the-loststone

Well... I was completely unproductive while watching this

I'm gonna say that first, I read the novel. And I liked it as a good read, although there is a lot of aggressive/raqey vibes and grooming and ML was not a good guy (also a lot of the characters had pretty toxic traits). (But they were all very complex characters in the novel). So I do like that the show decided to polish the characters. A lot is the same while a lot is different. I do like the changes the show made though.

Now onto the review with spoilers:

Story:
ML and FL are both outcast members of their family. ML is the illegitimate unfavored son who is completely neglected and vilified by the Luo family. FL is the daughter in the same family (they are siblings) who is legitimate but unfavored by the father and sent away when she was young. (This is a change that I like, because in the novel, he ends up basically raising her and she was A LOT younger in the novel). FL and ML bond and develop a very close loving relationship (as siblings).

That is until ML learns that FL was not in fact his biological sister (her mom met another man when separated from her dad). And then ML starts crushing hard on the only person who's nice to him. Meanwhile, ML is trying to uncover the truth as to one of his mentor's death and FL is trying to discover why her mother died.

This leads them to encounter FL's former crush who she met while she was exiled from the family when she was younger. SML is very possessive. And you know, for some that might be a vibe. And I'm not opposed to being possessive either. But he's possessive in a stalker way - in the way that's I don't care about what you want, only what I want. SML has some guilt because he thinks she died because of him (she sort of did - having been pushed off a cliff because he was having an affair with another woman to consolidate power while leaving her as a side piece). But SML is firmly on the bad guys team.

FL discovers she's not her Luo father's daughter, gets a better father -- Luo father sucks -- but the step mother is AMAZING (Hairu is my favorite character).

And eventually things work themselves out -- with a lot of drama in between.

Really good drama. I will say though, I skipped almost every scene that was the cousin/sister and the uncle together after the hungry prince went away. I was not invested in their relationship.

If you're looking for the palace drama, then that's not going to be in here (and honestly it was better off for it, cleaner). But they did give FL independence (which tbh she was in desperate need of in the novel) which I loved for her.

Acting:
The leads did a great job. ML manages to capture the standoffish vibe while also being really approachable and friendly perfectly. He's amazingly cast. FL was exactly how I imagined her in the novel - the description is basically her. They both have a lot of chemistry and charisma on screen. I loved SML as well, I was so invested in his plot (even while I was actively routing against him). All the adults/parents did amazing, especially step mom.

Music:
Good but unremarkable.

Cinematography:
beautiful.

Costumes:
STUNNING!!!

Overall:
a must watch. Very very good.

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❤️ My internal clock woke me up at 4:00 a.m. to watch this for a week.

Story

The story was surprisingly accurate. When I did a comparison between plot lines in the novel versus the drama I was surprised to see that the drama stayed very loyal to the book. And I say surprised, because it felt, especially towards ep 26-30, that the drama was falling behind. That said, it’s because it was missing a lot of context that was left in the novel.

I completely understand the choice to cut out some of plot lines and missions (ex: the bear, interrogating/breaking out prisoners, the multiple battles in the capital…) for time. But where they cut, they also included a lot of scenes for other characters. For instance, QM and YQQ barely had any of their own pov in the novel, while the drama devoted almost 1/3 of its time to them (and I do appreciate the toxic love story). But the screenwriter decided to incorporate the side stories into the main story, thereby taking away time from the main story.

So we missed a lot of plots surrounding our main characters in exchange for other characters. But for what they kept, they stayed really faithful. Almost word for word.

The story stayed very faithful the characters in a lot of ways, but also deviated from them somewhat. For instance, for XZ/YZ, we barely get any context about his mother’s suicide and how it affected him beyond nightmares and hints about self loathing. In the book, it’s deeply tied to his reluctance to fall in love, how he doesn’t want to end up like his mother falling in love with someone that when they die it kills them. He blames himself more than anyone, and when he finds out that his mother killed herself to save him from his uncle, it completely floors him. It was a huge moment in the book where he went to confront WY at his parent’s graves. Or when they realize that her father was WX and he actually leaves her and throws himself into the war to try to get her out of his head, injuring himself repeatedly, then going to his family and asking to be whipped 108 times because he committed a grave sin by falling in love with her and deciding he cannot let her go. I mean, the angst!! Dial it up by x20 in the novel.

