Wren

Adorable WTH? that I Still Enjoyed

This is one of those shows where the message is about the journey, and the plot very much takes that route. I think this could have been stretched out to 12 episodes to give a little bit more of fleshing out because the ending was very rushed, as does it usually is. Ep. 8 is was pretty much all filler just to get to that end scene, the 2nd to last episode curse and then conclusion and end. I can't help but feel like I've missed something.
What happened to Junior's brother Little? Does Junior ever visit after he went to Bangkok?
What happened to Nam? He became a bully and then just fell off the face of the earth.
Did the 'bad guy' die? He was hit on the back of the head. Did he live and get rearrested?
Who was the guy on the phone?
How far away do Jeng and Judd live from the school because they got to Sun reaaaaally quickly LOL
How did Sun turn back into a human? How did he get from the hospital to Junior?
I honestly wtf'd my whole way through the final 2 episodes LOL

The plot focused on Sun and Junior's journey and everything else just danced around them.

I almost feel like we had another director for those final episodes. There was a drastic change of tone for me, so much so that the humour that was littered throughout the show, which I had been enjoying up until then, seemed really out of place.

Having said that, it is what it is, and I still enjoyed it but things did go wonky at the end there.

The CGI stuff didn't bother me honestly. Even that last scene of Junior fulfilling his dream didnt bother me. I get it. CGI is expensive. It's ok, I'm not going to be too harsh about it. Did laugh a little at Sun visibly sweating in his artic clothing with the wind sounds and green screen northern lights LOL

Overall, it's a sweet quirky show, kind of a filler for your afternoon type of show and I thought the ML's as newbie, did well for their first roles.

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Lessons from Cheng Yi

Mysterious Lotus Casebook is my unbeaten Cdrama favourite and Cheng Yi my cdrama King. So my interest in this was a little selfish as I wanted to see more of Shunxi. Watching this, within the first 3 episodes, I was already in love with his acting. He's the type of character that speaks with his eyes, something that Cheng Yi does really well, for me at least.

Xianxia and I have a bit of a yin and yang relationship ourselves, and I know these sorts of stoic, never speak their feelings ML's are abundant, but within the first episode, I was hooked on Bai's character.

It was like an immediate, "ohhhhhhhh, oh noooo," he's going to hurt my feelings. And I was right, he did. It was the classic, seems like an asshole character, but is in fact, baring all the pain and trouble. Simping, I believe some might call it.
But he had me. Just like Cheng Yi with every show I have watched him. Tortured prince lazer gaze and I couldn't look away.
He went up my 'must watch' list very quick.

By the ending of episode two, I knew I was going to binge this.

With that said.

What really took me out throughout this whole damn show, was how everything was preplanned. Literally every arc but the last, was just one plan after enough and after a while, I kind of rolled my eyes. It felt like one giant troll for the audience.
The illusion arc, ok, that one makes sense.
But the first one, didn't really sit well with me, because why would everyone act like they're on stage for each other. That to me, genuinely did not make sense. Bai wasn't there so why? I would have preferred an 'awakening' style approach but maybe the writer just didn't want something that is so common with Xianxia.
The character switch just didn't make sense to me if it was all such a pretend. I did feel some scenes were too long too. It's like they gave some scenes some extra minutes to stretch the episode but minor criticism.

I did genuinely enjoy the show. The saving of the first Meng did make me a little queasy and on two separate occasions, my eyes filled with tears. So far, only Cheng Yi has managed to do that for.

Bai Lu has been around for a while, I have watched and enjoyed her before. Her voice actress knocked it out of the park with 'that' scene. You will know when you watch it because damn, between the voice actress cries and Bai Lu's devasted face, it's an emotional scene to watch.

Bai Lu and Zeng Shunxi, did well together. Their chemistry seemed a lot more subtle but I think that went with deep yearning that the character of Bai felt. Not knowing what he done to deserve the love of his life's wrath. It was meant to be a deep will I or won't I kind of feeling, rather than a passionate blaze. The confliction between the characters was the main point.
I did feel like the show slowed a little after the reveal, which it takes to episode 23 to happen. Odd, since that's the final arc lol But I may have felt that way because we see a lot more of the side characters afterwards, to develop them in order to have their ending.

