Lost You Forever (2023)

One Of The Best Chinese Drama I’ve Seen

A beautiful story of these characters who are extremely broken and abandoned, desperately fighting to find that love and happiness.
Yang Zi, Deng Wei, Tan Jian Ci and Zhang Wan Yi, all did a phenomenal job portraying their characters.
The intertwined relationships of not two but four people, was captivating and not boring throughout the entire series. It is impressive how they successfully captured a great individual chemistry between the female lead and her leading men. I was mesmerized and invested in each of her relationships with all three men. I have my favorite and I’m hoping he will be her happy ending and that is Tushan Jing / Ye Shi Qi.
Deng Wei has found the role he was "born to play” which is an ethereal character. He is so beautiful that he sparkles and if he kisses you will sparkles and turn into a Deity. FYI, that kissing scene of him pulling her up, one of the sexiest I’ve seen in Cdrama. The scene with his grandmother passing away and him holding his “baby”. Without overly dramatic cry or reaction, he successfully pulled off a brilliant performance of someone who just felt lost all over again and abandoned. That’s great acting!
His character is the one that broke my heart into pieces.

I highly recommend this drama and looking forward to season two.

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I havent been this heavy hearted from watching a drama in a while!

When I first saw the teaser for this drama way, way back in the beginning, I was going to try and watch this drama because I'm a fan of Yang Zi and have watched most of her dramas. Mainly all her costume dramas. I loved her in Ashes of Love and Immortal Samsara. And didn't think this drama was going to top those. Cause they were master pieces and Yang Zi had amazing chemistry with Deng Lun. And its pretty hard to top. Also especially since I didn't really know the ML that were casted in LYF. I thought it would be carried by Yang Zi only so it won't be that good. I was even a bit reluctant to start it but since there wasn't really any dramas out at the start of this drama, I gave it a try. But man was I so wrong. And I am happy that I am wrong!
To start off, the cinematography of this drama was amazing. The color, set, scenery, just everything was so beautiful and dreamy. The costumes were amazing too. Everyone's costumes highlighted their personality.
Next, the actors. Man did I fall in love with Zhang Wan Yi and Tan Jian Ci. I have never really seen them in any other dramas before. But they really stole the show with their acting. My favorite actors are ones that act with their eyes. And these 2 definitely fit the category. The longing, sorrowful, and even happiness they displayed in their eyes were amazing. It made me empathize with them so much. Just amazing.
The relationship that XY has with each of her ML is amazing. The complexity, the history, the story. I love all of it. Each ML shares something different with XY which makes the story has so much depth to it. Im a sucker for sibling dramas, which is why Go Ahead is one my of favorite dramas of all time. CX and XY's relationship makes me so sad. I love it. What they mean to each other and what they're willing to do for each other is crazy. Makes me want a gege in rela life too! Don't get me wrong, I love romance dramas too and all the scenes with TSJ are super cute. But my heart has always had a special spot reserved for sibling love.
The OST damaged me hard. I haven't heard an OST that made me want to cry like all the time in a while. I have been listening to it on repeat. I love that each character kind of has their own theme song. Cause the lyrics of it relates solely to them. And its so much more meaningful. Whenever I hear CX's song, it makes me want to cry cause him and XY suffered so much and you can just see CX's longing for XY. When i hear the song, the scene in ep 22 pops up in my head when XY is using her body to protect CX from FFB's arrow. That moment is so heartbreaking and also heartwarming at the same time. An the song is played whenever CX misses XY. Whenever i hear XL's song. Im just so sad cause he's so lonely and XY will never know how much he loves her. The song especially hits different because Tan Jian Ci sung it himself. Love love love all the songs.
While waiting for the drama to continue coming out, I read the novel. Cause I couldnt wait any longer to see what was going to happen next. The drama does follow the novel pretty closely which I really appreciated because the details of the novel are amazing. You know a drama is good when I pick up the novel to read because I cant wait any longer. And I do have to say from reading the novel, they really did nail the casting. I cant imagine anyone else playing the FL and the MLs. They all are exactly how I would imagine them to but if brought to life. Amazing. Im happy this Tong Hua novel wasnt butchered.
Eagerly waiting for season 2 to come out so I can be even more emotionally damaged than I am already. I know the scenes in Season 2 are going to be so much more emotional. We will get to see Yang Zi and Zhang Wan Yi display their amazing acting skills then!

