ShortCircuit

More jump scares. I've found my safe place in horror dramas, LOL. Give me more!!

This is the second time they've made fun of Otto for being sleepy on set, this is going to turn into a trend isn't it? :D

I really liked that confrontation. Singha's also right - if Thup trusted him he wouldn't have even started to doubt him.

Also, the thrill-seekers are stupid and I'm glad one of them at least got scared out of his mind.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no more vomiting amulets and blood please that was really scary. But I kind of liked it anyway. I need a drink then.

LOL, prepare yourself for ep13's end, when WWX makes a fool of himself (again). And use the spoiler tag :D

Errr... they do end up together. The order of the scenes in the final ep is a bit scrambled in the long form series (but IMHO it went really well and follows the spirit of the drama - and also, even if the final scene COULD be interpreted somewhat, there's no suspense about it, they're together) but the ACTUAL order is shown in the Special Edition and it ends with them together (and married with kids LOL) in Cloud Recesses, supposedly going on night hunts together ever more. And dual-cultivating *cough being married in all aspects cough* for the rest of their lives together.

The novel ends with some spicy scenes AND the extras are mostly all spice (and them some, LOL).

The original novel is danmei, so a love story is expected BUT WWX is OBLIVIOUS to the effect he has on men, specifically on WangJi. There's a whole extra about a teen LWJ finally dealing with WWX the way he always wanted to deal with him, LOL, and WWX's big mouth is the cause of it all - WWX is NOT happy about it. Well, kind of happy. But not really. Still, a bit happy, LOL. (Turns out LWJ is actually a bit of a fetishist and he likes to bind WWX hahaha~ A little bit of it comes into the drama, too, subtly).

So yes, there are some sweet scenes in the novel but up until the very last few chapters, WWX has no idea what he's doing to LWJ and LWJ isn't talking.

For example, there's a famous scene in the drama - you'll get to see it, and it's so cute - that replaces another famous novel scene, where WWX gets a blindfold kiss. *Someone* couldn't help himself but kiss blindfolded WWX secretly and never told him until the very last scenes of the novel. In the drama is much less, but it's noticeable, LOL (no kiss though).

Then there's the also famous scene in the XuanWu Cave (it's in the drama too) where WWX opines LWJ won't ever marry because girls won't like him and LWJ agrees SO easily while looking at this obnoxious brat who's consuming all his love interest, LOL. I'm telling you, WWX is hopeless with lovers.

OR the drunk proposal - they let it in the drama!!!! I have NO idea how the censors allowed it, but it's the very best, LOL.

And you'll notice how jealous LWJ is of ANYONE who gets too close to WWX - from Jiang Cheng (whom he never calls on by his name, except once, and never forgives for having a part in WWX's original death), to Wen Ning (because WWX is too friendly with Ning, LOL), to ANY/EVERY girl around WWX, even to Nie HuaiSang, LOL. And WWX basks in it, completely oblivious. It's amazing how blind he is to it, hahaha~ And while WWX is doing his carefree butterfly dance around, LWJ is always on guard for anything that might put him in danger. Including WWX himself.

If you're inclined to read into the clues, the drama left plenty of the more romantic aspects in, taking care not to go too far. (Except with the drunk proposal, LOL. That can never be explained by simple bromance). Or the half-marriage (the three bows to heaven, parents and each other, that they almost completed) Or the headband (meant only for the very closest persons to a Lan Clan member, that LWJ calmly uses to tie around WWX's hand). Married, I tell you :D (and yes, with children! :D)

Okay I'll stop here or I'll get too spoiler-happy LOL.

16 in the drama (to give the next gen kids time to grow a bit, LOL), 13 in the novel, because our leads need to still be young and fiery themselves LOL.

LWJ is a quiet personality, but yes, he falls first and harder, too. But he too is driven by what needs to be done and not at all by the thing that draws praises from the audience. There's a saying going around him - where Lan WangJi is, trouble is. Because he's going where that trouble arises, no matter how big or small. He is honest and disciplined and you'll learn the story of why he became like that in the drama.

WWX is quicksilver. He's not that silly after all, but his circumstances allow him to be more carefree in his dealings with the Jianghu. Yet when push comes to shove, he always chooses the right thing, even if it costs him his entire life (and sadly even more than just his life).

This is a story about heroes, sung and unsung, and brothers (found or born) and even love (despite the censorship). And yes, a classic already. I don't think they'll ever dare to go as far and as close to another OG danmei story as they did with TU. Though there's still some hope someone slips free 2ha or Eternal Faith, LOL, and then we'll see.

