tsuyoi_hikari always gave good, deep-dive analysis of RJL dramas. I highly recommend her reviews when it comes to objectively seeing the dramas without the rose-colored tinted glass and simply deciphering the layers and details in the script:
Read the comment section in that review too as she gave more analysis on the characters, symbolisms, costumes, and colors used in the drama. Mind blowing details that can easily missed if you dont pay attention.
I’ve come to remind myself that this couple argued big time but never aired that dirty laundry for people to…
They so mature with very high EQ.
The reasons I love RJL dramas is because his and FL characters always have high EQ. There will be angst but not due to dumb misunderstandings but due to really unavoidable situations.
he need better directors. some of the dramas are very bad. Need good story line and serious dramas
He is actually known to pick good projects. Thats why mostly all his dramas (except Love & Crown which he is forced to film to leave his agency) have relatively high douban scores.
After leaving his agency H&R, he has been taking serious dramas back to back with Silent Tiles and The Abyss. Silent Tides is an amazing success as the ratings for it reached more than 3% at CCTV1 during airing, the highest ratings for CCTV dramas for 2nd half of 2025.
I recently read that The Blue Whisper got more than 50 million views per episode. That's pretty amazing. His plus…
Indeed The Blue Whisper has managed to get 50m/ep recently, I guess all the above numbers have changed since I last updated it.
Yes, Silent Tides managed to get 31m/ep (Kuyun). But the amazing thing about the drama is that it is shown at CCTV1 during golden time slot, basically the most prestigious TV slot that any actor would dreamt about. But he already managed to achieved this even before he is 40 years old and he is a traffic actor. Even serious actors didn't managed to get this kind of TV slot which is known only reserve for actors who is known with good acting skills. So, this achievement is definitely more meaningful for him. And not only that, the ratings for this drama exceeded 3% and the highest ratings for CCTV1 drama for 2nd half of 2025.
Aside from that, his dramas like you said have long tail effects, as they usually will accumulate views through good words of mouth instead of hype or buzz. They also with very minimal marketing but somehow, they always managed to outperformed dramas with high marketing in the end. That is why many people always shocked when they check the data for his dramas as he never on trending topic or constantly in the public eyes but people watch his dramas, to be exact, the public watch his dramas. He managed to capture viewers beyond his target audiences.
Out of all his 24 dramas, he only died in 4 dramas. Not even 1/4 of his whole filmography. Just like he has no…
They didnt. I met so so so many people who are shocked when I actually gave them his death statistic. They just believe whatever they read on the net. Then proceed to ask me recommendations on what his dramas to watch.
Out of all his 24 dramas, he only died in 4 dramas. Not even 1/4 of his whole filmography. Just like he has no…
I'm calm, there is no indication in my comment to show I'm not calm. 😅 Just thought you didnt know since many people actually believe its true and keep spreading it everywhere despite they didnt watch his dramas.
Since I read so many untrue gossip about him at this site, this is the clarification for anybody who is curious. This in year 2026 already, its time to stop spreading malicious rumors about an actor that we didn't know personally:
- He did not have 'NO KISSING' rules in his dramas. A simple watch of his dramas will tell you this. The latest drama of his with kissing scenes is The Demon Hunter's Romance (2025). If you want to see him doing passionate & deep kisses, then you can watch Glory of Tang Dynasty (2016). Often, the BTS of his kissing scenes are more intimate but it got cut like in Forever & Ever (2021).
- He did not have many SAD ENDINGS in his dramas. Out of 24 dramas he acted as a lead, only 5 dramas have Sad Endings (The Glory of Tang Dynasty, Autumn Cicada, One & Only, Love of Nirvana and Love & Crown). 2 dramas with Open Endings (Detective Dee & The Demon Hunter's Romance) while the rest 17 dramas have Happy Endings. I dont know why people keep spreading this everywhere when they didnt even watch his dramas. 🙄
- His WIFE is not a famous person. She is a housewife. All those gossip about her being rich and influential is false.
