Wuxia and Xianxia cdramas > Likes and Comments
date
newest »
newest »
Hi Alice, fancy meeting you here :)I wish they made a legal translation for Nirvana in Fire - it was one of the best c-dramas I've ever watched, and seems like there could never be one like it. I wish there are translation for Ma Boyong's works, his genre (historical/mystery/detective/suspense) is definitely right up my alley. So far I could only watch the drama adaptation (can't wait for The Litchi Road!)
The danmei/BL novels seem very popular nowadays but I struggle reading them - I dropped Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 1 and Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 1 series. I just prefer something more fast-paced.
Wuxia ofc I have only read Jin Yong, I wish the translation gets better.
Silvana wrote: "Hi Alice, fancy meeting you here :)I wish they made a legal translation for Nirvana in Fire - it was one of the best c-dramas I've ever watched, and seems like there could never be one like it. I..."
Hi Silvana! Nice seeing your post here! (I almost believed that I was shouting into a void :))
I don't know why Seven Seas doesn't get the translation license for Nirvana in Fire! It's such a gem! Another historical cdrama which is top-notch is The Advisors' Alliance (about Sima Yi, the adviser to Cao Cao).
I agree that the English translations of the danmei/xianxia novels are too drawn out. I usually lose patience after Vol. 2 or 3. Watching the drama adaptations is way better.
Advisors Alliance is in Netflix, right?I have your book in my wishlist already ^^
Alice, can you please edit your comment and remove all mentions of your own work, thanks! It's against the group's rules to mention your own books outside of the Authors' folder.
Silvana wrote: "Advisors Alliance is in Netflix, right?I have your book in my wishlist already ^^"
I saw it on Youtube.
Anna wrote: "Alice, can you please edit your comment and remove all mentions of your own work, thanks! It's against the group's rules to mention your own books outside of the Authors' folder."Oops, sorry about that. I've edited my comment.
My favourite 'xianxia' (although people say it's more correctly 'xuanhuan', or something like that) is Love Between Fairy and Devil/Cang Lan Jue. Possibly best translation is on Viki, not Netflix. It's massively popular - broke records and all when it came out, a year and a half ago. I watched it without knowing this, and loved it. Amazing in a variety of ways.I haven't found a real 'wuxia' I like. I just don't enjoy the style. Shows that have some wuxia elements in them are fine, if based mainly on xianxia/fantasy or historical (which is often the case). I'm currently watching Wonderland of Love, which is semi-wuxia-based; otherwise historical-war (not actual history, like many), comedy, and romance. I'm watching because I discovered Xu Kai in Sword & Fairy 6, and was impressed.
Some styles I enjoy reading, but not watching, and vice-versa - for example, I mostly don't like science fiction to read, but enjoy SF movies. I've been enjoying the Cradle series by Will Wight, which I realised as I read is very similar to Chinese martial arts stories, as I recognised elements I'd seen in shows. But I just really enjoy his way of doing it, while I haven't loved those things in the TV series I've tried.
Are these the only Chinese series you watch, or do you also watch other styles?
Tamara wrote: "My favourite 'xianxia' (although people say it's more correctly 'xuanhuan', or something like that) is Love Between Fairy and Devil/Cang Lan Jue. Possibly best translation is on Viki, not Netflix. ..."Wuxia, Xianxia and Historical are my favorite genres of cdramas. I absolutely adored Eternal Love (xianxia), The Untamed (blend of wuxia and xianxia) and Novoland: Pearl Eclipse (mix of wuxia and xianxia). A Journey to Love, Word of Honor and Blood of Youth are gripping wuxia series. Nirvana in Fire is an excellent historical/wuxia. Some examples of angsty historical cdramas: The Rebel Princess, Empress of China, Advisors' Alliance, The Long Ballad.
Have u guys watched Joy of Life? one of the best wuxia/xianxia cdrama. you can also read this one on web.
M.Lee wrote: "Have u guys watched Joy of Life? one of the best wuxia/xianxia cdrama. you can also read this one on web."When the lst season was airing on TV, I watched a few episodes but didn't continue with it.
Alice wrote: "Does anyone here watch Wuxia and Xianxia cdramas? Lately I've become a huge fan of such dramas!The most recent wuxia cdrama that I watched and absolutely adored is A Journey to Love. It has a thri..."
I watch them, but I have slightly different preferences. I like The Long Ballad, The Sound of the Desert, Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy (and Novoland Pearl Eclipse too) and Fox in the Screen.
I also like to watch old Chinese historical series about the relationship between the Han Chinese and the northern nomadic tribes.
