Chong Zi (2023)

Heavenly potential, demonic execution

The novel “Chong Zi”, penned over 10 years ago, features a once popular, now outdated premise — master-disciple relationship. To adapt such an old novel in 2023 is a risky move; not only has the audience already seen similar works that they would naturally draw comparison to (e.g. Journey of Flower), but even the official “synopsis” gives the entire plot away. There is not much room left to tell a compelling story, let alone something new and refreshing. This drama ended up having a very mixed reception and for good reasons. Here I will try to review this drama honestly by listing out why it is good and why it is bad.

【Why is it good?】
— Interesting male lead —
One would think all this drama could offer is an old-fashioned story absent of any surprises. But behind the datedness, there lies an innovative gem. The highlight of the show, and a huge reason why people are enjoying it, is the male lead Luo Yin Fan’s intriguing characterization (and Jeremy Tsui’s perfect portrayal of him). Luo Yin Fan starts off being quite the typical gentle, warm and caring male lead, but behind that exterior lies something darker waiting to be manifested. While most anti-heroes eventually achieve greatness, Luo Yin Fan slowly descends into madness for love. If you’re interested in fifty shades of morally grey leads, then you’re in for a treat. This is as much a story about Chong Zi becoming a demon as it is about Luo Yin Fan going bonkers. They are like the mirror image of each other, or the yin yang couple — one has light under their darkness, and the other has darkness under their light. One is an immortal with a demon skin, the other a demon with an immortal skin. They complete each other like the Taichi symbol. This goes to show that there is no pure good and evil, a human is an embodiment of both.

— Thought-provoking message —
The side characters also illustrate this message — seemingly rightous immortals commit the most heinous of crimes, and inside their hearts live demons that are far worst than any physical demon in the story. The message is powerful and well presented. As a fan of the original novel, I came into this drama with very specific expectations — to see in action one of the most interesting male leads ever written, and to witness the beautiful symbolisms and character nuances from the original work. In these regards, the drama did a passing job at delivering. However, certain pivotal scenes from the source material (that were meant to tie into the core theme) were butchered by nonsensical changes in the story due to censorship and bad writing.

— Nice symbolism —
The Taichi symbol appears in the drama poster. It is also in the black-white necklace Chong Zi gifts to Luo Yin Fan. The costumes are simple but have symbolic meaning In them as well. Kind-hearted demons wear costumes that are mainly black but have white fringes, while evil immortals/fairies wear costumes that are white but have dark accent colors. The male lead, Luo Yin Fan’s costumes were mainly white at first, but gradually turned purple the more he fell for Chong Zi (“Zi” means purple in Chinese). I found that to be very cute. The OSTs of this drama were also very well crafted, with beautiful melodies and lyrics that were themed around each of the main characters.

All in all, stellar work from the cast, costume designers, music producers and the source novel author.

We then shriek in agony as we witness this hard work go down the drain... due to the points below.

【Why is it bad?】
— Sloppy directing, writing and editing —
For starters, the director does a poor job grasping what the audience wants to see and what they don’t. Often times, people would wait for a certain scene in anticipation, excitedly picturing it in their heads, only to end up with a choppy, censored, and emotionally underwhelming rendition of what they were expecting. Meanwhile, uninteresting parts of the plot would take up more time than it should. Scenes that were meant to elicit emotions from the audience felt flat, and just like another commenter has said, "the angst is not angsting".

Behind-the-scenes clips would reveal that many scenes did not make it into the final release. This is due to censorship - protagonists cannot do anything borderline evil, master & disciple cannot be intimate with each other, everything that's core to the story is lost. Certain scenes do not transition well due to cut scenes. Each episode also does not start from the end of the previous episode and feels disjointed.

— Changing the novel in a bad way —
Certain parts of the plot were changed to make the male lead more likable and forgivable, which is understandable because the male lead in the novel does not deserve the female lead. But not all changes were good changes. Around 60% of the story and dialogue comes from the novel, and that 60% lives up to standards because they stem from the original author’s consistent understanding of the source material. But the remaining 40% that was added by the screenwriter, not so much. Dialogue was occasionally cringey and showed a general lack of logical thinking from characters. The forbidden aspect of the master-disciple romance was also removed, thereby causing certain character decisions and dialogue to not make much sense as they were originally written under the premise that master-disciple relationship was taboo. The screenwriter tried to come up with other reasons for the characters to do or say those things, but the reasoning was weak. (e.g. Ep.23-26). Many unnecessary misunderstandings were added just to drag the plot along. It’s fine to deviate from the novel and tell a different story, but have it make sense and do it only if it enhances the work.

— Poorly written side characters —
While the characters all serve a central theme or message, the characterizations of most of the characters are lacking. Often more than not, characters feel like tools to move the plot forward and do not resemble real-life people. Several evil female supporting roles have shallow character motivations and all serve the same purpose, and most male supporting roles are merely love interests (5 of them!) of the female lead but without solid chemistry. Reverse harem was probably meant to be a gimmick that sadly did not work out. Not only do those love interests lack screen time to properly flesh out their relationship with the female lead, they also fall in love with her for no reason. (Ironically, the one character who has the most chemistry with the female lead is not even a love interest.) Luckily, the main couple has decent chemistry to offer. The romance is a slowburn and the leads start off as more like teacher and student due to female lead’s childish personality at first, but this grows into something fiery and passionate later on when the female lead gets character development. However, it takes time for the ship to sail and some may find the chemistry lacking early on.

