Wish Upon A Star

For me, it's best to watch not knowing anything at all, and that's what I did 2 years ago. It was good and still is, and I never read nor plan to read the novel

I'm not into Chinese culture but I can understand the language. To me, these are different forms of nicknames that still can be used now in modern days:
- "Xiao" means "Little" as you correctly pointed out, so are usually used by an older person to a younger person.
- "-er 儿" are used by parent to child as "er zi 儿子" means son, while “nu: er 女儿" means daughter.
- "ah/a" or repeating name are just different form of endearing nicknames for someone close - can be family or friends.

In the drama, Wen Ning is never dead. As a child, part of his cognitive/spiritual energy was taken away, thus making him more susceptible to negative energy. He was not fully possessed by the negative energy at Yiling by the pouch that WWX gave him - you see him on the ground, clutching tightly onto a pouch, stabbed with a flag. He was stabbed with a flag but he did not die from his stab injury. Remember WWX told XY in the Yi City arc that he could save WN as he was not dead, so he couldn't save the dead XXC. Likewise, I don't think Song Lan is dead after being stabbed by XXC. XY controlled Song Lan using the Yin metal.

I brought up SSS to show that having spiritual creature does not make it more xianxia. Return of the Condor Heroes also has the spiritual condor and the almost immortal Xiao Long Nu but it is wuxia. Fight Breaks Sphere has more fantasy element, but is it a xianxia? Perhaps more a xuanhuan, as I see Douluo Continent as xuanhuan.

Err, hope you get where I am coming from.. to agree to disagree. To me, TU is wuxia on clan rivalry and chivalry, leaning towards daoism cultivation, with perhaps some elements of fantasy, and not a xianxia.

we have to disagree on all those..

for me, wuxia with supernatural or fantasy elements doesn't make them xianxia. there are many modern dramas with supernatural stuffs such as All of us are dead, Happiness, Tmr, Hotel Del Luna and even Reset, but not labelled with "xian".

also in this drama, the corpses are not revived, but rather human beings' cognitive spirit/energy are absorbed by the yin metal, turning them into puppets.. more like those "zombies" in Happiness.

spiritual creatures are common in wuxia dramas as well - aren't there spiritual creatures in Sword Snow Stride? so, to me, this drama is wuxia with fantasy elements.

while this drama is adapted from a danmei novel, the core of the story is not on the danmei stuffs, but on values of right vs wrong, strong vs weak, and hypocrisy of society and so called noble clans. and also on found families.

I find TU great in transcending the danmei novel, bringing forth the core and depth of the story with highlights on found families and portraying deep brotherly/siblings ties (btw not just the two leads, but also WWX-JC, yunmeng siblings, NHS-NMJ and WQ-WN (the only real siblings here)).

always finds it such a pity for TU to be overly BL-labelled and hyped, to the extent of deterring non-BL fans from watching. and the BL element almost always get brought in, though obviously those are never my intent :(

i have a bit of different view from shortcircuit. i see this as more wuxia here as there is no three realms here. the untamed world only has the mortal realm happening on earth that has regular people who join clans to cultivate to become near immortals. so cultivators age but at a slower pace. the wen clan (red clan) resorted to using the yin metal which is a naturally occuring metal that absorbs natural energies to absorb people's souls* (edit: should be cognitive/spiritual energy) turning them into puppets to attack the other clans. you should see the above explanation in ~ ep 7 when the female Lan Clan leader appears.

yes, they are about 16-17 years when they attend the Lan Lecture. 2-3 years pass in the flashback and Wuxian was summoned back 16 years after he fell off the cliff.

hope the above helps

better late than never, and it's never too late to watch this as there are always people watching / re-watching it and talking about it. hope you will enjoy it as much as many of us do!

which part of its world is not clear to you? I think its world is typical for wuxia dramas and I would add similar to LOTR as well, here with 5 major clans/sects and one clan (Wen Clan in red robes) seeking to suppress and reign the world, by secretly turning people into puppets and controlling them to attack the clans. It is also clearer if you try starting at episode 3 (or the last 3 minutes of episode 2), which is the chronology start of the story.

tough decision right? ;)

lol... I can't imagine them in the same room
I think the pairs shown are random

Thank you! Glad you find this useful, and hope you will uncover hidden gem(s) :)

Thank you also for reading the article and your comment! I just went to check my watchlist and realised I hv only completed one 2023 drama and dropped one 2023 drama! So pretty much the same as you.

Yes, and I think the other reason is that there could be fewer viewers paying attention to some of those categories such as screenwriter/director, secondary characters and costumes...

The article started without even listed under Editorial. Thanks to Cho Na who helped to get the article listed under Editorial. Hopefully, the article will get featured somehow so that more users are aware :)

Pls brace up and hv tissue nearby.. the next few episodes will be very emotional.
Many say it's a happy ending. For me, it's a happy ending with some regrets.

If NIF is a gem, NIF2 is a hidden gem that outshines when uncovered. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did

Have you completed watching the drama already? The main protagonist is the younger Chang Lin brother, and his older brother and father are key too. This drama is on the Chang Lin family. I'm enjoying it.

No... I'm also enjoying NIF2 better than NIF1

>>>>>>>>>>>>> and Chief Wen Ruo Han is using the Yin Metal (a rare natural metal that absorbs energy from hundreds of years ago, to absorb resentment energy by the previous generation of cultivators) to control "puppets" to continue to dominate the TU clans. Learn of Wei Wu Xian's theory to harness the powerful resentment energy to fight evil during the Lan Lecture. Follow their journey to find the Yin Metal shards, and incidental find of the Yin Metal Sword in the Tortoise, the attacks of the Wen clan on the other clans, and the massacre of the Jiang clan in Ep 15.

Feel free to contact me if you need more clarification. Enjoy!

Hi, I think you can start from Ep3, the chronological start of this drama. 1st 15 episodes are for The Untamed (TU) world building, and you may notice new details you missed the first time you watched it. Know that there are 5 major clans (Jiang, Jin, Lan, Wen and Nie clans) and the chief of the cultivator world hails from the Wen Clan....

Read on below in spoiler tag for more details/spoilers >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hey, like you, in my review, I too compared this drama to EAW, but unlike you, I find the story of the autistic protagonist here to be much more realistic than EAW - Woo is just loaded with autism-cuteness, and EAW lacks originality, depth and realism to be a quality production. For me, Good Doctor is a better drama than EAW.

as objectively as I can, this is a must watch.. details in my drama review.
note that unlike LBFAD, there is no three realms and this is more wuxia on clan rivalry, power struggle, strong vs weak, evil vs good, and the first two episodes may be confusing, as a lot happened leading to the events in the first two episodes.. but watch on and the story will unfold

as objectively as I can, this is a must watch.. details in my drama review