Ximmich

I saw Darren Chen playing Tang Fan in Sleuth of Ming Dinasty, and there, i don`t think was really only his fault, as they butchered and made his character a joke really compared with the one in the novel. And the make up, personality, everything make him have a much feminine vibe that he should have. Maybe he didn`t have enough freedom and a good director to push him, guide him to make the role more charismatic, but he was really dissapointing in that role. I also feel he don`t fit the period drama look as well others, he don`t have the charisma he has when he plays in modern dramas.
I did made a post about this a bit more down, but my preferences has changed a bit.

A. For YWS i think the best choices would be;
1) Zhu Yi Long- i think is the perfect choice, he is a very good actor, and he played Shen Wei, especially Ye Zun so perfectly in Guardian. He shined the most on when the character was shown as being morally gray, and at the limit of being a bad guy, he can play a bad, crazy guy type of character very well.
Someone mention Zhu Yi Long at some point, and it became my top choice. Now, he had played different type of characters, but i read his agency choices his projects and he don`t have that much freedom to chose what he wants to play in. But, he did let him play in Guardian, so who knows
I also looked at his upcoming dramas, he is busy as expected.
That`s the problem with the popular, well known actors, most of them are busy as well.
Really, the actors that has a better shot at danmei adaptations are the one that has experience, are talented at acting, but didn`t get the hand on a role that made them too big yet. Or the ones, that has freedom to chose their projects, and think the script is worth as much as refusing other roles in other dramas, to star in a danmei adaptation drama . Like how it was in the case of Zhang Zhe Han, from what i read.
2) Wang Duo. I just forget about him, silly me. I`m so relieved that someone mention it to me.
Wang Duo become my second choice after Zhu Yi Long, and i think he has more chances to get the role, as he is not that well known yet, and is not that busy. I can`t unsee him as YWS now.
I just loved, loved him in L.O.R.D movie series, he was amazing, a very good and charismatic actor, and as good as William Chen in playing convincing bad guys type of characters.
Oh, i saw he is in A league of Nobleman as a support role, and is playing a main role in General Order, i hope the casting is true. It seems he don`t really shy away from taking roles in dramas adapted from bl novels
3) Liu Xue Yi and Chen Yi- the other two choices of mine, i think they match the vibe of YWS as well as Zhu Yi Long
4) Xiao Yu Liang as you mentioned before, he has a shot if the production team wants to go for a younger cast. I think he will do a better job as YWS than SQ. I can`t imagine him as SQ really, it has to be his face and those eyes of him. But isn`t that impossible that he will be a better fit for SQ, maybe i just can`t see it at this point.
5) The others actors i will mention next aside these four, i don`t think they willl accept the role.
-Zheng Ye Cheng
-Vin Zhang- good actor, who has a bad guy vibe.
-Wang Kai
-Kevin Yan
-Yang Yang
-Qin Jun Jie

B. For Shen Qiao
- can think of Jackson Yee, but too popular.
I like Jackson Yee the most and he does seems to have a lot of freedom in chosing the projects he plays in, but i don`t think the period look he has, fit the one i imagine SQ, as well as other actors.
- Song Ji Yang is good choice too
--Xing Zhao Lin
- Bai JingTing
-Caesar Guo
For SQ really many actors can play him, as the role is not that demanding, and i don`t know is easy to imagine many actors portray this character.

Yes, second that. You given some good choice. Vengao Gao can be risky a bit, as he isn`t that of a versatile actor, and he has too much of a daddy appearance hahha. This is really a personal preference too, i almost never like him playing almost any character, he is boring and and uninteresting actor for me, but as i said personal preference.
Zhu Yi Long is a very good choice/ almost perfectly, why i didn`t think of him, probably because i didn`t think he would accept another role in a danmei adaptation, but who knows, i will be overjoyed if he will be cast as YWS. Song Ji Yang do have the right appearance, but not vibe exactly as SQ, but we will see if he has a chance for SQ role.

