The Untamed

Wonderful adaptation

It's my first BL drama and was unsure about watching it. The first couple of episodes were confusing and the CGI in the opening fight scene was just laughable... However, I'm so happy I stuck with it because after the first 10 episodes or so, it just kept getting better and better.

I liked how the bond between WWX and LWJ developed over the episodes and how they cared for each other. The two leads were amazing in the roles and the chemistry between them was palpable. I was invested in the characters so much that even when the plot/storyline was somewhat slow in parts, I stayed interested...waiting for the leads to pull me back in again.

I highly recommend watching this...in fact, I ended up re-watching this a couple of times! The OST is beautiful.

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I finished the anime way back in 2021, read the novel in 2022, and finally gave The Untamed Drama a try this year. I was so glad I did! I cried a bucket after I finished. Perfection at its finest!
The STORY had a way of pulling people's interest. It was a great mix of mystery, action, bromance, and comedy. They have these lessons or sayings that could pique your realizations about life in general.
And the ACTORS- I'm speechless. They nailed acting their characters really well. Special mention to the ones who played WWX (his change when his core was transferred and had to resort to his own cultivation was really apparent, seriously, amazing amazing actor!), LWJ (it's the soft expressions that got me all gooey <3), and Meng Yao (he really made me hate the character even stronger xD).
The MUSIC also got me hooked more. To the point, I had to play Wu Ji on the piano. Their OSTs are living rent-free on my mind, and I have no complaints.
I'll definitely rewatch this gem. Thank you for bringing these characters to life!

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THIS IS A MASTERPIECE!!

Story - For those who love the novel and dissapointed because there's no BL in this, DON'T WORRY!! The bromance is wonderful and will make you can't stop smiling. The story is rather faithful to the novel (not exactly the same tho).. they adapted many sweet scenes of LWJ and WWX.. (Trust me, they adapted almost everything except the confession scene and steamy scenes). For the additional plots, I don't have any problem with them.. it doesn't really change anything (maybe only more screentimes for minor characters like Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli).. And I think they add a new character, Xue Chonghai, to smooth the story.. It was a big question in the novel HOW DID WWX LEARN DEMON CULTIVATION? And the story about Xue Chonghai is to answer the question..

This drama really has exceed everyone's expectations.. like, at first, in China, many the original novel fans can't accept the show (because there's no BL or Xiao Zhan & Wang Yibo don't have WWX & LWJ's charm, etc) and so The Untamed only got a low rating (4.8 in douban) but it keeps on increasing after the show airing.. now it has reached 8.0!! I think it proves the beauty of this show..

Acting/Cast - Both Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo did a great job in this drama!! At first, I though Xiao Zhan wouldn't suit WWX since he doesn't look like someone who talks a lot.. but I WAS WRONG.. WWX IS MADE FOR XIAO ZHAN!! And for Wang Yibo.. there're not many expressions shown by Lan Wangji here.. but I think Wang Yibo did a great job showing a cool but caring Lan Wangji~ >< The other supporting actors are new but really did a great job.. especially Yu Bin who played our little angel, Wen Ning~ like when he was stabbed, I can feel his pain too ugh.. ToT

Music - This drama has a set of beautiful songs.. the ending song, Wu Ji, sung by Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo and Yi Nan Ping are my favs.. Yi Nan Ping is a theme song for A Xian, A Cheng, and A Li.. the lyrics is so heartwrenching (I almost cried when the song was played).. and there are character songs too.. like Bu Wang sung by Wang Yibo for Lan Wangji's character song, Qu Jin Chen Qing by Xiao Zhan for Wei Wuxian's, Chi Zi by Yu Bin for Wen Ning's, Bu You by Liu Haikuan for Lan Xichen's, etc.. all of them have beautiful lyrics that tell the story of each characters.. MY EARS ARE BLESSED!!

Rewatch Value - DEFINITELY!! I can rewatch this wonderful drama again and again..

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Worth the watch!

