#Kitty reads danmei

[kittybobitty]

Ranking the Danmei I Read this Year

I got into Danmei this February, and wanted to do a top 5, but then realized I'd only read 5 this year lol, so instead I'm going to rank them from least favorite to most. So without further ado:

5. The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish

I picked this one up just because it sounded so ridiculous and funny, and never expected it to be so sweet! It's pure fluff and love. I've only ranked it low because it's just very low stakes compared to the rest of the series on the list. It's a great read in between much higher stakes series that constantly feel like they're ripping my heart out. I love Li Yu's character and how in love with him Prince Jing is. I'm looking forward tk getting the final volume next year!

4. Heaven Official's Blessing

We all know it and love it for a reason. I was absolutely enamored by hualian's love story. I love the lack of relationship drama because they trust eachother so completely, and I think it has one of the best confession scenes of any media ever. However, I did rank it lower because I didn't find the ending completely fulfilling. I know MXTX is doing an amended version and I'm anxious about her removing some characters but I am curious to see if I find the ending any better.

3. The Scum Villain's Self Saving System

It made me laugh so much, and then volume 3 broke my heart. I really love how related Shen Yuan is. It is MXTX's first series and it does feel like it is her first in a lot of ways, but this series has so much heart. I honestly would love to see more of the world explored, because I think it's so vast and interesting.

2. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun

I LOVE this series. I love our himbo protag living in the regret of his previous life, I love how much of a hopeless romantic CWN is behind his cold exterior and damn, it's good spice. I am spoiler free and have not even read volume 7 yet (it arrives tomorrow!) But it's definitely the longest series I've read, I belive it will have 11 volumes in total. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but until then, I will keep all the related tags blocked haha

1. The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Anyone who follows my blog probably wouldn't be surprised by this. The series with too many titles, MDZS, was my first danmei and still sits atop as my favorite. I see a lot of myself in Wei Ying. His story breaks my heart, but his love story with Lan Wanji heals me. I love their dynamic, their relationship to the juniors, and their devotion to each other. I was to keep experiencing this series in new ways; I already am collecting the webcomic, I've started watching the donghua (and I'd like to buy it) and I will eventually watch The Untamed. Theres also the new stage play happening soon (no idea how I'll see that) and me hoping and praying for someone to pick up the manga for publication in the west. I love Wangxian so much!

And that's all I've read thus far. I know it's kinda basic as far as danmei go, but everyone has to start somewhere! I would love recommendations for what to read next. I do prefer the cultivation storyline, but I'm also open to Palace Dramas. I'm not particularly interested in Modern stories.

I'm likely to pick up Thousand Autumns soon, and I've heard Remnants of Filth is in the same universe as Erha, so I may also check it out. Feel free to leave other recommendations (please also note I'm currently only interested in series that have been published as books in the US, and not interested in reading fan-translations)

Happy new year everyone!

[unfotp]

PROPAGANDA

Tagged by @katie-altman (UwU)

1) Share the covers or posters of your six all-time-favourite media (shows, movies, manga, books, games etc.)

From the top left :

Liu Yao: Five very sad and traumatised kids on a never ending road trip because dad forgot the house keys

Qi Ye: Local nationalist in love with a monarch realises the problems of being in love with a monarch. [In the bg a poisonous disney princess pines]

Full Metal Alchemist: bfr

Assassination Classroom: Look at that octopus man

Devil Venerable Also Wants To Know: yandere baby boy acts like the babiest boy to get his mentor figure to notice him. SO much lore. A Very Interesting interpretation of cultivation.

I'll Save this Damn Family: HHHHHHHHh politics yes melt my brain you sexy chubby girlboss.

2) Create a cat using this picrew

kitty.....

Do you know how hard it is to find your most favourite shows when you consume fiction as uncritically as I do.....

One day I will write an entire Analysis of the isekai villainess to danmei pipeline (And review all the ones I've read).

*Throwing my tags like a bouquet* @anqelbean @bishounen-jump @oscar-mildes @cum-villain

[miusmusings]

Kiseki: Dear to Me ep 1 aka we have several kitties in our hands

Ok let's start~

Ai di? Eddie? Which one are we gonna follow? I'm not immune to pretty faces, I'm gonna protect him with my life now. Also are they a couple? Sorta ship it oeo

Okee guess not. Hmmm Picking up someone out of the blue, and Ai di scratching his back like that, very cat-like of him. A meow =w=

Why is Mr. I'm-The-Only-One-Not-Wearing-Black just standing there like a statue? Where's your concern for a friend. Oh, they're supposed to be old acquaintances as per mdl? That explains it the smile.

