cdrama: The Little Fairy/Fairy From Wonderland eps 1-9
I’m up to ep 9(and a bit of 10) now. This is, so far, likely the slowest wuxia drama I’ve seen, but it compensates for a somewhat slow plot with incredible cuteness and likable characters, and it’s picked up a lot now that Ariel Lin’s character isn’t pretending to be a boy anymore.
For a quick rundown of some of the characters:
Xiao Qi: Ariel Lin’s character. The mischievous seventh daughter of the king of heaven, she comes to earth to try to free her sister from their father’s punishment because her sister fell in love with a mortal 50 years ago and won’t be freed until the mortal denies their love. She meets Yung and his friends there and with Yung’s help, she’s able to free her sister, but as punishment for her interference, she’s banished to Earth to live as a mortal(put in the care of Yung’s family, who don’t know she’d a goddess) and won’t regain her full powers until she performs 100 good deeds. She’s very spunky and mischievous(and Ariel Lin clearly loves playing her) and, naturally, is having a few troubles adjusting to Earth’s ways. She kinda annoyed me when she first started staying with Yung’s family, but she was pretending to be a boy and trying to convince people who met her as a girl that she was a boy and not connected to Xiao Qi, so I’m forgiving, esp. as I like her when she’s being herself.
Dong Yung: Hu Ge’s character, called Sweet Potato by Xiao Qi because those immediately become her favorite thing when she comes to earth, and all his friends soon adopt the nickname for him. Incredibly serious, sweet and studious (and, since it’s wuxia and he’s Hu Ge, and awesome swordsman) he fell for Xiao Qi immediately.
Yuan Bao: I may have his name wrong there. Tae’s character. Goofy, shallow and frivolous, he’s also a really nice guy and an almost absurdly good friend, and he unquestioningly puts his friends first, like when, even though he likes Sai Gin, he immediately stops chasing after her the second he thinks Hao Qi might like her (partly because he knew he wasn’t really serious about her I think, but also mostly because Hao Qi would never be interested in a girl unless he was really serious about her.) I actually have an unreasonable amount of love for this character. Sadly, he and a bratty spoiled rich girl hate each other’s guts, and indication they’ll end up together(and I’m told they do.) Poor Yuan Bao.
*so ends my knowledge of the actor’s names*
Hao Qi: Dubbed “Handsome” by Xiao Qi, with the others following suit. Actually a rather suitable monicker…Tae and Hu Ge prettier than this guy, but I think he’s the most handsome of the three. Hao Qi is so serious and studious he makes Yung look like Yuan Bao, and like Yung, he’s also an awesome swordsman (though, since he’s the secondary male lead, not quite AS awesome…but he gets to show off first…while saving his OTP from being kidnapped and then carrying her back home because she hurt her foot) He has a dorama family from hell…his grandmother is a control freak who thinks he needs to live, eat and breathe his studies and can’t do anything else…to get him out of the house for a festival, Xiao Qi and Yung have to go to his house and pretend that she’s their teacher, who needs him for a special project. Oh, and she thinks his sweet OTP is a lowlife slut who’s unworthy of him and she tore up Sai Gin’s going away gift for Hao Qi(he’s going to the capital for a competition.) Oh, and she likes to hit him. Somewhere between now and the end, his hair is going to go white…rather curious as to how. He’s actually probably my favorite character so far.
Sai Gin: The sweet, shy waitress who both Yuan Bao and Hao Qi like, and who likes Hao Qi. Also saddled with a dorama family from hell…when the emperor’s brother came to the inn, she wanted Sai Gin to try to seduce him so he’d marry her(ok, seriously…the guy noticed Sai Gin was pretty and was polite to her, nothing else…how on earth does that translate to “so he’ll marry her even though she’s a peasant”?) but Sai Gin refused, so she sent the man to Sai Gin’s room while she was asleep(not telling him what room it was.) Thankfully, the prince was a nice, non-rapist guy in general, and was there waiting for his girlfriend in the first place, so it worked out ok. Especially since one of Xiao Qi’s sisters sent her a message warning her about what it looked like was happening only Hao Qi got the message instead and went charging to the rescue with Yung, Xiao Qi and Yuan Bao following, and much awesomeness ensued.
Teacher: Yeah, I don’t know what his name is. The teacher of all the above(except Sai Gin) and a fair chunk of the supporting cast. He’s the one Xiao Qi’s sister loved, and he denied their love to free her even though he still loved her, and did it in a way that she’d realize what he really meant. I’m assuming they get reunited at some point. Also, he looks pretty good for a 70+ year old.
There are plenty of others, of course, but they’re mostly parents, Xiao Qi’s sisters and other students.
Ok, the secondary OTP? Need to get together just so they can escape their psycho families(ok, AND because they’re really cute together). I mean, really, what does Hao Qi’s grandmother want, a robot? The woman is nuts. Seriously, it’s like she thinks it’s a crime for him to have friends…honestly, if she ever found out that he actually had FUN on occasion, she might die. And Sai Gin? HONESTLY! I think this is the first time I’ve seen a dorama parent actually set their child up to be raped, KNOWING that that’s what she was doing. And it’s not like she even had any reason to think he’d be remotely honorable about it Such a good thing he WAS nice and honorable and didn’t do anything. Last scene I watched was Hao Qi finding out Grandma tore up Sai Gin’s gift and, after grandma bad mouthed her, he told her off and said that if Sai Gin wasn’t allowed there, he’d go to her and took off after her, so I figure there’s a great OTP scene waiting for me within the next 20 or so minutes of viewing, if that long.
I loved how everyone found out Xiao Qi was a girl. As it’s a crossdressing story with a girl in a boy’s class, it was, naturally, discovered by accidental groping during sports, but unlike the usual case where he keeps it secret, Yung being Yung, he blurts it out to the world (hey, he’s almost the most honest, straightlaced guy in existence and he just accidentally groped a girl who was the girl he was recently seriously crushing on and has been looking for and who he’s been treating like a boy…his brain was barely functional.) And everyone else is all “oh, this bratty kid we’ve kinda grown fond of is really the cute girl our buddy Yung likes? Cool! PARTY TIME!”
Like Chinese Paladin (which I can’t help but compare it to at every turn, there are too many similiarities) a big part of the draw for me is the theme of friendship, regardless of gender or romantic interest. These people are friends first, crushing second, esp. since the crush recipients are also friends, so they but the happiness of their friends before their own. It actually seems to be a common theme in cdramas, but is much more evident in these two series than in others.