First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

As I have mentioned before, the promotional materials of this drama caught my attention! Bloody Romance (媚者无疆) is adapted from the novel written by Ban Ming Ban Mei and stars Li Yi Tong, Qu Chu Xiao, and Puff Kuo. Our heroine is sold to a brothel at the tender age of 16 where she’s tortured, assaulted, and treated like crap until she’s rescued and sent to a mysterious place. There she’s trained to become a top assassin!

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Previews. It started airing on 7/24!

  1. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    I think the first video is a fanvid. It used the same opening theme for Legend of Yunxi. But it’s a pretty song so I don’t mind listening to it~

    I watched the MV with Li Yitong’s song randomly on Youtube and thought this would be interesting to check out.

  2. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    everything about this drama did not sound like something I would not watch. even the title of the drama sounds depressing. I gave episode 1 a shot and now i’m up to episode 5. the pacing is extremely fast! i feel like it was must been the acting of the main actress that lead me so far into the drama. as someone who came in not knowing anything about the book, the storyline is really interesting so far. hopefully they’ll keep this pace all throughout 36 episodes. and hopefully it doesn’t get too depressing because i can’t watch sad dramas T^T

  3. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    This sounds quite a lot like the western movie Red Swallow.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      The heroine in Bloody Romance sounds more like the heroine in the 1966 Shaw Brothers ‘Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan”.

      • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

        I love the lesbian themed classic. I have yet to watch another that is similar in this century.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      Heroine being abducted and trained as assassin is nothing new especially in Hong Kong cinema in old days… I cannot remember the titles.. if not mistaken John woo film, another Maggie q Hong Kong movie.. etc.

  4. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    Watched the first 9 episodes and am really loving it so far.

    Li Yitong is quite comfortable to watch onscreen and it’s realistic how her character Wan Mei struggles with killing people in the earlier missions.

    Qu Chu Xiao is killing it as Chang An. This is how you portray a restrained character without being expressionless. I didn’t find him handsome at first but he is really becoming more attractive as the drama progresses.

    I love the relationship between Wan Mei and Chang An. It’s bittersweet as their survival figuratively and literally depends on each other.

    Puff Kuo isn’t in much of the drama, maybe she’ll feature more in later eps though. Her first appearance was cool though and she’s smarter than she seems.

    Another main character is Gong Zi. I was shipping him with his follower Yue Ying but then *minor spoilers* 一眼萬年 happens. The scenes showing his past/memories are done in the same animation style as the opening theme, and works really well.

    The colour grading feels right for wuxia, the fight scenes are pretty decent and the BGMs are nice. Also love the opening theme song by Tia Ray (her emotional voice & the lyrics in the chorus!).

    Can’t wait til the next eps!

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      where are you watching? No subs?

      • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

        Yep watching without subs. I ended up downloading some of the episodes but looks like it’s back on dailymotion (via maplestage).

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          I read this drama will be airing in 13 countries! I hope that means subs so everyone can watch. \o/

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      I’m up to Ep15 so far and I agree with most of your comment. Wan Mei’s survival will is insanely strong. I am looking forward to her crossing over to the dark side. And, I hope she will torture Chang An on her way down. Evil laugh….
      Gong Zi, oh, my Gong Zi! I really enjoy watching him because we can never be quite sure what he will do. Does he care for Wan Mei? Maybe. Or maybe he is saving her for some other nefarious plans of his. It’s hard to tell with him.

  5. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    I pretty much concur with most of the positive comments so far. I’m finding myself hooked with this show despite knowing nothing about the source material. The pacing for the first couple of episodes is fast, but it gets straight to the point. Thematically because the characters works as assassins the show does get under your skin at times, I’m shocked at some of the things they show (specifically “that” scene from episode 4). And though it is primarily a romance drama the main leads chemistry has better pacing than most wuxia I’ve seen of late.

