#I watched the Nezha 2019 movie the other way and I was like who’s this sassy child

[yunsound]

The Third Installment to the Oubing Saga- Yunbing

PRIOR EXPERIENCE NEEDED!

Entry ticket: reading this post and acknowledging that the following is about to be 18+. No, I'm not writing anything explicit, but it's going to be some mentions of sex. Move on.

After finishing Ne Zha 2025 (or the 2019 version if you're a real one), did you feel overcome by the gayness? Did you wonder why the fuck anyone would ever look at their best friend like that? Did shoujo anime music start playing in the back of your head?

...yeah you're not alone.

As previously mentioned, Oubing is currently China's biggest fandom ship (I stay hopeful that this wave of hype will last longer than it did in 2019). I also trust that you all understand why that is.

Seriously, I've never seen any piece of Chinese media except for straight up BL THIS gay.

Let's count on one hand how many BL tropes these movies include.

Red/blue

Soulmates

Only friend

Enemies to lovers

Friends to lovers

Oh oops, we ran out of fingers! Next hand.

Friends to enemies to friends to lovers

Forbidden romance

Demon x angel

Two halves of one... thing

...bondage? I suppose? If you know you know THE scene.

Oh wow look at that we ran out of fingers again. MOVING ON TO THE NEXT HAND-

Okay, I'll stop here. All of this makes Oubing technically a very vanilla ship (ignore the bondage that's mostly a joke. Though you WILL see a lot of art involving Ne Zha's red sash in... different usages) and very sweet. Pure love, I suppose.

Do you know about Shangmei Oubing, a variation on Oubing featuring different adaptations of Ne Zha and Ao Bing? Well now you do. Read this post to figure out what I'm talking about.

If there's a spectrum of the wholesome-ness of Oubing ships, Shangmei Oubing is in the middle. Yes, it's very toxic, but technically Ne Zha does really love Ao Bing a lot, just in the wrong ways.

On the OPPOSITE end of that spectrum, we have Yunbing.

Yunbing is the ship between Ne Zha and Ao Bing from the 2021 movie New Gods Reborn: Ne Zha. The movie itself is on Netflix- it's kind of a mid movie, I'm NGL, but the animation is pretty good.

I haven't watched the whole movie (how do I know it's mid? Because I saw some clips and they made me sigh out loud) so I'm maybe not the most reliable critic, but it's just not peak storytelling, okay?

Yunbing is 80% made TF up (headcanon ships are the best ships) because in the movies they hate each other, like TRUE hate, not gay hate. I'm talking GENERATIONAL hating.

If you ignore canon, though, (my favourite thing to do), you are left with Yunbing, which is honestly really fucking yummy.

Here's a quick overview of the background and dynamic of the ship/movie/characters without spoiling the plot of the movie.

The main character of the movie is called Li Yunxiang (remember that Ne Zha's dad is Li Jing, so technically his full name is Li Nezha prior to him fucking himself up via sashimi-ing his flesh from his bones).

Li Yunxiang is the reincarnation of Ne Zha in a modern setting in the fictional East Sea City (Donghai City). He doesn't know or remember being Ne Zha. He works as a deliveryman I think, or a smuggler or something low-paying and dangerous I think.

In East Sea City, water is in shortage due to the Dragon Clan (now a rich family business) hoarding it. The third son of this Dragon Clan (his name is De San) is, you guessed it, the reincarnated Ao Bing.

Actually I'm not sure if he's reincarnated or if he's just been here the whole time hating.

De San, unlike our polite nice Ao Bing from Ne Zha 2019/2025, or the terrified victim Ao Bing from Shangmei, is a huge bitch. He's also a girlfailure. He's not some mass-murdering psychopath, but he's a spoiled rich brat who lives and breathes capitalism and privilege.

Look at his stupid face. Isn't he punchable? No, despite the blonde hair, the director has confirmed he isn't mixed or foreign, he's just an idiot who bleached his hair.

He was supposed to be some sort of dominant playboy daddy character but the entire nation of China just immediately saw the potential for girlfailure brat bottom and I guess that's where my brain went too.

After Ne Zha pulled his tendons out, his dad paid some SERIOUS money to make him a mechanical tendon. Let me tell you I don't know why but this shot of his metal spine is SO fucking sexy

Sorry for thirsting on main, IDK what it is but it's getting to me.

De San still wants revenge on Ne Zha for pulling his fucking tendons out so he spends like 10000 hours trying his very best to kick Li Yunxiang's (confused) ass and never manages to get there, it's so funny.

See, the main reason this ship is so delicious is the dynamic, not their interactions because this is ACTUAL hate, I'm talking they'd kill each other in an instant with NO hesitation. The sexual tension is through the roof. Okay, they're both straight, but you DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE IN THAT DOCTRINE.

Mild spoiler alert!

There's a scene in which Li Yunxiang gets one over De San by making him crash his car. As De San goes flying out of the car in intense pain, he glances over at Yunxiang, who's looking back at him.

Instead of giving him a middle finger or a thumbs down, Yunxiang fucking gives him a finger heart. IK it's supposed to be mocking but it's so funny, especially the BLATANT rage on De San's face afterwards.

The appeal of this ship is just the hate sex. This is a ship 100% meant for gooners, if you'd prefer sweet vanilla hand-holding and blushing you probably want to go back to regular Oubing.

Why does De San have such pillow princess potential? First of all, look at him. What the fuck is that waist to shoulder to leg ratio?

