The Xianxia Hall of Fame (Ep. 175)

0:00 Hello and welcome back to the Tea and Soju podcast drama Trio Edition, where three friends chat Asian dramas and let you in to that chatter. I'm your host, Liliana. I'm Jess. And I'm Caitlin. And in today's episode, we are going to be doing a Hall of Fame on the genre of Shyanshya. But just before we get into the episode, some housekeeping. If you like the podcast, please like, share and subscribe on the platform you listen on.

0:29 That really helps the podcast to each other listeners. For more content, check out Patreon where you can find behind the scenes, first impressions, Zoom meetups and more. Finally, if you would like to chat to me or find a community, check out Discord, Instagram and other socials. The link is in the episode and notes. Sorry guys, how are you both?

0:50 How have you been? What have you been doing? I'm doing well. I was just with you yesterday. We recorded the Pursuit of Jade episode and so how am I doing and what am I watching is pretty much the same. But I will say I have a very busy weekend because tomorrow I was like, oh, it's Sunday. I can go to church and I can come back and wash my car. No, I can't wash my car.

1:14 I can't settle in and kind of reset do the Sunday reset because I have a baby shower to go to tomorrow. And I'm. Like, Oh my gosh, that's good. It's on the clear other side of town too. So it's almost like I have to get up, put a face on, you know, put, put, put bond, put a real bra on and the whole thing.

1:36 So I I'm serious, I'm dead serious. I'm like, oh Dang, that's gonna like take the whole day up. Not the whole day, but you understand, like that's. The yeah, it'll be a big chunk of it. Yeah, it'll be several hours anyway, so that's what I got going on this weekend. Plus the three podcast recordings is the second one. I am really, really excited.

1:56 I have been living it up for the podcast recordings and as far as what I've been watching, as I said on the pursuit of Jade episode, I'm currently watching Love between lines. I'm on episode 23 out of 28. Me and Caitlin are doing a review over on no sleeper dramas. So that'll be coming up in a in a few weeks.

2:17 And I have to like lock in. I have no notes for that and I'll take an awesome. Notes. I'm watching affinity. I'm on 14 out of 20, No 14 out of 40. 40 Affinity. I can't with AI, literally cannot deal with affinity. It's so awful. And then I am watching. What about you? Oh the Princess Royal, which I did watch a couple more episodes last night. I think I'm on up to episode 10-9 or 10 so feeling pretty good about it.

2:50 The political stuff is starting to annoy me. I only get like that is the whole point of the show. And that's, that's what I'm gathering. I'm gathering that it's less about them kind of fixing their misunderstandings and restarting their relationship and more about like them overcoming the political stuff.

3:07 And that is what's irking me about the show. We'll see if I finish, end up finishing it. But you know, everyone's beautiful. I, I love the production and everything. It's beautiful. And then I'm watch a few more episodes of Monarch, Legacy of Monsters, because Caitlin. I wanna watch that show so much I have not watched it.

3:26 The fun fact I, we didn't know as a family that my dad had been paying for Apple TV plus for like over a month. So we, we were like, we went ape shit. So now we're watching Monarch legacy of monsters on Apple TV and it's it starts Anna Sawaii from, you know, Mariko Sama from Shogun. So she's great speaking both Japanese and English a lot in the show, a lot of subtitles in the show because it's literally world very global of a of a cast global of a show. Really cool.

3:58 I love monsters. I love Kaiju sumi. I think season 2 stars a couple other of the Shogun people. Oh, really? OK, I think so. There's a there's a guy actor in there, an older man I want to say isn't Shogun as well, but I can't remember his name. Yes, so I'm very much enjoying that show and then I've watched one episode of Severance and it is really confusing.

4:22 It's a brain twister and I'm willing to keep watching it. I know that it's quite well regarded. I I don't know if I'll finish Severance, but one episode down. I I think it's several seasons to go. But yeah, I think there's like 6, maybe 7, something like. That forget I said anything about service.

4:45 OK, Caitlin. What about you, Caitlin? Well, I'm almost done with The Mirage. It is surprisingly good. I like keep getting impressed by this show even though it's like very low budget but the story is very unique and like I there's nothing really I can compare it to. I don't even know what genre it is honestly because this was like it's like a mix between Wusha, Shansha and sci-fi all in one.

5:16 OK. But I I'm very much surprised by this. I'm not surprised by the score on Dope Band because it's still like a 99.1 something like. Oh my gosh, nearly got a perfect score on Dope Band. Yeah, it's impressive because there's like no traffic actors in this whatsoever. Wow. Yeah, Yeah. Anyway, I'm almost done with that. I'm almost done with Culinary War season 2. I'm obsessed with that show.

5:46 I love that show. Is it? What's up? What's up with your cat? That cat just made the weirdest noise. I don't know what that was. You usually really chill about whatever cat's doing in the background, but the fact you were like. She was like turning around. She's playing, singing. So the Sammy, the YouTube, I know I've talked to you about this.

6:20 She's a YouTube that I've kind of become friends with. We each watch her like our channels, whatever. And so she was like in the comments of one of her videos, we were just talking about the dramas. We were talking and she's like Caitlin, you would love Girl From Nowhere, which is a Thai drama.

6:40 It has two seasons on Netflix. And then there's a reboot that just happened like within the last month and 1/2, which is why we started talking about this. And I have been wanting to watch this show for years. Like it's been out since like 20/17/2018, something like that. And so I finally clicked play on it. It is, I do not know what this girl is, but she's not human basically.

7:07 And she basically is like she's. Is she on the planet? Nowhere I think. She's Satan. I think that that is my. That's like my. Theory right now your guess. Or like a demon or something. No be I've only seen the first episode and it's like all the trigger warnings like all the it's like a semi horror show, but it's basically apparently it's about this girl I.

7:32 Thought it was like a citizen thing but I don't know it's not. OK. It's like, I don't know where she basically. Goes into these high schools and weeds out the bad apples. Like like there's something going on in the high school and she reveals it and then leaves the school like she's done. And then she goes on to another school and does it. So like the first episode was there was this creepy male teacher doing something and then she slowly revealed what he was doing and then everything got exposed by the end and she does this like maniacal laugh and then walks away. It is so good and very well acted but it is like the darkest.

8:19 All the trigger warnings possible, but yes, yeah. So that's what. And then of course I'm also watching like Taxi Driver, which is also. Like. Really dark. And really violent. I finally started season 3. I'm finally watching some K dramas after four months, so I'm watching 2. So yeah, I'm just all over the place. Along with trying to finish like Love Between Lines and Pursue of J yeah.

8:47 My list is extremely tidy, extremely tidy like I am down to probably after tonight I'll probably be down to two shows. That's my now. Who are you? I don't know. I don't know. I've been tired and nothing is capturing my attention and pursuit of jade happen. OK. And now it's like, luckily I don't have to be watching anything. Well, actually I'm going to start Princess hours. I think that's what I'm going to do and just get ahead of time and like get it watched his life because like I'll get busy closer to the time so I might as well watch it and like take notes and watch my older.

