Spirit Realm (2021)

This is a Rant...BUT

I went into this with zero expectations. I tried watching the first 2 episodes because AvenueX mentioned that the cgi was beautiful. I thought it would be just another 'xianxia' trope, and truly wasn't expecting to like it. But then, right from the very beginning, the visuals were so f****ing beautiful. Qin Lie's fight with the beast was okay, what I stayed for...was the visuals of Yushi. Her trekking through the heavy snow in the dark,... It was like a scene straight out of some high-quality hollywood production (Think Snow white and the Huntsman or Witcher) . And the intermittent shots of Du Shao Yang being asked to marry a woman, who we know from the way it's shot...is Yushi. And that was it,...the rest as they say is history. I couldn't stop myself from immediately bingeing through all the released episodes. Though I have to admit, that I basically fast forwarded all scenes of Qin Lie and Song Ting Yu. The visuals were truly the best part of the show. The different realms, particularly Ling Burrough, the Frost land, Purple Mist Sea, and the Netherlands. And of course the ost. The song that plays every time Qin Lie is in a fight with the odds stacked against him, and yet he manages to come out just fine, and grows even stronger in fact....I loved that song. Trying to figure out Qin Lie's feelings for Yushi, and the Gao Yu -Yushi- Qin Lie triangle was also pretty interesting. I was even considering to let Yushi and Gao Yu get married, before the scriptwriters forcibly blackened him. I honestly couldn't understand why Yushi was so set on QL, that she completely ignored the other man who basically worshipped her- Gao Yu.
The story was okay, but they could have done so much more with it, there were so many possibilities....I'd been soo looking forward to Wu Chun and Gong Mu Lie's story and yet they turned it into this completely meaningless nonsense, They basically stalked each other for a long time, and thus automatically fell in love...like seriously? Did the scriptwriter suddenly lose his brain? And I hate the ending. It was like going back to square one after 36 episodes. It felt so meaningless. The least they could have done, was provide an epilogue at the very least. The acting was okay I suppose, but yes Cheng Xiao could have done so much better. I know that the character of Yushi is supposed to be cool and calm at all times, but she just seemed wooden to me. And I know Cheng Xiao could have done better, because Wu Chun seemed so much more alive and real.
I suppose this is turning into a rant now, but I'm seriously disappointed at what they did with the script...I had soooo much expectations...Even so, I'll definitely watch this again, because the visuals are truly breathtaking, and you should watch this drama, if for nothing else but that.
There are so many negatives points about this drama, and logically speaking it's merely an average one. And yet as I'm writing this review, I realize that despite its many flaws, I still love the show.

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Ok, so here we go.
Story. The storyline was pretty decent, but I sort of felt like I got the grasp of how it was going to go along when I read the summary. Ngl I skipped over a lot of stuff when the frame didn't have the leads in them and honestly I still got through the whole drama understanding what was happening. The storyline wasn't surprising or anything, it didn't have a surprise pop, in the end, the whole storyline was easily predicted just through watching the teasers for upcoming episodes. Honestly, he was looking for his grandpa and his grandpa only showed up for like a few minutes. Bruh.
Acting/Cast. Most of the actors and actresses aren't the ones you would usually recognize once you saw them and I understand they are pretty new. The male lead. This was FCC's first drama, but it wasn't as bad as I thought and it was nowhere awkward. Personally, I believe he did his best and he carried the character well, but the only thing I found awkward was the way he hugged the female lead, it wasn't sweet and it didn't give me that sweet emotion. I guess it's the actor and actresses chemistry or whatever, feel free to comment on that.
The female lead. This is CX's second drama and honestly, I felt like her first drama was better. I completely understand that her character had a calm and cold demeanor, but I felt like she didn't express that really well. I hate to, say this, but some of her expressions were repetitive, there are many other female characters who probably have the same personality as she does, but it just wasn't portrayed that well here. In addition, her character was very still and it made her look really awkward at times. Maybe this character just doesn't suit CX? Idk man.
Second female lead. I'm not going to lie I stopped paying attention to her mid-series, but her acting was really good. She portrayed the hate and ruthlessness of the character really well. I'm pretty sure the actress is pretty young in their 20s? Her drama costume did nothing to touch up her looks, instead, it made her look older and not the mature kind of old.
The main bad character. Gao Yu? He was only seen in the beginning few and his character just disappeared and came back, got defeated or whatever and that's it. Basically, this drama is like a discovery drama, in the end, there was no big evil character he had to face off or something.
Music. The music was good. The music was sung by the leads and as idols/singers, they're not bad. I love the feeling the song gave. It's very calm and pleasant.
Rewatch value. Honestly, I, myself probably won't rewatch this and tbh if I didn't watch this because of FCC and CX and I came across it, I probably wouldn't have been interested at all. Sorry, not sorry.
Overall. I mean you can try it.
Note. In addition, I am not going to lie, but the plot is pretty similar to Legend of Awakening, where the male lead is out looking for their birthright or powers or whatever and they come across many help and friends along the way. Basically, the drama is focused on the male lead's search and growth, so don't expect some sweet and romantic storyline.
xx

