#cheng ruoyu

[lindwurmkai]

Having just finished Stand By Me/Dream of Chang'an in a feverish haze of hyperfocus, here is my conclusion:

[storge]

I won’t go anywhere.

Dream of Chang’an Ep. 19

[heymeowmao]

Dream of Chang’an E24 ° What do I want?

[starisaba]

💫 Same energy 💫

[incessantcomposition]

Love And Redemption E01 | Little Stutterer vs. Little Fool

[sifeng]

Love and Redemption: Some Thoughts and a Comparison with Ashes of Love

So, I’ve been watching Love and Redemption (琉璃) and while there are some visible faults, I also quite like some plot points and characters. So here are some of my thoughts and also, if your an Ashes of Love fan I totally recommend you check this drama out! The themes are similar, the character setups are similar, the worlds are similar too. 

I’ve just finished the 35th episode, and I’ve gotten to a point where a flower creature of sorts has been forced to become Ling Long 2.0. I actually really like this idea because it shows that a lot of people become evil because of the people they are around, not because they are naturally evil, their personality is naturally cruel or anything else of the sort. Ling Long grew up around “orthodox” people that, while also imperfect, weren’t sadistic like Wu Tong. Because of that she became a person that liked to fight for peace and removal of evil from the world. However, when her exact same personality was placed in a different atmosphere without previous memories she became just as sadistic and cruel as the people around her. I think that actually fits super well with the overall theme of this drama, which is that good and bad aren’t black and white. Even a person who is “good” in the subjective sense of that term can just as easily be “evil” if placed in a different growth environment. Honestly I find it so interesting that Ling Long went from A Zhu to A Zi (Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils reference) in like one episode. 

A Comparison

When I first started liking cdramas, one of my first favorites was Ashes of Love (香蜜沉沉烬如霜), but I actually like this drama more. First of all, I think the pacing is better. The beginning of AoL was a little draggy now that I think about it, and Jin Mi only began to really show her feelings for Xu Feng around episode 30 (and it wasn’t even Jin Mi liking Xu Feng it was Saintess liking the King). In comparison, in Love and Redemption, we see from the very start that Xuanji likes Sifeng in a different manner then she likes, for example, Minyan, thus not only making it easier to ship them, but also being able to get to the tragic elements of the story faster. The CGI in Love and Redemption is simply amazing, beats 99% of cdramas honestly. I wish the cinematography was a little better because with this level of CGI, it truly deserves better camerawork. 

Also, I dislike when people call Xuanji stupid, because while in the beginning she is a little dumb, she really isn’t as bad as some other characters out there. She’s like what 20? And she’s never left home or her training place in her life. Why would anyone expect her not to make trouble? Or get in trouble? That’s like teaching how to memorize all the math formulas in the world, but not teaching you how to use them and then blaming you for not being able to apply them. I haven’t gotten to the really tragic part where Xuanji and Sifeng get separated, but so far I like her more than Jin Mi honestly. Xuanji might not be the smartest person, but I love how trustworthy she is of her friends and how high she holds her friendships. Unlike so many of the adults in this series, she actually uses logic to try to understand problems not just problematic and contradictory pieces evidence. Like when Minyan is accused of being betraying their sect, she doesn’t just go “oh there’s ‘evidence’? Then he must be guilty”, she actually thinks about his character and personality and how illogical it would be if he actually betrayed them. 

I also like Sifeng more than Xu Feng. When he was being accused of being a demon, he managed to bring up inarguable pieces of evidence that clearly proved he was not a demon, or at least not a problematic one instead of just going like “you should believe me because I’m so great!” (not that Xu Feng did that, but he did use ethos instead of logos, though, both apparently don’t work if you’re a male lead in a tragic xianxia). The tragedy of his character is done so well honestly. He died for Xuanji in 9 lifetimes. NINE. Please give him a happy ending. (Okay but I really dislike his second hairstyle with the two strings of hair hanging out and also Teng She’s hairstyle. Why can’t they just tuck that piece of hair in? It makes me feel so annoyed for some reason.)

