Amor entre Fada e Demônio (2022)

Don't hate me for being critical & cynical and not giving this a 10

Completed - 8/29/2022 - 8.25 rating

I enjoyed “Love Between Fairy and Devil” but maybe not as much as most of the audience. I’ve watched my fair share of xianxia dramas and usually I am not a big fan of the cute and bubbly lead. I don't dislike the Little Orchid and am OK with her voice. I am just indifferent. It's Esther Yu's real voice so I am fine with it, as I am a strong proponent of actors using their real voices. The heart-breaking romance did not move me as much as I wanted. The lighthearted tone of the first 18-20 episodes took me a while to get used it. I might just be a cynical old lady that takes a little more effort to move me., especially after finishing "Love Like the Galaxy" not too long ago. Please do not hate me for not giving a perfect rating. There are plenty of things I like about this drama as well.

What I Like:
1. Anti-Hero Male Lead - Just like many others, I am a fan of our anti-hero, Dong Fang Qing Cang (DFQC). Most xianxia heroes are either gods or princes, and rarely do we have someone from the devil side as a male lead. Dylan Wang did a fantastic job in portraying the ruthless and heartless devil, and was able to switch gears during the body swap. You can see from his big eyes how his emotions change from ruthless to adorably pouty. Most anti-hero and gray characters in C-dramas are second male leads, so it’s nice to see a change here. I’ve also enjoyed his transformation from beginning to the end. I do have a minor criticism about our male lead below.

2. Lack of these xianxia tropes + fun new things:
♦︎ No annoying female characters who were obsessed with their unrequited love and became scheming bitches. I am so glad Dan Yin remains a good person from start to finish.
♦︎ No misunderstandings/scheming - xianxia dramas frequently have annoying plot lines created just to break the leads apart. And these misunderstandings are usually caused by jealous men and women. I am glad we don’t really have that here.
♦︎ Hanging out inside a painting is fun and creative.
♦︎ For once our main leads are not going through trials in the mortal realm themselves.

3. Costumes and Accessories - Beautiful costumes for both male and female characters. I really like the hairstyles of the male leads, with simple hair accessories (except those flimsy looking war gears which really don’t seem to be made for battles). Our Little Orchid looks beautiful in all of her dresses no matter where she is. I was particularly interested in the wedding fans. I've rarely seen such beautiful and intricate ones with golden accessories adorned on them. Most of the time, they are just beautiful patterns or colors.

4. Overall Acting - I’ve already mentioned that I really enjoy Dylan Wang’s acting. I didn’t watch “Miss the Dragon” so I don’t know how bad he was, but I’ve seen “The Rational Life” and he did fine. But in this drama, his character allows him to showcase his acting skills. I’ve seen a few Esther Yu’s dramas in the past and she is also playing the cute and bubbly roles. I think she met my expectations but not amazing. With the body swap, you could clearly see Dylan Wang did a much better job. Esther’s gazes were not sharp and stern enough. She tried to look serious but it’s not coming off right. Zhang Ling He has come a long way since his first drama, “Maiden Holmes”. This is my fourth drama of his and it’s his best acting yet. Playing two very different characters in this drama provided him the best opportunity to show us how much he has grown. He’s not amazing yet, but he’s going in the right direction. I've been a fan of Xu Hai Qiao since I first saw him in “Lost Love in Times” and he played Rong Hao admirably, especially his sad and emotional scenes. At least I pity him here instead of hating him in “A Dream of Splendor”. The rest of the supporting cast did a decent job. I would not say the veterans outshine the younger generation in this drama. I think Dylan Wang is the brightest star in the drama.

5. OST - I like the songs in this drama and also the background music. 诀爱 by 詹雯婷 is my favorite song.


What I have mixed feelings or don’t like:

1. Male Leads in Love - As much as I love DFQC, I miss his ruthlessness in the later episodes. I have a similar criticism in other dramas. Once you are in love, you seem to lose yourself and become a lovesick puppy and forget who you were in the past. I believe you could be totally in love, yet still don’t lose your former self. Unfortunately, I think both DFQC and Chang Heng fell short in this area.

