Ari Li

Jang Nara

It is too early to really review this drama properly but the first ep.definitely gave The last Empress vibes. The plot is little bit similar but with 2x budget.I first saw IU in Dream High and since then she has really grown as an actor. From meek to cold characters, I think she has done pretty much all types of roles, I just adore her and her journey has always been so beautiful for me. Woo Seok was her boyfriend in Scarlett Heart,if I am not wrong, pretty forgettable character back then but he was really good in Lovely Runner. I haven't seen him much so I will wait til first half to really have an opinion about his character but first ep. wasn't bad like other recently aired kdramas. For some reason it keeps reminding me of Scarlett Heart and I can't really point it out what it is.

Not very similar but badass FL with power like Simu- Love and Redemption.
There is another one but don't go for that with high expectations- The Legend (Bailu and Xu kai one)

"Hey the weather looks nice today" part cracked me up.😂 At this point he should have left such cruel world and should have lived a carefree life but no he became a general to killeven more people.
That body change part of FL was so confusing to me as well. Atleast give a scene like she is actually looking like that human girl but we as an audiance are the ones who are seeing Dilereba's face. That means ML either saw her real face (somehow) or it was that other girls face. There is no way both the girls looked similar in any way. Let's ignore all that for a sec., she then said she needed a human body in that world to survive but later she was moving freely without possessing that girl. So it meant she could roam around and still be seen by humans of she wants it then why bother to possess anyone. Somebody explain it to me as well.
This one is asking a lot of things to imagine and understand on your own and doesn't explain things clearly.

Totally agree with this review and especially the last part. Dilereba is pretty good when she is cast alongside someone who can act naturally. Arthur has a way of following direction to the T, like there is no left or right. He goes straight with the direction, and sometimes that just becomes very flat. Cold and introvert sort of roles suit him the best because it actually works in his favour actingwise and his real personality. So here both the actors are underperforming a lot. I mean it is so visible that it is completely next to impossible to ignore all those nuisances. Similarly the way they showed him falling for her. I was like wait what happened? What did I miss? I get it she was quite alluring and all but the drama didn't give enough substance to hold on to that feeling. Isn't this a world where evil spirits are generally despised? So what did she do exactly to change his attitude right from the beginning? Like he just gave her a shelter, only her! Why? Were'nt there many homeless and ill treated people there? There could be spies among them too so why only her? Because she was wearing red among all the greys and black? Or it was only because she was pretty? No answer for that. There was another stupid/suspicious girl, why not give her a shelter as well?
His character also is very contradictory, he grew up in a dark atmosphere but his personality is completely different from what you expect from him. Atleast give a scene where you can tell he is faking all that smile and has dark inner thoughts in reality. As I said weak direction through and through.

It's the weakness on Direction part for not being able to hold the interest of the viewers right from the beginning and if you haven't watched the actors before it would be twice as hard for the viewers. There is very little substance to hold till 8eps. and only then it starts to get interesting. The same thing that happened to Generation to generation, editing was so bad in first few episodes that people didn't even give it a try. Personally I take gap after watching a Wuxia drama and then shift to Xianxia because it takes time to believe all the Xianxia world which is not my cup of tea either. Try Wuxia one instead they are usually better in storyline and direction.

The reason was again age gap. I read somewhere Dilereba asked for no intimate scenes with him in TLB and there were just innuendos. No matter how much you try it takes away quite a lot from the characters and ultimately effects the on screen chemistry.

Tbh you need patience...their introduction went quite long and it could feel a little disconnected there but real story begins only from ep8. From here you will finally see the character building.

Yes because it is the continuation of the previous one, it will start from where it ended last time. But I am sure they will give some background for new viewers as it has been a really very long time when the first one aired.

Try The double, The Long Ballad, Blue whispers, Love and Redemption, Princess Agent (little older), My journey to you, A dream within a dream and Love like the Galaxy.

Believe me I have already tried multiple times but still has no strength to even cross the halfway mark of this drama. It feels so overhyped. That whole VR game thing was really unbelievable to me on so many levels. God knows what is so likeable about it.

I see...I haven't read the novel so I had no idea...but I read somewhere that many chapters have been covered...so I thought maybe they are trying to divulge from the original story.

I think the last time I really enjoyed a Xianxia drama was ' Love and Redemption' and FL also had no sense of taste and all in that one too. Still too early to say anything about LBTG but I have heard they have already covered half of the novel in just 7 episodes. I wonder where it will go after this.

Omg ikr...I watched their behind the scenes part of Hello Saturday and the way Arthur was talking to Reba was so cute. Looks like he has little introvert personality so she kept asking him for things again and again to involve him in conversation.

A cross over we all want🤭

Completely agree. Wei Yan was such a grey character with a good head on his shoulder and that's what we call a great written character. I was very impressed the way that actor carried himself. I could feel his subtle changes in emotions which he instantly hid behind his cold demeanor.
Qi Min on the other hand was like a complete fool, obsessive and psycho. His character had so much trauma and potential but all I got from him was his obsession over a woman who was betraying him again and again. Liked the actor but did not feel much about his character. His storyline was always going round and round in circle throughout the episodes. Other Sui brother on the other hand impressed me more. But he was way too dark to have a Character growth arc. I can't believe I even felt bad for him. If I have so many mixed feelings for a villain then it is really a well acted and well written character for me.

That's what I enjoyed more about The Story of Minglan....their continuity. But despite everything First half of POJ will always be my favourite.

You can say that again. I was expecting that as well.

Somebody leaked all the remaining episodes. Now they are all available on chinese websites. Obviously an insider deed to sabotage its great run.

Yes I know the writer is same and I think this is pretty much similar in all of author's novels. It was same for Generation to generation as well.