Gonta

- realizing you're in a (sorta crappy) book/specific genre

- doing thorough research about the world and actively avoiding as many stupid plot points as you can

- running away from problems and constantly lying to save you and your poor ass from raging homosexuals

- low-key being the only "sane", "normal", and "straight" one there

- just trying to live life peacefully as an unimportant character to hopefully be forgotten about

Remember folks, any horror can become a comedy if the narrator just doesn’t give a shit.

And I think about how that shaped RGU, especially with Akio and Anthy.

Again I know not a lot of thought was put into akio and anthy being SAsian by the creators, they just are because they thought it would be cool cause they liked Lalah sune

But I'm thinking about with how old akio and anthy are and how they're implied to be fallen divine beings. Do you think they could have possibly lived through the atrocities committed during British colonialism in south asia and they are the way that they are because those experiences shaped them too among other things?

Akio and Anthy are the only south asians in Ohtori academy, and in their young memories they seem to be the only south asians in a very euorpean setting. Why are they there?

I'm looking at anthy right now. She's gotta be like 6 or 7 years old here. Akio if I had to make a guess is 14. Even for a 7 year old she looks so tiny and scrawny. The dress she's wearing barely fits her despite clearly being for a girl her age. She's so little. I wondered why and I remembered for most of British colonialism in south Asia, there were a lot of famines throughout the years. Like there were two devastating Bengal famines that killed millions. How I interpret this is Akio and anthy fleeing from there to go find safety in some European place.

But another thing I find interesting is the clothing specifically. Look at Akio. He's wearing a European prince outfit that's nothing like what you'd see in desi culture. If we are to believe they are some divine beings that originated in South asia and not in Europe, he isn't wearing anything close to what a desi prince would wear. I like to think that he did this as a way to adapt to their new European setting for survival. Like he works overtime and practically tortures himself from a very young age to become the prince figure that Europeans would accept and eventually worship. At first it was for safety and security among them so that him and his sister could survive, but I wouldn't be surprised if the need to conform to European sensibilities got to his head. Like this is still a 14 year old boy here who is expected to protect all princesses (young girls ranging anywhere from children to young adults). Instead of y'know maybe their parents being responsible for them they push those expectations and give all of this unrestrained power to a young boy. What started as being in service as a knight figure to women for survival, ended up as a little boy getting a power trip over women. Because even if he was playing the prince role as a service to those above him, that is still a prince role he has over women as an absolute authority. Which to a 14 year old boy who lived in two very patriarchal societies could very quickly manifest into entitlement and enforcing patriarchal abuse. Because that's what society expects young boys to do

Now let's look at Anthy. Despite living in the same setting as Akio she is still in her raggedy clothes. Still scrawny, still unkempt. But also she still has alot more elements of her desi culture in her clothing like the bindi, the gold jewelry and even the red dress. I like to think that before they were struck with poverty, the dress was longer and better fitting and looked more regal. This is all she has left of it. But why? Why is she in still this bad of a condition if akio and her live together.

I like to think that because Anthy is still very young, she didn't feel the need to conform as quickly because she's still very attached to her desi roots. Additionally desi women are in this space they get despised by their own culture for adapting to western culture. Theyre seen as whores or people who think they're better than desi people who didnt conform to it. And they get scrutinized for it more than men who do. But at the same time Desi women who don't conform to western standards while living in the west are seen as strange, exotic and ugly by both their own people and people from the west. I like to think that since she saw her brother being forced to conform for survival, she thought it was her responsibility to preserve her desi roots and stick by them even if it lead to her being ridiculed or isolated

But here's the thing. In a world where princes protect princesses, Anthy doing this goes completely against that status quo. By doing this she removes herself from the catagory of being a princess. In a western world a prince is going to save a western princess. Not a desi one, and definately not an ordinary desi girl who is in poverty. By being related to Akio, it should by definition make her princess if he is a prince. But she isn't because she isn't a western princess. And Akio, in this universe has no incentive to save a desi princess over a western one. So he doesn't prioritize her. Hence why she is dressed the way she is compared to him. She is being neglected and othered.

It's heart breaking because despite all this she still loved and prioritizes her brother. She sees him suffering and how the world puts such high expectations on a young boy. And even if he doesn't protect her from the world, she protects him from it. But the world doesn't see this as a princess trying to protect her prince. Anthy isnt a princess to them because she never conformed to one.

