Immortal Samsara: Part 2 (2022)

I must protect this world because when the Three Realms remain, you remain

When he understood how disguisable the whole world was, he was lack of strength and collapsed. But your love had always been beside you, protecting you during all ups and downs; Promises are going to be broken. Laws are going to be broken. It's restricted love, no one should fall in love but Love is born within our hearts, no one can escape it.

Immortal Samsara/Agarwood like Crumbs is your classic xianxia drama with all the elements you're used to seeing in this genre. Nevertheless, these are executed in such a way that makes it a compelling and heart-wrenching journey filled with all kinds of emotions.

Sovereign Lord Ying Yuan has been ruling the Nine Heavens for over ten thousand years under the guidance of the Supreme Majesty, who has forbidden love for all Heaven's immortals, and the company of the other three sovereign lords. Since the very day Ying Yuan was born, he hasn't lived one day for himself but for the well-being of the six realms and all their living creatures, sticking to and not doubting once Heaven's rules. However, one day he runs into the witty and naturally talented immortal attendant, Yan Dan. He takes her under his wing to help her improve her cultivation, they start as a bickering couple with hilarious interactions, but as time passes by, and they spent more time together, they fall deeply in love with each other.

Yan Dan gives her all to protect and look after Ying Yuan during his lowest time. She gives him hope, shows him that he can also live for himself, and hands him one of the happiest moments of his life. At that time, the agarwood (their love) was already burning, but Heaven's rules and Ying Yuan's responsibilities wouldn't let them be together, so they entered a Samsara (The eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth).

Story:
Yan Dan and Ying Yuan's relationship complexity, building, and depth of their feelings are one of the aspects that I appreciate the most about this drama. If they want their love to blossom, they need to find the middle ground between their love and their responsibilities and start to understand each other's personalities, feelings, and burdens. The different experiences and hardships they go through in the drama, from the Heaven Realm to the Mortal realm, it's for them to grow as a couple and also individuals. Their character growth will surely don't disappoint, in fact, both of them are some of the most well-developed characters I've ever seen.

Throughout their engaging journey, they'll meet fantastic and memorable supporting characters with their own compelling story to tell. Here I have to highlight the SML, Yu Mo, the bond he builds not only with Yan Dan but also with Ying Yuan is the epitome of how the human or maybe immortal relationships in this drama are filled with love, friendship, and support. He's the greenest SML ever, and one of my favorite supporting characters.

I went through divergent emotions, from sadness, frustration, disbelief, and pain to excitement, nostalgia, satisfaction, and pure happiness. Furthermore, the unfolding of the story comes with many unexpected turns and valuable life lessons for us as viewers about the meaning of true love, giving to others but also receiving, the real value of power and life, and much more which make this drama a treat to watch.

Acting/cast:
I have to praise all the cast for conveying in such a beautiful and touching way their character's feelings.

Cheng Yi played three different roles here, Ying Yuan, Tang Zhou, and Xuan Ye, and he showcased how fantastic and talented he is. Even from his body language, expressions, posture, eyes, and way of talking, you can differentiate them and feel their pain. One of my favorite scenes is two of these characters having a heartfelt talk, he interacting with himself had me crying. Undoubtedly, an astonishing performance.

Yang Zi's performance as Yan Dan and Bai Piaoliang was outstanding. I've seen many of her dramas, and though I loved many of them, Yan Dan is the first character of hers who has thoroughly grown on me. The shift from a worry-free, witty and young fairy who wanted to slack off and depend on her big sister to a mature and intelligent character with heavy burdens was perfectly displayed by Yang Zi's acting.

Yang Zi and Cheng Yi's chemistry is also remarkable, even their slightest interactions were especially memorable and heart-fluttering moments. Yan Dan and Ying Yuan, as stand-alone characters and as a couple have become my absolute favorites.

Looking forward to both Cheng Yi's and Yang Zi's dramas in the future. Likewise, I highly recommend watching Immortal Samsara's hilarious BTS for seeing these two comedians sharing one brain cell and having a great time filming this drama.

