This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful Union of Opposites
As is typical of the Chinese deity genre, this story pits the heavenly realm against the demon realm. We immediately have the striking juxtaposition between a humble, bullied, lonely, extroverted, physically-broken Orchid fairy and a prideful, bullyish, popular, introverted, emotionally-broken Demon Lord.Fate brings them together and a love curse strikes the Demon Lord, causing him to be spiritually, emotionally and physically linked to the fairy - anything that happens to her also happens to him; if she suffers, he suffers; if she dies, he dies.
Chinese dramas don’t make the mistake of making their heroine strong because of her masculine traits. Instead, our Orchid fairy is strong because she is the ultimate healer and spreader of empathy. Yet, her opposite, the Demon Lord, is the ultimate destroyer and the epitome of someone who lacks empathy.
Orchid fairy expresses courage in her goals, conviction in her morals, and is willing to risk danger and death for what matters! In contrast, Demon Lord expresses cowardice in his goals, is unwilling to risk danger and death for what matters, and is constantly keeping the fairy safe just to protect himself from the love curse.
The love curse works its magic on him, as he is able to see a whole new way of being through the magic that links their souls together. Through keeping her safe, feeling her emotions, and experiencing the purity of her soul, he begins to see the beauty in her soul and begins to want to be like her.
We get taken to Demon Lords backstory where we learn that he was magically tortured as a child in order to purposefully remove his emotions and allow him to be a powerful enough psychopath to successfully rule the demons. Orchid discovers how he is actually an emotionally damaged boy at heart and promptly begins working on healing his soul.
The two prove their love for each other by voluntarily facing magical torture in order to save each other, evincing that the value of love is greater than the cost of pain.
In the end, their relationship triggers a war between the nations, and Orchid must choose between her love and the lives of the people.
Demon Lord loses his hell fire magic when he is healed from his psychopathy. But he gains a new crimson fire magic when he follows Orchid’s path as a hero for the people, symbolizing that often a greater power can be gained when we sacrifice our toxic and manipulative techniques for more friendly and prosocial techniques.
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Very compelling romance
For the most part, very strong writing and script. This might be a controversial opinion but I think the justification for the strong bond between the male lead and female lead in Love Between Fairy and Devil is much stronger than Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (my all-time favorite xianxia drama). Even though the chemistry and acting were top notch in tmopb, I could never fully justify why the leads were so attached to each other. I loved the romance in lbfd because I was completely convinced on why the leads were so devoted to each other, and the foundation for their romance was so well-integrated throughout the plot (hats off to the writers).The male and female lead are equally powerful in every respect and both grow incredibly throughout the drama. Their love is of complete devotion and selflessness without either character ever losing the essence or complexity of who they are; this alone has me so impressed with this drama. It's so difficult to pull off script-wise as dramas will often fall into the pit of the male or (more often) female lead completely losing their character for self-sacrificial love. Additionally, all of the key scenes in this drama are so epically captured. Some of the best special effects I've seen in Cdrama-land. Dylan Wang in particular really impressed me with his acting and depiction of Dongfang Qingcang. I love Orchid's tagline of "I love all beings. I also love one person." Oh my god. Gets to the heart of their romance, and their greater duty to the realm.
My biggest gripe is the drama's pacing and script fall a little flat for me in episodes 32-35. The ending (mostly) redeems itself, but I would have loved to see just a little bit more. My other (not so serious) complaint is the script writers definitely riffed off some of the key lines from Our Times (very famous Taiwanese movie). As someone who understands Mandarin, I couldn't stop laughing cause they copied it almost word-for-word. Anyhow, overall very solid watch.
