Till the End of the Moon (2023)

Confusing and disappointing.

After waiting YEARS for this drama it finally came out and its... not the best. Despite the fact that the drama has been delayed for years and everyone has been expecting it. Absolutely everything looks unfinished unpolished and cheap. I'm not really sure what setting it's supposed to be in, and some of the costume choices are almost insulting to the eyes. Theres wayyyy too much plastic, fake fur, and feathers.

Some of the songs are bangers but everytime I hear an electronic pop song in the BG, my blood pressure rises. After starting off incredibly strong the quality starts to dip after episode 10 or so? I think that the show could have benefited from having it story simplified or a longer run time, so it could have an ending that actually makes sense and is capable of providing closure for a viewer.


The best thing about the show was the explosive chemistry between Bai Lu and Luo Yunxi. They were too hot for words. As an adult I'm glad the drama is not chaste, and showcases some passion.

Read More

Haters gonna hate but it's still a rare diamond.

All the great praises have been mentioned by other reviewers. So there you have it: a very entertaining storyline that is darker and can be quite heartbreaking at times, superb acting, out of this world costumes, catchy music, CGI and all.

Since the time it went on air up until now, it has been staying at the top of many charts in mainland China for the number of views, market share, the popularity on social media, etc. As a result, however, it also gains many anti-fans and haters. There are multiple smearing campaigns going on non-stop trying to bring it down, so much that Chinese viewers said it's a good and evil battle both in the show and out of the show. Either way, it doesn't matter what the haters say because the show's actual numbers are still going strong. It even helped the tourism of 2 cities in China, whose names happen to collide with characters and events in the show. So I guess that's a good influence and achievement.

As for the logic in the storyline, I guess fans can defend it by saying gov censorship demanded the show to be cut down to only 40 episodes, while originally it had 58 episodes. Therefore it can feel jumpy at times. Given the fact that I had read the original novel before watching this show, I have no problem understanding it, but I guess to the 1st time viewers it can be too much info to process at once. Yes there will be quite a lot of small details and theories cramming into the storyline without enough screentime to explain. Then each of these small details will be linked to later episodes, that only when you rewatch the show for the 2nd or 3rd time that you realize how it makes sense as a whole.

The premise of this show is when Li Susu, our female lead, has to go back to 500 years before to prevent the birth of the new Devil Lord, who destroyed everything and killed everyone in her current timeline. How to do it? Her father guessed that she had to destroyed the Evil Bone, which was supposed to be the source of power for the Devil Lord to reborn again. So where was this Evil Bone? It was inside the heart of a common human named Tan Taijin.

Here's the catch, which is important: Li Susu cannot kill Tan Taijin before destroying the Evil Bone. Tan Taijin cannot die, or else once he dies, the Evil Bone will be awakened and he will immediately goes from human to Devil.

That's why even though Li Susu witnessed how the Devil Lord killed her father and everyone 500 years later, once she transcended into the past, she still had to keep Tan Taijin alive by all means. Does she hate him? Yes, there was the scene when she tortured him, but later she felt bad about it. Because at least for now, Tan Taijin was still just a human that had done nothing wrong, and not the Demon Lord of 500 years later.

Thus afterwards, it's a story of Li Susu trying to change Tan Taijin for the better, trying to prevent him from dying, or trying to kill him along side the Evil Bone. As for Tan Taijin he is a very very complex character who also got entangled into many problems. He was a hostage prince who wasn't born with emotions. His nature only wires him to have a thirst for power. Most people around want to bully him, betray him, or kill him. The Devil Lord still resides inside his head and whispers evil things to him, waiting for the day to revive again. So it's really a story of character development for Tan Taijin from zero to hero, to learn good and evil, to love life and people, and to prevent the Devil Lord taking over his body.

I don't agree with the statement that this show is only light entertainment and doesn't require intelligence. Why? As I mentioned above, there's too many details going on that if you don't pay attention you will miss it, which makes a rewatch worth it. How come a few side characters who are normal human can live up to 500 years later? Why is there a Dream arc in the middle of the show, does it mean anything to the story as whole? Well if you didn't pay attention or didn't watch the later episodes, of course it wouldn't make sense. I've seen people tearing the show to shreds based on quick preview trailers, only to find out that the actual story was not what they criticize it for.

