Willie Wu

It's both happy and sad. It depends on your perspective. It is sad in that the main female lead had to sacrifice so much. It is happy in that the sacrifice did what it was suppose to and helped fulfilled the main female lead's wishes.

Rest in peace :[

Congratulations. I didn't even know they were dating. I'm so behind on entertainment industry news :')

Haha, yes I agree and I probably like short articles too. Making an intro is hard and I believe OP spent a lot of time doing research and watching these dramas her/himself to give her thoughts on the subject.

While I might have used the word oversimplified. I think what really didn't sit well with me is how the demons and heavenly realms are pit against each other. The words such as dark and evil being used to described demons. I would rather use words such as different even in a oversimplified version if you know what I mean. So perhaps, I probably would have been better off straight off saying I disagree so I don't sound so arrogant. Nonetheless, props to the OP for making this summary.

I don't know about others but what I personally enjoy watching in xianxia is the fact that different species and clans (demon/human, birds/human, etc.) would come together to work on a problem (love, saving the world, etc.). So my comment's purpose is actually to try to inject the perspective that all these different realms are merely a talk about different views and cultivation ways rather than "dark and light" or "evil and good." Like the drama Ever Night puts it "Absolute light is total darkness."

Haha, yes I agree. Making my article will articulate my opinion better and it might not give off the vibe of stealing someone's article and being toxic, but I am too lazy to make my own so that's probably why I am having a discussion here even though I am pretty much disagreeing with a lot of the vibe i got off the article (Good effort and writing nonetheless).

While I might have used the word oversimplified. I think what really didn't sit well with me is how the demons and heavenly realms are pit against each other. The words such as dark and evil being used to described demons. I would rather use words such as different even in a oversimplified version if you know what I mean.

I don't know about others but what I personally enjoy watching in xianxia is the fact that different species and clans (demon/human, birds/human, etc.) would come together to work on a problem (love, saving the world, etc.). So my comment's purpose is actually to try inject the perspective that all these different realms are merely a talk about different views and cultivation ways rather than "dark and light" or "evil and good." Like the drama Ever Night puts it "Absolute light is total darkness."

Yes, I agree. Just like current race/ethnicity problems in real life, there's actually less distinction than what we make it to be!

I actually did read it. The full quote will be:
"The demons and other evil beings live in the Demon Realm. Although they are composed of evil or dark energy, this does not signify that all demons are evil."

What I'm trying to refer to is not the latter part but the front part. "Composed of evil...." I'm saying there is excessive links to evilness. The wording of the entire demon section seems to be to say "Born evil with a few exceptions" rather than "Born and chose to be evil." which is what I'm trying to say with my lengthy post above.

Like it might seem rude, but I am in fact subtly opposing the image I got from your article (while still trying to praise your efforts to summarize), which is why I kinda seem hostile. Since it seems like we are both kinda getting heated with this, I will say that I am intending to firmly disagreeing with your opinion (not trying to get you to edit it or change your opinion or anything) to try to clear any misunderstanding of whether I am trying to agree or disagree with you. I also agree that this might be a bit too long if we were to continue so I don't plan to reply to your comments after this one >.<,

In response to the Extra P.S.

I think your Extra P.S. summarized why I wanted to make this lengthy comment. I believe there is no need to link anything to anything. In fact, part of the reason I believe my lengthy comment is necessary is because I want to address the fact that there are a lot of assumptions in this intro and it is way more complicated than mentioned in the intro. One of these assumptions being demons are evil. Demons aren't linked to evil actually. It is linked to extreme difference. Demons simply live a different way of life and is part of a different region/power of influence as the ones in the Heavenly Realm. Everything in between (the other titles that weren't mentioned in the article but I briefly talked about) don't exactly fall into "evil" and "good" either. A problem I believe this article seems to play into is how one side is "good" and "evil" and in the grand scope of this genre, this isn't definite. Sure, in some dramas, this distinction can be made, but it is not true across the whole genre. Hence, it is troublesome to see people walking into this genre and believing demons are automatically evil, deities automatically good, and anything else is just an exception. In fact, dramas like Love and Redemption will spend most of its story trying to say there is no need to eliminate these six-winged birds(?) because they are not that different from other beings. You can in fact fall in love with a demon as a human.