Second, in the Cantonese dub, he calls his father (Ao Guang) "daddy" (in English btw). Sorry, what? You are a twenty-something year old fully grown man. It is fairly common for rich Cantonese people to call their father daddy (according to my rich Cantonese friend) but it's a little much.

Third, he's such a failure it's hilarious. Spoiler alert: there's a whole scene in which his father calls him a failure and he's like "wait what". He's kind of dumb and pathetic despite being arrogant and proud.

Very princess-like. Chinese version of Drarry, basically. They also both really like cars! TBH if they weren't Ao Bing and Ne Zha's reincarnations they'd probably be really good friends.

Generations of hating each other is such gay behaviour, WHY is that other man on your mind over thousands of years??

Some of the popular headcanons for Yunbing:

Yunxiang calls De San "third princess" or "princess" because he's such a... princess

In the middle of like, fistfighting each other they somehow transition to having sex without knowing how

De San slaps Yunxiang in the face and he's like "on the other side too"

"Only I can be the one to kill him, fuck off!" *surprised look* "No that's not what I meant-"

Inappropriate usage of the metal spine (which is probably more sensitive and delicate...?)

I recommend, if you're looking for Oubing content (of the decidedly not workplace friendly variety) and if you like ENEMIES to lovers (emphasis on the enemies part) that you go through the AO3 Yunbing tag (云冰, I'll link the AO3 tag here directly).

If you want recs please ask me, I am so passionate about all three iterations of Oubing.

To quote a XHS user:

Oubing: Pure love

Shangmei Oubing: Pure fear

Yunbing: Pure hate

[quesocheeso]

Time Traveling Monkey Part 7

The Scooby Doo gang has formed and they are on a quest to time travel✨ Nothing could possibly go wrong

(They need an adult desperately)

Anyways, a wild Nezha has joined the party!!

(Lore time:

Nezha is like 21 here, and in this au I basically reset him, like factory reset lmao and if anyone’s watched Nezha Reborn, assume this Nezha is a reincarnation of the og, this will be explained more in the next arc, but basically he was reincarnated and just wandered around as a kid until someone found him and brought him back to the Celestial Realm, and for a small bit of time he just wandered there until Shadowpeach kinda looked at each other and then went like is anyone gonna adopt this sassy child? And then didn’t wait for an answer😭)

This chapter also marks the end of Arc 1/ Week 1

The next few chapters will be bonus chapters that help fill in MK’s original timeline✌️

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[keylimepieeeeee]

apropos of nothing i'm still thinking about the nezha movies (2019 & 2025) because of the way they handle certain lore pieces. and to be fair this isn't atypical of most chinese media, this is just the most recent piece of media i watched so its ✨rotating✨

i feel like in a lot of mainstream western media, there is the "good vs evil vs morally gray" bent, but in chinese stories of a specific genre (xianxia, wuxia, stuff based on classical novels) this is frequently more of a "chaos vs harmony" dichotomy; one of the bigger creation myths is that of gods bringing order to the world out of a mass of chaos energy. then there's the dragons as the seas ofc, in the movie i was watching specifically they're trapped in an underwater palace, and the dragon prince guy has water and ice powers. The whole premise of the movies is that the chaos energy of some orb thing got split into the pure spirit pearl and the demon “pill”, then those are imbued into 2 guys who become the human incarnations of those energies

Also the lotus flower imagery lol, that was EVERYWHERE (and it usually is)! In Buddhism the lotus is the symbol of purity and strength against adversity due to how it grows through dirt and mud or whatever so within magical fantasy stories all the cool powerful stuff usually invokes the lotus in some way (actually, a lot of classic fantasy stories in general have lore tm based off of the version of Buddhism that took root and spread in China just in general, and the way it combined with existing beliefs and daoist principles). There was a really breathtaking scene where nezha is doing fun magic power shit and he engulfs the ice dragon guy in an enormous lotus flower made of fire. And the vessel they use to transport some magical bullshit, and then to contain the characters’ souls, is this magical “sacred lotus”

Other signs of magical power and prowess are like, being able to grow multiple arms out of one’s back (which is derivative of Indian imagery and the Buddhist traditions I want to say) and being able to shape shift and change form into animals and whatnot. Frequently, this is positioned as demons (who are usually based on animals - a cheetah demon, a dragon demon, etc) being able to achieve a human form as a sign of training and whatnot (which. The human-centric “oh yeah humans are one of the highest forms of life” thinking is kind of problematic in its own way when we examine how that shapes the historical Chinese attitude toward the environment, but that’s a tangent).

Chinese fantasy also has the whole heaven and skies being where magic immortal ppl live concept, there’s a whole legend about how the Milky Way is the river separating earth from the heavenly palace and whatever (and the heavenly palaces are always of jade, instead of gold or w/e). Nezha movies showed this for sure, and a lot of times you’ll see gods / immortals descending from the ~heavens~ usually seated on clouds or giant lotus flowers to talk to the characters. The skies and stars especially are treated as a powerful magical power (which i think is not uncommon across any genre of fantasy), which is reflected in a lot of the names of giant magic artifacts and all of that.

Then there’s the whole magic power system of “cultivation” which. Idk what that is I’m not getting into it 💀 but the core of the magic is that immortality is something that can be practiced towards and achieved, and maintained by consuming some magical thing (magic peaches in the case of journey to the west, pills in these recent nezha movies).

