The Princess and the Werewolf (2023)

Wasted Potential

This is a good drama if you're looking for something light and fluffy, but with little depth. The story and romantic subplots all started off well, but ended up fizzling out well before the show ended. Some connections were made too early, others too late, and wasted screen time with filler, only to rush the climatic episode instead of giving us three episodes at the end that has that satisfaction of being able to see all their hard work pay off. Where was the smarts? The epic fighting? Where was the pleasure of seeing the villains pay? Even the ending between the two brothers felt hollow and undeserved, the resolution making me angry more than anything. His brother only felt sorry for his actions after being caught, and provided no support or redeemable qualities except for falling in love with an assassin who was bland and weepy.
As for the SL couple, I was disappointed to have such an interesting wall dividing their feelings and yet we only got 2 minute glimpses every few episodes of their relationship which didn't give me anything to look forward to or to root for.
As for the lead couple, they didn't develop so much as suddenly have an insta-love moment.
This was a highly anticipated drama as I waited for it for 2 years, and while it kept my attention to watch to the end, it disappointed, and ultimately wouldn't bring me back to rewatch any scenes.

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Watched it only for the cast

I actually wrote another lengthy review but refreshed the page by mistake and it was gone?

For the first 10 episodes I kind of enjoyed it but seeing she has no improvement toward the ML really disappointed me.

Only watch it if you like a frustrating FL who acts like a 15 year old sometimes. Knows for a fact that wolves have only one partner for life and love only one woman but still does some bullshit things with no sense and no respect for the man that is supposed to be the king like trying to get him another woman.Stupid selfish things that cause only trouble for the poor ML who has to clean afterwards the mess she caused and also she has no gratitude for the man that saved her life like 20 times in a row. Yes maybe he did kidnapped her but that was the only bad thing he did. He treated her with outstanding respect and protected her gave her anything she asked.

The love QMulang /Li Xiong has for her is just endearing faithful and loving, protective and just beautiful. On the other hand we have Qi Pa who is just annoying for the most part of the drama.

She falls for his daylight appearance Li Xiong and doesn't have a clue for like 22 episode that the wolf and the HUMAN form is the same person. I mean how stupid do you have to be not to realise he is the same person. The same voice the same hight the same eyes the same face for God's sake it's not like she hasn't seen him and he wore a mask all the time. It's like she was blind for 22-23 episodes not for 2. After being a total bi*ch with QMulang for like 22 episodes she falls in love in 1? almost forgets about the other side of him Li Xiong that she kissed and promises to be with.

The so called Pearl that needed a true love kiss to get out of her was like accessible for anyone in any condition i mean Su He took it out without a problem. Ok maybe she did almost killed her but still? she did it in one go.

Slow paced with to many filling scenes and to many side couples cute couples but to many i mean 4 it's a lot . If you cut the scenes between the side couples you are left with 20 ep at most. She is kinda stupid and does stupid annoying things and yet he is so calm letting her do whatever. To slow paced it takes them 13 ep to get married 10 more for her to find out the 2 guys are actually only 1 and not because she is smart or she is torn between the feelings she has for his human form and the animal form or maybe the way she knows it 2 different guys. There is no indication that she has feelings for QMulang up until ep 23 ? it's just frustrating.

It's like how can you not recognize him not realize he is the same person especially when he has the same face it's like he is wearing a Halloween mask. How can one not recognize the man she loves when he looks the same just baffles me. And the fact that she did not realized it herself shows how shallow her love was. Thank God his brother told her otherwise she would have gone like this for another 23 episodes

All in all a weak drama but with good actors and stunning ML ? and SML's .

A 8 for the drama and that is because i gave the actors a 10 otherwise i would give it a 5 but because i really like Chen Zhe Yuan ever since i saw him in Mr.Bad? and Wu Xuanyi loved her in Douluo Continent.

They dragged it for dear life, the antagonist just disappeared without any fight whatsoever and they just wrapped it so fast without any explanations.

