TallestGrass

I swore I remember the billing order looked right a couple months ago. I thought I remember seeing peng xiao ran came after gong jun… that’s weird 🤔

… I’ll have to disagree… the show portrays her as illiterate but not stupid or a fool like what you said. The show illustrates that she had a good upbringing by good parents who instilled wisdom by word of mouth, practice, and every day life, just not by written words.
But if she were properly educated maybe she could have been smarter but she might loss the meaning behind the symbolic name bestowed to her by her godfather, “Shan Jun”, gentlemen from the mountain/ the wild, a female tiger (tigress) showing both gentleness and strength to guard and protect. At many aspects of the show, there are characters and moments that highlight how she has a sort of natural wisdom enabling her to look past prejudices that normally binds men and women (societal norms) and a knack at hunting (predicting animal/human behavior). She maybe honest and sometimes that honesty might lead her to be gullible. But honesty doesn’t really equate to stupidity. And there isn’t anything wrong with trusting your family like your mother and father and your husband who went through hardship with you. If your parents were to have a hidden past you don’t know about and they have kept hidden, there really is no reason why you would suddenly suspect your parents having a hidden past/identity. Unless they told you themselves.

I believe the show demonstrates her growth fairly well. She started off as a teenager who just lost her parents a couple months ago, to being the sole breadwinner/adult of her family, her little sister. In the initial stages of the story she still retains girlish shyness and dreams and hopes but on the other hand she has the strength and inner steel to fend off bullies who prey on her, her sister, her home, her parents’ generosity. When her husband left her, she continued her life and continued to earn a living for her and her sister. When war tore up her village and town, she stood up against even bigger bullies, fought for the lives of her villagers (the children, women, and elderly who were left behind by the men who were drafted). When aftermath of her village and town has pass, she buried all of the dead villagers besides her parents grave and swore to bring her sister and all those who were kidnapped or pushed out of town back home and rebuild their home town. When she found herself in the frontline of war, she fought in one, found slaughter distasteful and soldiers on both sides of the war to be normal civilians forced to fight someone’s war. Here her godfather/shifu told her there are different types of slaughter. Lord Changxin sought warfare for personal gain but there are those who join the war trying to stop it from causing more death, disaster, and harm (others sought to protect). She decides to join the war again with the mission to protect the homeland that stands behind her. And in her second battle she cut down Lord Changxin, the head of the rebellion. And that feat would certainly deserve her promotion to a general, as that would signify the end of the rebellion effectively ending the war. From being a regular teenager, she became the sole breadwinner of her family, to being a wife, to being a legendary female butcher hero stopping human trafficking, to being a general in her own rights. Again and again she stood up for those who need her, she stood up for her sister, she stood up for her village and town, she stood up for women and children, she stood up for the homeland that lies behind her. She was a woman who was like any other woman but also unlike any other. She is a person of great strength (raised that way by her parents) waiting for her calling. When there are people who need her help, she would answer their calling and finds her self quickly learning and adapting to her new roles.

It’s true the story is pretty simple and linear. I think it falls into the coming of age genre (bildungsroman). But this type of story always work especially for younger audiences and maybe older audiences too. Because all of us have experienced some form of coming of age. Hers is a tad legendary and exceptional. But how come it still works because I don’t know if anyone on MDL has point it out but Fan Changyu is inspired by a real like female general from the Ming dynasty, Qin Liangyu. A historical figure much more real than Mulan. (The author of the novel drew inspiration from this historical person who once lived in the same town she is from, Chongqing.) Audience on the other side of the globe, call Fan Changyu the spiritual embodiment of Qin Liangyu. If you look her up, Qin Liangyu was an exceptional person of her time. Not only did she fought besides her husband, in her husband’s place, inheriting his position, but later on she was made a general and marquess in her own right for her service. The only woman made a Marquess in her own right in legitimate Chinese history.

And yes the story definitely had plot holes especially toward the last 5 episodes of the drama. But not exactly what you pointed out in terms of her growth story.

