Ashes of Love (2018)

-Story-
This is really one of the rare historical fantasy drama that I ever watched finish. It was engaging and brought me a lot of laughter and tears. A lot of tears. The best part for me is that I can see character development for the characters in this show. You can witness each character mature over the experiences. The story builds up slowly and consistently which is something that I really appreciate. The only down point for me was that the story of Liu Ying and her dude was so much unnecessary. I mean it could have existed but maybe not so detailed. Other than that, it was great. The story was definitely well planned and concluded nicely.

-Acting/Cast-
MAJOR THUMBS UP TO THE CAST! Really one of the best cast you will every get. I think all the actors/actresses did well but Im just gonna focus on the 3 major roles.

Firstly, Yang Zi. Her acting shocked me so much. Before this drama, I have watched her reality/variety shows and drama Ode to Joy. So my impression of her was kinda stuck at the bright, easygoing and funny kind of girl. But JIN MI was so so so cuteeeee! The not annoying kind of cute. Her voice was like so different from how she speaks in reality so I was really shock. She did so well in acting naive and all innocent cause I thought it was going to be annoying for me. Also, her crying scenes was WOW. Cant help but cry with her cause I can feel the emotions of Jin Mi through her acting. LOVE HER.

Secondly, Deng Lun. I must admit that Im not a big fan of him but he was so good looking in this drama. He carried the aura of Xu Feng well (as a general). You can see the process of him falling in love with Jin Mi and there were a lot of details in his acting. I was super impressed by his acting at THE MAJOR SCENE (I shall not spoil too much) when he showed the disbelief, shock, disappointment and grief in a matter of few minutes. Definitely a talented actor.

Lastly, Luo Yun Xi. I really hated and loved him so much in this drama. How can someone look so good in white.... You hate him for being cruel to Jin Mi and Xu Feng but you can't help to feel sad for him too. From kindness to revenge, I think he did well in showing how the character went through the setbacks and how he changes mentality.

-Production-
I really have to include this is my review- giving my thumbs up to the production team! If you guys watched any of the BTS, you can see that many of the scenes are actually real (not green screen). And you can see the details that the team have included in their scenes and costumes. All these effort ELEVATED my whole experience of the drama.

-Music-
I am pretty sure many of us who have watched this drama still feel like tearing when you hear Mao Buyi start singing. If I'm not wrong, Sa Ding Ding was the music director of this drama (she acted in it too) and no doubt she was a good one. And I loved all the OSTs of this drama. Honourable mention to the leads for singing one of the songs, I think it was a brilliant rendition.

63 episodes is very long indeed. But it was worth the time for me. Just prepare more tissues when you reach the later part of the story. I am so thankful I watched this cause I was never a fan of historical fantasy kind of drama. Now go watch it.

Leia Mais

If you madly finding a show which is all rounder ,now here this drama is the best choice?. how❓

Its starting is really beautifully designed🥰, which gives a grate turn to the story, and makes you more excited, as far as you go you will find it more interesting.
With many secrets, plots, different characters, turning points, this drama becamed more touching, or compel you to watch next next and next episode.
Every actor is extremely talented in their own role. As D is really played amazingly.
During watching this series I brokedown 😭many times ,its half told scenes at confession makes it more touching.
And there is a turning point which made me madly crazy to love this series. I cried to much at that point and in the last episodes..its story is well written, I really wanted to tell you my most touching moment but don't want to spoil your story mood...which made me like this drama more is the role of main actor(fenghuang)❤, Which is to powerfull and active.

Leia Mais

Only Good Because of Select A Few Episodes

Overall: I actually don't know where to start. Starting out it was okay and it got better in the middle, but then the ending was just disappointing and could have been wrapped up a lot sooner. If I were to be very honest, this drama could have just been around 40-50 episodes, I don't understand and don't know why it starting dragging out so much after 50.

Acting/Cast: I didn't really have much of an issue with the cast. The main cast, the two male leads and the female lead are suitable for their roles and they did their best to act out their characters, but their characters have issues and the character development was quite poor.

Story/Plot/Character: Most reviews that gave this drama a bad ending was because of Jin Mi's character and I honestly don't blame them. She IS extremely naive, airheaded, and perhaps ignorant as there was an episode that showed she didn't even know what gender she was. She's so clueless with the world outside because she was sheltered for about 4,000 years of her life so I completely understand why her character was the way it was so it didn't particularly bother me because I knew that. One thing that bothered me was how they overly dramatized how her mother got heartbroken. I completely understand because I've been there but I don't see how it could be such a huge deal other than the fact the Heavenly Empress tried to kill her.

My favorite arc was the mortal arc was where she finally snapped and told Fire Immortal that she liked him and after that, I felt that her character development was finally really starting to take shape, but then they made a twist where she suddenly doesn't know what love feels like anymore, that was very repelling and I felt like they did that just to drag the drama on even longer. There were one too many twists to be considered "good" for this drama. Another note to add was there were also way too many "useless" episodes in this drama. The little princess from the demon realm and her boyfriend was the least interesting part of this drama and I had to skip through those scenes because, honestly, I did not care. I didn't notice how many episodes were about these two until I skipped multiple episodes just to see the main lead together more. Another issue was that there doesn't seem to be any proper character development within the main leads if anyone had proper character development to begin with.

