Reviews

Visually Stunning Drama That Leaves you Craving for More

I started watching this because I thought it'll be like another Love Between Fairy and Devil. But I was proved quite wrong.
Pros-
Bai Lu. She was a dream to watch. She was able to express the different nuances to her role so beautifully. And I was so glad that her character wasn't those over-the-top cutesy, loud and whiny female characters who are busier acting the kawai damsel in distress than actually doing something about her situation. This was one character who took charge at every incarnation she had, and I loved it.
Tantai Jin. His character arc was beautiful to watch. From being an evil Devil God to transforming into a "nicer" person to being a considerate Devil God, his narrative was very well executed.
Acting and Cast. Ye Bin Chang was this brilliantly flawed character, and the actress did a really good job at playing this delicate "flower of evil" kinda role. The other actors were also pretty good in their roles.
The worldbuilding. In one word, it was STUNNING. Generally Xianxia dramas pay a lot of attention to the graphics and everything, but the fantasy world was so real and believable, absolute feast for the eyes. The costumes, the set designs, the VFX, and even the fancy flying fight sequences and all, were quite well executed. This experience was made for a big screen, I feel. The OST was also quite good. It's still stuck in my head.

Cons-
Luo Yun Xi as the Male Lead. Honestly, I didn't like him in the first watch, but maybe a rewatch after sometime might change my opinion. In my opinion, he was TOO THIN. I get it that one aspect of his character demanded him to be sickly and thin, but for me, his stick figure thin body just stood out like a sore thumb. And his long, flowy costumes didn't work for him either, made him look thinner. I was SORELY missing Dylan Wang in this regard, because he looked like a BOMB as the Devil in LBFAD. Even his acting felt a bit wooden to me in parts, but maybe that's his character's demand. Again, hoping that a rewatch might change my opinions.
Editing. It was choppy in parts, sometimes the scenes would just transition from one to the next without any connection between the two. Quite irritating that was. Also, the additional villains were just stupid and unnecessary.
Ending. I do not like dramas that do not provide closure at the end. AND THIS WAS ONE SUCH DRAMA WITHOUT ANY CLOSURE. I legit went back to search if there are extra episodes after the 40th one, because THE ENDING WAS SO INCOMPLETE. I get it about sad endings and all that, but keeping it open ended without any explanations and so abrupt was just ANNOYING.
Overall, the lead couple's love story and their chemistry was what shone the best in this series. This made me watch Love is Sweet, because I was vouching for them so much. Although I didn't like the look of Lui Yun Xi in this drama, I loved his character. But Dylan Wang will still be my favorite Devil. Give it a watch, it is a decent one.

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Fill review on elijahmaliksmom.wordpress.com

...SPOILERS may be ahead...

This is really one fucked up story. How can anyone just turn a blind eye when you see your partner with your own eyes making out or kissing another guy, not just once but twice? Then you even blame yourself as to why you were cheated on because you were a nobody?

I just can't understand the concept of this story. If not for Takuya and me wanting to watch all his works, I won't even start the 3rd episode. I never liked story lines like this. God! The year this was created was 1996 and yet the characters here are already so liberated, or is this really how it is in Japan during those years?

Would I recommend this series to anybody? Yes and no. Yes, if you're bored to your wits and you've got nothing better to watch or if you want to get irritated and angry. No, since I really did not like it. I really only finished it because I do not drop things and it's Takuya Kimura's work.

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Life is life

Despite all the negative reviews I took a chance on this drama. Afterwards I'm glad I did. To ne true I can't understand why so many negativity.

Record of youth, is about family, friendships, carreers and unanswered love. The story develops easly and aloud us to peek in the life of models and actors. Also interesting to watch how easy social media (news channels, bloggers/youtubers) can impact the lives of those struggling to have a life.
Well, life isn't always fair, people is not always friendly, but at the end we all harvest what we saw.
It was a great watch. I did really enjoy it.

Thank you for your attention.

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Again, Miao Yi is incredibly funny. If you want a funny, smart, and kind character that doesn't feel forced or even stupid, she's the right fit.

And the male lead, oof, I've been obsessed with Zhou Yiran since FIYS for absolutely no reason. His acting skills are amazing and his character here is so cool and serious that is heart-melting when he starts falling for Su Zaizai. I'm looking forward to his next work.

The storytelling in this drama is great, the writers were able to capture their growth through time very subtly, it's just like watching them grow and mature in front of our eyes, especially romantically.

The second leads have some amazing stories. Normally, I find it very hard to get involved in SLs stories, but not in this drama. The writers didn't only give them a relationship out of nowhere just to say they did it (something like this happened in Exclusive Fairytale, Miao Yi's new drama), all of the supporting characters have depth and we get to know them well.

Honestly, Friends to Lovers isn't my trope, but this C-drama flew fast to my top 3 favorites of all time.

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Expectations were set high but the drama did not deliver

I wanted to drop this halfway but I still watched, probably because of Gong Jun and Yang Mi... And because I want to watch the other two series although these dramas might not have anything in common. Anyways. According to the trailers, I expected 20% more action and fighting and a plot along the lines of "humans and spirits clashing one on another occasionally but with great casualties leading to an iron curtain between their worlds and yet Dongfang Yuechu and other people found their ways into the spirit worlds and fell in love with the spirits". I expected something more like episodes 31 and 32 - silly, goofy love on the background of an obligatory bad guys versus good guys. The storyline felt like a "hero of the week" style and I think they should've kept it this way instead of trying to make a bigger storyline on the background with smaller storylines. The smaller storylines of Bu Tai and Shi Kuan, Lyu Jianwen and Yan Rushan, Yueti Xia and Hu Weisheng were far more interesting and better than the main plot. As for the main plot, it was so boring until the half of the drama. Maybe because of how cold and unemotional Honghong and Rongrong were. The plot then tried to take off, I have the feeling that the writers added the black foxes halfway into filming. This plot line felt a little bit forced. Maybe if there was a mention at the beginning of the story, it wouldn't feel so not really fitting. I very much disliked Honghong constantly withholding truth from Yuechu and hurting him over and over again. Once or twice to protect him - okay, but all. The time. So annoying. Girl, let him off the hook or get some conscience. Despite all the critique, there are some things I liked - the headpieces and costumes. Especially Honghong's robes showing legs, very interesting. The casting saved the drama, as well as exceptional cgi. But it's not enough for me. I just hope that the other two series will be way way better.

