The Spirealm

WATCH THIS NOW!!!

I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCH THIS YET, YOU'RE A NOOB, BRO THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SERIES I'VE EVER WATCH, AND IM BASICALLY A BL FAN, BUT EVEN THO THIS HASN'T HAD MANY ROMANCE SCENE LIKE THE OTHERS, THE PLOT, THE ACTING, THE CAST, ITS EVERYTHING, I REALLY LIKE HOW EACH DOOR HAS A UNIQUE STORY BEHIND IT, ITS VERY CREATIVE, AND ALSO THE STORY BEHIND THE DOORS IS NOT REPEATING, ITS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL SERIES, IM JUST SAD THAT THIS IS BANNED IN CHINA, BUT HOW COULD THEY BANNED SUCH A BEAUTIFUL SERIES, IM ALSO NOT DONE WITH THIS, BUT ITS JUST I DON'T REALLY WANT TO FINISH, I LOVE THIS SERIES WITH ALL MY HEART, I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME IF I FINISH THIS, JUST LIKE THE UNTAMED I WILL NEVER MOVE ON FROM THIS, AND BECAUSE OF THIS SERIES I KNOW LOVE XIA ZHIGUANG AND JUNJIE OMGGG THEY ARE LIKE MY FAV NOW, THEY'RE VISUALS ARE VERY GIVING

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Beautiful and thought provoking

This show put me into an existential crisis. On the surface, it's beautiful, but so heart-breakingly, soul-destroyingly tragic I can't handle it. But if I'm interpreting it right, it's actually unbelievably brilliant, and ridiculously complicated, and even more romantic and beautiful than it appears. And, more importantly, has a happier ending than it appears.

"Many things can be explained by common sense, but sometimes our thinking is also limited by it." - Lanzhu

I’m gonna be honest, I only just finished it, and it exploded my brain and ripped apart my heart. So I'm actually writing this review as a way to try to process this super complicated story and explain it to myself, so I'll be talking more about how I interpret the story and ending, rather than commenting on the acting etc. (Though, seriously, the actors did an amazing job! And everything about the show is very well done. And even the CGI, which starts a little shaky, gets better as the show goes on).

Warning: incoherent ramble and MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

DISCLAIMER: I haven't read the book, so I'm only theorizing based on the show, and how I interpret the show, with no other information.

When it comes to how to interpret The Spirealm, I think there are a lot of options, and I think the show is made in such a way that they are all true. We're told over and over again to question which version of reality is true, and even given the choice to pick our own version of reality or illusion. The references to the multiverse at the end, make this even clearer. And I really love that the show lets us decide how to interpret it... even if it makes it very challenging to process.

Personally, I have two specific ways I like to see it: one is super sad, the other is super happy.

The first option, as I see it, is the most straightforward. It’s a beautiful but incredibly tragic version. In this version, this story is a sci-fi, where most of the show happened in Jiushi’s head while he was in a coma, and Jiushi then spent his entire life trying to make that dream real. After 50 years, he finally succeeded in creating a virtual reality where he could make a version of his dream real (a version where everyone was alive and happy) and he spent the last few minutes of his life in that virtual world with his virtual friends and virtual lover, before he died.

I think this is a plausible and reasonable way to interpret it. The biggest questions would be about Jiushi's hallucinations at the start, and how he knew everyone’s names and occupations in the dream (and after). For the hallucinations, the most plausible way I can think to explain them is that they were part of a bigger emotional breakdown. We saw other evidence of this when he quit his job and was generally so miserable and aimless even his idiot friend was worried about him. It would explain why Jiushi became so deeply attached to his dream. As for how he knew so much about the people around him, I think there’s a very simple explanation: the story makes it very clear Jiushi was a genius. Geniuses can process a seemingly supernatural level of information at both a conscious and subconscious level. Some of the people he saw regularly in his community (eg the twins in the gaming hub, and Li Dongyuan the street seller), others he passed on the street right before the accident and overheard their conversations. With the rest, it’s entirely possible he overheard conversations and names while semi-conscious, even while in his coma. All this information was in his head at a subconscious level, and his coma-brain combined it all together into a slightly distorted representation of reality. Naturally, his coma-brain got some things mixed up (eg. he turned his doctor into a vet, and the wolf game was also the phone game was also his dream of changing the world). Also, his emotions heavily influenced everything. Eg, in reality Dawei abandoned Jiushi and went into economics, but in Jiushi’s dream, Dawei still cared about him and entrusted him with their childhood dream to save the world.

I think the coma-dream interpretation of the story makes perfect sense and is very beautiful. But it’s heart-breakingly, soul-destroyingly tragic. Seriously, if Jiushi spent 50 years trying to recreate a dream, creating a brilliant and world changing form of technology, just so he could spend a few minutes with his imaginary lover in their imaginary life (a lover who may or may not have been an idealized version of the man that left him to die after an earthquake... ouch!) before he died, that hurts way too much.

