m0dernchr0n1cles

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Fire and Ice

Started rewatching my favorite shows (She-Ra, Avatar, Monkie Kid), then I started watching the new Nezha movies, and I got brainrot.

The brainrot got worse as I played Black Myth: Wukong.

Then, I started scrolling Tumblr for Nezha and Ao Bing content.

SO, this is Fire and Ice: my Catradora (may be a ship, or platonic, haven't decided yet).

Basically, thanks to the Cycle and divine interference, the Spirit Pearl (Ao Bing) and the Demon Pill (Li Nezha) are stuck reincarnating and dying and killing each other for the next 3,000 years.

In Donghai, the Spirit Pearl reincarnates as De Liang (德亮) and the Demon Pill as Li Yunxiang (李云祥).

They were childhood friends, but unfortunately, the De Clan (德氏族) and the Celestial Court are having none of it.

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Li Yunxiang meets Ao Bing's little sister

[Li Yunxiang and Longü just raced against each other.]

Li Yunxiang: "I have to admit. I had you pegged wrong, I thought you were kinda prissy. No offense."

Longnü: "It's alright. People usually assume that I'm Daddy's helpless little girl but I can handle myself. I mean I've been in self-defense classes since I was this high. My dad made sure I would always be able to protect myself."

Li Yunxiang: "Smart guy."

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Li Yunxiang said this at least once

Li Yunxiang: "I'm just a guy with a bike. I didn't ask for all this flying and magic!"

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Lol how do you think MK would've reacted learning how Lady Earth Flow, Jade Rabbit and Scorpion Demoness wanted to wed Tang? Granted it was the original tang, but Imagine how he'd react to Tang attracted three hot otherworldly girls

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eternal spear → aspect of nezha

also:

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content for target audience of ??????

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Nezha and Ao Bing Friendship

[Ao Bing was training on a mountain top, only to be knocked off by Nezha.] Nezha: "Hey, Ao Bing. How's it hanging?" Ao Bing: "Nezha. Did you really show up late just to knock me down? That is low, even for you." Nezha: "Aw. You know nothing's too low for me." Nezha: [Laughing] "Now come on, you look stupid hanging down there."

[Ao Bing and Nezha sitting together on mountain top] Nezha: [Laughing] "You should've seen your face. You were like, "Aah, no! Betrayal." Ao Bing: "Come on, Nezha. We're three years old now. I can't believe you're still pulling such childish, immature..." Ao Bing: [Gasps] "Is that a mouse?!" Nezha: [Jumps] "What!? Where!?" Ao Bing: [Laughing] "Are you ever going to not fall for that?" Nezha: "I don't know. Are you ever going to let it go? That was one time." Ao Bing: "I know, but for some reason it's always funny."

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新神榜：哪吒重生 New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021)

The protagonist lost a kitten, and then he gained a mythical beast as companion.

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hey, did anyone else noticed Li Yunxiang is kind to the animals. It’s not just the kitty. He seemed to like Mysterious Masked Man’s little monkey helpers, he immediately set to help the huge lion like beasts imprisoned by Ao Guang and he even helped metal shark back into the water. 

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Avatar fans consider watching New Gods: Nezha Reborn because let's face it, we're never going to get a "training the avatar to firebend" scene with anywhere near the comedic timing of the montage where Li Yunxiang keeps accidentally setting himself on fire with powers he hasn't gotten under control yet and subsequently getting pushed into the water every fucking time by his wacky masked mentor

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um hi, since you are my favorite blog when it comes to erlang shen content, what are your thoughts on the new gods: yang jian movie? i think the movie was awesome, and the animation was so good holy shit, even my mom, who knows nothing of it, loves it so much lmao but i saw posts here and i could see it wasn't well received and since im not knowledgeable enough of erlang, i wanted to know your review on it if it's alright?

Oh well thank you! But I have to say I'm kinda surprised with how popular the movie is. But maybe that just how tumblr is, the movie isn't perfect certainly, but I think that when it comes to an emotionally driven narrative that it really packs a punch.

Without a doubt the movie has pacing issues as there are a lot of scene changes, it is hard to focus on a single moment when it feels like we are already going to another. And I know that the 'twist' villain wasn't anything too exciting and even a bit confusing considering it wasn't really explained by these giant fire birds and why/how they naturally destroy like only immortal caves (at least personally I didn't get it) but it didn't stop my enjoyment of the movie because that doesn't really matter.

What MATTERED was YANG JIAN HIMSELF! And I don't think we have gotten such a good version of the character since his Lotus Lantern version. He was still so intelligent, so dignified, so unserious as well being an eternal young man but being so old and tried being powerless and with heaven fallen. The Nezha Reborn series is a bit confusing itself as it has heaven 'fallen' but we still see people in heaven and on earth living but with limitations that we are not aware of or really understand what happened to cause this. It is almost a post-apocalyptic kind of movie in a stream punk setting.

