#Xiao Se & Xiao Chong | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mirageofadesert · 10 months

Text

So I watched most of Luo Yunxi's (allegedly) mediocre filmography ... here are some thoughts.

⭕️Ashes of Love (dropped it, will come back for it later) ❤️ ✔️Princess Silver ❤️❤️ ✔️ And the Winner is Love ❤️ ✔️ Love is Sweet ❤️❤️❤️ ✔️ Broker ❤️❤️ ✔️Lie to Love ❤️ ✔️Light Chaser Rescue ❤️(❤️) ✔️Till the end of the moon ❤️❤️❤️ ❌ Immortality 🤡🤡🤡

First off, the words (allegedly) mediocre and "TTEOTM" or "Love is Sweet" are not allowed in the same sentence. That's why I wont discuss them here. These dramas are talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique ... next question.

As for the rest... I have some thoughts and I'm willing to share them:

First of all, I enjoyed all of them and that came as a surprise. I had seen fans joke about his filmography with one smiling and one crying eye, voicing that they hope he would soon be a position to pick better scripts. However, on paper I think the scripts weren't bad per se, but the execution is a bit questionable.

The kind of roles he picks ...

... are actually really great. He seem to gravitate towards deeply conflicted and complex characters, that allow emotional and nuanced portrayals. Non of them are perfect, but they try. Sometimes, the script or directing doesn't allow the characters to be as convincing, as they could be. In other cases, the actors he share a scene with, are utterly unconvincing in their performances.

I appreciate that all his chosen dramas have actual plot besides the romantic story and I didn't have to sit through something as boring as a pure romance without any substance (looking at you, Hidden Love). I also would guess, that he chooses his show based on the roles he plays, because those are often considerably better than the script overall.

Trapped by lackluster writing ...

... is a serious problem, especially when it involves cringey lines as well as wattpad level backstories. I think "Lie to Love" had the weakest script, "Broker" had some really over the top and cringe backstories, while "Lightchaser Rescue"'s biggest problem lies with the directing and production. "Princess Silver" was great overall and I wish he played a bigger role. I'm still not sure what went wrong with "And the winner is love", but I guess it's a combination of everything. Kudos to the actors, that pull off these bad or cringe lines with the same level of dedication and passion... I'm sorry, that I had to skip them anyway.

Acting circles around other actors...

... it's not a regular thing, but it tend to happens with some of his FL. It's not even that they are bad actresses per se, but often written with so little character, that there isn't much anyone can bounce off of. Su Xieyi (Cheng Xiao in "Lie to Love") and Chong Xuezhi (Yukee Chen/Chen Yuqi in "And the Winner is Love") are particularly guilty of this. It's also not something that can be blamed on lacking chemistry between the lead actors, as those two did not convey any chemistry with anyone in their perspective shows. A lot of the female characters in cdramas are hard to watch - and it's the main reason I have not been able to watch Ashes of Love yet.

I recently read a reddit post, that pointed out that Luo Yunxi always has good chemistry with his FL, but that those don't necessary give back the same energy. This leads to his characters always seeming more in love with their romantic partners. Luo Yunxi sells every love story... I really wish he would be paired up with more emotive actresses portraying well written characters.

His strengths ...

... lies in costume dramas for sure. He just looks like he came right out of a painting. This is also where his dance background shines the most. His wire and fight scenes are always excellent. However, I do understand that those are strenuous to shoot, particularly in the summer. In addition he excels in portraying suffering and a storm of conflicting emotions. He is a great actor, with exceptional facial expression and good voice acting. As an audience, you can feel his commitment to all of his roles. This becomes even more obvious, once you find out how often he was injured on set and still pulled through. I wont forget that one leaked clip of him doing wire stunts with his wheel chair waiting on the side ...

What I want to see him play in the future....

... is a more comedic costume drama. "Love is Sweet" but with long hair and fight scenes! I also would love to see him as a villain (again), but I guess he has outgrown these roles - at least in dramas. I also need another show similar to TTEOTM, that is more mature than most dramas of this genre and doesn't focus on the romance. Lastly, a 3rd drama with Bai Lu would be great!

