A good story with fantastic characters.

Starts strong. Ends strong. Lags a little in the middle, but not too badly. Good story. Brilliant actors. Wonderful characters that take a while to get to know, but are worth the effort, and by the end I didn't want to say goodbye.

Honestly, I was a little concerned at the start. Some moments seemed a little over-dramatized, I wasn't sure if I'd like the characters, and some moments felt so silly I wasn't sure if I'd care about the stakes. But the more I watched it, the more I loved it. Before long, I loved the characters, was super invested and emotionally engaged, and some of those early decisions made a lot more sense and I approved of them in hindsight. The show is an interesting mix of serious and ridiculous, and once I got used to the style, I found it highly enjoyable. I think it works because it doesn't hold back on anything: the fun stuff is fun, and the serious stuff is taken seriously, so the balance works. The show knows how to make you laugh, but doesn't hesitate to break your heart and stomp on it (prepare your tissues).

The actors who played the main leads did a brilliant job. There were times they had to play multiple characters, and even when they were dressed the same, you could tell which character it was just by the acting, which is a testament to their skill. They also had a lot of extremely challenging scenes, and they pulled them off every time. Truly amazing skill. I was convinced by their acting, and really felt like I was watching real people go through real experiences. I can't praise the main leads enough.

I admit, I was a little disappointed that at the start we were promised main characters who shape-shifted and had no legs, but those elements visually disappeared part way through, and all the main characters looked perfectly human for the rest of the show. But I understand this was probably a practical issue. There was a lot of CGI already, and having to constantly use CGI for main characters would've added a huge amount of extra work and possibly influenced the quality overall. Given the budget, they did well.

As for the story adaption... They adapted it well. I know sometimes it can seem creators are twisting themselves in knots to get around censorship, and their decisions can be judged pretty harshly because of it. But I can't imagine the difficultly they face with these adaptions, and honestly I think the changes in this case make sense and the story holds up. I try not to compare adaptions to the original, but take the drama for what it is. I admire the work that went into this, and I think the final product is good value and makes sense as a story.

Overall, a great show, well worth watching.

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Unreliable narrator done right

Clever storytelling. The show starts in Yoh's perspective, and only gives us his very biased interpretation of what is going on, based on his limited information. As the character learns, so do we, and each episode reveals more of what is truly happening between the two leads. This is how stories are meant to be told. And it is super exciting to see an unreliable narrator used in BL, especially since it doesn't happen often. But because it doesn't happen often, it's somewhat risky; people can drop these stories too soon, before the whole truth can be revealed. Or they get so sold on the lie, they can't let it go even after the truth is revealed. Personally, I'm glad this show took the risk. I love stories told this way. It's clever. And I definitely recommend watching all the way through so you can judge the entire story as a whole before deciding what you think of it.

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Clever and heartbreaking metaphor

This show blows my mind and breaks my heart. But is also sweet and heartwarming. (Trust me, you'll understand after you watch it.)

This show tells you pretty early how to interpret it: it's a metaphor; a mystery but not about scary ghosts; a "film" that's using a creative way to tell a deeper story, and every detail has a deeper meaning. Seriously, there are so many layers. Stories within stories (and stories within stories within stories). And every single layer broke my heart more!! Though I loved that the overall message appears to be hopeful.

You might say this show uses a slow-burn approach to storytelling. Whether you're taking the story at a surface level, or reading deeper into it, the story comes together slowly. There are clues all along the way, and the layers gradually weave together as you get more and more details, the relevance of certain scenes or conversations only becoming clear much later. Personally, I adored this method of telling the story and thought it was perfect for the particular story/stories they were telling.

Because of the slow-burn style of this show, I strongly recommend watching it from beginning to end before judging (you need all the pieces before you can make an accurate judgement). But even if you're just looking for a sweet surface-level romance, this is a beautifully original love story and I highly recommend it.

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Surprisingly complex

This show surprised me. It's wonderfully heavy and complex, with many underlying themes and important messages. It's definitely a favorite, and I'd rate the main story 10/10. It's rare to find a bl series that explores the kinds of problems long-established and cohabitating couples face. It's even more rare to find a bl (or any show) that explores age-gaps seriously, and doesn't try to minimize the struggles couples face when they're at different stages of life. This show reflects the chaos of life in such a refreshing way, and does so with realistically unreliable narrators. I highly recommend watching it all the way through with an open mind, before coming to a conclusion (and remember it uses unreliable narrators, that's important!).

