#why did netflix do their subtitles like this

[mirror-and-mind]

Series Kusu: I'm just a medicine seller.

Movie Kusu: I'm actually not just a medicine seller. Also fuck you.

[electricsoul-rpg]

Netflix's 3 Body Problem

I tried watching Netflix’s American adaptation of Three Body problem. I watched five episodes and boy, is it painful.

(Full disclaimer: I really liked the Chinese adaptation by Tencent, I read the book after I watched the drama, and I am a European of Chinese descent, so I am definitely biased.)

The general whitewashing and westernization of the story is already pretty bad. Why take a Chinese story if you’re going to make it so blandly American?

Everyone is horny and thinks about sex, relationships based on ideals are reduced to attraction and sex. Everyone is so vulgar and crass. IQ seems very low.

Ye Wenjie. What did they do to Ye Wenjie. She’s a brainless horny fanatic woman now. And Shen Yufei is replaced by a generic unhinged lady. All the scientists seem supremely dumb.

White characters explain or emphasize things in Chinese, for Chinese people, when their Mandarin is bad. Not gibberish bad, but still pretty bad. Please just use English, your white actors clearly can’t speak Chinese. Your Chinese characters can understand and speak English. Don’t hurt our ears like this. It might be cool and exotic for the average Western audience who doesn't understand Mandarin but it’s cringe and painful for us.

A small thing but since I lost my father a few months ago, it struck me pretty hard. What was that altar in Clarence Shi’s house? Just two big pricey candles and one stick of incense? This is so cold and lifeless. Where is the FOOD??? The drinks??? The flowers/plants??? You're calling your wife and you're leaving her starving and depressed!

(For info, a normal small home ancestor altar should look more like this. As you can see : FOOD. Take care of your ancestors!)

The cast and setting is supposed to make this adaptation more "international"...but two British dudes decide everything when, in the novel and the Chinese adaptation, it is truly an international decision and an example of global cooperation. Five Oxford alumni of different skin color does not make this more international!

And so so so so many more things that are wrong. I feel like there is not a single Chinese brain cell in this.

All in all, I did not expect anything good, but I am still disappointed. It is so bland. No build-up. No mystery. No menace. No ambiance. Nothing. Everything is said straight to your face. They must think the audience is stupid, I guess.

Watch the Chinese adaptation

Did you like the ideas behind the Three Body Problem, either the book or the Netflix series? Are you ok with reading subtitles and watching something not in your language? Are you ok with seeing something set in another culture, with another culture's codes, not simplified and westernized for your sake? Are you ok with not being able to binge-watch it in one weekend? Are you ok with more complex characters, a slower-paced plot? Then try the Chinese adaptation. It's on Youtube and Viki, with subtitles. Legal and free.

[hauntingofhouses]

While theorising about the events to come in future seasons, I just keep going back to the question about who Mizu's parents really are.

So to try to figure it out, let's go over what we already know about Mizu's parentage and the white men. This info is from the flashback of Mizu as a baby in Episode 3, from the bounty hunters who came to kill Mizu in Episode 5, and from Fowler's reveals in Episode 8, assuming that everything he said is the truth.

Mizu must be someone important, as Fowler calls her Little Miss. It is capitalised in the Netflix official subtitles. This implies that Little Miss is something like a title, rather than just a nickname.

There is a bounty on Mizu's head with a sum few can resist. Whoever is trying to kill Mizu is rich and powerful.

Two men are sent to kill Mizu as a baby. They are Japanese. We know this because their swords are both katanas, and they're shocked when they see Mizu's blue eyes, discovering she's a "half-breed." Man #2 also calls her a "devil child" at the end of the flashback.

Man #2 is hesitant to kill her, as she's "only an infant," and ends up killing Man #1 to stop him from killing Mizu. Man #2 then gives Mizu to Mama, who is actually her maid.

Mama is paid to keep Mizu hidden. Mama does as told for years. We can infer that there was a steady stream of income going towards her, as she did as told until "the money ran out."

Skeffington and Routeley were the "worst" of the four white men, making their money from "selling Japan's unwanted daughters." Unwanted daughters like Mizu.

One of the white men "tried to burn Mizu alive as a baby."

One of the white men killed Mizu's mother ("Don't you want to know which one killed your mother?").

When bounty hunters came to the ranch to ambush Mizu, she asked them which white man they worked for. They only replied that the only white person they see is her. This could just be a way to avoid her question, or it could also imply that they do not work for a white man at all.

So from this, again assuming this is all true, let's go over some things:

The white men are NOT the ones who paid Mama to protect Mizu, as one of them had been responsible for trying to burn Mizu alive as a baby.

Mizu's mother was killed by one of the white men. She likely died protecting Mizu.

If it was the white father who tried to kill Mizu and her mother, then it's likely the mother's side who paid Mama to hide Mizu.

Mizu's mother must have been rich enough to afford servants.

Mizu's mother must have been someone powerful enough to have been in the shogun's inner circle, allowing contact between her and the white men.

Furthermore:

Mizu's mother should be someone tied to existing characters, to make the reveal of her identity more narratively significant.

So with all that said, let me dip my toes into wild theory-land for a bit and propose a new idea.

WHAT IF: Mizu's mother was a concubine or even the previous wife of the Shogun? And, considering how people have pointed out how similar Lady Itoh and Mizu look (credits to @roninzuzu in particular for her post on this), what if, maybe just maybe, Mizu's mother was also Lady Itoh's sister?

If this is true, then Mizu's connection to the shogunate would explain why and how Fowler knew so much about Mizu's past, especially regarding her maid taking care of her, etc. This is because Fowler is allied with the Shogun himself, as well as one of the shogun's closest advisors, Master Chiba. So if it were true that the previous wife/consort of the shogun gave birth to a blue-eyed baby, it would've been a big scandal that was certain to reach Master Chiba's ears, and he would have in turn informed Fowler about it.

If this is the case, both the shogun and the white man would be trying to kill Mizu and her mother. The shogun would be trying to cover up the scandal, while the white man would be furious that she wanted to keep the baby at all, as the scandal likely ruined his business dealings in Japan and forced him to retreat back to London or wherever else he came from.

But then, if that is the case, then who would have been the one paying Mizu's maid to take care of her? I think it's Lady Itoh. If she and Mizu's mother had indeed been sisters, perhaps Lady Itoh went behind the shogun's back to protect her sister and her baby niece. Because maybe Lady Itoh knew that Mizu's mother had wanted to protect her no matter what happened. In such a case, what kept Mizu alive would thus have been love. Her mother's love. In this scenario, Mizu would have been brought into the world through the sheer strength of her mother's unconditional love. This would be a very poignant message that overturns everything Mizu believes about herself.

Moreover, Mizu having connections to the shogunate would inevitably lead to her wanting to discover the truth about her mother's identity. This would thus bring Mizu back to Edo palace, and would neatly tie Mizu and Akemi's storylines together again, letting them cross paths once more and work together to face the main plot-conflict.

