“Ashes of Love” is a 2018 fairy-tale Chinese drama; it is based on the novel “Heavy Sweetness, Ash-Like Frost” và tells the story of the undying love between two immortals.
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The kích hoạt takes place in the prehistorical era, in a time when the six realms were reigning independently in harmony. The realms featured in this drama are: celestial realm, floral, demon and human realm. Although the members of the first three realms enjoy immortality, who rules supreme on all six realms is the implacable god of Fate.
Important Notes:
Although the immortal beings vày not experience death by aging or illness, they can die as a result of a magical weapon or powerful spell.The Celestial Realm & the Demon Realms bởi vì not have a good versus evil connotation. Both realms are populated with both righteous or greed-driven beings. The Celestial Realm is a well organized empire-like society, while the Demon Realm is a coalition of several kingdoms & is a warrior-like society.Premise of the StoryThe Floral Fairy (the ruler of the Floral Realm) is severely injured & has little time to lớn live as she gives birth to her child. Knowing that her daughter is fated to experience great tribulations due lớn the fate of a tragic love within the next 10.000 years, she feeds the newborn the Unfeeling Pill. The magic pill has the power to lớn keep her daughter, Jin Mi, from experiencing anything beyond friendship, in an attempt to lớn cheat Fate.
Before she dies, the Fairy orders everyone in the realm khổng lồ keep Jin Mi’s birth a secret. She establishes a magical barrier designed to not let her daughter have any tương tác with the outside world & seals her true nature with a spell. However, 4000 years later, the barrier is breached by mistake by the Fire Immortal, the second son of the Celestial King. Gravely wounded (as a result of an attack) he is saved & taken care of by Jin Mi. As a reward for her kind gesture & unaware of her true identity, Fire Immortal agrees to không tính tiền her from her prison. He takes her khổng lồ the Celestial realm where she becomes his reading assistant.
It follows a sweet, yet tragic love-story that will have to lớn go through the trials of life và death in order khổng lồ be purified. This is not a sappy love story. It is well written và it comes with as much action as romance. I think that if it weren’t for the language barrier, dramas lượt thích this one would be critically acclaimed worldwide và would receive international awards. Here is a Trailer, together with the ending theme “Upwards khổng lồ the Moon“.
Main Characters
Jin Mi is the naive và innocent daughter of the former ruler of the Floral Realm. For 4000 years she lived disguised as a boy; she has no concept of love, evil or of the difference between men and women. Her reading of the reality she comes in contact with for the first time is very endearing & it adds an element of comedic relief lớn the story every time we have access khổng lồ her thought process. Jin Mi’s arch story follows the coming-of-age pattern. Through pain and suffering she grows from a carefree young lady to lớn a mature, strong & wise woman, willing khổng lồ sacrifice herself to make amends for past mistakes.
Fire Immortal/Phoenix is the second son of the Celestial King và the only legitimate heir lớn the throne. He is a valiant warrior and one of the most powerful beings in the realm, despite his young age. He falls deeply in love with the endearing, yet unfeeling Jin Mi. Fire Immortal is, without a doubt, the most positive character in this drama. He is slightly arrogant, but he is understanding và forgiving lớn a fault. He forgives time and time again, even those closest to lớn him who caused his downfall; not because he is a push-over, but rather due to lớn his loving và magnanimous nature. He is such a positive hero, even as he hits rock-bottom, while his world turns khổng lồ ashes.
Night Immortal is the eldest & illegitimate son of the Celestial King; thus, he does not have a legitimate claim to the throne. He is very close to lớn Fire Immortal. Despite their parents, the two half-brothers nói qua a strong bond. Their relationship, however, is put khổng lồ a demo when Night Immortal decides to pursue Jin Mi. Things take a turn for the worse when he sets khổng lồ take revenge on the Fire Immortal’s mother, the Empress. In my opinion Night Immortal’s character is one of the best written in the drama. His psychological journey (from the mild mannered celestial prince, lớn the vengeful and ambitious tyrant) is very well written & portrayed. Và although the viewers cannot condone his actions, they can, however, relate lớn his pain và anger.
Review
“Ashes of Love”, without a doubt, falls into the category of classic fairy-tales, despite being based on a recently written novel. It has all the required elements: the battle between good và evil, an incumbent tragic fate và the attempt khổng lồ avert it (but by doing so, it only helps fulfill it), the forging và purification of the heroes through pain and suffering, the need for a sacrifice in order khổng lồ restore balance lớn the world và the presence of a anh hùng willing to do so.
