Love in the Clouds

Must watch for those who want to fall in love again

Worth the wait! I love this drama since day one, maybe because I don't like too complicated stories. Although the story has its share of ups and downs, it never becomes overly stressful or heavy to watch. Instead, it offers a perfect balance of emotion, humor, and heartfelt moments that keep me watching continuously.

The main characters beautifully portray the depth of their love for each other. Their chemistry feels genuine and powerful, drawing the audience into every glance, every conversation, and every quiet moment they share. You can truly feel their emotions—the joy and pain—which makes their love story all the more captivating. The way their relationship develops throughout the series feels both realistic and inspiring, and although there are many cut scenes, the story isn't affected at all.

Both the male and female leads deliver exceptional performances, especially when they are acting and crying. HMH is really a fine and talented actor in any field. He is really amazing, especially when he is crying, as well as Lu Yu Xiao. Their acting is full of sincerity and emotion, making even simple scenes feel memorable. They bring life to their characters in a way that connects with the audience, making you laugh, cry, and fall in love right along with them. Their chemistry is insane!

Even though the drama is still ongoing, it already promises to be one of the most unforgettable series and couples of the year. They are perfect for each other, and hopefully they will have a new modern drama. The story, cinematography, and soundtrack perfectly complement each scene. The effects are amazing too.

Overall, this drama is a must-watch. It will make you believe in love again and leave you eagerly anticipating what happens next. Truly worth your time!

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Nicely delivered

I really got hooked to the story from ep 1. Their chemistry was top notch and their kissing scenes were fire. But ep23 introduced us to the misunderstanding which felt really inconsequential. Of course the story wouldn't move on without it, but I had hoped to be delivered better. I loved the first villain he had me boiling from anger and the shifu/father relationship had me in tears. But the second villain left me bored and I truly didn't care about his arc. Everything was so predictable, that they had the chance to kill him in ep34 but they didn't so as to have the final showdown in the last episode. Who does that? They didn't even have him detained or imprisoned. I ended up fast forwarding almost half the drama.

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A Drama I Wish I Could Watch for the First Time Again

What a masterpiece! I came for this guy from I am Nobody. Man, what a great actor he is! Also, the female lead is no exception. All of them beautifully portrayed this story, I am just filled with love. Enemies to lovers is my favourite genre and it just took me 0.1s to give a full rating, because it deserves! I just finished watching, and if there is one drama I can forget, it would be this, because I want to experience this drama again for the first time. I wish I could post pictures of my most favourite scenes, but it would be 1) ep 19 - he appears in his demonic form and she endures everything until he finishes his duty 2) When they carve their names for the first time.
Overall, a pure perfection!

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Love in the Clouds - An Epic love

This year has delivered some truly amazing Wuxia dramas, and for me, « Love in the Clouds » stands among the best, alongside « Love of the Divine Tree » and « When Destiny Brings the Demon ». It’s certainly my personal favorite!

💙 The Romance and Chemistry 💗

This drama showcases the "enemies-to-lovers" trope at its absolute finest. The story is captivating and what truly makes it stand out is the incredible chemistry between the two main leads.
Hou Ming Hao and Lu Yu Xiao are extremely talented young actors and their on screen presence is exceptional. There was no inhibition in their acting. They held nothing back, much to our delight.

An absolute feast for romantic fools like me.
Everything from the dialogues to the kisses, and especially the sensuality in their interactions, felt magical *oh the butterflies*. It's the kind of romance that makes you believe in epic love.

Beyond the powerful acting and romance, the entire production (story, cinematography and costumes) is a success.

And I can't forget the wonderful OST. Hou Ming Hao’s song « If Your World Had No Sunshine », in particular, is a true masterpiece that will stay in your head (and heart) for a long time. 🎶🎶🎶🎶

A must-watch!

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This is a sweet romance story. Problem is? I expected Sizzling hot.

That is not to say the drama isn't good. Quite the opposite, it's very nice, that's why I rated it 8/10 and not 4.
But it's like drinking water when you're expecting vodka... Where's the burn?

And NO I am not saying the story is boring or anything like that, as I said above, it's actually pretty good, very romantic and sweet. The thing is, based on the plot summary (and the trailers much later- yes I had been waiting for this for a long time and was super excited) I honestly was under the impression that this would be more of a "dark romance" kind of story. Instead this leans more toward the "fairytale" category. Again not a bad thing, but still VASTLY different, especially when you're expecting a sizzling hot romance filled with passion, mystery and love woven together with hatred. Okay maybe not hatred exactly, but.. you get the idea. In my opinion the "enemies to lovers" trope wasn't fully utilised.

