Spring Flower, Autumn Moon (2019)

Ottima coppia di attori, storia meh.

La serie si regge unicamente sulla bellezza e soprattutto sulla performance dei due attori principali. Il terzo incomodo, non so se per direzione registica, personaggio, o qualità sue, pur se carino è di un legnoso da paura. Le spalle fanno un lavoro dignitoso, ma le loro storie sono prive di qualunque attrattiva, mero noioso contorno che si aspetta finisca per tornare alla coppia principale.

In realtà, è priva di attrattiva e di qualsiasi suspense praticamente l’intera trama. Quello che ha, in abbondanza, è ripetitività, assurdità, salti e buchi, situazioni e comportamenti illogici a iosa. I personaggi si comportano spesso in modo tale che ti viene da dire: ma sul serio? Specialmente la FL è stata caratterizzata in maniera così antipatica che per una volta ci si trova a sperare che il ML la mandi a quel paese. E poi che ce la mandi anche l'altro. Il fatto che, a parte nei primi episodi, non abbia neppure una rivale, non aiuta. Ne hanno fatto il catalizzatore degli eventi, ma la reazione chimica ha fatto flop.

Tutta la storia è giocata sull’indecisione della FL tra i due protagonisti, sulla sfondo di una presunta lotta fra il bene e il male portata avanti da fazioni opposte, e della denuncia dell’ipocrisia e avidità imperanti. Chi più predica peggio razzola, e la cosa purtroppo si applica anche alla protagonista. Zhao Lu Si ha interpretato benissimo la parte che le hanno affidato. Peccato che il suo personaggio sia eminentemente antipatico, specie nel proseguire delle vicende, per cui non si riesce a provare molta empatia per lei.

Molto meglio va a Li Hong Yi, che ha interpretato Qiu Yue, personaggio carismatico e complesso, e visibilmente molto innamorato. La mimica facciale che è riuscito a produrre, le sue micro espressioni, i suoi sguardi, sono qualcosa di sublime. Posso dire di essere arrivata alla fine di questi 40 lunghissimi episodi (e sono pure di lunghezza leggermente inferiore alla media!) solo ed esclusivamente per lui.

La Chun Hua di Zhao Lu Si viene dal futuro e rinuncia all’immortalità per provare il vero amore, che sarà il primo uomo che vedrà al risveglio, e da lì si svilupperà il fraintendimento che durerà per la maggior parte dal drama. Ma anche quando verrà chiarito, la sua attitudine non migliorerà. E' vero, viene spesso ingannata da uno e passata in secondo piano dall'altro, ma è troppo prona a cambiamenti di idea repentini e credula delle fandonie altrui. Pretende il vero amore e di essere trattata bene, ma lei cosa fa? Personaggio bocciato, come già detto. Il fatto poi che l’abbiano fatta venire dal futuro in un prologo di un paio di minuti non è minimamente sfruttato, è una informazione iniziale posticcia. Se avessero usato che so, una leggenda, una maledizione, un qualche oggetto magico per farla addormentare e risvegliare, il risultato sarebbe stato uguale. Forse migliore, visto che non ci mostrano alcuno choc o disadattamento culturale!

La produzione è visibilmente a basso budget. Le comparse sono ridotte al minimo e i costumi e le ambientazioni sono relativamente pochi e non particolarmente sontuosi, e ci può anche stare. Non sarebbe un problema, come ho già detto diverse altre volte, se ci fosse sostanza nella storia. Che però abbiamo visto latitare. Il commento musicale però è gradevole e non troppo invadente e le voci si ascoltano volentieri.

Il finale, per mio gusto, è pseudo soddisfacente. Per conto mio, è raffazzonato come gran parte della storia, ma, insomma, chiude la vicenda.
Se mai faranno una seconda stagione, dubito che la guarderò.

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leads are great!! The chemistry is wonderful

Li Hong Yi seriously killed this role. He portrayed his character very well and his eyes are gorgeous :(, Expressive and very pretty<3.
My favorite character in this show !!. He was cunning, mysterious but also passionate and sweet. I felt that the writing/ story was lacking in some areas (Chun Hua's character in the later eps.) but it was still enjoyable to watch because the chemistry between the leads is amazing.

Personally the pacing of the show is just right. I feel that longer dramas tend to be dragged out for too long making it unbearable to watch. This drama is only 40 episodes long(30 mins each), 20 hours of content. Highly recommend if you're up for romance costume dramas.

Free subs are up on Youtube(legally and in hd) if anyone is interested!

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Well, what can I say. Actoring on a level, ear-pleasing music, costumes and make-up are great, but I have a certain lack of satisfaction with the end of the series. I thought it would be more spectacular. I don't think anybody doubted the great love we're going to have, but the ending that the scriptwriters prepared for us was one of the most disappointing in my life. I watched a lot of drama and hoped for a better ending. The show itself is very good. It is pleasant to watch, such a small detachment from reality after Sunday lunch. The series has very nice colors and great music, which gives it an amazing atmosphere. I think a lot of people will like it.

