#zhi ming you xi

[guzhufuren]

The Spirealm (2024)

[agendratum]

[rujiao connects the dots]

[shijiujun]

A Summary: The Spirealm | 致命游戏 (Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 Live Action) & Why You Should (Eventually) Watch It

Talk about the most short-lived drama release ever, not even totalling two hours if I recall. Creating this summary as I've seen a handful of confused friends, so here it goes!

It's going to be a long review because I sped through all 78 episodes and only properly watched the first two doors, but I got you. You'll get both the brief book rundown and the drama parts!

If you just wanna see the bromance (LOVE) parts please skip to section 4!!!!

1. Overview

Title: The Spirealm (kinda awful I'm sorry it's a mouthful) or 致命游戏 which means fatal game

Adapted From: Danmei (BL) Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu

Novel Prints: There are GORGEOUS Thai, Vietnamese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese versions printed, AND Singapore publisher Rosmei has signed the license for the ENGLISH version, probably going on sale this year (preview is here). You can still access fan translations by Taida on I think wordpress and someone else on Tumblr sorry bad memory (they did half and half each) if you'd like to read it for context. It is one of my FAVE danmeis EVER and I am a die-hard OG book fan, check out my full danmei review here.

Total Episodes: 78 (20 minutes each with the exception of last episode which 10 minutes, with several BTS not that I think we will get to see all of them yet)

Where to Watch (LOL): Erm considering that iQIYI China AND International took the episodes down, there is no legal way to watch this, BUT thanks to some cnetz with super fast and great wifi, we managed to get ripped HD versions without subs. iQIYI is very hard on copyright though, they've taken down several subbed and unsubbed versions already on YouTube, but you should type the titles of show into Twitter and the top tags will tell you where to access the raws and very little subbed episodes, that may also be taken down at any point. I have the Chinese raws but as it's hosted on a cloud, I had to pay to access it.

Main Characters: Lin Qiushi & Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie (in the novel) and Ling Jiushi & Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie (in the drama)

Produced By: iQIYI so for SURE they won't film it fully BL even if the original is, but I've seen enough bromance cuts

Main Actors: Xia Zhiguang (Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie) + Huang Junjie (Ling Jiushi)

2. Summary

Book (drama follows closely if not removing the supernatural premises): Lin Qiushi, a designer, opens the door to his home one day from inside and sees 12 iron doors outside. Confused, he opens one of them and arrives at a snow covered village in the mid of winter, and meets Ruan Baijie, who's a pretty, unusually tall and whiny/timid woman. They realise that they're in a horrifying door game, and they'll have to find a door and a key to get out, while battling a long-haired, human-eating deity. They, along with a few others, have to survive day after day until they get out, and on the first night, two people have died in gory ways. Ruan Baijie and Lin Qiushi partner each other, and despite seemingly timid and crying all the time, she saves Lin Qiushi a few times mysteriously, and Lin Qiushi finds himself trusting in Ruan Baijie.

They get through the door together and when they leave successfully, Lin Qiushi realizes that the people who died in the door will die in real life by some freak accident too - car accidents, forced suicides, a robbery gone wrong, a lift trapped in the air and going ablaze, and more. That night, Lin Qiushi wakes up to see a super handsome and tall Ruan Nanzhu at his bedside and this man feels familiar to him, but he can't put a finger on it. All he can think of when Ruan Nanzhu says his name is Ruan Baijie (ahem he would later find out who it is of course). Ruan Nanzhu takes him to his mansion in the suburbs where he meets a group of other people just like them, who're forced to go through the doors for survival. Ruan Nanzhu then invites him to join Obsidian, his organization.

Through various doors, Lin Qiushi grows and supports a super intelligent and powerful Ruan Nanzhu, falls in love with him, gets through many many scary doors with him and some of their other team members, makes friends, loses them to the cruelty of the doors as they ponder over what the door means, and what being alive/dying means.

And at the end of it, at the end of of it all, when they're all good and living their life, Lin Qiushi also finds out what Ruan Nanzhu's secret is, and the lengths to which Ruan Nanzhu went to, just to be with him.

