Sep 13, 2021
Found this gem looking for some non-cg imperial donghua. Best part of the show is the intro. Sounds like a eunich discovering karaoke for the first time. Adding it to my dancing characters collection for amv's.
Show begins with an emporer-imposed political marriage between a prince and the prime minister's daughter in order to quell the tension between the two families. Due to the past arguments between them, the entire prime minister's family is reluctant to go through with the marriage. But luckily for them, he had an abandoned daughter whom he had left at the mountains at a young age. He brings her home and
...
uses her as a scapegoat to illegally swap places with his precious favored girl.
Our MC is Qian Yunxi, a carefree girl with spiritual powers that was raised by a Taoist in the mountains. She was brought home from the mountains and swiftly married to the prince, whom disliked her due to her family before he even met her. The story follows her life in the palace. If you're here for a RomCom, you're sadly mistaken.
The story is set in a imperial dynasty, but surprisingly focussed on the younger generation. Most issues stem from the power struggle amongst the imperial court (usually the emperor's problem, but now it's the prince's issue...) rather than the emperor's harem. There are spirits present and a few scenes portraying cultivation, but it's not the focus of the show. Honestly, you see an abundant of tension, but it's downplayed by the FL's wacky antics. There's NO climax to the show. We're literally watching a 16 episode prequel, following the FL adapt to her new environment.
The art is smooth and bright. Action sequences avoid the special effect mess of cultivation donghuas. Even though some frames seem choppy causing many lip syncing issues. But if you're reading subtitles, that doesn't lessen the overall enjoyment.
There is so many sound effects in this show. There is never a voice-only scene in this show. Only issue with sound is that the voice acting is sometimes quieter than the bgm or sound effects making is difficult to understand.
The characters have realistic personalities + spiritual power. The FL is a typical low level cultivator: Spiritual power, medical powder, mortal-scale martial arts. None of those, glowy sword slashes, ten meter leaps and earth shattering palms. The ML isn't going to blindly simp for the FL upon first impressions. No, he does a thorough background check. Like an actual emperor candidate, he is wary of her and antagonizes her to see if she'll slip up. This allows the FL to solve her own problems instead of crying to her man. But the honest cruelty of the imperial family is shown through the prince. When a man dislikes you, he confines you to a shoddy household (FL) or simply doesn't even see you (other concubines). When he's interested, he'll force you regardless of your desires, but he'll willingly give up his life to protect you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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