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Humurous, Must Watch if you want a break from reality

This is a rom-com series that will get you laughing from beginning to the end. All the actors delivered their punchlines so well.
The story is hyper-focused on the love between Princess Qi Pa and Kui Mu Lang / Li Xiong. The historical setting, the theme and even the internal war conflict was just thrown to build a story around the couple. The plot was there for just the sake of having it. If you're looking for an elaborate political tactics, government affairs, character's historical background, plot twists and ulterior motives, your too serious mindset should skip this. Its not for you.
But if you're looking to just fall in love, have fun and leave you refreshed every after episode, then you must see this.
- Contrary to all the negative and seemingly synchronized reviews here, Its NOT a drag! I'm up to Ep.23 in no time.
- Real passionate love communicates physically and you just can't help it. The director and actors allowed enough room for physical romance. Wu Xuan Yi and Chen Zhe Yuan is not awkward with each other and didn't hide behind birds for a fake kiss.
-While all the roles here are one-dimensional, they all have remained consistent through to the end of the story. Not one has acted out of character which exemplifies the simplicity of the narrative.
-When Chen Zhe Yuan hugs, he hugs with open palm and not closed fist. I noticed he does the same with Hidden Love. Kudos to Zhe Yuan. There's never an awkward moment.
-Wu Xuan Yi looks so tired on episode 1 despite her make up and has terribly lost weight. I know she's too busy with projects because, why not? She's a dedicated actress who takes time to study her role, highly creative and puts in an effort. There's no doubt, I will see Xuan Yi in a better and more challenging roles in the future.
-Just when I am thinking that this whole series has zero great character, General Ma died. Though it was given screen time, it failed to invoke the expected reaction from audience with the death of Ma Ying Xiong.
-I think this is running on a tight budget given that the Beast City Palace is running on 20 men soldiers, 3 commandants, 3 Elders, 1 kitchen staff, 1 lady-in-waiting 1 right hand man and 14 women soldiers who are sometimes assigned as palace maids. It wasn't too obvious because it was highly compensated by the costumes of Princess Qi Pa and specially by the grandeur of the Beast City Palace. Its also rare to find a decent sound effect and music background—a very good one at that.

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"Warm On A Cold Night" meets "Royal Rumors" and adds fantasy to the mix

This is more of a rant/after thought upon finishing the drama than a review. Please don’t read it if you really want to watch it.

But first let me get the good things out of the way:
- the intro OST is very fitting, down to the lyrics.
- ML is a good actor with facial (especially eyes) expressions that bring the character to life
- The initial set up is different from other dramas
- No parents are interfering or seen for more than 1 episode (this is always is a plus for me)
- FL is pretty independent, thanks to her parents (although she is clumsy once she enters the beast palace/ is taken hostage)
- The references to S1 were funny although they were few (like english words or the statue)
- No love triangle or people saying Leads can’t be together
- The first few episodes were a lot of fun

Now to the rant:
Drawing direct ties to my feelings when I watched "Royal Rumors" earlier this year… I kept waiting for "IT“ to happen but that never came.
Both dramas had enough of a unique set up / character dynamic for the drama to be exciting. However both dramas had low budget and nothing ended up happening. Most of the interesting stuff happens in the first few episodes and then the characters stay at the same location for the rest of the drama.

It’s unpredictable in the worst way - because non of the things that I thought might happen happened and although it did all romance to-do‘s, I thought there would be more to the plot given the beginning of the drama and the overall set up. The romance was good, especially near the ending. But I didn’t quite catch the moment where they fell in love. Especially on his side. It kinda just happened.

Like so many asian dramas that include werewolves, vampires, etc in romance dramas, it’s a let down.
I love asian dramas and think they’re superior to American TV but when it comes to Werewolves & Vampires American TV is just miles ahead.

There were some funny moments and scenarios that I wish they had explored more but from the target audience and set up, I didn’t expect them to go down that route anyway.
If it was higher budget then it could have been able to pull of comedy like "The Starry Love".

In the case of "The Princess and The Werewolf" I had expected there would be much more back and forth between the beast realm and daxia (also thought they’d be the villains) but was disappointed when the princess is basically stuck in the beast palace the entire time. She goes back one time for no more than one episode and we don’t see anything about Daxia.
Quite disappointing when you think that this is season two of "Go Princess Go", which only had daxia(and the modern world)and it was a quite funny place.

Another drama that did this - but the other way around was "Warm on a Cold Night", where they never went to the wolf tribe, despite that looking like a exciting place. They only stayed in the human city. So in a way these dramas have quite a few similarities but switched.

Kui Mulang - is like that old vine "on all levels, except physical, I am a wolf“… because that boy looks like a dark elf or mage but most definitely not like a wolf.

I Understand they had a low budget but why give a werewolf elf ears??
Just call him a dark elf at this point- the wolf in "Warm on a cold night“ didnt do much wolf-ing either but he was much more convincing, since he transformed into a wolf once and generally had more wolf-human features than Kui Mulang.
On top of that he hides his "wolf“ appearance from the beast tribe because they‘d call him a monster. -It’s the beast tribe.
Aren’t they supposed to look like beasts?!
What they going around acting shocked when they see a "beast"?
I mean for god’s sake there is a farting(!) butterfly (tbh i find that funny tho).
Plot hole is all I can say to that.
Because ofc there needs to be struggle for the ML, otherwise how would we feel empathetic towards him?

