#look tbh going by the manhua

[not-poignant]

Can I ask, why do you love BL romance better than het romance? What makes them better? I did not mean anything negative, and I know everyone have their own like and dislike but I want to know your thoughts....

Also what do you think that made Asian MLM (BL manga/manhwa/manhua/ danmei) romances better than western MLM romances?

Can I ask, why do you love BL romance better than het romance?

Because I had no choice for many years.

Because that choice was taken away from me by a homophobic, transphobic, queerphobic, acephobic society. So all the romances I read had to be heterosexual, all the romances I watched had to be heterosexual, all the romances I heard of had to be heterosexual.

Because I'm not heterosexual.

Because I never saw myself represented in any stories ever, for over about 20 years (queer stuff existed, but where I was situated in Perth, Western Australia, meant that I was not seeing it).

Because I was force-fed allonormative, heteronormative, heterosexual tropes, bullshit, toxicity, misogyny, patriarchal culture, rape culture and more, and because everyone assumed that was normal, which made me feel isolated, marginalised, alone, and bereft, and cut me out of knowing what a life could look like for myself, and made relationships harder, when you don't have the words or stories to latch onto.

People like me couldn't even be erased out of the media, we hardly existed in the media, and if we did, almost never under our real identities, and almost always having to pretend to be something we weren't, for many people who hated us, or wished we were dead, or simply didn't care about us at all.

So, when I finally got a choice, I made a choice.

And I do not want to read heterosexual content anymore, unless it's queer (like T4T). The only place I actually willingly consume heterosexual romantic content these days is like 80s and 90s and early 00s romantic comedies. It's the only thing I allow through my filter, because so many of them have a really strong bent of hurt/comfort in them, and it's rare to find movies that have this in general.

But yeah otherwise het is just not a thing I look for in fiction. Literally a squick. Literally reminds me of 20 years of oppression in the mass media. It's not inherently bad, it just wasn't good for me personally, to never have a choice.

So I made one :D And my life has been so much better for it. I'm never going back.

Also what do you think that made Asian MLM (BL manga/manhwa/manhua/ danmei) romances better than western MLM romances?

It's just better for me, anon! I find a lot of western published m/m (so not like m/m fanfiction which I still read) often feels stifled and too short for me, and the characterisation doesn't get as deep as I want it to get. I often can feel the rigidity of the novel structure on authors who are trying to rapid release, and the depth I'm looking for is rarely there. Sometimes that's what people want! Sometimes they don't know there's other options!

Sometimes that's true of some BL manga/manhua/manhwa etc. as well. Tbh it's probably true of a lot of it! Serial format doesn't always allow for depth either. But I find the visual format easier to read as well. If I reread western m/m it's almost always fanfiction. And tbh, I'm sure some amazing m/m was published last year, I just get tired of having to wade through it all to find something I like. It got to the point where I was reading like 60+ titles just to find one average read, and I gave up.

The recommendation systems for BL tend to be better and more on point for me, I find most people who recommend published m/m to me generally always miss the mark (which isn't their fault - I'm particular, there's a reason I write what I write - because I can't find it to read!!), but close friends like @morbidlizard who recommend BL to me almost always hit the mark!

I don't actually read much danmei, but mostly because I haven't had time to really sink my teeth into it. Aside from MXTX, I haven't explored much further.

But yeah, hope that helps! :D

[randomshenaniganery]

TGCF Donghua

okay so I've been watching this shit since it was released and I'm fully enjoying waiting for the weekly episodes and I wanna rant about it because I love it so much but I do have some minor gripes

Bad chuchu out of the way first

I am not happy with how generic and unoriginal the designs for most of the supporting characters. Like yeah they still look somewhat different but when the pool of named characters will expand it will get harder and harder to tell people apart if they keep on going with this route. Almost everyone suffers from same face syndrome which I know is rampant in current anime I just wished they allowed for at least more dynamic silhouettes, hairstyles, and color palettes. It feels like a more toned down version of the character design in the manhua. Lang Qianqiu in the manhua is so easy to recognize because of his outfit and pei ming looks more like the bastard he is etc. Don't get me started on the design for Kemo, the manhua felt eh I feel like Kemo was too pretty and too slim but in the donghua its just he's a straight up orc idk, i feel like they could've done better. Pei Su looks very generic, I think out of everyone he's the most generic looking of them all. SQX, Ling Wen and Jun Wu are the best designs for the supporting cast and I think Banyue is also okay looking cause you can tell her apart from the rest so far.

I am super disappointed in Qi Rong's reveal because it doesn't feel as impactful in the book. In the book the reveal of him looking like Xie Lian was so dramatic to me I was like oh my god is that his brother? A twin? a doppelganger? And then Qi Rong just kinda looks like that, tbh his voice actor and his clothes are fine I think they fit. It's just weird how he suffers from same face syndrome. If they made everyone look less like each other making Qi Rong look like Xie Lian would have been so impactful and a really cool cliffhanger but they couldn't do that because even fucking Lang Qianqiu kinda looks like Xie Lian with lighter hair. Also the Fang xin design is alright on the clothes but the mask gives off a bit cheap however I get that it can't be super detailed and it still does its job so I can handwave that small pet peeve.

Also censorship we couldn't get Xie Lian falling on Hua Cheng's lap and so them trying to make up for that was super awkward LMAO, they could have solved this by making SQX fall right on Hua Cheng's chair so that they could justify why Xie Lian grabbed Hua Cheng and throws him but they didn't... and it's so awkward...

I think it was like Episode 2 of s2 that the animation feels weird, Mu Qing's face felt off to me idk what was going on it just felt like something went down but the next episode it was perfectly fine anyway.

Positives!!!

Something the manhua didn't have was Fu Yao and Nan Feng looking a bit like each other, that was so fucking funny and it's a great display of how much they hate each other and live rent free in each other's heads ong. I love that detail the donghua did I think that's smart.

The voice actors are so great in both dubs they're doing amazing (I haven't listened to the jp dub) I have no complaints I love their work

ONE of my favorite things about the donghua is being able to see Hua Cheng's expressions even when Xie Lian is doing something in the book so he wouldn't notice. I love seeing how pleased he is every time someone points out the intimacy with him and Xie Lian. Like in season 1 when Fu Yao is shocked/horrified that Xie Lian shared a bed with Hua Cheng, San Lang puts a hand on his chin and looks so fucking smug and happy. This happens a couple times in s2 as well someone will be like oh that's weird you're so like this with Hua Cheng and he becomes a smug cat it's great.

Another one I enjoy is during the beginning of the banyue arc when Xie Lian reveals to Fu Yao and Nan Feng that he's used to sleeping in squalor the camera goes to Nan Feng not revealing his face but clearly showing his guilt over what Xie Lian reveals. That's good shit.

Lan Chang picking a fight off screen, also cool, love seeing her. I like that she looks inconspicuous so for someone who doesn't know shit about tgcf they will not see *that* shit coming.

ALSO the men look kinda generic if they're not the mls but the girls are all gorgeous???? like the woman who was Hua Cheng's speaker, the girl who led Xie Lian further into the gambling den, XUAN JI, Banyue all the girls are unique without being so ostentatious and I love them. If you put them beside each other they all look like they're own thing but still on theme. From clothes, to hairstyle and colors it's easy to tell and that's good design. I also include SQX's female form cause she's gorgeous too.

The donghua I think adds to stuff I haven't read I'm not sure if this is because I have a bad memory but I don't recall reading a flashback of Lang Qianqiu and the failed robbery. But the message of that entire section was so fucking good. The way that what Lang Qianqiu said about 'maybe he shouldn't have intervened' and the sound effects UGh. It's so good, i love how the book tackles the morality of everything, breaking down Lang Qianqiu's firm positivity and believing in humanity but still promoting being kind and considerate through Xie Lian. This theme still carries on in the show and I think they're doing a great job.

