Bloody Romance (2018)

Visually rich, twisted fairytale. Best enjoyed if you let your imagination off the leash.

Once upon a time, there was a poor tender-hearted girl who got betrayed by her own father and sold to a brothel. Cruel fate then sent her to a hotbed of evil - a danger-filled city of assassins! There she encountered a handsome tortured prince in disguise. Oh wait, make that two! Sigh, if only it weren’t for the evil queen…:)

Don’t watch this as wuxia, watch it as a collection of fairy tales tinged with the blood of many lovers. This drama has a distinct magical flavour, eerie and timeless, thanks to amazing art direction, imaginative use of animation and a vibrant palette of characters! Story wise, it’s wuxia meets gothic romance with a dash of mystery and horror. It's one of those dramas that you need to try before deciding if it's to your taste.

I have to applaud the creative team behind this drama for being able to build such a sinister, unnerving atmosphere even with all the mature elements toned down. There's no gore, no sex, not even a kiss on screen. Yet, this drama overflows with passion, allure, menace and dark morality.
Actually, it played with my imagination a little too well… There's a scene of three people eating soup. One is supposed to be blind, but isn't. The other two want to catch him out. Now, we never know exactly what’s in that bowl. Just that the other two are pretty horrified by it. It's all in the masterful acting and the tension building in that long scene. It created such vivid images in my head, I very nearly threw up… Ok, fun anecdote time over - back to review;)

Another thing that drew me in early on was , what I called earlier in a comment, bunch of nutty characters that I just couldn't help but adore. Starting with the sexually frustrated, ingenious torturer, cat mommy villain with a pastime of skinning people:)
The portrayals were just enough to give the characters an unconventional, eccentric feel, without crossing over into grotesque. As for the three leads, they were exceptional.

Wan Mei: My love for the heroine was of a tempestuous nature. A lot of the time I wanted to reach in and shake some sense into her. At other times, I felt like cuddling her to death. She was charming and clever, but also frustrating as all hell. I think her character suffered the most from the censoring of the original novel. She was a ridiculously unconvincing assassin. A big part of this drama is Wan Mei going on various missions. That arc was both too episodic in nature and brought a lot of inconsistency to the character. Generally, I felt her purpose wasn't written as clearly as the other two leads.

Gong Zi and Chang An: The two tortured princes! Complex and charismatic characters with very different understanding of what love is. They both have a classic wuxia thirst for revenge/hidden identity storyline in the background. I felt Chang An's story was underdeveloped. But it was pretty obvious they didn't have the budget.
Personally, I liked him best in their early scenes with Wan Mei. Qu Chuxiao infused the character with such a magnetic charisma I couldn't take my eyes off him.
If Chang An was irresistible, then Gong Zi was just striking! Wang Duo's stylish, melancholic portrayal of Gong Zi brought such a unique, unearthly feel to this series. One of the most memorable characters in the whole dramaland for me.

Now, on to negatives

Well, this is a medium-budget web drama from 2018. The CGI is better not mentioned:)

For wuxia, the fight scenes are nothing to speak of. The final battle between our heroine and the evil queen was extremely underwhelming. Li Yitong is a wonderful dancer. But a fighter? Not so much.

As I said earlier, the plot in the middle is meandering and episodic. I put it on hold for a few months because the story seemed to be going nowhere. Also, the whole Wan Mei being an unwilling assassin part is far too sentimental for my taste. It lacks any real sense of danger or thrill.

Even though the music is quite beautiful, I felt it was overused and oft-repeated. Seriously, I challenge anyone not to know the lyrics to the theme song by heart after 30 episodes.

Not enough attention to detail. For example, I got confused about who knew of Gong Zi's cured blindness at which stage. The actor seemed to randomly alternate between the two looks.

Can’t remember any more. Go watch the drama. Enjoy the magical spectacle, Wan Mei’s awesomeness, Chang An’s devotion and Gong Zi’s wily ways.

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This writer knows how to do angst and do it well. Bloody Romance is an underrated masterpiece, one of the most well written and put together Chinese dramas I have watched.

Bloody Romance is a tale of life and death, love and loss, revenge and compassion. It is epic in every way possible. This is an intense drama, one I couldn't binge watch because every episode is packed with emotions. The cast is young but they manage to keep up with the intensity of the script. A real surprise for me was Puff Guo whom I could barely recognise.

