mdzs-overthink-athon

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Every january goth couples are fucking hard to try and have a halloween baby they're gonna name ophelia or some shit

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

mutuals do this

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Hi y’all lovely followers I just want to let you know this blog will be on hiatus while undertaking a cross-country move and major lifestyle change as I fix up an old house, get to know new neighbors and reintegrate with a bunch of extended family, but I do plan/hope to come back and continue this project when life is less crazy, maybe late in 2021. 

Meanwhile I will probably keep reblogging MDZS and CQL related things on @cql-shinies as it takes a lot less work than creating content, and I will also hang out occasionally on my main @faxmesmut so feel free to say hi :)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 14: Don’t we all have a little WWX in us?

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 10

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 25

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

In this scene, Jiang Cheng returns and learns Wen Ning was summoned. 

He is now positive that “Mo Xuanyu” is possessed by Wei Wuxian. 

He goes after him with Zidian, which has the power to remove possessed spirits, but is initially blocked by LWJ. 

WWX screws himself by running away from LWJ’s protection and thus gets whipped anyway.

Ouch.

-

More under the cut

Anyway, when there’s no change in “MXY” after being whipped by Zidian, the others try to convince JC that he’s wrong, and WWX has such good taste he wouldn’t possess someone like MXY. 

In the donghua and manhua versions, WWX obfuscates by capitalizing on MXY’s reputation as a cut-sleeve. 

His plan is to make JC and LWJ both so annoyed that they’ll leave him alone. It backfires delightfully.

I do also just want to note this manhua panel which caused fangirl me to drool all over myself:

Meanwhile in CQL world, the snowflakes censors couldn’t handle this last exchange, so instead we get Lan Jingyi mouthing off and making JC uncomfortable by reminding him about how he originally killed WWX

This poor tormented motherfucker.

Then we get a really weird segue where the camera angle on WWX gets all distorted and we’re supposed to understand that we’re travelling baaaack in tiiiiime (SFX: echo)

And this is where I begin banging my head against walls in the process of creating each post because I will be trying to reconcile four deviating plot lines in my head. Wish me luck!

So basically this scene is about a couple of different things for me:

Zidian

We saw Zidian before, but there’s increased focus on it here. You could say it’s the star of this scene in a way. It is cool and symbolic and full of personality (and purple!) so some of my criteria here is based on how Zidian is portrayed.

Manhua:

First off I love the motion and SFX here. We get a good feel of action despite the fact we’re looking at static images. I also love the lightning effect. Over all, masterfully done. 10/10.

-

Donghua:

Here, the more impressive shots of Zidian are more symbolic - the lighting and effects are still masterful, as is the framing, but the true beauty to this is that Zidian is used as a symbol for JC’s burning rage. Look at that furrowed brow of furor. Contrast with the reasonable, all-business expression in the manhua above. Which do we think is more JC? 11/10. 

-

Drama:

Here, a similar thing is done with Zidian symbolizing JC’s rage. The visual effects are quite nice as well, given it’s live action. The live action format, though, makes it less possible to really show those sweeping strikes at the perfect moment the way the donghua and manhua do. 9/10.

-

WWX being a brat

Of the many faces of WWX, this might possibly be my favorite. In this scene, he has the opportunity to be extra mischievous. First he is eluding discovery and capture, and then he’s (at least in the manhua and donghua) actively trying to extricate himself from the situation by pissing everyone off.

-

Manhua:

Here is WWX heckling JC from behind his donkey, and doing some expo for us, the readers on why the whip didn’t separate him 

(I don’t know what xianshe means, but XR translates the novel version as “I was forcibly given this body”)

Then here he is trying to be “disgusting” by flirting with everyone

Manhua!WWX is once again just a bit too cute and pretty to pull off the mischief I want to see from him here. I do like to see him hiding behind things / people though, and he’s clearly trying. 7/10.

-

Donghua:

Here’s WWX gloating smugly to himself about why Zidian didn’t work:

Here he is declaring his (fake (for now)) crush on LWJ:

WWX is super devious here and I love it. The little smug closed-mouth smirk is what does it for me. 10/10.

-

Drama:

This one is a bit different as Drama!WWX largely plays it straight (pun intended), and focus is on the other characters. Here’s WWX being miserable and sad b/c he was whupped, while LWJ glares:

Then incredulous JC demands:

Then I guess we are prepared for fisticuffs? (from safe behind glaring LWJ)

Yep so I’m honestly not sure what’s going on here but it’s cute and definitely cements the relationships between these three. 8/10.

Overall, we have manhua: 17, donghua: 21, drama: 17

My personal fav: the donghua. The portrayal of Zidian as both a symbol of rage and a vehicle of pretty purple lights is top-notch, and mischievous / fake-flirtatious donghua WWX delivers. 

-

P. S.: I want to thank all the very patient followers who have stuck with me so far and even reblogged some of these ridiculously long posts of mine. I will now be attempting to put most of each post under a cut, so they don’t clog up everyone’s dash so much. I should have done this earlier, but a year or two back, tumblr erased some of my lengthy essays that I placed under cuts, and I have had a debilitating fear of including a cut in my posts ever since. Like other random tumblr malfunctions, it seems to have since evaporated and I’m left wondering if it was my imagination or possibly user error. Anyway I just wanted to thank you for your dedication in interacting with my posts even though they were so long as to be rather rude :)

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 13: Wen Ning is here, we’re... um... saved?

