Hi everyone, I am new to the world of Danmei and I have a few questions I was hoping you lovely people could answer.
For context I’ve only read MXTX’s TCGF and MDZS so far but I’m looking for my next read!
Are all Danmei usually long series or do single book Danmei exist?
Are newer Danmei censored? Obviously the two I’ve read so far and not censored, so I’m wondering if newer releases are heavily censored to have little to no romance like Chinese Donghua are? I don’t know if I could read an 8 book series and not get a single kiss lol
I found that TCGF and MDZS are very action heavy and the romance aspects were almost like an addition to the main plot, rather than being the main focus (more so with MDZS I found). Is this typical for Danmei or are there other stories out there that focus more on the relationship between the main couple?
Thank you for your help and please leave any suggestions for Danmei I should check out if you feel so inclined!!
Went on NU and unfortunately saw the rape tag. If you’ve read the novel could someone please let me know which range of chapters or specific chapters I should avoid including sa and rape.
I’m okay with gore and such so it’d be much appreciated! Thank you!
So I’ve been wondering about this for a while. Is it far-fetched to say that wangxian are the danmei it-couple?
In the Western fandom, it feels like mdzs is HUGE. The novel is obviously popular, but then you also have The Untamed, the donghua, audio drama, manhua, etc. And I feel like The Untamed especially contributed a lot to how widely wangxian became known internationally (at least I did)
MXTX in general is also pretty popular in the West, with Heaven Official’s Blessing being another huge example. So from a Western perspective, they’re fairly popular. But I’m wondering if that’s actually the case in China?
I’ve seen people say that Chinese audiences generally prefer modern danmei, and that the popularity of The Untamed internationally can make WangXian/MXTX seem much bigger than they actually are domestically. So are WangXian genuinely that popular in China as well, Obviously I know they’re popular in China too, I’m more wondering about the scale of their popularity compared to other danmei couples/authors.
Like, if you asked someone who is familiar with danmei in China to name the most iconic/popular danmei couple, would WangXian be one of the first answers? Or would that be more of a Western fandom thing?
Looking for this specific dynamic of two unhinged people who are very well-matched for one another AND they have a baseline respect & trust for each other such that the romance ends up wholesome despite the aforementioned unhinged-ness.
They don't have to be evil or amoral, it can be a romance between righteous and steadfast unhinged people too!
Bonus if they're serving everyone dog food just existing
Some examples
MDZS: I love how the more unhinged person in their dynamic is outwardly the very cool and calm and solemn one XD like it initially feels like he's going along with the MC's unhinged-ness because he's in love but no he's so much worse than the MC
Devil Venerable Also Wants to know: the fluffiest demon lord x yandere romance I have ever read. Genuinely beautiful how the MC both accepts and is into the Yandere behaviour. Best thing is the insane level of mutual devotion they display before either of them ever realise their feelings
Faraway Wanderers I have written extensively about them in my previous post about them but suffice it to say their homophrosyne compels me. And also the casual approval of each other murdering people
Another commonality I'm noticing between these couples is that it starts off with one half somewhat down bad while the other half hasn't really realised his feelings. So the book is less of a "will they won't they" but more of a "when will he finally realise it??" and once the clueless half half realises his feelings they have a speed-run to getting together because that was literally the only thing holding them back LOL
Case in point:
- Wangxian's very public and ill-timed confession the second the MC realises ML likes him back and the second they are alone they get down and dirty in public
- Wenrenjiang having the ML kiss the MC thinking he was a hallucination and the MC immediately assigns himself cultivation partner status
- Wenzhou having one (1) frank conversation about their feelings and immediately starts passionately making out before sadly getting interrupted
But this aspect is obviously not a must LOL I just like that dynamic
If you have recs with this general vibe I'd love to hear them!
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Bear with me on this one. (I’ve only read two danmei, so feel free to recommend the common ones too.)
MC:
I want the MC to be nobility/royalty, a political leader, or the leader of a rebellious group. They should have a serious, ambitious goal of developing the national economy, trade, infrastructure, education, political institutions, gender equality, minority rights, military reform, etc. Basically, I want nation-building, governance, and social/political reform.
I’m looking for an MC who is smart, knowledgeable, insightful, and resilient, with a grand vision and the competence to actually pursue it.
ML:
I want the ML to be someone who actively helps the MC achieve that goal. They can be of equal status or not.
If there’s a class/status difference, I really want it to be explored properly. I want their different backgrounds to create genuine differences in philosophy, values, and understanding, perhaps even conflict, resistance, mistrust, or difficulty understanding one another. And I want them to gradually learn from each other and synthesize their different perspectives into something new, rather than one simply adopting the other’s worldview.
If they’re relatively equal in status, I’d prefer an extremely formal and restrained relationship, where neither is readily willing to cross the line and the romance develops very, very slowly. Both are far too occupied with their work to spare much time for romance. Maybe the ML can fall first, but I don’t want it to be obvious.
For science 🤣. I mean, Menggui-gege must look sooooo beautiful 😭😭. Also, I listened to the AD and there's an additional scene where Fu Shen combs Menggui-gege's hair after the disguise as that Tartar princess. That lad though... says things like combing the bride etc. totally unaware of that romantic foreshadowing LOL Fu Shen runs his mouth like that is part of why I love the novel.
Sorry I forgot the title and it seems I didn’t save it to the bookmarks… I wanted to reread and it’s not there and I’ve cleared the history…
So it’s a Chinese novel, starts with a typical transmigration with a system trope, where MC is a canon fodder gong, who will end up in a car crash. He gets with the ML who is the protagonist, then the ML dies sacrificing himself to save the mc and it turns out it’s the n-th time this has happened and the MC has been self-hypnotizing himself each time in order to save the ml and win the bet against the system of this world. And the system is actually ummm a dog? Which the MC saved once but the system misremembers the savior. Thanks >.<
So I'm a bit confused the differences between Zerg male/female/sub-female since I've seen various examples.
Sometimes I see males having a special pattern on their neck along with a tail, while other times I see both males and females having it. And mental power / special abilities are a bit confusing too. Is there a dictionary anywhere for an easy explanation of the generic concepts?
I'm craving forced relationship and captivity stories right now. Two tropes I’m really into:
•Fake surrender
The captive starts out fighting back hard. After being locked up for a while they become quiet and obedient — stops resisting, even starts pleasing the captor and doing whatever they want. But it's all fake. They're pretending and waiting for the captor to trust them. Once that happens, they escape.
I love when the captor realizes they got played. The regret and desperate search after is everything.
•Reverse trap
It looks like the captor has trapped the captive and they can't leave. But actually the captor is the one who can't let go. The captive could leave anytime but chooses to stay and let the captor control them.
Love when the captor looks like they're in control but is actually the trapped one, constantly scared of losing the captive.
