YMMV / The Rise of Phoenixes

• Broken Base:
  • The series doesn't stay close to the book. Because of this the fandom is divided into those who've read the book and are angry the series wasn't a more faithful adaptation, those who've read the book and think the series is good anyway, and those who haven't read the book and don't know what the other groups are talking about.
  • The ending. Unlike the book, which has a relatively happy ending, the series has a Bittersweet Ending. Some fans don't mind this while others absolutely hate it.
• Genius Bonus: In episode twenty-nine Zhi Wei's and Ning Qi's riddles are references to Tang dynasty poems. Ning Yi's riddle is based on deconstructing Chinese characters and putting them together to make the character for "wind".
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Liu Min Tao (Ming Ying) and Wang Ou (Hua Qiong) were both in Nirvana in Fire, as Consort Jing and Qin Banruo.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Zhi Wei's apparent death at the end of episode seventeen fooled very few viewers because the heroine wouldn't be so unceremoniously Killed Offscreen less than half-way through the series.
• Narm: The script was changed after filming but before the actors redubbed their lines, so in several scenes the movements of their mouths don't match their words. The result is very distracting.
• The Woobie:
  • Zhi Wei. Except for her mother, everyone in her adopted family looks down on her and treats her badly. No one cares when a eunuch's mistake leads to her being arranged to marry Ning Yi, even though they know she'll be in danger in the palace.
  • Ya Le. She's forced to marry a man she doesn't love and never sees the man she loves again, she has to poison both her son and her husband to stop her husband killing her son, she's locked up for over twenty years while her son believes she's dead, and she's kidnapped then dies shortly after finally being reunited with her son.

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