#for contrast see the donghua

[random-mdzs-thoughts-dumpster]

Omg, LXC was so done with NHS during the entire present timeline

[dye-it-rouge-et-noir]

"For particularly important things, it's always more reassuring to write them down like this." - Zhang Beihai

[ID in alt text]

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 19/∞

XUAN SU IS A LARGE, BROAD, IMPOSING-LOOKING SWORD

Rating: FANON - CONFLICTING

The common depiction of Yue Qingyuan's sword Xuan Su is of a very large weapon with a broad blade. However, this design conflicts with the actual text of the novel, which states that Xuan Su is a rather plain-looking longsword.

Upon the white stone platform, a black hem was evenly laid, a plain and rustic longsword held firmly beneath it. Several empty, upended medicine bottles lay scattered about. (7 Seas, Ch. 24)

The "longsword" here is 长剑，which is a specific type of sword with a straight, double-edged blade around 1-1.5m (3-4ft) long, 3cm (1 inch) wide. Therefore, the width of the blade would not be the way it is often portrayed, which appears to be closer to hand-width.

Furthermore, longswords in SVSSS can be worn on the back or at the waist. Typically, in terms of sword-combat, longer swords are worn on the back and shorter swords on the waist.

Shen Qingqiu looked at Xuan Su at his waist. (7 Seas, Ch. 21)

Because Yue Qingyuan wears his sword at his waist, it can be inferred that Xuan Su is not abnormally long for a longsword-- and it can even be seen that the swords pictured in artwork wouldn't be able to be comfortably worn at the waist.

"Plain and Rustic" in the above description is translated from 古朴，which implies an old-fashioned, primitive simplicity. Xuan Su appears to be an old, basic-looking sword-- an image which contrasts the strength of its power.

The only other description we have for Xuan Su's design：

The all-black longsword at his waist abruptly sprang an inch from its sheath, revealing a blindingly snow-white blade. (7 Seas, Ch. 6)

From this, it can be said that the hilt and sheath are black and the blade glows white. Whether the metal itself is white or it only shines that way, it is unknown.

The depiction of Xuan Su as a large, claymore-type weapon appears both in the EN official art as well as the promotional art for the donghua:

However, this is not the first such depiction-- it has long been common in fanworks to give Xuan Su this distinctive, wide-bladed design.

Particularly, Xuan Su was also drawn somewhat large and broad by 老历茅台, a CN fanartist whose unofficial designs were very popular in early fandom, albeit this design was not so extreme as the later official versions, and seems to still fall under the specifications of a "longsword:"

For visual design standards, it certainly makes sense to draw attention to Xuan Su by giving it such a distinctive appearance. The size of the sword denotes its importance and power instantly to the viewer, and since the novel itself never attempts to conceal the fact that Xuan Su is a powerful sword, it would make sense to reveal this to viewers in visual mediums, which would not have the benefit of Shen Yuan's internal dialogue to bring this information.

By making Xuan Su appear imposing and larger than the others' swords, it sets it apart at a glance, while also demonstrating Yue Qingyuan's strength and power even though we do not often see him fighting.

However, in the text of the novel itself, Xuan Su is not described this way, so these visual depictions still run contrary to the canonical description of the sword.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group G Round 4: No Doubt in Us vs The Royal Tutor

#G6: No Doubt in Us (Liang Bu Yi)

Emperor and Empress bodyswap in ancient China

#G8: The Royal Tutor (Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine)

A tutor tries to teach eccentric princes for the throne

Details and poll under the cut!

#G6: No Doubt in Us (Liang Bu Yi)

Summary:

Within the Chinese imperial court, stern-faced Emperor Xiao Jinyun and spirited Empress Xu Yu are at constant odds with one another. But the universe has an interesting way to solve their issues: an accident causes the two to switch bodies, forcing them to put themselves in the other’s shoes—literally. Now responsible for unfamiliar duties and court dynamics, the Emperor and the Empress must navigate the maintenance of their identities, unruly concubines, and the nation itself. In doing so, Xiao Jinyun and Xu Yu’s personal qualities and unconventional skills find new purpose, and a sense of understanding and compassion grows between the two.

However, great threats loom within and outside the court. If the imperial astrologer cannot discover the key to switching them back in time, then internal strife and suspicion may lead to the duo's untimely demise.

Propaganda:

Liang Bu Yi/No Doubt in Us is one of the most interesting donghua I’ve ever watched. The characters have varying personalities and, because it’s set in ancient China, are rather unique. Considering that Emperors had to keep harems and the fact that this is a straight couple rom-com makes the drama rather spicy. Plus, the Empress is far more qualified in the things a woman in those times wouldn’t be interested in, like sword fighting, archery etc.

To be honest, the contrast between Xu Yu (the Empress) and Xiao Jinyun (the Emperor) results in the show being far more interesting than other ones with the same trope.

Trigger Warnings: None.

#G8: The Royal Tutor (Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine)

Summary:

Equally charming and stern, Heine Wittgenstein is a brilliant man who commands respect, despite his short, childlike stature. Thus, the king of Grannzreich has called upon Heine to undertake a daunting task that has driven away many before him—become the new royal tutor to four princes who are in line for the throne.

The four heirs each have very distinct and troublesome personalities: Licht, the flirtatious youngest prince; his immature older brother Leonhard; Bruno the studious third prince; and Kai, the oldest of the four and the most reserved. Hilarity ensues as Heine attempts to connect with each of the princes in order to groom them for the throne. However, Heine's mysterious past and dark undercurrents in the present may threaten the harmony within the kingdom.

Propaganda:

This is just such a feel good anime, and it teaches important life lessons through the daily struggles each of them princes go through. The princes each go through some kind of development, be it overcoming a weakness or feeling more sympathy for the common people. And despite it being much lighter in tone, it doesn’t shy away from sometimes delving into more serious topics, since of course one of them is supposed to run the country one day. They all have exaggerated personalities, and despite being seen as too posh or selfish at first, it develops so well.

And let’s not forget the glossy art style that’s just eye-candy or the comedy, which is a primary genre of the series. Just the way Heine structures his lesson, starting with more traditional methods and then delving more into each of their passions, makes me want to have him as a teacher. Despite being strict sometimes, tho.

Overall, it doesn’t present many new ideas, but it just makes you feel nice and warm inside, and maybe you can learn a lesson or two, even if you are not royalty.

Trigger Warnings: None.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form with your revisions, and I’ll consider adapting those changes.

New: Starting round 5, screenshots will be included in the poll post. You can submit screenshots through the form linked above, or through here, via ask or dm.

Guidelines in submitting screenshots:

No NSFW or spoilery images.

Pick some good images please. Don’t send any blurry or pixelated ones.

You may send up to 9 screenshots, but not all may be used.

[revel-inbluehues]

Okay, too much to say, too little words.

Firstly, characters. Qi Rong's character design caught me very off guard, but it fit him perfectly. His robes are so different from everyone else; the brightly coloured stripes along the lining of his coat, the fur, the skull motifs, and the purple crystals are all setting him apart from most of the characters that tended to stick to geometric shapes, blocks of colour and a solid colour pallette (I know he's primarily green-coded but he has so many different colours overall). It's all VERY flamboyant, especially the bright cyan mask, which is fair for a guy who thinks himself above most and wants to stand out among and atop others. Also, the lavender lipstick killed me. I could go on about Qi Rong's character for a while, so I won't. The design fits, and I love it.

Also, XL looks fantastic in the new outfit, no, I will not be taking objections.

HC, of course, is the other main player in this episode; in the beginning, he was clearly enjoying the time he was having with XL, but with the full awareness of needing to deal with QR. By the end, he is enjoying the beating he's beginning to give, a sadistic glee in punishment, a complete contrast to the fairly tame way he's been presented so far, and it's made more effective by the fact that he was in the form of San Lang. Once again, I'm praising the donghua animators for the expressions. The use of shadows to obscure and/or highlight his face was great. We all know HC is ready to beat everyone there.

