Shen Yin (2023)

Excellent but with annoying parts at times

Overall, it's an outstanding drama, but with some elements that typically annoy me in such productions.

*** THE SPOILERS AHEAD ***
If you don't like these things in dramas:::
"Antagonists stir up discord among others through an incredible web of circumstances and events, always managing to somehow escape from unbelievably challenging situations for them, showcasing their ability to control the situation as if they anticipate every move the opposing side will make, as if they have insight into the script :).
Also they have immense yet unexplainable power that can land you in heavenly prison without anyone noticing whenever you like and even kill heavily guarded prisoner there, to steal great artifacts right under other's noses, hijack other body without anyone noticing the change for extend periods of time and even possess another body while still possessing the first, etc.
The main male lead performs heroic deeds that his beloved is unaware of, and she ends up hating him, even killed by him while all this is happening, so only at the very end is his sacrifice revealed when he is already dying, and she then forgives him and experiences unimaginable suffering because everything, but if you search for positives there is a message here for couples, talk more with each other or this could happen to you :)",
:::then this drama is not for you.

Other than that it's a highly captivating drama, pleasant to the eyes with top-notch visual effects and beautifully designed sets and costumes.

Story: 8.5
Interesting story, creatively conceived, leaving a beautiful visual impression.
The main characters gradually fall in love through witty moments and events until it becomes genuine love. However, as the story progresses, unforeseen events drive a wedge between them, and misunderstandings grow, only to be resolved at the very end of the drama.
The second pair of lead actors also has an interesting story, but in my opinion, much more unrealistic, while the storyline is fantasy, there are still some laws within that world. It seems unbelievably unrealistic to me that two people could spend 1000 years together the way they did and still be like it was at the beginning. In 10 years, or even 5, everything would have been resolved, whether there is love between them or not. They should make it 100 years at most, but this is way too much.
As I mentioned earlier, the main antagonists, at least in the first part of the drama, seem to have the power to manipulate situations as they please. However, in the second part, this is rectified, showing that even the greatest antagonist has the potential to change for the better, which I found exceptional.
*** THE END OF THE SPOILERS ***

Acting: 9.0
Female lead is great in this drama, if she's not dubbed, her change of voice from the first to the second part of the drama is amazing, and her overall acting is awesome, she is the main star in this drama, male lead was a bit off for me especially in the first part, he acted like a dumb person and always had the same kind of facial expression, but he improves later on.
Supporting actors mainly did nice job in my opinion.

Music: 7.5
Music is ok, not so great as I expected for such beautiful drama, but not everything can be perfect.

Re-watch: 9.0
Even though I don't like those things that I already mentioned at the beginning, it's amazing drama and I will watch it again for sure and highly recommend it.

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I miss them already

I had zero expectation when I first watch this drama because I honestly only watch it for ZLS. The first few episodes were very cute though, especially the little water divine beast who had just hatch from the egg. However, as the story continued, the VFX was just so eeerrrr and it kinda irked me in some way. Maybe they were rushing with the entire thing, but it left so much to be desired from the VFX department. But then, overall, this drama got me crying, giggling, kicking my feet and rolling on the floor. The differences between A Yin and Feng Yin was so *chef's kiss* kudos to ZLS. <3

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From Zero to Hero. A love story about two immortal youths and their trials and tribulations.

I initially dropped this at episode 11 but later decided to give it another chance. Unlike most xianxia’s, this drama has a very youthful feel to it as it follows the love story between two immortal youths. This means that in the beginning, both main leads are shown as naive and relatively powerless characters, and their story revolves around growing up, facing life’s challenges and learning from their mistakes in order to become powerful rulers.

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH THE PREQUEL FIRST:
Before talking about this drama, I feel it’s important to mention that this is a sequel to Ancient Love Poetry (ALP). Technically you can watch this without having seen ALP however I feel like you will miss out on all of the important details. First off, this drama throws you into the world without explaining much. In ALP, the three realms are introduced, as well as the different immortal statuses that characters have. This is significant in understanding how the world works in general and most importantly, the power dynamics between characters. Most importantly, the backstories of the big villains in this drama as shown in ALP. Again, this drama just throws you the villains and I believe to truly understand their motivations you need to watch ALP. Third and also very important point is that we see the male lead as a child in ALP. I feel like his character is quite misunderstood by many people but if you watch his childhood in ALP, you will definitely understand clearly why he acts the way he does. A big part of this drama is the Da Ze Mountain which is the place where the male lead grows up. I was only able to feel why this place held such an important part of him because I had seen it in ALP. (Note, if you do decide to watch ALP first, know that the production team is different so the characters' names have been changed).

