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Ano Toki Kiss Shite; Funny, Romantic And Heartbreaking…
The plot of " Ano Toki Kiss Shite" will not appeal to every viewer out there. Its bizarre premise of kind-hearted Nozomu Momochi ( Matsuzaka Tori) beginning to fall in love with the outgoing mangaka-artist Yuizuki Tomoe ( Aso Kumiko)-even in the body of cantankerous caretaker Tanaka Masao ( Iura Arata)-can be seen as oddly " risky” or " weird " in the eyes of some viewers.
However, anyone who has watched this drama beforehand will agree that these stereotypes are wrongly-placed. At the heart of Toki Kiss Shite is an oddly comical, yet heartwarming romance tale where selfless Nozomu Momochi learns the importance of self-love during his unconventional relationship with Yuizuki Tomoe.
As far as the cast is concerned, ”Ano Toki Kiss Shite" was fairly dynamic. Matsuzaka Tori was fairly brilliant as our softly-spoken and down-to-earth male lead Nozomu Momochi. The actor himself admitted that he was drawn to the role by the funny and unpredictable nature of the storyline especially for our male lead.
Momochi as a written character initially seemed to ring warning bells as the archetypical " easily-manipulated" male lead who would be drawn in as the scapegoat by Tomoe, however, Momochi undeniably has his own fair share of problems. Despite having a heart of gold, he does not believe that he should have greater ambitions due to his dead-end job at the supermarket. His one form of escapism is the work of Tomoe. Momochi’s meeting with the mangaka-artist leads him to developing an unusual relationship with the artist- not " romantic” in the beginning ( as Momochi tries to explain to his gossiping coworkers who believed he was having an affair with her), but soul-connecting.
Admittedly, it would have been more intriguing to have seen Momochi fleshed-out more with individuality. Whilst we find out a lot as viewers about Tomoe, her emotional struggle and her close relationship with her mother, our male lead felt too much of a blank slate. We rarely saw or hear him talk about family , his past or even simply react emotionally outside of the enforced " I love sensei” or a " new problem which makes me moody" routine. Arguably whilst this story is a romance tale about Tomoe and Momochi, it would have helped to deepen this soulmate relationship if we knew more about the second component and of course our main lead Nozomu Momochi.
That issue aside , this " soul-connecting" relationship provides to become more of a reality than truth during the surreal supernatural events of the series. Despite being mentioned briefly beforehand ( though without definitive spoilers towards the entirety of the circumstances) , Momochi finds himself in an awkward position when his idol claims to be possessing the body of Tanaka Masao. Naturally perturbed , Momochi finds himself slightly on edge due to the awkwardness of the situation.
However there is oddly something endearing about Momochi not straying from his original words of wanting to develop a soulful bond with Tomoe. In a more lighthearted scene of the series when visiting a bathhouse, he desperately attempts to protect Tomoe’s “dignity” as a woman surrounded by men ( despite Tomoe’s later fairly forthright comments).
Now, Tomoe is admittedly harder to assess due to respectfully played by a female and a male actor.Whilst Matsuzaka commented that Aso Kumiko was brilliant for the role, the actress herself admitted that she did find the role a little unrealistic, though enjoyably intriguing. On the other hand, Iuta Aruta confessed he was questioning whether to regret taking up the role when he was given the script, however, Aruta joked that there is a first time for everything-not least playing a female heroine for the first time.
Honestly, both actors were equally as brilliant as the other by imitating one another’s mannerisms . As a character, Tomoe is more straightforward. A talented and successful manga-artist of the popular series “SEIKA no Sora”, it would be easy to establish Kumiko as the " spoilt princess" archetype, however, Kumiko’s life has certainly not been entirely comprised of sunshine and rainbows.
Yet whilst talking about our female lead, it is impossible not to mention her complicated relationship with her editor Takamizawa Haruto ( Miura Shohei). Now, here is where mixed feelings will be generated for viewers. Takamizawa is what you’d expect of your " jealous-fuelled” second male lead; infatuated with Tomoe, and desperate to make Momochi’s life a living misery. On the other hand, it didn’t refreshingly make Takamizawa a " bad person” either. A backstory provided a deeper insight into his relationship with Tomoe as well as his later revelations with Momochi provide that out of all of his faults, he truly does love and care for Tomoe.
