#also who came up with the english title for the manhua (that i used for this post) i just need to talk

[fangjuexias]

Save Our Spirit Audio Drama || Theme Song "Confession of a Heartless Man"

策划：冷子 作曲：涟蕴 编曲：阿泰 作词：LauHa 演唱/和声：醉雪 混音：CY 监制：卿雪 制作：希声原创音乐工作室 海报设计：雪梨 字幕组：OCIR·字幕组

谎言粉饰的灵魂 只识饥渴与体温 无心者理论不知双唇 还可用作亲吻 扮演千万重身份 喜怒也恰如其分 楚门舞台上的木偶 也曾灿若星辰

你问为何执迷“你我” 涉险如飞蛾 罪孽与鲜血如都湮没 真相迟来有如何 你问火雨燃过荒漠 为何不退缩 若忏悔是他唯选择 是否都太过蹉跎

谎言粉饰的灵魂 竟也渴望他亲吻 无心者引申奋不顾身 还可出自爱恨 扮演千万重身份 不敌他一声“爱人” 这伤痕累累的楚门 落下一颗星辰

原来他执迷与“你我” 并非因善恶 罪孽与鲜血尽数吞没 只为温暖你魂魄 原来他寂寞的荒漠 因你而鲜活 他为你停泊宿命紧握 绝不算蹉跎

这声色万象不过一曲虚伪的交响 使枪口指他背后方向再共舞一场

少年挣脱漫长时间 撕开你假面 被棋局改写的从前 还你以喧嚣世界 千万爱意也都胆怯 他是你深渊 末日来临前吻她双眼 与最高级危险 共犯

[mikkock]

Uhm??????? Unacceptable?? Please tell me more about your OCs in that last art? I demand it? I want a full report on my desk before morning? Cite your sources please?

Oh no,, you’re asking,,, about my own faves,,, sorry to everyone, but I guess im never going to shut up ever now. (i already don’t shut up ever, what have u done, im now going to speak so much that society will collapse AT LEAST)

But for real. I enjoy pretending I don’t have faves, I love all my kids the same, buT WE ALL KNO THAT’S A LIE, those two my fave bitches (they snatched that title from the last two faves, rip to them, and they also snatched, n I must really make that clear, the title of “the bitches with the most AUs from the previous previous faves. Their power.)

SO. Get ready for a ride, table of content: them, their respective character, their story, and the pLETHORA OF ALTERNATE STORIES I GAVE THEM because i must yell about all the versions of my kids i have (non-exhaustive cause its that serious bro, but ill take extra time for the universe depicted in that art just for u bby). (tbh if clamp is allowed to sprinkle their fave gays in all their universes so am i, except they aint secondary characters there, every story is just theirs. love that concept.)(itll be so long you’re getting a whole novel even if i have to post it in two posts)

So~ Em twos. Dari n Wei-wei as I call em, or Dumbass n Egg if you wanna get friendly.

They’re my proudest instance of “oops i made a squad of characters, and two of them just accidentally were so perfectly compatible and complementary oh no I guess they’re in love now.” And then they became my favourite. Cause I guess their potential was too much (jk its bc they hot)

cuties.

I spent ten minutes wondering which to introduce first cause dang son, I want to talk bout them both so much shefjgfdg

First, as I technically designed him first (like ten minutes before the other), my man weiwei. if u ever saw my art its impossible that you havent seen him at least once. cause i’m legit always drawing him. cause im in love bro.

Demonstration : here are my computer scribbled weiweis of 2020 so far (with a few daris there n there they’re a package deal), that i could find, and they do not include all the paper sketches that i’m too lazy to take pics of. (i just been drawing him with so much hair these days that’s illegal, his brand is baldness)

But anyway, he’s CHEN Chia-Wei, he’s 21, he’s Taiwanese n I love him. Two very important facets of his character when you meet him: he doesn’t talk, and is absolutely, in every single dimension, built to make you fall head over heels for him.

He’s (in the “canon” storyline if i may call it that since it’s def not my most developed one but oh well) an art student, mostly paints but is also great at photography and videography (his vibe is busy hectic pieces with strong bold colours, lots of harsh edges, and very people focused).

Aside from that, he’s also super into fashion, and because he’s part of the rich boy squad (the “im broke so im giving half my characters wealth in compensation) he Can and Does exhibit some quite funky fits when he feels like it. (maybe a reason I draw him a lot, since my fave thing is pretty boys in weird ass clothes)(and then i also draw him in just casual shit cuz tittiful men in plain white tees you know. there’s just something about it.)

Small compilation of outfits. ft me and my band handwriting roasting outfits that id also kill to own but ok u know.

He digs music. (i make playlists for my OCs and i gotta say, his is the best one, i spent so many hours researching it, “arranging” it etc n its still a work in progress but dude. she got many moods my fave part is when it suddenly turns into so many cheesy ballads also she’s enormous cause im as wordy in playlists as I am in writing.) listens to a lot, n also he can play piano n guitar. cause you know. heartthrobs got to win your heart with a song (and if he’s alone he can even mumble some songs, who knows maybe even sing em softly, definitly a sight to stumble on accidentally). Big main artists that have his vibes are Hello Nico, No Party for Cao Dong, n Circa Waves’s “what’s it like over there” album.

He does a lot of sports. He ain’t fit through magic, rip to him. He’s got a serious routine, and it’s a time he likes to use alone, cause nothing like running at the break of dawn, alone with your thoughts, which you can just easily forget through the exhaustion of a workout session afterwards.

he also eats. A lot. Food is just good, bro. (the canon story is def happening some place europe aka his biggest struggle is how expensive food is here. outrageous.)