2. CGI - There are many praises about how beautiful this drama is and we can see the numerous screenshots on the Feeds during the airing of this drama. And I agree that there are many scenery shots that are beautiful and very fairytale-like. However, I also feel that these shots are overused and after a while, the whole drama seems so ‘fake’ because it’s full of green screen scenes. I also find the final battle has the weakest CGI of the whole drama. On the other hand, I really enjoy the CGI in individual fight scenes, e.g. DFQC vs Chang Heng and DFQC saving the Little Orchid and battling the gods. Those were some of the best special effects I've seen used in battle scenes. It rivals my love of the purple CGI in “Ancient Love Poetry”.

3. Cannot avoid some common xianxia tropes - love obsession that started all evil deeds, the story is always about the aftermath of a war thousands of years ago, noble idiocy and sacrifices, Gods always seem to be more evil than the Devils, Love triangles/squares/pentagons, etc.

4. Secondary characters and plots are underdeveloped - Possibly because this is a shorter drama, I feel that the secondary romance between Shang Que and Jie Li is under-developed and quite boring. They could have been an interesting opposites-attract duo, but unfortunately I find Jie Li to be the most annoying character in this drama. Similarly, the truth and reunion between Jie Li and her family are very anti-climatic. Reuniting with her family was so brief that it only serves to move along Rong Hao’s story. I also want to know more of Rong Hao's story with the Goddess of War aside from the same few flashback scenes.

5. Pacing - As a short xianxia drama, the pace is fast. I don’t think you will hear complaints about a slow start. However, I still think the drama focuses too long in the initial 18-20 episodes in the Heavenly Realm and ran out of time in the last few episodes. Those early episodes were not my personal favorites. I didn’t start really liking the drama until they started the mortal realm, and then the story moves along more interestingly for me. However, the ending felt rushed and…predictable?


Other Random Observations:
♦︎ When you are so powerful, I think you could have saved your girl from drowning just by a snap of your fingers, without kissing. Fan service!
♦︎ Had to fast forward the scene when the Little Orchid was crawling in the sand. It took too long. LOL
♦︎ Why do these gods and devils need to give piggy back rides when they can teleport?
♦︎ I need better kisses. They are really not as passionate as I want them to be, especially the ones in the last couple episodes. Some kisses felt like they are just there to please fans of these idol actors. *I’m going to hide now*

Leia Mais

Worth watching

I have a lot to write about this drama. I have only seen good reviews so far. People are happy with the acting and story but I have few things that I want to point out. So bear me if you have contrasting views.

First of all I must talk about acting. Both the main leads plus second leads were amazing in their characters. The show was roller coaster of emotions for sure. I have problem with certain characters like heavenly god, he was so emotionless and useless at times that I doubted why was he even chosen as supreme god? Most of the time he was just sitting there and punishing people without any reason. I didn't see any character development in him even till the end. There were other gods who were equally unimportant to story except Siming(Arbiter) and the one with white hair( don't remember the name). While former wasn't much in the story the latter was again pretty much weak god like others. The God of War who was supposed to be the most powerful god could be easily defeated by any person. He didn't win any fight in the whole show! Again why was he chosen as god of war??? His human arc was much better than his immortal arc. Atleast that character felt much more real. Then there was black dragon who was at the epitome of stupidity. He was telling important secret and stuff to every person left and right. I mean he was the close aid to moon ruler so why was he so stupid in the entire show? He wasn't there to protect anyone at important times! He was shown quite fearsome in his dragon form which he never used again except in the beginning!Quite a let down I must say. His romance arc with Jeili was as stupid as his character. I didn't get the whole point. She was pretty avarice and manipulative. She broke up with him and then towards the end they were shown together like nothing happened?? And I was like... did I miss something? They were not on talking terms before? How did this happen?
Coming to the story, people might say that it had a great story but I have seen similar stories in many Cdramas. 'Blue Whispers' for instance has almost similar story. A disciple using evil power to resurrect his Shifu( master) who helped him when he was a child, which ends up causing chaos. A powerful person (ml) spending time with naive girl (fl), later sacrificing themselves for others, pretty much Ashes of love and love and redemption storyline.
First half was funny yet so stupid. Especially the female character. I found it hilarious how everyone could easily enter anywhere without much problem. They should just fire their gurads.
The story picks up the speed towards the second half. I loved how they showed the emotions of the characters. The reason behind their actions. Its no doubt that all emotional scenes were so portrayed so well. Especially towards the end. I must point out Dylan Wang's acting was really something in those scenes so does Esther's. I was disappointed in Miss the dragon but Dylan just proved his acting prowess through this show. I heard people criticised Esther's voice. But that's her real voice and really after sometime it grew on me. I ended up loving her.
I liked Dylan's and Esther's costumes the most in the show. Plus the make up. I did not like Changhan's costumes tbh...it really looked like a plastic armour.
I loved the CGI of heaven and universe (where arbiter lived) more than the war scenes.
This brings us towards the end...I wonder why all Cdrama always prefer rushed endings. I mean they can just easily edit out certain scenes of flashbacks which they were showing again and again for no reason and increase the time for the main leads. I am really disappointed with the editing in the whole show the most.
To conclude it, this was funny and worth watching not much for re-watch for me atleast but still lovable for its characters and their acting. I would love to see Dylan and Esther in other show for sure, they had a great chemistry. I really want to watch a show on Arbiter 'a storyline too. I heard there is a separate novel for her character. I loved this actress since Bloody romance. And to have her just for such a small role is really sus. I wonder if they are planning to make another series on her. It would be really great if that happened.

