The Starry Love (2023)

Romcom wrapped up in xianxia genre - Refreshing and unique

If you're a seasoned watcher of xianxia dramas, you probably expect complicated storylines, tons of supporting characters, and a lot of tragedy and angst.

The Starry Love, for a xianxia drama, is quite unique and refreshing because it doesn't have too much of that. A huge chunk of it feels like a romantic comedy (emphasis on the comedy! It's very cute and silly). There are a good amount of supporting characters but the main supporting characters who go on the journey with the main 4 leads are a very good ensemble, very likeable, and bring comedy and also move the plot along.

My favorite refreshing parts of this drama:
-sisters who truly love and care for each other!!! No envy, no jealousy, just pure love and support.
-male lead comes off as cold in the beginning and there's an actual reason for that, not just because he's an asshole.
-The 'second' life in the mortal/beast realm doesn't involve too much amnesia actually because female lead doesn't forget any of her memories. It's all on the male lead's side.

Also, you know it'll be a good watch if you got both Sa DingDing AND Mao Buyi singing songs for the OST.

Furthermore, Chen XingXu is absolutely fantastic. He takes the whole cake! I knew he was already fantastic from Goodbye My Princess, but wow, he plays like 4-5 different personalities for his character--and pulls it all off! They are also unique with their own speech and mannerisms--something that Chen XingXu put a lot of thought into. I'm so happy for him and that he got to play this kind of difficult role, showing off his talent and skills!

Why am I only rating it 9.5 instead of 10? There are definitely a couple small things that I think could've been better, so I'm knocking it by half a point, but those small things doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the show. Really recommend to those looking for a different style of a xianxia drama!

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Epic Xianxia Is Epic

This is really three stories in one long telling. The most obvious story is romantic involving the twin sisters. The secondary story is the power struggles in the Heavenly and Void realms. The underlying story that guides them all is the “Big Bad” that threatens their universe.

The characters are many but after a few episodes very distinct in their differences. The main romantic couples are obvious after the first couple episodes. The heroes and villains aren’t as straight forward in the supporting characters.

As soon as one crisis is thwarted, another one pops up in true dramatic fashion. The story is always moving forward. The laughs are plentiful and balanced with the angst overall. All the little side stories are like puzzle pieces to the bigger picture.

The CGI is amazing and is the visual center to this show and the story. The soundtrack fits the scenes, even when it’s a modern sound. The sound effects are on point, especially enhancing the comical moments. Bonus points for not overusing blood leaving the body. However, in the beginning there are some noticeable sound production issues. Costumes and make up are beautiful. It’s easy to distinguish the type of character the person is suppose to be based on it.

Overall a highly recommended show for those who typically enjoy epic Xianxia style stories.

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Great female characters, in this economy??

This drama may not be perfect, but it’s damn near perfection. I thought I wouldn’t love another xianxia drama this much after Love between fairy and devil, but I am happy I gave this a try because I am in LOVE. I need the OST on spotify like now. Sa Dingding, Mao Buyi and Liu Yuning… the OST can only be good

If you are like me and your guilty pleasures are : good girl falls in love with bad guy, bad girl falls in love with good guy…. This one is for you

First of all, this drama is absolutely hilarious. I laughed out loud so many times. Second of all, don’t come here believing the sisters will turn on each other, because they DON’T. Ever. Their love is too strong. It has great characters, and it has well written and bad ass female characters. You will fall in love with the leads. I thought I would hate the male leads, at first, but oh boy did they prove me wrong. Shaodian Youqin turned out the be the standard, setting the bar way too high. Anyways. It has great characters who have each other’s back and bring out the best out of each others. There’s is no stupid characters, they all have braincells. The romance is absolutely delicious. It has 40 episodes, and it doesn’t need more (besides maybe a little epilogue pls…) ; they manage to tell the story in the 40 episodes, without much filler. It has so many bad ass and satisfying moments. Seriously, I just need everyone to watch this drama.