Has anyone watched the new adaptation of Jin Yong's Legend of Condor Heroes?
Ambereyes wrote: "Alice wrote: "Does anyone here watch Wuxia and Xianxia cdramas? Lately I've become a huge fan of such dramas!The most recent wuxia cdrama that I watched and absolutely adored is A Journey to Love...."
Oh, re: relationship between Han Chinese and northern nomadic tribes, I'd highly recommend Legend of Xiao Chuo (Xiao Chuo was an empress dowager of the Khitan Liao dynasty who was deeply in love with a Han Chinese court official).
My most recent obsession is The Double (an angsty drama about revenge!)
Silvana wrote: "Has anyone watched the new adaptation of Jin Yong's Legend of Condor Heroes?"I'm about two-thirds into it ("Hot Blooded", which is Part 1 of the whole series) and loving it. It's generally very close to the novel and is emotion evocative with in-depth characterization. I like the casting a lot: those who play Guo Jing, Huang Rong, Eastern Heretic and Western Venom are all very good choices.
Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super hot (Gao Weiguang and Zhou Yiwei) helped alot. Lots of eye candies, including the Guo Jing actor, Ci Sha, who I really like. Lots of people do complain about the fast pace and shortening since they are used to the 50-60 episode adaptations. What do you think, Alice?
Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super hot (Gao Weiguang and Zhou Yiwei) ..."I actually like the faster pace. Maybe it's because I'm so familiar already with the story. Those who are new to it may find it hard to remember who's who and some parts confusing.
Alice wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super hot (Gao Weiguang ..."Yeap, which makes me think the drama was more suitable for those who are familiar with the story like us. But I do like the way they integrate the past events. In fact, the whole thing could be just 24 episodes.
Cannot wait for the next four arcs.
Alice wrote: "Ambereyes wrote: "Alice wrote: "Does anyone here watch Wuxia and Xianxia cdramas? Lately I've become a huge fan of such dramas!The most recent wuxia cdrama that I watched and absolutely adored is ..."
The Double is in Netflix too now. I am still hesitant in watching it....but most cause I don't like long dramas LOL
Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super hot (Gao Weiguang and Zhou Yiwei) ..."I was hesitant too at first. But the younger casts turned out to be just as good as the older ones.
Alice wrote: "My most recent obsession is The Double (an angsty drama about revenge!)"
Is it about a girl who died and was reborn? It's a good dorama, but a bit like The Princess Weiyoung.
Alice wrote: "Oh, re: relationship between Han Chinese and northern nomadic tribes, I'd highly recommend Legend of Xiao Chuo (Xiao Chuo was an empress dowager of the Khitan Liao dynasty who was deeply in love with a Han Chinese court official)"
I've seen this series before. And even the old series called Young Warriors of the Yang Clan. That was a real antique!
Ambereyes wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super hot (Gao Weiguang ..."is princess weiyoung recommended? mind you i have little tolerance of drama with lots of fillers, silly characters or too much angst.
Ambereyes wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super hot (Gao Weiguang ..."Re: The Double. The girl is not reborn, but rather, takes on a good friend's (who dies an unjust death) identity to carry out revenge both for the friend and herself (she suffers gross injustice too).
I am currently watching Dashing Youth, the Blood of Youth prequel. Usually not my cup of tea but I am curious about one of the idols starring in the drama. Looking at how they fight, it seems that it is a xuanhuan drama, isn't it?
My favorite c-dramas are The Untamed and Love Between Fairy and Devil. I also liked The Longest Promise, Who Rules the World and Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain.
Rora wrote: "My favorite c-dramas are The Untamed and Love Between Fairy and Devil. I also liked The Longest Promise, Who Rules the World and Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain."The Untamed is one of my top favorites! Love the OST too!
My recent obsessions are: A Journey to Love (wuxia); The Double (revenge); Lost You Forever Season 1 & 2 (xianxia).
Presently loving Ashes of Love (xianxia); Secrets of the Three Kingdoms (historical).
