The Starry Love (2023)

Ashes of Love yet better!

I didn't think that I would love this show as it gave off the same vibe as Ashes of Love only to find out that it is indeed related to Ashes of love.

Plot/Storyline: I love the overall plot of the show as it had stories of friendship, pain, and romance in it all entwined. I also loved the themes of sisterhood, friendship, and trauma. I felt like they could have done better with is fleshing out Yetan's trauma that she had during her childhood and how that could effect her later on in life. There was times that they could have done good with that but they missed the opportunity. Also, I couldn't stand Shao Dian's voice it was deep for like no reason and it was so distracting. On the other hand, I liked that balanced between the two sister lives as it jumped between the heavenly realm and void realm. Furthermore, how they fleshed out all the characters all the hardships they had family drama, their was no character that I was confused about.

Cast: The cast member's did awesome. I was hesitant about watching this because Chen Xing Xu was in goodbye, my princess and he was a complete menace to society in that show so I was still pissed. Nevertheless, he did amazing it was good to see him as a good person redeeming himself.

Music: All I can say is that it fit the overall concept of the show and I couldn't be any much content. Especially since Sa ding ding and Mao Buyi never fails at making us either cry or heart flutter.

In conclusion, it was a good show and I hope that we get a season 2 or we get something just as good.

Leggi di Più

The Twin Flowers have my heart

Wow! This was an amazing show! It was funny, heartwarming, romantic, and emotional. The relationships in this series - family bonds, romantic partners, and friendships- are what helped to elevate this drama for me. I laughed & I cried throughout the series - they did a great job of balancing the comedy & the drama together in a seamless way that I didn’t feel any whiplash from the change of tone in the story. The 4 main leads all brought their A+ game (especially CXX who had to play 5 different characters!) & the supporting casts were also phenomenal (shout- out to our favorite paid supporting actor Hai Chao’s rolling eyes! Lol) . All the characters had depths & arcs. The pacing of the show helped keep the plot interesting & dynamic. There were minimal filler scenes (EVERY show has boring parts - even my #1 fav Nirvana in Fire) so that’s always a plus! Overall, one of my favorite C-Dramas in a looong time - def in my Top 5!

Leggi di Più

Best xianxia drama in 2023

Although this drama “the starry love” was aired in 2023, I just finished watching it so it is abit late reviews.
I watched this drama due to I heard some good reviews from Facebook posts and main lead actor Chen XingXu.
I like his acting is so natural without overacting. He is talented in acting skills.
He is also good at wire fighting scenes!!!
The starry love is totally different with other typical Xian Xia drama (such as mentor and his disciple plots).
It has solid plots and well-written scripts with a lot of humour scenes!!! Weak points is some special effects on some scenes!!
Main lead couple romance is heartbreaking and heart touching!! They have chemistry in their characters too!!
Overall this is best xian Xia comedy drama in 2023 because I rarely watched xian Xia genres!!! I enjoyed this drama a lot!!!!!

Leggi di Più

Good twist on this genre

For someone like me who is more into the intense, action-packed style of drama, this drama wasn't so bad. The best thing was the acting. Most of the characters did so well including the Heavenly ml, the evil twin, the side characters were really awesome. The acting was really top-notch. The story wasn't something that was excellent but it was good enough. CGI and cinematography was decent as well. The music was 50/50. Either it was great sometimes or poor sometimes. I did not like any of the fathers in this drama and while the void prince redeemed himself, i still did not like him so much. Overall would recommend to watch. People into the style of drama would probably enjoy it more.

Leggi di Più

Wow! Why aren't people talking about this one more?

Initially when i saw the cast and roles, I thought that the twins would marry twins and that Chen Xing Xu was portraying both the Male leads, but thankfully that wasn't the case. This is the first time I was introduced to Luke Chen and he was amazing in the role of the third prince.

I also had a lot of assumptions before going into the shows, I thought that the ML played by Cheng XIng Xu would be pretty tame however his story arc was quite powerful compared to that of the Void third prince. His pairing with Landy Li was so fun to watch. The drama didn't have much physical intimacy or even kisses but it was plain to see the lead characters feelings for each others.

I do agree with a lot of reviewers and commenters, the drama has great beginning and ending arcs, however it drags a little in the middle with filler episodes. I like the 3 shards story arc, but it could have been better written. Once they fell in love with her, she just stashed them in places and expected them to stay there no matter how much time it would take for her to find and woo the next one.