GOD THE MUSIC in the donghua is so fucking good, I love it. The songs, the meanings, the beat it's all perfect I can't say anything more.

even though i'm disappointed in the character design choices the donghua is very solid, I love it a lot. It does come off as very expositiony sometimes but I think that's very prevalent in Chinese Wuxia and Xianxia. Probably weird for people who aren't used to the genre but to anyone who's seen something like it, it's not unbearable and it's kinda necessary because of how the book is written. Waiting for wednesday patiently whilst i draw huahua

There are so many fun details the Donghua adds that shows that they know the story and where it's going as well hinting at character stuff, it's so fun to spot those. Like Xie Lian's reaction to Hua Cheng biting the bun made me wanna claw my face that shit was good af.

[mostlikelytofangirl]

Hi, since you are the person to go to for ruoyao matters I just wanted to say that while wrh seemed sad at the betrayal in the manhua, meng yao looked worried and sad too in the live action

OMG hi there anon!!

Ahaha idk if I deserve to be the ruoyao person around here, unless you count how insistent I am in pushing my agenda on y'all ^^;

But I'm so very surprised and thrilled to see ppl approaching me to talk about the ship and WRH with me, I firmly believe both deserve more attention given all the potential for fun exploration there is :D

Anyways, thank you for adding to the beatings my feels are taking today, I'm honestly having a blast TuT.

I'm not the most devoted to CQL's canon tbh, but you know what? I totally see it. Unlike donghua, CQL MY was definitely not looking triumphant or even relieved that it was all over. I understood his reaction initially as shock at what he had done --that he was even able to do it with how inhumanly powerful WRH was. But now that you have made this parallel... I think an argument can be made that MY was hit with the real possibility of having made a mistake

So if we incorporate this to the frankencanon I mostly work with, it would be pretty possible that MY made a last minute decision in a dire moment, but only after it was done he realized that maybe he didn't want it end like this, not after having experienced how it was like to be fully embraced in a sect that couldn't have cared less about his heritage.

Now he has to start over again for like, the third time in a place where not even his heritage is enough.

[unforth]

Maybe three weeks ago, I asked my wife if she'd mind if I took a corner of our bedroom and used it to hang up all my danmei blorbo posters and stuff I've accumulated as freebies when I've bought books (especially, the SVSSS vol 4 spec edition, the print editions of Golden Stage and Thousand Autumns in Chinese, and the TGCF art books and manhua). She gave her permission, and after going through the stash and hanging a few things a day as I've had the time, I'm finally done!

I'm doooone! I do have other posters but eh these are the ones I wanted to hang for now. I'm sure the stash will grow anyway. The posters got added to my figurines and dolls, which have been on display for a couple years. The oldest of these, I've had since the late 90s.

(if you read my long text post yesterday...hanging all this stuff up is part of why I was thinking back on how it felt to be 17-year-old me. Because like. I was so scared I'd have to change, be forced to conform, would look back on myself and go "damn she was cringe" but no, I don't at all, and I think past!me would think present me was pretty damn cool tbh. I'm openly queer and married to a neat geeky woman! I have cute kids! I own a home! I have cool hair and tattoos and piercings! I did so many of the things she was scared of yet wanted. It's nice to think I grew up into the kind of person I'd have thought was a cool grown up.)

Bonus: I thought I had a picture of my high school bedroom but I can't find it. But I did find a picture of my freshman college dorm room.

Age: 17. Year: 2000.

My blorbos were different but the gist hasn't changed at all.

Double Bonus:

These are the same doll, lmfao.

I really, really haven't changed. 😂

Behold the cringe, and despair. 😂😂😂😂😂

[jin-zixun]

MDZS Reread - Chapter 4 (Part One) - The Elegant Flirt (Refinement 11-18)

Manhua Chapters 26-Who Knows Not Me

I'm going to be super real again like. This chapter is very long. Like so long. Like it's eight chapters? What? I'm sure this will be a part one of probably more than two tbh

Oh boy

"Once he was dragged in, it’d be difficult to get back out. Back when he’d attended school here, the visiting student disciples had each been given a jade travel token. Only with the token could one come and go freely— otherwise, the protective barrier surrounding the Cloud Recesses could not be crossed. Over a decade had passed since then, so security could have only grown tighter, not laxer."

I think I've always kind of skimmed over the fact that WWX actually *cannot* leave here. But I guess he really can't leave. That's... A little horrifying Kind of messed up you need the travel token to *leave* the Cloud Recesses. I guess it makes sense for keeping your lover imprisoned there, but uh, that kind of makes it worse. Like way worse.

Manhua has the happiest Er-Ge! Look at that Er-Ge. Magnificent.

Hope nothing bad happens to him that would like destroy his happiness forever or something that'd be pretty fucked up.

"The Lan Clan of Gusu had always been renowned as a family who consistently produced handsome men, and the Twin Jades born of the head household of this generation were especially striking. While these two brothers had not been born twins, their looks were very similar, and it was difficult to discern who was the superior in appearance. However, they were one color, two shades. Lan Xichen was warm and elegant, sincerely gentle. Lan Wangji was overly aloof and stern, completely unsociable, and kept others at arm’s length. This was why, in the rankings for the looks and character of the clans’ young masters, the former was ranked first and the latter second."

Wei Wuxian: "Now I know what you're all wanting to know about Lan Xichen! Is he hot? Is he as hot as Lan Zhan? How hot is he? Well actually he's the number one hottest guy that there is! He's incredibly hot! He's probably about the same as Lan Zhan but he's got a better personality, I guess. idk."

Thanks Wei Wuxian I'm glad you came through for us. So that we all know that Lan Xichen is definitely topping the hotness scale...

...And probably also Lianfang-zun

"Jin Guangyao was also the elder half-brother, born of another different mother, to Wei Wuxian’s current identity, Mo Xuanyu. They were both illegitimate sons, yet the difference between them was night and day. Mo Xuanyu slept on the ground and ate leftovers at the Mo Manor while Jin Guangyao sat upon the highest seat of the cultivation world, with all those below at his beck and call."

I feel I don't need to remind everyone how Jin Guangyao started on the other side of this scenario? We're all on the same page? And also Jin Guangshan preferred Mo Xuanyu. And also Jin Guangyao sent Mo Xuanyu home to his mother, as we previously established. And also Mo Xuanyu was uh... Not very brotherly towards Jin Guangyao. I mean we're all on the same page right? Wei Wuxian is fucking wilding here, right?

"Wei Wuxian’s ears perked up at the mention of the Mo Estate, but then he felt his lips part. Lan Xichen had removed the silencing spell and turned to Lan Wangji. “It is rare for you to bring anyone back home and also to appear so happy. Treat your guest well; do not be like this.”"

Lan Xichen is really held back by propriety and all that shit. He could get rid of the use of that spell, but he doesn't! He uses it himself later on and, uh, it's not good. He's the Sect Leader, does he not have any will to make changes? Well, other than adding more rules apparently? Why is he still running the Cloud Recesses like this? Does he honestly think it's the best way? Does he not think about or care about the messed up implications? Is he just a figurehead for the Lan Elders? He's just so... Mild. He should be more radical. People would accept it. He's the hottest guy ever apparently.

This is terrible analysis. Also almost certainly untrue. The Lan Elders would like eviscerate him even if he's super hot.

"After watching Lan Xichen leave, Lan Wangji instructed, “Drag him inside.”"

Haha, oh yeah man, that's uh. That's fucked up.

I mean I'm sure a lot had been said about how much Wei Wuxian wants to leave and how it's messed up that he can't, because that's like a central conflict to the characters and their relationship? I'll probably hold any comments of my own for now, because it has been awhile and I only vaguely remember how things progress in this regard.

"However, Wei Wuxian was most definitely not someone unable to avert his gaze when stunned by a bathing beauty in the first place. And it wasn’t as if he were actually into men, no matter how beautiful this man was."