He secretly loves super cheesy movies. the dramatic romcoms??? the cute shows that are just so cute and worriless?? anything involving soulmates??? yeh dude. he watches it, he reads it, he listens to it, and he may cry about it, but no one will know. That’s the one true guilty pleasure. (and he definitly has a collection of romance dvds, books n manhuas in his old room back at the family home. where no one can see it. perks of studying abroad. no one can see ur hoarding of material that clashes your image. “yes i watch edgy experimental things haha yes i love those smart people movies of course wow the philosophy…” and then immediatly goes to watch the trashiest predictable but oh so sweet dramas all night)

While he doesn’t speak (as in with the mouth) he can communicate in a bunch of language, due to having moved around quite a bit. On top of his native mandarin and hokkien, he’s fluent in English, so he can use those to write, and is also fluent in TSL, and pretty good in HKSL (and from that, other close-in-syntax sign languages). So he doesn’t have trouble getting around, but then he is also overall quiet in public (with close friends and over text though, that’s another story, that’s where he gets chattier, and also where you may get more of his true personality). Also, he can speak with his sister. That’s pretty cool bro.

I was going to say he’s a very “hides his true colours under a shell” type of character but you know, for an egg character, that’s pretty ironic. We love poetic cinema.

He presents himself as a very laid back, chill detached dude, going with the flow and all that great stuff, and masterfully mixes just the right doses of mysterious, flirty and calm to just go around vibing. But ain’t that jUST THE MILLENIAL’S ILLNESS, those dANG KIDS, going around, gettin relationships but never intimacy 👏😢 (there’s more to it dont leave)

First of all, before you see the Drama, the Turmoil, the first thing you notice when you really do befriend him is that he’s c h i l d i s h, he gets sulky when things dont go following the plan, he gets whiny n jealous for not getting attention , he gets competitive over stupid challenges, and way too playful if you start teasing, and when he gets flustered too…you think you get cool stoic dude but actually you get a dude who’s reacting to things with way too much intensity, and boi i thought u were gon be mature what’s that why have you been pouting for three days over losing a bet come on- That’s mostly coming up when he interacts with his sister, but the closest you are to him to more of it you get to see.

He’s also an affectionate dude actually. Like physically. As in you’ll get spontaneous hugs. He’s come nap on your shoulder. That’s a perk of befriending him if you ask me.

Also he tries to look so cool, so tough haha. He’s actually a lil sensitiv boi. he gets fluffy, he gets flustered, he heart eyes. you turn around and he’s gazing at ya as if you were the whole universe. he gets a mini crisis for holding hands with his crush. ya know. he’s secretly a softie.

nerd.

Then in the “what he doesn’t show” (my fave part), where you stock all the anxieties, all the trauma… Obviously there’s a lot of anxiety here (selective muteness being a symptom of it, he hides the other ones very well) mostly fear of inadequacy, of abandonement and of loneliness. mmmmmmmaybe that’s why he was v reticent to continue pursuing that one guy he was into when he realised he was just a tad too into him oh no is that some,, like?? some lovey-love?? cant have that im afraid of gettin heartbroken bro. Aint that sad for a someone who’s one true goal is just findin someone to love and to be with forever, the struggles of yearnin for a soulmate when there’s nothing you fear more than getting attached to a person and letting them see you and your flaws.., delicious.

Now tho (because its so alone speaking about a character on their own and i just wanna get to the part where i can speak bout em together and how they bring out bits of each others ya kno, the good kush….), Dari…

He’s pretty, i must say, and got the funniest hair to draw, and comes from the most opposite background to weiwei’s.

Darian Andriev PARVANOV, also 21, comes from the remote Bulgarian countryside, but i still love him (this makes it sound as if i wouldnt normally love someone from the bulgarian countryside. its not what i meant. by default ud remind me of my son so you’d start being liked if u came from the bulgarian countryside) Now for the first instance of “wow, the complementarity”. The first thing i thought making Dari was that he looked too cool, and that he obviously was a dumbass, and mostly that he was physically unable to shut up. (o fuck he’s me)

best picture i could find of him. He’s got the dilemma of “wow he looked so pretty n cool until he opened his mouth” 

He’s ALSO an art student (cause they were initially created for the purpose of filling the gap of “i have ocs in every field except the one i sorta know that’s so stupid”), painting major (def vibes differently than weiwei though, he’s doing those soft pretty landscapes n flowers, everything real pretty and peaceful, we got some impressionism nerd in here folks). 

He was/is a real country boy, farm family, he helped tend the fields, he worked in plantations for pocket money, he knows how to take care of cattle and chicken and goats and all the cool babies you can take care of, he can tell whether the soil is good or not, he can drive a tractor, and doesnt fear dirt.

but then also he’s kind of a neat freak, he hates getting paint on himself, so the duality of man, dirt ok but paint? disgostin. his spaces are real neat and spotless, he likes cleaning (its relaxing) and does it nearly too often.

his dumbassery comes from lack of common sense and impulsiveness, aside from that he’s actually what you’d call “mad smart”, dude had em good grades, he can memorise pages upon pages of the most trivial information, he has an accumulation of knowledge beyond limits, and is good at problem solving. so he can recite all the words of the F letter of the dictionnary, but would also put a curling iron in his mouth to see if it would curl his tongue. (side note, he does have a problem with heat n fire, most his “oopsie how i wound up hurting myself on acccident” story involve burning -that stove was just too tempting…)

while he doesnt feel very attached to his home country, he does feel strongly for his family. he’d do anything for his mum (and actually does everything to make her proud already, that’s his one main goal), and he’s ready to sacrifice a lot for her (as in, spend years working non-stop a really uncomfortable job so his mother wouldnt have to pay a cent of his expenses even though she said she could by doing some sacrifices herself,and then being ready to come back as soon as needed if anything happened, and potentially drop his career and dream n go back to the farm life to provide for mama)(also he still does hold onto some parts of his home country’s traditions, and does sometimes feel homesick but more in a ‘i left the most beautiful landscapes n the city feels cramped and claustrophobic and i dont know people and i dont feel in the right place cuz im a forreigner with a thicc accent who doesnt master the language of this place and straight up have different body language communicators due to cultural difference oh lord i wanna be home where a nod means no and a head shake is yes i keep misunderstanding everything”)

if you want background noise he’s the perfect pal to call over, he’s just so chatty, he got hours and hours of non stop speech ready for you. you can shut him up once you’re done listening with the offering of food. works everytime.