Is this show worth watching? Yes, if you look at it with fresh eyes, and don't let the toxicity of C showbiz or prejudices affect you.

Last but not least, omg Luo Yunxi acting just keeps getting better and better. The scene that he acted out a physical pain seemed so real and raw, it became a top trending search on Weibo. At first people scorn him for the overly done makeup, but once they get into the story it's his acting that matters. He got a lot of body shaming comments when this show first launched, but that is because people couldn't find any other faults at him. In every character he played, be it the Devil Lord of the original timeline, Tan Taijin, or the God of War in the Dream arc, he managed all very beautifully.

This show is not 100% perfect, but I would say, to many people including myself, it's already better than most.

Read More

虐到极致 or my very unpopular opinion on tteom

Usually I don't write reviews but I really wanted to express my critism on a very hyped series like this. I really thought I'd like till the end of the moon, I like tragedy, hard and dark stories and while enemies to lovers isn't my favourite I do like it. I tried really hard but I just couldn't like till the end of the moon.
You might be wondering about my rating being 7.5, but that's because I tend to give high ratings, because I think in every work was put hard work and that there's barely any series or movie that would deserve zero or one star(s).
My problem with till the end of the moon is at first place YXW and TTJs relationship, and by that I only mean the mortal life part. Many people liked it, but I just felt it really wasn't it and really really toxic. Not even because YXW wanted to kill TTJ or how TTJ did some harmful things to YXW. It's how their entire relationship was built on primary abuse. Of course we know the YXW who treated TTJ kindly was actually LSS, but TTJ doesn't and that's the problem. Yes, he's messed up, obsessed or whatever else but a relationship can never be healthy or function properly if there was primarily abuse, and the abuser didn't at least redeem themself. Of course LSS is not to blame and of course TTJ also manipulated the true YXW through her idea into marrying him, but honestly it just an extreme version of arranged marriage and everything in tteom is so messed up that I can't care for it. I cannot cope with people shipping YXW and TTJ at all or blaming YBC and saying YXW and TTJ could've been happy without her. No they couldn't. The fault is on them, because they're acting like little kids and not communicating at all, even about things they could, especially YXW, because TTJ is not a functioning human so he could be seen as balloon that could explode anytime. (Oh and Lbfad fairy and devil might be not SeRiOuS enough or Orchid too annoying but at least they tried to communicate and understand eachother). What annoys me most is just how dumb LSS is, everyone always mentions her in smart FL recommendations but she's just really really dumb. It is lovely trying to understand and redeem TTJ, but after all the things he's done I expected at least that she understood TTJs messed up mental state before the Xiao Lin incident. From the start the revenge couldn't work because she just doesn't get TTJ. He will explode when he is betrayed, who doesn't matter, it's like LSS has forgotten it all. "She loves him, that's why she tries to give him a chance again and again" No, actually we see how much she also hates him, so why can't she try to see what she needs to do to kill him successfully, it's not like she's already manipulating him.
Oh, and getting to my favourite part: YBC. I absolutely love YBC as character, not Tian Nv she has nothing to do with it. YBC is great, I absolutely support her killing the grandma and whatever else and hate how evil she was presented as. I think most people forget that the grandma and everyone else basically watched how YXW made fun of and abused YBC. And again YBC and everyone else do not know that she's LSS. I personally would rage too if your long term abuser suddenly acted like a good person and everyone forgave her, especially her biggest victim (TTJ). I get it, the granny and everyone else just seem like an amazing family but we really shouldn't forget how they just ignored and excused everything YXW did. Of course they redeemed themselves after LSS came and treated YBC better, but would you be able to forgive them? would you? Of course stealing the love thread is bad, bit wouldn't you do that too?
Let's just turn everything around and act like YBC is the main character, she would play a much better anti-hero and protagonist than YXW, she'd be so much more relatable and understandable than YXW. So if you get YXW why not her?

