By finishing I got my question answered; Du Li didn't help in the second to last loop, but he did in the final…
Lu Di's role in it was to be way too cute and to bring in the cats, and that's the hill I'll die on about this, LOL. (Also, Liu YiJun, the cop (the captain, not the rookie) has a main role in Guardians of the Dafeng, and he's great in it, too.)
So... more recs? (Now you've gotten hooked on cdramas, let's switch from mainland to the island? :D)
Another amazing time paradox story is the one in top of the rec list, Someday Or One Day, a Taiwanese drama about trying hard to save someone by going back in time. It gave me more of a feeling like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time instead of Reset, but it's still a pretty good and gripping (romantic) time paradox.
And one of the best supernatural but in a comedic setting dramas, that will twist your heart out and leave it out to dry is Oh No! Here Comes Trouble (still from Taiwan). It's not time paradox, but it's even more gripping than Reset, IMHO, and done amazingly well. Great (non-romantic) bromance, amazing characters, it brings out all the emotions and you end up laughing with tears in your eyes. I love that drama, LOL, does it show? :D
Well, this sentence -> "but sci-fi has a meaning. It's not supposed to be fantasy." Isn't really in touch tho,…
Extraterrestrial species and teleporting or warp speed ARE scifi. Even if they go way beyond our present abilities, there are theories that they expand on. It didn't use to be simple scifan. And for a drama set so close in the future (basically the present or tomorrow, since we already have space tourists and they're not really introducing ANYTHING too advandced compared to today's tech), the least they could do is pretend they understand what they're doing. It's not even all that hard science.
Suspension of disbelief only goes so far, and TBH, comparing it to wuxia is laughable. Wuxia IS martial arts fantasy, not even pretending to be rooted in reality in any way other than the costumes used, if they bother with those at all.
The drama falls flat totally on the comedy aspect, and sadly that's what they wrote - a space comedy that has no humour. I'm not even going to pretend it's scifi or even sci anymore, since it's definitely not.
Shen Shu's boyish smile is such a killer... I don't know what his deal is, but I hope they revive him or something, particularly if he's a TianYu sorcerer.
As usual, don't bother going by the MDL rating system, as it changes with the wind. (Pretty objectively) good…
I kind of think JoL2 and UtM were filmed pretty close to each other, because he's way too skinny in this one, too. I've no idea why, I hope it wasn't because of over-working...
As usual, don't bother going by the MDL rating system, as it changes with the wind. (Pretty objectively) good…
LOL, half the cast of JoL is in this one!! Particularly Wang Yang, whom I LOVED in JoL! :D
I did watch the first season, but I also got myself spoiled with the novel (and that one's a huge monster of a story), and they diverted enough from it that I felt a bit lost and not really motivated to get into the second season yet. I'll get there when they announce a tentative release year for JoL3. And this one is a drama that I wish DOES divert more from the novel's ending, because that one got way too convoluted and sci-fi for my taste. I love sci-fi, I just didn't like this one's ending explanations.
And yeah, isn't ZRY amazing? I love good actors that actually have charisma, even if they're not the idol-beauty standard. Or maybe because of it, LOL.
Be warned Sword Snow Stride is also a first season from more, I don't know how many. It's more cinematography than plot, for me, but there are a few heart-breaking scenes that made me like it anyway.
If you feel like watching a very entertaining wuxia/xianxia that doesn't take itself so seriously, watch Guardians of the Dafeng (currently airing). It has a bit of a similar cheerful feeling as JoL and is also a transmigration story. And the ML is the cheekiest liar/charming rogue you've ever seen, LOL. For the laughs :D
ETA Yeah, xianxia and wuxia are kind of completely different beasts, LOL.
As for New Life Begins... I rather like Bai JingTing a LOT more in Reset (if you want to see time paradox done pretty well, that one's it). He also starred into another costume drama about girl power, LOL, Destined, but it's more on the romantic (and heroic) side than anything. He's pretty good, though.
(Liu Tao, who played Nihuang in NiF, is also in Reset - you won't even recognise her. She's amazing).
I think he was keeping an eye on her or observing her because she kept making calls, and he only guided her to…
It really is a struggle. But I'm trying hard to see what other people found in it, and honestly I am curious about the villains by now, even if they're mostly side-characters who had nothing much to do so far.
I'm thinking that the ML is either the missing twin or the one who didn't go missing, that the original son is the one who killed the cat that the reporter/youtuber/psychiatrist saw in his childhood in that mysterious house, and that at least one of the villains is the original son who did not actually die or something.
I promise I didn't skip watch or read spoilers on that. How close am I?
Hey! Can anyone explain the theme of this drama? I watched the first ep and I find it hard to interpret the synopsis…
It's a xianxia story loosely based on a 5-6th century classic of Chinese mythology. A ragtag team of demon hunters, including the most powerful demon, a goddess and a god, humans and other spirits get together to hunt down rogue demons wrecking havoc in the human realm. Each of them has a secret mission of their own and there's a general overarching story involving most of them that will eventually be unravelled as they catch and punish misbehaving demons.
From the first ep, you should know that Zhu Yan is the demon who killed Zhuo YiChen's family and clan, so there's a blood feud between them. But now they have to work together at least for a while to solve their cases. For the rest of the team gathering... give it a few more eps.
Comments and reviews are quite complimentary, but the ratings are lower by comparison. Any theories as to why?
As usual, don't bother going by the MDL rating system, as it changes with the wind. (Pretty objectively) good dramas get underrated, while not-so-great dramas get hyped and overscored all the time. And there's a huge bias in favour of anything kdrama against cdrama.
