Wu You Du (2025)

An epic and entertaining tales of demon hunting with intelligent script that trust the audiences.

Everyone must question how on earth a drama written about demon hunting can be so engaging and compelling? Then give this drama a try. Everything about it will defy what would you might have an impression of the genre. While the story is about Xuanye, the Demon Hunter and Banxia, a girl who happen to have the ability to see demons, what spiral from this story goes beyond layers and depth and in the end gave us an epic love story that defy destruction, fate and destiny.

THE ACTING

One of the strongest aspects of this drama is the stellar acting from the casts. Ren Jialun impressed me so much with his portrayal of Xuanye, a demon hunter with a tragic past. The way he dressed down for the role, you can’t see him but his character. His dedication to be the character is simply amazing – his mannerisms, his sarcastic smiles, or his soft way of talking totally sold us as a demon hunter with a heart of gold -- ferocious against his enemies but delicate towards his love ones. Then we have Song Zu’er as Banxia. I personally think this is Song Zu’er best role to date -- she is beyond amazing in this drama. She got to play 3 different characters here and she played every one of them perfectly. And those never-ending tears? How can one person has so much tears?

THE DIRECTING

Since this drama is directed by the famous female director Lin Yu Fen, you can see how the directing really elevates the whole storytelling. The effective use of camera frame & angles, with clear artistic vision and adding a lot of originality and imagination to tell a story that is not only well written but very entertaining as well. For an example the whole Painting Demon arc in the drama -- when everyone entered the painting with different personalities, is an effective way of telling a story that highlight the abilities and range that the actors’ possessed without relying on the usual ‘amnesia’ plot. While delivering an out of the box storytelling in the same arc, the Director deep understanding of the narrative structure (repeated day), character developments (even when the characters are not themselves), pacing (linking each day to another), and how to evoke emotions through visual language are used effectively to the fullest. And the way she captured all the emotional scenes, she knows what to emphasize, what to highlight, and how to build tension and create impact. A lot of highly emotional scene in the drama wouldn’t be as impactful as we felt if is being shot from another director’s lens.

Also, worth to point out how detail she made the drama’s overall world-building. When they entered the Mirror Demon's world, the sky is the reflection (mirror) of the town. And when they entered the Painting Demon's world, the sky is a painting. I love how the nature of the demon reflected in the sky -- they cant really create a completely real world so the flaws can be seen in the sky. Or how she shot the underground city where it seemed like the characters are really underground was shot stunningly. Or the bustling town of Guanping, it was such a beautiful sight to behold and the colors and different architecture of the houses made the whole town colorful and very lively.

THE WRITING

As someone who is after good writing in dramas, this drama meant a world, A WORLD for me. The writing has been really fantastic with intricate details and planning that you can see how it spanned over several episodes before the event actually happened. The characters were written with their own personalities and motives that you can basically predict what are they going to do with how well written they were. I find the script to be one of the strongest reasons for the drama's popularity. Instead of aiming to shock in the first few episodes, it actually took time to take off. But while doing it that way, they properly wrote the introduction and set the stage and later you can see how one case and another case woven together beautifully like a flowing water.

I love like how the demons who masked their true forms to fool and mingling with human, the leads as well started with a different presentation of their true self. Xuanye looks like an earnest demon hunter initially during his first introduction to us until when we reached the next arc of the story when we finally figure out that he is actually nonchalant and pretty apathetic due to his past. Then we have Banxia, which seemed a little slow and dim-witted until she stopped taking the calm medicine then we started to see the colorful girl that she actually is -- brave, kind and adorably naïve and lovable. Its the same with the demons -- with each case, we supposed to see these different perspectives of them -- are they all bad or there are some that are good? And while the first case seemed to gloss over the demon, we got more of them in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th case. Each one of these cases started to give us different narrative of their true self and nature.

