#character: chu ying

[movielosophy]

till the end of the moon  |  marvelous women in red

#red color appreciation #favorite #wang yi fei #character: si ying #sun zhen ni #character: pian ran #zhang zhi xi #character: chu huang #Zhao Shi Yi #character: fu yu #till the end of the moon

[good--merits-accumulated]

the vice grip that episode 21 of qi hun has on my brain

#qi hun rewatch #qi hun #hikaru no go #absolutely my fave episode i think... #i love yu xiao yang and chu ying's match but as far as whole episodes go this is the one #the intersection of the lan yin temple arc and fang xu's lowest point but starting click of character development ... #AND yu liang realising right at the end that shi guang is making good on his promise to catch up with him #AND lazy shifu. my god

[g0ldgauntlet]

My girlies They're all members of a group called Black Crane and Ying is the leader of said group

#oc #original character #artblr #digital art #original characters #gold’s art #ying gamal sun #aiko kanda #dendera darwish #chu hua liu #daria heimdall #artists on tumblr #black oc #black ocs

[xinyuehui]

Four Treasures of the Study · 文房四宝

蒲一永 Pu Yi Yong · The Brush

Eight Principles of Yong. Traditionally, it was believed that practicing the eight common strokes in regular script, all of which can be found in the character "Yong," could lead to writing all characters well. According to legend, it was created by Wang Xizhi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, "Yong" is also the first character in his famous work 蘭亭集序 Lantingji Xu (Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion). The surname "Pu" could potentially be a homage to the famous Chinese writer Pu Songling in the Qing Dynasty. In his most popular work 聊齋誌異 Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio), the focus of the tales are on the emotional entanglements between humans and supernatural beings in the world.

陳楮英 Chen Chu Ying · The Paper

Chu, which refers to the paper mulberry plant, was historically used in ancient China as the raw material for making mulberry paper and Xuan paper. Additionally, "Chu" was used as a term synonymous with paper in ancient times. In EP4, Chuying mentioned that the "chu" in her name means paper.

曹光硯 Cao Guang Yan · The Inkstone

Yan, also known as Yantai, is the name of the inkstone used in calligraphy. The inkstone is used to grind the ink stick into powder, which is then mixed with water on the inkstone to create ink suitable for calligraphy.

執念 The Obsessions · The Ink

The obsessions are one of the ever-changing elements in the show, the elegiac couplets are uniquely written with whole heart and mind for the different obsessions.

#oh no! here comes trouble #oh no here comes trouble #不良執念清除師 #不良执念清除师 #twdramaedit #asiandramasource #dailyasiandramas #cdramasource #dramasource #twdrama #taiwanese drama #caps #chinese stuff #pu yiyong #Tseng Jing Hua #chen chuying #vivian sung #sung yun hua #Peng Cian You #cao guangyan #i dont even know if this is even interesting to anyone im just splurging thoughts and random meta #this post took 10yrs to make can you believe trying to do the write up was harder than trying to make the gifs #half way through making the gifs i realised i did it in simplified and when i tried to switch to traditional the font didnt work 🥴 #i was trying to find a scene where guangyan was in his doctor action but i didnt want to use the cpr scene bc sads #this is he best one i could find where he's wearing a lab coat

[dangermousie]

Finished.

God, what a glorious, glorious, glorious ride, a truly solid epic drama in a way I haven't seen in a very long time - there were two other flawless cdramas for me this year - Lost You Forever 1 and The Ingenuous One - but TIO was a smaller scale story and LYF ended in medias res. AJTL was the only complete, epic cdrama this year for me, but oh boy, was it beyond.

First, my two tiny niggles - this is a drama where the 40 episode limit fit badly, like tightly pinching shoes. You can tell how they had to speed and cram to get in the resolutions of dynastic struggles in An and Wu and the war with Beipan. This drama really needed to have been 50 eps. (The cramming also resulted in the sole plot arc that made me go huh - LTG random decision to try to marry Ruyi before he rides off to what he thinks is his last battle and his just as random decision to go "oh well" and agree to release NYZ and then when NYZ shows up before he can be released because he broke out and wreaks havoc, let them walk out. Maybe if they had more time, it would have made more sense, otherwise it felt like an aberration in a character arc that before and after was consistent and made sense.) Second niggle is not really one because it's clearly due to censorship - the last minute redemption of the Wu emperor etc - the writer made is as believable as she could but you could feel the censorship sticky hands all over it.

But those are minor complaints. Overall this was solid from beginning to end, very adult and with secondary characters who all felt real and complex and interesting. A few thoughts:

Our main OTP was incredible. So adult, so competent, so badass but still feeling human. I bought that those two were larger than life legends AND flesh and blood people. And that chemistry!