The other thing is the music. QR clearly has something of a leitmotif here. When entering the cave in the beginning and QR's appearance, it's a very similar rhythm that's playing. It's goofy at some parts while being somewhat ominous in others, again a good reflection QR. But the big point is the music that played in between these events, where we see XL being called a plague god, and it dwarfs QR's theme in terms of levels of ominous and worry. It's a good contrast between XL and QR; while QR's theme is more personal, XL's moment had a more grander feel, a buildup to something, intermingled with screams. It definitely makes the ominous parts of QR's theme feel much less threatening and significant, which is a good show of how QR is viewed in general.

The episode is buildup for the next serious episode, but the funny scenes definitely landed. I burst out laughing when the ghost got beat by Pei Su, just the quiet 'hm?' followed by murder. QR's minions definitely lightened the mood, QR was ridiculous during most of the time, and HC looked like a deer caught in headlights when XL touched him.

Honestly, I love this episode, and I can barely wait for the next one.

[kanene-yaaay]

Headshaker (Tickletober Day 3)

Kanene's Notes: OK, I am like, fighting for my life with this one because I want to post it like immediately like right freaking now but I want to at least read it one more time to correct any absurd mistakes and. I don't know which part will win so rip me I guess. jhgfghjikolkijuhyg Writing this fic was so fun I am in looove <3 <3 Mingjue and Huaisang's interacting was a challenge since I only saw them on the donghua and Mingjue kind of uh dies v quickly so. ther's that. oijhgfuytrfghjuik

Day 3 - "Prank" (Tickletober) and "Starligh" (mxtxtober)

Warnings: Lots of tickling! Also some light angst sprinkled here and there, but nothing too complex. Ticklish!Huaisang and Ler!Mingjue. Around 2.500 words.

[~*~]

“HUAISANG!” The roar shook through the entire Unclean Realms and Nie Huisang yelped, hastily putting his paints on their place (he would never let those hanging around after all the trouble he had gone through to get them) and jumped through the window, running hastily away from the loud footsteps that sounded already so close to his room, under the amused gaze of the few guards that were on watching duty tonight. 

The stars looked so beautiful today, a sea of darkness and light dancing together in a lovely contrast that itched his soul to find a poem that talked about it, awaiting for a sharp mind to properly appreciate them. It was a pity it was the last time he would be able to see it before he died.

The footsteps turned the corner and suddenly got much closer. Huaisang let out a high pitched scream, no needing to look behind to see who was his pursuer.

“Brother! It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault!” He jumped to the side and scrambled when a large hand swiped to his right, his voice getting quicker and hysterical the more he got tired from the exercise. “Please, brother! Have pity, have mercy! It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t do anything!”

“Then who did?!” Came the roar.

Huaisang squeaked loudly, screaming more as another hand almost gripped his shoulder. 

“I don’t know! I really don’t, brother!” Where was Meng Yao with his always trustful back where he could hide behind? But no one but Mingjue and the stars heard his cries. “Maybe it was someone good! Someone who was worried about how much later you go to bed! Maybe they’re annoyed from dealing with your cranky mood from lack of sleep. Maybe they just want to help, brother!”

“HELP?! You locked me in my personal chambers after dinner where I had to spend an entire SICHEN to get free and had to call my guards to help me!!” Oh no, he was embarrassed. It took everything from the younger one to not snicker as he remembered the talisman he commissioned from his good friend Wei Wuxian for this sole purpose. “Do you think I have nothing to do, not a sect to run? Or do you think I also have all the time in the world to lay lazily around the house and ignore my chores?”

Ouch. Huaisang didn’t even have time to pretend offense as he was bodily crashed on the ground, screaming cutting off into grunts as he tried to squirm and free himself enough to scutter around and win a few more minutes of life. Being unsuccessful, he did what he does best.

He looked at his brother straight in his eyes and made his shine with glistering tears, hands holding Mingjue’s sleeves and hands before they could cuff him on the head. 

“Brother…” he whimpered.

Mingjue, knowing him since he was a kid and therefore plenty aware of his every tactic to escape trouble, looked entirely unimpressed and unwavered by one his best acts, face contorted in an angry sneer. “Where are those ridiculous books and fans of yours? I am going to lock them on my chambers and see how you like it when I throw them all into the fire.”

“No, brother, please!” As the older made a move as if to get up, Huaisang threw his arms around him in a hug, body completely slack like a dead weight to at least discourage him. Mingjue complained, but didn’t let him fall.

“Maybe they really did want the best for you. Maybe they just worried.” There was enough truth on it to make Mingjue deflate and huff, still annoyed, but less so.

“Then you should’ve come to me and said it, not run around with your schemes and expect me to suddenly understand it. Use your words, Huaisang. I know you have them.”

Huaisang didn’t hum in acknowledgement, simply continued with attentive eyes. “You’re going to sleep now?”

He saw the deny before it even existed, in the furrow of his brother’s eyebrows and the way his body twitched an inch away, mouth twisting downwards. When he opened his mouth, though, there was hesitation. 

“I still have paperwork to finish today. But tomorrow I will.” Huaisang still pouted, but his efforts weren’t really in it and the older one could see the smugness clear as water in his eyes. In a blink he sent his knuckles to rub on the top of his head. “And when I go to my quarters, tomorrow, I better not find any other talismans, am I clear?”

Huaisang quickly nodded, shouting and whining in despair. For the tune of his voice, one could think that Mingjue was full on throttling him. “You are, da-ge, you are! Stop, stop, you’re hurting me!”

He kept trying to squirm away from his hold, being as unsuccessful as the first time. It was Mingjue’s turn to feel smug. If his little brother ever bothered training or even showing up with his saber to his classes he would have enough strength to put up a fight. 

Wait.

Nie Mingjue stopped and Huaisang quickly pushed his hand away, protecting his head with his palms as he turned to the other, about to complain. 

When he saw the other’s calculating eyes, he froze, mind running. 

He noticed it, he noticed it. Shit, shit, shit-

“What are you doing awake, Huaisang?! You have saber practice right earlier in the morning!” At the younger’s wide stare, Mingjue only scolded further, irritation flaring hot in his veins. His words grew louder, quicker. “Or are you planning on running away from it again? Should I go to your room to drag you by your robes in the morning to it and watch the class myself to make sure you won’t run? That you even will be there for once?”

“I am going to the practice, brother, I really will! I just need to find my saber first…”

“You lost it again? We are warriors, your saber is a part of you. It should be by your side all the time-”

“But it’s so heavy! I just need to find where I put it before class, nothing more.”

It was their same fight. Like every day.

Mingjue took a breath and prepared to shout his thoughts and…

And he deflated, tired. Suddenly very, very tired. 

Maybe those days without sleep really were getting to him. He pictured Xichen’s calming songs and Meng Yao’s kind smile and thought twice, shallowed the words, gritted his teeth and tried.

(You have your words, A-Jue, use and mean them.)

“I won’t always be here for you, Huaisang. We were in a war. If that didn’t convince you how much you need to make your core stronger I don’t know how I can-”

Huaisang squeaked, then gasped, then pressed his hands firmly on his mouth. Mingjue looked down, to his finger that was poking the other’s stomach, right above where his golden core should be.

Then he remembered.

“Brother…”

That is right. His didi was horribly ticklish. Memories of their childhood began running across his mind and he could help but smirk. It’s been so long. He really had forgotten.

Their eyes found each other and Huaisang felt a bolt of electricity run across his spine, hands automatically coming in a poor attempt of covering his torso, his traitor mouth already trying to curl up in a wobbly smile. It was too late for him.

