geechoo

I finally watched this. I knew it was hugely popular last year but I put off watching it for the longest time. Well, I started on Friday and binged the whole 36 episodes in 3 days. I have to say, I would give this drama 10/10 if it ended after episode 28. The last 8 episodes were poorly written imo especially DFQC , who was kind of OOC.

However, I want to say, this drama has some of the BEST visuals I've seen in c-dramas. There are some sequences that almost remind me of the Harry Potter movies. The big energy domes that are created for example. And the cinematography is amazing, you could literally screenshot any moment and turn it into a wall paper. Some of the scenes I found visually amazing :
- DFQC fighting into the heaven realm to rescue XLH in episode 9. The part where him & Chang Heng fight and the background water walls break.. amazing
- DFQC appearing out the moon to rescue XLH. that sequence was something straight out of a manga.

Overall, this is one of the few XianXia dramas that I've really enjoyed. I usually stay away from this genre because I find them repetitive (master/student relationships, a lot of angst, a lot of blood spitting, really poor cgi) but this one really captured my attention from the get go because of the visuals. WHD also really changed my mind about him. I never really thought he could act but he does a really good job here. I was fully bawling with him in episode 31.

even New Life Begins (an actual comedy) has a better filter. it's weird because in the 杀青 vid from last November, the director kept stressing how this is a "grounded" historical drama so everything has to look natural. hope this preview was misleading. this drama is one I've been looking forward to the most.

paparazzis caught them staying over night when they were filming their drama together last year but imo I don't think they're dating since they haven't been spotted together since then. I think they might've just had a fling during filming.

the trailer definitely caught my interest. it looks so expensive and I love the dark atmosphere. guo jinming is good with visuals but sometimes his story telling is.. overly melodramatic. pretty much none of his dramas have high ratings on douban. this will definitely deliver visually though.

he is 9 years older than Zhao Jinmai (FL in Reset) lol you really can't see the age difference. but yeah, he was always famous for his baby face.

my biggest worry about the drama is the filter. the filter used in the trailer is wayyy too bright. it makes the drama look like a b-grade comedy. I like the filter used in the vid from last November. this drama isn't really a comedy, especially the latter parts. I wish they used a less bright filter. something like Story of Minglan or Love like Galaxy would be good

it's not really a romcom. the beginning of the novel is comedic-ish mostly because the male lead is very immature. his character grows a lot later on. the trailer only shows the beginning portions. the story has a lot of political elements.

I've only watched the first episode but I wish the fight scenes were more.. smooth? idk there's a tendency to have slow mo and then suddenly normal and then slow mo and then sped up lol it's hard to describe

He never acted in many romance dramas lol it's not just his future projects. aside from You Are My Hero, I don't think he has any other straight up romance dramas where he's the lead and even that drama focuses on the leads' work/occupation.

I think his lack of romance dramas is why he's sort of underrated with international audiences. Amongst c-netizens, he's actually one of the more higher rated 90-line actors. Hope more international audiences recognize him.

I think the 2nd lead couple is more interesting so far. I can't really feel the chemistry between the leads.

yep I was right. the criticism is all surrounding male lead's voice so far. even "hippo" trended on weibo yesterday because they think his voice sounds like one lool

neither of the leads are rookies. they're both child actors. the 2nd leads are rookies though.

I think this drama has a lot of potential to be a hit. The SFX in the preview looks good (wayy better than the other Xian Xia that's going to be airing on tencent starring YCY) and this is going to premiere on two TV channels at the same time as its web broadcast. That is huge for a drama like this since TV reaches a broader audience.

The biggest question mark right now based on what I've read on Chinese social media is the male lead's voice. He won't be dubbed and there's people complaining about how he sounds in the previews.

yeah the worst thing about following cdramas is the long wait from filming to broadcast.. some dramas get delayed for years :/

yeah... she's not a bad actress but she looks her age and this character is supposed to be young. BJT also has a baby face so the age difference is going to be even more apparent.

I like the leads for this drama. Both are good actors who can act without dubbing. The only thing I'm worried about is the director. He isn't really consistent and most of his recent dramas haven't done well.

can't possibly be in Q1 since filming only ended mid October. Summer would be the earliest imo but that's a prime slot and I don't know if IQIYI might want to put a bigger production there (like the Yang Mi one)

this drama is the only thing because discussed on forums and places like weibo right now. I'm just learning that Netflix is making an adaption too but for some reason the main cast is mostly non-Asian?

this is the highest streamed drama of 2022 on IQIYI! congrats! It's def the black horse of last year since I don't remember anyone anticipating it.

honestly the 5th prince couple got way too much air time and was a big reason the middle section of the drama dragged. they already showed him chasing after her once. we really didn't need a second time.