Perhaps the slightly annoying aspect of Takamizawa and Tomoe’s relationship is to do with the “ unrequited love” ideology. It’s understandable that Tomoe didn’t believe that Takamizawa didn’t have any feelings for him ( especially considering their current relationship), however, it’s hard to understand how Tomoe could remain so blasé at times about having or at least struggling with her feelings even once with Takamizawa. ( Bearing in mind their relationship prior to the events of the series.)
As far as the comedy is concerned, “ Ano Toki Kiss Shite" is a required taste. Some may enjoy the comical sketches between Matsuzaka Tori and Iura Arata , whilst others may feel offended or uncomfortable by the exaggerated actions of Tori and Arata’s "awkward situations " and the stereotype of the " foreigner” with Momochi’s coworker Li Shan Shan ( Uraji Nuno)’s “ misunderstandings” by still trying to grasp the Japanese language . However, against some of the more questionable comical moments of the series, ” Ano Toki Kiss Shite” hits hard with some intriguingly issues about Japanese society- Kumiko is revealed to have been a victim of Japan’s vicious problem of ageism and prejudice when she first applied her work to the publishing agency. In a male- dominated environment, she had to take up the male pseudonym “Kanikama Joe” for her work to succeed. Additionally Tanaka Yutaro ( Kubozuka Airu), Masao and Masao’s wife Tanaka Honami ( MEGUMI)’s familial relationship represent the problematic dysfunctional family in all its glory.
However, the one issue which did feel a little less addressed considering the nature of Momochi and Tomoe’s presented relationship was the missed issue of homosexuality and the LGBT community in Japan. Now, this is arguably where we do go down a bit of a slippery slope as it is undoubtable that Tomoe is still a woman. ( The affections of the pair are taken upon the devoted bond of a fan and mentor also.) However, to the outside world, Tomoe’s affections and closeness in the body of Masao to Momochi certainly presented a different story. Whilst arguably the series did address a certain awkwardness in Japanese society around the issue of same-sex relationships with Takamizawa seeing Tomoe ( evidently in Masao’s body) in the beginning, this felt like a bit of a missed opportunity to present more seriously also. ( Especially considering some of the other poignant themes of the drama.)
So, is “ Ano Toki Kiss Shite” worth watching? Whilst the comedy and plot premise may not be appealing to everyone, ” Ano Toki Kiss Shite" is fundamentally an awkward and heartfelt romance tale of a devoted fan learning to be selfish and pursue his own feelings for Tomoe with an eccentric yet heartwarming supernatural twist.
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Perfect chemistry
Song Wei Long and Zhao Jian Mai have perfect chemistry! Every time they are on screen together, you literally get sweetness overload. There were so many sweet moments and scenes that made me swoon and kick my feet. I totally loved their love story. There is something to be said about being with somebody who always chooses you and shows you they love you in so many ways. That is top tier love.Now, let me be honest in saying there are some parts of this show that were a little off-putting, like the background effects in some scenes. Like who are they kidding with those green screen scenes? I am sure they have a better budget and tech than that?! That was just poorly done IMO. Some plots were drawn out and unnecessary too and I thought didn't really contribute or felt like was completely addressed.
But I would still recommend this for the love story, the OST, and just the over all vibes and visual of the main leads.
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Wouldrecommend this drama?
My answer? HELL YEAH. DEFINITELY.
The story line is not perfect by any means but I am very happy with it as it is very close to reality. How the characters react to certain situations make it more realistic. I also like that there are action scenes, not much but enough for me, what made it even nicer is the fact that Takuya Kimura did not get any doubles for any of his scenes (of course I can be wrong).
Full review can be found here: https://elijahmaliksmom.wordpress.com
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Obviously there is a switch of birth at the hospital by a nurse filled with revenge against the villain.