The focus on seas and water as a point of immense power, magical or otherwise, was reflected in nezha with the dragons and is typical across other stories (dragons = water). It makes sense given how reliant ancient Chinese agriculture was on rain and the flooding cycles of rivers to cultivate rice. According to the version of the zodiac story I know, all the animals raced across the heavenly river to determine the order of the zodiac, and the dragon is 5th coz he stopped to make it rain for some ppl

Anyway idk where I was going with this but I just thought it was really interesting how the nezha movies (and Chinese fantasy media in general) kind of just throw you in and assume you have all this cultural background knowledge to make sense of the world and events as they unfold. It makes sense - their target audience is mainland Chinese kids and general public - but it’s so fascinating to examine. We have western equivalents for sure; guanyin has the same name recognition as King Arthur or Zeus (probably more I want to say actually lol), the basic principles of cultivation and qi and soul immortality are just as entrenched as lore about Welsh and Irish fairies, the trickster cannot lie cannot share true name concepts. Journey to the west is overwhelmingly popular and has been for like 30 years- def on par with Disney in the west, everywhere I went in China last year I saw journey to the west merch. The focus on harmony and natural order triumphing over chaos takes the place of the traditional good vs evil dichotomy in western fairytales. Idk it’s just fun to rotate!

[the-monkey-ruler]

Hi! I’m a big fan of you blog! And I’m so thankful for your work! And I hope you don’t mind, but I have a couple of silly questions. Long story short, I wanna write an LMK fanfic, New Year resolutions and all 😅 but I kinda want to mix some lore of other Monkey King media. So anyway, the questions are mostly about characters:

1. Who is Grandfather God? (The goat god that is the main antagonist in Monkey King 2009) Like in the series Demon King of Havoc calls him that, but other than that there’s literally 0 information about him! What’s his real name? What are his powers? Is he a real character in JTTW, or is like an original character for the cartoon?

2. In Nezha 2019, there is something called the Chaos’ Pearl, it was divided in 2 and one part was given to Ao Bing and the other was given to Nezha. Again, is that real? Or is that something just made up for the movie?

3. This one stupidly specific 🤡 I need an antagonist Mastermind to be behind it all. But I need them to have memory altering/mind manipulation powers, but not in a possession kindda way like LBD, but more like “subtly changing things in your mind to make you do stuff without realizing” kindda way. Right now Wanluo (I cannot for the life of me find her goddess’ name) as she was depicted in New Gods: Yang Jian fits most of the bill…. But I kinda like her, and I don’t wanna make her the bad guy… XD I was hoping for there to be a Daoist immortal that would also have similar powers, so that I could make them the bad guy…

Anyway, that’s all. Don’t worry of you don’t have the time to answer this nonsense!😅 And again thanks for your blog!

1. Who is Grandfather God?

He is the White Deer Spirit seen in the journey to the west. When he introduced him as an Old Deer Spirit, he was being serious, that is his name. I would suggest going back and re-watching now that more than the 14 episodes are made! You can read more about him in the link I put over his name

2. In Nezha 2019, there is something called the Chaos’ Pearl

Yes, it is real and part of his story. We have seen it more explored in Investures of the Gods. The 2019 does make a difference in splitting the pearl as to give Ao Bing and Nezha have something in common but in the OG story, only Nezha has the pearl.

3. memory altering/mind manipulation powers, but not in a possession kinda way like LBD,

Well I can't say that memory-altering is really a thing as a power considering that it isn't really seen in Chinese mythos. And Wanluo didn't have that power either. She was just able to to Erlang his own memories which can be a thing, reliving memories.

I can only think the closest to 'memory altering' powers is Meng Po who is in charge of the amnesia soup in the Underworld that lets spirits forget their lives so they have be reborn into the next life with a clean slate. She is in no way evil but that is def the most consistent memory-altering power I know.

Otherwise I would only say possession/demon swapping is the go-to, where demons would kill/enter human hosts and take over their personality and lives. We see with with the Nine Tails Fox who killed the original Daji and the Nine Tails taking her persona instead. Yaogau rely more on trickery and deceit in order to control humans because they do not have mind manipulation. We see this a lot in JTTW with like the Three Daoists who are able to control the king by taking on the roles of trustworthy Daoists that can save the kingdom.

I can't think of deities/yaoguai with that kind of power from chinse mythos, but I'm sure there are some in more modern media that I'm just not aware of either. If anyone knows I hope they can offer more examples.

[kukuandkookie]

Oh hey welcome to the world of donghua! I can definitely be of help here. 🥰

I have a whole list of recommendations here, which has also sort of become a donghua-tracking list (of things I personally find interesting), so there’s summaries, links on where to watch, and images!:

Obviously a good place to start is with movies, and in there, Dahufa is one of my favourites—and the director behind it also recently released The Storm. Similarly, 30,000 Miles from Chang’an was another very recent release that saw some hype even on the western internet, and the studio behind Chang’an has the New Gods and White Snake film series as well. Then of course we can’t forget about Nezha (Nezha zhi motong jiangshi, 2019) and Jiang Ziya…

Deep Sea and I Am What I Am are also Chinese animated films that made a bit of a splash but still get often overlooked.

CW for blood and gore for Dahufa though!

And I have to say if you like Legend of Luo Xiaohei and All Saints Street, you may be interested in the sister series of the latter, Fei Ren Zai and You Shou Yan! They’re very similar premises, except the former features Chinese gods in the modern day, while the latter features Chinese mythical creatures. You can tell they are sister series since they all have OPs sung by the Chinese Vocaloid (known as a VSinger), Luo Tianyi. ^^

Another popular, well-beloved yet still decently underrated-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things series is Scissor Seven, which is actually on Netflix.