- He is a very professional actor. All you can read online about him from industry insiders are good things. He doesn't mind to dress down or look ugly for his roles if that is required of him. He also always joke in BTS filming and known to have good rapports with his co-stars, male or female. You can always caught all his co-stars laughing when he is around as he is a chatterbox and love to make jokes. And they always come and greet him at award shows, no matter how many years has passed. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/M9Cqq6g-Oco https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1MKGPHyN8ls
- He has a lot of famous CPs at China. Some CPs fans are so unhinged that they started to attack his wife. He brought those fans to court. All his romance dramas are popular and mostly are hits. We are talking about millions of people enjoying his romance dramas. Some people may not enjoy him but other people find him to have chemistry with many of his co-stars. So, it proved that it works as he brings money to investors. But he doesn't do CP promotions and he is known not to encourage parasocial & obsessive behaviors among his fans. https://youtu.be/chiUiAex6b4?si=AeoZxkXf0bupbuLR&t=411
- He is actually one of the most successful traffic actors in recent years. But he is very low profile. In term of hit dramas (>40million/episode), he is the male actor with the most hit dramas for the past years with 7 dramas. The most amazing thing about his popular dramas is that its all in different genres (no other actor managed to achieve the same feat): Under the Power (Wuxia) - 103m/ep Autumn Cicada (Spy Republican) - 41m/ep One & Only (Costume Romance) - 73m/ep Forever & Ever (Modern Romance) - 100m/ep The Blue Whisper (XianXia) - 50m/ep Thousand Years for You (Fantasy Republican) - 50m/ep The Demon Hunter's Romance (XuanHuan) - 36m/ep Silent Tides (Republican) - 31m/ep
- I advise not to believe what you read on the internet about him since 99% of it is untrue. And those accounts that slander him with either prostitution, divorce, cheating or other accusations, he bring them all to court and won. They have to pay heavy fines and issue public apology. https://weibo.com/1642591402/5082433926207949 https://weibo.com/5641380205/5082438028232594
Out of all his 24 dramas, he only died in 4 dramas. Not even 1/4 of his whole filmography. Just like he has no kissing clause in his contract. You can find lots of kissing scenes in his dramas.
Please don't ruin any more romance dramas—stick to other genres!People always praise his "micro-expressions"…
He is know for these microexpressions thats why directors love to hire him in aloof and cold roles. His ability to portray those emotions and effectively convey them is the reason what made him so popular among viewers. He is also known to embody his characters fully that you see him as the character instead of Ren Jialun the actor.
I'm afraid his romance dramas are very popular thats why production team keep offering him these romance roles. Out of his 7 hit dramas, 6 of them have romance in them.
And his popular dramas are in different genres as well, the only actor in China who managed to achieve this. And the most amazing thing of all, he achieved all this with zero / minimal marketing but due to good words of mouth.
Under the Power (Wuxia) - 103m/ep Autumn Cicada (Spy Republican) - 41m/ep One & Only (Costume Romance) - 73m/ep Forever & Ever (Modern Romance) - 100m/ep The Blue Whisper (XianXia) - 43m/ep Thousand Years for You (Fantasy Republican) - 43m/ep The Demon Hunter's Romance (XuanHuan) - 37m/ep Silent Tides (Republican) - 31m/ep
If talking about acting ability, his recent 2 Golden Eagle Awards nominations (Love of Nirvana & Silent Tides) in 2 different categories; serious drama & costume drama show the industry perception on his acting ability. The only 2 other actors being nominated in 2 different acting categories in the same year are only Hu Ge (Nirvana in Fire & The Disguiser) and Zhang Ruoyun (Joy of Life & Sparrow).
If you want to chose among actors who got his popularity organically, it is him. This is because, production teams doesnt have to do heavy marketing for his dramas yet he attracts viewers naturally. How we know this? Since the data shows he has the most popular dramas (> 40m/ep), beating even actors with heavy marketing.
