BanxiTheCommentaryGrrl

I didn't like this one either, so I didn't even bother getting past episodes 4–5. I think a significant number of people who give this drama a chance are doing so because of Wang Yibo or Zhao Liying. I really doubt the drama would get nearly as much attention if it weren't for them. They have such strong fanbases that I think it can be difficult for the drama itself to be evaluated fairly (scroll through the comments, you'll understand what I mean by this).

And before someone comments that they watched it for the plot: I'm not saying everyone watched for the actors, just that I think a significant number of viewers did.

I don't particularly care for either of them, so I went in for the plot alone (I love old school Wuxia), and unfortunately, neither the narrative nor the execution worked for me.

I have 2 episodes left and I really like this drama. But I feel like it could have been 14–16 episodes. The deadpan humor and absurdism are awesome, but they feel dragged out across so many episodes.

We're in the same region, so I really can't explain why you never saw it. (If the X people aren't in the same region, though, that would explain why they didn't see it.)

I almost never reserve things, but I do follow shows I'm excited about. I remember being happy when I saw it on iQIYI because I didn't have YOUKU at the time. When there was talk about this and Veil of Shadows dropping, I was excited that I could at least watch one of them with my current subscription. I also admin a FB page, so I share a lot of content there. At one point, I was getting mixed up with Li Hongyi's other drama, Blossom in Darkness, and in my head I had it as: Blossom in Darkness = YOUKU, Hidden Shadow = joint release. So my memory of this is pretty detailed.

But even if I'm wrong—which I'm completely fine with—it still shows that Hidden Shadow was once coming to iQIYI at some point, even if someone never saw it listed or it was never actually listed under "Coming Soon" (see the links below). That's why iQIYI was once listed as a network for it on MDL but then removed a while ago.

The archived articles below show that it was once announced for iQIYI (the links are legit, I had a FB page moderator double-check me), so it wasn't a blip or something I pulled out of nowhere. I mostly left it up because some turd called me a liar and then created three different accounts to troll and harass me about it. I'm still wondering if he'll make a fourth one.

This seems important to you though, are you nervous you will miss a release? I don't think you will miss out on its release.

i usually struggle with her audio (no hate intended) and i was fine with her vocals in this one. i don't know if she had a dubber.

it happens.

I admin a Chinese drama group and asked for a few other examples. Here are a few:

A Journey to Love isn’t showing up on iQIYI for someone in the UK, even though it’s listed and available for me. Another person in Trinidad can’t find Never-Ending Summer, while it’s listed and available on mine. Someone else brought up Zhan Zhao Adventures, which is another great example because it was released on YOUKU, but it isn’t listed for me or others.

Again, I’m in the US, so these differences seem to be based on regional availability (even for international folks).

I think it was going to be a joint release early on, with YOUKU being the first to release it because they are the ones who produced it. This happens frequently, so it's not uncommon. I have iQIYI, and I've watched a good amount of dramas where the main network was something like Mango, YOUKU, or WeTV/Tencent. The only difference I've come across was that the episodes were sometimes on a delayed schedule, similar to when a drama airs on Netflix but has another network as its main platform (I think this happened to The Story of Pearl Girl, released late on Netflix and Whispers of Fate, released slow on iQIYI).

When Veil of Shadows released on YOUKU, it also went to Netflix for distribution in certain regions. Distribution licenses are regional, so a drama may not be available to everyone depending on where they live. So some of us international folks were able to watch on Netflix, others on YOUKU. Netflix also had to wait on any advertisements because they had to defer to YOUKU. Another example is Till the End of the Moon, people in Singapore were able to watch it on Netflix while it was never made available to those of us in Canada, some countries in Europe, and the US.

I even remember some dramas having such bad publicity surrounding their airing delays that they were released in the middle of the night with little to no notice. Story of Kunning Palace is one example. Sometimes dramas simply don't follow the course they were originally expected to take.

