#OH GOD IM WATCHING CDRAMA AGAIN | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gizkasparadise · 2 months

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What are your top five xianxia cdramas? And, on the other end, what are your top five historical kdramas (any time period - I'm not well versed in this to know the various types names yet xD)? Oh, and lastly, your top five drama recs that are the most (generally) underrated? Thanks!

nice!

TOP FIVE XIANXIA (& I'M ALSO GONNA INCLUDE XUANHUAN)

love and redemption. girl meets boy. boy's part of a cursed theatre troupe and part of masochism tango of reincarnation with girl that lasts 10 life times. girl is actually kind of the god of war. crack, gender reversal, gender fuckery at large, feminist and queer friendly. incredible OST. just all-around one of my favorite dramas ever.

lost you forever (part 1). a xuanhuan vs. xianxia, but im not passionate enough about 5 xianxia for this list lol. another drama with gender fuckery. a fantastic FL and beautiful relationship building (and unbuilding) and character-driven story. dont even need the second part for this to be a favorite!!

love between fairy and devil. all those tropes you fucking loved when you were like 13 on ff.net given a lot of heart and near-perfect execution (aside from that ending). awesome characters, beautiful costumes and art direction. super addicting and bingeable

the legends. bai lu playing a powerhungry demoness and acquiring a dysfunctional harem in the process. xu kai looking like a sad blue-haired puppy. a monk that creates an entire demon because he has 1 boner. sismance. i had a lot of fun with this one and pointedly did not watch the last 5 or so eps lol

till the end of the moon. there's parts i genuinely hate and would not watch ever again. there's parts that are fucking incredible. sort of like the main couple, i have a love/hate relationship with this drama but when it hits it really hits

honorable mention: eternal love/10 miles of peach blossoms (xianxia fuckery at its finest weighed down somewhat by tedious side plots and one of the most infuriating 2nd FLs of all time)

TOP FIVE HISTORICAL KDRAMAS

gaksital/bridal mask. set in the 1930s. inverse character arcs between the hero and villain. dysfunctional romance amped up to the nth level. high stakes, high consequences, and a cast full of well-developed and written characters. bring tissues

empress ki. girl crushing and girl bossing her way through two kingdoms, one of the best FLs of all time. with her is a besotted baby enemy emperor and a Noble Good besotted powerless king as she goes from slave to smuggler to concubine to empress. chef's kiss

the princess' man. you want feral wrecks for your male leads? female leads ready to throw down in a parking lot? if you like lovers to enemy (?) lovers and star-crossed romances this one is a must

the king loves. this one's also on my underrated list. the first 4ish eps are a chore, but if you get past them you have the love triangle to end all love triangles, interesting palace politics with a fascinating "evil" empress, and im siwan getting to go a lil unhinged as a treat. it's the definition of an idol drama but gd did i love this and i binged the hell out of it no regrets

mr sunshine. le cinema!!! an interesting time in history (1870s-1880s) with a wide range of flawed but compelling characters centered around one of the most badass FLs of all time. winner of the #1 second lead syndrome contest for me with dong mae. only downfall to this one is i felt negative chemistry with the endgame ship but the show is good enough without it

honorable mention: chicago typewriter isnt on this list because it's only kind of half a historical drama BUT OMG WATCH IT. it's in my top 3 kdrama and while it has a slow build once it kicks off it fucking goes off

TOP FIVE UNDERRATED DRAMAS

the king loves as mentioned above. i think why it has a lower rating is the first handful of eps are kind of a snoozefest and there's a bit of an upset with the romance (which i was 900% for). but it's a fucking fun ride and full of awesome goryeo palace drama adventures

kairos. not underrated, since it has decent scores on reviewer sites, but underhyped? not enough people have seen this one and it's an incredible time-travel thriller that i found way more interesting than other popular dramas of its type like signal

cheese in the trap. the ending's a hot mess, but compared to how some 2020-onward dramas are ending it's poetry. a solid adaptation of a really great webtoon, awesome cinematography, and one of the few dramas ive seen that actually capture the campus/college life experience right

discovery of romance. the emotional cheating element causes a lot of folks to hate it/jump ship, but i love this one (and gd BOTH the fl and ml emotionally cheat ftr he's not innocent in this hot mess). jung yumi + eric mun are one of my favorite kdrama duos and they kill it, and kim seulgi plays an incredible second female lead

when a man falls in love. man people HATED this one but i think it's a blast when you're in the mood for mess + gangsters. if you're into watching fucked up romances with severe power imbalances and the dysfunction that follows, this one's for you. it's not perfect but definitely not deserving of its 6.8 MDL rating (gd!)

