The Untamed (2019)

I watched the first few episodes and gave up, but after people raving about how great this series was, I stuck with it past the 13 episodes and it had me!

I don't think it's perfect - but pretty near it! There are still points where I am scratching my head - but could be due to the poor translation? (Maybe I should read the book but that's probably still not as good as the original material in Chinese!).

The actors Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo omg... amazing. The chemistry these two had *swoon*. I can't get over these two, and I love the way they are with each other, how dedicated, how loyal... soulmates, and an amazing friendship. I cannot get over how great they were, and I have rewatched series for a second time focusing on them because it is just so so amazing. I am at this point where I am feeling so empty and missing watching this series, living this series.

Also the familial relationship of Shiji and Jiang Chen with Wei Ying omg... again, this will always make me cry and hurt my heart.

I have been replaying the OST because so many of the songs are so great! But it almost makes me so sad because I can't experience their story again afresh.

I would have rated this 8 when I first finished it... but after not being able to stop thinking about it for the last week, I have to put it up to 9. I won't give it a 10 because there are some small parts where I wasn't sure what was happening, how this or that happened.

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I am not a fan of Chinese Historical drama. This one made the exception. In my 34 years, this is my 2nd treasure find for chinese tv series(Legend of Fuyao was the first). The Untamed is Unique, ticklish to the Imagination and awkward, actors are good and not trying hard nor OA even though sometimes they act childish. They still look adorable????. I find this tv series exciting and not boring like most Chinese Historical that i watched and made me stopped watching while in the middle of watching. The untamed made me watched him over and over, including the behind the scene And so crazy with the ost(i wish however they created more better ost and since some of their actors are singers, they could have created songs for them). The OST is so few and that is the sad part. I like that they improvised it instead of following the script of the anime version. The visual effect is good but still hopeful for improvement with the help of technology. I am so in love with the characters. I cried and laugh and crazy about every scene. I felt sad when I am about to finish it.

I am hoping for tv series that emphasizes on friendship, bravery, magic, fantasy and more twist and unexpected ending without too much romance(bored with it, so common).

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The lovable cast and their chemistry as well as the Yi City arc saved this drama for me!

This drama's overall worth watching, but you need to adjust expectations. I suspect the reason it's so highly regarded is because of its efforts to adhere to the BL elements, cast chemistry (despite relatively poor acting from many, they all fit their character counterparts and shared great chemistry with one another), and overall faithfulness to the main story beats in the novel.

However, this drama is plagued with major problems in its storytelling and overall production (aside from its low budget). There's a good story somewhere in there due to the source material (I later read half of the book in Chinese and it made a lot more sense than it did in the drama), but the drama has the worst production I've ever seen and fails to properly tell the story. Everything the drama changes due to censorship is not well thought out, but they're too lazy to work on the script more and just assume people have read the book.

For example, in the novel, the past was told in a series of short flashbacks and was the least interesting part. But for some reason, the drama creators decided to devote around 30 episodes to the past when there really wasn't enough novel material to warrant all that time wasted. This resulted in padded filler (they actually made up a storyline that ended up being a complete waste of time) and slow pacing for the first 30+ episodes. The drama only started getting good around the Yi City arc, which was when it started focusing on the current timeline.

Even then, the drama's storytelling was often confusing without prior knowledge of the novel. I was lucky enough to have my sister by my side to explain some of the main story beats because the drama did a piss poor job of telling it using the camera. There were some weirdly shot sequences that left me utterly confounded about what the director was trying to tell me. This confusion was all cleared up by the novel, which was well-written and completely believable. Lol, the novel author's a much better storyteller than the drama crew.

The editing and camerawork is also very shoddy and amateurish. There are many awkwardly filmed sequences where they cut off character's heads or the camera angle's not quite right. But all this gets a free pass just because many people are in love with the cast/chemistry btw characters.

The best rating I can give this drama is an 8/10 and that's only because I fell in love with the Yi City arc (loved the relationship between two characters) and I also loved the sibling chemistry btw the ML and his brother (I actually found them to have the spark and angst that's missing from the lead couple -this is largely due to censorship preventing the leads' romance from having central focus).

In addition, I adored the younger generation disciples and all of their interactions with the leads. But I can't give this drama a 9 or 10 when almost everything aside from cast chemistry/music and some well-done sequences are all executed poorly.

Honestly, even an 8/10 is generous, but that's my biased rating and I admit to it freely, lol. The cast chemistry and relationships are what ultimately save this drama for me. This is the main area where I give credit to the production crew. I don't credit them for the ambitious plot because that came from the novel and they weren't even particularly skilled at telling it, lol. In fact, many story changes they made only served to confuse the viewer and some, like the Yin metal storyline, were a complete waste of time.

It's certainly not a masterpiece like "Nirvana in Fire" and it's not just the censorship holding it back either since the entire drama's replete with numerous craftmanship flaws that has nothing to do with censorship. Censorship certainly doesn't excuse shoddy storytelling (ex: the romance btw the ML's sister and another character was poorly done/inconsistent whereas it made complete sense in the book), crappy editing, and amateurish camerawork.

So overall, this drama is worth watching if you can forgive the amateurish production and manage to connect and fall in love with its many lovable characters. But do prepare yourself to be patient for the first 30+ episodes (some got into it after the first 15 or so terrible episodes, but I didn't fall in love until the Yi City arc).

