Love Game in Eastern Fantasy

Fast paced & binge-worthy storyline . Perfect for romantasy ethusiasts.

My review will be a comprise of what I liked the most and the least in Love Game in Eastern Fantasy.

What I liked :

✅️ Enemies to lovers.
✅️ ML falls in love first.
✅️ Cold ML X Sunshine FL
✅️ Protective & obsessive ML.
✅️ CGI & cinematography : 10/10. Nothing to complain about.
✅️ Ding Yu Xi as a grey haired demon ❤. Made my wish after LYST come true.
✅️ Fast paced, addicting & binge-worthy storyline . I fully enjoyed the first 30 episodes. Only took 3 days for me to finish all 32 episodes which usually it takes me 5 days to 1 week to finish one 30+++ eps drama.
✅️ The acting. Yu Shu Xin as Ling Miao Miao & Ding Yu Xi as Mu Sheng they both perfect for their roles. Could not think of any other actors that can replace them.
✅️ Costumes,hairstyles : 9.5/10. I liked all Mu Sheng's duo color (black + red/blue) costumes with its metal & ribbon appendages . He looked so fine-looking here ❤. His hairstyle also suits his looking the most. Miao Miao hairstyles also so pretty.
✅️  Humor : 9/10. I laughed alot while watching this drama especially in 2/3rd of the story.
✅️ Romance : 8.5/10. Light , sweet and cute. Chemistry : 9/10. I've watched main leads before in Moonlight though I did not finished that drama for a reason but they definitely have good chemistry with each other. Did not mind if in the future we get to see 3rd collaboration between them.
✅️ OST : 8.5/10. My favorite is Reshape by Do Zhiwen. Gotta love the deep voice and its soulful vibe. I've been listening to this song non-stop after finishing this drama🤧.

What I liked the least:

☑️ Storyline in the last 2 eps , there were parts that was quite confusing. The editing also did not help. When you don't really understand what's happening, it made things less enjoyable. My enjoyment meter went down from 100% to 50% in the last 2 episodes.
✖️ The ending... is annoying. The kind that is typical if you're familiar with c-drama. Maybe they could have done it better if we got 1 or 2 more additional episodes.
❌️ I am totally dumbfounded that our main couple did not have even 1 kiss scene in this drama! When even second couple got 2 kiss scenes..
❌️ Towards the end, I think there were way too many scenes of second couple than the main couple. If only they focus more in main couple story at the end...

Overall, I enjoyed this drama alot. Made it to my top 5 favourite c-drama this year. If you like what I liked don't hesitate . Start watching it now.

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Hello my favs; Did you read the script for the last few episodes?

This is tragic. TRAGIC.
Because I am willing to forgive SO MUCH.

Ding Yuxi and Esther Yu. I adore you both. Your chemistry is amazing. 10 out of 10. No notes. Most adorable couple ever. Beautiful. Fun. So very sweet. When you're both on screen I can't take my eyes away. I really and truly enjoyed the first half of this with extreme gusto. You two have such a great vibe with your adopted son. I loved it. I was here for it. I wholly enjoyed watching you two fall for each other. So adorable.

But no matter how great this was, I cannot escape from the unfortunate reality that Love Game Eastern Fantasy shits the bed at around episode 19.

Now I still watched, I was never offended, and there were plenty of character beats and story pieces that I liked. The In-Story ending was fine. Not great, but serviceable. However, the larger meta ending is a giant sack of floppy moldy dicks. We cannot escape the fact that the show just stopped even pretending to be about Ling Miao Miao, and makes everything about Mu Sheng. I almost cried, what the hell is the point of a transmigration story if the heroine forgets she's transmigrated?! Why can't she just be the star of the show? Why can't this story be about Ling Miao Miao? Why do we have to constantly sideline female leads for male ones?! Instead of writing a smart, competent, and INFORMED heroine, they have to neuter Ling Mia Miao in order to tell the same-ass boring story as the original novel told...but isn't the point of transmigrating is that you side-line the plot?