What's that red thing on the photo? Lemme guess, blood? It is a mafia (can we call this mafia?) setting.

Zhong Yi is a brave, brave person for not screaming when he saw a bloody hand on the road all of a sudden. Kudos to him. Could never be me :')

Oh oh oh (nooooo) they're using the same remedies. Does ql drama world not have not other, more effective medicines for woundtending? That looks like a gash too deep for home treatment, if you ask me. But ig he'll be saved by ql logic ahaha (I love ql logic. Why can't we have ql logic irl huh)

For once there is no (not felt by me atleast) homoerotic subtext in woundtending. Shocking.

(Anyone know what are the names of the books? Ig they're all books related to studying medicine and such, but I'd still like to know)

Ze Rui, my boy, blackmailing is not how you woo the love of your life. But it's effective here, so owo

Ze Rui is dramatic af. A bread isn't gonna break your ribs, chile. He reminds me of our cats throwing a concert of shame whenever mealtime is late by like half a second.

Zhong Yi keeping tabs. Finally a character who makes (tries to make) financially sound descisions. Like love ain't gonna fill your stomach (not with your sugar kitty mooching off you u.u)

Ze Rui, my boy, you're sus af. I'd have taken away any valuables before leaving you in my home, too. Scamming alert u.u

"It's your karma then." 👏👏👏👏👏

My meow meow is back. He's got some claws. And He looks great in pink! And he has a (potential) boyfie too, good for him!

Knowing your hookup form the night before didn't go home with you for your rizz but for your decade old rice cooker.... that must hurt.

OH? Is Xong Yi snapping finally?

Nvm false alarm. the intimacy tho. Which other surfaces do you wanna shove him against, Ze Rui? BUt threatening is bad flirting technique smh

I don't wanna say it but - poor husband working his ass off to earn money and feed his other, lazy ass of a husband. Also Zong Yi looks so meow meow here? He looked Tired, I feel bad for him :\ Ze Rui take care of your man sometimes, too! Don't make him be the only caregiver in the relationship, it won't work out

Ze Rui is so Kitty Coded that they had to add cat noises jajaja

Oh so Ze Rui does have some brains. His friends (?) did call him the brains of the group hmmm. But ZR lookis so smug, is it cause he made a fool of ZY or cause he has ZY on his (technically ZY's) bed

Ok we need a list of Bread in qls. Bread as a metaphor, bread love (also hate) language yeye

Oh tragic pasts time.... How expectations can go both ways, huh? Too much too little, atleast it seems like ZY still has a good family? (I'm jinxing it-). Seeing that this is Taiwanese drama, and after reading a lot of danmeis, I wonder if ZR is an illegitimate child? As they call it in the danmeis, a 'mistress's' child?

Ok ok I have a theory - Ai di is an ornage kitty (the kind who're always too excited and wants your attention 24/7 or they'll wreck havoc on your room), Ze Rui is a fancy long haired high maintenance kitty (a calico?? Let's not look at the sciences of this), Zong Yi is a black-white kitty, not totally a void but def wiggly and also got the coldness of a white kitty.

Putting clothes on your (future) lover, a beloved if new trope :3 (ye i'm looking at loa)

I want a piece of that cake too, so hungry ueueue

ZR is three cats in pyjamas confirmed. Cats never ever finish their meals cause they too 'eat in small portions'. smh

They're not using the there was only one bed trope?

OH OH THAT LOOK WHEN ZY starts eating. I see you I see you. I feel food was very important in today's episode like, it's used as a method for establishing who's controlling the situation, then it's used a bridge for communication and negotiation, and it's used to show economic differences (like ZR can bother wasting food and eats in small amounts, definitely not smt a person coming form a less privieged section of the society can do)and finally this look. I'm not gonna analyse this cause ye- but.... food.... maybe I'm just too hungry XD

