gwennie call

Just did it, thanks for the link! I asked for Erha, of course but for my second choice, I gave Love is more than a word: a bl which was utterly destroyed in its live action (could it be because it featured a gay wedding?) and the novel isn’t being translated anymore.
I guess I could have chosen Faraway Wanderers, to show support for WoH, but it didn’t occur to me at the time because the translation is very good.

🤡 All present and correct (salutes while honking nose)!

I usually try to avoid bts videos because I find I can't forget them when I'm watching the show, and they really break the illusion. I don't usually watch interviews, but there are some which I love - mainly the Untamed Juniors ones (there's one with Zheng Fan Xing where's he's crying with laughter, it's amazing) and my favourite, with Wang Haoxuan (m'boy in my profile pic) and Song Jiyang, featuring this timeless exchange: SJY: "I got BLINDED"
WHX: "You CHOSE to do that tho!" I love them

Yes for Mu Jin! It's like at first he kind of blended in with the crowd, but then, when he went undercover in Dinxiang and then went back to the tribal wear, it's like he got a make-over, lol!
I've watched a couple - in Princess Weiyoung, the ruling family of the male lead are the Touba family who are Xianbei ethnically, so there are a few braids here and there.
Also, Novoland Eagle Flag features the amazing Liu Haoran as a grasslands/prairie prince who occasionally goes to a Tang city but always goes back to his roots (haha see what I did there). Unfortunately, the rest of the series is not for the easily frustrated (me), because it's one of those c-dramas for which the phrase "but wait! there's more!" was written (every few episodes there's a new storyline/set of characters, but I only care about m'boy), and the way Liu Haoran's character was written was a crime.
In fact, while Leo Wu did a good job here (I've seen him in other things and wasn't impressed, but here he really excelled), I'd really have liked to see Liu Haoran in a role like that.
In Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, our male leads are saddled with an increasing in ugliness series of hats, until they have to go to a tribal area (Oirat tribe) and oh the braids of beauty. But then they go back to bad hats, though there are some interludes of half-up half-down which I've been told is an invention of wuxia dramas, but whoever came up with it deserves a medal.

Yess! One of us! To be honest I'm on the lookout for more series with tribal associations, because they all looked amazing - not just Ashile Sun but all his men.

AFAIK both The story of Yanxi Palace and Ruyi's Royal love in the palace were banned, but they're both still available on youtube. IF the worst comes to the orst, we can always look on Viki and dramacool, which have a lot of these dramas. By banned, they probably mean for Chinese audiences in China, rather than internationally. Don't let fearmongers panic you.

Thanks for the answer, that was helpful! To be honest, if I'd known that we'd have to assume/or interpret so much ourselves, I don't think I'd have watched it till the end.
I mean, in Song of Glory, it was very similar, but I spoiled myself for the ending, and once I read similar stuff that we'd have to make huge leaps in interpretation to have an idea of how it ended, I just dropped it.
And I know that in Word of Honor there's a whole ten minute conclusion which was cut from the last episode and we have to look for it on youtube.
Seriously, why tho? What's wrong with having a satisfying ending? Gah!
Thanks for all your info!
I literally don't mind about Changge and Sun not being on screen together at the end - it was obvious that we weren't going them kissing or anything because apparently Wu Lei at 20 was too young for kissing scenes or something, so that was ok.
But why did it have to be reduced to 49 episodes - was it another budget thing, or did the Chinese authority restrict that, too? Ultimately, I have to admire all these film-makers who manage to produce art in spite of all these restrictions.

I enjoyed most of this, though the side story of Princess Leyan didn't do anything for me, and I found the animated scenes increasingly frustrating (please don't educate me why they were there, I KNOW WHY, I just was increasingly bored with them). But it was a good show, and a great story, with some great characters .
The ending though - I found it very abrupt, leaving a lot of loose threads. What happened to the Khan? What about She'er? Did he become Khan? Did Sun become Khan? And boy, everytime I heard Changge going on about living in the countryside I started grinding my teeth - girl, you know nothing about farming, and your bae has lived in a hunter/gatherer society all his life.
Also, I looked up the manhua and it's unfinished, too. So I guess I'll make up my own ending, haha.

