#Taiwanese puppetry

[sealedsanctuary]

霹靂 Pili · 黑衣劍少 Black Prince / Black Clad Swordsman

霹靂圖騰 Pili: Totem | 霹靂異數之龍圖霸業 Pili Anomalous: The Dragon Domination | 霹靂封靈島 Pili: Sealed Spirits Island | 霹靂兵燹 Pili: Military Conflagration

[pompomposting]

Hello, I have made fanart of Pompompurin as he appears in a crossover with a Taiwanese puppetry studio I like!

this is incredible! thank you!!

[the-monkey-ruler]

Radio Drama Puppet Show "Journey to the West" (1994) 廣播劇布袋戲《西遊記》

Producer: Taiwan Folk Arts and Culture Society Zhuang Juebin Starring: So Chi Wing, So Chun Wing, Lin Yi Yuan, Chen Chi Ching Country/Region of Production: Taiwan Language: Taiwanese Number of seasons: 1 Number of episodes: 100 Single episode length: 47 minutes Also known as: Taiwan Native Radio Drama Troupe, Jin Wuzhou Palm Theater Company, Sujiaban, Mingxing Pavilion, Xiao Feifeng Palm Theater Company, Wuzhou Ruzhenyuan Theater Troupe, Quanlege Theater Troupe Type: Retelling

Summary:

Led by broadcasting master Li Mingzhong - Taiwan Native Radio Drama Troupe, Jin Wuzhou Palm Theater Troupe, Mingxingge Sujiaban, Xiao Feifeng Palm Theater Troupe, Wuzhou Ruzhenyuan Theater Troupe, Quanlege Theater Troupe Puppet Sculpture─Lin Yiyuan Puppeteers─So Chi Wing, So Chun Wing, Lin Yi Yuan, Chen Chi Ching Taiwan’s number one dubbing artist for puppetry──Lu Shouchung (樨子正) Radio drama "Journey to the West" produced by Taiwan Folk Arts and Culture Society

Source: https://glovepuppetry.ncfta.gov.tw/home/zh-tw/TheatricalJ

Link: https://www.youtube.com/@chuang7686/videos

[aptericia]

should I watch this fantasy of thunderbolts. what is it like

well my selfish answer is YES because I always want to scream about it with more people, but it depends on what you like.

Pros:

gorgeous costumes, sets, and props

good writing/plot

banger music

the main character is very likeable

it’s a budaixi (Taiwanese glove puppetry) show, so it’s very unique and different from what you see in the west

very very silly and fun

Cons:

abundant fake-looking puppet gore

cliché characters & plot points

small amounts of background romance

the puppets just look goofy sometimes, especially before you get used to them

misc. possible triggering content, including the obvious blood and gore but also smoking & alcohol, suicide, self-harm, child abuse, enslavement, mind control, etc. Let me know if you want more info on that

I’ve also made and reblogged a few posts about it, I can @ you in those if you’d like!!

[romanceyourdemons]

