sulkytofu

Thanks for letting me know! I know exactly what you mean, and to be honest I remember when I was watching Ten Miles and Ashes of Love, there was DEFINITELY angst, but I don't remember it being to this level (like we had a lot longer periods of sweetness?) In any case, my heart is hurting so much and I'm so scared to continue on.

I'm so stressed. I'm only at Episode 10 and I've already bawled my eyes out like twice from all of the angst. Hearing this isn't relieving, but at least now I can be prepared for the upcoming episodes.

She was in My Dear Destiny, which is pure fluff (until the mid-stretch) and she had TONS of chemistry with the ML in that one. The only issue is I think the subtitles stopped after 2/3 of the drama, but otherwise I quite liked it as a mindless watch.

To be honest guys, I'm starting to find the drama hard to watch (and I'm only on Episode 10). My heart seriously just hurts so much. I just realized that at this point, the episodes of bitterness and angst have been almost equal (if not more) than the episodes of sweetness in the beginning, and this is literally only 1/6th of the way through the drama.

I also think it's a lot of pain considering we haven't even reached the meatier "angst" and the big problems in the drama yet, and all of the angst right now is really misunderstandings (that are small, but due to timing and circumstance have obviously blown up). I knew that the drama was not going to be smooth sailing all the way through, but honestly it hurts to watch some of these scenes. Props to Cheng Yi and Crystal Yuan's acting for seriously making my heart ache so much.

Oh boy, I really, REALLY regret starting this, because it's just so good! I'm only on the first couple episodes, but I can already tell Alice and A Virtual Voyage have put so much hard work into the translations, and from the comments I know that international fans really appreciate the painstaking effort they put into subtitling the series.

I've also been really glad to see how Cheng Yi and Crystal Yuan are relatively more seasoned actors and actresses, and how it's my first time seeing them on screen. They have so much chemistry together, and I really do agree with the comments on how their performances are so well done. From first appearance, I also agree that I wasn't really able to see them in lead roles (and they seemed a lot younger than they really were!) But after watching this series, I've been pleasantly surprised, and Crystal Yuan is absolutely adorable and does a great job at showing the change in Chu Xuanji, while Cheng Yi is absolutely swoonworthy and has A LOT of presence as Yu Sifeng.

It's also refreshing to have another longer xianxia work (which is why I can see the comparisons to Ashes of Love and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms) where the main cast goes through many tribulations together. I'm bracing my heart right now for the angst, but I'm really loving how fluffy and cute the beginning is so far!

Totally understand what you mean! Truthfully, all reviews will have their own biases, and so when I'm writing I'm always conscious of where I may be more forgiving and where I may be more strict in my ratings.

I'm really glad that you liked this one! Completely agree with what you said about this being a pure fluffy "dog food" type of drama that you can easily turn your mind off to watch. I loved the chemistry as well, and I think being in the right mindset when going into this one will be super important.

I can't wait to see what next fluffy drama we'll pick up next. There's been so many great releases, and I agree with you that just because of the sheer volume (and differences in quality) across cdramas, it's important to just go in to shows with a completely blank slate.

Truthfully, the original novel that this is adapted from, Fish Playing While Trapped in a Secret Room, is a lot more substantial, melancholy, and introspective than Honey Stewed Squid, which was the novel that Go Go Squid was from. I have faith in the adaptations because one reason Mo Bao Fei Bao always hesitated in allowing her works to be made into dramas was because she refused adaptations, unless she was allowed to be the main scriptwriter.

If Go Go Squid felt more youthful and fluffy, with the pink tinge of romance, Fish Playing While Trapped in a Secret Room feels a lot more reflexive and is more focused on the transitions in the female lead's life. It's clear when Go Go Squid was made, there wasn't the expectation of a sequel. Truthfully this also wasn't the casting I had envisioned, and I can already see Mo Bao Fei Bao is making a lot of changes (just as she did in Go Go Squid) to her original story. But I'm looking forward to it a lot, since I've been a fan of many of her past novels even beyond the "Go Go Squid" universe.

Truthfully because I went into the drama knowing about the issues with the ending, I was a lot more prepared, and therefore I think my enjoyment was a little higher because I was aware of the problems with the last episode. It's a shame because the actual plot, characters, length of the drama, and the acting are actually quite well done, and I think if they had changed some things with the ending, this drama would be a lot more higher rated. That being said, I suppose the drama really suits people who have a more niche taste, because I don't think that (in a generally fluffy and shorter historical drama) an ending like this has been done yet.