The male lead actor is good, I like his facial expressions (specifically his eyes) Convinced he can pull off all sorts of romantic roles at this point… whether that’s modern, fantasy or historical.
Female actress was okay, although I was very frustrated with the character she played at certain points. Random thing I noticed: Did she get veneers/dentals without fixing her overbite first or does she just have super prominent upper teeth?

The villains in this drama are unnecessary and worst of all - uninteresting. They just kinda appear and start doing their secret plotting. And once we get to the end it’s way too easy for them to take over the situation. Honestly this just felt lazy… but also very on point with it being low budget.

I did my fair share amount of complaining and ranting but I did complete it and if I had hated it or found it very boring I would have dropped it. So ultimately- yes it’s watchable but it’s quite silly.
Best enjoyed if you turn off your brain.

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Come for the ML, stay for the ML

Plot was amusing. FL was funny at times (and sometimes irritating). The supporting cast was lovable and did their jobs well.

BUT.

Chen Zhe Yuan as the male lead absolutely stole the show.

If you’re looking for a drama with the sweetest, prettiest, most devoted man ever, this is for you. It’s a light-hearted Beauty and the Beast retelling with an intrepid princess as the FL and a part-time king, part-time monster boyfriend as the ML.

TROPES:
- ML falls first (long before the FL) and quickly
- royal leads
- fantasy, magic, portals, etc
- multiple secondary couples
- no love triangles, minimal skinship

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Cute, goofy and cringe but just for fun

It has very cute actors but a lot of second hand embarrassment moments. Everyone is so goofy it looks like some gen z author wrote this story. But somehow its funny and entertaining so its good for binge watch.

I really like our itsy bitsy cutsey male character... The designer was also on crack or some shit cuz he used neon color and stuffed toys. Like come on its just way too oblivious. But still its funny. Another thing I noticed is that some of the props keeps on changing either their size or shape. They legit used a key chain as a token of love lol. Jewelry was cute. Overalls it was so gen z coded like its so cringe that it is actually funny and interesting lol...

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DUMBNESS OF FEMALE LEAD TOWARDS THE MALELEAD

One of my favourite thing in historical dramas is "latern festival" cause it looks like "Firefly's" in darkness. And about this drama i enjoyed everything ml, fl and all the characters. But in my opinion this drama should have 24 -26 episodes. It's little long to have 30 episodes and I felt dragging when fl tries to Escape from the beast clan while ml always flops her plan to keep her by his side. In 24th episode only she's knowing that "kui mu lang and Li Xiong" are the same person that also she is checking that when mls brother saying that to her in 23rd episode. Lol my question is if ml's brother guessed after seeing mls both looks at one go why fl can't?!. It's really hilarious and dumb!! What is use of makeing the fl in funnier and bold. And if I was her I'll know the reason first that why he did that to me and since I like him and it's not his fault I'll help him atleast for my lovers sake. But she didn't!! Even tho fl character annoyed me a little bit, I liked her with other side characters especially with "cat". I hopelessly started this drama but i liking the cat's character her loyalty is "insane" she is my second favourite cat character in drama. Even tho this drama is Little logicless I liked the each character. But if female lead liked "kui mu lang" little earlier it would be great. My favourite episode is 23rd & I liked "kui mu lang" more than "Li Xiong" anyways overall I liked this drama. I like to give this drama ?

My ratings - 8.3/10 but i couldn't rating like this in mdl so I'll give 8.5/10. ❤️

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Story good. Characters to be desired

I watched the entire drama because it was funny, the story itself i thought was interesting and i liked that they added modern references to what is supposedly a historical fantasy drama. But throughout the entire thing, i just found the characters to be lacking and infuriating. There was no development of the villan’s character or the king’s brother’s character. Even by episode 23 you still dont know what is motivating the hate and/or desire. You can assume that its power, but nothing in the show indicates that or why they want that.

The one thing that is the cause for this low rating is the character of the princess. The actress did a wonderful job in portraying the character, I believe, but the character was just a contradiction. She’s supposed to be lovable, charming, and a free thinker, but all I got was narcissistic, selfish, and superficial. She never even tried to give the king a chance and was always just chasing after her own agenda. This character may not affect everyone, but for me, it was just infuriating to watch. I did not like her at all.

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my uterus was coming out of my body while watching this

SO CRINGE, SO GOOD.