TL;DR it's my crazy theory that Mizu's dead mom was the sister of Lady Itoh and the previous consort of Shogun Itoh. She had an affair with one of the white men, and against her better judgement and against what everyone else wants from her, she decided to keep Mizu. By making this decision, she risked and sacrificed everything for Mizu, out of love.

[vani-ash]

Hi, I'm new here, I've just discovered Jeff a couple of weeks ago. And now I feel like a teenager again with a celebrity crush 😅

I'm very busy irl and I'm slowly working my way through his acting gigs and music videos. As a Jeff expert, what do you suggest a newbe like me should watch/listen to/read/know? I'm a little confused about all the Jeffs :D

a jeff expert 😭

Hi! Welcome!!! ❤️🥰 I hope you understand by asking this you have given me the opportunity to info dump about this man 😭 I'm sorry in advance but here is a (still very long) basic guide to Jeff Satur :)

Acting

I don't know what you have and haven't watched yet but his main show is KinnPorsche (which you can watch on IQIYI) his character Kim is only a side character though.

There are two series you can watch on youtube

He she It (3 episodes, about 50 minutes all together)

Labeled as a horror but it's not really.

Ingredients the series (21 episodes, each aprox 10-20 minutes)

Cute slice of life series about cooking

He just had a movie come out called The Paradise Of Thorns, it is on Netflix in Thailand (and will probably come to netflix in other country's too eventually) so you either need a VPN or other site to watch it currently

Happy Ending

Jeff is currently in the process of making his own series called Happy Ending.

He has made a pilot for it but it hasn't actually been filmed yet and is scheduled to start filming sometime around the middle of this year, and be out around the end of the year.

Vamp

He is also going to be part of another show called Vamp, Also not filmed yet but scheduled for sometime this year.

Wuju Bakery

This was filmed back in 2023, and was meant to come out the same year and then the date got moved twice, something happened and the company that was making it did some shady things and now its unknown if this will ever actually air, but you can still find bts photos and people often reference this show so I'm going to mention it here.(There is also 40 second trailer)

Call Me By Fire S3

Jeff was also on a Chinese survival show called Call Me By Fire S3 (can be found on youtube, there is english subtitles)

Music Videos/Jeffcest

Jeff has been making music for 10 years, (he used to use the names Jeff the Demo and Jeff Garden if you want to look up any of his earlier songs on youtube)

Due to his whole vibe (and specifically his music video for Ghost, which is actually a two part MV continued in his other song called Yellow Leaf)

People started shipping him with the characters he plays in his music videos. This has been labeled as Jeffcest, and each Jeff is a clone, the clones are each named after their respective song titles unless they already have name, pretty much everything about Jeffcest is fan made.

The most prominent of Jeffcest being a character called Sunshine from the music video Dum Dum. (There are 3 music videos for Dum Dum, Thai, English and an Unchained version)

(Ghost and Lucid are two of the other most used)

Jeff has dressed up as Sunshine during a concert and was also just brought back in Jeff's most recent MV called Ride Or Die. (which only came out 5 days ago)

Sunshine has his whole own lore (not fanmade comes from Jeff) which I wont get into here but if you want me to explain feel free to message me :)

Jeffs most popular song is probably Fade (based on the views, 208 million)

But his other most popular song is probably Why Don't You Stay which is an OST from KinnPorsche. There is a Thai and English version.

All of his MVs have an interesting story line so they're all worth watching at some point.

Some songs Jeff is featured in:

Far - Silvy ft. Jeff

แผลเป็น (scar) - bodyslam ft. Jeff

Steal the Show - Shaun ft. Jeff

จำนน (White Flag) - Nont Tanont ft. Jeff

Other Things

Whenever Jeff preforms, wherever he is, it rains. He got joked to be the son of the rain god due to how often this happened, and for Halloween 2023 he held a contest for people to design him as the Rain God. (Rain God is also often used in Jeffcest)

Acounts

Jeff has his own company/studio called Studio on Saturn

Twitter - Instgram

On the last day of the month this account will post his schedule for the upcoming month letting you know when he has any scheduled events.

This Youtube account often posts fancams of the whole event from most of Jeffs events.

This youtube account posts any Lives Jeff does.

Brands

Space Shuttle No.8

Jeff put out his first album last year and it came with a box set (can no longer be brought but I have photos of the whole thing here :)

Pets

This man has so many cats like 20 something last time i heard him talk about them 😭

(And I don't know where to put this but his fans are called Saturdayss or Sats)

i am so sorry how long this is but I hope this was what you wanted and helped 😭💛💛💛

[bisexualenbyblueberry]

OKAY OKAY OKAY

EVERYTHING I, A DUMBASS, NOTICED

I watched it on Netflix several times and it says in the subtitles that the British person doing the beginning narration is named Kosmo. Do with that what you will.

In what Kosmo is saying there's obviously some "we are all stardust" symbolism, but what exactly does he mean by "a thousand eyes"? Could it have something to do with the fact that the celestial elves all hide their eyes? I'm honestly guessing that Kosmo might be the elf that's beside Astrid in some of the shots, the one with some orange hair? Also off topic but Astrid and possibly-Kosmo both have other hair colors peeking out from the navy, do we think that their culture dyes their hair to match the color of the night sky?

3. The pillars have something that looks very similar to Viren's staff in them. This enforces the theory that the celestial elves worship or are related to Aaravos in some way, because isn't it implied/confirmed that Aaravos gave Ziard that staff? Also, the pillars are all a slightly different shade, and I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be the arcanums (sun, moon, ocean and earth here)

4. Karim got his ring back, along with that new outfit

5. You can see Pyrrah and Zym approaching in the upper right corner here, along with something on the ground- the shadowpaw, maybe? (Also, sorry about the subtitles- I took these in a rush)

6. We finally found that salad mixer! Also, if the pillars are supposed to be representing the primal sources, why are there EIGHT of them? If you look close enough, the visible one in the center here is purple. I suppose this could have something to do with Aaravos giving humanity dark magic, if they do worship him? (Also, please note the lyric "the stars fall")

(Editing: I wrote seven. There are eight. I was counting in a rush. I apologize, I'm, once again, a dumbass)

7. WHY IS RUNAAN CORRUPTED? I'm praying to God this is a nightmare of some sort. The background is starry, so this is definitely something happening at the starscraper-how on earth could he have gotten corrupted??

(Editing: Like, the same corruption the banther had)

8. Okay, this may be something they edited for the trailer itself, but look at this!! Also, I do believe this is supposed to be Finnegrin's office. Maybe Callum has another meeting with Aaravos in his nightmares and shows up where he did dark magic the second time while Aaravos tries to convince him to join his side while showing him a corrupted version of himself- sort of like when he went into that first dark magic trance? And Aaravos is sort of smiling smugly in the next shot.

