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Review: Bureau of Transformer (動物管理局) (2019)
What a great show. I've never seen any Cdrama that was anything like this. It was wonderfully whimsical and quite funny. What I loved about this drama is that it took its magical realism setting seriously. We got the comedy out of it, but also the exploration of serious social issues that could arise due to this alternate reality. We also got a surprisingly serious final arc that circled back to our main character.
Would definitely recommend this Cdrama as a one of a kind!
Spoilers.
Story
Hao Yun was a veterinarian who got caught up in the operations of the "Bureau of Transformer," a police department that dealt with "transformers." The show described the transformers as "yao" which are a Chinese Taoist concept. When a animal (or any object) accumulates enough magic energy, they can gain a human form, which would make them a "yao." In the conext of the show, the people who are yao are more like animal hybrids/shapeshifters.
The Bureau of Transformer had technology like the Men in Black flashing light that would wipe the humans' memories of the transformers. However, when the officers found that their technology, the megaphone, did not work on Hao Yun, they decided to bring him in as an officer (so that the secret would not spread).
The majority of the show involved the officers as they solved crimes relating to transformers. Some of the characters did have their own backstories explored. Other than Hao Yun and Aiai, we had backstories about Kevin, Bian Liang, and Duan Weiran. But we didn't get backstories about Li Zhengzong, Liu Xiaohong, or Wan Xiaojuan :<
The end of the drama came back to Hao Yun discovering that not only was he not a human, but he was the son of Zhu Que, a major criminal, and somewhat of a mythical creature, a firebird. So the people he thought were his parents were not his parents. It also turned out that the dog that had accompanied him since his childhood, Siye, was a transformer who was Zhu Que's subordinate. He wanted to keep Hao Yun safe. But after finding out that Zhu Que was alive, Siye wanted to reunite Hao Yun with his biological father which kind of set off the final story of the show. Siye forced Li Zhengzong to open the entrance to the prison to release Zhu Que, but Li Zhengzong set off the detonation sequence. Siye was in the explosion, but there were hints that he might still have been alive at the end, as a dog that looked exactly like Siye had stopped to look at Hao Yun.
Anyway, the drama ended on a big happy note :3
The biggest romantic story line of the show was of course for Hao Yun and Aiai. I'll talk about it below, but I liked that it explored conflicts that were specific to their situations, and that Hao Yun and Aiai solved them in their own ways.
The romance between Kevin and Xiaohong was mentioned, but it wasn't explored in detail, other than that she used to be his head and he had a massive crush on her.
I thought Xiaoduan's relationship with Jiang Xin was really cute!!!!!!!
And honestly I was pretty glad that Xiaojuan and Bian Liang did not get together. Just because the guy tries doesn't mean the girl is required to return his feelings >(
This was a freaking cute drama. I loved that it was wholesome but not completely forced. All of the characters were definitely based on tropes, but they did not act in tropes. They acted in ways that was natural to how someone with that personality would react in that situation.
Production
I was so impressed with the comedy direction in this drama. I looked up this director but according to MyDramaList he's only directed this drama.
Most of the supporting actors were not known to me, but I thought they all did a good job, and honestly I think it might be good on the director's part. If in a typical cringe idol drama, these actors might not have seemed as endearing as I found them.
Actually one of the first things that caught my attention in this drama was that so many of the guest actors were actors that I'd seen in more serious dramas. I know Wang Ziwen is a reknowned actress (though I hadn't seen her in anything). As for Chen He, I knew him more as a variety show star than an actor but I think because he was a variety mainstay, that his brand of comedy worked more for me.
All in all, the acting was great. The characters had great chemistry with each other, both because of their acting and because of the good writing.
Characters
Hao Yun
Our main character. He was kind of an everyman, a main character self-insert in this drama, but I'll let it go because Chen He does a pretty decent job.
Hao Yun believed that his parents had died in a fire, and that that was how he ended up at the orphanage. After he snuck out of the orphanage, he found Siye, who accompanied him from then on.
In reality, Hao Yun was the son of Zhu Que, a mythical firebird who was a criminal. He was taken by the people who he assumed were his birth parents. Siye had found his parents and killed them and then taken him to the orphanage where he grew up.
At the orphanage, he became good friends with Xu Zhi, and when he grew up, he became a vet.
Since the Bureau of Transformer couldn't wipe Hao Yun's memories, their only choice was to instate him as an officer to control him. Thus, for the beginning part of the drama, he wore a GPS tracker and also his head Wu Aiai could electrecute him if she wanted. Hao Yun did have plans of running away but they were all unsuccessful.
Over time, Hao Yun grew to love the team. He grew up an orphan and he longed for a family. And he found one with the Bureau.