9:36 Drama. It's really quiet in April. April tends to not necessarily be a really good C drama month anyways. It tends to be a quiet to see drama month. I should really go and check out Rebirth, but I haven't yet. Yeah, it's a lot mixed. And a lot of the mixed things is one of the things that I was fearing, which is the female actress is very young and she was 17. She was 17 when she filmed this when Louie and Ray was 2728. This epidemic of, I'm sorry, I need to leave this here, but this epidemic of young actresses trying to play older female actresses with it's just look, it's just one of those things. But apparently she does feel very young in the role, taking into account that this role that

10:37 she is representing belonged to. Oh my God, what is the name of the actress they look? Very similar. What is her name? Well. I mean she played the younger version of her in Princess Agents. It's the same actress of the younger version. Yeah, but I mean, the female lead. Yeah. So it's Ally ING. Yeah.

11:01 That's, you know, who she's whose shoes she has to fill, Let's put it that way. But yeah, look, I I get it. I need to go in. I just need to go in and check it out myself. Carol tapped out and I'm like, oh. No. I trust Carol's judgment, but I need to go in and check it out myself. And you know, just see, I'm watching Love Beyond the Grave. It's OK.

11:30 Like it feels, it feels disconnected. The story feels disjointed and that's bugging me. Everything looks really good, but the story itself feels a little bit disconnected. Taxi Driver season 2. I'm watching that, but I'm watching it with my partner, so that usually takes us a little while. I am watching a Japanese drama called Light of My Lion and that has been a surprising watch for me.

12:01 I randomly picked it up on Netflix and I'm actually enjoying it way more than I thought I would. I that's the one I'll finish tonight because I've only got like 2 episodes left, so I think I'll definitely finish that one. But yeah, it's just been a bit dry in trauma land for me right now and I want to try. Is it perfect Crown?

12:21 Yeah. So. Oh. Yeah, we. Were so we were recording pursuit yeah so yesterday by the time you guys listen to this this will all be very much over and done with but this will be all water under the bridge. But I think it's always cool to like get a little snapshot of where we were at when we recorded all these things.

12:43 But after we recorded Pursuit of Jade last, I, it wasn't that like I think it was like 9:00 for me by the time we finished. And so I went out like I had something to eat and I was like, I'm going to try and watch a little bit of perfect Crown. I kid you not, I woke up, you know? Well, with episode 1 finished, no recollection of anything past five minutes. Episode 1.

13:11 So I don't know. I don't know if I was just very tired or if it's the show. Hopefully I was just tired. Tired. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm going to try that again tonight. Wow. After we finished recording, and hopefully, because what happened is likely what happened, slept through the whole thing, the whole thing.

13:33 And I was like, how? Longer episodes? Aren't episodes really long for? This one, the episode 1 was one hour 13 so it's not cheaper. OK. I can deal with that. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can deal with that if they start clocking up, I heard. Rumors. I heard rumors they're going to be longer than the other in the like further on.

13:54 I could be wrong, it might just be. Rumors. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the Yeah, I'm not Yeah situation. All right. That makes me want to fall asleep even more. Yeah. Right. Should we get into this? Let's do it. So, and before we get into choices and whatnot, before we actually get into the Hall of Fame part of the episode, I thought it would be, yeah, interesting. And I went a little bit haywire because I did did go a bit into detail about what Shiancha was.

14:30 And I actually was speaking to Haley about it because, look, there's only so much you can get online. And I was like, can you please just direct translate this for me? Can you make sure that, you know, I have the best description that I can have access to? So Shiancha combines Xian which means immortal hero and Shia martial art hero.

14:56 So it combines Wushia with an immortal setup. Strictly speaking, Xian Shia is human cultivation into immortality. For example, the Immortal Ascension which is a Yang Yang drama from 2025. Yeah. Which is getting a season 2 apparently. You are joking. Do you know what? Do you know what I will say?

15:22 I will say I will say it's his best role that I have seen ever out of everything that I have watched him in, because he actually plays this kind of like fun, upbeat, very, you know, different kind of character for him. Yeah. Beach. That was the word that came to mind. So So yeah, that I actually really I actually liked him in that show. So yeah.

15:52 So that show is the actual strict description of Immortal of no no, of Xiancha. So the heavenly stories are just Xian. So when we say Xiancha, we just as Western of what? Well, I'm not speaking for the whole of the Western community. For me, I thought it was a whole word, but it's actually 2 separate.

16:16 Yeah, it's two separate things. So the Xian part is the like heavenly stories. And what Haley described to me was that. However, overtime, it has become widely accepted that the Xian dramas have become part of the Xiancha genre. So initially the Xiancha genre was just humans cultivating into immortality.

16:44 So actually, a lot of the very popular Xiantra dramas weren't Xiantra dramas at all, but over time, yeah, they were just Shen. But they have over time just been encompassed in Shanter itself. So what is? Yeah, yeah. I think it has just become a bit more diluted. It's rooted in Chinese mythology and folklore, but at its core, xianxia draws heavily from Taoist ideas such as Qi, which is vital energy cultivation, which is self perfection through training and the doubt, with the ultimate goal of transcending mortality.

17:29 So it's always about reaching that immortality status. While often used interchangeably, Xiangshu differs from Wu Shia in its focus on immortality and supernatural cultivation, and from Shan. Cultivation. Exactly. And from Shuan Huan in its grounding in Taoist philosophy and Chinese cosmology. So this is like what separates the three because like when people speak of the three big genres, it's Wu, Shia, Shancha and Shuan Huan.

18:05 Whoosh here is about mortal heroes just threading through life and like helping solve problems within like sects and investigating things that is. SECT. T yes, no. That word is always on the cus, isn't it? It's always on the cusp. So yeah, that is very much the difference. However, like there can be some cross into both genres.

18:42 But yeah, Shyanshya ultimately is always the one that is looking for immortality, whereas wishia you aren't. That's not the aim of wishia dramas. And then you just have Shuan Huan, which has these, I don't know, more fantastical elements added in. So for example, Dulu Continent would be very much a Schwann Huan story rather than, you know, the other two.

19:13 I did say I went a bit like I went, I dived in a bit deeper because I was like, if I'm going to talk about it, I might as well talk. About talked a little bit about this, but this came up in my research. The Untamed keeps coming up as. A Yeah, actually, Actually, shall I? Never thought it was, but it's definitely. Not, I never thought it was either. Yeah.

19:33 No. So shall I read you? Haley actually mentioned this in her messages because it is a popular one. Say what she said. It's not. So what she says is the Untamed has a Shancha element but not 100% Shancha because its main story is focused more on the Worshia aspect. So although it has a slight element of Shancha in it, there's no like, you know, cultivating to be gods and whatnot. So it is a Worshia drama that pulls slightly at a Shancha thread.

20:10 It is not a Shancha drama. So, you know, that is that is the most common one that people throw out there. It's. Yeah, me too. Yeah, OK, yeah, I've always thought it was Russia with like a slight element of Shansha, but I, you know, a lot of people look at it and kind of like see fantasy, yeah And they say Shancha and that's not the case at all.

20:39 So yeah, so the how did like Shia Cha come about? Like the Foundation is widely considered to be laid by two main novels, one of them being Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu from 1932. And then yeah, it's an old one. So this was written by Hwanzu Ludzu, and it's often called the progenitor of modern Shiancha. This novel introduced the core elements of flying swords, magical sect, cultivation and immortals. So this kind of like laid to the groundwork. Sex cultivation and immortals.