And one thing that bothered me, the drama focused too much on forgiveness & sacrifice. Too many characters that shouldn't have been forgiven were forgiven, and unnecessary sacrifices were made for those.

Some Notable Characters:

Liguang Ye Tan
-------------------
Loved her right from the beginning. I like watching characters that are open about everything and say what they want. So I pretty much enjoyed watching her every time she was on the screen. She adored Qing Kui and it showed despite her trying to be a hardass at times. What I liked about Ye Tan is that even though she was envious of the way Qing Kui was treated, she never blamed Qing Kui for it. She knew the culprit was her father and she laid the blame right at his feet. Despite being treated like a prisoner all her life, having to hear cruel words from her father, she found it in herself to forgive him because he did all that to protect her. (Nope, still don't care for her father. She almost died quite a few times because of his negligence. When he used those harsh words, he gave others in his kingdom permission to treat Ye Tan poorly. She was starved most of the time, left to be eaten by animal once. People dared to do this because they knew that her father didn't care for her. Her relationship with You Qin was beautiful to watch.

Empyrean Xuan Shang / Shao Dian You Qin
-------------------------------------------------------
He was so damn adorable. From the get go, we could see how affected he was by Ye Tan. Once he realized that he liked Ye Tan, he never hid his feelings. He was honest about them, even when he turned her into a walnut and sewed her mouth shut. When he found out that Ye Tan was not Qin Kui, he kick up much fuss about it. He accepted her without creating any unnecessary drama that would be out of his character. He was consistently loyal to Ye Tan (Let's not mention that one shard who was promiscuous for his own good). Qing Kui would never have been a good match for him, she would have probably just gone along with everything he wanted and not changed his life much.

Liguang Qing Kui
-----------------------
In the beginning, I was a little upset with her character, not because she was favored twin, but I always felt like she could have done so much more for Ye Tan. What upset me even more was that she was a bit hypocritical with Chao Feng / Third Prince, telling him that she disliked people who treated their family badly. However, she was fine treating her father (Emperor Liguang) well when he treated Ye Tan abysmally. This highlighted her privilege, since her father so clearly loved her, she could turn a blind eye to how he treated Ye Tan majority of the time. Ye Tan never blamed her, since she was imprisoned by her own family, treated poorly, she was glad to receive what little she received from Qing Kui. There could be more to the story, maybe she helped her sister a lot more than we got to see but it wasn't depicted so clearly. I did grow to like her character, especially after watching, "Immortal Samsara: Part 1" , where we have another set of twin sisters who were borne out of same root. It just made me look at her in a different way. Throughout their interaction Qing Kui had always been kind to Ye Tan. She always thought the best of Ye Tan and her ambitions of becoming the Demon of the Void. All their interactions were genuine. Even when the whole mix-up happened and she ended up in the void realm she could have blamed Ye Tan for trying to create a mess to get her out of her wedding she wasn't really against of. However, she was quite sane and even looked out for Ye Tan in her own way. So maybe Qing Kui was one of the reasons Ye Tan didn't loose her spirit even after spending 18 years in captivity.

Chao Feng / Third Prince
---------------------------------
The great liar, it was fun to watch him come up with crazy but believable stories to hoodwink Qing Kui, who easily fell for it. The crazy idiot, didn't even realize that he was creating a trap for himself and when he did realize he was quite happy to fall head over heels for Qing Kui. While he appeared quite dashing in many scenes, I do wish his character would have been more imposing and not often defeated by You Qin. I wanted to see them as equals.


Shao Dian Xiao Yi [Heavenly Emperor]
-------------------------------------------------
The emperor, You Qin's father, was more of glory hound, who didn't really care about You Qin as his child. He just wanted to be known as the father of the great Empyrean who achieved the perfect celestial body and saved the world. Even the fix is not permanent, only for a few hundred thousand years, after which he might as well pop out another child to sacrifice, when he himself never had the guts to step up to the plate. Qing Kui was such a decent person and he seemed very happy when she died, that was quite disgusting to see. His expression of glee was present when he found out that You Qin made progress in his cultivation, not really caring that his son was going to die. A decent parent would have been worried about his child, he seemed elated. Its a wonder his wife tolerated him for so long. We all understand sacrifices are to be made, but he could have been a supportive and understanding parent to You Qin. What's more, he was the first one to be an obstacle in bringing You Qin back to life. Even when he came back to life, he just was selfish prick to everyone included.

