kookiejamz

Nope. There is no publicly established legal rule saying he can never return. Companies are just not willing to work with him again, that's all.

Idk, this is overrated, but it's also not that bad. I did enjoy all the silly scenes in the matches. It definitely feels different from old Stephen Chow comedy movies though, in a bad way. The shifts in tones are weird, and the music choice is even weirder (gloomy, tragic music when your team is literally dominating the other team from start to finish?). It's like he's trying to fit in as many elements/genre as he can, while occasionally throwing in some comedy.

I'm more surprised that it's rated 9.0 on pirated streaming sites, where anyone that even speaks out about not liking it (in a polite way) instantly gets HUNDREDS of dislikes, sometimes berated with replies. It felt like bots were being hired to hype up this movie over there. All blind praise without saying anything substantive/meaningful.

I want to know too. Literally every thumbnail I click on either ends up "taken down" or "deleted user" :(

Yes, it's season 2. You won't understand anything if you skip season 1, unless you watched the animation version.

Yes, it was in the picture. Here's the translation:

4-25-2018
Yes, I admit it. Back when I was acting as Shancai and had a hard time getting a grasp on the character, I told Director Tsai, "Shancai is such a bitch! I hate her. I don't even know how to play her." The director spent a long time convincing me, saying things like, "She's still young and doesn't understand love. An ordinary girl who suddenly has two really handsome guys confessing their feelings to her is bound to get dizzy and confused." Anyway, I realized that I disliked Shancai halfway through filming! But I still did my best to portray her in a way that wouldn't make the audience hate her too much! The audience back then was so innocent—they actually let Shancai off the hook just like that! Who knew that the old drama from years ago would be rebroadcast! Now all the inconsistencies are out in the open! I admit Shancai is a "green tea", but I still worked very hard to make her come across in a better light. That's all.

That's not what I meant. CP3 isn't Season 2—it isn't a season at all. CP3 is a standalone adaptation, and, story-wise it is actually a prequel to CP1, not its direct sequel. So it shouldn't be treated as the next season of the same show.

Actually, face culture is a small factor. It's mainly about professionalism and industry relationships. I learned this from Memories Beyond Horizon season 3: When an actor nitpicks too much or publicly disparages past projects, directors and producers will immediately think he/she is difficult to work with. Liu Yichang did this and got blacklisted for like two years (he kinda deserved it cuz he's very disrespectful and immature).

As for Barbie, she complained about her role in her 20s, but didn't make it public until her 40s. Here's the screenshot of her post: https://m.douban.com/movie/review/9353447/

Thanks for such a thoughtful comment. I especially agree that it's strange how protagonists over the past decade seem to be reverting to that obedient, patriarchal ideal. It does feel like society has taken a step backwards in that regard, though I'm glad more netizens and YouTubers are noticing it and speaking up about it.

As for the actors, they generally aren't allowed to publicly speak negatively about their own roles or the script, so all we'll hear are positives. (The boldest example I've seen was Barbie Hsu complaining that Shan Cai from Meteor Shower is a green tea bitch). While everyone seem to really like their roles, Wu Jinyan had mixed feelings. The director said the role is satisfying and empowering because the protagonist always wins every battle. But Wu Jinyan said all she felt while playing her was how difficult and painful the protagonist's journey was, so it didn't feel satisfying at all. However, she does greatly admire the protagonist's intelligence, decisiveness, and calmness. In conclusion, she admit that she likes playing this role and the revenge genre (didn't say anything specific about the script).

Full playlist on Bilibili
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1LNN36TEAe
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1NjweztE8c

Doubt it. I think china's censorship rules are getting stricter about soul transfer/body swap and supernatural beings.

The Heart-Stealing Screen Siren (偷心魔女)
Chinese: https://www.66rpg.com/game/840376
English (coming soon): https://store.steampowered.com/app/3993850/The_Heart__Stealing_Screen_Siren/

(I didn't expect that they would give the characters western names for the international release lmao)

This was a huge meme in China a few years ago. I'm surprised that not many people on MDL watched it.

This is a textbook case of how failing to say no out of compassion will spiral into a major disaster. The fact that they let it happen twice makes me so mad 😭

The biggest problem for me is that the message about beauty feels contradictory. The drama is supposed to critique lookism and unrealistic beauty standards, but instead it reinforced the idea that looks IS everything and that plastic surgery is the only effective way to change your life. I swear ML would never even look at FL if she was still ugly.

The drama didn't make me feel better about my insecurities and ugliness. It just made me feel worse.

This is so sad. Parents who blame everything on the supernatural and blindly trust taoists instead of reflecting on their own faults in parenting are truly disgusting.

Also ML's story is so underdeveloped. He's like some random kid that walked into a friend's mess and wanted to help.

They can still find a way to release the dramas in other countries. His last drama (2023) was aired in Japan.

No. This drama was aired in Japan. He's still de facto blacklisted in China (blacklisted by the industry, not the government).

Watching this as an adult now, Sam Ho's martyr archetype is so annoying and suffocating. Kam Ling was tragic. Consort Yin is the only normal one, surprisingly.

Also I did not remember those last few episodes taking a weird turn in the plot.

It's like a visual novel, but they use real people with audio for the cutscenes, instead of traditional VNs where you get paper dolls and have to read the dialogue yourself. Every choice you make affects what ending you get.

ML/FL as in the emperor and empress? No, they had a happy ending. But if you're talking about the princess, she married someone she hated and ended up dying young.