Apurva

This is what a remake should be all about! Just so impressive!

Honestly, this is one of the best remakes I have seen in a while and this must be only my 3rd or 4th Japanese drama, the other dramas didn't leave much of an impression.

Thea actors were good!
The chemistry was lit!
The pacing was just right!

I know, I am using too many exclamation marks, but it was that good for me!

I have seen An Incurable Case of Love but I didn't much care for it, this one is a gem.

It doesn't at all feel like a remake. The actors bring their own energy and style to characters and they look amazing throughout it all.

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My favorite genre. (Hoping that we'll have a happy ending for the leads at least)

I especially love the romance genre where one of the leads can see ghosts, but I had put this one on hold because it was a bit heavy compared to the recent light hearted dramas I had been watching.

I love the ML, he is so adorable. What's more, he looks after the FL so much that even though he doesn't admit his feelings and rejects her, its hard to dislike him. The guy is sure he only has around 3 months to live, so, he doesn't really think he has much to offer. But he could at least just tell her that he is going to die. So far, I have loved episode 7 the best, despite rejecting the FL twice now, the ML was so damn jealous of her admiring another guy. Now that I have finally started the drama, I can't wait for next week's episodes.

Coming to the beautiful stories we have, each episode was created to make you cry. The deaths seem so untimely and we wish these people had another chance at life.

This drama gives me the same feels as The Master's Sun. (The romance and the ghost seeing lead (here both of them see the ghosts))

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2nd time watching this drama and I liked it better this time around.

I like my stories with a little otherworldly characteristics, so this genre was something I was always going to like. The story was written well, the actors were pretty good, the pacing was also just right. These are the dramas where the actors are so good that you often forget that these are just stories, figment of someone's imagination and not just two people falling in love.

I don't know why I had a wrong memory of this drama, this is probably what happens when you binge watch kdramas with no break in between, the stories all seem very similar making it hard to separate them. You know how in Kdramas there is separation for few days, months, or years due to some pressing reasons and sometimes it is noble idiocy. I thought it was the ML in the drama being a noble idiot, but nah it was the FL. My dislike for the noble idiocy stems from the humiliation of the other person, thankfully, this drama didn't add that.

I like my dramas with just a little bit of angst. This has made my rewatch list.

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Crazy mothers assembled! If you aren't afraid of these lunatics feel free to watch.

The cute little baby was a better adult that any number of Mothers and grandmothers in this drama.

The reason the characters in this drama bothered me so much might be because before this I watched It's beautiful Now. It had only one messed up family, in comparison, this drama had a 5-6 decent people and one of them was Eun Ho, not a main character! The other were little Mirae, ML's grandfather, Eun Ho's sister, FL, and ML. Yeah, that sums it up.

The best part about this drama are the actors, even when you don't like the characters, you have to admire the skills that went into brining that character to life, so much so that we as audience have a reaction, be it a positive one or negative one.

> For most part, FL tried to stand up for herself and I liked that she was able to say enough was enough. But the sad thing was she was treated poorly, slapped, and people kept pouring stuff on her to humiliate her. It lacks a lot creativity on the writers. Who are people who like shit like that? It is the part of the drama I tend to skip.
> The ML was pretty decent by these long-running drama standards. The one thing that bothered in the final arc was the lack of communication, thinking that you know better and making decision unilaterally when they are together. Start communicating people!
> High heels is a bloody criminal, why bother asking for forgiveness when you are only asking because it would make everyone look at you poorly?
> Haemi's redemption arc? I couldn't care less. She harassed and bullied a woman who was only trying to earn a living, especially a woman with a child, a cousin of hers add to that! She had no professionalism when it came to her job. The whole time she was busy sabotaging the FL, which also affected the compnay she was working at! She and the full-time employee who lied should have been the one fired.
> The Kim family didn't deserve a daughter-in-law like FL, she was always too good for them. Like she said, she had become their fav punching bag. It was sad to watch when every time she was wronged by her in-laws, she was the one had to pull herself together and cater to them as if she was guilty.

If someone made a cute edit a movie of this highlighting the best of couples moments, I might watch that. But there's no way, I would ever rewatch this.

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One & Only was better in terms of story. This is better for romantic moments between the leads.

One & Only was better in terms of story. This is better for romantic moments between the leads. In one and only we all knew and saw the love between the two, but they never really got to take it a step forward. They were always confined by their positions in life and their responsibilities. So, Forever & Ever is a good sequel for their story, however the 30 episodes are a bit much.

