The Voidwalkers carry most of the comedy here. Special mentions to Chen Mu Zhi, who has the most priceless of expressions, and Cao Bo as the best sidekick ever. Yuan Ran as Consort Xue is delightful as a mother who is sly yet supportive. It’s hilarious to watch these guys run around trying to outmaneuver each other and manipulate the poor, oblivious Qing Kui. Their generally attitude is “yeah, Kui is a naïve and dumb princess, but she’s *our* naïve and dumb princess.” The Void itself feels more real than our Mortal realm with so many rich details woven seamlessly into the dialogues and subplot. They also get the best costumes: dark, form-fitting, and downright sexy, especially the palace maid outfits. And it doesn’t hurt that the Void men have great physique (yes, the Void King rules in more ways than one).
By comparison, Heaven and Mortal realms are bland. Maybe it’s the cast, maybe it’s the direction, or maybe it’s a little bit of both. Ye Tan and Xuan Shang are ok as our Heavenly lead couple. Their chemistry is like a flickering light, sometimes it’s there, a lot of times it’s not. Their best moments are when he is in his La Mu form. Their worst moments come when they try to be funny and cute. While Landy Li and Chen Xing Xu are capable dramatic actors, they are not comic actors by nature and it shows. Chen Xing Xu’s dubbed voice is much too deep and detracts from his performance.
Watch this for the Void realm and its deliciously cheeky denizens. Watch this for Qing Kui and Zhao Feng's bad boy and naïve girl romance. Watch it for the great looking cast. Most of all, watch it with your FF button close at hand.
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Sweet romance, comedy and tears
Having 2 sisters betrothed to princes in 2 different realms made for a very interesting start to this drama as the story flips between the Heavenly Realm, all white & bright and the Void Realm, all dark & dreary.Loved the romance for both couples with the classic misunderstandings done well. The sidekicks for each couple provided lovely touches of humour as they were quick to realise the romance blooming and called it out to their respective masters who were in denial.
Kudos to the female lead who made me feel her grief so deeply that I cried every time she cried. The male lead’s acting shone much more when playing the 3 versions of himself in the Mortal Realm. Watching all 3 versions of him falling in love with the female lead exceeded my romance expectations from a drama. In essence, I got to watch 5 romances in total when most dramas only have 2 (main couple and second couple).
I enjoyed the overall story telling where there were happy outcomes throughout (eg the couples acknowledging and accepting each other and the Emperor of the Human Realm’s love for the female lead) instead of only having everything come together at the end of a drama.
Unfortunately, the ending’s storyline wasn’t my cup of tea as some parts felt more like fillers. Would have been better to cut that away to make way for a nice sweet happy ending instead of leaving it to our imagination.
Extra notes:
1. Good to see gravity working correctly here where the clothes flow upwards when they are “landing” unlike in some dramas that I watched in the past.
2. Annoying to see the bright light during the sweet kiss scenes.
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Will definitely get you at first hook!!!
The Starry LoveVerdict: Lovable Series
Starry Love did somewhat live up to my expectations. The plot was pretty common when it comes to a book plot but since this isn't a book but a tv series I can say that it has a really refreshing take on storytelling xianxia. The sisterly bond definitely touched my heart. I love the two girls so much. Second couple takes home the bacon with the love story plot. Third prince and his right-hand man take the bacon for the best comedic duo. It has a very phenomenal OST, a very good actor cast, brilliant comedic approach and just a really great story.
CASTINGS
This cdrama has really phenomenal casting. All of the actors had done a very great job but I felt the need to specially mention these actors: Luke Chen (third prince of demon realm) did an amazing job with his action scenes and his anti-hero vibe but a simp man is just adorable beyond belief! He Xuan Lin (the elder sis) just makes me cry like man whyyyyy I never thought I'll be so attached to a pure-heart character I'm more on the grey side but damn she's like 'pure but doesn't mean I need protection vibe ' like gurl ca stand up on her own. Her ending tho I need justice! I legit bawl on her sacrifice part! The way she gave the brightest smile while saying goodbye and tears flowing! A different level of pain! I am sold! Second couple deserve a better conclusion please!
