#yu yilei

[zhoufeis]

BELL RINGING 你的岛屿已抵达 - ep. 03 China, 2024, dir. 赵思莹 Zhao Siying.

[naughtynanzhu]

Lovesickness Airing 5.08

[barananduen-blog]

New drama "Bell Ringing" 《你的岛��已抵达》 Info Post

Genre: modern pastoral island romance, with ancient costume part Format: short length; twelve 20-25min episodes Starring: Li Daikun 李岱昆, Amber Song Fangyuan 宋芳园, Miao Weilun 苗维伦, Yu Yilei 余逸蕾, Russell Zhuang Yuan 庄源 Platform: Mango TV Booting ceremony: 2023-10-13 [Source] Wrapping ceremony: 2023-11-01 Premiere: 2024-02-22 Filming location: Changde Peach Blossom Spring, Hunan Province [Img Source]

Drama info (plot, characters, location photos) + more pics (including booting and wrap ceremonies) under the cut.

Updated 2024-02-24

Booting Ceremony

October 13, 2023

[Source] No, I do not know why they're wearing those plushies on their jackets.😂

Sources: [-1-] [-2-] [-3-]

Drama Information

[Source] Google-translated into English on the left, and the original Mandarin on the right

Note! I don't know Mandarin, so please take this with a grain of salt, but what I gather, summarizing and piecing the parts together (and doing this as an attempted service to anyone else who is interested but also doesn't understand the language), is this:

Plot & Character Summary Five hundred years ago, Chi Ye 迟野 (played by Li Daikun) was a ruthless, cold-blooded killer, but his life changed when he met and fell in love with Shen Qi 沈七 (Song Fangyuan), an unassuming orphan. However, a tribal war broke out, and, to end it, she died by his sword. The two are reunited in the current timeline, in which Chi Ye is the immortal guardian of the rural Silver Bell Island, and Shen Qi has been reincarnated and lives a carefree life, until others pressure her into getting married. Qi Yang 齐杨 (Miao Weilun), a humorous guy, is a veterinarian and the only doctor on the island (Note: So he treats humans, too). He treasures love above all, and his life is disrupted by the arrival of a woman. Luo Fei 罗菲 (Yu Yilei) is a citywoman who goes to the island on vacation/sick leave. She becomes Shen Qi's confidant and advisor - based on dramas they watch. Due to an incident where she destroys Qi Yang's medicinal herb garden, she's forced to work again to pay off the damage. Xiao Cai (Zhuang Yuan) is Chi Ye's personal assistant, and knows the secret he keeps.

If any Mandarin speakers are willing to correct/amend, please do! Thanks in advance!

Note: Edited to fix some details post- drama premiere.

Li Daikun: "Modern drama! But there are also costumes!😱" [Source]

Filming Location

常德桃花源 - Changde Peach Blossom Spring Changde Prefecture, Taoyuan County, Hunan Province

According to [wikipedia], Changde's Taohuayuan, or Peach Blossom Spring, is a famous tourist location, known for its beautiful scenery and its peach blossoms (which we're in the wrong season for, sadly).

The name comes from a fable written by Tao Yuanming in the year 421, and the phrase has come to mean "an idealistic place of beauty and repose, although it is sometimes used to refer to an unrealistic dream" [Source], which feels fitting for this drama's plot and mood.

Miao Weilun and Zhuang Yuan have posted some photos of it:

Sources: [-1-] [2 & 3]

They took boats to the filming location every day. Source: [Miao Weilun comment] on [this post]

Other Official Promo Images

[Source]

More Photos

Uploaded by Miao Weilun, who we thank for posting so many pictures. [Source]

Wrapping Ceremony

November 1st, 2023

More at [Source] I've reached the per-post limit

All the best wishes for the cast and crew! Looking forward to the drama!

Follow-up Post

Includes trailers and more photos

[natsunoomoi]

About this blog

I unpinned the previous pinned one because it was too long and it was when I made the design and name change.

This blog is basically my personal one where I write thoughts and use it to comment on things. If you want my portfolio where I post artsy things I make, go to ekcportfolio and if you want my travel related posts about I do/see around Japan, go to teacher-reika. Every now and then if I have other personal commentary to add to something I post on those places, I might reblog it onto this one too, but otherwise go there for that stuff.

