We've been mutuals for ages and I really respect your opinions, so I HAVE to know: what is that Chinese series with all those beautiful long-haired men? I've only ever heard of people refer to it by either abbreviations, or not by title at all (just talking about it using character names and other context clues). Would you be willing to talk about it? Thank you so much.
will the ancient chinese mlm pyramid scheme snare another one?
Sure thing!
The one I think I've reblogged the most is called Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS), translated as Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (newly-official English name) or The Founder of Diabolism (fantranslations/early English mirrors of the Chinese videos). It's a chinese danmei (BL) webnovel written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX). It's perhaps the most prolific of her three novels in English-speaking circles, with a donghua (cartoon) of the same name that's currently airing its final season, an ongoing manhua (comic) adaptation, an in-progress mobile game, and a completed audio drama and explosively popular live-action webshow called Chen Qing Ling (CQL)/The Untamed (available on Netflix!).
Plot synopsis and personal experience with it under the cut!
Plot Synopsis
Mo Dao Zu Shi is, in its simplest form, a murder mystery roadtrip across Fantasy China mixed with (Assumed) Enemies to Lovers, told non-linearly. The Untamed takes a more straightforward route (spending most of its time in the linear past for the most part), and is more like a period drama with a war-torn romance front and center.
The first thing we learn about Wei Wuxian (WWX), the main character, is that he died a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad death as a consequence of the atrocities he committed with the demonic methods of cultivation he invented. He gets brought back to life by a young man who sacrifices his soul in order to get Wei Wuxian to enact vengeance on his abusive family.
While trying to fulfill the vengeance he was brought back to do, an extremely violent dismembered arm does Wei Wuxian's job for him, drawing the attention of Lan Wangji (LWJ), who he distinctly remembers from his past life as being an uptight, rule-following stick-in-the-mud that hates his guts and despised demonic cultivators. (Spoilers: he doesn't.)
To Wei Wuxian's surprise, Lan Wangji volunteers himself to help Wei Wuxian uncover the identity of the arm and, as the original Chinese summary put it: Together, they embark on a hilarious and thrilling journey of attacking monsters, solving mysteries, and raising children.
My Elevator Pitch
I first encountered Mo Dao Zu Shi mid-2018, through the first season of its donghua adaptation, which was being recommended for its impressive animation and being Gay AF.
I watched it and was sucked in instantly, chasing down the webnovel to find out the rest of the story. It's an extremely well-constructed mystery, and I was impressed by MXTX's grasp on character and plot, with the complexities of her characters' motivations and the way all the seemingly disparate parts of the story all tied in at the end being immensely satisfying to me. Another thing that did surprise me was the novel's scathing indictment of mob mentality and revenge cycles. There's a lot of messy, complicated relationships and the inevitablity of the events leading up to Wei Wuxian's demise is a trainwreck you can't look away from.
On the romance side, *points to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji* these spark joy. They're in love, your honour. If you love miscommunication, mutual pining, UST, battle couples, hypercompentence and domestic fantasies, WangXian delivers. The way Lan Wangji grows and comes to terms with his love and the way Wei Wuxian needs several two-by-fours to romantically catch on is a delight to read.
If you're interested in checking it out, I do have to throw in a couple of disclaimers though! It's an R-rated novel for a reason, so there's a lot of violence, undead corpses, torture, necromancy, and explicit sex. There are a few resources for which chapters specifically warrant trigger warnings, but we'll need to see how the chapters get distributed in the English translations.
That was a very well thought-out and fairly comprehensive reply to hunxi-guilai; thank you! I have a lot of the same thoughts on why I prefer untamed!wangxian instead of mdzs!wangxian, and your post, especially the part about rephrasing those thoughts in ways that focus on the positives without glorifying the censorship involved, is very helpful!
I’m glad you found it helpful!
(btw, let me know if you’d rather not have this public and I’ll take it down)
There are definitely things I enjoy in untamed!WangXian that aren’t present in novel!Wangxian and vice versa.
I find it a huge shame that untamed!WangXian has been co-opted so frequently against the original target audience (aka. Chinese people, mostly living in China). There genuinely are things The Untamed expanded on in a transformative way (like extra focus on JYL, the Lan Yi/Baoshan Sanren stuff), but it gets drowned out because certain folks abuse its existence to put down Asian fans.
Some of the really awesome cosplays I saw at EOY 2014! I had tons of fun just basking in the con atmosphere, and it was definitely a great "send off con" before I go overseas.
If anyone recognises any of the cosplayers/you want me to credit your cosplay, just tell me/ask!
