#liu zhang icons

[gunwish]

- 时代少年团 Teens In Times (TNT) icons

[captainxcarter]

Xialing's expression when she receives a hug from her aunt is so 🤏🥺💕

She probably hasn't received any kind of affection since Shang left.

[jianqies]

Kona and lqq 🍒

[romance-of-three-memes]

It's incredible how fairly small observations from other people can change your perspective on a character, because for most of my life I very aggressively did not give a single solitary shit about Lu Bu until I started seeing takes from other people bringing up how in ro3k he's very overtly punished by the narrative for caring more about the women in his life than he's 'supposed' to according to the good old dude-bro Confucianism code. Obviously he's by no means a feminist icon but it's something.

I mean we're talking about the same fictionalized historical tradition where you got the Hua Guan Suo Zhuan, and that starts with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei deciding that if they really want their new brotherhood oath with Liu Bei to matter then they have to go murder each other's entire families and the only ones who escape are Guan Yu's oldest son Guan Ping (because he begs Zhang Fei to spare him and take him on as a protege) and Guan Yu's pregnant wife because she manages to run away and gets taken in by another family, and when Guan Suo grows up and finds out about all this it doesn't seem to deter him from wanting to meet his biological father at all. Like oh hahaha you know... He did it for his bros, that's ancient history basically.

Also where in a version of the story after Lu Bu is defeated, Liu Bei and his brothers start fighting over Diaochan and Guan Yu murders her because guys, we cannot let a woman tear us apart like this... So clearly the solution is to kill her horribly.

So yeah a guy going 'well man, I don't want my wife to hate me for leaving her behind in a siege (again)' actually is a pretty big deal, as absolutely bare minimum as it feels by our standards.

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: season one review

first things first: anyone who says the Movie That Does Not Exist is better than the live action is straight-up lying. the shymalan film fails on the criteria of even being a decent movie, let alone an adaptation. the netflix series, for all its problems, is at least an enjoyable watch with great effects, music and (mostly) appropriate casting. there's absolutely nothing to compare here - the netflix version clears easily.

now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's delve into the series, starting with the positives.

the good:

visuals and cinematography. they really did a great job of making it feel like a fantasy universe you wanted to be in & i love how vibrant the saturation and colour grading was. it made the world feel so much more dynamic and alive instead of the same flat, boring dullness that so many movies and shows have these days. sometimes i didn't even mind that i was being fed obvious exposition because at least they were giving me something pretty to look at lmao

effects and action. the bending was surprisingly good for the most part, and they did a good job of making the elements feel unique through the stunt choreography and the actors' movements. i'm immensely thankful they didn't try to skimp on budget by merely cutting away from fight scenes or showing us as little as possible. almost all the action sequences were fast-paced and engaging, and i was never bored watching them

acting. the main four were all great, but gordon cormier and dallas liu have to be the standouts for me. gordon brings such an earnest, innocent sweetness to aang that you can't help but like him, and dallas plays all of zuko's facets perfectly: the angst, the explosive anger, the bratty snark, and especially the deep-rooted pain that characterizes so many of zuko's actions in book 1. the range he has, especially when flashing from younger to older zuko, was insane. special shoutout to maria zhang and sebastian amoruso as suki and jet respectively, because they killed it

music. leaves from the vine instrumental had me tearbending and i love how they kept the iconic avatar theme while making it a little darker for this iteration of the story. in general, the soundtrack felt very true to the animation while still being a fresh spin on it

zuko and iroh's relationship and expanding on zuko's crew. i think the fandom universally agrees that lu ten's funeral and zuko's crew being the 41st division were the best changes in the series, so i'm not going to talk about it further other than to say that these scenes show me what the show can be, and that's why i'm not giving up on it

the bad:

characterization. almost all the main characters are missing the little nuances that made them so great in the original, but the greatest casualty is katara. i hate that they took away so much of her rage, and gave many of her traits and struggles to sokka. i don't think this is a problem solely with the writing though, because certain lines do feel like things animated katara would say, but the directing and line delivery don't have the same punch that made her so fierce in the original. this is an easily fixed issue though, so i hope they take the criticism and let my girl be angry and fuck shit up next season

exposition. this was primarily a problem in depicting aang's personality and the relationship between the gaang, because a) why are you TELLING me that aang is mischievous and fun-loving instead of just showing me and b) the gaang do NOT feel like close friends, mostly because they spend so much time apart in every episode that they have little screentime to actually bond and develop intimacy.

lack of focus on the intricacies of bending. for a show whose tagline is "master your element" the characters spend very little time actually... mastering their element. zuko is never shown to struggle with firebending (which is going to have ramifications when it comes to developing his relationship with azula), and neither aang nor katara ever learn waterbending from a master throughout the the entire show. i'm pretty sure aang never willingly waterbends ONCE in the entire eight episodes, discounting the avatar state and koizilla. bending isn't just cool martial arts, it's closely linked to the philosophies and spirituality of each nation, and i wish that had been explored more.

pacing. they really needed to do a better job of conveying that time passed between episodes because an 8-episode season is just going to FEEL shorter than a 20-episode one. the original animation felt as though they'd truly been on a long journey before arriving at the north, but here it feels like the entire show happened in the span of a fortnight or so because each episode seemed to pick up right after the previous. they needed to have more downtime within episodes instead of just rushing from plot beat to plot beat because it made everything feel a lot more rushed. give the characters and story time to breathe.

final rating: 7/10.

overall, i would describe the live action as a better version of the percy jackson movies - not an accurate or perfect adaptation, but a decent story that's very fun to watch. but what really makes me root for this show to get a season 2 is that it has a lot of potential and more importantly, a lot of heart. it's evident that the people who worked on it do genuinely love and respect the original series, and it shows onscreen.

regardless of anything else, this show created opportunities for so many asian and indigenous actors, writers and creators to tell the kinds of stories and play the kinds of roles they don't usually get, and that's something worth supporting. if they take the criticism from this season and improve, i believe they really do have something special on their hands which - although it might not be the original we all know and love - could still be a story to be proud of.

[wangmiao]

Lol it took me an hour to get enough courage and motivation to be back on tumblr and shout into the fandonless void. Anyways, we are getting wax statues for young Ye Wenjie, Shi Qiang, and their creator Liu Cixin in Madame Tussauds Shanghai. The statues will be revealed on June 24th. (Edit on June 24th: there isn't a Liu Cixin Statue, and the poster is a bit misleading I guess. Also to look at the Shi Qiang and Wang Ziwen statues, please click here).

I know what you are wondering. There will not be a Wang Miao statue. Last year, during the Scifi con in Chengdu. Some fans asked about this, and the answer was Zhang Luyi was very serious about portrait rights, so he didn't give permission for Miaomiao's statue to be made. My very personal guess is that he either thought the idea of a wax copy of himself creepy, was too shy and awkward about the whole thing, or just didn't feel he deserved to be there. There doesn't seem to be a senior Ye Wenjie statue either.