It's a bit of a roller coaster ride of guess what, and who's who, with glorious sets and hairstyles, but it has a classic xianxia style ending. Thankfully they at least save time to wrap up everyone's story, instead of rushing to a finish. That's something that really annoys me so I appreciated that.

Overall, it is a classic Xianxia style plot but with obvious twists in an effort to make it different and considering the genre's ending standards, it was a fairly happy ending.

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My Aesthetic Dream

Rated ~ 47.5/50 - Actual 9.5

My new No.1 BL.

Grunge fashion, art, vigilantes, motorbikes, tattoos, truth to power, twins, parkour ~ this was my aesthetic dream and even if I didn't enjoy the plot, this a visually euphoric for me.

Thankfully, I enjoyed the hell out of the plot. I was addicted from the first episode, I couldn't stop. And I love when that happens.

White and Black are identical twins who can feel the other's pain. When their parent's divorce, they are separated and White is moved to Russia, with his diplomat father where he loses his connection to Black.
As a young adult, he moves back to Thailand to start a political career. One evening during a dinner with his father and his friends, he experiences what Black is feeling for the first time since childhood, and we see that Black is running for his life and being beaten up by a group of men in suits. When White is in the hospital after collapsing, he gets a call from his childhood friend to tell him that Black is in a coma and near death.
To find the truth for this brother, he disguises himself as Black and takes his identity in order to join the motorcycle vigilante gang that Black was a part of, to discover who it was that attacked him whilst developing feelings for one member of the group, Sean.

Thus begins the identity swap to unravel the secrets of Black's gang and his attackers. A plot that will get me every time. I can't help it.


Some criticisms though ~
First - The twins have really crappy parents. Who separates siblings to begin with. I mean, parents separate but for them to decide, hey, I'll take this kid, and you take that one, and we'll never see each other again, boggles my mind. Then when White walks out on his father, we never see him again. At least Black fell out with his mother. White's dad was just like, sigh. And that's it LOL OK?

2 ~ After the attack on the garage, did White and Sean just live in a tent? lol We never see them in a building or what they're doing with their lives afterwards. How are they surviving? We are told via news outlet that boys are out on probation, which will give them a record. We see one boy continues his art project so, he was able to go back to Uni. But I feel like the relationships took a little more precedence over how the boys are living. I mean, just a scene of them being back in their room at the garage, or living in Black's old place would have been fine for me. Just a small missing detail that had me questioning.

3 ~ Black was absolutely my favourite character and I would have loved to have gotten more info on him. I understand that he goes off to do his own thing but I would like to have known what that thing was. Like White, he deserved to be happy esp since he had the harder road to walk. I assume he didn't go back to Uni or White would have known where he was. He kind of becomes a symbol at the end of White's alter ego rather than being a separate character that just hides in the background. I feel like he deserved more understanding than he got.
Todd also gave off a slight homo erotic vibe towards Black as well but we never see Black's perspective. He clearly loved Eugene so obviously Todd wasnt going to be at the forefront but I would have liked to have seen a little more inside his head.

4 ~ The relationship between Eugene and Gram was kind of awkward and I actually found it a little sad for Black. Cant lie. His childhood friend uses him and then tries to kill him. And his other bestie is lusting over his girlfriend, whom he breaks up with to protect, and he moves in like a vulture. eww.


The music in this was awesome. I dont think I've ever given a show's bgm a 10. It fit with the story and my own tastes, without being intrusive or wrongly placed, which I find can happen in Thai bls.

Overall, I'm a little addicted to this one, and I know it will be on repeat. No questions.

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If someone bullies you, it's because they like you

Rated= 5~ 24/50 ~ 4.8
RPG Scene // Zombies shambling and falling off Mountain Pass. Dont even need my sword. They walked off themselves.

I tried to like this, I really did but I just couldn't do it. I initially loved it with Wuxin and Xiao but then he left and it started to get really boring with lots of very irritating characters, very fast. And at least by ep 16, they're trying to force a romance with Xiao and the female character trope I absolutely loathe. Pouty princess with a big weapon. She beats you up because she loves you. Just no. That's not a couple destined to be. I don't do tsunderes and I can't imagine a man like Xiao liking it either. I just wanted Wuxin to come back so I googled and was disappointed so I've decided to drop.