IF YOU DON’T WATCH THE PREQUEL:
I have written a short comment explaining the world’s setting and male lead’s backstory for those that don’t want to watch ALP but still want to understand what’s going on. WARNING, it contains ALP spoilers.
https://mydramalist.com/698285-shen-yin#comment-15573701


THE BEST PART ABOUT THIS DRAMA:
Now, back to this drama. The best part is hands down the character dynamics and development. The main lead's growth is striking from episode 1 till episode 40, as we see them both start off as immature youths and end up becoming responsible and wise rulers. The dynamics between the main leads and the support cast is done well. We see the portrayal of many forms of relationships: friendships, romantic love, kinship, family loyalty, master-disciples.

CHARACTERS/ACTORS:
- Zhao Lusi (female lead) is the reason I watched this and she absolutely slayed in playing two distinctly different characters. She was cute and endearing as a Water Condensing Beast and badass, powerful and calm as a Phoenix. She was indeed the star of the drama and pulled me in all of her scenes, especially towards the end of the drama when she was a Phoenix.
- Wang An Yu (male lead) is an actor I haven’t seen before. I must admit that he is not written as the most likeable character at first (and for most of the drama) but he is perhaps more realistically portrayed as a flawed character who makes mistakes and learns from them. He hurts the female lead a lot (both intentionally and unintentionally) but also redeems himself big time.
- Li Yun Rui (second male lead), he is a big reason I continued to watch the drama after I had initially dropped it. I loved his character as a sly fox and the charisma of the actor definitely made his character shine bright. He had a great character arc and his love story was a lovely addition to the drama.

CGI/COSTUMES/OST:
This needs a separate section because I have mixed feelings. The CGI in some scenes (and the settings) looks vibrant and nice but most of the time (especially in the action/battle scenes) the visual effects were so horrible to the point that I could tell they were shot in a studio. I have read that the production was rushed so that could explain the reason behind it. So for this I’d say, have very low expectations and see it as a low budget drama. The costumes at the start were quite lacklustre but improved later in the drama. I especially loved Lusi’s costumes as a Phoenix. The costume that really bugged me was the horrible orange one for the SML/Fox guy that he wrote A LOT. It was one of the worst I had ever seen. I’m a big cdrama OST lover but the music was nothing special here as none of the songs stood out to me.

POSITIVE:
- Light-hearted xianxia (for the most part) without too much angst. It’s perfect to watch in the evening after a tiring day.
- Great character development for the main leads. We see them grow from immature clueless youths to responsible rulers.
- Nice character dynamics. I loved all the relationship portrayals: friendships, romantic love, kinship, family loyalty, master-disciples.
- Second couple’s love story was captivating. I actually wish they had more screen time together. Their relationship was the slowest of the slowest burns but worth the watch.
- No annoying obsessive/unrequited love. This is a HUGE positive as I absolutely hate the cliche plot line where the second male/female leads are obsessed with the mains and try everything to break them apart.
- Zhao Lusi slayed as the star of the drama. I loved her portrayal of two distinctly different characters. She especially blew me away in her mannerism and majestic aura as a Phoenix. If you love the actress, this drama is a must watch for you.
- Friendship goals. I loved the friendship between the four main characters as they always had each other’s backs.
- Main villains/antagonists were enjoyable to watch for the most part. In most xianxia they annoy me but these I enjoyed watching. They didn’t take too much precious screen time from the main leads like in other dramas.
- No three lifetimes/no human realm plot. In most xianxia we see the main leads reincarnating and forgetting who they are as they go through human tribulations but this drama was just one, straightforward story without these things.
- Cool father/daughter dynamic as antagonists. I rarely like the bad guys in xianxia but the actors really made me enjoy their characters. These two had one of the most loyal family relationships I had even seen.