I'm not a fan of open endings like these so I scrolled down to the comment sections and found this link. This helped ease of the anxiety the I felt after that ending. https://x.com/YoukuOfficial/status/1750867181745688650?s=20

Leggi di Più

Best Drama of 2023 so far!

I have truly enjoyed watching this drama. Its funny and cute all at the same time. While I love the ML, Di lanjue is the best! Of course he's easy on the eyes, but he is so sweet and loyal. I did not expect the ML to die right out the gate. I definitely was not ready for that. Thankfully he has so many story lines in this drama that you can't get enough of each character he plays. His acting range is amazing!👏 I wasnt a fan of fiery but it was still a sweet storyline. The drama is going so well with lots of love and happiness, yet I can feel a sad ending coming. I hate sad or rushed endings, so I hope the ending does not ruin my opinion of this drama. ML and Di lanjue need more main roles in dramas for sure!!!

Leggi di Più

Not a single thing in the drama is worth appreciating

I am highly choosy when it comes to drama but still ended up watching two worst dramas, one is Miss the dragon and the second is Starry love. I guess I should stop watching ongoing dramas.

About starry love

1. Story. The plot is unique which we don't find in most fantasy dramas. It would've better if it was a light drama or a heavy drama but they made it light till episode 35 and heavy in last 5 episodes but what is disappointing is that everything in last few episodes were too fast. The ending is not happy either. If they planned to end it this way then it should've been made in 15 episodes atleast but......

2. Music. Worse OST in chinese drama till date.

3. Acting. I wasn't impressed with anyone's acting.

4. Cast. I didn't find cast interesting except a few.

5. Side actors. I look forward to side actors story but this time............. disappointed. So many side couples with unnecessary screentime. Their story was not good either. When it comes to side actors story, they should learn from Taoism grandmaster or A river runs through it or else they should not give so much sreentime to side actors.

Nothing in the story is worth watching. It seems like written by a confused child. A child who only writes happy stories but there should be some twist so that was added in last 5 episodes but of course a child doesn't know how to add twist and how to finish it so.........

Leggi di Più

Un très bon wuxia drôle et émouvant

Super agréable et drôle, ce drama nous a tenu captifs malgré des faiblesses de réalisation et de scénario.

C'est donc un wuxia des plus classiques qui nous est offert avec de très gros points positifs :
- Un humour qui se démarque par un ton léger et à la limite de l'absurde et surtout au détour d'une réplique de manière totalement imprévisible! Bien que parfois tirés par les cheveux, nous riions de bon coeur et j'apprécie tout particulièrement que ce ton humoristique ne perde en rien de sa force jusqu'à la fin du drama (bien que la dernière partie sois moins drôle).
- Des personnages ultra-attachants! C'est un des plus gros points forts de ce drama. Les personnages sont drôles et attachants. Certains nous étonnent même par leur sensibilité et l'émotion qu'ils ont pu nous faire découvrir. Une fois n'est pas coutume, certains nous surprennent par des actions que nous n'avions pas anticipé. J'avoue avoir une préférence pour les personnages du Void, qui ont su me faire rire et me faire fangirliser de la manière la plus inattendue. Certains personnages nous étonnent par l'étonnant tournure de leur actions comme le père des deux personnages féminins ou Wu Dai. Et d'autres comme Hao Chao brille par des répliques intelligentes et drôles, ce qui je dois l'avouer en faisait un de mes personnage préféré.
- Des relations émouvantes et évoluant de manière logique, sensée, avec toujours beaucoup d'humour et de sensibilité. J'ai tout particulièrement aimé la relation : Youqin/Chao Feng, une bromance pétillante, l'amour des deux soeurs qui est le moteur de ce drama, l'émouvante relation de l'empereur et ses filles, la relation classique de Chao Feng/Hao Chao mais si poilante, et enfin Wudai/La sainteté dont j'aurai aimé un peu plus de présence à l'écran.
- Des protagonistes féminins qui sortent de l'ordinaire de par leur force et leur éclat. Brillant de générosité autant que d'un caractère bien trempé, j'ai adoré voir les 2 soeurs affronter les obstacles sans jamais se lâcher la main. C'est une chose que j'apprécie tout particulièrement dans les dramas chinois et qu'on ne retrouve pas beaucoup ailleurs, même chez les coréens (du moins dans leur drama récent), l'importance, la force et la solidité des relations familiales. L'opposition entre la maline et caractérielle de l'une complétait à merveille l'intégrité et la noblesse de l'autre.