Uh are you sure about that buddy? Are you really sure? Might want to take a second pass at that one, Wei Wuxian.

Then we've got the discipline whip scars... Guys I think the Gusu Lan Sect... Might be a bit uh... Messed up? Just a little?

Anyway...

This is still pretty funny. The situation is what it is, but uh, Wei Wuxian is sure making the best of it (trying to escape).

nOiSe iS pRoHiBiTeD oh my god Wei Ying

"He was used to seeing Lan-er-gongzi with his hair and forehead ribbon fastened, orderly, and methodical, not a single piece out of place. The sight of him now—slightly loose black hair, thinly robed—was something he had never witnessed before, so Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but take a look or two."

Yeah this is a guy with no interest in banging Lan Wangji. 100%.

"There was no way Lan Wangji could have recognized him solely based on the bit he’d played on that crappy flute, could he?"

Yeah dude no way. A bit of obliviousness is cute in a--

"Wei Wuxian didn’t think he’d shared any sort of deeply consequential friendship with Lan Wangji in his past life."

Oh, ok, no now that's a bit much. A bit too oblivious. Dial it back just a little, will you?

I'm begging you to take a second pass at this one at least, please Wei Ying...

Anyway I feel I should stop here because hey, the flashback to the Cloud Recesses study arc starts here! That's a natural break point for such a long chapter, right? Even if the chapter's only 1/4 of the way done...

Well, see you in ~the past~

[ultfreakme]

Can I ask, why do you love MLM romance better than Het romance? What makes them better? I did not mean anything negative, and I know everyone have their own like and dislike but I want to know your thoughts....

Also what do you think that made Asian MLM (Danmei , BL manga/manhwa/manhua/tv series) romances different than western MLM romances?

I just usually hate the way female characters are portrayed in het romances. I'm not a romance person in general tbh, I don't go looking for stuff to consume from the romance genre because I want more to my characters than just their love for each other and a lot of the romance manga I've read have been focused solely on the love. I like action, sci-fi, fantasy stuff with lots of world-building and character development better, and I want for my ships to have more going for them than the romance. The genres I listed don't write women well, so the default is MLM romances and ships. The times I do find well-written women in these genres, I end up shipping the WLW or not shipping at all because there's always this....formula that comes with het ships.

The woman's always smaller, submissive, the guy's always protective and more aggressive in pursuit. I don't like that. There are a few het romances I do enjoy, and that's often when this dynamic is not there. Unfortunately, most have this.

As for Asian MLM content, I think the sheer variety in genre and storylines is what makes them more appealing. For example, take Mo Dao Zu Shi, it's got an MLM romance but it's primarily about the downfall of a man due to rumors, politics, his own hubris and a bunch of unfortunate events. It's also a murder-mystery in a fantasy setting. Or Triage the Series, it's a Thai Bl about time loops, the main focus is actually the characters learning to value human life and understand that you can never judge someone without knowing their whole story and thus you can't decide who gets to live or die.

I have yet to see a Western MLM story in any form that is as long as Asian MLM content, or as genre-diverse.

Asian MLM content, as far as I've seen, are not afraid to make their characters and therefore their romance, a lot more dimensional and complex. The mainstream Western MLM content I've seen is always squeaky clean, the plots are often set in modern day with very little effort into building the world around them. That's fine, most Western MLM seem to fall into the slice of life fluff and romance genre.

Asian MLMs tho???? I would not define MDZS or Triage or most Danmei novels and even thai bls as 'romance'. It's there, obviously, but it's often on equal footing to the main plot which is often a whole other genre, or is sometimes even secondary. Like in MDZS, I'd argue that the romance is practically tertiary to everything else going on in that book. But the relationship between the main love interest and MC still matters in crafting the rest of the interactions.

TLDR: The depth and variety in genre is what makes Asian MLM content stand out, there's something for everyone.

[blackhair-redeyes-tournament]

Okay I submitted quite a few folks so sorry this'll be long but also here we go

This is Xue Yang from modao zushi . I used his ( promotional ) donghua photo mostly bc it was the only that wasn't dark as hell, and in the manhua his eyes are like grey for some reason but I digress

This is Wen Ruohan ( also from mdzs ) and tbh I feel like the red of his eyes is a little hard to see in both photos but alas he's got zero better photos literally

Sebastian Michaelis black butler . I figured he's been suggested a lot but I went w him too

Hermes from record of ragnarok bc he's the love of my life ( both photos I got from @/recordoficons bc google was zero help )

Alucard from hellsing and tbh his eyes look orange to me but they're described as blood red so I'm goin on a wing and a prayer

And then Benimaru from Fire Force ( hope he counts even w his pupils ) and Rogue Cheney from Fairy Tail !

Thank you for all these pics! Very helpful

[welcometoteyvat]

love your thoughts on character’s ages. looking forward to fontaine & sumeru :) i think you described it really well. ages for my are like… they exist but they don’t at the same time.

edit: OH MY GOD TUMBLRS EDITOR FORMATTING SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! if you see random parts of words bolded PLEASE ignore i dont know why it keeps happening

if you're the same anon as the og ask i am so so so sorry about the delay T_T T_T i was drafting my answer and then boom life happened ..... anyways. thank you for enjoying my thoughts wah <3333333 "they exist but they don't" SAME SAME frfr. like the most on-point (internet) discussion I've read on ages is that the stage of life you're in is often the only factor that matters, and that can vary a lot based on like your past experiences and stuff. and from my own perspective this holds true—similarly, in genshin where all the playable characters have jobs it's hard to kind of quantify them into really distinct age ranges tbh. sometimes it's just vibes (unfortunately vibes often includes height bc it's a game w not very diverse model types). anyways! character hcs:

sumeru (sans scaramouche): collei, cyno, tighnari, faruzan, layla, nilou

i think collei has an actual canon age right? unless I'm tripping and fanon has solidified so much in everyone's minds. I still haven't read the manhua <3 but iirc people think she's 12-13 there right. maybe she's like 17 rn, i can see anywhere from 14-16 though. idk anything abt her timeline so these are quite literally guesstimates from vibes and they're likely to be wrong. Layla is such a college girlie, she's like 19-20 and sleep deprived (same fr); begging for her to catch a break on behalf of uni students everywhere. I don't have a set age for Faruzan, I can see her anywhere from 30-40, 26 years old minimum (the redesigns people give her where she looks visibly older are so cool <3). Given she was a pretty well known researcher back in her day and since academia is a long and arduous career choice, I think it makes sense; also if she's like way older than Kaveh appearance wise (≥ 10 years) , even if she hadn't gotten trapped for a century, that would be sick af (their dynamic is impeccable and I think a larger age difference makes it better, sweeter, and funnier). Nilou also feels 19-20 years old to me; no real explanation, she just has a young adult vibe, like someone just out of her teenage years but quite capable at managing her life, although still testing out responsibility for major decisions and stuff like that (age solidarity w yun jin)

iirc cyno was already mahamatra or something WHILE tighnari was still in school; thus this makes cynonari EXTREMELY funny if you're a moral purist who ships it and thinks they fell in love in their akademiya days LOL. jkjk it's also a reasonable interpretation that Cyno became mahamatra at an insanely young age, since uhhh fucked up temple of silence background smth smth and honestly it feels in character for him to go buck wild at a young age like that (person most suited for young collei fr). HOWEVER. personally I think being mahamatra at like 19 is insane—thus I think tighnari's probably 23, cyno might be 27? I don't know if that makes it """""""better""""""" from an age gap standpoint but I also don't really care. Cyno being older but more joking around friends, while Tighnari is the younger kohai but serious and no-nonsense is pretty funny to me and when they're both serious you know you're fucked

fontaine: lyney, lynette, freminet (are those the only medium youth models so far lol. damn)

anyways lyney and lynette are confirmed to be at least 10 from Lyney's story quest. such helpful information I know lol. I'd think they're probably around 19-20? 18 minimum—I personally wouldn't watch 18 year olds do gravity defying magic tricks at the nation's biggest opera house—being like 1 year older doesn't make it any better ofc lol, but I think they're above the teenage threshold bc of that. Kinda fucked up to think about the timeline and house of hearth stuff though with this in mind

Freminet I'd say is around 16; 14 minimum. No thoughts for this just vibes. mmmmm idk when he was adopted into the house, if he's around 4-5 years younger than L+L, and let's say they entered the House when they were maybe 6-9 (my headcanons, is it now possible to piece together an accurate timeline of this from in-game lore??), and that was maybe 3-4 years after freminet entered, he probably was like 5-7 when he entered... wah frem............. poor child I'm giving him a hug (knowing that he's also a killing machine)

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure (Manga) - Vol. 1

This is the manga (or manhua) adaptation of the original Digimon Adventure anime. I got my copy from the library and you can borrow it for free on Archive.org!

