The drama plaguing Ashes of Love 香蜜沉沉烬如霜 on and off screen seems to be nonstop as there’s always something to report in recent days. How much of it are rumors is getting hard to weed out.
Today, there was an alleged private chat from one of the show’s screenwriters, Zhang Yuanang, where she says that many things were indeed changed in the drama without their knowledge. It was only after the show premiered that she realized the episodes were extended from 43 to 60. While the veracity of this has yet to be be confirmed, it’s quite clear that the lack of focus on Deng Lun as the leading man has caused quite a stir online.
In recent episodes, it’s not the God of War that we see but a man in love who’s caught in between everything that’s gone wrong with his life. He seems to be constantly in a reactionary role while the rest of the characters get their stories fleshed out.
Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed the side story between the Demon Princess and Mu Ci. It’s due to spillover love from seeing both in their previous dramas Princess Weiyoung and Siege in Fog, but their story has turned into an endless cycle about saving Mu Ci, which feels rather redundant.
Production seems to be acknowledging the issues and a letter written by Head Writer Ma Jia was recently shared on the show’s official weibo page.
Ma Jia explains that Heavy Sweetness is a story that revolves around the heroine Jin Mi – her perspective on love, how she has grown to learn about love and find love herself. Heavy Sweetness has a vast world and every character is very important. There are supporting characters that are given more focus in some stages which has caused dispute among some viewers. This is really something that they, the creative team, pay attention to introspectively and they will take it as a lesson for the next drama.
Ma Jia also explains that as a whole, the female and male lead’s screentime exceed other characters, but because recent developments focused on certain storylines, it has caused viewers to feel that the leads were being overshadowed. In the episodes to come, there will be many big scenes between the two leads. Here’s where it gets a bit spoilery so proceed at your own risk.
According to Ma Jia, these scenes will be coming up: ‘Xu Feng stopping the wedding in the Heavenly Realm’, ‘Jin Mi sacrifices herself to save Xu Feng’, ‘Xu Feng’s rebirth as a demon’, ‘Heart-wrenching developments’, ‘Big wedding in the Demon Realm’, ‘Jin Mi turning into Xu Feng’s tear’, etc.
Ma Jia ends by thanking viewers for their time and hoping that everyone can continue to watch patiently.
Given how things worked out, it appears that Leo Luo Yunxi who has garnered quite a fanbase due to exposure from the drama as the second lead has also had to deal with the downside of facing backlash. His studio released a statement today to defend the actor.
“A piece of work that is a combination of everyone’s effort shouldn’t be stained by those who mean to incite conflict. Actors who perform with their hearts shouldn’t be the subject of rumors for no reason. As of August 23, 2018, legal action is being taken on the slanderous remarks and personal attacks against Leo Luo Yunxi. Rumors should end with those who are wise. Hope that everyone can distinguish the truth and stop believing in rumors. We believe that the production will give fair explanation.
Anonymous
Honestly it is not only lack of screen time and development for Xu Feng and JinMi, but so many important parts have been changed from the book. I am also quite annoyed that they gave some of Xu Feng's lines and actions to Run Yu. Fans are right on their complaints and the production deserves all this backlash.
This drama had high ratings when it started since fans were happy it was keeping up to the original story and then they did a 180 and started to focus only on RY to the point of giving him lines from other characters, etc. As a book fan, it is really sad to see this happen to a book and story you love.
missbrenda
Out of sheer curiosity, what lines were originally XF's?
Anonymous
Clearly the blinded fans are blaming the actors when it is the production who made changes. Be wise!
Same thing happened to Zhao Liying and she’s a much bigger star. Actors don’t have control with changes during filming.
Anonymous
If only there's an explanation on how the script suddenly changed in the middle of the drama with more filming time for Run Yu n how even the side character have even more backstory than the lead. From the beginning, they should put more focus on the lead and the depth of their character, but they ends up making phoenix as someone who's only madly in love. and i i laughed at the head writer that said they will take this as lesson for their next drama. As for the backlash that luo yun xi got, i kinda understand cnetz and the book's fan, because it really does feel as someone paid more to rewrite and adding more of his scenes for exposure.
Anonymous
The so called blinded fans can only saw the one who benefit the most from more screen time. They also blaming the production company, because they're not dumb enough to think that nobody did anything to somehow changed the script and adding scenes for the second male character. They are wise. It is as it is entertainment industry, there are so much underhanded method done just to push someone to become a star. This is not the first and won't be the last. Actors don't have control, but the company behind them does.