— Childish female lead —
A lot of people cannot get through the first arc of the story, mostly due to their distaste for the female lead’s childish, bratty and trouble-making personality. The female lead goes through a three-stage character development. She starts off like a kid — naive, impulsive, overly sheltered and spoiled, but has a kind heart that would help anyone in need. She is showered with love but caged like a bird. In her second life, she becomes more calm and composed, but also more possessive and insecure, like a young maiden in puberty. And by the end, she becomes more independent and free, takes justice in her own hands. Since she does not mature quick enough to satisfy certain audiences, if you hate childish female leads, this is probably not the drama for you.

— Costumes/Makeup/Props —
The costumes are the typical “funeral” style you’d see in other xianxia dramas — white, white, and shades of white. There are quite an amount of details they tried to add to the costumes, but the overly bright and smooth filter effects managed to undo all the hard work the textile team put in. The makeup was a hot mess. Handsome men looked less handsome with overdone eyeshadow. Close-up shots would reveal unblended powder and face-neck skin tone differences. As for the sets and props, they would’ve looked better with less CGI applied, since the CGI looks quite subpar for an S tier drama.

【Conclusion】
It may sound as though I hate this drama, but as a novel fan, this is the only adaptation I could root for, and I wished for nothing but the best to happen to this drama. Sadly, it didn't deliver to even half of its potential. I suggest the director and writer to either quit the industry, or stop working on this genre. There might not be a clear distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, but there definitely is a clear cut between good and bad storytelling, and sadly this drama falls into the bad side. For those who are interested in the premise, I recommend you to read the original novel instead.

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A Clueless Shifu with an Unlikable Pouty Face FL

The Journey of Chong Zi is a romance story of a shifu (master) and his beloved student, and the challenges they face. However the female lead character is being so poorly written, interpreted and acted that it renders the drama unimpressive. Plot holes everywhere and are simply being brushed over with bad logic and poor screen play. The immortal sects are gullible with little intelligence, believing in any gossips, and the demon sect is a confusing sorry lot. This is one of those series that can make the viewers vomit blood, and yet I completed watching it, and aged 10 years.

The storyline is nothing new as teacher/pupil romance is rather typical and tropey in xianxia stories. We’ve seen it in The Journey of Flower and in various others. The story is basically about the venerable immortal, Luo Yinfan (Xu Zhengxi aka Jeremy Tsui), falling in love with his disciple, Chong Zi (Yang Chaoyue), and their journey of romance, retribution, death, reincarnation, and their eventual confusingly bizarre ending.

Chong Zi is pure and kind despite her birth. Apart from her shifu who is Chong Zi’s true love, Chu Bufu (Gao Han), Qin Ke (Deng Wei), Zhuo Hao (Asher Ma), Mu Yu (Li Daikun) all love her unconditionally and are willing to die for her. Even some female characters such as Yan Zhenzhu (Zhang Keai) and Yin Shuixian (Yang Xinying) love Chong Zi in their own ways. From here, we can deduce that Chong Zi is a very lovable girl. Unfortunately, this message hasn’t come through.

Yang Chaoyue is simply not lovable at all and couldn’t give the viewers an authentic Chong Zi. The actor has a constant pouting face, making her look angry all the time. Even when she’s supposed to be playful and mischievous, she is not funny nor lovable. Yang Chaoyue really has to go back to acting school. The writing of the Chong Zi character is bad enough, made worse by Yang Chaoyue’s unconvincing portrayal. Despite Chong Zi is loved by many in the story, she is not loved by the viewers.

The drama tries hard to portray all the injustices Chong Zi faces that leads to her capitulation into the Ultimate Demon. But all her encounters do not seem dire enough to lead her down that path; she has been misunderstood for most parts as the immortal elders believe in fake stories of her. She’s being blamed for things she doesn’t do, for trivial things she may have done unwittingly, for being loved by her shifu and by most other men who know her. It is really frustrating to watch how such misunderstandings have not been clarified sooner and the perpetrators manage to get away scot-free, again and again.

The reason for her final transformation into the Ultimate Demon is totally unconvincing. After having some blissful days with the man she loves hidden away, she decides to become the Ultimate Demon to protect herself because her man is away for some chores and cannot protect her. That is simply a glaring hole for me.

My Verdict
I pressed on with this series for the sake of Jeremy Tsui though the character he played wasn’t that impressive (what a dumb shifu he was). I give this drama a rating of 7.5/10 to reward myself in completing the story.

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DROPPED WITHOUT REGRETS...TRIED MY BEST

Get ready to be pissed off by one of the most annoying sulky FL of all time... Probably of 2023!

Because that's the most annoying part of this story.

I feel bad for this FL character because she was Just the worse part of this drama.

