Finally someone openly calling out Xiao Nai's character! I have nothing but frustration and disgust towards that very line from him that you've quoted. And he's a stalker. So clearly, there was no way I could buy their romance. End of story.
Same goes for LMIYD. I hated how Jian Yao was reduced to a damsel in distress. And her relationship with BJY is clearly a power imbalance. I couldn't enjoy their romance at all - not in the book, and even lesser in the drama.
I can safely say this is my favourite kdrama so far. Like well, I haven't watched many kdramas but it is…
I have no idea why I never get notifications for your replies ahhh!!! I'm only seeing this again when I browse through your page randomly after only finding out about your comment before. ;A;
You're right about the lead actors, I think they did a good job which really helped to make the characters feel more alive. :)
I think other than failing to truly be engaged and convinced by their relationship, everything else about the drama is pretty awesome and enjoyable.
What is with everyone forcing their opinions on Su Mang and telling her that her child needs a father and she…
You put it in words - the only thing which truly irked me the most in this drama, and could have potentially ruined it, if they persisted with this bullshit logic until the end of the drama instead of returning some cute moments to me.
And the drama was named after the song. The song's original singer, WaWa actually made a cameo in one of the episodes in this drama - she was one of the judges for the singing competition Guo Guo participated in.
after watching 20 episodes the thing that i like about this drama is that the romance is more natural than the…
Certainly! It's so rare in romance dramas, which makes me love this drama even more. (Despite how the drama dealt with the crisis towards the end being meh.)
I'm not really a guzhuang person when it comes to both novels and dramas, but I'm here speaking for…
I've only seen their fanfics in Chinese ahhh sorry for not mentioning earlier
But anyway yeah the map. The goddamned map. It was hinted, wasn't it? Si Ming said that the map, which is an ancient map of the old landscape - is supposed to reflect their relationship, because "everything will change so there's nothing to be missed" - which the writer obviously wants to tell us that DH is conveying to FJ how their relationship means nothing in face of time and they will get over it.
But personally, for the sake of my own sanity, I also interpreted it in another way that - he meant that things will not stay the way it is forever, so they may have a chance in the future eventually!
So it's really up to our interpretations. The open ending kills all of us I know. But if you think about it, they're still more hopeful than the Yan Zhi and 16th ship.
I'm not really a guzhuang person when it comes to both novels and dramas, but I'm here speaking for…
We are TOTALLY the same on that level of passion for DH/FJ, I can swear to you. (Sad that there are not many of us.)
Hahaha~ but frankly, it does seem rather impossible practically speaking.
I seriously believe that DH/FJ's ending in Eternal Love was pretty open tbh. And DH/FJ fanfics have furthermore proven to me that there are a million ways to resolve their canon drama ending. There is so much potential and it kills me - I just want to scream at the writer to do something about it.
Not really, I read on a lot of Chinese sources that the writer is in question of plagiarism in general. And there are works listed as the source of plagiarism of Pillow Book. I respect how you perceive the matter - I see your rationale. Personally, as a creative, I hate to see plagiarists thriving. But I also acknowledge there's still a difference between the drama and the book which leaves some room for debate on how to treat the drama. And it just sucks, in my opinion, that one of my all-time favourite pairings have to be affiliated to it (despite the drama version of them which is the one I truly love actually being more or less an original).
I'm not really a guzhuang person when it comes to both novels and dramas, but I'm here speaking for Dong Feng (Hello OP who also seems like an equally a big fan of Dong Hua/Feng Jiu!!)
More than wanting Dilraba and Vengo in the drama adaptation of Pillow Book - since their characters and story in the Eternal Love drama have totally deviated from their supposed novel spinoff - I'm dying for a sequel of their existing story from Eternal Love!
Because of the nature of the two versions, wouldn't Pillow Book's Dong Feng be different in spirit from Eternal Love's despite the same name/character and all? - just my opinion, of course.
(That's also because of hearing about the general sentiment that Pillow Book isn't that great to start with either? And not forgetting the plagiarism scandals will just get the actors flamed even more than they already have - Sorry I have to bring this up again like the party pooper I am - I know different people see this differently, but such a matter is still typically frowned upon - and we'll all prefer that the things we love don't get involved with it as much as possible.)
Nice article, nevertheless~ Will probably check out some along the way, because I got more interested in the guzhuang fantasies/xianxia etc after Eternal Love.
I can safely say this is my favourite kdrama so far. Like well, I haven't watched many kdramas but it is hard to find another kdrama which I could enjoy as much as this. Like you, I was kinda late to the party haha. I only watched this last year, after watching the Chinese remake - which proved to pale in comparison.