I was really invested into the romance of Cha Ruo and Wan Mei. Without so much a kiss, their love story was absolutely beautiful and devastating. The woeful soundtrack matched this drama perfectly and intensified their scenes every time.

The antagonists in the drama were complicated characters, each had their reasons for why they turned out the way they did. They added to the plot rather than take away from it which I find is the case with a lot of Chinese dramas.

My favorite part of this drama is - WOMEN BADASSERY! The women are the ones fighting, kicking ass and protecting the ones they love. Of course, the men were heroes as well, but I loved that there were so many fight scenes featuring the women.

All in all, this is definitely a top 10 Chinese drama for me, ever. I think I would find it difficult to rewatch simply because it was so intense, I highly, highly recommend this drama - especially if you are looking for something directed at a more mature audience.

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Sin City, China °7.3° °weird & D.A.R.K. but good°

Female assassins! A whole city of them! And, boy, are they terrifying. Don't Let the word “Romance” misguide you. Sure, there's a love story in there, amongst the blood, guts, and cannibalism. The secondary romance is between the torture chamber master and the savage, megalomanical City Master. It ain't no feel good love story. It isn't the romance that's going to stick with you later, anyway; it's the horror. This show is every bit as macabre as Sin City. Judge whether you want to watch it through that lens. If romance is your thing, and you don't like frightening situations or gore, skip this one. BR is mostly a drama about power.

For those of you continuing on, the show is worth watching. While it is quite painful at times, it had the effect of making me feel better about the horrible circumstances I was in at the time I was watching. BR is gruesome, sad, ROUGH and, well, bloody. It isn't for the faint of heart, and it isn't for most romance fans, unless you're one like me, who also loves action and lots of killin, every now and then. If you've been wanting to get a dude in your life to watch a Cdrama, maybe this is the one. (I would recommend Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber-9 or Douluo continent-9.1 for that, btw).

BR has its slow moments, but somewhere around episodes 8/9/10 BR becomes captivating. The characters inhabit a secret world within our real world. It gets deeper and more layered as the episodes roll by. The best thing is that there are some road trips, or quests, rather. They never get old. There are consistent quality elements incorporated by the director. There's lovely segues, connections, and ironies tossed into the hotpot. One small example is in ep33, when Prince Ning comes to the Palace knowing that around 90% of his goals have been reached. He's in a resplendent green robe instead of the shadowy pale greys that he had been wearing. The Chinese know how to film flowing silk. The soundtrack is exceptionally good and Spotifiable. The musical theme for the primary duo is sad, but it's also downright sultry. Another of the songs for the romantic scenes is by Tia Ray. It's beautiful. Gary Chaw has a couple of excellent songs on the soundtrack as well. The fight scenes are clever with exciting acrobatics. The animation during the opening credits is gorgeous. Recollections, flashbacks, and dreams are done in the same style throughout the show. It's edgy, it's dark, and it's utterly beautiful. BR is almost mesmerizing at times.

Chinese villains are fun. One has to remind oneself that these are assassins. Several times it is noted that nobody cares if their targets deserve it or not. It's just their job. They're also under threat of death if they don't carry out their missions. Worse, before their death sentence is carried out it is preceded by horrendous torture. Prolonged, horrendous torture. Once people are desperate enough to take the vow and become assassins, they don't look back. Even among assassins, there's the regular bad guys and then the /really/ bad guys. Of course we want the really bad guys to be defeated, but we should feel conflicted about rooting for cold blooded killers… shouldn't we? Some of the bad guys are more complex than what seems at first glance. We learned that some of them have justifiable hate; their actions and attitudes aren't entirely unrelatable. One of the tragedies of human existence is that it's so rare for someone to break the cycle of evil. One character definitely is not a cold blooded assassin. This character has been trapped.

If the show is about nothing else, it's about our duty to get unpleasant jobs done, so let's get the bad news about BR out of the way. This isn't a cult classic like Sin City. Scenes are often a little too drawn out. There's plot holes, plot flops, and dead-ends in which forecasted actions were halted prior to completion - they didn't finish everything they started, just like a couple characters in the show. BR feels a little bit hollow. The ending accentuates that emptiness, so we are left with that sense. The torture chamber master is inconsistent. He sympathizes with others, at times, and he tries to stop the senseless killing and torture, yet he continues to perform torture and perpetuate cruelty. The ending is forecasted and the viewer should be cognizant of that. It reinforces the bleakness. Most weirdly, they set up some awesome possibilities and then just left them out there hanging. They opted for another direction that compares poorly to what was possible.