Cast: I loved most of the characters, and hated a few too. My favorite was not the main lead (but he was the reason I watched this drama the first time lol) I fell in love with Park Hae Jin's character (this is actually the drama where I became a fan of Park Hae Jin) - he plays the good guys son raised by the villain - he has a lot of pain in his heart b/c he is good-natured but get's forced to do things at times that go against his conscience. He does what his "father" orders him to do and puts a seal on his heart in order to act it out. He will commit one MAJOR sin in this drama - but as the drama progresses you feel for him again and he wiggles his way into your heart. (I personally found him more attractive than the lead guy) and I liked his "love story" more than the lead guys too lol. Don't get me wrong though I still loved the lead guy ALOT and I loved his "love story" too (but his is more tragic - his pulls ALOT of tears out of your eyes *sniff *sniff)
The villains son - to be honest I liked him a bit at the beginning and then really started to detest him somewhere in the middle (believe me you probably will too - if you get emotionally attached to characters as I do).
Music: was AMAZING!!! I loved how the producers kind of gave each character their OWN song (if you read the lyrics you'll understand what I mean - reading the lyrics as you watch the drama is a true tear jerker)
Re-watch Value: Is a definite (since I have already re-watched this drama :D )
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Just okay for me....!
I was really loved very first episode and was hooked the concept was different and very unique. It was a great start but I didn't enjoyed the journey that much. Though the concept was new from my opinion they failed in the execution and it gradually became draggy and meaningless for me.It really had much potential with a really great cast but poor writing was one the reasons why it wasn't impressive for me. They literally ruined both ML and FL's character to the point where I wasn't interested them in ending together. Why did they make ML such a immature and pathetic and FL cruel and unreasonable. I mean there might be ways to portray it in different way but at the end we didn't even get satisfied reason FL's actions. I really felt bad for him but don't you have any self-respect man? and those two other couples didn't got that screen time which I was expecting to be all would be focus of the drama.
So yeah it was okay for me. Not must watch, but do watch it if you are big fan of leads.
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Favorite episode: 20, 25 and 49
characters/ost:
Each dragon have its own development and you’ll get to see how they shift their character from how they used to be into different one, the acting is very professional definitely Yoo Ah In and Byun Yo Han deserved a shout out from me but nevertheless all of the cast and actors are AWESOME
The ost is just enough to fill up the emotions, listening to it gives me flashback.
Favorite characters: Mu Hyul, Ddang sae and Yeon hee, Gil tae mi
Rewatch: lol. I don’t mind seeing them for the second time even though you think it’s long it’s actually short. hahahah you’ll see when you get there!
This review is from someone who is not fond of politics, not good in watching long drama series and see how I praised it. What’s more if you’re into historical dramas? You definitely are missing something if you didn’t see it. A masterpiece indeed. This is my first long drama series that I completely finish, u think its long 50 hrs? Like you could watch 2 different dramas instead of watching this one? *smirk* believe me chingu you’ll think 50 episode is just short once you start it, think
Advice: It’s better if you have 1 week vacation to watch this drama so you can fangirl to the fullest! *wink*
Warning: You might end up eating all the episodes and let the dragons consumed your soul. Hahhaha!!!
Bonus: *whisper* handsome oppas are here. HAHAHAHA!!!! :DDD
ps: I’ll never look at dragons the same way again.
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A Mess
I really had to push myself to finish this one and with them delaying the *final* single episode by a couple of weeks just added more pain to the injury. Finished it today, nothing that would change my mind happened.I went into this one not really knowing quite what to expect other than the premise sounded interesting - someone called Gaetal organises a vote for whether to execute a criminal that the justice system has failed to handle, and they'll happen regularly. Sounds super interesting.
First couple of episodes go by and i'm starting to build up a picture of where I think it's going - and i'm *really* getting hyped for it to go there. This is a bad thing to do, and leads to disappointment. Don't do that. In my view, they were setting the foundations for a really good discussion about vigilantism, why the system exists, that they'd move on to say that "Gaetal" was a concept rather than an individual and there isn't just one "bad guy" here and so forth. It really looked like it was kinda heading that way. Debate about "if you click yes, are you an accessory to murder" etc. What happens if they get it wrong etc. Lost of really interesting things to discuss here.
