#my CDrama rambles

[psalm40speakstome]

Dongfang Qingcang: my emotions are dead, I can use hellfire, I feel nothing ever

Also Dongfang Qingcang: gave Orchid back her hair within minutes of meeting her because she was crying

[stormboundstars]

I do always love cdrama productions that are like. we will make our actors/characters the most insanely beautiful people ever. whether it's through costume design and hair & make-up (Love Between Fairy and Devil; Love You Seven Times; My Journey to You) or through storytelling– the way the character is framed in a shot/scene, angles, associated sceneries and motifs (Lost You Forever; In Blossom currently). actors becoming both art and artist. am I making sense

[kingsandbastardz]

Xiao Shunyao containing multitudes.

Even if he's technically using similar facial expressions, the vibe is different - and not just because of the costuming. Actors have to be malleable, I guess, so they can believably disappear.

[soiledtaste]

this is very belated because i wasn't even sure i was going to do this post but i do enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts when i do. here's what stood out to me last year both favorites and just standouts

kimi to nara koi wo shite mite mo

last twilight (sans the ending)

kiseki: dear to me

moonlight chicken

my beautiful man 2

only friends (not perfect but still enjoyed it)

bokura no shokutaku

the eighth sense

pit babe (i have no words as to why i enjoyed this as much as i did. i blame the cast, why they got to be so good)

the sign (i still haven't watched the finale because i don't want it to be over)

unintentional love story

taikan yoho

kimi ni wa todokanai

tsukuritai onna to tabetai onna

shigatsu no tokyo wa...

@morathicain @gunsatthaphan @starminesister @bilights @pearloftheorient @untouchabyeolman @nocturnalgrimoire @desire-for-madness @haymaepunk @pharawee @taikanyohou @firstkhaoo @ceciolla95 @deshimango @nohshinwoos @thasorns & all

hope some people i follow don't mind me tagging because i've been in such a drama slump as of late that maybe hearing from others about dramas i missed might motivate me to get back into them

[extraordinarilyextreme]

Commenter 1: Only after I went to watch did I realize, no matter if it's Ultimate Note, Heroes, or the currently airing Mysterious Lotus Casebook, in the end, it seems the only one left is Zeng Shunxi, all alone. That's so wretched. Commenter 2: Wu Xie: "My life is lucky."

[ssantisheep]

I am deep in mysterious Lotus casebook and my fav is the ultimate puppy made human fdb

I also enjoy a good genderbend so i cant help but think of girl!fdb

FDB as a girl is not very much different from FDB as a boy. Same round cheek same big doe eyes, same earnest desire to do good, same tendency to latch onto people way too fast, same way of proclaiming that LLX is their master no matter what.

She’s taller that most girl which considering she spent most of her early life sick and on the verge in dying is pretty extraordinary.

She is also far stronger than any girl LLH has met. In fact, she might be stronger that most men in the martial world.

She doesn’t wear jewelry and dress with men’s robes even if they are a delicate shade of pastel blue, purple or sometimes just simple white and cream. She doesn’t wear make-up -doesn’t see the point-.

DFS and LLH gets used with varying success to the fact that girl! FDB is a pampered rich lady as well as a clever detective as well as a strong and dependent martial art practitioner. They also treat her as an equal and even sometimes forget her gender.

And of course once they get used to her, once they actually managed to save LLH, once they are living the three of them as peacefully as they can they get slapped in the face by the reality of FDB is a woman when they see her dressed as a young lady of her ilk.

It’s also the moment those two men realize that apparently FDB’s parents still want her married to one of the princes and they better do something if they don’t want FDB to get out of their grasp.

[rapha-reads]

Feng Lanxi's dedication to single-handedly destroy Huang Chao's entire army just because they dared bloody up Feng Xiyun's armor is like, GOALS. Know what I mean? Get you a man that's so entirely dedicated to you he'll conquer the world just to give it to you kneeling down at your feet.

[lyselkatz]

This happened last night, well, not exactly...

...☕?/commission

A coup took place in my brain's parasocial bubble last night, dà-Chéng stopped by in a dream, all charm and smile, fake-pouting and complaining that I've been neglecting him lately (and kicking YáoYao out) 😆.