But if you want to get more underground, I’d recommend White Cat Legend; God Troubles Me; You Yao; Wo Jia Dashixiong Naozi You Keng; Bai Yao Pu; A Will Eternal; Shaonian Ge Xing; The Young Brewmaster’s Adventure; Tales of Dark River; Blades of the Guardians; No Doubt in Us; Psychic Princess; Cinderella Chef; The Demon Hunter; Throne of Seal; The Land of Miracles; The Island of Siliang; Ling Cage; Fog Hill of Five Elements; any number of danmei donghua (Thousand Autumns, Those Years I Owned a Zoo, Jie Yao…); and so on!

Now if you want to get really underground, here’s some series I enjoyed that not many people seem to know of in the west!:

Salted Fish: super playful and comedic with a bit of heart to it. The newest season just came out on Bilbili! Also just as a piece of trivia: in modern Chinese slang, “salted fish” means someone who is lazing around, because 咸 (xián, salt) is a homonym of 闲 (xián, laze/leisure). And the main character of this series…is definitely rather lazy/leisurely. 😆

Cat’s Tea and its AU spin-off, Dog’s Tea: a very cute chibi series that features transmigration and animal/tea-based tribes!

Rescue Eternal Desert: I admittedly didn’t get to finish this one but I really dig its style; it’s got that dystopian, desert set-up where the main characters are doing their best to survive!

Aiyou de Mishi: a horror-esque donghua about an escape room… Available on Crunchyroll!

Watt’s Up, Girl: a cute, fluffy series about a guy whose refrigerator becomes a human girl (yes, really lol).

Ringing Fate: from the director of Link Click and Tian Guan Ci Fu, we have a more scifi-esque story about an underdog in a fighting arena!

And okay I hit the 10-video limit on Tumblr mobile—which I might edit later when I’m on desktop since desktop lets you put in way more content, but for now I’ll still leave a few other recs with links below:

Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: a man gets a mysterious System that leads to him trying to lose money to earn money, all thanks to a technical issue. This one’s currently “airing” on Bilibili and has received a pretty warm welcome!

God of Deception: an older donghua and not exactly a perfect one by any means, but I still find it charming. In this world, there are judges for those who do bad, and the protagonist is one such person (specifically for lying), which opens up a whole new world to him.

Face on Lie: a story about looks and obsession; a woman seeks plastic surgery after her boyfriend cheats on her, but her doctor turns her into the spitting image of his comatose wife.

The Dining Room of Link Lee: a feel-good story that addresses deeper issues all through the bonding power of food!

War God System! I’m Counting on You: a transmigration xianxia donghua in the most classical sense!

Legendary Twins: another adaptation of a very classic novel, where twins are separated at birth due to a tragedy. One is raised by a proper xianxia cultivation sect while the other is raised by “evil” yao. This is about what happens when these two long-lost brothers cross paths.

Fox Spirit Matchmaker: honestly a much harder one to recommend despite it being quite popular and also decently “old” at this point, but that’s also why I’m putting it here. This is based on a manhua of the same name and features a heavy, continuous plot about reincarnation and love. Essentially, the Tushan foxes and their magical tree are the go-to place for soul mates to pledge their feelings for one another, allowing you both to meet again in your next lives. What this means, for this series at least, is that yao and humans who often fall into more unexpected, forbidden, and/or even tragic romances with one another go to this tree to make this pledge. As such, the Tushan foxes have to help the lovers’ reincarnations remember one another, and this often means we start in the modern day and get flashbacks to explain any of the lovers’ heartfelt pasts. In this way, Fox Spirit Matchmaker is sort of like Bai Yao Pu, which I mentioned before…as both really tug on your heartstrings (although Fox Spirit Matchmaker is much more comedic). And speaking of heartstrings, the main characters are also a case of this kind of reincarnation and tragedy romance, despite being agents of Tushan that help other couples get back together. This series used to update pretty regularly and since it started early on in the donghua scene, the first few seasons have some rough animation, but there’s still some good stories in there, and the animation improves a lot after like season 3 or 4. There’s 9+ seasons now, although I think production has slowed down a lot recently due to some issues with the studio.

And if you want to go for really really truly underground, any of the shorts/indie series I listed would obviously count, such as False Memory or Alita’s Trial or Daddy Loong or Lostreak Chicken!

And just as a bonus: if you’re into media that leans toward a younger demographic, I’d recommend Great Warrior Wall; Xi Yang Yang Yu Hui Tai Lang (but only really the seasons after the Mighty Little Defenders season); Jing-Ju Cats; Ori-Princess; and so on~ In fact, I have some childhood favourites in there I’d love to recommend, even though obviously it’s less sensible to do so due to the time since they released but also the lack of English subtitles.

Finally, there’s also upcoming donghua that I would say to look forward to, even though they’re not out yet. You’ll probably see a bunch of them in the list I provided that you may find interesting, but since China is much more lenient about production timelines than Japan, there’s never a clear set date for how long a donghua will take, so if there’s any series that catches your eye (such as Guwei Nanting; Liu Yao; Shuofeng: Po Zhenzi; Yashe; To Be Hero X; Jing Wei Qi Shang; Zi Jin Yu Miao Fang; etc), you’ll have to wait patiently. 🥲

can someone give me donghua recommendations plsplsplspkspksplsplspsl i need to watch more donghua. im not picky as long as its good my fav donghua so far are link click and beryl & sapphire which are just… the basic ones lol. i also like legend of xiao hei and all saints street. uhhh i DONT like kings avatar i think the writing is boring af sorry (watched like.. 8eps). i know i could just browse thru bilibili til i find something interesting but bilibili has TOO MUCH STUFF!!!! id much rather get smth recommended. pretty please😢

also what i failed to mention is mxtx works. i do like them & their adaptations but im not looking to (re)watch them. id rather watch something much more underground as long as its good. or hell doesnt even have to be underground just something good but not from the echochamber of the same 3 series that get mentioned (dont get me wrong i fucking love link click as much as i could rewatch it again and again but i think we all know thats literally the most popular donghua outside of like, tgcf or mdzs)

[blackidyll]

It's been a long while since I've been on Tumblr, but here I am, trying to get back into my usual rhythm of life. Mainly: I'm alive, but I'm really, really tired.

