[ SECRET POST #5496 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5496 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 40 secrets from Secret Submission Post #787.
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/0hxBjFh.jpg

[feotakahari]

Huh. I liked Heaven Official’s Blessing, but I can’t point to a way it’s really different from this summary. I just thought the characters were more nuanced and interesting than the tropes they technically fit.

[(Anonymous)]

You can just not like them. No one's holding a gun to your head to make you read these OP and from the sounds of it you should stop trying. They're not to your tastes and it's annoying you, so stop.

[(Anonymous)]

ah i see it's time for the weekly 'danmei is all horrible shit, why does anyone like it' secret.

[(Anonymous)]

A conclusion they got to after reading three novels, apparently.

[(Anonymous)]

I mean. Nobody's forcing you? Though maybe tell what you wrote to the people who keep reccing you those novels (just maybe be less condescending about it) so they stop?
And maybe tell them what tropes you DO like so they can rec you stuff easier.

(I could say "well technically CWN was in love from the start so it doesn't really fit the trope" but that's beside the point.)

[(Anonymous)]

I think yes, much in the way earlier BL in manga that managed to crossover to non-Japanese audiences was a lot of specific tropes before branching out more, or at least more variety being available.


I also think that there might be a bit of "there are specific writing styles/textual differences at play here but we mostly only have fan translations that aren't the best at conveying this."

There's also, just, the internet likes certain tropes a lot at different times! Heck, not even just the internet. We still have a crapload of isekais in anime and manga coming out with the same or similar stories. And the examples you're showing are kinda a one-two-hit of genre - BL, which is probably being hit by recent things in China, and I think wuxia? or, at least, some sort of fantasy thing.

[(Anonymous)]

To be fair, OP is kinda oversimplifying things and the assumption that most danmei novels have the same tropes after just reading 3 of the hundreds that are out there is a bit silly.

ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

It might be a bit of casual... like, not realizing things that aren't wuxia are danmei, as well. But I'm trying to assume best intentions and best case.

And I've definitely seen a lot of similarities in the wuxia danmei that's gotten popular, because, well, they sold! really well! like the isekai example.

Re: ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, that's kinda the main thing: this isn't fanfic we're talking about where it's just about kudos and comments. These are novels that earn their writers money, so popular tropes will get written more than unpopular ones.

[(Anonymous)]

Ooh, what an admirable lasting hate-boner you have, grandma.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting assumption. I always perceive these as from someone really young.

[(Anonymous)]

DA but it was a Red Riding Hood joke

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT *FACE PALM* Ye gods, sorry.

[(Anonymous)]

I was going to recommend Scum Villain and then I realised that some of your criticisms would apply, so I guess you got a point.

Still, Scum Villain is my favourite - after 2ha, but I admit that the reason why 2ha is my actual favourite is kink related - because it is a parody that makes all the tropes more palatable and fun. Except for the awful rape scene and even that had a point. Plus, the beta couple is the best thing ever, but they don't appear much, sadly. SQH is definitely the most interesting character in all of MXTX's books.

I get why you would compare WKX with MR - except for the fact that the former did not actually rape anyone, but who cares about that -, but I would argue that the comparison wouldn't work with LWJ and WWX. If anything, WWX is closer to ZZS with the whole atonement bullshit for having committed past crimes. And I would dare say that CWN is too different from either LWJ or ZZS. You could try and draw a parallel between CWN and SQQ (from Scum Villain), and MR and LBH though.

Anyway, my point is that there are definitely tropes at play in the genre and you don't have to feel like you have to try it if it's not your thing.

[(Anonymous)]

I think that Scum Villain is the best thing evver, minus that scene at the end, so I'm gonna check 2ha out.

[(Anonymous)]

Just so you know, 2ha is not meant to be funny - even though it can be sometimes - and there are a lot of rape scenes. While the author and the characters do seem to condemn what's going on, it is kinda sexualised and meant to be titillating, so if you don't believe you can take it, maybe you shouldn't.

On the other hand, I started reading it for the weird BDSM undertones, but I continued reading for the plot and the character development. Just like Scum Villain, actually. So it is good if you don't mind all the trigger warnings.

Oh and it's gettin an official English translation soon, so it might be worth it to wait until it's published.

[(Anonymous)]

If you don't like a genre or a trope, you don't like a genre or a trope. It can be frustrating if that's not your thing and everyone around you likes it, but that doesn't de-legitimize them? Personally, I love the "sunshine and stoic" character pairing, and throwing in "went dark but is redeemable" is a draw for me. Sprinkle in found family on top and I am going to happily roll around in that story.

Also, all three of these pairings are VERY different (at least as far as the LA for WOH and The Untamed). While if you paint in broad strokes they same very similar, the truth is all the characters are VERY different from each other--not just in personality, but also in motivation.

That being said, SVSSS and 2HA are very similar stories and probably would have been a better example. If you want humor with strong angst, go for SVSSS. If you want kink and plot twists with strong angst, go for 2HA. Considering what the stakes of SVSSS are it uhhhh says a lot that it's the lighthearted one of the two.

[(Anonymous)]

I mean yeah, if you strip a few stories down to their bare bone tropes of course you'll find similarities across different stories, you can do this with loads of western books too(YA very specifically, my god so many of those are the same stories with different trappings, but that's the point and appeal of the demo). It's the meat of the narrative around the stories that make them different from one another and gives them all their own appeal.

Like danmei is just your standard tropey romance lit, but the tropes used will differ because it's coming from a different culture. That doesn't make it better or worse than western lit of the same ilk, just different.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my god go on a different website or touch some grass or SOMETHING, tvtropes is not reading comprehension and it isn't doing you any favors

[(Anonymous)]

I kind of hate MXTX's specific Favorite Dynamic for the obsessive undying loyalty love interest stuff, but I loved the shit out of her plots and side characters and themes and basically everything other than the romance in MDZS

(not saying it's bad, just - her kink is obviously my squick. BUT!!! JIANG CHENG! YI CITY! THE JUNIORS! THE VENERATED TRIAD! JIN ZIXUAN, EVEN!!!! loved that)

I've heard that there's a lot of both those things in Heaven Official's Blessing, any thoughts on whether it'll be worth it for me to dig into it? it's so long but I'm curious about side characters ._.

[(Anonymous)]

Shrug. Popular works tend to be iddy. And, 'appears to be a villain but was a victim/hero all along' is iddy as fuck.

That said, there can be a lot of fun finding different variations of a given theme.

Bottom line: it's okay not to like it, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Cucumber bro, is this you??

[(Anonymous)]

Just say no lmao. It’s not that hard.