Hopelessly fall in love with the villain till the end of the moon

A Xianxia drama in a league of its own. It’s a story about going against fate, learning about love and choosing your own path. It is compelling, heart wrenching and beautiful.

Tantai Jin. My heart is in my throat as I write this. You gripped us from the very beginning and did not let go until the very end. There is sweetness in torture and torture in sweetness.

Do not hesitate and just start watching this show. It is worth it. It is not just about the romance but the character development of Tantai Jin. His life and his becoming of the Devil God was delivered and done close to perfection. My heart lives and bleeds for TTJ.

I personally love anti-hero/villain character story lines and in TTEOM , Tantai Jin’s angst, loss, suffering and misery is just beautiful. Tantai Jin is Luo Yun Xi and Luo Yun Xi is Tantai Jin. He is just an amazing amazing actor! He didn’t leave any crumbs.

The plot is complex, with a good serving of typical xianxia tropes but it was executed brilliantly with one if not the highest production value in the last 3 years. The CGI is insane. The fight scenes are epic. The love story will break your heart and mend it just to break it again.

Every episode is very very good, no fillers whatsoever. Prepare your heart though, you will go through a roller coaster of emotions.

If not for the romance, come for the fight sequences! They are impeccable.

This is, by far.. the best Xianxia I have the privilege to see. Regardless of whatever ending it will give us, this show is sooo good, I don’t care if it hurts.

—— update—-
Just finished Ep 27. OMG. TTEOM just gets better and better. I dare say without a doubt, this is LYX best performance ever. He is brilliant. I am absolutely loving how the story is progressing. Just a word of warning, this is not for the faint of heart. Every single episode is so immersive, riveting and just leaves you reeling. Prepare yourself. ?

—- update—-
Just finished watching and my soul has left my body.

AMAZING. TRULY EPIC.

It starts with Tantai Jin and ends with Tantai Jin.

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It’s cute, funny and just hits your happy spot!

I enjoyed this show more than I thought I would. It packed a punch for just 12 30 minute episodes. No fillers, no boring parts, it was fantastic on just how simple it is.

This is a good pick up if you are tired of watching really heavy drama with plot twists here and there and want a break.

The story is nothing new, but the actors delivered. The FL is not only pretty but is really funny. Her acting was on point, she was so fun to watch. I am looking forward to seeing her in more dramas. The ML wasn’t too bad either.
Overall, not a bad 6 hours spent, not to mention the ending was satisfying!

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Underrated show with awesome acting and interesting plot

I really really liked No Boundary (Season 1&2) no matter how unbelievably everything escalates from one thing to another. You live, you die, then you live again and then die again to live another day. Besides this is a Xianxia, so remind yourself that logic and your sense of reality should be taking the backseat here. I don’t particularly prefer this genre, but No Boundary seemed to be the exception.
This show is underrated, my guess is that since it was broken to two seasons there was a gap in between and earlier watchers had to wait for the next season.

But no matter, the characters was awesomeu and acting was great! I find Darren Chen and Zhang Yi Shang trully enthralling. Darren played the perfect weak-but-not-so-weak mortal sheriff who is completely devoted to our most beautiful deity of the three realms, which was played to perfection by Yi Shang. I am most impressed though with the actor who played Wengu. He almost portrayed 4 personas in the show, and you can actually see the distinction of each. If anything, Wengu had the most character development out of everyone else. The character I feel most sorry for is Hong Luan, and once again the actress did really well here (notice she always gets typecasted to these roles?).

The plot is interesting. There are obvious plotholes but I think it still kept a steady pace while a whole range of unbelievable things happen (remember the peach blossom tree will never die!). This drama has a mixture of everything, it has crime x supernatural investigation, demons, deities, forbidden love, time travel, war, you name it they’ve got it. The show which is 52 episodes in total is mainly divided to 4 arcs, and may not be entirely accurate but these are:

Ep 1-16 Zhan Yan x Duanmu Cui solving crimes/got together then Zhan Yan’s noble idiocy
Ep 17-28 Still solving crimes/Duanmu dies/Wengu turns villain/Zhan Yan unlocks Duanmu’s memories then lives again
Ep 29 -32 Duanmu’s turn for noble idiocy/Wengue dies/Duanmu and Zhanyan goes to the abyss which is basically 1000 years ago/Duanmu’s past
Ep 33-45 Demon vs Mortal war while Zhan Yan trying to change the past/General Duanmu falls in love with Zhan Yan/ the godfather turns villain/Duanmu dies again
Ep 36-52 Out of the Abyss/mortal world saved/Penglai invasion by evil godfather/Mortal world in trouble again/final battle/happily ever after

So that’s it in a nutshell. As to why the deities of Penglai are weaklings and the peach blossom never dies is still a mystery to me. No rush ending too, we got all what we are hoping for the ML and FL, perhaps just a small thing that I wished that our dear brother Magistrate also got his happy ending. Give it a try, you might also like it!