OK. Stop now if you are not a Shiwang shipper, because I'm going to talk about the Shiwang agenda in Shi Qiang's poster. Here are the three photos they picked for Shi Qiang's poster:

The first one is Shi Qiang looking for Miaomiao as soon as he enters the very crowded room. The second one is the iconic hug scene. The third one is when they are setting the timer in Shi Qiang's car. I CAN'T BELIEVE MIAOMIAO IS IN ALL OF THE PHOTOS. They even just downright hid Shi Qiang's face in the last one LOL. I can tell whoever made the poster was crying for Miaomiao.

I do like the comment from one fan. They suggested that if Miaomiao is not there, then there should be a "我淼淼呢?/Where's my Miaomiao?" sign right beside Shi Qiang's statue. I mean can you imagine the amount of people visiting while cosplaying Wang Miao?

Now let me bring your attention to the countdown timer on Shi Qiang's poster which is 1184:45:51. We all know Shiwang's timers are in sync at 1018:44:00, and the time on the poster is earlier than that. So it seems to be just a random time. BUT, some fans actually found this time in the show.

In episode 3, Wang Miao is in bed ready to sleep. He is staring at the ceiling, and asks his wife where they will be in 49 days. Then after his wife says that they'll just be here, Wang Miao closes his eyes, and the time is exactly 1184:45:51.

So now the fans are applauding the one who made the poster, because they paid so much attention to the show. And for Shiwang shippers, this just implies that at this time, Wang Miao is thinking about Shi Qiang LOL...Shiwang is really so epic that the shippers are everywhere! I can't believe tumblr is still sleeping on them lol.

[baesujiz]

by clicking here, you will be redirected to #189 medium size, hq gifs of yuxi zhang in the show love at night (e01). all of these gifs were made by me (@baesujiz) from scratch, so please do not redistribute as your own. you may edit them into gif icons, crackships, etc. as long as i am credited. please reblog if you plan on using these. enjoy !

FEATURING : xueyi liu, other side characters WARNINGS : food, alcohol consumption

[s1utspeare]

Writin Patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

Thanks to @hils79 for tagging me, mostly bc I then got to read ur ateez fic that i didn't know existed!!!! and it was great!!!!!!!!!! amazing and iconic as always

(at first i was like lmao i haven't written for so long i think the last time i did this i had the same exact fics WELL I DIDN'T THERE'S A LOT MORE THAN LAST TIME)

“I’m sorry,” Ba-ye says, “What did you say?” - if i can never find you anywhere (we will never find peace again)

It’s his second week working at the convenience store, and Zhang Qishan thinks that if he doesn’t get shot soon, he’s going to lose it. - you don't recognize the bodies in the water

Really, the thing about curses is that they’re annoying.- pain's a well-intentioned weatherman

The first time Liu Sang sees him, he thinks, Why do I have to guard this one? because Kan Jian’s muscles are very large and his hair is cut very neatly and the square shape of his jaw would make anyone think twice about crossing him. - No One Take You Down

Error 404: File Not Found. - to the point of absurd (but i know that he loves me)

“I mean, look at her,” Deng Shi says, gesturing at the crate. “She’s a good girl.” - Baby Mine

Well. Shit. That’s the first thing that Pangzi thinks upon waking, mostly because he’s immediately flattened by a headache that seems to have come out of nowhere; it’s like he blinks back into consciousness and is slammed into by a truck. - Rock Bottom

Wang Meng does not like being underground. - The Cold Light of the Stars

Zhang Qishan looked down dubiously. “Wu-ye, I don’t know—” - i'll be the loyalest of all

Zhang Qiling was born to be a fighter. - lean in and let it hurt

Is there a pattern? Idk. I mean, of course we've got the short and snappy ones, but there are a couple that are longer! Cause I like spicing things up! I also love starting off with dialogue apparently (is it cause I'm a playwright? fuckin probably)

anyway i'm gonna tag @forerussake, @pangzi, @humanlighthouse, and @highpriestessofjogan, as well as anyone else who would like to participate! Consider this your tag-in! love u <3

[aworldforastage]

A very subjective recap of my audiodrama journey in 2023 "Year of the Rabbit"

This is entirely based on personal preferences and not at all an objective assessment of quality

If applicable, cast members are listed with the gong first.

"Web Drama/网配" here refers to the free, not-for-profit productions

All AD's are on Mao'er FM (Missevan) unless indicated otherwise.

Favorite Completed Dramas

The Golden Terrance/黄金台 -- (Web Drama/网配)

Jia Xu/贾诩 x Yacejun/雅策君

Three not-for-profit productions of The Golden Terrance launched in 2020, but this is the first and only one to be completed! I'm just so grateful and amazed that so many talented people contributed to make this happen -- all for free! It's not perfect, but it's comparable if not better than for-profit productions at least 90% of the time, and I think it really did this beloved novel justice. Go listen to it!

Famous/In Name Only/有名

Wei Chao/魏超 x Chen Jiaheng/陈家恒

I did not know I needed to hear Lan Wangji's audiodrama VA speak in a southern/canto-style accent, but it has been life-changing.

"Famous" comes with all the bells and whistles you could possibly hope for in a professional, for-profit production. It has eight original songs, tons of little skits and bonus content, wonderful performance and polished post-production. The team brought their own vision to the adaption, leveraging the of creative potential in the audio medium while staying true to the text. If we have to nitpick, I'd say Liang Yu sounds a bit old for a man on the cusp of 30, but Wei Chao's magnetic voice is more than enough to make up for it.

After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine/残疾战神嫁我为妾后

Shi Zekun/史泽鲲 x Liu Sicen/刘思岑

This is the guilty pleasure personal favorite I have been playing on repeat in the background -- a comforting little sugar pie AD. Objectively speaking, this production has noticeable flaws, from built-in plot holes from the source material to uneven performance and mixing of some minor characters' dialogue. However, I really like the sweet, lighthearted story and the lead voice actors' performance, and we got the entire thing in one season!

“Next season please start tomorrow!"

The Sword Named No Way Out/剑名不奈何

Zhao Yi/赵毅 x Chen Zhang Taikang/陈张太康

I'm very conflicted about this one! This is the first time I really understood the charm of Zhao Yi's voice, but I don't like his character (gong/love interest) or the romantic arc. I am intrigued by the twists in the plot, but we still don't know who is the main conflict halfway into the story, because the novel is just written this way. I'm absolutely charmed by the supporting characters, but I suspect their roles will be reduced in the next season to make way for the the main romance. I really can't get into this novel for some reason, so I'm waiting on the AD to satisfy my curiosity.