Yes, yes, the soulmate song BUT what about Grass/Cao Mu?? That's my go-to soul-healing theme in the drama...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8hMzV1GWoM

In the drama, he looks the same, before and after, anyway, LOL. (Again, that smile!!!)

And Lan Zhan is suspecting he is WWX because LWJ is attuned to him, LOL, and was WAITING for him for 13 freaking years to come back. Because that's how LWJ is when in love. Even with the mask, WWX betrayed himself to LWJ immediately when they met, he just didn't realise it LOL.

But it's also about souls - you'll see, there's just something about WWX that always shines through despite what body he's in, even when he's in the darkest moments of his life (or afterlife, LOL).

So he's been grooming her since before he had half his upper body tattooed, and she's having thoughts about him too... And there's even a kiss at the end of the movie?!

And let's not pass over the ~it was ONLY "attempted" [gang-rape of a minor]~ and the ~she's MY WOMAN~ (still freaking 15-16, she didn't age much since beginning school.)

I know there's a problem with not even masked pedophilia in manga and anime in Japan. But they went and made a MOVIE with this kind of content, too, and presented it as wholesome and cute? No it's freaking not.

The way he's declaring she's his ~everything~ while getting up from another woman's bed, after obviously having had sex with the woman, and the girl who's his ~everything~ is just a little kid at the time - no but seriously what the actual f!ck?!

And the other gangster, what the hell?!

What the f!ck is it with the normalisation of gangster-type romance, NO women don't really want more ACTUAL bad guys to be romancing them any more, it's been a freaking while since the 80s, the F!!!!! I mean, he's grooming/"romancing" this 16-YO and then going right back to his actual work which involves organising human trafficking (of potential minor girls, too, just like the one he's "in love" with), selling them drugs, getting them to become "hosts" and what not else that yakuza is doing. WHY the hell would this person be a romantic interest to anyone?!

And HER?! She's a YAKUZA's granddaughter and acting like an unspoiled little flower - like, HELLO!!! Do you know how your lifestyle is being funded?! She KNOWS what being an yakuza involves and still she acts like she's all that innocent and untouched by the underworld. I guess the manga author felt this is possible and people would just accept it. F that too!!

This left me with a unclean feeling, I'll need lots of lemons to get myself rid of the gross aftertaste. Don't do this to yourself. I guess I was hoping for some redemption but no, there's straight-up grooming nonsense that contains ZERO character growth and a lot of nonsensical tropes.

I want these hours back.

What in the actual....

I have zero idea how I ended up watching this garbage (at 2x speed). I usually have no problem with age gap and the size difference is definitely one of the selling points BUT she's freaking 16?! And chatbots tell me the normal HS-entering age in Japan is 15 actually.

Rant under spoiler. Just in case you want to watch this garbage un-spoiled.

The drama starts with WWX being killed / falling off a cliff at Nightless City, in a long-ago cultivators' war where HE was the villain according to the official story. 13 years on, he's become a legend and his body was never found, so there was a suspicion of him having escaped or something, but no proof of him still being alive (people really did search, both friends and foes).

The story of the present timeline begins with someone having taught Mo XuanYu how to enact a soul-summoning ritual where MXY had to sacrifice himself in order to call WWX back from wherever his soul was meandering. MXY is one of the Jin Clan leader's bastard children that he neglected, as he did all his bastards, and there are some circumstances that led to MXY being kicked off from the clan back to his own mother's family's manor where he's neglected and abused by his family and step-family until he goes mad and decides to take revenge on everybody by calling the most "evil" person he knows of, which is WWX.

In the novel and donghua, the body is MXY's and different than WWX's original one so even if he used a powder/make-up mask (MXY was a known gay madman), there was no need for an iron mask and there isn't one, LOL. In the drama, they chose to keep the same actor - because helllllloooooo, Xiao Zhan and that blinding smile!! - so the mask was used to hide his face that everybody remembered (I would have remembered that smile too, LOL).

Be advised that the timeline is split into two - the present is in 1-2 and then 33-50, and the past, in a linear manner, comes in 3-33. The story starts turning dark around ep 14-15, and then it's a rollercoaster of emotions til the end.

YES, WWX is a ray of sunshine, and the story is so much worth watching... I'd ask everyone to try staying with it for a while. Just for the untamed hero to have a chance to win you over :D

The statue isn't even horror, LOL. There are a few gory scenes, but not jump scares. People are more scary than supernatural things in this drama. Keep watching :D

More like the donghua is closer to the novel's plot (including the time skips - IMHO it's better to watch the drama first to get the main line of the plot). Then the drama changed some things, mostly the Yin Iron origins and backstory, and fleshed out a lot of secondary charas (particularly the women - Mme Yu, YanLi and Wen Qing aren't as prominent in the novel as in the drama).