-

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 10

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 23-24

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

In this scene, Wei Wuxian clocks that things are getting out of hand with the whole dancing stone goddess situation, so he begins playing the flute (much to Lan Jingyi’s annoyance)

WWX’s goal is, of course, to summon some undeads to throw at the monster and buy time, or maybe if he’s lucky, something that will actually defeat her. Except he instead summons a combination Plot Device, Smoking Gun, and Best Boy.

There he is.

More under the cut.

Everyone recognizes Wen Ning and subsequently freaks out, thinking they’re now fighting two big bads at once. WN meanwhile is hella OP and takes out the Dancing Dame in one blow.

With her gone, the juniors get braver and decide they should have a go at WN for some quick night hunt credit. This doesn’t sit well with WN and he goes into throttling mode.

WWX then tries to think of a tune to calm down his Ghost General, and in the manhua we get this nice flashback (from the character’s perspective - flash forward for us) of the cave scene.

Then WWX begins playing WangXian / WuJi on the flute, which of course summons another Best Boy.

After staring into Lan Wangji’s eyes for a really long time (longer in the special edition I guess? I watched both but honestly my memory’s not what it used to was) 

WN: I’ll just uh.. stand here then, shall I.

Anyway after that, WWX comes to and dismisses WN to whence he came.

But of course, it’s too late - the Ghost General is out of the bag, and JC is now Highly Suspicious - but let’s save that fun time for next scene XD

-

So for me, this scene boils down to three very important elements:

Wei Wuxian being a hot necromancer

We get so many lovely opportunities to watch WWX softly kissing his flute on the lips and having demonic red eyes and just generally being hot and slightly sinister looking. It is important for any adaptation to make the most of this. Let’s see how they do.

-

Donghua:

OMG why am I even comparing anything? 11/10.

-

Drama:

OK I’ll grant he’s doing pretty good there with the hair flying loose and the odd mask, in combination it gives him a sort of shamanic look that is super amazing. Still not as hot as red-eyes up there, but noteworthy. 10/10.

-

Manhua:

TOO pretty, sorry manhua WWX you are far, far too lovely and princely for this scene. I also deduct an additional point for the fact that this is the hottest image I found from this scene, but it’s actually one where he’s trying to think of a relaxing tune, not trying to summon an undead army. 8/10.

-

Wen Ning being an undead badass

The Ghost General is kind of the pivotal character in this scene, not to mention this is his Grand Entrance and he is Best Boy. Also, I Will Not Apologize For My Gratuitous Use Of Capitalization. Now that’s out of the way...

-

Donghua:

There were a couple other shots of WN which included his face, and all of them looked kinda.. constipated, honestly. Like I get that he’s supposed to be suffering and Not Himself, but this is his debut and I just felt like they leaned a bit too heavy on the misery. But right here, he is definitely kicking ass and taking names, and the artistry of this shot is top-notch. I deduct a point for otherwise ham-handedly tragic looking WN, and give it 9/10.

-

Drama:

This strikes a perfect balance for me. The dramatic flowing hair framing the face perfectly. The dark eyes and stone-cold expression, a little sad, but a lot violent. He is so beautiful. 10/10.

-

Manhua:

The red aura is kinda cool. The SFX bother me a bit, though there are the chains and they do make noise, so I’m not sure if they really should bother me... mostly though I am sad that manhua WN looks ... so sad. He has every right to, with his tragic backstory and all, but I want to see him being a killing machine right now. A touch of sadness, OK, but the hair over the face, the pathetic expression, the slouched posture.. it’s too much. 6/10.

The Pining

You know I had to go there. I couldn’t not. This is the first moment LWJ dares to believe he’s really found his Wei Ying, and it is beautiful. 

-

Donghua:

Donghua LWJ is scary here. I am legit worried about WWX at this point if I don’t know what’s going on. This doesn’t make me feel happy. On the other hand, with LWJ’s reputation for fighting and his tragic backstory (everybody’s got one!) it’s not surprising that he would look scary - it’s pretty realistic. But eh... I still don’t quite feel like it fits him as a character. 7/10.

-

Drama:

Drama LWJ is, as we know, The Most Beautiful (no canon-based refutations of this are allowed), but he’s still kinda scary as well. However, he’s not scary in a “will he break WWX’s wrist?” kind of way so much as a “uh oh he looks way too smart to be fooled, WWX is in trouble!” kind of way. This is acceptable. Also, the tenderness and longing is very much there in his expression along with the astute don’t-mess-with-me look. 12/10.

-

Manhua:

I have to admit this one leaves me cold. They’re going through all the right motions of a BL couple, gazing into the eyes, the hand grasp, the sparkles (or ash or snow or whatever that is floating around in the foreground) but it feels very hollow right here, as do most of the other panels of this meeting. 5/10.

So our totals are: donghua, 27. drama, 32. manhua, 19.

