Aug 19, 2022
I watched the donghua first, unaware that the manhua was the original source material. I rushed over here after finishing the donghua to read the rest of the story.
In my opinion, the manhua is much better than the donghua. I hate to sound like one of those "the manga is better" type people but it's too true for this one.
The art in this manhua is extremely consistent and beautiful. It's fully in color (!!) but I think this is how all manhua is.
Story 8/10
The story is very basic. The emperor, Xiao Jinyun, and the empress, Xu Yu, who hate each other at the
...
beginning of the story, switch bodies after falling into a lake due to the magic in a voodoo doll and the yin energy in the water or something. It's all very obscure. Anyway, their souls have switched and they must take on the duty of the other until they are able to switch back. Jinyun has to go take care of the Imperial Herem while Xu Yu has to take care of duties as the emperor. They learn how difficult each other's lives are and, as a result, grow a lot closer. The Imperial Harem is full of many women who are quite evil and will take every chance to try and plot against Xu Yu (who is currently Jinyun) and get her in trouble. It's just dramatic scene after dramatic scene and although I can understand this is to push the idea that they trust each other through thick and thin, it gets kind of tiring after the 5th time it happens. It's so dramatic that Xu Yu could drop a cloth and get exiled, no questions asked. Maybe this is how ancient China was but I highly doubt it was to such an extent.
Art 9/10
Like I mentioned earlier, the art is very nice. Both the cover arts and the manhua art look fabulous, especially in comparison to the donghua (*cough cough*) but honestly it's nothing too special in comparison to other manhua or webcomics. However, the consistency of it all is very nice and the art felt very fitting for a manhua (not over the top or lacking).
Character 9/10
In general, there are no characters that downright pissed me off, however, as I mentioned before, some of them are very unrealistic, but this could be more of a plot issue than the characters themselves. I like how dynamic a lot of the characters are throughout the series. It really shows how they are shaped by the events of the story for the better.
Enjoyment 10/10
Despite all the technical flaws, I still very much enjoyed this manhua. It just has a charm to it and has created such loveable characters and relationships beyond just the main couple. I found myself accidentally more invested in some of the side characters than the main ones. This is a very typical rom-com story so there were romantic parts that melted my heart and funny parts that genuinely did make me laugh for a good moment.
Overall 8/10
I really enjoyed Liang Bu Yi. I was so sad after I finished the entire thing in one go. It's truly such a beautiful love story about trust and making the effort to understand the other person. There's a saying (that I'll probably quote wrong) about how all couples should switch places with each other and experience life in their shoes to truly understand them, and in turn, it brings them so much closer. I think this ends up being the main theme of Liang Bu Yi and I think the story is able to portray this theme very romantically.
Finding a good Chinese romance story is quite rare and I have seen too many that are completely awful. This manhua is a gem. Considering it is also set in ancient China, the setting is also very beautiful and unique if you're someone who hasn't really been exposed to much Chinese historical fiction. All in all, I really enjoyed this and it will definitely be ingrained in my mind as one of my favorites.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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