sulkytofu

I think I was just too greedy! I loved the happy ending, but I wanted to see their children and their little family haha. Perhaps I've been spoiled by fluffy romcoms like The Sweet Girl where the ending was very satisfying for me, but the ending of this one I felt wasn't as sweet as all of the sugar that I experienced throughout all the previous episodes. I am still satisfied, however, and perhaps I'm just already missing this adorably stupid couple after finishing this series!

Li Jiaqi and Zhao Yiqin are honestly the perfect casting for this drama. It's kind of cute since sometimes I am reminded of just how adorable they were in My Youth and feel like I'm watching that drama again, but like the parallel universe version. It's really clear how natural they are together, and I love how even behind the scenes they are close friends and have really great chemistry.

I've also been really surprised by the story. A lot of the character relationships are very refreshing, and I love the relationships amongst the entire main cast. This drama is currently really suiting my tastes for a fluffy romcom with some introspective parts, and really hit all of the tropes that I was really into. I'm glad that a show which I was highly expecting turned out to be quite solid, and while I'm still early into the series it's been a really crackly and light watch so far!

You will need to really, really, REALLY lower your expectations for this drama if you want to like it. This is a low-budget pure modern day fluff romcom, it's basically a Chinese romance webnovel turned into a drama. If this suits your taste, then you'll probably like it and its cliches, even with all of the audio and music issues that the drama currently has. But if you're looking for something more introspective then this is definitely not for you. It's basically mindless fluff and "sugary" romance drama cliches.

Thoughts on the ending everyone? I was surprised, but also in a way it made sense. Wasn't what I expected or thought would happen, but I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks!

Agree! I wrote my undergraduate thesis on The Untamed and will be presenting at several conferences, but even when I was writing it I barely touched the surface of what is possible to discuss with the series. Not to mention that in the past several years, there's been really great academic articles written on Chinese BL series such as Guardian, Addicted, S.C.I, etc. just to show how much there is to unpack and write about!

Caught up with the new episodes, and Liu Haikuan's new character song that he sings as part of the OST is pretty heartbreaking. In all honesty, I find him both a really interesting second lead because he never really feels like any kind of threat to the main CP's relationship. I just find him a pretty tragic character overall, and in many ways I feel like part of this drama is more about him trying to come to terms with his own past than him being a true romantic interest.

That being said, the main CP is really adorable together. I really like how Fang Zhiyou and Xu Yiren try to communicate their problems to each other and just how much they respect each other. They have a very healthy and wholesome relationship, and I think this is what makes this drama sparkle, even if it is a lighter romance series that does operate on some cliches. I love how Fang Zhiyou's honesty is so endearing, especially when he's in love, and how Xu Yiren is so adaptable and emotionally strong. I've been enjoying it a lot so far, and I really hope that their dynamic continues even through to latter episodes.

Thanks for your sweet words, and I'm so glad you liked my review! Truthfully, I had a REALLY hard time writing it. By making the rating too high, I was worried that I would heighten expectations of the drama (and then cause others to miss out on a series that really suited my personal tastes for light fluff!) I therefore tried to balance what I felt the drama does best, and what I felt the drama is a little weaker on, in the hopes that future watchers will enjoy it just as much as I did! I agree with you that I just loved all the cliches, and loved that this was a drama that basically threw plot aside and focused on the romance.

I do admit, however, it's been interesting to see the patterns of comments in this thread. It's no surprise that FLs in dramas often get targeted for being dumb, naive, or stupid, but it surprises me that this standard isn't addressed towards the ML as well. One thing I loved about this show is how sometimes the ML messes up and is too hot-headed, and Jinyan helps him instead through these problems. Not to mention I found Jinyan to be very endearing, and therefore I was surprised to see how vitriolic some of the comments towards the FL are. I hope my review clarified some of this, and really hope that more people watch this show, which was really the sweet, mindless, and adorable drama that I really needed!

