Rakshasa Street (2017)

OVERVIEW:
If you're looking for something good to sink your teeth into, this isn't it. Go watch a longer more drawn out drama. But if you're looking for something fun with not a ton of angst and the fantasy / adventure part of it all, this is a great drama.  Excellent watch for mixed crowds because it has just a touch of romance without it being overdone. It's cute, it's fun, I'd definitely watch a second season :)

SPECIFICS:
So I am a pretty serious fan of Chinese fantasy dramas (Mystic 9, Eternal Love, Peach Tree Blossoms, Novoland . . . . . ) -- I've seen a lot of them.  And as a student of mythology and legend, the incorporation of traditional supernatural elements, ghosts, magical creatures, and the heavenly realms is definitely going to catch my eye.  I saw the trailer for this drama a while back and was really excited to see it.
Before I start, please note I have not actually seen the anime or read the manga. I might in the future (since I really liked the drama), but I'm analyzing the drama as a stand-alone.  
This drama was really super cool and a totally fun watch. I'll be honest, I finished it in two days since it's only 24 episodes and most of them are pretty short. By the time you get past flashbacks, the intro, the credit song, the preview for the next episode, and the "blooper reels" the episodes were all really short for a Chinese drama (I was a bit surprised).   Not that this is a detriment . . . although I think some parts could have been more thoroughly fleshed out . . . on the whole, they did a great job in the time they used.
I can't say this in on "Ten Miles of Peach Tree Blossoms" or "Mystic 9" level of fantasy drama, but it wasn't really that kind of drama anyway. The technical elements were not quite as good as some things I've seen in Chinese dramas, and scenes seemed to cut and skip around somewhat. I got the feeling that it was a low budget film that was actually really well made for its budget.  Maybe like the feel of the drama "Go Princess Go."  I don't expect it to win any awards, but I loved it as a cute evening watch on the holiday.  It was good!
It was bordering on comedy / drama with a fairly serious bent towards comedy and a lot of slapstick-style comedy to boot. Every episode had little moments of humor thrown in with a smooth transition between angst to funny and back to angst. It's mostly funny with only minor upsets as you go.  There are some plot lines that are meant to be pretty dramatic, but you always have the feeling that the good guys will win in the end and it's mostly "bad guys - good guys" angst, not relationship drama.  The action and adventure was by far the main focus of the film.  There is a small "relationship" bent towards it, but that is VERY minor in the film.  It was really refreshing and fun.  
The actors seemed to be enjoying what they were doing and were caught up in the drama. I never really had a hard time placing people into their roles.  There was some stiffness occasionally or over-done roles with the 2ndary cast, but the main leads did really well and the kids were excellent!  The two girls did a great job and the younger brother of Cai is WONDERFUL.  I love that he was a Naruto cos-player kid.  I liked most of the good guys and usually liked the girl (although her unreasonableness annoyed me a couple times).   You definitely get the anime feel from this drama, with people nose-bleeding over hot girls and the naruto / ninja tones to it.  A lot of it made me think of a live-action film of an anime.  I always like that though.
Now, my one pet peeve . . . . confusion.  I was just really confused a couple of times.  Like with the guy and woman from Heaven. . . why were they even in this drama. What was their significance here?  What happened to the brother in the end?  Is the dad just like "oh well, no need for that little girl anymore. She's safe with that dude I haven't met and only heard of. It's all good."  It was probably partly the subtitles (VIKI did finally update 100% subs for the last episode!) and partly the slightly cheap plot. But I felt bewildered several times with who people were and what was going on.  There are some things I'm still rather confused about.