Yes, he is the right age, but he usually don`t have that good chemistry with almost any female leads he played until now. And i think he is too older and experienced to take this kind of role , he will bring a a hard time for the actor that will play the role of SQ, as he is too of a senior and a bit intimidating.
I don`t know, this is my impression of him.
Also, i feel he looks too old for me to be able to ship him with a male character, as a romantic interest. I would not even watch the drama, and i wll be very disappointed of him playing YWS. I do think some actors have the appearance to only play second male leads, or to play only as a costar of more old looking, mature female leads, or in platonical bromances.

An amazing chemistry don`t compensate for everything else. None of them fit YWS and SQ as good as other options out there. Only because they had good chemistry in a drama, don`t mean they will fit as well and be able to play as well as how they portrayed ZZS and WKX any other main leads in any other drama.
If you read the novel, you should know that they don`t match almost anything that the characters are like in the novel. Zhang Zhe Han appearance for me fit a bit more the vibe i get for YWS when i read the novel, but not completely, i`m sure other people will done a more good match than him in playing YWS. YWS character is not easily to be portrayed, is more demanding and hard to bring to life than WKX and ZZS.

I agree with Bai Jing Ting, his appearance fit SQ.
Gong Jun vibe and acting ability don`t make a good match for me with YWS.
I think the role of YWS would be too demanding of him.
YWS is in a more higher degree of craziness, extravagance than WKX and it should be played by an actor that has more acting experience. Also if he plays YWS, the actor that play SQ would have to look like much younger. More probably Gong Jun would have made a good fit for SQ, if he was some years younger, and has more of an kind, easy to take advance vibe.

No, they will not be the best options. If you read the novel, you would know that.
The actor who will play the character of Yan Wushi he does have to look a bit more older than the actor that will SQ , and have an up to not good vibe, extremely arrogant, confident, charismatic and to act convincing as a character who is a bit messed up. Zhang Zhe Han is a good actor, but the vibe he has, and the vibe that YWS has don't match. He won't be able to portray a character that is really bad most of the time, or pretending to be the bad guy, and being nonchalant and charismatic at the same time.
And Gong Jun has a completely different aura than Shen Qiao. Also Gong Jun height is even a bit more higher, or almost equal than Zhan Zhe Han, but YWS has a much bigger difference in height than SQ, so is the opposite, things like this do matter.
The actor that play SQ has to be give a much younger vibe than YWS, and to have looks that are more soft, innocent, easy to take advance of than Gong Jun. I don't question Gong Jun acting ability, i'm saying the appearance don't fit the role.
Just like how in Winner is King they cast actors that their appearance fit their age, vibe that the characters have in the novel, they would surely do for this as well, or the drama will not have any appeal. How it would have been, if the actors that has the main roles in Winner is King switch place with the actors from Immortality .
The way they did the cast in Winner is King is brilliant. Tan Jian Ci does look much older than Chen Zhe Yuan, but not too much, and they both make me think of Chang Geng and Guyun immediately. And in Immortality too Leo Luo o does looks older than Arthur, who with good make up he can look even more younger in some scenes.
Gong Jun and Zhe Zan were the best casting choice as well in Word of honor, this is one part of the reason the drama got popular. I read that both weren`t the first choice either, and the original actors that would have played their characters, also are a good match of WKX and ZZS from the novel, maybe they would have not have clicked as well Gong Jun and ZZH did, and get that popular as them, but they did match the characters from the novel.
Characters that are young should be played young looking people, and old one , by an actor who looks older than the younger one.
I saw that people wanted to see them play Xie Lian and Hua Cheng as well, and i was like, what the heck, how can you see them in their shoes.
I know they are lovable and popular actors who has good chemistry together, but even if they will find for them a drama to play together again in the future, the characters they will have to play have to match their appearance.
Really, i wish peple will refrain of saying something like this so easily, even i can't imagine 2 actors who are the perfect fit to play SQ and YWS. I can only hope for the best.
But one thing i do know for sure , a miscast in any drama, but especially this drama, can cut off a lot of probability for the drama to be well received. The cast play a huge role in how a drama is received.

