**general spoilers if any because it's hard to talk about it without mentioning general ideas (no specific scenes/details but characters are mentioned)

omgg it's been awhile since I watched such a good drama. I just finished watching it and I already want to rewatch it. This literally blew me away with just everything and omgg the emotions are so high with this drama.

Plot: I really dislike watching dramas where its just the same cycles over and over again of the main leads breaking up and getting back together constantly (like for example, every other episode), so I was super happy with what the writers for this show did with this drama because we none of that (yay!). There was so much creativity into writing this and there are SOOO many good plot twists. The plot is far from boring and invokes so many emotions. There are both really funny parts and really sad parts ANND those REALLY CUTE romantic scenes that most everyone lives for. The plot brings together fantasy elements and romance elements with a hint of wuxia here and there. ALSO the ending was everything you would ever want esp since nowadays so many drama endings are the absolute worst. This drama does a good job of closing out all (or most but I couldn't tell if they missed any) of the plot holes and tying everything together.

Characters: I was really happy with the character development in this drama. The changes in each character are so subtle yet if you compare two eps far apart from each other, you can tell the difference in most of the important characters (e.g. JM). They did such a good job of revealing the backstories, intentions, etc. of characters as well in a way that would be either 1. wow I didn't see this coming or 2. i wanna cry. I LOVED the way that JM and XF fell in love and gradually realized what they meant to each other. Also, some people have mentioned in the comments that they don't really like the amount of screen-time that the demon princess gets, but personally I kinda liked the storyline between her and MC as well as their characters, but that might just be me :P The demon princess (LY) is kind of that loyal badass sidekick character with a soft side and sometimes you can't help but cheer her on. Also shoutout to Moon Immortal character cuz he just made me laugh every time even if he was being serious. Of course, each character has those times when they're being annoying (esp the villainous/evil characters) but overall none of them stood out as being terribly written and I can say that I was even happy with how the evil characters were.

Costumes: Might seem weird to mention this but I just really enjoyed seeing how each realm had their own distinct style and how each were shown so beautifully. Little things like hairstyle, accessories, makeup, clothing composition, etc really add to the drama in a good way. (Example: bird realm's clothing [Sui He] compared to flower realm's clothing [JM/ Chief Zhang])

Acting: I haven't watched that many dramas with YZ in it and I didn't expect too much going into it but wow her acting was so great and the way she portrayed various emotions was crazy. The way she could make you want to cry is insanely amazing and her chemistry with DL is really really good. DL's acting is also really good, as expected, and the way he portrays pain and heartbreak is incredible. Aside from those two, I don't really have any complaints with any of the other actors/actresses. They all did a great job :)

Music: warning- the music is so perfectly inserted that you wanna cry like every time there's a sad moment LOL. No complaints with the music---I think all of the selections fit the drama really well.

Animations/CGI/Production: As with every fantasy drama especially, a lot of animating and cgi needs to go into the production since the setting includes places like Heaven, Hell, and various other "realms". The realms were all animated so well, and while there are TOMPB vibes going on (esp. the flower realm and the heaven realm), it stands distinctly on its own beautifully. The colors are amazing and I love the clouds loll xD The cgi just gives it the right magical feeling. Another commenter mentioned this as well, but the dream beast that stayed by RY's side throughout the drama was animated so well. You could see all the details and the colors and everything was just so real.

My Favorite Part: mini spoiler but I absolutely loved the part when JM and XF went to the mortal realm and lived like mortals for their "redemption" trial. Free from their immortal responsibilities and burdens, their characters were just so pure and raw. It made me laugh, smile a ridiculous amount, and bawl. When dramas bring out every type of emotion there is, you know it's a good drama.

Overall: MUST WATCH ; this was on my "to watch" list for the whole summer, and I'm so glad that I decided to start now and it was so good that I binge-watched for 3 days and finished it. This is the kind of drama I've been waiting for since watching TMOPB. Definitely rewatching in the future 10/10 recommend. Sorry for the excessive length of this review & if I repeated myself multiple times :P

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Warning: This review is like full of spoilers so if you don't want any hints to what happens, it's probably best that you don't read it haha. Thought I would just share some of my raw thoughts that I wrote right after watching this drama and see if anyone finds it interesting or feels the same :)

