Aya

None of the family members deserve that. I'm not sure if the marriage was arranged, but the Heavenly Empress doesn't deserve a husband like him. Neither do any of of his wonderful children. They show how the Void King rules through fear, but the Heavenly Emperor is exactly the same. He rules through fear and abuses his power when he doesn't get his way. What's more, I can understand it in the case of the Void King. He was the one who unified the Voidwalkers and in the beginning his way of ruling may have been necessary. He just didn't get the chance to change. He's a warrior not a ruler. What's the Heavenly Emperor's excuse? Everything seems to have been handed to him on a platter, but despite that he still hangs his own duties on the shoulders of his son by giving him a title that he never asked for and clearly feared as a child, because he saw his teacher who bore the same title die while trying to repair the seal. It's the Heavenly Emperor's duty to protect the four realms, to lead the immortals and by extension keep the seal in check, but instead of being brave and doing the right thing he forced his son, who was still a child to forsake everything to take over his duties. The way he treats his wife and other children isn't all that better. He's all gentle and benevolent on the surface, but he doesn't seem to actually love any of them.

I ranted a bit too much lol. The more I see of him, the more I hate him.

You were right. After watching the next few episodes, my resentment has turned into outright hate. He's the worst father in the whole drama.

Among the many, many things I love about this drama, I really love that Ye Tan and Qing Kui despite being so different are portrayed as brave and strong. In most dramas, the strong brave character is usually a character like Ye Tan. The calm, collected and elegant characters like Qing Kui end up being portayed as wise and gentle and are treated like damsels in distress. But in this drama both get the opportunity to show their strength and bravery and do their own share of saving others.

Ugh, I wished he would redeem himself, but I guess I never really expected him to. Thank you for the warning. That saved me some stress.

Thank you. I do love interacting with people while watching the drama and sharing thoughts. Different people end up noticing different things and it elevates our experience. So thank you for replying 😊

Oh the Beast King is a coward, but that's a personality trait. I was only referring to him as a parent. Locking up your son, because he's not doing what you want him to is controlling. His mother by comparison seems to want to give him his freedom.

I do agree that the Heavenly Emperor is controlling, but in a different way. It comes from his selfishness. He justifies it as his duty and the fact that he has all of the immortals to think of, but all I can see is a man who likes being in charge and doesn't want to give it up, so instead he sends his son to give up his life while trying to repair the seal instead of going himself.

Obviously all of them have more than one flaw, but I just wanted to mention the one that jumped out at me the most.

That's the whole point. DFQC was not only powerful enough to protect her, but he would give up everything for her. CH would not.

It's not about understanding the reasons behind their actions. Obviously, CH is a good person and his choices are justified, but Si Ming made her choice based on who would be able to stand by XLH no matter what. That's of course if it was Si Ming's doing in the first place.

The novel is completely different. CH is a character that only appears in the drama. The God of War in the novel is someone else and he already has a wife and child. There aren't a lot of interactions between the Heavenly Immortals and XLH and DFQC in the novel.

The heart curse was also not part of the novel, so no answers for that.

They only swapped bodies once in the beginning, but during their escape from prison, DFQC ended up dying in XLH's body. She travelled to the underworld to get his soul back as she wanted to go back to her body. While in the underworld, DFCQ enters his own body again, but XLH doesn't leave until he puts her back into her own body, so they end up sharing his. Half of the body each.

As you can see, very different story. The characters are also very different from the drama actually.

That's one of the biggest deviations from the novel (although I must admit the drama is a completely different story to begin with). In the drama they swap bodies as a consequence of the heart curse. The heart curse is made to control DFQC, so it manifested in different ways. One was the body swap, the other was the fact that he had to obey her orders and there was also the fact that he felt her emotions and physical pain. I was always curious about whether the heart curse was cast properly, seeing as she did it unknowingly and the body swap was just a side effect.

In the novel, there's no heart curse. They end up switching bodies in the beginning, but while they're escaping from the prison, DFQC ends up getting killed in XLH's body. She has to travel to the underworld in his body, to get his soul back. When she does, he enters his body, but she doesn't leave, because she has nowhere to go, so they end up sharing it. Half of the body each. He can't expel her from his body and ends up promising her to get her a new body and they share his until then.

The scene where Fei Chi is trying to figure out the difference between the outfits that You Qin is trying on is hilarious. I was sad to see the soul shards go, but I really missed Fei Chi and his interactions with You Qin.