“Da-ge! Please, da-ge!” Mingjue simply smirked bigger, a clawing hand slowly descending towards his belly. “You can’t, please da-ge! I will train! I will strengthen my core! It’s true, da-ge, I really will!” His words were coming out faster, stumbling on each other as his brain spit every card in his hand, anything that could lead to him getting out of this tickle attack. The giddy sensation inside was too strong for him to even think before more and more words just kept falling. “It will be the strongest golden core you’ve ever seen! Our tutors will be out of things to teach me. I will cultivate straight to immortality if only you don’t kill me right now, it’s true! Please, please, da-GEEE!”

“I am not even touching you yet!” 

“You’re going to!” Nie Huaisang felt his face prickle with heat, but his hands were the only thing between Mingjue’s offending wiggling fingers and his poor unprotected tummy. And he was plenty aware that his “protection” was simply an illusion, one that at any time that his brother decided that he wanted to go straight to the point he would, no matter the obstacle. Besides, Mingjue wasn’t known for his infinite patience, or procrastinating. So, yes, he was already giggling. “And you know I can’t stand it, I really can’t. Please, brother, I won't survive this attack! I am dying, I am dying!”

Mingjue snorted, then scoffed to hide it. “You love being tickled, stop being so dramatic! Don’t you remember running after me everywhere, pulling on my hands when I was heading training or laying on my lap when I had to take care of the sect correspondence and asking to play tickle fight every single time?”

Why must Mingjue torture him like this with all the memories of his childhood? His brother was really merciless, just as ruthless as everyone painted him to be. To remind him of when he would throw himself in his arms and get tickled only to shriek “again! again!” as the older complained about needing to work! Nie Huaisang couldn’t even hide his face from this embarrassment.

Thankfully (or not), before he could turn himself into a bird and fly directly into the sun by the sheer will of his mind, his wrists were snatched away and the hand collided on his belly. Everything else exploded in a white light, unimportant and infinitesimal in the face of the feeling of those clawing fingers, scribbling and skittering anywhere they could reach, sneaking to his sides and drumming on them, spidering to his hips and squeezing until there was not even a hint of hope of Huaisang holding back any of his reactions, much less his laughter.

“NAHAHAHAHA B-BROHOHTHER! LEHEHET GO!”

“Not until your golden core gets stronger. Since you’re not going to practice, let’s see if this training interests you better.”

Nie Huaisang shook his head, trashing and curling to his side only for those offending hands to keep spidering and finding his back, running tickles across his spine and drilling on his back ribs until he was arching and crackling, unable to turn back and protect the new attacked ticklish spots. Laughter rang loud and strident across the yard, childish screeches and squeaks escaping from his mouth every time a wave of pokes hit his skin or wiggling fingers found a good spot to focus on. 

It was interesting, really, how much he looked like Mingjue when he was being tickled. His voice was loud and unashamed, clear in his words, thoughts getting out from their usual place behind his fans and spilling from him in an honest message, arms, legs and entire body gesturing, flailing around, not caring about how much attention or space it would claim. It was endearing to see. Maybe Mingjue really had spent too much time without properly tormenting his little brother, to feel so fond of seeing it again. He should catch up.

“IHIHIHIHI CAN’T BRHEHEATHE!” A hand scrambled to take over the opportunity and pinch and scratch at the skin behind his knee, pulling a loud snort that would’ve mortified the smaller if he had a clearer mind. HIs laughter slowed from a loud shrieking to a hysterical snickering, legs kicking in protest, as if demanding attention. At this, Mingjue chuckled. Well, no one could really blame him as he stopped scribbling his fingers over his shoulderblades (his didi was truly ticklish everywhere) and held one of them so he could focus on squeezing and clawing all the way from his calves to his kneecaps over and over again. 

“I ahahahaham DYIHIHIHIHING, brohohohother! You’rehehehehe kiliHIHIHIHIING MEHEHEHEHE, you reheheheahahahaha arehEHEHEHEHE! STOHOHOHOHOP going theHEHERE!”

Ah, there was the squeals, he was starting to wonder when they would come. 

“Tickling Here? Right here?” He kneaded the thigh with energy at the last word, huffing in amusement when Huaisang threw his head back, laughter rising once again uncontrollably only to dim into never-ending, high pitched giggles when he went back to spidering his hands under his knee. “No moving. If you can still be dramatic, then I can still tickle you even more.”

Huaisang seemed to have registered only half of his words, shaking his head, squeaks and snorts mingling with his words. “Gehehehet out of theheheREHEHEHE, GEHEHHEHET ohohut!” A hand came and began swatting down on his. Mingjue grabbed it and pulled until it was above the other’s head. Wide, teary eyes and a giant, wobbling smile found his face. He drummed on his unprotected armpit before Huaisang could protest.

“There! Should I stay here, then?”

Huaisang felt like his every nerve was under attack, shaking and sending tiny ticklish shocks all across his skin, following each touch, tingling in ghost sensations where he already had been tickled, where he was currently being tickled and even where he thought his brother would attack next, his mind running on top speed, squirming with all his might to escape the wiggling fingers and the silly sensation only to be completely overtaken by it, freeing all his most childish reactions and sounds straight to the wild. There was laughter, there were yelps, shrieks, snorts, squeals and giggles running and escaping everywhere.

Tears fell from his eyes and hiccups began taking over his cracking when Mingjue finally decided to stop. 

Huaisang continued laying there, hugging himself and almost becoming a ball with this, the rest of his giggling coming muffled as his big, way too telling smile was hidden in a pretense of hidding. Mingjue laid a firm hand on his head, fondly, and looked up at the sky, watching the stars twinkling as if they were sharing the same amusement, the same joy between them, and the high point the moon was currently at.

“Perhaps I will actually head over to my bed, when we get inside. It’s already way too late to work.”

And the betrayed, absolutely in disbelief expression that Huaisang sent in his direction made him snort, then fall in loud, booming laughter.

What a beautiful night.

[extraordinarilyextreme]

on yeqing, opposites and equals.

contains yrzx manhua/donghua spoilers!!!

in an interview, Mi Er said the following:

虽然看上去两个人很迥异，但是会投脾气。

Although these two seem wholly different at first glance, their temperaments are compatible.

and that's something i really like about this ship, which is how complementary they are.

ZGQ explicitly spells out their differences in manhua ch. 228 (donghua s4, ep. 5):

and a wikia page further expands on this idea:

诸葛青不同于王也的“先天下之忧而忧”，他是一个凡事会先从自己和家族的角度出发，做事会以此为优先的人，但也有正常的道德底线，是一个很现实的角色。

Zhuge Qing is unlike Wang Ye, who "is concerned for everyone beneath the heavens before they themselves are worried¹." He is someone whose starting point [of consideration] regarding all things will be from the perspective of himself and his family clan, and he will prioritize this when taking action. But [he] also possesses a normal moral bottom line. [As such, he] is a very realistic character.

half of a famous line from 《岳阳楼记》 Memorial to Yueyang Tower by Song dynasty politician and poet 范仲淹 Fan Zhongyan. the second part goes “后天下之乐而乐” / to be happy only after everyone beneath the heavens is happy.

furthermore, at the end of Biyou Village arc (donghua s5, ep. 12; manhua chs. 307-311), we learn that, since young, ZGQ has been expected to revitalize his family clan and sect.

(yes, Zhuge Bai reveals in manhua ch. 249 that...)

so, with that kind of pressure, is it any wonder that ZGQ would develop a 心魔 / inner demon? ZGQ is just like any other "ordinary" person with desires; it's just that his desire became an all-consuming obsession.

on the other hand, WY is "extra-ordinary." WY considers things like money and wealth or fame and profit as external; even the allure of Feng-hou Qimen, one of the legendary Eight Supremes, can't tempt him—and that's why only he can be its master.

in fact, when WY returns to Wudang, we learn that he's seemingly always had this "other-worldly" personality (manhua chs. 405-410). unlike his same-age peers, he's always concerned himself with things "beyond" the ordinary (or, secular).