I don`t know if you watched and liked Word of honor, is based on a Priest novel too, named Faraway wanderers, that is really good too, completely translated as well
The next drama adapted by a bl novel writed by Priest will most likely be Light the Darkness, as is started filming already, adapted from the novel Silent reading, that is completely translated too, you can check it out. If you ever start reading it, read from the website E.DANGLERS, i the only translator that has the novel translated completely.
In my case, the bl novels i read, as if i think deeply, they aren`t that many that i finished reading, as i learned from countless mistakes to be more selective to what i read, and judge based on many things before i start reading a novel, as it`s time consuming. Continuing what i said, the reason i love reading bl novels is because of the unique stories, and dinamic between the characters, that i couldn`t find in many BG (boy- girl/heterosexual) chinese novels.
In my opinion, they are too few chinese BG novels that are writed as well and charming are the most oustanding bl novels, but don`t take my opinion as valuable, as i haven`t read as many BG novels as BL novels.
They are a lot of great and very interesting, charming chinese novels that are BL.

It`s because you are asking recommendations of chinese novels similar with Sha Po Lang, in a damnei adaptation drama page, for a novel that is bl as well, so that`s why all the recommendations are bl novels, hahaha. I can`t help you more too, as i read mostly bl novels.
Priest is a popular and known author, so a lot of people who frequent the page at this point are her fans , fans who like to read bl novels or fans who watched others danmei adaptation dramas, and want to watch this drama next. Only when the drama will be closer to be released, other fans of the actors, or bromance stories, or wanting to watch a good drama, will start to come and comment more on this page. This is what i observed happening in others pages in MDL of danmei adaptations.

They aren`t many pure historical bl novels out there like Sha Po Lang, in fact, is one of a kind, you wouldn`t find any other that will give you a feeling similar with the one this novel will give you.
The best bl novels out there are like this, the ones that differentiate from the others in being unique, and amazing in is one way, it will give you a nostalgic special feeling that will linger for some time.

And also, as you start reading a certain amount of bl novels you will become more picky, and your taste of what you thought at some point in the past that is a good novel will change.
A novel that you tought is not that good or mediocre, after you experience reading some really bad or mediocre ones, you will start to realise that the one novel that you thought is bad in the past, is one of the good of the few amazing bl novels out there.

Really, as someone who read a lot of bl novels, who checked the writing of all the bl novels translated curently in NU, they are not many that has decent writing, realistical and logical story development and exciting and consistent character development of the characters.
Most of the novel translated in NU have cliche and predictable stories, violent and cruel or trash like characters, that make you beat them until they can`t stand, or mary sue characters, ones with low intelligence, dependable personality, who can`t think on their own, who don`t have any balls to defend themselves, who are too kind, naive, who will frustrate you to no end.

I saw you said you`re reading Lord Seventh, some of the Priest novels can be hard to get into, some more earlier, other more later, but really Priest writing ability is really good compared with others authors in NU.
Meng Xi Shi is the best of the best when it comes of writing historical, and cultivation bl novels in my opinion, the romance is how to put it, STINGY, hahaha, as in Priest case, but her ability to write vivid complex characters and complex and easy to imagine world building and connections between the characters is the best in my opinion, she is really good.
I read Meng Xi Shi excels more on writing historical and cultivation novels, and is not that good to modern stories, but until now she don`t have any modern novels translated, so i hope this is wrong, as really her writing ability is very good.
The novel writed by her i love the most is Thousand autumns, followed close by Peerless and Fourteenth years of Chenghua, Estranged is still new translated, so i don`t know how is it yet.

