Let’s Get Controversial

Self-restraint has left the building . All hot takes will be tagged by fandom, character and pairing. Play nicely! Or don’t 🤷‍♀️

[danmei-hot-takes]

Send me your hottest danmei takes and I’ll tell you whether I agree or not.

[danmei-hot-takes]

On the topic of the Fetus Spirit in TGCF, can I just say it would have been 10x more interesting and added so much more depth if the father had been Mu Qing? (even though I think it could have been removed from the narrative completely and been just as good).

I feel like the whole thing was such a detriment to Feng Xin's character, had little to no buildup, but considering Mu Qing's issues with Xie Lian I think it could have worked so much more to give him more depth on why Mu Qing feels the way he does if he'd hooked up with one of Xie Lian's potential bridal candidates and learned his unborn kid got axed for whatever reason during his downfall.

But instead it was given to Feng Xin and makes almost no sense with what we know of his character, adds nothing to his character development, and sort of feels tacked on at the last second.

Y’know what, you raise a good point. I think it is more than Feng Xin is the father that gives me the most beef when it comes to the foetus spirit. Although why it needs to last over half the series as a plot point baffles me.

[danmei-hot-takes]

Don't know about anyone else, but honestly think it was a missed opportunity for there to only be 3 volumes in Svsss (not including the Extras in volume form) entirely because I would have died for a volume dedicated to fleshing out the Peaks, their lords, and basically every cast member that isnt Shen Qingqiu ans Luo Binghe and for us to at least know more about the world its set in and the people in it.

Oh well, guess ill go back to Ao3 for that.

I’m definitely not the audience for this because I dnf’d Svsss.

Luo Binghe is not my Shizun fucker.

[danmei-hot-takes]

My hot take is that TGCF is boring. I love Hualian, dont get me wrong, but so much of each book is just barely-relevent (if that) filler and pointless side stuff on the way to ACTUAL plot (im sorry but the whole coffin scene in volume 4 was so pointless).

Im in volume 5 and im just SO BORED. The plot was supposed to get interesting with the Mt Tonglu stuff and instead im sitting here with the fetus spirit again and more focusing on a past that we've already gone over.

I hope the rest of the series picks up.

(Also im sorry but the first flashback was so utterly boring i wanted to skip it so bad)

The foetus spirit is honestly the worst plot line in any book I’ve ever read and the fact it takes up so many volumes is diabolical. It also totally ruined Feng Xin’s character for me. It doesn’t make sense. The whole thing is bullshit.

The coffin scene is probably the most overhyped scene in a danmei too. Vol 4 is overhyped in general tbh. I was so ready for Blackwater and then I was like is that it?

Tgcf ranks low for me despite really enjoying the donghua and it being my first danmei. HOWEVER vol 6 is absolute fire! I loved everything about it. It’s the best volume in the series for me. It is mostly flashback to the start of human face disease (I think that’s what it’s called). Then it kind of dips off again so I dunno. If you’re not vibing it’s probably time to bounce.

[danmei-hot-takes]

Ngl, reading mdzs I felt like the romance was getting in the way of my found family history. Nothing against Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian as a couple, I do think they fit together, but they're not that interesting for me to be entertained by a whole novel just for them. I had to force myself to read the final chapters cuz it's my friend's favorite novel and I wanted to read it to make her happy

I wish we had more Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli moments, but MXTX is really bad at writing female characters... Oh well

Jin Guangyao and Jiang Cheng stole vol 5 for me. Yeah it’s the moment Wangxian confess, but do I care when Jin Guangyao is sharing his schemes and Jiang Cheng is strutting about with a whip? Spoilers: the answer was no.

Also the saddest moment for me out of the whole series was when I found out Jiang Cheng has been walking around with Wei Wuxian’s flute for years.

Honestly, I do actually like a lot of mdzs, I just wish that Jin Guangyao was the main character and Chengxian was canon. At least then mxtx would’ve succeeded in writing a gong that had more going on about them than the need to stick their dick in the shou.

With regard to female characters, I think bl in general is powered by internal misogyny to an extent, making badly written female characters a genre staple.