"Top flower vase of the mainland entertainment industry"/内娱第一花瓶 -- (Web Drama/网配)

Liu Sicen/刘思岑 x Shang Tong/商桐

This free drama has released 3 stunning seasons since 2021. The screenplay and post-production is a little rough in places, but that's nothing to compared to quality and scale of the output -- the first few episodes of the AD convinced me to commit to reading this 900K words long novel! With free Web Dramas, you can't really guarantee or expect anything. It updated fairly consistently since 2021 but lead CV Liu Sicen currently has an insanely busy lineup of paid projects and likely no time for this. I'm very grateful for the seasons we have had, but I still dream of this AD releasing one more season to at least finish the main story -- and end on a happy note after the reconciliation!!!

Onmyōji/阴阳师 -- (on Manbo & others)

Yuan Mingzhe/袁铭喆 & Zhao Chengchen/赵成晨 [No CP]

Ironically, I think this is the series with the smallest chance of getting a second season, despite its star-studded cast, excellent production, and iconic source material. It sounds great, and I love the main voice actors playing something different from their normal dynamic. However, the series struggle to attract a wide audience as a general/non-BL drama. I'm taking comfort in the fact that the source material is a collection of short stories, so it doesn't feel too incomplete at the end of Season 1.

"well, that ... happened"

A lot of the ADs released in 2023 are said to feel like the work off a "production line"/流水线. It does well enough to maybe satisfy the fans of the source material and fans of the voice actors, but there's not much that's special about it to draw you in if you are not already interested, and is far from realizing the full potential of the story and the AD medium. There were a few shows that I had been very emotionally invested in, but ultimately they were a bit underwhelming.

The Demon Venerable’s Wistful Desire/魔尊他念念不忘

Yuan Mingzhe/袁铭喆 x Ma Zhengyang/马正阳

Probably the most well-received drama out of the three here. The source material -- a comedic xianxia transmigration story -- helped it stand out in field a dominated by modern urban dramas. I didn't find the story to be particularly compelling or innovative as a fantasy/xianxia story, but the voice actors gave solid performances.

Flower Vase/花瓶 -- (on Manbo)

Peng Yao/彭尧 x Liu Sicen/刘思岑

Does anyone still remember this show from last year? Flower Vase is an iconic novel in the scum gong/substitute/crematorium sub-genre, and because it's short and relatively old, there are already two complete free Web Dramas (and more incomplete ones). This work is good, but not enough to make most people willing to listen to this story again or really stand out over the free versions. I liked this one mostly because I was (and still am) in a phase about Liu Sicen's voice.

Morbid Attachment/诟病

Wen Sen/文森 x Yuan Mingzhe/袁铭喆

I'm a fan of Zhe-ge and Wen-laoshi to downright unreasonable degrees and even I have nothing to say about this drama except "it finished." Seriously, you have these two on your cast, in an extremely popular story that features a pop star, and we have like two and a half songs, no duet, and not a single song from YMZ. I still put it on when I want to hear their voices, but it definitely didn't deliver on the potential of one of the most popular stories on Changpei.

"not bad but I had higher hopes "

All of these are based of very popular novels that I read and liked but didn't love, and I ended up feeling the same way about the ADs. It's a coincidence that Taikang has leading roles in all of them.

TGCF/Heaven Official's Blessing/天官赐福 Season 1

Chen Zhang Taikang/陈张太康 x Su Shangqing/苏尚卿

Since the AD is based off the new revised version of TGCF that me (and most people) haven't read, it's hard to tell if the show has completely misinterpreted parts of the novel or if it's just new content. I can't truly dissociated TGCF from the unpleasantness of all the fandom drama, which dampens my enthusiasm for it quite a bit. However, I'm happy enough with both the production and the performance in the 2023 release that I listened to it a few times. But at an emotional level, I'm just not as excited as I expect myself to be for a project of this level of fame and quality.

Swallow the Sea/Tunhai/吞海 Season 2

Zheng Xi/郑希 x Chen Zhang Taikang/陈张太康

It took me a while to realize why I was struggling with Swallow the Sea. It's hard to follow mystery/procedural stories if you are only getting 40 minutes of content once every week -- you would have forgotten everything by the time the new episode airs! I never realized before because I got into AD's late enough that a lot of iconic shows (like Modu and Poyun) have been completed and available for binging. Now I think I'll wait until this one finishes all its seasons.

Thrice Married to Salted Fish/三嫁咸鱼 Season 1

Ma Zhengyang/马正阳 x Chen Zhang Taikang/陈张太康

I felt a bit underwhelmed by the novel when I finished it, and I wouldn't have cared for the AD at all if it weren't a collaboration between Ma-laoshi and Taikang. Ironically, I really love the ending theme, which the audience hated so much the studio had to put out a new mix. Maybe this story is just for people with very different tastes?

Everybody's talking about you

I haven't listened to these yet, but I heard so many good things about these three in the past year.

Qiang Jin Jiu/The Ballad of Sword and Wine/将进酒

Yuan Mingzhe/袁铭喆 x Jiang Guangtao/姜广涛

Does this need an explanation? After its surprise return just before Chinese New Year, the newest (free) episode racked up more plays in a few weeks than entire seasons of some ADs. This is what a real superstar looks like!

But personally, I plan to wait until the series finishes first. I waited for almost two years for Season 4 -- I can wait a bit longer for an indulgent binging experiences.

The Selfish Gene/秉性下等

Shun Zi/顺子 x Sun Lulu/孙路路

This drama has the closest thing I have seen to "universal acclaim" in the AD fandom in 2023. It's one of the few 2023 dramas to break through 10 million play count, beating out many productions with bigger IPs and more popular voice actors.

I definitely want to listen to it, but now I want to wait until I'm in the right mood to really enjoy it.

Stealing The Wind But Not The Moon/偷风不偷月 -- ("Voiced drama"/Audiobook, on Ximalaya)

Sang Yuze/桑毓泽 x Yang Chaoran/杨超然

2023 saw a lot of activity in the 有声剧 area. I think of them like audiobooks because they keep most of the narration, but they are still called "dramas" and the actors still put a lot into their character performances.

This production has been received very well, especially compared to the audiodrama that is currently airing on Mao'er. I held back on the AD because of this, even though I have been very excited about a Liu Sicen x Shun Zi collaboration. However, I'm not sure I want to get into a new platform for this, even though it definitely put Ximalaya on my radar.

I'm waiting to see how it goes ....

Some series are off to a strong start, but there's still a long way to the end ...

I Became a God in a Horror Game/我在惊悚游戏里封神 (Season 2/?)

Shun Zi/顺子 x Dao Mei Si Le/倒霉死勒

Season 1 have play counts that can rival TGCF, and Season 2 seems to be starting off strong after arriving at the end of 2023. The hype alone has gotten my interest, but then I realized it would take probably 10 seasons to finish this novel, so I think I'll wait a bit first ...

The Reincarnated Minister/再世权臣 (Season 1/ ?)

six people x Dao Mei Si Le/倒霉死勒 [NP]

I heard the plot of this novel is actually quite good, and I am really impressed with the quality of the free episodes. However, this novel is looooong, and I'm not sure I will enjoy the NP outcome in the end. But if they can keep up the good work for a few more seasons (lol years?), maybe I could be tempted into getting into this.

