Drama Review: Novoland: Pearl Eclipse (Yang Mi and William Chan)

One of the first popular posts since the establishment of “Chinese Drama World” was an announcement of Novoland: Pearl Eclipse’s filming. I have been waiting for this drama to air for a year and we received some rumors that it will air in April but it never aired until November. I finally have the honor to make a review on the long awaited Chinese Drama, Novoland: Pearl Eclipse starring Yang Mi, William Chan and Xu Kaicheng.

First Impressions.

It’s obvious that I had high expectations on this drama since I’m a huge of Yang Mi and I also happen to have watched a number of Xu Kaicheng’s dramas. First episode was epic (truth to be told), the mermaid scene was totally unexpected and I also didn’t expect the storyline’s foundation to be built the way it did, but hey… surprises always makes the story look great! The introduction of characters was good and I loved the way they skipped time, Haishi transitioning from a young girl to a lady. On the scale of 1-10, I’d rate the first episode 10/10( just the first episode), there’s one negative thing I noticed in the first episode but I’ll discuss it later on because it involves the whole drama instead of first episode, the big question is… will the drama disappoint or not?

Overall.

The Good.

1. Cast.

This drama has talented cast members, they literally sold their acts. It’s impressive to see those who are in the drama as supporting roles working hard to give us quality entertainment, supporting roles and extras need to be appreciated.

2. Costumes.

I’m not a fashion guru but it’s not hard to notice a good costume design. I loved the way the consorts dressed including the members of the court. Besides the royal costumes, i was impressed by the costumes of other tribes especially the Hukus (they look more badass).

3. Martial Choreography.

Although the drama didn’t invest much in fighting, when they fight they make sure they make it worth your time.

4. Storyline.

I seen most reviews and some people say that Novoland: Pear Eclipse has a lame storyline but in my opinion, they are wrong because this drama’s storyline was epic.

Normally I would talk about music but I never took time to listen to the OSTs of this drama, I always skipped the opening and closing song.

The Bad.

Voice Mastering.

In the beginning I talked about something negative about the drama that I noticed in the first episode and it’s the voice of Xu KaiCheng. I thought maybe it was my headsets but I was wrong, Xu KaiCheng’s voice was a bit off like they didn’t manage to master it. Lord Chang’s voice also disappointed me, they suddenly changed his voice just because of his heel turn, wouldn’t it be better if they just settled with one voice instead of confusing us with different voices.

Master student on and off .

Novoland Pearl Eclipse had great features but the story between Haishi and Jiaming was off, today Haishi calls him Master then the next day she calls him by his name. Their love story wasn’t well written, I honestly thought they can be creative when developing the story but it disappointed me. It’s not like I want their love story to be the same as the one between Yang Mi and Mark Chao in The Eternal Love but they could’ve done better.

Outfit too obvious.

Around episode 29-30, Yang Mi dressed like an Enoch but the outfit made her chest bigger and it just didn’t sell the idea of her cross dressing, it was too obvious and easy to notice. While we are on this cross dressing topic, why does this always happens in most cross dressing dramas?

– The girl who pretends to be a man, wears clothes that are a bit different from the one’s men normally wear

Won’t it be great to let them wear the same design as other men and also use a false hairline to match other men in the drama? In most cases, the physical features like the hairline and design of the attire totally ruins the mood in cross dressing dramas because it’s too obvious. If I can name one cross dressing drama with great cover up, I’d go for The Heiresses. I thought the girl was a real man until she took a bath, but hey… this post is about Pearl Eclipse.

Conclusion.

After watching Novoland:Pearl Eclipse, I can now say my wish has come true but I’m still looking for more dramas from Yang Mi. I once said I have watched 3 or 4 of Xu KaiCheng’s dramas and my view on him as an actor hasn’t changed. William Chan was great but I don’t think I will run to watch his other dramas (no hard feelings) because he doesn’t bring that vibe, unless if you know a good drama that features William Chan which you can recommend to me. Recommendation? Yeah, I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t watched it yet. The ending was more interesting than most episodes, it was emotional and yet entertaining at the same time. I could say it’s a happy ending but I’d be lying because of what happened in the last episode.

Ratings.

8/10 ( the mastering of voices was the main problem).