But, thankfully, there’s another plausible interpretation to the whole thing. But this option is harder to explain, so here goes.

Version two: the story is a fantasy in which the physical, technological, and spiritual/supernatural are interwoven. All the worlds we saw are real. All the events really happened. And the ending is real. And I might just say upfront, the show is listed as a 'fantasy', and tagged as 'Supernatural', 'Fantasy World', 'Survival', and 'Crossworlds Traveler', so I think that strongly suggests we ARE meant to see this as a fantasy world with crossworld travel, not simply a dream. And since the dream option is super sad, I much prefer this option (even if the other one is still a good story).

Basically, in this version, there are different realms. Primarily, there is a physical realm, and a super complex, multi-layered spiritual realm (but again, physical, technological and spiritual/supernatural are interwoven, so it's not quite that clear cut). The virtual self, is actually the 'spirit' self. There are also beings who only exist in the spiritual realm—like in other fantasy stories. All the realms (at least, all the ones we see) have been corrupted, and the problem has to be solved at the deepest level (inside the doors/spirit-realm/spirealm). Restoring/purifying the spiritual realm, purifies the physical realm. That’s why the physical realm changes and no one remembers the doors. Everything really happened, but precisely because it happened, the corrupted reality doesn’t exist anymore. It’s been purified. Now the physical realm exists in its purified version. People are now able to be their true, purified selves.

The thing is, when the realms are purified, the ‘old’ versions of people (the versions we know and love) cease to exist. Now, we have a purified version of the physical realm with purified versions of the same people. And Lanzhu doesn't exist anymore, because Lanzhu was never human. He’s more like a god that came into existence specifically to purify the worlds, and now he’s fulfilled his purpose and doesn't exist anymore. So, Jiushi has to essentially create a spiritual version of the old world, for the ‘deleted’ versions of everyone to exist in. More importantly, a reality where Lanzhu can exist and be ‘made real’, like Jiushi promised. This world is independent of the physical world, it's purely spiritual. Everyone inside is independent of the physical world and the purified version of them that lives there, and they are purely spiritual. And in his realm, Lanzhu is ‘real' and complete too. He has been released from his programming and mission and is autonomous, just like the rest of them. Jiushi has made him 'real'.

In theory, even thought the old doors have ceased to exist, doors are still possible and Jiushi has made new ones? So it's still possible for them to move between worlds if they want to? Unless Jiushi locked himself in the new world when he died? I dunno, I’m still figuring that part out.

But speaking of Jiushi's death... Jiushi was old when he first entered the spirealm because he was still the spirit of a living person. But when he becomes young, that was the moment he died in the physical realm and crossed over to live forever in the spirealm as a spirit/god. Now, he's just like the others.

I really like this reading of the story. Jiushi creates an entire world, saves everyone he loves, saves Lanzhu and makes him real, and they all live happily ever after. Jiushi and Lanzhu live happily ever after, together. And, most importantly, it’s all real. As I've said, it's listed as a fantasy with crossworld travel, but I do think both interpretations make sense. Actually, I kinda like that it was left open to interpretation. Pick the illusion or reality, life or death, just like the 11th door.

Lanzhu tells us: "Many things can be explained by common sense, but sometimes our thinking is also limited by it." So maybe, even if we're told it's a dream, that doesn't mean it is one? And also, maybe more than one thing can be true at a time, even if they seem incompatible?

I’m still wrapping my head around it all. I’ll probably come back and edit this after watching it a few more times and processing it more. But in summary, awesome show. Highly recommended. But be prepared to cry a lot.

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TOP BROMANCE FANTASY

Welcome to my review, and congratulations for interested with this drama! A total 48 episode and I can finish it in only two days, let me remind you again it's TWO DAYS and I'm already finishing this in 48 eps, can you even hear something that insane?!.

With our dearest cutie puppy protagonist who lost in a game and try to get out of the game but! He meet the most handsome, fearless, and brat man he ever man and that was our dearest man that will bring bromance to this full of 48 eps.

A total difference fantasy I've seen, with many characters on the drama, many friends or enemies, many plot twist, and totally I can't move on from this! I hope I can watch this drama like in first time I'm watching it.

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WILL MAKE YOU CRY (maybe)

I want to start by saying, I love The Spirealm. This drama caught my eye from the beginning with its plot featuring a bromance between the leads and also just because the I LOVE mystery/thriller dramas. But knowing that its a censored adaptation of its novel counterpart, I didn't have high hopes for this at all. As I approached the last few episodes though, I found myself dreading to see the end. This drama does an exceptional job at making you attached to seemingly insignificant characters like Tan Zaozao, Cheng Qianli and Li Dongyuan (and yes these characters did make me cry), but despite me rating it a 10, it is definitely not objectively flawless.