rounding out hou hsiao-hsien’s portrayal of taiwan’s twentieth century alongside a city of sadness (1989) and good men, good women (1995), the puppetmaster (1993) takes on the intersection of personal identity, national history, and art just like good men, good women (1995); the difference is that, whereas the latter film presents the blurred line between personal identity and national history as mediated by art, this film presents the blurred line between national history and art as mediated by personal identity. the personal identity and narrative in question is that of li tian-lu, the most celebrated master of taiwanese glove puppetry. interviews with li form one of the three threads that seamlessly weave together in this nonlinear film, the other two being dramatized vignettes from li’s life and scenes from puppet shows and operas he performed. the piece of taiwan’s national history that this film takes on is 1895-1945–japan’s occupation of taiwan. the film works most closely with the narratives of japan that were created in this period by japan and by collaborators, although it is worth noting that subsequent backlash against collaborators, a phenomenon key to films like farewell my concubine (1993) and the last emperor (1987), is not handled at all in this film. indeed, the utter lack of judgement passed by the affectively unbiased and documentary film—a lack of judgement not just for li’s collaboration but also for his infidelity and unfiliality—is key to the way the film treats art and is carefully buttressed by the interviews with li and with the long-take-static-shot style hou hsiao-hsien prefers, which enhances the “raw” documentary affect. if the film did not so carefully position itself as a non-narrative, its portrayal of how intertwined national (and here japanese) narrative-making is with art would have have awkward implications for the film itself. throughout the film opera and puppet shows are used as tools by the dominant power to forward their projects; this is seen most obviously in li being economically compelled to perform japanese plays and japanese propaganda, but it is also present in japanese officers compensating the li family with opera tickets for cutting their queues at the beginning of the film, and with the people of bingang street asserting at the film’s end that li’s puppet performances were the cause of the gods answering their prayers and driving the japanese out of taiwan. this film has no time for high-minded artistic idealism. art is and will be a tool of the hegemonic power to establish what narratives it prefers, the film asserts. it is only by tying itself so strongly to the real-life narrative of a real-life person present in the film that the puppetmaster (1993) avoids turning this question inward on itself

[eien-no-gakusha]

Pili on Netflix!

What a year for puppetry!  Not only do we have the Dark Crystal prequel, Age of Resistance, but Pili is now on Netflix too.  Having watched pili as a kid & being one of the few losers who earnestly liked it, it’s nice seeing it finally get more attention.  And now’s a good time to spread the love and defend this artform that gets so much hate!  But before I gush, here is a crash course for those of you who don’t know.  This is all anecdotal knowledge.  I’m not an expert, just a banana who grew up with the culture.

Pili aka Budaixi (布袋戲) is traditional Chinese glove puppetry.  In China, it’s generally preserved as a traditional art so it’s very smol and basic.  More popular forms of puppetry like shadow puppets tend to overshadow pili so it tends to get buried by the competition.  But it still exists and has generally been stopped in time in all its original glory.

Hop over to Taiwan and pili gets more controversial.  The traditional artform is still preserved but pili thrives in Taiwan because it has modernized.  The old masters don’t exactly approve of what it’s become but modern pili is always innovating and stretching the limits of storytelling with glove puppets.  Think the Thunderbolt Fantasy collaboration with Gen Urobuchi and PILI Fantasy:  War of Dragons.  Things that are in pili that weren’t there hundreds of years ago include:  CGI, practical effects, camera angles, fancy set pieces, and more advanced internal mechanics.  Seriously, these puppets are huge compared to their ancestors who were literally sock puppets the size of your hand.  Not only can primary puppets reach up to 18 inches tall but they can blink, mouth lines, hold props, wear mascara, and sport fancy hairdos.  Where it used to only take one hand to control a puppet now these guys can need upwards of 3 puppeteers to function.  Hence there’s a lot of dialogue between traditionalists and puppet nouveau.  Usually the who’s-doing-it-wrong sort of talk and yes vs no to anime influences from next door.

But outside this miniature world and their ring of hardcore fans, the Taiwanese population at large do not really care for it.  There was practically no respect for it until Thunderbolt Fantasy received worldwide attention.  Had Gen Urobuchi not praised it as artisan crafts and exported it out, no one would know that pili existed and Chinese people would just not give a damn about it.  Because you see…

The usual reasons you get to the question “why don’t you like pili?” in Taiwan is:

1)     The puppets are creepy nightmare fuel, especially these new fancy ones that blink and look really humanoid and stuff

2)     Puppets are boring and for kids

3)     It’s just wuxia with puppets, why watch that when you can watch real people do kung-fu in real locations?

4)     They’re lame and not hip at all, only puppet otaku losers watch that

5)     Bad influence for kids because remember that time a whole generation of children were led astray by these damn puppet shows?  They made a historical fantasy pili so convincing kids actually believed the fictional protagonist was a historical figure & wrote the summary of the show on their history exams and totally failed school.