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Definitely did not regret watching this

I don't know how it was possible to make every episode amazing. Each episode always left a feeling of more.the ending did not also disappointed me . It rare for me to want to listen to ost after watching like few episodes but I was anticipating it and something even replayed them. The character emotions were on point. The story development was wonderful. And the plot uncovering was not something you would have expected. Each character had their own charisma and just watching them made me feel all kind of emotions but one emotions common in all episode was joy and happiness and laughter. You will definitely not regret..
P.s first comment here

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Best Fantasy Comedy of 2023, BUT Not the Best Show

The Starry Love has an excellent character development and consistency (for once) while incorporating humor that outshines and pokes fun at the amount of overused troupes. This fantasy drama is a roller coaster of emotions where it knows how and when to take its characters seriously and not so seriously. The director executes the pace of the story correctly, understanding when to slow down and when to move forward with storytelling. Unlike all the other cdramas I've seen, most scenes are either usually rushed or takes it long ass time with romance, political conversations and fight scenes. The Starry Love gets straight to the point, except for the last few episodes.

The series has its negatives, where its cinematography isn't well put together, down to its color lighting, obvious props standing out as unrealistic and awkward camera shots such as watching the characters behind cheap props and buildings. Lol

The last few 10 episodes did slip off the cliff in the direction of how the show wanted to end -to a point where you believe it was going to be a happy ending, then suddenly a problem shows up to break the characters apart and then its solved, everyone's happy again then another problem shows up, problem solved and then everyone's happy again, but then blah blah blah... - you get the point. It was rather exhausting watching the finale.

SPOILER ALERT: Main characters die but they're not because reincarnation is the solution to everything. Literally. That is the biggest problem I find fustrating with this series and particularly, all fantasy series! Lol

Overall, The Starry Love may not be the best show, but it is the best comedy I've ever seen in the longest time. I am impressed and satisfied by all the cast members and the execution of the direction it wants to viewers to know. Especially, the actor Chen Xing Xu who played four different distinctive characters in one series.

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Made my mdl account JUST to write a review on TSL!!

mannn i have to say this... it was legitly awesome ,there was not a single ep part that i had to skip it was just so good and the best part about this was comedy .The director was superb in engaging the audience!!

and especially the acting of the cast was just impeccable!!! these actors deserve all the fame mann!! i also herd that they were ranked first in their year of university!! nott kidding these rumours mann>>>

the OST's were all great ,i loved the theme song personally!!
the ending was not bad but the best atleast they had happy endinggg..

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It's an amazing and lovely drama

This drama has a lovely osts be sure to listen to them and read their meaning because they are amazing .
all the characters has their own stories and help us to know their personality well.
I really love both main couples and the way that they fall in love. I also really liked that they showed all four realms.
The excellent actors and actresses of this series immerse you in their story with their unique acting, and this is very exciting because you can easily understand and sympathize with their feelings and understand the story better.
You can laugh and cry with all characters.
I also really liked that the two main characters in the story used their real voices, especially Chen Xing xu.
I really love Dai Ya Qi too ; she is so cute and beautiful and I hope to see her as the main role.
In this story, you see bad characters with good hearts as well as good characters with bad hearts, and you see how they try to grow and become better people, and in the end, there is no absolute good or bad.
You will also see how wrong judgments and blind prejudices will cause destruction

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What brought me to this drama was director Chui Yui Bun. Initially I had low expectations, because the director's previous work, despite being starring very famous artists, did not meet my expectations, as in this drama I knew little about the work of the protagonists, I hesitated a little before watching it, but halfway through the drama I already was convinced that Chui Yui Bun got the casting choice right.
The script is well written, the screenwriter focused on the story of the two sisters, but did not forget to present the trajectory of the other characters in the plot, she knew how to balance funny scenes and dramatic scenes with a very pleasant text. The characters created are captivating. The ending is consistent with the unfolding of the drama, but only that thread of hope does not fully satisfy.
The cast was a good surprise, right at the beginning I found actor Chen Xing Xu's acting a bit mechanical, but when he gave life to the three soul fragments, the actor gave a show of interpretation. It was the first time I saw the work of actress Landy Li and actor Luke Chen, in addition to being beautiful, they acted with lightness and grace. Whether protagonists, antagonists or supporting actors, the entire cast did an impeccable job, certainly, it would be a more accurate job if the voice was captured at the moment of the scene and not dubbed, even though it is the voice of the artist himself, the emotion is not always the same the moment the scene was taken.
The director was right in choosing the script and the cast, produced well-finished scenes with beautiful photography, the CGI is very pleasing to the eye, the editing is well done and has very few errors. The drama was neither slow nor rushed, for my taste, the director should have added a scene from a few thousand years later, as he did in Ashes of Love, this would have made for a more pleasant ending, but even so, the ending was very emotional .
The soundtrack is very nice. The presence of Sa Ding Ding's incomparable voice and Mao Bu Yi's soft voice enrich the drama.
The costume is extremely beautiful.