And I can excuse those changes for needing to cut time. I think the change I disliked the most was ep 26/27 when after he’s drugged, he doesn’t kill the opposing side General like he does in the book. That was one change I was genuinely confused why they would do that. It just prolonged that plot point for that guy to come back for 2 seconds and be killed in a 1 second. That was, I think, the only change that actually annoyed me. Because in the book, after he wakes up, he goes to fight in the battle before seeking out CY, having confidence that she could take care of herself and that if she couldn’t his people would take care of her, even though he was worried.

Generally the show did an amazing job. If I didn’t read the novel, I would think this still an amazing watch for its plot. Still 10/10.

And I do love some the changes they made in the show. XZ/YZ is infinitely nicer and less of a dick to people. And while some people may complain that he’s not showing the power of being the feared marquis, I appreciated the change. We still see the depth of his power because he can mobilize people to do what he wants and his reputation is as feared general and he has so much arrogance from his achievements that he doesn’t even kneel for the emperor. I like that we see him be nice to Changning and to Bao’er, especially in the village.

I like that the mains relationship had a lot more consent in it. I think the mains relationship was so beautifully written and perfectly performed (I’ll get to that later).

Despite the fact that it cut into the main story line, I love that they included the side stories and added the complexity to the other characters (WY, QM, SY…)

My general review for the story as a whole was that it’s a good story. Having read the novel, of course I’m disappointed that parts I consider pivotal weren’t included, but I’m not that mad about it because of how the drama came together as a whole.

I definitely think my understanding of the drama is probably affected by the translation. I saw online someone say that the translations lost a lot of the formality and context. So hopefully I can either learn mandarin or someone can do an in depth translation with guides on the jokes or important verbiage that are lost on those who don’t speak the language.

I think overall, too much time in the village, that could have been cut down and devoted to more background in their families and backstory. I don’t know if it helped that I read the novel so I knew what was happening, or if it hurt because I knew what should have been happening.

Acting/Cast

When I say that the best part of this drama was the actors, I am not lying. The actors understood the f*cking assignment, and I applaud them heartily.

Our leads ZLH and TXW had peak chemistry. I have watched their other works before and I do not know if I’ve ever been this obsessed with them. They’ve never looked better, they’ve never acted better.

I swear to god TXW eyes did more acting in this drama than some veteran actors in their entire careers. And ZLH’s microexpressions and his jaw. HIS JAW!! Did so much acting!

Now, yes they are both very pretty people and do benefit from the pretty privilege where you can ignore bad acting. But I genuinely think they did act very well in this series. This is a director who knew what he wanted and got it from his cast.

I also watched the behind the scenes footage and was surprised by how much say the actor’s had in what they wanted to do considering how intentional this director is with his choices in the drama.

Besides our leads, our side characters were also outstanding. DK and SK’s chemistry was on fire. While toxic obsession stories are not my cup of tea I give them all the props for their chemistry and flawless acting. They played incredibly nuanced characters. LQ and YZL also gave an amazing performance of their pure love story. And LMR is a new young break out actor I hope to see more of.

Special mention to the young actors playing CN and YB. They did amazing.

Music / Cinematography

I have nothing but love for this director and his way of capturing the story and the characters. He is so deliberate about his choices, the coloring, the focus, the details are just so layered and intentional.

The music and composition was beautiful.


Rewatch Value
10/10
Would rewatch, would reread, have been rewatching, and rereading.

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THE SHINING STAR OF 2024

So far TVN dramas in 2024 have been serving, but I can definitely say, with complete certainty, that nothing has fed me as well as Lovely Runner.

