One of the best drama
Surprisingly very well made good quality drama. A short drama that far exceed many so called S+ drama in recent years. A very rare drama that correctly portray how a strong woman should be, as a very composed, smart, brave and calm without loosing her feminine traits and gentleness. (can't stand those dramaa where the woman is stupidly stubborn and domineering). I'm not familiar with the actress, but her performance blew me away, she's able to convincingly portray a character from her bubbly youth, and her development through the years until her late years as a mature seasoned lady.Was this review helpful to you?
Ahem. Wow, I did not see that coming. This was a short, beautiful, tragic love story. I generally don’t see myself as a fan of tragedies, but there’s something about knowing that a story will end tragically that makes it compelling to see how it gets there. And of course, you’re rooting for the possibility that perhaps fate will change. After all, this is a time travel(ish) show, so surely the timeline can be changed!
I really don’t want to spoil too much of the plot, but it is super solid. I don’t think that this is a huge spoiler… but you essentially have someone continually moving backwards through time. That is, the first time he time travels is closest to present day, and the next time is farther away, and so on. I think this is an interesting and compelling set up, especially because you know this story ends tragically. The romance started off as mostly a plot device for me in the beginning, but by halfway through I was rooting for our main couple so hard. I don’t think the actors have incredible chemistry, but narratively they fit together so well and they clearly care about each other deeply. There is also a secondary couple who are very sweet. The relationships and characters are all interesting and compelling. I really don’t want to spoil anything but I thought it was everything from the plot, character development, and relationships, were executed very well. The only reason this show isn’t a 10/10 is because there are a few small plot contrivances. They are not a big deal whatsoever but do prevent me from saying this show is 100% flawless.
I found this show continually heart wrenching, and yet I still loved it for breaking my heart. Please do yourself a favor and watch it.
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Great storyline and excellent acting!
Love this short drama series, only 14 episodes, excellent acting, especially the lead actress Zhang Ya Qin is exceptionally heart touching and super impressive!!!!!The storyline has unexpected twists and turns, hard to predict what’s next, but very refreshing and lively as it goes on, thus making it more interesting or wanting find out what’s next!
Though there are many love story series out there, it is hard to find a true heart touching one, but this one is an exception for sure.
Overall, after seeing so many movies and drama series from all over the world, I would rate this “An Ancient Love Song” all full five out of five stars!
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A Love That Breaks Your Heart
I don't like sad endings, so I came into this drama ready to dislike it. However, the story was so well-told, and the characters just wrapped themselves around my heart, especially the lead couple. The ML was captivating, and the FL was courageous and endearing, and their love story tugged at every heartstring. I loved the SML and the SFL - and would have loved a happier ending for them though I can't quite figure out what their ending was with all the changes in fortune as a result of going back and forth in time.I really liked how the story was told. The writer(s) did a wonderful job, and the director also. It isn't often these days that I give credit to the writers or the directors, but in this case, a job well done! Despite being only fourteen episodes and of shorter durations, there wasn't any time wasted or needless fillers.
All told, this was a masterful piece. Again, despite the tragedy of the situations. Although I rated this a fair re-watch value, I don't think my heart could take it again. I will remember this couple and their love story with affection.
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wow look what happens when production actually cares about a story!
honestly if you're looking for a painful romantic time THIS IS IT!!!short, to the point, and developed quite successfully in terms of the scope of it's own goals. very refreshing to not see the usual 40 - 70 episode meandering show with high budget and aspirations combined with low level of care and story writing ability. aals benefits from a tightly written story that truly HAS a beginning and an end that can be watched in any direction. very unique and interesting love story that also has a decent general plot that's developed well enough.
acting is very good!! fl is truly a star who flawlessly played lu yuan at every age. her character was also written well enough and was compelling. my main gripe w the show is shen buyan's character. i feel like at the end we still don't know who he is, and everything about him seems to just be in relation to lu yuan. i think the only thing he ever shares about himself is when he talks about how he used to only be concerned with making money. truly not enough imo, he's a very empty blank slate kind of character- kind of a general isekai self insert male lead while lu yuan is the true central character of the show.
the ending was weird for me!!! idk i rly don't like when ppl meet their lover as a child!! it's weird and skeeves me out even if nothing inappropriate is happening! idk i was sobbing buckets at the scene in the museum and then my tears stopped cold in their tracks when he met child lu yuan. it was weird, idk, i wish it just ended with the scene at the museum!! i am really glad that they didn't have a happy ending though, i feel like time travel shows usually somehow try to bring that in with reincarnation and im glad they just let it be what it was. there is no continuation and the story truly is like that of the jade pendant, where the beginning and ending are one and the same.
very happy that this show was a hit! gives me hope for the future of c-drama that more shows with this level of care will be made. it truly is incredible what amazing, high quality, considered and compelling shows can be made with a small budget. clearly the most important thing behind every production is how much the team cares about the story, rather than how much money they have. we the viewers are sick of the trash shows that come out every month that are completely senseless!! more shows like this PLEASE!!!!