Manga adaptations of anime are typically cheap money grabs that just copy-paste from the anime, removing some of the soul of the original along the way. As such, I'm not expecting much from this.

Notes:

Ch. 1

-You can almost always tell when a manga isn't drawn by a Japanese artist, it's just a certain vibe (I know this is technically a manhua). That being said, the art is competent enough. Yuen Wong seems to struggle most when it comes to faces. A lot of the faces look really janky and off model for both the digimon and the digi-destined. The only other thing that's kind of off is that the text boxes are very heavily lined and take up a lot more space than I'm used to.

-When Sora is drawn in chibi-mode she has the straps of her hat up like a rabbit. At first the silhouette was so unfamiliar that I had no idea who it was lol.

-So they covered two episodes in one chapter (up until the Shellmon battle). Let's see if the pace stays that way...

Ch. 2

-This definitely has a similar vibe to most manga adapted from anime that I've read. I wonder if it will diverge from the original material at any point, too soon to judge.

-Tai says to Agumon "I'll do anything but a teeth buffing" and I have nooo idea what that means? (Is he saying "don't eat me?") Also in chapter one Izzy said "baby blue, how emasculating!" when talking about the digivice. I don't think Koushiro would ever say that tbh. I feel like spotting these weird dialogue choices is going to be the most entertaining part about reading this.

Ch. 3

-I guess we're now going at a pace of one episode per chapter, which is fine. Somehow the content still seems a little condensed with a lot of the emotional beats cut out. I feel like the setting changes every two seconds which is giving me whiplash.

-Some weird quirks: the digi-destined call their digimon by their rookie names, even when they're in champion form. Also, the artist really really likes drawing smiley faces as stand-ins for the actual characters. That's like a step below chibification lol

-I think manga like this is perfect for if you wanted to watch Digimon Adventure 02, but you didn't want to catch up on a 50+ episode anime. It's a lot faster to read than to watch. (Although probably not as satisfying overall).

Ch. 4

-More cheesy dialogue. Izzy says "don't mess with an elite hacker" to Tai lol. Koushiro is way more likeable in the original Japanese because localizations loved to make nerds insufferable in the 90s.

-It's funny, I've never thought of Tentomon as robot-like, but in this chapter he said his parts were "short circuiting" and I was like "oh yeahhh...I guess he does have metallic features"

-Did we really need that close-up crotch shot of Andromon?

-You would think that the plot point of there being editable code laying around in random areas of the digital world would have come up again, but I can't remember another time it was really used to the kids' advantage.

Ch. 5

-This panel made me laugh:

(something about this phrasing and the expressionless chibis is so funny).

-And then Izzy never manually triggered a digivolution again...for some reason? (I feel like this was definitely explained in the anime, but I can't remember what they said).

-They didn't censor the poop this time! As usual, you can get away with more in print than you can on the screen B)

-They confirm that you can repel Numemon with sunlight...and then immediately the kids get attacked by more Numemon in broad daylight. Quickest continuity error ever!

-Another chuckle worthy moment:

Ch. 6

-Okay, but this one had me die laughing. Just a really good dad joke:

-Going from Adventure 02 back to the early Adventure days the stakes really do feel lower. No existential conundrums or human/humanoid villains to contend with. Just rampaging digis that can be easily cured.

Ch. 7

-Maybe it's just a translation thing, but sometimes the digimon act like there's one of each digimon species. Like Gomamon says "Unimon's a nice guy!" as if there's one Unimon in the world. Pretty confusing for kids. I wish mon series would just use names (they do sometimes, but it's not the status quo).

Yep, that was pretty generic. I wish they had thrown some more personality in there to make this a unique experience. I would have loved to read some final thoughts from the mangaka or to have gotten an omake of some sort. Ohhh welll...

[quarter-lif3crisis]

Hellloo. I don't have that much of an audience to make a 'get to know me' post (kinda feel awkward 😭) but still heyy!

Fandoms:

Formula 1 : I always knew of its existence but I properly got into it this year. What dragged me into this u ask? It was Lewis' move to Ferrari and my fyp was just blowing up with ppl going crazy😭. Also the 2nd thing that i learnt about right after joining was Brocedes...... yh

Fave drivers : Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri + Alex Albon. Also LOVE seb + nico

[No hate against ANY driver is welcome. Having opinions is fine but h8, like the shit I've been seeing lately, is not allowed.]

KPOP : Started listening to kpop in 2020 during covid and my first grp were BTS. I listen to everything, if the songs good, it's good.

Grps I stan: Stray kids, NCT (😭),WayV, Itzy, The boyz, P1 Harmony, Ateez, BTS, G-IDLE, The Rose

Grps I stan stan: txt (MY ULTS), Seventeen, Boynextdoor, enhypen.

My ults bias' : Beomgyu and bangchan. Probs suga aswll.

Anime: Used to watch anime in a small corner of a screen on yt. It came in parts. I think that says enough. I haven't watched alot tbh 😭 I'm not the best when it comes to watching stuff. But here r some of my favs so far

Jujutsu Kaisen: Geto Suguru, Gojo Satoru (they come as a pack 😌- Gojo is such a cool character who wouldn't love him? But I'd defo chose geto over him) , Itadori Yuji, Zenin Maki , Choso, Nanami Kento and Inumaki Toge [stay away Gege]

Moriarty the Patriot: (LOVE THIS SHIT) only correct way to watch it is in dub. The only anime I've watched in dub. William Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes and Albert Moriarty. Tbh I love everyone

Haikyuu: This shit is soul healing (on the last season). Hinata Shoyo, Kuroo Tetsuro, Oikawa Toru, Iwaizumi Hajime, Coah Ukai, Sugawara Koshi, Tsukishima Kei, Bokuto Kōtarō + Akaashi Keiji

Tokyo Ghoul : Kaneki Ken deserves the world. That's it

Reading: I like manhwas/manhuas. Haven't read a lot of mangas tho- only read death note and jjk. Just like to read tbh, been reading for ages so ik where to use words but dk why or what they mean😭. Can't rlly list all the books I've read cuz I don't remember half of them but here r some of my fave series :

The Shadowhunter Chronicles: First read them in 2018, I've been waiting for a Kit/Ty book since then😭.

All for the Game series: This shit is good. There r alot of trigger warnings but shit is good. Six of crows/ Crooked kingdom (currently reading but love it)

Some of my fav books r Circe, A thousand splendid suns, The secret history, If we were villains, 1984. Idk man I have alot of fav books 😭

Was also in the Marauders fandom which is y there's some marauders stuff here and there but the fandom got toxic pretty quick and I just got bored idky😭😭. Don't read the fics anymore + I'm not that active in the fandom but still have love for it. The fics that I read (not alot) were TOP TIER tho. I read alot of drarry and I will get some looks for this but tomarry BUT its like time travel fics TRUST ME they're so gooooddd. I read one on a whim cuz I was bored.