#asks!#cdrama #kdrama #long post

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elvencantation · 1 year

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everything everywhere all at once liveblog

okay i know she’s supposed to be evil and shit but JOY IS SO DAMN COOL AND HOT AND WOW. GODAMN

i love that she’s just straight up discovering weird ass new universes. rly don’t like the hot dogs for fingers tho everything on a bagel?? are you kidding me?

evil joy is too hot and that’s really not fair

the bagel cgi is cool too

poor this universe joy. yeah she’s not gonna be able to stab her is she

OMG YES RAPID JUMPS

WAIT THE GRANDAD IS NOW SENDING PEOPLE AFTER HER

juju chewbacca 😂

glad she’s having this convo with joy but shit

OMG THE BLIND JUMP AND THE SINGER FOR LUNG CAPACITY YES

GOD I LOVE HOW SHES COMBINING THESE RANDOM ASS SKILLS

WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS THIS LADY USING HER DOG AS A FUCKING BOLA?? not the right term but i cant remember it rn

is joy the key to defeating alpha joy?

god that would be so lovely if healing her relationship with joy in this horrible universe helped solve the problem

i love that her world saving skill in this case is thinking of weird ass random shit. i could probably do that. wouldn’t look as cute tho 😂

i hate this butt joke like. cant you take it out pls? for me personally cause it’s apparently a squick? thank you

NO NOT LIKE THAT

wait so they can only access the skills as long as they’re connected to that universe? how’d she combine them all with the shield fight then? or was it cause she fractured

oh no oh no she’s gonna kill alpha waymond fuck fuck FUCK

what is HAPPENING

is she stuck in another evelyn?

oh no the secondhand embarrassment of her messing up other universes

wait did she go back??

BRING ME BACK TO WUXIA UNIVERSE I LIKE THE OUTFITS

omg the creativity of putting them in her drawing??? HER MIND

oh it’s the weird white universe again

“the bagel will show you the true nature of things” GOD HOW DID SHE SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE. ACTING

it’s probably a testament to the writing and acting that i actually kinda feel bad for hot dog Deirdre

also i know it’s bad that she’s fucking everything up but it’s such a cool sequence and joy’s face is fascinating to watch

okay now i wanna slow down that clip and see all the other universes!!!

if i was a rock would you still love me?

hmmm i’m a bit sad i didn’t hear their voices but i get the point

this is making me feel shrimp feelings. also i think i’m getting a headache. that’s probably just cause of not really having dinner and being on a plane 😂

YES YES WAYMOND IS GONNA BRING HER BACK I KNEW IT

oh no i forgot she stabbed him in the og universe fuck im gonna cry. and he’s still defending her

FUCK ITS NOT YOUR FAULT. YOURE THE ONE WHOS GONNA FIX IT

THIS WAYMOND BETTER SURVIVE OR ILL FUCKING RIOT

oh no she’s gonna kill waymond isn’t she. please don’t

WAIT WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED

why is the bagel here? and where did it go?

YES HUG DEIRDRE. ALL THE HUGS god every moment i’m afraid of totally devastating tragedy. see what cdramas done to me??

YES PUT UR HUSBANDS GOOGLY EYE ON UR FOREHEAD DO IT

yess be the chaotic good to her chaotic evil!!

THERE ARE NO RULES. IM GONNA GET YOU. OMG THATS SO CUTE HELP

“i’m learning to fight like you” god now i’m gonna cry again

this is all so ridiculous i can’t. i love it. she’s finding these things from their lives- the things that make them who they are. what is in common in most if not all of the universes. this is really similar to my own concept of self god i love it i cant

oh god she’s racacoonie

don’t let her go

oh god it’s all between the three of them isn’t it. fuck

god the music is all so good and so eerie

holy SHIT THE ‘I AM YOUR MOTHER’ TIMED WITH THE SWITCHES AND MUSIC

wait WHAT. PLEASE TELL ME THE BAGEL LIKE SECRETLY UNDOES THE JUMP STUFF

god joy don’t cry i’ll just be crying with you and that won’t help my headache

god becky is so sweet help i cant. her smile!!!! fuck

oh god for some reason then hugging as two planets collide absolutely fucking ended me

yes yes yes. the other side of nothing matter is why not do the things that make your life and others lives better? why not be the one thing that matters to that person?

BECKY. IS. SO. FUCKING. PRECIOUS. as is waymond obvi

wait the end confused me. but i do like that she didn’t just pretend that she heard. oh like it’s gonna still be there in her metaphorical peripheral vision?

okay so watching prince of egypt wasn’t the best idea if i wanted not to cry again. time for my all time favorite- jupiter ascending

#everything everywhere all at once #michelle yeoh #blue watches #goddamn #what a movie #eeaao spoilers #eeaao #eeaao liveblog #eeaao reaction

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mejomonster · 2 years

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im missing Secret of the Three Kingdoms again (and ma tianyu)... maybe I’ll watch that when I run out of Love Between Fairy and Devil ToT (rip I actually caught up now I have to wait for eps aaa if only I’d checked it out a bit later lol)

I’m also watching Checkmate and missed them, love me a murder mystery and agatha christie stories, so its a fun time. But it hasn’t hooked me quite yet.

I think the thing just is like... I REALLY like a good romance between very different people. And a lot of cdramas do a partial version of it but like not as different as the trope that gets me? Like Goodbye My Princess is one of the closest to my preferences, because the drama REALLY works hard to depict each region and culture differently so the princess and prince feel like they have WAY different points of view when interacting. But its still ultimately a princess and prince. Whereas I’m like where is a total loner assassin or commoner and a princess, etc. Secret of The Three Kingdoms also is one of the Closest to my preferences - its an empress and a much lower noble-adoptee, and while that noble adoptee is actually the emperors brother, that is not how he was raised at all so they come at situations completely differently. Love and Redemption again, does similar but doesn’t quite hit my preference totally - they’re both important people in their clans (Xuanji for being the leaders daughter, sifeng for being the start disciple), and they’re a human/demon pair until you find out oh actually... they’re a devil-god-human/demon pair which is a bit less different. But it does hit that starcrossed lovers vibe I like, and that ‘different backgrounds equal different perspectives they approach things with’ that I appreciate.

