#亡

[ninelanguages]

Kanji for "under", "below", "lower pain", "inferior", "go down"

下 = shita / shimo/ sa•geru/ kuda•ru/ o•rosu/ moto/ ka/ ge

下手な - hetana - clumsy/ awkward/ unskillful - へたな

下着- shitagi - underwear/ underclothes - したぎ

テーブルの下- taabulu no shita - under the table - テーブル　の　した

靴下- kutsushita - (a pair of) socks/stockings - くつした

下宿する- gesyukusuru - to room (board, lodge) (at a person's house) - げしゅくする

下げる- sageru - to lower/ to drop/ to let down/ to hang - さげる

_______________

Kanji for "new", "novel", "fresh"

新 = arata•shi/ ara•ta/ nii/ shin

最新の- saishin no - the lastest/ up-to-date - さいしん　の

新たな- arata na - new/ novel/ fresh - あらた　な

新しい- atarashi - new/ fresh/ recent/ up-to-date - あたらし

新幹線- shinkansen - a bullet train/ a high-speed train - しんかんせん

新宿- shinjuku - Shinjuku (ward of Tokyo) - しんじゅく

新しい車- atarashiikuruma - a new car - あたらしいくるま

_______________

Kanji for "company", "firm", "society", "social", "shrine"

社 = yashiro/ sha

本社- horiginnsha - the head [main] office - ほんしゃ

社会人- shakaijin - a member of society - しゃかいじん

神社- jinja - a Shinto shrine - じんじゃ

社交的な- shakoutekina - sociable -しゃこうてきな

社会- shakai - society/ the public - しゃかい

新聞社- shinbunsha - a newspaper publishing company - しんぶんしゃ

_______________

Kanji for "world", "age", "generation"

世 = sei/ se/ yo

世の中- yononaka - the world/ life/ the times/ the age - よのなか

世界- sekai - the world/ the earth/ the globe - せかい

世代- sedai - a generation - せだい

世話のする- sewa (w)o suru - to take care (of)/ to help/ to look after - せわ　の　する

浮世絵- ukiyoe - ukiyoe (wood-block prints of Edo period) - うきのよえ

二十一世紀- nijuuisseiki - 21st century - にじゅういっせいき

_______________

Kanji for "world", "cirlce", "bounds", "boundary"

界 = kai

限界- genkai - a [the] limit/ limitations/ bounds - げんかい

政界- seikai - the political world - せいかい

世界- sekai - the world/ the earth/ a world/ one's world - せかい

世界中に「の」- sekaijuuni[no] - all over [throughout] the world - せかいじゅうにの

世界一- sekaiichi - the best in the world - せかいいち

世界的な- sekaitekina - world/ worldwide/ international/ global - せかいてきな

_______________

Kanji for "work", "labour", "serve"

働 = dou/ hatara•ku

働き者- hatarakimono - a hard worker - はたらきもの

労働- roudou - work/ (manual) labour - ろうどう

働く- hataraku - to work/ to labour/ to serve (at)/ to operate - はたらく

本屋で働く- honyadehataraku - to work at a bookshop - ほにゃではたらく

重労働- juuroudou - heavy labour - じゅうろうどう

働き- hataraki - work/ labour/ ability/ action/ a function/ operation - はたらき

_______________

Kanji for "endeavor", "make efforts"

勉 = ben

猛勉強する- moubenkyousuru - to study [work] hard/ to grind (away) - もうべんきょうする

がり勉- gariben - studying hard/ grinding/ a nerd/ a swot - がりべん

勉強家- benkyouka - a diligent student/ a hard worker - べんきょうか

勉強- benkyou - study/ work - べんきょう

勉強する- benkyousuru - to study/ to prepare/ to do one's lessons - べんきょうする

勉強中- benkyouchuu - while studying - べんきょうちゅう

(This kanji is pretty much only used for refering to studying. It's (as far as I know and learned) only used together with the upcoming kanji for "strong", "strength", "powerful" as you can see in the examples above)

_______________

Kanji for "strong", "strength", "powerful"