The one thing that went wrong with the story is that apart from the leads, it has a completely different cast of character. None of them came back to life, I wish her cousin and the general had gotten a second chance as well. Having the crown prince reincarnate would also have been a better antagonist compared to a pain-in-the-ass mother/mother-in-law and shady brother. It would have made the story more interesting. (I read on MDL that Mei Xing is supposed to be the crown prince and Wen Xin princess Xing Hua, but their story arc wasn't all that good) But at least, this time around he chose to let go of his crush on the FL and decided to look at Wen Xin but again that was doomed as well.

The ML's step mother is kinda weird. If you have to take out your frustrations on someone your son is the better candidate, he is the one who went against your wishes and married someone you didn't want him to. She could be less of a controlling harpy and stereotypical mother-in-law as well as step-mother. She has been outright rude to Shi Yi since the first moment they met. I am not a fan of decisions she makes coddling her son when he led to the death of her daughter, how on the earth she could forgive him. Either Shi Yi Or Zhou Sheng Chen would have ended up dead if they hadn't dragged along his punishment for so long.

The prequel had a more powerful impact, but I liked this one for its uniqueness as well. The relationship between the two and their marriage is something that we can all hope for. The easy camaraderie and care for each other was so good to watch.

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What a beautifully written and well-depicted drama!

Byun Hye Yeong is hands down my favorite female character in all of the Korean drama's I have ever seen. She is such a role model to all the women out there. Love her character to pieces! Her values are so developed and progressive it is so hard to see female lead characters like her. Kudos to the writer and the muse the character was based on! Jung Hwan complimented her so well. He looked after her even when she pretended to be strong enough to do things alone and was supportive of her regardless of how foolish his mom was. He didn't enable his mother but actually called her out on her shit.

Joon Yeong was a bit dislikable at times but once he found out that the got his girlfriend pregnant he sure grew up a lot. NGL hate characters like Yoo Joo but she also grew up even though she took her sweet time doing it.

All of the couples in the drama were so good to each other. They took little missteps a time or two but always made sure to get things right. Well worth the time spent. I would highly recommend it to anyone who asks in future.

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Love the Leads! Leaving a review after 2nd Rewatch.

Kim Hye Yoon, Rowoon, and Lee Jae Wook, all three did such a great job together. During my first watch, this was my first time seeing Kim Hye Yoon in action and it was such a great experience. She is an embodiment of the character Dan Oh. Usually when characters use baby voice is it so damn annoying, but with her it somehow wasn't annoying. I don't know why, it doesn't make sense to me either. She was overall such a treat to watch, she honestly carried the whole drama and whiel I love the other characters, without them, she would have still rocked this show.

Coming to the love triangle between Dan Oh, Haru, & Kyung: Dan Oh & Haru were so lovely together. They simply fit each other too well and didn't have much angst, which usually makes the romance part a bit boring but the comedic scenes and the presence these two brought to the screen kept it from being so. Haru is such an adorable character, it impossible to not love him. One of the greenest flags. Despite labelling Kyung as a jerk early on, I couldn't help but want them to be together during few episodes. Their push and pull was a bit interesting to watch. There's just something about Lee Jae Wook, no matter what kind of character he plays you just want to watch him get what he want. Where Haru was the green flag, Kyung certainly was the red flag.

Before my first watch I read somewhere that the they Dan Oh & Haru don't end up together in the Secret, but Dan Oh & Kyung do. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Dan Oh & Kyung call it quits and the comic Secret ends. After which, Dan Oh & Haru meet in another comic and reunite under the tree.

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Beautiful Music. Good Chemistry. No Misunderstandings. Supportive Friends. (But boring story)

Although the couples in the drama had a beautiful relationship, the drama was very linear and boring. Had to fast forward most of the scenes once the lead couple get together. However, they do have good chemistry which comes across clearly in the kissing scenes. They are so damn adorable.

What I liked about the drama:
Beautiful Music: It honestly has some of the best music. I like it especially because it reminds me of "Immortal Samsara" one of my favorite cdramas. Even though I can barely understand the language, there's no denying the beauty to it and the subtitles were pretty great.
Good Chemistry: This is the first drama where I have seen Tan Jian Cik act and wow! He has such a great personality and his stylist did such a good job. The clothes, the hairstyle, everything was on point. The actor himself brought a lot to the table, the way he looked at the FL was heartwarming. Even though I like Zhou Ye as an actress, the character was too timid for my tastes. However, they looked good together.
No Misunderstandings: Although the drama was boring, I don't mind that. Give me a boring sweet drama, over one filled with misunderstandings.
Supportive Friends: Each and every character in the drama was so supportive. Even the fans were happy that the Leads got together.

While I wont necessarily come back for a rewatch, this is a good drama for one time watch.

