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Love in the Clouds: Spoiler-Free Review

  • Jul 19
  • 3 min read

Title:

Love in the Clouds (2025) 入青云

Platform:

Viki, Youku, Youtube (free),

MDL Rating:

8.8

Genre:

Xianxia, Romance, Fantasy

Episode Count:

36

Parental Guidance Rating:

TV-14: Violence, Bloodshed, Fade to Black scene. A bit spicier in the romance department than usual, but nothing explicit and still within the TV-14 realm.

Staring:

Ji Bo Zai (Glory)

Lu Yu Xiao (My Journey to You)

Yu Cheng En (Coroner's Diary)

He Nan (Unchained Love)



RBTS Rating:

3.6/5 Stars (Less crazy than the genre usually is. More tournament/ romance focused. But lots of angst)

Synopsis:

Ji Bo Zai, a warrior from Jixing Abyss with a criminal past, stuns the Six Realms by ending the seven-year reign of Ming Yi, who has competed for years at the prestigious Qingyun Conference disguised as Crown Prince Ming Xian to secure glory for Yaoguang Mountain. Catapulted to fame overnight, he soon finds himself locked in a constant push and pull with the defeated champion, who secretly approaches him under a false identity, convinced he holds the key to the mysterious poison threatening her life. Concealing their true intentions behind carefully crafted personas, the two are drawn into a captivating dance of deception, suspicion, and irresistible attraction. As hidden truths unravel, they must join forces to fight for justice across the Six Realms, forging an unexpected love that changes both their destinies. @MDL



Stay Tuned: Full Review Still to Come!


Spoiler-Free Mini Review:

Love in the Clouds, adapted from the web novel, Ru Qing Yun, is a predictable romance that leans Xianxia adjacent as it focuses more on action, but is still more high fantasy than a plain ol' mortal realm Wuxia. The strength of the drama is the visual storytelling with fun CGI action sequences, beautiful costumes, and sets that made the world feel real. Although somewhat Xianxia, we do not find ourselves drowning in the "three lifetimes" whirlpool, praise be. The high fantasy realm is incorporated to build a magic system and a Hunger Games styled tournament where the winner gets rain.


The chemistry between the two leads was excellent—although there were some scenarios that definitely pushed the boundaries for Chinese Dramas; even I was like woah there. I didn’t love the choice of villain and felt it was too tropey. I also felt the princess (2FL) had a constant creepy smile, and was a bit dead behind the eyes (I say this with love), but I liked her love story. I wish the Female Lead had a chance to use her powers more. Four episodes were cut before this aired and it felt like it.



One of the biggest weaknesses of the drama was the Female Lead actress, Lu Yu Xiao, which shocked me. She was the stand out actor in both Blossoms in Adversity and My Journey to You. What happened? I thought she was just so so in Perfect Match, but she actually felt like a detriment to this drama. Was it the dubbing? She hardly moved her mouth when she spoke (which drove me nuts), and I was wondering if it's because she knew the lines would change in ADR, so she was trying to make it less obvious? I'm trying to rationalize it, but I'm baffled. It didn't help that she played her character too naive for who she was suppose to be.



Even though she gave us nothing, I still recommend Love in the Clouds to those who enjoy the action and romance of a Xianxia, but are tired of the tell tale tropes of the genre.


Shout out to Zhu Li Lan (Fu Yue), my favorite Mini Drama actress. I love seeing her shine in full length shows.


Lastly, I recommend you look up the behind the scenes photography because it's (funnily) more gorgeous and cinematic than the actual show.



Story= 4 (fun, romantic, and predictable) , Acting=2 (The FL acting was yikes. I would have ranked this higher had it not been for that. She hardly moved her mouth when she spoke and it drove me nuts. She dubbed herself so I don't know what the deal was. The girls, on the whole, were not bringing it in the acting dept.) ,Production Quality=4 (Are looney tunes sound effects the new trend? But the CGI and costumes were good) , Rewatch Value=3.75 (Yes), Ending=4 (not amazing but no complaints), Enjoyability= 4 (Didn't drag)




Trailer:



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