Then I woke up to this nice photoshoot so I felt compelled to move a drama of his up my watch list and started binging An Oriental Odyssey 盛唐幻夜. If that's what the Universe wants me to do... Who I am to refuse appreciating Zhèng YèChéng's good acting, very nice original voice and handsome face? 🤭

[tiny-breadcrumbs]

3 am in the morning and my brain insist that xiao shunyao will make a good yang guo especially the older one in his 16 years wait for xiao longnv. He got that flavor of handsomeness where its more rough and wild instead of delicate looking. Man already build like a tank, he can fit in beautifully with a good styling in that kind of wuxia drama.

[trendingdrama]

just wondering do cdrama board or whatever hold some convention annually or something because they all went let's have all the firefighter theme dramas be released in second half of 2023

[faifromthewild]

"There is hope as long as you live."

My notes on themes of depression and found family in New Life Begins

Spoilers for New Life Begins ep. 24-25

CW: childbirth, depression, postpartum, attempted suicide.

Just finished episode 25 of New Life Begins, and I was NOT prepared for the absolute chaos of found family breaking all of the rules to save their depressed friend from dying.

The raw emotion. The sheer absurdity of Yin Qi threating to hurt himself if they don't let him take the physician to see his friend. The way you can tell Li Wei dove into the water to save her friend bc she's soaking wet. Zhao Fang Ru telling the maid not to cry just minutes before having her own breakdown. Because crying would be admitting defeat, and she isn't about to let Hao Jia die, and yet... she can't stop her own tears. And of course, Yin Zheng showing up just in time. Holding a sword to his brother's throat so the others can run in and help Hao Jia.

It's all so melodramatic and bordering on ridiculous, but I LOVE it. Despite the DRAMA, it's so real and relatable and moving. Let me explain...

As someone who is mentally ill, I was so impressed with how they depicted Hao Jia's depression. The self-loathing. The feelings of incompetence. The belief that you deserve your fate bc of the mistakes you made. I have never given birth or suffered from postpartum depression, but so much of what Hao Jia feels mirrors my own experience with depression.

Which is why I was so moved by her friends and their absolute REFUSAL to stand by and do nothing while she suffered. While she was dying.

Li Wei running from the carriage when she realizes what Hao Jia might do...

Shang Guan Jing saying "From this day forth, we're her family who will back her up." (Ep. 24) And taking up her spear when she hears that Hao Jia's dying, claiming she'll take the physician there by force if she has to.

The 5th and 6th prince feeling powerless but doing everything they possibly can, from angering their father and going against their brother, the Crown Prince. Threatening violence even. All to help save Hao Jia. (I know people will argue that it's bc they want to help their wives, but I think it goes beyond that. Bc they seem seriously concerned about Hao Jia too. They're worried about her).

Zhao Fang Ru gripping Hao Jia's hand as she lays on the bed, cold and getting colder, pleading "Do you hear me? Open your eyes and talk to me. Hao Jia!" Using every tactic at her disposal, even threatening Hao Jia that if she dies, she'll take it out on her child. (I don't think she would actually hurt Hao Jia's child. I DO think Zhao Fang Ru is desperate enough to say anything if she thinks it will wake Hao Jia, and keep her from letting go).

I have a confession to make. While I have always hated the role of "damsel in distress," there's a part of me that has always wanted to be rescued.

When I played by myself as a child, I would imagine scenarios where I was in danger and someone would save me. Interestingly, whenever I played with my friends, I hated when it was my turn to be rescued in our games. But when I was alone, when I couldn't pretend to be the strong hero...

Maybe that's why I always appreciate stories like this. Where someone who is alone and scared has a support system that will do anything to take care of them. Will fight and scream and rage if it means saving them. It doesn't fix everything, and it doesn't always cure them, but it's beautiful. It fills me with wonder. I think that's why found family is a favorite trope of mine. People finding each other and caring for each other. Fighting the odds together.

At the end of episode 25, Hao Jia is surrounded by her friends. She says, "I heard about all the things you did for me. I've failed you."

To which Li Wei replies, "As long as you live, we will do anything. You were unhappy because you were ill. Take good care of yourself and recover. Your life comes before anything else, understood?"

Yuan Ying adds, "If you ever need help, you must let us know."

"Right," says Shang Guan Jing. "We are all here for you. Don't shoulder everything on your own."

They all look up to see that it's dawn. The sun rises, and sunlight filters in through the window and touches each of their faces.

And I'm crying. Because for so long, I felt like Hao Jia. I felt alone, and I felt like I deserved to be alone. But like her, I also have friends who care for me and don't want me to suffer in silence.

The internet says this show is a historical romantic COMEDY btw. And yeah, most of the show has been fairly light-hearted. There's romance, family, politics, and food. LOTS of delicious food.

Don't get me wrong. It still has funny moments (I wasn't kidding when I said parts of this show are absurd), but I'm pleasantly surprised to discover the show also wants to tackle serious issues.

Whatever else this show may be, for me, it's about these friends and how they've become a family. It's beautiful, and I'm in love.

To everyone out there struggling with depression, I leave you with this line from Li Wei, "There is hope as long as you live."

[psalm40speakstome]

“The plants have enough spirit

to transform our limited vision.”

Rosemary Gladstar

Honestly this was just on my teabag but it felt so them coded I had to

[ravixen]

work is so hard 😭😭 the 5am wake up alarm...staying at school until 5pm...being behind on grading...needing to finish up hella benchmarks...but my coworkers are SO fun. they make every minute of my 20 minute lunch break enjoyable

[kingsandbastardz]

There was some sort of Sunday WIP thing that @randomingoftherandomness tagged me in but for the life of me, I can't find the post anymore. I'm just going to throw a piece of story on here as an incentive to continue writing lmao:

Mysterious Lotus Casebook: FangDi pairing in inception but not sure when I'll finish this because my brain's been mired in existential sadness and ghost stories and I haven't found anything fun enough to pull me out of that creative mode. As you can see, the tone of this thing is my 4am insomnia-drunk attempt at the romance genre. But... all I'm ending up with is goofy comedy.

Feel free to comment, but this is a first draft regurgitation, so keep that in mind.

------

Pear Blossoms In Spring

“Ah, this is the Iron Head Slave. Remember?” says Li Lianhua the Lying Liar gesturing to the tall, leggy beauty blocking their path. “His name is a-Fei.”

The iron head slave is still lying dead not too far behind them, his feet sticking out from under a bush -- but Fang Duobing isn’t about to argue. He is too busy feeling as if all the air is being sucked out of his lungs, causing his vision to narrow and the world to spark in bright white light. Is this what love at first sight feels like?

A-Fei sighs and stares off into the trees as Li Lianhua continues to babble. Fang Duobing doesn’t hear a word being said.

“—which is perfect, You’re taking Ge Pan to Baichuan Court, so I’ll be taking him to Pudu temple to find another old friend of his,” Li Lianhua says.

“You speak so much nonsense,” a-Fei mutters, his voice is grating and viperish - and dripping with a fascinating blend of resignation and arrogance. He turns on his heel and stalks away.

“So rude,” Fang Duobing says admiringly, entranced by the perky sway of a-Fei’s skirt as he strides down the path in front of them. Both Ge Pan and Li Lianhua look askance at him.

*

Fang Duobing loved wild, powerful animals. The more willful and temperamental the better. He'd grown up with needles stabbed deep into his meridians, the taste of copper blood and vomit on his tongue, and the acrid poison of immolated oil belched from the monstrous machines rolled out from his mother's workshop. Was it any wonder that the first thing his young fingers reached for would be the glimmering scales of a black python? Or the bloodied, silver fur of a chained, snarling wolf?

[soiledtaste]

i believe it was last year that i did a ‘my favorites of the year’ post and this year i wanted to mix it up and do a ‘these dramas really surprised me in the best of ways’ post so here they are and i would love to see yours as well

@untouchabyeolman @morathicain @pearloftheorient @desire-for-madness @haymaepunk @tmlssmope @nocturnalgrimoire @pharawee @porschessmile @mrdumpling @gunsatthaphan @team-win @starminesister & anyone who would like to do this​

[extraordinarilyextreme]

OP: Just so you know, this isn't "pursuing a wife" or "pursuing a husband." It's how they regard each other as zhiji, and Xiaobao's conviction (faith), which is a type of entanglement even more precious than friendship. OP: Understanding is more important than love. OP: This can be called "soulmates." Commenter: "Soulmates" is the best way to put it. Indeed, the feelings between them cannot be summed up with just a few words.