This is definitely not a deeply political drama with many plot twists and schemes. It seems to me a coming of age hash romance type of story.

I feel so bad for the drama and everyone who worked on it. I’ll just have to stay away from social media like Weibo, rednote, and tik tok so I don't see spoilers…. I don’t even understood how this happened. I’ve never even heard dramas could get leaked before official release… this is one of the dramas I was excited for and happy that it’s a drama with tian xi Wei in it (and an interesting role for her). A lot of popular dramas that done well in 2025 just wasn’t good enough for me probably because I’ve much older than 5-7 years ago I’ve seen similar plot before and seen actors/actresses who have done an impressive performance. But this drama was different. I was so happy I finally found a drama that I genuinely enjoy and looking forward to. I watch the first 5 episodes loved it and decided to support the drama by paying for the 1 month subscription on wetv/tencent even though I’m trying hard to save money because I want to support the drama officially… so upset that this happened…so I’m just venting a little… 🥲

I did a quick search on Weibo and I’m almost pretty sure that this isn’t based off of the author’s books. This is completely original script probably written by a team of scriptwriters. I watch the trailer last night and I don’t believe this story or its characters fit into zhou munan’s universe’s timeline. The trailer mentioned Xiao Se’s father Mingde emperor and shows his head eunuch Jin Xuan in it. At this point in the story, there’s no way Tianzhan was shattered to pieces. This is way too close to the timeline of the blood of youth which implies that the imperial family had Tianzhan since the finding of the dynasty. And tianwai tian sect having a young female sect leader clashes with the blood of youth’s story, clashes with wuxin’s character arc. They also gave her the same family name as Ye dingzhi and wuxin, implying that wuxin somehow has an older sister or something. For those who have watch some or most of the author’s work, I think this mini drama would be very frustrating to watch. Nothing seems to make sense as it doesn’t follow the timeframe of the main story…

12/11/2025 Blood River broke 1.4 billion views (14 亿)

Not sure why it’s not listed but Yi Xiao Ya is the stylist for this drama. She’s probably the most famous stylist/costume designer in China (she shot into popularity after love between fairy and devil became a hit). I remember seeing a comment on weibo (translated) saying it’s her team, but just to be sure I rewatched the opening credits and her name is listed as the “styling director”. I also remember reading something or watching something on Weibo where the director Yin Tao was interviewed saying he want to use less green backdrop as much as possible (cgi backdrop) so most of the setting were built for this drama. Definitely the new/unseen before setting (compared to the overly used buildings and streets of hengdian) and his director style (his interpretation of how the script should be executed) complimented with an amazing team who created the cgi for the fight scenes (like su muyu’s rain sword, Tu wan’s frost fan blades, li in yue’s heart sword technique, etc) , amazing costume designer, the prolific writer Zhou munan, and so many other people helped make this drama a success and refreshing take on the new wuxia genre (separating it from old wuxia a genre probably from the 1950s or earlier) and set it apart from other dramas of 2025.