I loved that this drama allowed relationships to be messy. Yes, we have our epic main couple but I especially loved what happened with Chu Yue and Shisan and LTG and Ying. I loved that neither was an epic romance. With CY and Shisan, I loved that they didn't make him realize he loves her forever blah blah - he was an incredibly consistent character - charming, loyal and utterly clear he's incapable of permanent commitment to a single woman and she never could change that. And yet he died in large part to protect her, and it's in keeping with his character and it makes sense that this solidified her remembering him forever - he's not just the one who got away, but he DIED for her. It's very clear if they both lived, this would have gone nowhere and ended with him wandering off or her moving on wanting commitment from someone who is capable of it, but as it is, it froze the possibility of love in ember.

And I loved the narrative of LTG and Ying. They both come into marriage in love with someone they can never have (Ruyi and YL), they both have similar backgrounds (royals but neglected and looked down upon), they both share the same goals (power but to take care of people) and they really are friends. I love that when we last see them, they have what is a great period marriage - no love but respect and common goals. And she still mourns YL and he probably still thinks of Ruyi but the thing is, I love that the narrative leaves the possibility of them eventually falling in love with each other (or other people) because as she tells him - you think you will always love a particular person but life is long. (And it's so true - she will remember YL until she's old, once again in part because of the unfulfilled possibility of it - but it doesn't mean she won't be able to open her heart to someone again.) It's a surprisingly hopeful ending for them and I love it. I'd totally watch a show where they discover love with each other tbh.

I did love that no character (except possibly Prince Danyang) got everything they wanted even if they emerged alive. They got some and had to give up some.

I loved what it had to say about having to be worthy of your power and position - you are not owed fealty by birth but you have to earn it. It was a surprisingly anti-imperial show for a recent cdrama.

All the deaths of our faves gutted me, none as much as Yuan Lu's. Oooof.

As to the ending, I can tell people are gonna have fits but I like it. I love many an ending legendarily reviled in cdrama fandom (Princess Agents and Novoland Eagle Flag have perfect endings in my opinion; I realize that opinion, especially about PA is enough to get me throttled in certain quarters but it is what it is) and I came to cdramas back when pretty much every costume cdrama ended horrifically tragically - think of the endings of the Chinese Paladins, The Myth (for a long time my n1 drama even though it made me cry so hard I threw up, ending-wise), The Young Warriors, Little Fairy, even Lan Ling Wang, Glory of the Tang Dynasty and Bu Bu Jing Xin if we are going somewhat later. I mean, one of my favorite dramas ever is Royal Nirvana and that ending is like drinking a thermos full of depression. This is nothing.

Honestly, I would have been fine if the ending for our OTP really was them dying pretty much together, in their different battles. That hint that they are alive and living with their kids is lovely and welcome, but I'd have been fine without it and it raises a lot of questions (though if anyone could fake their deaths and survive that sort of thing, it would have been them so fair enough.)

Anyway, this is basically my love letter to this drama. It was amazing and I am so glad I watched it.

#cdrama #a journey to love #liu shi shi #liu yuning #alen fang #fang yilun

[monnlightonthesun]

Reasons why I like certain danmei characters

THE ONLY REASON IS WHORE

wei ying

Lou binghe

Xiao chiye and shen Zechuan from qiangjinjiu

They both r whores so i chose them as couple

Now the most fancy whore in the history of danmei

No explanation need for this slut

this person has even made Chu wanning wet so who r u?

I am a very simple person i see whores i click

#2ha #mo ran #chu wanning #meme #dan memes #danmei #erha #heaven official's blessing #tgcf #svsss fanart #mxtx svsss #lou binghe #scumbag self saving system #scum villian self saving system #mdzs #qiang jin jiu #shen lanzhou #xiao chiye

[gizkasparadise]

final leg of a journey to love thoughts!! (eps 35-40). this got so gd long so under a cut it goes. spoilers, of course:

PLOT STUFF/PACING

pacing for the plot definitely got shredded in the last chunk, which is a damn shame because otherwise i've been finding the pacing pretty much perfect. eps 35-37 in particular felt like they could have been like a 10 episode arc. ep 38, which mostly dealt with wu palace politics, should have been cut or streamlined imo and more time given to the characters we've actually been riding along with the whole story. by the time we get back to the pregnant empress, prince danyang, the first prince whose name i dont even remember, and the prime minister, i do not care about any of them and i think this subplot was simply just trying to fit too much shit into one bag

that said, this show still let the emotional moments hit and breathe and linger. i love the grief for the fallen liudao comrades as we go, as well as the less heavy but still emotionally important moments like yang ying and tongguan bonding over their upbringing. and we got a wedding /;3;/!!! for this show, the relationships and characters matter more than the storyline so im not mad about anything at all

side note: it's so gd millennial to have a story about a bunch of 30 something year olds who want to fake their deaths and retire into obscurity but instead they go and die for a boss they hate

