Lyson

Yeah it was just some kind of promotion, but it was still fun to see him do it. I remember once many years back, he was also photographed carrying a TGCF promotional drink, the to-go cup had promotional stickers of chibi HC and XL on it, it might have just been a random purchase but he definitely isn't against the BL genre at all. He even did the cross dressing as Ruan Baijie in TS, but of course the scenes were cut.

And you're right, most people only learned of him after TS.
Yeah, the drama had its good points and so did the novel, they were both good in different ways. RLZ's character and his acting in that role is what actually makes me think he's be able to do HC justice :D

Chengyu and Xiaoshuai
- I like how CY not so subtly confirmed XS doesn't want him moving on from him yet, and how XS didn't deny it. A quiet acceptance for them to move forward. XS is still apprehensive, that's obvs, but he's aware and not rejecting the idea that he likes CY. I also like that CY didn't apologize for being who he is/was up to the point of meeting and falling for XS. When XS accused him of being someone who plays with feelings he didn't say useless apologies, he just stayed on topic. When he said "Xiaoshuai, I'm standing up for you." looking like he wanted to cry it was a 🫠 moment.

Chi Cheng and WSW
- Obvs, loved the scene at the clinic where WSW finally accepted his feelings for Chi Cheng, Chi Cheng clearly loved it too LOL. The kiss was fantastic, as kisses should be, full body involved, all hands on deck, enthusiastic, no slow mo glowy bs. The way SW was rolling his body into it was PEAK, Chi Cheng bracing his hand on the desk because of it was also PEAK, little details like that carry so much weight in these kinds of scenes. The bite, obvs, very nice moment.

That said, I actually enjoyed the office argument just as much but for totally different reasons. It was filmed so well, the camera angle choices. I especially liked the moment when Chi Cheng repeated SW's statement "I think you're filthy' back to him like a question, "You think I'm filthy", the way he said it, the hand gesture, subtle anger, confusion, incredulity, vague hints of HURT in his face. Hats off to TXN, his facial expression was great in that scene. And in the same vein as Chengyu, I LOVE that he didn't apologize for his past dalliances, he owned it. I prefer that, none of this apologist nonsense, SW knew what he was getting into, why should CC say sorry? It only matters what happens after they get together. But that said, I also LOVED how SW put his foot down. He didn't back track on his feelings either, even when CC said 'You can still back down.', he was like 'no you dumbass, I'm telling you I'M ANRGY' as in 'I'm communicating, fucking listen and understand and let's get on the same page.'.

This episode actually made me like SW more than I had before because of this scene and the one at the clinic where he told CC that his self respect is not weakness, I fucking loved it. I love that he knows what he wants. It makes you wonder what kind of person he was with Yueyue, or did he learn so much about himself after being with a shallow person like she was.

CC and Gangzi
- I LAUGHED SO HARD when CC told Gangzi that SW thinks he's filthy and Gangzi dramatically started out like 'OH MY GAWD HOW COULD HE SAY THAT, WHAT EVE-' then he just trailed off nodding vigorously like in his head he was thinking 'yeah you are kind of a slut boss' LOLOLOLOL and then he still said 'Isn't it retribution' LOL Gangzi is such a vibe, he's quite awesome actually too and he, like Chengyu (albeit with less nefarious shenaniganry and messing around) they both care about CC and want him to move on from his previous relationship and be happy again and I think that's pretty awesome. Funny and interesting character dynamics are great to watch.

Final scenes:
- Ngl, I was about to cringe when SW walked into the club and picked up that mic, I thought he was gonna say something embarrassing af, but what he actually went on to say was actually quite pointed, collected and possessive and I was DOWN with that, just like SW was finally DTF. hehehe Of course, getting back to CC's new place, the whole vibe, a HOT vibe. I am so ready for episode 12.

I think that's most of my thoughts. Just sharing my word vomit lol

Let's fucking go!

"Nǐ shì wǒ de." ya'll. I feel like this might be Revenged Love's version of 'Every Day means Every Day' because of the way he said it, the timing, the setting, the scene, that little bite! The whole moment was just hella good, hella memorable.

I've kind of sorted out my thoughts about episode 11, it was actually so damn enjoyable and so worth the wait. So the thought parts in the order of the episode...