So many great comments in this thread! I find a lot of the thoughts here to be quite interesting, as The Untamed is known for having a cast of quite strong female characters, from Shi Jie's emotional strength, to Wen Qing's skills, to A-Qing's bravery and courage. I do appreciate some of the nuance in the article (i.e. for sure, there may have been fans that chose to watch the series because of "hot guys," but this is not the only exclusive reason why.) There are many who love the female cast just as much as the male cast, and I found the women of MDZS to be one of my favourite aspects of the franchise.

In addition, a lot of the arguments posed here are also popular in academic BL circles, especially when we talk about the lack of a female love interest in BL stories, and how a predominately heterosexual female audience interacts with this characteristic (although I note that there are MANY fans of BL that fall out of this category, and express numerous gender identities that are non-heteronormative.) They're great thoughts to consider, especially if we think about how we consume media and how "queer TV China" both subverts and is complicit to patriarchal and heteronormative standards in popular culture.

I also feel like assessing the popularity of The Untamed may be very different if we compare the fanbase transnationally and within China. For example, I think that transnational fans also benefitted from a lot of fanwork, from translations to online forums, on top of the fact that Tencent obviously chose to tap into an existing popular IP in China for broadcast overseas. One thing I can say, however, is that if we contextualize The Untamed in relation to previous BL adaptions (i.e. Addicted, Beloved Enemy, Guardian, etc.) I think that it is quite unique in terms of how popular it was and the way in which it did not experience censorship in the same ways as those series. And I do think these are questions that we will need to continue asking and looking at, especially with the rise of BL adaptations in China over the next year (looking at Sha Po Lang, Faraway Wanderers, and Immortality!)

Does anyone else feel like Su Cheng Yun was a bit of a waste of a character? I'm saying this because I feel like there are so many interesting things that drama was doing, and seemed to be doing, but then during the middle stretch it seemed to crash and fall flat a bit. I wish we learned more about the relationship he had with Lin Wei Jun, especially in their past, so that I could actually feel invested in him as a second male lead. But without that, I felt like his character was mostly flat, and I never really saw him as any serious challenge to Jiao Yang (nor did I really find anything sympathetic or likeable about his character).

If there's anything that continued to save this drama I really have to say it's Li Hongyi, whose performance as Jiao Yang was really great to watch. I do agree with the comments that probably the best stretch is from Episodes 2 ~ 15/16, which does a great balance of work, romance, and even a bit of "thriller/tension." But after that, it kind of starts falling apart and loses a bit of the spark it had earlier, and I think that's where this drama suffered a bit. I feel like it had the potential to be a more romantic and office focused version of I Can Hear Your Voice, but unfortunately fizzled out during the show's mid-stretch.

Yeah. The only problem is that sometimes because of the plotlines, it's easier to cut out the BL aspect and make it more plot-focused instead. Agree what you mean, with the popularity of adaptations there's always the worry that having them pumped out so quickly may impact the quality of the story! I'm hoping the same as well!

No problem! Thanks so much for your kind words too and for sharing the links ^^

No problem! It's so weird to see how this rumour started. I know that webnovels (especially if they are uploaded on platforms like Jinjiang) often have many different versions, and so I was always wondering about whether there are multiple different copies/editions of Lang Ya Bang.

For now this is super strange, and I don't think the anthology started the rumour but instead probably was built on existing rumours instead. In any case, the authors mentioned how Lang Ya Bang does have a lot of BL fans (even if the original novel isn't BL) so maybe that's also what they are referring to.

Many thanks for your comments ~ I've just started reading and am pretty excited! I've heard both the drama and the novel version are great, so It'll be interesting to watch and read them both at the same time!

Wow, I'm really shocked if this is the case! There's been some great academic works published that have noted Lang Ya Bang as originally being a BL novel. I'm not sure where the rumours began either, but Hong Kong University Press published an anthology called "Boys' Love, Cosplay, and Androgynous Idols" in 2017 that talks briefly a little bit about Nirvana in Fire and its connection to BL.

I've checked out the link you sent me! It's really cool to see that Hai Yan was both the scriptwriter and the novelist - I really appreciate it when they keep the original author on, especially to preserve aspects of the original work. Looks like I'll have some reading to do!

