#The eng dub voice actors were really good as well and the animation was beautiful as always

[autumn-may]

Mostly spoiler free summary of my viewing experience

[razberryyum]

So you’re done with The Untamed and want more, what now?

Reposting this since I’ve updated it with new info/links. Again, I entered the fandom via The Untamed so I’m by no means a MDZS expert, just tried my best gathering all the resources I can which I hope will help some new Untamed/MDZS fan out there. If you spot any errors, don’t yell at me, just let me know and I’ll correct it as best I can, especially for any future reposts.

READ THE NOVEL

Read the original web novel the show was based on: The Untamed (aka “CQL” or “Chen Qing Ling”) was adapted from the BL web novel, Mo Dao Zu Shi (aka ”MDZS” or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) by author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (”MXTX”). Yes the novel came first, CQL is only an adaptation. In the novel, you get the uncensored romance of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, where they are canonically married and living happily ever after. The novel goes full into R18 territory so please tread carefully.

All four volumes of the novel can be purchased from the original publishing site, JJWXC. The site’s in chinese but here’s a tutorial on how to navigate it and purchase the books:  JJWXC Tutorial Link.

There’s also the option of purchasing the physical copies from Yesasia which might be easier but it’s also more expensive since they’re the middle man: Yesasia MDZS Link

It would be wonderful if you can support MXTX-laoshi by actually buying the books, especially since the cover art is so beautiful and the extra chapter volumes come with a lot of awesome extra goodies, but of course there’s also the option of reading the fan translations graciously provided by the Exiled Rebels Scanlations team at their site:  

They translated all the novels including the bonus chapters in their own free time and are providing the fanslations for free so please give them some love for all their hard work.  

WATCH THE ANIME (aka “Donghua” in Chinese)

Watch the anime based on the novel: The donghua was released before The Untamed. Two seasons are already available (23 eps total) with a third season in production and a special chibi version of the donghua in production as well. The Eng-subbed donghua can be seen using the WeTV app or on Youtube:  YT MDZS Donghua Playlist

Grant it, the donghua is even more censored than The Untamed, but the donghua team still managed to sneak in some easter eggs (f.e. WangXian naked bathing scene in the cold springs from the novel...in The Untamed they were fully clothed) and more importantly, the animation is just gorgeous so it’s absolutely worth a watch despite the censorship. 

READ THE MANGA (aka “Manhua” in Chinese)

Read the manhua which is ongoing and is being officially translated by WeComics, available on their app for free. Search under the name “Mo Dao Zu Shi”.

Unfortunately, the official translations are more than 20 chaps behind the raws and there have been complaints about the quality of the translations in the past, but I believe they’re starting to improve so since they’re official, it’s always better to support the official source.

The raw untranslated manhua can be found on the Kuaikanmanhua app. Other than being in Chinese, some of the chapters (f.e. the most recent ones) are behind a paywall, but here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the chapters, provided by @chiharuzushi on Twitter:  Kuaikanmanhua Tutorial

The chapters are quite cheap...I purchase 1000 KK coins for 10 rmb ($0.14) and each chapter is only 68 KK coins so even if we end up with 500 chapters it’ll still be...er...quite cheap overall (don’t make me do the actual math). The most painful part is figuring out how to set up the Kuaikanmanhua account, but otherwise, if you can read Chinese or know enough of the story by now that you don’t really need to read the words, the manhua is definitely worth reading because it’s less censored than The Untamed and the donghua. 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA

Listen to the audio drama, which is at this point the most faithful and LEAST censored adaptation of the novel we will probably ever get! Wei Ying’s voice actor in The Untamed is the voice actor for his audio drama counterpart. (Yes, almost everyone in The Untamed is dubbed by a voice actor, EXCEPT for Nie Huaisang. Ji Li, the actor for NHS, was the only one who used his own voice. Lan Zhan in The Untamed shares the same voice actor as his character in the donghua). 

Each episode art of the audio drama is AMAZING. Google Translate works well on the site, you’d want to see the listeners’ comments cuz they’re just adorable and hilarious.

Official links on Maoer FM:

Season 1: Maoer FM S1 Link

Season 2: Maoer FM S2 Link

Season 3: Maoer FM S3 Link

The audio drama was supervised by MXTX-laoshi, the author of the novel, so a lot of love and care went into the production, and it shows. The audio drama is behind a paywall but I remember it’s relatively inexpensive. Here’s the tutorial on how to purchase the audio drama from the Maoer FM site:  Maoer FM Tutorial Link

Ngl, it was tough at first navigating all that, Google translate helped, but once I figured it out, it was all so worth it because in addition to the MDZS, the site houses a lot of other wonderful audio dramas. There are also MDZS fan songs on the site that are near professional quality and oh so good.

