[CN] Will Love in Spring

Vague enough, I hope, to be spoiler-free.

Will Love in Spring is a drama that comes once in a blue moon.

It is a tender drama that explores what living is through the story of a guy who sends off the dead for a living and a girl who seeks great heights with her prosthetic leg. It follows their light-hearted romance all while diving into a heavy topic which we all would rather avoid: death. And in such context of our finiteness, it explores the self, our capacity to love despite our fears, and how it is to be within and beyond these boundaries. Essentially, it teaches us how to die so we learn how to truly live.

It is the Tuesdays with Morrie of dramas, with a romantic arc. A must-see for all, at least once in their lives.

[CN] Wonderland of Love

Contains major spoilers.

It is a drama quite grand.

Such grandeur is in the scale of its plot. It is in the concerted movement of its story across its many layers. It is in the design of its multitude of characters. It is in its conclusion. It is in its purpose.

It is more than just a romance drama. At its core, Wonderland of Love is a story of two people and a nation in their long, arduous struggle for a time of peace and stability, for the chance to finally fulfill their wishes and realize their dreams.

[CN] Hidden Love

Contains spoilers. Watched the show while ongoing on Youku.

If you experienced having a crush in your childhood, this may be your story—as it is mine. 

It is a series that hugs close our own memories—of first loves, of daydreams, of heartbreaks, of first wins—including that long-enduring hope of a love we can forever keep.

It is a drama that speaks to a girl’s heart because it is a drama that spoke from another girl’s heart. 

It is like many, but also unlike many with the extraordinary respect it showed and the sense of ceremony it bestowed to a girl’s story of growing up.

[CN] Back From the Brink

Contains spoilers. More of a reflection than a review. Watched the series while ongoing on Youku.

It is a Chinese fantasy adventure drama, exquisitely woven, that takes on a rather lighthearted approach in its search for answers to an otherwise heavy question: what does life mean in today’s society that is full of polarity and inequality?

Back from the Brink (护心, hereinafter “BFTB”, 2023) is yet another Jiu Lu Fei Xiang novel adaptation that packs a punch in its storytelling and messaging. Its parallels with its sister, Cang Lan Jue (Love Between Fairy and Devil), are apparent yet it stands different. While CLJ is very much a fairy tale that focuses mainly on its two primary characters, BFTB is more of an adventure story that works on not only its main couple, but also their friends and their entire society.

BFTB tells the chronicles of the dragon spirit Tian Yao (played by Hou Minghao) and the human Yan Hui (played by Zhou Ye) in their quest to find the former’s body parts, torn apart by his lover from 20 years ago, only to find out that the world had now gone to the dogs—or to the humans, to be exact—with its normalized prejudice, exclusion, and violence against the spirits. It is a humorous drama with many friends met along the way, as fun and friends are given in any adventure, yet knows how to get serious in tackling weighty topics such as these.

It is an adventure story that certainly goes beyond just fun and romance; it dives much further inward to ask about life and further outward to ask about the society.

[CN] Lighter & Princess

More of a reflection than a review. Contains spoilers. Watched the series while ongoing on Youku.

It is a story so human.

It is a story which starts off like any other campus drama, a story of youth chasing dreams. A light-hearted romance. Yet at some point, you will find an element in it that you dislike, a decision you disagree with. You realize, it is a story not made of rainbows. It is a story that takes the rough road.

A story full of stumbles. Characters full of flaws.

And that’s what makes it stand out.

It is a story of our human struggle – to overcome our flawed nature as we find our way towards our dreams, towards what makes us, us.

[CN] Remembrance of Things Past

Less of a review, more of a personal reflection. Drama aired in 2021; watched it in 2022. TW: Suicide.

It was the warmest hug I’ve had recently.

Remembrance of Things Past (hereinafter, ROTP) is a drama so masterfully made but I would not recommend it to just anyone. It is very difficult to watch especially if you lost someone close in real life like these characters did. You have to be mentally ready to watch this; otherwise, I urge you to postpone it.

[CN] Love Between Fairy and Devil – Love Defined

Includes spoilers. This is my follow-up piece on the drama because I feel the need to further break down the themes it tackled because they are very important. First post can be found here. (Edited on Sep 20th AM to add the current third point).

Love Between Fairy and Devil (苍兰诀 / Cang Lan Jue / hereinafter, “CLJ”) is a drama that is not only a feast for the senses with magic and dragons, promising set of actors, cohesive storyline, and impeccable direction. More importantly, it is a drama so rich in its messaging. It talked about love – a word that had long been misused, confused, and abused – and debunked its popular myths and upheld unpopular truths. CLJ knew it well.

This is my second piece about this show, meant to further dissect its content where love is front and center.

[CN] Love Between Fairy and Devil

Includes spoilers. A mix of a review and a reflection paper. Author watched the series while it was ongoing on iQiyi. First of two pieces for this drama. Link to the follow-up piece at the bottom of this page.

It is a gift made out of love, about love, for love.

In my almost 20 years of watching dramas, I have never experienced a show that overflowed with so much love – from the story it told, to the process of how it was told, to the truths it delivered. It embodies love in multiple aspects and when you realize how big this love has become, it is astounding.

Love Between Fairy and Devil (苍兰诀 / Cang Lan Jue / hereinafter, “CLJ”) is a 36-episode Chinese fantasy drama that tells a story about immortals, thoughtfully written and meticulously and artfully executed, to purposefully talk about us, mortals.

It is an incredibly charming Eastern fairytale, seemingly the first of its kind, that boldly shows us what love is and how love does.

[CN] Shining for One Thing

May hint at spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Regret.

It was a drama that so artfully encompassed the depth and breadth of regret. How it haunts. How it traps. How it keeps us weeping, wishing within.

[CN] You Are My Glory

May have spoilers. Read at your own risk. P.S. When I wrote this, I had only seen the drama, hadn’t read the novel.

It delivered so much more than expected.

It was a drama that I thought was all fluff, but turned out to be deeper than anybody thought it would be. It spoke of truth – about reality, about dreams. It also painted a fantasy. Both hit very close to home.

Certainly, You Are My Glory is a special drama – one that found its place among the stars.