#preferring another character to the mc? absolutely based i’ve done that dozens of times

[shizunitis]

Whats the worst SV take youve seen?

this has turned into something entirely too long, and the subject kind of got away from me, so i’m adding a cut. yapping king of shizun city, you understand. anyway:

a rather demoralising and shocking opinion i saw, when i first got into the fandom (having just finished reading and letting the story stew in my brain for a while) was the “luo binghe is selfish and hysterical”. two other ones which kind of baffled me were, “shen qingqiu is clearly stupid and short-sighted” and “shen qingqiu isn’t attrated to binghe.” and there were some rather callous comments about shen yuan’s internalised homophobia that i like to think were just worded poorly and i was being overly-sensitive at the time.

i never got into discussions over fandom wank, cause it’s a waste of time and energy and a brand of silly i don’t enjoy, but it was kind of like getting cold ice thrown over my head for no reason.

why couldn’t they understand who these characters fundamentally are? why was it so hard to empathise with the choices these characters made?

i suppose the main things is, i don’t really understand why one wouldn’t even attempt to see things from the characters’ perspectives, mostly. that’s what i usually try to do, and it was a bit of a culture shock to see how some people online engage with media.

like, isn’t that the point? to see characters different from us try to navigate their version of the world? to empathise? why do we have to be so cruel even when engaging with fantasy? why fight tooth and nail to bend the characters this way and that, just so it’s more palatable, so it fits certain tropes, so it’s more relatable? do you have to see yourself in something to appreciate it? i mean, yeah, kind of, i guess. but. at times, it feels like people are trying to distance themselves from the art they’re enjoying because one thing didn’t cater to them. if that makes sense. i hope it does.

just. why comment, with your real fingers, and project onto my real screen, vitriol for a character who 1) is not real, 2) cannot hurt you and 3) you clearly don’t care to explore and understand in good faith? why are you here if it doesn’t serve you? isn’t that just sucking the joy out of everything? you can always let it go?

“internet etiquette” is a weird term to me because i’m weird, but it does make things easier when you’re polite and curious rather than. whatever some people are doing. et cetera.

admittedly, that’s more of a me probably not understanding something. that’s always a very real possibility, and i can be uncharitable at times, especially when i’m tired. alas, it’s my blog, i very rarely am not tired, and i’m too many words deep to stop at this point. i get to complain how i want.

back to the main point: both luo binghe and shen qingqiu are characters that were written very well, and clearly have a lot of soul and thought put into them. their motivations are not hard to figure out. (especially in binghe’s case, but shizun’s aren’t that difficult to parse if you think for a bit.)

the comments weren’t especially vicious, save for some outliers which i suspect had more of a personal bias, and i did manage to eventually find my way to a corner of fandom that can, in fact, read. but i do wonder, sometimes, how some of these people would react to the actually toxic, one-dimensional yaoi filth i read.

just. you are reading a master-disciple fantasy romance, in the end. being shocked and horrified when the master-disciple fantasy romance has master-disciple fantasy romance tropes in it is a bit silly.

anyway. i hope the first people i encountered in the svsss/danmei fandom are well, and that they’ve since started reading/watching works with characters they enjoy seeing, rather than powering through something they clearly don’t resonate with.

also, that they’ve learned to be nicer, maybe. that would be good. would help them, i’d like to think.

i’m sorry if this was not a good answer anon, but you understand, surely. i’m very small and very new to things. trying to figure them out. thank you for the vent material

[dangermousie]

Mousie’s absolutely subjective, very biased Top 10 web novels list

Please note that this is hardly aiming to be objective, if one can even be properly objective about a work of fiction. It is 110% based on my preferences, which means this list is heavy on the angst and has nothing set in the modern day. It is also heavily danmei-centric, even though I read way more het romance than danmei, because for whatever reason, most of the danmei I’ve read has been insanely good.

10. Return of the Swallow - one of the two non-danmeis on this list. Smart and nuanced and with a large cast of characters. Our heroine is a long-lost daughter of the family that is brought back in and has to cope with familial struggles, crazy royals, court intrigue, invasion et al. It’s SO GOOD! There is romance with the sexy smart enemy general but honestly, it’s the heroine that is the main selling point for me.

9. Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - the only other non-danmei novel on this list, this was my very first web novel and what drew me into this insanity. This is just a ton of fun, probably the lightest novel on this list, not an ounce of angst to be found. But it’s hilarious and features competent heroine and tsundere hero and I will always love it for opening a new world to me. Anyway, our heroine transmigrates into the novel as the female lead. Unlike the original lead though she doesn’t want to seek adventures and angst - she just wants to comfortably live with the wealthy, nice husband heroine has. Alas, said husband is no longer nice since he has previously lived this story where he was betrayed by FL and then transmigrated/reincarnated into the past. Oh well, the heroine opens up businesses and makes friends. And eventually, her husband realizes his wife is way different this time around. This actually doesn’t have much romance, not until close to the end, but this is so fun I don’t care.

8. Lord Seventh - I am only partway through this so far, but it’s already on the list because it’s smart and somehow intense AND laid-back (not sure how this works, but it does) and is honestly just a really really solid and smart period novel, with the OTP a cherry on top of a narrative sundae. Plus, I love the concept of MC deciding he is not going for his supposedly fated love - he’s tried for six lifetimes, always with disaster, and he’s just plain done and tired. When he opens his life in his seventh reincarnation and sees the person he would have given up the world for, he genuinely feels nothing at all. (Spoiler - his OTP is actually a barbarian shaman this time around, thank you Lord!)

7. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) - oh come on, how are you even on this tumblr if you don’t know MDZS/The Untamed? This was my very first danmei and it’s so much fun! I love everything about it - the unreliable narrator, the looping structure, the main OTP, Wei Wuxian’s laidback, traumatized insouciance, everything. Anyway, the plot in the event you somehow transported here from 2005 is that the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian, was defeated by the righteous sects over a decade ago and fell of a cliff to his death. Only now that same Wei Wuxian opens his eyes in another body and everything that was supposed to stay in the past starts again.

6. Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) - people either love its meandering narrative, picaresque structure and cast of thousands, or find it a detriment compared to much more compact MDZS. I love it even more than MDZS for those very qualities. It does have a rock-solid, darling OTP, but what really elevates it to me are the MXTX trademark combo of snarky/light tone hiding a ton of trauma underneath, the insanely intricate world-building, and what it has to say about the nature of grace and goodness. Xie Lian is one of my top 5 web novel characters and probably in top 10 from anywhere. Oh, and while MXTX’s stuff is not as angsty for me as Meatbun’s or even Priest’s, there are always exceptions, and there is one chapter in this novel that pretty much broke me and sometimes I still flashback to it and feel unwell.

Anyway, what is it about? There is a commotion in the heavenly realm - Xie Lian, the Crown Prince of a long-destroyed kingdom, has ascended to Godhood. That in itself is not so exciting. However for Xie Lian this is the third time (!!!!) as he’s ascended and lost his godhood twice prior. And now, the biggest joke of the divine realm is back, throwing the heavenly realm into chaos. And elsewhere, Hua Cheng, one of the four most powerful demons of that Universe, sits up and takes notice.

5. Golden Stage - my perfect comfort novel. Probably the least angsty of any danmei novel on this list (which still means plenty angsty :P) It also has a dedicated, smart OTP that is an OTP for the bulk of the book - I think you will notice that in most of the novels in this list, I go for “OTP against the world” trope - I can’t stand love triangles and the same. Anyway, Fu Shen, is a famous general whose fame is making the emperor antsy. When he gets injured and can’t walk any more, the emperor gladly recalls him and marries him off to his most faithful court lackey, the head of sort of secret police, Yan Xiaohan. The emperor intends it both as a check on the general and a general spite move since the two men always clash in court whenever they meet. But not all is at is seems. They used to be friends a long time ago, had a falling out, and one of the loveliest parts of the novel is them finding their way to each other, but there is also finding the middle path between their two very different philosophies and ways of being, not to mention solving a conspiracy or dozen, and putting a new dynasty on the throne, among other things. It always makes me think, a little, of ��if Mei Changsu x Jingyan were canon.”