Dammit, now every time I'm watching a wuxia or xianxia drama and there's a male voice singing in the background i think it is Mo Qing Cheng.

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Beautiful! Rewatch Worthy!

Beautifully done. When I first went into the show, I wondered why there were so many episodes (Part 1 & Part 2 included). I was also vary because with Cdramas, the higher the number of episodes, the higher the number of misunderstandings. And the endings usually are very rushed and done poorly. Immortal Samsara was a refreshening change from those dramas. The best part about the drama is the story between the main leads, it has everything that you want to see, romance, angst, bickering, devastation, death, and more so.

This was my second time watching the drama and it was better this time around. During my first watch, I was too blinded by everything Yan Dan suffered to give some credit to Ying Yuan and his sacrifices. What's more, he was man enough to admit that he was wrong to have abandoned her. I have seen a lot of dramas where when the ML abandons the FL for their own good, they seldom admit that they messed up. They even double down and claim that they would do it all over again. But that's not Ying Yuan. What little grudge I held against Ying Yuan for abandoning Yan Dan, I happily let go after completing the second part. I am so glad they finally got the happy ending and peace they deserved. (As much peace Ying Yuan can have with Yan Dan's lively personality in their life)

In this part, Zhi Xi's character was much better portrayed, much more expressive, her feelings for Yan Dan much purer, something that I though lacked in the first part. Even before she sacrificed her life, she had redeemed herself and I was glad to see the sisters enjoy a good relationship. I would have liked to see Yan Dan get married to Ying Yuan in the wedding gown left to her by Zhi Xi.

Overall, this isn't my last time rewatching the show. Another great thing about this drama, the poetry series about agarwood, it was so emotionally charged. Wow! And let's not forget the beautiful music that accompanied each and every moment.

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Heartbreaking & yet that didn't stop me from adding this to my rewatch list!

Writing this review on my second rewatch. I'm already on Part 2, but wanted to drop the review before completing that one since I still have things fresh in my mind.

I found this show as a recommendation of the drama "The Starry Love". When I played the first episode, I kept wondering if one of them was a remake.
The visuals in "The Starry Love" are much better than first few episodes of "Immortal Samsara: Part 1". However, the visuals got better from then on. The effects were more believable.
While effects might have been an issue in the first few episodes, the outfits were always astonishingly good. I coveted many of Yin Yuan/Tan Zhou's outfits.
So, thinking that they were a remake I was committed to watching the entire thing. (I don't mind watching stories with the same trope if I loved one of them)
So, the scene started in the heavenly realm, the dances, sisters born out of twin flowers, immortals forbidden to love, the disturbances from the demon realm, and so on. There were so many similarities. But it didn't take me long to realize that while they shared a resemblance to each other both "The Starry Love" and "Immortal Samsara" tell different stories.

Characters:
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Zhi Xi: The elder sister, twin to Yan Dan, was one of the first characters that made me realize that the differences in the stories. The Starry Love's Ye Tan got a sister who was the sole person who cherished her, however Samsara's Zhi Xi was always envious of her little sister. If you are an average person who has to work hard at everything, then It is easier to relate to Zhi Xi's character more than Yan Dan's, who on the other hand, has always been cheerful and carefree. Someone for whom things always come easily. It was sad to see the how Zhi Xi's allowed others perception of her doubt not only herself but Yan Dan as well. She was so easily convinced that Yan Dan was against her that she played a huge role in Yan Dan's misery. Later, the story tried hard to convince the viewers that she did her best to make up to Yan Dan, but her redemption arc just didn't seem sincere. I just rewatched Ep 12 and I realized that I had put on rose-colored glasses, hoping that Zhi Xi didn't go out of her way to lie to Yan Dan & create all that misery, but she did. She was first to take the reward for saving Yingyuan, which she didn't, & last to bear all the costs of it, she later came up with excuses to pacify Yan Dan's hurt feelings & continued to lie to her. When Yan Dan jumped off the bridge, we could all see the guilt on Zhi Xi's face but there was no real devastation. It could be because of the actress, maybe she wasn't able to convey her feelings through her expressions. Despite that she was an interesting character, a weak willed woman who tried to save her ass and framed her own sister who wanted nothing but the best for her. She truly was the weaker sister. Even by the end of it, she put majority of the blame on Yingdeng when she was the one who destroyed her own sister.

