2 out of 32 episodes recapped.
A 2024 Chinese fantasy romance about a woman who is transported into a novel’s horrible secondary lead character.
You can watch the trailer here.
Country: China
Local Title: 永夜星河
Year Released: 2024
Number of Episodes: 32
Genre: Fantasy Transmigration Romance
Main Actors:
Yu Shu Xin as Lin Yu
Ding Yu Xi as Mu Sheng
Zhu Xu Dan as Mu Yao
Yang Shi Ze as Liu Fu Yi
Pre-Recap Information:
This pre-recap is randomness about my tastes in Chinese dramas and what I know about this one now. I’ve only watched two episodes as I write this, so I can’t recommend it yet. For that, you’ll have to come back when I’m done.
When it comes to Chinese dramas, I gravitate towards dramas about gamers (like Go Go Squid, and Falling Into Your Smile) more than those about people who end up in games. This one has another perplexing layer to me, in that she’s not even really transported into a game but rather into a gamified version of a novel.
I have no idea if the fact that it was originally a novel will matter in the story.
On the other hand, I like timey-wimey shows, with characters trapped in time loops or puzzles they have to solve to escape. Shows like Reset aren’t about people in games, but there is a very game-like quality in the leads having to figure out the puzzle they are trapped in. Based on the first two episodes, there’s a similar mechanic to Reset. There’s no permanent death in this world, but she can get stuck endlessly repeating certain things until she solves the problem and can move on.
I also like Chinese fantasy shows, as my endless recap of Love Between Fairy and Devil should prove. Within this genre, I prefer light-hearted and romantic over dark and angst-ridden, and that’s what this seems to be.
And I like the leads here. Our female lead was the lead in Love Between Fairy and Devil, and I enjoyed her with the male lead in the contemporary drama Moonlight.
With all this going for it, I’m ready to make my 32-episode commitment to watching.
Just in case you don’t already know, a word on Transmigration
Transmigration means the movement of one soul into another body. Usually, this happens after death. I never encountered this idea often until getting more into East Asian, and particularly Chinese, stories. It’s a popular genre.
It’s also one of the many tropes that Chinese censorship currently directly or indirectly bans. As a result, many dramas adapted from novels will drop that aspect (famously, Ming Lan) or have to do some twisty story telling to get past censors.
I am far from an expert on the subject, this is just my best, basic understanding.