(manhua ch. 407)

so it's with these two completely differing mindsets that the two then clash upon Longhu-shan.

the initial contrast between them is especially stark. we have WY who is attending for some greater, world-altering reason that is nearly impossible to fathom in full. and then we have ZGQ who is willing to throw away his life in pursuit of something "material" (the truth of Feng-hou Qimen). and when one considers how WY tries to dissuade ZCL from pursuing the truth in the next match-up, ZGQ's desire seems even more "vulgar."

(LA s1, ep. 14; see also manhua ch. 120)

indeed, upon first glance, the distance between WY and ZGQ seems insurmountable. the peerless little Daoist, who selflessly relinquished his own chance at enlightenment to throw himself headfirst into the chaos of the mortals... and the genius sorcerer, whose pride turned him into nothing more than a foolish frog at the bottom of a well.

(LA s1, ep. 13; see also manhua ch. 110)

of course, we'll soon see that they actually are not so different after all. but the problem lies in the fact that the two of them—for a not insignificant duration—both also believe the distance between them to be real. or, in other words, they fall prey to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

it's not that WY has ever looked down on ZGQ; rather, because he's had such "smooth" life experiences (compared to BaoLan, for example), he admits he wrongly developed a sense of superiority.

(donghua s3, ep. 7; see also manhua ch. 196, LA s1, ep. 23)

and that's why "Beijing arc" is so important. the official title of that storyline is 入世篇 / Entering the [Secular] World arc. it's where WY discovers, for the first time, that he may have been overestimating his abilities. he's not "beyond" the secular or "extra-ordinary" at all. he's not "above" anyone, he's just been privileged and fortunate to have been able to lead such an "easy" life so far—where every aspect of his life has felt as simple and routine as clearing enemies in a dungeon crawl game. that's why he ultimately decides to become a 行者 / traveler and “看看自己到底几斤几两” / "see just what exactly I'm capable of."

HOWEVER. aware WY may be of his limits, the combination of his sense of responsibility, 怜悯之心 / heart of compassion, and fundamental goodness trumps that humility.

as 清虚舟湫 on lofter put it:

老王他……太好了。我现实里其实可能不太愿意和这类人相处，没别的，就是太好了。站在这种人身边你会自愧不如，这人实在太好了；你想劝他别搅和这些事呢，他嘴上好好好然后一如既往的去做；你想帮他呢，他就拒绝，根本不给你能帮他的机会。王也骨子里就是会把自己放在上位，认为自己有能力去改变一些东西，是哪怕会牺牲自我，也要渡众生的好神仙。

lao-Wang, he... is too good. I actually might not be very willing to interact with this kind of person in real-life; nothing personal, [he's] just too good. Standing beside this type of person, you will feel ashamed and inadequate, [because] this person is simply far too good. You may want to advise him to not get mixed up in these matters, but he'll say "OK, OK, OK" and then still [get involved] just as before. You may want to help him, but he'll just reject [you] and not leave any chance at all for you to help him. In Wang Ye's bones is [the instinct] to [naturally] elevate himself, to believe that he has the ability to change some things. Even if he [ends up] sacrificing himself, he will still redeem every living being—this is the "good deity" that he is.

plus, one of the core principles of the 全真 Quanzhen denomination of Daoism is 清修自苦 / cultivating with purity and seeking out hardship. this means WY is meant to live a troubled and bitter life. it's his duty to intervene.

as for ZGQ: like most others, he also puts WY upon a pedestal—but unlike most others, it's not for WY's abilities. it's for WY's character.

when ZGQ spills his heart to Fu Rong in manhua chs. 308-309, we learn that the source of his angst is not just the fact he was unable to master the Zhuge family's True Fire of Samadhi, or that WY possesses a skill more powerful.

(manhua ch. 308)

it's because, for just an instant, ZGQ harbored the venomous thought: if only WY did not exist.

(manhua ch. 309)

that ZGQ feels so tortured actually demonstrates how his character and temperament matches WY's so well. ZGQ claims to be someone completely opposite WY—someone who, for himself, will do anything—but their bottom lines are the same. their 道 / life paths are the same. and not only the same, but equal.

WY began to recognize that as early as their first meeting. the idea of 逆大势而行 / behaving in a manner that opposes the momentum of the times applies not only to their predecessor Zhuge Liang, but to both WY and ZGQ. neither sorcerer made the choice most "beneficial" to them: WY gave up his sole chance at peace to try and stop ZCL (to no avail), and ZGQ was willing to risk his life to understand WY's secrets.

WY understood that they shared this trait, which is why ZGQ's parting promise outside Longhu-shan was even more special.

“我这人不爱被卷进麻烦, 但你有麻烦的话我管。”

"The person that I am doesn't like to be involved in trouble, but if it's you who has troubles - I'll take care of them."

(manhua ch. 131)

despite WY's annoyed reaction, he was secretly very touched by those words. even if ZGQ's true goal was the Feng-hou Qimen, no one had ever offered such a thing to someone like WY before; it's likely, even, that WY had never considered such a thing possible prior to this moment.

ZGQ's sincerity, coupled with WY's own guilt over changing ZGQ's fate without permission (see manhua ch. 222), led WY to open his heart up to this friendship in earnest.

in summary, as a bilibili bullet comment put it: 两个人都问心有愧 / the two of them both have a guilty conscience. in spite of that, they are both putting in the effort to be true friends.

when WY realizes ZGQ might be in danger at Biyou Village, he chases him there without hesitation (manhua ch. 222). because ZGQ wants to “用对等的身姿和他站在一起” / "stand together with [WY] in equal bearing" (manhua ch. 309), he faces his own fears and conquers his obsession (manhua chs. 310-311). worried about how the company is using ZGQ to lure out Ma Xianhong, WY goes so far as to divine the answer (manhua ch. 373). and when the company targets WY, ZGQ tries to lie and downplay their relationship to protect him (manhua ch. 630).

this, then, brings us to the most recent chapters (manhua chs. 675-676).

WY—who can't be contacted by anyone, and has shaken off every person sent to tail him—agrees to meet in-person with ZGQ with just one phone call.

as 昂 on lofter suggested:

大家应该包括张楚岚也联系不上他，有点猜想是王也还没想好怎么处理，不确定张楚岚的态度才不联系，他想找个人商量一下，张楚岚为了自己的目的不一定会给出什么答案，不一定能站在王也的角度，张楚岚这个时候公司那边的，狗头.jpg 我滴天，所以王也一直在等诸葛青联系他吗？

"Everyone" should also include Zhang Chulan who can't contact him. Somewhat guessing that it's Wang Ye who hasn't figured out yet how to deal with [Chen Jinkui's matter]; he's unsure of Zhang Chulan's attitude [on the matter], so that's why he hasn't contacted [him]. He wants to find someone to discuss it over with. For his own purposes, Zhang Chulan may not be [willing] to come up with any solutions; [he] may not be able to [consider] from Wang Ye's perspective. At this time, Zhang Chulan is on the company's side. [doge.jpg] Oh My God, so has Wang Ye been waiting for Zhuge Qing to contact him all along?

shipping aside, i think this is a very reasonable conjecture. 薏仁椰青很美味的！on lofter lays it out very nicely:

梦回北京篇一些月下谈心啊…… “道长你赢得了一个 可以倾心相交的好友” 七年了身边能够倾诉的 还是他

Dreaming back to some of Beijing arc's heart-to-hearts beneath the moon... "Daozhang, what you've won is a good friend that you can exchange hearts with completely." (Ma Xianhong's words from manhua ch. 228) Seven years have passed, the only one beside him he can pour his heart out to—is still him.

in spite of the "distance" between them, the only one who fully understands them—and, in turn, the only one they wholly trust—is each other.

