Chen Xiang Ru Xie (2022)

Someone said this has a bad ending but I'm glad I still watched it!

STORY
Okay, I was kind a spoiled before that this had a bad ending..But I thought, damn it I'm just gonna watch and endure whatever comes. Whoever wrote that, well you almost killed my buzz. Immortal Samsara was just like any other xanxia series I've seen - lots of sacrifices, betrayal, friendship and ultimate devotion to a loved one. The only downside for me here is that I think, the writer unnecessarily prolonged Yan Dan's resentment towards Ying Yuan and made her forgive him only on the last few clips in the entire 60 episodes. Although she kept being cold towards him on a few occasions, Ying Yuan could have at least had an idea that he's already forgiven. His lady wouldn't just say it out loud and continued to be indifferent. I had a small surprise when Tao Zi Qi turned out to be Huan Qin's girl - - and it was really a sad revelation for Xuan Xiang. Poor guy, he was duped and died clinging on to a delusion. The story is touching to a point you would realize some life lessons that love isn't about just getting the person to be with you- but rather seeing them safe and happy. Although this kind of drama content can already be seen from other series, it still stood out due to the message the story wanted to convey.

CAST
Well, what can I say...This is not the first drama of Cheng Yi that I watched. He's totally perfect for this. He suits the role of a noble immortal or a royal celestial being even in Redemption of Love. He pulls out the role almost immediately when he steps into it. His cold expressions and the change in his eyes when he acts is very commendable. Yang Zi was kinda okay for me, I liked her being boisterous in her character as a carefree Lotus immortal. She had a similar role too in Ashes of Love. Yumo's character was very impressive. Although he personally likes Yan Dan, but he would definitely set that aside and prioritize their friendship. Even more so when he had a chance to go through adventures with Ying Yuan when he had his earthly trial as Tang Zhou. He gradually grew closer with him too, and finally accepted that Yan Dan will never look at him the way she sees Ying Yuan. His character development was my favorite out of all. It was nice to see that he showed genuine concern for his love rival too. Loved the old Marshall Huo De as well. He might be too loud and war freak, but he is undoubtly loyal.

MUSIC
Not really liked the OST's here. None of them truly hit the spot. Zhou Shen would have been better and Mao Bu Yi.

REWATCH VALUE
I think I would only want to see my favorite scenes and not see the entire 60 episodes again.

OVERALL
I rate this 9 out 10, as I had a few minor comments on this series. But Immortal Samsara is worth watching and it satisfied me with the setting, story, phasing, acting, and the grandeur of the plot that I always look for in a series. Thank goodness they created special episodes - - and that this really had a GOOD ENDING.

To summarize the two special episodes, the way that I understood it was this - - - Although Ying Yuan and Yan Dan both chose to die, in every xanxia series there's a commonality that was applied here. Even if an immortal's heart was crushed or their bodies gets destroyed, as long as their essence or primordial core was preserved - - they can be revived. Ying Yuan's core essence was undamaged, and Yan Dan's lotus heart became whole again and it continually protected and healed Ying Yuan's essence. Their cores needed time to recover, and the agarwood artifact became their temporary refuge. Later on, when they are strong enough to take human forms again, that's when they appeared in Yelan Mountain's healing pool garden.

I think they both became cultivators instead, seeing as they still retained their old memories and enjoyed a blissful new life with their son. The supreme god was revived, and for sure he had a hand in helping the two. Yan Dan became a famous playwright, and their friends occasionally went down to the mortal realm to watch Yan Dan's stage plays. Really a very good ending for everyone.

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main leads’ relationship is not deep enough yet

Idk why but the way they build the main leads’ relationship is not deep enough. I didn’t cry at all… Some parts of the drama also felt a bit draggy, I rather have them replace the draggy part with scenes building main leads’ relationships. Well then why did I rate it 8.5/10…? I love the main leads as actor and actress. I’ve been looking forward to this drama a lot but my expectations were too high, youku made me wait… Their costumes are really pretty and the osts are really good ;) i can’t help falling in love with Ying Yuan’s visuals. Sometimes the drama did hook me. I hope this drama gets better and hope there won’t be unnecessary drama.

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Review at 18 episodes

If Xianxia drama is your kind of thing, then this drama is worth watching.