Leia Mais

Anti-hero Dark Lord Meets Insufferably Stupid Fairy

I finally got through all the episodes. Phew, almost dropped it a few times.

LIKES:
Beautiful sets and cinematography.
Special FX were good, same with CGI use.
Music was appropriate, but nothing stood out.
WRITING: The heavenly tribes aren’t as purely good as they seem. I liked that they showed the heavenly ones as being flawed. Also liked that the dark tribe/hell fire came across as stronger than the heavenly fire. Don’t see that often.
COSTUMES: Embroidery was nice, the dark/devil ML had a better costume than most.
ACTING: ML did very good and has matured as an actor. When they did the body switch parts, ML was good & FL did okay too. FL did best as the Goddess parts.

DISLIKES:
WRITING: Orchid Fairy (FL) is just too dumb and very whiney. It wasn’t like she’s just naive or innocent, more that she’s purely stupid. I found her ignorant too. (That all could be the actress’s fault or the directing, not sure which.) Typical tropes and cliches of this fantasy drama genre. Also the 2nd couple (Jie Li and Shang Que) wasn't necessary and the ending was disappointing. Also for all of the characters, other than Dongfang Qing Cang & his brother, there was no character growth.
PRODUCTION/EDITING: During flying moments or falling, it is so obvious that they are in harness with ropes.
FX: The swords all look like children’s halloween costume props. “Fight scenes” were very lame looking.
ACTING: FL was over the top cutesy and not in a good way. Some stand out performances, but the rest was just average. Even though ML & 2ML (Changheng) tried their best, there was just no chemistry with FL at all. FL (Orchid) had over the top cute fairy acting but just too much and got annoying fast. You can be sweet without a stupid voice, it was like a tooth ache eating cotton candy. Just terrible. From episode 12 and on I had to mute FL’s parts, because I just couldn’t take listening to her anymore. I read subtitles instead.
COSTUMES: The “crowns” or head gear looked laughably plastic. Not very creative in the costume department and if they hadn’t constantly told us she’s from the fairy realm, you wouldn’t know it. [Not by costumes, other than the pastel colours.]

OVERALL: So far very over rated, unless you are just starting out watching shows from this genre. As a starter Fantasy Drama I would recommend it, for those of us who have watched a lot of these types of dramas I don't recommend it (unless you are a child or a teenager). I watched it until the end, but was tempted to drop it often. Dylan Wang did a great job acting as Dongfang, enough for me to check out some of his other roles. (Originally I wasn't impressed but that was after watching Meteor Garden.) I'm glad this drama is over though.

Leia Mais

What's more beautiful than the blossoming of flowers of love in his barren tree

As if I have finally regained my confidence in anticipation and I can tell myself that some things are still worth the wait. Love Between Fairy and Devil (chinese: 苍兰诀 / pinyin - Cāng Lán Jué) is a fantasy themed romantic Xianxia based on the popular novel of the same name written by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang that strikes at the right time when I was just finished ranting out my other anticipated dramas. Disclaimer - forgive me this is long, I have a lot to say.

