The King's Avatar

Recently finished watching The King's Avatar. Finally, after having seen its trailer on Netflix too many times. I wasn't interested back then because it's about gaming. Turned out it's actually eSports. I'm interested in neither but I think there's extra room for tolerance now that I've watched this 2019 C-Drama.

What initially got me decided to watch The King's Avatar was Lai Yi, whom I've seen in Eternal Love and Legend of Fuyao. I love him in the latter drama. He's also in Negotiator but I haven't finished that yet; not sure if I will. Turned out there were many actors in  this drama from Legend of Fuyao. However, what got me sticking to it was the scene when the protagonist Ye Xiu (Yang Yang) was applying for a job at Happy Internet Cafe as a network manager.

The succeeding episodes were getting interesting. First encounters and interactions among characters laid out proper introductions and established how their respective relationships grew. I like how each character had a background story. And it's nice that each character found redemption, even the rivals. Can't really say antagonists because their story revolved around eSports. Of course there were clashes between groups and individuals.

Among the interactions between characters, my favourite would be between Ye Xiu/One Autumn Leaf/Lord Grim and Su Mucheng/Dancing Rain (Lai Yumeng) as well as Ye Xiu and Hoang Shaotian/Troubling Rain (Jiang Long). I should also add that I very much enjoy seeing Ye Xiu when he's being a mentor. I must say his character was very well written and Yang Yang really showed his attributes even in subtle ways.

 

Speaking of being a mentor, there have been a lot of scenes where I was very much reminded of the qualities and attributes mentioned by John C. Maxwell, particularly the following:
✅Fail early. Fail often. Fail forward.
✅Keep growing.
Hoping that the youth you have watched this drama learned these two important things.

I haven't and couldn't speak of the other characters in The King's Avatar. It will only make this entry unnecessarily longer than it already is. But they are equally interesting people bringing out the character of Ye Xiu. I guess I'll just list them down here.

Team Happy
Chen Guo/Chasing Haze (Jiang Shuying)
Tang Rou/Soft Mist (Li Yujie)
Bao Rongxing/Steamed Bun Invasion (Lai Yi)
Qiao Yifan/One Inch Ash (Fan Jinwei)
Luo Ji/Concealed Light (Sun Ning)
Mo Fan/Deception (Yang Tingdong)
Wei Chen/Windward Formation (Bai Xiang)
Wu Chen/Dawn Rifle (Song Hanyu)
An Wenyi/Little Cold Hands (Li Junchen)

Team Excellent Era
Sun Xiang/(new/successor) One Autumn Leaf (Liang Yimu)
Tao Xuan (Zhao Chulun)
Xiao Shiqin/Life Extinguisher (Ling Jiyuan)
Qiu Fei/Combat Form (Zhai Zilu)

Team Blue Rain
Yu Wenzhou/Swoksaar (Gao Hanyu)

Team Tiny Herb
Wang Jiexi/Vaccaria (Gu Yufeng)
Gao Yingjie/Kind Tree (Chen Hongzheng)

Team Tyranny
Han Wenqing/Desert Dust (Gu Youming)

Others
Su Muqiu/Autumn Tree (Yin Yi) - I also love his last appearance/interaction with Ye Xiu.
Chang Xian/Sleeping Moon (Li Xiaopang)

The other thing I like about this drama is the lack of obvious romantic story. It might make the drama more interesting but even without it, The King's Avatar is worth watching. The platonic relationships, which could lead to more, are lovely enough. One can choose which to root for, if one so wishes.

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