The novels i recommended before i think are worth reading more than any other historical bl novels out there, as they have a balance of everything. All of them are characterized by one of the folllowing; If for a novel the writing is not good as compared with the other authors, then the characters are much charismatic, or has a very interesting story.

The author style of writing is more important than you think, is important for the story to be to your liking, but tastes in a genre or particular theme changes.
The tought that oh, i really like the way this author wote this novel will remain, and you will always return to reread the novel that the author wrote or want to start reading other novels of that author, that you hesitated to pick because you taught is not your cup of tea.
When you find a novel that you really like, check the other novels writed by the same author, is highly likely you will like those novels as well.

In my opinon, the authors that are the best are: Priest, Meng Xi Shi, Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù (MXTX), Fei Tian Ye Xiang, Huai Shang, Tang Jiuqing, Yue Xia Die Ying, Mu Su Li.
They are some very good authors in NU who aren`t that popular, some has their name wrote in chinese as well, who has some novels writed at the level of Priest or Meng Xi Shi, but are hard to spot if you don`t have experience of reading many novels.
Even me, i sometime miss some of the good ones, and regret not reading them sooner, when i give them another chance later.

Yes, like Bluess said, i also think, from the photos, the budget it does seems to be high.
And this is a Tencent Production, usually they give high budget to their dramas, like how it did to Immortality and their donghuas too. I was amazed by Untamed too, they did spend a lot for all the different filming locations and sets, costumes, the ost especially for Untamed was very good.

I know some historical bl novels that are similar with Sha Po Lang, and similar in quality, but not all of them are completely translated, so i will clasify them in completely and incompleted translated.
A. COMPLETED TRANSLATED
- Like Lessa replied to you, Peerless by Meng Xi Shi. In my opinion MENG XI SHI, is really as good as Priest in writing historical, cultivation, sometimes a mix of them, how is in the case of Peerless and Thousand autums, so i recommend you to check all her novels, she only has 4 novels picked up to be translated until now.
- Lile Salome87 said as well, Lord Seventh by Priest and Golden Stage by Cang Wu Bin Bai
- Those Years In Quest Of Honour Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo

B. INCOMPLETED TRANSLATED YET.
- Thousand autumns by Meng Xi Shi- in NU, it has only until 69 chapters translated, but in the discussion section in Thousand autumns page, here in MDL, you can find the remaining, until the latest chapter translated,and it will be translated soon. I replied to Lassa who replied to you, just a moment ago, you can find more details in that post.
- Fourteenth years of Chenghua by Meng Xi Shi, pure historical
- To Rule in a Turbulent World (pure historical), Joyful reunion, Tianbao Fuyao Lu, Dinghai Fusheng Records (these last 3, are a mix between hist/cultivation. All four novels by Fei Tian Ye Xiang
- Qiang Jin Jiu by Tang Jiuqing
- Back To The Beginning Of Ming To Do Charity
-The Wife is First by Lu Ye Qian He- realistic story, the title is misleading
- The Mystery of Zhang Gong
- Royal Road
-Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination
-The Tyrant’s Beloved Empress- realistic story, don`t be turned off by the title
-Forensic Traversing Notes- mix of historical and forensic elements, like mystery and historical coming together.

Lessa, if you don`t know, Thousand autumns is about to be completely translated, if will not take much longer. They are some good translations out there, aside from that by Snowy codex in NU, and a new translator picked up the translation from chapter 91 to translate the novel until the end, and the translation is really fast, the last translated chapter is 99 already.
All the links where the novel can be translated can be found here, in MDL, in the Thousand autumns page, in the discussion named Thousand Autumns English Novel, in the first fixed post.
The translations are really good, not edited mtl or something like this.
Obviously the ideal for this novel, and all novels really, would have been for the novel to be translated by only one translator, as they will always be some subtle difference in quality/the words used, when they are a lot of translators working on a novel. But, there is nothing we can do in this case, as there is not any translator who is willing to translate from the start until the end, or that is planning to continue with Snowy Codex translation, so we have to conform with this.
Really, the translation for Thousand autumns started in 2017, and only now we will have a completed translation, and even there, it can`t be found in NU, as the translators who translates the novel in continuation from that of Snowy Codex has not intention to put these translations there.
I`m very pained what happened with this novel, as it`s in my top 3 of favorite bl novels.
And Meng Xi Shi is the best when it comes to writing historical and cultivation novels, alongside Priest and Fei Tian Ye Xiang, it`s really unfortunate.