Drama: Ling Jiushi is a VR game designer who gets pulled into a game, and he meets Ruan Baijie (in his male form) right off the bat (SO NOT CROSSDRESSING I AM SAD). All the parts are actually the same as the novel, albeit with the game setting and Ling Jiushi and Ruan Nanzhu's identity adjustments to suit the game premise. Most of the other doors and their lines are the same, just that the ending is a bit more confusing than it could be. There's a big bad as well and they actually show the opposing organizations when in the novel, these other organizations aside from Obsidian didn't even actually have a face or goal to them.

3. Characters

^ Them in the book (based on manhua that never got to go live LOL) (RNZ/RBJ left, LQS right)

^ Them in the show (LJS left, RNZ right)

Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie: MY HANDSOME CROSSDRESSING INTELLIGENT ALOOF BUT WHINY (WHEN IT COMES TO LIN QIUSHI) SASSY BOSS!!!! He's super mysterious and super thick-skinned too, and all he wants is Lin Qiushi's attention the moment he meets him. He's intrigued by Lin Qiushi's calm and his brains and the way he handles things, and has a lot of trust for him right from the get-go. This is also shown in the drama itself. As the leader of Obsidian, he cares a lot for his team members and his friends even if he doesn't show it most of the time, and the last thing he wants to do is lose Lin Qiushi, and he would do ANYTHING for Lin Qiushi, ANYTHING!!! Just look at him whining:

Ling Jiushi (Lin Qiushi): In the novel he's super calm, has quite a lot of brains, a little bit of a blur in the beginning but he's super smart as well. Worries a lot for Ruan Nanzhu and is also a loyal friend to some of his only friends, and feels a lot when he loses them. Falls gradually in love with Ruan Nanzhu in the novel, like they just belong together. In this drama, Ling Jiushi holds that same trust for Ruan Nanzhu, but in demeanour he seems a bit more like a klutz and and not as cool as he was in the novel, but I guess it's acceptable. Literally like the only thing he loves more than RNZ (maybe) is his cat Chestnut LOL and RNZ is NOT really happy about that but Chestnut LOVES RNZ

Yixie and Qianli: CUTEST TWINS ;-; WHO TREAT RNZ and LQS as their big brothers LOOK AT THEM BOWING AND RNZ/LJS like parents LMAO

A handful of other characters who will keep turning up and get your hearts ;-;

4. ALL FAVE BROMANCE MOMENTS + TROPES

THEY TOUCH EACH OTHER A LOT LIKE HOLDING HANDS AND TOUCHING FACES, PIGGY BACKING?!?! DID I MENTION FACE TOUCHING

WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP THEY HELP EACH OTHER WHEN HURT OR GET HURT FOR EACH OTHER

AND WHEN THEY WAKE UP IN BED THE OTHER IS AT THEIR BEDSIDE

AND DID I MENTION HE FEEDS HIM IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

AND THAT THEY DATED UNDER THE FIREWORKS LIKE THE NOVEL DOES NOT EVEN HAVE THIS SHIT

AND THE KABEDONS

AND FINALLY RUAN NANZHU RIZZ OMG

5. Settings

They REALLY OUTDID THEMSELVES. THIS JUST FROM DOORS 1-6:

THEY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE NOVEL DESCRIBED!!!!

6. Overall Thoughts

PROS: This was NOT a cheap production, I'm telling you, they followed the cases very well and there're a lot of super recognisable lines, if not ALL of them, even if they changed the cases a little. I think they did it because in the novel originally, the author DOES leave a lot of details hanging like someone dies and you know he had a background and there are some shady things happening but the author NEVER actually goes into detail. So the drama did their best to cover these loopholes, even if it felt a little awkward at times. Money went into settings and attires and every damn thing, this looks EXPENSIVE. And if you've ever imagined each door and the bosses inside in your head, you might have felt chills go down your spine because damn did they really colour the book's settings for me (despite its differences). DID I MENTION that Xia Zhiguang really got the damn memo and he was a passable Ruan Nanzhu/Ruan Baijie who knew how to turn on his BL eyes. PLUS they really did some of the character deaths really well - they're technically some of the biggest parts of this story so ;-; (not two main of course)

