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saelterlude · 2 months

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Curious about the lc musical cast heights? No? Well here's a very questionable ranking of the CXS and LG actor from tol to avereg to shmol.

(I swear it was a joke, but then @sgdlr-asdfghjkl took it seriously, and then I took it even more seriously, and now here we are)

Disclaimer! I have no ill intent in making this ranking, all the actors are great. I was just presented with a challenge I can't deny. Also, once again reiterating that these are very QUESTIONABLE.

Without further ado, Rankings!

Teng Chunpeng

Wang Minhui

Ji Xiaokun

Wang Yifei

Cai Qi

Guo Hongxu

Wu Yihan

Ding Xingchen

Cao Muzhi

Bai Zhuoming

Jing Yanqiao

Shu Rongbo

Du Guangyi

Zhu Hanbin

Read how I determine the ranking under the cut.

Take note that most of these were done before February 16, so it's mostly using information/clips prior to the new year's break.

So the first thing I did was made this bipartite graph to show which actors have been paired with who. (Ignore the color-coding, it was for an abandoned plan. Also, pre 16/02)

Cheng Xiaoshi actors on the left and Lu Guang actors on the right.

One thing you might notice, is that some actors have been paired with more actors than others. Such as SRB who have been paired with 4 LG actors, thus I will use him as my initial point of reference.

(If anyone asks, why not DGY with 5 pairs? That's only 56% of the CXS actors, meanwhile SRB got 80% of the LG actors. Also, I have a lot of easy to access SRB clips.)

Then I carefully overlay multiple screenshots of SRB with LG actors to rank them, adding both a DGY-DXC duo and a ZHB-DXC duo so I can finish ranking the LG actors.

Here's an example, comparison of WMH and DGY referenced to SRB.

Next is probably the most accurate and logical part. You know those old math puzzles where you go: A<B, and B<C, that means A<C? Yeah, I did that but with 14 variables (the actors) and 18 conditional statements (the pairings).

If you want to try it out yourself, here you go. Have fun! (again, pre 16/02)

With these, I can roughly guess most of their ranking. Then I use more overlaying photos on top of another to complete and get the ranking you see up top.

That said, let me highlight some problems I faced.

I tried my best, but keep in mind camera angles, video quality, actors' postures, shoes/sole thickness, fluffy hair. This is why the overlaying method is unreliable and this ranking is questionable.

I considered using the photo wall (the one with the donghua shiguang scene, that separated the back and the front studio set) as a point of reference, but I can't determined how far away each actor stood from it.

So i mostly took reference from the final part of 'Guiding Light' where they stood in a line or when theyre standing on the table (rock paper scissors and that song's ending)

Contrary to what it might seem, I didn't use much effort doing this legit (Could've literally asked any Chinese fan for help finding their height but I didn't). So yeah another reminder. THIS IS QUESTIONABLE AND UNRELIABLE.

That said, WMH is apparently 188cm tall (lol he's so tall and cool, he intimidates me)

CMZ, WYF, and JYQ is a problem because they've only been paired with the shortest LGs and they're all taller than that LG. Without overlaying, literally could be anywhere from rank 11 up. Even then I only have 1 reference point, ZHB.

Thank god for 16/02/2024 (very fun, they mix well) performance between WYF and DGY.

CQ originally have this problem too but he performed with WYH on 17/02/2024 (very good perf, will be on my next list) so that helped a lot.

JXK too have only ever performed with GHX which means when I have to compare him to WMH and TCP, the shortest path is 3/4 long, which makes the overlaying even more unreliable.

So yeah, it was really unreliable compared to me ranking all the LG to SRB, who's shortest path is only 2 (3 for ZHB)

ZHB and DGY is really close in height, I have to compare both of them to both DXC and CMZ to find who's shorter.

DXC and WYH have the same problem too, so I watched a lot of their clips from multiple angles to find who's taller.

I can't believe you argued DXC is shmoler than SRB, even BZM is smoller.

That said; WYH, DXC, BZM, CMZ are all so close in height it could very much be interchangeable.

Same with WMH and JXK.

For the love of god, JYQ is a PROBLEM. There's barely any performances much less clips of him so it's hard to find one that fits my requirements (Which is a shame, I like his voice and he's cute. Thank god he post on weibo often). In the end, I have to eyeball it so feel free to question his ranking even more so than the others.

The top 4 (top 6 even) is really easy though, they really are just that tall and easy to rank.

There's a very clear, undeniable, drop in height between rank 3-5, JXK and GHX, as well as between rank 6-7, CQ and WYH.

I know there's a lot of CXS actors in the bottom half but I think if you average them, LG is still shorter bcs WMH is a frickin outlier and the others are average.

Anyway, that concludes this (I swear, I'm very sane) post.

Mild congratulations to Wu Yihan, Ding Xingchen, Bai Zhuoming, and Cao Muzhi for being the very avereg.

Little congratulations to Zhu Hanbin and Shu Rongbo for being shmol, with special mentions goes to Du Guangyi.

Big congratulations to Wang Minhui and Teng Chunpeng for being tol, with special mentions goes to Ji Xiaokun.

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xiakeponz · 1 year

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for modern AU fics - what chinese media did diaspora consume?

making this post because some of us in the diaspora server were having a chat about what Chinese media "Diaspora Chinese" watched in the 90's - 2000's (and even sooner than that) while not having access to satellite chinese media or streaming services - this is in the context of writing modern AU fics based off Chinese media/novels (so your main character's grandpa or uncle is not, in fact, watching an episode of Friends or Shortland Street or something as flavour text because sorry what the hell-)

We generally watched a lot of stuff on VCDs, including bootlegged and non-bootlegged movies, shows, anime/donghua. My household had a whole VCD album of this, and a lot of VCDs (even if they were pirated editions) would have a fancy hardcover box with a magnetic clasp and some artwork representing the show on it.

All of this is Mandarin - so not TVB stuff, because I'm from Northern China and I don't know any cantonese - but Canto friends, please feel free to add to the list! This is mostly stuff my parents liked to watch, or I liked to watch with them, with the exception of a few which I mainly watched with friends/cousins when I was maybe (in most cases) eleven/twelve years old onwards. This is a pretty personal list, meant to give people general idea of a possible "ballpark" of sorts, and by no means exhaustive.

Now, for the list of shows which I can confirm I had or someone I know had on VCD or some kind of offline media format lol (I'll try add release year stamps and links to the EN wikipedia where possible):

Period dramas (mostly Qing Dynasty stuff):

Huan Zhu Gege 还珠格格 (1998, April-) This is a classic, so many memes come from this show; hugely popular series, basically cemented Zhang Tie Lin's face as the face of the Qing Emperor for about a decade. Tie Chi Tong Ya Ji Xiao Lan 铁齿铜牙纪晓岚 (2002-2010) - I loved this show as a kid and watched all four seasons on repeat with family... The "trio" in this show are well known and loved.

Amazing Detective Di Ren Jie / 神探狄仁杰 (2004) A very popular and addictive show. Ok now the Big Four:

Romance of 3 kingdoms 1994 / 三国演义 (1994) - a classic that has had many remakes, my older cousin would play this on repeat...

Hong Lou Meng/红楼梦（1987） - another classic with many remakes, but I think the most recognised by the public one is the 1987 one.

Journey to the West / 西游记 live action (1986) - I think the 1986 version of the live action is the most recognised one. *Shui Hu Zhuan / 水浒传 (1998) - I am not too familliar with the live action of this one in my household tbh bc my mum doesn't like it lol (she keeps saying it's too depressing) but I'm sure it's up there with the rest of the big four, if anyone has an opinion on this one please let me know!

Modern setting shows:

My dad loved all the Sun Honglei (孙红雷 - actor name) stuff, iirc it was a lot of MinGuo period espionage stuff, your shanghai 1920's sxc aesthetic. This actor has been around since 1999? Qian Fu （潜伏）was very famous, and Ren Jian Zheng Dao Shi Cang Sang （人间正道是沧桑）。 These were around '08 and '09.

