Asian Addicts Anonymous

I don’t dislike this drama. I enjoy it. That being said, there really is some campiness and cheesiness baked in. The fight scenes between demons or demons and humans makes me laugh at just how poorly executed they are and just how fake they are. Forget about wire work not being very believable at times, the blocked out fight scenes just don’t work like they can in anime, which is sad. Thus I was laughing my butt off as our two dragon siblings were fighting. I will say this about these two episodes – Yao Yao ticks you off with her ability to just stand there doing nothing.

So Wen Tian and Ding Yao (aka Yao Yao) have been sidetracked from their task to gather the scattered Holy Pearls (which Mu Lian has already done a nice job collecting two if you recall) thanks to big brother dragon Wu Dao whom has stolen the key to their father’s tomb. Wu Dao is happy to have the ultimate symbol of the dragon clan in his hands and he goes to destroy the painting of his father and Wen Tian’s mother. Enter Wen Tian while Yao Yao awaits at the entrance of the tomb. Wen Tian stops his brother from destroying the painting and in doing so, his hand gets cut and blood flows out causing a mini power burst that throws them both and puts the weapon in Wen Tian’s hands. Wu Dao cannot believe this sacred weapon has chosen his half human brother!

I will stop and interject here. They have actually done a good job in casting Jiang Yi as Wu Dao (aka Sesshomaru-sama!). He really embodies the cold full-demon brother without being wooden and completely lacking in delivery. I am a little sad that they decided to forgo what their father really gifted the brothers. In the manga/anime each brother got a special sword. Inuyasha was given the sword that could slay thousands of enemies in a single blow using the wind scar while his brother who craved that destructive weapon was given a sword that could be used to heal and heal only. Ah, I still remember fondly when Sesshomaru’s lizardous demon follower Jaken got sliced into pieces and he used his sword telling his minion to pull it together.

Okay, back to the drama. Drama, drama, drama. Lots of drama in these two episodes. I wanted to do some more comparison posts, but the problem is I think that the Chinese drama has to jump more in pacing so it’s kind of hard to compare when I’ve only watched like the first 3-4 seasons of the anime (haven’t read the manga). Anywho, Wu Dao won’t give up easily and he and Wen Tian head outside of the tomb to fight. Yao Yao follows after saying a quick prayer to the boys’ father begging him to help Wen Tian teach his bad big brother a lesson. Believe it or not, the prayer most have worked because Wen Tian’s body moved on its own at times and he did pay his brother back from earlier blows received when he stole the key. Of course Wu Dao won’t take this beating lightly. He transforms into his true dragon form. The battle ends in more of a draw after Yao Yao contributes to the fight against Wu Dao by playing Xian Yue’s flute. Both brothers are injured.

After the battle, Wen Tian and Yao Yao pay respect to his parents. Wen Tian then talks about how he has no problem with his big brother being king of the dragon clan. He has never wanted that position. He would happily follow his big bro if only Wu Dao would accept him and not chase him away. It’s an emotional little speech from our newly awoken half demon and you can see that he really doesn’t hate his brother. Wu Dao…yeah he hates Wen Tian. He cannot take that the dragon bloodline was tainted by a human woman, which is funny when you consider the boys’ father stood with Mo Yin and Xian Yue to save the human realm.

We are then reunited with Mu Lian and Yu Die. Our young princess goes off to bathe when men from Shu approach her. She tries to say they have the wrong girl, but they aren’t stupid. They start to drag her off, but her screams bring Mu Lian to her rescue. While Mu Lian fights the gaggle of men, Yu Die takes a pack and runs off. Unfortunately for both of them, the princess grabs the wrong pack. Oops. While fleeing Yu Die runs into the injured Wu Dao who saves her from her pursuers. She notices his injury but simply leaves when he tells her to go. I was surprised that she would just walk away, but she came back later with food and medicine to treat his injuries. Wu Dao wonders if she must want something from him (since he is a powerful demon) and that angers her. They do later have a heart to heart of sorts where Yu Die confesses she did run away from home, but there was no love in that family and it was a cold and horrible place to live, thus she won’t return.

