its ok

its a really okay drama. theres a reason why it received the mixed ratings it did on douban and i agree with a lot of them (reba’s stiff acting, very strange choices for the animation inserts, predictable story). tho i do think dilireba has improved a lot since she first began her acting career, ive still yet to be taken by her. she’s beautiful, i think that goes without saying, but it was hard for me to feel moved for changge at all. zhao lusi and liu yuning were surprisingly incredible. like...wow, her expressions? her character arc? i wasn’t moved by the story, but i def teared up when leyan suffered. i didn’t know who either of them were before and in the end i skipped most of the drama just to see what would happen with their characters. their love story is also a predictable one but they carried it out with ease. otherwise ur enjoyability of this drama generally weighs upon how much you like dilireba and wu lei, and i think its safe to say that if you love them, then the drama’s a pretty huge win for you.

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this is a story about love.

i just don’t have anything to say. mostly that i’m bitter from reading lukewarm douban reviews about the show (that site has its merits for sure but i was getting kinda mad). i don’t even know if i can do a fair review of this show anymore because it’s become so personal to me. all i can say is that i love it so much, and so deeply. just from a technical perspective it’s absolutely stunning. the low budget is clear but it does not stop the actors, writers, cinematographers, set piece designers from working to create such an immersive and creative experience.

it’s a show thats hard to recommend. it demands patience. and it demands a viewer who is all right with a less structured show. if you’ve watched films from hou hsiao hsien and edward yang (though i would argue this is more like a combination of the speedy, sharp, yet romantic and genre bending writing of johnnie to with the spiritual themes and dreamy colors of apichatpong weerasethakul) you’re likely prepared for this and i think you’ll enjoy it. if you’re tired of traditional idol dramas and the wearisome and irritating tropes they come with, you’ll find something to enjoy here. if you’re tired of conventionally beautiful actors and actresses, you’ll enjoy this as well. if you’re someone who adheres to a religion outside of the western sphere, you will love the way religion is woven into every fiber of this show (i’m a vietnamese buddhist and found so much of the amis religion very similar). if you just want something new and surprising, this is it.

but if you want a show with a clear path, a show that provides clear answers, a show that has a more conventional storytelling path (none of which are bad things, as some people need something more concrete), this is a show that will try your patience, and the payload might not be worth the time.

inevitably, there are comparisons between this show and someday or one day. both are very different. they share similar themes—reality bending, time moving in a strange and nonlinear manner, an expectation for the audience to suspend their beliefs of what they consider reality—but their ranges are different. someday or one day goes inward. “when does love begin and end?”. while rainless love in a godless land extends outwards. “what can love do?” there are themes that rainless love touches on, but refuses to answer, because there aren’t easy answers to them.

at the center of the show: it;s love. it’s always love. it always has been. the gods are love. every day we wake up it’s for love. love carries us. love is a sacrifice. love is regret. love is everything. love is love is love… i can’t. i can’t take it. i love this show.

for those concerned about the age difference + age play, it’s addressed and fixed somewhat when the show wraps up.

below is my review of the show while it aired in november/december. i’d completed about 7 episodes.

with such a small episode count, rainless love moves fast. the first episode quickly (almost too quickly i think) establishes the premise for us: there are gods (named kawas), and there are people, and there is earth. and the gods are quickly forsaking this world because of human negligence, but some are too attached to it. there's a third player amidst it all too, and everything--the tropes, the actors (zheng yuanchang, fu mengbo, ceng zhiqiao are all actors i at least heard of before starting this drama) --appears familiar while also being shrouded in a thin layer of mystery. an example: our mc tiandi could easily be mistaken for the mary sue-ish, happy-go-lucky female lead from any drama, and yet ceng zhiqiao depicts her so naturally, and so humanly at that.

and i think that is what i love most so far about this drama. it is, essentially, an urban fantasy, but there's minimal computer generated scenes. scenes of the kawas's world, scenes of xie tiandi's dreams are all a combination of real life set pieces, lighting, and only a touch of computer generated effects (but never dealt with a heavy hand). the real world in rainless love blends seamlessly in with the faraway-and-yet-so-near world of the kawas.

