The Legend of Shen Li is a Chinese fantasy drama with the soul of an old Hollywood Movie. Like Cassablanca, It Happened One Night, Love Affair, The Philadelphia Story, or His Girl Friday. You know, the ones that despite being in black and white the entire world metaphorically bursts into technicolor when the two leading actors lock eyes.
I loved those old movies. Cool, confident, well-dressed people slinking around each other with playful, covertly flirtatious dialogue. Strong ladies in designer dresses circling around handsome men with deadly charm.
The Legend of Shen Li is about capable, confident adults finding love in the same suave style of Old Hollywood – but transplanted into an epic historical fantasy romance with many worlds and apocalyptic fates in the balance.
Introducing our two protagonists, Shen Li and Xing Zhi (or Xing Yun, depending on your subtitles) – whom you will fall in love with as they fall in love with each other.
So let’s talk about the set up to this show – cause it’s bizarre and brilliant.
Story Arc 1 – The Mortal Realm
In the beginning a demon warrior woman with a massive spear is escaping an arranged marriage to an heavenly immortal with a bad reputation. Their marriage is a proposed strategic alliance between the Demon Realm and the Immortal Realm but our warrior woman is having none of it. She’d rather die, thank you very much, and fights off an army to run away. In the fray of her escape she falls to the mortal world and transforms back to her spiritual form – a phoenix.
Except no one in the mortal world knows what a phoenix is so they just assume it’s a weird looking chicken. She is, in fact, a most adorable CGI chicken with little hearts in her feathers and as corny as that sounds, you will adore it.
Saving her from becoming someone’s dinner is a kindly ginseng farmer who takes her back to his picturesque home on the river and proceeds to tease her and cook her delicious meals. It’s clear he knows this chicken is more than meets the eye, but how he knows and what else he might know are mysteries that slowly unravel in the first few episodes.
you can click on any image to enlarge
This drama is picturesque in the extreme and you will enjoy a visual feast while this powerful war general deals with being powerless for the first time in her life, learning to let someone else take care of her and protect her from harm. She’s annoyed and frustrated and ranting – but ultimately gives in to her gentle caretaker, who delights in teasing her and pushing her buttons, amused by her outbursts and antics and obviously quite charmed by her stubborn, bullheaded personality.
Their roles reverse by episode three as she regains her human form and her powers slowly come back; then she is the one protecting him from local bullies and other dangers. She’s also enjoying bullying him a bit herself, but it’s obviously a giant turn on to her tall, handsome mortal guardian who is grinning like a fool every time she throws him around.
The Legend of Shen Li 与凤行 (2024) | Episode 3 – gifs by @ladynamie on Tumblr – link
Listen, this guy can play our lead female like a fiddle. He’s having the time of his life goofing around the house and wasting the days away with this recuperating warrior. He’s sickly and mortal and other than some impressive knowledge of magic, he has little to protect himself in the world… not that he seems to care. The dude is like Buddha. He’s both calm like an old man who has accepted their fate and oblivious like a child who has no concept of danger… nothing seems to worry him, he’s at peace wherever he goes… and its bizarre and Shen Li is captivated by him.
Cause this super chill farmer manages to make our leading lady feel… well, like a lady. And also kinda like a little girl. Which is a novelty for her, as she is a military leader and not accustomed to men wanting to act as her shield and take long walks around the property and hold her hand and such.
It’s vacation romance all the way.
Our leading lady is relaxing for the first time in her life, just enjoying the beauty of nature and the slow movement of days, the burdens of her position and realm far, far away. No one knows who she is, no one expects anything from her… she can just melt into the tranquility of a mortal life… eat good food… and enjoy witty banter with her handsome farmer guy.
The Legend of Shen Li 与凤行 (2024) | Episode 4 – stills/gifs by @ladynamie on Tumblr – link
And in this idyllic setting… with gorgeous cinematography and perfect pacing… the stage is set for these two people to fall in love.
The love stories of adults should feel different from a romance of youth. The same uncertainty, excitement, and insecurities are there but how adults respond to these things is different. But the older you get, the higher your walls are and the easier it is to just give up or walk away. Cause you’ve been alone all this time, you know it can’t hurt you, but this… this new thing… this love thing… this could tear you to pieces if you aren’t careful.
And it involves someone else, so the outcome is not all up to you. For someone who is used to being in control, this is often the scariest aspect of relationships. Cause the stronger you are alone, the harder it is to let someone else in.