Then reality dawns and their goals are far less aspiring and much more plain. I mean it's not bad, it's watchable, but I just feel so let down by it and the potential it had. This had "squid game" level capability written all over it, I could see those dog masks becoming as iconic in modern culture as the masks of the guards on SG.
The ending... it's finished, it's a conclusion, but it leaves you with implications for what would happen next and... i'm sorry, it didn't earn enough credits with me to justify that. Had it been more bold it would have been absolutely ripe for it, and even a potential sequel or even series of series! :)
I guess i'm mostly grumpy that it just feels like so much potential lost, a real opportunity to have a challenging discussion.
Is it watchable and entertaining? Yes. If you like your crime dramas then you will probably get into this. But don't get swept up in the incredible hype set out in the first two or three episodes and you will probably enjoy it more :)
Cast are fantastic - some really great crew here no complaints there at all. Music I don't recall at all (so, not good not bad :) ).
Bah humbug. Etc. :)
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This review may contain spoilers
No concept of consent and a wasted storyline opportunity Type's character
English isn't my first language but I hope you can understand.This show has no idea what consent is, seriously.
The only reason it's popular it's because the main leads are handsome and there's more than 1 sex scene.
The way they treated Type's character is really sad, his relationship with Tharn is SOOOO toxic and the plot should have never been about them getting together.
Spoiler warning:
1- Type being raped when young is used as an excuse to make this an 'enemies to lovers' and only taken 'seriously' in 2 scenes.
2- Tharn abuses his position as roomate to touch Type, every night, while asleep. Even after he knows about Type's reasoning to being homophobic (him being raped as an 11 yrs old)
3- There's honestly no reason for them liking each other, other than sexual appeal. They just have a crush on each other out of nowhere.
4- They start their sexual relationship with Tharn sexually abusing Type. That bj scene, Tharn was NEVER given consent; and they had sex because Type owed Tharn. There's also other scenes where Tharn uses force against Type (him forcing himself after Type fllirted with some girls)
5- Tar being gang raped is also used as a side story to make TharnType relationship a bit harder (although it was treated in a better way than Type's)
6- For some reason they tried to excuse Lhongs (Tharns best friend) actions.
They should of used Type's, and Tar's, stories to actually talk about male rape survivors. How the media doesn't care about victims but only sees them as income (it was briefly mentioned by Type but it should of have been WAY MORE IMPORTANT). How Type was raped by a man, but latter discovers he likes men, and how that affects him.
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Story: The start sets the story. A young woman fell from the sky out of nowhere. A young man dived into the lake to save her, disregarding his own life. She woke up without any memory of her past. But she was blessed with a mother and an older brother who seemed to dote on her. This young woman is Ying Nan, the female protagonist of this story. Her older brother is Ying Qi - a man born to be sacrificed so that his clan can survive. Ever since her near death experience which caused her to lose her memories, Ying Nan was plagued with a mysterious dream. In her dream, she saw the silhouette of a man. This man felt familiar. She was convinced that her dream man is the man who saved her. Nevertheless, Ying Nan led a free and happy life until one day, Ying Nan got lost in a forest while searching for her family. In this forest, she met the man who will forever change her destiny - Bai Gu Yi. He saved her from an attack and she fell in love with him; convinced that he's her dream man. Following Ying Qi in his quest to save his clan, Ying Nan ended up joining the Zu Mountain sect. What will happen when she realized that Ying Qi is not her birth brother? What will happen when the survival of the world is once again threatened and the only people standing between world annihilation and survival are the very ones who may well destroy it? Who is Ying Nan? Where did she come from? Will Ying Qi survive after sacrificing his life for his clan? Who will Ying Nan end up with - Ying Qi or Bai Gu Yi? This is a prequel in that this story happened 60 years before the events of Legend of Zu Mountain (2015). This is also a sequel because this story started and ended after the events of the 2015 series.
I love the story in this 2018 installment! There is some time traveling involved, but the 'time loop' makes sense. The story ends where it started. The love triangle (or should I say square since there were 4 people involved in it?) was nicely done. You'll find yourself either in camp Ying Qi or camp Bai Gu Yi. I also love it that a writer is brave enough to include an imperfect personality (or should I say partially evil?) as one of the main male character. I love that there's character development throughout the story. The ending was just perfect! It wasn't rushed and all events and characters explained. This is one drama where the ending created a strong and unforgettable impact. Watch it till the end and let me know if you are not emotionally affected by it!