I view this as a very oversimplified version of the situation of xianxia dramas. It is a well thought out article but it glosses over a few things that I believe is important too. It is more complicated than this article seems to make it out to be.

First, there are way more classifications than what is seen in the dramas mentioned above which actually focused more on romance than xianxia. The aforementioned dramas are more like dramas in between xianxia and romance. There are more xianxia intensive dramas that start tapping into the Chinese pantheon and you will realize there are more distinctions.

Some things I would like to mention are:

Demons are not always evil. Sometimes the deities are the ones that are "evil" through their strict interpretation of "The way" or Dao.

There are classifications such as Yao (Evil Spirits), Gui (Ghosts), Mo (Demons), Ling (Spirits), Jing (Seductive Spirits), etc.. Funny thing is Gui is sometimes part of the Heavenly Realm (There is like an unspoken pact with the Underworld that isn't fully controlled by the Heavenly Emperor). Even though I wrote Yao as evil spirits (there is actually not enough English equivalents to fully express differences), there are also good Yaos.

With in the "Heveanly Realm" there are also classifications such as Xian (Deities), Shen (Deities in the government/power), Shen Shou (Mythical Beasts), etc.. Not all of the deities are under the Heavenly Emperor though. There are deities out of the control of the Heavenly Emperor. For example, the Underground Realm has their own Emperor (Like the famous story of how Son Wukong went there to steal the Book of Life/Death). The deities in the human world are not necessarily in control of the Heavenly Emperor either (though they prefer to follow the rules so they don't get into trouble). Examples would be tu di (土地）which are local deities of the land. The Heavenly Emperor also don't have power over certain deities like the Tao and Buddhist pantheon that sometimes appears in these xianxia/mythical stories. For example, Buddha or one of the Three Pure Ones of Taoism might appear in some of these stories and their decisions to bestow aid/redemption are not reflective of the Heavenly Emperor (though the Heavenly Emperor, Taoist leaders, and Buddhist leaders are mostly in harmony in most of these dramas.)

The Shen Shou, or what I call Heavenly Beasts, will sometimes appear as mounts, or powerful mythical creatures that sometimes the Heavenly Emperor have no power over. Examples of Beasts that the Heavenly Emperor has power over would be "the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas." They have dragon blood (considered mythical beasts that precede humans) that also considered Shen (position in the courts). However, they are also part of the "Mortal Realm" in the sense that they are local deities just like Tu di and not all of them are immortal (they simply have longer lifespans). Certain species of beasts can also be found in different realms (like the mentioned Nine-tailed Foxes in the article is from the "Mortal Realm"). That said, they can also descent from the "Demon Realm" too. Oh and like animals in the Mortal Realm, they can go extinct too. Since Love and Redemption was mentioned, an example from it will be "The sixed winged birds(?)" were part of the demon clan and also an ancient heavenly beast that almost went extincted (why they were hiding) after the fall of the demon clan.

As for cultivators, most of these stories mention Taoist cultivators BUT there are cultivators of other paths that also qualify in these stories. Buddhist monks are cultivators that are frequently brought up. There are also ways to cultivate independently (though since xianxia is a Chinese drama there will be ideologies from all sides influencing them) but they can identify with neither!