CONS (maybe): They did away with the supernatural/horror premise and replaced it with a GAME premise, which means that there's a scientific element to it and the try to explain away stuff with the game, including the ending. I don't 100% get the ending, but the feel/vibe is about the same. Might not be for hardcore reader fans tho! They skipped out on a couple of doors, some of which were my faves, but it's fine, it's long enough LOL. They give away/explain some of the clues and surprises super early which means you don't get that added boom at the back as well. Despite that, I have to say they tried to round up the loopholes from the book as much as they could and give it an explanation while tying elements/conspiracies across doors (probably also to save cast fees LOL). And as always it's not a solid ending, it's an open confusing one, and even more confusing than the book itself because THERE IS NO CERTAIN HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITH HUBBY for it (there is in the book tho, they live together happily every after). Secondl,y, I'd say HJJ's acting is a bit stiff and OOC compared to the novel, but Xia Zhiguang really made up for it.

-------

HOPE THIS HELPS YOU GUYS!!! But I guess if you need subs it's going to be a long LONGGGG ride, considering that iQIYI doesn't seem to be going to be able to put it up anytime soon CRIES.

[xinyuehui]

Introduce me to Baijie won't you?

致命游戏 · THE SPIREALM

[palehorsemen]

[howlingmoonrise]

for @sunriseverse!

thank you for mind-melding with me and contributing to lin-gege springing out fully formed from our hive-mind brains <3 may he live long and prosper and annoying forever😌

everyone else... here's original timeline!LQS/LQS/RNZ shenanigans😏 some spoilers for later parts of the novel, but if you got through the show it's not anything TOO different, the rest is basically show/novel frankencanon. warning for explicit sexual content.

--

Cheng Qianli has put on what he's sure he thinks is a wise, elderly expression. He strokes an imaginary beard. "It's okay, Linlin-ge. You're both the same people, so how can Ruan-ge prefer one over the other? He's definitely not cheating!" "How can he be cheating," Lin Qiushi grouses, "if we're not even dating?" The fake beard-stroking stops. Cheng Qianli looks at him with a struck expression. "Oh no, Linlin-ge," he says, looking as if he wants to pat Lin Qiushi pityingly, "it's even worse than I thought."

--

Read on AO3

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

Original title: Zhi Ming You Xi | 致命游戏.

[silviakundera]

🙌 Finally finished Fourteenth Year of Chenghua by Meng Xi Shi, including extras. From beginning to end, reminded me of some of the most satisfying "case fics" I've enjoyed over the years in various fandoms. Just very well plotted case-solving and a loveable protagonist. (Chinese novels and dramas do know how to write a 'pure-hearted good guy' character that I want to stan.)

My big surprise was that though of course I enjoyed the slow-burn romance subplot... the most satisfying relationship growth was Tang Fan's frenemies to allies and ✨FRIENDSHIP✨ with cunning & ambitious eunuch Wang Zhi. He really just decided to befriend the notorious, villainous eunuch that everyone's scared of and just Did Friendship until one day the man woke up a hero with a gay, foodie bestie.

They truly ended up being each other's secret weapon. (sentimental sigh)

His adopted sister A'Dong was also a wonderful supporting character. I appreciated how she felt fully realized, though a figure at "home" and usually not involved in the cases. Very glad the author catches up with her in the extras and we get a glimpse of her chosen husband.

All in all, a novel I very much enjoyed while I can see why it won't appeal to the average danmei reader (light romance, heavy mystery & palace intrigue). Perhaps fans of Mo Du / Silent Reading should check it out, if you enjoyed the elegant case work in that one.

English translation: (see Google Docs link)

[punishing-eden]

Some friendly notes about CN names...

Tags: Long read

In the light of Wuthering waves, I want to make a few notes in regards to CN name pronunciation, because I have seen many people struggle with it, and the English voice over servely butchered it so bad.

So let's get into it.