And the two lovers in this story are, respectively, some of the strongest people in the known worlds.
Shen Li is the war general of the entire Demon Realm, adopted daughter of the Demon King, and a fierce and unstoppable warrior woman who is respected and feared by everyone.
And our man Xing Zhi? Oh, he’s the last remaining ancient god, the most powerful being in all the worlds, above the Immortal Realm, the Demon Realm, and the Mortal Realm, a mysterious entity who only comes out of his seclusion in the Sky Beyond Heaven occasionally when situations require it every thousand years or so. Or when he’s so bored that he wanders down to the Mortal Realm to live as a human hoping to escape the existential horrors of being an ancient immortal.
That is a mild spoiler, and I apologize if you were coming to this review blind – but the truth of both their identities are revealed very early in the show and are printed in every description of the show online so it’s not really much of a spoiler in my opinion.
The first few episodes (1-6) are the foundation of this show and of you aren’t won over during this first story arc then go ahead and drop the show – it’s just not for you. To each their own, but… seriously… you weren’t won over? What manner of creature are you?
Overall Rating: 10+/10 – A Xianxia Romantic Epic with the heart of an Old Hollywood movie.
SPOILERS BELOW – just go ahead and watch it if you haven’t – and if you have… then come along and let’s chat more about it.
I have only attempted a few Chinese dramas in the past – being much too distracted by Korean dramas. I spent over two years trying to watch The Untamed, but could never quite connect to it in the same way the fandom did. I tried to watch Legacy but checked out around the episode 12 or so, same with Love 020 and My Amazing Boyfriend. They just weren’t clicking.
Then one day I randomly selected Love Between a Fairy & Devil(and yes, I know there is no “a” in the title of this show, but I just can’t help it… I want it to be there and so I’m sticking it in and that’s that, don’t question me!) because the drama name intrigued me and after two episodes I was hooked.
*** mild spoilers of both Love Between a Fairy & Devil and Till the End of the Moon follow… so… you know… proceed with caution.
The story of Love Between a Fairy & Devil tapped into my childhood primal brain, the one that absorbed hundreds of nights of fairy tales read by grandparents from old vintage books filled with beautiful and dark illustrations. Of innocent but cunning young girls fending off mischief and dark situations sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
It was visually breathtaking, literally taking place in cities floating on pastel clouds, magical misty forests, and dark spired castles. You can tell a lot of work was put into making this show – like… a ton of labor…
Love Between Fairy and Devil is an adaption of the eponymous novel by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. Writers spent over 800 days developing the script. The show’s preparatory period laster over 400 days. More than 600 cast and crew members helped create over 5,000 pieces of clothing, 3,000 accessories, and 20,000 art props.
The exquisite costumes (seriously, every costume change had me gasping!), the enchanting storylines, the extreme beauty of nearly every single character…
I mean… have you ever seen such beautiful creatures as these???
I was enthralled.
Honestly, I don’t think I can adequately put into words what the experience of first viewing this was like – I was hypnotized the entire show.
And both this show (36 eps) and Till the End of the Moon (40 eps) are long shows… so be warned, there is a commitment involved going in. Both stories hinge around the epic, eternal battle between good and evil, dark realms and heavenly abodes, gods and monsters – so there’s a lot going on. Love Between a Fairy & Devil is the sweet one, and Till the End of the Moon is the bittersweet one.
Love Between a Fairy & Devil is a light, charming, romantic, and playful tale with enough intrigue and twists to keep you entertained without stressing you out. It’s about a young orchid fairy who accidentally releases an ancient demon lord from his prison (with a kiss, of course!) and gets magically entangled with him (basically whatever happens to her, happens to him… one of the best tropes ever! He has to feel what she feels, whether joy or fear… and of course if she is injured at all it also injures him… forcing him to stick by her side so he can keep a watchful eye on her).
I’ve heard a lot of the “You Are Mine Now!” speeches as a drama fan… but this is definitely one of the best of the best. The dude is theatrical af.
Our Orchid Fairy already has a crush on the heavenly god of war, who also fancies her though he is reluctant to acknowledge this due to their differences in status (and an inconvenient engagement to another lady)… and now she’s got this huge looming magical guy following her everywhere, insulting her one minute while pampering her the next. And who doesn’t love a satisfying love triangle?
