smols' favorite c dramas

looks like a love triangle, is actually a slow-creep gothic in a pastel setting. het with a subtextual case of the genders. not the first cdrama i watched, but the first one i Adored. there are more popular, more recent xianxia romances, but most of them owe a lot to or are in conversation with this one.

everyone knows about this one. the first time i really started shipping m/m. Its ending is the bleprint by which i judge all censored gay and/or queercoded endings

3 assholes fall in love while solving mysteries in 1920s Shanghai. The cases are adapted from Poirot novels, but the main character dynamics/storylines are original, while owing alot to iconic homoerotic detective stories and 20s/30s screwball het. the few minor anachronisms & awkward dubbing of english-speaking roles do nothing to diminish its charms to me.

i recommend reading the "Republic Of China" wikipedia page if you're not familiar with the time period. Knowing that the 2nd Sino-Japanese War/World War 2 will be coming in these characters lifetimes is important for interpreting the ambiguous-due-to-queercoding ending.

love this story because it's a female-centric coming-of-age wuxia featuring a bi-coded FL and the most Loudly "Peg Me" coded MMC i've ever witnessed. the major supporting romance subplot are:

• a pathetic villain/2FL (who's also devoted to the FL)/young hero love triangle

• a jianghu brat princess/true himbo/medicinal scholar implied throuple (f/m/m)

lots of strong women and queercoded side characters in this one.

fun fact: WoH and LoF are based on novels by the same author, who writes both BL & BG

so blatantly gay it brought the hammer down on further big budget mainland danmei adaptations and one of the MLs career was successfuly ruined by haters. An excellent, dark jianghu story.

the "special" episode is a necessary epilogue.

female assassins disguise themselves as women competing to be the brides of the young masters of a sect with a looming succession crisis. very gothic, very queercoded, very A Gift to gay fauxcest shippers, dark found families, and people who love it when the mmc is a caged princess. Vainly hoping for a second season, but also satisfied with its very open ending bc it does wrap up the arc, and i'm obssessed with the juiciness of potential future story directions.

I don't usually enjoy "FL goes into business" storylines, but this one works for me bc she's not comfortably managing established assets, but building something from scratch and supporting all the women of her household when her family is demoted from nobility to commoners, & all the men are exiled. Notable to me for having an emperor where it takes longer than usual to decide how you feel about him, which reflects the MLs relationship to him as well. featuring:

• a 2FL who is very neurodivergent AND whose romantic/secual agency is both respected and rewarded by the narrative

• many interesting female supporting characters, including non-stereotypical concubines, the enslaved, and f/f subtext both blatant and mild

• brutal ML with a heart of gold who's never brutal to the FL; their romance is important to the plot while not being the entire plot.

the bi-poly holy grail fantasy drama.

the "special" episode is a necessary epilogue.

the setting is an explicitly matriarchal clan of tea growers

what if it was possible and commendable to get a good grade in Eldest Daughter to a bunch of scheming sisters? And you were the rare canonically non-virgin FL? and you had a bunch of hot dudes competing to be your matrilocal husband? and a hot government worker got amnesia while investigating your family and you got to torment him as he grew ever more unhinged in his determination to be your sub?

"secret third thing" f/m/m love story told as the subtext of a tightly-written series of cases in an overarching mystery that wrestles with what justice looks like.