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What a mess!

This started off good. The cgi , set and costume design were visually impressive. The introduction of the characters was good and the initial plot/conspiracy was very intriguing.

However, by the sixth episode I had grown tired of the repetitive plot points. The same problems keep cropping up. Characters take one step forward in an episode and then a step back in another with little to no reason given.

Characters' motivation in this drama: virtually non existent. When they are given one, it's often too shallow to be taken seriously.

Oh god I almost forgot about the editing which is absolutely atrocious. The worst I've ever seen. Whoever cut this drama deserves jail ?. It is that bad!

These are all big recurring problems throughout the drama up until episode 30 which was when I threw in the towel.

The acting was meh. The chemistry between the male and female lead is dead.

Judging by the lack of continuity, and forgotten plot lines and characters it is clear that they really struggled to adapt what is evidently a long novel to a 36 episode drama. Stories like this should either be streamlined, which means cutting out many characters and plot lines, or told over multiple series.

What a shame.

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Unpopular Opinion: IT'S BETTER THAN WHAT WE ALL EXPECTED IT TO BE

this drama is not some s-class nor a high budget drama but they really made every penny worth it from the music, the dubbing and costumes is so so good (which i believe is better than other s-class dramas out there) and the CGI is just top notch! for real the effects are just superb and well done!

casting an almost all rookie actors for a drama and casting 2 rookie idol-actors as main leads is quite a risky thing to do but i pretty much think they performed well, fan chengcheng have said and was shown in several clips that he had been taking acting classes and has a teacher that helps him while filming this drama, for me he did very well, sometimes shaky but really has potential, hes quite equipped with support (ofc his sister is an actress) im sure he has tons of pointers and lessons from her too. for cheng xiao, this is her second drama as a main lead and was just filmed 2 months after filming her first ever drama (legend of awakening) for me, she did okay, there were also times that were she was not in the proper expression but also there were times(specifically starting ep 15 onwards) where her performance was very moving and can affect you emotionally which i think shows her improvement while filming this drama. all actors did okay, no one overshadowed any one.

sad fact, the second FL has more screentime than the drama's main FL - i don't sit quite well with this simply because the FL's character story was so good, her development was better than anyone on the drama but her development was suddenly put on hold and was just ignored, if they showed more of the FL and ML together then this would have been a really really good drama but i guess this really wasn't a romance drama in the first place so its acceptable generally, but for me .. im upset w that ..

this historical fantasy drama started as a family drama, then became political then became about friendships then love and life and death, it was quite a good drama, the pacing was great and the drama structure is so so different than most cdramas out there but i guess the writers ran out of episodes(they only have 36 eps which is very few) so it felt like everything became suddenly too quick and some stories are left out and there were many things i expected to happen and many things im curious about but was not answered (season 2 would be great but i dont think that would happen)

overall the drama is good because it made me talk about the plot, made me happy, sad, and mad .. and for real this was better than how i expected it to be in many levels! so i hope everyone can give this a shot~

the ending isnt that bad, its just, they could've done better but i guess most historical fantasy dramas are like this, really keeps viewers hanging and wanting for a second season...

