58
238
8
Monster's Ball
Demon Hunter's Romance or Wuyou Crossing(无忧渡) is a thrilling and chilling monster's ball where demons and humans collide, love defies fate, and morality blurs like ink in water. With its exquisite aesthetics, meticulous world-building, and haunting narrative, this drama revives the eerie charm of classical supernatural tales, blending Buddhist/Taoist philosophy with visceral emotion.
Since she was a child, Banxia had yin-yang eyes that gave her a weird ability to see yāo (妖)—demons hiding among humans. Her family dismisses these "delusions" and medicate her. When she confronts and enrages a demon who seduced her cousin, she is rescued by Xuanye, a demon hunter. After this encounter, she begins to accept that demons really exist. When her father disappears, she is convinced he is kidnapped by a demon and travels to Guangping City to enlist Xuanye's assistance in retrieving him. Together, they investigate six strange cases that explore complex entanglements between humans and demons. The cases dive into how humans and demons experience love, greed, anger, ignorance, emptiness, and transformation. The drama's core message is that both humans and demons can be monsters and they often feed upon each other's best and worst instincts. As for whether humans and demons can co-exist, viewers must decide for themselves.
The cases are engaging, thought provoking and leave a lingering impact as they escalate brilliantly into the a devastating and poignant finale. The narrative respects the audience's intelligence and is replete with enough clues and foreshadowing that the how-did-it at the end of each case is succinct as the mysteries largely reveal themselves. The first three cases are spooky in a Chinese horror kind of way, which is subtly hair raising rather than jump scares. The mirror demon case was the scariest and it ruined pears for me. I also enjoyed the creepy Reunion Inn aka Hotel California unit but the best case for me was the City of Illusions. It had the most cohesive sub-plot with multiple clues in plain sight and the humor and ironic role reversals were a welcome shift from the earlier spooky toned arcs. The narrative focus turns to the reveal of Xuanye's back story in the final two cases, which tie everything together into the final reveal and plot climax.
I picked this up mainly for the strange stories and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the romance. Ren Jialun and Song Zu'er look very cute and like they belong together. While the sparks didn't fly right away, the slow build in the romance better establishes a deep and abiding bond between Banxia and Xuanye. Song Zu’er shines brightest as the fierce He Quelian, overshadowing her initial portrayal of the timid Banxia. As for Ren Jialun, this is his career best to date. Though his early line readings falter, he improves markedly in the latter half with a moving delivery of the emotional moments. The cast delivered strong performances all around, with the demons outshining their human counterparts, as they should.
This drama is adapted from "Ban Xia" (半夏) by Ban Ming Ban Mei (半明半寐), which is a popular, unfinished supernatural romance. While the visual storytelling is captivating and immersive, the dialogue often drowns in verbose monologues. The biggest monsters in this story are human and they tend get off too lightly. Meanwhile good souls sacrifice and suffer unjust outcomes. While the intent may be to highlight the randomness of fate, the lack cosmic justice leaves a dissatisfying aftertaste.
There are many good villains in this drama but the final mastermind is too obvious early on and is the least interesting one with shallow and pedestrian motives. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the final two arcs as Zikong's (Cao Jun) adds layers of intrigue to Xuanye's origin story. There were moments the magnetic Cao Jun stole the limelight with his good looks and breathtaking fight scenes. The ending is profound and it makes sense in a way that respects the genre. The Changle (常乐) Sword or Sword of Lasting Wellbeing fulfils its legacy but extracts a high price. Something was lost but everything was gained and there remains a sliver of hope.This is a magical and poignant story about a demon who loved a human enough to set them free to be the person they were always meant to be. Flaws and all, Wuyou Crossing is a rare gem that will surely linger like a half-remembered dream. My rating 8.5/10.0.
SPOILER WARNING!
ENDING SPOILER COMMENTS
I know I belong to the minority, but I loved the ending tears and all. The production rightly overruled the screenwriter’s original plan—a hackneyed “half-demon compromise”—would have betrayed the story’s core: a taboo love between a human and a demon that defies fate.
The key to understanding the ending is that the Changle Sword can only be drawn to reverse cause and effect when there is a deviation from fate. Xuanye understood that when the sword beckoned him to use it and the way those fat silent tears rolled down his face is the drama's saddest moment. As it turns out, Banxia was never meant to wander into the Wuyou Realm or to meet Manying or to bring him into the human realm. The end effect of their ill-fated meeting was tragic for everyone from Xuanye's entire family to Chixue, Chu Youhuang, Sima Lingying and Banxia herself. The Changle Sword's intervention set everyone back on their rightful path but erases Xuanye's existence. Banxia should have forgotten Xuanye and gone on to live her best life as the brave and indomitable He Quelian. But the grateful butterfly demon stored Banxia's memories in the conch. And the universe threw them a lifeline by returning the conch to Banxia.
Thankfully the Changle Sword must have also muted the wordy screenwriter as the finale left so much unspoken because it did not need to be said. It trusts the audience to understand what is implied. Banxia and Manying don't belong to each other's world and Xuanye doesn't even exist anymore to anyone besides the two of them. In their new reality, they both have responsibilities and ties that bind in their own world. The Wuyou Realm is a magical and dangerous place for humans; even Shen Tunan dared not venture there without powering up. So I don't think it is realistic to expect Banxia to leave with Manying. The snow was Manying's promise to Banxia that they would grow old together. And by introducing him to all their old friends, Banxia is laying a path for Manying to find his way back into her world. So to me, this ending is a not yet happy ending; there are many challenges ahead but I daresay that it will be.
The only thing I truly hate about the ending is that the bigot Shen Tunan and that utterly selfish and whiny Xingxian get a do-over. That's just not right.