And any woman who isn't a princess is a witch

But all that being said, Let's talk about the one time Anthy does conform to being a traditional princess when she's young . Adolescence of utena:

She wears a very regal, almost victorian white dress. Kinda like how Akio wears a white prince uniform. Her hair isn't naturally curly the way dark skinned south asian's usually are. It's straightened. She's white washed. I'm sure her being white washed has nothing to do with my analysis, AOU was a movie, I'm pretty sure she was white washed to cater to mainstream japanese audiance's because Asian countries aren't interested in stories with dark skinned female leads. But even then, This version of anthy looks closer to what a typical princess should be

Why now? Well what are the chances that AOU anthy conforms to typical princesshood in the universe where the prince no longer exists at all

How I interpret the character of AOU anthy is that while she's still 14, she's older mentally and more aware of the time loop. This Anthy has tried to go to the outside world multiple times in an attempt to find utena, and because of this isn't as sheltered. Now she didn't stay there long cause you need to remember that the world still despises her for taking dios away from them. But unlike before, Anthy is alone with no one to look out for her. No utena, no dios, no akio. No one

I think she too learned pretty fast that in order to survive she has to conform to western standards of princesshood. Hence why she is depicted this way in this timeloop.

I noticed that this Anthy while still neglected, abused and still a rose bride has more agency than RGU anthy. She's coy, she kisses utena the first time she meets her, she initiates sexual intimacy with utena. Alot of which she doesn't do in RGU. I think this change is because she was treated slightly better as a conformed princess/rose bride compared to her RGU counterpart who was constantly beaten and abused by everyone all the time.

And I think thats why there's also a difference in the way she finally leaves ohtori for good. In RGU she gets the courage to finally leave akio because Utena took on the swords for her thus letting her believe that someone loves her. But she is very passive agressive to akio when she does. She smiles at him, with disguist yes, but she still hides her true disguist as she leaves because that's how she's learned to express anger because of how everyone hated her all the time

AOU anthy however uses utena as a literal vehicle for her escape, takes agency by driving the car on her own path to freedom. Is stopped by akio, oh my god i forgot akio doesn't physically stop her in RGU but here she literally crushes her car and her path to stop her from leaving, because she keeps fighting back against him instead of being passive agressive. She scowls at him, she yells at him. All that build up of anger and resentment is finally taken out on him after years of abuse and attempts to leave.

Time for some BL/Danmei novel recs! 

You guys have probably (maybe) seen my novels list here - [X] - but it’s more for my own tracking than anything else, so here’s a brief list (I’ll probably do full ones of the ones I really love in another post, probably on Minmo).

The ones elaborated on below with the asterisks are the novels I’ve actually finished reading.

*since everyone more or less knows MXTX’s works - TGCF, MDZS and SVSSS, I’ll skip those!

1. SCI 迷案集 | SCI Mystery Series by 耳雅*

Summary: Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao are childhood friends and rivals that end up working together under the newly established SCI unit as co-leads, with Bai Yutang providing the brawn as Captain and Zhan Zhao the brains as Vice Captain and the team’s resident genius psychologist. They solve cases together and slowly unravel a wider conspiracy that involves their parents’ generation and beyond. At the same time they also realize that they’re meant for each other!

Other CPs: Bai Jintang (Bai Yutang’s older brother) & the medical examiner, Gongsun Ce, Bai Chi (Bai Yutang’s younger cousin) & magician Zhao Zhen, and at least three other gay pairings, one of which is considered another main couple of sorts from Vol. 2 onwards

Status: Incomplete (Began in 2010, author is still going on strong with one chapter every one or two months, we’re halfway through Vol. 5 right now and it’s been 10 years ;-; Love that the author is going on strong!! Everyone on JJWXC are like “please author it’s okay if you go slow as long as you keep going we’re here for you” and jfc I understand the fear of this not completing, also when will Vol. 5 be completed and printed?!! I need to complete the collection)

Translations: Unfortunately, only the first volume has been translated well so far on novel updates. The one on Wattpad seems to have caught up, but I would not recommend that one.

Drama/Live-Action: Season 1 was filmed and released in 2018 under the same name with slightly changed names for the characters. Season 2 was supposed to start filming this month but… oh well. First season basically covered Vol. 1 novel from start to end.

*I love this one only because it was my very first danmei and so it’ll forever have a special place in my heart, and also because it’s still ongoing so ya know, I relive how much I love this every month

2. 成化十四年 | Cheng Hua’s Fourteenth Year (The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty) by 梦溪石*

Summary: Tang Fan, a prefectural judge, and Sui Zhou, a high ranking officer in the Embroidered Uniform Guards, meet while trying to solve a murder case. Both of them end up partnering very well together, Sui Zhou ends up inviting Tang Fan to live with him, and the rest is history. Through their days living together and solving cases + a larger conspiracy involving the royal palace, they fall in love. Adding to this mix is also Wang Zhi, a powerful, young eunuch who befriends the pair, and the three of them basically help the crown prince to overcome challenges and his enemies to become the next Emperor

Other CPs: None XD

Status: Complete!

