Hi. At this point, I realized that I have no turning back to the real world once I deliberately draw into Danmei world. And this whole post will be dedicated to the list of my notable milestones of Danmei up until end of year 2021. I really wanted to create a milestone like this since I always ended up forgetting the list of everything I watched/read.
At first, I created this post for the Q2 milestone, but then it got delayed up until at the end of the year. Heh, I really must appreciate my inconsistency to post regularly.
2021 Jan
Papa Wolf and the Puppy (Manhua)
cr: 麻尾
I'm not sure that this manhua should be included in the danmei tag because up until now, there's no romance at all.
But, this has a similar pattern as 19 Days and the art itself is quite similar. It is a one shot manhua type with a very short scene for each chapter and it's still ongoing. But it is cuter and lovelier in such a way.
It mostly involves around as its name, a papa wolf who picked up a puppy. It started as a real wolf and pup at first but it then came out as a real person, a mafia boss with a wild boy which had a very cute interactions. It is mostly shown a fatherly love but along with the growth of the puppy, it's expected to see a romance imho. Yes, it reminded me of Sha Po Lang in a cutesy way.
Anyway, I love the scenes a lot! And I am thankful to find this manhua as a refreshment. Even though it was because of the hotness and coolness of Papa wolf, but it couldn't be ignored how lovely the puppy as well.
2021 Feb
ShaPoLang (Novel) - Dropped
Yes, I dropped the Shapolang after realized that I'm not really into a political conflict that much. I started a year already and it nearly took me a year to finish the half of it but the rest... I must say that the steampunk themed with political issues are not my thing. First, I was hardly able to imagine the arcs and it seemed hard to find any guidance from any fanart. Low-key opinion? Maybe they were also hesitant on how to visualize the story arcs as well. Secondly, the plot itself was too much involving a political strategy which, was a yawn to me. I wasn't too interested with the plot. Another point was, there was this issue of "bone of impurity" which mentioned several times at first but just had explained at the half of story. It felt like I was dragging many questions in my mind and finally able to understand the situation on later chapters.
Anyway, I decided to drop the novel and might continue right after the series came out. I was hesitant on what to read for next, but later on, I regretted nothing.
Quickly Wear a Face of Devil (Novel)
cr: Kinokuniya
Comparing to Heaven Official's Blessing, it's really neck-to-neck. The title was "Quickly Wear a Face of Devil" which got me hooked easily from the start of story. Even for Heavens Official Blessing or TGCF, I was quite hesitant to continue at first since the most hooked part was started right when Hua Cheng appeared and it's already ten-to-something chapters. I must finished the first arc first actually.
But for QWFOD, it's really different. It's such a gem to find the quick transmigration novel that is easily hooked during first story/arc. The story is about Zhou Yun Sheng, a genius hacker who was trapped in a system that made him rebirth into many worlds as a villain. He then tried to change his fate and gave the heroine lessons.
What I liked about the novel was each arc even though it's different to each other, always got interesting even for a story that I did not prefer much, such as ABO world or Ger world. Since ZYS was a hacker, thus he tend to cheat and looked at the database and adjusted some traits to himself. As a genius, he always had his own way to gain success and turned the plot upside down. His love interest was a part of the system that lived unconsciously in every world that ZYS rebirthed in, which ZYS called him as immortal lover. The interesting part was discovering which of the characters that the immortal lover was rebirthed to. Sometimes, he was some insignificant characters, but there was a time when he was the heroine as well. Since he always lived as different person, he had many names but later he would call himself as Zhao Xuan. I am not talking more about the plot, but the very reason I am addicted to this novel was also because of ZX personality.
He had many different personality since he got to live as many characters but there was always a similar vibe of him. He must be a 190cm tall and an eye candy. He obsessed with ZYS and had too many fetish for ZYS. But most of the time, he was the best supporter of ZYS and as long as ZYS could discover him, then he got his luck on his side.
Actually it was hard to pick the favorite arc/story since all of them was memorable and exciting to read. But there was one that should be at the top list in my opinion,
The Light Priest & His God
Well, it's quite mind blowing to bring up a story between a God and his believer. In this arc, Zhou Yun Sheng was a priest where the world were relied on God of Light to acquire some power and all he had to do was gaining the God's trust. The heroine was claiming that he was the darling of God and was about to become the high priest. He then tried to hypnotize himself to love the God so that the God would notice him and gave him light power. Unexpectedly, the God of Light himself, Adounis was his "immortal lover".
It was so funny to see ZYS to have a split personality due to the hypnosis and how Adounis was head over heels to ZYS but he also had his own complex, which was as same as ZYS as well, a split personality. The God of Light alter ego was also The God of Destruction so he had two opposite personality too. It was really exciting to see ZYS was unsure of his devotion to the God while Adounis was giving him all he could since he was the real darling of God.
Well, it did really remind me of TGCF since it was about the God and his own devoted believer so I was surprised when I started the arc.
I really suggest anyone to read this immediately. It's full of action with genius and mindblowing moments. I really liked how Zhou Yun Sheng "slapped" the heroine with such reality and stole the spotlight in such a way.
Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity (Movie)
cr:Netflix
To My Star (Series)
Well, after "Well Your Eyes Linger", there were several Korean BL webseries but honestly though, I didn't watch them all and I still proudly declared WYEL to be the top of all. But after watching "To My Star", I liked it very much, thoough.
The OST and the opening caught my attention. The casts were fine, the plot was going quite okay. It's way too quick, just like WYEL and it also escalated quickly as well.
But still, it's so sweet and the acting was superb.
2021 Feb
Special Episode of Heaven's Official Blessing
Well, even though I already made a special article about Heaven's Official Blessing, but everything related to the story MUST be a significant milestone. After running since October 2020, I always waited patiently for every week's new episode, even I subscribed to Bilibili membership level 2 in order to catch up to the latest episode as fast as I could. And all episode never disappointing, I loved it. But I didn't want to discuss more about it or even started to explain more, but at least let me reminisce the good part (even though every scenes were all good),
Well, I wanted to point out that during this scene (on the novel), I read with a slight of confusion. It was predictable that the other person that Xie Lian told the line was San Lang, and it was indeed a cheesy line. It's hard to understand what it meant during the early scene. BUT, during the Book 2, which was a flashback of the first ascension and banishment as a God, when the lines were told to San Lang, it was too painful. So whenever I reread the novel, read the manhua, and finally watched the donghua on this scene, there's no way I never brought back those painful memories along. I remembered it was raining when the scene happened, and it was such a rain on my pillow as well. It was the first scene that made me cried a river.
And this scene... I loved it so much. San Lang left him a ring to Xie Lian as a gift which was actually created from his bone ash. It was so romantic and I loved how the story put the romantic scene in a very casual way but too meaningful and unforgettable.
I just love them and the whole story too much, you know...
2021 Mar
A Tale of Thousand Stars (Series)
Well... Well... Well...
It's time to talk about this. A Tale of Thousand Stars or ATOTS is that one BL series which caused such a roller coaster of emotions during their running time. I started when it was already the 4th episode since I could not wait until it was over to start watching it.
Firstly, ATOTS is already filmed a year before and it got delayed in airing. I remembered watching the trailer at the end of 2019 and expected to release on 2020. But there was no update on the airtime yet then it was moved to 2021. The story itself was already interesting enough, it was adapted from a novel but I chose not to read it before watching the live action version. I didn't want it ended like Theory of Love.
Well, even though the casts of Theory of Love were my favorite (Off-Gun) and I actually also imagine the main couple as Off-Gun as well, but I must say the final version had different vibe than the first trailer that I set my eyes into. I was head over heels for Kai-Third, but it turned out that I had a different perspective and expectation actually. So I didn't want to make the same mistake, and I was right after all.
I really enjoyed ATOTS, loved the story (even though sometimes it's way too dragged), loved Phupa-Tian, loved the OST, and I loved the moment I eagerly waited for Friday to come only to get butterflies. I liked how they really played hard to get but actually anyone could really point out their chemistry from the start.
And one more thing, perhaps since I was used to watch Chinese BL adaptation that usually only showed Bromance and nothing more, I was beyond estatic when finally, after such thing happened between Phupa & Tian, they really opened to each other, and, this kind of hug already satisfied me enough,
Well, apparently I really forgot that I watched a Thai drama, not a Chinese. So, it's not the climax yet. Ah, I loved the series alot...
Then, another scene that I really adored was when Phupa tried to sniff at a tea pocket that Tian held, but it looked too pervy though. In a darkness and limited exposure, all I saw was Phupa kissed Tian's hand instead of sniffing the tea fragrance. Ah... A stiff guy like Phupa, to do the first move like this... well... I am addicted already!!
2021 May
You Own My All / Wife is First (Manhua only)
I found the manhua as one of recommendation and I really satisfied enough. Since I read pretty much C-novel, I took a notice that the most of the plot, especially when it was historical related, would be too heavy in politics while I was not really a fan of it.
BUT, I was mistaken and got hooked up with the manhua because it was more focused on the romantic scene as well so it's not a slow-burn.
History4: Close To You (Series)
So, as a starter, I watched HIStory 3: Trapped out of curiousity and found out that it's not my cup of tea so I stopped watching for another HIStory sequel too. But When it was about HIStory 4, I suddenly had a hunch to give it another try and I WAS RIGHT.
I loved it very much. I decided to watch it once after watching the OST MV for the series. The one that caught my eyes the most was Anson Chen. Since the OST was amazing and the cast was okay to me so I gave it a try. After that, I just finished it in 2 night (since I was on business travel at that time so I could only spent my night time to watch it) and ended up falling in love for ChengRen couple.
In short, there were 2 plotline with 2 couples in the series. I was not sure which plot was the main plot since both of them almost got the same screentime. So the series was about 3 besties who lived together and worked at the same office, Ye Xing Si, Teng Mu Ren, and Li Chen. One day, Li Chen reunited with his childhood crush who just newly worked at the office so he tried to chase her again. Apparently she was a fujoshi thus in order to approach her, Li Chen pretended to have a crush on his best friend, Teng Mu Ren in order to gain her attention. And yes, you would imagine how the story would develop after that.
