ShortCircuit

LOL, half the cast of JoL is in this one!! Particularly Wang Yang, whom I LOVED in JoL! :D

I did watch the first season, but I also got myself spoiled with the novel (and that one's a huge monster of a story), and they diverted enough from it that I felt a bit lost and not really motivated to get into the second season yet. I'll get there when they announce a tentative release year for JoL3. And this one is a drama that I wish DOES divert more from the novel's ending, because that one got way too convoluted and sci-fi for my taste. I love sci-fi, I just didn't like this one's ending explanations.

And yeah, isn't ZRY amazing? I love good actors that actually have charisma, even if they're not the idol-beauty standard. Or maybe because of it, LOL.

Be warned Sword Snow Stride is also a first season from more, I don't know how many. It's more cinematography than plot, for me, but there are a few heart-breaking scenes that made me like it anyway.

If you feel like watching a very entertaining wuxia/xianxia that doesn't take itself so seriously, watch Guardians of the Dafeng (currently airing). It has a bit of a similar cheerful feeling as JoL and is also a transmigration story. And the ML is the cheekiest liar/charming rogue you've ever seen, LOL. For the laughs :D

ETA Yeah, xianxia and wuxia are kind of completely different beasts, LOL.

As for New Life Begins... I rather like Bai JingTing a LOT more in Reset (if you want to see time paradox done pretty well, that one's it). He also starred into another costume drama about girl power, LOL, Destined, but it's more on the romantic (and heroic) side than anything. He's pretty good, though.

(Liu Tao, who played Nihuang in NiF, is also in Reset - you won't even recognise her. She's amazing).

It really is a struggle. But I'm trying hard to see what other people found in it, and honestly I am curious about the villains by now, even if they're mostly side-characters who had nothing much to do so far.

I'm thinking that the ML is either the missing twin or the one who didn't go missing, that the original son is the one who killed the cat that the reporter/youtuber/psychiatrist saw in his childhood in that mysterious house, and that at least one of the villains is the original son who did not actually die or something.

I promise I didn't skip watch or read spoilers on that. How close am I?

It's a xianxia story loosely based on a 5-6th century classic of Chinese mythology. A ragtag team of demon hunters, including the most powerful demon, a goddess and a god, humans and other spirits get together to hunt down rogue demons wrecking havoc in the human realm. Each of them has a secret mission of their own and there's a general overarching story involving most of them that will eventually be unravelled as they catch and punish misbehaving demons.

From the first ep, you should know that Zhu Yan is the demon who killed Zhuo YiChen's family and clan, so there's a blood feud between them. But now they have to work together at least for a while to solve their cases. For the rest of the team gathering... give it a few more eps.

As usual, don't bother going by the MDL rating system, as it changes with the wind. (Pretty objectively) good dramas get underrated, while not-so-great dramas get hyped and overscored all the time. And there's a huge bias in favour of anything kdrama against cdrama.

You could go by comments - people who enjoyed it, or those who did not, will usually says so and why they did.

Myself, I VERY much enjoyed it and it's one of my favourites so far from ZRY (and support cast.) The plot is NOT silly or treating the audience as if they're braindead, there's a nice pace of the story, amazingly good acting, nice twists and turns and best of all, nary a king or queen or prince or princess in sight in an ancient China costume drama :D

I see we're back on the regular schedule LOL.

So, I was thinking. Everybody is forgetting Xinnian all over the place until they need him, while at the same time, Wang SiMu is out there plotting on how to get him and probably already picking names for their future children, LOL. I hope they at least get a happy ending this season.

On 7th. So... His wife was just attacked by someone who seems to be close enough to know whatever they're doing, so he decides the best thing is to make her wander on foot halfway through Seoul in the middle of the night, though a Stephen King level of horror creepy amusement park aaaaaall by her lonely self... then meet her finally around half the city away in a cliché tourist spot that just so amazingly happens to be open but empty?

I know there's suspension of disbelief and all, but LOL, guys, seriously? :D

ETA Also, I've read lots of comments complimenting the leads' awesome chemistry, while I am still waiting for it to make an appeareance.

Did they skip anyone? :D

I almost dropped it at 3rd ep, finally things are moving (glacially) in 4th. Why is this moving so slowly for a thriller?!

I'll keep watching though, it's been a while since I completed a kdrama, but I wish things... happened. Or something.

Poor Xinnian, nekkid in his bathroom, being bullied by an unknown woman.