21:19 Yes. I think you missed lectures. Yeah. Did I miss the treasure? Yeah, you said magical sex cultivation. And I was like, ignore me. And then the next one is Zhu Xian, or Jade Dynasty from 2003. This is by Xiaoding, and it's widely credited with shaping modern Xiancha. This novel popularized structure, cultivation systems, sect hierarchies, magical artifacts, and emotionally driven character arcs within the web novel era.

21:55 So the first book kind of laid the foundation work and then the second book kind of came in, took that, and then made it more like the Shiancha that we get nowadays. So basically. Like is it? Is that the one where Xiao Zhan like did the movie based off of it? Is that? Which 10? Jay Dynasty, Hold on, because the Jade Dynasty definitely Shaojan did a movie, I want to say. And then there's been at least one drama named Jade. Dynasty.

22:27 I'm sure there has been lots of things adapted from it. I think you're good. I think you are. Yeah, I mean, I know Shaojan did something in Jade Dynasty. I just don't. Know 2019. I'm sorry. Jade Dynasty from 2019. It's an hour and 41 minutes fantasy. Yeah, the movie. Chinese movie. It's been. I might want to watch this.

22:51 Hold on. It's been adapted. Maybe we need to add it to the list. It's been adapted quite a lot of times and it's something that a lot of people pull from, from this one that. Yeah. So basically put together these two novels kind of like bridge classical Wishia fantasy with modern Xiancha power fantasy to create what we know as Xiancha.

23:21 So what? And then the last bit that I just wanted to sort of mention is how that all kind of picked up into TV and into shows that we see nowadays on TV. And that is due, it's very often credited to Chinese Paladin as like the true Shanshu drama that kind of like started the boom. People would say it's based on natural games.

23:52 So Chinese Paladin is not based on a novel. It's based on a game called The Legend of Sword and Fairy, which many dramas have been adapted. Like Chinese Paladin is one of those things that has been adapted endlessly in all its formats. It's a mix of cultivation themes, immortal realms, and romance and tragedy, which sounds very familiar because it's what a lot of Xian Shi is all about. It became huge in China like it hit a huge popularity boost in China, hence why there's so many adaptations and this is kind of where Shiancha starts to feel like it's own TV genre and not just, you know, fantasy literary. And then furthermore, in 2010 mainly is when so it's not that long ago really.

24:50 It's not that old. Well, the. Generation that we know today. Yes, yes, is not that old. I mean, there's lots of things previous to that, but what we know as Shiancha nowadays is really not that old. But that's when the genre really, really exploded with like really high budget productions bringing it to more, you know, mainstream China, but also internationally with dramas such as The Journey of Flour and of course 10 Miles of Peach Blossoms, which actually leans more towards like mythology romance because there's no like human cultivation.

25:31 However, it's been way more like, wildly accepted under the, like, Shansha genre nowadays. But if you really want to get technical, it's just, it's just bad. Yeah. It's just, yeah. Like, there's no share in it. Yeah. Because there's no immortal, Like, there's no mortal cultivation. So this was actually really, really interesting to me, reading it all up and, like, talking it through with Haley and her messages because I was like, he had no idea. To me, it was just like Shancha, like it was just all of these dramas.

26:05 To me, 10 Miles of Beach Blossoms was very much a Shancha drama, but it is like it has become very widely accepted, like they've all just kind of encompassed it in this category. But yeah, that is, you know, my roundabout and you could go. It's like it's such a big, you know, black hole that you could jump into and learn so much more.

26:33 But I thought I would like keep it to the main sort of points. Guys, please don't be throwing terms around. This has been a like, but Jess and Caitlin know I've been bugged about this recently where people just throw terms about without, you know, learning about them. And I feel like if we're going to use them, the least we can do is know about them. So hope.

27:01 You know it'll be. Things like. Top ten chances and love like the Galaxy is on there. And I'm terrible. No. Terrible or pursuit of jade is what? Pursuit of Jade and it's. It's just a plain old idol costume drama, that's all it is. But yeah, we we can leave the ranch out. We will because we got a Hall of Fame to build here. We got.

27:32 First day we do and so in which order are we going in? I thought we were just going in order of how we present ourselves in the intro this time around. So that means you. Liliana. Then you all right? Yeah, you're right. So if you're new to the Hall of Fame episodes, we've done a few together, including We have AI. Oh, it hasn't been released yet, has it? Oh, the.

28:05 Okay, so by the time this comes out. It'll be out. It'll be out including a crime one over on Catlins No Sleep for Dramas podcast, which you can go and check out. But how it works is the drama trio come in with their top picks, and then we Duke it out and choosing in, you know, choosing our first inaugural class for that specific topic, which in this case, is Xian.

28:40 Xian, what I forgot to ask you guys, do we want to do 3 or do we want to do 5 in this initial? It has to be 5. OK. OK. It has to be 5. OK. I will make sure that's what we're doing. Right. So if I'm going first. Yeah, I'm gonna throw a zinger out there because I know already I'm very. Yeah. Well, I'm very confident that this is making the list.

29:06 So I I thought I would start us off easier. And it has to be till the end of the moon, I mean. Yeah, that's on the list too. I mean, I'm pretty, it's got to be on Caitlin's list too. Like surely, like surely this has to be on everybody. So I was like, I will take this and this is like our. Origin story too, is US.

29:33 Coming yes. So not only has this been reviewed on T and Soju by me, but this has also been reviewed by the three of us in A2 parter. If I'm not mistaken, it isn't over over on day back so over on Jess's podcast. So we all loved this drama quite a lot. It is. It's very divisive, though. Idiots. It is.

30:00 It is. It is. I don't know why. I think it's, Well, I do because it's paid for. Yeah. The ending. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a 2023 Chinese drama, and it is a Yoku production, but it's so widely available, like, it's on Netflix, it's on Vicky, it's everywhere and anywhere. And it stars Loyan Chi and Bai Lu, King and Queen of chemistry.

30:27 Like these two have some of the best chemistry together that you can personally that I can watch on screen. And it's a story about, I don't even know how to describe it well. So demon. They're enemies, yeah. Demon Lord and like a sect Princess or whatever you want to call her. She's a girly who has some martial arts Taoist skills, and she gets sent back in time to kill basically.

30:58 Like, it's basically like a kill Hitler thing. Like if you went back in time, would you kill her? So she's trying to kill this demon Lord? Pretty much, Yeah. Yeah. It's like glorious bastards, but they go back in time. Exactly. Yeah. Anyway. And so bad news or good news for us, they fall in love and he does she end up changing him so that he's not going to destroy the world or what have you.

31:24 So it's quite angsty and we all really, really loved it. We did, we did, and it's very much a true enemies to lovers like these two. Do not mess around. I know the enemies to lovers tag gets thrown around very easily. Like some people mildly dislike each other and they tag on an enemies to lovers. You're like, oh, they're bickering enemies to lovers. I'm like.

31:54 How about these two? These two want to kill each other and they are actively trying to do so. So it was angsty. The OST is magnificent. That's magnificent full on. And it's like no skips kind of OST, which rarely happens. And the costuming for this, my God, to this day, still some of the best costuming that I've ever seen on TV. Yeah, I think a lot of people don't necessarily like this because it's not your typical love story. And also it did come out at a time where it was planned for more episodes, but the rule for 40 episodes had just entered into the equation and it got cut down to 40 episodes. So the pacing felt off and the storytelling felt off in some aspects.

