#(yeah mei wanted one of those too she's flawed as well & it's nice enough that ling will help her clan but yeah. i don't like how

[salvidida]

Tbh I didn't give a single fuck about Ling, his guards, and the plot around them. The plight of would-be monarchs and their own empire, while journeying to a different empire embroiled in numerous expansions, massacres, and genocides, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. We also get told next to nothing about Xing or peer into their lives in Xing, so it feels like they just exist to contrast Bradley's and Father's philosophy of rulership, which is 🥱😴 (all imperial rulers are bastards)

I like Mei tho. She's the only person who genuinely and enthusiastically helped Scar the moment she met him, and never batted an eye at his original mission of killing war criminals. She never looked down on him, and she felt like someone Scar actually gave a shit about too.

Unlike Yoki who, if we're gonna be honest, is a strange ally for Scar to permit. This former statesmen was openly scheming about taking advantage of Ishvalan refugees but somehow Scar lets that slide?? And Marcoh, for all of his repentance for his atrocities against Ishvalans and his desire to aid Scar (once he's denied a deadly retribution like he initially begged for), is not the worst ally and it narratively makes far more sense for him to be made useful to Scar, but then he gives the remaining philosopher stone made of the Ishvalans he killed to Roy so that he and some fellow war criminals can be healed??? Instead of returning the stone to the Ishvalans, as a means of returning the dead and making reparations???????? He doesn't even give it to Scar, who is recovering from his battle against Bradley??????????? (Of course Scar would never use the stone on himself, but he can deliver the stone back to Ishval, as he's in charge of restoring the land and its people.) Neither of these two fuckers gave a shit about Scar but wanted his protection and (in Yoki's case) friendship.

Mei's the only real one. She didn't take advantage of Scar, she never felt like a fairweather ally, and she has a more genuinely kind heart than the others. (And I enjoyed her character in general, especially her prowess in combat and alkehestry).

[shenmeizhuang-blog]

Do you have any cdrama suggestions for a baby beginner? I think Empress of China is the most famous one I’ve heard of but I’m curious about others too!

B-baby beginner? No, my friend, when it comes to cdrama, we simply throw you into the pit…

Just kidding! Although, for a myriad of reasons, being a Chinese drama fan outside of Asia without a hold of the language is admittedly rather difficult (so to the “international” cdrama fandom: you guys rock!). 

Unfortunately, your answer did not really help me narrow down my answer after all. I believe Moonlight Drawn By Clouds, your recent fave, is very romance-centric, but I feel like everyone tends to vacillate in their mood, preferring super romantic escapism one minute and demanding tight storytelling the next. Anyway, I’ll stop rambling and actually get to the point:

personal recs, in general*

I just couldn’t really “categorize” these?

peace hotel (2018): currently in the midst of watching this still, but I’m really enjoying this! honestly. especially with how the female chars (most of the chars are written.) it’s this mix between super suspenseful espionage and really cathartic humor. the plot twists are also so !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

let’s shake it! (2017): alien crashlands to the tang dynasty! it’s super cute and quirky, but there’s also a strong, coherent plot and some angst in the latter parts. definitely one of my faves of last year, though it’s punny sense of humor doesn’t always get through. it’s also very appreciatively meta ;) the subs apparently aren’t complete, as my friend complained to me, but I personally find the language real simple

medical examiner dr. qin (2016): the interactions between the crime-solving trio are gold. also, like the only modern show here?? (as you can tell, I am really mostly a period show watcher.)

go princess go (2015-16): it’s really low-budget and cracky, but trust me, there’s a reason it went viral. zhang tian ai does feel like the saving grace a lot of the time though, and I didn’t exactly give it a high score, but it just might be your thing. who knows?

nirvana in fire (2015): i don’t think it’s the best c-drama ever, unlike a lot of people on this site, but it’s still a very solid show. I also find it a lot more shoujo than most fans—it’s really not just a revenge-political drama—but when it was emotionally gripping, boy, it was emotionally gripping. 

wuxin: the monster killer (2015): technically only season 1—I have yet to see s2—but weirdly enough, I found the poignant ending especially fitting. just assume from the title? yue qiluo is one of the more interesting villains out there, and gosh I just adore yueya so much

bu bu jing xin (2011): extremely poignant, complex look into polymagy/patriarchy during the qing dynasty from the lens of time-traveller zhang xiao who takes the identity of court lady ruoxi. even if you don’t ship any of the romances, it is so worth it for pretty much everything else. but if you do, obviously also an extremely heart-wrenching watch. a lot of people’s first cdrama. 

schemes of a beauty (2010): lots of spying, secret chambers, poison, women control the men. 