A Clear and Muddy Loss of Love/泾渭无间 (Season 1/?)

Hao Tian/浩天 x Xu Xia 徐佳琦

Unlike the other two, I followed Season 1 of this one as it released.

GL deserves more love, but I'm not very optimistic about this drama carrying through to a satisfying conclusion in a timely manner. A novel of this length would normally take 4-5 seasons on Mao'er, but its stats are not encouraging. In the final of episode of Season 1, they did that ridiculous montage that rushed through so many things, probably trying to save on costs. I understand GL has a smaller fanbase than BL, but it's still disheartening to see one of its biggest IPs being handled liked this ...

A Special nod to a few web dramas

The amazing labors of love we get to enjoy for free.

"Spoil"/作践 (Web Drama/网配, completed)

Zhao Chengchen/赵成晨 x Gu Chen/顾辰

(2021-2022, 12 episodes + 1 extra). I only listened to the first four episodes, which prompted me to read the novel, but then I found it a bit too dark for me to want to revisit AD. That being said, I am very impressed with the episodes I heard, especially the screenplay. I didn't feel lost at all even before I read the novel. It set up some complex scenes and conflicts very clearly, better than many for-profit dramas imo.

The Golden Terrance/黄金台 (Web Drama/网配, in progress)

Xu Xu Dian Deng/续续点灯 x HolyNight

(2020-- ?, 7 episodes so far) This drama didn't update in all of 2023. I lost hope when then other version finished, but then they suddenly came back with a long new episode early in 2024! I think this adaption is a bit more abridged than the one that already finished, but fingers crossed that they finish this!

"Dao Zhan Shan He"/ 刀斩山河 (Web Drama/网配, incomplete)

Shang Tong/商桐 x HolyNight [switch CP/verse]

(2020-2022, 6 eps) The production officially ended, which is a real shame because it was pretty good for the parts it covered. I listened to this because I really liked the novel, and it actually encouraged me start exploring the other Web Series that has been abandoned/incomplete, because the good work of the staff and actors deserve to be appreciated even if they didn't have the resources to finish the story.

The most disappointing ....

Mr. Melancholy Wants to Live a Peaceful Life/忧郁先生想过平静生活

Wen Sen/文森 x Sun Lulu/孙路路

I'm disappointed with this drama, but I sort of understand why it came out this way. The novel plays heavily off dramatic irony to carry its humor and suspense, and that is hard to express in audio -- at least, I don't think there is a well-established formula for it. However, I still think it could have done much better to cover the scenes and action in a straightforward manner.

The Return of Cambrian Period/寒武再临

Guo Haoran/郭浩然 x Ma Zhengyang/马正阳

I can understand why "Mr Melancholy" is hard to adapt, but I really, really don't understand why this straight-forward, plot-driven action adventure has turned out so poorly. The episodes are too short and fragmented to engage listeners. A lot of the dialogue could have been edited during adaptation to make it more natural and smooth. Many scenes use music and sound effects that are very cheesy and dated, which almost sounds like an inside joke about the age of the novel that no one wants that at the expense of quality. It's just a long list of little problems that seem incomprehensible for a production that had the budget to hire an all A-list cast.

"Tan Lian"/贪恋

Wen Sen/文森 x Yuan Mingzhe/袁铭喆

My favorite voice actors tackling an original screenplay! I was so excited, but ....

the story is just not good, to the point I'm wondering how did everyone get through making this AD, because it makes so sense as a narrative! If it's a comedy, maybe everyone can at least get some laugh out of it, but it has be a angsty scum gong story. "Confusing and miserable" just don't make an appealing combo.

Final Thoughts

When I first got into danmei in 2022, I mostly listened to the "backlog" of famous productions, and I was really blown away by the quality and variety. 2023 was the first year of me "following" the current releases, and it was a little disheartening tbh. The industry seems to be a at a turning point, experimenting with new people, genres and formats, with varying results. Maybe it will work out better in 2024.

[yeonchi]

Koei Warriors Retrospective Part 7: Dynasty Warriors 5

Dynasty Warriors 5 (真・三國無双4) Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox Release dates: Japan: 24 February 2005 (PS2)/25 August 2005 (Xbox) USA: 29 March 2005 (PS2)/13 September 2005 (Xbox) Europe: 24 June 2005 (PS2)/23 September 2005 (Xbox)

We have now reached the pinnacle of the classic era. With rumours of the PS3's development spreading among gaming circles, Dynasty Warriors 5 was created to be a culmination of the series' PS2 era. With the amount of spinoffs using character designs from this game, this is one of the most iconic games of the series.

I brought this game sometime in 2007 on a bit of a whim after having played the PSP game over and over again for at least a year. I was at a GAME store on a day trip out of town (this was a time when GAME, a UK chain, existed in Australia) and I asked the worker there if they had any Dynasty Warriors games for the PS2. They went off and got two games of which I had to pick one; one was DW3XL and the other was DW5. I picked this game (preowned for $40) and looking back, I made the right choice.

Anyway, let's dive right into my childhood and I'll try not to let toxic nostalgia blind my judgement of this game.

As a side note, this instalment will also serve as a tribute to Taiki Matsuno, who voiced Ling Tong and Liu Shan in the Japanese dub.

Dynasty Warriors 5

This game introduces six new characters. Shu and Wei have two characters each in an effort to balance out the rosters for the Three Kingdoms, while Wu and Other have one new character:

Shu

Guan Ping

Xingcai (based on Liu Shan's first two wives, who are both Zhang Fei's daughters)

Wei

Cao Pi

Pang De

Wu

Ling Tong

Other

Zuo Ci

Musou Mode goes back to being individualised. In an effort to put focus on the individual warriors, the narration segments are replaced by character narrations between battles and the commander/strategist introducing each battle (the two parts are merged into the battle introductions for the Other characters). The narrator's role is relegated to the ending narrations, where the final sentence changes depending on the difficulty you play.

Most characters have 5 stages for their Musou Modes (making it a seamless experience coming from the PSP game). Xiahou Dun, Dian Wei, Sun Ce and Guan Yu have an additional stage unique to them (Guan Yu's Escape, Wan Castle, The Trials of Sun Ce), Other characters (except for Zuo Ci) have 4 stages while Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Sun Jian and Zuo Ci have 8.

Speaking of Zuo Ci, he does appear as an enemy, but only once or twice in the Musou Modes for Cao Cao and Xu Zhu. He doesn't even appear as an ally in Liu Bei's Musou Mode even though he claims to support him.

For the first time, the battle lineups are more historically accurate, meaning that characters don't appear in battles after they historically died. Therefore, you won't see Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Sun Jian all the way to the end unless you play as them. Sometimes you'll also have Musou Modes containing stages set after certain characters' deaths just to fill up the quota, or historically deceased characters just appearing in battles after they died for some reason. Examples for the first case include Dian Wei having battles after Wan Castle or Sun Ce and Da Qiao's final stages being Xiakou when they never appeared for anyone else. For the second case, Taishi Ci historically died in 206 (or nearly a decade later at the Battle of Hefei according to DW7 and 8), yet he appears at the Battle of (New) Hefei Castle. Huang Zhong died a year after the Battle of Mt. Dingjun, but he lived until the Battle of Yiling (in the novel) or the Battle of Baidi Castle (in this game).

