San Sheng Yuan Qi Shi Qing Huan (2022)

Fully fleshed out and coherent short length costumed drama

I admit I'm really into Yang Ze which is why I sought this out and watched it without subs.

The plot is the story of an immortal close to his final cultivation accidentally helping a little flower immortal reach personhood and she instantly falls in love with him. His last steps include 3 mortal realm travails and she ends up occupying him for them.

I found the plot easy to follow and coherent. The love at first sight from her part made sense (he's beautiful and powerful and she's innocent and new) and the travails were great stories by themselves full of tragic loss and betrayals. I don't normally like tragic stories but in the context of knowing it's part of the travails, it made the little bite-sized tragedies really interesting to watch. The process of him falling for her also made sense and yes, it is eventually a happy ending and, best of all, everything is tied up.

Yang Ze is absolutely one of my favorite actors now, having seen the great job he did in The Killer is Also Romantic and Emperor or Boss. He absolutely sold me and I loved all the different characters he ends up playing and cried at the tribulations he had to go through. The FL was perfectly adequate and had some really stellar moments in the second mortal travail but I admit I was just glued to Yang Ze the whole time.

I really hope someone subs this eventually so you don't need Mandarin comprehension to watch but overall, I am very pleased I watched this.

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unexpectedly started good, but surprisingly went downhill

i was wondering if there are xianxia short length dramas out there when this popped up in my recommendation. for a low budget drama, this one surprisingly had a good setting, costumes, and decent CGI.

honestly i decided to watch it because of the ML and ended up liking both ML and FL.

the trope in this drama is not new and nothing particular to remember. the ML had to go through three lives/tribulations in the mortal realm in exchange to be the Heavenly Emperor, and the FL took initiative to pass the trials with him (without him knowing about it).

i have mixed feelings about this one because it started so good but went downhill in the latter half. here’s my verdicts:
- their first life was memorable and the story was good enough to keep me going. the romance between them was believable.
- their second life was a mess. i’d like to blame with the writing. unlike their first life, there was no build-up to their love story and the romance wasn’t believable for me. i don’t believe with their love and it’s just so sad. though it had a little plot twist in the end, it felt kinda bland.
- their third life happened in the last episode and although it was short, but for me it was a nice surprise. it’s a happy ending.

this drama revolved around the main leads and i didn’t remember much about the supporting characters, though there were some whom i found annoying.

regardless, this one is a good short escape if you wanna watch light xianxia drama, but remember to put your expectation to zero.

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