Story [10/10] —
Not best but charming. Amongst the profound depths of the three realms, there was a bossy devil (Dongfang Qingcang) locked up in Haotian Tower for thousands of years but a cheerful fairy (Xiao Lan Hua) mistakenly saves him. Like the beast that meets his beauty. There starts a story between them, they even swap bodies and they fall in love eventually. But "WAIT" they were not meant to be together at first. Because they are from different sides. I didn't even realise when I got so invested in their immortal world, its fun how apart from the romantic tale no one is "EVIL" without a reason, how enemies become sworn brothers and how comedy is one of those main elements no matter how much angst we are expecting soon.

The leads chemistry is something I would recommend this drama for. Cold ML × Naive FL. I was the first one who shouted "SO TYPICAL" yet my heart melted as I watched more. The journey made them more precious with their bonding, bickering, all the tests and sacrifices. For the angst I cried a few buckets too.

The Visuals, CGI and production quality —
I can list hundreds of scenes where I couldn't help but rewatch like two of my favourites are –
1. Dongfang Qingcang's entry scene in Haishi city (the one that has a big moon behind him, he goes to save orchid and he legit looks like the boss of the world)
2. there's a scene with two Gods talking and enjoying fine wine but guess what they're inside a painting on a boat ~ how creative is that!
Then her Arbiter hall, Haotian tower, Cangyan Sea's castle and those northern lights in sky its all dreamy wonderful themes so pretty and this level of creativity in scenes and details is something I would die for. Not to mention, Dylan Wang in the role of the the Moon Supreme, his costume, his looks, his visuals!

And I think I never got bored as things change quick and this was pretty addictive instead. Though some complained of dropping this very early, I think it's just until those first 3-4 episodes where the characters need more time to get introduced and then the plot develops stronger with time. This has used quite a minimalistic approach in depth of characters having a not-so complicated structure unlike other Xianxias.


Characters, Casting and Acting [10/10] —

Dylan Wang (Wang He Di) was one of the best casting choices ever made. I can't even imagine anyone else as the arrogant cum sweet devil Dongfang Qingcang (DFQC). His emotional scenes are as strong as his body-swap scenes where he quickly shifts to a pouting, jumping girl. He is very versatile and an amazing actor.

Yu Shu Xin – the temperament of a playful and easy going Fairy Orchid suits Esther very well, her voice might have affected some audience but I think it was just okay. Esther is usually a bubbly girl (as I have seen her in Youth shows before) so both her and this character was pretty similar. Acting wise I don't really think she deserves so much hate, she played well in both sweeter side and the cold vibe (Xi Yun) in later half. Anyway opinions and preferences might differ.

Other leading casts ~
✡ Zhang Ling He (as Lord Changheng) ~ the current God of War stuck between his responsibilities and love that he has hidden for years
✡ Xu Hai Qiao (as Rong Hao) ~ a disciple who wishes his master to come back
✡ Cristy Guo (First God of War or Xie Wan Qing) ~ a warrior who once sacrificed herself to protect the peace of three realms

All were good in their respective roles.
✡ Special mention to the silly, soft-hearted and adorable Dragon Shang Que (portrayed by Lin Bai Rui).

For dubbing, Yu Shu Xin voiced herself and Dylan Wang (Wang He Di) was dubbed by Wang Bao Shun. supporting actors like Zhang Ling He and Xu Hai Qiao were voiced by Ren Jing Hao and Wang Yong Gang respectively.


OSTs [10/10] —
One of the best parts of this drama is those musical scores. There is one for every situation ;)

◍ "Parting Love" (诀爱) - Faye Chan (the stunning illustrations we get for this intro song and the voice! I have never skipped this honestly, it turns out to be my favorite song from this drama, everytime it's played for the leads, it adds a special magic to their chemistry)

◍ "The Oath of Canglan" (苍兰契) - Li Changchao (the song for both Dongfang hellfire and orchid's first powers as well. I love how the singer shifts to a different pitch in middle and the upbeat music behind is just my style, my second favorite)

◍ "Loss of Memory" (失忆) - Yu Shuxin
◍ "Looking For You" (寻一个你) - Liu Yuning
◍ "Shore" (彼岸) - Jing Long & Jing Di
◍ "Longing" (念) - Shuang Sheng
◍ "I Still Remember That Day" (我还记得那天) - Shen Yi Cheng
◍ "I Want To Be With You" (想和你) - Yu Shuxin & Dylan Wang
◍ "Remaining Love" (余情) - Zhou Shen (smoothly ending every episode with his angelic voice)



REWATCH VALUE [9/10] –
How can you not rewatch a show often when you've absolutely loved most of it. So yeah, going to rewatch. I think I got something good to watch in my drama slumps.