he’s definitly not shy. neither in terms of talking to people, nor when it comes to making decisions. he’s quite bold, and rarely hesitates to go towards something he wants. he’s direct in his approach to most everything.

he likes partying. mostly the socialising part, talkin to people is just fun ya feel. and being in the crowd, doing whatever, pressure free? ya can dance n enjoy yourself, and people wont notice? yeah that’s nice. but doesnt do it super often cause broke bitches aint got the party time n budget. 

he likes arm. (just an excuse for me to drop this thing here cuz i like it)

While he’s an overall bubbly looking character, with a cheery loud personnality, he does carry some youth trauma that has him more reticent to engage in happiness, he comes from what you could call “not the wokest background” and he may have fallen victim of it : he’s kind of a flashy noticeable character, both physically and in his personnality, and doesnt exactly matches the expectations of dudes in the area he comes from (delicate, emotional and sweet guy? that doesnt exist bro). He went through it, and it has definitly had some impact on his confidence in many aspects. But he’s 100% the type of guy to put on the fake happy front because if feeling bad is sad, making the people you care about sad for you too is Unacceptable Right??? relying on friends?? what???

But then what are we supposed to be doing with such charming characters huh,,, 

Make them fall in love obviously.

Their story obviously has to do with falling in love and workin a relationship cause if I dont write romance i literally die, but I make the center pivot of all of it communication, and barriers in communications. Most obvious being them coming from wildly different cultures, having different native languages, and also the ways you adapt to muteness (what i love most bout that part is even then they fucked up given the easiest quickest small body language things to communicate are head nods n then i managed to make one come from the one country that reverses those like iconic how do they even understand each other -through a lot of work and love bro) but also on more “introspective” points, how to say things that you are even afraid to think about, how to open up and share your burdens and trauma with someone, how to say words you’ve been convinced you weren’t allowed to, the inner turmoil of communication in short. And then also communication through art, and through alternative unusual ways. If i were snobbish i could call it something like “a thinkpieces on how humans overcome obstacles in communication, and adapt, all for the sake of pursuing love” but fact is its mostly boys being in love n learning how to speak, figuratively and also quite literally. And also its me having fun with making characters evolve from each other, be able to influence each other for the better, helping each other be more comfortable with themselves and express the true things of their personnality, and discover new aspects. I just wanna write intense and soulful love bro.

So in less concept and more facts, weiwei meets dari, dari being his puppy self just immediatly strikes a conversation and weiwei gets interested cause “oho nice pretty boy? very good. i want some of that”. they get closer because you cant fight off the Power of friendship (and also the power of “what your friend is bestie with my friend?? guess we hanging out”) and then friendship and interest turns into pining, held back by respective dread of what romance with the other would mean (as in “romance?? cant have that we cant feel” and “with him?? cant do that, convince yourself he’s just a friend immediatly what would the family think”) but eventually they do have to just crash into one another cause that’s just the gravitational pull bro, its physics bro. and from then on its all unlearning destructive behaviours, bettering oneself with the help of the other, and getting over trauma to finally live ur best life. and gettin fckin married bro they’re both cheeseballs theyll wanna wed

BUT MAKING EM FALL IN LOVE ONCE ISNT ENOUGH time to make 3894853 alternate universes about em.

Lets speak bout my fave of those for a hot second.

First of all, the one of the art that brought this ask, guess i could call it “Pretty Tribes” AU, bunch of tribes live and do their things, having nature and energy powers. Dari n Weiwei’s tribes are bros, the latter’s powers needing them to move around to get energy from different places, enabling them different abilities. So basically they get to hang at the other’s place while the regenerate energy from there, and in exchange they help them out with various tasks (dari’s tribe is a rly farmer oriented one, with plant magic, while weiwei’s got more poyvalent powers, and have very good healers notably, so it comes in handy). The two boys were born a few months apart in their respective tribes, so naturally, anything the two clans meet, they’re put together to play and all, and from that they became besties, and each time they meet, after the gaps of time separating the two groups, they feel more and more of a little something else~ story is themed round growing up, friendship between clans, their traditions and cultures, and pretty boys in pretty clothes in pretty landscapes interacting with nature.

The superpower AU, i fuckin love it bro. Its an old one, made for other characters, but i just love it so much that i had to inject my faves in it. Its got a grimy ugly setting, bad government, propaganda, and fights between super-people (heavily mediatised for entertainment and reinforcing the idea that “look at these evil villains thank god us the good government protects you from them”), with a side of bad ethics in science. In all that, those two have the role of “those two young enemy warrior and villain, they were so powerful and fought so hard”, public figures, legendary and admired by both sides, everyone followed their fights, til one day they presumably died in one of their showdowns. (haha sike they actually found themselves talking for 5 seconds and realised they lived in a society, n built a plan to run away). The main characters get to find they’re alive because one of em had history with super-warrior-golden-boy and go to seek their help to overthrow the Big Bads. (stealing them from their nice gay cottage hermit life smh so rude)

Mermaids. I like those. Sailor weiwei sees merman dari, they both save each other in different occasions, they grow fascinated with each other, they’re at sea, water romance. Amazing. AU made half cuz i just like water n fish. and shirtless sailors.

(i couldnt find art of it in five minutes so have a link to that lil animatic piece i made of it once)

Indie band AU, where i was listening to songs that vibe so well with those two in general n then my brain was like “what if they’re the ones playing”. They’re (along with the rest of the art squad) a nice little alternative rock band, doing their thing, then one of their songs blows up, and they get quite the attention, to the dismay of dari who wrote that song in a moment of “oh no im so in love with my bandmate but i cant tell him what if i ruin everything we have going on ill just have to love from afar and deal with that” and now has way too many people interested in who he wrote it about and theorising from his every move when performing it (a mix of music, secret crushes and social media) (ft a picture of neither of them but its the least ugly art i found of this AU cuz its old and instruments are the bane of my existence)(also kelana is so pretty i gotta flaunt her around)

in kind of the same vibe, as in we’re in a music world overexposed to social media, i also integrated em to an AU i did for fun, “boyband AU” as its called aka idol based band system cuz you kno, i got a hobby, lets apply it. Band boy Dari and bodyguard Weiwei got a thing going on, but can’t really act on it in any way, because they’d just destroy the whole band if it ever came public. Featuring annoying bandmates, catchy pop songs and people making fanaccounts of that one hot Mr.Bodyguard cause dang he hot.