CHARACTER STUFF

this show consistently brought a lot of depth to its side characters (and side side characters!!). i said it in an earlier post, but it bears repeating that even someone like deng hui i didnt expect anything from, but he got such good development and writing that he became a stealth fave. his dying words essentially being "dude, quit fucking around" ? iconic.

i didnt like tongguan as much as everyone else, so im pretty meh about everything regarding him. the attempt to force-wed ruyi was tonally really weird and didnt make sense (i assume there was some cuts made surrounding it). but LOL at him reusing all the outfits and decor immediately for his wedding to yang ying. baby duke, you tacky motherfucker. i ultimately think yang ying deserves better than him, but the good thing is that she knows this, so she'll be able to hold her own and then some entering into this partnership

shisan really was the heart in a lot of ways--the mom to yuanzhou's dad for the liudao. i was not expecting him to break my heart the way he did, but the fact that he held both qian zhao and sun lang as they died and then tried his best to remove yuan lu from harm and saved chu yue and was just very much a nurturer all the way through got me. his character couldve been cheap comic relief but the writing + performance really elevated him into one of the (imo) most memorable wuxia characters. his line wondering who would get to behead his beautiful skull!!! and how his mantra was always that he was going to drink the best wine, see the most beautiful women, and make the best of friends and he dies having lost the ability to see and having just had wine in memory of qian zhao, yuan lu, and sun lang. like. shut up!!

ruyi and yuanzhou were both so great and they're gonna be the drama OTP to beat forever. i loved the gender reversals, that they both were so respectful of each other, and that they also felt very mature in how they handled things and communicated. they were really interesting characters both together and apart and that's always a win-win. they had a schroedinger's ending where it's not super clear if they're alive or dead (i interpreted it as the latter), but what's kind of beautiful is that either option is satisfying to me. if they both died, they're reunited and with their comrades and the story is truly about the journey and the meaningful short connections we have. if they both survived, it's a bookend with the beginning where they each faked their deaths to escape. A+

COSTUMING

i gotta just separately mention the costuming for this show because it was 15/10. the textures, shisan's accessories, the way red became integrated with yuanzhou's wardrobe and blue with ruyi's. the details on the liudao name amulets!! SO GOOD. i love when characters' clothes tell a story on their own

overall i just really loved this drama it is probably my favorite wuxia ive seen so far! it's gonna be in my brain for awhile lol feel free to send fic prompts if you've made it this far :'D

#a journey to love #cdrama

[nemainofthewater]

This poll might look a little familiar.... Due to a timing mix-up yesterday, I am proud to present the 'Best Non-Sword Weapon' poll take 2: Electric Boogaloo!

This time I've chosen to group the options by weapon with wielders in brackets*. Due to space issues, the media that each of them come from is under the read more, and this is definitely a non-exhaustive list!

*Except Xie Lian, who by virtue of winning the previous poll has been brought straight through to part two!

Thank you to everyone from the NiF discord and the watch party discord (and especially @shadaras) who have been amazing at suggesting characters with non-sword weapons! Couldn't have have done it without you! Also thank you to @thebansacredbanned who looked up the names of various obscure characters for me.

Propaganda, examples, and write-ins absolutely welcome!

Fan Wen Kexing (Word of Honour) Shen Qingqiu (SVSSS) Qing Ming (Yin Yang Master)

Umbrella Lord Grim (The King's Avatar) Chu Xuanji (Love and Redemption) Zhan Shiqi (Ancient Detective) Su Muyu (Blood of Youth)

Musical Instrument The Lan Sect (The Untamed) Wei Wuxian (The Untamed) Huang Yaoshi (Legend of the Condor Heroes)

Gun Wang Zhi (Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty) Fan Xian (Joy of life, novel)

Spear/Staff Sikong Qianluo (Blood of Youth) Hong Qigong (Legend of the Condor Heroes) Sun Wukong (Journey to the West) Guan Yu (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) Wu Zhu (Joy of Life)

Knives/Other Bladed Weapon Tang Lian (Blood of Youth) Yang Lu (A Journey to Love) Xiao Mei (House of Flying Daggers)

Whip Chu Wanning (Erha) Gu Xiang (Word of Honour) Jiang Cheng and Yu Ziyuan (The Untamed)

Bow and Arrows/Crossbow Bo Ya (Ying Yang Master) Yan Xiaoyi (Joy of Life) Mei Changsu (Nirvana in Fire, Novel) Xiao Yao, Fangfeng Yiying, and Fangfeng Bei (Lost You Forever) Strip of cloth Xie Lian (Heaven's Official Blessing)

Needles Gong Yu (Nirvana in Fire) Wen Qing (The Untamed)

Giant Bell Wu Xin (the Blood of Youth) Demon Monk (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

#poll #lets do this again lads #word of honor #king's avatar #love and redemption #the untamed #sleuth of the ming dynasty #blood of youth #legend of the condor heroes #a journey to love #dumb husky and his white cat shizun #the yin yang master #joy of life #heaven's official blessing #legend of fei #SVSSS #A journey to love #yin yang master #nirvana in fire #Mysterious Lotus Casebook #lost you forever #ancient detective

[hoppipolla]

About Yi Yong and Guang Yan’s dynamic 

Their dynamic is so touching for they appear like polar opposites but they actually complement each other. 