This Zhang Teng would right in a drama of supernatural genre

I like the ending ost u.u

OK there was some INteresting power dynamic. A injured gang member who probably kills at sight and is rich, is now under the care of a impoverished, seemingly harmless (when are doctors, potential ones included, ever harmless) student with barely any way to defend himself from violence. But Zong Yi may refuse to treat him. Then we have the knife. Doctors are gain power from their skill, but is it enough to counter a the power of a criminal gang? And the gang member depends on the (aspiring) doctor for his life, while the doctor's life depends on the gang member's life. Ze Rui constantly uses words like "brat", "kiddo" etc to further demonstrate the power dynamic at play (cause in Asia seniority = social power and respect), but Zong Yi hardly ever argues about the use of these words. Like, he isn't even trying to establish that he too, has some power over the situation. Is he truly so accepting of others' holding power over him or is he just unbothered cause he treats Ze Rui's words as completely irrelevant to his life? Hmmmm. Who exactly has the upper hand rn? I'd say it's Zong Yi rn, but then again Ze Rui can successfully overturn anything Zong Yi does (like the locked door) and force Zong Yo to do his bidding soo...fd

[sonderwrit]

C112: There's a kitty!

I Have to Be a Great Villain - Masterpost

Child!Wang Yi is a menace to my heartstrings in the cultivation world...

S-0: The protagonist shou in Defying the Gods is an extremely "unlucky" person.

S-0: Ever since he was born, he was disliked by his poor family for his meager talents.

S-0: Fortunately, with the guidance of a passerby immortal, he ascended the immortal mountain and passed the trial.

S-0: His cultivation path thus begun.

S-0: He wanted to take the passerby immortal as his master, but "unluckily" discovered—

S-0: That the immortal sovereign already had a direct disciple.

S-0: Moreover, because of his excellent background and spirit roots, this disciple was extremely domineering.

Disciple: You want to be a direct disciple with skills like that?

S-0: And [the disciple] always targeted him.

S-0: Luckily—

???: From this day forward,

???: You will be my direct disciple.

S-0: Because of his down-to-earth, hard-working, and kind nature, he was accepted as a disciple by the young new sect leader.

S-0: And was also "unlucky" enough to get in trouble with the demon lord when gaining experience outside.

Demon Lord: Very good, you've caught the interest of this seat.*

*this seat 本座 - literal translation, basically a formal way of referring to oneself, like the royal We or "this exalted one"

S-0: Thus he was entangled—

Wang Yi: WAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT!! What are you saying!

WY: Although I'm generally clear on my role as a villain, is this protagonist actually unlucky? (Why do all his encounters sound so fortuitous? He always gets what he wants?)

S-0: Aish~ it's just the settings.

S-0: After all, this is a thrilling danmei novel with a high-level of NP, so there's always tropes like these.

*high-level of NP (NP高嗨) - NP = numerous pairings = numerous couples

WY: (AHHHHHhhHHHHhhHHHHHH)

WY: N what….? High what….?

S-0: All right already, even if you memorize the plot, Host will forget it soon enough. Don't panic.

S-0: Since a cultivation world contains many special rules and abilities, Host needs to transmigrate in advance as a child to get used to the settings, or else it'll be hard for you to use your cultivation skills smoothly.

S-0: The longer you stay in this world, the higher your probability of meeting Mr. Qin. To prevent mind-reading abilities from ruining the plot, S-0 will completely seal your memories.

S-0: For a couple of decades, you'll believe that you're really (the character) [Silkpants Senior Brother - Immortal Wan Yi].*

纨绔师兄 - 万亿仙君 - a silkpants is literally a dandy/fop, and instead of Wang Yi this time they went to Wan Yi which literally means "trillion" hahahha

S-0: Once "it" leaves, your memories will be unsealed so nothing gets delayed.

[Specification: Using the time to cultivate immortality, have the Main System observe the two people with amnesia and restore their memories after it leaves the Main Quest.]

WY: Childhood stage…

WY: Then do you know who Qin will transmigrate into?

S-0: Uncertain.

S-0: Host may need to explore the rest—on your own.

—

[Yunshan Sect]

Redhead Disciple: Hey guys, look.

Redhead: That's Sword Saint Qin's new disciple, right?

Redhead: I heard he's a genius with a special spiritual root.

Redhead: But it seems like…

Redhead: His brains aren't all that great.

Girl: Shhh—stop talking!

Girl: Yunshan Sect's elders think the Sword Saint has the best chance at ascension. He's only taken this one disciple after thousands of years.

Bun Disicple: It doesn't matter, everyone knows Sword Saint Qin's ice cold heart only cares about the Way.

Girl: Even this disciple seems to have been pushed onto him by the sect leader out of worry for his lack of successors.

Girl: He definitely won't teach him seriously.

Redhead: Oh? So it's like that.

Girl: Sigh, pity the child who has to stay with a giant iceberg like the Sword Saint, no wonder he doesn't know how to smile…

Redhead: *shock* AHHHHHhhhHHHh WHAT IS HE DOING!