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I love this seven times. ❤️

This is my first Ding Yuxi costume drama and not only we got one but seven different looks. This boy got it going for him in the looks department and became without a doubt your ML costume drama dreamboat. He got his boyish charms and he also can act. I also personally like the FL, very pretty and I think she can also act. ? I think I am in the minority here, but she made the character alive. ?

The premise of this show is quite unique, going through seven tribulations which means seven different lifetimes. I thought it could become tiring and repetitive but no, it was an absolute treat each and every life they go though. I get so invested each tribulation and root for them every single time, knowing that it will all end in death one way or the other. Whichever way, their story or stories are well intertwined with the main plot.

Chu Kong and Xiangyun are truly a match made in heaven, quite literally. Love their characters and their chemistry is oozing with sweetness. Although we all kinda predicted what Chu Kong will do at the end, with his soul protecting spell, it didn’t stop me from tearing up. It was absolutely heart wrenching.

The last episode wrapped things up really well.
And the ending is their seventh lifetime, and it was just beautifully done. I shed tears the moment Chu Kong turned his face up with tears in his eyes and Xiangyun asked him “Who are you this time?”. Oh my heart is full. ❤️

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Thank the rom-com drama Gods! BP is your drama match made in tropey heaven!

Business Proposal took your favourite rom-com tropes to the next level brilliance. Drop everything and start watching this kdrama right now! I was in a total drama slump and I am pretty easy to please, but Business Proposal pumped the life back in me and I am living.

Like what the majority said, BP is full of tropes but this is where the writing actually excelled. The tropey-ness were turned into comedy gold mixed in with lot of heart. There is this adorable quality in each episode that tickles your funny bone and satisfies your romantic heart. There is also a show within the show that makes fun of these tropes!

THIS IS what real rom-com is all about. The show were also perfectly cast. Not only are they beautiful but their acting chops are brilliant. Comedy is quite hard to pull off. Amazing FL and ML, they are on fire! Ahn Hyeo Seop and Seo Jeong are awesome. The FL has great comedic timing, I don’t think she is even trying. ML is also funny from the get-go. Same with SML and SFL! They are soo good as well. Shin Hari’s work mates are a joy!

The story is pretty basic, but the execution is what made this show a cut above the rest. I haven’t read the webtoon so I came in cold, and I came out really hot and totally into the show. It was pure agony to wait each week for the episode drops. The show kept its momentum from episode 1-11, then it was cut quite short in episode 12.
Perhaps the only negative thing is it ended quite abruptly where I think it could use 1-2 more episodes.

We most definitely need a Season 2, if there’s any show that deserves another run, this is it!

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Tackled real-life social issues with beauty and substance.

I am sure I am not the only one here, but Tomorrow is ripe for a Season 2. While the show had its fair share of dissenters, it doesn’t remove the fact that it is one of the few dramas out there which tackled the controversial issue of suicide as its main plot driver. I personally think its timely, relevant and powerful in its message.

The cast is fantastic. Every one of them. I just wished that Park Jung Il had more screen time. Everytime he graced the screen was just awesome.

The drama is episodic, they solve/save would-be suicide cases in a span of 1-2 episodes. Be warned, prepare some box of tissues. Rowoon’s crying face is certainly infectious. I think I teared up a fair few times.

Overall, what an exceptional and remarkable show. I am very satisfied by the ending, and opens plenty opportunities for Season 2.

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Can we all just take a moment and appreciate how adorable Darren Chen in this show?

I have to say, I have seen this in a lot of recommendations so I picked this up with no expectations and then I just cannot stop watching.

Straight up, it’s full of clichés and tropes. Another gender bender with a simple story around university Ice Hockey, pretty boys, cohabitation and a girl wearing a really bad wig. Apart from the bad wig, I enjoyed the show immensely. Forget about everything and bask in the delight that is Darren Chen. That boy is too cute to be real. Love the cute cat sound effects used with his expressions.

Perhaps my little gripe is the soundtrack but that doesn’t matter that much.

Couple of things I learned here:
~Sabrina Chen seems to favor gender bender shows and always gets paired up with a beautiful ML. If you haven’t seen Maiden Holmes, then check it out. It’s another one where she disguises herself as a boy and gets entangled with a really pretty ML. Lucky her!

