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Lovable OTP but............
I'm one of those people who caught on to the TMOPB hype pretty late so I didn't have to wait too long for this drama.I loved this couple's story, and chemistry in TMOPB so of course I was always going to watch the drama dedicated to their story and I must say I was not disappointed in the OTP. For me the OTP is the best part of the drama, their chemistry, story, banter, poignant moments, all of it is absolutely spot on.
The story is a faithful retelling of the novel, except for some small bits here and there and the mortal realm arc which was expanded (unnecessarily in my opinion, because they could have used those episodes to flesh out the final episodes which seemed rushed) The story of Dong Hua and Feng Jui is epic and their love story is littered with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The best thing about this story is the fact that they defied their unfortunate fate and forged on despite everything, ultimately transforming their fate into something positive and beautiful.
The acting is well done, Dilraba and Vengo shine in their roles and brought a unique freshness to the drama. The rest of the cast is good although some of the roles didn't get much screen time, overall it's a great cast.
I think the production team could have done a better job of editing and the entire post-production process seeing as they had over two years between wrapping up filming and premiering; there's just something lacking in the entire drama, the costumes were mostly cheap looking, the sky kingdom set was a bit too gold, gaudy and fake. I also don't appreciate the fact that some of the teasers they released didn't feature in the drama at all and that's so careless and annoying.
The music is great, although I would have loved it to be more evocative, but that's just my personal opinion. I keep thinking they should have acquired copyright for Dong Hua and Feng Jui's song from TMOPB ( Even If There's No Possibility by Xiang Xiang) that would have added a layer of much needed poignancy.
The OTP moments are everything, and if you love this couple you should definitely watch this drama.
The overall production for me was a let down so I give it a 7.5 out of 10.
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Watch it because i saw them in 10 miles and really curious with the continue of their story. But boy oh boy a little regret watch this.I don't like their attitude toward each other. Especially when Dong Hua (DH) became so childish in some way. Yeah their so sweet with each other. But i kinda hope DH not so childish when he face feng jiu (FJ). DH is sooooo old afterall. :D
Story: so many flaw if i may say if you compare with their background story in ten miles. I don't know which is messed up but first of all the age of FJ is different than in ten miles. In the ten miles the age of FJ supposed to be equal to Ye Hua at least 70,000 years, because she was born first than Ye Hua. But in here their downgrade her age just to 30,000. I don't know why, maybe so they can make FJ more childish like. The story of FJ born also different. The meeting story of si ming, cheng yu and FJ also different. Especially the story of how DH & FJ met is also different. There is some more that i not remember at this time
A little bit disappointed also with some of the changing setting like the Zhe Yan peach forest, DH palace. Even though setting here more beautiful but for me better the setting in ten miles. I more like it
Cast: a little dissapointed when they change zhe yan, zhen zhen and cheng yu. But in the end every one quiet fit their role expecially cheng yu.
Re-watch: watch one time is enough for me...
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I started watching this drama while at the brink of insanity from being self-quarantined with my family and boy did it help! At first I wasn’t sure what to expect and decided just to give the first episode a try but just that first episode had me completely enthralled. I don’t know what it was that got me hooked first maybe it was the shiny costumes or the magical immortal realm that captivated me but before I knew it, I was pulled in. Feng Jiu’s character was childish but also endearing and the love and admiration she had for Dong Hua was adorable and although she did go over at times, I could never get annoyed by her, she was just so persistent and that made her so endearing. And her fox ? CGI was adorable I would have liked to have seen more of it later on but alas.
The next thing I have to mention is Dong Hua’s character and the actor portraying him, honestly he deserves an award for bringing such a character to life. Dong Hua’s character is a very old immortal and at times seemed detached and unresponsive but as you watch the drama and the story progress you see just how expressive he is without even physically showing it whether he’s pranking someone or being serious when it comes to matters of the heart. The actor just had such expressive eyes that I fell for him just as Feng Jim did.
