Couldn’t Have Been Better!
I actually started this drama a few years back, dropped it and came back this year because the reviews were really high and people said it was like Love and Redemption (my absolute favourite drama). To no surprise, it caught my attention from day one, and I started binge watching it ever since. There are a lot of things that contributed to such a brilliant drama, but a few includes the storyline, acting, OST, and production.First of all, the plot was so well planned out- it wasn’t like the script writers had casually wrote down the story, not knowing where it would go, at all. This is a really important factor to being a good drama, especially one based in the historical and fantasy genre, for me. Ashes of Love really exemplified that, which was awesome.
Next, I just wanna say that the cast and acting for this drama was… SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS (any one of you who know Mary Poppins know what I’m talking about)! Yang Zi was the PURRFECT actress to take Jing Mi’s role, as she possesses this gentle beauty and her presence gives off a fairy-like aura. Apart from that, Yang Zi flawlessly portrayed Jing Mi’s development throughout the drama- growing from a naïve, innocent “grape fairy”, to a mature, understanding, and smart woman. Deng Lun, on the other hand, caressed a pair of expressive eyes that made me not only simp for him, but acknowledge his emotion at the moment without even needing to open his mouth and speaking. He also really sold the character of Xu Feng, and I don’t think any other actor would be able to replace him in this drama. The chemistry between the two main leads was also so REAL, I really wish that they would become a couple in real life (at least film another drama together, come on)! Additionally, the supporting characters were incredible as well. Luo YunXi portrayed Run Yu’s gentleness, jealously, grievance and revenge SUPERB! He’s so professional! The actresses for Liu Yang and Sui He were exquisite too, they really deserve a standing ovation from me!
Moving on, I just wanna mention how much I loved the OST (music), because this drama had me singing the opening and closing song for DAYS! Last but not least, I would like to praise the entire team that made Ashes of Love possible. You guys are AWESOME! Thanks so much for giving us this high quality, emotional roller coaster of a drama!
The best part of this drama for me, was watching all the characters grow and getting what they all deserved at the satisfying finale.
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I CRIEDDDD
Ok I have so many things to say about this drama even though ok isn’t the best way to start a review I’m gonna still write it that way ????. Anyway this drama is just a masterpiece like the story line was amazing so hats of to the author of the book and the director for making it come to life. The acting was just amazing. Honestly to be real with all of you in the beginning you will probably smile and laugh at the main character but then once you will get more into the story I can garranty you will cry cause I cried way too much in this hence the title of my review.In the first episode it was introducing characters hence why it could have been boring but like other dramas the first part is the key to understanding the story but the way I’m saying it, it seems that the first episode is boring but truly it isn’t that much I’m just basing this off the app that I use called Viki to watch dramas and the website/app has a thing where you can view what other people thought of the certain time in the episode so some people did say the first episode was boring but I don’t really think it was that boring!
In conclusion this has become like an English essay but whatever! This drama was amazing honestly now I’m taking a break from chinease dramas and just watching happy dramas cause I cried so much in this literally after finishing it I had a dream about Jin Mi and Pheonix but anyway the ending was fulfilling I’m happy it wasn’t sad and I don’t think that’s a spoiler cause I didn’t tell you what happened just if it was a sad ending or not so do watch cause it’s AMAZING! ???? anyway I’ll leave you to watching a 60 episode long drama some people say 63 but the amount I watched was 60 cause that was all there was so yeh have fun watching! Bye ????
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This review may contain spoilers
Worst Kill my time. Full ,........................ Main actress is a way bad and she doesn't know acting .
It was hard for me to get into this drama at first. Because I don’t like it when they portray the female lead as weak, naive, and childlike (bordering simpleton). Aren’t there enough movies that portray women this way? I forwarded through a lot of the dialogue towards the end because I really just wanted to know what ended up becoming of the characters. I felt bad for the night immortal and could relate to his change in perspective and becoming what he became. Same with The Princess of the bird tribe. They became enemies of the main characters and when u follow the things that made them the way they are, it’s sad but understandable. She did go too far when she started killing others to achieve her ends and that is true for the night immortal as well. What I don’t like about the movie is when they portray the actor and actress as being without flaws. I mean that’s not reality. No one is perfect. They make the god of fire this great hero, beloved and respected by all who finds the lead actress by mistake and she is innocent and pure. She hides him and goes with him betraying her tribe and throws them into conflict with the bird tribe. Also, I found it annoying that the actress was engaged to the night immortal yet spent most of her time with fire immortal. Even giving him a special gift made from a part of herself when he didn’t deserve it and sleeping with him too? But no one finds anything wrong with what they did. It’s kept between them and there are no consequences except that they get closer which drives a wedge between their relationship with others around them. She inevitably learns her true fate and spends it following her heart (after the god of fire) and him the same. Not taking into consideration anyone else’s affection or situation. She makes up for her lack of
Wisdom at the beginning later on. But if the princess of the bird tribe woke the prince instead and cured him, I think the story would’ve been different. I mean we even see that she did try many times but only the lead character managed to get to him.