Chuang Guan Dong - 闯关东 (2008) (Baidu link, sorry - couldn't get an EN wikipedia one). This show was huge when it was airing, everyone was watching it. I was pretty young but even I watched it and got invested ... and I thought it was such an "old person" show at the time lmao. Xiao Bing Zhang Ga / 小兵张嘎（2004） (sorry, again Baidu link) - yo, anti-japanese war movies set between 1937-1945 were crazy popular - this is one of them and was very popular):

Donghua/Anime (all the stuff kid me watched and some which I didn't but were popular):

喜羊羊与灰太狼 (2005-) Calabash Brothers / 葫芦兄弟（1986-1987） Black Cat Detective / Hei Mao Jing Zhang 黑猫警长（1984-2010） Lan Mao Tao Qi 3000 Wen 蓝蓝猫淘气3000问 AKA 蓝猫 (blue cat) (October 1999 - Present) Legend of Ne Zha 哪吒传奇 (2003) Journey to the West/Xi You Ji 西游记 This was truly the Donghua I grew up on from when I was a bb, the OP song and ED song are classic bangers all kids know. Slam Dunk/ 灌篮高手 - People truly watched a lot of anime that may or may not have been terribly dubbed into mando (possibly canto too). Late 80s and 90s kids were all over this, and Dragon Ball, Crayon Shinchan (labixiaoxin).

Taiwanese Dramas:

This is mid-late 2000's, I would be remiss to not talk about the Taiwanese dramas of this era. Mike He, Rainie Yang, Wu Zun (amongst many, many others) were huge. Stuff like Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao, it started with a kiss, Hua Yang Shao Nv (Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi) were all pretty popular. Not sure if these shows all hold up in 2023, but boy were they popular at the time.

Note about CNY:

For CNY, people would try to tune into 春节联欢晚会 (the CCTV official CNY show) at that One Friend Who Had China Satellite TV's house. Zhao Ben Shan / 赵本山 was a comedy staple, and the show would often feature people from the music industry to perform. Eventually these people became more and more relevant to my gen and Jay Chou etc started appearing.

Last but not least Xian Jiaaaan 仙剑:

In 2005 I was all over 仙剑奇侠传 (Chinese Paladin), based off the video game. This show was crazy popular and probably sent me and a whole lot of other kids into Xianxia / Wuxia hell (and Hu Ge hell, and later I came back to love Liu Yifei). Thank you. The OST is a true banger.

#cnovel #mdzs #cdrama #chinese diaspora #danmei #not a lot of jinyong wuxia shows here so people who have opinions please chime in!#whew that was more than i thought #music could do with another post #but i dont know too much about my dads music i was just a 2000s cpop nerd #also this doesnt cover movies either #please no lan qiren watching friends #this breaks me out of my immersion immediately unless there was a specific reason why shufu is watching friends #not even sure how to tag this #late 2000s you could pretty much stream and download stuff i think i did that for bbjx when it came out #even tho my parents hated The Internet i managed #feel free to add more to this in a post or tags or whatever

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ginsoakedgirl80 · 4 months

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Costume Cdramas I watched in 2023

My 2nd year with Chinese dramas as my love for costume drama continues.

The title links to where you can watch it (tried to find free legal watches where available)

The Blood of Youth (40 x 45min, filming started in Oct 2021, released Dec 2022) fun action drama with a good dose of comedy, not for people who want lots of romance because they are too busy (and the canon couples don't have enough chemistry, there I said it) to be making out. Good for bromance, ghost ships and/or ace character head canons. Xiao Se's fur collar wins fur collar of the year, Tang Lian is my blorbo of early 2023.

My Uncanny Destiny (24 x 30min, filmed in autumn 2021, released Jan 2023) My favorite comedy of the year. Don't get turned off by the toilet jokes, it's a gem that spoofs drama tropes, gives you a coherent plot, silliness, fun side characters, a ML that is not afraid of being silly and a FL that plays capable and silly well. This might be a low budget production but they put that money to work. Politics, cross-dressing, found family, sisterhood, enemies to lovers, third wheel bisexual who reminds me of Wen Kexing, over the top villain, himbo villain who works out shirtless all the time, it got it all.

Wulin Heroes (22 x 45min, filming started Nov 2020, released Jan 2023) I watched this for Li Hongyi and he is incredibly beautiful in this so props to his stylist and cinematographer. BUT it is a badly written and edited low budget romp. If you are not watching for any actor then do not bother. FL is bearable once you realize she is very much of a lets see where this goes kind of character. 2nd ML is a suffering captive prince turned whiny regent played by Zhu Zanjin. So if you want to see Jin GuangYao suffer, you might like his scenes?? It can totally be read as a throuple especially with the New Tales of Wulin Heroes mini series add on. The choppiness might also be a result of the dangai ban??

No Doubt in us (24 x 14min, 2021, donghua) saw this on netflix and it roped me in with the body switch trope. It's sufficiently entertaining. Though I didn't enjoy the animation style apart from the chibi scenes.)

Heaven Official's Blessing (season 1, 11 x 26min, 2020, Donghua) It's THAT story and the art style is so pretty. I haven't read the books yet but still got what was going on most of the time. Liked it a lot. Haven't watched the 2nd season yet)

The Journey of Chong Zi (40 x 45min, filming started in June 2021, released Feb 2023) This xianxia is a mess! But it gave Scorpion King Li Daikun another memorable role with being the FL's protector. Watching Wang Zhoucheng having a ball with his role was fun. Immortal turned demon Wan Jie is so handsome and tragic. It did draw me in but the main couple is just ick so every time they were apart it immediately got better. ML's refusal to take the antidote to ease his obsession was lmao, FL is naive but charming and her demon styling rocks (do not get the hate on the actress, she is selfmade and there are many bad pretty face actresses around but I guess antis attract antis). Oh and there is a bromance between two of Chong Zi's harem members

Till the End of the Moon (40 x 55min, started filming in Nov 2021, released April 2023) aka my brain rot drama of the year. Drawn in from episode 1 on. Bai Li and Luo Yunxi <3 Pian Ran, Ye Qingyu, Nian Baiyu and Si Ying. <3 I was spamming tumblr with my screenshots, it was a jolly good time to watch this epic tale of love and suffering and saving the world dilemma with a great cast, characters, costumes, sets and soundtrack with the cdrama ppl of tumblr. If this weren't too complicated for cdrama newbies I'd recommend it to all my friends. Do not skip the dream arc (I ended up liking it) or later stuff will make less sense. I'm still annoyed that we didn't get a good extra episode that wraps up some lose ends for the main side characters and that reunion of the main characters but Youku really went nah we better play it safe with censors not liking happy ends for morally grey characters.

My Queen (24 x 45min, filmed in 2020, released Jul 2021) An FL enters a romance adventure VR game drama that I watched because I needed some fluff between TtEotM episodes. Why pick this among any other sufficiently entertaining dramas that are probably better written and not as forgetable? Because I wanted to watch Hu Wei (rich nepo baby in The Blood of Youth) in another comedy role >_> and ridiculous overacting he did deliver

The Trust (30 x 45min, filmed early 2021, released Apr 2023) The life action adaptation of the manhua No doubt in us is based on. I dunno why I finished this, I guess I'm not a quitter and needed silly stuff to balance TtEotM angst. For some reason the director thought it would be a good idea to film this like a donghua and it is causing 2nd hand embarrassment. The ML cannot pull off being a woman in a man's body, not even a martial arts nerd like Xu Yu. Like Wulin Heroes it was filmed before the dangai ban but that didn't stop them from having at least two bromances.

Wanru's Journey (24 x 35min, filming started in Jun 2021, released May 2023) A mess. So IQIYI released this simply to ride on the wave of Ao Ruipeng's The Blood of Youth popularity. Because this got so chopped down because of the dangai ban and it probably wasn't good to begin with. Basically an actress transmigrates into a dangai screenplay and gets between the leads while also making money by writing fic about them (ok this is my reading but she DID release fic and drawings of them). Of course it takes an unnecessarily dramatic turn, instead of staying on the comedy side, cannot remember more of the plot, oops.

King is not Easy (20ep x 30min, released Aug 2017) I watched this for the body switch trope and Bai Lu. Nice to see her actual face before the fair skin filter got her, entertaining enough, badly written silly comedy with mind mindbogglingly contrived final 4 episodes. It's Bai Lu's drama debut so it's nice to see how far she got

Destined (40ep x 45min, filming started in Jun 2022, released June 2023) Highly enjoyable. Fell in love with Bai Jingting. What's not to love about a playboy getting put on his path by his wife and them becoming friends, sworn siblings and then lovers in the process? No this is actually about FL finding her thing (trade) and being wildly successful at it, then it's also political, revenge and more. The leads are extremely charming and have great chemistry (the drama suffers every time they are apart lbr) and the writing is good, though people are too perfect and I wasn't into the whole palace stuff.