The storyline and what the story is about is basically in the title, Three Lives Three Worlds and honestly some would say that it was slow or boring but to me it was unique and beautiful and I loved every minute of it. The shows build up was just really well done in my opinion and the romance was DIVINE! From now and forever Feng Jiu and Dong Hua will be my OTP and I can’t express that enough! However, the show wasn’t without its flaws and side characters did take more of a back seat in this but I think it’s just that the romance between the two main leads was the main focus so the other characters were put more on the back burner. As well as certain characters really needed to die and stop coming back but that’s another story. Overall, I may be biased but I truly loved and enjoyed this story which is why I’m giving it ALL THE ⭐️’s it deserves.
P.s. If anyone has any other suggestions of Chinese drama’s like this or any other but without sad endings I would seriously appreciate it! Wishing you love and support wherever you are! Stay safe and stay strong! Fighting!
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High Expectations Fell Flat
I went into this directly after having watched Eternal Love, so I really did have high expectations going in due to how much I liked the two of them in Eternal Love.I really, really wanted to like this. This drama...... I know this is based on a novel, but I feel they could have cut down on 10-20 episodes and it would have made it so much better to watch. This drama, to me, felt painfully slow. There was just so much filler fluff to me, and the humour in it felt so forced that I couldn't laugh. I still enjoyed the relationship between Dong Hua and Feng Jiu, but that was basically the only thing that kept me watching. Their acting was decent, but the acting for most of the others was painful and amateur - and I'm not even sure if this is just them or also due to a bad script.
I get this is like a 3 worlds thing, but the latter part of the show where they were in the dream world, I just did not care about at all. They really tried to get me invested in their alternate universe selves who I had absolutely no attachment to, just because they looked the same as the main characters. I liked the two main leads due to their personalities as themselves, and not as other people, so it was a definite miss for me.
The main couple had their sweet moments that kept me going but everything else was a pass, which is a shame, The OST also wasn't as good as the one for Eternal Love, which was disappointing. All in all, lacklustre drama and acting.
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Great casts, superb acting and fighting scene.
Awesome dialogue and very witty banter. Love love it!
The ost that came out when FJ bowed 3x to Emperor Xuanren was so poignant. The superb acting by Raba & Vengo in the scene literally gut my heart n made me cry. The tragic end to General Ye parting scene with FJ .... oooh...the feels.
Now I get to see the Iceberg DH in shameless pursuit of his love interest. He isn't gaining any brown points with her yet. Mr Ice sure knows how to ruffle his foxy lady. Lol ...the ancient teenager courting a young fox. The chemistry between the OTP is ?
If you haven't watch this drama yet, please check it out. You will enjoy from ep 1 to 30 n more. The drama adapts very closely to the book.
Lastly, Eternal love of Dreams aka Pillow Book IS NOT, I REPEAT, IS NOT a continuation of Eternal Love Peach Blossom series. It has nothing to do with the early series. It's 2 volumes on its own.
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This review may contain spoilers
After almost two or three years of waiting, the coveted sequel to Ten Miles of Peach Blossom finally premiered! My personal favorite OTP from TMOPB - Bai Feng Jiu and Dong Hua - were brought back together and we finally get to see the full story for the adorable 9-tailed red fox and the (essentially) creator of the heavens. Overall I'd say this was a super cute drama and it was filled with a lot of good bits for the fans, but I will say it doesn't quite measure up to the first season of TMOPB.*** SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW**** (Also sorry this review is pretty long)
STORY:
Knowing the cutesy personality for BJF (and also her actress Dilraba) I expected this to be overall cutesy, with a bit of "drama" towards the end. That was exactly what we got. We see the development of the relationship between BFJ and DH from their first meeting to the end. I think overall there was a good progression of their relationship, and I liked that the ML didn't immediately fall in love with the FL (it would be totally against DH's character to do so). I think we could see how this relationship turned from that picture- perfect crush on the "knight in shining armor" to an actual love strengthened by situations and sacrifice. I think the writers did well with giving us enough cutesy scenes without overdoing it on the romance plot.
For the story with Miao Luo (big bad), I feel like it was a pretty predictable story line and honestly, even as big and bad as she was, I feel like her presence didn't really disrupt the lives of the leads (until the end really). So I think her story of being essentially caged up the whole time, didn't really let the audience feel what a "big bad" she really was supposed to be. (Though thinking back, I'd say the same thing for the big bad in the first TMOPB). The whole situation wrapped up in a nice bow in the final episode, so meh. This was supposed to be a romance-forward drama anyways.
