Legend of Ban Shu (班淑传奇)
April 26, 2016
Synopsis
Ban Shu, a girl who grew up in the west frontier, traveled to the Han capital to meet her father, but he died before they could be reunited and his family did not approve of her non-Han ways. In order to be accepted by her father's family, she entered the palace to learn noble lady etiquette and was hired to be a royal teacher. Her lack of understanding for the Chinese culture caused a stream of comedic ruckus in class, but at the same time her outgoing and unconventional ways broke up the dullness of learning. At the palace she met and fell in love with her co-worker -Wei Ying, a man who still grieved for the lost of his fiancé.
(Credit to DramaWiki)
My Rating:
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆1/2 - 8.5/10
Originally I planned on skipping this because *cough* of the producer. But after knowing that he is not the scriptwriter and that the first few episodes are actually pretty good, I gave it a try. Not only did I get hooked, but it also got my mother hooked who rarely watches a Mainland drama. Ban Shu is one of the best character ever written for a female lead. She is feisty and strong unlike the Mary Sue characters that needs their men to save them. On the contrary, Ban Shu is usually the one that saves Wei Ying.
The other side characters are not too annoying and it is a joy to watch them especially Fu Xinbo's Huo Heng and Deng Sha's Yao Juan.
The Cast
Jing Tian as Ban Shu
I love this female lead a lot! The character is written so well that she lights up the screen whenever she appears. Unlike the usual Mary-Sue characters, she has a strong personality. If she has a goal, she will achieve it no matter what. The actress is also really beautiful especially her eyes!
Zhang Zhehan as Wei Ying
First seen him in Yu Zheng's Cosmetology High (led by Yang Rong and Kingscar Jin) as the villain. He is good-looking but his character is quite lackluster compared to the other two male leads. But since all male characters can't have the same character, it is fine to have one that contrast the other two better ones.
Li Jiaheng as Deng Zhi
He is not that good-looking of an actor but he definitely has charisma. I love his character the most out of all the guys. He is one of the reason why I would watch this drama again. It's weird seeing him play brother and sister with his real-life girlfriend Li Sheng.
Li Sheng as Empress Deng Sui
I don't really like the actress or the character. So I didn't really buy the romance between her and Huo Hua
Hsin Ai Lee as Kou Lanzhi
I've first seen her in Yu Zheng's other drama Cosmetology High and her character was despicable in there. I like her character here a lot more since she has her reasons for being evil. For career and love, she has to ensure Ban Shu doesn't take away either one. She ends up with Deng Zhi in the end and I didn't mind. She didn't really change in the end (she's actually being her true self) because it is the environment that she've grown up in that turned her into a different person at the very beginning.
Fu Xinbo as Huo Heng/Huo Huan
It's my first time seeing this actor in a drama. He is pretty good looking and since he's given two characters, we will inevitably fall in love with one. He still needs to work on more facial expressions but for this drama, it was sufficient enough that we can differentiate the twins with one look.
Deng Sha as Yao Juan
I love this adorable character. She and Fu Xinbo's Huo Heng is so cute together.
My Thoughts
1. The drama is more than 40 episodes long but it is very entertaining especially watching how Ban Shu wins the hearts of her students.
2. The female character is the watching point in this drama.
3. I love Deng Zhi's character --- the actor is just so charismatic that I've became a fan of him. He is not an actor I've found attractive from the start but after watching him in this role, I fell in love.
4. The middle can be a little draggy but after that, it gets exciting again. So bear with it and you will continue to love it.
5. Fu Xinbo is also very good-looking! I like his storyline with Yao Juan more than with the Empress Dowager.
6. The plot flows smoothly from teaching the female students to handling the male students. Along the way, Ban Shu teaches the students many life values and it is nice seeing how some major student characters change into a better person.
Music
Didn't get into the music at all.
Didn't get into the music at all.
Opening Theme: Grand Surprise (惊鸿) by Zhang Zhehan
Ending Theme: Lover of My Heart (心上人) by Jing Tian
13 comments
Which websites i can watch this with eng sub
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for now, there are no english subs available for this show. But you can request the drama to be subbed on Viki. Hope this helps :)
DeleteHi chairie..i like the way u describe the characters..for me personally..i luv the empress character..especially when she kept her feeling to huo heng..
ReplyDeleteBut the most actor i like is zhang zhehan..already falling in love with his smile..so handsome.
I love this drama..watching it over and over..unfortunately unable to record all..really looking to have this drama in eng subs..
Hi! Thank you for your comment :)
DeleteIf you like Zhang Zhehan, I can recommend you two recent dramas that he is in.
The first one is called Decoded (解密) which already have some episodes subbed in English. The other one is called Demon Girl --- I'm not sure which genre you prefer more but Demon Girl's genre is probably closer to Legend of Ban Shu so you might want to try that out first.
i was watching this drama on Viki, but out of the blue it disappear. do you know anywhere else i can watch this drama with english subtitle?
ReplyDeleteHi Chua! Thank you for your comment! Viki was the only place that had English subs :(
DeleteIt's down now but it might be up again in the future --- they probably have to resolve some issues first
There are other sites that offer it without English subs such as MapleStage and even on YouTube.
If I do find a site with English subs, I will let you know!
who the actor that be ban yong?
ReplyDeleteHi! If you are referring to Ban Shu's brother Ban Yong, then the 32-year old actor's name is Zhang Jia 张嘉. He hasn't been in that many series so there is not too much information about him.
DeleteThank you for your comment! Hope this helps!
subs not avaliable
ReplyDeleteWhere can iget the subs??
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there are currently no eng subs for this drama yet. Hopefully this will get subbed in the future
DeleteEp 1-9 with eng sub is on daily motion
Deleteeng sub please
ReplyDelete