I think his acting just didnt work for you and thats okay.
I agree about the writing and the pacing/editing and to this day, I’m still surprised that such experienced…
I agree completely. Now they are struggling after Yang Zi, Ren Jialun and Cheng Yi left. They are in the middle of investigation as well for misreporting their financial statements.
Great acting and chemistry by the casts, they were amazing in their respective roles. But the script is very weak as expected from H&R production.
For anyone wondering, this is RJL's breakup drama with H&R. He is forced to film this drama with zero pay in order to leave his agency. So this drama is very different than the quality scripts he usually took for his dramas.
Strangely despite all my complaints, I will rewatch the drama when I'm in the mood. 🥲 I guess thats what good acting will do to you even when the script failed.
I agree about the writing and the pacing/editing and to this day, I’m still surprised that such experienced…
Huanrui is known for its low quality scripts. 😭 Thats why when they announced RJL has to do this drama for his breakup drama with the agency, all his fans dread it as they know the drama going to be terrible unlike the usually quality scritps he usually get.
no wonder this drama didn't hit popularity ML came to rescue when his wife already bittenn then he'll come just…
Its actually very popular at China. They released the drama during exam preparation time with very minimal marketing. Yet the viewership increased everyday due to good words of mouth.
The drama in the end performed much much better than dramas with triple its marketing budgets. They didnt have many trending topics yet consistently in the top 2 throughout the airing time.
This drama probably one of the dramas with great profit margin this year, even in this cold market. And the ads for the drama renewed for the 8th time despite the drama has longed finished airing showing people are still watching the show.
One of the best drama this year. And probably one of the best XianXia dramas in the last few years. Compelling with very likable leads and supporting actors.
And the script with socio-economy commenntaries are amazing? Its actually rare to find dramas where the writer took time to tell its story. All supporting casts have their own motives in the plot with no fillers and the profound messages throughout the drama is chef kiss.
And the romance despite only being a subplot is the highlight in the drama for me. I love the leads' chemistry and their love story is really sweet. ❤️ I love that when they started to trust each other, they never waiver.
Solid 9.5/10 due to the writing and acting. RJL's performance is very layered and with depth. He understood the character to the core so LQQ comes across as deeply sympathetic and you felt his suffering and emptiness in your bones.
Amazing review as always. ❤️ You highlighted what made the drama so well written and special. Definitely one of the best Cdramas this year.
This drama aired with no marketing, CP promotions, or variety show appearance but did so well in term of viewership even when it aired during the preparation of Gaokao exam at China. RJL's dramas tend to do very well viewership wise as always. Plus the high Douban score of 6.9 is just amazing!
1000% - Bai Zhong Ying had the most interesting arc, IMO. From pseudo-villain to ultimate hero. A character you…
The lack of screentime still doesnt diminish his character's substance. Imagine him sacrificing his happiness for greater good is being interpreted as shallow and without substance. 🥲
1000% - Bai Zhong Ying had the most interesting arc, IMO. From pseudo-villain to ultimate hero. A character you…
Disagree with your assessment on Lu Qianqiao. 🥹 You cant say a person who went that whole ordeal to be human, fighting his natural nature for blood, still trying to maintain his humanity despite people betray him left and right and still trying to do good when people doesnt extand the same kindness as being shallow or with no real substance. Just his conversation with the Emperor told you how much wisdom he has. Letting go when he supposed to fight and know whats important which is to be truly living than being all powerful and greedy.
And his decison at the end even put empasis on his depth as a character. He could be selfish and become human but he let go everything, and we know how much he treasures his new found family and his ability to be truly alive but to be able to protect them and their world is much more important. That decision isnt easy to make but protecting people lives are more important than your own personal wants.
The layers and complexity that he has is amazing. So much thing to dissect in each episode, whether his relationship with people around him and how he sees the world. I like how we know about him more and more slowly, episode by episode.
https://kisskh.at/profile/tsuyoi_hikari/review/394194
Read the comment section in that review too as she gave more analysis on the characters, symbolisms, costumes, and colors used in the drama. Mind blowing details that can easily missed if you dont pay attention.
