Asian dramas and Love tropes
There are my favorite characters and their love stories as a list.
Enemies to lovers
Drama: Her Royal Highness/长公主在上
Characters: Gu Xuanqing x Li Yunzhen
Screentime: Main
A boy is sent to be a servant in the unruly princess`s palace in order to find some dirt about her and to help his master to overthrown her, but something goes wrong... The HE is attached.
Drama: The Legends/招摇
Characters: Li Chenlan x Lu Zhaoyao
Screentime: Main
A leader of a demonic sect died trying to get demonic sword. Her soul returns to the world full of wish to get revenge on the current leader of her sect, who, as she thinks, killed her in the past. Found the way to be close to him, she learns that he wasn't the reason of her death and, moreover, desperately in love with her for many-many years. This is an adaptation of the novel "Ostentatious Zhaoyao", which I love more than a drama, but it's a good story in both variants. The HE is attached (although it`s a little bit obscure in the drama).
Drama: Till the End of the Moon/ 长月烬明
Characters: Tantai Jin x Li Susu
Screentime: Main
A boy who is destined to become a Demon God and to destroy the World tries to fight his doom. In a process, he falls in love with a transmigrator, who was sent 500 years back in the past to prevent his transformation into a Demon God. The irony is,making him falling in love is the only way to kill him for good... It`s an adaptation of the novel "Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script", which I like way-way-way more than the drama, not the least because the drama has BE and the novel has HE. I just watched it as a visually beautiful fanfic to the novel.
Drama: Love Between Fairy and Devil /苍兰诀
Characters: Dongfang Qingcang x Xiao Lanhua
Screentime: Main
My favorite drama of all times! Trying to save her love, a girl accidently falls into a secret prison for immortal criminals, revives the most fearsome demon of all times and heals his ability to feel. Later, forced to spend his time together with the girl from the enemy camp, the demon finds out that he actually likes her... The HE is attached.
I wrote A LOT about them and made recap of the whole drama from the point of their relationship development in these posts: one, two, three, four, five and six.
Drama: My Journey to You /云之羽
Characters: Gong Shangjue x Shangguan Qian
Screentime: Secondary
In order to destroy the martial artist's clan, a female assassin was sent in there. While she is trying to seduce one of clan's young masters, he tries to expose her lies, but, eventually, falls in love with her. Unrequited. Maybe. This story has an open ending.
My analysis of their relationship is here.
Drama: Butterflied lover /风月变
Characters: Ling Changjin x Bao Zhu
Screentime: Secondary
A wicked nobleman marries a princess because of her miraculous blood: it`s able to bring his zombie sister back to life. The princess allows him to treat her bad because she has been in love with him for a long time and believes he is a good person. Bit by bit he starts believe in it himself and begins to cherish his wife more... The ending is obscure (in a traditional Chinese way).
Drama: The Blue Whisper /与君初相识
Characters: Li Shu x Xue Sanyue
Screentime: Minor
A cat demon prince infiltrates the valley of demon hunters in order to set free the great demoness, but falls in love with one of demon hunters. Mutually. The ending is traditionally Chinese - they met again in another life. Т_Т
Drama: Immortal Samsara / 沉香如屑
Characters: Xuan Ye x Ran Qing
Screentime: Minor
An Asura king infiltrates the Heavenly Realm in order to steal the artifact that can help him conquering the world. The keeper of this artefact is a brave and honest goddess and he can't help but fall in love with her. After, he needs to choose: to be with his lover or to rule the world. He wants all at once, but there is no way to get it all. No HE for this pair.
Pride and Prejudice
Drama: Lighter and Princess / 点燃我
Characters: Li Xun x Zhu Yun
Screentime: Main
A girl from a rich family with an anxious type of attachment falls in love with her classmate from a poor family with an avoidant type of attachment and tries to win his heart. It`s a problematic ship in a full meaning of these words and I like it this way. Yummy! The HE is attached.
Drama: Derailment /脱轨
Characters: Qi Lian x Jiang Xiaoyuan
Screentime: Main
A boy accidently meets his school sweetheart after many years of radio silence and understands that something is wrong with her. It turns out that her body is occupied by a transmigrator from a parallel world. At first he hates transmigrator for replacing his lover, but bit by bit he learns, that a transmigrator has not only the same appearance but the same habits and way of thinking, and falls in love with this new personality again... The story ends with HE but not in a way that you may think it would.