Essentially, this series starts with two established couples who are having serious issues. The series follows them as they try to figure out life, grow as people, and repair their relationships. It's heavy stuff. Both couples have a significant age-gap, so that's an overarching theme. But a lot of other issues are explored, too. The nature of marriage, love languages, maturity, coming-of-age, social hierarchies, economic hierarchies, discrimination, equal rights, respect, miscommunication, secrets, guilt...

I adore this show. I find the many layers fascinating. Essential parts of the story are told through expressions and body language, and it's hard to pick up on it all while reading subtitles, so I get more out of it every time I watch it.

After watching it so many times, there are a few things I thought it might be helpful for people to know going in, so they can make the most of this show.

Firstly, it's important to know that a lot of the story is told through expressions and body language, so it's hard to understand what's really going on unless you can read micro-expressions and subtitles at the same time. I can't, so I have to pause A LOT. But it's worth it. I love that it's done this way. The acting is phenomenal and adds so much richness to the story.

Second, even though the show seems simple, the heavy issues the couples face are not being minimized or romanticized. There are layers. Some layers are told slowly, some are only told through facial expressions... it takes time to piece the story together, and while I absolutely love that method of story telling, it can be risky (particularly in bl, where it's not done often so can surprise people). But I promise you, when the whole story is pieced together, it's a really beautiful and inspiring story, and it's beautifully told.

Lastly, it's important to know both couples have a significant age-gap, and that plays a central role in the story. The MCs are in very different stages of life, and that makes things very complicated. And society is super judgey. But I promise, all romantic relationships are between consenting adults. And the exploration of the complicated nature of age-gaps is actually really sensitively and wonderfully done.

Honestly, though, in hindsight I think the beginning actually does a pretty good job of warning the audience that this story isn't a simple fairytale. The couples have to fight really hard to stay together. The characters are flawed. They make mistakes. Their relationships are messy. But the important thing is that they know what they want, and they put in the work to achieve it, and that's super admirable. The character growth in this show is impressive. The ending is beautiful. And I do really think the show conveys an important message.

Anyway, I know I've focused on the heavy stuff, but I really find this show very heartwarming and lovely. The characters are wonderful and adorable. The music is great. The ending is happy. And seriously, the acting is phenomenal (particularly Zee. But everyone else too).

One last thing: while the main story can be watched over and over and over, and never gets old or boring, I readily admit the side-stories don't have the same level of rewatch value, and I have started to skip those on rewatch.

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Gets better... mostly.

This drama starts off pretty ridiculous, and has a lot of silliness throughout, but I loved the main characters, and a lot of the side characters, and the overall story was great. I particularly liked how strong both leads were. They were both very damaged and flawed, but they matched each other's strengths and challenged each other to be better. Loved their dynamic. The mixture of silliness and seriousness was a little weird at times, and the acting wasn't always the greatest (pretty sure the actors sometimes forgot their character had just been shot. Unless that was meant to be part of the silliness?), but overall, a good show. BUT WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!?!?!?! SAD!!!! VERY VERY SAD!!!!!

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Interesting concept

Great story. The obsession with the mum was a bit much, and the ending didn't quite deliver on all the promises, but it was still very enjoyable and a brilliant concept. I really wish the dark obsession (which was the entire point of the show!) didn't just disappear without explanation. I was so fascinated to watch a dark psychological romance with an obsessive ML, and for the most part, it delivered. I think they chickened out a bit at the end, or maybe they were just short on time. I'd love to see it extended and for them to maintain the darkness all the way through. But overall, not bad.

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Fighter/Tutor are awesome

This is a hard series to rate as a whole. Admittedly, the bad was pretty bad. But the good (Fighter/Tutor) was so great it brought the overall rating up. But if you find yourself struggling with it, I recommend just watching the Fighter/Tutor storyline. That's what I do when re-watching, and it's a complete story that is great on its own.

Seriously, I loved Fighter/Tutor so much. I adored both characters individually, and adored them as a couple. My only complaint would be that the ending was rushed. They squished what should've been AT LEAST an episode (I'd argue two or three) into barely ten minutes. Some things shouldn't have worked out that quickly, and even the bits that did should've had a lot more emotional fallout. The F/T story had been so good at depicting emotional turmoil and distress in response to tough situations and inner struggle, so it was sad the same level of attention wasn't given to the resolution of those same problems. Seriously, I had whiplash from how quickly all the problems disappeared. I would've loved them to go deeper.