Hao Yun struggled with his love for Wu Aiai, likely because she had a time limit on her gender, and he had conflicted feelings about that. But eventually he accepted that he liked Wu Aiai for her personality and not because she was a woman. When she became a he, Hao Yun said that he would take her to do bro stuff. And with that, he decided that they would be ok.
When he and Aiai were locked in a chamber to be burned, Hao Yun found out that he had fire powers. He tried to confide in Li Zhengzong but he didn't believe him.
There was a story line with Siye being found dead, and Hao Yun grieving for his long time friend. He had even come to terms with Siye's death. But Siye ended up being the big bad of the final story line. There was an acknowledgment that Siye was very important to Hao Yun, but of course a Cdrama would not let the bad win, so in the end, Aiai pulled Hao Yun back from his fury and Hao Yun stopped Siye from releasing Zhu Que.
Hao Yun remained a member of the crew, and in a relationship with Wu Aiai.
Wu Aiai
Wu Aiai was one of the lead detectives of the bureau. She was an eel hybrid. Wu Aiai was your typical feisty tsundere little hothead.
The kind of eel that Aiai was was hermaphroditic. How that translated into this world was that all members of this species were born female, and that after the age of 22, they would become male forever. So members of this race tended to get married twice, once when they were female, and once when they were male. For women like Aiai who were close to 22 years old, she would sometimes become male if her heart rate was over 180 bpm.
At the beginning, Wu Aiai was somewhat estranged from her family. We later found out she wanted to focus on her career because she was worried about marriage.
Wu Aiai was in denial about being in love with Hao Yun, but she ultimately confessed to him. Because Hao Yun did not return her confession, she decided she would go home and get married, which she would do with her best friend George, with whom she had grown up but had now fully transitioned to a man.
There was a story line about Hao Yun returning to Wu Aiai's hometown to stop the marriage with George. In reality, Wu Aiai, George, and Xiaojuan had concocted a plan in which Xiaojuan would pose as George's mistress so that Aiai's mom and grandma would not let the wedding go ahead. But in the end, it was Hao Yun's sincere confession that had convinced her family to not go ahead with the wedding.
Wu Aiai was still very worried about becoming a man. That's a very reasonable worry to have, particularly when in a heterosexual relationship. And after a while, she was the one who began to pull away from Hao Yun, and to break off their relationship. And it was Hao Yun who assured her that he would still be with her when she became a man.
The copout to this was that Xiaojuan was working on a drug where she could remain female, even when her heart rate went up.
Anyway, Aiai became more confident in herself and her love with Hao Yun and in the end she was the one who pulled Hao Yun out of his evil fog, reminding him that he had promised not to hurt her and that he had forgotten that the Bureau was his family.
At the end of the drama, Aiai just seemed a lot looser and happier which was nice :3
Li Zhengzong
Li Zhengzong was the head of the Bureau. He was a raccoon hybrid, though I had to look that one up.
He generally came off as a pleasant but lazy department head. He always played video games in his office.
He did not a bit about Hao Yun's background information, but only about his parents and not about him actually being Zhu Que's son. It was revealed that Li Zhengzong was Zhu Que's keeper and that his jail cell was actually beneath their department and that was why Li Zhengzong was chilling at the office all the time.
Kevin Zhou/Zhou Heiya
Kevin Zhou was the other lead detective in the team. He posed as a black panther hybrid, but it was later revealed that he was in fact a donkey hybrid.
It was revealed that Kevin had been bullied as a child for being a donkey. When he applied to be a police officer, he lied that he was a black panther so that people would think he was cool. And he also took on the name Kevin instead of his birth name Zhou Heiya.
Kevin was always speaking English, and it was part of his Kevin Zhou persona, who had studied in London (though the voice actor's English was pretty accented).
Kevin's story line was about his uncle blackmailing him into cleaning up his (slightly illegal mess), threatening to reveal his true identity as a donkey.
Kevin realized that the people around him appreciated him for his personality and what he brought to the table, and not because he was a black panther. And it gave him the courage to stand up to his uncle.
Kevin also had a crush on Xiaohong. It was revealed that when he was younger, Xiaohong was his head and had saved him, and he had held a flame for her ever since.
I liked that Kevin was portrayed as wanting to be cool but slightly a little pathetic lol. It made him a lot more likeable.
Bian Liang
Bian Liang was Kevin's right hand, a chameleon hybrid. He was generally a bit of a try hard lol.
Bian Liang used use his camouflage skills to cause trouble, but later he had changed his ways and become a police officer.
He was also kind of an everyman and like Hao Yun was always on the receiving end of his head's wrath.
Bian Liang was always trying to court Xiaojuan but he was a bit too much of a try hard for Xiaojuan that it felt insincere and that was why she wasn't quite moved. He never stopped courting even at the end though.
Liu Xiaohong
Xiaohong was in charge of records. She was also a single mom, though we never once saw her kid :/
Xiaohong was generally pretty chill. She liked snacking (she was a squirrel hybrid) but she never really let herself get too worked up over stuff.
We really only got to see her in action at the very end, when all hands were needed on deck to stop the drug mania.
In the end, it was implied that Kevin and Xiaohong were together.
Wan Xiaojuan
Xiaojuan was the doctor/coroner/scientist of the group. She was a rabbit hybrid.
Xiaojuan seemed to run a sex shop? I couldn't really tell but I swear she had sex toys on the shelves lol.
Like Xiaohong, Xiaojuan also didn't get in on the action too much. She analyzed the DNA and other scientific data for our detectives. And as mentioned, she developed the drug to help with Aiai's sex changing situation.
At the end, Xiaojuan was supposed to join the detectives but was attacked by a zombie. Luckily, she had developed a neutralizing drug to ward off the zombie and made it in time.
Bian Liang was being all affectionate with her in the end, but she rejected his advances lol. Good for her. It's just that at the beginning of the drama, Xiaojuan had a lot of boyfriends but she insisted that they were for fun and that she wasn't looking for anything long term. Bian Liang had said that chameleons become bright pink when with the person they loved the most and Xiaojuan was even a little moved that he was, but it was revealed that he was wearing pink makeup and Xiaojuan realized that Bian Liang was just hustling and not that sincere. So I think that's why she figured he was not for her.
Duan Weiran
Duan Weiren, Xiaoduan, was the guy who watched the security cams 24/7. He was a bat hybrid. Like Xiaohong and Xiaojuan, also not an action guy.
He was pretty stoic and quiet :3 :3
He had a romantic story line about a budding romance with a human woman, Jiang Xin, who was a reporter. He would constantly wipe her memories but she would always remember, and it was because she was constantly recording things in life, whether on purpose or accidentally. At the end, she respected Xiaoduan's decision if he wanted to wipe her memories one last time, but instead, he chose to let her remember him, and they started going out :3
During the last arc, Xiaoduan was tasked with transporting important supplies, since he could fly.
And after the skip, he asked Li Zhengzong whether he could work in shifts, so that he could spend more time with Jiang Xian :3
Liu Guodong
Liu Guodong was not an officer, just a recurring character for the first few episodes. He was a tardigrade, so basically indestructable, and he was constantly trying to commit suicide.
It was revealed that he had lived for over 500 years, and had loved over ten women. And he was just so done with having to say goodbye.
In the end, Hao Yun found another tardigrade who had an extensive history of wanting to kill herself. She and Liu Guodong became friends. So basically, Liu Guodong was just terribly lonely.
Siye
Siye was Hao Yun's pet dog. Hao Yun had bumped into him after escaping from the orphanage. Because his tag read the longhand form of "four," Hao Yun named him Siye, and they were inseparable ever since.
In reality, Siye was Zhu Que's subordinate who had hunted down and killed Hao Yun's adoptive parents, and then brought him to the orphanage. So once Hao Yun escaped, he continued protecting the boy and into his adulthood.
Siye had gotten lost so Hao Yun was looking all over for him. However, men came to Hao Yun's door to announce that he was dead, giving Hao Yun Siye's collar as proof.
Hao Yun was understandably very depressed, as Siye was his only family for many years. He went on a journey to scatter his ashes at the sea, but his journey was stopped when encountering the clan of stray dogs. Instead, Hao Yun buried the ashes in the forest.
In the last arc, it was revealed that Siye was a figure in the underworld. He had unleashed a drug that would induce a feral zombie state in humans and hybrids. He had found out that Zhu Que was alive and in prison and wanted to release him, so that father and son would be reunited.
I thought that conversation between Hao Yun and Siye were so special. There was no question that Siye was the bad guy here, but I loved that the writers acknowledged how important Siye was to Hao Yun, who had lost the only family he knew from a very young age. Siye was something like an uncle, a lifelong guardian to him. He had said that he had intended on just seeing Hao Yun live a peaceful life. He had only changed his mind when he found out that Zhu Que was alive. But Hao Yun stopped him, deciding that Siye had done too much harm.
Siye assumed dog form as Hao Yun & company were escaping the bureau building, but Yang Lishan had taken him and jumped into the explosion (presumably she wanted revenge on Siye for giving her the drugs).
However, at the very end of the drama, when Hao Yun and Aiai were walking through the streets, a dog that looked exactly like Siye looked at him and whined longingly. His owner told him not to be said, because he would see him again. It's left ambiguous whether the dog was Siye or not.
Which is oddly not as much of an open end as I thought it would be. I think it would be more open-ended if nothing was said about Siye ever again, if Hao Yun just went about with life forever forgetting Siye (which is not quite possible). I just think even if it's just for us, it adds a bit of something for us to know.
Themes
Discrimination
Kevin's story line was very much about discrimination. He was born a donkey and nothing could change that. He was bullied and of course it made him a bit timid. I'm sure many kids can associate with that kind of childhood, whether it was racism or sexism or something else that made them the butt of jokes. Even in adulthood, Kevin had nightmares about being laughed at for being a donkey.
But it took Kevin a lot of time to come to terms with who he was. For a long time he lived as a black panther and he assumed that people only respected him because he was a black panther, and not because of all the good he had done as a detective and police officer. It took him time to realize that his friends liked him for him, and that they would still continue to do so even if he was a donkey.
So in the face of his uncle, Kevin proudly stood as a donkey, and told him to back off.
Sex & Gender
This was a huge theme for Aiai. Her species was female until the age of 22, at which point she would transition into a man permanently. As such, members of her race would marry twice, once as a woman and once as a man.
The way I saw it, Aiai was worried about marriage because she was worried about having to give her heart to two people. I think she disliked the idea of marrying someone as a woman and then having to part with them when she got married the second time. Instead, she decided to stay away from love and marriage entirely.
That changed as she got to know Hao Yun and fell in love with him. She confessed to Hao Yun but he would not express his feelings back to her. Honestly I think anyone would feel insecure about that situation. I think that Aiai was probably thinking that she was less of a woman because Hao Yun was thinking that she would be a man one day. And so that was why Aiai left for home, so that she could be with people who would understand her predicament.
Even after Hao Yun confessed at her wedding, Aiai started feeling insecure and pushing Hao Yun away because she was already in the process of the maleness setting in permanently.
It's not that Hao Yun could have been forced, but Hao Yun decided that he would be fine with Aiai even if she was a man, because he liked her personality.
The effects of Xiaojuan's drug was unclear, but for the time being it seemed that Aiai was for the most part a woman. She figured that one day she might still be able to turn into a man. But she wasn't so worried because Hao Yun insisted that he was with her for her and not her gender.
Mistakes
I thought Xu Zhi and Hu Xiao's story was so interesting. Xu Zhi was Hao Yun's childhood friend from the orphanage. She always loved music but when she got an acceptance from a prestigious music school, she hesitated to accept it because her parents didn't want her to go. Xu Zhi was an earthworm hybrid, so what she did was she split herself in half to spawn two of her. The spawned clown was Hu Xiao.
Xu Zhi and Hu Xiao would switch places once in a while so they could each experience each other's life. One day, Xu Zhi told Hu Xiao that she didn't want to switch lives anymore. Xu Zhi wanted to permanently stay at home, so Hu Xiao permanently became the music student. However, she was afraid of ever signing with big record labels for fear of anyone finding out her and Xu Zhi's secret.
One day after a long while, Xu Zhi wanted to switch lives again. She was unhappy with her husband. But at that point, Hu Xiao was happy with her life and didn't want to switch again. Xu Zhi had stabbed herself wanting to spawn another clone, but she failed and that was how she died.
The argument between Xu Zhi and Hu Xiao was what I wanted to focus on. Hu Xiao told Xu Zhi that she couldn't just run away from her problems. Since they had spent so long away from each other living their lives, the lives they had built were now their own and Xu Zhi could not take from Hu Xiao what she had worked so hard to build. Instead of finding ways out of her problems, Xu Zhi wanted to run away, but this time she could not do it.
Death
Liu Guodong's dilemma was a pretty interesting one. He was basically immortal and he wanted to die. That is understandable. He'd lived through the deaths of so many loved ones and he was sick and tired of it.
I wonder whether the police were involved because suicide is technically illegal, or whether it was just because he was doing something dangerous and it's police procedure to figure out what's going on.
Int he end, Guodong met another woman who was in the same boat as him, who had known life to be too long and wanted to know death. But the message that this show wanted to portray was just that maybe life would be easier of Guodong didn't always have to say goodbye.
Family
Hao Yun lost his parents at a young age and ran away from the orphanage also at a young age. His only family was Siye.
Hao Yun had said that he wanted a family. The way in which he slowly came to acknowledge the bureau as his family was pretty sweet.
But I also thought his relationship with Siye was really interesting. There was definitely more room for angst there with the betrayal but this drama is only 24 episodes. But I just really liked the acknowledgement that despite the bad things he had done, Siye still cared deeply for Hao Yun in his own way. Even if Hao Yun did not agree with his methods, he had to understand that Siye acted on his own beliefs of how he should care for the son of the man to whom he was so loyal. And Hao Yun himself considered Siye family because for so long, Siye was the only one who was by his side. Siye also mentioned that he was so moved when Hao Yun feared for his health and safety, going so far as to bury him in a nice spot. They had such a nice life together, but that was the end, and now they were on opposing sides, and I think they respected that of each other.
Overall
A really wonderful show. I appreciated that it took its setting seriously and explored some good ideas. Not something that I see a lot in Cdramas. Plus the comedy hit different. And with great direction and great acting. Highly recommend.
Would definitely recommend this Cdrama as a one of a kind!
Spoilers.
Story
Hao Yun was a veterinarian who got caught up in the operations of the "Bureau of Transformer," a police department that dealt with "transformers." The show described the transformers as "yao" which are a Chinese Taoist concept. When a animal (or any object) accumulates enough magic energy, they can gain a human form, which would make them a "yao." In the conext of the show, the people who are yao are more like animal hybrids/shapeshifters.
The Bureau of Transformer had technology like the Men in Black flashing light that would wipe the humans' memories of the transformers. However, when the officers found that their technology, the megaphone, did not work on Hao Yun, they decided to bring him in as an officer (so that the secret would not spread).
The majority of the show involved the officers as they solved crimes relating to transformers. Some of the characters did have their own backstories explored. Other than Hao Yun and Aiai, we had backstories about Kevin, Bian Liang, and Duan Weiran. But we didn't get backstories about Li Zhengzong, Liu Xiaohong, or Wan Xiaojuan :<
The end of the drama came back to Hao Yun discovering that not only was he not a human, but he was the son of Zhu Que, a major criminal, and somewhat of a mythical creature, a firebird. So the people he thought were his parents were not his parents. It also turned out that the dog that had accompanied him since his childhood, Siye, was a transformer who was Zhu Que's subordinate. He wanted to keep Hao Yun safe. But after finding out that Zhu Que was alive, Siye wanted to reunite Hao Yun with his biological father which kind of set off the final story of the show. Siye forced Li Zhengzong to open the entrance to the prison to release Zhu Que, but Li Zhengzong set off the detonation sequence. Siye was in the explosion, but there were hints that he might still have been alive at the end, as a dog that looked exactly like Siye had stopped to look at Hao Yun.
Anyway, the drama ended on a big happy note :3
The biggest romantic story line of the show was of course for Hao Yun and Aiai. I'll talk about it below, but I liked that it explored conflicts that were specific to their situations, and that Hao Yun and Aiai solved them in their own ways.
The romance between Kevin and Xiaohong was mentioned, but it wasn't explored in detail, other than that she used to be his head and he had a massive crush on her.
I thought Xiaoduan's relationship with Jiang Xin was really cute!!!!!!!
And honestly I was pretty glad that Xiaojuan and Bian Liang did not get together. Just because the guy tries doesn't mean the girl is required to return his feelings >(
This was a freaking cute drama. I loved that it was wholesome but not completely forced. All of the characters were definitely based on tropes, but they did not act in tropes. They acted in ways that was natural to how someone with that personality would react in that situation.
Production
I was so impressed with the comedy direction in this drama. I looked up this director but according to MyDramaList he's only directed this drama.
Most of the supporting actors were not known to me, but I thought they all did a good job, and honestly I think it might be good on the director's part. If in a typical cringe idol drama, these actors might not have seemed as endearing as I found them.
Actually one of the first things that caught my attention in this drama was that so many of the guest actors were actors that I'd seen in more serious dramas. I know Wang Ziwen is a reknowned actress (though I hadn't seen her in anything). As for Chen He, I knew him more as a variety show star than an actor but I think because he was a variety mainstay, that his brand of comedy worked more for me.
All in all, the acting was great. The characters had great chemistry with each other, both because of their acting and because of the good writing.
Characters
Hao Yun
Our main character. He was kind of an everyman, a main character self-insert in this drama, but I'll let it go because Chen He does a pretty decent job.
Hao Yun believed that his parents had died in a fire, and that that was how he ended up at the orphanage. After he snuck out of the orphanage, he found Siye, who accompanied him from then on.
In reality, Hao Yun was the son of Zhu Que, a mythical firebird who was a criminal. He was taken by the people who he assumed were his birth parents. Siye had found his parents and killed them and then taken him to the orphanage where he grew up.
At the orphanage, he became good friends with Xu Zhi, and when he grew up, he became a vet.
Since the Bureau of Transformer couldn't wipe Hao Yun's memories, their only choice was to instate him as an officer to control him. Thus, for the beginning part of the drama, he wore a GPS tracker and also his head Wu Aiai could electrecute him if she wanted. Hao Yun did have plans of running away but they were all unsuccessful.
Over time, Hao Yun grew to love the team. He grew up an orphan and he longed for a family. And he found one with the Bureau.
Hao Yun struggled with his love for Wu Aiai, likely because she had a time limit on her gender, and he had conflicted feelings about that. But eventually he accepted that he liked Wu Aiai for her personality and not because she was a woman. When she became a he, Hao Yun said that he would take her to do bro stuff. And with that, he decided that they would be ok.
