Guardian 2018

Maybe one could say I'm hardly objective after watching this drama twice in a little over one month but on the other hand I do know that even this drama is not perfect.
Don't get me wrong, I really love it but due to Chinese political restrictions the original novel on which this drama is based on couldn't be adapted as one might wish.
Zhen Hun (original title) is a Boys Love novel and includes supernatural elements on a regular basis, two themes that are forbidden and because of that quite delicate in China or directly banned.
With that I wonder why it even was adapted as drama, but I'm glad it was.
While the script needed to rewrite a significant amount of the original storyline it still shows many things you could call "easter eggs" you'll only fully get when you read the novel. Therefore I recommend to watch this drama at least twice. Once before and once after you've read the novel (which is translated to english).

So the story: Of course Boys Love couldn't be shown so the relationship between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan is mostly described as Brotherhood or Soulmates. Still, when you see the actors in their roles it basically screams "love" all over. Nothing explicit is seen but they portray their characters perfectly and I got lost in their mimic as both of them can easily deliver feelings only through their faces or subtle small things like a finger lingering on the other's hand for a while longer than necessary. The supernatural parts were mostly removed so we get to see a bit of ghosts here and there though anything is rarely named as such whatsoever and some CGIs that don't reach the requirements of Hollywood-spoiled eyes but is pretty decent and thankfully spares us badly animated things.

As mentioned the acting is superb. Both main characters are totally convincing and carry the story. But also the support characters and those with smaller roles fit in perfectly and make it whole. In fact many of those that appear as side characters reappear through the drama and I grew quite fond of them. The cast has a great chemistry and I think you can see it in the final product if a cast got along with each other or not.

Before I even watched the drama completely I had to get my fingers on the OST. The soundtrack is fantastic. The drama has an english opening song and each track on the OST is recognizable which is rare in my opinion. I love to listen to this soundtrack and kept it playing all the time when I wasn't watching an episode. It's worth to mention that the main actors Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu contributed a song to the OST that they sang together.

This drama has a high rewatch value for me. There are many things that might not be seen at the first glance and the scenes that they included from the novel will give you more once you've read the novel and know on what details you have to focus. But the first watch is enjoyable too. The drama has comedy, suspense, mystery and more.
I always watched a couple of episodes in a row and spent many long nights as it's hard to stop.

Overall I have nothing to complain on this drama. They made the best out of what they were given to work with and even with the knowledge that there could be more supernatural stuff if it wasn't for the strict policy of the Chinese government I think it's pretty good. The episodes often ended with cliffhangers which could annoy people but that's mostly because the storyline flows through the whole series and cases of the Investigation team are intertwined through episodes. I like this way of storytelling so it's not a negative aspect for me.

I can recommend this drama to everyone who wants to watch a good storyline with loveable characters or is curious in any way. Check it out, it's absolutely worth it. ^.^