(all the art of this one so ugly im sorry)

SPY AU, one of my fave brand. They spies, they get assigned on the same mission, they work real nice with each other. spies hot. fights. strategy. i just like the concept. Gays taking down the worst traffics imaginable??? I love that song.(i actually have so much on this cause s p i e s are fuckin great)

Fashion. U kNOW i have an AU for fashion. Supermodel and his private stylist, trying to maintain the line of professionalism. And failing to do so. Lets make out in unpractical designer clothes.

Have an highschool AU for a bunch of characters, injected them as “spinoff”, start chatting online being art buddies, fall in love without meeting (ft. all the iconics of internet friendship like knowing tiny details of their personnalities but not the fact that they have a sister or “waIT ur a GUY i thought u were a girl wow wild good news for my gay ass”)

n those are my faves as far as i remember, i got a fuckton of small other ones that arent fleshed out enough, or some that are more of a guilty pleasure universe, and some that are more like “projects that i can expend on as soon as i run out of daydream material” (like u kno those hospital drama shows with super innacurate medicine n shit like idk scrubs or whatever, yeh i want some of that but im keeping it for later)

[the-chibi-devil]

The Best Transmigration and Isekai Mangas/Manhwas/Manhuas I’m Reading Right Now

Does anyone care about this list? Probably not, but I’m making it even if it’s only for my reference. So here they are, in no particular order.

* English Title: I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss * Japanese Title: Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita * Mangaka: Nagase Sarasa (story), Anko Yuzu (art) * Summary: “Avoid the BAD END! That's the goal of the villainess in this plot-twisting story!! She has been reborn into the world of an otome game as the villainess, Irene. Using her memories of her former life, she recognizes flags indicating she's en-route to the bad end, so she makes a plan to conquer the last boss (the evil king Claude), make him her lover, and see if she can open up a new route!” (MyAnimeList) * Why I Like This One: Irene is a very fun character! I love her sheer determination in everything she does. Her love interest (Claude) is nothing special imo - classic misunderstood character - but his relationship with Irene is pretty sweet. There are some interesting twists in the plot, too!

* Title: Miss Not-So Sidekick * Creator: Ellianyang * Summary: “Hyejung loved to read to escape her daily stress. But that’s before she woke up inside the bizarre world of her favorite novel! Instead of the main heroine who courts three eligible men, she is now Latte Ectrie – a minor villain that everyone hates?! One way or another, it’s a chance to live out her most beloved storyline, with popcorn in hand to watch all the drama! Taking charge of the narrative takes on a whole new meaning!” (1stKissManga) * Why I Like This One: Latte isn’t actually interested in romance! She would much rather watch how the narrative plays out than take an active role in it. Therefore, she decides to befriend the protagonist. However, just by virtue of being herself, Latte seems to have thrown the narrative off-course! (Not that she realizes that it’s her fault.) The developing relationships are fun to watch. However, this is very much a slow burn. Another fun thing about this manhwa is how Ellianyang throws in all sorts of references to other works such as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Detective Conan!

* English Title: Of Course, I’ll Claim Palimony! * Japanese Title: Mochiron, Isharyou Seikyuu Itashimasu! * Mangaka: Soy (story), Mutou Tamura (story) * Summary: “"I'll annul our engagement!" my fiancé suddenly declared?! Apparently he's in love with the recently transferred count's daughter and is planning on making me the villain in order to annul the engagement. Although I have no lingering attachments about the engagement, I do have to claim a hefty consolation fee, don't I?” (MyAnimeList) * Why I Like This One: “Of Course, I’ll Claim Palimony!” does something very fun in that the otome novel that is being referenced exists within the story. The protagonists are very aware of this and the main heroine is most definitely willing to work within and with the narrative to turn things to her advantage.

* English Title: I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags... * Japanese Title: Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... * Mangaka: Yamaguchi Satoru (story), Hidaka Nami (Art) * Summary: “ Katarina Claes is the eight-year-old daughter of a duke. One day, she hits her head and recovers the memories of her past life, and she comes a horrifying realization—she is in a world similar to that of an otome game she once played, and she is the main villain! To make matters worse, in every possible conclusion, whether exile or death, she is met with a terrible end. Using her knowledge of how the game unfolds, Katarina must now do whatever it takes to change her fate. Whether she must cultivate  her skills as a farmer or befriend every character that comes her way, nothing is ever too much for her to handle. As the years go on, everything seems to be going as planned. However, Katarina realizes that she made a mistake in her previous life, as she never actually finished the game before death; and so a new, secret route may just prove to be her undoing.” * Why I Like This One: This is the quintessential isekai! Katarina is a stubborn yet naive character. She is doing all she can to change the narrative, but she is always surprised by the results! Still, I like that the creators aren’t shying away from making lovely female characters besides Katarina. There were also some twists that I really wasn’t expecting from a manga like this! An anime adaptation is coming soon.