What I learned from this going forward ...

... is to give less popular shows a try. So far, some rather popular or loved dramas (Hidden Love, Ashes of Love, Immortal Samsara etc) failed to impress me. I also learned that I need at least one character to latch onto, while starting a show or I will not get into it. A lot of shows sadly lack these convincing and obsession-worthy characters.

#luo yunxi #cdrama #till the end of the moon #love is sweet #lie to love #broker #cdrama review #and the winner is love #princess silver #light chaser rescue

67 notes · View notes

ginsoakedgirl80 · 5 months

Text

Costume Cdramas I watched in 2023

My 2nd year with Chinese dramas as my love for costume drama continues.

The title links to where you can watch it (tried to find free legal watches where available)

The Blood of Youth (40 x 45min, filming started in Oct 2021, released Dec 2022) fun action drama with a good dose of comedy, not for people who want lots of romance because they are too busy (and the canon couples don't have enough chemistry, there I said it) to be making out. Good for bromance, ghost ships and/or ace character head canons. Xiao Se's fur collar wins fur collar of the year, Tang Lian is my blorbo of early 2023.

My Uncanny Destiny (24 x 30min, filmed in autumn 2021, released Jan 2023) My favorite comedy of the year. Don't get turned off by the toilet jokes, it's a gem that spoofs drama tropes, gives you a coherent plot, silliness, fun side characters, a ML that is not afraid of being silly and a FL that plays capable and silly well. This might be a low budget production but they put that money to work. Politics, cross-dressing, found family, sisterhood, enemies to lovers, third wheel bisexual who reminds me of Wen Kexing, over the top villain, himbo villain who works out shirtless all the time, it got it all.

Wulin Heroes (22 x 45min, filming started Nov 2020, released Jan 2023) I watched this for Li Hongyi and he is incredibly beautiful in this so props to his stylist and cinematographer. BUT it is a badly written and edited low budget romp. If you are not watching for any actor then do not bother. FL is bearable once you realize she is very much of a lets see where this goes kind of character. 2nd ML is a suffering captive prince turned whiny regent played by Zhu Zanjin. So if you want to see Jin GuangYao suffer, you might like his scenes?? It can totally be read as a throuple especially with the New Tales of Wulin Heroes mini series add on. The choppiness might also be a result of the dangai ban??

No Doubt in us (24 x 14min, 2021, donghua) saw this on netflix and it roped me in with the body switch trope. It's sufficiently entertaining. Though I didn't enjoy the animation style apart from the chibi scenes.)

Heaven Official's Blessing (season 1, 11 x 26min, 2020, Donghua) It's THAT story and the art style is so pretty. I haven't read the books yet but still got what was going on most of the time. Liked it a lot. Haven't watched the 2nd season yet)

The Journey of Chong Zi (40 x 45min, filming started in June 2021, released Feb 2023) This xianxia is a mess! But it gave Scorpion King Li Daikun another memorable role with being the FL's protector. Watching Wang Zhoucheng having a ball with his role was fun. Immortal turned demon Wan Jie is so handsome and tragic. It did draw me in but the main couple is just ick so every time they were apart it immediately got better. ML's refusal to take the antidote to ease his obsession was lmao, FL is naive but charming and her demon styling rocks (do not get the hate on the actress, she is selfmade and there are many bad pretty face actresses around but I guess antis attract antis). Oh and there is a bromance between two of Chong Zi's harem members

Till the End of the Moon (40 x 55min, started filming in Nov 2021, released April 2023) aka my brain rot drama of the year. Drawn in from episode 1 on. Bai Li and Luo Yunxi <3 Pian Ran, Ye Qingyu, Nian Baiyu and Si Ying. <3 I was spamming tumblr with my screenshots, it was a jolly good time to watch this epic tale of love and suffering and saving the world dilemma with a great cast, characters, costumes, sets and soundtrack with the cdrama ppl of tumblr. If this weren't too complicated for cdrama newbies I'd recommend it to all my friends. Do not skip the dream arc (I ended up liking it) or later stuff will make less sense. I'm still annoyed that we didn't get a good extra episode that wraps up some lose ends for the main side characters and that reunion of the main characters but Youku really went nah we better play it safe with censors not liking happy ends for morally grey characters.

