♡Niq’s Blog♡

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A Familiar Stranger // 虚颜

This is absolutely a must watch in my opinion, if for only the fact that it’s 18 episodes are only 12 minutes apiece. Even if you didn’t find it as charming and well-written as I did, well that’s only 3 hours of your time.

This one is (much like my very anticipated upcoming Guo JingMing production for 2025) clearly inspired by Painted Skin: The Resurrection, but has a fresh spin on it. It does not lean into the sapphism much beyond a few extremely minor flirtations, but the main couple is endearing enough to me that I care not. 

If you haven’t seen PS:TR (you SHOULD), basically an “ordinary” woman is coerced to switch faces with a beautiful yao. In this one, she is both face-swapped and role-swapped: and awakens to discover shes no longer an ordinary beloved painter but the betrothed to Xiao Han Sheng, intimidating general. 

Watch for: Cheng Lei (My Journey to You, Follow Your Heart) being a decisive and firm General yet incredibly goofy bashful husband, some absolutely stunning lighting choices, the female lead (Ke Ying- Moonlight) navigating some frankly insane situations with grace, accidental toddler acquisition, identity porn.

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The Spirealm // 致命游戏

I don’t know how you found this blog if you don’t already know this is one of my faves of all-time now. The Spirealm, adapted from danmei novel Kaleidoscope of Death, was released back in February for a grand total of 3 hours before being wiped from the internet. Luckily for me, some cnetizens made it available right after. It’s since been re-released for international audiences only.

Show takes the route of sweet, incredibly smart loser guy Ling JiuShi who starts playing a banned VR game and suddenly, his reality is no longer what it used to be. He’s entered the ‘World of Doors’: where dying inside before completing a Door causes you to die in real life. The stakes are real and so is the intensity of his newfound ‘friend’ and door-ally Ruan LanZhu. Together the two of them play the craziest game of flirtation I’ve seen in a dangai while battling the horrors that are within the doors, both players and the supernatural.

Fair warning: you will cry. If you’re like me, many times. None of the crying is unwarranted by the narrative, in my opinion. While it doesn’t take the scary horror too seriously, it certainly takes the horror of loneliness at utmost seriousness. The door ghosts are cool and get interesting backstories, and you may just cry about them as well (or thirst, see nurse pic #4). The soundtrack is amazing and well-established. Your emotions are queue-able by episode 15 just as Danny Peng intended. 

Ling JiuShi is the most oblivious character known to mankind, but he makes up for it in his steadfastness, loyalty and empathy, while Ruan LanZhu balances their power couple status by being formidably bitchy, a go-getter and above all, supremely honest...when he wants to be. 

ALSO more than all that- for being kind of obscured-on-the-radar due to issues highlighted in paragraph one- the production value is insane. No expense was skipped and all of the doors are incredibly thought out and BEAUTIFUL. No wonder Ruan LanZhu treats the doors like airbnb’s.



  

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Fangs of Fortune // 大梦归离

You were just simply not listening to me if you did not already come to the conclusion that this was my favorite show of the year, and possibly for a long time. If you were to go looking online for reviews of this show, you would find critiques. Oddly, the copy I watched had no flaws (:P) . If you watch and inevitably find you need someone to commisserate your complaints with, you should go do that online search for likeminded friends out there. I’m kidding mostly, I will acknowledge its low points out of love, but truly I think it’s just made for a specific viewer in mind.

Inspired by the Classics of Mountains and Seas (a geography and bestiary book from pre-Qin China), the story starts something like this: Zhao YuanZhou (Zhu Yan) is a 34,000 year old demon, beloathed by the world for his crimes against humanity, seeks out a mortal (Zhuo Yichen) because he, as a descendant of the Bingyi clan, is the only one capable of fulfilling Zhao YuanZhou’s wish to end his life.

The plot only expands from there, and their paths, amongst others, are woven together in ways that they realize won’t be as easy to unravel and cut as they had initially planned. 