32:51 You. Can feel when they cut stuff. Out. You can feel it. Yeah, you can feel it. To me, that did not affect that much because I loved the drama and I really enjoyed what they were trying to do. And I gave it some grace because they did the best they could with, you know, the rules that they had. But yeah, I especially Loyanchi in this role as Tantai of Tantaijin.

33:20 Yeah. My goodness. Like his micro expressions. To me, he's king of micro expressions, like the way he uses. Yeah, I love this drama. And I was like when we did a little, Yeah, it's not a little review. So if you want to listen to us talk about it, there's various, you know, places both on T inside you and on Day Bach.

33:45 So this one's definitely going right well. I think so. I think for us it's definitely, you know, Hall of Fame worthy. It's in there. I've it's in there. We have four more spots. I was wondering if I should get fresh with it because here's the thing. Here's the thing, right? I love Shantias. I rarely watch Shantias.

34:10 It's like a special thing. I've been, I've told you guys this multiple times. I basically save up all the Shantias more people say good things for a rainy day, for a slump, for whatever. When I'm feeling like I need like a pick me up because I love them so much. I don't want to like blast through the catalog and not have any good and be at the mercy of like currently airing stuff, which, you know, we are here all the time.

34:34 We're like, oh Dang, that wasn't that good. Oh Dang, I heard that this was not that great. So it's not a hit every time. OK, when Nacencia hits, it's special. And so I save them up. Haven't watched that many. I was torn between getting fresh with my first few picks and putting stuff that's maybe not is going to make the maybe it's not going to make the list.

34:58 But I think we need to, we need to have this discussion early. And it's 10 miles of Peach blossom slash. I knew this was coming. I knew this. Was I'm sorry I had to bring. It up. I think it's one. Of my list too so. I love this show and we covered it on T and soju it's. Like it's the very first look this drama is.

35:21 Yeah, it's special to me because it was the first. Drama trick and like, I think that we we all watched it, I think you watch it for the first time and then me and Caitlyn, we watched it and as always, there was a big worry that we weren't going to like it on 2nd watch and that was not the case at all. I freaking ate this shit up once again. I love it.

35:45 I, I find a lot of nostalgia in rewatching it as much as you know, gaining new perspective on the show and wow, wow, Caitlin, do you want to jump in and talk? About I think it's also like there's a reason why it's considered a classic. Like I remember when this showed aired, it was everywhere, like everywhere it was doing numbers in China and outside of China.

36:14 It was a lot of people's first John Cha, like people who had never watched the Chinese drama before was trying. It was like the pursuit of Jade. Like there were people checking this out because everybody else was watching it and talking about it. It was everywhere. And like put the actors back on the map.

36:32 Like some of them had not been acting in a while type situation or introduced actors and actresses to people. That was like my first Still Robber show. I've never seen the. Same. The same. Yeah, yeah. And it's I mean, I just think it's a classic like has like when you think of the definition of the immortal romance, like a lot of the ones made today have elements you find in this show.

37:05 Granted, I'm not saying this show is like we knew this show was based off of things from older shows too, so it's not like it. Was like a brand. New concept or anything but. Adapted from the novel 3 Lives, Three Worlds, 10 Miles of Peach Blossoms, as we've said multiple times. Because then we ended up talking about the sequel, which is Eternal Love of Dream.

37:27 Yeah, I love this one. I think the only person we have to convince is Liliana was not 100 so. So let me tell you my problem with this drama. I I did not like the male lead and I did not like what was happening between the main couple. I think it's also. I don't remember much from it and I only watched it two years ago.

37:58 Which. You know what? I can't relate. I remember. I The thing is, The thing is, I loved Yang B in that show. It's the only show that I've truly, truly liked her in, of the things that I have watched of hers. And yeah, I don't know. I did not get the same love and hype that everybody else kind of got from it.

38:31 And I knew when I was sitting down, this is not on my list, but I knew that you were going to bring it up. There was no way. So I did sit with it. I did sit with it. And I was like, is it Hall of Fame worthy? For me? It isn't, however, however, because it's such a big deal and so many people loved it and I think it does have its time and place in this Shanta realm. I thought, yeah, I'm going to give it a pass. I am going to give it.

39:08 I'm going to put it in the whole thing, like I will put it in like to me personally as like, personally it, it's not in my Hall of Fame, but I'm allowing it to go in because of what it stands for. And like why so many people loved it and it had its big heyday. And you know, when people think of Shansha, they think of 10 miles of Peach blossoms. And that is something to be said for the drama. Right.

39:40 Right. So I don't see it, but yeah. I think you just came at it kind of kind of late, not that you needed to watch it in 2017 like we did. I just think you watched it after having watched. So you watched. The end of the moon before it, that's. Why? I did, I did. But The thing is, it wasn't even I think for me. I don't know.

40:03 I can't say for sure because there's no way to know. If I had watched it earlier, would I feel differently? I don't know. To me it is, and you guys know exactly which part it is. It's the fact that they're trying to sell me on this love story and this man makes very dumb decision. I like, I just did not like the male lead. And by the end and by the end, yeah, we have, we definitely have.

40:31 So if you want to listen to more about it, definitely go and listen. But yeah, I just was not sold on the romance. And to me, Xiancha is epic romance, yeah. Or that's what I associate it with. Includes yeah, it's not, but includes a very epic romance. And that wasn't big case. But I can see like as a cornerstone hand which.

40:58 Is why I think we're questionable You're we might have to strong arm you here because it has to go in the Hall of Fame. All right, well, 10 miles. That's my pick and I think, I think we're all OK with it, at least living on us. I'm gonna give it a a hall pass. I'm gonna give it a pass. Like, yeah, I'm gonna give it a pass. OK, Caitlin, what's your first pick? OK so I literally have like 3 things on my list. I have no dramas, So what did?

41:28 I think you had watched more than three, OK. I also thought I had watched more and I have not. And two of the three you have, I'm exaggerating, I have like 5, but still two of the three you've already said. So I'd like get this out of the way. I do not think you guys are going to put in the Hall of Fame, but I'm just going to say it.

41:49 Love and destiny. No. Because no. No. Because I was the only one that liked this one. You guys did not. So it's on my list, but you guys did not like it, so yeah. So I'm just going to throw it out there knowing it's not going to be in the whole. Thing. All right, we did cover this on Caitlin's. Yes.

42:12 We did cover this on Caitlin's podcast so there is a full review of it. Took a hammer to that. Yeah, you guys, Chess and I were not fat. Yes, this is also the reason I also named it was because within the 10 miles of Peach blossom eternal love a dream. This is also in that group. So like the reason why we have reviews on all of these because they were all like, we need to watch these three because they're like considered classics when it comes to the Sean Jeff. I'm like, yes, I very much love this drama. They had things to say about it.

42:52 I wouldn't say I like 100% ten out of 10. Yes, watch for me. No, nobody. Loved it more than you guys. You definitely liked it way more than we did. We went not on board and I you have to. Respect. Like when one person doesn't like it, they still stick to their guns and they're like, no man, this wasn't it.