*I would want to recommend The Legend of Zhen Huan and The Glory Of Tang Dynasty, but they’re 76 episodes and 92 episodes long, respectively. Content-wise, it’s also stuff that requires lots of trigger warnings, and overall just not for the “baby beginner”. Battle of Changsha is definitely shorter, and a definite recommendation, but also just not for the “baby beginner.” 

no dubbing 

(Peace Hotel, Battle of Changsha, NiF, Medical Examiner Dr. Qin)

the advisors’ alliance (2017) + growling tiger, roaring dragon (2017-18): a mix of no dubbing and some dubbing. it’s a pretty creative to take the viewpoint of sima yi in this three kingdoms historical piece. I feel that it’s rather accessible to viewers, honestly, and the production values are great on this one. 

nothing gold can stay (2017): only 4 eps in—it’s very solid so far (74 eps though, but I would say quite mainstream and easy to watch)

ten miles of spring wind can’t compare to you (2017): do I really want to rec this though? in the end, I really did wish I had someone to vent about this to and discuss with about, because in a lot of ways this really did give lots of food for thought. let’s just say that our three main chars are deliberately rather fatally flawed…and I still feel rather ambivalent about how to feel about this. (the first 10-15 eps are super cute, meta, adorable but also with great sexual tension and then it sort of goes to melodrama but anyway…) you could at least practice your chinese? it is harder than the average modern cdrama, given how pretentious qiu shui can get

shoujo period romances

We all have a soft spot for these :’)

sound of the desert (2014): just yesterday, there was quite a lot of discourse on this show on my dash, interestingly. female lead xin yue (liu shi shi) is raised by a wolf pack, though she eventually enters the capital city sometime during the han dynasty. she does at first fall for a crippled, broody flute player played by hu ge (imo one of his more lackluster roles) but it’s her chemistry with HAWT general wei wuji (eddie peng

female prime minister/legend of lu zhen (2013): again, freakishly sizzling chemistry. it focuses more on lu zhen rising up the ranks as lower-level female ministers, but mostly still very very romance-centric. (the otp falling-out in the last 10 eps or so was kind of stupid, I will admit, and also 200% all on gao zhan but it had such a strong addictive quality to it.)

gong/jade palace lockheart (2011): I haven’t seen Boys Over Flowers/the Japanese original/any official remakes of whatever that is, but a lot of people have called it Boys Over Flowers + modern girl time travels to the Qing Dynasty + 9-prince succession conflict during Kangxi’s reign. it was rather stupid and petty at times, but it’s more comedic and the romance is super addicting. I don’t care about the half-bald Qing queues at all, and this is actually one of the only roles that I’ve found Feng Shaofeng attractive in. (yes, it is possible to love bbjx and enjoy this)

Oh yeah, and all these end all happily and fairytale-like. None of the above would qualify as my “faves” at all, but all are very accessible to someone unfamiliar with cdrama and love the Romance and the Pretty. 

others (I found rather lackluster or dropped): Perfect Couple, The Eternal Love (very popular among international audiences, but not for me), General and I, Oh My General 

wuxias/xianxias

This is just going to be an embarrassing amount of childhood nostalgia. Like, literally, with the exception of the first one, I watched all of these in elementary school, with varying amounts of rewatching in between. The recent wuxias and xianxias just haven’t been to my liking. (I could get into how NiF takes lots of wuxia elements but I would just confuse you a lot so, strictly on the more fantasy/action side of things here.) I simply haven’t watched Eternal Love/Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (very, very popular) at all. I’m sorry. 