4. Sha Po Lang - if you like a lot of fantasy politics and world-building and steampunk with your novels, this one is for you. This one is VERY plot-heavy with smart, dedicated characters and a deconstruction of many traditional virtues - our protagonist Chang Geng, a long-lost son of the Emperor, is someone who wants to modernize the country but also take down the current emperor his brother for progress’ sake and the person he’s in love with is the general who saved him when he was a kid who is nominally his foster father. Anyway, the romance is mainly a garnish in this one, not even a big side dish, but the relationship between two smart, dedicated, deadly individuals with very different concepts of duty is fascinating long before it turns romantic. And if you like angst, while overall it’s not as angsty as e.g., Meatbun stuff, Chang Geng’s childhood is the stuff of nightmares and probably freaks me out more than anything else in any novel on this list, 2ha included.

3. To Rule In a Turbulent World (LSWW) - gay Minglan. No seriously. This is how I think of it. it’s a slice of life period novel with fascinating characters and setting that happens to have a gay OTP, not a romance in a period setting per se and I always prefer stories where the romance is not the only thing that is going on. It’s meticulously written and smart and deals with character development and somehow makes daily minutia fascinating. Our protagonist, You Miao, is the son of a fabulously wealthy merchant, sent to the capital to make connections and study. As the story starts, he sees his friend’s servants beating someone to death, feels bad, and buys him because, as we discover gradually and organically, You Miao may be wealthy and occasionally immature but he is a genuinely good person. The person he buys is a barbarian from beyond the wall, named Li Zhifeng. It’s touch and go if the man will survive but eventually he does and You Miao, who by then has to return home, gives him his papers and lets him go. However, LZF decides to stick with You Miao instead, both out of sense of debt for YM saving his life and because he genuinely likes him (and yet, there is no instalove on either of their parts, their bodies have fun a lot quicker than their souls.) Anyway, the two take up farming, get involved in the imperial exams and it’s the life of prosperity and peace, until an invasion happens and things go rapidly to hell. This is so nuanced, so smart (smart people in this actually ARE!) and has secondary characters who are just as complex as the mains (for example, I ended up adoring YM’s friend, the one who starts the plot by almost beating LZF to death for no reason) because the novel never forgets that few people are all villain. There is a lovely character arc or two - watching YM grow up and LZF thaw - there is the fact that You Miao is a unicorn in web novels being laid back and calm. This whole thing is a masterpiece.

2. Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - want the emotional hit of 2ha but want to read something half its length? Well, the author of 2ha is here to eviscerate you in a shorter amount of time. This has the beautiful world-building, plot twists that all make sense and, at the center of it all, an intense and all-consuming and gloriously painful relationship between two generals - one aristocratic loner Mo Xi, and the other gregarious former slave general Gu Mang. Once they were best friends and lovers, but when the novel starts, Gu Mang has long turned traitor and went to serve the enemy kingdom and has now been returned and Mo Xi, who now commands the remnants of his slave army, has to cope with the fact that he has never been able to get over the man who stabbed him through the heart. Literally. This novel has a gorgeously looping structure, with flashbacks interwoven into present storyline. There is so much love and longing and sacrifice in this that I am tearing up a bit just thinking of it. If you don’t love Mo Xi and Gu Mang, separately and together, by the end of it, you have no soul.

1. The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha/erha) - if you’ve been following my tumblr for more than a hot second, you know my obsession with this novel. Honestly, even if I were to make a list of my top 10 novels of any kind, not just webnovels, this would be on the list. It has everything I want - a complicated, intricate plot with an insane amount of plot twists, all of which are both unexpected and make total sense, a rich and large cast of characters, a truly epic OTP that makes me bawl, emotional intensity that sometimes maxes even me out and so much character nuance and growth. Also, Moran is my favorite web novel character ever, hands down.

Anyway, the plot (or at least the way it first appears) is that the evil emperor of the cultivation world, Taxian Jun, kills himself at 32 and wakes up in the body of his 16 year old self, birth name Moran. Excited to get a redo, Moran wants to save his supposed true love Shimei, whose death the last go-around pushed him towards evil. He also wants to avoid entanglement with Chu Wanning, his shizun and sworn enemy in past life. And that’s all you are best off knowing, trust me. The only hint I am going to give is oooh boy the mother of all unreliable narrators has arrived!

The novel starts light and funny on boil the frog principle - if someone told me I would be full bawling multiple times with this novel, I’d have thought they were insane, but i swear my eyes hurt by the end of it. I started out being amused and/or disliking the mains and by the end I would die for either of them.