If they passed on WOH, it should work for TA too, i don`t see why not. It would probably depend if the production team wants to take the risk to film scenes like this and push the limits of censorships, or go safe, and not filming them at all. But, they should film some at least, as those actions are the result of how YWS is as a character, he likes to tease others, so we should get some teasing, hahaha.

Yes. That is a bug only for this drama, someone explained about this , if you scroll down a few comments you will see the comment. We will have to wait until the countdown finish the eps, and then it will stop. I did found weird that countdown too, i don't know how it started, it don't have any connection with the airing of the drama and donghua.
The donghua has 16 eps. It's the countdown for the drama actually, as the schedule is until 48 eps, but it coincide with the airing of the donghua, but with one day earlier, a mess. The donghua is released every monday, but next week it seems it will not release an episode, as episode 9 will have the premiere in 12 april on youtube instead of 5.
They are some people that argue that they made Yan Wushi in the donghua much more flirtly and less bad than in the novel, but i don't think is that much different, is still has subtle moments when you can easily figure it out that he manipulates and take advance of Shen Qiao to prove his fucked up beliefs as much as in the novel. They only made it more hard to spot these moments, and i really like this, as it made me pay attention to everything that happens.
And Yan Wushi does teases a lot Shen Qiao at the beginning of the novel too, as to piss him off more and get an out of character reaction from him/get him to be angry, and less romantically implied as in the donghua. But in the donghua, it can also be interpreted as him being intrigued and getting satisfaction by messing with him, as he likes to tease people, and not that he likes him yet, as really Shen Qiao kind and patient nature is the best person for him to mess with. I was like, did we read the same novel.
I think they can make even three seasons of donghua being how long and complex the novel is. The donghua is really very good until now.

For this adaptation, i don't think it will be suitable for both of them, i think Zhang Zhe Han appearance fit more Yan Wushi but it's still not the best option. And, neither of them has the vibe of Shen Qiao, it has to be someone more younger in appearance and more soft, innocent , harmless looking. I think the casting for this drama will be a deal breaker for the succes of the drama, especially for Yan Wushi.
Yan Wushi character will be hard to cast, he is very complex, more complex and layered that Wen Kexing, more crazy and unpredictable And is older in the novel, with a age between 40-50 , but looks more younger, like in his 30 because of his martial arts, this is wuxia as well as WOH, so it's explained the characters ages slower. So it should be an actor in late 20 or 30 for Yan Wushi and for Shen Qiao someone in first half twenties at most, but it depends how old/young the actors look like, as some are in their 40, but looks like they are in their 20, asian genes, sigh, i want them too.

This is the case for about more than 2/3 pages of Censored adaptation of same sex original work dramas from MDL. If you click on this tag, you will see a lot of danmei adaptations that don't have a cast yet and not much information, but this don't mean it will take a long time until they will do the casting and start filming . Heaven Official's Blessings page don't have the cast decided but i'm sure they will start filming soon, as it was confirmed by the director, you never know with China. Indeed the dramas that has the cast decided already will be released more early, but let's be optimist, Thousand autumns already has the donghua, that is doing relatively well in Douban, i saw it has 8.4, and the author is Meng Xi Shi, an amazing and popular author as Priest is. It has some hype, and i really wish this adaptation to do well, after the disappointment The Sleuth of Ming Dinasty was as a danmei adaptation of her novel The fourtheenth years of Chenghua and as a drama in general, i wish the next novel adapted from her novel to do justice to the wonderful writing, and this amazing novel.
It would surely don't take many years, at most this year and maybe hopefuly it will be filmed and released until the end of next year.
From what i observed, i don't think they would have made the page this early, if it will take more years.