  6. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    I wasn’t expecting much but found myself in love after just one episode! This has definitely been the best first episode that I’ve seen in years from dramas, and the chemistry between Chang An and Wan Mei is INSANEEEE! No more wooden faces – these two actually know how to express their more complicated emotions. There also doesn’t seem to have dubbing, and their natural voices are so much nicer. The pace is nice and the color schemes/set designs are really aesthetically pleasing. Up to episode 9 now and I cannot wait for more!

  7. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    After a strict diet of idol dramas this one was a shock to the system.I very much like the opening theme 🙂 Veeery unusual, so far in a good way. When you don’t have pretty colours and shinny sets, you can rely on actors’ performances, appropriate atmosphere and good writing. This drama has the first two, the third one – not so much. The only serious complaints I have up to ep. 09 are that the plot is thinner than toilet paper and the cartoony villains. We’ll see how those develop but I don’t have much hope for great improvement.

  8. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    The colours in this drama are gorgeous! Also I was wincing at all their creative torture/murder methods

    I wonder how Wan Mei is going to rise up in the assassin ranks since she doesn’t seem able to kill anyone at crucial moments? There are only so many ways in which one can complete missions without (intentionally) killing people…

  9. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    just finished first episode, and was amazing!!!! Loving so far.

  10. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    This is such an unexpected gem, I had my eyes set on Li Yitong but she really excelled my expectations. She’s expressive in a very natural way, great chemistry with QCX. I’m praying for a happy ending for CA & WM, everything thus far is so bittersweet.

    Someone do me a favour and spoil the ending (in spoilers), does the main CP get their deserved happy ending in the novel. My lack of reading skills in Chinese is frustrating plus the weekly updates are toooooo slow. This deserves a massive budget and daily broadcast.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      In the end Wan Mei decided to challenge Cha Luo and kill her by killing herself. Chang An in order to save her beloved attempted to kill the leader but failed. He was jailed and suffered horrible punishment. He managed to persuade Xing Feng to teach him a method by which he can transfer his power to Wan Mei so that she can defeat her enemy. And the lady with his help made it. But she was told by Xing Feng that her love died because of loss of power and too much suffering. Wan Mei lamented and missed him. She held a fan made of Chang An’s skin, on which a poem was written with his blood. Actually the poem hinted that he was safe in An Ding, a place in Liang Zhou.

      Although Wan Mei didn’t realize at that moment, we believe that she will find out the truth! And also we believe Chang an will definitely come back to her when he recovers.

      • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

        I hope Chang An is dead as I don’t want him in the show. He is not attractive and does not paired well with wan mei. I think wan mei should be with Gong Zi because their chemistry are intense when they are together while chang an and wan mei’s chemistry does not resonates. Viewers will root for Chang An amd Chang Mei but I don’t have the same feeling because their feelings towards each other does not feel realistic. So please kill off Chang An so wan mei and gong zi can develop their love – I find wan mei and gong zi’s feelungs foe each other similar to the movie Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          Well, Wan Mei never loved Gong Zi. She knows that he only treats her as a tool for his success. He never sees her as equal. But Chang An respects her, understands her, and gives her freedom. Even if Chang An died, Wan Mei will not love Gong Zi…

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          Well, this is not Mr and Mrs Smith. And Spoiler Alert :

          Wan Mei keeps on being loyal to Chang An until epi 36

  11. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    I started the drama later than everyone else who has commented here, but I want to share my love for it! Thanks to the rave reviews, or I would’ve skipped it otherwise. I’m up to ep 20 — with English sub only up to ep 13 at the moment — so I must’ve missed a lot of details watching the raw episodes. Strong points are like many above have mentioned: fast pace, strong acting of the main leads, and the use of animation to narrate background or bridge scenes. I’ll add the decent martial choreography and beautiful musical score. The opening theme song and the background music is melancholic fitting. As for plots — I find them quite interesting. There have not been a lot of fillers, some flashbacks are either to explain or to support the gloomy mood. So far so good.

    My complaints will be the cringey CGI, the one-dimension main villain and [SPOILER] Wan Mei in the beginning, being characterized as a plucky sunshiney girl, after all the harshness she had to endure prior to being recruited, which to me isn’t too believable. And how did she get away with all those rejections to kill???