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A true romance in a fantastic fantasy world (and a feast for the eyes)
** SPOILERS ALERT **This drama is the one that made me realize that Chinese drama are definitively worth watching. I admit I'm not an expert because I only watched a few of them but I often felt like the production and acting weren’t very "high quality" in those I began to watch and then fast forwarded at x2 speed or ultimately dropped... But in Love between fairy and devil, the production team did an amazing job, in terms of the cinematography and editing, the costumes and set, the CGI, and of course the acting. I don’t really know about the budget that was put in this drama, but it was definitively an amazing experience to watch, because each scene felt like an artwork on its own. Even the intro/outro are worth watching! A lot of thought went into the production and the costume department (each set of the drama is stunning, the Moon Palace for example is the one I loved the most). We could see and feel the cultural difference between the fairy people, the “demons” (from Heishi city, I apologize if it’s not spelled correctly) and the moon people and so the world-building didn’t feel like an afterthought. It’s indeed very satisfying to watch and explore, especially as an international viewer who isn’t very familiar with China’s legends and culture. The thing that also made me fall in love is the soundtrack, it’s not often that I’m so captivated by the music in a drama but here, the intro wasn’t even finished that I went on youtube to search for the song.
Now for the story, it’s exactly what I want in a romance/fantasy drama. The premise is maybe a little bit cliché for some (the big bad villain falls in love with the cute and kind girl) but even though I absolutely love this trope on its own, in this drama the trope was reinvented and handled very well! The “fall in love” part was so natural and didn’t appear all at once, whether it is from the FL or ML side. I love fluffy stories in general and here the fluff was 100% present. But not to the point where it becomes cringey and hard to watch. Again, the feelings between the FL and the ML appeared progressively and naturally, and despite the curse put on the ML, the viewer didn’t doubt his feelings for one second because the screenwriter and the director knew exactly what to do to make subtle references in terms of editing and also in directing the main actor: his smallest gesture toward the FL had meaning, even at the start of the story. I’m saying that because in the first episode, in which the FL sees the ML for the first time and “falls” into his heart (she suddenly is transported into a desolate place, covered with snow with a frail looking tree), she had already put her mark there, because at her touch, the tree began to grow and that’s what made the ML feels for her, even at the very beginning. This metaphor was maybe overlooked by the viewer at the beginning (it certainly was for me haha) but it held all its meaning when we finally understand that the tree represents in fact the ML’s love force. The poetic meaning behind those subtle references was what made the relationship between the FL and ML so easily acceptable and “shippable” for the viewer.
Furthermore, the actors were also fantastic and made all of this truly work. The chemistry between the FL and ML was of course off the charts and the chemistry between all the cast was also perfectly handled. The secondary characters all had a story of their own and it wasn’t hard to like the majority of them, apart from the fairies’ supreme lord who I thought didn’t have much substance to his character… But oh well, he wasn’t the main focus so it’s not very important. I also liked that the drama took the most from its actors’ talent. For example, the “body switch” scenes between the FL and the ML were so well done, I just couldn’t believe what kind of self control and talent one has to have to succeed in these kind of scenes without making the viewer uncomfortable. But here, I just had to laugh because the contrast was so intense and we truly had the impression that they switched bodies: the mannerism and their way of speaking were perfectly reproduced by their counterpart. Of course, I can’t talk about the actors’ talent without mentioning the angst in some scenes… And well all I can say is that I cried multiple times, I just couldn’t stop myself. Despite the sadness of these sequences, I feel like they were necessary to the story because it reinforces the deep connection and love between the main leads. Their love was equal and they each sacrificed their lives for the other… What can I say, I absolutely adore those kind of stories in which the feeling of love transforms and incites to do and be better to your loved ones and even to yourself. And in this drama, it was definitively the case: of course the ML had the most incredible transformation, but the FL also had a pretty impressive arc (especially when we consider the final episodes’ events but I don’t want to spoil too much so I will stop here in case someone who didn’t watch the show read this comment).
