Ashes of Love (2018)

Epic love - definitely worth a watch

Production and Music:
This is one drama where I feel I can actually comment on the production and music because usually I don't notice these things in a series. The scenery in this drama are truly amazing - it just wowed me throughout the series. The music was also so on point, it was perfectly done to create the emotions you are supposed to have for each moment.

Story and Characters:
The storyline is something I enjoy, I love fantasy and the story was an interesting one. It can be considered an epic love story and the characters all have their charm. I think this is a story where character development is done rather well, you understand the "villains" and the "good guys" and they aren't your typical characters that you hate or love. Each character had redeeming qualities. Where the drama lost points for me is the last 10+ episodes because we see a lot of moping around of the three main leads. These kind of scenes really annoy me because its kind of boring to watch a character cry and weep and not actually move the story along. And we had to watch three mopers one after the other in this drama for quite a few episodes. Overall though, it is definitely worth the watch and rewatch.

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Frost and Fire, Love and Desire, Pain and Longing. The End of The Epic Love Legend? Heartwarming.

I started watching this drama as one of the first C-Dramas in a very long time so I had started with very average expectations especially since the number of episodes was huge enough to scare off any newbie in the C-Drama world. So let me tell you...DON'T THINK TOO MUCH AND JUST WATCH THE SHOW. It will not disappoint, instead it will stay in your heart forever.

PLOT:
I was surprised that a drama that has 63 episodes will be able to keep my interest for each and every episode. I honestly didn't skip much at all throughout the drama so that should ensure the strength of the overall script.

It starts off with a very lighthearted, comedic and fluffy ambience where everything seems so sweet and fluffy but as the episodes progress, the plot develops drastically just like a slow and steady car that suddenly finds itself racing down an unforeseen cliff at the speed of a rollercoaster that makes your heart go through feelings that aren't possible to describe in words.

The dialogue and interactions between the characters in each episode was honestly scripted really well that catches the attention of the viewers, not too dragged or unnecessary which is usually the case for Cdramas. The Wuxia element of this drama is very prominent but that adds the magical ingredient a love story like this needs. There are sufficient action scenes that are coordinated very aesthetically with excellent CGI, the best I have seen in dramas up until now.

Eventhough, the plot is centred on the love triangle between Jin Mi, Xu Feng and Run Yu, each of these characters have their own legacy and precense in the plot that brings equal light on each character. The plot stays connected, throughout the drama, with the actions, decisions and choices made by these characters which keeps affecting the forthcoming event.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a drama with quality in the script, interactions between the characters that aren't too long and skip worthy, a story that will forever stay in your heart, then this is the drama for you.

CHARACTERS:
1. Jin Mi
She is the leading female and character of this drama where the story begins with her. A naive, innocent and kind-hearted girl who has never been outside the Flower Realm longs for adventure and exploring of the world beyond hers. Her mother, at birth, fed her a magical pill that stops her heart from loving someone romantically therefore from the very beginning she has no clue what love is and the sad part is that this is the main issue that causes most of the conflict and misunderstandings in the drama. Some may get annoyed over her actions and choices but it is understandable but don't worry Xu Feng is the one person that keeps making her experience the true meaning of love. Her character starts off as immature who is clueless about love but develops as she goes through several trials and journeys into a strong hearted girl who fights till the end for and with the one person who taught her how to love, Xu Feng.

2. Xu Feng
He is the leading male in the drama that will capture your hearts in no time at all, my favourite of them all. A man who finds himself falling for Jin Mi very quickly, someone who gives him so much happiness and for who he is ready to give up everything for. He is the ideal male character of a drama who isn't too arrogant, someone who treasures relationships and tries his best to make the people around him happy. However, after he is betrayed by Jin Mi, his demeanor will change into a person who will fight only for himself, a man who's heart has died after Jin Mi's actions killed it both literally and emotionally. But don't worry, the two lovebirds will find their way back to eachother.

3. Run Yu
He is the second leading male, the elder brother of Xu Feng and Xu Feng's rival in love. In my opinion, he is the most complex character and the one that goes through the most changes. He starts off as a very kind hearted and elegant man who shows himself as one with moral principles but is cold from the inside and deeply hurt and finds himself falling for the girl who opens his heart, Jin Mi. His character then experiences many wrongs and anguish that causes him to seek revenge and manipulate the girl he claims to love into a web of deception and lies. His character is that which one will feel extremely sympathetic with despite his evil demeanor as all he ever wanted in his life was love and warmth.

