them as couple. I think the writers aimed for slowburn but hit underdevelopment instead. Regarding the other characters, most were either annoying or uninteresting. I think the only one worth mentioning here is Le Yan since she was the only one with a half-decent character arc. I still didn't find her character very compelling, though, because she was just the innocent and kind stereotypical female character and the writers definitely could've developed her way more, but they dropped the ball just like how they did with every other aspect of this drama.

Now I might be a little controversial here, but I think the manga styled animation used wasn't so bad, it was a nice alternative to create the scenes they probably didn't have the budget for, but the overuse of this technique also kinda took away the epic feeling and dramatic weight of certain scenes.

So, basically, The Long Ballad was the disappointement of the year for me. It doesn't deliver neither a good and intricate plot, nor good love stories, so I'd say if you have any standards at all definitely don't waste your time on this drama.

Leia Mais

meh. (spoilers for romance couples but not the actual storyline)

as a person who literally only watches historical dramas at this point, this one wasn't very... good... imo.

story:
well i didn't really know what to expect cause im gonna be honest i watched this drama because of most of the cast members. i guess the storyline was decent, although it was a little slow. this was the first time i wished a historical drama could be shorter lmao. sometimes i even forgot about the main leads' romantic relationship, which honestly i don't have a problem with because the fighting and wars and stuff like that were supposed to be the "main focus" (?) but yeah the romance between the main leads was not it, just another basic "i'll sacrifice anything for you but i'll also not tell you bc i don't want you to be sad" bs. if i wanted to see that i would have watched love and redemption again lmao. ALTHOUGH i will say, the second couple was so cute. i've seen and heard a lot of other people's opinions about the second couple, saying that it's unnecessary, which i will kinda agree, it is unnecessary, but they were still so cute. i didn't really like the fact that zhao lu si was playing a weak little sister role honestly i wouldve watched a sequel with just zhao lu si and liu yu ning's relationship.

acting/cast:
don't come for me but i don't think di li re ba's acting is... good. well, it's average. a lot of people think that she has godly top tier acting skills, but uh i beg to differ. she has like five facial expressions and her crying scenes are not realistic (AGAIN don't come for me it's my opinion lol). also her hairstylist did her dirtyyy, the middle part is. interesting (shes hella pretty though don't get me wrong). on the other hand, wu lei, zhao lu si, and liu yu ning's acting were all pretty good. i was quite shocked by liu yu ning's acting ngl, i always knew him as a singer, an artist, but i didn't think he would actually be good at acting (cause a lot of idols/singers/dancers these days are... attempting acting... and they're not the best at it). although i despised zhao lu si's role, she played it well. as for wu lei, he portrayed what i had in mind when i first skimmed the summary of the drama.

music:
this is where all the points are coming from. i am weeeeak when it comes to historical drama osts. especially with the ost gods zhang bi chen and liu yu ning in this one. i listened to both osts before even watching the drama. not much else to say, just amazing songs.

rewatch value:
eh no thanks i won't be rewatching this one lol

overall:
i'd say a ... decent drama if you're really bored or if you really really really like the main cast. but if you have better dramas to watch, i'd say not to watch this one lol.

Leia Mais

Ugh

The long ballad was indeed very long and very stale. If you are looking for an epic love story with a lot of romantic chemistry, an interesting plot, and meaningful character development, you won't find it here.

The story started out strong. FL and ML met each other under interesting circumstances – playing football. Shortly thereafter, FL lost her family to a revolt and was forced to flee her home. Unfortunately, the story kind of got lost within itself after that.

Changge was like the perfect Joan of Arc warrior princess. As a young woman from a privileged background, she was great at everything, including sports, sword fighting, and military strategy. The fact that she was perfect was her one major flaw. There was no room for growth. I enjoy strong female characters, but Changge's flawlessness and acting superior with mostly everyone made her overbearing. She couldn’t be beaten, making her extremely one dimensional. It was not convincing that all of her superb skills were the result of her uncle training her as a child.

While the drama started out strong, the story later took a strange turn and lost all focus. At the beginning, Changge swore revenge against those who instigated the revolt and killed her parents, but she ended up moving around different places and doing things completely unrelated to her original goal. The fact that nobody could figure out that she was a woman was pretty comical. All it took was for her to wear men’s clothes for everyone to suddenly become blind to the fact that she had a bump on her chest and round hips. What's worse, later in the show the revenge plot was completely abandoned and now we had a brand new end boss completely unrelated to Changge.

Yueyan ended up to be my favorite character because she went through the most intense character development and overcame all the difficulties on her own. Her and Hao Du was also my favorite couple because there was so much contrast between them - he was cold and calculating and she was timid and soft. The show did a good job at showing his growing feelings for Yueyan and his inner struggle trying to deal with them.

