Dabosil

I understand your point; I actually do agree with you; I found the time where she was in her 18th life and when he was kid to be funny. I mean if you look at what that means like you analyzed above, yeah, that is weird. But to take what I said further (from what you see from the trope of the 1000 year old person), maybe it's because I've watched these dramas and I know what they want from me, I see all of this as a this plot setup, where it's all just leading to x timeframe where the romance happens. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but I found that this was the chillest way to watch something, or else this entire thing will do your head in. Does that mean its kind of poorly written? Er yeah, it should be improved. Her entire idea of her being able to act as a child doesn't make sense as you said, but I kind of just glossed over it, because I know it's the necessary setup. Obviously, it also doesn't make sense for her to have a crush on an 8th year old? I think one thing this drama does strangely is the constant flashbacks to her time in other timelines, like going through war etc, but when I'm looking at her interactions with the male lead (grown up in her 19th life) I judge her as a normal twenty-something year old looking for her childhood crush with all those added abilities. Like that makes the least sense to me, because it makes it obvious that her personality and setup completely don't mix, while in this sort of trope they shouldn't draw attention to that (and create the separate bubble where you think of her a twenty something years old). So I agree with you, but I just..didn't really think about it, I guess.

I said leading man because that's traditionally the case, but just leading person/love interest, basically. You can kind of see this as an amalgamation of societal values and fantasies when you try to make them one person. Not to get so 'term-y', but what you see isn't what it IS, is basically the point. I don't think I'm actually able to truly say this (insert great attributes) young lead is equal to this 1000 year old weirdo, that can't even equate reasonably, realistically.

I personally don't find the 'actually super old person living 19 lives and having had been different sexes and genders (and probs married to different people and has had kids although unsaid...?)' falling in love with some random guy in her 19th life weird. Or more like, it's hella weird but I can watch this on screen because that's not what my mind processes when I watch it.

Essentially, in the case of such fantasy stories, where you can have a hundred year old vampire or thousand year old goblin or whatever, the idea is that the leading man comes with:
- Some brand of cool mythical hot-ified species
- Implied Maturity (But of course only in certain scenarios)
-Knowledge (extends to the genius trope), additionally, it's basically 'a cool power' and plays into the idea of having the 'burden' of being unabile to show your true self/having a true self
-Past grief/loneliness/being misunderstood/troubles due to their condition

Basically obviously no one wants to date a old wrinkly hundred year old, but how about a hot, 'hundred year old' with vast knowledge, skillsets and superhero-esque fantasy problems who also has a soul of (insert appropriate matching age) that comes with its own authority and superiority? Additionally, the 'flaws' or 'troubles' are self-inputted because of the natural loneliness of being different like the FL here, being so old and finding everything boring?

The setup and her attraction is really silly but that's the territory that comes with this character model, essentially. When you view these characters are you really thinking about the realistic hundred or thousand year old organism who has gone through so much of life you could not even fathom how they would live and be stuck on love problems? No! That person is basically just a normal ____year old with 'cool skillsets'.

I agree that it's really weird, but with these setups I ever really have the problem of being out of the scene because it's kind of an aburdist setup in itself-and essentially what it's selling/communicating was never realistic or about age and that uncomfortable dynamic. You wan the maturity and superiority without the uncomfortability of looking old and wrinkly. You want the skillsets and experience without 'going through it'. The easy troubles of the person that the love interest can revert. You don't look at them like the megabillions of year person/creature, it's just an extended manifestation. I've never looked at the FL and actually believe she's whatever she says it is, it's just the fantasy. Unless it's just me? But I think this helps people deal with it more easily.

Haha thank you, sorry for the confusion

Costume Department so busy they're forgetting to make shoulder pads lol

(for ML)
Btw, in the last two eps, the shoulder pads WERE present, which is great, as the Dream God of War and in the marriage scene. Thumbs up. But prev? Not really.

Though I know the ML is supposed to be weak, I wonder what the balance is between the character of the person and their ability to seem threatening and intimidating (not only in closeups) but you know, in stature, when walking, etc. Food for thought.

For me, the ML's psychotic vibe is present, but that doesn't necessarily correlate with threatening/intimidating (also minus his words), especially after he became King. I think before becoming the King he didn't really step into the role yet or really consider getting that much power, so it's fine, but in the previous few episodes I really didn't feel the turn of his character in stature.

