fandom of the week: still Word of Honor and LLD • danmei, cdramas, kdramas, ATLA & TLOK, Star Trek, shitposts and anything whump • swears a lot • for fuck sake
Everyone knows the first day of Friend Grace’s class is nickname day. It’s the day when every pebble is on their best behavior to try and make sure they get a cool nickname, something unique that they can brag to their friends and classmates about.
Sometimes, Grace will do it without thinking. That’s how Kiddo and Buddy got their nicknames. Often, Grace will nickname students after their coloration. Gaia got his nickname because he’s blue and green, and apparently looks a lot like Earth. Violet got hers because she’s purple. (She was initially disappointed since color means nothing to Eridians, but then Friend Grace showed them violet flowers and said that humans often associated purple with wealth and royalty, and she changed her tune.) Most of the time, Grace will give his students what he calls “regular human names” like Abby, Carl, or Martin.
But the most coveted nicknames are ones named after Earthen creatures. When ♩♪♬ 🎵 ♩♪♬ 🎵 first introduced themselves, Friend Grace immediately perked up and shouted “Robin!” After a bit of explaining himself and a few videos of bird calls, Robin was trilling and chirping happily, excited at having a nickname that felt like a 1-to-1 translation of their own.
Even well after Friend Grace is gone, his legacy remains. A hundred years into the future, when humankind finally launches a new ship with the express purpose of properly meeting their Eridian neighbors, one of the first messages exchanged is “Hello! My name Robin.”
i don't even gaf about shipping discourse because i'm a big boy and a bad person for other worse reasons but if i can be real for a moment "proship DNI" in bio means nothing to me. if you want to keep me out you're going to need to line your blog with salt and iron or rat poison or something.
actually if i were to be less flippant and more brutally honest with you all my disdain for it stems from how much of it is just a thinly veiled excuse for people to fight about their fictional relationship preferences or simply for the sake of arguing without any investment in the reality of what they're claiming to represent and then take pride in their empty, performative activism. i still recommend the rat poison though.
girl help they are calling me a pedophile sympathiser in the notes for trying to point out that being disgusted by something is not the same as meaningfully working to prevent and safeguard against it by critically engaging with the complex reality of it. can i please just have the rat poison.
it’s always “I understand why you have an autism diagnosis now” and not “thank you for explaining the entirety of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to me, I really enjoyed hearing about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster”
being a kid and hearing adults say stuff like "woah 2011 was 4 years ago haha" didn't really convey the fucking horror of a youtube video crossing my recommended labelled "9 years ago" and it's from 2017. that's not true. 9 years ago is 2010 or something. don't lie.
The spring and its allergies are in full bloom, so it's the perfect time to reminisce about the time of long-long ago (2024-2025 AD), when literally every other cdrama title was translated into English with some variation of "blossom".
According to word on the streets, there are many who are still confused and enraged, so I'm here to quell your wrath and offer some clarity on who is who and what is what, and help you decide if those dramas sound interesting enough to check out. You're welcome.
P.S. I'm gonna talk about the mix of cdramas that are relatively popular and also the ones I felt like talking about. I'm not including the dramas that came out before that time, and neither those 2-minute vertical minis because I don't wanna and because this list would be literally endless
P.P.S. Those that I've watched I marked with ✔️ so proceed henceforth knowing that it's my personal opinion
PSPSPSPS. The order of the dramas is random
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1. BLOSSOM (2024, 34 ep., full-length) ✔️
a bunch of my posts
A noblewoman Dou Zhao dies, betrayed by everyone close to her, but not before a chance encounter with Song Mo - a general accused of treason. When she wakes up in her own body a decade before, she is resolute to not repeat the same mistakes again.
The classic "rebirth" story from the director of recently explosive "Pursuit of Jade", so you know it looks and feels incredible. The past life flashback takes up mere 20 minutes of screentime, but leaves such an impression on you, that you carry it throughout the whole drama
It stars Meng Ziyi, Li Yunrui, Xia Zhiguang, Kong Xueer and many others.
the characters are all great, the story is gripping (if only a bit convoluted by the end), and our battle couple is tender, smart, competent and ride-or-die for each other
but I wouldn't be me if I ever shut up about the (explicitly canonical btw!) platonic soulmates that are Dou Zhao and Ji Yong!!!