Love Between Fairy and Devil is probably giving the closest to my preference right now - while Lanhua is ultimately going to be some kind of god, for all intents her perspective and status when dealing with others has been a nobody in the Fairy Realm who just managed to pass a test for fairies to work in the palaces. She’s a disciple of a person sort of on the outside (the Arbiter who doesn’t seem to interact with the palace much), she is untalented in magic and skill, she had to deal with HER OWN status incompatibilities in the Fairy Realm before you even factor in her status in Cangyan Sea. Meanwhile, Dongfang Qingcang is the ‘big bad emperor’ character type, he is the ‘strongest’ person in the world talent wise, he rules the Moon Tribe, and being a figurehead for the Moon Tribe he is the boogeyman/supervillain in the Fairy Realm’s eyes so he’s about as far background wise as you can get from Lanhua. Even the way they were raised is different (at least from what Lanhua can remember) - he had a dad (who ultimately abused him) and a sibling and a bodyguard/friend, she had no parents and just a teacher (but one who seems to have treated her warmly) and few close friends just a few plants she talked to and occasionally Changheng/Jieli. Jieli/Shangque being their friends is probably the closest ‘background’ similar experience they’ve got (I could be forgetting things though to be fair). My point is: a drama is finally delivering on one of my favorite set ups. They really don’t have the same culture background OR the same status background. Usually the cdramas I see, one or both of those is usually the same (usually status - like in Eternal Love Bai Qian isn’t quite the ‘future-emperor’ level of Ye Hua, but she is the future Fox Clan leader and therefore also super high rank ultimately. in Love and Redemption once Xuanji has strength she and Sifeng both become symbols of power for the human clans and Sifeng’s demon clan respectively. In Goodbye My Princess both are prince and princess hence they are ultimately interacting because politically they’re at the level they CAN interact and accomplish goals due to each other.) To be fair it does make writing a story easier... even Guardian, where they’re very different mutant/human, its a chief and and hei pao shi who both sort of have mid-level political power. (Now I’m contemplating and Ice Fantasy both does the status-match pairing and its LEAD romance actually isn’t - its a human Guardian and a Ice Kingdom Prince - which may be part of why i loved that show, and may be partly why LBFAD is reminding me so much of Ice Fantasy).

Maybe I should be checking out disciple/shifu pairings, maybe that’s less likely to have same-status setups?

#rant #i have like. a KEY fantasy/historical preference and its for characters with different statuses and bgs #and it is Rarely actually met. usually i find one out of two and decide Close Enough to interest me #but whenever i find both? its like finding gold

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millipop · 2 years

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you know, it's astounding how quickly watching two vaguely campy cdramas with imperfect plotting and gay censorship but dedication to giving a good, loved story has gone a long way to healing me from the utter letdown/mess/heartbreak/slow car crash that was watching the 100 for 5/6 years

not even talking about the last season in general but even just focusing on the ending jrot decided on and how it was utterly devoid of joy and hope and any lasting morals. the bleakness of the idea of the last of humanity living out their days on a random beach without any hope for the future or hope for humanity..i can't even begin to understand what message they thought they were trying to send but it makes me depressed just thinking about it

and on the other hand you have these two random almost gay cdramas i stumbled upon by a friend finally succeeding in catching my interest. they are both based on books where characters are just as morally grey and tragic and yet even though the tv adaptations have to cancel the gays getting their novel-based canonical happy ending, they still manage to stay true to characters and story and deliver an ending that might break your heart but Makes Sense.

even in the ultra campy one riddled with plot holes and terrible cgi, and the two main characters literally dying in the end, there's such hope and humanity in the ending that you're crying out of sadness and happiness. the characters' deaths are Meaningful and add so much to the story and development of their character, and it literally ends with a nod towards them reincarnating and meeting again. like you can still have tragedy with hope infused! it's possible!!

and in the untamed there's so much tragedy in that story it hurts like it really is so bleak at times and yet the ending is so beautiful while being slightly open-ended that people literally write fic in the universe with that ending as opposed to the novel's where they get married bc there's so much rich opportunity to develop on what's there, to see characters heal and grow and reunite and love again after so much hurt

i haven't seen a single fic using the 100's ending without changing some major aspect of it (ie bringing bellamy back) because it's just lifeless. dead. there's nothing to build on, no character development to continue, nothing. that show will fade into oblivion being nothing but a letdown for both sides of two armies invested in it and for what? idk it just makes me mad how much potential that show had and it was just so. so badly ended. like actively terrible.

anyway i barely read fics for t100 anymore and am not currently working on my fic and that makes me sad in a way, and maybe I'll come back to it but idk im just constantly thinking about how two shows strangled by the government into not getting the Main Couple together still made it work and then there's this show where everything was ripe for the taking and everyone (including the network, probably) would have preferred you to just work with the story you had instead of holding a middle finger up to your fans while the ship (lol) is sinking and they were m/f for fucks sake literally no government is stopping that from happening oh my god...

anyway can you tell i have anger

#the 100 #the untamed #guardian #sorry i just #had to blurt this one out lmfao #cql #mdzs #zhen hun

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mingi-bubu · 3 years

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Watch "Love O2O" With Me... Again !