My personal fav: the drama. This is another face-based (versus action-based) scene for me, and the actors in CQL nail it. I dearly love red-eyed donghua WWX, but he can’t make up for stone-cold badass CQL WN or soft and yearning CQL LWJ.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 12: The dancing dame

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 9

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 19-22

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

In this scene, we meet and fight with the dancing stone Kali / lady / fairy / goddess / Apsala statue. Whatever else she is, she’s a femme fatale. I love her.

Big and beautiful.

More under the cut.

Anyway. We have several different paths we take to get to the Dancing Queen.

-

The donghua cuts things short and just shows the juniors stumbling upon a cave in the woods right after the prior exchange.

-

The manhua takes the true-to-novel approach and pretty much follows the exact same progression as the original, which is much longer than what the donghua shows. First, Wei Wuxian encounters a ghost with a nasty head wound and draws some conclusions because he is Brain Boy.

This leads him to run towards the goddess-cave where the juniors went, so he can save them.

-

Meanwhile, in drama world, they’re balancing some foreshadowing with some exposition and trying to minimize head-wound gore, so they instead opt for a ghostly Mysterious Old Dude in the Wen burial place.

Next, Jin Ling makes a very Jin Ling type of wish in the sacred cave:

In the drama and the manhua, WWX then has a moment where he explains to the juniors what they’re dealing with, and that it isn’t the type of ghost / spirit they think it is but some kind of god I guess? Or soul-eating monster? I have a very hazy grasp of this. Main thing is WWX is knowledgeable and the juniors start to think he might not be a total crackpot after all. 

At this point, because JL has made a wish and the soul-eating goddess wants her payment, she attacks:

Yeah, drama version does not stack up well to the others - sorry lady.

What the manhua has that the others don’t: faithful to the novel plus dancing lady gets all bloody for some reason?

So if we were going for the follows-the-novel-most-closely awards (which we’re not) again it’d have to go to the manhua. They keep most of the quotes line-by-line the way they are in the novel, and the things that happen are the same. This is the only version where head-wound-ghost appears in his original form (with head wound):

Wow, a dead ghost!

Also, on the subject of nasty things like blood and gore.. I don’t fully understand why the manhua has the rock goddess become covered in blood while fighting? 

Like, is that her blood? Are they literally getting blood from a stone? Does that belong to the cultivators fighting her? Because if so someone is definitely very very dead, probably several someones in fact. Anyway I don’t get it, and personally find it pretty gross, so they lose points for it here.

What the donghua has that the others don’t: short and sweet, plus amazing lighting.

So while it’s true that I bitched earlier about the donghua scene being set in the middle of the night in a dark forest leading to 2% visibility for most of it, I really love the things they do with lighting when showing the stone goddess / monster / fairy attacking. I present for your consideration:

In addition, while the whole “oh look there’s a handy cave” segue does not thoroughly explain the backstory of things the way the novel and the two other adaptations do, it’s sufficient for the donghua’s purpose and gives us the ability to get to the juicy stuff much faster without introducing a bunch of side characters we’ll never see again. Brevity is the soul of wit, or something like that.

What the drama has that the others don’t: sneak peak of Wen Qing, and of course That Scene with JC and LWJ

I feel like in this case most of the story-telling and character development that happened in the drama also happened in the manhua, and was possibly done more thoroughly in the latter. I did like, however, that WWX has the little flashback of WQ in the graveyard:

This definitely didn’t make sense to me and probably actively confused me the first time I watched it, but the poignance of it now is worth a bit of confusion on the first viewing.

The drama also features a little nugget that honestly completely passed me by and that I only noticed because of people here on tumblr pointing it out. I am talking of course about the silent staring contest between JC and LWJ at an eatery in the nearby town, while they wait for their competing bebbies to capture some spirits or something. 

My screen caps only caught JC’s half of the stare-off, but it’s still worthwhile.

My personal fav: the donghua. 

As mentioned prior, I love the Dancing Dame. She is lovely and murdery and awesome. The drama makes her look like bad lumbering CGI (not sure if that actually is CGI or some other effect, but it does not look pretty to me) and the manhua covers her in blood. The donghua does her justice.

Also, while the expo and flashbacks are worthwhile and do a good job of establishing various things about the characters, I kind of feel like there have already been things to establish the qualities we see here. We got to see JL be a hothead, and we got to see WWX be smart, and the JC/LWJ stare-off is admittedly awesome but we already got a lot of that dynamic last scene, plus a lot of this is its own self-contained story that’s maybe cool and fun and interesting for those as like it, but isn’t actually necessary. The donghua cuts it out and gets to the point. In this case, I think that works just fine.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 11: Face off! Sarcastic brother vs. silent boyfriend

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 7-8

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 17-18

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

This scene features Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji rubbing one another the wrong way. 

LWJ shows up initially and blocks JC and Jin Ling from attacking WWX.

JC makes several snide remarks about LWJ which are met with silence. 

Then the juniors begin having a go (politely, in Lan Sizhui’s case) at the unfair strategy JC and JL are using to night hunt.

JL uses a ridiculous social-darwinist argument and LWJ silences him.