First and for most, when it comes to Chinese, throw the English vowel phonetics out of the window.

Especially with names, we don't read them according to the romanization of the name, but rather the characters itself.

Jiyan, Ling Yang, Zhezhi, Yangyang. Etc

忌淡，凌陽，折枝，秧秧

I mean, obviously, lol. But, the reason I say this, is because I have seen quite a number of people make mistakes in pronuncing CN characters by using the romanji as a template to pronounce another word based on the similar spelling. While, the CN characters itself, has a different way of pronunciation.

[Note: CN names in Romanji don't mean anything to us, until we read the CN characters. Most of the time, we can make an educated guess on what the name is, given if the name is generic or easy i.e. Ga-ming, Zhongli, Hutao. In this context, Wuwa's names are a more unique, and harder to guess with just the Romanji.]

A great example of this is, Jiyan and Yangyang.

People always pronunce Jiyan's name incorrectly.

You might think I am being a little picky with this, because I am; for a good reason.

Most of the time, the "Yan" is pronunced incorrectly, and it's completely a far off pronunciation.

Ji (忌) Yan (淡)

Same goes for Yangyang.

Yang (秧) Yang (秧)

The "Yan" in Jiyan's name is the same character as the "Yan" in Genshin's character, Xinyan.

So the way Jiyan's "Yan" is pronunce is:

Y - ANN (as in the English name Ann-a without the 'a' at the end.)

For Yangyang, it's the "a" sound that people get wrong the most.

The "a" has like an "u" sound, like in the word, up. So pair it with "y", it almost makes a "ja" sound in German.

So essentially:

JA - NG JA - NG

Same goes for the "Yang" in Ling Yang's name, but do note that the "Yang"'s are not the same character, Yangyang (秧秧) & Ling Yang (凌陽).

So, if you want to get even more specific with the tones, then noted that Yangyang, and Ling Yang is pronunced in a different tone.

[Note: In Chinese there are a lot of instances where the CN character is different but the pronunciation is the same, or similar with tonal differences.]

Next, are the CN pinyin phonetic tips.

These aren't 100% fool prove, but, as mentioned before, one can't really know what CN characters is used until we see the actual character being use to then pronunce it correctly.

A good example is, Jinhsi.

Idk what and why the devs went with this Romanji, but I didn't really know how to pronunce it nor guess the word until I saw the CN character for it.

"Hsi" is (汐), which the pinyin/Romanji is "Xi"

Same with Baizhu from Genshin. Normally, the "Zhu" is pronunced as JU ( as in the English name, Ju-illie), but the character is actually pronunced as "Shou" (Sh-oo).

Anyway here are the tips:

"Zh" vs "J":

Zh- is pronunced with a "j" sound. Often times it's has an elongated sound. Ie. Zhong, Zhou, Zhi. Etc.

J- is also pronunced with a "j" sound, but the sound is often short. Ie. Jin, Jian, Jiang,

The "Q"

Q- is pronunced with a short "ch" sound.

The "e" and the "u"

I think the "e" and "u" sounds are the hardest for non CN speakers. Words like, Yu, yue, jue ke. Etc, are difficult because those type of sounds are not in the English language.

"u" is pronunced as "ü".

So, Qu (曲) is CH-Ü. Ganyu (甘雨) is G-uan Y-ü.

-ue, is a little tricky, it's pronounce as Ü-EH. "eh" as the anime expression of "Ehhh!". It would feel like a lip twister at the beginning but once you get the hang of it, you can put the sounds together.

Liyue is Li - yü-eh.

"e" is a little harder. The "e" by itself, without the "u", is prounced as "ugh" lmao. It's a short sound.

So, Keqing (刻晴) is K-ugh - ch-ing, Geshu Lin (歌舒 臨) is G-ugh - shü - Li-in.

There are probably loads more, but I am just going to do the ones where I see most in games like Genshin and Wuwa.