Half-way through the show, a slew of minor characters started appearing out of nowhere and served no purpose other than existing for Changge and her interests. Then, everything got really stupid. People kept insisting that women couldn't lead, women couldn't participate in politics, women were fragile, but there was this 14 y/o princess Tujia running around signing treaties and fraternizing with grown men without anyone saying anything. She'er was the leader of the wolf division and a good fighter, but he spent a big chunk of the show crying for mommy and being absolutely useless. Many decisions were stupid and made no sense. The crown prince's friend was a traitor and participated in Changge's abduction, but for some reason that was never addressed. Sun got arrested for killing him and no explanation was given. The fact that a member of the royal family got kidnapped wasn't even mentioned. And this type of nonsense continued until the very end. Nobody communicated anything. The show also didn't do a very good job at juggling between different character arcs. Characters would disappear for several episodes at a time making us kind of forget about them.

Explanations for certain plot lines were mediocre. It was never clearly explained why the revolt happened, why Changge's mom wrote the letter, to whom, and what was in it, or why the uncle killed her dad. The only take-away was that the emperor uncle didn't kill the mom.

The romance was underwhelming. It wasn't only because Changge and Sun had no romantic chemistry, but also because watching them together was like watching two dudes interact. They were just hanging out. The one kiss they shared was blurred out and we were forced to watch birds. I don't care that the writers intended it, it looked stupid.

The acting was very mediocre. Although she is very beautiful, Dilraba does not strike me as a very good actress, and, Leo Wu needs to work on his acting skills. I haven't seen him in anything other than Love like the Galaxy and the Long Ballad, and I wasn't impressed with his portrayal of stoic brooding characters. Zhao Lusi and Liu Yuning stole the show for me.

Bottom line, the drama was too long, the plot was too convoluted, and the romance was too stale.

Leia Mais

One of the best 2021 dramas so far

Two perfect female leads, I love how they balanced it out with one strong female lead and then other sweet and innocent but both had to live hard life's differently which caused both two grow and mature. They never rival each other which I loved it's weird to have two female leads that don't want to cut their each other throats.

I wanted to be a main couple shipper but when I fell you I saw the first episode with leyan and hao du as a cold soldier I was SOLD. I just couldn't concentrate anymore and wanted their scenes so so much more. Is it a bit clique with the sweet princess and a cold soldier? Yes but when a drama is done well clique scenes are done so perfect that you don't mind and you see growth on their characters which I love so much.

The story of this drama is amazing, it makes me want to rewatch it all over again as a binge because it's so different and well done. I'm a fantasy history kind of girl but this drama made me love historical dramas so so much. Thankful that is a happy ending even though we see some characters die for unfortunate events it does add the idea that sometimes in life we had to see people go especially around the time the drama is based which is tang dynasty.

I hope anyone that's reading this gives this drama a chance. Definetly one of 2021 favorite dramas

Leia Mais

The Long Ballad: First Impressions

“The Long Ballad” was deliriously intoxicating, uniquely entertaining, emotionally engaging, deeply realistic and delightfully gratifying. All aspects of the production, cinematography, scenery, characterization, acting talent, action, dialogue and attention to detail made the series exude a high level of realism both engaging and immersive in the Tang era. If you are looking for action, adventure, and tender romance with lots of killings I highly recommend “The Long Ballad.”

“The Long Ballad” was my first completion of a long series Chinese historical drama series with English subtitles. Typically, I don’t write any reviews about anything but this series deserves a review. Typically, I am not a great fan of long series with subtitles and continuous commercial ad interruptions every few minutes. I don’t even remember how I stumbled over this series on YouTube but I was fascinated, captivated and hooked by the first scene. I was able to watch and complete all 49 episodes in about three to four weeks because I am a busy working professional. After completing the series, I searched and discovered this website resource and wanted to share my first experience with “The Long Ballad.”

I was instantly connected by the emotional soundtrack, the visuals, the natural scenic beauty, the characters, the action, the plot, the architecture, the cities, the towns, the palaces, the furniture, the costumes, the customs and all manners of warmongering. The Tang Dynasty era suddenly became alive and sparked in my imagination as to what life might have been like that long ago. Far too long I have yearned to learn and experience more about our Chinese cultural heritage. I have read some books attempting to understand the history of China. “The Long Ballad” series instantly connected me to a fascinating time and space with a broad range of fantastic possibilities from great walled cities, the grasslands, the desert and beyond !

I was fascinated to learn that most of the location names still exist on today’s map of China so I was able to dive into the terrain and find potential routes that once were and helped me really get deep into the story. It gave me a sense of the long travel distances, time frames and treacherous travel difficulties of the era from one place to another.

