Kill to Love

Wonderful watch!

This Drama...........


Imagine, you are watching a drama with 80 ep, with a lot of plot setting but when you watch it, you also skim/ skip through some scenes and forward to view just enough plot and your favorite characters and their chemistry/ dynamic, and you search the depth of youtube to find someone to edit just the right portions of the plot and the chemistry.
THIS DRAMA IS THAT EDIT.

When I write the above summary I mean it in the most appealing way.. this drama has wonderful chemistry, I respect the fact that the actors were portraying it with sincerity. All the actors did justice to the role that was written, especially the two main characters. The dialogue delivery, the shouting, anger, whispering, all at the right time..and tears with the right expression..awesome.

( Especially liked Duan Zi Ang's silhouette in the king's robe.. (ep 9, when he holds Shu he's chin), although not a pleasant scene but the still image of that scene just gives the feeling of a painting.)

With that being said, I want to commend the screenplay writer, a job well done for the amount of time this show was. Especially to portray the chemistry between the two leads. It was beautiful, and that beautiful chemistry, which was on paper, was justified by the actors.

The Cinematography.. Amazing.

The costume.... Beautiful and regal, well done costume designers.

The scenes.. for 95% of the part, with the amount of resources they had, they made the most of it. Because you would not go out of your way to nit pick much as the scenes are shot at a close proximity, but not without a reason..

The bgm..amazing, especially ep 6 (if you watched it, you know), hope they release it or if someone knows it share a link yo!

Its not a toxic love story more so it feel like a misunderstanding/ miscommunication or rather missing the right time to say what they wanted to , honestly, its too romantic in a sense that the characters do realize what they want/ desire (but they just are unable to maneuver their way toward it.), they understand how the other feels and empathize with them.

It could be considered as during the historical time when your own thoughts and actions didn't have much freedom, the characters are in one way or another still realizing the difference between what they can/ could have what choices they have to make, what are the things/ people/ relations they have to compromise, and so on..

I was scared to watch the final scene, and thought that it would be too sad..but honestly it was the type of ending that was fitting and makes you feel sad but that sadness would wash away when you see the last scene... tying all loose ends, their smiles were free from all worldly ties and just a genuine happiness and feeling for the other.

Overall a drama that was a wonderful watch!

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doomed romance masterpiece

God I just don't know where to begin with this. Probably about to be a long and slightly scatter-brained review.

I wish the show had the budget it deserved so it could have more episodes and the plot would be given more time to breathe because everything happened so insanely fast, but the story behind this is so solid. Xiao Shuhe and Duan Zi'ang became friends as children but circumstances separated them shortly after they formed their bond. They meet again years later after Duan Zi'ang has been manipulated by an assassin organization to be their weapon against Xiao Shuhe's family and he's given the mission to kill Xiao Shuhe's brother, Xiao Shuqian. Then begins a game of manipulation. Xiao Shuhe realizes Duan Zi'ang is the assassin who tried to kill his brother almost immediately but due to the fact of their shared history and a plot of his own to ensnare the palace official who has corrupted his brother, Xiao Shuhe allows Duan Zi'ang to stay in his residence. As the two of them spend time together, they start to fall deeply in love and decide to abandon their revenge plans, and as Xiao Shuhe's relationship with his brother becomes more and more strained and his life comes under threat, the two of them can no longer deny these feelings. Then Duan Zi'ang makes a choice to save Xiao Shuhe's life -- an action that Xiao Shuhe had previously warned him would be unforgiveable if he took it -- that shatters their romance. While there's resentment and anger and hurt between them, the love never went away. Duan Zi'ang desperately tries to cling to the past, becoming a monster that even rivals Xiao Shuqian, while Xiao Shuhe becomes a shadow of his former self as he's lost everything he held dear due to that one action Duan Zi'ang took.

MAJOR props to Zhang Zhexu and Mi Jin for the way they portrayed these characters. There are so many moments in the second half of the show that basically left me breathless because of their talent in bringing this story to life. I can't even begin to imagine how grueling it must have been to perform some of those downright devastating scenes. And we also have to give huuuuuuuuge props to Li Yixiang, who portrayed the beloved Shen Song in his first time acting and is also one of the script writers who gave us this beautiful show.