A Jiang clan underling appears and tells JC that all the nets were cut down by a blue sword (i.e. LWJ’s sword, Bichen) causing JC and JL to look like this:

Note LWJ’s stone-faced, zero-fucks-given response.

More under the cut.

JC at this point takes off in a huff, slinging acidic sarcasm as he goes.

WWX then makes himself scarce, and chastises himself for what he said to JL in the previous scene.

In the novel and in versions other than the donghua, there’s a scene by the side of a stream where WWX overhears the freed cultivators gossiping about how arrogant JL is, and how it sucks that both his parents died because of that evil bastard WWX, having the effect on said WWX that one might expect.

I like that the drama also includes the bit from the novel where Lil’ Apple nudges WWX to pull him out of his dejected state

Need me an emotional support donkey.

There is so much nuance in this scene, it’s actually pretty amazing, and this post would be unforgivably long if I tried to cover it all. Just for a start, we get to see LWJ’s trademark silence and how his juniors stick up for him. We see the contrast between the way JC treats JL versus how LWJ treats the Lan juniors. This is definitely a character-establishing scene.

My personal fav: the drama. Remember how I said CQL!JC would get his chance? This is it. Those facial expressions that he didn’t do much with in the prior scene, hoo boy does he make up for it here. In addition to the death glare shown above when he discovers LWJ destroyed the nets, I present to you the near-terminal eye-roll:

And the soul-shriveling sneer:

Also, the CQL version features sad WWX amidst beautiful scenery (and a very cool angled shot):

And this interlude which isn’t in either of the other versions, where he reminisces about when he was happy with both his siblings:

That last expression absolutely destroys me DX

Basically I felt like there was so much nuance and so many subtle character things in this scene that it really lent itself well to live action. 

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 10: Who’s your uncle?

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 7

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 15-16

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

In this scene, Wei Wuxian hears cries for help and sees several people trapped in spirit nets.

A wealthy young man of the Jin sect comes on the scene and acts like a brat, refusing to cut the hapless people down and complaining about them wasting his nets.

Lil’ Apple reveals WWX’s presence, leading to a confrontation.

More under the cut.

The young master insults WWX (assuming he’s MXY) and WWX insults him back, saying some variation of ‘didn’t you have a mother to teach you manners?’ which he later regrets when he finds out the young man’s identity.

This comment leads the young man to draw his sword and they start fighting in earnest.

WWX uses a talisman to force him to the ground, at which point he threatens to call his uncle, then said uncle appears and turns out to be Jiang Cheng, WWX’s estranged stepbrother.

In all versions except CQL, WWX then puts two and two together and realizes that the young man is Jin Ling, his late sister’s son, whom he just insulted in the worst way possible.

So for me, if you can’t tell by the screen grabs already, this scene is all about the facial expressions. There is so much face drama happening here. The two pivotal moments, though, are (1) the moment when Jin Ling loses his shit and (2) the moment Jiang Cheng makes his grand entrance. Leaving all other factors aside for a moment, let’s just compare these.

Jin Ling’s moment of wrath:

From left to right: donghua, drama, manhua (the manhua one is tiny, sorry - click to see more detail - I wanted to catch the progression).

Donghua JL seems more vaguely annoyed than angry. To be fair, I don’t think my screen capper quite got the right moment (the next one after this is a wide shot of him swinging his sword) - but I’m going to go with what we’ve got, and give it a 4/10, plus add a bonus of 1 point for benefit of the doubt since there might be a better expression between screen caps, so 5/10.

Drama JL is just boiling mad, and he is also very clearly a teenage boy (donghua JL seems a bit too pretty and girlish to me and manhua JL looks a bit too mature). That expression is quality furor. I give it 10/10.

Manhua JL has this progression where he first has a stunned, sick look in the top panel, moves to draw his sword, and then dramatically confronts WWX with the darkest of looks. It looks less like the adorable death glare of a teenager and more like the look of a young man who could actually kill. It’s good, but I don’t quite feel like JL is capable of killing intent yet, so I’m knocking off a point and giving it 9/10.

Jiang Cheng’s grand entrance:

Left to right: donghua, drama, manhua (again click for better viewing).

Donghua JC is absolutely stunning here. The evil down-the-nose look floors me every time in animated shows. I just absolutely live for this. The disdain. The hotness. I give him a solid 9/10. 

Drama JC isn’t looking his best here. There was a very cool shot of the sword right before this, and it definitely loses a little something as a still, but even in motion, I don’t feel like he has quite the same dramatic effect in this particular moment as the other versions. He’ll get his chance later, no worries. For now I give him 7/10.

Manhua JC is pure perfection. Look at him stroking his whip. Look at that stride, that flapping robe, that no-nonsense glare. 10/10.

Adding up our totals, we have donghua: 14/20, drama: 17/20, and manhua: 19/20.

My personal fav: the manhua. Obviously based on the metrics mentioned above, I prefer the manhua for its badass portrayals of Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng. There are a couple of other factors at play, too, though. 

First, I really dislike the choice in the donghua to have this scene set at night. I feel like it’s really difficult to tell what’s going on at certain points because it’s so dark. The others don’t have this issue, though I believe the manhua does manage to convey that it’s set at night without it being too dark to see. 

