There's a Live Action Too?!-The Holy Pearl

The Holy Pearl is the unofficial Chinese live action of Inuyasha that came out in 2011. Two days ago on A Look at Manga, we looked at Inuyash. Now we watch the live action. This will be that last of Inuyasha for a time.
Before the beginning of the series, MoYin, the human for of the goddess Teng She, was jealous of her sister Xian Yue's popularity with the humans they protected and the of the king. Mo Yin colaberated with the demon lord Shi You Ming to kill her sister. This upset the balance between the divine, the human and demon worlds, giving demon an upper hands.
At the start of the show, Xian Yue's reincarnation, Ding Yao, an average college student majoring in history. While helping her father, an archaeologist, she come across the Nine-Star Wheel that he found on his dig. She accidentally triggers it causing her to be sent back in time 3500 years into the past to Nan Yue.
The king of Nan Yue wants to marry her, since she looks exactly like Xian Yue, who he was in love with. Ding Yao flees the palace only to be attacked by demons who are after the Deamon-Subduing Vase. She hides in a tomb where the half-breed, half human half dragon. Wen Tian is held prisoner. She frees him and he saves her. The Demon Subduing Vase appears mysteriously from a clay figure that Ding Yao has on a necklace.
Ding Yao accidentally shatters the vase. Now she and Wen Tian set out to find all twelve of the holy pearls to reforge the Demon-Subduing Vase.

First things first if you are not some one who watches Chinese or Korean dramas regularly or have watched them in the past, this drama may be a little confusing because of the names. Every one has two names or more, or at least two words that make up their names. Same thing goes for the places. Places and people are addressed the same there is a slight confusions at first until you realize they are talking about a place instead of a person. Also, for Ding Yao around episode three or four suddenly people just start calling her Yao Yao. I'm guessing it's a nick name. The only reason I realized that is was Ding Yao that they were talking about, is the conversation was about her. They just started calling her Yao Yao. The people who call her this are friends or family and Wen Tain after some time. Which is more reason to believe that, yes it is a nick name. There is just no point when she tells Wen Tain to call her this or an explanation for it. It makes the dialog more realistic, but that can make it a little confusing for the audience who's watching the show. Especially if they are a foreigner.
All the characters are good. They are all human, so there are points that you get annoyed with them. But, that is understandable and it always works for their characters. Ding Yao is annoying at first. It's understandable that there would be a contrast between her and every one from the past. But, it's such a big contrast that it's jarring. and it wares on the viewer. The contrast does go away slowly as she spends more time in the past. It doesn't go away suddenly which is nice. That shows character growth and development. She doesn't become a new person she keeps her personality. Also, in the beginning she just screams and wants Wen Tian to save her. By the end she's fighting demons with her powers along with him. Again she grows as a character.
The other person that is annoying is the king, Rong Di. He doesn't start off this way. But, in the middle of the series he starts to go crazy. He doesn't stay crazy but he is crazy for a bit. It's a very human thing that happens but he just takes it to the extreme. What triggers it is Xian Yue's body being stolen. He is so in love with her and obsesses with her that it backs him. When Ding Yao shows up you can tell how much Xian Yue's death effected him. Even though he completely mistook what she said at her death. Again very human to perceive things from only your prospective. So, when Xian Yue died in his arms and told him this happened because she fell in love. He took it as "oh shit this is my fault, she fell in love with me." When in reality she loved Wen Tian. So, he's already more then a little messed up and then some one steals her body and it just pushes him over the edge.
The fights in this series are very...Asian, that's really the only way to explain it. Well maybe the Matrix. It's House of the Flying Daggers and Hero, but that kind of makes sense because those are also Chinese historical fiction movies. It's a lot of flying in the air jumping off water and running oddly. Every one in this show runs oddly, no explanation, it just happens and it's a little distracting. The magic that the characters use all looks the same it just changes color and then there is explosions and puffs of smoke on the ground near their opponent. Again very Asian stage combat. It's kind of the equivalent, or at least the Chinese version, of bad fighting or stage combat in America.
The costuming is nice, historically accurate not sure. But still looks good and works for the setting. The shoes are distracting they have tred. Shoes back then did not have tred. But, that may be asking to much of the dream series. Everything else, besides the bottom of the shoes was nice. It set a nice tone for the series.
The first thing any one has to understand about this show is it's the unofficial live action of Inuyash and it is loosely based on the manga and anime. The basic story and characters are the same. Two people, a girl from the future and a boy who is half human and half demon, search for pieces of a powerful object to put it back together. Every thing else about  it is completely different. This in not going to be a compare and contrast portion, because that would take far to long. This is a nice so for "oh this is interesting what they did with the story." The names are different, the places are different, some of the characters are different. This show can stand alone. If you have never read Inuyash, you've never seen Inuyasha, if you've never even heard of Inuyash, you'll be completely fine watch this show. You don't need on for the other and it's fine. It's fun to watch the show for the similarities with the two shows but you don't need it.
It's a good show, it's a decent story. There is character development and growth, none of them are the same from the first time you meet them. I recommend it to anyone who likes Asian historical fictions.
Next week I'm watching Yamada-Kun and the Seven Witches.

~^.^