Love When the Stars Fall (2023)

A great take on old tropes

The drama takes a stab at the rehashed switcheroo brides trope but still manages to give a refreshing take on xianxia. One sister, born under a lucky sign, gets to marry a heavenly prince, another one born under an unlucky sign gets to marry a demon prince. On the day of their wedding, they get switched and hilarity ensues as the drama develops two parallel love stories.

One thing that I really liked was a focus on sisterhood, family, and women working to uplift each other, instead of sisters and friends competing for men, money, and power. Although, the drama also rehashes a jealous side chick trope, it's very minor and pretty forgettable. I really liked the chemistry between each couple, as they got to know each other, develop bonds which led to love. I liked that the story blurred some lines between good and evil and allowed some characters with a questionable moral compass a chance to grow and make good choices. Chaofeng started out an an anti-hero, not entirely bad but someone with questionable morality. Through his growing love for Qingkui and exposure to her purity and goodness, he developed a conscience. Youqin gaining back his feelings allowed him to realize that protecting the heavenly realm wasn't just an arbitrary duty but a desire to protect family.

The plot was mostly interesting, but some arcs were better than others. I thought the shards arc was too long and kind of boring. My biggest criticism, after the shards arc both Youqin and Chaofeng were reduced to house husbands. Youqin spent most of his time waiting for Yetan to come home from school. It seemed like attaining the perfect celestial body was the pinnacle of his development and he had nothing else to do, although he was the most powerful being in all the realms. Chaofeng was told to look for work now that he had a wife. Twirling store signs pretty much undermined his position as a badass prince from the void. The writers could've come up with something better for immortal beings with ultimate cosmic power than this.

The acting was very good. Chen Xingxu showed his versatility where he didn't just portray a stony faced Empyrean Xuanshang, but a lover, a materialist, a pyromaniac, and a romantic. The character came to life as soon as he gained his feelings. Everyone else was just as good.

Some people were not happy with the ending, but I thought it was fitting for the xianxia genre leaving off the story on a positive and hopeful note. To me, that was a good ending.

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don’t know what went wrong

dropped this after ep17.

a show with very good start. the sisters arc, I wish they delve more on the ML arc too and him sending her to school, writer, you can expand all this, make her grow in terms of gaining manners and powers.

while the sister flourishes as a physician, the other one have to endure the loss of her future husband and go and find his shards when they arent yet showing affection towards each other? bridge of fate? yeah, whatever. or chemistry issue btw both leads? I don’t know.

the shards arc was where I decided to drop the show entirely because this arc is too early and I’m not feeling the FL. does she have feelings for him? the stares ain’t making it up.

I appreciate the humor the show portrayed. but as each episode passed, the story flow got worst.

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Engraçado e cativante

A história começa parecendo que será dramática, no entanto se desenvolve com muito humor, sendo um dorama leve até aqui.

Embora a produção não me agrade 100% a atuação dos atores compensa e me cativa, não consigo tirar décimos quando o drama me prende da maneira que esse me prendeu.

É um xianxia diferente dos outros porque, embora ainda tenha alguns clichês do gênero, eles são tratados de forma diferente e às vezes com bastante ironia.

Outra coisa que me agradou é que não tem triângulo amoroso e os dois casais se gostam logo de cara.

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I'm trying to hang on to my last shred of nerves cos this is so boring

A weak Xianxia made even more lackluster by the apparent lack of chemistry between the main leads. If you've seen one Xianxia then you've seen them all and IMO, it's the dynamics between the various characters that elevate one above the other. The problem with TSL is that the characters don't look like distinct individuals who are unique or peculiar but as extensions of each other where they're rendered useful or useless depending on the current status or experiences of the leads. I could probably overlook this had there been raised stakes where we didn't know who or what would pose a threat to our leads. Except we knew from the outset who the villains were and we understood their simplistic thoughts which is what almost all XX characters want. Power. Or specifically becoming the Crown Prince (for the Void dwellers) and becoming the Powerful Overlord (for the Heavenly Prince).

Even more spirit-dampening was the '3 shards' arc, where all the interesting things about the preceding episodes went to die. I legit yawned and FF'ed my way through it.

Look, I've been upfront about my lack of love for this genre because if not done properly, it tends to veer toward the "doom to mankind and only our hero can possibly save the world" kind of drama.

Which is what this was.

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Intriguing, fresh story but execution issues hold it back . . .

