#he was in the donghua though if you caught that when the subbed episodes were still up. or just read the chinese ahahaha

[fei-ren-zai]

Chapter 1008: Man is iron, food is steel; you'll be starving and panicky if you skip a meal.

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[fallloverfic]

TGCF donghua Season 2, Episode 5 thoughts

Screaming through my tears. Spoilers under the cut (also book/story spoilers, for folks just coming in from the donghua). CW: Blood.

Poor San Lang, gets knocked over* by his gege T-T Xie Lian feels so bad about all of it. He's really hurting for how he destroyed San Lang's residence.

*Picked up and maybe dropped on the floor

Also the fight scene was really pretty!

I also love how much this episode emphasizes the differences between martial officials and non-martial officials. Shi Qingxuan thinks differently than Xie Lian, a martial official used to combat, does. (Also Xie Lian is so easily and masterfully competent, he just doesn't show off).

The back of Xie Lian's mind is "My cabbages!!!" but it's "San Lang's armory!!!" instead lol

Hua Cheng like "I don't see any heavenly official there. That's my subordinate." T-T Telling Xie Lian not to get involved in this stuff. He doesn't like endangering Xie Lian in the mess with Ming Yi and Jun Wu. I do like the idea that he doesn't mind Xie Lian getting caught in the fight crossfire in this instance because he knows Xie Lian is strong enough to dodge. It's a nice sense of trust in your partner's competence.

Also Xie Lian trying to brush aside his being injured, poor bean T-T Remember when he tells Ling Wen earlier that he's fine, he hasn't lost any limbs yet because I DO T-T This man and his low bars for his personal safety/what he's just fine pushing through because he's gone through so much and knows he can muscle through it and doesn't think he deserves help/anyone would or should want to lower themselves for it.

Feng Xin being so worried about Xie Lian just -screams- And looking over him. It's kind of drawn differently in different shots and I love all of them.

Feng Xin's sad expression. Xie Lian being embarrassed to be fussed over, particularly publicly, particularly by Feng Xin, particularly while Mu Qing is standing there being disapproving... Not wanting to ruin Feng Xin's reputation or be a burden or anything just... Ahhh T-T

(though it is funny how long Feng Xin is standing there, not fixing Xie Lian's arm aldkjalkda I know the idea is that Jun Wu only does a little fix and then Mu Qing brings the medicine later, but it's funny to get multiple angles of Feng Xin standing there, being sad and useless alkdjaldja this poor man so overcome with sadness for his Dianxia that his abilities go poof)

Mu Qing of course saying, "So what?" Ah Mu Qing, if only you knew that Xie Lian hadn't asked for the attention and probably agrees...

I also love seeing Mu Qing healing Ming Yi. Wonder if he'll hate himself later for that. I really loved all the magic in this episode.

Also Xie Lian looking so ashamed of it all. The pain in his eyes, not even from his physical injury... (Not to mention you know... remembering all the stuff with the coffin...).

Also Mu Qing debating that Xie Lian is who Qianqiu says he is and that Qianqiu might be wrong :3 Ah Mu Qing kind of got Xie Lian's back sometimes:

“Mu Qing’s argument sounded like it was in Xie Lian’s favor, but the truth was more complex than that. Mu Qing must’ve determined that Lang Qianqiu was quite convinced of his take on the evidence, and the more he doubted the truth, the more adamant Lang Qianqiu would be to prove himself. This was not the least bit helpful to Xie Lian’s situation.” (Volume 2, Chapter 18).

The flashback sequence was fun.

All in all a wonderful episode. And I think the English subs were better? Or else I'm just starting to not notice the issues as much lol

Other episode thoughts for season 2 (didn't start till episode 3):

S02E03

S02E04

S02E05 (you are here)

S02E06

S02E07

S02E08

S02E09

S02E10

S02E11

S02E12

[burntheupholstery]

魔道祖师 Mo Dao Zu Shi Episode 2.ii

Since it’s a rant, who said I can’t have 2 parts? eh.

I’ve been in a funk since I could watch episode 2, which would make the emotional gutter I’ve been wallowing in about...a week long — Jiang Cheng is by far my most favorite character, even above the two leads.

When it comes to him, everything goes downhill after staying at the Cloud Recesses as teens. It doesn’t get better.

I’ve basically been crying non-stop when it comes to him. Fics? Tears. Songs? Tears. Show? Anguished screaming. Book? A waterfall of tears. I don’t even want to open the book again and read his scenes, it’s just so painful. He’s a walking ball of unresolved emotional threads, and I will just tell you all that the ending for him...sigh

Take a look at the donghua’s OP.

(gif by @ph811)

My personal interoperation is that these lines are about Jiang Cheng, from Wei Wu Xian’s point-of-view. (The picture above is purely for my entertainment, the lyrics displayed does not match the lyrics below.)

纵然与世无争，道不同义*在心中，

Though I stand aloof from worldly affairs, our paths differ but I hold meaning* in my heart,

怎奈侠肝义胆，却成一场空？

Even with a heart of chivalry, why has it all come to naught?

善恶是非分明，爱恨界限不清

Good and evil are cleanly split, but love and hatred has interwoven.

相知，就像是一场梦*

meeting you, it’s like a dream*.

—

First, let’s talk about 义*, which I translated as ‘meaning’. GuoDong subs chose ‘integrity’, and the one I found on YouTube chose ‘justice’. They’re all correct.

义, mostly comes from ‘意义’, which translates literally to ‘meaning’, but the character itself also holds the meanings of every word it can form. Thus, I chose meaning, because I felt that was the most all-encompassing.

Then, there’s 梦*, which means ‘dream’. It, as far as I know, does not hold the positive connotations of ‘dream’, as English does. It’s a neutral term, and more illusory than grand. What is a dream, after all, but an illusion, a nebulous cloud of wish-fulfillment, that you will inevitably wake up from?

It’s not a happy word.

And what place has ‘梦 (dream)’ in its place name?

Wei Wu Xian’s childhood home, 云梦莲花坞 — literally, 云-cloud 梦-dreams 莲花- lotus 坞-castle/pier

ahhhh, fuck. I need tissues.

As for the translation — I mashed up the ones from GuoDong subs, this amazing person, and my own interpretation. Isn’t poetry fun.

And now for some things I didn’t spend the time getting into in part.i.

I’ve translated a few of the lines on this wall:

And... wow I didn’t realize there were so many rules!

I can’t read all of them — it’s a little exhaustive, and in episode 3 the old teacher does read a few of the frontliners, but I’ll post some that caught my eye:

不可大喜 不可大悲

No exuberance  No despondency

What the hell, you won’t even let these kids emote?

...sounds like Lan Zhan, honestly.

不可饭过三碗

No more than three servings

...sir, these are growing teens. hungry, growing teens.

and I can’t see any more — the show’s not that high-res, and my eyes are already bad.

I’ll save Jiang Cheng analysis for later episodes — fingers crossed the show gives him the entirety of his arc this season. And present it the way the book did. Please.

Oh, and, that funk I’ve been in since episode 2? Ep 3 helped, and then episode 4 just...plunged me back into that shit.

...fuck