#min asks

Th point was never the 10Dance as a whole, but the journey and the discovery and rediscover of lost feelings and I’m more than happy to imagine myself how the story in the movie can continue while I can read how the canon story actually ends.

Yes there is but it was kinda funny so HAHAHAHA I skipped it here it is

Thank you for reading this. Hope you have a nice week!

Heya, I'm probably not catching all of them and don't know the EN versions of all the titles but—

Recent recent:

Revenged Love based on Counter Attack 逆袭 by Chai Ji Dan (You can also try Addicted by the same author and this has a liveaction from yearsssss ago when Chinese BLs first surfaced)

Kill to Love based on Shan He Yong Ji 山河永寂 by Yi Han He

Desire (the series) based on Chui Xian 垂涎 by Nong Jian

(And yes Four-Faced Buddha which you already have)

These aren't super 'recent' (within the last 2 years) and you might alr know but I might as well add in:

The Spirealm based on Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 by Xi Zu Xu

Guang Yuan 光渊 based on Silent Reading Mo Du by Priest

Meet You at the Blossom based on 花开有时, 颓靡无声 by Shui Qian Cheng

[Not in the last 2 years but] Word of Honor based on Faraway Wanderers 天涯客 by Priest

Aside from Meet You at the Blossom, the above 3 in this section were filmed censored with changed details so I wouldn't sort them into BL dramas that category strictly i.e. you won't have all of the main novel love relationship details, no kisses/physical intimacy etc. altho Word of Honor was half an exception lol

And these are confirmed upcoming, either in filming or announced drama adaptation - drama titles not yet announced or decided on so just book names only:

Rose and Renaissance 我只喜欢你的人设 by Zhi Chu (Thai license but likelyyyy Chinese actors) - Has an official EN novel license (Via Lactea)

Falling 落池 by Yu Cheng (Same production/director crew as To My Shore + Meet You at the Blossom) - Has an official EN novel license (Via Lactea)

Wait for Me After School 放学等我 by Jiang Zi Bei (Has a North America license??? Apparently? Or that was another one I can't remember for reals but dk what it means - license origin nowadays doesn't say much about the actual filming/cast)

Deep in the Act 入戏 by Tong Zi (Can't rmb which license but should be Thai license as well with Chinese actors)

188 Series by Shui Qian Cheng (Licensed by Thailand AND will have Thai actors/cast) - I don't even know how to explain this but iQIYI Thailand last month? Or this month announced that they've bought the rights to all 18? Or 10+ I can't remember the exact number of SQC's famed 188 series. Don't know if you're familiar but LORDDDDDD it's a series of novels famed for one common denominator - scum tops. You can search for this I've read 5 out of the whole series and the most well known one Sissy 娘娘腔 HAS MY BLOOD BOILING EVEN YEARS AFTER READING IT like genuinely 1 of 2 danmei novels (and I'm at like novel count 533+ so you know it's significant) where I've literally begged the bottom not to end up with the top ARGH. But anyway yes 188 series deserves another LONG ASS POST but you can probably find other long posts in various langs about the series (if you don't alr know about this).

And once again you probably alr know but putting these out here (once again I wouldn't categorize these strictly under BL dramas as some details probably have been changed to fit censorship requirements not that the CENSORSHIP IS LETTING THEM AIR) so we can all lament over (for the thousandth time) how they've been locked in the basement for years despite being filmed already - without much hope of airing:

Hao Yi Xing 皓衣行 Immortality based on 2ha (The Husky and His White Cat Shizun) by Meatbun

Sha Po Lang 杀破狼 Winner is King based on Sha Po Lang 杀破狼 by Priest

Ji Xing Gao Zhao 吉星高照 Heaven Official's Blessing based on 天官赐福 Heaven Official's Blessing by Priest

Duo Meng 夺梦 Seizing Dreams based on novel of the same name by Fei Tian Ye Xiang

Shan He Biao Li 山河表里 based on novel of the same name by Priest

But with only 2 episodes left... Will they cover the full book? Is there a special episode or something that may happen ?

They’re supposed to do multiple seasons, so they’re not finishing the book at all with Season 1. They said they’ll film Season 2 but I think that depends on the general policy environment in China right now towards these CBL airing internationally (and hence bypassing censorship) - as there was some discussion on stricter restrictions around these shows and actors who participate in such shows back in March this year if I recall. The same week where rumours flew about these actors not being able to act in any normal CN drama ever, and their already filmed shows having to remove them (via AI or just removing entirely). Not just He Changxi (which already happened) but with some of the other actors too. Technically this doesn’t have any impact on them continuing to do BL shows in the same format but honestly who knows, there’s been a lot of arbitrary treatment recently.

