This review may contain spoilers
[HEAVY SPOILERS]
Veil of Shadows was a rollercoaster of a drama, with beautiful acting, lore, and visuals. However, its treatment of some of its characters and ending was where I felt it fell short: seemingly important characters were sidelined, and the entire show was essentially erased through a 'time reversal' ending, which personally seemed like a copout (personal preference, but I don't really get/like time reversal type endings it just erases everything the characters stand for and endured). Characters dying constantly and reveals happening every episode drained some of the magic as you begin to feel overwhelmed instead of connected to the characters.
At the beginning of the show I was absolutely in love with the visuals and lore. The dynamics between characters (specifically the fox sisters) were amazing to watch and the small visual details really had be flabbergasted (when the butterfly came out of Yuan Wuhuo's mouth to turn into his mask? Amazing. Also the entire pool at the Formless Moon Sect was absolutely stunning). I also loved each of the pair's dynamics, which were so different and so engaging. I found myself caring about both relationships equally as they switched between. Wu Wangyan and Wu Shiguang were the more mature feeling couple, with a tangled past and a relationship built on deception. But lord it was so wonderfully done. The tension, the chemistry was absolutely to die for, I found myself on the edge of my seat often watching them. The Star Stone arc was such a beautiful way to show their growing devotion to each other, even one based on 'lies'. And don't even get me started on Lu Wuyi and Ji Ling. The switch from their cute relationship in the first arc to him being a puppet reveal??? I literally mourned that little fox guy with Lu Wuyi. And the tension between Ji Ling as Chi Wen and Lu Wuyi was amazingly done and so interesting to watch! I had to take a lap around my room when Ji Ling died the first time (the first time. THE FIRST TIME. Why was there so many more times ToT) and then slowly realising Chi Wen IS Ji Ling? and still loves her? Wonderful. Sublime. Everyone's acting was top notch.
However as the drama kept going on, the 'plot twists' and overall story became quite overwhelming and sudden. The overuse of the surprise factor really dulled down many moments where I began to feel more and more apathetic about the characters (I still cried...but well, less I guess). I think some of those 'reveals' could have been executed a lot better with more clearer foreshadowing: it felt like things were being pulled out of their ass at some point. Again, there was a real overuse of dramatic reveals and plot twists that kept switching up the story to the point it was confusing to follow, and honestly numbed me to the surprise. Conversely, there were also some arcs that were a little dragged at points (the Star Stone arc is the first one that comes to mind) where I remember asking myself when the arc was going to end because it felt like they had been doing the same thing for way too long. Keeping a better balance between these moments and the plot twists could have made the drama flow a bit more rather than feeling a bit staccato at times and flat at others.
The largest downside to me was the sidelining of characters, which many others have also pointed out. After the Star Stone arc, Wu Shiguang and Wu Wangyan got MAJORLY sidelined. I enjoyed Wu Shiguang's character at the beginning of the drama, but as time went on he stopped bringing anything to the table. He felt like a real dude at the start and then he morphed into the most generic character that was just. There. Ji Ling on the other hand was going THROUGH it and had reveal after reveal of sad and sadder backstory. Props to Joseph Zeng for doing the most with what he got for Wu Shiguang. Similarly with Wu Wangyan, she was such a powerful character but at the end all I saw her do were a few spins, make a bigger ice sword than before, then spit out blood and cry a bit (talking about crying, seriously I hardly remember any of the character's non-crying faces. They're always crying! Every scene! Ji Ling has a teardrop run down his face so beautifully like 50 times an episode. Why are we torturing these characters so much, let them have a break! And let me have one too! I think I went through 2 whole tissue boxes throughout the whole drama. Anyway, back to Wu Wangyan). I wanted to see more of the fox sisters and their power. In contrast, Lu Wuyi becoming a 'deity' was very fun to see (although the time loop thing was. confusing to say the least, but I have to say the Lonescale was so beautiful) and I wish we saw more of those scenes with Wu Wangyan and Wu Shiguang too, especially after Wu Shiguang was revealed to be the 10th Dragon. They really gave up on their characters. The ending overall didn't quite hit, it left me feeling empty. And oh my gosh You Chi dying without Wu Shiguang and then turning out to basically be a completely different person post time reversal??? Where did my silly weasel go??? I was distraught. Loved that guy and wish his friendship with Wu Shiguang got a bit more attention like Ji Ling and Li Jue's did. I also wanted to see more of Han Ba and was sad when he also died :(
Overall, I think a 7.5 is a fair rating from me. I enjoyed the first half of the show immensely, but it dropped off slowly as time went on (perhaps I was also just physically tired from crying so much). The music and visuals were amazing though, I found myself bopping to the beats every time they played (which might have been overdone but it didn't get old for me, I loved it) and singing along to the battle music which I had no idea what they were saying (As someone who studied Chinese I don't think it was?? It was so catchy though). And as a GM currently running a xianxia-based TTRPG campaign, the visuals and plot twists really gave me a lot of inspiration (and ways to emotionally damage my players!) so that's always a good thing! I don't believe I would rewatch this show anytime soon - safe for the first 12 or so episodes.