I think there were some story points, for me specifically the "Aranya's Dream" story point (granted I was watching in Chinese with no subtitles, so it was a bit easier for me to get confused about some stuff), but I think that section of the story kind of dragged a bit for my preferences.
Story overall was pretty predictable and really no major confrontations throughout. Everyone had a clean, happy ending. But I think this drama did really well with character development to make up for the average storyline.
CHARACTERS:
Feng Jiu - Mentioning character development, I think we definitely saw a HUGE change for BFJ's character. She was able to grow, mature, and strengthen herself (while still being able to keep some of her original playful personality). I personally really like Dilraba and think that BFJ is one of her best characters. (From watching her on Running Man and Go Fighting, I'd say BFJ is very similar to Dilraba's actual personality)
Dong Hua - gonna admit, I kind of liked DH better in TMOPB for the very cold, cool personality he had. It makes sense that you'd get a change in personality when he has more room to develop, but I feel like both characters being somewhat "childish" is kind of meh for me. Though I think it was a good contrast for his original personality of being such an "ice-face". Vengo Gao did a decent job with this portrayal, particularly with the cutesy scenes, but I think his "cold exterior" was better portrayed in the first season.
Others - Gonna be real, the writers ruined Ji Heng for me. She started off so well and they made her into one of the typical crazy romance enemies and then just meh. By the end, I was skipping through her scenes cause I couldn't really root for her relationship with Xiao Yan after how ridiculous she was meddling in BFJ and DH's relationship. She was madly in love with her bodyguard, and then madly in love with DH, and now I'm supposed to believe she's in love with Xiao Yan for real? Idk. Fickle.
Xiao Yan - originally thought he was pretty annoying, but clearly he turned out to be a solid friend to everyone, so I liked him by the end. Glad he got a happy ending - though don't care for Ji Heng obviously.
OVERALL:
Cutesy drama with good chemistry from the lead actors. Overall isn't my favorite drama as it was just too easy (story wise) and there didn't feel like there was any real conflict throughout the show. But it's definitely a cute romance when you need it.
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The story is developing at a perfect pace. It gets more and more interesting and makes me anticipate for more.
The music is magnificent! It has the angelic, heavenly humming sound I love. I find that it establishes the setting very well; it creates and magnifies the atmosphere like the scene when Dong Hua descends help Fengjiu fight the firing animal. It creates great emotion!
I would totally re-watch this series again when it all came out! This has got to be THE BEST series of 2020!! TOTALLY RECOMMENDED!
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Expected more
So this is gonna be a long review basically because since I watched 10miles Dijun has been my biggest crush in 3L3W and I absolutely love novel’s Fengjiu. So if you’re patient enough to read this, read knowing it’ll be full of comparisons to my expectations (and ofc, spoilers).* What I liked the most: Reba and Vengo's beauty, the sweetness (those pet moments, nose kisses, forehead kisses… all the fluffiness one may ask for!). Also, how they followed most of the facts. And how they gave us the end we’ve been long asking for! (end with an in coma Fengjiu has always been too cruel, so thank so much for that!).
Not to mention that see words coming to life is always great, and I especially liked to remember things I had forgotten, understand things I hadn't understand and observe things I had passed by (after re-reading my favorite scenes, it was great to clarify many things).
Now…
* What I didn't like…
1) Minor points:
a. effects (damn, hehe, not surprising though)
b. the focus on Miao Luo ends up reducing their fight against destiny to another gods x demons. Come on, Dijun is so much more than that! He created the Huiming Realm, and he’s the one to put it back in order!
"To protect the Mortal Realm, Donghua created another world in seven nights to absorb the excess toxins which the Mortal Realm could not withstand. This world was the Huiming Realm
If one day the Miaoyi Huiming Realm were to collapse, it'd be the end of the world as they knew it"
c. some important moments missed: when he denied the book of destiny, when he clearly reject JiHeng back in FH (well, this is only for my personal interest lmao), and others.
d. missed steamy scenes (hohoho)
2) Major points:
a. The childish tone, damn, I almost dropped from the very first ep because of that. I hate that kind of “I’m dumb but cute” voice style, luckily it got better from the mortal realm.