This is a well made and enjoyable drama , the CGI is also really nice, and I honestly like it a lot, but I just can't help but feel disappointed. I expected a bit more.
The story slowed down its pace after the first few episodes and I found myself fast forwarding a lot.
According to the plot summary here: "...engaged in a thrilling dance of deception and attraction.", the descriptions promises a dark and thrilling romance story filled with mystery and sizzling chemistry. The drama though, despite the chemistry of the leads (which got to admit, was quite good), clearly leans towards the "sweet romance with a hint of mystery" type.

Also, I was expecting the fl to showcase more of her strength and most of all her intelligence and cunning in order to achieve her goals, especially from the beginning to middle of the story. This was a source of disappointment for me. I really wanted Ming Yi to shine more on her own, through her own power and smarts, to be ambitious. To be a bit more cunning, unapologetically striving for her goals and less childish. I wanted to see the "the cold warrior goddess who had reigned supreme for seven consecutive years" as the summary describes her, who even at her lowest point tries her best to rise again. Although Ming Yi did have some of these traits, her character setting in the drama left a lot to be desired, she was a fairy, not a goddess. She was strong but it wasn't shown as much throughout the story, she wasn't that cunning nor was she cold... at all. She was mostly pure and sweet and very childish. Yes we were told that she is smart, but in my opinion it wasn't properly showcased. I expected Ming Yi to be a bit more like Shangguan Qian (Lu Yu Xiao's character in My Journey To You), resourceful, seductive, a bit cold, ambitious and cunning to achieve her goals.

Hou Ming Hao's acting was really great, the main leads' chemistry was really really good. I especially have to mention the fl's teacher She Tian Lin portrayed by Lin Jiang Guo, because he stole the show along with 27 (fl's cat) played by Yu Yao. They were very funny and I genuinely enjoyed it every time they were on screen. Hu Yun Hao did amazing as Mu Qi Bai / Lord Hanfeng, his character was quite intriguing, he was both complex and flawed. Hu Yun Hao's portrayal of him was honestly magnificent.

One of the characters I didn't like is Fu Yue. Fist of all she is supposed to be Situ Ling's subordinate, she might love him, but the fact remains, she works for him, he is basically her boss. Thus shouldn't she have at the very least TRIED to refrain from expressing her emotions so obviously to him all the time? I understand she loves him, but she's still his subordinate she should've tried. Instead of that though, she's doing the complete opposite. This just feels off to me, based on her character's setting. Most times she's acting like she's his childhood friend or fiancée instead of his subordinate. I believe it'd be better had she been a bit more subtle about her love towards SL in the beginning and only slowly got more and more expressive about it till she "'couldn't hide it any longer"' when SL was punished by his dad. It'd be way more impactful that way.
Also She's a bit too harsh on others, especially for someone who's been through a lot, I expected her too be a bit more sympathetic to people in bad conditions (short example bellow)
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
(eg she was willing to sacrifice innocent lives in the 27 or 28th episode).

I'm still going to rate it 8.0/10 bc I did enjoy it, I just think it had even more potential. I personally expected something different, but at the end, what can we do, each has their own preferences.

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unbelievably boring flimsy story

Before anyone just handwaives away my review as "being a hater," let me say that I had been looking forward to this for SIX ENTIRE MONTHS before it started airing bc I loved Hou Minghao so much in Fangs of Fortune. My friends who are also into CDramas could not get me to shut the f*ck up about how excited I was for this for like two whole months before episodes started dropping. And I still loathed this show. Now, having just come off of Fated Hearts when I started watching this, the deck was stacked against me bc the meticulous writing for that just makes almost everything else pale in comparison, but I'm confident I still would have had a terrible time with this even if I hadn't been coming down from the high that was Fated Hearts.

