Three Kingdoms Adaptations to Get You Started | Video Essay

Accented Cinema - Episode 131
In this video, we'll talk about the early dynastic period, including China's first golden age, and discuss its many stories and themes.

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[gouravchakraborty]

Learnt Romance of the Three Kingdoms by playing Dynasty Warriors series

[hanzhonglang]

thank you very much for the shout out!!

Us in "Gentlemen of the Han" are working on translating the entire 1994 Three Kingdoms TV series, to share this great series to as many people as we can.

[gelinrefira]

The 1994 adaptation use of the original language from the novel really underscores the beauty of ancient Chinese. There is that grand sense of poetry in every line. It is damn moving.

[Arvaniz]

(Note: I'm from Argentina, where Chinese culture isn't widespread, even though there's a healthy Chinese population... at least in the capital Buenos Aires)

I started getting into Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the late 80s, with the eponymous PC strategy game by Koei. You're right that the iconography (slightly anime-style in that game) helped me know the characters. Now I can individualize all of them just by hearing the name.

I continued in the late 90s with Dynasty Warriors IV, knowing full well that it distorted the story and characters (and further sequels of the game even increased the Playstation aesthetic regarding their clothes and equipment).

Then I played a lot of Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, in the early 2000s (I prefer strategy games to action ones).

At that point I became really curious as to the full original story. But, alas, the novel hadn't been edited in Spanish and was nowhere available in Argentina (not even in English). And it was too costly to import it (for me). So I started reading online from a free source... but it was too much to read from a PC screen. I love holding books, and I can read for any length of time... but not on a screen. So I never completed the novel (I didn't even reach one-third of it).

I started watching the 2010 series on YouTube, but there were a couple of episodes missing (there are two uploads with English subs, I believe, the HD one has missing episodes, and another with lower quality is full).

I did watch, several times, Red Cliff (the full, two movies, version). And I absolutely LOVE it. I introduced my wife to Romance of the Three Kingdoms through it, and she found the characters and concepts fascinating (she's not new to Chinese cinema, her favorite movie is "Curse of the Golden Flower", and she loves Gong Li). We are considering buying the, somewhat new (5-10 years?), Spanish edition of the original novel, although it's quite expensive here in Argentina. And they've used Dynasty Warriors artwork for the covers... so there's that. :-P

[kainhighwind]

You left out the anime where Zhuge Liang dies, gets reincarnated into modern day Japan, and helps a girl fulfil her dreams of being a pop star!

[RighteousBeardArts]

YES! As much as I love the '94 and 2010 versions, I'm still waiting for the day when there's a tv adaptation with the production quality level of Game of Thrones and Shogun that can grab wider international attention for this quintessential Chinese classic

[grumpyman]

Oh hey, I work on the project making fansubs for the 1994 series- thanks for the shoutout! We just had a release recently, what a coincidence. Working on the project has been my first exposure to the complete Three Kingdoms story, and it's given me a deep appreciation of both the original and the adaptation. People can find our subtitles by searching for "Gentlemen of the Han, " the name of our group. We want as many people as possible to see this great series- I hope another team might do the same for the anime series one day!

[GameFuMaster]

9:35 ah yes, the ancient technique of sliding your horse like a motorcycle and then having it get up and walk immediately

[Gearuz]

Learning that the 2010 version is in any way controversial is wild. I had no idea because that show is incredible. Giving characters more balanced depictions worked great, especially for Cao Cao. I don't like when he's portrayed as pure evil and Liu Bei as pure good, when even in the novel, neither was the case.

[Histerix]

3 kingdoms podcast is AWESOME. Definitely worth a listen to anyone interested. It’s a guy reading the book for a western audience and gives plenty of information to help people understand.

[gelinrefira]

Sun Wukong in Three Kingdoms is a crossover I should have expected.

[williamzhou]

Last time i remember, Kongming is working as Idol Manager in Shibuya..

[AnackAnjink]

Make a series of video like this from:
- Investiture of the Gods
- White Snake Legend
- A Strange Stories from Chinese Studio
- etc.

[CrowXIII]

The way i'm currently learning about it is the podcast format narration by John Zhu on spotify. He does not cut anything from the story but he does adapt the narration to be more agile, give context and reminders and is generally friendly and has good sense of humor. Big recommendation on my part.

[baileyalueta]

The 2010 Version has a special place in my heart because it was the first Chinese TV series I ever watched and it got me into Chinese dramas and movies more generally.

[skieth]

The 2010 series is by far my favorite because the liberties it takes are arguably the most reasonable to the kinds of people the characters actually were

[lordkent]

Everyone forgets the Toei three kingdoms animation, that one had Zhuge Liang died in shch an epic way with his shooting star falling and him remembering all that Shu had sacrafice for. The short series also had so much blood for a kids show hahah 😂 but epic soundtrack.

[NihilTruth]

I remember when Total War Three Kingdoms came out and the 2010 series ended up being discussed amongst players, I ended up watching it and had a lot of fun... Though I never got to finish it, and seen as I was watching it on the high seas never managed to find it again later.

[DodderingOldMan]

As a Westerner who knows Three Kingdoms mainly from Dynasty Warriors, the 2010 TV series is my favourite. It may change things, but it's more accessible. The 94 series is good too, though.

[sndark]

Not an adaptation of three kingdoms, but I’d like to use this chance to recommend the Manga/Anime/Live-Action Series Ya Boy Kongming, where Zhuge Liang is reincarnated in the modern day and becomes a manager of an up an coming singer.

All versions are way, way better than they have any right to. I’m more partial to the adaptations myself since music is a big part of the story and, well, Manga kinda struggles with that due to no sound, but do be warned both of them are incomplete adaptations.