Now that I have completed it, it was a nice series with great chemistry between the two leads & supporting cast. Xu Kai's expressiveness priceless; he really showed the character's heartache & confusion. There were a few times where abrupt cuts or scene changes were minimally felt but not too disruptive to overall story. Maybe a little bit rushed but all doable. Wu Jia Yi as Su You Lian did an excellent job. She's graceful, connected well with her character's conflict & drive. The OST was compelling & had me immediately looking for it to listen to; especially "Never Change" by Ye Xuan Qing. I don't know the language but just like many of the songs from "The Untamed," I know what I feel when I hear it and appreciate it even more for it's beauty.
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This review may contain spoilers
A timely commentary about human behaviour
Short review:Why this is not rated 10/10:
Flawed story with lots of holes, dialogue lacking, acting not perfect, ideas and themes not entirely new.
Why it has a 9/10: Romance intertwined in a relevant message and some pretty scenes with a happy ending.
It is a show that left me thinking about serious issues in the world today. There is a comment in the end about revenge being a never ending cycle. The helplessness in this moment about having to move forward is what I feel that much of the shows message is about .
The show brings awareness of different viewpoints of discrimination through the concepts of racism and ethnic cleansing but there is a side story on patriarchal behaviours. The intolerance and discriminatory behaviours exist because of a fight between two clans who. It is mentioned at one point that the reason to enslave the other is that if they are left alone with their real power, they will in turn enslave the other clan. It becomes a fight for supremacy of one over the other. We see intolerance in another form through a son being valued over daughter who suppresses her true nature simply to exist.
But most of all the show is a romance. The messaging brings heartfelt awareness of hopelessness that exists in the world, but it also creates the situation for a great romance story.
There are two MLs who are wonderful characters. The first half of the show builds a romance with one lead and the FL and the second half builds a romance with the other. At some point, I thought "will this show be brave enough to have her end up with both?" :) . The 1st ML appears to be a roguish prince character and his development was rushed at the end, but he had to suffer so much and he loved so hard that one can't help but be on his side. The 2nd ML is definitely the strong, strategic, kind, hero. He is smart and sees the big picture and will sacrifice for the cause. But what could be missed is that the 1st ML is all that as well. His messed up upbringing has him suppressing all his heroic qualities but we see that in every situation where he has to make the righteous choice he never fails.
It is hard to navigate the FL because of the character. Once you understand the role, it is a tough one pull off; she did a credible job of conveying the idea that even love sometimes cannot help someone overcome intolerance that is indoctrinated and taught to her from childhood.
So, go ahead, jump right in and enjoy the romance.....
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Had the potential, It actually was quite good
Let's start off with the story:
It follows the main lead, li xuan, a half kunwu and half human tasked with the duty to protect the seal of the Kunwu king and Su You Lian who carries the hope of her entire weakened Kunwu clan, majority of them enslaved by humans, forced into hiding after the defeat of their king. As the only priestess of Kunwu, she is tasked to sneak into the city where the Kunwu king is hidden and free him in order to restore the clan.
A pretty interesting concept, They could've gotten more into depth with the sufferings of the clan, though they did show some scenes of enslavement and the aftermath
I couldn't get myself to feel for them and this made the importance of her duty weigh less. I also didn't feel any deep emotions for the clan other than "poor people"
Honestly towards the end, I found the fight extremely boring and lackluster, it just felt like they wanted to end it yet decided to drag out the plot.
Characters:
I didn't see any huge character developments for majority of the cast except for the nerd and princess, felt like the side characters might as well not exist and is there to show how the main lead is normal with a bodyguard and the cliche moodmaker. Even the main lead's admirer lacked substance to her character, she's literally there just to annoy and overreact.
I found the the chemistry between the two really good.
You lian who struggles to trust a "human" after being taught to hate them her entire life decides to put them all into the capable second male lead without a doubt in stead of the main lead which I thought was odd.
Also as someone mentioned, the mountain scene really stood out to me. She has wings, why does she have the need for a rope.
World building:
The school itself felt like a huge prop meant for the love triangle to happen, it's overused. Probably because of the lack of budget. The directing however, is beautiful. They really made full use of the lighting and camera angle to be able to capture the emotions and world within limited budget, it carried the entire show tbh (also Li Xuan's acting).
Plot:
Loads of plot hole.
pacing was bad, It started off too fast, dragged it out in the middle and the ended it all of a sudden with a cliche ending that felt really shallow especially after everything the clan had to go through. At least show that their history books have changed and the people's behavior towards the truth or something, the drama would've been a lot better if they had proper writing. Maybe they could've fit more into the limited episodes they had.