I'll probably post other more mundane things that may be related to either of those blogs here like stuff I bought in those places or things I got that I'm going to scan or something, but yeah....

Name of the blog means “memories of summer” or “Natsu’s memories”. Because my birthday is in the summer one of the names I went by when I was in uni was summer related, but I couldn’t really decide on which one I wanted. Like I thought Natsumi was too boring. Natsuko was too, but I kind of liked Natsuko? I kind of more or less settled on Natsue. I used them for my in-my-head explorations of the worlds I enjoyed watching in media, so my self-insert character was some variation of Natsu at any given time so I would just think everyone would *just* call me Natsu. I used it a lot for games and character creation too.

So yeah, that’s where that comes from and it’s more personal to like my inner thoughts and everything, which is more what this blog has become. The actual Japanese name I go by more often is Reika actually because it’s based on my Chinese name, which my grandma, who chose it, decided it would be better to give me a Chinese name closer to my English name. My English name is Elizabeth, which is often written as  伊莉莎白 in Chinese. My Chinese name is  伊莉, so it’s basically like calling me Ellie or something. I probably could have a Japanese name that’s just “Eri” too, but that's too on the nose. But I mean, technically it wouldn’t be wrong either if people called me that. My Chinese name in Cantonese is read as “Yilei” and in Mandarin “Ili”. I never much cared for the Mandarin reading. In Japanese it uses the second character in my Chinese name as the first is basically meaningless. The second means “jasmine” and to kind of make my Chinese name more Japanese and sound nice, I have Reika written as  莉花 so that the meaning didn’t change much and using more of the Cantonese pronunciation. More commonly in Japanese it’s read as Rika, but like names are weird and you can use whatever reading you want and I've seen people use it as "Rei" too. So yeah, that’s why my Japan blog uses Reika and this one I use Natsu.

The header photo I use probably more represents me now as well as that’s a park that’s near my home. It’s from Ritsurin Kouen during hanami season almost four years ago.

The side-bar thing has simple stuff about me. The middle thing is like alignment, horoscope, and other stuff like that. The last one is a charanavi alignment, which is hard to explain because it’s like a horoscope analysis thing that hasn’t really left Japan.

The Japanese in the footer is a quote from the Hojoki by Kamo no Choumei. It’s basically a quote that is a metaphor for time and how it keeps going and changing. Just like my life.

Content I blog/reblog about:

Anime - Anything I've seen is a potential, so check here. My absolute favorite is Yu Yu Hakusho, so there's a lot of that and other Jump manga turned anime. Non-Jump includes stuff like Bungou Stray Dogs.

Critical Role/DnD - Anything from all CR campaigns, general DnD and sometimes some Dimension 20 stuff.

Video Games - I play FFXIV, but I like almost anything by Square Enix (all FF and side games, Nier/Drag-On Dragoon[Drakengard], Kingdom Hearts, Bravely, Star Ocean, World Ends with You, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Super Mario RPG, Mana series), the Tales series, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Ragnarok Online, the Sora no Kiseki series, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, Breath of Fire, and a bunch of mobile apps and a great deal of which also overlap with aforementioned titles. I have a bad mobile app problem though and keep starting new ones. FFXIV - Reika Mikazuki; Xiaohua Mikazuki. I have other alts too of different races, but I play Lala the most.

Movies/TV shows & Actors from those things: Most of the movies are probably Western movies and like Marvel, but I watch other things to and have an interest in cinema. Also sci-fi properties like Star Trek and Star Wars. Disney movies too, but never got into the TV shows. TV side probably not as much because most of the shows I used to watch back in the States are either over or got so long that the plot got really convoluted and/or I haven't been able to keep up. Probably a bit here and there from different stuff I happen to be watching when I'm home in Japan.

Seiyuu - Sometimes general stuff, sometimes my faves. Most of my faves are male and are the popular ones that voice the characters everyone likes. Unless it's related to Critical Role, this doesn't include any English VAs. I understand Japanese and even when I was still learning, watching subs was more useful because it helped me to study so I never got into the English VAs.

MXTX works especially SVSSS because I read that one during lockdown since I had time. I unfortunately don't have time for the others so much, but I watch the donghua. This is also the only BL you will probably see me talk about because most BL I've seen isn't good or worth talking about.

