Fighting for Love Reviews

I can't believe it. Back in the day, I was a huge fan of the novel. I didn't expect it to be a hundred percent faithful to the original, but why did they have to make such drastic changes?
The male lead was so cunning and smart in the original book, but in the drama, he's like a complete idiot! I was actually thrilled when Zhang Jie took on this role.
The novel was so good, and Zhang Tian Ai would have been perfect for portraying a strong and charismatic character like that. But, well, reality proved that even the best novels can't withstand drastic alterations!

At the beginning, it was entertaining to watch, like a comedy. But in the latest episodes, when A Mai enters the military camp, he constantly violates military regulations, causing a lot of soldiers to die tragically. He even saves the enemy's general to protect himself, waving the flag of justice and confronting the weak Zhenbei Army and the enemy head-on.
It reminds me of a recent news story where a couple broke up over a dowry of 188,000 yuan. The reason behind the breakup was the man's attitude. The army in the drama is just like that attitude - so frivolous.

The supporting actors delivered breathtaking performances, especially the emperor and the courtiers, as well as the scenes with Princess Shenghua. Whether it's the pacing or the camera work, everything is top-notch.
However, when it comes to the main characters, it's just so jarring. The male lead is dull and foolish, while the female lead can't handle her supposedly clever role. Especially the scene where she impersonates the Ministry of Justice to deceive the Longyin Guards, it's both awkward and sloppy.
I think I'd rather read the book.

Just finished reading the novel, and I can only say that the screenwriters and producers messed it up. The adaptation is garbage. In the novel, Shang Yi Zhi isn't a fool; he's a scheming one-sided love interest for the female lead.
The kissing scenes with the female lead only happen with Chang Yu Qing (and their scenes together are quite brilliant). The whole novel focuses on patriotism, family, and a smart and resourceful female lead.
The TV drama is a pile of crap.

After watching 26 episodes, I've decided not to continue watching. What a waste.

I've watched the first 6 episodes, and the plot and costume design are decent. It's evident that the production team put some effort into it. However, the male lead's acting skills are lacking and a bit inconsistent.
Honestly, he would be more suitable for comedy roles. There's no chemistry between him and the female lead at all, and the second male lead has more presence. I couldn't continue watching after the 6th episode.
If the male lead had portrayed a delicate and pure-hearted character, this drama might have turned out better.

Although A Mai is a female portraying a male character, she exudes tremendous charm and charisma. She possesses both courage and strategic thinking, with a heroic and dashing presence. Even when covered in dust and dirt, she still portrays a sense of dignity that is hard not to love.
The supporting roles are also brilliant, and the transitions are smooth. The grand scenes are not lackluster, but rather exhilarating and passionate. The camaraderie and brotherhood in the battles and fights are enough to ignite one's blood.

At the beginning, I gave it five stars because of the original work itself, but now it's confirmed to be a terrible drama. Let's put aside the acting for now, what the hell happened to the story of a female general's growth?
It has turned into a dumb and sweet romance drama that lowers intelligence. The only way the character of the female general is established throughout the series is through music. Please have some respect for the audience's intelligence.
Are we playing make-believe war games here?

Overall, there are shortcomings and bugs in the plot. However, the theme and the shining performance of the protagonist, A Mai, deserve high praise. Looking forward to more dramas with a complete female perspective. The protagonist A Mai is independent, tenacious, brave, and strategic.
The chemistry between her and Chang Yu Qing is impressive. The protagonist gradually rises from a low-level infantry to seek revenge in the end, with patriotism as the theme. By the way, the casting of the old emperor is well done.

The plot progresses quickly, with a tight pace and visually appealing color grading. Zhang Tian Ai's performance is down-to-earth. Despite playing a clever and exceptional female lead, she doesn't give off the feeling of being divinely assisted, but rather displays insight into human nature.
Zhang Hao Wei seems to be playing a male lead for the first time. His character design is inexplicably funny and silly, and the second male lead has a bit of a pretty boy vibe, but his acting is relaxed and natural.

What a pity! The actors' appearances are well-suited for their roles, but the screenplay ruined it. A Mai is the female lead, but they had to force so many romantic scenes with Shang Yi Zhi, which is extremely inappropriate. Moreover, they completely changed Shang Yi Zhi's character to a foolish and silly one.
He should have been the restrained, cunning, and deep-minded type. I loved the original work so much, but after watching a few episodes, I couldn't bear it anymore and gave up.

