Reviews

The ending ruined an entire good drama.

I spent 2 days watching this drama and then wondered what I watched. This drama didn't start well but I still gave it a chance. Then it really attracted me in the middle period when ML gradually fell in love with FL instead of the original purpose of approaching her. But then the drama begins to go around the circle between the sabotage of support female Baibing and the aggression of ML's brother. The later it got, the more I wanted to finish watching this drama quickly to know the ending because I was so tired of the plot. And no surprise the ending... omg it made me feel like I was a stupid guy and iQiyi wasted a whole drama. An ambiguous ending between SE and HE. HE is ML has recovered from his illness and returned. SE is FL was depressed and had hallucinations of ML's return just like the doctor said. Personally I'm more inclined towards SE. Last words, the only thing that help me watch until the last episode was that I wanted to see ML outfits. They're really my favorite style I want about my boyfriend. 10 points for ML outfits and that's all.

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Saving the world, one stitch at a time

Yu Wuxia is your perfect heroine with a sad back story: abandoned at a nunnery by her family, cursed to bring misfortune to her father, and married to someone she didn't love to save that same family who abandoned her. Funny enough, she's naturally just very talented at embroidery, which is also the family business.

Through trails and tribulations, often through her embroidery, she learns to love and grows in independence. Her husband, Huo Dongqing realizes that he has a gem at his side and fall in love with her, while her jealous and hateful sister festers at their side. Their family is upended by the Japanese invasion and her husband does, leaving her to become the matriarch of a scattered family.

The good: lovely costumes, epic music, and decent acting. The weakest link is Hawick Lau, whose pretty face is his main value add. Tan Kai as Luo Zhixiang made me swoon and his dedication to Yu Wuxia despite her enduring loyalty to Dongqing.

The bad: nonsensical story writing (why would Dongqing, who was so weak that he couldn't even chew his own food, make a move on his wife in a cold cave? Like what?!), big female lead storyline and tropes galore, and weird pacing. Somehow ten years passed in the last few episodes without anyone mentioning it or aging.

The ugly: the dubbing.

I enjoyed the rewatch after 10 years, but the story did not age well.

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Too good, might as well be the best xianxia this year

This drama is phenomenal. It quickly climbed to my top one rewatch series, and it will surely stay there for a while. I can say that this is the first time I am not utterly disappointed with the FL losing consistency in her mission when she meets the ML. The first time i see a FL so determined to finish her mission and not give it up for love. LYX really is a masterclass actor, he is able to showcase so many different characters and not even one of them looks or behaves the same. Bai Lu also did phenomenally well in bringing me close to her characters. No stupid ML nor FL.

ACTORS/ACTRESSES
LYX plays Tantai Jin, Ming Ye, Cang JuiMin and one more character that i will let you find for yourselves. Every character is totally different from the others, you can differentiate them from one another just by the way they walk, talk and look at the female lead. Let me break them down below.

Tantai Jin is our male lead and to an extent, the antagonist. He is a mortal born as the vessel for the Ancient Devil God, aka devil fetus, and he possesses the evil bone needed/ for the resurrection of the ADG. He is a complex character, and the same goes for Cang JiuMin. He was born without feelings and love thread, born to live miserably and get betrayed; all for the ressurection of the Ancient Devil God. And he does not know that truth, he just thinks the world is cruel and ugly, especially to him. Born in Jing Kingdom, he was sent as a hostage prince to Sheng Empire, where he spent the majority of his life in the Cold Palace. He got married to Ye Xi Wu, and continued to suffer. He is utterly cold and unmoved, sinister and calculating, willing to do anything for his survival, and ready to pay you back ten fold if you betray him. He is evil, but we are shown that side of him a less compared to the novel. When Tantai Jin dies, he becomes the Devil God, and that is another character all together. More ruthless and evil than Tantai Jin, the ultimate Devil God that will destroy the four continents and three worlds, not carrying for anything or anyone. More about the Devil God after Cang JiuMin's section.

Ming Ye was the God of War in the Shangqing realm, who was alive 10 000 years prior to the current timeline. He is a dragon from the East Sea. He was the typical XianXia God, detached from worldly desires, but determined to save the world. When he was on the brick of death, he was saved by Sang Jiu, whom he later married. Due to a misunderstanding, he divorced Sang Jiu, ready to die in the upcoming God x Ancient Devil God war. He was again saved by Sang Jiu, who looked after the injured Ming Ye and healed him. You would think after all the misunderstanding they will have their happily ever after, alas their fate had other plans.