Every romantic trope is here: from opposites attract, forbidden romance, memory loss, rescues, reincarnation etc. There are fresh conflicts and an opportunity for the women to stand in the rescuing role. I was cheered to see this, but a few things hold this drama back:

1) Too many climactic, should have been the end/resolution moments
2) The acting and chemistry of the main couple is off. Chen Xing Xu (ML) plays a quite stodgy one note character in order to show difference later on - but it makes for a boring first half and a lack of chemistry.
3) Music and production values are sub par. So much so, that I would be taken fully out of the story and clearly could see how they were acting in front of a green screen. When the actors, would struggle or say no - it was really hard not to laugh given it was clear nothing was actually holding them back.

The themes were all over the place as well, though I did enjoy the challenge to an older too rigid generation. This drama is worth a try but just one too many issues to make it into my top tier.

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Ashes of Love kind of drama

I first got attracted to watch this because of the ML (the male lead of Goodbye My Princess). I read two very bad review from this site, so it made me feel a bit apprehensive at first. But oh boy, I love it so much I binge watched the first 18 episodes in 3 days!

My favourite part is actually on ep 2 when our main couple had to cross the love bridge and found out they are soulmates (despite not liking each other at that point).

I love the bond the twin girls have. I was expecting one of them to be evil, but both are good people. So heartwarming to watch the girls protect each other, putting their sister above their love interest. The older sister reminds me of Cameron Diaz, they look like twins born at two different continents LOL.

This show is has a similar background as Ten Miles of Peach Blossom (Eternal Love) and Ashes of Love. Lo and behold, when I checked, apparently it has the same writer as Ashes of Love. So if you like those kind of movie, you'll love this. The best part is that it's only 40 episodes in total!!! The nasty remarks I read in the review here are because they forget this is a lighthearted fantasy drama. Not everything have to make sense! At least this is not a drama where the leads would get stabbed and coughing blood every episodes - THAT I can't stand. But Starry Love is not like that, so it's all good.

I'm halfway through now, hope they can keep the pace. I'm still heart broken that Immoral Samsara started strong then turned rubbish in the middle, then worsen to be ridiculous until the end..

#### UPDATE #### I never ended up finishing this. Can't remember, maybe life got in the way.

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Melhor Cdrama do ano

Que brilhante atuação do protagonista interpretando 4 personalidades de um mesmo personagem e sem comentários da grande químicas que os protagonistas tem.
O terceiro príncipe nao merece a kui ele é um mentiroso que somente usou ela. Espero que ela encontre outro cara que a ame de verdade e nao use de mentiras para enganá-la.
Yetan segue sendo perfeita desde o primeiro episódio e espero que ela siga sendo esperta para que ninguém a machuque.
Nao sei o que se passa na cabeça das pessoas que estão criticando a atuação do prota sendo que ele esta arrasando nos papeis dos fragmentos

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Solid until ep 30

I've been waiting for the next drama on par with Ashes of Love and this although didn't meet that, it was a delightful drama overall. If you want action this is not it. There were definitely lots of lovey dovey scenes with > normal amount of pairings in a drama.

Wonderful Aspects:
-All that PURPLEEEEE <--- Hottest color
-Beautiful cast that can act!
-ML (which I was never crazy about) & FL had mediocre chemistry but there were plenty of laughs. I especially loved the FL Ye Tan. Thought she was just the right amount of silliness, cuteness, beauty & brains.
-2nd couple with Chao Feng & Qing Kui was definitely the best pairing in xian xia world with looks & chemistry.
-Gu Hai Chao (Chang Feng)'s 1st in command probably my favorite supporting character provided many comedic moments
-Strong supporting characters overall, few include: The wolf/dog/pup, the bird, the muscle head brother, and my favorite bad character the Void Queen. That beautiful badass mama you'd love to hate.
-Family relationships: Aside from all that coupling, I really loved the sister/sister, mom /son, & friends positive relationships.
-Cinematography / costume / makeup - One of the best aspects about xian xia dramas
-OST - yes overplayed and need a few more songs but the few songs are very good

And then after ep 30.....
-Story got sloppy, tiring and lost all the humorous moments. Scene progression didn't make sense
-One dimensional antagonist characters (both of the kings) got especially tiresome
-A bit overboard on # of resurrections & tear jerking flashbacks.
-Rushed ending with a summary narrative................ Aiyahhhh YYYYY

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