Not only that but I feel like this movie could’ve been done in 50 episodes. The longer it is, the more it feels like it just dragged out due to it being popular or whatever. Overall, it’s nice to see more and more Asian dramas with happy endings. This was one of my pet peeves with Asian movies. It never feels complete at the end or it starts out good and ends sad. Like in the series, Rise of the Phoenixes. They make us fall in love with the two characters and well...I’ll let you guess what happens at the end, in case you haven’t seen it.
If I was to grade Ashes for Love, I would give this series a B+.
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I thought I wouldn't be able to finish 60 episodes, but towards the end it will make you begging for more. I didn't feel like it was too long at all, as most melodramas feel.
Honestly I can't even put in words how prefect this drama is, you have to try it yourself!!
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THIS is THAT fantasy romance drama that makes you feel like you'll never like another one more
I've never seen a series with so much rewatch value in my life. I re-started to watch it immediately after finishing it and i enjoyed the beginning even more after knowing all that happens and understood everything better. I've watched it 3 times already.I've also rarely seen a drama where the 2 main leads actually meet in the first episode. Everything happens fast, this drama never wastes a second, there are no skippable parts. The supporting characters have often complex backstories and their motivation and actions are truly well grounded.
The actors play wonderfully especially the three main leads, although for many people the female lead might seem annoying in the beginning, if one gets used to it, one discovers later how much she develops and progresses. I would say that she has the biggest character growth in the whole show. And her chemistry with the main lead is fantastic.
The world building, the different realms, the powers of the gods etc seemed to follow a logic and some rules (for example: the powers were based on different elements and the offsprings would inherit their form from one parent and the element of their nature and power from the other parent, etc) which gives a sort of structure to the whole power system, and is a very nice touch, that missed in Ten Miles of Peach Blossom for example. It makes all more believable and explains why some characters are stronger than others in a fight.
The music score for this show is beautiful, I often listen to it even now after many months of watching this series. It fits the story and the atmosphere perfectly. The Realms are beautifully portrayed, i think the Heaven Realm looked exactly how such a celestial majestic realm should look. Even the Demon realm was so different and special.. the Flower Realm was as beautiful as Paradise. In other words, the sets, costumes and overall production of this show is top notch (the CGI is not the best, but this is typical for C-fantasy dramas, so noone should have expectations there).
I definitely recommend this to everyone who wants to watch a beautiful and rich mythological fantastical love story between Gods, or simply who likes Chinese costume dramas with magic and martial arts fights.
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This review may contain spoilers
The Best Fantasy C-Drama I've ever watched
This drama is a Priceless Gem.I cannot say anything new about this drama probably that others haven't already said but I have to write this and express my love for this drama nevertheless.
Plot: 10.0
This is so well thought and written drama, it is unbelievable.
Every step is so brilliantly constructed, every character has its own story and motivation, you can see it all the time for all of them, good guys or villains, their motivations, desires, motives, everything is there.
What I truly love, villains are so well made that you even feel sorry for them in the end, because they were trapped in their own story and had good reasons why they did something in the way they did.
In the most of the tv shows or movies I've watched, villains are mainly bad just because... reasons, or they want to have power over others or just being brutal without even a reason, here every villain had started as a normal fine human being but with some wrong moves and intentions they were slowly going that path of evil.
*** THE SPOILERS AHEAD ***
Rarely I like watching love triangles in tv shows, but here, it is somehow created unlike any other drama I've watched, this love story is so different, I suffered and enjoyed it at the same time, so bitter sweet emotions for me.
It was so sweet to watch falling in love between XF and JM in the heavenly realm but for me favorite part was their falling in love on earth, even though I'm a male, I cried so hard, this is such a beautiful love story.