TV shows/ Movies : like I sed not the best watcher. But here are some of my favs:

Save me (kdrama), Weak hero class 1 (kdrama), To my star (kdrama), DP (kdrama), Alice in the borderland (jdrama), The Originals (tv), Merlin (tv), Hannibal (tv), The good bad mother (kdrama), Strangers from Hell (kdrama), 21st century girl (movie), Brooklyn 99 (tv), The Amazing World of Gumball (tv), The edge of 17 (movie), Fight Club (movie), Lady Bird (movie), Shutter Island (movie), Parasite (movie), The Shining (movie), Prisoner of Azkaban/Chamber of Secrets (movie)

Youtubers : not gonna be posting alot about ytbers and I don't watch alot of ppl but here r some :

Sam + Colby. Willne + James Marriott (yes ik they have diff channels but they come as a duo. I LOVE THEM) (I sometimes watch ppl within the willne like grp, like I obvs naturally started watching them eg George. M, Arthur, Italian Bach etc but I don't watch them like how I do with James + Will)

Quadrant. The Boys. Rotten Mango

Yh I think that's about it tbh I think....

[youremyheaven]

[NSFW minors DNI]

I don’t watch hentai because in my experience it’s full of highschoolers and sexual assault. I can accept that some stuff just isn’t my taste but hentai is so centred around male incel pleasure that I find it impossible to take seriously. The mc is always some fugly teenage boy with no eyes. So I’m curious to why you watch it, have your experiences been different?

I’m more of an erotic manhwa/manhua person myself 👀 the characters look sexier and I think a lot of the writers are women so the misogyny is way less intense

Tbh I get that. I'm not some serial connoisseur of hentai so don't get me wrong 😂but I got into hentai because I liked the way the women looked 😬😶 which I admit is super male gaze-y with their humongous tatas and dump truck but I think as a teenager it helped my body dysmorphia because I didn't see women who were similarly built elsewhere and mainstream porn/eroticised content of any kind largely depicted really thin but adequately curvy women of the Mia Khalifa variety which seemed hard to achieve? I had no idea that a physique of the kind depicted in hentai could be sexy until I stumbled upon hentai 😔

I am someone who "developed" early and was sexualised from a very young age and had some pretty horrible experiences in that regard so seeing hentai girlies go through similar stuff was relatable? 😶 and in some ways helped me process my trauma and stop blaming myself

I mostly abstain from watching erotic content these days (unless it's in a movie)

[cantalooprat]

The Cultivator and His Contract Demon

not a webnovel but its still a danmei manhua so im just. putting it here. as an honorary entry bc its too precious not to include!!!

gorgeous art!!!!! tbh so many manhua Suffer from subpar art but this one is just so gorgeous and lovely to look at, also all the char designs r top tier

damn the chars r great like even the seemingly insignificant side chars have their own stories and i just feel for all of them sigh like the green-haired cultivator who "abandoned" zhiyi bc he wanted someone stronger but then it seems like he had a falling out w his partner n then the partner died?? n then he vowed to nvr take a second contract demon i read it n i was like KNIVES AUTHORNIM KNIVES and also the seemingly happy-go-lucky shifu who gave some exposition in an extra part abt how cultivators can choose what they want to look like, they can even look young forever if they want to, and he gets asked then why do u look so old n he just goes quiet like bc the one person who appreciated my appearance is no longer here n i was like WOW SUDDEN KNIVES...

yknow they made it such a big deal abt how demon lifespans r much longer than humans n thats why they discourage demon-human relationships but like it's also heartbreaking to see these humans who loved their demon partners n will remember them for the rest of their long, long lives

the wolf sidestory bro i thought fusa was just gna be one of those annoying 2ml but this author doesn't disappoint i was looking at his v eye-catching assistant like wow hes putting this unruly prince in line i wonder if theres... something...... and when the lantern festival comes it was Very Clear that assistant felt Something and then!! the backstory!!!! im broken they're So Good

and the token bestie of the ml even he has a backstory and an actual explanation for his gag blank face portrayal like damn i can rly feel the love this author has for this series

lol i havent actually talked abt the main cp of the series they're v cute but the vanilla kind of cute but like the beginning when the gong won the martial arts tournament to show that he's the best option for his shou and the shou was like convinced he wasn't gna be chosen but then he was!!! precious so very precious

[transpat]

Hi 👋

I found your post about Sangwoo in the manhua original of Semantic Error. And I thought it was really cool what you did there, pointing out the 🚩. I was curious about how Sangwoo is “obv autistic coded.” Because I do agree with you (there were definitely some things in his behaviour that looked very familiar to me). But I was wondering what signs you were thinking of. Specifically in the tv adaptation that is on right now (I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do ☺️). Could you elaborate a little more on Sangwoo’s “code”? 😉 (hehe, oops, I made him sound like a computer again 😅)

Thanks in advance,

— Thel. 💚

P.S. Like for example the books he’s been reading: the first on revenge and the second on convincing others I believe. In the tag, I noticed most people overlooked this detail or responded with something along the lines of “ooh Sangwoo, you don’t need that because you’re good the way you are.” Which is valid. But to me, the books represented a genuine interest or attempt to find a solution for something Sangwoo hadn’t been confronted by until then. Neither the concepts “getting back at someone”/ “wanting others to want what you want” nor the underlying emotions (idk betrayal/ sympathy or cooperation). And the books are a pretty clumsy yet endearing attempt at understanding just that. (You see something unfamiliar -> you look it up in a book. 📖) And like those, the last six episodes have introduced countless new “feelings” to Sangwoo. (Poor man really needs a break after that project. 🥲) Such as his blossoming romantic feelings for Jayung. I’ve seen some theories placing Sangwoo in the aspec spectrum. Which make much sense as well. But I don’t think we should underestimate how fundamental Sangwoo’s unfamiliarity with emotions or the desire to do those dreaded group projects is.

Oops, I hope I still left some space for you to come with your own insights. 😅 Anyways, I’m eagerly awaiting them.

P.P.S. One other thing I noticed was the appointment he suddenly has (I think this was in episode 4 or 5; my autistic headcanon is that Sangwoo didn’t lie about this) but doesn’t want to tell Jaeyung about (he says it’s an appointment but he doesn’t want to say who he’s meeting; and Jaeyung respects his wishes for a change 😀). I thought maybe this was some kind of counselling or a therapy group maybe? (Very familiar to me: not wanting to share with everyone that you receive some kind of “extra support.”) Because the sudden flows of new insights and the way he adapts his behaviour (note: “adapts,” not “changes” or “improves” -> Sangwoo simply adapts to a different situation) leaves me under the impression that he’s been reflecting on daily life, his school work and conflicts with another person. (Someone other than Ji Hye that is. 😉) I find it hard to believe he came up with all of that by himself, in relative seclusion. (I don’t think we’ve seen him talk to anyone except Ji Hye or Jayoung; not even a teacher or a parent right?)

hi hi! you've made excellent points urself honestly but i'm gonna rant a bit and explain how literally every decision he takes makes perfect sense to me if u think of him as autistic. like. even the fact that by neurotypical standards he's considered 'robotic' is v autistic.

one: the drama didn't show a lot of this bc of time constraint but in the manhua its elaborated on how much jaeyoung's interference in his routine upset him to the point of him nearly having a meltdown/being unable to concentrate in class or just function productively. and that i got so well, like i would have cried if i'd gone thru the same. when it first happened, he couldn't concentrate on entire lectures bc he didn't get to sit where he usually sat. we're shown jaeyoung's pov too where he didn't realize smth like this would bother sangwoo to such an extent bc its not smth that would affect a neurotypical as much and then jaeyoung stops. (sangwoo being unhappy about returning to his regular routine was bc he fell in love and accommodated jaeyoung into his space so his sudden absence was again a distruption.)