there is also a significant degree of respect and admiration for the ami religion and ami people throughout this show. the most important thing to keep in mind when you watch this show is that the gods here aren't science fiction or otherwise fantastical even in the xianxia sense, but are real gods from the indigenous taiwanese ami people's religions, so the exposition does not follow in quite the same way as you would expect from other shows that share a similar but more fictional premise. a part of me did wish that the kawas were portrayed by ethnic taiwanese people rather than famous actors, so obviously the depiction isn't flawless. but the respect for the gods and for the ami culture was otherwise felt throughout so much of the show, and because of this a lot of this show is so unique. there aren't the tropes we are familiar with (or maybe sick of too lol) from the cdrama world, and if there are, they are softened, or otherwise given another dimension, by the subtle realism and careful attention paid to the depiction of the ami religion.

one personal favorite thing about this show for me too is the character design. i am so, absolutely bone tired of the pale, thin, airbrushed, so-much-makeup look that is just inevitable for cdramas. here we see our actors' natural skin colors, their natural beauty, and honestly interesting outfits and styling that feels... down to earth, and super stylish. the cause and effect correction bureau and its gods and employees clad in a modest white; olad in a simple black suit. the goddess of coral, raka, and her bright smile and dark skin and her little taxi.

another addition: the music??? holy shit... i don't often pay attention to the score of a drama (if i remember it, that's often a good sign), and...goodness i am looping the theme song by astro bunny 24/7. the soundtracks throughout the show are playful and modern and wistful all the same too. it's not a cheesy soundtrack, and it's not a forgettable one. i'm really shattered by all of the love that's been put into this production at every turn.

speaking as someone who started watching dramas only after watching chinese new wave cinema, it is truly such a pleasure to watch a drama in this day and age and think: i haven't seen anything like this before. on that merit alone, i think rainless love deserves great praise.

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a wonderful little show

will return to add onto this review once i’ve finished seeing all 12 episodes! just want to get some thoughts down first.

trying so hard not to burst through all the episodes released in one go. let’s start with casting. so…casting is perfect, it is! there’s such good chemistry between both women leads, that should go without saying. people have criticized sun yihan’s acting before, but i think she’s wonderful here. the styling for both women is amazing. sun yihan is boyish and mysterious; zhang nan has this mature elegance that she takes on especially well after you-know-what happens early on and her character is forced to grow and evolve some.

the mystery that the plot explores is pretty fun too. there’s some stakes involved, and the story focuses heavily enough on love between the women and mystery and suspense and it doesn’t really talk a lot about misogyny and gendered violence. that’s a plus for me. i’ve been waiting to get into a story about women with some murder mystery/suspense tossed in but without emphasizing any misery about being a woman.

production value shows in the editing, which sometimes was a bit funny. the show makes up for it in a lot of ways, that is in the love and care they’ve put into everything else—the writing and the acting most significantly. there is an overall warm and melancholy mood all over the show and the tone is decently consistent. no weird unexpected turns and twists (like killer healer), angst is written in but it’s not excessive (…killer healer)… just a great and well-balanced program. i really hope that there will be more gl shows like this from china in the future. everything was done right and pleasantly, and it’s exactly what i’ve been waiting for at least.

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great story snd logic that slowly tapers off into something uhhh ehhh

i think, as an overall piece, this show is great. more than anything introduced in the plot, this show is about how the tang dynasty both flourished and came to a decline. you can see then juxtaposition of these things weaved into every part of the show and i think that’s what it’s about. you see how much technology has improved in this era, how powerful the economy was, and how diverse the population of chang’an was, as well as the severe corruption within the government and the shortcomings too of the emperor. it almost feels like the an lushan rebellon was inevitable, when viewed through the lens of this drama. the production is impeccable, and the way it tries to encapsulate history so accurately is honestly amazing.

story wise? its got good logic and suspense… up until it doesn’t. the big reveal towards the end was ridiculous and shoddy. sometimes good people on screen show up and just straight up die just to show you how evil humans are. this kind of thing happens all the time in this show, and its kind of annoying. a sliver of goodness appears only to be quashed out. like ok, we get it, you think humans are evil deep down etc… prepare your heart for that if you’re a bit weak, cuz that was the weakest part of the whole show for me! its a bit tough to do for a show that prides itself on so much logic but halfway through, you gotta just turn your brain off and take in the sight over everything else. women in this show are not great either, except maybe tan qi, who had one of the best story arcs i ever got to see in any drama with any leading woman. anyway, yep, its an amazing production with a weird story, but an incredible love of history that definitely adds more to its rewatch value.