The end of 2019/beginning of 2020 has been really insane. I fell sick for most of December - the whole cough/cold/sore throat trifecta that got so bad I finally ended up on antibiotics on New Year's Eve. I actually took two weeks of leave in December, but I was so sick and busy during this time that I basically got no rest whatsoever, and when I got back to work in January it was to drop straight into an absolute tsunami of work - one huge project ended the day before Chinese New Year, and immediately after CNY holidays I had another huge executive event to prepare for (I was working over weekends), and when that ended last week I got YET ANOTHER project dumped on me. Covid19 and the political situation in my home country is also taking its toll. I feel like the past two months has been an absolute blur - mostly of stress and negativity.

I'm so tired, you all.

Anyway, I'm trying hard now to pull back and strike a balance between work and having down proper time. I owe quite a few of you replies to messages and chats, and TBH there's like 60+ comments in my AO3 inbox that I haven't had a chance to respond to. I'm going to try hard over the next few weeks to get to all of them. I really appreciate every message and comment I get, because they constantly remind me there's still people and the entire world out there, when sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in my head with all my stresses and worries and the day-to-day grind.

I'm going to go throw a bunch of things in my queue to get this place kickstarted again, but in the meantime - have some fic recs. I've been reading a lot of fic to keep afloat the past three months; these are the WIPs I'm following at the moment. I'm completely out of creativity so my own fics will have to wait, but it always gives me a boost when I see some love for my WIPs, so if any of these appeal to you, give them a read and drop some love to those authors too.

The Bureau Files series by Catsafari [The Cat Returns, episodic/case style canon-based sequel; Baron/Haru]

i kill giants by diasterisms [Star Wars new trilogy; canon-based sequel to The Rise of Skywalker; Rey/Ben]

Ragnarǫkr, Part 3 of the Sharingan Rising series by weialala [Naruto; canon-divergence with supernatural elements; Sasuke-centric, technically Sasuke/Naruto but is more Sasuke's relations with everyone]

Peripeteia, Part 4 of the Carry Your Heart verse by mondaze [Shingeki no Kyojin; canon-based A/B/O verse, eventually diverges at the retake Shinganshina arc because Erwin lives (\o/); Erwin/Levi]

Just Another Day by Tierfal [Fullmetal Alchemist; post-manga series, Roy has severe PTSD; pre-relationship Roy/Ed]

try something new by gdgdbaby [Nezha (2019); post-movie oneshot where the two have grown up and gotten their bodies back; Nezha/Aobing]

WIPs that haven't been updated recently but since I'm on a roll, you all should read them:

Nukume Dori by Leareth [Tokyo Babylon, X/1999; canon-divergence, kind-of time travel with X!Subaru falling back into the TB!timeline with all his memories intact; Subaru/Seishirou, a lot of trio interactions with Hokuto] 

boy with a coin, Part 5 of the signal to noise series by twigcollins [The World Ends With You; post-game sequels exploring the consequences of Neku winning the long game and Joshua deciding to bring him back to life; Joshua/Neku]

(more info and my comments on each fic under the cut, because they get long)

The Bureau Files series by Catsafari [The Cat Returns, episodic/case style canon-based sequel; Baron/Haru]

I've been (re)watching Studio Ghibli movies on the weekends and I fell completely in love with The Cat Returns (I love Whisper of the Heart but I missed this movie somehow?). This wonderful sequel fic series focuses on an adult Haru that becomes a full-fledge member of the Cat Bureau and goes on plenty of adventures with the Bureau crew. It's also 500K words (!!!) of delicious slow slow slow SLOW burn between Baron and Haru. I just found out the author will be posting the next installation in the series this month, so you know. Perfect time to read the existing content and then follow the author's weekly updates for more of this amazing series.

i kill giants by diasterisms [Star Wars new trilogy; canon-based sequel to The Rise of Skywalker; Rey/Ben]

Yes, I'm a Reylo fan. I find the grey dynamics between Rey and a vaguely redeemed Ben Solo fascinating. I think it's because I was such a huge Luke and Mara Jade shipper from the Legends days. Anyway, I'd recommend pretty much all of diasterisms's Reylo fics (they nail the characterization + growth arcs incredibly) but this WIP in particular is a direct TROS sequel, which is great for all us fans who were very WTF about the way TROS ended. Also - lots of Force ghosts :D

Ragnarǫkr, Part 2 of the Sharingan Rising series by weialala [Naruto; canon-divergence with supernatural elements; Sasuke-centric, technically Sasuke/Naruto but is more Sasuke's relations with everyone]

I think my bookmark gushes enough about this series (and the previous installment) that I don't need to rehash it here. But anyway, this sequel is flipping amazing. The world building is so incredible omg. The wait between chapters is very long but so very worth it.

