A good direction
Anyone that watches danmei adaptations is aware of the censorship this typically comes with; however, Meet You at the Blossom manages to get around this and delivers on the romance aspect of this wuxia. Unfortunately, I still found this show a bit lacking in the non-romance department, which was in part due to the characters themselves, and in part due to the 12 episode limit.
Jin Xiao Bao is nearing marrying age, and is determined to find the most beautiful woman to make his wife. During an unexpected encounter, he watches Huai En face many men single handedly, and instantly falls in love with her. However "she" is actually a man. Huai En is perfectly fine with Xiao Bao being in love with him - but it seems he may be motivated to keep Xiao Bao close for other reasons than his own feelings. The two enter into a relationship claiming they will always forgive the other no matter what, but how far can this promise extend?
The relationship was fun to watch develop, with cold Huai En slowly warming up to Xiao Bao. In this style of drama, I was very used to a relationship being built purely on tension due to censorship issues, so to get an actual relationship in this show was very refreshing. One of my biggest complaints though is that Xiao Bao is utterly useless. Huai En is a great cultivator and very intelligent. Xiao Bao is.....neither of those things. I just wish that Xiao Bao could have stood up for himself once in awhile, instead of always relying on others. I actually really enjoyed the political issues in the show, and thought they were the perfect level of complex for the length of the show. I do think that we could have benefited from a bit more time with the characters to watch them grow, but there's only so much you can do.
In all, I just hope that this opens the door for more danmei adaptations produced by companies willing to keep the romance. This was a short watch with the perfect amounts of romance, heartache, and betrayal, but would have benefitted from a stronger lead character and slightly less toxic relationship.
Jin Xiao Bao is nearing marrying age, and is determined to find the most beautiful woman to make his wife. During an unexpected encounter, he watches Huai En face many men single handedly, and instantly falls in love with her. However "she" is actually a man. Huai En is perfectly fine with Xiao Bao being in love with him - but it seems he may be motivated to keep Xiao Bao close for other reasons than his own feelings. The two enter into a relationship claiming they will always forgive the other no matter what, but how far can this promise extend?
The relationship was fun to watch develop, with cold Huai En slowly warming up to Xiao Bao. In this style of drama, I was very used to a relationship being built purely on tension due to censorship issues, so to get an actual relationship in this show was very refreshing. One of my biggest complaints though is that Xiao Bao is utterly useless. Huai En is a great cultivator and very intelligent. Xiao Bao is.....neither of those things. I just wish that Xiao Bao could have stood up for himself once in awhile, instead of always relying on others. I actually really enjoyed the political issues in the show, and thought they were the perfect level of complex for the length of the show. I do think that we could have benefited from a bit more time with the characters to watch them grow, but there's only so much you can do.
In all, I just hope that this opens the door for more danmei adaptations produced by companies willing to keep the romance. This was a short watch with the perfect amounts of romance, heartache, and betrayal, but would have benefitted from a stronger lead character and slightly less toxic relationship.
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