Second, I absolutely love one more of the facial expressions in the manhua. This is Lil’ Apple reacting to the plight of the minor cultivators caught in nets: 

He then goes apeshit and drags WWX out into the open. I do not accept alternate interpretations of this such as “he saw some grass / apple he wanted.” Nope, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 9: Road Trippin’

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 6

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 13-14

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua N/A

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

This scene is completely skipped in the donghua, but the manhua and the drama pick it up from the novel (the manhua somewhat more faithfully). Basically the following things happen:

Wei Wuxian learns the trials of donkey ownership

He overhears a conversation about yet another of his inventions, the Compass of Evil (bonus: note the helplessly reaching hand)

Then he finds out about a young lady, A-Yan, who is under some kind of enchantment or curse that makes her dance (and through her story, learns more about the problem on Dafan Mountain)

More under the cut.

What the manhua has that the drama doesn’t: true to the novel + family violence

It’s worth noting for the benefit of purists (which I am not) that if we’re measuring quality by how well the derivative work follows the novel scene-by-scene, line-by-line, the manhua wins hands-down. While, as mentioned, not a purist, I do appreciate this attention to MXTX’s work and the desire to portray it with minimal distortion ... I hope they continue with that when it comes to the naughty / lovey-dovey bits :3 83

Anyway.

The novel has one bit that I wish the manhua hadn’t been quite so accurate with. Quote from XR’s translation of when A-Yan’s mom tries to stop her dancing: 

“A-Yan brushed her off with force, her smile still unfaded, creating a terrifying sort of affection, and continued to dance.”

Here’s the manhua’s depiction of that:

So like... this is true to the work. And I’m guessing CQL’s softer depiction of the struggling between them has to do with censorship. But I very much do not like this bit in the original. It’s just ... so mean and sad. And maybe that’s what was meant to be conveyed, to get me that much more invested in the fact that Something Bad Is Happening and there have been Real Casualties, but for this particular scene I truly don’t feel it’s needed. It just makes me sad is all it does.

What the drama has that the manhua doesn’t: scenery porn

Ta-da:

Ta-dum:

Tah-TUM:

Anyway this is where the drama starts to lean into its element more, which I truly appreciate. 

Another strength the drama has is the very expressive Xiao Zhan. Here he is reacting when he overhears people arguing about him and his inventions:

Somehow conveying without words ‘oh shit they’re talking about something I’m an expert on, should I weigh in? nah...’ with half his face covered.

My personal fav: the drama. For reasons previously stated, I actually like the changes the drama makes here, where A-Yan is a bit sweeter and sadder rather than violent.

Poor mom, she’s been through enough.

Along with the lovely landscapes I get to feast my eyes on, and of course Mr. Expressive as demonstrated above. 

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 8.5: WWX F’s off

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 5

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 12

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 1

I numbered this as 8.5 because it’s super short and I’m honestly not too sure why I didn’t just include it with Part 8 - but at least in the drama, there is a distinct boundary between the scenes.

Basically Wei Wuxian legs it when he sees his boyfriend / archenemy / whatever Lan Wangji has arrived on the scene. 

The novel and donghua have him destroying evidence of the ritual that summoned him. 

In the manhua and the drama, this is Li’l Apple’s first appearance (in the donghua he met him earlier and rode him around town chasing bullies). 

They hit it off in a mutually-contrary sort of way.

These are the real soul-mates of the series XD

Anyway

The drama takes things in a different direction, adding a bookend / foreshadowing / easter-egg with the storyteller

Note: my screen capper didn’t get it, but he was specifically given gold for telling stories about the Yiling Patriarch. Hmmm...

And some additional foreshadowing of doom and gloom:

note this is a drama-specific piece of plot (the novel and other adaptations don’t include the additional scar).

The donghua has this cool shot of the moonlit panorama as WWX sets out on his journey:

but honestly it’s pretty to-the-point otherwise - boy gets donkey, boy leaves.

My personal fav: the manhua. With such a small snippet to show it, the manhua’s art is as always perfectly executed and paced, and their super-deformed WWX is just so adorbs... I MEAN

How can I not love him the most?

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

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[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 8: Dad’s here, we’re saved!

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 5

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 12

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 1

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 1

Hanguang-jun’s Grand Entrance deserves its own post, and if you disagree, go make your own blog :P

Look at this man.

LOOK

AT

HIM

So there isn’t much to this scene, because there doesn’t really have to be. Basically LWJ shows up and does some chord-assassination badassery to subdue the zombies, the juniors are overjoyed, and WWX runs off to hide from him.

In the novel (which the manhua and the donghua follow pretty closely here) there aren’t many hints at this point that WWX might have feelings for this guy. He’s just portrayed as a vaguely antagonistic person that knew WWX in the past and that WWX doesn’t want to be recognized by. All versions give him a dramatic entrance over the rooftop with the guqin, though, as seen above.