Still, the rest of the story was so great, the rushed ending didn't detract much. And I understand there were time constraints.

But we have to talk about the acting! The acting was fantastic! Particularly Zee. I cannot praise Zee's performance highly enough. He was brilliant.

As for the rest of the show... not my thing. I tried really hard, but I just couldn't enjoy it. The humor wasn't my taste. I cringed so hard in a lot of scenes. Other scenes felt completely irrelevant and like filler. There were way, way too many side plots for my taste. So, as I said, now I just watch the F/T story and skip the rest, and I kind of wish I'd done that from the start. But I know others enjoy the rest, so I think it's worth trying at least.

If I rate only the F/T story, I'd rate it like this:
Story: 9.5
Acting: 10
Music: 8
Re-watch: 10
Overall: 9.5

If I rate everything else on its own, I'd rate it very low. Overall, not so bad. I really do think the F/T story is good enough to bring the overall experience up a lot. But if you struggle with the series as a whole, just watch F/T and ignore the rest.

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Theme driven. Characters and plot are superficial

There was good stuff here. Some interesting themes and thought-provoking ideas. A pretty good mix of humor and angst. The actors did a good job. And I always adore childhood-friends-to-lovers. Overall, it was pretty good. But I was a little disorientated by some choices. It appeared the show was more invested in exploring the nature of divorce generally, than focusing on the MCs, their relationship/s, or any character specific plot. Which isn't wrong. Some people might enjoy it. But I felt some important moments weren't quite given the attention they deserved.

I loved the main couple, individually and as a couple. The start of their relationship was great. I loved that we got hints they'd both been in love forever, but Fu Li Gong became aware of it much, much earlier—which fits their characters. Given Zheng Ze Shou's personality, I'm not surprised he went turbo-fast once he became aware of his own feelings. Li Gong's freak out in the second half also made sense. He hid his feelings for a long time, scared of how their relationship might change; then everything did change, very suddenly, without any warning, and he didn't have the chance to process the changes or the consequences of the changes. A freak out at some point was inevitable, and I probably would've been disappointed if it hadn't come. Even so, I think the show didn't handle that entire conflict as well as it could have. Even though I understand why Li Gong reacted like he did, the show only presented the surface level. They accidentally make his anxieties seem shallow, and like he came to that decision unbelievably easily, given how invested he was in the relationship. The resolution is also a bit too easy, given the big emotions must have been going on. Given how long these two loved each other, and how much they had to lose if things went wrong (which is the entire point of the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope!!) the whole conflict kinda played out like just another disagreement and reconciliation. That being said, I like that Ze Shou eventually called him out (gently) for lying.

I don't really have much to say about the second couple. They were okay to watch, but I didn't get invested in them. Don't know why. They just didn't grab my attention.

In summary, I'm glad I watched it, and I might re-watch it to see how I feel the second time around. If my opinion changes I'll add a note to the end of this review. It's possible I was just thrown off by how unusual the show was in it's approach. Normally, a show that explores a super deep and emotional concept like divorce, will mirror that depth and emotion in the relationships. This show didn't quite match the energy. They went deep on the concept, but didn't mirror that intensity at all in the relationships, so I was left feeling the relationships were surface level and lacking (even though I might not have otherwise felt that way). All that said, I'm not sure that this approach would suit my taste anyway. I can like shows that keep things light. I like shows that take things deep. But if I can only have deep themes or deep relationship, I'd rather a deep relationship with light themes, than heavy themes with relatively surface-level relationship. But that's just me. If I end up re-watching it (which I'm not sure I will) I'll let you know if I change my mind on anything.

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Sweet and inspiring

I adored almost everything about this show. Karan and Achi were adorable, and really cute together. I loved the office and all the characters there. This adaption really focused on themes like hard-work, pursuing your dreams, overcoming challenges, found-family, personal-development... that kinda thing. Very inspiring messages.

I confess, though, I struggled with the Jinta/Min storyline. It was better than the Japanese adaption (IMO) and there was a lot to love about it (the message was very inspiring) but the comedy really, really wasn't to my taste. AT ALL!! But that was also my issue with the Jinta/Min storyline in the Japanese adaption so I think it's a problem I have with the source material not the adaptions (I haven't read the original).