Also as a result of giving everyone 5 stages in Musou Mode, a bit of stuff concerning minor warlords is cut, such as Sun Ce fighting Yuan Shu or Huang Zhong and Wei Yan serving Han Xuan. Heck, the only times we see Yuan Shu is at Sishui Gate and at Xiapi if his reinforcements arrive, which is guaranteed to be averted if the flood attack on the castle succeeds (in Cao Cao's scenario). Yuan Shu's reinforcements in that stage consist of two generals with four subofficers each in Cao Cao's scenario compared to one general with three subofficers in Lu Bu's scenario. Honestly, I'd rather see Yuan Shu's reinforcements being overrun by my allies had the flood attack succeeded. To make up for it, there is the Battle of Changshan in Yuan Shao, Diaochan and Lu Bu's stories, featuring Gongsun Zan as the enemy commander.

Battles in Free Mode are sorted chronologically and only contain stages that appear in Musou Mode. As such, most battles only have one or two sides to play as, with the exception of Fan Castle which has three. In addition, no two battles share the same map, which creates a bit of confusion when it comes to Nanzhong as there are 4 maps set in the region, but the battles are named differently which does help. This is the only game to feature conflicts set before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, even if they are mostly fictional battles set up to have Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao and the Nanman fight the Yellow Turbans.

The battle difficulty is now set as you select the stage or Musou Mode instead of through the settings like in previous games. What was the Very Hard or Expert difficulties, being a step up from the Hard difficulty, is now the Chaos difficulty for the first time in a mainline game. Chaos difficulty can be unlocked by clearing Lu Bu's story in Musou Mode.

Challenge Mode consists of Time Attack, Rampage (Endurance from DW4), Bridge Melee and new stage Sudden Death, where you defeat as many enemies before you die in one hit.

The officer biographies are separated out from the Camp into a new Encyclopedia section with an overview of the late-Han and Three Kingdoms periods, from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the fall of the Three Kingdoms and their unification under Jin.

The battle mechanics by now should be familiar to you whether you're coming from earlier games or the PSP game, but even if you're new to the series the controls are intuitive. Up to six attacks can be performed depending on the weapon. This is also the first mainline game to not have the charge lock-on mechanic that was the bane of past games.

Characters whose C1s grabbed enemies have had them changed to perform unique attacks, most of them being stomps that do little damage. Characters whose C1s shot magic shots have been changed to elemental orbs that explode after a few seconds. All C5 Charge Drives have been changed to Charge Shoots that knock enemies up into the air. Some characters have had their C6 changed as well.

Jump Charges and True Musou Attacks have been changed to be unique between characters. In the case of Jump Charges, those usually consist of attacking enemies multiple times in the air or firing a shockwave straight ahead or towards the ground. Nearly half of the movesets in this game have Jump Charges that retain or incorporate the old style of "smash into the ground", namely:

Guan Yu

Zhang Fei

Xingcai

Dian Wei

Xu Zhu

Xiahou Yuan

Sima Yi

Cao Ren

Zhou Yu

Taishi Ci

Sun Quan

Lu Meng

Sun Ce

Diaochan

Lu Bu

Dong Zhuo

Yuan Shao

Meng Huo

Great Sword (Fu Xi/CAW)

Rapier (Nuwa/CAW)

This game introduces a new mechanic known as Evolution Attacks, which is an extension of the Normal Attack string from 6 to 9 attacks (with no additional Charge Attacks). To trigger this, you need a weapon that has that capability (some third weapons and all fourth weapons) and your Musou Gauge must be filled.

Musou Rage is another new mechanic introduced in this game. When you obtain a Musou Token, pressing R3 will activate Musou Rage, which doubles your attack, defence and attack speed and prevents you from flinching when being attacked. It also enables you to perform a True Musou Attack regardless of health. However, you are still prone to taking damage even though you don't flinch, which can be detrimental against juggernauts or Lu Bu. Enemies, particularly those with a hyper mode aura about them, can enter Rage Mode as well when their health goes down to a certain level. Although Musou Tokens can be found at random around the battlefield, one is guaranteed to drop every 100 KOs if you are using your fourth weapon.

Weapons are no longer levelled or categorised, meaning that you can have up to four weapons of any level or attribute. Weapons can have up to 5 attributes (out of 10) and each weapon can have a weight of light, medium or heavy. Compared to medium weapons, light weapons are faster but they are weaker (at 75-85% power) while heavy weapons are slower but stronger (at 125% power). And as mentioned, some third weapons and all fourth weapons are compatible with Evolution Attacks.

Battlefield items remain similar to those from DW4 with separate saddle and orb categories. Orbs are no longer randomly obtained from items, but are obtained as rare items on Hard or Chaos difficulty like with fourth weapons (other rare items are still available on any difficulty). Elemental attacks no longer require a full Musou Gauge to trigger. The number of items you can equip is now balanced among the cast; you start off with 2 items and can equip up to 5 at the maximum rank.

Bodyguards are no longer the groups of soldiers that level up into officers that was the case in previous games; in order to accommodate more soldiers appearing on the screen, you now only have one bodyguard officer accompanying you in battle. Bodyguards can wield swords, spears, crossbows/bows or staffs/fans depending on their gender and as they level up (to a maximum of 5), they can learn an element and an ability. If your bodyguard wields a fan, they can heal you when in trouble (which is helpful in Chaos difficulty where meat buns are scarce and only provide +50 health), otherwise they will mostly assist with attacks. At the end of a battle, Shui Jing (Sima Hui) may recommend a new bodyguard to you. Their development potential is noted by how many kingdoms they are famous in and their ability development is noted by their talent evaluation. Up to 8 bodyguards can be kept in total and their names and attributes are randomised. However, I hate that the only line the bodyguards speak is when they apologise after being killed. Give them some praise phrases, for God's sake.

A new stage mechanic introduced in this game are bases, of which there are three types. Attack bases attack enemies around it with catapults or arbalests and the soldiers inside can perform group Charge or Musou Attacks. Defence bases have soldiers with shields and they will guard your attacks from the front. Supply bases can provide supplies to boost the morale of other units and use items to buff the stats of every allied soldier (and officer) in the base when enemies are within. Defeating the guard captain will conquer the base and cause other bases to become confused (stop functioning).

Some stages have neutral bases that fall to the allied/enemy forces depending on which unit enters them first, but a base doesn't switch sides after it has been conquered. I would have liked to see that be a thing but if the battle's favouring your side then I guess there's no point in it. If there are enemies outside an allied defence/supply base and the gates are closed while you are inside, you can use the ramps on the side to escape. Getting back in is a bit of a problem and there is no way to take your horse with you as well. It's almost like this problem can be solved with a mechanic from another game.

