Ashes of Love (2018)

Okay, I love Ashes of Love. The actors were wonderful and the action sequence was awesome. My only annoying complaint: this series could’ve been 45 episodes instead of 63. Like so many Chinese drama, the show drags on for way too long. Honestly, after episode 45, I just fast forwarded the last 18 episodes because my patience was running out lol.

I thought after the wedding scene that the rest of the story just kind of dried out. I finished the last 19 episodes in two hours by fast forwarding.

The graphics were good, actors were cute, storyline was good. But way too long. The last half was like another series in itself.

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PERFECT BALANCE OF COMEDY, ROMANCE, AND DRAMA

Usually I dislike annoying, foolish, or weak female lead character however, this drama is different. If you watch the whole drama series and undertand it, it is not the female lead character's fault on why she is foolish in love or with her own feelings. That is why I love the plot of this drama. I love the perfect balance of it's comedy, romance, and drama. I also love how the drama not only focuses on the lead's love story but also other aspects in life like family, friendship, and leadership. In which, that kind of stories is what I always look for in a drama. I also love how their love survived all those trials. I love the drama's CGI especially in the war scene. It looks like an expensive movie. Their costumes are all gorgeous. Their make-up are on point. Last but not the least, Deng Lun and Yan Zi's chemistry is superb. I hope they will team up in another drama. Plus, Deng Lun is freaking handsome.

The feeling I got after watching Reply 1988 is the same with this drama. It's hard to get over with Ashes of Love huhu. I have not yet found a drama that could continue my satisfaction with Ashes of Love.

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A must watch series !!!

I don't normally watch TV drama. I just came across this series from watching a trailer and i got hook. I finished the series, read the novel and rewatched the series. I watched with subtitle at first, later i rewatched with Viet dub. Each time, i found something more interesting with this drama. Dang Luan was perfect for his role at "Phuong Hoang". He has the same feature that the book described his role. The human life "lich kiep" was such a heartfelt love story and a great addition to the original novel. The drama did a great job to expand and explain the novel.

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I honestly don't know how and where to start.
One random day, I came across Ashes of Love on Netflix. I didn't check what it is about and I just saw the trailer. I found it interesting and decided to TRY to watch. I THOUGHT IT WAS K-DRAMA! I was so surprised when I realized it's actually a chinese drama because I wasn't really big on watching any asian dramas before.

I think what makes Ashes of Love special to me is because it's everything unexpected. From not knowing it's actually a c-drama and the first asian drama I finished from start to finish.

Here are my thoughts about the show -
THINGS I LIKED:
* DENG LUN, DENG LUN and DENG LUN
* Childish banters of Xu Feng and jin mi
* Friendship of jin mi and Yanyou
* Friendship of Jin mi and Matchmaker
* Matchmaker being and Xu Feng and jin mi shipper
* Loyalty of floral generals to their late goddess
* Cheerful personality of jin mi
* The characters' development from being child-like to mature personality
* The soundtrack!!! Just one note from the soundtrack brings me right back to their world
* Liuying and Muci's storyline
* Wind immortal's personality
* Xu feng's badass-ness

Things I didn't like:
* Evil people at demon realm are so annoying
* I know this is the point of the story but I hated that jin mi was given the yun elixir because Xu Feng has always been clear with his feelings. This is me saying this if I were jin mi.
* Suihe just wont give that shit up omg i wanted to kill her myself
* Tuyao is worse lol
* I think there are too much flashbacks?

General thoughts:
* Xu feng and jin mi's love story touched my heart so much. Their journey was satisfying but when they reunited at the end at demon realm it felt lacking for me. I kind of wanted to see them finally together more on screen specially at the very end. I hope there was more screentime finally together.
* Luo Yunxi delivered Runyu very very well!!!! He became so hate worthy when he's becoming super obsessed but it only means he's such a great actor
* I never once attempted to fast forward scenes because of how much I loved it. Now I rewatch it to go back to xu feng and jin mi scenes, but on my first watch I dare not forward anything.
* They have outstanding costumes
* I think Yanyou is underrated, I find him very loyal to Jin Mi and such a good friend
* Kuang Lu’s loyalty to Runyu is also underrated and I admire her character for that

When I finished the last episode, I started crying as if someone broke up with me. I cried for a long time just listening to the soundtrack. I feel like I just parted with someone very important. Everything just felt nostalgic for me. I'm very high risk to panic attacks due to mental health issues and my heart just felt so heavy because I love this drama so much and it will be forever in my heart. Even just going back to fav scenes makes me so emotional. It really hit me good.