Yan Dan | Bai Piao Liang: The younger sister, twin to Zhi Xi. Okay, before watching this drama, I didn't realize that the actress portraying Yan Dan was the same one from "Go Go Squid" and it was a bit surprising to me. I liked Yang Zi looks much in Samsara. Since I had come off binge watching "The Starry Love", I was also pleasantly surprised to hear Yan Dan's voice, it pretty much sounded same as Ye Tan's. There's also something about Yang Zi, she is such a treat to watch. I have seen her performance in "Ashes of Love" as well, she makes the screen light up with her presence. I wish there were more interesting historical romances with her as a lead. Coming back to Yan Dan as a character, she is a carefree light hearted sprite, who wants to take care of her sister and her friends and write for a living, someone who doesn't really have a lofty ambition but someone who's actually warmhearted. It gives me pleasure to watch such characters thrive and makes me doubly sad to see them suffer. She suffered a lot, framed by her sister, abandoned by her love, punished for crimes she didn't commit. The sad part, through her redemption arc, Zhi Xi was never selfless enough to clear Yan Dan's name. Yan Dan was too giving and forgiving of people who did her wrong.

Emperor Yin Yuan/Tang Zhou: Cheng Yi is wow! Him portraying Emperor Yin Yuan is his best performance I have seen to date. The aura he presents, the stylist did such a wonderful job on his entire look, however that all would have been for naught had it not been for Cheng Yi brining his A game to the picture. He did such a great job portraying the "Couldn't care less about anything" look. The indifference was portrayed so brilliantly, it came as a shock to see him further display a wide range of emotions. Yin Yuan as a character was highly complex . As we seem him put things in motions to save Yan Dan, we also see how Yan Dan didn't measure up to the entire world in his eyes. Even when he was being punished, what he did to Yan Dan was the last reason listed for his punishment. He also let her down so much. She was found guilty of a crime she didn't commit, and instead of clearing her name, the let the criminal get away with it. The criminal lived on and prospered well while Yan Dan had to struggle so hard to forget the betrayal & pain. Granted, he did go through heartbreak, refused to forget her as a punishment to himself, but he never had to question Yan Dan's love for him. Yan Dan on the other hand knew that he abandoned her after she gave so much of her to him. After all that Yan Dan was put through, it wasn't much to ask for her to find someone else in the mortal world or to feel something for YuMo, but not enough time had passed for her to enjoy her life that Tan Zhou showed up.

YuMo: It was really hard to consider him as a SML in the beginning, he just seemed like silly comic relief and his story didn't really speak to my heart. I could only see him as a guy Yan Dan could be interested in once he came to the mortal world. He was such a sweet guy that I wanted Yan Dan to give him a chance. Even though he clearly had feelings for Yan Dan and did everything for her, he never tried to sabotage her happiness. This is such a stark contrast to YingDeng's love for Yin Yuan, who thought she was doing her best to protect Yin Yuan but was mostly trying to ensure that he didn't end up with Yan Dan. So, YuMo was a greenest flag in this story.

After watching Immortal Samsara, I have become a huge fan of Yang Zi and Cheng Yi. I wish to see them together in more dramas as main leads. I tried watching "Noble Aspirations" but they don't have enough screentime together to enjoy it fully. They are not even a couple a couple in that.

Advice to anyone who wants to watch it:
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Go ahead! It will make you sob at times but its a beautiful disaster that you won't regret watching.

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Worth the time spent watching this masterfully written and depicted story!

To begin with, I read some reviews and didn't want to see Luo Yun Xi portray an antagonist character, however, it's a good thing that I changed my mind. He did a wonderful job in that character, a character that you like in the beginning. But as time goes by, you see how it changes and not for the better. He is one of the few characters that I didn't mind having a redemption arc.

Jin Mi/ The Frost Flower/ The Water Immortal:
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Jin Mi was also one of the best character Yang Zi has portrayed, another was her Yan Dan in Immortal Samsara. When I saw her in Go Go Squid, I didn't think much of her acting skills, but these historical romances changed my mind. She has shown such range of emotions, reminding me of Korean actress Gong Hyo-jin. Coming to her character, we have to consider her handicap, the unfeeling pill, the elixir that stunted her development and ability to discern things. Everyone in the floral realm appeared very weak, beginning from the ladies who raised her. They relied blindly on the pill, not preparing Jim Mi for what was coming in the future. For a 4000 year old, she had barely the understanding of teenager. And the Yun Elixir (the unfeeling pill) plotline left some loose ends. I mean did the elixir only cut of romantic love and not familial love? Because she loved her newfound father and auntie so much that she wanted revenge, those are some strong feelings. Phoenix was the first to fall in love with her, but it wasn't until later, a few months before entering the mortal realm that Jin Mi started reciprocating the feelings. Even in the mortal realm she hid things from him, she could have told him that she was poisoned and going to die, especially since she accepted his feelings. Her character was written beautifully, this was a coming of age story that made you hate her at times and love her at others. I'm glad she had to face the consequences of killing the phoenix, even once she was reincarnated. It was fair because she didn't love him as much as he loved her. She was so easily tricked into believing that he killed her parents, had little faith in him. Even once she found out that he didn't do it, the first thing she thought of was that she killed him mistakenly. Not how she could make up for it or bring him back. She wanted to bring him back to be with him, not only to atone for her sins. So, I wasn't really surprised with the way he treated her when he came back to life.