Strongholds, known as checkpoints in this game, are carried over to this game as well, spawning reinforcement soldiers which can prove beneficial in racking up your KO count. Unlike in previous games, checkpoints will belong to your side (ie. stop working for the enemy) after you defeat the enemy guard captain for them. In previous games, defeating the enemy guard captain would make them stop working at all, while in DW4, checkpoints may spawn again for the enemy after a while if the battle calls for it.

Interim saves no longer bring you back to the main menu like it did in previous games, however depending on the difficulty, you have a limited number of saves. Novice (in XL) and Easy difficulties can save unlimited times, Normal difficulty allows you to save 3 times, Hard difficulty only allows you to save once and Chaos difficulty doesn't allow you to save at all.

And now for some quick-fire thoughts:

Enemies in this game can perform group attacks, which is precipitated by them moving back.

Enemy officers will glow red in a stance when they are about to perform their Musou Attack, allowing you to move away or quickly attack them before they unleash it.

Destroying archer towers can cause damage to anyone nearby that it falls on.

HP bars can have a second layer, something that would be seen for allies and enemies alike from here on out.

A white ring will appear around horses when you go near them, indicating that you can mount and use them in battle.

In older games, you would have encounter and retreat/death scenes when facing enemy player character officers. These treatments are now reserved for so-called "highlight battles" with hyper mode aura powered officers in the former case and all enemy commanders in the latter case. Overlaps for both cases do exist.

Towards the end of each battle when your forces' morale is high, your allies will offer passing comments when you pass by them.

And finally, I find it interesting that the HUD shows the character's name written in Chinese/Japanese in all versions. It's probably just how the HUD is designed and they probably could have put the English name underneath the side profile portrait, but it's a nice touch nonetheless.

Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends

Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends (真・三國無双4 猛将伝) Platforms: PlayStation 2 Release dates: Japan: 15 September 2005 USA: 15 November 2005 Europe: 10 February 2006

Before we go on, can we take a moment to appreciate how incredible the Western box and promo arts are? It looks like a cross between Japanese manga and Western comics, but if you say that the tagline "Get ready for some Chinese take-out!!!" is racist, I will call you a snowflake.

So yeah, despite me playing Dynasty Warriors 5 for nearly a decade, I never really got into the Xtreme Legends expansion for it until quite recently with this game and Special. 10-year-old me would have loved what it had to offer.

Legend Mode in this game is different compared to 4XL. All the characters are featured in one of 18 new maps created for this game, with 6 of those being rehashes of maps from the vanilla game. Presumably due to the 5-stage limit for Musou Mode, the Battle of Shiting and The Two Qiaos from 3 are relegated to this mode. There's another Nanzhong stage in there, bringing the total to 5 for the entire game. The difficulty for those stages is not mentioned, but I've seen it stated that they are equivalent to 5-star stages. Clearing each map once allows you to play them as any character.

After being removed from the original game, Edit Mode is back in the expansion. You can create up to 10 custom characters and the game does give you a little more freedom in terms of choosing your face, body, armour/outfit and moveset, but I hate how the profile images have the same (colour) clothes without any head armor where applicable. But that's not all.

To tie into the new Edit Mode, Destiny Mode has been introduced, allowing you to build up your character in a manner similar to SW1's New Officer Mode. You set up your character, assign them a weapon and pick a character out of the Three Kingdoms who you wish to serve under. From here, you start off as a Private and work your way to being a Lieutenant General over 8 stages.

Between stages, you obtain skills that not only allow you to expand your stats and moveset (performing more attacks, Charge Attacks and Musou Attacks), but learn various skills that can help you in battle, such as tactical skills, leadership skills, scout searching skills, horse mounting skills and archery skills. Skill points are required to obtain skills; for each battle, you earn 30 points as a baseline which can be expanded by selecting up to 3 objectives to complete in the battle. Such objectives include getting a certain KO or tactical KO count, defeating a number of officers or guard captains, finding letters, maintaining your health above a certain level, occupying a supply base or achieving victory within a certain amount of time. Tactical KOs are obtained by performing fire attacks on bases, ambushing enemy officers or revealing enemy ambushes, occupying the supply base and rallying allies. Sometimes, your commanding officer may gift you skills and weapons as well.

At the end of each stage, you are given an evaluation based on your military and strategy. If you basically don't do a lot in the battle, your commanding officer will tell you off, which is one of the objectives to acquiring a new armour/outfit set for use in Edit Mode. Both genders have the same objectives for getting these sets, mostly involving obtaining certain skills, except for their final set; male characters need to get a total of 1500 KOs while female characters need to serve all three kingdoms.

When you impress an enemy officer enough, they may give you an offer to defect to their army, which you can accept or reject. If you reject, your strategist may find the letter you threw away and offer a plan to act as an agent with that army. Your strategist may also just straight up offer that plan to you in secret. Either way, if you accept your strategist's plan, you will serve in the other army for a bit until it comes time to defect back. When that battle comes, your redefection is the main and only objective of the battle; you head to the specified area to prepare your defection ambush, then you go back and lure your commanding officer there, at which point you will defect back to your home force.

At the end of Destiny Mode, you may choose to save your character and if you do, you can choose one weapon to keep (and you can't keep your starting weapon to give yourself a generic officer moveset, believe me, I've tried) and that will be the moveset you use in the rest of the game. Destiny Mode is the only mode where you can switch movesets with your weapon, which is very unique. This mode allows you to create a new character that starts off with a third weapon and developed stats. It's pretty nice for what it is even though you don't get all the good stuff until towards the end.

Xtreme Mode returns with some modifications. In this game, you can also collect iron to improve your weapons at the blacksmith. When you choose a battle, you are taken to either the shop or the blacksmith, which is also something to take into consideration. Upon ending a playthrough, you keep 10% of the iron obtained if you quit or 5% if you die.

Troops are no longer hireable, but in exchange, you can recruit up to 6 officers, with 3 in reserve while the other three deploy with you. Captured officers can join your party at half health. Edit characters can also appear in missions and join your party as well. However, depending on your character's alignment, characters may leave your party if they find your behaviour unacceptable.

In this mode the equippable items are not the standard items, but exclusive items that apply to the current mission only and are destroyed when used.

The biggest expansion to this mode is that you can build your own kingdom. In the fifth mission, you will be asked to campaign against bandits, then after you clear it, every fifth mission will be a kingdom-related one to build your own kingdom, then defend it or invade another. Sometimes you may be asked to suppress an uprising if you're constantly taxing your people. After having taken 4 kingdoms (reaching a unification level of 80), you can fight a battle to unify the land. That battle will have you constantly fighting character officers in Hyper Mode, so be prepared for pain.

