Wu Xin: The Monster Killer tells the story of an immortal being named Wu Xin (Elvis Han) who doesn’t know who or what he is. He pretends to be a monk as a cover for his abilities to fight mystical ghosts and monsters. He meets a girl named Yue Ya (Jin Chen), and because of her kindness towards him, he quickly becomes attached to her. The two soon find themselves staying at the home of Commander Gu Xuan Wu who has asked Wu Xin to rid the place of a ghost.
The first word that comes to mind when describing Wu Xin: The Monster Killer is fun. And it happens to be my very first Chinese drama! I’ve started several Chinese dramas in the past, but never lasted long. First, I strongly dislike the dubbing of the voices. For me, it’s easy to tell that the voices don’t match the actors, and that they come from a sound stage. It does detract from the enjoyment somewhat since it just comes off as awkward to me. Chinese dramas also tend to have a slower feel to them than Korean dramas. They also take a lot longer to say simple things or to get a point across, and they seem to repeat the same things a lot in the dialogue.
Wu Xin wasn’t exactly different in that sense because it definitely did those things. But despite that, it quickly pulled me in with such an interesting setting and phenomenal characters. Korean dramas don’t do a lot of fantasy, and when they do, it is a smaller part of the story. Wu Xin was full on with the fantasy element with monsters, magic, and special effects throughout each and every episode. I love fantasy, so it was a nice treat for me.
I had heard a lot about our main guy Elvis Han before this, and yes, he is a charmer! He has such a sweet and kind demeanor with a smile that will just warm up your heart. But he is also brave and strong. He will do whatever it takes to protect those he cares for.
Yue Ya is your classic spunky heroine with a strong will of her own. This girl doesn’t let anyone push her around. She always lets Wu Xin know what she wants, and most of the time he is happy to oblige. I have to say, I really like this girl.
Commander Gu (Wang Yan Lin) is hilarious, and some of the faces he makes are priceless. I never guessed upon first meeting him just what a character he would be. He’s definitely full of himself, but his friendship with Wu Xin and Yue Ya begin to soften him. He develops relationships he had never had before because of them. But he always maintained that humorous and somewhat crazy personality. He was just too much fun!
Then we have our main villainess Yue Qi Luo (Chen Yao). This little lady is so cute and tiny and looks like she is about 14, but she’s dangerous. She doesn’t mind hurting innocent people for her gain, and when she takes a liking to Wu Xin, Yue Ya becomes one of her targets.
Yue Qi Luo is aided by Commander Gu’s number one rival, Zhang Xian Zong (Zhang Ruo Yun). This guy wanted power, and he saw Yue Qi Luo as a way to get it. But the irony is that his ever growing feelings for her basically cause him to willingly give up everything in order to help her with her sinister plans. It was an interesting relationship for sure.
Another word I would use to describe this drama is strange. Of course, it is a fantasy drama, so we have magic, ghosts, and other crazy things. But some of the strangest stuff happens just around the halfway point.
SPOILER
Since Wu Xin is an immortal being, he can’t die. No matter what happens to him. The first time this really comes in to play is during a showdown with Yue Qi Luo. She gets the best of him and slices him right across the face. I was a little surprised when his face seemed to start to separate in two, but I was floored when half of his head fell off! Okay, that sounds really gory, but it wasn’t.
Despite losing half his head, he is able to go back home. Naturally, Yue Ya and Commander Gu are quite disturbed, but he assures them his head will grow back. They certainly used some interesting effects to really make him look like he had half ahead. And I’ll tell you, I don’t do gore at all, but this really didn’t cause me any issues.
If the head thing wasn’t weird enough, a couple episodes later, Wu Xin is literally torn limb from limb and all that is left is his hand. But his hand still has his consciousness and is alive! It makes its way home where Yue Ya and Commander Gu must take care of him until he can grow back. This takes awhile, and we get some humorous episodes where Commander Gu nurses him back to health. And Wu Xin goes through some interesting transformations: hand, lump, small worm, large worm, fuzzy worm, furry animal, furry child, furry man, and finally back to normal. It was so weird, but I highly enjoyed it.
Here I present the some of the key stages of Wu Xin’s recovery:
END SPOILER
Looking at our main couple, Wu Xin and Yue Ya were so sweet together. Their bickering was cute, and it wasn’t overbearing. But these two went through a lot together in a very short amount of time. Their relationship had such and depth and devotion. What a joy they were to watch!
Although some of the episodes were episodic, the drama had some really interesting stories and several exciting adventures our group goes on. But the overarching back story of Wu Xin, Yue Ya, and Commander Gu fighting against Yue Qi Luo was nicely developed as well as the romance and friendship between our main trio.
So despite some imperfections, I thouroughly enjoyed Wu Xin: The Monster Killer. With wonderful characters, a great villainess, fantasy, humor, an interesting setting, and beautiful costumes and cinematography, the drama easily kept me entertained. I am pleased to give the honor of my very first Chinese drama to Wu Xin: The Monster Killer.
My Rating: 7/10
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