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YU XUSHIN x COSMOPOLITAN December 2024 year end issue

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YU SHUXIN x COSMOPOLITAN December 2024 year end issue

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these look saurrrr good

DING YUXI and YU SHUXIN as Ziqi and Miaomiao The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus 永夜星河 (2024) .

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She stopped wearing her boots. He keeps a hair tie on his wrist. Our acts of service couple. 🥹

+ bonus

She blocks corners for him.

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thankyou !!!! 💗💗💗

Mr Plankton and the name puns (non-exhaustive list lol). Has this been done?

재미 (Jae-mi): amusement/interest. Whenever the characters talk about "having fun", "not having fun", it also sounds like they're talking about Jae-mi (and vice-versa). Which gives us MANY, MANY double-meaning dialogue, mostly from Hae-jo, saying things like "This isn't fun" (="Jae-mi isn't here"). Just as an example, in the GIF above, she says (literal, ugly translation): "You hate it when it's not fun", but Hae-jo also hears it as, "You hated it, without me (Jae-mi)."

Hae-jo: sounds similar to 해줘. It's the imperative form of the verb "to do". So, his name sounds like "do it", as in, when you're asking someone for a favor/service. It ties into his job, as he runs an "errand house." There's a whole flashback scene in ep7 where we see how he got the (nick)name. Every errand he's asked to do by the workers at the host bar ends with 해줘, like punctuation.

어흥 (Eo Heung): growl, roar (associated with a tiger sound) / 흥 (heung): fun/excitement. There's a whole thing about Heung being seen and treated like a wimpy dog, while Jae-mi brings the "tiger" out of him. His name also mirrors Jae-mi's; they both mean joy/fun.

Kkari: comes from 따까리 (ddakkari), a derogatory term for servant / 까리하다 (kkari-hada) is old slang for "cool" in Busan dialect. My guy gets dragged here and there like a vulgar lackey, but he's actually pretty awesome.

(범) Beom Ho-ja: her last name translates directly to "tiger." Self explanatory. She named her son accordingly lol.

John Na: phonetically, sounds like the intensifier used as a curse word in Korean-> 존나, like freaking/fucking. 존나 아파 = "That fucking hurts" (="It hurts, John Na"), or 존나 잘생겼다 = "fucking handsome" Fun fact, Na In-woo's English name is John Na.

봉숙 (Bong-sook): first part of her name 봉 (bong) can be translated to "phoenix" OR "pushover" (sort of. lmao gotta love languages). Hae-jo uses the idiom with the "phoenix" aspect 봉 잡았다 (=to come by unexpected luck, good fortune), but also affectionately calls her his "jackpot" (it was translated as "softie" in the subs too, for the pushover side) since he was lucky she found him by chance, tamed him like you would a stray cat, and always lets him have his way.

Another interesting detail: she is the one to give Hae-jo his name. Like a mom. Y'know.

Gangster Chil-seong: lmao this one is just goofy. He shares a name with the soda (cider) brand. Hae-jo mocks him for it at one point.

IN CONCLUSION:

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gotta get on my zoom and start watching this show it looks so funnnn

Episode 3 | THE FIERY PRIEST 2 (2024) dir. Park Bo-ram

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i love those mushrooms so badddd 🤣🤣🤣

No other living thing is as happy as system mushroom score demons to see Miaomiao and Ziqi together even if imaginary

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on 妖 yao (and 慕声 Mu Sheng) in 永夜星河 Love Game in Eastern Fantasy (2024)

crossposted from a twitter thread!

there are SO many things i love about YYXH, but something i really appreciate is their portrayal of 妖 yao.

in ep. 10, Mu Sheng says, “人心有七窍，妖心只有一窍。所以大多数妖物的品行都简单执拗。” / "Human hearts have seven apertures [are complex and calculating]; but yao hearts have only one [are simple]. That's why the conduct of most yao creatures is uncomplicated and obstinate."

窍 / apertures (openings; orifices) are where the human body is connected to the outside world. as such, 七窍 seven orifices usually refers to the eyes (2), nose (2 nostrils), ears (2), and mouth (1). BUT...

in the context of the heart, it more often alludes to the virtuous character of 比干 Prince Bigan from the Ming dynasty novel 《封神演义》 Investiture of the Gods.

there, it was said that 圣人之心有七窍 / the hearts of saints [good men] have seven apertures...