Yi Yong relies on Guang Yan’s articulate way of thinking and Guang Yan is amazed by the intensity of Yi Yong’s emotions. 

They do bicker a lot but sometimes, when quiet settles between them, you can see how much they learn from each other. When Yi Yong’s words fail him, he listens to Guang Yan’s way of putting words together (see ep 4). 

See how Yi Yong leans in? It feels as if he is trying to memorise the words Guang Yan chose to explain the case to the people they are talking to.

When Guang Yan’s analytical mind cannot grasp the situation for it follows no logic, he steadily watches Yi Yong who listens to his emotions. 

Guang Yan is a thinker whereas Yi Yong is a feeler. 

However Guang Yan feels a lot when he is with Yi Yong and sometimes his feelings take over although he’d normally not let that happen. He is quick to read Yi Yong’s expressions and the intensity through which Yi Yong experiences life makes him want to bring him some comfort in whatever way he can. He isn’t completely aware of it himself but he is trying to be a source of warmth to Yi Yong’s cold world. 

A good illustration of such a dynamic would be Chu Ying’s comment in ep 8: “Good things happen when I’m with you”.  Chu Ying doesn’t understand the weight her words have on Yi Yong although Guang Yan understands it immediately and blurts out some awkward words of comfort. 

Yi Yong’s distress is so obvious to Guang Yan although Chu Ying remains completely oblivious to it. Luckily, by the end of the series, she’ll finally understand why saying such a thing — repeatedly —  was a mistake and a pretty insensitive thing to say. She’s best girl though and I’m not hating on her. We love to see a good character’s development in this house.  

What is so endearing about Yi Yong and Guang Yan’s dynamic is that it wasn’t meant to be. Nothing destined them to become so important to each other so quickly and so subtly. The depths of their bond take root in the fact that both accept to be humble in each other’s presence. But they also both genuinely value each other’s inputs and thoughts. 

Yi Yong has always been constantly judged by random people because his intelligence doesn’t fit into the “academic intelligence” definition. He doesn’t do well at school and so society views him as being not worth much. Guang Yan, on the other hand, is a diligent student who went to med school because that’s what brilliant students do. (that’s what society thinks, this is not my personal opinion) But Yi Yong, although his career path has yet to be written, has faith in his feelings. Although he stopped drawing his comic, he still trusts his instincts and doesn’t let the world’s hypocrisy taint the purity of his heart. 

Guang Yan is lost although his future seems all planned out. He admires Yi Yong for all he is: for the goodness of his heart, his intrepid nature, and his ability to see people for who they truly are. 

Remember when Guang Yan’s father was kind of happy to see his son skip school because of Yi Yong? He didn’t seem to think that Yi Yong was a bad influence on his son. On the contrary, he was glad that Guang Yan was finally opening up. 

Yi Yong and Guang Yan are brutally honest with each other although Guang Yan looks as if he doesn’t always speak his mind when he is with his classmates. However, the fact that Yi Yong’s face is so easy to read makes it easy for him to stop masking his emotions and let it all out. Because Yi Yong doesn’t mind. Because Yi Yong won’t misunderstand his words. Because Yi Yong won’t get offended. 

Both their characters break the usual archetypes of the risk-taker and the diligent student and that is all thanks to Oh No! Here Comes Trouble’s brilliant writing, directing, and acting. 

#this is kind of all over the place but this has been sitting in my drafts for too long so I had to post it now or else I'd never post it #oh no! here comes trouble #不良執念清除師 #peng cian you #tseng jing hua #onhct #*enjoy my nonsense #*onhct analysis

[welcometothejianghu]

Hey, you! You should watch Hikaru no Go!

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: Hikaru no Go/Qi Hun/棋魂.

Based on the manga of the same name, this drama is the Chinese live-action adaptation of a story about a boy who plays Go, the spirit only he can see who teaches him how to play Go, and all the friends and enemies he meets along his journey to become a good Go player.

...Wait, no, come back. I swear it's more interesting than that makes it sound.

What it is, is a character-driven tale of a charming young boy who, among a bunch of weird and wonderful people who love him, grows up to be a charming young man.

(You see how his shirt says SWEETIE CUTIE? That is because he is a sweetie cutie.)

It's a sports manga, so you've got Training Montages and The Big Game and all sorts of tense moments like that. But there's also lots of fun, gentle plotlines that are equal parts tearjerking and heartwarming. It is incredibly written, act, and produced, and I can't believe that it's not more popular, because it's so good.