PROS:
- beautiful scenery; from bihai cangling to fangyin gu to qing qiu, i think that this drama really nailed down the fantasy aspect while clearly being distinct from TMOPB. I was surprised with all the colors and how well they really put these respective worlds together.
- unexpectedly, I really liked the netherworld guy. he was there when we needed him and he was consistently helping feng jiu
- the acting was literally perfect all around. gao wei guang did such a good job of switching between dong hua and shen ye; and honestly every character was portrayed very well (imo)
- they really did a great job with all the female character's hair (except for jie lu but they fixed it towards the end when her rank changed); i loved all the hair ornaments and hairstyles and i thought that they were all very elegant.
- it's kind of crazy how much personality dong hua actually has in this drama. now that the drama is actually focused on his and feng jiu's love story, his love is like 10000x stronger and i found that interesting to watch
- i like how in the fighting scene at the very end, fengjiu was there as well, because I didn't want her to just desperately wait at the side and feel/act helpless---i liked how they made her clever, determined and able to fight
- ye qingti is one huge pro for me. hands down still my favorite character (if you don't count ah li or gun gun, who are both equally freaking adorable) . he's loyal, strong yet gentle, extremely considerate, and um good looking??; also gun gun's white hair is the absolute cutest.
- i appreciated that she did not stay in her fox-obsessive phase for too long because that would've been unrealistic and honestly p boring. she needed to grow out of an initial childish obsession and "grow up" (so to speak)
- the ending was actually satisfying and i thought the ending monologues were fitting
- jiheng and zhi he both had their "su jin" moments but thank GOD that those were short lived and they both either moved on or got told off
- i honestly liked their mortal realm story arc a lot, even though it was p sad at the end to see feng jiu break his heart because she had to. it was (literally and figuratively) down to earth and lowkey unrestrained. the aranya dream sequence was also pretty interesting and I liked how that was almost like a mystery
- high production quality!! & i liked the OSTs
- i just wanna say, that yan chi wu is a GREAT person. i didn't expect to like him, but i liked him just as much as i liked his "twin brother" zi lan in TMOPB; he is so funny and loves to cheer people up. he is loyal, determined and doesn't crave power. He was such a great companion for feng jiu to have during their time at fanyin gu and stayed a great friend even after they left the valley

CONS
- there were enough plot holes to cause confusion and like take away from the overall vibe. and if it wasn't plot holes, it was unexplained events or filler events. for example, what was the point of cang yi? the immortal that dealt with the mortal realm that feng jiu was engaged to for .2 seconds? i found that that entire section could have just been eliminated. it didn't have an impact of feng jiu's character or any other character at all, and seemed like a filler sequence for me. if it had been completely cut out, the story would've stayed the same. he was only in 1-2 eps (barely) and we (viewers) never heard from him again...; AND they never answered the question as to why aranya was abandoned to begin with...which i was asking in my head during the ENTIRE aranya dream story arc; aLsO they like completely dropped zhi he?? the last scene we see is her getting upset about feng jiu and dong hua's wedding...but like after that she literally disappears...which ig is fine and all but like i would rather have had her not inserted there than have her come back only to disappear again
- the last misunderstanding between dong hua and feng jiu was so unncessary. if dong hua had just explained to her or COMMUNICATED then feng jiu would not have misunderstood and literally gotten her heart broken aGaIN. She got stood up at her wedding and did not receive ANY explanation, only to visit the demon realm herself to be given a vague answer that was not explained, and she assumed the worst---which I would've done too. She then went on to have to raise her son on her own in the mortal realm for a few years. while no one knew of his existence. If I was her, I'd be pissed too when I came back to the immortal world and dong hua just said a bunch of romantic shit like nothing had happened. then feng jiu gets told off by everyone about how much dong hua has done for her and then she feels guilty for misunderstanding BUT lowkey it was never her fault for misunderstanding given the very LITTLE information she was told. yes dong hua did a shit ton for her but he also doesn't communicate jack so misunderstandings were created (on numerous occasions too). a girl gets tired of getting ghosted again and again, and i commend feng jiu for having the strength to move on and be strong for her son. AND i stand by the fact that the misunderstanding those last few eps were not needed and in fact very frustrating for the viewers -_-
- i found that overall, the story arcs were too long (IN THAT the pace was p slow). there have been a lot of dramas were the ep count is hella long (e.g. ashes of love/eternal love) BUT the plots for those do not move at a slow pace, and it doesn't feel like the story is dragging. to me, the overall impression each time there was a story arc was that things could've happened so much quicker, but the production team chose to drag it out (maybe to increase ep count, idk). the whole story can be summarized into a few story arcs: maid/fox feng jiu --> mortal realm --> feng jiu trying to get over dong hua while dong hua starts falling for her --> fanyin gu --> dream of aranya --> cute stuff --> miao luo goes batshit crazy and the demon clan starts dying AND misunderstanding (singular) gets created between feng jiu & dong hua --> final battle --> reconciliation. they absolutely spent too many eps in fanyin gu & dream of aranya with very little development. there would just be eps and eps of her like writing letters to shen ye, and then shen ye getting all upset, and then we more views of his inner thoughts, then we catch fengjiu having loads of fun w dong hua and aranya's family being evil and annoying (just over and over). the actual development of the aranya story is like snail pace (like she founds out important details VERY SLOWLY)
- i cried a grand total of barely once during the last ep when they say i love you to each other, which is not a great cry count for a drama LOL (for me haha)
- they were kinda inconsistent with feng jiu's martial arts ability...it seemed that they wrote her as strong when they needed her to be and then weak when they wanted to write in dong hua saving her...i just want a cohesive development of abilities dammit