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I am really loving the complex plot of this drama, because there is no "good" or "bad" people here, just people with different thoughts and different priorities being labeled as evil and right. The one's who do nearly anything to protect the ones they love or be with them end up suffering the most and are labeled as bad. While those who don't do enough, put duty, reputation, personal gain, what's "right" without room the in-between before everything else are seemingly good with tendencies to ignore the cries for help in the dark or injustices of other houses if it might cost them something or goes against one of their "rules." So much to do about love in this show... the actors are incredible. Caicai is awesome!!! I appreciate her for defying the typical role others would've set for her and remembering Chun Hua saved her life not once but twice! Qin Liu Feng is also another character that doesn't fall into the treacherous grip of what a friend caught in the middle is typically casted as. This is going to make me cry, he loves You si so much & Fu Lou left Xiao Bai without causing harm when he heard they didn't have the nut.

Once we get past episode 30, Xiao Bai really shows that he knows & trusts what Chun Hua told him about You Si. So he didn't act, which was wise because Qiu Yue wanted him to eliminate Fu Lou's people for him. It also shows that even though Qiu Yue loves Chun Hua, he likes making use of her & toying with her while playing the victim himself. He also likes trying to make her feel guilty for having him help her do something good/right or selfless. It's all rather upsetting with Chun Hua's heart on the line, Xiao Bai's morality, duty & love on scales and Qiu Yue knowing the true villains but constantly setting people up to watch them make choices where one always results in numerous deaths while he hopes to still claim Chun Hua in the end. Talk about one heck of a story!

I only get a little relief when it's all finally out there that Qiu Yue's a manipulator, but can we say he's wholly the bad guy? They all played some part, but it was mainly their parents at the root of things and they are victims of consequence. Man so muddled, if all of them got together, aired out all the wrongs, they could definitely make changes happen together. Check each other on what one considers "right" or "wrong" and how it affects others.

Definitely will watch it again and watch if there's a season 2!

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TL;DR - A C-drama where the plot was overshadowed by the adorably sincere romance between our leads. Beware of character lobotomy from our FL in the latter third of the drama.

I started watching this after watching a previous drama with Rosy Zhao, and I watched it not expecting that I would like her pairing here better than in her other drama.

I feel like as a drama reviewer, there comes a point where your logical and emotional opinions collide; do you rate a drama because it makes logical sense and is innovative, in a sea of irrational, poorly-written dramas? Or do you rate base on the feels it gives you and how well you can relate to its characters? Ultimately, it depends on what you think is more important, and this is why there's a such wide variety of opinions on the same drama because people's preferences are different.

I'm only bringing this up because overall, I think the story line of her other drama was better developed and had better flow, but this drama gave me more feels and I was more emotionally invested into this drama than the other one.

Previous reviews will tell you that they watched this for the main couple and I'm no exception - they were easily the best part of this show. That's not to say that the story was bad, but rather it was overshadowed by the romance. I actually think the set-up of this drama was unique from the get go, like having our male lead as a villain and having our female lead first fall in love with the second male lead. As it continued to progress, I actually think there was a decent story being unfolded and you really see the character developments in the majority of the cast. I especially enjoyed watching Chunhua develop from this love-sick, foolish girl to a more mature, cautious person who's more careful with her heart. It actually explores an interesting topic of what we consider good or bad; is a person bad for committing crimes to survive in a dog-eat-dog world? Or is a person good for thinking of the greater good at the expense of the people he loves? You will see different characters that have different views on what's important and there's truly never a "bad person" in this drama.

This dichotomy of good vs evil is effectively demonstrated in our male leads; Qiu Yue would literally destroy the world to protect Chunhua and to him, nothing else matters other than being with her. Xiao Bai does love Chunhua, but her needs are an afterthought to upholding justice and keeping the peace of the world. I loved how much Qiu Yue cared for Chunhua even when she was being unreasonable to him, and how he was the overall master manipulator behind all the events that happened (I also really liked their brother-sister dynamic - usually this sort of set-up makes me cringe but here it worked. And no, they're not real siblings lol).

Now on to some reasons why I didn't rank this higher. The biggest reason is that they took way too long to find the bad guy and the stuff revealed at the end just felt anti-climatic. I also felt that for how much they hyped up the longevity nut and how it essentially causes chaos and death everywhere, the story-line for that ended on a whimper too. The story doesn't have good flow and doesn't really start until episode 8. I also didn't appreciate the way the writers made Chunhua leave QY - I think it was granted, given how he manipulated her in the beginning, but to do so at the words of the guy who legit tried to kill QY doesn't make sense.

Overall, I really didn't expect to love the romance here the way I did, but it really grew on me and the actors were able to pull it off very well. Music was played appropriately here and I really like the theme song sung by the male lead. I will certainly re-watch for the Chunhua x Gege scenes and would recommend you check this out if you have the time.

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I watched it because i quiet intrigue with the title. But a little disappointing with the story flow after all. Right now still to lazy to watch it to the end, just watch the ending is enough for now. Don't know in the future...

I think the character guide line write by ani411 is quite spot on. Can't more agreed than that.

What makes me lazy to watch is because i really don't like Chun Hua (CH) character. She so flip flop from Qiu Yue (QY) and Xiao Bai (XB). There is a little flop she moved from XB to QY, another flop moved back again from QY to XB. Maybe it's also because i really like QY character & i don't think CH give him enough credit. Really pissed me off... :(

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Disaster

Once again, an overrated drama at MDL- do not watch if you value your time! This drama has, I am sorry to say a very stupid, dumb, annoying FL - sorry ZLS not even your pretty face is going to make me write kind words....and a ML who imitates the Leaning Tower of Pisa to a tee - what is wrong with his neck?? Excuse me for being harsh but it is better to be honest than write false praises - ML if you are reading this - you need to improve your posture, reduce the amount of white powder you apply on your face as makeup and put on some weight and build your physique if you want to appear horrendously scary and imposing.

I also thought that the leads had an incest relationship in this drama - I have grimaced whenever they kiss and then called each other brother and little sister - no amount of "oppa" reasoning has helped.

None of the male actors had any scene presence - this includes the ML, SML, and the actor playing the SML's best friend. I will happily skip any of the dramas that they deem to act in the future.

The story - what in the world were the writers trying to narrate? It went round and round in circles over some fake longevity pill!

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weird vibe

I dropped it because it just kept getting weirder in my head. He kept flirting w her while telling her that he’s her brother like ☠️. I know that he’s not her actual brother but she thinks that he’s her brother and he does all that while she still thinks theyre siblings. But if you’re fine w that then the story is good but i just had that weird feeling in my head while watching it so it wasn’t it for me. But good acting , good plot, good music. I dropped it because it just kept getting weirder in my head. He kept flirting w her while telling her that he’s her brother like ☠️. I know that he’s not her actual brother but she thinks that he’s her brother and he does all that while she still thinks theyre siblings. But if you’re fine w that then the story is good but i just had that weird feeling in my head while watching it so it wasn’t it for me. But good acting , good plot, good music.

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I watched this for the 2nd time today, Feb 23, 2023, and the first time was on Mar 7, 2020. This is a new review. My other review was totally messed up. I understand the storyline now after watching it a 2nd time, although I'm confused about how it started. I loved both Li Hong Yi and Zao Lu Si. The was my first time watching the performance of Li Hong Yi. I did fall in love with his voice. The charisma of his voice is beyond my many years of living. Wow! I really had to focus on the storyline to understand what I was watching. Zao Lu Si was trying to find True Love and she couldn't find it in the present day and went back to historic China to find it. (This is where I became confused) Was she in a coma in historical China and time-traveled to the future or was it vice versa? Because she surely didn't... well you have to watch it to know what I mean. I ended up really liking the storyline but did get mad because of Zhao Lu Si's character going back n forth, that got me a little dizzy. I loved the fantasy, the martial arts, and the wardrobe. I love that cape hoodie at the end on Li Hong Yi. Now the music kind of reminds me of another drama I watched. Thanking all the support actresses and actors. I know if I was in that drama, I wouldn't be trusting June Wu for sure. He got those eyes looking a little evil. but it's all good. Everything worked out. Thanking the team, writers, directors, etc.

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Loved the ML

This drama started of really good and I especially loved the relationship between the FL and ML (QY). The sci-fi aspect seemed almost irrelevant if it weren't for the fact that the FL was obsessed with finding her 'one' through the message the machine gave before her time travel. But then again the entire plot of the drama was about love litterally being better than immortality. Whilst the FL gave up her immortal life that litterally lacked human emotion to be with her perfect (most suitable/compatible) man, almost every other character in this drama were willing to sacrifice anything in order to gain immortality.

The entire plot of this drama was ironic.
All the "good" guys turned out to be the bad guys and the people that were labelled as "bad" were actually much better than those that thought themselves as good. And the "bad" guys never once labelled themselves as good people, and I loved that about them. They didn't care for labels whilst the "good" guys entire livelihoods seemed to be dependent on these labels.

QY is the ML but he may come of as the second lead for a lot of this drama. I loved that he was the ML, he was the best character in this drama and the most moral despite being described as "devil". His relationship with the FL was the only reason I was able to finish this drama off. The actors had so much chemistry I wish we had more scenes with them.

The FL and ML had a really strange relationship at first. Before the FL knew who she was (after being transported to the past in essentially a doppelganger's body) the ML made her believe they were sibling. But their relationship as "siblings" was the best relationship in this drama, and it was hilarious. The FL thought she had a perverted brother (because he always kissed her) but didn't once think that he might not be her brother. What was even better was watching them pretend to be siblings after the truth is revealed, the chemistry was off the charts. I loved it. Halfway through the drama I'd just skip to their scenes, I just loved the way he looked at the FL and how he treated her.

The SML and the FL had no chemistry. I hated the fact that the story went back and forth between the two guys. The plot started to drag halfway through because of all the useless back and forth. At some point even started to hate the FL for the way she treated the ML who was always by her side.

I was really satisfied with the ending. Would have been better if it was extended. I waited the entire show for that ending and I got it. I read that the book ending is better and longer.

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