Acting/Cast: A mix of young and experienced cast. Despite the lack of experience, young age and lack of star power (unlike the 2015 installment with well-known superstars William Chan and Zhao Li Ying), the cast did an excellent job! Special mention to Nie Zi Hao (as Bai Gu Yi).....I've noticed this young man since The Journey and The Journey 2. I look forward to see more of his work!
Music: Let me gush about another aspect of this series that I absolutely love - the music! All of the OSTs are amazing! I've saved them and am enjoying them now.
Rewatch value: I re-watched this almost immediately after finishing it. Like less than 24 hours later! Partly because I was downloading the episodes to save them into my external drive but also for re-watching some important scenes in this series that became so much more meaningful because of the ending. This is a good example of how having an unforgettable ending increases the value of the entire drama. Boy am I glad that they didn't muck up the ending!...... and yes, Bai Gu Yi, I agree.....this is the best ending!
Overall: I give this drama a rating of 9.0/10.0. Amazing story, cast and music. Enough said. Go watch it!
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One of the loveliest romcom ever!
When I first started this, I didn't expect to like it this much. They skillfully maintained the comedic elements from the beginning till the end.I must be in the minority who didn't dislike the FL. Actually, I loved the FL very much. Mi Kyung's nagging was actually another form of caring and showing love to people who mattered in her life. She was a devoted lover, true best friend and a passionate potato enthusiast. No way could I dislike or hate her character.
Baek Ho is the smartest, handsomest dimwit in this potato universe! No matter how much he tried to look cool, in the end he ended up being silly again and again. Loved his character arc. His transition from a stern, solid and emotionless career-oriented man to a "softie sweetie" smitten with love won my heart. His cold interior and exterior were melted by the love and affection he never got as a child.
Leads' chemistry was off the charts. They've become my favorite couple. Loved their bickering, loving and caring sides. Them being friends in real life makes it feel more natural and entertaining.
The side characters were also very entertaining. They kept it all together. No character seemed extra or could be skipped. All of them were equally lovely and supportive of the MLs.
Once in a blue moon, I got to enjoy a romcom without nitpicking little details and fully indulging myself in the laughter and fluffiness of the characters, and it was that kind of drama. Not complicated, no murder mystery, pure comedy and romance as the cherry on top! Delicious ^o^
Overall, if you are looking for a brainless and enjoyable light romcom, then this is definitely for you
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Queer Movie Butterfly: The Adult World
20 people found this review helpful
compared to most man love movies,i have seen This wasnt the greatest but it was a very nice good watch. Had a meaningful ending compared what the title may say, if you are the type that judges at first glance.
(BTW BE SURE TO STICK ALL THE WAY TO THE CREDITS )
Yes ,yes "The Adult World" gives you an insight of what you will see with its multiple love scenes it shows a way of life that these men have to deal with working at an underground bar. It captured there daily reality to live day by day in trying to make a living off these places. It tells the story of a man (along with the other men) that all have something in common most cannot find jobs even with the qualification they do have.
Faced with real life struggles they find the only way they can make money is by getting it fast, but with a price. I like how it touched on the reality in terms of the struggles and emotions they feel on how they wish to be excepted whether it be by society, or just in the group in the bar often wanting to believe they are a
"Family" as well in trying to find someone that will love them. Even in that type of industry where love can be sold so easily that you dont know if its real or not,They all still have a hope to finding that pure love in a man that would try to love them and just maybe save them from that place.
But again i liked how they touched that although the industry maybe dark it also is full in light in terms of wishing they are a family and in some ways they are .But again you can never really believe it (just like the men all know no matter if they say they are family they really are not )this will be clear in the movie when the boss snaps you back by the lines time and time again that he repeats . I liked the ending surprisingly nice , not my favorite but its up there with the good movies. for the short 36minutes it did a good job on what it was trying to capture. I think the only down fall from this film is that they focused so much on the over all picture you didnt have enough time to connect to the main character truly until the end when you began slightly feeling for him. thats why my rating was 7.5 it was a great movie just lacked on the connection but everything was well done. and the meaning behind the ending was nice i like how the main character begins to lose himself but realizes this and begins once again to find meaning in his life and experience the Start of a New life.