My Journey to You (24 ep x 60min, filming started Dec 2022, released Sep 2023) Had me from episode 1 on. Made me buy IQIYI VIP so I can watch it in good quality. Fell in love with Zhang Linghe. Yu Shuxin needs to do all the wuxia while she is still fit. Why waste being able to do the splits on some modern drama? The director sent her mud wrestling and she went for it. Everyone knows she is pretty no need for her to be beautifully put together on screen 24/7. Love the style, the character introductions, the characters, the cast, the chemistry, the story, the way you expect something and something else is going on. While it started out gloomy and remained so for the most part, it surprised me with throwing in more comedy than I expected. The good old idle manchild gets thrown into a position of power story but it's a murderous martial arts clan against another murderous martial arts clan. It's giving you some information but often just enough for getting what's going on just to play with your expectations later, FUN! And I didn't even mention all the other characters because surprise! this is actually an ensemble drama with several intriguing characters. Do not expect for the two leads to be on screen all the time.

Hilarious Family (24ep x 45min, started filming in June 2022 (?), released Sept 2023) A fun ensemble comedy I watched for Jackie Li. A widow moves to another city to marry off her 4 daughters (a silly man-crazy one, a homely one, a scholar one and a tomboy one). No it's not Pride and Prejudice but yes of course this is a romcom and all women have a love interest. It kind of drops off later on tbh, but still good for the characters and side characters. The success of this in China hopefully means that Jackie Li will get to be getting more comedies to work in after the Queen Lau disaster and people having a problem with her artist alias in 2022.

Hello There (20ep x 30min, released Jan 2023) I stumbled on this on IQIYI while looking for a light fast watch that will let my brain relax. The ML's best acting moment is when he plays a wooden robot. FL is fun. There are some questionable scenes, standard low budget action comedy fare.

An Ancient Love Song (14ep x 30 min, released June 2023) A wonderfully written and executed grown up time traveling story, that shows once again that you don't need a big budget to tell a story that draws you in. Ended my palace politics blockade. All this time traveling and no reincarnation in sight. ;_;

Story of Kunning Palace (38ep x 45min, filming started in May 2022, released Nov 2023) Tieing 2nd with My Journey to You for brainrot drama of the year. The cinematography is questionable, the story is not for teaching perfect courting behavior but those two are just such a good cp in their awkward messy way. Their friends/sidekicks are fun too and bring some comedy to that story though crazy in love ML is serving some comedy too. Props to ZLH for actually trying to grasp the basics of playing qin and not just waving over the strings like other dramas deem it sufficient. Bai Lu is Bai Lu-ing, gathering her harem. Coming into this right after An Ancient Love Song the idea to defeat destiny this time around seemed hopeless to me but this is one of those they are good at making plans and they turn out mostly alright dramas. I hope those two's material for the next years is as good as the two dramas with them I watched in 2023, fingers crossed!

Currently watching: A Journey to Love and Taoism Grandmaster as well as 2/3 through a LbFaD rewatch that I started in summer.

I also watched a handful of modern dramas (made in Korea and Japan) and some mini-dramas, but that is for another post.

And yes my most watched actors are probably those uncles stuck in Hengdian, might look that up another day.

If I got the time to blog about a drama I usually do it with screenshots so my tag for those posts is excuse my bad quality screenshots. In other cases I just reblog and put my thoughts in the tags.

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raptorsgust · 7 months

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hello! so i was lucky enough to snag a ticket to the tgcf donghua s2 fan screening right here in singapore, so here's a short report on the happenings! under the read more as there will be spoilers including those from the novel

arrived at around 1:20pm and it already looked like a full house! lots of people queueing at the photobooths and stuff, LOTS of cosplayers, mainly hualian and beefleaf. after a while i asked an usher about the merch booth but it was already closed due to the long queue, so i just went to find my seat which was near the back (in front of a bunch of cosplayers haha)

the hall had at least eight screens but none were positioned in a way where i didn't have to turn/crane my neck lol i can still feel the strain

the screening itself started at about 10 minutes past 2pm! we first had some voice actor greetings first, both of shi qingxuan's voice actors seemed to have received the loudest cheers from my pov! all of them ended their greeting with 天官赐福，百无禁忌

there was also a quick announcement of another tgcf collab cafe in 2024! sg just keeps winning and winning

after that we finally started the screening with a recap of s1 starting from the cart scene all through the banyue arc. xie lian's lines were all newly voiced by his new voice actor deng youxi, and he sounded alright to me! (note: not 100% sure that he did replace jgt's voicing but that's what i remember, correct me if im wrong!)

more than an hour of s1 later, we smoothly transitioned into the first episode of s2, and the following are some highlights and points:

s2 is still based on the unrevised novel as far as i can tell

everyone loves shi qingxuan!!

ghost city is very extravagant and fun! lots of quirky ghosts, there's joss paper flying around everywhere

xl's 不举 was omitted even though it's already rated m18 lol

the part where hc teaches xl to shake the dice has a lot of hand touching and cute reactions from the ghosts and sqx and lqq

a LOT of teasing leading up to the reveal of hc's true form, they'd show part of his face, his hand, his boots, and when he stepped out from behind the curtain and xl laid eyes on him for the first time there were shoujo bubbles

also A LOT OF SCREAMING FROM THE AUDIENCE tbh it was already loud enough throughout the gambling scene it was just hilarious

frankly i couldn't see hc clearly cuz, bad seat, but we all know how he looks like anyway

idk if it's just mE but the audio of the entire screening had its pitch raised, all the songs were a key higher, everyone sounded higher-pitched...... to ward people from secretly recording it?

feels bad for fulgur cuz it feels like most of the audience didn't care about him? half of them left their seats for the photobooths during his q&a segment

quiz time was interesting......

for "what is hc's weapon?" the host accepted the answer E-Ming, as in the person who answered said cAPITAL LETTER OF THE ALPHABET E which i would personally not accept as correct but o wells

the last question was "what did hc give to xl at the end of s1?" and the lucky person who answered very precisely said "his ashes in the form of a ring" and the host went aRe YoU sUrE and tried to make us recall an oBjEcT and i think we were all second-guessing ourselves there lmao please get a host who did their homework next time

pretty sure that was a huge spoiler for donghua-only fans tho HAHA

after the event was over i hung around texting friends and then tried to see if the merch booth was available but all the nice merch was sold out, and frankly just thinking of trying the queues at the photobooths was mentally draining so i just left haha

overall it was a great experience! watching and reacting together with so many other fans is truly a rare experience and despite going solo i had fun!

excellent door gifts too, the acrylic stand is of great quality and is now set up and sitting on my mxtx shelf~

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #天官赐福 #tgcf donghua #tgcf donghua s2 #hua cheng #xie lian #shi qingxuan #lang qianqiu #idk how tumblr works anymore hopefully the formatting is alright

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ganen-cheese · 1 year

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idk if u remember me but some time ago in anon i asked u to tell me about mdzs !! i started reading it and watching it ever since you answered and, man it’s so pretty, i’m in love with the whole cast !! i did not finish it tho, i just wanted to thank u for showing me this beautiful piece of art !!

Aw!! Of course I do and I’m so glad you read/watched it!!💖🥺

I haven’t finished the donghua (animation) yet either because Season 3 is yet to be shown in my country and Season 2 ends in a depressing note so I’m holding off 😂 (I don’t want to suffer without comfort). I’m excited for the premiere though 😳❤️

And yes!!! Everyone is very interesting and the plot is awesome. I love the adventure and the lore and of course the love story between Lan Zhan and Wei Ying even though it was supposed to be a revenge story 😂🥺❤️ It’s so beautifully crafted and I heard the donghua made ghost cultivation look really cool too. I saw some clips of Yiling Laozu. I’m excited to watch the animations but also already depressed because we know what happens 😂😭💦 but ah~

Also the Chinese drama CD voice actors are the best. My friend introduced to me their songs. I love all the songs they sang officially or as a fan. I love all the fan content they produce… so high quality!!!!! 😭😭😭 Everything is a work of art!!!

I’m happy you enjoyed the art of MDZS 🥹❤️ They are beautiful inside and out. I love love both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying so much and their love story.

