The Starry Love (2023)

Quite annoying dubbing

Chen Xing Xu & Landy Li of course I have to watch this... Haha.... Not expect much, but turn out I quite enjoy the drama.

Usual story where the switched bride happen, the 'naughty' girl go to heaven realm & the 'good' girl go to evil realm. but of course turn out they both find the perfect match in each realm. The story gonna be bored with good girl go to heaven realm, but with the naughty one, the story become quite interesting....

As usual, our girl (Ye Tan (YT)) make a lot of trouble in heaven realm. But with that way, she seems to make her footprint & impression to our ML. And the same also happen with Qing Kui (QK) in the evil realm, where she also attract Chao Feng (CF) & Wu Dai (WD) with her charm & gentleness. As we usually said, opposite attract. Xuan Shang (XS) in heaven never really see such capriciousness like YT do, while CF & WD never really get such gentleness in evil realm.

The story become really interested after XS back to heaven realm. YT & XS become close & very romantic. In the same time I still grind my teeth to see the behavior of heaven emperor. Why he seems so bothered to see how close YT & XS are...? Sometimes with XIan XIa drama like this I have this big question: Why they really like to picture heaven as hypocrite, where they seem to do the right thing, but turn out they actually is so messed up & hiding something that dark even make the evil proud...?

From all that happen in this drama one thing that really bothered me is.... How fake & so dubbed Xuan Shang voice. It's like they cover the mike with sock or cloth and then start speaking. Haha....

Overall this drama actually nothing new, but still really enjoyable to watch.

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Ending

Love the show it is really good i feel like it kinda dragged out the ending a little long mid way but the ending was the saddest one ive watched like both of the main characters die just hanging their husbands alone thats the only reason reqarch value is so low its because i dont want to live through the trauma again the actors were really good it wasnt a huge plot twist after the first couple of episodes but it was still fun to watch how it all played out i shouldve stopped at episode thirty something where they live a good life and called it quits i knew bad things were going to happen but i didnt think that it was this bad

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A great take on old tropes

The drama takes a stab at the rehashed switcheroo brides trope but still manages to give a refreshing take on xianxia. One sister, born under a lucky sign, gets to marry a heavenly prince, another one born under an unlucky sign gets to marry a demon prince. On the day of their wedding, they get switched and hilarity ensues as the drama develops two parallel love stories.

One thing that I really liked was a focus on sisterhood, family, and women working to uplift each other, instead of sisters and friends competing for men, money, and power. Although, the drama also rehashes a jealous side chick trope, it's very minor and pretty forgettable. I really liked the chemistry between each couple, as they got to know each other, develop bonds which led to love. I liked that the story blurred some lines between good and evil and allowed some characters with a questionable moral compass a chance to grow and make good choices. Chaofeng started out an an anti-hero, not entirely bad but someone with questionable morality. Through his growing love for Qingkui and exposure to her purity and goodness, he developed a conscience. Youqin gaining back his feelings allowed him to realize that protecting the heavenly realm wasn't just an arbitrary duty but a desire to protect family.

The plot was mostly interesting, but some arcs were better than others. I thought the shards arc was too long and kind of boring. My biggest criticism, after the shards arc both Youqin and Chaofeng were reduced to house husbands. Youqin spent most of his time waiting for Yetan to come home from school. It seemed like attaining the perfect celestial body was the pinnacle of his development and he had nothing else to do, although he was the most powerful being in all the realms. Chaofeng was told to look for work now that he had a wife. Twirling store signs pretty much undermined his position as a badass prince from the void. The writers could've come up with something better for immortal beings with ultimate cosmic power than this.

The acting was very good. Chen Xingxu showed his versatility where he didn't just portray a stony faced Empyrean Xuanshang, but a lover, a materialist, a pyromaniac, and a romantic. The character came to life as soon as he gained his feelings. Everyone else was just as good.

Some people were not happy with the ending, but I thought it was fitting for the xianxia genre leaving off the story on a positive and hopeful note. To me, that was a good ending.

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A different kind of xian xia

This feels different to me than other xian xia dramas that I've seen. The story is okay for me, but I really like the chemistry between the ML and FL as well as the 2nd ML and FL. Acting wise, Chen Xing Xu and Li Landi did well in portraying their character. Chen Xing Xu plays different character with different emotions and I think he can really act and not just a pretty face :) The middle part towards the end gets a bit boring, which is normal for a drama series, but with this it doesn't really bother me a lot. The various side story for the side characters are interesting to watch too, so it's fine. The drama is funny too, so it's not all serious. And the OST is excellent.. I would definitely rewatch this if I have time.

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it was good

I did not like it as much as I wish I wanted to? It was definitely still good but again, another forgetable one. This was the first show where I loved the second leads more, (not their ending tho). Here's what I wrote at the time:

8.5/10. Very solid. I loved it but it left me empty. I felt like the last episode was VERY rushed and it wasn't necessarily a happily-ever-after ending but i guess it was implied.
I would recommend watching it because everything about it was perfect until towards the end. But if you want a good HEA, then I recommend skipping this one.

