Reviews

If not for the ending..

I started this drama because of Esther Yu and Ding Yuxi’s chemistry offscreen, especially during that award show. I’ve also heard people recommending this drama, which is why I gave this one a try.

Honestly, I was getting bored of the “getting sucked into another world” plot and did not find this particular one interesting either. However after watching the first episode, I instantly got hooked! I would say that this drama is a light option of its kind (the demon slaying, magic costume type of drama). Among similar-themed costume dramas that I’ve watched, this one had the perfect balance of romance, comedy, familial relationship, and demon slaying plot. The story was not draggy and was well-written. I find it interesting how Miao Miao was transported into a game and had to complete missions narrated by the game operator. The game theme is definitely a fresh and entertaining concept for me.

In terms of acting, I’ve got nothing to say other than all the actors did an incredible job! Even Lu Yu Hao did an amazing job at portraying the cute Cui Cui. Esther Yu was so adorable when acting as Miao Miao. I even find myself saying that she’s cute multiple times. Also, Ding Yuxi’s facial expression was art! His facial expression was so captivating especially his eyes and eyebrows. I have to say that among his dramas that I’ve watched, Mu Sheng is his best character. I also want to give a shout out to Zhu Xu Dan and Yang Shi Ze. Zhu Xu Dan has such pretty eyes and she was perfect for the role of Mu Yao. Yang Shi Ze was also so manly and dependable as Liu Fu Yi. Not to mention, the make up, hairstyle, and outfits of all the actors was perfectly executed. They all looked so good!

Everything was perfect until the ending. I guess the writer just gave up. I remember looking forward to the ending and the plot twist that other people mentioned. The excitement gradually decreased when the team went to rescue Mu Yao. Then I started repeating “huh?” when Miao Miao asked the game operator to repeat the scene (?) so Mu Sheng won’t die.. Ugh, messy. Not to mention the plot twist in the end. Everything was so rushed I didn’t have to time to process it. Also, I am aware that time travel dramas often have open endings so I learned to not put expectations on the endings, however Love Game in Eastern Fantasy was so promising, which is why I ended up looking forward to them meeting again in real life but yep, was disappointed (again) with the ending.

Although so, I really enjoyed watching this drama. I even binged it in one sitting. The ending definitely sucked but everything else was worth the watch!

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A Royal Concept with Missed Opportunities

It’s been a few weeks since I finished the series and I wanted to share my thoughts. First, I want to talk about the plot. For me, the concept is interesting because it revolves around a monarchy, which isn’t something you usually see in a BL. But the execution, or how they delivered the story, felt a bit meh. They really should have added more depth to Ramil’s story, because honestly, his arc was more interesting than the main couple’s. Early on, I actually thought Prince Rachata was the villain. And I get it, it is a good twist if the true villain is someone who has no heir. But they should have explored Ramil more. Instead of focusing only on Prince Rachata wanting to bring power back to his kingdom, it would have been better if they showed him pushing Ramil harder in training to redeem his loss in the previous royal competition, since it is a tradition. And we already know he lost that competition because Khanin’s grandfather became king. That angle could have made his final conversation with Ramil so much more powerful.

For the cinematography, some of the shots were genuinely impressive and you can tell they had the budget for certain scenes. But other moments didn’t match that quality at all. For example, the scenes where they travel to different kingdoms and the parts where Khanin is shown exploring the area feel very tight and confined. You can clearly sense that it was filmed in a studio, and it makes the world feel small instead of grand. The atmosphere doesn’t give the illusion of a large kingdom with bustling people. Instead, it looks like there are only a few extras walking around, which makes the setting feel empty and less immersive. If they had expanded those scenes or filmed in wider outdoor locations, it would have helped the story feel more alive and the world more believable.

As for the main couple, they ended up being the least interesting part of the series. There is no deeper story behind them and their relationship moves too fast. Charan is supposed to be a royal bodyguard, but his fight scenes are so underwhelming. I have watched a lot of action movies and series, so I know what good choreography looks like, and honestly, his scenes made me question whether he is really meant to be a royal guard. And their NC scene was also disappointing. A lot of people online were hyping it up, but it felt bland to me. Maybe it is because they are in love, I am not sure. I actually liked Ramil and Paytai’s NC scene more. The main couple was basically just kissing while naked and there was nothing special about it.

