In a most positive way possible, it's S+ after all
I remember one OP on twitter said it's interesting how people didn't have high expectation despite this drama is classified as S+. Well, i'm guilty, i'm part of those people.I read the novel, drop it tho, but i read pass the halfway mark. I think part of the reason i didn't put high expectation is because as far as i know, transmigration trope is loosely banned. i said loosely since many mini dramas still have this trope. So because this drama rely heavily on transmigration trope, i just wanna keep my expectation on check in case of major change in the premise.
Plotwise, i actually like the pace. how everything reveal slowly and not dump everything at the end as an afterthought. Although the last 2 episodes could feels like that for some yet it doesn't seem forced, at least for me. It's true how every character including the minor one deserve to shine. The biggest plus imo is the heartwarming ending which in sync with how the drama been carrying on the lighter side from the star. Like i said, nothing seem forced and just go with the flow.
Acting department is good. Again, every character has chance to shine. Our leads shine brighter ofc duh, their chemistry casually overflowing and they served, despite no kissing scene 🤐
And yes, the budget spent wisely during post production. For high budget drama, i can see it result in many departments. Just like Miaomiao said at the beginning, it cost a lot lol.
In short, i love it, still it has so much more to improve. Although if the goal is light drama, i don't mind this ending.
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One of the best series from 2024 <3
The chemistry between the main characters was great, especially at the beginning. It seemed like a kind of enemies to lovers, which I loved!However, after they got together, they had fewer romantic moments.. But the 4 friends remained united in any obstacle they had to face, and Miaomiao, although she was not part of that fantasy world, gave everything to change the story and help the others. I really liked this aspect too.
Although the romance was not really present in the relationship between the two, it was very beautiful how he declared his love for her at the end. I was still sad because I didn't want the story to end like that.. but I feel fulfilled by the fact that the love between them remained.
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Went downhill
The beginning was nice and fun. But after a third of the way through, it began being incredibly childish.From the spoilers I read from the novel, I can tell they went completely off track. No even once have I seen a film/series adaptation doing their own spin be better than the original book, and this is no exception. Overconfident script writers with no real writing talent.
Most of the story and the characters had no point, since in the end none of it was real and the only real people were the female and male lead, according to this drama adaptation.
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Captivating and fun drama!
Overall 10/10🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
This is such a captivating story and I truly enjoyed it! If you liked AOS you will most likely enjoy LGIEF.
I liked how this story blended and blurred the lines of reality and fantasy as the show nears the end. The cinematography is absolutely stunning and the actors were outstanding! I discovered the beautiful Esther Yu in this and look forward to more of her in other works. The highlight of the show is definitely Cui Cui for me! As much as I loved everyone else Cui Cui became my overall favorite apart from Miao Miao and Ziqi <3
The ending was average but everything else makes up for it. It ends on a good note. :)
Highly recommend watching!💞
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If you can't get enough of Ding Yu Xi and Yu Shu Xin's incredible chemistry, Moonlight is the perfect next step. It's a delightful and heartwarming continuation of their story that will leave you smiling.
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To be transported into a book is a Chinese curse
I'll be honest, I wasn't going to write an review initially but the later eps and the ending is worthy of a few choice words. So here goes . .The first half is actually quite good. A lot of that is attributed to the ML. His character is morally ambiguous and definitely dark and brooding. I think this type of role suits him better. The FL has mastered the cutesy, bubbly girl role. She plays it to perfection here. It helps that the script injects just enough modern references to milk the odd wink-wink jokes without labouring the point.
The A-plot is the usual good vs evil/save the world xianxia trope. Nothing new but totally serviceable. Everything fit nicely up to the point of the ultimate confrontation. If you were expecting a final push then you will be disappointed. The story did a detour and our two CP’s goes on separate grand tours to make peace with their inner demons. The pace and feel changed significantly for several eps. They did resolve their backstories but the amount of effort expended feels disproportionate.
Regardless, the A-team reassembles for the final confrontation. It was suitably epic but it feels rushed as so much time was spend on their backstories. If you think that is the signal for some decent fan service then you are wrong (again).
If anything, the last ep was a narrative mess. The show throws everything into the pot and prayed. It has fate, time traveling, fourth wall breaking and leaps between the book world and the real world.
It is not the first time this type of drama has to realigned with the real world because of censorship issues. We are basically told what we just enjoyed and immersed in for many hours are just a figment of our imagination and we need to get a (real) life. Nice.
Most writer will try to play the fate card so that our leads will still fall in love in RL. Usually within a couple of scenes. In this case, it was particularly ham-fisted. It links our leads all the way back to junior high. But this only confirmed that the ML has a crush on the FL for years but she was totally unaware. Even with all the dream state confessions, she woke up with only a vague hint of what transpired. We got the HEA ending but it felt contrived. It is the ending we have to have.
BTW, the skinship quota for the series is fairly low. The 2CP did all the heavy lifting but their interactions are a bit wooden. The OTP finally has a “kiss” in the final seconds of the end credit of the last ep. Is this a joke?
This is where the show left me scratching my head. The bulk of the show is decent and enjoyable. It does flag towards the end but the ending is an awkward scramble to make sense of their tenuous link. One time watch for me.
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Beautiful Story
This was a beautiful drama with great emphasis on storytelling in a way that makes you feel all the emotions. Such a great emotional, uplifting story about loving yourself and having courage despite the fear. It is romantic but also comedic, had moments that made you laugh but also parts where you find yourself tearing up.I love the story--the 2 main leads did such a great job! It's a fantasy but a little different then the typical xianxia drama (in a good way)!