Translations: Ongoing on several websites. I’m only translating relationship highlights, but here’s an introduction post I did for it, if you guys would like somewhere to start without getting too invested - [X]

Drama/Live-Action: The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty was released earlier this year, directed by Jackie Chan and starring Darren Chen and Paul Fu, but cases are a little different and there are new characters in the show that weren’t from the novel etc.

3. 杀破狼 | Shapolang by Priest*

Summary: Set in a steampunk universe where flying boats named ‘kites’ and flying armour exist. Young teenager Chang Geng lives with his mother and stepfather - the former abuses him and the latter neglects him, and the only person that he cares about (and cares about him) is Shen Shiliu, his (very young) godfather. He realizes his identity as a royal prince when the Man tribe invades his city and Shen Shiliu, whose real name is Gu Yun, turns out to be an army general whose duty was to protect Chang Geng in secret (among other things). 

Chang Geng has been critically poisoned by his mother (who’s not actually his birth mother, if I recall she’s an aunt) which leads to him getting terrible dreams frequently with the end result of him being driven into insanity, while Gu Yun is half blind, half deaf due to poisoning + injury when he was much younger, and he can only regain his hearing and sight fully when he takes a medicine that is slowly losing its effectiveness with every dosage he has.

The both of them navigate learning about each other again, falling in love a few years later when Chang Geng is all grown up and also unravel conspiracies and fight bad guys (both external threats and internal as in the current Emperor and other parties) XD

*Note: The age old debate is that Gu Yun ‘preyed’ on and also ‘groomed’ Chang Geng, but I disagree and stand by the fact that Gu Yun was 90% of the time not around while Chang Geng grew from a teenager to a young adult as he was fighting wars elsewhere, while Chang Geng refused to stay at the Gu manor and insisted on running around, travelling on his own and seeing the world for a few years before they met again. And it was Chang Geng who’d always loved Gu Yun and devoted himself to caring about him, making advances on him etc. when he became an adult

Other CPs: Shen Yi (Gu Yun’s second-in-command) & Chen Qingxu (a renowned physician who ends up healing both Chang Geng and Gu Yun of their ailments) 

Status: Complete!

Translations: Fully translated the last I heard, it’s up there in the list of holy grail BL/danmei novels, so I’m sure it’s done hahaha.

Drama/Live-Action: Filming in progress!

*This is up there in the hall of fame for danmei novels for more than just the amazing content and writing - It’s also famous for being one of the most complex novels ever. I don’t know how the translations team did it because DAMN it was complex and I read all my novels in Chinese without much issues but I was honestly STRUGGLING WITH this one and I went through some existential crisis while reading because I was like ‘did I ever learn Chinese, am I even Chinese’ XD

4. 默读 | Silent Reading by Priest*

Summary: Luo Wenzhou, a police captain, and his team including best friend and partner Tao Ran, face a few challenging cases that end up being small parts of a larger conspiracy, and end up having to consult with Fei Du, a flamboyant, charming and flirty, young and rich CEO, who Luo Wenzhou describes as someone who is an expert at ‘crimes’. Not deduction, not solving crimes, but someone who is familiar with how the murderer or culprits would commit crimes. Both Luo Wenzhou and Tao Ran know Fei Du well, because they first met when Fei Du was in high school, when he called the police because his mother had hanged herself in the house, and since then Tao Ran and Luo Wenzhou look out for him, spending holidays with him, giving him presents here and there. Luo Wenzhou and Fei Du overcome their misunderstandings of each other and fall in love while solving all the cases and the larger conspiracy behind it.

Other CPs: Tao Ran and someone he knew first from his school days or was a neighbour when he was younger, I can’t remember, but they meet again at a blind date and end up living in the same building on different floors XD

Status: Complete!

Translations: Complete!! There’s a huge post floating around on Tumblr with all the links (I can’t find it right now) and on Twitter you can also find the collated, epub versions etc.

Drama/Live-Action: Rights for a live-action was signed, no casting confirmation or set dates yet

5. 犯罪心理 | Criminal Psychology by 长洱*

Summary: Police captain Xing Conglian drags psychologist Lin Chen out of seclusion/hiding to solve a case that is indirectly tied to him. Lin Chen was involved in a case a few years ago that led to four deaths - these four victims were the sons/daughters of four of the five huge old-money (super rich) families in the country and these family members sought to make Lin Chen’s life very difficult for him afterwards by making him lose all the jobs he can find, by surveilling his every move and ensuring that he’s not happy etc. Because of that, he backed out of the police force as well and quietly lived as a school dorm administrator, which is where Xing Conglian finds him a few years later. Lin Chen fakes his death after the first case (not deliberately but kind of a by-the-way thing), but as fate would have it, he ends up meeting Xing Conglian on another case, and he decides that he’ll move in with him and also involve himself again, consequences be damned, and they fall in love!