I already had a red flag when I saw her getting into the dumb student role of the master. and I was right... she kept getting worse. dumber, Dumber.. annoying.. clingy omg don't get me started because she was Just that terribly annoying!

A master and student relationship was supposed to be cute but she ruined it With her forced acting od cuteness. like gurl, you're cute! but don't keep pushing and forcing it with those stupid pouting and stupid talks and mentality! don't Force naiveness! You're being stupid!

And don't get me Started on how the plot development, situations given, and character line made her worse...Like...she was the perfect definition of a Stupid FL who would piss you off in every corner! Like she reminded me of those 3 min ep short mini modern drama series where FL always wore those baby cloths and pout all day long... That's not cute... that's disturbing..and annoying.

For the plot, TBH this plot had the potential but it already started off terrible already..The plot was heading toward the casual terribly executed xianxia..No..this drama wasn't an authentic xianxia. it Looked like a low budget plot mini xianxia drama. I was watching but nothing they did amused me..Their potray was just annoyingly funny and dumb!!

Acting was fair and some better..ML did well...But FL omg!! You're a Good actress but this role made you dumb TBH.

As someone who's a sucker for reverse harem...I feel this drama was pulling it well with that 6 love interest aspect..I liked that but FL omg you're Terrible at that ! stop forcing the cuteness omg

At a point i sat and thought... Wait..who wrote this character and their interactions?? is that how Human being act and interact? Because the FL writing must have been done by a 3 yr old.

Cringe... everything cringe once again because once leads appear,I skip as fast as anything because together they're cringe... especially FL

In all, This drama had the potential but went terribly south and I don't think anyone can see this.. unless you're mentally prepared to get annoyed because yeah.. it's that bad

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This show was a problem based on the themes / ideas in the novel

Lets see: demons, master / disciple love relationship, morally grey characters, female who is a demon but does not wish to be

All of these things apparently are no-nos in Chinese tv, but hey, lets film this show anyway! Oh, lets make 15+ episodes of misunderstandings. Lets also make every man obsessed with the main character. Lets also WITHHOLD moments of confession and understandings for the sake of derailing / padding out the story because 'it's not the time'. Lets also not have a single good female for the main character to look up to, or a male who isn't in love with her. The list goes on...

I give it a high rating for the soundtrack and the cast, but heaven help me, this was a waste.

I never want to see another show adapted like this because the novel apparently is great but it was ripped apart to make it work. If you have to rip apart source material to make something work it probably shouldn't be adapted.

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A journey of miscommunication, wrong trust and…..lots of frustrations as a result

What I liked:

1. The story. I would not say I loved it but I liked the angst that came with such a xianxia, so I was filled with anticipation when it first aired since I had enjoyed the Journey of Flower. The storyline is similar to the latter but this definitely had less angst.

2. The first 20 episodes were light and easy to watch.

3. OST were melodious and very fitting for a xianxia.

4. CGI is acceptable, not the best, but nothing to fault.

What I didn’t like:

1. Scenes were abruptly cut so much that I even wondered whether there were some issues with the online platform I was watching from.

2. Lots of random scenes where a character or characters out of nowhere suddenly appeared and seemed as though they were there all along but I was there scratching my head, asking myself whether I had missed something.

3. Acting overall from the entire cast was mediocre. Jeremy Tsui, the male lead, had the same expression. When he was happy, he looked that way. When he was sad and devastated, I could predict he would look that way. And Yang Chao Yue, I am sorry, I already did not like her from episode 1 but since the initial episodes were easy to watch, I could just continue with her, but 40 episodes on, after the entire drama, I still did not like her acting and her expressions, ah, yes, someone said pouting female lead.

And the rest of the cast, some were acceptable, but most looked like they were just ‘acting’. Yes, I know everyone is acting, but I have seen my share of good dramas where I totally forgot that they were actors/actresses because everything was so natural and convincing.

4. There were many scenes that were ‘made to happen’ (do we call such scenes cliched?) and that caused lots of frustrations like I would wonder why the male lead could not save the female lead when she needed him the most at that time, while he was somewhere doing some other stuff which could have been done by other people who were actually doing absolutely nothing at that time.

All in all, I would not recommend this xianxia because the negatives for me outweighed the positives. There was not much angst to me and I did not feel touched by the undying love between the main leads. Maybe there were not enough sacrifices? After giving some thought, I believe the most likely reason is the lack of a strong chemistry between the main leads and this is so important here – or in any xianxia – where 99% of the story is about the love between these two people.

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I had such a blast watching this - for all the wrong reasons

I have never ever sat down to write a review before. Even after finishing 10/10 pieces that left me in shreds... Well here I am, at 1 am writing this, because I just could not hold it in anymore with this clownfiesta.

THIS IS FULL OF SPOILERS AND RANTS

-- 1st arc --
I kind of had a feeling i knew where this was going after the few 12 minutes where our FL was ambushed 4 times by the same dudes and beaten until an immortal hero-san showed up to save the day.
The whole first arc was basically these events repeating over and over again until she died.
1. Childish, annoying disgusting clingy "Shifu dont ever leave me" "Dont worry i will never let anything happen to u."
2. FL goes to do something stupid
3. ML saves her - then argues with few old immortal dudes about how she didnt mean to do that
4. FL is bullied - one of her 246 love interests shows up to save the day
5.All is well and repeat from number 1.