Reason #5 is the most harmful as it’s the most widely cited, at least in the neighborhoods I frequent.  Televised puppet shows being so addictive it distracted children from their studies became such a huge scandal it still hurts the industry’s prestige to this day.  Since that incident, pili has been inexorably linked to rotting children’s brains.  Therefore, it’s cool to casually hate pili or call it dumb, because it’s linked to literal stupidity.  On the flip side, it’s not cool to earnestly enjoy a good puppet show since it’s viewed as grown ass adults playing with toys and there’s the stigma that people will magically turn dumb by watching them.  Basically, if you’re caught as a fan people might think you are a bit below average in the head.

I think that’s complete bullshit!  Chinese people have been making wuxia historical fantasies since we invented writing!  Some of those are even great classics and required reading in schools all over Asia.  They’re so popular they get theatre, TV, and movie adaptations.  I’ve seen some pretty pathetic wuxia historical romances that drag on and have poorly written characters and they don’t get this much hate.  Puppetry is just another storytelling medium and one’s interest in that medium is a matter of personal preference, there’s nothing objectively good or bad about it.  And there’s no direct correlation between glove puppets and being a dumbass.

My theory of what happened 50 years back was television became widely accessible to the public.  And given how TV booms start everywhere else, the local population will be inspired to film anything and everything around them.  So like Hollywood started with mimicking Broadway and theatre productions and Chinese cinema filmed Beijing Opera before coming into their own.  In Taiwan, we had pili so people filmed that and it became its own television genre.  Also like any new thing, the older generation aren’t sure how to react to the newfangled technology but the younger generation embrace it and that disconnect as well as society as a whole learning to adapt to the new thing cause a bit of conflict.  Just like in the West, neglectful and stubborn parents were quick to point fingers at the new thing when a problem happened when the issue was learning how to adapt life incorporating the new thing.  Then we figure out the new thing isn’t evil and very useful or interesting.  So I think pili is finally entering that phase when we are respecting it as an artform and not being blamed for bad grades because some dipshit parents think TV is an acceptable babysitter or bad teachers looking for a scapegoat.

Thank you Gen Urobuchi for elevating pili as an art and introducing it to the rest of the world when no one else would give it a chance.  Thank you Takarazuka for promoting it as something cool.  I hope everyone will learn to love pili more, or at least give it the respect it deserves.

I don’t know what to think of the puppet sex though, it’s a lot to unpack.

[alpha-team-deploy]

seeing pili fanart on your tl like 

[kazuyo2wp]

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 (spoiler alert)

Finally watched finish TBF season 2. As usual it never disappoint me...however I was expecting Lǐn Xuě Yā to have more fighting scenes...since in Season 1 his fighting skills were very impressive~ 

Nevertheless..the new characters were quite impressive too (be it allies or  Antagonists). And as usual I am very impressed with the fighting scenes and the characters’ 服装 too haha. 

As mentioned earlier...  Làng Wū Yáo is now my favorite character hahaha ( Lǐn Xuě Yā used to be my favorite .. but of course I still like him! lol ).  Làng Wū Yáo and  Lǐn Xuě Yā are really 美少年 ! and I bet Enriolyn will agree with me XD

Well.. Làng Wū Yáo did appear in the last part in Thunderbolt Fantasy: The Sword of Life and Death movie; but at that point, I didn’t really take notice of him ...oh well... Luckily the producer grew fond of him and decided to incorporated him in the main story! XD

Oh and I really like his voice too..  I think 西川 貴教 really did a good job in voicing him.. ^^

And.. I realized that this in the last scene..Lang said the exact same 台詞 in the Sword of Life and Death movie ...面白い。。。

Oh..and I LOLed at this part! Lin is so funny and cute wearing the glasses!!! 