vigilantes in masks/strange hero yi zhi mei (2011): I believe the international equivalent is “Iljimae”? It’s like Robin Hood, sort of, but mostly Liu Shi Shi’s Yan Sanniang is so amazing here. 

chinese paladin 3 (2009)

return of the condor heroes (2006)

chinese paladin (2005)

lotus lantern (2005)

also 武林外传, which is 80 eps, but kind of more like a wuxia sitcom way back in the day. there’s in-show ppls, tons of modern references, etc. and also like lots of satire/social commentary. I did a rewatch (of brief clips ofc, I don’t have that much time) recently, and realized I missed so much when I watched it with the family back then. (I’m kind of embarrassed about the more lewd references…lol…)

*line break*

Whew! Anyway, the takeaway is, there is a lot of stuff to choose from, and I definitely left out a lot of stuff. There’s also a lot of modern cdramas. This answer might clarify about those shows. 

(that being said, I really personally would not recommend empress of china. I mean, aside from 96 eps, just 2 eps in I could tell it was going to be an unsubstantial mess >_

[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on Digimon Adventure tri.: “Coexistence”

Alright, I kept telling myself I was going to give a day to let my thoughts on “Symbiosis”/”Coexistence” (I'll go with Coexistence generally just to clarify) sink in, but I cannot get my mind to shift on anything else so let's just get to it. If I miss anything, I’ll make an additional thoughts post or something, but I feel like I’ve covered everything here for the most part. So, how did this go as we’re nearing the end of Digimon Adventure tri?

Oh boy, where do I even begin?

Let me lay this down straight: “Coexistence” isn't absolute garbage and is not the worst thing I've ever seen. I still think other series like Digimon Frontier are far worse than tri as a whole so far, but... “Coexistence” pretty much puts a lot of tri's flaws all in one big package.

The "padding" of this movie wasn't so unbearable that I wanted to shut the thing off, but I can certainly say that for 3/4ths of the movie, I was so bored. Not ready to die bored, but questioning "When the hell does all of the material this movie kept pressing so hard before release supposed to show up? Where's Kari's development? Where's Ophanimon Falldown Mode? Any answers to all of the plot threads you've left open? Are the Digimon going to regain their memories? The 02 cast? Anything?" There were cute moments here and there, but I felt that the payoff wasn't good enough to sit through so much of this. This isn't to say that the payoff wasn't good at all--I'll get to that towards the end. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Other than the music anyway; that was as good as always.

The animation, while mostly okay, had some weird moments. I know it's happened throughout tri, but the size inconsistencies of the Digimon were especially obvious in “Coexistence”. Maybe I just never noticed it until now, but there were so many moments where I was thinking things like "Agumon isn't that small," or "Why did Patamon suddenly shrink from one frame to the next?" Also, there were a good number of stills used here for some reason. Why? I have no idea, but it looked bad. There was also this one shot of Piyomon flying that was really choppy, yet Patamon's flying animations looked as fluid as usual just a few seconds later. Are they trying to save all their budget for the last movie? Come on guys, this isn't “The Scuffle of Legends” for crying out loud. The animation was at least good where it was supposed to be, especially towards the end (the scene where the ground was falling apart were super quick and fluid? I'm not sure if it was just me, but it stuck out to me as looking really well-animated and flowing compared to the rest of the film).

There's sadly not much fighting to talk about animation-wise either. It looks good when it happens--I personally thought watching Alphamon and Jesmon duke it out was awesome. The Digimon from the DigiDestined, other than Tai and Matt who manage to bring together Omegamon, sadly don't get to do much. But hey, the animators learned to put all of the Digivolution animations together in one shot instead of making us watch ten minutes of Digivolution animations! I mean, I love watching them and all, but sometimes you have to cut to the chase, and this was one of those cases. I just found it funny that the one Ultimate Digivolution we hadn't seen, WereGarurumon, gets boxed. But I was sad to see MetalGarurumon's boxed. I mean, his pose and everything looked awesome so I would have really liked to see it in full! Hopefully, we'll get to see it in full in the next film. I mean, come on! I demand to see my metal puppy with some shiny awesome Digivolution animation! Omegamon also got a... sort of Digivolution animation, but it still looked neat! I just wish it was even flashier since, you know, this is a Mega/Ultra level Jogress Digivolution. It deserves to be insanely flashy!