Landy Liu is probably one of the prettiest actresses out there. There's just something in her eye colour that's so enchanting like I can't help but stare. Although there's still a lot of room for improvement on her acting I would not say it's bad I think it was pretty decent. It's my own fault for having a ridiculously high standard. I'm sorrryyy! But yeah I think a few more experiences would turn her into a phenomenal one. I love her crying scenes though , the plot (her sis died) and the way she acted it out (the longing and desperation) just makes me want to cry with her. I just find it a bit lacking when she's acting in a lovey-dovey scene. Is it a bit idk empty? Bland? This is my first cdrama with her so I'm not generalizing. Maybe it's just the way her character was written or the director wants it that way sooooo yeah.
Chen Xing Xu. This is my first cdrama with him. I don't really like his character here at the beginning like the emotionless God or something is just really not my vibe. I love how he acted his 3 shards tho! They are all cuties. I think it's more of a preference problem with this one. I'm more into a simp man than an emotionless cold man. But when he came back with the 3 shards personality I liked him but not to the point of crushing on him. Idk maybe it's the half-moon ponytail hairstyle that turns me off big time like no! Stick to your 3 shards personality hairdo please hahaha
DYNAMICS
The dynamic of the Third prince and his assistant just made me roll flat on my stomach laughing. This duo just got me tearing up and making me laugh out loud at freaking 3am! All I can say about the assistant is bombastic side eye!
The sisterly bond made me wish for a sister ! Mind you I'm a very possessive person and don't like sharing my parent's love with a sibling that's the same gender as me since it will trigger the ugly side of me. But damn if I have a sister as protective and cute like Yetan and as responsible, giving and sweet as Qingkui then I might consider. Yetan longing and desperation for her sister broke a part of me! Writernim you owe us a good explanation!
CINEMATOGRAPHY
CGI was just so-so for me. I love the fancy and detailed setting but the over the top brightness of the heaven realm and some chosen colours for the action scenes physically hurts my eye! Like I watched the previous drama these crew had done (Ashes of Love) and I love it. I think they tried to top it and it ended up being over the top with bright colours. I don't hate all of it but the bad just really outweighs the good. It just felt very much unrealistic with the setting since ofc it's CGI but oh well this is obv a fantasy drama so a realistic take is out of question. But yeah this is my opinion anyways.
ENDING
The ending was okay. Like I'm good with open-ended stories but at least show us our fave gurlies?!?!?! There's been a long time gap between writing this review and watching the drama. I remember getting annoyed by some plot holes but I can't remember any of it now. It's probably not as big and annoying as it seems since I totally forgot it.
OST
The soundtrack of this Chinese drama is just chef's kiss! I am so close to considering buying the ost album. Ofc Sa Dingding never disappoints. I love how fitting each song is for every scene! I love it so much!
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A beautiful xianxia about love and sisterhood!
Starry Love is a beautiful xianxia drama about sister bonds and love.This drama is fun, heartwarming and in my opinion easy to watch for a xianxia.
Starry Love exceeded my expectations. Definitely worth to watch if you are a fan of xianxia.
The story is pretty slow paced in the beginning, but does pick up. Starry love doesn't have too much angst.
STORY:
There are 4 realms in this world. The Immortal Realm, Void Realm, Beast Realm and Mortal Realm.
Twin daughters were born in the Mortal Realm for the Emperor and Empress. When the younger, Yetan was born, the Empress died from childbirth and in the stars there was an ominous sign that Yetan would bring chaos to the mortal realm. The Mortal realm wanted Yetan dead, but instead the Emperor decided to bethrone her to the Void Realm, as he had also promised the oldest, Qingkui to be bethroned to the Immortal Realm.