Forget the above, the biggest issue with this show is that it's dark. It's different from the dark things that Hollywood puts out, which appears to be an effort to titillate with violence and cruelty. There's a clear line between acts that are right and wrong in this show. Every character has legitimate motivations. They just act on them wrongly. The dark elements are meant to shock and horrify us, but not to come through the back door and titillate us. Kudos to the writer, who authentically shows bad guys with complex motivations. In fact, the bad guys themselves weren't born that way, but they were tortured into being that way. Conversely, the writer displays good people that do dark things. The complexity is admirable. BR flies around 10,000 feet in the air. It focuses on broad strokes issues as much or more than the individual characters and their arcs. The creators allow only limited emotional investment in these people. That's a positive: Otherwise, the plot turns would HURT. At least the cat gets a happy ending!

The FL is irritating. The suffering saint(ess). She suffers. She doesn't want to kill, which means she wants her shadow (aid) dead. Even for the dire circumstances, it's overly dramatic. Fine, it's understandable that she doesn't want to kill. Was it okay, in the show's beginning, for that assassin to kill the man that was about to kill her? If not, the world would be missing one person with a good conscience and keeping someone destructive. Wait. I should check myself for a moment. Maybe I have too much bloodlust. Her struggle with taking lives is appropriate, but the way she's willing to risk her Shadow’s life is not. Overall, they failed to sell all of their wares, when it comes to her character, so she's only partially completed. In a way, once again, that made watching the show a little easier. I didn't get emotionally invested to the point where their pain hurt me as much as some other shows have. It's nice to get a break from kind of upheaval, or it would be too much. For one example, Love and Redemption, which I consider a 10 among the 10's despite its clunky special effects, caused me sufficient emotional distress that I popped a Xanax (yet I still kept watching). I couldn't handle a constant stream of that wreckage.

Speaking of the characters, Li Yi Tong is FL, Wan Mei. She becomes more relatable as the episodes go on, but they fail to fully form her into a protagonist that the audience will connect with deeply. This is no fault of the actress - it's the writing and directing. It's obvious that she, the actor and the character, has done what they required her to. Tragically, her part is the least interesting one of the show. Qu Chu Xiao is ML Chang An. His voice is soothing. So many Asian actors barely look Asian to me. His looks aren't far removed from that of Eastern Europeans. It seems like the burden to make a romance work is always on the ML in a heterosexual love story. Perhaps that's because our perception is that men don't love as easily as women, so it's a greater change if a man falls in love? This particularly applies in a world of tough guys… powerful guys… dare I say /masculine/ guys? More likely, it's in my eye, the eye of the viewer, that the male lead is pulling extra weight in selling the love story, because I'm attracted to men(?). I'm honestly not sure… Attraction is an ephemeral mystery inside a conundrum, indeed. All I know is that my favorite romances are usually favs because of the performances of the male leads. Anyway, Mr. Li is particularly good. Wang Duo plays Gong Zi / Prince Ning. He is the most memorable character of the show, and perhaps the best reason to watch it. His story is riveting. He is as sincere as he had the ability to be. As with many characters, he's been pushed hard in many directions.

Everyone has their own agenda. Usually, it's revenge, and it's always futile. All these wants and appetites… The Pride, the revenge, the hostility, the cruelty & the striving - it's all futile in the end. Revenge is explored apart from society, laws, and justice. Otherwise decent people in BR kill wantonly for revenge. It isn't about the person that they're avenging. It's about oneself and satisfying one's own anger and bloodlust. To kill an innocent person for revenge is to be a murderer. To do it a second time, is to be a serial killer. To give in to anger and its outflow of unforgiveness, vengeance and bitterness, is always most hurtful to oneself more than anyone else. Is best to not let such dark indulgences and appetites, that can never be satisfied, consume us.