Yao Yao and Wen Tian also have a moment. The injured half-demon has fallen asleep and for whatever reason, Yao Yao puts his head in her lap. Wen Tian dreams of his father who explains he gave the trident thingy to him for protection because as long as Wen Tian has it, Wu Dao cannot harm him. Wen Tian, likewise, cannot kill his brother. Father Dragon also explains that this trident is only for those with a caring heart and Wen Tian must use it to protect those he cares about. Wen Tian then wakes up startling Yao Yao. He explains the dream about his father and then wonders why his head was in her lap. She is embarrassed and asks him about that and he says he fell asleep first, so how would he know? lol

The next day the two continue on their Holy Pearl journey with Wen Tian acting very strange. Mu Lian has also continued on her journey to the capital of Nan Yue while Yu Die refuses to leave the injured Wu Dao alone. She goes into town and steals a rich man’s money pouch to buy the demon medicine. She gets beaten for stealing, but still manages to retain the medicine she bought. She returns to Wu Dao and is worried that he is gone, but there he still is. He notices her injures and asks what happens. The girl won’t elaborate of course, but she thanks him for showing her that there is someone who still thinks of her. Wu Dao replies it was an offhand comment. She knows, but still, she thanks him for making her feel not alone for a brief moment. You know, at first I thought Mu Lian was supposed to be sort of like a combo of the characters Rin (a little girl that Sesshomaru saved and kept by his side…well Rin was also like a stray puppy and wouldn’t stop following him until he just accepted her presence) and Sango (a demon hunter whose entire village was slain), but it looks like Yu Die is more like Rin that Wu Dao will come to care for and protect. Of course I’m sure they’ll do something like making her into a love interest. Since Mu Lian shows a great interest in Wu Dao, I wonder if her sword sisterhood with Yu Die will be jeopardized?

I guess we should talk about the demon world. The river demon has gone to You Ming to lodge a complaint against Mu Lian. You Ming is not happy that Hu Ji failed her mission to slaughter everyone in the village that house the scriptures of Nuwa, but he kills the river demon for not bringing him the pearl. Another female demon, Wu Shan Gui Po (Li Yi Xin) witnessed this and was not happy. Hu Ji is tasked again with killing Mu Lian before You Ming leaves. Wu Shan Gui Po is not happy with such a mercurial lord. She worries that Hu Ji will lose her life if she stays at You Ming’s side. Wu Shan Gui Po also voices the dissentious idea that Hu Ji should find You Ming’s weakness and become their new queen as she would be better than You Ming as a ruler. Hu Ji hushes her, but the idea is taking root. Hu Ji is worried about her own life. She wonders if she can trust in Wei Liao and Wu Shan Gui Po to help her overthrow You Ming.

Oh, Wei Liao. He obviously likes Hu Ji. There are two scenes between the two, but they are rather awkward. You have the nervous Wei Liao who tries to pretend Hu Ji doesn’t affect him while Hu Ji’s intense come ons just don’t quite jive for whatever reasons. Speaking of our great general. We cannot speak of him without speaking of what Wu Shan Gui Po has up her sleeves. She steals the body of Xian Yue to resurrect her. Our useless emperor/king dude then makes the decision to execute all guards who allowed a demon to steal the body. Wei Liao tries to intervene and is kicked out of his general position and given 50 lashes. Mo Yin tries to talk some sense into the man she loves, but to no avail. He falls deeper into his obsessive insanity over our deceased fairy and starts having craftsman carve a statue of Xian Yue out of pure jade. This is a horrible squandering of the kingdom’s assets and the people aren’t happy and Rong Di can’t be bothered to care. This has Wei Liao wondering if he should assume the role of king instead of his brother (are they blood brothers?).