I finally decided to come back to this drama and complete it after I finished Blood River. I am a huge fan of the Blood of Youth which introduce me to Zhou Mu Nan's wuxia universe. I loved it so much that I rewatched it multiple times that I lost count back then in 2022. Even though I can't read Chinese, I bought all of his books, Blood of Youth, Young Brewmaster, Dark River, whatever was printed and I can get my hands or eyes on (anime wise). I watched all the anime of Zhou Mu Nan's shared universe: Blood of Youth anime, Dashing Youth/ Young Brewmaster anime, Blood/Dark River anime, and Jun You Yun/ A Gentlemen Says anime (Bili Bili's not Youku's. I even paid the official Bili Bili account on Youtube to watch it back then.). It was the first time I started watching Chinese anime and I had to get used to the Chinese anime style. All of the anime felt like a production of Zhou Mu Nan's work, lives and breaths his style of wuxia (new wuxia). All his main characters and all side characters seem to embody Zhou Mu nan's youthful energy and vigor. When I watch his anime, I get so enthralled and excited like I was a teenager again and your blood boil in excitement. And that is Zhou Mu Nan's theme and intention and trademark. But ... the big But... Dashing Youth (live adaption of the Young Brewmaster) was absolutely dreadful to watch. I don't know if it's the director or the combination of a bad directing, editing, and/or scriptwriting the plot is so dull and flat like a piece of paper. I mostly want to blame it on the bad directing, editing, and CGI (which replace most of the fight scenes). Most fight scenes people just stood there or hang in air and CGI did the work. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense that I liked the anime of the Young Brewmaster but something went so wrong with the live adaption... The only saving grace of Dashing Youth were mostly important side characters, like Li Changshou/Nangong Chunshui (loved both actors who played this person. Two different actors were able to make the audience believe they were one and the same person), and Sikong Changfeng which is the character I fell in love with in the Young Brewmaster anime loved his intro and his name. The rest of the main characters were so hard to follow or connect with, Yue Yao, Baili Dongjun, the later half of Yi Wenjun (the script killed this character's soul lol), and the list can go on. I’m not sure why they couldn’t get Yin Tao to directed Dashing Youth if he did I’m sure he could have kept the author’s intentions. With how well the Blood of Youth and Blood River did, as long as Yin Tao is paired up with Zhou Mu Nan the world of wuxia can be lit up yet again. Because this is what it mean's to be wuxia.

I watched about half of this drama back in 2023 and had it on hold ever since. But there's really nothing good to watch lately. I think from late 2024 till now there really isn't any drama that I can really hook on to. All the ones that were popular just wasn't my cup of tea. Somehow I was a little bored and felt like watching something that I know had good actors/actresses and had a different story to tell. So somehow I came back to this drama and finished it. It's pretty good. I liked it. It's much better than most of the dramas that came out in 2025. I like the osts. There were definitely some slow moments and the pacing did change in the later half of the drama. But just a few skips here and there, I really didn't miss anything (some parts of that Liu Cheng Feng). The later half of the drama had some major events that were so well done. The ML and FL balance each other so much and are such similar types of people. (She's a female general done right lol.) I do like how they are evenly matched. Toward the end even their dilemmas are the similar like they had to make difficult choices because of their position and they struggled a very similar way. The ending is something I didn't foresee. I liked it like that. Overall a very enjoyable watch for 2025.

I’m so glad someone dropped a comment on how many episodes Disney has released so far. I wanted to watch legally and enjoy the best quality the show has to offer. Thank you! Will subscribe to Disney+ tonight and watching from the beginning ~

wow I can't help but agree with @T.S.Johnson .... I was disappointed with the Female General. I need to skip so much especially the flashbacks of their school days and especially when those flashbacks bring new faces and it doesn't help that they all wear the same uniform. whatever emotional impact those school days scenes were supposed to bring fell flat for me...whenever fillers like those school days scenes come up it puts a person like myself who came back from a long day of work to sleep immediately... I might have liked something like this when I was younger but maybe my taste has change. After a long day of work I really crave for a good show that brings something new and fresh or an old story told differently especially to an audience like myself who has watch so many dramas before. The difficulty completing the Female General has made it difficult for me to try Shadow Love. I've watch the trailer before and was slightly excited about it back then. But I groan to think if it's anything like Female General... When Destiny Bring a Demon isn't all that bad at least narrative-wise. I like the story. It's different. I haven't caught up with the current episodes yet but the world system that story offers is interesting. The people and the story of this type of xianxia are being portrayed and told the opposite to what they normally represent in this type of xianxia. People who are good does outrageously evil deeds openly with people around them in some knowledge of what's going on but everyone is playing dumb (pretending to be righteous). It's irritating seeing this type of people and it's satisfying when the ML gets some sort of revenge. The cultivation sect being so bad makes you wonder are the demon sect (?) sealed behind the barrier are actually good people. I put a pause on this one for now because... story isn't that bad but ... the actors aren't really pulling it off for me. The actress is doing her best but maybe she might need to learn practicing her micro-expressions more in front of the mirror or something I'm not a big fan of some of her expressions. Her acting works to push the story forward silly and funny but it isn't perfect some of her micro expression looks way too ridiculous that it's distracting ....I'm not a fan of the ml in general I like him in Evernight (?) but was disappointed by his acting in the awakening (I think that's what it's called).