Coming to my favourite part where all the novel readers talk about how mature tteom is and dark. And how it's about love for eachother and the world despite everything. Actually I just feel like it's pain porn and adults that can't communicate.
And I just felt it didn't give the right message about love. Personally I felt Lbfad did way better (personally, your opinion if you feel otherwise, please don't attack me), and I think it is comparable with tteom to everyone saying tteom is so mature and Lbfad light-hearted. The trauma for both the male leads and unwillingness to forgive but still wanting to be loved is comparable. Or how LSS and Orchid both start off innocent (we just don't see it for long with LSS because the story started right off with the massacre) and naive. There's actually a lot of parallels between them. In an edit (I think made by IQiyi summing up Lbfad) they wrote: Love is unconditional and for everyone, that love doesn't make sense you just love.
And that changed my view of Lbfad and tteom all over again. Love in tteom just felt incredibly conditional (for the people saying it's about loving the world, that also felt conditional).
There's a quote in Lbfad: 我爱苍生，也爱一人。(I love the world, but also one person)
And I feel it not only fits well for Orchid, but also LSS. And for the MLs it's the other way, because they love one person, for that person they also end up loving the world and dying for it. Orchid and DFQC both sacrificed themselves and their love is just so unconditional for both the world and each other. I couldn't feel that for LSS and TTJ. And I get, their relationship is more complicated, but I just wished that as CJM and LSS they could love eachother unconditionally, after everything was cleared, but they still didn't. CJM still seemed a bit obsessed with LSS (but better) while LSS still couldn't love him unconditional. And I get, it's hard, but I really felt like I'm missing a closure with her love for TTJ. We only saw her crying in the last episode, it would've been everything if she just tried to trust TTJ after he turned into the demon god a little bit longer, or just told him she loved him. She doesn't even need to trust him, just express her love, just like the scene where orchid asked DFQC if he truly never loved her. But no, there was no closure, just a two minute scene of LSS crying Infront of TTJs grave like she did with everyone else.
That aside, the plot hooked me from the start and I did like the entire cultivator arc except for the missing closure for LSS. It's just the miscommunication were really unbearable at some point.
Thanks for reading to everyone who did, this ended up way longer than I thought it would.

Read More

Picturesque, Breathtaking, Devilishly Good~

So, here I am, after finishing Till The End of The Moon, flabbergasted by that abrupt ending. I'm not saying that it was rushed. The finale was indeed well paced and worth being called "finale". I was just so into the story, that I actually expected some more "after effects" after the finale. But it suddenly ended and left me with some unfinished emotions as well as some unanswered questions, i.e. was the last big misunderstanding clarified to the world? That will probably be my only drop of bitterness when I reminisce about this drama.

The story itself was a great journey, full of sadness, hatred, jealousy, bitterness but also love (but I guess you can apply that to every Xianxia). It feels like ages since I watched the first episodes (even though it has only been 2 weeks), so it's kinda hard to recollect every moment (guess I have to watch again, lol).

I was able to connect quite well with the characters very early on, even though Luo Yun Xi's character Tantei Jin was hard to grasp at the beginning because his image from Ashes of Love was still dominant in my mind. But he convinced me in no time and before I could even think about it, I was already convinced by his new character. And now, remembering the very first episode with him, I have to say that he introduced a phenomenal, cruel Devil God to the world.

I was always worried that the slow changes in his attitude and mindset caused by Ye Xiwu (FL) would be destroyed again, everytime someone betrayed him. It was completely understandable that he remained so insecure for 2/3 of the story when you think about the way he grew up, although I'm a bit sad that he didn't investigate enough and didn't give the benefit of the doubt at the end of the human realm arc. Same goes for Ye Xiwu. It took her a very long time to actually believe in him. Even the slightest "seemingly" evil deed done by Tantei Jin would throw her back into believing he would never change and always be the Devil God she feared so much.

What the story was also good at was showing how fast people and immortals were to prejudge and find a first obvious culprit without much investigation, instead of believing the truth they should know deep down. At least the immortals should have been a better judge of character. I was also most frustrated with the accused ones to never explain the whole thing or at least enough, always pausing in their sentences, and the accusers to just assume their own truth with only fractions of the circumstantials. So many things could have been prevented.

Regarding the love triangles, I'm glad they didn't give much weight to that part. They were there, yes. They caused some trouble, yes. But they vanished quite fast, too. Much to my liking, since I hate that trope the most.

It's been a day after finishing the drama and the music is still lingering in my head as well as those stunning costumes and breathtaking scenes. You just never want to look away but absorb every single image. Don't know how to get it out, don't want to either. I want to restart it, yet I don't want to. Xianxia always leave me with a weird feeling.