The God of War is impressively soft, eh? His glassy looking armor, in particular, was just so impressive and yet lovely… like his billowing heavenly robes…
What’s our cute little fairy to do? Well, she’s gonna pine over her heavenly crush while teasing her new shadow, of course… hysterically calling the Demon Lord all kinds of names, like Little Immortal Criminal and Big Blockhead and so on… cause she really has no idea who he is for the longest time and it’s just adorable and funny. The humor in this show will have you grinning for hours.
Though it’s a simple story of beloved tropes, they mix it up enough to keep you entertained throughout. There’s also some side couple romances and body-swapping shenanigans and daring rescues and political schemes and even an alternate timeline-ish side story.
Even if you don’t like it… you’ll probably still like it.
And yes, you will also have to suffer through the main couple’s misunderstandings and some tearful mixups – and yes, there are darker episodes that have a more serious tone – but you need that contrast to make the brighter moments even shinier. Cause ultimately this show is a ray of sunshine, a mystical whale swimming through the clouds, a sparkly rainbow after a light spring shower. It’s just so feel good it’s ridiculous.
I was delighted by the unfamiliar mythologies and characters – which are unique and intriguing and I could babble on about at great length. But the weight of the entire series rested on the shoulders of the two leads, who carried it effortlessly with their witty banter and undeniable natural chemistry.
Esther Yu played our Orchid Fairy – perfectly cast as the cute, plucky, whimsical low-ranking fairy in the heavenly realm with her big eyes and a playful smile. And Dylan Wang played our Demon King, our Moon Supreme, ideally suited for the handsome, scowling tyrant with unmatched power whose foil turns out to be a silly little fairy who teaches him about basic emotions and gets him smile sometimes.
The most important thing to know about Love Between a Fairy and Devil is that it is overtly and unapologetically romantic.
Just… nonstop romance, really. These two are not only on screen together constantly, but they’re close… they walk close together, talk close together, and keep close together. Their magnetic pull is palpable. They are rarely more than inches apart. And there’s lots of kissing, both playful and passionate… liberally sprinkled throughout the entire series, keeping you hooked.
Both the actors and the characters seemed inseparable from the very beginning – they’re both so beautiful and they look stunning side by side.
Honestly, if you haven’t watched it yet I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve already watched it four times all the way through… compulsively… I couldn’t stop myself… I wanted to go back to the dream world and relive the magic again and again. Sure, it had flaws… I mean… I guess it does… I honestly can’t put my finger on what those might be. The show was perfect in my opinion.
Love Between Fairy & Devil – Rating: 10/10. Get Swept Up in a Heavenly Pastel, Epically Sweet Romance.
Before we jump into our second drama, here’s a few bonus text-post memes for Love Between Fairy and a Devil… which admittedly will only be funny if you’ve actually watched the show.
Tumblr: @qianzhaos – Link & Link (these had me rolling on the floor laughing)
Also known as The Demon Lord, The Devil God, Cang Jiumin… and even Ming Ye.
If Love Between a Fairy & Devil is… I dunno… Beauty and the Beast, maybe… then Till the End of the Moon is your Wuthering Heights. It’s grander in scope and story, with twice the sets, costumes, and characters. This is not the fairy tale you tell children, this is the fairy tale you read to yourself. Till the End of the Moon is the grown-up version of the “good girl” paired with the “bad boy” fueled with agonizing miscommunication and extreme reversals of fortunes and roles, with secrets being the ultimate damnation of love.
Though I will probably rewatch Love Between a Fairy & Devil more, Till the End of the Moon left the lasting impression on my psyche. This show is seared into my brain – branded – burned – clawed and scarred.
As an avid lover of melodrama, I naturally ate up this tale of woe and passive-aggressive romance like I was a kid in a candy store. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, I love more than an outcast boy who falls in love with the first person who is nice to him and never lets her/him go. It’s what made Wuthering Heights a classic story of insane lovers driving each other insane. It’s what made Queen Seondeok one of the most devastating romances of all time. It’s a trope that is hard to pull off successfully, but when executed correctly is sure to lodge itself into your heart for all eternity.
The opening scene of this drama was incredible. I mean… wow… the goth theatrics! It starts off at the end of this massive war between gods and demons, with the world basically destroyed and only a fraction of the heavenly realm still standing. Our Demon King is flying through the air on this dragon-drawn sled through dark clouds and lightning… I mean… my jaw dropped to the floor.
I was ON BOARD and already texting my best friend about this show before the 15 minutes had passed.
P.S. The Tumblr user who voted this man Favorite Male Character was @dangermousie on this post – and I will forever be grateful cause I watched this entire drama based on this one post (below) – and I rarely spaz out over characters this much – but Tantai Jin will undoubtedly haunt me until I am dead and I am fine with that.