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Could have been better :)

I was completely blown away with the first episode! The two child actors were fantastic, the setting and tragic background history plus the CG cinematography was excellent! It got me hooked straightaway.

The first half of this drama focused on our FL Xiao Yao, who whilst trying to look for her cousin brother/ family got kidnapped and tortured for 70 years. She then as an adult, disguised herself as a man and lived as a normal ordinary man working her keep (she is actually a princess). So story goes on and she saves this beggar on the brink of death and nurses him back to life. Eventually this dude becomes her love interest and is also from noble birth.

What’s interesting about this drama is that humans live amongst deities (have super powers and long life) as well as demons. She meets this nine headed demon, who initially mistreats her, trying to kill her several times. But she seems to keep going back to him (for what reason I can’t remember) but they develop a very strong bond of friendship and he (the demon) eventually falls in love with her. His role is played by Tan xian ci, who is very dreamy and aesthetic as Xiang Liu (with his white attire and silver hair)

Then there is her cousin brother Cang Xuan who felt so guilty not being able to protect her when she went missing. After reuniting, he sort of falls in love with her as well, but knows they cannot be together because of his ambition and destiny to be King of Xiyan.

These three men surrounding and including our FL had very strong characters and a good development in their journey. The 4th guy Feng Long seemed redundant to me;)

Whilst the first half focused on the character development, the second half became a tad boring and typical - where Cang Xuan is working his way to gain power and allies to get to the throne, while his uncles and others try to disrupt him. I wished the writers focused a little more on the super powers and abilities, instead of having long and serious melodrama talks about life and love.

If you’re expecting a great romance, you’ll be disappointed because it’s a sad tale for the so called lovey couple. Some opinions say the ending for Season 1 was a somewhat closure, but I feel it’s more an open ending. Not a cliffhanger, but not a real closure as there are many loose ends to the story. Apparently there’s a Season 2, so we will have to wait for that ;)

Very very long drama… but I was very intrigued and hooked for the first half.

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Love is as beautiful as it’s cruel.

I missed this heroine sooooo much !! I truly enjoy this actress when she’s playing roles that “fit her acting persona”. The story is DIFFERENT and let you be surprised at times. It is true that some parts are prolonged to death, but this drama is a very well hidden gem. The actors chemistry is borderline perfect, and FINALLY A PASSIONATE KISS AMONG HETEROSEXUAL, that is so well done to give you butterflies. Last kiss so well done was Hyena. The male actors are quite interesting: at the beginning they seem dull and sleepy, but the more you watch the more intriguing they are. THANKFULLY they all DO NOT LOOK LIKE stiff porcelain dolls, increasing the reality factor tenfold. If the whole world was made of perfectly good looking people, how boring would that be ???? Im a believer of TALENT, above beauty. Wayyyyy above. So, if you can manage reality, you can definitely enjoy this show. The script is confusing.

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This drama became one of my most favorite costume C-drama

This drama's original novel was very well written, so I wasn't sure how it would come out as drama. But thankfully, original author is part of the screen writing, so drama is made as good as novel. Story of each main leads are well described and plots are made flawless. There are many scenes make you cry and sobs. Yet once in a while few plots make you laugh and lighten up your sad feeling. It is so well balanced for audiences to enjoy just like real human lives.