There aren't any different scenes in the aired version, but after ep 10 aired, a few days later this was released: https://x.com/nhoorawit/status/1944741199551590847

When Chengyu said 'Xiaoshuai, I'm standing up for you.' with red tear burning eyes I 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

There is too much to comment on in this episode. Just too much. It was so good. SO GOOD.
Did ya'll see Gangzi's grin when Suo Wei showed up?????? That man is a light in a dark tunnel, he HOOKED CHI CHENG UP LIKE WHAT. Between Chengyu and Gangzi I fucking swear, they were pushing and pulling CC and SW, laying on the pressure so smoothly, right up until CC and SW would end up in the best most impossibly possible position...which we'll hopefully be seeing in all its glory in ep 12! >:D

There were no bullets, just some paranoid drama llama's lighting loud fireworks and running around screaming murder. Forget about them.

It was some kind of practice promotion for the donghua back when it was airing, here's the link to watch it on Twitter: https://x.com/littledeath10/status/1781752457544048966

I knew him before The Spirealm, he was in R1SE and then in XNINE before he took a break. When he came back he'd done some acting but the release of his other shows were delayed for different reasons. then he acted in TS and it boosted his popularity, so Strange Tales of Jiang Cheng (this is a good show too, I enjoyed it) and other pre-filmed shows got released.

TS's ending was screwed over by last ditch censorship efforts, they thought they would get it passed the board ending it like that, but it failed because it was still too gay lol The novel ending is superior in every way. I always recommend people forget about the last 8 mins of the series and read the novel ending instead, it makes the novel and series almost kind of sync up. lol

Ultimate Note is a part of a longer series but most people watch it standalone for the bromance. I mean, the bromance is apparently so good, but I'm picky, as I mentioned, and I got irritated with the inconsistencies in the plot, so I dipped. But it comes highly recommended, again, to each their own, you should try it at least.

Another show that I would recc highly is The Devil Judge out of SK, it's technically bromance, but...you have to watch it to UNDERSTAND the level of chemistry and UST between the MLs that was just off the charts. Unintentionally even. The show was oddly BL coded and the writer even said the one ML character was written as a kind of role a female lead would usually play, but he chose to make it two men. It was a hell of a good idea and what a show. I dunno, maybe you've seen it already. It's a rewatchable one for me, Jisung is too excellent.

I'd also recommend Jia You Ba Shao Nian https://kisskh.at/714315-jin-zhan-wei-he-na-yang original story, and the producers also seemed to lean on the 'friendship' angle to get it to air legally in China, but it's almost painfully obvious it's a censored BL.

Returned Master is another one parading as bromance but it's quite gay lol https://kisskh.at/770875-jiang-jun-jia-de-xiao-er-zi

Under The Skin is totally actually platonic bromance (according to the producer) but it's an original story so it's quite possible the creator just said that and neutered it so it could air freely, I mean, it's still good, got 2 seasons, probs getting a third. It does appear to have some scenes cut of close friend moments between the MLs but it really is absolutely nothing hinting at romance.

JitD is acensored BL, it was taken off air several years ago and then recently the producers sold it to Japan in order for it to finally be complete, but they further censored it before selling it, really hacked it much closer to plutonic status, because they wanted to make money. I'm struggling to get through it personally. The novel was already quite dull, diction wise, imo, the series could have made up for that with visuals of the very long winded cases and of course, the relationship development between the MLs, but due to the extra censoring in the adap, it's really dragging and not very entertaining ti watch. A lot of talking and long expensive camera shots, nice budget, but neutered af, it throws all the characters dynamic into a sort of weird state. It's honestly not even as entertaining as Under The Skin. Pity that. I'd say try it though, to each their own. I can be picky about these things.

Oh No! was great, The Guest was good too, intense and fast paced.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Glad someone agrees, the actor is too soft looking, too nice almost lol I just never liked how he looked in the pictures they released of him as HC. Very underwhelming.

Xia Zhiguang was always awesome as a dancer, I liked him back then too, and when he did TS I was stoked for him and he went onto really own that role. He actually does his best to embody all his roles, even just his support roles, he puts so much effort into his performances. He would do HC absolute justice. Did you know he once did a promotion add voicing Jin Zixuan from MDZS? He knows BL, he's acted in censored BL (it's not bromance, that's a bullshit legally forced term by China's no-homo gov lol), he's a great choice for HC >:D

Xia Zhiguang, he used to be a singer/dancer, I liked him from then, but he took break for a while and then when he returned he transitioned fully into acting. He's a great actor, he engages his roles completely, every emotion and he can different types of characters well. He totally fits Hua Cheng, he can be dark and intimating very easily, as seen in The Spirealm, where he became more well known from. It's a censored Cn BL.

