Some cute 观柳 merch I won recently!!!
Some context:
观柳 ("Watching the Willows") is a wuxia original spin off mini-series of the audio drama adaptation of the time loop murder mystery novel 听神 ("Listen to God").
The Listen to God protagonists are screenwriter 林商辞 Lin Shangci and actress 顾重 Gu Chong. In the story, Gu Chong stars in two different wuxia dramas written by Lin Shangci, and the characters she portrays are called 颜如玉 Yan Ruyu and 柳无央 Liu Wuyang respectively.
The AD adaptation of Listen to God produced two short bonus episodes set in these two in-universe dramas, and the one about Liu Wuyang exploded in popularity, so the production team decided to expand it into an AD-original mini-series.
They held a Fanjiao review contest a couple months earlier when the AD was airing and mine got picked so here I am with these lil cutie patooties.
This AD production team is my favourite one, as they often pepper little strokes of genius here and there. The series title 观柳 has two layers of meaning:
It's a combination of the protagonists' family names, 观常 Guan Chang and 柳无央 Liu Wuyang.
It's a symbolic tie-in to the title of the original series. 我观你如观柳，我听你如听神 - "I watch you like I watch the willows, I listen to you like I listen to God."
"我观你如观柳" ("I watch you like I watch the willows") is also the the last line in the series theme song, which in turn shares the same name as its predecessor bonus episode, 殊途同归.
Anyways if you can understand Chinese definitely go check out 观柳, especially if you're into action (nicely choreographed wuxia fight scenes), mystery and cat-and-mouse bickering dynamics (uptight imperial investigator vs cheeky robin hood) with a good dose of comedy. It's also one of the best quality ADs I've ever heard, alongside 侧写师小姐 Miss Profiler. The post-prod sound design is off the charts and has a big budget cinematography feel to it.