All in all, I think the best thing about this drama, despite not being very action-driven, is that it doesn’t leave the viewer feeling bored because all the feelings and relationships are enough to entertain and satisfy. And that’s a real success for me, someone who doesn’t like when the drama is longer than 25/30 episodes. I will just say that the middle part of the drama, when they’re in the mortal world, was maybe a little too long for my taste, but it’s only because I didn’t really like the idea of the fake weddings lol. And I will finish by saying that the ending could have been longer. It makes perfect sense in the context of the story of course, however I wanted to see a “real” wedding taking place in the final scene, even 1min would have been sufficient. But that’s just me nitpicking, the ending is happy enough that I definitively feel satisfied after watching 36 fantastic episodes, I just wanted to see even more of them. xD
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Great production, wonderful visuals quality
I think when it comes to costumes, sceneries and CGI, this drama has one of the best ever, I really enjoyed the visuals. I can tell that the production team payed a lot of attention for this Xianxia.Dylan and Esther's costumes are breath taking, especially the details on Dylan's clothes.
I think what I didn't like was the body switch, was kind of unessesary though it was funny sometimes.
And I'm not a big fan of the "cute FL image" in general, too childish for my taste, I liked when she became more mature but the actress delivered her character well in all parts. Dylan is a candy for the eyes, great performance and chemistery from both.
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My Favorite C-Drama
I've tried hard to replace this show, digging deep into classics and trying to rewatch those too so that I can move on from it, but it is hard to repeat such an amazing cast, story, and set.The story, though predictable in many ways, did have me guessing at times. For me, a good balance between "sugar" and strife is important, bc I have a hard time watching too much suffering and have sometimes forwarded through those parts in other shows. However, I was so invested in this show that I was inclined to watch every second bc I wanted to experience everything the characters experienced.
LBFAD is probably the best xianxia I have seen in terms of CGI. I never had to remind myself not to laugh at the creatures that were created, or looked at the props like they were flimsy and clearly fake. It is just plain pretty to watch.
Most importantly, though, the cast and the music are what make this show so rewatchable for me. Even if the plot no longer surprises me, I love watching Esther and Dylan bring their characters to life and really making us believe their story. Their banter is hilarious, their emotional scenes are well-executed. I know Dylan has received a lot of credit for his acting in this show (well-deserved), but I really think Esther did a wonderful job as well. They had me laughing, they had me crying, and I have rewatched it all too.
They are just fun to watch, and combined with a wonderful OST as well as a beautiful background, this show is just one of my favorites.
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WATCH THIS DRAMA
Omg I don't know where to start but this drama has everything perfect acting, perfect costumes, perfect storyline, perfect cgi, the scenery created was stunning in all three realms. This drama is probably one of the best, if not THE best fantasy type cdrama I've seen in a long while. Everything about this drama is outstanding.Dylan Wang did amazing, I couldn't see anyone else act in this part and execute it so perfectly. He made the absolute perfect moon supreme lord.
Esther Yu was also equally as outstanding in her role. This is I think my first time watching her in any project and so far I'm impressed and can't wait to see her in future projects. She did Xiao Lan Hua proud.
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One of the best series to come out of China in 2022.
This series embodies the word "perfection." From the stunning cinematography, the enormous effort put into the CGI, the way the costumers intrinsically knew how to dress and style the cast (especially the ML), the fresh story line, the beautiful OST and the brilliant performances by all, noting Dylan Wang who brought his A game to this series. Dylan's romantic connection with the FL is off the charts and his acting chops are present throughout in a big way. The series wouldn't be such a success without Esther Yu and she deserves kudos as well. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best series to come out of China in 2022.Was this review helpful to you?
Take the risk and watch it or lose the wonder
When I first saw the title in the upcoming section on Iqiyi I knew from the moment this is going to be special. And indeed it has become very special and how?The first and second half are some of very refreshing takes on routine xianxia stories. And I am very skeptical that it passes censorship in China. But I think probably the last half made sure this series pass the censorship.
I am still much contented they give a solid love story and the best anti-hero in C-dramaland. For me the series ended when Orchid proves that she is qualified to become the Moon Queen. Even though DFQC may never achieve Hellfire again, I am alright with it because he is more than Hellfire in his heart and cultivation.
Since the love story is my only priority here everything else goes over my head.
The acting by Dylan and Esther top notch in this and the hardwork by everyone from the behind the scenes is very much telling on the screen. All the best for everyone involved in this rare wonder.
If you are still wondering whether to watch or not, this is a risk worth taking.