Those are some minor but i think significant differences in the characterization of ZZS in the novel:
1) ZZS is not described as quilty or remorseful for being a cruel and bad guy by killing the people in the time he was under Tian Chuang, but just showed as accepting and embracing the things he did, and feeling sad and a bit depressive that he had to do all that. And because of that, for not even one moment he hypocritically condemned any of the bad characters
2) ZZS is described similarly in the novel, as cold in the surface but affectionate to some degree, but that degree is very low, he don`t show his feelings almost at all, you have to spot and fish for them. He is rejecting WKX feelings for more than half of the novel, even when he is opening up to him, he consistently acts similar how he is described at the beginning of the novel, he don`t suffer major changes. It`s easy to spot when his feelings for WKX changes in the novel, by reading what he thinks, but he would not acknowledge those feelings for a long time. I liked that he didn`t suddendly shown interest, he did think properly if he should accept WKX.
Priest manages to portray ZZS as a charming and mysterious individual in the same way he is describing WKX. He is like that until the extra chapters lol, he is pretending to be cold towards WKX if he thinks he has to.
In the novel, actions are speaking louder than words, and this is the way for almost all of Priest novels.
I think they toned down the coldness and the baddass feeling ZZS gives in the novel, and they made him being in friendly terms and letting down his defenses on WKX much more early in the drama, not mention they made him treating everyone with more warm and courtesy than in the novel.
3) ZZS is also a bit more shameless in his bickering with WKX than in the drama, he gives almost equally what he is given to him, not as much as WKX too. I think only Yan Wushi from Thousand autumns is more shameless than WKX . I think WKX is at the same level with Feng Xiao from Peerless and Wei Ying from MDZS. But, this is not that much difference from the novel, as ZZS has his moments in the drama when he is subtly flirtling with WKX.
4) The novel manages to show the many sides and facets that ZZS has more clearly, he is as complex and fascinating as WKX. He is like a super badass tsundere who has seen the worst of the world, and can handle the pain and loneliness well, and who is looking for a meaning of his existence.
He is not trying to find redemption, but by chosing to do some good and compassionate acts at the right time, he manages to live and retire together with WKX.
The novel is so well writed that the ultimate fate of all the characters made sense for the choices they made and the environment they were in.
All in all, i`m really thankful to Zhang Zhe Han for the way he brought the character to life considering the way he is writed, he was brilliant in the first 6 eps, and when he is fighting . I think is because of him, i stll see a part of ZZS in him, he was brilliant in showing ZZS being conflicted, restrained or uterly indiferent, and i`m thankful that he made the warm/soft part of the character, added to the drama as not too much, just enough.
To be fair, WKX character was changed too a bit, especially when it come to also being portrayed as being remorseful and being uncertain and having doubts if he is doing the right thing, related to his revenge, and all those moments of fainting and weakness related to his having dificulties in remenbering the memories of his parents death. I was surprised that they make him feeling remorse, as it`s opposite to how is in the novel, he suffered to much to have the power and status he has, to having doubts about killing anyone who stay in his way to take his revenge. But his changes don`t last for a long time, so it don`t make that big of an impact.
In my opinion, the drama is indeed a faithful adaptation of the events that Priest describe in the novel, of the plot itself only, but because of the changes made to ZZS and some changes in the sequences of the scenes, the drama do gives a different feeling, atmosphere or mood than the novel, so i have mixed feelings about this drama being the most faithful adaptation of a novel made until now. Especially because of the slight changes made to the ending, it strays a lot more for the novel, but this, i will brush it off, as i know the novel is short, and they probably had to go around the ending of the novel and change things to make more eps. It would have been perfectly, if they would have opted for about 26 eps like A League of nobleman or 30 eps like Light the Darkness.
They were people who argue that this is the results of the changes they have to made to pass censorships and maybe they toned down ZZS character because they wanted the two male main characters personalities to have a higher contrast, and this is a valid opinion too. I`m sure they are people absolutly satisfied to what he drama turned out to be, and don`t see why other people think that the drama did not do justice to the novel as they wished.
It`s still a good adaptation of the novel, just not as faithful as it could be, as in my opinion they didn`t manage to show the essence of the novel and the coherence in the development of the relationship between the characters at the level the novel has. If i have to compare the danmei drama adaptations made until now, as a reader of bl novels for years, and who had read the novels Faraway wanderes, Guardian, MDZS and S.C.I Mistery series, in my opinion, the best adaptation are Untamed followed by S.C.I Mystery, Word of honor and Guardian. My ranking takes in consideration the overall impression the dramas made to me compared to the novels they were adapted after.