Anonymous
learning from CITT madness back then, nothing substantial can be change in the last few episodes. Poor Luo Lunxi but somehow we know that his agency/ die hard production team probably push to get his arc written in the drama if really he did a month longer than the rest to finish his filming.
i wish that they took example from Lost Love in times where they aired a separate story for other princes. Least backlash and still got some exposure from the drama watchers.
Anonymous
Despite all these mess, the drama is still more enjoyable to me than other fantasy dramas I've watched recently like Fuyao, A Life Time Love and Lost Love in Times. I enjoyed watching all the supporting characters and their stories. Except for Liu Ying/Mu Ci storyline… which feels disconnected from the rest of the world but maybe they will play a important role later.
I remembered PA had a similar issue too but it feels like not many people bashed Shawn Dou? Luo Yunxi is getting the brunt of the hate now… I wonder if he has a strong backing but looking at his filmography, all he has is supporting roles so I wonder whats the truth.
Anonymous
Bc the original book had a lot of scenes for the second lead in the first half of the book so the drama was technically going by the book. A lot of book fans thought she would end up with him in the end. While for HSALF, Night is a villain in the book but in the drama they added a lot. They explain all his actions and even gave him lines from the Male lead in the novel. It deviated a lot from the book just for that character. That being said most people are not annoyed at the actor but the production. But his fans started dragging book fans which only made things worse.
Anonymous
Uh, the problem with PA wasn’t Shawn Dou. His role was equally important as LGX. What happened was the extra screen time for the supporting, such as the concubine. PA also deviated a lot from the novel, worst of all, the whole novel wasn’t even filmed.
Anonymous
Novel fans aren't even dragging Luo Yunxi, they are only comparing the screen time between Luo Yunxi and Deng Lun and calling out the production team for feedback on weibo. As a novel fan, I am also super annoyed with how many of scenes are changed for the better in Run Yu's favor. The extended episodes just make overall quality of the drama bad. If production team were adding more scenes, they can flesh out Xu Feng character but instead we get a male lead torn between Jin Mi and his mother whereas Run Yu character has development to why he becomes that way.
I feel that it is a wise decision to stay true to novel when turning into a drama. A lot of instances where novel to drama adaptions are ruined simply because of production team different agenda. I have been recommending my friends that this drama is good since the beginning but now I want to take it back and wait until all 60 eps are aired. The only good thing from all this mess is that I have become an avid fan of Deng Lun and Yang Zi. I can't wait for Yang Zi modern drama Go Go Squid which is a novel to drama adaption as well. She really looks like the female lead in the novel so I am excited for it to get the air date soon.
Anonymous
May I ask what is CITT?
Anonymous
oh its a kdrama Cheese in The Trap by Park Hae Jin, Kim Go Eun, Park Seojoon, . same issue as this. webtoon turn drama. A lot of scene went to favor the 2nd lead plus his additional piano scene which is taking is useless to the plot plus some scene and lines belong to 1st lead end up used for 2nd lead. it was an uproar by the webtoon writer, the male lead and webtoon fans.
Anonymous
wait, not Park Seo Joon, its seo kang joon. my mistake.
Anonymous
Most dramatic novel fans I have ever seen. The drama isn't that bad and it's actually quite addictive, but those novel fans are turning everything upside down and ruining the show's reputation just because everything don't follow the storyline 100%. I've watched way worse dramas but even then, the fans aren't that loud.
Anonymous
To the commentor who commented above. I just wanna say you have done exceptionally well in reviewing what I wanted to say. The guy who posted at thos time AUGUST 27, 2018 AT 7:02 PM <3
Anonymous
It is not wanting the drama to follow the book 100% but there are certain moments that were very relevant to the story that were changed a lot for the drama. Xu Feng too was changed. These changes were irrational and served no purpose. All the additional stuff for supporting characters went from okay to unnecessary a long time ago. Without book fans there would be no drama and the main audience of these IP dramas are fans of the book. That is why they get adapted in the first place because they have a large fanbase. If it becomes hugely popular then it gets a wider audience otherwise it is mainly book fans.
Unknown
Easy for non book fans to say that, do you think the drama will be as big if it haven’t faithfully follow the book until it did a 180? It was the book’s interesting plot and the leads chemistry that attracted people in the first place. And when you take both of it, it will leave a bad taste for the book fans.