The whole entire set up of this show is the Ji Bozai/"Ming Yi" (Ming Xian, how I'll be referring to her for basically the rest of this review) romance. Yes, there is a bit of plot surrounding that with the sect politics, but the undeniable center of this show is the Ji Bozai/Ming Xian romance. Ming Xian, having had to lie about her identity her whole life and to literally everyone — seemingly the only people who know the truth are her mother and her animal companion, Twenty-Seven — holds her cards close to her chest and is reluctant to be honest with anyone. It's be nice if the show dug deeper into this fact and what it means for Ming Xian as a person, but sure, fine, this makes sense given how on guard she has to be around literally everyone all the time. So she has this facade of playing the damsel in distress to get Ji Bozai's attention and win his trust. Now, it'd be one thing if Ji Bozai thought this was her true personality, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that he's aware that this is just an act so...... what the hell is he falling for? Literally all he knows about her for the first third of the show is that she's playing him and putting on this facade. Like he knows absolutely nothing about *her* and he KNOWS he is not seeing the real her.... So, again, what is he falling for? And then, again, I don't inherently have a problem with Ming Xian lying to Ji Bozai, because — while the show should be connecting these dots and not me doing it myself — it makes sense given how she grew up in Yaoguang Mountain that she would have difficulty with being honest, but once she can no longer keep up this act bc she accidentally revealed that she has spiritual veins and Twenty-Seven — known to everyone as Ming Xian's animal companion — is accompanying her (meaning she has ties to Ming Xian and Yaoguang Mountain), she then is just incessantly lying to Ji Bozai. And this leads to one of my biggest problems with the romance: Ming Xian discovers Ji Bozai's goal of avenging his shifu in like... I want to say episode 7? So she has basically completely figured him out in the first 20% of the story — she knows his background, she knows his motivations, she knows what he wants to achieve. Ji Bozai doesn't know anything about Ming Xian until he learns her real identity in the last third of the show. Why should I be rooting for this romance when it is so uneven? (Also Ji Bozai just. sucks. lmao. After seeing Twenty-Seven appear in his home, he tells Ming Xian "Right now I'd rather kill you than Mu Qibai" as if he also hadn't been lying to her and using her for his plans?????????? And then after he starts to suspect that "Ming Yi" is Ming Xian he does all these f*cking tests to prove it instead of just asking her directly. Like he straight up does a test that WOULD kill her if he had been wrong. And I'm supposed to not want to throttle him for that??????????)

And to make matters worse on that front of Ming Xian's identity being hidden, one of the main antagonists literally comes to Ji Bozai's home WITH PROOF that "Ming Yi" is Ming Xian and it takes more than a dozen episodes after this for Ji Bozai to figure out that she is actually Ming Xian??????????? Like this is just embarrassingly bad writing. He had proof!!!!!! And everyone was like "No, that's ridiculous, you have to be fabricating it" ???????????? And on the thread of bad writing!!! So said antagonist who tried to reveal Ming Xian's identity has been raising an army of something called netherbeasts and Ji Bozai uses his cultivation to contain them and so the villain then makes it look like Ji Bozai was raising the army of netherbeasts and then an episode later Ji Bozai does an uno reverse of that to prove his innocence but nope! Can't let the villain be removed from the story yet, so his underling takes the fall. It's like the writers were allergic to any forward momentum of the story until they reached the final third, because any time it looked like there was actual plot progression, they'd just immediately undo it. AND ALSO!!!!!! to defeat the netherbeast army a handful of episodes later, Ming Xian and Ji Bozai use this thing called the Heartbond Array, which irrevocably proves Ming Xian's feelings for him because they have to be in love and trust each other or it doesn't work. But then when Ming Xian tries to steal the Golden Millet Dream a couple episodes after that, Ji Bozai doesn't think to ask why she needs it. He just jumps to "Everything was a lie." Like... brother you literally just did the Heartbond Array with her like a day ago what do you meannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn????? WHAT DO YOU MEANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN?????? And then I don't even have a problem with miscommunication as a trope, but the way like 90% of the problems between Ming Xian and Ji Bozai just. wouldn't even happen if they would just! share information! or ask pertinent questions! But they keep withholding info from each other for no real reason and repeatedly choose to walk away from each other instead of actually communicating. Like the writing is just so painfully bad I cannot take itttttttttttt.

anyway PETITION FOR YU CHENG'EN TO BE A ROMANTIC LEAD!!!! He's too good at looking completely and utterly devastated and being angsty and sad and totally sells the whole "devotion no matter the cost" type. I am convinced that this story would be 100x better if the romance was Ming Xian/Situ Ling because she never had to lie to him about her identity and just the way he was willing to give up everything to save her!!! Let that be the romance and she's just playing Ji Bozai for the Golden Millet Dream and never falls for him. also we have got to admit that the writers made Situ Ling a villain bc otherwise he would be a real genuine threat to the Ming Xian/Ji Bozai romance lmao.