Somehow, at this part,  Lóu Zhèn Jiè reminds me of Miè Tiān Hái... =.=|||

The part before the final fight - at the point when Xiào Kuáng Juàn encounter Lóu Zhèn Jiè ; if only Xiao never mentioned that Shang was after him; Lou might not have killed him... Well.. I guess that is his fate...for being so evil and corrupted ... ><

I like the last part + fight though...it is what I call teamwork ....but I want Lǐn Xuě Yā to do more fighting!! >.< 

But I am happy also that some of the characters in season 1 appear at the end!

And the post credit scene... I seriously wasn’t expecting Xíng Hài to appear; looks like her hatred for Lǐn Xuě Yā is quite deep..... So we can expect more action in Season 3 I guess.

Now I can’t wait for season 3 !!! >.<

[inkjadestudio]

Taiwanese Pili Puppet Show 霹雳布袋戏 Fanart by Dongj

Artist’s Blog: http://dongj.xhblog.com/

The first two fanart features two characters who also appear in this post by another fanartist (from the left in purple and green). 

http://inkjadestudio.tumblr.com/post/134434111381/mingsonjia-illustrations-featuring-characters

They are brothers and actually purple and green dragons but the fanart shows their human form.

The character in the second fanart plays the erhu. This is his fighting theme music.

The last fanart features a character whose costume is inspired by that of a general in Chinese opera (note the pheasant feathers on his head).

[mouiface]

MOUI’S ONLINE SHOP LINKS [PINNED]

Hello, my name is moui, a hobby comic and fanart artist! Below are links to my printed work available for purchase. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to leave me a DM/comment!

📚Messenger to Gevurah - VOLUME 1

[ READ ONLINE FOR FREE | PURCHASE VOLUME 1 ]

Volume 1 of the ongoing original fantasy webcomic written and illustrated by myself and @Kiarou. The first installment of Messenger to Gevurah is now available in print form, which is the original format that the webcomic series is tailored for. Preview paperback sample photos here!

📚Thunderbolt Fantasy Artbook - 《天涯過客》東離同人畫集 | 殤浪ONLY

[ PURCHASE ARTBOOK ]

Artbook compiles fanart of the character pair ShangxLang from the Taiwanese-Japanese puppetry series Thunderbolt Fantasy, illustrated by mouiface from 2019-2021. ⚠️Artbook contains BL (malexmale relationships) Preview artbook sample photos here!

[sealedsanctuary]

霹靂 Pili · 白衣劍少 White Prince / White Clad Swordsman

霹靂圖騰 Pili: Totem | 霹靂異數之龍圖霸業 Pili Anomalous: The Dragon Domination | 霹靂封靈島 Pili: Sealed Spirits Island | 霹靂兵燹 Pili: Military Conflagration

[thewhitefluffyhat]

Since you mentioned Thunderbolt Fantasy, I am legally obligated to share this with you: youtu(.)be/YIinYYtGWXc

Hahaha, but of course! I'd seen it before, but I still find it hilarious that this crossover exists. Especially the part where they fast forward through Kyuubey's technobabble. This kind of nonsense is exactly what I meant when I commented that Thunderbolt Fantasy is a fun time! XD

Turns out Urobuchi can write some pretty silly stuff when he's not taking everything so seriously.

Anyway, for anyone who hasn't seen that video, or who likes Madoka Magica and wants a taste of what Thunderbolt Fantasy looks like (it's Taiwanese puppetry rather than a 2D anime), here it is:

[hypeathon]

Question. What does RWBY Ice Queendom and a series based on Taiwanese Puppetry have in common (other than kick-ass music)?

I talk about one what that might be in my video “Let’s Figure out the Planning Behind the RWBY Ice Queendom Anime”.

[animebw]

...so apparently season 1 of Thunderbolt Fantasy is actually just the prologue to the entire rest of the series.

holds head in hands

The fucking balls on Urobuchi, I swear to god.

