Mo Dao Zu Shi and it's adaptations, a comparison in how well they are received and the fandom around it
I have used Douban scores to give you an idea on how much of the adaptations are favoured.
Starting with the Live Action adaptation
7.7 isn't a bad score for an extremely popular TV show! But it fails to live upto the other popular existing adaptations.
For comparison, the Donghua
8.9!!!! It is perhaps the most critically acclaimed audio-visual adaptation of Mo Dao Zu Shi. Goes without saying it was a massive hit in China in 2018 and took Weibo by storm.
It has around 3.15 billion views on Tencent Video platform !! (It is also rated 9.3 here )
Side Note : I can't help but wonder if it had been marketed well and had been available on Netflix like Untamed was, then perhaps it would have been more popular in the English speaking fandom.
Or the Audio Drama (my beloved)
Despite the unusual format, it is the most highly produced adaptation out there (only rivalled by the Donghua! ) Production quality aside, it is the most faithful adaptation of the source material. Not only it follows the novel thoroughly, it adds bits that makes the flow smoother. It is as close you will get to a perfect MDZS adaptation and the score reflects that.
It has close to 500 million plays on it's official website! . [No adaptation of MDZS can be unpopular regardless of format, it seems ]
You should listen to it just for it's beautiful soundtrack!
Can't forget the Manhua, It is one of the highest liked and followed manhua on kuaikanmanhua [ the official publishing site]
51.17 Million Likes! & 2.82 Million Comments!!
The Novel that started it all
[ Mo Dao Zu Shi is the 1st row, followed by Tian Guan Ci Fu ]
It had more than 14 Billion points [points column is 2nd row from right] before it came under a censorship crack down and has been locked since then :(
It was the #1 ranking novel on JJWXC since it had come out, never leaving that position and only got dethroned by Tian Guan Ci Fu [Currently at +40 billion points] . It has been officially translated into Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese ( all of them are available in Paperback)
On LOFTER, The CQL tag has 21.491 million views and 145,000+ participants
The Mo Dao Zu Shi tag has 66.621 million views and 449,000+ participants
Note: In the Chinese fandom, Mo Dao Zu Shi and CQL are considered different franchises and the tags aren't used interchangeably like it is in the English fandom, it is considered rude to tag MDZS stuff/fanart as CQL or vice-versa. Even when you are discussing the characters , you have to specify which version you are talking about. If you tag your character simply as say "Wei Wuxian" or "Lan Wangji" , then it is taken that you are referring to the MDZS version. You have to add 剧版 meaning "drama (剧) version (版)" in front of the character you are talking about if you want to discuss the live action verse.MDZS tag comprises of all the adaptations sans CQL.
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