[drink-n-watch]

Genre: Romance, adventure, supernatural

Length: Short (2 – 10 hours)

Developer: Date Nighto

  Maybe Raistlin will know what I’m talking about, but when I was a kid, I read a book in which a character said: 

“I’m small because I was meant to do small things. If you look at all the big things in the world closely, you’ll see that they’re really made up of small things all joined together.’ That big dragon down there comes to nothing but tiny drops of blood, maybe. It’s the small things that make the difference.”

I’m quite little myself so I’ve held that quote close to my heart, like a motto and a shield. The little things do matter, they make all the difference in the world. Hustle Cat is a game that gets all the little things right! 

it’s the quiet moments you end up rememering

I bought Hustle Cat almost as soon as it came out 2 years ago. I had been following Date Nighto’s crowdfunding efforts and was delighted when the project was finally completed.

The premise is fairly simple. You play as Avery Grey, a recent graduate trying to figure out how to get this life thingie started. To that end, you decided to go crash at your aunt’s house in the big city while she’s out of town and even manage to get yourself off the sofa long enough to look for a job. Go You! You are getting things Done! Well kinda. You pretty much gave up when you stumbled across a seriously adorable cat café that happens to be hiring! 

yup – me…

  Ok so it’s minimum wage and the owner is a little odd, but he’s really nice and you get to spend the day surrounded by cute cats and even cuter coworkers. What more could you want? If the answer is mystery, magic and adventure – you’re in luck!

As far as dating sims go, this is a fine little outline. Nothing that out of the ordinary but sweet enough. It’s recognizable to us otome fans and blends eastern and western sensibilities quite well. But the big picture isn’t where it’s at. The real magic of Hustle Cat is in the details.

for the longest time I thought those were huge earrings

First off, let’s talk main character. Avery is fantastic. A supremely relatable character, a little lazy, a little scattered, with a good heart, and, very rare for an otome, a great head. You will relate to Avery, I’m sure of it but you will also be proud to be Avery. Not once in the whole game was I screaming at the screen or wondering why Avery was acting that way. Not once was I faced with choice options that forced me to pick the lesser bad. Avery is a good person who I would honestly like as a friend. Simple taking the time to develop a bit the MC and make the act rational, was brilliant and heighten the play experience considerably. It may not seem that important…

I managed to write an entire paragraph on Avery without giving too much away but let’s delve a bit deeper. You actually get the chance to personalize a bit Avery’s appearance. This is still very rare in Visual Novels so the feature is a huge plus already, but the personalization is done in the smartest possible way. Although the cosmetic choices you have are very limited they cover all your bases. Essentially you can choose short cropped hair or a longer shaggier do, and you have the option between 3 skin tones. That’s it. However, limited those options may seem they actually allow for more diversity and representation than I have ever seen in such a game. What’s more, your chosen appearance is carried over to every single CG. Such a simple touch was incremental in allowing me to form a strong bond with Avery as associate with them on a deeper level. CGs didn’t take me out of the fiction since they were all in line with the world I had created in my mind. 

I love that t-shirt

And representation was also included in the narrative. You cannot change Avery’s name and personally I’m just fine with that. Not only am I horrible at naming things, I really love the name Avery Grey. You can however choose your preferred pronouns, as in: He/Him; She/Her and They/Them. As such, your chosen gender is reflected in all the dialogue and narrative. It really doesn’t limit your romance options or affect the routes in any substantial way but this small detail made Avery feel like a true representation of me. A little sloppy, a little confused but trying their best.

What I just spent way too many words trying to say is that Hustle Cat has a great MC. An MC I was proud and just happy to embody. But what’s a dating sim without some juicy dating options? Boy does Hustle Cat have you covered.

Once again, You get a pretty diverse range to choose from in both appearance and personality. They ae in fact all great characters. I’ll give you a taste but a summary doesn’t do them justice, just like your profile doesn’t do you justice I’m sure!

I want to make fun of your outfit…but I can’t!