Visually, there's a lot of special effects here. Gives me a final fantasy kind of vibe with a headache inducing amount of characters and back stories.

Xiao's face though. I will be watching out for that actor later because damn. I don't mind looking at him a little longer lol currently watching In Blossom with Wuxin's actor and he's pretty fine too with hair LOL honestly, if they do a spin off with just Xiao and Wuxin, I'd be all in but this is just too much for me to sit through 40 hours of my life.

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Xianxia and I aren't going to be friends

Rated= 4 ~ 15/50 ~ 3
RPG Scene // Trolls wading through the Murky Swamp. My club is splitting.

I promised myself that if I can't make it through to the end, I'm crossing off Xianxia's in the future, unless Cheng Yi is involved. I only made it to the end of L&R through bias alone 😂 It's a genre I feel the culture clash in, really hard, and when you already have a belief system in place and notions of what a 'deity/immortal/God' is, it can be very difficult to watch a very human, politically motivated soap opera happen with divinities as the characters. And that's just the concept standing by it's self.

This follows the trend of every Xianxia, I've tried to watch before it. Visually, gorgeous. Everyone is fantastically dolled up in plastic head gear and fabulous costuming and I usually enjoy the lore. This time round there was a lot of emphasis on the elements and how that creates the true form of the Immortal and the elemental power they can wield. That's a fun idea. It also ties back to the title and the 'water and fire dont mix' mantra. Jinme is a frost flower, water, Xu Feng is a Phoenix, fire, and Run yu is a Water dragon. She is engaged to Run yu, water with water, but is supposed to fall in love with Xu Feng. The fire will burn her.

Likewise, her mother also shared a similar fate. She was a Lotus, in love with Jin Me's father, the Water deity, and had a tragic affair with the Heavenly Emperor, who is fire.

The costuming and the lore. That's what I love about the Xianxia genre. It's incredibility creative and I enjoy that. But that's where the love ends. Just like the characters, the Xianxia genre and I are different elements. I don't know which one, but we clash a lot.

This is not a case of 'go watch disney' kind of mentally. Without drama, there wouldn't be a story. That's the point of fiction, to be entertained, to be inspired, to find something within the story to hold dear to your heart as you travel through your own trials in life. But when the drama doesn't make sense or is clashing with your own outlook in life, you're not going to like the story for it has nothing to offer you.

One of my favourite characters, is the anti-hero. I like watching the underdog win. In this story, it's very clear from the start who the underdog is, so I'm going to adopt him very quickly and cheer for him, and that is our second ML, Runyu, played by the very elegant Luo Yun Xi, who I must say, I've only seen him in Till the End of the Moon, which I also dropped, and I've already got a little soft spot for him.

(I really hope he's not getting the Cheng Yi treatment and just forced to play the abused Prince all the time)

So when the plot eventually arrives around episode 8, I know that things are going to get really messy.

Our FL is our standard, so innocent but is really just the usual village idiot that these genres seem to like having. Massive LOL to her guardians, who are told she is to have a love trial and protect her from pain and they basically bubble wrap her so she has no emotional intelligence to protect her from foretold pain. The seal is meant to stop her from feeling romantic love not stop her from using her brain. She clearly has one, as she's bargaining for spiritual energy to help her friend, who sacrificed herself to save her. Understandable. She's not unfeeling, just blinded to romantic love. And she has to stay in the flower realm for 10 thousand years so that she doesn't experience her love trial. So of course that's not happening.
As the plot unravels, we see that Jinme is going to have a similar situation to her mother, only this time, has not one clue how to navigate it because she's been emotionally and spiritually suppressed by magically seals and her Guardians. Ahh, yes, the Immortal's Wisdom at play here.....huh?

Our ML is our typical self righteous, golden child who is pretty aloof at first but somehow falls in love with Jin me like he's never seen another woman before. Was it her talking about putting on weight on her chest? The feeding you kiss? Trying to eat his testicles when they first met? Was he seduced as opposed to love? A lot of sexual build up with these two, but no emotional. We as the viewer know that he's feeling something very intense. Jin me is completely oblivious but I was going with it. Let it unravel.

