Best BL of 2026 so far
Thank you to that one manhwa artist fangirling over He Yanzhao for finally convincing me to check out this series. Holy hell, he's stunning.Not gonna lie, if Xia Liu Yi had been played by a different actor, I probably wouldn't have been interested in watching it at all, especially with a weird title like that.
The chemistry between the leads was off the charts. The OST was amazing and perfectly suited the series' 1980s Hong Kong setting. The cinematography was beautifully shot, with so many scenes that felt like they belonged in a movie.
Unpopular opinion: I had no issue with the dubbing. Then again, I understand Cantonese, so that probably helped a lot.
Definitely one of my favorite BLs, that's for sure.
Now all that's left is to patiently (or not so patiently) wait for Season 2. Hopefully it won't take too long. (guess i'll read the novel in the meantime....)
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This review may contain spoilers
A masterpiece that deserves more hype!
They got married, but at what cost??Nah, but for real… even though I wanted a happy ending, I think a bittersweet ending was fitting for these characters. Even though Shuhe loved Ziang deeply, he couldn’t live with himself after everything that happened. It was heartbreaking to see how Ziang trusted Shuhe until the very end, only to be betrayed in the most devastating way.
The acting in the final episode was absolutely phenomenal, easily one of the highlights of the entire series.
My only gripe is that some plot points felt rushed or skipped over entirely in the last ep. For example:
How was Huoying suddenly wandering around freely in the Northern Palace with no explanation? And why was Ziang’s brother suddenly besties with them out of nowhere?
Despite these gaps, this series is incredibly underrated, especially considering the insanely low budget (confirmed by the actors. They didn't have enough money to hire extras and their screenwriter had to play the doctor Shen Song). With more funding, we could’ve had additional episodes to flesh out the story further, maybe even a reincarnation epilogue!
But alas, they still managed to make it work and deliver an absolute masterpiece. After waiting so long for a historical/wuxia-themed uncensored BL, I can confidently say it exceeded my expectations in every way.
A beautiful, emotional series that I’ll be thinking about for a long time.
10/10.
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