BR’s final words:
One glance decides your life. One stroke breaks the wine vessel. One man, one god. A broken scar. A dream intoxicating Heaven and Earth. To respect and pour. When you awake, there are 3 months of spring.

Spring brings baby mice, and our kitty will have to survive on something…


〰️QUOTES〰️

Sometimes, fathoming our own heart is more difficult than understanding another person's heart.

The only logic in this world is that there is no logic.

When we experience more things in life, our horizons will widen more.


✏〰 IMHO

Directing 7.4
Writing 6.8
Acting 7
Romance 6.5
Flutters 7
Art 7
Action 7.3
Sound & music 8.8
Ending 4

LEVELS
Laughs 1
Warmth 3
Tears 6
Fright 6
Gore 5.8
Thought provocation 5
Snores 3

🎬 7.4🖊〰 6.8 🎭 7 💓6.5 🦋7 🌞3 🎨7 ⚡7.3 🎵/🔊8.8 😅1 😭 6 😱6 🤢5.8 🤔5 💤3 🔚4


Age 16+ Scary images not suitable for kids under 13;Ep1 a father sells his daughter to a brothel. Violence against women depicted & worse is referred to. Cannibalism; Torture; Rape; Sex slaves; Stealing blood from virgins


Re-📺watch? I don't think so, but if I'm in a dark, nihilistic and masochistic mood, mehbee?


In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:

♥️ -
C: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many won'tlike the unforgivablestunt the ML pulls;
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1
K :
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;

Period -
C: Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
K🇰🇷:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9

Fantasy
C: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Eternal Love 8.3,
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10

Action -
C: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
K:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
The Man From Nowhere 8.9
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4

Japanese lite romcoms: Maid Sama-10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Toradora-8.5

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Intense drama - and an absolutely magnificent OST

Once I got past the blood and fantasy bits, I was completely engrossed in this drama. I didn't appreciate the holes in the story, too many loose ends, too many bits and pieces that were not fully explained or clear to the viewer - and most especially the ending. Tragic that he dies, or does he? We are left hanging. Those of us who hope he is still alive as some suggest, and those of us who accept his sacrifice and heroic death as his final act of love... but I prefer to have a clear ending and closure (unless of course, we will have a Season 2!)

The acting was stellar. The music was hauntingly beautiful and evoked every bit of emotion that this drama deserved. I found the version of the theme song that Qu Chuxiao sings - and that is my favorite of all.

This drama might not everybody's cup of tea, but I couldn't stop watching once I got into it, and listened to the opening theme every single time.

Please let there be a Season 2! Same FL & ML - and whoever did the music!

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How can you not like it?

The first reason of liking this drama is Li Yi Tong, her role as assassin Wan Mei is played so well, multifaceted and convincing.
In the beginning young, innocent but already full of hardship, she tries her best to bring some food home to her little brother and obviously good for nothing herbalist father.

Even after he sells her to a brothel for two bags of rice ( ( -how far sighted, how long can they live on that-), her will to live is stronger than giving in to her obvious destiny.

In the end desperate and wanting, she still finds a way of living on.

I love Li Yi Tong, I liked her in every drama, but in this one I liked her so far the most. She can display so many character traits in just one role.Really great. Although she is an assassin she never gives in to power and bloodthirst, she ist soft but strong, never killing anyone.Maybe not realistic for an assassin but she has two men by her side, one always manipulating and pushing her but also deeply in love for the first time, the other Chang An.

Chang An (Qu Chu Xiao), her shadow and his undying love and will to give everything for her impressed me so much. Who doesn't want to see a charactare like him in a drama.Torn between personal revenge and his love for Wan Mei, in the end he's always by her side, secretly helping her,pleading for her or sacrificing for her.

Though both, Chang An and Wan Mei, often make everything more complicated by giving in to their feelings, they won't stop loving each other.

Sometimes I had the feeling, that when one of them wouldn't have been there it would have made things a lot easier for the other.
Trying to sacrifice everything for each other but only maximizing the extend of damage that is done is not my ideal way of loving but yes, it's a
"bloody romance". Quite interesting.

Cha Luo as heartless and pain ridden crazy leader of the assassins is also greatly portrayed. You really get into hating her whole personality, even though you get to know how hard her life was. She is just selfish and doesn't want anyone in a similar situation having a better life than her. She clings to her power hungry self as so not to give in to her misery.
Great actress, her cruel laughter still sends shivers down my spine.