After 26 episodes, it looks like I have built up quite a strong resentment towards the Heavenly Emperor. Whenever he comes on screen and starts talking and justifying himself and his cruelty, I just can't take it. Then again, there are probably only a couple of dramas where I actually liked the Heavenly Emperor character.

I must admit that most of the fathers in this drama are disappointing. The Heavenly Emperor is selfish, the Void King is cruel, the Emperor of the Mortal world is stupid and the Beast King is controlling. I wonder if that was deliberate. Especially compared to the mothers. The Heavenly Empress is a very caring and warm mother. The Void Queen, although cruel to everyone else, obviously loves her son and supports him. The Beast Queen defends and supports her son unconditionally as well.

I hope to see the fathers realise their mistakes by the end of the drama.

Seeing La Mu somehow made You Qin even sadder to me. La Mu seems to represent You Qin's passion, but at the same time also his desire to belong and be part of a family/community and have friends. The fact the You Qin had to extract these emotions seems beyond lonely. Especially since we have already seen the way he acts around his family: distant and polite. And based on his reactions it's obvious that it's deliberate. He wants connections, but at the same time can't allow himself any deep bonds, because he's been aware since his childhood that he would have to give up his life.

The comedy tag is so well-deserved. Every episode so far (I just finished episode 10) hasn't failed to make me laugh. I'm loving it

Di Lan Jue is such a sweetheart. Unfortunately, Ye Tan was lacking affection and attention so much that she seems to have decided early on to become strong and rely only on herself. I think that's the only reason why she never really opened up her heart to him. To her he was a friend and a brother, but she could never let him become more than that. I could almost hear his heart break when she rejected him in episode 9.

It looks like he'll get a romance with the adorable Princess though, so hopefully they'll get a happy ending.

I'm on episode 8 now and I don't know what else is going to happen, but I actually like Wu Dai. He's straightforward and brave and seems like a good leader. Even though he's a bit mean to Chao Feng, he's not downright evil like the Void Empress and her son. Yes, he doesn't think that Chao Feng deserves to be the Crown Prince, but that's probably got more to do with the image that Chao Feng has chosen to present. If he showed his true self, it seems like Wu Dai would show him the appropriate respect as he himself said that the Void respects the strong.

I actually hope to see the two bond in the future episodes.

You Qin's siblings are absolutely adorable and their affection for their older brother is heartwarming. I'm also glad they didn't add the 'little brother falls for the same girl and starts hating his brother' trope. But given the dynamic between the siblings in this drama that would not have worked anyway.

I'm glad you mentioned the family bonds, because I forgot to add that I also really love the bond between Ye Tan and Qing Kui. A lot of dramas add unnecessary jealousy and rivalry between siblings where it's mostly the fault of the parents and the favouritism, but I was so happy to see how much the two sisters love each other. It's heartbreaking to see all the adults around Ye Tan blaming her for something out of her control, when she never really did anything to deserve it and it's a kind and warm little Qing Kui that loves and protects her.

I patiently waited for all episodes to air and now I'm already watching episode 6. It's a lot of fun so far. The pairing of the couples works out perfectly. You Qin who is forced to suppress his emotions needs someone mischievous and passionate like Ye Tan. She in turn needs someone who will love and protect het unconditionally, which he will definitely do. Chao Feng who has been an outcast all his life needs someone kind and selfless like Qing Kui to restore his hope and give his life warmth and light. Qing Kui who has been taught to follow rules and to restrain herself all her life needs someone who will let her be herself. I really enjoy seeing the characters and their relationships develop in this drama.

Another fun aspect are the Princes and their aids. Chao Feng and Gu Hai Chao and You Qin and Fei Chi are hilarious together. It's so obvious just how well Gu Hai Chao and Fei Chi know their princes.

This trilogy of movies is definitely one that people will either like or hate. Personally, I think all three movies were entertaining, which is the reason why I decided to watch them in the first place.

There are themes that are highlighted in all three movies: brotherhood, sacrifice and morality. Ed and Al encompass the three really well and are undoubtedly the centre of the story.

There are some really dark and heavy themes as well wrapped up in the more flashy aspects of the movies, but sometimes these don't get the room to shine, because there's a lot of story to tell in a limited time.

As I already mentioned in my comments for the two previous parts, this movie is definitely a product of a number of choices that the production team made as to what they want to show and how they want to show it and those choices led to an entertaining movie.

All in all, I had fun watching this movie.

It's an entertaining, visually beautiful and interesting movie. The plot itself, with the addition of Scar is heavily focused on what happened in Ishval and highlights the reason behind Mustang's relentless ambition. Obviously not everything is revealed yet, as you need to watch the third movie to get the full story.