Story
The story is about a young woman, Sol, who was in an accident as a teenager. She suffered through a lot of depression following her paralysis, making her suicidal. In a radio phone conversation, the male lead, SunJae, helps her remember her will to live, and she is so grateful to him that she becomes his avid fan. Fifteen years go by and Sun Jae is also suffering heavy depression. After meeting briefly, news comes out that he committed suicide. Heartbroken, she goes back in time to when they were both 19 and decides to save SunJae. At the time, they both attended the same highschool, and SunJae was an athlete. She starts interacting with him more, unlike in the original timeline, and it is discovered that all this time, Sun Jae had a crush on her. The story progresses, Sol going back in forth to the past and the future, discovering what changes she was able to make to the timeline and dealing with her past self. We watch Sol and SunJae act as teenagers, and cringe with them in their many many embarrassing moments. When they're in college, we watch them have so many cute and heartfluttering moments together. As adults, we get to watch them have steamy scenes.

The story perfectly represents love, whether it is the young puppy love of children, to the mature, selfless love of adults. It gives us yearning and adoration. It distinguishes between the love of a fan and admirer from the love of a man/woman. It takes us through so many tropes - fan and idol, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, strangers meeting, one sided love, love at first sight, idiots in love, bromance, love triangle (very brief) high school romance, college romance, adult romance...

There is a good balance of humor and heaviness. While there are a lot of sad moments, I never really found myself crying because there is levity and it is countered well with heartwarming moments or humorous moments.

Acting
Kim Hye Yoon, Im Sol, and Byeon Woo Seok, Ryu Sun Jae, have amazing chemistry. I'd kept up with KHY since Sky Castle, having been one of the few who loved her character, and watch most of everything that she'd put out since then, or else seen clips of it. I'm always impressed by her acting and the range of characters she played. BWS is new for me, as he is for many others. I'd of course seen him in other shows, but I'd never paid him any real attention, and I guess that has to do with the fact that he played next to some really big celebrities at the time, like Park Bo Gum. He gained a lot of attention for his previous works now that his lead role is out, and having gone back to watch them, I can definitely say that he does a very good job. I do believe he completely carried Strong Woman Nam Soon.

In this show, the two acted exactly how I would expect them to act. They were cringey teens, they were foolish young adults, they were mature adults. They acted goofy, cute, serious, in love... I got all the emotions from them.

Most of my enjoyment from the show was watching them act so unserious all the time. And the behind the scenes footage was everything.

The supporting cast did amazing as well. I was invested in all the plot lines and I loved the bromance, friendship and family that the show gave us.

Music

Who knew BWS could sing? well now everyone does as his song for the show is topping. And N.Flying's Lee Seung Hyub is amazing as well! all the OSTs are so good and catchy.

Filmography

Beautiful. Great cinematography. Amazing parallels.

I don't really know what else I can say about this show. It's really on the top of the list as far as great shows go, and is the star of 2024. Highly highly recommended. I will definitely be watching it again.

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The sluttiest drama of the year

What an amazing drama. I was honestly waiting for 2025 to hit with a 10/10 drama and Love in the Clouds really surpised me. This is a drama where you can absolutely tell that the actors and team had great respect and love for the project. They did a phenominal job.

Story
The story starts with our FL MY/MX fighting in a tournament against our ML JBZ. MY definitely has a complex about winning, due to her sect's demands and her parent's love being conditioned on her winning. Unfortunately, she loses to JBZ, but in her loss realizes she's been poisoned and her spiritual veins are shattering - if she does not fix it within the year, she will die, and if she continues using her powers, she will die faster. She suspects JBZ of poisoning her to win in the tournament, as it is widely known he has been poisoned by that poison (Heavenly Poison) and that he likely has the antidote to the poison.
However, this antidote is one everyone is looking for because it has the ability to give anyone power or boost their cultivation. JBZ was using it to lure people in.
MY, who previously was believed to be MX but was in fact always a girl and had only been disguised as a boy her whole life by her mother, approaches and seduces JBZ to get close to him to get the antidote. Throughout this process, the two fall in love with each other, and learn who really poisoned MY and an entire plot to destroy the realm that they must prevent.
They navigate the lies and betrayal in their relationship, and heart breaking truths being revealed to separate them.
Concurrent to their love story, is the beautiful love story between the crown princess and a physician who was tasked with murdering her father, and the story of a bullied fan's unrequited love.