43:11 Yeah, I think I scored it like 2 of them, 6 1/2 or something. Yeah, I scored it like a nine. I. Love this drop. OK. So. Yeah, so love and destiny, I mean, we can circle back and see if we want to include it depending on what else is thrown out here. But as of right now, that's. Good to know. So it's back to me, back to you now.

43:39 And my list is in order of how high I've scored these. So I'm just going down because like, I went through my my drama list and literally they're in order. So according to that, the next one is Love in the Clouds. So that is my next. Wow, a more recent one. OK. Yes. I mean, it's G Board's eye really, isn't it?

44:05 Yeah, G Board's eye calls. So I actually went in and I was, I wanted to make sure this was a shancha because apparently there's some debate about loving the Cosby. No, it is. It absolutely is. But I wanted to make sure it was, especially because there are humans trying to become immortals in this one, which is the exact definition of a Shancha.

44:38 So. So, yeah, so this one is a another Yoku production. Clearly Yoku knows what they're up to, but that she answers and it is from 2025. It is a 2025 drop right at the end of 2025 to and like October. So it is stars holming Howe and Louis Xiao. And it's one of those stories where the female lead has been disguising herself as a Crown Prince.

45:11 Turns out she's not. She loses, she is poisoned and she kind of needs to go undercover into the male leads life to kind of find, you know, the cure for her poison. That's your revenge. Yeah, and and get revenge because apparently he might have been the one who poisoned her. And so it is that type of story. I just loved it.

45:35 I really, really did. I loved holding how in this like this man rules the screen. Louis Xiao is also fabulous. And I loved the fact that in a lot of she answers that we watch the female leads tend to be quite weak and then they grow into their power or whatever it may be. Liu Xiao lost her power technically.

45:57 However, she was still so incredibly smart and she was just, you know, strong in a different way. And I love that about yes. And I love that about this show. So yeah, I actually rated this one a 9.5 out of 10. So it's like it's like Till the End of the Moon is a 10 out of 10 for me. Like it's, it's one of my 5 tea cups. This one was just slightly under. I had a couple of quibbles with it, but this is like a 9.5. So it's a really high 4 tea cup for me, yeah. Really like this show as well.

46:30 I watched it. God, I think around New Year's, you know what I'm saying? Like that crossover where like time doesn't really exist, but you're watching dramas and you have time off. So I watched it around then. Really, really solid show. I loved this couple and it was like an enemies to lovers where you know, they're at each other's toes. They're literally fighting in episode 1 to the death. I liked it.

46:55 I really liked it. Is it Hall of Fame worthy? I don't know, Caitlin, have you seen this one? Nope. Damn freak. Well, let's put on ice. Let's put on ice. I can be convinced that, but the fact that Caitlin hasn't watched it yet, it's like a little difficult so. Most of these I'm not going to have watched.

47:15 I'm going to tell you right now. OK, well. Fine. That's why I said most of these I my my list is so short. All right, fine. We need to get Caitlin onto the chances. We do we need to make her watch where The thing is. Here's the other thing is that chances tend to be high episode count up until a certain year, which I think it was 2023.

47:36 That's when they put a cap on the number of episodes you can do in AC drama because censorship, you know, whatever. So the stuff before 2023 is like 58 episodes, 60 episodes, sometimes even higher than that. And the bar is really high. You have to clear a really high bar to finish Asiencia one of these promise. So the fact that we haven't watched that many or that Caitlin hasn't watched all that many. I also have a little grace for it cuz it takes a while, takes a.

48:12 Minute. It does. It does. It does, yeah. All right, so my pick is next. I think this might make it in. I'm going to go with love between fairy and devil. I don't think Gaitlin has watched it. Wait, you haven't watched it yet? No, Caitlin doesn't. She doesn't like SAU. Is it SAU? Yeah, that's why half of my list I know is going to be very hard convincing because they're Yangzi's shows and Caitlin hates.

48:43 Yangtze all right well, and same for SAU, who people love to come for her throat about her like little Minnie Mouse voice that she does a lot of the time. The only show I have liked Esther Yuen is. My journey to you my. Journey to you. Yeah, my journey to you, yeah. That's like a fierce success, completely different.

49:04 Character See I would argue I would argue that like 10 miles of Peach blossoms love between fairy and devil has done way more for the international community. I agree. Than 10 miles of Peach blossoms has it's a so it's a yeah. You know, a gateway drama for a lot of. People. True, such a big wave of Chinese like of new Chinese drama watchers. So if we're giving grace to 10 miles of Beach blossoms for what it stands for, then I'm guessing you have to give grace to love between fairy and devil.

49:40 Because it did. There is a big fandom out there. I mean, it came out pandemic and everybody, I mean, all you could see was love between and fairy and devil everywhere, especially in like even in China and internationally. And actually I think Doban has a higher score for love between fairy and devil than it does for 10 miles of Peach blossoms.

50:05 You are just. Saying. I'm going to check. You keep talking. I'm going to check. We're so so we're we're OK with this being the 3rd pick love between fair and. Devil I'd be. I'd be OK with it. OK, I'll try to convince Caitlin over here because this is on my list. I'd be OK. I'd be OK with it because I understand well.

50:24 I mean, using the same logic as Liliana just did, it makes sense that it would. It did bring a lot of people into the fold. It introduced a lot of people to the genre. It was very popular. So I wouldn't be opposed to putting it in the Hall of Fame, OK. All right. Well, Caitlin, you're up for. I think Liliana is still looking at the Doban scores but. Yeah, Caitlin, what's your?

50:51 2nd pick. Oh, go ahead. No, no, Caitlin can go. I am just bringing it up, OK. So all right, I'm going to bring this stress fully knowing fully knowing the male lead in this drama is cancelled in China. So but I'm going to bring it in because it is one of my favorite chanches but I tend to not recommend it because he is cancelled. For.

51:16 Prostitution so. What? Yes, he. So this is noble aspirations. It is a 2. Any 16 drama had two seasons. Very very, very, very popular. Has like pretty much everybody who is famous now in it, including Yongsa. I will say it was my first of her dramas. The male lead is cancelled due to prostitution so he's like can't act anymore and it's been a while.

51:51 I think it was like 2022-2023. So it's very. Popular at the time, Yeah, he was very popular at the time. I and this is AJ Dynasty adaption. So the movie we were just talking about, this is adaption of that. And were your definition Liliana? Because I at first was not going to put this in here because it is literally like cultivation stuff. So I always assumed this was like a mix between the magical stuff in wusha.

52:23 But per your definition, if it's your definition, so I'm going to say it anyway. So it stars Lee Fung, who's the cancelled one. We have Zoe Lee Ying, Yangzi, Chungi Kinju, J Maozi June and a bunch of other people and pretty much anybody who's anybody in Chinese drama land has been in this drama. We have Li Yun Yi Jackson, Yi God, who else? A bunch of other people anyway who are now big stars and it's basically about a guy who his entire village is killed and they he gets adopted into this faction and he meets other people from other factions and they all become friends and travel around and they're all seeking magical powers and immortality basically.

53:21 And then season 2 he becomes an evil person and they have to defeat it. Oh, wait. That's that's interesting. That is interesting. That's very interesting. It's. It's a long one. It's like 58 episodes, yeah. And then say season 2 I think is like 20 episodes or something. But it is, it definitely shows its age.