Other CPs: None XD

Status: Complete!

Translations: I think it’s not complete yet.

Drama/Live-Action: None that I know of.

6. 死亡万花筒 | Kaleidoscope of Death by 西子绪* (MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE)

Summary: Supernatural setting where people who are about to die get a second chance to live. These individuals are either in the midst of a dangerous situation (for e.g. a shootout or a deadly mugging incident) or are about to get into accidents (for e.g. an entire bus going off a bridge or a chandelier dropping from above and crushing the person underneath) or are ill (recently diagnosed with cancer or are terminally ill with a condition for e.g.) - The list is endless, and in the situation between life and death, 12 doors will appear before them. 

It is said that once these individuals finish all 12 doors, they will truly get a second chance at life and survive whatever cause of death they were imminently facing. 

Each door represents a creepy, supernatural mystery, and Lin Qiushi finds himself in a strange place after opening a door when he was trying to enter his apartment one day. He meets Ruan Baijie, a beautiful, tall woman who he happens to meet, and they realize that in this strange world, he and other individuals who came through the door have to complete a given task, find a key and an exit door, and make it out alive. The others in the team (some of which have already gone through several doors) explain to Lin Qiushi, who is a first-timer, what the doors are about. 

The catch is, if they die inside the door, in the real world, they’ll die immediately, by accident, throwing themselves off a building, or just throwing up blood until they die (just to name a few)

On the first night, however, three people are slaughtered and eaten by a long-haired ghost/creature. The good news is, Ruan Baijie isn’t all that she seems to be (for one, she’s not exactly a woman) and she takes a liking to Lin Qiushi immediately.

Other CPs: None XD

Status: Complete!

Translations: I think it’s not complete yet!

Drama/Live-Action: None that I know of, but honestly, this novel would be fricking EPIC as a live-action, and really creepy, but this is my all-time favourite novel, I kid you not!!!!

*I’m definitely doing a longer and more detailed to-read for KOD on my translation account, gosh you guys have no idea how much I love this.

7. 当年万里觅封侯 | Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine by 漫漫何其多

Summary: Yu She and Gu Wan were close friends for a short period of time when they were younger, but unfortunately their identities and positions meant that they were opponents. Yu She’s family was for the Second Prince and Gu Wan was taken in by the Sixth Prince’s family, but in the end it was the Second Prince who ended up getting to the throne, while the Sixth Prince was accused of treason and died somewhere far away at war after being captured. Gu Wan’s only wish was to keep the Fifth Prince’s children - Xuan Rui and a pair of twins, Xuan Yu and Xuan Congxin safe, and so he moves them to another province and asks the Emperor (the Second Prince) to demote Xuan Rui’s status to prove that they are no threat to the Emperor, if only to stay alive for another day.

However, their days of hardship have only just begun, and Gu Wan decides to namedrop Yu She, whose family is so powerful now, and claims that Yu She loves him and that he was wooing Gu Wan back in the days they knew each other so that officials and others would treat the children under his care better. A few years pass and Yu She doesn’t expose Gu Wan. Gu Wan thinks they can go on like this forever, until the Emperor asks Xuan Rui and the twins to head back to the palace for a visit.

Gu Wan meets Yu She again, but the boy he knew, who was gentle, a stickler for rules and a proper, well-mannered person, has changed almost completely. Cue palace conspiracies again, brothers fighting for the throne, scheming consorts etc. XD 

Other CPs: None XD

Status: Complete!

Translations: I think it’s not complete yet but I’m not super sure on this

Drama/Live-Action: None that I know of!

*They came out with a new reprint edition three days ago and it’s gorgeous! And comes with amazing freebies, and I am a sucker and read it on the day of the printed novel release because I saw the art and loved it, wanted to see if the story was any good, and damn after chapter 2 I WAS GONE and then I checked out two copies from different stores for the two different sets of freebies 

–

A list of those I haven’t read but I see are highly raved about:

1. 二哈和他的白猫师尊 | The Husky & His White Cat Shizun by Meatbun

- I’ve already been spoiled and I know what goes on mostly, and there are a lot of warnings for a reason, but I’m still a fan, and let’s not get into the debate on the content, I know I have to read this but the angst level is apparently ridiculous, so I need like some mental preparation before I sit down for it.

2. 千秋 | A Thousand Autumns by 梦溪石

3. 烈火浇愁 | Lie Huo Jiao Chou by Priest

4. 将进酒 | Qiang Jing Jiu by 唐酒卿