#Asks #mgslover

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lansplaining · 1 month

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Since you watched Nivarna In Fire, can I interest you with the trivia that Yan Yujin is dubbed over by the same voice actor who voiced WWX in The Untamed and the MDZS audiodrama? And Lin Chen is dubbed over by the same voice actor who did Xie Lian in Season 1 of the TGCF donghua and JGY from the MDZS audiodrama? (And Xiao Jingrui is dubbed the same guy who did LWJ in the audiodrama, which is kind of insane because I really can't tell even when I try to listen for it.)

oh my god???? I have to go listen for this now? Lin Chen is XIE LIAN?????

#nif #ask answered

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tbgkaru-woh · 2 months

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I would love to see you get into TGCF… BUT I feel like you wouldn’t actually like the characters unless you read the book. The Donghua is not 100% amazing at getting their full personalities across. Like with XL’s internal dialogue you miss a chunk of his personality his you take it away. Think of it this way…

book!XL *a woman is dying* ‘This is sad but she’s so ugly that she looks silly.’

Donghua!XL *No internal dialogue and woman is dying* We just see him comforting her and saying she did well.

oh I can see how that'd change my perception of the characters completely! I actually watched the first season of the donghua with my ex-girlfriend and found it extremely boring. The only times I perked up was around the Heaven officials but even that was a stretch. And then that goth dyke that's sometimes a dude (? i think?) that I see art of often, she's almost worth it TGCF is very nice visually but it has so much content already i'd feel like i'm not needed. i'm also always wary around MXTX books because they always toe the line of really good and really insufferable to me, but i always manage to find the good in them and focus on that. also I've heard that TGCF has one of the worst fandoms because it's the "pure" ship out of all MXTX ones and you can imagine the content police and high horses, just the worst of fandoms concentrated 😭 Honestly i'm willing to suffer both for the live action if it ever comes out though, as I really enjoyed the look of Xie Lian's actor so there is tiny hope!

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randomshenaniganery · 4 months

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TGCF Donghua

okay so I've been watching this shit since it was released and I'm fully enjoying waiting for the weekly episodes and I wanna rant about it because I love it so much but I do have some minor gripes

Bad chuchu out of the way first

I am not happy with how generic and unoriginal the designs for most of the supporting characters. Like yeah they still look somewhat different but when the pool of named characters will expand it will get harder and harder to tell people apart if they keep on going with this route. Almost everyone suffers from same face syndrome which I know is rampant in current anime I just wished they allowed for at least more dynamic silhouettes, hairstyles, and color palettes. It feels like a more toned down version of the character design in the manhua. Lang Qianqiu in the manhua is so easy to recognize because of his outfit and pei ming looks more like the bastard he is etc. Don't get me started on the design for Kemo, the manhua felt eh I feel like Kemo was too pretty and too slim but in the donghua its just he's a straight up orc idk, i feel like they could've done better. Pei Su looks very generic, I think out of everyone he's the most generic looking of them all. SQX, Ling Wen and Jun Wu are the best designs for the supporting cast and I think Banyue is also okay looking cause you can tell her apart from the rest so far.

I am super disappointed in Qi Rong's reveal because it doesn't feel as impactful in the book. In the book the reveal of him looking like Xie Lian was so dramatic to me I was like oh my god is that his brother? A twin? a doppelganger? And then Qi Rong just kinda looks like that, tbh his voice actor and his clothes are fine I think they fit. It's just weird how he suffers from same face syndrome. If they made everyone look less like each other making Qi Rong look like Xie Lian would have been so impactful and a really cool cliffhanger but they couldn't do that because even fucking Lang Qianqiu kinda looks like Xie Lian with lighter hair. Also the Fang xin design is alright on the clothes but the mask gives off a bit cheap however I get that it can't be super detailed and it still does its job so I can handwave that small pet peeve.

Also censorship we couldn't get Xie Lian falling on Hua Cheng's lap and so them trying to make up for that was super awkward LMAO, they could have solved this by making SQX fall right on Hua Cheng's chair so that they could justify why Xie Lian grabbed Hua Cheng and throws him but they didn't... and it's so awkward...

I think it was like Episode 2 of s2 that the animation feels weird, Mu Qing's face felt off to me idk what was going on it just felt like something went down but the next episode it was perfectly fine anyway.

Positives!!!

Something the manhua didn't have was Fu Yao and Nan Feng looking a bit like each other, that was so fucking funny and it's a great display of how much they hate each other and live rent free in each other's heads ong. I love that detail the donghua did I think that's smart.

The voice actors are so great in both dubs they're doing amazing (I haven't listened to the jp dub) I have no complaints I love their work

ONE of my favorite things about the donghua is being able to see Hua Cheng's expressions even when Xie Lian is doing something in the book so he wouldn't notice. I love seeing how pleased he is every time someone points out the intimacy with him and Xie Lian. Like in season 1 when Fu Yao is shocked/horrified that Xie Lian shared a bed with Hua Cheng, San Lang puts a hand on his chin and looks so fucking smug and happy. This happens a couple times in s2 as well someone will be like oh that's weird you're so like this with Hua Cheng and he becomes a smug cat it's great.

Another one I enjoy is during the beginning of the banyue arc when Xie Lian reveals to Fu Yao and Nan Feng that he's used to sleeping in squalor the camera goes to Nan Feng not revealing his face but clearly showing his guilt over what Xie Lian reveals. That's good shit.

Lan Chang picking a fight off screen, also cool, love seeing her. I like that she looks inconspicuous so for someone who doesn't know shit about tgcf they will not see *that* shit coming.

ALSO the men look kinda generic if they're not the mls but the girls are all gorgeous???? like the woman who was Hua Cheng's speaker, the girl who led Xie Lian further into the gambling den, XUAN JI, Banyue all the girls are unique without being so ostentatious and I love them. If you put them beside each other they all look like they're own thing but still on theme. From clothes, to hairstyle and colors it's easy to tell and that's good design. I also include SQX's female form cause she's gorgeous too.

The donghua I think adds to stuff I haven't read I'm not sure if this is because I have a bad memory but I don't recall reading a flashback of Lang Qianqiu and the failed robbery. But the message of that entire section was so fucking good. The way that what Lang Qianqiu said about 'maybe he shouldn't have intervened' and the sound effects UGh. It's so good, i love how the book tackles the morality of everything, breaking down Lang Qianqiu's firm positivity and believing in humanity but still promoting being kind and considerate through Xie Lian. This theme still carries on in the show and I think they're doing a great job.

GOD THE MUSIC in the donghua is so fucking good, I love it. The songs, the meanings, the beat it's all perfect I can't say anything more.

even though i'm disappointed in the character design choices the donghua is very solid, I love it a lot. It does come off as very expositiony sometimes but I think that's very prevalent in Chinese Wuxia and Xianxia. Probably weird for people who aren't used to the genre but to anyone who's seen something like it, it's not unbearable and it's kinda necessary because of how the book is written. Waiting for wednesday patiently whilst i draw huahua

There are so many fun details the Donghua adds that shows that they know the story and where it's going as well hinting at character stuff, it's so fun to spot those. Like Xie Lian's reaction to Hua Cheng biting the bun made me wanna claw my face that shit was good af.

#just many thoughts of how much i love the series #tian guan ci fu #tgcf #heaven official's blessing #mxtx #donghua #tgcf donghua #hua cheng #xie lian

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best-underrated-anime · 3 months

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Best Underrated Anime Group K Round 2: #K1 vs #K2

#K1: A state auditor finds himself the center of a coup

#K2: A show where any universe/plot is possible

Details and poll under the cut!

#K1: ACCA: 13th Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka)

youtube

Summary:

ACCA—a national body of the kingdom of Dowa that provides public services to the citizens of the country—was established as part of the peace settlement between the king of Dowa and the 13 states of the country during a revolt. One hundred years later, Dowa is in a period of unprecedented peace, due in part to the ACCA system. However, rumors of a coup d'état start to surface. Jean Otus, the second-in-command of the inspection department of ACCA, is charged with inspecting all 13 state branches. What will he discover as he performs his audit?

Propaganda:

Acca-13 is a master work of political intrigue neatly wrapped up into 12 episodes. Every moment in the show has meaning, every textual personal preference ties back to some larger plot point, and every character has their own goals, values and machinations that at first seem overwhelming but in hindsight are crystal clear. Despite very little time spent on exposition for this fully fictional 13-district country with a unique governing system, it’s well-built and by the climax of the show the audience knows exactly who and what are at stake. The plot twists are SUBLIME—that perfect combination of a blindside and inevitable.