Episode 1

i'm baaack :D

(on my bullshit al;djkf;slkjd)

i've been feeling nostalgic as of late and was thinking about re-watching a drama i already watched

it was between love o2o and rookie historian

and i guess we know who won ;alkdsj

so, just like before,

i have my water, my laptop's plugged in, i have some m&m's

as mark lee my beloved would say, lezgeddit

oh the intro T.T

i missed this song al;ksdfsj

actually i have been listening to it a lot recently so like. tea i guess

oh to be hugged and kissed on the forehead by yang yang

i missed them

i know theyre so awkwrd but like its so endearing

i still think hao mei and k.o were in love to some degree

ugh the title card is sooo pretty

also i checked with the first time i did this and literally its almost been a year exactly aldkfjas im just a few days late to the anniversary

shan't lie to you, i still think zhenshui is kinda hot esp in his mf legolas outfit

oooh weiwei with theat big ffucking sword on fire leggoooo

rip to that bridge

i wonder what the insurance salespeople make in this game

ik it doesnt exist but still like

major property damage has occurred

al;dkfjaslfd anyways

the battle scene is over and the rest of the team has been #Revived

i love how done weiwei looks constantly in this universe

jinling city..

ooOOOHHH HERE OCMES THE TEA

al;kdsfjas broooo its not that deep

;LKDJASOW WUXIANG IM SICK

love the timing of those two walking past akldsjf

ooh japanese sounds soooo good

i got indian tonight tho

l m a o

love the propaganda here for chinese university dorms

apparently they do not actually look like this

who calculates flow of electricity

i still really really want erxi's little rice cooker pot thing

oh wow from the jump shes in plaid i didnt realize ohw early this occurred

me *handshake emoji* erxi

dont get bogged down by details

erxi im sick

why would you not tell about the laptop girl what the fuck

for someone who clLOCK TH E DOOR OH MY GOD

they stress me out

xiaoling and sisi my beloveds

the Squade was so fun i liked it when the four of them were together on screen

god all computer majors are the same klajd;fksa

girl i am moving into my senior year of uni and am still single its really not that deep

consider your happiness... let me not speak on this topic anymore

oh yeah the basketball championship;LKAJ;SLDJF;LAKWEJ FUKCIGN XIAO NAI

love how they do exposition in this show

me *handshake emoji* weiwei

xiao nai simps

girl you need some time alone to uh... 'reflect'

that's what we'll call it

OH I HAVE SO MANY CONFLICITNG FEELINGS ABOUT YIRAN AND NANA

BC YIRAN IS GENUINELY A NICE GIRL BUT IS VERY NAIVE AND INNOCENT

i think that yiran and weiwei couldve been such good friends if nana wasnt involved

her tiny fucking bag im sick

as;ldkjfakd weiwei having 0 clue about what happens on her campus

girl same

aldksjflk erxi it definitely was you

erxi is .. a fruit

a huge fruit

but is she wrong ??? BUT IS SHE WRONG, ERXI

xiao nai xiao nai xiao nai xiao nai a;kdsfj;aslkdjf

he <333

im so whipped for this fukcing guy

still dont understand what's going on with the chess game but thats okay

this guy is so confident aldkj

babe sorry to break it to you but youre gonna fail my love

you cannot beat ms weiwei

you would think with the amount of times i see that chess game in cdramas i would look up the rules and how to play and yet

oh the parallels i <333

jalsdkfkjshe really said im on the clock here bud

a WHOLE ass building

hes so weird

i understand why hes doing things like this but also dude

laksdjfal the way nai is like please never compare us again

HELL YEAH LETS GO OST LETS GO

HE WITH THE SMALL ALMOST SMILE

ME WITH THE SCREAMIGN INTERNALLY

WE LOVE SEEING HIM FALL IN LOVE LIKE A DORK

i want a light up keyboard tbh

wow he just stnads there bro

idocnic

hes so handsome his fuckign side profile hlep

ITS MY WIFE

XIAOLING MY BELVOED

girl youre just snackign thats not busy

do they have assigned things to put their sheets on? so that no one steals? that doesnt mean no one will steall but still

ask;jd;lk the lil emoji boys so cuuteee

a;ldksja i love them spilling the tea

YES YOU MUST SPEAK UP

akdsjf;laskdj

al;dkfja petty and philistine

thats what they call me in the club

capacitor

;aldksj me when i hear people in my major talkking about something bc their ocncentration is diferent

sisi is also a fruit

thanks for comign to my tedtalk

i just wanna see my boy september

lmao i lvoe when the Squade is all together their chemistry is soooo fun

oh sick a discotheque on fridays

see !! yiran was so ready to be like she's nice i like her

nana were it not for the laws of this land and the fact that youre fictional i would have slaughtered you by now

speak of the devil... you and me both nana

yes i still dont like cao guang

no its not gonna change

yes sometimes i find the actor attractive in guardian

yes i am annoyed

still i do think its very cool how he played the same character in both the show and movie

wowwww

LOOKS CAN BE DECIEVING

THATS WHO NANA IS

SEPTEMBER???