Anyway I think that the movie still stands strong even if it does take away that Erlang Shen was the one to put his sister under the mountain himself. It doesn't follow the original story with Erlang doing this out of a sense of duty or following the law or being upset at his sister for following their mother's footsteps but rather takes a different angle highlighting Erlang's helplessness. Rather than Erlang being the cause of his sister's imprisonment, it is used as a parallel of Erlang's own mother's imprisonment and how as a child he was just as helpless to save his own mother, and this is repeated in his life again as he is powerless to help his own sister to the same fate.

I can see where there could be a lot more exploration of Erlang's complex character if he was the one to put Sanseng Mu into the mountain himself, and sure that could have been a great angle to have to show either his remorse and helping Chenxiang to free his mother to make it 'right' or even him fighting himself with what he always thought was right or wrong. But instead, this movie takes it that this is more of a curse that keeps HAPPENING to his family. That his own powerlessness in both cases as forces outside of his control target his own family again and again and how they are destined to be sacrificed for other needs. This actually takes on a bit of Investure of the Gods kind of philosophy as that book is VERY HEAVY on the motifs of being slaves to fate and all that.

Erlang resigned himself to being a slave of fate but we see as the story continues as he unlocks the mysteries of who is controlling him and his family. It really makes me think that this universe follows the Investiture of the Gods verse and how there is a 'new order' or something like that but the point is that Erlang learning how to fight the fate that his family and himself have been under. Especially with poor Shen Gongbao dying.... never made me feel bad for such a pain in the ass in his original story but showing why he trained Chanxiang. Shen Gongbao was someone that tried to defy fate (for shitty reasons sure) but he saw that in Chenxiang, someone that was trying to break the cycle of abuse that his family was forced under and where Shen Gongbao failed he hoped the next generation can succeed.

I think that the movie was tackling a lot of things in one movie but in the end, it had fantastic characters that carried the movie. My personal favorite part was Erlang's flashback to his childhood and watching his mother being taken (HE WAS JUST A CHILD) and how that is echoed in his sister's own sealing as well. How he was so HURT and still HURT from his mother's imprisonment and even after fighting so hard and becoming so strong he never was able to get her back. She was gone and all that hope that maybe he was stronger or better it didn't mean ANYTHING at the end when your loved one never comes back.

And how he even KNEW that his Sanseng Mu was already gone with Chanxiang and how he tried to warn him but he STILL HELPED because he knew that his nephew wasn't going to stop. He still helped because he thought and knew that it was better to face this issue head-on, to accept that grief that has been drowning him for centuries and at least be there for his nephew in a way no one was there for him.

I really love the Noir angle this movie had, that Erlang even without his traditional powers is so smart and observant. He is able to deduce what is really happening and refuses to back down when things are getting messy. I think it highlights his intelligence in this movie that we get to see outside being a genius tactician in battle!

Overall I can see where the movie's different angle does take away a plot point of exploring Erlang's internal struggle with locking away his sister and how that reflects his own mother being locked away. But I think that was sacrificed in order to focus on Erlang's fight against fate. Rather than fighting his internal forces, that he is the root of the problems, the movie focuses on the world and how fate is trying to him to this tragedy. And within this Investiture of the Gods-inspired world, I can see why the directors made this choice in how Erlang making this step into becoming someone that faces fate head-on fits better with the movie series' overall narrative with his 'order of the new gods'. I think that it still captures how Erlang fights with himself in trying to do what he thinks is right versus trying to follow what everyone is telling him to do. Whether he just blindly trusts those around him or that he looks for the truth himself and comes to his own conclusions no matter how painful they are.

He is someone who cares deeply for his family and while a little misguided he does want to do what he thinks is needed. He thought Chanxiang was safe with his former master, and sure maybe he could have checked on him but he thought that he was safe. And when he finds out that he wasn't in fact safe and even being framed for murder he tries to find out what is really happening for his sake. He has to deal with his own grief that still affects him but does so

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Other than directly linking Nezha Reborn to Nezha 1979, there’s another cameo for one of Nezha’s other villains. For those who’ve seen Nezha 2003, this assassin character, Caiyun–

–masked monkey calls her ‘shiji’s houren’ – which means she’s either a disciple or descendant of The villain in Nezha 2003. Shiji is this abominable character here:

Caiyun openly says she’s here for Revenge! Meaning little Nezha also dealt with her 3000 years ago along with the dragons, or some part of Nezha 2003 was another past life. 

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MK absolutely ran into rehab Scorpion Demon later and they became friends. They text a lot now, but she has a lot of typos.

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Finished the sketchdump!

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Sleepwalking 

by me.

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