No one likes Hao Chen, and I’m glad. He hates people manipulating Xuanji, but he manipulates her all the time. I do agree that if Xuanji is happy without her six senses, she shouldn’t be forced to search for them, but she isn’t happy and she wants to search for them. So why should anyone who actually likes her try to prevent that? But I actually think his character is written relatively well. As the ruler (or second in command?) of the heavenly realm, he has to put matters in front of romance, though that doesn’t mean he has to manipulate her. I understand why he does what he does and I don’t think his character is as illogical as Wu Tong, but yeah, I definitely don’t agree with what he does. In comparison, Run Yu is truly quite likable. He does try to keep Jin Mi to himself instead of letting her be happy, but overall his story is written really well and evokes our sympathy.

Oh and when it comes to friendships I also prefer the ones in Love and Redemption. First of all, it’s not just Xuanji and Sifeng who are cute together, I like that Sifeng is friends with Ling Long and Minyan as well, and they also become friends with Yanran (or Xiao Yinhua) and Ruoyu as well (though they could’ve avoided some tragedy if they hadn’t befriended him). I don’t know why, but I’m really excited to see what tragedy our OTP goes through later on, because I’ve seen the gifsets on Tumblr and boy am I excited for some tragedy!

But one thing that is better about AoL is definitely the acting. I think Cheng Yi and Yuan Bingyan did pretty good here, especially Cheng Yi, but Yang Zi, Deng Lun and Luo Yunxi (especially Yang Zi and Luo Yunxi) are more experienced and thus obviously better, especially when it comes to really emotional scenes. 

FInal Thoughts

One problem I have with Love and Redemption, at least so far, is that the evil demons have no motivations to be as evil as they are. I’m pretty sure I’ll get a reason, but so far I have to say that they aren’t really well done characters in that sense. Especially Wu Tong. Like this guy has no backstory whatsoever, but is extremely cruel and sadistic from the first second we meet him. Maybe he’s like really just insane or something, but his whole “sympathy story” for why he joined the demons makes zero sense. He wanted to murder someone because him cheating gets revealed and then gets mad that the father of the person he tried to kill wants to get revenge. His story also contains two (as of so far) unexplained plot holes: 1. why every single sect decided to chase after him and 2. why he managed to escape death despite a bunch of skilled martial artists running after him for like a really long time. 

Lastly, I like the fact that the orthodox people aren’t exactly “evil” but their goodness is what makes them annoying. They don’t mean harm when they tried to test if Sifeng was a demon or if Minyan is a betrayer, they truly are thinking for the overall good, but their constant paranoia and need to do “what is right” and not “what makes sense” is truly what makes them unbearable. They sometimes throw away all logic for love, or sacrifice their own daughter in order to “do what’s right” instead of actually thinking of a method to not only save the daughter and keep the world at peace. It’s because of their goodness that they are able to be manipulated into idiocracy by Li Ze Palace. 

Oh and one last thought. I don’t know if it’s on purpose, but the lack of people in the heavenly realm is really interesting. Like, maybe the producers didn’t have enough money, or shots of the heavenly realm with more than like ten people (not in war) don’t exist in the book either, but it creates the image that the realm is super empty. The human realm, despite all its faults and cruelties, feels so much more alive and full of life in comparison to the boring and cold looking heavenly realm. 

[thelaithlyworm]

Have just started watching Stand By Me/Dream of Chang’An

So far so good!

It’s a quasi-historical, set in the late Tang (sort of, they’re using a different dynasty name, but the costuming is very ‘Tang’). The government basically consists of a puppet Emperor, some *extremely* powerful Eunuchs, and a number of Ministers who are v. unhappy about this state of affairs. Some eight years before the start of the story some Ministers attempted a kind of mini-coup to scrape out the Eunuchs. It went badly (for the Ministers). There was a lot of deadening and the Head Eunuch’s favourite puppet prince was doing a lot of the messy stuff. (He killed them. With his bow.)

