Pennyroyals

Also, some of y'all have seriously 0 idea about how writing works..."That" thing is not "spoiling", nor is it a wrong decision. it's a storytelling TECHNIQUE writers use when "what will happen?" a.k.a the "surprise factor" isn't the main concern, "HOW will this happen" and the "journey" of the hero is important.

I know she's had tuning points already, i mean that in a more proffessional POV here cause Anle is a very distinctively unique and different character from what she has done so far, and well, even among the historical drama protagonists presented on meida in general. And i sincerely hope the show is good cause the novel is interesting and I'm really looking forward to it!

Things i want to happen in this show and their approximate possibility:

+ At the very least evenly entertaining and (GOD PLEASE) LOGICAL storyline throughout the whole thing. (60%, setting the bar low cause I'm traumatized by not doing so)
+A couple chapters into the novel and actually very well written, layered, multi dimensional characters, so, Staying true to the original text (70% given the directors previous work. NO can-do-no-wrong characters please. I need ppl who are HUMAN)
+Decent acting (65%. This can be a turning point for Reba if she does well.)
+Sexy people on my screen (100%)
+No skin smoothing (5%, very unlikely and I'm crying because of that)
+No dubbing, or at least the actors dubbing themsleves (10%, But i can keep lying to myself and think it will happen while i know it won't)
+ No "women are always enemies over men and chick fight" (?%, idrk...just praying cause i hate that misogynistic trope. But I'm already seeing some cute girlfriends so i have some hope)
+Decent production (90%)
+Sizzling chemistry (80%, just a feeling in my left boob)
+AIR SOONER FOR GOD'S SAKE PLEASE I'M MENTALLY ILL (Youku%)

Not saying that every show in the world has to be female centric, WRTW's protagonist is a dude and the main focus of the story is him. It isn't a bad thing at all (apart from my personal opinions about FLX as a character). But it's not so cute when female characters are just in there to support the ML and help the plot development rather than being treated like actual people with actual feelings and all. lol

The representation of the "strong female character" here feels extra tokenistic and it boils my blood to the core. The writer was like "look she can fight and she's smart" but her cleverness and "fighting" skills were used only to help the male character and her youthful nature was also just used to cheer HIM up when HE was sad. Okay, we got it, they look cute tgth and she's very supportive of him but what about HER?? Where is HER arc???
I was personally not the biggest fan of THE LONG BALLAD but as someone who is always interested in studying and analyzing the way women are treated in media, canthelp but compare Zhao Lusi's arc and her setup in WRTW with her's in TLB and it totally PROVES the fact that female characters do NOT necessarily have to be physically strong or have a fierce personality to be considered valuable and cool.The writer in TLB actually considered the female character as herself, NOT her Male partner's "love interest" and aslo, broke the streotype that a woman like her can never be strong and have her own arc and development without losing her personality.

I don't think that's a fair complaint though...MANY mythological stories and tales from so many cultures consider "world" as only THEIR country/territory. I personally have heard many from my own culture where the "world" was created by Gods from my ethnicity and "world" means only our country. It's a specific way of world building and story telling technique and it's very culture inclusive.

person: "I don't like X show/character/acting performance from actor because of [Lists logical reasonings and explanations in paragraphs]
MDL users : "Why are you a hater you're sooo mean and your opinions are not true only mine is true and you suck"

The FL calls him in a playful way, that's why it's "foxy"

y'all need to let people have opinions...making it look like we sent the actors d3ath threats or insulted their families for saying we don't like their acting or characters in a freaking drama...hating and constructive critisim are different, who is exactly hating anyone here???

I aslo need the couple to go back to when they were sexy and flirty for the last couple of episodes, melodrama is not for them.
Don't even need to talk about the repetitive and not really sense making political conflicts cause i could write 50 pages. In conclusion, i liked Lusi's pretty face, BFX quirkiness, the cute fact that the female characters were actually quite friendly with e/o instead of the pettiness and hatred women always have for e/o in dramas (which is not real btw, media always wants women as enemies so bad and it's weird), the couple when they were sexy and SOME bits of the visuals in this show (high budget so of course, lighting and sets are pretty, camera's picture quality is really good but the cameraworks could've stepped more out of the comfort zone, customes look nice but again, TOO safe). That's it. *TAPS POST AND RUNS AWAY*

sigh...i have to let it all out cause i seriously CAN'T anymore although i know i might get mvrdered here...I can NOT buy the ML as what the show tries selling him to me..people are saying they're having this feeling just now but I've been thinking about it since the very beginning and thought it would get better but it has not. This show tries so hard to tell me FLX is smart and perfect and amazing and the coolest dude to ever exist in the world, but all I've been seeing from him has been him ordering his man around to investigate things, watch over people (poor kid Zhongli keeps doing all the job and gets no credit lmao), And every other character in the show helping him with what he wants to achieve all the damn time and him, the freaking MAIN CHARACTER, literally showing up last minute with a "GOTCHA!" moment, or occasionally, the very last second of fight scenes doing sumn with the fan to look cool in half down hair with bangs and because the produces HAVE to put SOME effort into staying true to the wuxia tags and the poster.
I can't really buy the concept of "smart" and "cunning" in this show in general but AT LEAST Lusi DOES have the charisma to keep me liking her character and wanting more screentime and arc for her even with the very dissapointing fact that she has been "the ML's love interest who cheers him up when he's sad and helps him when he needs it" so far. (well, have been hoping for something for her from the beginning of noticing this pattern but we're already reaching the end and it has not gotten any better as well).