Peripeteia, Part 4 of the Carry Your Heart verse by mondaze [Shingeki no Kyojin; canon-based A/B/O verse, eventually diverges at the retake Shinganshina arc because Erwin lives (\o/); Erwin/Levi]

I'm usually very, very particular about my A/B/O verses (the concept squicks me a little but some writers subvert the trope and those are amazing) and this is a really great take on the trope - Erwin and Levi bond first out of necessity and then have to rebuild/realize a romantic relationship out of it later; they're already such strong friends and incredible partners that the bond actually throws them out of whack initially lol. But the evolution of their relationship is so well written, and the sub-plot about Levi being targeted is also great. Anyway, in this particular sequel goes back to the canon-timeline; Erwin survives the Beast Titan charge, everyone finds out about Marley, and the Survey Corps goes on a mission to make contact with the outside world. I don't actually follow the manga but I know enough that this sequel is really intriguing me. Also, Erwin lives. Thank goodness Erwin lives.

Just Another Day by Tierfal [Fullmetal Alchemist; post-manga series, Roy has severe PTSD; pre-relationship Roy/Ed]

Everything Tierfal writes is golden, but this one. Oh man, this one. It gets dark, and sometimes that's bad if you're already stressed (your mood doesn't need more depressing things to drag it down) but sometimes... you also want to indulge in it, because when you see a character go through hard and traumatic times and make it out the other side, it gives you hope too, you know? Anyway, right now at chapter 2, it's all trauma and pain for Roy, so take caution while reading this fic, but......... Ed. Oh my goodness, Ed. He tries so hard. He doesn't give up. This fic reminds me a bit of But Not Buried This Time, where Ed is the one drowning in his guilt... I remember thinking while reading that fic, "goodness, everyone needs a Roy like this in their life." Well, for this fic? I just keep thinking, "goodness, everyone needs an Ed like this in their life."

try something new [Nezha (2019); post-movie oneshot where the two have grown up and gotten their bodies back; Nezha/Aobing]

not a WIP but what the hell. So this version of Nezha is hell of a lot different from the Nezha I remember of my childhood (in that....... Nezha 100% kills Aobing lol and I remember being very conflicted because I love dragons and Nezha kills a lot of them, but at the same time deity!Nezha is pretty badass?). So anyway, someone with creative control DEFINITELY has shipper glasses on when they made this movie, I cannot get over how adorable Nezha and Aobing are. I really enjoyed this movie, it was so over the top and funny. And they made Nezha and Aobing literal soulmates? This fic is cute and adorable because it's Nezha and Aobing traveling and helping the world after they grow up and regain their bodies, and it's just tons of adorable teenage(?) confusion where they're hovering on the edge of friendship and something more. THEY ARE SO ENDEARING I love them!!

Nukume Dori by Leareth [Tokyo Babylon, X/1999; canon-divergence, kind-of time travel with X!Subaru falling back into the TB!timeline with all his memories intact; Subaru/Seishirou, a lot of trio interactions with Hokuto]

Instead of dying on the Promised Day, 25-year-old Dragon of Heaven Subaru wakes up in his 16-year-old body during the Tokyo Babylon timeline. Having seen what the future holds, he decides to continue with his original Bet with Seishirou - this time fighting to win. In the latest installment, we go pass the TB timeline into the years before 1999 and the changes that the divergence makes is just absolutely fascinating, plus we start seeing more of the X/1999 cast, whom I love and adore.

boy with a coin, Part 5 of the signal to noise series by twigcollins [The World Ends With You; post-game sequels exploring the consequences of Neku winning the long game and Joshua deciding to bring him back to life; Joshua/Neku]

I love Joshua so so much but he digs his own bed willingly and he lies in it with all the broken pride he can muster. He's very much the master of forfeiting the game before he can lose, except this time it's Neku standing beside him, and Neku is very, very stubborn. Trust your bloody partner, Joshua (I say, with all the love in my heart for this Joshua and this poor beleaguered but incredibly stubborn Neku and the all the game mechanics and worldbuilding in this series). Also, the latest cliffhanger is killing me but I'm ready to see Joshua go absolutely feral on anyone who would dare touch his city and his partner.  

[peonytheory]

hey! I'm that anon who's been asking about ao bing zhuan lol. anyways, have you watched the original ne zha movie (1970-something I believe) and idk what are your thoughts on old vs new aobing?

HELLO!! thank you for being the anon who has been asking about ao bing chuan, i’m glad to shout about anything i have even a minor interest in and you’ve done me a great service 👍

i’m going to guess that the 1970s nezha movie you’re talking about is “prince nezha’s triumph against the dragon king” (released in 1979!) which i unfortunately have to say that i didn’t watch. that means that about everything i’m going to say in this response is not very useful, but i suppose i have no thoughts on old vs. new ao bing other than the fact that the animators of this movie REALLY gave him a huge makeover and did him very well. every good hero in mythology usually needs some sort of villain and ao bing has been that for nezha for a really long time, and in any sort of story ever the villain usually has to be designed uglier than the hero in some way (probably for you to root for the hero’s side instead??? i don’t know).

and even though 2019 ao bing DOES have those really really weird eyebrows, considering that he looked like this in a previous iteration, i would say it’s an overall change for the better

[earl-of-221b]

Just finished watching The Legend of Hei. Complicated thoughts, lots of feelings. In this era of climate change, it really does hit home. What are your thoughts on Feng Xi? It was hard to come to a definite conclusion about him - which is, of course, the point. His vengeance, well, wrong word, his choices, are legitimate, but also inexcusable. That massive subversion of the found family trope, though, and also its fulfillment. Your thoughts on the movie? you always have interesting thoughts.