i really like this analysis by sisal on lofter:

怎么说呢，不能只说是爱情，我更喜欢说是宿命。 这张图其实把他们俩想要的都表达了。一个是像内寻“我到底是谁”，而另一个背负着振兴诸葛家的使命。但从现在看，他们都南辕北辙。一个，最寻清净的，折了清净；另一个，心魔缠了许久。他们欣赏对方，理解对方。他们都是极好的人，所以他们的宿命纠缠，反复缠绕，但不会因为���益成为宿敌，而是战友，知己，灵魂伴侣。 而里面的一个石子，穿越了时空，将两个人物命运纽带联系。

How should I put it? You can't only say it's love, I prefer to say it's 'fate.' This image actually has portrayed what both of want. One wants to figure out "who exactly am I" from within himself, while the other shoulders the duty of revitalizing the Zhuge family. But as things are, they've both acted in ways that have thwarted their intentions. One of them seeks peace the most, yet broke [his] peace; the other was haunted by his inner demon for a long time. They admire each other, understand each other. They are both extremely good people, which is why their fates are entangled, and continue to intertwine, yet they won't become mortal enemies for the sake of their interests, but rather brothers-in-arms, zhiji, and soulmates. As for the little stone within [this chapter], it traveled across space and time to connect and link together the fates of these two characters.

the little stone being, of course, not unlike the one WY used during their match to demonstrate Feng-hou Qimen.

(LA s1, ep. 13; see also manhua ch. 110)

but whereas that first stone clearly demonstrated the difference between them, WY uses this one to bridge their disparity.

(manhua ch. 110 / ch. 675)

ZGQ doesn't disappoint either. many readers (including me) were worried about ZGQ's reaction following the ending of manhua ch. 675; seeing WY's Feng-hou Qimen reach new heights, would ZGQ be shocked? envious? unreconciled?

NO! the answer is revealed in the next chapter, as ZGQ delivers a mighty slap across WY's face.

(manhua ch. 676)

who gives a damn about whatever Supreme! what ZGQ cares about is getting revenge for 王也踏青图.jpg (ch. 269) and whether WY is here in-person!

ZGQ has set down his obsession for good, and now he really can stand (sit) shoulder-to-shoulder beside WY—and make good on his promise.

(manhua ch. 181 / ch. 186 / ch. 222 / ch. 676)

if WY is in trouble, ZGQ will face it together beside him.

i've unfortunately lost track of the OP on lofter, but someone also pointed out the significance of YeQing's positions in the little pavilion:

ZGQ faces "life," whereas WY sits behind him at "death." i don't think this is only about WY's failing health, but rather another demonstration of their dynamic.

time and time again, ZGQ turns to face WY head-on—WY who has 出世 / gone beyond and left the secular world, WY who is the enlightened Daoist up on a lofty perch, WY who is untouchable—and grounds him in the land of the living.

"you don't have to be alone," ZGQ is saying. "you aren't alone." at Longhu-shan, in Beijing, at Biyou Village, and now here in this little pavilion.

"you are human," ZGQ is saying. "you are fallible." and, most importantly, "you are still alive." he says this, then sits down at "death" beside WY.

"so," ZGQ is saying, "live with me."

清虚舟湫 on lofter concludes:

所以这更显得老青的重要性了。咱们这位小神仙可主动求救了。

As such, this even more so demonstrates lao-Qing's importance. This little deity of ours is taking the initiative to ask to be saved.

to turn a god into a man: 明知不可为而为 / to do something knowing full well of its impossible nature.

this is the practice WY reveres and admires most.

on the topic of "death" and "life," i also want to highlight the similarity in YeQing's responses to being defeated (by a fellow sorcerer, no less):

(manhua ch. 109 / ch. 377)

see? ZGQ's desire-turned-obsession was never so "vulgar" as it first appeared. it's "secular," it's "ordinary." WY himself—despite his attempts to dissuade ZGQ, BaoLan, and Ma Xianhong—desires his own form of "truth."

(manhua ch. 410)

as expected of a sorcerer (see manhua ch. 108; LA s1, ep. 13).

as expected of a cultivator (see manhua ch. 196; LA s1, ep. 23).

as expected of a human. to want to lead a life with meaning; to want to understand one's true self.

and this is where it gets interesting, right? because at Biyou Village, Ma Xianhong says this (manhua ch. 229):

and what were each of YeQing's decisions?

WY, who prioritizes the world, chose ZGQ.

ZGQ, who prioritizes himself, chose WY.

yet again, neither sorcerer made the "best" choice. but the choice they did make—fully cemented the place the other holds in their heart.

indeed, 飞蛾扑火 / moth to a flame, fatal and fated. each other's moth, each other's flame.

indeed, 冤家 / foes, and also destined lovers.

indeed, returning to the fundamental principle of Daoism: 阴阳和合 / the harmony between Yin and Yang. two beings that appear antithetical and distinct, but truthfully are complementary, interconnected, and transform the other. a false dichotomy; instead, parts of a unified whole.

opposites and equals: one cannot exist without the other.

Moth to a flame, forever altered by the other, buffeted by the winds – such is the share of fated affinity that belongs only to them. (from 水中月，镜中花 | moon in the water, blossoms in the mirror)

[minsarasarahair]

My Danmei Experience based from this template in this twitter thread but I don't really read much nowadays especially this year so this is "my whole experience" in general. Not by year. If I really like something I tend to stay for a long while so its hard for me to get into new titles.

My intro to Danmei - Mo Dao Zu Shi (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation)

Stole my heart completely - Tian Ya Ke (Faraway Wanderers)

Dark Horse - You Yao (Are You OK)

Surprised me - Sha Po Lang (Stars of Chaos)

My intro to danmei - Mo Dao Zu Shi (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation)

My story in this one is I became a fan before the donghua even aired. You know me. I see Long haired bishie. I'll definitely check it out. I remember seeing the cool animatics and trailer featuring Wei Wuxian playing his flute. Its one of the first donghua teaser. I can't find it anymore though. If you know, you know. That's when I start to became interested in it. I just love how the story values other characters aside from the main couple. Everyone have their big roles for the story. I love especially the Yunmeng Shuangjie story. My favorite character is Jiang Cheng. My favorite Wangxian scene is mostly before Wei Wuxian's resurrection because I treasure their progress and them getting to know each other. I tone down my love for it now because of what the fandom has become. I swear I can talk about JC here freely during the 1st season of donghua but I don't know what happened after The Untamed. The MDZS tag became a war zone about who's the best ship or which one suffer the most as in someone will attack you just because you talk about your favorite character JC lovingly as if its a crime to like him(Sorry to say that I'm the type of story enjoyer who don't focus only in morally good characters because I appreciate character designs and how he was written like his body language) so I mostly focus my energy now to JC tag and shipping Xicheng. I dislike it when fandom is trying to erase Wangxian's flaws and use it as their weapon to demonize JC because what I like about Wangxian is their flaws in the first place.

Stole my heart completely - Tian Ya Ke (Faraway Wanderers)

I'm grateful to the Word of Honor drama for introducing me to this story. I really like the love story in this. When I said love story, I meant the found family troupe and romance. Both of it! I prefer the book more than WOH but WOH is still decent at least until episode 30 I guess lol. I hate the miscommunication part. I really let my guard down in this one because they said Wen Kexing is the stereotype character I hate the most (pleasure seeking character who frequently visits brothel) but surprisingly I find myself liking him despite how annoying he is. Zhou Zishu is the same. He's a supporting antihero-like character in Qi Ye (prequel) who did atrocious things that hard to forgive. I like both of them. And the fact that both of them is at their late 20s when their first meet. I love how they understand and communicate with each other like a normal person despite not really a normal person lol. They only become normal in the presence of each other and their beloved only disciple, Chengling. I also tend to lose interest to my ship after the confession phase and when they are going out but when it comes to WenZhou, I love imagining their married life. Also, did you know that WKX has already decided ZZS as his lifetime partner without even knowing ZZS true appearance in the book? Like he know ZZS has disguise but he can only imagine his own version of ZZS in his mind lol He's so in love with a hobo just simply because he love his company. I find that cute and heartwarming. I just love the contrast that they look indecent or explicit but they have surprisingly cute sides as couple. I like that they live their 2nd life without rewind button or having the choice to change your past choices. They decided to move forward despite how messed up their past are and even raised a morally good hero, Zhang Chengling who love them dearly. You can tell ZZS' life is no longer his but for WKX and Chengling.