My favorite part of the series is the ballroom dance scene. It was so magical and the song made it even better. I have actually had that song on repeat for the past few weeks.

Overall, The Next Prince had a lot of potential, especially with its unique monarchy concept and a few standout moments like the ballroom dance scene. But the series struggled with pacing and character depth, especially when it came to the main couple. Some characters deserved more development, and some scenes felt rushed or underwhelming. Even so, there were parts I genuinely enjoyed, and I still think the story could have been something great with stronger execution.

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Not for Everyone, But a Powerful Masterpiece !

This kind of movie is **not for everyone**. It is unapologetically **mature**, emotionally heavy, and deeply intense. From start to finish, the cast delivered their performances **masterfully**, carrying the weight of the story with remarkable depth. The film hit me with such a flood of emotions that I physically couldn’t watch it in one sitting—I had to pause, step back, and let my mind process what I was feeling. That alone says everything. This is not just a movie; it is a **masterpiece**.

It is incredibly powerful—one of those rare films that doesn’t just entertain you but **triggers something inside you**. The dark romance vibe is irresistible, raw, and hauntingly beautiful. Yes, it includes nudity, but it never feels empty or meaningless. The intimate scenes are done with care, passion, and emotional weight. Every touch, every look between the leads felt intentional. Their chemistry wasn’t just physical—it was **emotional, painful, and achingly real**.

After watching this BL movie, I realized something very personal: **this is the kind of film I’ve always been searching for**. It leaves you feeling strange—almost broken—but in an exciting, addictive way that pulls you back again and again. My eyes were filled with tears the entire time, fighting not to spill over… until they finally did. And when they fell, they carried everything I had been holding in.

I will absolutely recommend this movie. What I felt while watching it is beyond simple description. It moved me, disturbed me, healed me, and stayed with me long after it ended. For me, it is a solid **10/10**—unforgettable, emotionally devastating, and completely worth every moment.

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"Only I" instead of "Nessun dorma"

I know Turandot. It is a famous opera with the even more famous aria “Nessun dorma,” but I actually didn’t know the full story until I watched this musical. The Korean Turandot, even as a movie, lacks the grand orchestration and the exotic, epic staging of the original opera, but in its own way it offers a fresh take on the story, blending pop, rock, and ballad elements in the music.

The acting here is a bit… well, let’s just say theatrical. Since this is a film, I expected more detailed scenes with wide, cinematic shots, but the way it’s presented makes it feel as if we’re watching a stage production rather than a movie.

But the most important thing is the music, and it was very good. All the spoken parts felt a bit slow, but the musical numbers became more and more enjoyable as I listened, and right now I’m also listening to the OST. So, in short: this is not really a movie, and it’s not an opera either, but it’s a very nice musical with some great songs (for example, “Only I – 오직 나만이”) and an emotional touch that celebrates love overcoming tears and curses.

P.S. The OST of this musical is going straight onto my playlist.

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Mostly style over substance

22 episodes at approximately 20 minutes each is exactly my style in speed. What it means is you can’t have too many fillers and you have to get on with the story..
This show is not bad. I really like the cast and the story is a slightly different take on the reincarnation trope.. the female lead is born again into a different character, but three years before but is identical to herself in this timeline if that makes sense. She eventually gets together with the ML in this version and they fought her father the main antagonist who killed her mother and who plans a rebellion but is taken down by our heroeswith the help of the Crown Prince and her former herself from three years ago.. the one thing I will say about the FL is that her former self was a bad character. She actually was a villain and you have to suspend belief to reconcile a change between the two even though they are the same person. Overall it was enjoyable though they ended it with her being the author of this story in modern times and meeting the ML and having love at first sight as it ended. Not too shabby.

