Last updated on September 24th, 2023 at 12:06 am
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Love Between Fairy and Devil is a Chinese drama that came out in the summer of 2022.
As most Chinese drama fans will know, those slots are usually left for blockbusters so that should have been a sign that this drama would blow up.
From the title alone, it should be super clear how I feel about this drama. This blog post will break down the different elements of the story as to why it’s so amazing.
Love Between Fairy and Devil Synopsis
A low-ranking fairy, Xiao Lan Hua accidentally releases the moon supreme, Dong Fang Qing Cang after being locked up in Hao Tian Tower for 30,000 years. Circumstances keep throwing them together and they slowly fall in love despite their clan’s hatred for one another.
Love Between Fairy and Devil Main Characters
Xiao Lan Hua
The female lead is a lowly orchid spirit called Xiao Lan Hua. She’s timid, cute, and sheltered with a big heart (she’s similar to Yang Zi’s character, Jin Mi in Ashes of Love).
Although intimidated by Dong Fang Qing Cang at first (he does have that ‘you don’t even deserve to look at me’ vibe), she warms up to him as she has no idea about his true identity.
It’s hilarious when she treats him like an equal because no one would ever dare to talk to him the way she does.
Dong Fan Qing Cang
He’s not the usual male lead we see in dramas.
We’re so used to seeing upright, righteous male leads in xianxia dramas. Instead, Dong Fan Qing Cang is the immortal bad boy.
He’s highly feared, heartless, and the all-powerful Moon Tribe Supreme. Dong Fang Qing Cang had to go to great lengths to land this position. He had to cut out all of his emotions and kill his father.
That doesn’t sound like the typical male lead, does it?
He starts to feel again through being physically and emotionally bonded to Xiao Lan Hua. In the beginning, Dong Fang Qing Cang is annoyed and frustrated but it’s a good segue to how his emotions eventually come back. He’s lost emotionally because all he’s ever known is fighting and killing but it’s this insignificant little flower that heals him.
Their Love Story
Everything about them is the complete opposite – from their clothes, personality, clans, status, and even their powers.
For example, at Cang Yan Sea, where Dong Fang Qing Cang lives, the whole place is mostly dark colours. At Arbiter Hall where Xiao Lan Hua lives, the colours are light. The production team even added heavy filters to make the place lighter on the screen.
All of these elements show how they wouldn’t work together as a couple but they fell for each other against all odds. The production team and actors did a terrific job at delivering their love story.
Love Between Fairy and Devil Supporting Characters
Si Ming
Si Ming is Xiao Lan Hua’s shifu that hasn’t been around for thousands of years. Although she isn’t on screen often, she made use of the limited and critical time she did have and made an impression on the audience.
I would totally watch a spinoff of her story.
Chang Heng
Zhang Ling He plays the second male lead, Chang Heng. He’s the guy Xiao Lan Hua had a crush on before Dong Fang Qing Cang entered the picture.
Chang Heng would usually be the hero in other xianxia dramas. As the God of War, he has to constantly consider the other realms and do what’s right for the world.
When he goes to the mortal realm, he dares to finally pursue Xiao Lan Hua as his mortal self, Xiao Run.
For female watchers of Love Between Fairy and Devil, I have a good feeling you’ll like his appearance. He has the typical good guy vibe, contrasting Dylan’s villain looks.
Although Zhang Ling He is also a looker, Dylan and Esther are too strong as a couple. He didn’t stand a chance against them.
Jie Li
Xiao Lan Hua’s friend who has street smarts.
Shang Que
Shang Que is Dong Fang Qing Cang’s right-hand man and has a love arc with Jie Li.
Fairy Dan Yin
She is the supporting second female lead in the drama. Dan Yin dislikes Xiao Lan Hua and bullies her at first but warms up to her after she saves her. She also has an unrequited crush on Chang Heng.
Xun Feng
Xun Feng is Dong Fang Qing Cang’s younger brother. Dong Fang Qing Cang and him have a turbulent sibling relationship because he hates Dong Fang Qing Cang for killing their dad.
Rong Hao
Rong Hao plots and schemes to revive Lady Chi Di, his master. He is Chang Heng’s friend but has another secret identity.
Love Between Fairy and Devil OST
The standout song in Love Between Fairy and Devil is Parting Love by Faye Chan. It’s the song that’s always playing when there are heartbreak moments.
I am absolutely obsessed with this song.
This song on my Spotify playlist has been replayed countless times already. I’m even listening to this as I’m writing this blog post.
The other songs are also worth listening to especially the song Esther sings. You might be surprised to hear how different her singing voice sounds compared to her acting voice.
If you don’t know much about Esther, she actually started as an idol singer so she does have decent singing skills. Her song is called Memory Loss if you want to check that out.
Love Between Fairy and Devil Memorable Scenes
There are too many rewatchable scenes but if I had to pick the top 5 best ones. These are it:
1) Whenever they swapped bodies. Dylan Wang rocks at being a girl. His mannerisms are so convincing that you totally believe that Esther is in his body.
2) When Dong Fang Qing Cang saves Xiao Lan Hua from being hurt in front of her tribe assembly. Up to that point, the audience only saw glimpses of him being cold and ruthless. That scene proves how afraid everyone is of him. He can fight and win against thousands of people.
3) In the mortal realm, Dong Fang Qing Cang gets jealous when Chang Heng’s mortal self falls in love with Xiao Lan Hua. He instructs her how to make him fall out of love with her and puts on terrible makeup to assist the process. His jealousy was hysterical to watch.