Redhead: STOP—!

—

Wan Yi: Kitty? Just then kitty was right here…

Bun: HEY, LITTLE JUNIOR BROTHER, DON'T MOVE!

Bun: (This child is too young, he only has spiritual roots but isn't old enough to practice incantations/spells/magic. He'll be a goner if he falls.)

WY: ?

*SLIP*

WY: !

3 Disciples: (AHHHhhHHHHHH! ! ! ! IT'S OVER!)

*rustling sound*

Disciples: (This is…Lotus Blooming Steps?)

Disciples: (There's only one person in the world who can change the air currents into such a shape with his steps—)

Disciple: (The Sword Saint, Qin Xian*)

*Qin Xian (秦献) - this time the Xian is the 4th tone [haha, for the 4th world?] and means "offer/present/dedicate

—

WY: ?

QX: What, are you doing? *coldly*

WY: ….! Kitty…

QX: Master, there was a kitty…

QX: ?

QX: So you wanted to jump down just to see a cat?

WY: (How could that be.)

Disciples: (Ahhhh sorry! It was us who startled him!)

WY: ………

Disciples: (Sorry, sorry, sorry)

WY: Mhm.

WY: It was a kitty I'd never seen before.

QX: …….

Disciples: (UWWWAHHHHH)

Bun: That um, senior Sword Saint, the truth of the matter is…

*WHOOOOSH*

Disciples: ?!

Disciples: …..

Redhead: W, what now?

Redhead: The Sword Saint is really scary, he must have been annoyed by little junior brother, right….? Will there be punishment?

Bun: That's not something we can determine. Let's go, it's not like we'll die.

Girl: I plea for the ascended immortal to protect little junior brother.

—

[Sword Peak]

[Specification: The main hall of Yunshan Sect is located on the main peak, while the various elders live on their own personal peaks.]

[Currently, the little junior brother that everyone's worried about—]

*sniiiiiiiiffffffff*

*sniff* *sniff*

WY: ?

WY: (Kitty…nuzzling?)*

*吸猫 - it's not literally sniffing or nuzzling, it's just a literal term to express one's love of cats, such as kissing or hugging them. 

—

Mini-Theater

#The S-0 who's in the cliffside cave#

S-0: (Help! So this is what Host is like as a child!) [Isn't he too easy to trick?]

—

[sizhui]

HI ANGIE ive been meanign to ask whos ur pfp apologies if i asked this before btw! also im thinking of trying to read this chinese novel (well an eng translation cuz its an old classic text) this year n im so excited!!! :) it was adapted into a drama before but i want to read the text first!! :D

are u reading anything rn ? or looking forward to any books?

HIIII LAB it's so nice to receive an ask from you again, i missed uuuuu 😊💕!

My pfp is Nikotama Sara from Ai no shintairiku/Brave new world of love! It's a short romance manga about a trans girl moving to a new school. It's very cute to me how whenever Sara is happy, she's drawn with a kitty cat face, so I used it as my icon! Here's what Sara usually looks like...

Moving on.... OHO! I hope you'll have a good and quality time reading the novel ^_^ what's the name of it?

I'm currently reading Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan! I've been wanting to read Chinese fantasy books that aren't danmei so I gave it a try! It's a pretty nice book so far, although I feel like it's leaning more towards YA despite being labeled as adult fantasy, but oh well I'm still in the first half of book one so I feel like there's still time for it to get more serious...! It was labeled with "lovers to enemies" and I'm still in the lovers part so I'm looking forward to seeing where the enemies part will take the main couple ahehehehehee. These days I will also need to read Breton's Nadja and write an essay about it for class! I'm sort of curious about it as I've never read a surrealist novel before and I'm guessing it'll be quite different from anything I've read before...

My plan this year is to read 40 books! I've been slacking off with reading lately, so I really need motivation. Some more I'm planning to read are Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang and the rest of N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series... I would ideally like to read 40 books this year, which I haven't done in a long time. Keep your fingers crossed for me, let's both enjoy reading!

[zhuhongs]

@shanheling… ask and u will recieve. I went looking for some of the worst things I’ve read and turns out its honestly just one incredibly weird white british woman making all these awful articles.