two: simply how he lives his life by textbook principles. how he follows rules he's told w/o understanding that they don't have to be absolute/that they can be bended based on situations. in the drama he refers to that book too, bc he doesn't understand what he should be doing in such a situation, he doesn't get the social code. jaeyoung frustrates him bc he can't read ppl and this dude's never honest, swings from saying one thing to another (asking him to call him hyung then lashing out when sangwoo actually does). also ur right ur right the fact that he's turning to book shows how much effort he's putting into this.

like how he refuses to call jaeyoung hyung at first bc he believes that its smth u only use for family. and then well. w the whole sex thing too. in the manhua. (that same thing is used to justify his homophobia. but that's just not it. he's just a homophobic dick.)

three: sangwoo shutting down and pushing everyone away from him when he's overwhelmed by emotions is just a sensory overload. once he calms down, he starts processing each emotion and event bit by bit and then plans what he needs to do next. planning too! that he plans everything he does ten steps ahead is likely out of anxiety of things going wrong/the need for a regime to follow.

i don't remember that specific instance but ur right sangwoo isn't the type to lie either (another autistic trait) so maybe he is receiving therapy. its not mentioned in the manhua either but its a good headcanon yk what i'm gonna hc this too!!

on to four: he's touch-evasive. he's always been prickly about touching and being touched from the beginning. about ppl evading his personal space. but then he has a moment that time w jaeyoung, and concludes it must be this, so he asks jaeyoung to warn him before hand (implying he doesn't not want to be touched by jaeyoung, he simply thinks he needs to be prepared before hand so he doesn't have another episode). bc he assumes others would feel the same, he gives the same respect to jaeyoung and warns him before he pats his head.

five: the baseball cap he wears. idek why but neurotypicals fancy eye contact so fucking much and its really really difficult for autistic kids. each of ur just adapt around it thou? either making uncomfortable eye contact for a few seconds to let the other person know ur paying and then breaking it, or focusing on another spot on their face, or even forcing ur self to hold eye contact so u seem normal and attentive...yeah we do it all. sangwoo must have used the baseball cap as a protective measure bc if his eyes aren't clearly visible to anyone, a tilt of his head is all he'd need for them to believe he's looking at them.

after things go south w jaeyoung, he stops wearing it, then wears it again, and that goes to show how absent-minded he's become (even that scene where he wears his shirt inside out). he's so out of it, he doesn't remember to carry his shield around w him at all times, and isn't bothered by that. then when jaeyoung and him are talking again, he doesn't wear it around jaeyoung to appease him, bc he remembers that jaeyoung wanted him to take it off.

also. just his general relation w jaeyoung. like after first he hates him bc jaeyoung's hurting him by disrupting his routine, by forcing him into a sudden change. that's why he hates him so vehemently. he thinks jaeyoung knows how much this affects him (bc he won't see this from jaeyoung's pov, esp if he's not told), and bc he believes this is genuine malice, he returns the same. jaeyoung's the one who realizes this is affecting him a lot more than it would affect others, and no questions asked he stops (like a decent person thank god). he hadn't meant to actually hurt sangwoo, he was only fooling around. but he grows attached to this dude and wants to grow closer to him, so he plays the role of a good, responsible hyung. but sangwoo's textbook states that jaeyoung is a mean, unpredictable person. so he writes it off as another phase.

except whatever problems he has, jaeyoung accommodates them. whatever he asks of him, jaeyoung follows it. whatever line he draws, jaeyoung respects it. jaeyoung doesn't try to understand or explain each of sangwoo's actions and choices. he just accepts him as he is, like he would any other person. he's respectful and easy to be around (at least in the drama). that's why sangwoo falls in love w him. jaeyoung is earnest and open, and although he's confusing and hard to read, he does explain himself when asked, and he tries his best to adjust to sangwoo. like how sangwoo's always had to adjust for society. they both put in effort to stay together, to meet each other halfway, that's why they work out.

[jin-zixun]

MDZS Rereading - Chapter 3 (Part Two) - The Prideful (Arrogance 6-10)

Manhua Chapters 13-26

Guess I should uh...

Chapter 3 Part One ; Chapter Two ; Chapter One

Oh boy this uh. Hey boys you don't notice anything wrong with that statue, do you? No? Alright just checking. I'm sure it's fine.

Alright now it's definitely not correct you guys.

"This Heavenly Maiden statue had once been an ordinary rock, but it just so happened to resemble a person, so it had received centuries of worship that led it to gaining spiritual power. However, its greed was insatiable. One single, deviant whim gave it a mind to expedite the elevation of its spiritual powers by way of consuming souls. Offering the fulfillment of a wish in exchange for the devouring of a soul—it operated on the same terms as those wish-makers who offered their own souls up to be devoured. It was a fair trade, by all appearances. Everyone got what they wanted, which was why the needle of the Compass of Ill Winds did not move and the spirit-attraction flag summoned nothing. The treasured swords and talismans were all ineffective because the creature on Mount Dafan wasn’t some nefarious being, but instead a god! This was a rogue god, raised up by centuries of worship, so to use devices made for attacking malicious spirits against it was the equivalent of attempting to extinguish fire with fire!"

I dunno, god or not, still seems pretty nefarious to me. Also with all the adaptations I always forget what's actually going on with the Heavenly Maiden. I still don't entirely know tbh. Is it important? Is it foreshadowing for Guanyin Temple? Who knows? Not me! What is this supposed to be, analysis of the story or something?

Ok but like the idea of someone asking a god for their husband to love them for the rest of their life and the god just killing him to cash in on that deal... Like fucked up monkey's paw situation but the monkey's paw eats you and your soul, and none of that shit was in the contract.

(I had a picture of the Heavenly Maiden eating people here but I was like. No I don't think so. I don't like it. I'm not going to subject anyone else to it if they don't want to see it. Just watch Attack on Titan. Same vibes.)

"Just then, clinking and clanking sounds resounded within the forest of Mount Dafan. Clink clank, clink clank. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, the noise came haltingly and reverberated in the deathly silent forest. It sounded like iron chains hitting each other, dragging on the ground. It was coming closer and closer, louder and louder. For some reason, this sound was oppressively threatening. Even the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden stopped her dance, her arms raised in the air as she stared blankly at the deep darkness from whence the sound came. Wei Wuxian put away the flute and stared intently in the same direction. Although the ominous feeling was growing stronger and stronger, since this creature was willing to answer his summons, then at least it was one that would obey him."

Best Boy Wen Ning! He's so cute? He's so cute! He's... The cutest corpse under the Yiling Patriarch!

"His face was pale and delicate, and as a matter of fact, he had a certain easy and somewhat melancholic handsomeness."

Wei Wuxian's hotness scale returns: "Wen Ning: actually pretty hot, for a corpse. Most corpses? Would not, but Wen Ning can get it, probably." (Wen Ning: Wei-gongzi... What does any of that mean?)

"This melody was one that came to his mind naturally, gentle and tranquil, a significant contrast to the strange, sharp sound from before."

You know that feeling when you accidentally play your love theme while demonically cultivating because you completely forgot that's your love theme? Yeah me neither. Wild.

"Yet unexpectedly, Lan Wangji’s eyes were locked firmly on him, and he’d never spared a single look Wen Ning’s way."

uNeXpEcTeDLy oh my god Wei Ying. I've got nothing.

"Seeing that nothing had happened to Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng was greatly relieved. However, that relief soon turned into a furious reprimand: “Do you not have a signal flare on you?! Don’t you know to set one off when you run into those creatures?! What are you pretending to be so strong for? Get the hell over here!” Jin Ling was angry at not having captured the soul-eating Heavenly Maiden as well, and he yelled back, “Weren’t you the one who said I had to capture it at any cost?! That I couldn’t go back to you until I caught it?!” Jiang Cheng really wanted to slap this stinking brat back to his mother’s womb. But he had indeed said those things, and he couldn’t possibly eat his own words."

Jiang Cheng is the Uncle of all time.

"There was a certain current of unspeakable anticipation as they hoped the Lan and Jiang clans really would fall out. Things would be more interesting then."

