MyLangyaList

*I'm not talking about pressing a button to release drones*

Lol. Wuxias of the future, with super dramatic and stylized button pressing. I'm already looking forward to a lot of blood being spat over buttons.

Does anyone know if the heat indices follow linear scaling, or something like logarithmic? Because 25k-30k is only 20% difference and I'd imagine the engagement gap between mediocre and super popular is far wider.

Here you go. There might be better character guides, but this is the first that came up. It pretty spoiler light, though there will be many characters that haven't showed up yet, but you can just scroll to ones that have already made appearance. https://lesbloggerables.tumblr.com/post/157788020760/nirvana-in-fire-character-guide.

And also episode synopsis that might help https://nirvanainfire.fandom.com/wiki/List_Of_Nirvana_In_Fire_Episodes

Not sure what episode you are on (tho you might need to start over anyways 😂), but here's a quick overview of what's happening and what's intriguing early:

TBoY is straight up happy ending, no romantic complications, all MCs live, except one whose fate is open-ended.

For LOCH, it's fairly obvious who the FL interest is so I don't really need to tell you. For HSDS if I tell you it kinda spoils things. Fine ... she doesn't show up until halfway in the show 😂.

Do keep in mind though that these are classic style Wuxia, so romance isn't the main focus. Many so-called Wuxia shows today are really just romcoms with Wuxia slapped on.

That said, with your criteria, Mysterious Lotus Casebook is the far safer bet. It has an extremely similar vibe to TBoY, and negligible romance. The plot is also tighter than the other 2 shows and a lot of MDLers have been raving about it lately.

LOCH and HSDS are a different type of show, with some flaws, but also their own charms.

NiF series are actually self-contained stories that exist in the same universe. So 'seasons' is really a misnomer. They are really NiF1, NiF2, etc... You don't need to watch 1 to see this.

So if you are waiting for the show to finish before diving in ... well good news, you can do it now as they are fully finished and spectacular shows.

Yeah, can't see how the dubbed version can be good especially since the veteran actors here deliver their lines with such nuance. Also it's a serious period drama, so foreign dubbing would be especially out of place.

That said I've come to really respect all the subtitle viewers for Asian dramas. Since I have the fortune of watching Cdramas without needing subs, I never realized how difficult it was until I tried watching the Kdrama Reply 1988. I know it's a masterpiece that I'll love, but the first episode left me hunting for a dubbed version in ENG/CN like some degenerate pleb.

So I can totally understand how many of the inaccessible Cdrama masterpieces doesn't resonate with international audiences. And as much as I sometimes bemoan all the derivative romcoms taking the spotlight over more refined shows, I can see where they are coming from.

Nice, welcome to the Lanya Club

lolol

It was actually the 2nd funniest show after JOL for me, though I haven't watched many shows. Some of the humor actually reminds of Wang Juan. I hear some don't like the 2 leads of Cheng He and Wang Ziwen. I haven't seen enough shows to be impacted by their past work. Only seen WZW in this and Three Body, and her acting impressed in both.

Sounds good. Almost done with S1, can start on this after.

Mengmeng (daughter that died) is the cause of the loop. In Chinese cultural context, tragic deaths can leave the spirit of the deceased not being able to rest, resulting in ghosts, haunting, and other supernatural phenomenon. So even if the precise mechanics are not explained, a supernatural time loop would be reasonable within the lore.

In the end, the tragedy had been resolved. The leads not only prevented her parents from multiplying the tragedy by killing more innocents. They also compelled a police investigation that brought Mengmeng's victimizer to justice. Her parents were saved, innocents were saved, and Mengmeng finally got an actual investigation to hold the wrongdoer accountable. So finally her spirit can rest/return. The ethereal image of Mengmeng at the end would be enough of a hint to Chinese audiences aware of the cultural context.

Yeah even though this show is low budget, the writer Wang Juan is top notch. Same guy behind Joy of Life and Sword Snow Stride. He's really good at creating dimensional characters and weaving humor and heart into the plot, and does it here once again.

He was also a pretty good leather-jacket gangster cat-lover in Bureau of Transformers. It's actually the best Cdrama procedural I've seen based on a very small sample size. Lots of absurdist humor, decent acting, and pushed the boundary enough to make me wonder what if NRTA didn't exist and they went all out.

That's great to hear. Was a bit nervous due to mixed reaction based on early episodes. But it sounds like the doubts have been shattered. Was it comparable in quality to S1 for you?

I returned LXY's favor w/ an alternate ending / S2 Epilogue

This is the 10k-1, or 9999 comment, an auspicious number for 'Auspicious Lotus Casebook'

This is the 10k comment

For comparison, Long Ballad is a decent show which I personally enjoyed. But most natives would put NIF several tiers above (in the highest, in fact) because of the excitement from its exquisite plot, characters, dialog, and strategic depth. But I would also put it 2 tiers lower in terms of accessibility. In addition, the romance is minimal, even compared to Long Ballad, if that's important to you.

Now the good news is that once you do get the hang of it, the payoff is enormous. People really end up marveling at how all the details in the beginning are tightly interwoven into the plot. Each detail is consequential and subtly revealed to let the audience 'think along' for the ride. That's why even native speakers can rewatch this 10 times and still be mesmerized by all the new important details they pick up.

If you don't speak Mandarin, it's highly recommended that you look for a character chart or even synopsis for the first few episodes to get a hang of things. Even though it may seem like just a bunch of new characters talking, there's a ton of juicy details introduced that's meant to tantalize the native audience. Unfortunately that also makes the show somewhat inaccessible to foreign audiences, as relying on subs and not having the benefit of cultural context can make the early episodes especially overwhelming.

This is a pretty cerebral show for even native speakers. So if you are looking for a light, easy watch, this is definitely not it. If you still feel lost or bored by ep 8-12, then it just might not be for you and there's no harm in dropping it.