Il y a des points à améliorer qui n'entache en rien le plaisir d'avoir regarder ces 40 épisodes. Mais si ces points avaient été plus minutieux, cela aurait été sans nul doute un must pour moi :
- Malgré une alchimie que l'on ne peut dénier entre nos deux couples, je trouve que cela manquait peut-être parfois de "battement fous". Je pense que les scènes où Youqin décide d'aller à l'encontre de tous en choisissant Yetan manquait d'intensité.... Par exemple, lorsque Youqin prend la défense de Ye tan devant son père, je n'ai pas ressenti d'émotion forte durant cette scène, cette rage de vouloir la défendre envers et contre tous. Par exemple, Lorsque Nin Qe dans "Ever Night" balance " si le monde doit aller à l'encontre de Sang Sang, alors j'irais contre le monde", cette rage dans la voix, ce visage ferme et décidé, aish mon coeur s'est emballé furieusement. C'est donc dommage d'avoir rendu ces dialogues assez plats et loin d'être épiques. Je revois d'ailleurs encore la scène incroyable de "Love Between Fairy and Devil", lorsque DongFang apparait et attrape Orchid par la taille, devant tous les immortels et déclamant de sa voix de stentor " Qui ose toucher à ce qui m'appartient ?", une scène où l'intensité du couple explose! C'est donc ce qui manque en grande partie ici.
- Ce drama est avant tout l'histoire des deux soeurs, il est donc logique de les voir affronter le monde. Ce que je trouve dommage c'est qu'une fois leur pouvoir révélé (celui des deux soeurs), les deux protagonistes masculins ne servent presque plus à rien. De par leur immense pouvoir, de par leur force indéniable, ils sont relégués au second plan et ne servent plus que soutien. Il n'y a donc plus d'équilibre entre les couples où tout est presque décidé exclusivement par les deux soeurs. Les autres ne feront que suivre.
- Les scènes d'actions du début disparaissent et moins bien réalisés par la suite. J'aurais aimé une participation de tout le monde, une guerre en bonne et dû forme. Je trouve dommage que tous les pouvoirs soient donnés à Ye Tan et qu'elle seule parte en guerre. Bien sur, sa douleur d'avoir perdu sa soeur lui donne ce droit, mais je trouve frustrant de la voir décimer à elle seule les deux "realm", les autres étant quasiment inutiles. J'aurais aimé quelque chose de plus grandiose comme dans la saison 2 d'Ever Night, lorsque tous les frères et soeurs de Nin Qe prennent le parti de se battre pour lui et Sang Sang. Mais ici, c'est une opinion personnelle.

Ce drama reste malgré ses petites faiblesses un grand moment de divertissement agréable où l'on rit facilement et où l'on suit les aventures de ce groupe solide avec beaucoup d'intérêt.

Leggi di Più

Binge-Worthy Bliss!

I initially started watching this drama because I was familiar with the male lead from another series, and I was curious. However, as I progressed through each episode, I found myself completely hooked and ended up binge-watching it. The story exceeded my expectations, and the chemistry between the two leads was palpable. The development of both the main and secondary couples' stories was well-crafted.

What I appreciated the most was how each character's conflicting behaviors at the beginning transformed into a beautiful expression of love throughout the series. The character development was skillfully demonstrated, and all the actors did an excellent job. However, what stood out to me the most were the crying scenes of the first female lead, especially after her twin sister's death. The emotions felt so genuine that I found myself wanting to cry along with her. This drama stands out for me, as it's the first time I've loved both twin leads in a series.

Leggi di Più

What makes this stand out

Alright if you’ve watched any chinese (esp xianxia)or asian dramas it’s going to have its short falls. From plot holes to weird editing to confusion etc but rather nitpick at every single thing I decided to focus on what makes this drama stand out.

- CXX(Chen xing xu) (yes his real voice is that deep) really did a fantastic job. It’s crazy how he’s able to adapt from one role to the other with completely diff personality. I’m really impressed. At first I was like skeptical because he reminded me of Alan Yu w his emotionless face and calmness. However my mind was completely changed when he was able to completely change his tone and personality with just one look. (End of ep 4). I liked how they kept his Beijing accent for the soul shard of Mei then switched back to a more neutral one. It def shows a lot of talent. Dialects are a bit more complicated in chinese than comparing it to a New Yorker or southern accent in the US

- I also feel that with xianxia dramas there’s not a lot of subtle foreshadowing of what’s to come. This one in particular really seemed obvious who the end “villain”(using quotes because tech not really a villain) was.