Xing Feng, Cha Luo's man,shadow and true love is also an interesting character.I really like the actor.He loves Cha Luo although she is so cruel.You can see how often he tries to pacify her but still wants to do everything for her.

Xing Feng and Cha Luo are the saddest couple I have ever seen in a drama.Him impotent and sad for not beeing able to give her what she wants and her needy and always aggressive for beeing an almighty leader but still a powerless person.

The best charactare displayed in this drama is King of Ning, really impressive. Blind in the beginning, with lots of heart illnesses but also with a powerful inner strenght, he uses everyone for his own ambitions. A lonely but manipulative guy whom you can't really see through.He is the secret puppetry master of everything.

All in all it was one of the dramas which left an imprint on me.
I highly recommend it to people who like to get
carried away by a drama.
I loved it.

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For once , a unique FL !

Now I have been watching chinese historical dramas for quite some time now , but I dont know why , to show that a female lead is strong or whatsoever , they make her loud , rude , judges things from what SHE sees without giving time to others (specially ML ) to explain ,and STILL after one , MAXIMUM two meetings , the ML falls for her , arghhh. But for ONCE ,I did not hate the FL at all , actually , I LOVED HER , she is posed , smart , compassionate and most importantly , truly loves the ML and I SEE it.
The drama is a delight to watch . Yes, it is a bit dark , but you get past it because the actors are this good.
I would say it gets kinda slow towards the end (not a spoiler ), but I still really enjoyed it and it left a very good impression on me. The actors were really good but it was the FL and ML that gave stellar performances for me. Watch it , I promise you'll love it .

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Really good acting and music

Story: Especially at the beginning, some parts of the story are being thrown at you, but it does get better throughout. Honestly, some parts were confusing, mainly because they introduce characters by name before you see what the character looks like or their personality (but could also be translation errors). The dynamics between the characters are very well-written, and although some misunderstandings change the course of their relationship they end up working it out eventually. Also made me realize how psychologically torturing being an assassin is.

Acting: Exceptional especially for the antagonist and protagonist but honestly every actor/actress did amazing, including the parts where the characters are desperate and suffering. You can feel the emotion in their voice. Even when there isn't anything verbal going on. In particular, the main characters' facial expressions and how they move still give the scene weight to it.

Music: A lot of the OST music I would listen to on repeat, particularly the intro song. And I know a lot of people love it for the same reasons I do. It fits the relationships between the characters in the story and the cadence of the singer really describes the emotion of the song. They do milk it a lot in the episodes but it is a moving song so, it's not as annoying as you would think..

Rewatch: I generally don't rewatch shows unless they are amazing shows/mystery genre. I feel like this show is a one-and-done situation, but I did enjoy it while it lasted.

TLDR; Story is a bit confusing at first but it flows throughout the show. Acting is phenomenal and is amazing a portraying emotion even when they aren't talking. Music is beautiful and melancholy. Most likely won't rewatch it, but it was an interesting experience.

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A drama that makes people have mixed feelings about it

