ZhanShin_Eli
USA
I absolutely became obsessed with this show. In all honesty, the first few minutes of the show was rather boring to me because I don't really like historical genres of pure wu xia/xian xia very much, but then I found out it was based off of a BL novel so I had to give it a second chance. And...it turned out to be really great. It definitely is one of the best BL based cdramas I have ever seen. But, technically speaking, the drama isn't made to be BL but as a "bromance". And let me tell you. please don't make that stop you from watching it!!! The intimacy shown, the cuteness between the couple shown, the unspoken cues of lovey-dovey vibes and flirting are all there and more. It is sort of like a don't-ask-don't-tell vibe since there has to be censorship on what the story can show to its audience, it being a Chinese drama and all. Like I said, it is CLEARLY there! That's why I agree with some people when they say that the producing company was playing with fire (with the gov) with the interaction and development between the CP. But if you are here for the heavy clear-cut BL, then this isn't that.
After a few episodes in, I got too obsessed while waiting for episodes to come out and picked up the book translation and started reading. That really enhanced the drama for me. It allowed me to understand a lot of the underlying things that weren't clearly explained in the drama. I would definitely recommend picking up the book but BE WARNED, there are explicit scenes in the book. Both materials have a romance vibe but they show it in different ways. I feel like the drama is more romantic than the book, probably because of the censorship. The book is more out in the open when the relationship establishes whereas the drama is more of a jump from "we are friends like soulmates" to "we're an old couple that needs no additional spice because we've been there and done that". But, one of the reasons why I think the drama is so successful is because the original content isn't just about the romance between the CP, but it's about their world. Themes about their world like of what's right, what's wrong, and the greyness that exists in people and situations that appear in the book are shown in this drama very well. The drama does a really great job in keeping with the original content. Given that it can't be 100% the same, but I would give it a good 80% towards it being a great rendition of the book.
The actors were great. I didn't really feel any out-of-place acting in this drama. Given that most of the actors in here are not that experienced, but in my opinion, they still did an excellent job. Some of the acting was more of a get-used-to-it-and-you-will-get-it-later type acting. The actors selected, in my opinion, really matched the roles very well, especially the main CP. I was iffy of Wang Yi Bo at the beginning of the drama because of the role of Lan Wang Ji being, from what I saw, a very hard to portray character (relying mostly on facial/bodily performances and very little verbal expression) but like I said, his acting is more of a get-used-to-it-and-you'll-get-it vibe. I absolutely adore Xiao Zhan's portrayal of Wei Wu Xian. The personality is a little different from what I got from the book, but it matched up to the drama so well. I honestly, liked his Wei Wu Xian more than the book's Wei Wu Xian but the differences are pretty nuance elements.
Personally, there were only two pieces of disappointments that I would note. One, obviously it being a censored drama, some of my favorite moments from the book got cut from the drama. A lot of the highlight moments did get portrayed in the drama though, I'll give you that which was a very important reason of why it was so good. They didn't really stray from the original content. Rearranging, yes but straying, no. Specifically, there were two moments that I really wished they would have added it in there and both happened in the 16-years-later segment. I thought both those scenes were very important because one scene provided input on the acceptance of the CP's relationship by others in the don't-ask-don't-tell type scenario and the other scene was the CP's own unspoken but very clear declaration to the world that "this man is mine" or "this is the most important person to me" declaration. Plus, this declaration scene I mentioned, to me was a scene that paired with another scene. By not showing this "declaration" scene , there was no explanation as to the "why" of what happened in the paired scene that did make it into the drama.
The second disappointment is the ending. Don't get me wrong, the ending wasn't bad. I AM content with the ending but as a first reaction, I was disappointed because I sorta wanted just a tad more than what the very very last scene provided. You will get what I mean if you watch it. With a closer inspection of the ending scene, you will find a lot of reasons to appreciate how it was done. Of course, that is IMO from the details that I caught sight of.
But these disappoints were definitely washed away when I watched the last 4 or 5 episodes because like I said, there is a high level of intimacy portrayed by the CP in this drama. Like I mentioned, near the end, it's more of like they are already a couple. An old couple that has been through so much together that their simple behaviors signify so much and there attraction towards each other is very clearly spoken through those interactions. The intimacy level shown at the end of this drama, really just blew me away and made me say, " I don't care anymore, I love all of it!"
Final evaluation after my first time through...
-1 It being a censored drama but that's not really the drama's fault at all...the world just needs more time to accept all forms of love and even more time to get rid of any discrimination and distaste.
+1 Script was great
+1 Script was a close rendition to the original story
+1 Even though it was a "bromance", didn't stick in a girl to create romance and left it to the story to create the underlying romantic vibe.