That’s not to say that it loses out on characterization in favor of plot! The characters are human and down-to-earth, with the show using a realistic, simple style of animation that allows wonderfully subtle expression. Both the sub and the dub are excellent. I have watched this show at least eight times, and EVERY SINGLE TIME I have picked up another layer of plot, another thread of characterization that I’d missed before but had carried and explained a moment of the narrative.

Also, there is ZERO fanservice. ONLY food service. Watch it with snacks handy. For the trailer I'm actually linking the opening, one of the best anime OPs to ever be made.

Trigger Warnings: Smoking

#K2: Beryl and Sapphire (Xiaolü He Xiaolan)

Summary:

The series is based on a manhua where the main characters are drawn as stick figures, so they can be placed in any situation, essentially making different AUs canon while any genre is possible. Some of these stories have overarching plots (they’re sort of like actors), some are more slice-of-life, and some have more hard-hitting moments of angst or occasionally cute, romantic stories between the leads: the mild-mannered Beryl (Green) and the easily-embarrassed Sapphire (Blue).

In this show where each episode is set in a different world, how would they encounter each other time and again?

Propaganda:

It’s genuinely just such a cool concept! Getting to see these characters in practically any story/setting while still featuring the (usually same) main characters means you still get attached to the main cast, but you really get a diverse range of plots and ideas.

You may find yourself getting super attached to one (as I did for the Robo-Beryl arc, because I liked the character of Robo-Beryl but I also found Sapphire’s shyness/crushing adorable), and many of even the shortest ones are really interesting.

The OP even features them as actors and the title cards are film clapboards, which is such a cool way to tie in the main set-up!

Plus, because the manhua features them as stick figures, Ocarina (the original creator of Beryl and Sapphire) has way more room to explore deep ideas or just silly jokes; the flexibility of stick figures means we get lots of deep, philosophical writing/dialogue, and the donghua adapts that quite well.

Beryl is fun and Sapphire is super cute, and I love seeing how they interact in different universes/stories (and yes, they are very shippable!). Their default design is technically male, but sometimes they’re female too.

Some of the storylines are also super creative and really really do just punch you in the gut with feels. I don’t think I’ll ever forget some of the more tragic arcs…

Yet at the end of the day, Beryl and Sapphire is a really cute donghua, with a lot of feel-good stories to it! It even finally came back after like 4 years with season 2, which focuses on one of the over-arching arcs (the Demon King Beryl one), and we’re still getting discussions of deeper ideas alongside comedy, and Beryl and Sapphire are as cute as ever!

The new art style is quite pretty and hey, if you’re a fan of the playful, teasing (yet still can be rather emotionally reserved) type and the easily blushy type, Beryl and Sapphire may just be for you! 😉

Trigger Warnings: None.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

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icancdramahanfu · 2 years

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Hello! I am looking to cosplay wei wuxian and/or xie lian(from the donghua) can you please describe the layers of their clothes, I have zero experience in sewing clothes or pattern making and I have no idea where to even begin. Thank you very much!

Hello there, Sorry for the slow reply, I've been distracted by real life and my continued PT for my wrist. But I can type much more normally at least now. As far as Wei Wuxian, I haven't really looked at his outfits seeing that he's got so many different versions in the live action CQL/The Untamed and in the MDZS donghua and manhua as well. I'm not a huge fan of MDZS, so, I can admit I haven't paid much attention to it. I think like most MXTX characters, he relies on a heavy black/red color palette and is pretty open to interpretation. I think focusing on the donghua would be your best bet since when you have to animate someone you would simplify their outfit, but the drama might have more realistic clothing to draw from since and actor wore it. Xie Lian is considerably easier since he wears many layers of white. I think the main thing to realize with all these outfits is that you have a foundation layer and then multiple layers over top with great variations.

The foundation layer (zhong yi) is usually the skin layer in white (cotton/linen) that it is breathable and washable. It seems for a more dramatic effect a character like WWX will have this as black. This is a top and pants combo, but I was lazy and skipped out on pants for my Wen Kexing b/c it was very warm already. I don't use Taobao sites (no Chinese skillz here) but it might be worth your while to look at some of the hanfu retailers to see how they construct their tidy little package outfits.

Like Hanfu Story which has a very good website and plenty of english language descriptions. Even though the colors aren't plain white, this one has a very close match to what XL wears. It has the skirt with the slight pleating like XL and simple sleeves and cut.

It is interesting to note that many of these outfits only sell the top layers, not that base layer.

When it comes to determining the exact layers just look at the neckline, that pretty much lets you know what else is on top of that base layer.

If this is your first time sewing and drafting a pattern, I would enlist the help of a friend who may have more sewing experience. Also, since many of these outfits don't reveal the full aspect of all of their layers, you have to guess what you think is underneath - that is what I did after lots of screen shots from as many angles as possible - or hoping for a zhong yi late night confession scene (as in Word of Honor) which allowed me to nail the sleeve shape for all the layers. I'll do and example with XL since his outfit is much easier.

As we can see here, he's only got two layers.

The inner layer is more form fitting in the torso, with wide-ish sleeves. The skirt portion appears to be pleated, which is why we get a ripple effect in the front. It appears the outer layer is a simple straight hem robe with wider sleeves that he wears very loosely since it flares back. You can't tell from this picture but the left side should also have a slit that runs along the left side of his body to allow for easy movement - it isn't a full rap around robe structure. He has a narrow belt that is tied off with the cyan colored cord and his bandages and basic hat. I haven't watched the donghua for awhile so I can't remember if he also has pants on underneath the pleated skirt. I'd go back and refer to the scene where San Lang notices the shackle on his ankle to see what he's wearing then.

When it comes to picking a layer to draft first for the pattern, it really doesn't matter. You will need to make a mock up and adjust. If you want it to be the inner layer it will need to be the same length but less wide than the outer layer. I just made a pattern and tested it out - it was terrible but hey, I knew where to go from after that. Good luck and hope this helps!

#answered asks #hanfu pattern #mens hanfu #xie lian #wei wuxian #cosplay #hanfu pattern drafting #diy #sewing hanfu

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skalidris · 7 months

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i would absolutely love to hear more about your course on semiotic analysis in theatre and how it had influenced your opinions on mdzs/cql, when/if you have brain space to talk about it. 🧋

First, thank you for asking--I hadn't actually thought about how that course influenced my take on mdzs and the derivative canons, but in hindsight, it really super did.

Now that I have given it some thought, I should say first that it's been a while since I studied this, and also a while since I first read mdzs (I'm using 'mdzs' as a shorthand; I actually watched s1 of the donghua first, then s1 of the audio drama, and then I read the full novel. cql wasn't a thing back in those days yet, and neither were the later donghua seasons).

Read more as I'm longwinded! Content: Theatre Studies Semiotics, Why I Use This

Semiotics, even just for theatre, has a lot going on. I'll be simplifying! Very simply, semiotics is about a thing called signs. These signs are expressions of something; rather, they are vehicles of communication. Anything that communicates is a sign. Signs communicate some abstract idea, or carry a meaning--something like that.

It's absolutely irrelevant whether someone put a meaning into the sign, or why that sign came to exist. Intent doesn't matter. Since all material expressions (also, words, or sensory experiences--they're material compared to their meanings) are signs, and the duty of a sign is to carry a meaning, that meaning is what can be derived from the sign. Itself.

This dualistic definition is basically associated with a guy called Ferdinand de Saussure. In the semiotics of equally famous guy Charles Peirce, you get a third category. It's kind of complicated, but for these purposes, I'm gonna go ahead and call that third category the system for understanding the sign--the incoporation of the 'thought' of the sign back into a framework of ideas and concepts.

The essence of semiotics in theatre in so far as I mentioned it in that post is, everything on the stage is part of the performance. Our professors had real-life anecdotes for this, but it's basically this: If in the middle of a staged fight, an actor spits blood and collapses on the stage, some audiences might be empathically upset, others might laugh, someone else might go 'woah. how did they do that?'

But no matter what, all of those responses assume that this is acted--someone, several someones, costume and blood and light and acting, came together to portray 'death' in this way. But that actor actually just died for real, in real life. That's why, intent isn't important for semiotics. Although you can certainly discuss intent, ultimately, once you've agreed to the existence of signs and signification, intent is at most secondary.