The plot removes around FL in the modern world getting transferred into her favorite auhtor's novel as the plot of a "game". She has to navigate the novel's plot while trying to change the ending for the better. I love the gradual romance between the leads. What started as FL trying to win ML's affection for points to her actually falling in love with him. It's very sweet, fun and endearing. ML started out as a cold, untrusting character but slowly warms himself up to FL and eventually falling in love with her. The way this drama played out their love story really touches your heart--so wholesome. I love seeing the gradual character development for the main casts as they progress through the story. If you enjoy a sweet romance, comedy, a good amount of action, and a story with a good life lesson then give his a try!
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An unexpectedly deep story about processing trauma and learning to love yourself
STORYOn the surface, Love Game in Eastern Fantasy seemed like another transmigration-based fantasy romance that I've read and watched many times. I came into this with certain expectations on how the story would go, but it subverted and exceeded those expectations from the very first episode. What I thought would be a fun and relatively light-hearted fantasy romance turned out to be an unexpectedly deep story about processing trauma and learning to love yourself. I was hooked from the get-go and could not stop watching.
Whoever wrote the script took great care in developing our lead characters on an individual level as well as their romance. The plot was engaging and paced well with each narrative arc having an intentional purpose in the overall story. The romance was super endearing to watch and felt very organic. Sure, it had its cliches, but somehow it worked and didn't feel overdone in this drama.
The team did an extraordinary job of balancing the heavier topics with light-hearted moments. Then we get to the last episode and ending, which made this drama stand out from its peers and clinched the high rating from me. There were definitely some things they could've executed better in the story, but those issues weren't enough to detract from the bigger picture for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed this drama from start to finish.
ACTING/CAST
Our main leads' chemistry was definitely the star of the show. Ryan Ding is a superb actor and he was so magnetic on-screen. He has amazing control over his facial expressions and body language. My eyes couldn't help but be drawn to him whenever he was on-screen. He played the gray, anti-hero character exceedingly well and I sincerely hope he gets more roles like this in the future.
I've watched Esther Yu in a couple of other dramas, and I believe she performed significantly better in this drama than those other ones. Her cutesy character and acting didn't feel as unnatural here and she pulled off the character well. Her cheery disposition was a nice counter to the male lead's brooding.
All the supporting characters shone in this drama as well and surprisingly had a significant part to play in the overall story. If I had to gripe about the cast, the second leads felt underdeveloped compared to everyone else and their roles didn't leave much room for them to showcase their acting skills. The second leads both had the stereotypical stoic and upright character personalities and honestly, they were boring to watch. I suppose we had to assume certain things given their roles and the showrunners wanted to keep the focus on our leading characters.
MUSIC
The music was great! I loved the theme song and all the different soundtracks for different moods were appropriate.
REWATCH VALUE
I've already started rewatching this, and I've picked up on some Easter eggs/hints that I didn't pick up during my first watch-through. There were also many emotionally impactful moments for me that I love to rewatch, whether they were sad or happy or funny moments. Since the story was paced well and it was just simply super entertaining, I think this drama has high rewatch value. The cinematography was also outstanding and the CG was relatively good.
OVERALL
This drama has easily made its way into my top 5 favorite dramas of all time now. I applaud the showrunners for the direction they took this drama in and I'm genuinely happy for its success in China because it could encourage more showrunners to break the mold a bit more. I'm convinced that those who didn't enjoy the second half and/or ending of this drama were not able to appreciate the bigger picture of what the showrunners wanted to convey through this drama, but to each his/her own. I highly recommend you give this drama a try and form your own opinion.
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One of the best idol drama of 2024
At last 2024 put out a good idol fantasy Drama... The story is interesting, the pace is really good, great acting from all the actors, and most importantly good characters writing. So far I've watched half way through all the episodes, and haven't stump on one boring episode. Thoroughly enjoying each episode. Truly recommended. Please give it a try... I've read the novel many months ago, and this drama is a rare good adaption, kudos to the writer 👏Was this review helpful to you?
Boring
The female lead is so annoying with her baby talkVoice she always does the same In most of her dramas I got bored watching it and that’s that I tried giving it a chance but nope couldn’t keep myself to watch it the male lead is good the storyline was ok to me but even if I made myself watch up to episode 8 I just couldn’t keep watching it she ruined it for me
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Thanks for this amazing adaptation!!!! - From a day one fan!
Ive been following the story of The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus since it was just a webnovel so to watch it get turned into a manga and eventually a tv show is just a dream come true!! Not only do the actors really resemble their characters, but they also perfectly encapture their personalities!!! The whole crew also did a fantastic job by dressing every character in similar outfits to what they wore in the manga, which just added to the magic for fans! Im so happy to see this story come to life!Was this review helpful to you?
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It has been on my list for so long! Loving it so far! The visuals ❤️
Ep 1 to Ep 11: So far this is going good. I immensely enjoyed all the interactions between the leads. It seems like Ding Yu Xi has good chemistry with all his co-stars. The more time spent on them the better for the drama because the second couple are very passive and nothing is happening there. I like both the actors but right now they feel like props, hoping that they are more fleshed out in the future episodes. The visuals are so good, from the clothing to the special effects. I especially love Ding Yu Xi's look when he goes demon!Was this review helpful to you?