Nevermind that a late reveal calls into question the very fundamentals of their worldbuilding. Seriously. STOP INVALIDATING YOUR OWN PREMISES, C-DRAMA. I'M TIRED OF THIS LAZY SEXIST BULLSHIT.

I am very frustrated. So much about this is great. Ding Yuxi and Esther Yu are amazing. Ensemble Cast Chemistry? Great. The backstory? Tropey, but good. 2nd fml and ml? Actually interesting! Adorable little Bamboo son? SO CUTE. Costumes? Excellent. Ancillary characters? Engaging. Yeeeah, some of the demon world-building is a little wobbly, but it's not egregious. Water Demons? SO COOL. Palace drama? Not bad! It's a solid foundation, so it really and truly is a pity that the whole thing falters in the last act and leaves a skidmark on the landing.

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The most okay series ive ever watched

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy was such a genuinely mid series its hard to write a good review on it. The bad parts balanced out with the good parts and left me feeling conflicted on whether or not I should finish it until literally the very end.

Acting: Shockingly subpar. The character writing was all over the place with some characters getting such genuinely bad writing, like the literal main character Ling Miaomiao, that no acting could save them but even then most of the main performances felt pretty weak. I literally watched the show for Yu Shuxin and felt like it was arguably her worst performance to date. Ding Yuxi was actually quite good, his character definitely allowing for more emotional range but the other main actors never stopped feeling stiff in their performance. If the entire show was actually framed like they were supposed to be acting as book characters the performances would have made more sense but they were supposed to become more human and their acting alongside that never really got better. However, I do think a bunch of the side characters had spectacular performances and really made it up for me. Gou Xiu, Lu Huai'an, and especially Luiniang's actors all had phenomenal performances.

Characters: The characters were all pretty one note outside of Mu Sheng. Like all their supposed character growth from the storyline's being changed kept happening with such little fanfare that it didn't actually feel like growth. And you had to keep being told they were changing or why what they were doing was so important to the character, it did not add any life into these people. Mu Sheng/Ziqi having all these growths and changes was literally the entire plot of the show so he was well developed but very much at the expense of everyone else. Ling Miaomiao did not escape this side-lining either. Like her character changes were never really about her, they were more about how she felt towards someone else, so you can't call that growth either. I wouldn't say I disliked any of the main characters but they were all kind of boring.

Writing/storyline: STOP PUTTING RANDOM CHILDREN AS A MAIN CHARACTER. I do not care if they were in the book stop it! Its never not annoying! Outside of that the writing was weird. The show was oddly paced and there was a lot of twists/resolutions that had absolutely no build up to them. The overreaching plot of LMM trying to complete the game was disappointingly sidelined like a bunch of times but that may just be my preferences for isekais butting in. The in-game plot of fixing the bad endings and finding the Resentful Woman was decent and well focused on, with the sideplots actually supporting it well even if they dragged a bit. I can see that they wanted to have a "everything is connected" moment in the last couple of episodes but it did not have a strong impact when you weren't given any lead-up to it. The very final twist of Fu Zhou would have been better if there was literally any foreshadowing but it wasn't a bad twist and I like happy endings so I'm not complaining about that. There was also some really poorly utilized plot points that I am guessing came from the book that they just wanted to pigeonhole in. LMM losing her memory of reality was done terribly, as the prime example. They also stopped really incorporating the "game" element of the show after the first episode. There was also weirdly good comedy in it.

Directing/Editing: Terrible editing, like distressingly bad all the time. There were so many cuts in so many scenes that did not need them, with scenes also cutting off at awkward times or starting at random places. All of the fight scenes were also super weirdly edited but that may have been the directing instead, but yeah bad fight scenes. The choreo was uninspiring and with so many cuts it was clear they were not doing anything impressive. The special effects were nothing special despite them trying to be funny about it and I think the director needs to be wacked for some of his choices. There was a scene were there was multiple lines of dialog back and forth between MS and Luinian and Luiniang was not in focus once. Visually the show was fine, nothing special but not ugly.