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Letdown by doormat FL and lack of communication between the couple

I am a huge fan of Xie Yu Wang and have watched his older drama with Lu Lu Lu a few weeks ago. I was pumped when I heard about this drama because it's the second time Xie Yu Wang has paired with Lu Lu Lu. I was left disappointed by the time this drama ended.

What I liked:
1. Kisses - I loved XYW's kissing scenes. When permitted, he always expresses desire & passion in his kissing scenes, including those in this drama.
2. Twin trope - I liked how this story was done even thought the overall vibe was negative. There was a refreshing twist to the twin trope.
3. Styling - I liked XYW's clothes. The most stylish outfits I had seen on him.
4. Supporting characters - I liked FL's bestie because she was rational and most of the time, smarter than FL. I also liked FL's daughter.
5. Dynamics - I enjoyed watching interactions between ML and FL's daughter.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonists - ML's mother was annoying & evil. She favoured her eldest son over younger son. She disliked her daughter-in-law that led to disliking and punishing her granddaughter. I also disliked FL's family because they were parasites. Only concerned about wealth. The green tea character was pathetic.
2. Romance - They had sex but were distant & hardly communicated. FL kept on insisting on divorce due to pressure from her in laws. She was stupid.
3. FL characterisation - She was doormat - no wonder she was easy to be bullied. She married Si Ye out of guilt / pressure but never sought partnership from the marriage.

Favourite scene
When ML ate ice cream with FL's daughter

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When Memories Become Home: A Story That Stays With You

Watching Mystique in the Mirror felt like stepping into a world I didn’t realize I needed — a world that held my heart from the very beginning and slowly, gently, broke it in the most beautiful way. From the first episode, I knew this series was going to take me somewhere emotional, somewhere unexpected, somewhere deep.

The story pulls you in with its mystery, but what keeps you there is the way it makes you feel. Every moment carries a sense of longing, confusion, and quiet heartbreak as the truth slowly unfolds. The plot is rich with twists and layers, giving you puzzles to solve and emotions to untangle, all leading to a revelation that hits with full force.

The acting is truly exceptional — every expression, every silence, every glance feels real. The chemistry between the main leads, Alan and Win, is simply stunning. There’s a softness and sincerity in their connection that makes their love story unforgettable. You believe in their bond, in their history, in their forever.

By the time the last episode came, I felt everything at once — sorrow, understanding, grief, and gratitude. Watching Alan face the truth of his past, watching him hold onto the memories that made him happiest, and finally seeing him reunited with Win… it felt like a gentle ache in the heart that stays long after the screen goes dark.

Mystique in the Mirror isn’t just emotional — it’s deeply human. A story about love that refuses to fade, even when the mind does. I’m truly thankful that I watched it.

✨🩶🌙 A beautiful journey I’ll never forget.

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Second chance of what exactly?

I started this drama mainly because the trailer seemed so intruguing and also for Wallace chung and Qin Lan who are both mature and good actor/actress.

What seemingly looked like a mature romance about second chance love turned into nonesense because of a poor script, bad development, and bad directing. Even the production wasted so many materials.

The whole story revolved around a very selfish, controlling mother and that's it. Something was missing in this drama all the time. The leads were like robots. Romance showed up after almost 20 episodes of nothing happening, and there was no development. It was as if the writer was having visions and wrote things based on that LOL

For this drama to make sense i had to FF all the episodes after episode 5 ( because till episode 5 the whole drama looked promising but nope). You won't get something out of this drama if you watch it. I didn't drop it because i wanted to see how a hot mess can end.

Overall, don't waste your time. A totally wasted material.

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Great chemistry between Min Jie and Chen Ci - I enjoyed this drama

I was told by someone in subreddit CShortDramas that there is a cosplay scene in this drama. The fact that I could never find a Min Jie drama that I enjoyed prompted me to watch this drama. Glad I did because I enjoyed it.