His father, sister and cousin outside: wow, these mellons (well, seeds LOL) are SO GOOD!!

That's such a hilarious scene :D And where the heck did XQA's handful of seeds come from? :D

ETA For a demon hand (or whatever's left of it), Shen Shu is freaking handsome :D

Ji Sung, in anything.

What in the crazy 'shrooms of Dafeng did he eat?!

I don't like the face thing, LOL, XQA should tone it down with the bling IMHO.

Err, TBH it's a pretty settled concept in wuxia/xianxia. All performers (when not doing in in the privacy of their family and close friends) were assumed to be prostitutes and had no status. Some brothels were privately owned, but the state brothels are definitely relegated to an "arts" department.

They exported the concept (or it was borrowed) to Korea, too - the institution of the state gisaeng is similar. In China, if a family was punished, usually the males were killed but the women and young children were enslaved, and the ones who could sing or dance or write poems were sent to such a place. It happens even in Nirvana in Fire, which is presumed to be alt history costume drama, not just in wuxia/xianxia.

I guess - it being a drama aimed at a mainly Chinese audience - they assumed people knew what they were talking about.

...And this, kids, is how instant food was invented in the Dafeng :D

He should open a stall or something. That way, his aunt will always have money for some chicken dinner :D

I won't be hypocritical here because I know I am a fujoshi myself - it's just because women like BL stories, get more invested in BL and usually also spend a lot more on the industry. You'll notice these aren't actually aimed at men or boys in basically any manner. There are a few more serious-themed homosexual stories made by Asian media, but they're pretty rare and usually tend to be depressively tragic, TBH. Most of them though are romantic fantasies that aren't going to happen in real life... ever. (Then again, so are most hetero rom-coms, LOL). Because women like happy endings.

But then again, that's what escapism is for, right?

The manhwa is Korean, they keep it secret because of how SK society doesn't accept same-sex relationships.

It doesn't translate as well into a Japanese drama, or maybe it does - I've read that while same-sex stories are pretty present, actual relationships aren't as accepted as it appears in the media. It's a work in progress, though, while in SK... not so much.

With the 11th ep, the story is made complete. I liked it.

It appears there are 11 eps after all, will MDL reflect that?!

I just had to come and check the list and see that Jin Yun is indeed NOT Song MinGi doing a disguise LOL.

5th ep is a bit better, but just when you think they got on a good stride, they don't forget to add in the toxicity. Almost halfway through, no psychological aid in sight (not that I expected it anyway).

The songs themselves are good (particularly the a capella one) but the BGM keeps missing all the points. *sigh*

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (abbreviated to MXTX) published three novels so far - Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, on which The Untamed is based), Tian Gu Ci Fu (TGCF - Heaven Official's Blessing, on which the drama Eternal Faith is based on - unreleased yet, who knows if ever...), and Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (SVSSS - this one has a donghua release so far, no news of a drama, if ever). All are great stories. TGCF is the longest (VERY long, and pretty convoluted.) It also has a donghua (two seasons up so far). The gong in it is one of the best, but as a whole, MDZS works way better, IMHO. And is a lot more endearing, also IMHO. But if you're in the mood for some pretty intricate stories, backstories and developments, dive in. It would help if you're a bit familiar with wuxia/xianxia and danmei tropes, though, it can get a bit heavy.

If you want to laugh, though... SVSSS is the way to go. Because it takes all webnovel tropes and makes fun of them, and then there's the shou (his POV is the main POV) and he's hysterical! (usually in the direct sense too LOL). It's also a lot shorter (shorter than MDZS too).

Be warned MXTX likes to use flashbacks a lot, and there'll be lots of going back in time and retconning different situations.

I see you haven't watched a lot of actual based-on-danmei cdramas (according to your list). You could try and see if more of them are to your liking - dramas like (costume dramas:) Word of Honor, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, Meet You at the Blossom (this one is officially aired by Thailand, but it's actually a cdrama), then (modern dramas, with some fantasy elements:) The On1y One, The Spirealm, My Stand-In (Thai-made, uncensored), Guardian. All of them are based on pretty well-known danmei novels, and some of them came very close the the censorship limits and even put a step over the line.

There's a huge world of danmei novels out there, if you want to explore it :D

ETA Forgot to mention, MDZS also has a (finished) donghua release. And TGCF donghua's production is so worth it, I love their OSTs - here's an example, no spoilers of any kind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY4JJc887GU