Xu Feng / Phoenix / Fire Deity
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This drama introduced me to Deng Lun, he and Yang Zi were well-matched in their acting prowess. Xu Feng was one of the greenest flags in Cdramas you'll ever get to see, much similar to Sifeng from Love & Redemption. Even when he tried to hate the FL for what she had done, he found it unpalatable. But he did hate her, you have to when the person you are trying to protect stabs you in the back. The worst part of it was not that she stabbed him, it was heartbreaking for sure, but she stabbed him in the back. Even when she did that, all he did was ask her if she ever loved him. She denied it and that was the last thing he ever heard. Even when he came back from the dead, he didn't for a moment think about getting revenge against her. He only wanted to live his life and not bother with others. Apart from Run Yu, he was the one who suffered the most throughout the series, at the hands of the Jin Mi, his parents, and let's not forget Su Hi. The worst character Tai Wei, the heavenly emperor, who raped the woman he claimed to love and just wanted people to forgive and forget. What's worse, he still claimed to love her. Him along with his crazy wife were the reason Xu Feng suffered so much. Had they left it alone and minded their actual responsibilities, they wouldn't have meddled in their son's life so much, causing him untold grief. Let's not forget Su Hi, this trio went out of its way to make others miserable. The one flaw that Xu Feng had was he overlooked his parents crimes and tried to get them pardoned at every opportunity when he should have been disgusted by them. Even when he thought that his mother could have killed Jin Mi's father, he wanted to find a way to save her. His mother did kill Run Yu's mother, for that, he could only apologize, which was fine and reasonable, but what wasn't was not calling his mother out on it. He enabled her in that way. He also knew how his mother treated Run Yu and while he called her out on it, they were still living same toxic cycle where she continuously put Run Yu down.

Just a phenomenal groups of actors that worked together on a well-written story.

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Good for the first 10-15 episodes.

I didn't read the reviews for this one before going into it, should have. I just wanted to see Garvey Jin in another romantic drama but it was for the naught. His story only got interesting in the last couple of episodes that was the only good part about those episodes.

The story is so bad halfway through. Why can't these people talk things out? What's with keeping the baby from the father? Its not like he is going to be crappy father, the ML was a green flag and honestly would have been a much better father than the mother. As a role model for the child, she should have at least considered how her decisions would affect the baby but no. Once you find out you are pregnant, reach out to the fellow. Stop making decision for the guy, if he said he didn't want to be a father once he found out, then that's another story. But that was not this guy at all.

Just felt like wasted 9 hours watching this. Had to skip most of the scenes since they were not very impactful.

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Loved the visuals of the leads and the chemistry.

Reminded me of The Greatest Love featuring Cha Seung Won because the actors gruff nature and voice seemed pretty similar to me. I loved the pairing and enjoyed watching their romance no matter how illogical things were when it came to the story. Honestly, this is the first medical drama where more patients have died than being saved. The story was far too confusing and not at all interesting.

For some reason, the female characters were not very well thought out. The female lead character in particular wasn't fully fleshed out, even the male's lead's ex fiancé was properly written. The shift in characters were quite abrupt as if we were doing hyde and jekyl instead of character growth.

Regardless, I enjoyed at least the romance part of the drama, for me these two were cute together and I wanted to see more.

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Ha Joon's character was the glue that held it all together.

Had it not been for Ha Joon's character Kang Tae Ho, this would have been such a waste of time. The only person worth watching was him, he was a green flag but by the end I hoped that he also cared about himself a little more. Didnt like him in the beginning, there wasn't much to like but once he stopped being an ass that was quite early on he was golden.

As much as I feel for Lee Hyo Sim, she didn't have to abandon Tae Ho. They could have talked it out, it would have been a decent thing to do for him, especially after the way he had treasured her.

Boy was she messed up, she gives a liver to a father who abandons her but abandons a man who cherishes her?

Her family was kinda shitty, I was hoping that she would just be done with them. The worst of them were the wannabe lawyer brother and her mom, both so much like each other, expecting her to pay for them and then treating her like crap.

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