- I’m actually surprised from this drama. It was more contemporary than most historical dramas. There was more affection and really focused on the female positivity aspect. I mean if you’ve seen other dramas there’s just frozen awkward kiss and affection only after marriage. They also kept an open opinion on anyone staying pure until they wed.


- The editor, producer, director etc always does a fantastic job with adding the music to each scene even if it’s small.


- Did not drag on the annoying roles such as a jealous female and take up the entire drama. (Cough immortal samsara).
No one’s a complete moron either

- A few things that did stand out.
- Hai chao is such a great character and the perfect actor played him
- On the opposite end, actor that played well Qing heng is just.. I guess irritating. I saw him in another historical drama and how he comes off in them is off putting. I’m not sure if it’s intentional or it’s the actor. It almost seems as if he has this almost fake look of positivity, always doing the right thing type but his hearts not really into it. Simply put it he’s trying way too hard to be that “good” character. It just really irks me for some reason.

I’m sure there’s more but this is what made this drama diff than most. I would def give it a chance a fun casual show before til the end if the world came out.

Leggi di Più

The comedic elements are what set this series apart from its kind. It’s most enjoyable when it doesn’t take itself too seriously or tries to be deep. It’s light entertainment and is best viewed with that expectation.

The Voidwalkers carry most of the comedy here. Special mentions to Chen Mu Zhi, who has the most priceless of expressions, and Cao Bo as the best sidekick ever. Yuan Ran as Consort Xue is delightful as a mother who is sly yet supportive. It’s hilarious to watch these guys run around trying to outmaneuver each other and manipulate the poor, oblivious Qing Kui. Their generally attitude is “yeah, Kui is a naïve and dumb princess, but she’s *our* naïve and dumb princess.” The Void itself feels more real than our Mortal realm with so many rich details woven seamlessly into the dialogues and subplot. They also get the best costumes: dark, form-fitting, and downright sexy, especially the palace maid outfits. And it doesn’t hurt that the Void men have great physique (yes, the Void King rules in more ways than one).

By comparison, Heaven and Mortal realms are bland. Maybe it’s the cast, maybe it’s the direction, or maybe it’s a little bit of both. Ye Tan and Xuan Shang are ok as our Heavenly lead couple. Their chemistry is like a flickering light, sometimes it’s there, a lot of times it’s not. Their best moments are when he is in his La Mu form. Their worst moments come when they try to be funny and cute. While Landy Li and Chen Xing Xu are capable dramatic actors, they are not comic actors by nature and it shows. Chen Xing Xu’s dubbed voice is much too deep and detracts from his performance.

Watch this for the Void realm and its deliciously cheeky denizens. Watch this for Qing Kui and Zhao Feng's bad boy and naïve girl romance. Watch it for the great looking cast. Most of all, watch it with your FF button close at hand.

Leggi di Più

Sweet romance, comedy and tears

Having 2 sisters betrothed to princes in 2 different realms made for a very interesting start to this drama as the story flips between the Heavenly Realm, all white & bright and the Void Realm, all dark & dreary.

Loved the romance for both couples with the classic misunderstandings done well. The sidekicks for each couple provided lovely touches of humour as they were quick to realise the romance blooming and called it out to their respective masters who were in denial.

Kudos to the female lead who made me feel her grief so deeply that I cried every time she cried. The male lead’s acting shone much more when playing the 3 versions of himself in the Mortal Realm. Watching all 3 versions of him falling in love with the female lead exceeded my romance expectations from a drama. In essence, I got to watch 5 romances in total when most dramas only have 2 (main couple and second couple).

I enjoyed the overall story telling where there were happy outcomes throughout (eg the couples acknowledging and accepting each other and the Emperor of the Human Realm’s love for the female lead) instead of only having everything come together at the end of a drama.

Unfortunately, the ending’s storyline wasn’t my cup of tea as some parts felt more like fillers. Would have been better to cut that away to make way for a nice sweet happy ending instead of leaving it to our imagination.

Extra notes:
1. Good to see gravity working correctly here where the clothes flow upwards when they are “landing” unlike in some dramas that I watched in the past.
2. Annoying to see the bright light during the sweet kiss scenes.

Leggi di Più