Dark horse - You Yao (Are You OK?)

I found this one because of the donghua adaption in IQIYI knowing its just an isekai comedy donghua. I didn't know its gay and surprisingly has 4 canon gay CP! Imagine how surprise I was! Its very short but I find it interesting and had a hard time moving on from obsessing over it. Their romance is very subtle though but focus in pair's emotional connection. The donghua give them the WOH treatment where the character flaws are toned down. They are antiheroes and morally grey characters in the book. Anyway! What I like about it is it gives a different spin to transmigration genre and every CP play an important role to get across a message to the reader. For example, LouZuo aka the Medicine pair explore the conflicts between natives and outsiders (transmigrators). We have scheming Lou Zhu who only care about himself and have conscience for only selected people which is kinda understandable after knowing how the natives mistreated the outsiders like him from Zuo Yunqi's memories where outsiders are executed publicly just because of their advanced knowledge or jailed if they are useless. Then we have the natives travelling CP, Long Daxia and Qian Zhenduo who witnessed their own world get ruined by outsiders and by emperor that they trusted. Another CP known as the Poison pair, Prince Yu and Li Ke's story explore Prince Yu's revenge against the emperor and his regrets that he can't be a good person for Li Ke. Lastly, the bickering pair Fan Aiguo and Xie Liang from Sick chapter who originally share one body but later enjoyed the company of each other despite their differences. Their story explore the side of ordinary people who are trying their best to help others. So yeah, it has 4 sides of the story. I really love the message of the story where the villains are the people obsessed in escaping reality and we have MCs who treat the new unfamiliar world as their new reality. Its against the charm of Isekai genre. Isekai fantasy is usually story focus on escaping reality but in You Yao, the transmigrator characters don't treat the native people as characters. Instead of thinking about an exit, they adapt.

Surprised me - Sha Po Lang (Stars of Chaos)

My story about SPL is funny. I read it out of spite. MDZS gained puritans in the fandom so I'm like "I shall read the most problematic pseudo-incest age gap danmei with racism I don't agree with but sometimes we need to read problematic stuff to be aware and be a critique hoping there's no puritans here. Yeah, MC wearing a monocle is handsome too so why not?". Also, we have donghua VA of Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng for the SPL audio drama as besties here so its a win-win situation to me. I can finally see them living happily in different universe. I was really surprised because its not that problematic? Its problematic still but I imagined worse than this. Like Loveless or Junjou Romantica? That's my standard of worse? I think ChangGu is actually the most romantic Danmei couple I ever encountered that I actually like. I'm saying this as someone who's not into heavy romance story. The main couple has a very well-balanced dynamic, no power imbalance and definitely a power couple. Chang Geng who values Gu Yun's wish, conditions and dreams to the point of changing the country's system for his loved one who's a general is hard to accomplish yet he surprisingly did it? That's romantic to me! The politics and economics aspect are also interesting. Their story made me care about the world. The best selling point of this story for me is the growth of the MCs as a person, their feelings and relationship. Also the ancient China industrial revolution-steampunk setting! Its really one of a kind and something new. I like to believe that Gu Yun started dating Chang Geng out of pity and his platonic love for young Chang Geng. He only fell in love with him romantically when they exchange ideas for future. Like yes, he already care about Chang Geng in probably familial sense. He is his home after all. But loving and being in love are two different things. I like that the text made sure that Gu Yun didn't fall in love with the young Chang Geng but the adult Chang Geng who value his dreams that are hard to achieve.

[thenanamisimp]

This isn't something I've really done much since I started this blog but I really wanted to discuss this week’s TGCF episode.

This is your spoiler warning!!

Heaven official's blessing season 2, episode 6 spoilers but there are also discussions of the respective scenes from volume 2 so if you haven't finished reading the novel, I'd suggest maybe not reading this post.

For context, I saw a user on twitter discuss how the donghua has been adapting Hua Cheng's display of emotions towards Xie Lian.

Source

I also saw another user discuss the difference between how the novel/audio drama and the donghua have been showing Hua Cheng expressing emotions.

(I can't share the source as the OP is now private on twitter)

While I haven't actually listened to the audio drama and I'm only on my first re-read of TGCF, these posts inspired me and I have thoughts and opinions that I need to share before I implode (one day it’ll happen I swear).

The scene the posters are talking about is after hcg saves xl from the heavenly Xianle palace, where they talk about what happened at paradise manor (aka xl apologising for burning down the armoury and lying to hcg about the earth master and hcg apologising for hurting xl’s arm).

In the donghua, we see hcg very obviously upset. He appears obviously and genuinely very sad about having hurt xl, even with the whole incident having been an accident. The distress in his eyes and voice is evident and clear-cut, seeming perhaps even a bit childish. In contrast, when reading this scene in the novel, while hcg definitely comes across upset, his distress appears a bit more calm and collected and he instead truly seems like a responsible adult who made a mistake and is sincerely apologetic for it to xl.

I believe that there’s multiple reasons why the dongua team chose to show hcg’s emotions in the way that they did. In my opinion, a reason why they could’ve chosen to do it this way is because of censorship. Now hear me out; clearly as a western fan I can’t speak much on Chinese censorship as I’m not highly knowledgable on the subject. However, I’d like to believe that the producing team is trying to work around the censorship laws in their own way. By making hcg’s emotions a little more over-the-top and obvious, it’s a lot easier for us as the viewer, especially queer fans that might understand queer dynamics better than others, to see and pick up on the subtext of what those exaggerated emotions mean while never having to be said out loud. And yes, we could argue that for those of us who have read the novel, it’s easier to recognise those subtle moments of vulnerability even if hcg’s reaction was made as ambiguous as it is in the book, because we have a lot more context. We have to remind ourselves that Hualian’s love story is never gonna be shown in the donghua in the same as the novel and people who are new to the story won't pick up on their relationship as easily.

As someone who hand’t heard of TGCF until Netflix licensed the donghua in my region (in 2021 I think?), I actually highly appreciate this difference in hcg’s character in the donghua. And while I don’t appreciate queerbaiting, watching season 1 made me search for the original source material and ended up with 8 very expensive books on my shelf (it took me 2 years to find volume 2 in stock somewhere…. 2 YEARS because I refuse to buy from amazon). San Lang (specifically referring to hcg’s form in volume 1 or season 1) is definitely slightly more aloof and energetic than hcg in his real form, so I do believe that his adaptation in season 1 was a lot more true to the source than season 2 seems to be.

My personal opinion is that, we need to view the donghua with a little more leniency as they have limits to the scenes they will be adapting later on (if the donghua doesn’t get dropped. Let us all pray together) and they have to make some things a little more obvious (but still no homo) to keep as much of the gay factor as they can without getting, you know, arrested. At the end of the day, it comes down to us what we prefer to consume and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people preferring one over the other. It's valid to prefer hcg in the novels and it's valid to also enjoy hcg's donghua adaptation, even if he's different and not completely true to the OG material.