Her entireeeee body of work is awful… I will link it here (CW FOR INCEST AND CSA)

Some of the real doozies tho are this one (co written with two chinese authors) where they imply that danmei is feminist by being written by women for women even though it has pushes heteronormative ideas onto mlm couples (skull emoji) and that it has partially lead to gay activism and acceptance of the lgbt community in China like I’m sorry WHAT!!!

and this one that i didnt fully read but was abt H*RRY POTTER IN RELATION TO DANMEI… like I NEED TO FISTFIGHT THIS BITCH OH MY GOD

However that research project did lead to some very nuanced and well written finds so here is a palette cleanser bc yea…

this one is a really interesting one abt chinese masculinity and reiterates the point about like… how westerns view the scholar type as feminine (like how ppl flock to call nhs a fruit but like.. hes not feminine. yall are just colonized) but in chinese culture, the scholar is its own sort of masculine ideal that westerns impose their bias onto.

THIS ONE IS RLLY LONG (link in the first white button with a url) but i skimmed a lot of it for my project and it has rlly good points about the intersection of race and gender.

This one about the popularity of hello kitty that i just thought was really interesting as it detailed the idea of foreigness as cool and how like asian ppl percieve hello kitty as western yet westerns percieve her as japanese so its like… a subtle dig at the underlying fetishism and “coolness” appeal in buying foreign products

honestly for anyone interested in academic articles on social issues to like back up the rhetoric they read on tumblr and want to actually understand. i HIGHLY recommend looking through semanticscholar and academia.edu for access to actual academic articles so u can understand nuanced views on issues rather than parroting the stuff u see on social media and esp for white ppl. dont expect poc to spoonfeed u information… actively look into these things urselves. there are so many insightful and interesting articles on stuff that actually matters. There is also a lotttt of horse shit as I’m trying to prove here but like.. take the time to read things and think abt them and decide whats good and bad. critical thinking is good

and here is smth I read thats a mixed bag but its abt guardian so like.. ofc i read it. (click on the button that says “series.unibo.it”) its rlly insightful from pages 1 to halfway thru 3 (just skip the entire first numbered section called “ GAY ROMANCE VERSUS BROTHERHOOD (..)” and continue from section 2 onwards. It gave me a much better view of li qian’s background bc i never realized that the reason she lived with her grandma was bc of the one child policy and her family had a son after her and disowned her. so i’m like.. oh. 

sage....sage what do u mean by danmei academic articles that sounds like a nightmare 😭

Do you want links bc there is a niche of white women with masters writing articles abt danmei. i WISH I WAS LYING

[kittybobitty]

Making this shirt so people know i have PTSD now

[kittybobitty]

They been tryna sell me Pei Ming as the straightest man in Upper Court and then tell me he named his sword the ship name of him and his childhood friend/deputy General?

[kittybobitty]

I'm so glad I drew Prince Jing chibi as a dragon 🥰

[kittybobitty]

Its gonna be my danmei anniversary in February. I bought MDZS at Katsucon last year and started reading it on the train ride home (so Feb 19th to be exact. It's still my fave series thus far.

Im excited because I decided months ago that I would reread MDZS on the anniversary, and I can't wait! (I know i could reread it any time, but if I did that I wouldn't have time to read anything else)

Theres a lot of little things that I feel like I remember differently than the rest of the Fandom, so im curious to see how my memory holds up/if I misunderstood certain parts my first read through.

I don't know what I'll do here at the time of the reading. I wasn't actively using tumblr when I read it, but idk if a live blogging of a second read through would make sense.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to it!!

[kittybobitty]

THEYRE HERE!!!

I'm so happy to have some danmei to read again! If you want to follow along with me, my tag for my low key live blogging is "#Kitty reads 2ha" (or if you wanna block it i don't judge) i won't use any actual 2ha tags so I don't muddle up the tag

My live blogging posts will not be entirely spoiler free, but they will be vague. Tags may have more spoilers in them.

[kittybobitty]

I know Qi Rong is like. The worst. But like, how am I supposed to hate anyone so stupid. He makes me laugh so much. I'm sure he's due for an absolutely terrible death but.

He's just a little guy

[kittybobitty]

Discovered that a gryfalcon is a real species of bird and Xiao Chiye does not, in fact, have a lion-bird hybrid hanging out with him on the daily

[kittybobitty]

Xie Lian is trying to confess but San Lang, as smart as he is, is not picking up what his Gege is putting down and is getting JEALOUS OF HIMSELF ansbehene I'm gonna pull my hair out why are they like this

[kittybobitty]

Honestly over here blushing

[kittybobitty]

THATS THE WRONG MO RAN!!!!!!