When he and Aiai were locked in a chamber to be burned, Hao Yun found out that he had fire powers. He tried to confide in Li Zhengzong but he didn't believe him.
There was a story line with Siye being found dead, and Hao Yun grieving for his long time friend. He had even come to terms with Siye's death. But Siye ended up being the big bad of the final story line. There was an acknowledgment that Siye was very important to Hao Yun, but of course a Cdrama would not let the bad win, so in the end, Aiai pulled Hao Yun back from his fury and Hao Yun stopped Siye from releasing Zhu Que.
Hao Yun remained a member of the crew, and in a relationship with Wu Aiai.
Wu Aiai
Wu Aiai was one of the lead detectives of the bureau. She was an eel hybrid. Wu Aiai was your typical feisty tsundere little hothead.
The kind of eel that Aiai was was hermaphroditic. How that translated into this world was that all members of this species were born female, and that after the age of 22, they would become male forever. So members of this race tended to get married twice, once when they were female, and once when they were male. For women like Aiai who were close to 22 years old, she would sometimes become male if her heart rate was over 180 bpm.
At the beginning, Wu Aiai was somewhat estranged from her family. We later found out she wanted to focus on her career because she was worried about marriage.
Wu Aiai was in denial about being in love with Hao Yun, but she ultimately confessed to him. Because Hao Yun did not return her confession, she decided she would go home and get married, which she would do with her best friend George, with whom she had grown up but had now fully transitioned to a man.
There was a story line about Hao Yun returning to Wu Aiai's hometown to stop the marriage with George. In reality, Wu Aiai, George, and Xiaojuan had concocted a plan in which Xiaojuan would pose as George's mistress so that Aiai's mom and grandma would not let the wedding go ahead. But in the end, it was Hao Yun's sincere confession that had convinced her family to not go ahead with the wedding.
Wu Aiai was still very worried about becoming a man. That's a very reasonable worry to have, particularly when in a heterosexual relationship. And after a while, she was the one who began to pull away from Hao Yun, and to break off their relationship. And it was Hao Yun who assured her that he would still be with her when she became a man.
The copout to this was that Xiaojuan was working on a drug where she could remain female, even when her heart rate went up.
Anyway, Aiai became more confident in herself and her love with Hao Yun and in the end she was the one who pulled Hao Yun out of his evil fog, reminding him that he had promised not to hurt her and that he had forgotten that the Bureau was his family.
At the end of the drama, Aiai just seemed a lot looser and happier which was nice :3
Li Zhengzong
Li Zhengzong was the head of the Bureau. He was a raccoon hybrid, though I had to look that one up.
He generally came off as a pleasant but lazy department head. He always played video games in his office.
He did not a bit about Hao Yun's background information, but only about his parents and not about him actually being Zhu Que's son. It was revealed that Li Zhengzong was Zhu Que's keeper and that his jail cell was actually beneath their department and that was why Li Zhengzong was chilling at the office all the time.
Kevin Zhou/Zhou Heiya
Kevin Zhou was the other lead detective in the team. He posed as a black panther hybrid, but it was later revealed that he was in fact a donkey hybrid.
It was revealed that Kevin had been bullied as a child for being a donkey. When he applied to be a police officer, he lied that he was a black panther so that people would think he was cool. And he also took on the name Kevin instead of his birth name Zhou Heiya.
Kevin was always speaking English, and it was part of his Kevin Zhou persona, who had studied in London (though the voice actor's English was pretty accented).
Kevin's story line was about his uncle blackmailing him into cleaning up his (slightly illegal mess), threatening to reveal his true identity as a donkey.
Kevin realized that the people around him appreciated him for his personality and what he brought to the table, and not because he was a black panther. And it gave him the courage to stand up to his uncle.
Kevin also had a crush on Xiaohong. It was revealed that when he was younger, Xiaohong was his head and had saved him, and he had held a flame for her ever since.
I liked that Kevin was portrayed as wanting to be cool but slightly a little pathetic lol. It made him a lot more likeable.
Bian Liang
Bian Liang was Kevin's right hand, a chameleon hybrid. He was generally a bit of a try hard lol.
Bian Liang used use his camouflage skills to cause trouble, but later he had changed his ways and become a police officer.
He was also kind of an everyman and like Hao Yun was always on the receiving end of his head's wrath.
Bian Liang was always trying to court Xiaojuan but he was a bit too much of a try hard for Xiaojuan that it felt insincere and that was why she wasn't quite moved. He never stopped courting even at the end though.
Liu Xiaohong
Xiaohong was in charge of records. She was also a single mom, though we never once saw her kid :/
Xiaohong was generally pretty chill. She liked snacking (she was a squirrel hybrid) but she never really let herself get too worked up over stuff.