Drama: The Love by Hypnotic /明月照我心
Characters: Li Qian x Li Mingyue
Screentime: Main
In order to build relationship between two countries an emperor arranges marriage for his son. His fiancée is from a barbaric tribe: she is good at horse riding and archery, but knows nothing about palace etiquette and ladies stuff. It`s a light and sweet story about finding a path to each other's heart. The HE is attached.
Drama: The Long Ballad /长歌行
Characters: Hao Du x Li Leyan
Screentime: Secondary
A tsundere of a low background with a poker face does his ruthless job in a court, that's why a young princess thinks he is an awful man and is scared of him. But in reality he is a loyal servant and son and, moreover, secretly in love with the princess, who can't stand him... The HE is attached.
Drama: Miss the Dragon /遇龙
Characters: Xue Qianxun x Qingqing
Screentime: Secondary
A very naïve bird demon girl accidently meets a tsundere god of netherworld and turns his well ordered life into havoc. He starts liking it, though. The HE is attached.
Forbidden love
Drama: A Frozen Flower /쌍화점
Characters: Hong Rim x No Guk
Screentime: Main
A gay king needs a heir, so he forces his lover to conceive a child with a queen. In a process, a boy, who was groomed as a king's lover from his childhood, finds out that he likes women much more than men. A traditional Korean tragedy. Very beautiful and full of feelings, though. (No GIFs because they all would be erotic ones).
Drama: 100 Days My Prince /백일의 낭군님
Characters: Moo-yeon x Kim So-hye
Screentime: Secondary
An assassin who is working for a wicked court official is secretly in love with a wife of a crown prince, who happens to be a daughter of the killer of his parents. Forbidden love doubles! But it's mutual, unfortunately for him. It's a very beautiful and full of desperation and feelings story. No HE, we die like Koreans.
More detailed story of their relationship is available here, here and here.
Drama: The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity/晴雅集
Characters: He Shouye x Zhang Ping
Screentime: Secondary
A woman, who is destined to restrain the undying evil within her body for eternity in solitude, falls in love with Yin-Yang master. Her love is mutual, but her lover can't be with her forever, so he leaves with her his guardian demon to brighten her loneliness. Protecting her for ever starts being the only goal of demon's life... A tragedy, but a beautiful one.
Drama: The Legends/招摇
Characters: Gu Hanguang x Shen Qianjin
Screentime: Minor
"The Legends" once more! The main doctor of a demonic sect is in love with a leader of a righteous sect. A girl is not allowed to love anyone, otherwise she will suffer from the poison, so he anonymously sends her packages of medicinal herbs. She is curious about anonymous sender, too. But nothing can be kept in secret forever... Unfortunately, no HE for these two. In the novel he is safe and sound, but he has no love plotline at all. So is a price of love Т_Т.
I will talk about my other favorite characters and tropes in the next post.
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Top Nine TV Shows tag game
Was invited to do this by @lovesickfolly I'm going to do it with cdramas, bc that's what I'm into lately, but if anyone wants to do this, you can do it with any kind of show.
My top nine cdramas, in no particular order...
Before I begin, I should probably point out that I'm more "plot" over "ship." I like ships, but usually as a means to showing character depth; they're not the thing I tend to focus on the most.
What these nine have in common is:
good plot and writing - not just the plot, but the storytelling
3D characters who are also likeable
hooked my attention - my mind didn't wander while watching, AND I wanted to watch more than one episode in a row
memorable
I'm going to include another indicator, too. If it "got" me good enough to make me make fanart: 🎨lol I mean, I'm SLOW. If I was willing to dedicate days/weeks to make a drawing out of it, that's SOMETHING. lmao
1 - Word of Honor🎨
Martial arts adventures (+ a steampunk sect), BL.
This was the first cdrama I watched, and I loved it and it still has a special place in my heart. I rewatched along later with @ginsoakedgirl80 and it was as enjoyable to watch the 2nd time as it was the 1st.
Awesome story and characters, beautiful scenery. And it gave me my first two favorite drama actors.😆*cough* My fav characters were, in order: Ye Baiyi and the Scorpion King. My fav actors, the same two, but reversed; I like comedians, OK? XD
Just a word of advice to anyone planning to try this: I don't know why the opening scenes character-dump on you; most of those people aren't even that important. Just learn Prince Jin and Zhou Zishu (a few others will show up later, but you can learn them then), and then start learning names only once Zhou Zishu becomes a homeless drunk man.
2 - The Taoism Grandmaster (technically, I have a drawing WIP, but it'll probably stay a WIP)
If the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter and a Final Fantasy video game had a child in ancient China, you'd get this, complete with items shop before boss battles (the store ox is so cute!).