Guo JingMing’s visual poetry, perhaps not surprisingly, has a direct pathway from my eyes to heart. If you’ve seen any of his previous works, you know that absolutely no budget seems to be made when it comes to costuming, set design or special effects. You could watch this with the sound and subtitles off and still come away enriched, though, I suggest you don’t because on top of all of that, the soundtrack is top tier. I have been listening to it on repeat as I wrote this entire blog post.

While I of course, love to prioritize canonically gay shows, I recognize that that would be severely limiting and at odds with my love for CDramas. That said, there is barely a question of intent made here, on many fronts. There’s love from all angles, explicitly stated and implicitly shown, and if you know how to read, there’s basically no ‘in-between the lines’ here. Amongst the main group, there’s just so much queer dynamic I can’t even list it all. 

Where it excels beyond the visuals: story paralells (ad infinitum), lyrical timing adding meaning to the scenes, allowing viewers a glimpse into worlds without overly defining their rules, character arcs, aiming a knife right at my heart in ways I didn’t know were possible.

The whole thing feels like a dream, fittingly, and like watching a fairytale unfold before your eyes. It hurts and it’s good and there’s all the love and yet, it sometimes doesn’t change anything. Come for: REAL Enemies to Sure, Friends I guess is What We’re Calling *waves hands* All That to Soulmates, amazing found family, interesting twists. STAY for YING LEI, best boy and all of the supporting cast, the music, and the epilogue.

My small list of places for improvement: a touch less self-sacrificial behaviour (not all of it! just a shade less) and the ultimate end-game villian needed something. I don’t know what. But he’s got a bit of a Evil Guy flavor where everyone else had a lot of depth.

This review was actually the hardest to make because I have to either choose to keep it on the surface level or delve into the 12 page essay I think it deserves, and I really am a visual storyteller at heart. Someone smarter than me should write that essay. For me, I think my mild ramble of a recommendation should be enough to guide you. 

Making me pic just a few screenshots from this show should frankly be a crime, and yet I still limited myself immensely to make this selection. Trust me that my screenshot folder from Fangs of Fortune alone is a cavern.

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Knight Flower // 밤에 피는 꽃

This is the only one on here in the top list that is equal parts comedy and historical drama. I don’t actively seek out com with the rom most times, but this did not misrepresent itself (episode 1 is already hilarious despite the circumstances having heavy weight) and I  still watched the whole way through with fervor.

Cho Yeo Hwa, beautiful, beloved (played by Lee Ha Nee) was married to a stranger 15 years ago who died under mysterious circumstances on their very wedding night. Set in Joseon era, this means that our female lead is socially obligated to live out her life as a widow (if not also honorifically kill herself to join her husband in death).  She says fuck that, and moonlights as a masked solo agent both searching for her long-lost brother and getting into trouble along the way while assisting those in need. 

The romance is SO cute to me and a fun slow burn enemies to friends to lovers for being only 12 episodes. Watch for our female lead being badass and the detached, romance-wary of the two, stay for the satisfying as fuck plot. Visually, it has everything you need plus some innovative night shots. The costumes are the highlight over cinematography- I’m not well versed in historical korean dramas but the hanbok here blew me away on several occassions.

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Blossoms in Adversity // 惜花

This SHOW. I shocked myself by needing to watch it more than once. I do know why it’s not more popular, and that’s because the romance is Not the thing that can carry the viewer from start to finish. It is there! and it is cute enough! But if you’re not intrigued by the tangled web of family dynamics that is the Hua family by~ episode 7, your mileage may vary.

Hua Zhi, our main character (played by the insanely skilled and charismatic actor Zhang Jingyi) is a book worm and a free-spirited thinker, much to her affluent family’s distaste. Her grandfather, who raised her this way, is much the same- and thus pisses off the Emperor in episode 1. Becuase of Reasons, this causes the Hua family to be stripped of all their assetts and the men of the family imprisoned far away. Again, still episode 1. 

The plot centers around the Hua women who are left penniless, and being of wealthy-background, have no fucking clue how to survive as all their skills pertained to politics and posturing. Cue Hua Zhi, previously aloof, who learns what it means to love your family for who they are and how they are willing to change and grow with you, all while being historical Girl Boss of the century. Her love interest is off dealing with his own political/military scrabbles which are also very interesting. 

All of the Hua women are smart, strong-willed and (eventually) adaptable- and I think the show does such an amazing job of giving them their flowers (no pun intended until now). The side characters outside the Hua family are also incredibly unique and well written. 

What I DID like very much about the romance is that there was minimal angst between them despite starting off as potential enemies (can’t say more about that so you’ll have to see for yourself). These two are clearly soulmates and develop a fast friendship as a strong foundation for their budding romance. Both of them are incredibly similar and I found that to be super intriguing, both incredibly calm, rational and pointed in the direction they’d like to go despite being young and having every possible roadblock thrown their way

On a visual level, I struggled to pick just a handful of screenshots. The colors were rich and poignant, and the sets made remarkably the shows own. 

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The Double // 墨雨云间

Do I even need to review this? Everyone who watched any CDramas this year knows that this is the internet’s favorite. For an excellent reason of course, there’s barely any marks it did not hit. This show was not on my radar until it was released so I had no idea I was in for the fucking incredible roller coaster that is The Double. 

We start off like 10 minutes into the show with our lead Xue Fang Fei getting buried alive by her husband. Thumbs down to her shitty husband. It all just gets crazier from there, I Promise.

From there we get Crazy Evil Princess Wan Ning, Slutty Cunning Duke Su (love interest), Sweet Angel Who Deserves the World Tong’Er- and a whole basket full of side characters who all get their perfectly timed arcs and finishes. 

Visually, this has some of the weaker cinematography of any of my favorites this year. Which just says so much more about the how incredible the story is than anything else could from me. Nothing’s wrong with any of the scenes, but the cinematographer was not taking advantage of camera angles or even varying focal length in order to do what they wanted. While clearly a narrative choice, eventually some of the repeated dead center close up framing felt like a default rather than an executive decision. 

I feel like honestly I just had to say that to give some kind of critique to this show LOL.  That said- it really just did not need the best of the best visuals either, so nothing is lacking here, there’s plenty of beautiful lighting and actors to look at. Also shoutout to the makeup department in particular they went all in on the Zhenzhu Mianye (pearl makeup, popularized in the Song Dynasty). 

Story wise it’s prettttty unbeatable. Go watch.

Bonus Drinking Game: take a shot everytime the evil princess does a happy evil twirl or Duke Su sits in a chair the most bisexual way possible.

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Story of Kunning Palace // 宁安如梦

Story of Kunning Palace is a time travel-fix it sandwiched in between ‘this is all happening within a story being written’, which in any other hands could’ve gone really poorly, but everything worked out to make this one of my trashier faves of the year. I was NOT surprised by my several subsequent rewatches. This show is like candy to me.

The reason I love this show is first and foremost, Jiang Xue Ning. She’s the main character and on paper, extremely unlikeable. I fucking love her. She’s not even evil at heart is the thing. She starts her first life a spoiled brat, fucking over everyone in her path, and stringing hearts along using any means necessary (see sex, mainly) to get what she wants. That ends poorly to say the least, and she starts her second chance at this life trying to make amends to both her conscience and the ones she hurt, help all of her friends in the ways she didn’t before, all while simultaneously being the biggest loser/underacheiver possible. The plot will not let her be mid, of course, so she has to be a Big Girl and make decisions, ensue character arc etc etc.

All of her love interests in her first life (men and woman) are very much around and still pulled to her center of gravity in this second one. There’s shipping potential galore for her with all of them, and you wouldn’t be wrong for any of them tbh. (Her sweet best friend! The Fundamentally Good Love of her Life! The Princess who looks at her as if she could pluck stars from the sky! The....Antisocial Strict Teacher who has a fuckton of Secrets and only loves his Qin!)
They’re all correct. In fact the least correct is the canonical end game, which is why I also love them. They’re both relatively unlikable to others (even each other??? for a good majority of the plot) but they have chemistry and like mindedness and a begrudged, strong bond (Stoic Teacher x Terrible Student) with each other regardless, so it still works for me in an interesting (very mild) toxic way.

Romance aside, the plot is interesting even at its slower points. All of it is pretty engaging and I love watching our FL navigate some fucking convulated political turmoil all while wishing she was at home laying around. Even the most predictable of plot-lines is played with a tailspin and the pacing is on point.

Watch for the endless ways that fate seems to be working in odds with Jiang XueNing’s choices, stay for the OBSCENELY beautiful costuming and innovative scene framing, the romantic entanglements and Jiang XueNing my beloved.

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You Are My Lover Friend//舍不得星星

Pros: Felt like a fever dream of a childhood friends to lovers fan fic but in 30 episode form. Could not ask for a cuter more believable M/F friend dynamic. And both of them are weird (endearing) about the romance shift so it doesn’t feel like the creepy male friend Situation. Writers knew they needed to nail the romance for this to work and the actors absolutely brough it to life. I have a soft spot for Zhang Xin Cheng, was not disappointed by this role at all.

Also a pro, really loved the decision for stage lighting to make scenes feel like a Set instead of hiding it, gave everything a very theatrical lean which was unique.

Con: There was a whole banking crime subplot that I could not explain to you if I tried. Also the tragedy that is the English edition of the title.

The Princess Royal // 度华年

Pros: I need you to know that my friend with good taste loved this one, so it makes it on this list because I think it just depends on the person who this one works for. There’s some phenomenal songs in the soundtrack. The premise is delicious: two estranged historical divorcees make attempts on each others lives and upon death, find out they’re both 18 again and only the 2 of them remember their last life.

Con: All of the plot points were there, but it felt like there was a tension air-leak in the balloon for me.

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat//作りたい女と食べたい女

Pros: Lesbians! And they Cook together! Everything looks delicious!

Con: Not really a con, but that is the whole plot. Nothing else happens.

League Of Nobleman//君子盟

Pros: Interesting historical crime solving with just a touch of folk magic, Goodest Boy best friend, mildly shippable bromance happening here. Actually really loved the opening credits.

Con: I forgot I was watching this show around episode 20 and wandered off, had to come back later to finish. There’s just some flavor missing from the overall narrative, despite building up all the points on the map well.

Mr. Plankton//플랑크톤

Pros: Woo DoHwan playing an unhinged (and I mean unhinged) professional con artist and noted Orphan who finds out he has a terminal illness and decides to go out with a bang, taking his estranged ex along with him. Also a pro, only 10 episodes. Truly a top notch Netflix Korea production in terms of budget and directorial decision. It’s gut wrenching and funny and a good dose of what is the point of it all if you’re not gonna try.

Con: It’s still a Netflix production at the end of the day.

Follow Your Heart//颜心记

Pros: Amazing costuming. Beautiful lighting. Luo Yunxi. Also there’s a distinct queer flavor to the love of his life changing forms all the time and him loving them all the same. Also also return of Cheng Lei, but in a side character role, being a prickly fuck on the outside and gooey on the inside.

Con: Censorship makes some of the forms she takes on land as a laugh, which takes away some of the charm unless you can squint it away like I did.

Interlaced Scenes/错位

Pros: Interesting cases that all tie in together, beleivable characters and really good pacing.

Con: I don’t remember this one all that well to have specific cons, which may in and of itself be the con. Oh also its cop centric even if they are detectives so.

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy//永夜星河

Pros: Everything from Episodes 1-17, and the ending.

Con: Whatever happened to the Plot from episode 17 onwards.