Heartbreaking but also questionable…. Questionable wrt decisions the FL makes because she is actually very smart, she isn’t someone who loses her mind over romance, love, money or power…. They don’t have any children either….
Hence why I find a lot of decisions and choices she makes very unrealistic… or weird…. Maybe the weird bit is culturally sensitive…? Perhaps that is wot I am missing because the original story is Japanese…
Ah no worries, infact this author mostly writes modern fantasy, and I love this genre… but tbh most of her previous works, I think it’s partially to do with the TV adaptation, I mean I tried watching them (I.e Rattan, Parallel World, Seven Relics) but they were just really difficult to get into partially because of how they were executed…. It’s a genre which requires a lot of budget, and it also puts the acting skills of the cast to test… and plots + storyline easily fall into the trap of developing strangely, far-fetched etc.
Hence why I named Daomu Biji and I am Nobody…. Because I genuinely think they are the only solid modern fantasy Cdramas so far…
i was expecting QSH obsessed with immortalality so he created some medicine which is yuwang meat and injected…
Think you need to read the novel, they altered/over-simplified it in the drama hence the logic became a bit strange… they never showed a QSH in the drama and he too didn’t appear in the novel…. But they gave a relatively good closure/hint in the last 5 mins of the TV series wrt immortality.
So the backend mythology is based on Nüwa…. Which is what they renamed as yuwang for woteva weird reason. The original concept from the novel is that LXR became humanoid fiend by wrapping themselves in Nuwa clay (as to why clay and meat, I posted it above, as a main post) and they have always wanted to obtain Nuwa meat… which was basically what Dilreba was wrapped in when Yan Tuo discovered her, the membrane and jelly like substance. The whole story about Nuwa, fiends, NJL’s mother, the Qin dynasty army, immortality etc is a lot more detailed and intricate in the novel. I’ve barely summarised it.
Yes!! They simplified the novel by a lot towards the end…. Kinda sad because the novel was relatively well researched…
Honestly, I actually thought it was commendable that they were quite faithful to the novel until the last arc, or the last few episodes. The novel itself isn’t long, 36 eps would have totally covered everything, maybe even 34 eps.
However, in order not to overly rely on CGI and to avoid it being tacky, the last arc would have been pretty high budget…. If they did everything according to the novel, it would have cost quite a bit like to built the set, special effects makeup etc. They simplified the underwater scenes by a lot, and while watching it yesterday, I think it wasn’t CGI though. I mean it was but it also looked like they really went underwater to film a big portion of it….
The finale did carry a bit of a “let’s just get this over with” vibe—as if the writers were too tired…
Yes!! They simplified the novel by a lot towards the end…. Kinda sad because the novel was relatively well researched in terms of mythology and the plot was multi-layered, thought inducing….
Wow, I learnt about Nüwa via this TV drama, I guess more so from the novel. Wish they didn’t remove/simplify so much of it.
I was a little confused when I read the novel because I didn’t know much about Nuwa although I’ve heard of this name many times. Infact I was a bit stumped by all the randomness of the soil and flesh thing until I Googled it…
An excerpt from Wiki: “Fuxi and Nüwa are said to be creatures that have faces of human and bodies of snakes.
Nüwa created humanity due to her loneliness, which grew more intense over time. She molded yellow earth or, in other versions, yellow clay into the shape of people. These individuals later became the wealthy nobles of society, because they had been created by Nüwa's own hands. However, the majority of humanity was created when Nüwa dragged string across mud to mass-produce them, which she did because creating every person by hand was too time- and energy-consuming. This creation story gives an aetiological explanation for the social hierarchy in ancient China. The nobility believed that they were more important than the mass-produced majority of humanity, because Nüwa took time to create them, and they had been directly touched by her hand. In another version of the creation of humanity, Nüwa and Fuxi were survivors of a great flood. By the command of the God of the heaven, they were married and Nüwa had a child which was a ball of meat. This ball of meat was cut into small pieces, and the pieces were scattered across the world, which then became humans.”
That does fall under the modern fantasy genre, and it’s by the same novel author. But I didn’t like that one at all, mostly because of the cast and the poor execution… The CGI makes it so difficult to immerse into and the outdoor sets are so fake…
But it is a very rare genre in Cdrama, even more so to find one with a high production standards and solid plot. So kudos to any effort made, and hopefully things will progress over the next decade. It could just be because this isn’t a genre which is widely enjoyed by local audiences in China.
In my experience by and large non romance South Korean shows tend to suck, especially compared to 2000,2010 era…
Doesn’t have to be with romance, that is a common genre, it’s more of the modern fantasy bit. I do think Kdramas have a high bar in that sense. Like Sweet Home, Parasyte: The Grey, Light Shop etc…
I really don’t understand why this is rated so low…. I actually think this is a breakthrough production for Cdramas in this genre; modern fantasy…… most Cdramas fail in this genre due to unrelatable plots, poor/tacky production quality, questionable acting skills…. This is close to Hollywood and South Korean productions, I mean sure, there is defo some room for improvement…. But the plot is actually really interesting and unique, more importantly its main setting is in ‘our modern day world’, rather than like 30-40 eps in the desert or cave…. Also, all the antagonists and supporting cast had super solid acting skills plus they aren’t dressed up in weird outfits….
It’s a little unfortunate that they cut on production budget or probably it might be due to editing so they reduced the backstory of the myths, legends, origins and also they over-simplified the ending, the novel is a lot more detailed, intricate and has depth….