IS IT MY BOY

aalkd no its just weiwei

fuck i am vicoiusly rmeinded i need to get a new job -_-'

gaming is like her life

majd;lsadj

i like how confidant she is its v cool lmao

she's right!!!

do what you want esp if youre good at it!!!

jesus christ i forgot how skinny this actress is

i know she had some sort of thing about food i think aroudn the time this was being filmed

love that its ancient times in the game and yet theres holo coms

shes like... its not that deep

mr zhenshui, really my love, it is not that deep ever in this game

akldfjls i forgot about the statue crying

iconic

MITOSIS

peace out mf <3

aksd;jf she really was like ehhh im okay with things

it's all good bro

i do like how zhenshui was sort of before all of this occurred

wedding time wedding time

not nice enough if he seems to hop out like that

oooh theyve been ~leveling~ together

alskj i love how annoyed weiwei is with superficiality as if she hasnt been alive in the world for about 20 years

girl... what did erxi give you??

love the red wedding materials

very pretty

aldksjfsl im the two guys talking about ba ba ba

oooooohhh she just standing there

bro she is *literally* just vibing

aalksdjf can they not see the "zzz" next to her name?

wow seriously what did erxi give herself and weiwei

she is LITERALLY just vibing

nobody is storming anytihgn

jesus christ e.e

backscrolling to read the chat

ah... i know the struggle..

i mean you were in there for like a while love

lets play a round of

sell

those

herbs ~!!!

dude, a;dfk;skd

gaming during work hours. incredible

ald;kfja;sldkj looooovvveee

i just noticed the guys behind the palinqin playing instruments

XIAO NAI

XIAO XNNAI

ITS MY HUSBAND

LOOK AT HIMMMM

YIXIAO NAIHE

;LFKAJSD

YOU WANT TO HAVE A BETTER WEDDING BABE???

HE CAN DO THAT FOR YOUUU

love the end crdits

lets go yang yang vocals lets goooo

we are ~~jamming~~

so sad i didnt get to see september tho :(((

as always, we have reached the end

thank you for reading!!!

stay safe and stay healthy <333

#love o2o #cdrama #e1 #watch with me again #jae.txt

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mousehole5000 · 4 years

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okay another tgcf lb i powered through and finished book 1 this is kinda long its chapters 43-57

first off i love a lil spy mission. these things never go smooth

naughty unlucky trespassers get banished to the giant leech chamber

dont know that i care for the inclusion of “scary savage redskinned cannibal tribe” i mean i guess i dont know maybe its got a different cultural context but i just have a hard time with that one hmmmm at least its over quickly

this really seems to be a book of everyone already knows everyone but that makes sense considering how fucking old everyone is

dope. this whole little armory stand off was fun but also oh no!!! fire in ghost city!!!

awww i love him. king of not wanting anyone to die :’( also hey he did something cool!!! very competent!!! although it looks like he did get hurt from it god his bad luck never ends

yeah exactly!!!!! sword in one hand flower in the other!!! thats what its all about!!!!

mmmmmmm. MMMMMMMMMM. rich fuckers. but also feng xin was the first to show up either way.... im still care him. followed by mu qing who is talking trash but still here as well

also i might back what i said about lang qianqiu im not sure if he knows anything i think he is just like that. although theres still room for him to be involved something. im switching most of my suspicions to wind master qingxuan now because he is popular and rich

okay if im reading this right this seems pretty in character for lang qianqiu. “i dont like that your family is in power.” “haha what a silly guy :) i have no concerns about you”

but xie lian is admitting to this??? :O curious to find out more about if he did indeed do some slaughter or if he’s protecting someone else. if he is protecting someone i think it could be lang qianqiu himself in some way. genuinely unsure tho he may very well have just done this idk who am i to deny him complexity

theres that interesting little note that most officials have also committed similar crimes but never have to face it bc mortals just die

pei ming you’re half right but shut the fuck up no one asked you. i feel strong dislike towards him sorry to any potential pei ming stans reading this. maybe im sorry maybe not im not sure yet i feel strongly about this

i see this happen on cdramas all the time i love it. i point at you in lieu of words

i do think all the politics and gossip and the way that officials will change sides to gain favor/not lose it depending on which way the wind is blowing is pretty interesting i like that its in here

i love that xie lian is making sure that someone takes care of the people hes taken in and also i love everything about this sentence although i feel like we’re not going to see much of banyue which is a shame bc i liked her

oh is it flashback time? this is fun

hmm!!! interesting!!! i like this response!! i have nothing funny or smart to say about it i just like it

this is an understanding that only comes after living through great pain and/or loss. hmm.

hmmm!!!!!!!! questions!!! presumably thematic ones!!!

please let us dig into whatever is going on in this little trio. actions speak louder than words mu qing

okay here we go feng xin is here and im not going to screencap the whole thiing but wow these two see each other and half a page later start swinging okay

oh my god hua cheng giving us a jailbreak arc? instant chaos. amazing

scream everything about this is funny. maximum cunt behavior. everyones reaction fadsjflksdjlk;afsl

mxtx: all characters other than hualian are straight mxtx: the thing feng xin is most afraid of is a women’s bath also women in general he is afraid of them fajkdjskfslda i mean there could be other reasons for this but its very funny in that context

stop theyre too much faslfkjasdf im so glad we’re getting this

im not 100% sure how i feel about these swords that. moan? hmm.

xie lian king of speaking out against stan culture. for real tho i feel like this makes sense with how young he was when he ascended and how much favor he gained only to be banished, as well as with how gods have to be what the people say that they are. this is made interesting bc xie lian is quite literally a god but this is still an issue!!