I work as a professor and researcher for a university in my country, and I specialize in media and film criticism. I was doing research on Queer Media one night, when the internet rabbithole led me to reading about Chinese media censorship. Turns out censorship in China is quite intensive, especially when it comes to LGBTQ+ content. The boiling point came during the airing of the massively successful "Addicted (originally entitled Heroin)" series, which was so controversial that it not only had to suffer massive scene cuts, but its last three episodes were pulled off air and removed from official streaming sites. The lead actors were banned from doing events together, being photographed in the same frame, or even seen on the same stage. A recent interview with one of the leads, Timmy Xu, revealed that he lost job opportunities and suffered intense bullying for YEARS after doing the project (thankfully he and Johnny Huang, the other lead, are now successful stars in China so they managed to turn that around).

This was around the time when BL was gaining popularity in inner circles, but was still considered a laughing stock by mainstream media. Fortunately, BL is now gaining the recognition it deserves, and we thank the dedication of the LGBTQ+ community for its advocacy of representation

So my curiosity led me to researching more about Chinese media, and I stumbled upon this BL novel that was taking their country by storm, called Mo Dao Zu Shi (translated as "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation"). It was about the power politics of clans of "exorcists" (or cultivators) set in a fictional point in Chinese history. The novel was adapted into a manhua, an audibook, and then a donghua, and it was BEAUTIFUL. It's got everything I associate with my favorite shows: fantastical history-based clothing, gratuitous violence, intense swordfights and lots of murder-happy people, demons and zombies galore, people randomly flying and leaping off of roofs, two leads who can do the smolder (at each oth--, um, never mind). The novel, and the manhua is canonically tagged as BL, which depicts either subtextual or contextual homosexual relationships. These kinds of texts are heavily censored and disallowed by the Chinese government, and the manhua barely makes it past the censorship (they cut a lot of the story out for this to work).

Given its politically-charged nature and the sensitivity of the plot, I thought the animated series would be a dud. But what blew my mind was they didn't just adapt it into a highly-successful, two-season donghua, they made a live action of it.

A LIVE ACTION of a BL novel. In China. The manhua even had to censor kissing scenes in the original text because it was "perverse"... then they hired actual people to play these characters. And the live-action (titled "Untamed") became the highest grossing Asian drama of 2019, and one of the highest-rated Asian dramas of all time. It is also one of the few Asian series to be distributed on international streaming sites.

And they managed to pull it off by passing it off as a "bromance" with lots of incidental chemistry. A splattering of intense eye contact and shy smiling. And the two leads called each other soulmates and saved each other a lot. But ya' know, no biggie censorship gods, just distract them with blood and death and zombie demons. I mean, a show about shi warriors stabbing half-dead cretins could never be gay, uh uh, no way.

They cast Chinese idols Xiao Zhan (from Chinese boyband X-Nine) and Wang Yibo from Kpop Idol group UNIQ) to play the two leads, and you can tell that they put their hearts and souls into it. There was never any awkwardness between their interactions on-screen, their acting was subtle but flawless, and they managed to convince viewers of their intense yearning through microexpressions and body language. The actors are very talented (especially the lead, Xiao Zhan) and showed a deep understanding of their roles. Behind-the-scenes footage of their discussions with the directors revealed that the whole cast, including the leads, considered these characters as "boyfriends", they used "love", "longing", and "heartbreak" as character motivations, and during the tragic cliff scene, Wang Yibo was apparently instructed by the director to act as though he had lost "the most precious, most valuable thing in his life", and he conveyed it so well.

Aside from the acting, with the budget it received, I was amazed at how well-made the whole production was. Each clan was given its own beautifully-crafted set design, complete with castles, communities, and forests. They had their own defining costumes, symbols, weapons, interactions, governments and sets of rules. They featured fantastical beasts, a bit of Taoist philosophy, a bit of Chinese history, and a whole score of family values. The villains were also given their own subplots (one villain in particular, Xue Yang, received two important story arcs throughout the series). The whole thing is 50 episodes, but at the end of it all I wanted MORE. I couldn't get enough of this fantastical world they've crafted. It deserves a Game of Thrones-style length of eight seasons, with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji just going on night hunts together with their son A-Yuan (spoiler alert!!!), battling evil spirits and beasts while running the cultivation world as a power couple.

It was a well-portrayed homosexual love story that managed to breeze through the censorship boards, conveyed with acts of service, kindness, yearning, patience, and unconditional love and sacrifice. Goddamn revolutionary GENIUSES. I am so down. Go off you beautiful monsters. I am such a fan.