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whats there to say thats not already been said?

i saw this drama at the beginning of this year / end of last year. it was to fill the space in my heart as i was waiting for rainless love in a godless land’s episodes to air. its hard to say anything unique now, seeing as this drama is soooo revered by all of us who have seen it.

the fact that there are consequences to the time jump / time loop trope is refreshing. and the focus being placed primarily on love and then… the fear and loneliness of adolescence. similarly the low-budget but creative and effective set pieces for this show and rainless love were such a strong highlight for me. sometimes mainland dramas rely a lot on CGI and making actors look as pale and thin and perfect as possible. not that taiwan dramas are inherently better… but because they have a significantly lower budget that those effects are inaccessible to most productions, which i personally enjoy more as a result.

there is a theme which bothers me. i think that this show is about how even when love is impossible, people can make it work. well… sometimes.

was there any hope for the “original” wang quansheng who killed himself because he was gay? that age gap between the main characters at the end of the show was a little icky too—i would’ve preferred if they had ended it on a more somber note rather than try to make it work between a high schooler and 28 year old! it is the same theme that persists in rainless love in a godless land but “fixed” somewhat with the final ending. this studio sure enjoys its age gaps, i’ll say that.

there’s no arguing though that when someday or one day came out, it caused such a ripple in cdramas, and it was received so well. refreshing, unique effects, interesting story, a genre bender (tragic slice of life? we got that. time loop science fiction? we got that. murder mystery with a touch of horror? got that. love story? high school romance? taiwanese nostalgia flick with a touch of satire?) and i do think, in spite of its flaws, it was totally deserved. i’ll always be partial to rainless love in a godless land, but it’s hard not to consider SOOD the cultural touchstone and cult classic it’s become.

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every episode made me cry

this was the first jdrama i actually finished and i guess you can't pick a better one as your first jdrama...it's very short and every character is so lovable. due to the length though i guess it goes without saying that some of the conflicts introduced sometimes get resolved too neatly. the most rewarding part of this show truly is watching kahoko grow.
i have mixed feelings about kahoko's strength and how it's depicted in the show. it does feel fairly conservative i think, that kahoko's kindness and gentleness would be framed as strengths to serve the people who love her, rather than personal strengths of her own if that makes sense, but it IS a family drama after all so i guess i shouldn't ask for so much. i guess that's why there is hajime, to show her inner worth as a kind and honest person, but not only to serve others.

i personally feel like this show was strongest when it was about kahoko and izumi. of course kahoko and hajime's relationship was very important too but i think the complexity of emotions and love between kahoko and her mother was something i rarely ever see depicted with as much understanding as this show did. i think izumi appears unreasonable (and kind of phony sometimes lol) but her love for kahoko and the reasons behind her actions was so deeply resonant with me at least. i think it goes without saying too kahoko's actress does an amazing job of selling the character too...she absolutely stole the show. there's a lot worth checking out here i think, and it's not at all a bad show to put on to pass the time or to just check out as an introduction to jdramas.

also sometimes with jdramas i've started before (but never finished) was that the cinematography was soooo lacking LOL. but here i think the show was shot in a genuinely beautiful way, and i did want to continue watching for that reason too.

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extremely fun show with mature, realistic romance that is held back by weak writing

a very light mystery show that does not demand very much from its audience and places an emphasis on character development. if you're looking for a logical, clinical mystery thriller, don't watch this haha (instead maybe watch the bad kids!).

i first watched this for gao weiguang and expected to skip through it until i saw his parts (the way i had for fuyao...i skipped 12 whole episodes at one point lol), but i actually ended up loving the entire cast and i look forward to following their work in the future.

the writing itself isn't terrible. i think the main and supporting characters had interesting developments.
ma yili as su wenli really carried the show on her shoulders. ppl say she overacts as su wenli but i personally don't think so. she was so much fun, and her character was so likable. she doesn't fall into the tropes many leading women fall under--the tragic, the airhead, the mary sue with 0 personality... she feels so real. if you don't like her at first sight then you should drop the show haha. because it's really all about her! her hopes and dreams and happiness and flamboyance and of course the people she loves.

