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Youku recently uploaded a video about the costumes for the upcoming drama 长月烬明 Till the End of the Moon: Part 1 staring Bai Lu (The Legends, One and Only and Ordinary Greatness ) and Luo Yunxi [Leo Luo] (Ashes of Love, Princess Silver and Light Chaser Rescue.) This is a long awaited reunion of these 2 co-stars in the 2020 drama Love Is Sweet.

Ever since I first saw images of the costumes I really fell in love with bold saturated colors of red, gold, brown, and traditional patterns that are uncommon in a lot of the recent costume fantasy dramas. Leo Luo and Bai Lu just look so so good. As explained by the costume designer Huang Wei in the video, she and her team took a lot of inspiration from the Dunhuang Cave temple paintings on the Silk Road in terms of colors and patterns. Hope the plot and the drama itself will hold up to the same thoughtful standards of the costume designs. Can’t wait. :)

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Drama trailer for a recent premiered show "Pledge of Allegiance 山河之影” on iQiyi staring Leon Zhang [Zhang Yun Long] (Ancient Love Poetry and Tears in Heaven), Chen Ruo Xuan (Love Between Fairy and Devil as Si Ming’s husband!), and Sun Yi (recently in New Vanity Fair with Z. Tao and Twisted Fate of Love). The show looks like a comedy of good cop/bad cop, working together to solve some kind of hidden conspiracy. The 1st episode of this show is up for free on Youtube and the cinematography looks not bad so far. The director actually used a lot of night scenes and some freshly framed shots for a sense of drama. For once this show doesn’t just look like other similar costume dramas with the recycled camera shots and sets haha

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This might be the 1st trailer for “Back from the Brink“ a live action adoption of the novel 护心 written by the same author 九鹭非香 who wrote the novels for these popular fantasy dramas like “Love Between Fairy and Devil [苍兰诀]” (starring Dylan Wang and Esther Yu), “The Legends [招摇]” (starring Xu Kai 💕 and Bai Lu), and “Love You Seven Times [一时冲动，七世不祥]” (starring Ryan Ding and Yang Cha Yue.) The main leads are Neo Hou (who I liked in A Girl Like Me) and Zhou Ye (Word of Honor). I’m pretty excited to see this new drama adoption and can’t wait to see it. ☺️

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I’m currently really enjoying “The Starry Love” staring Chen Xing Xu (Good Bye, My Princess and Fall In Love) and Li Lan Di (Dreaming Back to the Qing Dynasty and GO Into Your Heart) This story is obviously a xian xia, my favorite genre hehe, but it does subverts some of the overused tropes with some more unique character details. For example, the main characters are twin sisters raised by a prejudiced father who treated them very differently, but they actually care and love each other. The main male lead, a seemingly cold and very strict eldest prince of the Heavenly realm, he turned out to have social anxiety due to his training in isolation for 1500 years. This well behaved prince also had a hilarious childhood of trouble making, so he was not a complete stranger to the main female lead’s rebellious antics.

The secondary couple is also very likeable, the pairing is between a scheming fox 3rd prince and a white bunny like kind princess. His lying and manipulating tactics are often mocked by his old buddy and royal companion for being such a fake with rolling eyes ahaha! I really recommend costume drama fans to check it out on the Youku channel on Youtube.

This show is directed by the same director and produced by the same production staff as “Ashes of Love” so there might be some familiarity in the set designs, especially in the Heavenly realm (*coughcough*) but it’s not too noticeable unless you’re a big fan of “Ashes of Love” like me.

On twitter, I saw news of some viewers complained that the dubbing for the main male lead played by Chen Xing Xu is not fitting of the character, but I don’t really agree. I feel his deep voice is a good fit with his visuals and character as a cold and strict Heavenly prince that is 2500 years old. Also I am glad he dubbed his own voice to match his performance. I have been tired of hearing the same few male voice actors being used for the main leads, it was a distraction to be honest. I had felt like this voice actor again!? but with a different actor’s face, it was a bit unsettling.

I’m glad other drama watchers agreed and complained about this issue. Now more and more shows allow the original actors to dub their own performances despite what flaws there might be in the dubbing. I believe actors should be able to perform with their own body and voice to bring a character to life so it is more lifelike and immersive for the audience.

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Be My Princess~ Grand Chief Cabinet Minister

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This is the trailer for a new show “Double Love [墨白]” staring Zhang Xue Ying (Princess Silver) and Bi Wen Jun (Sweet Teeth, Sweet Tai Chi, and Ni Chang). It seems the main couple meets up in the online game world and in real life with hilarious run-ins with each other, which reminds me of the fan-favorite “Love O2O.” It might be interesting.

Here’s the original show description from iq.com:

Mo Bai is a modern romance drama directed by Wang Yan (Beginning of the Great Revival), starring Zhang Xueying (Einstein and Einstein), Bi Wenjun (Sweet Teeth), Guo Pinchao (Ever Night), with a special appearance from Dai Si (Eternal Love). The drama is adapted from the original novel "Master, your wife is AFK again" by the author Da Ju Mao, which tells the story of Lu Wanwan, a rookie in the acting industry and a game player, and Han Jingmo, a strong actor and a game master, who fall in love with each other online and offline and achieve a double success in love and career. In the game, Lu Wanwan (played by Zhang Xueying) due to a slip of fingers, accidentally knocked away the server number one "Mo Bai Zhi Jian." The two become connected because of this and began an interesting game journey. In reality, Lu Wanwan has always admired Han Jingmo's (played by Bi Wenjun) works, but was put down by him in public. In a fit of rage, they turned against each other, and started a battle. The two of them move from the game to reality, reaping the benefits of love while also realizing their dream of acting.

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First trailer for “Forbidden love - 浮图缘” starring Dylan Wang (Meteor Garden 2018, Ever Night: Season 2, Love Between Fairy and Devil) and Yukee Chen (Ashes of Love, Twin Mirror City, See You Again)

This seems like a story about a man with a revenge plot for a fallen friend(?) in the palace and he meets this delicate female lead :/

Dylan is blowing me away with his dark character vibes. After his performance as the Moon Supreme, I’m looking forward to see him in this new role. Not sure of Yukee Chen’s casting for this lead role, her voice dubber is not helping her - the dub doesn’t fit her look at all. Besides Dylan I look forward to seeing Niao Niao’ mom (Love Like the Galaxy), actress Zeng Li, as the scheming Empress.

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沉香如屑 Immortal Samsara has finally been uploaded by Youku after months and months of endless teaser promos!!! The premiere happened a few hours earlier. So excited to see Cheng Yi and Yang Zi as a CP in a Xianxia.

I can’t wait to watch it after work!! So happy to see a new big budget xianxia drama. 💕 If you need some recommendations for xianxia shows, go see Love and Redemption, The Legends, Ashes of Love, and Eternal Love to start.

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Lately I’m into “Be My Princess - 影帝的公主” staring Jeremy Xu and Zhou Jieqiong. Jeremy is putting up a great performance as 2 characters, 1 as the famous actor and the other as the royal tutor in the drama within the drama. Also it helps he’s really cute and handsome as both.

I first noticed this actor and his charming screen presence in “Novoland: The Castle in the Sky S2″ as the powerful magician and royal advisor. Glad he’s getting better roles and getting more known. His recent drama “Autumn Ballad” seems to be popular on youtube, so I might try to watch it later.