….
Anyways, I digress. Let’s get back to the first episode…
A strangely handsome red-eyed Devil God with a fiery halo and a gigantic, weird blood-eye magical weapon that slays immortals was the hook I needed to settle down for this wild ride. Add to it a beautiful immortal girl who has just watched the Devil God destroy her entire family – no, her entire world – no, actually, the four continents and three realms… literally THE entire world! – and time-travels 500 years into the past in an attempt to change the course of destiny… and that was it. I was determined to watch the whole show after 15 minutes.
So how does this beautiful immortal lady plan to change the fate of the world, you ask?
Oh, she’s going back in time to before the Devil God was an all powerful, evil killing machine… you know… back when he was just a pitiful young man, a hostage prince in a foreign country, spurned by all, bullied and abused, a lonely lost soul who only talks to animals and doesn’t know how to cry. She goes back in time and jumps into the body of his wife… who likes to whip him before bed every night (not hyperbole, she actually does this) and starve him for fun. And now she’s gotta win this gaunt guy over… she’s gotta make this miserable, very suspicious prince fall in love with her… you know… so she can figure out how to kill him.
I kid you not. That’s the plot.
And it scratches all the weird itches in me. Everything about this story line just RESONNATES with me.
Till the End of the Moon was elevated from a very good albeit dark story about fate, trust, love, and redemption… to the upper echelons of PEAK ROMANTIC MELODRAMA on the thin frame of the leading male, Luo Yunxi.
Now, I admit fully to be a newbie with Chinese media… so this is the first time I have ever seen this dude before… and I will never forget him. He has one of the most expressive faces of all time with these huge eyes that draw you in. He does these tiny little movements with his eyebrows and eyes, shifting his gaze ever-so-slightly… it’s just mesmerizing.
Just… look at all this… emotion… all this searching and questioning and doubt and pain and longing and uuuugh….
And ya’ll… when he’s really happy… or when he’s in love… or when he’s really down for the count… or freakin’ out, or spitting curses, or plotting revenge, or losing his mind – it’s CINEMA. I do not understand how someone’s face can be this captivating – but it’s true – it is the main attraction. And it’s sooo sooo good. I won’t spoil it you just need to see it for yourself. He’s a force of nature in this show – he goes through literally everything…
Tantai Jin is the King of Long Suffering.
He is also a Grade A Male-Wife.
On a personal note – men who are more on the feminine side, so to speak, attract me. Especially elegant men who pamper themselves and dress prettily and bat their long eyelashes. Tantai Jin was such a man. I mean, he always looked better than the other dudes, even when he’s washing ice cold dishes… he’s got his little feathery collar. Boy couldn’t even suffer in purgatory for 500 years without embellished mourning robes and neatly trussed hair. Even when he’s a spiritual apprentice in the heavenly realm, he’s totally overdressed. All the other apprentices are dressed plainly, but not our Tantai Jin. Our baby is a pretty pretty prince, after all, with perfect eyeliner and quality selections of neutral lipsticks.
I do not think I am alone in this – attraction to pretty men is probably half the reason this show is so successful.
There’s something about a willowy gentle creature and his feather light kissing that brings out a generally submerged streak in us… a mean streak, if we’re honest. It awakens our inner bully. Delicate, breakable things inspire you to bend them… and then mend them. To test your strength. To test their limits. How many times did our female lead walk all over this guy’s body and heart, just trampling him repeatedly, and he always… always… let her come back or went chasing after her. He never tested her limits, he never pushed her, he never pressured her. Even when he had her tied up in dungeons he was more interested in making her feel guilty than being malicious. And it was delicious, ya’ll. I’m sure there’s some solid psychology behind this but all I’m saying is if you loved this drama then this is a part of the reason why.
Which leads us to our beautiful, strong female lead.
A character is only as good as their story, and this guy’s story pivots entirely around his relationship with one woman (through many stages and lives). Bai Lu played his opposite, the yin to his yang or whatever… though like most opposites, they were actually just two sides of the same coin.
She was such a cool character – bullheaded, determined, resourceful, thoughtful, funny… and also cruel, calculating, and cold when the mood struck her. Her emotions could turn on a dime, just like his. God, they were so well suited to one another. Just… walking disasters, really.
Tumblr: @xinxiaojie – link(and can we please admire the coloring of these beautiful gifs?!)