"She is dIfFeReNt from the other girls, she is always positive and optimistic" says ML of cdrama unapologetically in the age of TWENTY TWENTY TWO, as if the world would not know that's the boldest incel flag reveal...i would've let this pass as entertaining and cute despite the fact that it was every existing cliche and rom com trope joining hands to make 12 episodes of this cause it's just a short webdrama until the ML said THAT in the last episode...

Is everything okay at home? Have you been taking your pills recently??? I live in a country and society that is already highly patriarchal and just encounter nothing but shit everyday as a woman and don't have the freaking nerves to see a "realistic" portrayal of women getting bullied and not being able to do anything about it in ancient times whatsoever in the few hours of me trying to escape reality through watching dramas...why you so mad about that honey??? Genuinely curious of what exactly in my comment made you say that out loud...lol...and you can stop coming here if you think you've got some legendary IQ and everyone else is sooo dumb compared to you here samrtie

why tf is the man holding the violin like that in the poster

So i had to watch this bc i had to translate the subs and it was the embodiment of MEH to me...a drama involving idols, teachers, students, music, emotional massages about following your dreams, teenage frienship and a cat should be interesting but it's... not??? The acting of the four mains is not good enough to make me like the very stereotypical personalities but i can't say it's bad, the story does just not give me the feels it should but it's not horrible, the massages are preachy but i can't say they're bad, the friendship between the characters doesn't make me go "awww" as a drama with such atmosphere should do but it's not awful, this one might be the cause of me being a boring b*tch but the jokes were really not kicking for me as well and the romance(s) made me feel NOTHING...I prefer totally hating a show than having this terrible feeling of "idek what i feel about this"... Gezi was a total cutie to me, her and the cat were probably the only things i was sure i liked in this show, the other kiddos were kinda cute as well but again, i wasn't feeling their friendship as i should've! It feels like the writer had not enough idea of what gen z teenagers are actually like lol.
(This is a very personal opinion of mine though! I'm actually kinda glad so many are liking a drama with such a good theme and massage)

She put her entire being into L&R and is not given enough credit for her perfromnce in there...It's a pitty that so many people overlook XJ as just a typical cdrama "dumb cute girl" and don't see the complexity of her character and the effort she had to put into doing it there. Can't wait for her upcoming dramas!

There's seriously NOTHING wrong with women pursuing men it's just people demonizing that these days...like why is it cute if it's a guy doing so but it's annoying for women??? Double standards??? B!tchless behavior?? idrk

I'm officially convinced the most impressive skill of Yuan Bingyan is her capability to pull characters off that have 2 completely polar opposite sides of characteristics SO WELL...like, you'd be like "yeah she's got the absolute puppiest pair of eyes and the cutest looking face of course she can pull the 'cute girl' character off well", and she actually does, then proceeds to be the "spoiled, rich, annoying brat" and does an insanely good job with that and then again, she switches to her "cunning, sexy, naughty" self and it's unbelievably BELIEVABLE to you. Putting the problematic things she does in here aside, this girl can seriously ACT. I find her SO cute and SO unexpectedly hot at the same time in general (not just her character here) which is a very unique type of charm to me. CanNOT wait to hear her undubbed original voice one day cause i just KNOW her diction is highly probable really good!

okay, i agree that the concept of feminism is very modernised in this show but, cute puppy voice?? I don't really think she was trying to be cute in here...besides from that, i DO prefer realism in general as well but, I actually don't mind the "modern style feminist female character" in historical dramas despite clearly seeing it's unrealistic, cause women have had it really hard back in the times and this whole thing is kind of like distorting history in a way that omits the sad, tragic reality that women could NOT really be like this even if they wanted to back then. As if you would write a European historical show where POC were never colonized, enslaved and were living everywhere pretty much like white people! That wouldn't really match actual history but it's erasing trauma lol

(Have to say that i do not mind this idea unless the show constantly downgrades other women to make the main girl stand out... being misogynistic while trying to be feminist in other words lol)

You're so right, it gets so annoying when you start noticing it...that's why I've decided to try my best to distance myself from the fandom cause reading their comments and takes just gets my blood boiling everytime...too much internalized mysoginy and it doesn't get called out cause people put a "FLs are always written badly" label on it and get away with it...not even gonna get started on MLs' HORRIBLE behavior always getting exexcused cause that's a very tiring conversation lol