-- 2nd arc--
Yay our favorite FL is back, reborn, better than ever. Whoops tragedy, Shifu shows up, takes her in again, gives her the same freakin name and calls it a sucessful day.
Everyone is disgusted, FL is confused, Love interests are gathering for round two, Hate interests are hatin even more
Shifu is doing nothing apart from saying Chonker over and over again and clenching his chest dramatically. Our dear Chonker whos been cultivating for approx. 36 minutes decides to go on an adventure with all the other disciples who have been cultivating for the past decades. Demons show up and guess who saves the day.. no not the cultivated disciples, but our talented girl Chonker who apparently can fight off two high ranking demons with the power of tsundere. I cannot with this show at this point.. It just does not stop...
By the next 7 episodes - our Shifu is still clenching his chest while his eyes are flashing with flirtatious intent.

--3rd arc--
Chonker decided to become a demon and is immediately very hard core. The only good thing about this part is her pet Mushushu who I would ravish personally. I have no idea where they think this can go in the remaining 9 episodes, but this is the point where Im finally kind of curious where is this going and whether can Chonkers clown shoes honk honk any louder...

Anyway - do not watch this. There is no plot, no character development, no real personalities. Nothing makes sense - people hate or love Chonker without any reason. The writers make up spells, spiritual powers and magical artefacts as they please without any thought behind it. Seriously.. this show is like a school project of a 5th grader.

I did have a great time watching this, because of how ridiculous it all was.

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For adaptation side: Journey of Chongzi is definitely better than Song of the Moon (SOTM)!

Journey of Chongzi being adapted from the Novel "ChongZi" by Shu Ke, is the Prequel to Song of the Moon, which is an adaptation from it's Novel "Fly to the Moon".

It is noted that it's 40 episodes, but there's a released bonus episode 41 for 9 minutes something where it shows the happy ending, so DON'T MISS OUT!

"ChongZi" Story/world building takes place around 3-4 generations BEFORE Fly to the Moon (Novel). The main protagonists Luo Yin Fan (ML) and Chong Zi (FL) are the ancestors to Luo Ge and Luo Ning in Fly to the Moon (Novel). So both Luo Ge and Luo Ning are direct descendants of Luo Yin Fan and Chong Zi (on their father side), around 3-4 generations later.

Both are Novels written by Shu Ke, but each have it's own Drama Adaptation respectively: Journey of ChongZi (from the Novel: Chongzi) and Song of the Moon (from the Novel: Fly to the Moon).

As far as adaptation goes, Journey of Chongzi did a better job in following the novel when compared to Song of the Moon(SOTM). In SOTM, the drama completely deviated from the Novel in terms of Story direction and Characters portrayal. As a Novel Fan to Fly to the Moon, I am still bitter at this fact, because the drama(SOTM) didn't do it's Novel justice. I understand that in each adaptation, there will be changes, some for the better, some may not, but looking at the comparison between these two dramas, I honestly appreciate Journey of Chongzi better than Song of the Moon(Because I am a Novel Fan to Fly to the Moon), I was sad how they completely changed my favourite character Yue(God of Moon) in Song of the Moon being reduced to little-to-no significant/screen time in SOTM

So, looking at it from this perspective, this is another reason why I appreciate Journey of Chongzi is because the character: "Wang Yue"(or "Yue" for short) true identity is God of Moon - The last surviving God from the God Realm, where he now carry a second identity Demon God. I love seeing "Wang Yue" being portrayed as a "Grey character", because this is more closer to his Novel Spinoff "Fly to the Moon" where he is the ML (protagonists), being paired with the FL (Liu Shao). I was sad/disappointed and feel sorry for those who never read the novel to 'Fly to the Moon' will only see Yue (God of Moon) as how he was portrayed in the Drama: Song of the Moon, because in the Novel, he is MORE than what was portrayed in Song of the Moon. In the Novel, Yue NEVER died, and there was NO evil spirits controlling his body! But why do the script writers have to go and changed the story direction in Song of the Moon Drama?! It's such an insult to fans who loves "Yue" in the Novel! I know this may sound like I hate his character portrayal in the Drama(Song of the Moon), that's not really the case, without reading the Novel, and without that comparison between Novel vs Drama, I do like God of Moon, but after reading the Novel, where there is that comparison, I came to find out just how unfaithful the Drama was to Yue(God of Moon) character, so when I look at it in this angle, it just makes me sad how the drama handled his character in SOTM!

In this drama: Journey of ChongZi, "Wang Yue" will always be a character I appreciate! I appreciate the drama for giving me this character portrayal and I appreciate Wang Zhuo Cheng for bringing out this version to "Wang Yue" in this drama. He did an excellent job in portraying the character "Wang Yue", and I definitely love his character here as Wang Yue better than his character as Jiang Cheng in The Untamed XD. Oh but hey, no hate from me on Zhang Binbin in his 4 different character portrayal in Song of the Moon, since I love his acting in Song of the Moon too! But it is really too bad, he didn't get to bring out that side to Yue (God of Moon) from the Novel that I come to love! (I blame the script writers for this!), I mean, considering his acting ability on Hei Yue, I think he will do just as good as Wang Zhuo Cheng imo!