~I mean Darren Chen should be arrested for having the most adorable pretty face and hyper expressive sticky eyes. Like come on man, even you’re micro expressions are so convincing. Note that this is my first Darren Chen show…

So turn off your brain and enjoy the show!

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Simple, light and no stress show!

Okay kids, hear me out. If you are like me who simply:

- likes watching pretty people in pretty costumes (i am biased with Jason Gu soo..)
- likes a simple story with the least amount of subplots (which as we all know convolutes the whole plot)
- least amount of angst, I just wanted to feel good when watching
- stress free light watch that still gives you some feels

Then this is for you. I have started a lot of dramas lately but I at some point lost interest. But My Heart kept me hooked.

I know some people watch for the thick plots with a million conflicts and annoying subplots, and if you are one of those, then skip this one.

But if you like mindless stress free drama, then by all means watch it! They are so cute! This is my second Jason Gu(Gu Jia Cheng) drama, and honestly I am addicted.

It’s a happy ending ya’ll!

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Fall in love over and over again.

I lucked out on this one. Honestly, I picked this right up after Goodbye My Princess to somehow appease my unsatisfaction. This is my first foray in a republican era drama and I am so happy that I gave this a try!

Chen Xing Xu completely levelled up in this show. Not only in looks but in acting. His portrayal in GMP was already remarkable, but he was even better in Fall in Love. He portrayed Tan Xuanlin to perfection, it was *chef’s kiss*. I have to agree with the majority here, he was so damn fine in a uniform… but I gotta say, he looks hotter in a plain black button up shirt.. ha!

Oh and the FL, Mu Wanqing, you are an awesome heroine! I adore strong and smart female characters that goes head to head with the ML. Smart and cunning, she is an equal to Tan Xuanlin. Wanqing knows what she wants and she will get it. She is not your damsel in distress.

Secondary characters are all wonderful too. I teared up here and there. I must say the very last episode is a bit bland, but I guess that just me. It’s a happy ending though.

The story is mainly divided into 3 arcs. There’s a lot of plotting and scheming, it’s terrific! For romance lovers, there’s a lot of squeal-worthy scenes, guarantee you will not be left wanting (remember in GMP, where we almost got none?) Suffice to say I can’t stop smiling when watching, you will no doubt Fall in Love. So satsified, my heart is full.

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Absolutely beautiful drama about pursuit of dreams, healing and love.

I have just finished this cdrama in the last 72 hours and by far this is the best cdrama I have seen. Watch this right now.

Very different from any other dramas, with the plot set around Peking Opera and Chinoiserie stage play with a dash of cosplay. It was an unexpected and I was pleasantly surprised. The story is about pursuing your dreams, growing up and healing. A promising opera actress expelled from her troupe and now making her way back to perform on stage. A passionate stage play producer struggling to make his and his friends dreams come true.

Amazing first meeting and the first few episodes are just captivating. It was great balance of romance and melodrama. I do not find it slow, I think the pacing is fine and not draggy. It gave ample screentime and development around Jiubai, the family relationships and problems. Good thing,no silly unnecessary misunderstandings!

Apart from him being absolutely beautiful, Yao Chi’s performance and acting here is excellent. I cannot imagine anybody else playing the role of Bai Filei. He is truly what made this show awesome. I am now an official Yao Chi fan!

The FL is okay. I think she complimented the ML’s acting. I do prefer Jinna Fu though. She is fantastic here and I do hope to see her as an FL in other dramas.

For those who are worried, the drama officially ended at 32:42 with an absolutely happy ending!
The last 5 minutes sequence is in a parallel universe. It shows an old Yu Fei, who is a very succesful peking actress. We can see that she remained single in pursuit of the opera. She is going for a check up at the hospital, and while on the road she saw a glimpse of a young man down on his knee proposing to a young women. It seems to be a deja vu, as the couple looks like the young Yu Fei and Bai Filei. She arrived at the hospital and was greeted by her who looks like Shuji. When entering the hospital she saw an old man painting by the bench. Then it shows someone signing the painting as Bai Filei. In the clinic, she will undergo a sleep study. She then tells Doctor Shuji about her repeated dreama of a lion in the bamboo forest.

So why did they show a parallel universe at the end? Well I can only speculate that one of main plot points of this drama is about South Song aka Dreams of the South. The plat showed us 4 different dreamscapes or parallel universes. And this show, Out of the Dream is the play, so my guess is, that parallel universe is just a bonus scene for us audience.

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Charming noona romance that hits the right spots!

I am sucker for noona romances and this show ticked all my fancy little boxes. What I appreciate best is how different the male character Jiaxin from other male leads in similar shows. His character is very soft spoken and not a single hint of overbearing ceo type. It is refreshing. While he isn’t the prettiest male actor/idol out there, his character made it all up for him. Can’t Jiaxin be any more perfect? Just saying.