I'm so excited! Let's hope this turns out to be really good ~

Right here at Cnewsdevotee's blog, they're also available on cdrama potatoe's Twitter (scroll down or type CTRL + F and just search "Believe in Love"). Aren't they so pretty? https://cnewsdevotee.wordpress.com/2020/08/03/entertainment-updates-count-your-lucky-stars-chang-ge-xing-the-legend-of-xiao-chuo-ancient-love-poetry-yu-long-the-blooms-at-ruyi-pavilion-the-justice-love-like-white-jade-please-feel-at-ease/

Completely understand! Hopefully my review is there to provide some information on what to expect, but is definitely not exhaustive or a comprehensive overview of the show. I'm glad that there are viewers who really enjoyed this one, and appreciate you reading my review!

No problem and I'm very glad that this helped!

No problem, thank you for your kind words! And also I understand switching to another type of drama in the meantime as well. Hopefully your next drama watch is a good one ~

If you're okay with watching Korean dramas, I'd highly recommend you watch Sungkyunkwan Scandal. The conflict of women going to school is very well handled in the Korean one, and there are actual material steps taken in the drama to address this issue. Not to mention that these problems are not only undertaken by the main cast, but also by the rest of the students at the academy. The Korean drama wrapped up a lot of ends while maintaining the FL's commitment to her studies and her own goals, and I would really give that one a chance if this one left you feeling unsatisfied.

The Kdrama was also an "idol drama" at the time, since the rest of the side cast were relatively unknown during that period. But they did a lot of great things with the script that added nuance and depth to the plot, and it's something I missed a lot when I was watching this adaptation.

I'm soooo excited about Kiki, loved her so much after watching Youth With You and had no idea that she was also in Legend of Yunxi as well. Can't wait to see her performance and I hope she has her own love line in this drama.

I'm pretty surprised because last I heard Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms/Eternal Love was also plagiarized from Peach Blossom Debt? I wouldn't be surprised if they had plagiarized it again, because the recycling of storylines is not uncommon, but the author must be feeling quite terrible if this is truly the case.

The first lead role Merxat received was in For Married Doctress, and without spoiling too much, it's not exactly an ending that I was satisfied with. Merxat is so great and has so much range, and I'm disappointed that he doesn't get placed into more lead roles - especially since he's demonstrated again and again just how versatile he is as an actor.

The only other Ju Jingyi drama I've seen is Legend of Yunxi (but I remember dropping that so I never made it to the ending). Arsenal Military Academy doesn't have a kiss scene either, but the chemistry was so well done that I still felt satisfied. I'm disappointed overall, but if this is the case that's quite sad, especially since I think taking on more projects is evidence of Ju Jingyi's abilities as an actress. And not having romantic scenes in a romance drama is quite ironic, which is why I think I was quite disappointed with how the lovelines were handled in this drama.

It's pretty disappointing, to be honest, and I think your comments are pretty much spot on. One of the things I loved about the original Korean drama was how it took the time to delve into the issues that it brought up. The character for Lei Ao experienced serious consequences for his vigilante justice, while the FL in the Korean drama had to face the fact that she had disguised herself as a male with serious ramifications. I remember being very bored sometimes watching this one, which I never experienced in the Korean drama (I remember skipping the archery scenes in this drama, while in the Korean version I couldn't stop watching.) I'm pretty disappointed to be honest, and all in all the drama has left me with a rather upsetting aftertaste.

Oh my god, what happened to the ending (more like the last 8 episodes of this series?)

I think the main issue with this adaptation is that despite the great production value, and some awesome performances (especially by Wang Ruichang and Bi Wenjun) ironically the fact that Wen Xi is actually a girl doesn't really seem to matter. I remember this being a huge point of tension in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, where you constantly felt worried about her disguise being uncovered. And while this drama plays with that idea, and there are instances in which gender is important to the broader story, the anticlimatic resolution regarding this point in the last stretch is baffling. I'm pretty disappointed to be honest about the handling of the last section of the drama, which suddenly went into the political scheming territory and seemed to almost not even relate to the academy aspect. All I remember is skipping all of the latter parts of the show and being unsatisfied with the ending, even though this version had a longer episode length for the story.

Ironically, I guess even the writers felt that the chemistry between Song Weilong and Ju Jingyi wasn't all that great, so they didn't bother with a kiss scene. I may be sounding off as harsh, but considering how well-paced Sungkyunkwan Scandal was, and how this drama had all of the elements to be really great, I have to say that the last parts of the drama left a bitter aftertaste that overpowers the beginning.