Qingkui was treated well, and she grew up to be kind, gentle and refined. Yetan was an outcast, she was hated, she wasn't allowed to learn and people tried to assassinate her and leave her without food. The Emperor often threw her to the dungeons. She grew up to be unruly and rebellious to protect herself. Even with the differences in their quality of life, Yetan and Qingkui were always close, So when the time for their soon-to-be husbands to come and collect them was nearing, Yetan wanted to be able to protect her sister by stopping her from having to marry to the Immortal Realm.
SPOILER PART OF THE STORY:
Yetan runs into Empyrean XuanShang (Shaodian Youqin) the night before the collect day of the two princesses and acts as Qingkui. She tries to stop the wedding, but her efforts are in vain. They witness an assassination attempt of the First Void prince, Wudai and therefore fight with the culprit, Third Void prince Chaofeng.
The next day, Yetan makes a plan with her friends, The Beast prince Di Lan Jue, and ManMan to kidnap Qingkui, so she can live a carefree life. Di Lan Jue decides that he wants to kidnap Yetan too.
When Di Lan Jue is creating a distraction, Man Man goes inside Yetan's bridal carriage but suddenly Yetan and Qingkui are switched by Chaofeng, in the fear that if Yetan was to go to The Void Realm, she would destroy his plans, yet he cannot kill her either. Yetan's plan fails and Qingkui heads to The Void Realm, and she heads to The Heavenly Realm.
Chaofeng explains to Qingkui why they were switched, but blames it on his second brother, Dingyun, making him the one who tried to kill Wudai and the one who switched the carriages. Chaofeng tells Qingkui that if Yetan comes to the Void Realm, she will be killed. Yetan and Qingkui agree to pretend to be each other. Soon after, Shaodian Youqin has to go to fix Guixu. Guixu is an ancient force, if unsealed, will bring chaos to the world. When Shaodian Youqin is in Guixu, Void Realm takes advantage of the situation and tries to invade Immortal Realm. Shaodian Youqin returns from Guixu, badly wounded, and protects Immortal realm with his last powers and dies. Shaodian Youqin's last three soul shards fell into the mortal realm. These three were his discarded emotions, so Heavenly Emperor is against the idea of reviving Shaodian Youqin with his emotions that he discarded.
Yetan, Di Lanjue, ManMan and Shaodian Youqins siblings, Qingheng and Xiwu escape the Immortal Realm to go look for the shards to revive Shaodian Youqin. Yetan must get all three shards to fall in love with her.
At the same time, in the Void Realm, Chaofeng and Qingkui fell for each other. The Void Tyrant has given his sons a new order, the one who kills Shaodian Youqin will be the next crown prince of the Void. Chaofeng hears about the Empyrean Consort Yetan being in the Mortal realm and that there seems to be a "Fire Demon" that looks like Shaodian Youqin. Qingkui soon hears about Chaofeng's plan and goes to meet up with Yetan.
Yetan manages to get the first shard La Mu, who is kind and innocent, to fall in love with her and Qingkui manages to stop Chaofeng from killing him. Soon after, Yetan finds the second shard, Mei You Qing, who is cold and greedy. He only has eyes for money. After pestering Mei You Qing enough, he falls for her too and even agrees to lose all his money in order to save Yetan's life. The last shard is Wenren, an elegant playboy who seduces women. Yetan manages to catch his attention, and he falls for her too. When the shards know about the reality of the situation, they are sad and angry. Yetan sends them all a letter telling them that she is actually Yetan, a princess who met Shaodian Youqin by mistake but fell for him. She tells them that she is letting them decide their own fates and that she is leaving with her sister and others and if they want to come with them, they promise to keep them safe from everyone. When Yetan, Chaofeng and his mother and Qingkui are under an attack by the second prince Dingyun, the shards come together to protect Yetan and combine themselfs to revive Shaodian Youqin. He kills Dingyun and goes back to Immortal Realm with Yetan. In the end, Heavenly Emperor finds out about Yetan's identity too and Shaodian Youqin leaves the Immortal realm with Yetan and they reunite with Chaofeng and Qingkui.
