2015 Cdramadevotee Awards by Archidisign

Yes. It is a thing. Believe it or not, I think 2015 was the biggest year for Chinese Drama world. The quality and the ratings went up and more people are starting to pay attention to these beautiful productions. For example, Viki’s dramas list now includes Chinese dramas, which are being done faster than ever. I did not watch everything that came out, so it is understandable if my “contestants” may not be the only valid contestants to the title out there xD I may be biased in my opinion, but this is not an official award, so please bare with me! Note: I only nominated contestants worthy of the titles.

Thanks for this Great Year Categories:

Best Drama: Hua Qian Gu

• contestants: Hua Qian Gu, Best Get Going, Nirvana in Fire, You Are My Sunshine, Legend of Miyue
• Thoughts: Hua Qian Gu deserved the number one position for me. It was a seriously addicting drama with a well written story. I even think it was the best xianxia drama I watched so far! Fresh Guoguo, the author behind the story, is very talented. She created a new xianxia world with a lot of interesting characters. Some may see the similarities with ROCH (just switch the gender of the lead roles), but I think she created something very different from the Jing Yong classic. Even the words she used are so strong and intense, directly aiming toward our poor hearts. To be frank, a lot of the story was based on bad communication between the characters and Hua Qian Gu herself was mistreated multiple times on unfounded causes. But at the end, if it wasn’t for each of those moments, we wouldn’t had fallen so hard for the beautiful couple. We wouldn’t had cried so much at the last scene and we definitely couldn’t had felt the angsts the same way as we did. Although as viewers we understand that she would had been so much happier with Sha Jiejie or Dongfang baba, would we really want her to settle for them? Since episode one, we already knew the ending and nobody could had changed that. That is destiny.
• I really loved the last finale scene so I am resharing the link for everyone to rewatch now ^^

• Seriously, the other dramas that I nominated are all SUPER good and are part of the reason I loved the 2015 dramas so much. Best Get Going was a great modern drama that tought us a lot about China’s current state for 90s born kids, Nirvana in Fire brought us back to ancient time to see one of the most epic story if bromance and revenge, You Are My Sunshine cleaned our soul with a heartwarming love story and Mi Yue Legend gave us a new woman power drama starring one of the most talented actress out there.

Best Movie: Our Times

• contestants: For Love Or Money, Our Times
• Thoughts: I didn’t watch that many movies this year and mostly watched idol based ones. The other two I watched are Bride Wars and Forever Young, both are which were fun to watch, but seriously lacking with the plotline. For Love or Money was a serious coup de coeur this year and made me rediscover Liu Yifei as a talented actress who can showcase complex and mixed thoughts. She looks as gorgeous as ever, but this time, I really fell in love with her character too. The hardship she has to go through, the love she slowly learns to discover. It was all great! Bonus points for looking so artsy the whole time.
• Our Times however was a serious ultimate watch for me. When I first heard about the project, I thought it was your average high school drama. But this one brought out so much feelings! By the slow interaction of Chen-hsin and Taiyu, we learned to discover all their human sides. The great acting of the leads made their romance and teenager sides look really really perfect. Such sweethearts. The whole time, while watching, I just wanted them to be together. They trully believe each other. They are always pushing each other to become better and stronger. That is something so hard to find in real life. Of course, the drama had some serious plotholes (how can the guy push away the girl thinking she still likes her old crush? How come they never met after high school?). Those are some serious flaws, but with such a happy ending, I had to forgive them all ^^

Best Variety Show: Up Idol

• Contestants: Idol Up, Run Brother, Happy Camp, Voice of China 4, We Are In Love, Go Fighting, Dad 3
• Thoughts: Not much can be said. There wer so many variety shows that came out this year and a lot of them are great great great! Up Idol had such a strong cast that I had to watch: Brigitte Lin, Zhao Liying, Xie Na, Ouyang Nana, He Jiong, and new bias Ada Choi! I pretty much watched it every week with a big smile on my face. It was heartwarming to see ten girls interact together like a family without creating any fuss and conflicts. They all look gorgeous on camera and I would be down for a season 2 with the same cast. However, I doubt this will happen since all of them are idols and are probably going to be busy. If this can be scheduled, it would be great! Special mention to all the other contestants: Run Brother is three seasons in and still looking like a true fun family, Happy Camp brought in so many great guests this year (to the point I watched most of the episodes this year), Voice of China 4 was a better success than season 3 and even added Jay Chou as a mentor, We Are In Love (C-We Got Married) brought in my sweetie couple Choi Siwon and Liu Wen, and Dad 3 had the cutest and friendliest kids ever! Special mention for Go Fighting for being one of the most original concept and having a perfect cast that knows how to interact like a group of bros!