Here are five reasons you should watch it:

1: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Word of Honor is merely the second gayest thing I have ever seen a c-drama do. Hikaru no Go is gayer by an order of magnitude.

I think the way they got it past censorship was by saying, oh no, this isn't gay, it's just a sports rivalry! But come on, what do you mean sports rivalries aren't gay, have you seen how all those Canadian and US hockey players keep marrying one another? This is that. This is the tale of two boys who've been in love since they were seven figuring out that they've been in love since they were seven.

(And speaking of seven-year-olds, the kid casting is amazing.)

I mean:

This is an actual still from the show.

So is this.

So is this.

These are not taken out of context. The context would make them gayer. That's how gay they are for each other.

But you know what the best part is? They're not the only pairing. And I don't just mean this like, oh, here's two other cute boys, you can imagine the times they kiss -- I mean, the show itself has its own ships! Ships you wouldn't expect! Intergenerational gay Go solidarity!

Now here's the catch: You have to wait for it. But oh boy, the payoff had us clutching our heads and screaming as quietly as we could because it was after midnight and we were losing our minds.

That last episode!! You have to see it to believe it!!!

2: EMOTIONS!

Bring the tissues. There are parts where it was kinda hard for me to watch because I was sobbing.

Because it's a sports manga, there are lots of triumphs and tragedies. Not everybody can make it to The Big Game. Not everybody gets to live out their dreams. Sometimes you try your hardest and it's not good enough. Sometimes you play your best and you still lose. Some people have to give up on what they love. Some people who were there with us at the beginning don't get to make it with us to the end.

What really makes it is that the show sits with its emotions. Events will affect people's emotional states for multiple episodes to follow. People who have sadness don't just snap out of it. Loving someone doesn't automatically fix them. Shit's hard!

Of course, this contrast makes the triumphs even more wonderful. I will tell you that the show has a happy ending, but not always the ending you would expect would have been their happy ending. It is overall an incredibly uplifting show. You'll need tissues for that, too.

3: (Nearly) Everything Is Pretty Dang Normal

Part of what I mean by that is that while a lot of the actors are real pretty, they're also done up in ways where, like, if you met this person on the street, you would think, this person is pretty! and not, what the hell fancy-ass magazine cover did you just step off of?

Look at these normal goobers:

There are two exceptions to this. The first is Chu Ying, because he is a ghost energy being from the distant past, and ghosts energy beings from the distant past get astonishing eyeliner.

The second is Fang Xu, because his actor, Han Mubo, is an actual idol. Congratulations on your face, sir.

However, I also mean that the story is delightfully mundane. Sure, there's that one supernatural element to it, but everything else is just a regular story about regular people who have regular human problems. There are characters who disappoint their parents and mentors, struggle to pay their bills, try to balance school and extracurricular activities, have crushes, argue with teachers, flake on responsibilties, get lost in the woods, and do some pretty normal human things. Nobody's avenging anyone or trying to slay anything. It's just people being people.

It's even a bit of a period piece -- the show starts out in 1997, then jumps forward to the late '00s, so everything's just charmingly slightly outdated. Damn, I love everybody's flip phones.

4: Actually Good Television

Okay, if you like c-dramas, you know they can be ... janky. Episodes sometimes end practically in the middle of sentences. CG leaves much to be desired. Obvious cuts and last-minute overdubbing really stand out. You can tell where the censorship mandates got in there and started mucking around with things. That kind of jank.

This show feels different. It feels like someone thought out each episode, start to finish, and then created each piece to fit that vision. Every episode even has a title and beautiful title card. They start and end in dramatically logical places. The cinematography isn't anything particularly artful or experimental, but it's solid and clean and lovely. (And if you're sick of shows so dark you can't see them, you've got no worries here.)

The CG in the show is unobtrusive, and most of it is spent making Chu Ying subtly transparent.

There are a bunch of secondary characters, but to me that never felt overwhelming. Most of them are interesting, three-dimensional characters, no matter how short their screen time is. And while there definitely could have been more female characters, the show itself is pretty open about how sexism in the Go world means that it's mostly a boys' club -- and the ladies that are there are great.

In short, this is a show you can show to people who don't have c-drama brain and thus are less inclined to overlook some of the more cringeworthy aspects of their productions. I bet that your Average American Television Enjoyer Who Can Handle Subtitles would have no trouble getting into the groove of it, which I imagine could be very useful for those of you who have people you'd like to watch c-dramas with, except you don't feel like stopping every five minutes to apologize for one thing or another.

5: Better Than The Source Material?

This is the point where I have to admit that I myself have never read the manga or seen the anime. I came into this with only the vaguest familiarity with the source material. I can only tell you that the live-action drama is good; I can't swear that it's better.