Enter our heroine, Cheng Ruoyu. She has the personality of a half-grown labrador, and will hereafter be known as Boisterous Heroine, or BH. BH is one of the grand-daughters of one of those aforementioned ministers attempting a coup, but seems to have The Amnesia about it. She was raised in a cadre of Royal Bodyguards and has somehow, inconceivably, just landed the extremely diplomatically ticklish position of Sword Bearer (food-taster, final defence, status symbol) to the new Emperor. I can only imagine that all other potential candidates looked at the current state of the court and an Emperor who only just recently killed his brother for the throne etc. etc. and quietly broke their ankles rather than compete for the spot.

Boisterous Heroine is determined to be the best darn-tootin’ Sword Bearer around. She also crashes into things, spills tea, rips clothes, forgets etiquette... oh god. And is fascinated by...

Chou Yanzhi, adopted daughter of the Head Eunuch. I assume that this is the other granddaughter. It’s certainly clear that she worked hard to get into Head Eunuch’s service, and then get adopted. (Since the actress was in The Untamed, I’m probably going to call her Evil Yanli. Just so you know.) Evil Yanli is languid, intense, clearly playing a deep and subtle game, and kind of has a Mei Changsu vibe going on. Apparently she has a heart condition? Her parasol shoots darts! The first time she and Boisterous Heroine meet, BH spoils the new novel she’s reading ˆ_ˆ

I’m really, really enjoying how these two circle around each other. Also a major player is...

The Emperor! His establishing character moment was killing an old man and then taking aim at a couple of little girls. He’s the Male Lead! (I, uh, suspect that he will die before the end of the story so the showrunners have a little more license to make him chiaroscuro. They’re sure doing a good job right now.) The Emperor is also playing a deep and subtle game, trusts nobody, and is very, very sad. He’s played by a master of poignant micro-expressions, and I’m pretty sure Cheng Yi is drawing in a lot of fans on his own merits - the man certainly has a lot to work with here. Spends a considerably-more-than-zero amount of time swanning around in a slinky, deep crimson dressing gown with his silky, lustrous hair trailing over his fragile shoulders. He’s Deep! He’s Sad! He finds Boisterous Heroine both incredibly annoying and very charming (you know, like every half-grown labrador you’ve ever met.)

Aaaanyway, the plot is slowly gearing up. It’s not the exposition hell that a lot of c-dramas’ early episodes are, the sets and costumes are just beautiful, and I’m finding more characters than the Emperor beautifully morally grey. Am enjoying this hugely so far.

[kdramaindonesia]

"School Cyclone" tells the story of a genius boy Peng Fei (Liu Chao ornaments) who has experienced mutations in his home. He was specially recruited by the Public Security Bureau to enter the police school. He is a good-natured policeman who is good at psychological writing, Li Wenwen (隋雨蒙饰), and three generations of single pass. Sanhao students" Yang Sidu (Li Baiyi), the intelligence professional's gossip expert Liu Xiaoting (youle ornaments), the idea of a lot of courageous technical house management (Li Hao decoration), Dazhi Ruoyu "fat cat" forensic Garfield (Cheng Fang Xu ornaments), like the bodyguard more like the security...

[storge]

Dream of Chang’an Ep. 29

[storge]

What are you up to?

Dream of Chang’an Ep. 11

[storge]

-This is the hairpin you wanted when we were at the West Market for biángbiáng noodles. -It’s beautiful. -I carry it with me everywhere. I wanted to give it to you.

 Dream of Chang’an Ep. 16

*Yes of course he lives it's only ep 16.The best part of this show is its dramaticsness.

[storge]

-Do you mean it? -Han Yue might have been wronged, but the way he exacts his revenge was too cruel and gruesome. It was unspeakable. Your Majesty had done terrible things, but Your Majesty regrets it and is now trying to make amends. So when I told you to have a different life, I'd be there for you. -Cheng Ruoyu. I’ll hold you to your words.

Dream of Chang’an Ep. 16

[storge]

No he doesn’t die.

Dream of Chang’an Ep. 29

[heymeowmao]

Dream of Chang’an E23 ° Deal.

- Very good. You’re already beginning to understand me. - Then, shall we join hands?

[heymeowmao]

Dream of Chang’an E19 ° Didn’t you let her go because...?

[heymeowmao]

Dream of Chang’an E12 ° Personal space?