強 = kyou/ gou/ tsuyo•i/ tsuyo•maru/ tsuyo•meru/ shi•iru

強い地震- tsuyoijishin - a big [severe] earthquake - つよいじしん

強いる- shiiru - to compel/ to press/ to force/ to enforce/ to coerce - しいる

力強い- chikaradzuyoi - powerful/ strong/ mighty/ reassuring - ちからづよい

がまん強い- gamandzuyoi - patient/ enduring - がまんづよい

歴時に強い- rekijinitsuyoi - be good at history - れきじにつよい

強気の- tsuyoki no - assertive/ bold/ aggressive/ strong/ firm - つよきの

_______________

Kanji for "move", "motion"

動 = dou/ ugo•ku/ ugo•kasu

箱を動かす- hako (w)o ugokasu - to move a box - はこ　を　うごかす

自動ドア- jidoudoa - an automatic door - じどうドア

動く- ugoku - to move/ to shift/ to stir/ to shake/ to work - うごく

運動- undou - exercise/ athletics/ sports/ games/ a campaign - うんどう

動物- doubutsu - an animal - どうぶつ

感動する- kandousuru - to be moved [touched] (by) - かんどうする

_______________

Kanji for "prefecture", "territorial divisions"

県 = ken

県- ken - a prefecture - けん

石川県- ishikawaken - Ishikawa prefecture (of Chubu area) - いしかわけん

山口県- yamaguchiken - Yamaguchi prefecture (of Chugoku area) - やまぐちけん

県庁- kenchou - a prefectural office - けんちょう

都道府県- todoufuken - Japanese prefectures - とどうふけん

県立の- kenritsu no - prefectural (hospital, school, etc) - けんりつ　の

_______________

Kanji for "paper"

神 = shi/ kami

表紙- hyoushi - a front cover/ a binding - ひょうし

紙- kami - paper - かみ

手紙 - tegami - letter - てがみ

(''Tegami'' literally means hand-letter. Supossed to represent a letter writen by hand.)

手紙を書く- tegami (w)o kaku - to write (to) a person/ to write a letter - てがみ　を　かく

神部来る- kamibukuru - a paper bag [sack] - かみぶくる

折り紙- origami - origama (the art of folding paper) - おりがみ

新聞紙 - shinbunshi - (a piece of) newspaper - しんぶんし

(This word is actually written without the ''paper'' part as well, also meaning ''newspaper''.)

_______________

Kanji for "parent", "relatives", "intimate", "familiar"

親 = shin/ oya/ shita•shii/ shita•shimu

親指- oyayubi - the thumb - おやゆび

(Literal meaning would be parent-finger.)

両親- ryoushin - one's parents - りょうしん

父親- chichioya - a father - ちちおや

親子- oyako - parent and child/ parents and their children - おやこ

親切- shinsetsu - kindness/ goodness/ goodwill - しんせつ

親しい- shitashii - close/ friendly/ familiar/ intimate - したしい

_______________

Kanji for "both", "two"

両 = ryou

車両- sharyou - vehicles/ cars/ a (railroad) coach/ a carriage - しゃりょう

両立する- ryouritsusuru - to be consistent [compatible] (with) - りょうりつする

両側- ryougawa - both sides - りょうがわ

両手に花- ryoutenihana - be between two beautiful woman - りょうてにはな

両替- ryougae - money changing - りょうがえ

両方- ryouhou - both sides - りょうほう

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

Kanji for "of long duration", "longstanding", "lasting for a long time"

久 = kyou/ ku/ hisa•shii

永久に- eikyuuni - permanently/ perpetually/ eternally -えいきゅうに

恒久の- koukyuu no - lasting/ everlasting/ permanent/ eternal - こうきゅう　の

耐久性- taikyuusei - durability/ persistance/ lasting quality - たいきゅうせい

久しぶりに- hisashiburi ni - after a long time [absence/ seperation] - ひさしぶり　に

持久力- jikyuuryoku - endurance/ stamina/ perseverance - じきゅうりょく

久しい- hisashii - long/ long-continued/ longstanding - ひさしい

_______________

Kanji for "finish", "complete", "conclude", comprehend", "know"