* English Title: Endo and Kobayashi’s Live Commentary on the Villainess! * Japanese Title: Tsundere Akuyaku Reijou Liselotte to Jikkyou no Endo-kun to Kaisetsu no Kobayashi-san * Mangaka: Enoshima Suzu, Sakakiri * Summary: “She’s always putting on that grumpy face even though she’s not actually that upset! Oh, why can’t she just be honest with herself…!? She is a tsundere, after all? When her embarrassment levels exceed a certain limit, she will explode into anger. However, the point that she’s suppressing under the surface is that she wouldn’t mind that sort of thing if it were in a less public place? As Endo-kun passionately reacts to the antics of Lady Liselotte, the villainess of an otome game, Kobayashi-san provides a painstaking breakdown of her tsundere behaviour. Suddenly, one person could hear their voices; Liselotte’s fiancée, Prince Siegward. That is where this story begins.” (MangaGo) * Why I Like This One: The characters within the narrative, Liselotte and Siegward, actually interest me way less than Endo and Kobayashi. I can’t wait to see how they handle this sudden change in their lives! And it seems that there is someone behind this magic game but the game wasn’t their intention? I’m curious.

* English Title: The Death Mage That Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time * Japanese Title: Yondome wa Iya na Shizokusei Majutsushi * Mangaka: Densuke (story), Kojima Takehiro (Art) * Summary: “Amamiya Hiroto is unlucky. His life consisted of misfortune after misfortune, culminating in an unlucky death during an incident on a school boat trip, trying to save a girl he barely knew. After death, he met a god of reincarnation who requested that the hundred or so dead passengers—one of them being the girl he tried in vain to save—be reincarnated into another world. Yet a series of unfortunate events forced Hiroto to reincarnate with even less luck than before, starting with nothing but a tremendous amount of Mana. His second life, far worse than his first, came to a cruel end. However, upon meeting the god a second time, he was informed that there would be yet another reincarnation—one that had already been set in motion and could not be stopped. Not wanting Hiroto to endure a third life filled with suffering, the god cursed him before he was reborn in the hopes that he would either die quickly or commit suicide. Hiroto was reborn once more as a half-vampire, half-dark elf. A dhampir. Not wanting a fourth life, he is determined to live this third life with the only things remaining from his previous lives—Death Magic and his enormous Mana pool. “ (Light Novel Bastion) * Why I Like This One: Holy crap, those first chapters were dark. This manga is certainly proving that isekai isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Honestly, the real thing that keeps drawing me back is the found family dynamic. I could do without all the fanservice though...

* Title: Cheating Men Must Die * Creator: The King * Summary: “One moment oppressing scum yields a moment of satisfaction. Continuously oppressing scum yields continuous satisfaction. Our female main lead, Su Lüxia is bound to the Female Lead Counterattack System and transmigrates to several small worlds. Using elaborate means, she beats up countless cheating bastards and bitches. Su Lüxia: “Only a cheating bastard's tears of remorse, and the pained moans of a bitch unable to get what she wants bring me solace.” System: “Has my host tapped into her humanity today? Nope.”” (Manga Rock) * Why I Like This One: This manhua is just a long ride of schadenfreude. The story goes in arcs, and there is no doubt that Su Lüxia is going to trample those cheaters, but how she does it is always a surprise! The art is beautiful and the story wildly entertaining. Readers beware, however, as this manhua features themes such as sexual assault, suicide, and abuse.

* English Title: Though I May Be a Villainess, I’ll Show You I Can Obtain Happiness! * Japanese Title: Akuyaku Reijou Desuga, Shiawase ni Natte Mesemasu wa! * Mangakas: Hoshino Osome, Nekomata Doremi, Sorakura SHIJIKI, Yuuki Satoru, Kuroe Yui, Reiga Utsuhou, Yamashiro Umemayuge, Mafuyubi, Oshitsuji Ei, Mizuno Saaya * Summary: "Annuled Engagements, Take That’s, Condemnation Events, Doting, Royals, Reincarnated Heroines, Banishment Endings…it’s fully loaded with all the charms of Villainess’!! A comicalization of 5 popular villainess stories from Shousetsuka ni Narou!! An anthology of 5 oneshots with happy endings!!” (IsekaiScan) * Why I Like This One: This is an anthology and all the stories are very different. My personal favorites are “The Tale of the Noble Girl who will go to a Monastery after her Engagement Annulment,” “Shall We Walk Hand in Hand Down the Flowery Path of Evil?” and “The Villainess Trifles with the Second Prince’s First Love.”

* Title: IRIS - Lady with a Smartphone * Creators: Soo-Wan Yoo (author), Hye-Yi Yoon (artist) * Summary: “ The husband was in love with her cousin and the family was taken away by cigar. The moment I fell into despair and to end my life; the memory of my past life came to my mind.The life of a white-haired worker in Seoul, returning to the past, she decided. “I will not be abandoned by them again. Now I will forsake them!”Ian stare full gazed at Iris’ eyes, “Do you remember what I said the other day? Are you asking for a different fee?”“Yes. I want to get it now.” Iris, was a woman who had nothing. “I did not have a strong parent like other noble princess, nor did I have much money.”“What do you mean by yourself?” Iris blinked. He laughed and said. “Let’s have a relationship with me.” The eldest son of the line, the best of the empire, the best dancer Valencia is the perfect husband. The rope for the revenge makes me crave for more.” (1stKissManga) * Why I Like This One: Iris’ evolution is a delight to watch. The smartphone hasn’t actually played much of a role at this point, but the importance of it’s existence in Iris’ world is slowly being revealed. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful art and story!

[enigmaticgale]

“what the fuck is houshin engi”

my friend ellis asked me to help explain houshin engi to them because they were having trouble Grocking the worldbuilding of the series. and as we all know i cannot physically shut up ever. maybe more people than ellis will find this useful? 

i’m so sorry if you’re on tumblr mobile. forgive me.

ok so. HOUSHIN ENGI is a manga by fujisaki ryuu, based off an ancient chinese novel/myth called FENGSHEN YANYI. if you’ve heard of journey to the west, fengshen yanyi is like that. except a different story. FY is pretty much completely unknown in the west but it’s apparently decently popular in japan. i lost my source on this but i’ve read that this popularity is due in part to the japanese translator of FY making some fairly drastic changes to the source material, like making the character shen gongbao (shinkouhyou) less of an outright antagonist and more of a neutral party.