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Charming & Excellent actors
I watched this on Viki RakutenEngaging & charming story
It contains LBTQ+ realness that’s hardly present in most BL series
Talented casts, always a plus when I come across a BL series that has actors who can actually act.
Charming casts
Awesome wardrobe
For its budget, the soundtrack, cinematography and editing is exceptional
You can tell a good production team from this series
The series credit sound/song is truly catchy.
What I didn’t favor:
The way the Director started the series in a confusing manner when it wasn’t necessary.
Relationship evolved at a perfect phase but showcased at the end: it felt short
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I fell for each and every character presented. This is how everyone should write interesting, fresh, original and flawed ones. I hated so many of the choices they made and actions they took, but I could understand why they did them. All the bad behaviors were never excused, but always explained. And I found it extremely refreshing.
The story slowly presents to you that whatever happens is almost never just one person's fault. At the end of the day, it is your choice to stay in a bad situation and turn a blind eye to what happens in your surroundings.
The drama has a lot of really meaningful and deep messages, including: consent in a relationship, understanding your worth, impact the past struggles have on your current self, fear of happiness and losing it. You learn as you watch it. More than once I read a line a character has said and just simply nodded my head in agreement.
Any flaws? The ending was too good. I was quite honestly hoping for some twist by the end. I was sad with how Maru and Soo Kyung's story was dealt with. There clearly were hints left, but they never followed with any conclusion. It's worth mentioning the painfully unnecessary Dong Goo's story line. From the beginning till the end, I was not even slightly interested in his character and the romantic subplot he's got.
Overall, I believe it's an extremely underrated drama and I wish more people would give it a shot. The first two episodes might leave you speechless and it's hard to understand the characters and their motivation, but as we get to know them better, they start to feel like old friends. The familiar feeling just calls you in.
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This review may contain spoilers
Will the REAL Hero Please Stand Up!
This was the first real wuxia drama (not a romance) I have ever seen and I've always been very interested in what a traditional wuxia would be like. Because every drama is marketed as one but really isn't. Other than that, I was watching primarily for Liu Yu Ning and secondarily for Meng Zi Yi as they're two people that I follow. I also knew of Joseph Zeng from previous works. As I'm not a novel reader, I can only review from a viewer's prospective.Pros: My favorite character was Su Meng Zhen, followed closely by DFJ because both were complex albeit totally different characters. One was righteous from the moment he appeared on screen to the last breath he took while the other was very morally grey but fiercely loyal to his loved ones and went out like a champ on his own terms. I loved the brotherhood when it was formed and all those at Sunset House that surrounded them. Just about every character was complex and evolved in their own way; some took longer then others.
The story was more dark though they definitely had their happy moments. The fight scenes that were shown were pretty good though I wish there were more of them. Another fantastic point that many dramas fail to do is gradually introduce characters so the audience can understand what their purpose is. More often then not, characters are thrown in and no one remembers their names or why they're there, but here it was a very nice and even keeled introduction of each.
LC played by MZY was done fantastically; she went from sheltered flower to losing just about everything and everyone she had ever known overnight. She had to grow up fast and figure out how to survive without losing every part of her soul. She never gave up on SMZ until the end and left with him in a sense. Their love was just that strong. XY was another terrific female character; the woman wore many faces but she had a strong iron will and loyalty. Plus a much more realistic connection/chemistry with the ML than the FL. Other favorite characters were SMZ's advisor Wu Xie and other members of Sunset House, WXS' Master, the guys from the North like Big Beard, official Liu, and Martial Uncle Zhang.
The lead of the drama was a younger version of SMZ but it took him a while to grow into his own. Still, WXS did end up being one of the heroes of the series as the writers wanted him to be. For me, personally though, though he was a hero he wasn't THE hero, that title would have to go to both SMZ and DFJ as together they made the perfect hero. But that's just my personal opinion.