9. Okay, crying aside, WHY IS HE IN THE VALLEY OF THE LOST? Or whatever the place where Harrow and Sarai's statues are is called? Like, same steps, same pire, that is definitely the valley of the lost. He couldn't have ended up there by himself, could he? And if he went with Claudia to do whatever it is she wants to do now (I guess chase after Viren, maybe?) I guess he did forgive her for the whole almost-stabbing-him-and-leaving-him-on-the-beach debacle?

10. Honestly no idea about the context for this one, there's blood in his hair and I felt like pointing that out.

(Editing: Also those are the little brick towers that are on that bridge thing where Soren does lunges and talks to Viren and Callum and shit. So he is beat senseless, but also in Katolis?)

11. I'm pretty sure if you zoom in close enough, that's Claudia (or maybe Viren, not sure)- so Terry did indeed follow her to the valley of the lost. No idea what she's up to, but something bad enough to make Terry cry.

And that's it! God, I'm excited. the 26th can't come fast enough

[zhe-awesome-me-blog]

Who did the subtitles for CQL on Netflix. Like I understand some honorifics do not have eng equivalents but these choices feel so arbitrary. Why keep zewu jun but not chifeng zun.

The worst one is definitely changing all the times jin guangyao calls lan xichen er-ge to clan leader lan.......like why.

[fluffypotatey]

"I collar the beast." "Wukong's fangs have been pulled." I can't believe y'all fr. "I get all the punishment and you get to mope." He was moping because he cares and feels guilty, speaking of, THE BINDING SCENE IS SO MUCH MORE INTENSE HERE WUKONG'S SCREAM THE PANICKED STUMBLING ohoho yes. MK: "It's tense in here." Wukong, two seconds ago: yOU tHINK I wANtED tO bE trAPPED dOWN hErE wiTH yOU. Wukong's tail: *cute pokey pokey* "You got demoted!" Ha, also "Nezhy" Oh my gosh, I don't think I caught this last time but Wukong subtly looks over to Macaque who just nods at him ajksms they were feuding and glooming a second ago but now its all silent communication and understanding in a glance. I'm throwing them off a roof. I'm struggling to hear what Macky says here, but I'm going to subscribe to the subtitles with "he likes acting." It's funnier. Also MK's "best attorney monkeys can buy" gotta love thinking about monkeys needing attorneys and also having money and buying things lol. "A pain crab on Monkey King's head." 😭 "Why is it always like this when you come here." actually love this one more because he's so grumpy and I feel like it has a different, funnier implication than the subtitles. he isn't causing chaos AFTER coming here, it just IS. what does that say about the vibes you bring /j. crying at Macky's face at all times, he is the picture definition of a grumpy cat, and then when getting pushed and the absolutely DONE yell of "Wukoooong!" I can watch a whole netflix series of Macky being fed up with Wukong's antics but getting dragged into them. tricky plan demon huh, that's a quick way to silence them after just talking about someone pulling the strings, especially on you MK. also Macky is SO little creachure with his face hidden like a hermit in that cape. "I don't trust anyone who isn't standing here. Right. Now." SAME MACONDO what a shocking statement from your old buddy. more at 11 only on ShadowPeachNews. The writers KNEW what they were doing. Also AHHHHH *looks at you with my big brown eyes* Fluffy I SWEAR I told myself I wouldn't talk about this again until you were able to answer the asks on my last yapping about this, BUT THEY MADE IT SO MUCH WORSE. Firstly, Macky's *voice* for that line delivery is the most solemn dramatic thing I have seen. He lives and breathes the cinema. AND MK I'm really tossing him over a cliff because he just HAD TO GO "He'd get away, right? He always gets away...right?" UGH TFW YOU'RE SO KNOWN FOR BEING THAT GUY WHO FLEES FROM BATTLE that it's brought up this time not for the *dude really???* but as a plea, an attempt at faith, haha he's always doing that...he did it again right? NO BECAUSE THIS TIME HE STUCK AROUND TO FIGHT. and Wukong's constipated expression there bc ohoho some monkey is for sure thinking about the past.

i am, for one, with you on throwing shadowpeach off a cliff bc they make me so unwell in this episode 🫠

for another:

LI JING WHEN I GET YOU!!!!! HOW DARE YOU CALL WUKONG A BEAT AND PULL HIS FANGS!!!!

also i can’t help but think about why Nezha was even there in the first place. because the one the kings summoned was his dad. Nezha wasn’t supposed to be there and yet he comes along 👀 why? my thought is: to plead the monkeys’ case. he immediately tries to defend them to his father and it seems like it’s been an ongoing argument

like sure he rags on Wukong and hems & hahs at him because like have you met Wukong that cheeky lil shit??? his gremlin energy just shoots to 150% whenever Nezha is near. he can’t help it. it’s his DO NOT PUSH red button that he will absolutely push

and Macky’s “why is it always like this when you’re here” to Wukong has such a divorced energy i love it 😍 he knows Wukong so well and is just resigned to it. every time Macky has had to interact with Heaven, Wukong is always there making a scene (he’s not exempt to helping swk but his point still stands lmao)

Wukong’s pout, my beloved

when your ex says the reason he’s mopey isn’t because you got hurt but because he is in jail with you for something you’ve been blamed for. echoing his “NOT THE GREAT SAGE! HE’S GOTTA DRAG EVERYONE INTO HIS MESS!” comment from the memory scroll 👀

what who said that lol that was weird

god they’re so— squishes them and squishes them and squishes them and squishes them and squishes them and squishes them and squishes them and

[zhuzhudushu]

Lingopie — Chinese Review ★★

So I did 3 months of Lingopie (stylized as Liñgöpie) so you don't have to (unless you want to lol).

I mention a Chrome extension, the Zhongwen dictionary, quite a bit in this review. It is here, I highly recommend it (click)! It's also available for Firefox (click).

What is Lingopie?

Lingopie is an app and desktop extension/website that allows you to watch tv shows and cartoons with interactive subtitles for language learning. It currently has Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, French, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. It claims to improve your language learning by 80% (compared to Duolingo which is around 20%).

Here is their website. (click)

Pricing: (March 2024)

3 months $36

1 year $71 "on sale" (normally $144)

Lifetime $199 "on sale" (normally $663)

Please note: I have never seen these full prices. It appears that the "sale" is permanent.

My Review / TL;DR Version

Extremely disappointed both in functionality and content for Chinese. Maybe this is a good program for other languages, but for Chinese there is extremely limited content with pinyin subtitles only available for the non-Netflix shows. All the best learning features are available for non-Netflix shows, yet those tended to have significantly worse translations than Netflix. I would not recommend this product for Chinese. While it had a few good features and I enjoyed it for 6-7 episodes of one show, it then had a glitch where an entire episode was subtitled wrong, so I gave up.

See below the cut for full breakdown.