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It's good...(but not *that* good)

I feel like maybe I watched this with too high of expectations 😅 because everyone seems to be in love with it but I thought it was just okay. Maybe because I've seen 'Til The End of The Moon' and 'Alchemy of Souls' my fantasy expectations are too high? But this definitely isn't 'the best xianxia I've ever seen!'.

Here's what I thought was done well:

- The initial hook and concept are incredible and pull you in almost immediately
- They balance comedy and drama well (for the most part)
- They manage to juggle a large cast and make most of them endearing
- The costuming and makeup (omg you can tell the production had MONEY money, it's great)
- The CGI was also good (again MONEY money, you can tell)
- The actors that were good were insanely good


What I personally didn't like:

- The actors who were not as strong really stood out as awkward and a bit stilted (to me at least)
- Sound and music seemed oddly absent at times, like there were parts of scenes where I was like ??? Where is the dramatic music ??? hello ???
- They didn't follow through on things with consistency
- There was a bit too much time spent on comedy, one section in particular felt overly long to me
- This meant there was less time for plot, which then felt rushed. I get that it's hard to do plot and comedy at the same time, but like, this is why plot usually wins over comedy
- A lot of MAJOR plot points were resolved in mild and unsatisfying ways, like it almost felt like the writer was afraid to commit. Like, don't get me wrong, this would have been great as a comedy, it also would have been great as a tragedy! The fact that they didn't really commit in either direction means it ended up just being... good ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ .


TL,DR: It was fun, but I wouldn't rewatch it and probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone with other things on their list.


(sidenote: I will definitely be following Chao Feng and Qing Kui's actors into their new projects because they were solidly in the 'insanely good acting' category.)

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Intriguing, fresh story but execution issues hold it back . . .

Every romantic trope is here: from opposites attract, forbidden romance, memory loss, rescues, reincarnation etc. There are fresh conflicts and an opportunity for the women to stand in the rescuing role. I was cheered to see this, but a few things hold this drama back:

1) Too many climactic, should have been the end/resolution moments
2) The acting and chemistry of the main couple is off. Chen Xing Xu (ML) plays a quite stodgy one note character in order to show difference later on - but it makes for a boring first half and a lack of chemistry.
3) Music and production values are sub par. So much so, that I would be taken fully out of the story and clearly could see how they were acting in front of a green screen. When the actors, would struggle or say no - it was really hard not to laugh given it was clear nothing was actually holding them back.

The themes were all over the place as well, though I did enjoy the challenge to an older too rigid generation. This drama is worth a try but just one too many issues to make it into my top tier.

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Ashes of Love kind of drama

I first got attracted to watch this because of the ML (the male lead of Goodbye My Princess). I read two very bad review from this site, so it made me feel a bit apprehensive at first. But oh boy, I love it so much I binge watched the first 18 episodes in 3 days!

My favourite part is actually on ep 2 when our main couple had to cross the love bridge and found out they are soulmates (despite not liking each other at that point).

I love the bond the twin girls have. I was expecting one of them to be evil, but both are good people. So heartwarming to watch the girls protect each other, putting their sister above their love interest. The older sister reminds me of Cameron Diaz, they look like twins born at two different continents LOL.

This show is has a similar background as Ten Miles of Peach Blossom (Eternal Love) and Ashes of Love. Lo and behold, when I checked, apparently it has the same writer as Ashes of Love. So if you like those kind of movie, you'll love this. The best part is that it's only 40 episodes in total!!! The nasty remarks I read in the review here are because they forget this is a lighthearted fantasy drama. Not everything have to make sense! At least this is not a drama where the leads would get stabbed and coughing blood every episodes - THAT I can't stand. But Starry Love is not like that, so it's all good.

I'm halfway through now, hope they can keep the pace. I'm still heart broken that Immoral Samsara started strong then turned rubbish in the middle, then worsen to be ridiculous until the end..

#### UPDATE #### I never ended up finishing this. Can't remember, maybe life got in the way.

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Funny Wuxia/Fantasy drama that is enjoyable, but stupid ending.

Historical costume fantasy is not my genre, so I ended up dropping most of them after watching a few episodes (i.e., the Blue Whisper, Immortal Samsara, Song of the Moon, etc., to name a few). Surprisingly, I liked "The Starry Love" until the last two episodes, which I believe was unnecessary and stupid.

Ye Tan was doing so well then, stupidly, she allowed Su Zhi to take her to resurrect Dongqiu and sacrificed herself for the peace and prosperity of the four realms. So stupid; it could have ended with episode 38 when she chose to forgive her father-in-law and figure out how to bring her sister back to life, but no. I was so disappointed with the ending.

Her father ended up losing both of his precious daughters; I was going to give it an 8.5 rating, but instead, I downgraded it to 7.5 because of the stupid ending. Overall, I enjoy it.

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