Suibian Subs have kindly translated the episodes and their translations are available here:  Suibian Subs MDZS Audio Drama

Show them some love too for translating the episodes, but please if you can, purchase the episodes so you can support the audio drama team which have done an amazing job.

There’s even a Japanese audio drama which the Chinese AD team helped spearhead, available on the MIMI FM app. Here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the eps (half of the first season is out): MIMI FM Tutorial

It’s in Japanese but just follow the pictures. I’m hoping that the Japanese audio drama will end up being the MOST uncensored version of MDZS since Japanese BL dramas are not afraid (and allowed) to go all the way to R18. XD

MORE THE UNTAMED CONTENT

Lastly, if you’re just thirsting for more Untamed content, there are two spin-off movies you can watch. The first one, The Living Dead, is kind of centered on Wen Ning and Sizhui post-CQL. 

The second one, Fatal Journey, is focused on the Nie brothers, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, with a cameo by Jin Guangyao. It takes place prior to Wei Ying’s return from the dead.

Of the two movies, I definitely recommend Fatal Journey more. Both movies are available on the iQiyi app, which offers a one month free trial for first members. Each month afterwards for VIP is $6.99.

You can also go on the WeTV app for even more Untamed extras: WeTV put out a special edition cut of the show which tightened up the story AND features the original ending that was intended before censorship forced the production team to come up with the more ambiguous one we saw in its original run. It was a simple matter of rearranging certain scenes and getting rid of the separation part, but imho it really made all the difference to the ending.

There’s a ton of behind-the-scene cuteness that you can watch and also concerts with the cast in Thailand and Nanjing. VIP subscription to the WeTV app is $5.99/month and the Nanjing concert is for rent for 3 months at about the same price.  

The show also put out two official soundtracks, one for the vocals and one for the score. Both are available on Amazon and iTunes. For Amazon though, you can search under “The Untamed” but they did this weird thing where the vocals one is listed as “The Untamed (Chinoiserie Music Album)” (wtf) while the score is just listed as “The Untamed (Original Soundtrack)”.

Finally, most of the male members of the cast took part in a fan meet and greet at the start of the show, before it became hugely popular. The entire meet and greet is available on youtube subbed: The Untamed Fan Meeting

That’s it for The Untamed and MDZS. If you end up liking the novel enough to want to read more by the same author, MXTX-laoshi has also written two other BL novels, The Scum Villain Self-Saving System (aka “SVSSS” or “Scum Villain”) and Heaven’s Official Blessing (aka “TGCF” after its Chinese title). Both have been fully translated by fans (but always try to buy the original if you have the means, as a way to support the author!): 

SVSSS Translation: BC Novels Link

TGCF Translation chaps 1 - 24:  Sakhyulations Link

TGCF Translation chaps 25 - End: Suika & Rynn Link

As with reading any BL novel (aka “danmei novel” for Chinese BL books), please heed the warnings and if it’s not your cup of tea, just exit out of the page and move on with your life. No big deal, right? 

Anyway, hope all this info dump helps someone! If you’re brand spanking new to this fandom, welcome, and I’m so jealous of you! Would love to relive stepping into the world of MDZS/MXTX/danmei novels all over again since I feel like I’m already running out of stuff to read and I’m beginning to panic a little. 

Happy watching/reading/listening!  

[joyfuladorable]

A very messy and spoiler-filled list of things I love about the Moomins:

Overall franchise things:

Beautiful bean boy Moomin, carpenter extraordinaire

Best Mama Moominmamma, always prepared, always loving

Precious child Ninny

Gremlin Little My, confident and capable of anything

Moomin and Snufkin’s relationship (which is wonderful as a romantic ship or a strong platonic one for my starved aspec ass)

Snufkin’s hat when it’s decorated with flowers

Shipping Too-Ticky and the Mymble’s daughter even though they barely interact in canon is a big wlw mood

The Muskrat’s existential nonsense

Moominpappa just straight up has a gun

Moomin always wanting to share his discoveries with Snufkin first

Comet in Moominland has everyone packing up nearly the entirety of Moominhouse and taking everything to the cave

Snufkin reluctantly taking care of 24 children he rescues from a park

Moominvalley (2019)

The opening theme

Very blatant Moomin/Snufkin

Scottish Too-Ticky

“Was I your best friend?” “Yes… apart from Snufkin.”