Also as a lover of horny media, I have to say the first half of this show is one of the most erotically charged pieces of media I've ever seen. The sexual tension was insane every time Xiao Shuhe and Duan Zi'ang interacted prior to their first kiss, and while that energy was less frequent in the second half due to the circumstances of their situation after Duan Zi'ang's "betrayal," there are multiple moments where the sexual tension is still palpable, even when Xiao Shuhe has every reason to hate Duan Zi'ang. I feel the need to discuss the sensuality of this show because I feel like A LOT of erotic media tends to include scenes of dubious consent or straight up non-con and depicting it in an erotic way [stares at Revenged Love and Desire]. So any media that has an erotic atmosphere but doesn't try to gaslight me into finding assault desireable is already revolutionary in my book. In addition to that, there is also a beautiful scene of a wedding ceremony which just the visual of that alone is revolutionary and it means so much to me as a lesbian to be reminded that we have always existed.

I do have a few gripes with the show though so I can't give it a full 10/10 - the fact that the only women in this entire show are unnamed maids who show up for a couple minutes and a Ji Bei princess who is given a name but doesn't even get the chance to speak; the abuse apologia of trying to make Xiao Shuqian seem less bad when he gives Huo Ying the antidote to the poison when he's dying, as if that makes up for the fact that he poisoned Huo Ying in the first place or how horrifically Xiao Shuqian treated him for the previous 7 episodes (or how abusive he was to Xiao Shuhe!); some plotlines feeling very incomplete (Gu Yuanshan never has to face justice for his responsibility in getting multiple people close to Duan Zi'ang and Xiao Shuhe killed and he just fully disappears after Xiao Shuqian dies, Duan Huaiyi's very odd behavior and the fact that his reunion with Duan Zi'ang happened through the assassin organization which seemed to be setting him up as an antagonist for Duan Zi'ang but it just goes nowhere); the (very likely) AI usage in episode 9 given the very limited budget the show had; and honestly the final scene felt like pure wish fulfillment as it contradicts the scene that came just before it. But overall what a beautiful and epic tragedy. Xiao Shuhe I love you sooooo much.

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everything for love ???

First off, I really loved it. The story had the potential to be absolutely amazing, but considering China’s budget and production limits, what they delivered was still impressive. The show starts off a bit slow, but it picks up and gets really engaging, so don’t skip the first few episodes! 🤲🏽

If you’re into dark romance, this is definitely for you [and even I, who usually don’t go for it, ended up loving it 😭].

I can’t stop feeling for Zi ang.
all his efforts— everything he sacrificed for shuo he because of love.
He killed his own father to become king, just to make sure shuo he would never face opposition or harm. Even knowing shuo he would hate him, he killed his brother to keep him safe. When he ignored his letters and returned the dagger, he invaded his country, captured him, and brought him to his own land so he wouldn’t be alone. He built a mansion like his own in Nanhui just for him. He chained him so he couldn’t escape. Even with the entire court against him, he stood up to protect him. He even protected him from his own people. And the result?

From shuo he perspective, it’s heartbreaking. Guilt haunted him every single day for five years. he blamed himself for his brother’s death. She hated himself for still loving zi ang, the man who attacked his country, killed his brother, and caused so many deaths. Yet at the same time, he resented him. He had captured him, humiliated him as king of a ruined kingdom, and her own weakness left his feeling pain, anger, and grief.

“-Why did you save me?
+Should I have let you die in front of me?
-Now that you saved me… what? You captured me! What am I to you—a boy toy?”

My heart breaks for him here. shuo he never wanted the throne; he loved art, music, and wine. And suddenly, he was forced from princess to king, because of zi ang. he always thought he should have died that night. In the end, he chose to end his life to free himself from the guilt and burden he carried, and even lied about his death to zi ang, as a way to make up for all the suffering he endured.

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The ending came too quick so the story end in a weird way.

The story is interesting, a bit complex and confusing sometimes, but still good. The only thing I really dislike was the ending. I feel like they initially created 15 episodes and thinks that’s too long so they simply cut the 3 episodes before the last one and didn’t adapt the story to 12 episodes so the ending is actually good but came too quick. The relationship between all the characters switched too quickly and didn’t feel natural when considering what happened before and how much time pass. Because of that I personally was completely disconnected and not invested in the last episode.

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Was it good to watch..?