Now, to the man for whom I was watching this series; BCF was a great character in the beginning. He never hid his ambitions nor his true intentions. The problem was that everyone around him chose to ignore them or thought they could change him. When he whiplashed into a complete maniacal nutcase (that I'll talk about below), LYN was still very convincing as one so I cannot stick him into the cons, though I do wish it was done totally differently.
I really loved the OSTs, they were incredibly powerful especially the hard rock one and the one sung by LYN and Joseph. Costumes, sets, all of that was very detailed and beautiful. The ending was a complete surprise from what I had expected and for once I actually didn't look at spoilers before watching. But even though it wasn't a blood bath or a copout like many different sides theorized, I actually do like the way it ended; I'm glad every evildoer got their comeuppance even though some took it upon themselves to finish the job. But the flashback to all characters come and gone as the group of travelers ride through mountains and waterways was a very nice touch to the end. And even the person coming to run Sunset House, made the right kind of sense.
Cons: Let's start by saying that hair department was smoking something heavy because most of the leads and some of the support ended up looking like animal control K9s; it was a hot mess and looked absolutely horrible. Truly wish they had just kept things typical costume drama simple and didn't need to over complicate things with some avant-garde Westminster applicant do. If they wanted to show that a character had matured or changed, a simple edition of an extra braid down the back or something like that would have sufficed. It just made the person look comical and it threw the entire look off.
Whatever the hair department was smoking rubbed off on the screenwriter because she turned a great potential villain into a nut job. Now while LYN did a great job playing the nut job, he could have just as well been given an actual villain to play. That's why I solely blame the screenwriter for this unmitigated debacle that took the majority of the score away from this drama. Furthermore, instead of gradually developing him, the switch was flipped and he just lost all of his humanity. There was no rhyme or reason for how or why it happened so quickly and this was done within the last 8-10 episodes; the excuse was flimsy and didn't hold much water. Afterwards, when he was on screen be it for his bizarre as hell wedding or killing innocent people out of spite while he would cackle maniacally (that evil cackle belongs only in witches in Halloween shops, not dramas), felt like a completely different series. How can an antagonist with so much potential be so epically screwed up?
If that wasn't bad enough, we had an FL that spent more than half of the series pouting, crying, whining like a self-entitled spoiled brat. Most of her scenes up until the time she and WXS got married I had to ffw. I questioned the necessity of even having her in the series because it was about a sworn brotherhood after all. Every other woman was there as needed and powerful and this character was almost like an afterthought. Even when she was helping save WXS' life, it was like if she just kept quiet, things were a zillion times better. If she wasn't in the scene or episode, she wasn't missed in the slightest. Even in the last episode when SMZ got his wish and died, everyone was crying and it was such a raw, powerful moment and yet as soon as she opened her mouth to pitifully cry, it made one cringe because it sounded like one of those windup old dolls. Why couldn't she just cry silently like XY was doing? WXS was howling with grief as was Wu Xie and they deserved to do so. By letting us hear that baby-cry in such an overwhelming moment was a real shame.
Slimy playboy dude was a real psychopathic villain; the trouble with him was that he spent too much time talking and bragging though his depravity was evident until his dying breath just like Hannibal Lecter and his brother. It was also obvious that he was the rapist from the moment it happened. I stick him in the cons because though he ended up being the most disgusting villain that everyone hated, he still didn't have enough proper screen time to showcase who he was. It was like he had multiple personality disorder but even he didn't understand it. Also really wish the battle between him and DFJ was shown. That was a real miss by production. I understand their whole thing was to make WXS be the "hero" to kill slimy playboy dude in order to get the paper, but the majority of the damage done to him was by DFJ and we, as the audience, deserved to see it. A lot of fight scenes were either copouts or just not shown. I'm going to guess that it's because production didn't have a large budget but they could have definitely figured out a way around that since this was a wuxia after all.
Would I recommend it? For novel readers, probably not because there's a heavy diversion and not a lot of cohesion between the two. But for people who like wuxias, have never seen one, like a story of brotherhood that goes wrong, I would. This was my most anticipated drama of the year and though it had a lot of pitfalls and massive shortcomings, I still enjoyed it very much and therefore have no regrets.
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