Script that ‘show’ than ‘tell’ - The writer also using some interesting writing choice to present us the plot without appearing that they are spoon feeding us the information which I enjoy. For an example, we didn’t know some information about these demons and their power but the characters do, so what the writer did is having one of the characters reading the book loudly to us to give us the plan and information then later having Xuanye getting annoyed on why they read it loudly -- thus passing it as quirks of the characters.

Interconnecting plot where everything seamlessly woven with each other, effortlessly - Everything, literally everything has reasons. And I love the fact that the writer always established the plot first in different stages before the revelation, so you can feel the gravity of the matters in hand when you remember when it all started. And instead of creating something new to move the romance, she always used these existing plot points to further it. For example, Banxia repeatedly walking in the forest alone (part of her personality which is brave and also to show her desperation and isolation for having that curse), well that lead to our leads' first romantic encounter with the firefly. Then the tied-up hands while sleeping, the first stage was established way before in Episode 1 on how the sword has different effects – when Xuanye ate 10 bowls of foods. So now, the writer used one of the effects (sleeping) as a reason for Xuanye to tie his hands with Banxia. Then comes to the white hair, which is also one of the effects of the sword which his life span will shorten everytime he used it. Then the writer used the same excuse of the white hair for the dyeing hair scene -- which another romantic moment for the couple. And what’s more amazing, we also established this fact that Banxia didn’t do that out of the blue but she offered it because she done it for her Dad's before so it wasn’t out of character but more like innocent take on that matter -- since she didn’t realize that she likes him too at that time. I love how everything seamlessly woven with each other, effortlessly. From the demon storyline (different take on themes, type of love and perspectives) to all the leads' interaction with each other to all the mysteries behind everything.

Script with nuance and subtext - This drama has a lot of subtext that you can only know the real layers of the script if you pay enough attention to it. For an example, the Cat Demon case. In this case, the Cat Demon which is called 'Nine Lives' is selling his lives so that he can gather enough money so that he can hire Xuanye's Demon Hunter fee. The script didn’t feed up and tell us this out loud but it is implied throughout the story on how he went everywhere selling his lives. The script did tell us on how desperate he is when he is saving Xuanye's constable friend life for $200 -- ''Traded his life for merely $200? Is it worth it?'' -- and we only get the heaviness of that sentence after his death. I also love when we dwell more on these demons and their back stories. Like the Mirror Demon, it is such a good revelation that he has been with the dancer probably hundreds of years which explain the love and obsession.

Effective use of red herrings - For a mysteries drama, the usage of red herring is an effective tool for excellent storytelling and this drama excelled in this tremendously. There are a lot of false clues to mislead us so it becomes a good guessing game while we are watching the drama. Like the Puppet Demon case, everything and everyone is suspicious in the early stage. The red herrings are effective as which you can feel everything is wrong in that place -- everything look suspicious yet you still have no idea who and what to point out since everything look right and normal at the same time.

Deceptive storytelling - In one of the case, which is Puppet Demon case, the writer opt to do deceptive storytelling with this case as this is all planned by Xuanye to lure the demon out. This is one of my favorite writing methods as the Director will show us one 'narrative' on screen in order to fool us BUT at the same time give us many hints on why we should not trust that 'narrative'. And what I find amazing is how effective is the directing & acting in this particular arc since I can catch something is wrong with some out-of-behavior things that Xuanye did. First, with the eyeballs, ever notice why he brings them everywhere without reasons? Then when consoling Banxia's cousin, he actually touch his hand which is such an out-of-character thing for him to do, then we know why later. 😉 Then, when he take Banxia hand and say thank you to her with that long smile and her awkward expression -- that again was weird and I was taken aback and I'm glad that there is actually explanation for it as there is no way both of the leads are doing bad acting for that scene. I love how effective those are since now everything I questioned in the plot actually have reasons and make sense.

Script that want the audiences to participate - One of the facets in the drama that I immensely enjoy is that it actively asking the audiences to participate when discovering the mysteries together with the characters. For an example, during the Painting Demon arc. It is indeed a good and unexpected revelation on who is the true mastermind. The whole writing in this arc had me in awe on how they asked us to guess together with Xuanye who is the real mastermind and lay all the clues for us to do it -- its not something that Xuanye pulling from his ass since he is the only genius one in the room.

