In fact, it was originally based on a popular manhwa, and it actually has a Japanese anime version.
Show has frenetic energy, an irrepressible spirit and loads of humor. I found myself laughing out loud at so many scenes. I really enjoyed this drama’s wacky, cartoonish vibe, and how it mixes wuxia tropes into the background of modern China. Just such a breath of fresh air in Cdramaland.
The plot is fast-paced, there was never a moment where I wanted to skip. The tone switches seamlessly between silly and crazy to serious and heart-wrenching, and unlike another show, Back from the Brink which failed at this juggling, these moments never felt out of place and were never jarring in this show.
The characters were also unique and I can seriously say that I like almost everyone on the show, including the villains. Some really surprised me because I really ended up caring for them.
Because I watched this when I was having my first bout of COVID, I am admittedly a little more affectionate towards it. I desperately wanted something happy to watch when I was sick, and Wonderland of Love delivered happiness in spades.
Still, this was an idol drama that punched above its weight. There were shockingly surprising flashes of brilliance in Wonderland of Love.
Like, in episode 30 and 31, it demonstrated that it could rise above its idol roots to become something more. I swear, I felt like I was watching a movie in those episodes.
But, it is still very much an aggressively idol drama where our two leads are prettied up to such a big degree that I can’t take them super seriously as war leaders.
There’s also pathetic villains, plot holes, convenient solutions. They really diminish the drama and it could’ve been a really, really good show if they had sustained the cinematography, emotional gravitas and storytelling of episodes 30 and 31.
At the end of the day, whether you will enjoy Wonderland of Love, depends on how far you can ignore its flaws and go along with the flow. It is best for people who like the drama’s tropes: brotherhood and star-crossed lovers.
To me, the story that really impacted me the most was not the whodunit, but to watch the effects of corruption on a once-great dnyasty.
For quick context, this takes place towards the waning years of the Ming dynasty, and Ripe Town is like a focused view of how corruption affected one village and her people. You get the idea that this decay, multiplied many times over throughout the whole country, was what enabled the Manchus to take over and for the Qing dynasty to begin.
With the rot infecting the justice system, the entire foundation of the empire was going to crumble sooner or later as good men are sacrificed on the altars of deceit and vengeance, to the detriment of the entire civilisation.
This was such a surprise drama for me in 2023. I’ve long resigned myself that the Cdramas of old, where cinematography can be beautiful and like works of art, are gone.
These days, it’s all about “let’s just make a minimum viable product, push it out quickly, rake in the cash and move on”. Why bother with setting up the lighting properly, or giving our characters appropriate costumes? Let’s just cast traffic actors even if they don’t fit the role!
But here, not only do they shoot the dramas beautifully, the set, the costumes are characters of their own. The village building’s moss-covered walls, the characters wear clothes made of rough linen and even have patches of odd-coloured fabric to show that the dress has been mended over and over again. There’s dirt on people’s faces, and the lighting is appropriately moody and overcast.
Ripe Town gives me hope that there are still some people in Chinese entertainment industry who are still willing to invest the time in making good dramas, so here’s hoping that more dramas of this calibre will be shown in 2024.
Mysterious Lotus Casebook is about honor, courage and doing your best to live and rise above bitterness and hatred.
It’s a classic wuxia tale of brother, chivalry and honour. If you love stories about heroes going on adventures in the jiang hu, you will like Mysterious Lotus Casebook.
If you want to hear my full thoughts about Mysterious Lotus Casebook, you can read my review on the blog or the first Drama Tea podcast episode.
Of all the dramas I’ve watched this year, A Journey to Love has the best designed characters who develop organically. The female characters are especially well-written, especially Yang Ying, who grew from a scared, sheltered pampered princess to a fierce lioness and budding political strategist.
What I am actually impressed with is that even bit side characters like Official Du and Emperor Wu turned out to be well-fleshed characters that we end up caring. I loved how every character, no matter how small, got a character arc.
However, it tried to squeeze in too much at the end, and the vague-ish ending didn’t help matters either. Seriously, what happened? There are some parts that I wished they had cut out such as (ahem) Li Tong Guang’s airtime so that we could make more room for a proper fleshing out of the resolution.
It is tragic, however, that due to the many negative comments on social media, many people would give this drama a pass. Because A Journey to Love was a beautiful journey.
It’s not a perfect drama for sure, but I’ll talk about the drama in depth in my next podcast episode which would most probably air at the start of January 2024.
Tang Lian, from The Blood of YouthTechnically, it started in 2022 and finished airing in 2023, so I will include it as an “honourable mention”.
I wasn’t enthused on its video-game vibe and “finger fu” fighting scenes, but the drama had solid casting, interesting characters and great storytelling. Out of curiosity, I watched the original donghua and loved it too.
Worth a look!
>> I’ll be sharing the review of The Blood of Youth by the end of this week. Stay tuned!
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