OVERALL:
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed...I thought I was going to like it more, but the story itself was just not that appealing to me. I love all the characters and the actors/actresses that played them, but I just didn't fall in love with the main characters' love story. Even if I didn't compare it to TMOPB (which i tried rly hard not to, but it's kinda hard, given the characters are directly related), their love story just isn't as touching to me. After all, it started from feng jiu's obsession and dong hua just basically thought she was cute and then he appreciated all the stuff she did for him...and then obviously them interacting just kinda had them fall in love...and all we get is that feng jiu's obsession started from when dong hua saved her...which is aight ig but like...idk . The creativity and execution is still super amazing though, and gun gun UGH he's so adorable and dong hua's reaction to seeing him was def one of my favorite scenes in the entire drama. I just skipped toooo many scenes to rate this higher than an 8.5. I'm glad I watched it though :)

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**general spoilers if any because it's hard to talk about it without mentioning general ideas (no specific scenes/details but characters are mentioned); also this might be a tad bit long but it's worth reading :)

wow. watching this drama literally left me speechless. It's been so long since I've actually watched a drama that made me feel all the emotions in such a complex and fulfilling way .

Plot: From the start, I was already so invested in the story, and that just grew exponentially as I kept watching the drama. There is never a dull moment, unimportant filler conversations, or "skippable" scenes. A lot of times I find myself pressing the "fast forward 10s" button a lot but for this drama I barely did that. It's amazing how the writers were able to incorporate so many plot twists within the drama that fit in perfectly with the overarching main storyline. The pace at which the drama goes is just right and keeps you anticipating more and more all the time. I'm truly impressed with how they also tackled so many hard themes like forgiveness, patience, wealthy vs. poor, family, abandonment, etc. This isn't just an amazing love story, it's an amazing story in general. It feels like you're on a crazy rollercoaster with all the ups and downs but you're also having the time of your life. I cried so much while watching this but I also laughed a whole lot, and that's what makes this a great drama, because it gets you so invested into the story that you literally feel like you're on the sidelines watching this happen in front of you. Annnd lastly, the ending was actually satisfying! (wow) I find myself often disappointed with so many drama endings nowadays but this one nailed it for sure. It tied up all the plot holes, didn't leave anything hanging, and still left the viewers satisfied.

Characters: The character development is definitely what set this drama apart from others for me. The work that they did with even the minor characters is extraordinary. Yes, you get the regular main leads' transformation and that's as good as it can be, but the detail that they put into all the side characters makes you all the more invested. Everyone has their own personality that is actually developed throughout the drama and even people that you thought were going to stay "bad" the entire time grow as people. I'm really happy with how they subtly (or maybe even unintentionally) they incorporated strong female characters. From Seo Dan's mother, to Se-ri's mother, to Jung Hyuk's mother, none of them were the typical "rich old CEO's wife" who did as they were instructed all the time. Se-ri is definitely at the forefront, with her being the successful, hardworking, businesswoman at the very start. They also did a great job with the supporting characters in general, making it a more beautiful story than if the energy was solely focused on the main leads. Personally, I very much enjoyed the development of the soldiers under Captain Ri, who literally made me laugh continuously with their hilarious personalities and antics. It honestly felt like they were a whole group of children that Jung Hyuk and Se-ri were parenting xD The character development of Seo Dan was also incredible. (spoiler ish) At first she seemed like the typical second female lead, who was going to try to stop the main leads from being together out of jealousy, but the writers transformed her character from that to something more. They made her grow as a person too, and discover what love was for herself, becoming this noble and elegant second lead that everyone would cheer on too. ANNND ofc back to the main leads....the characters were written SO well. nothing cheesy. nothing cringy. just raw and heartwarming :)

Acting/Cast: Not much to say besides the fact that everyone did a great job. Can't really say that any of the actors/actresses lacked in any way. They all contributed to make this drama a great one, and I loved the portrayals of every character. My favorites would have to of course be the actor that played Jung Hyuk (who wouldn't fall in love with such a sweet and kindhearted guy who ALSO happens to cook) and the actress that played Se-ri. I'm not really familiar with k-dramas but Hyun Bin was able to portray that gentle quiet yet strong male lead so well, and Ye- jin was able to bring the independent lively heiress to a whole new level. The chemistry was of course amazing and no complaints there for sure.

Setting: All the sets were really nice, but I especially liked the scenes that were shot at the North Korean village set. I feel like the dynamic of the village along with its simplicity gave it such a "home-y" feeling , and Se-ri trying to adjust from a fast-paced technologically based life to a much simpler one with the help of the other villagers was really wholesome to watch.

OVERALL: definitely a must watch; I don't understand how they made such a complex and touching story they did! I practically binged this in about 2 days and I don't regret it. Time well spent :)

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