NEGATIVE:
- Plot was definitely the weak point of this drama as it showed nothing new or unique. I feel like I enjoyed this drama only because the cast did a fabulous job and the characters were interesting. But if this had an infamous cast… it would have flopped for sure.
- Emotional moments didn’t hit me. I cry easily and yet the angsty scenes were just relaxing to watch. Nothing made my heart jump or gasp with shock.
- Bad CGI effects. This drama is said to be high budget and yet the quality can only be placed in the low budget pile.
- Not binge-worthy. It was easy to hit pause on this drama many times and to ff/skip some parts.
- Misleading title. It’s not an important point but I do love to connect the titles with the stories and this one feels all wrong. The title suggests that by the end there will be only one immortal left but that’s not the case.

OVERALL:
This is not the most unique or groundbreaking xianxia, it definitely has its flaws. But the story is enjoyable to watch (especially after episode 12) and the characters (+ actors) are the highlight of the drama. I had initially dropped this at episode 11 but I’m happy I gave it another chance.

I’d recommend this drama to those of you who want to watch a youthful, light-hearted (for the most part) xianxia that’s good to watch in the evening after a tiring day. It has great character dynamics and development, where the main leads start off as immature, clueless youths and end up becoming responsible rules. If you love Zhao Lusi and are not too fussed about bad CGI, you will enjoy this drama.

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EP 1-24 BAD, EP 25-40 BETTER

Xian Xia genre drama isn't making sense. Including this one here regardless who's in it, ep 1-24 is so disappointing, nothing's good. A typical Xian Xia drama is script all imaginary ridiculous synopsis, overwhelm with digital works; flashing fake power, flying here and there, trees/flowers/heavenly animals backdrop are cheap fake illustration, colorful background screams phony, fighting scene is a big joke. Not to mention everything looks so perfect, not a ruffle of hair or smear of make up, dangling hair piece are still in place beautifully, light flowing gown. I guess that's what immortal living with perfection in the cloud but wait .....immortals doing bad things are exist too, perfect appearance but morality/action of immortals are still corrupt (lost the common sense of the plots). The director use digital generic special effects, same replica from other (same genre) dramas. The digital landscape is almost the same in every other Xian Xia genre dramas; colorful landscape & waterfall, birds flying over between the mountains, hanging rocks in the air, obvious plastic green leaves/flowers, rainbow clouds.

LuSi is overacting it; enlarging her pupils, child annoying voice, heavy make up, dangling hair accessories, innocent child expression, not good - appear superficial act. While An Yu & Yun Rui bounce their hair so much and their acting is in the minus, the peacock girl is a kill-joy & Yuan Shuang is boring. When LuSi said she won't do another school drama in the future (after Hidden Love) I hope she won't do another fantasy Xian Xia drama ever again. I hope she won't act this stupid in future dramas ever again, her beauty and talent gets her far enough without employing to act adolescence. The whole team is a disaster; Scrip writer, director, editor, music director awful (change swapping background music on the middle scenes) and choral symphony as background music (rather using their own OST)? bad CGI work, lack of creative ideas.

Ep 25 onward, ZLS starts to act better but have stiff neck and the story start to come into place, besides that production sadly hasn't change a bit (still lousy). If the production team would have shorten A Yin & Gu Jin and all combine vile efforts peacock clan/devil only to 10 episodes but more focus in developing characters of Feng Yin & Yuan Qi, this drama might have a better feedback. Highlight the reason on why and how Yuan Qi did for A Yin earlier instead of revealing it on ep 35 & 38 we might have better sense of the plots. Ep 1-24 is bad (I rate it 4) & ep 25-40 is better (I rate it 7). As the Devil King intends to try his tribulation to the mortal world, his coming down bring all chaos that need salvation. He shouldn't be ascendant gracing our life (just a thought...lol) but I hope Wang AnYu & Zhao LuSi will collaborate another drama in modern setting someday. I am more in love with their chemistry in the promotional photo shots/interview.

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Very Similar to the classic Enteral Love

I’ll write a full review once I’m completely finished watch but here’s my take so far.