The reasons I love RJL dramas is because his and FL characters always have high EQ. There will be angst but not due to dumb misunderstandings but due to really unavoidable situations.
After leaving his agency H&R, he has been taking serious dramas back to back with Silent Tiles and The Abyss. Silent Tides is an amazing success as the ratings for it reached more than 3% at CCTV1 during airing, the highest ratings for CCTV dramas for 2nd half of 2025.
Yes, Silent Tides managed to get 31m/ep (Kuyun). But the amazing thing about the drama is that it is shown at CCTV1 during golden time slot, basically the most prestigious TV slot that any actor would dreamt about. But he already managed to achieved this even before he is 40 years old and he is a traffic actor. Even serious actors didn't managed to get this kind of TV slot which is known only reserve for actors who is known with good acting skills. So, this achievement is definitely more meaningful for him. And not only that, the ratings for this drama exceeded 3% and the highest ratings for CCTV1 drama for 2nd half of 2025.
Aside from that, his dramas like you said have long tail effects, as they usually will accumulate views through good words of mouth instead of hype or buzz. They also with very minimal marketing but somehow, they always managed to outperformed dramas with high marketing in the end. That is why many people always shocked when they check the data for his dramas as he never on trending topic or constantly in the public eyes but people watch his dramas, to be exact, the public watch his dramas. He managed to capture viewers beyond his target audiences.
- He did not have 'NO KISSING' rules in his dramas. A simple watch of his dramas will tell you this. The latest drama of his with kissing scenes is The Demon Hunter's Romance (2025). If you want to see him doing passionate & deep kisses, then you can watch Glory of Tang Dynasty (2016). Often, the BTS of his kissing scenes are more intimate but it got cut like in Forever & Ever (2021).
- He did not have many SAD ENDINGS in his dramas. Out of 24 dramas he acted as a lead, only 5 dramas have Sad Endings (The Glory of Tang Dynasty, Autumn Cicada, One & Only, Love of Nirvana and Love & Crown). 2 dramas with Open Endings (Detective Dee & The Demon Hunter's Romance) while the rest 17 dramas have Happy Endings. I dont know why people keep spreading this everywhere when they didnt even watch his dramas. 🙄
- His WIFE is not a famous person. She is a housewife. All those gossip about her being rich and influential is false.
- He is a very professional actor. All you can read online about him from industry insiders are good things. He doesn't mind to dress down or look ugly for his roles if that is required of him. He also always joke in BTS filming and known to have good rapports with his co-stars, male or female. You can always caught all his co-stars laughing when he is around as he is a chatterbox and love to make jokes. And they always come and greet him at award shows, no matter how many years has passed.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/M9Cqq6g-Oco
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1MKGPHyN8ls
- He has a lot of famous CPs at China. Some CPs fans are so unhinged that they started to attack his wife. He brought those fans to court. All his romance dramas are popular and mostly are hits. We are talking about millions of people enjoying his romance dramas. Some people may not enjoy him but other people find him to have chemistry with many of his co-stars. So, it proved that it works as he brings money to investors. But he doesn't do CP promotions and he is known not to encourage parasocial & obsessive behaviors among his fans.
https://youtu.be/chiUiAex6b4?si=AeoZxkXf0bupbuLR&t=411
- He is actually one of the most successful traffic actors in recent years. But he is very low profile. In term of hit dramas (>40million/episode), he is the male actor with the most hit dramas for the past years with 7 dramas. The most amazing thing about his popular dramas is that its all in different genres (no other actor managed to achieve the same feat):
Under the Power (Wuxia) - 103m/ep
Autumn Cicada (Spy Republican) - 41m/ep
One & Only (Costume Romance) - 73m/ep
Forever & Ever (Modern Romance) - 100m/ep
The Blue Whisper (XianXia) - 50m/ep
Thousand Years for You (Fantasy Republican) - 50m/ep
The Demon Hunter's Romance (XuanHuan) - 36m/ep
Silent Tides (Republican) - 31m/ep
- I advise not to believe what you read on the internet about him since 99% of it is untrue. And those accounts that slander him with either prostitution, divorce, cheating or other accusations, he bring them all to court and won. They have to pay heavy fines and issue public apology.
