Alright, how does one consume the untamed? I see that it’s like… a bunch of different forms and adaptations with various degrees of representation.
hi! this is actually a good question and really it mostly depends on what you're looking to get out of the franchise!
as far as i know, these are all of the major versions currently:
the original novel: mo dao zu shi by mxtx (also known as mdzs, tl/aka: grandmaster of demonic cultivation)
the live action drama: the untamed (chinese title is chen qing ling, aka: cql)
the donghua (chinese animation): mo dao zu shi
the manhua (chinese comic): mo dao zu shi (the only version i haven't read/watched)
the audio drama: mo dao zu shi
the untamed and the donghua are both censored so the gay relationship between wei wuxian and lan wangji (the main characters) is not explicit. the romance between them is still quite obvious in both versions though, it's just more in subtext rather than on-screen declarations/physical affection.
my favourite adaptations are, in order: 1. the untamed, 2. the audio drama, 3. the donghua.
i personally dislike the original novel and i cannot in good faith recommend it because the way the main relationship is written is quite fetishized and homophobic. i've posted about my opinions about this quite a lot, so feel free to search my blog if you're interested in what this means. the tldr is that there's a lot of harmful stereotypes and consent issues, especially in the extra chapters. the female characters also have a smaller role than in cql.
these issues are unfortunately also present in the audio drama and in the manhua. but to be fair to the novel, some scenes and themes etc that were cut/changed/simply not well adapted are pretty good and they definitely do have merit and can give you a new perspective on the story and characters. you could also listen to the audio drama instead of reading the novel, since they are Very similar (the only reason i have it ranked so high is because the voice actors deliver an amazing performance and it's a beautiful production with good editing and music).
since you're asking me personally, i would say to start with the untamed. it's the perfect introduction to the franchise imo and you'll get the most out of it. you can watch it on youtube, netflix or viki. even though it's censored, there's absolutely no question that the relationship between wei wuxian and lan wangji is meant to be romantic, if that's what you're looking for! what you want to do after that is up to you, but i would say either pick the novel/audio drama or the donghua (youtube).
i hope this helped, but let me know if you have any other questions!