Personally, I could only stand to watch this drama with selective episodes. There are just too many episodes that dragged on for no particular reason and could have been a lot shorter.

Leia Mais

My first Chinese drama - which I will not forget

This is a beautiful Xian Xia drama that I would recommend anyone who loves Romance, great acting and beautiful costumes. I have not watched a Chinese drama for years until Youtube inserted a beautiful edited video of Ashes of Love into my playlist. I immediately fell in love with the tragic love story between the three main leads, the gorgeous cast and the marvelous shots.

I will quickly run through my 7 criteria (definitions below the review):

1. Emotional rollercoaster: 5/5 ★★★★★
Oh yes! This drama had so many up and downs, melting moments but also tearing scenes between the two main leads that it was bad for my heart. I deeply fell in love with Deng Lung who played Feng Huang as he all to well embodied this proud, strong, loving and later on hurt and nonchalant phoenix. Also hat down to the acting skills of our female lead Yang Zi and Male Lead 2 Leo Luo. Both of them really make the characters alive.
There is a famous climax in the middle at which Jing Mi said: "never" to our ML - this one of the most heartbreaking scenes in a romance drama I have seen.

2. Sleepless Nights: 5/5 ★★★★★
I binged-watched this drama from begin to the end

3. Natural and intelligent Storytelling: 4/5 ★★★★☆
Most of the part the writing is logic and convincing. Only that towards end, some actions of Run Yu felt a bit too farfetched. Though I completely understand the reason behind his "turning-evil", his actions sabotaged his real character, which is still kind and loving. It felt slightly unnatural for me.

4. Loveable supporting Roles: 3/5 ★★★☆☆
There are a 1-2 very succssful supporting roles, esp. Dan Zhu, played by Xia Zhi Yuan, is my favourite. His acting is very natural. Despite playing a young man by look, his performance really reminds me of a old man. The demon princess, casted by Yukee Chen, also caried out well. However, for most part, I find most supporting characters realtively one-dimensional and not deep enough. That goes for our FL2/anti-hero, Sui He, the heavenly couples and Mu Ci. Thus they feel very much like medium to carry the story forward as opposed to personalities the audience can empathize with.

5. Proper Pacing: 3/5 ★★★☆☆
With 63 episodes, this is once again a drama that could have been shortened. Towards the later half of the drama, there is a lot of air time for the love story of demon princess and Muci, which felt draggy. Though both actors don't lack in acting skills, there was little chemistry between them, and the audience cannot really relate to their tragic story.

6. Technicalities: 4/5 ★★★★☆
For most of the part, I think the CGI has been executed well. The sets are a bit bright and too colorful, but overall it depicts the XianXia vibe well. The main song is also beautiful, is just that it was played too often - I wished they had more variations when it comes to background music.

7. Solid Final: 4/5: ★★★★☆
The ending of this drama was beautiful and sweet. The scenes at which finally all misunderstandings were resolved and the evil doings of the antagonists were revealt provided a lot satisfaction.
I just wished that the last 1/3rd of the drama could have been shortened. Also, the scenes before the ending, the acting/character design of Feng Huang showed a bit too much sorrow. But that's my personal taste.

Ashes of Love is and will remain a legendary drama for me as it has punched me back into the Chinese drama land, which I will be forever grateful. This is a work of art no-one should miss.

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Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:

After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster etc.). The degree on how much I care about the fate of the main leads.
2. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
4. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have the proper motivation behind their actions.
5. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
6. "Technicalities": professional camera works and shots, fight scenes, color grading, lighting, editing, music, sets, costumes, use of CGI etc. I try to grade this in relation to the drama budget, so a low-budget drama can equally get a high score when used at the right place
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that start to lose their grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.

Leia Mais

The most magically woven drama

Let me tell you, I am NOT a fan of Xianxia or Wuxia C-Dramas, but this one just won my heart not once, but over and over again. The leads, YangZi, DengLun and Luo YunXi... They were just amazing. The story, from first to last, was so beautifully made, it feels like you're present right there, in the drama. Even the villains and antagonists perfectly acted their parts, making me hate them so much, which was in fact, the sole purpose after all. The way the story unfolded in every episode was just, Chef's Kiss. Yeah I agree that in some parts, JinMi was annoying and dumb, but you'll see that you can't even blame her for that.
All in all, it was the most amazing xianxia drama I've ever seen, and there were no scope of getting bored. I would definitely recommend this

Leia Mais

TBH I didn't want to watch this drama when I came across it in Jan 19 when I was searching for a good drama to watch. Ashes of love was one of the top 10 recommended drama of 2018 but at first I somehow didn't fancy it after reading the synopsis and seeing the promotion posters. I thought it was going to be one of those fluffy and sickening romantic drama which I really don't like. However, after watching most of the recommended drama such as Legend of Fuyao, TMOPB, King's Woman, The Flame Daughter, Secret of the Three Kingdom and I was running out of drama to watch so I gave AOL a try. At the start I couldn't really get into the story and \i dropped it couple of times but I kept on seeing AOL on the top 10, top 15 lists of a MUST WATCH series so I gave it one last try and to my surprise it is now my favourite Chinese Drama of all time even exceed my previous fav - Nirvana in Fire. Also when I first saw the promotional posters I really don't like the look of Deng Lun but after just first few episodes in I was in awe of his presence and performance. He is truly a God of Fire! I really love this series and I kept re-watched it so many times. The aspect I love the most is the beautiful love story between Jinmi and Xufeng. Truly amazing!