I`m one of the people who likes to at least find some of the important characteristics of the characters from the novel in the characters from the drama, and i`m delighted when a drama manage to give me something as closer as they can to the atmosphere/impression that the novel did to me.
I can only hope that the majority of novels that those dramas are based off will also get a donghua adaptation, as they manage to make the adaptations from novels much better than a drama, for exemple how MDZS, Heaven Official Blessing, Legend of Exorcism and currently Thousand autums did.
I really can`t take a drama and a novel as separate things completely, i can spot easily when some changes were necessary, or even better than the novel and accept them, but i`m against changing a character personality and habits that define him, not matter the reason, so i understand why people will not agree with me.
I`m always thinking from the perspective of what the author wanted and if drama did my favorite characters and the story justice, so keep this in mind.

How did a gave you the impression from what i wrote until now, that not grateful, i' m grateful for everything the drama give'us.
I did said before, in the first comment i wrote to the person i was talking about, that i was satisfied with almost everything, and that the scriptwriter did a great job to everything else, and i understand why she couldn't do better.
Liking a drama, don't mean i can't see when something could be better.
I did also said that the changes the scriptwriter did to ZZS were not that big, compared to other dramas.
If you read some of my comments before, i don't go out here writing repeatedly negative comments for people to see, how other people do here. I haven't commented here for a long time, and i think i will take a break again for this site again.
It`s hard to write here nowadays a honest opinion, because of this and after i saw the site becoming most abundent with the comments until i couldn`t keep up anymore, it was the reason i distanced myself from this page, and only now after i knew the end, i was sucked up again in this site.
In my case, as long as a person don`t write repeteadly about his/her opinion and stress people out, i`m upset when i see people writing about someone opinion as thinking they aren`t satisfied or why you aren`t they content with what they get, people can`t never be content not matter what they get.
Those people and me included take the time to write their comments, they put themselves out there, taking the risk for someone to react badly or in a negative way about what they wrote, they should get more than that, and at least not being treated like this, having their opinion disregarded and criticized as " those people can`t never be satisfied" or" we should feel more grateful", who said they aren`t.
This is not an okay behaviour as those people can easily hurt someone with their words, we should be more understanding. People are different, i enjoy reading a lot of people comments here, even if they`re different from mine, and i end`up even understanding why they think like that, where they comes from, if i felt their sincerity when they wrote the comment.
In the last comment i was trying to explain myself in an convincing way that changing a character personality is never good, even for a good contrast between the characters, as it can change a lot of things, in general, and how i wished the scripwriter didn`t do this at all, or at least to do only some small changes.
I was burn a lot of times seeing this, it hurts a lot more to see the main characters having their personality changed or be portrayed differently than the source material aka novel here, than a change of events or adding original content. I wasn't criticizing the scriptwriter in a bad way, it was a good criticism on how i wish she could improve and other scriptwriters won`t do this as much as they do.
I wanted to explain that i understand why some fans out there are not that happy.
I'm not happy about'it, but i don't mean i don 't love the drama and the characters at all. I still like the dramas as much as i like'it at the beginning, but i just, would love ZZS more if he was portrayed much closer to the novel.

