#thus concludes lindwurmkai's c-drama recs of questionable quality hour

[lindwurmkai]

okay! *cracks knuckles*

based on your response, i think you would definitely enjoy the untamed. whether you want to start with it or watch something a little less confusing first is up to you, so i'll present some choices:

the untamed: fantastical elements mainly include spells, curses, mystical artifacts, that sort of thing. plus one (1) Weird Creature and, of course, necromancy - that's one thing that fell victim to censoring in addition to the gay stuff, so you just have to imagine there is considerably more necromancy in the book. lots of drama, intrigue and revenge. synopsis here, it's a pretty decent summary i guess? you can absolutely tell that it's based on a BL novel even though the romance couldn't be exaaactly made overt. like. it's pretty obvious tho.

love and redemption: i'm so glad i get to recommend this. :D (it's where the guy in my icon comes from!) here we have interactions between gods and mortals, animal spirits in human form, fantastic creatures, and "demons" - one of the few confusing things about this show is the way that word is used. just keep in mind that the "demon clan" is a specific group that not all so-called "demons" automatically belong to, and that these are different from the western concept of demons. "maybe not all demons are bad" is a big theme the characters wrestle with.

it's focused around a het romance, but a subversive one (often defying gender roles), and the show is surprisingly queer regardless. a big part of that only becomes apparent after a huge plot twist near the end though, so you're just gonna have to trust me on that one. 😂 synopsis here, once again pretty decent. what "deprived of her six senses" means is the other confusing thing - don't take it too literally, the only senses she is missing completely are taste and smell. getting those back later leads to adorable situations.

the blood of youth: comparatively low on romance and the fantastical elements are on a similar level as the untamed (although with fancier JRPG-like battle CGI). i recommend it not just because i thought it was really good, but also because it's a great mix of genres. you start out thinking it's gonna be mostly martial arts adventures and then the court drama comes in. excellent cast of characters, very entertaining and exciting. somewhat unnecessarily wordy synopsis here - that doesn't even begin to describe how important the imperial court will be to the plot, heh.

back from the brink: het romance in which one of them is a dragon. :3 also has other creatures in human form! i really enjoyed the romance itself, which is saying something. once again, gender roles are subverted and the way the relationship plays out is also just ... unusual? not very queer, although the two end up in a temporary love triangle situation with an entertainingly odd guy at one point and naturally i ship them as an ot3 now. synopsis here, which fails to mention the amazing animosity between the two mains before they grow fond of each other, or how complicated it all gets.

word of honor: the other c-drama based on a BL novel that nearly everyone who liked the untamed has also watched. it's ... less fantastical but even gayer? very wuxia. sadly it got a little butchered by censoring, so there's an alternative ending (a.k.a. the true ending) that you have to find separately (pretty sure the whole thing has been posted on tumblr tho) and chinese fans have done lip reading analysis of scenes that were dubbed over with different dialogue. despite these challenges, it's very good. synopsis here, both leads are poor little meowmeows who've committed atrocities. there's an ableist subplot i hated but it's not very long. 😬

this one is also quite hard to follow, or at least my partner and i both thought so. lots of factions to keep up with, plus plot-relevant objects that keep changing hands until you're completely confused as to how many there are and who currently has them. 😅 worth it tho.

in conclusion, while i love word of honor and the untamed, i would perhaps recommend starting with something else if BL isn't what you're here for. on the other hand, they did successfully pull me in so make of that what you will.

Heyooooo

I have a chinese drama question and thought you'd be the perfect one to ask!

I was watching a chinese anime, fantasy historical, as you do, and thought 'hey, if i like this so much maybe I should give one of the tumblr propaganda live action shows a try?'

I just don't know where to start, the one a while back with the demon man with the flute(?) and the very serious looking man in white looked really good! But is a good starter show? And uuuuh what was it called again?

Cheers!

lmao i hope you don't mind me answering this publicly. that would be the untamed! it was the show that kicked off this whole ... thing. for me.

is it good? yes. is it a good starter show? hoo boy how do i even judge that at this point. 😳

i'll say this: you're going to be confused. many characters have 2-3 names, there are some plot holes (mostly as a result of censoring or just things getting cut for length iirc), and there is simply ... a lot going on. personally i went in completely unfamiliar with the genre as well, so stuff went over my head and i didn't know what some terms meant etc.

i can probably dig up some helpful posts tho!

i would also love to recommend some alternatives, but i'm not sure what you're looking for. the major genres or genre groupings i have experience with are, roughly, xianxia (focused on gods/immortals/cultivators whose goal is to become immortal), wuxia (deals with the "martial arts world" a.k.a. jianghu, which i cannot sum up in one sentence but basically it's a little more down to earth, although fantastical elements often exist to varying degrees, and it tends to feature characters living on the fringes of society), and historical/fake-historical stuff that doesn't fall under either of these. court dramas can be surprisingly entertaining if you ask me.

a bit of overlap is not unusual, i think, and then sometimes the plot centers on romance within one of these genres.

so do you want romance? is het romance of interest or would you prefer an "as much queercoding as we can get away with" adaptation of a BL novel instead (like the untamed)? which of the genres sounds most appealing? how much do you mind major character death? (very important question 😂)

i can recommend one or two things set in modern times as well, including the absolute mess (said with love) that is daomu biji (the thing with the graverobbing adventures), but you probably don't want to get into that or you'll be here forever. :P

please answer my riddles three give me some pointers and i'll make a guess at which of my faves you'd like best. or i'll just go looking for those explainer posts about the untamed tomorrow.