We really only got to see her in action at the very end, when all hands were needed on deck to stop the drug mania.
In the end, it was implied that Kevin and Xiaohong were together.
Wan Xiaojuan
Xiaojuan was the doctor/coroner/scientist of the group. She was a rabbit hybrid.
Xiaojuan seemed to run a sex shop? I couldn't really tell but I swear she had sex toys on the shelves lol.
Like Xiaohong, Xiaojuan also didn't get in on the action too much. She analyzed the DNA and other scientific data for our detectives. And as mentioned, she developed the drug to help with Aiai's sex changing situation.
At the end, Xiaojuan was supposed to join the detectives but was attacked by a zombie. Luckily, she had developed a neutralizing drug to ward off the zombie and made it in time.
Bian Liang was being all affectionate with her in the end, but she rejected his advances lol. Good for her. It's just that at the beginning of the drama, Xiaojuan had a lot of boyfriends but she insisted that they were for fun and that she wasn't looking for anything long term. Bian Liang had said that chameleons become bright pink when with the person they loved the most and Xiaojuan was even a little moved that he was, but it was revealed that he was wearing pink makeup and Xiaojuan realized that Bian Liang was just hustling and not that sincere. So I think that's why she figured he was not for her.
Duan Weiran
Duan Weiren, Xiaoduan, was the guy who watched the security cams 24/7. He was a bat hybrid. Like Xiaohong and Xiaojuan, also not an action guy.
He was pretty stoic and quiet :3 :3
He had a romantic story line about a budding romance with a human woman, Jiang Xin, who was a reporter. He would constantly wipe her memories but she would always remember, and it was because she was constantly recording things in life, whether on purpose or accidentally. At the end, she respected Xiaoduan's decision if he wanted to wipe her memories one last time, but instead, he chose to let her remember him, and they started going out :3
During the last arc, Xiaoduan was tasked with transporting important supplies, since he could fly.
And after the skip, he asked Li Zhengzong whether he could work in shifts, so that he could spend more time with Jiang Xian :3
Liu Guodong
Liu Guodong was not an officer, just a recurring character for the first few episodes. He was a tardigrade, so basically indestructable, and he was constantly trying to commit suicide.
It was revealed that he had lived for over 500 years, and had loved over ten women. And he was just so done with having to say goodbye.
In the end, Hao Yun found another tardigrade who had an extensive history of wanting to kill herself. She and Liu Guodong became friends. So basically, Liu Guodong was just terribly lonely.
Siye
Siye was Hao Yun's pet dog. Hao Yun had bumped into him after escaping from the orphanage. Because his tag read the longhand form of "four," Hao Yun named him Siye, and they were inseparable ever since.
In reality, Siye was Zhu Que's subordinate who had hunted down and killed Hao Yun's adoptive parents, and then brought him to the orphanage. So once Hao Yun escaped, he continued protecting the boy and into his adulthood.
Siye had gotten lost so Hao Yun was looking all over for him. However, men came to Hao Yun's door to announce that he was dead, giving Hao Yun Siye's collar as proof.
Hao Yun was understandably very depressed, as Siye was his only family for many years. He went on a journey to scatter his ashes at the sea, but his journey was stopped when encountering the clan of stray dogs. Instead, Hao Yun buried the ashes in the forest.
In the last arc, it was revealed that Siye was a figure in the underworld. He had unleashed a drug that would induce a feral zombie state in humans and hybrids. He had found out that Zhu Que was alive and in prison and wanted to release him, so that father and son would be reunited.
I thought that conversation between Hao Yun and Siye were so special. There was no question that Siye was the bad guy here, but I loved that the writers acknowledged how important Siye was to Hao Yun, who had lost the only family he knew from a very young age. Siye was something like an uncle, a lifelong guardian to him. He had said that he had intended on just seeing Hao Yun live a peaceful life. He had only changed his mind when he found out that Zhu Que was alive. But Hao Yun stopped him, deciding that Siye had done too much harm.
Siye assumed dog form as Hao Yun & company were escaping the bureau building, but Yang Lishan had taken him and jumped into the explosion (presumably she wanted revenge on Siye for giving her the drugs).
However, at the very end of the drama, when Hao Yun and Aiai were walking through the streets, a dog that looked exactly like Siye looked at him and whined longingly. His owner told him not to be said, because he would see him again. It's left ambiguous whether the dog was Siye or not.
Which is oddly not as much of an open end as I thought it would be. I think it would be more open-ended if nothing was said about Siye ever again, if Hao Yun just went about with life forever forgetting Siye (which is not quite possible). I just think even if it's just for us, it adds a bit of something for us to know.
Themes
Discrimination
Kevin's story line was very much about discrimination. He was born a donkey and nothing could change that. He was bullied and of course it made him a bit timid. I'm sure many kids can associate with that kind of childhood, whether it was racism or sexism or something else that made them the butt of jokes. Even in adulthood, Kevin had nightmares about being laughed at for being a donkey.