Best Actress: Zhao Liying

• other contestants: Tang Yan, Liu Yifei,  Zhao Wei, Sun Li, Fan Bingbing, Zheng Shuang
• Thoughts: This was Zhao Liying‘s year and she is my ultimate bias. So, no question asked, she deserves this honor 😉 She had a successful year playing Hua Qian Gu in the most watched drama ever, playing Song Nuan in the heartwarming and realistic Best Get Going, the cutie Wuxin in Legend of Zu, and appeared more confident than ever on Up Idol! She also attended multiple fashion shows and awards ceremony, signed up for multiple CF deals and created off-the-roof romance with so many male celebrities 😉 She was everywhere! I like her dedication for her roles, her spirit of always doing a good job. She is still her awkward self, but she looks more confident and happier. Hope she stays on her success track and brings out even more interesting dramas to watch!
• There are so many great actress out there and I just named in contestants the other ones that I enjoyed watching. Tang Yan had a great year with four very watched drams, Liu Yifei really surprised me this year, Zhao Wei had her big comeback to the small screen, Sun Li brought back her NianNian class, Fan Bingbing did a great job playing a (different) Wu Zetian full of Charisma and Zheng Shuang had probably her most successful year yet (before 2016 of course).

 Best Actor: Hu Ge

• other contestants: Wallace Huo, Zheng Kai, Wallace Chung
• Thoughts: Hu Ge pretty much owned this fall with his great back-to-back comeback! From Disguiser to Nirvana in Fire to Good Time, he showed three very different roles and played accurately all of them. He also created some of the best bromance (as always) in dramaland with Wallace Huo, Wang Kai, Jin Dong and Wu Lei. He also showed his goofy sides on variety shows and talk shows. I would say that at his current acting status, rarely anyone can beat him in the drama category 😉 I watched a bit of Disguiser which was fun, am still not done with the epic and complex Nirvana in Fire and did enjoy the romcom Good Time. All in all, I am just happy he brought so many interesting and different dramas to the viewers.
• Wallace Huo‘s Bai Zihua was very hard to play (since he was so emotionless) and he really did his best. At the end, wow, I was impressed at how deep his love for HQG was. Zheng Kai was a very pleasant discovery this year and Wallace Chung was probably the main reason You Are My Sunshine turned out to be so addicting ^^

Best Supporting Actor: Zhang Danfeng

• contestants: Ma Ke, Zhang Dan Feng, Wang Kai, Jin Dong
• Thoughts: Both Hua Qian Gu and Nirvana in Fire wouldn’t be the same without its supporting cast. Zhang Danfeng showed such a twisted and complex character who must see the girl he loves fall in love with the man he hates, all of this because he pushed her to him. He must see her suffer because of him and to be frank, was just a key reason of her miserable state as Bai Zihua. It is not easy to play such a confliced character. Also, bonus points for going on Happy Camp six times (!) to promote the drama!
• Ma Ke was also an actor who lefts a strong impression for me. His Sha Jiejie was caring and dark at the same time. He didn’t feel like a real villain though since he was loved by his subordinates and showed real feelings and attachments toward others. Sha QianMo was perfection and just like his beauty, everything he does looked flawless. For love, he is ready to sacrifice anything. I am not yet familiar with Nirvana in Fire (especially Jin Dong who barely appeared in the first ten episodes), but Jin Dong and Wang Kai both definitely are great actors. Based on their interviews, I know Jin Dong is one who works really hard on his acting craft. As for Wang Kai, his innocent, but strong Jing Wang was definitely pleasant to watch. His determination and believe in a perfect world really contrasts with the harsh reality Mei Changsu has to face.

Best Supporting Actress: Dili Reba

• contestants: Dili Reba, Jiang Xin, Liu Tao
• Thoughts: You know an actress did a great job when she is the most talked about actress in the drama without even being the lead! That is how great Dili Reba was. She showed a lot of her cute sides and probably did the best  depiction of a spoiled top actress without making anyone hate her! I actually didn’t watch Diamond Lover (since I am not a fan of fat shaming and I felt like this drama was delivering all the wrong messages), but I had to check the few clips of Dili Reba. And what a surprise! I am sincerely glad she got popular.
• The other nominees are, of course, also great! Jiang Xin touched my soul deeply with her breathtaking performance in Hua Xu Yin with Yuan Hong. It was maybe the best performance of the year. So much torment to our heart in every episodes. Seriously, I actually wanted to give this “award” to her… Excited to see her cast in some other great dramas. I think she is perfect for angsty dramas. Finally, Liu Tao is currently playing the good girl turned bad in Mi Yue Legend and she is definitely acing her role ^^