The supporting characters' acting was also touching and memorable. Praise for Ray Chang as Yu Mo, Fu Fang Jun as Xuan Xiang, Meng Zi Yi as Zhi Xi, Li Xin Ze as Hua Qin, Zhu Li Lan as Zhao Lan, and many more, I'm also looking forward to their growth as actors and future projects.

Music.
The OST was utterly good. Sometimes, I'd play some of the songs and cry. They played in the right moments, conveying and making deeper the characters' feelings. Some of my personal favorites:
- 无忘 (Never Forget) - 张磊 (Zhang Lei). "I once borrowed your eyes to warm up the coldest moment"
- 忘川 (Forget the River) - 成毅 (Cheng Yi). "Gently cover up all manner of the human world, and you will be dustless"
- 望辰 (Watch the Day) - 杨紫 (Yang Zi) "There is the person who broke into my heart and my dreams"

Rewatch value:
I don't usually rewatch any drama, but this is an exception. I rewatched the first ten episodes already, repeated many scenes countless times, and planned to binge-watch all this drama again in the upcoming days.

Reminders/random thoughts:
- The title of this drama, Immortal Samsara, as I commented, means the eternal cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth, which leads me to warn you that this is a very slow burnt, and heavy angst drama. Opinions on this were pretty divided. I felt the angst was very well-done and balanced since the main leads' decisions make sense and are not led by dumb misunderstandings or noble idiocy, but with the growth, they need to function together. However, other viewers may find it overwhelming. So know what you're getting yourself into XD.
- Rumours say that due to Chinese government episode length regulations, some parts of this drama were deleted. So some episodes' editing may come as choppy, I remember about two or three that were like this.
- If you take the time to think about the reasons behind the characters' actions, expressions, and decisions, I believe it'll enhance your watching as it did with mine.
- Drama-wise, they extended the mortal realm arc more than they should, but I still found it very enjoyable to watch.
- Keep in mind that the SFL here serves the purpose to catalyze YY and YD's story.
- This show has tons of parallels for the main leads, especially between Heaven and the Mortal realm, so it's fascinating catching on to them.
- Some of the supporting characters' stories also serve as "What if" narratives for the main leads' relationship struggle.
- If you have already watched this drama and you're just randomly reading reviews, I created an explanation of the ending for the viewers to check out: https://mydramalist.com/discussions/immortal-samsara-special/81271-summary-and-explanation-of-immortal-samsara-ending

Note:
This drama is 59 episodes plus two special episodes of eight minutes each. I recommend watching with some time gap between the ending and the two specials, as people who watched this drama while airing did, since the change of feelings and emotions may come as abrupt otherwise. That's why these two specials are not actual full-length episodes and were released days later of the actual ending.

Conclusion:
I consider Immortal Samsara as one of the best dramas I've ever watched. It has all the elements I seek in a drama, it was an exciting and thoroughly emotional journey, and I cannot put into enough words how much I love this show. I highly recommend to everyone to give it a try.

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ABSOLUTE *CHEFS KISS* DRAMA!!!

yeah, you got it. This drama is a gem which is qualified to be called a *chefs kiss* drama atleast for me :3. It is one of those few dramas which has a special place in my heart. ITS A LITERAL PERFECTION. This drama is absolutely NOT one of those typical full of sufferings, infinite cycle of being together and seperating, reincarnating 100 times and full of useless side couples, shit CGI and useless villains kind of xianxia. It contains the elements of xianxia but the way it is done,placed and potrayed so uniqly is what surprises me. I used to drop alot of xianxias after watching like 10-15(sometimes even 35 EPS because of the totally UN-NEEDED draggyass plots and stupid asf fl) most of times, but this drama got me hooked RIGHT FROM EP 1 TBH (we'r talking about p2 so like HEHEH( i dont mean P1 is bad though (''Dont be Stubborn" (¬‿¬) go watch it )

back to the review.. This drama is a sequel to Immortal Samsara Part 1. Its ABSOLUTELY safe to say that this drama is THE BEST of 2022 in (angst :P)its genre.