Aside from Daomu Biji, and I am Nobody…. This is probably the only other one that succeeded…
It might be the editing. I remember being worried about the editing after seeing the first two trailers. The show…
You mean the novel? I read some of the novel…. It’s fine though, more depth and less cliche…. Wot I meant was it’s pretty contradicting in the sense that I think the plot itself has a lot of plus points and unique twists, but there is just no support from the dialogues. Like all the dialogues are so shallow and a lot of it doesn’t facilitate the development of the plot…
You just gotta roll with it if you keep watching 😭
lol, I don’t know why but I was just super curious about what would happen next. I just started it casually…. But a lot of the sub-plots are actually quite refreshing or different to other Cdramas, so I genuinely kept watching coz I was super curious how it would end…. Haha, I have to admit the ending still surprised me… this drama is sooooo cray…
It might be the editing. I remember being worried about the editing after seeing the first two trailers. The show…
The editing for sure, it became super apparent in the last 10 episodes. But more than that, because the plot twists are so sharp and random it requires the dialogues to be solid, but they are pretty poorly written… so the overall plot and twists are pretty unique and unpredictable but the dialogues are really poorly written, lacking substance and very cliche…
You just gotta roll with it if you keep watching 😭
You were curious too!! lol. Honestly, this was sucha weird drama for me… haha, I have no idea why I kept going. There’s just something in the plot that makes one wanting to find out what happens next because it’s just so random…
I cried…. I can’t believe I did coz this entire production is really trashy… this is basically a ‘makjang’ albeit an amateur version, but I cried because of Zhong Lin at the end…. What a loyal SFL, a bond that transcends romance, one rarer than kinship…
The plot is actually kinda….. unique….? It’s super unpredictable in a way because it’s just so….. random and ridiculous… but for some weird reason it just keeps you going out of curiosity…. Also coz few of the mains have convincing acting…. Honestly, I do think part of why it turned out pretty bad is because of the execution and flow.
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Hence why I find a lot of decisions and choices she makes very unrealistic… or weird…. Maybe the weird bit is culturally sensitive…? Perhaps that is wot I am missing because the original story is Japanese…
Hence why I named Daomu Biji and I am Nobody…. Because I genuinely think they are the only solid modern fantasy Cdramas so far…
So the backend mythology is based on Nüwa…. Which is what they renamed as yuwang for woteva weird reason. The original concept from the novel is that LXR became humanoid fiend by wrapping themselves in Nuwa clay (as to why clay and meat, I posted it above, as a main post) and they have always wanted to obtain Nuwa meat… which was basically what Dilreba was wrapped in when Yan Tuo discovered her, the membrane and jelly like substance. The whole story about Nuwa, fiends, NJL’s mother, the Qin dynasty army, immortality etc is a lot more detailed and intricate in the novel. I’ve barely summarised it.
By all means read the entire novel, it isn’t considered long and the English translation is passable. BUT if you are curious about the last arc, it starts here…
https://mydramanovel.com/love-on-the-turquoise-land/vol-8-chapter-1/
However, in order not to overly rely on CGI and to avoid it being tacky, the last arc would have been pretty high budget…. If they did everything according to the novel, it would have cost quite a bit like to built the set, special effects makeup etc. They simplified the underwater scenes by a lot, and while watching it yesterday, I think it wasn’t CGI though. I mean it was but it also looked like they really went underwater to film a big portion of it….
I was a little confused when I read the novel because I didn’t know much about Nuwa although I’ve heard of this name many times. Infact I was a bit stumped by all the randomness of the soil and flesh thing until I Googled it…
An excerpt from Wiki:
“Fuxi and Nüwa are said to be creatures that have faces of human and bodies of snakes.
Nüwa created humanity due to her loneliness, which grew more intense over time. She molded yellow earth or, in other versions, yellow clay into the shape of people. These individuals later became the wealthy nobles of society, because they had been created by Nüwa's own hands. However, the majority of humanity was created when Nüwa dragged string across mud to mass-produce them, which she did because creating every person by hand was too time- and energy-consuming. This creation story gives an aetiological explanation for the social hierarchy in ancient China. The nobility believed that they were more important than the mass-produced majority of humanity, because Nüwa took time to create them, and they had been directly touched by her hand. In another version of the creation of humanity, Nüwa and Fuxi were survivors of a great flood. By the command of the God of the heaven, they were married and Nüwa had a child which was a ball of meat. This ball of meat was cut into small pieces, and the pieces were scattered across the world, which then became humans.”
My thoughts are very similar to this review - https://www.chasingdramas.com/reviews/short-review-seven-relics-of-ill-omen-2025-%E4%B8%83%E6%A0%B9%E5%BF%83%E7%AE%80/
But it is a very rare genre in Cdrama, even more so to find one with a high production standards and solid plot. So kudos to any effort made, and hopefully things will progress over the next decade. It could just be because this isn’t a genre which is widely enjoyed by local audiences in China.
It’s a little unfortunate that they cut on production budget or probably it might be due to editing so they reduced the backstory of the myths, legends, origins and also they over-simplified the ending, the novel is a lot more detailed, intricate and has depth….
Aside from Daomu Biji, and I am Nobody…. This is probably the only other one that succeeded…
The plot is actually kinda….. unique….? It’s super unpredictable in a way because it’s just so….. random and ridiculous… but for some weird reason it just keeps you going out of curiosity…. Also coz few of the mains have convincing acting…. Honestly, I do think part of why it turned out pretty bad is because of the execution and flow.