If you look for something similar to Ashes of Love or Love Between Fairy and Devil, then feel free to watch this as well. It won't disappoint, I promise.

Read More

Emotional Strong Acting

Very emotional series, with strong acting. Beautiful Visual Effects, graphics and story is interesting. Kept me engaged every second of it and didn't forward at all. Loved how is presented the story and how the characters been played. It's a gem for this year except the ending. Why on earth doing 40 episodes cannot be present 5 minutes of beautiful ending and just leave it to watchers imagination. I would love to see their ending and not what i think it could be. The Starry Love another beautiful one with the same ending. If you watch a movie of 2 hours than is ok to have any ending, but investing 40 hours of your life in a masterpiece and ending like this, not left with a good taste. Of course this is down to writer, production team..., but stil.
I will come back and re-watch it but probably till ep. 36 :).

Read More

There is not novelty, time-stretching behavior.

Story: bad
It is very difficult to watch 100% of the movie time, I skipped a lot.
This movie is like writing a program.
Created a problem in the first episode => solved the problem in the last episode.
In the middle of the movie:
Created problems => solved it.
=> created more problems => solved it =>..................
This method is repeated too much.
The supporting characters are almost non-existent.
Only those who are very patient can watch it all.
Acting/Cast:
Both the main is very good. The supporting characters OK.
Closthe, music, background..... Good for all.

Read More

This is my favorite drama.

TTEOM is an excellent representative work that is innovative and groundbreaking in terms of prop and costume design as well as story structure. Perhaps many of us cannot accept this ending, but I increasingly feel that the ending is actually quite perfect and leaves a lasting impression. Just like how Sangju obtained eternal life in Mingye's heart, Dan Taijn also obtained eternal life in the heart of his beloved, having learned to love and receiving love in return. He protected his loved ones as well as all living beings in the Three Realms. There is nothing to regret, it is really very fulfilling. Moreover, the director also gave us an open-ended scene of Dan Taijun in the Heart Scale at the end, just like Mingye, Dan Taijn's divine consciousness is also preserved in the Heart Scale. Su Su and her daughter are by the river 500 years later, while Dan Taijn is searching by the Weak Water, which is exactly opposite to each other, all of which may imply that Dan Taijun is about to be reborn and return.

Read More

best xinxia 100%

Best effect , best actors and actress, best storyline,best romantic couple,best kissing ,love the Bailu and Luo Yunxi costume.
it's so perfect. every episode is worth to wait. i like the fantasy effect cgi .
i like the bounding between major actor and actress.and of course i love Luo yunxi and Bai lu couple. uhmm make me got the feeling of sad , happy, and others .
this drama have many talented actors and actress . many hours spending efforts to this drama. im very appreciate this.
i saw behind the scene and i saw they do so many times to make one scene perfect.Good job everyone.
PERFECT!! keep the good work..!!

Read More

Loved the premise, not so much the execution

Thoughts:
- oh my god the blood spitting, half the time everyone on screen had bloodied mouths
- there were several storylines (lives) of MCs that didn't really connect that well, at the end it seems it's just too complicated for no good reason, but there was no amnesia thankfully
- the MCs never really come together, one is always angry at the other, it seems like it was just endless running in circles! He became the devil god like three times already before the final one. There were so many unnecessary developments that sidetracked the main story
- I loved that he actually became the dreaded devil god, but I don't understand why she didn't love him, it was still mostly him, just more evil!! He was still the same old softie below the facade
- I feel like a lot of the things made absolutely no sense and were invented just so they could spin the story whichever way they wanted

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the last two episodes of the all-powerful devil god ??

I disliked the ending. I hated that their resolution was for the devil god to be killed out of existence.

Read More

Probably My Love & Hate Chinese Fantasy Drama

Honestly, i watched this because it just wouldn't leave my netflix front page, it would always show up. So bet, watched it and i did not expect how good this show was going to be.

First off, I'm very much that guy who's really eagle eyed when it comes to CGI and cinematography as well since i studied animation for a year. Immediately, i noticed the CGI Effects, i really like the vision that the people behind this wanna show to us viewers, it's fire and that's the thing that will always draw me in in these types of shows, is the VISION, but i can't really help but judge the effects since sometimes it's very jank and it doesn't blend in sometimes. You see, i just watched 'The Longest Promise' before this and that drama had the cleanest cgi that i've ever seen from a Chinese Fantasy drama, it's not perfect it had some flaws, but it's not jarring for the most part, but mind you that dramas doesn't have a grand vision unlike this one. And it's very EPIC as well, like the opening episode of this drama, so epic, again it's the OVERALL VISION URGGHHH!!!