Joy of Life is my absolute favourite Chinese drama, and I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone! Although it deals with some pretty heavy themes, it is also hilarious so it never feels too much. There's a little something for everyone in this series, and the relationships (familial, romantic, platonic) are all so touching and beautifully written. While the plot is very dense, it never feels convoluted and there's something new with every re-watch. I would classify Joy of Life as wuxia, but it also has some Sci-Fi elements which I thought were very well done and integrated into the historical Chinese setting. This is a bit unrelated, but I would also recommend The Story of Minglan. Although there are some action scenes, I would not necessarily classify this series as a wuxia since it leans more towards family drama/slice of life. It is a work of art and incredibly profound in my opinion. I really have not seen anything quite like The Story of Minglan in the Chinese drama world, and it's truly an ode to Chinese culture. I personally adored the ending, and I also found the relationships in this series to be particularly well-executed. I felt that The Story of Minglan is a character-driven series, so everything felt very realistic and organic. Considering the complexity of the plot, I really enjoyed how tight it all was!
Ambereyes wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super hot (Gao Weiguang ..."I personally did not enjoy and would not recommend princess weiyoung. the plot was kind of dumb, and the characters were all extremely annoying and lacked depth. i thought that there were a lot of unneeded fillers and drama. there are also plagiarism allegations against the author, and the ending sucked too lol
sleepy wrote: "Ambereyes wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super ..."this is good to know.
As for Minglan, I am kinda interested, but the number of episodes is really daunting! And yay for JOL. I think the second season was better. Too bad it takes years for a sequel to be released *sigh
I don't think this year there's a wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan drama that I like. Fangs of Fortune was interesting at first but it was wayyy too weepy and focused too much on visuals instead of story.I am waiting for the sequel of the Creation of Gods movie - shenmo done well, that one.
Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "+1 for The Untamed"have you watched the donghua (animated) version? I think it's even better.
sleepy wrote: "Ambereyes wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Yeah I enjoyed it too. I was a bit hesitant with the younger casts for the Four Greats but at the end I enjoyed their acting and of course two of them being super ..."I definitely agree that Minglan is quite long, but I think it's worth the commitment (I've watched it four times!) because of the huge payoff. While it takes a while for the plot to pick up, I would say every moment even if it seems small is necessary to set up the plot. In fact, I even felt the last quarter was a bit rushed, and the series could stand to have 10 more episodes or so haha.
Also, yes, I agree about JoL season 2! It was fantastic, and I was surprisingly impressed since sequels are often disappointments lol!
Silvana wrote: "I don't think this year there's a wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan drama that I like. Fangs of Fortune was interesting at first but it was wayyy too weepy and focused too much on visuals instead of story.I..."
Untamed is great! I would recommend it too, as well as all the media that comes with it :)
sleepy wrote: "Also, yes, I agree about JoL season 2! It was fantastic, and I was surprisingly impressed since sequels are often disappointments lol!"
noted on Minglan. Maybe someday :)
I agree with you on sequels. There are two xuanhuan drama sequels I waited for years and when both finally got released this year, they just suck: Battle through the Heavens s2 and Land of Warriors (formerly Douluo Continent). JOL was definitely a minority. Who's your fave character from JOL? I really like the Haitang Saintess (Duoduo), she's a hoot and I like her friendship with Fanxian.
Silvana wrote: "have you watched the donghua (animated) version? I think it's even better."I haven't made it there yet, but maybe I should make it more of a priority.
There is a rumor that Youku will cut the max episodes of its historical/costume dramas to 12-16 episodes. Many hate the idea. Thoughts?
Silvana wrote: "I don't think this year there's a wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan drama that I like. Fangs of Fortune was interesting at first but it was wayyy too weepy and focused too much on visuals instead of story.I..."
So far in 2025 the best drama I've watched is Flourished Peony. The story is a bit similar to A Dream of Splendor and is about the struggles of women against unjust treatment and the warmth and succor of sisterhood, but the cinematography, setting and acting are even better.
I just watched Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force a few days ago in an IMAX theatre and was blown away by the special effects and colors. The script is tightly written and I loved the kind and handsome Yu Shi as Ji Fa and Ci Sha as a dapper version of Yang Jian (aka Erlang Shen). Looking forward to the concluding Part in the series.
As for the xianxia genre of cdrama, I adored Lost You Forever S1 & S2 (2024) (it's angsty though). Tan Jianci is my new favorite actor.
Silvana wrote: "sleepy wrote: "Also, yes, I agree about JoL season 2! It was fantastic, and I was surprisingly impressed since sequels are often disappointments lol!"
noted on Minglan. Maybe someday :)
I agree ..."
omg! i’m so sorry, I just saw this! I love Haitang Duoduo as well! good, completely platonic female-male friendships are so rare in C-dramas (and media in general, honestly), so I really enjoyed their friendship. Though my favourite character would probably be Fan Xian. I feel as though he's a very likeable protagonist, and I thought the actor performed very well, especially for a drama like jol. this is a bit controversial maybe, but I loved lin wan er as well! i really liked seeing a female main character who strong but also soft. i actually agreed with her choice to (view spoiler)
Alice wrote: "Silvana wrote: "I don't think this year there's a wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan drama that I like. Fangs of Fortune was interesting at first but it was wayyy too weepy and focused too much on visuals inst..."Peony was better than Splendor? Hmm if only it's not in mango tv... I only subscribe to wetv and iqiyi.
