The Starry Love is a unique Chinese drama because the romance story of Wuxia and Xianxia is packed with funny comedy. It’s something I haven’t found in other Xianxia dramas and most of the reviewers have already expressed the beauty of this drama, so I’ll just give the highlights for those who are still trying to decide if they want to watch it. Here’s my review of the Chinese drama The Starry Love below!
Details Drama
Title: The Starry Love (星落凝成糖)
Episodes: 40
Release Date: February 16, 2023
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Wuxia, Fantasy
Country: China
Original Network: JSTV, Youku, ZJTV
Available On: Viki
Synopsis and Plot Summary
The storyline of the Chinese drama The Starry Love tells of the Queen of mankind who gave birth to twin girls named Qing Kui and Ye Tan.
Qing Kui is an older sister who is respected by the entire tribe for her gentle and kind heart. She is now engaged to the prince of heaven.
Meanwhile, her younger sister, Ye Tan, is clever and cunning but is shunned by her own people and betrothed to a demon prince.
Because of the mix-up, the two sisters were married off to the wrong husbands. It paved the way for two beautiful romances and also sparked a conspiracy that shook the four peaceful worlds.
The Starry Love Ending Explained
The Starry Love has an ending that feels a little unsatisfactory. In the last episode of The Starry Love, double flower sister Ye Tan finally gets to know the fortune teller after being reminded by the sacrificed sister Qing Kui.
He remembered the birth of himself and his sister, originally the Zizhi Veins were created by the gods to separate the uncontrollable chaos in the ruins lands of the four worlds.
Back then, Ye Tan didn’t want to say goodbye to his lover Xuan Shang Jun, but for the sake of the common people, he still decided to go toward his destiny. Xuan Shang Jun could only witness the selfless sacrifice of his lover.
At the end of The Starry Love, the Shuang Hua siblings are finally reborn, but they are in the form of flowers. So we see flowers being reborn and flying in the air, which means Qing Kui and Ye Tan will be reincarnated. But we are not shown Landy Li and He Xuan Lin there.
The Starry Love Review
The Starry Love is a Xianxia Chinese drama full of love, friendship, disaster, and most of all, comedy. If you, like me, did not pay much attention to this drama but decided to watch it, you will be pleasantly surprised by The Starry Love.
Why is that? because this comedy with a Xianxia nuance is unique and really distinguishes this drama from other modern Xianxia genres.
Overall, the plot of The Starry Drama is a love story between the two main couples and their adventures with friends, and what it means for the world to love or hate you.
The Starry Love (星落凝成糖) was adapted from the novel of the same name by Yi Du Jun Hua (一度君华), and is the final part of the Honey Trilogy, three romance dramas directed by Chu Yuibun.
Because of this, you might notice a lot of similarities between The Starry Love and Ashes of Love’s choice of colors, backdrops, and costume designs.
The Starry Love also has several actors who also played the main roles in Skate Into Love, and its catchy OST is once again sung by the talented Sa Dingding and Mao Buyi, as well as Liu Yuning and Shuang Sheng.
Here’s another thing that might motivate you to watch The Starry Love: the main cast voice their own characters, except for Chao Feng.
The plot is made up with many of the usual Xianxia tropes. The world consists of the Four Realms, Gods, Demons, Humans and Animals. However, the Mortal Realm is fully aware of other realms and works with other leaders to maintain world peace.
The Immortal Realm was again a ‘good’ realm, the Demon Realm was ‘bad’, Humans were ‘weak’, and Divine Beasts were basically ‘extra’.
The female lead, Ye Tan and Qing Kui are twins with sealed fates, which they do not learn about until later in their lives.
Qing Kui was the princess who was praised, the girl who made everyone’s dreams come true. She was the fated Heavenly Empress, the future wife of Heavenly God Shao Dian You Qin.
On the other hand, my younger sister Ye Tan was not so lucky. He was considered an ‘unlucky star’ since birth, never having experienced the warmth and love of his father and servants.
Fated to marry the future king of the Demon Realm, she vows to become a powerful evil being to defeat those who always look down on her. However, the sisters’ wedding carriages were exchanged, and they ended up in the wrong realm.
As you can see, we are presented with a premise that is quite unoriginal, so what makes this drama so interesting and keeps us on our toes? Well, to say this in the simplest way possible, the way the comedic scenes are incorporated into the drama at its most shocking moment is what makes The Starry Love such a breath of fresh air.