Disclaimer that everything above is not EVERYTHING I feel about the drama. There’s many many more and I just dont know how to explain it.
————
Update: 2 months after watching this drama and I really can’t bring myself to move on. Unfortunately i’m not a good writer and I can’t express just how special this drama is to me but im just so!!! idk :((( i can’t explain.

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AMAZING LONG BUT WORTH IT! ( Biased review)

Sorry abt grammar and the rambling in advance.

This is just amazing, it is my first chinese drama and still one of the best dramas i've ever watched although many will say that it has a lot of fillers i def think it it worth watching it one of the staples of c drama. If you have not watch it yet What are you doing with your life! Although the quality may not me the best compared to 2020-2021 dramas it is still amazing considering when it was filmed the growth of the characters was also amazing we can see how the character grow from young and innocent to more mature( specifically the FM). def has Second male lead syndrome but still nothing beats xu feng.
I just cant explain my love for this drama one thing i do know is that it is one of the best dramas i have ever watched .

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Wow! I have just finished watching this for the second time, and plan on watching for a 3rd before New Year’s Eve. This is probably the best fantasy I have ever seen. It has everything: love, hate, revenge, good, innocence, evil, callousness, redemption, rebirth, and best of all, MAGIC! I started watching this because I saw that Adonis - Daniel Jin Feng Liao (Lord Pu Chi / Yan You / Snake Immortal) was in it, and aside from being unbelievably handsome, he is quite mesmerizing to me as an actor. Surprisingly, I fell in love with Deng Lun, Yang Zi, and Leo Luo. They were entrancing, along with the rest of the cast. They were all superb. The sets, costumes, and flow of the drama were all spectacular. There were only a couple of times I felt it was a little slow, but that is by no means a criticism. Bravo to the entire experience of Ashes of Love!
The problem I had with watching this as an English speaker was the translation. The drama critic, Artemide, described it, “The action takes place in the prehistorical era, in a time when the six realms were reigning independently in harmony.” After reading his description, we know that this was LONG before the “Age of Slang.” But, slang and culturally specific terminology determined by modern concurrent events abound in this translation. Two examples are “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” and “Have a casual hang-out and chill together.” Another example is “Roger that!” This was repeated time and again in the drama and could not possibly have even been dreamt of due to the lack of technology during the ancient times. Roger came from the WWII use of two-way radios as a verbal signal of recognition and confirmation. Its use in this drama was just silly! Also, the calling of women LORD or GOD (this occurred mostly in the beginning of the drama and was later corrected) would not have been permitted since women were NOT equal to men even in Heaven. They would have been called Lady or Mistress or Goddess or something appropriate that has recently been discarded by the PC police of this era. The prime example would be calling a female an actor instead of an actress to eliminate gender.
The list of the following were used. I have reinterpreted them to better suit this particular drama’s era. Phrases used in the drama are followed by something like it should be. Roger that!- Right away, I understand, I will get that done; No Worries!-It’s alright, or It can easily be remedied; My bad!-My fault, or It was my grievous fault; Freaked me out!-Scared me, or Frightened me; Sure!-Yes; Pushing my bottom line-Pushing my patience, or Endurance; What a joke!-This must be a jest!; Every Jack has a Jill-Every man has a woman; It’s a deal-We have an agreement; I’ll be darned!-I am amazed: This is weird-This is very strange or odd; Stuff!-Should be specifically named; Tough nut to crack-Difficult person; Whatever!-It is of no consequence; The bigger picture-The larger scheme; Get it?-Understand?; Buck the trend-Go against convention or tradition; Hit below the belt-cheat or harm; Buck up!-Try to feel better; Some new-fangled thing-something new; It’s a piece of cake-It’s easy; Get back on the right track-Begin again correctly; You jerk-anything appropriate would do: ingrate, monster, traitor; True THAT!-You speak the truth; No such thing as a free lunch!-nothing is free; You WISH!- That is only your desire; Same to YA!-You are, or do, exactly the same. (I truly expected to hear “Dude” or “Back in the day,” which is the most ignorant of all phrases. If you don’t know it was back in 1920, or back in the 30’s, or 25 years ago, or back at the turn of the century, then just keep quiet. Using a phrase like “back in the day” doesn’t make you sound knowledgeable, intelligent, or credible.)
As to the song that keeps playing over and over again, it translates to let’s get drunk again when the flowers bloom. Honestly, that is such a crass translation for such beautiful, touching moments. I thought, let’s drink wine again, or let’s share wine again would be softer. The consequence of drunkenness is expected and doesn’t really need to be expressed as the outcome, and it is NOT very romantic.
I let many of the grammatical errors “slide” because I would not have a clue as to how to translate any language since I only speak English. I am in awe of anyone who speaks another language. But, I will point out one example: Phoenix asks Jin Mi, “Will you marry me?” She says, “You know I do.” Of course it should be, “You know I will.” This is of no consequence; I mean “no worries.” We knew what she meant.
I would have just liked the translation to have been a little more AUTHENTIC for the supposed era and a little CLASSIER for such a grand endeavor. These ARE Gods and Goddesses conversing, NOT common street hipsters, and since they are considering a second season, even if it is about the children, the verbal exchanges would still be antiquated, not contemporary.
Again, I think this is one of the finest offerings ever, and I am thankful to whomever translated this masterpiece into English, no matter how incongruous. It has been THE HIGHLIGHT of my 2018 Christmas season!