    I’m also worried that Puff Kuo’s character doesn’t show anything else but merely being an ally of Chu Luo. I hope there will be more layers to it. Can I say that watching Li Zifeng in two dramas, including this one, just confirms me that he is a one-note actor? Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any charisma either despite the good look 🙁

    Like a lot of BR watchers, I love the interaction between Wan Mei and Chang An. IMO the writing for Chang An’s character is quite weak compared to Wan Mei’s and Ning Gong Zi’s. The saving factor is Chu Quxiao’s fantastic portrayal. I reckon this is his first leading role? The kid has talent! I agree with the comment above that he manages to show a restricted character without being expressionless — better than many actors his senior. Seeing them together, I can’t help but think that these two could be Guo Jing and Huang Rong, just because Chu Quxiao has some resemblance to Li Yapeng :D.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      Oh, I completely forgot one thing: Li Yitong is SUPERB. She definitely excelled my expectations too. While she’s a little too cutesy for my taste in the beginning, she successfully delivers her character’s growth. I really enjoy her performance in ep 13 onward, showing Wan Mei’s real survival efforts, all the pain she has.

      I also love that the lead actors use their own voice. I read elsewhere that the drama used on-site dialog recording, although it’s clear some of them were dubbed.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      Chang An is not suited nor grest paired with Wan Mei. He is not attractive thus I find it annoying that the director would even cast him as one of the lead. It is not realistic that a girl like Wan Mei would fall someone like Chang An, I am shallow so I picked the Prince. Viewers can disagree with me but I am rooting for the prince ning. He played his diabolical charater perfectly. Koodos to Wang Duo!

      • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

        Indeed, at first sight Chang An looks comely. But as the show progresses, he is more and more attractive. Gong Zi is wealthy and mighty, but he never shows pure love and commitment to Wan Mei. Although Chang An has nothing and is nobody, he gives all he has to his love. His pure heart makes him the lead.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          …You’re welcome to pick the comely unattractive Chang An. Love??? Oh please… Unconditionally love – I highly doubt that. Chang An use Wan Mei as a tool the same way as Gong Zi did. Chang An was going to die anyway and without Wan Mei, he will be executed because his previous master died under his watch so Wan Mei is his last breat of air to survive. Wan Mei is just attached to Vhang An because it is the first guy who do everything for hee. The first love syndrome if you will. You don’t see any flaws in the guy. Beside Chang An is technically a married man. He is betrothed to the Xie’s family daughter thereby makes him a married man. Gong Zi on the other hands have immense feelings for wan mei and he too have done everything for her. So why can’t anyone see his good gestures instead of judging his kindness as malice intent??? True, gong zi actions is questionable but he always ensure Wan Mei’s safety at the end; this speaks volumes if you ask me. All and all Bloody Romance is a nice drama but they need to pair the actors accordingly. This is my personal view . Case close.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          In the beginning, Chang An indeed takes advantage of her. But afterwards he doesn’t. He is not betrothed to Xie Ying. I was wondering whether the translation has errors. But it is apparent that Chang An is merely obliged to take care of her. No marriage apart from that. His promise to her is merely about loyalty, gratitude, not love.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          Well, the drama is indeed about an unconditional love, in case you dont understand. And not all girls in the world choose a handsome guy. Instead, they choose people whom they feel comfort with.

          And Wan Mei is loyal until the end.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          @Rebecca, I just read your post. So he is not bethroted to Ruan Ying?? So that’s a translation issue?

          Thanks!

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          Chang An is not betrothed to Ruan Niang (or Xie Ying)!!! Her father asked him to protect her. Since he is indebted to the family, he felt obliged to take care of her. But that’s it. No more. His promise to Xie Ying is only taking revenge and helping her revitalising her family. Oh no, what a big error here!! How can the translator make such a mistake!