this is more less what im currently envisioning on our little side trek except qi rong's vibes are so rancid im retching from behind the screen and im not getting to watch any little creatures dance so its objectively a worse time but at least xie lian is there

reading this book full of immortals beat the shit out of each other is like watching looney toons

hua cheng is relentless. also THE DRAMA. lang qianqiu youre back on the list!!! although i doubt any of this will be straightforward also i feel like im playing among us rn im dizzy

hes awful and probably irredeemably so but hes also funny. imagine being qi rong youre just vibing rancidly in your cave and some fucker shows up using the name of a prince from 800 years ago and turns out its hua cheng and he slams your head into the floor over and dribbles it like a basketball until you lay the blame for said princes death and turns out that fucker youre blaming is also here and just as youre getting into it with him this other fucker says that youre lying and turns out its your cousin. wyd

YES. CHOMPING AND VIOLENCE

bruh they melted qi rong

oh its a clone. okay. aww kind of sad that he once looked up to xie lian. maybe some sympathy for going mad. oh wait actually he was a spoiled and pampered prince? sympathy depleted again. tis a waste but. alas

wind master just told xie lian that he was lucky to have befriended hua cheng... and xie lian agreed.... interesting interesting

noting that those two are notorious for clashing and yet jun wun is making them work together

i actually got teary at xie lian talking to his parents coffins and wondering for a second if he heard his mom. god. 800 years... :(

QI RONG IM GOING TO FIND YOUR ASHES MYSELF WTF this whole situation with the child sucks :/

oh my god thats where it ends??? wowie. okay damn i was going to take a break after i finished book one but god thats tempting

#tgcf liveblog #mouse mumbles #what a ride!!!#im having a pretty good time reading this so far #also if anyone knows how much the donghua is going to adapt lmk im trying to prioritize #or if that question even had an applicable answer

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gizkasparadise · 4 years

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cdrama rec: goodbye, my princess

Master drama rec list.

Series: goodbye, my princess / the eastern palace Episodes: 52 (regular) 55 (director’s cut--this is the version i watched) Genres: tragedy, romance, train wreck, historical, political, costume porn, scenery porn Spoilers in the Rec: for the set-up If You Like, You’ll Like: “what are you going to do, stab me?” says man stabbed, moon lovers but make it worse, empress ki, a show where literally every love confession ends with someone using a knife, a v fucked up deconstruction of the “runaway princess” trope

Rank: 9.5/10

^ yes this looks v. healthy, soak those clothes in the cold water of the river styx it’ll be fine

PREMISE

xiaofeng is a very bubbly and naive princess from western liang state, where she’s grown up happy and sheltered. her father is pro-peace with the li empire, and makes an arranged marriage for her to their crown prince. being a Precocious Naive Young Royal with a certified Thing for her teacher, gu jian (who seems Stoic but is actually a Softie), she eventually convinces him to run away with her so she can avoid the marriage.

little does she know that gu jian is actually a sleeper agent for a disgraced family of the li empire who are willing to do anything to get power VENGEANCE honor again.

wow, this will be fun she said. this will be good, she said.

meanwhile...

prince li chengyin, the 5th prince, is accompanying his elder brother, the crown prince, to western liang in order to broker a marriage with their princess. on the way they are ambushed by what look like members of the danchi--a nomadic, warrior state. the crown prince is killed, and the 5th prince is left for dead. eventually, chengyin makes his way to western liang, where he learns about the history of his mother’s family, the gus, and meets his cousin gu jian. together, they vow for power VENGEANCE honor as well as a way to uncover the truth about the murder of the crown prince

one way to do that is to figure out a way to infiltrate the danchi

conveniently, gu jian knows a runaway princess whose grandfather is their leader.

ope. i came out here to have a good time

gu jian and chengyin conspire to have chengyin pose as gu jian’s Totally Normal Cousin Who is Definitely Not An Enemy Royal as they help the princess “run away” from an unwanted marriage to the “safety” of her grandfather’s people.

ah. ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. hah.

MAIN CHARACTERS

xiaofeng

our titular princess!!! omg does she have a wild fucking ride of character development. happy and sheltered! oh no. oh no. oh, god. happy again! oh god. no. oh fuck.

she’s awesome. growing up in the desert (her father’s people) and the steppe (her mother’s people), xiaofeng’s lived a pretty great life of mischief and riding horses. incredibly kind and extroverted, she makes friends everywhere and a lot of them are women and that is Awesome. not a mean bone in her body. wine-child who likes to cross dress. cdrama’s best dressed.

prince li chengyin / gu xiaowu

the 5th prince of the li empire and wants power VENGEANCE honor for his momma. he infiltrates xiaofeng’s Runaway Marriage Camping Trip in the hopes of uncovering military secrets of the danchi, to get vengeance for his brother and also some military merit so he can get more vengeance. 2 vengeances for one betrayal--sweet deal. however, on the way to the danchi, he hardcore falls for xiaofeng even though he’s lowkey trying to bring about devastation for her family. ruh oh.

falls in love with the Mark, betrays people constantly and then wonders why they’re mad at him. the show/narrative never, at any point, tries to hide the fact that he is making some Severely Fucked Up Decisions and it’s amazing. genuinely loves xiaofeng very, very much. epitome of “you made your bed now lie in it.”

gu jian

xiaofeng’s teacher and also her first love. he has feelings for her back, but he’s Bound by Duty to the gu family and subsequentially the li empire. he chooses duty, and orchestrates the meeting between xiaofeng and chengyin “xiaowu” in order to get chengyin in the door to the danchi tribe. he then watches them fall in love, fully knowing the fucked up shit that’s about to go down and how much pain it will cause xiaofeng.

wears oversized scarves because a dude’s gotta accessorize. dramatically observes people from tall places like a sailor moon villain. whistle baby whistle baby let him know