It's incredible how Cheng Yi acting skill has improved since Love and Redemption. He is way more expressive in this drama, a lot of micro expressions on his face, his profile (side face) is just so good looking and there are rarely scenes where cameras caught him ugly. This drama really portrayed the best sides of Cheng Yi.

Yang Zi on the other hand looks very cute in this kind of drama. Though I find it a bit boring that she is once again playing FL of this kind of character/role, her acting skill remains consistently good. When you need her to be funny, she is funny, when you need her to be cute, she is cute, when you need her to cry her heart out wrenchingly, she delivers it perfectly. There is little that you can complain on how she understands the character.

The pace of this drama is great, not draggy and your eyes will definitely be pleased with the amount of time Cheng Yi and Yang Zi occupy the screen. They have a lot of screen time in this drama. Other supporting actors and actresses almost didn't matter much. Viewers like me are just happy watching the good looking FL and ML 😊

The OST is iffy. Not sure it's the best OST for Xianxia genre. The only song that pops out is the one sang by Zhang Lei. What a heart wrenching one.

Will update this review again once the drama is finished.

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Lots of emotions

I had high expectations for this drama ever since I saw the trailers for this drama and I can say that it did not disappoint me as I personally really like the typical Xianxia storyline. You will see a lot of blood and misunderstandings, but I think that is what creates the suspense for what will happen later on. Once you get hooked, you will not be able to watch any other dramas. The acting is very good as expected. CY and YZ are kind of know for their Xianxia dramas. If you have watched their previous dramas, you will know that their acting and performance is incomparable. Overall, a pretty heavy and emotional drama that will probably cause you to use up your tissues!!!!

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A cliche mess

This drama is a testament to everything that is wrong with the xianxia genre. It's too stylized with little to no room for imagination. A stoic ML in a position of power? Check. A childish FL with a baby voice? Check. Immortal realm - good, demons - bad? Check. Self-righteous Taoist sects? Check. Incomprehensible love rectangles? Check. Everyone under the sun falling in love with an immature FL? Check. Rebirth and amnesia? Check. B*tchy and jealous side chicks? Check. This drama follows the same tired tropes without skipping a beat, and it only gets worse with the next episode.

The first 15 or so very slow episodes were mostly about the relationship between ML and FL. FL started out as a child-like fairy and became more serious as she developed feelings for ML. It was a good character development for her because of the life-changing trauma caused by heartbreak. Unfortunately, as the story moved to the mortal realm, Yan Dan regressed back to the childish turd that she was in the immortal realm, but even more so than before. Even though she lost her memories, I thought the trauma she suffered would be a life changing experience leading to a more mature and thoughtful person who was given a second chance at life. But, that was not the case here.

The drama reminded me of Ashes of Love, which was a dumpster fire, with Yan Dan being a slightly smarter version of Jinmi. This was a stark contrast to Love and Redemption, where FL was only clueless about love, but she was sympathetic and thoughtful otherwise, and, her interactions with ML were meaningful. Similar to Jinmi, Yan Dan acted like a child continuously bickering with ML and having a multitude of braindead males falling in love with her. And, because of her over-the-top behavior, her interactions with ML lacked romantic chemistry looking more like an adult babysitting a kid rather than two adults falling in love.

Another issue was Yan Dan's lack of motivation. In the immortal realm, she had some purpose to protect her sister. After she lost her memory, she went wherever the wind blew. First, she swore allegiance to Yu Mo and became his "concubine". Then, she ran off with Tang Zhou and did not give a second thought to Yu Mo or the fact that he could be looking for her. I also thought that the writers spent way too much time on Yu Mo's and Yan Dan's relationship. It was apparent from the start that they will never be a couple, so milking that unrequited love and giving them more screen time than necessary completely deviated from the plot and unnecessarily dragged the story.

In all honesty, I hardly have any interest in finishing part 1. So, it's unlikely I will be watching part 2.

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As usual Yang Zi Rocks

Can’t say much for now since it is not completed. Yangzi is the main attraction of this show since she rocks in ancient costume dramas like Ashes of Love (GoGoSquid is a good modern drama of hers too!). She is as usual a charming, witty, agile beautiful flower-related lady just like in Ashes of Love. The other female characters in this show are all also outstandingly gorgeous (spoiler: one random clan’s lady is hot). Also love how several characters from Ashes of Love are acting with YangZi in this show, which are Mr. Red Thread and the Obsessive Perverted Old Heavenly Emperor.