Two new stages added to Challenge Mode are Gatekeeper, which is similar to the same stage seen in Samurai Warriors, and Speed Strike, where you earn points by defeating enemies and destroying jars and crates. Crates and jars are worth 3 points, wood oxen 10, juggernauts 20 and enemy officers 25.

Throughout this game (vanilla content included), you can earn power-up books which you can use in the Camp section to boost your character or weapon stats. Weapon power-up books appear when playing on at least Normal difficulty.

There are no fifth weapons to be unlocked, but like with DW4XL, fourth weapons and all items from the vanilla game (alongside the new items) can be unlocked in Legend Mode without the need to "load" the original disc. To gain the fourth weapons for edit characters, you just need to play any stage on Hard or Chaos difficulty and achieve 1000 KOs.

Dynasty Warriors 5 Special (Shin Sangoku Musou 4 Special)

Dynasty Warriors 5 Special (真・三國無双4 Special) Platforms: Xbox 360, PC Release dates: Japan: 22 December 2005 (Xbox 360)/22 June 2006 (PC) Taiwan: 16 June 2006 (Xbox 360)/22 June 2006 (PC)

So yeah, after Dynasty Warriors 4 Hyper was released worldwide on PC with only the vanilla content, Dynasty Warriors 5 Special combined half of Xtreme Legends into the vanilla game... and only released it in Japan and Taiwan on a console more popular in the West. Don't trust Wikipedia about this port being released to the West; the dates they quote are actually for 5 Empires.

The only content not available in this port includes the content involving edit characters, namely Edit Mode and Destiny Mode. It's clearly a ploy to gatekeep content exclusively to the PlayStation version, but are people really going to care about edit characters, for crying out loud? It's not a bad compromise when you think about it.

Speaking of which, I know multi-disc games are a thing, but is it possible to implement the "import" system on Xbox consoles? If so, then there was really no excuse to gatekeep Xtreme Legends to the PlayStation. Or even better, don't release the Xbox/PC ports until after Xtreme Legends has been released, then include the Xtreme Legends content on the Xbox and PC ports when you release them!

I didn't mention this when I covered 4 Hyper, but in the Chinese releases of both that game and this game, subtitles are included in the movies (not the event cutscenes that have subtitles by default). I'm honestly puzzled at why they didn't add subtitles for movies in the Japanese and English releases of those games particularly because I find stories easier to understand with them (ironic when we get to that point in the franchise, but that's not the point of the problem). I presume they didn't need subtitles in the Chinese release of 3 because it already has a Chinese dub.

The Pause menu also has a command to take you back to the main menu in case the Start/Back button combination doesn't work, making it more intuitive to do so unlike previous releases.

Like with 4 Hyper, the game has dual audio options. The Xbox 360 version also supports widescreen at 720p resolution with 5.1ch Dolby Digital sound (and upscaling to 1080p) whereas the original releases were at 480i/p in 4:3 display. The black bars are gone from event cutscenes, but the movies, which are pre-rendered, are zoomed and cropped into widescreen.

If you got either this game on PC or 4 Hyper, you will be unable to open it just by double-clicking on the file. The reason is because aside from it requiring an Asian-localised copy of Windows to run (that can be resolved using Locale Emulator), these games also use a driver known as SECDRV.sys, which is used for the Macrovision/SafeDisc/SecuROM DRM solutions. The driver is blocked in Windows 10 and later, rendering this game unable to be run. There are various solutions out there that can get the SECDRV service to work, but the solution that I used was from here - basically what I had to do was to install the Windows 10 SDK and use it to sign a copy of SECDRV.sys with a certificate before installing it into my drivers. PCGamingWiki recommends using SafeDiscShim now, but given what isn't included on 4 Hyper and 5 Special, you're better off just playing Xtreme Legends on an emulator.

Saikyou Data Discs

In Japan, there exists something called Saikyou Data (最強データ) discs for the classic series Warriors games. Typically, they were bundled with the Premium Box releases that bundled Xtreme Legends with Empires or the Super Premium Box releases that added the vanilla game onto it (because of course you need it for the "import"). The discs that had the data for DW3(XL) and SW1(XL) were released with the Treasure Box releases for DW4 and SW2, while SW2XL never had a Saikyou Data release. All these individual releases and boxes will blow your minds if you think about it for more than 30 seconds, so I'm just going to directly talk about the most comprehensive Saikyou Data collection there was.

In 2006, Koei released a series collection of all Dynasty Warriors games for the PS2. The first set, featuring DW2 to DW4XL, was released on 1 January while the second set, featuring DW4E to DW5E, was released on 26 October. The boxes feature the characters in their DW5 designs along with B3 size posters (and in the first set, a blessed money charm from the Zeniarai Benzaiten shrine in Kamakura blessing you with never being short of money).

Each of the Saikyou Data discs give you a 100% save file for each game to your memory card, containing all characters and items at maxed out stats along with all fourth, fifth and Level 11 weapons. The series collection also contains 100% saves for DW2 (which has never had an individual Saikyou Data release) and the two aforementioned Empires games (which hadn't been included on the Super Premium Box releases).

Koei haven't done this for any other games past the PS2 and I theorise that it may be because Sony upped the security of save files so that each game (physical or digital and for each region) can only save to its own save file, or because sites like GameFAQs exist. GameFAQs serves as the equivalent of Saikyou Data (particularly in the West) as it hosts save files provided by gamers. They may not be 100% perfect, but the effort put in to get the saves to that point is worth admiring and is also more natural than characters having the maximum 60,000 XP with zero KOs as shown in the saves provided by the Saikyou Data discs.

Rant: A very Musou childhood

Dynasty Warriors 5, along with the first PSP game, were the games that catapulted me into the Koei Warriors franchise. Those games made such a big impact on my childhood that they continue to influence my work today. And I said I was going to retire from writing after Kamen Rider Zi-O.

Aside from my recess and lunchtime games being influenced by Dynasty Warriors, Doctor Who and other things, a lot of my life began to revolve around it as well. Aside from the usual childhood thing of pretending to fight like the characters of the game, I got my friends (and cousins) into it as well by assigning them warrior names (from ancient Chinese warriors and warlords) and collecting them into a Dynasty Warriors Book next to their pictures. Fictional characters eventually got dragged into it as well and that was the root of my personal project as recounted in Kisekae Insights.

Later on in 2010, I implemented the Sengoku-era warriors and warlords of Japan into my warrior names as well, but because my understanding of the series came from Warriors Orochi, I didn't have the best understanding of that era. It was also around this time that I began creating "battle charts", which were lists of officers in my original battles modelled on the Unit Info sections of the games. I also made battle charts for three canon storylines; one of them was based on Sea Princesses (go figure).

I stopped publishing the Dynasty Warriors Books in 2012, but my spirit never stopped. When I started playing Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires in 2015, I was creating edit characters based off of friends and people from school, church, and other things along with their friends. When I began working on Three Kingdoms for the Moushouden Project later that year (the series premiered in 2017), my canon battle charts became part of my story arcs as they were refined, polished and completed into a 240-episode TV series. The Dynasty Warriors Books (and the renamed photo crops that were their predecessors) became an Excel spreadsheet that contained nearly 1,000 characters with warrior names, not counting minor or guest characters. I am a True Warrior of the Three Kingdoms.