SOME SUPPORT CHARACTERS SELECTED BY HOW MUCH THEY ARE MY FAVORITES

a’du

Q U E E N. a member of the danchi tribe, and xiaofeng’s best friend and bodyguard and girlfriend. xiaofeng says punch and a’du says how hard. the two of them are ride or die together, and a’du would do anything for xiaofeng. does not approve of any of her boyfriends in any capacity because LMAO she has eyes.

general pei

the Strong, Silent type and a general who is loyal to the li empire and serves chengyin. he befriends xiaofeng and genuinely cares about her. she teaches him the flute and he plays it for her whenever she’s sad and it’s precious :(. unclear whether or not his feelings for her are platonic or romantic, but it’s all v Pure and Well-Meaning. the ladies love him

he shi

(far right) a’du’s brother and the danchi’s best warrior. look he’s barely in this but i have a thing for friendly giants and this one plays the flute

mi luo

spy-turned-bar owner from western liang, who becomes one of xiaofeng’s best friends. she’s just a really cool lady and she keeps everyone absolutely hammered throughout the story, which they all need. to cope.

OTHER SUPPORT CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT MY FAVORITES BUT ARE IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT AND/OR I WAS TOO LAZY TO MAKE A SCREENCAP OF

zhao se se. a noblewoman in the li empire who has been in love with chenglin forever

the empress. basically every cdrama empress you’ve ever encountered. moving on.

khan tömür. ACTUALLY one of my favorites but i was too lazy to get a screencap. xiaofeng’s grandpa and leader of the danchi. loves his grand daughter so, so much. does not approve of any of her boyfriends either because he also has eyes.

ming yue. a famous courtesan in the li empire who xiaofeng later befriends. she’s a perfectly fine character i was just bored w/ her subplot.

gao yuming. every Evil Minister you’ve seen in a cdrama, although he gets extra points for having one of the most annoying, blatantly evil voices of all time

second prince, li chengye. i actually liked him a lot too. the crown prince after the first crown prince dies, chengyin’s brother. anything else is spoilers

Drawbacks

there were a couple of subplots that i had 0 interest in, which is what kept this from being a perfect 10 for me. i didn’t care about anything related to minister gao + the empress, but that’s admittedly because im not all that into palace politics. the ming yue stuff was also not that interesting to me because i’ve seen that subplot a billion times.

nothing else enjoy the fucking ride.

Reasons to Watch.

this show makes no secret that it’s not going to be a good time. you jump in fully aware that it’s a tragedy and knowing that ahead of time makes it so much better. you see chengyin start to gradually lose his shit and it’s amazing. it’s so good.

character development! almost every character grows (or destructs) based on what’s happening around them and i was really impressed with it. xiaofeng’s in particular.

ACTING. omg both the leads killed it. you can see the switches flip and it p much defines the show-not-tell i love it

music! it’s really pretty ;;

FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS. FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS EVERYWHERE. xiaofeng makes so many friends and it warms my heart

if you’re into fucked up romances that also have moments of genuine cuteness/softness this is 100% your thing

The Aesthetic. costumes and scenery are on point, behold a parade of images:

(the Red Dress is iconic but this ^ is actually my favorite costume of hers)

Final Thoughts

#goodbye my princess #the eastern palace #chen xing xu #peng xiaoran #shawn wei #cdrama #gizka does kdrama #gizkarec #i should change that tag lmao i watch way more cdrama than i used to #!my post #enjoy hell everyone

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gizkasparadise · 4 years

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kdrama rec/review: bridal mask

KDRAMA AND CDRAMA MASTER LIST OF REVIEWS

Series: bridal mask / gaksital Episodes: 28 Genres: historical, action, drama, romance, tragedy, people screaming each others’ names in all capital letters 2006 anime style Spoilers in the Rec: im going to try to avoid them. im really, really going to try. but no guarantees If You Like, You’ll Like: zorro, robin hood, v for vendetta, chicago typewriter, vigilante shit, kate beaton comics on My Nemesis, mr sunshine, watching people become progressively unhinged, bad guys that become good guys, good guys that become bad guys, Parallel Narratives, cat and mouse games but they’re both cats, 2010 hair in a 1930s world, people in a room together internally thinking does he know that i know that he knows?

Rank: 9.5/10

GAKSITALLLLLLLLLLLLLL PREMISE

set during the japanese occupation of korea in the 1930s, bridal mask centers on lee kangto, an absolute shit weasel. like. good god, what an asshole. anyways.

kangto is a korean police officer who is employed by the japanese--meaning he’s essentially a rat/turncoat to his own people and supporting their colonization and abuse of power. it’s especially fucked up because kangto’s older brother was tortured so much by japanese police officers that he’s essentially lost his mind. people hate kangto. straight up hate him.

as a lieutenant in the imperial police, kangto’s been working to catch members of the korean resistance movement, but left and right he’s been thwarted by...

THE BRIDAL MASK (gaksital in korean)

a mysterious figure who wears a mask resembling a korean bride’s traditional makeup. bridal mask is essentially zorro, fucking up shit left and right and generally making kangto lose his shit. he makes it his goal to be the one to apprehend and arrest this mysterious figure. seems straightforward, but as kangto’s search for the bridal mask continues, and the people around him are drawn into the hunt, it’s clear that shit’s not what it seems.