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This is not just another C-drama!

Wow.

I remember binge-watching the entire 56 eps in 2 days. Now that speaks volume, even for a career binge-watcher like myself.

STORY:
If you like Eternal Love and Journey of Flower, this is the next to go on that watch-list. I normally find C-dramas a bit draggy about 1/3 way through but not this time. If you’ve seen Fighter of Destiny you’ll know what I’m talking about (no offence Luhan). This is a fairly structured plot with quality character development and irresistible cliff-hangers that left me on my tip-toes at the end of every ep. I can see that the director and scriptwriters are trying their best to stay true to the novel. Bravo.

CAST:
Not only do Jin Mi and Xu Feng look good together, they have chemistry. For me, couple chemistry is the main reason I’m in dramaland. A good chemistry would be able to make you laugh, cry and more than most scream in frustration if they’re not together.

Deng Lun has caught my attention ever since Princess Agents and I’m happy he finally landed an MC role in a big-budget historical drama. As for Yang Zhi, she is the perfect choice for this. As much as I enjoy seeing Zanilia and Yang Mi in beautiful historical costumes, Yang Zhi really brought out the essence of Flower Goddess while still remained refreshingly childlike and gullible.

Before I forget, the 2nd lead and other supporting actors are also very impressive. Run Yu and Sui He are extremely effective in moving the plot along at a steady pace while not being overly dramatic. I'm surprised they even got such a good young and fledgling actor to play the childish match-making god.

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Breathtaking. Vibrant yet very subtle and delicate palette made the watching experience extremely surreal, reflecting much of the immortal world. The CGI is flawlessly incorporated and none of those cringy and awkward magic moments from outdated CGI. Costume design is spectacular with fabric layers light as feathers, capturing the swift body movements of spell incantations.

MUSIC:
Theme songs are not particularly catchy but still memorable and enhance the drama really well at crucial moments. I like the soundtrack sang by Yang Zhi (Love Frost) especially because it’s bitterly and nostalgically sweet. Otherwise, Unsullied by Mao Buyi really set the scene as the intro.

OVERALL:
Ashes of Love is definitely the epitome of what Chinese historical / fantasy dramas should be. Cdramas are normally 2 to 3 times longer than Kdramas. So in order to remain competitive within the Asian market as well as others, not only does the cinematography have to be outstanding the plot also has to have a strong backbone. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of the new era for world-class quality Cdramas. So far this should be my fav C-drama, not gonna lie.

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Spent too much effort into developing amazing villains but neglected to make the protagonists heroic

Seriously, show!!! A rich man feeding a starving orphan with leftovers doesn't make him heroic. It only makes the orphan looks more pitiful! You need to understand the difference between being nice and being noble/heroic. It's 45 episodes, but the male lead hasn't established himself as being worthy of my admiration. He had everything handed to him on a silver platter and the show never demanded anything from him to prove he was the hero. Meanwhile, everyone was entitled that the antagonist acted like a freaking Buddha... When you have an antagonist who was actually a nice guy, you need the protagonist to be more than just nice to prove he was better than the antagonist. The protagonist needs to do something the antagonist could not to prove he was the better man. It's not being done here. Instead, the show asked the antagonist something the male protagonist himself was incapable of doing. They even showed how nice the male protagonist was to the antagonist, to make you feel bad for the antagonist instead of to make the protagonist heroic. Why TF are you treating your male lead as a plot device to make the audience feel sorry for the antagonist?!!!