了 = ryou

了承する- ryousyousuru - to approve/ to accept/ to agree - りょうしょうする

了解- ryoukai - (an) understanding/ agreement/ consent - りょうかい

終了すること- shuuryousuru - to end/ to be over/ to come to (an end) - しゅうりょうする

修了証書- shuuryousyousyo - a certificate/ a diploma - しゅうりょうしょうしょ

了見- ryouken - an idea/ an intention/ a design/ a motive -りょうけん

完了- kanryou - completion/ finishing - かんりょう

_______________

Kanji for "decease", "die", "pass away", "lose", "perish", "go to ruin", "escape"

亡 = bou/ mou/ na•i

滅亡- metsubou - a fall/ a downfall/ ruin/ collapse - めつぼう

未亡人- miboujin - a widow - みぼうじん

死亡- shibou - death - しぼう

亡くなる- nakunaru - to die/ to pass away - なくなる

亡くす- nakusu - to lose - なくす

亡命する- boumeisuru - to flee (one's country) for political reasons - ぼうめいする

_______________

Kanji for ''musical composition'', ''melody'', ''tune'', ''song'', ''curve'', ''bend'', ''bent''

曲 = kyoku / ma•garu/ ma•geru

曲がり角- magarikado - a street corner/ (an) intersection/ a turning point - まがりかど

曲げる- mageru - to bend/ to curve/ to twist/ to distort/ to pervert - まげる

新曲- shinkyoku - a new musical composition/ a new piece [song] - しんきょく

曲線- kyokusen - a curved line/ a curve - きょくせん

作曲する- sakkyokusuru - to compose/ to set to music/ to write music - さっきょくする

曲がる- magaru - to bend/ to curve/ to be bent/ to turn/ to make a turn - まがる

_______________

Kanji for ''a samurai'', ''a soldier'', ''a knight'', ''an officier'', ''a gentleman''

士 = shi

修士- shuushi - a master/ a master's degree/ a Master of Arts [Science] - しゅうし

武将- bushi - a samurai/ a warrior - ぶし

紳士- shinshi - a gentleman - しんし

学士- gakushi - a bachelor/ a bachelor's degree/ a college graduate - がくし

兵士- heishi - a soldier/ a private/ (the) troops - へいし

博士- hakase - an expert - はかせ

博士- hakushi - a doctorate/ Ph. D. - はくし

(Yeah, the last two use the exact same kanji but a different pronounciation.)

_______________

Kanji for ''change'', ''alter'', ''transform'', ''abnormal'', ''unusual'', ''irregular''

変 = hen/ ka•waru/ ka•eru

変わる- kawaru - to change/ to alter/ to undergo a change - かわる

気が変わる- kigakawaru - to change one's mind - きがかわる

変える- kaeru - to change/ to alter/ to transform/ to reform [amend] - かえる

変化- henka - (a) change/ (a) variation / (a) transformation - へんか

変更- henkou - (a) change / (an) alteration / (a) modification - へんこう

変な- henna - strange/ odd/ queer/ curious/ peculiar - へんな

_______________

Kanji for ''third person pronoun'', ''the other party'', ''he'', ''she''

彼 = hi/kare/kano

彼岸- higan - the equinoctial week (of Buddhist observance) - ひがん

彼女- kanojo - she/ a girlfriend - かのじょ

彼- kare - he/ one's boyfriend/ one's lover/ one's husband - かれ

彼の本- kare no hon - his book(s) - かれ　の　ほん

彼氏- kareshi - he/ one's boyfriend [man]/ one's lover - かれし

彼等- karera - they - かれら

[ruanbaijie]

and in the first arc we have...

THE SPIREALM 致命游戏 (2024) 1.01-1.07 adapted from the danmei novel Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 by Xi Zi Xu 西子绪

[snarkspawn]

some KoD/Spirealm sketches

[shijiujun]

A Summary: The Spirealm | 致命游戏 (Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 Live Action) & Why You Should (Eventually) Watch It

Talk about the most short-lived drama release ever, not even totalling two hours if I recall. Creating this summary as I've seen a handful of confused friends, so here it goes!

It's going to be a long review because I sped through all 78 episodes and only properly watched the first two doors, but I got you. You'll get both the brief book rundown and the drama parts!

