ArcanaMajor

A vivid story with likeable characters that you end up rooting for, a great score accompanying it, and beauty everywhere you look. (From the actors to the scenery to the intricate costumes. It's all very bright and colourful and pretty.)


Pros:

- The characters are interesting. They all exist in a world at war, so none of them are free of biases and vices, but that makes them human and relatable.

- The main female character is charming. Often I find the main female character grating because she's written to be childish or unaware of what's going on, but even at the very beginning Xiao Yao is ingenious and likeable. She suffers from 'everyone likes me and most male characters are in love with me' but then almost all main female characters in Cdramas like this do.

- BingZhu is a fascinating character and is a highlight of this show for 90% of it. He's tortured, conflicted and principled and those three things don't work well together, leading to him having a horrible time throughout. (He's also fucked up and does some horrible things, but you understand why he does them.)

His friendship with Xiao Yao is also rather nice to see, because for once in a Cdrama like this I'm not stuck watching the second male lead pine for the main female lead and eventually realize she won't ever love him back. He liked Xiao Yao, but not like that and it was a delight.


Cons:

- Hong Ye as an all powerful demon king is interesting, but it doesn't help that this means they have a deus ex machina walking around so they chain him up and remove his power for a good part of this show. it means he's just decoration while Xiao Yao does shit and if he's your favourite that might drag a bit.

- The end is a bit of a mess. Still enjoyable and we do get closure for Xiao Yao, but it feels rushed and some of the character choices aren't my favourite.

Note: Spoilers!!
For example; BingZhu's character kind of gets assassinated towards the end when he willingly absorbs demonic energy to fight HongYe even though his entire character arc is 'I hate demons to my core and loathe all that they are (so I would never willingly become one) but I learn to see that the emperor is wrong to want to exterminate them all for his own gain since they are not all evil. I have seen the error of my ways. And yet I will go and fight the demon king I have learned to respect and work with - and who Xiao Yao loves - just so i can get back in the good graces of the emperor.' (Not to mention that PianPian absorbing the crystal heart is what caused her to lose herself, yet he's all of a sudden very willing to absorb demonic energy and stop being him.)

Second, at the end of the show they introduce three very interesting characters that we grow to like and then kill them off in very quick succession and without much fanfare just to power up BingZhu.

And you might not like the conclusion of Xiao Yao and Hong Ye's relationship.