The consequences:
~ I couldn't see the Fengjiu in my mind, that is a strong young woman who gave her everything for her teenager love, but when it didn't work, she moved on. Not that she didn’t love him anymore, but the fascination had passed. The Fengjiu I saw in the entire drama holds the silliness of the baby fox that used to idolize anything about Dijun.
~ Dijun's character got lost in the 2nd half. Yeah, he's shameless, petty, but not that childish, please!!!
b. The fact that Fegjiu knew Xize was Dijun. Why? It blocked their love and character development from both sides!
~ In the drama, we can barely note Fengjiu's loneliness, there’s no need for her to lose her hopes since she knows he was there, she knows he came for her, he confesses, he proposes. She has her teenager love feed and so she keeps it.
The novel is completely different, she feels abandoned again. Actually, if we take the part just after the fire, we can even say she was abandoned by the same man in his 3 versions: she doesn’t know Dijun is there, Chen Ye leaves her to go back home alone just after saving her, Xize, her supposed husband, is too busy worrying about her sister. This absolute solitude would never allow her to keep the same childish love. So the love she gives Xize later on is entirely new, she's ready to love someone else, someone with whom she shared good moments, someone who is there for her. Not a mere idolization. A woman's love.
~ It also blocks Dijun development. This is supposed to be his moment to realize his love, the moment he should face his regret of not knowing about her first, the fear of being too late, the fear of not being loved, the moment to fight for her love. But in the drama everything goes easy for him since she knows who he is and loves him unconditionally. His sadness in ELoD makes him look as a petty drama boy unreasonable jealous of his own shadow. A meme creator.
Sorry if I’m not holding back but I was so angry with that! After the rain scene I lost the rest of the interest and finished the drama like a mission to accomplish.
I’d say the rescue before Aranya’s dream, her breakdown after the fire, and the rain moments are my fav ones. They represent his realization of love and her last hope, her decision to give up, and his fear. They’re all essential moments to me, that I expected with high hopes and unfortunately left me disappointed (maybe exactly because I waited too much).
* Would I recommend the drama? No. The novel? Whenever I get the chance!
* My hopes: that the movie will give us the maturity the novel holds. I might even accept the change for more mature actors to play Dijun and Fengjiu (which was unacceptable for me before). But please note, not because I don’t like or trust Reba and Vengo, I’m sure they just followed directors instructions (easy to see on the different DongFeng we have in 10 miles and ELoD), but it could be hard on them to ask for a change after this.
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So far, the leads have improved their acting from their previous drama. With their acting and story writing, they've done the book justice so far, especially with episode 30. I love how the setting is pleasing to the eyes too.
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rights to this novel, so I'm just glad they made a drama from this with Dilreba and Vengo! Even the Fox King and Heavenly Emperor actors are back, which is a nice touch. The special effects are much improved. Oddly, Heavenly Palace is now a very white and gold more complex palette, as opposed to the previous drama's more classical look, and all soldiers wear face masks. In 2017 when I finished Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, I sooo wanted to see a sequel with Donghua and FengJui, and here it is on Viki with subtitles. I can't express how happy I am to watch this. For those who may not know, when the other production company purchased the rights to make Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms into a drama, they didn't purchase the rights to Pillow Book. So, in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms they made up a lot of Donghua and FengJui's storyline (which was why it was kind of draggy). Because the Pillow Book drama is based on the Pillow Book novel,
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Oh my goodness! Thank you for the Subbers! This is good therapy for my chaotic and stressful life. I need to get away from all the problems in real life. This drama has it all. Power, Handsomeness, Beautiful People, Heaven and Hell and Romance. Love it. I have seen TMOPB and just wanted to see more of these two main characters. It’s eye candy to watch and something new.
Story, acting, VFX, graphics all over first class. I think leading role will be acting 3 different types carecter. I must say that this pillow book is so good. And I cannot wait for next episodes.
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