Well, I loved ChengRen couple very much, but had a slight disgust with the other couple and plotline actually. I didn't even want to tell more about what went wrong with other couple too though.
Look at that visual... I loved it already...
For ChengRen plot line, most of them were hilarious, especially when they fought on who would be the "1" and "0". It was too hilarious. Ah, I loved it very much and would gave it a ✬✬✬✬✬ out of 5 if there's no other plot line though...
Those Years in Quest of Honour Mine
Okay, this was one of great manhua that I recently found out. I liked the jokes and how the romance was not a slow-burn and kind of focused on the MC-ML relationship than any political issues. Since I was a typical trashy reader who was thirsty for the romance, I found this manhua enjoyable and satisfied me enough. I actually loved ancient-themed but when the plot was too heavy in political matters, I tend to drop it.
cr: Bilibili
2021 Aug
Tự Tâm & Canh Ba - Nguyễn Trần Trung Quân
This must be considered a very turning point to a whole new world to me. I wasn't sure how Youtube recommended me the MV of Tu Tam and I ended up watching it. As a new listener of Vietnamese Pop, I was quite surprised on how high-quality the MV is. It also has a very strong plot line and the visual... it's so breathtaking. The one who caught me the most was no other than Denis Dang, yes this silver-haired guy,
Look how gorgeous the corpse was... No wonder the king still had such a lingering...
Anyway, I was really glad to find such a gem like this. The time had finally come when I'm obsessed with Vietnamese Pop Culture! Maybe I will create another post dedicated to this new era of mine.
2021 Oct
Kieta Hatsukoi
I loved Kieta Hatsukoi very much due to some reasons.
First, it reminded me on Cherry Magic. Secondly, I was impressed on how the plot was quickly paced. I thought the misunderstanding would go on until the later episodes, but somehow it had quite unusual plot unlike a typical school life story. And last, I just loved the characters too much.
I loved Aoki and Ida the most and their interactions very much.
There was a time when I couldn't wait for another episode to come so I decided to read the manga instead. Gosh, it turned out that the dorama exactly followed the manga and I couldn't get happier when I realized it.
2021 Nov
As the Minor Gay Rival in Het Novels
After reading Quickly Wear a Face of Devil, I was quite lost on which c-novel that I would decide to read. Some of the list were dropped after some chapters. I read Nan Chan and finished after, but it didn't leave a remarkable impression except the poetic and beautiful writing style.
Then I found this novel. It had the same genre of QWFOD, which was a quick transmigration. The MC Fan Yuan was a player assigned as the male gay rival of the female lead, but somehow he always failed to perform such tasks and ended up getting the male lead bent. Turned out the male lead was also another player and quite a pervert tho. I am still on my way finishing the book though, but so far I got really excited whenever the new Arcs starts. And this time, I decided not to see any spoiler though so I got zero idea how the story would go on.
My Beautiful Man
Yes, it's such a paradise already since November till now. There are quite a lot of ongoing series with a promising plot and worth-to-wait, includes My Beautiful Man.
Even though the theme was a school life, unlike Kieta Hatsukoi, My Beautiful Man (Utsukshii Kare) had a darker plot imho. The plot was quite simple and typical of any yaoi story, BUT I was surprised when someone shared a scene cut when Kiyoi kissed Hira, like whaaaaat??
Honestly, Kiyoi was truly a beau... I was mesmerized by him just like Hira. Since it's still ongoing too and I am still unsure whether the plot will surprise me more or not, but I have a high hope and a lot of expectation already!
Bad Buddies
Yeah... Here comes trouble!!!
I must say Bad Buddies the Series would be a perfect series to nicely end 2021. Previously on 2020 it was Your Name Engraved Herein, which I would gladly repeat this statement again, the best BL movie ever. And now, if 2021 would be ended with Bad Buddies, I would have no objection at all.
Even though when I posted this, it's still ongoing, but I have a very high hope since all I could see during the previous episodes were only QUALITY.
After I always tried to hold myself
not to watch the ongoing series and just calmly binge-watch after the
series ended, I could not wait for Bad Buddies though. The 2020 trailer
was already promising enough, and so far it's already beyond
expectation.
I must appreciate the acting level of all the cast, especially the leads, Nanon and Ohmpawat. Then I would like to give a high praise for Backaof as the Director for delivering the story and everything as expected.
I was beyond ecstatic since episode 4 and how the end of each episode was always a cliffhanger. I was speechless on how well Nanon acting level at this series. Even though I had seen most of his series, I must say his role as Pran here was a proof that he was worthy as one of GMMTV top actors.
He acted by his eyes. He let the viewers empathize of Pran's (Nanon's role) condition and feelings. The peak of his acting skill was no other than at the end of Episode 4.
(My baby is crying because of that b*st*rd....)