Now when it comes to the whole “making xl seem oblivious thing”…. The jury is still out on this one I’m afraid. This was the final scene of the latest episode meaning, we don’t actually know how they’re gonna adapt the following scenes and this could very heavily affect the way xl reacts from here on. An adaptation is just that and like mentioned before, the donghua team has to make decisions on how to adapt things due to censorship. And at the end of the day, I think this is an interesting take on xl’s character as one of the biggest parts of his character is how he struggles to accept love and care from other people so one can argue that… He actually is oblivious in this scene? Especially at this point in the story considering he’s known hcg for like, a week, 2 weeks max (do not quote me on that, I haven’t actually calculated, I am lazy. Point is, he hasn’t known him for very long at this point in time). And while I would for sure be a bit disappointed if he still is presented like this later on in the story, we’re still too early into it to criticise the donghua over this and future scenes that haven’t even been touched yet. It’s not in any way fair to base our opinions on the upcoming scenes on a singular 2 minute clip of Hualian’s interaction.

So, I have said my peace. Please remember that everything I’ve discussed is purely my opinion and not fact, so take this post with a grain of salt. I’d actually love to discuss this further with people so please send asks if you have anything to add!

(This is also another good post to read about the censorship stuff I talked about in this post. I like how this user phrased it.)

Once again, thank you for reading a (lengthy for once) ramble!

theNanamiSimp

[all-hallows-street]

Theory: Who was conspiring with Nick?

In season 2 of the All Saints Street donghua Nick's goal is to take the Demon King's powers from Neil. His first attempt by making a deal with Demon King directly fails (S2E02) and he would later get a call from a shadow figure (S02E04). That is how we learn that he was not working alone; someone was helping him find a method to absorb the Demon King's power.

As of now (Season 4) nothing has been revealed about this figure even if they still appear in the opening and Nick has turned 'good'. Because the Demong King story line is wholly original to the adaptation, there is no hint as to who this person might be in the manhua either. That can't stop me from speculating. I have three theories right now as it who could it be. Spoilers for two yet to be introduced manghua characters.

First Suspect: Will Bovil

First, I'll start with my least likely suspect. Will was introduced in Chapter 386; his black horns indicate that he is from a noble lineage of demons. He is very powerful, probably the most powerful out of all the demons in the series right now. He and his family could easily be rewritten to be connected to the Demon King (who coincidentally has a black color scheme) in the adaptation.

Outside of this tenuous connection there is also the note that Nick receives being written in ochre yellow. The eye color in the official illustrations is flexible. Most of the time all demons will have a yellow eye color, but in the most recent 7th anniversary illustration Will and his brother have the most intense yellow shade eye color that matches with the note. An even weaker connection is that the scheme for the clubs line (The one with Will as king) in the 6th anniversary deck is yellow, admittedly for the 7th anniversary the color scheme is now purple.

The weakest point of this theory is that none of the actions taken by the shadow figure fit Will's apathetic character at all. He isn't one to seek power, or anything outside of being with Sasha really. It would be too OOC and while the adaptation has significantly changed some characters (Damao being the biggest example) I think it could be a step too far to make Will a villain.

Second Suspect: Witt 'Iron Fang'

Iron Fang is a commoner vampire introduced in Chapter 412. He befriends Lynn online to scam him, but Ira stops him and turns him in to the police because Iron Fang is an international smuggler. Iron Fang is the closest that we have to a straight up 'bad guy' in 1031 WSJ. One of the most recent fantasy AU comics (Ch 780) makes him a confidant that betrayed the king Lynn to usurp his throne. If anyone could be a villain in the adaptation is him.

As he is a smuggler it would also explain how he got the book and later on the 'wand' to extract the Demon King's powers. Iron Fang also displayed a disdain towards angels, giving him a motive for why he would want to awaken the Demon King: destroy the current peace between evil beings and angels.

The biggest point against it being Iron fang, is that he was introduced too close to when the anime was being released. March/April 2020 was the first strip where he appears. Season 1 was released in April 2020 with season 2 releasing in October, but obviously the donghua was being worked on way before that. However, Iron Fang could easily retroactively be made to be this shadowy figure even if back then they had no idea who this character would be. Which leads me to...

Third Suspect: New character

The dongua has created a few, admittedly nameless, characters. Mostly the supernatural league leaders are all original and of course the Demon King himself. I can see out suspect being a new character, maybe someone to contrast with the Demon King. Previously I was rambling about the demons' yellow eye color matching a note, but you know what group is also associated with yellow/gold?

I think an angel villain would be an interesting twist, but I'm just a humble reader and this is just my opinion. Right now, anything is possible, and I trust the team behind the adaptation to cook up something good.

Thanks for reading my insane ramblings and if all my theorizing turns out to be MatPat levels of wrong you are free to make fun of me for like a month.

[dramatea88]

Thousand Autumns - guess I found a BL I can root for 🤭

Enjoying the Thousand Autumns donghua.

I tried reading Moxiang Tongxiu's books but just couldn't get into them. Heaven's Official Blessings and even the book that inspired the famous Untamed drama, just made me nod off. I am going to say something sacrilegious but the main characters were sooooooo annoying and I found the stories chaotic.

So, I decided to start the Thousand Autumns donghua because I like the enemies to lovers trope. I had zero expectations but am curious to see how the author pulled it off.

Ended up suuuper impressed with the quality of the donghua. The art, voice acting, storytelling. Top notch!

But anyway it looks like I just like Meng Xi Shi's writing style better because Thousand Autumns feels like a very classic wuxia tale and the characters are nuanced and developed.

I found Yan Wushi fascinating.

Yan Wushi, to quote someone from Goodreads, 100% "deserves a beating, but is still bae."

Shen Qiao, however, is hugely annoying for his boy scout ways, but I have to admit he makes such a compelling contrast to our "evil" lord.

I guess I like bad boys 🤭

[feng-huli]

“I remember many years ago when I was just an unpopular prince, I didn’t really get to drink good tea. But your grandfather only loved liquor. He threw a lot of tea away, so I got to taste some good tea. I loved drinking tea since then. Tea is great stuff. I don’t want to drink it alone. I want the world to know how wonderful it is. All the strife in this world is caused by the loss of oneself, which is caused by ignorance. I will set the world right by cleaning up evil.”

I love this scene so much. The way it gives meaning to the time Zhuo Qing brought him tea in season 1, the way it lays out his motivations, how it conveys some difficulty and underlying sadness in his past… The contrast between the potential tone-deafness of saying all this to Xiao Ruofeng, who nearly died as a child because his mother was an unpopular consort, and the possibility that Emperor Tai’an sees something of himself in him because Xiao Ruofeng and he were both once unpopular.

The donghua has set itself up to be a chess game between Emperor Tai’an and Xiao Ruofeng, and this scene is very effective in developing it (particularly in the way it contrasts tea with liquor, which holds significance to Baili Dongjun)

[mramur]

the contrast of neil's behavior towards james in the donghua and manhua lmfaooo.

honestly it was nice they make him more kind towards nick and james relationship, but also i love to see disgusted-neil at nick sucking up to james (nick and his daddy issue 😭). bit tastier for a family drama.