Spoilers for Legend of Hei

Hello! I really enjoyed Legend of Hei, it gave lots of Feelings indeed. I really loved the dynamic and magical and yet realistic world Legend of Hei created. Things are silently complicated beneath the fun and simple cross country story we’re following with the main characters Xiao Hei and Wu Xian. Like we’re just seeing one bit of a really huge picture. The world feels rich, even though the story is simple. There are a lot of hints throughout that things are not great...but people keep living, you know? (The Legend of Hei movie is supposed to be a prequel to the 2011 web series, but I’m going to ramble about it as a standalone film.) 

In the world of Xiao Hei, there exist demons, humans and gods (Nezha should technically still be a god/deity in this verse, right?) -- we get the sense that we’ve gone past the point of all other magical chinese stories. This feels like the world where Legend of the White Snake, Journey to the West, Nezha, investiuture of the Gods, etc all happened in shang dynasty or tang dynasty or other time in history -- but now it’s the present. It’s 2019 and demons and humans coexist. There are demons working at florists delivering flowers, collecting books for libraries, and generally living their life normally. There are demons who live in the Guild Hall, a floating palace in the sky that’s a place of their own, and demons who are basically registered cops (or ‘enforcers’). There’s a central government for demons by demons. And there are also demons who are on the run from the demon law and the demon cops. What I love about Legend of Hei is that demons aren’t straight up bad like usual -- they’re just like humans. 

“It was hard to come to a definite conclusion about Feng Xi - which is, of course, the point.” -- Yes, exactly :) Feng Xi was absolutely destroyed by watching his idyllic, natural hometown get bulldozed and industrialised into a big city, so he was driven by vengeance to get his home back. I agree with everything you said about him, only have one thing to add:

One big detail I caught about him was in the very beginning. Those humans who started smashing up boxes and going through trash to bash up Xiao Hei as a cat. How did they know there was a cat there? Why did they want to spend time messing with a stray cat? Didn’t they seem strange to you? Their glazed over eyes, their speechlessness, their efficient trash bashing. Don’t they remind you of -- maybe those train guys that got mind controlled by the blond haired, beanie wearing demon? The humans waiting in line who went slack and emotionless when mind controlled? 

After seeing that train scene, the very beginning of the movie can be re-contextualised. I think that Feng Xi manipulated that entire beginning scenario. He had his mind controlling subordinate in the shadows controlling those humans to scare Xiao Hei. Then he jumped out at the last moment to save Xiao Hei from the humans he set on him. Feng Xi fabricated that entire scene to stoke hate of humans in a cat to fit his agenda, so he could secure Xiao Hei’s loyalty. It’s very smart of him, and also very dangerous. Cos we all loved him, he was charming and kind and he played us all for fools! The massive subversion of the found family trope was so great and I never saw it coming. 

After working that out, Feng Xi painfully ripping away Xiao Hei’s powers later made total sense to me. His character is, somewhat surprisingly, characterised by ruthlessness. Nothing meant more to him than expelling the humans from his hometown. Not even that one human who was helping demons. Not even the lives of other demons. Not even a little cat boy who loved and looked up to him. Feng Xi was HARD CORE. He was HARD CORE even amongst his own group - “Feng Xi! Don’t do it! Let me talk to him- let me!” And that’s why I love him, cos he’s an awesome, layered ecoterrorist for this cute, cute movie. 

Feng Xi’s justifiably angry and vengeful, but normal humans going to work from 9-5 aren’t morally responsible for his losses. That’s what Xiao Hei learns while walking among humans -- they’re just other people trying to find their way. Xiao Hei sees that girl on the train, “thanks, little bro,” and realises they’re much the same. His experiences have changed and matured him, but Feng Xi clings to his prejudice and loss. 

(I don’t remember his name, but the blue demon with the ponytail was so adorable and he pretty much said what I said above but better^. ‘I used to have a gorgeous cave home that I lived in for thousands of years! It was so beautiful. But then the humans moved in and turned my home into a park. Then I had to pay entry tickets. So I had to move.’ Like, what a story, old boy. Life’s like that. But do remember he said thousands of years -- it’s hard for demons because of the different time scale they live on. That said, he didn’t go awol and try to deport all humans from the park.)

Even then, no one is saying everyone has to hold hands and be best friends. Wu Xian seems to be the only human enforcer working at the demon govt, and he’s like hated for that XD. He doesn’t even step into the Guild Hall because other demons feel threatened by him. Demons can live among everyone else, or they can go and be in their own enclaves. Things are troubled in the supernatural world, there’s always going to be people who don’t like you, but hey, each to their own. Wu Xian’s still got his own demon buddies and Xiao Hei who do like him.

Feng Xi also extra-hated Wu Xian because of what he stood for to him -- Wu Xian is a human able to directly go against Feng Xi. Because he’s powerful. Because he is human authority. Because he is hunting demons like dogs. But even this view dips the second we see what Wu Xian works for -- and see that Feng Xi is pretty much just going against other demons/ the demon government. We get that Wu Xian went after him and his group for a reason, that he must have done other things in the past to warrant enforcers going after him. That Xiao Hei has been caught up in something much bigger. It’s just very smart re-contextualising. 

Anyhow, now that you put me in a mood I’ll do some more Legend of Hei posts -- I’m like ‘oh dang, someone other than me saw it :D’ Glad to discuss with you. 

[earl-of-221b]

Awww, I love your Nezha spoilers. They are a blessing for non-chinese speaking fans. Please, can you sum up the scene where Li Jing and Taiyi Zhenren reveal Ao Bing identity right after he helped Nezha become himslef again and the one before that with AoBing and the leopard uncle's heated discussion. I am dying to know details, pretty pleeeeeeaaaaaseeeeeee!!!! T_T

Major Nezha 2019 spoilers! 