The story honestly, what sold me in this like around episode 3 is the Romance Aspect and the Dynamic of ML and FL as well. The Romance aspect is so so good. In the beginning, the romance is non-existent cuz i thought this was something like a revenge drama, i mean it is, but i actually did not expect it to turn out the way it did, though it's kinda very obvious as well that there's a chance that it might happen, but what really carried it in the early parts of the show is the dynamic of the Main Couple plus the off the charts chemistry from their actors, that's what i kept clicking the next episode for and the way it developed later on, is soo good! Literally every turning moment in the later parts i kept saying "ugh! i can see why it's till the end of the moon, shit! literally till the end of the moon!". I hate it in dramas where the characters are playing tug of war with each other's feelings like the break up-make up cycle, i find that really toxic, especially in real life, but here, i don't know how the writers did it, but it's done really well, it's not annoying at all. I haven't mentioned the other plot of this show, which is the fighting/magic aspect, that's because i find it just okay, again mostly because of the jarring effects, but i like the vision that they're trying to portray, i don't think i have much to say about it, i mean it's there, it's okay, but i think if you set that all aside and look at only the Romance aspect this is more than just a 10/10 because they really nailed the part, but in my heart, i know it's a 10. Also, that dream arc, really surprised for how well written that arc was, they actually invested a lot of time and effort for that arc, but i just couldn't really get invested in that arc, because this is just a dream, why else would i care about it? and it was such a long arc as well, i almost got checked out in this series by the end of that arc, i know it had a contribution to the overall story, but i think they could've made it shorter.

The Characters, i think all of them got overshadowed for how good the Main Couple were and their actors as well, ugh!! Like this is my first time with these actors/actresses and My gawd... ML and FL didn't have to go this hard, you can really feel that they are being pushed to the limit. Like the director on the set was probably like "Come on! I know you can do more!" they are so goated actors that i don't know why i feel bad because there's a lot of blood spitting scenes here, especially with ML. And FL, was trying to stop myself from liking her as an actress because i still have a lot of drama from other actresses that i want to watch. I don't want to add more on my plate, i don't wanna get invested, but oh my god! she's just such a good actress you know? and i really like her playful/bubbly acting, she's really really cute when she does it. The writing of their characters itself is also good, i really like how it started and how it developed along the way, though there are some few ass pulling plot convenience, but that's just a minor complaint of mine. And i say overshadowed by ML and FL, i joke, there are other side characters that i really like as well. For example Ye Qing Yu, i love him as a brother character, he is done really well, especially in the later parts when he's standing before ML not as his General, but as a brother of FL, the scripting is so so good and I love her dynamic with Pianran, their side plot romance is really cute and really tragic as the same time. I also like Nian baiyu as well, he's such a goated side character because he has a big contribution to ML's characterization. Xiao Lin, i think he's a decent character, he was ok written, and when he's on screen he's hitting all the points to make his character standout. During the dream arc as Sang You, he was mostly passive, and as Gongye Jiwu he's also great, but i wish they spend a little bit more on him questioning his own existence you know, that was really good and at the end as well though he kinda became annoying a little. I really don't like Ye bingchang, she was written to be that weak minded character and i don't get how she didn't even develop that much at all, all of her incarnations are annoying as well, though her devil incarnation was really good because its the culmination of all her incarnations combined into one. The rest of the side characters, most of them are okay, there are a lot of them and most of them we didn't even have the time to explore so it ended up most of them getting wasted

The music, oh my god! it's so good, i love all of the OST here, they know how to do it and when to put it in which moments, combine that with the top tier acting and well written scenes, it's soo good. The music really did a good job at elevating this drama, though i would minus a point for it since sometimes it's loud, like louder than the dialogue of the character.

Other than that, i don't think i have any more critiques or complaints for this drama, it is really good, though i hate to rate it higher, but i just can't deny how good it is. Go watch it if you like these kinds of drama and the chemistry of Main Couple Actors here is so good too.

Read More