This is my favourite drama of all time so this review might be a little tiny bit biased…

STORY
I thought the story was so unique and the plot flowed well, I was never bored and I didn’t fast-forward through anything, everything seemed important. And events had so much build up and foreshadowing, nothing seemed to come out of nowhere.

ACTING/CAST
The acting was AMAZING! Bai Lu was perfect as Zhao Yao, I feel like she was born to play this role!! Same with Xu Kai, he made Mo Qing so warm and loving!! Bai Lu and Xu Kai have such great chemistry, all their scenes together didn’t feel forced or staged, everything seemed so natural.

Xiao Yan did such a good job playing both Zhi Yan AND Zhao Yao. She copied Bai Lu’s facial expressions really well. Dai Xu was really good too as Jiang Wu, he could be both hilarious and terrifying!!

MUSIC
I really love the music, especially the main song "Zhao Yao" by Chen Chu Sheng & Hu Sha Sha.

OTHER POINTS
The romance was done so perfectly with so many beautifully filmed OTP scenes, and the angst got you right in the heart! This show was also hilarious!! That whole "love letters by messenger crow" sequence still cracks me up! And all Zhao Yao’s failed attempts at murdering Mo Qing are so funny, especially when he knows what she’s up to! I think they balanced the humour with the angsty romance really well.

The director did such a good job and the fights scenes were amazingly choreographed. The CGI was really good too, especially in the scene were Mo Qing and Zhao Yao join forces to break that Demon Suppressor Formation.

The costumes and hair were beautiful, they were unique but not overdone. I really loved Zhao Yao’s superhero outfit and Mo Qing’s sect leader clothes all suited him really well! I love his blue hair so much!

The sets and props (especially the swords) were nice too, and the Red Stone Forest made for an interesting backdrop.

It was also great to see such strong female characters!! Zhao Yao and Shi Qi/Seventeen were such badass ladies and Zhao Yao helped Zhi Yan become stronger too. They had a woman in charge of the Secret Guard and some of the guards were also women. Even the villain Liu Su Ruo was calling a lot of the shots with the people in the Immortal Sects.

I also thought that all the advertising posters etc. that they released were really well done and it was clear that a lot of work and love had gone into them. I think the people who were in charge of the marketing and the running of the official Weibo page were definitely fans of the show too!

I guess my main little issues with the drama were the occasional bad editing and the over darkening of some “night scenes” (which had been filmed during the day hence the darkening), but those issues can be fixed with video editing software so I forgive you show!

REWATCH VALUE
I’ve re-watched so many scenes so many times from this show already. They weren’t even just the OTP scenes either, so many other scenes are so re-watchable as well, especially the fight scenes!

The best thing about this drama has to be Zhao Yao and Mo Qing’s love story. His devotion to her is just so beautiful and I love how he was always there for her no matter what, and eventually she was always there for him too. Watching Zhao Yao fall in love with him was so amazing, their relationship became so loving and supportive, I don’t even have a favourite OTP scene because all their scenes were so perfect!

If you like well written angsty romance dramas with a lot of humour then I would highly recommend you give this drama a try and maybe you’ll become as addicted to it as I am!! I’ve started reading the book too and I would highly recommend it as well, the (ongoing) English translation is here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series/ostentatious-zhao-yao/.