...so, of course, the righteous and smart Bigan was rumored to possess a 七窍玲珑心 / lit. delicate seven aperture heart.

Bigan's story didn't end well (his heart was cut out by order of the infamous King Zhou of Shang), but 七窍玲珑 still means "clever and quick-witted."

now... 窍 can mean "opening"—but another way to say so could be 眼 / eye (or, "hole"). that is, we can draw a near-equivalency between 七窍玲珑心 / lit. seven-chambered heart and 多心眼 / lit. many heart's eyes; an overabundance of concern...

in particular, 多心眼 (or to say that someone 心眼多) not only implies wit and sharpness (i.e., "having a lot of thoughts"), but also some level of cunning and shrewdness. that is, to be "mindful of many things" means one is "considering of many things" and "calculating."

hence, returning to Mu Sheng's explanation: humans are crafty, always thinking of a hundred other variables and planning another hundred steps ahead. (that's why humans betray and deceive and hurt one another...)

but yao are simple.

yao don't have so many of these excess considerations. if they are hungry, they will seek to feed. if they are hurt, they will fight back. if they are scared, they will hide. if they are cared for, they will respond with equal gentleness.

in other words: yao are not human.

and this distinction is what made so many classic xianxias and yao-centric stories so compelling (think 白素贞 Bai Suzhen from the romance folktale 白蛇传 White Snake Legend).

to discuss our beloved 慕声 Mu Sheng as an example: it can be easy to say he has a jiejie-complex or is almost yandere-like about 慕瑶 Mu Yao, but we have to remember that as half-yao, he doesn't operate on the same frame of reference as humans. Mu Yao is the one person who has been consistently kind to him since he was young, and so he will reciprocate that kindness to (human standards of) extremity. likewise, when our cutie-pie 凌妙妙 Ling Miaomiao regards him with kindness, Mu Sheng will feel inclined to answer that with affections a hundred or a thousand times stronger.

though he grew up among humans, Mu Sheng's yao half should not be forgotten. humans may be fickle in their feelings; but yao (in general) will not be. once they have found someone worth their affections, they will love fiercely and to a terrifying degree. you can also understand it as yao not necessarily posessing the same understanding of 分寸 / "propriety" that humans do.

so, again, yao are not human—and that is why their stories have always been so compelling to us. we place limits on our conduct and behavior for a variety of socially-imposed and learned reasons, but yao as an imperfect reflection of our human selves allow us to live out our "fantasies" of extremity.

i think the new era of xianxias have largely traded that yao-human distinction for other things, like eye-catching CGI, flowy costumes, and the three lives, three worlds formula—which are, of course, not inherently bad.

YYXH itself is part of this new chapter of storytelling/the genre of xianxias after all (esp. given its existence as a 古偶), but that is ultimately precisely why it stands out so much to me.

is it the first or only xianxia in recent years to show that yao are nuanced? that yao are neither all good nor all bad? — of course not!

but i think it is undoubtedly among the very, very few in recent years that has successfully portrayed just what it is that makes yao so uniquely compelling. and that is due in large part to both strong writers (who also did 《苍兰诀》 Love Between Fairy and Devil) and strong actors.

in short, YYXH feels like a labor of love. love for the original 《黑莲花攻略手册》 novel; love for the xianxia genre; love for storytelling, in an era driven by capitalistic cash-grabs and the ruthlessness of c-ent.

the reality of that is up for debate, but as one individual viewer, i want to say that this drama has made me very happy. it is both respectful of and pays homage to the yao of classic xianxias.

and to be able to share and enjoy that cultural artefact—something that is so uniquely and immutably Chinese—with others, is something that brings me a lot of joy. ✨

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永夜星河官微

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LOVE GAME IN EASTERN FANTASY 永夜星河 (2024) Dir. Zhao Yi Long

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WOO DO HWAN in MR. PLANKTON — EP 01 Mr. 플랑크톤 (2024) | dir. Hong Jong-Chan

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DING YUXI as Mu Sheng The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus 永夜星河 (2024)

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i don’t know the context but my does she look gorgeous

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy 永夜星河 · 2024 20 | Ziqi… I’m so sorry… Now, I know.