Jianghu confirmed for messy bitches who love drama but like that's nothing new. We knew that. We *opened* on that.

"He had been ranked fourth in looks and character among the young masters of the prominent clans. “Charming and cheerfully handsome,” the people had called him— and this hot-tempered Sect Leader Jiang had happened to be ranked fifth, defeated by one rank, so no one dared raise the subject with him."

Ah yes, the canonical hotness rating scale. Gotta love that we do have a canonical hotness rating scale. So there's precedent for Wei Wuxian immediately rating the hotness of whatever guys show up. He came with receipts! His sources are cited!

"Wei Wuxian continued, “Your kindness is too much, thank you. But you’re also overthinking things. Even if I like men, I don’t like all men, and I definitely don’t just go home with any man who waves at me. I’m not interested in your type.” Wei Wuxian was trying to disgust him on purpose. Jiang Cheng hated losing; no matter how nonsensical the competition, if someone were to say he wasn’t as good as so-and-so, he’d be so angry that he’d stop eating and drinking until he’d thought of a way to win against them. Sure enough, Jiang Cheng’s face darkened."

So his plan for Jiang Cheng trying to torture and probably kill him is to make him jealous that "Mo Xuanyu" doesn't want to fuck him. And this works somehow.

"Lan Wangji, on the other hand, could never tolerate such frivolous and senseless jokes. Once he grew disgusted, he would definitely draw the line and keep his distance on his own. Disgusting both of them would be like killing two birds with one stone!"

At least this works distinctly less well.

Yeah, 'Mark Your Words' coming in as the next iconic scene.

I haven't said a whole lot on this part, but on the other hand, at least I didn't go off on the Nie Sect this time! You're safe for now Qinghe Nie!

Guess that means it's time for the Cute Lan roundup! (ft bonus Wen Ning!)

[sereina-archive]

i think this chapter is the final one in the series so i guess my iconing for serena stops here :’) lowkey kind of emo over it and honestly idk how to feel abt the ending but!! she is still so pretty n i love her

also 👀 oo girl

[cnovelartreblogs]

How to Read Manhua on Bilibili: Legal, Free, and in English

In my posts on this blog, I keep sharing screen caps from manhua I've read on Bilibili, along with the link to read it yourself, but I know:

This blog doesn't have all that many followers.

It's one thing for me to post the link and quite another for people to realize just how easy this is to do.

Considering how often I see English-speaking MXTX/c-novel/c-drama/donghua fandom peeps screaming and begging for more content, I'm now begging you in return:

STOP SLEEPING ON THE BILIBILI APP!

If you want more danmei content, fully legal, entirely free, already translated, you literally c.a.n.n.o.t. do better than using the Bilibili app to read manhua. That's not to say this is a perfect method - their translations are...um...wanting sometimes? (Shout out to the four pages in a row I recently read where someone broke in to a residence and every time the breaker-inner was mentioned they were called "the intrud") But it's still ALL THERE, FOR US, ANYTIME, and the more eyes the manhua in the apps gets, the more content we'll get, so please, PLEASE, if you're out there thirsting for danmei content, DO THIS.

Wondering how?

Well, I've got you covered.

WAY 1: The Bilibili Manhua Website

I know I said "get the app" but honestly you don't even need an app to do this! You can read on Bilibili using any web browser.

The website is Bilibilicomics.com.

It looks like this:

Yes, you're reading that right: there's an entire section of BL.

There's also an entire section of GL!

There are 38 titles in GL and 121 titles, yes ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE titles, in BL.

AND there's het stuff, and non-romance stuff too!

New episodes general come out weekly or biweekly, though a few things are daily. The website is often a few chapters ahead of the app (which I actually didn't realize until just now - Chapter 55 of Legend of Exorcism, for example, came out today on the app, but it lists 60 episodes as available on the website. Which, considering the cliffhanger I just read... *eyes emoji*...though apparently in other cases there are more chapters on the app than on the website, so ymmv.)

The best-known title available (again: FOR FREE. OFFICIALLY. LEGALLY. IN ENGLISH) is Tian Guan Ci Fu. When you go to a specific title's page, you get this...

...and reading it is as simple as selecting the chapter you want, clicking it, and et voila! Just scroll down and read to your heart's content!!

NOTE: SOME CHAPTERS WILL HAVE WAIT TIMES. More on this shortly.

WAY 2: The Bilibili App for Android

I personally have been reading primarily from the Android app, since I have a Samsung Galaxy phone and a lot of time sprawled on my couch while my kids watch cartoons.

You can download the app from the Play store - here's a link, for what that's worth.

It looks, essentially, like this (I'm logged in so mine looks a little different than non-logged-in, I made an account even tho you don't actually need one):

If you don't want to make an account, you don't have to. If you choose to, as you see it'll try to guess what other titles you might like. tbh I have no idea how good these recommendations may be; I'm still reading/catching up on the specific titles I wanted to read so I haven't had to try their recommendations yet. But, there's definitely some stuff that looks interesting (that top middle one definitely looks up my alley...)

You can also "favorite" things (again: EVEN WITHOUT AN ACCOUNT) and it'll store them in your library and make a red dot (like you can see on the above screen cap) when something has an update you haven't read yet. For example, here's my Favorite list, which helps me keep track of what I'm reading and enjoying (or, well, in one case I'm more "wtfing" than "enjoying" but hey that still counts).

There's even a weird, like, "dress up" side game??? So like, every chapter you read there's a chance the app will drop a "card" and you can use the cards to dress your avatar up, and there's a whole crafting system built in? It's. A little odd. But, considering I recently quit my Love Nikki addiction after 3+ years, it's nice to get a small hit of pointless dress up.

Yes, my avatar is currently wearing San Lang's shirt.

The point is, again: this app is free to download, and incredibly easy to use, and even has a fun pointless side game.

BUT. There is one "but" here. See the Coins: 0 Top Up right below my randomly assigned username?

There is an optional pay system. What does it do? It reduces wait times.

Some titles, but not ALL, have a "built in delay" that kicks in at some point. On some, it seems to start when you're "within 5 chapters of the most recent" (that's what's happened with Global Examination and TGCF, for example). For others, it seems to be arbitrary - for A Single Strike of Shimmering Frost, it kicked in at chapter 40 even tho there are, like, 80 something chapters up. Regardless, it always works the same.

The system functions using wait times, and it has 5 tiers that are always the same.

Tier 1: You must wait one minute before you can read the next chapter. This tier is rarely an issue; the count down sometimes (but not always??? it's weird) starts when you start a new chapter, and it almost always takes more than one minute to read a full chapter, so this tier is often "satisfied" before you even get to the next chapter.

Tier 2: You must wait six minutes before you can read the next chapter.

Tier 3: You must wait one hour before you can read the next chapter.

Tier 4: You must wait six hours before you can read the next chapter.

Tier 5: You must wait twenty-four hours before you can read the next chapter.

I initially thought this system functioned as "once you reach Tier 5, you're just stuck there and can only read a chapter a day" but it's turned out that's not the case - A Single Strike of Shimmering Frost having 40+ semi-locked chapters has given me the chance to actually test this a bit. In fact, what happens is:

The first time you hit a "wait delay" chapter, it puts you at Tier 1 and you have to wait a minute. The next chapter, you up to Tier 2, the next to Tier 3, then Tier 4, then Tier 5...and then it cycles back to Tier 1. So, with a little care and planning (which I almost always fail at) I can time reading something with many wait-delayed chapters such that I can read 5 chapters in one day, then I have to wait a full day, then I can read 5 more chapters.

Here's how it looks when you've done your waiting in purgatory and can now read on...

...and here's how it looks when the sad trombones play...

Now, I mentioned I'd circle back to the coins? THE TIME HAS COME! Because, look - for 17 coins, you can read on instantly!! Alternatively, if you're willing to share on social media, you can also skip (I have no if that's something you can do over and over, or just once, cause I haven't tried - you can skip the wait time once for free). This begs the question, then...is 17 coins a lot?