To top this all off, some (useless) CN name facts:

I don't really think spacing is a big deal in names. Sometimes it does help differentiate the surname and given name. But irl, when it comes to Romanji, the spacing and spelling is usually determined by the spelling on your birth certificate... So, if the nurse spelt your romanji name wrong... 😅😅😅

Sibling nameings are usually done in groups of brothers and sisters. So, let's take Artium Wing (lol) for example. His CN name is 左然 (Zuo Ran). So, if he has a younger brother, the parents would either keep the 左(Zuo), or the 然(Ran) for the next same sex sibling. So, Aritum (左然), and his younger brother, Alex (左右).

It is rare to have a compound surname in Han surnames. This includes, Ouyang (歐陽), Situ/Szeto (司徒), and of course Geshu (歌舒) (Geshu is a super rare name, and apparently the name is dead).

There are no standardised names in Chinese, like Joe, Sarah, Judy, Barbara, Matthew. Etc. There are similar names, and they might look the same when reading the Romanji, bit mostly are not the same.

That's it! I hope this helps, or at least explains a few things about CN names.

[titteringturtles]

告五人 Accusefive - 果然你還是 Guo Ran Ni Hai Shi (Fly to the Flame)

Track 5 of Somewhere In Time, I Love You

Title translation: Of course, it's still you

Kill me quickly, the way you're used to 趕快殺了我 用你擅長的方式 Gan kuai sha le wo yong ni shan chang de fang shi

Each kiss cuts a scar on my heart 吻在心上���下一把痕 Wen zai xin shang ke xia yi ba hen

[Pre-chorus]

I loved you to death and never met someone so spoiled 我赴死的愛上了你 你的腐朽已成奇蹟 Wo fu si de ai shang le ni ni de fu xiu yi cheng qi ji

My devotion was nothing but a slight breeze through the grass 我的絕對不過微風吹撫青草地 Wo de jue dui bu guo wei feng chui fu qing cao di

[Chorus]

I am just a fruit fly that's not afraid of being obliterated 我是一隻不怕灰飛煙滅的果蠅 Wo shi yi zhi bu pa hui fei yan mie de guo ying

Facing your cruel heart is truly just right 面對你的壞不過剛好而已 Mian dui ni de huai bu guo gang hao er yi

And that's beautiful to me, something that other people wouldn’t understand 那對我來說便是美麗 別人無法明白的東西 Na dui wo lai shuo bian shi mei li bie ren wu fa ming bai de dong xi

I can see it, your true heart 我看得見 你的真心 Wo kan de jian ni de zhen xin

Pre-chorus x1

Chorus x1

[guzhufuren]

The Spirealm + text posts (pt. 1/3)

[agendratum]

the spirealm as text posts (2/?)

[shijiujun]

FACE-TOUCHING!!!!

The Spirealm 致命游戏 (2024) | Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 Live Action

[xinyuehui]

I AM A FIRM BELIEVER IN MATERIALISM!!!!!!

致命游戏 · THE SPIREALM

[cultivationguides]

佛說摩訶迦羅大黑天神經 Fo shuo mo he jia lo da hei tian shen jing

御大黑誓願云 yu da hei shi yuan yun

貧窮眾生與福力 ping qiong zhong sheng yu fu li

短命者成長命 duan ming zhe cheng chang ming

病眾生與良藥 bing zhong sheng yu liang yao

無智者成智者。 wu zhi zhe cheng zhi zhe.

南無本師釋迦牟尼佛(×3) Na Mo Ben Shi Shi Jia Mo Ni Fo

惡心者成善心 er xin zhe cheng shan xin

開經偈 kai jing jie

無上甚深微妙法 wu shang shen shen wei miao fa

我今見聞得受持 wo jin jian wen de shou chi

百千萬劫難遭遇 bai qian wan jie nan zhao yu

願解如來真實義。 yuan jie ru lai zhen shi yi.