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Incredible story telling
I couldn't help myself as I've already watch this title 3x. Currently all the dramas with big names are stuck in never ending drama trope. This little short semi low budget drama outshines all of them (imo for those who care about storyline > big name eye candies)Short 14 episodes (30 min per ep) with no time to waste on filler scenes. Seamless narrative follows a love that transcends time. Outstanding character development of FL, ML & Li Yong.
FL (Zhang Ya Qin) I only saw her in Love in Between but this role Lu Yu An (Demon Queen) really showcased her acting. She's compelling at every age. The moment you meet her, you can see the love & pain in her eyes and later on the 18 year old her ever so cute & innocent.
ML took awhile to warm up. By the 3rd encounter is when I felt he was fully in character so overall he was pretty good.
Lesser known supporting cast: Lu Shi / Emperor / Li Yong were all good in their roles.
The unavoidable ending came to a full circle!
The story, script is refreshing & unique. It's even worth watching every recap in the beginning as the storytelling is so captivating. It's worth while watching this 2nd time in reverse order.
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rotation fate , all she knows from him, is what she told him , perfect detail
I really mind watching short dramas, because I feel like they will have very bad details like too many jumping scenes, or stories that are told will like the story doesn't exist, at first I was doubtful when I saw the number of episodes and their duration, because my watching requirements were 40+ eps and 45 minutes,,but because I saw the clip on Insta and FB many times, I tried to watch it
maybe for some people think this is not a beautiful ending , but for me its a very match ending ,很心痛但是适合的结局，broke my latest record , I watched the drama with 14 eps 30 minutes in 10 days, even though I could finish the drama 57 eps 45 minutes in 3 days ,, not because this drama is bad ,, but I really enjoyed it , I don't regret watching it , the acting is pretty good , drama story with a very beautiful and fresh concept, drama details that answer all the questions they put out, maybe because this is a short drama the story isn't long enough, and because the storyline goes backwards, I really hope to be able to watch further, but all the stories are quite clear, at least 72 questions that I wrote on the list were all answered,,, FL is very beautiful and elegant, I fell in love with her acting, maybe it still needs improvment for all casting but it's enough, really hope she can get another serious historical drama, she deserves it! ,, all the actors are very good and deserve appreciation, my rating is 10, it's been a long time since I've ever given a 10 in a cdrama rating ,,,
I appreciate the details that the crew made, maybe there are little details that I might have missed, but I got answers of all the details that I want to know,, and there is 2 thing that I realized, this dramas with Chinese subtitles have time information in Chinese writing that isn't in Indonesian and English sub, for example the age of cast age or era, and every a few second opening there is a scene where there is a long text like a snippet of a novel, from episode 1 to 14, all the paragraph stories in the opening are different
this drama deserve more than 8.2
3
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Eternal farewells
Their first meeting was their eternal farewell; her past was his future, and his past was her future. No one talk to me, this was such a unique story, so beautiful yet so heartbreaking. What a drama. From the characters, to the plot, settings, music, and costumes – this was a delight to watch from start to finish, but I am so sad now???This show is great proof that sometimes even a small production can create something amazing and worthwhile, I can only recommend to plunge into the story just like Shen Bu Yan and see for yourself how eternal and bittersweet this story is!Was this review helpful to you?
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Excellent Drama with only 14 episodes!
It was an excellent drama that was well acted and I like historical dramas with a twist. This one with a time entrance for a modern person which made the historian/lover realize and discover the truth behind a historical figure.Modern people judge and write based on a few events/articles/items left over, this made me realize how complicated the truth can be and there is always more to the story than face value. History canNOT be only what the "majority" says or what was "popularly told" at the time. Truth always reveals itself and this was a good drama to remind us.
The ending was sad and painful but honest.
Really enjoyed it. Good pacing and they
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Heartbreaking yet beautiful romance
A short drama that tells its story well without unnecessary fillers or characters. This unique time travel storyline tells you it will break your heart right from the start as the leads meet each other in a reverse order so the first time the ML sees the FL, he has no feelings for her whereas she has already loved him for the longest time. The next time he travels back in time, she is younger than when he first saw her. And so it continues. His love for her grows with each meeting whereas her love for him is less.If you are after a romantic story that will tug at your heart strings and make you cry, this is it. As the ML starts to fall in love with the FL, he desperately tries to change the events leading up to her death every time he travels back in time.
Bittersweet ending in keeping with the reverse order time travel. So don’t look for any miracles where they can both grow old together. Needless to say, I finished the drama with a heavy heart (but appreciation for this unique storyline).
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An Ancient something
Time can be confusing indeed, and this is a story about questioning what you read in history books as well as accepting the things you can not change or something like that as we meet a man who is supposed to be smart but is oddly stupid for a smart guy and a really cool female lead who is awesome in every single way in this time twist Moon Lovers light meets One and Only light, very light and with a twist... offering us a really cool female lead a bunch of questions some cringe and slow mo dialog and pretty scenery here and there.To be honest I kind of lost interest after a while but kept at it for the female lead and lack of things to make me drop it. So it is an ok watch, not very good, not very bad it just is...
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