I never expected that Lingbo would show more character depth than Cai Zhao, and all it took was one confrontation scene with her mother 🧐
Don't get me wrong, I like Cai Zhao because of Bao Shangen but damn it a Mary Sue is a Mary Sue and I gotta call it out as it is. Shouldn't have expected much since this is the author of Love Like The Galaxy we're talking about…
Eps 10-11 have finally shown the proper pacing for the show
Episode 9: Honestly, it's a surprise that I'll cry for the character that I dislike since episode 1. Poor Yin…
I liked her since she showed up 'cause her hairstyle looks awesome 🤣 these bitter matriarchs always know how to put on a show 💃 sadly can't say the same for her daughter /:
This director (or editor) is a fan of a certain editing technique for Mu Qingyan where the scene looks like it's buffering (see end of ep 9 as an example)… I don't know if I'm a fan of the usage so far.
Just finished this. I dropped Blossom whose IP was written by the same chick as this one was more substantial and relies less on glitz and glamour which Blossom was guilty of, and is powered by excellent acting from the ladies!! The story was nothing original but the character development was done well for several female characters and the slowburn made sense.
My biggest 'shallow' takeaway would be that I'd love to have Shiyi's bedroom, the Western Lateral Court 🤣 The woodwork was just so stunning.
The reviews made it seem like the mother in law was the biggest villain but she hella wasn't lol
Absolutly worth it. There are a lot of twists and turns and the mother in law from hell, but given your concerns,…
So I gave it a try again cause my officemate told me to pick it back up and reach at least the part where they were talking about sweet and sour fish and I was like 'wut lol'. I binged it on ×2 to lessen my agony and I'm pretty glad I finished it.
My stress levels were at their highest when Dongqing and Linbo got involved 😭 I was screaminggg haha
So I binge watched this over the weekend till Monday and finished it. As someone who came from an anime-watching background growing up, this feels very much like a good, classic shounen. Not something I'd rewatch but it was definitely worth the watch.
The ensemble cast really, really held this thing down. Since I watched this pretty late, I recognised some actors based on their later works I've seen. I can't imagine watching S2 if they don't retain the cast (and yes I am #TeamJiangNi and thought Teresa Li's portrayal of a tsundere was so accurate lmao. Screw the backlash she got.) The story would have fallen flat on its face for being just another 'i wanna be the very best' typa shounen (or wuxia, to be more precise) if the cast hadn't been perfectly eccentric and unyielding.
Actually, even the production tried its best to deliver the 'fantasy' elements. The filming locations and sets also felt convincing and vast.
I'm glad about one thing in particular: the fact that they lessened the harem tone in the drama adaptation. I have such a distaste for harem anime but was kinda forced (by myself for not knowing any better since I was young then) to watch multiple fantasy shounen with harems cause there's just so few shows that are good shounen/wuxia that manage to make the romance respectful and not an author's self insert. Had this been more harem-y than it was, I would not have given this the time of day as an adult in 2025 who knows not to tolerate themes/tropes that I don't find entertaining anyways.
As far as the story goes for S2 though I won't keep my hopes up. Who knows how they'll adapt such a long story for the second season and what they'd want to focus on and if they could keep the cast, particularly the important oldies (Like Xu Xiao and Li Chungang).
The antagonist in the season was miscast completely. They took an actor who was young and has done primarily protagonist…
I took a little peek at its Douban last week. Just basing it off the first page of ratings, a significant amount of 1 star ratings were given on Jan 15-16. That's just Days 1-2 of airing. Lmao it's like giving Swords Into Plowshares a 1 star cause you didn't understand eps 1-2. I never used Douban as a meter to determine if a drama is good or not but even now I might as well censor the dang word.
I didn't want to reply to any of Baozi Buns' comments cause obvious ragebaiter camping on a comment section without having watched S2 but tracking Douban scores is gonna waste my time with chatgpt-ed complaints but damn it I have to set the record straight somewhere.
Don't get me wrong, I like Cai Zhao because of Bao Shangen but damn it a Mary Sue is a Mary Sue and I gotta call it out as it is. Shouldn't have expected much since this is the author of Love Like The Galaxy we're talking about…
Eps 10-11 have finally shown the proper pacing for the show
🐍🐉❄️
My biggest 'shallow' takeaway would be that I'd love to have Shiyi's bedroom, the Western Lateral Court 🤣 The woodwork was just so stunning.
The reviews made it seem like the mother in law was the biggest villain but she hella wasn't lol
My stress levels were at
their highest when Dongqing and Linbo got involved 😭 I was screaminggg haha
The ensemble cast really, really held this thing down. Since I watched this pretty late, I recognised some actors based on their later works I've seen. I can't imagine watching S2 if they don't retain the cast (and yes I am #TeamJiangNi and thought Teresa Li's portrayal of a tsundere was so accurate lmao. Screw the backlash she got.) The story would have fallen flat on its face for being just another 'i wanna be the very best' typa shounen (or wuxia, to be more precise) if the cast hadn't been perfectly eccentric and unyielding.
Actually, even the production tried its best to deliver the 'fantasy' elements. The filming locations and sets also felt convincing and vast.
I'm glad about one thing in particular: the fact that they lessened the harem tone in the drama adaptation. I have such a distaste for harem anime but was kinda forced (by myself for not knowing any better since I was young then) to watch multiple fantasy shounen with harems cause there's just so few shows that are good shounen/wuxia that manage to make the romance respectful and not an author's self insert. Had this been more harem-y than it was, I would not have given this the time of day as an adult in 2025 who knows not to tolerate themes/tropes that I don't find entertaining anyways.
As far as the story goes for S2 though I won't keep my hopes up. Who knows how they'll adapt such a long story for the second season and what they'd want to focus on and if they could keep the cast, particularly the important oldies (Like Xu Xiao and Li Chungang).
I didn't want to reply to any of Baozi Buns' comments cause obvious ragebaiter camping on a comment section without having watched S2 but tracking Douban scores is gonna waste my time with chatgpt-ed complaints but damn it I have to set the record straight somewhere.