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Why does this have a page here? It's a US production and it's an animation... (I'm not being polemic, I'm just honestly asking).

I soooooo hope they'll screen it at the asian cinema festival that I attend every year in Italy, watching it on big screen is going to be amazing!

Thanks! I'm actually a pretty nerd gamer myself, and since quite some decades already XD
So I find myself at ease with the "gaming" context, the proops, the npcs and so on... but I wasn't clear on the "setting" VS "door number" part... ie, is every D1 for every player always the snowy village? But since there are several "newcomers" in LingLing's higher-numbered doors I guessed the door number has some "set difficulty level" but then the actual scenario inside of it might change.

Like if you play an arena game and the maps and scenarios can randomly change inside a match, but the difficulty level will stay the one you chose

I'm very curious about the novel too! but i have way too many books on the "to read list" so I think this might not make it. XD

Thank you, your explanations are always very helpful! <3

Not the best, but not the worst either - actors are doing fine (but are not memorable) and artistic department is ok.

I would say, if you are looking for a great wuxia then look somewhere else! XD
But, if you miss this worldbuilding it's a nice story - just don't expect the epic greatness of the main three series.

There is no need to be offensive towards other watchers.
If you don't like it, just don't watch it - easy peasy.

And btw, already a few episodes into this minidrama we are made to understand (and later even directly told) that the sword wasn't broken and it was all a set up. So, it was enough to be patient to see where the story was going.

That's the same thing I was speculating too - something like: you enter the Door number X and inside you might find, say, ten different types of scenario... like when you do an arena game and the difficulty is set but the scenario is randomic.

What episode are you at?

yeeeeeeeees i've seen it, looks very cool! i loved series with a similar theme already (like "dear doctor i'm coming for soul"), but this one look darker and more fantasy-oriented!

I'm binging this and I'm on ep23 rn and liking it a lot - not my type of drama usually, but the plot is very intriguing and the leads are a pleasure to watch!

there is one thing I don't understand tho': there are 12 doors lined up for difficulty level, and inside every door they meet different people who are either newbies or more experienced players who accompany other players. But how come there are people inside, let's say, the 3rd or 4th or 5th door who are unexperienced? do the "themes" of the doors come up randomly every time, so the progression of the doors is not really fixed?

Reminds me of "dear doctor, I'm coming for soul".... just a bit darker

A very, very good series!

Unfortunately in the last few episodes they basically turned stupid due to script reasons, and I agree with those saying that the second couple could have been avoided (I would have smashed doc's head in the last episode, in the hospital scene!?!)... instead, I would have preferred more backstory from the two mains AND even for King who, in the end, was a very well-built character.

Loved PavelPooh, it was my first time watching them onscreen but they have amazing chemistry, I'll follow them for sure in their other projects!

....and, there's Title too! I love him, he can pull off any kind of role! <3

This might be my favourite JoongDunk series up to now, even with all its imperfections... but the boys dynamics are such a pleasure to watch, they look so natural!

I keep hating the audio editing tho'... and sometimes the music just doesn't fit the scenes or it's too high with no reason, which seems absurd to me because there's no way you don't notice the voices volume levels are not balanced when you do a check rewatch. :/

I SO agree on the Sing part! I was just thinking the same thing... because there is no way he's one of the first names in the "starring cast" list and he just had 30 seconds appearance in the first episode!

I just went back to TBOY to watch some of Xiao Se epic moments and.... and nothing, I just love this drama, fullstop.
And I must admit the worldbuilding also helps a lot, everyone is so "rich" in terms of back stories, origins, dynamics, motivation... can't wait for S2. <3

If you're looking for "the same universe", a mini drama is out now (just released ep10 of 24) but as of now it's not really on par, quality wise, with TBOY, DY and BR....
There are also the donghua for all these series, if you like animation too!

For similar vibes and topics but different "world setting", I would recommend:
-- Fangs of Fortune (brotherhood, friendship, action, intrigues... and amazing aesthetics)
-- Mysterious Lotus Casebook (great hero living in disguise, brotherhood, investigation)
-- Guardians of the Dafeng (way more ML centric but great action, fun and worldbuilding)
-- Sword Snow Stride (haven't finished watching yet but great and addictive story!)

Yes exactly, TBOY ended with them leaving for their adventures so we can assume they're still "out there wandering" when this spinoff takes place.

Thanks! <3

Thanks! "the elusive prince" in the literal sense that he cannot be found?

This means Xiao Se is still out there travelling the world with his brother in arms while this spinoff takes place (in fact in later episodes they nominate directly Xiao Se and somewhere along the way they say that they're looking both for the sword AND for the prince)

As of now (ep10) this spinoff ain't the best but ain't the worst either - it seems set about 15 years after Xiao Se/ChuHe used the TianZhen sword (in the epic ep39 of TBOY original series)... the main problem is that some context or introduction is missing so it kinda feels empty, and also the actual storytelling is not the best, some event sequences just don't make sense.

The main leads in this are ok (but I've seen way better in other recent minidramas) and honestly when I heard the main theme I had a huge surge of nostalgia I was so hyped...! But given the screentime it's hard to empathize with them, and you just can't avoid comparing things and characters... anyway, in whatever series, the Lei clan guys are always the ones making things hectic! XD

I'll watch till the end because I really miss this universe, but I can't wait to see Li Hong Yi back again. <3

I abandoned "The Untamed" for that reason, actually: the lenght scared me (I'm mostly used to Japanese and Thai dramas, so 50 episodes it's something HUGE for me XD) and I could never pass the first 5/6 episodes although I tried in different times of my life (that whole "horror flying arm" thing in the first episodes is quite cringe tbh XD).

But yeah, then I managed to overcome that and I found out most of these series are addictive as hell! XD
I'm watching "The Spirealm" rn btw, that was unfortunately another series I postponed for ages given the "78" episode... ^^'

Blood River is a nice drama, among the trilogy probably the one I liked less in terms of being engaging (and because the female leads are pretty meh), BUT the bromance is strong in that one! XD
And also is set before Blood of Youth, so might be a good start. :)