her relationship with gao weiguang's character luo-tanzhang was very mature. there aren't cliche misunderstandings or maudlin arguments that devolve into cry screaming or excessive drama. they are both older people, and luo-tanzhang is a subdued character to balance out su wenli's radiant energy. they are simply two capable, ambitious people who love each other. what i love about this show is that you can't exactly pinpoint when they start seriously dating. nothing is ever said outright. but suddenly they're being vulnerable to each other and other characters start expecting to see them together whenever there's a crime...it's so refreshing. i really would recommend this show to someone who really wants a breath of fresh air romance-wise or if they can't vibe with trope-filled and dramatic romances.

support characters are given their own developments as well. i believe taozi is an incredible example of this. she was one of my favorite support roles! she's beautiful first off, and her character changes so dramatically from a shy and timid girl to a confident and capable young woman. it's so subtle but it's so amazing!

above all neither su wenli or taozi experience traumatic gendered violence that often happens in dramas with women leads. there is a pretty annoying case regarding an ex-lover on su wenli's side that i think was written lazily and made su wenli uncharacteristically frail for two episodes but that's the only thing i can think of. the writing often veers from such poignant character development and careful treatment of certain subjects (the arc that dealt with sex work handled it with such grace that it caught me off-guard; i was ready for the worst!) to absolute ass. the ex-lover arc is one example of this as i said before, as well as the treatment of a nonbinary character in a later arc (referred to as a 'hermaphrodite' in my eng subs -__-) and the writing of someone with mental disabilities (this was especially egregious...what'd they say to the actor? 'act like you have developmental issues'????) really made me wonder if the show fired their writers and rehired them or something. those setbacks are one of the main reasons why i wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend this show to anyone.

for me, however, the acting, the characters, and the overall production (which was kind of cheap LOL but it wasn't too bad!) outweighed the fairly large flaws for me. i don't know if this will be the same thing for others. but i really do urge you to check this out if you're looking for something different. do keep in mind that some cases involve child abuse and sexual assault and may heavily imply these instances through flashbacks onscreen.

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this wasn’t great

i watched for gao weiguang and zhang yaqin. their story was wonderfully compelling, but dragged down by the fact tht this show was simply.... not about them lol. didn’t care much for yang mi and ethan ruan’s characters (though they did quite well with what they had as actors), and attempts at depth often just feel very shallow and are forgotten by the next story arc. the worldbuilding was interesting for sure, but fuyao’s story wasn’t, not because i don’t think she’s a good character but because i don’t think the formula of “extraordinary woman suffers an extraordinary amount (a fraction of which is gendered violence)” is a great storytelling vehicle at all.

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this is a story about abstraction

tiansheng is a country, but its name is repeated so often that it becomes more of a symbol, and then nothing at all. and so does dacheng, bloody pagoda, the title of emperor, the fight for the throne. it’s a 70 episode long journey with the sole purpose of telling us that every step we watch our characters take is meaningless.

as a result you kind of feel the length once the show touches the 55 mark, and various characters who played fairly significant roles get little more than 4 seconds for their death scene and then forgotten shortly after. otherwise i feel like it’s really self-aware? there’s plotholes and details overlooked but the overall story doesn’t get lost. it’s stunningly consistent in tone, in its writing, in its cinematography.

the best part of this production is, in my opinion, feng zhiwei. every character is doomed to a sort of inevitable and cyclical doom, and she’s not any exception, but there are parts of her character arc where she is instead a source of clarity. she knows how everything will end, and she wants no part. she is so surprising and complex…i don’t think we’ll have another feng zhiwei for a long time. anyway yes! it was a worthwhile watch but for certain things more than others.

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so.

my mom and i put this on to clown the show as we often do with bao qing tian remakes (the 1993 cast and production just reigns superior!) and well…. the story is actually great. and douban has absolutely roasted huang weide for his supposedly poor acting (the way he like widens his eyes perpetually) and i think they’re a bit remiss for it. wasn’t bao qing tian always known for its operatic performances? maybe huang weide and the director’s choices are a bit dated but i feel like the criticism is excessive! i really enjoyed it. just the first few episodes are a bit of a tearjerker already, really touching! i may continue watching this passively alongside my mom in the meanwhile and update thoughts here as i go.

i think a general warning for anyone going into any of the bao qing tian dramas is the abundant colorism and brownfacing. every actor who has portrayed bao qing tian has painted their skin darker for it lol, because, i believe, when he was originally portrayed in operas, his skin was especially dark/almost black to show that he is a symbol of uprightness and honesty, but also that he’s “ugly”! the first episode is filled with people calling him “little black (xiao hei)” and recoiling at how scary he looks, partly because he has dark skin. speaking as an asian i absolutely despise colorism in asian culture and it’s utterly inescapable in the bao qing tian dramas, so… yeah! here we are.