Conclusion [10/10] –
The 8th month - August has almost ended and I doubt if any other Xianxia is crossing this standard for me, so with all my pleasure Love between fairy and Devil becomes my Xianxia of the year 2022! On a side note, I really wish we can get more wholesome dramas like this.

Leia Mais

It started off well enough.

I was excited the first few episodes of this show. Finally a Xianxia I might really enjoy. The first few episodes certainly feel promising but by the middle end of the show, it starts to fall apart. The show has the same major problems of almost every Xianxia I have ever watched. Plot lines that just don't make sense. Conflicts that had a lot of potential that just get dropped, and really stupid storylines in place of better ones. Eye rolling soap and dramatics. The story really starts to fall apart the more nonsensical it becomes.

Production was beautiful. I loved the landscapes, costumes, scenery. Much to be expected from this genre.

I felt a little annoyed that the guard and the bandit girl get so much screen time to try to develop a love line I didn't care for. I wanted more scenes of the main leads together. I also didn't like that they didn't curate a better second lead syndrome, which they set up so nicely and completely destroyed instead of exploring further. Added a few weird storylines that seemed kind of pointless to include. Ugh some plots were so bad, it really ruined the show for me.
I will say, I'm really glad they made Fairy Dan Yin redeemable and did not include a crazy female who plots and manipulates due to love.

The show had a lot of potential to be so much better.

Do I recommend it? If you like this genre, it's worth at least watching. Will I watch it again? I mean, I guess I'd rewatch a few of the first episodes? Where the show succeeds, it is great, where it fails, it fails in ways that's hard to salvage.
All I can really say is, Dylan Wang does a great job for this leading role. The character type suits him.

Leia Mais

i survived.

this drama was such a rocky road for me.

let's start with the positives:
-beautiful visuals
so many scenes in this drama were worth a screenshot. i loved the costume designs and how the production team made amazing efforts in setting the mood for either an emotional scene or a romantic one.

-good chemistry
esther yu and dylan wang did so well with their characters and i can't picture anyone else playing as the ear-piercing fairy and the hot emo lord. all jokes aside, the emotions were delivered nicely and i have no complaints.

-addictive ost
listen. the intro, the outro or whatever is in the soundtrack... they're all so dang stunning!!! i can imagine myself coming back to them now and then.

what's my issue with this drama?
i have two main issues that affected my enjoyment of this drama:
-the female lead
besides the high pitched voice and how childish her character was, orchid's backstory didn't hit me that hard. i had to wait for 20 or 30 episodes to wait for her to sort of grow as a character and whew, why did i have to wait so long? i didn’t even feel the character development because of how much the story was stalling.

-the mortal realm
yoooooo this part was so dragged. idk how long i stayed here to the point that it almost felt like a fever dream. i just wanted the writer to cut to the chase and get it over with.

do i hate this drama?
no but i'm sad. i wanted to love this so bad because there was potential for this to be really good. it sucks that only the ml's backstory was interesting enough to get me hooked but it all fell flat in the end.

Leia Mais

Dropped it so many times but finished it for Dongfang Qing Cang

The production is stunning, anyone could see this drama had a BIG investment. The cast's visuals are so ridiculous that they look like they popped out of paintings. Costumes and sets are works of art and I can't complain about anything. Dongfang Qing Cang is honestly godly. I wish I could say the same for little Orchid, but she's the reason I struggled to watch it till the end. I'm not fond of innocent and cutesy characters, especially if they were done like Orchid. At first, I really thought they fell in love just cause. They're the titular devil and fairy, of course, they had to fall in love with each other. There are many examples of good stories where a powerful male lead will fall in love with his sweet and kind female counterpart despite the difference in their rankings. That was the story that this drama is selling but surely Orchid has to be special somehow to justify her role in DFQC's life and for me, that's just lazy writing. I came to the finale thinking what does love between fairy and devil means? At this point, I think I missed it and I'm unbothered. I just think this drama is entertaining enough.