The Story (a general overview)

The plot revolves around our protagonist Ling Qiushi as he enters a game called the Spirealm. There are 12 doors that you must pass in this game, each as sort of a "mystery room" where you must find the key and open the corresponding door to pass. Each door has a different story with different NPCs involved, and most importantly different "taboo conditions". Violate these conditions and you're dead, in game and in real life. Through this game, Ling Qiushi meets Ruan Lanzhu, and they quickly become partners determined to pass through all 12 doors, hoping to purify this game and return it to its original, harmless, form.

My Thoughts

Now, I love the overall idea of this drama. And for the most part, it does a pretty good job in terms of execution. Each door teaches you a valuable lesson about life, and it gets pretty emotional. HOWEVER, there are many plot holes and things that don't really make sense when you look into it. I was confused at times, searching things up online to try to find an answer. But, as I progressed through the drama, I found myself obsessing over the characters and story regardless of its many flaws. I also feel like it would've benefitted with more eps, as if some storylines were more fleshed out it would've taken this drama from great to even better.

The Acting

Amazing. Even though there isn't necessarily a super big actor in any of these roles, everyone did their job very well. Our leads are handsome and charismatic, side characters are fun and likeable, and the villains did a great job of making me hate them. Overall, I am very satisfied with the cast.

Music

I normally never have anything to say about music, but the slightly creepy/eerie songs of this drama really gets you into the mood. There's this one thing that replays throughout the entire series, and trust me, IT WILL become nostalgic in the end.

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Missing the leads so hard

Now that i finish watching the spirealm, I'm missing ling jiushi and ruan lanzhu so hard. It's felt like something is missing. I love how they act and the eye chemistry was top notch. I fall in love with ruan lanzhu, i like the way he look,walk, talk and his eyes are so expressive. Xia zhi guang did a very good job. The plot was something i didn't expect... the ending was bit confusing because i don't understand that ling jiushi assumed everything or it actually happening? But overall this drama was a hit for me. It has chemistry, story telling, pain, regret, pity, friendship everything is written so beautifully that i feel empty after finishing the whole drama.

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10/10

The whole story evolves around two characters and it's briliantly done. From first moment i fell in love witch Ling Jiu Shi, he's greatly written and his flaws are recognized which made me feels at peace at some point. The whole bromance/bl story is amazingly done and from chinese streaming system point of view, i get it why it got banned, you can feel the love though the screen! All of the characters has some bad characteristic points but also some good, i think it wasn't badly written because of this point. You usually see in movies perfect characters, they're not relatable and they feel odly fake and not trusting. Even though Ling Jiu Shi is supposed to be a strong and smart character, you can see the humanity in him, he's still a person at the end of the episode.
I wanna talk a little bit about the story of The Spirealm. I'm familiar with the fact, that it is not the same storytelling like in the novels. BUT i feel they got it covered even though they changed the story brutally, it still feels the same i guees. The thrill, love, pain and all the other emotions felt exactly the same as the book goes. Personaly, it left me heartbroken and made me think a lot when i was watching though episodes, i didn't expect that big of an impact.
Acting and cast was greatly selected, it fits the vibe, characters fits the characters, nothing more to add. One thing i was extremely suprised about was that the twins in the series were played by the same one actor. I didn't noticed at first, but when i took a closer look you can see that they're almost never in the same frame. Both characters were extraordinary, the acting when they appeared on the screen is memorable, they left a big impact on me, great job actor.
I hate the fact that it got banned not even after one day of streaming! Thanks a lot to everybody who watched it and post it online, this treasure isn't suppose to be hidden from the world. How hilarious it must be, when even their music is banned... got me thinking a lot but also made me laugh, panthetic don't you think? Anyway even though it's not actually out yet because it got banned so you're not supposed to even know about this, the whole series is very good and i think you're going to like it. Some people could say it has bad CGI or bad actors, but that's not the point. Even when you have small budget, you can make a masterpiece. And they did. At the end of the day, this is so much better than shows with more budget or famous actors, the thing you have to care about in watching series, is the story. I like the story, i love it. Ofcourse it had some flaws, but that's something everybody have. I think, if it could be perfect, it would lost the meaning and the spark. Think about it, would you watch something that is perfect? me neither.

You can find the series at dramacool (78 episodes) or at kissasian (38 episodes). Episodes are the same, no difference between them (don't worry i watched both versions, there's really no difference :). I hope you will enjoyed, just like i did, have a great day!
- Zero

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LOS AMO

El bromance más bl que he visto, a pesar de que es un cdrama sabia que el final no me iba a dejar tan satisfecha, pero aun así es un 10/10 para mi. La química de los protagonistas en serio es de otro nivel, creo que es lo mas importante a destacar. Por eso me encantan los dramas de bromance chinos
Las químicas siempre son de primera categoría, incluso sin un solo beso muestran todo el
sentimiento con su sola mirada o el lenguaje corporal y la censura no puede hacer nada contra esto. Entonces por eso siento que los disfruto mucho más. Definitivamente lo volveré a ver pq siento que hay cosas que debería haber prestado más atención. En fin me gusto muchísimo será difícil olvidarme de este drama no se si pueda ver otro en este momento estoy muy enganchada.

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