Strengths:

Has access to Netflix shows and films including some popular ones (e.g. Meteor Garden, Dear Ex, Nezha Reborn)

This is nice and I enjoyed rewatching the ones I was familiar with and getting a better grasp of listening and vocab. I appreciate that they try to incorporate kid-friendly along with more serious/adult content with animated and live action tv shows and films. I also liked that it specified if the show was from Taiwan or China, and also included shows that had some Cantonese influence (e.g. Scissor Seven)

Allows you to have English and Chinese subtitles simultaneously or alone, and you can easily click them on an off while watching.

This is pretty standard for all video/subtitle based educational apps, but it was nice to easily click them on and off in case I wanted to double check my understanding, and to compare the direct translation of the words to the full translation of the sentence.

Allows you to pause automatically after each subtitle. Can also loop subtitles over and over. There are also AI-produced explanations of grammar.

This hands down was the best part about the entire experience for me, and why I ended up using Lingopie for 3 months. While it was sometimes clunky (see below), this made singling out specific lines/words for listening practice so easy. Once I got in the groove, I was able to get through episodes fairly quickly and was starting to be able to listen and hear new words in sentences later.

Click on the words in the subtitle to make flashcard sets

This was a nice feature, but I do wish the flashcards were a bit more functional, see below. It was easy enough to use and a quick way to remind yourself of the new words you learned before you jump into the next episode.

Weaknesses:

Pinyin subtitles available on desktop only, with no pinyin subtitles for Netflix shows (as of May 2024)

This is a HUGE flaw, and I was 100% dependent on using another chrome extension for hover-over dictionary while using Lingopie. I know they are working on pinyin subtitles for Netflix and mobile, but I used this for 3 months and it still was not implemented when I ended. To me, if I have to use another app in conjunction with this one in order to fully learn, then what's the point? Especially since I watched Taiwanese and Cantonese-influenced shows with very non-standard pronunciations, comparing standard pinyin to accented productions is necessary for me. Even with the pinyin subtitles for the non-Netflix shows, it left a lot to be desire because they're tiny above the Chinese characters, and sometimes difficult to read. More than once I thought a ǒ was ō because of how tiny it was.

Not enough content, especially cartoons/beginner level

The one above and this bullet are the main reasons why I don't recommend this app for Chinese specifically. Maybe other languages are fine, but there is simply not enough content for the price. I was hoping for more beginner/lower intermediate content like children's cartoons, however there are none for Chinese. All the animated options are more teenager/adult oriented. There also weren't many light-hearted or comedy options, meaning you would have to watch a lot of serious dramas, thrillers, and violent shows if you wanted to get your money's worth. For my personal taste, I don't want to have to pause every dialogue line for an adult thriller. That would ruin my experience of the show and the suspense. For the non-Netflix options, most shows were incomplete with only 1-5 episodes available out of 10+. They also tended to be lower quality productions, with significantly worse English translations. The majority of what is available outside of Netflix are short films (~5 mins) and cooking shows (10-20 mins) which aren't bad for beginners. I personally have no interest in cooking, though lol. Essentially, there is no TRUE beginner fictional content in Chinese available.

The dictionary is... rough

Again, I was fully dependent on the Zhongwen extension. While the English subtitles themselves are good, the individual definitions of words that you hover over are definitely rough. They weren't actually that helpful for breaking down meanings of things like slang and characters' names. For example, in Scissor Seven there were quite a few animal puns, e.g. 汪星人 which is internet slang for "dog" Lingopie translated as "Woofer" which was... awkward and strange. Without the Zhongwen extension I would have had no idea what this was actually referring to. It would been nice if it functioned more like the Zhongwen extension, where it would highlight individual characters or phrases/combos depending on your mouse placement. Particularly on the non-Netflix shows, the translations even in the English subtitles were incredibly rough and at times I couldn't understand the context in either language. There was also one instance of an entire episode (Netflix) that had incorrect subtitles, I suspect subtitles from a different episode? That was the final straw for me.

It chooses whether or not to highlight single words or phrases so you have no control over your flashcards

This made the flashcards not as functional to me. Sometimes, I wanted just the specific noun/verb in the sentence, but it would make me highlight the entire sentence. Other times, I wanted a really functional phase, but it would only let me highlight the individual words. I barely used the flashcard feature because of this.

Clunky interface (Chrome & Firefox)

I can't speak for mobile or Safari because I didn't use them. Since I was relying on the Zhongwen hover-dictionary, I only used Chrome. You can only use Chrome or Safari if you want Netflix shows. Sometimes the auto-pause after each subtitle would be too early or too late, meaning I would have to actually click things pretty persistently throughout each episode. Using the spacebar to pause/unpause hardly ever worked, and using the arrow keys to flip between subtitles also never worked for me. Sometimes the hover-definitions of words would linger even after I clicked away, and would not disappear until the next subtitle appeared. This was super annoying and would block a good portion of the screen. Sometimes I would have to click things 2-3 times before it registered in both Chrome and Firefox.

Overall, I think it's a great idea, but needs some pretty major improvements in order to be worth the price.

In my opinion, if they were to add significantly more shows, including kid's cartoons, and improved their subtitles, dictionary, & interface function, it would be worth the price.

Maybe in a few years as Lingopie grows, it will be worth it. But for now, it's not. For now, it's clunky and limited. If you were to watch it for an hour a day, you would probably get through all the shows that interested in you in about 3-6 months. It wouldn't take longer than a year to go through all of the Chinese content, as of right now. So why would you pay for a year or lifetime price for that?

(divider credit here)

[castlebyersafterdark]

Post production takes a long time. Probably the longest out of pre-production and actual filming. Even if they were sending things to post after filming them, it wouldn't matter - if they have over 650 hours of footage, it's still going to take them an enormous amount of time to edit it all, on top of the vfx that need to be added in. If we're being realistic, if they are aiming for a November release, that means post is actually taking a shorter time than it usually would (again, probably because post production + filming were happening simultaneously.)

As someone who wants to go into the industry and therefore knows a good bit about all of this- it frustrates me to no end seeing those asks people sent in (particularly the THE FUCK one). Like, first of all, the duffers had No Control over the strikes that happened literally right when they were set to begin filming in 2023. That wasn't their fault - it was the fault of the greedy ass studios who wouldn't pay their writers and actors. Did we all just forget about this major thing happening??

Second, STRANGER THINGS IS A HUGE FUCKING PRODUCTION. I don't think people quite grasp how much work goes into this show. It's not a high school slice of life teen drama that has a new season come out every year. it is a MAJOR PRODUCTION. there are an enormous amount of vfx to be added in (like the writhing vines in the upside down, the storms in the upside down, etc) and that is an art all on its own and takes time. But this is also just 1 aspect of post. There are so many more. I get why people are impatient - I am too. But once you really learn how insanely hard editors, vfx artists, hell, even subtitlers work - it becomes really hard to get frustrated over this taking so long.

If you want to blame anyone in this, blame netflix for withholding pay from the people that make them money in the first place. Not the people putting so much love and effort into this show.