https://weibo.com/1642591402/5082433926207949
https://weibo.com/5641380205/5082438028232594
I'm afraid his romance dramas are very popular thats why production team keep offering him these romance roles. Out of his 7 hit dramas, 6 of them have romance in them.
And his popular dramas are in different genres as well, the only actor in China who managed to achieve this. And the most amazing thing of all, he achieved all this with zero / minimal marketing but due to good words of mouth.
Under the Power (Wuxia) - 103m/ep
Autumn Cicada (Spy Republican) - 41m/ep
One & Only (Costume Romance) - 73m/ep
Forever & Ever (Modern Romance) - 100m/ep
The Blue Whisper (XianXia) - 43m/ep
Thousand Years for You (Fantasy Republican) - 43m/ep
The Demon Hunter's Romance (XuanHuan) - 37m/ep
Silent Tides (Republican) - 31m/ep
If talking about acting ability, his recent 2 Golden Eagle Awards nominations (Love of Nirvana & Silent Tides) in 2 different categories; serious drama & costume drama show the industry perception on his acting ability. The only 2 other actors being nominated in 2 different acting categories in the same year are only Hu Ge (Nirvana in Fire & The Disguiser) and Zhang Ruoyun (Joy of Life & Sparrow).
If you want to chose among actors who got his popularity organically, it is him. This is because, production teams doesnt have to do heavy marketing for his dramas yet he attracts viewers naturally. How we know this? Since the data shows he has the most popular dramas (> 40m/ep), beating even actors with heavy marketing.
I think his acting just didnt work for you and thats okay.
What other PXR dramas.from Huanrui?
For anyone wondering, this is RJL's breakup drama with H&R. He is forced to film this drama with zero pay in order to leave his agency. So this drama is very different than the quality scripts he usually took for his dramas.
Strangely despite all my complaints, I will rewatch the drama when I'm in the mood. 🥲 I guess thats what good acting will do to you even when the script failed.
The drama in the end performed much much better than dramas with triple its marketing budgets. They didnt have many trending topics yet consistently in the top 2 throughout the airing time.
This drama probably one of the dramas with great profit margin this year, even in this cold market. And the ads for the drama renewed for the 8th time despite the drama has longed finished airing showing people are still watching the show.
And the script with socio-economy commenntaries are amazing? Its actually rare to find dramas where the writer took time to tell its story. All supporting casts have their own motives in the plot with no fillers and the profound messages throughout the drama is chef kiss.
And the romance despite only being a subplot is the highlight in the drama for me. I love the leads' chemistry and their love story is really sweet. ❤️ I love that when they started to trust each other, they never waiver.
Solid 9.5/10 due to the writing and acting. RJL's performance is very layered and with depth. He understood the character to the core so LQQ comes across as deeply sympathetic and you felt his suffering and emptiness in your bones.
This drama aired with no marketing, CP promotions, or variety show appearance but did so well in term of viewership even when it aired during the preparation of Gaokao exam at China. RJL's dramas tend to do very well viewership wise as always. Plus the high Douban score of 6.9 is just amazing!
And his decison at the end even put empasis on his depth as a character. He could be selfish and become human but he let go everything, and we know how much he treasures his new found family and his ability to be truly alive but to be able to protect them and their world is much more important. That decision isnt easy to make but protecting people lives are more important than your own personal wants.
The layers and complexity that he has is amazing. So much thing to dissect in each episode, whether his relationship with people around him and how he sees the world. I like how we know about him more and more slowly, episode by episode.