Leia Mais

Preachy with questionable lessons and toddler love story.

Can’t believe I watched a whole show with a cloud of flies as the villain. Why did he do what he did? Because he is evil. Why was the war happening? No one knows, it just was. Why was the leader of fairies wanting to keep the war going? Why not I guess, they just hate each other.

Here’s the thing, if you take 10 random viewers of the show and ask them to describe in detail what was the plot of the show and motivations for all the characters, you would get a description of 10 completely different shows. Why? Because all this drama had was a framework of the plot, but no substance inside it. There was little to no world or character building, no proper set up, no proper conclusion, no details of the magic system and rules how it operates. The drama just lacked… writing.

I could potentially still enjoy it for the romance, if the romance was good. It was not. I just cannot get behind the weird toddler with grown up man romance. Here me out - I have exactly zero issues with childish female leads, there are quite a few dramas with them that I enjoyed, but I am completely against child-like female leads. There is a huge difference between a character behaving in an immature fashion, and a character behaving like a child, and sadly the Fairy was just an annoying toddler.

Possessive and toxic love story? Sign me up, but not when it feels like a romance between a father and his minor kid. I do not care if she matured in the last 6 episodes - too little too late. This whole pairing freaked me out for a good 30 episodes.

Orchid just ain’t it. Girl was dumb, loud, irresponsible, pretentiously good (sorry, but a guy colluding with evil for 30k years and getting so many people dead because of his delusional love was not just a small mistake). While Dongfang Qing Cang was truly hot during many scenes, I still could not enjoy the character to his full potential because of the context of his romance with the little flower. Out of all the characters, the two I truly enjoyed were Die Yi and Dear Daddy Devil’s little brother.

Yes, the performances were strong. Esther Yu was perfect for the role of the most annoying child female lead and delivered all the proper expressions and lines needed. The emotional scenes were great and I actually really liked her in the last 3 episodes. Dylan Wang ate the role. All the pain and suffering, all the confusion about the new emotions he was feeling, all the internal and external dilemmas he was facing. Not to mention both Esther and Dylan did a phenomenal job with the soul switching scenes (even if I did not enjoy them, I am not going to deny the acting skills needed to deliver them).

Production value was great, at least in terms of special effects and most of the set and costume designs. There were few extremely cheap looking additions to few dresses and war armors, but overall - for sure more beauty than trash. Truth to be told, it kind of felt as if they used 80% of the budget on the aesthetics.

As for the soundtrack, can we talk about that one song that sounds like an anime intro that felt painfully misplaced in the story? Too many tracks were completely mismatched, and while they sounded like nice tunes, they did not fit the scenes at all.

Overall, I am just happy I survived this watch. I hated the preachy narration at the end about how love can cure us all, when literally the whole villain story and all the wars happened because of one dude’s delusional love. The writers need to reread their material before they write dumb conclusions, really.

Leia Mais

All the Feels

It seems so simple. Create nuanced characters that don’t slot neatly into standard role types. Give them time to build relationships. Make their choices hard. And yet, it’s rare to see shows do these things, and even rarer when one does them well. And, holy mother of demons and deities, does Love Between Fairy and Devil do them well. It understands that a show about emotions works best if it can make the audience feel every single one of them, and it uses carefully crafted storytelling and skilled directing to ensure just that. Whether it’s a moment of laugh-out-loud humor, sexy skinship, or heartrending grief, this team ensures that it lands, and lands hard. It’s a good old-fashioned melodrama in the best sense – one that recognizes that what we feel is the defining fact of who we are.

The show may be a fantasy, but when it comes to matters of the heart, it gives its characters no magic ways to fix things. Love is not instant, trauma lingers, and all loyalties cannot be honored equally. The cast’s skill levels vary, some of the visuals can be alarming, and the female lead makes a strong case for voice dubbing, but the show gets things right when it counts. While it may cop out ever so slightly in the final seconds, it argues that our real power comes not from what we cling to but from what we’re willing to sacrifice, and that while love may not conquer all, no conquest is worth a thing without it.