MAIN CHARACTERS

lee kangto/sato hiroshi/lee young

a korean man who works for the japanese as a police officer. 0% approval rating from the koreans and maybe a 5% approval rating from the japanese. kangto’s initial goals for joining the police force were to help his family get out of poverty, but his morality’s been cha-cha sliding progressively darker the longer he works for the police force. he becomes obsessed with catching the bridal mask and everyone would like him to really quit being an asshole but he will not.

catch phrase is bingo! takes over the nightclub stage when he’s feeling swaggy. would shoot the love interest. shoots pretty much anyone wearing a mask, really, then yells about it

oh mok dan / mild spoiler: esther / spoiler: boon yi

a patriotic korean woman associated with the independence army, mok dan commits acts of subterfuge and gathers intel against the japanese forces. her day job is a performer at a circus, where she lives and hides out from japanese officials whenever shit goes awry. when lee kangto sees her getting saved by bridal mask, he assumes she’s the bridal mask’s lover and therefore intends to use mok dan as The Bait. mild spoilers it turns out she was once childhood friends with lee kangto’s best friend, kimura shunji

wears many amazing suits. has no problem with spitting or shooting. fears no boxes. can take a punch or 5. basically my dream girl it’s fine

kimura shunji

a japanese man and kangto’s best friend. coming from a family of influential, imperialist asshole samurai cops, shunji is the black sheep as he works as a music teacher for korean children, and is generally against the corruption and abuse of power when he sees it. basically the only one kangto’s never a straight up asshole to, including his family. the two practice what appears to be kendo together (i know jack shit about martial arts), and shunji’s a capable fighter. my default is to assume shunji is everyone’s favorite character, because he is my favorite character :’D, but if not i think he’s definitely the most compelling in the series.

wears bowties when he wants to dress to impress. rides bicycles both happily and tragically. has a thing for a childhood friend who saved his nanny. will give you a ride home after you’ve been tortured. save this man from his family.

ueno rie/ra ra/ spoiler: chae hong joo

a korean woman from a rich family that was murdered by the independence army who later became a gisaeng. as a gisaeng, she crosses paths with a very important japanese man who later adopts her into his family. because the japanese police keep fucking up the apprehension of bridal mask, her adoptive father calls her to korea from japan in order to kill the vigilante

stealth fave?! will step all over you and makes grown men cry. hyper competent and hardcore. bridal mask’s best dressed (try again with the bow ties next year, shunji). men are weak

the bridal mask GAKSITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the mysterious figure either ruining or making everyone’s day. dramatic horse escapes. dramatic rescues. generally just drama. symbolically destroys japanese flags/insignia a lot. GAKSITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOME SUPPORT CHARACTERS SELECTED BY HOW MUCH THEY ARE MY FAVORITES

mok damsari

mok dan’s father and a general in the independence army. v good at being rescued dramatically. knows how to make an exit and also bombs. dispenses life wisdom when he’s got free time in between rounds of being torture

lee kang san

kang to’s older brother, who joined the independence army and was tortured by the japanese police to the extent that he’s now lost his mind/severely mentally ill. dude just needs a hug or 20 and to never chase after a car ever, ever again because it makes me sad.

katsuyama jun

ueno rie’s bodyguard, which is amusing to me because she can clearly kill anyone she needs to, so it’s kind of like he’s a butler as well. stoic af, says maybe 20 lines in the entire series, but look, he’s cool

i dont like any of the japanese police officers because they’re dicks so they don’t get a feature :|

Drawbacks

the production value is something you gotta settle into LOL. there’s the cheesy martial arts sound effects, sometimes it skews a little narmy, but once you get used to it and once the show gets progressively darker (and how) you adjust and then don’t notice it

my main #1 beef: mok dan starts to disappear in the last fourth of the series. like she’s still there, but she’s doing bullshit like making soup and just sitting at a table with nothing to say. as a character that’s so important in the first half, it’s severely disappointing the route that her narrative takes toward the end/she does become something of a satellite character even though i still love her

there are main character deaths--more than one. some people would say the ending is bittersweet but to me i think it’s straight-up sad (which is fine with me/appropriate for the story, i just know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea)

there’s torture and for the most part it’s shown / it’s not off-camera

shit gets dark. the first handful of eps might lull one into thinking is something like zorro or robin hood, but there’s a lot of fuckery and death by the time you get to the end

Reasons to Watch

i mean, it’s fun! which is a messed up thing to say about a dark show, but there’s a lot of twists and the show’s an extended game of cat-and-mouse that’s a good time because the audience knows certain things but the main characters don’t. the drama of it all!

Now That’s What I Call Character Arcs. kang to + shunji’s respective character arcs are amazing and are referred to as the best part of the show for a reason. you’ll hate and love them both throughout the series and it’s great. shunji was my favorite

i love both the female leads a lot. they’re totally different in personality and the sides that they’re on, but they’re both compelling and they have their own troubles and goals to work through

one of the main characters looks around the chaos happening and decides to just fucking leave all these people behind forever lmao i love it

acting is great! some people knock on mok dan’s actress but i thought she was perfectly fine for the character

i’ll admit, i’m into characters who become progressively unhinged and the actor who plays the character who does is so so A+

there’s romance but gd does it get dark sometimes. this is a plus or a minus depending on who you are lol

Final Thoughts.

#bridal mask #gaksital #joo won #park ki woong #jin se yeon #gizka does kdrama #gizkarec #kdrama #GAKSITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL #!my post

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