It's not bad... Just infuriating that I wouldn't torture myself to rewatch!

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ANNOYING GIRL WITHOUT COMMON SENSE

The storyline was confusing on how the story was set up. OMGGGG!!! Don't get the started on the female lead. She was so stupid and obnoxious. Literally just because u don't know about love makes you literally retarded.The actress that played her made her so annoying to watch with the voice. The lead actor literally carried the show but didn't even get recognize as much. The Run Yu dude is like a straight up CREEEEPPPP!! He was literally so creepy about everything and wanting power. He was also an unnecessary character too. The worst part was definitely the ending. It did not make sense at all. The Demon Princess's love story was uneeded for. She was probably the best one tho because she was actually educated to not be a dumb dumb. Also the Run Yu guy's story was unnecessary because it made him even creeper!!!!! The cast was alright tho. The best ones were definitely the Fox Uncle and the Princess of the Bird Tribe. The Fox uncle was actually helping the couple get together but she was so dumb and always ruined things for herself then blames others. The Princess was WAYYYYYYYY prettier than the main girl and actually smart unlike the main girl. Overall would not watch again and guys just spare your time and WATCH SOMETHING ELSE!!!!!!

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I tried watching this Drama t two times last year but gave up after 2-3 episodes as I was not interested in watching just another guy meet girl story where they fight, break up , meet again, and second reason was the main lead female voice it hurts in your ears as she has high pitch voice an d she cont talk. Hope she can do practice some voice moduling Dont know why every one thinks innocents means dumb.One can be innocent about love but intelligent. Ny way she is a good actress but she got the chance to show case her talents later.
This story had good potential to become a good love story but after 10 such episodes story just take a turn there is thi sspsycho step brothe who wants revenge and he goes all bersek, illogically start planning doing cunning act. What made me upset was that I read some comment and some loves his act, ny way I wont like such psycho to be near me.
He goes mad and tried revenge because of his mother been treated badly by emperor an d his wife but he himself do worst thing later. He is the good actor though but sorry I didn't liked him in most of the scene and he was given more footage than other main lead, dont know if the story in book is same, he in-fact suck life out of every scenes heis there. Director could have cut some scene and made it short and beautiful. I liked his acting only in last three episodes
main lead is a good actor but he gor good scenes to show case his talents only at the end he can act but wish more scene between main couple would have shown.
real story is at the end where spiritual love was explain when that psycho brother says if I would have met her first may be story would have been diff, but my dear friend thats the whole story the main couple's love was spiritual soul mate kind of love and that was beyond time an d life. Why and how some one can think that if u spend more time with the girl will fall in love. he treats his lady love like commodity and still cry in self pity I hope in second part this character is stronger
Scene an dialogues between two main leads are good specially the scene when he is demon and she comes one night an dhe kissed her and call her by another girl name that really hurt the most and was picturised well with some good acting there.

But scene stealers are the main negative female girl she is pretty and amazing acting by her, anotehr girl the Demon princess is also pretty an d good actress
but I love the most The moon uncle he brightens up every scene some good acting would love to see him again
so watch this but u can skip some in between episode last 8 episodes are good
I don't understand on you tube there are 63 episode an d another websites only 60

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I love this type of drama with the different realms (Heavenly, Demon,Bird, Water, Flower, and matbe mortal? I cant remember the 6th (wind?).

The story started off very goofy and comical and became more serious maybe in the 20s-30s? I liked a lot of the leads but I am so over obsessive unrealistic 3rd wheels. who just cant give up and move on! Both 3rd wheels became annoying and I really felt Runyu's behavior didnt fit his character. He does experience a lot of stuff but he gets beyond blinded by love.

The Emperor and Empress are both disgusting heavenly beings.

I am surprised I even finished this drama...I had high expectations and they were not met. I will say maybe it is because even though I found some plot pieces annoying I never really found the drama slow expect some parts in the mortal realm and the last 2 episodes .

Music was okay. I loved the costumes and the scenery.

I look forward to seeing the cast in other dramas. I was very impressed with the actor playing Runyu pretending to be a different character in disguise as Runyu. He did a great job in that scene and you could tell right away who he was!

Will not watch again and probably wont really recommend .

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