If you just wanna see the bromance (LOVE) parts please skip to section 4!!!!

1. Overview

Title: The Spirealm (kinda awful I'm sorry it's a mouthful) or 致命游戏 which means fatal game

Adapted From: Danmei (BL) Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu

Novel Prints: There are GORGEOUS Thai, Vietnamese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese versions printed, AND Singapore publisher Rosmei has signed the license for the ENGLISH version, probably going on sale this year (preview is here). You can still access fan translations by Taida on I think wordpress and someone else on Tumblr sorry bad memory (they did half and half each) if you'd like to read it for context. It is one of my FAVE danmeis EVER and I am a die-hard OG book fan, check out my full danmei review here.

Total Episodes: 78 (20 minutes each with the exception of last episode which 10 minutes, with several BTS not that I think we will get to see all of them yet)

Where to Watch (LOL): Erm considering that iQIYI China AND International took the episodes down, there is no legal way to watch this, BUT thanks to some cnetz with super fast and great wifi, we managed to get ripped HD versions without subs. iQIYI is very hard on copyright though, they've taken down several subbed and unsubbed versions already on YouTube, but you should type the titles of show into Twitter and the top tags will tell you where to access the raws and very little subbed episodes, that may also be taken down at any point. I have the Chinese raws but as it's hosted on a cloud, I had to pay to access it.

Main Characters: Lin Qiushi & Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie (in the novel) and Ling Jiushi & Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie (in the drama)

Produced By: iQIYI so for SURE they won't film it fully BL even if the original is, but I've seen enough bromance cuts

Main Actors: Xia Zhiguang (Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie) + Huang Junjie (Ling Jiushi)

2. Summary

Book (drama follows closely if not removing the supernatural premises): Lin Qiushi, a designer, opens the door to his home one day from inside and sees 12 iron doors outside. Confused, he opens one of them and arrives at a snow covered village in the mid of winter, and meets Ruan Baijie, who's a pretty, unusually tall and whiny/timid woman. They realise that they're in a horrifying door game, and they'll have to find a door and a key to get out, while battling a long-haired, human-eating deity. They, along with a few others, have to survive day after day until they get out, and on the first night, two people have died in gory ways. Ruan Baijie and Lin Qiushi partner each other, and despite seemingly timid and crying all the time, she saves Lin Qiushi a few times mysteriously, and Lin Qiushi finds himself trusting in Ruan Baijie.

They get through the door together and when they leave successfully, Lin Qiushi realizes that the people who died in the door will die in real life by some freak accident too - car accidents, forced suicides, a robbery gone wrong, a lift trapped in the air and going ablaze, and more. That night, Lin Qiushi wakes up to see a super handsome and tall Ruan Nanzhu at his bedside and this man feels familiar to him, but he can't put a finger on it. All he can think of when Ruan Nanzhu says his name is Ruan Baijie (ahem he would later find out who it is of course). Ruan Nanzhu takes him to his mansion in the suburbs where he meets a group of other people just like them, who're forced to go through the doors for survival. Ruan Nanzhu then invites him to join Obsidian, his organization.

Through various doors, Lin Qiushi grows and supports a super intelligent and powerful Ruan Nanzhu, falls in love with him, gets through many many scary doors with him and some of their other team members, makes friends, loses them to the cruelty of the doors as they ponder over what the door means, and what being alive/dying means.

And at the end of it, at the end of of it all, when they're all good and living their life, Lin Qiushi also finds out what Ruan Nanzhu's secret is, and the lengths to which Ruan Nanzhu went to, just to be with him.

Drama: Ling Jiushi is a VR game designer who gets pulled into a game, and he meets Ruan Baijie (in his male form) right off the bat (SO NOT CROSSDRESSING I AM SAD). All the parts are actually the same as the novel, albeit with the game setting and Ling Jiushi and Ruan Nanzhu's identity adjustments to suit the game premise. Most of the other doors and their lines are the same, just that the ending is a bit more confusing than it could be. There's a big bad as well and they actually show the opposing organizations when in the novel, these other organizations aside from Obsidian didn't even actually have a face or goal to them.