Edit To Add: reading all other reviews, I'm glad that many of us here agree that we expected a lot and got nothing. I hope iqiyi learns from this and will improve the other two installments from this series.

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I liked it

I have rarely seen the ratings so varied as they are here for Doona! Reading through the reviews, the bad ratings probably come mainly from young and immature critics who didn't understand the ending (although you can watch a scene multiple times on Netflix) and who wanted the story to develop as they wished. Then we have a lot of psychologists among the viewers and those who can't step outside of their culture. Anyway - I liked Doona! and I liked Bae Suzy's restrained acting, she gave many scenes a deeper meaning with her facial expressions. I was actually prejudiced about seeing another drama with her after the really, really bad "Start-up". But she managed the broken character quite well!

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I love the characters in this drama. though some scenes veered away from the novel it still was able to deliver the main idea. love the musical scoring as it invokes the right emotion from each scenes to the audience. the cinematography was great and so are the fight scenes. the casts gave the best they can so I really can't complain. will rewatch. The relationship between NQ and SS may seem awkward at first but as the story developed it just made more sense that they be together as they already shared a life together and knew each other deeply in a way different from a bro-sis relationship. their relationship and feelings for each other were made clearer in the novel than in the TV adaptation, but I guess its hard to put everything on the screen.

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A Must Watch 2020 drama.

The plot was so unpredictable. Up until a certain point, I really couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Some of the twists were SO unexpected, it gave me literal goosebumps. I watched it with my sister, and we had so much fun trying to guess what was happening and what to expect next, and with all the twists being thrown at us, getting all excited!
A very fun watch, especially if you like to play detective. This drama is very complicated, you actually need to pay attention, and it leaves a lot of questions unanswered till it is absolutely necessary to reveal it. It honestly keeps the fun going.
Please do watch it with loved one, and get guessing! It's very fun.
My one takeaway from this drama would be that our fate is just a result of our own choices sometimes.
Happy watching!

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One of the best I have watched in 2018. Ning Que (Arthur Chen) and Sang Sang (Song Yiren) both did an excellent job in bringing out the characters.

I did wish they had cast better quality supporting actors (not in terms of acting but in terms of spoken language). Leon Lai and Adam Cheng both spoke like they are speaking Cantonese.

Princess Li Yu is really quite stupid and totally naive which I wish the scriptwriters gave more common sense to the silly power crazy Princess. She's totally blind and over-protective of her brother who is a cruel and power crazy and dumb prince. Maybe it's because she is equally brainless. She looks down at Ning Que and after he enters the Fu Ji Academy, she tries all her ways to get him on her side. I wonder if she ever learned her lesson. Does she even know how useless and brainless her brother is? Sigh, totally cannot stand these two Princess and Prince pair.

Emperor dotes on his empress and gives in to her every whim. Empress knows her brother, the general is going to attack the Princess and she did nothing to stop him. She totally lied to the Emperor and said she knew nothing about it. At some point, I wish she would die with her brother as she does not deserve to be the Empress. Her brother massacred an entire village and she still protects him. She has no guilty conscience! Fair and just nation? Really? Probably why I enjoyed the twist in the story!

I do think episodes when Ning Que goes on the battle expedition with Mo Shan Shan could be shortened. It got a bit draggy.

What is really lacking is, since they are Fu Ji's disciples, he hardly teaches them. He just leaves the other 12 to teach Ning Que....?

Can't wait for season 2.....

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Swoonworthy, even though it's a basic background story

First of all, I want to make sure that people understand that this is one of those stories that is all fluffy, so if you are in the mood for something light like I was, you will love it. However, if you are looking for a complex story, try something else. I was looking for something like Love 020, where the leads aren't in useless drama and get together, knowing their feelings instead of having stupid people trying to break them up. Them indeed breaking up because of misunderstandings. There is only one severe misunderstanding, and it does not last long; rather than a misunderstanding, it was something that had to do with mistrust from both sides. But they won over it calmly. Now the female lead is not stupid nor loud. Instead, she understands everything and vice versa with the male lead. From the beginning, we can see that the relationship is going to turn out great. By episode 10, we have the perfect love story and execution, so no need to wait for centuries to get an ACTUAL STEAMY KISS! Moreover, the side couple is adorable, and you'll laugh and cry for them. It's great for a break from hard times like the pandemic right now. Also, there are villains like the little sister, who goes from annoying to cute soon enough. The other actress in the story, Gao, also gets better by the end. The leads do not let anything stop them from their love and handle everything amazingly.

P.S I was totally crushing on the male lead's older brother XD

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i highly recommend you to watch this

The story is really good and not boring at all. The romantic element makes me immersed in happiness hahaha. There is also an element of comedy, and friendship. anyway this drama is very good to watch! you can watch it on youtube if you want ... btw this drama is the FIRST chinese drama I've ever watched ...
I've watched it about five times, but I never get bored. And I really like it when the male lead is cold and smart
and the female lead is very funny and sloppy.
I won't spoil the story. But this story has a sad and happy part. Well, in every story it must be like that, right?
So happy watching u all!!!! <3

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