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me shamelessly stealing this to put it on my watchlist 😭😋

Top Dozen cdramas - 2024

This can obviously change but nothing truly exciting looks to air for the rest of the year so that's unlikely. My Top Dozen for the year are likely be set in stone.

It's a very idiosyncratic list which has two mini dramas, three moderns (!!! for me that's insane) and a lot of vibes dramas.

12 Hard to Find - all vibes all the times. A tragic romance that feels like a Gothic fairytale, this is what minidramas could be.

11 Love In the Desert - out of all the dramas on this list, this is the one that screams most "a good time." It's a romance and visual feast and webnovel madness and sexy good time and it made me cry.

10 Fortune Writer - a mini that is so smart and meta and fun about narratives and fate and villainy and fighting the story itself. So clever.

9 Derailment - a puzzle and a love story, telling most anything about it would be a spoiler but this story about a rich girl from 2025 who seemingly wakes up in a parallel universe in 2023 in body of a poor doppelganger, and the young man who was in love with the original has everything including addressing what it must feel to people to have a transmigrator possess a loved one.

8 Tender Light - the ending was just - it's the reason it's not n1. But the rest of this drama about an abused wife and an idealistic young man refusing to bow to societal pressure was just exquisite. It addresses morality and loneliness and complicity and sacrifice. Just incredible. Poetry in motion.

7 Will Love In Spring - a modern romance cdrama? In my list? Is the world ending? But seriously, this is such a gorgeous, realistic yet intense exploration of love and loss and trauma. It made me utterly reevaluate Li Xian to boot.

6 Snowfall - this is such a fever dream of a mood piece of a vampire romance, with seriously BDSM and gay vibes, as well as utterly incredible canon age gap ride or die OTP with Ouyang Nana bothering to act for the first time in her life and Vengo Gao embodying a gentleman vampire to perfection. Li Muge remains one of my favorite directors for a reason.

5 Heroes - the story of three very different men all consigned to the dustheap of history by changing times (the best swordsman in the era of guns, a former imperial guard of a regime about to be overthrown, a constable obedient to obsolete code who studied for imperial exams which got abolished) as the Qing dynasty is about to fall, this has fights, humor, three (!) separate love stories, philosophy and utter and complete heartbreak. The performances, the ideas, the filming and the writing all combine to make a bleak masterpiece with a 99% death rate (I am not kidding, only tertiaries make it out.) If I were in charge, it would get all the awards.

4 The Legend of Shen Li - the one truly mainstream idol costume hit on the list. It's an adult, passionate xianxia that reunites Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin as deities and battle powerhouses in a love story that is so full of yearning and passion and intensity I feel like peeking through my fingers. This is everything xianxia romance tries to be and almost never is. This just might be my favorite xianxia of all time, tbh.

3 Eternal Brotherhood - a dark horse whose existence I didn't even know about before it aired. Visually stunning despite its tiny budget, this narrative about three sworn brothers in a kingdom and world in crisis, is pitch perfect in its humor, its intensity, its tragedy and its themes (also THREE!!!! amazing love stories despite not being a romance-centric show.) The battles, the friendships, the traumas, the darkness at the heart of it all!

2 Fangs of Fortune - the sole drama that can rival JoL2 for me (only caveat is it's still airing), this is visually the most jaw dropping drama I've ever seen, but it's also high fantasy the way it should be - making me feel so immersed that stopping feels like coming up from a deep dive or waking up from a hypervivid dream. It has impeccable performances (many from actors who I don't normally even like), and its plot and relationships and themes - fate and sacrifice and choice and found family bonds and trauma and so many other things - make it feel as if it was made just for me.

1 Joy of Life 2 - THE drama of 2024 for me. It's somehow better than the incredible first installment. It's funny, it's heartbreaking, it has insane performances, a narrative that hits all my personally favorite themes (a person trying to remain human in an inhuman world, righteousness not being weak), a large cast of fascinating characters who feel like they live in front of me (there are no throwaway roles in this), my favorite ship of the year (though it's not even a ship-centric show) and above all, Zhang Ruoyun's live wire of a performance as Fan Xian, arguably my favorite cdrama character of all time. It should not work yet it does. Brilliantly.

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“Walking hand in hand is not impossible. I’m afraid if we get separated again, it will be a waste of time.”

“I know, i also fear wasting time.”

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can’t wait to watch this show