4) Episode 28 was a pure romance episode between the little orchid and Dong Fang Qing Cang. He declares his love for her publicly in front of his people, they have a date, and she makes sacrifices to stand next to him as his queen.
5) Episodes 31 and 32 are a mixture of heartbreak and sweet moments. I don’t want to give too many spoilers away but keep an eye out for these two episodes.
What Could Be Better
This is minor but what’s up with Dong Fang Qing Cang’s headpiece? It looks like antlers. You look at the screenshot above and tell me if you agree.
Those also look quite heavy. Poor fella for wearing that head accessory for hours on end per day while filming.
The ending was also too rushed. After the heartbreak scenes in the last few episodes, there are supposed to be more sweet moments for the main couple.
The audience must have had similar complaints because the team created a quick epilogue. They recycled clips from what they filmed and asked Dong Fang Qing Cang’s voice actor to say a few sentences about their married life now. This short clip didn’t have much new content.
We would have preferred to see the two leads on screen together with new content!
But they probably were too busy with other projects to get together again since it generally takes about a year from filming to airing the drama.
Dylan Wang as Dong Fang Qing Cang
Before Love Between Fairy and Devil, Dylan was most known for his iconic role as Dao Ming Si in Meteor Garden.
His hair looked like a porcupine in that drama. I couldn’t take him that seriously because the thought was constantly in my head when he was on screen.
Through his debut drama, he got his name out there in public but got ridiculed for his acting skills.
What an improvement just a few years later!
Absolutely phenomenal acting from Dylan Wang as Dong Fang Qing Cang. It’s his breakout role.
He nailed his part with all his micro-expressions and the range of emotions he had to portray. His acting as a girl will make you laugh but he will also make your heart ache when he’s sobbing on screen.
He also got that domineering vibe down pat. A lot of male actors have attempted this route of a domineering and overbearing male lead before but many of them end up cringy. Yet Dylan pulls this off.
It’s because he’s young, tall, handsome, and has sharp features.
His voice in Love Between Fairy and Devil was dubbed but the team did an outstanding job at selecting a voice actor that matched his voice. If you didn’t know better, you would think that is Dylan’s actual voice.
I’m a massive fan of his after this drama. The last time I felt so strongly about a male lead was Cheng Yi from Love and Redemption.
I even searched up Dylan’s other acting projects after Love Between Fairy and Devil because I couldn’t wait to watch him in another role and what he could bring to the table.
That’s how I eventually found out about Unchained Love.
There have been actors in the past who excelled in one role but couldn’t live up to their hype afterward. Dylan has a lot of future dramas lined up so as a fan, I sincerely hope his other dramas do just as well, if not better.
Esther Yu as Xiao Lan Hua
Esther Yu was perfectly cast as Xiao Lan Hua.
Unlike her partner in the show, Dylan, it’s her voice in the drama. Her expressive voice worked well to portray a lively and kind-hearted character.
Esther has some voice-acting chops. Her voice suits the innocent and high-pitched sound best (apparently, her voice bothered a lot of people because they found it annoying) but she can also turn her voice to sounding cold and menacing.
I watched a YouTube clip online where she dubbed this animated villainous female character. She’s so good to the point where a professional voice actor was impressed with her work.
This proves that Esther doesn’t only do sweet and cutesy. She knows how to work her voice depending on the character.
Esther is better at voice acting (Dylan’s real-life voice has an accent which is probably why he’s dubbed) but as for her acting skills, she still lacks compared to her counterpart.
Dylan absolutely embodied the whole character in every aspect but Esther didn’t have the aura to carry Xi Lan. She’s better suited as Xiao Lan Hua or Dong Fang Qing Cang in Xiao Lan Hua’s body.
Update – In another drama called My Journey to You, she plays an assassin, and wow what a difference. Her acting skills improved a lot in a short time.
Their Chemistry
When it comes to onscreen romance couples, these two probably take one of the top spots in the Chinese entertainment industry (I also ship Chen Zhe Yuan and Zhao Lu Si from Hidden Love).
They look very good together.
You can’t even tell that Esther is 3 years older than Dylan. Dylan has a mature face so even though he’s younger, he can easily be mistaken for someone older.
When they were filmed together for interviews, photoshoots, and reality TV shows, they seemed to be close and genuinely get along with one another. They are also highly amusing together as they are constantly bantering. You can even hear the staff laughing in the background.
There are thousands of fan-edited videos on YouTube of the two of them. People want them to date so badly that when they leave any romantic crumbs, people jump on it. Not going to lie, I’ve watched dozens of them and they are beyond cute together. I can see why people keep shipping them as a couple.
If they ever get together in real life, many people will certainly congratulate them.
Final Thoughts – Love Between Fairy and Devil
People didn’t seem to have high expectations for this Chinese drama but it exploded in popularity. Both actors gained a lot of fans and love from this show.
Love Between Fairy and Devil isn’t one of those dramas that struggled with editing (I’m looking at you, Immortal Samsara, and Unchained Love). That, along with no useless filler episodes and strong chemistry between the main leads makes this drama worth rewatching over and over again.
Anyone that likes xianxia and/or a moving love story should watch this. This drama will convert you into a Dylan Wang and Esther Yu fan.
That’s it for today. See you next time!
Excuse me while I fangirl over Dylan.
Now to You – Love Between Fairy and Devil
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xoxo,
Nicole