Obviously, a novel isn't a play, and neither is a tv show, or a donghua, or an audio drama. Semiotics absolutely can be applied to anything, but I'm specifically talking about theatre here. I personally don't see this as an issue, first, because cql and the audio drama are recorded performance arts (they fall within theatre studies already). two, because I'm fundamentally regarding reading/watching/listening as unique, non-repeatable events in which i, the audience, and you, the audience, are never really passive at all. <<key concept in theatre studies, in particular the work of the theatre semiotician erika fischer-lichte.

I like this approach for mdzs, and it's definitely partly because I just liked JGY so much! And I was not really in a majority with that, and back then, people also didn't like xiyao as much as they do in this post-zzj&lhk era. I wanted to understand this, and I also wanted to know whether I was wrong to like him. Not because it would've made me stop, but because 'I've decided to ignore the author' and 'the author doesn't contradict me' are really different starting positions for thinking about something, and I wanted to know which I was in!

(If I want to stubbornly contradict something, I better make sure I haven't made up a strawman from misunderstanding first. That sort of idea)

Semiotics sort of.. side-steps this? The conclusion I came to is that the text creates its own framework for interpretation. It does this structurally, by what information is presented, omitted, changed, etc, when and how. It does this in how characters talk, in what cues they take from each other (or don't!), in what the narration comments on.

In other words, the conclusion is that, just as in theater, regardless of what intention is behind any individual sign of the story, regardless how it came to exist in the story, it's there, and part of the story. So I am obligated to consider as part of the total network of signs that make up the bigger-scale meanings, such as 'all kinds of intent result in destruction if the circumstances are bad enough' and 'what happens after the terrible thing happened' and so on and so forth

If something doesn't have a meaning, because the whole story is made up of signs and system, it becomes a sign with a meaning anyway. Due to peer pressure.

Luckily, Peircean semiotics allow for system interpretation, so signs like that, the ones whose meanings we can't incorporate well, it's possible to decide not to incoporate them in analysis or whatever ^^

And of course, your own framework might be lacking. Mdzs was my first webnovel, and my first danmei, so with this philosophy in mind I set out to read several more in order to give me more confidence in understanding the story. That is, in order to decide what 'counts' when creating an interpretation and 'what doesn't count' is made easier with a more suitable framework. However, I still think that the story itself gives you the correct cues anyway--they just might get distorted by your framework.

[was gonna put an example here, since I dunno if this makes sense, but I'm too tired. Mayb later.]

#mdzs was really pivotal for me as a story in lotsa ways also so.#it was fun to think abt this. thank you!!!#ask #mdzs #cut out a whole salty tangent abt lube. self care.#i do still wanna talk abt the oft-cited xiyao matchmake wangxian guanyin temple prologue tho

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deng-yi-deng · 5 months

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Drama round-up 2023

This is one of the best drama years I've had since I started watching in 2019. I think I've finally learned when to drop and when to say - maybe another time.

there were some standouts, but for me the top three were:

Oh no! Here comes trouble

Ripe Town

Till the End of the Moon

reviews (in the order I watched things) under the cut

The Blood of Youth 少年歌行 (3.75/5)

2023 started off on an unexpectedly good note with a really fun well-done wuxia. It had lots of what I enjoy in a drama: ensemble cast of friends, good pacing, some humor, lots of fighting, and a fairly logical plot. Sure, there was a little bit of over-the-top silliness, but it's a wuxia, not a historical drama, so I enjoyed it. What it did not have a lot of was romance - which is fine - though there was a really sweet angsty sub-plot with two minor characters, one played by cutie Cao Yuchen, if that's your jam. Besides that sub-plot I personally didn't find any of the (many) other CPs had chemistry or added anything to the overall drama, and yes I am including those folks who ship the MLs.* Costumes, effects, and visuals were all great, and acting was ok. There was a mix of younger and more seasoned actors which I think helps. Ngl I immediately fell for Liu Xueyi as Wu Xin, and will be watching more of his dramas.

Weak points were the dubbing and (some) acting. VA was done by the donghua VAs, and it took me until 3/4 of the way through to get used to their voices with the actor's looks. Many didn't fit well, especially Xiao Se (Li Hongyi). Which brings me to the #1 weak point - Li Hongyi. His character should have been interesting, and thus was chosen as the main ML, but the man's face does not move. It really detracted from the whole drama, especially when the plot moved to revolving entirely around him and who would inherit the throne. I started to groan every time the camera focused on him and his unmoving upper lip and vacant expression. There were so many more interesting side characters - from the 'older generation' as well as the younger, that I wish we had spent time on instead of focusing on the imperial family power struggles.

*it is impossible to have chemistry with an inert substance

League of Nobleman - dropped

Grammar aside (yes, the English title annoyed the crap out of me) the production value and look of this drama was really good. The plot was fairly interesting but for some reason overall it didn't grab me and I dropped it around ep 10. I think this was because I had just soldiered through one lackluster male lead, and had to deal with one again in Song Weilong. Everyone else was good, and I heard that it got better towards the end, but I'll never know. The real problems for me were two fold: the lazy plot device of the water-hypnotism thing (this is supposed to be historical, not wuxia, so I am less tolerant of vaguely magical/occulty things that just happen to make solving the crime easier) and the fact that the drama was trying soooo hard to pretend to be a dangai and get you to ship absolutely everyone with the ML. If that's your thing, then you might enjoy it.

Under the Microscope 4/5

Dubious at first because of the slightly 'Rain man' treatment they were giving the ML. You also have to give it lots of drama leeway in terms of historical accuracy (w/r/t the role of the lawyer) which was done for obvious dramatic reasons.

If you can overlook those two things, it was satisfying - well paced, and well plotted. The look was much more realistic than typical costume dramas, and joy of joys, large portions of it used live audio (not dubbed) which gave it even more of a realistic feel. I wasn't completely sold on Zhang Ruoyun's performance, though I do think he's a good actor - it might have been the writing or direction, difficult to know. I'm fairly sensitive to portraying neurodivergent characters. All the supporting characters and their performers were really good which is what eventually won me over.

Till the End of the Moon 4.5/5

This should probably rate it's own post. I've defended the ending once, and will do forever - it is not a BE. It fit the themes of the drama perfectly. This drama will either continue to be divisive, or everyone will move on with their lives. It won't leave me though, I'm scarred for life. (the personal emotional damage is what earned it the extra .5 in my rating. I've never cried this hard over a drama ending.)

So far this is the only xianxia I've seen that manages to be about more than romantic love. Though it stuck to some familiar plot devices - the three arcs, destiny/fate, multiple cps - it was about so much more than the main cp and I hope paves the way for more like it, turning away from tired tropes and towards a literal xianxia - the story of Immortal Heroes - not just fairy-tale love.

The biggest flaws (outside of Xixi's inconsistent heavy makeup and an overuse of sparkly effects that obscured the action during fight scenes) can be blamed pretty squarely on the NRTA rules. Tantai Jin was a bit too whitewashed. Li Susu's character arc was difficult to follow because of all the many many cuts. I was very frustrated towards the end as the majority of really brutal editing seemed to be done in the last arc - it made the plot confusing and character motivations - especially for Li Susu - unclear. Overall, it was good but could have been even better if we had all the episodes and production had gone even further with the Dunhuang aesthetic and farther from typical xianxia/wuxia tropes.

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble 5+/5

I was worried I'd need to give up cdramas forever after the emotional beating I took watching TTEOTM. Luckily tumblr came through and kept putting gifs of this on my dash. An absolute gem. Funny and heartfelt drama about paranormal investigation, friendship, family relationships, death and grief, high school bullying - it really had it all. Twelve episodes were not enough!!! It's rare that I can literally say "I laughed, I cried" about any show but it was true for this one (and maybe the Good Place.) The friendship among the characters, and their really supportive families was so heartwarming. Which was needed since there were also lots of dark themes about isolation and loneliness, abuse, and death. The attention to detail in the sets and character names and backstories were so clever, it was obvious how much love the production had for the show. My only quibbles are that the first couple eps that set the characters were a little long to get through, other than that a practically perfect drama in every regard.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook - on indefinite hold

Not as good mystery-wise as Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty but mostly fun. Decent acting (this is the first time I've watched CY and he's OK, if not particularly compelling for me.) I should have liked this more because as a wuxia/mystery it's absolutely 100% up my alley but found myself falling asleep during some episodes - there is way too much exposition and not enough 'show' when it comes to the mystery solving aspect. I most definitely skipped all the tender scenes between CY and CDL's characters (🤮).