Are there really only 49 episodes or is there an unreleased Episode 50 around? My spoilery query in the answer to this

I have a question - I've never read the novel, except for a few chapters, because the summary on novelupdates was so terrible I had no idea what the eff was going on (joke's on me because I've ordered volume 1 of the official translation). But then I reluctantly started watching the donghua and couldn't stop, because it's hilarious! Is it just the voice acting that elevated the material, or is the novel that funny too?
Also, I see you have a weakness for demon lord Luo Binghe which I share, hehe.

I liked him in Evernight, in spite of the show itself. His acting was very good and he was also good in the action sequences.
I just couldn't finish because of the show itself, not anything to do with him.

I mean, he doesn't do any of the things intentionally, but he loses control because of his arrogance and insistence that it's all under control. Like the incident with Jin Zixuan, when Wen Ning kills him, there isn't Su She playing on the flute to control Wen Ning - Wen Ning apparently senses that WWX doesn't trust Jin Zixuan, and kills him. It's a split second feeling but enough for WWX not to be able to control him anymore.
Same goes for all the resentful energy at BuYeTian - it's a massacre, not because WWX wanted to do all that, but because he lost control of YinHuFu and all the resentful energy, etc.

LOL! Well I'm watching both on wetv, SO THERE. Yeah, I won't subscribe to tencent on youtube until they release Immortality! Lmao, they're the same company, I know. And I'll absolutely watch Scumbag System season 2, in the hope that they won't completely mess up the ending this time.

I like both in their own way, but as I understand it, some original MDZS fans were annoyed about the changes censorship brought to the novel, not just in the gay erasure, though anyone who watches The Untamed can tell that there's plenty of love between WWX and LWJ. But what bothered them also is that apparently censorship doesn't allow for a morally gray protagonist, and so WWX is completely innocent of all the charges against him - for example, the massacre at Bu Ye Tian wasn't because WWX lost control of YinHuFu and his powers, but because there was someone else (the second flute). Same goes for when Jin Zixuan died.
I don't mind any of this because I watched CQL first and then read the book, also it's clear to me that even if there wasn't censorship, there would have to have been changes. But I'm ok with that. Like, I love the book Lord of the Rings and I love the movies (only the first 3 though).
Then there's the absolute god-tier brains (being very sarcastic here) who love the Untamed but hate MDZS, mainly because of all the sex. I'm telling you, I used to think Supernatural fandom was toxic, but this is next level. This purity culture thing is so very annoying, especially as I suspect it's driven by very young fans who need to have everything sanitised for them.

Not just wetv- all of them! Sometimes even the YouTube thumbnails have huge spoilers!

thank you!

So, the Ashile Eagle tribe guy who gets sent to the Khan to get plants to cure the plague - on the cast list he's 'Ya Luo' but the subs call him Yaro - and gets his throat cut: I'm on episode 38 and Mu Jin didn't even ask about him when he went to the Khan's tent? I mean, technically they don't know he's dead, as far as they know he's in prison - so is he never mentioned again or what? I don't know, I get caught up in these minor characters!

Ok, I have another spoilery question - I promise it's not about hair!

Thanks so much for sharing my concerns! LOL. I'm glad that it won't be forever, and usually I'm kind of ok with the topknot, but once you've lived with the gorgeous braided locks, you can't go back!
(and anyway, if Liu Haikuan's character, the swordsman, can wear a high ponytail, why not Ashile Sun! Discrimination!)
I don't know if you've seen Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, but sometimes the male leads have to go undercover in the Oirat tribe area, and I'm just yelling at the screen THIS IS YOUR BEST HAIR!! And then Darren Chen is back to wearing his stupid official's hat and I'm sulking again.
Same for Novoland: Eagle Flag. The main character (played by Liu Haoran) is also from the grasslands but has to go to the Tang area, and I mourn the hair every time.
TBH, I hate the Khan for practically driving Ashile Sun away and then acting like he didn't instigate all this by playing the boys off against each other since childhood; props to the show by making She-er not be an outright villain, too. I know where I want the story to end, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping I won't be disappointed!

So, Changge left the Ashile Eagle camp and now Ashile Sun is chasing her, fine. But does this mean he'll be back to putting his hair up in the topknot? Say it ain't so! After all these episodes with the amazingly flattering braided Ashile hair, please don't tell me I have to settle for the ugly topknot again?! Even Situ Lang Lang's high ponytail is better than that!