No but look, this is like my gremlin child. I'm not a fast watcher, but this is the only one which I binged so many episodes in a row, that it made me lose track of time, and before I knew it, it was past 2am on a weeknight and I had work the next day. I may have made it to 4am one of those nights; I don't remember. After it happened twice, I had to set an alarm. Have also watched twice+
Yes, the CG is bad, the costumes were cheap sometimes, and the plants did not pretend to not be plastic, but I love the story. It's well written and has so many details and ways things tie together. And THE CHARACTERS! They're all lovable dorks AND I LOVE THEM!
3 - The Legendary Life of Queen Lau🎨
Romcom.
AAAAAAAAA!! I love comedy and this was GREAT in that sense! Really had me laughing out loud every episode! This is one to watch more for the funny and ingenious situations than for plot, but it was SO enjoyable, I'd even watch them do slice of life. So cute, so fun, love it love it love it!!🥰 Another one that I rewatch whenever I need something uplifting and cute. Also, one of my two favorite OSTs. So uplifting and danceable!
Alright, those are my top 3. The ones I'm sentimental for. The stuff I squee over. But I have 16 starred on my list as excellent / recommendable, so let's have six more.
4 - Song of Youth
Case-solving; mini-cases and the one overarching one.
I loved the format of one case per couple of episodes, so it was broken up into smaller chunks. Super interesting and creative - each case was solved in an unconventional way, which was fun and engaging. All the actresses did a fantastic job. The jewelry, props, lighting, etc. were absolutely beautiful.
5 - The Blood of Youth🎨
Martial arts adventures with a group of friends.
Story: 💯Characters: 💯 Fights: 💯 Visuals: 💯OST: 💯
Xiao Se as the tired babysitter I love him! Wuxin! OMG Wuxin as the sassy fake monk who monologues before every fight and people just let him. I love him! (Wuxin spinoff, please! and I love his theme song!) The whole cast is gorgeous and acted wonderfully, so no sacrificing talent for looks; these people had both in spades. The supporting cast, too. OMG Baily Dongjun and the thunder guy!😍 It had funny moments. Mr. Sikong! The fights were SO creative... how many ways can you design a martial arts fight?? Way more than I thought! No two were similar; it was amazing, the creativity.
As an artist, I really enjoyed the cinematography... the scenery, lighting!! composition, all absolutely gorgeous. Those shots of Xiao Se with soft backlighting? Chef's kiss. And, as a photographer, I know they're not as easy to achieve as it looks. Alright, this one got 2 paragraphs already; need to move on, but watch if you haven't. It's on YouTube.
6 - Till the End of the Moon
Doomed love fantasy; watch them struggle against themselves and their destiny.
THIS IS SO GOOD!! The story is great, excellent plot and pacing. Characters are 3D and always surprising. Gorgeous costumes (Tantai Jin's especially! And the clam clan makeup!), sets, and special effects. THE SOUNDTRACK IS EMBEDDED IN MY BRAIN IT'S SO GOOD (🎶favs: "Use my Body as a Shield" or whatever it's called, I keep seeing different translated titles for it; "Reborn" instrumental; and "Holding on to a Thought" instrumental).
7 - The Blue Whisper
Fantasy romance and adventure. Merman. Animal-spirit people. Angst, treason, and undying hope.
Gosh this drama is so beautiful. This, Till the End of the Moon, and Blood of Youth are up there as the top 3 visuals in dramas I've completed (there are others that have stunned me visually, but haven't been able to watch in full). Excellent story, too. It's a tearjerker, but it's SO GOOD!
8 - My Uncanny Destiny
Romcom. "Would you still love me if I was a worm?"
Lots of fun. Very enjoyable and bingeable.
9 - Guardian, the one with Bai Yu and Zhu Yi Long
Modern urban superpowers type of thing, which is a genre I like, and the story is so good! By Priest, the same author for the Word of Honor novel. Never a dull moment. Tearjerker warning, but so good. Excellent theme song, too, btw. (I don't have any screencaps that aren't a spoiler, so that's what this is XD)
I ran out of slots, but I'll list the other seven in my Excellent and Recommendable list. Order is just as I watched them:
The Untamed
Legend of Fei
A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College
Be Reborn (modern, heist/police)
The Romance of Tiger and Rose
A Familiar Stranger (mini-drama; watch the movie version)
Reset (modern, action, investigation)
PS: I've been here one month, and have done two tag games and they both had the number "9" in them; is this a tumblr thing?
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