Acting/Cast
The cast did an amazing job with their characters, understanding and appreciating them and giving each the depth they deserve. HMH is an actor I've liked for a while, since BTTB and IAN, and LYX is one of my favorites in MJTY so I was really happy she got a lead role and did such an amazing performance. The two had beautiful chemistry, playing at being slutty, coy, fierce, and vulnerable.
The director was switched out during the project and rather than that being a crushing blow to the show, it actually saved it, and the director clearly understood her job. I couldn't ask for better. She knew exactly how to serve and what to serve (HMH looks so slutty in this drama, I love it, and it is impossible to take your eyes of LYX).

Music/Cinematography/CGI
There were these hilarious moments where the viewer's would enter a different POV (the physician's) and it would just turn into a completely different genre. It was hilarious the way we would just shift to a complete romance with lighting and music heightened by 100.
Otherwise, it was visually stunning, the music was beautiful (HMH has a great OST), and the CGI was more than acceptable.

Overall
There are definitely a lot of corny moments in this show, but they didn't detract from how great the performances were. Highly highly recommended. 10/10 and will rewatch.

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I would give more stars than there are in the galaxy

I realized that I never left a review for LLTG and could not understand why, especially considering it was my first cdrama. So while I'm on my third rewatch, here we go:

This show surpasses all expectations. The quality, the writing, the acting, the characters... All of it is perfect.

Now, I've seen a lot of people say that this show inverts tropes. And that is 100% correct. The leads are petty, vengeful, and selfish. Unlike a lot of leads that are forgiving and kind, here, the leads can be kind, but only to those who are kind to them. If someone doesn't treat them right, they reserve the right to be equally brutal. And I love it. Even with each other they can be uncompromising.

The Emperor , empress, and consort are absolute scene stealers. Another example of how they invert tropes - there are no disputes between the three. The empress is not paranoid or evil, the consort is not ambition or evil, and the emperor is not unqualified or evil. They are just genuinely good, competent rulers who value each other. Absolute scene stealers.

I can't articulate the love I have for this drama. The characters are so well developed. Not only the leads, but the support and side characters as well.

That said, of course there are some cons with the show. There are so many characters and while they all have their own plots, because there are so many, some do just get wrapped up quickly or are just dropped all together. The beginning is very very slow (I think you have to get through a good 10 episodes before things begin to pick up pace), and the end could have been better in my opinion.

But even with those cons, the pros far far far outweigh it. I mean.. it's no contest. This show is perfect and I think it's going to withstand the test of time because I already return to it as one of my go to shows whenever I need a comfort show or an enjoyable watch.

Highly highly recommend.

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Amazing

I want to articulate how great this was but the words are almost impossible to find. I'll say this... there was not a single wasted episode. The story was excellent and for the director's debut of a long drama, this set an extremely high bar.

The drama's strength is its characters. SM and DZ are absolutely feral for each other. I love it. Both their entrances in the original timeline was so epic. I mean, the beginning scene was an amazing hook and a great way to introduce the characters. I was honestly sold on the drama before the end of the first episode, but everything after was nailed to perfection.

SM is absolutely a villain by a normal standard. I mean at one point he was ready to slaughter an entire household to keep his presence and that of a baby secret. He waterboarded his brother. I love him. I wanted him to go apesh*t on the entire royal line for how corrupt and stupid they are.

DZ was the most competent female lead I've seen in a minute. Even when things are out of her control she is always trying to manipulate through the sh*t that she's surrounded by. I love how crafty and strategic she is. And how it's her mind that SM is drawn to.

Two amazing characters with great story lines who are consistent and full of depth.

The story is gripping. I honestly want to compare this with Love Like the Galaxy for how much I enjoyed the court intrigues and the characters. Although LLTG spoiled me with a great emperor and that is definitely not the case here. I was honestly disappointed we didn't have a more deserving death for the emperor for how he betrayed his people/those loyal to him. But... I digress.

Absolutely perfect. The best costume cdrama this year!

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Come Back To It

So I first started this show the minute that it aired on Netflix and I only got to half the second episode before I quit. I was bored and wasn't really feeling up for another zombie show when at the time, it seemed like it was all that was on TV. So I dumped it and moved on.

But! Less than a year later, I browsing Lomon's page and trying to find out what else I'd seen him in, since I was watching Revenge of Others and guess what! He played the main role in All of Us Are Dead (and some other shows that I'd watched). But since I hadn't actually watched All of Us Are Dead, I decided to give it another try for him. And I am so so glad I did.