I was totally drawn into their madness too.
I loved it when they loved each other.
I loved it when they hated each other.
I loved it when they pretended they didn’t love each other.
I loved it when they pretended to hate each other.
I loved it all.
Their whole wild deal.
Well, that’s not true. I did not love having to wait so long for some kiss scenes… that was one draw back to this otherwise perfect stew of painful love and tormented devotion. But this show stayed true to the “old school” model of historical/fantasy romance dramas… with very quick and/or cut scenes anytime there was romantic interaction. Considering it was such an adult story, I was a bit surprised it felt so prudish with its intimate scenes. I mean… give us some more “dual cultivation,” please and thank you. But that’s my only complaint really.
But who can really complain when the fandom was so happy?
The best Text-Meme Posts on Tumblr: @eyesthatshinelikestars – Link & Link & Link
And here’s a few more – cause text post-memes are my jam.
It’s a serious drama – but that doesn’t mean you have to be serious to enjoy it, ya dig? Plus there really are a ton of hysterical moments in this show – flat out comedy gold is sprinkled in amongst the angst.
Till the End of the Moon also gave us two quality side-romances – both of which were complicated, messy, and heartbreakingly beautiful in their own rights. I adored everyone. I pitied everyone. I loved them unconditionally throughout the show.
This story took us through thousands of years, several lifetimes, a few shocking deaths, and some truly soul shattering heartbreaks.
Here’s a bit of a breakdown of this drama in 4 parts (spoilers again)
Part 1 – TANTAI JIN IS PATHETIC & I LOVE HIM
Ep 1: a sexy Demon God (ML) destroys the world & a heavenly time-traveling assassin Li Susu (FL) is sent on a mission to kill him by inhabiting another body Ye Xiwu
Ep 2-6: 500 Years Ago – Demon God is Tantai Jin the whipping boy, a submissive “captive”
Ep 7: Tantai Jin samples a demon fox & runs away with his peeps
Ep 8: Shenanigans aboard the ship – including a sexy dance, an escape, & a betrayal
Ep 9: Tantai Jin & Ye Xiwu switch eyeballs
Ep 10: Ye Xiwu travels to the Barren Abyss & Tantai Jin takes over his homeland
Ep 11: Everyone reunites & takes a vacation inside a water dragon’s dream
PART 2 – LITTLE MERMAID SIDE QUEST
Ep 12-13 – A little clam princess marries (FL) the heavenly God of War (ML)
Ep 14-15 – The God of War finally gets laid before defeating the current Demon God & reverting to a baby dragon before experiencing domestic bliss
Ep 16-17 – We can’t have nice things – a jealousy, murder, & mayhem in the heavens
PART 3 – TANTAI JIN IS COURTED BY HIS WIFE
Ep 18 – Waking up from the sea dragon dream with… feelings?
Ep 19-23 – Ye Xiwu wins over her man’s heart while Tantai Jin wins over the neighboring territories
Ep 24-25 – Selective memory leads to betrayal part 2, heartbreak, murders, & tragedy
Ep 26 – The worst wedding in the history of all the realms
Ep 27-28 – Despair and sadness all around
PART 4 – TIL DEATH DO US PART AGAIN I GUESS
Ep 29-30 – Tantai Jin mopes around the underworld for 500 years until washing up in the heavenly realm & being renamed Cang Jiumin, while Li Susu (remember her from ep 1?) wakes up to an altered future
Ep 31-33 – Our separated & then reunited lovers are still obsessed with each other even in heaven
Ep 34 – Cang Jiumin is exposed as the Demon God & gets tortured again
Ep 35 – Our lovers tell the truth for five seconds and are happy! Don’t worry, it won’t last.
Ep 36 – Double-crossed by dad and double-crossed by dopplegangers!
Ep 37-40 – Everyone’s spitting up blood, lying to each other, getting laid, and spitting up more blood as the fate of the world hangs in the balance
In the end, it was really a story about trust. And about the power of reframing reality. Is the glass half full or half empty? It was that simple, after all… you just had to look at it another way to break free of the curse of life… and see it as something broader, more meaningful, more real.
Till the End of the Moon – Rating: 10/10. Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of, the Devil God’s and Mine Are the Same.
So I am now officially a fan of Xianxia (which translates to “immortal heroes”) dramas.
It took two devil lords to pull me in, but consider me on board from this point forward. I’ve already got a long que of ones I want to watch next… and considering how long these suckers tend to be, consider my weekends booked, ya’ll.
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