Overall, it was really nice to watch, mainly because the main lead and beautiful scenes, you'll get some good laughs out of the romcomedy. It's not amazing but it's worth a watch. I'm the type to stop watching something within 3 episodes and surprisingly, managed to finish this and enjoyed it :)
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Not recommended this drama
Actually I have big expectation because of Xukai but, after all this not my type of drama. The story start with promising plot and acting but in the midle the story of main lead is lack, I don't think so Su Youlian really weak and not principle like that. But, for second lead cast, I give applause because they can bring the good plot and acting.Xukai should thinking again to take this type of drama. He was played the same role before and this drama like repetiting and repetiting again. I like Xukai but not for this drama. Sorry Xukai but I think you should thinking again to accept the type of roles.
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Poor for another cast, but I think this drama plot really bad
This drama is full of illogical things and too wordy. I expected a lot from this drama but it turned out to be really beyond expectations. Too bad for a drama starring Xukai.Character:
Why do I see so many of the characters Gu Yan Zhen and Wang Lu here? It's like repeating the same character many times. Please for Xukai don't take dramas like this again. Cast / acting Wu Jia Yi acting is very unnatural. I see the opposite. At Arsenal Military Academy he is very good at bringing the disturbing character of Qu Manting but here he is very illogical and a bit chaotic.
Plot: Very bad plot and too wordy. The initial episode I was able to enjoy it but entering the middle episode was very disturbing and very slow in its flow. I began to get sleepy and did not enjoy it. Seriously. I hope to be better at making drama plots.
For Wu Jia Yi, get the ability to play Qu Manting again. It was very bad here and there were many unreasonable things that Youlian did. Thanks.
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This review may contain spoilers
honestly such an amazing drama
a lot of people are saying that this drama isn’t the best but honestly it was great. I did think that some parts were slow and the drama focused to much on second leads. The first 11 eps were great and the last few were also good. The ending was also perfect in my opinion. The best thing about this drama was the music, each song carried so much feeling and were addicting to listen to. The female lead isn’t also that bad, here acting is a little bit awkward but I don’t think it interferes with the drama.Was this review helpful to you?
One of my best cdrama.. Love the drama and his character ?
I watched The legends before that but then I drop at half of ep. due to so many episodes but then I came across this drama and I became a big fan after watching this and linjian mountain drama. I showed this to my siblings and my frds, they also watched all his dramas n became a big fan like me ✌️😂Afterwards I watched all his other dramas and currently my job is waiting for his new drama now. 'emperial cuisine and Zhao ge'. Thanks for having him as main lead....TBH his eyes his sparkling handsome and the way he look at is just too adorable that I want to live him more😍😍😍😘😘😘😘😘😘
I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.. I just became a Chinese drama lovers after watching his dramas and now I m addicted towards cdrama, more than kdramas😭😭😭
Please take more of his main lead drama.💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋
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Interesting in the beginning, a bit dragging in the middle, too rushed in the end
Although Xu Kai is more famous and holds the lead role as Li Xuan, I feel that Li Jun Chen aka Yu FengMu is the most handsome actor in this production (nice hairdo and costume). His eyes is mesmerizing and can convey micro expressions. He deserves more chances in a lead role.Nice CGI effect when spiritual powers are being used. And the flying choreography is good.
The costumes and props and background is also beautiful. Other supporting characters needed more screentime and story development.
I like the song "If". It suits Yu FengMu's story in this drama.
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Cute drama
I personally enjoyed it so much. There was enough drama but not over the top. Absolutely loved all the characters. The friendship was just as beautiful as romance. No too toxic and unreasonable characters which was also nice. Happy ending, which is often not the case in C Dramas. The actors are also great. No poker face characters who can't express a single emotion. The plot is quite interesting. It's a pretty simple and easy to follow and enjoy story. Overall very beautiful and relaxing fairy tale, if you ask me .Was this review helpful to you?
Some more episodes
To see the number of episodes ,I said thank God because historical types dramas always have more than 35 episodes but when ending reached I asked why there are only 28 episodes.Drama started with a good note . Starting few episodes were funny . But love story is short means not much romantic scenes. As soon as love story started , misunderstanding entered and brought hatred and when hatred got over ,drama is over.
That's why felt little bit more episodes should be there.
About characters all are excellent.
Plus point of this drama that all characters have happy endings except second lead ,though he also got happy ending but still felt that he should have the charming princess at the end.
I want to see their baby in that heaven place in this way drama has the best ending .This I think so.
As a whole I enjoyed watching the drama.
Songs were also good
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What I did love was the CGI of Li Xuan’s powers - when the writers allowed him to use them, that is, which happened rarely. And it’s too bad because when he kicked butt, he kicked butt big time.
Another thing that I loved was the friendship between Li Xuan and his bodyguard, Changqing. The actor who played Changqing, Zhang Cengceng, was amazing, he had this quiet power about him. Unfortunately, like with many other things in this drama, Li Xuan and Changqing’s relationship kinda got lost in the kerfuffle around the middle and then it simply... fizzled out.
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