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A beautiful world created in Xianxia
I don't really write reviews, but for some reason I felt compelled to give this one a review.To be honest, I just loved this drama because of the powerful and charismatic ML, leads have great chemistry, the production is so beautiful and the story is not the same old Heavenly Realm stories. (I have no idea why only they are called Immortals while both realms are immortal. Even to some extent both have deities, but I don't know if dramas acknowledge this fact.) Really if you look at most traditional mythologies, different cultures and tribes would consider what are called today the 'demons' or' anti-gods' as their deities while other groups consider the ones called today 'gods' as deities. This is many times the case when it comes to the same mythology with the same beings being told by different groups with the heroes and villains different according to the culture.
LBFD actually has a powerful being from the opposing realm, actually the most powerful of the three realms. Even in the end, he still was the only being who harnessed great power the other beings hadn't seen in their lifetimes or eras. And not only did LBFD show the Moon Realm in a fair light, they also write into the story a rivalry that doesn't blame the Moon Tribe. Moon Tribe did what they had to do, and while they harbored hate, it was due to their circumstances of having to defend and protect themselves.
It's not perfect, there are some flaws but nothing that is unwatchably annoying or cannot be overlooked
*I didn't really care about Jie Lie or her romance, but it's not something I can't look past or really felt the need to FF through.
*The general use of 30,000 years without really specifying how long DQC was Moon King before being imprisoned.
*Few scenes dragged towards the end in the sandstorm battle
*When they first get back to Moon Realm there was some stupidity amongst the characters. But it was also understandable that at that point, Orchid wouldn't care about the chaos Moon Realm could fall into and their defeat, but rather worried about the protection of her fairy realm and those she knows--even at the cost of her life.
*Jie Lie, like I said, is a character that is ehhh. Don't even know how she was just allowed to run around doing stupid things, but whatever... some characters are needed for plot.
Unlike others I don't mind the quick ending. Because really the story is finished there. It's okay for the audience to assume the rest, which were already told by the other characters would happen once the ending occurred.
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We will never be apart.
Okay, so now Im having a withdrawal symptoms. I so love the OST the background music and score, theyre so well executed. And the actors.Esther is one of my fave actress, I love her voice, naturally I always watch her dramas and I didnt expect she had an ongoing drama and now shes paired with Didi.
Their chemistry is no joke, they are so immerse with their roles and characters and thats what makes it so loved by many and the plot is so unique.
The ending, its a typical cdrama ending but its happy though viewers want to see them wed and have kids so I think thats our expectations after all, its a very great series.
LBFAD easily top my cdramas.
Rewatch? Definitely, I would watch this all over again.
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The ML saves the day!
I wanted to love this drama so much, but in the end, the actors and their performances saved the day. The screenwriters did a poor job of telling the story, had so many holes and half-told arcs that left me hanging or to imagine what happened. I'm also a great fan of Karma, and there wasn't much of that (or enough) for me. But then, the actors saved the story!The chemistry between the couples was great - some more than others, but it worked. The friendships, the betrayals, the villains - you loved them, and you hated them. You laughed with them and cried with them. The actors did a phenomenal job. Dylan Wang was the perfect Moon Supreme. The development of his character was played superbly- his arrogance at first, his cold almost inhumane demeanor - and the confusion with which he faces his emotions again, and eventual surrender to true love. It made the show for me.
Unfortunately, the story dragged in several places where the filming/action were almost in slow motion or so repetitive that I fast-forwarded through a lot of scenes (screenwriters again). If the stories are told well the viewers will understand what is happening and why. We were left to figure it out or imagine in too many arcs. Fortunately, the relationships/couples kept me coming back for more. After all that wasting of time the writers could have given us a better ending for the lead couple. An explanation of how he comes 'back' - what the FL did in the meantime - after all, 500 years is a l-o-n-g time. It was a real let-down.
And then, there were those two 'bonus' episodes? Replays of scenes from the series told as though it was an 'update'. What a waste of time! That dropped my review points immediately - and only the actors deserved this rating (and more).
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