My thoughts
About china producing bl drama
1. Chinese drama never disappoint with their production, especially when it comes to historical drama. Even when creating a non main stream genre which is also censored like bl, they gave their utmost sincerity.
2. When other country which mainly focuses on bl series, cuts down the production cost for the bl series, china, who put ban on bl is producing the best bl ancient drama in history.
3. As a person who has been a bl fan even before when the bl genre is main stream. I have watched hundreds of bl drama, thousands of bl novels and manhwas. In which my most fav stories came from china. And so, seeing china produce high end bl gave me extreme happiness
4. As a person who is a deep fan of bl, I watched bl with many tag, and if you are not just a new bl fan or just a bl watcher then you must have read many omegaverse aka abo drama, which even western, thai or any other bl industry hesitate to use was finally used by c bl industry which was extremely perfect.
5. As a person who watched many bl from thai, japanese, koreans, indonasian, Taiwan, western countries. But the satisfaction and affection I felt for those few chinese bl ( in which they turned many into bromance), made them rank no.1 even though thai have most drama and Japan came up with best story and korea have the most varieties.
(PS: I wish china put down their hatred towards bl industry and become more open minded, that those good bl writers from china can finally come in front line.)

About this drama.
1. As I said before an amazing story, good production, exceptional music, talented cast, beautiful costumes even the anime scene were top notch. Usually I always have some part I will point out as disappointed but here nahh.. in every aspects it was perfect. Though may be I will compain about not having 45min of series with 54 episodes.Even if don't have that much scenes still their wasn't any slow pacing of fast pacing in the series. It told the story perfectly in the few minutes.
2. Even when they showed trailer I never expected this much chemistry from the actor and the way portray emotions were the best, especially the top. He pulled of both as green flag and red flag exceptionally well. We can see from his face that how much he adore his love. Which once again proved to me that an best cast can bring the series to a new level. And to be a. Best cats they don't have to be the famous once too... This drama gave the backend actors a chance to be on mainstream.
3. And also when most of dramas in all genre will either drag on with main charector background story or will cut down the story soo much that we will get confused about the whole thing like "wait, what happened exactly". Here they gave perfect portray about both the casts background story without adding extra seasoning nor was it pale. Even the way villain manipulate the whole things between the royal brother was done extremely well.

About the story (extreme spoiler)
MC Top
An assasin from enemy kingdom enters the palace to kil the crown prince who actually killed the assassin's adoptive family. On the way of his escape, he meets the sixth prince who is extremely kind and didn't knew any martial arts and he forces the prince to lie to the pursuing guards by putting knife on the him. Between the conversation, he realised the prince was his childhood friend. And leave becuz of not getting an order to kill the prince just yet. And prince also allows him to escape just because of his kindness of not harming him but giving him his token.
Later in order to find his brother from adoptive family and to take his revenge he approached the sixth prince who is known for his kindness. Then he realises that sixth prince innocents and slowly become close to the prince and finally falls in love with him. And he takes the prince dream as his and dreamed to live an ordinary life with the prince after escaping from the royal turmoils after finding his brother. For that dream he was ready to sacrifice everything including his martial arts and revenge. Later he found his brother with the help of the prince and was ready to escape together.
But the fate had different thoughts. He realised his identity as an enemy kingdoms prince. And before he could confront it truthfully with the prince the unexpected rebel news interrupt their conversation. And he realises that his beloved is going to sacrifice his life for the kingdom and for his brother the crown prince who was also the rebel leader. In order to protect his loved one, he kills the crown prince even though he knew it can make sixth prince hate him because for sixth prince even his family is against him he loved them especially his elder brother who he always looked up on. But in order to protect his loved one he killed the prince. Which in return worsen his relationship with sixth prince who realised his identity as a enemy prince and he was send away by the sixth prince who hoped they should never meet again. And so he was forced to return to his country.
There he took on his role as prince and tried to contact the sixth prince who now become the emperor. He realises for him to get closer to his beloved he need power and become the emperor by killing his own father. Then he began to conquer the continent only to get his loved one. He even begged his beloved to give him a chance to meet but the reply of his complete rejection angers him and he decided to conquer the country of his beloved and took the prince back to his own country. He succeeded in it. But it caused the prince to hate him more.
He tried everything including threat to make the prince submit. And it cracked their relationship more and more. And his worsening health made the situation more complicated. Even against everyone, for the prince to stay with him, he even sends away the war prisoners.
Even though he knew very well that the sudden closeness of the prince is with no good intentions, he played along only for his love and forgiveness becuz he felt extreme guilty about his actions which he though will protect the prince and his dream of ordinary life but in fact the result was exact opposite. He tried to make amends even with his body which is slowly dieing. (Till ep 10)

