EsiNotEssie

This left me really confused and I had to go skim the novel again but I think I know what you mean. Are you talking about Emperor Yong Le of Great Liang (name Xie Chi) and Empress Xian De (name Ke Jing Zhen)? If so, I'm impressed you know their real names despite not reading it, because the novel only mentioned their real names a few times. Even my memory was failing me😅

I'm flattered you think so lol, but I'm only learning Chinese myself, so I'd hardly say I "know" it. I could be wrong though, you know how Chinese has 294938 different ways to say something, or I could be overthinking it😅

Okay I just checked the Chinese title. I actually changed my mind now, it's a wordplay! 将门独后 could mean "only daughter of a general family", but since they used "后", it also is reminiscent of the word for Empress (皇后). I gotta hand it to them, it's smart

Ke Jingzhen? I read the novel but don't remember that character. Who is it?

Really? That's the translation of the title? Wow. It feels rather misleading, especially if you consider that only applies to her first life

I agree, a more neutral perspective would be more than acceptable. In fact, if used well, it could be used to tone down a lot of the things SM did in favor of showing it from XJX's perspective (like if he heard the news rather than actually seeing it). I would be upset though if they toned her down too much though. It's a common thing in Cdramaland to make the FL suddenly become a love brained silly girl who needs the ML to fight for her, especially after a confession or marriage.

Compared to many adaptations I've seen, it's pretty close! The end of the novel wasn't properly explored, but I heard there were 4 episodes of deleted scenes and it was originally meant to be 4 eps longer, so it looks like they were going to address it but didn't. Otherwise, besides some creative liberties, it was pretty faithful to the novel in my opinion.

Agreed. As much as I adore the novel, I'm so sure most of it wouldn't pass censorship, especially that scene at Wo Long Temple. I kept hoping, but still assumed it would never be adapted because of the sheer rawness of Shen Miao's actions toward the Shen family and Prince Ding

As someone who read the novel, watched S1 of the donghua, and now this, I have to say that besides the ending (it was good, just short), I think this adaptation did a wonderful job of bringing the novel alive. I loved how it seamlessly blended the comedic elements that hooked me with the deep storyline that kept me going, all without feeling overly done. Well done to all the people who participated!

I saw!! I was so happy I choked on my gasp! I hope nothing goes wrong and they can finish filming and air it without issues

Oh, happy birthday!

The donghua is so good! I started with the novel, found out about the donghua, and enjoyed myself immensely. I've even watched the short drama while waiting for this to air 😅

It looks like they're trying to keep the comedy format of the donghua adaptation of the novel

I really expected it to be draggy because 36 episodes is a lot longer than the 24 I was expecting, but it was well paced. I thought the last episode was a bit excessive though, but I get it

Agreed! He Yichen was definitely an eyebrow raiser, but the worst has got to be Zhuang Xu. My blood was boiling while reading

It's fair lol. They needed 36 episodes of content, and I think they did a good job of it.It helped that Gu Man was part of it too, so although it didn't add a certain scandal I was really expecting to see, I still like the direction they went with it. I especially liked that they didn't drag out the whole truth about the accident when it finally came out. It was very mature

Agreed. That whole "chip on your shoulder, me against the world" isn't Gu Man's style for ML at all. I found myself absolutely livid while reading the book. I have never hated a Gu Man character as much as I did Zhuang Xu and Ye Rong, but it's clear that the drama dialed them WAY down, to the point that I really started to pity Zhuang Xu

Perhaps it's because I'm pretty used to Gu Man's writing style (I've read all her books except Silent Separation), but as soon as Zhuang Xu's dialogue began, I knew there was no way Gu Man would make him the ML. She skillfully creates deep characters, but stops short of the toxic lead trope. She got close with Feng Teng in "Shan Shan, Come Eat", but even that wasn't anywhere near as alarming as Zhuang Xu, at least for me.

Right? That's why I wondered why there was even speculation about who the ML would be while it was airing

Since it's based on a webtoon written by a Korean, I'm guessing the names will be whatever they are in the original Korean webtoon