In terms of Casts goes, there are some familiar faces that I recognize, e.g: Deng Wei (Miss the Dragon), Dong Yan (Miss the Dragon), Asher Ma (Word of Honour), Li Dai Kun (Word of Honour), Wang Ruo Lin (Word of Honour again XD), Wang Zhuo Cheng (The Untamed), and Gao Han (Falling into your Smile).

*** CHARACTER THAT I LOVE***
- Luo Yin Fan - In the overall, in terms of character, I do love him. He is among my favourite in this drama. I actually have not seen this actor Jeremy Tsui before, so this my first impression of him with no other references to his other work. Based on this drama alone and his portrayal in the character: Luo Yin Fan, I have to say that sometimes when he expresses his love, and his micro expression, especially through his eyes, he really reminds me of DiJun in Eternal Love (Pillow Book) and Ten Miles Peach Blossom.

The first scene that left a deep impression in his acting for me, was the scene where he held Chong Zi in his arms in her first life, after she "died", and he was grieving over her death because he blames himself for not being able to protect her in the end. I know it's ironic because he was the one who killed her, and while I was shocked when that happened i.e. him being the one to do it, but I didn't blame him on my end, because Chong Zi thanked him after he did it. This already signify that she wanted him to do it, to free her from the control of the evil spirit/energy controlling her body, which may even use her body to force her to do the things she didn't want to do. I love how strongly he express his regret in killing her. Usually the one who lives on in regret is the one who hurts the most; so when I see how Yin Fan held her in his arms and cried, he played that part so well, that I literally cried in that scene.

- Wang Yue - Played by Wang Zhuo Cheng - Do I need to say more? XD See above why I love him, I won't get into this on my end again, since I probably will be repeating myself. But I will have to add this about what I found funny about him is that I laugh everytime when he say "I can help you, but you have to beg me" LOL, like he sure has a thing for wanting / enjoying people begging him XD. But oh well, considering his status, I think he is worthy of that since he is, afterall a God LOL. How can I not love him? He did definitely make me fangirl, and I definitely love him in the black cloak, swoon worthy!!. There are also time when it shows he looks a bit sad, or him expressing concern which is quite rare, and I really enjoy the scenes that have him in it, even when there are times I want to give him some smack for some of the things he says LOL, but I never hated him and I don't think I can, not especially after I found out that my suspicion was right that he is my favourite character (God of Moon) in his spinoff Novel 'Fly to the Moon' (Yue!!!)

- Mu Yu (Senior Mu) - Which have another identity as Tian Zhixie, I came to really love this character on my end, given how loyal he is towards Chong Zi. Although I didn't like that he was manipulative at first, and created all these situations to make others point fingers at her, which push her further down that path, but I did came to love him on my end during his time, how he shows his loyalty to only her when Chong Zi became Demon Zi, and how he's always by her side. I was sad when he died though, and I wish he didn't die. But I will be honest, how he sacrificed himself to help Luo Yin Fan remember ChongZi is one of my favourite moments in this drama, it highlighted how unselfish he was and he only wanted Chong Zi to be happy on his end. Truly a worthy character to like!

*** WHAT I LIKE IN THIS DRAMA ***
There are many memorable scenes that I love, which I won't go into details since I don't want to spoil the surprise for those who have not watch it yet. But if I am going to say about one of the things I love about Drama Yin Fan is that he is not ashame to admit that he loves/have Chong Zi in his heart, and that he treats her specially. I mean, even when his two Shixiong question that his actions towards her already cross that boundary that a master have for their disciple, he never denied that Chong Zi is special to him in that sense, and I love how he was written like that in the Drama.

Another scene I really love was when Yin Fan came and take the bride (Chong Zi) away during her "wedding" with Wang Yue lol. It is a powerful scene where it shows Yin Fan fears in losing Chong Zi, when he never thought Chong Zi will want to marry anyone else but him. Yin Fan (imo) was cool in that scene, and I can just watch that scene and what follow afterwards on repeat. I am not ashame to also admit that when Yin Fan forcefully kiss her afterwards, I literally fangirl on my end :P

This is also an important scene that I have to mention, what Yin Fan showed me in episode 31 when he told Chong Zi to not leave him again, and that he doesn't want anything else but her, he can even be nobody as long as she can stay with him. He even told her that it is not impossible for him to leave Nanhua for her. I have always wanted to see in the drama where Yin Fan shows me he chose Chong Zi (as his main priority ) over his responsibilities as the immortal chief and I'm glad I got this moment in this episode. I really appreciate that they give us this scene in the drama. I see that as a character development for him, since before all this, he wanted both Congzi and to protect the common people(which is his responsibilities as Chief of the Immortal Realm). It is nice to see that he finally realized that he can't really have both, and that in the end, his decision was he chose Chong Zi above his responsibilities (that path he's been walking on, all those years).

*** WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ***
- Those Immortals that claim they are "righteous" when their actions is SO HYPOCRITICAL. I don't think I have ever hated the immortal realm so much! There's only a few in the immortal realm that I DON'T DISLIKE: Luo Yin Fan , Qin Ke, Zhuo Hao.... And.... Wow, that's it!!!

- Pheonix Tears - (!!!) I cannot believe I will be seeing this in this drama!!! I have always hated this spell and the effects of this spell!! Honestly, I don't know why they would create something like this!! I don't like the effects of it, and I especially DON'T like it when the person forced the victim to drink it without them knowing it!!! Poor Luo Yin Fan, Luo Ge and Luo Ning in their respective stories being succumbed to this spell!! But for Luo Ge (in Song of the Moon), at least it worked out for the best to cure him of his Soul Devour spell, otherwise, I wouldn't have forgive what happened on my end!!

- Quite honestly, I didn't enjoy any of those moments, when Yin Fan was under the effect of Pheonix Tears and when he hurted Chong Zi... It was the most painful time to watch for me, and I really was tempted to fast-forward those scenes on my end, I don't know how much I curse the screen when his Min Shixiong and Ting Xie was lying to Yin Fan and make him misunderstand Demon Zi even more.... But I couldn't really blame Yin Fan during those times, since I know what the effects of Pheonix Tears does... Can they just destroy that spell?!

*** MAIN PAIRING: YIN FAN x CONG ZI ***
I felt like this is like a Reverse Harem, since there's several Men loves Chong Zi!! Sometimes I wish it wasn't the case, because if they end up being the characters I also like, I feel sorry for them because their feelings is unrequited.

I don't ship Chongzi romantically with anyone else except Luo Yin Fan. Chongzi and Luo Yin Fan is the endgame pairing that I love and rooted for since the beginning.

In my eyes, there's nothing wrong with Master and Disciple getting together in a romantic relationship, if they love each other of course, as I have read/seen many of those tropes made canon in Chinese Stories. It's only a problem if they want to make a controversy out of that topic.

You don't have to like Master and Disciple Romance, because everyone is entitled to their preferences, and if that's not for them, then that's not for them, but don't hate on Master and Disciple relationship just for the sake of ruining it for those who are more open minded in acceptance of how their relationship started off at first.

Chemistry is also subjective, people may not see the chemistry between Yin Fan and Chongzi, but for me, I still do, and they have chemistry in my eyes, I saw and love their chemistry very early on, because I love how Yin Fan dotes on Chong Zi, and I love how he loses his cool when it comes to expressing his love for Chong Zi. It's always a highlight for me. The way he shows me this through his micro-expressions that he cared for her, and protects her from his shixiong, I love him for that.

In terms of pairing, between SOTM (Luo Ge and Liu Shao) and Journey of Chongzi (Luo Yin Fan and Chong Zi), I love them both equally, but if I am going to be honest, I personally enjoy the kiss scenes between Yin Fan and Chong Zi better than Luo Ge and Liu Shao :( Because at least there was an effort when they kiss, compared to none in Song of the Moon :(

** FINAL BATTLE. DRAMA PERSPECTIVE **
What I got out of that battle is that in order for him to master the Heart Mirror Spell final stage, Yin Fan have to let go of his love for Chong Zi(to be indifferent), but he cannot bring himself to do that, he wanted to hold onto his love for her, so he chose the other way, which is to sacrifice himself to master that technique and save Chongzi instead, because he couldn't bring himself to kill her again the second time. HE COULDN'T KILL HER. I am glad they showed me this, because if he did kill her again the second time, wouldn't fans be more upset because it's like back to square 1 in Chong Zi first life. So for me personally I saw that more like a development AND a contrast to how back then he had no choice but to kill her with his sword to protect Nanhua but this time, he chose to do the opposite, to protect and save her from being the matyre to the sword forever.

I may be a minority but that part when it revealed that it was an act from Yin Fan when he put his sword in reverse to have Chong Zi kill him(she was going all out), and when Yin Fan told Chong Zi to not be afraid and that it's now over. For me personally I did cry in that scene because I love how they play out their emotions... She is saved from Ni Lun Sword because she was cleansed by Heart Mirror spell. That did came at the expense of Yin Fan death though, but I did love the message implied behind what happened and that (1) Yin Fan would rather die than to let go of his love for her... (2) He couldn't bring himself to kill her again the second time.

It was Chong Zi choice in the end to want to go into the sword and them being a spirit together, because she couldn't live in a world without him in it. Yin Fan would do the same too if the situation was reverse since he made it clear to the immortals when he blasted his Min Shixiong that if Chong Zi is dead, he won't live on either... So to me it's just the reverse scenario of that scene from what Chong Zi showed me when she went into the sword as well.