My Queen (24 x 45min, filmed in 2020, released Jul 2021) An FL enters a romance adventure VR game drama that I watched because I needed some fluff between TtEotM episodes. Why pick this among any other sufficiently entertaining dramas that are probably better written and not as forgetable? Because I wanted to watch Hu Wei (rich nepo baby in The Blood of Youth) in another comedy role >_> and ridiculous overacting he did deliver

The Trust (30 x 45min, filmed early 2021, released Apr 2023) The life action adaptation of the manhua No doubt in us is based on. I dunno why I finished this, I guess I'm not a quitter and needed silly stuff to balance TtEotM angst. For some reason the director thought it would be a good idea to film this like a donghua and it is causing 2nd hand embarrassment. The ML cannot pull off being a woman in a man's body, not even a martial arts nerd like Xu Yu. Like Wulin Heroes it was filmed before the dangai ban but that didn't stop them from having at least two bromances.

Wanru's Journey (24 x 35min, filming started in Jun 2021, released May 2023) A mess. So IQIYI released this simply to ride on the wave of Ao Ruipeng's The Blood of Youth popularity. Because this got so chopped down because of the dangai ban and it probably wasn't good to begin with. Basically an actress transmigrates into a dangai screenplay and gets between the leads while also making money by writing fic about them (ok this is my reading but she DID release fic and drawings of them). Of course it takes an unnecessarily dramatic turn, instead of staying on the comedy side, cannot remember more of the plot, oops.

King is not Easy (20ep x 30min, released Aug 2017) I watched this for the body switch trope and Bai Lu. Nice to see her actual face before the fair skin filter got her, entertaining enough, badly written silly comedy with mind mindbogglingly contrived final 4 episodes. It's Bai Lu's drama debut so it's nice to see how far she got

Destined (40ep x 45min, filming started in Jun 2022, released June 2023) Highly enjoyable. Fell in love with Bai Jingting. What's not to love about a playboy getting put on his path by his wife and them becoming friends, sworn siblings and then lovers in the process? No this is actually about FL finding her thing (trade) and being wildly successful at it, then it's also political, revenge and more. The leads are extremely charming and have great chemistry (the drama suffers every time they are apart lbr) and the writing is good, though people are too perfect and I wasn't into the whole palace stuff.

My Journey to You (24 ep x 60min, filming started Dec 2022, released Sep 2023) Had me from episode 1 on. Made me buy IQIYI VIP so I can watch it in good quality. Fell in love with Zhang Linghe. Yu Shuxin needs to do all the wuxia while she is still fit. Why waste being able to do the splits on some modern drama? The director sent her mud wrestling and she went for it. Everyone knows she is pretty no need for her to be beautifully put together on screen 24/7. Love the style, the character introductions, the characters, the cast, the chemistry, the story, the way you expect something and something else is going on. While it started out gloomy and remained so for the most part, it surprised me with throwing in more comedy than I expected. The good old idle manchild gets thrown into a position of power story but it's a murderous martial arts clan against another murderous martial arts clan. It's giving you some information but often just enough for getting what's going on just to play with your expectations later, FUN! And I didn't even mention all the other characters because surprise! this is actually an ensemble drama with several intriguing characters. Do not expect for the two leads to be on screen all the time.

Hilarious Family (24ep x 45min, started filming in June 2022 (?), released Sept 2023) A fun ensemble comedy I watched for Jackie Li. A widow moves to another city to marry off her 4 daughters (a silly man-crazy one, a homely one, a scholar one and a tomboy one). No it's not Pride and Prejudice but yes of course this is a romcom and all women have a love interest. It kind of drops off later on tbh, but still good for the characters and side characters. The success of this in China hopefully means that Jackie Li will get to be getting more comedies to work in after the Queen Lau disaster and people having a problem with her artist alias in 2022.