I can’t really say any negative about the acting. I actually like the female lead and the cast. Nothing special about the story, but I like how they mixed in digital tech and social media issues. Good balance of romance and comedy. I had lots of laughs and really enjoyed the episodes. Not too much angst, just the right bits. I must warn you though, there are some really corny scenes, so watch out.

This is perfect to binge watch after a really serious angsty drama. Will surely put a smile in your face.

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I must be a masochist. I am in love with this torturous show, endured and somehow prevailed.

Like you, you already must have an idea how this story will end. But that didn’t really faze me from watching this show. I do like this type of stories, ticked all the boxes for me. We got an anti-hero, revenge, war, long-haired guys with braids and other what-have-yous. Looks splendid! The first couple of episodes were enough to keep me interested. So here we are.

I am watching the Director’s Cut, but based from what everyone said, no difference plot-wise, just additional background information in the beginning.

So. The story. The first arc was good then it got pretty messy. My enjoyment of this show pretty much nosedived from the moment Xiaofeng and Li Chengyin plunged into the River of Oblivion. I myself wished I forgotten the first arc of this show.

The second arc wasn’t too bad. Enjoyment didn’t completely flatlined. I liked the fall of the second Crown Prince and political warfare. I liked the “rediscovering” of XF and LCY. However, in this arc Li Chengyin basically acquired a girlfriend out of nowhere. For alliance purposes? Personally, this angle is completely unnecessary and could have been executed differently.

Anyhow, I am now on the third arc of the show, and I just literally loathe Sese and dreading the noble idiocy that will happen sooner or later. I think this going to get more ridiculous. The fast forward button is already burning!

This show had so much potential. It had all the elements to be awesome… I wanted it to be awesome. But I find myself so disgruntled hence I ask why am I torturing myself and still watching this? I guess I wanted to see for myself how it ends… or I am just a masochist.

----
Update - 42/55

The struggle is real. I am still persisting and progressed until episode 42 and still no joy. I got 13 episodes left and I am feeling a bit cheated (well, I already knew this but...), I honestly don't think this is going to get any better.

My main gripe amongst all my gripe is the absolute lack of character development for XF. I understand that she is young here, but where is the growth? She just remained this clueless, naïve character that developed no perception at all. I mean, I thought she can't be that dumb all throughout this show, but she is THAT dumb and dense. Same can be said with LCY.

All XF and LCY did in the third arc is fight. There is no balance at all. We get a bit of tenderness here and there from LCY but not enough to balance it out. There is no banter, the longing is not conveyed effectively, there are no feels! Their relationship did not go anywhere. They are supposed to be star-crossed lovers! I suppose the writers are to blame for this. This third arc could have been the best in this show, only if it was cleverly written. What a shame.

So... I will continue this arduous task and finish this show like a stupid lover hanging on to an abusive relationship hoping it will get better . I will have another update on this review when its done.

——-
Update: 55/55

I’ve done it. But I skimmed a lot of episodes, from that time when Gu Jian abducted Xiaofeng and all went from stupid to stupider. This is by far, the longest chinese drama I have watched. And by far the longest review I have written.

I must say, I am in love with this show but it doesn’t mean I liked everything about it. The ending was so sad but it was grand. The third and final arc was about this starcrossed lovers but just wished that it was written and executed better. The anger and pain is too much, it just got to the point.. what is even the point of all of this? It indeed had a lot of potential. We need a remake!

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This is perfection.

I finished this show within 3 days, then rewatched again right after. I love absolutely everything about this show to bits (oh well except Mimi!). It is a masterpiece. I have been looking with no success for something equally good or better. Nothing has come close..yet.

First of all, can we all just acknowledge that this show’s cast are not only beautiful but portrayed brilliantly in each of their own roles. I became aware of Dilreba in You Are My Glory, but her performance in The Long Ballad made me her fan. Great performance!

And then there’s Wu Lei, look he didn’t made much of an impression when I first saw him in Fight Break Sphere, and in fact I haven’t finished that show (I have to confess, I watched it because of Xiao Zhan and Gu Jia Cheng), but I kinda got bored. Then I tried TLB out of curiosity, and the the next thing I know I now worship Wu Lei. I never knew him as a child actor so that didn’t influence my bias. Contrary to whatever else were saying, I cannot imagine any other actor playing Ashile Sun. He is and will always be Ashile Sun. Period. Fantastic performance, I can watch him over and over again. The way he conveys his emotions with his eyes. If looks could kill. Oh my goodness. He perfected “the looook”. I also adore his Eagle Division brothers.