[danmei-hot-takes]

I think that even if something isn’t made for “western audiences” it can still absolutely be racist. Other places in the world are not exempt from racism and discrimination. I think its completely valid for people to call out racism they see in danmei regardless if they’re english speakers or not.

Sure some things can be lost in translation, but i think its willfully ignorant to ignore blatant bias and micro aggressions against specific ethnic groups when it’s staring you right in the face.

As for it showing up across multiple novels- just because multiple authors do it doesn’t make it okay.

I mean, everyone’s a little bit racist…

(Yes I will reference musical theatre at every opportunity)

To me, deconstructing racism in danmei is giving the same vibes as Heartstopper is superior to BL because…

But if those are the types of posts you want to see - be the change you want to see in the world.

[danmei-hot-takes]

MXTX really likes playing with and subverting tropes.

Anyhow Xie Lian is a white-lotus (the two-faced type) parody. He’s also def a daoist (the philosophy) in a way no other MXTX character really tries to be, but thats only kinda relevant to him being a white-lotus.

Probably and yet she doesn’t do a single trope I like 😭 Also her subversion of tropes sometimes feels like a set up of something else - something I would like and then no. Not for you!

Because let’s be honest, if tgcf leaned into its toxic workplace vibes, she would’ve succeeded in writing a gong that had a personality.

[danmei-hot-takes]

Not sure if this counts as a hot take, but TGCF's Banyue Arc deserves far more hate.

It literally goes against all the themes and messages the story is trying to set and on top of that is incredibly racist.

It has been bugging me since I read it, and given how it's set very early in the books and has very obvious problems I expected to find some discussion surrounding it, so imagine my surprise when there was almost nothing on it.

The fandom usually goes insane for absolutely whatever, so the fact that such a big problem in the books is never addressed is really weird. There are some complaints about it being dragged, but almost none about it's other, far more obvious shortcomings.

The whole of volume 1 of tgcf is painful to me tbh. I only pushed through it because I’d seen season 2 of the donghua and was waiting for my boy Qi Rong to show up and Hualian to get sexual about dice…

I’ll be honest, I’ve read 13 more danmei series after tgcf and as a result mxtx isn’t my jam in general so trying to remember the ins and outs of the Banyue arc outside of it being long and dull isn’t going well for me.

In terms of whether or not it’s incredibly racist, I don’t think the English speaking side of the fandom has any business writing long posts about. As someone who consumes a fair amount of East Asian media, I think the most important thing to remember is none of it is made with a Western audience in mind and so a lot of nuance and reference points are lost. Which is probably why you don’t see a lot of people talking about it.

Although, if it’s because of the depiction of barbarians - that sort of dynamic shows up in every historical/ancient danmei I’ve read across multiple authors.

[danmei-hot-takes]

i searched up a little on "body in abyss, heart in paradies" and i kind of hate xie lian now. or even if he's a genuinely good person, he's a little insensitive

I mean, he is a crown prince masquerading as a peasant so… him and Hua Cheng are definitely both the dickhead one in their friendship groups. Probably why they’re so well matched.

Also why it makes me so sad that Junlian never happened. Spoilt bratty prince with a toxic boss - iconic pairing right there.

This is why I never get on with mxtx books. She never gives me what I want.

[danmei-hot-takes]

if the informal rule of not shipping mxtx characters outside of canon ships is true well... that's not going to stop me from crossover shipping hua cheng or some other one with my other blorbos. i have the permit. the permit is from myself.

Personally, I’m not a fan of mash ups but you do you boo.

Rules are made to be broken!

[danmei-hot-takes]

Help I read that 2ha post while not paying attention and had to ask myself wtf Tianlang Jun did to the 2ha characters 😂😂😂. Truly was like I don’t go here but I know Tianlang Jun my man Also, does not go here. I love this blog.

Awwh thank you so much 💗 sadly, I do not go where Tianlang Jun does though I have been told I would love him.

[danmei-hot-takes]

Ok I still f*cking hate Taxian-jun.

#Taxian-junHaterForLife

No way because chapter 293 happened.