anyway being an ancient chinese myth the story takes place in ancient china. being a mythological account there are more than just humans running around in there! there are also SENNIN. what are sennin? they are, put simply, taoist immortals. the basic idea is if you ‘cultivate’ long enough you ascend from your humanhood and become a sennin. if you’ve read any wuxia/xianxia manhua ever it’s basically that. there’s an article entitled “Sennin: The Immortals of Taoism” by janet carpenter and this is a quote from it:

“According to legend, the immortals [sennin] were at one time historical personages who achieved transcendence by refining body and mind. In addition to serving as an inspiration to human souls striving for inner peace or for everlasting life, the immortals functioned as guardians of Taoism.”

those still in the process of becoming sennin are known as DOUSHI. 

sennin can be either human in origin, or they can come from animals or rocks or like. things. sennin who aren’t human are called YOUKAI SENNIN.

so. we have HUMANS, SENNIN (immortals), DOUSHI (sennin in training), and YOUKAI SENNIN. the shorthand term for both “sennin and doushi” is SENDOU, btw.

humans live down on earth in the HUMAN WORLD, and sennin live up in the SENNIN WORLD, which isn’t a separate “world” but is just. floating mountains. rocks in the sky. but humans aren’t allowed up there so it’s separate. there are two major places in the sennin world: KONGRONG MOUNTAIN and KINGOU ISLAND, which are home to human and youkai sennin respectively. neither school is exclusively one race but they are the majority human/youkai. 

there are racial tensions between human and youkai sennin because we can’t have nice things, ever.

ok. the STORY STARTS at the end of the YIN DYNASTY, which was a real dynasty in history. we open at the capital city of the yin, CHOUKA. we are introduced to yin’s emperor, CHUUOH. the emperor is widely described as being a great king with one fatal flaw. you know that Funny Saying about how men have two heads but they can only think with one of them at a time? well any time chuuoh is presented with a choice between thinking with the head on his shoulders or the head between his legs he’s gonna choose his d*ck every time. dude’s horny. it’s an issue. 

it’s especially an issue because his current favourite wife, DAKKI, is twice as smart as she is beautiful and boy is she smokin’. by the time we meet them, dakki has chuuoh wrapped around her finger and is causing him to make some pretty unwise leadership choices because Hehe Booby. taxes are high, morale is down, people are starving. refugees are leaving chouka, the capital, in droves. it’s a bad situation.

so. cut to KONGRONG MOUNTAIN, home of the human half of the sennin world. the leader of kongrong mountain, GENSHI TENSON, summons his disciple, TAIKOUBOU, and tells him about the situation in chouka, with dakki and chuuoh. 

genshi tenson: taikoubou. the emperor’s current wife is actually a YOUKAI SENNIN. she is seducing chuuoh not only with her looks, but with a spell called “temptation” that does what it says on the tin. she is driving the country to ruin taikoubou: that sounds pretty fucked up genshi tenson: yeah it is taikoubou: so what are you going to do about it genshi tenson: i’m making you defeat 365 pre-determined targets to seal their souls in a device i’ve made called the HOUSHINDAI. to seal someone in it is to HOUSHIN them. you will do this to defeat dakki and i will sit here eating dumplings taikoubou:                       okay!

(houshin engi =  封神演義, “封神” “houshin” “ 封”, hou, “seal”; “ 神” shin/kami, “god”. i’m nnnot entirely sure how to translate “ 演義”, engi, but it’s something like.... to write down as a story. so essentially houshin engi is “the story of the sealed gods”. the english translation of fengshen yani translates it as either “creation of the gods” or “investiture of the gods” because in the original myth all the taoists like die and then they get canonized as deities. or something. still working on reading it)

anyway. taikoubou initially rejects leading the HOUSHIN PROJECT, which is what this whole shebang is called, but genshi tenson threatens to kick him out of kongrong and send him back to earth if he doesn’t. ALSO, it’s revealed that this isn’t the first time dakki has made an emperor her sugar daddy. the last time it happened, her orders directly resulted in the deaths of taikoubou’s family. so he’s got some personal beef to pick with dakki as well!

so taikoubou accepts the challenge, and off he goes. a bunch of shit happens.

the important thing here is that dakki’s fucked around so much that simply booting her out isn’t going to do much good any more. chuuoh has lost the trust of the people! they are ready for a new king! even if chuuoh were to shape up completely everyone would still be holding their breath waiting for him to go off the deep end again. change needs to happen. 

under chuuoh’s rule there are four subordinate kings, one for each cardinal direction, that report to him. (they in turn rule a bunch of other guys but that’s not important.) the KING OF THE WEST, KI SHOU, was wrongfully imprisoned at chouka, capital of the yin, for several years. his son ki hakuyuukou came to try and rescue him but dakki ganked him and fed him to ki shou in a hamburger, rip hakuyuukou i hope you tasted nice. after the burger incident KOU HIKO convinces chuuoh to let ki shou go. sorry i kind of skipped over hiko existing. he’s a human member of chuuoh’s court but he isn’t swayed by dakki’s temptation and he has an Honest Heart so he’s a good guy. he’s also a military general which is a fact that will be important later.

anyway ki shou returns to SEIKI, his home town and the capital of the western states. seiki’s like a state capital whereas chouka is washington dc. anyway ki shou is like “hm that was fucked up.”

some more shit happens. i’m like skimming over all of the actual plot to just explain Why it happens. anyway. another member of chuuoh’s court is the sennin BUNCHUU. bunchuu is a human but he was taught at KINGOU ISLAND as opposed to kongrong. bunchuu has a deep personal stake in the existence of the yin empire. he’s ousted dakki a time or two before but she’s POWERED UP since the last time that happened and isn’t gonna quit so easily this time. bunchuu thinks everything will be solved if dakki can just die already.

some more shit happens. chuuoh accidentally causes the deaths of KOU HIKO’S wife and sister, so hiko’s like “fuck THIS, i’m outta here” and decides to leave chouka with his surviving family. 

