Chibi

I keep swinging between an 'unconscious manipulator' and a 'damaged boy with commitment issues'. If he was indeed doing it consciously, with every move calculated and deriving some sadistic pleasure along the way, he would be a sociopath. But like you said, the candid, solo moments rule out that possibility.
I keep wanting to box him under a specific label, but I can't come up something accurate, because the writers keep confusing us. A player wouldn't waste his time on a girl who keeps giving him mixed signals.
I think at this point, he's as (unhealthily) obsessed with her as she is with him, and it has nothing to do with his character being a player. I think the toxic part isn't supposed to be either of their regular dating styles (commitment versus flings); rather it's how they relate to each other, what they do to each other, and how instead of accepting their incompatibility, they keep engaging in questionable/ problematic behaviors and actions around each other.

I meant the age comment, wrt how time goes by so fast!! ;) also, istg, he looks not a day older than 27 :D agree, with everything else you said about him though!

Amen :D

It's unfair how somebody can be THIS talented, THIS good-looking and still, THIS humble. <3

I think memories of youth must be romanticized. There is a certain fond-nostalgia and wistfulness towards being reckless and wearing your heart on your sleeves... till the day life forces you to grow up. Agh..... wonder why this causes a very familiar ache in my heart :/ Also, legit 80's songs >>>> indie songs trying to sound like they belong to the 80's. [sorry, that's just the millennial in me] :P

Eh, personally I'm not very strict like c-netz in their idea of what makes 'beautiful and goddess-like' so I quite like her in the role! I wish she was styled better though, but that goes for the whole cast. :)

If you wish to watch for the plot, I'd suggest skip it. Because it's like they took some of the famous xianxia plot-points from each of TMOPB, AoL, L&D, JoF, and L&R, threw them in a hat, pulled them out randomly, and chucked them randomly into ALP, most of which doesn't make sense. Maybe they never made sense initially too, but back then it was fresh, and now I'm immune to these trademark tropes.
Personally, I have only seen the first episode fully, and then moved onto a bilibili supercut, because I knew where it was going and didn't want to miss out on the CGI. The CGI is STUNNING, istg. They got the ENTIRE tencent animation team to work (slave-off) for this drama, and the hard-work and talent very obviously shows. Also, I somehow can't take Xu Kai seriously in this role, but I can stare at his face all day. What a dilemma. :(

Yu Zheng is drama producer/ director who used to have a lot of say in the industry. He makes all these 'fake artsy' dramas, where he promotes them as being better than the rest, and more 'true to the art of film-making'. Except he is a snob, over-works talents under him, and is very nepotistic with them. You might recognize him as the main-guy for Yanxi Palace, Court Lady, and more recently: Ancient Love Poetry. He's also a misogynistic plagiarizing liar, who recently got banned from having any of his projects aired. But then he relied on some insider connection and collective-amnesia from goldfish-brained public to make a comeback. Serves him right though, because he pretends like he's better than the rest, while genuinely talented filmmakers secretly laugh at him xD

Otherwise she'll just come across as some random hormonal & conflicted teen like Bella Swan, lmao! xD

Does anybody feel like the opening credits look like a homemade movie shot on a hand-cam and is been shown to us on a slide projector??? The indie sounds of the opening track plus the analog-camera filter really reinforces that vibe.
Additionally, the narrative sequence of the first two episodes [the prologue, the introduction to the MCs, etc] and the sound mixing/ editing makes me think they were intentionally going for an 'extended indie-film' concept. If it wasn't for the Phantom Violet Galaxy S21 that NaBi uses, I'd have said all the events we see now, are in the past. Sometimes, even her narration seems like she's talking about her past.

I wish they did a more minimal-design on him, like those fine-line or single-line ones.
It looks like the free tattoos we'd get in bags of chips, as kids xD

Now it's all a joke: maybe the prod-team got hold of the big-3 singers only because they know the drama is trash, and the good OSTs can be the only saviour. LOOOOOOl xD Can you imagine, the OSTs being the only good thing in your drama. Hahaha, Yu Zheng got kimchi-slapped by karma :3

Oh, 100 on everything you said :) Maybe he does unconsciously develop crushes on girls he's sleeping with, while not desiring a relationship, and thus, somehow leads them on and gives them the wrong idea. Once things take a turn for the bad, he makes the girls feel they were delusional to begin with. And proceeds to call them 'obsessed and clingy'. :O
I really think that's his jam!... :O :O

There is so much that happens off-camera, it leaves me wildly confused on what I think of JE. One minute, everything seems pre-calculated and manufactured.... from his persona to his actions. The next minute, there seems to be a part of him that genuinely cares but has actual commitment issues! Who knows? I've firmly placed my feet on each side of both the camps. Never has any drama-character made me change my opinions on the ML by 180, and SO frequently at that >_< Unless, we get solid answers from the writers, I'm gonna talk from both ends, lol xD

It is confirmed, she's officially on the team for the adapted screenplay. She would also likely be a part of the 'acting and musical boot-camp' for the young cast :)

The essence of the story? The acting was bad. All the emotional complexity of young 20 y/o somethings was dialed down quite a bit. And then they went ahead and changed all the actors for the sequel :/

Wow, what an incredibly inspiring journey. I recognized him as a cute-bean, but didn't know he's been through SO much. Look at him now.... there are literally 3 singers who every 'reputable, high-budget' drama productions are chasing these days, one of whom IS Liu Yu Ning! <3 (the other two being zhou shen and mao buyi)... it's like the drama is feared to flop if these guys don't lend their voices to the OSTs. SOOO happy for him, he deserves the BEST!!!... top 3 OST-singer in c-drama land is NO joke, the other two being industry-veterans :)
Wishing him all the success and happiness in the world! Jai-you~~

Her studio-apartment magically has two bathrooms, so while Jae-Won showered, she freshened up :)

I'm begging to the drama-gods they don't f*ck up the chinese-remake of it. Luckily we still get a 30-ep drama, so there is more meat in the story compared to the tragically bad movies :(

You really have to give the writers credit for writing her monologues. She seems layered enough to the point of wanting to believe she's a real person, her feelings, dilemmas and contemplation all very valid and legitimate. Of course, the acting helps too. :)
Good actors cannot redeem badly-written or inconsistent characters, but even slightly-green actors can sell you very well-written characters. [In this case SK, who's a little green in the romance genre, but is selling me Jae-Won and making me feel all the things the writers want me to feel about him, as the audience!]