Btw the flying carriage thing was super cool

I haven't read the novel haha, and I understand novel readers and new viewer have different opinions, and yes. maybe the novel is very long, but most viewers aren't novel readers and I'd only know information from what is given to me. Also, I know there's a censorship on 'part 1' 'Part 2's etc, but I think Seasons work. I know CDramas don't have the practice of seasons at all, like...ever, really, except..Noble Aspirations and Joy of Life, I think, but even in the past, nope. I understand there's a lot of information and if I was a book reader I'd probably understand how you feel, and I do think seasons would be great to encourage as well, maybe a bunch of condensed seasons, then filler could be weeded out but details and more separated storylines could be shown.

I also know it's high budget, I did say that I agree with the fact that the enforced rule shouldn't be there, though I have a personal preference for shorter dramas. I feel bad for the cast and crew too! So I have no idea what we're debating about lol

Thanks for your long comment! And yeah, I think some book readers did say that the explanations for the powers are not as clear here but basically I think everyone has the ability to raise demons, though their tribe is able to also talk to animals, but I guess families like the current ruling one raised huge demons so...they're in power, or something, I didn't really get it but I let it go haha. I'm just going to ignore that whole power thing. I agree that being a nomadic tribe might make them peaceful(ish) or have peaceful philosophies, but in general I'd say human nature causes even just any one person who'd have that power, any one of those in that tribe in any generation to take the chance and increase their power. Afterall, some tribes have peaceful philosophies yet are also highly associated with strong training and skills in the wild, so...but you know what, logic and Cdramas don't always get along so we'll leave it at that!

I agree that there shouldn't be a rule enforcement, but I do like shorter dramas. I watch dramas from diff places, and internationally (streaming-wise) they're usually shorter. I would like to encourage that, but like the comment said below if they had to do it I wish they'd put that on dramas not yet filmed because that definitely makes it harder. Of course, episode length is personal preference but there are usually more filler episodes, and in general l'd wish for these dramas to reach a broader audience (and such lengths are bigger commitments in comparison to what international audiences might be used to). I know that some other countries also make long dramas, but I think with attention span shortening and the world becoming more fast-paced, it might not be a bad thing. But respect your opinion/

Agreed, when I meant the tribe could control animals, I didn't mean all, but even quite a number would make them hugely powerful. Thanks for your clarification about the specificities though! And yeah, I didn't understand if TTML's explanation about TTJ's mother meant that his mother ACTUALLY did it or not...I didn't really understand in the end if they were trying to say his mother wasn't perfect, or TTML was blaming something else again like how he's blaming TTJ for all of this, or what.

haha watching is a struggle!

Agreed, the CG is a pendulum. I actually think watching the drama at a lower quality (not 1080p) is better all-around in this case-that applies to the makeup as well, the actors look much better when the quality is lesser, cause then the makeup-caked pores aren't obvious but it also doesn't have the vibe of over-whitening.

But in terms of Cdramas I feel like that's a norm. What bothered me more was that I feel like the editors aren't the best cause there are a lot of scenes that cut from a character doing one action to a completely different action in the next shot but it's supposed to be a connected scene lol. I think that might have to do with the episodes cut-down but it's quite jarring haha

I think the smooth effect is worse though, I'm personally not a fan of smoothening (which I called over-whitening above, though I guess yours is a better term. it feels very unreal. While in this case it looks like the lighting is crap so I guess you don't want either scenario. But anyways, try watching at a lower quality, it might help.

He actually really fits the stereotype of the 'Comical Relief Older God who can do actual work when the scene calls for it and IF he dies will make a joke but in a sad way' guy in the fantasy xianxias. Kind of like the red-string god (I seriously cannot remember character names) in Ashes of Love..I forgot but I THINK Noble Aspirations also had such a guy, and actually Ashes of love had several of this type of trope (There's also the female version, which in that case would be Sa Ding Ding's character in Ashes of Love)

I actually have zero impression of this character because he doesn't seem to really do much? So he's fine for me lol. Like yes, no bonus points, but he isn't annoying. And all of the characters in the main cast tend to have/need a best friend type tag-a-long for 1. Feeding audience information that the character doesn't know, 2. Play off on that character's feelings/thoughts for more dynamic interactions (for example, they become the wise advisor trope when that character is sad and drinks himself to tears probably because of love problems, and they come and like toast them and make some sort of wise comment)

You can kind of tell by the costume design, the type of quips, and actions they make for what sort of character they're supposed to be haha. Also tends to have a sling of bottle of alcohol with them and dress in more ragged outfits for some reason (I guess it's in association with the 'traveller side character' trope)

I do wish the OSTs were more memorable but I actually love the opening title, especially the part where it goes 'Ahhh', it's really satisfying for some reason haha

Thank you!