A lot is different in the book. The biggest difference in the series premise is that it's a virtual reality game world created by a human, whereas in the novel, it's an actual alternative universe/realm.

Also, while the term NPC is used in the book as general term to refer to the beings inside the world of the doors, they are no video game characters, they're all real. Nanzhu (Lanzhu in the series) is also 100% real and he is the "12th door", i.e, the end of the survival world game and also the final and overall God of all the doors. Nanzhu basically leaves being the God of the door world because he falls in love Qiushi (Juishi in the series) and takes on humanoid form and wipes his memory in order to pursue Qiushi as a 'human'. So Nanzhu is real and not a human, unlike in the series where he isn't real, just a virtual reality character made up of data. (because if Cn censorship)

Obsidian also belonged to Qiushi in the novel, he was the leader, but Nanzhu also wiped Quishi's memory after Qiushi cleared the 11th and final door, resetting him to door one so both of them -without any memory- could go through the doors together and 'get to know each other'. Nanzhu basically took some parts of Qiushi's history in order to have a back story for himself and he added a few things, all to make himself seem more 'human'.

Other things:
-there are more doors in the novel, with more detail, more violence, more gore and horror. The series is also much more sentimental and emotional than the novel, and Nanzhu is a colder person than Lanzhu's character.
- characters like Li Dongyuan and Zaozao are not given as much importance in the novel as the series, and there are more character deaths as well as the existence of some characters who aren't use in the series and another gay male character who is genderswapped in the series.
- Nanzhu crossdresses as Ruan Baijie in almost every door, it features much more as a part of the story, and Qiushi also crossdresses in one of the doors.
- there is no censorship, Nanzhu and Qiushi becomes an established couple and the ending is totally different, because there is no 50 year time lapse and separation, just 1 year and then they're reunited and they end up together.

These are the major differences, very major differences in some ways.

YES. He is perfect for that role, he has the right demeanor and aura and attitude! A little dangerous, broody, and he looks intimidating when he wants/needs to. He suits Chi Cheng just the same.

On the flip side, I actually think the actor cast as Hua Cheng is all wrong, he doesn't fit Hua Cheng's dark, sophisticated, intense, intimidating yet nonchalant demeanor at all. I have probably posted this many times on MDL, but this is my vote for Hua Cheng if he ever gets recast: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/68/5f/d6/685fd67c2981a65f742a47f02cb1b8c3.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ac/3f/69/ac3f69b0761683b762499c2c4e466d15.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/dc/07/3a/dc073ad5e19c3604696ca3454835d83c.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/54/84/15/5484157a8c85f88b0a0003fe69170a94.jpg

Forgive me my spam. lol

I'm gonna have to disagree on this one, I don't actually like the current casting of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian in Eternal Faith, a recast would be great, but I don't agree that TXN and ZY would be right for those roles. TXN is actually perfect for Earth Master, who he already was cast as in the EF.

It's not a convenient time for me either, I usually end up watching it five or six hours after it's even airs anyway, so the clock doesn't bother me, the panic doesn't bother me either. This comment section has been a mess so many times LOL. I'm just glad it's airing TODAY and that it's four eps in 5 days! >:D

I haven't watched any specifically het K-dramas, I've watched K-dramas with romance as an aside or not at all, so I can't say I know how they do it, BUT it doesn't sound that different from KBLs, same tropes sloppily repeatedly applied with small differences in the plot, and some flirting, but never sexual flirting, just cutesy shit lol. In KBLs recently, they do seem to be doing the kissing scenes a bit better, even though the build up of actual attraction is still almost non-existent.

Don't be too envious of BL fans, we have to wade through so many bad BLs to occasionally find a gem. lol

Edit: I just remembered I HAVE watched one het romance K-drama, Kill Me, Heal Me, but I watched that purely for Jisung. I do remember though that yes, the physical side of things was very limited, I can barley remember if they even kissed each other lol

Lol, never mind that they're CGI snakes, snake fights aren't even real. Snake's fights aren't a thing. The fictional snakes are having fictional fights based on a fictional idea.

20.00 PM China Standard Time guys, just check that against your time zone, that's the time it'll air for you. MDL's timer was incorrect.