Hello There (20ep x 30min, released Jan 2023) I stumbled on this on IQIYI while looking for a light fast watch that will let my brain relax. The ML's best acting moment is when he plays a wooden robot. FL is fun. There are some questionable scenes, standard low budget action comedy fare.

An Ancient Love Song (14ep x 30 min, released June 2023) A wonderfully written and executed grown up time traveling story, that shows once again that you don't need a big budget to tell a story that draws you in. Ended my palace politics blockade. All this time traveling and no reincarnation in sight. ;_;

Story of Kunning Palace (38ep x 45min, filming started in May 2022, released Nov 2023) Tieing 2nd with My Journey to You for brainrot drama of the year. The cinematography is questionable, the story is not for teaching perfect courting behavior but those two are just such a good cp in their awkward messy way. Their friends/sidekicks are fun too and bring some comedy to that story though crazy in love ML is serving some comedy too. Props to ZLH for actually trying to grasp the basics of playing qin and not just waving over the strings like other dramas deem it sufficient. Bai Lu is Bai Lu-ing, gathering her harem. Coming into this right after An Ancient Love Song the idea to defeat destiny this time around seemed hopeless to me but this is one of those they are good at making plans and they turn out mostly alright dramas. I hope those two's material for the next years is as good as the two dramas with them I watched in 2023, fingers crossed!

Currently watching: A Journey to Love and Taoism Grandmaster as well as 2/3 through a LbFaD rewatch that I started in summer.

I also watched a handful of modern dramas (made in Korea and Japan) and some mini-dramas, but that is for another post.

And yes my most watched actors are probably those uncles stuck in Hengdian, might look that up another day.

If I got the time to blog about a drama I usually do it with screenshots so my tag for those posts is excuse my bad quality screenshots. In other cases I just reblog and put my thoughts in the tags.

18 notes · View notes

shookethdev · 1 year

Note

a o e i i er ai ei ao ou an en ang eng ong i ia iao ie iu ian in iang ing iong u ua uo uai ui uan un uang ueng ü üe üan ün a o e er ai ao ou an en ang eng yi ya yao ye you yan yin yang ying yong wu wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng yu yue yuan yun b ba bo bai bei bao ban ben bang beng bi biao bie bian bin bing bu p pa po pai pei pao pou pan pen pang peng pi piao pie pian pin ping pu m ma mo me mai mei mao mou man men mang meng mi miao mie miu mian min ming mu f fa fo fei fou fan fen fang feng fu d da de dai dei dao dou dan den dang deng dong di diao die diu dian ding du duo dui duan dun t ta te tai tei tao tou tan tang teng tong ti tiao tie tian ting tu tuo tui tuan tun n na ne nai nei nao nou nan nen nang neng nong ni niao nie niu nian nin niang ning nu nuo nuan nü nüe l la le lai lei lao lou lan lang leng long li lia liao lie liu lian lin liang ling lu luo luan lun lü lüe g ga ge gai gei gao gou gan gen gang geng gong gu gua guo guai gui guan gun guang k ka ke kai kei kao kou kan ken kang keng kong ku kua kuo kuai kui kuan kun kuang h ha he hai hei hao hou han hen hang heng hong hu hua huo huai hui huan hun huang z za ze zi zai zei zao zou zan zen zang zeng zong zu zuo zui zuan zun c ca ce ci cai cao cou can cen cang ceng cong cu cuo cui cuan cun s sa se si sai sao sou san sen sang seng song su suo sui suan sun zh zha zhe zhi zhai zhei zhao zhou zhan zhen zhang zheng zhong zhu zhua zhuo zhuai zhui zhuan zhun zhuang ch cha che chi chai chao chou chan chen chang cheng chong chu chua chuo chuai chui chuan chun chuang sh sha she shi shai shei shao shou shan shen shang sheng shu shua shuo shuai shui shuan shun shuang r re ri rao rou ran ren rang reng rong ru rua ruo rui ruan run j ji jia jiao jie jiu jian jin jiang jing jiong ju jue juan jun q qi qia qiao qie qiu qian qin qiang qing qiong qu que quan qun x xi xia xiao xie xiu xian xin xiang xing xiong xu xue xuan xun