Leia Mais

This drama has been a long journey.
It was an amazing drama with spectacular actors who did so much justice to their roles,be it the crazy act or anything else it was always on point

I love the fact that they have portrayed the characters as people who became the way the became as a victim of circumstances and not in the "I'm a born devil kinda way"

Overall I would have enjoyed it even more if it had not become excessively draggy. It was a drama that could have told this story is a much shorter way probably 40 episodes or so.

But nevertheless I really enjoyed the drama for what it is.

Leia Mais

Want a long drama that gives you a rollercoaster of emotions? Watch this

Not going to lie, I first saw a clip of Ashes of love on tiktok and for some reason the tiktok made it seem like a poor quality unrealistic looking drama that uses a lot for green screens. But that isnt the case at all. The editing, CGI, costumes and everything were very nice quality and realistic. I dont usually write reviews but I've read many poor reviews of this drama so I decided to write one in my perspective. Even though this drama was pretty long (63 eps), I was never bored and I wanted it to be much longer.

I'm not sure why but whenever I watch a fantasy/eternal love drama, I always hated the the idea of them going down to the mortal realm to spend a lifetime as a mortal. In this, I wasn't really looking forward to them heading down but what happened down there was actually very interesting. The first time I sobbed uncontrollably in this drama was when Jinmi was dying and coughing up A LOT of blood when Xufeng was out at fighting a battle. It was devastating when Jinmi died in the mortal realm and very touching when xufeng accompanied her in her coffin.

The character Runyu to me was just a man who seeked to be loved. Whether that was his mom or Jinmi. He was obsessed with Jinmi as she was the first to make his heart fluttered and he loved her deeply. But later on into the drama, I kind of feel like his love for Jinmi slightly turned into a need of possession.

The seen where Jinmi and Xufeng "accidentally" got married while Xufeng was the Demon King was definitely my favourite scene. I watched that episode at least 5 times it was incredible to see Jinmi get back all the credit of what she did for Xufeng that was stolen by Suihe.

ACTING
The acting was very realistic and defiently sucks the audience into the drama as if they were part of it. The actors, especially the main ones were very professional.

STORY
The story to me was also incrediable and new as it was my first Fantasy/eternal love drama. It made me want to explore more into it.

MUSIC
The music made the drama even more touching. I added one of the songs played into my spotify playlist and whenever i listen to it, it brings back so many memories, both sad and happy.

REWATCH VALUE
This drama was my favourite and I will definitely be re watching it. I struggled to not rewatch it just a month after finishing it and it was really hard. I rewatch some of my favourite scenes to ease my patience.

Leia Mais

food for the soul

This is my first 10 in reviews.

I truly enjoyed it and had my heart broken during the series.I'm constantly re watching my favorite scenes and listening to the songs.Why ? because although is fantasy drama, it just easy to relate to some personal experiences.

The series depicts some of the real situation that we are all facing- when in a relations one will love more than the other, the anguish , the excitement, you can get it here.
Most of us will relate to Allen Deng character, which I loved, but the "main prize" should go to Yang Zi, character as she was able to make us frustrated due to her lack of feelings and love understanding.

What I didn't like about it, is how the stories for some support characters is depicted as well as some of the special FX, like the dream best, really unprofessional work.

OST links, part of my list:
favorite, the lyrics are great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpan9yLmsgI&list=PL1LdzvvpQJSBeq6_I_NP7e_YgRElTdlwp&index=4&t=0s
The other great songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SID9AIGTVso&list=PL1LdzvvpQJSBeq6_I_NP7e_YgRElTdlwp&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeUTvSFhKFk&list=PL1LdzvvpQJSBeq6_I_NP7e_YgRElTdlwp&index=3&t=0s

Definitely a must watch
Enjoy it !

Leia Mais

BEST CDRAMA EVER!

The chemistry between the mf and the ml is so good!!
story is amazing!
The MF is cute and funny!! She also acted amazing with lines in all of the episodoes!
There is villians that are very evil their acting is so amazing!
I probably watch it 10 times already!!
Amazing STORY! Their is so many thing you would love about this drama!
Watch this if you liked a heartfelting, fantasy drama with great main characters!
RECOMMENDED AS A BEGINNING DRAMA!!
I watch this as my first drama and I was hooked to the whole drama and it got me into watch so many other cdrama that I would have missed out!

Leia Mais