What I liked:
1. Romance - plenty of kisses. I liked that FL tended to ML's needs. She made effort to love ML because in most vertical dramas, MLs are the ones making initiatives. I could sense growing love and affections between them.
2. FL characterisation - I liked her genuine care for ML. The temple scene was heartwarming.
3. Styling - I really liked ML's clothes. He wore a lot of collarless shirts that I often saw in Japanese clothing store Uniqlo. The cosplay scene was sexy and sweet - I liked it very much!
4. ML characterisation - I liked seeing his character grow. He was also smart in protecting himself from danger.
5. Acting - Min Jie and Chen Ci were good in their roles. They had excellent chemistry - I believed their love journey. Finally I found a Min Jie drama that I enjoyed.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonists - FL's family was fake & greedy. Their reaction upon hearing FL's characters was unbelievable. Sadly ML's family was evil too.
2. ML's action - I disliked him for holding FL captive.
3. Duration - At 2 hours 50 minutes, this drama was too long for me.

Favourite scene
When FL made her entrance after "fake" death

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Wolves in Sheep's Clothing VS The Grizzled Sheep Herder

Hello and welcome back to my dear review as usual. First of all, I need to tell you guys a great news – my exam period is over and now I’ve got a large amount of time to skim through dramas and write numerous reviews again (unlike my on-off hiatus period where I kept delaying). So, today’s review is about “Love on the Turquoise Land”, one of Wei Yu’s latest works which has gotten its live-action version. See my take about it below…

“Love on the Turquoise Land” is a thriller sci-fi based on Wei Yu’s novel, which has a similar name as this one. It tells the story about the earth fiends, which has been terrorizing the humankind for centuries. I don’t really know how earth fiends come to exist today, but they may have some kind of mutated DNA or contract an unknown stuff, transforming them from ordinary humans into earth fiends. Due to the rampant earth fiends on the earth, the ancient emperor sent a special envoy to thwart the earth fiends and protect the humans. They will be later known as Nanshan Hunters, its legacy continues until this day (though the number of members is dwindling day by day).

By chance, one of its hunters is none other than Nie Jiuluo, also known as “Mad Blade”. She inherits the title following her mother’s sudden disappearance and her father’s suicide due to depression. As “Mad Blade”, Jiuluo isn’t exactly thrilled and badly wants to resign from the organization because it constantly reminds her of her late parents. Years pass and Jiuluo grows into an astute yet exceptionally beautiful woman. To spend her free time, Jiuluo practices sculpting and sells her arts to make ends meet.

In one of her travels to the countryside, she accidentally meets her fated partner, Yan Tuo. On the outside, he is Roadsound Group’s general manager. But inside, he is being controlled strictly by a mysterious woman named Lin Xirou (who steals his mother’s original name) and is seeking to gain the so-called freedom. At first, they have the kind of enemies-to-lovers vibes as they never see eye-to-eye plus they’re on different sides from the get go. However, as time passes by, they begin to understand each other’s inner wound and heal themselves as they carry out high-stake missions to end the existence of the deadly earth fiends.

Joining in their groups are Lv Xian (Yan Tuo’s doctor friend), Lin Ling (Yan Tuo’s adoptive sister), Yu Rong (“Ghost Whip” who only returns to China for the sake of quelling the earth fiends), Xing Shen (“Mad Dog”, a queer bigot who has a high prejudice against Yan Tuo, definitely always up to no good), and more Nanshan Hunters on the go.

If I want to be honest, the premise is actually intriguing and makes me deep-seated for this drama (since it’s Wei Yu’s project, of course I’ll watch it). Moreover, the earth fiend also sounds like a new plot device, which has never been touched by other sci-fi dramas before (except for “The Seven Relics of Ill Omen”). Last but not least, we’ve got a new plot twist where the earth fiends ACTUALLY transform into humanoid creatures and blend into the human world seamlessly that it is very hard to make a discrepancy between a human and an earth fiend. So, Nanshan Hunters’ task is to learn how these virulent creatures manage to turn into humans and how to stop them before the whole world is turned upside down by the fiends (FYI, fiends need blood bags to ensure their well-beings by forcing humans to have sexual interaction with the fiends and produce an offspring (blood bag, I mean)).