+1 Set and music was pretty on point for the most part
+10 Actors can act!
+100 Hot guys! Cute guys galore! d=(≧∇≦)=b
+1000 The CP had chemistry and were cute guys that can act! (▰˘v˘▰)
...coming from a fujo (☆▽☆)...10,000 points to The Untamed!
100% recommend!!! 100% recommend!!! 100% recommend!!!
After a few episodes in, I got too obsessed while waiting for episodes to come out and picked up the book translation and started reading. That really enhanced the drama for me. It allowed me to understand a lot of the underlying things that weren't clearly explained in the drama. I would definitely recommend picking up the book but BE WARNED, there are explicit scenes in the book. Both materials have a romance vibe but they show it in different ways. I feel like the drama is more romantic than the book, probably because of the censorship. The book is more out in the open when the relationship establishes whereas the drama is more of a jump from "we are friends like soulmates" to "we're an old couple that needs no additional spice because we've been there and done that". But, one of the reasons why I think the drama is so successful is because the original content isn't just about the romance between the CP, but it's about their world. Themes about their world like of what's right, what's wrong, and the greyness that exists in people and situations that appear in the book are shown in this drama very well. The drama does a really great job in keeping with the original content. Given that it can't be 100% the same, but I would give it a good 80% towards it being a great rendition of the book.
The actors were great. I didn't really feel any out-of-place acting in this drama. Given that most of the actors in here are not that experienced, but in my opinion, they still did an excellent job. Some of the acting was more of a get-used-to-it-and-you-will-get-it-later type acting. The actors selected, in my opinion, really matched the roles very well, especially the main CP. I was iffy of Wang Yi Bo at the beginning of the drama because of the role of Lan Wang Ji being, from what I saw, a very hard to portray character (relying mostly on facial/bodily performances and very little verbal expression) but like I said, his acting is more of a get-used-to-it-and-you'll-get-it vibe. I absolutely adore Xiao Zhan's portrayal of Wei Wu Xian. The personality is a little different from what I got from the book, but it matched up to the drama so well. I honestly, liked his Wei Wu Xian more than the book's Wei Wu Xian but the differences are pretty nuance elements.
Personally, there were only two pieces of disappointments that I would note. One, obviously it being a censored drama, some of my favorite moments from the book got cut from the drama. A lot of the highlight moments did get portrayed in the drama though, I'll give you that which was a very important reason of why it was so good. They didn't really stray from the original content. Rearranging, yes but straying, no. Specifically, there were two moments that I really wished they would have added it in there and both happened in the 16-years-later segment. I thought both those scenes were very important because one scene provided input on the acceptance of the CP's relationship by others in the don't-ask-don't-tell type scenario and the other scene was the CP's own unspoken but very clear declaration to the world that "this man is mine" or "this is the most important person to me" declaration. Plus, this declaration scene I mentioned, to me was a scene that paired with another scene. By not showing this "declaration" scene , there was no explanation as to the "why" of what happened in the paired scene that did make it into the drama.
The second disappointment is the ending. Don't get me wrong, the ending wasn't bad. I AM content with the ending but as a first reaction, I was disappointed because I sorta wanted just a tad more than what the very very last scene provided. You will get what I mean if you watch it. With a closer inspection of the ending scene, you will find a lot of reasons to appreciate how it was done. Of course, that is IMO from the details that I caught sight of.
But these disappoints were definitely washed away when I watched the last 4 or 5 episodes because like I said, there is a high level of intimacy portrayed by the CP in this drama. Like I mentioned, near the end, it's more of like they are already a couple. An old couple that has been through so much together that their simple behaviors signify so much and there attraction towards each other is very clearly spoken through those interactions. The intimacy level shown at the end of this drama, really just blew me away and made me say, " I don't care anymore, I love all of it!"
Final evaluation after my first time through...
-1 It being a censored drama but that's not really the drama's fault at all...the world just needs more time to accept all forms of love and even more time to get rid of any discrimination and distaste.
+1 Script was great
+1 Script was a close rendition to the original story
+1 Even though it was a "bromance", didn't stick in a girl to create romance and left it to the story to create the underlying romantic vibe.
+1 Set and music was pretty on point for the most part
+10 Actors can act!
+100 Hot guys! Cute guys galore! d=(≧∇≦)=b
+1000 The CP had chemistry and were cute guys that can act! (▰˘v˘▰)
...coming from a fujo (☆▽☆)...10,000 points to The Untamed!
100% recommend!!! 100% recommend!!! 100% recommend!!!
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