The juniors are super happy to see him 

(In the manhua this is somewhat played for laughs)

And really there isn’t a lot else, except in the drama, where:

The Pining

We see this when LWJ first makes an appearance:

Then this when he gets a bit closer:

Later on, when LWJ finds out more about the situation, including the possibility that the yin tiger amulet is involved, he goes running off to try and find Wei Ying:

(Note, I am pretty sure on my first watch I didn’t make the connection that our MC I’d been watching this whole time was the same Wei Ying that LWJ is currently looking for, what can I say I’m dense and bad at Chinese names)

By the way - you may notice that most of my screen caps are from the drama - that’s because there’s more material, and ultimately, that’s why I’ll decide:

My personal fav: the drama. See, it’s not just that there’s more, it’s that I think this scene deserves more. Not only that, but they do it well. There is, of course, The Pining as mentioned above. But there are also these amazing artsy mood shots like

Bam.

Bam.

BAM.

They are setting you up to understand just how romantic and sad and ethereal of a character LWJ is, and I am totally there for it.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 7: Domestic disturbance

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 5

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapters 9, 10, and part of 12

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 1

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 1

In this scene, most of the remaining Mo clan gets turned into puppets in quick succession. It starts with some guy named Tong choking himself to death, 

and Mr. Mo (who very clearly does not wear the pants in the household) being sent to the courtyard by his wife, where he goes all white-eyed and randomly kills a dude 

(I think it’s a servant? But maybe it’s one of his kids or nephews? Sorry I can’t keep my Mo’s straight, someone help). 

While the juniors are occupied with getting him tied up, they discuss maybe sending up a flare for help from a nearby Lan senior, causing Wei Wuxian much consternation. 

Look at him. That is a consternated boi.

More under the cut.

In the midst of all this, WWX has two realizations: one, there is a resentful left arm that’s the cause of the possessions, 

and two, another scar is gone, and this means Madame Mo is now also possessed. 

The juniors send up their flare and begin fighting the now-zombified Madame Mo. 

WWX, being good with corpses, hatches his own plan to try and fix the problem by reviving Young Master Mo and his dad to fight her when the juniors can’t seem to handle her anymore.  

So you might have noticed that I related some or all of these events in the wrong order and I have no excuse for this given that I have a literal row of screencaps numbered in sequence, but somehow the chaos of this particular scene ends up flummoxing me every time. I can’t remember who dies first, when WWX wakes the corpses, when the juniors send the flare and when they do the fighting, when the hand is discovered etc. etc. I just.. brain short-circuits. Sorry. But I also have a feeling part of my problem lies in different adaptations doing it in a different order. Could I absolutely go back and check? Sure. Will I? Nah, being organized is for when I’m at work.

What the donghua and the manhua give us that the drama doesn’t: badass juniors and villainously delicious necromancer WWX.  

Observe:

What did I say? Bad. Ass.

But let’s not forget the comparable awesomeness of the manhua:

While they also fight some in the drama, the camera angle doesn’t accentuate how much they’re doing or try to show them as cool or badass - it’s just this kind of melee of white robes for a moment. 

Then we have the response when the juniors’ strength begins flagging.

Here is WWX waking up the two corpses in the manhua.

In the donghua, he’s got red eyes too!

What the drama gives us that the others don’t: The Pining. 

Where manhua / donghua WWX is super hot, drama WWX is effing adorable. Here he is being helpless at the prospect of a reunion with you-know-who:

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

Plus, of course, the drama curses us with the Rubber Hand of Doom.

My personal fav: the donghua. Much as I am a sucker for The Pining, this is one of our few chances during this brief flash-forward to see how skilled and awesome the Lan juniors are and let them show their stuff. And they are amazing. Teamwork. Athleticism. Speed. Skill. 

And, as demonstrated prior, the donghua not only shows badass juniors, but, owing to the medium, shows them in action, in a way that is sadly much more difficult to do in a static drawing such as the manhua.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 6: One down

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 4

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapters 7 & 8

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 1

The Untamed / Chen Qing Lin drama Episode 1

At first glance, the different versions are very similar for this scene. It goes thus:

Mo Ziyuan (i.e. chief bully cousin dude of Mo Xuanyu) is found dead (or, in drama-verse, becomes ambiguously possessed / passed out). Also I finally remembered to mention his name, now that he’s maybe dead.

MXY is blamed for the death and dragged out of his hovel.

Madame Mo tries to stab MXY for revenge, and he is saved by LSZ.

The juniors notice a spirit-attraction flag on the body, with WWX/MXY’s help, and conclude that MZY brought the whole thing on himself.

WWX notices one scar has disappeared, meaning the fact that he originally invented the flags is enough to make the death(?) his doing (convenient!)

Grieving and furious Madame Mo takes out her anger on the juniors, and WWX defends them and reminds her that her dead / not-quite-dead-yet son is an idiot.

So the big obvious main difference between the versions here is in CQL, Mo Ziyuan doesn’t die. Except... I’m pretty sure eventually he does, along with the rest of his family. I am chalking this ambiguity up to censors wanting WWX to be less ‘morally grey’ than in the original novel, and a character dying because of him, even in a roundabout way, at the start was a bit much for them. 

Here are a few other things that the different adaptations give us:

What the donghua has that the others don’t: a mother’s grief.