Not a fan of the main male lead but he does well in his role. He does seem attractive but hmm… it just feels like the main female lead suffered too much for him to the extent that I find their relationship annoying huhuuu… okay I understand that this is supposed to be melancholic…I would blame it on the plot for being harsh on the main male lead…. I mean why does he keep having to be so rigid at everywhere he goes…because them old big shot uncles are perverted to covet the main male lead for themselves haha. Really dislike those uncles grrr. Such old pedos and also being a nasty “Let’s be single together or I make you suffer” gang!!!

Ah and I think people might suffer from second male lead syndrome since the second male lead is in my opinion much more worthy of the attention of the main female lead because he did a lot as well and never wavered for anyone else despite having to wait for hundreds of years for lil lotus lady (MAIN FEMALE LEAD GOTTA GIVE ME THIS LIL BLACK FISHY BECAUSE I WOULD LOVE TO EAT HIM eherm or he can eat me too haha). He is just too sweet to be a second male lead … I hope he gets to at least enjoy one kiss from the main female lead though I doubt it is possible since Chinese dramas usually never allows second male leads to even have a kiss from the main female leads…maybe I can just dream the scene out…haiz…JUSTICE FOR SECOND MALE LEADSSSSSS!

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Awesome series ❤️ Never felt dragged out and actually felt like I finished it faster

Worth the watch. To all who will watch this series - make sure you watch the two short episodes 60 and 61!!

Acting: 9 overall. Loved all the characters, except the bad guys of course especially that of the main arc. The actors did a very good job of portraying their respective characters. I did form a bond / connection with most of them and routed for a lot of characters - this only possible when the actors do their best. Special mention, Yang Zi a d Cheng Yi who did an awesome job of portraying Yan Dan and Tang Zhou. I really enjoy Cheng Yi's acting and he is a great actor in my humble opinion.

Story: 10 The story unfolded quite well with plot twists and surprises along the way. You could foresee outcome of some plots because of clever hints given - you have to pay attention though. I binged the series even with 59 episodes in total. Never felt dragged out and actually felt like I finished it faster than other series's that were 40 episodes. Bulk of the content felt necessary to get to the finale.

Production and Visual FX were good: 8.5

Ost : 9 music went well with bulk of the scenes.

Rewatch value: 9.5 Will likely Rewatch some episodes and perhaps entire series if I can't find anything better. That's after I've re-watched my most favorite drama series's of course.

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Good

It’s good. but not the best compare to their signature performance. Yang Zi’s Ashes of Love and Cheng Yi’s Love and Redemption. The CP, CG, OST is not as strong. Recommend to watch but not a rewatch drama. Some of the story characters development is off and need more revising. Toward the end of Cheng Yi’s character, his character changed completely. It’s like he became mortal and doest know how to switch back to an immortal. Like if you’ve been millions of year as an immortal and been a mortal for just 20 years, how the heck you become so soft and hardcore emotional in love… Doesnt make sense,,

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Love is Forbidden, What could go wrong?

I will admit, I was pretty excited for Immortal Samsara. Xianxia dramas are always exciting to watch. You have out of the world costumes and new rules to follow. I was a little surprised the ratings weren’t higher while the show was airing, but I still wanted to watch it.

Yang Zi has mixed reviews in regard towards her acting and I understand. I did like her in Ashes of Love, which she was in four years ago, so I would think her acting style should have changed a little. She’s pretty much true to her craft, but for the life of me, something felt a little off in this drama. I think maybe it was the way she dubbed her voice? Her voice is deeper, which I appreciated, but her acting didn’t shine through.

I thought Cheng Yi has some strong and weak moments in the drama as well. I thought he was okay in Love and Redemption, but I felt like he was a lot better in Immortal Samsara. I didn’t care for his cold stoic personality, after watching The Love Between Fairy and Devil, there is a way to act cold, but not dry. I appreciated the scenes when Chen Yi was lively and living in the mortal world.