Storyline is very similar to Enteral Love.

Yuangi is true god. As he was growing up, he was foolish, impulsive and arrogant. He was also tricked by Hong Rou to destroy the phoenix’s birth because she was jealous of how beautiful the phoenix will be. Because of this, he cause the phoenix essences to shattered. He and A Yin hated each other when they first met but in time as they go through struggles together, her realized that he loves her. He does a lot of thing for her without her knowing (sounds familiar) and keeps it to himself because he feels that’s how he can protect her. However, he was forced to kill her because the immortal (who don’t act good at all). He feels she not dead because she imprinted on her and waits for 1000 years for her until the last of her essence die. He tries to make it up to her after her rebirth. He’s also dying because of a sacrifice he did for her which she doesn’t fine out until last 3 episodes. You’re going to sympathize with him towards later episodes when things starts to reveal all the sacrifices he does for A Yin.

A Yin finally gets rebirth and becomes Phoenix Queen. She remembers what happened to her and resents Yuan Gi for what he did but she still loves him. She hides her identity as A Yin from him and tries to keep her distance from him because she can’t forget what happened. He’s can’t understand why she hates him so much so he secretly follows her to find out if she’s A Yin. He felt her actions are very similar to A Yin. He confronted her and she denies it. She tries her best to denies she still loves him. She later finds out all the sacrifices he made and regrets treating him bad. Deep down she always loved him but was so hurt by all the misunderstandings.

Hong Ruo (peacock princess) wants power so used Yuan Gi to gain it. She also likes the Heavenly Emperor but uses Yuangi through lies and manipulations. She’s jealous of A Yin and does everything in her power to create misunderstanding between ML an FL. Causing Yuan Gi to kill AYin. There are times here you will hate ML. She does redeem herself in the end.

Love all the characters. Very good acting all around. I do like all the redemption from several characters and I wished the ending wasn’t rushed but it’s typical Xianxia series.

Acting: Zhao Lu Si is such a great actress. She bring chemistry with all ML she acts with. Wang An Yu at times is okay but at times is great. The SML and SFL was cute together. I enjoyed all the great acting and cast.

Overall: I enjoyed it because it reminded me of classic Eternal Love that got me into watching CDrama but has its own take and feel. I would recommend it and rewatch.

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Not the drama I was anticipating for. I've seen better fantasy dramas, I would just like to state that the entire show is a little confusing when Feng Yin comes back. We all know that A Yin is Feng Yin, and when Feng Yin comes back, she wants nothing to do with Yuan Qi, but she makes it very obvious that she is A Yin.

Hua Shu isn't any better, the one time she decides to wear red also happens the one time that she's at the Phoenix realm where everyone else wears red. Like I understand that was meant to be the reason for the plot but it's also just ironic.

The story is not as good as it looks, and near the end, I just wanted to finish the drama as fast as I could. Even Ao Ge and Xiu Yan's story was confusing.

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not a spectacular xianxia

am a super big fan of zhao lusi and have watched almost every of her show, so i was super excited to watch this drama since she has darn good chemistry with almost all her male leads!!!

but at the end of the last episode, i just felt like i wasted all my time watching this show. the plot isn't confusing, neither was it spectacular, it as just plagued with multiple miscommunication and noble idiocy, especially from yuanqi. fella will never tell ahyin the true intentions behind his actions, and will always hide it. if he had told her, misunderstandings could have been avoided and they would have had more time loving one another? the whole drama was just a whole cycle of an incident happened --> requires either one of them to risk their lives / sacrifice --> gets injured / die --> rescue (but the rescuing part doesn't get conveyed bc ?? idk??), REPEAT non stop. it's so tiring to watch this cycle over and over again, knowing that it could have been avoided if they just COMMUNICATED. towards the last few episodes, i was just chuckling when this pattern starts again and i already could predict what was going to happen next. i actually let out a sigh of relief when yuanqi mentioned that he knew something was off, so he asked his spirit sword to search for him if he went off grid for too long - it took him like 1000+ years to learn that he has to do something like this? and why does he even have to do this? bc the two of you don't communicate properly your plans and always making sacrifices for one another behind each other's back?