This series means so much for the BL genre, especially for critics who tag it only as low-budget, clichè productions for people who fetishize boys having sex. So it's definitely worth the watch. 10/10 solid.

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Poorly done as an adaptation; Poorly done as a stand-alone show

The biggest problem about this show is undoubtedly the script. The pacing is too slow and the plot-writing is all over the place. The first 16 or so episodes are nearly incomprehensible plot-wise and I am convinced everyone who finished watching this show only powered through for the romance or the characters, because the storytelling in this show was so messy I'm sure nobody really understood it. The Untamed also tends to be overly dialogue heavy and compresses all necessary information into a long infodump, like it did during the last few episodes. Also, I can tolerate plotholes in stories but the amount of plotholes in this show is unforgivable, especially because most of them could have been avoided.

One of the best aspects of MDZS is its nuanced exploration of moral themes, but all that was completely scrapped and flattened in this adaptation. Wei Wuxian's character here is completely different. The thing about his original character is that he's supposed to be a genius who created the demonic path. In this show, it was Xue Yang's grandfather who created it. And worse, everything that Wei Wuxian does in The Untamed can be done by literally everyone else. Why the hell was Wen Qing able to manipulate the puppets? Why was Su She able to manipulate Wen Ning? Everything that made Wei Wuxian special in the original novel was scrapped. The reason why everyone was so terrified of him was because he literally could do things nobody else could. He was an unpredictable wild card. The show made him look like a pathetic victim when he was supposed to be a dangerous, unstable demonic cultivator. Making him completely innocent and pushing all his crimes onto Jin Guangyao ruined the nuance and complexity of both their characters.

Another issue is Wen Qing. Her character in this show is basically a deus ex machina that randomly appears whenever the heroes are in trouble. The thing about her is that she does so many things that effectively make her a traitor towards the Wen Sect, and the Wens KNOW this, and yet she never suffers any real consequences for her actions. There's no real risk involved because all she gets are cheap threats in the throne room that never amount to anything bigger than a verbal warning. And the most idiotic thing about this is that despite the fact that the Wens know that she is helping Wei Wuxian, they literally do not do anything to monitor her. I mean, Wen Ruohan knows she's not 100% on their side, why would he give her so much freedom and even entrust important missions to her? It makes no sense. Her character feels terribly hollow because she's set up to be this trapped hostage character but the audience never feels scared or concerned for her no matter what she does because she ALWAYS gets away with it. And after all those threats towards Wen Ning's life, what did the Wens do when they found out she saved Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng? They just threw them in jail. That's it. Then what the hell were all those dramatic threats for? Just for show? And how did she escape the Jin cultivators and end up in the market? She was shown being dragged along with the other Wens, and then suddenly she's in the market with no explanation whatsoever. How did she escape and get there? With her Mary Sue powers?

There's also the weird Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing romantic subplot that came out of nowhere with no buildup whatsoever and then was dropped randomly.

Bad script aside, the sets and costumes were lovely. The OST itself was superb, but the problem was how overly repetitive the editing felt. WuJi and Yi Nan Ping are wonderful pieces but they were overplayed in every scene. Fighting scenes were awful, no way around that. Shoutout to Wang Yibo though because his fight scenes are actually quite nice to watch because of how well he executes them. Was not at all surprised to find out he is a dancer because it really shows in his movements.

The acting was subpar, but I l did lower my standards here considering nearly everyone in the cast were either idols or newbies. Xiao Zhan did well to show Wei Wuxian's mischievousness, but he failed to embody the character of the Yiling Laozu, who was supposed to be terrifying and intimidating. The parts where he was supposed to be scary didn't feel that way at all. Wang Yibo did pretty well as Lan Wangji. I didn't like his acting in the first 12 or so episodes, but he really blossomed later on and made me love Lan Zhan even more. Xuan Lu was simply perfect as Jiang Yanli and is (in my opinion) the actor who did the best in the show. Wang Zhuocheng really overacted at times, but I think he did fairly well for his first big role, and Jiang Cheng IS a difficult character. Wen Qing's actress is the worst of the main cast. She can cry and smile, but when the scene calls for more nuanced acting she falls flat. Even Lan Wangji shows more emotion than she does. They really should have picked a better actress for such a prominent character.