I don’t think it’s fair to compare this drama to the classics because this drama’s tone is very different. The classic dramas rely heavily on angst between the leads. This drama didn’t have high angst, which I appreciated it.

In a world where one couldn’t love, what could go wrong? Once I realized that was the focal and theme of the show, I thought, oh no, how is this going to play out for 61 episodes? It’s a plot device that carries a lot of holes.

How can the immortals be robots, they can’t love, but they can be happy, kind, loyal, etc. They show a range of emotions and all of those emotions come from love. Oh, so you are saying, you can be a person with emotions, you just can’t be in a relationship with someone? It just doesn’t make sense.

The first 20 episodes were okay, some reviewers liked these parts more, for me, it was hit or miss depending on if the scene was fast pace or not. I enjoyed the main leads getting to know each other, but I did feel like they caught feelings real quick.

I enjoyed the second arc more when they were in the mortal world. Yes, very much like the classics, (reborn into another life) but for these 30 something episodes, it was just fun, light and I enjoyed all the little issues the main leads (including secondary ML) went through, because they did it together. It was like I was watching an entirely different drama.

The drama could have been cut down 10-20 episodes, there was a lot of dialogue and non-fun side stories. I didn’t connect with any of the side stories, which is rare for me in a long drama. The drama focused so much on the main storyline, you couldn’t connect to any secondary character (except for the secondary ML).

The main leads go through the up and down hardships of their relationships and I was actually fine with this, but towards the end, it did get a little too much and I was kind of worn out. It also didn’t help that I wasn’t a fan of the OST, so I wasn’t moved as much as I could have been. The music was very dated.

I did enjoy how much the ML loved the FL and he never wavered or thought ill of her. This was very different from the classics. I wanted the FL to be strong-willed and she was that.

Overall, it was an okay drama with okay acting and not so okay OST. I think it’s worth watching if you are a fan of the genre, actors or long dramas. It will pass the time.

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Heartbreaking & yet that didn't stop me from adding this to my rewatch list!

Writing this review on my second rewatch. I'm already on Part 2, but wanted to drop the review before completing that one since I still have things fresh in my mind.

I found this show as a recommendation of the drama "The Starry Love". When I played the first episode, I kept wondering if one of them was a remake.
The visuals in "The Starry Love" are much better than first few episodes of "Immortal Samsara: Part 1". However, the visuals got better from then on. The effects were more believable.
While effects might have been an issue in the first few episodes, the outfits were always astonishingly good. I coveted many of Yin Yuan/Tan Zhou's outfits.
So, thinking that they were a remake I was committed to watching the entire thing. (I don't mind watching stories with the same trope if I loved one of them)
So, the scene started in the heavenly realm, the dances, sisters born out of twin flowers, immortals forbidden to love, the disturbances from the demon realm, and so on. There were so many similarities. But it didn't take me long to realize that while they shared a resemblance to each other both "The Starry Love" and "Immortal Samsara" tell different stories.

Characters:
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Zhi Xi: The elder sister, twin to Yan Dan, was one of the first characters that made me realize that the differences in the stories. The Starry Love's Ye Tan got a sister who was the sole person who cherished her, however Samsara's Zhi Xi was always envious of her little sister. If you are an average person who has to work hard at everything, then It is easier to relate to Zhi Xi's character more than Yan Dan's, who on the other hand, has always been cheerful and carefree. Someone for whom things always come easily. It was sad to see the how Zhi Xi's allowed others perception of her doubt not only herself but Yan Dan as well. She was so easily convinced that Yan Dan was against her that she played a huge role in Yan Dan's misery. Later, the story tried hard to convince the viewers that she did her best to make up to Yan Dan, but her redemption arc just didn't seem sincere. I just rewatched Ep 12 and I realized that I had put on rose-colored glasses, hoping that Zhi Xi didn't go out of her way to lie to Yan Dan & create all that misery, but she did. She was first to take the reward for saving Yingyuan, which she didn't, & last to bear all the costs of it, she later came up with excuses to pacify Yan Dan's hurt feelings & continued to lie to her. When Yan Dan jumped off the bridge, we could all see the guilt on Zhi Xi's face but there was no real devastation. It could be because of the actress, maybe she wasn't able to convey her feelings through her expressions. Despite that she was an interesting character, a weak willed woman who tried to save her ass and framed her own sister who wanted nothing but the best for her. She truly was the weaker sister. Even by the end of it, she put majority of the blame on Yingdeng when she was the one who destroyed her own sister.