Anyway, that was incredibly fun! I don’t know shit about Taiwanese puppetry, but even I could tell the artistry bringing this show to life was incredible. Distinct personality in each character’s movement, gorgeous practical sets that get impressively and believably messed up during action, dizzying camerawork that covers well for puppets that I can’t imagine are mobile enough to perfectly pull off the ridiculous stunts their characters do, and impressive integration of CG effects animation that gives every fight the same kind of deliriously mythic over-the-top spectacle as the battles of Fate/Stay Night. Combined with Sawano’s epic soundtrack and a typically dense, expectation-flipping script from Urobuchi, and this was a wild ride from start to finish. I do think the female characters were pretty underutilized; it almost gets funny near the end where the protagonist breaks out of prison on his own but tells his female companion to stay in jail while he sorts everything out... only for her to be rescued by someone entirely different anyway. Like, come on, there had to be a better way to plot that sequence of events.

But hey, like I mentioned at the beginning, we’re just getting started. Urobuchi’s work always takes a hot second to really hit its stride, and I think by the end of this first season, we’ve reached the point where it’s really gonna take off. So I’m greatly looking forward to where this show goes form here. Until then, call this season a solid 7/10, here’s hoping it keeps it up!

[ljaesch]

Seven Seas Entertainment Licenses the Thunderbolt Fantasy Manga

Seven Seas Entertainment Licenses the Thunderbolt Fantasy Manga

Seven Seas Entertainment has announced that it has licensed the Thunderbolt Fantasy manga series by Gen Urobuchi and Yui Sakuma. Don’t miss this official manga adaptation for the international wuxia television phenomenon–a co-production between an award-winning Japanese writer and the foremost practitioners of Taiwanese puppetry. In an ancient kingdom, a vicious warlord is on the hunt for a magic…

[eien-no-gakusha]

All the Pili:  https://play.pili.com.tw/ (official site, watch through here if possible)

Official site is semi-organized by season.  When I’m in the mood to practice Chinese again, I’ll probably tackle the Pili website and see if there’s a guide or timeline hidden away in there. ;-) (unless a more committed fan has beaten me to it lol) As stated before Pili is dense & old & welp totally did not age well, might be better to find a subseries or specific season and go from there.

Eng Subs:  https://twitter.com/TBF_bot

TBF seems to do eng subs of actual episodes & other puppet shows too but haven’t found a more organized or complete place for translations.  They might have more info on eng friendly resources? :3  

Thanks to @numtaru​ for dragging back into puppet hell XD Hope ya’ll are happy now.

Hi!! Do you know where i could download pili in its entirety so i can see it? Does it have an order i have to follow chronologically?? Sorry for bothering but I've been trying to search on my own and i cant find anything...

That is a lot of Pili.  I think the franchise is so dense it would be difficult to find a source for everything down to the OG show.  But at the same time the universe is so dense you can access it from any season or arc and enjoy the story on its own, at least for recent productions imo.  Like War of Dragons (Netflix) is a remake of an older OG season but stands on its own and, who knows, maybe more reboots will make it to English-speaking side.  Thunderbolt Fantasy (Crunchyroll) is essentially its own universe, it’s more its own budaixi rather than part of the Pili franchise.  Other than those two shows, you would probably need to know a hardcore Taiwanese fan who owns DVDs and is willing to upload/stream for you (it’s like Takarazuka like that lol).  I’ve seen some full season uploads on youtube but official company is probably keeping an eye out for them now.

Pili is also still pretty niche and therefore not English friendly.  If you are trying to search online I would try using Chinese search words of show/season titles, bilibili platform, etc.  You can start at their official YouTube to look for particular shows that interest you.  The hanzi after 霹靂 (pili) is usually the specific series title.  

Not exactly the answer you’re looking for but hope that helps a little.  I might be able to help translate and research when I have more time. ^^;