NAKU 🫵

#anon #asks

41 notes · View notes

thebansacredbanned · 3 months

Text

Writing patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern! Tagged by @yletylyf!!! <3

The covers lift up, letting in the cold air and stirring Xiao Chong from where he was about to drift off to sleep. [And there was only one bed (fraternal edition), The Blood of Youth, Xiao Chong & Xiao Se]

The demon from his past standing in the doorway is all it takes to ruin the Reunion Dinner. [housekeeper, The Disguiser, ah-Cheng]

It had been a restless night for all three of them, but, well, Huli had never needed much sleep anyway. [Hormones and other horrors, Oh My General, Hu Qing/Ye Zhao/Zhao Yujin]

Jingyan emerges from the tunnel to shouting. [Things we need, Nirvana in Fire, Mei Changsu/Xiao Jingyan/Lin Chen(ish)]

Of all the elders and members and disciples, it is Xichen who runs to his fuqin’s house. [the walls around my father's house, The Untamed, Lan Xichen & Qinghen-jun]

There’s a change coming to Beili. [Know we'll sing your name (when you come home), The Blood of Youth, Tang Lian & the Tang clan]

“Now that we are all sworn brothers… I was wondering…” [As the saying goes..., The Untamed, 3zun]

It doesn't take long for Mingjue learn to that if he can’t find a-Sang, the way he should be looking is up. [I'll always catch you, The Untamed, Nie Mingjue & Nie Huaisang]

When Madam Jin had finally conceded that she was never going to bear her husband a son, Jin Zixuan was old to know that she was not the child either of her parents wanted. [such stuff as dreams are made, The Untamed/MDZS, Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan/Luo Qingyang (pre-relationship)]

Nie Mingjue is a dead man walking. [Dead Man Walking, The Untamed, Nie Mingjue & Wen Ning]

Me, starting this: oh I don't think there'll be a pattern

Me, 10 minutes later: ... huh

Like obviously there is some variation in there but wow yeah there are more similarities than I expected, especially between the most recent ones! I don't tend to necessarily think about first sentences other than getting them out on the page, so seeing them side by side is a lot of fun actually

Tagging: @nemainofthewater @wishthefish @circumference-pie @dcderringer @sinni-ok-sessi and yeah anyone else who's curious!

#ask game

4 notes · View notes

tianzhens · 1 year

Photo

a moment of silence for ao ruipeng

#the blood of youth #li hongyi #ao ruipeng #fan jinwei #xiao se #xiao chong #lei wujie #rubygifs #ANY CLOSER BRO AND THEY MIGHT KISS

60 notes · View notes

feng-huli · 5 months

Text

The Blood of Youth sequel predictions and analysis

To preface this, I have not read the novel and am going mainly based on my knowledge of season one. Thus, there are spoilers at least for season one (and possibly season two, if my suspicions are correct).

This will probably be a bit unhinged and won’t focus on the main cast outside of the parallels there may be between them and the characters that I’m focusing on. The characters I’ve selected are the ones that I suspect of playing a larger role in the second season.

1. Marquis Lanyue

If he isn’t revealed to be a villain, I’ll be shocked. The way his supposed lack of ambition is pointed out numerous times is remarkably suspicious. He has a big scary sword that was hyped up but barely used. He outright threatens one nephew, only helps another because he decided he wants to protect the healer taking care of him, and is pretty antagonistic in his internal dialogue towards the other nephew. There is definitely something weird going on between him and Prince Chi early on that seemed to fizzle out at some point, right around when Marquis Lanyue started helping out his other nephews. Anyways, this might be a crazy guess, but I kinda wonder if he’s going to work with Ye Ya the Night Crow to reanimate Prince Chi (at least, I think the Night Crow is still alive, unless I missed something). As a less crazy guess, I think he’ll be the main or major villain.