RY is a brilliantly written tragic character. His obsession is an example of what one can do if one lose the love in their soul, he so desperately wanted to be loved by somebody (JM) that he became obsessed.
His obsession became the most important thing to him, he sacrificed everything for even little bit of love or just affection, of even just to be around of JM that he overlooked her love for XF, her happiness which should be very important to him if he genuinely loved her, he overlooked his own brother's love for him, and we saw very clearly in the end that XF always loved him sincerely.
*** THE END OF THE SPOILERS ***
I could write many more about plot and what I really like but it would be too long so I stop here :)
When I watched this drama for the first time, I enjoyed the love story of support leads but when I re-watched it for the second and the third time, I skipped most of the scenes with them because I just wanted to see love story between XF and JM again and again, heartbreaking but beautiful.
Acting: 10.0
They are just great, main roles, support roles, everybody was just great, I cannot say enough praises for all of them.
Music: 10.0
Music is awesome, outstanding, I developed some kind of emotions when I hear theme songs, whenever I hear that music, I feel like I'm gonna cry, and feel some kind of warmth in my chest, music just amplified the emotions of the story by billion, by infinite :)
Re-watch: 10.0
I’ve watched it three times already and only time will tell how many more times I’ll watch it in the future.
I cannot recommend this drama enough, DEFINITELY MUST WATCH Drama.
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Actors and actresses acted well. I have no comment.
Music? Wow I like how the opening song can be used for not only the opening but also for the sad moment. By using the song produced in different style (different way of singing? IDK). Not a music expert oops, sorry, wish you guys could understand what I mean. Kinda like the song a lot, I even sang along with it.
In a nutshell, wow man, worth to devote my time to watch this. Good story, feel that 60+ episodes went past quickly. Could not find any flaws... Wish all drama watchers out there, you guys should not miss this drama. Happy watching :).
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Story:
First of all, I knew this drama was adapted from a book, but I haven't read the book when I watched this, so I won't compare them.
This drama has the classic plot of two-man-fighting-over-one-girl. It's not bad, but I think I could guess the dynamic from the start, so I wasn't surprised. The unique element in this story was the yun dan (the unfeeling pill) and the fact that Jin Mi couldn't feel love. This fact made room for conflicts and kept the story interesting.
The beginning of the story was very sweet and funny, but towards the middle of the drama it got a bit long and draggy. They added a lot of side stories for supporting characters. I mostly skip them because it didn't really affect the main story, but actually the side stories were not bad at all. Towards the end, it was really good, especially because the side stories are not as much as the middle. The story focused back on the main characters and the conflicts escalated and got even more interesting. Gosh! I really love all the misunderstanding, betrayal, remorse, and redemption in this story! The heartbreak were actually the best part because even though the main characters were not lovey-dovey, you can feel their love for each other even more!
Despite all the love for the story, it did get too long before we reach the peak of the conflict. I definitely think the episodes could be shorter.
Acting/Cast:
I don't know much about Chinese actors and actresses, but I've done some research on the casts of this drama.
Yang Zi as Jin Mi - Of all the main casts, I think she was the most experienced and she was actually regarded as one of the best female actress of her age in China. This shows in her acting. I think she acted really well and capable of portraying Jin Mi's development throughout the story.
Deng Lun as Xu Feng - I actually fell in love with his acting in this drama! He was really good! I was surprised to know that he was pretty new in the industry, given that he debuted in 2013. I think he gave Xu Feng some boyish charm, and oh boy his eyes!!! I was amazed at how he could deliver emotion through his eyes so well! It was like with one stare you knew he was madly in love with Jin Mi, and another stare you knew his heart was broken.
Luo Yun Xi (Leo) as Run Yu - If I wasn't mistaken, he was a ballet dancer and a singer! I think his theatrical acting came through and it actually suits Run Yu, especially because this is a xianxia drama. I think overall, he did well in portraying Run Yu's complex personality.
Music:
This drama has 4 original theme songs and some of them were sung by different singer so in total there were 7.
- Unsullied (??).
Sang by Mao Buyi for the opening theme song, also sang by Sa Dingding and Jian Hongyi. (Wikipedia) Honestly, I only heard the versions sang by Mao Buyi as the opening and Sa Dingding as the drama background song (I'm sorry Jian Hongyi). I really love the lyrics in this song and I personally didn't get bored hearing this song over and over again in the drama.
- Upwards to the moon (????), sang by Sa Dingding.
This is the song played at the ending. It has a strong war vibe and actually used in the war scene.