[adanima]

ok finished s1 of the donghua and having Jiang Cheng thoughts

out of the three main cultivators we've been introduced to, he has the most obvious contrast between present and past and it's very tragic to see. to see this guy who used to be very pleasant and accommodating to his family is now so cold and unforgiving with his nephew, presumably the only family he has left, that his nephew believes his love/acceptance is conditional on his performance as a cultivator. that's just...yikes

and then to see how his parents being killed is like the switch that sets jiang cheng off. this formerly composed, not impulsive guy is now hellbent on one goal and is willing to throw so much away for it. which is understandable, it's just sad to see the effects of tragedy

i think it's very interesting how the lotus pier massacre can be ultimately traced back as retaliation for wei wuxian standing up to the wen but the exact act that sets off the massacre is actually done by jiang cheng's mom

omg the whole messed up dynamics of the jiang family? let's start with the parents. jiang cheng's dad can't see past both boy's mothers, jiang cheng's mom is fixated on wei wuxian's mom and what it means for him to be in this household and she's also fixated on jiang cheng being jiang fengmian's heir. both of them are seeing these boys as sons of [blank] rather than as their own individual persons

now the boys themselves. honestly, it's really impressive that jiang cheng and wei wuxian managed to stay so close growing up. i can't imagine how hard it was for jiang cheng to not become bitter and start hating wei wuxian. jiang cheng seems to have been in wei wuxian's shadow the entire time growing up - wei wuxian is a better cultivator, better hunter, more personable, he has jiang fengmian's eternal favor. the only person who gives him more positive attention than to wei wuxian is his mom but even then it's a pretty low bar on positivity. and, arguably, his mom still gives wei wuxian more attention than him, and it's like even if it's not positive, wei wuxian still somehow matters to her more than her own son

speaking of becoming bitter and jealous, i wonder if in future episodes we'll see jiang cheng be jealous about how easily wei wuxian was able to put down wen chao. i know in the moment jiang cheng was more ecstatic at seeing wen fall than anything else, but once he's had time to think about it, i wonder if he'll be jealous about how he still wasn't powerful enough or good enough to avenge his parents on his own. he had to rely on wei wuxian to do the job

and then last note on the jealousy. fully hc'ing here but i wonder if part of the reason we see jiang cheng be so hostile towards lan zhan in the present is because he's been jealous of the connection wei wuxian and lan zhan had since their studying days. i wonder if he got jealous when wei wuxian kept trying to be friends with lan zhan and wondered if it was because wei wuxian suddenly had a more powerful/prodigious cultivator to be friends with than jiang cheng. that probably didn't help with him feeling like he's not good enough to be future head of the jiang clan

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group G Round 1: #G3 vs #G6

#G3: Slime farmer kid travels around helping people

Deep in the forest lives a child named Ryouma Takebayashi. He engages in the rather strange hobby of keeping various types of slimes as pets. Furthermore, despite his young age, he has a sturdy physique and good compatibility for magic. All of this is because, having endured much hardship in his previous life, three gods grace Ryouma with a second chance to pursue one goal: savor the wonders of life.

Eventually, Ryouma embarks on a journey to explore the vast world beyond his home and apply his knowledge to help people.

#G6: Emperor and Empress bodyswap in ancient China

Within the Chinese imperial court, stern-faced Emperor Xiao Jinyun and spirited Empress Xu Yu are at constant odds with one another. But the universe has an interesting way to solve their issues: an accident causes the two to switch bodies, forcing them to put themselves in the other’s shoes—literally. Now responsible for unfamiliar duties and court dynamics, the Emperor and the Empress must navigate the maintenance of their identities, unruly concubines, and the nation itself. In doing so, Xiao Jinyun and Xu Yu’s personal qualities and unconventional skills find new purpose, and a sense of understanding and compassion grows between the two.

However, great threats loom within and outside the court. If the imperial astrologer cannot discover the key to switching them back in time, then internal strife and suspicion may lead to the duo's untimely demise.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#G3: By the Grace of the Gods (Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko)

Propaganda:

It’s a calming, adorable anime about helping people and being fulfilled with life. Honestly, not much happens, but it’s the sort of series that you can just watch at the end of the day and feel healed. The protagonist is an adorable and levelheaded kid, people around him are NICE and everything feels good.

Trigger Warnings: None.

#G6: No Doubt in Us (Liang Bu Yi)

Propaganda:

Liang Bu Yi/No Doubt in Us is one of the most interesting donghua I’ve ever watched. The characters have varying personalities and, because it’s set in ancient China, are rather unique. Considering that Emperors had to keep harems and the fact that this is a straight couple rom-com makes the drama rather spicy. Plus, the Empress is far more qualified in the things a woman in those times wouldn’t be interested in, like sword fighting, archery etc.

To be honest, the contrast between Xu Yu (the Empress) and Xiao Jinyun (the Emperor) results in the show being far more interesting than other ones with the same trope.

Trigger Warnings: None.

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[mejomonster]

I'm reading a research paper on 同志文学 and it was written around 2010. I'm really curious how the literature landscape has changed. The paper makes no mention so far of 耽美, so I am wondering if perhaps it was less big back then? But also I know there's fairly old danmei stories online.

Tongzhi stories specifically seem to be majority written by queer writers, and read by queer readers (when this paper was written about 30% of readers were straight and referred to as zhi tongzhi straight comrades, or 腐女 which I'm pretty sure nowadays is used similar to fujioshi - a term to describe or insult danmei/BL readers). Danmei in contrast seems to have a majority straight readership, in the sense that it's more widely popular generally (queer people read and many straight people widespread read it). So I'm wondering if when danmei got an upswing in popularity, which it did by the time we got multiple danmei show/donghua/manhua/audio drama adaptations in recent years, did tongzhi novels become more niche? Becoming more of a separate section of the online literature landscape, more closed off and read by primarily queer people staying out of the limelight of public popularity (compared to danmei)? Or did tongzhi literature partly get taken by wider audiences as similar? Because when I looked up the difference between tongzhi xiaoshuo and danmei I'm apparently far from the only person who Google that lol (I got a lot of chinese results I'm about to read through). And when I looked up tongzhi xiaoshuo on its own, I didn't see sites that specifically were posting tongzhi fiction, instead I saw a lot of tongzhi/danmei combined rec lists and sites that include tongzhi within their wider collection of stuff. (Though this research paper lists sites at the end so I'll be able to go find them eventually - I couldn't find BoySky 阳光地带 though which is what the research paper listed by name). So far based on the paper, tongzhi literature seems more like realistic setting queer literature in America (so maybe Heartstopper, maybe Call Me By Your Name, not so much Sarah Waters novels since she goes more multi genre with both queer romance and thriller historical). I'm curious if there is thriller historical tongzhi literature. I'm also curious how to find the lesbian tongzhi stories, because they are mentioned as existing in this paper, but when searching tongzhi xiaoshuo like I mentioned mostly danmei-related stories are coming up which are men/men.

Then there's baihei, which I'm not sure was as popular for the Last 20 years as danmei was, if it's like other parts of the world and GL just generally being less widespread. Baihei also has kicked up in popularity as of Very Recently - we saw Couple of Mirrors this past year, baihe webnovels so popular English donghua reviewers mention them and hope to see them adapted as much as people were hype about mdzs, more short form Baihei web shows, inside and outside of China more GL shows are getting started period. So like... danmei has some historical context. I'm not sure when baihe popped up, and I'd love to find out (I'm going to Google it) but so far history of queer women in Europe, America, or China I've struggled to ever find any fucking info (except victorian women marriages that's about all I've found). So I worry there will be little research on baihe and when it started and how it evolved. I'm curious if it's connected to tongzhi wenxue, since tongzhi wenxue includes lesbian fiction. Or if it it's a completely separate genre (in the sense that like.. danmei with its focus on beauty and that it does not strictly need to include queer realism makes it a separate entity from tongzhi literature, although some danmei does cross the line into feeling a bit like both danmei genre specific qualities and very queer literature general qualities... sort of like how Manner of Death and Not Me thai dramas both contain BL tropes but also just feel generally like thrillers with queer romance in them). So yeah, I'm curious when baihe started online and what got it growing. (I would guess to some degree it grew as danmei grew, since both bring in straight audiences along with queer audiences so it's a bigger general audience of readers, and as danmei gets bigger people expect more care given to baihe, which in some way has been happening in most countries that start with queer men stories in media then gradually more queer women stories start getting produced).

Feel free to ignore. If anyone has links to development of tongzhi wenxue, danmei and baihe, I'd be very curious. Articles can be in chinese. I'm looking for these discussions right now but I'm not particularly good at searching for information in chinese.