Other side characters like the Fox Immortal, Snake Immortal and Kuang Lu who were always such lovable personas and served as great supporting roles to the characters and script. Not to mention Princess Bian Cheng, with a very admirable character who served as a loyal friend of Xu Feng despite being a girl and I loved this aspect very much as C-Dramas have the habit of putting whoever comes in contact with the male lead as one of his love interests and it is great to see their friendship throughout the drama. And ofcourse, there has to be a conniving girl with the attitude of a scheming fox who is obsessed with the male lead and will cross any boundaries just to win his love aka the most annoying character along with Xu Feng's mother.

ROMANCE:
YES, YES AND YESSS. The love story between Jin Mi and Xu Feng spans over several years over several lifetimes. Their chemistry is the best I have seen so far, their interactions are very swoon worthy and the love they have for eachother is just so beautiful and touching. Two individuals sharing a love that goes through several obstacles and trials only to become stronger than ever. At first, it is mainly Xu Feng and their chemistry that keeps the romance paced but their time spent in the Mortal Realm opens Jin Mi's heart in a way she never thought possible which sparks the beginning of their mutual love. There aren't too many kiss scenes but the few that are there will leave an impression however it's made up for with the romantic interactions between them so that's not something to worry about.
Apart from the main couple, there is a secondary love story between Princess Bian Cheng and Mu Ci which was always a very bitter sweet legacy.

ACTING/CAST:
It could not have been better than this. The cast they have picked brought out the characters in the best way possible with excellent acting that will satisfy the story in every aspect. The expressions and dialogue delivery of each actor complimented the drama each time and is one of the spectacular aspects of the drama that does the script justice. I always believe that a love story needs both the acting and script to create an impact and this has both done wonderfully.

MUSIC:
YES, YES AND YESSS. This is one of the few C-Dramas where the OST is just top class. Each and every track played is worthy of mention and fits the drama beautifully and even making it one of my favourite OSTs of all time in my playlist.

ENDING:
This is the drama I would say that has the best ending I have seen in dramas. It is a perfectly HAPPY ENDING that will wrap up all the love and pain felt throughout the drama with all the characters ending up with what they deserve, each getting a satisfying ending. Some may say that Run Yu deserved better but he has someone by his side that will never leave him and Princess Bian Cheng also may have had a bitter sweet ending but it will satisfy you completely. And ofcourse, Jin Mi and Xu Feng do end up together, living happily ever after.

OVERALL:
I'm no critc who pays attention to every detail of a drama I watch and objectively reviews it. I watch the drama as it is and don't have much in mind, whatever emotion it leaves me with during and after the drama affects my review. So in my opinion, this is one or my favourite dramas of all time and the love story is one in a million. A high quality drama with fantasy, romance, friendship, action, comedy, drama, gorgeous outfits and impeccable CGI.

A once in a lifetime drama, please give it a try.

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This drama was my third C-drama I believe. I was new to C-dramas so my expectations were low. I loved this drama. It's still very high in my rankings.

ACTING:
Again, I was very new to C-dramas so I didn't really know who was who. After expanding my C-drama profile, the acting was pretty good. I fell in love with the main leads (like all 6 ppl not just jinmi and xufeng)!

OST:
Man, I lowkey got addicted to the OSTs lol. They were pretty good!

Rewatch Value:
Tbh, I watched this drama probably at least 3 times. A few episodes more, a few episodes less. The reason why it is 8.5 is bc I think I watched it a tiny bit too much LOL but it's good and lives up to my expectations.

This drama had AMAZING costumes and stuff so that made me even more excited. The villans were... ofc annoying but they are there for a reason. I don't really have complaints for this drama aside from the very annoying villans but they are part of the drama soooooo.... I rly like this!

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I enjoyed watching ashes of love from the first episode to the very last one. The secondary character's story (Liu Ying the demon princess and Mu Ci) is a bit slow but I like it nonetheless. The actors played the characters really well. I was on a rollercoaster of emotion so many times while watching this show. I can feel their pain, disappointment and happiness. This is one tv show that is written well in my opinion. The cinematography is also beautiful. I love the different settings and color of the realm and the costume is also very beautiful. I also love the music and I'm still listening to it even long after I finished the show. This show is highly recommended! I will definitely be re-watching this over and over again in the future (i have re-watched some of my favorite scenes as of now, but will definitely be re-watching this from start to finish). The difficult part is finding another show that is as good or even better than Ashes of Love! :)

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second time watching

Rewatched this for the second time and is here to give a proper review. In case you only watched this recently, we don't know when Deng Lun (ML) will appear on screen again.. what more another xianxia drama.