The reward is "marrying ten wives." Who is the subject? It's a man, not a woman. Women are not treated as individuals but as spoils of war.
Throughout the drama, there are many instances of "don't act like a woman" and "be like a man".... When women enter the scene, they have to discuss how beautiful the top courtesan in the brothel is.
It's 2024, and yet we still see such blatant insults towards women. Male directors, those who understand, understand.

Binged it all in one go, and it was really enjoyable! I haven't read the original work, but the pacing of the drama was great. Aside from the two flaws of "cross-dressing and not closing the window while bathing" and "taking one-third of the drama to actually join the military despite having a name related to it," it was overall quite good.
It's the only good drama I've seen recently! Can't wait for tonight's "Di Renjie of the Tang Dynasty"!

Three and a half stars. The director is decent, and the actors are also good, especially Zhang Tian Ai. She put in a lot of effort. The original script is fine, but while watching it, I'm not sure if it's an issue with the editing, but sometimes the plot feels disjointed.
The male lead is really foolish, either due to his acting or the character itself. It seems like the drama lacks a consistent style. I thought it would be clever, but it turns out he's just genuinely foolish.

I listened to the opening theme song, and it sounded great. But I just can't connect with the male lead in this drama. He doesn't have the looks, and his acting is careless (I really dislike this kind of male lead character).
In the beginning, when the female lead was called "big brother" by the male lead, I couldn't relate at all. Even though she wasn't wearing makeup, her face just doesn't look like a man's no matter how you look at it, haha.

One of the most delightful period dramas in recent times! The script is excellent, and the production is impressive. I'm really curious how Zhang Tian Ai managed to secure such a fantastic leading role in what is clearly a female-centric drama.
????

The male lead's character, with his seemingly foolish but actually intelligent nature, is quite intriguing. Zhang Hao Wei showcases his own unique style, and he finally has a representative work as a leading male role. ????

The makeup, set design, and acting in this drama are all fine. The only problem is that everything goes too smoothly and unrealistically. The characters never face any hardships, and it becomes boring to watch. I have to add that Tian Ai has made herself so thin that she looks completely different.
The issue is that everyone else has made themselves fair-skinned and beautiful, to the point where even a supporting actress looks like she has applied layers of whitening cream.

It has more texture than I imagined, but I always feel like it borrowed ideas from "Joy of Life." That's why after watching a couple of episodes, it feels like a power struggle drama centered around a male protagonist.
However, the character development of the male lead is a bit unstable. If they had less setup in the beginning and started the storyline of the female lead joining the army earlier, it might have brought out a more distinctive differentiation.

Ugly... I don't understand how such a brilliant storyline from the original work could be turned into this???????? When I see the male lead, I immediately fast forward... I'm really disappointed.
Can't they film the female lead's storyline properly? Or even make the second male lead or the third male lead the main characters? Anything would be a thousand times better than what they're doing now...
They've truly ruined the original work????

The plot is below expectations. Shang Yi Zhi is a bit foolish. Chen Qi is both old and ugly. The other one looks too sinister (including makeup and hairstyle).

It's truly an idiotic storyline.
What the hell were they thinking? Poor A Mai. The emperor should just lock up the male lead.

I stayed up late yesterday and reread the novel. Today's preview shows Chang Yu Qing, who is ugly but has some chemistry.
Hopefully, it's not a scam.

Idiotic storyline.

It's surprising to see such a stunning female lead playing a male character, and she really looks sickly and skinny, with yellowed and darkened hands. However, she's still incredibly beautiful, and her celestial beauty can't be concealed.
Overall, her performance is passable. As for the script, it's a bit immature. I've only watched a dozen episodes so far, so this is my current assessment. Anyway, it's still a drama worth watching.

TV drama review:

The story of a woman disguised as a soldier is right up my alley. While watching the drama, I'm also reading the original novel and I've noticed that the TV adaptation is completely different.
The military storyline of the female lead is too thin, the young marquis is sometimes out of character and sometimes like a fool, and yet he has a significant amount of screen time.
The acting of the main and supporting roles feels rushed.

If the romantic storyline isn't portrayed well, they could have just skipped it. I prefer it when they focus on the female lead seeking revenge and building her career.
Love watching that! The actors for the male characters are just average, but I can still continue watching the drama because of the female lead. It's no wonder I still remember this novel after more than a decade.
Haha! I binge-watched ten episodes in one night.

I opened it without any expectations and discovered that it's really good in various aspects. Especially the comedic timing of the script and lines, which were effectively executed by the director and actors.
However, for this type of historical drama with a strong female lead, it's difficult to carry it without a capable actress. Even with great production values, it's hard to become a hit.
Let's hope for a miracle.