No problem! This needs a lot of movie context to get the full weight of what’s happened, so bear with me. 

Scene 1: Shen Gongbao backstory unlocked 

Shen Gongbao is Ao Bing’s master who has trained him from birth. Ao Bing is watching Nezha’s birthday party go down in literal flames and this really hurts him. He sees Nezha as his only friend. But now he knows that’s it’s Nezha’s fate to go wild before getting shocked to death by lightning on a timer. His dragon dad and master’s plan was for him to defeat Nezha and become a hero (more on this later). But Ao Bing is getting really cold feet, he cares about Nezha so much he begs Shen Gongbao to let him at least save his parents -- not Nezha himself who is doomed by fate -- but his parents, because Ao Bing knows Nezha doesn’t really want to ummmmm mindlessly kill his own parents?? 

Shen Gongbao is like, ‘Naw,’ and this is paraphrasing, ‘You want to know why I taught you all these years? Why you need to become a god? Why your father pushes you? Because we are the same, kiddo.’ Shen Gongbao’s face changes -- he shows Ao Bing his true form. ‘Look at me. I’m a freaking leopard.’ 

Because Shen Gongbao started in life as a leopard demon, he has always been sidelined in heaven and amongst his fellow disciples. Remember how incompetent Taiyi Zhenren got a promotion at the start of the movie, while Shen Gongbao sulked? Being a demon, he probably had to work twice as hard to get half of what other gods get. Because he is a demon, the odds are always stacked against him. Dragons are considered demonic in this universe. If Ao Bing wants to get past that, if Ao Bing wants his fulfil his family’s wishes, he needs to keep to the plan. 

Despite this, Ao Bing begs Shen Gongbao to let him save juuuust Nezha’s parents. 

Shen Gongbao and his stutter: ‘fine, then go....... *Ao Bing leaves*....but don’t think you can come back to me after you..... Ao Bing?’ 

Scene 2: Ao Bing accidentally crashes the party even harder than it was already crashed

Ao Bing has just flown from the cliffside after thinking he got permission from Master Shen Gongbao to stop mindless, rampaging Nezha as a favour to best friend baby Nezha (he didn’t, Shen Gongbao’s stutter just made him too slow and Ao Bing got the wrong idea). So Ao Bing saves Nezha from roasting Li Jing alive. Nezha flees.

But Li Jing (like when we saw at the beginning of the movie when he catches the puppet-controlled servant) is an observant and intuitive person - something is up about this newcomer. He politely asks Ao Bing for his name, saying he wants to thank him for his heroic deeds. Ao Bing refuses. Li Jing pretends takes a wine cup, pretends to toast him, and tosses it over Ao Bing so he has an excuse to pull the hood off him. It works. 

This ruins everything for Ao Bing, because his horns give away the fact that he is a dragon, and the lore in this universe is like ‘everybody hates dragons because they are seen as inherently demonic monsters, that’s why no dragon is allowed out of their underwater prison palace.’ The townspeople are shocked to see this dragon and immediately turn on him, ‘see, dragons can’t change their nature,’ ‘that’s a big evil dragon if I ever saw one.’ 

Ao Bing tries to use his sleeve to cover his horns. 

Li Jing and Taiyi Zhenren turn on him for another reason. Ao Bing has a ‘yang’ (like yin-yang) mark on his forehead -- meaning he is the one who has the stolen ‘yang/ Spirit pill.’ The thing that Nezha was supposed to get. So this boy technically ruined Nezha’s life. This boy stole their boy’s life, from their pov.

This reveal causes so many complications for Ao Bing, because of the plan Shen Gongbao and his dad the Dragon King has been talking about all movie. Ao Bing’s existence is illegal, he was supposed to hide himself until the time came to defeat a great threat (Nezha and etc) to prove himself worthy of being a god. This is essential, because his ascendance to god status would lift his family out of underwater servitude. It would change how the gods and people viewed dragons as a whole. Ao Bing was every dragon’s poster boy for change. That’s why the dragons pulled their best, strongest scales for his cloak -- they put all their hopes on one Ao Bing. (Shen Gongbao himself wanted Ao Bing to excel to prove his own worth as a leopard-demon-turned-god, who trained Ao Bing. Everyone is dealing with prejudice.) 

But Ao Bing’s identity was revealed before it’s time - now hundreds of people know what he is - and Li Jing and Taiyi Zhenren know he’s where the stolen yang pill went. 

Ao Bing takes off. 

This makes Taiyi Zhenren in particular lose it, he shouts at Ao Bing and is like, ‘so you’re the one who stole the yang pill! You doomed Nezha! This won’t go unnoticed! I’m going to complain to the gods!’ Ao Bing freezes here. If this gets out, everything will be over not just for him, but for all the dragons trapped underwater who were counting on him, his father who bet everything on him, Ao Bing who is carrying so much on his shoulders. 

This is where Shen Gongbao appears, quietly, beside him. ‘They’re never going to see us as anything more than our ‘demon’ labels. It’s such a shame it had to come to this...’ or something along those lines, I hope I remembered right. Shen Gongbao is like, ‘dear disciple, you know there’s only one way to fix this. No one here can live to tell the tale.’ 

And Ao Bing, who now believes he’s made a mistake in trying to change the fate that’s been drilled into him since he was born, who has just experienced the prejudice his master, his dad and his people had been crushed by their entire lives first hand, decides yea. I better do what I was put on this earth to do. So he goes ballistic and summons the gigantic ice block to crush and bury everyone in the city, so they can keep quiet about him. He doesn’t think he has a choice.