First off, I really liked Yang Zi and Deng Lun as both their acting was good & they have good chemistry together. Although this show was in 2018, i never felt like their acting was amateur here. To me, Xu Feng was the main stealer for this entire show. His character developed well throughout the show from how he met Jin Mi, fell in love to a love-hate relationship. A lot people didn't like Xu Feng because they think that he was manipulative and is not empathetic towards Run Yi. But his character is not built to be perfect - his parents are evil but he still chose to protect them at some point, also i don't find that his love towards Jin Mi was manipulative. When they both went down to mortal/human realm, i think that Jin Mi at that point of time still doesn't know what is love (even though XF died with her). She could be touched and thinks that she wants to "repay" XF in that sense when they got to immortal realm. It was not forced by XF as to how JM falls in love with him. The true moment she realized that she actually love XF was when she killed him, that it hurts for much he is gone. That is also why i hated the fact that my fav moments in this whole show, when they were lovey dovey was actually not true love YET. I also didn't liked that moon immortal was there to heavily ship the main couple (JM and XF). Moon immortal was very bias towards XF to the point that i forgot RY was also one of his nephew.

This aside, the reason why I rated this high was because the storyline was interesting although frustrating at times. I didn't like JM's character here because she was too easily persuaded/swayed by people around her. She is also not smart and needed to be saved most of the time. It isn't a solid character in my opinion. Even the evil people in this show was more bearable than JM at some points. On the other hand, i really liked XF both when he is phoenix and demon lord. His love for JM was also very sweet and heart breaking. I could totally feel a different aura when he was phoenix vs. demon lord. Run Yi was another character that was worth watching in this show - he is the antagonist but a very pitiful one. People argued that his love for JM is no less than XF but now that I rewatched i can't find the point when he actually falls in love with JM.. for sure JM i is interesting/cute/funny to him at first sight but there weren't much interactions between them afterwards for him to be obsessed with her. Instead, i do felt that he became competitive and "love" JM when he knows XF love her, which happened early in the show. We cannot deny that although XF is not the best brother to RY, RY does not have 100% pure intentions towards XF/JM either. However, as much as I cannot get his love for JM, i think that his pov and story towards his family was worth giving credit for.

Overall, i think this show not for the impatience people as it has a whooping number of 63 episodes. The romance will make u either love it or hate it. If you cannot stand those shows with heavy misunderstandings, you probably won't enjoy it. However, i still think it's a good show overall because you get to enjoy a lot more than the main couple's story. Romance between main leads might be slow burn but it's that kind will make u satisfied at the very end (u just have to bear with it). With Yang Zi and Deng Lun's acting + visuals + chemistry, this show is easily a >5 for me.

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Ive rewatched this drama 2 times just to understand what was really happening, if you skip you can miss so many things and the entire story can just be ruined. There are so many problems and good things that happen in this which can get you in your feelings, i swear that the first time i watched this i cried like 7 times. Maybe its just me but they make the characters so dumb sometimes, especially the female lead! Dont get me wrong, i love the acting but Jin mi cant even understand the simplest situations, especially at the beginning and end. She always needs help from others and then to just have sui he take all the credit? I feel like its the same thing over and over again. The storyline could have been even better if it was scripted correctly. It also broke my heart because no matter how hard Runyu tries he never gets anything his way. He just wants a comfortable life with someone to love him and they couldnt even give him a happy ending. Hee risks his life for Jin mi and she cant even make him happy, she doesnt have to love him but at least they can be friends.

Im not going to go ahead and fix any grammar/spelling mistakes cause im lazy
This is my opinion so dont come at me ;)

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Ashes of Love - Review

Ashes of Love was a nice, cute, but sad drama. The start was kinda funny, with Jing Mi being so cute and the scene where she calls the male lead, which is a pheonix, but she calls him a raven, was hilarious. I like the heaven realm. Its really pretty and magical and the costumes were all pretty - no strange hairstyles or garments. I think they ceretainly put some effort into the costumes. The part when they go to the human realm was sortta romantic, i guess. and i liked that the other character that liked Jing Mi wasnt there most of the time, so he couldnt reallly interfere. The scenes after were all sad though. So much plotting, Jing Mi's dad dying, Jing Mi not being the cute adorable girl she was at the start after seeing all the death and stuff, Jing Mi killing the male lead, her trying to save the lead but always getting hurt, everything. really depressing. but good series overall and i can see why its so popular.

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