I realize i wrote a lot for a show I said was mid but it really did have such an odd mix of good and bad that there was a lot to comment on. Would not rewatch and kind of regret actually putting in the time to finish instead of just looking up the ending but oh well. Not the worst show I've ever seen, not even the worst I've watched this month so good for them.

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Interesting Concept

This drama was relatively enjoyable and had an interesting concept, especially for someone like me who enjoys gaming. I really appreciated the game-inspired storyline and the various missions the female lead had to complete—it added a fun and engaging layer to the plot.

The chemistry between the leads was strong for most of the series. You could genuinely feel their affection for each other, which made their interactions feel natural and heartfelt.

However, things started to slow down around episode 25. The focus shifted heavily toward reminiscing about the past, which made the pacing feel a bit dull. The ending also left me wanting more. Instead of a simple forehead kiss, a real kiss would’ve felt more satisfying given everything they’d been through. It would’ve been nice if the final scene had been extended to show them actually reuniting—talking, catching up, and sharing a proper moment together.

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Unraveling the writer's trauma through his feelings and inspiration | An overly entertaining drama.

"Be Optimistic, you hear? Young man, as long as you're alive, you'll find a reason to live on." - Lu Huai An

It's been a while since the last time I watched and reviewed an Idol drama that I find it relatively challenging now to write a commentary—as I am stuck between writing objectively (which will surely make me rant) VS Subjectively (mainly base of my experience watching this drama in a fun and carefree way).

Anyways, considering that I enjoyed this drama's silly antics and clichė storyline, I will just turn a blind eye and take this as lightly as possible by writing subjectively. =)

The trajectory of the story went by surprisingly good considering how it started in a silly and ridiculous way. One thing I wanna mention is how the "10 days protection period" greatly impacted the story as it marks the end of the Female Lead's unserious and careless attempts in completing her mission inside the game. Because if the drama continued with her always getting ressurected everytime she dies for having unlimited life span then everything would have been bland and tiring in no time.

Their adventure is the part I enjoyed the most as it showcases their natural chemistry. I think it's one of the best part of the story as it allows us to see them improve their bond and overall relationship. It's just sad that it had to come to an end because they have "gone" far astray of the original storyline (when in fact, I think they're just considering their limitations in terms of # of episodes).

I would like to praise them as well on how good they unfolded the back stories, unsolved mysteries and plot twists. Although hints were given bits by bits throughout the story, the revelation of the past events didn't fell short even once. What a remarkable execution!

CG/CGI, Color scheme and Design were all incredibly done. I am out of words on how imprresive the edits were and how unnoticeable the green screens are. + The costumes looks fantastic on the artists. I don't know what is it but Yu Su Xin always looks good on whatever she wears to the point you will also notice how beautiful what she's wearing. It must have been her positive aura that's giving her clothes the extra shining spotlight and attention.

Chemistry and Synergy - Are insanely good. A bubbly Female lead partnered with a smug and savage Male lead + gentle looking and lovely 2nd leads and additional cuteness from Cui Cui made this drama light-hearted and very easy to watch. I also just want to say that I received overflowing positivity and pure happiness watching this whole drama.

Lastly, Ending - I honestly would've rated this drama a bit lower if it wasn't for the Finale—because although I truly enjoy and appreciate almost the entire duration of the drama, I have also come to a pont where I feel like something is just being conveniently put up together with the help of "It's only a virtual game" theme/set up. So I was really glad that the Ending was able to change my overall opinion and view of this drama. Thank you for giving us profound reasons when I have prejudice of this drama being shallow and lacking actual meaning. It created a huge impact to me in providing my review score for this show.

P.S. Mu Zi Qi's officious and annoying attitude turned me off so much at first, thank god Ling Miao Maio was present to make everything light, funny and entertaining.