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I Kinda Felt Like I Was In Circles with this Drama
I Did Like The Cast & The Music & The StoryLine
None Of That Really Bothered Me
It Was The Pace Of The Show Somethings Just Felt At Times For Me
Kinda Scattered  
I Did Like How That Guy That Could Turn Into Ghost Mode
EveryTime The Girl Was Revealing & He Had A Nosebleed
But Yeah I Did Kinda like it
It Was't Like Most Drama's Where Your
frustrated annoyed with the drama as soon as you'r done with it
it's more like ehh
it would have been more great with some romance .
but its great to watch if you are in a slump and don't wanna jump in a
Drama That Makes You Hate The Way You Feel
And You Just Feel You Need A   Ehh Ohh Well
Lets Get Rid Of Wanting To Hunt Down The Writers To
The Last Drama .so this drama does't really effect you'r emotions
only lack  of romance like it's not there at all.but oh well
ok hoped it helped.

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Unusual, Offbeat, and Engaging Dark Fantasy World

If you want to see a different, unusual, and dark fantasy drama series, this is the one. Characters were interesting because not so much was given away about them, which can be a plus or a minus depending how you look at it. Acting was good, as far as I remember (watched it a while back).

Thinking about it, I wanted to get to know more about the characters, especially the secondary characters which were surprisingly intriguing, but there was an issue with timing. The screenwriters made an error with timing, and it resulted in the last few episodes becoming rushed, to the point of the very last episode being an action-packed blur of an episode, and when the antagonists were beat, there was this awkward pause, as if the characters had absolutely no idea what to do with their lives now that the enemy was vanquished.

The "slight romance" could have definitely been explored further, as there was almost a love triangle hinted at, sort of, kind of, but it wasn't explored more than a few seconds or a comment or two in that direction.

8 is more generous than I would usually give a drama, but I appreciate seeing something different, and I really felt engrossed in this whole other dark fantasy world. I generally liked all the characters too, and the actors did a great job. Definitely, I think this is a good drama if you are looking for something unique and dark.

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It was light and hilarious, however at times it was idiotic and the CGI effects looked fake. But it was not bad on general, it was an interesting story.

Also, I really liked the guardian spirit plot, it reminded me of Pokemon or Bagukan :) Also, I liked the characters and the costumes when they were in the spirit world :)

It was not perfect and I fast forward some scenes, but it is not bad either. I think it is worth a watch :)

Also, it has an ending but the leads need to continue their mission.

I don't know if they will continue it or not as it has been 2 years, but if they decide to continue it, I would watch it :)

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This show had so much potential, but I guess that's what happens when they don't continue on a drama that is based off of a manga? I do enjoy Jiro Wang's specific characters in the dramas I have watched, but there seems to be a pattern with the dramas he does that are meant to be series, but end up stopping after the first. My first thought when I started watching this drama was how it felt like I was watching a manga - this is the first drama I have watched that had a supernatural/underworld theme to it. It was a nice change from the usual predictable romance dramas I have been watching. I loved the setting and the costumes and loved the quests they went on. I feel like this could have been expanded so much more. I felt I was watching a very Inuyasha-esk drama which I loved. But there was A LOT of information throughout the drama and even though they went into a lot of detail explaining everything, I was still confused and had no idea what the spirits were exactly and how they became spirits. Cool idea, but what? As for the characters, I feel like the lead, Xia Ling, needed more time to prove herself because she literally did nothing. She didn't fight or come up with any plans. She just basically flirted with her spirit and ran away every time Cao Yan Bing yelled at her. The only thing she really did was sweet talk some people and when something happened to her spirit, she was able to bring him out of it, but that was it. Cao Yan Bing was such a badass in this drama, but he was very stubborn and not very considerate of anyone's feelings (such as all his characters I have watched thus far). I also didn't get if there was supposed to be a romance or the start of one. I honestly thought that the idea never crossed Xia Ling's mind, but it crossed Cao Yan Bing's mind maybe? He either liked her or he thought of her as a little sister. Who knows, they never addressed it. I did enjoy all the villains though event though I definitely couldn't follow along - who was on who's team? Were there more than one group or were they all working together? A lot of background information that was never given to the audience even though this drama was basically a huge information dump. I wish that there would be a season 2 to this. For what it was, it was done pretty well. Maybe I will see if the manga goes further than this

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