3. Characters

^ Them in the book (based on manhua that never got to go live LOL) (RNZ/RBJ left, LQS right)

^ Them in the show (LJS left, RNZ right)

Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie: MY HANDSOME CROSSDRESSING INTELLIGENT ALOOF BUT WHINY (WHEN IT COMES TO LIN QIUSHI) SASSY BOSS!!!! He's super mysterious and super thick-skinned too, and all he wants is Lin Qiushi's attention the moment he meets him. He's intrigued by Lin Qiushi's calm and his brains and the way he handles things, and has a lot of trust for him right from the get-go. This is also shown in the drama itself. As the leader of Obsidian, he cares a lot for his team members and his friends even if he doesn't show it most of the time, and the last thing he wants to do is lose Lin Qiushi, and he would do ANYTHING for Lin Qiushi, ANYTHING!!! Just look at him whining:

Ling Jiushi (Lin Qiushi): In the novel he's super calm, has quite a lot of brains, a little bit of a blur in the beginning but he's super smart as well. Worries a lot for Ruan Nanzhu and is also a loyal friend to some of his only friends, and feels a lot when he loses them. Falls gradually in love with Ruan Nanzhu in the novel, like they just belong together. In this drama, Ling Jiushi holds that same trust for Ruan Nanzhu, but in demeanour he seems a bit more like a klutz and and not as cool as he was in the novel, but I guess it's acceptable. Literally like the only thing he loves more than RNZ (maybe) is his cat Chestnut LOL and RNZ is NOT really happy about that but Chestnut LOVES RNZ

Yixie and Qianli: CUTEST TWINS ;-; WHO TREAT RNZ and LQS as their big brothers LOOK AT THEM BOWING AND RNZ/LJS like parents LMAO

A handful of other characters who will keep turning up and get your hearts ;-;

4. ALL FAVE BROMANCE MOMENTS + TROPES

THEY TOUCH EACH OTHER A LOT LIKE HOLDING HANDS AND TOUCHING FACES, PIGGY BACKING?!?! DID I MENTION FACE TOUCHING

WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP THEY HELP EACH OTHER WHEN HURT OR GET HURT FOR EACH OTHER

AND WHEN THEY WAKE UP IN BED THE OTHER IS AT THEIR BEDSIDE

AND DID I MENTION HE FEEDS HIM IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

AND THAT THEY DATED UNDER THE FIREWORKS LIKE THE NOVEL DOES NOT EVEN HAVE THIS SHIT

AND THE KABEDONS

AND FINALLY RUAN NANZHU RIZZ OMG

5. Settings

They REALLY OUTDID THEMSELVES. THIS JUST FROM DOORS 1-6:

THEY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE NOVEL DESCRIBED!!!!

6. Overall Thoughts

PROS: This was NOT a cheap production, I'm telling you, they followed the cases very well and there're a lot of super recognisable lines, if not ALL of them, even if they changed the cases a little. I think they did it because in the novel originally, the author DOES leave a lot of details hanging like someone dies and you know he had a background and there are some shady things happening but the author NEVER actually goes into detail. So the drama did their best to cover these loopholes, even if it felt a little awkward at times. Money went into settings and attires and every damn thing, this looks EXPENSIVE. And if you've ever imagined each door and the bosses inside in your head, you might have felt chills go down your spine because damn did they really colour the book's settings for me (despite its differences). DID I MENTION that Xia Zhiguang really got the damn memo and he was a passable Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie who knew how to turn on his BL eyes. PLUS they really did some of the character deaths really well - they're technically some of the biggest parts of this story so ;-; (not two main of course)

CONS (maybe): They did away with the supernatural/horror premise and replaced it with a GAME premise, which means that there's a scientific element to it and the try to explain away stuff with the game, including the ending. I don't 100% get the ending, but the feel/vibe is about the same. Might not be for hardcore reader fans tho! They skipped out on a couple of doors, some of which were my faves, but it's fine, it's long enough LOL. They give away/explain some of the clues and surprises super early which means you don't get that added boom at the back as well. Despite that, I have to say they tried to round up the loopholes from the book as much as they could and give it an explanation while tying elements/conspiracies across doors (probably also to save cast fees LOL). And as always it's not a solid ending, it's an open confusing one, and even more confusing than the book itself because THERE IS NO CERTAIN HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITH HUBBY for it (there is in the book tho, they live together happily every after). Secondl,y, I'd say HJJ's acting is a bit stiff and OOC compared to the novel, but Xia Zhiguang really made up for it.

