Qi Zinzhao (2024)

" If I am a Weapon, only you can be my Swordsman "

'Sword and Fairy' as a drama, delivers deeper thoughts than it appears on the surface. The characters are deep and complex with an integration of different backgrounds, thoughts and emotions. No matter how different their paths maybe, even if the ending is controlled by fate, they are still willing to overcome the obstacles together, because, there are greater goals to live and die for.
Unlike other wuxias, the drama doesn't really start with a backstory, so viewers may find it confusing. But I won't label it as confusing because the story actually follows the journey of exploring the backstory, the reasons of where they are today.
Still, I will be stating a little bit of introduction ( typically things you need to know) first, before going to review.

- The story basically follows Yue Jinzhao and Yue Qi, two amnesic orphans (NOT SIBLINGS) who neither remember their past, nor their roots were stranded in Wuyan Village 3 years ago. Unaware of their past, both orphans found solace in each other's presence, being emotionally bound, to the point that they could not live without each other. The duo set off on a journey to find their roots and their identity. On their voyage, they encounter evil sect 'Qiyuan sect' who try to scam them. In the process for seeking justice from Qiyuan sect, they discover that the sect may be way more complicated than just scamming. This sect may also hold secrets to their past and origin.

That was an extremely brief introduction, cause anything more than that could be a potential spoiler.
The drama has wholesome level of ANGST, no misunderstandings, and great potential TEARJEARKER!
The main leads are extremely dependent on each other, being each other's support for 3 years, they have grown a level of trust and maturity that no external forces can break.
The angst basically occurs due to the common troupe of 'sacrifice for the better world'. And ofc to protect the world, sacrifices are inevitable. Letting go of somethings are bound to happen. But there are too many sacrifices, too many to bear.

The first half of the drama brews the beautiful relation, friendship, romance, and memories to ensure worser heartbreaks, y'all HEARTBREAKS (plural) in latter half of the drama. So prepare your tissues.
Once again, the start of the drama may not be everyone's cup of tea as I mentioned before, afterall we are so used to knowing the background story in the very first episode before the main story starts, especially in wuxias. But this drama is instead about unraveling the background, the back story, cause we have two amnesic youth who have no idea about their history. Since the journey follows them finding clues to their identity, we know the story only when these two characters unravel them. So this has good amount of mystery too.

Its particularly saddening to certain extent because even the villains have a sad backstory, and so you cannot even hate them. Because their backstory and dark past are gonna rip you off everytime you are about to label them as 'black characters', yet at the end these VILLAINS are the ones who were the most SELFLESS ones from the begining. That is why, the characters are way MORE DEEP and COMPLEX than you could think.
All ' stranded threads' that you encounter in the first half of the story will be woven in the end. Everything will be in place by the end of the story.
This plot of this drama does a lots of play with emotions, so if you are able to figure out the backstory and emotions of the characters, you would actually realise that the plot and emotions run too deep. So you need to keep constant track on the dialogues, understand the meaning and emotions the every sentence represents. We gotta remember the fact that most main characters are basically in their 20s or even younger. They are forced to grow up lonely facing the antics of the society. So it has good integration of thoughts of both old age and young age, making the younger characters appear more mature than their mindset at that age should be.

I personally found the plot quite engaging, especially, since we had little bit introduction of every character posted by other fellow viewers ( I will write up the character introduction in the end), so it made my understanding of every characters' emotions very clear. The past titbits of memories, the timing of unraveling a particular mystery were well timely inserted. The pacing of story was quite good. The cgi wasn't the best, considering the fact that it's a tencent drama, but it has done a way better job than some of its last dramas. Besides the plot and the acting actually makes the CGI problem pretty much unnoticeable, and tbh it's not even that of a major issue, tho- I would label it as, has a room for improvement, since it wasn't the best.

The OSTS are beautiful, like so beautiful and once again, very well timed, earning brownie points to the scenes.
This drama, it's TOO BEAUTIFUL, and leaves too deep IMPRESSION, so do not miss it! You will definitely not regret watching!
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Now, let's go for a CHARACTER INTRODUCTION ( no spoiler, but I feel you may find it necessary to understand their emotions and thoughts better)

1) Yue Jinzhao - He is a mature thinking and decision maker when it comes to the Yue pair. He has great thinking cognitive skills. But he actually very careful and doesn't trust anyone except Yue Qi.

2) Yue Qi - basically has great IQ, but 3- year old EQ. She may be naive and have childlike thoughts but definitely not on spoilt side, but she is quite thoughtful and straightforward. She values friendship and relations a lot. She appears to be adorable and cute softie, but is quite sharp, strong and powerful. Latter episodes reveal that she is probably stronger than Jinzhao. She is dependent on Jinzhao, when it comes to decision making and taking sides. She trusts Jinzhao more than anyone else and is always willing to Jinzhao.

3) Bi Luohuan - mysterious complicated character? Let's unravel what secrets does his character holds. He basically seems very engaged with the life of Yue-pair, especially Yue Qi?

3) Luo Zhaoyan - A woman dressed on man's cloth. She is an upright head of the family. She puts protection of the people and sacrifice for people above anything else. She is always considerate of others even if that causes neglection of her own happiness. Bound by the curse ' Luo family twin's death, she holds many secrets and complicated emotions'.

4) Xian Qing - A thousand year old wolf demon. Demons are not really favoured in the world of chaos, so he faces lots of struggles in the journey.

5) Ming Xiu - has a dark past, hence she hates demons, but she trusts Xian Qing, since he is her master's friend. Growing up lonely with only her master around, she is emotionally very dependent on her master and doesn't like to approach people. She appears very cold and distant.

6) Ju Shifang - An orphan, who lost his parents at an young age. His mother was a well-known genius in gadgets and mechanics, so he has always lived with the motto, to learn his mother's skill, protect his mother's only gift for him ( DouBao), continue a hierarachy and be a hero who is respected by people, because he has always been neglected and looked down upon, since an young age.
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ENDING: (spoiler)
The ending, I personally feel is very satisfying. It leaves us with a message:
" No matter what fate holds for us, in the end, we are still destined to meet "
It is beautiful and leaves a deep impression, basically a happy ending, but in a different way.
They meet again and fall for each other again. But this time, not as a swordsman and a weapon fated with a short life with heavy responsibilities to protect people, instead as normal humans with emotions, feelings and freedom to live and love like normal folks, a carefree life.
So I would conclude it as a happy ending, I mean compared to them forcibly growing up and maturing, and leading rest of their life in such 'sacrifice for the world' like motto, isn't this a better ending. This time they can live a carefree life. No need to care about responsibilities of people, of the world. Just themselves in their own little world filled with peace and happiness.

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