I have encountered a few people who have heard or played these games over the years, and 2014 onwards was just another matter altogether with the Koei Warriors Rant Series. And then we come to today with the Koei Warriors Retrospective.

Dynasty Warriors 5 is a certified hood classic and the best game of the classic series, even if it didn't sell as much as DW4 did. It's a very accessible game for new fans while fans of older games will appreciate how far the series has come over the past 4-5 years. Even without the vanilla game, the Xtreme Legends expansion does have enough content to justify playing it as a standalone game.

Of course, we're not done with this game yet. Next time, we take a look at DW5's spinoffs, namely Empires, Vol. 2 for the PSP, Mahjong, DS: Fighter's Battle and Online.

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Singing With Legends Season Ranking

I saw some other people ranking the seasons so I wanted to put my thoughts to the void. Or feel free to message if you want to chit chat about the show! :>

My list would go season 1 as the best! Strongest message and execution with it being Fei Yu-ching's retirement show and truly did recapture the moment when he did the super popular collaboration with Jay Chou.

There was a stunning cast of seniors and "rookies" who were reimaging the classics. One flaw with season 1 is that if you lose you sing more which sounds backwards that a singing show would frame more singing as a punishment? Glad they fixed that aspect later on. The other flaw was the last pick sort of "punishment" when they pair the spares with Christopher Wong and Mimi Lee but they both had great stages despite their initial hesitance. I feel like their solution was worse later on where they have too many rookies and one leaves on the very first day.

Second would be season 3. It polishes over the season 2 hiccups and returns to form with George Lam as the focal singer. I think they just need an older singer to impress and provide feedback to whip the rest of the cast into shape. Chui Na Li Sha and Joker Xue was my favourite duo. Such powerhouse vocals and my favourite songs to come out of it. 违背的青春 is such a great song and it is just so funny when they missed the blocking so they were laughing it off during the song.

I also enjoyed George Lam and Hu Xia's team dynamic, clearly very mentoring here where George runs Hu Xia through the wringer!! Life of Numbers as a first duet is CRAZY. I really liked the team collab with 敢爱敢做 too, George's voice in the prechorus is so great. A+ to the suona player in 男儿当自强.

Season 4 is my third place pick, Rainie Yang and Priscilla Chan are great vocalists. I like that Priscilla performed 千千阙歌 with the iconic wedding dress look. 武家坡2021 with Jam Hsiao and Zhang Qi was also very memorable for me because they are rock singers but decided to try Peking Opera style singing. Pretty surprising but it turned out nice! It's great when we see more ancient styles getting revitalized.

Season 2 had the terrific Coco Lee!! I loved her as a kid and would listen to her CDs. We got 刀马旦 with GEM, and Di da di and Ready Now remix. I'm biased against Lil Ghost because I don't like rap but Coco Lee!! I'm writing this up and I realize I like season 2 more than season 5 when I was going to say they were tied. Other singers I liked were GAI, Curley G, Joey Yung with 小小 being a wonderful duet with the latter two.

Tengger from season 5 is my standout with his unique tone. The other teams definitely played it safe in terms of remixing (Wowkie aside, he always does quirky stages). They definitely still sound good but nothing memorable for me, Lemon Tree is one of my favourite songs but they certainly didn't add much more to the original arrangement. They had more idol singers in season 5.

I believe Season 6 isn't the same show as season 1 and it has really put it in a blender. I bet there was an issue with scheduling conflicts since previous seasons ran for so long. This season, they only have the guests stay on for two episodes, no longer in an A and B format. It's an unfortunate turn because now it feels like any other singing show instead of seeing the camaraderie they develop as pairs.

Will there be a season 7 at this rate :((( I am sure there are so many other singers would be happy to go for the full time and are lesser known power houses. I was personally surprised that Mao Buyi didn't show up in an earlier season, he would have completed the contemporary OST line up between Zhou Shen, Ayanga, and Liu Yuning.

I have really been enjoying Melody Journey instead this year! It pairs a singer with a songwriter instead of with a legend so the pair system still exists.

It features song of my favourite singers like Zhou Shen, Jane Zhang and Joker Xue!!

[snugglyporos]

The gripe most people have with DW9 is thr voice acting. A common theme with Dynasty Warriors - that I've found at least, your experience may differ - is the voice acting is like they're acting in a play. It's theatrical and dramatic.

DW9 casts aside Lu Bu's iconic growly voice, and the actors just don't care as much as they did, that with being a drop in quality. Dw7, in my personal opinion, had it best. And that's someone whose heard both dubs.

Theres also the fact that one scene with Liu Bei, learning of the deaths of Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, that was reduced to a JRPG style interaction as opposed to the emotional cutscenes we know. It's one glaring example of just... missing heart, you know?

But yea, if you're playing in Japanese or Chinese the voice acting isn't a big deal. It's just that I've noticed. To be fair I haven't played 9 myself, but I have seen enough to have something. All the same, I'm happy you're enjoying it. (That said I think you'd like Dw7)

// Okay so... Here's my issue: I've been playing the game for years and 'emotional' is not what I would associate with this series. The voice acting has never been good. There are individuals who have good voice actors, Lu Bu for one, but a lot of them end up like Xu Shu's voice actor, or the ear bleeding sounds of the Qiao sisters...

I can put up with bad voice acting. I can. I need it to be passable and understandable. The fact that DW9 even HAS a dub puts it above Samurai Warriors 5, because while the VA is probably better overall, it fades into the background because my brain does not realize speech is happening.

I can also say that Samurai Warriors 5 tries to be 'dramatic' and it ended up farcical. No throwing herself in front of a bullet to save Nobunaga SHOULD be emotionally impactful, but I laughed my ass off because it was SO over the top and it was NOT earned. Meanwhile characters like Hideyoshi are perpetually stuck as 'eager moron' and... Well it's not good.

I have played, and beaten (by which I mean unlocked every character, completed all campaigns, max leveled, and completed ever side mode) in every Dynasty Warriors mainline game since 5.

5 is my favorite of the 'classic' games. 6 is not THAT bad. Seven is a game that I beat, but I can't remember anything about it, but I know I played a lot of it. 8 was fine, but I felt that it was kinda lacking with how anyone can use any weapon.

Here's my view: I think that Dynasty Warriors should veer away from 'dramatic' and embrace the camp to some degree. Remember when it was fun? I mean, I don't think it should be terrible, we don't need Shenmue levels of bad. I think expecting dramatic actors to play the roles is kinda... counterproductive.

Rather than dramatic, I think that they need voice actors who feel like they fit the CHARACTER. That brings some energy or identity to the character. Having so many characters means a lot of them blend together. Having a strong voice actor helps with that, even if they're only doing generic lines most of the time.

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