[ SECRET POST #4749 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4749 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.
[Dracula (the upcoming 2020 series)]


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03.
[Letter Bee]


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04.
[The Untamed]


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05.
[Queer Eye, S01 E03 "Dega Don't"]


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06.
[The Witcher]


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07.
[RWBY]


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08.
[The Last Airbender]















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 07 secrets from Secret Submission Post #680.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

04. https://i.imgur.com/wfHY0FI.png
[The Untamed]

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for turning my secret into a ... well, actual secret!

Having just finished my Nirvana in Fire rewatch I just want to once again that I wish it was more popular in general. I just want to buy cute merch. (Have given up on official releases - novels or dvds - here)

[(Anonymous)]

I just wanna watch NIF on my TV with some nice, clear, properly-edited subtitles! *cries*

[sabotabby]

I'm halfway through and loving it.

Like with Guardian, I think the fact that they don't "go there" makes it hotter. It's not like the tee-hee Western subtext; in this, everyone involved knows that the relationship is supposed to be romantic and sexual, plays it as such, but the fact that they have to skirt the censorship laws and can't show anything explicit plays into the love vs. duty aspects of the characters. Also from what I've heard of the sex scenes in the book, it's...kinda squicky? So with the show you can imagine better sex scenes.

[(Anonymous)]

The sex scenes are awful, like crappy fanfiction. I'm not sure the show needs it, there's a LOT of amazing UST there even though nothing is explicit.

[(Anonymous)]

the author does some nice buildup, but the sex is terrible

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not a regular reader of slash and I don't know the common tropes, but it was seriously wtf...kinda rapey and weird where Lan Wangji fucks like a machine and Wei Wuxian alternates between begging him to be gentle and being super provocative and flirty? The footnotes mentions the whole seme/uke thing, don't know if this is typical or what.

[(Anonymous)]

So many people are sad that the newest book by that author doesn't have smut but all I could think was that, considering how icky that smut was in the last two novels, I can't say I'm particularly sad about it. And the sex in MDZS was actually not quite as bad as in Scum Villain, which ... says a lot.

[(Anonymous)]

da
Whith Scum Villain it was super weird as we didn't even get a real sex scene besides the dub con which both participants didn't like. There might be soething in extras but it's not the same.

[(Anonymous)]

The romance in the novel is super slow burn and well executed - the (not good) smut is in the extras and not part of the main romantic development in the main plot.

[(Anonymous)]

SA
Ah, I think I was mistaken, there is some smut right at the end. The really weird part is the dream smut in one of the extras though.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed, the plot is on the weak side though honestly, I've read the novel and they're doing the best with what they've got. It's the two leads that really make this series so addictive! I'm got a major crush on the actor playing Lan Wangji. <3

[(Anonymous)]

MDL'S user rankings always seem to skew to more current shows. It's just the nature of drama fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

I would be very interested in reading this, I have to say.

Link to the novel translation

[(Anonymous)]

Just a warning, the translation is done by fans and is a little rough in places.

https://exiledrebelsscanlations.com/novels/grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation/

Re: Link to the novel translation

[(Anonymous)]

Oh~! Thank you so much!

Re: Link to the novel translation

[(Anonymous)]

You're welcome! I've been binge-reading it myself as I watch, and it kind of helps me figure out the context for the show even though the show doesn't strictly follow the novel.

[calaidi]

I like them about equally. There are definitely things in the novel that I like that either didn't make it into the show or weren't done very well (not just relationship things, my very favorite scene is the paper manniqins in Yi City and it's just terrible in CQL), but I also appreciate some of the changes they made (Yi City group showing up early, WQ & WN & JYL in Gusu) and I absolutely love Wang Yibo & Xiao Zhan (& most of the rest of the main cast tbh. I know JC's actor got a lot of grief for overacting, but I honestly can't see anyone else as JC now when I read the novel/fanfics.)

And tbh I went into CQL expecting the main relationship to be a lot more glossed over than it was, but it was clear everyone did as much as they could to still show it--and they even added things! :D So as much as I enjoy their relationship in the novel and the, like, actual kissing and sex, I also appreciate the more subtle approach CQL was forced to take.

Also that scene on the steps of Koi Tower in episode 42 is peak romance and blows every other romantic scene out of the water, even the confession, don't @ me.

[(Anonymous)]

I highly disagree. Censorship made it lose most if not all of its grey/grey morality and made it miss out on a lot of character development and depth. There were major plot twists that were spoiled by a very heavy handed handling of the plot (like the golden core reveal) and the pacing and balance between the flashback parts and the actual main plot was pretty off. Some decision also didn't make sense at all. And some parts were also just plain cringey.

I'm not saying it was bad - it was good for a drama adaption of a novel with the constraints censorship put on it. But I disagree that it was better - especially in the plot/pacing department.

And last but not least I'll be shallow and say I don't much like it because my favourite character got an actor I'm not happy with. (The character is NHS. And his brother, come to think of it. That moustache was a crime.)

[(Anonymous)]

I was just about to start watching this! Netflix kept recommending it to me and I finally decided to give it a shot, only when googling it did I realize it's gay (as a shameless fujoshi this automatically bumped it to the top of my priority list).

I realize the show isn't going to show the queerness, but I assume it's still obviously subtextual and expected to be interpreted that way, right?

[(Anonymous)]

I definitely had the impression that the crew and actors did their utmost to get as much subtext past the radar as possible. To the point where you get some massive subtextual tension between the actors at a point in the plot where the romance aspect was still largely dormant in the novel.

[(Anonymous)]

That's good! I mean, it's for sure at least in their best interest to please fans of the source material. Hopefully the actors understood and honored this in their performance, and I'll happily take that even if that's all we get.

I wonder if general viewers in China all know it's a gay show; if it's something obvious and unspoken and anyone watching it would *know*.

[(Anonymous)]

From what I heard, I think knowledge/awareness of this is split, kinda. Since the novel is very popular, quite a few people have caught on via cultural osmosis. There definitely is enough subtext that plenty of people did notice it, especially with the absence of an actual female lead.

However, there are a lot of people who are borderline or all out homophobic or just that conservative that they can't imagine any two male characters going beyond the "sworn brothers" route they had to go for in the show due to censorship. So between that and people (especially male viewers) not knowing what kind of novel thks was an adaption of, there was actually a sizable surge of watchers shipping Wei Wuxian with his adoptive sister.

[(Anonymous)]

I guess that sounds pretty typical, haha. So many anime out there, even up to Yuri on Ice and gayer, where people are gonna insist they are "just bros" even though it's obvious. I think there are a few anime out there adapted from actual yaoi hentai games, like Dramatical Murder, that cut the canon gay and some viewers still claim bros are just being bros.