Okay, back to our main couple. Wen Tian has been acting funny all day. He and Yao Yao end up taking refuge at a Taoist temple where there is a lone monk. Wen Tian locks himself in a room only to have Yao Yao burst in to discover him hornless. That’s right. Once a month Wen Tian becomes fully human. Him being in such a vulnerable state terrifies him. In the anime/manga Inuyasha became fully human during the first night of the new moon (which means the moon is NOT visible in the night sky). In this version, it’s the night of the full moon that causes Wen Tian’s powerlessness. Yao Yao soothes the frightened half-demon and vows to protect him during this time. She fails miserably by the way, but before that happens, the two celebrate Wen Tian’s birthday. She’s the first person to celebrate with him since his mother died. She’s also the second person to know about his human state (the first was of course Xian Yue).

Wen Tian finally sense the strong demonic aura that he was blind to due to his haste to find a safe shelter in the night. There is no way there would only be one priest at a monastery. Evil demon enters and Wen Tian does everything he can to protect Yao Yao while she stands still and watches him get his arse handed to him. What about that promise to protect him? Why didn’t she use the flute? Actually, during the battle with Wu Dao, she mostly stood and watched in worry and it wasn’t until the very end when Wu Dao became a dragon that the picked up the flute. She’s useless, she really is. Thankfully, Mu Lian, who sensed the strong demon presence enters the scene to save the day. It turns out this demon posing as a priest was in possession of a Holy Pearl. Now Mu Lian has three.

Mu Lian joins forces with Wen Tian and Yao Yao. The three will go back to the capital together. This way they can put the pearls in a safe place and get an update from Mo Yin on how to proceed. During this discussion, Wen Tian seems very hurt that Yao Yao talks of wishing to return home. It’s interesting that Mo Yin has the power to use the Nine Star Wheel and did not use it to send Yao Yao home right away and just tried to exile her from the country at the beginning of this drama. I will say, it seems that Yao Yao and Wen Tian bonded way to fast and fell for each other way too fast. With more time in the anime/manga the development seemed very natural from enemies to friends to lovers.

We end with Mu Shan Gui Po failing to bring Xian Yue’s soul back to her body. She can’t do this because Xian Yue has been reincarnated in Yao Yao. Mo Yin finally realizes the implications of Xian Yue’s body being stolen and warns her assistant Ting Qin to go and find Yao Yao to warn her to be extra careful.

Inuyasha Character Match up

• Inuyasha (half dog demon/half human) – Wen Tian (half dragon/half human)
• Kagome (reincarnation of priestess Kikyo) – Ding Yao (reincarnation of fairy Xian Yue)
• Sesshomaru (Inuyasha’s full-demon brother) – Wu Dao (Wen Tian’s full-demon brother)
• Sango (demon hunter whose village was massacred) – Mu Lian (shrine maiden/guardian of Nuwa’s tomb whose village was massacred)
• Naraku (very complicated multi-demon) – Shi You Ming (demon lord)
• Kagura (wind demon, one of Naraku’s incarnations and essentially right hand woman) – Hu Ji (Shi You Ming’s right hand woman)
• Urasue (witch who resurrects Kikyo) – Mu Shan Gui Po (demon who is trying to resurrect Xian Yue)

These ones are kind of guesses as I’m not too certain.

• Rin (abused little girl that Sesshomaru rescues and “adopts”) – Yu Die (runaway princess who is now sticking to injured savior Wu Dao)
• Kaede (Kikyo’s baby sister who becomes a priestess, mentor to Kagome) – Mo Yin (sworn sister of Xian Yue she has some traits of Kaede, but really is a totally different character)
• Rong Di could be an amalgamation of characters or his very own original character. He doesn’t seem to fit Miroku (lecherous priest who can suck demons into a hole in his hand and who falls for Sango, but constantly flirts with other women) nor Koga (leader of the wolf demon tribe who falls hard for Kagome). I actually think he could be one of Naraku’s personalities who was originally human and kind of fell for the priestess Kikyo who was kind to him, which could explain his horribly obsessive and craziness when it comes to Xian Yue.