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2. THE BLOSSOMING LOVE (2025, 40 ep., full-length)
A fantasy story about a (Heavenly?) Emperor who sacrificed himself in order to create a reincarnation cycle. Later he himself gets reincarnated to a sect who likes to wear white, while his beloved goes to the ✨dark side✨. Stuff begin to happen. Enemies to lovers to enemies to ???, magic fights and multiple lifetimes.
Starring Zhang Binbin, Sun Zhenni, Wang Duo(!!!), etc
As you can probably guess, I haven't watched it yet, but I heard great things, so it's still in my bookmarks, waiting for its time to shine.
Some bits I gathered from the grapevine are:
Fighting divinity itself? Someone becomes a stone at one point. Disassociation king Wang Duo. Triad feels. Very cool and kinda existential? Wang Duo tortured and covered in blood.
If you're up for it, then 🫴
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3. IN BLOSSOM (2024, 32 ep., full-length) ✔️
Yang Caiwei, a local coroner despised for her background and a face disfigurement, meets the dashing gentleman Pan Yue, but gets murdered on her wedding day. However the story isn't over yet, because she soon wakes up in a body of a local crazy rich lady Shangguan Zhi who is famously obsessed with Pan Yue. So now she has to figure out what to do with her current identity, how to prove that behind all this plot was Pan Yue, and also the local mafia starts acting weird...
Starring Ju Jingyi, Liu Xueyi, Wu Jiayi, Li Geyang, etc.
I've heard not very good things about it before ultimately deciding to watch it, but personally I ended up enjoying it quite a bit!
Ju Jingyi was pretty good in this role, and Liu Xueyi is - well, it's Liu Xueyi, he always delivers. The romance was cute, but I enjoyed whole "trying-to-kill-each-other-enemies to unwilling coworkers to real crime-solving team"- part of their relationship the most. The murder cases were interesting, the cinematography was great, and for those hesitant I present to you two things - gruesome murders and grieving and deadly Liu Xueyi with white streaks in his hair
and also I'm pretty sure it was this gorgeous fmv by @hlcyxnfilms that sold me on this drama in the beginning:
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4. MEET YOU AT THE BLOSSOM (2024, 12 ep., full-length)
And we have our first proper BL after many years of total black-out!🥳 Well, things are a bit more complicated than that, because this show was produced and released in Thailand, while featuring mostly Chinese actors. It's probably even more complicated, but whatever - it's here, it's openly queer and we're blessed for this
Basically, there's this carefree and rich guy Jin Xiaobao, who instantly falls in love with a mysterious beautiful woman Huai En, who he soon discovers is indeed stunning, but also not really a woman and also very much crazy.
Very romantic, very toxic and possessive and unhealthy - which is 👍👍👍 in my books. Aphrodisiacs, murders and secret identities. Also there's also a prince who's obsessed with his own cousin?
I haven't watched it yet, and yes, I'm ashamed, but it's downloaded on my laptop and just waits for the right moment. Honestly if you want to know more, I suggest just going through @guzhufuren tags, because I was there for their descent into madness, and it was glorious!
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5. BLADES AMID BLOSSOMS (2025, 24 ep., mini) ✔️
another bunch of posts
"I've been looking for you for three years. I never thought you'd be hiding here."
"Looking? You've been hunting me for three years."
I mean, this mini TECHNICALLY is not BL, but if you think Yan Shiyi and Han Dao are anything else other than eachothersexuals, then I have terrible news for you
The plot - after some sort of tragic incident, former shixiong and shidi meet again as a suspect and investigator respectively in a Manor of a freshly deseased Imperial Concubine. It's basically a locked-room murder mystery, featuring murders (obviously), exes who are very much NOT over each other, scheming lesbians, forbidden experiments and one of the most fucked up family dynamics I've seen in a while
When I got the idea to make this post, I remembered that this mini has been in my bookmarks for ages, and I was like, hey, the name fits, why don't I just watch it quickly and even if it's a nothingburger, at least it's short. I can write a couple of words about it and there will be one less thing in my infinite to-watch list. But oh boy, was I wrong in my assessment!
