Drama: The Spirealm (Death Kaleidoscope)
Jul. 4th, 2024 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
autodachMydramalist summary:
Ling Jiushi finds himself inexplicably thrust inside a mind-bending reality dictated by an enigmatic Virtual Reality game where he must pass twelve doors to escape. The catch? Each door initiates new mysteries to solve and conditions to abide by.
Thoughts:
• This drama is already legendary by virtue of being initially available for only hours, and of course a forbidden fruit tastes all the sweeter. It has now been made available again on iQiyi.
• The Game world has rules/taboos that are arbitrary and nonsensical, yet the consequences for breaking them are dire.A perfect metaphor for autism.
• The horror elements are done well and pretty fun. Not too much, just comfortably creepy.
• Because the characters jump around to different worlds, we get lots of different settings. Sometimes the atmosphere feels more like a video game, and sometimes more like a horror movie.
• I like the main characters’ dynamic, but I wish there was more to it. More depth, some progression, tension, anything – they have their moments, but it’s just not enough to sustain me over 38 episodes.
• Their cutest moment is when Ruan Lanzhu asks Lingling if he would rather live in a world that’s scary but real, or in a world that’s safe but fake, and he answers: “Wherever you are”. Aww.
• Despite the video game pattern, there’s no real sense of progression or escalation for large parts of the drama, and the ending is a sad joke I won’t waste any brain cells on.
Although the episodes just prior to the end,
• Very fitting for the video game theme: Some of the music has a noticeable Metroid vibe. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Samus Aran come around the corner, haha.
• The show is oddly yellow. I don’t know what’s up with the colour grading – probably done on purpose to set a mood inside the doors? It’s not doing anything for me to be honest.
Ling Jiushi finds himself inexplicably thrust inside a mind-bending reality dictated by an enigmatic Virtual Reality game where he must pass twelve doors to escape. The catch? Each door initiates new mysteries to solve and conditions to abide by.
Thoughts:
• This drama is already legendary by virtue of being initially available for only hours, and of course a forbidden fruit tastes all the sweeter. It has now been made available again on iQiyi.
• The Game world has rules/taboos that are arbitrary and nonsensical, yet the consequences for breaking them are dire.
• The horror elements are done well and pretty fun. Not too much, just comfortably creepy.
• Because the characters jump around to different worlds, we get lots of different settings. Sometimes the atmosphere feels more like a video game, and sometimes more like a horror movie.
• I like the main characters’ dynamic, but I wish there was more to it. More depth, some progression, tension, anything – they have their moments, but it’s just not enough to sustain me over 38 episodes.
• Their cutest moment is when Ruan Lanzhu asks Lingling if he would rather live in a world that’s scary but real, or in a world that’s safe but fake, and he answers: “Wherever you are”. Aww.
• Despite the video game pattern, there’s no real sense of progression or escalation for large parts of the drama, and the ending is a sad joke I won’t waste any brain cells on.
Although the episodes just prior to the end,
spoilers
where Ruan Lanzhu is revealed to be an NPC are actually pretty well done. Such as when Ruan Lanzhu says that he isn’t supposed to understand things like friendship and love, even though he so clearly, clearly does. He claims he has become a person by having known Ling Jiushi, and his little monologue in this scene is heartbreaking.• Very fitting for the video game theme: Some of the music has a noticeable Metroid vibe. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Samus Aran come around the corner, haha.
• The show is oddly yellow. I don’t know what’s up with the colour grading – probably done on purpose to set a mood inside the doors? It’s not doing anything for me to be honest.