Snufkin in boots too big

The ice skating bit

Little My using a Hattifattener as a battery

Snufkin: “The forest belongs to us all!” *turns and smacks right into a sign on a fence*

The Books:

Little My being small enough to be put into pockets (and she prefers it, too)

Everyone lives in Moominhouse and has their own room

Moomin and Snufkin share a room!!!

Thingumy and Bob’s lecret sanguage

The forgetful Silk Monkey

As soon as Moominpappa finished telling the tale of his youth, all of his old friends show up at his doorstep, so Snufkin and Sniff, who were sad about not knowing their parents,  get to meet them!!

The Joxter being immediately infatuated with the Mymble

The Booble being aggressive about hanging out and having tea

All Hemulens wear dresses

“Well, strike me pink!”

Color changing Snorks

The Moomin household being very aware that weird stuff happens to them all the time

Snufkin and Moomin having nightly escapades

Having to read the words “mouth organ”

Moomin wishing an entire party table to be sent to Snufkin

The Hobgoblin being able to see the King’s Ruby from the moon (and I don’t think it was Earth’s moon because the planet in the background had rings)

Moomin putting gold ribbons on his ears to celebrate the sun finally peeking out during winter

The Mymble’s daughter and Little My hibernating in a cardboard box

Too-Ticky’s hat can turn inside out.  Red for Winter.  Blue for Spring.

Moomin’s winter loneliness is a Big Mood

Snufkin getting VERY flustered whenever he thinks about Moomin during his journeys

Little My torments a lying child who runs away from home (also she has a granny??? the fuck??)

All the existentialist stories in Tales from Moominvalley

Moominpappa’s midlife crisis

Moominmamma painting the walls like Moominvalley because she was homesick

Moomin’s friendship with the Groke

The Moomins (90s Eng Dub and my personal favorite):

Round boy Moomin’s introduction in the prequel film

Snufkin’s voice actor “Come on everyone! Let’s go do some CRIME!!”

ALL OF THE MUSIC (I now have a strong urge to learn how to play the harmonica)

Both Moomin and Snorkmaiden end up being fortune tellers at some point

The way Moomin says “Snufkin” (SnufKIIIINNN!!!)

Me, genuinely believing that the Mymble’s daughter’s name was Mumble

Moomin getting sick and then pining for Snufkin to come home (and it being explicitly stated that he’s pining)

Snorkmaiden nearly going to drag Snufkin back home so Moomin can get better

Alicia the Witch(‘s apprentice)

How cool the animation is whenever the Witch is on screen

Whenever Snufkin plays the harmonica and everyone else just chills out under a tree to listen

Too-Ticky’s voice is really good in this one, too!!

The little chuckles that Moominpappa does when he’s talking

Little My’s worry when they were awake during the winter that she would remain awake all by herself if Moomin went back into hibernation

Moomin carved a boat all by himself?? (I wish it had been used more)

I love when they dance (especially Little My)

The sound effects

That one time the cheerful music just cuts when Little My stops, turns, and goes to sneakily follow her friends

Moominmamma going on an adventure with Snufkin

Daredevil Little My (she sailed her ice sled right past the Lady of Cold and flew on a kite because she could. I love her)

Mrs. Fillyjonk’s kids peeling away from their mom’s side one by one to sneak off and play with Moomin and co.

Little My asking Snufkin to date her, lol (either the dub messed this up or they’re not siblings in this canon) and him being very not into it

Snork’s relentless work on his flying machine (which I don’t know if he ever finishes someone tell me please)

Snufkin’s music being a cure-all to lifting curses and calming beasts

That moment in the first episode where Snufkin’s returns and plays his harmonica on the bridge and Moomin climbs down his ladder and races to meet him, calling his name, and then stopping right next to him, not speaking anymore, to just listen and enjoy his best friend’s company.  Perfection.

Moominmamma turning Moomin back to normal with a hug when he accidentally transforms himself with the Hobgoblin’s hat

Moomin being the one to wish Snorkmaiden’s eyes back to normal

Characters like the Groke and the Booble using their actions to speak instead of words

Whenever Moomin tumbles from the veranda roof after climbing down his rope ladder

Mr. Hemulen going all in for his new hobby and basically becoming a botanist overnight

Seeing baby Moominpappa

Seeing BABY MOOMIN!!! (he plays with a kendama)

The entirety of The Chair episode

Whenever the entire neighborhood helps out to do stuff

The Narrator’s voice

The soft yellow highlights in Snorkmaiden’s hair