Yes. I took that into consideration when i wrote you before, but in my case, it was because WKX and ZZS were more similar in the novel, that i liked their dynamic that much.
It was the scriptwriter decision after all, and maybe the drama wouldn't have grabed this much attention if the characters were writed more similar, but she shouldn't have at least changed one character this much, in this case ZZS and let the other be almost the same as in the novel. I wish the scriptwriters will take much more risk in making the characters as closer to the novel as they can, maybe this will work better than changing one of them to have a contrast.
Two characters can be similar but have different way to be portrayed, the characters had different past and experience, they aren`t the same, the actors in this drama has a lot of experience to pull off almost everything.
I can accept a lot of changes to the story, from adding, not adapting scenes, but not to the personality of a character. If you change someone personality, you change the dynamic between the couple too. If the changes are a lot, you will not longer feel is the same character from the novel, and feel what did they even bother to adapt the novel, if they changed how a main character is.
For exemple, ZZS character was not a lot changed as he still acted at the character from the novel similarly in some eps.
But if, let`s say, a character who is portrayed as really being bad by the author in most of the novel, who don't feels guilty towards any bad stuffs he does, this is what it defines him, the perfect exemple is Yan Wushi from TA. So if him is writed as being quilty at some point, the scriptwriter may as well change his name or writed him completely differently, as that lack of remorse is what it defines him , this is the essential thing that make him charming in the eyes of the fans of the novel and this is why he is so charming.
For exemple, now that i remember, the way ZZS was writed in the first 9 eps, and especially the first 6 eps were as closer to the novel as he could be, after i felt a rapid change in his behaviour in the next eps, and that change was not that smooth made. I also think the first 9-10 eps are the reason the characters charmed the viewers so quickly, and the drama attracted so many viewers so quickly, the scriptwriter should have more small, short term changes to him after those eps.
Another exemple of what damage changing a character personality can do to a drama as well , because as a danmei adaptation it didn`t grabed any attention and didn`t make any impact as well, is Tang Fan, from the drama The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, based on a novel from Meng Xi Shi.
They changed his character to the point it was a caricature to the one from the novel, lol, they made a perfectly smart, intuitive, confident man, for him to be more funny, more comedic because, just because, and more importantly made him be much more feminine and defenseless that the counterpart from the novel. I love Meng Xi Shi novels, much more than Priest, but i couldn`t watch more than two episodes for this drama.

Yes, i agree with this. I`m a huge fan of the novel, and while i was satisfied with the drama as a whole, it`a a very good drama, the best danmei adaptation until now for me.
But i have no way to like this version of ZZS as much as i like the one in the novel. The scriptwriter writed ZZS too soft hearted, easy to give in, too powerless and have to relay on people a lot more compared to how is in the novel. But the most important thing that bothers me beside losing a lot of that mysterious, cold impresson he gives in the novel, is that the scriptwriter change him to be too righteous.
In the novel, it didn`t exist any moment where ZZS is trying to convince WKX to give up on his revenge, or convince him he is not a bad person, and that he should try to think more before he does something bad.
In the novel, Priest presented them both as gray characters morally, they both knew they did bad stuff, so they didn`t expect the other to be any less and more than they are.
But, after i read that this was the scriptwriter first work, and she admited herself that she is sorry she couldn`t writed him better, i appreciate more what he has managed to do, she did a very good job for everything else. And i also know what she managed to write and wanted to write and managed to be adapted depends a lot of the censorship, she was limited by this too, and she had to think of this too and take onto consideration when she wrote the character.

Yes, even me after i read the comment i tought of Untamed, and i`m not a huge fan of Untamed. I`m sure it will look as plagiarism , not matter how you look at it.