Veil of Shadows was a rollercoaster of a drama, with beautiful acting, lore, and visuals. However, its treatment of some of its characters and ending was where I felt it fell short: seemingly important characters were sidelined, and the entire show was essentially erased through a 'time reversal' ending, which personally seemed like a copout (personal preference, but I don't really get/like time reversal type endings it just erases everything the characters stand for and endured). Characters dying constantly and reveals happening every episode drained some of the magic as you begin to feel overwhelmed instead of connected to the characters.
At the beginning of the show I was absolutely in love with the visuals and lore. The dynamics between characters (specifically the fox sisters) were amazing to watch and the small visual details really had be flabbergasted (when the butterfly came out of Yuan Wuhuo's mouth to turn into his mask? Amazing. Also the entire pool at the Formless Moon Sect was absolutely stunning). I also loved each of the pair's dynamics, which were so different and so engaging. I found myself caring about both relationships equally as they switched between. Wu Wangyan and Wu Shiguang were the more mature feeling couple, with a tangled past and a relationship built on deception. But lord it was so wonderfully done. The tension, the chemistry was absolutely to die for, I found myself on the edge of my seat often watching them. The Star Stone arc was such a beautiful way to show their growing devotion to each other, even one based on 'lies'. And don't even get me started on Lu Wuyi and Ji Ling. The switch from their cute relationship in the first arc to him being a puppet reveal??? I literally mourned that little fox guy with Lu Wuyi. And the tension between Ji Ling as Chi Wen and Lu Wuyi was amazingly done and so interesting to watch! I had to take a lap around my room when Ji Ling died the first time (the first time. THE FIRST TIME. Why was there so many more times ToT) and then slowly realising Chi Wen IS Ji Ling? and still loves her? Wonderful. Sublime. Everyone's acting was top notch.
However as the drama kept going on, the 'plot twists' and overall story became quite overwhelming and sudden. The overuse of the surprise factor really dulled down many moments where I began to feel more and more apathetic about the characters (I still cried...but well, less I guess). I think some of those 'reveals' could have been executed a lot better with more clearer foreshadowing: it felt like things were being pulled out of their ass at some point. Again, there was a real overuse of dramatic reveals and plot twists that kept switching up the story to the point it was confusing to follow, and honestly numbed me to the surprise. Conversely, there were also some arcs that were a little dragged at points (the Star Stone arc is the first one that comes to mind) where I remember asking myself when the arc was going to end because it felt like they had been doing the same thing for way too long. Keeping a better balance between these moments and the plot twists could have made the drama flow a bit more rather than feeling a bit staccato at times and flat at others.
The largest downside to me was the sidelining of characters, which many others have also pointed out. After the Star Stone arc, Wu Shiguang and Wu Wangyan got MAJORLY sidelined. I enjoyed Wu Shiguang's character at the beginning of the drama, but as time went on he stopped bringing anything to the table. He felt like a real dude at the start and then he morphed into the most generic character that was just. There. Ji Ling on the other hand was going THROUGH it and had reveal after reveal of sad and sadder backstory. Props to Joseph Zeng for doing the most with what he got for Wu Shiguang. Similarly with Wu Wangyan, she was such a powerful character but at the end all I saw her do were a few spins, make a bigger ice sword than before, then spit out blood and cry a bit (talking about crying, seriously I hardly remember any of the character's non-crying faces. They're always crying! Every scene! Ji Ling has a teardrop run down his face so beautifully like 50 times an episode. Why are we torturing these characters so much, let them have a break! And let me have one too! I think I went through 2 whole tissue boxes throughout the whole drama. Anyway, back to Wu Wangyan). I wanted to see more of the fox sisters and their power. In contrast, Lu Wuyi becoming a 'deity' was very fun to see (although the time loop thing was. confusing to say the least, but I have to say the Lonescale was so beautiful) and I wish we saw more of those scenes with Wu Wangyan and Wu Shiguang too, especially after Wu Shiguang was revealed to be the 10th Dragon. They really gave up on their characters. The ending overall didn't quite hit, it left me feeling empty. And oh my gosh You Chi dying without Wu Shiguang and then turning out to basically be a completely different person post time reversal??? Where did my silly weasel go??? I was distraught. Loved that guy and wish his friendship with Wu Shiguang got a bit more attention like Ji Ling and Li Jue's did. I also wanted to see more of Han Ba and was sad when he also died :(
Overall, I think a 7.5 is a fair rating from me. I enjoyed the first half of the show immensely, but it dropped off slowly as time went on (perhaps I was also just physically tired from crying so much). The music and visuals were amazing though, I found myself bopping to the beats every time they played (which might have been overdone but it didn't get old for me, I loved it) and singing along to the battle music which I had no idea what they were saying (As someone who studied Chinese I don't think it was?? It was so catchy though). And as a GM currently running a xianxia-based TTRPG campaign, the visuals and plot twists really gave me a lot of inspiration (and ways to emotionally damage my players!) so that's always a good thing! I don't believe I would rewatch this show anytime soon - safe for the first 12 or so episodes.
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