Story - 8.5, Story started fun yet irritating because of the Male lead then at the latter half of the story it started to feel a little rushed as it was redirected to the capital for the reason of going against the books original plot (when they could've explored to developed their team work if they pushed through). Story then stabilizs in the capital, catching its phase and unraveling the story's hidden mysteries for the climax but towards the end the story started to feel shallow and random (during that Climbing through the stairs scene) if it wasn't for them revealing the hidden meaning of the books creation, this story would have crashed on the list of dramas with the most random and unsatisfying ending.

Acting/Cast - 10, I am really satisfied with the Actors/Actresses more so with their acting performances. Let me just mention as well how happy I am with the 2nd male lead. He's such a cutie. Made the story even more heartwarming and entertaining.

Music - 10, Love the soundtracks and overall music for this drama. Timing was perfect and songs are all beautiful.

Rewatch Value - 8.0, A drama I surely will not rewatch but would still recommend to people who love the casts starred in it. All of them looks charismatic and lovely in this drama. <3

Overall - 9.0, This is one of the stories that will captivate you because of its entertaining cast and tropey scenes. The drama was fun so long as you don't pursue it critically. Ending made the story make all sense—Without it, the ending would've been its donwfall.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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Started for Esther, stayed for everything else.

I actually had no plans to watch this drama. I am not a C-Drama fan but I have slowly started to watch some Chinese dramas here and there. I really enjoyed Esther's performance in LBFAD and I needed to download something to watch for my 1 hour flight back to my hometown so I said "Okay, why not?" I had no idea that this drama would grasp my attention so quickly. I went from a one episode watch to another and another until suddenly I found myself paying for the express subscription on WeTV.

The first half of the drama was amazing. This drama introduced Ding Yuxi to me and WOW what a face and what an actor! I had never heard of him before but I was blown away by his acting especially during episode 7-8 when Miaomiao pulled his ribbon off for the first time. His eyes are filled with a thousand words and now I am a 100% fan. Esther was great as always but this role seemed to fit her like a glove. I actually think that if it was another actress that played this role, they wouldn’t have captured my love for Miaomiao as much. And guys when I tell you about the CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THEM. I was really rooting for them since the first episode.

I think what the drama was weak on was the second half of the drama. I believe it is because Miaomiao loses her memories of reality in the second half so what gave the 1st half of the drama life was suddenly taken away from us. And from a story standpoint, I understand what they were going for. But as a viewer, it did feel like suddenly the drama lost its spark for a moment. They also stopped focusing on the main couple and they’re the reason why this drama was super enjoyable in the first place. This is why I deducted a point off. Now they do bring the magic back as the series nears its end, especially the last 3 episodes but I think it felt like those moment could’ve been more stretched and fleshed out. And I deducted another half point because THEY DIDNT SHOW THEIR REUNION AT THE END LIKE WHAT THE HELL?????

Like I feel like if they did show his face in the end of the drama I would’ve given the story score st least like 9 or 9 and half but NOOOO. Anyways rant over but I really did enjoy the drama. I actually even enjoyed the last episode up until the very last moment.
I am now such a big fan of the whole cast and I hope that Esther Yu and Ding Yuxi will work on another drama in the future (and they need to make out at least once please)

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Novel meets a game

The novel and transmigration stories aren’t new in CDramas but not many are as good as this one. This was a fun, amazing watch.

The Good

The plot had a strong execution and was written well for about 95% of the drama with the exception of a couple of hiccups. Again, transmigration stories are common for CDramas but what made this one stand out was the integration of a novel into a game format and the acting. The drama had a great balance of story telling, romance and joy/fun and sadness. The characters were all interesting with our main 2 leads shining throughout. Their chemistry was just as good as it was in Moonlight. I also appreciated the production quality. The CGI, visual FX, costumes, sounds, and OSTs were all high quality and stands out from lots of 2024 dramas. Out of most CDramas in this genre, this one had a strong ending for me that wrapped up the story nicely.