None of us reading this are probably Mme. Mo’s biggest fans. That said, there are very few mothers who wouldn’t feel / act this way when finding their young son is a drained husk of his former self, and who wouldn’t in turn react with anger and attempts to blame a handy fall-guy when told he brought it on himself. In the drama, she doesn’t have the chance to really grieve as his status is ambiguous, so she’s just upset and angry and lashing out. In the manhua, she just seems... bitchy.

Even when there are tears, they’re portrayed as crocodile tears, more for the purpose of blaming WWX/MXY than any real grief.

This fits the stock character type she’s meant to be, but seems very uncreative to me. I feel like she deserves to express some true pain and sadness at her son’s death, even if he is a bully and a generally terrible person.

What the drama has that the others don’t: The Pining.

We get two lovely bonus bits in the drama of WWX playing WangXian on a reed..

...along with some excellent foreshadowing when LSZ recognizes the tune...

...and WWX getting anxious about being recognized by Lan clan members without his mask...

Is that anxiety, or hope? What about the whole body-switching thing? Oh well...

There’s also just some brilliant facial expressions for Mo Ziyuan’s actor:

Don’t tell me it wasn’t fun and cathartic to play a possessed bad guy. I’d love to see him in something else, but not sure if he is ridiculously pretty enough to star in anything. Maybe as a supporting actor or a bigger villain part?

And the manhua...

Honestly for this scene I don’t feel like the manhua does it justice. It’s pretty, of course - the manhua is super pretty all the way through - but I don’t think it particularly adds anything in its portrayal of this scene.

My personal fav: I am going with the drama for this one, because I am a sucker for some WangXian pining, and because honestly I can overlook the ambiguously-dead, plot-threads-left-hanging part, because I think the most important thread going through this scene is the imminent meet-up with Mr. Boyfriend. This is a danmei, after all.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 5: WWX steals a flag

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 3

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 6

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 1 (kinda)

The Untamed / Chen Qing Lin drama Episode 1

In this scene, the bottom line is “the Lan juniors are using spirit attraction flags, which were originally invented by Wei Wuxian.” 

The donghua trims it down to the bare minimum and leaves it at a couple lines of expo and displaying the flag in frame for a moment. The other two adaptations go all-in with the scene from the novel, for which I’m grateful, because we get:

More Obfuscating Stupidity!

(An additional side note):

This was the point in my initial watching of the show that I got really interested in WWX’s character, because there was a reference to him having invented something (and there were continued references to more things he made, peppered throughout the first few episodes).

To me, this detail moved him from the category of ‘some vaguely evil but also very cute antihero and/or antivillain (can’t tell yet) who came back from the dead’ to ‘someone who has had a big impact on future generations and used his brain to create things.’ Like, I badly needed to know how all these inventions came to be, what was the trajectory of his life that he’d make all these cool things people now use, but that he’s also reviled and hated by people and basically a devil figure to them.

More character-building moments for the juniors!

Exhibit A: How not to manage a Wei Wuxian (presented by Lan Jingyi)

Exhibit B: How to manage pretty much anyone (presented by Lan Sizhui)

A moment of yearning! (drama only)

In which the standard Lan cultivator uniform reminds WWX of a certain someone who also wears that uniform...

And of course, my heart melts at this moment in the manhua where WWX notices how awesome LSZ is:

Oh sweetie...

ANYWAY.

My personal fav: I am going with the manhua on this one. The donghua pretty much entirely trimmed the scene down to the essential exposition, so it forfeits. Both the drama and the manhua do a nice job of getting across that WWX is pretending to be an idiot while actually checking to make sure the flags will work and aren’t too dangerous. 

I think what I really like, though, is how the juniors and their reaction to him are placed much more front-and-center in the manhua. (literally in the foreground, in this case):

Though the manhua art style makes LJY and LSZ look almost identical, their character traits and personalities really shine through in the dialogue and nonverbal communication we see in this chapter. The actors did an amazing job in CQL as well, but I feel like there was so much focus on WWX in the framing of the shots, the juniors got pretty much overshadowed by his protagonist halo. I like that they really get a chance to shine in the manhua.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 4: WWX makes a scene

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 3

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 3 through 5

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 1

The Untamed / Chen Qing Lin drama Episode 1

—

Here, Wei Wuxian takes full advantage of his “crazy person” status to make a big scene in Mo Xuanyu’s name and embarrass the family who mistreated him in front of the Lan cultivators by bringing all their dirty laundry to light.

We get a glimpse of the personalities of some of the more prominent Lan juniors as well.

We also get to see how awful the matron of MXY’s adoptive family is:

I would like to take a moment to fawn over this scene: 

This scene is so perfect. It shows Wei Wuxian weaponizing his chaotic ridiculousness to advocate for Mo Xuanyu. 

This person was abused and dismissed by the family he lived with, and they assume nothing has changed and they can still do that to him, and WWX just completely upends that and embarrasses them in front of important people - but from the family’s perspective, it’s MXY standing up to them where he never has before. It’s poetic justice, and it’s bittersweet because of course the real MXY couldn’t do it and isn’t there anymore to see it (or at least I don’t think so - not sure if there is any canon lore about what happens to his spirit).