And this is where Moonlit Reunion for now works for me...It checks off on the something new and different or a story told differently for me. It is slow burn but the slowness is that eye contact moment with whatever bgm and color that ushers that sense of an unspoken bond, connection, or understanding between the fl and ml (musubi from Your Name). I see you and you see me kind of moment. Something magical that resonates with the fantasy element of the drama. (it's a big plus for me that I'm a big fan of fantasy). (The slice of life vibe and the some youkai narrative is something it holds in common to a manga/anime I used to like when I was younger (Natsume's Book of Friends) which is another plus for me.) For me, I found the main story satisfying at first it started off a boy meet girl kind of story but the problem is that both has a hidden identity that they're hiding from each other but it's exactly that they're hiding the most amazing/powerful part of themselves is where they fall in love with each other. They fell in love silently quietly with the most normal and flawed human parts of themselves (flawed parts of themselves in the eyes of their human world). At night or in the shadows behind each others back they have secret business they got to attend to attached with their youkai/ exorcist identity, but at day or after a days long toil they come back to find solace in each other's company with normal talks and small teasings. It makes me as an audience wonder if only they were a normal boy and a normal girl who had met they could really be together and be themselves in each other's company. In a way, it could be read that deep down maybe that is what the fl want if only if only she was a normal girl. I haven't finish the drama and maybe I'm reading too much into it but for me, I see that she's a human girl who has her human life taken away from her and deep down the human part of her that she had buried resurfaces in front of her real human family (her father, her sister) and her love one...
And the second major big plus for me is the second fl and ml story line. I don't know if anyone who is familiar with Chinese folk story. But there's strong reference with the story of the white snake, and the whole aesthetic of the snake lord bears strong reference to old Hong Kong movies of something like A Chinese Ghost Story (based off of Pu Songling's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio). I love the cosmetic and design of the snake lord her flowing robes and wind blown loose hair. The second story line is completely retelling of a traditional Chinese folk youkai story with its own twist. I really enjoy the interaction between these two leads.

The way I see it I think there’s a lot to consider when deciding when rating this drama. It was supposed to be a S+ drama (I think they were trying to capitalize on the popularity of Love and Redemption). It was put on a 4 year hiatus. Nobody really knew what was the fate of this drama that so many people put so much effort and money into. 4 years later the taste of the audience have severely changed. But 4 years later they decidedto re-edit the drama and a new female lead actress and other actors came together to refilm all the required scenes relying on their imagination of the setting. I’m actually very impress with their dedication, their teamwork, and spirit. Knowing that this once S+ drama might flopped after re-editing, changing lead actress, and the 4 year hiatus they still were able to push this drama forward to be broadcasted. Against all the odds that it will flop, I really want to commend all the actresses and actors, directors, crew, designers, and everyone who took part. I finished the drama it might not be some people cup of tea but I think overall this drama was much more coherent and pieced together than I had imagined and expected. I’ve seen long dramas that were wrecked by horrible and sloppy editing (an ex on the top of my head is till the end of the moon). And having watch badly edited dramas and this one I think they’ve done the best they can to shrink what was supposed to be a 70 ? episodes drama to 40 episodes. It was coherent and it wasn’t too choppy. Yes towards the end there was a lack of transitions or explanation how everyone knew jinsiu’s real identity but I’ll take it that it’s implied people in the end have realized the truth after the war has settled down. And I know there are still many supporters of the original actress. Yes maybe it would have been great with her performance but maybe not because we’ll never know because she got herself in a tax scandal (which I don’t what exactly happened. Like for some actors/actress the outcome was so bad it ended their careers but recently song zu er came out of it and returned to showbiz). In any case, maybe the original fl was a victim of bad management, but I don’t know for sure. What was real was that her scandal jeopardized the efforts of the entire drama crew and everyone’s effort and money would have went under the water. I’m kind of glad hu yixuan was brave enough to pick up this drama which was potentially a flop. And I think it was a right choice to pick her because her warm smile, way she expresses her character (a camellia pixie), and her almond shaped face really fits the role. This is all my opinion though… With all the hurdles considered, I gave this drama a 9+ because I really felt the warmth of everyone’s contribution and commitment to a good story. Not a masterpiece but in this case the little flaws made it perfect for me. Everyone worked hard.