The plot is like playing house. Actually, the actors are all passable, and some of the minor character designs are interesting. However, the incoherent and contradictory storyline throughout most of the show renders everything else meaningless.
It puzzles me how they managed to film it this way, especially considering that they didn't hesitate to give screen time to minor characters. What was the screenwriter thinking?
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In terms of character design, the female lead is resourceful and courageous, much stronger than those so-called "strong female leads" who rely on the male lead one moment and the second male lead the next. In terms of the plot, the original parts are lacking, but the segment in the Silver Castle is well-executed.
As for the rival scenes, A Mai and Chang Yu Qing's interactions are more compelling and impactful.

The male lead's silly and comedic style is incomparable to the original work. The original work focused on the strong female lead, with themes of patriotism and righteousness, not just on romance. The kiss between A Mai and Shang Yi Zhi feels strange, as it was set up solely for that purpose.
Zhang Tian Ai's casting was quite good, but I feel that certain aspects of the script adaptation are not very comfortable.

The female lead and other supporting characters have impressive character development, except for the male lead. When I reached episode 11, I wondered why the male lead was still pretending to be clueless, but then I gradually realized that he was genuinely foolish.
And why did the romantic scenes between the male and female lead suddenly lead to a kiss? It feels like they fell in love out of nowhere.

This drama is truly difficult to put into words. It's incredibly clichéd and poorly edited to the point of being outrageous. However, if you look closely, it's surprisingly entertaining.
It's so addictive that I'm having trouble rating it. Let's go with three stars for now, but honestly, it's worth four stars because watching it makes me eat an extra bowl of rice.

Worth watching. The first three episodes had a lot of unnecessary scenes, but from the fourth episode onwards, it's been full of excitement and surprises. It's a typical Chinese historical drama. However, if you start analyzing the logic, you'll notice that besides the female lead, no one else seems to have a brain.
They just follow her commands and get fooled by her.

I dropped it after episode 18. The fact that A Mai didn't kill the second male lead and the seventh camp went back and forth, being treated as expendable, is something I can't accept. The plot has become increasingly strange.
Zhang Tian Ai has made great progress and acted well. The voice actress who dubbed her did a good job too, adding to the overall performance.

I'm still interested in the concept of women disguised as men. At the beginning, it had a nostalgic feel reminiscent of TV dramas from the turn of the century. However, when that nostalgic feel becomes too overwhelming, it turns into a tedious and repetitive account of events.
The male lead's voice sounds silly, like Guo Jing. I gave up after the 12th episode.

I thought the setup was great in the beginning, but episode 15... It suddenly disrupted the tactics for the sake of personal revenge. And they still received praise after the battle ended?
?? The setup in the earlier episodes wasn't so naïvely sweet... I've seen comments saying that the later part deviates a lot from the original work, and I'm speechless!

I really like all the cast choices. Mai is full of charm, Shang is a little silly, Chang is domineering, Tang is reliable, Chen is a bit neurotic, and Xiu is adorable.
The supporting actors also deliver great performances. Although the male lead's personality is different from the novel, it's quite fitting for A Mai to be with someone like him.

A Mai Joins the Army" is produced by Beijing iQiyi Technology Co., Ltd., directed by Tian Shaobo, starring Zhang Tian Ai. The main cast also includes Zhang Hao Wei, Wang Rui Chang, Gao Ge, Sun Shao Long, Yang Tong Shu, Yin Zhu Sheng, Wang Yong Quan, Yu Yang, Jiang Yun Xi, and others.
It is a historical inspirational legendary drama.

The drama is decent to watch, and the overall production quality is good. Currently, it mainly focuses on political intrigue (involving the emperor) and war-related elements. However, sometimes the plot transitions and developments seem inexplicable.
Also, after watching this drama, my opinion of Zhang Tian Ai has changed for the better.

The character arc of the male lead is more complete than the female protagonist, but he is too foolish to be likable. The forced romantic scenes given to him are not as satisfying as the few minutes of screen time given to the male N or supporting female characters.
However, the visuals of the drama are still pleasing, adding one star.

So far, the plot seems a bit draggy. Zhang Tai's appearance is good, but when will A Mai actually join the military? Also, right from the start, it's all about power struggles. Everyone is scheming and plotting, creating a sense of grand manipulation, but the outcomes are often full of mistakes and flaws.

I really like it. The pace is fast, although it omits some details, which makes it a bit puzzling at times. But it's truly a drama centered around the female lead's career, rather than her romantic relationships, and that's rare and great.

One star for all the actors: they all performed quite well; one star for cinematography. However, there are just too many flaws in the plot, so I can't give it three stars.