Very very important to keep in mind!! We want the very best show, from the people dedicated to the art, putting everything into it, to ultimately deliver US this creation. Disservice to want it rushed. There's more to life than instant gratification. I really really also value taking the time to do things right. From being a fan and unbecoming a fan of big franchises that I feel lost quality and meaning from rush jobs and lack of care and consumerism - I appreciate the cast and crew of Stranger Things for having this level of integrity for the craft. It's something to be celebrated. We will get the show. There's no threat of never getting the show.

[kastellaran]

Mizorogi Names

I don't have much of substance to say about this due to the dearth of information, so this will just be some observations and a little speculation.

The priest himself is named Mizorogi Hokuto (溝呂木北斗). Mizorogi is his family name, and as far as I can tell there's nothing particularly remarkable about it. It's a real family name. His given name, Hokuto, is the name for the constellation we call Big Dipper. His two daughters are named (Mizorogi) Futsukadzuki and Mikadzuki (二日月・三日月), meaning "moon of the second day" and "moon of the third day," respectively. According to dictionary entries, these terms can refer to the second and third days of the eighth month, specifically, though I'm not sure why. It seems to me that a generic term like "moon of the second/third day" should either refer to any second or third day of a month, or the second or third day of the year. I did not really see an explanation for why they can specifically refer to the second and third days of the eighth month of the year, but maybe there's a specific holiday or event around then. I do seem to remember learning about a term that refers to the full moon after the full moon of the eighth month; according to Kotobank:

陰暦8月15日夜の月を初名月というのに対して、9月13日夜の名月。 The harvest moon on the 13th night of the 9th month, because in the lunisolar system, the moon on the 15th night of the 8th month was called the first harvest moon.

Kotobank also says about harvest moons, that the first one is also called the potato harvest moon, and the second one can be called the chestnut or bean harvest moon. So perhaps the harvest moon made the eighth month significant enough that saying "the moon of the second/third day" made it obvious you meant "the second/third day of the eighth month." That aside, the last thing I want to bring up is that scene in Karakasa, where Mizorogi is meditating under the well, and as the water pours down he says: 水はうまいか？天…いや、御水様か。

mizu wa umai ka? ama... iya, omizusama ka.

"Is the water good? Ama... no, it's 'Omizusama,' isn't it."

I must digress again to say that while the Netflix subtitles translate Omizusama as "the water goddess," and Ama as "heavenly," I choose to keep them in Japanese because at this point I don't have enough information about either of these names or characters to translate such specific details as gender or speculate on what the rest of the name will be (by translating ama as an adverb). Maybe the translators were given some information by the movie crew to help them with their translation, but that's not information I'm privy to, so I can't assume it exists or what it is. All I can say is this: "Omizusama" is the word for water, mizu (水), prefixed by the honorific o- (御・お, indicating respect or politeness. You'll find this attached to many daily words such as お茶- ocha, tea; お部屋- oheya, room; お金- okane, money; and yes, お水- omizu, water. This is also the same o- that appears in front of women's names in historical settings, such as Okame, Oasa, Ochou, and Oyou), and suffixed by the honorific -sama, which I imagine you are all familiar with. So all that can really be gleaned about Omizusama is that it's some revered figure/embodiment of water. A spirit, a god, a deity, one of those I'm sure.

As for Ama, it is of course just 天, referring to the sky, or really, the heavens. It's not the typical word for sky, it has a divine context. It's the Ama in Amaterasu (whose name basically means "Illuminates the Heavens"). It is possible that Mizorogi was originally addressing Amaterasu before he cut himself off. This is again where my knowledge falls a bit short. I'm not sure how likely it is for there to be other spirits or figures with ama in their names. Maybe to a Japanese person, this always will naturally indicate Amaterasu, or maybe it's ambiguous and it could be a different sky/celestial deity. Furthermore, given that the movie has already fabricated some details, such as inventing the Oomochihiki celebration (based off of a new year's celebration I believe), and creating the character of Omizusama, it's possible that "Ama" will be a celestial deity who is based on Amaterasu but isn't literally her. (EDIT: Disregard that line of thought, there are a lot of Shinto deities with ama in their names, so it probably is just some heavenly deity and not necessarily Amaterasu). Now we come to my "conclusion," which is just that although not much concrete detail is really known about the Mizorogi family at the moment, it seems like they may have some connection to the heavens, each of them having celestial names, and the father addressing a sky deity before correcting himself by saying "It's 'Omizusama', isn't it." Perhaps this religion he's the priest of originally revered a sky figure, and then for some reason as of yet unknown to us, that figure was changed into a water deity. This is mostly speculation, but perhaps that's also why the writers gave him a pipe and show him smoking during the water drinking ceremony. I'm not sure about Shinto, but I know in other cultures that burning food or other offerings could be seen as a way to send things up to the heavens via the smoke. Maybe his pipe is a remnant of his connection to the skies. Whatever the case, I imagine this will be part of the larger story told by the three movies. Maybe we'll learn some more details in Hinezumi, but I have a feeling this plotline will not fully come into play until the end. If any of you have any other observations, please let me know. Especially if they're regarding the Japanese lunisolar system, which I don't know much about.

[bomberqueen17]

have you watched sirens of the deep (new witcher animated movie on netflix)

i actually HAVE! I livewatched it with some friends. No spoilers above cut, spoilers below!

I went into this cold not having really even known it was coming out so i was not forewarned that it was Game Geralt's VA!!!!! which was awesome, and then Joey Batey and Anya Chalotra from Netflix doing Jaskier and Yen, that also ruled! It was the Best Geralt and the Best Jaskier Together At Last, with much-improved banter. Game Geralt's fighting grunts were totally different from in-game, which I thought was really funny and also I would not have known that I knew his game fighting noises that well if you'd asked, but as I was watching this movie (I was hand-quilting so my eyes weren't on the screen the whole time) I was like, hey that's the guy but these are different noises. (Also. The grunts being unaltered underwater, LOL forever.)

Also Geralt as a pretty almost-elfin anime hero was kind of funny. But the Anime Jaskier looked astonishingly ilke the real Joey Batey despite the proportions of his skull being different depending on the whim of the animator.

I had a *cough* somewhat illicit copy as I do not subscribe to any streaming services, and couldn't figure out how to get the subtitles to work, and I thought ah well I can get by without subs, but then a bunch of critical dialogue was in a made-up language and somehow the subtitles for that were all also in this exterior file. This is why it was good I was livewatching with friends, because they were all lightning-fast to transcribe for me. I was willing to just coast on vibes, I only ever understand half of what's going on in movies anyway, but my fellas had my back and I love them. "Love shows up" WHAT. Love it.

More spoilery discussion below

I read the short story "A Little Sacrifice" and thought it was kind of gross actually, so I was like well, this can only be so good. Changing Jaskier's backstory to be from Bremervoord so this was a hometown thing for him was, I initially thought, kind of a gratuitous sop to the Woobie!Jaskier fans, and oh my god giving flashbacks to his childhood was like, oh come on must we. But I did not expect the delicious homosexual tension with the childhood bully and it was actually a really good sudden reversal-toward-redemption-arc they did with Childhood Bully Hotboi, I was like omg please I need all the fic of Jaskier and Whatever His Name Was boning nasty.