One minute, you’re probably sad or even crying because of a certain scene, and a few seconds later, you’re laughing so hard you’re clutching your stomach. I personally really enjoyed this quirky addition, as I had never seen this before in Xianxias and loved the comedic aspect.
This drama has 40 episodes and is well-paced, without much, or maybe even any, filler scenes, unlike some long dramas. I really enjoyed how there was time spent on each of You Qin’s arcs, and how each pair was given enough time per episode to bond and give us the sugar we deserve.
As for the acting part, it’s really good here, especially when it comes to actor Chen Xing Xu. This guy has to portray five very different personalities and he’s amazing.
In ordinary Xianxias we might get one or two reincarnations, but Chen Xing Xu here did a lot of personality changes. From the cold You Qin to the cute and heartwarming La Mu, to the greedy but caring Mei You Qing, to the elegant man Wen Ren, and of course, You Qin in the end, all of their previous personalities melted into one.
Chen Xing Xu performed his role perfectly, effectively showing the vast differences between each personality and making them seem like completely different people.
Li Landy’s acting is also good, I like his role as Li Guang Ye Tan. The change in character he experienced was phenomenal, and Landy showed it through his acting, especially in the eyes.
The Starry Love is not only about the tough love between lovers but also between friends and family. Ye Tan and Qing Kui’s brotherly love was a strong relationship that many others could not match.
The contrast between the personalities of the two sisters is also a sweet treat. Even though Qing Kui always received the love that Ye Tan never had in his first 18 years, Ye Tan never blamed his older sister for it.
On the contrary, they were always worried about each other. While Ye Tan is a girl who is afraid of anything, Qing Kui’s pure kindness guides her little sister down the path of happiness.
Luke Chen and He Xuan Lin were also amazing, they matched the characters of Chao Feng and Li Guang Qing Kui very well. Both should be appreciated for that.
The chemistry of the two main couples is just right. You’ll be gushing for not one, but two of these perfectly matched pairs. As I supported the Heavenly Spouse, I also wept over the love story that developed in the Demon Realm.
As they say, you will always find each other if you are meant to be together. It’s amazing how each character influences others to change and become better versions of themselves.
Production-wise, The Starry Love does a phenomenal job, the special effects for the magical spells in all of the realms complement their respective backdrops and they all look natural.
Like Xianxia in general, the Immortal Realm was given an almost whitewashed appearance, whereas the Demon Realm was a land of darkness. However, the fireworks and the magic tree are very beautiful to look at, to name a few of the magical elements of the play.
Then is The Starry Love worth watching? Of course, you should try it, it’s one of the best Xianxia dramas of 2023. While it includes many of the same Xianxia elements as previous Xianxia dramas, the comedic aspect of this series sets it apart from other dramas and is sure to hit the mark. brighten your day. The emphasis on tough brotherly love is also not to be missed.
The Starry Love Chinese Drama Cast
Main Role
Chen Xing Xu as Empyrean Xuan Shang / Shao Dian You Qin / La Mu / Mei You Qing / Wen Ren
Landy Li as Li Guang Ye Tan
Luke Chen as Chao Feng [Third Prince]
He Xuan Lin as Li Guang Qing Kui
Support Role
Cao Jie as Fei Chi
Zhou Zhan as Lord Qing Heng
Yolanda Yang as [Beast Queen]
Qin Tian Yu as Di Lan Jue
Gong Zheng Ye as Zhu Jiu Yin / Zhu Duan Shan
Jigmey as Ding Yun
Dai Ya Qi as Zi Wu
Ji Tian Yu as Jia Lou Luo
Russel Tang as Yan Fang [Void King]
Jiang Xiao Lin as Wu Dai
Bai Yu Fei as Hu Sui / Su Zhi
Wang Li Na as Man Man
Cao Bo as Gu Hai Chao
and More
My Verdict
Overall The Starry Love is a very good Xianxia Chinese wuxia drama and I recommend this drama for you to watch.
I like a good love story, and you will definitely like this along with the anxiety melodrama that is typical of Xianxia dramas. It also has a complex yet lasting love between the 2 main partners who prefer to imagine a bright future ahead of them.
I thought it was quite funny and oddly fit the spirit of the drama. I happily recommend this as a very enjoyable lightweight watch. I rate my The Starry Love review as 8.5/10.
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