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This drama is a precious gift that is going to be a timeless classic in future!

Adjectives like Enthralling, mesmerizing, captivating, intriguing , entertaining ,magnificent, lavish & utterly addictive can describe this gem of a drama. It is a precious gift that is going to be a timeless classic in future! This fifty-episode drama take us on a powerful path of complex storylines and heart-wrenching longing. It’s a story of self-sacrifice and betrayal, abandonment and retribution, guilt and forgiveness, and the acceptance of responsibility for actions. Choosing to stand together for love and for what is right no matter the consequences; living with regret, and living despite regret.

Story: Let me start out by saying initial few episodes might seem convoluted and confusing, but as you keep delving deeper into the drama, you will notice the fabulous story being unraveled & unfolded. It is an intricately woven tale of family, friendship, resurrection, retribution and everlasting love. The story is amazing! There is not one dull moment in the entire story. Overall, the story feels very compassionate. It wants you to love the majority of the characters and it sympathizes with the audience’s pain when those characters suffer. It rewards deeper thought. It rewards the viewer for caring about the characters, which is something I’ve really needed this year specifically, when it feels like so many shows have been punishing their audience for caring about the characters.

Characters: Each character and not just the two main ones, have been given so much care and you actually feel all of them experience growth from the events that transpire as the series progresses. Each characters are very complex and has so much depth, not to mention how emotional some scenes can be and yet, the actors managed to nail every single one of them. From Wei Ying with his dazzling smile and yet crushed with grief at his final moments, Lan Zhan with his poker face but softness and concern that you can see in the right moment, and even Meng Yao with his nuances.

Acting: Wei Ying and Lan Zhan is thoroughly justified –kudos to actors! Xiao Zhan really is the best Wei Ying and Wang Yibo the best Lan Zhan. They were born to play these characters. They are perfectly cast and do complete justice to their respective characters. Every emotion they portray is realistic. You laugh with them, you cry with them, you feel their pain, their vulnerability, most finely nuanced performances. The chemistry between them is so palpable that you forget they are just a couple of young Chinese actors. Xiao Zhan's acting is so versatile, he brings out the lead character's many many layers with such efficiency, it gives me goosebumps. Wang Yibo on the other hand is pure LOVE. His subtle expressions speak volumes for the character, making him irresistible. And the two of them get along so well, and their love just oozes out of every scene they share. It would be not fair if I don’t mention the contribution of all the supporting actors-who are all simply marvelous and are top quality assets to the whole plot! Alongside becoming completely invested in the two main characters, you start to love nearly the whole cast.

Costumes: When it comes to costumes and props, the producers aren’t here to play. Each character’s costumes have their own unique style, it depends on what state they are in the story. The costumes have around 5-6 major themes, each corresponding to the clan they belong in.

Cinematography: The breath-taking cinematography captured all its beauty, but still focused on the story. I just really love how they directed the cinematography, as it’s one of the elements that keeps the audience watching. The cinematographers took their time in making this element perfect.

Fighting scene: Fight scenes are common scenes throughout the drama and they happen to be some of the scenes I enjoy a lot. I have no exact word of explaining this, but gravity physics is different in this show. The fight scenes are not your typical sword-to-sword fight scene because there’s no fight scenes as graceful as the ones in The Untamed. No matter how gruesome it is, it will always be graceful, as if they’re dancing instead of fighting but somehow still give the vibes of suspense, aggress, and domination.

Music: The music for this drama is ridiculously beautiful. Each of the main characters have their own song. The composition of all the songs are amazing. The lyrics of all the songs tells you the stories of the characters. I love Wuji but to be honest, I love all of them. It’s hard to pick one over another, that’s how good they are. The background music is very melancholy (in a good way). One will want to keep going back to listen to them just to calm down or distress or even just to go down the memory lane of this beautiful drama. Every single one of them is strong enough to give different emotional vibes.

Finally the BL part of the show: The production team seems to have fought for the most romantic interpretation of the show it could get away with. They’re brilliant. Even without stating the relationship as explicitly romantic, this drama managed to show how pure the love between Wei Ying and Lan Zhan is. There are simply too many amazing scenes with them where their relationship transcends the limitations allowed in the script, as seen in the actor’s choices when delivering not only lines, but body language choices and implications behind movement in general. It shows that love can be shown and felt without saying the words “I love you,” and sometimes it’s trailing off sentences that imply more than they are able to say. The Untamed heightens every interaction between them, cementing the idea for me that this is one of the most epic love stories I have ever witnessed. It isn’t every day you see a slow burn like this, and I for one, cherished every moment of it.

