let me preface this by saying that this is the only chinese drama i've ever watched. i only picked it up because i read the book and really enjoyed it, and i wasn't expecting too much because live action adaptations don't tend to measure up to the source material (yes, this is a generalisation and i know it's not always true)

the untamed, in terms of adaptation, is really, really good. it does change some plot elements from the book, but the story isn't compromised at all and i would argue that it's even better than the book in some points (e.g. jiang cheng's characterisation man i love that guy, as well as the roles of the female characters)
the cast was selected really well, especially jin guangyao and jin ling (i'm still not over how much they resemble each other like. what), and they all have great chemistry with each other
the soundtrack is also 10/10, i cry every time i hear shijie's theme and wuji/wangxian is beautiful

drawbacks are that the cgi and editing is kind of bad (though i'm told that's pretty much to be expected from c-drama?) - the first scene lowkey made me want to stop watching right then and there but i fell in love with xiao zhan (wei wuxian) pretty much immediately so i kept watching, which is one of the better decisions i've made in life. also props to wang yibo for his portrayal of lan wangji because communicating primarily with your eyes and microexpressions has got to be hard, but he did it so so well

when i rewatch i might skip or fast-forward through some of the less enjoyable episodes, but overall it was a really good experience and i'll definitely be rewatching! they did a really good job of adapting the novel and showing wwx and lwj's relationship without being explicitly romance

to the person who's reading this, if you have any recommendations for drama that don't have romance or romance isn't the main focus, drop them in the comments! preferably c-drama because i really need to improve my chinese lol

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