2. Mu Chunfeng

He has some interesting parallels to Marquis Lanyue that may become more prominent in the next season. Both characters are defined by their lack of ambition, but in Mu Chunfeng’s case, it seems more genuine. He actively goes on a quest to make sure his older brother can inherit the responsibility of leading the wealthy Mu family, which otherwise wouldn’t happen due to the older brother’s implied medical condition that renders him unable to produce heirs. This shows Mu Chunfeng’s disinterest in seizing power rather than the telling that accompanies the question of whether Marquis Lanyue is ambitious. Both Marquis Lanyue and Mu Chunfeng form an attachment to the healer Hua Jin, albeit of differing natures (father-daughter vs student-master). Mu Chunfeng, like Marquis Lanyue, also has a powerful sword that is hyped up but barely used. It should be noted that Emperor Mingde, who isn’t known for his ability to trust the right people, directly accused Mu Chunfeng of having ulterior motives. Anyways, my more measured prediction is that Mu Chunfeng’s older brother will die. For a more intense prediction, I think Hua Jin will end up dying, likely by accident, culminating in a battle between Mu Chunfeng and Marquis Lanyue.

3. Xiao Chong

The main thing with him is that it’s easy to forget that he’s very much a player of the game of thrones, so to speak. With all that Xiao Se does to earn his trust later in the show, it can distract from how Xiao Chong was making alliances with Wushuang City and how he was able to safely waltz in and out of a conversation with the fearsome Dark River. Even now that he’s risen to the throne, Xiao Chong will likely continue pulling strings. The point of the first season was that Xiao Se wouldn’t make a good emperor, but I do wonder if his arc in the second season will put him into conflict with Xiao Chong.

4. Bo Yong

This one is a bit of a stretch, I admit. His actor was one of the first I saw sharing the news about the sequel, but even before that I had some suspicions about his significance. In the scene where Jade Deity hides Jin Yan from the Director, he is notably absent. Could he have ratted Jade Deity out to the Director? He seems to have been involved in the plot to sneak Wuxin into the palace, which the Director appears to have known about. Anyways, given the events of the first season, the Five Eunuchs need their ranks replaced. Ling Jun and Bo Yong seem to be the most likely candidates, and will likely be involved in any palace drama.

5. Jin Yan

Honestly, I’m terrified for Jin Yan’s safety. Xiao Se and Jade Deity kinda have mirror arcs. Jade Deity longs for the Martial Arts World, and Xiao Se validates that. Xiao Se needs to learn what loyalty to his friends means, and Jade Deity shows him that. This, I think, is the reason Jin Yan needed to survive the first season. However, hints were dropped throughout that key episode that he’s done far worse things than some fun treason, and I have my doubts that the plot will continue to be so merciful to him. If he does die, the most heartbreaking and likely possibility is that it will be by Jade Deity’s own sword, as he is currently responsible for Jin Yan’s actions. If anyone else kills Jin Yan, that sword would definitely get covered in vengeful blood—given how many people Jade Deity has already lost, losing Jin Yan would surely cause him to snap. Less likely but still tragic, perhaps Jade Deity dies protecting him or has the injury Jin Xuan gave him act up, in which case Jin Yan may go mad with grief. Or maybe they travel together and live happily ever after… which could actually fit Jin Yan’s arc. He initially lacks meaningful connections, where he isn’t being manipulated/used. Jade Deity counters that as risking everything to protect Jin Yan. It is possible that Jin Yan could have a positive arc where he turns his greed towards building genuine relationships.

Well, it was certainly fun organizing my thoughts about parallels between the characters and exploring ideas related to the sequel. I’ve been resisting thinking of the future of The Blood of Youth for so long, but the announcement of season two has opened the floodgates to some surprisingly clear water.

#shao nian ge xing #sequel #predictions #The Blood of Youth 2 #the blood of youth #少年歌行2 #少年歌行之南明离火 #少年歌行 #media analysis #character analysis

3 notes · View notes