the only saving grace is probably the disciples of daze mountain. the only time i shed a tear for this drama was when they all came together and sacrificed their lives to protect their home. it was touching and a tragedy founded not on miscommunication.

i dont know why but zhao lusi's acting was a bit off the mark for this drama...watching her trying to portray the majestic phoenix queen was painful and cringey...it's my first time watching wang anyu's acting and it wasn't spectacular either...sometimes his crying scene looked like he yawned and harboured the tears in his eyes for the shoot. he looked sleepy half the time...maybe that's why his chemistry with zhao lusi wasn't off the chart...BUT when i watched their promo douyin vids, i can feel the spark between them!!! so it's so unfortunate that they couldn't convey the same chemistry through the drama if not i'd have loved this drama more.

overall not a fantastic drama...i'd have rated it lower, but i needed to compensate myself and be accountable for all the time i've wasted for finishing this drama, so 6/10.

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this IS not my cup tea !

I was really looking forward to this drama and I was waiting for it because of the main character, I like all his dramas, unfortunately this one disappointed me, his behavior is very annoying.. the story is boring, it is very understandable that I don't even have to see it and we know how it ends because there are many Chinese dramas are similar except till and moon, the long ballad, princess agent, my jurnet to yuu, one amdy only, the flames dauger and many others, zhao lusi is not my favorite because in every drama it is the same except for Who rukes the world pacila, but otherwise I'm all the same, I wish she mainly had a role as a strong woman, a badass female, I need to see her drama so that I can become her fan because I don't like spoiled women, or women who treat themselves like children, please, another drama

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I was captivated by Wang Anyu & Zhao Lusi's Chemistry

I watched this drama because of Zhao Lusi, I knew she would act very well but I didn't expect that Wang Anyu actually also has amazing acting skills. I've never watched a drama series starring Wang Anyu so I didn't have much expectations of him, but unexpectedly he was able to build chemistry with Zhao Lusi and his acting was really natural. His intonation is also good. I'm happy to see that he managed to attract a lot of new fans during Shenyin's broadcast.

Discussing technical matters, I'm actually not an expert in editing but I was quite disappointed with the CGI used. I'm pretty sure Shenyin is a BIG budget drama series, but for some reason the editing process seems haphazard. Moreover they don't even put any effort into the technique of transitioning one scene to another. The transition is so rough that I really wanna cry when watching it . This is definitely not the actor's fault because their job is only to act and follow directions from the director and producer. I was disappointed with the production team for not being able to keep up with the actors who put in their blood, sweat and tears to give such great performances.

But even though I'm disappointed, I'm quite happy that the producers allowed Zhao Lusi and Wang Anyu to use their own voices. However, an actor's acting ability is not only measured by their facial expressions, but their speaking intonation as well.

In terms of storyline, xianxia dramas are so complicated and I'm not a fan of the genre either. So I can't write much review but in my opinion as a beginner with xianxia, ​​the storyline of Shenyin is still quite easy to understand.

In conclusion, there is no problem at all with the performances of the actors, especially the four main characters. They all have good chemistry and teamwork, I even enjoy seeing their friendship behind the scenes. Zhao Lusi and Wang Anyu are also serious about their work and have succeeded in building a good working atmosphere in their work environment. It's just that the production team didn't do their job very well so they didn't produce anything that exceeded the audience's expectations, but still, thanks to them for bringing Zhao Lusi & Wang Anyu together. I'm really looking forward to them being reunited in a modern drama!

Oh! all their soundtracks are superb! thank you for making Zhao Lusi sing the opening song and Wang Anyu sing the ending song. What an interesting combination!

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I really love this drama of Zhao Lusi and Wang Anyu! Looking forward to watch this drama till the end! Thank to all of the casts and to the production team of this amazing drama. I will consider this as one of my favorites chinese drama. The plot of this series every episode are so very interested. The photography is such so beautiful and an eye catching! I am so very grateful having this drama in my 2023 - 2024. What should I say next? Omgyyyy HEHHEHEHE Also the ost of this series is so very very good. It will make you relax while you're listening. Kudos to TLI once again!

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