The thing that really gets me is, I don’t know if WWX would do this for himself - we see many examples later in the story of him specifically *not* standing up for himself when people throw unfair verbal abuse his way (though he will defend others, especially Lan Wangji, in a heartbeat). 

So one of the rare times we can really see him stick up for “himself” is here, where he’s assumed the identity of the dead MXY, because he sympathizes with this kid who doesn’t have any real family and has been branded as an outcast - because of course.

No, Wei-xiong, MXY did not pick the wrong guy, he picked exactly the right person to give him the cathartic revenge he longed for.

OK, back to comparisons. 

I did not notice a lot of differences in these scenes, tbh. In all versions, Madame Mo is talking up her son to the fancy Lan cultivators. She’s interrupted, much to my delight, by MXY being as embarrassing as humanly possible. She tries to sweep his accusations under the rug while he continues to be a Handful, and Lan Sizhui tries to mediate and calm things down because that’s His Thing.

One pretty major difference between the novel and all adaptations is that the adaptations downplay or remove the intel about MXY being gay (I am guessing it was too much for the censors). This is present (if muted) in versions other than CQL as it’s Somewhat Important to the swath of gay misunderstandings created later on in the novel. The donghua briefly seems to acknowledge it when MXY mentions the scandal of another man being in his room, and all versions except the drama have him awkwardly and incorrectly wearing rouge (in the donghua he wakes up with it already on, as in the novel - in the manhua he puts it on to hide his face and in the drama it’s substituted with the mask).

Oh - one more little detail which I absolutely love, which sadly doesn’t seem to show up in the donghua: That moment where WWX is approaching and hears Mme. Mo mention vaguely that someone in the family studied with cultivators in order to up her cultivator cred, and gleefully pops in to claim said cred and subsequently blast it all to hell:

This. I can just imagine the panic and “shitshitshitshit waddle i do” going around her head in this moment. Bitch deserves it.

My personal fav: The donghua was already eliminated for lacking my favorite moment (see above). That leaves the manhua and the drama. I’d like to present for consideration these two faces of WWX/MXY in the same moment, as he’s saying “OK I’ll leave if you give back what you stole:”

These faces represent how the character is portrayed throughout this scene - and if you want to think big, you could say these represent the differences between MDZS!WWX and CQL!WWX. MDZS!WWX seems much more capable of being a sinister, conniving mastermind. He seems like someone who should be taken very seriously. CQL!WWX is... goofy. Yes, he absolutely is smart and badass af, but he does a much better job of hiding it, and he intentionally acts silly and vulnerable (and IMO it’s only partly an act) in order to prevent anyone from suspecting that he might be smarter than he looks.

So in conclusion... I am a complete slut for the Obfuscating Stupidity trope, and goofy CQL!WWX wins today. Only today, though! And not just because I love this version of him! 

See, this version seems most appropriate to the circumstances at this point. We’ve just been introduced to this character that we know has a reputation as some kind of evil sorcerer or something. I think the disconnect of seeing him acting so playful and goofy shows us that (1) reputation =/= reality, especially in this series and (2) WWX is a trickster first, dark sorcerer second.

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 3: WWX gets his bearings

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 2

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 2

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 1

The Untamed / Chen Qing Lin drama Episode 1

—

In this scene, Wei Wuxian gets kicked around by Mo Xuanyu’s bully cousins and various underlings. 

He also does some investigation and begins to piece together more of the situation. He figures out that MXY sacrificed himself to summon “evil spirit” WWX, who is now expected to take revenge on MXY’s behalf. There are various levels of severity to the “oh crap, he didn’t tell me what he wants / meh, I’ll figure it out” 

There are also a couple of different interpretations of the curse scars and their severity, e.g. in the novel it’s stated the punishment for noncompliance is the curse scars would eventually worsen, rip up his body and soul, and destroy his chances of reincarnation, versus in the drama where it’s simply stated they’ll never heal.

Wow, taken out of context that looks super emo. OK back on track...

This is where the three adaptations diverge significantly. The manhua is easily closest to the original text here. 

In the manhua, WWX waxes philisophical about how he isn’t such an evil spirit or a bad guy after all, and MXY summoned him in vain.

(side note - I love how he rests his foot on the edge of the frame, that is so WWX)

In the drama, the emphasis is placed more on WWX living in the moment, recovering from his experience of being brought back to the living by doing his toiletries and stealing a random dude’s peanuts:

Again - accurate. 

In the donghua, we take a big detour and end up chaotically riding a donkey through Mo Village chasing after the bullies that kicked him around. And also stealing liquor. Of course.

My personal fav: It was super hard to choose between these, guys. I feel like I am biased toward the drama because, like many, it was my first experience of this story. I love the soft, bittersweet feel invoked by both the manhua and the drama, of WWX slowly making peace with the idea that he’s back in the land of the living, and beginning to live again. He’s weak, starving, and in a body that he’s not used to. These are the realistic interpretations. 

It definitely doesn’t make sense he’d be able to immediately throw hands with his attackers and then jump his tired ass atop a cantankerous donkey to chase them around town... but ultimately, not everything needs to make sense. I settled on the donghua because it just is a very fun and entertaining way to be introduced to WWX’s mischievous and unstoppable nature. 

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)