Nothing confirmed/announced yet if ever but everyone’s treading carefully, so honestly not sure if and when Season 2 will turn up.

Would you recommend/think reading the book is worth it? I saw that Chrysanthemum garden has an ongoing translation that will likely wrap up around Jan as well. Is the novel well written? Cause I tried Revenged love and 😬😬🫣 I saw quickly why the author suggested to avoid it.

Would you say the live adaptation is pretty close to the book?

The novel + audio drama + drama episodes are almost identical to each other although the drama has one less episode compared to the audio drama so we are currently trying to guess which scenes towards the end they’re gonna cut or compress before the happy ending. The author herself did mention just this week via a post on her Weibo that she’s thankful to the drama production for adhering so closely to the book, which is smth we all agree with. The happy ending is worth it though I feel and the extras are great, although as of now I don’t think they filmed the extras, but Yun Qi mentioned that there seems to be a plan.

The novel writing is nothing life changing if that’s what you were expecting but but but the writing style and flow and pacing is 100x better than most of what we’ve seen so far HAHAHAHAHAHA I’m sorry to say this but since you mentioned it and if that’s a benchmark you’re using. The dialogue is actually IMO pretty well written in the novel. Not sure if you’ll get the same experience reading the translation though since things get lost in translation and there are different preferred translation styles, but from the source CN text I enjoyed it immensely.

But also that being said, the novel writing quality I suppose doesn’t always equate to good drama productions (eg RL which had an amazing adaptation that when u go back and read you’re a bit like hmm), which is a very fair point. Some of the CN fans on Rednote were also discussing this which is that this type of story is very suitable for drama adaptations - and it’s a huge plus of the writing and pacing all makes sense, in which case Four Faced Buddha > To My Shore does.

I am loving your gifsets and insight as usual, and the show is great!

I do want to know though whether

(1) the story has a happy ending (or at least no lead character death) just to be able to brace myself.

(2) is the novel good? Worth reading?

Thank you for all your hard work again !

Yes happy ending. No character death ERM BUT THERE IS UH THERE IS JAAAAAAIL? But 100% happy ending. They’re very happy in the extras. Novel is a fan favourite and has been for years among cfans. I need to revisit the book because I finished it a long while ago and need a refresher, but if you don’t need translations and can read the CN version 100% go for it. There’s an audio drama too, and VAs are pretty good for that (can’t rmb if there are EN subs).

I don’t think there’s a full fan tl out there right now if you need a translation (I could be wrong, I’m sorry I don’t really keep up) but Rosmei has the EN license for it and will be releasing V1 maybe this year if you wanna wait for a proper tl.

With the official print there likely will be localization that helps readers make sense of and bridge the slightly awkward gap between Chinese text & Canto dialect (ie it’s a HK setting and Canto in speaking but the og text reads like Chinese without the typical phrasing you’d see for Canto), and transliteration of their names (eg why is the show called Sammy’s Children’s Day like who is Sammy cuz if you take He Chusan in the Chinese hanyupinyin you don’t get Sammy, it comes from the transliteration of his name Ho Cho Sam > Sam > Sammy). Once again not the most perfect example but the novel for example uses 你什么时候 = when are/did you (do smth) is how we’d typically write and say it in Chinese but in Canto > text we’d prolly write 你几时 or some other variation.

Plus in HK the practice of giving yourself and taking on an English name, esp during that time and even until now (LOL IVY AND APPLE were at some point some of the most common names I heard) - the liveaction using Sammy is a very nice touch. And like why is a HK-based novel with HK-born characters looking at June 1 as Children’s Day rather than in April which is HK’s Children’s Day 🤣 Not saying this is 100% going to be the formula or that this is the most ideal or perfect way to do it but the thing about pub translations is that we see alternative ways of making sense of novels which is super cool IMO. I mean left up to me I would have translated it on the surface out of reflex.

Not discouraging you from looking up MTL (although I am personally against this for sure) or FTL, just that this is actually a v interesting one (and all that have non-Mainland China settings) to see pubs apply publishing industry standard practices to so just mentioning it up here, you absolutely might not have needed my long input 🤣

if you like angst, dive right in; if you can't really take angst, wait until jan 3 last episode to watch cuz dear lord, the angst is continuous and agonizing like it's sad once the angst starts and it DRAGS ON for more than 5 eps so

but tbh if you're used to angst this is probably right up your alley, the acting, lighting, directing everything is 100% on point. and if it gets too much in the eps, the two main leads interact A LOT on weibo, rednote and douyin, and the main show account drops bts daily. there's also a weekly livestream and they discuss their thoughts on the characters and their filming experience etc. too they're really close