I cannot stress this enough: the efforts put into this show is amazingly huge and well thought over. It’s not that type of fantasy drama where they’re just in one studio and overuses greenscreen. The Untamed really went on their way filming on different settings, making well-designed costumes, composing music, and making fiction feel real to make the fantasy its best version. This is one of the many reasons why CQL/The Untamed is one of the best dramas ever. It’s because the efforts of the producers, cast, and anyone who contributed to this drama is impossible to disregard.

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WHY DIDNT I WATCH THIS EARLIER ?

This is the first drama I've written a review for bc I really want ppl to know how amazing this drama is, if ur wondering if u should watch it, DO IT NOW.

I don't know how to describe the story but it got me hooked from the first ep, I was hesitating when I saw it was 50 ep but now I wished it was more, I would watch it even if it was 1000, I'm not even exaggerating.

The music is mesmerizing. I loved all the songs, especially wuji the theme song. I got them all on my Spotify playlist and I even memorize the lyrics.

The cast is PERFECT..I cant imagine anyone else for the roles. The chemistry was everything even tho they were just looking at each other.

Ngl, I can't say there wasn't a moment I wasn't bored. I skip a few scenes but ONLY a few scenes..each and every ep was worth watching and got me hooked till the end.

I've never read the novel, manhwa or watched the donghwa but I watch and read every version bc of this cdrama.

TU introduced me wuxia, xianxia and danmei but Idk if thats a good thing bc when I watch other xianxia or danmei, I would think 'meh, the untamed is better' or 'its good but it can't beat the untamed'.. i don't think if I'll ever get out of my TU era, ig I'll just keep on rewatching it till I get bored, which I prolly won't 😅

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Chiński Władca Pierścieni

Majstersztyk. Pierwsze trzy odcinki raczej nie pociągają w odbiorze, ale potem trudno się oderwać. Do ostatniego odcinka film zaskakuje fabularnie. Cudowna kreacja postaci i wątków. Uniwersalne wartości humanistyczne. Egzystencjalny i wyważony w emocjach, logiczny. Gra aktorska na wysokim poziomie. Dbałość o detale. Trudny do klasyfikacji gatunkowej (co uważam za plus): przygodowy, fantasy, detektywistyczny, obyczajowy z elementami horroru, psychologiczny, z wątkiem romantycznym w tle. Tworzy niezwykłe uniwersum. Szczególnie postać głównego bohatera zbudowana przepięknie, pozostali jednak nie nikną w cieniu, są wyraziści, kradną serca widzów. Z chińskich produkcji po 2017, które obejrzałam, najlepszy, moim zdaniem (osoby z branży).

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Best Drama Ever! PERIOD

I am in love with this drama. I've already watched it three times & I still can't get enough.
Although the drama does not follow the novel in its entirety ( due to censorship laws), it still has a beauty of its own. I love how the creators depict the relationship between the two main leads. The way they interact, the way they look at each other, the slightest touch, in every word left unsaid, the affection shines through. It's the purest form of love I have ever seen on screen.
The drama is engaging from the beginning and progressively gets better and better. It's such an emotional rollercoaster. While some parts will leave you in awe, frustration, & utter heart-wrenching sadness, others will make you squeal, Literally! And it's not one of those dramas where you only care about the main leads while the other characters are just there to fill in. Every single character has a unique element to them & they all add value to the drama.
The casting is perfect. I wouldn't have it any other way.
The music WOW. I highly recommend you check out the theme song for Lan Wanji's character with subtitles(if you don't understand Chinese) and of course the main theme song for the drama.

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You should be brave and patient to watch it.