Aaaaand they did keep a lot of the innuendoes as they went in the novel - the thing about the Lan headband for example, LOL. And you'll see in S3 the actual revenge in the Burial Mounds when JGY traps them all in the caves.

They also kept it almost as gory as in the novel, and the SFX are better (but then they just had to draw them and not computer-generate them, LOL). AND the changed body for WWX.

You HAVE to watch the chibi donghua next, it's the most sugary version of MDZS we could have ever asked for. Even the tragic characters have some good moments :D and WWX is sooooo much cuter when chibi. Then there's LWJ chibi-drunk in front of his uncle. PERFECTION!

The heart of the story is in the drama, too. I'd advise for someone who isn't really into danmei to watch the drama, as it's censored enough that if you want them to be just platonic soulmates, they can be that, AND it presents the plot in a linear timeline (split between past and present), whereas the novel jumps back and forth a lot.

But just FYI, the novel itself ISN'T all that romantic (there are parts that hint it, but WWX is Capt. Oblivious throughout 90% of the story anyway) so if you like it, the novel might be also a good read.

Still haven't started the novel? :D

Anyway - the VAs in the the donghua are mixed and matched in the live adaptation but Bian Jiang voices LWJ in both, so that tone might be familiar (too few times heard though... at least they did keep LWJ's amber eyes in the donghua). WWX's VA from the drama, Lu ZhiXing, also voices him in the audio drama (in the donghua, his VA is Zhang Jie.)

The first season of MDZS is as close to a masterpiece adaptation as they come, but be prepared for the story to get a little muddled toward the end of S3 (they were made with years in-between and censorship did some tricks in that period).

Seconding Spare Me Your Mercy, it's a subtle BL that has actual weight in its plot AND good acting. The ending isn't a HEA but it's not a BE anyway. Give it a chance, it's so worth it.

Also rec'cing Peaceful Property - the first half is more of a doozy romcom but the second half makes it very good. And there's so much eyecandy...

Someone died two years back and they weren't guilty, Singha took the blame (and got sent off to some unimportant place) and King brushed it off. Maybe the person who died is related or known to Thup.

Singha: I am not interested in you and once this is done we'll go our separate ways.
Also Singha: *can't keep his hands off Thup each and every time he's close by*

This show needs more scary jumps. I discovered I liked scary jumps out of the blue, LOL.

Also, Thup and Darin are written in the stars. They're both so scared of ghosts and the only ones around believing there are ghosts anyway, LOL. They should be fast friends.

PS King is such a loser - he came promising he'd changed and then he goes right back to finding a victim to put the blame on and "solve" the case.

The confession is EPIC (not in the drama, though a little bit of it is still there). He promised all kinds of things, including the "everyday" thing, then later tried to backtrack when he realised how serious LWJ was about it... to which LWJ told him exactly how things were going to be in the Lan household LOL.

Finally!! Xu QiAn return live watch begins LOL.

Nah, there's nothing romantic between LXC and Meng Yao, that one drama scene in the beginning of the school days came out of the blue. Maybe they tried to imply there's a zhiji (知己) link between them like there's one between WWX and LWJ - the Lan brothers even discuss it at one point in time (in the drama too) and got a bit carried away with it hahaha~ (I mean they did censor anything that could reveal too much yet at the same time kept the actual thread of romance - you can still see it as bromance at most, but it's definitely romance).

Jin Ling was already important by being the only one legitimate Jin Clan heir (his father is the only legitimate son of the lecher), and by the Jin being the freaking 1%-ers of the Jianghu, LOL. But his uncle squad is awesome :D

PS Meant to reply elsewhere - WWX has plenty of great one-liners, but his best, IMHO (you already heard him) is the ~Who cares about the broad well-trod path, I'll just follow my one-plank bridge into the dark~ (Yay, unsung hero! He was already walking that one-plank bridge as soon as Jiang Cheng ran away from the inn where he was supposed to stay put and wait for WWX).

Oh and LWJ's best one-liner isn't in the drama, sadly, but it's in the audio-drama if you're ever inclined to listen to it, and obviously in the novel. He says, ever so meaningfully, ~Everyday means everyday~ and yes it's WWX running off his mouth without thinking again that causes it :D

OMFG FINALLY!!!!!

XU QIAN. COME HOME BABY :D