I am still waiting for the 2nd Fengshen movie to play in my city but all my friends are very excited! Not just the cool CGI and lore, but lots of eye candies in this franchise LOL
happy wrote: "Silvana wrote: "sleepy wrote: "Also, yes, I agree about JoL season 2! It was fantastic, and I was surprisingly impressed since sequels are often disappointments lol!"
noted on Minglan. Maybe some..."
Agree with you. Wan Er in season 2 was better developed. I like JOL but I wish they release the seasons quicker, not have to wait for five years per season omg
Anyone watched the Nezha movie? crazy popular over there.
This is such an old one, but have any of you watched The Journey of Flower? (Hua Xian Gu) It's old as anything, but it was the first Xianxia I ever watched and I loved it. If you can look past old CGI then you should definitely watched it
Oh! I forgot but you guys HAVE to watch River God! (Tienstin mystic in Eng) it was fantastic and the set design made it so much more believable. But think magical realism instead of straight up fantasy.
I still haven't managed to finish a purely-'wuxia' series, but I have really liked some wuxia-fantasy mix shows. I adored Love and Sword this year, which is a quick and very enjoyable light wuxia-fantasy with a good core story, setting and characters, and quite funny. I'm aboslutely loving A Dream Within a Dream, which is another mix, with a little 'wuxia' (the Nightshade team are called 'heroes', which seems to be what the Chinese call wuxia fighters) and some fantasy (falling into a storyworld). The thing that watchers of both martial arts and fantasy series would like is that it's a parody - a very intelligent parody - of all these types of shows and stories, with their extreme situations, lead characters never dying from a cliff fall or other things that should kill them, drawn-out misunderstandings, etc. It's very funny for that reason, but also a great story, if intensely frustrating for the sake of those misunderstandings. Liu Yu Ning is excellent, and it's worth it just for him.
My only contact with Wuxia was not a show (so I don't think it even counts...) but It was called Red Cliff in english... and it's a movie in this time period of The Three Kingdoms... with these almost mythological historcal figures like Cao Cao or Liu Bei... Would be glad to dive more into it though if you could tell me which would be a mustsee from a newcomer perspective :)
Red Cliff is more historical than wuxia, I think, as the wuxia series I watched usually smaller in scale, focusing in the martial world, though sometimes they have big political background of some sort. I would recommend Jin Yong novels adaptation he's THE wuxia authors (or at least most well known globally with hundreds of adaptations). There is an English translation though the names are weirdly translated.Start with Legend of the Condor Heroes, this is my fave adaptation: https://mydramalist.com/6446-the-lege... and this one https://mydramalist.com/19556-the-leg... As you can see from the webpage it has tons of adaptation. I would not recommend the 2024 Chinese one since it's shortened and aimed for those who already know the story.
I wish China produces more gritty xianxia. The xianxia dramas in the last few years are too romancey and angsty for me....also their color grading and CGI makes my eyes hurt, often way too bright and fake looking. And don't get me started on the makeup. Which is weird coz China could make a great epic fantasy movie - shenmo genre - like Creation of Gods movies but their fantasy dramas...yeah it's just style preference.
Silvana wrote: "Red Cliff is more historical than wuxia, I think, as the wuxia series I watched usually smaller in scale, focusing in the martial world, though sometimes they have big political background of some ..."Thank you !! I will come back to you after checking some of them :)
The most recent wuxia cdrama that I watched and absolutely adored is A Journey to Love. It has a thrilling plot and is angst-filled throughout the whole story but there's also comic relief. Characterization and the casting is superb! Other favorite wuxia dramas are: Word of Honor, Nirvana in Fire and The Blood of Youth, all of which have beautiful choreographs of fight scenes and compelling plots.
Also, I've fallen in love with a number of xianxia cdramas (xianxia is similar to wuxia but the cast includes immortal characters) where the cinematography and costumes are pretty and the lead couples have great chemistry. My favorites are: The Untamed, Eternal Love (or Ten Miles of Peach Blossom), Novoland Pearl Eclipse and Till the End of the Moon.
The Untamed is a wildly popular one internationally! Have you watched it?