  12. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    I’m in love with this drama and the OST is so different and sad and awesome

  13. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    @Nana. I like to poiny out that Chang An loves to make promises. He promised to be at Wan Mei’s side forever but please watch the series again and you will see thst he also made that same bloody promise to his betrothed wife. He said if he comes back alive from saving Wan Mei he will come back and be with her? Wow! Such loyalty. His bethrothed wife’s family died for him – where is is honor to stand up for her and her family? Gong Zi never promised Wan Mei anything except that his feelings for her is true. She let’s her choose her path too and willingly even if it hurts him immensely. I trust that his love is true for wan mei whether viewers agrees or not. Anyhow, the ending wasn’t to my liking because…I didn’t get what I want in the finale.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      If you watched carefully, he made promise to bring back the glory of Xie family. Watch again *lol*

      Gongzi never promised Wan Mei. Whu should he? She doesnt even love him 😛

      • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

        @Nana, Did you watched the episode where Chang An was describing his betrothed wife to be to Wan Mei. He told Wan Mei his wife-to-be is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Wan Mei did not like that statement or confession from Chang An. It is in my opinion that Chang An indeed did love his betrothed wife-to-be. Can we judge Wan Mei as Homewrecker? She know he has a woman in his heart and yet she blocked that out so she can keep him. This action is something that most girls would do. Play the game or shall I say stealing someone’s man? Of course, viewers who likes wan mei and chang an will negate and dismiss their behaviours perhaps condone it. It is to my understanding that in ancient time once a person is betrothed they are bound by that commitment hence I find the love story subpar and unrealistic. I just cannot withstand the bullshits between Chang An and Wan Mei. She obviously demonstrated that she is power hungry . She have ample of times to leave but she didn’t. She is no different than Gong Zi. At least Gong Zi made it obvious of his intent. Wan mei did not pick Gong Zi because she knows he is not a whimp and be pussy whipped like Chang An. Yes Gong Zi loves Wan Mei but he knows where he stands which makes him admirable. I said my piece.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          @Cleopatra, I did watch that episode. He explained about the other beautiful girl in his mind, after Wan Mei asking him about it. He was being honest that there was another beautiful girl in his mind.

          One of things that I found lacking in this drama is they didnt explore more about Chang An’s story in the 2nd half of the drama. For example, they didnt explain more about his relationship with Ruan Niang. Your theory about Wan Mei being a homewrecker is a possibility that could happen, but what if he was betrothed to Ruan Niang without them having any feelings at all? Admitting to think about a beautiful girl doesnt always mean that he loves her, you know. 

          In epi 13, he clearly stated that he was Ruan Niang’s groom but he chose Wan Mei. He literally beg Ruan Niang to let him go. That’s all the clues that we have on their ‘engagement’. In the later episodes, she never mentioned about it again, as if she has forgotten about it.
          Another weird thing is when Ruan Niang confronted Wan Mei and asked her to let go of Chang An. She didnt use any engagement issue at all. She only used Chang An’s origin and suffering to make Wan Mei let him go.

          In epi 17 (IIRC), she showed a letter to Chang An which stated that he was a son of Princess Taiping and he could choose whether he would take the role (that is to become the Emperor) or not. Why didnt she let him choose, like what the letter said? Why should she keep on pushing him to be one, despite knowing that he was reluctant to do that? Has she ever thought about what’s best for Chang An or what he really wanted? Instead, she reminded him about “owing a life toward not one, but all 36 lives of the Xie family that died protecting him”. She continued on making him feeling guilty until the end.

          So according to what I’ve seen in the drama, I think I can assume, at least, 2 possibilites about the ‘engagement’, or whatever it was. First, it was a relationship that was built out of obligation from Chang An’s side. There was no love there, and I’m not even talking about chemistry, but the way they treated each other. It’s no secret that Chang An really loves The Xie’s grandfather(father? Forgot), and that could also be his reason to approve his engagement.

          Secondly, let’s say that there was indeed love between them at first. That love has surely gone when she showed up in the drama. What kind of ‘love’ it is, when she never even let Chang An choose what was best for his life (even if she is supposed to support his decision, like what the letter said)? All that she cares about is the Xie family revenge and the glory of Empress Wu.

          So, I believe that whatever relationshop between them has been settled in good terms from both sides. Like I said, she never even mentioned it again and didnt even look sad about it. If the girl herself doesnt make a fuss about it anymore, then why should I consider it as something serious?

          That’s my take. Yes, I’m also using my assumptions there, but that’s all the clues that we’ve got from the drama. It’s okay if you think that I’m making an excuse here, but you are using assumptions too.

          About why she didnt choose the Prince, like I said before, it’s about which one that she loved and trusted more. There’s no doubt that Chang An wanted to protect her, but the Prince sometimes made sacrifices for her (refusing to kill her etc) , but later didnt care is she is in danger (epi 34-35). If I was Wan Mei, then how could I be sure that he would protect me forever and wouldnt sacrifice me for some bigger plan that he had??? OTOH, in Chang An’s case, if he felt that he couldnt protect her, then he would prefer to let her go.

          And I dont understand why Wan Mei is as grey as the Prince. He planned to spread plague to an entire city for revenge. No mater how smart that was, or even if people argue that “it was to bring down the bad guys”, how about the rest of the citizens who didnt understand anything?? Wan Mei has been trying hard to minimize the number of victims, there’s no denying about that. And Chan Luo was crazy. Even Xing Feng gave up on her.

          Anyway, whatever I’ve said about the Prince, that doesnt mean that I dont think of him as a great character. He is smart, cunning and he has great story (him vs YQY, wow! ). But I dont think him as a good pair for Wan Mei. Instead, I found his scene with Yue Ying as touching, when he said that,”Wan Mei was right. There are more people who really care about me” while looking at Yue Ying. There you go, Prince! So it’s a pity when he finally lost her.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          Regarding the plague, woops..I guess I made my own conclusion. Scrap that, please

          I noticed that Prince and Yue Ying was planning something about the plague, but Yue Ying planted in Wan Mei instead. I made a conclusion that they planned to use other people, before Yue Ying made her own moves. I still need to confirm whether it was right or not though.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      If you watched carefully, he made promise to bring back the glory of Xie family. Watch again *lol*

      Gongzi indeed never promised anything Wan Mei. Why should he? She doesnt even love him 😛

      • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

        @nana Watch the drama again and we shall have a round table discussion about your chang an obsession versus my man prince ning.

        • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

          I dont have to argue more about anything *lol*. I watch and discuss about a drama for fun. If you choose to stick to your opinion, then it’s your right. I dont have to convince you to agree with me. I’m done here, I’ve stated all my points.

          So let’s just agree to disagree :p

  14. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    @Nana, thank you for indepth elaboration of BR and each lead characters. We defend our heroine based on how relateable the characters are to us and how it resonates. I chose Gong Zi because it is my opinion that he and Wan Mei’s life so polarising. One was born a peasant with no love while the other (gong zi) was born in wealth but suffered the same fate as wan mei’s in terms of parental love – which are none. Gong Zi was feelings was gravitated towards wan mei because he understood her pain in essence of parental negelection and love.

    Gong zi is not a bad person, he did everything in his power to survive as Wan Mei did. He made no illusions that he was doing it in the goodness of his heart but to live. His tactics may seems evil and callous but if ge doesnt kill these people. They will kill him. Wan mei, initially was a pawn but there are numerous times she can leave but never did. Why? She has her motives, be it her dying love for Chang An or to be the leader of Gui mun, she obviously chose the later even sacrifice Chang An. He died because of her, she could have left and not fight with cha luo but she did thereby got Chang An to come back to help her. Based on this I fing Wan Mei’s ambitions parallels Gong Zi. Power is addicting…. Even Gong Zi personal guard/maid knows hence she left him to marry his brother. For all we know, yue ying had this in mind all along, she could be the ultimate mastermind in this whole scheme that even gong zi was blindsided or…. This could be de ja vu again whereby history repeat itself like how gong zi’s mother married the first emperor to help Tai fu. My take of course 😊.

  15. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    @nana Sorry for the typos, typing with long finger nails is very difficult. It is always envigorating and educational to be able to understand others outlooks and inner perspectives on how ones interpret a story/drama.

  16. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    BR end is lack lustre and unrealistic in terms of the main character feelings for her shadow. It comes close to an obsession if you will. Her feelings is what we modern medicine would call attachment. Wan Mei’s love for Chang An is merely an attachment. This Attachment is where ones feel the need of talking to this person, you need to feel happy, you need to feel loved. You become heavily dependent upon your partner (in this case her shadow) and may even try to control him to avoid abandonment. Instead of confronting your own issues, you use your partner to improve your self-esteem and fill a void within you. You believe that they are responsible for your happiness and become frustrated and angry if they fail to bring you contentment.

    While Love itself does not need all that. It’s impulsive, it’s unreasonable. In actuality, love transcends control. Your partner’s ability to accept you for who you are and encourage you to pursue your dreams allows you to let go of your fear and become the best versions of yourselves. This is what Gong Zi taught Wan Mei. This is love

  17. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    BR end is lack lustre and unrealistic in terms of the main character feelings for her shadow. It comes close to an obsession if you will. Her feelings is what we modern medicine would call attachment. Wan Mei’s love for Chang An is merely an attachment. This Attachment is where ones feel the need of talking to this person, you need to feel happy, you need to feel loved. You become heavily dependent upon your partner (in this case her shadow) and may even try to control him to avoid abandonment. Instead of confronting your own issues, you use your partner to improve your self-esteem and fill a void within you. You believe that they are responsible for your happiness and become frustrated and angry if they fail to bring you contentment.

    While Love itself does not need all that. It’s impulsive, it’s unreasonable. In actuality, love transcends control. Your partner’s ability to accept you for who you are and encourage you to pursue your dreams allows you to let go of your fear and become the best versions of yourselves. This is what Gong Zi taught Wan Mei. This is love, love that resonates and is not demanding, not desperate and less self-centered — it’s where you just feel like you need help them understand their full potential even though they don’t know it themselves.

    Now… Why do I think that Wan Mei’s feelings for Chang An is not true but just merely attachment? Attachment is where you become self-centered. You tend to feed your needs with these particular things. And people are not an exception. We tend to get attached to people because of how they let us feel. We always believe that we like or we are supposedly in love with this particular person when in fact we are simply attached to them. You’re not in love with this particular person, you love how they always make you feel. This is why the term “giddy” or in Filipino, “kilig”, is usually used in terms of these kind of situations. As I’ve read many articles regarding psychology, our subconscious minds are driven to people who have common perception and interests with us which is usually the trouble with many relationships. We usually pursue relationships with people because we are comfortable with them and so it drives us to stay. Which is the whole context of attachment. We stay because we feel appreciated, we get attention, we feel special, we feel giddy, we get complimented, we feel encouraged which is usually drawn to becoming self-centered. We are trying to feed our needs. And we usually need attention and we love being in this kind of state. Attachment is a need for someone to fill a void in your life or in your self esteem. Which is why it feels sickening to have this person away from you because you tend to feel lonely without them around — and again, it’s about you concerning with what you’ll feel without them. Like I said, attachment.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      Samsara, similar comment here about Wan Mei’s “mere attachment” to Chang An has been responded very well by @Nana before (I’ll copy her). In epi 30 something, Ruan Niang confronted Wan Mei, asking her to let go of Chang An. She said something like,”You fell for him just because he helped you at your worst times, when you needed someone to lean on. It could by anyone, it doesnt have to be him”. Wan Mei answered that she was right,”It could be anyone. But, that anyone turned out to be Chang An”. In other words, Wan Mei understands who she is and knows how she feels about others. Regardless of how the feelings start, both Wan Mei and Chang An act similarly: they both want the best for each other and they are willing to sacrifice themselves for one another. After Ruan Niang tells Wan Mei that by staying by her side Chang An loses his future as a king, Wan Mei decides to let Chang An go. At another point, Chang An tells Wan Mei that after he finishes his duty and if he is still alive, he will look for Wan Mei. Wan Mei may wait for him if she wants to, but she may not wait for him as well. He just wants her to be happy and content with her life, and does what she likes to do. To me, this is the perfect example of true love, because it’s not possessive. Now, you’re talking about the ending of the drama. So if Wan Mei loses the love of her life, she’s not allowed to grieve? I don’t see that as an obsession at all. If that’s the case, my mom and I, still missing my dad after he passed away for 3 years, can be called “obsessed” and “emotionally attached” too.

  18. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    @lenje, how can you compare your father’s absence to Wan Mei’s? You are blood bound while Wan Mei is not. She is mourning the loss of her slave, her shadow; someone she’s grown attached to. Do you think for one second if wan mei did not encountered chang an first she would not develop the same feelings towards Gong Zi? I can honestly tell you she will – this is a phenomenal bestowed on human. We are prone to latch on to whoever, we deemed good to us or treats us good. In this case, wan mei’s emotional attachment with Chang An because she is always with him, I would dare to think her feelings towards Chang An is assimilar to the “Stockholm syndrome”. Stockholm syndrome is a syndrome that is gained during being kidnapped. You begin to gain positive feelings for that person usually of the opposite sex. The main reason for obtaining Stockholm Syndrome is the kidnapper (chang An) telling the captor (wan mei) that he will not kill her but assist her on her needs and be there for her.

    The captor (Wan mei) begins to feel grateful and think of them as a good person or even start to gain feelings for their kidnapper (Chang An) not wanting to be rescued. In the case, wan mei is so attached with wan mei, even when chang an let her go/escape, she came back. @lenje, in closing, We as the viewers see what we want to see; interpret our heroines according to how we feel and see. You have your reasons why you believes that your interpretation/theotry is right while I have mine.

    • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

      I can’t believe I’m defending fictional characters — guess this shows how I am… obsessed with the drama (pun intended).

      I can compare my own situation with this fictional one because the basic is the same: it’s about the people we love. Wan Mei isn’t merely mourning the loss of her slave, she is mourning the loss of her LOVE. Others may call her feelings towards Chang An anything; but what Wan Mei herself claims that she loves Chang An. What if Wan Mei didn’t meet Chang An first but Gongzi, will she fall in love with Gongzi? Probably. In the very same conversation she has with Ruan Niang, when she underlines that she loves Chang An, she also acknowledges that she might have fallen for Chang An because he helped him in her worst time, and it could’ve been anyone else, but regardless it happened to be Chang An. I’m not sure how you dismiss what Wan Mei herself says, but I guess it’s convenient to mold the “facts” into what suit you. Also, the fact that the writers make Chang An the love interest of Wan Mei. Anyway, like you said, everyone has the right to believe whatever they like to believe.

      • 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

        LOL ..

        I hope this should be the last time I post about this topic. In my case, no mater how you call the feeling, whether it is ‘love’, ‘attachment’, ‘obsessions’, or whatever, I and some women wants a guy whom I trus and feel comfortable with, a guy who loves me and willing to do anything for me, who lets me grow while still guides/lends me a hand me when I need him, a guy who is willing to protect me with his might while I protect him too, a guy who wont just sit around when I’m in danger. That’s the guy I want, and that’s what Wan Mei wants. If other women want a guy other than that, then they can have him *LOL*. It’s a mater of choice.

  19. 49 thoughts on “First Impression: What do you think of Li Yi Tong’s Bloody Romance?

    @linje, to each is its own. You can be resolute to your theory while I have mine. I don’t have to mold my opinion as I don’t live in the fantasy world like you do therefore, I cannot apathize with yours nor do I empathize with Chang An and Wan Mei’s nonsensical love. I do, however, believe the writer achieved his goal to gives us viewers a narrative platform hence these debates.

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