Now I'm not saying this because I'm currently stanning Lomon. ( I am stanning him but that's a whole different point.) I think this was genuinely an amazing show.

Acting -
These kids are doing amazing. I am genuinely so impressed by their portrayal of their characters and how genuinely they come across. They gave amazing performances with perfect chemistry. They felt like friends, they had their jokes and their drama and pettiness. They portrayed being teenagers perfectly.

The rest of the cast also did a phenomenal job. The detective was a massive DILF and I loved every one of his scenes. His heartbreak at the state of the world, and his hope that he can keep the kids safe. The general played cool and rational and coldhearted while subtly being able to convey that every decision he is making is taking a toll on him and he doesn't want to be making them. The soldiers who follow orders no matter what even if they don't want to and you are screaming with frustration at them for not disobeying and yet you know that no matter what they will follow orders to the letter because that is how they are conditioned. The parents who would run into danger for their kids, and the kids who are dealing with so much trauma that they don't know how to react to all of it so some of it hits them like a tidal wave and they are frozen, depressed, suicidal or they some they just compartmentalize until they can deal with it later.

Plot -
Believable. It has been three years since Covid started and I can still remember how chaotic that time was. Now take a zombie virus that is quick and deadly and put in human stupidity and drama and all the rest and you've got reality. I think the most unbelievable part is that the military actually does a pretty adequate job in containing the disease for how deadly it is. (Although I did think a lot about how birds would naturally become zombies by eating the decaying bodies and therefore it would be impossible to actually contain the zombie virus, but I guess i have to suspend my disbelief in some things because at the end of the day, this is a zombie show).

Even the love triangle/square was believable. Because in that scenario, you aren't just going to forget that you like someone, even if you are in a super chaotic environment. It's cute and it adds moments of softness to a very action packed drama.

I definitely recommend the show.
Go into it with an open mind and you will be pleasantly surprised.

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Best Enemies to Lovers

I don't have too much to say other than wow!! wowwie!!! Goodness Gracious those two are freaky for each other.

This show does the best adaptation of enemies to lovers that I have ever seen. Hands down.

Other than that, the acting is excellent. I love both leads so much and they had amazing chemistry, together and with their other scene partners. The characters were perfectly nuanced and had so much depth to them, even villains you though would be one dimensional ended up having surprising depth to them.

The story was amazing and gripping. I highly highly recommend. I'm typically a binge watcher and get bored if I have to watch on a schedule but this one kept me hooked from start to finish.

Great show!

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A beautiful story

Honestly, I'd put off watching this. Not because I thought I wasn't going to like it, because I knew I would, which is why I left it for a year on my to watch list. I wanted a time to savor it. Stupid me though decided to binge it during high stress this week though.
So first, take my advice and savor this if you haven't watched it yet, because it deserves full appreciation.

Now onto the spoiler review.

Cast:
Well done. Honestly, I'd only recently started to get into Ryeoun (Adult Trainee ep 3-5 is amazing), and I'd been a fan of Choi Hyun Wook since 2521. I knew they were going to give me stellar performances. And they delivered. They played the father-son/bromance so well. They had such beautiful vulnerable moments that left me gasping. They played amazing as leads. But I think the star of this show, for me, was Shin Eun Soo. She conveyed so much with her expressions. I was always waiting for more scenes with her. As a cast, they all did phenomenally well. I loved the band, who gave so much camaraderie and youthfulness to the show and the grandmother who supported them. They all complimented each other very well. The chemistry was wonderful.

Story:
The show is about living and shining in your youth, and how you overcome your obstacles. But it's also about having a fulfilling adulthood - your life isn't over after highschool, and I think the end really emphasizes that. HEG's parents still existed in the present, and they still shined brightly.
The story starts by showing us HEG's struggle throughout his childhood as he was his parents interpreter and their only link to the outside. It's a heavy burden to put on a child's shoulders, and you can tell that it isn't one intentionally done. Largely it's because of the lack of support, the feeling of being ostracized when you are disabled, and the lack of resources when you are poor (which, unless you are a wealthy heir, is very hard to overcome when you are disabled). It is clear that HEG feels burdened and doesn't want to - he loves his family. And it is also clear that he is unable to communicate with them despite being their only link to communicate. We know as an audience that if he expressed himself, his family would be understanding and supportive, but to him, it's almost insurmountable to actually be selfish.
HEG's chance to go back in time allows him to connect with his parents for the first time, and really speak to them and learn about them. He gets the opportunity to express himself and be accepted, and to right the wrongs in his parents past, saving them and himself.
I love that the story makes HYC's accident a fixed point. I think that it's important to show that it wasn't something in his destiny that needed fixing.