Footnote: Interestingly Li Xian doesn't pop up again in their new reality. Maybe he really is the runaway puppet Qingshan.
X
Since she was a child, Banxia had yin-yang eyes that gave her a weird ability to see yāo (妖)—demons hiding among humans. Her family dismisses these "delusions" and medicate her. When she confronts and enrages a demon who seduced her cousin, she is rescued by Xuanye, a demon hunter. After this encounter, she begins to accept that demons really exist. When her father disappears, she is convinced he is kidnapped by a demon and travels to Guangping City to enlist Xuanye's assistance in retrieving him. Together, they investigate six strange cases that explore complex entanglements between humans and demons. The cases dive into how humans and demons experience love, greed, anger, ignorance, emptiness, and transformation. The drama's core message is that both humans and demons can be monsters and they often feed upon each other's best and worst instincts. As for whether humans and demons can co-exist, viewers must decide for themselves.
The cases are engaging, thought provoking and leave a lingering impact as they escalate brilliantly into the a devastating and poignant finale. The narrative respects the audience's intelligence and is replete with enough clues and foreshadowing that the how-did-it at the end of each case is succinct as the mysteries largely reveal themselves. The first three cases are spooky in a Chinese horror kind of way, which is subtly hair raising rather than jump scares. The mirror demon case was the scariest and it ruined pears for me. I also enjoyed the creepy Reunion Inn aka Hotel California unit but the best case for me was the City of Illusions. It had the most cohesive sub-plot with multiple clues in plain sight and the humor and ironic role reversals were a welcome shift from the earlier spooky toned arcs. The narrative focus turns to the reveal of Xuanye's back story in the final two cases, which tie everything together into the final reveal and plot climax.
I picked this up mainly for the strange stories and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the romance. Ren Jialun and Song Zu'er look very cute and like they belong together. While the sparks didn't fly right away, the slow build in the romance better establishes a deep and abiding bond between Banxia and Xuanye. Song Zu’er shines brightest as the fierce He Quelian, overshadowing her initial portrayal of the timid Banxia. As for Ren Jialun, this is his career best to date. Though his early line readings falter, he improves markedly in the latter half with a moving delivery of the emotional moments. The cast delivered strong performances all around, with the demons outshining their human counterparts, as they should.
This drama is adapted from "Ban Xia" (半夏) by Ban Ming Ban Mei (半明半寐), which is a popular, unfinished supernatural romance. While the visual storytelling is captivating and immersive, the dialogue often drowns in verbose monologues. The biggest monsters in this story are human and they tend get off too lightly. Meanwhile good souls sacrifice and suffer unjust outcomes. While the intent may be to highlight the randomness of fate, the lack cosmic justice leaves a dissatisfying aftertaste.
There are many good villains in this drama but the final mastermind is too obvious early on and is the least interesting one with shallow and pedestrian motives. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the final two arcs as Zikong's (Cao Jun) adds layers of intrigue to Xuanye's origin story. There were moments the magnetic Cao Jun stole the limelight with his good looks and breathtaking fight scenes. The ending is profound and it makes sense in a way that respects the genre. The Changle (常乐) Sword or Sword of Lasting Wellbeing fulfils its legacy but extracts a high price. Something was lost but everything was gained and there remains a sliver of hope.This is a magical and poignant story about a demon who loved a human enough to set them free to be the person they were always meant to be. Flaws and all, Wuyou Crossing is a rare gem that will surely linger like a half-remembered dream. My rating 8.5/10.0.
SPOILER WARNING!
ENDING SPOILER COMMENTS
I know I belong to the minority, but I loved the ending tears and all. The production rightly overruled the screenwriter’s original plan—a hackneyed “half-demon compromise”—would have betrayed the story’s core: a taboo love between a human and a demon that defies fate.
The key to understanding the ending is that the Changle Sword can only be drawn to reverse cause and effect when there is a deviation from fate. Xuanye understood that when the sword beckoned him to use it and the way those fat silent tears rolled down his face is the drama's saddest moment. As it turns out, Banxia was never meant to wander into the Wuyou Realm or to meet Manying or to bring him into the human realm. The end effect of their ill-fated meeting was tragic for everyone from Xuanye's entire family to Chixue, Chu Youhuang, Sima Lingying and Banxia herself. The Changle Sword's intervention set everyone back on their rightful path but erases Xuanye's existence. Banxia should have forgotten Xuanye and gone on to live her best life as the brave and indomitable He Quelian. But the grateful butterfly demon stored Banxia's memories in the conch. And the universe threw them a lifeline by returning the conch to Banxia.
Thankfully the Changle Sword must have also muted the wordy screenwriter as the finale left so much unspoken because it did not need to be said. It trusts the audience to understand what is implied. Banxia and Manying don't belong to each other's world and Xuanye doesn't even exist anymore to anyone besides the two of them. In their new reality, they both have responsibilities and ties that bind in their own world. The Wuyou Realm is a magical and dangerous place for humans; even Shen Tunan dared not venture there without powering up. So I don't think it is realistic to expect Banxia to leave with Manying. The snow was Manying's promise to Banxia that they would grow old together. And by introducing him to all their old friends, Banxia is laying a path for Manying to find his way back into her world. So to me, this ending is a not yet happy ending; there are many challenges ahead but I daresay that it will be.
The only thing I truly hate about the ending is that the bigot Shen Tunan and that utterly selfish and whiny Xingxian get a do-over. That's just not right.
Footnote: Interestingly Li Xian doesn't pop up again in their new reality. Maybe he really is the runaway puppet Qingshan.
X
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