Despite the mysterious yet enthralling premise, the drama falls short in the plot including the how’s and why’s. First of all, Nanshan Hunters need to be modernized fully – since when people still use hammers as weapons? I do agree blades and whips are also antique weapons, but I still have a deep affinity for them, which is why I won’t be complaining about those two. Nanshan Hunters are quite indigent in terms of income earnings since they won’t even buy new equipment and prefer to eat and laugh and drink or brooding instead.

Second, the antagonists always seem to be having an upper hand (same case with “Snow Eagle Lord”) and Lin Xirou and her little gang get a considerable amount of screentime, which I immediately skip because I can’t stand how slow she speaks and talks (it’s an essential point for an antagonist, but maybe I’m just being impatient here). In addition, Lin Xirou also has many modern gadgets in the mansion and the farmhouse (where she experiments with the transformation). Also, other than Feng Mi, I can’t stand the other earth fiends (especially get pissed off by Xiong Hei).

Third, weak ML. If you watch carefully, Yan Tuo is pretty weak and fragile in combat skills (on par with Qin Fang from “Rattan”). All he does is acting and sweet-talking Lin Xirou as if life were a slapstick comedy series, tailing other people, spying, recording, trespassing, or brooding (waiting for Jiuluo to save him). Even when he cradles the tranquilizer gun as if it were a little baby, it doesn’t help with his brittleness and makes him look more pathetic, if you ask me.

Fourth, the wacky ending and WTH the amnesia plot is for? To me, the ending seems to be off a little bit and why does Jiuluo has to forget everything about Yan Tuo, but remembers other people like Ms. Lu and Yu Rong? And after he takes her out from the membrane bubble her mother creates, how can he dive back to the shore with Jiuluo on his back (oxygen may not be fully sufficient)? All of these are plot holes like blah blah blah and suddenly you’ve got a beautiful ending even though it’s not.

Fifth, Yan Tuo’s sister Yan Xin is another wasted plot device as he’s hellbent on searching for him when Lin Xirou only takes a second to inform him that she’s also dead alongside his murdered parents.

After the plot holes, I’ll talk about the acting. As usual, Dilraba Dilmurat delivers a phenomenal act as the badass Nie Jiuluo and embodies her character seamlessly. Other than her, I can’t imagine who can pull off such a complex girl like her. Meanwhile, for Chen Xingxu, it’s my first drama of him (I’m sorry to say that I’m not a fan of his, so I’ve always been avoiding his projects, and if it hadn’t been for Wei Yu, maybe I would’ve skipped his drama), and I don’t what to say about him honestly – he does well portraying Yan Tuo’s conflicted emotions, but he still has room for improvement. For Lin Xirou’s actress, Zhang Li, I truly want to say her performance is laudable and I hope see her more (but not in Lin Xirou’s fashion anymore). Other casts are good to mediocre at best – that’s all I can say.

CGI, background, settings are so-so to me (the fiends look tacky, and the lighting is so f*cking dark, I have to enhance my screen’s lighting so I can see visibly, normally I won’t do this tho). As for the OSTs, I can’t say too much as I tend to skip the opening and ending credits (my habit) and the drama provides only “Paper Star” by Yisa Yu during the confession part. I badly need an ooze of the opera song, but I’m just too lazy for it TT.

Will I be rewatching? Only for the first few skirmishes between Jiuluo and Yan Tuo. And the rest can be buried beneath the grounds. I’m sorry if I’m yapping too much because I’ve been bottling my feelings up for days before I finally pour it into this review. Okay, time to end it, good luck and happy watching!!!

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Loved it

Though a lot of the other reviews are rather negative, I really liked the series. I do understand that it is hard to watch when you haven't read the novel yet. A lot of the story has been cut because it had to fit into the 12 episodes.

The chemistry between the actresses was amazing and the acting was also amazing. Fay and May really embodied their characters.
The story is a bit slow, that is true, but that's because the love story is a slowburn. Though normally we watch thai GL for the "GL"-part, I did like the yearning and the misunderstandings. That is what makes this series stand out from other series.

A small minus point was that they never went deeper into why they were dreaming about each other.

All in all, I would watch it again.

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