Leia Mais

The Fatal Flaw: a weak characterization of the female lead

With eagerness and anticipation, I approached this drama, drawn in by the allure of an antagonistic lead character. The male lead's acting prowess and striking features were truly remarkable. However, my excitement was soon dampened by the female lead's portrayal, which proved disappointing despite her beauty and acceptable performance.

Throughout the drama, the female lead consistently exhibited weakness and made ill-advised decisions, undermining the believability of the storyline. One such decision that still gnaws at me to this day was when she recklessly discarded the bracelet that was shielding her from harm, even though her own people were out to kill her. Another was her choice to consider marrying the second male lead, an action that ultimately did not come to fruition. While I comprehend her thought process, I cannot help but feel that she would have made a wiser decision had she taken the time to devise a plan. This frustration was compounded by her tendency to act impulsively without first thinking things through.

Additionally, the male lead could have benefited from taking more time to consider alternative solutions instead of playing the role of a white knight. A particularly irksome scene occurs when he fails to explain to the female lead why they cannot be together before her first death, leaving her confused and heartbroken.

While not all characters need to be strong and capable, pairing a meek and timid female lead with a powerful antagonist risks presenting a stereotypical representation. Though similar portrayals have been tolerable in other dramas such as "Ashes of Love," this particular one pushed the limits for me. While the female lead undergoes some character growth in later episodes, her decision-making still lacks logical reasoning. The pair could have also worked on their communication skills to prevent a significant portion of the problems they faced.

Another element that dampened my enjoyment of the drama was the male lead's loss of charm as the series progressed. While still a compelling antagonist, he loses some of the qualities that made him an intriguing character. In contrast, characters such as Yan Wushi in "Thousand Autumns" remain true to their "evilness" until the end, making them a favorite of mine.

Finally, the repeated deaths of the main characters was a source of frustration. As in the series "Supernatural," there comes a point when one simply wishes for them to remain deceased.

Despite these shortcomings, the drama does have some redeeming qualities. The male lead's commanding presence and impressive acting abilities compensated for some of the drama's deficiencies. The series also features several memorable scenes, such as the male lead's displays of power and his unwavering devotion to the female lead. The rescue scene in episode 11 stands out, with its impeccable cinematography, tension, and visuals.

Another unforgettable moment was when the male lead, shattered by one of the female lead's death, withdrew into a dream-like state, conveying his love, desperation, and longing in a tragically beautiful way. If the drama had concluded at that point, it would have become one of my all-time favorites, despite my aversion to tragic endings. In that moment, I did not miss the female lead at all, making it a tragically beautiful happy ending for me.

Although I did not love the pairing in the drama, I found their interactions in behind-the-scenes videos to be charming and endearing, deepening my appreciation for their friendship.

In summary, while the drama is not without flaws, it is still worth watching for those who can overlook the frustrating portrayal of the female lead. The male lead's commendable performance and the drama's memorable scenes make it a compelling watch. However, the female lead's weak character and questionable decision-making may detract from overall enjoyment.


"Great acting can make a poorly written character somewhat tolerable, but no amount of great acting can make a poorly written character great." - Dan Harmon

This quote is sadly true in this case.

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10/10 for a xianxia drama ??? what????

OH MY GOD IT HAS BEEN A RIDE!!!!! If you had ever told pre lbfad me that i'd rate a fucking xianxia a 10/10 i'd laugh. I could never seem to get through even one so I had pretty low expectations starting this. AND NOW IM OBSESSED AND GOING THRU WITHDRAWAL ? Anyways if you are looking for an epic love story that'll make you laugh, cry, throw whatever device your watching it on, and laugh some more (+therapy) this is THE ONE to watch!!! I just can't believe it's over like dongfang qingcang and orchid are my parents :( now on to the actual review:

Initially what attracted me to the drama besides the beautiful leads who managed to stun me with their acting (I'll get into that later tho) and the body swap trope. I thought it would be a "silly goofy romcom" and many xianxias don't present themselves like that (going for epic love story, angst, love, palace politics...blah blah in the trailer) and that for me is a turn off because i simply do not care. But as soon as I started lbfad it stunned me with it's beautiful CGI THAT ISN'T OVERDONE. But the humor is just so good because imagine the most powerful demon of the three realms finally out into the world after being jailed up for 30,000 years and immediately being stuck in a low ranked fairy's body. Esther Yu conveyed that so well. Additionally imagine being a fairy who just wanted to save a casual crush and ended up freeing a demon lord but not knowing it.
It was so funny seeing how inconvenient it is for the both of them. then the show adjusts to a more mature theme which fits so wonderfully well, and it never loses it's main message about how nothing can go against fate, except love.
It's not the most original idea especially in dramas but it executes it SO WELL . this show takes an age-old question, "how important really is love?" and tells a gutwrenching and watertight story with it. the writing is impeccable. scriptwriters understand what makes good comedy, and that so much comedy comes from pain, Something your laughing over in the earlier episodes will turn its back on you and stab you with emotion and pain.
Yes It does have the miscommunication trope but communicating WOULD NOT solve the problem the leads face with their love. In fact it would've made it worse, so we the audience have to suffer along. You DON'T KNOW WHO LOVES THE OTHER MORE because of the sacrifices they make for each other.
Some people may not like the FL in the beginning but keep in mind theirs a reason she acts like that and once you get to that point you'll be begging her to go back to her past self. Not gonna elaborate too much bc spoilers.
The MLs development is absolutely heartbreaking because he goes through so much and we see a loss of power as the show progresses which is quite different from the usual trope of "started from the bottom now we at the top" ABSOLUTELY GENIUS WRITING ABSOLUTELY GENIUS . The side characters are fully fleshed out and not just cardboard cutouts each character is fully recognized and make layered and oftentimes painful choices of their own!

Okay now lets talk about the leads! DYLAN WANG HEDI AND ESTHER YU SHUXIN THANK YOU FOR BRINGING MY DFQC AND XLH TO LIFE! They both look so good together and have the best chemistry (cue all the behind videos)! I just can go on and on about how amazing they were AND WE NEED ANOTHER DRAMA WITH THEM
i think why it works so well it because their 'YinYang' acting and their character personalities shuxin in more subtle acting while Dylan in intense acting. You can’t see that they overpower each other. They both highlight each other, and I think that’s also the reason why their chemistry works.
Dylan Wang Hedi his acting man it was just too good! I was familiar with him from MG, and that's also why I underestimated him based on his past performance. He does his comedic scenes so WELL (XLH in DFQC's body) and he fleshes out his emotions so WELL when we first meet him we really see how inconvenient this curse that spellbounds our leads together is an inconvenience for him . Him at his peak of badassery was SO GOOD LIKE STEP ON ME PLS, then we see how his character develops as he falls in love and how they can't be together and let me just say he's a great cryer. He had way more emotionally intense scenes than Esther Yu Shuxin because the story does focus on how love affects him and how that's not always good, but WOW he needs to bag ALL THE AWARDS BECAUSE HE'S SO GOOD.
Esther Yu Shuxin is just made for her role too! When you get through some of Dylan's emotionally intense scenes her acting might seem a little more subtle, but she was right on par with Dylans acting. She played Xiao lanhua with such sass and sunshine it was great! XLH is truly the core of the story and you can really see how much she cares about DFQC. Normally I dislike bubbly and childish FLs and XLH especially at the beginning IS JUST THAT! But she's also very smart and clever also as her character develops into more of a mature lady you'll be begging her to return to her original bubbly self! I know a lot of people don't want to press play just because of her voice, but it's Shuxins actual voice and it fits Xiao LanHua very very well + she's very young compared to the other characters in the show so it's only natural she has a high pitched voice and yes it might seem unusual at first but it grows on you very quickly! She definitely needs awards too.

The OSTs man i've never gotten PTSD from one but once the beginning notes of "Farewell love" start playing I started bawling. They just add so much emotion to the already emotional scenes. I hope they release all of them, because the (siren melodies were so good)

Anyways this review is way to long now so I'd like to end it with saying that Love between fairy and devil is a love story at it's purest form. It's a fairytale. it's about making your choice and facing the consequences and being able to because of love. Love that presents itself in a familial way in a romantic way in a way with friendship. it's about how love can be your demise but also be your savior. Watch this show even if you don't like xianxias because it's so differently orchestrated it really is a breath of fresh air!
LBFAD imo is the peak of xianxia the peak of romance the peak of star crossed lovers the peak of forbidden love

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