[veeeeery slight spoilers?]

tldr: watch it if you want the feels, a selfless love, and can handle a super draggy plot. Not recommend if you're looking for a tightly woven plot, pacing and quality production.

this one got me, just got me. I'll talk about that in a bit. But first,

Trash editing. The zoom ins, round camera pans when the protagonists hug, were so cringe. The music wasn't memorable at all, except maybe at the comedy scenes. The outfits? Main dude wears the same damn, ugly white outfit most of the time. WHOSE IDEA WAS IT? ONE OUTFIT? FL's dresses had variation, but they had these silly designs, i just couldn't take them seriously. I now know that it's probably bc her mom is from the modern era, but they could strip off that excess stuff and she'd look so elegant and nice.

Plot: Was very loose, though fitting for a silly rom com(which just had to have a pointless death? Ugh). It dragged a lot and there were many plot holes. The wedding was 7 days later, but the 7 days were made into like 15, because??? 16 eps would've been perfect, fitting that slow burn in. The villains were the most useless villains ever.

Acting: the actors ate. I'm so serious, esp the support actors. They were all so natural, so expressive and entertaining. Especially shi zi xun as liu jun, his performance felt very sophisticated and crafted to me, i don't know why. Maybe because he doesn't have much of a "goofy" role. Wang lu qing as hongxiu was incredible. She is so, so cute and precious.

FL was good, her energy was high and i could see her putting her whole heart in the character. But, eh, her expressions could really use some work. Her facial expressions didn't have much variety, it was like she was just using her default, natural face. It didn't feel intentional, as if she practiced a lot but without looking into a mirror. She had the same expression most of the time and lacked variety, especially during the sad moments. Underwhelming. And her slight overacting during the comical moments felt repetitive, tiring and stood out among all other very natural actors.

ML was good too. I liked his masked side the most, as he had to express a lot of emotions just with his eyes. I found it so beautiful, every time he gave that eye smile. It might just be my preference but i didn't quite enjoy his performance as li xiong WHEN HE WAS WITH FL. When he was with her, he got all shy and trippy, i just didn't find the expressions crafted enough. I LOVED his firm, cool headed li xiong/kui mulang side.


Chemistry and characters: are you kidding me??!! The romance was taken from a textbook, legit stock formula. Start to finish, so predictable. All the romance scenes were so cliche and overused. But hell, it worked. It always works. My cheeks hurt from smiling. But it's probably because of his majesty alone, not really the "romantic" scenes. The main characters sit a bit too close to each other, then they lock eyes for a good 10 seconds and then look away awkwardly. "Oh, you have something on your lips! Let me wipe it for you," and then they lock eyes for another 10 seconds. Phew. But it just works. I had to look away and face-palm so much because of how awkward this all is to me.

FL got really annoying with time. I couldn't care less about her. The main element of this drama that made me feel incredible *things* was KM's love for QP. I haven't seen a king this kind, forgiving, selfless and sweet since tantai jin. It pulled at my heartstrings so much. Whenever he was masked, when he'd agree to anything and everything qi pa says(except about going back), when he'd take her on walks to beautiful places, when he'd call her out for dates, "what do you want to do to my child", give her anything she wanted, everything she never asked for (and didn't deserve atp), exempted her from all rules and traditions, protected her day and night, gave her that little wolfy necklace, told her how he was of wolf bloodline and only loved one woman in his life(oh my heart), and other countless things. When they'd go out on walks with his mask, and they're like "friends" except she's only using him for her needs and he unconditionally gives her everything with a smile. Insane. This one character of his just kept me wanting to see more and more.

This is getting too lengthy or I'd write more about the side couples. All so cute!! Especially liu jun x hongxiu.

LASTLY, the comedy was better than I ever expected. It was just on point.

Note: I KNOW she was kidnapped and she doesn’t owe him SHIT.

Aaand yeah, brainrot ends. I hated it and I loved it. The actors and character writing carried this show.

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Kui Mulang!!

Qi Papa,a human princess finds herself waking up in the Beast tribe,which is presently being ruled by the king,Kui Mulang,who intends to marry her.
The main asset of this drama is undoubtedly Kui Mulang,and the actor Chen Zheyuan who played this role perfectly.I even saw a video on YouTube of the pain and hardwork he underwent for transforming himself as the beast king.Hats off to him.Kui Mulang is very gentle,caring,loving,yet domineering.
I felt the romance plot between the leads could be developed but instead for a major time,it only became one sided love from KML.
Wu Xuanyi as Qi Pa was good.
Everything else is good.
As a whole,the plot could be written better and intensified,but it was made into a regular watchable drama.
Anyways,can watch it once for Kui Mulang.

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