53:47 It is from 20/15/2016. But it is one of my favourites ever and it's a classic. I think I watched this in When did I watch this? I watched this 2021. Yeah, I watched it in 2021. Anyway, I can't cosign this one because I've. Never. Yeah, I can't. Sounds really cool. Yeah, I know. It's fine all. Right. Well, thank you for bringing it up because I might press play on it anyway.

54:19 OK going back because I've looked it up now. 10 Miles of Feat Blossoms has a 6.6 on Doban for 400,000 reviews. Love Between Fairy and Devil has an 8.2 from 820,000 reviews. Wow. Yeah, if you know. Yeah, I did think it was. I did think love between fairy and devil was higher on. I told you it had a really big moment in China. All right, that brings us to our third round. Liliana, what's your third round pick? Something that I think you will Co sign on. Oh shit.

55:09 OK, because so this is a 2023 drama and it's the starry love which Chess and I have refused on the auntie and soldier together. It's a 2 parter. We talked about it that much that you don't? Yeah, it's it's a 2 parter. So this is again a Yoku drama, Jim. You love those Yoku dramas. That's what I'm finding. It stars Chen Ching Xu, who has been having his moment. Right now we.

55:50 Said me and Caitlin are still in the process of watching Love between the lines or love between. The lines. Which stars the same man. It does also stars Landy Lee, Luke Chen and her Shuan Lin. And the story is basically there's two sisters and one is meant to marry the heavenly Prince and the other one is meant to marry the demon Prince. And the sisters accidentally get swapped in their carriages and end up in the wrong realms.

56:23 And that's it's a very, you know, that's episode one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's episode 1. It's the very footnote of this show. I think a lot of us were not happy with the ending, but. Is this about the flower situation where they. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a bit open to interpretation I suppose, but overall I.

56:57 I mean, it is, but it's just like, yeah. I mean, anyway, Long story short, I really, really, really love this drama. It's not perfect. No. It was a lot of fun to talk about, though. I will say it like we wasn't this the the situation where I didn't know they were the lightning in the sky. The celestial phenomenon was a youthful sex. OK.

57:19 Yeah, that. Yeah, that. One where I was like, what? I had a lot of fun with this one. I'm willing to put it on ice, just like loving the clouds to see. Yeah see cuz to me love in the clouds absolutely deserves to be on the list. Way bold that the story love. Yeah. Yeah, but I'll put in I'm. Super surprised you haven't mentioned the one that I'm about to mention, which is my third pick, Ashes of Love.

57:48 No, because I don't want to relive that trauma with the both of you again. So that's why it's not even on my list. I'm not going there. I am bringing forth ashes of love. I'm willing to throw my weight behind it. I. Didn't sound like you were from the review. So I because so Long story short what happened was we if same thing as 10 miles we had seen it before or no? Did Caitlin not have watched?

58:17 Him for no it's Caitlin's first watch. It was a It was my very first Asian drama and instead of. Re watched it for the review. And you 2 decimated it. Me and Caitlin fucking went in on that show. Like we did not get out one single break. And I still really like the nostalgia of it and the cast and the kind of the grander idea of Ashes of love, the specifics of it and the nitpicks. Because we nitpicked the shit out of it. We did.

58:57 I think we changed fundamentally changed our relationship at that point because we were really good friends. And then there's pre actions of love and there is ashes in our friendship. Because you've never been the same. And I. I mean, maybe people will really enjoy it because we, again, I love killing your killing your darlings.

59:20 I'm all for that. Nothing is perfect. You can always make fun of something. I I don't think there's a video podcast for that one, but there might have been. I mean, if you saw Liliana's face during the duration of that podcast, you would have been like, Oh my gosh, she's going to kill them. She's going to send an assassin over and just take.

59:39 It's to this day, to this day, it is one of the episodes that I didn't listen to at all, not even while editing. I left it. I didn't. I was like, I don't care. I'm not going back into that. I just, I'm not. I'm willing this is an olive branch. Maybe I'm extending an olive branch here. I it's not a bad show.

1:00:06 OK, ashes love. And it did have a moment. What you were saying in the review? Well, OK anyway, Caitlin. Calling the male lead paedophiles. This is where we ended up. Yes, she did. I really, I was on another level on that review and this, I'm telling you, I'm sure that there's people out there that are listening to this that are fans of chance. Yep.

1:00:32 And they're like, where's Ashes of Love? Here it is. I'm offering it to you. Caitlin, is this going on ice or this is going in to the top? Let's do, let's do on ice, let's do possible entries. All right, all right. Fair. Enough. It's here. It's here. And Caitlin, back to you for your third pick. OK, this is my last on the list I've. Never gotten this, sorry.

1:00:58 And I don't think you guys are going to choose it, but it is literally the only other Shantra drama that I've watched. It is called Once Upon a Time in Lingjing Mountain and it stars Shukai, Sandrine Pina, Ryan Zu, GAO, Yuur, Christy GAO, and Vincent Kwong. Basically, what happens, It's a comedy. It is straight up slapstick comedy. It is hilarious, hilarious.

1:01:28 Basically Shukai Pays plays this genius who goes on this journey towards immortal cultivation and he enters this sect and Sedrine Pina decides to be his teacher and she's like a goddess, she's like immortal. She slaps the shit out of them. It's hilarious. They of course have like a romance. He has a bromance with Ryan Zoo's character, which is iconic.

1:02:00 Like they are really, it's a really good bromance in this drama. And he's like, Ryan is like a genius guy. Like, he's really, really, really smart, and Shukai is not that smart. I am looking. I'm going to stop you for a second. Anyway. I'm looking at the My Drama list page for it and you know at the bottom if you Scroll down there's reviews.

1:02:22 Yes, this is the first review. If you are looking for a serious plot and cannot take lame jokes, then I'm sorry, this drama is not for you. Do not waste your time on this. But if you are looking for a light hearted drama to watch after a long day of work, or a drama to watch while you're eating in which you don't need to pay full attention for, then you have the right drama here. Yep, it is.

1:02:45 That's not exactly a bringing endorsement, but I I guess. It's no, it isn't, but it's funny. I'm gonna, I'm gonna say no to that to. This I I can I thought you. Guys, I've never actually. I think I tried it and then I dropped it. I don't remember. I think I might have dropped it. Yeah, I think I'm trying. Not to like constantly laugh, but these are this, this is just a fun episode for me.

1:03:15 All right, I guess that's that. Liliana back. To you for your. I am going to throw love and redemption out there. Oh God, let's talk about this one, OK? OK, Yeah. Well, what do you have to say about it first? So the The thing is, I scored it quite high. Well, I scored it a nine out of 10, all right.

1:03:45 But I haven't watched this since 2020. It's been a hot minute. Six years. Six years. So that's. Scary to say. Keep in mind that my view of it now, 2020, I had only been watching Chinese dramas for about a year, so a year and a half because I started in 2018. So you know, let's keep that in mind while I talk about this.

1:04:14 So this is a don't tell me. Oh no. So it is a Mango TV production and it's *. Like champion Yoku. Yoku is there as well, it's in partnership with Tencent and Yoku too. So this is a chunky and you Yuan Bing Yan, who is I believe cancelled for tax evasion nowadays. Anyway, golly drama. And it is one of those dramas where the two of them have fallen in love over and over again for constant lifetimes. She starts off as a very weak, weak female lead who doesn't have any of her feelings at all like senses. I mean senses, not feelings.

