The Legend of Brown Sugar Chivalries

Taiwanese title: 黑糖群俠傳 (黑糖群侠传)

Aired on StarTV
From 2008 June to October
13 episodes

Main cast:

Wang Zi as Linghu Cong

Albee Huang as Ren Ying Ying

Ah Wei as Guo Jing

Yako Chan as Lu Jian Ning

Wang Jing Qiao as Xiao Long Nu

Ah Ben as Wei Xiao Bao

Xiao Yu as Chu Liu Xiang

Xiao Ma as Yi He Cang Tai

Mei Mei as Guardian Sheng Nu

Zhang Ke Fan (張克帆) as Lu Da You

Wang De Sheng (王德生) as West Side principal

Amanda Chou as Tian Shan Tong Lao

Ao Quan as Hong Shi Ba

Christine Fan as Dong Fang Bu Bai

Notes:
- Like Brown Sugar Macchiato, it features members of music bands Lollipop, Hey Girl and Choc7 in the main cast and in cameos.
- It's a spoof of modern wuxia novels.
- Warning: Special effects are really bad. Since they are aware of it, they don't use them that much.
- Rewatching!

Review: Fav!

Title: "Brown Sugar" is a callback to "Brown Sugar Macchiato"

Boy: He's an orphan who was brought up by the principal of a magical martial arts school. Naturally gifted and hard-working, he is the strongest of his generation. Besides that, he's also a great leader.

Girl: She's an outcast because her father worked for the big bad. Moreover, she's quite shy so she seems cold and stand-offish.

Boy: He's a particularly clumsy and selfless guy. I didn't really care.

Girl: She's the only daughter of a teacher. She acts like a spoiled kid but she is not annoying as she is prompt to recognise her faults.

Plot: So there is a big bad who is threatening the balance of the land. He's currently ill so he needs a magical thingie in order to restore his powers. There is also a traitor inside the school.

Relationships: We follow three couples and there is no insta-love. Everyone has his agenda, his personnality with qualities and flaws. I was invested in the romantic relationships, but also in the friendships and the family bonds.

Other characters: I will single out the bad guys and especially The bad guy who is really scary. We don't see him much but these scenes are effective at conveying his evilness.

Funny factor? Yes, silly but funny.

Music: Good.

What the... ? One might say "the entire drama". But I give a pass to a lot of things (beggars society?) because I suppose it comes with the genre. However, I don't think a character's deafness being played for laugh can be excused. It only happens at the beginning or it would have ruined everything.

Bottom line: Under the silliness and bad special effects, I like the characters and care about what happened to them. Though its resolution was lacking, the plot was interesting, progressing steadily. Fab!