*** ENDING ***
Let's just say that if they had ended on episode 40 with that ending, I would have been annoyed and pissed off, but considering they had an extended bonus episode 41 showing what happened later, I am happy with the ending for Chong Zi and Yin Fan. All I asked for in a Happy Ending where my favourite CP is concerned is to see them alive and happily together. And I got that in episode 41, I was also touched by all the flashbacks they put in that episode as well especially a surprised scene that I thought was deleted... but you see both Yin Fan and Chong Zi can get out of that place and go to the mortal realm fine, so looking at this aspect I think it ties in similarly to the novel ending(for that part). And I personally love how Yin Fan calls her in an affection way 娘子 in the restaurant when he came back with the jar of wine (in episode 41) which I see it as in the context of 'wife' when he call her that (it's something subtle but I love that)!

I actually love this ending over SOTM. I remember when SOTM ended, I literally ranted, so for those who don't like this ending, I can relate, looking at this in another perspective (my feelings towards Song of the Moon ending). SOTM wasted one final episode to do two endings, which is sad seeing how the drama itself already deviated from the Novel (Fly to the Moon), poor Yue(God of Moon) in the novel was so much more than what we got adapted in the drama when they changed it (still bitter about that)

Overall, I understand and I agree that this drama can definitely be better, there are times, where I also wanted to see certain scenes happen but it never came, so I was quite disappointed in that. But honestly, for me, this drama positives outweighs the negatives. I just wanted to say as an overall message that (if it makes you feel a little better), at least Journey of ChongZi have a better adaptation from the novel when compared to SOTM which is completely changed in the Drama. Both dramas have it's flaws in it's own way, but I just don't think Journey of Chongzi is THAT bad to get a rating below 5. At least for the ending, we were given an extended bonus ending, where it shows Yin Fan and Cong Zi is together, it is at least similar to the Novel. Consider that lucky, because we didn't get that in SOTM, instead it was all over the place and there was a deleted ending in SOTM that I know was filmed but IQIYI never release it!

P.S.S. For Chongzi Novel, I can't say I love how some of those scenes played out either, after reading the novel, as the overall, I can clearly say I love and enjoyed the drama better than the Novel.

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Dumb and Dumber’s Not-so-excellent Adventure

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a “meh/nah”.

Things I liked:

That I had zero emotional investment in any of the characters. Like literally did not care of they lived or died—especially Dumb (our ML) and Dumber (our FL). Except for Qin Ke who was like the only decent and smart person in the entire show (except for liking Dumber for all those years, but no one’s perfect…) Then why not drop it? I’m not entirely sure except that it was loading faster than “Our Starry Love” and I didn’t really have much else to watch. Plus, it was kind of an interesting train wreck. One that just kept on wrecking, and I was interested enough to see what the next wreck—ahem—episode was all about. I liked that Si Ma Miao Yuan and Ting Xue got what was coming to them. The CGI and world building was decently done. I liked that there was a short epilogue that wrapped things up and the leads got to live happily ever after—even if I didn’t actually care whether they did or not. Jeremy Tsui does look good in this (though they really need to pair him with actresses his own age, thank you) and that was why I started watching it in the first place.

Things I did not like:

Clearly a lot since I can’t decide between “meh” and “nah” for a rating. I didn’t like how tropey this was. It was a trope wrapped within a trope wrapped within a trope. A “trope-ducken” if you will. Stoic ML and stupid but cheerful FL? Check. B@t$*** crazy jealous women? Check. Irrationally prejudiced old dudes? Check. Supposedly wise set of characters who constantly made REALLY stupid decisions? Check. ML who fell head over heals for FL without really having any reason to? Check. The only thing missing was them falling on each other and accidently kissing.

Dumber was so unlikeable during her “second” life (where she was a beggar come disciple) that I was glad when she died. I could not understand why ML fell for someone that dumb and unruly. She promised to work hard as a disciple and proceeded to be as lazy as h*** up until her death. Third-life Dumber was, actually, not quite so bad but Dumb being, well, dumb, did so many stupid things! Like naming her Chong Zi (but oh, no, she’s not the same person! Pffft!), constantly leaving her vulnerable to attack by others (I’ll just leave her alone in a PRISON for three years and not bother to check on her—surely nothing could go wrong!), giving her the same weapon as before…sheesh. He was so dumb that every time there was some ridiculous misunderstanding that kept them apart, I did not even mind. I was like ‘yep, that sounds about right that you would believe that or do that.’

The plot—what there was of one—really fell apart once she became a demon. The Demon King’s motivation was never explained—though they kept hinting he had some sort of meaningful back story. Oh—and while I was glad Councilor Sage died in the end, I really wish he would have gotten a really good @$$-kicking first! From both Dumb and Dumber!

Should you watch it? If you’re going through a dry spell or need something to keep you from sucking down a really good show all in one go, this one is a good option. Just set your brain on the shelf whenever you hit “play”.

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Very Meh

While Jeremy Tsui is a great actor and there were characters on both sides that were both morally good and bad, there just wasn't enough to this story to make it worth the watch. It would need much tighter story telling. It's also a bit boring to see two people yearning but never making any progress. Nothing ever grabs at the heartstrings until the end, and frankly, that's for the side characters rather than the main couple.

Speaking of the end, the emotional pacing becomes really uneven. You start to feel like you've seen the same scene on a different day. I wanted so much more for the characters. Worse than being frustrated, I didn't feel much of anything at all.