I went into the story blind not knowing anything about anything simply seeking some connection with my Chinese cultural heritage. I immediately fell in love with the cast, the characters, the story, the world and the open-ended possibilities. I really didn’t know any of the actors going into it so I did not have many preconceived notions or biases towards the actors, the characters or the story. I think not knowing anything about the actors or the story made my experience even more powerful because it allowed my imagination to detach from reality and absorb every visual and word of the story. The screenplay was generally well-written with well-timed tender and comical moments interspersed throughout the midst of an intense drama. It was joyful to watch and pretend to live every special moment vicariously through each character.

The introductory and closing credits immediately pulled me into the story. The soundtrack pulled at my heart strings instantly. The credits gave me time to engage and decompress between each episode. I don’t think I ever skipped the introduction nor the closing themes on any episode. However, I spent a lot of time rewinding because the English subtitles rolled so fast I could hardly read and watch the action at the same time. I do have to admit I did rewatch some of the most tender moments over and over again to my heart’s content.

In many scenes the subtleties of romantic passion were so accurate, intense and intimate it was challenging to discern between character and actor so the story melted together with no choice but to fall for the fantasy with such realism that it was extremely hard to resist. The superb acting talent, on-screen chemistry and cinematography were so natural and fluid it made the story deeply realistic, intimate and believable ! Every actor seemed to have been on their very best top level of ability combined with the meticulously staged sets, furniture, artifacts, details and scenery made the series deeply memorable. The production quality makes the series worth watching over and over again from beginning to end ! I loved it ! Thank you to all producers, actors and stage crews for creating such a beautiful and gratifying engaging series.

* About me: I am a third-generation Panamanian-born-Chinese-American born to Hakka Chinese parents. I was born in The Republic of Panama. I speak Spanish, English and very limited domestic Hakka Chinese. I seek to learn and reconnect with my Chinese cultural heritage to understand the hearts and minds of China. I currently live in the United States and work in the fields of architectural design and construction administration.

Recently, Chinese people in Panama celebrated 150 years in Panama. My family Chinese cultural heritage stems back to a village in Sha Tau Kok on the border of what used to be the New Territories northeast of Hong Kong. Sha Tau Kok is east of Shenzhen toward Starling Inlet. When the Japanese brutally invaded China in World War II, my maternal great grandfather and his family were forced to flee Sha Tau Kok and take refuge within the New Territories in Tai Po village about 9.6 km (6 miles) southwest. Within a few years, he emigrated to Panama where he made a small fortune owning and operating a small local bakery. My father was born in Panama to Hakka Chinese immigrants and worked for the United States Panama Canal Commission as an Electrical Power Generation Dispatcher. In the early 1990s, my father took his family and emigrated to the United States.

Leia Mais

I love this drama so SO much!! Li Chang Ge has had so many roles & had so many experiences having an amazing transformation! She started as a sincere and talented disciple, eagerly learning martial arts and civilian management. And a loving daughter to her mother. Then she became a daughter seeking vengeance. Then becomes an unwilling but responsible master to A'Dou, then she became a master who failed to save her disciple, then she became a princess and a soldier defending her kingdom at all costs, then she became a slave in name only and felt warmth & love again from a friendship, then she lost that friendship due to her misguided sense of justice & short-sightedness. Then she fell into depression, losing all her confidence and slowly coming to loathe herself, struggling to find her purpose and falling into a cycle of self-blame, then she briefly found her calling in serving & taking care of the weak & the injured, but then she realised she doesn't need to interfere her own determined journey, that that for her, the taoist principle of non-interference means that she shouldn't interfere with her own will, purpose & desires, if she wants to do something & has good principles behind it, then she should do it! I am SO excited to see how she carries on!! Although Li Chang Ge is my favourite girl, ALL the girls in this show are MAGNIFICENT! Princess Yicheng is so SMART, Determined, ambitious & LOYAL..She's a princess endlessly fighting to save the Glory of her kingdom, she and ChangGe are mirror images of each other, each striving to reach the same goal but ultimately choosing vastly different paths. I LOVE Shiba, the last surviving member of the 18 Horsemen of Yanyun, she is fierce, fearless & unequivocally loyal to her masters, no matter old or new. I LOVE Mimi Gulli who gave Chang Ge a sister right after she lost a life-long sister, I LOVE how Mimi Gulli did her best as a sister, I LOVE Boss Hong Fu Nu, who is a female entrepreneur creating jobs, giving home & livelihood to commoner women and helping them become truly independent! Taking care of SO many young women.Truly a MATRIARCH!! I LOVE Leyan who's timid but resilient beyond belief! I LOVE nun Jing Dan, devoting her life to the care of others and helping others find their true purpose.

the Khatun is my fave character apart from Chang Ge, even after that...they are like mirror images of one another, but ultimately choosing different paths to achieve ultimately the same goals.

Leia Mais

They have happy ending

I love the story of Change Ge and also love Leyan relationship between her cousin. This is the only Chinese drama that revenge but she didn’t kill all of the family who kill Change Ge’s family lol 😂 while she said she is not longer sister and friend for Leyan but when she heard Leyan hurt she worries about her so much haha 😂 . And also this is the only drama that I don’t need a kiss scene at all everything just focus on war and fight. Also love manipulating of Change Ge. I really really love to see Zhao Lusi and Dilireba together again so much but as 2 female lead who had interest the same sex (I meant like lesbian) I wanna see them as lover they both have a really really great chemistry plus Zhao Lusi doesn’t like men so why don’t give her a chance with woman?

Leia Mais

First C-Historical and mind is blooooooown

I am writing this review in an attempt to relieve my post-TLB hangover...I refuse to believe that it's actually over.

So,,,I came to The Long Balland "blind" I'd never watched a historical c-drama, have no idea (still) what wuxia and that other one (is it xianxia??) is, have a sketchy background on the Tang Dynasty, totally unfamiliar with the cast and well, just generally prepared to inducted into this brand new world by the cast of TLB and boy was happy about that fact. TLB just built up and then smashed my conceptualization of what this genre can offer.

Okay, let's talk about Changge....first time I have watched a Female Lead character whose baddassery is not watered down by romance....first time a FL has a line saying, "Okay I am going to go save my man" and then proceeds to do just that!!! I was so excited about the beautiful depiction of Li Changge as the woman we all are. I mean we had real character development, we watched her cry and plot revenge, feed her anger with grief, then make mistakes and then grow up and face her fears and her beliefs and then come full circle and see the futility of her revenge mission. I loved especially that she could see the folly of taking the wrong path in the life of another wounded and vengeful woman (and then helped us the audience understand the writer's overarching message). Li Changge was never portrayed as the woman with everything, in fact, we saw so many of her faults that we could truly appreciate her strength and therefore the power and charm she had over those who loved her and trusted her and chose to follow her.

Now, enter Ashile Sun....wuuuuwi. Helluuuuurrrr! Somebody give that guy a medal. Do you know I was a third-way through the drama when I finally googled Wu Lei and learnt he's 21?! Whaaaat?! It was all in the eyes! And together, Changge and Sun had some blazing chemistry. I loved that he stepped in not to reign her in but to be a part of her life. The slow burn was a bitter-sweet torment to watch. The lack of pretensions was just a breath of fresh air as well.

And then the second lead couple...I fell hard for HanYan...just wow! So cute!

This was not a flawless drama. While there were was some epic production feats., the fact remains that the battle scenes were an anti-climax. I appreciate the artistic use of manhua comic scenes to translate what could have been a mass production to scale a depiction of war scenes from that era but...uhm...its a let-down to have suspense building towards a royal battle and then have no proper imagery to support it. Some CGI scenes were also just awful.

All that said TLB is one to watch and definitely deserving of the hype.

Leia Mais

Took me a while to get through, but I kept coming back :D

It's a really good thing if: a drama is long and therefore I don't necessarily binge watch it in one sitting, BUT over the course of *months* I keep coming back to watch more. I am one of those people where if I step away from a drama, it's highly likely that I'll never get back to it - it's a bad habit that'd I'd like to fix, but it's an honest truth. With The Long Ballad though, I would watch a couple episodes, then take a month break, and then I'd watch 10 episodes, and then take a week break. It had no rhyme/reason, but the point is, I *wanted* to come back to it, which is a huge deal for me. A testament of the strength in the story, acting, and effects.

On a whole, Chinese dramas tend to be a bit slower paced and it takes a while to get into the story - it's the same here. The first 10 episodes had some dull moments that made me wonder if I really wanted to continue watching this drama. But then things really take off. Personally, my favorite arc was when Changge was taken to live in the Eagle Division - the tensions, the plotting! It had me at the edge of my seat!

While I obviously loved our MCs, Changge and Sun ( *v* ), I really liked the supporting cast too. Leyan had such a beautiful metamorphosis that had me in tears. Sher also had a tragic transformation that was sad, but necessary and satisfying.
My favorite character dynamic to see resolved was the animosity Changge held toward her uncle, Li Shimin. The way Li Shimin cared for his niece throughout the drama broke my heart and when their relationship is finally repaired, I was so satisfied!

The OST was great - I WANTED to watch the intro and closing song just to listen to the music! All of the accompanying instrumentals were fantastic too - they were perfect and building the emotion in the moment.

The biggest drawback of the very good, The Long Ballad is that it's LONG and there's not much skinship at all. Some parts of the drama are not as exciting or thrilling as others, but they're all necessary to the overall story, so pay attention!
I would recommend The Long Ballad to those who enjoy historicals with some romance and have the patience for longer dramas.

Leia Mais