Music:
Very 90s with a hint of modern. I was a big fan. And you can see that they had great stage presence during their shows. I loved HEG busking on the street in the first episode and I think their charisma was very well done to portray them as musicians.

Cinematography
Very bright and youthful, even in the moments that were sad. There was always the draw to the light.

Rewatch value:
First I'm going to watch all the fan edits, then I'll rewatch.

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Strong start, faulty end

This drama started really strong, and by episode 16 I even gave it a 10, but then it slowly started falling. I love the cast, and was strongly motivated to watch because of Xu Kai, but it was frustrating to watch him be a minor character in his own drama.

This is primarily a family drama about a young woman trying to establish boundaries with her parents, particularly her mother.

It was a good show with a good message, but I think overall it could have been better executed. I didn't like that the secondary characters had more screen time than the primary couple. I wasn't a big fan of some of the decisions people made. I didn't like that every time a boundary was made, it had the person who the boundary was against just toeing the line so completely. There were characters who were just added in towards the end that I thought were unnecessary.

Overall, I just wish there was more time for the ML and FL to be together. Their relationship was cute and they had good chemistry, but they hopped skipped and jumped without much time for us to see them together compared to all the time they spent agonizing over their family. If the show was supposed to be about a woman becoming independent, let her have an independent love! Even if the ML was supposed to be integrated into the family, they could have explored the relationship between the leads more.

Otherwise, good show :D

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ABSOLUTELY AMAZING

Story:
The story starts when the Emperor and nearly his entire family are murdered leaving only a few members of the royal family alive. The ML (Li Ni) is the grandson of the emperor from one of the younger sons. He was exiled to protect the border by his father and grandfather because of his supposed bad attitude (but later it's revealed that he was constantly bullied by his older half-brothers and didn't like the snake pit of the court). He is the commander of the West Pacify Army which is poor but each warrior is worth more than 10 average warriors. He is asked, once his family is murdered, to become emperor but refuses since his father, brothers, and the former crown prince's son are still alive. He advocates for the crown prince's son to be named emperor, but few believe him. While there is chaos because of the rebellion by General Sun, everyone is now vying for the throne. There is also General Cui and his son (daughter) who have fought back against Sun like Li Ni and also say they are doing it for the crown prince's son. However, no one really believes them either. A Ying is the commander of the army for General Cui. Their army is powerful and wealthy and would be a threat even in a stable realm, so everyone believes they would seize power for themselves. Basically a lot of confusion and rightful paranoia about who can be trusted and what people's motivations are.
The story is political-romance-action. It does a very good job of showing everyone's motivations for their actions. Li Ni and A Ying are both exceptionally well written characters, who's playful banter, intelligence and depth is fully explored.
The plot is fast paced. It doesn't stall and there is always a purpose to scenes, even if it's a filler scene. The side characters also have great plots and character development.
Acting:
Xu Kai and Jing Tian are exceptional. I started this show for Xu Kai because I've loved most of what I've seen him in (and if I didn't like a show with him in it, it was never because of him), and he didn't disappoint. From the first moment you can see his swagger and cheek that is so perfect for this role. He's a combination of playful and serious and Xu Kai does it perfectly, transforming from puppy to wolf in seconds (quoting Jing Tian when she's talking about Xu Kai in an interview). This is my first time watching Jing Tian and now I know I will keep up with her because she was amazing, and I can't believe it is just because of her chemistry with Xu Kai. She adds great depth to her character.
Romance:
The romance was incredible. They had beautiful intimacy. There are criticism that A Ying was too competitive, but that's what's attractive about her. She is ambitious and doesn't hide it. A quality that isn't seen often in shows. I love that the show goes out of it's way to demonstrate that women have similar appetite's as men, but because of their roles in society, very few can actually show it. Li Ni, who was raised primarily by women, and had very little fatherly influence in his life, knows to appreciate this quality in her, and is what attracts him to her. They are so well matched because they think the same. While Li Ni isn't competitive, because he has seen that court is dangerous and doesn't want it for himself, he is still cunning and he likes his partner to be able to keep up with him. Their courting is a series of bets, competitions, and banter. Their relationship is protecting each other and plotting together. While towards the middle, A Ying is forced to conform more to womanly life, she keeps her ambitions, and her intelligence doesn't leave. They aren't always rational either. Both make mistakes, and can be quick to judge each other for the other's actions if it negatively impacts them, but they are always impressed and even if subconsciously, they understand each other.
Side Characters:
Everyone made me feel something. Whether it was Li Ni's family making me feel absolute frustration for how stupid they are, or the villains for making me want to punch them in the face, or the bandits and the warriors of the West Pacify Army making me love them and die for them.
Rewatch value:
Absolutely! In fact, I'm going to go rewatch it right now.

