lilmeow

Right away, this show’s attempt at humor hits you smack in the face. With such a steady stream of rapid fire, random, and often ridiculous jokes, it feels like somebody threw everything at the wall and figured something would stick.

I found some of it funny and some of it not. Examples of jokes I liked: two villains try to out-villain-laugh each other; two Caucasian caveman “see God”; FL perfectly describes Revenge Bedtime Procrastination, historical edition. There is also some fun wordplay if you understand Mandarin.

Examples of jokes I did not like: FL dances around idiotically for no apparent reason; SML acts insufferably annoying; palace maids pile on for a brawl; fart joke. Well, the fart joke itself was not funny, the fact that they put one in was kind of funny.

On the whole, I’d say the jokes I liked outnumbered those I didn’t. But the problem is, good and bad jokes are not created equal. A good laugh or two is nice and all, but it’s outweighed by the total cringiness of a joke that falls flat. Also there are some overly dramatic scenes that were so drawn out, I wasn’t sure if it was satire, but either way it was a waste of my time. I definitely struggled through some of this show and watched at accelerated speed.

But I wasn't fast forwarding just because of bad jokes; it was also partly the plot. So, what kind of plot is buried beneath all the silliness?

The FL seems to be a generic heroine. I think her main schtick is that she’s always trying to help others. I know I don’t care much for a character when every time she gets praised, I roll my eyes. But, I do really like the ML, who is the fox mentioned in the title. His dark and imposing demeanor at the beginning doesn’t last long. I wouldn’t even call him tsundere, he’s actually just very nice. There are also other side characters who are fine, not unlikable, but I was never too attached.

A lot of the plot has to do with palace politics, with a few arcs dedicated to dealing with palace bullies. The protagonists also need to counter a sleazy evil prince, who I unfortunately found too hot to properly hate. And of course the FL is searching for her father.

Unfortunately, all this palace intrigue just did not intrigue me. I was properly surprised by the reveal of the final villain, but the cited motivation honestly was pretty weak... just didn’t make much sense. Then again, with a show this silly, logic is the least of my concerns. The main thing is that the palace shenanigans are nothing new and not that interesting. I mostly kept watching because I was very invested in this other story thread about the fox.

Early in, we can already see the shape of a backhistory of eternal love defying lifetimes. I honestly found this super lame and almost quit the show. Like, not again, I don't believe in that. But to my surprise, it ends up playing out really nicely. Their story is very sweet, and the original context of a little fox who loves a little girl made the whole thing so much more relatable and meaningful for me. I never cared much for those overly devoted romances, but the innocent and selfless devotion of an animal is something I can understand and believe; all I have to do is look at my cat purring on my lap and I get it.

And. That little white CGI fox is so cute! He has such cute expressions, I just want to hug him and boop his nose. There are also some pretty cute (real) doggos.

Like most shows, the comedy gets less and less as the story goes on, almost disappearing completely in the last few episodes. There are some legit touching moments towards the end, as well as some well-spoken truths and surprising depth. In general I think this is a good thing; it rounds out the show, bringing it beyond a silly rampage to a real story with some depth underneath.

That said! This might be a spoiler but I feel it must be said: don’t be fooled by all the humor, the ending is not that happy or satisfying.

The acting is surprisingly good in this show. Everyone is very believable and they handled body swaps well, too. However, some of the production seems a bit sloppy. I can see the tape for the wigs on the guys, and there was a red schmutz on the camera or something (after trying over and over to rub it off my monitor, I finally figured it out). The background music is quite good at setting the mood and some of it really sounds very nice, but something weird was going on with the songs. For awhile, I could see subtitle lyrics when I only heard BGM.

Overall, I think this show is not bad, and some of the humor is pretty funny. But I definitely would not watch it again. I sat through a lot of stuff I didn’t like, just for the part I did like, only- after all that effort- to get the ending that we got!

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





I would consider this ending to be bittersweet, but more bitter than sweet. That’s really unexpected and disappointing for a show this silly.

The bad guys do get fully punished, but the good guys don’t exactly get a great ending either. I solidly cried through the last episode. There were two deaths that really bothered me, the main characters still part ways, and the fox continues suffering in hopes of being human one day. The side characters during the show were a mess of love triangles, but not a single pair works out. ...not that we really find out what happens to anyone left behind. Just go on living their sad lives, I guess.

Then they try to slap on a "happy and satisfying" resolution by showing us some quick clips at the end of the core group growing up together in the modern world (no princess consort, guess she didn’t make the cut). I suppose you could interpret it as a distant future reincarnation and the fox finally succeeding in becoming human, though that theory doesn't fully check out either.

I found it to be really poor consolation, I was not satisfied at all. The story I just watched still ended tragically and did that poor fox just suffer for another thousand years? Like seriously, I didn’t sign up for this. People don't usually watch funny shows to feel sad.

BTW, we only really get deep dives into 3 of the past 6 lifetimes, but another one is apparently told in My Uncanny Destiny starring the same FL. I didn’t watch that show, but the tie-in seems pretty clever. However, I don’t think I could even enjoy that show if I believe what happened in this one.