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Deserves its current top rating on the list

I am very selective of dramas I watched online and typically I only watched those with high ratings. I must say this drama deserves its current top rating for Chinese dramas. Good looking actors and actresses, bromance, mystery, beautiful cinematography, special effects, comic moments, heart-wrenching scenes, melodious music rolled into one.

The initial couple of episodes were rather confusing. But I was intrigued by the mystery of Wei Ying's death and resurrection, and I watched on - great job of introducing that at the beginning. When I reached the episode he was thrown off the cliff, I revisited the two initial episodes and they all started to make sense. Similarly, I was not impressed initially with the cast. But the drama improved further down the track and so did the acting of the actors/actresses.

I had not read the novel, but this drama deserves credit in its own rights. From the reviews of readers of the novel, there were suggestions of homosexuality in the relationships. But the drama was tastefully done and there were no homosexual scenes. Although I am not homo-phobic, I really do not appreciate homosexual scenes so I am glad of there were none - I do not share and appreciate the emotions - in fact, they are a bit of a turn-off.

However, intense feelings and camaraderie were enacted. The looks that Lan Zhan gave to Wei Ying were full of quiet intense emotions, and the feeling of pain at his death and suffering was well expressed. Wang YiBo acted Lan Zhan well. If WeiYing or LanZan is replaced by a female, coupled with a bit of tweak, this could become a romance story. In dramas, I have a type - I am strongly attracted to the charismatic, calm, intelligent, handsome hero of little words.

The mystery of what happened in the 16 years that Wei Ying was dead was not quite satisfactorily explained. Did he stay dead for 16 years until he was resurrected? If not, what happened to him in the 16 years? How did Mo Xuan Yue found and resurrect him?

And I love the music pieces - the theme song at the end and the music piece at the beginning.

I was impressed with the attention to details - they had chosen a boy who had dimples on his cheek to act the young Jin GuangYao - consistent with Zhu Zan Jin who had very obvious dimples and acted the adult.

Finally, to those who had started watching this drama and are the impatient type, stay on for a few episodes before you give up. And if you have not started, go ahead and you would not regret it.

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normally before i start to watch drama (kdrama, cdrama,tdrama,jdrama) i will check the review first and it's rating and check the cast together with their previous drama or movie. well, maybe most of us do that.
so otw to episode 14 and still, yes STILL i don't understand why this drama rated so high.
9.4! c'mom... the acting of this drama is so lame.
am i being like this bcoz i never had the chance to read the novel??? really???
don't get me wrong but i'm not into romance as well.
story of minglan is way waaayyyy better than this drama.
guess comparing them both will not give justice to minglan.

ps. got me until episode 14 bcoz of the rating
pps. i made an account just to express my dismay of this drama

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Alors pour commencer sachez que je ne suis pas trop du genre wuxia ou encore drama d'époque, j'ai donc commencer ce drama parce que ma soeur en parlais trop et je n'avais rien d'autre à suivre. je l'ai commencer à 20h et je n'ai pas fermé loeil avant de l'avoir terminer juste pour vous dire à quel point j'ai été emportée par l'histoire dès le premier épisode.
l'histoire est vraiment belle et bien adapter, à chaque épisode on à envie d'en savoir plus ..!!!!
Les acteur ont fait du très bon boulot pour faire vivre leur personnage surtout XIQO ZHAN jouant wei wuxian et YU BIN jouant WEN NING, leur jeu était juste parfais, ils ont su appréhendé et faire vivre leur personnage de façon spectaculaire.
La bromance entre les personnages principaux est aussi bien intégré et très belle, je me suis douté qu'à la base il s'agit d'un Bl adapter dès les 2 premiers épisodes, pour dire à quel point l'alchimie entre les deux personnages est magnifique.
La musique est tout aussi belle, on se laisse emporter par le son des instrument...
J'ai vraiment passer un très bon moment en suivant ce drama je le recommende vraiment!!!!!

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Just watch it now did you hear me...

I think this is a very good show and i'll recommend it to everyone to watch. It has a very good story line?, very good characters?, very good actor? and very good chemistry? in them so i think it is perfect in every way.... So watch it now.... Did you hear me..?! If yes, then what are you doing go now...?! That all and I hope you enjoy watching this drama...bye..?! No i haven't reach 500 characters yet so i can't post it yet.. ?? I know I'm posting my review this late... And i have watched this drama so late and I regret it so I hope you won't regret missing this drama.....

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Not my cup of tea, sorry.

I've started this drama because of all the good reviews it has received but I ended up dropping this drama at the episode 6. I even forced myself until the episode 6 because I wanted to see why it has received all those good criticism, but for that I've skipped a lot of scenes, way too much to be honest.

The story sounds like a mess, to me. I really did not understand anything. Fantasy is not my cup of tea so it does not help at all.

The two main leads are very good especially the main one (the one who is quite stubborn 'in a good way'). They are good looking and well written. But even their interraction became boring after a while.

The action/fight scenes were really bad. To be frank I've skipped them all withouth hesitation. The reason is simple, it is as if we could see the rope that held the actors even though they did not appear on the screen we could clearly guess that they were well present. It is annoying. And, again, fantasy did not help it, I think it even made it worse.

The music is really not my cup of tea as well so I did not find it attractive, but that's my personal taste.

I respect those who have enjoyed the drama but to be clear, I would not recommend it. I am not saying this drama is bad, but in my opinion, it is overrated.

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