I left links below showing that Hidden Shadow was headed to iQIYI at some point in the pipeline. I can only guess why it's not there now, but I highly suspect because of all the delays, I think it was ultimately withdrawn from iQIYI as well. I was talking to another moderator for a Facebook group who knows the production backend, and she said iQIYI will hide listings when something like this happens. As of right now, it's not showing as a release there.

I don't know where the people you spoke with on X are located, but the international iQIYI app is regional as well. There have been many dramas that were released on iQIYI but never appeared for me to watch—or even showed up in search—because they weren't licensed for my region. I'm in the U.S., so I don't know if the people you were talking to may have been outside the regions where it was once listed.

In any case, it's not showing on iQIYI now, so at this point, it doesn't look like it will air there.

I just finished the micro and if it weren't 1 minute an episode, I wouldn't have watched it. But it put down some nice notes for how this one could go. I haven't watched the donghua yet. I started and then stopped when it felt like it might run in parallel to this storyline. I get nervous about ruining a drama I am anticipating. I knew the micro was safe because it wasn't my vibe and it was missing a few main characters, turning minor ones into leads. It follows Tao Yao coming off the mountain and joining up with the snake demon to solve a bunch of cases while searching for the Hundred Demons Manual.

seriously. it's so fresh on my heart right now. i need a few days to heal. i loved all 5 of them. but especially hua biao.

I just finished this myself and I am not okay!

People say that last scene is a flashback, but I honestly don’t know what to think. She’s not wearing a uniform, so I can’t tell whether they’re outside Peking University. If it were her high school, I would imagine she’d be wearing a uniform. His reaction is also ambiguous. I can’t tell if he looks like he’s seeing someone again or for the first time.

Either way, I think this is just a goodbye as adolescents. I have to believe they all meet again in the years to come. They have a friendship that doesn’t just disappear. I saw these as Easter eggs that pointed to this:
(1) Hua Biao still writes to Yang Xi and talks about “meeting again,” and he’s not the type to simply disappear from his friends’ lives.
(2)The reality is that his grandma has a finite timeline, and he still aims to attend Peking University at some point. So, long term, his absence doesn’t feel permanent.
(3) Additionally, Situ Ertiao's father is saving Hua Biao’s house for him, with no plans to sell it to anyone. Situ Ertiao made him promise only to watch over it.
(4) Situ Ertiao didn’t let his friends say goodbye because he knew he would be back.
(5) Li Yu told Yang Xi he would wait for her, and they’ve been best friends since birth, essentially growing up together under the same roof for 18 years.

So, I just don’t see this being the last of this quintet. I was still incredibly emotional watching! And I can’t help imagining where their next chapters might take them. Even though this drama is meant to stay within a youth with no regrets, to breathe, I need to find a way to create some closure that doesn’t hurt so much.

I’m not particularly bothered by her age in this context. It’s not like she’s starring in something with an NC-17/X or R18 rating. I expect the same consideration for her age as Key to the Phoenix Heart, maybe even more so since this is a fantasy drama.

in my humble opinion, Wen Zheng Rong has more than a guest role. and she is def. in more episodes than 7-9. she shows up in as early as episode 1 with a huge backstory that shapes fu tingyun's trajectory and becomes almost an adversary as much as an admirer.

this has been associated with so many hold ups, it's been driving me nuts, i will be fine if this drops on my head. i just want it to release!

thank you for validating my memory!

billing and order doesn't matter to me TBH.

I prefer shortly runs these days, so I’m already biased. But I’ve been satisfied with 24 if done right. So this could work. It just has to be streamlined and planned well IMO.

So there is also a vertical on iQIYI called Hundred Demons Codex. Personally, I’m not vibing. But it’s quick and interesting as a reference point.

!! (thanks for the update!)

yeah. that comment rubbed me the wrong way too. i wasn't sure if it was the translation and maybe something got said differently? it's pretty bad in the industry though so it probably wasn't the translation.

Your vanity is loud.