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And as if by magic....

I could really rip into this on a number of counts, but I think that would be unfair. Because, on its own terms and in its own genre, it’s quite good and sometimes really good. I try to resist the temptation to criticise something for what it never set out to be, and this one is clearly teenage fantasy land as far as romance and politics goes. Therefore to ask it to be sophisticated is not fair. There is a naivety about it that can get quite eye-rolling, particularly as far as the politics goes. But unlike, for instance, Alchemy of Souls, it is well directed with some good performances that help to carry you through the credibility gaps. But unfortunately there are quite a few of those…

But first the good bits. Apart from the CGI, which I’ll get to later, I loved the colour palette for the series. It was rich and saturated and provided a sumptuous backdrop for the action. This was supported by dynamic camera work that helped to focus in on the action.

Having been adapted from a book, there had been some thought put into the formation of the characters which were varied. Because of this, I was never in doubt as to who was who. In general the cast stepped up and delivered, managing to lift an at times banal and clumsy script. You know it’s not good when during the climax you are explaining backstory and the tension plummets. The ultimate villain of the piece however, was fairly cringey. The character was a good idea and Yu Cheng En tried his best, but I don’t think it will be one for his CV. The writing didn’t help him, it was laboured and repetitive. Such a character is hard to get right.

The lovers delivered in spades and there were plenty of opportunities for romantic and playful interaction. I suspect this is the basis for the high rating and if romance is your primary interest, then this is definitely worth a watch. I agree with PeachBlossomGoddess, Hou Ming Hao being drop dead gorgeous doesn’t do any harm and easily papers over any deficiencies in his acting. Lu Yu Xiao melted nicely into his arms and wasn’t too pouty petulant either. There was both chemistry and affection aplenty.

The pacing for the first thirty episodes was very good. It skipped along at a pace that managed to leap across the yawning chasms of the plot holes, giving you no time to reflect on how you nearly crashed and drowned. Unfortunately the last six episodes didn’t make it, more about that in a minute.

Now for the negatives… The basic idea was sound, but the execution of it was sadly lacking. The fantasy magic was an all purpose anti-biotic which cleared up every sort of woe. Just point your fingers and mumble some words that preferably include heart and array, throw in some agonising pain, then without exception it all gets cured. All sorts of previously unheard of miraculous spells and occurrences leap in to quickly dispense with a dilemma. It’s a sign of a badly thought through world building exercise. If the scriptwriter has no concept of how things should work and what the limitations are, then how can the audience invest credibility into it. Yes, it isn’t real, it isn’t possible, it’s fantasy, but, that doesn’t mean that the imaginative element should not have structure and reasoning behind it, rather than just be a convenient way to solve plot problems.

Those last six disastrous episodes… As I said it rips along perfectly well until that is you get to the big plot twist around episode 30. Which instead of landing with a bang, sort of flopped into existence and everything after that just fell apart and underwhelmed. There was too much plot to be adequately explained for the time available and as a consequence the chasms started swallowing chunks of storyline, so that all that was left was random happenings desperately straining to hold onto one other.

But the main reason it didn’t come up to expectations can only be laid at the door of the budget. The CGI and fight sequences were bad. Sorry but there’s no other word for it. The CGI for the qi was very basic and not well integrated into the image. It had a sameness to it that became predictable and unconvincing. The green screens were often lurid instead of subtle, with a colour palette totally out of synch with the overall feel. In a story about warriors, there is naturally an expectation of at least some decent fights. But even the finale followed the same limited point and shoot style and was so easily solved that it made a nonsense of the whole build up beforehand. As for the spinning parasols, I must admit I couldn’t suppress the laughter, you’d think that auto-twirl would have been built into the design, but obviously the props budget couldn’t stretch that far.

This one is for the romance junkies who can overlook its glaring faults.

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A pleasant , relaxing series sith sensuality and without big ambitions

It was enjoyable to watch. The couple is very charming — it was the first time I’d seen this actor, and I liked him a lot, just as much as the actress. They have perfect chemistry. The episodes are filled with sensuality — from the very beginning and in almost every episode, you can feel this atmosphere. Even though their relationship is like a roller coaster.

The tension stays until the very end (which is rare, because usually after episode twenty it disappears).

The visuals are beautiful — the landscapes! . Some scenes are even staged in a style reminiscent of computer games, clearly inspired by video games.