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so much effort to say so little

watched for tiantian, stuck around for both him and xin zhilei. not a big fan of the tomb raiding genre so i was not emotionally moved by even the more brutal deaths in this show. the way that hong-guniang was written at the beginning was frustrating. you could tell her character was conceived of by a man lol. zhegu shao was a wonderful character, and i think this was gao weiguang's best performance to date. i always get nervous when a heartbreaking scene happens in movies and dramas that i'm detached from bc i automatically wonder if the acting will save it for me. sometimes it didn't (nirvana in fire 2 with huang xiaoming...i don't think he knows how to cry lol) but in this drama, yes, it did. my heart broke with zhegu shao and gao weiguang's performance made me love him. xin zhilei did wonderfully with what she had; an incredible actress for sure. she deserved to shine more.

as for the writing, if you've seen movies that torture their characters for fun and have no actual message being conveyed whatsoever, then this is precisely that. if you don't mind it, perhaps you'll find something to love in this drama, but i certainly didn't. random displays of misogyny and killing characters for shock value while writing off-screen deaths for others is not good storytelling for me and it never will be. production value is great. i can't complain about the makeup, sets, and cgi. makes me feel sad that so much money and work was put into a story that was so insipid and dull.

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really annoying (sorry vengo)

edit: i made it 14 episodes in and i can’t do it anymore lol, i sensed myself starting to hate watch the show because i was seething with frustration at the mc. how can an mc be twenty nine whole years old and make such stupid, selfish decisions? i hear that rulu is a good actress so i’m gonna blame the direction for this. i found rulu’s portrayal of xiong dun utterly ingratiating. most of all it was her lying lmao. i know it was supposed to make her seem sympathetic but i felt no sympathy for seeing her actually hurt and endanger people around her. her voice was hard on the ears too?? i know she was supposed to sound cute and outgoing but she sounded like a woman in her mid thirties oncoming forties trying to sound like a baby. idk. gao weiguang i love the man but phew his presence wasn’t enough to save this shit. i really hope i can enjoy rulu jiang in another drama some day because this was really disappointing. not to mention her and viola mi’s styling was really unflattering here. i have no clue what these directors were thinking lmao. maybe i’ll return to finish watching for vengo but he’s the kind of actor that doesn’t carry a show as much as he depends on his costars and seeing as i hate everyone in the main cast that isn’t amy or xiong dun’s parents it’s not happening lol. the supporting stories, subplots, and cast are great though. it makes up for how unwatchable everything else is.

original review:

i think i’m not a big fan of viola mi or rulu jiang… the way they were styled in this drama was unflattering to say the least, and while i liked the character concept of xiong dun, i don’t really like her character? i always find myself more drawn to the characters around her—dr lin, aimi, her parents, the patients she befriends, etc. many ppl have commended rulu’s acting here, so maybe you’ll enjoy it. i personally didn’t, and the way they’ve styled her makes her already hard to watch. viola’s character xia meng has been a lot of shades of dislikable so far too, though i guess that’s on purpose.

gao weiguang is nice as usual. his short hair here makes him seem a little strange?? but you know, he has a nice face. those turtlenecks make him look a lot older and also cozy lol. and i love aimi’s actress and character so much i almost wish she was the main character. aimi and xiong dun are so close they’ve even made jokes about how they would marry each other if one of them were a man. to which i have to say, well why don’t you guys just get together regardless lol, it’s more realistic than being terminally ill and getting with your doctor. that’s another thing. i’m not sure how much of this is completely true seeing as it was based on xiong dun’s real life but it seems fairly disrespectful to sneak in such a weirdly unbalanced romantic plotline. what would the real xiong dun herself think?? it’s so weird!

there are a lot of other things in the show that i enjoy though. sub plots about sketchy doctors, about choosing love over all else including the pressures of work, the selfishness of children who don’t want to care for their parents but also the selflessness that many people are also capable of when seeing their loved ones are sick. it’s very much a touching show when it elaborates on these points. i’m looking forward to more of these side stories as i watch.

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