Yan Dan | Bai Piao Liang: The younger sister, twin to Zhi Xi. Okay, before watching this drama, I didn't realize that the actress portraying Yan Dan was the same one from "Go Go Squid" and it was a bit surprising to me. I liked Yang Zi looks much in Samsara. Since I had come off binge watching "The Starry Love", I was also pleasantly surprised to hear Yan Dan's voice, it pretty much sounded same as Ye Tan's. There's also something about Yang Zi, she is such a treat to watch. I have seen her performance in "Ashes of Love" as well, she makes the screen light up with her presence. I wish there were more interesting historical romances with her as a lead. Coming back to Yan Dan as a character, she is a carefree light hearted sprite, who wants to take care of her sister and her friends and write for a living, someone who doesn't really have a lofty ambition but someone who's actually warmhearted. It gives me pleasure to watch such characters thrive and makes me doubly sad to see them suffer. She suffered a lot, framed by her sister, abandoned by her love, punished for crimes she didn't commit. The sad part, through her redemption arc, Zhi Xi was never selfless enough to clear Yan Dan's name. Yan Dan was too giving and forgiving of people who did her wrong.

Emperor Yin Yuan/Tang Zhou: Cheng Yi is wow! Him portraying Emperor Yin Yuan is his best performance I have seen to date. The aura he presents, the stylist did such a wonderful job on his entire look, however that all would have been for naught had it not been for Cheng Yi brining his A game to the picture. He did such a great job portraying the "Couldn't care less about anything" look. The indifference was portrayed so brilliantly, it came as a shock to see him further display a wide range of emotions. Yin Yuan as a character was highly complex . As we seem him put things in motions to save Yan Dan, we also see how Yan Dan didn't measure up to the entire world in his eyes. Even when he was being punished, what he did to Yan Dan was the last reason listed for his punishment. He also let her down so much. She was found guilty of a crime she didn't commit, and instead of clearing her name, the let the criminal get away with it. The criminal lived on and prospered well while Yan Dan had to struggle so hard to forget the betrayal & pain. Granted, he did go through heartbreak, refused to forget her as a punishment to himself, but he never had to question Yan Dan's love for him. Yan Dan on the other hand knew that he abandoned her after she gave so much of her to him. After all that Yan Dan was put through, it wasn't much to ask for her to find someone else in the mortal world or to feel something for YuMo, but not enough time had passed for her to enjoy her life that Tan Zhou showed up.

YuMo: It was really hard to consider him as a SML in the beginning, he just seemed like silly comic relief and his story didn't really speak to my heart. I could only see him as a guy Yan Dan could be interested in once he came to the mortal world. He was such a sweet guy that I wanted Yan Dan to give him a chance. Even though he clearly had feelings for Yan Dan and did everything for her, he never tried to sabotage her happiness. This is such a stark contrast to YingDeng's love for Yin Yuan, who thought she was doing her best to protect Yin Yuan but was mostly trying to ensure that he didn't end up with Yan Dan. So, YuMo was a greenest flag in this story.

After watching Immortal Samsara, I have become a huge fan of Yang Zi and Cheng Yi. I wish to see them together in more dramas as main leads. I tried watching "Noble Aspirations" but they don't have enough screentime together to enjoy it fully. They are not even a couple a couple in that.

Advice to anyone who wants to watch it:
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Go ahead! It will make you sob at times but its a beautiful disaster that you won't regret watching.

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Truly heartbroken!!

Though it has Cheng Yi as the main leads ,I still dared to watch this drama as he always succeeds in making me cry.But this drama truly made me left depressed for a few days .
Yandan is carefree .caring,loving,kind and naive in nature.This is my first time watching Yang Zi's drama and her performance was nice.
Cheng Yi as Dijun Yingyuan was cool,and always his acting is good.
I liked the characterisation of Ray Chang as Yumo who was always there for Yandan.
The story,actors,costumes,sets, VFX,music were good.
I really cried for Yandan after her night forgetting river traversal.It really made me heartbroken for few days.
Overall it was a good drama.

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