The PLOT of the drama is very simple( ps very very little spoiler if you havent watched p1). Three teens(?lmfao)(2 spirit and one human to be specific) set on an adventure on finding out the 4th artifact for TangZhou(the mc) to take back his form as Lord Ying Yuan(god) and complete his mission of finding out the truth about the ''Celestial-Demon war''. Meanwhile, YanDan has regained her memories of Lord YY and herself in Heavenly Realm and starts becoming distant with TZ (although she still LOVES HIM T--T). However, TZ has no recollection of his past memories and has no interest in knowing so because it will only bring him pain ( he thinks YD loves ANOTHER PERSON when its HIM who she lovesಥ_ಥ). even so, TZ unknowing of the fact that Lord YY and him are the same person, keeps on following YanDan wherever she goes, silently protecting her whenever she is in danger (poor boy :( ) He even cosplays as Lord YY but..every effort was..all in vain.

Seeing TZ cry under the rain, (i wanted to hug him Every hardship, pain, struggles, sacrifices they made for eachother was worth it . YY upon returning and claiming his position of Soverign Lord, starts pursuing YD just like the way she pursued him b4 (man got rejected once but ITS ALL OKAY WE CAN GIVE IT ONE MORE TRY he thought aand BOOM THEY ARE BACK TOGEHTER (after some time but STILL THEYRE TOGETHER NOW SO IT DOESNT MATTER) asides from this, The Heavenly Emperor, has been acting strangely since Lord YYs arival in the heavenly realm and LuMing (YDs closest friend) has gone missing. LuMing, happened to drop few clues so They follow LuMing's given clues to discover the cause of these mysterious happenings. What happened to LuMing and What has caused the heavenly emperor to be this sus?. Lord YYs hidden identity as the Asura Clan's only descendant has been revealed to the whole heavenly clan. NOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN? WILL THE LOVEY DOVEY COUPLE GET THEIR DESERVED HAPPY ENDING? To find that out YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS. YOU MUST SEE THIS CUZ ISSA MUST WATCH DRAMA!!srsly how can you ignore the best xianxia of 2022

THE ACTING/CAST, OSTS/SONGS/MUSIC, CGI, SET DESIGNS, CHEMISTRY OF ML/FL, VFX, MAKEUP, COSTUME, DO I EVEN HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THAT? EVERYTHING IS TOP NOTCH HERE.

IN CONCLUSION: This drama is S tier drama ( S+ infact). It got me thinking HOW.COULD.SUCH.PURRFECT.DRAMA.EVEN.EXIST?
PROPS TO THE WHOLE CREW (CASTS) OF IMMORTAL SAMSARA. THE HONORS THEY'RE GETTING IS SO WELL DESERVED. THIS DRAMA IS A NEW GEM IN XIANXIA GENRE . I believe everyone who likes mystrey, god-demon story settings, awesome chemistry between leads, awesome SFL/SML, GREAT CGI, GREATT VILLIANS, adventures, DrEaMy lOvE(seriously), cute asf ml fl, fantasy, magics, xianxia & ANGST above all will LOVE this drama. So ''Don't be stubborn" (￢з￢)go watch it (friendly reminder to carry a bucket of tissues b4 watching the ep 59 doe :D also remember to watch ep 60 and 61 for happy surprise ღ˘◡˘ற♡)

On a serious note, This drama left a deep impression on me. I may have been a lil biased here but its no lie that I learnt so much from this drama. The tears i cried, the happiness, pain, joy and a rollercoaster of emotions this drama brought in my life, the sleep deprivation this drama caused me, i will never forget that. It was worth sacrificing my sleep for this one though cuz its simply AMAZING, OUTSTANDING, MAGNIFICIENT, HEAVENLY, EXTRAORDINARY, MAJESTIC and ofcourse i'll say it again
"AN ABSOLUTE *CHEFS KISS* DRAMA"
PERIODT.

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