-------

HOPE THIS HELPS YOU GUYS!!! But I guess if you need subs it's going to be a long LONGGGG ride, considering that iQIYI doesn't seem to be going to be able to put it up anytime soon CRIES.

[nubosia]

⠀─┈⠀♡⠀我会吞噬你的灵魂和骨头，

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ 🥩⠀直到你和你的存在荡然无存⠀♥︎⠀

[shaofeis]

THE SPIREALM · EP7

[hiromusicarts-blog]

１１月２３日は、亡兄の誕生日です。そこで、故人の好きだったものをいただく日として、我が家では「チョコの日」に。

あれから４２年、、、、、存命ならば６５回目の誕生日です。

命日には、行事がないけれど。誕生日は祝いたいなと、、、、今でも「ありがとう」が絶えません。

November 23rd is my late brother's birthday. So in our house, it's "Chocolate Day" to receive the things he liked. 42 years have passed since then, and if he were still alive, it would have been his 65th birthday. There are no events on the anniversary of his death, but I still want to celebrate his birthday... and even now, I can't stop saying "thank you."

[userdramas]

这条路的终点是我要失去你了，那告别之旅也是旅途啊。 The end of this path is that I will lose you, but the journey to farewell is nevertheless still a journey.

@usergif style swap: by @ruanbaijie in the style of @khaotunqs [insp] @asiandramanet apr creator bingo board ⎈ inspired by another creator + quote

[usergif]

OMG it’s BLORBO BLEEBUS [in/sp] @userdramas creator bingo ⎈ layer style + purple @asiandramanet july creator bingo board ⎈ lgbtq+ rep

[it-begins-with-rain]

THAT fight scene The Spirealm // 死亡万花筒

[huaepiphany]

Honored to create covers and paperbacks for one of my favorite novels Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu, Russian edition

[ninelanguages]

Kanji for “busy”, “occupied”

忙 = bou / isoga•shii

忙しい - isogashii - be busy / be occupied / be enganged - いそがしい

仕事で忙しい - shigotodeisogashii - be busy with one’s work - しごとでいそがしい

多忙な - tabouna - busy - たぼうな

忙しい仕事 - isogashiishigoto - pressing work / urgent business - いそがしいしごと

ご多忙中 - gotabouchuu - {formal} in the midst of one’s work - ごたぼうちゅう

忙殺される - bousatsusareru - to be swamped with work - ぼうさつされる

[ruanbaijie]

rnz: *drops hints left right and centre* lqs: cat??

THE SPIREALM 致命游戏 (2024) 1.22 adapted from the danmei novel Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 by Xi Zi Xu 西子绪

[buried-in-stardust]

Cosplay of Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie from Kaleidoscope of Death (死亡萬花筒)

[shijiujun]

FACE-TOUCHING!!!!

The Spirealm 致命游戏 (2024) | Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 Live Action

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching reading. Today's choice: 死亡万花筒 / Kaleidoscope of Death.

Kaleidoscope of Death is a 2018 Chinese webnovel about two young men who fall in love while basically playing a whole bunch of horror-themed escape rooms that can for-real kill you.

This novel was gripping. I could not put it down. It started out fun and ended up ripping out my heart several times. It does a good job getting the ball rolling with a series of adventures in weird worlds, then turns into a meditation about grief and loss and what it means to have something to lose in the first place.

This is the first time I've ever done a book rec! I'm doing it in conjunction with a rec post for the Spirealm, and originally I was just going to do this as a bonus section for that post. However, I felt they both deserve whole different posts, because they both have very different things to recommend them. I also think Kaleidoscope of Death a 100% necessary read if you've seen the show, because it provides some context that the show simply cannot include -- but it's not a necessary read before you see the show.

Therefore, I'm going to give you five reasons I think you should sit down with this one, and not a single one of these reasons is going to assume you've watched the Spirealm! The book is great and deserves to be read on its own merits, and then if you then start watching the drama afterwards, so much the better.