Why do you think TMOPB did amazingly during and after broadcast? Why do you think PA did poorly compare to TMOPB? One is a rather faithful novel to drama adaptation, the other manage to ruin a solid drama by straying from the novel. Its not dramatic to want AOL to not go the PA way, with few episodes left and lots of story to uncover, nobody want a rushed ending
Anonymous
The drama is faithfully adapting the novel though. I'm not a book fan but I have read the novel. I don't think so far they have missed or changed any important details. In fact they even added the epilogue in the middle – which then resulted in some changes when they returned to the heaven realm.
Speaking of TMPOB, the drama itself had 4 love lines going on at the same time – main couple, Feng Jiu/Dijun, Demon princess/Zi Lan, Li Jing/Xuan Nu; not to mention several notable supporting characters like Zhe Yan, Bai Zhen, Siming, Cheng Yu, Lian Song etc; AND a love rival in Su Jin. But I don't think I've seen the fans kicking up a huge fuss about supporting characters' screentime. Granted, there were some who complained about Fengjiu/Dijun and Su Jin taking up alot screentime but those were only minor complaints.
While in the case of Ashes of Love, it seems like fans are not willing to accept other characters and is ranting endlessly because they only want to see the main lead's love story. Which is imo, quite irrational and ironic given that they wanted it so much to be like TMPOB, which was a huge hit not only for the memorable love story of Bai Qian and Ye Hua, but also because of its distinctive supporting cast.
Anyway, we all have different opinions. I do agree that its a pity that Xu Feng's character was weakened alot in the drama adaptation; but apart from that, I think this drama is more than fine and in fact, quite enjoyable.
Anyway
Unknown
agree with you.. just focuse to the male n female lead only..i skip a lot…
Anonymous
I love Leo Luo Yunxi acting skills but wasn't too impressed with Xu Feng's character following in his fathers foot steps by taking someone else's wife to be. Where can I purchase the book at on this one?
nonny the moose
Did you even WATCH the show ? Very first episode, celestial emperor says to wind immortal and water immortal together at their wedding, “we (first person plural, that is “the empress and I” – whose issue would be XU FENG, not Runyu) think it would be wonderful if your (second person plural, refers to wind immortal and water immortal TOGETHER) first child married our first child.”
He did not at any time suggest “hey, water immortal ! how about if your out-of-wedlock child with flower immortal and the soon-to-be illegitimate son of my seduction of a girl who looks sort of like Zifen, who is dying of sorrow today because you deserted her — anyway, what do you say our two illegitimate kids shack up ?”
The entire betrothal thing is stupid and false. ALL it was is a pretext for Runyu to unleash his plan for celestial domination.
I can’t imagine where the apologists for Runyu come from. He was never nice. He was always a devious evil creep. None of you remember how he treated Kuang Lu, when she was decorated by Uncle Moon ? Gratuitous cruelty to an innocent person, that’s Runyu. He deserved everything he got, and more.
“Betrothal” my rosy red behind.
Yuka
You clearly don’t pay enough attention if you think what Run Yu wanted was the throne. He literally called it “leftover I don’t need”.
Also, Run Yu always claimed he was betrothed to the water immortal’s daughter even before he knew Jin Mi.
Cyber Security
I was way less impressed with runyu taking away jinmi’s right to love. If jinmi really love runyu, I doubt xufeng will stop their marriage, and it’s not like runyu got the engagement through “clean” means. He tricked luolin into thinking jinmi loves him
Yuka
I read some explanations regarding this in Chinese. In fact, Luo Yunxi was the cannon fodder in this entire debacle because he was the one who didn’t have a powerful backer. That’s why it’s very easy to turn him into a scapegoat. This is very clear if you see the cast billing order of AoL. He was fourth instead of third, behind Chen Yuqi. who was handled by a powerful management company. Yet, Chen Yuqi was not targeted during this entire debacle. Even worse, AoL PR team tried to milk this controversy while throwing Luo Yunxi under the bus. He was excluded from many promotional materials posted on the official weibo, didn’t post his picture, didn’t mention his name, misspelled his character name, covered his face on various pictures, refusing to post his confirmation. Finally, his studio blocked AoL official account. So much for someone who supposedly had a powerful backer!
It’s actually pretty simple. The company wanted more money, so they order additional episodes. Unfortunately, Deng Lun had a scheduling conflict. The production team then got a brilliant idea of using the supporting characters. This is especially profitable since the supporting casts were cheaper.