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This review may contain spoilers
Much drama, much fun, much crazy and they made it in the end!
ᴍʏ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ ꜱʏꜱᴛᴇᴍ: 10 = [ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ɪᴛ, ɴᴏ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴀɪɴᴛꜱ, ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴏᴘɪɴɪᴏɴ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ 'ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛ', ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʀᴇᴄᴄ ɪᴛ]
They made it, and we made it ya'll. It was a long, yet somehow also short, ride to get to the end of these very entertaining and interesting 24 episodes but here we are :D
I have always said and have always felt Chinese producers and Chinese writers doing BL is on another level, they've shown many times that their BL game could be amazing if they were free to produce them, even their censored content is usually amazing, and now we see just how great their proper BLs are and can be through recent examples, and especially including Revenged Love. The Chinese do nuance and story/character building and character interaction like few other BLs have ever managed to do so far.
So for RL, let's break it down:
THE GOOD -GREAT!-:
- Casting CASTING cAStiNg!!! They nailed it, honestly, the four mains were amazing in this, as well as the two 'right hand men' to the two main Tops (so likeable despite not having much screen time), and the support cast were all great too (the bad guys and good guys), everyone really owned their roles. Never mind the fact the fact that all four mains and many support cast members were good looking, which I RARELY think when watching any BL.
- Despite the budget not being very high and a few flaws made by the wardrobe department (repeated outfits and odd fashion choices), ultimately they locked down some key character looks, memorable scene sets and made very few continuity errors or filming errors left in scenes.
- The acting of the great cast was well on point, each of the four mains embodied their characters super well.
- Unique characters and character relationships, especially between the four main leads.
- A full and complete story from start to finish (albeit a somewhat crazy one but that's on the author CJD), with refreshing arcs and scenes not usually seen in BLs.
- The OST is great, and the music is also used very very well, at just the right points, doesn't overwhelm the scenes or ruin the moment and it was always very suitable to the scenes it was used in.
- Every episode has insanely good visuals at various points and the rewatch value goes hard.
- They used REAL snakes in almost all of the scenes, which was unexpected and a bonus (I like snakes), and only some CGI once and it wasn't the worst.
- The chemistry of the four main leads really was off the charts!
- Some plot scenarios with interesting highs and lows that were sometimes ugly and sometimes sexy, kept us on our toes lol
- No overdone perfect makeup and hair in every scene, the actors looked mostly natural with some normal makeup and their hair and clothes were left to become untidy, also their body hair wasn't all shaved away and they sat and moved and talked and gestured fluidly, the actors becoming the characters quite naturally.
- The humor! I loved the humor so much, sometimes in your face, sometimes subtle!
- Over all the adaptation was changed and adjusted in many good ways, a very successful live take on a very bad fanfiction based webnovel.
THE not bad but rather SHORTCOMINGS (imo):
- I don't mind China's voice over-dubbing, but sometimes the dubbing was a little too loud, the mix down audio editing could have been better.
- The way the wardrobe department dressed the character of Chengyu sometimes baffled me, not his shirts, those were fine and quite outstanding and helped create a signature look, but his pants. Really not flattering. At all. The shoes also, of Chengyu and Chi Cheng, but then, I have NEVER understood Asia's obsession with giant shoes, especially on already tall men. Again, not flattering. The characters of Suowei and Xiaoshuai were dressed much better in comparison.
- The story sometimes got a little wonky, but considering the source material, the upgrade is massive.
THE UGLY:
- The unhinged 'fans' who caused a lot of problems for the showrunners and affected many things, like airing schedule changes, halting of promotion and bts and even led to scenes being cut from many episodes. These issues caused by external factors did make hinder the high of the enjoyment marginally.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
- ZHAN XUAN. For me, I discovered a new actor I really like (who happens to be super fine ahem and he sings well!).
- Tian Xuning, he definitely OWNED the role of Chi Cheng, like, he brought a whole vibe to the character that is quite stand out and unique and memorable.
- Chengyu and Chi Cheng's relationship and all their visuals and scenes and moments together. Damn near perfect pair imo.
- Many scenes from this show are memorable and a few of them made it onto my 'scenes that live in my head rent free' list.
- Because THE VISUALS were over all so so damn good.
- I loved the angst and dark humor and colourfully fucked up characters/personalities of the four mains.
- Entertainment value is super high.