An overall disappointment that should be skipped.

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Not quite as bad as I expected, but still bad

I watched this because of Wang Zhuocheng. I do not know the novel. I expected worse. I actually managed to finish this. But it was still... well, definitely not good.

The female lead is extremely annoying in the first part. It's cringey thinking about this supposed to be a romantic couple later on, when she behaves like a little kid. I can only assume that in the novel she was actually a kid/teenager, but they didn't want to cast different actors; that thought was what got me through this part. She's extremely dislikable, bratty and incompetent, but still everyone falls in love with her; oh well, nothing new in dramaland.

Generally, what helped a great deal in getting through this drama was the genrous application of the 1.5x speed feature on WeTV.

The female lead gets a little better after her death and rebirth, but too often reverts to the immature character, being easily manipulated. You wait for her to finally take matters into her own hands, but just as you think she might, she turns into a sobbing "shifu" crying girl again. The male lead is devoid of any personality and character development and actually not a good guy at all. Their relationship is cringey, toxic and it baffles me that anyone will find this remotely romantic.

The immortals are apparently supposed to be the good guys, but behave worse than most others. They are also worse fighters than even Star Wars Stormtroopers, fail to protect anything and even fail to set the same trap properly for at least three times. I have no idea why in this world they are considered good and competent.

The demons - this is where it actually gets interesting. Most of the more interesting characters in this drama are demons. They have compelling background stories, motivation and show more love and compassion than the supposedly good guys. Even Wang Yue, the villain in this story, is much more forgiving than you'd expect, and apparently when he doesn't want to do something, you just have to say please and bow, and he will.
It constantly feels like the show wants to make a point with this, wants you to root for the demons - but it never really gets there.

Whenever the show tries to be dramatic and emotional with the lead couple, it falls short. You know while watching that this is supposed to be a heartwrenching scene, but it's always rather meh. They have zero chemistry and I was glad that in the end (at episode 40), they didn't get together.

There's a couple of times when the editing is really bad, too. Most of the time it's ok, but then there's a couple of cuts that are just bad and/or confusing.

The plot is messy, too. There are allegedly very important items, that are then never mentioned again for several episodes only to suddenly show up again. Random spells that are hardly used when they should be, never explained, forgotten when it fits the plot. Crucial events that turn out to be underwhelming. The big end fight is extremely anticlimatic; especially Wang Yue is dealt with in a couple of seconds. It doesn't make any sense at all. You never see any bad consequences of what is apparently the end of the world, and everything is easily repaired (albeit with sacrifices).

I did very much like Wang Zhuocheng as Wang Yue, he looked stunning and obviously had a blast playing that character. A couple of support characters are interesting and likable, but most of them killed off. There was a cute CGI demon kitty that didn't show up enough. I loved the different costumes of the demons, and some sets were really nice.

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Stupid Women and Tasteless Men

The female lead is just so stupid, even after ep 31. She's still stupid. She started out really strong but then devolved into whiny and easily manipulated, and I was thinking that she'll come back smarter towards the end of the show, but no. She's only becoming more stupid.

I've been outright skipping entire episodes just to get through the tedium of the plot, but it's still not worth watching. FL is so dumb but somehow, every single male character in the show is in love with her. Every old man wants to kill her, every female character is jealous of her for some reason, and every young male wants to sleep with her. There's been no compelling reason why she would elicit any sort of reaction from any character. The plot just falls flat.

Even the main villain is boring. I love Wang Zhou Cheng as an actor, and aesthetically he looked fantastic, but that was it. His character was unbelievably boring and as a mastermind, he did nothing but looked mysterious and repeated that he was a "good person".

I'm extremely disappointed that they ruined such a great cast with a subpar plot and story.

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Unless you'r a die hard fan of the actors, Don't bother to watch this!!!

Poorly plotted, badly edited story about obsession and desire in a world with demons and immortals.
The characters for the most part are hard to like, and harder to empathise with, and as time goes on, this only gets worse. Character progression is generally backwards. People start out apparently "decent" & "upstanding" but almost never stay that way. Most where never that way in the first place. Main characters are full of flaws, and don't deserve the ending they are given.
ChongZi never really works hard, or fights for anything, except to indulge in her obsessive need to be close to YinFan. YinFan fails spectaculary to do anything meaningful when it comes to protecting CZ. They both trust in the wrong people repeatedly and are generally incompetent.

The Immortal sects are simply gullible bullies and no better than the Demon sects, even in their choice of targets, as they seem quite happy to beat on humans with the right incentive or guise or "righeousneous". The Demon sect is overpowered and Wang Yue ...is far too much.
The story takes too long to go nowhere. Many things happen for reasons of plot, not for internal consistency or logic and it all ends in a massively underwhelming whimper of a wrap up.

Technically its a happy ending...However none of the characters get the ending they deserve with the exception of Qin Ke who deserves to live a life free of *ever* knowing someone like ChongZi ever existed. The two mains certainly don't. They only reinforce the idea that being insufferably selfish and obsessive will grant you your wish. Even if the world was nearly destroyed because of it.

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