But it took Kevin a lot of time to come to terms with who he was. For a long time he lived as a black panther and he assumed that people only respected him because he was a black panther, and not because of all the good he had done as a detective and police officer. It took him time to realize that his friends liked him for him, and that they would still continue to do so even if he was a donkey.
So in the face of his uncle, Kevin proudly stood as a donkey, and told him to back off.
Sex & Gender
This was a huge theme for Aiai. Her species was female until the age of 22, at which point she would transition into a man permanently. As such, members of her race would marry twice, once as a woman and once as a man.
The way I saw it, Aiai was worried about marriage because she was worried about having to give her heart to two people. I think she disliked the idea of marrying someone as a woman and then having to part with them when she got married the second time. Instead, she decided to stay away from love and marriage entirely.
That changed as she got to know Hao Yun and fell in love with him. She confessed to Hao Yun but he would not express his feelings back to her. Honestly I think anyone would feel insecure about that situation. I think that Aiai was probably thinking that she was less of a woman because Hao Yun was thinking that she would be a man one day. And so that was why Aiai left for home, so that she could be with people who would understand her predicament.
Even after Hao Yun confessed at her wedding, Aiai started feeling insecure and pushing Hao Yun away because she was already in the process of the maleness setting in permanently.
It's not that Hao Yun could have been forced, but Hao Yun decided that he would be fine with Aiai even if she was a man, because he liked her personality.
The effects of Xiaojuan's drug was unclear, but for the time being it seemed that Aiai was for the most part a woman. She figured that one day she might still be able to turn into a man. But she wasn't so worried because Hao Yun insisted that he was with her for her and not her gender.
Mistakes
I thought Xu Zhi and Hu Xiao's story was so interesting. Xu Zhi was Hao Yun's childhood friend from the orphanage. She always loved music but when she got an acceptance from a prestigious music school, she hesitated to accept it because her parents didn't want her to go. Xu Zhi was an earthworm hybrid, so what she did was she split herself in half to spawn two of her. The spawned clown was Hu Xiao.
Xu Zhi and Hu Xiao would switch places once in a while so they could each experience each other's life. One day, Xu Zhi told Hu Xiao that she didn't want to switch lives anymore. Xu Zhi wanted to permanently stay at home, so Hu Xiao permanently became the music student. However, she was afraid of ever signing with big record labels for fear of anyone finding out her and Xu Zhi's secret.
One day after a long while, Xu Zhi wanted to switch lives again. She was unhappy with her husband. But at that point, Hu Xiao was happy with her life and didn't want to switch again. Xu Zhi had stabbed herself wanting to spawn another clone, but she failed and that was how she died.
The argument between Xu Zhi and Hu Xiao was what I wanted to focus on. Hu Xiao told Xu Zhi that she couldn't just run away from her problems. Since they had spent so long away from each other living their lives, the lives they had built were now their own and Xu Zhi could not take from Hu Xiao what she had worked so hard to build. Instead of finding ways out of her problems, Xu Zhi wanted to run away, but this time she could not do it.
Death
Liu Guodong's dilemma was a pretty interesting one. He was basically immortal and he wanted to die. That is understandable. He'd lived through the deaths of so many loved ones and he was sick and tired of it.
I wonder whether the police were involved because suicide is technically illegal, or whether it was just because he was doing something dangerous and it's police procedure to figure out what's going on.
Int he end, Guodong met another woman who was in the same boat as him, who had known life to be too long and wanted to know death. But the message that this show wanted to portray was just that maybe life would be easier of Guodong didn't always have to say goodbye.
Family
Hao Yun lost his parents at a young age and ran away from the orphanage also at a young age. His only family was Siye.
Hao Yun had said that he wanted a family. The way in which he slowly came to acknowledge the bureau as his family was pretty sweet.
But I also thought his relationship with Siye was really interesting. There was definitely more room for angst there with the betrayal but this drama is only 24 episodes. But I just really liked the acknowledgement that despite the bad things he had done, Siye still cared deeply for Hao Yun in his own way. Even if Hao Yun did not agree with his methods, he had to understand that Siye acted on his own beliefs of how he should care for the son of the man to whom he was so loyal. And Hao Yun himself considered Siye family because for so long, Siye was the only one who was by his side. Siye also mentioned that he was so moved when Hao Yun feared for his health and safety, going so far as to bury him in a nice spot. They had such a nice life together, but that was the end, and now they were on opposing sides, and I think they respected that of each other.
Overall
A really wonderful show. I appreciated that it took its setting seriously and explored some good ideas. Not something that I see a lot in Cdramas. Plus the comedy hit different. And with great direction and great acting. Highly recommend.