1. All the Cross-Dressing

(Yeah, I'm going to punctuate this one with screencaps from the Spirealm, because otherwise it's just a wall of text.)

I'm not going to tell you why the male characters frequently dress and pass as women, since the book explains the practicality of it better than I could. You just need to know that they often do, and it's never not kinda hot when it happens.

When you first meet Ruan Nanzhu, it is as Ruan Baijie, a stunningly beautiful and noticeably tall woman. Lin Qiushi, our POV character who is extremely confused for a number of reasons, spends the first whole arc talking and thinking about Baijie like she's a girl. In fact, one of the cutest things about sweet, earnest Qiushi is that he clocks Baijie several times, and every time he's just like, oh, she's so flat-chested, how unusual for a girl, anyway...

And this isn't even just dressing up! Stepping into the door worlds changes you physically based on your clothing and cosmetics. Nobody inside looks the same as they do outside, and nobody looks the same inside as they did last time they were inside. The rules that govern these transformations aren't even clear to the characters themselves! So, you know, have fun with that.

I'm going to say it's not an out-and-out trans thing, in that we're not dealing with an AMAB egg who will crack someday. Ruan Nanzhu is a very male-identified, penis-having man! He's just also pretty entertainingly comfortable with performing whatever gender makes him the most fuckable person in any given room. Lin Qiushi is not so inherently genderfluid, however, which means that when his gremlin sort-of-boyfriend makes him pretend to be a girl, it's a completely different kink.

Therefore: If you like it in any way when boys dress up like girls, you owe it to yourself to pick up this one. And if you like a fandom that likes it when boys dress up like girls, baby, welcome to the world inside the doors.

2. Those boys GAY

This is a textual romance. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu are in love. This is a danmei novel about how they fall in love. There is kissing and there are fade-to-black scenes that explicitly acknowledge that the two of them have sex with one another. We even know that Ruan Nanzhu (usually) tops. This s not just me pointing at them and saying gaaaaaaaaaay. This is actual gay.

And it is gay that takes its fucking time. They do not actually hook up until well over halfway through the book, but they are physically affectionate from almost the get-go. Ruan Nanzhu is such a trickster and a liar that Lin Quishi finds it hard to believe that anything he does is sincere, which leads to nearly lesbian levels of wondering if it means anything when a guy demands you kiss him on the mouth when he's pretending to be your girlfriend. Meanwhile, Ruan Nanzhu is over here being the Kate Beaton comic about sitting here consumed with lust all evening.

Even once they both acknowledge what they're feeling for one another, they don't get together right away. After all, they're playing a game of life and death where they lose friends left and right. Every time someone goes inside the door, there's a real chance they won't come out again. Is giving your heart to someone worth how much it will destroy your entire life when you lose them?

(Yes, says the book. Yes, it is worth it.)

The slow burn of their relationship is delicious, in part because the physical (though not sexual) aspects of it predate the romantic ones. It also has the fun hot-and-cold aspect where Ruan Nanzhu is incredibly affectionate inside the doors, then icy outside of them. Poor completely inexperienced, never-been-kissed Lin Qiushi does not know what to make of any of this. He can barely manage parenting a cat. He does not know how to handle a boyfriend who is also a girlfriend who is also (spiritually) a cat.

I also find it charming how much the gay part of it both is and isn't an issue. It's not that Lin Qiushi has a problem being in love with a man; however, the fact that Ruan Nanzhu is a man does mean the heteronormally indoctrinated and relationship-inexperienced Lin Qiushi takes much longer to realize what exactly those feelings he's having are. The book's world is one where heterosexuality is the assumed default, while queerness is unexpected but everybody's still pretty cool with it. Besides, no one's going to judge Lin Qiushi's gay yearnings, because who doesn't want to fuck Ruan Nanzhu?

3. HAKO ONNA HAKO ONNA HAKO ONNA

So as I was reading through @zintranslations' earlier chapters, I kept seeing translators' notes down at the bottom about being so excited to finally get to the Hako Onna arc. Okay, I thought, this is a lot of hype; I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Friends, it does not. This is the arc I was reading while screaming into a pillow. It's thirteen chapters long, tied for the longest arc in the book with the first door. It is a fucking nail-biter. It does the clever thing of taking all the things you've learned about what can happen inside the doors and combining them for a worst-case scenario.