bunchuu’s like “hey uh you’re the general of the entire fucking military and if you leave chouka the people’s hearts will go with you so you cannot do this thing?” and hiko’s like “bro the people’s hearts are already GONE i know you’re my best friend and also in love with me probably but i can’t stay at the scene of my trauma. bye”

so hiko leaves and bunchuu freaks out and there are assassins and shit but the kou family makes it to seiki safely.

by this point in time taikoubou is ALSO in seiki and has hit up ki shou like “hey you know the hearts of the people are ready for revolution also i think you would make a pretty good emperor?” and kishou is like “yeah man what happened in chouka was pretty fucked up so i can get behind that. i’m going to make a NEW DYNASTY, the ZHOU DYNASTY.”

then he dies because he’s old and traumatized from eating his son as a hamburger so the eldest living son, KI HATSU, assumes the throne and title of BUOU, which is like chuuoh but COOLER. 

so. there is war between the HUMANS, the YIN EMPIRE versus the fledgling ZHOU EMPIRE.

meanwhile bunchuu is having precisely None Of That! so he’s like “taikoubou........ if the sennin of kongrong are involved with this i’m going to drag ALL OF KINGOU ISLAND TO BATTLE, BECAUSE THIS IS A WISE AND INTELLIGENT CHOICE THAT WILL DEFINITELY WORK OUT WELL.”

so. there is war between the SENNIN, in the form of KINGOU ISLAND versus KONGRONG MOUNTAIN. apparently the floating mountains are also battleships? fujiryu likes his scifi. anyway that shit happens.

there is also DAKKI, who is still an enemy! though bunchuu fights against kongrong, he is not on her side! in fact, dakki is up to something SNEAKY AND NEFARIOUS, perhaps involving a MYSTERIOUS UNKNOWN BACKER. after all, she’s really smart! if all she wanted was a luxurious lifestyle, why is she convincing chuuoh to make shitty political decisions? and hey, what else has she been doing to chuuoh while bunchuu hasn’t been looking....?

ok. that is. a lot of words that kind of cuts off abruptly but i didn’t want to spoil any plot elements that you (ellis) haven’t gotten to yet. uh hopefully this makes things less confusing and not more lol. if you have any more questions just ask me?? yeah

[ashina-suns-penmanship]

Leaving Chang’an (2/4)

Changge gets the message Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling have left her, leaves Chang'an with an orphan named Ah Dou, and heads for Shuo, a city at the northern frontier, to raise a rebellion against her uncle.  Meanwhile, royal advisor Du Ruhui, who is unconvinced that the princess has died, pays a visit to court astrologist Li Chunfeng.

A brief flashback to the Xuanwu Gate Incident reveals that Changge’s mother Li Jin (real name Ahbuge Masu) was a Uyghur chieftain’s daughter that was rescued from the battlefield by Li Shimin.  They fell in love, but she married Li Jiancheng instead and had Changge.  Li Shimin finds Li Jin during the ambush and asks her why she did so; she dies in his arms before answering, having unknowingly drunk poison.

In Shuo, Changge gains the trust of the mayor Gongsun Heng, and eventually ends up in command of a portion of the troops stationed around the city.  It is wintertime, and the Turks are beginning to attack the city for food (as a nomadic group, the Turks raid sedentary Chinese cities and settlements).  Changge takes up the task of defending the city, destroying a wave of Turkic attacks while two other Turks—Ashina Sun and Mujin—lie in wait and observe.  She begins to cough up blood.

(Look at him!!  Look at this beautiful man!!)

The Eastern Turkic Khaganate - 東突厥

(This map shows the full extent of the entire Turkic Khaganate at its largest land area.  The line near the middle separates the Western from Eastern part of the entity.  The Western Turkic Khaganate was based around what is Kazakhstan today, and the Eastern Turkic Khaganate had its seat in what is modern Mongolia.)

The Turks mentioned in the story are actually from the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, a political entity that existed from 581-630.  Technically, it was originally part of the Turkic Khaganate, a polity that rose from the proto-Mongolian Rouran Khaganate, but a civil war split it into east and west.  The Turkic nomadic confederations as a whole were called the Göktürks, an ethnic group who were the first to identify themselves as Turks and a nation that would eventually impact the modern Turkish peoples.  The Eastern Turks spoke Old Turkic dialects but used Sogdian as an official written language, and had religious beliefs rooted in animism, shamanism, and Tengrism.  Although the Eastern Turkic Khaganate fell in 630, there were attempts to revive it, and it returned in 682 as the Second Turkic Khaganate.  Since this story uses a lot of Turkic and Uyghur titles, here’s a little bit of etymology knowledge and definitions to think on as more characters are introduced to the storyline (the names here are romanized):

Göktürk has its origins in Old Turkic.  “Gök” or “Kökö” means “blue”; the Göktürks were also known as the “Blue Turks” or “Celestial Turks.”  Blue was associated with the east.  The blue color was especially important to the Turks, as it is the color of the sky and celestial realms.  Consequently, blue indicated divine right to rule, a motif also seen later in the Mongol empire.  The Chinese called the Turks “Tūjúe,” meaning “combat helmet” in Middle Chinese, because the Altai Mountains where they lived supposedly took on the shape of one.

Ashina was a clan that ruled over the Turkic Khaganate.  It has a few proposed word origins.  One follows the myth of Asena, a she-wolf in Göktürk mythology who had ten sons, one of whom—named Ashina—established a namesake clan to rule over the Turkic people.  A second possible word root comes from Khotanese Saka’s āššɪna (meaning “deep blue”), linking the Ashina clan to the color blue, and by consequence the east and Göktürks as well.

