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Happy/sad depends on your perspective for this one. I think if the show keeps to the books ending a lot of ppl will feel upset by the ending.

In the book: The leads don't end up together, but it is left open at the end as to whether they reunite in the future.

Ping pong table scene? 🥰🥰

Damn damn damn I am so impressed. It didn't seem that he would get the recognition he deserved after At A Distance Spring is Green, but apparently it helped him land the role of Si Eun in Weak Hero, which makes total sense.

I'm usually a sucker for romance but I want Park Ji Hoon in more roles where he just bears the weight of the world on his shoulders cuz damn, he is so compelling in that kind of role

I will be keeping an eye out for more of Yoo Sumin's projects. I am so impressed

Such an interesting story. I expected a fun, violent team-up of misfits but it turned into a very poignant exploration of human frailty.

Beautiful story telling. It did a phenomenal job of letting the audience sympathize with the characters rather than telling us what characters are thinking/feeling, which also gives it a high rewatch value.

Amazing experience. Fantastic.

I just finished re-reading this book and now I'm dying for this adaptation to arrive!

The screenwriter is the same as A Love So Beautiful and, if you've ever read the book you'll know, it is a perfect adaptation. I am so so so happy to have the same screenwriter to adapt A Book Dedicated to Our Youth into a drama :D

Ahh but I can't pretend I don't love poor, confused Uehara. He's pretty adorable in season 2

I have re-watched Season 2 many times, though I always speed pretty quickly through to get to the Natsume scenes. I already have a soft spot for Sugino Yosuke, but his portrayal of Natsume particularly gets to me. I love an actor who can really make me *feel* what they are feeling, and he does that for me for sure.
Nao is so open with her feelings, and Uehara is a little too simplistic and naive with his feelings, but Natsume is going through things. He will try and trick himself as well as the people around him, and he'll act without thinking things through, and he'll simply break your heart if you give him the chance.

The novel is one of the most touching, cathartic reads that I have ever found. I've read it through multiple times and I'm always so I'm love with them all, and so immersed in their world. I've been waiting for an adaptation for so long
I am truly truly looking forward to this!

I agree! I think it is an adorable romantic fairytale and I can totally see what you mean about the nostalgia feel too.

Oh I love this (plus I'm adding some of those titles to my list! thank you thank you)

I keep coming back to the FL when I think about what makes LBFAD kind of just... fine? good but not great?...

I think Orchid is sweet and fun, but I don't think she stands shoulder-to-shoulder with DFQC in terms of being a character with depth. He gets to struggle with the meaning of family and duty, as well as love. She has a mentor who is almost completely unseen, as well as a family whose death barely touches her, as well as love that she kind of just flops from one to the other. Even her relationship with Danyin and Danyin's sister (Jieli?) is very much limited to "Orchid just loves everyone!" And then after she "becomes" the goddess, she's actually just putting up a front as she tries to become a noble-sacrifice, before reverting back to Orchid again. There's nothing there! Just like you said, it was super anti-climatic. It also made me feel like Orchid is only worthwhile because of the way other's felt about or reacted to her, nothing about her character really resonated otherwise.

Her MAJOR struggle from the very beginning (which she almost accidentally kills herself over!) was her identity. But, like, actually she didn't really care? Or, like, it didn't matter cuz she had love or smth?

I don't need every main character in every drama to grow, but I guess I kind of demand it from a xianxia. And the comments about LBFAD "setting the bar for xianxia" gives me goosebumps lol.

Hmmmmmmm..... good points!

At first, I was wondering if I was being unfair to compare LBFAD to a longer drama (that I consider more epic or with more interesting themes) but I think if I switch perspectives and consider that other people like it BECAUSE it's a shorter, less meandering drama it does make a lot of sense.

I definitely think it was a really great romance, and the DFQC will go onto my list of MLs who give the best heart-eyes <3<3<3

Interesting! So, Love and Redemption is one of my all-time favorite dramas BUT I don't just love it for the romance. I do like the OTP a lot, and the misunderstanding spoke to their insecurities and faults really well, and both of their arcs dealt with their place in the world (FL as a goddess/demon, and ML as a demon) and each other's heart at the same time, so even those tropes held a lot of meaning imo.