The setup is pretty simple: There's a bunch of boxes. One has the exit. Most are empty. Some have things that help you. Some have things that hurt you. The more things you find that hurt you, the more things there are to hurt you. And you have to open the boxes.

All the door arcs are pretty well-written, so that you can more or less play along with their various adventures. Hako Onna, however, is exceptional. It's so complicated, but you can actually follow it. And you need to be able to follow it, because the multiple emotional gut-punches that happen in this arc all depend on understanding how the rules of the game have just been leveraged to fuck someone over.

Now I really want to play the board game -- which I was pleased to discover is a real board game! And speaking of board games...

sidebar: Betrayal at House on the Hill

I know this isn't technically related to the novel at all, but if you like board games, horror, and being incredibly dramatic, you owe it to yourself to try out Betrayal at House on the Hill.

It goes like this: You and several other horror-movie archetypes wander through a mansion, "building" it as you explore it, so the game layout is different every time. At some point (and it's based on so many random factors that you never know when it'll be) someone triggers a condition, and the haunting begins. All the players then get the rules of haunting explained to them -- except for one player, the one picked to do the titular betrayal, who gets a different set of instructions and becomes the antagonist. From that point on, the game is about either surviving or completing the haunting, depending on which side you're on.

I have played this game before with normal board game people, and they were like, eh, this is fine. I have also played this game before with theatre kids who RP and LARP, and we all had a fucking blast. So I'm going to warn you that you have to choose your crowd carefully. This is a game for people who do improv and voices.

4. The art of losing isn't hard to master

The book has a high body count -- higher than the show's, in fact, though that's related to how the book also has more characters than the show does. When you meet someone who can go into the doors, be careful how much money you'd lay on their survival.

Death after the doors comes so quickly, too. There's barely any time to say goodbye, if there's even any time at all. Often there's just a phone call telling our main characters that one of their friends or allies or enemies is gone.

Everyone who gets the chance to go through the door worlds is only able to do so because they're dying already. The more doors they pass, the more they get to kick that death further down the road -- but the more doors they enter, the more chances they take that they might die inside one. So really, none of the players can be that resentful of being forced to play a game that can kill them, since they're already playing it on borrowed time.

I will say, somewhat cryptically, that the book has a positive ending that leaves open the possibility for other positive things. The path to that positive ending, though, leads through some pretty wrenching takes on living through grief. It's not even all rah-rah and it-gets-better, either -- the text acknowledges many times over what it means to have someone that life isn't worth living without.

And that's maybe not what you expected from a BL horror adventure webnovel, but it's what you're gonna get! Ha ha!

5. What He Is

Which is the title of the first extra chapter, which is not extra at all, but is in fact a necessary explanatory piece that whacks you upside the head like a two-by-four and recontextualizes the entire story.

...Yeah, that's all you're going to get from me about that. You'll understand when you get there.

Have you put it on your reading list yet?

The way you have to read it is a little convoluted: @zintranslations has chapters 1-17 and 63-end + extras. Taida Translations has chapters 1-62. So no matter where you start reading, you're going to have to switch sites at least once.

There are also apparently Portuguese, Indonesian, Russian, and Spanish translations too? And the original Chinese webnovel, of course. And some audio dramas and subs linked to from this Carrd, which helpfully has other information, like content warnings for specific chapters, in case the horror aspect of the story gives you pause.

Anyway, once you're done reading it -- or even before you're done! -- you should absolutely go watch the Spirealm. I think it's clear from both rec posts that I definitely like the book better, but I appreciate having the drama to bring so many scenes to life, and I think the casting is great. Also, I don't think reading the book makes you like the drama less! Rather, I think reading the book gives you insight into the awkward and sometimes terrible choices the drama had to make to survive -- which in turn gives you the ability to see through those choices, on to what the show always wanted in its heart to be.

I do find it funny how "Kaleidoscope of Death" and "Death's Kaleidoscope" technically mean the same thing, but they sure read different, don't they?