As for what I thought of it as an adaption... I really loved that it was slightly different from the Japanese adaption. I think each version of a story SHOULD be different, otherwise there's no point having different versions, and it's fun seeing how different parts of the story are interpreted or presented.

Overall, I really enjoyed it.

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Confronting but beautiful

This is an amazing story of working through complex trauma. It has scenes that can be very triggering, so it's important to make a careful decision about whether to watch it.

Seriously, I loved this drama. It's a beautiful presentation of a healthy but complicated and unconventional relationship that requires work to get right. Uea has been severely and repeatedly traumatized, and he can be very reactive and impulsive and is a bit of a mess, which gets him in a lot of trouble and makes him an easy target for predators (which is scary realistic!). King has good intentions, but he's human and has his own needs, and he's inexperienced with trauma and sometimes makes bad calls. But together they grow as people, support each other, and their relationship is beautiful. By the end, they've both grown stronger, broken from old patterns, and freed themselves from toxic people. It's wonderful.

And I particularly appreciate that the characters are equals in their relationship. Both have agency (with each other) from the start. It would be so easy for the whole story to be about King serving/saving Uea, but it's not like that. King has his own wants and needs, and even though he is obviously head-over-heels in love, it's clear he wants to be a partner and support for Uea, not a 2D servant/knight. Sure, it takes them a while to figure everything out, but they can BOTH be themselves with each other. There's sometimes drama, but they support each other and can be a safe space for each other, and that applies to both characters equally. I love these characters, and I'm so glad they get a happy ending.

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Beautiful and thought provoking

This show put me into an existential crisis. On the surface, it's beautiful, but so heart-breakingly, soul-destroyingly tragic I can't handle it. But if I'm interpreting it right, it's actually unbelievably brilliant, and ridiculously complicated, and even more romantic and beautiful than it appears. And, more importantly, has a happier ending than it appears.

"Many things can be explained by common sense, but sometimes our thinking is also limited by it." - Lanzhu

I’m gonna be honest, I only just finished it, and it exploded my brain and ripped apart my heart. So I'm actually writing this review as a way to try to process this super complicated story and explain it to myself, so I'll be talking more about how I interpret the story and ending, rather than commenting on the acting etc. (Though, seriously, the actors did an amazing job! And everything about the show is very well done. And even the CGI, which starts a little shaky, gets better as the show goes on).

Warning: incoherent ramble and MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

DISCLAIMER: I haven't read the book, so I'm only theorizing based on the show, and how I interpret the show, with no other information.

When it comes to how to interpret The Spirealm, I think there are a lot of options, and I think the show is made in such a way that they are all true. We're told over and over again to question which version of reality is true, and even given the choice to pick our own version of reality or illusion. The references to the multiverse at the end, make this even clearer. And I really love that the show lets us decide how to interpret it... even if it makes it very challenging to process.

Personally, I have two specific ways I like to see it: one is super sad, the other is super happy.

The first option, as I see it, is the most straightforward. It’s a beautiful but incredibly tragic version. In this version, this story is a sci-fi, where most of the show happened in Jiushi’s head while he was in a coma, and Jiushi then spent his entire life trying to make that dream real. After 50 years, he finally succeeded in creating a virtual reality where he could make a version of his dream real (a version where everyone was alive and happy) and he spent the last few minutes of his life in that virtual world with his virtual friends and virtual lover, before he died.

I think this is a plausible and reasonable way to interpret it. The biggest questions would be about Jiushi's hallucinations at the start, and how he knew everyone’s names and occupations in the dream (and after). For the hallucinations, the most plausible way I can think to explain them is that they were part of a bigger emotional breakdown. We saw other evidence of this when he quit his job and was generally so miserable and aimless even his idiot friend was worried about him. It would explain why Jiushi became so deeply attached to his dream. As for how he knew so much about the people around him, I think there’s a very simple explanation: the story makes it very clear Jiushi was a genius. Geniuses can process a seemingly supernatural level of information at both a conscious and subconscious level. Some of the people he saw regularly in his community (eg the twins in the gaming hub, and Li Dongyuan the street seller), others he passed on the street right before the accident and overheard their conversations. With the rest, it’s entirely possible he overheard conversations and names while semi-conscious, even while in his coma. All this information was in his head at a subconscious level, and his coma-brain combined it all together into a slightly distorted representation of reality. Naturally, his coma-brain got some things mixed up (eg. he turned his doctor into a vet, and the wolf game was also the phone game was also his dream of changing the world). Also, his emotions heavily influenced everything. Eg, in reality Dawei abandoned Jiushi and went into economics, but in Jiushi’s dream, Dawei still cared about him and entrusted him with their childhood dream to save the world.