It was my first time that i watched wuxia dramas. At first i thought that i would Dropped it easily but my idea was false and not mature enough.
Story: The story begins with really sad scene and it'll make you say wow. Wei wuxian says: Lanzhan let me go(my English is not as well as you guys sorry) and after that his bro comes and he kills him and after that he fells off form the Cliff. This part of story made me cry whole time and I was like : No what's happened it's the last scene of drama that came first of drama? And these thoughts surrounded all over my braincells. From episode 2 the main story starts and you will understand why he is alive and what happened to him. Ep 15,16,17,18 are such an important episodes and after that he borns again. The story is full of plot twists and again make you say wow :) mostly I liked the comedy side between Lanzhan and Wei wuxian. Why i said you should be brave and patient? Because some scenes make you sad or uncomfortable. Also it has 50 episodes .So you should be capable to watch it completely and don't drop it asap.
Acting: All of the actors and actresses in this drama were good enough and they are all professional. Emotional parts was acted well without any mistakes. So if you want to watch it, it is really worthy.
Song: BGMs( background musics) are good and pretty soft for listening so search it at Google and listen. But know it guys my comment is really different from yours.
Rewatch value: to tell you the truth, I watched it 3 times and again it's not enough for me. Not only the casts but also whole the story is valuable to watch it. When i rewatched it i already knew what was the whole story but again i said: then what happened and etc.
I hope you guys find what you love and like most in the world:)

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Heartbreakingly Beautiful

Have you ever seen a series that is so well praised, and it makes you think that it is most likely overrated, so you tend to ignore it, believing it to be overrated? This was me before getting sucked into the world of MDZ without return.

This review is for the user who is scrolling through every comment and review to find a reason to convince them that this drama is worth their time. If you're thinking to yourself ''is this really as good as people make it out to be?'' or ''what makes it so special?'' I will try to answer to these to the best of my ability.

Before I get to explain why this is worth one's time, I I am starting off by saying that the production quality is low, they were on a budget and it shows. The costumes and wigs felt like a cheap attempt at cosplaying, the CGI was bad ( we don't talk about the dog scene in prison, if you know you know) and that can interrupt with the watching experience, as it makes the setting less immersive. Nevertheless, being someone who grew up with shows like BBC Merlin, and Xena the warrior princess, I got used to the quality soon. Besides, the storytelling is so impactful that makes you overlook the production and see it as part of the overall experience.

Concerning the acting, it added to that feeling I mentioned above about the story's flow being interrupted due to the quality, since at first I found it weak and lacking, giving the impression that the actors struggled in certain scenes to convey the emotions those said scenes required them to.However, the acting significantly improved and now I can not imagine any character being portrayed by any other actor. They all eventually embraced fully their characters and brought them to life. Not to mention the amazing chemistry between the leads that made the overall watching experience even more exceptional. Maybe the initial problem with the acting is linked to the directing, as it felt awkward to me at moments, and as a result, it affected the acting in the first few episodes.

Now back to the questions. ''What makes this drama so good?'' I hear you ask.

The storytelling. The untamed/MDZ is a compelling story with an exciting setting, an engaging plot and memorable characters combined together in a tale that ties together mystery, romance, ,supernatural, fantasy and adventure, offering a perfectly balanced narrative that is hard not to get drawn to. A story can be considered good when it knows how to develop individually elements like the plot, the setting and the characters ,which when they are brought together they create what we call a masterpiece. A fantasy setting with nuanced and complex characters in a mystery plot are the recipe to a captivating story ,and this drama is perfectly good at capturing its audience. Its pacing allows the viewer to get immersed into the world of the characters, developing an emotional connection to them and digesting easily the information that is provided about the word-building.

The show masterfully blends together themes of loss, betrayal, war, grief, change and explores how different people are affected by certain circumstances they found themselves in, giving depth to the story which makes it leave a lasting impact. The untamed is in short a masterfully done story that it evokes strong emotions to which the performance and the chemistry of the actors contributes to, leaving a strong impression on the viewer. It has the ability to make you get lost in it, making you ask for more. I recommend this drama to anyone looking for a well balanced story which incorporates so many themes into one memorable epic tale.

Now you might be wondering why I gave it a 9 and not a rating of 10 if it is such a well made drama. My issues lie with the censorship that took away from an beautiful romance, yet the bond between the mcs is so strong that even censorship is not able erase it. Moreover, I am bitter that such an amazing story did not get the high quality production it deserved (the fighting scenes and those pirouettes in the air during battles made me lose focus). Overlooking these details, the drama is a masterpiece.

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