What surprised me is while I love this drama so much, there are reviews with very low rating and wrote full of hateful comments towards drama itself and performers. Boy, there are so many different types of ppl in the MDL world. I can accepts proper critiques about the drama, but I cannot accept the hates in any of drama introduced here at MDL.

And some of them are obvious that they didn't watched the drama, but they already have strong negative opinions about it and they wrote bad reviews. Some of them wrote that there were too many violences and torture scenes. This drama is a fiction and if these fictions do bother audiences, they have a right to stop watching. If this drama is not your cup of tea, they can leave. Viewers may dislike the characters, but one thing I don't understand is why such dislike become the hate towards actors? It's very strange behavior to me. It irritates me that these haters intentionally write bad reviews. I don't get it what do they gain by doing so? It's very toxic mind some carry in their brain and mind.

I hope you will not be influenced by hate comments or super negative comments. You are the only one can make own decision to watch this drama or not, Or you will like it or not.

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SIMP OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO...

As much as I liked the drama and the actors, I couldn't help but get nagged by the role of Tushan Jing. Man was simping all the way throughout the drama. I had to fast forward most of his scenes to avoid the lagging storyline that went around him.

Would still recommend anyone to watch but expect some disappointment from Tushan Jing if your taste for drama is as good as mine.

Xiao Yao was excellent, the costumes were excellent, the casting was excellent, the OST was even better. Tushan Jing was the simp of the year winner, and he was foolish as well, who couldn't notice Yiying was hiding something all along.

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The real male lead…

Just finished the drama and saw a few spoilers that broke my heart. Out of the 4 ML I gotta say Xiangliu is the real one. Just based on the name of this drama, FL is bound to lose XL (which he will) and the 相 is the same character as XL’s “Xiang”. He truly loves XY, secretly supported her, willing to sacrifice himself, and never pushed XY into liking him after her rejection. One thing I really like XL is that he seems cold on the outside but is actually a man full of promises and will do anything for FL if she say so. I believe XL was actually the first person XY fell for, in the earlier episodes she was very comfortable and shared a lot of her past experiences with XL, looked for him even though he was abusive and slowly understood that he isn’t that cold blooded and have trouble expressing himself. I felt that after XY expressed her worries and rejected him, XL thought she was scared of him and transformed into FFB to make her happy, which I also think FFB is his true personality and XL was just a shell burdened with the troop responsibilities. FFB had also halfheartedly asked XY a few times to test the water if she wants to leave everything behind and be with him. All these small misunderstandings and chances to be together caused the other ML to take their chance. Cough cough TSJ binding XY with an empty promise and one misunderstanding leads to the next, XY will eventually lose XL forever…

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One of the best dramas I have ever watched

I have already rewatched this drama and plan to rewatch for 3rd time until season 2
This drama for me is grouped in with my top dramas for quality of production, unique storyline, character portrayal, settings like Nirvana In Fire, Joy Of Life, LLTG etc, I have rewatched all my favourite also. That is how I can tell how great a drama is and this one seems fresh every time I rewatch it.
You will fall in love with the cast and their portrayal of their characters, everyone did a brilliant job especially the 4 leads
Yang Zi as Xiaoliu/XiaoYao the main protagonist
Zhang Wan Ye as Xuan Yuan her cousin
Deng Wei as Zigi/Tushan Jin her boyfriend
TanJian Ci as Demon XiangLiu/FanFenBai not saying what role he plays you have to watch it but he is my favourite character
I will not bore you with repeating the story here as most of it had already been said.
I will just say that many of us viewers have our favourite characters and have especially fallen for the infamous XianLiu or FanFenBei character. Is it the portrayal of his character, Is it the unconditional love he has for XianYao or is it he is just so mesmerising to look at.
Watch it and decide for yourself.
I highly recommend watching this drama and personally I anxiously awaiting season 2.
Nothing compares for me to the excellence and viewing satisfaction of this drama in 2023 so far.