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Great cartoon to live action

One of the best examples I've seen for a live action remake of an animated series.

Honestly, I watched it for Neo Hou and so I wasn't really that interested in what the MC was doing and what the whole plot was besides what Wang Ye was up to. I did get sucked into the drama and was pleasantly surprised. But I think my favorite aspect of this show was the fight scenes. An amazing adaptation. This is what I want to see when they do cartoons into live actions. It was campy and cringey and had a lot of playful comedic expressions and movement as it is intentional for a good adaptation of what happened in the cartoon. It doesn't take away from the plot or the serious moments at all.

And the fight scenes were incredible. This is what I want to see when incorporating martial arts into magic/bending! Every ATLA adaptation can take notes!

The show was good overall, and I will definitely go back for a rewatch, especially of the fight scenes.

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Cute and Fluffy. Great for a day when you just want something sweet.

I'm a bit obsessed with this show as a comfort show.
First, I have to give props to the animation in this show. I think it is my favorite of all the e-sport dramas. The game characters are game characters -- it's not the actors who are playing avatars of themselves or something like that. There are really good fight scenes, and the game avatars have a lot of expressions. You aren't getting this weird idea that the players are sucked into the ai world or anything like that, it's very clear that they are just pressing the keyboard and the mouse, but it's still fun, and you can see their effort. I think this is the only e-sport drama I've scene where it's just a game - a game they are playing professionally. So that is something that I love about this.
Next, it's just a cute show. I mean, the acting could be better, and I know for a fact that all the actors are better at acting than they do in this show (not that they are terrible here), but I can definitely tell that there are a lot of pauses, and stare downs and just weird silent moments that are a director's choice, not an actor's. I think it probably has to do with them filming during covid but, idk. Or it could just be a really purposeful choice by the director to make them have almost no expression on their face. I mean, for Xu Kai's character, I guess it makes sense, but Cheng Xiao's character has more screen time and we see more times where she's supposed to have different emotions and she's just... not giving it. And it's not that she can't, because sometimes she'll pull out a really good scene with a lot of depth, but then for the rest it's just ... stiff. So I'm going to blame the director.
There is also a lot of dubbing that was obvious in this, and that is a pet peeve of mine.
Okay, but enough about the flaws.
I love the characters just in general. So cute. And the team mates are hilarious. It's just a great show, especially for a rewatch.
This is my third favorite Xu Kai show so far (after Wonderland of Love and Arsenal Military Academy) and I definitely recommend.

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I really only have this to say: The actors understood the assignment.

This was so well done. It was honestly one of the most beautiful and well-acted shows I'd ever seen.

The longing, yearning, love, depression, ache . . . everything was acted to perfection.

I cried so much. I've rewatched the ending scene maybe five times now, and I rewatched the scenes with the couple together so many times as well.

I'd seen Bai Lu's other work and I think she has great chemistry with her other co-stars but this was unparalleled. And these two didn't even kiss. Just the tension and deep feeling they had was perfect.

That's all I have to say about this.

Please watch it. You will not be disappointed.

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