-Unpararelled in the world/Heaven and earth without frost (????)
There are 2 versions of this song. One was sang by Deng Lun and the other is a duet version of Deng Lun and Yang Zi. This is I think is Xu Feng's version of the song with Love frost as Jin Mi's version.
- Love frost (??)
This song was sang by Yang Zi and some of the lyrics was similar to heaven and earth without frost. It's kind of the Jin Mi's version of the song.
I was a bit surprised to find out that for 63 episodes, this drama doesn't have a lot of song, but I didn't get bored hearing the song over and over again. I think the repetitive songs help to build the mood in the story because you will be reminded of the previous scenes when the particular song was played.
Rewatch value:
I actually have rewatched a few scenes before writing this review... so....
Overall:
I personally love this drama and don't mind watching it over and over again. I might also download it so I can watch it offline. That's how much I love it.
Despite having long episodes, this drama has a simple plot idea. You don't need to think too much while watching this, just sit back and enjoy the show as the story unfold.
For recommendation, I think if you don't mind long episodes and the classic plot of two-man-fighting-over-one-girl, then you will like the show.
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Second male lead stole the show. The rest is too much filler and repetition.
There is much praise about this drama and it did not quite deliver for me. I loved the cinematography, visual effects, the acting was top notch but the actual story fell flat for me. It started off well and even though it had interesting premises I wasn't captivated by the plot. Too much filler and too many characters doing exactly the same thing again and again and again. Too many convenient plot devices and people doing things only to move forward the plot. Oh and by the end of the drama, almost all the characters had (without spoiling) the same type of trauma. It just felt like lazy writing.My main issue with the drama was that as much as heartbreaking the romance is for the main leads, I never connected with them. It was actually very instant love for me considering one of them couldn't even feel love. And romance is my main focus when watching dramas. In fact I was so invested in the second male lead story that by episode 35 I was happy if they dropped the romance and it was only about his journey. He was actually what saved the show and made me finish it. In fact around episode 50 I found myself skipping lots of scenes because I just wanted to finish it.
Second male lead stole the show for me. His story was so well done. His character development is so well done. The main male lead is an excellent actor but unfortunately I found after the first half of the drama his personality was reduced to "being in love with the female lead" and "occasionally a cool warrior". It's like the whole purpose for him being in the drama was to be the love puppy of the female lead. There is so much more it could have been done in terms of writing.
Overall I feel it's a good drama but not for me. Too much focus was put on the love triangle which wasn't even a love triangle. I didn't like the ending of the second male lead and how they turned his character so probably that's why I wasn't happy with this drama. But I did enjoy lots of moments and definitely cried a lot. The drama moved me emotionally, especially the second male lead story which was worth watching.
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This review may contain spoilers
(First time writing a review.)Timeline of the series probably went like this (for me):
AHAHAHA this is hilarious --> awww so sweet --> oh nononooo --> oh my my, my heart can't take this !!! --> finally!!! --> wait whatttt --> ok, F I N A L L Y.
I decided to watch this drama series because the two main leads (Yang Zi and Deng Lun), acted in another drama, Flowers in Fog, as a couple together before too, and I loved seeing them together. This drama never failed to impress me. So this means the chemistry between the main leads is G R E A TTT!!
Basically this is how the drama went...
Initially the drama was really funny, especially in terms of how Jin Mi acted and thought. Although as time passes, Jin Mi becomes much more mature, so the way she acts, talks and thinks changes accordingly, the comedic scenes drops slightly, but it's ok! Because...
MY FAVOURITE ELEMENT COMES IN!! It starts focusing on the romantic part of the series. This is when both of them starts having mutual feelings for each other. Heart wrenching and sweet af moments. How they're willing to sacrifice for each other, wow.
Some misunderstandings surfaced during the series, so the heartbreaking scenes were both understandable and relatable.
But all's well as they managed to clear the misunderstandings and eventually reconciled.
HOWEVER, of course you wouldn't have a happy ending that easily, your heart has to go through another heart wrenching journey :").
THEN, a happy ever after. F I N A L L Y.
DISCLAIMER:
Although, this drama is great overall, but I personally feel that there were some parts that were a tad bit boring.
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The actors were OK too. Not my fave cast but they did do a good job of portraying their characters.
The cinemetography and graphics were good and definitely saw an improvement in this area.
Overall, it was below my expectations and I probably wont watch again.
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