Interesting comment for bedtime reading lol

Oh for me it was, he's literally hurt everywhere and you just gave him CPR but he probs still has water in his system, why punch him! but nice food for thought

Ohhh that's why! And thanks for the clarification about the woman. I was thinking, wow, seven-tailed, all the other Cdramas always go for the nine-tailed!

Thanks for your first claification; I love your fish example, it would be so funny if the way they got fish when they were in the hut was because TTJ told the fish to sacrifice themselves (and a bit sad lol).

Love your second point, and I think the disheveled wear shoudl definitely be normalized cause it can actually make the characters look a lot better, strangely (the sort of disheveled look that's ideal, like when there's a mud spot on the nose, or slightly ruined makeup under the eye, and the hairpins over the place and ofc loose strands of hair everywhere), aka aesthetic disheveled looks haha. Also didn't realize they were at a village, thanks for pointing that out!

Thanks for pointing out that he controls his court through fears, but for the Ye family I felt like that was another plothole because TTJ could kill anybody with the demon animals, so the Sheng Kingdom should be seeing him as a high threat; I think I said he could win this war with espionage but that includes just killing certain people in the other kingdom, so I think whether the Ye family said things about him wouldn't matter. And to that I was imagining a scenario where the Ye Family would definitely want to cut ties with him and show, oh we're definitely loyal, and the Emperor of Sheng would also probably tell them to try to undermine him as much as possible, so it's more about proving loyalty rather than the actual gossip, but Im going to pretend they did that in the months FL was gone haha.

I don't know about zombies but wow, that's such a cool detail I wish it could have been shown! Is he able to bring people 'half back' from the dead in the novel or am I missing something (or is it turning their eyes red like the crow).

For your reply about him being a hostage prince I wondered if his citizens would see him differently, because in these types of kingdoms the rich and high-powered are revered, so them having a 'relatable' actually doesn't work that well, surprisingly, because they belong to the class of 'the untouchable gods' (as a metaphor), bit I guess in a way because of his power I'm going to assume he's pretty authoritarian and his citizen's are too scared to speak about him (as you said, he rules with fear)

And to the point about the harp, I see now! I was confused cause I thought her harp only belonged to her mortal self lol, and like in Ep10 she stores that time turning artefact in her 'hand' (from that dying god) cause of that secret storage magical space, but earlier in Ep9 she accidentally dropped the other pink artefact (I'm really bad at remembering names lol, forgive me) in TTJ's lap and that was assumably physically stored in her clothing, so this back and forth made me super confused haha. Thanks for the crumbs btw; I think it's true that shows definitely can't go into that much detail but I wish they'd smoothen out the logic even if it doesn't include the details.

Thanks for your answers to the edits, that was super helpful.

For the first question, I didn't realize the Tantai family also knew how to raise demons, I guess that makes sense. I thought TTJ's mother's tribe raised demons and knew how to order them to do stuff (as opposed to TTML or the Tantai royal family).

As for the second question, I know because of the rule it got cut down, and I understand. I'm not blaming the production and the story is still great, but how it appears it how it appears, so I think it can still be criticized even if it's not a specific person's fault. Afterall, most people simply watch dramas and don't know the bts details. Also thanks for the details about the seven-tailed demon (you said nine but I think you meant seven unless it's a different omitted character) and the abyss.

About looking good, at least there's something nice to look at on screen though haha! But I'm actually a fan of 'disheveled' looks, like the princess in 'Princess Agents' looked AMAZING when she was running around during the war in disheveled royal wedding clothing, and Zhao Lusi's character in The Long Ballad when she got lost, and so did Luo Yunxi when he became evil in Ashes of Love, his trails of hair in the front looked great so missed opportunity lol.

I did like the soup part actually, cause the entire time I was praying please don't be poison, that would be stupid and the ministers would be too dumb, and I'm glad it was this huge metaphor basically. By flag cultivator do you mean that woman who fought TTJ in the forest? I also wondered where she went lol

Oh, so the flying is a mistake?
Hmm, well I guess TTML is truly a coward, then. I don't understand the second part, I thought it was TTML's subordinate who killed his crows in the forest, or are we talking about the same thing haha