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The Starry Love was such a satisfying, entertaining drama that gave me the kind of story I've always wanted! When I first saw the trailer, I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch it because it looked too comedic for my tastes, but I soon realized that the comedy also served to offer insights into our characters. The four main characters are so well-developed that I truly loved each of them.

The twin princesses who have a strong & loving bond, always putting each other first and supporting each other; Yetan is tough on the outside but has a fierce & loyal heart, Qingkui is gentle and kind and doesn't hesitate to speak up for others. I especially liked Qingkui because sometimes kind-hearted characters are made out to be naive damsels in distress. Qingkui played to her strengths, was always clear-headed, and could speak so eloquently.

Finally, a Heavenly Prince who is decisive and remains true to his heart; typically this sort of character is torn between responsibility and love, the world vs one person. Shaodian Youqing had so many memorable lines. And lastly, a Void Prince whose scheming is actually always for the sake of those he cares most deeply about. The romance between Chaofeng & Qingkui won me over first, but at the conclusion of the second story arc I was so moved by the main romance!

Not only do Li Lan Di and Chen Xing Xu do an excellent job with humorous scenes (it's not easy to avoid being cringey!), they have excellent chemistry and capture the emotions of their characters so well. (I hated Chen Xing Xu's character in Goodbye My Princess and thought I'd associate it with him forever, but his performance here has proven me wrong.) I have probably watched every Chen Mu Chi and He Xuan Lin scene at least three times. Chen Mu Chi looks so good as Chaofeng that I'll really need an adjustment period the next time I see him in a drama. In addition, the supporting characters were all great, Hai Chao was *hilarious* and totally spot-on, Fei Chi was funny as well, Yetan's friends were wonderful, the villains were immensely hateable, Wu Dai was adorable.. The only annoying character is Biqiong but don't worry, she has very little screentime.

The last ~10 episodes are so fast-paced, but I'm not complaining. It's a nice change from 50+ episode dramas where half the episodes feel like a slog. I do hope for an epilogue/bonus scene, but if we don't get one I'm still satisfied, as this drama brought me so much joy. It feels very rewatchable and it's making my all-time favorites list.

Regarding the OST, I played Mao Buyi's version of 天地无瑕 ('Flawless World') on repeat for weeks. A beautiful song, and I didn't feel like it was overused in the drama.

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Loved it, but have a couple of boxes of Kleenex handy!

I really loved this drama! The cast is amazing! Loved all the main leads. Loved the relationship between the sisters! Loved the intermixing between the 4 realms. Loved all the couples, loved the 3 Masters. Loved that the writers found a wonderful way to show that the mortal Emperor loved Tan all along with the gifts under the table. In fact, that might have been one of my favorite surprises! Loved the songs and the beautiful settings. Now, about the writing... I never cried so much in any drama before!! I was not the only one either! Those of us commenting were all crying! We cried because we were invested in these characters. That is the power of a well written drama. I went through a box and a half of Kleenex during this show! That being said, as well written as I thought it was, I was also upset with the ending. We all love a happy ending and we all felt sad that we didnt get to see one! It was absolutely heart breaking when Kui sacrificed herself for Tan. God, but it was hard to get past! But when Tan did the same and we never got to see them return, it was pretty disappointing, I'm not going to lie. Just about everyone was unhappy with the ending. The writers did a great job, except for the ending, where I felt they dropped the ball. Or They ran out of episodes. Either way, it could have been better planned. But, 95% of this drama was written extremely well. I thought the finding of the 3 versions of Xuan Shang took too long, but each version was kind of entertaining.
Some commenters were really, really vocal about how they felt about the bad guys in this drama! I was really angry as well which means the actors playing those characters acted well! I loved all the couples! I was happy to see Wudai with the snake princess. She was awesome for him! Would have liked to see her win him over though. Btw, loved Wudai in general! He is such a lovable character! So well played! My favorite character was 3rd Void Prince, Chao Feng. His character arc was my favorite. I loved watching him and his 2nd, Hai Chao. Hai Chao was a great character! I loved watching him fall for Qing Kui. Watching him lose her was heartbreaking. Loved Di Lan Jue! Having him turn into a puppy and end up wearing a diaper was comedic genius! Loved him and ZiWu. Loved Qeng Heng. Was very sorry to see him not get a love interest at the end.
Well, I would definitely recommend this drama! Just have more than 1 box of Kleenex, you are gonna need it!

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