I think the coma-dream interpretation of the story makes perfect sense and is very beautiful. But it’s heart-breakingly, soul-destroyingly tragic. Seriously, if Jiushi spent 50 years trying to recreate a dream, creating a brilliant and world changing form of technology, just so he could spend a few minutes with his imaginary lover in their imaginary life (a lover who may or may not have been an idealized version of the man that left him to die after an earthquake... ouch!) before he died, that hurts way too much.

But, thankfully, there’s another plausible interpretation to the whole thing. But this option is harder to explain, so here goes.

Version two: the story is a fantasy in which the physical, technological, and spiritual/supernatural are interwoven. All the worlds we saw are real. All the events really happened. And the ending is real. And I might just say upfront, the show is listed as a 'fantasy', and tagged as 'Supernatural', 'Fantasy World', 'Survival', and 'Crossworlds Traveler', so I think that strongly suggests we ARE meant to see this as a fantasy world with crossworld travel, not simply a dream. And since the dream option is super sad, I much prefer this option (even if the other one is still a good story).

Basically, in this version, there are different realms. Primarily, there is a physical realm, and a super complex, multi-layered spiritual realm (but again, physical, technological and spiritual/supernatural are interwoven, so it's not quite that clear cut). The virtual self, is actually the 'spirit' self. There are also beings who only exist in the spiritual realm—like in other fantasy stories. All the realms (at least, all the ones we see) have been corrupted, and the problem has to be solved at the deepest level (inside the doors/spirit-realm/spirealm). Restoring/purifying the spiritual realm, purifies the physical realm. That’s why the physical realm changes and no one remembers the doors. Everything really happened, but precisely because it happened, the corrupted reality doesn’t exist anymore. It’s been purified. Now the physical realm exists in its purified version. People are now able to be their true, purified selves.

The thing is, when the realms are purified, the ‘old’ versions of people (the versions we know and love) cease to exist. Now, we have a purified version of the physical realm with purified versions of the same people. And Lanzhu doesn't exist anymore, because Lanzhu was never human. He’s more like a god that came into existence specifically to purify the worlds, and now he’s fulfilled his purpose and doesn't exist anymore. So, Jiushi has to essentially create a spiritual version of the old world, for the ‘deleted’ versions of everyone to exist in. More importantly, a reality where Lanzhu can exist and be ‘made real’, like Jiushi promised. This world is independent of the physical world, it's purely spiritual. Everyone inside is independent of the physical world and the purified version of them that lives there, and they are purely spiritual. And in his realm, Lanzhu is ‘real' and complete too. He has been released from his programming and mission and is autonomous, just like the rest of them. Jiushi has made him 'real'.

In theory, even thought the old doors have ceased to exist, doors are still possible and Jiushi has made new ones? So it's still possible for them to move between worlds if they want to? Unless Jiushi locked himself in the new world when he died? I dunno, I’m still figuring that part out.

But speaking of Jiushi's death... Jiushi was old when he first entered the spirealm because he was still the spirit of a living person. But when he becomes young, that was the moment he died in the physical realm and crossed over to live forever in the spirealm as a spirit/god. Now, he's just like the others.

I really like this reading of the story. Jiushi creates an entire world, saves everyone he loves, saves Lanzhu and makes him real, and they all live happily ever after. Jiushi and Lanzhu live happily ever after, together. And, most importantly, it’s all real. As I've said, it's listed as a fantasy with crossworld travel, but I do think both interpretations make sense. Actually, I kinda like that it was left open to interpretation. Pick the illusion or reality, life or death, just like the 11th door.

Lanzhu tells us: "Many things can be explained by common sense, but sometimes our thinking is also limited by it." So maybe, even if we're told it's a dream, that doesn't mean it is one? And also, maybe more than one thing can be true at a time, even if they seem incompatible?

I’m still wrapping my head around it all. I’ll probably come back and edit this after watching it a few more times and processing it more. But in summary, awesome show. Highly recommended. But be prepared to cry a lot.

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