Back to Runyu, it is shown that he is also feeling something but the big thing for me here is that he's distant despite his affection. And it's a gentle affection, like a crush almost but he has an emotional wall up because he's engaged. I understand by ep 19 that he's clearly been neglected and abused and the Heavenly Empress is trying to find a reason to execute him because he's a threat to the throne. And I'm guessing 'her' throne, not the ML.
Why are we using the word 'deity' for a very, very human situation? I clash with this narrative.

My interpretation here is that, this promise of a wife, has been what he's held onto and has been embarrassed repeatedly that this promised wife wasn't even born yet. So when he discovers that it's the girl he's been crushing on, he is naturally over the moon that he finally won't be alone. It was a cold move the way he made sure to secure that promise but I understood it. That's not drama for dramas sake. That was a clever move. I applauded. Not even a few episodes later, in comes the ML with his manipulation because he's 'in love' and it's meant to be justified.

I know where this is going and the other low rated reviews just confirm it.

I'm going to be on Run yu's side no matter how far he falls later because I understand him. When he finally breaks, it will be him I will be crying for and not the so called 'good guys' who pushed him to that point. And this is where I realise that me and Xianxia aren't going to be friends, because here we are again. The relationship between the audience and the characters is what creates the support for a show and the emotional drive of the audience. I can't support an eternally dense FL who is that way because it's supposed to be cute and it drives the narrative. Or a ML who so far, is just determined to get what he wants. I have no other reason to feel empathic for him. I haven't been shown any, other than he's randomly obsessed with the FL for some reason. Much like his father.
Nor an Uncle who is also determined to get the ML the girl he wants. While ignoring the feelings of his other nephew simply because he said so. That's also very painful favouritism to the golden child that everyone loves. To hell with Run yu right?

I'm going to cheer for the character trying to keep his or her head above the water and for some reason, in Xianxia's that's always the so called 'Villain'. I've danced this dance before, I can already sense how the writing is going to go and I know I'm going to hate it because that's not what I'm looking for in a story.

I don't even want to say this is for a 'younger audience' even though it's a knee jerk reaction to do so because it 'feels' immature, and that's not fair to the younger generation. Life makes the person regardless of age.
The narrative is to support the main couple but all I see is sexual tension and that's not love.
I see the potential for an emotional bond with Run yu because that's where my emotional connection is. I don't care about the leads because I have no reason to and at episode 20, that's a bad sign. To know that the writing is just going to make a villain out of him, then I'm going to be a villain too and hate everyone with him, and be left disappointed with him.

Jin me's father, mother and the Wind deity is what you are looking for. That is real love, loyalty and friendship. Unless it changes later lol

Damn, this is long 😂

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The Kiss and Everything Else

Rated = 6 ~ 25/50 ~ 5
RPG Scene // A flurry of fairies surrounding me on mountain pass and dazzling me with their twinkling lights, that I drop my battle axe down the ravine. Damn.

If there is one thing I can praise this show on is the kiss scene. They took the time to build up the feels and then let it explode into a really passionate kiss. I appreciate that and I actually rewatched it a few times. So points.

This is unfortunately one of those shows for me where it starts off fine, then gets super tense for that kiss scene, and then just kind of trails off eventually to basically being back to where they started from.
I found, for the most part, one half of the pair annoying. I don't like the 'jock, always in your face' type characters because he's basically just annoying his crush until he relents. I dont find that endearing.
The friends were the usual, barely thinking characters we usually get unless there's drama to be created.
I can understand the parents at war with each other but the Uni as well, I felt like were always pitting the two faculties together which, honestly for me, felt a little dumb. Why would a social setting do that and then complain when fights break out? Wha?
By ep 9 I was skipping because I just wanted it to end.
The ending, I can deal with. I guess it's somewhat realistic but at the same time, also feels a bit stupid. Perhaps it was more just simply how it was written that feels a bit of silly.

Ultimately, the Kiss was great, 10/10, I gave a whole extra point for it but I'm unlikely to rewatch the show.

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