I ended up putting it on hold, but I might pick it up again for Xiao Shunyao's character. I think the main reason people went bonkers for this drama on tumblr was because they loved shipping the MLs, which - whatever.

Hikaru no Go 5/5

Finally watched this after having it on the list for a couple years and it was absolutely as good as people said it was. Touching and sweet without being overly sentimental. The child actors were fabulous - I was almost sad to see them grow up and be replaced by the main actors. Each character really feels like they're a complete person, their motivations and actions are individual and understandable. Who knew I'd love a drama based on a manga about Go?

Ripe Town 5/5

Everything about this short drama was absolutely top notch. It was like watching a prestige western drama or mini-series. I want more of these, please! Luckily I've heard that Tencent is making a series (like iQiyi's "light on") that will specialize in these shorter dramas.

The cinematography was gorgeous and set the mood so well. Acting was excellent from everyone. The plot was TIGHT. The pacing was ON. Direction was so good. Audio was live, not dubbed for most of it (aaaaaaaah my beloved ambient audio.) I looked forward to each new episode and lamented that there were only 12. The suspense built with every episode as we learned the backstories of our characters and what happened 20 years ago. There was even humor - dark, adult humor, not slapstick. The only slight failing for me was the very very end - there's an unnecessarily twist that, while it didn't ruin the drama, didn't really help it either, and in fact muddied some of the character motivations somewhat. Aside for that would have been the best cdrama I've ever seen.

Love is Panacea - dropped

Yet another modern drama starring my favorite actor that I simply could not get through. Sorry Xixi. He and Zhang Ruonan were both good (though her stiff faced kiss scenes were not) but the plot was a melodramatic mess that overshadowed a really sweet message about facing adversity. The direction made it look like a cheesy idol drama in spots, and the secondary characters (Dr. Gu's family) were beyond annoying. Please let him stop acting in these sub-par modern dramas. I have no idea why it did so well on CCTV8 other than the fact that he looked stunning through most of it.

The Story of Kunning Palace 3.75/5

Honestly not entirely sure how to rate this, but out of all similar dramas I've ever watched this was pretty well paced and generally well acted. I definitely looked forward to each episode but did eventually find myself 2x'ing through some of the slower scenes and romantic longing looks with the OST in the background (yawn.) The revenge plot was well done, and more interesting than the 'who will she pick' romance plot, though even I found myself rooting for one of our MLs more than the other (even though it was obvious who would get the girl).

The biggest downside for me was the directing - the spins, the terrible backlight - it was so dated and so noticeable that it took me out of the drama. Though Bai Lu did a good job, I won't say it was her strongest performance. Zhang Linghe was criticized for his performance and at first I disagreed strongly. His character was a little exaggerated but it's a costume drama, come on. Around ep 32 though I understood what people meant. His character was too unhinged to be taken very seriously - I mean, how many times can you stab yourself without the audience thinking you're nuts? His shouting and throat grabbing was just a bit over the top and was more like deranged stalker behavior than hopelessly obsessed lover. How much of that was direction (see my earlier criticism) I don't know, but at the end...he's all fine. Gets the girl, loves kitties, etc. etc. Ngl, I did not expect such a pat HE and it kind of didn't fit. Folks who love HE loved it though.

#what I watched this year #cdrama review #cdrama roundup 2023 #posting this early since I don't think I'll start and finish another drama before the end of the year

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hunxi-after-hours · 1 year

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Hi Hunxi, I got on the audiodrama train because of your recommendations, and I wonder if you have a) voice actors with performances you really like and b) separately, found performers with a voice you really like (but sadly they may not done have a lot of work in that voice)?

ANON!!! YOU'RE REALLY OUT HERE ASKING THE QUESTIONS OF MY DREAMS!!!

first of all, deeply flattered that you've taken my incoherent yelling as recommendation and joined me on this train. I spend all my time here now and I'm pretty unbearable to talk to because unfortunately all I care about are Chinese voice actors these days

secondly, I feel like I should also mention the 综艺 variety show 《我是特优声》 / Voice Monster on bilibili because this show really sent me off the deep end when it came to voice actor fandom. previously I was like “oh yeah audiodramas are neat!” and after watching this show I stopped caring about anything else oops. since is the first variety show of its kind (they were trying to figure out what competitive voice acting should look like as they went rip), it’s definitely got its rough patches (and no money) but the contestants are hilarious and the judges lovely and there’s generally a wonderful atmosphere of mutual support and dedication to their art

a list of some of my favorite voice actors who were contestants on season 1 of 《特优声》:

锦鲤 Jin Li: this man’s RANGE. I think about his dub-over performance of 《罗小黑战记》 / The Legend of Hei constantly, and I love his (team’s) version of 《金乌》! I also loved him in the AD of 《师弟还不杀我灭口》, the donghua of 《天宝伏妖录》 (he’s in the AD too, I just haven’t gotten around to it), and as Aluojin in both the donghua and AD of 《烈火浇愁》. I’m currently debating on whether I want to go in on one of his currently-airing AD’s 《深渊巨龙苏醒以后》... look I’m aware I have a problem, and it’s that I love him

歪歪 (张福正）Waiwai (Zhang Fuzheng): what a sweet devilish chaos agent. my favorite performances of his are 《穿越火线》, which is was all sorts of stupid cute, and my jaw literally dropped when watching his 《黑白无双》 because I didn’t know he had that range?? I’ve been trying to find an AD of his to listen to but haven’t found one to my taste quite yet

赵乾景 Zhao Qianjing: when he showed up on 《特优声》, all the other contestants were like “why is HE here, he should be a judge” and honestly? they weren’t wrong. my favorite performance of his is definitely 《热情似火》, and my favorite AD of his is 《哏儿》 where he and Xie Tiantian LITERALLY do 相声. also, he can sing

亚捷 Ya Jie: used to be a professional backup dancer before switching over into voice acting?? how is he so cool?? 亚捷 has such a unique, gravelly voice that makes it hard for him to be cast as main roles (but REALLY easy to identify whenever he voices side characters). I’m holding out hope for him to get a good role!!!

a list of industry greats, who most people have heard before even if they don’t know their names:

边江 Bian Jiang: most people know him as the voice director of 《陈情令》 and the voice of CQL!Lan Wangji, among many, many other leading roles. what most people might not know is that he’s really good at comedy! haven’t explored his works in depth, but I did enjoy him in the donghua of 《天宝伏妖录》 and the AD 《问鹿三千》

姜广涛 Jiang Guangtao: also a VERY distinctive voice in the industry; most people probably know him as the voice of donghua Xie Lian in 《天官赐福》, though I personally prefer his Sheng Lingyuan in the donghua adaptation of 《烈火浇愁》. He’s also in the AD 《问鹿三千》, which is really a wildly stacked audiodrama

夏磊 Xia Lei, 谢添天 Xie Tiantian, 柯暮卿 Ke Muqing, and 鹏小胖 Peng Xiaopang: putting the 音熊联萌 VoiceBear Alliance mischief-makers together — Xia Lei has a lovely, distinctive voice (check him out in the 《千秋》 or 《天涯客》 AD’s), and Xie Tiantian is incredibly versatile (check him out in 《天涯客》 or 《哏儿》, also doing 相声). I have a special soft spot for Ke Muqing: he is, hands down, my favorite voice director and he has such a gremlin laugh behind the scenes (check him out in 《千秋》 or 《双杀》). meanwhile, Peng Xiaopang isn’t as well-known as the previous three, but his voice is truly very soothing (you can also spot him in 《双杀》, and as secondary characters in 《千秋》 and 《哏儿》). VoiceBear Alliance is one of my favorite voice acting studios because they’re all gremlins. all of them

吴磊 Wu Lei: THE 低音炮 baritone of the industry, you probably know him as Yan Wushi from 《千秋》 or Shen Qingqiu from the 《人渣》 donghua. also plays Chen Budao in the 《判官》 AD to Zhao Qianjing’s Wen Shi. he’s actually such a sweet person, the 反差萌 at play is really funny

刘琮 Liu Cong: the smoky voice of the industry, I’ve heard him around here and there, usually playing parental or grandparental roles asdlfkajsd. meanwhile, the 《默读》 AD is one of the best adaptations in existence and I will happily die on this hill