Mindblown details in the script that traced back from the beginning – This is one of the detail in the script that completely will blow your mind over. Remember Xuanye draw the Cause-Effect Sword in order to save Banxia? The effect of the sword is that they totally erased Mr Cui (Xuanye's Dad worker) & Mrs Cui from their lives that is why Mr Cui missed the recruitment notice in front of Xuanye's Dad shop. And now, Mrs Cui doesn’t have any memories of Banxia saving her or memories of Xuanye as well since her husband didn’t work there. So, it meant that her husband is still alive and now a blacksmith and her, since Banxia didnt interfere with her fate in this new timeline, will probably die as no one going to save her this time around. And what makes the writing so amazing is that they have set up this Mrs Cui in earlier episodes when Xuanye visit her house when she's sick -- it wasn’t a filler scene but an important one to show us the severity of using this sword. So, the writer already planned for this arc to happen since early on and have set the stage for it. Also, point to notice how since Banxia will no longer have White Crow curse on her as Xuanye already killed it (the cause), so the Mirror Demon also didn’t exist and that’s why we can see Banxia dancer friend is eating a pear after that. Also, the night when Banxia forgave Xuanye when she's sleeping holding his hand and they made up -- it also didnt happen that is why when Chi Zhe asked them if they made up, she said 'No' and she is still grumpy a few days after that when the marriage date announced since technically, she and Xuanye never reconcile properly. So, the heartwarming proposal that Xuanye gave her is the point that they are together again.

No plot armors or holes - I also love how everytime you question something and point out plot armors or holes, the drama will address it later. Like the conversation Xuanye had with Banxia to keep pretending to be a married couple and then Wunniang knocks the door right after that -- she must have heard the conversation? But it soon revealed that you can barely hear from outside since even when Banxia is saying something alone in her room, Xuanye can’t hear what she said as well.

Thought-provoking script with lessons – Since this drama handles with different demons, themes and situations, it comes with heavy lesson in each arc stories. I also love the question that they posed on whether to leave the junior monk keeps living in this painting or bring him out where he will be an old man with no youth left in him -- there is no right or wrong answer for this question. Also the part of living each day happily without having to worry about anything – only to discover the day keeps repeating itself would you consider it as heaven or is it hell on earth?

THE ROMANCE

What always gets me about how the romance is filmed in this drama is how it’s the perfect mix of actors' chemistry, acting and writing. Especially the writing which sets up why they would be so drawn to one another since their relationship started with trust and understanding and how the depth of their feelings impacted them and their actions throughout the drama without having to rely on many kissing scenes or anything overtly sexual. And they also have these dynamics of Poor ML and Rich FL which one of the rare combinations in Cdramas. And it makes them so refreshing to watch.

Both of the leads are also really convincing in portraying a couple in love with all those expressions, tiny gentle gestures and their concern with each other. It’s the combination of acting as well as writing on how their love story, despite being brief in each episode, yet so unforgettable. Notice how the writer always interlaced their interactions with funny moments? That light, tender and funny moments add depth into their relationship and you can see the progression of their attraction to each other. And when Banxia explained to her friend why she loves Xuanye, it is because he makes her feel safe, you totally get it too since thats how he always been with her, even when they are strangers.

Plus, the lead has this calm chemistry that I really dig. He hesitates in confessing his feelings due to their status yet you can see how much he loves her in everything that he did. It’s in the little details on how he recognized it is not her with just one sentence when a puppet demon took her face and he also recognized her by touching her tiny lil hands even when her face is covered -- these little details that speaks thousands of words. She is demure and gentle yet she is assertive when it comes to him. She didn't hide her feelings and wore her feelings on sleeve that everyone can see them clearly.