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Heart wrenchingly gripping

Lost You Forever is a drama that is so gripping and yet heartbreaking at the same time. I think the angst aspect of this drama is what made it more interesting and gripping. It not only showcased the acting prowess of the casts, it also added dimension to the story. The story brought people to root for all the main characters in the show. It made us want to wish the best for each of them. I honestly can't wait to watch Season 2 and know what's next for all of them.

The romance aspect of this drama, while very heart wrenching, is also beautiful. All of the men in Xiao Yao's life are worth of her. They all love her in a different and yet sweet manner. Honestly, it'll be hard to choose who to root for as all of them have her best interest at heart; it's just that, most if not all is heavily burdened with their duties that choosing her above all else becomes an issue. But nonetheless, I loved how love was portrayed in this drama. It touched on all aspects of love and how love isn't always about the butterflies and giddiness. Sometimes, love is also suffering in silence for someones best interest- and I think this aspect was beautifully portrayed in this season regarding all the love interests.

The political aspect of this drama just added spice to the whole storyline. Especially since politics played a huge role on why some men just can't get their happy ending with Xiao Yao.

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What I liked most about this drama were some of the characters. Xiang Liu as a dark and somewhat menacing type is one that I am a bit of a sucker for, and I initially decided to continue watching this show only to follow his arc. I like the angst that his arc provides to the story. I also appreciate the different kinds of relationships that the female lead has to the other male characters too, especially to Tushan Jing and Cang Xuan. I like that this story is about different kinds of relationships and I saw the beauty (and tragedy) in each of them.

Something else I like about this drama is the music -- not only the theme songs but also the instrumental BGM. Especially the instrumentals, actually. It contributed quite a bit to my enjoyment of this show.

However, having said that, I don't find the acting of most of the actors in this drama to be spectacular. Yang Zi was alright, but other than Zhang Wan Yi, I found the acting of the other male leads to be kind of lacklustre. Deng Wei's acting is quite dull and wooden (I know his character is supposed to be kind of a pushover, but a more skilled actor would still be able to bring more life into such a character). And Tan Jianci, though he is fine most of the time, there are some scenes where he overacted so much it actually made me cringe. (Don't get me wrong -- I have nothing against either Deng Wei or Tan Jianci, and in fact I think they're both gorgeous to look at. This is just my honest opinion about their acting in this show.)

Another problem I had with this drama was the plot, which I found hard to feel engaged in. Sometimes it feels almost as if there's no actual plot? The beginning was fine, and the last few episodes were also not bad. But the middle part bored me so much that I kept stopping and taking breaks away from it. Probably the only reason I didn't end up dropping this drama was because I'm not the kind of person who easily drops dramas that I've watched more than 5 episodes of, unless I really hate a show. All in all, I'm still glad I finished watching this drama -- but I wouldn't re-watch it (at least not this 1st Season).

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Love/Hate with this drama

Finally able to sort out my thought about this drama.

This drama is one of those "What could have been" with a better screenwriter (I know Tong Hua is in charge) and more experienced director.

What I love:
Qingshui Town. Amongst all the scenes throughout the 39 episodes, those in Qingshui Town were the best ones. Real and the character interactions were good although pacing here was quite slow.

Not gonna touch on the CP but scenes between XL/XY & XY/CX were aesthetically amazing.

What I hate:
When WXL became Xiao Yao.
Her growth graph suddenly plummet and it stayed constant till the end had me baffled. What Tong Hua wanted me to understand here? She stated her 3 things in earlier show, but later on, she looked like a love brain kid. Vague and fragmented.

How can she love normally when her childhood experiences affected her psychologically?

CX arc
This supposed to be the main arc, apart from the emotional arc from other male leads. This storyline should be tight and interesting enough to pull the emotions but the overall arc is just weak. Having watched shows like NiF, i'm expecting something from this but it's just disappointing.

Downplay of characters
In short, i just wish the writer retain most of them because this is my main source of frustration amongst all the points above.

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