Peridot83
Compelling themes and great acting make this one of the best of the genre . . .
Ashes of Love has a really strong plot with a core theme - selfish, destructive 'love' vs a selfless, supportive love. The show explores this in a variety of ways through familial, friendship and romantic relationships.
The star of the show is Xufeng/Phoenix who undergoes numerous transformations, has immense character growth, and is very compelling to watch. His chemistry with the main female character, Jinmi is excellent. The amount of ups and downs these two characters go through and how they change as a result is really striking to watch.
The weakness of the show for me was the demon princess/demon politics storylines. I wanted to skip the associated romance and plot points. In addition, the peripheral/supporting characters are often a bit one note. As a result, I felt the series started to drag a bit in the second half.
The two main songs were uncommonly good for the genre. Really sweeping without being corny or overblown..In the last episode, they really added to the 'epic' feeling of everything the characters had gone through.
I have other criteria I score by:
Complex Themes -10
(There is really strong themes about selfish vs. selfless love, setting ego aside, and others that were extremely well done.)
Character Growth -9
(The two main characters change, grow, and transform believably over the course of the series. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are not given much space to do much more than act as plot devices)
Nuanced Women -7
(There are a fair amount of female characters, but only the main female lead seemed to have the room to play a full character).
Cinematography/Production Values - 7
(I personally found the CGI a bit hard to take seriously - it seemed to be most (if not all??) filming was with a green screen with not much attempt to blend in real elements with fantasy elements. Costumes were competent, but it was clear most of the budget went to CGI - they wear the same things lots of episodes in a row, and the costumes lack detail adequate accessories in closeup shots)
Ashes of Love has a really strong plot with a core theme - selfish, destructive 'love' vs a selfless, supportive love. The show explores this in a variety of ways through familial, friendship and romantic relationships.
The star of the show is Xufeng/Phoenix who undergoes numerous transformations, has immense character growth, and is very compelling to watch. His chemistry with the main female character, Jinmi is excellent. The amount of ups and downs these two characters go through and how they change as a result is really striking to watch.
The weakness of the show for me was the demon princess/demon politics storylines. I wanted to skip the associated romance and plot points. In addition, the peripheral/supporting characters are often a bit one note. As a result, I felt the series started to drag a bit in the second half.
The two main songs were uncommonly good for the genre. Really sweeping without being corny or overblown..In the last episode, they really added to the 'epic' feeling of everything the characters had gone through.
I have other criteria I score by:
Complex Themes -10
(There is really strong themes about selfish vs. selfless love, setting ego aside, and others that were extremely well done.)
Character Growth -9
(The two main characters change, grow, and transform believably over the course of the series. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are not given much space to do much more than act as plot devices)
Nuanced Women -7
(There are a fair amount of female characters, but only the main female lead seemed to have the room to play a full character).
Cinematography/Production Values - 7
(I personally found the CGI a bit hard to take seriously - it seemed to be most (if not all??) filming was with a green screen with not much attempt to blend in real elements with fantasy elements. Costumes were competent, but it was clear most of the budget went to CGI - they wear the same things lots of episodes in a row, and the costumes lack detail adequate accessories in closeup shots)
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