Khan originated with the Xianbei and possibly the Xiongnu; regardless of which group first created the title, it was adopted by the Rouran and subsequent ruling Göktürks, who introduced it to the rest of Asia as a name for “leader”, “commander”, and “king”.  Khans became most famously associated with the Mongols, like Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan. Khagan or Qaghan is the proper title for the Mongol emperor and imperial ruler of a khaganate or empire, sometimes translated as “Great Khan” or “King of Kings”.  Some believe that “khan” is merely a shortened version of “khagan”, while others argue that “khan” indicates a lower rank than “khagan”*.  The Turks modified the khagan title with names like Bilge (“wise”)**, similar to how western rulers were nicknamed with befitting sobriquets (think Ivan the Terrible, Philip the Fair, Richard the Lionheart). Khatun is the name for a qaghan’s wife, and was probably taken from the Sogdian title for a ruler’s wife or queen.  Tegin is title of respect for the junior members of the khan’s family whose English equivalent can be compared to “prince”.  Shad can be roughly translated to “governor”, a title given most commonly to members of the Ashina clan.

Other tribal and quasi-Turkic titles come up later in the story.  Irkin is technically a Tiele name for a chief, but it was also adopted by the Turks to refer to the leaders of their vassal tribes.  Elteber is a Turkic title for the ruler of an internally autonomous tribe that has submitted to the Turks as a tributary tribe.  In the manhua, an irkin declares himself an elteber instead as a symbolic gesture of defiance against the Göktürks.

Du Ruhui and Li Chunfeng begin their discussion about an unsettling prophecy the latter has foreseen about a “female scourge” that will bring about the end of the Tang Dynasty. Du Ruhui thinks that Changge is the one being referenced, and schemes to permanently remove Changge as a threat to the empire, having taken the burning of the sweets shop as a near-definitive sign that she is still alive.  

It makes perfect sense—after all, Changge is out for revenge against Li Shimin and therefore now an enemy of the empire—except Li Changge didn’t exist.  But there really was a woman who brought about the end of the Tang Dynasty.

Wu Zetian - 武則天

Although the author of the manga series hasn’t actually mentioned it, I’m almost sure that the prophecy is a reference to a woman named Wu Zetian for two reasons: firstly, in about chapter 30, Changge (spoiler!) decides to give up on her personal path of revenge in favor of preserving the welfare and political stability of Tang in order to counter foreign powers like the Turks, and secondly, Wu Zetian did end the Tang Dynasty...temporarily, that is.  It’s pretty complicated, and Wu Zetian was also an incredibly complicated person, so a brief overview of her life is in order.

Wu Zetian was born into a wealthy noble family who had ties to the previous Sui Dynasty but were favored by the Tang royalty.  She was well-educated, and by the time she reached adolescence, she was chosen to become a concubine in the imperial court of Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin’s imperial name).  One famous story surrounding her rise to the emperor’s favor revolves around a stubborn horse that the emperor could not tame; she told him that she only needed three items to subjugate the steed: an iron whip, iron hammer, and dagger.  If the horse did not listen once, she would whip it; if it would not obey again, she would hammer its head; and if it still did not listen, she would slit its throat.  The emperor was greatly pleased and amused by her answer, and she continued to advance the ranks of the court, eventually becoming his trusted secretary.  While she was a concubine to Emperor Taizong, she may have carried on an affair with his ninth son Li Zhi, who was later unexpectedly appointed crown prince.

Wu Zetian did not have any children by Emperor Taizong, and when he died, she kept with tradition by shaving her head and going to a Buddhist nunnery along with the other imperial concubines who had not birthed children.  The intention was to live out the remainder of her life as a nun, but fate had a different future in store for her.  Li Zhi—by then Emperor Gaozong—happened upon her nunnery and they recognized one another.  Emperor Gaozong’s wife, Empress Wang, was childless and jealous of the attentions he paid toward his beloved concubine, Consort Xiao.  Empress Wang immediately caught on to her husband’s captivation by Wu Zetian and secretly welcomed her back to the imperial palace, hoping to shift the emperor’s favors away from Consort Xiao.  

Eventually, Wu Zetian had several sons and daughters by Emperor Gaozong, one of whom died a few days after birth; she accused Empress Wang of killing her daughter, and the empress was removed from her position.  A year later, Wu Zetian was elevated to fill the vacated rank.  She used her new title to her advantage, jailing political opponents and making rulings in lieu of her husband when he was unwell.  So powerful did she become that Emperor Gaozong was actually temporarily convinced to remove her from her post as empress.  She conferred the title of crown prince upon her eldest son, then her second, then her third, and again her second; it did not matter, as long as she was regent and therefore retained control and power.  By the time her husband died, she had already been running a great majority of court affairs for several years.  She was an effective and strong-willed ruler; under her reign, Tang experienced a period of great military and territorial expansion.  Many who were disgruntled by a woman being in power spread rumors that she had poisoned her children, among many other unsavory deeds.

Her relevance to the prophecy in the manhua came in 690, when as empress dowager for one of her son’s reigns, she forced him to yield his throne to her.  Wu Zetian subsequently declared the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty (technically the second one, as there had been a Zhou Dynasty over two thousand years before) and appointed herself the emperor, becoming the first and only female emperor in Chinese history.  Consequently, from 690-705, the Tang Dynasty experienced a discontinuity in its existence.

*I got this bit of information from unable-or-unwilling by asking anonymously (because I was too big of a wimp to use my actual account at the time).  Check out the post here!

**The Encyclopedia Britannica mentions that “Bilge” means “wise”.  Bridges-you-cross made a really neat post regarding other khagans’ names!

Another note about credits: I was planning on using the raws for images of the manhua, but they’re very blurry, so I’ll be using the English translations uploaded by scanalation groups.  Credits for the scans in this post go to Aizen-Sensei.

I just want to add another disclaimer that this analysis of CGX was something I really chose to do for fun whilst fulfilling a high school project requirement, so I apologize if any information is incorrect.  If you can see anything glaringly wrong, please let me know!

One last thing—if you’re interested in Wu Zetian, I highly recommend reading Empress, a novel that is a (as far as I can tell) quasi-historically accurate account of her life by Shan Sa, a Chinese-French author, poet, and painter.  Empress is a work of autobiographical fiction; its information is mostly correct, although Shan Sa did take creative liberties in describing Empress Wu’s emotions and thoughts.  It’s a fantastic read, so be sure to check it out if you’re curious!

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