Alas, they'll have to be fix-its.

Also lol the underwater physics. Nobody's hair floated and when whats-her-name broke the bead curtain all the beads just rolled around the floor. I sort of expected that to lead somewhere but no.

But the surface water animations were gorgeous and the artwork in general was very pretty, even if Geralt was wwaaaaayy too bishie, LOL.

AND!

IMAGINE MY DELIGHT at the ending!!!! That was the dumbest thing of "A Little Sacrifice", the mermaid was like 'he's got to make a little sacrifice too!' and then he fucking didn't.

Also in the short story, Geralt fucks Essie and then breaks her heart and she never gets over him, so I SUUUUUPER fucking appreciated this version where she was like "lol no i want kids and to live like a normal person so you can go ahead and go actually" THANK U

I mean I get the points Sapkowski was making, as all of his shit is on some level pastiche, but at some point the just verbatim repeating of sexist tropes doesn't really do anything to subvert them; plenty of works make those points just as clumsily without any subversive intention, so. Actually subverting them has a bit more impact nowadays. Alas that we have not progressed since these stories were published 30 years ago, but that's not really news.

Yeah, it was fundamentally a retelling of the same story as Disney's The Little Mermaid, and having the sea-witch villainess break out into a musical number during the temptation of the mermaid princess was an unfortunate choice because no matter what she was not going to be able to beat Divine-as-Ursula belting Poor Unfortunate Souls which is a perennial banger, but apart from that it was a good comparison with the tropes. (Just. Put the musical number somewhere else, right? Jeez.)

Anyway. It had a lot of great fodder for our Woobie!Jaskier girlies, I approve of how fat the mermaid princess's ass was as a plausible asethetic choice and also that they did not give the mermaids tits because they are not mammals (HUGE bonus points THANK YOU creature designers!!!!), Video Game Geralt as VA for every Geralt-related project ever PLEASE and THANK YOU (c'mon can we dub hemsworth chinese wuxia drama style? those guys all lipsynch why can't he) (no no i'll give him a chance it's fine), Joey Batey should sing on every soundtrack, etc. etc.

All in all, it was a fun fluffy little way to fill a couple hours and

SOMEONE WRITE ME SOME GAY FIX-IT SMUT with Jaskier and the Reformed Bully please!

[evaglass]

Speculation about Mizu's parents pt. 5

I know. I'm sorry this is long, but I promise to get through it soon.

So Mizu's father. I think he was the Japanese, and not only that, but he was probably someone important. Remember, the bounty on Mizu was implied to be so high that little can resist it, and the way that Fowler refers to Mizu as "Little Miss" if you turn on the subtitles on Netflix both first letters of the term are capitalized, like it's an important title.

I want to talk about episode 3 now, specifically when we see Mizu as a baby

Remember the two men who were tasked to kill Mizu as a baby, but one of them stopped the other from doing so. Well, if you look for the IMDb page for this episode, it lists the two voice actors for the two men:

You know who else they voice?

The Shogun's sons

Now, I don't think the two men in the beginning are actually the Shogun's sons, but they could be the late Shogun's relatives, maybe even his brothers trying to get of evidence that the Shogun broke his own rules, because I do think the late Shogun was Mizu's father.

Also, keep in mind that there's most likely going to be more historical events referenced in the show in the future. Considering the show takes place in 1657, and Fowler stated that they arrived 20 years prior to that date, and Mizu is canonically 19 years old, meaning she was born around 1637-1638 around the same time the Shimabara Rebellion was going against the Shogunate. Needless to say, it was probably a pretty stressful time for the Shogun as he most likely sent forces to subdue the rebellion and had to hide the fact that he had a mixed-raced child.

I assume the four white men, along with the two men shown in the beginning of episode 3, were sent to kill Mizu as a baby, hence why the fire broke out, connecting to what Fowler said "don't you want to know which one tried to burn you as a baby?"

The four white men could have also been sent to prove their loyalty as historically it is speculated that the Shimabara Rebellion was fueled by Portuguese traders due to the affiliation with catholism. After the rebellion was defeated, the Portugal, one of the two European countries legally allowed to trade with Japan during the isolation period, was barred from trading. The only other European country that was also legally allowed to trade with Japan was the Netherlands, which was the allowed to still trade from then and there because they helped the Shogunate subdue the rebellion, and agreed to the trading conditions.

I also want to point out that in episode 8, when Fowler meets with the Shogun's sons, he states that he helped the Shogun become the second richest man in the world, which is quite the statement. This means that the Shogun and even his family would have enough money to set out a very high bounty if they wanted to, especially to hide their shame.

Who more than anyone would want to hide the Shogun's shame?

Now, it could be possible that Mizu's mother could have had an affair with the Shogun, but I'll present a more interesting idea that may be a bit more far-fetched, but maybe not too far-fetched. I think that maybe the Shogun, Lady Itoh, and Mizu's mother may have all possibly been in a relationship together, which wouldn't be too out of the ordinary for the time, and would point to the potential love triangle that's be hinted at by the people behind the show, but take this part with a grain of salt.

Maybe Mizu's mother was involved in a relationship with the Shogun and Lady Itoh, and it only became a problem because her mother accidentally got pregnant with her and probably refused to give her up.

Mizu's mother probably had to make a choice like the Bride from Kill Bill did

And she most likely chose Mizu, and as stated before, Mizu could be seen as evidence that the Shogun broke his own rules, his shame, and that would not do.

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6

[miyamiwu]

Super, super late reply, but I was tagged by @variabels to list 5 anime/manga recs. Thanks for the tag! (I also love Durarara and Baccano ヾ(•ω•`)o)

I’m gonna list mainly Chinese media in this list, though, because that’s what I consume more. And ha! How brave, asking an ND person like me for recs. Prepare to be bombarded by my rambling!

Starting off with the media currently featured in my header (excluding Blue Lock coz most of my mutuals already know that)...

1. The Earth is Online (danmei* novel)

* Danmei - Chinese boys love stories

The plot basically: Everyone on Earth is pulled into a death game.

A good intro to the unlimited flow* genre. Each instance is thrilling and complex. The boys love aspect is not much, as it focuses on plot, but it’s definitely not subtle. The characters are also quite diverse. Most UF novels just focus on the Chinese characters and revolve around what happens in China, but this one actually features those from other countries. I also like how the protagonist isn’t treated as the entire world’s savior. Other people around the world are also doing their part.

Where to read: An official English release is coming out in 2024. Translations will be done by luckkoi, the fan translator. As such, they've taken down their translations online. There's an alternate translation by @leonsrightlations , but only a few chapters are out right now. There are several completed translations online, but they're all edited mtl (machine translation). If you don't mind that, you can go google it. I recommend the one by Rainbow Mushroom. Their translations require a password, though, and you can find that on their Discord server.

