Ancient Love Poetry (2021)

Like a real folklore tale filled with romance, emotional scenes and epic magic battles

I decided to watch this drama because the sequel "The Last Immortal" will be airing soon. This drama tells the love story between two Gods who go through many hardships and work together to protect the realms from the war between the immortals and demons. The story is about Gods and takes place in the God & Immortal Realms. These realms always felt very real. The characters felt real. And at the same time, the story felt like a real folklore tale or what some might call an ancient love poetry.

POSITIVE:
- Emotional scenes HIT YOU HARD. One of the best emotional-romantic scenes I’ve ever watched in a xianxia.
- Amazing acting from the whole cast. Especially the acting during the emotional scenes which brought me to tears multiple-times.
- Very well developed characters, and I especially loved the strong female lead.
- Engaging story with multiple layers.
- Romance is always the main focus. Even though there are lots of side characters, the main leads are always at the forefront.
- Many God/Immortal realm battles.
- CGI is great. Costumes are nice. Set designs are beautiful, especially the God Realm.
- Absolutely loved the second male lead (the second male lead syndrome was very strong here).

NEGATIVE:
- Lots of screen time is given to side characters (no wonder the drama is so long). At first I found it annoying but later I got to enjoy the screen time of the characters I loved. Even though all the side characters connected well with the main leads, I still found myself fast forwarding some scenes of the characters I didn't like.
- Certain episodes made the drama feel dragged out. Even though there are always things happening, the plot doesn't always move forward. Sometimes I felt that episodes were fillers and if certain things didn't happen, it wouldn't have made a difference in the plot.
- Lack of kiss scenes. I’m trying to remember if they even had kisses. Maybe one or two max but for such a long series I would have liked to see at least a few more.
- Sometimes I wanted to see more passionate intensity between the leads. I felt they loved each other deeply but that sparkling fire felt a bit like it was missing.
- Wigs of some of the characters were not visually appealing.

The drama tells the three lifetimes of the main leads:

First life, episodes 1-16:
This can be seen as the prologue of the story. It starts slow but still engages you. For me, after episode 12 it really picks up the story and it has an epic god realm battle in the end. Male lead is a typical cold and stoic character and the female lead is a spoiled princess type. At first glance this arc is nothing too exciting however I feel like I got to truly appreciate it, only after I watched the second life as you see all the parallels later. So in terms of story and character development, it's a very important arc to watch.

Second life, episodes 17-42:
This life is the longest and what the drama mostly focuses on. Instead of Gods, both main leads are only Immortals. Male lead is less confident which makes him more human and relatable. He is warm, affectionate, insecure but also protective, strong and loyal, so a very green flag leads. Female lead is more mature. Compared to her first life where she mostly cared about choosing pretty dresses, this version of her is serious about her cultivation and studies. She is strong-willed and less romantic. Side characters are well developed here so you learn to appreciate them as the story progresses. There is a second couple in the story too. For this arc, I felt episodes 33-38 were draggy as nothing much happened in terms of progressing the plot forward.

Third life, episodes 43-49:
This life is a mix of the first and second. Without spoiling anything, all I can say is that I loved almost everything about it. There were some boring scenes of the side characters but the scenes with the main leads were really good. I have mixed feelings about the ending. I understand it but at the same time I almost feel it wasn't that greatly executed.

OVERALL:
If you want to watch a high fantasy (xianxia) drama that has a strong female lead, with many epic magical battles, emotional scenes that hit you hard and a love story between two immortals, this drama is for you.

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An impressive Xanxia drama

Let’s start with personally - I think the drama surpassed my expectations. I remembered very clearly watching the trailer and being uninterested when the hype was all over social media. I honestly didn’t think much of it.

I decided to give it a try to humour my love for Xanxia dramas, it was after all, my very first genre I started with to get into C-dramas. ALP gave me the same feels I felt watching things like Ashes of Love and Ten Miles of Peach Blossom which was what started my love for C-dramas. I can safely say, I wasn’t disappointed at all.

The Story:
Though the storyline did feel like they dragged it between episodes 1-15 (to me), I think to some degree it was necessary to show the backstory of each character. But that in itself resulted with the show getting its initial low ratings. Having said that, it’s not long until it picks up and I can reassure you, if you’ve stayed past episode 15-20, then you’re good!

I especially liked episodes 47-49 because you finally see everything coming together and all the emotions coming into play. Bai Jue and Yuanqi’s rekindled relationship was so sweet to watch, watching Bai Jue tear up at the sound of Yuanqi calling him “father” was pulling on my heart strings.

I personally felt they rushed episode 49 to try and wrap things up and to personally explain what everyone’s ending would be, and if you’ve already watched spoilers (like I did) you would know what the outcome and endings were, so there wasn’t much surprise but I wished they didn’t rush it so much. I would have loved more of the ending of Bai Jue and Shanggu’s reunion.

The Cast:
Firstly, I think the negative comments about Dong Yu were uncalled for. I personally felt her character suited her. She was after all meant to play the youngest out of 3 ‘siblings’, naive and carefree, she had to learn to bear the responsibilities of the Three Realms—she had to portray a child that had to learn to grow up quickly and I think she played that so well. You could tell her physical transformation aided in her ‘growth’, I loved watching her looks change and evolve as she matured i.e. with her fringe down vs her hair back. You could also tell by the colour of her clothing changing.

Very similarly with Bai Jue’s and Tianqi’s characters having to evolve. You see their personal character develop as well as their relationship with others. Though I admit, there were scenes which I felt could have evoked more emotion i.e. when Bai Jue was watching Shanggu be blown into pieces during her tribulation, I expected the level of emotion of Fengran crying as Jing Jian sacrificed himself in episode 47.

BUT I think as an actor having to play 3 different characters and be able to tell them apart for the viewers let alone themselves, is amazing. I don’t doubt that there would obviously be set backs or things that they could have ‘done better’ or ‘said differently’. But for what it was, I think Xu Kai and Dong Yu played their characters so well being able to differentiate between Bai Jue, Bo Xuan, Qingmu, Shanggu and Hou Chi. This was my first drama watching Xu Kai and it’s what made me watch ‘Falling into your smile’ as well. You can clearly see his different acting skills in both.

As much as I hated watching Wu Xuan, I think her character development deserved it just as much as the rest. If she was able to make you feel annoyed and angry, then I think she portrayed her character well. Same goes with Jing Zhao. You will always have one of those in every Xanxia drama. But I must say, her acting was great, I didn’t feel like she was having to fake much (except her evil laugh), she was mean when she needed to be and she was honest and raw especially in her final days.

I think you’ll hear a lot of people say that they cherished Qingmu’s and Hou Chi’s relationship most, because it was the sweetest. But I beg to differ. I thought Bai Jue’s and Shanggu’s love was so honest and raw. It wasn’t without effort that the two developed their relationship. They were the real MVP’s in my opinion for having to learn about friendship, then love, then sacrifice and then having to relive that over again. Can you imagine how difficult it must be, to have to push the one you love and not be able to tell her that EVERYTHING you did in the last 60,000 years was actually for her wellbeing? Like, how can you say that wasn’t the sweetest love. Just because he didn’t give her as much forehead kisses or hugs and wasn’t sweet with his words, I thought Bai Jue’s love for Shanggu was so beautiful. I mean, without Bai Jue and Shanggu, you wouldn’t have had Qingmu and Hou Chi.

Also! Much admiration for the child actor that played Yuanqi, I find some child actors to come across really fake especially with subbed voice overs that make them sound really high pitched. I think he played his role so professionally.

The Production:
For the level of CGI that was in this, I think it was spectacular. I can imagine the amount of post production work this took. As a fellow creative (for context, I’m a graphic designer by trade), it’s so easy to point fingers and say some things could have been done better. But I don’t think you understand the amount of work it probably took them. I could say that this was just on parr with Ashes of Love and Ten Miles. There wasn’t anything too cringey watching, I thought the monsters were going to look a bit fake, but they didn’t. The part that amazed me was the overview of each palace that they displayed to show you where things were taking place. You can clearly differentiate all of them and the props, colouring and decor of each palace internally was taken into consideration. So much thought process! I loved it.

The costumes were fantastic. I really liked most of Shanggu’s and Yuemi’s wardrobe! You can tell there were so much detail in it. Can’t forget Wu Huan’s extravagant display as well, I actually liked her with white hair and her appearance as a devil was actually quite stunning all in black.

The Soundtrack:
I HAVE to make mention of this. They literally pulled all the big names in C-drama artists to sing in this drama. I love all the tracks—they’ve all got their own vibe but overall has the general theme of like ‘chasing one’s destiny’ (to me at least).

I can’t remember which episode it was, but definitely somewhere between 1-5 where I think they first played Mao Bu Yi’s “Yearning” in a sad/emotional scene and I had goosebumps. I still to this day, get goosebumps every time I hear it.

I honestly think that the soundtracks in this drama made the conversations and scenes so much better and much more convincing. I really think that’s what made me cry in the scene with Qingmu being replaced by Bai Jue’s awakening. Mao Bu Yi’s track is my favourite out of the lot— there’s something so haunting but comforting about the melody and lyrics. SO SO BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN.

Zhou Shen’s track “Penannular Love’ also has very notable scenes attached to that song, which to me gives out that affectionate and fleeting vibe. The kind you find in a Disney movie. Hah! But his humming version which is in the intro is just as beautiful. It really gives you that period drama feel.

Overall, I think this was a beautiful drama. I think it’ll be hard to top this for a while. I think it’s important to watch the show with an open mind and have patience. Considering this was only 49 episodes and shorter than some if not most Chinese dramas, it does pick up it’s pace and you won’t be disappointed! I’m going to miss watching this!

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The actors at their best

Creative story writing and production. The many twists and turns to make it interesting only grips your heart. While this fall a little short of Ten Miles of Peach Blossom in my opinion, it is a great Xianxia drama above all the others.

I still lament that they did not pick a better looking FL, but Zhou Dongyu did not disappoint me. Her acting is very natural and fun to watch. Xu Kai... wow. He surpassed all the previous characters I've seen him in. The two had great chemistry. The supporting act did a wonderful job as well. I did not give it a perfect score because there were places where I thought acting was a bit lacking, like Fengran's reaction when holding the fallen Jinyan. Akin to Ten Miles Peach Blossom's Baiqian holding Yehua's fallen body. Yanmi did a much better job than Zhang Yaqin. Another delight to watch was the boy Yuanqi. I'm looking forward to watching him grow into a great actor.

The music, though too modern for my taste, was quite appropriate as well. I only would like to see more variation. It feels like the composer is only capable of this one style.

Though it is a great Xianxia drama, I probably would not want to rewatch it. There's nothing unclear that I need to go back and figure out, and there's also not a scene that I feel I must watch again.

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Haven’t seen something come close to TMOPB/ELOD in a while!

I seldom write reviews and only do so when I feel very strongly for a show. Case in point, I’ve only penned down my thoughts for TMOPB and ELOD haha loved those!

This was a highly anticipated one for me, namely because I loved TMOPB/ELOD so much (the first xianxias I’ve ever watched) and when I read that ALP was of a similar concept… with xukai!! I did enjoy some of the other xianxias in between like LAD, LAR but it didn’t come close (didn’t enjoy AOL, dropped it)… Until ALP. I didn’t skip a single scene.

Beautiful plot and love story, felt like the timeline was nicely planned for the different arcs. It felt like 3 different lifetimes (ep 1-16, 17-39, 39-49) where our OTP beat adversity time and again to find their happy ending! It was bittersweet each time and it reminded me of LAR in a sense where the ML would do anything for the FL time and again.

Xukai’s acting was top notch. I felt his pain as baijue, and he also felt like a different character as qingmu. I liked them both and I felt like he did such a good job in distinguishing the 2. ZDY did a good job too but I felt like she paled a little in comparison, though there was still some difference between shanggu and houchi (felt kinda flat). But nonetheless I love this pairing and will always root for their happy ending!

Like most people, I also loved the side characters and the different realms. Heck I even loved our dear villain as much as I hated her LOL… goes to show casting was on point.

Even the music was literally on point, the right verses and the right songs were played on cue at the right scenes which made it all the more poignant. The lyrics were beautifully crafted to suit the story.

Overall, I only have praises for ALP 100/10 will highly recommend this show to anyone who likes xianxias!

Now time to catch xukai in his other works XD

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I would reccomened anyone who enjoys Chinese drama fantasies to watch this

I have read the reviews of the series and was hesitant to watch for a while due to the reviews. I have seen several series lately with multiple of the leading acting cast, so i decided to watch this series. I watched the whole series in 3 days, i enjoyed it so much. Don't listen to the reviews, it does not do this series justice. I am not writing this to spoil for anyone, so i will keep that to myself. The story does a really good job of feeling the emotions of the story as it takes place. It was almost the end when i figured out what the goal of the full story was. In any case, if you like Chinese drama fantasies this is a must watch. I have already decided this will be a must buy so i can watch over and over again. The acting is very well done, the effects are good, the story is very well done and i am very pleased. I look forward to finding more jewels like this that i was so hesitant to watch. This series has made me write a review for the first time, and i am going to look for more series by this director and cast. Hope you enjoy this as much as i did.

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PERFECTION IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!!

I'd proudly claim to have watched every "possible" popular fantasy C-Drama and I mean the ones that include the realms and so on; Three lives three worlds: Ten miles of peach blossoms, the pillow book, Love and redemption etc. But again I'd have to say , this is the most perfect one I've watched. Everything in this drama was measured to enoughness and perfection. Less drag, the cast was solid, acting was one of the best in C-Dramas, the music and finally the storyline which was say a gorgeous and unique one considering some C-Dramas try to try to replicate it but to no avail.
I've so far rewatched the drama 3 times I suppose . The music is just so in line with the acting and the editing, costumes just get the C-Drama lover in me on board and going.

It's definetly not worth a watch but rather a MUST watch. You really cannot just turn your back on this draama or realistically drop it. You'd be out of your mind really! Don't be fooled by the ratings by the way as they're not accurate and not everyone reviewing these dramas understands and they can sometimes be blockheads in reviewing because they sometimes rush, But all in all, it's a drama definetly worth your time or money.

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They portrait well what love is in Ancient times!

Whole package drama so far! From the story line, acting, visual, character, ost and especially, the CGI is almost perfect. I entered Chinese Drama world since Dec 2021 and this drama is my first. I've seen chinese drama like A love so beautiful since it's popular in my country year 2018? I guess hmmm?! I've seen this drama on facebook, i watched the stabbed scene and they got my attention. I thought the ML would caught my attention that time but I'm wrong hahaha, coz the truth is the female lead caught my attention because of her smile while stabbing her beloved ones. I think that this drama will probably make me cry. When i watch the first 15 ep. I feel sad about her fate being chief god, knowing her responsibilities make me feel sick. I feel sad when she died because of her responsibility to saved the common people. In the ep 13 when gods and goddess has fallen 'till ep. 16, even those important cast died in that episode and some of them reincarnate. In the next generation, when they live as houchi and qingmu, we thought they will get what they want...but this generation make me cry river in tears..😢

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Beautifull love story and fantastic side characters

This drama was such a beautiful love story, the actor did an amazing job. The actress that played the female lead did such an incredible job, never saw any work of her before I'm a fan now. Xu Kai did amazing protraying two different characters, QuingMu was such a fresh air in this drama, Is the character that I will miss the most. Tianqi and Gu Hu deserve kudos for their role, the best side characters ever always loyal and passion.
My only complaint is that since Shanguu woke up the romance part of the drama died, It would be better if they added on more episode or more time in the last episode so we could see more happy moments with the happy family. They ended Wu Huan case so quickly and this episode was just a filler till the last 10 minutes...
Still one of the best Xin Xian dramas I watch till today.

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!CAPTIVATING!

Simply AMAZINGG! The story-telling and scenery is spectacular, everything about "Ancient Love Poetry" is indeed beautiful. It was such an emotional roller-coaster, You'll be so enthralled by the twists and turns that you won't be able to stop watching. The story is engaging and you keep wanting to know what's next, it'll be as if you want to finish the entire season immediately.

I'd want to express my gratitude to all of the actors and actresses, as well as the director, storywriters, camera directors, and everyone else who contributed to this story. They have all done an outstanding job. Furthermore, I'd like to thank them for providing me with a truly touching drama that will remain in my heart for a very long time.

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Un drama notevole, imperdibile!

Alla seconda puntata, pensavo di lasciar perdere, gli attori non mi convincevano ma non li conoscevo. Ma memore di alcuni drama che si sono svelati con lo svilupparsi delle storie, molto belli, ho continuato ed ho fatto benissimo.
Ho visto molti altri xianxia di notevole fattura, ma nessuno è stato esaustivo come questo nel descrivere le divinità.
E' una storia molto avventurosa, che ruota attorno alla coppia principale. Piena di colpi di scena, con sviluppi inaspettati.
Mi ha colpita la grandiosità degli eventi, qui gli dei immortali, sono veramente immortali ed hanno poteri inimmaginabili. Le battaglie si svolgono tanto sul piano materiale che spirituale con abbondanza di effetti speciali ben fatti.
La storia non presenta lacune. Come tanti drama, bisogna entrarci dentro ed aspettare che si sviluppi per capire bene tutti i risvolti dei fatti. Dopo le prime puntate prende l'avvio e non ci si stacca più. Dopo la 31esima puntata, ogni puntata tira l'altra e non si vede l'ora di arrivare alla fine.
La coppia principale fin da subito dichiara di amarsi senza tanti tira e molla, è un amore grande ed immenso, fatto di sacrifici oltre la vita stessa. Geniale l'idea della scrittrice nell'inventari dei "doppi" dei protagonisti principali, sviluppando quindi una seconda storia.
Tutti i personaggi secondari sono stati ben sviluppati, alcune storie sono andate a finire bene, altre no, cosi come succede nella vita, ma per fortuna quella dei protagonisti ha avuto un bellissimo finale, per fortuna non troppo breve come è usuale nei drama cinesi.
Bellissime le locations, gradevoli le musiche, niente di che gli abiti degli immortali, ma si possono perdonare perché il drama offre ben altro.
Gli attori principali inizialmente non mi convincevano, ma pian piano li ho apprezzati in pieno.
Bravi tutti, complimenti Cina! Li avessimo anche in Italia serie tv come queste, ma qui la televisione oramai è diventata scadente.
Consiglio senz'altro questo drama, da guardare anche + volte per non perdersi ogni sfumatura.
Un grazie come sempre, ai bravi traduttori e sottotitolatori, se non ci fossero loro, non potremmo gustarci questi capolavori.
Grazie!

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Between a great love and even greater responsibility

Ancient love poetry has been a slow drama to get into right from the very start. The first episodes were a bit tiring to go through and the setup they hold for later execution felt weak and underdeveloped. Supposedly the lives of the great Gods should have a bit more backstory than what we were given in the beginning, considering everything that comes after is reminiscent of their relationships and origin. From about episode nine or so there is more development where the story is finally getting somewhere interesting, but then eventually we have a huge time skip, and oh my, does it help to keep the show alive. Although at that point the story becomes a rehash of cliches a lot of Xianxia novels and shows made after them have, I still think this was the strongest point of the whole show.

This brings me to the last part of the story where all of the beforementioned development goes nowhere in particular, as the same old problem from the past is brought back again. Unlike Ten miles of peach blossoms, for example, a story where love is a secondary objective at best, Ancient love poetry is a story primarily about love and sacrifice for the greater good. The whole time during watching this the viewer struggles alongside the characters with the same dilemma they have, in the process hating many decisions the characters make for the sake of attempting to keep both love and responsibility satisfied. Is all of that worth it? The ending itself makes it unclear, but I suppose the whole point is that we get to see just a glimpse of that story, and we get to decide how much trouble a love that great is worth.

Plot discussion aside, I was impressed with the male and female leads that were chosen; their acting leaves little to be desired and their chemistry is superb. Whatever faults I can find when it comes to them I attribute to cliched writing at times and lack of romantic scenes for a good portion of the story. We could have had and certainly deserved to see much more than that. The love triangle is practically unobtrusive and non-existent; the second male lead has his faults but treasures his friends above everything else.

One major positive aspect of this story are its supporting characters, as there are more than a few of them that you will come to care about during the progression of the show. Despite some plot holes and unresolved stories, the majority of what is shown gets a resolution in the very end, which is also another plus for me.

The villains are of the saddest and scariest kind, those that start of perfectly normal but end up evil due to blackening over time. Of course, this means you have a lot of tedious scenes of power misuse that people around them tolerate beyond any reason or common sense, which made this old cliche dampen a lot of screentime that could have been used differently. However, it's not as bad as in Ten miles or Ashes of love, but maybe only because this drama has fewer episodes. I'm kind of scared to think what other scheming we could have had with an additional ten to twenty episodes, for I have already seen more than enough of it. The villains get away with a lot and get little to no repercussions for it, and at times it feels like the protagonists just ignore a lot of what they do which will make just about anyone watching this angry. But hey, it's a cliche.

The music that was used in the background of the scenes, as well as the opening, was pretty good, however not as memorable as some other similar shows.

I wouldn't rewatch this show; it's a bit too sad and too frustrating to deal with for a second time. However, for its very likable female lead and sometimes the male lead as well (when he is not hit by the hammer of the scriptwriter/novel writer themselves), side characters that I cared about and that each had a purpose for being there as well as overall world-building and great acting from everyone, this drama was more than a good watch. I'm hoping we get a second season that is based on the sequel of the book so our collective grievances over some characters can be put to rest.

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