As for the rest of the intrigue — it’s decent... but the supporting cast is rather weak.

This is a series I would gladly rewatch, but only my favorite scenes — the romantic storyline between this couple.

Every episode has at least 10–15 minutes of pure chocolate!
I urgently need to cut out that chocolate, melt it carefully, and turn it into a separate mini-series — “100% Cocoa of Feelings and Romance” ha ha

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Steamy, emotion evoking, and hilarious

This show is absolutely binging. I finish the show I think in a start of two days and I had a swell time.

The FMC is strong, principled, has been forced to be tough her whole life but still finds a way to be soft with the MMC. I have really enjoyed this actress ‘ dramas and I must say she’s slowly making her way into my must watch!

but for me in this drama, Ji Bo Zai really takes the cake! A man that has been hurt and abandoned since childhood still shows love and care to those around him. Yes! he’s suspicious and slow to trust but he’s always giving and helping. and Gosh the way this man lovessssssssss!!! A silent but steady love that won’t allow himself to be disuaded. So many times after the discoveries my heart broke for him but still he pushed on!!!

This actor has improved so much since I watched him in back from the brink! the emotions were well depicted and hard hitting.

The visuals in this were so stunning too, very visual forward cast, even the bad guys old any round were extremely good looking. but the MMC takes the cake for me. When his hair turns white and he shows up to save the FMC, I fell out my chair!!! the effects and makeup for that scene were breath taking

This show had more skinshp than I’ve seen in while. The plot called for lots of situations where the leads had to fake close proximity, and then once the faking was over, the actual moments were so steamy!!!!

some of my fave moments without too much detail

The angry lip bite kiss after the rock carving
The delirious hot tub moment after the soul seizing
The post blood moon “call my name/ 喊我” moment. I’m telling you I screamed!!!!!!! don’t know how many times I rewatched

I enjoyed this show a lot the only thing I didn’t like was the amount of time spent on Situ Ling, think there were a few episodes towards the end where we barely saw the MMC for a full 5 minute stretch

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All Hype, No Heart: A Disappointing Watch

Love In The Clouds is the definition of “It’s good waiting for it to be great.” I was originally intrigued because many people were hyping this up to the sky. You know that feeling you get when you’re watching such a great drama? Well, unfortunately, this drama didn’t give it to me.

My main problem was the continuous lying of both the ML and FL, and there is only so many misunderstandings that a couple can go through before it becomes utterly ridiculous. This was a main portion of the drama, and most of the issues could have been solved by a simple conversation.

The plot is also not very propelling and has major flaws, and I reached a point where I just wanted this drama to end already. The screenwriting is very poor, and at times it’s confusing to understand why things occur or why characters acted the way they did. It seems very sudden and rushed.

The actors’ performance was great, however I strongly do not recommend this drama. Love in the Clouds does not really bring anything to the c-drama scene, and your time is better used watching something else.

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One of the most beautiful couple in Xian Xia

Story:
The story is a typical xianxia idol drama, all of the inhabitant in these six realm wants to be a warrior, to be the strongest then can be the hero of their own realm. But watching this drama after a drought of outstanding xianxia drama is really a fresh cool water. The plot is a little dragging for the first half, it didn't get me hooked until episode 18-20. And the emotional scenes also mostly happened after 20 episodes. However, I adore xianxia drama with sweet passionate romance and this one is not disappointed at all

Acting:
Actually I don't think all the actors acting are excellent, lack of deep emotion. But I can feel that the two main lead are all out in creating their chemistry, hence I can feel their intimacy is pure and passionate. Somehow, I like how Lu Yuxiao delivered her dialogue, she has a unique tone and dialect, like murmuring, but it makes her more cute and adorable. And in this drama, I found out Neo Hou's cry scene is beautifully touching. On the other hand, the side characters are not that impressive. The villains are not emotionally dark and the friends of the MLs also lack of sympathetic feelings despite the 'animal companion' characters.

Production:
I like it, a lot. The costumes and the hair styles are particularly different with other xianxia I've watched. It is very graceful style yet give some seductive hints. And the soundtracks are all suitable for the vibe, I specially notice the one sung by Neo Hou. Although the CGI is not remarkable, I still enjoy the scenery

Overall:
Like I said on the top, this drama is very refreshing, like an oasis for my xianxia drama craving. The romance is unforgettable, and this is the kind of xianxia that make me want to rewatch it again and again.

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