The story is phenomenal. Right from the first 15 minutes of the first episode, I felt the spark of excitement and I was hooked. It was truly riveting and every scene with Ashile Sun and Li Changge is impactful. That Cuju game was everything.
TLB had all the elements that I love in this genre, hidden identity, strong FL and ML, intrigue, hidden plots, revenge, war, politics, enemies to lovers. Amazing, it is just amazing. I cannot stress how beautiful the cinematography is as well. Episode 15 with Li Changge’s surrender to Ashile Sun, that scene is epic and beautiful. The soundtrack is also great.

A lot of the gripe that I have seen is the lack of romance. I personally think it just had the right amount of romance. Everytime Ashile Sun shows his love thru actions and words, it gives me the feels. I also wasn’t bothered by that blurred out kiss. And the ending, while everyone were wishing to have more lovey dovey at the end, I think its just fitting.

This must be the longest review I have written to date. Look, do yourself a favor and watch TLB. This one show with some serious epic chops. I haven’t seen anything yet that is just as good!

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An irksome female character that makes me want to bang my head against the TV..

it is an injustice to this promising show with a beautiful male lead.

I'll start off with my verbal diarrhea before I go to the good parts.

Weiwei, her character sucks. Surely, I am not the only one who thinks so? The only redeemable quality of Weiwei is her "Pikachu" powers... or is it? Yeah, I get it she got this static electricity condition, she's young, she's had a hard time in high school, yada yada yada... but it's not an excuse to be so dishonest, never forthcoming and always lie. She didn't even treated her friend well, like can you not apologise? Either her character is a total idiot or just likes to string along two guys at the same time. Come on, not all girls are like that you know?

It is insufferable how unfair she treated the ML and SML on the first half of this show. I understand the intent with the love triangle. The show needed some angst, but surely there are other effective less annoying ways to convey this. Her character could have, should have been better.

This was even made worse with her character styling and her overall look. Why is she styled so terribly? I don't understand the need for a bad haircut and frumpy clothes. The styling made her look bad deliberately. And last but not the least, the FL actress. I have seen a lot of dramas and very forgiving on acting... but the actress' performan ce is very "meh".

Now that's out of the way... we need to talk about Zhang Ling He. This upcoming actor is not just a beautiful face, but this man can act. He got a very expressive eyes. I picked up Sparkle Love because of ZLH and watching it in parallel with Maiden Holmes. You wouldn't know he is a new actor based on his performance. He did fairly well in this show, while it wasn't a heavy melodrama, he nailed his scenes. Unfortunately for the FL, being paired to him made her acting look mediocre.

The story is light and fluffy. Its about your usual overbearing jock with personal issues, falling in love with your typical girl with a special condition. And just to make it interesting, they mixed it up with likable secondary characters.

While Zhang Ling He is a total babe and I can watch him for days, I have stopped around episode 16/17, just because I find the FL irksome. I don't think its about the chemistry either, the FL just doesn't have that spark (pun intended), its flat. I haven't had my mojo back to pick it back up and watch, but maybe I will one of these days.

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Pursuit of love and second chances.

Almost halfway with Love The Way You Are and while the storyline is nothing new, it has this innocence and vulnerability that is just captivating. I am drawn in from the first episode.

The ML embodied the youthful innocence. He had this quiet confidence. He is effortlessly serving us “boy next door”. Him and Angelababy really looked good together and I think this type of roles suit her better. I really liked Angela here and you can see the conflicting emotions in her face. While they are unrelated by blood, their family relationship adds a complexity to the budding relationship of these two characters. There is this underlying feeling of hesitation and longing.

We are 12 episodes in, so at some point there will be some angst in the story and I’ll probably need tissues for it. I hate to say this but as the story goes, the ML may end up with the worst heartbreak of his life. Nevertheless, the ML and FL are already giving me the feels with their pursuit of love and second chances. I am all in for both of them.

This drama is a visual feast. I love the melancholic mood and simplicity. What a picturesque Shanghai. The cinematography is on point and wherever this neighbourhood is, I want to be there.

Above all, what makes this show extra special is the beautiful OST. Every single song sounds so precious. It just completes the drama and gives us mood and feels.

A lot of people were saying that this is a remake of the korean drama, Something In The Rain. I for one, personally haven’t seen SITR, I think I dropped it after the first episode. It just didn’t capture my attention. I think the leads in LTWYA are way more captivating.

Oh, and is it just me, but the ML looks like he can be Xiao Zhan’s younger brother.

Overall my noona romance meter is high off the charts. It is visually stunning and emotional. I cannot wait for the next lot of episodes.

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