However, @jianghootinandhollerin can speak to this comparison more authoritatively than I:

When I was 20, Hikaru no Go (manga) was my favorite thing, the primary obsession, the source of multiple livejournal themes, custom winamp skins, and a fanfic where Hikaru got a go stone stuck up his nose. Because of this deep love in my history, I was dubious about a live action version and the changes it made, but hey, turns out, those changes were exactly what the 20 years older version of me needed. This version of the story benefits so much from having the full, completed story to work from from the outset. The manga didn't know where it was ending when it started, but this show got to, and the story gets to be richer and the characters' stories get to be deeper thanks to that. And also, very importantly: everyone is older and much, much gayer.

Look, I understand if "but it's not the original manga/anime" is a dealbreaker for you. There are adaptations of things I can't watch because no matter how good the end product may be, I'm going to hold it against it that it's not the source I'd rather be seeing, and that's not a fair standard. That's fine. It happens.

But if you can, give this a go (pun unintended). It does not replace the original thing; it is a different take on the same idea. And yeah, it's one that really speaks to me here, on the other side of forty as I am. Maybe I would have missed it at twenty, but the person I am now really respects its attitude that while Being The Best is all well and good, it is not the only thing, and it is absolutely not more important than being yourself and doing what you love with the people you love. Sometimes you peak and can't advance anymore, so you become a teacher, and you know what, that's better than okay, that's actually pretty great. (Do I overidentify with Bai Chuan? Listen: maybe.)

Have I convinced you to watch it yet?

You can watch it on iQiyi, or you can watch it on iQiyi's YouTube channel. I hope you love it as much as I do.

#hikaru no go #qi hun #棋魂 #rec post #i made this #because I love these go boys #meta

[movielosophy]

The Furthest Distance | Weekend vibes

#3 episodes so far and the plot is solid #the furthest distance #cdrama #zhang yunlong #character: qin yun sheng #zhong chu xi #character: su ying

[pippin-pippout]

So I dragged myself kicking and screaming and, yes, mostly in denial, through the last episodes of A Journey to Love.

My thoughts can be summarized as follows:

Obviously this is mainly due to me being horrifically traumatized by Yuan Lu’s death. After all, they told us from the get go he wouldn’t live to 20. They made it clear he had a deadly heart disease. And then. They had the nerve. They had the audacity. They had the actual fucking bahoonga BALLS to follow through!?

But then I found myself sobbing at literally every good guy death scene, plus all of the mourning scenes. The latter was in large part thanks to Alen Fang's acting - deepest apologies to him for just referring to his character as 'the slutty one' for the majority of the show. Not that I was wrong. Also thanks to strong performances from He Lan Dou for Yuan Lu's death.

Anyway so I need to add this gif x4 for the Liudao Hall babies:

Qian Zhao, da ge, who made mistakes but always did right in the end

Sun Lang, who just wanted to hold something fluffy at the end, dying a hero

Yuan Lu, who died in his princess's arms after running to deliver a letter rendered useless by the Emperor of An's greed.

Yu Shisan, who lived as he lived and had such a happy moment with Chu Yue right before it all became irrevocable.

When they added Yu Shisan to the snowball fight, I just about lost it. Liu Yuning's acting there - having the realization about Shisan's death as he watched them play in real time was so well done. Really hurt.

Plus I'll make a couple of versions with edits.

For the Wu Emperor. I knew it was gonna happen from the spoilers but damn, him genuinely learning the value of friendship and brotherly love made me root for him. Dude did not deserve to go out like that. Thank goodness for the magic of CDramas where he lived just long enough to pass on his will to Ning Yuanzhou, and do one last act of good.

It also ensured Duke of Chu was able to pass on his command to his daughter, Chu Yue, before dying of the same (was not clear if her bro died or not, or if dad was always going to choose her).

And for Deng Hui. Started out thinking he was just a sexist bastard. Turns out he was one of the most principled characters in the show.

Their deaths didn't make me cry, but I respect them.

Also loved Chen Du Ling's (Empress of Wu) small part in this. I may not like all of her characters but she can deliver a scene and hold a room. It was a bit cathartic to see her put every man in their place, and basically decide the fate of two countries, even though her lament that she'd only ever have power through another held true.

Ah Ying, my baby girl. This is a character that could have turned people off from the beginning. Thanks to strong writing and stronger acting, it did not. I was super impressed with He Lan Dou. She can dial it up and dial it down in a single take, and can play big dramatic scenes with a subtlety that some older actors cannot grasp. This was the first thing I've seen her in, though for her and Chen You Wei (Yuan Lu) I might watch Tiger and Crane if someone tells me it's good.

I still think Li Tongguang is a perverted and creepy child, who never managed to learn (except in literally the last ep), but at least I trust that he will treat Ah Ying well. I don't hold it against him for screwing up the battle - he was trying to be benevolent but made a bad choice.