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When they tagged this as a Fantasy, they were not playing. The visuals of the fantasy were excellent. I applaud the graphic video techs. The storyline was awesome as well. All these young actors, wow! Adam Fan for being 21, did an awesome job. Now that I know he is in a Cpop Nex7, I will have to watch. Cheng Xiao, gymnast, dancer, songstress, basketball what more can this young lady do and acting is added to her list. She is awesome. Of course, the other main actors did well! I knocked a point off because of one main lead. I won't say who but know this act.... is young and as this young person keeps acting will be great. The storyline was great, it had me a little confused, but I worked through it. I would love to see another fantasy similar to this one.

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Plot Convenience & Plot Armour embodied in a drama. Also quite a mess

Edit: now finished. What a mess this truly is. Backstory was a joke. The last few episodes were kinda ridiculous in my eyes. (Though I did like the gravestone-dancing scene lol). So I had to go down with the rating imo.

Disclaimer: Own Opinion (the following is based on the first 22 episodes)

I just don't know what to say anymore to this show. Like it started of interesting and then went downhill.
Like if our main guy ever is in trouble you'll know within like 5 minutes he'll either level-up (reach a new realm), learn a new technique or a random grandmaster will appear who saves him. (Also the power scaling makes no sense sometimes, like you are in an RPG game level 70 and fight against a lvl 90, you lose; then you level up to 71 and now suddenly you can defeat the level 90, yet lose against every other lvl 80)
I feel like the drama could have been better if you removed the main male character. Like it is so ret**ded. It's like saying to someone let's do A, then you go ahead and do B and then get mad at the other person for not doing B, after explicitly having told them to do A prior to it. Sometimes I asked myself if they gave the main character a bipolar personality (as well he in fact is two; definitely two personalities). Also the words respect of propriety do not exist for our main guy, as well who cares about other people if you know you'll survive and even get a power-up if you are ever in trouble
Like even the male "villain" (or for someone people the saintess) in the first few episodes has not even reached the level of disdain I have for the main character. And then when Qin Lie ""protected"" (double quotation marks on purpose, it is just that bad) the sect I came so close to quitting this show.

As for the main female. I like the backstory (from what we know so far) and the fact that she is not overpowered (yet?) and thinks rationally.

Acting was quite solid for the most part, especially considering it's a younger and less experienced main cast.

As for the music I quite like Rock and it also fit the fighting scenes. However there is one soundtrack which just reminds me of Star Wars (you'll hopefully know the one I mean, can be heard within the first few eps). Along with the Space Ship battle in ep 22 I lost it...

Rewatch value... how about no. Just look for a different drama? Like I can withstand stupidity to a certain degree but like having to go through that struggle again.. not worth it.

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Don't waste your time

Where do I start.

First of all, I never write reviews. But this was so bad, I had to warn people.

I do not know if this was supposed to be part of the plan, but the characters of this drama are borderline emotionless and completely shallow.
People dissaper, die and no one bats an eye. Apart from an older couple that appears for literally 5 minutes and shows emotion, everyone else is almost constantly expressionless. There is absolutely no chemistry between the leading couple and there's barely any with the second leads.

The plot is all over the place. People come and go, side plots everywhere, videogame-like power-ups that happen for no reason whatsoever, "magical artefacts" that appear just when you need them (with utterly ridiculous names such as "profound terminator bomb") and a very boring beginning. It took me until episode 20 to feel remotely "invested" in this drama.