Various other Chinese novels and literature because I've read classics, had a period where I was obsessed with Journey to the West/Xi You Ji, and have a couple of mobile apps that let me read translated modern online novels.

General good for society stuff.

Random thoughts that come up during my day. Sometimes related to my teaching and my cute and/or funny students.

Life stuff.

[barananduen-blog]

Sights from the drama & filming location, from local tourism office [Source] 🔊Sound on for the drama's cute "walking music"🔊

"BELL RINGING" - REVIEW

This drama performed extremely well, reaching #1 in viewership among currently airing short dramas and remaining in the top 2 spots through its entire run. Due to its good results, it stopped being only a webdrama and was broadcast on Chinese national TV and satellite TV as well! 🎉IMO, these accolades are very well deserved!

Plot Premise: The story takes place in Silver Bell Island, pastoral and peaceful with a hint of magic. Chi Ye, who, near the beginning of the story becomes the island's mayor, harbors a secret that none but his assistant know: he is immortal and has lived for hundreds of years, awaiting the return of his beloved, Shen Qi, for whom he made a sacrifice that not even he fully understands the depths of.

Present-day Shen Qi is a happy and carefree young woman, well loved by the community. She plans events and takes care of everyone, as they took care of her when she first arrived at the island. One day, she meets Chi Ye and falls in love at first sight, but, inexplicably, he always makes himself scarce around her. Thus begins her plan to "chase and capture" the reclusive Chi Ye.

✅Recommend! ✅Beautiful visuals, camerawork, etc. ✅Well-written, good flow and pacing ✅Interesting story ✅Good acting from almost all cast ✅Combination of ancient/modern was fun ✅Good characterization despite short length

❌It would have been nice if the second couple was developed more, but this was probably due to time restraints; it would have required a longer drama.

📺Where to watch: MangoTV website/app or MangoTV's official YouTube channels ("MangoTV Drama" and the language-specific channels)

Review (No Spoilers)

I was very impressed with this drama. It was very well written and the production and direction were excellent. Definitely one of my two favorite shorts/minis.

The writers managed the time restraints really well - I haven't read the novel it's based on, and yet I didn't feel like I missed anything at all for comprehension. I really, really liked how it's written like a long movie instead of a series of short episodes. In this sense, it's like a full-length drama, but shorter. This makes it stand out from among other short dramas: the flow is excellent, the plot and the two main characters have depth to them; so you do not get that feeling of superficiality that you see in most mini dramas.

The visuals also stand out. Despite being a modern drama, it has a magical, fairy-like feeling, with soft colors and lighting, rural and village scenery, lots of flowers (LOTS OF FLOWERS!). The camerawork impressed me, because the panning and zooming made even still scenes (like when the couple is just lying in bed) feel very dynamic, while contributing to mood and ambiance. Lots of people have described the drama's visual ambiance as "refreshing" and "healing," and I feel that's correct. The video above really shows a good sample of the feeling you get while watching the drama.

That said, plotwise, this is a very emotional show, and I think the juxtaposition of the peaceful scenes and the emotional turmoil was performed flawlessly. Life and death and fighting against fate are major themes, and the actors really make you feel for the characters.

The main story is set in the present time, with flashbacks to 500 years ago sprinkled throughout. The switching between the two time periods is done very well, and is neither obtrusive nor confusing. The viewer discovers and peels layers of what happened in tribal times as the characters themselves do. This layering is an integral part of the plot, and was written and executed very well.

Storytelling, camerawork, and post-processing filters come together seamlessly once again to create mood in the scenes leading up toward the end. The ending itself is very well written, too, and manages the viewers' feelings well.

Trivia: I forgot to add that voices are everyone's own and were recorded on-location, while filming the action. Recording studio work was limited to when characters were "thinking" and things like that.

[naughtynanzhu]

Lovesickness XHS

[naughtynanzhu]

Lovesickness XHS

[naughtynanzhu]

Lovesickness Preview | Airing 5.08

[naughtynanzhu]

[naughtynanzhu]

Lovesickness XHS

[naughtynanzhu]

Lovesickness XHS

[naughtynanzhu]

Lovesickness XHS