MC Bottom
As a sixth prince of the country he never wanted the power/throne. His only wish was to clear his relation with his family and leave the royal family to live and ordinary life.
He didn't wanted to fight with his brother who suspected him becuz of the intentional misunderstanding created by the cunning ministers. He didn't want to take revenge on his family who killed his mother and maternal family for power. He only want a ordinary life and planned to escape the palace even it means to fake death or becoming a monk. But all his years of planning to escape got crushed when he met the assasin who tried to kill his brother. When he met the same assassin in the temple who exposed his identity as his childhood friend who saved him once , he took him in, even though he knew this was the same person who was the assassin who tried to kill his brother. Initially, he was suspicious about him and wanted to use him for stabilizing his escape plan but their developing relationships made him change his mind. He even postponed his escape plan so he can protect this friend. He later exposed the persons previous identity as an assassin and forgive him and gave him chance after confirming that he will leave after finding his brother.
Later their relationship as a friend become more than just friend. And he too fell for his friend. He hoped to escape here with his lover after finding the brother of his loved one. He succeeded in finding the brother and was ready to escape.
But his plan got destroyed by his beloved brother who rebelled against the kingdom and killed his father emperor. He was also ready to sacrifice his life so his brother can took the throne. He still hoped to meet the brother who cared about him since childhood and understood him the most. Even when his brother destroyed his hands which only used to play and paint he still didn't have any grudge against his brother who unjustly did everything. But the moment he realised his brother killed his father he knew that their is no going back and he want to die that day. But his lover came between and killed his brother in front of him. And knowing the real identity of the lover made him lose all the trust in his lover. In the end even though he could hill his lover for the betrayal. He let him escape and hoped to never meet again. He then took the position of the emperor unwillingly.
But later he heard his beloved becoming the emperor and beloved that he also become a cruel and ruthless person for power and their enmity increased. When he realised that the enemy kingdom attacked them and their kingdom is going to merge too, he wanted to sacrifice his life but was stopped by his lover who later took him back to the enemy kingdom. There he hated the emperor more and more. Then he begged the emperor for the release of his people from the prison. And he confront the lover about the current situation which was against all his dream which was actually crushed by the person he loved, which made the lover feel extremely guilty. And was surprised to find that later the emperor realised all the prisoner for his forgiveness, which can even put his throne in danger. Later he realises the sacrifice that person done for him and also realises his deep love. Even so he wasn't ready to forgive him for killing his family and destroying his kingdom. He wanted to get closer to the emperor to escape and take revenge. But the process of getting close made him more confused about his feelings and resolutions. (Till ep 10)

Conclusion
This story is about two princes who fell in love with each other. They wanted to live an ordinary life but the fate made them enemy of life. The plots tells their who struggles between love and hate. To tell the truth this is a typical story that we usually see in historical dramas. But seeing a bl version of the story with extremely good budget is another story. So, I watched the series even though I know, highly likely there won't be an happy ending. However much I think nahh.. 90% it's gonna be a sad ending where both of them are going to die. But I hope that 10% chance of happy ending can create a better ending for the series like the younger brother taking the throne and they escape from the kingdoms and live an ordinary life even by faking their death. The chance of this happening is very low by thinking their enmity came to a point where there is no going back and if they bring that ending then all those war and deaths become useless. And it will cause a disappointed towards MC Bottom who indirectly caused the destruction of his country and forgave the destroyer. And other ending which I hope to happen is them being reborn in the modern era and meeting again and starting a new love story. This is the ending I hope to happen but the chance is still low becuz it's chinese drama, where they won't create such a plot only for an happy ending. And so I don't have any hope for an happy ending, I just hope that the ending won't be rushed or unfinished.

All bl fans, watch it. It's good to watch a bl story produced by china. And seeing the real background of noval is showed truthfully in the the series makes me happy. I hope they produce more shows like this...

I completed watching (12 eps)
Should I be happy that how good my instict is or should I sad for how right I was.. whatever it was good and sad ..v

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Good storyline

I like the acting,the costumes and the storyline. The 8'th episode is the best one so far,in my opinion. I'm excited to see how the story unfolds. The narrative intertwines a tender romance with a broader struggle for power. The characters don’t just fight for love—they fight for their ideals.

As an bl romance at the center of a wuxia-historical drama, Kill to Love brings rare representation to the genre, treating its central relationship with depth and respect.With only 12 episodes, the pacing remains focused, delivering dramatic arcs that feel both concise and resonant.

Some viewers may find the rapid narrative—especially the climactic, emotionally charged reunion—overshadowing character development in early episodes.
If you're not a fan of court intrigue or wuxia elements, the layers of political maneuvering might feel dense.

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