* unlimited flow - Chinese genre of web novels where the protagonist is pulled into different instances to complete challenges which, if failed, would result in punishment or even death. It’s basically the death game genre, but instead of just one game, there are multiple.

2. Legend of Hei movie + Legend of Luo Xiaohei series sequel (donghua*)

(I downloaded this video from YouTube years ago. I can no longer find it there, so I’m reuploading it here…)

* Donghua – Chinese anime

A story about the young cat demon Xiao Hei and his quest to find a new home after humans destroyed his old one. Cute cat + cool powers + awesome fighting scenes + clean and crisp animation.

You can watch this on Netflix, but it’s not available in all countries. There’s an English and Japanese dub available, but I strongly recommend watching it in the original Chinese. (I can send you the full movie with English subtitles if you want). The series, which takes place after the movie, can be watched on YouTube. S1 of the series is more slice of life, but s2 is action-packed.

3. Low Tide in Twilight (BL manhwa)

That BL trope where the bottom has a mountainload of debt, while the top gives him a way out… except, not really, coz the male lead Taeju is partly the creditor, and he’s forcing Euihyun into a relationship with him in exchange for money.

Typical BL story with an initially toxic couple, but better. Complex characters, and a manhwa that relies more on the art to tell the story instead of the words. Also, Taeju gives off that same annoying but hot vibe as Kaiser. What more do you want?

4. Link Click (donghua)

The title (时光代理人) would be literally translated as “Time Agents.” I have no idea why the official English title is Link Click.

The plot basically: Two guys with time-related powers run a photography shop, where they accept orders from clients to dive back in time through a photo.

Funimation did this donghua so dirty by not promoting it more back when it aired in 2021. The English subs were also terrible.

Did you know that it used to rank #20 in MAL, surpassing MP 100 S2, Jujutsu Kaisen, and many other mainstream anime? Now, it’s ranked #41 on MAL, lower than before, but still pretty high for a donghua on MAL. That’s just how good it is.

Here’s a link to the blu-ray version with fansubs. Just pick the normal English track option and not English (CR).

Edit: OKAAAY, it turns out that link has the episode order all mesed up. Just ask me if you need an HD copy with good fansubs.

5. White Cat Legend 2020 (donghua)

Title (大理寺日志) would be literally translated as The Journal of Dali Court.

Another cat boy donghua! Can you tell I just love cats?

The plot: Chen Shi travels from the countryside to the big city to search for his missing brother and inadvertently ends up working at Dali court under the cat guy Li Bing.

Slice of Life + Comedy + Drama + Supernatural + Mystery + Action

Baiting you with a hot guy gif~

It's a historical show btw, so expect some references to real-life events.

The animation is also really smooth in this one! You can watch it on YouTube. Here's a link to episode 1.

Season 2 is also out! I'm yet to watch it, though. I should really do some time...

----

Tagging some mutuals to check these out, and also to list 5 recs (no pressure)~

@potato-longsocks @echarie @takeunknownroadnow @gachagon @bachirasbodyguard @blonde-batgirl @oo-mi-ru-oo @www98vikitoo @whiteapplesandblackblood

I recommend creating your own post instead of adding your recs in a reblog. My post is already pretty long. Turn this into a long thread, and we'll be a menace on the dashboard haha

[clj-art-blog]

DFQC`s innocence

I want to share my thoughts about this interesting moment. Maybe someone already knows the answer, but i have only thoughts. When the XLH rested in his body and in his royal bedchamber, women come to him (her) in translucent, light, open clothes. We see that they seem to staying there not for the first time. They are touching Moon Supreme so calmly and habitually. Judging by their voices, they are very excited about his returnthey and they missed about him… And when he (XLH) drives the women away, they become embarrassed and ask the question: “Why did the Supreme Moon drive them away?” (So he didn't chase them off before?)

However, later, after DFQC's plan to get his body back failed, we hear this dialogue: [Subtitles from Netflix] XLH: Why don't you just accept the reality and keep the status quo for now? DFQC: Keep the status quo? You're getting used to it so fast. That's right. You can even use my body to find a man to sleep with. You should be happy. (Wow! Interesting. DFQC is indeed very attractive, so I think not only women would like to have him. And he still thinks XLH could have anyone while she is in his body. And since she is a girl, it is logical to assume that she will wish for a man). XLH: Should I look for you rather than someone else? That's right. You always pretend to be so proud and aloof. I didn't realize you had a lot of women. DFQC:  Have I ever had a woman? XLH:  Yes, you do. DFQC: When I say no, I mean no. (But after all, she saw how women get into his bedroom without any problems) XLH: You're still pretending. What is there to deny? DFQC: I don't need to prove my innocence to you. XLH:  That's right. Anyway, you already said you don't have any love for me. Your affair is none of my business. I'm not even interested. (But it's interesting to me!!!) And Shangque also confirms that DFQC has never had a woman.

And I'll probably add 2 more interesting points: 1) ) [Episode 10] When the Moon Tribe women treated XLH's wounds, they spoke so calmly (relatively calmly) about how the Moon Lord Supreme was infatuated with the fairy from Shuiyuntian.

2) [Episode 12] Later, one of his subordinates, Nanyu King, the leader of the Moon Clan, wasn't surprised either.

Nanyou: My Lord. She… DFQC-XLH: I'm used to her company. Now I don't want her to leave my sight. Nanyou: It's a small issue if you like a fairy. But it's inappropriate for her to take part in our state affairs. ("Shuiyuntian-fairy-Pet" are nothing new!!!) Ha! Just think, another concubine has appeared in the palace and will please the Moon Supreme… Not a problem!

But, let's go back to the Moon Supreme. Earlier in [Episode 3], DFQC genuinely doesn't understand why Orchid won't let herself sleep with him. (He is the Moon Supreme DFQC, damn it, he is very desirable, which means he is used to everyone wanting him). Moreover, there are also these rules of Shuiyuntian that a man and a woman should sleep separately. This is something new for him. From this we can conclude that there is no such rule in Moon tribe and a woman in his bedroom is a common thing. DFQC likes to break the rules, and he is still trying to stay with XLH in her room… What happened next, we all know.

And no. I'm not saying he lied to XLH. DFQC is not a liar. In addition, he is honest and sincere, and his every word is always true. (100%) There is one more important detail of the above dialogue:

DFQC: You're getting used to it so fast. That's right. You can even use my body to find a man to sleep with. You should be happy.

DFQC has been deprived of feelings since childhood. He read a lot and reads even now, and he knows perfectly well what can be between a woman and a man. I think that women did sometimes stay with him at night in his bed, but as "furniture" or "teddy bears" for hugs. Perhaps they danced and sang in front of him. They entertained him in every possible way (played chess, drank tea …I'm kidding), but he did not let them near him, and even more so did not kiss anyone and did not let anyone do it. He cannot experience love or passion. Why would he do something with women / men if he does not experience happiness from this? DFQC never does anything for nothing. He always approaches the matter rationally, which means he will not do something that will not benefit him.