The sisters are under an attack, Man Man died protecting Yetan and Husui, Yetans servant/friend saves them by awakening their true powers. Yetan can absorb Impurity and Qingkui purity. Yetan and Qingkui are actually twin flowers from the Ganoderma Vein, a sacred tree that belonged to the Dongqiu tribe. Dongqiu tribe was wrongly accused of wanting to bring chaos to the world with the help of the sacred tree and therefore was wiped. The legend says that the twin flowers can open the seal of Guixu together and bring chaos to the world.
The Immortal Realm and Void Realm hear about the true identity of the girls, and they gather the four realms together to make a plan to kill the girls. Emperor of the Mortal realm is opposed to the idea of killing the girls, but as they are weak, they are unable to do anything. The Beast realm agree to help but due to Di Lan Jue and Yetan's friendship, The Beast King and Queen turn a blind eye and they let the sisters leave beast realm.
The Heavenly Emperor tries to blackmail the sisters to surrender by threatening to hurt the mortal realm. They go to Immortal realm to strike a deal with Void Tyrant and Heavenly Emperor. The Heavenly Emperor agrees, because The Heavenly Empress is on their side. Heavenly Emperor and Void Tyrant deceived them and captured Shaodian Youqin and Chaofeng and were ready to kill the sisters, when Qingkui pleaded them to let Yetan live. Qingkui explains that the Guixu can only be opened if they are together, and that the powers they possess will disappear when one of the sisters dies.
Qingkui takes her own life and Shaodian Youqin sends Yetan to the mortal realm and he and Chaofeng are captured by their fathers. Heavenly Emperor inflicts Shaodian Youqin with oblivion stake and he forgets Yetan. Chaofeng is thrown into the dungeons. Yetan grieves the loss of her sister and, with the help of Husui, revives a flower spirit of Qingkui. Yetan decides to get revenge after getting her powers back, and she heads to the Void realm. She saves Chaofeng and kills The Void Tyrant, becoming the new ruler. Yetan gives Qingkuis flower spirit to Chaofeng. After hearing about Yetan, the Heavenly Emperor tells Shaodian Youqin to go kill the "demoness". He is unable to kill her and after getting back to Immortal Realm, he remembers her. Yetan comes to Immortal Realm and rejoins with Shaodian Youqin. She lets Heavenly Emperor to keep his life, but destroys his cultivation. Husui isn't happy about not getting revenge for her tribe members and for her parents, and steals the flower spirit of Qingkui from Chaofeng and lures Yetan to Dongqiu, near the seal of Guixu. She hurts Yetan and they go inside Guixu. Yetan sees the truth about the twin flowers and sacrifices herself, explaining to Shaodian Youqin that the only way to neutralize Guixu is with the powers of the twin flowers. They were never going to bring chaos, they were supposed to end it. The drama ends with Qingheng becoming the new Heavenly Emperor and Wudai becoming the new Void Tyrant and Youqin and Chaofeng living in Dongqiu, waiting for their wives to be revived from the soil of Dongqiu.
MY OPINION:
The story itself is interesting with familiar Xianxia troupes. In my opinion the search for the shards was fun but in a way really rushed. They used a lot of time to show the story of the first shard but the last shards story and pursuit of him was quickly over.
The sisterly bond of Qingkui and Yetan was heartwarming, as it was refresing to see sisters that had a real relationship and no misunderstandings or betrayals between them. Yetan never blamed, envied or hated Qingkui for being the loved princess. They had mutual feeling of wanting to protect one another. As a big sister myself, it was touching and the only time i cried during this drama was the moment when Qingkui took her life to save Yetan's. The only problems i had with this drama was the fathers. I could not really forgive the Mortal Realm's Emperor for what he did to Yetan and i dont really agree with how fast Yetan forgave her father for the years of abuse. But what i cannot accept at all is the fact that Heavenly Emperor wasn't thrown into at least jail, even after being maybe even the worst father of the drama. Even Void Tyrant didn't seem as heartless. The fact that Yetan killed Void Tyrant who is her sister's husband's father, but got soft when it came to the Heavenly Emperor only because of her husband and his family.
ACTING:
Landy Li as Yetan,
Amazing performance from her. The perfect casting. She acted as the mischievous yet kindhearted Yetan so well. My favorite acting moment was when she went to the Void and was cold as ice in front of everyone but when she had killed Void Tyrant, she cried and grieved for her sister.
He Xuan Lin as Qingkui,
Perfect. She was so sweet and kindhearted and gentle. Her acting was great in her crying scenes.
Chen Xing Xu as Shaodian Youqin,
He acted about 5 different roles in this drama. The cold Empyrean XuanShang, The sweet innocent and simple La Mu, the greedy and mean Mei You Qing, The lustful womanizer Wenren and the combination of them all, Shaodian Youqin. So many well acted personalities. His crying scenes in the end were so believable.
Luke Chen as Chaofeng,
A cold hearted void prince that falls for the most gentle one. He was a great pick for this role.
a good 8, is what i will rate this drama!
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don’t know what went wrong
dropped this after ep17.a show with very good start. the sisters arc, I wish they delve more on the ML arc too and him sending her to school, writer, you can expand all this, make her grow in terms of gaining manners and powers.
while the sister flourishes as a physician, the other one have to endure the loss of her future husband and go and find his shards when they arent yet showing affection towards each other? bridge of fate? yeah, whatever. or chemistry issue btw both leads? I don’t know.
the shards arc was where I decided to drop the show entirely because this arc is too early and I’m not feeling the FL. does she have feelings for him? the stares ain’t making it up.
I appreciate the humor the show portrayed. but as each episode passed, the story flow got worst.
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Highly recommended!!!! deserves more attention!!!
« Everyone is born with desires. Only true love can let them flow. “That once sentence from the show resumes perfectly the story and how beautiful it was.
I felt every possible emotions watching it.
All the characters were extremely interesting and appealing.
And the best part about this the drama is the relationship between the sisters. The writing was exceptional. It's refreshing to see them behave without jealousy and comprehend each other's emotions.
Also, the ending really satisfied me.
Highly recommended! The cinematography was absolutely outstanding too. (I love the pink & purple aesthetic)
+ incredible OST sung by Sa Dingding
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Interesting plot with likeable side characters
StoryI have to admit the first 10 episodes feels a little bit draggy especially the heavenly realm part, the lack of lighting, depth, colors, and the filter making it worse. The first arc climaxed in ep 11-12, the story start to pick up here.
The second arc where they have to collect the shards was the most fun part. You can see Yetan slowly falling in love with SDYQ, even with how hard it is for her to trust people due to her lifelong trauma. While Yetan's father is considered the best out of three fathers in this drama, I don't think their reconciliation feel natural, not saying they shouldn't reconcil at all of course, but 17 years of trauma wouldn't heal easily.
I don't know why but i feel like the writers gave up on Heavenly realm's world building, like we could simply compare the heavenly empress with Chaofeng's mother and void realm's empress, personally I think she is the most beautiful, but she was just .... there, I wish there are scenes where she bonded with Yetan or something. Qingkui's real identity was revealed in such an elaborated plot, in comparison, Yetan's real identity was revealed by fairy Biqiong fueled by her jealousy because she also liked SDYQ, I'm fine with cheap and tropey plot as long as it feels logical, but fairy Biqiong who supposed to be so in love with SDYQ didn't even do anything to resurrect him, so her existence just feel like a tool to accelerate the plot.
What made this drama different and a lot more memorable than other xianxia dramas I watched is the characterization of the shards! That scene where the three of them meet at the same place was so iconic. Other than the main leads, the side characters are very lovable, especially Wu Dai and Chaofeng's bodyguard. Out of all characters in Heavenly realm, even though technically she's not from here, I loved Husui the most, she might be the bad guy but her motive stay consistent until the end! I also loved her beast realm green outfit. The ending didn't bother me so much, It would be nice to see the girls again though.
Acting
The most memorable part for me in this drama is the scene of dying Shaodian Youqin, he looks so helpless without any exaggerated acting. I'm glad that CXX is using his real voice here! Even though I don't understand Chinese, I could hear that the voice of the three shards sounds different.
Music
I love the ending song by Mao Buyi so much, the lyric is also very romantic. I wish C-dramas could tone it down with the use of epic BGMs though 🤣.
Rewatch Value
Maybe for the second arc.
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Acting, Design
But why do Chinese works so often have such an unsatisfactory ending? Must it be. It's a pity. The whole series was beautiful, the actors were great, as was the character design and the costumes. The animations were also good. Must be such an ending WTF so unsatisfactory 🙈🙈Or is it because of the scriptwriter? I have to pay attention because, strangely enough, 6 out of 10 ch series aren't that great in the finale 😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞😞von mir Schulnote 3- wegen des seltsamen Endes . Für den Rest gebe ich die Schulnote 2+💓💓
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It was a fun watch!
I was a bit disappointed of the ending where the FL and ML did not get to stay together, but it is somewhat a happy ending. Beautiful actors and actresses! It was fun to watch and both couples are cute! I had a couple drops of tears. Some parts were touching. I enjoyed it but still can't compare to the "all-time favorite" drama: Eternal Love/Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. I think this drama is missing some intense/romatic kissing/bed scenes. Even "Ashes of Love" was more intense when it comes to heartache and chemistry between the FL and ML. If you are like me who enjoy SEXY kissing/bed scenes, you will feel a bit disappointed too. This drama is more on the "CUTE/SWEET" side I believe...Was this review helpful to you?
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Worth a watch for the OST alone!
If you love an ensemble cast, friendships, and adventure, then you'll love The Starry Love.I've watched all of the episodes so far and I'm eagerly waiting for more. The cast is great, the characters are likeable, the costumes and CGI are beautiful, and the OST is amazing. I fell in love with the show based on Liu Yuning's opening song alone.
It's refreshing to see the two sisters (2 FLs) have such a strong bond despite how they were raised and their personality differences. And I know this is minor, but the actors dubbed in their own voices, which is a relief. The first 14 episodes are funny, sweet, and exciting. The adventure is just starting for our Ye Tan group and princess Qing Kui is establishing her footing in the dark realm. It's a great setup so far and I'm really enjoying the story.
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Solid until ep 30
I've been waiting for the next drama on par with Ashes of Love and this although didn't meet that, it was a delightful drama overall. If you want action this is not it. There were definitely lots of lovey dovey scenes with > normal amount of pairings in a drama.Wonderful Aspects:
-All that PURPLEEEEE <--- Hottest color
-Beautiful cast that can act!
-ML (which I was never crazy about) & FL had mediocre chemistry but there were plenty of laughs. I especially loved the FL Ye Tan. Thought she was just the right amount of silliness, cuteness, beauty & brains.
-2nd couple with Chao Feng & Qing Kui was definitely the best pairing in xian xia world with looks & chemistry.
-Gu Hai Chao (Chang Feng)'s 1st in command probably my favorite supporting character provided many comedic moments
-Strong supporting characters overall, few include: The wolf/dog/pup, the bird, the muscle head brother, and my favorite bad character the Void Queen. That beautiful badass mama you'd love to hate.
-Family relationships: Aside from all that coupling, I really loved the sister/sister, mom /son, & friends positive relationships.
-Cinematography / costume / makeup - One of the best aspects about xian xia dramas
-OST - yes overplayed and need a few more songs but the few songs are very good
And then after ep 30.....
-Story got sloppy, tiring and lost all the humorous moments. Scene progression didn't make sense
-One dimensional antagonist characters (both of the kings) got especially tiresome
-A bit overboard on # of resurrections & tear jerking flashbacks.
-Rushed ending with a summary narrative................ Aiyahhhh YYYYY
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