The effects are not the best, but not the worst. The editor of the cut-scenes needs to get fired. They cut from one scene to another without any reason or explanation of what has happened at all.
The music score was to my taste.

Overall, if I was not completely bored and out of dramas to watch, I would've dropped it in an instant.
I did originally, watched another two cdramas in between and then I returned to give it another chance.
I shouldn't.

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It's worth watching!

THE STORY
It was very ok and captivating and easy to understand. Perhaps the love story between the protagonists should have been more present. What disappointed me was the end. Because of it I gave 8.5 stars. It wasn't the most disastrous, but it could have been better. I hope maybe they wanted to leave room for a new season. I hope they're planning a new season with the same actors.
THE ACTORS
They were all very well chosen and played very well.
VISUAL
All the effects were very ok. For a show, where the investment is much higher, the whole show looked very good. Pleasant to watch.

I don't get the re-watch value, but I suppose it's about the chances to watch again this show. I don't like to re-watch movies or TV shows, but I gave it a 9.

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It’s ok

I mean I didn’t really love the beginning but it was bearable I only watched it because I really liked Cheng Xiao and I want to support her. The beginning to the end was ok overall. All the costumes were very beautiful. They made a very nice background for the drama and everything.....but the wigs, I didn’t really dig them for Fan Cheng Cheng he looked pretty handsome with that yellow or blond wig but for the purple wig that Cheng Xiao wore it was not that pleasing to the eye but then it was OK I would say. The ending was suppose to be a sad ending but the acting was so bad that I couldn’t feel any of the sadness going on. I love the actors but I think they need to improve on their acting.✌️

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Self Discovery & Adventure Story

This drama is totally different from others fantasy cdramas. Why? This drama talks less on romance or do not have any skinship but more on self discovery & adventure.

Over here few roles has 2 identities, one identity on their previous life & another new identity on their current life. That's why it is rather complicated & confusing at the beginning of this drama but if one can endure watching it till episode 10 onwards then one may see the development of each roles over here and how they are related to both the ML - Qin Lie @ Gong Mu Lie @ God of War & FL - Ling Yi Shi @ Wu Chun @ Mother Land

This story has a bit elements taken from Love & Redemption, Ashes of Love & The Legend of Awakening. So you can imagine how the whole story flow is going to be.

Since I am not going to spoil it over here, so I won't be revealing more on this drama. For those who has not watch it or plan to watch it. My advise is watch it if you like adventure & fantasy stories with less romance.
Hints : There is only a short romance between the 2nd ML - Du Shao Yang with 3rd FL - Tang Si Qi.

Fyi. from episode 25 onwards - I watched it in raw version which means no English subs but I still find it rather interesting so if you really want to enjoy this drama then please wait for it to fully subbed.

Since I did not read the anime or novel version hence I am not sure if this drama is going to continue with Season 2. But just be prepared for the ending of this drama as the ending = opening of a new chapter which I guess, there is a high chance of Season 2.

Pro's - Interesting storyline, great acting skills from these newbies (ML & FL), impressive CGI effects & even the voice dubbing is far better compared to others cdramas.

Con's - Ep.1 to 9 - seems slow & confusing, the volume for this drama is very soft (idk if I am the only one who is facing this problem as I need to switch on the volume to the max.), ending is like a bit rushing & OST does not seems to attract me.

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The world of fantasy (WOW)

This has begun to be one of my favorite shows to date. It action packed with a excellent story plot and great acting, the diffrent twist and turns in the movie will surely have you eyes glued to your tv sets and people if you like fantasy and scify shows your gona love it I sure did!And now im left thinking to myself please have a 2nd season please! I am just blown away by the acting of these actors and without all the computerized special effects you see in the US these folks are so very talented thank you so much for such a enjoyable plot without and political agendas to the show that has really turned me away from about all the shows produced in my country your acting is clean and refreshing and again thank you so much for an very enjoyable show! Ps please make a Season 2 and i will be waiting and hoping to see it!

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