1:05:04 She doesn't have any other senses. So she is very childlike, I would say at the beginning of this show. And but look, when this girl powers up, she powers up. And that to me was, you know, what I really liked. I also just really loved Chongi. In this drama, he is. Suffering, he just suffering. He's suffering so well. He's.

1:05:34 Cries so pretty. Yeah, he. Cries so pretty. I know. He's so pretty. OK, so yeah, I'll ask my guy for it. I'll. Jump in. She's getting 2020. Yeah, I'm powering up. So I watched this I think in 2022 or 2023. It was I was like almost the end of the pandemic. And I really loved the build up of this one. This one had a really great sort of, you know, compounding interest sort of thing in the plot and it kept you, I'm kind of guessing there was a mystery about who is she? Why were were her powers sealed?

1:06:17 Why does she have No 5 senses and stuff like that? And so as she gains her senses, this starts getting more mysterious and like, what? What's the secret here? And maybe this is a spoiler. When they revealed the secret, I checked Bully out of the show. I. Checked the fuck out. Oh my God, you would not believe. I will say, I will say all the politics and stuff behind it was.

1:06:44 Very heavy on the exact politics. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was annoying. That was annoying. But I do agree like she, they have great chemistry together. They have great teams together. Chung Yi is a beautiful crier. He's constantly getting basically tortured in this show for her on behalf of her because of the machinations of the show. And when she powers up like as you say it, she kind of goes Super Saiyan a few times in the show. And you're like, absolutely, I'm here for this. But I'm telling you the last few episodes when they reveal who she is and it basically turns into a whole different character, like literally changing genders kind. Of I will say, though I will say. What the fuck is going?

1:07:30 On yeah, yeah, and I check. That. That OST that is sung by Liu Yuning, that plays every time she powers up, I'm like, yes, yes. I feel it, I feel it and I understand those who really like this show. I could not get behind the what felt like to. It was such a swing. It was such a zag that I was like, Nope, I thought you were going to zig and you zagged. So that didn't work for me.

1:08:03 But I do like this couple. I do remember enjoying the journey of watching this up until that certain point. And I was like, they really, I mean, and I've had watched a few shanches already. I knew what what could or could not happen. And this was totally out of left field to me. I don't I would not put love to protection on the holiday. Maybe in a second class I can get behind putting it in, but yeah, I can't.

1:08:34 I. Can't. OK, I can't do it. It's. Fine, Caitlin, have you heard anything about love and redemption or. I mean, yeah, of course I've heard it, yes. All right, I I didn't know if you had like enough thoughts behind it to like endorse it for this class of. No, because I I the only thing I've really heard is Chinese dying all the time.

1:08:58 And that sounds about right. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much it. And crying. I'm crying, so it's crying. That sounds about right. OK, for my I'm going to go with something I watched earlier this year, as in a few months ago. In January I watched for the first time Immortal Samsara, which also stars.

1:09:24 And Caitlin's favorite and young Caitlin's favorite. So you know this is. I also have heard of this grava. Chinese. Guys and cries a lot in it as well. Uh huh. He. Does. And look, I I really enjoyed Yangza in this show. Immortal Samsara way more than I liked her in Ashes of Love, and I found her perfectly adequate in Ashes of Love.

1:09:55 I like her a lot more in this show and I can't even explain why. This is another one where I watched it so fast and I was like, yeah, this is amazing. And then I have no notes to back it up. There's nothing like in the Chamber basically to explain my positive feelings. All the details are gone but.

1:10:13 Jess, Jess, we know exactly why you love this drama. No, it's because it is angst centristy. So angsty it really is. But yeah, did you? And then, Oh my God, I'm looking at some of the photos in the MDL page. The white wig. Oh, he looks so good. Oh my. Yeah, yeah, Chongi is one of those actors. That he just. Looks ridiculously good in a light wig in a. Wig get up in the wigs, yeah.

1:10:49 Yeah. I'm I'm sold. But anyway, talk to me about your experience with Immortal Sumsar, or if you've watched it at all. Caitlin's like, I don't. I don't have, I have watched it a good while ago though. I think I watched it when it came out so 2022. I'm pretty sure I watched this on air as well. I rated it an 8 out of 10 so.

1:11:19 OK, yeah, it's like a bee. That's not too bad. Like an 8 out of 10 is not too bad. And I think to be fair, yeah. To be fair, in 2022 I probably wasn't as big of a fan of um. Yeah, you mentioned a few. Times. No, not necessarily. Chances, actually. It wasn't chances that I wasn't a big fan of. It was like angsty things that I wasn't a big fan of back then. You know what I think?

1:11:49 Ushered in like your love of angst was till the end of the moon. Well, probably. Probably. Definitely, yeah. It probably was because right before then I was like, you know, I was more of, let's put it this way, I was more like, I want instant gratification rather than, you know, I want them to build satisfaction. Yeah, yeah.

1:12:09 Whereas nowadays I'm like, I would rather have a really good build up and then like be rewarded at the end, if that makes sense, rather than just have this kind of instant story, you know, instant gratification or whatever. And then this one isn't too. Too long immortal. No, Part 1 is it is, Part 1 is 38 episodes and part 221 is 21.

1:12:38 So yeah, it is, it is, it is, it is a. Bit long. It's 59 episodes total. Now, actually, no, I gave it an 8.50, OK, because I was looking at the special because there's like a special episode. So that was a thing too, is that I'm hearing I'm coming that's this late, right? Because I didn't watch this when it aired in 2022 but ended the real ending of the whole show.

1:13:05 Is a special. Not that yeah, it wasn't it wasn't a happy ending. I'll I'll just say. And then they're they came out with a special which like fixes the whole. Thing, yes, basically. Did you watch the special? I did. I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think I scored it. Yeah, I scored it overall an 8.5. It was a special that I scored tonight and had that down. So yeah, I liked it.

1:13:30 The thing is, is it Hall of Fame worthy? I'm not sure I'll put it on ice. Ice. Ice ice, ice. I'm. Sorry. OK. Caitlin, do you have any? I don't think you. I think you're a. Fondant. OK, fresh out. All right, Liliana, back to you for your 5th pick. This is our last round. We can't keep going without Caitlin.

1:13:53 Yeah, true, true. So my very last one, because I have a few, I'm gonna go, OK, I'm get. I'm choosing between one that is very, very popular or one that nobody has ever heard of. Go with the one no one has ever heard of feeling. My last pick is the one that you're thinking. OK, the. Other one, so the one that I'm going to go with is 1.

1:14:22 It's a 2021 drama and actually this one is very interesting and it doesn't have that much of A high school on MDL. It only has a 7.9 on. So that is the Chinese drama no boundary. Now this is an Aichi production and it stars Zhang Yi Shang and Darren Chen. It also stars Wang Yi Fi which is the evil character from Ashes of Love. Like the I can't remember her name but you know what I mean. So it's her as a main role as well. So the story basically, I think the reason why people don't necessarily go for this is because this is a different kind of Shansha where the female lead is a goddess and she comes down to earth and she joined forces with the male lead who is a constable.

1:15:21 And they kind of solve cases together. And there is a running thread that kind of unites the story together now. And this story is very like special to me because I was watching this on air. This is Part 1 and Part 2. And nobody was talking about this except Marta. Marta will know. She she will know the two of us. Trenches.

1:15:47 Yes the two of us were going back and forth and we were like why are we the only two watching this? This is really good. Now mind you, I watched this in 2021 on again, it's been a few years. I don't know, but I actually, I think this is something that Caitlin would really enjoy watching because it has been.

1:16:09 Crime time. Yeah, yeah, because it has for. A really long time, yeah. I just haven't clicked play a long time. Yeah. And the other John John on my list. And The thing is, this one is actually, whereas a lot of challenges aren't necessarily based on a specific dynasty, this is this is based on the Song dynasty.

1:16:28 So it makes it very, very, very interesting. Nice. So yeah, I really liked it. Again, I know it's not going to make it on the list, but it's one of those that every time that comes up, I'm like, try it. I think if you like this sort of thing, it'll be a very different experience for you. It's a very different type of shiancha. So yeah, that is no boundary.

1:16:56 I am willing to watch it, not add it to the Hall of Fame, but I'm definitely want to watch it. It's on my long list. Maybe. Maybe we'll have to put it on the list at some point and I'll have to go back in and. Read perhaps perhaps. Because I honestly think, I think I'm not sure if Jess would necessarily really like it, but I think Caitlin would really like this one.

1:17:19 I. Probably wouldn't. I probably wouldn't. OK so this is her fifth round and basically ends with me because Caitlin's out. I am going to put forth when destiny brings the demon. Yeah, that was the other one. I was I. Knew it. I knew it. I was oscillating between When Destiny brings the demon and something else. Yeah.

1:17:38 When Destiny Brings the Demon from 2025. It's 33 episodes long and I really enjoyed this one. I did not love it. And you loved it, Liliana. I loved it, I really did. I think the reason why I loved it, it wasn't necessarily the story itself. It was absolutely the main leads. Specifically Wang Yingloo, I think her character character was just so fun because obviously this is a drama where she transmigrates into the novel, so she.

1:18:16 Isn't a clean. This is not a clean. Yeah, this is not a clean at all, but you can also call it one. Why? Because she is supposedly human. A lot of them are human who are working towards immortality and cultivating. So you can kind of, you know, the story that she jumps into, right is. Is a clean.

1:18:40 Chance. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. By definition. So yeah. But I think everybody kind of fell in love with Simajo, played by Chengdu, yeah. And he's fine, don't get me wrong. I don't think I found it as funny as everybody else did. Funny or? Charming. Yeah, Yeah. I and, you know, that's part of the show.

1:19:02 I think that's a big reason why people liked it. Yeah. I think a lot of people liked the comedy of it. Yeah, yeah, the. Fish out of water stuff, the language stuff, which I, you know, when it's explained to me, I'm like, Oh yeah, that's good. But it's not hitting, you know it didn't. Yeah, yeah, it. Definitely hit you and and not the you're a fluent Mandarin speaker, but you know, I think you had a deeper appreciation for their show than I did.

1:19:26 I did. I really liked what they did with the language. And you know, I think, I think it's really hard sometimes for us in the Western as Western viewers absolutely like as non Mandarin speakers to really pick up what they're putting down, so to speak the jokes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it doesn't translate that well into, you know, into, into English.

1:19:56 Yeah, yeah. It just doesn't translate. And then if you're not watching on something like Vicki, where Vicki, I will say I have lots of gripes with Vicki, but because it is. Scaled back on this though in. Yeah, they have. They really have. And I do wonder why, because The thing is, Vicki, the reason why, in my humble opinion, the reason why Vicky is still a good platform over some of the others is because they're subbed translations. Yeah, they're fan Subs.

1:20:25 They're not subbed by, you know, proper translate. Well, I say proper translators, you know what I mean? They're like fan translated. So it means they put in all of this context that us as Western audiences kind of miss out on. And luckily, when I was watching this, I had already met Haley at the time. And Haley is Chinese, and she's great. She's like a fountain of knowledge that I pull on regularly.

1:20:57 And she was kind of like explaining some of the things. And I was like, oh, my God, yeah. That that does make sense that, you know, it makes a lot more sense why people find these things so funny. So yeah, I I do kind of understand why if something has to be explained to you, it does lose its. And I've had things a little bit and I'm like, oh, that's brilliant. But yeah, I think comedy is a little different as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a little tougher. Yeah, yeah.

1:21:27 Anyway, so that's my last pick. I don't have my full heart behind it though, so I can't even say like, let's put it on ice and it's my pick. See to me when you have something like love in the cloud still sitting in possible trees. All right, so let's look at the. So right now we only have till the end of the moon and 10 miles, oh miles of Peach blossoms, and we have love between fairy and devil.

1:21:51 So. That's three we need. Two more to make. Our first class I'll put my full weight behind like out of the one so possible entries we have love in the clouds, the story love, ashes of love and immortal samsara to me like love in the clouds. Wow, I'm willing to put weight behind Love in the Clouds and Ashes of Love to keep it in for the first class, Caitlin.

1:22:18 I'm willing to do the same. OK, we're done. We're done. So we have Love in the Clouds and Ashes of love entering our inaugural Hall of Fame class for CNCS. We have Here We Go till the end of the moon, 10 miles of Peach blossoms slash eternal love, love in the clouds, love between fairy and devil, and ashes of love. I think we love, love, love, love this. Like God yes, but that is a very common thing anyways, isn't it? That we always have a lots of love in these types of titles anyway.

1:22:56 Translated titles or the English titles, because sometimes they don't even go with the direct translation at all. No, no, the Chinese cycles are so much better, so much better. They are. They're so more. They're like more poetic. But yeah, anyway, I. Yes. Besides, I'm happy with this list. Are you guys?

1:23:17 Happy. I'm really happy with this list. Actually, I'm really, really happy with this list. I think we covered enough past and present. Yeah, between between the years that yeah moral we need to watch more we. Need to watch more? Yeah, Caitlin needs to watch more the. Thing is, it was similar. It was similar.

1:23:45 It was similar when we were doing the crime episode, wasn't it? Where we were like, we need like Jess and I need to watch more crime shows. So I've basically been. In the middle between two extremes both times where it's like I don't have as many as Caitlin, but I have more than Liliana. And it's the same thing now where I have like more than Caitlin, Opposite now more than Caitlin, but not as many as Liliana. I had 11 on my list in title.

1:24:16 Yeah, and I didn't pull all of the ones from my drama list. These were just like. 9. Like I you're close enough. close enough. Yeah, right, guys. That is it. That's the episode. Thank you so much for joining me. Where can people find you? They should know, but where can people find you? You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at Tibakpa DAEBAKPOD and you can find the podcast wherever you listen to podcast Tibak Rambles.

1:24:46 We have so much fun over there talking about K dramas and sometimes C dramas and you guys are frequent. Yes, on the podcast list. Yeah. And you can find my podcast also wherever you listen to podcasts under No Sleep, the number 4 dramas. And then I'm on Instagram, YouTube, the TikTok. I have a blog. I'm up.

1:25:13 Everywhere basically. So that is it guys, that has been the episode. I hope you guys have enjoyed it and we shall catch you in the next one. Bye. Bye. Bye.