But why is DFQC asking XLH what will happen if she sleeps with him at night? [Episode 3] But he knows so much about it. (he is over 30,000 years old!) But I think he knows himself and that he has no plans for her, even if she wanted him, he would not let her touch him, as he did not allow anyone before . Like, why should she think about it at all? (And it’s true. So baby XLH didn’t only read books about history? And she always avoided and was afraid of DFQC when he once again came into her bedroom … What were you thinking, baby? So she knows very well what can happen...)

That moment, when DFQC kisses XLH underwater (I think he kissed her as much as he wanted. Otherwise, why would he make excuses like that?). We are even shown after that how a leaf sprouts on his tree of emotions. He touches his lips and realizes, that he enjoys kissing her. He never kissed anyone. And this feeling… (Feelings?! Emotions?!)

He is really pure and innocent in front of XLH. He never loved anyone. She is his first and only love.

Personally, I close this puzzle like this. Maybe someone also has thoughts on this? Maybe you have something?

[letteredlettered]

watching The Untamed

Some people have been reading my new fic without having watched the canon on which it's based, which is the Chinese drama The Untamed. Since my fic is a modern AU, it doesn't really require much canon knowledge, so I think the fic can be enjoyed either way. You can read it here!

But! If you are interested in watching The Untamed first, or get interested after reading the fic, I wanted to share with you the intro that the unparalleled @stultiloquentia gave me years ago, when she accidentally messaged the wrong person to scream about this show and I subsequently fell down a rabbit hole. Here is her advice for watching, in my own words. (If you prefer to watch things COMPLETELY unspoiled, here's a warning: this advice contains a brief explanation of the first scene as well as an overview of the very general structure of the show.)

Advice for watching The Untamed:

Know this: the first episode begins with Our Guy falling off a cliff. Then we skip ahead over a decade for the rest of that episode and most of the second episode. Then in the last third of the second episode, we flash back to the story of why the guy fell off the cliff in the first place. The flashback is 31 episodes. Then the remaining nineteen episodes are a buddy cop ghost story mystery in which the two mains experience feelings.

You can skip the first two episodes. Watching them means for the thirty episodes of flashback you get to experience the dramatic irony of "my God how do they eventually get THERE?" Not watching them means you are not confused out of your mind.

If you don't like the first two episodes, KEEP WATCHING. You will probably grow to like a character or two by episode four, but if you don't, KEEP WATCHING; you will probably grow to love a character or two and know most of the characters by episode six, but if you don't, KEEP WATCHING. If you're not ready to die for someone by episode ten, maybe this isn't the show for you.

That said, if you don't love it by episode ten, consider quitting and coming back six months to a year later. I have known multiple people who started and couldn't get into it, then restarted and loved it. I don't really get this as I was hooked like, halfway through episode one, but that's me and my kinks so ymmv.

The costumes and sets are gorgeous but BEWARE the CGI is horrible and downright goofy; DON'T JUDGE THE QUALITY OF THE SHOW BASED ON CGI!

If you don't speak Mandarin I assume you'll be watching with subtitles. A) the subtitles on Netflix are different than on viki (viki.com is a good place to watch!) People have OPINIONS on which are best; I think most people prefer viki, but if you don't want to figure that out (it's easy) Netflix really is fine. B) You do really need to pay attention. I understand lots of people like to watch things while doing something else, but you really miss a lot if you're not catching everything that's said.

There are a lot of plot holes. ACCEPT THE SHOW FOR WHAT IT IS. Or else come yell at someone who can fill in some of the holes for you like I yelled at @stultiloquentia. (You can come yell at me.) I know others have found some episode-by-episode watching guides really helpful. I personally did not need this, but that's mostly because when I went to yell at sultiloquentia she was always like "yeah it's like that. *shrug*"

[dreamyelectronicmusic]

I'm loving your Wilmon fic so very very much! I was feeling mostly done with YR and all related media and ready to let it go - in a happy, pleased-with-season-3, it's all wrapped up and my hectic job is demanding my attention way - and then it was like your fic just broke through my walls and reminded me why I fell in love with the show and its characters. Your Wille and Simon are so good to each other. Their anticipation and nerves and exhilaration as they begin to reconnect - it's everything.

I was surprised to see it's your first YR fic! I'm curious about your story of finding the show - when did that happen for you, when did you first feel inspired to create this beautiful extension of the YR world?

Aw, thank you so much for this lovely ask, I'm so happy you like the fic! 💜💜

I discovered YR literally on day one! Or even before day one, because I remember scrolling through Netflix’s coming soon page and watching the teaser. I remember thinking it looked like an Elite-type trashy teen show but that I would probably watch it because it’s Swedish (I love Nordic languages). Then on July 1, 2021, at like 10 pm, I was looking for something to numb my brain and YR popped up on the Netflix homepage and I thought, oh I think that's the Swedish show I said I’d watch, let’s give it a try. So I watched the first episode and needless to say it did not numb my brain, I was immediately hooked. But I decided to be responsible and go to bed, and I watched eps 2-4 the next day, and then the day after that was a Saturday and beautiful weather so I went on a hike, and all the time I was trudging up hills I kept thinking “omg omg Wilhelm and Simon are so cute and August is such an asshole omg omg what is going to happen I need them to live happily ever after”. So yeah, I’ve been obsessed from the start 😂

I was never inspired to write fic for it before because I tend to prefer canon to be complete before I write anything, but mostly because I have this weird mental block about reading/writing fic in a different language than the one I consumed the original in. It just doesn’t sound right! (I watch the show in Swedish with English subtitles, so I want fics to also be in Swedish with English subtitles. Yes I know it doesn’t make sense). I guess the inspiration for ‘maybe now’ was strong enough for me to overcome that but tbh it still doesn’t sound right and I have to do weird mental gymnastics to write it 😂

Inspiration for the fic struck very shortly after the show, this is a post I made on March 19:

Ok so who's writing a fic where Simon didn't notice Wille running after the car, or noticed him but couldn't bear to talk to him again, and they have no contact for a year until Wille's decision to give up the crown is made public on his 18th birthday, prompting Simon to reach out and tell him how proud and happy for him he is?

And then I guess I didn’t wait for an answer and wrote it myself!

The inspiration came from the fact that while I love the ending we got and I am so happy that we got it, I do agree with people who think that it was rushed. Given what the first 17 episodes were like, we got the best possible episode 18, but in an ideal world, I would have liked another season, or the three seasons to have more episodes, or the episodes that we got to have a different pacing so that there was more time between the breakup and them getting back together. This is what I wrote in a reaction post after the first five episodes:

If this weren't the last season, I think I'd want them to break up now, take some time apart and get back together after some separate personal growth. But there simply isn't time for that.

One thing about me is that I love it when characters go their separate ways, have some separate growth and find out that they can live without each other, but they just really don’t want to. So in a way it’s a kind of fix-it fic for me.

Anyway, thank you for the ask and sorry I wrote a novel in response!