Lost You Forever

I LOVE THIS DRAMA!

I went into this drama expecting something good because I am a fan of the FL and I always watch her dramas.

I did not expect though that she will be surrounded by such effective actors starting with Zang Wan Yi. I have not seen his acting before and I was blown away by his depth. His acting is exceptional, the emotions he conveys is spot on. I love watching him, he simply owns the screen. Very impressive!

Deng Wei and Tan Jian Ci are also proving to be so efficient as if these roles were tailored made for them.

Yang Zi, as always, delivers. She means business, she has serious acting chops and it's amazing how she always has chemistry with whoever actors working alongside her.

When I watch a drama, I usually skip dragging scenes, I mean you can easily recognize when the writers are messing around. In this, surprisingly, I watched faithfully and listened to the dialogues which I think were done beautifully. I really appreciate what they've done here.

Not sure how this will pan out for season 2. But whatever the ending is, I am eagerly anticipating to watch until the end.

It is a pleasure watching this.

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Let the story lead you

Fantasy and wuxia dramas aren't usually my kinda thing but this one is really intriguing to me. The characters are well rounded and have good and bad moments as the plot twists this way and that. Difficult to choose who is the best ML at this point but they all have their merit, and all are handsome. I really got pulled into it and can't wait for each epsiode, I have no idea where the plot will go so it's quite entertaining. The acting is also very good and they chose the cast well. I also like that the FL actually could pass as a guy for once and she has a strong character without being annoying. I hope this drama keeps getting better as I'm loving it so far.

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best chinese drama for me so far

Ive never been excited to wait and watch for every episode, mesmerized by the charisma and charming Xiang Lu " Tan Jian Ci" and the soft hearted Tushan Jing "Deng Wei" , feeling super kilig 😍. Being not a chinese, its been hard to recall their names but with these two, especially Tan JC, OMG been in love with them. Hope to see them in real person. 💚🖤🩶

Ofcourse, Xiaoyao "Yang Zi" performs very good in this drama as well as the ambitious guy Cang Xuan "Zhang Wan Yi".

Im not so avid fan of C drama and at first and during the first posters ive saw, i thought it was a sad and boring drama got it from the title itself, who would want to watch something like "lost you forever", its like a tragic drama that will give you pain at the end.

But then, i got to like it since episode 2, and begun to love it in episode 3 when i saw Tan JC.

I hope in the end i will not cry...

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Features convincingly a variety of love interests with interesting and different storylines

This Chinese Xuanhuan drama focus on the destiny of Xiao Yao and Cang Xuan as they evolve in a very tense political context because of their families history. I liked a lot the overarching story, especially when it focused on the links between both of those characters and their fight for power and to protect each other. There are some pacing issues though, especially in the middle of the series.

In addition to offer an interesting fight for the throne tale, the scenario depicts a proper reverse harem. The heroine has various love interests, some that have really my preference and some that I really do not like. In terms of characters, Cang Xuan and Xiang Liu have my heart. I truly enjoyed the fact that each of the love interest storyline are so different : the most compelling one for me is the one of Cang Xuan who is my favorite character. I'm afraid that he will not be endgame, so if not him, I hope it will be Xiang Liu as my second choice. Unfortunately, one of the suitor candidate, Tushan Jing, was much less my cup of tea...He annoyed the hell of me at multiple points of the series. I understand why the heroine likes him but it is more rooted in trauma than in any real love (at least to me).

The acting is pretty good, especially for the actors playing my favorites characters: Zhang Wan Yi (in the role of Cang Xuan) and Tan Jian Ci (in the role of Xiang Liu). The soundtrack and the production were overall good despite some cringey CGI and green screen.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a Chinese historical and fantasy tale with a reverse harem trope pretty well done. It is very difficult after watching season 1 to guess with who the heroine is going to end up, which I found super interesting (even if I have my preferences).

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A surprisingly good xianxia

Wow, a female lead cdrama that doesn't make me want to tear my hair out from sheer rage. Whenever I watch historical cdramas with a woman as a protagonist, it's always an exercise in frustration, always so disappointing. This is happily half a step towards a strong female lead.

Fantastic acting from everybody. Yang Zi killed it in this drama! I found her previous roles quite bad (cough Ashes of Love that I dropped halfway) but she was excellent in this. Maybe it's because her character isn't a total damsel in distress? She gives some good, solid acting in this show, delivering serious tearjerker performances multiple times. I stayed up till 2am to watch the reveal of her hidden identity and cried alongside her. I was that riveted.

Zhang Wan Yi's Cang Xuan was really good at playing the ruthless strategist politician with intense emotional eyes (I thought he had a bit of a baby face but he grew on me). And special shout-out to Tan Jian Ci's Xiang Liu. This guy can seriously act. He was really charismatic, regardless of whatever persona he was playing - playboy Fangfei Bei or cold and stoic Xiang Liu. He really grew on me and stole the show.

Deng Wei's Tushan Jing was a bit weak. He's supposed to be one of those gentle scion of a noble house with a very astute and sharp mind, but came off as a bit of a puppy and looked quite angsty and lost most of the time. There was a big disconnect between how the other characters talk about him and how he carries himself and acts in the scenes.

The first half was, as always, the highlight. Yang Zi's character was badass. The second half was about political machinations and the love quadruple (love web by the end). I shipped Xiao Yao and Tushan Jing at first (lol it's quite fun to pick a ship) but got a bit bored of the 'will they won't they' between them. By the end of the show, I was firmly on the 'so close they're codependent' powerful sibling duo Cang Xuan and Xiao Yao. Love how they'd kill for each other. That's the drama I live for.

Great fun, can't wait for S2.

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This drama on the surface looked to me like a typical romance xianxia, but after watching it I have come to realize that the romance part of it is very atypical and unlike other dramas of the same genre that I have watched before. For me what stood out most was how drastically different each pairing was, which was a good thing, because if all the pairs were similar, the entire drama would be a bore. Another plus was I felt that the entire drama was centered around the sibling relationship between Xiaoyao and Cangxuan. It was ultimately a story of brother and sister conquering the world, and everyone else were just supporting roles along the way. My thoughts on each of the CPs will be written down below to avoid spoilers in my more generic review.

The plot itself was streamline and I did not feel it dragging, though it did slow down after all the action moved to the courts and politics became more prominent. The best part of the drama had to be the episodes spent at the little town of Qingshui where it all began. As I said above, the majority of the plot revolves around the siblings, and we get to follow along Cangxuan’s journey to power. What made it relatively easy to follow was there were minimal important characters, and the world that the story takes place in is relatively small. In other words, we didn’t have to spend too many brain cells to remember a ton of names and places. This is also a plus because it meant there weren’t many useless characters.

However, I have to speak out (rant) on my dissatisfaction for episode one. It really left a bad taste in my mouth and almost made me reluctant to continue. First, I feel that it was a very unnecessary episode. If it wanted to introduce us to background story, it could’ve done it in a different way, a way that the drama used for the rest of the episodes - flashbacks!!! If flashbacks are done well, their purpose is to tell the audience the background story. This introduction was not effective, and I did not understand any of the motives behind what the adults chose to do (ahem a certain grave jumper). Second, fine, you want to start off with an introductory background story episode, then why do you need to add in a narration. It seemed like they just gave up on telling the background story and resorted to the typical narration followed by a time skip format. Anyway, enough ranting. Luckily I chose to move on from episode one and immediately the scenes that followed the 300 years later time skip were drastically improved.

Before the spoilers, I would like to applaud the acting of the entire main cast. I never doubted Yang Zi’s acting. Zhang Wanyi, Deng Wei, and Tan Jianci were pleasant surprises as I have not seen any of their past work before. They were truly the one and only fit for their role and did a phenomenal job. Can’t wait for season two.

SPOILERS AHEAD. Now on to taking about each CP.

First we have Yaojing. I fell instantly for 17 as soon as he made an appearance. He also had a great advantage in that he was the first male lead to make an appearance. I think what struck me most was his devotion towards Xiaoyao that began from the instant she saved his life. Usually this type of relationship is backwards in dramas, where the female lead is the one that needs saving then falls in love with her savior. It was refreshing to see this trope flipped in this drama. 17 was doing great and ahead in the race for me up until he had to resume his identity as Jing. As politics entered, although he wanted his heart to only belong to Xiaoyao, he could not help but carry some of the burden of being his clan’s future leader. What is heartbreaking is he did nothing wrong, but I think it is intentional to make the audience feel that he is no longer at a position where he can be a good partner to Xiaoyao.

As Jing was slowing down in the race, Xiang Liu quickly overcame him and became first place in the race. At the beginning I hated him. He hurt Xiaoyao without batting his eye and was abusing her by drinking her blood without her consent. But I got to understand him more, and he quickly became the most suitable partner for Xiaoyao in my mind. I see Yaoliu as soulmates. They were both in the same tragic conditions as children, and both fought their way out of their struggles, and made a life for themselves. They are both emotionally cold, strong, but also soft for the right people. Xiang Liu was there to pick Xiaoyao up whenever she was down. He was the one who taught her practical skills and how to defend herself. In return, Xiaoyao allowed him to take her blood as medicine, she accepted his identity and purpose, and never condemned him because he is a nine-headed “monster”. Their relationship was well balanced and Xiang Liu is the only person that I feel Xiaoyao can really be herself around.

Cangxuan’s over-protectiveness of his sister is a result of his tragic past as a child, losing all of his relatives in a short amount of time. Xiaoyao is the closest person to him, and he cannot emotionally bear losing her too. I never saw Yaoxuan as a couple, but they are probably the best sibling CP that I have seen in a drama. They are soulmates in a way that is different from Yaoliu. The pair had some of the best cry-worthy scenes in the drama. Two that are worth mentioning are when Xiaoyao mistook A-nian’s mother as her own mother, and her identity was therefore revealed in a heartbreaking scene with Cangxuan. Another one is when Cangxuan was being attacked and Xiaoyao protected him with her life from Fang Fengbei’s arrow. I can’t wait to see more of these two in season two.

Lastly, we have Fenglong. I don’t even know if I should include him in the race or not. I never shipped them, and I never felt that Fenglong would be a good partner for Xiaoyao. As he said himself, they are more like bros than anything else. I appreciate his frankness because he admits that he wants to marry her partly because of her identity.

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One Of The Best Chinese Drama I’ve Seen

A beautiful story of these characters who are extremely broken and abandoned, desperately fighting to find that love and happiness.
Yang Zi, Deng Wei, Tan Jian Ci and Zhang Wan Yi, all did a phenomenal job portraying their characters.
The intertwined relationships of not two but four people, was captivating and not boring throughout the entire series. It is impressive how they successfully captured a great individual chemistry between the female lead and her leading men. I was mesmerized and invested in each of her relationships with all three men. I have my favorite and I’m hoping he will be her happy ending and that is Tushan Jing / Ye Shi Qi.
Deng Wei has found the role he was "born to play” which is an ethereal character. He is so beautiful that he sparkles and if he kisses you will sparkles and turn into a Deity. FYI, that kissing scene of him pulling her up, one of the sexiest I’ve seen in Cdrama. The scene with his grandmother passing away and him holding his “baby”. Without overly dramatic cry or reaction, he successfully pulled off a brilliant performance of someone who just felt lost all over again and abandoned. That’s great acting!
His character is the one that broke my heart into pieces.

I highly recommend this drama and looking forward to season two.

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I havent been this heavy hearted from watching a drama in a while!

When I first saw the teaser for this drama way, way back in the beginning, I was going to try and watch this drama because I'm a fan of Yang Zi and have watched most of her dramas. Mainly all her costume dramas. I loved her in Ashes of Love and Immortal Samsara. And didn't think this drama was going to top those. Cause they were master pieces and Yang Zi had amazing chemistry with Deng Lun. And its pretty hard to top. Also especially since I didn't really know the ML that were casted in LYF. I thought it would be carried by Yang Zi only so it won't be that good. I was even a bit reluctant to start it but since there wasn't really any dramas out at the start of this drama, I gave it a try. But man was I so wrong. And I am happy that I am wrong!
To start off, the cinematography of this drama was amazing. The color, set, scenery, just everything was so beautiful and dreamy. The costumes were amazing too. Everyone's costumes highlighted their personality.
Next, the actors. Man did I fall in love with Zhang Wan Yi and Tan Jian Ci. I have never really seen them in any other dramas before. But they really stole the show with their acting. My favorite actors are ones that act with their eyes. And these 2 definitely fit the category. The longing, sorrowful, and even happiness they displayed in their eyes were amazing. It made me empathize with them so much. Just amazing.
The relationship that XY has with each of her ML is amazing. The complexity, the history, the story. I love all of it. Each ML shares something different with XY which makes the story has so much depth to it. Im a sucker for sibling dramas, which is why Go Ahead is one my of favorite dramas of all time. CX and XY's relationship makes me so sad. I love it. What they mean to each other and what they're willing to do for each other is crazy. Makes me want a gege in rela life too! Don't get me wrong, I love romance dramas too and all the scenes with TSJ are super cute. But my heart has always had a special spot reserved for sibling love.
The OST damaged me hard. I haven't heard an OST that made me want to cry like all the time in a while. I have been listening to it on repeat. I love that each character kind of has their own theme song. Cause the lyrics of it relates solely to them. And its so much more meaningful. Whenever I hear CX's song, it makes me want to cry cause him and XY suffered so much and you can just see CX's longing for XY. When i hear the song, the scene in ep 22 pops up in my head when XY is using her body to protect CX from FFB's arrow. That moment is so heartbreaking and also heartwarming at the same time. An the song is played whenever CX misses XY. Whenever i hear XL's song. Im just so sad cause he's so lonely and XY will never know how much he loves her. The song especially hits different because Tan Jian Ci sung it himself. Love love love all the songs.
While waiting for the drama to continue coming out, I read the novel. Cause I couldnt wait any longer to see what was going to happen next. The drama does follow the novel pretty closely which I really appreciated because the details of the novel are amazing. You know a drama is good when I pick up the novel to read because I cant wait any longer. And I do have to say from reading the novel, they really did nail the casting. I cant imagine anyone else playing the FL and the MLs. They all are exactly how I would imagine them to but if brought to life. Amazing. Im happy this Tong Hua novel wasnt butchered.
Eagerly waiting for season 2 to come out so I can be even more emotionally damaged than I am already. I know the scenes in Season 2 are going to be so much more emotional. We will get to see Yang Zi and Zhang Wan Yi display their amazing acting skills then!

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One of the best dramas I have ever watched

I have already rewatched this drama and plan to rewatch for 3rd time until season 2
This drama for me is grouped in with my top dramas for quality of production, unique storyline, character portrayal, settings like Nirvana In Fire, Joy Of Life, LLTG etc, I have rewatched all my favourite also. That is how I can tell how great a drama is and this one seems fresh every time I rewatch it.
You will fall in love with the cast and their portrayal of their characters, everyone did a brilliant job especially the 4 leads
Yang Zi as Xiaoliu/XiaoYao the main protagonist
Zhang Wan Ye as Xuan Yuan her cousin
Deng Wei as Zigi/Tushan Jin her boyfriend
TanJian Ci as Demon XiangLiu/FanFenBai not saying what role he plays you have to watch it but he is my favourite character
I will not bore you with repeating the story here as most of it had already been said.
I will just say that many of us viewers have our favourite characters and have especially fallen for the infamous XianLiu or FanFenBei character. Is it the portrayal of his character, Is it the unconditional love he has for XianYao or is it he is just so mesmerising to look at.
Watch it and decide for yourself.
I highly recommend watching this drama and personally I anxiously awaiting season 2.
Nothing compares for me to the excellence and viewing satisfaction of this drama in 2023 so far.

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Could have been better :)

I was completely blown away with the first episode! The two child actors were fantastic, the setting and tragic background history plus the CG cinematography was excellent! It got me hooked straightaway.

The first half of this drama focused on our FL Xiao Yao, who whilst trying to look for her cousin brother/ family got kidnapped and tortured for 70 years. She then as an adult, disguised herself as a man and lived as a normal ordinary man working her keep (she is actually a princess). So story goes on and she saves this beggar on the brink of death and nurses him back to life. Eventually this dude becomes her love interest and is also from noble birth.

What’s interesting about this drama is that humans live amongst deities (have super powers and long life) as well as demons. She meets this nine headed demon, who initially mistreats her, trying to kill her several times. But she seems to keep going back to him (for what reason I can’t remember) but they develop a very strong bond of friendship and he (the demon) eventually falls in love with her. His role is played by Tan xian ci, who is very dreamy and aesthetic as Xiang Liu (with his white attire and silver hair)

Then there is her cousin brother Cang Xuan who felt so guilty not being able to protect her when she went missing. After reuniting, he sort of falls in love with her as well, but knows they cannot be together because of his ambition and destiny to be King of Xiyan.

These three men surrounding and including our FL had very strong characters and a good development in their journey. The 4th guy Feng Long seemed redundant to me;)

Whilst the first half focused on the character development, the second half became a tad boring and typical - where Cang Xuan is working his way to gain power and allies to get to the throne, while his uncles and others try to disrupt him. I wished the writers focused a little more on the super powers and abilities, instead of having long and serious melodrama talks about life and love.

If you’re expecting a great romance, you’ll be disappointed because it’s a sad tale for the so called lovey couple. Some opinions say the ending for Season 1 was a somewhat closure, but I feel it’s more an open ending. Not a cliffhanger, but not a real closure as there are many loose ends to the story. Apparently there’s a Season 2, so we will have to wait for that ;)

Very very long drama… but I was very intrigued and hooked for the first half.

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This drama became one of my most favorite costume C-drama

This drama's original novel was very well written, so I wasn't sure how it would come out as drama. But thankfully, original author is part of the screen writing, so drama is made as good as novel. Story of each main leads are well described and plots are made flawless. There are many scenes make you cry and sobs. Yet once in a while few plots make you laugh and lighten up your sad feeling. It is so well balanced for audiences to enjoy just like real human lives.

What surprised me is while I love this drama so much, there are reviews with very low rating and wrote full of hateful comments towards drama itself and performers. Boy, there are so many different types of ppl in the MDL world. I can accepts proper critiques about the drama, but I cannot accept the hates in any of drama introduced here at MDL.

And some of them are obvious that they didn't watched the drama, but they already have strong negative opinions about it and they wrote bad reviews. Some of them wrote that there were too many violences and torture scenes. This drama is a fiction and if these fictions do bother audiences, they have a right to stop watching. If this drama is not your cup of tea, they can leave. Viewers may dislike the characters, but one thing I don't understand is why such dislike become the hate towards actors? It's very strange behavior to me. It irritates me that these haters intentionally write bad reviews. I don't get it what do they gain by doing so? It's very toxic mind some carry in their brain and mind.

I hope you will not be influenced by hate comments or super negative comments. You are the only one can make own decision to watch this drama or not, Or you will like it or not.

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