As for the mentioned balance, I think the better word is peace. For the most part, most older and higher beings within the deity world experienced the fall and rise of different clans, families, realms, etc. They don't actually care if the different realms are balanced. One will rule the other some times and there will be a back and forth. Deities like The Pure Ones and Buddha will care more about the long-term peace in the region. If the elimination of the Heavenly Realm would lead to peace, then so be it. This is why there is this (un?)spoken rule that tells deities to refrain from affecting certain realms like the Mortal Realm (place where humans live). Example, in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, Di Jun didn't exactly bother himself in the war. He let the Heavenly Emperor deal with it. Heck, even the Fox King didn't exactly care either. Honestly only Bai Qian and one of his brothers really cared enough to fight in the war. However, in Eternal Love of Dream, Di Jun would personally go and fight because he believes peace won't be preserved if that ancient beast (oof, my memory is failing here) would be released.

TL;DR: I feel this is a good Intro but there is too much oversimplification from my understanding. While I might not get everything right, but there is a lot more to xianxia than just "Three Realms." It is just more like some realms are just not mentioned because it is not relevant to the story at hand or they just simply don't have a care for this story (Just like humans won't put their finger into every hole they encounter.) You can view realms as power of influences, like countries in modern times. Things are not very simple. There's race, species, clans, families, etc. Pretty much everything we see today exists. The only major difference is the ability to use these special powers.

I personally watched this drama. In general, I agree with most of the review.

However, from what I remember, I personally don't feel the weakness mentioned in the article. I don't consider the ending confusing. To me, it is just a opened-ending that can be made into a newer drama if there is a need. Likewise, if there isn't a need, it will just be an ending where you can use your own imagination. I don't think this as a weakness. It doesn't seem unique to this drama either.

Most HK dramas use Cantonese as the speech medium. There are HK produced shows/etc that use English and Mandarin too. I won't say there is a lot but I think there's a reasonable amount.

As for the subtitles that come with the show, they are usually in Standardized Chinese. Unless it is a variety show, it usually won't show Written Cantonese (Yes, Cantonese has a written form but most people that speak Cantonese don't write it. We usually write Standardized Chinese, whether Traditional or Simplified. Written Cantonese is rarely taught and mostly learned through experience even though more people in recent years are pushing for it to help preserve the language).

For people that understand Cantonese, most of us will realize when it is dubbed. The mouth shapes and sounds are off. It does happen at times. Similarly, some things are dubbed in Cantonese and you can hear awkwardness sometimes.

As for mature romantic drama, I don't have much recommendations. I find that the ones I watch always have a comical spin with Cantonese jokes/idioms in at least one of the eps, so I'm not sure if it fits your mature standard. That is not to say, these dramas can't go into deeper concepts. It just seems that it is HK's style of relieving intense concepts.

I also love watching HKDrama but I agree the quality is not as they use to be. To me, it really feel more comfortable because I go through my daily life using English and Cantonese mostly. The Cantonese subtle jokes are irreplaceable. Listening to Mandarin just sometimes feels off even though I have decent proficiency.

Slight rant:
I have no proof of this but I've been seeing less prominent new faces these days. Could be because of the ones I picked up are like this. There are a lot of veteran actors and actresses playing a younger main role compared to dramas during the 2010s where I remember going "Wow, he/she looks handsome/pretty." Gives me a feeling that a lot of the newer talents are leaving HK for different markets like China. It really is sad that this is the feeling I get when I sit back and think.

I will like to put another spin / point of view on this. If we are going to use the modern definition of romance (instead of the forced marriage / arranged marriage practice of the past) this person will be considered as someone that needs a psychologist. Someone is sick and needs help and no one helped him. Is the victim wrong or the people around him wrong? Should we victim-shame because his upbringing doesn't allow him to understand what love is?

This is way more complex. I mean even in modern times, many people will struggle to answer these two questions. This is like the discussion between jailing or reforming a person. At what point is someone able to reform into a good person? At what point is someone just unfit to be expected to follow the core structure of the society? Is society even the right path for humanity?

With these thought-inducing questions, I will share my conclusion after watching the drama. I believe Run Yu was savable. He simply never met the person that was able to save him. He was not able to reform because his society never gave him the necessary tools.

Well, if Japan, probably Tokyo. Korea would be Seoul. For China, I would want to go back to my family's hometown Guangzhou.