Cang JiuMin is an immortal that was saved from the bank of the Nether river by the Xiaoyao sect's master Zhaoyou. He was taught immortal arts, and missed his wife for 500 years. In order to find her soul and resurrect her, he stayed in XiaoYao sect to look for ways to bring his dead wife back to life. He is different from Tantai Jin, but has his memories and is ultimately a changed Tantai Jin. He no longer sees the world as cruel and ugly, he is not evil or sinister, he is a changed person that misses his wife. He meets Li Susu and discovers she was his wife 500 years ago. Alas again fate has other plans.

Devil God TTJ/CJM - this character can also be broken down to 2 different characters - Devil God 2.0 that we see in episode 1, and Devil God 3.0 that will greet us around the last 5 episodes of the drama. The difference between 2.0 and 3.0 is like the moon and the sun. Devil God 2.0 is more cruel and ruthless than TTJ, he cares about nothing and no one, he wants to destroy the world as the world only showed him cruelty and misery. Devil God 3.0 is a Devil that loves the world and loves Li SuSu. A Devil God that has only one mission - save the world that Li SuSu loves so much.

Bai Lu plays Ye Xi Wu, Sang Jiu and Li SuSu. Here again you can differentiate between the three characters, with the difference that Li SuSu goes back in time and resides in the body of Ye Xi Wu.

Li Susu is our female lead. She is the daughter of the Hengyuan sect's leader Qu Xuanzi. She is the dearest daughter of Qu Xuanzi and she is protected and spoiled by him. She is called The Lady of Spirituality as her body is the purest immortal body that cannot be tainted by evil. Li SuSu is a complex character. She witnessed the wiping of the immortal world and the death of her family first hand. They could only send her back to time to stop the birth of the Devil God. When she goes back to 500 years ago and meets Tantai Jin, she is even more determined to stop him and finish her mission. Bare in mind she does not have to kill him, but destroy the evil bones. And she does everything she can to finish this mission, even if it costs her life as Ye Xi Wu.

Sang Jiu was the clam princess that lived 10 000 years ago during the time Ming Ye lived. She was in love with Ming Ye as she witnessed him defend the Mo River from the demons. She is born a demon, but with divine essence, meaning she can ascend to godhood. The clam clan is neutral towards both gods or demons. After Ming Ye almost dies, Sang Jiu saves him, but pays a price for that decision. She marries Ming Ye, but due to misunderstandings she ends up getting divorced. She saves Ming Ye yet again, but ends up paying a greater price for the decision of saving Ming Ye time and time again.

Ye Xi Wu is the body that Li SuSu ends up in when she goes back to 500 years ago. She is the daughter of the Ye family - a noble family. She is also the wife of TTJ. The original Ye Xi Wu was cruel to everyone and utterly spoiled by her family. She was also bullying TTJ. When Li SuSu ends up in her body, she is determined to finish her mission. She may seem cruel to TTJ, but that all is because she needs to save the world from the destruction TTJ will bring if he dies with the evil bones intact. It is thanks to her we end up seeing Cang JiuMin in the immortal world.

CDL plays Ye BingChan, Tian Huan and Mo Nv, she is an antagonist throughout her 3 roles.

YBC is the sister of YXW and a daughter of aconcubine. She loves no one but herself, and is the reason for so many of the things that happen to TTJ, YXW and Xiao Lin. She is married to Xiao Lin, but she is constantly insecure and paranoid Xiao Lin will leave her.

Tian Huan was a fairy in the Shangqing realm, who was in love with Ming Ye. She is the daughter of the previous God of War and Ming Ye's master. She is utterly despicable and the reason for everything that happens to MY and SJ.

Mo Nv is a drought demon that was saved from the immortals by the Ancient Devil God and made into an umbrella. She was send to the mortal world for 10 lifes so she can rebuild her soul. She has memories of her life as YBC and is in love with GYJW.

DW as Xiao Lin, Sang You and Gong Ye Ji Wu.

Xiao Lin is the crown prince of the Sheng Empire. He is righteous, honorable, and a pure person. He is married to YBC, whom he loves.

Sang You is the clam demon prince and brother of Sang Jiu. He is the closest to Sang Jiu and often ends up protecting her from harms.

Gong Ye Ji Wu is the senior sect brother of Li SuSu. His character goes through a change that makes us as an audience not stand him.

SZN as Pian Ran

Pian Ran is a nine tailed fox demon that once loved a mortal. She lost her love thread when he died. She is alluring and cunning, sweet and cute, and all in all behaves like a fox. She meets Ye Qing Yu and gradially falls in love with him. Pian Ran lost 2 of her tails when she escaped the Barren Abyss, the place where demons reside.

GYT as Ye Qing Yu

Ye Qing Yu is the second brother of YXW, a comandable general on the battlefield. He meets Pian Ran and falls for her. He is also the type of person that will wake you up if you try to delude yourself - the wake up alarm if you will. He is really honorable and upright.

Every point from acting, costumes, OST, CGI, FX is really well made. This drama brings the whole genre one stage up, not level but stage up. It is so well done that you would not get bored as every character is intresting. The main plot has almost no plot holes, but due to it being cut down from 54 episodes to 40, there are many scenes missing in the immortal part of the drama. Nevertheless, i would say the drama follows the novel for about 65 to 70%, with changes here and there, but the overall main plot is consistent with the novel one.

Rewatch value: 10/10

You can try the drama for yourself and see if it's your cup of tea. Happy watching!

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Sweet slive of life, emotions and nostalgy...

I was surprised by this drama, because I really appreciated these kids growing up and the portraying of their parents. Music was magical, except that some transitions between emotional scenes to funny scenes were very bad.
The actors are good, some are perfect.
I loved Em's mother character, strong and affectionate; and who cannot love the caring grand-father?

How to define this drama? Including different sort of couples, at different steps of relationship was more realistic that specific genre as BL or classical romance. Adding a character with disability was great, and the story not too simple about it.

I read a lot about wigs in the comments... honestly, it was not such a big deal for me? because in thai drama, I often find the hair styles totally strange and not good-looking for the actors; so in this show, it was not so shocking...
A funny detail : there is a lot of nostalgy about the previous decade, with new technologies creating new modes of communication; but for me, being in a relationship for about 25 years, I haven't this background; so I wasn't emotionnaly connected at any of these "first uses"... so it was like a documentary for me, "how was living the younger generation who is now 20-30 years! " ah ah ...

But as a mother, this drama was sweet about the parenting moments... and being a very romantic person, I was touched by the freshness of the different couples and the little moments of their evolution.

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A perfect angsty, protective hero romance . . . until the propaganda ruined it

On one hand we have an angsty, forbidden secret childhood romance, and a silent, gruff protective hero who thinks the world of the heroine:everything I like in romance in one place. If you like the Jane Austen novel Persuasion, you will love the first 20 episodes of this.

On the other hand, this is a propaganda pitch for dangerous frontline work to men, and the propaganda wins out for 10 slow dragging episodes.

Our main male character 100% will always pick his job first. The female lead is just so grateful to be in a relationship with him, and she will never make the mistake of putting herself first again! Even his alcoholic waste of a father, and his snobby father in law come around to accepting he is a hero whose needs and priorities come first, and they need to stop making trouble.

So there you have it. A great premise, excellent chemistry and acting all ruined by its simplistic propaganda theme: become a hero of the state, and you'll get the girl and the home and the life you always wanted. Everyone will just be so grateful.

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cat theme drama? This is must to watch hardly find better

its first good cat transformation drama I seen till now. Others dramas with cat theme was trashy.

At start this drama was at very good level enjoying scenes, interesting story, funny, nice coupling
Sadly in later eps quality went down and ending didnt helped too. Still its worth to see.

plot - Modern girl[FL] which grew with grandfather learning yingyang and talisman magic gets transported into another world or maybe timetravel to past. Moreover in process she changes into cat. There she finds her new owner[ML] and way to change back to human form.

genre - romance , historical, fantasy

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Refreshing with top tier actors! Watch this now!

Luo Yunxi is God tier in every costume drama he is in! He is the perfect Tantai Jin! He is pulling off the bullied, pitiful, and helpless role of beginning Tantai Jin who also had something to hide. He's pulling off the fierce and dangerous Devil God Tantai Jin! He's also pulling off showing vulnerable Tantai Jin and OMG the part where he's enjoying a snowball fight was so effing adorable!

Bai Lu as Susu is perfect! She's not helpless from the start! While in the immortal realm she was ready to fight and the moment she got to the mortal realm, she was ready to throw down. It's so refreshing having a strong female lead in a xianxia!

The chemistry is out of this world! The way they exchange glances or touch each other is wonderful!

The OST is also wonderful! I feel like the drama just isn't using one song over and over!

I know people are upset with the ending, but I thought it was perfect and put control back in Tantai Jin's hands. For the first time in his miserable life, he is at peace with what he could control. It's a beautiful message that sometimes fighting for what's right doesn't wrap up everything with a bow.

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Bromance not romance

Having read this short webcomic twice, I was looking forward to the live action adaptation.

An unfortunate accident brings Tae Hyun and Da Yeol closer together. The first one is bullying the other one who tries to get the upper hand until he realizes there is a lot of darkness and sadness behind the cocky smile and harsh words of the first one. This is a classical enemies to lovers(?) story.

Tae Hyun suffers from survivor's guilt which he hides from others. Da Yeol is being forced by his father to train archery intensively, something he eventually realizes he hates. Their meeting is going to bring out in the open the frustrations and unhappiness they're feeling and therefore they are finally be able to move on.

What did not convince me is the love story both in manhua and here. They went the same way: Da Yeol falls for Tea Hyun and confesses but TH is not really sure of his feelings. Whatever he is feeling is more akin to gratitude and friendship than love. He had a change of heart when DY become the first person to tell him that the accident was just that, an accident and that it was not his fault. I am not convinced he fell in love but actually developed another form of dependancy in which he mistok gratitude for something more he was not really feeling!
There are a couple of time skips that only confirms even more the strong friendship between them. TH seems to be trying to convince himself that he is in love with DY when he is obviously just missing his best friend who once crossed the friendship line making TH uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable but not enough to convince himself he was in love.

That's where the real problem of this BL lies: the guys are cute together but there is a strong invisible though obvious barrier between them. It that was never more certain than in the fluffy last episode. This is more of a bromance than a romance!

The acting is pretty good for idols but did they really need to put so much lipstick on actor playing Tae Hyun: seeing those scarlet lips was really disconcerting.. Plotwise, they left us with some questions: TH's friend group, in particular Ye Beom, have not been used or even fleshed out properly. Why is Ye Beom so possessive of Tae Hyun? The girl was supposed to have a crush on Da Yeon: when? why? how come? What was the point of those time skips? Their relationship does not seem to have changed an iota during those years....

I was not bothered by the lack of skinship: it is not alway necessary! Sometimes the deepest feelings are expressed through glaces, attitudes etc. nothing such here. It turns out this is a bit of a wasted opportunity!

All in all this was a cute short watch. You'd be better off just reading the webcomic!

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Psychopatic Male Cinderella

To sum up:
Not as good as the promo materials, but might be the best xianxia out there.
The trailer doesn't really do justice as it barely shows the beautiful cinematography.
Fast paced.
It's the best xianxia in terms of cinematography, visual effects, and acting.

Tantai Jin was not a typical xianxia's demon lord. In the early stage, he's more of a psycho in a xianxia setting. It's not easy to bring this character to life as he had no precedence in c-drama world. This is not a straightforward "love melt the demon lord's heart" trope as ML had a problem to function like normal human. It's a difficult character and cannot be compared with other xianxia ML.

In fact the closest character to Tantai Jin is not in c-drama land, but Hannibal from the tv series. Not saying Luo Yunxi's acting is Mads Mikkelsen level, but there are many similarity in the way the show managed to make the audience nervous on whether or not the main character was sincere or just faking it. This is the most terrifying thing about these characters and this c-drama managed to present this element to certain extent.

In Hannibal interview, Mikkelsen said Hannibal was Lucifer in human suit. Luo Yunxi actually pulled similar things in the early stage of the drama. There's something uncanny about Tantai Jin that you know he was not really human. Luo Yunxi was acting a character that was acting as human and there bound to be some flaws in the act. This flaws need to be brought on screen and this is not easy since they are not natural to the human actor. This demands a lot of restrains and layered performance.

An example of this is eps. 8. You wondered whether Tantai Jin was sad or not. His eyes showed a hint of sadness, but the expression was not really sad. Luo Yunxi must have put a lot of restrain during this scene. Other times, it was the opposite. The expression didn't reach the eyes.

The acting was pretty subtle. That's why when Tantai Jin showed his manic sides such as eps. 4, it's really memorable.

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One of TVN's greatest kdramas!

I mainly watched this as I was recommended this and I was interested in seeing IU's acting and also seeing Park Yoo Na portraying another character! I was not disappointed apart from the kdrama True Beauty, this has to be one of the best dramas I've seen from TVN.

Acting
The cast did so well with portraying their characters to the point I forgot this was all fictional. The crying scenes felt so real to the point I shedded tears of happiness and sadness towards the final episode. IU and Jin Goo truly have some chemistry and they didn't have to have many intimate or sexual scenes to show that.

Soundtrack/OST
Amazing! The osts are absolutely beautiful it has to be one of my favourites to listen to! They do an amazing job capturing the atmosphere whether it's to create sadness or suspense.

Plot/Storyline
The writers did incredible! From the beginning to the end of the kdrama, I was intrigued of what would happen next with each episode, the writers definitely know how to keep the reader on their toes. The comedy was great too! I couldn't help laughing at some points.

Cinematography and Special FX
The Cinematography and Special FX is something I'll never forget about this drama. The makeup artists did incredible with makeup to create a ghostly look on the actors, it gave me goosebumps! Plus the editing is incredible, it definitely adds to the ghostly/supernatural atmosphere. Also IU's stylist needs to get a raise! I couldn't stop admiring at her outfits throughout the whole drama, all of them were gorgeous.

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Hate love relationship

I'm all for hate to love stories. I enjoy the banters between the main characters. The FL acting feels so...modern, if that makes sense? I feel like much of her gestures and facial expressions are something that I would do too if I was given the same lines and situations. She is an unguarded but self-reliant woman, nothing annoyingly weak. He is caught off guard with his wife's drastic change of character and needs to step up his trick game to face this new personality. Naturally some scenes are silly and many loopholes but so far I really enjoy this show. I have watched 11 episodes non stop and now I have to go to sleep, unfortunately.

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DROPPED - Are we suppose to feel bad for Oh Su Jae???!!

I gave up in the middle of episode 3 when she brought up the first episode's mystery crime in the classroom.
This drama felt too insensitive and tone-deaf for me. The production quality and cast of actors were the only saving grace for me.
Either the Writers wanted the audience to find OSJ likable and failed,
OR
the Writers never intended to make OSJ likable and there's a villainous plot twist waiting near the middle or end of the drama to showcase that and confirm my suspicions.
Sadly, it looks like OSJ is meant to be pitied and rooted for, even though her pride, apathy, and 'holier-than-thou' attitude make it hard for me to stomach her non-existent virtues and ethics.
The more I watched this drama and OSJ, the more enraged and violent I got. So, I stopped watching.
Hopefully, I'll find other works of the actors to enjoy and appreciate their acting abilities. My issue is with the writing of this story and not the actors themselves.

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A simplistic but sweet BL story

This is a short series about the journey of 2 school friends Shin Ki Tae and Lee Wan who meet after a period of 7 years and work together on creating a Dating simulation game while also discovering the feelings that they have for each other.

If you feel that the story, I summarized is rather simple that is because it is. The series doesn’t waste much time and shows Lee Wan being interviewed for a job in the same company where his school crush Shin Ki Tae works. This brings back the feelings that Lee Wan tried to hide for so many years since he disappears from Shin Ki Tae’s life after confessing his love to him. While working together to develop the game, they spend a lot of time together and the unrequited love from the past blossoms in to a relationship.

The series is full of sweet and tender moments between the two characters, although at certain times it tries to portray the genuine fear Shin Ki Tae has about losing Lee Wan like he did some years ago. Looks like Lee Wan’s action of running away from Sin Ki Tae and losing all contact does cause serious trauma to him. The series flourishes thanks to the chemistry between the 2 actors and you feel that it is too short and you are left asking for more.

In conclusion, there is no ground-breaking storyline with strong messages. Instead, what you have is a sugar-coated love story between 2 long lost friends. Give this one a watch and you will find yourself smiling from start to end.

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