The main couple win it for me this year. What an inspired pairing. They beat out heavy hitters including Bai Lu x Everyone which was near impossible. Something to do with letting Liu Shi Shi use Liu Yuning's height against him at every possible moment. Also the 'if you die, I'll finish the job and then follow you' is my favorite dynamic. I swear when Ruyi threw those bombs, NOT NEEDING TO HAVING ALREADY SUCCEEDED AT KILLING THE KING AND PRINCE, just to join him, y'all I died. Good for whoever posthumously gave her the Marquis title on her own (not just furen) - couldn't tell if it was Li Tongguang acting as regent or Dayang (great shot of those two at the end).

The final episode was one of the best final cdrama episodes I've seen. I might have to make another post about that. In sum, despite losing a large portion of the well-loved cast, the remainder gave a world-class finale. The visuals were incredible (explosions are my favorite). The final scene was beautiful (though I'm a bit surprised they gave it to Chu Yue instead of Ah Ying who knew all 6 of them closely).

#a journey to love #一念关山 #yi nian guan shan #liu yuning #liu shi shi #he lan dou #alen fang #fang yilun #chen youwei #ning yuanzhou #ren ruyi #yang ying #yu shisan #yuan lu #li tongguang #qian zhao #sun lang #chu yue

[thefeastandthefast]

Since I promised Mr. Feast I wouldn't watch ahead of him and he's slowly catching up, I've taken a pause in my gleeful binge of 一念关山 A Journey to Love to jot down a few of the disorganized thoughts I have about my best beloved favorite girl Yang Ying in the wonderful first eighteen episodes of this drama.

MILD SPOILERS BEYOND.

I cannot wait to see little pocket sized wolf cub Princess Yang Ying do her thing in the next half of the show. Honestly feel so blessed to have this character; there’s no one else like her in cdrama or American TV for that matter!

One of the themes I enjoy in stories about royal power struggles are narrative arcs for female characters who transition from naive to knowing, usually borne out of experiencing the inescapability of their femaleness in a treacherous sexist environment and consequently the limited array of tarnished tools at their disposal and the ways these tools are then deployed. I enjoy that type of story- Book Sansa Stark, my nostalgic fave! Zhen Huan! Minglan, even, in a way. As for historical examples, Empress Matilda! Isabella of France!

But I'm also absolutely relishing this twist on the familiar theme in A Journey to Love.

Because Yang Ying is a royal woman being explicitly trained to grasp the duties and wield the power of a prince, not the oblique power of a princess. The success of the mission, and the lives/fates of the Wu emperor, her subjects, and her now beloved friends in the delegation, depend on her ability to convincingly wear the mantle of princely responsibility, power, and prerogative and to physically and mentally embody this role. And for a child who is as malleable as she is in the beginning of the show, this incredibly formative AND transformative extended roleplay will inevitably become forever entrenched in her conception of self and her sense of possibility.

The kind of limited power she might have been able to achieve as an impoverished minor princess requires a very different skillset from the one she's acquiring. It would only be a contingent and conditional power, a la her sister-in-law the Empress of Wu or the Noble Consort Chu or Chuyue, the tomboy princess from the state of An, who perfectly demonstrates how a clever, capable, wealthy, beautiful royal woman with a powerful family is still a blunted sword.

What would be fascinating to explore, beyond her triumph as Prince Li of Wu (which, to reiterate, I'm SO EXCITED FOR), is the inevitable friction of what she would feel and do after mastering and embodying princely power but then must contend with the expectations and limitations of the identity she has long outgrown but will still be expected to perform once the mission is complete.

I don't think the drama will have time to cover this- after all, she is a supporting character and it would be a thematic tangent. But I suppose that's what fic is for! Maybe I will once again be inspired to write fic, depending on how they end Yang Ying's story...

Stories and characters that reveal emotional truth through pretense will always be my jam. In addition to the unexpectedly delightful Ren Ruyi/Ning Yuanzhou, I love this show so much for giving me Yang Ying.

#a journey to love #一念关山 #cdrama #wuxia #once again I wish cdramas had better title translations #mildly pained every time I have to tag this delicious show with the english title #my commentary

[gravitasmalfunction]

No shade on Chu Yue, who is a great character and I loved her, but what I wanted out of the epilogue was to see where my girl Yang Ying was at and be reassured everyone's hard work paid off personally for her and politically for the two states.

#a journey to love #a journey to love spoilers #perhaps i would be less upset about the epilogue if the show hadn't spent the last 10 episodes killing everyone off to the song about duty #show me how they changed the world i don't care about the writers' postcanon kidfic! #show me our best girl Yang Ying all grown up and being a credit to her murder-godparents! #legacy is not exclusively stored in the biological children you cowards!