As a viewer of dramas, the first thing you read before you watch a drama is the synopsis. Basically telling you what the drama was about. The synopsis was the most misleading one I’ve read in my whole life.
So the synopsis was this girl who went on to become a cold blooded assassin after some challenges. Also, she met some romance. This happened to be my most favourite type of genre. I really like to watch dramas where the FL becomes the most badass female assassin and it was a bonus because there was romance. So, I entered the drama with really high hopes. Like super high ones. But what I got was a lot of disappointment and mixed feelings towards it.
So, I started watching it and the first few episodes was really good and lived up to my expectations. Especially because I thought the ideas used inside were really fresh and new and who doesn’t really doesn’t appreciate that. It made me hopelessly in love with it after the umbrella with the blood flowers on it. It was just so cool! And umm..some things happen and hey she becomes an assassin.
From then on..it kinda just snowballed down. All my hopes crushed. She becomes the worst type of assassin I wanted to see. You see she becomes the type of assassin that feels so weak you know, she doesn’t want to kill anyone and is like Ah…I just don’t want to kill them. First, I don’t feel so bad about it. I mean who doesn’t feel guilty killing someone. However, it got to a point where it just became unbearable to watch how weak and how unsuitable to the description of an assassin was. The main thing got me riled up was the description. THEY SAID I COULD WATCH A COLD BOODED BADASS ASSASSIN but what I got in return was real bad. So, you see the drama progresses on and one talking about how she was reluctant kill people and then she finally kills someone and then feel so guilty about it…..you get the second male lead and all that so on and on drama with ML and second ML. Everyone gets it….
Then, she finally kills her last person which was the leader of the organisation and seriously I was feeling a bit weird. It was just so out of the place, I mean you didn’t want a single person and then suddenly you become strong and murder the leader who has been in the high position for so long. Girl, where does all the power come from? Sure…there was the motive that was super strong cos the leader killed everyone she loved. But, hey it doesn’t quite add up?
Finally, she becomes the leader of the organisation of the female assassins and that really irritated me. It was like hey, this is a female assassin organisation and everyone there killed people like the assassin they were supposed to be. But, you killed just two ppl！ TWO! And one was like so reluctant and the other person was purely full of hatred. I mean why her out of everyone? Finally, she says I have become so crazy and so cold blooded assassin, killing so much people. AND I WAS GIRL WHAT?????HUH???It didn’t add up.


The acting was good.
The music was not too bad.
Pity, the story really wasn’t good and the synopsis was missing plus the title.

~ Nerium oleander

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UNDERRATED GREAT DRAMA

The two male actors did a bang job. I love Wang Duo so much, I can go on write good things about him. The pain, loneliness, hate, determination, love, care, and deep thinking is in his eyes and smiles. When the door's closing at him during last scene, I can see the loneliness and abandonment he felt....losing everything he hold dear. So much so he overshadowed everyone else. Shawn Qu also remarkable too...as a submissive reserved man that would look at Wan Mei with such devotion - he loved Wan Mei tenderly and would do anything for her. Li YiTong is great, her character flipped flopped a lot depend on whether she successfully finished the mission or not. In the book Wen Mei slept with every men, kind of gross me, the adaption is more relatable and have better story line. So much memorable acting from Wang Duo and Shaw Qu, I put them on top of best performance and favorite.
The best scene was when both Wan Mei and Chan'An went separately, thru the river Chan'An left....with hundred of bright firework lit the dark night sky - Wan Mei cried and run toward the river. Gong Zi run after her just to found out how heart broken she was, memorable was the significant of explosion of fireworks as representing how Chan'An felt about.
The drawing illustrations fit in to drama, adding more dramatic than spoiling the scenes because they put it together nicely between drawing and alive scenes - not come in at very important epic scenes (Note: Long Ballad needs to learn this). It broke my heart with the ending...I demand season 2!! This drama is one of my favorite...and I don't have very many of them...

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ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ALLURING, MYSTICAL DRAMA. One of the best fantasy wuxia's out there.

Absolutely loved this drama! This was a very unique and cleverly written drama, I've never watched anything like it before. I was hooked from start till end. It is an alluring, mystical drama which reeked of darkness, and the visual effects and OST in this are superb. I absolutely loved every OST in this drama and i am still hooked on it.
The director selected casts that really suited the characters and managed to portray the characters well. I think that that is what really made it for me.
At times however, there were way too many flashbacks i.e. the FL always had this same flashback over and over again. I guess they were trying to portray her sadness but after the 3rd same flashback, I was over it.
I hope there is going to be Season 2 because there really would be potential for a season 2! Although, the ending was amazing.

Overall, highly highly recommend. High emotional impact. Great director and cinematography. One of my all time favourite dramas.

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one of my alltime favourites

As I have read the novel the drama is based on, I was very eager to watch it.
I have to say, it is one of my favourite dramas!
Not only has it perfectly transferred the dark and mysterious scenery of the book onto the screen, but also have the actors done a beautiful job and the OST is remarkable.
As for the seemingly sad ending, I can only say one has to read the book to understand the hint given at the very end of the drama - or check the comments on Youtube or wherever the drama can be watched.
With only 36 episodes the drama can be considered relatively short for a chinese historical drama.
As the name suggests the drama is quite bloody and has a good deal of really evil characters, but what I like about the drama is the absence of a good character- bad character plot. All of the characters have reason for what they do and none of them is complety good nor completly bad.

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