I agree with you too that the characters could really be more substantial. The only thing I wasn't very pleased with was how I felt like the leads' relationship wasn't developed more in depth beyond their angst, and star-crossed nature. It was cute nevertheless, exept I hoped it was more substantial. eg. Hee Jin never really learnt about Boong Do's past, his background, and essentially him as a person - this did quite bothered me, and probably prevented me from really fully /loving/ the drama. It's its biggest flaw imo. Boong Do's character was indeed written to be incredibly charming though! I really love him.
Speaking of the side characters... They indeed aren't nearly as appealing as the leads. Though as the story…
ikr I have been wondering what Zheng Chu even liked about her to the point he was seriously considering marriage with her. But obviously Shan Shan probably have been on a pretense all along... As much as I see these logical flaws too, but it's something I can still close one eye on and ignore it.
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Same goes for LMIYD. I hated how Jian Yao was reduced to a damsel in distress. And her relationship with BJY is clearly a power imbalance. I couldn't enjoy their romance at all - not in the book, and even lesser in the drama.
Thank you OP for writing this article!
You're right about the lead actors, I think they did a good job which really helped to make the characters feel more alive. :)
I think other than failing to truly be engaged and convinced by their relationship, everything else about the drama is pretty awesome and enjoyable.
The opening song is actually a cover of 漂洋过海来看你 (Across the Ocean to See You), a song released in 1991 - here's the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNQohQBFnwI.
And the drama was named after the song. The song's original singer, WaWa actually made a cameo in one of the episodes in this drama - she was one of the judges for the singing competition Guo Guo participated in.
But anyway yeah the map. The goddamned map. It was hinted, wasn't it? Si Ming said that the map, which is an ancient map of the old landscape - is supposed to reflect their relationship, because "everything will change so there's nothing to be missed" - which the writer obviously wants to tell us that DH is conveying to FJ how their relationship means nothing in face of time and they will get over it.
But personally, for the sake of my own sanity, I also interpreted it in another way that - he meant that things will not stay the way it is forever, so they may have a chance in the future eventually!
So it's really up to our interpretations. The open ending kills all of us I know. But if you think about it, they're still more hopeful than the Yan Zhi and 16th ship.
Hahaha~ but frankly, it does seem rather impossible practically speaking.
I seriously believe that DH/FJ's ending in Eternal Love was pretty open tbh. And DH/FJ fanfics have furthermore proven to me that there are a million ways to resolve their canon drama ending. There is so much potential and it kills me - I just want to scream at the writer to do something about it.
Not really, I read on a lot of Chinese sources that the writer is in question of plagiarism in general. And there are works listed as the source of plagiarism of Pillow Book. I respect how you perceive the matter - I see your rationale. Personally, as a creative, I hate to see plagiarists thriving. But I also acknowledge there's still a difference between the drama and the book which leaves some room for debate on how to treat the drama. And it just sucks, in my opinion, that one of my all-time favourite pairings have to be affiliated to it (despite the drama version of them which is the one I truly love actually being more or less an original).
And of course, Vin Zhang. :p
More than wanting Dilraba and Vengo in the drama adaptation of Pillow Book - since their characters and story in the Eternal Love drama have totally deviated from their supposed novel spinoff - I'm dying for a sequel of their existing story from Eternal Love!
Because of the nature of the two versions, wouldn't Pillow Book's Dong Feng be different in spirit from Eternal Love's despite the same name/character and all? - just my opinion, of course.
(That's also because of hearing about the general sentiment that Pillow Book isn't that great to start with either? And not forgetting the plagiarism scandals will just get the actors flamed even more than they already have - Sorry I have to bring this up again like the party pooper I am - I know different people see this differently, but such a matter is still typically frowned upon - and we'll all prefer that the things we love don't get involved with it as much as possible.)
Nice article, nevertheless~ Will probably check out some along the way, because I got more interested in the guzhuang fantasies/xianxia etc after Eternal Love.
I agree with you too that the characters could really be more substantial. The only thing I wasn't very pleased with was how I felt like the leads' relationship wasn't developed more in depth beyond their angst, and star-crossed nature. It was cute nevertheless, exept I hoped it was more substantial. eg. Hee Jin never really learnt about Boong Do's past, his background, and essentially him as a person - this did quite bothered me, and probably prevented me from really fully /loving/ the drama. It's its biggest flaw imo. Boong Do's character was indeed written to be incredibly charming though! I really love him.
Need more time travel romance stories like this~