I know I've been saying "towards the end" a lot in these thoughts so far, but...  that’s because, sadly, you don’t really need to watch the first three episodes except for like, some exposition about Meicoomon. You know what the rest is? Meiko wondering and whining and mulling over what to do with Meicoomon. Over. And over. And over. If you weren't tired of it the last couple of movies, you will be absolutely sick of it by the end of “Coexistence”. I cannot stress how I tried so hard to give Meiko a chance. I tried to look at things from a sympathetic viewpoint. So many times, I was ready to just give up on her character, but I came into this movie thinking, "Okay, I'm going to try one more time. This might be where Meiko gets interesting. Maybe after all of this 'development', it will actually pay off into something really great."

That didn't happen. We got the same kind of thing with Meiko as we did with the rest of tri. The self-doubt, the crying, the blush stickers, the "Why was I chosen!?" subplot which was already done so much better with Joe, the pity party, attempting to take responsibility for things only to rinse and repeat everything I just mentioned--anything you have seen of Meiko in the last four movies of tri, you will see here (except maybe blatant fanservice) but it is done for three full episodes. It was tiring, it was frustrating, and I just wanted to see the movie focus on something besides Meiko for five minutes. I mean, we get some nice bits with the DigiDestined like them reaching out to their parents as they're unable to go home--but of course, most of these are silent and the one that gets the most attention is Meiko's.

I hate to go on and on and on about Meiko as much as I am, as I understand some people like her. However, I wouldn't be going on as much about Meiko as I am if tri wasn't focusing on her so much in the first place. My biggest issue with all of this focus on Meiko is that these attempts to "develop" her and make her more likable are far too little, too late. These are things that we should have been seeing in “Determination” and “Confession” for us to understand and connect with Meiko as a character. Instead, they wasted time with her being unrealistically socially awkward and fanservice-y, and then being outright whiny and insufferable in “Confession”. And the writers expect us, more than half-way into this series, to truly invest in her and care. This might have been doable at this point if it was in small increments with balance with the rest of the DigiDestined rather than focusing so hard on her because the writers realized they were running out of time, but that's not what they did.

There were things they could have done to make her more likable and human throughout this series. There was the potential of her father being an abusive asshole father to at least explain how shy and scared and shut-in she was, except he... wasn't really that terrible. He was just a workaholic who asked Meiko to let Meicoomon be experimented on, and... that was about it. Suddenly he started caring about her in this film like he woke up one morning and said "Oh shit, I'm a bad father." It was more like a parody of the asshole dad than an actual use of the trope, with little execution applied. There's also this tick Meiko has of having a Tottori accent, which was only used a record time of once in “Determination” to show she had this quirk and for the cast to giggle about. Suddenly, after a phone call with her father and crying about Meicoomon again, Meiko starts speaking with this accent, likely forgetting her habit of speaking so formally around everyone. This is honestly a minor thing, but it did give more flavor to her character and had she grown more comfortable to use it more often around the DigiDestined cast, I would find her character to be more believable. She just shifts around from being uptight and formal to suddenly open and willing to cry her whole heart out to them. There's no gradual development. What was also weird to me is that, with all of flashbacks Meiko had, we don't really hear her using this accent she supposedly has in her childhood (at least as far as I could tell?), so yeah... we also have inconsistency issues! Yay!

I also simply cannot bring myself to like Meicoomon either. I get it, I'm supposed to sympathize for this poor Digimon who was basically born as an outcast and technically did nothing wrong. But... She barely has a personality other than "Mei! Mei! Mei!" and how am I supposed to care about a Digimon who serves as nothing more than a plot device and flipflops from being a cutesy kitty to a devastating killing machine? This was something Digital Monster X-Evolution did infinitely better with Dorumon. Now, we do at least finally get an explanation as to why Meicoomon freaks out so much without Meiko and why she's so uncontrollable in the first place. And... it's one of the dumbest asspulls this series has had.

