First Impression: Ashes of Love/ Heavy Sweetness Ash Like Frost (香蜜沉沉烬如霜)

An early first impression based on the first seven episodes. If you guys are interested I will do a few more posts before posting my final review. They could be discussion posts or mid-point reviews. Sadly, I won’t be recapping it. I just don’t have time to do a full recap.

Edit: Added a link to a blog that is recapping the drama.

First episode is being fan-subbed on youtube, added link. 

Overall Impression:

I am a fan of xianxias and I read this book a few years ago, so my expectations were really high when I first heard of this adaptation. As previews started coming out, my expectations dropped. I didn’t like the aesthetics or their outfits. Some supporting characters that were being introduced were barely present in the original story, which made me afraid of major changes. That being said after watching the first seven episodes, I am happy with this drama. It is just what I wanted. I have some minor issues here and there but nothing major.

Character Portrayal:

I knew YangZi could pull off silly/ditzy really well and she has good comedic timing for her role. I think I was one of the few people that were really happy with this casting from the get go. Yang Zi is a good actress and anyone who has seen Battle of Changsha can attest that she is one of the best of her generation. In the past few years she has been getting stuck in these ditzy roles which makes me really sad. But out of all her ditzy roles, I would say JinMi is one of the better ones. While the character is very silly she has a lot of growth to go through and YangZi’s ability to pull off emotional and more serious scenes will come in handy later on the drama. So far she matches her character in the book. She is just this clueless sheltered girl that wants more power.

As for Deng Lun, I was also happy with the casting. He wasn’t who I pictured as Phoenix, but I felt like he could pull it off. If you were having doubts after some teasers came out, I am happy to say that on screen he fits the role much better. My issue so far is the lipstick. In some scenes he has more lipstick than YangZi. I don’t know if it was the contrast to make their skin lighter and smoother but they need to tone it down a bit.

Luo Yunxi as Night was never one of my top picks. And I had major issues with his outfits since they didn’t fit his image from the novel. That being said he has the right affect so far and I see potential. He is the weakest actor of the main leads, but it doesn’t show much as of now. We will see later in the drama when he has to deal with complex emotions. One of the problems is that he doesn’t look like the older brother and at times seems much younger than Deng Lun.

As for the supporting cast, I see some familiar faces. So far they haven’t really had a lot of screen time and I don’t remember their character enough to effectively compare them. No one stands out as awkward which is all that I ask for. I am curious about Chen YuQi’s character. She hasn’t had a lot of screen time, but from the intro I sense a second love story, which was not in the book. I am happy with this change since I was afraid they were going to pair her up with Phoenix. An interesting secondary love story could be just the right addition.

Graphics:

I have seen some divided opinions about the graphics. I personally think they are really good so far. Settings look beautiful, especially the Flower realm. I love the aesthetics and the ladies look pretty and simple. Some scenes do look as if they are using a green screen and animal CGIs are always lacking, but this is a TV drama and we can’t expect Marvel level CGI.

Isn’t it pretty?

OSTs:

Intro

Ending

 

OTP song

Veredict:

If you like xianxias, you will probably like this. I am hoping the drama keeps up the fast pace and doesn’t deviate too much from its original material.  OTP is adorable and I am expecting a lot of cute moments before all the angst.

Awww ❤

Sadly, there are no subtitles so far. I am hoping it gets licensed or that fans start subbing it on Youtube that way everyone can enjoy this drama. I am liking it so much that I am re-reading the book. It has been a while since I have felt excited about watching a drama so that should tell you something.

Schedule:

So far the drama is doing pretty good on ratings with a 7.1 on douban and leading its TV time-slot.

Drama reached 1 billion views in six days. Congrats to the cast! I have a feeling it will do really good on views and ratings.

Poor guy he is a goner:

Are you watching? What do you think so far?

EDIT: This blog is posting recaps of each episode. Please make sure to thank them for their effort 😊

Eng Subs

EDIT: Viki licensed it as Ashes of Love.