You could go by comments - people who enjoyed it, or those who did not, will usually says so and why they did.
Myself, I VERY much enjoyed it and it's one of my favourites so far from ZRY (and support cast.) The plot is NOT silly or treating the audience as if they're braindead, there's a nice pace of the story, amazingly good acting, nice twists and turns and best of all, nary a king or queen or prince or princess in sight in an ancient China costume drama :D
So, I was thinking. Everybody is forgetting Xinnian all over the place until they need him, while at the same time, Wang SiMu is out there plotting on how to get him and probably already picking names for their future children, LOL. I hope they at least get a happy ending this season.
On 7th. So... His wife was just attacked by someone who seems to be close enough to know whatever they're doing, so he decides the best thing is to make her wander on foot halfway through Seoul in the middle of the night, though a Stephen King level of horror creepy amusement park aaaaaall by her lonely self... then meet her finally around half the city away in a cliché tourist spot that just so amazingly happens to be open but empty?
I know there's suspension of disbelief and all, but LOL, guys, seriously? :D
ETA Also, I've read lots of comments complimenting the leads' awesome chemistry, while I am still waiting for it to make an appeareance.
3 
So... more recs? (Now you've gotten hooked on cdramas, let's switch from mainland to the island? :D)
Another amazing time paradox story is the one in top of the rec list, Someday Or One Day, a Taiwanese drama about trying hard to save someone by going back in time. It gave me more of a feeling like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time instead of Reset, but it's still a pretty good and gripping (romantic) time paradox.
And one of the best supernatural but in a comedic setting dramas, that will twist your heart out and leave it out to dry is Oh No! Here Comes Trouble (still from Taiwan). It's not time paradox, but it's even more gripping than Reset, IMHO, and done amazingly well. Great (non-romantic) bromance, amazing characters, it brings out all the emotions and you end up laughing with tears in your eyes. I love that drama, LOL, does it show? :D
Yup, this drama is pretty good and the time paradox held up very well.
Did you recognise ~Nihuang~ at all? :)
Suspension of disbelief only goes so far, and TBH, comparing it to wuxia is laughable. Wuxia IS martial arts fantasy, not even pretending to be rooted in reality in any way other than the costumes used, if they bother with those at all.
The drama falls flat totally on the comedy aspect, and sadly that's what they wrote - a space comedy that has no humour. I'm not even going to pretend it's scifi or even sci anymore, since it's definitely not.
I'll take a Shen Shu re-bodied as long as he keeps smiling like that :D
Or is the missing supervisor Shen Shu? Why did he erase his own memory then?
Is Shen Shu going to remain a spirit forever? Boo!!!
Did Xinnian sleep at SiMu's door all night LOL?
WHAT the heck is the mystery treasure that feeds Shen Shu's demonic hand and WHY did it need to be put inside XQA? Did the supervisor put it there?!
I did watch the first season, but I also got myself spoiled with the novel (and that one's a huge monster of a story), and they diverted enough from it that I felt a bit lost and not really motivated to get into the second season yet. I'll get there when they announce a tentative release year for JoL3. And this one is a drama that I wish DOES divert more from the novel's ending, because that one got way too convoluted and sci-fi for my taste. I love sci-fi, I just didn't like this one's ending explanations.
And yeah, isn't ZRY amazing? I love good actors that actually have charisma, even if they're not the idol-beauty standard. Or maybe because of it, LOL.
Be warned Sword Snow Stride is also a first season from more, I don't know how many. It's more cinematography than plot, for me, but there are a few heart-breaking scenes that made me like it anyway.
If you feel like watching a very entertaining wuxia/xianxia that doesn't take itself so seriously, watch Guardians of the Dafeng (currently airing). It has a bit of a similar cheerful feeling as JoL and is also a transmigration story. And the ML is the cheekiest liar/charming rogue you've ever seen, LOL. For the laughs :D
ETA Yeah, xianxia and wuxia are kind of completely different beasts, LOL.
As for New Life Begins... I rather like Bai JingTing a LOT more in Reset (if you want to see time paradox done pretty well, that one's it). He also starred into another costume drama about girl power, LOL, Destined, but it's more on the romantic (and heroic) side than anything. He's pretty good, though.
(Liu Tao, who played Nihuang in NiF, is also in Reset - you won't even recognise her. She's amazing).
I'm thinking that the ML is either the missing twin or the one who didn't go missing, that the original son is the one who killed the cat that the reporter/youtuber/psychiatrist saw in his childhood in that mysterious house, and that at least one of the villains is the original son who did not actually die or something.
I promise I didn't skip watch or read spoilers on that. How close am I?
From the first ep, you should know that Zhu Yan is the demon who killed Zhuo YiChen's family and clan, so there's a blood feud between them. But now they have to work together at least for a while to solve their cases. For the rest of the team gathering... give it a few more eps.
You could go by comments - people who enjoyed it, or those who did not, will usually says so and why they did.
Myself, I VERY much enjoyed it and it's one of my favourites so far from ZRY (and support cast.) The plot is NOT silly or treating the audience as if they're braindead, there's a nice pace of the story, amazingly good acting, nice twists and turns and best of all, nary a king or queen or prince or princess in sight in an ancient China costume drama :D
So, I was thinking. Everybody is forgetting Xinnian all over the place until they need him, while at the same time, Wang SiMu is out there plotting on how to get him and probably already picking names for their future children, LOL. I hope they at least get a happy ending this season.
I know there's suspension of disbelief and all, but LOL, guys, seriously? :D
ETA Also, I've read lots of comments complimenting the leads' awesome chemistry, while I am still waiting for it to make an appeareance.