[prolestari]

yijiangchunshui1203

agree that there were so many pacing problems in the last 5 eps, but wonder if it’s just because the producers were hamstrung by the 40-episode limit imposed by the censors … i don’t think the writers collectively lost their sense of plot logic at the end

I don't feel like it was rushed as much as some of the decisions seemed out of left field. I have two major gripes, I'll put them below a cut since they are major spoilers.

Gripe 1: By the time NYZ was being killed, I was so numb to all the death that it wasn't as impactful. I don't mind all the characters dying, but watching one die per episode ended up being overload. I think it would have been better had the squad all died in the same battle: the loss of everyone at once would have been heavier and left enough emotional bandwidth to feel NYZ's solo death.

Gripe 2: It makes no sense to me that Chu Yue is the one that sees the boy at the end. I know it's up to interpretation as to who or what he is, etc., but it would have made a thousand times better sense for it to be Ying Yang that sees him. Chu Yue barely knew them and was really only close to YSS, where the princess would have been able to recognize a NYZ/RR child. It also would have been a nice wrap up to the plot seeing Ying Yang thinking of them later, as one of the themes was being remembered after death. To me, having Chu Yue be the last character we see was a weird choice.

#a journey to love #this post has spoilers so read at your own risk

[paper-is-paper]

(Big Spoilers for DOTF)

Sooo I sat down and read the entirety of Daughter of a Thousand Faces over the course of a few days. Since the series is on indefinite hiatus, I wanted to note down some plot threads that have yet to be resolved or addressed in season 1.

This series has taken over my brain and I don't know what to do with all these thoughts swimming in my brain. (elaborated thoughts below the cut and are numbered)

What is Swallowtail? is he a demon? a cultivator? or maybe secret third option (butterfly maybe)?

Why is Swallowtail so protective of Yuhua to the point where he's been ensuring that any potential suitors have been having "accidents"?

Why did Chu Tian choose to save Yuhua? He could have let her die and then boom no more blood pact, he's free to do whatever he wants with no restrictions. (1)

What's the butterfly lady (Hong Yang) going to do with Yuhua's severed finger?

What happens to the Ox Lady (Qing Yu)? Will she join Chu Tian? or will this be a moment of growth for Chu Tian? (2)

What is up with Shen Yitian? (3) and what happened to the rest of the true cultivators?

What does Leng Feng being a dragon prince mean for the careful balance between our main cast? How will he react to the fact that Yuhua killed one of his older brothers and now wears his face upon impromptu fox demon?

What did Leng Feng want to asks Yuhua?

Will Yuhua and Chu Tian resolve their conflict after the death of the fox demon? (I feel like the answer to this is obvious)

What is the ichor that some of the demons have been drinking? Who is the "master" behind its distribution? Where are they getting it from? (4)

Who has been sending the creepy letters to the A-Qing, A-Ying, and Co.?

What will become of Kai's Grandma? and will she ever find out that the real Kai is dead?

What role does Shen Chun have in the future?

Have Yuling and Yuhua come to a mutual understanding or is their relationship still antagonistic?

What are the details of Yuhua's mother's crimes? How might they tie with other elements of the plot?

What does war with the Bull Clan mean for our motley crew?

How will everyone react to Chu Tian and Yuhua's relationship?

(1) In the behind the scenes in chapter 42, Velinxi mentions that whether Chu Tian cares about Yuhua is debatable. I personally lean heavily towards the explanation that he does care about Yuhua, but I also think it's not impossible that it's an act or that he keeps her alive and trains her for more long-term goals. Either way, I fully agree the guy is definitely a bad influence.

(2) Chu Tian is convinced that Qiao Yu will eventually call for him and maybe join him. My prediction is that something will happen to her village that will then make her turn to Chu Tian for help or out of desperation. The other (less likely) alternative is that Chu Tian is wrong and Qiao Yu's continued rejection of him till her death shakes him so much that it sparks a growth in character growth for him. I also think that it could be a mix of both.

(3) This guy is hella sus. As @canary0 points out:

"...[Yuhua's] dad has to know, right? He knew what the only thing down there was. He had to have known what the only thing down there was. He had to have known what the only way to get back up and out would be."

I think that Shen Yitian is embodying the phrase "keep your friends close but your enemies closer" by asking Yuhua to stay closer to the family when she emerges from the well at the beginning of the series.

(4) I have a few ideas about this ichor, and I think it's related to Chu Tian in one way or another. It's the wrong color to be just Chu Tian's blood because his is red, but the glowing yellow eyes with slit pupils is a little too much of a coincidence to not be a deliberate creative choice.

Okay I have a lot more to talk about, but I want to cut this one off here otherwise we will be here forever. Please add some more questions if I missed anything, I absolutely adore this series and I can't wait to see a continuation of this story. In the meantime, I can chew on the mysteries of season 1.

#daughter of a thousand faces #dotf #to anyone who has yet to read dotf please read it #it is soooo good