And the answer is...

...eh not really, no. Ten bucks will get you the ability to pay 17 coins many, many times (58, to be precise), but honestly? I haven't spent a penny yet and I've caught up on 7 different titles and am steadily reading through two more (one of which hasn't had wait times kick in yet, I just can only read so fast).

All of which is to say: yes, there's a pay system, and tbh, I'm probably going to throw them a few bucks not because I care about the wait times but because I'm getting so much enjoyment out of reading these titles and I want to support them a little (I also bought the print version of the TGCF vol. 1 and will likely buy the other volumes, and I once-upon-a-time paid to watch TGCF s. 1 streaming as they came out). With a little patience there is absolutely zero call for spending even one penny to read as much of this cornucopia as you want.

WAY 3: Download the Bilibili App on Apple

I don't have access to an iPhone and don't feel like grabbing my tablet rn and I've hit the Tumblr image limit anyway, but the Apple app looks about the same as the Android app, and you can download it HERE.

Basically: use the website, or download the app for whichever platform you're using, and READ, READ, READ!

So, what is there to read?

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED!

(okay, cutting to a read more)

I've been reading on the app pretty regularly for like two months (prior to that I was only reading TGCF, and only when I remembered, which was rarely), but I'm juggling a lot AND reading other stuff too so I am far from having explored the wide range of options. I can, however, highlight a few I think are likely to be of interest to a danmei-reading audience. Note that of these, I've only read the novels for TGCF, TYQHM, and Daomu Biji, which means that I only know as far as the manhuas have covered for the rest - I haven't read farther than that yet.

A. Tian Guan Ci Fu by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. The one, the only - this is the official manhua with art by Starember. It tells the story of newly ascended god Xie Lian trying to navigate the intricacies of the heavenly bureaucracy, figure out his place in the world, and understand why a sexy guy in red keeps showing up in his life. (Worst synopsis ever award goes to: ME!). The English translation is currently on episode 77, which has Xie Lian and Hua Cheng in the gambler's den. A volume just ended, which means it's on hiatus temporarily - there's usually a month or two break between volumes - so it'll be back soon!

B. Global Examination by Mu Su Li. Based on the book Global University Entrance Examination, featuring art by E Zi. Global Examination is a story set in a dystopian near-future about a world where groups of people are randomly selected (read: kidnapped and forced) to participate in an "exam" where they have to answer extremely complex puzzles. If they succeed, they get to live and become one of the people who administer the exam. If they fail, they die. Despite the premise sounding dark, it's really not been so bad and I've been reassured it won't become so. The story itself focuses on You Huo, a recently selected examinee with amnesia, the other people in his examinee group, and Examiner 001, who clearly has some kind of history with You Huo. If only he didn't also have amnesia, we might even know what that history is...

C. Dinghai Fusheng Records and Legend of Exorcism, both based on the books of the same names written by Fei Tian Ye Xiang. The art for Dinghai Fusheng Records is by Qianerbai (who has also done a lot of work for the Mo Dao Zu Shi audio drama) and for Legend of Exorcism, it's by Warp. These stories are set in the same 'verse, at least several hundred years apart; it's a xianxia high-fantasy setting, and the main enemies are resentment monsters and demons (...or are they? dun dun duuuun). Dinghai Fusheng Records takes place, chronologically, first, and occurs a couple hundred years after a calamity caused all qi to fade from the world - there are only mortals, and no one can cultivate. It follows Chen Xing, a young man born with a gift, as he seeks his protector - Xiang Shu - and others, and they encounter (surprise!) unspeakable evil. Legend of Exorcism takes place in the "future" of Dinghai Fusheng Records, and focuses on Kong Hongjun, a half-demon boy who has received a summons to join the Exorcism Department, as he explores the mortal world for the first time and gets to know the others who have summoned to join the Department, especially the mortal leader Li Jinglong.

D. Daomu Biji titles, originally by Nanpai Sanshu. There are two DMBJ titles on Bilibili right now, though both only have a few chapters, and the website lists them as "on hiatus." I've read them both, and am not entirely sure what's up with one especially, but... Grave Robbers' Chronicles starts where Book 1 starts, with changes of course but it's quite recognizable as the initial "Wu Xie is brought a silk scroll and gets curious and then Wu Sanxing gets involved" plot line. The Grave Robbers' Chronicles Seven Dreams is...odder...and as far as I can tell is an alternate canon/AU which starts with a "what if" of "what if the Zhang's were incredibly abusive, raised child!Zhang Qiling themselves, and Wu Xie and he met as kids." It's. Um. Extremely weird. And not for those sensitive to kids getting beaten bloody. But I'm still hoping they'll release more than 9 chapters, if only because I'm curious.

E. A Single Strike of Shimmering Frost, based on the novel A Sword of Frost by Yu Xiao Lanshan. This one opens with the Prince Ji Yanran approaching Sect Master Yun Yifeng, who runs a sect of spies and information collectors, to ask for help finding an item that has been stolen from the palace. In exchange, he promises to give Yun Yifeng the cure to an ailment that plagues him. Problem 1: he doesn't actually have this cure. Problem 2: everywhere they go people start dying. Problem 3: catching feels for the pretty Sect Master. Despite having the trappings of xianxia, this story has actually thus far been a sequence of murder mysteries with politics-related causes.

F. Saved the Public Enemy By Mistake by Liu Muqiao. If this is based on a novel, I haven't been able to track it down. It's xianxia; demon immortal cultivator Liu Jianghe shows up, nearly dead, on the doorstep of famed doctor Lu Jiu who is just trying to live a quiet life in seclusion. Not knowing who Liu Jianghe is, Lu Jiu saves him, and thus stumbles into a mess of politics and history he doesn't understand...but nothing is actually how it seems, there's amnesia and hidden back stories galore, there's a heavy side plot of sword lesbians, and honestly I've read like 50 chapters and I'm still a little lost but the art is pretty and I really need to read the reveal on the two MCs history together so I'm sticking with it. Warning that it's got a fair amount of blood and gore.

G. Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo. A historical (non-cultivation) setting focused on politics, machinations, and the long history and deep love between Zhong Wan - former top-scorer on the national exam who lost his position when his adopted father was accused of treason - and Yu She, of dubious parentage and believed by most people to be the bastard son of the Emperor. I loved the book for this, and finding out that the manhua was on Bilibili is a lot of what drove me to download the app.

So - that's everything I'm currently reading: 6 titles inspired by explicitly BL danmei titles, 2 based on other books I like that aren't BL, and 1 BL that just looked interesting and my taste.

There's SO MUCH MORE, seriously. I'm going to be reading on this app for months and still finding more, I'm positive of it.

But unforth, I hear you say, there's some other manhua I want to read! What about Mo Dao Zu Shi? What about Erha? Are those on Bilibili? Can I read them? And the answer, sadly, is no. Those two are published by Kuaikan, which does not offer free legal English translations at this time. But! I am holding out hope that if the audience for Bilibili grows, other manhua publishers will see the profitability in emulating them. I cannot guarantee that anything we do will result in this happening, but I do feel pretty confident that if we don't read with the options currently available, we sure ain't likely to get more options.

SO. GO FORTH. READ THE THINGS I'VE MENTIONED. READ OTHER THINGS. COME BACK AND TELL ME WHAT YOU LOVED SO I HAVE SOME IDEA WHAT TO READ NEXT.

PLEASE.

I'm begging. GO READ MANHUA!!!

RIGHT NOW.

ON BILIBILI.

(and signal boost this post to get other people to do the same!! help the small fandoms grooooow! I really just wrote all of this so I'd have someone to scream with about the current awful that is the recent chapters of Legend of Exorcism PLEASE WE ALL NEED SQUEEMATES COME READ!!! THE THINGS! THEY'RE GOOD! WITH PRETTY ART!)