Will this be available on international YOUKU app?

I finished the last 3 episodes yesterday and I admit I cried a little and a lot of wows and surprises. There were something’s that were a little rushed (ex. Retrying the ending fight scene with the demon queen) but it’s not bad at all. It’s still fine the way it was executed and the message they are trying to convey to us. I think they wanted to focus on using one full episode to explain how the whole drama happened, the backstory that ties everything together. The techniques they used to tell the story is interesting and creative (even if it’s not new). They applied a frame story narrative structure on top of using metatheatre. I don’t know about you but that’s some sick techniques to use. It’s paying homage to literary writing (one of the oldest forms of narrative/literary techniques) and it’s intertwine very nicely to the core message of the story: who said things that happened in a story are illusions/fake. Reality mirrors tales and vise versa. It tells a tale of a person’s journey of learning to love himself first before he knows how to love someone else. Even if the journey might be questionable to you the audience it was real on every level to them. Who said stories are fake? (The literary part of me is screaming at how amazing this drama tied up. I screamed and wowed at everything else of course). Don’t get me wrong the message and techniques they used in the story isn’t new but because I made so many guesses in my head what they had in store was not what I expecting. That’s why this worked. It’s definitely a story better watching for yourself without spoilers (man I tried so hard dodging spoilers). My sister didn’t watch it and I would summarize the drama to her all the time. I was disappointed when she said it was cliched. Honestly you need to watch this drama without spoilers 🙂‍↕️The way the events unfold and the watching experience is what made this one special.

ugh the closest theaters that have it is about an hour away but it's in another state. Available for less than one week and only has a morning and a night showtime. 2 showtimes per day until next Thursday :/

Thank you!! lol but I got to check the theaters around me they might or might not be showing it 😅

I can’t can’t wait when ml becomes the 状元 the top scholar. I haven’t watch an ml who’s a 状元 in a long time in dramas. I’m so excited to see when he’s officially recognized by the government, the whole country and give his father a big slap in the face. ☺️ it’s a huge achievement in Chinese culture back then.

Yes this drama does bear a lot of initial similarities with the double and the story of minglan. But I’m also enjoying the differences this show has with those 2, so far so good for me. I’m not sure why there’s so many haters for the show calling on incest and on renmin’s voice. Their relationship to me bears a lot of similarities with disciples who share the same master. They can grow up to see each other as just siblings or grow up to see each other as partners in life. And as someone pointed out they didnt even grew up together. The Fl and ML didn’t even recognize each other. By the time the FL/ML refereed each other as brother and sister and the time the ml discovered her real relationship to him it probably only spanned a few months. And I don’t know why people are so riled up when people use their real voices. I found renmin’s voice very beautiful and adorable and it matches her role alot because it’s a really unique voice. It’s the same when chengyi used his voice in 莲花楼. I don’t understand why people can’t leave people’s voice alone. I like it when people use their real voice for me the character feels more realistic

Will this have an international release like tiger wolf rabbit?

Yeah it’s only on a limited release. I think it was in theaters for only one week. For me where I’m at it was released on 10/4 Friday and last day it had showtime was 10/10 Thursday. I was able to watch it last week 😅

You’re welcome ☺️