Meicoomon was basically born from a fragment of Apocalymon's data. I've seen some people point out some things foreshadowing this, but they're super filmsy to me and nowhere near convincing enough for me to really follow as something the writers really thought through. It feels like some lazy excuse the writers came up with to try to connect Meiko and Meicoomon back to the original Adventure series in some way, when really it just makes their whole existence feel all the more hamfisted. I've tried to avoid the "blatant self-insert Mary Sue OC" label with Meiko as much as I could with how overused it's been applied to her by so many people who watch tri, but if anything made her fall under this label, it would be this. She has a Digimon formed from a fragment of the original Big Bad's data? Seriously? Let that sink in. Did that really sound like a good idea on paper to someone? If that's not enough, this is literally recycling the plot of Ryo and Monodramon from the Tamer games on the Wonderswan, where Monodramon Jogress Digivolved with the Big Bad Millenniummon and ultimately became his partner after being reborn, which led to the Ryo we know with his berserk Cyberdramon from Digimon Tamers. Hell, Battle of Adventurers did the whole "leftover fragment of Apocalymon" thing a lot better. It's just shameful how lazy this whole thing is put together when the writers have been building up the plot for, what, five movies over the course of three years? I guess this also explains how Meicoomon was the special snowflake who wasn't affected by the Reboot at all, but... whatever. I barely even care at this point. Meicoomon and Meiko are special snowflakes and that's just how the writers are going to treat them.

What makes this special treatment of Meiko all the more frustrating is when you look at the DigiDestined constantly comforting her and acting like she's been with them for years, saying things like "We're with you because we're all DigiDestined!" and were even willing to depart from their own moral compasses (referring to Tai's willingness to kill Meicoomon as Meiko wishes when he just said in the previous episode that he didn't want to kill a friend) when... they're completely ignoring the Adventure 02 cast. I get it, some people are tired about people questioning where they are, but when the writers have been waving teases at the audience like showing them being "killed off" in the beginning, Gennai taking on the Digimon Kaiser disguise, Kari and T.K. being concerned for their whereabouts a record one time and bringing back the freaking Dark Ocean (because, you know, that went so well in Adventure 02!), you have to question the cast's lack of concern. Adventure 02 has not been de-canonized, or these little things wouldn't exist. So I hate how the Adventure cast is constantly catering towards Meiko's needs when they've maybe known her for a couple of months at best, but don't even show a wink of concern for the Adventure 02 cast who they have probably known for years (I imagine they kept some contact over time) and both T.K. and Kari went through a whole series of adventures with them. It really does make it feel like the cast are written in a sort of bad self-insert fanfic whenever Meiko has any sort of presence as if the world revolves around her.

Once again, I get that a lot of my problems surround Meiko and Meicoomon, but the problem with this movie is how freaking heavily it focuses on them. A lot of this movie before the last episode is simple padding like the cast trying to get back to the real world, telling ghost stories and having other cutesy moments. I didn't hate all of these, but when we're getting so close to the end... I want this time being spent on the writers finally tying up loose ends. There's one movie left, and yet here they are continuing to add even more questions to the plot and not enough answers and then otherwise wasting time with things that do not answer these issues. I am not against filler--I was fine with most of “Determination”'s because it was the beginning of the series, things were still rolling in, and there were still increments of development happening here and there (Mimi's narcissism and Joe's questioning of his identity as a DigiDestined). But this late in the series, it's time to cut that down and focus on ending the story. Instead, “Coexistence” does a whole lot of nothing with terrible pacing issues, retreading on things we already know/are tired of hearing about, and just adding more instead of answering more. The writers have dug themselves in a big hole and bit off more than they could chew, and it is the most apparent in this movie.

So I must hate this movie then, right? Actually, no. Even though I think three of the four episodes are tough to sit through, with only cute moments to salvage them, the fourth episode was good and finally gave me what I was hoping for in this movie.