The intense & tragic love-story of “Ashes of Love” has a very strong appeal. The attempt of the Floral Fairy lớn cheat Fate (by feeding her daughter the Unfeeling Pill) sets in motion a series of events that would ultimately lead khổng lồ the fulfilling of the implacable Fate; thus, Jin ngươi will eventually go through her love trial. In Chinese folklore, a love trial is a heartbreaking and tragic love-story & is considered the most appropriate and painful path to lớn purify oneself from past sins. Although she has no recollection of it, in her past life Jin mi was a soul-demiser who caused the death of many. As a consequence, she will have lớn experience the most painful experience of all: fall deeply in love and cause the death of the one she loves.
One of the underlying messages of the dramas seem to be that no evil goes unpunished and justice needs to lớn be served even in the afterlife. One of the questions that I still ponder over is: ok, Jin ngươi had lớn go through the love-trial in order lớn redeem herself, but what did Fire Immortal ever vì to deserve to lớn go through the same trial as Jin Mi and endure even more pain than her? This is still a mystery to me. Will love be able to lớn defy death & Fate and rise from its own ashes like the Phoenix?
I enjoyed watching “Ashes of Love” much more than I expected I would. It is one of the best Chinese fantasy dramas in recent years. In my opinion it surpasses “Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms” (considered by most the best of the genre) in both story & cinematography. The latter has the advantage of having a much more experienced cast; but to lớn me, “Ashes of Love” has a fresher feel lớn it and the fairy-tale elements are a lot stronger; above all, it has a story that made me giggle, laugh, sigh and sob from heartbreak over and over again.
I probably gave away more details that I originally intended, so I will add another mild spoiler by saying that the story has a happy ending, but it will take you from the heights of joy to the pits of sorrow & back again in the process. “Ashes of Love” will transport you into a world of magical beings, fairies, spells và bounded destinies; it will tell you a beautiful story about love, friendship, ambition, betrayal, loyalty và self-sacrifice. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Cast & ActingI first saw Deng Lun (Fire Imortal/Phoenix) in “Princess Agents” & I became instantly a fan hâm mộ of his acting. In this drama he is amazing in the role of the tortured hero; moreover, he has great chemistry with the veteran actress Yang Zi (Jin Mi), who has my full admiration. She portrays very convincingly her character in different stages of the story: naïve, innocent, independent, self-reliant, repentant, torn between love and duty etc. A special mention goes to Luo Yunxi (Night Immortal) who played admirably the most complex character of the entire drama. I have never noticed him before, but now he gained a new fan and has my full attention.
CinematographyOne of the most recurrently criticized aspects of a Chinese fantasy dramas is the low quality CGI and the resulting cringe-worthy cinematography. Và although “Ashes of Love” did not reach the perfection, it surely surpassed the previous contenders lớn the title. I still remember the painful-to-watch CGI scenes from “Journey of Flower” a few years back. The story was beautifully written, but it felt as if the director hired a high-schooler và put him in charge of graphics and special effects.
One of the reasons the cinematography of “Ashes of Love” is so amazing is due to the fact that the drama had a big budget. Only 30% of the sets were CGI; the rest of 70% were real sets, built specifically for this drama. The sets covered an area over 100.000 square meters and the actors had over 3000 pieces of costumes at their disposal.
If (in the beginning) the story is not enough to lớn catch your attention (although it is hard to lớn imagine), the cinematography alone might be a good enough reason for you to lớn continue watching this drama until you catch up with the story.
Music
The music was composed by Sa Dingding, one of the most renowned current Chinese artists in the West. In 2008 she won the đài truyền hình bbc Radio 3 Award for World Music. She is singing the ending theme “Upwards khổng lồ the Moon”, which is my favorite track of this drama (link above). Some of the tracks composed by Sa Dingding were interpreted by the two main actors. Here is the link for the track “Frost Love“ interpreted by the main actress, Yang Zi. Make sure lớn turn on the captions lớn enjoy the lyrics.
ShortcomingsThe only shortcomings I would list khuyễn mãi giảm giá with generics mostly:
At times the story had some “too” dramatic turn of events.While the main characters are very well written, some secondary characters felt two-dimensional.The editing suffered some hiccups here and there.Final ThoughtsPhotos Source: Pinterest
Although I consider myself a veteran in Korean-drama watching, I am fairly new khổng lồ the Chinese drama by comparison. I first watched a Chinese Drama in năm trước (Perfect Couple). Despite liking the story, I was put-off by the poor directing, sloppy plot-line & ridiculous cinematography. I gave it a try again with two other dramas, but I had a similar experience; thus I became reluctant in checking out other Chinese dramas. But last year I stumbled onto “Princess Agents” và “Ten Miles of Peach Blossom”. I realized I was missing out! Since then I have been in a Chinese-drama-hunting mode.
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If you are as reluctant as I was, “Ashes of Love” or “Princess Agents” might change your mind. I would recommend you watch both. If you love action-romance, start with “Princess Agents”; if you are more into fantasy, then maybe you should watch “Ashes of Love” first; the bonus being, Deng Lun plays in both of them.