I also found it phenomenally interesting that when the FL "becomes" her true identity, it is the form of a male demon lord who isn't easily swayed by the FL's experiences and feelings. It takes so much for the ML to find that piece of her deep down, and to connect with her and bring her back into existence. It worked so well with the themes of identity.

Contrast this with LBFAD, which I totally admit had a superior romance, but -and this goes to my main comment- I don't know that I'm convinced it is a better drama. Orchid "becomes" her true self, but her true self is just a slightly less bubbly version of Orchid, who is still basing her actions on Orchid's feelings and who tries to pull a noble sacrifice before being one-upped by DFQC when HE beats her to the punch.

That said, your comment is helping me think through this a lot! So much of my confusion is probably chocked up to not watching for the romance quite as much as other people. I've recently found out that one of my friends bases her ratings of a drama SOLELY on the romantic plot line. Blew my mind, lol.

😂😂

Oh nice! All these things are great.

I think my only real negatives are feeling like it let a lot of the grander story elements fall flat (like, the battle between the realms pretty quickly turned into cooperation, the 2ML and his brother's storyline doesn't resolve meaningfully, orchid-as-goddess is kind of just there so the FL isn't actually powerless and so the ML can have a little angst, etc.)
But this isn't more than I'd criticize any random xianxia. So maybe I'm just letting it be oversized as a reaction to the hype. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks for sharing your love of the story with me 🤗

Thanks for engaging! Fwiw, I like to explore my own feelings/opinions by bouncing them off of others, and having them challenged. If it was simply a drama I didn't like and others did, there's nothing to it (different cup of tea, etc). But this time, it's a drama I DO like, but keep feeling like the hype for it is ... confusing, I guess.

Thinking about what you said... I completely agree with all that (though I kind of wrap it into my comment about "a lot of little things", which also includes things like Danyin/Changheng going through the trial vs the main leads going through the trial + them being sworn brothers - I LOVE that).

I still can't put my finger on what confuses me about the hype. Is it that lots of the hype is more about the staples of xianxia (vs what makes it unique like you mentioned) like the three realms, the luscious sets and costumes, the OST, etc etc. Or is it simply that I've seen people go from "this is only my second cdrama it's so good" to "watch me analyze this cdrama through the lens of greek mythology"/"there has literally never been anything like this", etc.

Tbh, I'm working through it lol. In the end, I did enjoy LBFAD. I simply can't wrap my head around the hype.

Like, when I think about the Orchid-is-a-goddess reveal, I'm so let down. Orchid doesn't get to find out, so she has no internal conflict to struggle through. And when the Goddess is reborn, she doesn't actually struggle with what it means to be Orchid as well. It's just kind of accepted blankly by her.

Contrast this with Love and Redemption, and the struggle of Xuanji learning that she is the goddess of war, and then having the story go so much deeper as it reveals where the goddess of war actually came from, and what that means in terms of identity and loving yourself or others. Phenomenal. Epic. So Epic.

And yet, with LBFAD.... I see the beautiful sets, I love the little looks between them, I particularly love Danyin and I want more of the arbiter. But otherwise.... I don't get the extreme feelings everyone has for it.

I keep trying to work through my emotions about this show... and it's tough.

1. It's a beautiful production
2. The acting is great
3. I love a lot of the little things

But, it falls really flat to me in terms of being an epic xianxia. It feels more like a cute romance in a xianxia costume.

I wouldn't even think twice about the show if it weren't all over my twitter timeline, but since everyone seems to think this raises the bar for xianxia, I'm honestly just baffled. I get that most ppl who are saying this have literally only watched 2 cdramas so far (LBFAD and LLTG), but it's making me itch.

Any one else on my page with this? (or who wants to push back and help me see what makes it so epic in your eyes?)

Kim Da Mi is perfect for the An Sheng role. Ugh I love Soul Mate so much, I'm very excited for this adaptation

Right. And even before he was in Train to Busan, which was also an international hit.