The mystery is messy and complicated, and every time you think you finally figured it out, the drama cackles maniacally and hits you with yet another boulder over the head. Plot twists after plot twists indeed!
But the two main characters is what drove me absolutely INSANE. From the first scene of them together there's history, there's crazy concoction of resentment and love and pain and devotion!
"bromance" my ass
"I have countless reasons to kill you, but I won't wrong you."
"My life has always belonged to you. Why don't you use this sword to cut out my heart and see for yourself whether it's real or fake?"
uhuh. sure.
Like, come on.
COME ON.
(and I'm still not over the "It's not like you haven't seen it before" scene BY THE WAY)
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6. IN THE NAME OF BLOSSOM/ FLOURISHED PEONY (2025, 56 ep., full-length)
This one is slightly weird, because it's one drama divided into 2 parts with different names, but still I decided to include it here
Anyways, it's a story of a merchant's daughter He Weifang, who escapes her not-so-good marriage, and with the help of the Chang'an official Jiang Changyang establishes a flower selling business. Also according to the drama description there's also some sort of rebellion? I guess what is a historical cdrama without at least a couple of those lol
Starring Yang Zi, Li Xian, Zhang Yaqin, Wei Zheming, etc.
I haven't watched this drama (it's not the genre I'm overly interested in), but I heard that the consumes are beautiful, and the story is occasionally frustrating but engaging and realistic. So, I guess if you like the art of peony cultivating and the intricacies of being a businesswoman in Tang dynasty China - here's the drama for you!
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7. BLOSSOMS IN ADVERSITY (2024, 40 ep, full-length) ✔️
Hua Zhi's dream was to travel and be free, but after her grandfather offended the Emperor and all the men in her family were sent to exile, she was forced to take care of the rest of her truly enormous family (I relate as the oldest child in a sorta similar situation, except I'm more selfish and managed to get away lol). Along the way to survive and restore her family honor she meets Gu Yanxi - a mysterious Commander of the Security Bureau. Dowry wine, conspiracy plots and wonders of accounting - the whole nine yards.
I've already written in details about all the things I liked about this drama, but in short - the smart characters that you actually believe are smart, the frankly awesome fight scenes, the way the show handled an autistic character with such respect, the numerous and barely disguised lesbians, the list goes on. But the main appeal for me was the romance part.
Which is huuuuuge if you know me - the ardent hater of 98% romance in any media.
And the reason for my adoration for their love is how it comes from the genuine respect they have for each other as individuals first and foremost. They start off as friends, and their friendship doesn't fade into the background once they start developing romantic feelings. You can see and feel it clearly how they like spending time together, how they feel safe around one another, how they're ready to do anything to protect each other
It feels like a love story between two asexual people, and I'm so happy about it, you've got no idea
And at the same time they don't feel mushy and overly sweet. They have their priorities in order, they both are wickedly smart, practical and ruthless when the circumstances call for it. Both their hands are drenched in blood, and I think that's hot
And also spoilers I guess, but I LOVED how at the end Hua Zhi didn't forget her initial dream (when I know sooo many dramas that make their FLs settle with marriage and kids despite their aspirations to escape at the beginning), and once the crisis was averted and her family was stable, she was like "So, from now on you'll have to learn to deal with your shit yourself, because after saving y'all plus the whole Empire half a dozen times I'm like reeeally overdue for some peace and quiet and also several years of travel around the world together with my awesome husband! So long, suckers!🖕"
The story is happening in 1990s Shanghai, where a guy named A Bao meets four women on his way from rags to riches.
It's directed by THEEEE Wong Kar Wai and it's starring, obviously, Hu Ge, Ma Yili, Tang Yan, Xing Zhilei, and others.
I haven't watched it (yet), and have heard some polarizing things about the story and the characters, but everybody agrees that it looks stunning, and that it's very different from the majority of cdramas nowadays in almost every aspect.
So, if you're feeling up to some unique viewing experience, then here's something to consider
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And that's it for now!
If something caught your eyes, then I wish you a great watch, meanwhile I'm off doing some forbidden magic or something, haven't decided yet
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