The Bad

Had some throwaway episodes starting from around episode 18-26. The show took a slight downturn and had a couple of plot holes during these episodes that made it seem like they cut some scenes or just rushed some of the explanations. It made it difficult to watch especially since it was releasing an episode a day. I stuck it out for the leads.

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a great drama with a bit of a frustrating end

Honestly, I came into this drama REALLY excited, since it has everything I use to love when reading webtoons, so I felt like I found the Holy Grail when I saw this drama that was just like 70% of all the webtoons/mangas I read lol
And I’m glad to say that, despite the ending being a little frustrating and not exactly what I wanted or expected, this drama didn’t disappoint.
I loved the visual effects and the wardrobe of this show which was just on point and everything we expect when it comes to Wu Xia dramas. The soundtrack was also perfect in every moment and I even add the OST of the show to my playlist (that’s a first tbh).
Moving on, I loved the romance on this show! Both from them main couple, but also the secondary one. I loved how each couple had different struggles to deal with while trying to be together and how we get both: a friends to lovers AND an enemies to lovers here.
I’m not really a huge fan of Esther Yu, since I feel like most of her roles are too cutely for my taste, but I came to truly love her in this drama, seeing how much of a great actress she is, specially by the end, when she portrays different characters that share the same face and you can completely see the change happening between them and how none of the three are the same.
I also have a MAJOR crush on Ding Yu Xi now. The man is just… AAAAA I can’t even put it into words, but he’s just captivating and I loved every bit of him on this show.
Overall, I just want to say this is a great show and totally worth the watch, and although the end may be a bit frustrating it’s not like we, drama lovers, aren’t used to that.

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A lighthearted series with top-notch chemistry and cinematography

"When do people love the other 100%? It is not when I love you more than I love myself, but only when I truly like myself and believe in myself, that I can love you wholehearted and truly."

"Follow the wind. In this world, there are many things that we cannot control. Do your best and leave the rest to fate. Strive hard when it's time to fight for something. As for the outcome, we can only make a wish to the wind. If we make a wish to the wind, the bamboo dragonfly might fly back to us. Although many things are beyond our control, if we leave a bit to heaven, it might bring us a little surprise."

"It lies in his nature. As long as he knows where he's from and who he is, he can unify his heart and mind and eventually achieve success. That's the universal law."

I relate to these messages so much. That's why I give this series a 10 out of 10 out of enjoyment and satisfaction, although some parts are quite predictable and the ending isn't what I expected. It felt a little bit rushed. I will be so happy if they make a season 2 or a special episode. I would like to see the leads' love story in real life, as well as the happy ending for all the characters in the novel.

This is a lighthearted series with beautiful heartfelt messages, not just about romantic love, but also about human bonding and relationships as well. The best thing about romance in this series is that there is no love triangle, but there are two separate couples instead. I love both the leads' and the second leads' love stories and they all have top-notch chemistry. There are not many physical intimacy scenes between the leads but I can feel their chemistry through the screen every single time!

In my opinion, the main theme of this series is about found family and human bonding, self-love and self-discovery. We have five people that aren't related by blood but they stay together under the same roof, and consider themselves as a part of a family. The two couples are not just each other's lovers, but also each other's best friend, and soulmate .Together, their love and trust towards each other grow bigger and bigger day by day. "The Four Heroes of the Bamboo Forest" is the best found family in a Chinese drama that I've watched recently. They are an unbreakable team! And the little bamboo demon Cui Cui is freaking adorable!

Other great things of this series are its beautiful cinematography, visual effects, costumes and soundtrack music. Although it's a fantasy world, it doesn't feel fake at all. Every song touches my soul every time I listen to them throughout the series. They fit perfectly with the scenes they appear in. The characters' costumes are bright and colorful, and suit each other's personality.

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