Because it's a minor thing, yes, Himekawa had some of her insanity breakdown. Not as much as I wanted, but I still ate up the nonsense she was saying and... she got a gun out of nowhere? What? When? How? I don't know, but it's hilarious. I swear, she's ready to kill someone who speaks a word to her. What's even weirder is that the guns she has changes between scenes. One moment, she as a BFG or some sort of grenade launcher, the next she had a handgun. What, did she find some Weapon Shop in a village somewhere? I have no idea where she's going or what she's going to do since she ended up in the Dark Ocean, but I hope if she shows up, she's just off the walls laughing like a maniac bonkers when we see her next. Insane Himekawa is the best Himekawa.

We also get a little bit of the OG!DigiDestined, like a shot with Nishijima's partner Bearmon. Dawwwwww!

But the best parts are when this movie finally decides to get to the focus I was personally waiting for in this movie--Kari Kamiya. While unfortunately it got nowhere near as much focus as I wanted (because apparently a certain other character really needed it more for some reason...), what we got was damn good. I love that Kari, with all of the times she's been possessed by Homeostasis, finally stood up to a fucking deity of worlds. She wasn't taking any of that shit, and she stood up for it. And I love that if tri has done anything, it's given Kari far more character than Adventure or Adventure 02 ever did. While she isn't forceful or rude, she does not take shit when people spew things she can't possibly bring herself to agree with. She has a firm ground, and she's willing to stand on it. Much like the scene where she talked some sense into Joe in "Determination", it was damn good to see.

And then there was her breakdown. Man, what a breakdown. While we all know Tai isn't really dead (if the Adventure 02 epilogue doesn't count to you, he's on the freaking poster of the next tri movie--he's not dead guys), there was no better way to break her. We've seen that Tai and Kari are close like in some bits of the Dark Masters arc in the original Digimon Adventure, so what else could they take from her but what's most important to her? And the way she just breaks is incredible to watch. Dead silence. Disbelief. Broken sentences. She is in such despair of Tai being gone that she just wants the rest of the world gone. While I wish Gatomon had been a little more involved, with the Dark Digivolution just sort of... happening, it was still a damn good lead-up. But man, is it a terrifying one.

While my personal favorite Dark Digivolution moments still go to Takato and Guilmon and Marcus and his Agumon, Gatomon to Ophanimon Falldown Mode and then Jogress Digivolving with Raguelmon to... whatever terrifying Evangelion experiment they combined into, was just horrifying, down to the body horror. It gives the whole "Coexistence" title double meaning (along with the whole coexistence of the Real and Digital Worlds), and just... seriously, look at that thing! If that's not a destroyer of worlds, I don't know what is! And it's basically a living embodiment of Kari's will and feelings after seeing her dear brother "die" before her eyes. Even after this whole thing happens, she's just a living shell just sitting there. You can really see just how broken she is after that.

While I still want to see more of Kari breaking, like how she'll deal with this whole situation and cope with her brother's "death" until he returns, it was still just good to see her develop in some way. And I will say, yeah, the cliffhanger is pretty dirty when the whole movie felt like a set-up for the last one while still doing a lot of nothing until the end. "Confession"'s cliffhanger, while absolutely painful, still felt more genuine than "Coexistence"'s just being there for the sake of set-up. And I think part of the reason it's so frustrating is because that... again, this movie didn't do a lot, so leaving it at that just when it was starting to finally get moving is aggravating.

This is still easily the weakest entry in the Digimon Adventure tri series though. And while it was frustrating at many moments, I would still call it... okay. I think it could have been even worse. The last episode did make it worth a watch, but the rest did make me want to bash my head into a wall at times. At this point, there's no way tri will be able to possibly tie all of its loose ends in a satisfying way. Hell, we may never even get an answer for things like the Digimon's memories or the Adventure 02 cast (though I certainly hope we do). But there is some good set-up here... So if we can at least get some answers, some awesome fights, and good character development and interaction, I am going to look forward to seeing Our Future, though with some optimistic skepticism. Here's hoping, to what little tri has left and how much going against it... that it pleasantly surprises us somehow.