Breakthrough Youth: Ouyang Nana + Wu Lei

• (yes, they are the only contestants and there are two prizes. That’s how I roll!) My cuties! I feel a bit pedo for having such biasness toward them as both are only fifteen years old, but they are overflowing with talents and great personalities! I started the year with Wu Lei since technically, I started by watching the ROCH 2014 where he starred as young Yang Guo. He was already super goofy and talented back then. Afterward, he starred in Whirlwind Girl and Nirvana in Fire, in both of which I always anticipated his scenes. Added to that his multiple apperances on Happy Camp, I am now one of his most loyal fan! Plus, he has so many years in front of him to impress us! As for Ouyang Nana, her easy going and caring personality won me over on Up Idol. She also starred on the idol movie To The Fore as a genius cyclist professional and yes, she is a true genius. She is a cellist since she was younger, got full scholarship to study in the US at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and is smart to boot (watch her appearance on Happy Camp in 2013 where she played a trivial game with TFBoys’ Wang Junkai). You can learn more about her amazing prowess here or watch the video dedicated to her on Up Idol. I sincerely hope one day my lovely young sweethearts could do a project together ^^

Best Couple: Chen Xiang+Rachel Momo

• contestants: Huang Xiaoming+Angelababy, Fan Bingbing+Li Chen, Guli Nazha+Zhang Han,
• Thoughts: The other only good thing that came out from ROCH 2014 in my opinion: Chen Xiang and Rachel Momo are dating! Their interaction on Happy Camp won me over. How shy they are, how loving their eyes toward each other, how caring. They are the perfect little couple that warms my heart. Thanks so much for being together! 8D There were so many new couples in 2015. To be fair, all couples are awesome! Although I don’t agree with all of them, at the end of the day, if they are happy, I have nothing to say. May all love last forever!

Best OST song: Journey of Flower Opening

• contestants: Whirlwind Girl OSTs
• Nothing to be said and enjoy the music! 😛 Hua Qian Gu Opening makes me want to cry :’D So deep.

Sorry, But Blame Yourself Categories:

Drama Let Down: Return of the Condor Heroes

• contestants: Yun Zhong Ge, Return of the Condor Heroes
• Thoughts: Or I could just give the award to Yumama. Seriously, he was a serious disappointmenet this year. He delivered the worst adaptation in my opinion of ROCH with the character description all messed up, the costumes looking cheap and by putting too much romance for any viewer to accept. It was a serious mess and I had to clean my eyes by watching the older 2006 version. I love Chen Xiao, but this was just too poorly directed for me to watch. As for Yun Zhong Ge, what a disappointment, I am sure even Tong Hua is puking out blood to this date. I am not familiar with the story so I can’t complain on the faithfulness to the real deal, but acting, casting and even costume once again became huge obsacles for any watcher out there. The story itself was silly and full of plotholes, but even the actors weren’t able to deliver any feelings in a good way. Here is a clip of the disastrous drama that is ROCH 2015. Hope you can laugh (and cry) with me :’D

Most Inaccurate Period drama: Empress of China

• Thoughts: I only had a drama in my mind for this category, but still, it is well deserved. I wouldn’t say Fan Bingbing is a bad actress, but after Empress of China, it felt like she just tries too hard to give herself the best role ever. I mean, look at it! She made the all mighty and powerful Wu Zetian into a mary-sue character. Even Yumama didn’t do that yet! What a mess. I actually the 2011 version a few years back and really, the 2015 version twisted all the characters left and right so that Wu Zetian would look innocent. They even made the nice poet/concubine played by Janine Chang into an evil plotting character. The emperor took forever to die and she ended up having a whole harem for herself without doing much. And let’s not get into the cleavage scandal. All in all, it was a very inaccurate. But the cast is good and the costume were amazing: it can be a fun watch if you aren’t as picky as me 😉

Stop Brainwash me/Teenager Drama of the Year: Cruel Romance

• contestants: Cruel Romance, Destinated to Love You, Whirlwind Girl
• Thoughts: I actually finished Cruel Romance so it did brainwash me a bit. Haha. The drama definitely knows how to get you attached to the story and even with some heavy heavy plot holes, I watched until the end. It was a fun watch, but afterward, I felt that I lost pack of neurons. In the same way, Destinated to Love You also felt very childish and overly acted to get the views. Both are good watch for the fun and addicting sides, but in the aftermath, it hurted my intelligence badly. I also nominated Whirlwind Girl. Although its neuron burning level isn’t as bad as the previous two, I still feel like the plot was a serious miss for me and it was obviously aiming for teenagers.