杨天翔 Yang Tianxiang: he’s a recent discovery of mine despite being very well-established in the industry! his performance as Fei Du in 《默读》 is absolutely outstanding, and I recently binged (and I don’t. binge. shows) the microseries 《你好喵室友》 just because he was in it. I haven’t explored his oeuvre but it’s only a matter of time because as far as I’m concerned he can do whatever he wants and I’d probably go for it

金弦 Jin Xian: okay I REALLY haven’t gone into his AD’s much but I heard him as 诗人 / the Poet in the 《小蘑菇》 AD and I’ve been obsessed with his voice since. WHAT the heck

anyway, these voice actors are pretty established in the industry; if you threw a rock, you’d probably hit at least three of their roles aldkfjaldskj

lastly, some of my favorite voice actors I’ve run into just by blundering around 猫耳FM:

路扬 (路扬君) Lu Yang: so far I haven’t found any AD’s with him as the lead, but this man’s range??? you can spot him in supporting roles in both the AD’s 《师弟还不杀我灭口》 and 《督主有病》, and his 直播间 livestreams on 猫耳 are fun too

倒霉死勒 (吴韬) Dao Mei Si Le / Wu Tao: this boy can ACT, my god. I’ve listened to 《督主有病》 and 《海中爵》, and he’s phenomenal in both!

瀚墨 Han Mo: I think I’m late to Han Mo because he’s more on the film side of things, but I enjoyed his performance thoroughly in 《师弟还不杀我灭口》, and if I’m not mistaken he plays Ao Bing in 《哪吒之魔童降世》 (haven’t seen it, keep meaning to, you know how it goes)

there’s a dearth of ladies in this post, and while I could gush about 季冠霖 Ji Guanlin and 冯俊华 Feng Junhua and 龟娘 Gui Niang, I want to finish watching 《我是特优声·剧团季》 the second season of Voice Monster first, because there are a lot more voice actors there and I want to learn about more of their work!!

#what's that saying? 配音圈里没有唯粉 #voice(bear) appreciation hours

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nomadicism · 1 year

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Am I the only one that thinks Netflixs is gonna be bought out by a company like Disney or Amazon in a few years? They're pissing off their customer base with policies like the charging people for password sharing. People are cancelling their subscription in droves. (Half of the people in my office said they canceled theirs over it.) I think a lot of people see these changes as the last straw. While they do make a profit, they also don't have any parent company to lean on, which might bite them in the ass.

Disney is wants to dive into anime and the more "mature" market. Plus, Robert Iger is the head of the Disney company again. He bought out Fox, Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar under his reign along with more if you count the current Kodancha buyout. I can see him doing that again.

Again, this is a theory. But if they keep on this path, I don't see them being as powerful in a few years, which could lead to something like that.

Hi Anon, thank you for the ask!

I mostly agree with you here. It is hard to see a path forward for Netflix. I also think that Netflix is worth paying for, and that password sharing was always a fluke that shouldn't have been allowed to continue as long as it did. But also, they aren't going to get substantially more subscribers by discontinuing password share, people who were using shared passwords were probably unlikely to pay for the service anyway.

There are too many streaming options to choose from, and now we are back to cable costs for those who pay for multiple services.

My partner is a tremendous film and animation hound so he pays for nearly every service that's out there, except for Apple+ which comes "free" with our T-mobile plan.

If it were me, we'd only have 3 services, and would rotate them based upon what we wanted to watch in a month's subscription time. I suspect that there are many people who would do something similar, unless a service forces you to make a phone call to cancel.

We've actually been having a lot of trouble with the Disney+ and Hulu services where my partner watches those all the time, but he is constantly being prompted to sign in, and his accounts are being signed out. He has to do some extra steps with his computer whenever he wants to watch either service via our Roku device.

No problems with other services though. I suspect that Disney+ and Hulu have new bugs in their account authentication services for location and device IDs.

More rambling, so what does that mean for Netflix?

Of all the services, they are the ones with the good international content. I watch C-dramas and K-dramas to my heart's content. If I were them, I'd do more for streaming international content with good subtitling translations, and partner with Bilibili and Tencent to stream donghua (aka Chinese animation). Partnering with Bilibili and Tencent can fill an animation gap.

Those shows are so quickly and cheaply made that you've got content for years. It wouldn't be hard to dub them either. In China, these shows get millions of views. They are absolutely worth the investment of distributing via Netflix (though I don't know if Bilibili and Tencent would want to partner since they have streaming services via YouTube).

Anyway, one of the reasons why Netflix could have difficulty competing on new content and gaining new subscribers is because they've gained a reputation for axing new content due to two bad reasons:

Avoiding pay of residuals after X days (I forget the number, it's complicated because residuals are for actors and film/production crew, lots of union and guild stuff); and

Assuming that nobody is watching if the first two weeks aren't hitting X amount of streaming views. Reality there is that there is so much content spread across so many services that people can't binge a show immediately anymore, but they might watch the show later after that 2 week period (which is close to the time frame for paying residuals)

Yes, they have breakout hits like Stranger Things, but when I think of Netflix, I think of cancelled shows. That reputation plus the password sharing issue equals a loss of trust and respect. Netflix needs to compete on new content, but why bother watching a new show if it's just going to get canceled?

I believe that Netflix will do better with films instead of TV shows, because a film is one-and-done. You watch the film, get invested in the story, and then the film ends and the story is wrapped up. There is no concern about getting invested in a story that gets cancelled.

For example, Netflix has The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and have partnered with the director to make more films about Benoit Blanc. That's a very good move on their part, so I wouldn't count Netflix out just yet. Especially since people aren't really doing theaters anymore, except for big spectacle film franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, DC, etc. That creates an opportunity where Netflix can step in and work with directors for theater quality films.

Netflix is currently building a film studio in New Jersey (surprising given property taxes in that state). There is a lot of money being thrown around. Quote from the linked article:

Some of those funds are likely dedicated to building up Netflix’s handful of growing franchises. Netflix and “Stranger Things” co-creators the Duffer Brothers launched this summer a production studio that will focus on creating spin-offs for the “Stranger Things” series, among other titles. Netflix is also considering a franchise for its spy thriller feature film, “The Gray Man.” Netflix’s production ambitions aren’t limited to TV and movies, as the streamer in September announced it’s establishing its own video game studio in Finland – a move that came after Netflix completed a series of gaming-related acquisitions.

Video games huh? Well, if they've got their own IP (I assume they own Stranger Things, but I could be wrong), then it makes sense to use that IP across multiple media platforms. Video games are a viable option.

So okay, Netflix is investing in the studio production infrastructure that will enable them to create new content (and probably avoid residuals if they do what I think they will do) across multiple types of media platforms. To me, these are the actions of a company that is confident in their direction and it's a matter of whether this is too late in the streaming wars to do.

All of this means that Netflix won't be gobbled up by Disney any time soon. Disney doesn't really need them anyway, they already got Hulu and their own service with a massive catalog of Disney media plus that of all the IP they've acquired.

On the matter of other streaming platforms, what the big studios have done is pulled their back catalogs from Netflix, Hulu, etc and they have their own service built on top of that. They still need to create new content too, because not everyone is interested in paying for a service just to watch 4 decades of Star Trek.

Like I never gave a shit about Paramount, but my film-and-animation hound partner was all on board because they have the Nickelodeon catalog and he loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I didn't pay much attention until I saw the ad for Tulsa King and was I like "Oh ho! Sylvester Stallone does The Sopranos in Oklahoma!? SIGN ME UP!"

The first season of Tulsa King was very enjoyable. I love Sylvester Stallone as an actor, and he is just so much fun to watch (look, I'm old and have nostalgia feels). I recommend signing up for the Paramount service for a month to watch it. But continuing the service? I dunno. Unless you really love Star Trek and want to watch decades of the show.

The crux of Netflix's problem is that we can't watch everything, and competition is fierce. Reputation matters. As we've seen with the HBO Max Discovery bullshit, these companies think nothing of removing content. It's just another financial decision for them. So we also have the issue of trying to watch shows or films (especially animated) that could easily disappear forever. And since they were intended for streaming, there is no physical media available.

What to do?

Hoist the flags mateys, for now we pirate!

#netflix #streaming wars #rambling #ask me anything #anonymous

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