Graves Serling

The mysterious and slightly chuuni owner of the Cat’s Paw. He seems a bit loopy but is very kind. His somewhat dorky affectations have the very pleasant side effect of making him very old school gentlemanly and polite with everyone. He remains fairly absent and mysterious in most routes, leaving you aching to know more.

people that can draw are seriously cool

Reese

He comes off as overconfident and slightly arrogant but soon reveals himself to be friendly and surprisingly dependable. Quick with a snarky retort and adorable when at a loss for words he somehow manages to be the most responsible and most immature character at the same time.

always best girl

Mason

Let’s face it, I can’t give you an objective idea of Mason because I think Mason is just ridicahawt. One of my all time favorite otome waifus. She’s the strong silent archetype. Rarely have I ever been so moved by seeing an imaginary character let down her guard. There might have been some tears…Some might have been mine…

wish I was there

Hayes

Shy, quiet, timid little cutey pie. Hayes is the little birdie you coax out of his shell. You know those birds with shells… Possibly the most divisive character, he seems to be meant as the cute one, but everyone’s pretty cute, so it’s hard to tell. If you have no patience for shy, scaredy cat (ha!), characters, he may be a bit difficult to take but I found him precious.

fantastic fashion sense

  Finley

Aww, my bestie Finley. Finley is the tongue in cheek, reference dropping, hashtag spouting, popular girl. She’s also hardworking and patient. In all honesty, if I met someone exactly like Finely in real life, I would immediately want to be their friend. I love it when the story actually makes me understand why a character is popular rather than just telling me they are. Her route was also absolutely ridiculous, making me laugh out loud regularly.

he cleans up decently

Landry

I guess you could say Landry is the most generic of the bunch (unless you do his route). The nice big brother type, always ready with a smile and a diplomatic solution. He’s the first person you meet and a bit of a mentor character. His route revealed a much more balanced and complex person, with a satisfying conflict to resolve.

The game is careful to be gentle with the characterizations. Even supremely eccentric Graves gets a fairly rational treatment. No big overblown personalities here that turn people into caricatures. Everyone is very real feeling. They have concerns and problems which may be mundane compared to the usual otome fair but are recognizable and real. They have strengths, not super powers. Flaws that are manageable but can add up. They are made up of dozens of little quirks, foibles, idiosyncrasies and characteristics that add up to actual fully formed personalities. It may not be extravagant but it’s certainly gratifying.

This said, as much as I appreciate all the characters, and there are some equally well-developed side characters and antagonists, what I was the most impressed by is the impressive balance in the routes.

oh it’s gonna scratch up my face isn’t it

No matter who you chose to pursue, you will end up with a relationship built on mutual respect and understanding. You are there to help each other not save or be saved. Every single one of these guys are better than you at something and worse at other things. There isn’t a hint of abuse or non-consent to be seen and the obvious age gap in the Graves route is addressed seriously and with careful consideration, rather than brushed under the rug.

I don’t want to go too much into the story as there are a few surprises and twists which are fun to discover for yourself. Suffice it to say the narrative is light and peppered with humor. As a fairly short Visual Novel (VNDB says 2 to 10 hours but I really don’t see how you can finish this in 2 – I think 5-15 is much more reasonable even if you’re skipping over most of it) you can easily complete all routes without feeling like you’ve been rereading the same thing for weeks on end.

every morning they have breakfas together – office goals!

One quick note, the universe here isn’t expansive. You are essentially confined to your aunt’s small apartment, a few alleyways and the Cat’s Paw café. You live in a small bubble with most of your traveling being done virtually through the internet (like most of us). However, the actual design of the Cat’s Paw is fantastic! If ever the graphic artists at Date Nighto get tired of their gig, they should go into interior design. Along with the breathtaking Time of Eve, this is one of my favorite virtual coffee shops ever!

  Hustle Cat isn’t grand. It’s a small adventure full of people just like you and me. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but it’s earnest and well-intentioned. It’s gentle and careful and pays attention to the little things. Because the little things matter.

If you’ve played it, let me know what you think. If you haven’t you can get it on Steam. I’m not getting paid for these guys, I just really liked it and I want these guys to make another game.

Hustle Cat – It’s the Little Things Genre: Romance, adventure, supernatural Length: Short (2 - 10 hours) Developer: Date Nighto Maybe Raistlin will know what I’m talking about, but when I was a kid, I read a book in which a character said: