Petra

I was just about to write a long comment telling you how wrong you are about rating one of my favorite shows this low and then I saw the heading and didn't have to even read more because I'm woman enough to admit that yes... you're absolutely right.

The sad truth is that I love this show DESPITE the OST, which to this day, I count as the absolute worst OST I've ever had the misfortune of hearing in any drama and I was soo disappointed that the remake actually went the same way and mimicked this horrendous OST.

I can only imagine how amazing this show would be if I wasn't subjected to the torture that is this OST. So... I guess you're not wrong. 😞

Great review! I always appreciate someone who can see the beauty of my favorite drama. The only thing I would disagree with is that it was the FL's influence that made him a good husband. Gu Jiu Si was good to her out the gate, even before they really started to get along. That's why she fell for him so quickly and so absolutely. She herself even mentioned it in the drama. Also, he was a borne leader and naturally fell into that roll once it was required of him. The FL's biggest contribution to him was forcing him to study and making him understand that he needed to get his brilliant butt into gear. These are not insignificant things, but I've seen some of the comments on this show and too many people fail to give Jiu Si the credit he is due.

On the other hand, let's not forget that marrying Gu Jiu Si allowed the FL to grow and change for the better as well which she also mentioned in the drama several times. I think it's overlooked by some how Yuru was at the beginning of the drama, she was so deep into survival/scheming mode that she even told her friend to lie about Jiu Si just to escape marrying him. Of course, she did it because she believed the rumors about him and thought she was doing it to a bad person, but in the end, she would have been harming an innocent person. Having Jiu Si's unconditional support and respect from the very beginning allowed her to blossom into a person she didn't know existed.

Honestly, this is also something that she did for him. Her belief in Jiu Si, even if at first it was somewhat forced, was literally all he needed to try. He never tried because he felt as though his parents didn't think he was capable and looked down on him, which they absolutely did. Both of them did.

One of the reasons why I love this drama is because it's one of the most mutually uplifting couples I've ever seen. They both had their strengths and they both supported one another unconditionally. I love both of them and adore the FL (and I usually struggle to like the FL) because even though she didn't want to marry Jiu Si and even though she, at first, tried to mold him into Ye Shi An, she quickly, very quickly saw his strengths and had the wisdom to see that he was just fine the way he was. She was able to grab her own happiness because of her wisdom and integrity which is sooo rare in dramas nowadays.

Anyway, sorry for the book. Happy watching!

2023 was one of the worse years for C-dramas and K-dramas that I've seen since I started watching asian dramas about 8 years ago.

Things I NEED to return to dramaland: Tried and true love stories. Please. PLEASE. I can't remember the last time I watched a truly incredible love story in dramaland, where romance wasn't just an aspect of the story. I need it to be the focus.

Things I'd like to see less of: Reverse harems and silly FLs. I understand why people may like them but there were so many last year, in lieu of non-harems and mature FLs.

Things that need to die in dramaland FOREVER: Emotionally torturing the male leads. If you wouldn't comfortably switch the gender of the leads and be okay with the ML treating the FL the same way, then it's NOT okay to do to the male lead. Too many shows in 2023 put all the emotional burden/work on the ML.

I hate the word 'simp'. I think it's childish and juvenile to call men that love their partners that. And yet there have been too many dramas where MLs have had to beg FLs for love. They get emotionally abused, disrespected, ignored, humiliated, treated in the worse way but we're supposed to think that's it's the height of love that the MLs continue to chase after the FL? How is that romance??? Would you be okay with your brother or beloved male relative being treated like that?

A strong FL does not equal one-upping, tricking, manipulating, humiliating, or bullying the ML. There were only about two dramas I watched where the FL actually respected the ML WAY BEFORE the end when plot armor ensured that the leads got together.

1. Destined
2. A Journey to Love

There may be others, but if I read the comments on a drama and got even a whiff that the FL mistreated the ML, or that the ML would go through emotional hell just to get the FL's attention, then I skipped it completely. Please bring mutual respect back to dramaland!

You said my thoughts exactly. THIS is why Destined is hands-down the best period drama I've seen ever. I've been bemoaning and annoying my poor siblings by constantly saying, "I hope this extremely toxic troupe of the FLs tormenting the MLs dies in 2023." It's sickening and I don't know why so many MLs have to beg the FLs for love. This is so unbalanced and unfair. Destined is truly the only drama I've seen where EACH lead is equally respected.

Your review is spot on and I had these same issues when I first started. I was also frustrated that other viewers seemed to love the bratty things the younger sister was doing. It was obviously wrong, but they were all just apologists and using her past (which I admit was bad) as an excuse for her horrible behavior.

However, if you can hold on, then the story and the younger sister gets much better, particularly when they get to the mortal realm. It really only gets better and better from there. It's in the mortal arc when I really fell in love with this show. Hope this helps!

Watch the uncut version with great english subs here: https://mkvdrama.org/advance-bravely/.

There was even a director who said directly to him, “You are not suited to be an actor this whole life.”

Lol. Who's spitting blood now? But seriously, I truly, truly enjoy his work. Hope he remains a great person and reaches the stars. Thank you for the article.

Another issue for me is that she was hardcore about her country whereas he just seemed to not even care? Like... the things she wanted him to do like leave the Ashina tribe, were things she would have NEVER done if she was in his position. She constantly asked him to act against the best wishes of his country and he did. Now, I'm not one for blindly following anyone, but it was just clearly a double standard. Then, I find out that they supposedly faked their death at the end? Really, Ashina Sun? Who's going to lead now that the Ashina tribe is in shambles? You just left? For someone who betrayed you and had to watch you almost get killed to finally admit that she actually liked you? It was crazy.

First of all, they are not my idols. I have no idols. Like I said before, I was genuinely curious and your answer made a lot of sense until you got to that part. I also had real issues with the show, especially with the characterization of the male and female leads. I just wanted to know if you noticed the same thing I did. Either way, I'll end the convo here. Thank you for answering my questions.

I am asking this sincerely. What exactly did you not like about it? You say it's horrible but didn't go into specifics. I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on this drama.

You are spot on. Taechyun lit up the screen. His performance here was amazing. Truly, he made this show. Everyone else was 'blah'.

For the first time in my life, I found a drama that was exciting, but somehow incredibly boring. The FL sucked. Your comments about her are spot on. She was nosy AND selfish. She only cared about people dying after it was her father that was unjustly killed. The people at Geumga Plaza sucked. Stupid and not funny. Vincenzo wasn't mafia enough for me. Granted, I haven't reached the end where he supposedly goes for broke. All in all, it just couldn't keep my interest.

To answer your question... the wasted potential of this show almost makes me want to cry. For the whole show, I'd say the siblings were actually together for about... 30 minutes in total scattered across the episodes, and that's being generous. And those thirty minutes were, by far, the best part of the show.

I honestly could not believe they did not give the two siblings more time together, but rather, gave us too much romance with two FLs that were PISS poor actresses. There might be some hope for Vicky Liang, but Liang Jie honestly needs to quit the business. Her acting as Susu was so poor I face-palmed several times.

So, to answer your question, this show, especially with the utter brilliance of Chen Zhe Yuan (seriously, the guy lit up my bedroom, almost needed sunglasses...), could have been incredible levels of amazing. But, it wasn't. There are some good moments, but the wasted potential... is devastating.

Yeah, it was very civilized. But like I said, I don't want it to devolve. Thank you for your maturity. Happy watching.

I'm not, really. For some people, they can't enjoy a show if it doesn't check every single box. I'm not like that. Even if the show has flaws, it can still be a masterpiece just because it was really, really enjoyable. Even if I don't believe that all the awards are completely valid, it's okay because this show is a really fun ride.

But do you really think others are thinking that way? I don't believe so. It's evident on this site, especially. There are just way too many sucky BLs that have super high ratings just because they're BL. Now do you see why it's not a contradiction?

Also, I think you're taking this way too personally. I've seen way too many people who take any comment against their favorite show as a personal attack on their character and I don't engage in those type of conversations. So, while you haven't been rude, which I appreciate, I don't want this to devolve further. My opinion is what it is and I think I'm pretty reasonable in thinking that way. Either way, the Untamed is just a tv show. Please put it in its place.

Uh... okay. That's good, I guess? Lol. This is not a show I would personally give an award to, but I know that its incredible popularity is why they were given. The fangirls would have rioted if this show had not won every award it was nominated for. I've even seen people advocating for the show on this site for goodness' sake.

Anyway, just comparatively speaking, I would not give them the amount of awards they got, simply because I've seen some amazing shows that have gotten little to no love and definitely no awards. And they had it all; writing, storytelling, acting, the works.

While I do love the Untamed, I'm not walking around with blinders on. I can list a host of things wrong with it, things that make it awkward, things that don't make sense, etc. But, who cares about that when there are hot guys on the screen, amirite? Anyway, I stand corrected, it won a lot of awards. Virtual cookies sent.

I quite like your comment. Reminds me of Johnny Depp and his girlfriend. Everyone was SOO convinced that he was beating the crap out of her, only to find out that he was the victim.

As a woman, I don't play around with rape. It's serious and rapists should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law... but I also don't just take what people say and run with it. There has to be equality. This man is innocent until proven guilty and if there's no video showing that he raped her (freaking carrying her into a building is not enough), or no conviction based off of DUE PROCESS, then I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As someone who has plenty of male relatives, I'd want them to get due process if they were accused of a crime, not be judged in the court of public opinion. Also, if she took money instead of prosecuting him, then the case is still closed because she settled.

Either way, it's not okay to ruin someone's life when in truth, no matter what you say, you actually have NO IDEA if he really did it or not. You really don't. Not at all. You're just making assumptions based off of the few facts that was released to the public. So, I can appreciate it that so many people (13 right now) have been able to think critically about this issue and have decided to withhold judgement. Kudos to you.

I was actually really surprised about how much I enjoyed this show. No, it's not perfect and it won't win any awards, but I'd still call it a masterpiece simply because of how much I enjoyed it. And this is from someone who does not watch BL.

I've watched a few, just to not be the person to automatically reject something out-of-hand that I don't particularly care for, and have found the vast majority of them to be incredibly poor in writing and acting, displaying relationships that would be ruthlessly condemned in a hetero relationship, but are somehow celebrated in BL shows. Thankfully, that's not an issue with this show.

I agree with every aspect of this review, especially about the deeper meaning of 'love' and 'soulmate'. That definitely includes the sibling relationship. (I'm SO glad that I'm not the only one who adores Marius Wang/Jiang Cheng. The raw emotion that he displayed... I really connected with his character, just as much as with the two main leads. I could write a case study on Jiang Cheng alone.)

I also loved that this show did not do what quite a few BLs do; make women these horrible caricatures of womanhood just to justify a boy liking another boy. As a woman, this offends me. Don't bash women to glorify BL. If you want it to be BL, make it BL. But in this? I loved Yanli and Wen Qing. They were amazing examples of strength, and love and were critical reasons why several characters were able to live and prosper.

I honestly would encourage anyone to watch this. Like the review said, it's a little beyond bromance, but not quite BL which is a middle-ground that I can happily accept.

This show also made me just a tiny bit obsessed with Wang Yibo. *Sigh* If only I had a Lan Wangji in my life, I would be good. And Sean Xiao? Well, my room lit up when this guy was on the screen. He is positively enchanting. Together, these two rocked this show. I could argue that this show would not have been popular if not for the casting. Whoever did it deserves a raise. Wang Yibo as Wangji was incredible for his devotion to his chosen soulmate and Sean Xiao as Wei Wuxian was incredible for his strength in doing what he thought was right, no matter the consequences.

Do you know, I actually attempted to write a paper on this show, but when I realized the horrible scope of it, I quickly gave up? It was so much that my head begin to spin, LOL. So, I really appreciate and admire the fact that you were able to cogently write all the things I like about it. I can't imagine how long it took for you to do so. Like you said, there's several papers I could write on this show, but this review was plenty. Great review and great show. Thank you for your input!

I was confused about this for a long time and in truth, it still mystifies me. I'm pretty sure they don't think about the fact that they love something that has basically pushed them and their gender out of the picture completely. Some have romanticized it to the point that they don't want to watch shows that aren't BL.

It's the craziest fad. I don't think I've ever seen people dismiss something that includes representations of themselves to run down behind something that dismisses them deliberately and completely. I think I'd understand it more if they watched GL (girl's love), but that's not nearly as popular. Not even a little. It's actually incredibly sexist if you think about it. Probably more like they're excessively boy crazy.

Still, it makes no sense. Then again, maybe I'm just old.

This review = facts.

The ML totally missed the mark. The ML was practically useless. Great review.