And one of the aspects that I love about this drama is that they are written as pillars to each other. She is written as someone actively helping him and not someone that he constantly need to save or protect -- they are not written as weakness but strength to each other. When this kind of writing happen, you know you are watching a good story.

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Fast Moving Action Packed with Tons of Romance and Humor

When the drama concluded, I was very pleased with the ending. I thought all the beloved characters were safe and sound despite everything they had endured. But then, I started hearing complaints that the ending was AI-generated and completely altered the original story’s conclusion. This is unfortunate because the more I read about the original version, the more I prefer it. I wish the production team hadn’t made such dramatic changes to such an intriguing and lovely story.

This is a tale about demons and humans coexisting. Though it’s an action-packed adventure, it’s infused with humor and romance. I loved everything about this drama—the characters, the acting, the setting, and the cinematography. Even the CGIs were very well done and believable. The storytelling is impeccable, with intricate details and revelations that respect the audience’s intelligence.

The story unfolds in four main arcs: the Mirror Demon arc, the Puppet Demon arc, the Painting Demon arc, and finally, the "Who Am I" arc. Each arc is richly detailed, blending humor, Chinese folklore, and cultural elements. Most importantly, through these arcs, we see the romance between the main leads blossom and the characters grow. Each arc also explores a universal human fear and the lessons learned from it.

In the first arc, Banxia (played by Song Zu’er) is timid and unsure of herself. But by the final arc, she becomes strong and courageous. Though initially easily frightened due to her traumatic childhood, she’s never an annoying weakling—she stands up against injustice and helps the vulnerable. The Mirror Demon arc also delves into the fear of losing beauty with age, driving people to seek eternal youth—a deeply relatable human concern.

The second arc takes our characters to a scenic resort where everything is so tranquil that one could lose themselves in its lifestyle forever. It also explores society’s obsession with perfection, as the antagonist seeks the ideal human features—eventually fixating on Banxia. This arc exposes how the pursuit of perfection can lead to immorality and crime.

The third arc is about the Painting Demon. It creates a "Groundhog Day" scenario where people inside the painting live the same day over and over—never aging, never dying. This reflects humanity’s quest for immortality, but when viewed from the outside, seeing each day repeat endlessly, eternal life somehow becomes meaningless. It’s eerily similar to how we sometimes live our own lives, stuck in monotonous routines—only this time, we see it reflected in a painting.

The final arc poses a question we often ask ourselves: "Who am I?" If given a choice, what would we choose? This is Xuanye’s dilemma: Should he choose duty over love, leaving his beloved to suffer, or choose love and let the world fall into ruin? In the AI-generated ending, he picks duty, but in the original version, he finds a way to have both—love and the world.

In every arc, I love how Xuanye’s intelligence allows him to piece things together before the truth is revealed. And when he misses something, Banxia fills in the gaps. Their romance is subtle yet unmistakable—there’s no ego or pride between them. They’re honest with each other, openly expressing their displeasure and communicating their thoughts and desires.

Both Ren Jialun and Song Zu’er are seasoned actors. Though there’s an age gap (Ren Jialun is 36, while Song Zu’er is 26), Ren Jialun looks youthful enough to match Song Zu’er perfectly. Most importantly, their chemistry is amazing—especially Song Zu’er’s unapologetically bold demeanor with her co-star.

Final Thoughts
Right after the finale, I applauded the ending. I thought it was satisfying that Xuanye rewrote the story, undoing the deaths of beloved characters. But after reading viewers’ insights about the original ending, I started having second thoughts. As much as I didn’t want those characters to die, having Xuanye reverse everything in less than half an episode—especially with an AI-generated conclusion—feels messy and emotionally hollow. Now, I agree with many viewers: the story should have stuck to the original ending, keeping the tragic deaths but giving Banxia and Xuanye a better life together.

Action-packed, infused with humor and romance, great CGI and cinematography, stellar acting, well-developed characters.

Despite my mixed feelings about the ending, I still love this drama and highly recommend it to everyone.

Two thumbs up. A must-watch!

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