I dont care he went through so much pookie bear muah muah muah stfu. Just stfu I choose to hate him and love Mo-Zongshi because I'm a b*tch myself and am basic asf. 😍

The way he named the places Mo Ran and Chu Wanning shaboinked in is wild like no such DISRESPECT

If Taxian-jun has a million fans, then I am one of them. If Taxian-jun has ten fans, then I am one of them. If Taxian-jun has only one fan then that is me. If Taxian-jun has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against Taxian-jun, then I am against the world.

[danmei-hot-takes]

Meatbun when I catch you Meatbun

Idk on what godforsaken drug she was on while writing whatever is in 2ha volume 9 but she was clearly high asf.

I'm internally dying because my poor baby Xue Meng has to suffer so much 😭

I’ll confess I was reading qjj vol 4 this week so I am only actually starting 2ha tonight.

After vol 7 of Yuwu though I am concerned… I’ve heard Meatbun can’t stick a landing and she kinda didn’t. But then she also didn’t like Yuwu whereas I think she’s having a great time with 2ha and BaB so we shall see.

However I’ve heard great things about the angst in vol 9 and I did read part of the MTL after vol 8 to get to the goodnight Mo Ran part so I am hyped for the English translation. Chu Wanning loosing his shit on a dragon is what dreams are made of 💗

[danmei-hot-takes]

I dont fuck with the TCGF fandom, but Hua Cheng is not a CEO type ML. Like obviously I don’t care what one does in their modern AU porn (and you can have a CEO without them being the CEO-type), if I don’t like I just won’t read. He just happens to be really fucking rich bc all his stats have been maxed out after living 800 years. If I had to choose another type of common ML to categorize him as, I’d go the fox/mischievous-type.

Like the CEO type’s approach to the MC is spoiling and viewing them as something they can buy/own (then getting character growth)

HC’s approach is to being sticky and stepping when Xie Lian seems to need it. I know this doesn’t really sound Fox-type specific, though his slyness and talking-people-into-circles are pretty key characterizations.

Also Xie Lian isn’t babygirl he’s also troublemaker, he justs acts righteous about it.

I dunno… I think by law you kind of need the CEO type in an office worker AU to hit those peak toxic yaoi levels that make me love office themed bl SO MUCH.

Like I made a tgcf boku no sh mash up and I still think it is a vibe even though I have not updated it since… I want to say July 2024.

(I lied I just checked and it was the 29th September)

Hua Cheng runs ghost city so he can carry off being a CEO. Extra brownie points if he clashes with Jun Wu.

I do agree about Xie Lian though. He definitely doesn’t give babygirl. In fact, I don’t think any of mxtx mains/LI give babygirl. Meatbun novels on the other hand are filled with them!

[danmei-hot-takes]

I was so disappointed when it was revealed that Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan weren’t actually women

I haven’t seen much else about this on here (sorry if i’m wrong), but I mourn it honestly

This is the first ask I’ve gotten about it, although I’m sure I’ve had asks about portrayals of female characters before…

It’s a weird one to me tbh because I kind of love the lack of female characters in bl and that’s part of the appeal to me. But I’ve noticed in the danmei fandom people seem to be more inclined to want female characters. Although, I think that can probably come down to the cdrama pipeline that a significant portion of the danmei fandom seem to have gone down in that they didn’t come through the anime/manga/manhwa pipeline (also shout out to the sports anime to bl pipeline) so maybe that’s what’s done it.

Like I’m literally never forgetting the time I saw a post that said danmei wasn’t like yaoi at all when they’re literally the same thing 🤷‍♀️

[danmei-hot-takes]

I am targeting TGCF and MDZS with this. I feel like people who write modern AU fanfic for these fandoms try to make characters like HC, or WWX alternative but don’t know how. Like I see it so many times and it irks me sm

Interesting… Office Worker AU is my favourite modern au/guilty pleasure because I read a lot of salaryman bl back in the day… and actually probably still do thinking about the modern bl I read on Lezhin. So… I haven’t noticed too much in fanfic because suits.

However, I’ve seen in it fanart a lot. From the aesthetics view it’s kinda cute. It’s hard for me to properly judge it as I’m not really an mxtx girlie so I haven’t really dabbled with the fandom since I was reading the books last year.

[talk-danmei-to-me]

Danmei where the mains acknowledge the attractiveness of other men are superior.