This show might not be for everyone, but for those who like some dark themes and humor, angst, drama and comedy in their romance, you will LOVE this. This checked all my boxes and so I rated it 10/10 according to my personal rating system.
They made it, and we made it ya'll. It was a long, yet somehow also short, ride to get to the end of these very entertaining and interesting 24 episodes but here we are :D
I have always said and have always felt Chinese producers and Chinese writers doing BL is on another level, they've shown many times that their BL game could be amazing if they were free to produce them, even their censored content is usually amazing, and now we see just how great their proper BLs are and can be through recent examples, and especially including Revenged Love. The Chinese do nuance and story/character building and character interaction like few other BLs have ever managed to do so far.
So for RL, let's break it down:
THE GOOD -GREAT!-:
- Casting CASTING cAStiNg!!! They nailed it, honestly, the four mains were amazing in this, as well as the two 'right hand men' to the two main Tops (so likeable despite not having much screen time), and the support cast were all great too (the bad guys and good guys), everyone really owned their roles. Never mind the fact the fact that all four mains and many support cast members were good looking, which I RARELY think when watching any BL.
- Despite the budget not being very high and a few flaws made by the wardrobe department (repeated outfits and odd fashion choices), ultimately they locked down some key character looks, memorable scene sets and made very few continuity errors or filming errors left in scenes.
- The acting of the great cast was well on point, each of the four mains embodied their characters super well.
- Unique characters and character relationships, especially between the four main leads.
- A full and complete story from start to finish (albeit a somewhat crazy one but that's on the author CJD), with refreshing arcs and scenes not usually seen in BLs.
- The OST is great, and the music is also used very very well, at just the right points, doesn't overwhelm the scenes or ruin the moment and it was always very suitable to the scenes it was used in.
- Every episode has insanely good visuals at various points and the rewatch value goes hard.
- They used REAL snakes in almost all of the scenes, which was unexpected and a bonus (I like snakes), and only some CGI once and it wasn't the worst.
- The chemistry of the four main leads really was off the charts!
- Some plot scenarios with interesting highs and lows that were sometimes ugly and sometimes sexy, kept us on our toes lol
- No overdone perfect makeup and hair in every scene, the actors looked mostly natural with some normal makeup and their hair and clothes were left to become untidy, also their body hair wasn't all shaved away and they sat and moved and talked and gestured fluidly, the actors becoming the characters quite naturally.
- The humor! I loved the humor so much, sometimes in your face, sometimes subtle!
- Over all the adaptation was changed and adjusted in many good ways, a very successful live take on a very bad fanfiction based webnovel.
THE not bad but rather SHORTCOMINGS (imo):
- I don't mind China's voice over-dubbing, but sometimes the dubbing was a little too loud, the mix down audio editing could have been better.
- The way the wardrobe department dressed the character of Chengyu sometimes baffled me, not his shirts, those were fine and quite outstanding and helped create a signature look, but his pants. Really not flattering. At all. The shoes also, of Chengyu and Chi Cheng, but then, I have NEVER understood Asia's obsession with giant shoes, especially on already tall men. Again, not flattering. The characters of Suowei and Xiaoshuai were dressed much better in comparison.
- The story sometimes got a little wonky, but considering the source material, the upgrade is massive.
THE UGLY:
- The unhinged 'fans' who caused a lot of problems for the showrunners and affected many things, like airing schedule changes, halting of promotion and bts and even led to scenes being cut from many episodes. These issues caused by external factors did make hinder the high of the enjoyment marginally.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
- ZHAN XUAN. For me, I discovered a new actor I really like (who happens to be super fine ahem and he sings well!).
- Tian Xuning, he definitely OWNED the role of Chi Cheng, like, he brought a whole vibe to the character that is quite stand out and unique and memorable.
- Chengyu and Chi Cheng's relationship and all their visuals and scenes and moments together. Damn near perfect pair imo.
- Many scenes from this show are memorable and a few of them made it onto my 'scenes that live in my head rent free' list.
- Because THE VISUALS were over all so so damn good.
- I loved the angst and dark humor and colourfully fucked up characters/personalities of the four mains.
- Entertainment value is super high.
This show might not be for everyone, but for those who like some dark themes and humor, angst, drama and comedy in their romance, you will LOVE this. This checked all my boxes and so I rated it 10/10 according to my personal rating system.
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