佛說摩訶迦羅大黑天神經 Fo shuo mo he jia lo da hei tian shen jing

爾時如來告大眾言今此大會中有大菩薩· er shi ru lai gao da zhong yan jin ci da hui zhung you da pu sha

名日大福德自在圓滿菩薩·此菩薩往昔成等正覺· ming yue da fu de zi zai yuan man pu sha ci pu sha wang xi cheng deng zhen jue

號大摩尼珠王如來今以自在業力故 hao da mo ni zhu wang ru lai jin yi zi zai ye li gu

來娑婆世界·顯大黑天神是大菩薩大會中lai suo po shi jie xian da hei tian shen shi da pu sha da hui zhung

即起座合掌白佛言,我於一切貧窮無福眾生 ji qi zuo he zhang bai fo yan wo yu yi qie ping qiong wu fu zhong sheng

為與大福德·今現優婆塞形眷屬七母女天 wei yu da fu de jin xian you po sai xing juan shu qi mu nue tian

三界游現欲與一切眾生福德· san jie you xian yue yu yi qie zhong sheng fu de

惟願世尊為我說大福德圓滿陀羅尼· wei yuan shi zun wei wo shuo da fu de yuan man tuo luo ni

爾時世尊開貌含笑說咒曰: er shi shi zun kai mao han xiao shuo zhou yue

曩謨三曼多慕噠喃喃摩訶迦羅耶娑婆訶 Namo Samanta Buddhanam Om Mahakalaya Svaha

爾時世尊告大眾言,此天神咒

er shi shi zun gao da zhong yan ci tian shen zhou

過去無量諸佛出世不說若未來惡世中·

guo qu wu liang zhu fo chu shi bu shuo ruo wei lai er shi zhung

有諸貧窮人·聞此陀羅尼名者·

you zhu ping qiong ren wen ci tuo luo ni ming zhe

當知是人·降大摩尼寶珠·湧出無量珍寶 dang zhi shi ren jiang da mo ni bao zhu yong chu wu liang zhen bao

爾時大黑天神白佛言・若有末法中眾生持此咒者·

er shi da hei tian shen bai fo yan ruo you mo fa zhung zhong sheng chỉ ci zhou zhe

我體若五尺·若三尺·若五寸·刻其形象 wo ti ruo wu chi ruo san chi ruo wu cun ke qi xing xiang

安置伽藍·若崇敬家內·我遣七母女天眷屬 an zhi qie lan ruo cong jing jia nei wo qian qi mu nue tian juan shu

八萬四千人福德神·遊行十方每日供養一千人 ba wan shi qian ren fu de shen yiu xing shi fang mei ri gong yang yi qian ren

若我所說有虛妄者·永墮惡趣不還本覺· ruo wo suo shuo you xu wang zhe yong duo er qu bu huan ben jue

若又以種種珍菓美酒等供養者將降甘露 ruo you yi zhong zhong zhen guo mei jiu deng gong yang zhe jiang jiang gan lu

時一起大眾皆大歡喜·信受奉行作禮而去 shi yi qi da zhong jie da huan xi xin shou feng xing zuo li er qu.

大黑天讚 da hei tian zan

願諸世界常安穩

Yuan zhu shi jie chang an wen

無邊福智益群生 Wu bian fu zhi yi qun sheng

所有罪障並消除 Shuo you zui zhang bing siao chu

遠離眾苦歸圓寂 Yuan li zhong ku gui yuan ji

大黑天神咒 da hei tian shen zhou

曩謨三曼多·慕噠喃·唵·摩訶迦羅耶娑婆訶。。。 Namo Samanta Buddhanam Om Mahakalaya Svaha

[howlingmoonrise]

author reveals are here!!! written for battleship exchange 2024 for @dotytakethisdownfanfic 💖

features crossdressing!lqs and is therefore more canon to the novel than the show, but can be read without knowledge of the novel. enjoy!

--

This is, Lin Qiushi thinks, squirming in place, a terrible idea. It was bad enough Ruan Nanzhu had insisted on him wearing drag again. It was bad enough that Lin Qiushi already found it hard to say no to him on a normal day, much less when he was grinning so widely in a way that made Lin Qiushi’s heart flop mysteriously in his chest. It was bad enough that Lin Qiushi hadn’t protested anywhere near as much as he should, having mixed yet positive feelings about the last time it’d happened, which in turn only encouraged Nanzhu. And yet. 

Read on AO3