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Things Consumed....
Sep. 21st, 2023 09:34 amA friend of mine is desperate for me to find C-Dramas, specifically Cultivator stories, that I will like. In many ways, this is very sweet. She has introduced me to some great ones, like LInk Click (not a Cultivator story, but, instead time travel), which I devoured.
Most of the time, however, it's hit and miss, mostly miss. Yet, for some reason this CGI nightmare, The Island of Siliang, finally stuck.
The story is great, but the CGI is uncanny valley x one thousand.
Check it:
Image: Feng Mian, villainess, CGI nightmare
To be fair, this particular character, Feng Mian, is supposed to be inhuman (but, really, all the women are too... skinny? something BAD.)
This, meanwhile, is our hero:
Image: Jing Xuan, a boi too pretty to be real
The whole time I am watching it, I'm thinking YOU CHEAP BASTARDS, HIRE REAL ACTORS. Especially since CGI this detailed can't actually have been that much cheaper than all the set design and costuming of a live-action. I will say, that it does mean that the magic and fight scenes are REALLY cool because CGI magic can be anything the imagination can ponder.
So, the basic story is this: There is an island that exists between the Human World and the Realm of the Gods, Siliang, where criminals from either realm are exiled. It's basically this fictional Chinese cosmology's version of Australia, because, in fact, there are people who live on Siliang who were born there, like our too pretty to be a Real Boi hero, Jing Xuan. Speaking of immortals and their ability to fly (which we weren't, but this is a trope in the Cultivator genre), here on Siliang the "bones" of the immortals are tampered with in such a way that they lose their ability to fly and the salt water of the sea that surrounds this island can turn their bodies to ash. So, no escaping. However, the Gods, being infinitely merciful, have a once-in-500-years Redemption Day. On this day, if the prisoners have been exemplary, they can petition for early release, as it were. However, there are mortals on this island and the immortals, as part of having their bones removed, are growing old and aging like the mortals. Thus, some people can't wait for Redemption Day and want out now. So, escape plans are always in the air, if you will.
At some point, in the recent past, the parents of Jing Xuan and his foster sister Tu Li (a mortal, OR IS SHE??), make the single most effective prison break attempt of all time. Dad, a mystical genius, breaks the spiritual barrier between the worlds. BANG. The door is open. He's done this in order to take his wife somewhere where she has a chance of having her immortal bones returned to her, as she's fallen ill with some wasting disease or another. For reasons that have not yet been revealed (to me, at any rate, as I'm only on episode 7), she tells her husband "no" and refuses the escape. Perhaps due to the great shame of, I don't know, driving her husband to such a great crime, she throws herself into the ocean, where she turns to ash. Dad breaks his successful jailbreak spell and tries to save his wife, but also ends up as ash in the ocean. Jing Xuan (an impossibly beautiful child at this point) appears to go after them, leaving Tu Li the sole KNOWN survivor.
So, what I like about this story is a couple of things. ( Not exactly SPOILERS, but maybe? Read at your own risk. )
Anyway, that part isn't super important to the plot. The point is that the story, in general, is just meaty enough to keep me guessing, which I like.
In the way of these things, there are way, way, WAY too many other characters with plots of their own, but the main questions about WTF Evil Feng Mian is up to and the secrets of the island have me hooked.
Most of the time, however, it's hit and miss, mostly miss. Yet, for some reason this CGI nightmare, The Island of Siliang, finally stuck.
The story is great, but the CGI is uncanny valley x one thousand.
Check it:
Image: Feng Mian, villainess, CGI nightmare
To be fair, this particular character, Feng Mian, is supposed to be inhuman (but, really, all the women are too... skinny? something BAD.)
This, meanwhile, is our hero:
Image: Jing Xuan, a boi too pretty to be real
The whole time I am watching it, I'm thinking YOU CHEAP BASTARDS, HIRE REAL ACTORS. Especially since CGI this detailed can't actually have been that much cheaper than all the set design and costuming of a live-action. I will say, that it does mean that the magic and fight scenes are REALLY cool because CGI magic can be anything the imagination can ponder.
So, the basic story is this: There is an island that exists between the Human World and the Realm of the Gods, Siliang, where criminals from either realm are exiled. It's basically this fictional Chinese cosmology's version of Australia, because, in fact, there are people who live on Siliang who were born there, like our too pretty to be a Real Boi hero, Jing Xuan. Speaking of immortals and their ability to fly (which we weren't, but this is a trope in the Cultivator genre), here on Siliang the "bones" of the immortals are tampered with in such a way that they lose their ability to fly and the salt water of the sea that surrounds this island can turn their bodies to ash. So, no escaping. However, the Gods, being infinitely merciful, have a once-in-500-years Redemption Day. On this day, if the prisoners have been exemplary, they can petition for early release, as it were. However, there are mortals on this island and the immortals, as part of having their bones removed, are growing old and aging like the mortals. Thus, some people can't wait for Redemption Day and want out now. So, escape plans are always in the air, if you will.
At some point, in the recent past, the parents of Jing Xuan and his foster sister Tu Li (a mortal, OR IS SHE??), make the single most effective prison break attempt of all time. Dad, a mystical genius, breaks the spiritual barrier between the worlds. BANG. The door is open. He's done this in order to take his wife somewhere where she has a chance of having her immortal bones returned to her, as she's fallen ill with some wasting disease or another. For reasons that have not yet been revealed (to me, at any rate, as I'm only on episode 7), she tells her husband "no" and refuses the escape. Perhaps due to the great shame of, I don't know, driving her husband to such a great crime, she throws herself into the ocean, where she turns to ash. Dad breaks his successful jailbreak spell and tries to save his wife, but also ends up as ash in the ocean. Jing Xuan (an impossibly beautiful child at this point) appears to go after them, leaving Tu Li the sole KNOWN survivor.
So, what I like about this story is a couple of things. ( Not exactly SPOILERS, but maybe? Read at your own risk. )
Anyway, that part isn't super important to the plot. The point is that the story, in general, is just meaty enough to keep me guessing, which I like.
In the way of these things, there are way, way, WAY too many other characters with plots of their own, but the main questions about WTF Evil Feng Mian is up to and the secrets of the island have me hooked.