My all time favourite performance of Hwang Jungeum is Secret Love (I believe it's the 2013 drama with Ji Sung). She did an incredible job making you feel deeply for her pain, and her angst and her struggles were portrayed amazingly. I think it's really a matter of writing, and that she's actually an incredibly versatile actress with lots of experience. Looking forward to her next romcom project, and I hope she gets better characters to act!

I think this is a comment to show (especially for those who may be interested in watching) whether you should or shouldn't watch this one. Personally I actually feel like much of the storyline doesn't really come into play until probably the mid-stretch, with the main CP's story taking up A LOT of the show.

In other words, if you actually like the ML + FL (which I think many of us who praise the series do, and are currently addicted to their sweet scenes) then I think you'll enjoy it. But if you really don't like them and the characterizations, I don't think this is a drama that will work for you because they take up A LOT of screen time. This is really one of the fluffiest dramas I've watched, and while I'm currently only on Episode 24 almost every episode so far I'd say at least 75% are cute scenes with both of them. By removing the two main characters, I probably wouldn't watch this one, since I don't think there is not really in fact enough plot at the moment. I'm going to admit that I really am only watching this for the main CP, and therefore understand that if you don't like them, this is definitely not a show that might work for you.

I can't believe Zhou Yiran is so young. Agree that Zhong Li is definitely one of my favourite characters! It's great to see such awesome side characters that really add something to the storyline.

When I first saw this, I knew I shouldn't start before all episodes are out, since I have a feeling it's going to be really addictive (especially considering its relation to The Princess Weiyoung). But I just can't resist, and especially with all the positive comments I'm going into Episode 1 with high expectations!

The plot itself sounds like a trippy dream or one huge meme. Not sure what to think of it especially as I've been used to seeing Kris Fan in more serious/introspective roles, so this might be an interesting one to pick up!

It's interesting because apparently Nirvana in Fire was actually adapted from a BL novel! I've been wanting to read it but have yet to be able to find an English translation, but I think it's interesting to see the differences between the original story and the screenplay.

I'm quite surprised by the comments that are focusing on the FL. I do think some of the "cutesy" expressions could definitely be toned down, with Jinyan's characterization not really needing this in order to be attractive. However, Jinyan's core character is very mischievous and devoted, and I really like her. She works hard to support her loved ones, bravely creates schemes and plans herself to help them, and doesn't think about how powerless she is but instead what she can do to support the people around her. Not to mention if we are to criticize the FL herself, there should also be comments towards the ML — whose favouritism towards Jinyan can sometimes hurt her, and also how he sometimes loses his temper at court or his professionalism as the king. Episode 24 is probably a great example of how Jinyan helps King Yu with his own personal problems when sometimes he is too temperamental to see the situation clearly.

I also love how the drama does some really cool things with its side characters. I love the screentime that Zhong Li receives, and how much of this is focused on his brotherhood and loyalty to King Yu. I also absolutely love how they used Consort Wen — never have I seen one of the members of the king's harem actively try to assist the main couple.

Moreover, while there are definitely the usual scheming politics involved, this is at its heart an incredibly fluffy and loveable drama. There are so many cute scenes between our main ship, who I can only describe as two cute, clueless, and bickering people who love each other deeply. I love how both ML & FL navigate misunderstandings together, apologize to each other, and even go extra lengths in order to care for each other. I can't wait to see the rest of the episodes, and even though I'm already at Episode 24 I'm not yet bored and have yet to skip anything!

From one of the interviews that Leo was in, he mentioned that the ML's character (Yuan Shuai) is the very doting, considerate, devoted to the FL type. I was a little surprised by this since the plot makes it seem like he has become the "cold ruthless ML," but considering the popularity of "wholesome MLs" recently, I think this will be a refreshing change. Not to mention - FL has a pet corgi in this drama, which I am sure will steal the show!

I'm excited for this one since it seems like another light romantic drama (in the same vein as Lucky's First Love) and really can't wait to watch because of how exceptional Leo's acting has been in all of his projects. I'm really hoping this one gets solid ratings, especially because his previous works haven't done so well in plot, and also that this showcases both Bai Lu and Leo's impressive acting ranges!