hello

I'm gonna provide a counter argument here. So you're saying it's not ok for fans to ship Yizhan because they are "changing their sexuality". But I'm curious what you think about other actors. Do you find it ok that fans are shipping heterosexual couples? For example, Yang Zi x Li Xian (from Go Go Squid) even though they never announced that they're together either?
To be real, every actor or actress in China's entertainment industry is straight by default, just because of the fact that they live in China. We can't really say fans are "changing their sexuality" because we don't know their sexuality. I don't think anyone has ever publicly announced "I am straight!" because that would imply that there are other alternatives, but in China there are no other alternatives.
My opinion is, fans are free to ship whoever they want as long as they stay within their boundaries and don't push their agenda onto others or the actors themselves. I agree with you that there are some that go too far and have sadly disrupted the lives of Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan.

Yes there was a recent scandal about that. Xiao Zhan's case is pretty different though, because he didn't do anything wrong himself, but the drama was related to him. I actually don't think he was "canceled" at all when it happened, it was just a lot of drama amongst his fans.

lol I think the internet will explode if that ever does happen. And I'm in complete support for it too. Cross fingers!

He's definitely been back for a couple months I would say. I know there are some creators who just don't want any drama on their channels so they just opt to do that. Sad, but that's the reality.

Yes I'm sure many do get pissed. But The Untamed is very popular so, naturally, with popularity also comes criticism, whether they're constructive or not. I'm kinda already used to it now and come at non-constructive criticisms with an aloof stance. I, for one, get especially pissed at comments saying "oh this drama is just popular because of the BL" and to those people I'm just major facepalming.

Forgot to say thank you for this article :) glad to see Cdramas getting wider attention

You may see this link get tossed around a lot too on this website because it's helpful for learning genre terminology! https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/#cultivation

Yea! I personally didn't run into any plotholes. And I totally agree with what you said about Xiao Wu as a character. One of the better female leads I've seen in Chinese dramas...

Ok but I feel like all of those memory instances had valid reasons. For the parents one, Wei Wuxian was very young, and I don't think memories stick very well at such young ages. The Lan Wangji carrying him one I would think was because of the reason I said in the earlier comment about remembering the good done by others. Then the Lan Xichen one I think that was a very traumatic time for Wei Wuxian and I read some theories that the "get lost" was Wei Wuxian telling the spirits to get lost because he was like losing control, and he wasn't saying that to Lan Wangji. I doubt he was even aware that Lan Wangji was with him in that moment. He was nowhere near a healthy state of mind to remember what exactly happened, so I find that to be reasonable.
Most of these are book examples and honestly I may have forgotten a lot of it, but these are just my two cents!

Honestly I don't find it strange that Wei Wuxian has a bad memory. I can totally relate lol. Is his memory really that bad though? I just thought the memory thing was only important in the case of remembering the song Wangxian, but other than that he remembered stuff pretty well right? Especially the painful moments. Are there other examples of his memory loss that you thought were prominent?
Hmm it would def make an interesting story!

Lol I think that's just part of his personality haha. But it could also stem from his mother telling him that he should always remember the good that others have done for him not the good that he has done for others. A-yuan was a different case because he got a fever and that resulted in some memory loss.

Disclaimer: I swear I'm not saying this because I'm a Xiao Zhan fan or anything, all genuine thoughts.
Sorry I used up the comments section for a review but I find it too hard to give numbered ratings haha...
I thoroughly enjoyed this! I was fully invested in it right from the start too. Part of the reason was because the world that the story takes place in is pretty fascinating and unique. I love the concept! Plotwise I felt like it built up pretty nicely and was very straightforward where everything was going. I like that there was the bit of mystery solving with a few twists and turns. Overall I thought the plot was great.
Acting-wise I thought Xiao Zhan did very good! At the beginning I admit his voice acting was hard to get used to because he sounded very scripted, but it got better towards the end, and especially good during the heavier scenes. Also, how does he do emotional scenes so well??!??! Everyone else I thought did a fair enough job. I especially liked the actors' portrayals of Ou Sike and Hu Liena.
Despite the acting I have to say the characters were a bit cliche and surface-level for me. Tang San really obviously got the protagonist halo (or whatever you call it) because he got away with literally every bad decision he made. I was surprised by Xiao Wu though, and found that I really liked her character. Character growth was an important theme here and I would say it was generally ok, though Tang San probably had the least growth lol.
Cgi was so good omg. Like I said in a previous comment, seeing the displaying of soul rings was so so so satisfying I want to watch more of this drama just for those types of scenes LOL. I guess since much of the fighting stems from doing magical~ stuff there wasn't a whole lotta gongfu involved, which was sliiiiightly disappointing, but the cgi stuff kinda covered for that.
Lastly I wanted to touch on the music choices. Hmm they were veeeeery interesting. They decided not to use very much traditional Chinese music and went with more Western/modern types. Some of the bgm was pretty good then others were a bit eerrrrmmm.

Thank you for the recommendation too, but if that is what @bloombloomz meant then I guess I misunderstood.
I am also a big believer in not comparing separate works despite them coming from the same original. Like I said earlier, I am reluctant to start the donghua since I'm so far behind and I honestly don't have time to binge, but thank you again for the rec!

No, no I'm agreeing with you on that aspect xD I was just disagreeing with your comment saying "Thats the only good thing from the drama" because that's definitely not the only good thing in this drama imo. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

I have to disagree with you there! I personally am really enjoying the drama for many reasons and tbh the donghua is already so far ahead idk if I can find time to catch up :/

Yes I agree! I find Xiao Wu such a badass and awesome female character! There were times when she would sacrifice for Tang San, but Tang San also did the same, so their relationship was very equal and mutual, which made their relationship very natural.

Lan Wangji recognized Wei Wuxian playing Wangxian on the flute there on Dafan mountain, so that's how he recognized him. Recall that Wangxian is the song that Lan Wangji composed and sang to Wei Wuxian in the cave of Xuanwu a long time ago, and Wei Wuxian is the only person who knows that song.
It is unclear what exactly happened behind the scenes with Mo Xuanyu and Nie Huaisang, but the most common answer I have heard is that Nie Huaisang somehow convinced Mo Xuanyu to bring back Wei Wuxian. I don't think this is confirmed though, so you may have your own theories :))

and Tang San out here chillin' with his black ring ~~ ╮ (￣ 3￣) ╭ like I just feel a surge of pride each time I see his black ring lmao

I swear displaying the number of rings you have and hearing the satisfying "thunk" after each ring appears is the hottest thing ever LOL

Yea the riddle goes something like "all 4 directions point to Xuanwu" (sorry I forgot the exact wording), implying that there are 5 pieces total and the 5th is that exact one that Wei Wuxian found in the tortoise. Yes, all 5 pieces theoretically have to be assembled together to see the full effects of its power, but recall that Wen Ruohan was still able to control a bunch of puppets with just 4 (or was it 3 I forgot) pieces. It's just that all 5 pieces would have made it stronger probably.
As for how it worked for Wei Wuxian with just one piece? It didn't. Wei Wuxian used the dark energy from the Yin Iron to forge his own weapon, the Stygian Tiger Amulet, which is not the same as the Yin Iron. The Stygian Tiger Amulet probably was powerful enough to control spirits/puppets but the Yin Iron was probably more powerful and had more potential that the drama didn't get much into I believe. I think there's probably some information I'm leaving out so if someone else wants to explain be my guest.
Enjoy your rewatch!